ISSUE: Superfund Report

OMB Threatens Further Mass Firings At EPA If Government Shuts Down

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is ordering EPA and other agencies to consider reductions in force (RIFs) for programs “not consistent with the President’s priorities” if lawmakers fail to agree on a fiscal year 2026 spending deal by Oct. 1, exposing a wide array of agency employees to potential firings. In a Sept. 24 memorandum , OMB Director Russell Vought ordered agencies to “use this opportunity” to consider issuing RIF notices “for all employees in programs,...

Longer Timelines For DOD PFAS Cleanups May Boost Transparency Bills

The Defense Department’s (DOD) quiet release of an updated schedule showing delays for PFAS cleanup work could fuel support for pending legislation included in the House version of the fiscal year 2026 defense policy bill that would require greater public transparency from the department on its PFAS cleanup efforts. Reacting to findings that DOD has extended the timeline for cleaning up PFAS contamination at numerous sites, Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI), co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional PFAS Task Force, says...

GAO Urges DOE To Step Up Efforts To Determine PFAS Cleanup Needs

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is pressing the Energy Department (DOE) to step up efforts -- and set a deadline -- for surveying the more than 100 sites it has yet to investigate for historical and current uses of PFAS, data GAO says will be key to prioritizing cleanups and estimating costs. GAO points out that while DOE policy memos direct all of DOE’s sites to characterize per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) use, they lack clear deadlines for completing such...

Padilla Eyes Relief For PFAS Passive Receivers As Bill Remains Uncertain

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), a member of the Senate environment committee, is signaling he is leaving the door open to supporting a bill limiting Superfund liability for a narrow set of “passive receivers” of PFAS contamination, a sign that any effort to enact such protections could win bipartisan support though the panel has yet to advance legislation. Padilla “recognizes the importance of this issue and wants to work with other [Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW)] members to develop legislation...

Industry Warns Court Ruling Could Allow ‘Effectively Unlimited’ NRD Claims

Industry officials are warning that the recent 9th Circuit ruling allowing Superfund natural resource damages (NRD) claims connected to the cultural uses of contaminated land could open the door for state, federal and tribal trustees to pursue “effectively unlimited” claims for damages. “Companies may need to prepare for more and broader claims, potentially driving higher settlement demands and extended litigation,” lawyers at K&L Gates warn in a Sept. 22 post . “Project sponsors should carefully consider how to address losses...

Groups Applaud EPA’s Good Samaritan Guide But Seek Clear Definitions

Industry groups and water utilities are applauding EPA’s draft guidance implementing its congressionally authorized pilot program that limits environmental liabilities for so-called Good Samaritans that seek to voluntarily clean up hardrock mine sites, though they urge the agency to revise certain definitions to provide clarity. The National Mining Association (NMA) and American Exploration and Mining Association (AEMA) filed Sept. 12 comments on EPA’s guidance, touting the bipartisan legislation establishing the program as providing “conservation, mining, and local stakeholders the opportunity...

In Test, Air Force Urges Panel To Send New Mexico State Claims To MDL

The Air Force is urging a joint judicial panel to reject New Mexico’s opposition to sending the state’s latest PFAS cleanup lawsuit to multidistrict litigation (MDL) governing firefighting foam contamination claims, arguing the new state law claims mirror federal waste law claims previously overseen and then dismissed by the MDL court. The case could test what recourse states have in pursuing their per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) cleanup claims against federal facilities. The Air Force in a Sept. 10 brief...

EPA Formally Launches Agency Reorganization, Opening Door To RIFs

The Trump administration is officially launching its long-awaited efforts to significantly reorganize EPA’s structure, notifying staff that it is moving forward on the restructuring that would dismantle the agency’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) and open the door to a planned reduction in force (RIF) for its personnel. The agency on Sept. 22 launched its agencywide reorganization plan, which eliminates ORD and moves many of its scientists to program offices as well as kickstarting the newly created Office of...

Environmental Groups Charge EPA Legacy CCR Delays Violate RCRA, APA

Environmentalists are charging that EPA’s proposal to extend compliance deadlines in the Biden-era rule governing legacy coal combustion residuals (CCR) surface impoundments violates the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act’s (RCRA) protectiveness standard and is arbitrary and capricious, teeing up a likely legal challenge. A coalition of eight environmental groups filed Sept. 15 comments on EPA’s proposed rule that would delay compliance deadlines in the agency’s rule governing legacy CCR surface impoundments and CCR management units (CCRMU), defined as any area...

Environmentalists Urge EPA Against Legacy CCR Rule Compliance Delays

Environmental groups are urging EPA against finalizing its proposal to delay compliance deadlines under a Biden-era rule governing legacy coal combustion residual (CCR) surface impoundments, emphasizing that the extensions lack justification and pose a significant public health risk. Their arguments came during a Sept. 12 EPA public hearing on its proposed rule that extends deadlines in the Biden legacy CCR rule, as the agency prepares broader, substantive revisions to the legacy site rules. Environmentalists were quick to criticize the agency’s...

