Category: Regulatory Developments

Will WOTUS Rule Affect Nationwide Permits?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is proposing to renew its 50 existing nationwide permits (NWPs) and to add two new NWPs. The existing permits expire March 18, 2017, and the Corps wishes to have the reissued permits effective immediately after expiration.

President Obama Signs TSCA Reform Bill into Law

“For the first time in 20 years, we are updating a national environmental statute,” said President Obama before signing the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act on Wednesday. The president noted that the updated law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which took effect in 1976 “didn’t quite work the way […]

Zero Pretreatment Effluent Limits for O&G Fracking

There should be little difficulty understanding the pollutant effluent limits in the EPA’s final pretreatment standards for onshore unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction facilities because the limits are zero. The pertinent addition to the Code of Federal Regulations is as follows:

OSHA Electronic Recordkeeping Rule Places New Requirements on Employers

By Arielle B. Sepulveda On May 12, 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a long-awaited final rule requiring certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness data, providing for such data to be made publicly available, and updating employee notification and antiretaliation provisions.

Webinar Wrap-Up: RMP Updates

Back in March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed significant changes to the chemical accident prevention provisions, commonly referred to as the Risk Management Program (RMP). In a recent webinar, Risk Management Plan Updates: A Guide to Regulatory Compliance in Advance of EPA’s Final Rule, speaker Natalie VanLiew, PE, Managing Consultant at Trinity Consultants, […]

Q&A: Electronic Recordkeeping Rule

Recently, we received the following question from a subscriber about OSHA’s new Electronic Recordkeeping rule: What is the new OSHA tracking rule all about, and when will it go into effect? This was our response:

OSHA Launches Pilot Program for Whistleblower Severe Violators

Recently, OSHA announced that it is launching a pilot program aimed at employers who “continually and willfully” disregard the right of whistleblowers. Called the Whistleblower Severe Violator Enforcement Program or W-SVEP, the program will be similar to the existing Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which includes employers that routinely ignore safety and health regulations. The pilot […]

Proposal Updates NPDES Provisions

The EPA has issued a proposal to update provisions under 15 headings in its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. The proposal results in part from an ongoing directive from the White House instructing federal agencies to conduct periodic reviews of regulations to eliminate outdated requirements and reduce the compliance burden on the regulated […]

TSCA Reform Bill Heads to the White House

The Senate voted to pass a bill to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Bill. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature in order to become law. It’s the first time the Act has been amended in 40 years.

EPA Streamlines CWA Applications Process for Tribes

In a final interpretative rule, the EPA has streamlined the process whereby federally recognized tribes with reservations apply to the Agency to be treated in a manner similar to states (TAS) for the purposes of administering Clean Water Act (CWA) regulatory programs. The primary change under the interpretative rule is that tribes will no longer […]