Insights

Washington – August 17, 2023: The 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 47 firm lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 41 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

Washington – August 18, 2022: The 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 54 firm lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 32 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

Washington – August 19, 2021: The 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 53 firm lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 13 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.” The publication also named partner William H. Frankel the Best Lawyers 2022 Copyright Law "Lawyer of the Year" in Chicago.

For the RSL, EPA regions should now use an RSL of 200 parts per million (ppm). (Before this new guidance, the RSL was 400 ppm.) However, EPA regions should use an RSL of 100 ppm if an additional source of lead is identified (e.g., lead water service lines, lead-based paint, or non-attainment areas where the air lead concentrations exceed National Ambient Air Quality Standards [NAAQS]). The recommended RSL of 100 ppm considers aggregate lead exposure and increased risk to children living in communities with multiple sources of lead contamination.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to release by the end of this year guidelines for analyzing cumulative risks that result from an aggregation of environmental hazards. EPA says the revisited and further developed cumulative risk assessment guidance will serve as an additional tool to guide EPA’s regulatory decision-making and enforcement efforts, especially as it pertains to its environmental justice (EJ) goals.

On April 20, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its opinion in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian, et al., allowing Montana landowners to pursue state law claims for damages within an EPA-managed Superfund site, but requiring EPA approval of any remedial work beyond the originally selected remedy. Many commentators and legal scholars have suggested the case opens a veritable Pandora’s Box of new litigation. We submit that the consequences will likely be less dramatic, in part because of the unusual legal remedy under Montana law for a landowner whose property becomes contaminated by another party is not widely available outside Montana.

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.