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Environmental
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May 3, 2013
Developer Challenges Miami's Restrictions On Mining Property
A development company on Tuesday challenged Miami-Dade County's enforcement of a water protection ordinance that the company says has been used to unnecessarily restrict mining and other industrial operations on its property.
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May 3, 2013
DC Circ. Urged To Halt DOE's $750M Nuclear Waste Fees
Two Florida agencies urged the D.C. Circuit on Friday to halt the U.S. Department of Energy's collection of $750 million in annual nuclear waste disposal fees, arguing that the fees are unlawful given that a U.S. waste facility project was abandoned and no permanent repository exists.
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May 3, 2013
House Floor Set To Vote On Keystone Pipeline Bill This Month
The U.S. House of Representatives is gearing up to take a vote this month on a controversial bill to greenlight TransCanada Corp.'s construction of the Keystone XL pipeline without presidential approval, according to several Friday reports.
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May 3, 2013
EPA Must Revisit Sewage Incineration Rule, DC Circ. Hears
The Sierra Club and a municipal wastewater treatment coalition urged the D.C. Circuit on Friday to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its sewage sludge incineration performance standards and emission limits, claiming the agency's current system is flawed.
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May 3, 2013
Davis Wright Snags 3 Energy, Enviro Partners
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is adding to its stable of partners with environmental litigator Gerald F. George in its San Francisco office and energy and regulation pros Mark L. Perlis and Glenn S. Benson joining its Washington, D.C., team, the firm said Wednesday.
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May 2, 2013
Texas Could See Utilities Pay Customers For Surplus Solar
Utilities would have to pay Texas businesses and homes that generate excess solar energy from on-site systems a fair market price for what they contribute to the electrical grid, under a bill passed to the Senate floor Thursday.
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May 2, 2013
Calif. Fracking Rules May Curb Monterey Shale Rush, For Now
California state lawmakers and regulators' recent bids to rein in hydraulic fracturing may give energy developers second thoughts about tapping the state's rich Monterey Shale, but attorneys say the region's promise of billions of gallons of shale oil means many won't abandon hope of ever putting a well in the ground.
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May 2, 2013
Fla. Senate Passes $880M Everglades Restoration Bill
The Florida Senate voted unanimously Thursday in support of a bill to fund a revised $880 million final phase of work as part of a new plan for restoration of the Everglades utilizing various water treatment strategies.
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May 2, 2013
Global Demand For Enviro Services Is Spiking, ITC Finds
International demand for environmental services has grown significantly in the last decade and easing trade barriers on related industries like engineering and construction would likely increase domestic businesses' market share in the $500 billion global market, according to a U.S. International Trade Commission report released Wednesday.
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May 2, 2013
Pa. Falling Short In Fracking Oversight, Enviros Say
Attorneys for environmental groups on Thursday ripped the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection over its implementation of a controversial hydraulic fracturing law, contending at a legislative hearing that the agency has been lax in protecting public health and the environment from the effects of Marcellus Shale drilling.
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May 2, 2013
EPA Agrees To Take Long-Delayed Action On Emissions Plans
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will make final decisions on particulate matter emissions plans submitted by eight states, settling a lawsuit with the Sierra Club accusing the agency of illegally delaying the process.
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May 2, 2013
Obama Picks Froman For USTR, Pritzker For Commerce
President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated White House advisor Mike Froman for U.S. trade representative and selected billionaire businesswoman Penny Pritzker to take over as secretary of commerce.
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May 1, 2013
Fla. Nutrient Bill Heads To Governor After EPA Battle
The Florida Legislature on Wednesday sent to Gov. Rick Scott a bill establishing nutrient standards for state waterways as part of an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that ended a yearslong battle between the federal agency and Florida state environmental agencies over the standards.
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May 1, 2013
EPA Not Ready To Cut Off Public Input For Fracking Study
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a Tuesday Federal Register filing that it's extending the deadline for public input on its study of hydraulic fracturing's effects on drinking water until Nov. 15, a signal that future agency rules on the controversial practice may be a long way off.
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May 1, 2013
$2B Bill For New Water Projects Stalls In Texas House
The Texas House of Representatives failed Tuesday to pass a budget bill that would funnel $2 billion into a new infrastructure bank for several water-supply projects aimed at relieving the state's drought issues.
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May 1, 2013
Obama Taps Replacement For Divisive EPA Regional Admin.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday tapped a former White House staffer to serve as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional office in Denver, whose predecessor was linked to a controversial fracking study and resigned amid allegations that he used a personal email address to conduct agency business.
