Tag: chemicals

EPA Designates Two PFAS as Hazardous Substances

On April 19, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it was designating two common per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund. As expected, EPA is issuing a final rule to designate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as hazardous substances. The pre-publication version of the rule is available here.

Once the rule is effective, entities will be required to report releases of PFOA and PFOS into the environment that meet or exceed the reportable quantity. Reporting past releases is not required if the releases have ceased as of the effective date of the rule. EPA will have the authority to order potentially responsible parties to test, remediate, or pay for the cleanup of sites contaminated with PFOA or PFOS under CERCLA.

Massachusetts established reportable concentrations for six PFAS, including PFOA and PFOS, in 2019. The Massachusetts regulations also contain cleanup standards for PFAS contamination in soil and groundwater.

Under Maine law, these substances also are automatically deemed a Maine hazardous substance regulated under the Maine Uncontrolled Hazardous Substance Sites Law. Maine’s PFAS screening levels are available here.

Solid waste facility operators had expressed serious concerns about the prospect of PFOA and PFOS being listed as hazardous substances under CERCLA and have advocated for a narrow exemption. Landfills can be recipients of PFAS-containing waste without knowing it. Similarly, wastewater treatment plant operators feared liability and increased costs if the rule designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances became final.

EPA’s announcement of the final rule came with a CERCLA enforcement discretion policy [PFAS Enforcement Discretion and Settlement Policy Under CERCLA] that makes clear that EPA will focus enforcement on parties that significantly contributed to the release of PFAS into the environment.

The policy states that the EPA does not intend to pursue certain publicly‑owned facilities such as solid waste landfills, wastewater treatment plants, airports, and local fire departments, as well as farms where biosolids are applied to the land. Firefighting foam (aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF) is known to contain PFAS, and runoff from the use of AFFF has been known to migrate into soil and groundwater.

©2024 Pierce Atwood LLP. All rights reserved.
For more news on EPA PFAS regulations, visit the NLR Environmental, Energy & Resources section.

EPA Issues Final Rulemaking on Clean Water Act Hazardous Substance Facility Response Plans

Key Takeaways

  • What Is Happening? On March 14, 2024, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a final rule requiring certain facilities to develop Facility Response Plans (FRPs) for a potential worst-case discharge of Clean Water Act (CWA) hazardous substances, including planning for the threat of a worst-case discharge. Existing EPA regulations require FRPs where certain thresholds of oil are exceeded; the new rule extends the FRP requirement to cover CWA hazardous substances, among other changes. The rule takes effect on May 28, 2024, and has a 36-month implementation period. We anticipate challenges to the rule, but unless a court issues a stay, affected facilities should plan to implement the rule’s new requirements in this timeframe.
  • Who Is Impacted? Affected industries include many industrial and commercial sectors and facilities that handle hazardous substances at or above current reportable quantity thresholds. These may include manufacturing and chemical plants and storage operations located near navigable waters that have an inventory of CWA-listed hazardous substances at or above threshold amounts. Facilities associated with oil and gas extraction, mining, construction, utilities, crop production, animal production and aquaculture, and support activities for agriculture and forestry, among others, could also be affected.
  • What Should I Do? Facility owners and operators potentially affected by the rule should assess whether they are subject to the rule and then begin developing their facility response plans.

The rule requires Facility Response Plans for worst-case discharges of CWA hazardous substances from onshore non-transportation-related facilities that, because of their location, could reasonably be expected to cause substantial harm to the environment by discharging into or on the navigable waters, adjoining shorelines, or exclusive economic zone. Facilities already subject to requirements for Spill Prevention, Control Countermeasure Plans, or FRPs for oil under 40 CFR Part 112 should anticipate that they will fall within the scope of the new rule and plan for compliance.

Background

The final rule is EPA’s response to the settlement of a 2019 lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council and others. The lawsuit asserted that EPA failed to meet its statutory duty to issue regulations “requiring non-transportation-related substantial-harm facilities to plan, prevent, mitigate and respond to worst-case spills of hazardous substances.”

The Consent Decree required EPA to take final action on a rule addressing worst-case discharge plans for hazardous substances by September 2022. This final action represents EPA’s final action under the consent decree.

Applicability Criteria

EPA set forth a two-step process to determine whether the new rule applies to a facility. See 40 CFR 118.3. Specifically, the owner or operator of a covered facility must assess two screening criteria and, if both criteria are met, then assess the ability of the facility to cause substantial harm to the environment through the application of the substantial harm criteria. If an owner or operator determines that the covered facility meets one of the substantial harm criteria, the owner or operator must prepare a hazardous substance FRP in accordance with the new regulations.

  • Initial Screening. These screening criteria are to be assessed concurrently, with no implied order of priority:
    1. Facility has a maximum quantity onsite of 1,000x the Reportable Quantity of CWA Hazardous Substances. The RQs published in 40 CFR Part 117 are based on a level of release of a hazardous substance that could potentially cause harm to waters. EPA’s decision to set the threshold criteria at 1000x rather than the initially proposed 10,000x the RQ represents a potentially significant expansion of the scope of the new rule.
    2. Facility is within 0.5 miles of navigable water or conveyance to navigable water.

