The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 has proved to be one of the most important environmental protection programs of all time. Also known as Superfund, this act spawned dramatic changes to the environment of the United States. Superfund aimed to cleanup hazardous waste sites in America and protect the health and safety of the general public. Over the years, the Superfund legislation has authorized the government to aid in the cleanup of toxic waste in a variety of effective ways that have ensured the welfare of its citizens. On the whole, CERCLA has transformed hazardous waste sites, changed the outdated disposal methods that companies utilized, and ignited environmental awareness. …show more content…
Hooker Chemical drained the canal and lined it with canal to prevent the soon to be deposited barrels of chemicals from leaking. During the period Hooker Chemical used the dump over 21,000 tons of chemical waste. Later on, the company sold the land to the Niagara Falls School Board for $1.00. Immediately afterwards, a series of winters which brought heavy rainfall lead to the leeching of chemicals into creeks, basements, backyards, and the school playground. Consequently, President Jimmy Carter realizing the graveness of the situation, called for a state of emergency, leading to the evacuation of 239 families.2 After the Love Canal Disaster, politicians and the general public alike were inspired to push through laws that would hold the polluters accountable for cleanup of hazardous waste sites and thus, CERCLA was born. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, better known as Superfund, was established as a reaction to the environmental crises nationwide such as The Love Canal Disaster and the Valley of Drums in Kentucky. The act states that its purpose is “to provide for liability, compensation, cleanup, and emergency response for hazardous substances released into the environment and the cleanup of inactive hazardous waste disposal sites”3. At its core, Superfund proposed to: cleanup hazardous waste sites, hold the companies that produced the waste responsible for the funding of the cleanup, and
Through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Congress directed EPA to regulate all aspects of hazardous waste. As a result, EPA developed strict regulations for the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. States may implement stricter requirements than the Federal regulations as needed. Treatment and Disposal: Any process that changes the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a waste to minimize its threat to the environment. Storage: The temporary holding of waste before the waste is treated,
Joint Base Cape Cod (JBCC) is located on Cape Cod. The JBCC is recognized as a Superfund site in 1989 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The base contaminated the groundwater in the surrounding towns. “Contaminated areas were the result of chemical/fuel spills, fire training activities, landfills, and drainage structures (cumulis.epa)”. The site is currently being cleaned up by the National Guard Bureau and the Department of the Air Force. The Air Force is cleaning one part of the base under Superfund. The Army is cleaning the other part under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The EPA is overseeing that everything is being cleaned to their set standards. Currently the Air Force holds public meetings to explain the results and new
cubic yards of contaminated soil make this site the one of the largest Superfund projects (EPA, 2013).
Assessments began to take place in the mid 1980’s, shortly after the site made the National Priorities list in 1983. Relevant standards and guidance levels were used to measure the effect of the Helen Kramer Landfill. The initiation of the EPA’s remedial investigation and feasibility study deemed the nature of the Helen Kramer landfill as an extreme risk to the environment, characterizing the site “by randomly placed, uncompacted, and uncovered refuse, with numerous settlement cracks which vented methane and water vapor” (2). According to the EPA, several million gallons of chemical wastes and over two million cubic yards of solid waste were estimated to have been disposed of at the landfill (2). Studies were performed by the EPA, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, federal natural resource trustees in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to evaluate the onsite and nearby environmental effects due to the landfill. During these studies, contaminants were detected in air, sediments, and aquifers, including high levels of volatile organic compounds and heavy metals in the air and sediments. VOCS and heavy metals expose humans to carcinogens, developmental toxicants, and reproductive toxicants. The assessments also detected numerous contaminants such as (but not limited to),
1) The remedy chosen must attain a degree of cleanup that assures the protection of human health and environment. 2) The hazardous substances that will remain after the cleanup, they must meet the applicable and/or relevant and appropriate requirements under federal and state law (ARARs). 3) The remedy chosen must utilize permanent solutions and alternative treatment technologies or resource recovery technologies to the maximum extent applicable. 4) There must be cost effective response, taking into consideration total long-and short-term costs of the actions. And 5) It must be in accordance with the NCP to a practicable
Coal Combustion Residuals, often referred to as coal ash, are currently considered exempt wastes under an amendment to RCRA, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. They are residues from the combustion of coal in power plants and captured by pollution control technologies, like scrubbers. Potential environmental concerns from coal ash pertain to pollution from impoundment and landfills leaching into ground water and structural failures of impoundments, like that which occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plant in Kingston, Tennessee. The need for national management criteria was emphasized by the December 2008 spill of CCRs from a surface impoundment near
The next Superfund that has greatly influenced the environment of Butler County is the Skinner Landfill. The Landfill is on 85 acres in West Chester (2). The facility was privately owned and was never actually licensed, so it closed in the 1970's (5). The landfill contains about 100 drums of chlorinated organics, and heavy metals. Along with the presence of the drums is the fact that a nearby lagoon was once used as a disposal for these contaminants, and that the site had problems with unauthorized dumping (5). Fortunately, no contaminants have been discovered leaving the site (5). The presence of these
The importance of comprehensive site investigations and getting the right report, and by an EPA accredited auditor can be seen in the court case Charben Haulage Pty Ltd v Environmental & Earth Sciences Pty Ltd (2004) FCA 403. In this case Caltex had obtained development consent from the local council to decommission a suburban service station and remediate it to residential standards. A condition of the consent was that an auditor accredited by the EPA would sign off the completed decontamination.
