EPA ENFORCEMENT OF CERCLA: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW AND RECENT TRENDS

Abstract

This article traces the historical development of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) against potentially responsible parties (PRPs) by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It considers the various ways in which EPA’s hazardous waste site enforcement evolved and changed — from the Agency’s earliest efforts to force hazardous waste site cleanups prior to CERCLA’s passage through the end of the presidency of George W. Bush. It also describes and assays trends in EPA CERCLA enforcement during the Barack Obama administration.