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Under a new rule effective on Monday, March 23, 2020, owners and operators of stationary sources are required to report qualifying accidental releases to the ambient air of hazardous substances to the federal Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). While many companies are currently consumed with handling operations and logistics related to the coronavirus pandemic, compliance will still be expected going forward. Importantly, however, the CSB’s preamble to the new rule expresses a one-year grace period from the effective date of the rule, during which it will refrain from referring reporting violations for enforcement absent a knowing failure to report.
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Continue Reading Requirement to Report Accidental Releases to Chemical Safety Board Takes Effect

The EPA announced its final rule for power plant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, culminating often rancorous discussion and litigation over the EPA’s authority to regulate GHG emissions from existing coal-fired electricity generating sources. Under the new Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, the states, not the federal government, are now responsible for driving down GHG emissions from power plants. Specifically, the EPA now requires unit-specific standards of performance to be developed by the states using its new emission guideline that details the “best system of emission reduction.”…
Continue Reading EPA’s Final Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Rule Shifts Emissions Regulation to States

Gavel In Court Room

The D.C. Circuit handed down an opinion in Sierra Club v. EPA last month that tossed the Sierra Club’s challenge of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule from the Obama Administration. The result may be greater flexibility and reduced public oversight in state ambient air quality monitoring.…
Continue Reading D.C. Circuit Court Decision Signals Reduced Public Oversight in Air Quality Monitoring

Legislation and deals to protect the environment from climate change

The latest development in climate change litigation came out of last week’s Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissal – spurring more speculation that these issues will eventually be appealed to and decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. This is one of several novel cases around the country attempting to hold the federal government responsible for climate change.

The decision comes on the heels of a similar, closely watched, and highly publicized suit filed by 21 minors – Juliana v. U.S. – in which  an Oregon federal judge denied a comparable motion to dismiss, but granted interlocutory appeal, opening the door for it to be presented to the Ninth Circuit.…
Continue Reading Latest Kids’ Climate Suit Development Increases Supreme Court Speculation

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed a revised policy to clarify what constitutes “ambient air” under the Clean Air Act, which will directly affect what areas stationary sources of air emissions must model to determine the effect of their facilities on air quality. The revised policy will most notably affect sources that have to model air quality around their facilities to demonstrate compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), as well as sources applying for air construction permits under the EPA’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permitting program.…
Continue Reading EPA Proposes to Clarify Areas Excluded from Clean Air Act’s Definition of “Ambient Air”

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed its reconsideration of a January 2009 final action on “project aggregation.” Project aggregation is the concept that addresses when to combine nominally separate physical or operational changes at a stationary source to determine whether the changes trigger New Source Review (NSR) permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The 2009 final action (74 FR 2376) (the “2009 Aggregation Action”) sets forth the EPA’s desired interpretation and policy concerning when to aggregate such activities into a single project. The EPA has submitted the final action reconsidering the 2009 Aggregation Action for publication in the Federal Register (the “2018 Reconsideration”). After the 2018 Reconsideration is published, the 2009 Aggregation Action will go into effect…
Continue Reading EPA Completes Reconsideration of “Project Aggregation” Final Action

businessman holding data files

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new guidance memorandum on Thursday, January 25, 2018 that addresses the question of when – and whether – a major source of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs, such as lead, mercury, and benzene) can be reclassified as an “area source” under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act, and thereafter avoid major source permitting requirements. The new guidance allows major sources to become area sources at any time, by agreeing to federally enforceable limits on their potential to emit HAPs. This replaces the EPA’s previous “once in, always in” policy, whereby any major source of HAPs remained a major source regardless of later reductions in its potential to emit HAPs.
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Continue Reading EPA Revises Guidance Allowing Reclassification of Major Sources of Hazardous Air Pollutants as Area Sources Under the Clean Air Act

Natural Gas Fired Electrical Power Plant

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt declared “the war against coal is over” yesterday in his announcement that the EPA will move to repeal the Clean Power Plan. In a lengthy proposal leaked last week that was then updated and signed October 10, the EPA proposes to repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP), a controversial regulation designed to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants. In support of the proposal, the EPA describes the Obama-era EPA’s interpretation of the Clean Air Act as unlawful.…
Continue Reading Pruitt Declares “The War Against Coal is Over”

EPA Offices, Washington DC

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently overturned a lower court’s order for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a study of air pollution rules’ impact on jobs, and it has broad ramifications across industries.

The Fourth Circuit’s ruling in Murray Energy Corp. v. Adm’r EPA may impact the scope of citizen suits under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and other statutes, including environmental activism cases with the potential to expose companies to significant liabilities. In addition, the EPA’s future rulemaking is likely to continue to have significant implications for industry jobs.…
Continue Reading EPA Jobs Review Mandate Win May Have Sweeping Industry Impact

Natural Gas Fired Electrical Power Plant

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recently denied the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed delay of an Obama-era rule that limits methane emissions from new oil and gas equipment, sending oil and gas companies scrambling to immediately ensure compliance with the rule to avoid any enforcement actions.…
Continue Reading Methane Rule Litigation Creates Uncertainty for Oil and Gas Companies