If a facility meets the two screening criteria, it must undergo an evaluation to determine whether it meets the substantial harm criteria.

  • Substantial Harm Criteria. If the two screening criteria are met, the next step is a substantial harm evaluation, which includes determining whether the facility meets one of the following four substantial harm criteria:
    1. Ability to adversely impact public water system.
    2. Ability to cause injury to fish, wildlife, and sensitive environments.
    3. Ability to cause injury to public receptors.
    4. Has experienced a reportable discharge of CWA hazardous substances that reached navigable water within the last five years.

These criteria are easily triggered under the FRP process for oil, which preexisted the new rule. For instance, an “injury” means any measurable adverse change, either long- or short-term, in the chemical or physical quality or the viability of a natural resource resulting either directly or indirectly from exposure to a discharge or exposure to a product of reactions resulting from a discharge. 40 CFR 112.2.

If both screening criteria and one or more substantial harm criteria apply, the facility must prepare and submit an FRP to EPA that includes information on each CWA hazardous substance above the threshold quantity onsite. The owner or operator must assess all substantial harm criteria.

Amendments from the Proposed Rule

  • In the final rule, the Agency determined that a 1,000x RQ multiplier, instead of the proposed 10,000x, will more appropriately screen for covered facilities that could cause substantial harm to the environment from a worst-case discharge. In response to comments, EPA indicated that the screening criteria, in conjunction with the substantial harm criteria, will appropriately target covered facilities that could cause substantial harm to the environment from a worst-case discharge of a CWA hazardous substance into or on the navigable waters. This change in scope from the proposed rule will likely significantly broaden the number of locations that must now complete the new assessment process for CWA hazardous substances.
  • As the basis for assessing risk to the environment, the new rule requires the use of the volume by the maximum quantity onsite inventory of hazardous substances above RQs, rather than the maximum onsite container capacity. EPA made this change in the final rule based on its view that this approach will more accurately reflect the hazard posed and is consistent with how oil is measured and regulated.
  • Once a facility determines it meets one of the substantial harm criteria, the owner or operator must now develop an FRP for all, not just one, of the CWA hazardous substances onsite above the threshold quantity. EPA made this adjustment by recognizing that the response and/or recovery actions may vary widely depending on which substance is released. Thus, the FRP must include information on each hazardous substance onsite that is above the threshold quantity.
  • EPA added § 118.4(a)(6) to the final rule, which requires a covered facility owner or operator to review and recertify their plan Agency every five years. EPA decided that this will ensure the FRPs remain up-to-date and owners or operators remain informed of their responsibilities. This requirement is consistent with oil FRP requirements.
  • EPA also added § 118.4(a)(7), requiring a facility owner or operator to evaluate or re-evaluate operations whenever EPA adds or removes a CWA hazardous substance from the list at 40 CFR 116.4 or adjusts relevant RQs as found in 40 CFR 117.3. EPA reasoned that such adjustments are made through a formal notice and comment rulemaking procedure; thus, regulated entities will have notice of these changes prior to them becoming final and effective.

Implementation and Enforcement

Facility Response Plan preparation, submission, and implementation timelines are subject to the effective date and an initial 36-month implementation period. EPA included this implementation period to allow covered facilities time to familiarize themselves with the rule requirements and prepare their plans.

  • Initially-regulated covered facilities. The owner or operator of a non-transportation-related onshore facility in operation on November 30, 2026, that satisfies the applicability criteria must implement the requirements of the new regulations by June 1, 2027.
  • Newly-regulated covered facilities. The owner or operator of a non-transportation-related onshore facility in operation after November 30, 2026, that satisfies the applicability criteria must comply within six months.
  • Newly-constructed covered facilities. Covered facilities starting operations after June 1, 2027, must comply prior to the start of operations, including a 60-day start-up period adjustment phase.

Appeals

Similar to current regulations for Oil FRPs, a facility that believes it is not subject to the new rule may appeal a decision by the EPA Regional Administrator determining the potential or threat of substantial harm or significant and substantial harm from a facility or, in the case of an FRP that has been prepared, the Regional Administrator’s disapproval of a CWA hazardous substance FRP. If warranted, that decision can then be appealed to the EPA Administrator.

Petitions

The public and other government agencies may also petition EPA to determine whether a CWA hazardous substance-covered facility should be required to submit an FRP to EPA. Given the breadth of the new rule relative to the long list of hazardous substances and the 1000x RQ threshold, this public participation opportunity is a significant consideration for facilities that may already be under community scrutiny for other reasons.

© 2024 Beveridge & Diamond PC
For more news on Clean Water Act Regulations, visit the NLR Environmental, Energy & Resources section.

Consumer Fraud PFAS Lawsuits Update: Two Cases Dismissed

On several instances, we have written regarding consumer fraud PFAS class action lawsuits filed in several states. The number of product types targeted for these lawsuits are growing and diverse in terms of the industries targeted. While there has been at least one significant settlement in these lawsuits to date, recently two of the lawsuits that we previously reported on related to PFAS consumer fraud allegations were dismissed by separate courts.

