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PFAS Alert! Product Manufacturers and Importers Required To Report Products That Contain PFAS by January 2026

In September 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") announced an extension to the reporting period for its new Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances ("PFAS") reporting and recordkeeping requirements under the Toxic...more

Water Rights Adjudication Begins for Washington's Whatcom and Northern Skagit Counties

Water rights holders in Whatcom County and northern Skagit County will be affected by a court adjudication case filed in May 2024 by the Washington State Department of Ecology ("Ecology"). Ecology filed this general water...more

PFAS Polluters Soon To Be Held Accountable Under CERCLA After Major EPA Rulemaking

We can now talk about the proverbial elephant in the PFAS room that has been lingering for a while. On April 19, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will list the so-called "forever chemicals"...more

EPA Seeks Comments on "Clean" Label for Construction Industry

Inflation Reduction Act pledged millions to label program intended to cut climate pollution linked to manufacturing of construction products and materials - The Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") is seeking public...more

Hazardous Waste Facilities Beware: PFAS Soon to Be Regulated Under RCRA

On January 31, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") proposed two new rules that would add nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (known as "PFAS") to its list of hazardous constituents regulated under the...more

The Oregon Climate Protection Program Is Dead. Long Live the Climate Protection Program?

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) just announced that it would not appeal a recent decision by the Oregon Court of Appeals invalidating the Climate Protection Program (CPP), Oregon's sweeping administrative...more

PFAS in Food: The Basics of Regulation and Testing

There is little debate that "PFAS are everywhere."Nor is it debatable that PFAS, a term used to encompass per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a primary focus of regulatory action and are an increasingly common cause of...more

SCOTUS Whacks WOTUS, Reducing Protection of American Wetlands

In Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a massive blow to EPA's ability to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act ("CWA"). Addressing the "nagging question" about the reaches of the CWA, Justice Alito, joined...more

Does the Mifepristone Case Tee Up a Chevron Challenge? - Controversial Abortion Decision May Have Implications for Judicial...

In Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. USFDA, U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kasmaryck stayed the FDA approval of the abortion drug Mifepristone, disregarding the FDA's medical and scientific judgment to approve the drug 23...more

WOTUS Update: While Supreme Court Case Still Pending, EPA Issues New Rule

On the eve of 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule modifying the definition of "waters of the United States" (WOTUS), a key term of the 1972 Clean Water Act that has fueled much passion for...more

Oregon Joins California and Washington in Adopting Its Own Program Capping and Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

With Oregon's recent implementation of rules to cap greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the entire West Coast is now subject to some form of GHG emissions cap program. We have previously discussed California's and Washington's...more

Where Will WOTUS Go?

If there is one thing we know for certain about the term "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA), it is that its definition remains uncertain....more

Oregon's Water Future: The Hot Topics for 2022

As drought conditions intensify throughout the western United States, water allocation and procurement continue to be contentious issues. While the problem is easily identified—demand keeps increasing, but supply is...more

OHA Announces New Rules for Limiting Toxic Chemicals in Children's Products

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has announced proposed rulemakings related to implementation of the Toxic Free Kids Act (TFKA). The TFKA was passed in 2015 and requires manufacturers of children's products to identify and...more

Carbon Offsets 101: Big Gains (and Some Growing Pains) in Forest Carbon Offset Markets

Companies looking to reduce their climate impacts and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions use a variety of tools to do so: buying renewable electricity (especially solar and wind); improving the efficiency of energy-hungry...more

Could Africa Be the Next Renewable Energy Heaven?

It has been 13 years since the World Bank concluded that Africa had "huge technical potential for clean energy projects." More than a decade after, how much has Africa lived up to this potential?...more

Here's the Deal: Could the Social Cost of Carbon Become a Key Component of Biden's Climate Strategy?

Under President Biden, the federal government will dramatically alter the way it calculates the social cost of greenhouse gases (GHGs). In his first day in office, President Biden issued an Executive Order re-establishing the...more

Oregon Regulators' Ambitious Climate Change Plans Take Shape

The Oregon legislature is once again considering potentially far-reaching climate change legislation. But unlike prior years, Oregon agencies are not waiting to see what happens this session....more

Here's the Deal: Oil and Gas Industry Already Facing Challenges From Biden Administration

Before even being sworn in as the next President of the United States, President-elect Joe Biden is reaffirming campaign promises to adopt a stronger stance on fossil fuels as part of his strategy to combat climate change....more

Trump Track: Army Corps of Engineers Reissues and Modifies Nationwide Permits

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has just finalized its rule reissuing and modifying a dozen existing Nationwide Permits (NWPs), issuing four new NWPs, and revising the general conditions and definitions applying to these...more

Oregon Climate Action Update: Key State Agencies Move Forward With Implementation Plans While EO Faces Legal Challenge

n an earlier post, we commented on the initial plans of various Oregon state agencies to implement Governor Brown's Executive Order No. 20-04 (EO 20-04) to reduce and regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Much has happened...more

Trump Track: POTUS Upends NEPA Rules in the Name of Speed

On July 15, 2020, President Trump announced a "top to bottom overhaul" of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, deriding what he characterized as the "mountains and mountains of bureaucratic red tape in...more

Trump Track: EPA Finalizes New Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Rules—Will States Bite Back?

On June 1, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its new rules implementing section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Section 401 provides that before a federal agency can approve a project that may result...more

Oregon Agencies File Initial Reports on Climate Action Executive Order

In her March 10, 2020 Executive Order 20-04, Governor Kate Brown directed 10 state agencies to report by May 15, 2020 on “proposed actions within their statutory authority to reduce [greenhouse gas] emissions and mitigate...more

Not So Fast! Oregon DEQ Objects to EPA's Draft NPDES Permits for Lower Columbia River Dams

On May 15, 2020, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in which it objected to EPA's draft water quality discharge permits (NPDES permits)...more

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