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Taft's environmental attorneys practice in all facets of environmental law, including Superfund defense and negotiation, enforcement defense, cost-recovery for plaintiffs and defendants, criminal environmental defense, environmental insurance and toxic tort litigation, mold and sick building litigation, lawsuits involving environmental problems discovered as a result of real property transfers or mergers and acquisitions, Brownfields redevelopment, defense of claims of occupational exposures, and administrative proceedings before state and federal agencies. Taft's environmental lawyers also are regularly engaged in insurance disputes concerning environmental issues and agricultural issues involving CAFOs and CFOs. The purpose of this newsletter is to provide you with insights from our team that may be of interest to yours.

Stormwater Flow Not a "Pollutant" Under Clean Water Act and EPA May Not Regulate it as a Surrogate, Federal Court Holds  

 

Kim K. Burke    

kburke@taftlaw.com

(513) 357-9369    

LinkedIn  

 

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia recently granted judgment on the pleadings against EPA and held that EPA lacked the authority under the Clean Water Act to regulate stormwater flow as a surrogate for regulating the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for sediments.

 

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Lead Abatement Regulation for Commercial Buildings Moves Forward  


Scott M. Doran 

sdoran@taftlaw.com 

(614) 334-6157


US EPA is evaluating the development of the comprehensive regulations for the renovation and repair of commercial buildings which contain lead-based paint. These regulations would apply to a variety of construction trades and owners and lessors of commercial buildings subject to renovation, repair or demolition.  US EPA has already promulgated stringent lead abatement rules for the renovation of residential structures.

 

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EPA Publishes Final Amendments to Emissions Standards for Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines (RICE) to Allow More Meaningful Participation in Regional Demand Response Programs    


Bradley R. Sugarman 

bsugarman@taftlaw.com 

(317) 713-3526

LinkedIn 


The United States Environmental Protection Agency (the "EPA") finalized amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants ("NESHAP") for stationary reciprocating internal combustion engines ("RICE") on January 14, 2013 (the "2013 RICE NESHAP amendments"). To understand the significance of the 2013 RICE NESHAP amendments with respect to participation in demand response programs, background information concerning the EPA's regulation of stationary RICE is useful.      

 

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Successor Liability Claims for Environmental Contamination    


William C. Wagner

wwagner@taftlaw.com 

(317) 713-3614

LinkedIn 


Lawsuits for personal injuries, medical monitoring, and remediation claims resulting from historic environmental contamination often involve successor liability claims, where the corporation that caused the pollution no longer exists, but there appears to be a successor corporation operating the same or a similar business. Click below for a general summary of the legal rules pertaining to successor liability claims, with the caveat that the common law in your jurisdiction may vary.  

 

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SCOTUS Finds Certain Discharges of Stormwater Runoff Exempt From NPDES Permitting  

E. Chase Dressman

cdressman@taftlaw.com

(513) 357-9406    

LinkedIn  

 

The United States Supreme Court held on March 20, 2013 that discharges of channeled stormwater runoff from logging roads were exempt from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") permitting scheme. The case turned on whether or not such discharges were "associated with industrial activity" - if so, then such discharges would not be exempt from NPDES permit requirements. 

 

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Clean Ohio Fund Announces Streamlined Process for Brownfields Funding  

 

Kim K. Burke        

kburke@taftlaw.com

(513) 357-9406    

LinkedIn  

 

In March 2013, the Clean Ohio Council announced a streamlined process for issuing grants and loans from the Clean Ohio Fund. $15 million is now available. Applications are being accepted. The maximum cleanup grant per site has been increased from $1 million to $3 million. The maximum grant for site investigation is $200,000. Infrastructure matching funds are no longer required to be completed on the project site. If you are planning to purchase or sell contaminated real property, you should determine whether you are eligible for Clean Ohio funding. For more details, see the Clean Ohio guidance and selection matrix.  

Environmental Legal Action Statute of Limitations: 7th Circuit Adds Another Wrinkle          

 

Melissa A. Gardner 

mgardner@taftlaw.com 

(317) 713-3552    

LinkedIn 


The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the Indiana ten-year "catch-all" statute of limitations may apply to environmental legal actions filed prior to 2011.  

 

In Bernstein v. Bankert, Nos. 11-1501, 11-1523 (7th Cir. Dec. 19, 2012), defendants are the former owners and operators of a CERCLA site called the Third Site. In October 1999, the EPA entered into an Administrative Order by Consent ("1999 AOC") with a number of potentially responsible parties for contamination at the Third Site. The 1999 AOC required investigation and remediation at the Third Site and was complied with fully to its completion. However, in November 2002, the parties entered into a second AOC ("2002 AOC") to perform further work at the site. A trust had also been created to finance and oversee the cleanup project at the site. The Bankerts did not meet their obligations to pay into the trust, causing the trustees to file suit on April 1, 2008. The trustees brought several environmental claims against defendants to recover cleanup costs associated with the site.

 

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March 2013 Issue
Stormwater Flow Not a "Pollutant" Under Clean Water Act
Lead Abatement Regulation for Commercial Buildings Moves Forward
EPA Publishes Final Amendments to Emissions Standards for Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines
Successor Liability Claims for Environmental Contamination
SCOTUS Finds Certain Discharges of Stormwater Runoff Exempt From NPDES
Clean Ohio Fund Announces Streamlined Process for Brownfields Funding
Environmental Legal Action Statute of Limitations






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