Administrative Law › Toxic Torts

New Liability Protection For Tenants On Brownfield Properties

In a December 2012 Guidance Memo, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new enforcement principles intended to enhance protections for tenants on contaminated or previously contaminated “brownfield” properties....more

Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Update: January 2013 - New Jersey Supreme Court Clarifies Requisite Nexus for Liability Under...

In New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection v. Dimant, 212 N.J. 153 (2012), the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) must establish, by a preponderance of the...more

New EPA Guidance Gives Long-Term Tenants Direct Access to the Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Defense and Greater Protection from...

Newly issued guidance by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) suggests that prudent long-term tenants of commercial and industrial properties should conduct environmental due diligence before entering into a...more

OEHHA Releases Draft Technical Support Document in Support of Public Health Goal for Perchlorate

On December 7, 2012, California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a draft technical support document in support of its public health goal for perchlorate, in further support of its proposal to...more

Winning the Superfund Remedy Fight in Court: Don’t Count On It

Remedy decisions are almost always won or lost at the agency level. Once the ROD issues, a PRP’s chance of having the selected remedy overturned in court is slim to none – a point that was driven home in a recent decision in...more

Minimizing Commercial Lease Risks Through Proper Environmental Due Dilligence

As real estate development and leasing begin to emerge slowly from the dark days of the Great Recession, it’s important to remember that environmental considerations should not take a back seat to getting a deal done. In...more

"BP's Settlement With DOJ: Lessons Learned Within the Congressional Investigations Arena"

On November 15, 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that BP Exploration and Production Inc. (BP) has agreed to plead guilty to a 14-count criminal information and pay a record $4 billion in criminal fines and...more

DISPUTE RESOLUTION: Tort Litigation: FERC Denies Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Radon Lung Cancer Risk Claim by Ralph H. Johnson

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently rejected claims that radon in Marcellus Shale natural gas would lead to thousands of lung cancer deaths. These claims arose from FERC’s May 21, 2012 grant of a...more

Who Knew? The National Research Council Discovers That Many Groundwater Cleanups Will Take More Than 100 Years

Daily Environment Report today noted that the National Research Council has produced a study, Alternatives for Managing the Nation’s Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites, which assesses the scope of the groundwater...more

National Academy of Sciences Group Recommending Methods to Facilitate Transition of Cleanup Programs from Problem Identification...

The National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), today released a report, “Alternatives for Managing the Nation’s Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites” (available from the National Academies...more

Environmental Law Department: Summary of Major California Release Reporting Requirements - 2012

Please see full publication below to view summary tables. ...more

Environmental Law Department: Summary of Major Federal Release Reporting Requirements - 2012

Please see full publication below to view summary charts....more

EPA Issues Two New Superfund Guidance Documents: Plus Ca Change, Plus C'est La Meme Chose

EPA recently released two guidance documents relevant to Superfund practitioners. One establishes revised procedures regarding how EPA will manage negotiations with PRPs. The second updates EPA's guidance on how it will...more

CWP 14597 of 2007

Judgement - Hookah/ Sheesha Bar Case

Putting an end to the abuse of Nicotine, thriving across Punjab and Haryana in the name of serving Hookah/ Sheesha/ Water-Pipe, the Punjab and Haryana High court has ordered closure of all such outlets besides creation of a...more

Hurricane Sandy and Environmental Compliance

As we all prepare for -- or cope with -- the impacts of this storm, we hope you and your loved ones stay safe. Unfortunately, environmental impacts are inevitable. We are mindful that EPA was criticized after Katrina for...more

Is EPA Considering Allowing PCB Cleanups to Proceed Under RCRA, Rather Than TSCA? I'll Believe It When I See It (And I Hope I See...

One headline in today’s Daily Environment Report stated that “EPA Considers PCB Regulatory Reform Amid State Regulator Criticism of Program.” Even my advanced sarcasm skills failed me on reading this. I’ll therefore settle...more

Incentives for Real Estate Developers (Presentation)

In This Presenation: - Brownfields Voluntary Cleanup Incentives - GENERAL The General Assembly has provided two tax incentives to promote cleanup of brownfield sites: an income tax credit as well as a property...more

MDEQ Issues Revised Part 201 Generic Cleanup Criteria

Important changes to Michigan’s Part 201 cleanup criteria became effective September 28, 2012. Among other revisions, inhalation pathway criteria for both soil and groundwater were made more stringent for several constituents...more

CERCLA and Original Sin -- Who Has to Pay For Other People's Contamination

In an environmental dispute between innocents involving a Church and a downgradient property owner, a federal court recently found the Church, although without original sin, was less innocent and should bear all the costs of...more

State of New Jersey Unsuccessful in Trying to Expand Environmental Liability

Any company handling hazardous substances in New Jersey must be aware that while the state was recently unsuccessful in expanding liability for damages under the Spill Act, the Supreme Court clarified what constitutes a...more

Is Your Vehicle a CERCLA Facility?

While we tend to think of a CERCLA “facility” as the real property where environmental contaminants have come to be located, it is important to remember that CERCLA’s definition of “facility” is actually much broader than...more

Governor Quinn Signs Bill That Will Result In Illinois Following Federal Air Regulations

http://illinoisenvironmentallaw.com/uncategorized/governor-quinn-signs-bill-that-will-result-in-illinois-following-federal-air-regulations/ Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently signed a bill passed in the General Assembly,...more

LITIGATION UPDATE: Writ of Certiorari filed in Solutia, Inc. v. McWane, Inc.

Recently, Solutia Inc. and Pharmacia Corporation filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling that a Potentially Responsible Party (“PRP”) conducting a...more

OSHA Modifies Hazard Communication Standard

This past spring, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) modified its Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) to conform to the United Nations' Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of...more

Court Invalidates NJDEP Cleanup Rule For De Minimus Quantity Exemptions

On July 6, 2012, the New Jersey Appellate Division, in the case of Des Champs Laboratories, Inc. v. NJDEP, invalidated the NJDEP’s regulation requiring an owner or operator of an industrial establishment to certify that their...more