After Governor Kate Brown’s recent state of emergency declaration to address the spread of COVID-19 in Oregon, DEQ issued a statement explaining the circumstances in which it will consider exercising its enforcement...more
The Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) will no longer allow Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) to be used in its civil settlements. In a 19-page memo dated March 12, 2020, ENRD...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published for public comment its proposed 2020 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP), which authorizes stormwater discharges...more
On January 23, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finalized a long-awaited new rule redefining the term “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Agencies...more
With the enactment of the PFAS Act of 2019 and related provisions in December, opposing forces in Congress came together to force regulatory action on several different aspects of per- and poly-fluorinated substances (PFAS)....more
On December 20, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue “long overdue” total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for water temperature for the Columbia and...more
EPA has taken another step toward implementing its PFAS Action Plan by publishing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on December 4, 2019, 84 Fed. Reg. 66369. The ANPR solicits comments on whether per- and...more
Nearly three years after adopting extensive amendments to its rules on accidental release prevention under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted a final rule rescinding nearly all of the...more
On November 19, 2019, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued Amendment 28 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (Amendment 28). The Pacific Groundfish fishery is one of the most diverse...more
In keeping with the priorities of the Trump administration, EPA issued long-awaited proposed changes to the 2015 Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category...more
On November 6, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of General Counsel issued a pre-publication proposal, “Modernizing the Administrative Exhaustion Requirement for Permitting Decisions and...more
In October 2019, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published its Draft Outline for a Work Plan for a Federal Aquaculture Regulatory Task Force (Draft Outline) in the Federal Register Notice. The Draft Outline...more
The Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) has been cleaning up contaminated sites in Washington State for 30 years. On December 10, 2019, Beveridge & Diamond and the Environmental Law Institute will be hosting a seminar (MTCA 30)...more
On September 9, EPA’s Superfund Task Force released its final report on recommendations to improve the Superfund program. This eighty-page document is the culmination of EPA’s efforts that began with the initiation of the...more
Last week, in a decision highlighting the overlay of environmental and corporate law, a Washington federal district court dismissed claims seeking remediation costs, attorneys’ fees, and a declaratory judgment on liability...more
For the first time in over 30 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed amendments to modernize its regulation requiring registrants to report environmental penalties and certain other environmental...more
On August 21, Jeffrey Clark, the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, issued a memorandum diminishing state and local governments’ ability to use supplemental environmental...more
On August 8, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to revise its regulations (40 C.F.R. Part 121) implementing Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. § 1341. The proposed...more
On July 29, 2019, EPA issued updated guidance on the “Common Elements” of the innocent landowner defenses under the Superfund statute: the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act....more