Liability and RCRA Sites

When RCRA sites, or portions of RCRA sites, are being sold or transferred to new owners for reuse, questions of liability for any further cleanup actions often arise. In some instances, States have issued "comfort letters," identifying cleanup and liability issues at RCRA sites. Another vehicle related to liability that has been used at CERCLA sites is a prospective
purchaser agreement (PPA). EPA has issued three PPAs at RCRA sites. In other cases, permits have been modified to relieve purchasers of corrective action liability (e.g., by removing portions of the facility to be sold from the RCRA permit). The documents below discuss various tools that can be used to address liability concerns and facilitate cleanup at RCRA sites.

RCRA Items

• Memorandum - Prospective Purchaser Agreements and Other
  Tools to Facilitate Cleanup and Reuse of RCRA Sites
  [ PDF (3.7 MB) 4 Pages ]
  April 8, 2003
  Attachment
  [ PDF (3.5 MB) 2 Pages ]
  May 9, 2002



• Memorandum - The HWIR-media Rule Promotes Revitalization by Speeding Cleanups
  [ PDF (1MB) 1 Page ]
  November 7, 2002
  Fact Sheet Attachment
  [ PDF (54K) 2 Pages | HTML (19K) ]



• Memo on Comfort Letters at RCRA Sites
  [ PDF (926K) 14 Pages ]
• The PPA related to Genicom
  [ PDF (263K) 55 Pages]

Region 3 provides copies of examples of "no further action letters," Statements of Basis and the PPA related to the Genicom facility on its website: http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/ca/ca_resources.htm#

CERCLA items

Information on Superfund Comfort Letters http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/html-doc/comfplcy.htm

Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative webpage information on Comfort Letters http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/liab.htm#cl

Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative information on policy in issuing Comfort Letters http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/liab.htm#ci

Information on Superfund Prospective Purchaser Agreements http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/pdf/purchase.pdf

Guidance on Agreements with Prospective Purchasers of Contaminated Property (May 1995) http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/liab.htm#ap

Information on Federal Facilities Comfort Letter http://www.epa.gov/swerffrr/documents/comfortr.htm