Beware What Lies Beneath: Vapor Intrusion Increases Potential Liability for Past and Present Owners and Operators

Between November 2012 and January 2013, employees at two buildings in a Google office complex in Mountain View, California were exposed to hazardous chemical vapors in indoor air at levels that exceeded site‐specific limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). More than 1,000 employees reportedly work in those buildings.

Google did not cause the pollution. Chemical vapors entered the buildings from decades‐old contamination of soil and groundwater under the buildings. Google’s office complex is located at a Superfund site impacted by former semiconductor manufacturing and other operations. Two other semiconductor manufacturing facilities and a U.S. Navy installation also used to be located nearby and
caused contamination. Each of those facilities is also a Superfund site.