August 31, 2015
A recent decision of the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals provides a useful reminder about the importance of the Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR). The message is simple: you are bound by what the report states, and disavowal in a civil penalty action is nearly impossible.
A DMR is filed by every person who holds an NPDES permit for the discharge of a pollutant from a point source. A discharge that…
August 31, 2015
A recent decision of the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals provides a useful reminder about the importance of the Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR). The message is simple: you are bound by what the report states, and disavowal in a civil penalty action is nearly impossible.
A DMR is filed by every person who holds an NPDES permit for the discharge of a pollutant from a point source. A discharge…
July 27, 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…
July 22, 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 Virginia.
In…
July 20, 2015
OSM has released its newly re-proposed Stream Protection Rule and accompanying Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Regulatory Impact Assessment. Links to the documents may be found here. Once published in the federal register, the public will have 60 days to comment.
The predecessor to this rule, the “Stream Buffer Zone” rule, was issued in 1983. In 1999, a federal judge in West…
July 10, 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 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…
August 31, 2015
A recent decision of the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals provides a useful reminder about the importance of the Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR). The message is simple: you are bound by what the report states, and disavowal in a civil penalty action is nearly impossible.
A DMR is filed by every person who holds an NPDES permit for the discharge of a pollutant from a point source. A discharge that…
August 31, 2015
A recent decision of the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals provides a useful reminder about the importance of the Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR). The message is simple: you are bound by what the report states, and disavowal in a civil penalty action is nearly impossible.
A DMR is filed by every person who holds an NPDES permit for the discharge of a pollutant from a point source. A discharge…
July 27, 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…
July 22, 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 Virginia.
In…
July 20, 2015
OSM has released its newly re-proposed Stream Protection Rule and accompanying Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Regulatory Impact Assessment. Links to the documents may be found here. Once published in the federal register, the public will have 60 days to comment.
The predecessor to this rule, the “Stream Buffer Zone” rule, was issued in 1983. In 1999, a federal judge in West…
July 10, 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 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…
