On February 1, 2008, Archivist of the United States, Allen Weinstein, announced that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will restore extended evening and weekend hours in the research rooms at NARA's Washington, DC, and College Park, MD, facilities.  Effective beginning the week of April 14, 2008, these research rooms will be open Wednesday through Friday from 9 am to 9 pm and Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm.  Monday and Tuesday hours will remain the same, 9 am to 5 pm.  This reverses the October 2006 decision to limit research hours to 9 am to 5 pm on all days except three days per month.

The change was made possible by a one-time federal appropriation of over a million dollars to NARA's 2008 fiscal year budget.

There has been much consternation among researchers and the general public about the closing of EPA's various libraries around the country.  It appears that recent pressure by various officials and researchers has led to a moratorium of sorts on further closings or changes.  On February 6, 2007, American Library Association President and Princeton Public Library Director Leslie Berger testified before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as to the importance and value of the environmental, legal and scientific information in these libraries.  Ms. Berger asked the Committee to request EPA to "halt all library closures," discuss a plan for the future with stakeholders and "stop dispersing and dumping of any of their library materials immediately."  View her entire testimony here:

http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/woissues/governmentinfo/fedlibs/epalibraries/E...

It appears that the EPA received the message.  On May 8, the EPA's Director of the Office of Information Analysis, Mike Flynn, wrote to the Special Library Association's Chief Policy Officer, Doug Newcomb, that "no changes are being made in the EPA Library Network at this time" and "no changes will be made until we have completed stakeholder input and review."  View the entire contents of this e-mail here:

https://www.sla.org/PDFs/advocacy/050807MikeFlynnEmail.pdf

We continue to watch these developments with interest.  In the meantime, many of the EPA's regional libraries remain open to the public.

On June 11, 2007 the US Supreme Court decided a landmark Superfund case in United States v. Atlantic Research Corp. (No. 06-562).   In its decision, the Supreme Court unanimously held that a potentially responsible party (PRP) may sue another party to recover costs under Section 107 (a)(4)(B) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), not just Section 113(f) as had been previously thought.  In effect, the ruling clears up the controversy that arised from Cooper Industries, Inc. v Aviall Services, Inc. 543 US 157, wherein the Supreme Court decided that private parties could seek contribution under Section 113(f) only after being sued under Section 106 or Section 107. 

This case originated when Atlantic Research leased property at the Shumaker Naval Ammunition Depot, a facility operated by the Department of Defense (DoD).  At the site, Atlantic Research retrofitted rocket motors for the DoD and consequently removed pieces of propellant from the motors and burned the propellant pieces.  The wastewater and burned propellant contaminated the soil and groundwater at the site.   Atlantic Research clearned the site out of its own pocket and sought to recover some of its costs by suing the United States under both Section 107(a) and Section 113(f) of CERCLA.

This is a classic example of the type of project Taylor & Hammel LLC regularly works on.   We find the government contracts, government correspondence and other documents that prove the extent of government operation, control, or arrangement at the thousands of US sites just like the Atlantic Research site so that the private companies can recover costs against the government and other PRPs.    If you are interested in learning more about how we can help you on a simlar case, call John Taylor at 703-822-4658.

An article in the Washington Post indicates that the proposed federal budget could significantly impact the network of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Libraries throughout the country, if not shut them down completely.   This is an unfortunate development that could have an impact on our clients, as Taylor & Hammel LLC researchers regularly rely on these libraries to gather technical information from unique federal environmental studies, historical papers, and other materials.  We will be monitoring this situation with the appropriate federal officials going forward and will use any available resources to urge reconsideration.

On November 9, 2006 the staff of Taylor & Hammel LLC attended the Environmental Law Institute's "Fall Practice Update" held in Washington DC.  One of the three panels, consisting of Andrew Skroback of Hunton & Williams LLP and Thomas R. Mounteer of Paul Hastings LLP, discussed the December 2004 Supreme Court decision, Cooper Industries v. Aviall, and its impact on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund.   While the majority of the discussion was primarily oriented around CERLCA's legislative origins and its disputed statutory construction and meaning, some of the discussion concerned how this decision impacted businesses and industry voluntarily engaging in site remediation, due diligence research, and potentially reponsible party searches.

Although the panel did not completely agree on the impact of this decision, a general consensus did form that the decision, thus far, has had a minimal impact on the practical effects of CERCLA enforcement due to a number of factors, including: a property owner's interest in maintaining real estate value, the potential of nuisance and other torts claims from neighboring parties, good public and community relations, and the retroactive nature of CERCLA eventually "coming home to roost."

Taylor & Hammel LLC is a litigation and environmental research company that frequently engages in CERCLA/PRP Research projects for law firms and businesses.   Therefore, we will continue to monitor how this decision will effect our clients.

The Supreme Court's Opinion in the Aviall Case can be found here:  http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/13dec20041215/www.supremecourtus.gov/...

The Environmental Law Institute's (ELI) page for the Fall Practice Update: http://www2.eli.org/seminars/pastevent.cfm?eventid=160

Several Attorneys at Paul Hastings LLP, including co-author Thomas Mounteer, wrote an in-house article on the decision: http://www.paulhastings.com/Backup/Client_Alerts/33195.PDF?wt.mc_ID=33195.pdf

Several Attorneys at Hunton & Williams LLP, including Andrew Skroback, Esq., also wrote an article concerning Aviall in the Andrews Litigation Reporter: http://www.hunton.com/files/tbl_s47Details%5CFileUpload265%5C1563%5CCooper_In...