On July 30, 2024, The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit temporarily halted litigation over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) updated Risk Management Program (RMP) rule and granted a four-month abeyance. The final RMP rule was published on March 22, 2024. The order granting the abeyance allows EPA time ..read more

On July 2, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released the official text of its Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings proposed standard. OSHA has been developing this standard since 2021, which will likely be finalized later this year. The standard includes general mandates for all covered employers, along with additional requirements when the heat index reaches 80 degrees and others when the temperature reaches or exceeds 90 degrees (the “high heat trigger”). Steps employers will be required to take, include: General requirements to ..read more

Action On May 28, 2024, the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Agriculture, Energy, and White House representatives published a joint Policy Statement on voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). The Policy Statement sets out seven principles to guide engagement with VCMs, and the principles are designed to ensure that VCMs are effective, fair, and equitable, and instill market confidence. Takeaways Expect continued regulatory action relating to disclosure of offset credits secured through VCMs (e.g., California AB 1305). Companies currently participating or considering participation in VCMs should use the ..read more

Introduction On April 19, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule adding perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) to the list of hazardous substances regulated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as the “Superfund” statute. This designation, which had been expected for several years, will allow EPA to address PFOA and PFOS contamination using its authority under CERCLA. Given the ubiquity of those substances in the environment, the regulation of PFOA and PFOS is exp ..read more

On March 6, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved the long awaited and controversial Climate-Related Disclosure Rules. The proposed rules were originally published in March 2022 and have undergone significant revisions since then. Per the SEC, “The final rules will become effective 60 days following publication of the adopting release in the Federal Register, and compliance dates for the rules will be phased in for all registrants, with the compliance date dependent on the registrant’s filer status.” While the final rules will be phased in over the next decade, certain ..read more

On January 31, 2024, EPA published a press release announcing the impending publication of two proposed rules relating to PFAS and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): (1) “Definition of Hazardous Waste Applicable to Corrective Action from Solid Waste Management Units” and (2) “Listing of Specific PFAS as Hazardous Constituents.”   Definition of Hazardous Waste Applicable to Corrective Action from Solid Waste Management Units Regarding the first proposed rule, EPA intends to revise the scope of the definition of Hazardous Waste under RCRA by broadening the definition to incl ..read more

The Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) adopted CR-103, creating a new Part B to chapter 296-67 WAC, on December 27, 2023.  Specifically applicable to petroleum refineries, Part B includes and updates existing PSM requirements as well as introduces several new requirements, some of which are expected to be onerous for refiners to implement. The rule is similar to Cal/OSHA’s Refinery PSM Regulation, which was amended in 2019 and is one of the most protective in the country. The final rule includes the following new requirements: PSM Program. Employers must develop and ..read more

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has recently submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) a final rule to update its Hazard Communication Standard (“HazCom”), which regulates the classification and labeling of hazardous chemicals in the workplace. The rule aims to align the HazCom with the latest version of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (“GHS”), which is an international framework for consistent chemical hazard communication. The rule introduces some significant changes and challenges particularly f ..read more

On September 30, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB-553 into law. SB-553 is the nation’s first workplace violence prevention law.  The law adds a new section 6401.9 to the California Labor Code, which will be implemented by Cal/OSHA.  The new law requires that employers an effective plan aimed at preventing workplace violence in place by July 1, 2024.  The plan may be incorporated into an existing Injury, Illness, and Prevention Plan and does not apply to workers teleworking form a location of the employee’s choice or employers already regulated by existing standar ..read more

On August 29, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its final Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.  The new WOTUS rule makes major changes to clarifies which wetlands are protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA).  The new WOTUS rule is a direct response to the Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA decision, which held that in order for wetlands to be protected under the CWA there must be a “continuous surface connection” to a WOTUS.   In January 2023, the Biden administration adopted a definition that mimicked a pre-2015 approach, which considered both the “si ..read more