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Will The PM NAAQS Be the Real End of Agency Deference?
According to Bloomberg Environment (subscription required), EPA’s Clean Air Science Advisory Committee cannot reach agreement whether to recommend that the NAAQS for PM2.5 be lowered. Even after two...
View ArticleConfidentiality of “Voluntary” Submittals to EPA
When is the confidentiality of sensitive information provided at EPA’s request protected? In Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media (“FMI”), the Supreme Court addressed the question, but...
View ArticleShould Someone be Reading The SEP Policy its Last Rights?
Chances are if you have been on either side of a settlement for an environmental violation over the past 20 years, you have discussed and/or negotiated a supplemental environmental project (SEP) as...
View ArticleThe Bees Just Got Busier: EPA Approves New Fungicide to be Delivered by the...
EPA has been a hive of activity regarding the declining bee population. The agency recently approved an organic fungicide that is to be delivered to crops via “bee vectoring”—a process by which...
View ArticleWhen is risk reduction not a benefit?
EPA filed a status report on October 15 in the slow-moving mercury and air toxics (MATS) litigation, which is now Murray Energy Corp. v. EPA, No. 16-1127 (D.C. Cir., filed April 26, 2016). The case is...
View ArticleShaping the Future of EPA
What should EPA and environmental protection look like in the future? A report issued by American University’s Center for Environmental Policy in December, entitled Moving Forward: Future Directions...
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Modern Day Alchemy: New Help for Treating Acid Mine Drainage
Two promising new technologies—recovery of rare earths from acid mine drainage (AMD and conversion of AMD treatment by-products to paint pigments are bringing new hope to remediating AMD polluted...
View ArticleMACT Follies
Data is in from EPA’s “work practice” requirement that petroleum refineries monitor ambient air for benzene concentrations around their fence lines. The regulations set an “action level” of 9 µg/m3...
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If You Thought That COVID-19 Was Bad, Try It Mixed With Some PM2.5!
Last week, I discussed the Administration’s guidance concerning the exercise of its enforcement discretion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now comes evidence that the guidance may actually be...
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EPA Remains the “Anti-Environmental Protection Agency”; Wheeler Refuses to...
After more than three years of ignoring science whenever it does not support this Administration’s preferred outcomes, the issue of the future of science in environmental regulation has now been well...
View ArticleA Ray of Regulatory Sunshine
We are all desperate for good news. In my continuing efforts not to become further mired in the quiet despair we are all experiencing, I thought I would pass along some good news, ironically...
View ArticleEPA’s War on Science
Since its creation under President Nixon five decades ago, EPA has, for the most part, been an independent agency utilizing the best science available, even where the science led it to policy results...
View ArticleWill Federal Rollbacks Lead to the Rise of Localism?
Based on research from law professors at Harvard and Columbia, the New York Times reported this month that the Trump administration has reversed, or is in the process of reversing, almost 100 federal...
View ArticleNot So Fast! Oregon DEQ Objects to EPA’s Draft NPDES Permits for Lower...
On May 15, 2020, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) in which it objected to EPA’s draft water quality discharge...
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Has President Trump Just Limited Enforcement To Willful Violations?
On Tuesday, President Trump issued an Executive Order on Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery. I’ll leave to others a discussion of the provisions telling agencies to look for more...
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EPA Finalizes New Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Rules—Will States...
On June 1, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency released its new rules implementing section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Section 401 provides that before a federal agency can approve a...
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Woe Is WOTUS, Redux
Sometimes, history repeats itself. Sometimes, that is not a good thing.After the Obama WOTUS rule was promulgated in 2015, the challenges came fast and furious, and in multiple forums. The Supreme...
View ArticleSurprise! New WOTUS Rule Leads to Conflicting Rulings
It was clear to everyone, including this humble blogger, that EPA’s new rule defining Waters of the United States (WOTUS) would bring little clarity to this fraught area of law. The rule took effect...
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Assistant Attorney General Clark’s Clean Water Act Edict: A Solution to a...
During the dog days of summer in a general election year, Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark, the nation's top environmental lawyer, has issued an eloquent, albeit curiously sourced, ten...
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Not Quite the Same as Making Mexico Pay For the Wall
As the New York Times has documented, President Trump stated numerous times that Mexico would pay for the border wall. With this context, it was hard not to appreciate the delicious irony when EPA...
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