Environmental Agencies, Superfund Cleanups, and Managing Enforcement Actions
Drinking Water on Tap: Money, Morality, and More with Tracy Mehan from the American Water Works Association - Reflections on Water Podcast
On Friday,19 April 2024, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule to designate two common per-and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid...more
On April 12, 2024, two days after EPA issued a final rule setting standards for certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in public drinking water, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) concluded its...more
This week, Inside EPA (subscription required) ran a story indicating that EPA is trying to figure out how to juggle some increasingly expensive cleanups with shortfalls in Superfund tax revenue. The story notes that EPA is...more
Last week, Inside EPA (subscription required) reported that EPA will reopen CERCLA cleanups due to the presence of PFAS on a case-by-case basis. The article reported on the gnashing of teeth among the regulated community at...more
I became an inadvertent environmental lawyer in 1988 when my supervising attorney plunked a foot-high stack of paper on my desk (sorry, youngsters, paper was the medium) and asked me to decipher the CERCLA/Superfund statute –...more
Today, February 13, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International E1527-21 "Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process" becomes the modern legal...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Ninth Circuit”) addressed in a January 31st Opinion a dispute between two Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“Superfund or...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
As anticipated, 2022 was another eventful year for the regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) at the federal level. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) took significant actions under...more
In September 2022, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the designation of two per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous chemicals under the Comprehensive Environmental Responses, Compensation,...more
Designation of PFAS as Hazardous Substances - On September 6, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (collectively, PFAS) as “hazardous substances” under the...more
Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a pre-publication version of a Proposed Rule to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,...more
On August 26, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a pre-publication copy of its long-awaited proposed rule to add the two most well-known and well-studied PFAS compounds—perflourooctanoic acid (PFOA)...more
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), signed by President Joe Biden on Nov. 15, 2021, revives an excise tax last effective in 1995 on the sale or use of 42 identified chemicals as well as certain substances...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
The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and seven Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) entered into a May 20th Consent Decree...more
On April 27, 2022, the cleanup plan for the Dover Municipal Landfill Superfund Site in New Hampshire was reopened to add 1,4-dioxane as a groundwater contaminant of concern. EPA’s proposed “Explanation of Significant...more
After a more than 26 year hiatus, on July 22, 2022, the Superfund chemical excise tax (the “Superfund Chemical Tax”) will again become effective. This excise tax, reinstated by the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and...more
Last month, the IRS published Notice 2021-66, issued in response to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (Jobs Act) reinstatement of the previously expired “Superfund Tax”—an excise tax imposed on manufacturers,...more
On January 10, 2022, U.S. EPA forwarded to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a proposed rule that seeks to designate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as “hazardous...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
Following the enactment of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) and its signing into law by President Joseph R. Biden this month, significantly expanded federal funding and emphasis is expected in...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
The Comprehensive Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or “Superfund”) imposes strict, joint and several liability on responsible parties for remediation of contaminated properties. As compared to other federal...more
Thirty-one years after enactment of CERCLA, most environmental practitioners take for granted that remedies at federal and state Superfund sites will include a blend of removal and institutional controls (ICs). This comes...more