Both the North and South Carolina legislatures have recently adopted statutes affecting environmental issues in their respective states. This update highlights the most significant developments in North and South Carolina....more
The EPA decision to add 1-Bromopropane (“1-BP”) to the list of Hazardous Air Pollutants (“HAP”) has implications that go beyond the addition of another chemical to the HAP list. Industry received a glimpse of how far the...more
Can you still build a bulkhead along the shoreline in coastal Virginia to protect your property? Well, it depends, but now the answer is more likely to be “no.” Major changes to how Virginia tidal waterfront property owners...more
Data is in from EPA’s “work practice” requirement that petroleum refineries monitor ambient air for benzene concentrations around their fence lines. The regulations set an “action level” of 9 µg/m3 benzene, using benzene as a...more
In what is now clear to be a series of policy changes to ease air permitting requirements for industrial and manufacturing facilities, U.S. EPA has issued its second memorandum entitled “Project Emissions Accounting under the...more
On January 25, 2018, U.S. EPA issued a memorandum entitled "Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act." The memorandum addresses whether a source is subject to the stringent...more
On January 25, 2018, EPA issued guidance replacing the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) "once in, always in" (OIAI) policy under the federal Clean Air Act (CAA). Memorandum from William L. Wehrum, Assistant...more
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia recently ordered EPA to update the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) emission standards for 13 sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). The order was...more
On December 14, 2016, EPA signed its proposed Kraft Pulp Residual Risk and Technology Review rule covering 40 C.F.R. Part 63, Subpart MM (a.k.a. “MACT II”) for recovery furnaces, lime kilns and smelt dissolving tanks at kraft...more
If there’s any good news for industry in the recent 162-page decision issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on the Boiler MACT, we can’t find it. The court rejected all challenges by industry...more
On Friday, the D.C. Circuit largely upheld EPA’s Boiler MACT rule. The industry challenges were a complete washout. The environmental petitioners won one significant victory and a number of smaller ones....more
Earlier today the US Supreme Court issued a 5 to 4 decision in Michigan v. EPA that struck down the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) rule. The MATS rule imposes stringent...more