The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its decision to retain the current National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) under the Clean Air Act. However, the new Biden EPA is all but certain to reevaluate the standards and likely to reach different conclusions.
PM2.5 is a
On January 11, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) finalized its June 2020 proposed rulemaking intended to reduce regulatory burdens and offer greater flexibility to gas pipeline operators, previously discussed in our post here. Pipeline operators may voluntarily comply with the rule starting on the effective date of March 12, 2021, but
In an opinion filed on December 29, 2020, the First Appellate District in Santa Clara Valley Water District v. San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board upheld a Responsible Agency’s imposition of additional mitigation more than a year after it had issued an initial approval for the project. Although the court was careful to
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) issued final regulations governing cost-benefit analyses for Clean Air Act (CAA) rulemakings on December 23, 2020. The rule, titled “Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Benefits and Costs in the Clean Air Act Rulemaking Process,” imposes certain requirements on the Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) that EPA must conduct
Ross Brings Unique Background of Federal, State and Private Sector Experience to Firm, Expanding Environmental and Natural Resources Practice
WASHINGTON (January 11, 2021) – Dave Ross, a longtime public servant who has held key leadership positions in federal and state environmental agencies, has joined Troutman Pepper as a partner in the firm’s Environmental and Natural Resources Practice
On Dec. 26, 2020, Mexico’s Ministry of Energy (SENER) published in the Federal Official Gazette (DOF), a resolution that establishes the goods for which import and export activities are subject to regulation by SENER (the Resolution), whereby SENER amends the existing regulation related to such import and export activities and its corresponding permits.
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A December 2020 final rule defining “habitat” could have important consequences for future designations of lands and waters as “critical habitat” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Designation of critical habitat by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service (jointly, the “Services”) can affect projects that require federal agency permits or
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Please find below an update of relevant considerations regarding Calls for Public Bids in Renewable energy matters in Latin America (see prior related GT Alerts here).
Colombia
On Sept. 29, 2020, President Iván Duque Martínez held the official presentation ceremony of companies Afinia and Air-e as two
On the evening of December 21, 2020, Congress provided a last-minute boost for clean energy projects and technology by passing a $1.4 trillion federal spending bill together with a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package. According to Senator Lisa Murkowski, Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, “[the bill] represents the first modernization of
On December 18, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Interim Guidance on the Destruction and Disposal of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Materials Containing Perfluoroalkyl and
Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). The Interim Guidance is not a rule or statement of policy, but presents currently available information on PFAS destruction and disposal, as