On February 8, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published two proposed rules in the Federal Register that would expand the EPA’s authority to address certain per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“U.S. EPA”) has revised the standards by which real property purchasers, lessees and environmental professionals should conduct a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (“Phase I...more
On August 26, the EPA published a proposed rule that would designate PFOS and PFOA chemicals as hazardous substances under section 102(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act...more
As a general rule, the law will not allow plaintiffs to sit on legal rights indefinitely. Superfund actions are no exception. The 6th Circuit recently applied this principle, finding a declaratory judgment of liability...more
On December 1, 2021, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (“VDEQ”) announced via a notice on its Brownfields website that it stopped accepting applications for Bona Fide Prospective Purchase (“BFPP”) and other...more
Given the current demand for downtown properties, borrowers are acquiring contaminated properties like never before. Against this backdrop, lenders should become familiar with the basics of environmental laws imposing...more
Despite last minute veto threats from the White House, the bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 was signed into law earlier this year. Buried deep in this massive omnibus spending bill is a major win for...more
The natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) process has evolved since its inception in the late 1970s. The innovations keep coming. In 2016, a third-party “credit banking” mechanism was used for the first time to settle...more
A federal court recently found the City of Fairbanks, Alaska responsible for 55% of the remediation costs necessary to clean up property it used to own because it should have taken action to mitigate the harm or warn the...more
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether Jurisdictional Determinations May be Appealed - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determines the presence or absence of wetlands and other “waters of the United States” on a...more
Everyone is familiar with the two little words - “as is” - that pop up in real estate contracts. The “as is” clause is a means of allocating risk between seller and buyer. Generally, a seller who sells property “as is” will...more
In a victory for potentially responsible parties at multiparty contamination sites, a federal district court in U.S. v. NCR Corp., No. 10-C-910 (E.D. Wis. May 15, 2015), held a PRP established that environmental harm at a...more
Parties in CERCLA cases continue to deal with the consequences of the Supreme Court decisions in Aviall and Atlantic Research which essentially created two classes of PRPs: (1) PRPs who entered into CERCLA settlements with...more
In contrast to the early days of Superfund when no argument for extending CERCLA liability was too far-fetched, the Second Circuit recently rejected one of the all-time “Hail Mary” passes for CERCLA contribution. The case,...more
As reported on the Ogletree Deakins Environmental Law blog in July of 2013, a divided panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERLCA or...more
The specter of environmental harm used to frighten courts and spawned a generation of decisions extending Superfund liability to virtually any party with a nexus to a site that was contaminated. One case that signaled just...more
As Superfund lawyers know, the Supreme Court decision in Burlington Northern required proof of an intent to dispose hazardous substances as a prerequisite to imposition of arranger liability. While lower courts have often...more
In a 78 page decision in the Lower Fox River Superfund case issued last month, the federal court issued an injunction against NCR Corp. and three other PRPs requiring them to perform a $1.5 billion remedy. No company ever...more
The Fourth Circuit handed down a primer on CERCLA liability last week in PCS Nitrogen Inc. v. Ashley II of Charleston. It should be required reading for Superfund lawyers. The facts in the case are worthy of a law school law...more
For the first time in CERCLA’s history, a court has concluded that a Superfund claim was barred by the ”act of war” defense. In that case, In Re September 11 Litigation, the judge ruled that a property owner a block from...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island has vacated its 2010 summary judgment decision in Ashland Inc. v. GAR Electroforming, 729 F. Supp. 2d 526 (D.R.I. 2010), just days after receiving an amicus memorandum...more
Exactly a year ago, I posted a blog that argued that the decisions on Superfund liability for the sale of usable product could be distilled down to an ”unstated rule” — a party will be held liable as having intended to...more
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
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
On November 21, 2012, a federal court in Wisconsin refused to allow a group of defendants to force the EPA to formally amend a cleanup remedy issued under the federal Superfund law to allow for a $269 million cost increase....more