While it is too early to say that these dismissals are a preview of a coming trend in the litigation, the rulings at least provide companies with assurance that there are defenses available in these cases. Nevertheless, with the number of consumer fraud lawsuits likely to continue increasing for the time being, consumer goods industries, insurers, and investment companies interested in the consumer goods vertical must pay careful attention to these lawsuits.

Consumer Fraud PFAS Lawsuits – Overview

The consumer fraud PFAS lawsuits filed to date follow a very similar pattern: various plaintiffs bringing suit on behalf of a proposed class allege that companies market consumer goods as safe, healthy, environmentally friendly, etc., or that the companies themselves market their corporate practices as such, yet it is allegedly discovered that certain products marketed with these buzzwords contain PFAS. The lawsuits allege that since certain PFAS may be harmful to human health and PFAS are biopersistent (and therefore environmentally unfriendly), the companies making the good engaged in fraud against consumers to entice them to purchase the products in question.

In the Complaints, plaintiffs typically allege the following counts:

  • Violation of state consumer protection laws and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act
  • Violations of various state consumer protection laws
  • Breach of warranty
  • Fraud
  • Constructive fraud
  • Unjust enrichment

The plaintiffs seek certification of nationwide class action lawsuits, with a subclass defined as consumers in the state in which the lawsuits are filed. In addition, the lawsuits seeks damages, fees, costs, and a jury trial. Representative industries and cases that have recently been filed include:

  • Cosmetics industry:
    • Brown v. Cover Girl, New York (April 1, 2022)
    • Anderson v. Almay, New York (April 1, 2022)
    • Rebecca Vega v. L’Oreal, New Jersey (April 8, 2022)
    • Spindel v. Burt’s Bees, California (March 25, 2022)
    • Hicks and Vargas v. L’Oreal, New York (March 9, 2022)
    • Davenport v. L’Oreal, California (February 22, 2022)
  • Food packaging industry:
    • Richburg v. Conagra Brands, Illinois (May 6, 2022)
    • Ruiz v. Conagra Brands, Illinois (May 6, 2022)
    • Hamman v. Cava Group, California (April 27, 2022)
    • Azman Hussain v. Burger King, California (April 11, 2022)
    • Little v. NatureStar, California (April 8, 2022)
    • Larry Clark v. McDonald’s, Illinois (March 28, 2022)
  • Food and drink products:
    • Bedson v. Biosteel, New York (January 27, 2023)
    • Lorenz v. Coca-Cola, New York (December 28, 2022)
    • Toribio v. Kraft Heinz, Illinois (November 29, 2022)
  • Apparel products:
    • Krakauer v. REI, Washington (October 28, 2022)
  • Hygiene products:
    • Esquibel v. Colgate-Palmolive Co., New York (January 27, 2023)
    • Dalewitz v. Proctor & Gamble, New York (August 26, 2022)
  • Feminine hygiene products:
    • Gemma Rivera v. Knix Wear Inc., California (April 4, 2022)
    • Blenis v. Thinx, Inc., Massachusetts (June 18, 2021)
    • Destini Canan v. Thinx Inc., California (November 12, 2020)

Recent Rulings In Consumer Fraud PFAS Cases

In California, the Yeraldinne Solis v. CoverGirl Cosmetics et al. case made allegations that cosmetics were marketed as safe and sustainable, yet were found to contain PFAS. The defendants in the lawsuit filed a Motion to Dismiss, arguing in relevant part that the plaintiff had no standing to file the lawsuit because she did not sufficiently allege that she suffered any economic harm from purchasing the product. The plaintiff put forth two theories to counter this argument: (1) the “benefit of the bargain” theory, under which the plaintiff alleged that she bargained for a product that was “safe”, but received the opposite. The court dismissed this argument because the product packaging did not market the product as safe, and the ingredient list explicitly named the type of PFAS found in testing; and (2) an overpayment theory, under which plaintiff alleged that if she knew the product contained PFAS, she would not have paid as much for it as she did. The Court dismissed this argument because the product packaging specifically listed the type of PFAS at issue in the case.

In Illinois, the Richburg v. Conagra Brands, Inc. alleged that popcorn packaging was marketed as containing “only real ingredients” and ingredients from “natural sources”, yet the popcorn contained PFAS (likely from the packaging itself), which was allegedly false and misleading to consumers. The defendant moved to dismiss the lawsuit on several grounds and the Court found in defendant’s favor on one important ground. The Court held that the statements on the popcorn packaging would not mislead an ordinary and reasonable consumer because a consumer would understand “ingredients” to mean those items that are required to be disclosed by the FDA and not materials that may have migrated to the food from the product packaging. In fact, the Court ruled that the FDA “exempts substances migrating to food from equipment or packaging;” and those “do not need to be included in the ingredients list.”  The defendant argued that reasonable consumers would not consider PFAS to be an “ingredient” under this regime.  In other words, whether or not PFAS migrated into the popcorn, the representations that the popcorn contained “only real ingredients” and “100% ingredients from natural sources” were “correct as a matter of law.” The court dismissed plaintiffs claims on this basis.