According to our recent research and analysis, pelletizing our fly ash waste and selling it to the public as low-grade fertilizer would rid us of approximately 500 tons a year. However, we do have the capacity to dump this harmless fly ash on our back 40 acres, an area of land that was classified as a Type III landfill in 1979. Due to a crackdown on the general public and their free dumping on our lot, our forty acres were not approved for fly ash, but now 35 years later the 40 acre landfill is safe and ready for use with no liability to be seen by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The purpose of the landfill was to bury the large amount of contaminated the soil with toxic Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), a class of chemicals so toxic that Congress banned production later. The whole story began in 1973 when Ward PCB Transformers Company dumped more than 30,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated oil on the side of state roads in 14 North Carolina counties. The trucker, who was responsible for taking the oil to a facility to be recycled, disposed of it discreetly and illegally. The person in charge of the company and the trucker was sent to jail for a short time for their negligence on the matter. Contaminants left in the truck and factory was detoxified. However, the area around the factory as well as the lakes and rivers close to the road had been polluted. As a result, more than 60,000 tons of oils were polluted with toxic PCB.
What designates a site a Superfund site? A superfund site is a hazardous location that requires long-term response to clean up
By the late 1920’s the canal was being used as a dumpsite by municipal and commercial entities. 82 different chemicals 11 of them known carcinogens had been dumped by the Hooker Chemical Company for over twenty five years. In 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company, then the owners and operators of the property, covered the canal with earth and sold it to the city for one dollar. This was definitely a bad buy for the city of Niagara, unfortunately it would take over 20 years to realize it. During that time more than 100 homes and one elementary school had been built over the landfill, this was definitely not the city that Love had envisioned.
Before engaging in the causal nexus issue between methane emissions and public health, we must first establish a brief introduction of the EPA’s regulatory authority for its proposals. It is not entirely necessary to provide a historical framework of environmental law dating back to public and nuisance common law actions between states, but it is necessary to point to a few cases that sort of gave rise to the CAA.
DePue, Illinois, has been overlooked by ExxonMobil for decades. Being one of the small towns among many in the Illinois Valley, DePue doesn't get much attention from outsiders. Despite that fact, DePue is known for being on the national priority list (NPL) and having one of the most complicated Superfund sites (Illinois EPA). Ever since the discovery of harmful contaminants in DePue soil and lake, residents have been trying to find a solution. To ensure the safety of DePue residents, ExxonMobil needs to take responsibility of the contaminants found in DePue by cleaning the mess themselves or funding a clean-up.
In the 1920’s, the city bought the land at public auction, which became the municipal and chemical disposal site. (Beck) The city of Niagara Falls and The United States also participated in dumping garbage, military warfare material, and Manhattan Project. This was a disposal site for more than twenty years, until Hooker Chemical Company purchased the site for their chemical disposal. (Beck) In 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company filled the canal with twenty-two thousand tons of waste in barrels, which leaked, broke apart when being dump, and poured into the soil. (Gibbs) In addition, to avoid contaminants leaked to the top layer soil they would cover them up with cinders, ash, clay or loom to decrease the spill. (Gibbs)