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
We live in a world where data can be easily accessed through public organizations, publications, subscription-based services, and artificial intelligence tools. But we need to ask ourselves, where did the data originate? Is...more
In Brief: Entities subject to EPA regulation are closely watching the U.S. Supreme Court’s potential reframing of the Chevron deference doctrine. But they should also pay close attention to EPA’s extra-regulatory scientific...more
On February 15, 2024, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) released Massachusetts’ inaugural Environmental Justice Strategy (“EJ Strategy”), a comprehensive set of initiatives and...more
On July 28, 2023, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations governing how federal agencies review the environmental effects of major federal...more
A United States District Court (District of Columbia) (“Court”) in a March 4th Opinion addressed the Farm Service Agency’s (“FSA”) compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). See Dakota Rural Action, et...more
Last week, Judge Donald Malloy vacated the Environmental Assessment for the Bull Mountains Mine No. 1 in central Montana. Judge Malloy had already vacated the EA once; when the 9th Circuit affirmed Judge Malloy’s decision...more
On December 15, 2022, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice of a Final Rule approving the use of a new American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM) standard for conducting Phase I...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
After unexpected controversy earlier in the year, on December 15, 2022 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Final Rule unambiguously recognizing the ASTM International Standard E1527-21 for Phase I...more
On the final day of 2022, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law the Cumulative Impacts Bill (CIB), which both houses of New York State’s legislature had passed eight months earlier in the year (language here: S.8830 and...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 United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) entered into a Consent Decree (“CD”) with PCS Nitrogen...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
On July 13, 2022, The Chemours Company FC, LLC (“Chemours”) filed a Petition for Review with the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”)’s Health Advisory...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
The Sierra Club and two other environmental organizations filed an April 28th Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (“Complaint”) against the United States Postal Service (“Service”) alleging violation of the...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
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