EPA is attempting to thread the needle in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: offering clarity about ongoing federal environmental obligations to the broad swath of regulated entities faced with the threat of significant disruptions and other challenges, while contending with intense opposition from others who perceive its temporary enforcement policy as a “free pass to
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) announced that it will exercise enforcement discretion on a case-by-case basis as opposed to the EPA’s broader temporary enforcement policy issued on March 26, 2020.
Under its more tailored approach, the TCEQ has not relaxed any limits on air emissions or discharges to water. Similarly, the TCEQ has
Just this morning, the Murphy Administration, along with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and Economic Development Authority (EDA), released the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Strategic Funding Plan (SFP)for 2020 through 2022 which calls for investment of an estimated $80 million of New Jersey’s RGGI auction proceeds
Under the Clean Air Act, a facility that emits air pollutants may not be constructed unless an air permit has been issued to the facility. For decades, EPA has interpreted the statute to prohibit almost any construction or modification activities until a permitting authority issues a final permit. But on March 25, 2020, EPA proposed
On April 10, 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order (April Order) on PJM Interconnection, LLC’s (PJM) proposal for minimum run-time requirements for capacity storage resources. The April Order relates to Order No. 841 from December 2018, which opened energy markets to energy storage, and a FERC order from October 2019, where
Authors
Todd C. Fracassi, Partner, Pepper Hamilton
Mitchell L. Guc, Associate, Pepper Hamilton
Andrea L. Rimer, Partner, Troutman Sanders
Randy E. Brogdon, Partner, Troutman Sanders
On April 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) jointly released a memorandum to all
On Friday, April 10, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued interim guidance to its regional offices on when to conduct, reduce, or pause field work at remediation and emergency response sites. The Interim Guidance on Site Field Work Decisions Due to Impacts of COVID-19 applies to response sites where EPA is the lead
On April 10, 2020, US EPA issued updated interim guidance to regional offices for dealing with the “challenges posed by the COVID-19 situation.” The guidance applies to all US EPA field activities, including cleanup under the Superfund program, RCRA corrective action, TSCA PCB cleanup provisions, the Oil Pollution Act, and the Underground Storage Tank program.
As government agencies at every level continue to implement programs to combat the spread of the Coronavirus, many environmental practitioners are struggling to make sense of what this means for their environmental permitting timelines. Below, we have compiled an overview of the main federal, state, and local changes that are likely to impact environmental permitting
David J. Mairo was featured on Envision Environmental, Inc.’s The Business of Environment podcast discussing how to strike an appropriate balance between the technical and legal sides of environmental issues such as site remediation, land use, real estate transactions and regulatory compliance to achieve results clients, regulators and other stakeholders can agree on. Throughout the episode, Dave