property not owned or operated by the
person.
‘‘(B) DEMONSTRATION.—To qualify as a
person described in subparagraph (A), a person
must establish by a preponderance of the evi-
dence that the conditions in clauses (i) through
(viii) of subparagraph (A) have been met.
‘‘(C) BONA
FIDE
PROSPECTIVE
PUR-
CHASER.—Any person that does not qualify as
a person described in this paragraph because
the person had, or had reason to have, knowl-
edge specified in subparagraph (A)(viii) at the
time of acquisition of the real property may
qualify as a bona fide prospective purchaser
under section 101(40) if the person is otherwise
described in that section.
‘‘(D) GROUND WATER.—With respect to a
hazardous substance from 1 or more sources
that are not on the property of a person that
is a contiguous property owner that enters
ground water beneath the property of the per-
son solely as a result of subsurface migration in
an aquifer, subparagraph (A)(iii) shall not re-
quire the person to conduct ground water inves-
tigations or to install ground water remediation
systems, except in accordance with the policy of
the Environmental Protection Agency con-
cerning owners of property containing contami-
nated aquifers, dated May 24, 1995.
‘‘(2) EFFECT OF LAW.—With respect to a per-
son described in this subsection, nothing in this
subsection—
‘‘(A) limits any defense to liability that
may be available to the person under any other
provision of law; or
‘‘(B) imposes liability on the person that is
not otherwise imposed by subsection (a).
‘‘(3) ASSURANCES.—The Administrator may—
‘‘(A) issue an assurance that no enforce-
ment action under this Act will be initiated
against a person described in paragraph (1);
and
‘‘(B) grant a person described in para-
graph (1) protection against a cost recovery or
contribution action under section 113(f).’’.
SEC. 222. PROSPECTIVE PURCHASERS AND WINDFALL
LIENS.
(a) DEFINITION OF BONA FIDE PROSPECTIVE PUR-
CHASER.—Section 101 of the Comprehensive Environ-
mental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601) (as amended by section 211(a) of
this Act) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(40) BONA FIDE PROSPECTIVE PURCHASER.—
The term ‘bona fide prospective purchaser’ means a
person (or a tenant of a person) that acquires own-
ership of a facility after the date of enactment of
this paragraph and that establishes each of the fol-
lowing by a preponderance of the evidence:
‘‘(A) DISPOSAL PRIOR TO ACQUISITION.—
All disposal of hazardous substances at the fa-
cility occurred before the person acquired the
facility.
‘‘(B) INQUIRIES.—
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The person made
all appropriate inquiries into the previous
ownership and uses of the facility in ac-
cordance with generally accepted good
commercial and customary standards and
practices in accordance with clauses (ii)
and (iii).
‘‘(ii) STANDARDS AND PRACTICES.—
The standards and practices referred to in
clauses (ii) and (iv) of paragraph (35)(B)
shall be considered to satisfy the require-
ments of this subparagraph.
‘‘(iii) RESIDENTIAL USE.—In the case
of property in residential or other similar
use at the time of purchase by a non-
governmental or noncommercial entity, a
facility inspection and title search that re-
veal no basis for further investigation shall
be considered to satisfy the requirements
of this subparagraph.
‘‘(C) NOTICES.—The person provides all
legally required notices with respect to the dis-
covery or release of any hazardous substances
at the facility.
‘‘(D) CARE.—The person exercises appro-
priate care with respect to hazardous sub-
stances found at the facility by taking reason-
able steps to—
‘‘(i) stop any continuing release;
‘‘(ii) prevent any threatened future re-
lease; and
‘‘(iii) prevent or limit human, environ-
mental, or natural resource exposure to
any previously released hazardous sub-
stance.
‘‘(E) COOPERATION, ASSISTANCE, AND AC-
CESS.—The person provides full cooperation,
assistance, and access to persons that are au-
thorized to conduct response actions or natural
resource restoration at a vessel or facility (in-
cluding the cooperation and access necessary
for the installation, integrity, operation, and
maintenance of any complete or partial re-
sponse actions or natural resource restoration
at the vessel or facility).
‘‘(F) 
INSTITUTIONAL
CONTROL.—The
person—
‘‘(i) is in compliance with any land
use restrictions established or relied on in
connection with the response action at a
vessel or facility; and
‘‘(ii) does not impede the effectiveness
or integrity of any institutional control em-
ployed at the vessel or facility in connec-
tion with a response action.
‘‘(G) REQUESTS; SUBPOENAS.—The person
complies with any request for information or
administrative subpoena issued by the President
under this Act.
