Posted on April 18, 2024 by Jeff Porter DOJ and EPA have submitted their brief arguing that the Supreme Court should leave alone a split Ninth Circuit decision upholding a NPDES permit condition prohibiting the permittees, the City and County of San Francisco, from “causing or contributing” to any violation of “applicable water quality standards”. You might recall that when the City and County filed their appeal in February I predicted that this case would be responsible for EPA’s, DOJ’s and the Ninth Circuit’s third consecutive Clean Water Act defeat in our nation’s highest court.  This ..read more

Posted on April 2, 2024 by Seth Jaffe Last week, Inside EPA (subscription required) ran a story indicating that EPA is trying to figure out how to juggle some increasingly expensive cleanups with shortfalls in Superfund tax revenue.  The story notes that EPA is adding expensive new sites to the National Priorities List, while also anticipating new costs resulting from PFAS regulation and more stringent lead cleanup levels.  Can we just face facts and acknowledge that Superfund as presently constituted simply doesn’t work?  It wouldn’t even be fair to say that Superfund is broke ..read more

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Jeff Porter EPA picked another Clean Water Act fight with the United States Supreme Court last week and I don’t understand why EPA thinks it is a fight it can win.  As many of you know, the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act is now the shortest it has been in over forty years as a result of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Sackett v. EPA. In Sackett, a majority of the members of our nation’s highest court held, over the strenuous objection of EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, that Waters of the United States are only relatively p ..read more

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Dennis H. Treacy Credit: Encyclopedia Virginia. Credit: Encyclopedia Virginia. Credit: Encyclopedia Virginia. Fifty years ago the Commonwealth of Virginia experienced a human health and environmental crisis when the insecticide Kepone was discovered in the blood of manufacturing workers and in the fish and sediment of the James River at Hopewell Virginia. For those of us who participated on response teams the memories are vivid. But most have forgotten or never knew the fearful moments about a chemical that gave workers the “Kepone shakes” and closed commercial ..read more

Posted on March 26, 2024 by JB Ruhl The American College of Environmental Lawyers (“ACOEL”) announces its annual Stephen E. Herrmann Environmental Writing Award (“Herrmann Award”) for the 2023-24 academic year. Stephen E. Herrmann is a distinguished, nationally recognized environmental lawyer. For over forty years, Mr. Herrmann has been a leader in the area of environmental law as a practitioner, teacher, and writer. Through this award, the ACOEL honors his leadership in environmental law and his role in the formation of the ACOEL. The ACOEL is a professional association of distinguished lawye ..read more

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Peter Lehner On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), historic legislation that for the first time directly addresses climate change mitigation across multiple sectors, including agriculture. The IRA provides approximately $20 billion over four years to existing Farm Bill conservation programs to support agricultural practices that the Secretary of Agriculture determines will reduce net greenhouse gas emissions or increase carbon sequestration.  Thus, for the first time, Congress explicitly identified climate ch ..read more

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Peter Lehner The Farm Bill is the most significant environmental law Congress will address this year. This third of four blogs explains how it can help American agriculture be more resilient and climate-friendly. Most Federal Farm Bill programs require Congressional reauthorization every five years.  Congress passed the last Farm Bill in 2018 and Congressional leaders aim for a new Farm Bill by mid-2024. While much of the public debate addresses the Farm Bill’s nutrition programs, the programs with the largest environmental impacts are  conservation sub ..read more

Posted on February 12, 2024 by Marla E. Wieder AI generated image using Adobe Firefly Whether you celebrated Festivus, Christmas or any real or recently manufactured holiday this past season, as a former upstate New Yorker my thoughts inevitably turn to snow.  But sadly, after decades working in the hazardous waste arena, I admit my thoughts inevitably turn to asbestos every time someone shakes a snow globe. Over the past few years, a staggering amount of my professional time has been consumed by legacy asbestos. From managing superfund sites blanketed with the fluffy, innocuous-looking f ..read more

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Eugene M. Trisko Coal production and mining jobs over the past half-century have been influenced by several factors, principally demand from the utility sector, technological breakthroughs in natural gas production, railroad deregulation, and environmental regulation. Figure 1. Source: US DOE/EIA. The federal Clean Air Act (CAA) was enacted in 1970 and amended in 1977 and 1990. From 1970 to 1980, coal mining jobs increased rapidly due to rising electric demand and the construction of large baseload coal plants. These job gains mirrored the increase in coal product ..read more

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Peter H. Lehner What we grow and produce in America affects our air, water, climate, wildlife, public health, and more. The Farm Bill is likely the most significant environmental law Congress will address this year. This second of four blogs explains the many agricultural practices that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase carbon sequestration, and build resilience to extreme and changing weather, but need policy support for wider adoption. (More detail can be found in my book, Farming for Our Future; The Science, Law, and Policy of Climate-Neutral Agri ..read more