Digest of Federal Resource Laws of Interest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (Superfund)

The 1980 statute authorized, through 1985, the collection of taxes on crude oil and petroleum products, certain chemicals, and hazardous wastes. It also established liability to the U.S. Government for damage to natural resources over which the U.S. has sovereign rights [42 U.S.C. 9607(f)(1)] and requires the President to designate Federal officials to act as trustees for natural resources. Use of Superfund monies to conduct natural resource damage assessments was provided in section 11(c)(1) [42 U.S.C. 9611 (c)(1)].

Subchapter I of the 1983 amendments established a comprehensive system to react to releases of hazardous substances and to determine liability and compensation for those affected (42 U.S.C. 9601-9626). The President is authorized to notify Federal and State natural resource trustees of potential damages to natural resources and to coordinate related assessments [42 U.S.C. 9604 (b)(2)]. Revisions to the national contingency plan for removal of oil and hazardous substances and to prioritize such releases were required by the 1983 amendments [42 U.S.C. 9605(a)].

Amendments enacted in 1986 (known as the Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act, or SARA):

• listed conditions under which a facility or vessel owner may be authorized by the President to conduct remedial or removal actions for the release of hazardous substances (42 U.S.C. 9604);

• added effects on natural resources as a criterion for determining facilities to be placed on the National Priorities List, and required the National Contingency Plan to be revised to incorporate a Hazard Ranking System (42 U.S.C. 9605);

• mandated the designation of Federal officials to act as trustees for natural resources and to assess damages and injury to, as well as destruction of, or loss of, natural resources (42 U.S.C. 9607);

• stipulated that Superfund monies may only be used for natural resource damage claims if all administrative and judicial remedies to recover costs from liable parties have been exhausted (42 U.S.C. 9611);

• provided that claims cannot be made to recover for natural resource damages unless the claim is presented within three years after discovering the loss (42 U.S.C. 9612);

• added a new section to clarify that Federal facilities are subject to the same cleanup requirements and liability standards as non-governmental entities (42 U.S.C. 9620);

• specified that no Federal permits are required for remedial action conducted entirely on-site when such actions comply with the cleanup standards (42 U.S.C. 9604);

• required that Federal trustees be notified of any settlement negotiations regarding damages to natural resources, and established circumstances under which Federal trustees may agree not to sue for natural resource damages (42 U.S.C. 9607); and

• eliminated the authorization for use of Superfund monies to conduct damage assessments -- section 517 of SARA, codified at 26 U.S.C. 9507(c), and reinforced by section 531 of SARA.

The Department of the Interior is a trustee for natural resources, and the Service is responsible for the protection and restoration of trust resources injured by uncontrolled releases of hazardous materials. The Service is responsible for conducting assessments to establish injury and the dollar equivalent of that injury for collection of damages from parties responsible for releasing hazardous materials.

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