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Industry and many states are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide a critical jurisdictional matter related to the Clean Water Rule ((CWR), June 29, 2015, Federal Register (FR) promulgated by the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). More commonly called the waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, the action provided […]
The new section 6(h) of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which greatly expanded the reach of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), requires that within 3 years of the June 22, 2016, date of enactment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must propose rules to reduce risks (by reducing […]
Q. Does changing the frequency of inspections from weekly to monthly for oil storage facilities that receive infrequent fuel deliveries (one per year or less) constitute a technical change that requires a professional engineer (PE)?
Six downwind northeastern states in the Ozone Transport Region (OTR) have filed suit in federal court asking that the EPA be ordered to take action on a December 2013 request that nine upwind states be added to the OTR. The designation would require that the added states develop plans to reduce the transport of pollutants […]
In its continuing effort to bring its Clean Air Act (CAA) greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations in line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA (UARG v. EPA), the Agency is proposing several amendments to provisions in its Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program. Essentially, the proposal describes specific conditions […]
The EPA has issued a direct final rule extending the compliance deadline for onshore unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction wells subject to the Agency’s June 28, 2016, final pretreatment effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs). Under the direct final rule, UOG facilities—including wells that are hydraulically fractured—that were lawfully discharging to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) […]
On this episode of EHS on Tap, we speak with Joe MacDougald, a Professor in Residence on the faculty of the UConn Law School and the Executive Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Law about the D.C. Circuit Court’s en banc review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s most ambitious regulatory initiative and a […]
Q. My client has their 5-year review of their Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan due this year. If they find shortcomings, can they still do the 5-year review/certification of the SPCC to be in compliance, if they program and budget in the project to address the shortcoming?
In a case that set several precedents, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied an appeal from environmental groups seeking to have the court review a final decision by the EPA to grant a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit for a new biomass-burning power plant planned by Sierra […]
In anticipation of international adoption of an amendment to the Montreal Protocol and also in fulfillment of parts of President Obama’s June 2013 Climate Action Plan (CAP), the EPA has issued two final rules that will reduce releases of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) to the atmosphere.