EPA’s Big Plans for 2023: Top Air Rulemakings We Are Watching -
An environmental lawyer walks into a cocktail party. An often-asked question is: What is happening at EPA in your world? What should we be watching that...more
4/4/2023
/ Air Quality Standards ,
CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
EPCRA ,
Executive Orders ,
Final Rules ,
Hazardous Substances ,
NAAQS ,
NESHAP ,
Ozone ,
PFAS ,
Proposed Rules ,
RCRA ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Safe Drinking Water Act
If Joe Biden is elected President there will be significant changes in environmental regulation for American businesses. Some changes can (and likely will) take place very quickly, with the stroke of a pen. These could...more
10/28/2020
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Boiler MACT Rule ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Testing ,
General Elections ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Regulatory Agenda
If Joe Biden is elected President there will be significant changes in environmental regulation for American businesses. Some changes can (and likely will) take place very quickly, with the stroke of a pen....more
It’s well-known that the Trump administration has sought policies of deregulation over the past several years. The administration places emphasis on proper enforcement of existing rules and regulations as a means of achieving...more
1/13/2020
/ Administrative Procedure ,
Carbon Emissions ,
CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Gas Prices ,
Obama Administration ,
PFAS ,
Renewable Energy ,
Risk Management ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Transportation Industry ,
Trump Administration ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waste Treatment Facilities ,
Wastewater ,
Waters of the United States
EPA recently released a final regional office realignment plan in response to President Trump’s March 2017 Executive Order 13781. That order required EPA and other federal agencies to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and...more
12/20/2018
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Bureau of Land Management ,
CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Deregulation ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
EPCRA ,
Farm Animals ,
Government Reorganization ,
Groundwater Management Plan ,
Oil & Gas ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
Utilities Sector
EPA has announced a new compliance policy that some will view as providing welcome relief to industry and others may view as providing unwarranted concessions. The subject line of the EPA memo announcing the new policy is...more
10/3/2018
/ Adjacent Property Owners ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Clean Water Rule ,
Coal ,
Coal Ash ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Waste ,
New Guidance ,
RCRA ,
Sierra Club ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
Waters of the United States
New Source Review (“NSR”) remains a focus of enforcement for EPA. Between last year and now, EPA finalized eight settlements with manufacturers and one with a utility, asserting NSR violations for allegedly not obtaining a...more
5/3/2018
/ Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Groundwater ,
Groundwater Management Plan ,
Landfills ,
Manufacturers ,
Methane ,
Mining ,
NPDES ,
POTWs
Since 1995, EPA has followed a policy that any air emissions source that emits one or more hazardous air pollutants (“HAPs”) above major source emissions thresholds is always considered a major source of HAPs. This is so even...more
2/14/2018
/ Air Pollution ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Deregulation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Manufacturers ,
Pollution Control ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Title V
On June 1, 2017, President Trump announced that the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement (“Paris Agreement”). The Paris Agreement was signed by 195 countries in December of 2015. The goal of the...more
7/10/2017
/ CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
EPCRA ,
Landfills ,
Methane ,
Paris Agreement ,
Pesticides ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Superfund ,
Trump Administration
There’s a new sheriff in town. Donald Trump’s election as President is likely to lead to significant changes in environmental regulation for American businesses. Some changes can (and will) take place very quickly, with the...more
Time to Pay More: EPA Increases Maximum Civil Penalties -
Remember the days when the maximum civil penalty EPA could assess for a violation of environmental law was $25,000 per day? Those days disappeared 26 years ago...more
8/11/2016
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Boiler MACT Rule ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Distributors ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 ,
Final Rules ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Interim Rule ,
Labeling ,
Landfills ,
Manufacturers ,
Methane ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
OSHA ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Risk Assessment ,
Solid Waste ,
SSM Periods ,
State Implementation Plans (SIPs) ,
Title V ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
UN GHS
CONGRESS FINDS THE FORMULA TO REFORM CHEMICAL REGULATION -
The Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) is the primary federal law by which the manufacture, import and use of chemical substances are regulated in the United...more
7/20/2016
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Air Pollution ,
Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Comment Period ,
Construction Industry ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
EPCRA ,
Final Action ,
Final Rules ,
Hawkes Co v United States Army Corps of Engineers ,
Jurisdictional Determination (JD) ,
Land-Use Permits ,
Manufacturers ,
MATS ,
Mining ,
Occupational Exposure ,
OSHA ,
Power Plants ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Sackett ,
SCOTUS ,
Shipbuilding ,
Silica ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Toxic Exposure ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
The news has been full of stories and articles concerning Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR), also referred to as coal ash. CCR became a hot topic in 2008 when a coal ash pond at a utility plant in Tennessee spilled more than 5...more
5/20/2016
/ Air Pollution ,
Clean Air Act ,
Coal Ash ,
Consent Decrees ,
Deepwater Horizon ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Environmental Crimes ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
EPCRA ,
Groundwater ,
Hazardous Communication Standard ,
Hazardous Waste ,
Individual Accountability ,
OSHA ,
RCRA ,
Safety Data Sheets ,
Sierra Club ,
Solid Waste ,
SSM Periods ,
Superfund ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Training Requirements ,
Utilities Sector ,
Workplace Safety ,
Yates Memorandum
The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked implementation of President Obama’s signature plan to address climate change pending a decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on the plan’s legality. The Clean Power Plan is being...more
In a significant setback for the Obama Administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has temporarily blocked implementation of the Clean Water Rule issued jointly by EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers...more
10/28/2015
/ Barack Obama ,
CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Rule ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
EPCRA ,
Hazardous Waste ,
Importers ,
Imports ,
Proposed Amendments ,
RCRA ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
U.S. Customs ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waste Management ,
Waters of the United States
In this Issue:
- EPA Issues SIP Call to Eliminate SSM Defense
- EPA and Corps Define “Waters of The United States”
- Frequent Questions: EPCRA 313
- Generators Need to be Vigilant About TCLP Sampling...more
6/15/2015
/ CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Final Rules ,
Hazardous Waste ,
Manufacturers ,
NAAQS ,
Ozone ,
Proposed Regulation ,
RCRA ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sierra Club ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waste Disposal
EPA has issued a final rule that requires 36 states to revise their State Implementation Plans to eliminate a well-known and often-used Clean Air Act defense for excess emissions. While specific elements of the defense...more
Stating that they “face pervasive ozone nonattainment problems,” eight Northeastern states on December 9, 2013 petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to add nine upwind states to the Ozone Transport...more