June 30, 2015
On Monday, in an opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency “strayed far beyond [the] bounds” of reasonableness by not considering costs in its decision to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from fossil fuel-fired power plants. The case, Michigan vs. EPA, was decided 5-4, with Justices Scalia, Roberts, Kennedy,…
June 18, 2015
Mingo Logan Coal Company obtained a Clean Water Act § 404 permit from the Corps of Engineers in January 2007. The permit authorized fills associated with the Spruce Mine in Logan County, West Virginia. In January 2011, USEPA exercised its authority under CWA § 404(c) and “vetoed” the permit. Mingo Logan challenged the veto in the D.C. District Court, claiming both…
June 17, 2015
We have previously reported on Murray Energy’s action against EPA in the Northern District of West Virginia. There, Murray has sued EPA to enforce § 321(a) of the Clean Air Act, which requires EPA to “conduct continuing evaluations” of potential loss or shifts of employment” which may result from the administration or enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
Recently, the District…
June 12, 2015
In March 2014, Murray Energy sued EPA in West Virginia. Murray claimed EPA had failed to conduct “continuing evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment which may result from the administration of” the Clean Air Act as required by Section 321(a) of that Act. In particular, Murray claimed EPA had not conducted the required evaluations of the effect of its programs on the coal…
May 18, 2015
On May 13, 2015, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (the Department) finally released its Final Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) examining high-volume hydraulic fracturing’s (HVHF) potential significant adverse environmental and public health impacts and possible mitigation measures to eliminate, avoid or reduce those impacts. A copy of the…
May 5, 2015
EPA issued the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (“MATS”) rule under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act in December 2011. That statutory section required EPA to “perform a study of the hazards to public health reasonably anticipated to occur as a result of emissions by electric utility steam generating units” of mercury and other identified pollutants. It also required EPA to study…
April 22, 2015
WVDEP April 2015 Order
On April 15, 2015, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) mailed out a generic order to all of the approximately 90 coal preparation plants in West Virginia. The Order requires prep plants to identify all chemical components of the products used at the plant as well as the outlets that could potentially receive these…
April 16, 2015
In January 2014, a leak of MCHM from a tank farm operated by Freedom Industries entered an intake for a public water system on the Elk River in Charleston, West Virginia. The State Legislature, already in town, responded to public outcry and cobbled together a complicated statutory and regulatory structure for aboveground tanks before adjourning in March 2014. WVDEP, unfamiliar with…
March 27, 2015
By order dated March 11, 2015, the West Virginia Environmental Quality Board (“EQB”) affirmed an earlier order by WVDEP revoking a laboratory certification granted to Appalachian Laboratories (“AppLabs”). WVDEP issued the order on October 16, 2014 in response to press accounts that a former employee of AppLabs (John Shelton) had pleaded guilty to diluting or falsifying water samples…
March 24, 2015
“This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang but a whimper.”
…
March 11, 2015
On January 13, 2015, the U.S. EPA published a preamble and final rule that places new restrictions on recycling under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), part of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 6901-6992k. The revised regulations focus on businesses that recycle, often for a fee, hazardous secondary materials accepted from off-site industrial sources. The…
June 30, 2015
On Monday, in an opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency “strayed far beyond [the] bounds” of reasonableness by not considering costs in its decision to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from fossil fuel-fired power plants. The case, Michigan vs. EPA, was decided 5-4, with Justices Scalia, Roberts, Kennedy,…
June 18, 2015
Mingo Logan Coal Company obtained a Clean Water Act § 404 permit from the Corps of Engineers in January 2007. The permit authorized fills associated with the Spruce Mine in Logan County, West Virginia. In January 2011, USEPA exercised its authority under CWA § 404(c) and “vetoed” the permit. Mingo Logan challenged the veto in the D.C. District Court, claiming both…
June 17, 2015
We have previously reported on Murray Energy’s action against EPA in the Northern District of West Virginia. There, Murray has sued EPA to enforce § 321(a) of the Clean Air Act, which requires EPA to “conduct continuing evaluations” of potential loss or shifts of employment” which may result from the administration or enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
Recently, the District…
June 12, 2015
In March 2014, Murray Energy sued EPA in West Virginia. Murray claimed EPA had failed to conduct “continuing evaluations of potential loss or shifts of employment which may result from the administration of” the Clean Air Act as required by Section 321(a) of that Act. In particular, Murray claimed EPA had not conducted the required evaluations of the effect of its programs on the coal…
May 18, 2015
On May 13, 2015, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (the Department) finally released its Final Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) examining high-volume hydraulic fracturing’s (HVHF) potential significant adverse environmental and public health impacts and possible mitigation measures to eliminate, avoid or reduce those impacts. A copy of the…
May 5, 2015
EPA issued the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (“MATS”) rule under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act in December 2011. That statutory section required EPA to “perform a study of the hazards to public health reasonably anticipated to occur as a result of emissions by electric utility steam generating units” of mercury and other identified pollutants. It also required EPA to study…
April 22, 2015
WVDEP April 2015 Order
On April 15, 2015, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) mailed out a generic order to all of the approximately 90 coal preparation plants in West Virginia. The Order requires prep plants to identify all chemical components of the products used at the plant as well as the outlets that could potentially receive these…
April 16, 2015
In January 2014, a leak of MCHM from a tank farm operated by Freedom Industries entered an intake for a public water system on the Elk River in Charleston, West Virginia. The State Legislature, already in town, responded to public outcry and cobbled together a complicated statutory and regulatory structure for aboveground tanks before adjourning in March 2014. WVDEP, unfamiliar with…
March 27, 2015
By order dated March 11, 2015, the West Virginia Environmental Quality Board (“EQB”) affirmed an earlier order by WVDEP revoking a laboratory certification granted to Appalachian Laboratories (“AppLabs”). WVDEP issued the order on October 16, 2014 in response to press accounts that a former employee of AppLabs (John Shelton) had pleaded guilty to diluting or falsifying water samples…
March 24, 2015
“This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang but a whimper.”
…
March 11, 2015
On January 13, 2015, the U.S. EPA published a preamble and final rule that places new restrictions on recycling under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), part of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 6901-6992k. The revised regulations focus on businesses that recycle, often for a fee, hazardous secondary materials accepted from off-site industrial sources. The…
