Cleanup Enforcement

The Superfund Enforcement program gets Superfund sites cleaned up by finding the companies or people responsible for contamination at a site, and negotiating with them to do the clean up themselves, or to pay for the clean up done by another party (i.e., EPA, state, or other responsible parties).

Topics

Enforcement Authorities Enforcement Authorities		Negotiating Settlements Negotiating Settlements |More. . .
Liability Liability |Unique Parties | More. . .		Unilateral Orders Unilateral Orders
Finding PRPs Finding PRPs | Information Requests		Compliance/Penalties Compliance/Penalties
Notice Letters Notice Letters		Recovering Cleanup Costs Special Accounts | Parties in Bankruptcy | More...

If a responsible party does not agree to do the cleanup, EPA can issue an order to do certain work, or work with the Department of Justice to pursue the party through the federal court system.

If a party is out of compliance with an order or settlement, the Superfund enforcement program takes action to bring them into compliance. Such action may include:

• referring the case to the Department of Justice for enforcement,
• assessing penalties, and/or
• taking over the work.

In late 2009, EPA announced the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) to promote community involvement in Superfund and other waste programs. In May 2010, the Agency publicly issued an “Implementation Plan” for the initiative. The CEI Plan set forth 16 actions. Action 5 identified several measures that EPA would undertake to promote community engagement in enforcement activities stemming from EPA’s waste programs.

Visit EPA's Superfund program website for information on how EPA cleans up Superfund sites and administers the Superfund program.