The act levied a tax on the petroleum and chemical industries (the "Superfund" - often used as a synonym for CERCLA) to help pay for remediation of abandoned sites, as well as providing a framework for the assignment of liability and definition of appropriate remedial action and targets.
The two main classes of response are removal actions (mostly aimed at short-term, acute hazards) and remedial actions (longer term, chronic contamination).
The US EPA, which administers the Superfund, has developed a set of risk-based Preliminary Remediation Goals (PRGs) to guide the assesment and remediation of Superfund sites.