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
In August, Governor Healey signed the FY 2024 budget legislation extending for five years until January 1, 2029, the Brownfields Tax Credit that was set to expire at the end of 2023. Consequently, the redevelopment community...more
Today Governor Maura Healy signed legislation extending the eligibility deadlines for the Massachusetts Brownfields tax credits program by five years. The legislation had been included in the budget bill, which had recently...more
PFAS Chemicals: The Bad News, The Worse News, Then Perhaps Some Hope. The story of PFAS chemicals and their effects is disturbing, on many levels. Like so many “helpful” things that turn out to be evil, PFAS chemicals...more
This week a bill was introduced in the Alabama Legislature which would expand the state’s Brownfield Redevelopment and Voluntary Cleanup Program through the implementation of new features aimed to increase participation in...more
On November 17, 2022, the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (“IRRC”) approved the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board’s (“EQB”) new safe drinking water maximum contaminant levels (“MCLs”) for perfluorooctanoic...more
The exact number of brownfield sites in the United States is not known. Some sources estimate the number at more than 450,000, amounting to more than five million total acres of land. One report estimated that U.S. cities...more
When New York Governor Kathy Hochul executed the 2022-2023 State Budget, it included a 10-year extension to the State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program (“BCP” or “Program). The State’s voluntary, incentive-laced, BCP was set to...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
Revitalizing Brownfields has long been considered a centerpiece for community efforts to encourage growth and development of properties impacted by contamination. In 2021, Oregon’s Legislature passed HB 2518, which seeks to...more
The Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) issued final regulations effective July 9, 2021 (the Regulations) that are intended to aid in the implementation of the Massachusetts Brownfields Tax Credits program, which was...more
The Connecticut Brownfields Initiative of the University of Connecticut recently announced the release of a Request for Proposals for its Municipal Assistance Program starting in the fall of 2021. The Municipal Assistance...more
Governor Cuomo’s FY 2022 Budget provides relief to participants in the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) that risk losing their Tangible Property Tax Credit due to pandemic-related and other delays....more
Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Centralizes Some COVID‐19 Related Insurance Cases As reported in our September update, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation at its July 2020 hearing session requested...more
The General Assembly gave Connecticut an early Halloween present during the first week of October when both houses of the legislature passed H.B. 7001, An Act Revising Provisions of the Transfer Act and Authorizing the...more
The federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA”), also known as the Superfund law, has been used successfully to clean up abandoned industrial sites across the country....more
State and local governments are in a unique position when it comes to facilitating the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties within their jurisdictions and can play a vital role in revitalizing neighborhoods...more
Purchasing contaminated property in Ohio became a little less risky this week. Purchasers can now obtain protection under both federal and state law from costly remediation orders imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection...more
Prior to April 2020, it seemed clear under prevailing federal case law that a disgruntled person could not use a state court lawsuit to change an environmental remedy approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...more
In April 2019, the Washington legislature amended the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) to allow the Washington State Department of Ecology to create an expedited version of the existing Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP). The VCP...more
On April 24, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) adopted a temporary rule modification that grants extensions to certain site remediation timeframes under the Administrative Requirements for the...more
Environmental compliance and site remediation workers are included on the federal and California lists of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers. Federal and state decision-makers recognize that workers supporting Critical...more
Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB) proposed an amendment to Act 2, Pennsylvania's Brownfield and voluntary cleanup program. ...more
Maine is taking several major steps in addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The Maine PFAS Task Force just issued its final report, which included a significant number of recommendations that are likely to...more
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) recently announced that it has developed a new template agreement for use under Tennessee's Voluntary Cleanup Oversite and Assistance Program, Tennessee Code...more