Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
At the beginning of this year, ELM forecasted that 2025 would be a big year for the National Environmental Policy Act (previously covered by ELM here), and so far, our prediction continues to ring true. In the latest NEPA news, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the … Continued
The question of whether ethylene oxide emissions constitute traditional environmental pollution for the purpose of interpreting commercial general liability pollution exclusions remains unsettled in many jurisdictions across the United States. The issue may soon receive greater clarity in Illinois — and more broadly within the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals — in response to a … Continued
The Colstrip Power Plant in Montana is now one of the early applicants to the new EPA exemption application process which we have previously discussed here. Specifically, the Colstrip plant has requested a two-year exemption from EPA standards regarding air pollution. Previously, in April 2024, this power plant was subject to stricter standards under updates … Continued
A Colorado jury issued a defense verdict following a six-week trial during which four women alleged their respective cancers were caused by exposure to EtO emitted by the nearby Terumo Blood & Cell Technologies Lakewood plant over the course of several decades. They asked for a $444 million judgment. Notably, during a years-long nationwide assessment of … Continued
The Environmental Protection Agency announced March 12 it set up an e-mail account allowing the regulated community to request a presidential exemption under Section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act (“CAA”). The CAA permits the president to grant exemptions to stationary sources from compliance with any standard or limitation set forth under Section 112 for … Continued
Despite longstanding bipartisan support, the U.S. Senate on Feb. 27 — just as the House did the day prior — passed a resolution withdrawing the waste emissions charge (WEC), which is a fee on methane waste emissions caused by oil and gas producers. The vote served as one of the first attempts by this Congress … Continued
SCOTUS Declines to Review EPA’s Authority on California’s Vehicle Emission Standards In a significant development for environmental law and state autonomy, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) recently declined to review whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to grant California a waiver to set its own greenhouse gas (GHG) … Continued
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Nov. 12 its final rule to further reduce methane emissions from oil and gas industries as required under the Inflation Reduction Act. In particular, Congress established a Waste Emissions Charge for high-emitting oil and gas facilities once emissions exceed 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year to … Continued
On October 16, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an attempt to block the implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from power plants while the EPA is being challenged in pending court proceedings, but three justices indicated they had concerns with the rule’s legality. The October 16 … Continued
It has the origins of a great American Success Story – in 1886, in the midst of the Second Industrial Revolution, a vast reservoir of oil was found in Lima, Ohio, prompting legendary entrepreneur John D. Rockefeller to hire John Van Dyke to construct an oil refinery right on the spot. German-American chemist Herman Frasch … Continued