Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
When the U.S. Supreme Court granted a state petition to stay EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) until the state case against the plan worked its way through the U.S. appeals court (and possibly the Supreme Court itself), the five justices favoring the stay did not specify why they made that decision. However, in their brief, […]
The Constitution is silent on protection of the environment, and so environmental cases did not provide the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia with a convenient opening to expand on his belief in originalism—the position that the Constitution means what the framers wanted it to mean when they wrote it and that meaning does not […]
Reporting season is in full swing. You may be wrapping up your Tier II chemical inventory reports, as the deadline is just days away, but for sources emitting greenhouse gases (GHG), there is no time to catch your breath. GHG emissions reports required by 40 CFR 98 are due on March 31.
The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition from 29 states and state agencies seeking to stay EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) while challenges to the plan progress through the federal courts. The practical effect of the Court’s order is that the first deadline of June 30, 2016, for states to submit their initial plans for […]
Aging tanks, muddled inspections, and inadequate recordkeeping can increase the probability for underground storage tank (UST) spills and releases. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirms that more than 6,000 releases are discovered annually, and as of 2015, more than 525,000 total releases from USTs have occurred. UST owners and operators that fail to conduct […]
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the EPA to fulfill its obligations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to initiate financial assurance rulemaking for the hard rock mining industry. The court order responds to a joint motion filed by six environmental groups and the […]
In a proposal, the EPA has described how it intends to align its National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (more commonly called the National Contingency Plan or NCP) with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Response Framework (NRF) and National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House to block the EPA from requiring compliance with its National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the brick and structural clay products manufacturing and clay ceramics manufacture maximum achievable control technology (collectively, Brick MACT) until any judicial proceedings, including appeals, addressing the rule are final.
Q. A business switched ownership during the year 2015. Which company is responsible for Tier II reporting for 2015?
On December 28, 2015, President Obama signed into law the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 (House of Representatives (H.R.) 1321). This law amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by banning the sale of rinse-off cosmetics that contain intentionally added plastic microbeads beginning January 1, 2018, and by banning the manufacture of these cosmetics […]