On April 19, 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that it is designating perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (“PFOS”) as Hazardous Substances under the...more
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has designated PFOA and PFOS as "Hazardous Substances" under CERCLA, marking the agency's first use of Section 102(a) authority and signaling potential widespread industry impact...more
On April 19, 2024, EPA issued its long-awaited Final Rule officially listing two key per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or so-called “forever chemicals,” as “hazardous substances” under the Comprehensive...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed rule on Sept. 6, 2022, to designate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), along with their structural isomers, as hazardous...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency kicked off the New Year by strengthening its guidance for investigating and cleaning up lead-contaminated soil at residential properties, especially in areas where children live and...more
Typically, final remediation documents (no-further-action letters, response action outcomes, and the like) signal the end of remediation at a contaminated site. Upon receipt of the documents, responsible parties can often...more
Yesterday, I spoke with Sarah Mattalian, an Inside EPA reporter writing a story about the suggestion by an EPA official that EPA might require additional PFAS investigations and clean up at properties that had already been...more
“Joint and several” liability for environmental remediation costs is fundamental to the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). In general, CERCLA incorporates “joint and...more
In my last blog, I discussed the seminal ruling in Chisholm’s-Village Plaza, LLC v. Travelers Insurance Co., et al.; No. 2:20-cv-00920-JB-KRS, in which the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico analyzed...more
New York has proposed an amendment that would permit settling parties, in tort claims, to pursue contribution claims for the costs of remediating PFAS contamination. As means of encouraging settlements in civil lawsuits, New...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
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
On December 15, 2022, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took final action to approve the new ASTM International standard for conducting Phase I environmental site assessments. As previously noted, ASTM...more
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) kicked off the week with publishing the long-anticipated, immediately effective Interim Soil Remediation Standards for four kinds of PFAS chemicals....more
Last month, a federal court judge in the Eastern District of Washington concluded that deposition of aerial emissions from a smokestack could support a claim for arranger liability under Washington’s cleanup statute, the...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took an important step toward regulating PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) on September 6, 2022 when it published a Notice of Federal Rulemaking to begin the process of...more
On August 26, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that it is proposing to designate perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (“PFOS”) as Hazardous Substances under the...more
EPA released a pre-publication notice of its long-anticipated proposed rule to designate certain PFOS and PFOA as CERCLA (Superfund) hazardous substances. CERCLA hazardous substances designation would fulfill an important...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
Throughout 2021 and the first half of 2022, the commercial real estate market in the Southeast has been remarkably active. Despite rising interest rates and economic uncertainty, analysts expect this trend of high activity to...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
In a letter to the Governor of New Mexico on October 26, 2021, the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that EPA would initiate two important rulemaking efforts to regulate PFAS...more
Emphasis on Environmental Justice and Climate Change - The EPA's draft Strategic Plan provides the key to understanding the agency's priority goals and initiatives, including Climate Change and Environmental Justice...more