The Pennsylvania appellate courts decided a relatively large number of environmental cases during 2018. This survey briefly characterizes those cases under the following categories: Environmental Rights Amendment; pre-emption of local regulation; other local land use regulation issues; Sewage Facilities Act (Act 537); and stormwater, earth disturbance, and stream encroachment. Read David G. Mandelbaum’s 42 Pa. … 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
Kathleen Kline authored an article in The Legal Intelligencer titled “Recent Opinions Hold Differing Views on Point Source Discharges Into Waters.” The article explores two recent opinions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit regarding the growing cacophony over Clean Water Act jurisdiction, both holding that the act does not regulate pollution that reaches surface … Continue Reading
On Oct. 1, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) launched a new Regional Emphasis Program (REP) to address hazards from exposure to fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate (FGAN) and agricultural anhydrous ammonia. The REP will be effective in the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. It is aimed at … Continue Reading
On July 23, 2018, Mexico published new administrative provisions (the “Guidelines”) implementing minimum insurance requirements for entities engaged in activities related to transportation, storage, distribution, compression, decompression, liquefaction, regasification, or retail sale of hydrocarbons or petroleum products in Mexico (“Regulated Entities”). The Guidelines will help Regulated Entities that carry out activities in the hydrocarbon sector … Continue Reading
On July 29, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) adopted a new rule for the Brownfields Cleanup Program (BCP) to effectuate the brownfield amendments passed by the Legislature last year. Under amendments to the BCP passed in connection with the executive budgeting process, the Legislature sought to limit the availability of certain tangible property tax … Continue Reading
Last week, EPA issued guidance to its Regional Administrators that addresses some of the questions raised by the decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 134 S.Ct. 2427 (U.S. June 23, 2014) (“UARG”). As discussed in our posts of June 23rd and July 14th, that decision raised several issues that … Continue Reading
The New York Court of Appeals has just released its decision upholding the right of local governments to enact bans on high volume hydraulic fracturing. The court held that the State’s Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Law “does not preempt the home rule authority vested in municipalities to regulate land use.” The decision can be … Continue Reading
On May 22, 2014, the Supreme Court of Florida reversed the Fifth District Court of Appeals in the case of South Florida Water Management District v. RLI Live Oak, LLC, No. SC 12-2336 (Fla. May 22, 2014), an appeal brought by the water management district over the applicable burden of proof when imposing civil penalties. … Continue Reading
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized standards today that are designed to protect fish and other aquatic life drawn each year into cooling water systems at large power plants and factories. The rule addresses impingement issues and heat damages that can be caused by cooling water intake structures at large industrial facilities and power plants. … Continue Reading
From Chris Bell of GT Houston: EPA today published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment, by August 18, 2014, on a variety of options EPA is considering to collect and make available to the public information about chemicals used in oil and gas exploration and production, particularly those used in hydraulic fracturing. 79 … Continue Reading
On May 6, 2014, the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners passed a Resolution (Click Here) requiring that all County infrastructure projects “shall consider” the potential Impacts of sea level rise and storm surge during all project phases (including planning, design, and construction) to ensure that these projects will function properly for fifty years or … Continue Reading
In a case of first impression, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently rejected a landowner’s challenge to the so-called Priority Habitat regulations issued under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act (“MESA”). Pepin vs. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, 467 Mass. 210 (2014). These regulations require that projects located in areas mapped as Priority Habitat must … Continue Reading
From Jerry Stouck of GT Washington, D.C.: A Florida company was awarded nearly $7 million by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on March 14 in a long-running case involving a claimed unconstitutional taking of property arising from the denial of a Clean Water Act Section 404 wetlands fill permit. The critical issue underlying the court’s … Continue Reading
From Christopher Bell of GT Houston: The recent chemical spill emergency in West Virginia is a reminder of the importance of effective risk management and compliance programs. It has been reported that the tanks at the West Virginia facility had not been inspected since the early 1990s. This drives home a point well understood by … Continue Reading
From Robert Rosenthal of GT Albany: In New York, Robert Sweeney– the Chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee —announced a hearing to examine the need for a new Environmental Bond Act. The hearing, to be held in Buffalo on October 22, 2013, would also review the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s effectiveness in meeting its … Continue Reading
From Jillian Bunyan of GT Philadelphia: In her recent Pennsylvania Law Weekly article, Jillian Bunyan discusses the issue of local zoning and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). Ms. Bunyan uses the recent decisions of Matter of Norse Energy Corp, No. 515227, 2013 N.Y. Slip Op. 3145 (N.Y. App. Div., 3d Dept., May 2, 2013) and Cooperstown Holstein, … Continue Reading
In his recent Pennsylvania Law Weekly article, Kyle Johnson of GT Philadelphia discusses a recent decision from the federal district court in Pittsburgh, Wiseman Oil v. TIG Insurance, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14747 (W.D. Pa. Jan. 22, 2013), which highlights the importance of carrying environmental insurance, especially in connection with properties or facilities with an increased … Continue Reading
Two recent cases have signaled that federal courts remain willing to resist efforts by EPA to expand the scope of its regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act. In yesterday’s unanimous five-page opinion authored by Justice Ginsburg, Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded … Continue Reading
On Friday, November 30, 2012, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson filed notice in federal court that the agency had complied with a 3-year old consent decree requiring adoption of new water quality rules for Florida, thereby triggering the establishment of numeric nutrient criteria for approximately 100 000 miles of waterways and more than 4,000 miles of … Continue Reading
From Michael Cooke of GT Tampa: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has filed a petition seeking en banc review of the August 21, 2012, decision by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that vacated EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (“CSAPR”). (We posted the court’s opinion on August … Continue Reading
For well over a decade, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been in search of a regulatory approach to address post-construction stormwater discharges. In contrast to its regulations for stormwater discharges from construction sites, this initiative targeted stormwater discharges after a project has been developed or redeveloped. EPA’s efforts to regulate post-construction stormwater discharges … Continue Reading
