Steven Cook discussed the recent incident in East Palestine, Ohio and the ongoing cleanup and community response efforts as a guide to analyze a series of decision points and highlight considerations in-house counsel and incident response professionals should consider as they review and update their own incident response preparations and response plans.

He drew upon his three years at EPA overseeing and participating in EPA’s emergency response function and 20+ years as part of a company emergency response team and discussed:

• Working within the incident command structure

• Use of standard contractual protections such as liability waivers

• Responding to government actions

• Communication strategies