Forever Chemicals, Now Forever Liability: PFOA/PFOS, CERCLA, and Georgia

An hour with a U.S. Magistrate Judge, an environmental law scholar, the Georgia EPD official leading on PFAS work, and a practitioner. +++ On August 18, 2026, the D.C. Circuit denied every petition challenging EPA’s rule designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA. Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. EPA, No. 24-1193 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 18, 2026). The designation is now firmly in place, and the questions facing Georgia lawyers have shifted from whether it survives to what it does. Quite a lot, and much of it outside Superfund practice. A one-pound reportable quantity now runs through CERCLA § 103, EPCRA § 304, and into the federal hazardous materials transportation rules. Completed cleanups with signed covenants not to sue may be reopened. Five-year reviews may look different. Due diligence assumptions written into deals two years ago may be questioned. And that's not to mention state law ramifications, including under Georgia's Brownfield Act, Hazardous Site Response Act, Voluntary Remediation Program Act, and various permitting regimes. Join a federal Magistrate Judge, a leading environmental law scholar and litigator, the Georgia EPD official leading the Division’s PFAS work, and a practitioner currently litigating a CERCLA PFAS case for one focused hour on what changed and what lawyers need to know about it. A reception follows. In-person and live-streamed. One hour of Georgia General CLE credit available (applied for) for in-person attendees only. Co-sponsored by the FBA Atlanta Chapter and the FBA Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Division. Moderator The Honorable Anna W. Howard is a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Georgia, sitting in Gainesville. Before her appointment, she taught legal writing at the University of Georgia School of Law, and she served as a career law clerk to District Judge Leigh Martin May and as a term law clerk to District Judge Richard W. Story. Panelists Professor Mindy Goldstein is Clinical Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, where she directs the Turner Environmental Law Clinic and the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program. Professor Goldstein litigates complex administrative and environmental matters in Georgia federal courts and the Turner Clinic provides thousands of hours of pro bono environmental representation each year. Dr. Anna (Ania) Truszczynski is Deputy Director of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and is the Division’s point person on PFAS. Prior to serving as Deputy Director, Dr. Truszczynski was Branch Chief of the Watershed Protection Branch. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of California, Davis. Phil Sandick is a Senior Associate in the Environmental, Safety, and Health Practice Group at Squire Patton Boggs, practicing from Atlanta, Denver, and Washington, D.C. He litigates CERCLA PFAS matters, and his practice includes advising on PFAS product regulation and assessing PFAS-related risk in transactional diligence. Prior to private practice, he served as a term law clerk to District Judge Amy Totenberg.