THE COMPREHENSIVE Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), better known as Superfund, was passed in 1980 in the wake of widely publicized concerns over toxic spills and waste problems at Love Canal, Valley of the Drums, and other sites. Superfund was heralded as a vital environmental program that would protect the public health from the imminent and serious dangers of abandoned waste dumps and would do so at small cost to the taxpayer.