
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document affected by Public Law 107-118 Section 232]
[CITE: 42USC9605]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
  CHAPTER 103--COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE, COMPENSATION, AND 
                                LIABILITY
 
  SUBCHAPTER I--HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES RELEASES, LIABILITY, COMPENSATION
 
Sec. 9605. National contingency plan


(a) Revision and republication

    Within one hundred and eighty days after December 11, 1980, the 
President shall, after notice and opportunity for public comments, 
revise and republish the national contingency plan for the removal of 
oil and hazardous substances, originally prepared and published pursuant 
to section 1321 of title 33, to reflect and effectuate the 
responsibilities and powers created by this chapter, in addition to 
those matters specified in section 1321(c)(2) \1\ of title 33. Such 
revision shall include a section of the plan to be known as the national 
hazardous substance response plan which shall establish procedures and 
standards for responding to releases of hazardous substances, 
pollutants, and contaminants, which shall include at a minimum:
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    \1\ See References in Text note below.
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        (1) methods for discovering and investigating facilities at 
    which hazardous substances have been disposed of or otherwise come 
    to be located;
        (2) methods for evaluating, including analyses of relative cost, 
    and remedying any releases or threats of releases from facilities 
    which pose substantial danger to the public health or the 
    environment;
        (3) methods and criteria for determining the appropriate extent 
    of removal, remedy, and other measures authorized by this chapter;
        (4) appropriate roles and responsibilities for the Federal, 
    State, and local governments and for interstate and nongovernmental 
    entities in effectuating the plan;
        (5) provision for identification, procurement, maintenance, and 
    storage of response equipment and supplies;
        (6) a method for and assignment of responsibility for reporting 
    the existence of such facilities which may be located on federally 
    owned or controlled properties and any releases of hazardous 
    substances from such facilities;
        (7) means of assuring that remedial action measures are cost-
    effective over the period of potential exposure to the hazardous 
    substances or contaminated materials;
        (8)(A) criteria for determining priorities among releases or 
    threatened releases throughout the United States for the purpose of 
    taking remedial action and, to the extent practicable taking into 
    account the potential urgency of such action, for the purpose of 
    taking removal action. Criteria and priorities under this paragraph 
    shall be based upon relative risk or danger to public health or 
    welfare or the environment, in the judgment of the President, taking 
    into account to the extent possible the population at risk, the 
    hazard potential of the hazardous substances at such facilities, the 
    potential for contamination of drinking water supplies, the 
    potential for direct human contact, the potential for destruction of 
    sensitive ecosystems, the damage to natural resources which may 
    affect the human food chain and which is associated with any release 
    or threatened release, the contamination or potential contamination 
    of the ambient air which is associated with the release or 
    threatened release, State preparedness to assume State costs and 
    responsibilities, and other appropriate factors;
        (B) based upon the criteria set forth in subparagraph (A) of 
    this paragraph, the President shall list as part of the plan 
    national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases 
    throughout the United States and shall revise the list no less often 
    than annually. Within one year after December 11, 1980, and annually 
    thereafter, each State shall establish and submit for consideration 
    by the President priorities for remedial action among known releases 
    and potential releases in that State based upon the criteria set 
    forth in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. In assembling or 
    revising the national list, the President shall consider any 
    priorities established by the States. To the extent practicable, the 
    highest priority facilities shall be designated individually and 
    shall be referred to as the ``top priority among known response 
    targets'', and, to the extent practicable, shall include among the 
    one hundred highest priority facilities one such facility from each 
    State which shall be the facility designated by the State as 
    presenting the greatest danger to public health or welfare or the 
    environment among the known facilities in such State. A State shall 
    be allowed to designate its highest priority facility only once. 
    Other priority facilities or incidents may be listed singly or 
    grouped for response priority purposes;
        (9) specified roles for private organizations and entities in 
    preparation for response and in responding to releases of hazardous 
    substances, including identification of appropriate qualifications 
    and capacity therefor and including consideration of minority firms 
    in accordance with subsection (f) of this section; and
        (10) standards and testing procedures by which alternative or 
    innovative treatment technologies can be determined to be 
    appropriate for utilization in response actions authorized by this 
    chapter.

