Please join the Chapter for its next event: PFAS: 2021 Legal and Regulatory Update. The event will be held on Friday, April 30 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM over Zoom. The Chapter will be joined by Lucas Vebber, Executive Director of the WMC Litigation Center. You may RSVP here.
Government entities across the country are increasingly prioritizing the regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”), man-made compounds sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down easily in nature. Given their ubiquity—they occur in a huge variety of products ranging from cookware to furniture to popcorn bags—this crackdown has significant potential ramifications for manufacturers, suppliers, employees, and many more nationwide. Accompanying attempted regulation are a bevy of lawsuits designed to hold companies “accountable” for the production of PFAS, and other state sponsored activities. Governor Evers, for example, recently announced that his administration will be taking legal action against companies responsible for PFAS contamination. Together, these initiatives have generated substantial concern in the regulated community about overreach and a lack of clear guidance. This issue will dominate headlines from both a regulatory and legal perspective for months and maybe years to come -- this presentation will dive into some of the background including the regulatory and legal landscape as we look toward the future.
Lucas Vebber is Executive Director at the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Litigation Center, has been involved in multiple PFAS-related lawsuits, and is an expert on Wisconsin regulatory development and rulemaking procedures. He has also served as Deputy Counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty in Milwaukee, as WMC’s General Counsel and Director of Environmental and Energy Policy, and in a variety of roles in the legislative and executive branches of state government. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Economics from Marquette University in Milwaukee and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Saint Thomas in Minneapolis.