On July 28, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that EPA’s Cross State Air Pollution Rule (“CSAPR”) over-regulates over a dozen states. Although the rule was generally upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014, the Court remanded the case to the D.C. Circuit for further review in light of the Supreme Court’s decision. In particular, the Supreme Court’s remand to the D.C. Circuit allowed petitioners the opportunity to bring as-applied challenges to CSAPR to demonstrate that the rule regulated emissions beyond the point necessary to bring all downwind states into attainment with the national ambient air quality standards (“NAAQS”).
Hahnah Williams
Troutman Sanders Team assists Safeway Inc. with Retail and Pharmaceutical Waste Issues in California
As reported by Law360, Troutman Sanders LLP and members of its Environmental and Natural Resources Practice Group assisted Safeway Inc. regarding its recent settlement of retail and pharmaceutical waste issues in California. The Alameda County District Attorney’s office, along with 43 other California jurisdictions, filed a Complaint and Stipulation of Final Judgment resolving the case for payments of penalties, investigative costs and Supplemental Environmental Projects valued at $9.87 M. Prosecutors alleged that Safeway and its approximately 500 grocery stores and pharmacies, as well as two distribution centers, had improperly disposed of hazardous and medical wastes under state laws regulating the disposal of these materials.
EPA Seeks Comments from the Retail Sector on Hazardous Waste Management, Comments Due on April 15
In early February, EPA released a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) that gives the retail sector the opportunity to submit comments on the various challenges that they face in complying with the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). In the NODA, EPA points out that retailers are challenged to make numerous hazardous waste determinations at thousands of sites, “generally by store employees with limited experiences with the RCRA hazardous waste regulations.” The NODA is a continuation of EPA’s efforts, initiated in 2008, to address challenges related to hazardous waste pharmaceutical management.