Navigating the Inflation Reduction Act: Insights on Brownfield Energy Community Credits - Energy Law Insights
EPA has been granted a fourth abeyance of pending litigation related to the Biden administration’s designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA....more
Because the risks posed by superfund sites pale in comparison to the risks posed by air pollution and broader water pollution issues regulated under the Clean Water Act, I have been and remain deeply skeptical of the Trump...more
EPA has again obtained extensions of the stays in the litigation challenging the MCLs for six PFAS and the litigation challenging the hazardous substance designation for PFOS and PFOA. EPA requested the U.S. Court of...more
On April 30, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an additional 30-day abeyance in the challenge to EPA’s Final Rule designating Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid (PFOS) as...more
The PFAS regulatory landscape is evolving fast, and with a new administration on the horizon, major changes in compliance, enforcement, and litigation risks could be imminent. If your business fails to stay ahead, you can...more
In the latest edition of the PFAS Primer Quarterly Update, our roundup of regulatory, litigation, and scientific actions involving PFAS, states exempt PFAS products – except the states that don’t, defendants can remove PFAS...more
Maryland has filed suit against W.L. Gore & Associates (Gore), a downstream user of PFAS-containing materials, alleging that its manufacturing processes contributed to PFAS contamination through its use of...more
In a move that signals potential policy shifts under the new administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted EPA’s requests for 60-day stays in two high-profile cases challenging...more
A federal appeals court has granted the Environmental Protection Agency’s request for a 60-day abeyance in litigation challenging the Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for six PFAS chemicals. In a February 7, 2025, decision,...more
As part of the agency’s efforts to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the EPA released a draft risk assessment for use of sewage sludge that is land-applied as a soil conditioner or fertilizer. Public...more
On January 7, 2025, Lynn L. Bergeson was interviewed by Christopher Bornmann in Pulling the Threads of the ‘Complicated Patchwork of Federal and State Law’ around PFAS Class Action Lawsuits for the 3E blog. Originally...more
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of thousands of chemicals manufactured since the 1940s for use in consumer products and industrial processes. This article presents an overview of the PFAS phenomenon. ...more
In general, environmental law seeks to protect public health and the environment by providing for liability, compensation, cleanup, and emergency response to the release or disposal of hazardous substances. And more...more
On April 17, 2024, the EPA signed a final rule to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund. The...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a Final Rule on April 19, 2024, designating two of the most common per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—PFOA and PFOS, including their salts and structural...more
Capping a flurry of recent activity concerning per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), US EPA on April 19, 2024 designated two PFAS as hazardous substances. Designations of other PFAS are likely to follow. The same day,...more
Join Kelley Drye for a seminar on the latest regulatory developments that are likely to usher in expansive new liability for the release and remediation of some of the most widely utilized per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...more
This 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...more
On Nov. 13, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) final rule went into effect requiring companies to report the manufacture or import of per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”), also known as...more
Late last month, in Munoz v. Intercontinental Terminals Company, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the liability provisions of CERCLA and the Oil Pollution Act do not overlap and that, consequently, where oil and...more
A United States District Court (New Hampshire) addressed in an October 13th Order an issue arising out of a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) cost recovery action. See Banfield...more
PFAS Chemicals: The Bad News, The Worse News, Then Perhaps Some Hope. The story of PFAS chemicals and their effects is disturbing, on many levels. Like so many “helpful” things that turn out to be evil, PFAS chemicals...more
Earlier this month, United States District Court Judge Stephen Wilson held that NL Industries was not liable under CERCLA for air emissions of lead because such emissions did not constitute “disposal” within the meaning of...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Ninth Circuit”) addressed in a January 31st Opinion a dispute between two Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“Superfund or...more
Last month, EPA issued interim health advisories for PFOA and PFOS that took many people’s breath away. It is rather amazing how quickly we’ve moved from parts per billion past parts per trillion to the low parts per...more