Natural Resource Damages & Environmental Justice
Join Kelley Drye for a seminar on the latest regulatory developments that are likely to usher in expansive new liability for the release and remediation of some of the most widely utilized per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...more
This week’s highly anticipated decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal in Qualex-Landmark Towers Inc v 12-10 Capital Corp, 2024 ABCA 115 [Qualex] limits the application of Orphan Well Association v Grant Thornton Ltd, 2019...more
When Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) settle CERCLA cases, they want finality. They don’t expect to be asked to pay a second time for a claim they have already resolved by settlement. However, a concurring opinion in a...more
What are PFAS and What’s the Big Deal? PFAS, short for per- and poly-fluoroalkyls substances are man-made chemicals used to make hundreds of products for home and industry use, ranging from stain proofing and waterproofing...more
This post is about a junkyard, hogs getting slaughtered, and a bankruptcy judge poised to sanction a creditor and her counsel. The message from the case to would-be claimants in other cases is simple: do not “overreach.” In...more
The Appeals Court of Massachusetts addressed in a November 3rd opinion an issue arising out of environmental remediation associated with a property redevelopment project. See Starr Cap. Partners, LLC v. Toll Bros., Inc., 101...more
After months of analysis, the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) recently published its long-awaited Summary of Incentives Analysis and Draft Future Incentives Framework (the Framework)....more
In natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs), both injury to resources and the beneficial effects of restoration actions unfold over time, sometimes over periods spanning multiple generations. To make losses and gains...more
After the real estate boom in the Southeast over the past few years, there are fewer and fewer examples of clean and pristine land available for commercial or industrial use. That means more properties at risk for...more
Consent decrees play a major role in environmental litigation. This week, Maine People’s Alliance v. Holtrachem Manufacturing Company, one of the nation’s longest-running cases under the Resource Conservation and Recovery...more
In PCS Nitrogen, Inc. v. Cont'l Cas. Co., 436 S.C. 254, 871 S.E.2d 590 (2022), the Supreme Court of South Carolina formally adopted the “post-loss exception” - a common law rule providing that insurer consent is not required...more
Abstract - Determining the amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for injury to natural resources is central to estimating natural resource damages (NRDs). Formal restoration scaling methods have not...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
A common result of corporate bankruptcies is the creation of environmental response trusts or “ERTs”. ERTs are created to address environmental issues for which the bankrupt company has responsibility. ERTs typically are...more
On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the landmark $1.2 trillion infrastructure legislation package, more commonly referred to as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA or Act). The 2,700+-page Act has been...more
The Knesset Finance Committee, headed by MK Alex Kushnir (Yisrael Beitenu), recently approved a mechanism for compensation for the rehabilitation of industrial waste damages caused by Rotem Amfert (of the ICL Group). The...more
On November 15, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law. According to the White House, the IIJA will play an important role in rebuilding and improving roads,...more
In May 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in Territory of Guam v. United States, 593 U.S. __ (2021), on the issue of whether a settlement resolving environmental liabilities was sufficient to establish a right of contribution for...more
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that a party’s right to contribution claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) after entering into a settlement arises...more
In siding with the Territory of Guam in its dispute with the United States over costs to clean up the Ordot Landfill, the Supreme Court has resolved a circuit court split over which types of administrative settlements trigger...more
Does a consent decree under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) trigger a three-year limitation period to bring a contribution claim under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) when the...more
Last week, in its unanimous decision Guam v. United States, No. 20-382, the United States Supreme Court attempted to clarify a statutory question regarding the right to seek contribution that has been a source of uncertainty...more
In Territory of Guam v. United States, the Supreme Court unanimously held that claims for contribution under Section 113(f)(3)(B) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) require...more
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Guam v. United States, clarifying when contribution actions under CERCLA may be brought. In a unanimous decision overturning the D.C. Circuit, the Court held that a...more
Reversing the US Court of Appeals for DC Circuit, a unanimous US Supreme Court held that Guam’s settlement of Clean Water Act liabilities did not give rise to and trigger the statute of limitations to bring a Comprehensive...more