‘‘(H) NO
AFFILIATION.—The person is
not—
‘‘(i) potentially liable, or affiliated
with any other person that is potentially
liable, for response costs at a facility
through—
‘‘(I) any direct or indirect famil-
ial relationship; or
‘‘(II) any contractual, corporate,
or financial relationship (other than a
contractual, corporate, or financial re-
lationship that is created by the in-
struments by which title to the facility
is conveyed or financed or by a con-
tract for the sale of goods or services);
or
‘‘(ii) the result of a reorganization of
a business entity that was potentially lia-
ble.’’.
(b) PROSPECTIVE
PURCHASER
AND
WINDFALL
LIEN.—Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42
U.S.C. 9607) (as amended by this Act) is further amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(r) PROSPECTIVE
PURCHASER
AND
WINDFALL
LIEN.—
‘‘(1) LIMITATION
ON
LIABILITY.—Notwith-
standing subsection (a)(1), a bona fide prospective
purchaser whose potential liability for a release or
threatened release is based solely on the purchaser’s
being considered to be an owner or operator of a fa-
cility shall not be liable as long as the bona fide pro-
spective purchaser does not impede the performance
of a response action or natural resource restoration.
‘‘(2) LIEN.—If there are unrecovered response
costs incurred by the United States at a facility for
which an owner of the facility is not liable by reason
of paragraph (1), and if each of the conditions de-
scribed in paragraph (3) is met, the United States
shall have a lien on the facility, or may by agree-
ment with the owner, obtain from the owner a lien
on any other property or other assurance of payment
satisfactory to the Administrator, for the unre-
covered response costs.
‘‘(3) CONDITIONS.—The conditions referred to
in paragraph (2) are the following:
‘‘(A) RESPONSE ACTION.—A response ac-
tion for which there are unrecovered costs of
the United States is carried out at the facility.
‘‘(B) FAIR MARKET VALUE.—The response
action increases the fair market value of the fa-
cility above the fair market value of the facility
that existed before the response action was ini-
tiated.
‘‘(4) AMOUNT; DURATION.—A lien under para-
graph (2)—
‘‘(A) shall be in an amount not to exceed
the increase in fair market value of the prop-
erty attributable to the response action at the
time of a sale or other disposition of the prop-
erty;
‘‘(B) shall arise at the time at which costs
are first incurred by the United States with re-
spect to a response action at the facility;
‘‘(C) shall be subject to the requirements
of subsection (l)(3); and
‘‘(D) shall continue until the earlier of—
‘‘(i) satisfaction of the lien by sale or
other means; or
‘‘(ii) notwithstanding any statute of
limitations under section 113, recovery of
all response costs incurred at the facility.’’.
SEC. 223. INNOCENT LANDOWNERS.
Section 101(35) of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42
U.S.C. 9601(35)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A)—
(A) in the first sentence, in the matter pre-
ceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘deeds or’’ and in-
serting ‘‘deeds, easements, leases, or’’; and
(B) in the second sentence—
(i) by striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the
defendant’’; and
(ii) by striking the period at the end
and inserting ‘‘, provides full cooperation,
assistance, and facility access to the per-
sons that are authorized to conduct re-
sponse actions at the facility (including the
cooperation and access necessary for the
installation, integrity, operation, and main-
tenance of any complete or partial re-
sponse action at the facility), is in compli-
ance with any land use restrictions estab-
lished or relied on in connection with the
response action at a facility, and does not
impede the effectiveness or integrity of any
institutional control employed at the facil-
ity in connection with a response action.’’;
and
(2) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting
the following:
‘‘(B) REASON TO KNOW.—
‘‘(i) ALL APPROPRIATE INQUIRIES.—
To establish that the defendant had no
reason to know of the matter described in
subparagraph (A)(i), the defendant must
demonstrate to a court that—
‘‘(I) on or before the date on
which the defendant acquired the fa-
cility, the defendant carried out all
appropriate inquiries, as provided in
clauses (ii) and (iv), into the previous
ownership and uses of the facility in
accordance with generally accepted
good 
commercial 
and 
customary
standards and practices; and
‘‘(II) the defendant took reason-
able steps to—
‘‘(aa) stop any continuing
release;
‘‘(bb) prevent any threat-
ened future release; and
‘‘(cc) prevent or limit any
human, environmental, or natural
resource exposure to any pre-
viously released hazardous sub-
stance.
‘‘(ii) STANDARDS AND PRACTICES.—
Not later than 2 years after the date of en-
actment of the Brownfields Revitalization
and Environmental Restoration Act of
2001, the Administrator shall by regula-
tion establish standards and practices for
the purpose of satisfying the requirement
to carry out all appropriate inquiries under
clause (i).
‘‘(iii) 
CRITERIA.—In 
promulgating
regulations that establish the standards
and practices referred to in clause (ii), the
Administrator shall include each of the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(I) The results of an inquiry by
an environmental professional.
‘‘(II) Interviews with past and
present owners, operators, and occu-
pants of the facility for the purpose of
gathering information regarding the
potential for contamination at the fa-
cility.