Yesterday, U.S. EPA announced a new Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) retail strategy.  This strategy has been long-awaited, given that it has been well over two years since the retail industry commented on EPA’s February 14, 2014 Notice of Data Availability for the Retail Sector (20 Fed. Reg. 8926).  After last year’s release of the proposed Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Rule and Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals rule, the industry was unclear whether and to what degree EPA would turn back to a potential sector-specific rulemaking.  Yesterday’s release of EPA’s retail strategy, however, confirms that EPA intends to use policy, guidance and rulemaking to fashion a remedy.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has released a National Listing Workplan outlining its planned approach to address a backlog of Endangered Species Act listing petitions and critical habitat decisions for species over the next seven years. The Workplan includes 30 candidate species that FWS previously determined warrant ESA protection, as well as 320 other species based on third party listing petitions, and 11 species FWS has determined to evaluate as discretionary status reviews.

Troutman Sanders is pleased to announce that more than 115 of its lawyers have been selected for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America© 2017 edition. Among this list are 11 of our Environmental and Natural Resources lawyers, including Gregory W. Blount, Randy E. Brogdon, Margaret Claiborne Campbell, William M. Droze, Douglas A. Henderson, Hollister “Holly” A. Hill, John H. Johnson, Jr., Carroll “Mack” W. McGuffey III, and Andrea L. Rimer in our Atlanta, Georgia office.; Peter S. Glaser in Washington, D.C.; and Brooks M. Smith in Richmond, VA.

According to the Healthcare Environmental Resource Center, “EPA will not be publishing a rule finalizing the Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals Rule in October of 2016 along with the Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements final rule and previously projected.”

Pharmacy retailers have anxiously awaited the final Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals rule (80 Fed. Reg. 50,014), after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) published the proposed rule on September 25, 2015 in the Federal Register, but it appears the wait will continue.  Pharmacy retailers have hoped that the final rule would, among other things, provide a means of avoiding Large Quantity Generator (LQG) status and the onerous requirements, which are ill-suited for retailers.  However, based on discussions with U.S. EPA sources, we now understand that the Pharmaceuticals rule is not likely to be finalized before the change in presidential administration.  Given the change in administration, and depending on the election results, we may not see a final Pharmaceuticals rule for years.

Recent comments from Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division (“ENRD”), regarding DOJ’s increased use of criminal prosecutions to enforce environmental laws suggest the heightened role the ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section could play in future enforcement actions regarding violations of environmental laws.

In 2015, Congress amended the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 to require agencies like EPA to change the way that they adjust maximum civil penalty levels to account for inflation. In the past, EPA has only adjusted penalty levels for inflation once every several years, but the new law requires EPA to apply two new adjustments—an initial “catch-up” adjustment, and then annual adjustments beginning January 15, 2017. The Act mandates federal agencies, including EPA, to publish notice of the initial adjustments in the form of “interim final rules” by July 1, 2016.

In 2011, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for stricter federal hazardous waste law listing criteria for corrosive dust. Specifically, PEER asked EPA to revise the regulatory value for defining waste as corrosive, moving it from a pH of 12.5 to 11.5. PEER argues that the 11.5 mark is a standard successfully employed by many other international and domestic regulatory programs. PEER also requested a broadening of the scope of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) corrosivity definition to include nonaqueous wastes, as well as aqueous wastes. PEER believes that the current standard is far less stringent than the presumed safe levels set for alkaline corrosives by other international bodies.  As evidence, PEER cited injuries suffered by first respondents in the aftermath of the 2001 World Trade Center (WTC) attacks.

On Tuesday, June 14, 2016, EPA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would remove from Title V regulations the affirmative defense for noncompliance with certain emission limitations due to “emergency” circumstances. EPA now deems the affirmative defense to be inconsistent with recent federal case law and the…

EPA sent its final hazardous waste generator improvements rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.  EPA released a proposed version of the rule on August 31, 2015.  The proposal includes several changes to EPA’s current hazardous waste regulations.