Federal Environmental Laws Affecting Real Estate: A Review of Clean Water Act Section 404, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act

Robert D. Anderson, Norm James, Dawn Meidinger & Greg Adams. Standard practice for conducting due diligence as part of real estate trans-actions has long included an assessment of the potential for a site to have “recognized environmental conditions,” i.e., hazardous…
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The Cost of Ignorance: Closing the Deal

Sherri Zendri. The alphabet soup of federal and state statutes and rules regulating the purchase and sale of property can quickly become overwhelming. Nevertheless, parties to commercial and residential real estate transactions ignore such laws at their own peril: failure…
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Tomorrow’s News Today: The Future of Superfund Litigation

Christopher D. Thomas. Few statutes bedevil experienced litigators as often as the federal Superfund act, the Comprehensive Environment Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”). Although CERCLA practice is now into its third decade, the statute’s chronic drafting flaws and the…
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Performing All Appropriate Inquiry Under the ASTM E1527-13

Patrick J. Paul & Christopher P. Colyer. As activity on the real estate transactional front continues to gain momentum, real estate practitioners need to increasingly be aware of due diligence requirements necessary to minimize or avoid liability under federal law—namely,…
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The Cost of Ignorance: Available Tools

Laura Malone. The following Article is based on comments given by Laura Malone at “Saving the Deal: Avoiding and Minimizing Environmental Liability in Corporate and Real Estate Transactions,” a continuing legal education seminar. The information contained below is a summary…
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Defenses to Liability Under CERCLA

Kenneth A. Hodson & Charles H. Oldham. This article discusses potential liability under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (“CERCLA”) and certain defenses thereto including the Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser (“BFPP”) defense. Under…
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