Uploaded September 2017 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
This was clipped from the 1982 film, Toxic Waste Discovered in Cecil County, one of several created by the EPA in the early 1980s to show the problem of abandoned hazardous waste sites and the work of the newly created (December 1980) Superfund program to investigate and cleanup these sites. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, was enacted by Congress on December 11, 1980. This law created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. Over the first five years, $1.6 billion was collected and the tax went to a trust fund for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. The Superfund law established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites; provided for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites; and established a trust fund to provide for cleanup when no responsible party could be identified. Superfund was reauthorized and expanded by Congress through the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) in 1986. For more on the Superfund Program, go to epa.gov/superfund/superfund-cercla-overview . The need to better protect cleanup workers at sites like these and during emergency responses led to the promulgation of OSHA’s Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (Hazwoper) standard in 1ate 1986 (osha.gov/SLTC/hazardouswaste/index.html ) and the creation of the NIEHS Worker trainer Program in 1988 (niehs.nih.gov/careers/hazmat/index.cfm ). Another film in this EPA series on the cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites, Denny Farm Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup 1980 US EPA, is posted to my YouTube channel.
This was clipped from the 1982 film, Toxic Waste Discovered in Cecil County, one of several created by the EPA in the early 1980s to show the problem of abandoned hazardous waste sites and the work of the newly created (December 1980) Superfund program to investigate and cleanup these sites. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, was enacted by Congress on December 11, 1980. This law created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. Over the first five years, $1.6 billion was collected and the tax went to a trust fund for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. The Superfund law established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites; provided for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites; and established a trust fund to provide for cleanup when no responsible party could be identified. Superfund was reauthorized and expanded by Congress through the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) in 1986. For more on the Superfund Program, go to epa.gov/superfund/superfund-cercla-overview . The need to better protect cleanup workers at sites like these and during emergency responses led to the promulgation of OSHA’s Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (Hazwoper) standard in 1ate 1986 (osha.gov/SLTC/hazardouswaste/index.html ) and the creation of the NIEHS Worker trainer Program in 1988 (niehs.nih.gov/careers/hazmat/index.cfm ). Another film in this EPA series on the cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites, Denny Farm Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup 1980 US EPA, is posted to my YouTube channel.
