Who Pays for Superfund Cleanup?
Superfund cleanup is either paid for by the people and businesses responsible for contamination or by the Superfund trust fund. Under the Superfund law, EPA is able to make those companies and individuals responsible for contamination at a Superfund site perform, and pay for, the cleanup work at the site. EPA negotiates with the responsible parties to get them to pay for the plans and the work that has to be done to clean up the site. If an agreement cannot be reached, EPA issues orders to responsible parties to make them clean up the site under EPA supervision. Superfund ensures that the parties responsible for the pollution pay to fix the problems they created. EPA may also use Superfund trust fund money to pay for cleanup costs, then attempt to get the money back through legal action.
