The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, is a federal law codified at 42 U.S.C. Chapter 103. Enacted in 1980, it provides a Federal 'Superfund' to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment. The law gives the EPA the power to seek out those parties responsible for any release and assure their cooperation in the cleanup.