Litigation-PFAS

Litigation

MDL Court Outlines Path Leading Up To First PFAS Personal Injury Trial

The federal court overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL) on PFAS contamination stemming from firefighting foam has set a schedule leading up to the first trial to hear personal injury claims, with three kidney cancer cases serving as bellwethers after the judge declined to try the kidney cases with testicular cancer cases as the plaintiffs had sought. Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, who is overseeing the massive MDL governing claims related to aqueous...

Case Management Order

May 9 Order


Parties Battle Over ‘Irreparable Harm’ For Injunction In PFAS Permit Suit

Environmentalists and PFAS manufacturer Chemours are at odds over how to define “irreparable harm” to satisfy requirements for a preliminary injunction in litigation over the company’s wastewater permit violations, as a court weighs whether to act now to force the company to limit its discharges at a facility in line with an existing permit. At issue is whether a company’s continuing violations of water quality-based permit limits for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -- which in the case of its...

D.C. Circuit Grants EPA’s Request For Another Stay In SDWA PFAS Case

The D.C. Circuit has granted EPA’s fourth request to delay litigation challenging the Biden-era drinking water rule, giving the agency until July 21 to determine next steps in the case after officials announced they would extend compliance deadlines for two of the six PFAS subject to the rule while reconsidering limits for the other four. In a June 5 order , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted EPA’s request to continue abeyance in American...

EPA Seeks Additional 45-Day Stay In Suit Challenging SDWA PFAS Rule

EPA is asking the D.C. Circuit to again extend the stay of litigation challenging the Biden-era rule setting limits on PFAS in drinking water, seeking another 45 days to determine next steps in the case after announcing last month that the agency would retain part of the rule while rescinding and reconsidering other aspects of it. The agency June 4 filed an unopposed motion to continue abeyance in American Water Works Association (AWWA), et al. v. EPA for an...

EPA Asks For Additional Stay In Litigation Challenging CERCLA PFAS Rule

Facing competing pressures from key groups, EPA is asking for an additional 30-day stay in pending industry litigation challenging the Biden EPA rule designating two PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances,” the third such request officials have sought as they work to evaluate the rule and decide how to proceed in the litigation. As expected, the agency May 30 filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to request an additional stay of 30...

4th Circuit Denies States’ Bid For En Banc Review Of PFAS Venue Ruling

The 4th Circuit has denied Maryland and South Carolina’s petition for the full court to reconsider a panel’s ruling that clears the way for 3M to remove the states’ PFAS contamination suits to federal court, where the company will be able to defend against liability claims by arguing it acted as a government contractor. In a May 28 order , the clerk said the petition was circulated to all active judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th...

Maryland Adds RCRA Claims To Novel Superfund PFAS Suit Against Gore

Maryland is adding Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) claims to its pending Superfund cleanup and cost recovery suit against materials manufacturer W.L. Gore & Associates, in an effort that appears aimed at bolstering one of the first state actions seeking recoveries using EPA’s designation of certain PFAS as “hazardous substances.” The addition, contained in a May 12 amended complaint in State of Maryland v. Gore , could bolster the state’s existing Superfund cleanup and cost recovery claims at the...

EPA Seeks Extended Stay In SDWA Rule Case, Eying Compliance Fixes

EPA is asking the D.C. Circuit to again delay litigation contesting the Biden-era PFAS drinking water rule, contending it needs an additional 21 days to determine its actions in the case as it finalizes plans to address significant challenges faced by water providers to comply with the rule and as it works with the litigants on how to proceed. Under an existing stay granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, EPA was due to...

Maryland Citizens Plan RCRA Suit Alleging PFAS Releases From Ag Giant

Maryland residents are threatening to sue agriculture giant Perdue Agribusiness under the citizen suit provisions of the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) over alleged PFAS releases stemming from a wastewater treatment plant, wastewater and sludge lagoons, spray irrigation and firefighting foam disposal at a local industrial complex. The potential RCRA litigation signals another avenue through which the agriculture sector could be vulnerable to suit over traditional practices, such as spray irrigation, if the wastewater contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

Air Force, New Mexico Say PFAS Case Should Proceed Despite New Law

The Air Force and the New Mexico are each urging the 10th Circuit to continue hearing a case deciding whether state or federal courts should hear the service’s challenge of a state waste permit covering PFAS, despite a recently adopted state law to list discarded PFAS-containing firefighting foam as “hazardous waste.” While the Air Force’s appeal deals with the procedural issue of which venue should hear the permit challenge, the state points out that the new law strengthens the New...

