Members of Perkins Coie's Environmental Litigation group represent clients in some of the nation's most significant environmental litigation matters. These matters include multi-party cleanup matters and permit challenges before trial courts, appellate courts and administrative tribunals.
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Publications
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04.24.2024Two PFAS Designated as CERCLA Hazardous SubstancesUpdatesThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a Final Rule on April 19, 2024, designating two of the most common per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—PFOA and PFOS, including their salts and structural isomers—as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
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02.15.2024EPA’s Latest PFAS Push Targets Nine Substances Under RCRAUpdatesU.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan signed two proposed rules related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and the agency’s corrective action authority under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act on January 31, 2024. These proposed rulemakings align with EPA’s Strategic Roadmap, announced in 2021 as a “whole-of-agency” approach to addressing PFAS.
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11.02.2023FERC Directs NERC To Update Reliability Standards To Address Reliability Gaps Related to IBRsUpdatesAmid the rapidly increasing pace of nonsynchronous resources being added to the electric grid, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued Order No. 901 on October 19, 2023.
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09.2023The Endangered Species Act and the Precautionary Principle: The D.C. Circuit's Maine Lobstermen's Decision Has LegsArticles
Foundation for Natural Resources & Energy Law’s Network / September 2023 Newsletter
In Maine Lobstermen’s Ass’n v. National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that section 7 of the Endangered Species Act mandates using the “best scientific and commercial data available,” preventing the NMFS from making speculative, worst-case assumptions about whether a fishery is “not likely” to jeopardize a protected whale species’ survival. -
06.22.2023NEPA Reforms May Aid Project Speed, But Red Tape RemainsArticles
Law360
After much debate, a bipartisan Congress suspended the public debt ceiling until 2025 by passing the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which President Joe Biden signed on June 3.
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05.26.2023Supreme Court Limits Reach of Clean Water ActUpdatesThe U.S. Supreme Court, on May 25, 2023, narrowed the reach of the Clean Water Act, in the latest judicial effort to define the “waters of the United States” that Congress intended to regulate. Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 21-454).
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03.16.2023EPA Proposes Stringent National Drinking Water Standards for Six PFASUpdatesFor the first time and after much anticipation, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for key "forever chemicals."
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02.06.2023Corporate Boards Are Ramping up These Sustainability PrioritiesArticlesSustainability remains a top priority for corporate boards this year as industries field growing demand from investors, consumers, and governments for more accountability, transparency, and responsiveness.
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01.11.2023The Biden Rule: Redetermining Where Water Ends and Land BeginsUpdatesThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of the Army jointly announced on December 30, 2022, the latest final rule that attempts to define “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. The Rule will take effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
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08.19.2022The Inflation Reduction Act’s Impact on Offshore Wind LeasingUpdatesThe $437 billion Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law on August 16, 2022, by President Biden, makes historic investments in clean energy. The IRA allocates $369 billion toward energy security, carbon emissions reduction, and climate resilience.
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08.09.2022New York Announces Third Solicitation for at Least 2,000 MW of Offshore WindUpdatesGovernor Hochul announced the release of New York’s third competitive Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate solicitation on July 27, 2022.
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07.20.2022Just Short of a Rule: Washington State’s Recommendations on PFAS Cleanup LevelsUpdatesThe Washington State Department of Ecology recently released a focus sheet that provides Ecology’s recommended soil and groundwater cleanup levels for a group of chemical compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
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07.19.2022BOEM Announces First Regional Environmental Analysis of Offshore Renewable EnergyUpdatesThe Bureau of Ocean Energy Management published its notice of intent on Friday, July 15, 2022, to prepare a programmatic environmental review to analyze the potential impacts of wind energy development activities in the New York Bight—offshore New York and New Jersey.
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05.05.2022Insurance Coverage in an Environmental Case: Focus On Claims HandlingLawyer Publications
The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law Special Institute
Litigating an Energy, Natural Resources, or Environmental CaseThis paper provides an overview of claims under standard insurance policies in the context of energy, natural resources, and environmental litigation. -
04.25.2022FERC Greenlights PJM and New Jersey Offshore Wind Transmission AgreementUpdatesOn April 14, 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted a “State Agreement Approach” Agreement between PJM Interconnection, LLC and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities effective April 15, 2022.
