On January 22, 2018, U.S. EPA’s Assistant Administrator issued a memorandum to all U.S. EPA Regional Administrators that contained interim guidance on enforcement of environmental violations by State EPAs and the federal EPA. The interim guidance is a significant shift away from the traditional federal/state balance on enforcement giving much greater leeway to the States.
New Rule Delays Implementation of the 2015 WOTUS Rule
On January 22, 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in National Assoc. of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense that federal district courts have original jurisdiction to hear challenges to the 2015 Obama Administration Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule which defined the extent of federal jurisdiction over streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act. After
Regulatory Reform- Elimination of the “Once In Always In” Policy
President Trump’s efforts at regulatory reform continued with the announcement on January 15, 2018 that the U.S. EPA would withdraw its “once in, always in” policy for classification of Major Sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) under section 112 of the Clean Air Act. Newly sworn in Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Air and
Supreme Court Ruling Creates Even More Uncertainty on Waters of the U.S.
This week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Nat’l Ass’n of Mfrs. v. Dep’t of Def., No. 16-299 that district courts have jurisdiction to hear challenges to any rule that attempts to define "Waters of the United States" for purposes of determining the scope of coverage of the Clean Water Act. As detailed on this
Jobs Sprawl and Brownfields
A very interesting article appeared in Crain’s Cleveland Business by Jay Miller discussing “jobs sprawl” and the lack of easy access to jobs.
Brad Whitehead, president of the Fund, points to a study by the Center for Neighborhood Technologies, a Chicago nonprofit that focuses on making cities work better, that found that housing costs in
Ohio EPA Responds to Concerns Regarding the VAP and the Agency’s Response to TCE
[SPECIAL BLOG POST: Ohio EPA asked to publish a guest post on the Ohio Environmental Law Blog regarding recent developments pertaining to the Agency’s response to sites with trichloroethene (TCE) and the Voluntary Action Program (VAP). The Ohio EPA response is posted below in its entirety]
In August 2017, Ohio EPA announced to Certified
Unwind of WOTUS Gets Us Back to the Beginning
The Trump Administration has promised massive deregulation, in particular reductions in environmental regulations. A major target of the Trump Administration’s deregulation agenda is the Obama Administration’s Waters of the U.S. Rule (WOTUS) which defines which wetlands and streams are federally regulated.
However, as described in this post, despite the controversy, all of the regulatory activity
Has Ohio Undermined Its Voluntary Cleanup Program?
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As discussed in my prior post, in September Ohio EPA announced that it would be sending “hundreds of letters” to property owners that have trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination, including property owners that cleaned up their property under the Voluntary Action Program (VAP). At the September meeting of VAP professionals the Agency announced that it could take
State EPA Federal Permitting and Preemption by FERC
According to a Forbes article in 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved almost 40 major pipeline projects across the country, covering 1,200 miles, over 14 Bcf/d of new capacity (total national consumption is around 75 Bcf/d), and over $10 billion in new investment. Most of these new pipelines are being built in the
Ohio EPA to Issue Letters Regarding TCE to Property Owners
At a recent meeting of brownfield cleanup professionals, Ohio EPA announced plans to issue letters to owners of property contaminated with TCE. Ohio EPA says it reviewed thousands of sites and will be issuing letters to "hundreds" of sites where it has information in its files that TCE is present. Based on this review, the