State AG Pulse | AGs: The Dukes of (Environmental) Hazard
Williams Mullen Manufacturing Edge: Environmental Enforcement in the Current Regulatory Climate
[Webinar] EHS in the Cannabis Industry: What Happens When the E stands for Enforcement?
The Current and Future Landscapes of EPA Criminal and Civil Enforcement
FERC: A Discussion on its Mission, Market Manipulation Investigations, and Common Violations
Black Water Riverkeeper (“Riverkeeper”) and Warrior Met Coal Mining, LLC (“WMC”) entered into a July 29th Consent Decree (“CD”) addressing alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. See Case No. 7:22-cv-01178-LSC. The CD...more
On June 27, the US Supreme Court issued an opinion in SEC v. Jarkesy that limits the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ability to administratively seek civil penalties against defendants for securities fraud....more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for enforcing the federal laws, regulations, and Executive Orders focused on protecting the environment for the benefit of the American people, threatened and...more
The Tennessee Waste Reduction and Recycling Act (“Act”) has been introduced into the Tennessee General Assembly which would require sellers, distributors, and importers of certain packaging materials to take actions to reduce...more
EPA recently promulgated a final rule (the Rule) adjusting civil penalties issued by the agency for inflation. This action was performed pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by...more
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) and Brookfield District Energy (“Brookfield”) entered into a Settlement Agreement (“Agreement”) addressing alleged violations of an air permit. See SA-AE-230053. ...more
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) and Angelle Concrete Group, LLC (“ACG”) entered into a Settlement Agreement (“Settlement”) addressing alleged wastewater and air permit violations. See Settlement...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued a September 16th news release stating that it is proposing penalties for Phoenix Environmental Laboratories, Inc. (“Phoenix”) for alleged violations. The...more
Environmental law enforcement seeks to achieve greater compliance by punishing intentional violations and ensuring that violators do not achieve a competitive advantage through avoidance of compliance costs. To achieve that...more
The EPA has issued an enforcement alert notifying facilities that operate large shredders that they are priority targets for potential enforcement actions for emission violations. The shredders in question are those typically...more
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is considering adopting both potential significant changes to the TCEQ’s Penalty Policy and a potential rulemaking to revise the TCEQ’s compliance history rules. These...more
Focus - EPA will not approve labels that say Roundup chemical causes cancer - U.S. News & World Report – August 8 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this Thursday that it will not approve...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Royal Crown Bottling Corporation (“Royal Crown”) entered into an April 5th Consent Agreement and Final Order (“CAFO”) addressing alleged violations of certain...more
There are many benefits of corporate environmental auditing programs for companies large and small, not the least of which is the potential mitigation of civil penalties for violations of environmental laws discovered during...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Smith & Wesson Corp. (“Smith & Wesson”) entered into an April 27th Consent Agreement and Final Order (“CAFO”) addressing alleged violations of: . . . Section...more
In an effort to collect more than one billion dollars in outstanding fines, the City of New York is offering an amnesty program that allows participants to resolve violations received from various City agencies, including the...more
Maryland entities that voluntarily discover and disclose environmental violations can still receive penalty reductions, or even complete forgiveness, under the rarely invoked Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE)...more
A little-publicized section of the federal Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 has led to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgating new interim regulations that increase by unprecedented amounts the civil...more
EPA is increasing civil penalties for all statutes it administers that call for the assessment of civil penalties. These increases are not recommendations or proposed statutory amendments, but are the result of perhaps the...more
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published an interim rule (pdf) revising its civil procedure regulations for the assessment of civil penalties for violations of various laws and regulations within the Service’s...more
It’s no secret that businesses must run a gauntlet of federal, state and local environmental regulations in order to successfully operate in California. But the hardest test may be when a business suspects that it may be...more
On June 10, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hosted a webinar describing a plan to modernize the implementation of its April 11, 2000 Audit Policy. The plan – called eDisclosure – attempts to provide a...more