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In 1980, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).  CERCLA was intended to clean up abandoned or inactive hazardous waste sites.  Commonly known as “Superfund” in reference to a fund available for EPA investigation and remediation of sites created with taxes imposed by the federal government on major oil and chemical companies, CERCLA was substantially modified by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA).   With the exception of limited liability defenses and exemptions created in 2001 and 2002, CERCLA’s liability scheme as modified by SARA remains intact to this day. 

Under CERCLA, the EPA is given the authority and resources to clean up sites contaminated by releases of hazardous substances. EPA's priority is to identify responsible parties—those public and private entities that have caused contamination—and require them to investigate and clean up contaminated sites at their own expense.   

The EPA follows a detailed procedure to evaluate hazardous waste sites and ranks them according to the severity of risk to human health and the environment. The national priorities list (NPL) includes those sites that are deemed eligible for cleanup by Superfund.  NPL sites are the main focus of the Superfund Redevelopment Program.

A federal Superfund site generally describes an area contaminated by hazardous substances as defined by CERCLA that pose a threat to human health and the environment, where EPA may fund the cleanup of the site, work with the state to clean up the site, oversee cleanup by those responsible for the contamination, or some combination of the three approaches.  In contrast, the term "brownfield" is commonly used to describe the large majority of contaminated properties, which are generally less contaminated than federal Superfund sites.  Federal Superfund sites that are successfully de-listed may become eligible for EPA brownfields program funding or various state and federal redevelopment program funding.

Like many state cleanup or “state superfund” laws, EPA's Superfund Redevelopment Initiative (SRI) commits EPA and stakeholders to consider reasonably anticipated future land uses when making remedy decisions and Ready for Reuse (RFR) Determinations at Superfund hazardous waste sites.  Beneficial results of having future land use in mind during initial redevelopment stages include: protecting greenfields, minimizing infrastructure investments, encouraging infill development and open space preservation, and creating business and employment opportunities.  Currently, there are six types of Superfund site reuse categories under the SRI program: commercial, recreational, ecological, public service, residential, and agricultural.

On November 10, 2004, EPA announced a new phase of SRI, the "Return to Use" Initiative. The Initiative focuses on National Priorities List sites that were cleaned up before EPA's current emphasis on considering reuse during response activities. Many of these sites have remained vacant.  Returning these sites to beneficial use will provide local communities with valuable green space, recreational amenities, or commercial property. Removing the stigma associated with fenced and vacant Superfund sites may also increase local property values and the tax base.

There have been more than 240 Superfund site use success stories. Hundreds more are expected in the next few years.  Superfund site reuse helps to protect human health and the environment. It makes land productive again, improves aesthetics, and gives communities a new resource to enhance the ways they live, work, and play.