Other Brownfields-Related Laws

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA)
Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund)

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) 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. More ...

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. RCRA also set forth a framework for the management of non-hazardous wastes. The 1986 amendments to RCRA enabled EPA to address environmental problems that could result from underground tanks storing petroleum and other hazardous substances. RCRA focuses only on active and future facilities and does not address abandoned or historical sites.

• RCRA Brownfields Prevention Initiative


• RCRA Brownfields Overview


• RCRA Brownfields Pilots


• RCRA Success Stories


• Corrective Action

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)

In 1977, Congress enacted the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to require banks, thrifts, and other lenders to make capital available in low- and moderate-income urban neighborhoods, thereby boosting the nation's efforts to stabilize these declining areas. Concern over potential environmental and financial liability for cleaning up these sites made lenders, developers, and property owners reluctant to finance redevelopment of these properties. Rather than reuse former urban industrial sites, businesses instead moved to suburban or rural "greenfields," which carry fewer perceived risks to development.

In January 1995, EPA announced its original Brownfields Action Agenda in response to the widespread economic development obstacles posed by urban brownfields. The (1995-1996) Brownfields Action Agenda encouraged a cooperative approach by EPA, lenders, and prospective purchasers to ease fears of financial liability and regulatory burdens. EPA has coordinated with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to create incentives within the CRA regulations for economic revitalization and development.

• Fact Sheet
  Publication Number: EPA 500-F-97-100
  [ HTML | PDF (8K) 2 Pages ]
  April 1997
• The Community Reinvestment Act: A Growing Tool for Brownfields Redevelopment
  [ PDF (1.63MB) 8 Pages ]
  Spring 2003

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)

The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) amended CERCLA. SARA reflects EPA's experience in adminstering the Superfund Program.

• The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA); 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq. (1986)

SARA summary | SARA full text