Clean-Up Obligations Are Modified

ON JAN. 11, 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act became law (P.L. 107-118), loosening and modifying (to an extent) the cleanup obligations imposed by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), authorizing additional funding for brownfields cleanups, and restricting (again, to an extent) the ability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to override state cleanup decisions.

The Act exempts from at least some Superfund liability very small contributors, residences and small businesses disposing of municipal solid waste, certain owners of property contiguous to contamination sources, and certain purchasers of contaminated sites. It also expands the innocent landowner definition in CERCLA. These changes will definitely help get cleanup projects off the ground in some cases, but they also reduce the responsible parties that can be brought in to help pay for cleanups. Government agencies should also note that the Act adds conditions to the pre-existing provisions in CERCLA limiting the liability of agencies for involuntary acquisitions and acquisitions by eminent domain.