As discussed in one of our earlier blogs, back in March 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its controversial Enforcement Policy outlining certain situations where EPA would not pursue enforcement actions for specific instances of noncompliance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the suspended obligations related to routine monitoring and
CERCLA
Buyer Beware: No-Fault Owner Responsible for 25% of Past and Future Cleanup Costs
Valbruna Slater Steel Corp. (Valbruna) knew about the extensive contamination from a former owner’s industrial operations when it bought the Indiana steel mill out of bankruptcy in 2004. As many do when buying contaminated property, Valbruna negotiated a Prospective Purchaser Agreement (PPA) with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and escrowed $500,000 for the…
PFAS Contamination Reported to be in 43 States: What Are the Regulators Doing?
Concerns about the human health and environmental impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – known as “PFAS” – are increasingly in the headlines and trending on a practically daily basis. Click here for the basics about PFAS chemicals and the potential adverse human health effects.
Last week, an environmental group released a study reporting that…
New Tax Law May Make Some Environmental Settlements More Costly
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 makes it harder to take tax deductions for some payments to governmental entities. The change may impact settlements between private entities and federal, state and local environmental agencies. In most cases, it will not affect environmental settlements between private parties.
Section 162(f) of the Tax Code has…
Proposed Changes to CERCLA/Superfund, Brownfield Redevelopment Projects – Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Impacts More Than Planes, Trains, & Automobiles
On February 12, 2018, the Trump Administration released its much-anticipated Infrastructure Plan. While the bulk of the more than 50-page document proposes a wide array of funding and reforms for various infrastructure programs, as well as ways to streamline and fast-track permitting for infrastructure projects, it also proposes changes to Brownfield redevelopment programs, including…