By Jeryl L. Olson and Craig B. Simonsen
In a busy day for vapor intrusion, last week the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency made several announcements about vapor intrusion.
First, it announced it had submitted a draft rule to the White House OMB seeking to add vapor intrusion to the pathways evaluated under the Hazard Ranking Scoring (HRS) System for
Continue Reading EPA Takes Positions on Vapor Intrusion
By Andrew H. Perellis, Patrick D. Joyce, and Craig B. Simonsen
The Fifth Circuit recently held that a seller of dry cleaning chemicals did not assume Superfund “arranger” liability by merely selling a useful but hazardous chemical with the intent that it be used by a dry cleaning business that then subsequently discharged the contaminant into ground water.
Continue Reading Court Finds that Sale of Hazardous Chemicals Isn’t Disposal Absent Intent to Dispose
By Andrew H. Perellis and William R. Schubert
A recent Government Accountability Office report (GAO-13-252) called on EPA to improve its management of alternatives to National Priorities List placement.
The report found that at most sites that EPA deems eligible for NPL placement, EPA uses an alternative approach so that the site can be remediated without being placed on the
Continue Reading GAO Report Criticizes Inconsistency Among EPA Regions For Alternate Cleanups Managed Outside of Superfund
By Andrew H. Perellis, Philip L. Comella, and Craig B. Simonsen
The Court found that the only issue for resolution was whether there was any evidence that the defendant, an “innocent purchaser,” was liable for the alleged re-contamination of a former Superfund site.
U.S. District Judge Ron Clark recently adopted Magistrate Judge Keith F. Giblin’s Report and Recommendations and
Continue Reading Innocent Purchaser Defense Wins Summary Judgment in Texas District Court
By Andrew H. Perellis and Ilana Morady
If you sell products that you no longer need that contain residual hazardous substances, and the buyer mishandles them so as to create the need for remediation, are you liable under CERCLA for having arranged for disposal of the hazardous substance?
A federal District Court recently granted summary judgment to a CERCLA defendant
By Andrew H. Perellis and Ilana Morady
If you incur response costs under CERCLA can you assert a claim under Section 107 of CERCLA, or are you limited to a contribution claim under Section 113?
By way of background, Section 107 and Section 113 provide distinct rights under CERCLA. Under Section 107, a potential responsible party (PRP) is strictly liable
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