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The Birth of Superfund (continued)
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Congress Creates a "Superfund" to Deal with Hazardous Wastes
The range of problems explored by Congress was addressed by Senator Robert Stafford (R-Vermont) when the Environment and Public Works Committee held its first hearing in 1979 on the possible dangers posed by toxic waste sites:
If these hearings were to deal only with Love Canal or Toone, Tennessee, we would be neglecting the radium sites in Denver. And if we were to deal with the Denver sites as well, we would still be neglecting PCBs in the Hudson River and PBBs in Michigan. If we restrict ourselves to just waste, we will leave a large gap because in the chemical business one man's meat is literally another man's poison. Waste from one company is feedstock to another. What we must explore is the entirety of how and why toxics are entering the environment, whether they are injuring people, and if so, how. Then we must decide whether there should be a scheme to compensate victims, and if so, for what injuries.
Workers move drums of toxic waste
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held 11 days of hearings in 1979. In the House, two separate committees held hearings and proposed separate bills for dealing with different aspects of the larger hazardous substances problem. On September 19, 1980, after often-contentious negotiations, the House passed a bill proposing a "superfund" to deal primarily with chemical emergencies.
The Senate meanwhile developed its own "superfund" bill to deal with emergencies, but which also allowed injured parties to sue in Federal court for damages. This bill languished in the Senate until after the 1980 Presidential elections. In November, Senator Stafford introduced an amended proposal. It was a version of this proposal that was eventually enacted.
s On December 11, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the new Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA or Superfund). Calling it "landmark in its scope and in its impact on preserving the environmental quality of our country," President Carter stated that it "fills a major gap in the existing laws of our country."