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…
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 28, 2015
Murray Energy is the lead plaintiff in a well-publicized challenge to EPA’s proposed Clean Power Rule in the D.C. Circuit Court. See In re: Murray Energy Corp. v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al., No. 14-1112 (D.C. Circuit). But, it is also the only plaintiff in an action against EPA in federal court in Wheeling, West Virginia. There, Murray has claimed that EPA has…
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 27, 2015
The Sierra Club and its local partners previously petitioned EPA to withdraw its approval of the NPDES programs in at least Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia—largely over alleged deficiencies by the state agencies in handling coal-related permits. Earlier this year, when EPA did not formally respond to the petitions, the Sierra Club sued EPA in federal courts in Kentucky and West…
March 24, 2015
“This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang but a whimper.”
…
March 11, 2015
A federal court in Pennsylvania has ruled that a series of gas compressors used to move gas from wells to larger transmission lines need not be considered a single “source” of air pollution. See Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future v. Ultra Resources, Inc., No. 4: 11-cv-1360. If the eight compressors had been considered a single “source,” then they would likely have been…
March 11, 2015
Former West Virginia University (“WVU”) researcher Michael Hendryx has co-authored many articles correlating health statistics with proximity to coal mining. Many of them may be seen here. While much of his work has been peer reviewed in journals of varying quality, little of his work has been subject to rigorous review by skeptics and little of it even posits potential causal…
March 11, 2015
A federal court in Pennsylvania has ruled that a series of gas compressors used to move gas from wells to larger transmission lines need not be considered a single “source” of air pollution. See Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future v. Ultra Resources, Inc., No. 4: 11-cv-1360. If the eight compressors had been considered a single “source,” then they would likely have been…
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…
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…
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 28, 2015
Murray Energy is the lead plaintiff in a well-publicized challenge to EPA’s proposed Clean Power Rule in the D.C. Circuit Court. See In re: Murray Energy Corp. v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al., No. 14-1112 (D.C. Circuit). But, it is also the only plaintiff in an action against EPA in federal court in Wheeling, West Virginia. There, Murray has claimed that EPA has…
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 27, 2015
The Sierra Club and its local partners previously petitioned EPA to withdraw its approval of the NPDES programs in at least Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia—largely over alleged deficiencies by the state agencies in handling coal-related permits. Earlier this year, when EPA did not formally respond to the petitions, the Sierra Club sued EPA in federal courts in Kentucky and West…
March 24, 2015
“This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang but a whimper.”
…
March 11, 2015
A federal court in Pennsylvania has ruled that a series of gas compressors used to move gas from wells to larger transmission lines need not be considered a single “source” of air pollution. See Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future v. Ultra Resources, Inc., No. 4: 11-cv-1360. If the eight compressors had been considered a single “source,” then they would likely have been…
March 11, 2015
Former West Virginia University (“WVU”) researcher Michael Hendryx has co-authored many articles correlating health statistics with proximity to coal mining. Many of them may be seen here. While much of his work has been peer reviewed in journals of varying quality, little of his work has been subject to rigorous review by skeptics and little of it even posits potential causal…
March 11, 2015
A federal court in Pennsylvania has ruled that a series of gas compressors used to move gas from wells to larger transmission lines need not be considered a single “source” of air pollution. See Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future v. Ultra Resources, Inc., No. 4: 11-cv-1360. If the eight compressors had been considered a single “source,” then they would likely have been…
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…
