by Patrick J. Paul On February 16, 2022, less than a week after nine Phoenix police officers were injured in a fatal standoff in South Phoenix, the City Council by a 6-3 vote, approved more than $500,000 in expenditures on behalf of the Phoenix Police Department to purchase drones and to develop a program to […]
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by Patrick J. Paul The federal Clean Water Act created federal jurisdiction over “navigable waters” defined as “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). Since becoming law in 1972, debate over what is, and is not, WOTUS has been robust. The Supreme Court’s 2006 decision in Rapanos v. U.S. epitomized the challenges in finding consensus on […]
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by Patrick J. Paul On January 19, 2021, the last full day of President Trump’s tenure at the White House, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals essentially said “good riddance” to Trump’s “ACE” (the Affordable Clean Energy Rule) in American Lung Association v. EPA, No. 19-1140 (D.C. Cir. 2021). More to the point, the D.C. […]
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by Patrick J. Paul On October 21, 2021, Phoenix, Arizona-based Mesa Air and Reno, NV-based Flirtey announced an agreement under which Mesa will purchase four delivery drones with options to purchase an additional 500 over the next four years in an effort to expand drone delivery service in the U.S. Initially, Mesa and Flirtey will […]
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by Patrick J. Paul On Wednesday July 21, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the PFAS Action Act of 2021. The bill, H.R. 2467, passed 241-183 demonstrating its bipartisan support, with twenty-three Republicans joining their Democratic colleagues in supporting the legislation. H.R. 2467 would regulate toxic chemicals found in drinking water, as well as […]
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by Patrick J. Paul Avolta, a renewable energy company focused on originating, developing, owning and operating renewable natural gas (RNG) projects, along with its regional development partner, Atlas Global Holdings, LLC, recently broke ground on a RNG project at the Butterfield Dairy in Buckeye, AZ – the first of several such new biogas projects planned in […]
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by Patrick J. Paul In what has been described by some as a landmark environmental justice resolution, on July 13, 2021, Delaware-based companies DuPont, Chemours and Corteva agreed to pay Delaware $50 million according to a settlement reached in connection with contamination to the environment caused by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often referred to as […]
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by Patrick J. Paul On Wednesday, July 14, 2021, a federal court in South Carolina allowed the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), defining the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction, to remain in place while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) work on a replacement […]
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by Patrick J. Paul On June 21, 2021, in conjunction with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), Governor Doug Ducey announced the provision of $2 million in state funding to facilitate the restart of Tucson Water –– a treatment plant shutdown due to severe groundwater contamination. The funding is intended to accelerate ongoing efforts […]
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by Patrick J. Paul On June 10, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announced three actions demonstrating its commitment to help reduce the potential risks to the public from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). RELEASE Those actions included issuing a proposed rule that is designed to gather comprehensive data on more than 1,000 PFAS manufactured […]
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