The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) filed suit against a company alleging that it was violating an Administrative Consent Order (“ACO”). What made the lawsuit unusual was that ADEQ also sued 3 individual officers of the company, alleging that because the company was small, the individual Officers and Board members were each “operators” and […]
by Patrick Paul, Shawane Lee, and John Habib In a move that could have significant implications for Arizona’s environmental policy and economy, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Republican leaders of the Arizona legislature have filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its new PM-2.5 standard. The petition for review, filed on […]
Two recent developments indicate that enforcement of California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Warehouse Indirect Source Rule is coming soon. Two years ago, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (the “District”) adopted its Warehouse Indirect Source Rule – Rule 2305. The rule requires warehouse operators to account for truck trips to and from […]
Two years ago the South Coast Air Quality Management District (“SCAQMD”) adopted its Warehouse Indirect Source Rule – Rule 2305. SCAQMD regulates air quality in areas of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardina counties. The rule requires warehouse operators to account for truck trips to and from their facilities and mitigate the resulting diesel […]
by Patrick J. Paul On February 21, 2023, less than three weeks after a Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, less than a mile from the Pennsylvania border, EPA issued a 77 page Unilateral Order to the company requiring it to remediate the chemicals spilled. EPA had previously sent the railroad a letter […]
by Amanda Reeve The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) announced on January 6, 2023, that it is proposing to modify the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5). The current annual primary (health-based) NAAQS for PM2.5 is set at 12.0 micrograms per cubic meter of air (µg/m3); but it could soon […]
by Michael C. Ford In 2015, EPA published a rule under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) targeting coal-fired electricity generators designed to force their shift from coal generation to gas, solar and wind production. The “Clean Power Plan” (“CPP”) rule was projected to reduce the reliance on coal for electricity generation from 38% (2014) to […]
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 […]
by Amanda A. Reeve On February 7, 2022, Sierra Club, et al. filed a Notice of Intent to File Suit (“NOI”) over the Unites States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“USEPA”) supposed failure to perform its duties under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) to timely “make statutory completeness determinations and findings of failure to submit Regional Haze […]
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. […]
