RCRA vs. CERCLA

by Marty W. Easter and Patrick Y. Whang

Fall 1996

RCRA vs. CERCLA

Superfund site

ORNL Waste Tank construction: Sludge Contaminant Facility

Definitions

RCRA - Protect human health and environment by establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for investigating and addressing past, present and in some cases future environmental contamination at hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities.

CERCLA - Protect human health and the environment by establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for investigating and remediating uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances.

Discussion / Comparison

CERCLA addresses uncontrolled release of hazardous substances, often from facilities no longer operating and the contamination occurred in the past. RCRA focuses on prevention and remediation of releases from current facilities.

How are sites identified

National Contingency Plan (NCP) - identifies acceptable methods for discovering, investigating, evaluating, and remediating sites.
National Priorities List (NPL) - As part of the NCP the EPA is required to prepare a national list of top priority sites. Only these sites are eligible for federal Superfund financial remediation.

Clean up Requirements

CERCLA

Provides federal government with broad authority to clean up contaminated sites. In cases where a hazardous release poses an "imminent and substantial endangerment" to public health and welfare, the EPA can issue an order enforceable by law to take all measures to respond to the site. Violations of other rules under CERCLA can result in similar fines.

RCRA

EPA has specific powers to issue an order or bring civil suit to compel past or present hazardous waste operators to respond to any "imminent and substantial endangerment" to health or environment.

Government Funding

Funding for CERCLA comes from the Hazardous Substances Superfund or "Superfund." It is a collection of funds acquired by Congress, revenue from taxes imposed upon petroleum and chemicals, as well as penalties received under CERCLA.

Fund can be used for: government response costs and other response costs under the Clean Water Act and the National Contingency Plan.

The federal government and most states have some kind of "Superfund."

Liability

CERCLA

Under CERCLA - Imposes joint and separate liability for cleaning up contamination caused by hazardous substances by four types of responsible parties:

current owner or operator of facility,
owner or operator at time of disposal,
generators of any hazardous substances located on site,
any transporter of hazardous substances to a site the transporter selected.

RCRA

EPA can require owner or operator of my family that has a release of hazardous wastes to clean up the release and the waste management facility, even if unit was used by a private operator and has no hazardous wastes.

Areas of Discussion

Should CERCLA be applied retroactively?
Should there be a cut off date for liability under CERCLA? If so, what should the date be?
Should waste producers be able to end their liability by hiring a licensed waste handlers or should producers be liable regardless.

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