{
  "id": "RL31911",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31911",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101601,
      "date": "2003-05-08",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:45:53.923544",
      "title": "\"Innocent Landowners\" and \"Prospective Purchasers\" Under the Superfund Act",
      "summary": "The Superfund Act contains several mechanisms that eliminate or contain liability, or reduce\nliability-related transaction costs, normally incurred under the Act by persons that acquire\ncontaminated land. This report covers three of them. Two mechanisms use  innocent\nlandowner \nstatus -- \"innocent\" referring to a landowner's lack of actual or constructive knowledge on the date\nof site acquisition as to the presence of hazardous contamination there. The third is based on the\n bona fide prospective purchaser  concept, and is intended to encourage redevelopment\nof sites known\nat the time of acquisition to be contaminated.\n  The first innocent landowner mechanism uses that status to invoke the Superfund Act's\nthird-party defense to liability. One prerequisite is that the release of hazardous substances must\nhave been caused solely by a third party lacking a contractual relationship with the defendant. A\nlandowner is defined to lack a contractual relationship with predecessors in the chain of title if the\ndisposal of the hazardous substances on the site preceded acquisition by the owner and at the time\nof acquisition he/she did not know and had \"no reason to know\" that the hazardous substance had\nbeen disposed of there. \"No reason to know,\" in turn, means that before the date of acquisition,\nhe/she made \"all appropriate inquiry\" into conditions at the site and the history of site uses. In 2002,\nCongress enacted an important clarification of the meaning of \"all appropriate inquiry.\" The other\nprerequisite is that the landowner continued  after  acquisition to exercise due care, took\nprecautions\nagainst foreseeable acts of the third party, etc.\n  The second innocent landowner mechanism makes a current landowner identified by EPA as\npotentially liable eligible for a \"de minimis settlement\" with the agency. A de minimis settlement\nenables a landowner to settle early with EPA and thereby avoid protracted, expensive negotiations\nwith the agency and a myriad of other liable parties over the allocation of liability at the site. \nEligibility requires, among other things, that all appropriate inquiry was done by the owner prior to\nacquisition. This mechanism has not been used often.\n  The third mechanism aims not to exempt a landowner from liability, but to limit that liability\nprior to purchase. Its origin lies in the belief that Superfund liability may chill investment in real\nproperty that is known or feared to be contaminated (\"brownfields\"). In 1989, EPA offered in \"very\nlimited circumstances\" to enter into \"prospective purchaser agreements\" -- negotiated settlements\nwith would-be purchasers of land by which EPA covenanted not to sue. Congressional desire for\na less resource-intensive method of encouraging redevelopment of brownfields led to its creation in\n2002 of a new exemption from liability, for the \"bona fide prospective purchaser.\" Eligibility\nrequires that the person not impede the site cleanup, made all appropriate inquiry, etc. Some have\nurged that buyers of contaminated land pursue  both  prospective purchaser agreements\nwith EPA and\nbona fide prospective purchaser status, but EPA guidance states that the availability of the former\nis limited now.",
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      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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