January 29, 2018
Exponent staff recently published two articles in the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources January 2018 newsletter.
"Lessons Learned: The Case for Data Optimization for Oil Spills"
By: Laurie Benton, Linda Cook, Bob Haddad, and Paul Boehm
While the ultimate objectives and data needs of response and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) for an oil spill are different, they share the same immediate goal: collecting high-quality environmental data during and after the spill. Greater understanding and coordination between response and NRDA activities can promote data collection that meets these different needs without sacrificing quality or usability, and without duplicating effort and costs. Equally important is the need to consider tactically how these data will be used once the response is over, e.g., in support or defense of NRDA, civil penalties, and third-party claims. Early consideration of these immediate and longer-term needs argues for optimizing approaches to collecting oil spill data that will lead to minimized transaction costs and better defenses against longer-term liabilities.
"Trends in Superfund Remedies"
By: Jaana Pietari
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published the 15th Superfund Remedy Report (the Report) (U.S. EPA 2017, EPA-542-R-17-001) outlining the status and trends of remedies applied at National Priorities List (NPL) and Superfund alternative approach sites. Since the inception of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), EPA has documented and reviewed trends in the remedy selection for 1540 Superfund sites, corresponding to more than 5000 decision documents. The goals of the review include informing stakeholders about remedy decisions, assisting in remedy selection, and forecasting demands and needs for remedial technologies. The Report presents trends across numerous Records of Decision (RODs) and explanations of significant differences (ESDs), documents different source and groundwater remedies, and provides statistics on the most commonly found contaminants.
For more information, consult the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources January 2018 newsletter.
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