Conclusion

Several major companies now find themselves embroiled in litigation focused on PFAS false advertising, consumer protection violations, and deceptive statements made in marketing and ESG reports. The lawsuits may well serve as test cases for plaintiffs’ bar to determine whether similar lawsuits will be successful in any (or all) of the fifty states in this country. Companies must consider the possibility of needing to defend lawsuits involving plaintiffs in all fifty states for products that contain PFAS. It should be noted that these lawsuits would only touch on the marketing, advertising, ESG reporting, and consumer protection type of issues. Separate products lawsuits could follow that take direct aim at obtaining damages for personal injury for plaintiffs from consumer products. In addition, environmental pollution lawsuits could seek damage for diminution of property value, cleanup costs, and PFAS filtration systems if drinking water cleanup is required.

While the above rulings are encouraging for companies facing consumer fraud PFAS lawsuits, it is far too early to tell if the trend will continue nationally.  Different courts apply legal standards differently and these cases are very fact specific, which could lead to differing results.

It is of the utmost importance that businesses along the whole supply chain in the consumer products industry evaluate their PFAS risk. Public health and environmental groups urge legislators to regulate PFAS at an ever-increasing pace. Similarly, state level EPA enforcement action is increasing at a several-fold rate every year. Now, the first wave of lawsuits take direct aim at the consumer products industry. Companies that did not manufacture PFAS, but merely utilized PFAS in their manufacturing processes, are therefore becoming targets of costly enforcement actions at rates that continue to multiply year over year. Lawsuits are also filed monthly by citizens or municipalities against companies that are increasingly not PFAS chemical manufacturers.

Article By John Gardella of CMBG3 Law

For more environmental legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2023 CMBG3 Law, LLC. All rights reserved.

EPA Updates TSCA Inventory, Plans Next Update in Summer 2023

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 16, 2023, that the latest Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory is now available on its website. The TSCA Inventory is a list of all existing chemical substances manufactured, processed, or imported in the United States. According to EPA, this update to the public TSCA Inventory is part of its biannual posting of non-confidential Inventory data. EPA plans the next regular update of the TSCA Inventory for summer 2023.

EPA states that the TSCA Inventory contains 86,685 chemicals, of which 42,170 are active in U.S. commerce. Other updates to the Inventory include new commercial activity data, unique identifier data, and regulatory flags (e.g., significant new use rules and test orders). EPA notes that additionally, several hundred substances are now listed with their specific chemical identities after having been moved from the confidential portion of the Inventory to the public portion as part of EPA’s TSCA confidential business information (CBI) review efforts.

Lastly, EPA reminds TSCA submitters to check regularly for any correspondence relating to their submissions in EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX). EPA states that it sends “critical and time-sensitive information regarding confidentiality claims through CDX, and failing to open this correspondence can delay the Agency’s processing of those claims.”

Article By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton of Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.

For more environmental legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2023 Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.

PFAS Medical Monitoring Goes To State Supreme Court

A year-and-a-half ago, we predicted that in the PFAS litigation world, medical monitoring claims would quickly become a claim that finds its way into numerous PFAS cases with ever-increasing risks and cost to companies embroiled in the lawsuits. On November 15, 2022, the viability of medical monitoring claims with respect to PFAS found its way to the New Hampshire Supreme Court for oral argument. While courts are currently divided as to whether medical monitoring claims should be permitted to proceed without proof of actual injury to the plaintiffs, the result of the New Hampshire Supreme Court case will likely have ripple effects in other states where medical monitoring claims continue to proliferate.

PFAS Medical Monitoring Costs – The Current Landscape

PFAS medical monitoring costs is not a new topic for the litigation – it is something that plaintiffs’ counsel push for either as a damages component to a cause of action or as a term for settlement negotiations in PFAS cases. Yet, to date, only a few states allow for medical monitoring costs to be pled as a cause of action unto itself. Instead, states either require an underlying harm to be proven before the courts will consider awarding medical monitoring costs or states have outright rejected the medical monitoring theory of damages altogether.

The American Law Institute (ALI) is a prestigious legal organization that develops “Restatements” of various laws in the United States, including tort law. The ALI’s work and the Restatements, while not binding on courts, are widely regarded by attorneys, judges and legal scholars as a comprehensive understanding of many of the nuanced parts of legal theories. Through decades of work and revisions, the Restatement (Third) of Torts is now nearing the final stages of completion.

Significantly, the Restatement (Third) is contemplating including recommendations that courts allow plaintiffs to recover monetary damages for medical monitoring expenses, even though the plaintiffs do not have any present bodily harm. With respect to PFAS litigation, medical monitoring costs have been awarded in some states or through settlements to plaintiffs alleging some degree of injury from PFAS. The Restatement (Third) approach, though, opens the door to citizens in the country with no bodily injury from PFAS to participate in free (to the plaintiffs) medical monitoring to ensure that health issues do not arise related to PFAS.

