225
(i) in the first sentence by inserting
‘‘the United States or’’ after ‘‘does not in-
clude’’;
(ii) in the second sentence, by insert-
ing ‘‘any department, agency, or instru-
mentality of the United States or’’ before
‘‘any State’’; and
(iii) in the second sentence, by strik-
ing ‘‘a’’ after ‘‘such’’ and inserting ‘‘de-
partment, agency, or instrumentality of the
United States or’’; and
(C) by adding after subparagraph (D) the
following new subparagraphs:
‘‘(E)(i) The term ‘owner or operator’ includes a
trust or estate or a person who holds title to a vessel
or facility, or otherwise is affiliated with the vessel
or facility solely in a fiduciary capacity. Subject to
clauses (ii) and (iii), a fiduciary holding such title or
having such affiliation shall be personally subject to
the obligations and liabilities of an owner or opera-
tor to the same extent as if the vessel or facility
were held by the fiduciary free of trust.
‘‘(ii) The personal obligations and liabilities of
a fidicuary referred to in clause (i) shall be limited
to the extent to which the assets of the trust or es-
226
tate are sufficient to indemnify the fiduciary, un-
less—
‘‘(I) the obligations and liabilities would
have arisen even if the person had not served
as fiduciary;
‘‘(II) the fiduciary’s own failure to exercise
due care with respect to a vessel or facility
caused or contributed to the release of hazard-
ous substances following establishment of the
trust, estate, or fiduciary relationship;
‘‘(III) the fiduciary had a role in establish-
ing the trust, estate, or fiduciary relationship,
and such trust, estate, or fiduciary relationship
has no objectively reasonable or substantial pur-
pose apart from the avoidance or limitation of
liability under this Act; or
‘‘(IV) the fiduciary has not complied with
such other requirements as the Administrator
may set forth by regulation.
‘‘(iii) A fiduciary shall not be personally liable
for undertaking or directing another to undertake a
response action under section 107(d)(1).
‘‘(F) The term ‘owner or operator’ shall not in-
clude the United States or any department, agency,
or instrumentality of the United States or a con-
227
servator or receiver appointed by a department,
agency, or instrumentality of the United States if
the United States or the conservator or receiver
meets both of the following conditions:
‘‘(i) The United States, conservator, or re-
ceiver acquired ownership or control of a vessel
or facility (or any right or interest therein)—
‘‘(I) in connection with the exercise of
receivership or conservatorship authority
or the liquidation or winding up of the af-
fairs of any entity subject to a receivership
or conservatorship, including any subsidi-
ary thereof; and
‘‘(II) in connection with the exercise
of any seizure or forfeiture authority.
‘‘(ii) The United States, conservator, or re-
ceiver does not participate in the management
of the vessel or facility operations that result in
a release or threat of release of hazardous sub-
stances and complies with such other require-
ments as the Administrator may set forth by
regulation.’’.
(4) Paragraph (23) (relating to the terms ‘‘re-
move’’ and ‘‘removal’’) is amended—
(A) in the first sentence—
228
(i) by striking ‘‘terms’’ and inserting
‘‘term’’;
(ii) by striking ‘‘necessary’’ the first
place it appears and inserting ‘‘nec-
essarily’’; and
(iii) by inserting after ‘‘environment,
such actions’’ the phrase ‘‘or combination
of such actions’’;
(B) in the second sentence by striking
‘‘term includes’’ and inserting ‘‘terms include’’;
and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘The term ‘remove’ or ‘removal’ is not limited
to emergency situations and includes actions to
address future or potential exposures.’’.
(5) Paragraph (25) (relating to the terms ‘‘re-
spond’’ and ‘‘response’’) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘‘terms’’ and inserting
‘‘term’’;
(B) by striking the comma after ‘‘remedial
action;’’; and
(C) by striking ‘‘related thereto’’ and in-
serting ‘‘(including attorneys’ fees and expert
witness fees) and oversight activities related
229
thereto when such activities are undertaken by
the President, a State or Indian Tribe’’.
