Troutman Sanders is pleased to be a co-sponsor for “Healthcare Meets the Environment: A Symposium on Managing Pharmaceutical Wastes“ on Friday, January 31 from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at Georgia State University.

Population growth, an aging population, preventative medicine and improved treatment options have contributed to an increase in the use of prescription and over-the-counter medication. While the benefits of these drugs cannot be overstated, their use does impact the environment. In preparation for the spring 2014 release of the EPA’s proposed healthcare facility-specific pharmaceutical waste management standards, this one-day symposium will explore:

Troutman Sanders’ Richmond office partner and environmental and natural resources attorney, Brooks Smith, has filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Virginia Coal and Energy Alliance Inc., Virginia Mining Association Inc. and Virginia Mining Issues Group. The brief supports A&G Coal Corporation’s request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to review whether it can use the permit shield defense to avoid liability for discharging naturally occuring pollutants that its Clean Water Act permit does not explicity prohibit from release into surrounding waters.

Earlier this week, the governors of ten states in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast took the first step towards asserting control over portions of nine other states’ authority to regulate air pollution.  The petitioning states, all of which are members of the 13-state Ozone Transport Region (the “OTR”), asked EPA to require the following upwind states to join the OTR:

EPA recently released its draft “FY 2014-2018 EPA Strategic Plan” for public review and comment.  The Plan generally outlines the Agency’s regulatory, policy, and enforcement goals for next year through 2018.  As part of the Plan, EPA summarizes its specific priorities for “Enforcing Laws and Assuring Compliance” with environmental requirements (pages 42-45).  EPA notes that it will pursue “vigorous civil and criminal enforcement” that will target “the most serious water, air, and chemical hazards in communities in order to obtain compliance.”

Back in July, the D.C. Circuit vacated the Biogenic CO2 Deferral Rule, in which EPA exempted CO2 emitted by biological materials from its new greenhouse gas permitting program.  Normally, a “vacatur” is deadly for a rule – once a rule is vacated, courts must pretend as though it never existed at all.  But the D.C. Circuit withheld the issuance of its “mandate” for the vacatur of the Deferral Rule to allow time for the parties to file any petitions for rehearing.  As a result, the rule is still legally effective, in spite of the court’s decision in July to vacate it.

Mitigation banking has been highlighted in a new order issued by the Secretary of the Department of Interior.  Secretary Jewell signed her first Secretarial Order on October 31, 2013, calling for the establishment of a Department of Interior mitigation strategy for developments occurring on DOI managed lands.  Order No. 3330 (“Order”) directs the previously established DOI Energy and Climate Change Task Force (“Task Force”) to develop a coordinated strategy on mitigation practices to “effectively offset impacts of large development projects of all types through the use of landscape-level planning, mitigation banking, in-lieu fee arrangements, or other possible measures.” 

The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it has granted petitions for certiorari in a case involving EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases. The Supreme Court will review the D.C. Circuit’s 2012 decision in Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, in which a unanimous three-judge panel upheld EPA’s greenhouse gas endangerment finding, its motor vehicle greenhouse gas regulations, and the so-called Timing and Tailoring Rules that implement EPA’s greenhouse gas permitting program for stationary sources like utilities and other industrial facilities.

The tri-state water wars between Georgia, Florida, and Alabama are far from over.  In fact, they have now been escalated.  On October 1, Florida filed a complaint in the United States Supreme Court requesting that the Court equitably apportion the waters of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (“ACF”) River Basin between Florida and Georgia.  Florida argues that Georgia has permitted withdrawals of both surface and groundwater that are allegedly adversely impacting the Apalachicola Region’s ecosystem and economy.  Florida cites declines in its fisheries and in particular claims that reduced flows impact oyster fisheries.  As support for its complaint, Florida alleges impacts to ecosystems, threatened and endangered species, recreation and Florida’s economy.  Georgia has yet to respond, but the state will likely raise issues related to conservation measures implemented by Georgia, Florida’s abandonment of its appeal of endangered species consultations between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida’s own over-fishing of the oyster fisheries, and salinity issues created by Florida’s insistence upon Sikes Cut, a navigation channel through St. George Island.

Peter Glaser, one of our attorneys in Washington D.C. and an expert on climate change regulation who has testified before Congress many times, was recently quoted in a Reuters article attempting to predict EPA’s approach to regulating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants.  The article can be viewed here:  U.S. industry sees carbon-capture as legal chink in EPA rules.

Las week EPA issued a new proposal to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new coal-fueled and natural gas-fueled electric generating units.  The proposal replaces a proposal EPA had made last year.  For new coal-fueled units, including both coal boilers and integrated gasification combined cycle units, EPA proposed a standard of:

  • 1,100 lb CO2/MWh gross over a 12-operating month period, or
  • 1,000-1,050 lb CO2/MWh gross over an 84-operating month (7-year) period.