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In Humane Society of the U.S. v. USDA, a divided D.C. Circuit Court ruled that an agency must provide notice and an opportunity for comment when withdrawing a rule that has been filed for public inspection but not yet published in the Federal Register. What is public inspection? The National Archives Office of the Federal […]
The EPA issued a final rule in its Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Action Plan on June 22, 2020. This means that certain products that could contain harmful PFAS cannot be imported, produced, sold, or manufactured in the United States without EPA approval or the Agency imposing certain restrictions that would address unacceptable risks. Examples […]
On November 28, 2016, the U.S. EPA published in the Federal Register (FR) the Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Rule (Final Rule). Proposed in September 2015, the Final Rule overhauls and updates the decades-old EPA regulations for hazardous waste generators and, in the EPA’s opinion, makes the generator rules easier to understand, facilitates better compliance, and […]
A U.S. district judge in Wyoming has “set aside” the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final rule imposing environmentally protective requirements on hydraulically fractured oil and gas (O&G) wells on federal and Indian lands.
The 2015 Definition of Solid Waste Final Rule (2015 Final Rule) does not significantly affect the recycling exemption from full RCRA Subtitle C regulation found at 40 CFR 266.70 for precious metals being reclaimed in accordance with the 40 CFR 266.70 provisions. When in the process of revising the 2008 DSW rule, however, EPA did […]
The 2015 Definition of Solid Waste Final Rule (2015 Final Rule) does not significantly affect the recycling exemption from full RCRA Subtitle C regulation found at 40 CFR 266.70 for precious metals being reclaimed in accordance with the 40 CFR 266.70 provisions.
Understanding Coal Ash and the New Final Rule—Part 2 Coal ash will not be considered a hazardous waste. The final requirements for coal ash disposal were established for nonhazardous waste under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), rather than under Subtitle C that covers hazardous waste. As one result, under RCRA, […]
Understanding Coal Ash and the New Final Rule—Part 1 The makeup of coal ash: Coal ash is essentially the byproduct of the combustion of coal at power plants that contains contaminants like mercury, cadmium, and arsenic associated with cancer and various other serious human health effects. Coal ash is disposed of in wet form […]
Steam Electric Power Plant Proposed Rule—Before and After Right now, in the United States, there are approximately 1,200 steam electric power plants powered by nuclear or fossil fuels. Of these, about 500 are coal-fired and considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be the primary source of the pollutants addressed by the proposed […]
Targeted Wastestreams in the Steam Electric Power Plant Proposed Rule Under the CWA, the EPA is required to periodically review ELGs to assess if revisions are necessary. However, for the steam electric power generating category, the last revisions were made in 1982. Even the EPA admits the current regulations are out of date, stating they […]