The ALI’s approach to medical monitoring is a topic that is hotly contested in many legal circles, as awarding medical monitoring costs absent any injury is a highly controversial recommendation that seems to upend decades of tort law. Opponents argue that one of the very tenants of tort law is that there is an injury to the plaintiff – without an injury, there is no tort. Courts are currently split on whether they permit medical monitoring costs to be awarded to plaintiffs without any injury.

PFAS Medical Monitoring In New Hampshire

In Kevin Brown v. Saint Gobain, the plaintiffs’ drinking water was allegedly contaminated with PFOA as a result of a Saint-Gobain facility that discharged PFOA into local waterways, which fed drinking water sources. The case made its way through the USDC-NH, but the defendant certified the question to the New Hampshire Supreme Court of whether New Hampshire law permits the plaintiffs, who are asymptomatic, to bring a claim for the costs of their being periodically medically monitored for symptoms of disease caused by exposure to PFOA.

At oral argument on the issue, the parties and the Court held a spirited debate as to whether the seventeen states that allow medical monitoring as a form of relief are similar legally to New Hampshire, such that the state should adopt a broad interpretation and allow medical monitoring claims without proof of present injury. Defendant and parties who filed amicus briefs in support of defendants argued that the Court should defer to the legislature on the issue, as the legislature has primary responsibility for declaring public policy.

Impact On Companies

The issue of permitting PFAS medical monitoring claims without any present injury is one that has enormous impacts not only on PFAS manufacturers, but any downstream commerce company that finds itself in litigation (often class action lawsuits) alleging medical monitoring damages. The litigation is already shifting in such a way that downstream commerce companies (i.e. – companies that did not manufacture PFAS, but utilized PFAS in manufacturing or products) are being named in lawsuits for personal injury and environmental pollution at increasing rates. Allowing a medical monitoring component to the recoverable costs that can pled would significantly raise the risks and potential liability costs to downstream companies.

It is of the utmost importance that businesses along the whole supply chain in various industries evaluate their PFAS risk. Public health and environmental groups urge legislators to regulate PFAS at an ever-increasing pace. Similarly, state level EPA enforcement action is increasing at a several-fold rate every year. Companies that did not manufacture PFAS, but merely utilized PFAS in their manufacturing processes, are therefore becoming targets of costly enforcement actions at rates that continue to multiply year over year. Lawsuits are also filed monthly by citizens or municipalities against companies that are increasingly not PFAS chemical manufacturers.

Article By John Gardella of CMBG3 Law

For more environmental legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2022 CMBG3 Law, LLC. All rights reserved.

EPA’s Contaminant List Includes All PFAS

We previously reported on the EPA’s announcement for its Draft Fifth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 5), which contemplated listing all PFAS as an entire class on the Contaminant List. On October 28, 2022, the EPA issued its prepublication version of the final CCL 5 rule. The EPA’s contaminant list final version is the first step in the Safe Drinking Water Act regulatory process, which will allow the EPA to begin its assessment into any of the over 12,000 PFAS as to whether they should be included in a drinking water enforceable limit. Such a move would build upon the EPA’s current progress towards regulating PFOA and PFOS with an enforceable drinking water limit, and open the door to significant future enforcement action and litigation.

EPA’s Contaminant List and PFAS

On October 28, 2022, the EPA announced its Final Fifth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 5). The CCL is a list of contaminants that are currently not subject to any proposed or promulgated national primary drinking water regulations, but are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems. Contaminants listed on the CCL may require future regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). On the CCL 5 are 66 individual chemicals, but notably PFAS as an entire class are also listed on the CCL 5. Simply because PFAS are listed on the CCL 5 does not guarantee that regulation will occur; however, it does open doors to research that are not otherwise available without the listing on the CCL.

The EPA’s contaminant list rule is not the only step the agency has taken with respect to PFAS and drinking water, but developing the CCL is the first step under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in potentially regulating drinking water contaminants. SDWA requires EPA to publish a list of currently unregulated contaminants that are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems and that may require regulation. EPA must publish a CCL every five years. The CCL does not create or impose regulatory burden on public water systems or state, local, or Tribal governments. EPA has completed four rounds of CCLs since 1996. The last cycle of CCL, CCL 4, was published in November 2016. EPA began the development of the CCL 5 in 2018 by asking the public to nominate chemicals, microbes, or other materials for consideration for the CCL 5.

Impact On Businesses and Litigation

Many companies assume that any regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act will not impact them, as virtually no industries, aside from water utilities, have any direct impact on drinking water. However, this belief provides a false sense of security that must immediately be dispelled. There are three specific ways that drinking water limits for PFAS will trigger scrutiny on environmental practices of businesses: (1) elffluent discharges into water sources; (2) waste sent to landfills that may leach into drinking water sources; and (3) properties abutting or in the vicinity of water sources.

