Close up the pouring purified fresh drink water from the bottle on table in living room

EPA: $2 Billion in Funds to Address Emerging Contaminants, Build on PFAS Strategic Roadmap

The EPA announced Monday the availability of $2 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address emerging contaminants such as Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in drinking water across the country. This investment, allocated to states and territories, will be made available to communities as grants through EPA’s Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities (EC-SDC) Grant Program and will “promote access to safe and clean water in small, rural, and disadvantaged communities while supporting local economies.”

“These grants build on EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap and will …

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Advancing Environmental Justice: EPA Releases New Roadmap to Address Cumulative Impacts

The Environmental Protection Agency recently published a Cumulative Impacts Addendum (“Addendum”) to its Legal Tools to Advance Environmental Justice (EJ Legal Tools”), issued in May 2022. 

This Addendum builds on the cumulative impacts discussion in the EJ Legal Tools and provides additional detail and analysis regarding the EPA’s legal authority to address cumulative impacts affecting communities with environmental justice concerns.[1] These authorities include standard-setting, permitting, cleanup, emergency response, funding, planning, and state program oversight.

Although the Addendum itself is not a legally …

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EPA Adds Four PFAS to Toxics Release Inventory as Part of the PFAS Roadmap

As our blog recently reported, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an ambitious national strategy to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) over the next three years. Dubbed a “roadmap,” the EPA says that it is centered on three guiding strategies focused on research, restrictions, and remediation: “Increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment, and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination.” As part of this plan, the EPA announced the automatic …

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EPA Releases PFAS Roadmap, Outlining Various Initiatives, Strategy, and Expected Rulemaking

After releasing a flurry of press releases and developments on PFAS regulation, on October 18, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator announced an ambitious national strategy to address PFAS over the next three years. Dubbed a “roadmap,” the EPA says that it is centered on three guiding strategies focused on research, restrictions, and remediation: “Increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment, and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination.” North Carolina’s governor …

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Decoding a Landmark Case: Environmental Laws and Legal Strategy in New Jersey’s PFAS Trial against DuPont

A high-stakes environmental trial is unfolding in New Jersey, where the state is taking on E.I. DuPont de Nemours and its related entities over widespread PFAS contamination at the former Chamber Works facility in Salem County. The outcome of this case — one of the most closely watched environmental proceedings in the country — could have a significant ripple effect on how other states pursue PFAS-related claims and how corporate defendants approach these increasingly high-profile cases.

In this case, New Jersey alleges that DuPont and …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC

EPA Proposes Addition of More PFAS and PFAS Categories to Toxic Release Inventory

As our blog has reported frequently, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an ambitious national strategy to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Dubbed a “roadmap,” the EPA says it is centered on three guiding strategies focused on research, restrictions, and remediation. Specifically: “Increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination.”  As part of this plan, we have blogged many times about the additions of various …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC

EPA Releases Updated Guidance on Destroying and Disposing PFAS

In furtherance of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap, which our firm has written about frequently, the EPA released an updated guide on destroying and disposing of PFAS.

According to EPA, the updated guidance (found here) reflects the “latest, best available science” to provide information that managers of PFAS wastes can use to evaluate the most appropriate destruction, disposal, or storage method. EPA instructs that the primary audience of this guidance are decision makers who need to identify the most effective …

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EPA Adds Seven More PFAS To Toxic Release Inventory List

As our blog has reported a number of times, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an ambitious national strategy to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Dubbed a “roadmap,” the EPA says that it is centered on three guiding strategies focused on research, restrictions, and remediation. Specifically: “Increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination.”

As part of this plan, the EPA last week announced the …

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The flags of the North Carolina state and United States of America waving in the wind. Democracy and independence.

North Carolina Joins Growing List of U.S. Environmental Justice Policy Proponents

At the end of October, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued Executive Order No. 292, which reestablishes the Secretary of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board (EJ Board) as the Governor’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council (EJA Council), originally established by the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan, who previously served as North Carolina’s DEQ Secretary.

In a “whole of government” approach to policymaking, EO 292 also directs equity-promoting actions that reflect the needs communicated by local communities overburdened …

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PFAS ALERT: The Arrival of Increased Regulation in Composting

By Joshua Fine, Manager, Environmental Claims, Crum & Forster and George Buermann, Partner, Goldberg Segalla LLP

Composting has long been viewed as an important tool for sustainability with benefits for the environment as it has reduced the amount of waste incinerated or sent to landfills. Since the 1920s, municipal biosolids, or treated sewage sludge, has been used in agriculture in the United States. Only since 1993, however, has the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided standards for the use or disposal of biosolids, or treated sewage sludge, through …

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