Source: https://www.ercweb.com/, January 23, 2023 The EPA recently announced it is seeking public comment on its proposal to address environmental justice, climate change, and PFAS contamination in its National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECIs).  Every four years, EPA selects national initiatives to focus resources on serious and widespread environmental problems where federal enforcement can make […]

Source: https://www.lexology.com/, February 14, 2023 By: Malcolm C. Weiss, Scott P. DeVries, Syed S. Ahmad, Yosef Itkin and Javaneh S. Tarter, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP PFAS Regulation Per- and polyfluoroalkyl Substances (“PFAS”) are a class of substances that have increasingly become the target of federal and state regulation in everything from drinking water, groundwater, site […]

Source: https://www.wkyc.com/, February 11, 2023 By: Chris Beeble The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a “General Notice of Potential Liability” letter to Norfolk Southern on Friday detailing areas where the company may be liable for damages and cleanup related to the East Palestine train derailment site. In the letter, the EPA detailed their investigation into […]

Source: February 13, 2023 By: John Hanna A faulty weld at a bend in an oil pipeline contributed to a spill that dumped nearly 13,000 bathtubs’ worth of crude oil into a northeastern Kansas creek, the pipeline’s operator said last Thursday, estimating the cost of cleaning it up at $480 million. Canadian-based TC Energy said […]

Source: https://www.wate.com/, February 13, 2023 By: Gregory Raucoules The Environmental Protection Agency will soon begin environmental cleanup efforts at a 13-acre site in Knoxville contaminated by hazardous waste. The Smokey Mountain Smelters site at 1508 Maryville Pike is considered a “Superfund” site by the EPA, or an area contaminated by hazardous waste from previous industrial operations. It is located […]

Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/, February 10, 2023 By: Sarah Atkinson, Evan Reis The devastating earthquakes that shook Turkey and Syria last Monday have taken the lives of over 23,000 people — a number that is likely to grow as rescue teams are still finding victims amidst the rubble of over 3,500 collapsed buildings. Such a staggering death toll […]

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/, February 6, 2023 By: Dennis Romero and Marlene Lenthang Officials on Monday completed the release of toxic chemicals that had been carried on a train that derailed over the weekend in eastern Ohio. Officials had warned that the chemical could be deadly if inhaled. The release of vinyl chloride, a toxic, flammable gas used […]

Source: https://www.agc.org/, February 2, 2023 On Jan. 31, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a controversial decision to block or “veto” a Clean Water Act section 404 permit for the Pebble Mine in Alaska. Last year, AGC raised concerns that EPA’s preemptive veto of the permit would set a harmful precedent for future projects working […]

Source: https://www.agc.org/, February 2, 2023 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  has reconsidered the 2020 determination that retained the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) and has proposed to tighten the primary annual PM2.5 standard outside of the normal five-year framework for these changes. AGC closely monitors and weighs in on these […]

Source: https://www.agc.org/, January 13, 2023 New guidance instructs federal agencies to develop implementation rules that would quantify greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and incorporate the social cost of carbon in cost/benefit analysis that could impact permits for construction projects. On January 6, the White House Council on Environmental Quality issued new interim guidance to instruct federal agencies […]

Source: https://www.agc.org/, January 19, 2023 On Jan. 18, the Associated General Contractors of America joined a coalition representing a broad cross-section of the economy in filing a lawsuit to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers’ new Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule. The legal action seeks to have […]

Source: https://www.agc.org/, January 5, 2023 On Dec. 30, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a final rule to newly define “waters of the United States” (WOTUS).  AGC has been working to bring clarity to the question of when a costly and time-consuming federal water permit is required on projects […]