My column this month in the Pennsylvania Law Weekly considers natural resource damages and their measurement. NRDs are available under a number of federal programs. To my knowledge, however, Pennsylvania state trustees have only sought to recover NRDs twice.
We have to think about whether that might change. The Supreme Court’s plurality opinion in…
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issued what can only be described as the mother of all Requests for Proposal (RFP). Under section 7001 of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 the USACE is to seek proposals for feasibility studies for, or modifications to existing Federal water resources development projects. USACE is to then compile the information into an annual report to be issued in February of each year.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issued a new engineering circular (EC 1165-2-216) to provide policy and guidance for processing requests to alter USACE civil works projects pursuant to 33 U.S.C. section 408. This new circular collects existing guidance from several informal documents, codifies USACE practice from some USACE Districts that process many 408 requests, and expands the guidance to cover other objectives beyond flood risk reduction, such as water supply, hydroelectric, and ecosystem restoration. Section 408 (33 U.S.C. section) is a decades old provision of Federal law that prohibits a non-Federal interest from altering a Federally authorized water resources development project without advance permission from the Secretary of the Army. That authority has been delegated to the Assistant Secretary of the Army, then to the Chief of Engineers, and then to the Director of Civil Works. This new Engineering Circular provides the rules associated with that delegation.
Under new reporting requirements announced on September 11, 2014 by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), employers will be required to notify OSHA of any work-related fatalities within eight hours, and any work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye within 24 hours. This is a move away from OSHA’s prior, less stringent…
On March 26, 2012, the US Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) issued its final rule adopting the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) as OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS). The rule, codified at 29 C.F.R. 1910.1200, requires chemical “manufacturers, importers, distributors, and employers” to comply with the new GHS…
On August 25, 2014, the U.S. Navy announced that it would continue its four-year collaboration with the Chilean Navy to research, develop, and use “drop-in” alternative fuels to power surface ships and aircraft. Both navies have established goals of significantly increasing their use of alternative fuels. The Chilean Navy intends to use renewable energy sources…
Last week, the heads of US EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance jointly issued a memorandum to regional administrators clarifying the Agency’s position on permitting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V programs. The memo was issued in response…
In February 2012, Pennsylvania adopted comprehensive revisions to its Oil and Gas Act known as “Act 13.” Among the changes was an expanded preemption of local regulation of oil and gas activities. Prior law prohibited municipalities from regulating “how” oil and gas development would proceed, but permitted zoning control over “where” development could occur. Act…
As Michael Cooke noted in his post the following day, on June 3 EPA proposed its “Clean Power Plan” that EPA estimates would, if adopted and implemented, cut greenhouse gas emissions from existing electricity generating units by 30% from 2005 levels. 79 Fed. Reg. 34,829 (June 18, 2014). A few weeks later, as Mike…
Ohio Governor Kasich’s recently-introduced Mid-Biennium Budget Review Environment bill (HB 490) would revise R.C. § 6111.99 to significantly increase criminal penalties for violations of Ohio’s water pollution laws.
Under current Ohio law, certain criminal violations of Ohio’s water pollution laws, such as water pollution acts, falsification of data, or criminal violations of orders, rules or permits…