Direct industry effluent discharges into water sources (which may not be drinking water sources, but may feed into drinking water sources) will be the low-hanging fruit target for local environmental agencies at the state level. Companies must ensure that they have all permitting in order, and it is advisable that the permitting specifically encompasses PFAS. Failing to do so will cause issues down the line when local environmental regulatory bodies look to determine, even retroactively, who PFAS water polluters are or were, as those agencies seek to hold businesses responsible for the costs associated with cleaning up PFAS in drinking water.

Companies that send their industrial waste to landfills are also well advised to do a full compliance check. While many companies do not use PFAS directly in their own manufacturing processes, do the parts or other raw materials used in the manufacturing process have PFAS contamination issues? If so, a company could unknowingly send PFAS-laden industrial waste products to landfills, and so these are questions that companies must get answers to. Over time, it is possible that the PFAS may leach out of the landfill and find their way into local water sources. Environmental regulatory agencies will look to these sites, the owners of the sites, and potentially companies sending waste to the sites as responsible parties for PFAS contamination in waterways.

Finally, even businesses having nothing to do with PFAS or manufacturing from which PFAS could be a contaminant need to follow news regarding PFAS regulations. For example, has the property on which your business sits ever had fires that have required a local fire department to extinguish flames using foam (historically, a PFAS containing product)? What did the owner of the site prior to you use the site for? Were there possible PFAS contamination issues stemming from that prior business? Did your due diligence reports and tests when purchasing the property take PFAS into consideration? If PFAS were a contaminant on the land on which your business now operates, local environmental agencies will pursue cleanup costs from any such business regardless of knowledge or intent, and regardless of whether the PFAS issues were the result of a prior company on the site. These investigations and remediations can be extremely expensive and disruptive to businesses.

Should the EPA broaden its regulations for PFAS in drinking water to include more than PFOA and PFOS, this will trigger considerable enforcement action at the state level to identify responsible parties and ensure that the parties pay for remediation costs. Historically, this has also led to civil litigation, as companies identified as responsible parties litigate the percent allocation that they are responsible for the alleged pollution, and look to bring in additional companies to reduce allocation shares for remediation costs.

Conclusion

Future regulatory steps for certain PFAS under the Safe Drinking Water Act will require states to act (and some states may still enact stronger regulations than the EPA). Both the federal and the state level regulations will impact businesses and industries of many kinds, even if their contribution to drinking water contamination issues may seem on the surface to be de minimus. In states that already have PFAS drinking water standards enacted, businesses and property owners have already seen local environmental agencies scrutinize possible sources of PFAS pollution much more closely than ever before, which has resulted in unexpected costs. Companies absolutely must begin preparing now for regulatory actions that will have significant financial impacts down the road.

Article By John Gardella of CMBG3 Law

For more environmental legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2022 CMBG3 Law, LLC. All rights reserved.

Ethylene Oxide Verdict First of Its Kind, and It’s Eye Opening!

Our prior reports discussed when an ethylene oxide case would go to verdict, and what the ensuing result would look like.  We no longer need to speculate.  On September 19, 2022, a Cook County (Illinois) jury awarded $363 million to a plaintiff who alleged that she developed breast cancer as a result of ethylene oxide emissions from the Sterigenics Willowbrook plant.  This was the first ethylene oxide personal injury case to go to trial, but there are hundreds of cases behind it waiting their turn.

Trial

After a five week trial in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Law Division (Sue Kamuda v. Sterigenics et al, case number 2018-L-010475), the jury returned a verdict in the amount of $363 million.  Plaintiff had requested $21 million in compensatory damages and $325 million in punitive damages.

Plaintiff Kamuda argued that the ethylene oxide utilized at the Willowbrook plant, opened in 1984 and used primarily to sterilize medical equipment, caused serious cancer and reproductive health risks. Kamuda alleged that the company failed to analyze how long the chemical would stay in the air in the Willowbrook community or the distance it would travel. Further, Kamuda argued that Sterigenics recklessly failed to install emission controls decades earlier to reduce releases of the chemical.

For its part, Sterigenics argued that plaintiff Kamuda’s reliance on risk assessment and regulatory studies inaccurately led to her assertion that her breast cancer resulted in part from the plant’s ethylene oxide emissions.

Notably, the facility was closed a few years ago after the state of Illinois issued a seal order in February 2019 directing that ethylene oxide emissions had to be reduced significantly. Ultimately, the company decided to keep the facility closed.

Analysis

With this very large jury verdict, plaintiff firms will surely be pushing to get their ethylene oxide cases to trial, or, at a minimum, leverage steep pre-trial settlements.  Further, plaintiff firms will surely recruit new plaintiffs who allege some type of cancer as a result of residing in the vicinity of an ethylene oxide plant.

The next ethylene oxide case to go trial is scheduled for two weeks from now in the same court, though with different plaintiff counsel and judge, as well as a different alleged disease (leukemia).

We note that it remains to be seen whether the Kamuda verdict will be appealed. It also remains to be seen whether this verdict is aberrational or is a bellwether for future trials. Will juries return verdicts based on one type of cancer but not for another?  We will continue to report as these ethylene oxide trials go to verdict and analyze the ramifications.

