Ohio EPA has recently announced a new policy of rotating personnel within its districts and divisions. The new policy will apply to inspectors and staff, but will not apply to management.
The policy is intended to provide Ohio EPA staff with a wider range of experience and technical skill.
This from Director Butler
Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), you cannot impact a federally protected stream or wetland unless you obtain a 404 permit from the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). The key issue- what is a "federally protected stream or wetland?"
As discussed previously on this blog, which streams and wetlands are protected under the CWA has
U.S. EPA has published in the Federal Register its action that removes the old Phase I standard (1527-05) from the "All Appropriate Inquiries" Rule (AAI). Until this action, AAI recognized both the old standard and the new standard- ASTM 1527-13.
The major differences between the old and new ASTM Phase I standard include:
The Science Advisory Board (SAB) has provided advice and comment on EPA’s proposed rule that defines which streams and wetlands are federally regulated. The SAB’s comments are interesting in two ways:
According to a new Government Accounting Office (GAO) report released in September, actual and planned retirements of coal-fired power plants has accelerated due to new U.S. EPA rules and regulations and other market forces.
Back in 2012, GAO performed an analysis of projected closure of coal plants due to four new EPA rules:
Back on December 14, 2012, EPA strengthened the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particle pollution. The standard was strengthened from 15.0 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3) to 12.0 ug/m3.
Under the Clean Air Act, EPA first asks States to propose which counties should be deemed as not meeting the standard (i.e.
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Last week, we hosted a very successful seminar covering commercial and industrial property redevelopment. I participated on a panel that included JobsOhio, the City of Cleveland and TeamNEO discussing brownfield redevelopment, in particular, incentives. A major focus of the discussions was the relatively new JobsOhio Revitalization Program.
I have worked with JobsOhio on
Phase I Environmental Assessments (Phase I ESA) are the first step in the environmental due diligence process. A Phase I ESA is a review of available information regarding a property to determine the possibility contamination may be present. The assessment includes a review of environmental databases, file reviews, interviews with regulators/property owners and a site
According to the 5th Circuit in Belle v. Army Corps of Engineers, nothing has changed with regard to the inability of a property owner to challenge an Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) decision that federally protected wetlands exist on the owner’s property.
The initial step in the federal wetland permitting process is the
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Combating ozone pollution is really about time. When I was back at Ohio EPA, we had countless meeting discussing how Ohio could (or whether it could) accelerate progress dramatically in reducing ozone pollution. During that time we would discuss "on-the-books controls" versus new state initiatives.
"On-the-book controls" referred to a suite of federal air