(6) Paragraph (29) (relating to the terms ‘‘dis-
posal’’, ‘‘hazardous waste’’, and ‘‘treatment’’) is
amended by inserting before the period the follow-
ing: ‘‘, except that the term ‘hazardous substance’
shall be substituted for the term ‘hazardous waste’
in the definitions of ‘disposal’ and ‘treatment’ ’’.
(7) Paragraph (33) (relating to the term ‘‘pol-
lutant or contaminant’’) is amended by striking ‘‘;
except that the’’ and inserting ‘‘. The’’.
(8) Paragraph (35) (relating to the term ‘‘con-
tractual relationship’’) is amended—
(A) in subparagraph (A)—
(i) by striking out clause (iii); and
(ii) in the matter preceding clause (i),
by striking out ‘‘clause (i), (ii), or (iii)’’
and inserting ‘‘clause (i) or (ii)’’;
(B) by amending subparagraph (B) to read
as follows:
‘‘(B)(i) To establish that the defendant had no
reason to know, as provided in clause (i) of subpara-
graph (A) of this paragraph, the defendant must
have undertaken, at the time of the acquisition, all
appropriate inquiry into the previous ownership and
230
uses of the facility and its real property in accord-
ance with generally accepted good commercial and
customary standards and practices. For the pur-
poses of the preceding sentence and until the Ad-
ministrator issues or designates standards and prac-
tices as provided in clause (ii) of this subparagraph,
the court shall take into account any specialized
knowledge or experience on the part of the defend-
ant, the relationship of the purchase price to the
value of the property if uncontaminated, commonly
known or reasonably ascertainable information about
the property, the obviousness of the presence or like-
ly presence of contamination at the property, and
the ability to detect such contamination by appro-
priate investigation.
‘‘(ii) The Administrator may, by regulation,
promulgate standards and practices or, by regula-
tion, designate standards and practices promulgated
or developed by others, that satisfy the requirements
of this subparagraph. In issuing or designating such
standards and practices, the Administrator shall
consider factors for the inquiry, including the follow-
ing:
‘‘(I) Conduct of the inquiry by an environ-
mental professional.
232
‘‘(VI) Inclusion of a visual inspection of
the facility and its real property and of adjoin-
ing properties.
‘‘(VII) Any specialized knowledge or expe-
rience on the part of the defendant.
‘‘(VIII) The relationship of the purchase
price 
to 
the 
value 
of 
the 
property 
if
uncontaminated.
‘‘(IX) Commonly known or reasonably as-
certainable information about the property.
‘‘(X) The obviousness of the presence or
likely presence of contamination at the prop-
erty, and the ability to detect such contamina-
tion by appropriate investigation.
‘‘(iii) In the case of property for residential use
or other similar use, purchased by a nongovern-
mental or noncommercial entity, a site inspection
and title search that reveal no basis for further in-
vestigation satisfy the requirements of this subpara-
graph.’’; and
(C) By adding the following new subpara-
graph at the end thereof:
‘‘(E) The term ‘contractual relationship’ shall
not include the initial filing by a claimant of an
233
unpatented mining claim or the issuance of a patent
for any such claim.’’.
(9) The following new paragraphs are added
after paragraph (38):
‘‘(39) BONA FIDE PROSPECTIVE PURCHASER.—
The term ‘bona fide prospective purchaser’ means a
person who acquires ownership of a facility after the
date of enactment of the Superfund Reform Act of
1994, or a tenant of such a person, who can estab-
lish each of the following by a preponderance of the
evidence:
‘‘(A) All active disposal of hazardous sub-
stances at the facility occurred before that per-
son acquired the facility.
‘‘(B) The person made all appropriate in-
quiry into the previous ownership and uses of
the facility and its real property in accordance
with generally accepted good commercial and
customary standards and practices. The regula-
tions promulgated by the Administrator pursu-
ant to paragraph (35)(B)(ii) shall satisfy the
requirements of this subparagraph. In the case
of property for residential or other similar use,
purchased by a nongovernmental or non-
commercial entity, a site inspection and title
234
search that reveal no basis for further inves-
tigation satisfy the requirements of this sub-
paragraph.
