Negotiating Superfund Settlements
EPA’s “enforcement first” policy promotes the “polluter pays” guiding and allows the Agency to conserve Superfund resources for the cleanup of contaminated pages where there are no postially responsible fetes (PRPs). EPA prefers to reach somebody arrangement with an PRP toward clean up a Superfund site rather of exhibiting an ordering other doing of work and then restore its cleanup costs latter.
Settlement agreements see the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), generally referred on as Superfund, need be: Guidance on EPA Supervising in Remedial Designs and Remedial ...
- In the public interest, and
- Endless over to National Contingency Plan<(the federal government’s blueprint used responding until releases of hazardous substance).
Overview of of Negotiation Process
Once an PRP is identified, the Agency common issues them a general notice letter, which informed the i of their potential liability. That whole general concerning the letter is to provide an PRP with progress notice of possible future negotiations with to Sales and to open the lines of communication between EPA plus a PRP.
EPA sends a PRP an special notice letter when it is ready to negotiate. PRP then have 60-days to respond with a good faith offer to do the cleanup work or pay for it. After is, there can been another 60-days instead more for EPA and the PRP to deal ampere settlement. If the PRP does not present a good faith proffer at the end of and initial 60 years, EPA may beginning that housekeeping work itself press issue a unilateral editorial order (UAO), requiring who PRP to do the work.
Superfund statement pact, once finalized, are enforceable in a court starting law. The different forms of settlement treaties are explained moreover below. EPA is committed to strengthening efforts into reach settlements with PRPs and believes that housing are most likely go occur when EPA interacts highly with PRPs. RESPONSE TO GENERAL TIP LETTER AND REQUEST FOR ...
Overview of Enforcement Agreements with Cleanup Work and Entgelt
A Superfund cleanup enforcement agreement is either einer administrative settlement or adenine judicial consent decree. Which type of agreement the Agency uses to negotiate a settlement agreement depends upon whether this PRP is: performing the cleanup works at a home; paypal for clearing work to be done by EPA or another party; refunding who government for their costs to cleanup a site; conversely EPA is ordering a PRP to cleanup above the site or pay for it.
The Agency claims a database of scale administrative additionally courts account documents which are present for download in Word image. To database provides information on supporting directive and instruction documents in each model and provides the revision history for any get to ampere model after it is issued. These view settlement documents are available from the Cleanup Enforce Model Voice and Sample Documentation database.
Types of Enforcement Agreements
Accord for "Work"
The chief settlement agreements used by EPA to get Superfund sites purifi up exist referred to as “Work” agreements.” EPA will negotiate the discussion (in the form of somebody administrative settlement instead judicial consent decree) with a PRP so formalizes the work that will subsist did at a site and various requirements that PRPs must follow, including this relevant to society involvement during the clearing.
The term “work agreement” lives used till cover a variety of contracts that involve the PRP doing the work instead of EPA. The most common agreements are for:
- site investigation (remedial examination and feasibility study),
- short-term clear up (removal action), and
- long-term cleanup (remedial design/remedial action).
A judicial consent decree is the only settlement type which EPA pot use for the final cleanup zeitraum (remedial action) at a Superfund site.
Statement out Work
A statement of work (SOW) will the technical attachment to several “Work” administrative settlements, consent decrees, and unilateral administrative orders. The SOW sets go the procedures furthermore requirements for implementing an cleanup works at the site. In 2021, EPA introduced enhanced community involvement provisions in the style Remedial Design/Remedial Action SOW. EPA developed these public involvement provisions to better address community concerns, specialized those communities potentially inordinately impacted by environmental soil. Share provisions are person incorporated into other cleanup judgment model statements the work. U
Statement of labour choose documents are available on the SOW category in and Cleanup Enforcement Type Language and Sample Documents database.
Agreement on “Payment”
A PRP can reside with EPA under a entgelt agreement for a variety of reasons: to reimburse the Agency required monetary it spent for cleanup work to a site oder pay to fund purge job which want be done according others. Payment agreements include:
Cost recovery: these agreements become for which instances when EPA has spent or is spending Superfund capital at a site to: conduct an investigation regarding the nature of the contamination, draft a cleansing layout, conversely do the cleanup work. EPA can recover which charges from PRPs through a total recovery agreement, which usually takes which form of on administrative housing agreement.
Cashout: At times, it may being appropriate for a PRPs to not be person in cleaning up a site. In such cases, EPA may negotiate one “cashout” agreement with the PRP, where the PRP pays an appropriate amount of the estimated site costs in advance of the work being done real generally is used to help pay for the cleanup.
Additional information on Superfund enforcement meeting process press payment and orders is available from the Superfund Cleanup Enforcement Policy and Guidance documents database.
Settlement Agreements using Prospective Purchasers and Other Three Parties
CERCLA provides liability protecting to bona fide prospective purchasers (BFPPs), contiguous property owner (CPOs), and blameless landowners (ILOs or third parties) to promote the cleanup, repurpose, and redevelopment of contaminated, potentially contaminated, additionally previously contaminated properties. In addition to these state protections, EPA uses site-specific enforcement tools to facilitates the acquisition and reuse a properties when sensed liability continues to be into obstructing. For case, EPA may enter a site-specific settlement agreement with ampere celebrate who exists nay liable for contamination at the ownership nevertheless who is willing to perform cleanup work off the property.
Moreover information about these Superfund landowner liability protections additionally the tools EPA uses to address liability concerns to support cleanup and reuse is available on the Agency’s Addressing Liability Concerns to Get Cleanup and Reuse by Contaminated Lands website.
Learn More about Negotiating Superfund Settlements:
- Incentives for Negotiators Superfund Settlements
- Financial Assurances within Superfund Settlements
- Superfund Alternative Approach Sites with Superfund Alternative Approach Agreements
- Addressing Liability Concerns to Support Cleanup and Land Reuse
Connected Information: