EPA Issues New Superfund Guidance
Settlement plays a fundamental role in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Superfund enforcement program. Potentially Responsible Parties (“PRPs”) seeking to resolve their liability through the settlement process should take note that EPA recently issued two new guidance memoranda on its settlement procedures. One memorandum sets forth revised procedures for...
Is Your Vehicle a CERCLA Facility?
While we tend to think of a CERCLA “facility” as the real property where environmental contaminants have come to be located, it is important to remember that CERCLA’s definition of “facility” is actually much broader than that and can serve to open the door to “Potentially Responsible Parties” not considered in...
CEQA EXCEPTION FOR BIKE LANES NEARING THE FINISH LINE
While most attempts to push-through last-minute CEQA reform were parked until next year, one bill, AB 2245, glided through the legislature and now heads to the finish line on Governor Brown’s desk for signature. The bill, which provides streamlined environmental review for certain bike lane projects, was unanimously passed by...
California State Water Board’s Low-Threat UST Case Closure Policy Is Now Effective
On May 1, 2012, the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) adopted via Resolution No. 2012-0016 the Water Quality Control Policy for Low-Threat Underground Storage Tank Case Closure (Low-Threat Closure Policy). The Low-Threat Closure Policy finally became effective on August 17th. This should be good news for the thousands of UST sites in California...
LITIGATION UPDATE: Writ of Certiorari filed in Solutia, Inc. v. McWane, Inc.
Recently, Solutia Inc. and Pharmacia Corporation filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling that a Potentially Responsible Party (“PRP”) conducting a cleanup pursuant to a consent decree is foreclosed from bringing a cost recovery action against other PRPs under...
LITIGATION UPDATE: CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT GRANTS REVIEW OF L.A. LIGHT RAIL CASE
On August 8th, the California Supreme Court granted review of the Second District Court of Appeal’s decision in Neighbors for Smart Rail v. Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority. As previously blogged in April, the Second District found that a lead agency’s use of projected future conditions to measure the environmental impacts that a...
CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT EXPANDS AVAILABLE POLICY LIMITS TO COVER ENVIRONMENTAL CLAIMS
On August 9, 2012, the California Supreme Court handed down its much anticipated decision in State of California v. Continental Ins. Co. The California Supreme Court held that the “all sums” method of allocation applies in California and that an insured can horizontally stack all successively triggered policies in...
Green Building Coming to a Home Near You
Yesterday, the California Energy Commission unanimously approved energy efficiency standards for new homes and commercial buildings. The new 2013 Building and Energy Efficiency Standards (Standards), which take effect on January 1, 2014, are projected to be 25 percent more efficient than previous standards for residential construction and 30 percent more efficient for nonresidential construction. For...
City Adopts Progressive General Plan Addressing Link Between the Built Environment and Public Health
Recently, the City of Richmond, a bay area industrial and commercial hub, approved an innovative General Plan that includes a comprehensive element dedicated to community health and wellness. The city’s General Plan, which will guide development in the city through the year 2030, is one of the first in the nation to recognize that...
CERTIFYING THE CERTIFIERS: GSA ONE STEP CLOSER TO CHOOSING A FEDERAL GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM
Last week, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) came one step closer to identifying a federally recognized green building certification system. The review, conducted by the Department of Energy (DOE) and commissioned by the GSA, narrowed down the list of candidates to three: the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Green Building Initiative’s Green...
SMOG CHECK: EPA IMPLEMENTS THE 2008 OZONE STANDARDS
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took two next steps toward the implementation of the 2008 air quality standards for ground-level ozone, which is commonly referred to as smog: it finalized designations for every area of the country, with the exception of the Chicago-Naperville and Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin area and issued a final rule relating to...
CVS Settles Hazardous Waste Suit
In a settlement reached in mid-April, CVS Pharmacy Inc. (CVS) agreed to pay almost $14 million to settle claims that it improperly stored and disposed of hazardous waste at its drugstores in California. In a suit brought in Ventura County Superior Court, prosecutors representing 45 cities and counties across...
Going Verde: Mexico Passes Climate Change Law
Last week, Mexico’s Senate passed a rather ambitious climate change law. And it did so with a 78 to 0 vote – something not seen too often in our country! This makes our neighbors to the south only the second nation in the world (the United Kingdom is the other) and...
Parties Can Toll CEQA Statute of Limitations
Last week, in Salmon Protection and Watershed Network v. County of Marin, the California Court of Appeals found that a public agency and a party disputing the adequacy of an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) can enter into a tolling agreement to toll or suspend the...
IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN: EPA RELEASES 17TH ANNUAL U.S. GHG INVENTORY REPORT
Just as we did last year at this time, we are pleased to bring you the results of the 17 th annual U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And… drum roll please… we here at GREENberg bLAWg (along with pretty much everyone else that reported on the topic) correctly predicted...