‘‘(C) The person provided all legally re-
quired notices with respect to the discovery or
release of any hazardous substances at the fa-
cility.
‘‘(D) The person exercised appropriate
care with respect to hazardous substances
found at the facility by taking reasonable steps
to stop on-going releases, prevent threatened
future releases of hazardous substances, and
prevent or limit human or natural resource ex-
posure to hazardous substances previously re-
leased into the environment.
‘‘(E) The person provides full cooperation,
assistance, and facility access to persons au-
thorized to conduct response actions at the fa-
cility, including the cooperation and access nec-
essary for the installation, integrity, operation,
and maintenance of any complete or partial re-
sponse action at the facility.
‘‘(F) The person is not affiliated with any
other person liable for response costs at the fa-
cility, through any direct or indirect familial re-
235
lationship, or any contractual, corporate, or fi-
nancial relationship other than that created by
the instruments by which title to the facility is
conveyed or financed.
‘‘(40) FIDUCIARY.—
‘‘(A) Except as provided in subparagraph
(B), the term ‘fiduciary’ means a person who
owns or controls property—
‘‘(i) as a fiduciary within the meaning
of section 3(31) of the Employee Retire-
ment Income Security Act of 1974, or as
a trustee, executor, administrator, custo-
dian, guardian, conservator, or receiver
acting for the exclusive benefit of another
person; and
‘‘(ii) who has not previously owned or
operated the property in a non-fiduciary
capacity.
‘‘(B) The term ‘fiduciary’ does not include
any person described in subparagraph (A)—
‘‘(i) who acquires ownership or control
of property to avoid the liability of such
person or any other person under this Act;
or
236
‘‘(ii) who owns or controls property on
behalf of or for the benefit of a holder of
a security interest.
‘‘(41) MUNICIPAL
SOLID
WASTE.—The term
‘municipal solid waste’ means all waste materials
generated by households, including single and multi-
family residences, and hotels and motels. The term
also includes waste materials generated by commer-
cial, institutional, and industrial sources, to the ex-
tent such wastes (A) are essentially the same as
waste normally generated by households, or (B) are
collected and disposed of with other municipal solid
waste or sewage sludge as part of normal municipal
solid waste collection services, and, regardless of
when generated, would be considered conditionally
exempt small quantity generator waste under regula-
tion issued pursuant to section 3001(d) of the Solid
Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921(d)). Examples
of municipal solid waste include food and yard
waste, paper, clothing, appliances, consumer product
packaging, disposable diapers, office supplies, cos-
metics, glass and metal food containers, elementary
or secondary school science laboratory waste, and
household hazardous waste. The term does not in-
clude combustion ash generated by resource recovery
237
facilities or municipal incinerators, or waste from
manufacturing or processing (including pollution
control) operations not essentially the same as waste
normally generated by households.
‘‘(42) MUNICIPALITY.—The term ‘municipality’
means a political subdivision of a State, including a
city, county, village, town, township, borough, par-
ish, school district, sanitation district, water district,
or other public entity performing local governmental
functions. The term also includes a natural person
acting in the capacity of an official, employee, or
agent of any entity referred to in the preceding sen-
tence in the performance of governmental functions.
‘‘(43) QUALIFIED
HOUSEHOLD
HAZARDOUS
WASTE COLLECTION PROGRAM.—The term ‘qualified
household hazardous waste collection program’
means a program established by an entity of the
Federal Government, a State, a municipality, or an
Indian tribe that provides, at a minimum, for semi-
annual collection of household hazardous wastes at
accessible, well-publicized collection points within the
relevant jurisdiction.
‘‘(44) SEWAGE
SLUDGE.—The term ‘sewage
sludge’ means solid, semisolid, or liquid residue re-
moved during the treatment of municipal waste