Petroleum Exclusion

The Superfund law, CERCLA (see CERCLA Overview) specifically excludes petroleum from its statutay provisions including the Superfund reporting requirements. In particular, the law does not address releases of petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof that is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under the Superfund law, as well as natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquified natural gas, or synthetic gas usable for fuel mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic gas. A seperate set of Oil Spill Reporting Requirements apply under the Clean Water Act.