What are Brownfields?

A Brownfield is any real property which, due to actual or suspected environmental contamination, may lie idle, unoccupied, underutilized, unused, or have any one or combination of these characteristics. A Brownfield may be industrial, commercial, agricultural, or even...

Programs to Remediate and Develop Brownfields

Recent developments in federal and state law, as well as creative transactional lawyering, have made it possible for Brownfields to be developed in such a way as to protect the parties from onerous potential liabilities. The Brownfields Revitalization Act, referred to...

What Can the Lawyer Do to Help?

These developments directly effect current owners, potential purchasers and lessors, developers, lendinginstitutions, local governmental units or industrial authorities, and other entities interested in improving property or otherwise enhancing its value or reducing...

The Liability Scheme

The liability scheme of CERCLA can be summarized in four words: joint, several, strict, and retroactive. Liability will attach to any party that has any connection with a site that contains hazardous materials. For CERCLA purposes “connection” means owning...