[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 24]
[Revised as of January 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR300.510]

[Page 85-86]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 300--NATIONAL OIL AND HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES POLLUTION CONTINGENCY PLAN--Table of Contents
 
      Subpart F--State Involvement in Hazardous Substance Response
 
Sec. 300.510  State assurances.

    (a) A Fund-financed remedial action undertaken pursuant to CERCLA 
section 104(a) cannot proceed unless a state provides its applicable 
required assurances. The assurances must be provided by the state prior 
to the initiation of remedial action pursuant to a Superfund state 
contract for EPA-lead (or political subdivision-lead) remedial action or 
pursuant to a cooperative agreement for a state-lead remedial action. 
The SMOA may not be used for this purpose. Federally recognized Indian 
tribes are not required to provide CERCLA section 104(c)(3) assurances 
for Fund-financed response actions. Further requirements pertaining to 
state, political subdivision, and federally recognized Indian tribe 
involvement in CERCLA response are found in 40 CFR part 35, subpart O.
    (b)(1) The state is not required to share in the cost of state- or 
EPA-lead Fund-financed removal actions (including remedial planning 
activities associated with remedial actions) conducted pursuant to 
CERCLA section 104 unless the facility was operated by the state or a 
political subdivision thereof at the time of disposal of hazardous 
substances therein and a remedial action is ultimately undertaken at the 
site. Such remedial planning activities include, but are not limited to, 
remedial investigations (RIs), feasibility studies (FSs), and remedial 
design (RD). States shall be required to share 50 percent, or greater, 
in the cost of all Fund-financed response actions if the facility was 
publicly operated at the time of the disposal of hazardous substances. 
For other facilities, except federal facilities, the state shall be 
required to share 10 percent of the cost of the remedial action.
    (2) CERCLA section 104(c)(5) provides that EPA shall grant a state 
credit for reasonable, documented, direct, out-of-pocket, non-federal 
expenditures subject to the limitations specified in CERCLA section 
104(c)(5). For a state to apply credit toward its cost share, it must 
enter into a cooperative agreement or Superfund state contract. The 
state must submit as soon as possible, but no later than at the time 
CERCLA section 104 assurances are provided for a remedial action, its 
accounting of eligible credit expenditures for EPA verification. 
Additional credit requirements are contained in 40 CFR part 35, subpart 
O.
    (3) Credit may be applied to a state's future cost share 
requirements at NPL sites for response expenditures or obligations 
incurred by the state or a political subdivision from January 1, 1978

[[Page 86]]

to December 11, 1980, and for the remedial action expenditures incurred 
only by the state after October 17, 1986.
    (4) Credit that exceeds the required cost share at the site for 
which the credit is granted may be transferred to another site to offset 
a state's required remedial action cost share.
    (c)(1) Prior to a Fund-financed remedial action, the state must also 
provide its assurance in accordance with CERCLA section 104(c)(3)(A) to 
assume responsibility for operation and maintenance of implemented 
remedial actions for the expected life of such actions. In addition, 
when appropriate, as part of the O&M assurance, the state must assure 
that any institutional controls implemented as part of the remedial 
action at a site are in place, reliable, and will remain in place after 
the initiation of O&M. The state and EPA shall consult on a plan for 
operation and maintenance prior to the initiation of a remedial action.
    (2) After a joint EPA/State inspection of the implemented Fund-
financed remedial action under Sec. 300.515(g), EPA may share, for any 
extension period established in Sec. 300.435(f)(2), in the cost of the 
operation of the remedy to ensure that the remedy is operational and 
functional. In the case of restoration of ground or surface water, EPA 
shall share in the cost of the State's operation of ground- or surface-
water restoration remedial actions as specified in Sec. 300.435(f)(3).
    (d) In accordance with CERCLA sections 104 (c)(3)(B) and 121(d)(3), 
if the remedial action requires off-site storage, destruction, 
treatment, or disposal, the state must provide its assurance before the 
remedial action begins on the availability of a hazardous waste disposal 
facility that is in compliance with CERCLA section 121(d)(3) and is 
acceptable to EPA.
    (e)(1) In accordance with CERCLA section 104(c)(9), EPA shall not 
provide any remedial action pursuant to CERCLA section 104 until the 
state in which the release occurs enters into a cooperative agreement or 
Superfund state contract with EPA providing assurances deemed adequate 
by EPA that the state will assure the availability of hazardous waste 
treatment or disposal facilities which:
    (i) Have adequate capacity for the destruction, treatment, or secure 
disposition of all hazardous wastes that are reasonably expected to be 
generated within the state during the 20-year period following the date 
of such cooperative agreement or Superfund state contract and to be 
destroyed, treated, or disposed;
    (ii) Are within the state, or outside the state in accordance with 
an interstate agreement or regional agreement or authority;
    (iii) Are acceptable to EPA; and
    (iv) Are in compliance with the requirements of Subtitle C of the 
Solid Waste Disposal Act.
    (2) This rule does not address whether or not Indian tribes are 
states for purposes of this paragraph (e).
    (f) EPA may determine that an interest in real property must be 
acquired in order to conduct a response action. However, as provided in 
CERCLA section 104(j)(2), EPA may acquire an interest in real estate in 
order to conduct a remedial action only if the State in which the 
interest to be acquired is located provides assurances, through a 
contract, cooperative agreement or otherwise, that the State will accept 
transfer of the interest upon completion of the remedial action. For 
purposes of this paragraph, ``completion of the remedial action'' is the 
point at which operation and maintenance (O&M) measures would be 
initiated pursuant to Sec. 300.435(f). The State may accept a transfer 
of interest at an earlier point in time if agreed upon in writing by the 
State and EPA. Indian tribe assurances are to be provided as set out at 
40 CFR part 35, subpart O, Sec. 35.6110(b)(2).

[55 FR 8853, Mar. 8, 1990, as amended at 59 FR 35854, July 14, 1994]