Today, Ohio EPA released its response to the federal court ruling which struck down the exemption from BAT for sources that emit less than 10 tons per year. The memo makes clear that it supplants the February 2nd e-mail instructing staff to not issue air permits until the ruling was evaluated.
There are few
Major uncertainty surrounds Ohio’s air permtting program. I use the term "certainty" because that was the buzz word utilized when business groups fought hard for major reforms that eventually were passed in Senate Bill 265 in 2006.
Back in 2006, business groups were concerned that Ohio’s system for issuing air permits was far more onerous and unpredictable than other
On February 3rd Magistrate Judge Mark Able of the U.S. District Court in Columbus ruled that Ohio EPA (and really the Ohio General Assembly) violated that federal Clean Air Act by exempting small air pollution sources from stringent air pollution requirements. At issue was one major overhaul of Ohio’s air regulation included in state legislation (Senate Bill 265) back
The saga involving the Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC) appears to have come to a conclusion (see prior post). ERAC had limited all administrative hearings to 1-hour in response to deadlines imposed by the Ohio General Assembly. Today, a Franklin County Common Pleas Court issued an judgment entry today ordering ERAC to:
The latest developments in the saga involving current hearing process in the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC) shows chaos rains for the hundreds of appeals pending before the Commission. As previously covered on this blog (see, A Dozen Companies File Constitutional Challenges to 1-hour Hearings), in response to legislative deadlines imposed on the
A discussed in prior posts, the Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC) has taken an aggressive respond to deadlines imposed by the Ohio Legislature compelling ERAC to render decisions in 339 appeals in a matter of months. It issued orders in all pending appeals canceling prior hearings and establishing an expedited hearing format that consists of the
The Ohio General Assembly included in the state budget a series of deadlines for issuing decisions in environmental appeals. (See prior post) The deadlines apply to the Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC) which hears administrative appeals for hundreds of Ohio EPA and other state Agency actions. Here are the deadlines imposed on ERAC:
The commission (ERAC) shall
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Back in 2006, while I was still at Ohio EPA, a major piece of state legislation worked its way through the General Assembly. Senate Bill 265 was developed by business groups in Ohio to address concerns with the structure and implementation of Ohio air pollution permitting programs. The main target to be fixed was the
Here is a quick update on some of the important changes that were or were not included in the Ohio Budget (H.B. 1) that impact environmentally related issues and Ohio EPA’s budget:
ERAC Deadlines- As discussed in my previous post, the Ohio Budget included mandatory deadlines placed on ERAC for making determinations on appeals filed before
Buried in the thousand pages of the Ohio Budget Bill (H.B. 1) is an amendment that could have a major impact on hundreds of pending and future appeals of environmental decisions. The budget bill amendment includes language placing strict deadlines for issuing decisions on environmental appeals. The deadlines could impact some very controversial permit appeals, including the