Companies Asking EPA for ‘Act of God’ Extensions Due to Virus (1)

Companies and municipalities want the EPA and state regulators to invoke the “act of God” provisions of their settlement agreements in the wake of the new coronavirus pandemic, industry lawyers say.

“It’s not a question of, ‘Will it happen?’ It is happening across the country,” said Brian Israel, head of the environmental practice group at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP. “Companies [are] asking either the EPA or other agencies, whoever is the relevant supervising agency, now—today—for some relief in the schedule for achieving those requirements.”

Force majeure provisions free a contract’s parties from obligations in the event of an ...