Waste

The United States wants the Supreme Court to deny a petition from the government of Guam over the scope of the Superfund law’s contribution clause, arguing a Clean Water Act (CWA) settlement with Guam blocks the territory from recouping cleanup costs under its preferred section of the Superfund law.

Two former EPA waste office chiefs in Democratic administrations say the incoming Biden administration should boost the Superfund program’s decades-long flat budget and write new financial assurance rules to address the program’s financial limits, while predicting the Biden EPA will emphasize climate adaptation in cleanups.

House and Senate lawmakers have removed language from a conferenced version of water resources legislation that would have authorized billions of dollars in new funding for EPA water infrastructure programs, opting to limit the bill to Army Corps of Engineers provisions and prompting wastewater utilities to call the action a “disservice” to utilities.

A Delaware Supreme Court justice is questioning the broad repercussions that could impact corporate spinoff transactions if it supports The Chemours Company’s arguments that it never contractually consented to an arbitrator deciding disputes with its parent company, DuPont, including its claims of fraud against DuPont over cleanup liabilities.