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Releases Excluded From Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) Reporting
Quickfinder
Frequent Questions
- If a metal is released in solid form at or above its Reportable Quantity (RQ), is it considered a reportable release?
- Are certain types of releases specifically excluded from reporting requirements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)?
- Are any releases (in addition to the administratively exempted releases identified in question 53) specifically excluded from reporting requirements under Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) section 304?
- If a pesticide registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is accidentally spilled, must it be reported?
- What is the scope of the federally permitted release exemption?
If a metal is released in solid form at or above its Reportable Quantity (RQ), is it considered a reportable release?
The Agency allows exclusions for massive forms of certain metals (antimony, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, selenium, silver, thallium, and zinc) when the diameter of the released metal equals or exceeds 100 micrometers (0.004 inches). The Agency deliberately set the cutoff size 10 times larger than the maximum size considered by EPA to be respirable dust to ensure that the government would be notified of releases containing small, inhalable particles of metals.
Are certain types of releases specifically excluded from reporting requirements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)?
Exclusions from Definition of "Release"
CERCLA section 101(22) specifically excludes from the definition of release:
- Any release which results in exposure to persons solely within a workplace;
- Emissions from the engine exhaust of a motor vehicle, rolling stock, aircraft, vessel, or pipeline pumping station engine;
- Certain releases of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from a nuclear incident; and
- Normal application of fertilizers.
The definition of facility under CERCLA section 101(9) specifically excludes consumer products in consumer use. Releases from such products, therefore, are excluded from CERCLA reporting requirements.
Other Reporting Exemptions
Section 103 of CERCLA also exempts from CERCLA reporting requirements:
- Application of a pesticide product registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) or the handling or storage of such product by an agricultural producer;
- Release of a substance that is required to be reported (or exempted from reporting) under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C and has already been reported to the National Response Center (NRC) under the Subtitle C regulations; and
- Federally permitted releases (these are also exempted from liability). See Question 56 for further discussion of federally permitted releases.
Reporting Exemptions for Certain Radionuclide Releases
In a final rule to adjust the RQs for radionuclides (54 FR 22524), EPA established administrative reporting exemptions from CERCLA section 103 and EPCRA section 304 reporting requirements for four categories of radionuclide releases.
Are any releases (in addition to the administratively exempted releases) specifically excluded from reporting requirements under Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) section 304?
EPCRA section 304 exempts from State and local reporting releases that result in exposure to persons solely within the site or sites on which a facility is located. EPCRA defines "facility" differently from CERCLA. EPCRA defines "facility" as "...all buildings, equipment, structures, and other stationary items which are located on a single site or on contiguous or adjacent sites and which are owned or operated by the same person (or by any person which controls, is controlled by, or under common control with, such person). For purposes of section 304, the term includes motor vehicles, rolling stock, and aircraft..."
If a pesticide registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is accidentally spilled, must it be reported?
Yes. Accidents, spills, improper application, and improper disposal are within the scope of the release notification provisions of CERCLA and must be reported. EPA's interpretation of the pesticide exemption in CERCLA section 103 covers only the normal application of registered pesticides in ways that are consistent with the pesticides' purpose.
Releases Permitted Under Other Federal Programs
What is the scope of the federally permitted release exemption?
CERCLA section 101(10) defines federally permitted releases in terms of releases permitted under a number of other environmental statutes. Releases that are federally permitted are exempt not only from CERCLA section 103 and EPCRA section 304 notification requirements, but from CERCLA liability as well.