In the wake of new and enhanced environmental justice policies issued by the federal and state governments, it behooves lawyers practicing in any discipline to account for EJ issues in their legal practice. This article identifies considerations for lawyers who will confront and seek to manage EJ issues in their transactional practice.
Continue Reading Environmental Justice Considerations in Business Transactions

In its ruling today in Atlantic Richfield Company v. Christian, the Supreme Court upheld a decision by the Montana Supreme Court allowing owners of contaminated residential properties at one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites to pursue state law claims for damages in the form of restoration of their properties beyond the cleanup mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, rejecting claims by the defendant in the state court action that these claims were barred by the terms of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The Court also held that the property owners, although never pursued by EPA to contribute to any of the CERCLA response costs at the site, nonetheless were “potentially responsible parties” within the meaning of the statute, and therefore would be required to obtain approval from EPA for any additional cleanup arising under state law.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Green Lights State Law Claims for Broader Cleanup at Superfund Sites, but only with EPA’s OK

Today, April 10, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its anticipated interim guidance on impacts to operations at cleanup sites due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The guidance memorandum, issued jointly by the heads of EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) and directed to Regional EPA Administrators, focuses on adjusting response activities at cleanup sites under a number of EPA administered programs and emergency responses due to the COVID-19 situation and the myriad of state and local shelter-in-place and business curtailment orders.
Continue Reading EPA Cleanup Site Guidance Recognizes COVID-19 Challenges for Response Activities

Electric vehicle (EV) production is expected to increase substantially in the near future. So, too, will the need to solve the problem of used EV batteries after they no longer meet EV performance standards. One solution may be to reuse those batteries as a source of energy for the electric grid.
Continue Reading A Green Afterlife for EV Li-ion Batteries

On May 18, the DC Circuit vacated a decision by EPA to place an Indianapolis site on the National Priorities List because the agency had ignored evidence contradicting facts underlying its listing decision. Although it is rare for a court to overturn an NPL listing, the case is a reminder that an administrative rulemaking must be based on substantial evidence, even when the agency has substantial discretion to evaluate the factual record.
Continue Reading Genuine Surprise: DC Circuit Overturns NPL Listing Decision

EPA’s draft strategic plan for 2018-2022 represents a dramatic shift in focus to supporting states and tribes as the locus of environmental law implementation and streamlining agency processes to accelerate decisions and increase efficiency. The plan identifies three overarching goals: re-focus EPA on its core mission, restore cooperative federalism and adhere to the “rule of law.” If implemented, the strategic plan should give states latitude to exercise primacy in both policy-setting and implementation of environmental laws.
Continue Reading Core Functions and Cooperative Federalism: EPA’s Draft Strategic Plan

The application of economic principles to environmental law decisions has come a long way. Today’s conflicts over cost-benefit analysis and the value of mitigation projects and trading markets are more a sign of the important and well-accepted role that economics has come to play in environmental decision-making than a fight over the threshold question of whether economics matters at all. The battle lines have shifted. Economic concepts must be taken into account. The turf on which we now fight concerns to what extent economics should drive environmental decisions.
Continue Reading Taking Environmental Markets to a New Frontier