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03.24.2022Government Moves to Dismiss Case Challenging New York Bight Wind Energy Area DesignationsUpdatesA New Jersey based nonprofit organization, Save Long Beach Island, and its president sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in January 2022.
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03.15.2022EPA Adopts New ASTM Standard for Phase I Environmental Site AssessmentsUpdatesThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on March 14, 2022, issued both a final rule incorporating revised ASTM International standard practices, ASTM International’s E1527–21 ‘‘Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process,’’ and a proposed rule soliciting comment on this action.
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02.02.2022Escalating Stakes in Battle for Ocean WindUpdatesOffshore wind development in the United States continues to draw opposition from coastal landowners, businesses, organizations, and other users of ocean waters, as it has since the industry first emerged here.
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11.10.2021Washington’s PFAS Chemical Action Plan: Another Piece in the Regulatory PatchworkUpdatesOn November 3, 2021, the Washington Department of Ecology published its final PFAS Chemical Action Plan, which provides a roadmap for addressing uses and releases of those chemicals in Washington State to protect human health and the environment.
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11.02.2021Beyond Cradle to Grave: EPA Proposes to Regulate PFAS “Forever Chemicals” Under RCRAUpdatesIn response to a petition from New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on October 26, 2021, that it will take steps toward regulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances commonly referred to as “PFAS,” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
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07.09.2020Remote Depositions and Other Remote Testimony: Representing Clients in the New NormalUpdatesThis update provides some recent lessons learned with remote depositions that apply to both those who take and defend remote depositions.
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04.23.2020US Supreme Court Limits Use of Tort Claims By Affected Homeowners at Superfund SitesUpdatesThe U.S. Supreme Court, on April 20, stepped into the long-simmering debate about the rights of residential homeowners affected by Superfund response actions, ruling that they are indeed bound by the federal statute’s ban against potentially responsible parties taking additional, unauthorized remedial actions.
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02.05.2020Bird Is the Word: US Fish & Wildlife Service Proposes Narrow Interpretation of Migratory Bird Treaty ActUpdatesThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposed rule on January 30, 2020, that narrowly interprets the protections afforded by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
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07.19.2019EPA Revises Its FOIA RegulationsUpdatesThe Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule June 26, 2019, revising the agency’s Freedom of Information Act regulations.
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05.28.2019Washington State Legislature Increases Hazardous Substance Tax, Providing Additional Funds to Address Contaminated SitesUpdatesThe Washington Legislature narrowly passed SB 5993, which increases the tax on petroleum that primarily funds the state’s contaminated site cleanup program, protects the funds from being used for other purposes and amends the state’s cleanup law, the Model Toxics Control Act, to expand the Washington State Department of Ecology’s authority to issue cleanup grants.
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01.31.2019EPA Proposes to Exempt Animal Waste From Reporting RequirementsUpdatesEPA is currently reviewing comments on its November 14, 2018 proposed rule to exempt livestock farms from reporting routine farm air emissions under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and intends to issue a final rule this spring.
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09.28.2018Courts to Environmental Plaintiffs: Use RCRA, not Clean Water Act, to Address Coal-Ash Disposal at Coal-Fired Power PlantsUpdatesIn three recent decisions, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit and Sixth Circuit have signaled the courts’ refusal to allow environmental plaintiffs to use the federal Clean Water Act to address coal ash pollution from unlined storage ponds at coal fired power plants.
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09.04.2018D.C. Circuit Overturns EPA’s Coal Combustion Residuals Rule for Coal-Fired Power PlantsUpdatesThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, on August 21, 2018, vacated much of U.S. EPA’s final rule regulating the disposal of “coal combustion residuals” (CCR) at coal-fired power plants.
