EPA
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EPA Announces Plans to Require Additional Chemical Reporting under its Toxic Release Inventory
On Friday, April 30, 2021, The Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced significant steps the agency intends to take under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program to implement expanded reporting requirements for companies that store and utilize hazardous chemicals, including new obligations to report the storage, use and any releases of ethylene oxide, a… Continue reading
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Earth Day 2021: CERCLA and RCRA in The Biden Administration: Elevating Climate Change and Environmental Justice in Addressing Hazardous Wastes
We close out the Corporate Environmental Lawyer Blog’s weeklong celebration of Earth Day with the two federal programs aimed at cleaning up existing toxic waste sites and preventing the creation of new ones, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA”) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”). Continue reading
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Earth Day 2021: Biden’s American Jobs Plan Aims to End the Flow of Lead in Drinking Water
As the Corporate Environmental Lawyer Blog celebrates Earth Day, we turn to the important topic of drinking water. Drinking water, like the air we breathe, is an environmental issue that everyone interacts with on a daily basis. But, much like air pollution, contamination of drinking water often has the largest impact on poor communities and… Continue reading
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Earth Day 2021: Heightened Chemical Regulation under the Biden Administration
A key platform of President Biden’s environmental agenda is a heightened focus on regulating chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Regulating chemicals in order to minimize the threat to human and the environment is clearly also critical to achieving the aims and goals of Earth Day especially considering that the publication of… Continue reading
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Environmental Organizations Petition EPA to Expand Enforcement of Clean Air Act’s General Duty Clause
Various environmental organizations, led by the Environmental Integrity Project (“EIP”), are urging the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to expand enforcement of Section 112(r)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA)—commonly known as the General Duty Clause (“GDC”)—in order to more closely regulate the handling of hazardous substances at industrial facilities permitted under the CAA. Continue reading
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EPA Finalizes Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Update: Emissions Reductions Required at Certain Power Plants Beginning in May
On March 15, 2021, EPA finalized the Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (“CSAPR”) Update for the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”). This final rule is issued pursuant to the “good neighbor provision” of the Clean Air Act and in response to the D.C. Circuit’s remand of the previous version of the CSAPR… Continue reading
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10th Circuit Lifts Injunction in Colorado Challenge of Trump Waters of the United States Rule
On March 2, 2021, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling from the United States District Court for the District of Colorado in the case of Colorado v. EPA, et al., Nos. 20-1238, 20-1262, and 20-1263, that had issued a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of the Trump Administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule (“NWPR”)… Continue reading
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EPA Issues New Guidance on Disposal and Destruction Methods for PFAS Waste
On December 18, 2020, U.S. EPA issued its long awaited interim guidance on disposal and destruction methods for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The guidance, which U.S. EPA was required to issue pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, discusses three disposal/destruction technologies—thermal treatment, landfilling and underground injection. Continue reading
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EPA Retains Existing Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter
On December 7, 2020, EPA completed its five-year review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”) for Particulate Matter (“PM”), a criteria air pollutant under the Clean Air Act. In a final action set to be published in the Federal Register in the coming days, EPA decided to retain the current NAAQS for PM,… Continue reading
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EPA Extends CDR Reporting Deadline
The chemical industry has received some relief from a November 30th deadline to submit information to U.S. EPA pursuant to the Chemical Data Reporting Rule (“CDR”). Section 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”) authorizes U.S. EPA to promulgate rules pursuant to which manufacturers and processors of chemical substances must maintain records and submit… Continue reading