NOTE: Originally posted at the EDR (Environmental Data Resources Inc.) blog by Lawrence Schnapf.

Schnapf Judgment
A well-known New York City environmental attorney brings his humor and legal expertise to bear on such topics as the environmental due diligence conducted on corporate, real estate and brownfield transactions, commercial lending and securitizations, and workouts.

CERCLA Liability Imposed on Developer For Spreading Arsenic-Contaminated Soil

6/10/2008 | posted by Lawrence Schnapf

A former property owner who inadvertently spread arsenic-contaminated dirt during grading activities for a residential development nearly thirty years ago could not assert the CERCLA third-party defense and was held liable as a former owner in United States v. Honeywell, 2008 LEXIS 13432 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 22, 2008).

Greg Rogers considers how market-based valuation of
environmental liabilities will begin to impact business mergers
and acquisitions.

Follow link to article by Greg Rogers and to Advanced Environmental Dimensions.

NOTE: Please also sign up for the http://www.advancedenvironmentaldimensions.com/about_us.htm newsletter, where this article was brought to our attention.

Fair Value Measurement and Solvency

As it becomes ever more clear that all environmental liabilities will one day (maybe as soon as 2011) be measured at fair value, now is the time for companies to determine the fair value of their long-lived contingent environmental liabilities and consider the looming impact on their balance sheet. A new article in the ABA Business Bankruptcy Newsletter, Environmentally Insolvent: Fair Value Measurement of Environmental Liabilities Poses Solvency Risk, explores how recent and forthcoming changes in accounting standards could give rise to new legal claims against companies with significant unrecognized environmental liabilities.

Note: Published in EDR Insider

Bank Pays for Bankrupt Borrower’s Environmental Legacy

Earlier this year, in one of the first Superfund decisions against a bank, contamination left behind at an industrial site abandoned by a bankrupt borrower cost a lender nearly $1 million. The borrower, a chemical company, manufactured and marketed chemicals for the cosmetics and water treatment industries. Its operations resulted in significant quantities of hazardous laboratory waste, chemical products and wastewater, which were stored in containers on the property.

NOTE: This information provided by Greg Rogers at www.advancedenvironmentaldimensions.com

On June 5, 2008, FASB released for public comment Proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, Disclosure of Certain Loss Contingencies.  The proposed standard would significantly expand the quantitative and qualitative disclosure requirements for loss contingencies under SFAS 5 and 141(R). The proposed standard would be effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2008, and interim and annual periods in subsequent fiscal years.
Responses from interested parties wishing to comment on the proposed standard must be received in writing by August 8, 2008. Interested parties should submit their comments by email to director@fasb.org, File Reference No. 1025-300.

From: Law Seminars International [mailto:lsinews@lsinews.com]
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 9:40 AM

Subject: Environmental Resource Litigation Conference

Register Here

Environmental Resource Litigation Conference
July 28 & 29, 2008
San Francisco, CA

INTENDED AUDIENCE
Attorneys, consultants, technical professionals, and local, state and federal agency officials and other professionals in environmental litigation

This was taken from the newsletter by Greg Rogers (rogers@advancedenvironmentaldimensions.com) at www.advancedenvironmentaldimensions.com.
SEC Asked to Sanction Chevron for Hiding $10 Billion Liability in Ecuador
On March 25, Amazon Watch asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to impose a “substantial” sanction on Chevron for misrepresenting facts to shareholders over a potential $10 billion liability resulting from a class-action environmental lawsuit in Ecuador’s Amazon region. Read Amazon Watch’s letter to the SEC.

American Bar Association
Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
Environmental Enforcement and Crimes Committee

Presents a “Quick Teleconference” program

Criminal Enforcement of Environmental Laws: An Interview with the Department of Justice’s Top Prosecutor, Stacey Mitchell (link to ABA Program Information)

The Brownfields Amendments of 2001, P.L. 107-118, established three landowner liability protections: the bona fide prospective purchaser defense under CERCLA Section 107(r), the contiguous landowner defense under CERCLA Section 107(q), and the “innocent landowner” defense under CERCLA Sections 107(b)(3) and 101(35). In order to qualify for any of these defenses, the landowner must establish that it………..

Prospective Purchaser Agreements (covenant not to sue)

Status, Comfort and No-Action Letters (no further action letter)

Negotiated Cleanup Standards (You Don’t Need a Cadillac Cleanup to Park Your Pickup)

Consent Decree (government version of a settlement agreement)

Lease from Redevelopment Agency

Environmental Liability Acquisition Companies

Indemnities and Releases

Environmental Risk Insurance

Comment: Complete article below is from 1996 but still is a great introduction to strategies for limiting environmental liability.