On October 28, the EPA published the Final Fifth Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the EPA is required to publish a new Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) every five years. The CCL contains a list of contaminants that are currently not subject to any national primary drinking water
Two reasons to expect little progress at COP27
We are not expecting further big climate reduction commitments from countries this year at COP27. The leaders of China and Russia (the world’s first- and fifth-largest climate polluters) are not attending the event, nor are officials from many of the largest economies, including India and Australia. U.S. President Joseph Biden will make only a short
Navigating Voluntary Cleanups in a World of Evolving Science
Pennsylvania’s Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act of 1995, or Act 2, established Pennsylvania’s program for the voluntary cleanup of contaminated sites. Act 2 requires the Environmental Quality Board (established to, among other things, formulate, adopt and promulgate rules and regulations) to establish uniform statewide health-based standards so that any voluntary cleanup conducted under
European Commission issues revised informal guidance notice suitable for “Green Deal” and other innovative projects
On 3 October 2022, the European Commission (“Commission”) adopted a revised notice on informal guidance (“Revised Notice”) that provides an expanded mechanism for businesses to obtain enhanced comfort – through so-called “guidance letters” – on the application of the EU competition rules to novel or unresolved questions.
The Revised Notice permits businesses that have doubts
US EPA Proposed Clean Air Act Endangerment Finding Targets Aviation Fuel
Lead was once a common additive in fuels, paints, glasses, batteries, pipes, ceramics, and more. As the health effects of lead exposure came to be better known, Congress and EPA began targeting lead pollution under a variety of laws and regulations governing air and water pollution, including the Toxic Substances Control Act, Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Clean Air Act (CAA), among various other non-statutory initiatives such as the 2018 Federal Lead Action Plan. Lead exposure dropped dramatically as a result of these initiatives, but one industry still makes extensive use of lead-based products: aviation fuels for piston-engine aircraft which generate emissions that make up over half the country’s annual lead inventory.
Nov. 9 WEBINAR | Crypto + Power: Risks & Revenue Structures
Please join Energy & Natural Resources Shareholder April Kim, who will moderate an Infocast webinar titled “Crypto + Power: Risks & Revenue Structures” on Nov. 9, 2022 at 10 a.m. PST.
The presentation will focus on the intersection of cryptocurrency mining and the energy industry. Panelists will discuss how energy asset investors, developers,
Energy & Climate CounselFoley Hoag LLP Amendments to Massachusetts’ Clean Energy Standard Finalized, Accelerating Progress Towards Decarbonization of the State’s Electricity Sector
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) announced that proposed amendments to the state’s Clean Energy Standard (CES) were finalized earlier this month without substantive changes from draft language initially proposed by the agencies in April 2022.
The amendments are intended to accelerate progress towards decarbonization
Energy Solutions for Controlled Environment Agriculture: Combined Heat and Power System Microgrids
A relatively new industry known as Controlled Environment Agriculture (“CEA”) embodies the consumer’s desire for local and organic food, and also accommodates the legal growth of recreational cannabis in many states. The push for locally-sourced foods and other commodities appears to be an enduring trend, both for the provision of higher quality products and for shoring up the supply chain, which showed its fragility during COVID-19.
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending October 28, 2022
Antitrust: Court Approves $42 Million Smithfield Settlement in Pork Antitrust Litigation
On October 19, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota issued an order approving a $42 million settlement between Smithfield Foods Inc. and the commercial and institutional indirect purchasers in the civil class action pork price-fixing case, In Re Pork Antitrust
BOEM Resumes OCS Lease Sales 258 and 259
We summarize recent developments for Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Lease Sale 258 (in Alaska’s Cook Inlet), Lease Sale 259 (in Gulf of Mexico), and subsequent opportunities available to upstream oil and gas companies.