LATEST INSIGHTS

Due Diligence / Emerging Issues / Legislation / New Jersey / New York
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Environmental Due Diligence: What’s The Latest On Federal Environmental Review?

Just a few days ago, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee — in a tight split — voted to support a bill that seeks to target the slow pace of the permitting process for infrastructure and development projects that require review by federal agencies. The bill, named the “Permitting Litigation Efficiency Act,” is expected to impose limits on federal review of projects, i.e., an apparent two-year deadline for federal agencies to determine whether a project can go forward. Other points of the act …

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Agriculture / Clean Air Act / Climate Change / EPA
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The Costs of Doing Business: 9th Circuit Upholds Oregon Clean Fuels Program

In 2007, the Oregon legislature instituted a program designed to reduce the state’s greenhouse emissions to at least 10 percent lower than 2010 levels by 2025. The Oregon Clean Fuels Program uses a cap-and-trade scheme that attributes a carbon intensity value to transportation fuels produced or imported into Oregon. Regulated parties must keep the average carbon intensity of all transportation fuels used in Oregon below an annual limit. A fuel with a carbon intensity below the limit generates a credit, and one with a carbon …

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Emerging Issues
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PFAS Update: Unregulated (Mostly), Uncertain, and Ubiquitous

Partner George Buermann and associate Oliver Twaddell of the firm’s Environmental Practice Group recently published a short article, “PFAS Update: Unregulated (Mostly), Uncertain, and Ubiquitous,” in DRI’s Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Committee newsletter.  This update offers a quick read on key developments related to PFAS — chemicals that have become a major focus of both the plaintiffs’ bar as well as regulators relative to environmental, product liability, and toxic tort issues.

Read the full article here. …

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California / Climate Change / Emerging Issues
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California Leading the Charge In Renewable Energy

Recently, the Assembly of the State of California approved the 100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018 or “SB100” which will require all energy used in the state to come from renewable sources by December 31, 2045. The bill, authored by State Senator Kevin de León, passed the California Senate last year, the Assembly on August 28, 2018, and was reconciled by the Senate on August 29, 2018. All that remains before the bill becomes law, is Governor Jerry Brown’s signature. According to the bill’s …

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Emerging Issues / EPA / Illinois
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EPA Releases Report Linking Sterilizing Chemical to Increased Risk of Cancer

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that a suburban area in Willowbrook, Illinois is facing a risk of cancer over nine times the national average due to contamination by ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide has been used for decades as fumigant to sterilize heat-sensitive medical equipment and other goods. The volatile, easily absorbed chemical has been recognized as a carcinogen since 1985. In December 2016, the EPA released a re-assessment linking it more conclusively to breast and blood cancer.

Sterigenics International, a company that’s …

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California / General
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Glyphosate and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Claims: Different Results In Different Courtrooms Based On The Same Science

We recently reported on a $289 million verdict for plaintiff Dewayne Johnson against Monsanto Company in the state Superior Court of California, an astounding verdict by the jury who found that Mr. Johnson’s use of glyphosate-containing herbicides caused him to develop a type of cancer known as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Monsanto will be appealing the verdict on the grounds that the science does not show that glyphosate causes cancer. While the court in Johnson admitted scientific evidence by plaintiffs that glyphosate causes cancer, it is not …

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Hydraulic Fracturing
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Pennsylvania Appellate Court Shapes Public Notification Requirements for Hydraulic Fracking Operations

Previously, we reported the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Marcellus Shale Coalition v. Department of Environmental Protection, et. al., where the court decided to preserve an injunction against the Department of Environmental Protection of Pennsylvania (DEP) to prevent the enforcement of various new rules pertaining to hydraulic fracturing operations. However, one of DEP’s proposed rules that the PA Supreme Court did not address was the public notification requirement, which, as we predicted, would be scrutinized by the lower courts.

In the Pennsylvania Commonwealth …

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Clean Air Act / Emerging Issues / President Trump
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Trump Administration Continues Rollback of Obama-Era CO2 Regulations

On August 21, 2018, the Trump administration released a proposed CO2 plan that will permit states to establish emission standards for coal power plants rather than encouraging their closure. The new proposal will provide coal companies with a strong financial incentive to keep their plants in operation, rather than the Obama administration’s goal of replacing them with power plants using renewable energy.  According to the EPA, the proposed rule, named the Affordable Clean Energy (rule), contains several key components:

  •  a revised determination of the best
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Pennsylvania / PFOA / Regulations
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EPA’s Slow March Towards Federal Regulation of PFAS

In May, we reported on developments involving a case in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania involving water contamination and exposure to per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS is a family of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS, and PFNA (and many others). The chemicals are commonly found in many consumer products, including stick-proof food packaging, waterproof clothing, and non-stick cookware. The plaintiffs in the PA case alleged that aqueous film forming foams (AFFF) used for firefighting drills at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base …

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California
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$289 Million Verdict for Plaintiff In Roundup Litigation

Well, it finally happened: in the first glyphosate exposure case to go to a jury trial, a San Francisco, California jury awarded a former school groundskeeper $289 million dollars.

Back in June, we reported that DeWayne “Lee” Johnson, a groundskeeper for the school district in Benicia, California, had filed suit alleging that workplace exposure to glyphosate-containing products Roundup and Ranger Pro had led him to develop lymphoma. His case went to trial in late June, and last Friday, the jury reached a verdict. They awarded …

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