Last week, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected challenges to EPA’s “Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Update Rule”.  The Court found that the Rule was “an appropriate exercise of EPA’s statutory authority”. 
I find the decision noteworthy for two reasons.  First, the decision is a full-throated endorsement of judicial deference to agency decision-making.  Of course, this

Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP expanded its litigation capabilities with the addition of Irina Khasin as Of Counsel in the firm’s Atlanta office. A former federal and state prosecutor, Khasin has over 12 years of investigative, litigation, and trial experience. She will join the firm’s LitigationWhite Collar Defense & Special InvestigationsEnvironmental

In the Hong Kong government’s 2023-2024 budget, the Financial Secretary, the Hon Paul MP Chan, unveiled various measures to bolster Hong Kong’s economy following the Covid-19 epidemic, with a strong focus on promoting green and sustainable finance and technology and advancing the virtual assets sector (also reported here). 

The following initiatives were announced,

On January 23, 2023, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted EPA’s motion to dismiss a petition filed by the American Chemistry Council (“ACC”) challenging EPA’s interim Lifetime Health Advisory Levels (“HALs”) for perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA (0.004 ppt) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid PFOS (0.02 ppt). 

The

On March 3, 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published a memorandum requiring states to evaluate the cybersecurity of operational technology used by public water systems (“PWSs”) “when conducting PWS sanitary surveys or through other state programs.”  EPA’s memorandum “interprets the regulatory requirements relating to the conduct of sanitary surveys to require that when a PWS uses operational technology (“OT”), such as an industrial control system (“ICS”), as part of the equipment or operation of any required component of a sanitary survey, then the sanitary survey of that PWS must include an evaluation of the adequacy of the cybersecurity of that operational technology for producing and distributing safe drinking water.”  Specifically, “EPA’s interpretation clarifies that the regulatory requirement to review the ‘equipment’ and ‘operation’ of a PWS necessarily encompasses a review of the cybersecurity practices and controls needed to maintain the integrity and continued functioning of operational technology of the PWS that could impact the supply or safety of the water provided to customers.”