by Patrick J. Paul On June 27, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt along with the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works signed a proposed rule to rescind the Obama administration “waters of the United States” or “WOTUS” rule. The proposed rule to rescind is consistent with President Trump’s Executive Order signed on February 28, […]
by Patrick J. Paul On Friday, May 19, 2017, less than a month after the National Park Service’s first use of a drone in a Grand Canyon search and rescue mission, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rule requiring owners of small unmanned aircraft operated for […]
by Patrick J. Paul In a demonstration that not all regulations solve the problems they were intended to, and a testament to the power of market conditions, owners of the controversial Navajo Generating Station (NGS) power plant near Lake Powell announced their intention to terminate their interest in the three unit, 2,500 megawatt facility following expiration […]
by Patrick J. Paul The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) announced at the end of January that it would commence a statewide screening program for the presence of lead in school drinking water. The agency declared that its initiative was intended to be proactive and ultimately to identify whether school drinking water contains lead […]
by Patrick J. Paul To the victor belong the spoils, and President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election (get used to it) and Republican Congressional control will significantly impact environmental programs and priorities going forward. Among other campaign commitments, President-elect Trump promised to increase fossil fuel production and to repeal numerous environmental initiatives of […]
by Patrick J. Paul On Thursday, April 14th, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Director Misael Cabrera testified before Congress regarding naturally occurring ozone levels in parts of Arizona making it impossible to comply with standards proposed last fall by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking to reduce ozone. Cabrera was testifying in […]
by Patrick J. Paul On January 14th, the State of New Mexico provided the legally required notice under the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to sue the United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the State of Colorado, and others for violating 42 U. S. C. § 6972(a)(1)(B) alleging that it had created an […]
by Patrick J. Paul Although likely to survive a presidential veto of a joint resolution seeking to nullify the June 29, 2015 rule submitted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers amending the definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act, this rule is starting […]
by Patrick Paul As we previously reported, less than a month ago contractors working under the guidance and direction of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inadvertently triggered a breach at the abandoned Gold King mine near Silverton, Colorado, thereby unleashing three million gallons of mercury, arsenic, and lead-laden sludge into Cement Creek, a […]
by Patrick Paul and Chris Colyer On August 27th, the day before it was set to become final, a federal district court in North Dakota halted implementation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s and Army Corps of Engineers’ “Waters of The United States” rule. North Dakota v. U.S. E.P.A., Civ. No. 3:15-cv-59. Arizona and […]
