Cleanup Enforcement

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) provides a system to safely manage solid and hazardous waste. When solid or hazardous waste is not properly managed and contamination results at RCRA-regulated facilities, the RCRA Corrective Action program monitors and regulates the cleanup of the contamination.

RCRA also regulates underground storage tanks (USTs) that store hazardous substances and petroleum products. When hazardous substances or petroleum products leak from USTs, the UST cleanup program monitors and regulates the cleanup.

The RCRA cleanup enforcement program gets contamination at RCRA facilities cleaned up by negotiating with the facility owner and/or operator to do the clean up themselves, or to pay for the clean up done by another party. EPA may compel an owner and or operator to cleanup a site by:

• enforcing the cleanup requirements in the facility’s operating permit,
• negotiating a cleanup agreement with the facility, or
• issuing a corrective action (cleanup) order to the facility.

Topics

Corrective Action Corrective Action Enforcement Enforcement Authorities Enforcing Permit Violations Types of Enforcement Actions Approaches to Enforcement National Enforcement Strategy for Corrective Action (NESCA)

Underground Storage Tanks Underground Storage Tanks Cleanup Enforcement Enforcement Authorities Types of Enforcement Actions and Tools LUST Trust Fund and Cost Recovery

For information on how EPA administers:

• The RCRA Corrective Action program, visit EPA's Corrective Action website;
• The Underground Storage Tanks program, visit EPA’s UST website; and