Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The 629-page proposal the EPA/National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published (July 13, 2015, Federal Register (FR)) to set Phase II GHG emissions and fuel-efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty engines and vehicles contained a few short paragraphs from the EPA that caused a major uproar in the auto racing community.
The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) has assembled an illuminating summary of state reactions to the U.S. Supreme Court’s stay of the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The stay recognizes the strength of judicial challenges to the rule and allows those challenges to proceed through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and […]
Spring is here. As the ground thaws and the rainy spring season begins, owners of underground storage tanks (USTs) must take certain precautions to prevent tank systems from emerging from belowground and floating away.
Sierra Club de Puerto Rico and other environmental groups could not persuade a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that their challenge to a Clean Air Act (CAA) rule the EPA promulgated in 1980 was timely. According to the groups, that rule provided an illegal definition of any air pollutant […]
On March 2, 2016, the Oregon Legislature passed the Clean Electricity and Coal Transition Plan (Senate Bill (SB) 1547, B-eng.). Should Democratic Governor Kate Brown sign the bill into law—and she has preliminarily indicated that she will—Oregon will become the first state to set a deadline for eliminating coal-fired electricity generation by its major utilities. […]
In a blow to the agricultural and land development sectors, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging EPA’s 2010 total maximum daily load (TMDL) program for the Chesapeake Bay. The case was launched in 2011 when the American Farm Bureau, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, the National Association of Home Builders, and others […]
The attorneys general (AGs) of 20 states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) because the Agency had no legal authority to promulgate them. The AGs base their argument on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Michigan v. EPA (2015), in which a 5–4 majority ruled that the […]
A generator’s hazardous waste status is based on the quantity of hazardous waste generated each month. So do all your generated hazardous wastes need to be counted? Yes, but no. The federal regulation at 40 CFR 261.5(c) and (d) sets forth a list of wastes that are exempt from being counted in connection with ascertaining […]
In a 2-to-1 opinion in which each judge expressed different views, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit said that it would rule on consolidated petitions challenging the Clean Water Rule (CWR), jointly issued on June 29, 2015, by the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (agencies).
Q. Would flavorings that contain small amounts of oil (for example, almond and hazelnut oil) count towards an inventory to determine Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) applicability if they are stored in 55 gallon drums or greater?