The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has lifted a nearly three-year-old stay on EPA's Cross State Air Pollution Rule ("CSAPR"), a contentious rule designed to regulate air pollution that is generated in certain states and drifts...
Year: 2014
New York’s Highest Court to Weigh in on Who Bears the Cost of Regulatory Inaction on Fracking
Fresh off its hotly anticipated August 2014 decision upholding the right of municipalities to zone oil and gas extraction operations out of their towns, the New York State Court of Appeals is set to weigh in on another oil and gas extraction issue. This latest matter...
Perfluorinated Chemicals: Emerging Contaminant, Emerging Liability
Despite - even because of - their useful properties, perfluorinated chemicals ("PFCs") are increasingly thought to be dangerous for the environment, and potentially humans. PFCs are manmade substances with the ability to repel both water and oils, and are responsible...
EPA Blocks Clean Water Act Funding for Tappan Zee Bridge Reconstruction
The U.S. EPA easily rejected Governor Andrew Cuomo's loan request, refraining from calling it chutzpah of the highest order: the Governor tried to pass off bridge construction as an environmental project worthy of the federal Clean Water State Revolving Fund...
EPA Clarifies What Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Procedure Satisfies its All Appropriate Inquiries Rule
As most folks in the commercial real estate industry know, the Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser exemption from liability under the federal Superfund law is a very useful tool. Accordingly, a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment is standard practice for nearly every...
New York Attorney General’s Office Releases Report on Extreme Rainfall Trends in New York State
Over the past decade, the changing climate has contributed to an increase in the number of extreme weather events throughout the world. New York State is no exception. Here, we rely on plentiful water resources to provide our necessities such as agriculture, energy,...
The DEC Typically Isn’t Bound by its Own Mistaken Advice
The scales of justice are a ubiquitous symbol of equality and fairness under the law that date back to ancient times. One of the most common tools lawyers use to pursue the ideal of fairness and equality is the doctrine of equitable estoppel. Equitable estoppel works...
Can an Oral Contract Ever be an Enforceable Promise to Fund an Environmental Remediation?
When someone says the word "contract," what comes to mind? For most, it would probably be a signed piece of paper that sets out certain legally enforceable promises made between two parties. But oral contracts can exist, too, and an oral contract can be just as...
Tolling Agreements between PRPs Cannot Negate Settling PRP’s Entitlement to Benefit of its Settlement
After settling with EPA and having its settlement upheld in court, a potentially responsible party (PRP) is free from liability to all other PRPs given notice of that proposed settlement under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act...
Recent Endangered Species Act Verdict Reinforces Traditional Legal Principles
Though the Endangered Species Act has very strong prohibitory language, in practice its bark is sometimes much worse than its bite. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in The Aranas Project v. Shaw, et al. has preserved the statute's...
