&EPA
                        United States
                        Environmental Protection
                        Agency
                          Office of
                          Solid Waste and
                          Emergency Response
Publication 9200.5-008H
November 1990
Superfund  Enforcement  —


Making  Polluters  Pay

Who is Liable for Superfund Cleanups?

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA),
commonly known as Superfund, imposes liability when there is a release or threatened release of
hazardous substances. Potentially responsible parties (PRPs) are individuals or companies who may be
responsible for all or part of the contamination at a Superfund site.

PRPs include:

  •  Present owners and operators of a Superfund site, even if they did not contaminate the property.

  •  Past owners and operators of the facility where the hazardous substances were disposed of
     improperly.

  •  Persons who arranged for the treatment, disposal, or transportation for treatment or disposal of
     hazardous substances at the site.

  •  Persons who transported hazardous substances to disposal or treatment facilities that they
     selected.

Superfund Enforcement is Getting Results

EPA Administrator William K. Reilly's 1989 management review of Superfund, also known as the 90-
Day Study, stresses enforcement to make polluters pay to clean up the hazardous waste sites they
create. The Agency has incorporated that managerial mandate in its latest revision of the National
Contingency Plan (NCP), the Superfund program's blueprint. Already Unilateral Administrative
Orders are up 31 percent and the value of cleanup work performed, or funded, by PRPs has jumped to
$1.3 billion in FY '90. EPA won its first award for treble damages from a recalcitrant PRP in FY '90.
The award was worth more than $2 million.

PRPs' Cleanup Activities are Increasing

Aggressive enforcement, primarily through the use of Unilateral Administrative Orders (UAOs), has
resulted in PRPs financing almost 60 percent of new cleanup construction projects in FY '90. (See
Graphl.) If a PRP fails to comply with a UAO, EPA can recover its cleanup costs plus three times that
amount in damages.

                   1.  PERCENT OF REMEDIAL ACTIONS
                          FINANCED BY PRPs
                                  60 T
                                  50 • •
                                  40 -.
                                  30 - .
                                  20 - •
                                  10 - •
                                   '81    -82
                                              '83
                                                   '84    '85    '86

                                                       Fiscal Year
                                            '87
                                                       •89

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The Value of PRP-Funded
Cleanup Grows
Since 1980, EPA has achieved
1,336 settlements with PRPs
valued at an estimated $3.7 billion
in FY '90, an increase of almost
seven-fold in three years. (See
Graph 2.)
Cost Recovery is
Increasing
EP A has referred for prosecution
391 cost recovery cases worth an
estimated $644 million to the
United States Department of
Justice since 1980. The volume of
cases referred by EP A has risen
from $2.1 million in FY '80 to
$185 million in FY '90. (See
Graph 3.)

How are Superfund Clean-
ups Enforced?
Whenever possible, EP A begins
looking for PRPs before beginning
any cleanup activities paid for by
the Superfund Trust Fund. PRPs
are liable for all costs incurred by
the Federal Government. The
search for PRPs can be lengthy,
and site cleanup often begins
before all PRPs are identified.
2. VALUE OF PRP CLEANUP AGREEMENTS
1400
1200
g 1000
::3
~ 800
~
.S
(1) 600
~
> 400
200
o
'80
'81
'82
'8S
'83
'84
'86
'87
'88
'89
'90
Fiscal Year
3. EPA IS TAKING ACTION TO RECOVER SEVEN
OUT OF TEN DOLLARS SPENT.
(percent of Dollars)
I::J Fikd in I..h.igaim
iii P1amod for Roc...!)'
[]Noktioo Vet
2.1%
. WriUen Off
o Acbeivcd
27.1%
When EP A has enough informa-
tion to identify a PRP, the Agency
issues a general notice letter
informing him of his potential liability. Then EPA begins exchanging information with PRPs about
site conditions, their connections to the site, and the identities of other potentially responsible parties.
I !
*Fund dollars spent at 2,039 NPL and non-NPL sites
EP A may issue special notices to PRPs, which begins a formal period of negotiations for site
cleanup or for funding of cleanup efforts and establishes a 90- to 120-day moratorium during which
EP A will not begin cleaning up the site.
If PRPs decline to participate, or the time for negotiating a settlement runs out, EP A may issue a
unilateral administrative order for cleanup. EPA also may begin cleaning up the site using Trust
Fund money, then sue the PRPs to recover the costs of cleanup. EPA may also sue for treble d~unages
. against recalcitrant PRPs.
When EPA decides that judicial action may be required, the Agency refers the case to the Department
of Justice, who represents EPA in court.
At all sites where PRPs are conducting or paying for cleanup, EP A oversees the cleanup activities to
ensure they comply with CERCLA, with applicable regulations and policies, and with the terms of
EP A's settlement agreement with the PRPs.

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