The goal of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, better known as the
Superfund Act, is to clean up the nation's hazardous waste sites.
At least 40 states have statutes paralleling the Federal Superfund Act. Under some of these statutes-the "superlien statutes"-the state has a first-priority lien on the property of the party identified as responsible for cleanup costs incurred by the state.
The Federal Superfund Act imposes "joint and several" strict liability on hazardous-waste generators and transporters and on a broad range of persons who can be characterized under Superfund as past or present owners or operators of hazardous-waste sites.
Two papers deserve special emphasis: the overview/introductory paper of Lester and Davis and the review of judicial interpretations of the
Superfund Act by Grunbaum.
The $7 million civil penalty includes $3.5 million to be paid to the United States for violation of federal environmental laws, including the
Superfund Act, with another $3.5 million going to Missouri for violation of state statutes, including the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law.
And the citizen suit provisions of the Clean Air, Clean Water, Endangered Species, and
Superfund Acts gave Americans unprecedented power.
A feature shared by all state and federal
Superfund acts is a cause of action to allow the government to recover funds expended in remediation.