On June 11, 2024, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced his inaugural appointments to the new Fifteenth Court of Appeals. The new intermediate court of appeals will take effect on September 1, 2024, and have statewide...more
Companies seeking air quality permits or permit amendments for construction of new projects under the Texas Clean Air Act’s New Source Review (NSR) program should note recent court decisions at federal, state, and...more
Starting November 1, 2022, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will require applicants who are applying for a new registration, permit, or activity, or making certain changes to an existing registration, permit,...more
On October 12, 2022, the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Letter of Concern setting forth its initial analysis and recommendations in...more
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has taken various actions and posted guidance to help regulated entities address operational issues and environmental noncompliance that resulted from power outages, water...more
As the number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) illness cases continue to grow in the United States, employers should be aware of their legal obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (“OSH Act”) and key...more
OSHA has finalized a rule that rescinds the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit their OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and Form 301 (Injury and Illness...more
The Fifth Circuit has now joined the seven other Courts of Appeals that have rejected challenges to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) Multi-Employer Citation Policy. In Acosta v. Hensel Phelps...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) made important announcements this month regarding the electronic submission of injury and illness data. The first of these announcements took a big step back from...more
OSHA recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to rescind the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit their OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and...more
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”) has prepared a rulemaking that will consolidate for certain New Source Review (“NSR”) air permit applications the Notice of Receipt of Application and Intent to Obtain...more
Last week, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled that serving citation on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”) outside a 30-day deadline set forth in the Texas Clean Air Act (“TCAA”) did not require dismissal of...more
The novel climate change tort cases are accelerating at a rapid pace. Over the past two weeks, several important events occurred in the lawsuits brought by multiple California cities and counties against the country’s...more
Yesterday, a California federal district court dealt a serious blow to two California cities’ climate change lawsuits against several major oil and gas companies. Judge William Alsup issued an order denying the plaintiffs’...more
If the first two months of 2018 are any indication, events to play out over the rest of the year will have a major impact on what constitutes a “discharge” subject to regulation under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act (CWA)....more
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) recently released a new draft safety rule that would increase existing Process Safety Management (PSM) requirements for...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected all industry challenges to an Obama-era rule on worker exposure to respirable crystalline silica in a December 22, 2017 ruling. In its written decision, the...more
On October 25, 2017, Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) introduced S. 2003, the “FDA Cosmetic Safety and Modernization Act.” The proposed legislation would amend the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 (“FFDCA”) and allow the...more
On November 24, 2017, OSHA published a final rule in the Federal Register delaying the initial compliance deadline for the electronic submission of worker injury and illness logs to December 15, 2017. By December 15, all...more
On June 28, 2017, OSHA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register delaying the initial compliance deadline for the electronic submission of worker injury and illness logs to December 1, 2017.
This proposal comes...more
Last week, the Labor Department indefinitely delayed enforcement of at least the first phase-in deadline of its electronic reporting requirements for injury and illness logs. Specifically, OSHA’s Injury and Illness...more
Last week, President Donald Trump signed a joint resolution passed by the House and Senate overturning the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) rule titled “Clarification of Employers’ Continuing Obligation...more
In the closing days of the Obama Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a final rule that “clarifies” employers’ “continuing obligation” to make and maintain an accurate record of...more
On September 12, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA” or the “Agency”) issued a strategy for addressing growing concerns about the application of the federal hazardous waste regulations under the Resource...more
The compliance deadline for OSHA regulations designed to encourage workplace safety reporting and discourage employer retaliation has been extended from August 10 to November 1, 2016. The delay follows a legal challenge to...more