D.C. Circuit Grants EPA Extended Stay To Weigh CERCLA PFAS Rule

EPA has won an additional 30 days to decide how to proceed in pending industry litigation challenging the Biden EPA rule designating two PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances,” as officials prepare to engage with Congress on creating a liability framework that upholds the “polluter pays” model while providing protections to “passive receivers.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit April 30 granted EPA’s April 25 unopposed motion seeking an additional 30 days to the current stay...

Toxicology Groups Fight Criticism Over Late Filing In PFAS SDWA Rule Case

Toxicology groups led by a former Trump EPA toxics office nominee say they have “good cause” to participate as amici parties backing litigation filed by water utilities and industry challenging EPA’s landmark drinking water PFAS rule, rebutting environmental intervenors who say the groups filed too late to be included in the case. The two groups -- Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) and the International Society for Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology (ISRTP) -- filed an April 25 reply brief...

EPA Seeks More Time To Weigh CERCLA PFAS Rule Ahead Of New Strategy

EPA is asking the D.C. Circuit for an additional 30 days before deciding on how to proceed in pending litigation challenging the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, a move that will give officials more time to complete the agency’s upcoming multi-media strategy to address the chemicals. In an April 25 unopposed motion , EPA told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that agency leadership needs more time to...

Environmentalists Fight Toxicologists’ Late PFAS-Risk Push In SDWA Suit

Environmentalists are opposing a late push by toxicology groups seeking to make the case that the Biden EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) rule for six PFAS does not meet the law’s regulatory thresholds, charging that the groups, led by a former Trump EPA toxics office nominee, are six months too late in filing their amici brief. Further, the environmentalists, who are respondent-interveners in the case, say the toxicologists are raising new arguments -- such as challenging EPA’s conclusion...

Court’s Listing Of 12 Test Sites Aims To Delineate Liable Parties In PFAS MDL

The federal judge overseeing sprawling multi-district litigation (MDL) over PFAS contamination from firefighting foam has designated 12 test sites to determine which manufacturers’ specific products caused contamination, a key step in delineating which parties will likely be held liable for personal injury, environmental and other claims. Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina April 1 issued a case management order granting a joint motion naming 12 sites including airports, fire stations and training...

Court Seeks Briefing On New Mexico Law’s Effect On Air Force’s PFAS Suit

A federal appeals court is asking New Mexico and Air Force officials to explain how a new state law that regulates discarded firefighting foam containing PFAS as “hazardous waste” affects their pending litigation on whether state or federal courts should hear the service’s challenge to a state waste permit governing PFAS releases. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on its own accord issued an April 18 order in Air Force v. New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) ,...

Municipalities Seek To Steer Cases Clear Of MDL, Despite 4th Circuit Ruling

Several South Carolina municipalities are asking the federal judge overseeing the massive PFAS firefighting foam multidistrict litigation (MDL) to remand their PFAS pollution cases to state court, making arguments they say overcome the 4th Circuit’s recent ruling backing 3M’s effort to remove Maryland and South Carolina PFAS contamination suits from state court to the MDL. In recent filings made in the MDL, several municipal entities cite the March 7 decision on the federal officer removal law by the U.S. Court...

Utilities, Advocates Resist Industry’s Push To Seal Evidence In PFAS Case

North Carolina water utilities and environmentalists are urging a federal district court to reject a request by Chemours and DuPont to seal from public disclosure 21,000 pages of documents related to PFAS data and research on decades of releases stemming from their Fayetteville Works, NC, manufacturing plant. In separate briefs filed earlier this week, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) and other utility and municipality plaintiffs, along with environmentalist intervenors, argued that the companies’ submitted evidence is protected by...

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