The week of June 23, 2024, in Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified in a 5-4 decision that if a federal agency fails to provide a reasoned response to comments raised during the rulemaking...more
The Clean Air Act (“CAA”) envisions states and the federal government working together to improve air quality. Under the CAA, states must develop State Implementation Plans (“SIPs”) to implement National Ambient Air Quality...more
On March 6, 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register its long-awaited reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM). In...more
I. Background. On February 7, 2024, EPA issued a final rule lowering the annual health-based air quality standard for fine particulates (pm 2.5) to 9 ug/m3 from 12 ug/m3. The Rule will impact industries and many...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced today a final rule which will tighten the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”) for fine particulate matter. EPA previously: - Stated on June 10,...more
For anyone involved in the first round of the Clean Air Act regional haze program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) action on the first business day of 2024 came as no surprise: EPA proposed to disapprove the...more
Regulators are pursuing steep fines in response to widespread alleged noncompliance with an emissions rule still subject to potential reversal by the courts. On September 20, 2023, the South Coast Air Quality Management...more
In a decision with implications for air permitting across the West, a divided three-judge panel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded EPA’s approval of Colorado’s state implementation plan (SIP) based...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published in the August 22nd Federal Register Notice a proposed rule that would approve portions of the revisions to the Arkansas State Implementation Plan (“SIP”)....more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published a July 21st Federal Register Notice proposing to approve two revisions to the Clean Air Act Arkansas State Implementation Plan (“SIP”). See 88 Fed. Reg....more
In early January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal to revise and strengthen a key national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particle pollution, also known as PM2.5. The Clean Air Act...more
The goal of the Clean Air Act’s visibility program is to achieve natural visibility conditions by 2064 in federal Class I areas (basically, national parks). States must show that they are making “reasonable progress” towards...more
On November 19, 2020, U.S. EPA published its decision to remove Ohio’s air pollution nuisance rule from Ohio’s SIP in the Federal Register. The removal came at the request of Ohio EPA because the nuisance rule does not have a...more
Many businesses subject to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations continue to face uncertainty as they navigate environmental compliance and enforcement issues arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The EPA and...more
here is no shortage of dramatic, if not predictable, commentary in the wake of the Trump Administration’s release of its “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” (“Rule”) ranging from the indignant to the hyperbolic, and the...more
EPA Region 6 recently proposed to approve Texas’s affirmative defense regulations in its State Implementation Plan (“SIP”) applicable to excess air emissions that occur during certain startup, shutdown or maintenance (SSM)...more
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) has scheduled a listening session for August 13th on a pre-proposal draft regulation which is described as streamlining Arkansas Air Quality Regulations. The...more
EPA is required under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to periodically review the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to ensure they reflect the most current scientific information while protecting human health and the...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published revisions to hazardous waste generator regulations on November 28, 2016. These revisions went into effect at a federal level and for non-delegated states on May 30,...more
The Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies (“AAPCA”) submitted October 31st comments on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Draft FY 2018 – 2022 Strategic Plan (“Plan”). EPA states the Plan...more
You think maintaining compliance with opacity standards is a challenge now – just wait. As anyone who has started a campfire knows, opacity (the density of the smoke) tends to be high when starting and ending fuel burning,...more
NEW REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS - Federal - - Program Requirement Revisions Related to the Public Water System Supervision Programs for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont - EPA is giving notice that...more