U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Attack on CERCLA’s Constitutionality

| September 20, 2011

On June 6, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States ended a decade of litigation when it denied a writ of certiorari (i.e., refused to review) a 2010 decision of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal which affirmed the trial court’s decision deny General Electric’s (“GE”) attack on the constitutionality of the U.S. Environmental [...]

DEC Reports Increase in Brownfields Applications and Approvals; NYS Bar’s Efforts to Improve the Program Overall

| September 13, 2011

The DEC reported that it received 46 Brownfields Cleanup Program (“BCP”) applications during 2010-2011, an increase of 15% from the previous year.  DEC approved 38 of those applications, up from 26 from the year before. This is good news both for developers and property owners, as well as for our communities and the environment.

Failure to Specify Specific Contaminant in Notice of Intent to Sue Kills RCRA Claims

| September 7, 2011

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals threw out two claims under RCRA for failure to specify the specific contaminants alleged to cause the complained-of harm in the Notice of Intent to Sue.