Article By David A. Goldman of CMBG3 Law

For more environmental, energy, and resources legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2022 CMBG3 Law, LLC. All rights reserved.

CERCLA PFAS Designation Major Step Forward

On January 10, 2022, the EPA submitted a plan for a PFAS Superfund designation to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) when it indicated an intent to designate two legacy PFAS – PFOA and PFOS – as “hazardous substances” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as the Superfund law). The EPA previously stated its intent to make the proposed designation by March 2022 when it introduced its PFAS Roadmap in October 2021. Under the Roadmap, the EPA planned to issue its proposed CERCLA designation in the spring of 2022. On Friday, a CERCLA PFAS designation took a significant step forward when the OMB approved the EPA’s plan for PFOA and PFOS designation. This step opens the door for the EPA to put forth its proposed designation of PFOA and PFOS under CERCLA and engage in the required public comment period.

Any PFAS designation will have enormous financial impacts on companies with any sort of legacy or current PFOA and PFOS pollution concerns. Corporations, insurers, investment firms, and private equity alike must pay attention to this change in law when considering risk issues.

Opposition to CERCLA Designation

Since the EPA’s submission of its intent to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substance to the OMB, the EPA has been met with industry pushback on the proposal. Three industries met with the OMB earlier in 2022 to explain the enormity of regulatory and cleanup costs that the industries would face with a CERCLA designation of PFOA and PFOS – water utilities, waste management companies, and the International Liquid Terminals Association. These industries in particular are concerned about bearing the burden of enormous cleanup costs for pollution that third parties are responsible for. Industries are urging the OMB and EPA to consider other ways to achieve regulatory and remediation goals aside from a CERCLA designation.

During an April 5, 2022 meeting of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), several states also expressed concerns regarding the impact that a CERCLA designation for PFAS types would have in their states and on their constituent companies. The state environmental leaders discussed with EPA representatives how the EPA would view companies in their states that fall into categories such as waste management and water utilities, who are already facing uphill battles in disposing of waste or sludge that contains PFAS.

Realizing that the EPA is likely set on its path to designate at least two PFAS as “hazardous substances”, though, industries are asking the EPA to consider PFAS CERCLA exemptions for certain industries, which would exempt certain industry types from liability under CERCLA. Industries are also pushing the EPA, OMB and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to conduct a robust risk analysis to fully vet the impact that the designation will have on companies financially. The EPA is statutorily required to conduct a risk analysis as part of its CERCLA designation process, so it is likely that the EPA’s delay in issuing a proposed hazardous substance designation until it feels that adequate time has passed for its designation to survive the likely legal challenges that will likely follow the designation.

CERCLA PFAS Designation: Impact On Businesses

Once a substance is classified as a “hazardous substance” under CERCLA, the EPA can force parties that it deems to be polluters to either cleanup the polluted site or reimburse the EPA for the full remediation of the contaminated site. Without a PFAS Superfund designation, the EPA can merely attribute blame to parties that it feels contributed to the pollution, but it has no authority to force the parties to remediate or pay costs. The designation also triggers considerable reporting requirements for companies. Currently, those reporting requirements with respect to PFAS do not exist, but they would apply to industries well beyond just PFAS manufacturers.

The downstream effects of a PFOA and PFOS designation would be massive. Companies that utilized PFOA and PFOS in their industrial or manufacturing processes and sent the PFOA/PFOS waste to landfills or otherwise discharged the chemicals into the environment will be at immediate risk for enforcement action by the EPA given the EPA’s stated intent to hold all PFAS polluters of any kind accountable. Waste management companies should be especially concerned given the large swaths of land that are utilized for landfills and the likely PFAS pollution that can be found in most landfills due to the chemicals’ prevalence in consumer goods. These site owners may be the first targeted when the PFOA/PFOS designation is made, which will lead to lawsuits filed against any company that sent waste to the landfills for contribution to the cost of cleanup that the waste management company or its insured will bear.

Also of concern to companies are the re-opener possibilities that a CERCLA designation would result in. Sites that are or were previously designated as Superfund sites will be subject to additional review for PFOA/PFOS concerns. Sites found to have PFOA/PFOS pollution can be re-opened by the EPA for investigation and remediation cost attribution to parties that the EPA finds to be responsible parties for the pollution. Whether through direct enforcement action, re-opener remediation actions, or lawsuits for contribution, the costs for site cleanup could amount to tens of millions of dollars, of course depending on the scope of pollution.

Conclusion

Now more than ever, the EPA is clearly on a path to regulate PFAS contamination in the country’s water, land and air. The EPA has also for the first time publicly stated when they expect such regulations to be enacted. These regulations will require states to act, as well (and some states may still enact stronger regulations than the EPA). Both the federal and the state level regulations will impact businesses and industries of many kinds, even if their contribution to drinking water contamination issues may seem on the surface to be de minimus. In states that already have PFAS drinking water standards enacted, businesses and property owners have already seen local environmental agencies scrutinize possible sources of PFAS pollution much more closely than ever before, which has resulted in unexpected costs. Beyond drinking water, though, the EPA PFAS plan shows the EPA’s desire to take regulatory action well beyond just drinking water, and companies absolutely must begin preparing now for regulatory actions that will have significant financial impacts down the road.

