PFAS Contamination at Brownfield Sites: Due Diligence, CERCLA Liability, and Regulatory Compliance

Jason S. Lichtstein, Office Managing Partner | Akerman LLP

Jason S. Lichtstein advises buyers and developers on the environmental due diligence and transactional issues that come with acquiring contaminated property, including current work on data center site acquisitions across the country. He is the managing partner of Akerman LLP’s Atlanta office, and over more than 25 years his practice has centered on the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields and other contaminated sites in the Southeast. His work also covers environmental regulatory compliance and state incentives matters, and his areas of experience include PFAS litigation and regulatory counseling.

• Education & Credentials

Jason received his J.D. from Emory University School of Law in 1999 and his B.A., with distinction, from the University of Michigan in 1995. He is admitted to practice in Florida and Georgia.

• Recognition & Leadership

Chambers USA has ranked Jason in Florida for Environmental Law from 2009 through 2026, and Best Lawyers lists him for Environmental Law in Georgia (2024–2027) after listing him in Florida from 2019 to 2023. He has also been recommended for Environmental by The Legal 500 (2020), listed by Super Lawyers in Florida for Environmental (2020–2021) following earlier Rising Star recognition, and named to the GaBiz Magazine Top Lawyers List in 2026.

His leadership roles include service on the Superfund Working Group of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (2019–2021) and on the Steering Committee of the National Brownfields Coalition (2020–2023). He twice served as President of the Florida Brownfields Association, in 2009–2010 and 2019–2020, and has held board, treasurer, and legislative and policy committee roles with that organization. Within the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, he is Co-Chair of the Waste and Resource Recovery Committee for 2026–2027 and served as Vice Chair of the 2025–2026 Year in Review.

• Professional Involvement

Jason speaks frequently on PFAS, due diligence, and brownfield issues. His presentations include an Akerman webinar on the practical implications of EPA’s PFAS Strategic Road Map for business transactions (2023), a 2022 Georgia Brownfield Association panel on the new ASTM Phase I ESA standard for All Appropriate Inquiries, and “How Not to Lose: Tools for Managing Environmental Risk/Liabilities in Transactions for the Win” at the 2025 Georgia Brownfields Conference. In 2026 he spoke at the Florida Brownfields Association conference on how state brownfield programs work across the South and on data center siting, and at the Alabama Brownfields Conference and Georgia Environmental Conference on cleanup and redevelopment in data center siting.

He is a member of the Alabama, Florida, and Georgia brownfield associations and sits on the Georgia Brownfield Association’s 2026 Brownfield Seminar Committee. He taught the Practicing Environmental Law in Florida course as an adjunct instructor at Florida State University College of Law in fall 2018 and co-authored a 2020 Bloomberg Law article on Biden-era environmental actions and Supreme Court deference.

• Experience

Jason’s transactional work includes environmental due diligence and acquisition issues for data center sites nationwide, and representation of the buyer and property owner on environmental transactional, due diligence, and redevelopment planning issues in the $236 million purchase of the Miami Herald site in downtown Miami. He served as lead environmental counsel to the purchaser and developer of the roughly 90,000-acre Babcock Ranch property in Charlotte and Lee County, Florida, and represented Faena Group on environmental matters in an approximately $1 billion mixed-use development in Miami Beach.

On brownfield redevelopment, he represents the buyer and master developer of the former JEA Southside Generating Station site in Jacksonville and the master developer of Dania Live, a more than 100-acre brownfield project in Broward County. He represented the redevelopment partner on the Lot J site in Jacksonville, which has a Brownfield Site Rehabilitation Agreement with FDEP, and the developer of the Broadstone River House project, which obtained regulatory closure from FDEP in 2019 through Florida’s brownfield program. He has obtained Florida Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit awards for multiple clients and has taken part in drafting, lobbying for, and passing brownfields legislation.

Earlier in his career, Jason was a staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (1999– 2000) and a legal intern with U.S. EPA Region IV in Atlanta (1998–1999).

Michael J. Larson, Partner | Akerman LLP

Michael J. Larson regularly guides clients through obtaining environmental regulatory closure of contaminated sites, and through the cleanup, reuse, and redevelopment of brownfields and other contaminated properties. A partner in Akerman LLP’s Tallahassee office, he has worked on numerous redevelopment projects across Florida and has extensive experience working with regulatory agencies. His environmental practice also includes due diligence and risk evaluation, permitting and compliance, and administrative litigation over agency permitting and final agency action. He is the 2026 President of the Florida Brownfields Association.

