Sophia Lee, Kevin J. Bruno, and Louis D. Abrams
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision in NL Industries, Inc. v. State of New Jersey will frustrate the equitable allocation of cleanup costs at sites involving pre-1977 discharges where the State would otherwise qualify as a responsible party. Such a result would be particularly severe considering the high cleanup price tag for many sites predating 1977. Any party involved in or contemplating such a contribution action against the State should be mindful of this decision when determining how best to proceed. This should include determining whether a federal forum and contribution claims under the NJ Spill Act’s federal counterpart, CERCLA, might achieve a better result. Continue reading “Stretching Sovereign Immunity: The New Jersey High Court Immunizes the State from New Jersey Spill Act Liable for Pre- 1977 Discharges”
As the agenda at this year’s Northeast U.S. Petrochemical Construction Conference (June 19-20, Pittsburgh) will attest, there’s one thing that any new buildout of downstream petrochemical facility needs and that is an ample and reliable supply of upstream and midstream feedstock extraction and transportation. In the past supply was much easier to count on than it is today. Today’s new landscape of political opposition to hydrocarbons poses new risks that must be managed just like any other financial or enterprise risk. The opposition is committed to nothing short of destruction of the hydrocarbons business from the well-pad to the chemical plant to the consumer. Thus far, industry has underestimated this political risk and that is proving to be costly. 
On the heels of high-profile solar regulatory decisions in Nevada and Hawaii last year and in California earlier this year, Pennsylvania took center stage last week in the ongoing battle over net metering policy. Pennsylvania’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) disapproved a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) rulemaking that would have imposed additional limitations on the size of systems that qualify for net metering credit. IRRC’s disapproval of the rulemaking means that further attempts to reform net metering policy in Pennsylvania will likely have to come through legislative action.