A number of large, complex mining sites are listed on the Federal National Priorities List for cleanup under the Superfund program. The Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), or "Superfund", was passed in 1980 with the intent of cleaning up hazardous waste sites in the U.S. that posed an unacceptable risk to human or ecological health. A number of mine sites were identified and subsequently listed. Cleanup is underway at a number of metal mining Superfund sites. Case histories from these sites are provided on the following pages. Remember as you view these pages that the cleanup actions shown are intended to mitigate risk and not to achieve ecological restoration. Ecological restoration can be coordinated with remediation under the Natural Resource Damage (NRD) provision of the Superfund law.