A new “CERCLA Continuing Obligations” discussion group recently began in Linkedin – actually its a subgroup within the “Environmental Issues in Business Transactions” discussion group that Larry Schnapf manages. Given this, it seemed right to quickly review how the phrase “continuing obligations” came into being and where its heading. It started with CERCLA’s Brownfield Amendments. [...]
For years, Michigan’s cleanup laws have set forth a fairly novel approach aimed at protecting new “nonliable” purchasers of contaminated property. The legal and regulatory regime involves a characterization of the pre-purchase contamination as well as post-puchase “due care” procedures. Last month, in December 2010, Michigan added institutional control (IC) compliance and management obligations to [...]
In the years I’ve spent helping to draft a Continuing Obligations Guide as part of the ASTM E50 Committee, my colleagues and I have often acutely noted (and perhaps lamented) that no court has ever directly addressed CERCLA’s Bonafide Prospective Purchaser (“BFPP”) defense. Well now there’s a case. In Ashley II of Charlseston LLC v. PCS Nitrogen, [...]
The United States Conference of Mayors recently published “Recycling America’s Land: A National Report on Brownfields Redevelopment.” The report highlighted the successes and benefits of brownfield redevelopment, but stayed silent on the use of Institutional Controls (ICs). Of course many factors contribute to Brownfield successes but the important role of ICs, and their ongoing stewardship, ought [...]
A little over a week ago, Terradex hosted a web meeting on institutional controls (IC) efforts at state and local agencies, with a particular focus on the use of one call and local and state cooperation. About 15 participants from EPA, state agencies, local government, and academia gave 3-minute overviews of their IC stewardship efforts [...]
In both a progressive and unique move, the West Virginia DEP joined the state’s call-before-you dig, or “One Call” center to help screen for improper excavations at about 100 of the state’s environmental covenant sites. The process requires a daily review of excavation tickets at or near these site which, in turn, allows DEP to [...]
A recent EPA cleanup proposal directly recognizes what many have come to accept as a given – cleanups need institutional controls (ICs), monitoring of ICs is a critical component of cleanup remedies, and private sector landwatch services make monitoring effective. Recognizing the key role of IC monitoring, EPA’s June 2010 “proposed plan” for a Southern [...]
Children playing patty-cake in the discharge of the discharge of a remediation recovery well: this article reveals first-hand challenges to landowners and responsible parties when a remedial piping fails. As the task group chair for ASTM’s Continuing Obligations Guide, Terradex’s Bob Wenzlau shares his personal encounter with a failed remedial system, the difficult to report [...]
Seven years ago, we created a new methodology for increasing the effectiveness of institutional controls, and as of June 29, 2010 this innovation is protected by a patent. So what led to the patent? Failed approaches led to a new idea. We knew a duty existed to monitor safe use of contaminated sites, but whose [...]
Terradex can monitor numerous transactional real estate data sources permitting the detection of problematic real estate scenarios at tracked properties. The sources include monitoring new residential and commercial listings, new sold properties, pre-foreclosure actions, foreclosure actions, tax liens, bankruptcies, new easements and new occupants. Thorough real estate monitoring is critical when the responsible party no longer owns [...]
