New York City recently enacted the most ambitious large-scale greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan in the country, requiring a 40 percent drop in GHG emissions by 2030 and an 80 percent drop by 2050. The package of bills, entitled the Climate Mobilization Act (or CMA), includes an overhaul of building emissions requirements affecting around 50,000 … Continue Reading
We Didn’t Start the Fire . . . . But Your Employees Might Breathe the Smoke Last year was the most destructive fire season in California’s history. Over 7,600 wildfires burned nearly two million acres. As a result, on July 18, the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) Occupational Safety Health Standards Board adopted an emergency … Continue Reading
If you are currently disposing of pharmaceuticals, including dietary supplements, into the dumpster or down the drain, you may want to reconsider that practice. New regulations promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) impact how health care facilities must dispose of unused pharmaceuticals. The new regulations treat … Continue Reading
PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have been under scrutiny on both sides of the Capitol in recent months, and the Senate made significant headway in late June in reaching consensus on PFAS legislation. Following two hearings in the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee this spring, a package was unveiled and quickly considered in … Continue Reading
With today being World Oceans Day, the future of our oceans and the effects of sea level rise are on our mind. Greenberg Traurig’s Kerri L. Barsh, co-chair of the Environmental Practice, recently published an article in South Florida Legal Guide Monthly titled “Five Things That Business Owners Need to Know About Sea Level Rise.” … Continue Reading
This week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed it had conducted a study finding that certain types of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have entered American food and drinking water supplies; however, “[c]urrent FDA testing has found that most foods have no or very low levels of PFAS.” The FDA’s efforts are ongoing … Continue Reading
On April 25, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided that refundable state tax brownfield credits are taxable income for federal purposes. The court held in Ginsburg v. United States, “The excess amount of the brownfield redevelopment tax credit received by the Ginsburgs in 2013 is taxable gross income because … Continue Reading
On April 26, 2019, the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) voided two amendments to a prospective purchaser agreement (PPA) for the Bishop Tube Site entered into in 2007 and 2010. Del. Riverkeeper Network v. Dep’t of Envt’l Prot’n, EHB Dkt. No. 2018-020-L (Constitution Drive Partners). The underlying PPA was dated 2005. The Department of Environmental … Continue Reading
Securing risk-based closure of a contaminated site in Miami-Dade County, known as a “No Further Action with Conditions (NFAC),” typically requires the imposition of institutional controls in the form of a covenant running with the land, accompanied by an opinion of title (See Section 24-44 (2)(k)(ii) of Chapter 24, Code of Miami-Dade County, Fla.). Recently, … Continue Reading
Contradicting the argument raised by the United States in a recent amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the EPA finalized new guidance on April 12, 2019, concluding that the Clean Water Act “is best read as excluding all releases of pollutants from a point source to groundwater from NPDES … Continue Reading
Section 400(h) of the National Contingency Plan (NCP) contains an unremarked, yet problematic, last sentence. The NCP, of course, governs response actions under the federal Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund); the government cannot recover costs incurred inconsistently with that regulation. 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a)(1-4)(A). Section 400(h) provides: (h) Oversight. The … Continue Reading
April 22 is Earth Day! In honor of this day, here is a roundup of insights from our Environmental team highlighting best practices, trends, and recent regulations: EPA Announces New Owner Audit Program Agreement for Oil & Natural Gas Exploration and Production Facilities Staying in Lane Under the Environmental Rights Amendment New York to Propose … Continue Reading
On April 1, 2019, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) proposed drinking water standards for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) that are significantly more stringent than the federal health advisory of 70 ppt. DEP proposed a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 14 ppt for PFOA and 13 ppt for PFOS. PFOA and … Continue Reading
On March 29, 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency issued its final Oil & Natural Gas Exploration and Production Facilities New Owner Audit Program Agreement (Oil & Gas New Owner Audit Policy, or Policy). This voluntary program provides total civil penalty mitigation for qualified new owners of upstream oil and natural gas well sites (including associated … Continue Reading
March 22 is World Water Day! In honor of this day, here is a roundup of GT’s recent water-related insights: EPA Announces “Most Comprehensive Cross-Agency Action Plan for a Chemical of Concern” in History of EPA for PFAS New York to Propose Stringent Drinking Water Standards EPA’s New WOTUS Rule Recent Opinions Hold Differing Views … Continue Reading
Resiliency and innovation are hallmarks of the craft brewing industry. From experimenting with new ingredients to finding ways to survive in the face of prohibition, developing creative solutions to challenges is something we’ve come to expect from our favorite craft brewers. 2018 tested that resiliency, both politically and economically. Trade policy has created a shifting … Continue Reading
On Feb. 21, 2019, the Delaware Superior Court decided that the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) cannot order an environmental violator to remedy its violation under the department’s general enforcement statute. That is, under that statute, DNREC can order a person illegally disposing of solid waste to stop adding to the … Continue Reading
Mexico’s General Climate Change Law (Ley General de Cambio Climático) published in the Federal Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación “DOF”) on June 6, 2012, and the Regulations to the General Climate Change Law of the National Emissions Registry (Ley General de Cambio Climático en Materia del Registro Nacional de Emisiones) published in the … Continue Reading
On Jan. 14, 2019, the Colorado Supreme Court held in Martinez v. Colo. Oil & Gas Conservation Comm’n, that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (Commission) properly denied a petition requesting that it adopt a rule that would halt the drilling of oil and gas wells for the foreseeable future. The Supreme Court’s decision reinforces … Continue Reading
On the morning of Dec. 25, the News Analysis on page A1 of the New York Times led off with this cheery holiday thought: “Sometime in the last couple of months, predictions of a major economic downturn or recession in 2019 went from being a crank view to the conventional wisdom.” At the front end of the … Continue Reading
On Dec. 11, 2018, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Agencies) released a proposal to revise the regulatory definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), as found in the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). The proposal represents another chapter in the long-running debate over the scope of federal authority. The CWA … Continue Reading
The recent United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), claims to modernize and reinforce obligations regarding environmental matters that were previously covered in NAFTA and by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). This GT Alert summarizes some of the most important environmental aspects established by Chapter 24 of the … Continue Reading
Introduction Beginning January 2023, energy labels of the major part of office buildings in the Netherlands will have to be at least in category C, because of an amendment to the Dutch Buildings Decree 2012 (Bouwbesluit 2012), published 2 November 2018. This generally means that owners of office buildings with energy labels from D to … Continue Reading
Jillian Kirn authored an article titled “Constant Vigilance: Why Environmental Criminal Enforcement Still Matters” in The Legal Intelligencer. According to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearing House (TRAC), federal prosecutions for environmental crimes are down 40 percent from 2013 levels. Still, despite these recent declines, environmental criminal enforcement remains a potent regulatory tool. To read the … Continue Reading