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May 1, 2013
GAO Urges New Toxic Reporting Regs To Fight EPA Delays
A U.S. Government Accountability Office report released Monday urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enact new industrial reporting rules for chemical companies, saying the agency’s toxic chemical regulation agenda could be delayed for another decade because it lacks necessary data.
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May 1, 2013
Ind. Can't Relax Ethanol Emission Rule, Appeals Court Says
An Indiana appeals court on Tuesday ruled that a state environmental regulator had wrongly changed a rule to allow ethanol production plants to release more air pollutants than other chemical production facilities in the state, overturning a lower court's decision upholding the change.
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April 30, 2013
Fla. Bill To Speed Up Manufacturing Permits Heads To Gov.
The Florida Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill that would expedite state agency review of permit applications for manufacturing plants and allow for default approval of permits if agencies fail to meet a 60-day deadline.
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April 30, 2013
Sen. Boxer Wants EPA To Answer About Texas Plant Blast
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., on Tuesday said the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will launch an investigation into the April 17 explosion that leveled a Texas fertilizer plant to see whether safety laws governing such facilities need to be strengthened.
Expert Analysis
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Condemn Now, CEQA-Compliance Later? Maybe
Must a public project receive environmental clearance before an agency may begin acquiring property for it? In Golden Gate Land Holdings LLC v. East Bay Regional Park District, the California Court of Appeal answered no, permitting an agency to file an eminent domain action prior to complying with the California Environmental Quality Act, but the holding appears limited, say attorneys with Nossaman LLP.
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Climate Change Is Heating Up In DC
Even though there probably will not be a major climate change bill passed during the 113th Congress, we can expect a very active next couple of years — the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will continue to tout new environmental policies and pursue a lengthy regulatory agenda to control emissions from fossil fuel power plants and other industries, say attorneys with K&L Gates LLP.
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The Historical Context For Industrial Pollution — Part 1
The environmental laws and regulations enacted in the 1970s reflect a modern understanding that even a trace of certain chemicals may pose a potential human health threat many years after their release into the environment. The results of this radical change in scientific understanding are the enforcement actions brought today under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, says Neil Shifrin of Berkeley Research Group LLC.
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The Way Forward For Fracking After CBD V. Salazar
In the recent ruling of Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the court ruled against the BLM on the National Environmental Policy Act and called for further review of fracking. The decision is one of the early takes on the thorny legal pathway that lies ahead for parties seeking to develop federal shale oil and gas reserves, says Tyler Welti of Perkins Coie LLP.
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What To Expect From EPA's New Vessel General Permits
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recently released a final permit covering vessel discharges under the Clean Water Act. One of the most significant changes with this new permit is the inclusion of numeric effluent limits to control the release of invasive species in ballast water, says Meline MacCurdy of Marten Law PLLC.
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What To Know About IRS' 'Begun Construction' Tests
The Internal Revenue Service's recently published Notice 2013-29 provides two new "begun construction" tests used to determine whether certain projects qualify for a production tax credit or investment tax credit. While these tests are very similar to the U.S. Department of Treasury's Section 1603 rules, practitioners should take note of the important differences, says Forrest Milder of Nixon Peabody LLP.
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A Guide To Effective Environmental Due Diligence
You are general counsel of a publicly traded medical device company and have found that your manufacturer's facility might have dumped some related toxic materials on the plant site — how can you diligence this? A key issue, among others, is setting a deal-oriented scope at the beginning of the environmental due diligence process, say attorneys with Haynes & Boone LLP.
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3 Ways To Leverage Internet Access During Trial
A survey of local rules for courthouses with available Wi-Fi has shown that no courts expressly prohibit the use of Internet by lawyers to gain information about the venire. Interestingly, at least one appellate court has held that it was error not to allow counsel to access the Internet during jury selection, say Derek Sarafa and William O'Neil of Winston & Strawn LLP.
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How A Product Liability Case May Impact Your Insurance
The recent $236 million jury verdict in New Hampshire over the use of the gasoline additive MTBE raises the question of whether litigation of product liability losses may adversely impact insurance coverage. More specifically, it reminds companies to be aware that factual evidence that can resolve insurance coverage issues may be available in the public domain, say attorneys with Carroll Burdick & McDonough LLP.
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Top Issues Facing Landowners Of Oil And Gas
Due to recent advances in exploration and production technology, energy companies are competing for acreage positions in unconventional resource plays and aggressively seeking oil and gas leases from landowners and owners of mineral rights. For the landowner who also owns the related mineral rights, oil and gas production has the potential to yield significant economic benefits, say attorneys with Greenberg Traurig LLP.