HOW DOES IT WORK?

In 1980, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund.  This law placed clean-up taxes on the chemical and petroleum industries, and provided federal authority to respond directly to releases, or threatened releases of hazardous substances that endanger the public health or the environment.  The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is responsible for implementing Superfund.  By 1985, $1.6 billion in industry taxes was collected in a trust fund to cleanup abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.  On October 17, 1986, the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) became law.  SARA increased the trust fund to $8.5 billion and strengthened EPA's authority to conduct clean-up and enforcement activities and made Tribes eligible for state-level funding.


Under the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), the USEPA can:

· Pay for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites when those responsible for the waste cannot be found, or are financially unable to cleanup the site.
· Take legal action to force those responsible for hazardous waste to clean-up the site.

In October 1988, the Navajo Nation was designated a State Agency and was the first Indian Nation (Tribe) to be awarded USEPA grant funds from USEPA Region 6, through a Superfund Memorandum of Agreement.  The Navajo Superfund Program (NSP) was given the primary responsibility of managing clean-up and enforcement activities; and selecting, initiating, and implementing Navajo Nation response actions.  The NSP currently receives grant funds from USEPA Region 9, to carry out the following:

SITE DISCOVERY:
The Superfund process begins when potential hazardous waste sites are discovered.  Site discoveries may involve referrals from other tribal departments, programs, outside agencies (USEPA, BIA, and IHS), and results from complaints by affected communities, or by accidental discovery when NSP is out in the field.  The NSP inventories and prioritizes the sites to initiate site assessments on the worst sites.