The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USF&WS”) has taken action on petitions to list both the Cumberland Arrow Darter and the Kentucky Arrow Darter as endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. It has declined to list the Cumberland Arrow Darter, but has proposed to list the Kentucky Arrow Darter and has proposed critical habitat to protect the species.
According to press accounts, the Oak Hill Town Council passed a non-binding resolution supporting a possible county ordinance that would outlaw the storage, disposal or injection of coal refuse slurry or the waste byproducts from hydrofracking within the boundaries of Fayette County, West Virginia. The Town Council referenced two model county ordinances posted on a website maintained by…
The Clean Air Act requires Title V operating permits for new and modified “major sources” and enhanced permit review (New Source Review or Prevention of Significant Deterioration (“PSD”) Review) for “major stationary sources” of air pollutants. EPA’s regulations define a “stationary source” as “any building, structure, facility, or installation…
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently imposed a nationwide stay of the EPA’s controversial new “Clean Water Rule.” States and industry alike have viewed the Rule, effective on August 28, 2015, as an impermissible expansion of Clean Water Act jurisdiction. The Act governs discharges into “navigable waters,” vaguely defined by Congress to mean “waters of…
On September 25, 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed a rule to address the management and disposal of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals at healthcare facilities. The proposed rule seeks to do the following:
Ban all drain disposal of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals at hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, dentists, and long-term care facilities.
In early June, EPA released its draft report assessing the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas on drinking water resources. The comment period recently ended in late August. EPA’s study was met with general applause from the oil and gas industry as EPA ultimately found that hydraulic fracturing activities have not led to widespread, systematic impacts to drinking water…
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…
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…
A recent publication reported that researchers have found a “link” between hydraulic fracturing and increased hospitalization rates in the Marcellus shale drilling regions of Pennsylvania.
Cause for alarm? Not so fast.
Scientists and statisticians tell us that “correlation does not imply causation.” Two variables may be correlated (or “linked” as the media like to say) without one causing the…
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.
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.
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…
