Reporting on the Evolving Field of Environmental Law
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) are a group of man-made chemicals that contain nearly 5,000 different compounds. PFAS are ubiquitous and can be found in a variety of everyday products, including stain- and water-resistant fabrics and carpeting, cleaning products, cookware, paints, and fire-fighting foams.
While PFAS compounds remain largely unregulated at the federal level, the…
Several environmental organizations have petitioned the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and moved to block EPA from implementing a 90-day administrative stay of the New Source Performance Standards covering methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure. A group of states, plus the District of Columbia and the City of Chicago, have since moved to intervene…
On May 18th, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the EPA’s request to stay challenges to the New Source Performance Standards regulating methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure, pending review of the rule in accordance with President Trump’s Energy Independence Executive Order. EPA announced in April that it intended to reconsider the…
A North Carolina appeals court has ruled that a company may be an “operator” of a hazardous waste disposal facility under RCRA Subtitle C based solely on post-closure involvement at the site.
The case, WASCO LLC v. N.C. Dep’t of Env’t & Nat. Res., Div. of Waste Mgmt., No. COA16-414, 2017 BL 125671 (N.C.
On February 16th, President Trump signed a bill repealing the so-called stream protection rule, which was designed to prohibit dumping of debris from mountaintop removal mining into valleys and streams below the mining activity. The rule was promulgated by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) and went into effect on January 19th,…
