On June 13, 2019, EPA published a final rule that revises its release notification requirements under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).  Specifically, the revision exempts from EPCRA reporting air emissions from animal waste at farms.  While these air emissions are now exempt from reporting requirements, releases from animal waste to other water and land must still be reported. Continue Reading EPA Excludes Farm Animal Waste from EPCRA Air Emissions Reporting Obligations

The US EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) has recently published its final National Compliance Initiatives (NCIs) for FY 2020-2023, setting out its new enforcement and compliance areas of focus.  Formerly known as the National Enforcement Initiatives (NEIs), the newly-renamed NCIs reflect OECA’s shift toward compliance assurance.  EPA believes the name change helps better convey the goal of the NCIs, which is to reduce the average time from violation identification to correction. In doing so, the Agency seeks to use a collaborative approach, working with other federal, state, and local actors to help resolve violations and provide compliance resources.  In its notice, EPA endorses the use of a “full range of compliance tools,” including informal actions, state-led guidance, and the use of federal civil or criminal enforcement where necessary. Continue Reading EPA Announces National Compliance Initiatives

On the heels of similar proposal last month by EPA Region 6 for Texas , EPA Region 4 has now proposed to withdraw the startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM) “SIP Call” for North Carolina.  Both of these two actions represent EPA’s latest answer to a vexing question:  what should an industrial source of air emissions do when unavoidable and abnormal circumstances cause emissions to exceed a limit designed only for normal operations?  EPA’s SIP Call in 2015 reinforced policies intended to make those circumstances into a violation of the Clean Air Act and force states to adopt rules implementing those policies.  The recently proposed withdrawals of the SIP Call confirm that EPA, at least in Regions 4 and 6, is planning to allow states more latitude in deciding how to handle SSM events.

Continue Reading EPA Region 4 Proposes New Startup, Shutdown, and Malfunction Policy

On May 23, 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity and San Francisco Baykeeper (collectively “Center”) filed a lawsuit against the Fish and Wildlife Service (“Service”) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California alleging the Service failed to protect eight species under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”).  The eight species at issue are the longfin smelt (San Francisco Bay-Delta population), Hermes copper butterfly, Marron bacora (a plant), Sierra Nevada red fox, red tree vole (North Coast population), gopher tortoise (eastern population), Berry Cave Salamander, and Puerto Rico harlequin butterfly.  Each of the eight species is currently a “candidate” for listing.  The Service previously found that each species warranted protection under the ESA, but that listing was warranted but precluded (“WBP”) due to the need to focus on other higher priority species.     Continue Reading Fish and Wildlife Service Faces Challenge on Delay in Listing Species

The New York City Council recently enacted a sweeping package of bills aimed at constricting carbon emissions from buildings across the City in an effort to combat climate change.  Known as the “Climate Mobilization Act,” the package sets lofty goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from certain buildings by 40% by 2030, and by 80% by 2050.  The measure is similar to recent efforts by other cities to reduce carbon emissions.  For example, numerous U.S. cities, including Boston, Indianapolis, Seattle, and Washington, DC, aim to be carbon neutral by 2050.  However, while these efforts focus on the use of renewable energy sources, New York aims to curb emissions through requiring the use of green building products and materials in certain buildings.  As such, impacts of the Climate Mobilization Act will be realized in a different manner than other efforts.

Continue Reading New York City Enacts Sweeping Climate Package

On Monday, May 6, 2019, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (Oregon DEQ) denied a water quality certification under section 401 of the Clean Water Act for the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal and its feeder pipeline, the Pacific Connector, to be located on Oregon’s southern coast. Continue Reading Oregon DEQ Denies Jordan Cove Water Quality Certification

On April 15, 2019, the environmental group Columbia Riverkeeper (Riverkeeper) filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, alleging that the Corps’ operation of the Chief Joseph Dam is in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Riverkeeper’s complaint raises important questions as to whether certain discharges from hydropower facilities trigger the need for an authorization under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) pursuant to section 402 of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1342. Continue Reading Environmental Group Files Suit Against Army Corps under Clean Water Act

EPA Region 6 has proposed to withdraw a 2015 finding that Texas’s State Implementation Plan (SIP) is substantially inadequate to comply with the Clean Air Act (CAA) because of state rules that provide an affirmative defense for excess air emissions that occur during upsets and unplanned maintenance, startup, and shutdown activities. 82 Fed. Reg. 17,986 (Apr. 29. 2019). Region 6 is now proposing to find that Texas’s affirmative defense provisions for so-called “startup, shutdown, and malfunction” or “SSM” events are “narrowly tailored and limited to ensure protection of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS),” as required by EPA guidance. Accordingly, Region 6 is proposing to withdraw EPA’s 2015 “SSM” SIP call issued to Texas based on the finding of substantial inadequacy. Continue Reading EPA Region 6 Withdraws “SSM” SIP Call for Texas

On May 1, 2019, the Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS” or “Service”) issued a proposed rule “downlisting” Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) protections for the American burying beetle from endangered to threatened. The burying beetle was listed as endangered in 1989 and its listing has been particularly impactful to oil and gas development in Texas and Oklahoma.  Once with a range across thirty-five states, the beetle’s range when listed had been depleted to just two areas—Oklahoma and Rhode Island.  The Service states that, due to the success of mitigation programs, that the beetle now inhabits nine states (Arkansas, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Texas) warranting the downlisting.  The Service states that the downlisting was the result of collaborative work with industry, but opponents argue that that the rollback of protections will negatively affect the species by opening up parts of Oklahoma to drilling and removing obstacles from drillers in Texas.

Continue Reading Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes Downlisting of the American Burying Beetle

On April 24, Troutman Sanders partner Sean Sullivan presented during the PFAS and Other Emerging Contaminants Conference hosted by the American Council of Engineering Companies of North Carolina.

Sean’s presentation, “Turning Science into Law: The Process for Setting Health-Based Exposure Limits” explored the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA’s PFAS Action Plan and North Carolina’s Default Rules for Surface Water and Groundwater Quality Limits, among others.

A copy of the presentation can be viewed here.