Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In a notice and as required by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the EPA has issued its fourth contaminant candidate list (CCL 4). CCLs comprise contaminants that are not subject to any proposed or promulgated federal drinking water standards, are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems (PWSs), and may require regulation […]
In one of its major end-of-year actions, the EPA on Wednesday, released its final renewal fuel standards (RFS) for 2017 and, for biomass-based diesel, for 2018. The Agency increased the RFS percentages across all categories of biofuels, an action that was welcomed by RFS advocates and criticized by the petroleum industry as burdening consumers with […]
On November 28, 2016, the U.S. EPA published in the Federal Register (FR) the Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Rule (Final Rule). Proposed in September 2015, the Final Rule overhauls and updates the decades-old EPA regulations for hazardous waste generators and, in the EPA’s opinion, makes the generator rules easier to understand, facilitates better compliance, and […]
The EPA recently issued its fall 2016 Regulatory Agenda, which lists 49 actions in “final rule stage.” Some of these actions are technical or noncontroversial or intended to reduce compliance burden. But a large number of them will increase or potentially increase regulatory responsibilities either for specific or multiple industrial sectors.
On November 17, OSHA announced the publication of its long-awaited final rule updating its general industry walking and working surfaces and establishing requirements for personal fall protection systems in general industry. Keep reading to learn the details of this major regulatory development.
With the double goal of promoting responsible development of solar and wind energy on public lands and ensuring that U.S. taxpayers receive fair market value for such development, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has amended its regulations governing leases of rights-of-way issued under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and the Mineral […]
In 2008 and 2009, 12 construction workers died in an 18-month period on the Las Vegas Strip. An investigation by the Las Vegas Sun revealed that Nevada OSHA inspectors were simply failing to enforce existing safety standards.
The Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Rule (Rule), finalized on October 28, 2016, will require hazardous waste large quantity generators (LQGs) and small quantity generators (SQGs) to make many changes as to how they manage their hazardous waste. Because the current generator requirements will be in place in most states for months and months to come—that […]
As frequent visitors to EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Online database already know, the Agency’s hazardous waste regulations prompt a constant stream of questions from both regulated entities and RCRA-authorized states about applicability, lack of clarity, and regulatory gaps. A small fraction of EPA’s answers and interpretations responding to such questions have now […]
In a final rule, the EPA has overhauled its regulations governing U.S. import and export of hazardous waste. One intent of the rule is to make EPA’s import/export provisions more consistent with import/export standards followed by members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The EPA also says the revisions respond to a […]