2005 Articles

Former tank owners liable By Raymond T. Reott May 2005 In at least some contexts, a fairly recent Illinois provision protects responsible parties subject to environmental claims from bearing more than their proportionate share of liability where multiple parties contributed to the problem.

Groundwater and the CWA By Lisa A. Kirschner October 2005 The scope of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) has been the subject of substantial discussion and judicial review subsequent to the Supreme Court’s 2001 decision addressing isolated waters in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC), 531 U.S. 159 (2001).

Parent company liability for its subsidiary’s environmental performance By Kurt A. Strasser March 2005 When does the environmental performance of a subsidiary increase the risk of liability for corporate parents?

Policyholder victory in Illinois Supreme Court By Raymond T. Reott May 2005 With rare exception, the Illinois Supreme Court has been supportive of policyholders seeking insurance coverage under Comprehensive General Liability Policies for environmental contamination claims.

Pollution Control Board of Appeals By Raymond T. Reott May 2005 Often, non-environmental practitioners involved in what would otherwise be routine environmental proceedings meet with unexpected consequences.

Reading a Phase I environmental report By Raymond T. Reott October 2005 By this time, any sizeable real estate or business transaction includes a Phase I environmental assessment.

Recent cases of note for Illinois environmental law practitioners By Joseph R. Podlewski, Jr. October 2005 Several cases have been decided in Illinois and federal courts over the past six months that are significant to environmental law practitioners.

Regulatory status update: Perchlorate summary of federal and state regulations By Becky Raftery & Steven M. Siros May 2005 One of the more confounding environmental issues to emerge in the last several years is the emergence of "new" contaminants, particularly at sites already undergoing remediation or that in some cases have been completely remediated.

Supreme Court upholds Agpro By Raymond T. Reott March 2005 In the last edition of the newsletter, we featured the decision in People v. Agpro, Inc. 34 5 Ill.App. 3d 1011(First Dist. 2004) and the later legislative change to the related enforcement provisions of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. 41 Ill.CS 5/1.

Using supplemental environmental projects as settlement tools By Christine Picker Rothchild & Raymond T. Reott March 2005 The scenario: Company X receives a Notice of Violation, a complaint from a government agency or a citizen's group, or even an administrative order.

Voluntary cleanups: A risky alternative to CERCLA litigation By Jorge Mihalopoulos March 2005 With the Superfund dwindling and state and federal governmental resources becoming increasingly limited, it now more than ever appears appropriate to avoid costly CERCLA litigation by encouraging potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to investigate and cleanup contaminated property voluntarily.

Environmental Law

2005 Articles