By Michael Einhorn and Nancy Wilms In California Sportfishing Protection Alliance v. Chico Scrap Metal, Inc., Case No. 11-16959 (9th Cir. July 22, 2013), plaintiff California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (“Plaintiff”) alleged that defendants Chico Scrap Metal and its owners (“Defendants”) violated California’s Industrial Activities Storm Water General Permit, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”)…
Read More…

Nancy Wilms and Michael Einhorn In Ecological Rights Foundation v. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 713 F.3d 502 (9th Cir. April 3, 2013), the Ninth Circuit panel affirmed the dismissal of a citizen suit alleging utility poles discharged wood preservative containing pentachlorophenol (“PCP”) into the environment in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act…
Read More…

The California Court of Appeals held that an environmental impact report (“EIR”) which identified landscaping as a mitigation measure to the project’s visual impact satisfied the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”).  The Court found that the EIR did not need to set forth the specific landscaping plan that would mitigate the impact.  Instead, the details…
Read More…

On April 11, 2013, the EPA released draft final vapor intrusion guidance (“Guidance”) for assessing and mitigating vapor intrusion pathways from subsurface sources to indoor air.  The Guidance presents EPA’s current recommendations for identifying and considering key factors when assessing vapor intrusion, making risk management decisions, and implementing mitigation measures pertaining to this potential human…
Read More…

In December 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) adopted a new policy setting forth the conditions on which the agency will consider providing CERCLA bona fide prospective purchaser (BFPP) protection to tenants who lease formerly or currently contaminated property.  Previously, such protections were only available to purchasers of such property.  Although the EPA will continue…
Read More…

By Michael Einhorn and Tiffany Hedgpeth In PCS Nitrogen Inc. v. Ashley II of Charleston, the Fourth Circuit (“Court”) affirmed the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina’s rulings addressing CERCLA liability at a former fertilizer manufacturing site.  In doing so, the court outlined legal standards for multiple CERCLA issues.  Significantly, the Court…
Read More…

Sequestration budget cuts (“budget cuts”) went into effect on March 1, 2013.  These budget cuts required EPA to cut approximately $425 million from its $8.3 billion annual budget, or about 5%.  In a February 6, 2013 letter, Lisa Jackson, then-Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), identifies to Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) the specific…
Read More…

On March 18, a New York federal district court held that a company seeking to recoup the response costs it incurred cleaning up contamination at a former chemical plant initially may maintain state law claims as well as a cost recovery claim under CERCLA § 107 MPM Silicones LLC v. Union Carbide Corp., N.D.N.Y., No….
Read More…

A pharmaceutical waste hauling bill, AB 1442 (Wieckowski), was chaptered into law on September 29, 2012 and went into effect on January 1, 2013.  AB 1442 amends California’s Medical Waste Management Act (MWMA),[1] to define “pharmaceutical waste” and permit its transportation by generators or common carriers, provided that certain requirements are met. Prior to AB…
Read More…

By Tiffany Hedgpeth and Michael Einhorn On March 15, 2013, the Ninth Circuit held in Chubb Custom Ins. Co. v. Space Systems/Loral, Inc., Case No. 11-16272, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 5198 (9th Cir., March 15, 2013), that the insurer Chubb Custom Insurance Company (“Chubb”) could not maintain its Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act…
Read More…