PFAS in Focus: Forever-Engineering With Trent Stober, HDR - Reflections on Water Podcast
PFAS in Focus: Wastewater Utility Perspectives From Jay Hoskins, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District - Reflections on Water Podcast
DynCorp's 'Strategic' Defense In Drug Crop Spraying Suit
Previous editions of Re:Torts (It’s (Still) Important Enough to Get It Right; Opioid Public Nuisance Question) have covered decisions that addressed whether various states permit public nuisance claims in connection with the...more
EPA’s Big Plans for 2023: Top Air Rulemakings We Are Watching - An environmental lawyer walks into a cocktail party. An often-asked question is: What is happening at EPA in your world? What should we be watching that...more
A few considerations practitioners should keep in mind when dealing with contamination involving per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. The PFAS Action Act of 2021 passed in the House and was received in...more
On April 8, 2022, U.S. EPA added the industrial solvent 1-bromopropane (1-BP) to its list of CERCLA hazardous substances; this listing was triggered by U.S. EPA’s decision to add 1-BP to the Clean Air Act’s list of hazardous...more
United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator Michael Regan announced on October 18th what is described as a “Comprehensive National Strategy to Confront PFAS Pollution” (“Strategy”). The Strategy...more
The American Water Works Association (“AWWA”) sent a July 19th letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Rules urging support for an amendment (“Amendment 18”) to the...more
When a fire, spill or explosion causes pollutants to escape to the environment, responsible parties must quickly grapple with whether and when to report to authorities, which statutes and regulations apply, which agencies to...more
For the past several years, much attention has been focused on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) legal authority to respond to PFAS contamination. When EPA published its PFAS Action Plan in February...more
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (“Court”) addressed in a June 29th Memorandum and Order (“Order”) certain issues arising out of a class action alleging a plant operating in Metropolis,...more
On November 20, 2019, the “PFAS Action Act of 2019” (H.R. 535) (the “PFAS Bill”) passed the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The PFAS Bill, eighteen subchapters long, says a great deal: most importantly, one year after...more
Introduction - Let me be Captain Obvious here. When the title is that long, the topic, including its context and history, is convoluted. Let’s start at the end, work our way toward the beginning, and come full circle. On...more
In a case of first impression, the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that facilities with air emissions that included hazardous substances could not be liable for remediating other properties contaminated by those hazardous...more
Do air emissions of hazardous substances create a cleanup liability under the Superfund? In the closely watched case of Pakootas, et al. v. Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd., the Ninth Circuit said, “no,” becoming the highest court...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - State Supreme Court rules in state’s favor on Delta property rights - Sacramento Bee - Jul 21 - The California Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that the state has the right to...more
A case recently argued before the Ninth Circuit, Pakootas v. Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd., 9th Cir., No. 15-35228, could pave the way for a new theory of liability for parties who release air emissions during the course of...more