• Education & Credentials

Michael received his J.D. from Emory University School of Law in 2008, where he was on the Dean’s List and served as Managing Editor of the Emory International Law Review. He earned his B.A. in Economics from Emory University in 2005, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He is admitted in Florida, New York, Illinois, and Georgia, and before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Seventh, Eleventh, and Federal Circuits; the Middle, Northern, and Southern Districts of Florida; the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York; and the U.S. Court of International Trade.

• Recognition & Leadership

Michael serves as 2026 President of the Florida Brownfields Association, following his term as PresidentElect in 2025, and sits on its Board of Directors for 2025–2026. He is also a member of the Florida Brownfields Advisory Committee of the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Technical Assistance to Brownfield Communities Program.

Best Lawyers lists him in Florida for Litigation – Environmental (2025–2027). Super Lawyers listed him in Florida as a Rising Star for Environmental in 2023 and for Appellate from 2017 to 2022.

• Professional Involvement

Michael’s recent presentations focus on state cleanup practice. He spoke on “Rewriting the Rules: Institutional Controls, PFAS Accountability and Florida’s Brownfields Surge” at the 2025 Florida Remediation Conference and on waste cleanup and management at the 40th Annual Environmental Permitting Summer School in 2026. For The Florida Bar’s Environmental and Land Use Law Section he has presented “Florida Site Contamination: The Legal Fundamentals” (2024) and a 2025 Florida legislative and rulemaking update on brownfields, and he has moderated “Brownfields 101” at the annual Florida Brownfields Conference. In 2026 he spoke on the impact of S.B. 484 on Florida’s data center future.

He is a member of ULI North Florida, the Tallahassee Chapter of the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals, and the William H. Stafford American Inn of Court, as well as the Tallahassee, New York State, and American Bar Associations, and served on the board of the Tallahassee Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section from 2016 to 2019. His writing includes a 2020 Bloomberg Law article and a 2015 Florida Bar Journal article on untimely notice of appealable orders, each co-authored.

• Experience

Michael advises the owner of a 100-acre mixed-use brownfield redevelopment in Broward County on site redevelopment and environmental regulatory closure work, and advises on environmental issues for a large mixed-use brownfield redevelopment in Duval County. He helps clients prepare Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit applications to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and handles the sale and transfer of those credits. He has assisted with construction bid documents for a significant project at a federal Superfund site.

His transactional work includes environmental due diligence, risk assessment, permit transfers, and environmental insurance matters for owners and prospective purchasers, along with due diligence on data center site acquisitions nationwide and compliance and permitting issues in a national self-storage acquisition program. In environmental litigation, he obtained a favorable final order defending a protective seawall in a Coastal Construction Control Line permit challenge before the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings, won dismissal of a permit challenge against a large South Florida marina, and was part of the team that settled a petroleum discharge lawsuit involving a redeveloped former gas station site.

Michael has also briefed, argued, or participated in more than 150 appeals in state and federal appellate courts, including White v. Ring Power Corp., 261 So. 3d 689 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018), and handles international trade litigation focused on tariff and antidumping disputes. Before joining Akerman, he practiced in the New York City office of an international law firm.

SESSION 1 – PFAS Contamination: Environmental Due Diligence and CERCLA Liability | Jason S. Lichtstein | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This session examines the legal and regulatory challenges PFAS contamination presents in contaminatedproperty transactions. Attorneys will explore how to scope environmental assessments for PFAS, evaluate the implications of federal and state regulatory requirements, and assess potential liability when contamination is discovered. The discussion will address the designation of PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA hazardous substances, the importance of preserving bona fide prospective purchaser protections, and the contractual and insurance tools available to manage PFAS-related exposure. Particular attention will be given to sampling decisions, notification and reporting obligations, and the legal considerations that arise when acquiring property with known or suspected PFAS contamination.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – PFAS Remediation Standards, State Cleanup Programs, and Regulatory Closure | Michael J. Larson | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

This session focuses on the regulatory process for addressing PFAS contamination at brownfield sites, from enrollment in state cleanup programs through remediation and regulatory closure. Attorneys will examine how state brownfield and voluntary cleanup programs approach PFAS-impacted properties, including program requirements and the negotiation of site rehabilitation and cleanup agreements. The discussion will address regulatory closure when PFAS remains at a site, the use of institutional and engineering controls, and the continuing obligations that may affect future owners and occupants. Attendees will also examine reopener risks and the legal implications of transferring properties subject to ongoing environmental controls.