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 [...]

Migration of Contamination Does Not Automatically Create a Single “Facility” Under CERCLA

| December 12, 2012

A federal court in New York recently decided that the migration of subterranean contamination onto a neighboring property was not, by itself, a sufficient basis to hold a neighboring landowner jointly liable for remediation costs under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”).

Can Entering Into a CERCLA Consent Decree Preclude Subsequent Cost Recovery Actions?

| December 4, 2012

Congress enacted the Superfund Act, whose formal name is the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or CERCLA, in 1980 to promote the clean up (remediation) of properties, typically abandoned landfills or other sites, that had been contaminated by the disposal of hazardous materials. To further this goal, Congress cast a wide net and [...]

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.

The Second Circuit Follows the Supreme Court’s Holdings in Atlantic Research and Cooper Industries.

| May 19, 2009

In a recent Second Circuit decision, W.R. Grace & Co. v. Zotos International, No.: 05-cv-2798 (March 4, 2009), the Court followed two recent Supreme Court decisions on the oft-contested issue of when and under what sections of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) (the “Superfund” statute) a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) can [...]

No Hazardous Substances

| April 8, 2008

This most common of representations and warranties is most often abused.  Buyer or tender may initially want a flat representation that there are not now and never have been any Hazardous Materials on the premises or any operations that generate, use, treat, store, or dispose of Hazardous Materials.  Difficulties that immediately arise include

Term Definition: Hazardous Material

| March 5, 2008

A major problem with definitions of environmental terms in commercial and real estate transaction documents is that they become overly inclusive, confusing, and unworkable.  A definition of “hazardous materials” which includes virtually every substance known to man in any amount at any concentration, will be impossible to satisfy