What is CERCLA, the Superfund law?
CERCLA, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, is the federal Superfund law. It lets EPA clean up contaminated sites and make responsible parties pay, including current owners.
In more detail
CERCLA liability is strict (fault doesn't matter), can be joint and several (one party can be on the hook for all of it), and reaches back to before the law existed.
Current owners can be liable just for owning the property. That is why buyers do All Appropriate Inquiries: it is the path to the bona fide prospective purchaser, contiguous property owner and innocent landowner defenses.
The worst sites go on the National Priorities List, the list most people mean by "Superfund sites". There are more than 1,300 of them.
What it means when you buy
Know whether the property or a neighbor is on a federal or state cleanup list before you buy, and do a full Phase I if there's any chance you'll need the defenses.
How the pre-screen handles it
The pre-screen checks federal Superfund and state cleanup lists around the site and shows each one's distance and status.
Pre-screen a property before you spend on a Phase I
A desk review of one address: past uses from historical photos and maps, federal and state environmental records, and flood risk, ready usually within the hour. $100 for one report, or $100/month for 3.