On June 27, Illinois AG Kwame Raoul led a coalition of 13 Democratic attorneys general nationwide in submitting a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), supporting more stringent regulation of ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions. In their letter, the coalition urged the EPA to adopt proposed amendments to EtO standards under the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants program (NESHPA), and also offered several recommendations for more regulatory requirements “based on several states’ experiences regulating commercial sterilizers.”

On June 27, Illinois AG Kwame Raoul led a coalition of 13 Democratic attorneys general nationwide in submitting a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), supporting more stringent regulation of ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions. In their letter, the coalition urged the EPA to adopt proposed amendments to EtO standards under the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants program (NESHPA), and also offered several recommendations for more regulatory requirements “based on several states’ experiences regulating commercial sterilizers.”

As lithium-based batteries become more prevalent in everything from electric vehicles (EVs) to industrial-scale batteries, as well as e-scooters and personal electronics, more questions arise regarding how to properly manage and dispose or recycle them at the end of their lives. On May 24, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a memorandum titled “Lithium Battery Recycling Regulatory Status and Frequently Asked Questions,” clarifying how the EPA’s current hazardous waste regulations, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), apply to lithium batteries, and describing the handling requirements imposed on companies generating the waste batteries and recycling facilities ultimately receiving the waste batteries.

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released two revised compensatory policies. The Mitigation Policy and the ESA Compensatory Mitigation Policy reject the stringent goal of net conservation gain used by the FWS during the Obama administration. Instead, both policies include the goal of no net loss, which means maintaining the current status of affected resources. While the policies are nonbinding, they will guide how the FWS evaluates compensatory mitigation in the context of incidental take permitting, conservation benefit agreements for candidate species, and ESA Section 7 consultation. Both policies do not apply retroactively to completed actions, but the FWS may elect to apply the Mitigation Policy’s principles to actions under review. Both policies continue to favor advance compensatory mitigation over other mitigation options.

EPA’s long-promised rules for reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants have now been published. In the proposal, EPA lays out “performance standards” for new natural gas-fired power plants and “emission guidelines” for states to use in developing standards for existing gas- and coal-fired power plants.

In response to the transformational Inflation Reduction Act, Troutman Pepper has launched Taking Charge: Inside the U.S. Battery Boom, an in-depth report examining the accelerated growth in the U.S. battery storage sector.

We look at how the legislation is creating both opportunity and complexity, as businesses develop and adapt their…

EPA has proposed to establish “baseline” water quality standards that would apply to all Indian reservation waters where the tribe has not received “treatment as a state” (TAS) authority, the state does not have authority, and the federal government has not already promulgated water quality standards. Under the proposal, tribes will have a limited opportunity to request that certain waters be excluded from the federal baseline standards, but that decision will ultimately be made by the EPA regional administrator. If a tribe receives TAS, promulgates its own water quality standards, and obtains EPA approval of those standards, the federal baseline standards would no longer apply.

*Chelsey Noble is a law clerk in the Richmond office and is not licensed to practice law in any jurisdiction.

In 2020, New Jersey enacted a first-of-its-kind environmental justice statute, the Environmental Justice Law (EJ Law). The EJ Law requires that permit applicants for certain water, waste, and air facilities located, wholly or partially, in overburdened communities prepare an environmental justice impact statement (EJIS) and engage in meaningful public participation. Significantly, the EJ Law included a provision requiring the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) to deny a permit if a disproportionate impact on overburdened communities cannot be avoided.

*Chelsey Noble is a law clerk in the Richmond office and is not licensed to practice law in any jurisdiction.

On April 21, President Biden signed Executive Order No. 14096 (EO), titled “Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice For All.” The EO builds on prior executive orders by President Biden related to environmental justice, racial equity, and climate change, as well as on the original executive order on environmental justice issued in 1994 by President Clinton (Executive Order No. 12898). Overall, the EO establishes a stronger framework with specific milestones for implementing environmental justice across federal agencies. Below is a summary of the EO’s key provisions.