Appellate Division Upholds Right of New York Municipalities to Regulate Fracking through Zoning Ordinances

| May 16, 2013

Municipalities in New York have received the green light to regulate fracking – even to the point of banning it – through local zoning ordinances.  It’s a second consecutive victory for municipalities in the New York courts, and an affirmation of New York’s long history of vesting decision making powers in local governments through Home [...]

EPA Announces New Tenant Protections Under Superfund

| April 30, 2013

EPA has just extended to tenants the Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser (“BFPP”) protection, by which Congress previously exempted certain prospective owners from harsh Superfund liability. Even where the landlord loses its BFPP protection, the new EPA enforcement guidance memo allows tenants to hold onto it, assuming the tenant can meet certain requirements. Traditionally, a tenant derived [...]

EPA to Defend its “Proposed Plan” for Remediating the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site During Public Meetings on January 23 and 24, 2013

| January 21, 2013

How do you clean up something as big and messy as the Gowanus Canal? On January 23-24, 2013,  the United States Environmental Protection Agency will explain and defend its December 27, 2012, “Proposed Plan” for remediating the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site in Brooklyn, NY. The Proposed Plan formally identifies EPA’s “preferred remedy” for the pollution [...]

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.

No Notices or Knowledge of Basis

| April 10, 2008

1. Disclosure of outstanding notices or basis for notices is important to a continuing business:  “Seller has not received written or oral notification that any of its current or past operations or a by–product thereof is related to

Term Definition: Environmental Requirements

| March 10, 2008

Environmental Requirements:  Traditionally the term used is “Environmental Law,” but “Requirements” is more accurate as the definition goes beyond statutes and regulations.