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Comfort/Status Letters Guidance

The Agency’s comfort/status letter policy provides recommendations and model letters for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regions to use when responding to parties interested in reusing and/or redeveloping contaminated, potentially contaminated, and formerly contaminated property (“impacted properties”).

In 2019, EPA issued a revised comfort/status letter policy, which provides the background and purpose of EPA issuance of Superfund comfort/status letters and describes the intended use of these letters under the authority of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Attached to the 2019 policy are four updated model comfort/status letters:

  • Federal Superfund Interest Comfort/Status Letter;
  • No Current Federal Superfund Interest Comfort/Status Letter;
  • No Previous Federal Superfund Interest Comfort/Status Letter; and
  • State Action Comfort/Status Letter.

In 2021, EPA issued a memorandum transmitting two updated model comfort/status letters – (a) RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative Comfort/Status Letter and (b) Federal Superfund Interest Comfort/Status Letter – and three new model comfort/status letters – (a) HUD Comfort/Status Letter; (b) Local Government Comfort/Status Letter; and (c) Property Status Letter – that are consistent with the 2019 policy memo.

EPA also has issued two other model comfort/status letters:

  • CERCLA § 107(r) Windfall Lien Federal Superfund Interest Letter and
  • Good Samaritan Comfort/Status Letter.

All current comfort/status letter model documents are available for download in Word format under the Comfort/Status Letters category of the Letters & Notices Model and Sample Documents Database.

  • Transmittal of the 2019 Policy on the Issuance of Superfund Comfort/Status Letters (pdf) (631.9 KB, 9/01/2019)
  • Transmittal of New and Updated Model Comfort/Status Letters (pdf) (1.5 MB, 9/30/2021)

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Last updated on September 16, 2024
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