April 2012

Another aspect of Governor Kasich’s controversial proposed legislation- Senate Bill 315- is to provide the legislative authority for Ohio EPA to take over Section 404 Clean Water Act permitting from the Army Corps of Engineers.  Section 404 permits are needed prior to impacts to streams or wetlands within federal jurisdiction. 

The bill itself doesn’t really do

On April 17th, EPA issued new rules designed to reduce air emissions from oil & gas operations, including wells drilling using hydraulic fracturing ("fracking").  The new federal standards (New Source Performance Standards -NSPS) are seen as the first significant new federal regulation governing fracking. 

Some may wonder how gas wells generate air emissions.  When

On April 13th, President Obama issued an Executive Order creating a federal inter-agency task to coordinate efforts on oversight of horizontal well drilling and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.  Method such as hydraulic fracturing (i.e. "fracking") have allowed access to massive new deposits of natural gas bring the price down for natural gas to

EPA is proposing a whole series of new inspection and testing requirements for underground storage tanks (USTs).  By expanding the types of UST systems covered under the rules, EPA is  proposing to extend application of all UST regulations to entities not previously regulated, such as hospitals and universities.

EPA first promulgated regulation governing underground storage