Environmental Agencies, Superfund Cleanups, and Managing Enforcement Actions
Drinking Water on Tap: Money, Morality, and More with Tracy Mehan from the American Water Works Association - Reflections on Water Podcast
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
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
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
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
Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known also as Superfund, in 1980 to address the horror of sites like Love Canal where discarded toxic chemicals began...more
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a site-specific review that has broader implications for Superfund site cleanups with radionuclide contamination. The EPA is reviewing a Trump-era decision on...more
Liability for clean-up of hazardous substances pursuant to the Comprehensive Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 ("CERCLA," "Act" or "Superfund") can be extremely costly, amounting to hundreds of millions of...more
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), also known as the Superfund law, imposes strict, joint and several, and retroactive liability. Over time, many companies and their legal...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
Contaminated groundwater plume in north Orange County placed on federal Superfund list - Orange County Register – September 1 - A five-square-mile plume of contaminated groundwater in north Orange County has been...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued important guidance (EPA's Guidance) on June 15, 2020, clarifying the recently amended exemption of state and local governments from the definition of an "owner"...more
On April 20, 2020 the United States Supreme Court handed down an important decision on the reaches of settlements involving the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or “Superfund”)....more
On April 20, 2020, in Atlantic Richfield Company v. Christian (ARCO v. Christian or ARCO), the U.S. Supreme Court held that federal Superfund law does not preclude individuals from filing state claims for further cleanup of...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
EPA Guidance on Superfund Site Field Work and Other Enforcement Issues - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a guidance document that outlines how the agency’s regional administrators should consider...more
On April 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) jointly released a memorandum to all EPA Regional...more
Given the billions of dollars that have been spent at federal Superfund sites, and the billions still to come, it is fascinating how relatively little attention has been devoted to the case of Atlantic Richfield Company...more
A United States District Court (Western District of Washington) addressed the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) request for access to real property in King County, Washington to undertake certain...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (“Eighth Circuit”) addressed in an April 11th opinion a Section 107(a) (3) Comprehensive Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) arranger issue. See U.S....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Under the Trump Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fully or partially deleted 22 sites from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act...more
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C.A. § 9601, known as CERCLA or the Superfund law, was enacted in 1980 during the final days of the Carter administration. It was intended to...more
\The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Court”) addressed whether a California tax-sale purchaser was entitled to a third-party defense provided by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (“Court”) overturned a determination by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”). See Genuine Parts Co. v. EPA, No. 16-1416, 2018 WL 2271086...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced in a May 18th news release that the City of Slidell, Louisiana, (“Slidell”) was recognized for its reuse of a federal Comprehensive Environmental Response,...more