Read the full article by Pat Rizzuto (Bloomberg Law)
“Companies will have to pay millions of dollars to clean up more contaminated sites due to the EPA’s new Superfund PFAS rule, but site selection will take time and use predictable criteria, mandated data, and established processes, attorneys said.
The EPA issued a final rule (RIN: 2050-AH09) on April 19 designating two commonly detected and well-known per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)—as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Superfund law.
Companies, federal agencies, and some local government or state facilities accountable for contaminated sites are worried about the rule, because the liability provisions CERCLA imposes routinely translate into costly litigation and cleanups.
The rule could also trigger potentially responsible parties, or PRPs, that are responsible for a Superfund site to have to reopen a property that was cleaned up or nearly finished, said Bill Beck, a Lathrop GPM LLP partner whose specialties include Superfund and toxic tort litigation.” …