The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) recently announced that it is conducting another round of aerial inspections of upstream and midstream facilities in the Texas and New Mexico Permian Basin....more
On April 30, 2021, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (“OECA”) of Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued new internal guidance (the “Memorandum”) outlining actions intended to strengthen enforcement...more
PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) have garnered significant national attention in the last few years. PFAS have made recent headlines in multi-million dollar settlements, Biden campaign promises, proposed EPA rules,...more
While the texts of environmental laws do not change without an act of Congress, executive branch agencies that enforce those laws have a great deal of discretion in what kinds of violations to prioritize for investigation and...more
On December 1, 2020, Singaporean shipping company Pacific Carriers Limited (“PCL”) entered a $12 million plea agreement to resolve criminal charges that it knowingly failed to record illegal discharges of oil waste and...more
On March 26, 2020, as government officials issued a slew of stay-at-home orders, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an emergency policy memorandum describing how the agency would exercise its enforcement...more