On July 29th, the Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette charged six more public officials in connection with their roles in the Flint Water Crisis. One of the six charged included a senior management official at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ)- the former Chief of the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance. The
What Ohio Can Learn from the New Kansas Brownfield Law
In my four part blog post series- Rethinking Brownfield Redevelopment in Ohio- the final post advocated for a new Ohio liability protection law for buyers of contaminated property. The new law would provide brownfield redevelopers liability protection faster and at a lower cost than the current Ohio Voluntary Action Program (VAP).
I suggested looking to
Rethinking Brownfield Redevelopment in Ohio: Part 4 of 4
This is the final post discussing the current state of brownfield redevelopment in Ohio. It provides suggested changes to the regulations and incentives in Ohio to accelerate brownfield redevelopment. The prior posts in this series discussed the following:
- The Issues Presented by Brownfields- In particular the impact to Urban Centers
- The Current State of Brownfield
Rethinking Brownfield Redevelopment in Ohio- Part 3 of 4
This is the third post in a series of four assessing the current state of brownfield redevelopment in the State of Ohio. This third post will evaluate the progress Ohio has made in the last twenty years with regard to addressing brownfields.
Current Options for Addressing Environmental Liability
As discussed extensively in the prior posts
Ohio Attorney General Releases Economic Development Manual
Attorney General Mike DeWine should be commended for putting together a comprehensive manual regarding legal issues, resources and incentives available to assist with economic development. The manual is called the 2015 Ohio Economic Development Manual.
The Attorney General collaborated with a number of state agencies and local economic development organizations in putting together
Ohio EPA Releases Draft Beneficial Use Rules…Again
Over the last decade, Ohio EPA has attempted to promulgate beneficial reuse rules a number of times. Each time the rules have been released for public comment the proposals have been met with significant criticism and the proposals never moved forward.
The crux of the issue is that Ohio lacks a defined regulatory program for
Ohio Supreme Court Invalidates Nearly Two Thousand Water Quality Determinations
The Ohio Supreme Court provided a major set back to the Ohio EPA efforts to establish water quality based discharge limits in its surface water discharge permits (i.e. NPDES permits). The Court determined in Fairfield County v. Nally that TMDLs must go through formal administrative rulemaking before they can be used to support discharge limits
Review of Compliance with Job Commitments in State Incentive Packages
The Attorney General’s Office completed its review of compliance with job commitments the state received in exchange for various incentives. Here is the summary of its findings:
- Workforce Compliance Rate: 100% (49 of 49 awards in substantial compliance)
- Grant Compliance Rate: 74.4% (29 of 39)
- Tax Credit Compliance Rate: 62.4% (78 of 125)
- Loan Compliance
Overview of the Ohio EPA Enforcement Process
The Ohio EPA enforcement process can appear to be a mystery, especially to companies that find themselves the subject of an EPA visit for the first time. This post provides a general overview of the Ohio EPA civil enforcement process.
Step 1: The Inspection
The enforcement process starts with the inspection. The inspections can be announced
Ohio EPA Begins Policy to Rotate Inspectors
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