Environmental Enforcement

Subscribe to Environmental Enforcement via RSS

By Andrew H. Perellis and Ilana R. Morady

Local governments routinely condition the approval of land use permits on fees and dedications. From park fees to land dedications for future public use, such conditions are commonplace. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court will have local governments thinking twice before imposing conditions like these on land developers.

Why?

In Koontz v. St. …
Continue Reading Commonplace Land Permitting Conditions Called into Question by Supreme Court in Koontz v. St. John’s Water Management District

By Jeryl L. Olson

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its enforcement priorities for 2014 through 2016, however, notwithstanding its labeling of its 2014-2016 enforcement strategy as “Next Generation,” in reality the EPA announced new process is no different than the strategy employed by EPA since 2011; the strategy, in essence, is merely “more of the…

Continue Reading U.S. EPA “Next Generation” Compliance Initiative — More of the Same

By James L. Curtis

In the wake of the unfortunate fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas last week, the approximately forty other fertilizer plants and approximately 6,000 other facilities that store and mix fertilizer across the nation should brace themselves for greater OSHA and EPA oversight and significant penalties for even minor infractions, totally unrelated to explosion hazards. 

The federal…

Continue Reading West, Texas Tragedy Puts Industry At Risk For Greater Oversight

By Andrew H. Perellis, Jeryl L. Olson, and Eric E. Boyd

To promote brownfield development, in 2002, the Congress provided the Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser defense under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund), Section 101(40)(A)-(H). In a nutshell, that provision provides that a person (or a tenant of a person) that acquires contaminated property…

Continue Reading Can a Tenant Occupy Contaminated Property and be Protected from Superfund Liability?

By Andrew H. Perellis, Philip L. Comella, and Craig B. Simonsen

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recently released its “Revised Policy on Managing the Duration of Remedial Design/Remedial Action Negotiations” (Revised Policy). The Revised Policy contains the Office of Site Remediation Enforcement’s (OSRE) procedures for reducing the duration of remedial design/remedial action (RD/RA) negotiations. The stated…
Continue Reading Revised Policy on Managing the Duration of Superfund Negotiations

By Eric E. Boyd

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a study regarding “up to” claims, such as a  marketing claim that a product will save people “up to 47%” in energy costs.  Not surprisingly, the FTC study concluded that people interpret such claims to mean that the typical user would achieve the maximum benefit using the product. …

Continue Reading Green Marketers Should Use “Up To” Claims Carefully

By Andrew H. Perellis and Ilana R. Morady

On March 21, 2012, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision hugely impacting EPA’s enforcement authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The decision also has strong implications for EPA’s enforcement authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The issue before the Court was whether two landowners could bring a…

Continue Reading Sackett v. EPA: Supreme Court Decides Unanimously In Favor Of Landowners

By Eric E. Boyd and Jeryl L. Olson

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance has issued its draft guidance on the Fiscal Year 2013 enforcement program (FY 2013 Draft Guidance). The FY 2013 Draft Guidance identifies EPA’s intent to significantly cut back traditional federal enforcement strategies across all major federal environmental programs, …

Continue Reading U.S. EPA Intends to Slash Federal Enforcement Programs and End Support of Voluntary Disclosures Under its Audit Policy

By Philip L. Comella and Craig B. Simonsen

The Obama Administration has proposed reducing funding for the Hazardous Substance Superfund Remedial program by $33 million. According to the Whitehouse EPA budget summary, this level of budget cut will “ensure that this reduction does not negatively impact public health.” The Administration maintains that the proposed funding level will be sufficient…
Continue Reading Obama Administration Proposes to Make Cuts in Superfund Remediation Programs Under 2013 Budget