Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
Co-Editor George Buermann be co-presenting a Perrin webinar titled “Avoiding Surprise: Unregulated Chemicals and Risk” on May 14, 2019 from 2 – 3:30 p.m. EST. This webinar will cover the following topics: Why some chemicals are regulated The risk paradigm related to chemicals: Presumption of innocence vs. Precautionary principal Possible Risks: Environmental Pollution, Toxic Tort, Nuisance, and …
There have been several notable updates regarding glyphosate. First, and notwithstanding the US EPA’s long maintained position that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans, earlier this month, another US agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), issued a draft report on the …
Recently, we reported that the United States District Courts for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey granted a consortium of natural gas companies the right of eminent domain to take steps towards building the PennEast pipeline to connect natural gas sources in Pennsylvania to parts of New Jersey. As the …
On March 28, 2019, U.S. Senators. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and U.S. Representatives. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) and Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) introduced bipartisan legislation to sample water for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The PFAS Detection Act of 2019 would authorize the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a nationwide sampling to test surface and groundwater for PFAS pollution, with a special focus on water …
In late March, a group of fifteen bipartisan senators reintroduced the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA) bill to the Senate. This legislation was originally introduced in September of 2018, but was not voted on before the Congressional session ended at the end of the year. It is being lauded as an important means for battling …
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit invalidated part of a 2016 EPA rule that made hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) unacceptable for various uses in aerosols, automobile air conditioners, commercial refrigerators, and foams. In the waning years of the Obama presidency, EPA made an effort to combat climate change by enacting two rules …
Testing conducted by the group Citizens Campaign for the Environment, which is purportedly pushing for a New York state ban on 1,4-Dioxane in household products, has found the chemical at various levels in “65 of 80” commonly used (and commonly disposed of) high-end and less expensive personal care and detergent products. In conjunction with an …
It has been three years since Legionnaires’ disease made national headlines following an outbreak surrounding the cooling tower of the Opera House Hotel in the South Bronx. Legionnaires’ disease is a serious type of pneumonia caused by the waterborne pathogen known as Legionella. It is contracted when susceptible individuals inhale water droplets or mist containing elevated levels of legionella bacteria. …
For the second time in three weeks, black smoke was seen emitting from a Houston-area chemical plant. This time, the fire was at the KMCO plant in Crosby, Texas. The explosion at the KMCO chemical plant happened when a transfer line ignited a tank full of isobutylene. Isobutylene is a highly flammable colorless gas. The …
In a case of first impression, a Pennsylvania Appellate Court has granted an interlocutory appeal permitting the state’s Attorney General to pursue restitution claims on behalf of landowners who claim that natural gas companies violated the terms of their subsurface mineral lease agreements by improperly withholding royalty payments. In Anadarko Petroleum Corp., et. al. v. …