Law360 Quotes David Isabel on Top New Jersey Environmental Case to Watch in 2025

Trenk Isabel Siddiqi & Shahdanian director David Isabel, who chairs the firm’s Environmental Law practice, is quoted in a Law360 article titled “NJ Cases to Watch in 2025: Power Broker, Pollution Cleanup.” The article previews a handful of cases in the Garden State that litigators will be following in 2025. They include a possible trial between the state and DuPont over a pollution remediation that enforcers estimate will cost $1 billion.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., its spinoff Chemours Co. FC LLC and related entities are set to go to trial in June over New Jersey’s lawsuit that alleges for nearly 100 years, the chemical industry juggernaut, known as “Old DuPont,” polluted the surface water, groundwater and soil at four work sites where it produced explosives and explosive products. The state has demanded the companies post a $943 million remediation funding source for the cleanup.

The money will be used to address pollution from DuPont’s Chamber Works facility, one of four sites targeted in the state’s consolidated litigation over alleged discharges of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

The two companies also face a separate action for just as much money in state court from Carneys Point Township, where the Chamber Works facility is located.

Isabel says the Carneys Point Township case could be an important case in showing that a municipality could have a role in enforcing environmental laws usually reserved for the state.

When it comes to state-level laws, Isabel said the question becomes “is there a way for the local interest to demonstrate that there are gaps in the enforcement program that are meritorious, and that a local interest would have a role in enforcing and making sure that certain environmental laws are properly enforced, and that the local interest, in this case, the municipality, would be able to pursue this in court.”

The full article can be read at Law360 (subscription required).