May 2014
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U.S. EPA Issues Final Regulations Governing Cooling Water Use At Power Plants And Industrial Facilities
On May 19, 2014, U.S. EPA promulgated final regulations that established requirements for cooling water intakes at existing power plants and industrial facilities. After almost 20 years of attempting to adopt rules under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act, U.S. EPA’s new regulations, which apply to existing facilities that withdraw more than 2 million… Continue reading
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Environmental & Energy Cert. Petition Watch
As part of the “Environmental & Energy Cert. Petition Watch” project, in the past several weeks, the following EHS-related petitions have been filed, denied, or granted. For a full list of EHS-related cert. petitions submitted from August 2013 through the present (as of May 25, 2014), click here. Continue reading
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Kansas to Implement the First New OSHA State Plan of the 21st Century?
On May 14, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill directing the State Secretary of Labor to study and make recommendations by January 2015 regarding whether the State should assume responsibility for regulating workplace safety and health. Continue reading
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U.S. EPA Proposes Increased Reliance on TRI Data to Drive Enforcement Actions
By Steven M. Siros U.S. EPA recently announced that it is in the process of developing new electronic tools to utilize the data collected by its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) to better focus its enforcement efforts. According to Steven Knizner, acting director of U.S. EPA's TRI Program Division, U.S. EPA's TRI program "is not… Continue reading
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Now Online: IICLE Chapters on Environmental Law in Illinois Corporate and Real Estate Transactions
As we previously reported, several Jenner & Block EHS lawyers authored chapters in the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education’s (IICLE) publication titled Environmental Law in Illinois Corporate and Real Estate Transactions 2014 Edition. The electronic (PDF) versions of these chapters are now available online: Continue reading
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Carbon Disclosure Project Report Provides Real Examples that Illustrate the Expensive Impact of Climate Change on Major Corporations
Corporate Environmental Lawyer, Critical Environmental, Health & Safety developments, Air, Water, CERCLA, RCRA, TSCA, OSHA, Climate Change, GHG Continue reading
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New Ceres Report Tracks Corporate Sustainability Efforts
This report, Gaining Ground – Corporate Progress on the Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability (report), evaluates how well 613 of the largest, publicly traded U.S. companies are integrating sustainability into their business systems and decision-making. The report – a collaboration between Ceres and Sustainalytics – assesses corporate progress across the four strategic areas first outlined in… Continue reading
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Improper PCB Disposal Leads To $13.75M Fine
In what constitutes the largest penalty for violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”) at a single site, a titanium product manufacturer agreed to pay $13.75 million to settle the Government’s claims relating to the improper disposal of PCBs at a site in Henderson, Nevada. According to the allegations in the Government’s complaint and… Continue reading
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DC Considers Net Zero Building Report
In a new report, the analysis made clear that if the owner has sufficient tax appetite, tax credits and renewable energy credits, the return on investment is approximately 30%, whereas the return on investment for energy efficiency alone was in the range of 5-12%. To advance the industry into the next era of green design,… Continue reading
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Third U.S. National Climate Assessment Released
On May 6, 2014, the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment, titled “Climate Change Impacts in the United States” was released. The Assessment was three years in the making and was based on the work of more than 300 experts from academia, government, business, and NGOs. The 800-plus page Assessment contains twelve overall findings, which are… Continue reading