Toxic Torts › Zoning, Planning & Land Use › Environmental Law

DEEP Updates Engineered Control Financial Assurance Guidance

On January 31, 2013, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) unveiled revisions to guidance on financial assurance for engineered control variances under the Remediation Standard Regulations...more

EPA Lifts Threat of CERCLA Liability for Some Tenants of Brownfields

Tenants who lease currently or formerly contaminated property can now benefit from protections from cleanup liability that were once available only to purchasers of such property. EPA announced its new policy in a December...more

Brownfield Tenants Gain CERCLA Liability Protection

Good News: Brownfield Tenants Gain CERCLA Liability Protection - In December 2012, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidance Memo set out a new EPA enforcement policy. In sum, on a discretionary basis, the EPA...more

EPA Guidance Further Clarifies The Protections Available To Tenants Under Superfund’s BFPP Defense

As part of an evolving effort to encourage the redevelopment of brownfield properties, the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA” or “Superfund”) was amended in 2002 to provide...more

Supreme Court Reaffirms CWA Discharge Ruling in L.A. Stormwater Case

On January 8, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld its 2004 ruling that the movement of polluted water between separate sections of the same waterbody does not constitute a “discharge” of pollutants requiring 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

Use of Lone Pine Orders in Methane Migration and Other Groundwater Contamination Litigation

Introduction - In two recent groundwater contamination cases pending in federal district court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the court refused to enter Lone Pine orders which would have shifted the burden to...more

Settling Water-Based Superfund Liabilities -- A Toxic Brew

In a poignant moment in Godfather III, Al Pacino’s character says: “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in”. EPA's recent eye-popping announcement of a $366 million encore settlement by AVX with respect to the...more

CERCLA Investigations That Really Are At Risk

Site owners who conduct environmental investigations of potential releases of hazardous substances in the expectation that they will be able to recover their costs from the party whose operations gave rise to that threatened...more

Chart v. Town of Parma

Decision granting standing to park user concerned about contaminated soil

Standing: The Court denied the Town’s motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing. She found that plaintiff has standing because he stopped walking the nature trails after learning of the contamination and is...more

Rockies Express Pipeline, LLC v. Burtle, No. 11-1219 (U.S. 7th Cir. Aug. 21, 2012)

U.S. 7th Circuit affirmed district court's exclusion of expert's valuation of property

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the district court's exclusion of expert evidence regarding valuation of property. In the recent case, Rockies Express Pipeline, LLC v. Burtle, No. 11-1219, 2012 WL...more

REGULATORY: D.C. Regulatory: Courts Reject Post-Deepwater Horizon Environmental Challenges By Charles J. (Tim) Engel

Soon after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, environmental groups launched wide-ranging challenges to all phases of offshore oil and gas exploration and development. They filed lawsuits against the...more

Contaminated Land: Cleaning up the Statutory Guidance in England

Revised Statutory Guidance in relation to the contaminated land regime, and regulations amending the definition of when land will be considered to be contaminated, came into force on 6 April 2012. There are two significant...more

Smart Second Looks Save Years, Dollars In Resolving Environmental Claims

Environmental contamination disputes often drag on for many years and sometimes for decades, often resulting in repeated, costly and inconclusive field investigations and sampling. Particularly for large NPL sites under long...more

CERCLA's Easily Confused Statutes of Limitations

Deciding statute of limitations issues in CERCLA cases is not always a straightforward matter as the recent 54 page opinion in American Premier Underwriters Inc. v. General Electric Company illustrates. There, a federal court...more

Is Fracking Safe? [Video]

From landowners to environmentalists, there is a great deal of concern over the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing to groundwater; the water that many of us drink. When we consider several geologic factors in...more

Recent Water and Pesticide Regulatory Guidance

The State Water Board has recently released two documents: a "Citizen's Guide to Working with the California Water Boards” and "Annual Budget Pre-Approval Frequently Asked Questions.” The Department of Pesticide Regulation...more

Maine DEP Proposes Major Changes to Remedial Action Guidelines

The perennial question –- “How Clean is Clean?” -- has an ever-changing answer.  Changes in cleanup standards are not unusual, given advances in the science and art of risk assessment, as more...more

Ovid board extends landfill moratorium

The Town Board has extended its moratorium on new landfills or monofills for another year. The board imposed the initial, one-year moratorium in May 2010. At its September meeting, the board renewed the moratorium for...more

Shawn Collins - Five Things to Do if your Water or Neighborhood is Polluted

This is an interesting article by Shawn Collins detailing the five things you should do if your neighborhood is, or may be, polluted. These typically arise in water or groundwater contamination cases, with chemicals or...more

Shawn Collins - Don't Trust What Polluters Say

This is an article by environmental litigator Shawn Collins discussing his experience in environmental class action cases, and why homeowners cannot afford to trust what the polluting companies say. Their lawyers or public...more

Interim Regulations Passed That Revamp New Jersey's Site Remediation Program

The Administrative Requirements For Remediation Of Contaminated Sites (“ARRCS”) were promulgated on November 4, 2009. These interim rules were issued pursuant to the Site Remediation Reform Act (“SRRA”) that was passed on May...more

In the Court of King Coal: Mountaintop Mining in Appalachia

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Rough Justice:U.S. Supreme Court Liberalizes Use of Apportionment Instead of Joint and Several Liability in Superfund Litigation...

In a much anticipated ruling, a nearly unanimous U.S. Supreme Court has determined that the imposition of liability as an “arranger” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA,”...more