After 15 years without significant revisions, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) is proposing an overhaul of its recycling rules. The proposed regulations, which ADEM released for public notice and...more
4/1/2025
/ Alabama ,
Comment Period ,
End-Users ,
Environmental Policies ,
Manufacturers ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Recycling ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
Waste Management
Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va., Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) have reintroduced S. 347 as The Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025. According to an...more
2/14/2025
/ Brownfield Properties ,
Contamination ,
Economic Development ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Grants ,
Infrastructure ,
Real Estate Development ,
State and Local Government
In early August 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed denial of Alabama’s permit program to manage coal combustion residuals (CCR) in landfills and surface impoundments within the state. The...more
A bill amending the Alabama Solid Wastes and Recyclable Materials Management Act by specifying when local approval of solid waste disposal permit modifications is necessary has passed both houses of the Alabama Legislature...more
This week a bill was introduced in the Alabama Legislature which would expand the state’s Brownfield Redevelopment and Voluntary Cleanup Program through the implementation of new features aimed to increase participation in...more
4/27/2023
/ Alabama ,
Brownfield Properties ,
Construction Project ,
Contaminated Properties ,
Environmental Policies ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Neighborhood Revitalization ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Real Estate Development ,
Redevelopment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
State and Local Government ,
Urban Planning & Development
On December 5, 2022, the U.S. EPA issued a memorandum entitled, Addressing PFAS Discharges in NPDES Permits and Through the Pretreatment Program and Monitoring Programs. The memorandum “provides EPA’s guidance to states and...more
12/7/2022
/ Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
New Guidance ,
NPDES ,
PFAS ,
Pollution Control ,
Public Health ,
Stormwater Discharge Permits ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Wastewater
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or “PFAS,” as they have come to be known, are a category of widely-used and long-lasting chemicals found in many consumer, commercial, and industrial products. The human health and...more
11/3/2022
/ Contamination ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Policies ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Industrial Sector ,
NPDES ,
Permits ,
PFAS ,
Public Health ,
Toxic Chemicals
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it will provide more efficient review of certain materials used in Electric Vehicle, Semi-conductor, and Clean Energy Sectors. EPA implements the New Chemicals...more
On Tuesday, December 7, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers published for public comment a proposed rule revising the definition of “Waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”)....more
12/9/2021
/ Clean Water Act ,
Comment Period ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Inland Waterways ,
Navigable Waters ,
Rulemaking Process ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
In late July, the Environment and Natural Resources Division (“ENRD”) of the Department of Justice released a memo setting forth the Division’s policy for handling enforcement of civil Clean Water Act matters when a State has...more
Three months after issuing its COVID-19 Implications for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program temporary policy memorandum suspending enforcement of certain environmental requirements, the U.S. Environmental...more
In early 2020, the Alabama Environmental Management Commission promulgated rules establishing procedures by which the Department of Environmental Management will regulate land application of eligible non-hazardous by-product...more
Apropos of the ongoing celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the U.S. Supreme Court today released its opinion in the Clean Water Act case of County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al. Justice Breyer...more
4/24/2020
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Direct Discharge ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
Permits ,
Point Sources ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Waters of the United States
In a much-anticipated memo dated March 26, 2020, the U.S. EPA shares “COVID-19 Implications for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program.” The seven-page memo, from Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and...more
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management can finally breathe a sigh of relief, as the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion today affirming the U.S. EPA’s January 11, 2017 decision not to...more
On April 15, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released a much-anticipated Interpretative Statement on Releases of Pollutants from Point Sources to Groundwater. ...more
On February 19, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an order granting review of the Ninth Circuit’s decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, setting the stage for a landmark decision on Clean Water...more
On January 3, 2019, the U.S. Solicitor General filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund to decide the question of whether a “discharge of a pollutant…occurs when a...more
On December 3, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States took a rare step in specifying a deadline by which the U.S. Solicitor General may offer input in two certiorari petitions involving the scope of the Clean Water Act....more