Natural Resource Damages & Environmental Justice
Environmental Agencies, Superfund Cleanups, and Managing Enforcement Actions
What are PFAS and Why Should We Care?
Volatile Times in Vapor Intrusion Regulation: A Legal and Technical Update
As expected, 2023 was an expansive year for the regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) at the federal level. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) took (or at least proposed)...more
Aqueous film-forming foam (“AFFF”) is a hot topic in per- and polyfluorinated Substances (“PFAS”) litigation. AFFF is used to fight gasoline, oil, and jet fuel fires by producing an aqueous film that spreads across a fire’s...more
Pennsylvania’s new “Safe Drinking Water PFAS MCL Rule” became effective on January 14, 2023, upon the publication of the new regulations in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. As discussed in a previous post, this rulemaking...more
Federal judge strikes down Trump rule governing water pollution - The New York Times – August 23 - In the latest episode of a long-running battle concerning the reach of federal jurisdiction over surface waters, Judge...more
By this time next year, a wide range of businesses, governments and citizens will know a lot more about per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFOS and PFOA) in their communities. PFOS and PFOA compounds are a family of...more
Contaminated groundwater plume in north Orange County placed on federal Superfund list - Orange County Register – September 1 - A five-square-mile plume of contaminated groundwater in north Orange County has been...more
Earlier this year, North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality proposed a new rule to the Environmental Management Commission’s Groundwater Committee to set the groundwater standards for PFOA and PFOS at a combined...more
In support of the State Water Resources Control Board’s (State Board) efforts to investigate and evaluate the public health effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the San Francisco Regional Water Quality...more
Recently, I participated in the Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI) Master Class, PFAS: From Common Use to Concern. My fellow panelists and I discussed “PFAS in Water,” which included a discussion of the environmental and...more
The proposal marks another instance of EPA follow-through on its 2019 PFAS Action Plan. The SDWA requires EPA to make regulatory determinations every five years based on whether chemicals in public water systems pose a...more
Information about PFAS compounds in California is literally exploding, with additional contamination sites identified almost daily, while the science and legal environments surrounding these “forever chemicals” also see...more
New Hampshire, like many northeast states, is pursuing a concerted regulatory and litigation approach to address contamination from emerging contaminants in the so-called PFAS suite of chemicals, (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl...more
Despite extensive negotiation, insufficient bipartisan support was garnered to obtain inclusion of robust PFAS provisions in Congressional year-end spending legislation. Initially, there was some expectation that U.S. EPA...more
EPA is moving forward on the drinking water component of its PFAS Action Plan by requesting the Office of Management to review its proposed regulatory determinations for two types of PFAS. This is a definite step toward...more
MassDEP proposed groundwater cleanup standards for PFAS significantly lower than the federal health advisory as part of its long-expected proposed revisions to Massachusetts’ regulations governing the assessment and cleanup...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) added five sites to the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (“Superfund”) National Priority List (“NPL”). See 83 Fed. Reg. 46408. ...more
On June 19, 2018, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup (BWSC) issued its Interim Guidance on Sampling and Analysis for PFAS at Disposal Sites Regulated under the...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (“Court”) overturned a determination by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”). See Genuine Parts Co. v. EPA, No. 16-1416, 2018 WL 2271086...more
• The Trump Administration released an ambitious $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan on Feb. 12, 2018 – a plan that includes many provisions focused upon encouraging the reuse of contaminated brownfields and Superfund sites. ...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Exide cleanup: Los Angeles County approves $2 million to facilitate lead removal at homes: Los Angeles Times - Oct 27: Los Angeles County supervisors, frustrated by what they say is a...more