Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In January 2024, chemical manufacturer Nox-Crete Inc., located in Omaha, Nebraska, agreed to pay a $37,026 EPA civil penalty and install a fire suppression system to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act (CAA); Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA); and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The facility, which […]
The EPA announced a settlement with Par Hawaii Refining LLC on January 19 that included a $176,899 penalty over Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at its oil refining facility in Kapolei, Hawaii. The company’s EPCRA violations included “failures to immediately notify the state emergency response commission and […]
Due to its complex nature, Tier II reporting for EPCRA can be an arduous task for EHS or operations managers to complete. Running the risk of noncompliance can have severe consequences and involve costly penalties as well as long-lasting reputational damage. Hundreds or thousands of facilities across multiple states can be a nightmare for EHS […]
In the fourth quarter (Q4), the EPA finalized 150 settlement agreements with companies small and large across the United States. This represents a significant decrease in enforcement actions—down from 327 penalties issued in Q3 for 2020. The actions taken resulted in $4,582,755 in fines.
On February 20 and 24, 2020, the EPA announced three developments under its action plan for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS Action Plan).
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA) includes sections to specifically fund research to improve the scientific understanding of the health risks posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and to use existing statutory authorities to require regulated sectors to add information to that understanding. Among the new and major legal provisions […]
By a vote of 247 to 159, the House passed the PFAS Action Act of 2019 (H.R. 535). The bill would amend five environmental statutes—the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund), Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Clean Air Act (CAA), and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)—by […]
In its February 2019 Action Plan for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the EPA said it planned to consider listing some PFAS under the federal Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) (Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and Section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA)). The Agency has now taken the […]
In a recent “final action”, the EPA announced that it will not “at this time” promulgate new regulations to prevent spills of hazardous substances (HSs) under Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 311.
Since January 2011, the Preparedness Unit in the EPA’s Region 8 Office has published a quarterly newsletter that provides the public with “information on any and all aspects of preparedness.” One general goal of the newsletter is to educate the public and industry about federal programs specifically intended to prevent releases of hazardous substances that […]