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Comfort/Status Letters Guidance

The Agency’s comfort/status letter policy provides recommendations and model letters for 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 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (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 were four model documents. The 2019 policy memorandum was issued 8/21/2019.

In September 2021, EPA issued a memorandum transmitting three new and two updated model comfort/status letters that are consistent with the 2019 policy memo. The 2021 memorandum was issued September 30, 2021.

All current comfort/status letter model documents are available for download in Word format under the the comfort letter category of the Cleanup Enforcement Model Language and Sample Documents Database.

  • Transmittal of the 2019 Policy on the Issuance of Superfund Comfort/Status Letters (pdf) (631.87 KB)
  • Transmittal of New and Updated Model Comfort/Status Letters (pdf) (1.53 MB, 9/30/2021)
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Last updated on September 14, 2022
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