What are the three statutory defenses under CERCLA liability?
However, there are certain steps (or “common elements”) that a prospective property owner or operator must establish to achieve and maintain one of the three statutory liability defenses under the 2002 Brownfields Amendments to CERCLA (i.e., the bona fide prospective purchaser (BFPP), contiguous property owner (CPO) …
How does one protect against liability under CERCLA?
Also known as “Superfund,” CERCLA is aimed at cleaning up sites contaminated with hazardous waste, as well as preventing contamination of future sites by assigning liability to parties involved. The liability requires the parties to pay damages for the clean up of the sites.
What is CERCLA in real estate?
Historically, under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, commonly known as Superfund), the owner or operator of a contaminated property could be held responsible for the property’s cleanup, based solely on their current ownership of the property.
What is the innocent landowner defense to avoid cleanup liability?
Put most simply, the innocent landowner defense allows owners of contaminated property to escape CERCLA liability if the contamination was placed on the property before acquisition, and the landowner did not know, or have reason to know, at the time of acquisition of the contamination’s presence.
What is CERCLA responsible for?
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act — otherwise known as CERCLA or Superfund — provides a Federal “Superfund” to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment …
Why is CERCLA called Superfund?
CERCLA is informally called Superfund. It allows EPA to clean up contaminated sites. It also forces the parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work.
Is CERCLA effective?
Over the past three decades, CERCLA has successfully cleaned and restored close to 400 contaminated sites once listed on its national priorities list (NPL), including the infamous Love Canal site. With around 140 contaminated sites awaiting cleanup, DOD is proportionally the country’s largest polluter.
What is CERCLA and why is it important?
CERCLA gives the federal government the power to tax chemical and petroleum companies found responsible for releasing hazardous waste into unregulated areas. CERCLA permits federal authorities to act swiftly when a qualifying spill occurs, allowing them to manage short-term removals and long-term responses.
What are the main points of CERCLA?
Superfund: CERCLA Overview
- established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites;
- provided for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites; and.
- established a trust fund to provide for cleanup when no responsible party could be identified.
What are the requirements to qualify for the innocent landowner defense?
Like contiguous property owners (CPOs), persons desiring to qualify as innocent landowners must perform “all appropriate inquiries” prior to purchase and cannot know, or have reason to know, of contamination in order to have a viable defense as an innocent landowner.
Does CERCLA apply to residential property?
Under the Residential Homeowner Policy, EPA will generally not take a CERCLA enforcement action against an owner of a residential property unless the homeowner’s activities lead to a release or threatened release resulting in the taking of a response action at a site.
Is the CERCLA Act effective?
Over the past three decades, CERCLA has successfully cleaned and restored close to 400 contaminated sites once listed on its national priorities list (NPL), including the infamous Love Canal site.