Service Station Dealers and Superfund

Under the federal “Superfund” law, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to clean up sites contaminated with high levels of hazardous substances that may present a threat to human health or the environment. The full name of the Superfund law is the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, or “CERCLA,” 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9674. The Superfund law also authorizes EPA to require the parties who are responsible for the contamination to help with the cleanup. The law, however, contains several exemptions which may reduce or eliminate a party’s responsibility for cleanup, including the Service Station Dealer Exemption (“SSDE”).

The SSDE is intended to encourage service station dealers to accept, for recycling, used motor oil from Do-It-Yourselfer (“DIY”) recyclers. You may be eligible for the Service Station Dealer Exemption if you:

are or were a Service Station Dealer
collected DIY Used Oil
transported or sent this DIY Used Oil to the Superfund site after March 8, 1993
did not mix hazardous substances with Used Oil generated or collected by your facility; and
complied with EPA’s used oil management standards found in the Code of Federal Regulations.

EPA Issues model application/information request document

EPA announced the availability of the Model Application/Information Request for CERCLA Service Station Dealer Exemption. EPA will use the model to gather the information necessary to decide which parties it should or should not treat as potentially responsible parties at a Superfund site.

More information about the scope of the SSDE, including definitions for the terms above, can be found at:

For more information, contact:

Susan Boushell
EPA’s Office of Site Remediation Enforcement
PH: 202.564.2173
Email: boushell.susan@epa.gov