The plan shall specify procedures, techniques, materials, equipment, and 
methods to be employed in identifying, removing, or remedying releases 
of hazardous substances comparable to those required under section 
1321(c)(2)(F) and (G) and (j)(1) of title 33. Following publication of 
the revised national contingency plan, the response to and actions to 
minimize damage from hazardous substances releases shall, to the 
greatest extent possible, be in accordance with the provisions of the 
plan. The President may, from time to time, revise and republish the 
national contingency plan.

(b) Revision of plan

    Not later than 18 months after the enactment of the Superfund 
Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 [October 17, 1986], the 
President shall revise the National Contingency Plan to reflect the 
requirements of such amendments. The portion of such Plan known as ``the 
National Hazardous Substance Response Plan'' shall be revised to provide 
procedures and standards for remedial actions undertaken pursuant to 
this chapter which are consistent with amendments made by the Superfund 
Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 relating to the selection of 
remedial action.

(c) Hazard ranking system

                            (1) Revision

        Not later than 18 months after October 17, 1986, and after 
    publication of notice and opportunity for submission of comments in 
    accordance with section 553 of title 5, the President shall by rule 
    promulgate amendments to the hazard ranking system in effect on 
    September 1, 1984. Such amendments shall assure, to the maximum 
    extent feasible, that the hazard ranking system accurately assesses 
    the relative degree of risk to human health and the environment 
    posed by sites and facilities subject to review. The President shall 
    establish an effective date for the amended hazard ranking system 
    which is not later than 24 months after October 17, 1986. Such 
    amended hazard ranking system shall be applied to any site or 
    facility to be newly listed on the National Priorities List after 
    the effective date established by the President. Until such 
    effective date of the regulations, the hazard ranking system in 
    effect on September 1, 1984, shall continue in full force and 
    effect.

         (2) Health assessment of water contamination risks

        In carrying out this subsection, the President shall ensure that 
    the human health risks associated with the contamination or 
    potential contamination (either directly or as a result of the 
    runoff of any hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant from 
    sites or facilities) of surface water are appropriately assessed 
    where such surface water is, or can be, used for recreation or 
    potable water consumption. In making the assessment required 
    pursuant to the preceding sentence, the President shall take into 
    account the potential migration of any hazardous substance or 
    pollutant or contaminant through such surface water to downstream 
    sources of drinking water.

                    (3) Reevaluation not required

        The President shall not be required to reevaluate, after October 
    17, 1986, the hazard ranking of any facility which was evaluated in 
    accordance with the criteria under this section before the effective 
    date of the amendments to the hazard ranking system under this 
    subsection and which was assigned a national priority under the 
    National Contingency Plan.

                         (4) New information

        Nothing in paragraph (3) shall preclude the President from 
    taking new information into account in undertaking response actions 
    under this chapter.

(d) Petition for assessment of release

    Any person who is, or may be, affected by a release or threatened 
release of a hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant, may 
petition the President to conduct a preliminary assessment of the 
hazards to public health and the environment which are associated with 
such release or threatened release. If the President has not previously 
conducted a preliminary assessment of such release, the President shall, 
within 12 months after the receipt of any such petition, complete such 
assessment or provide an explanation of why the assessment is not 
appropriate. If the preliminary assessment indicates that the release or 
threatened release concerned may pose a threat to human health or the 
environment, the President shall promptly evaluate such release or 
threatened release in accordance with the hazard ranking system referred 
to in paragraph (8)(A) of subsection (a) of this section to determine 
the national priority of such release or threatened release.

(e) Releases from earlier sites

    Whenever there has been, after January 1, 1985, a significant 
release of hazardous substances or pollutants or contaminants from a 
site which is listed by the President as a ``Site Cleaned Up To Date'' 
on the National Priorities List (revised edition, December 1984) the 
site shall be restored to the National Priorities List, without 
application of the hazard ranking system.

(f) Minority contractors

    In awarding contracts under this chapter, the President shall 
consider the availability of qualified minority firms. The President 
shall describe, as part of any annual report submitted to the Congress 
under this chapter, the participation of minority firms in contracts 
carried out under this chapter. Such report shall contain a brief 
description of the contracts which have been awarded to minority firms 
under this chapter and of the efforts made by the President to encourage 
the participation of such firms in programs carried out under this 
chapter.

