Download or read book Innocent Landowners and Prospective Purchasers in the Superfund Act written by Robert Meltz and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Superfund Act contains several devices that eliminate the liability or reduce the transaction costs normally incurred under the Act by persons that acquire contaminated land. This report focuses on three of them, two addressed in the recently enacted brownfields law (P.L. 107-118). The first device is the innocent-landowner defense, available to persons who acquire land after the hazardous substance is put there, and who (among other things) find no contamination before acquisition despite “all appropriate inquiry.” The second device allows use of innocent-landowner status as a basis for early de minimis settlement with EPA. The third exempts the “bona fide prospective purchaser” from “owner” and “operator” liability despite pre-acquisition awareness of contamination on the property, if certain conditions are met.

Download or read book Innocent Landowners and Prospective Purchasers Under the Superfund Act written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Superfund Act contains several mechanisms that eliminate or contain liability, or reduce liability-related transaction costs, normally incurred under the Act by persons that acquire contaminated land. This report covers three of them. Two mechanisms use innocent landowner status -- "innocent" referring to a landowner's lack of actual or constructive knowledge on the date of site acquisition as to the presence of hazardous contamination there. The third is based on the bona fide prospective purchaser concept, and is intended to encourage redevelopment of sites known at the time of acquisition to be contaminated. The first innocent landowner mechanism uses that status to invoke the Superfund Act's third-party defense to liability. One prerequisite is that the release of hazardous substances must have been caused solely by a third party lacking a contractual relationship with the defendant. A landowner is defined to lack a contractual relationship with predecessors in the chain of title if the disposal of the hazardous substances on the site preceded acquisition by the owner and at the time of acquisition he/she did not know and had "no reason to know" that the hazardous substance had been disposed of there. "No reason to know," in turn, means that before the date of acquisition, he/she made "all appropriate inquiry" into conditions at the site and the history of site uses. In 2002, Congress enacted an important clarification of the meaning of "all appropriate inquiry." The other prerequisite is that the landowner continued after acquisition to exercise due care, took precautions against foreseeable acts of the third party, etc. The second innocent landowner mechanism makes a current landowner identified by EPA as potentially liable eligible for a "de minimis settlement" with the agency. A de minimis settlement enables a landowner to settle early with EPA and thereby avoid protracted, expensive negotiations with the agency and a myriad of other liable parties over the allocation of liability at the site. Eligibility requires, among other things, that all appropriate inquiry was done by the owner prior to acquisition. This mechanism has not been used often. The third mechanism aims not to exempt a landowner from liability, but to limit that liability prior to purchase. Its origin lies in the belief that Superfund liability may chill investment in real property that is known or feared to be contaminated ("brownfields"). In 1989, EPA offered in "very limited circumstances" to enter into "prospective purchaser agreements" -- negotiated settlements with would-be purchasers of land by which EPA covenanted not to sue. Congressional desire for a less resource-intensive method of encouraging redevelopment of brownfields led to its creation in 2002 of a new exemption from liability, for the "bona fide prospective purchaser." Eligibility requires that the person not impede the site cleanup, made all appropriate inquiry, etc. Some have urged that buyers of contaminated land pursue both prospective purchaser agreements with EPA and bona fide prospective purchaser status, but EPA guidance states that the availability of the former is limited now.

Download or read book Innocent Landowners and Prospective Purchasers Under the Superfund Act written by Robert Meltz and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Innocent Landowners and Prospective Purchasers in the Superfund Act written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Superfund Act contains several devices that eliminate the liability or reduce the transaction costs normally incurred under the Act by persons that acquire contaminated land. This report focuses on three of them, two addressed in the recently enacted brownfields law (P.L. 107-118).

Download or read book Brownfield sic Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act of 2001 written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control, and Risk Assessment and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Superfund Reassessment and Reauthorization written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control, and Risk Assessment and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 910 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reform of Superfund Act of 1995 written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Commerce. Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Hazardous Materials and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Legislation to Improve the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Commerce. Subcommittee on Finance and Hazardous Materials and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Legislation to Improve the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Commerce. Subcommittee on Finance and Hazardous Materials and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Amending CERCLA written by Michael Gerrard and published by American Bar Association. This book was released on 2006 with total page 684 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three important amendments to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or Superfund) narrowed the Act's liability to address specific policy objectives. This book is a single-source compendium of this legislation, leading court decisions, and administrative implementation, including the annotated statute, EPA guidance documents, and CD-ROM with the entire legislative history of CERCLA.

Download or read book Not in My Backyard written by United States Commission on Civil Rights and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Brownfield sic Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act of 2001 written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control, and Risk Assessment and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Brownfield Liability and Resource Issues written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control, and Risk Assessment and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book H R 1300 the Recycle America s Land Act of 1999 written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Environmental Enforcement written by Daniel Riesel and published by Law Journal Press. This book was released on 2023-11-28 with total page 1182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Environmental Enforcement: Civil and Criminal law book explains the potential legal consequences of enforcement actions and discusses procedures to follow to minimize exposure.

Download or read book Superfund Program written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Transportation and Hazardous Materials and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 1044 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act of 2001 written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: