On December 30, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (collectively Agencies) announced the issuance of a final rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), a key...more
2/2/2023
/ Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Final Rules ,
Jurisdictional Determination (JD) ,
Navigable Waters ,
New Rules ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
In its upcoming term, the US Supreme Court will once again consider the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), a key term in the Clean Water Act (CWA), and its application to wetlands. The case, Sackett v....more
U.S. EPA Announces Proposed Rule to Designate Certain Compounds as CERCLA Hazardous Substances, New Scientific Developments, and Consequences of U.S. EPA’s Drinking Water Health Advisories...more
The Biden administration has been announcing a new series of actions to address climate change, relying on executive power due to insufficient support in Congress. On July 27, 2022, however, Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY)...more
The Environmental Protection Agency’s new drinking water health advisories for PFAS, released on June 15, 2022, included an advisory level of 10 parts per trillion (ppt) for hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid and its...more
While the federal government still has not comprehensively addressed per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination, important PFAS-related developments have occurred on three fronts recently. As litigation against...more
On October 18, 2021, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its PFAS Strategic Roadmap (Roadmap or Plan), the agency's new approach to comprehensively addressing the threat to public health and the environment...more
The procedures associated with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), particularly Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), are undergoing change. On one hand, the Executive Branch under the Biden administration,...more
In January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order "Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis." This order provided a clear signal that the Biden administration...more
On May 20, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk. The Executive Order seeks "to advance consistent, clear, intelligible, comparable, and accurate disclosure of climate-related...more
On May 24, 2021, in an opinion written by Justice Thomas, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that Guam’s lawsuit against the US Navy was not barred by CERCLA, thus restoring the Territory’s claim for recovery of costs to...more
The CLEAN Future Act (Act), introduced in its current form on March 2, 2021 by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, is designed primarily to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Reflecting the...more
President Biden has made environmental justice a cornerstone of his administration. While all government departments and agencies have a role to play, the U.S. EPA has taken on the environmental justice mantle as reflected in...more
A cornerstone of the Biden Administration is environmental justice, which EPA defines as "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the...more
Section 7361 of the National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA") for Fiscal Year 2020 requires the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to "publish interim guidance on the destruction and disposal of perfluoroalkyl and...more
Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are found in firefighting foam used by the military since the 1970’s for training exercises and to extinguish liquid and gas fires. These compounds are part...more
10/16/2020
/ CERCLA ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Contamination ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Substances ,
NDAA ,
PFAS ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Toxic Chemicals
There have been several recent developments involving PFAS regulation, most notably the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) for certain long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds...more
8/6/2020
/ CERCLA ,
Clean Water Act ,
Contaminated Properties ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Substances ,
NDAA ,
PFAS ,
Public Works ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Wastewater ,
Water Quality
This posting provides an update on PFAS developments involving federal legislative and regulatory activities.
Congress -
On November 6, 2019, a panel of experts at a congressional briefing sponsored by the Endocrine...more
11/19/2019
/ Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Groundwater ,
Health and Safety ,
PFAS ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Toxic Chemicals
Section 301(c) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) authorizes the Federal government, States and federally recognized Indian Tribes to act as "trustees" on behalf of the...more
10/10/2018
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
CERCLA ,
Clean Water Act ,
Comment Period ,
Construction Industry ,
Department of the Interior ,
Environmental Policies ,
Natural Resources ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rehabilitation and Restoration Plans ,
Rulemaking Process
President Trump is spearheading a government-wide roll back of Obama Era climate initiatives. The president and his EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, have delivered a one-two punch. They both have denied the impact of human...more
8/14/2017
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Coal ,
Department of the Interior ,
Deregulation ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
NEPA ,
Obama Administration ,
Paris Agreement ,
Renewable Energy ,
Renewable Portfolio Standards ,
Rollbacks ,
Trump Administration