News & Insights

Last Friday, EPA formally designated perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) – including their salts and structural isomers! – as hazardous substances under CERCLA. I cannot really quarrel with the underlying decision to list PFOA and PFOS. Given the developing evidence about the risks that they pose, it’s difficult to argue that they are […]

DOJ and EPA have submitted their brief arguing that the Supreme Court should leave alone a split Ninth Circuit decision upholding a NPDES permit condition prohibiting the permittees, the City and County of San Francisco, from “causing or contributing” to any violation of “applicable water quality standards”. You might recall that when the City and […]

On March 6, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued its long-awaited climate disclosure rule. The rule, formally titled, “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors,” came nearly two years after the SEC’s initial proposal and after some 24,000 public comments in response to that proposal. In line with the initial […]

Last week, Inside EPA (subscription required) ran a story indicating that EPA is trying to figure out how to juggle some increasingly expensive cleanups with shortfalls in Superfund tax revenue.  The story notes that EPA is adding expensive new sites to the National Priorities List, while also anticipating new costs resulting from PFAS regulation and […]

EPA picked another Clean Water Act fight with the United States Supreme Court last week and I don’t understand why EPA thinks it is a fight it can win. As many of you know, the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act is now the shortest it has been in over forty years as a […]

Fifty years ago the Commonwealth of Virginia experienced a human health and environmental crisis when the insecticide Kepone was discovered in the blood of manufacturing workers and in the fish and sediment of the James River at Hopewell Virginia. For those of us who participated on response teams the memories are vivid. But most have […]

The American College of Environmental Lawyers (“ACOEL”) announces its annual Stephen E. Herrmann Environmental Writing Award (“Herrmann Award”) for the 2023-24 academic year. Stephen E. Herrmann is a distinguished, nationally recognized environmental lawyer. For over forty years, Mr. Herrmann has been a leader in the area of environmental law as a practitioner, teacher, and writer. […]

I seem to be the ACOEL CERCLA blogger by default. The other environmental practitioners may affect to being far too cool for this practice area, but we all know they secretly read Superfund cases at night when they are alone. So, to provide a guilty pleasure to some and perhaps a useful thought to others, […]

On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), historic legislation that for the first time directly addresses climate change mitigation across multiple sectors, including agriculture. The IRA provides approximately $20 billion over four years to existing Farm Bill conservation programs to support agricultural practices that the Secretary of Agriculture […]

The Farm Bill is the most significant environmental law Congress will address this year. This third of four blogs explains how it can help American agriculture be more resilient and climate-friendly. Most Federal Farm Bill programs require Congressional reauthorization every five years.  Congress passed the last Farm Bill in 2018 and Congressional leaders aim for […]

Whether you celebrated Festivus, Christmas or any real or recently manufactured holiday this past season, as a former upstate New Yorker my thoughts inevitably turn to snow.  But sadly, after decades working in the hazardous waste arena, I admit my thoughts inevitably turn to asbestos every time someone shakes a snow globe. Over the past […]

Coal production and mining jobs over the past half-century have been influenced by several factors, principally demand from the utility sector, technological breakthroughs in natural gas production, railroad deregulation, and environmental regulation. The federal Clean Air Act (CAA) was enacted in 1970 and amended in 1977 and 1990. From 1970 to 1980, coal mining jobs […]