On September 4, 2018, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued an opinion in New England Power Generators Association v. Department of Environmental Protection (Case number SJC-12477; --- N.E.3d ---, 2018 WL...more
On May 30, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) that would rescind the majority of the amendments to the RMP rule that were finalized in January 2017 in the final days...more
During the past year, numerous developments have signaled a change in approach to environmental enforcement as it is being conducted by the Trump Administration. Enforcement continues, in several cases on high profile...more
Culminating a two-year rule promulgation process, MassDEP has issued a final rule amendment package that makes adjustments to numerous provisions of the Massachusetts air regulations. The announced purpose of this package...more
We recently reported on a new analytical framework created by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in the case of Smith v. City of Westfield for conducting analyses to determine whether Article 97 state constitutional...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has reinterpreted the test for determining whether municipal parklands are protected by article 97 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution. This decision means that more...more
Over the course of 2017, U.S. EPA Region 1 has settled several significant enforcement matters arising under the risk management provisions of the Clean Air Act, Section 112(r). The risk management requirements are intended...more
On June 14, 2017, EPA published a final rule in the Federal Register delaying the effective date of its Risk Management Program (RMP) rule amendment package for twenty months, until February 19, 2019. EPA’s decision was...more
As the Trump Administration seeks to re-write many of the nation’s environmental rules, the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, has issued a decision in Waterkeeper Alliance v. US EPA that signals the...more
Spared by the Office of Management and Budget from the Trump Administration’s regulatory freeze, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2017 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System General Permit for...more
Company Settles MassDEP enforcement case, Reaches Agreement with MassDEP to split $10 Million Cost to Construct Drinking Water Line and Receives Notice of Intent to Sue from Environmental Groups -
A proposal to expand...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has stayed the implementation of a significant revision of the Risk Management Program (RMP) rule pending the receipt of additional comments. Simultaneously, EPA has granted a request...more
On December 16, 2016, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (“MassDEP”) released draft rules that would impose new greenhouse gas (“GHG”) requirements on the electric energy sector, gas distribution...more
Off to Court We Go: Petitioners Challenge EPA’s Small MS4 General Permit for Massachusetts -
The storm of debate and criticism over the terms and conditions of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) General...more
10/25/2016
/ Best Management Practices ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Global Warming Solutions Act ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
MassDEP ,
NPDES ,
OSHA
On October 12, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that four Texas companies agreed to plead guilty to criminal violations of the Clean Air Act at oil and chemical processing facilities, and to collectively...more
EPA is expected to propose a revised system of benchmark monitoring and corrective action requirements to replace those of the current 2015 Multi-Sector General Permit for Stormwater Associated with Industrial Activities...more
More greenhouse gas regulation is on the horizon as a result of the Massachusetts’ top court’s decision in Kain v. MassDEP. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered the Massachusetts Department of Environmental...more
Summary: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the Inspector General is examining the Agency’s usage of Toxic Release Inventory data to evaluate companies’ compliance with surface water discharge permitting...more
A new Endangered Species Act rule protecting the northern long-eared bat will likely have only limited impact on development and land use activities in Massachusetts due to fairly specific restrictions imposed by the final...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a long awaited proposal to update the Accidental Release Prevention rules at 40 C.F.R. Part 68, which implement the Clean Air Act Section 112(r)(7) risk management...more
3/4/2016
/ Clean Air Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Emergency Response ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
NAICS ,
OSHA ,
Process Safety Management ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Public Hearing ,
Request For Information ,
Risk Management
On December 21, 2015, the EPA Administrator signed off on a fairly lengthy package of proposed changes to the GHG Reporting Rule, 40 CFR Part 98, and the proposal will be published soon in the Federal Register. There will be...more
In two companion decisions released in October, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, considered the extent to which federal preemption of state and local laws applies to railroad operations involving the...more
In April of 2015, we reported on an interesting Massachusetts Superior Court decision, Kain v. MassDEP, upholding the actions to date of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (“MassDEP”) under the Global...more
The Clean Power Plan is one of the most intensely scrutinized and debated rules in EPA’s history. The proposed rule, published in June of 2014, generated 4.3 million individual comments. The final rule was immediately...more
In April, we reported on Governor Baker’s issuance of Executive Order 562, a very broad Order that prohibits any Massachusetts agency from issuing new regulations for one year, unless certain conditions are met. In order to...more