Article By John Gardella of CMBG3 Law

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©2022 CMBG3 Law, LLC. All rights reserved.

EPA Updates Safer Chemical Ingredients List, Adding 22 Chemicals and Changing the Status of One Chemical

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on August 11, 2022, that it updated the Safer Chemical Ingredients List (SCIL), “a living list of chemicals by functional-use class that EPA’s Safer Choice program has evaluated and determined meet the Safer Choice Standard.” EPA added 22 chemicals to the SCIL. EPA states that to expand the number of chemicals and functional-use categories on the SCIL, it encourages manufacturers to submit their safer chemicals for review and listing on the SCIL. In support of the Biden Administration’s goals, the addition of chemicals to the SCIL “incentivizes further innovation in safer chemistry, which can promote environmental justice, bolster resilience to the impacts of climate change, and improve water quality.” According to EPA, chemicals on the SCIL “are among the safest for their functional use.”

EPA also changed the status for one chemical on the SCIL and will remove the chemical from the list in one year “because of a growing understanding of the potential health and environmental effects.” According to EPA, the chemical was originally listed on the SCIL based on data from a closely related substance that EPA marked with a grey square earlier this year. EPA’s process for removing a chemical from the SCIL is first to mark the chemical with a grey square on the SCIL web page to provide notice to chemical and product manufacturers that the chemical may no longer be acceptable for use in Safer Choice-certified products. A grey square notation on the SCIL means that the chemical may not be allowed for use in products that are candidates for the Safer Choice label, and any current Safer Choice-certified products that contain this chemical must be reformulated unless relevant health and safety data are provided to justify continuing to list the chemical on the SCIL. EPA states that the data required are determined on a case-by-case basis. In general, data useful for making such a determination provide evidence of low concern for human health and environmental impacts. Unless information provided to EPA adequately justifies continued listing, EPA then removes the chemical from the SCIL 12 months after the grey square designation.

According to EPA, after this update is made, there will be 1,055 chemicals listed on the SCIL. EPA is committed to updating the SCIL with safer chemicals on a regular basis. EPA states that the SCIL is a resource that can help many different stakeholders:

  • Product manufacturers use the SCIL to help make high-functioning products that contain safer ingredients;
  • Chemical manufacturers use the SCIL to promote the safer chemicals they manufacture;
  • Retailers use the SCIL to help shape their sustainability programs; and
  • Environmental and health advocates use the SCIL to support their work with industry to encourage the use of the safest possible chemistry.

EPA’s Safer Choice program certifies products containing ingredients that have met the program’s rigorous human health and environmental safety criteria. The Safer Choice program allows companies to use its label on products that meet the Safer Choice Standard. The EPA website contains a complete list of Safer Choice-certified products.

Article By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton of Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.

For more environmental legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2022 Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.

GAO Publishes Report on Technologies for PFAS Assessment, Detection, and Treatment

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report on July 28, 2022, entitled Persistent Chemicals: Technologies for PFAS Assessment, Detection, and Treatment. GAO was asked to conduct a technology assessment on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) assessment, detection, and treatment. The report examines the technologies for more efficient assessments of the adverse health effects of PFAS and alternative substances; the benefits and challenges of current and emerging technologies for PFAS detection and treatment; and policy options that could help enhance benefits and mitigate challenges associated with these technologies. GAO assessed relevant technologies; surveyed PFAS subject matter experts; interviewed stakeholder groups, including government, non-governmental organizations (NGO), industry, and academia; and reviewed key reports. GAO identified three challenges associated with PFAS assessment, detection, and treatment technologies:

  • PFAS chemical structures are diverse and difficult to analyze for health risks, and machine learning requires extensive training data that may not be available;
  • Researchers lack analytical standards for many PFAS, limiting the development of effective detection methods; and
  • The effectiveness and availability of disposal and destruction options for PFAS are uncertain because of a lack of data, monitoring, and guidance.

GAO developed the following three policy options that could help mitigate these challenges:

  • Promote research: Policymakers could support development of technologies and methods to more efficiently research PFAS health risks. This policy option could help address the challenge of limited information on the large number and diversity of PFAS, as well as a lack of standardized data sets for machine learning;
  • Expand method development: Policymakers could collaborate to improve access to standard reference samples of PFAS and increase the pace of method and reference sample development for PFAS detection. This policy option could help address the challenges of a lack of validated methods in media other than water, lack of analytical standards, and cost, which all affect researchers’ ability to develop new detection technologies; and
  • Support full-scale treatment: Policymakers could encourage the development and evaluation of full-scale technologies and methods to dispose of or destroy PFAS. This policy option could help address the challenges of cost and efficiency of disposal and destruction technologies and a lack of guidance from regulators.

GAO notes that these policy options involve possible actions by policymakers, which may include Congress, federal agencies, state and local governments, academia, and industry.

Article By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton of Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.

For more environmental legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2022 Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.