National Priority List

National Priority List in the United States

National Priority List (NPL) in Environmental Law

The federal list of hazardous waste sites, which is prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with input from the states, is ranked according to priority. Sites listed on the National Priority List are called Superfund sites because they are eligible for federal cleanup funds, and the law that drives the listing is nicknamed Superfund. See Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; Hazardous Ranking System; Superfund.

Not all hazardous waste sites are placed on the National Priority List only those that rank high enough to be considered a federal priority. States send their list of proposed sites to the EPA, which then evaluates them and chooses only the most serious sites for inclusion on the NPL. (The law requires the EPA to list at least one site from each state in the top 100 facilities.) For that reason, states often have their own lists to deal with sites not included on the NPL.

Listing is a long process that involves examination of many factors. The nearness of the site to human population, potential for drinking water impact, likelihood of direct exposure or airborne exposure, and toxicity of the substances at the site are among the factors considered. The EPA also considers whether the state has the capacity to assume the costs and take the actions required for cleaning up the site.

Before it lists a site, the EPA must provide public notice. Listing will diminish the value of the property itself as well as land values in the vicinity The potentially responsible parties or current owner may try to stop the listing by voluntarily cleaning up the property. The EPA must also provide public notice before it delists a site, ending its status as a Superfund site. Public involvement in the decision to take a site off the National Priority List is critical, since delisting ends federal government scrutiny of the site.
Based on “Environment and the Law. A Dictionary”.


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