Superfund Case - Liability Act of 1980

Superfund

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 better known as Superfund, is a program that was launched to deal with deserted hazardous waste sites. The program was originated due to the fact that dump sites for toxic wastes were being found back in the 1970's, such as the Love Canal. The Love Canal was a waste cite that had been covered up and development had started taken place in surrounding areas, schools, houses, etc. The covered site begins to collapse and the contents beneath the surface were barrels of toxic waste. The community became upset because then health issues started to occur, such as birth defects and miscarriages. The Superfund permits the EPA to not only clean up these hazardous sites but to make whomever is responsible either help with the cleaning endeavor or pay the government back for the services.

Superfund operates like this; priorities are set due to not enough resources. So they set a prioritized system. Once a site is found, then the groundwater and waste is tested to see if there are any threats either existing or possible. If no immediate threat is found, or no contamination to the groundwater, then nothing else may possibly be done. Now if a threat is found and it is to human health then practical steps are taken. Short-term implements may be done; an example would be digging a deep trench around the site. If things have progressed and the contaminated groundwater has reached wells, then remediation measures begin instantly. Now the sites that are the most severe are added on the National Priorities List, the cheapest method is figured out, and a complete cleanup is arranged.

To my amazement there are close to fifty Superfund sites in my state, which is North Carolina. While looking over the list there is one at my old alma mater N.C. State, which is only an hour away from my current city. That is truly surprising for me so I decided to research this site due to its direct connection to me.

The site is Lot #86 farm unit #1. It is located north of the