By Jeryl L. Olson, Eric E. Boyd, and Craig B. Simonsen
In Portland Cement Association v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 10-1358 (December 9, 2011), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently reviewed the adoption by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS) From the Portland Cement…
Continue Reading Court Holds that EPA Adoption of CEMS Requirement Was Not Arbitrary
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld, in United States v. Long, No. 09-1863 (6th Cir., December 2, 2011), the criminal conspiracy conviction of an industrial waste treatment facility plant manager. In April 2009 the District Court had sentenced the defendant to two concurrent prison terms of twenty-four months. The defendant appealed his…
By Jeryl L. Olson and Eric E. Boyd
The Department of Energy announced on November 16 that the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP), one of seven public/private carbon sequestration partnerships throughout the country, had completed an analysis of the capacity of the region to permanently store carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. DOE Announcement The analysis indicates that…
Continue Reading Study Shows Hundreds of Years of Carbon Storage Capacity Available
Superfund Sites with Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPLs) may require additional groundwater treatment under a recent guidance document issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on September 19, 2011. The OSWER directive, Clarification of OSWER’s 1995 Technical Impracticability Waiver Policy, #5355.5-32, instructs Regions to discard the 1995 guidance document that had advised Regions to…
An Illinois Appellate Court has weighed in on whether the “absolute pollution exclusion,” found in the typical commercial liability insurance policy, bars coverage for liabilities arising from emissions that complied with a permit limitation. In Erie Insurance Exchange v. Imperial Marble Corp., the Third District (No. 3-10-0380; September 15, 2011) concluded that the pollution exclusion…
By Andrew H. Perellis and Craig B. Simonsen
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and The Ryland Group Inc. (Ryland Homes), have filed a proposed consent decree to resolve Clean Water Act violations. The complaint, filed simultaneously with the proposed consent decree in the U.S. District Court in Charlotte, N.C., alleged violations that were discovered through site inspections and…
Continue Reading Homebuilder to Pay $625,000 Penalty for Construction Site Stormwater Violations
By Andrew H. Perellis and Craig B. Simonsen
The environmental community continues to focus on the vapor intrusion pathway — guidance has been issued by ASTM, ITRC and more than 25 States. Most recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA or Agency) Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) just published an information paper entitled, “Petroleum Hydrocarbons And Chlorinated Hydrocarbons…
By Jeryl J. Olson, Eric E. Boyd, and Craig B. Simonsen
In a September 2, 2011 Presidential statement, President Obama said “after careful consideration, I have requested that Administrator Jackson withdraw the draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards at this time. Work is already underway to update a 2006 review of the science that will result…
By Andrew H. Perellis, Eric E. Boyd, and Craig B. Simonsen
Most environmental statutes allow suits challenging actions by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and provide that successful plaintiffs in these actions can receive attorney fees and costs. The U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) recently released an analysis of Environmental Litigation: Cases Against EPA and Associated Costs …
By Andrew Perellis and Ilana Morady
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2011 U.S. LEXIS 4567 (U.S. 2011), continues to have ramifications beyond labor and employment cases. In order for a plaintiff to proceed with a class action, the representative class must share common issues of causation or liability, known as the cohesiveness element of…
