The Biden-Harris Administration recently issued a suite of new rules aimed at addressing water and air quality, reducing methane emissions, protecting environmental justice communities, and accelerating the nation’s...more
Several environmental organizations have sued the U.S. EPA in an attempt to force the agency to revise its coal ash rules to include inactive, coal ash landfills. Currently inactive, coal ash landfills are exempt from the...more
Early in 2021, we wrote about potential insurance implications that could arise from the then-new Biden Administration’s expected regulatory priorities. Among other things, we noted that heightened scrutiny on coal ash was...more
Texas is now the third state with an approved CCR permit program. On June 28, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency published the approval of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s partial State Coal Combustion...more
On April 17, 2015, EPA issued the final coal combustion residuals (CCR) Rule (the 2015 CCR Rule), providing the first federal regulatory scheme for the disposal of CCR materials. The 2015 CCR Rule regulates only facilities in...more
Earthjustice on behalf of a number of environmental organizations sent a February 7th letter to United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator Andrew Wheeler styled...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) approved the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s partial Coal Combustion Residuals (“CCR”) state permit program on January 10th. EPA approved the Georgia...more
Federal environmental law governing coal ash ponds used by many regulated electric utilities remains uncertain after a flurry of recent activity at the Environmental Protection Agency and in the courts. This update addresses...more
EPA has announced a new compliance policy that some will view as providing welcome relief to industry and others may view as providing unwarranted concessions. The subject line of the EPA memo announcing the new policy is...more
In three recent decisions, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit and Sixth Circuit have signaled the courts’ refusal to allow environmental plaintiffs to use the federal Clean Water Act to address coal ash...more
As mentioned in our Alert of “A WIIN for Water Infrastructure” on the recently signed Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (“WIIN”) Act, Congress included provisions intended to provide national consistency and...more
The EPA’s publication of a coal ash rule on April 17, 2015, did little to resolve the debate about the proper management of the material. Members of Congress have continued to push for legislation which would change...more
The news has been full of stories and articles concerning Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR), also referred to as coal ash. CCR became a hot topic in 2008 when a coal ash pond at a utility plant in Tennessee spilled more than 5...more
EPA Issues Direct Final Rule On Significant New Use Notification Electronic Reporting: On July 20, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a direct final rule amending the Toxic Substances Control Act...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on December 19, 2014, issued a much anticipated and certain to be controversial final rule under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) on the RCRA regulatory status...more
On Friday, EPA finally released its final rule regulating coal combustion residuals. Facility owners breathed a sigh of relief, as EPA chose to regulate under Subtitle D of RCRA, rather than under the cradle-to-grave...more
Today EPA issued a final rule regulating coal combustion residuals (CCR) as solid waste under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). This ends years of speculation regarding whether EPA might decide...more
On May 2, 2014 the United States District Court for the District of Columbia approved a consent decree in Appalachian Voices et. al. v McCarthy, 12 cv-00254 (RBW), setting December 19, 2014 as the date by which the United...more
We have periodically updated the status of EPA’s long-running effort to decide whether and how to regulate coal ash generated primarily from electric power generation. Recent events have put EPA on a course to make a final...more
A recent article in Bloomberg BNA reports that the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is currently unable to provide a definitive timeline for promulgating final regulations on the management of coal ash generated by...more