Who's Liable Now?--New Federal Brownfields Legislation‪.‬

On January 11, 2002, President Bush signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (1) (the "Brownfields Amendments"). As its name suggests, the act provides relief to small businesses and funding for "brownfields"--"real property, the expansion, re-development, or re-use of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant." (2) The Brownfields Amendments also significantly amend certain liability-related provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation Liability Act ("CERCLA" or "Superfund"), (3) the environmental statute that dramatically changed the scope of liability for parties owning or dealing with contaminated properties. This article briefly provides background on CERCLA, and then discusses the Brownfields Amendments' liabilityrelated provisions, specifically, new exemptions for generators of waste, provisions for settlement by small businesses, clarifications relating to the innocent land owner exemption, new landowner exemptions and their limitations, and windfall liens. BACKGROUND