Second Appellate District Approves Use of Projected Future Baseline to Measure Environmental Impacts in L.A. Light Rail Case
On Tuesday, the Second District Court of Appeal issued its decision in Neighbors for Smart Rail v. Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority , ruling that a lead agency’s use of projected future conditions to measure the environmental impacts that a long-term infrastructure project will have on traffic and air quality did...
Guaranteeing California’s Renewable Energy Small Business Future
In late February, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) (in collaboration with State Controller John Chiang) introduced California Senate Bill 1465. The legislation would seek to provide credit support for small renewable energy and agricultural businesses in the form of loan guarantees. By doing so, the bill hopes to “facilitate export expansion” and promote...
Does Your City Make the Energy Star Cut?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released today the annual list of metropolitan cities with the most Energy Star certified buildings for 2011. To earn EPA’s Energy Star, commercial buildings must perform in the top 25 percent of similar buildings nationwide and must be independently verified by a licensed professional engineer or a...
Sackett v. EPA – Supreme Court Allows Pre-Enforcement Review of Clean Water Act Compliance Orders
On March 21st, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Sackett family has a right to challenge a pre-enforcement compliance order from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before EPA initiates a formal enforcement action in Sackett v. EPA. The Sacketts own about a half-acre vacant parcel of land in Idaho. In...
Supreme Court Settles Riverbed Battle
The Supreme Court recently issued its opinion in the closely watched case of PPL Montana, LLC v. State of Montana , 565 U.S. __ (2012), unanimously reversing and remanding a controversial Montana State Supreme Court decision granting Montana ownership of riverbeds underlying ten hydroelectric facilities on three of the...
Settling Party Barred from Bringing a CERCLA Section 107(a) Claim
This week, in the case of Solutia, Inc. and Pharmacia Corp. v. McWane, Inc. (Solutia), the Eleventh Circuit held that a party that performs a cleanup in compliance with a consent decree has no right under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) section 107(a) to recover its cleanup costs...
SHORT-CIRCUITING THE FAST-ACTING : 6 COUNTRIES START A PROGRAM TO CUT SHORT-LIVED CLIMATE CHANGE POLLUTANTS
Last week, the State Department announced the formation of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (Coalition). In what many are calling a response to the extremely slow pace at which the international community is working to negotiate a global climate change treaty, the United States and...
PERC-ED UP: EPA HAS RELEASED FINAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT
Okay, so it will probably come as no surprise to those readers that know anything about perc (also known as PCE, short for perchloroethylene, another name for tetrachloroethylene – whew!) that, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released it’s final health assessment for the chemical this week, EPA essentially concluded “yep, it’s still bad...
State Water Board May Soon Adopt the Low-Threat UST Case Closure Policy
Last week, the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) gave notice of public opportunity to comment on its proposed April adoption of the Water Quality Control Policy for Low-Threat Underground Storage Tank Case Closure (Low-Threat Closure Policy). This should come as welcome news for the thousands of underground storage tank (UST) sites in...
Ninth Circuit Invalidates EPA’s Approval of Valley’s 2004 One-Hour Ozone SIP Based On Failure to Address “Stale” Emissions Data
Recently, Honorable Judge Ronald M. Gould, writing for a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, found the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) 2010 approval of the San Joaquin Valley’s 2004 1-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard plan (“2004 SIP”) was arbitrary and capricious, citing EPA’s failure to adequately address the potential...
READY, OFFSET, GO: A LOOK AT THE FINAL CAP-AND-TRADE REGULATION’S OFFSET PROGRAM
The time has finally come… California’s cap-and-trade regulation finally went into effect in January of 2012 (not without its litigation drama along the way). The crowning jewel of California’s AB 32, the regulation establishes an overall cap on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for all covered sources. There are two “compliance instruments” contemplated...
Greenhouse Gas Data Just a Click Away
Earlier this month, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released for the first time comprehensive greenhouse gas (GHG) data through EPA’s GHG Reporting Program. The 2010 GHG data includes publicly accessible information from sources in nine industry groups that directly emit large quantities of GHGs or supply certain fossil fuels. The...
Green Building in Practice: A Success Story
Greenberg Glusker client, Structure Home, in partnership with Green Builder Media and others, is well underway in its development of VISION House Los Angeles. Among the first of its kind in the Los Angeles area, this single family residence is located in the Pacific Palisades community of Los Angeles. The goal of...
Cabazon Band of Mission Indians Agrees to Air Quality Rules
In a landmark agreement, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) reached a “government-to-government” agreement with the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians to enforce some of the SCAQMD’s air quality regulations on tribal land. The SCAQMD is the air pollution control agency for all of Orange County and the urban...
Sackett v. EPA – Supreme Court to Decide Whether Pre-Enforcement Review of Compliance Orders Allowed
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument on Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (docket no. 10-1062). At issue is whether a party who was issued a pre-enforcement compliance order from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the right to have the order judicially reviewed before EPA initiates an enforcement action...