EPA Plans To Weigh Costs In Future CERCLA Listings, Sparking Criticism

EPA’s plan to develop a framework rule governing future designations of “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, which the agency announced it will craft after deciding to retain the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS, is raising concerns that it will adopt cost as a factor, which one environmentalist says is at odds with the law. The agency announced its plan for the framework rule alongside its surprise decision to retain the landmark rule designating two legacy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

Groups Decry Failure Of Bill To Ease CEQA Rollbacks, But Laud New Effort

Environmental and equity groups are strongly criticizing California lawmakers for failing to pass a bill this year to “clean up” or ease rollbacks of the state’s umbrella environmental protection statute that legislators approved as part of the budget, but they are lauding new legislation to address their concerns that will be considered early next year. “We are immensely grateful to [Assemblyman Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael] and the coalition of legislators who listened to the outpouring of concern from frontline communities...

In Surprise, EPA Decides To Retain Landmark Biden-Era CERCLA PFAS Rule

In a surprise move, EPA has told a federal appellate court it is planning to retain the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, clearing the way for the agency to defend the measure in a pending industry suit despite recent reports that one top EPA official advocated for the agency to oppose the rule. “EPA has reviewed the underlying rule and has decided to keep the Rule in place,” the agency says in...

Blunting Industry Fear, New Jersey Finds PFAS In Soil Below Cleanup Limits

New Jersey regulators have detected various PFAS in surface soil across the state though the concentrations were found to be below interim soil cleanup standards, effectively blunting industry fears that soil remediation standards for four PFAS might be too stringent for liable parties to attain due to the ubiquity of PFAS in the environment. “Despite the widespread occurrence of many PFAS compounds, no sample had concentrations exceeding [New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP)] current interim residential or non-residential” soil...

Environmentalists Threaten New CWA Plastic Suit After Pennsylvania Deal

Environmentalists are threatening to sue two companies over discharges of large amounts of plastic pellets in South Carolina under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), just days after other groups finalized a precedent-setting CWA settlement against a company over plastic discharges into a Pennsylvania river. In a Sept. 10 notice of intent to sue , the group Congaree Riverkeeper warned Alpek Polyester USA and Eastman Chemical Company, who jointly operate a plastic plant near...

OIG to assess federal Superfund sites’ wildfire, flood risk

EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) is launching new evaluations to assess risks to federal Superfund sites from wildfires and inland flooding, continuing a Biden-era series initially intended to compile information on federal facility sites from climate change-driven natural disasters -- though the new reports will not mention climate directly. In two Sept. 11 notifications, OIG told EPA officials it will begin an evaluation to “identify which federal facility Superfund sites on the National Priorities List are at risk” from...

Backers Acknowledge Chemical Recycling Technology Needs Improvement

In a rare public debate with environmentalists, supporters of controversial chemical recycling processes conceded the most prominent of the technologies -- which the plastics industry has touted as a solution to the growing plastic pollution crisis -- must be improved to become more viable for large-scale recycling. In an Aug. 27 webinar held by the Environmental Law Institute, titled “Chemical Recycling: More Pollution? Or a Sustainability Solution for Plastic?”, chemical industry representatives and pro-chemical recycling researchers expressed optimism that the...

Judge Allows Suit Against ExxonMobil Over Plastics Recycling To Advance

A federal judge is allowing environmentalists to continue pursuing their public nuisance claim alleging ExxonMobil engaged in “deceptive public messaging” to promote recycling as a solution to plastic waste concerns, while dismissing their claim that the company violated California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL). The Sept. 5 order by Richard Seeborg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, rejects ExxonMobil’s earlier motion to dismiss the entire lawsuit, Sierra Club, et al. v. ExxonMobil Corp....

Judge Allows Reorganization, RIF Suit To Continue Amid Discovery Battle

A federal district court judge is allowing Trump administration critics to continue their lawsuit challenging restructuring and mass firings at EPA and other agencies, rejecting administration arguments that a July Supreme Court order greenlighting the overhauls means the lawsuit should be dismissed. In a vindication for union, nonprofit and local government plaintiffs, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Sept. 9 to broadly reject the Justice Department’s (DOJ’s) motion to dismiss the...

As EPA Pulls Back, States Eye Creative Enforcement Amid Budget Cuts

SANTA FE, NM -- State environmental officials are grappling with ways to advance creative enforcement actions due to tight agency budgets and a “perception” that EPA and other federal officials are easing their approach to enforcement under the Trump administration. Leah Feldon, director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, suggested during a Sept. 4 panel at the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) fall meeting in Santa Fe, NM, that officials can get “creative” amid tighter budgets, including by...

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