- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) : A Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) is enacted in 1980 and nicknamed Superfund, this law provides the authority through which the Federal government can compel people or companies responsible for creating hazardous waste sites to clean them up. It also created a public trust fund, known as the Superfund, to assist with the cleanup of inactive and abandoned hazardous waste sites or accidentally spilled or illegally dumped hazardous materials.