Guidance: Financial Assurance in Superfund Settlements and Orders

Memorandum transmits guidance, model language, and sample documents that address financial assurance (FA) requirements in cleanup settlement agreements and unilateral administrative orders (UAOs) under the authority of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, commonly referred to as Superfund).  Issued 4/6/2015.

The transmittal package includes the following documents:

1. Guidance on Financial Assurance in Superfund Settlement Agreements and Unilateral Administrative Orders;
2. Updates to six previously issued FA sample mechanisms for use in connection with CERCLA settlement agreements;
3. Model language provisions for use in UAOs addressing FA and enforcement/work takeover; and
4. Six new FA sample mechanisms for use in connection with UAOs.

The complete package of the documents listed above, as well as individual files of the transmittal memorandum, FA guidance, and FA model language provisions are provided in the links below in PDF format.

The sample FA mechanisms for use in connection with CERCLA settlement agreements and UAOs are available in Word from the Financial Assurance-Orders and Financial Assurance-Settlements categories on the Cleanup Enforcement Model Language and Sample Documents Database. The samples include the following:

• Corporate Guarantee
• Financial Test
• Letter of Credit
• Payment Bond
• Performance Bond
• Trust Fund

• Guidance on Financial Assurance in Superfund Settlement Agreements and Unilateral Administrative Orders (pdf) (486.36 KB)
• Financial Assurance and Enforcement/Work Takeover Sections Only for UAOs (April 2015) (pdf) (242.86 KB)
• Issuance of CERCLA Financial Assurance Guidance, Updated and New Sample Mechanisms, and Model Language Provisions for Unilateral Administrative Orders (Transmittal Memorandum) (pdf) (692.15 KB)
• Issuance of CERCLA Financial Assurance Guidance, Updated and New Sample Mechanisms, and Model Language Provisions for Unilateral Administrative Orders (Complete Transmittal Package) (pdf) (2.21 MB)