CERCLA, RCRA, and PFAS Update: Recent Litigation and Regulatory Developments

Jul 19, 2024 | ALI CLE, Environmental Law, Litigation

Upcoming Webcast - Cosponsored by the Environmental Law Institute ELI - CERCLE, RCRA, and PFAS Update: Recent Litigation and Regulatory Developments - August 1, 2024

ALI CLE’s upcoming webcast, CERCLA, RCRA, and PFAS Update: Recent Litigation and Regulatory Developments, co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), is live on August 1, 2024

This spring, the U.S. EPA released a number of significant final rules utilizing the CERCLA and RCRA statutes to curb the impact of PFAS.

In early July, the final rule designating PFOA and PFOS as “hazardous substances” under the CERCLA will go into effect. As the first time the EPA has directly designated any substance as a hazardous substance under its CERCLA 102(a) authority, it is expected to have immediate and significant impacts across industries and provide the EPA with additional data on PFAS through increased reporting and information gathering authorities, address and clean up PFAS contamination, and shift costs for addressing releases to private parties.

Join us in Washington, D.C., for ALI CLE’s upcoming program, Clean Water Act 2024: Law and Regulation. Attend in-person or live via webcast on October 17-18, 2024. Learn more about the program and stay in touch for program updates here!

In addition:

  • The EPA simultaneously issued a policy outlining how it would use its CERCLA enforcement discretion and settlement authority to shield those entities as much as possible from CERCLA liability.
  • Nine particular PFAS compounds have also been proposed as hazardous constituents under RCRA with the hope of addressing PFAS contamination under the RCRA cleanup program.
  • Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for PFAS were set under the Safe Drinking Water Act, giving public water systems three years to comply with monitoring requirements and then begin reporting the results.

These final rules, in addition to ongoing enforcement actions, clean ups, and related litigation in this space, as well as the Supreme Court’s end-of-term decisions in the Loper Bright/Relentless, Corner Post, and Jarkesy cases, makes for a lot of change. 

Join our panel of practitioners and current and former government attorneys to learn more about these major final rules, as well as ongoing enforcement actions, clean ups, and related litigation in this space. Topics to be addressed include:

  • Recent developments in CERCLA, including the Jan. 2024 EPA guidance on lead in soil at CERCLA sites, what it addresses, and what it does not address
  • PFAS as a “Hazardous Substance,” including the recent regulatory developments establishing certain PFAS as CERCLA hazardous substances; establishing a drinking water MCL for certain PFAS; and the practical outlook for site clean-ups and liability, including EPA plans and guidance for PFAS review and enforcement under CERCLA 
  • RCRA regulations identifying certain PFAS as “hazardous constituents,” the five features of RCRA enforcement, and the latest RCRA cases
  • How the Supreme Court’s decisions in Loper Bright/Relentless, Corner Post, and Jarkesy impact these regulatory initiatives and pending litigation
  • Case studies and lessons learned from sediment site clean-ups, remedies and objectives for complex sediment sites under CERCLA and RCRA frameworks, and the effects of EPA acceptance of interim remedial actions

Expand your knowledge and fluency with the latest EPA standards and actions in CERCLA and RCRA regulation and enforcement and their ties to PFAS.

Register now for an in-depth discussion and practical insights on these significant developments from leading experts in the field.


Stay tuned for our upcoming program, Environmental Law 2025, either in person or via live webcast on February 20-21, 2025! To stay connected and get the latest updates for this program, click here.


To find our more about ALI CLE’s in-person courses or webcasts, or to check out on-demand CLE, click here.