The first three quarters of 2023 have seen an unprecedented number of rulemakings under the Clean Air Act. The Biden administration has released a new suite of proposed rulemakings with a particular focus on climate change...more
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
EPA is proposing revisions to the new source review (“NSR”) permit program (“2022 Proposed Fugitive Emissions Rule”) under the federal Clean Air Act (“CAA”), which will codify the requirement that modifications account for...more
In a recent “Enforcement Alert,” EPA set out its intent to target owners and operators of stationary engines for compliance with Clean Air Act emissions requirements. According to the Enforcement Alert, “EPA has been...more
New Approach: Proposed PFAS Regulation Erodes TSCA Exemptions -
EPA’s proposed reporting and recordkeeping requirements for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) may be...more
1/21/2022
/ ASTM ,
Clean Air Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Motor Vehicles ,
PFAS ,
RCRA ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
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
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
Comprehensive Risk Management Plans (RMP) under Section 112(r) the Clean Air Act (Act) are not just required for facilities processing listed regulated substances in excess of regulatory thresholds. Recent EPA enforcement...more
EPA recently issued a final rule containing much-debated revisions to the Clean Air Act 112(r) Risk Management Program (“RMP”). The rule rescinds or modifies a substantial number of existing requirements, including...more
1/14/2020
/ Amended Regulation ,
Clean Air Act ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Final Rules ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Obama Administration ,
Regulatory History ,
Rescission ,
Risk Management ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration
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
It seems to happen every year. A natural disaster disrupts fall football season, and interstates are full of evacuees gobbling up hotel rooms and squatting in the nearest safety zones. In those times, no one ever thinks of...more
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
A trilogy of recent federal and state enforcement actions show just how far agencies will go to enforce environmental regulations. Now may be a good time for a compliance audit....more
2/14/2018
/ Appeals ,
Batteries ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Air Act Violations ,
Compliance ,
Consent Agreements ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
DirecTV ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Crimes ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Violations ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Hazardous Waste ,
Land-Use Permits ,
Landfills ,
Mining ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Retailers ,
Risk Management ,
State and Local Government ,
Suction Dredge Mining ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
It seems to happen every year. A natural disaster disrupts fall football season, and interstates are full of evacuees gobbling up hotel rooms and squatting in the nearest safety zones. In those times, no one ever thinks of...more
Companies operating ammonia refrigeration systems are easy targets for EPA under a number of environmental programs. Recent history suggests release reporting under Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and under the...more
7/10/2017
/ CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Corporate Financing ,
Emergency Response ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
EPCRA ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Manufacturers ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management
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
As we reported in the April issue of Environmental Notes, the Trump administration issued a final rule on March 16, 2017 that delayed the effective date of regulations making significant changes to requirements applicable to...more
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
Section 112(d) of the Clean Air Act requires EPA to set emission standards for hazardous air pollutants emitted by sources in certain specified source categories and subcategories. EPA recently published final maximum...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
Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (EGBE) is a solvent used primarily in the production of paints, coatings, and metal and household cleaners. It’s also used in the production of other chemicals. Facilities that manufacture,...more