(g) Special study wastes

                           (1) Application

        This subsection applies to facilities--
            (A) which as of October 17, 1986, were not included on, or 
        proposed for inclusion on, the National Priorities List; and
            (B) at which special study wastes described in paragraph 
        (2), (3)(A)(ii) or (3)(A)(iii) of section 6921(b) of this title 
        are present in significant quantities, including any such 
        facility from which there has been a release of a special study 
        waste.

           (2) Considerations in adding facilities to NPL

        Pending revision of the hazard ranking system under subsection 
    (c) of this section, the President shall consider each of the 
    following factors in adding facilities covered by this section to 
    the National Priorities List:
            (A) The extent to which hazard ranking system score for the 
        facility is affected by the presence of any special study waste 
        at, or any release from, such facility.
            (B) Available information as to the quantity, toxicity, and 
        concentration of hazardous substances that are constituents of 
        any special study waste at, or released from such facility, the 
        extent of or potential for release of such hazardous 
        constituents, the exposure or potential exposure to human 
        population and the environment, and the degree of hazard to 
        human health or the environment posed by the release of such 
        hazardous constituents at such facility. This subparagraph 
        refers only to available information on actual concentrations of 
        hazardous substances and not on the total quantity of special 
        study waste at such facility.

                       (3) Savings provisions

        Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit the 
    authority of the President to remove any facility which as of 
    October 17, 1986, is included on the National Priorities List from 
    such List, or not to list any facility which as of such date is 
    proposed for inclusion on such list.

               (4) Information gathering and analysis

        Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to preclude the 
    expenditure of monies from the Fund for gathering and analysis of 
    information which will enable the President to consider the specific 
    factors required by paragraph (2).

(Pub. L. 96-510, title I, Sec. 105, Dec. 11, 1980, 94 Stat. 2779; Pub. 
L. 99-499, title I, Sec. 105, Oct. 17, 1986, 100 Stat. 1625.)

                       References in Text

    Section 1321(c)(2) of title 33, referred to in subsec. (a), was 
amended generally by Pub. L. 101-380, title IV, Sec. 4201(a), Aug. 18, 
1990, 104 Stat. 523. Prior to general amendment, subsec. (c)(2) related 
to preparation of a National Contingency Plan. Provisions relating to a 
National Contingency Plan are contained in section 1321(d) of Title 33, 
Navigation and Navigable Waters.
    Such amendments and the amendments made by the Superfund Amendments 
and Reauthorization Act of 1986, referred to in subsec. (b), are the 
amendments made by Pub. L. 99-499, Oct. 17, 1986, 100 Stat. 1613. For 
complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1986 
Amendment note set out under section 9601 of this title and Tables.


                               Amendments

    1986--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 99-499, Sec. 105(a)(1), designated 
existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added heading.
    Subsec. (a)(8)(A). Pub. L. 99-499, Sec. 105(a)(2), inserted ``the 
damage to natural resources which may affect the human food chain and 
which is associated with any release or threatened release, the 
contamination or potential contamination of the ambient air which is 
associated with the release or threatened release,'' after 
``ecosystems,''.
    Subsec. (a)(8)(B). Pub. L. 99-499, Sec. 105(a)(3), struck out ``at 
least four hundred of'' after ``To the extent practicable,'', 
substituted ``one hundred highest priority facilities'' for ``one 
hundred highest priority facilities at least'', and inserted ``A State 
shall be allowed to designate its highest priority facility only once.''
    Subsec. (a)(9). Pub. L. 99-499, Sec. 105(a)(4), inserted ``and 
including consideration of minority firms in accordance with subsection 
(f) of this section''.
    Subsec. (a)(10). Pub. L. 99-499, Sec. 105(a)(5), added par. (10).
    Subsecs. (b) to (g). Pub. L. 99-499, Sec. 105(b), added subsecs. (b) 
to (g).

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 9601, 9604, 9607, 9611, 
9616, 9620, 9622, 9626, 9651, 11003 of this title; title 26 sections 
198, 468; title 33 section 2701; title 49 sections 5102, 5115.
