Chapter 11: Reporting Releases of Contaminants
Protecting the environment from releases, discharges, or spills of pollutants into the environment is one of the nation’s top environmental priorities. To ensure prompt cleanup of impacts to the natural environment and to prevent injury to human health resulting from spills of pollutants, federal and state environmental laws impose strict obligations on individuals and businesses to report releases of pollutants and contaminants to government regulators. This chapter is intended solely to help counsel identify issues related to reporting releases or spills of substances into the environment. When advising clients concerning whether to report the release or spill of a substance, it is critical that lawyers fully understand the facts surrounding the release, including the specific type of substance released, and that counsel carefully research the applicable federal, state, and local release reporting statutes and regulations.
§ 11.1 Introduction
§ 11.1.1 Requirements for Release Reporting—Generally
§ 11.2 Federal Release Reporting Requirements
§ 11.2.1 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund)
§ 11.2.2 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)
§ 11.2.3 Clean Water Act
§ 11.2.4 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
§ 11.2.5 Underground Storage Tanks—Petroleum and Hazardous Substances (RCRA)
§ 11.2.6 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
§ 11.2.7 Hazardous Materials Transportation Act
§ 11.2.8 Clean Air Act (CAA)
§ 11.3 Colorado Spill Reporting Requirements
§ 11.3.1 Colorado Water Quality Control Act
§ 11.3.2 Colorado Storage Tank Regulations
§ 11.3.3 Colorado Radiation Control Regulations
HOWARD KENISON, ESQ.
Lindquist & Vennum, PLLP
Howard Kenison is a Partner in the Denver office of Lindquist & Vennum and co-chairs the firm’s Real Estate, Environment and Construction Litigation Practice Group. He concentrates his practice on environmental litigation and regulatory matters representing clients in cases involving Superfund, NEPA, wetlands, air quality and water quality issues as well as the environmental issues in complex business transactions. He received his J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law (1972) and he holds a B.A in Business Administration from the University of Washington (1968). He serves on the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Environmental Law and chairs a committee of the ABA preparing a white paper on the Rule of Law in Environmental Law. Howard serves as Chair of the University of Denver College of Law Alumni Council and Chairs the Advisory Board of the Colorado Journal of International Law and Policy at the University of Colorado Law School. He is the former Colorado Deputy Attorney General in charge of Colorado’s Superfund litigation. He has served on the Colorado State Board of Parks and Outdoor Recreation and State Board of the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund, both gubernatorial appointments.