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08.09.2018Large Jury Verdicts in Hog Nuisance Cases Signal CAFO Litigation Is RisingUpdatesA federal jury last week returned a $473.5 million verdict against the world’s largest pork producer for nuisances caused by three industrial-scale hog farms.
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06.05.2018Washington Supreme Court Narrows “Owner or Operator” Liability, Exempts DNR From Cleanup Law LiabilityUpdatesIn a decision issued last month, the Washington Supreme Court narrowed “owner or operator” liability under the Model Toxics Control Act.
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01.04.2018D.C. Circuit Upholds FTA Approval of Purple Line Light Rail ProjectUpdatesReversing a district court decision that had delayed work on the $2.4 billion Purple Line light rail transit project in Maryland, the D.C. Circuit has held that the FTA and MTA fully complied with the National Environmental Policy Act when approving the project.
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08.30.2017FERC Failed to Adequately Consider Environmental Impacts of Downstream GHG Emissions Under NEPA Says D.C. CircuitUpdatesThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last week vacated and remanded a 2016 Order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that had authorized construction and operation of the Southeast Market Pipelines Project.
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05.31.2017Absolute Pollution Exclusion—Not So AbsoluteUpdatesSlapping insurers with breach of contract and bad faith, Washington state’s highest court recently found that a general liability policy’s so-called “absolute” pollution exclusion may not be so absolute.
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04.05.2017Executive Order Seeks Sweeping Reversal of Climate Change Policies to Favor U.S. Energy ProductionUpdatesPresident Donald Trump recently signed Executive Order 13783, an omnibus executive order aimed at reducing burdens on further development of domestic energy resources, with “particular attention” to oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear energy resources.
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01.09.2017Potential Expansion of MTCA to More Owners/Operators of Contaminated Property in WashingtonUpdates
The Washington State Court of Appeals recently held the Department of Natural Resources liable as an operator or owner of a contaminated site under the Model Toxics Control Act, RCW 70.105D, in Pope Resources, LP v. Wash. Dept. of Natural Resources.
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04.01.2016Supreme Court Holds the Ninth Circuit Misinterpreted the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation ActUpdates
The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected the Ninth Circuit’s interpretation of § 103(c) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
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03.17.2016Ninth Circuit Reinstates Polar Bear Habitat Designation, ESA Implications for the WestUpdatesIn a decision that could result in significant new restrictions on development activities in the Arctic as well as set important Endangered Species Act (ESA) precedent in the Western United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently reversed an Alaska district court’s judgment vacating the designation of critical habitat in Alaska for the polar bear.
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10.14.2011New Peer Reviewed Edition of Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence for Judges ReleasedUpdatesOn September 28, the Federal Judicial Center and the National Academies jointly released the third edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence (the "Manual"), containing tools for use by judges to manage cases involving complex scientific and technical evidence as part of their responsibilities under Daubert.
Presentations
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12.07.2023NEPA Reform – Permitting for Critical Minerals ProductionSpeaking Engagements
This panel discussed a broad range of diverse views on the state of play in the reform of federal permitting laws by legislation and rulemaking.
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11.15.2023National Environmental Policy ActSpeaking EngagementsPanelist
32nd Annual Eastern Boot Camp on Environmental Law / Washington, D.C. -
05.12.2023PFAS: Forever Chemicals in a Forever Evolving Legal LandscapeSpeaking EngagementsWashington State Bar Association Environmental & Land Use Law Section / Leavenworth, WA
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11.16.202231st Annual Eastern Environmental Law Boot Camp®Speaking Engagements
Instructor
Environmental Law Institute / Washington D.C. -
05.05.2022
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11.03.202130th Annual Eastern Environmental Law Boot Camp®Speaking Engagements
Instructor
Environmental Law Institute / Virtual -
11.19.2020 & 11.05.202029th Annual Eastern Environmental Law Boot Camp®Speaking Engagements
Instructor
Environmental Law Institute / Virtual -
11.05.2020
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11.18.2019The National Environmental Policy ActSpeaking Engagements28th Eastern Bootcamp on Environmental Law
