Tag: CERCLA

Chemical Manufacturer Fined for Alleged CAA, EPCRA, and CERCLA Violations

In January 2024, chemical manufacturer Nox-Crete Inc., located in Omaha, Nebraska, agreed to pay a $37,026 EPA civil penalty and install a fire suppression system to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act (CAA); Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA); and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The facility, which […]

EPA Considers Additional PFAS for CERCLA Designation

Last month, the EPA published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) asking the public for input regarding potential future hazardous substance designations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund. “Today’s announcement highlights EPA’s commitment to transparency and the use of the […]

EPA Remiss in Remediation Steps at AR Superfund Site

Nearly a decade after the EPA called for additional soil sampling at the Vertac Inc. Superfund Site in Jacksonville, Arkansas, tests have not yet been performed, reports a December 18, 2021, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article. Superfund is the more commonly known name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), a law enacted […]

EPA Updates Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessments Rules

After a year of uncertainty, on December 15, 2022, the EPA published a final rule amending the All Appropriate Inquiries (AAI) Rule to reference ASTM International’s E1527-21, “Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process,” and allow for its use to satisfy the requirements for conducting AAIs under the Comprehensive Environmental […]

Superfund site

EPA Rule Says Industry Insurance Not Required for Pollution Cleanups

On November 25, 2020, the EPA finalized rulemaking that determined that the electric power generation; transmission and distribution; petroleum and coal products manufacturing; and chemical manufacturing industries will not be required to have additional insurance to cover accidents and major spills.

Superfund and Windfall Liens

In its FY 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, the EPA listed the cleanup of contaminated properties and their return to productive economic and community use as one of its top three priorities. Among its goals, the Agency stated that it wants to make 255 additional Superfund sites and 3,420 additional brownfield sites ready for anticipated use by […]

Group of men working at a chemical warehouse classifying barrels

EPA Says CERCLA Financial Assurance Not Required for Chemical Companies

The EPA is moving steadily along its apparent path of concluding that it is not necessary to require that facilities in certain industrial sectors comply with the financial responsibility requirements of Section 108(b) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund). In its latest action, the Agency is proposing not to […]

Chemical research, PFAS

PFAS: What We Know, What’s Being Studied, and the Laws

Many stakeholders are following—or should be following—the federal government’s plans to address the impact of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on human health and the environment. There is a lot to follow. PFAS are a family of chemicals first synthesized in the 1940s. It is a very large family. According to the EPA’s February 2019 […]

Hard-rock mining

Hard-Rock Mining Not Subject to Financial Responsibility Rule

If a federal agency proposes a regulation and then subsequently declines to promulgate that regulation, is the second action arbitrary and capricious because it is not a “logical outgrowth” of the proposal, that is, because the option not to regulate is not sufficiently discussed in the proposal?