Waste

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has denied the Navy's petition for rehearing of a precedential ruling allowing residents near two military facilities to pursue medical monitoring claims after they were exposed to pefluorinated compounds, saying the military failed to raise its sovereign immunity arguments earlier in the case.

A recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit cements a trend of judges setting a low threshold for citizen suits to proceed that allege imminent and substantial endangerment under federal waste law, allowing cases to advance that merely raise the risk of harm rather than the threat of irreparable harm.

New York is planning to sue EPA over its decision to certify the upper portion of the Hudson River cleanup as complete even though the agency left the door open to additional future cleanup requirements by issuing a separate review that defers until a future date whether the cleanup is “protective.”

EPA's toxics office is eying the possibility of eventually addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in small subclasses, an approach that would likely ease efforts to deal with the thousands of chemicals in the class though it could set up obstacles for industry if newer PFAS are part of a heavily regulated subclass.