Superfund Act
Superfund
is a federal law of the United States created to clean the deserted hazardous
waste areas or sites. This program was designed by Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980 with the purpose of
cleaning hazardous substances that may pose threat to both public health and
the environment. Also, the law entitles the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) to analyze and order the parties to clean the threatened areas or clean
the site itself in absence of the responsible party.
History
Congress
executed the Superfund act for the first time during the disaster at the Love
Canal in New York, in which the Love Canal residents suffered severely with
chronic effects such as leukemia and birth defects. This was because the city
was made on hazardous industrial and chemical dumping site and episodes of
heavy rains leached all the chemicals from the soil into the community. On 17
October, 1986, Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) was formed,
that amended CERCLA and increased the spectrum of Superfund Act. These broad
changes also helped increase the fund to $9.3 billion.
Provisions
There
are two types of provisions made by CERCLA in order to clean the threatened
site-
Removal: These types of actions typically
target localized releases that need immediate attention. Removal actions can be
either emergency, time- critical and non-time critical.
Remedy: These types of actions target
those releases that may take longer to clean than removal actions. However, the
remedial actions are permanent and minimize the risks involved. These actions
can only be performed at the listed sites (National Priorities List) on the
EPA.
Procedures

Implementation
There
are approximately 1,270 hazardous sites listed on the National Priority List
as-of-date. Also, over a span of 5 years, funding of $1.6 billion is generated
and the tax goes to the tax fund. This tax fund is utilized in cleaning up of
the threatened waste areas.
Reform

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