COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE, COMPENSATION, AND LIABILITY/
CERCLA
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US CODE: TITLE 42,9601. DEFINITIONS
TITLE 42 - THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE/CHAPTER 103 - COMPREHENSIVE
ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE, COMPENSATION, AND LIABILITY/SUBCHAPTER I -
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES RELEASES, LIABILITY, COMPENSATION
TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 103 > SUBCHAPTER I > § 9601 Prev | Next
§ 9601. Definitions
(6) The term “damages” means damages for injury or loss of natural resources as set forth in
section 9607 (a) or 9611 (b) of this title.
(8) The term “environment” means
(A) the navigable waters, the waters of the contiguous zone, and the ocean waters of which
the natural resources are under the exclusive management authority of the United States
under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act [16 U.S.C. 1801 et
seq.], and
(B) any other surface water, ground water, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface
strata, or ambient air within the United States or under the jurisdiction of the United States.
(9) The term “facility” means
(A) any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline (including any pipe into a
sewer or publicly owned treatment works), well, pit, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill,
storage container, motor vehicle, rolling stock, or aircraft, or
(B) any site or area where a hazardous substance has been deposited, stored, disposed of,
or placed, or otherwise come to be located; but does not include any consumer product in
consumer use or any vessel.
(14) The term “hazardous substance” means
(A) any substance designated pursuant to section 311(b)(2)(A) of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act [33 U.S.C. 1321 (b)(2)(A)],
(B) any element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance designated pursuant to section
9602 of this title,
(C) any hazardous waste having the characteristics identified under or listed pursuant to
section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act [42 U.S.C. 6921] (but not including any waste
the regulation of which under the Solid Waste Disposal Act [42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.] has been
suspended by Act of Congress),
(D) any toxic pollutant listed under section 307(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
[33 U.S.C. 1317 (a)],
(E) any hazardous air pollutant listed under section 112 of the Clean Air Act [42 U.S.C. 7412],
and
(F) any imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture with respect to which the
Administrator has taken action pursuant to section 7 of the Toxic Substances Control Act [15
U.S.C. 2606]. The term does not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof
which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under
subparagraphs (A) through (F) of this paragraph, and the term does not include natural gas,
natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas, or synthetic gas usable for fuel (or mixtures of
natural gas and such synthetic gas).
(22) The term “release” means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying,
discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment
(including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles
containing any hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant), but excludes
(A) any release which results in exposure to persons solely within a workplace, with respect to
a claim which such persons may assert against the employer of such persons,
(B) emissions from the engine exhaust of a motor vehicle, rolling stock, aircraft, vessel, or
pipeline pumping station engine,
(C) release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from a nuclear incident, as those
terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 [42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.], if such release is
subject to requirements with respect to financial protection established by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission under section 170 of such Act [42 U.S.C. 2210], or, for the purposes
of section 9604 of this title or any other response action, any release of source byproduct, or
special nuclear material from any processing site designated under section 7912 (a)(1) or
7942 (a) of this title, and
(D) the normal application of fertilizer.
(23) The terms “remove” or “removal” means [3] the cleanup or removal of released
hazardous substances from the environment, such actions as may be necessary taken in the
event of the threat of release of hazardous substances into the environment, such actions as
may be necessary to monitor, assess, and evaluate the release or threat of release of
hazardous substances, the disposal of removed material, or the taking of such other actions
as may be necessary to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare
or to the environment, which may otherwise result from a release or threat of release. The
term includes, in addition, without being limited to, security fencing or other measures to limit
access, provision of alternative water supplies, temporary evacuation and housing of
threatened individuals not otherwise provided for, action taken under section 9604 (b) of this
title, and any emergency assistance which may be provided under the Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act [42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.].
(29) The terms “disposal”, “hazardous waste”, and “treatment” shall have the meaning
provided in section 1004 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act [42 U.S.C. 6903].
(33) The term “pollutant or contaminant” shall include, but not be limited to, any element,
substance, compound, or mixture, including disease-causing agents, which after release into
the environment and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism,
either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will or may
reasonably be anticipated to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic
mutation, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions in reproduction) or physical
deformations, in such organisms or their offspring; except that the term “pollutant or
contaminant” shall not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which is
not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under
subparagraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (14) and shall not include natural gas, liquefied
natural gas, or synthetic gas of pipeline quality (or mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic
gas).
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