On-Demand Webinar | The New NEPA Regulations: A Practical Guide to What You Need to Know
Addressing Environmental Issues in Real Estate Development
Because the courts have interpreted the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq., as a strict liability statute holding owners in the chain of title liable...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 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program undertakes assessments of exposures to various chemicals in order to determine corresponding health hazards and toxicity values....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
Most businesses understand the need to conduct environmental due diligence when buying or selling real estate, but many businesses may not have a good understanding of how to investigate and mitigate the potential risk posed...more
Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (“VDEQ”) announced via its email newsletter that it will resume issuance of Bona Fide Prospective Purchase (“BFPP”) and other “Comfort Letters” beginning September 1, 2022. This...more
On November 1, 2021, ASTM International released its revised standard for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments. On March 14, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) published a Direct Final Rule that...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of rulemaking to adopt a new national standard for Phase I environmental site assessments. While the EPA had hoped to adopt the new Phase I standard more...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
First established back in 1993, Phase I Environmental Site Assessments have become a ubiquitous component of environmental due diligence supporting most commercial and industrial real estate transactions in the United States....more
On November 1, 2021, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management and Corrective Action approved a new standard for conducting real estate due diligence Phase I...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: We noted earlier this year that the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) was in the process of updating its Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site...more
The American Society for Testing and Materials (“ASTM”) is expected to release a revised international standard for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (“ESAs”) in December of 2021 that will clarify a number of key...more
On November 1, 2021, the environmental committee of ASTM International approved revisions to the organization’s E1527 standard practice for Phase I environmental site assessments. The ASTM standard is widely used to satisfy...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
At the same time that Federal courts are strictly enforcing the requirements for All Appropriate Inquiries, ASTM International (“ASTM”) has issued additional, potentially challenging revisions to the E1527 Standard Practice...more
Earlier this month, EPA circulated a memorandum on “Strengthening Environmental Justice Through Cleanup Enforcement Actions.” It could significantly increase the volume of CERCLA enforcement actions. More importantly, if...more
This is a brief account of some of the important environmental and administrative law cases recently decided. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - BP PLC, et al. v Mayor and City of Baltimore The issue the court confronted was a...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The ASTM is in the process of updating its Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process....more
ASTM International is required to review and either update or renew the existing version of its ASTM E1527 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment standard (Phase I ESA standard) every eight years. Since the current version...more
As an environmental practitioner, I am often asked to review Phase I environmental site assessments. The majority of Phase Is are prepared by a prospective purchaser or lessee of real property seeking to secure bona fide...more
With its imposition of strict, joint and several, and retroactive liability, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA”), also known as the Superfund statute, has raised...more
ASTM International (ASTM) has proposed redefining a Controlled Recognized Environmental Condition (CREC). The ASTM's definition, as drafted, confuses risk-based decision-making with the implementation of institutional...more
The US Supreme Court held that CERCLA does not preempt state law restoration claims by landowners who are potentially responsible parties, but clarifies that the Environmental Protection Agency must approve landowners’...more
The Petroleum Marketers Association (“PMAA”) publication Weekly Review published a March 26th article addressing a new ASTM Standard for spill bucket and sump testing. Spill bucket and sump testing is required by 40 C.F.R. §...more