On November 21, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published Notice of a newly developed draft framework intended to provide all EPA programs with a shared reference point for determining when and how to analyze or consider cumulative impacts—defined broadly to include the totality of exposures to combinations of environmental stressors and their effects on health and quality-of-life outcomes. Keeping pace with the Biden administration EPA’s environmental justice drive, key goals of the Interim Framework for Advancing Consideration of Cumulative Impacts include empowering EPA to (1) more fully and accurately characterize the realities communities face, (2) pinpoint the levers of decision making and identify opportunities for interventions that improve health and quality of life while advancing equity, and (3) increase meaningful engagement, improve transparency, and center actions on improving health and environmental conditions in communities.
https://environmentalenergybrief.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/11/GettyImages-1392127367-1-1.jpg312600Samuel B. Boxermanhttps://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.pngSamuel B. Boxerman2024-11-26 15:42:052024-11-26 15:42:05EPA Publishes First-Of-Its-Kind Framework for Considering Cumulative Impacts Across Agency Actions
Since the U.S. adoption of commercial nuclear power, large-scale commercial reactors — typically boiling or pressurized water designs — have been licensed under the provisions of 10 C.F.R. Part 50 (Part 50) and later 10 C.F.R. Part 52 (Part 52). Under these licensing approaches, license applicants submit construction and operating license permits in a multiyear process largely tailored to address the risks and controls necessary to operate bespoke, large-scale nuclear power plants at a specific site.
On October 22, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule removing an affirmative defense from Clean Air Act (CAA) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulations for the Oil and Natural Gas Production Facility and Natural Gas Transmission and Storage Facility Source Categories (Final Rule).[1] Prior to the Final Rule, owners or operators could assert an affirmative defense that alleged NESHAP standard violations were caused by an equipment malfunction.[2] A “malfunction” is defined as any sudden, infrequent, and not reasonably preventable failure of air pollution control and monitoring equipment, process equipment, or a process to operate in a normal or usual manner.[3]
https://environmentalenergybrief.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/08/MN-18268-Updated-Environmental-and-Energy-Brief-Blog-PIPELINE-A.jpg606833Samuel B. Boxermanhttps://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.pngSamuel B. Boxerman2024-10-29 10:04:462024-10-29 10:04:46U.S. EPA Removes Regulatory Affirmative Defense Provision Against Alleged Violations of Oil and Gas Facility NESHAPs
https://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.png00Hannah Posenhttps://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.pngHannah Posen2024-10-15 13:17:542024-10-15 13:19:39U.S. EPA Power Plant Effluent Rule Allowed to Go Into Effect
On Thursday, September 12, 2024, Judge Daniel Traynor of the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota granted a preliminary injunction sought by North Dakota, Montana, Texas, Wyoming, and Utah (the States) to halt the April 2024 “Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation” rule from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which mandates that oil and gas well operators on federal land flare rather than vent excess methane gas. The April 2024 rule revised a 2016 BLM rule that the District of Wyoming vacated in 2020. The States raised a number of challenges to the April 2024 rule, arguing that it exceeded BLM’s statutory authority under, or violated, the Mineral Leasing Act, Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act, Clean Air Act, and Federal Land Policy and Management Act and was otherwise arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.
https://environmentalenergybrief.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/09/MN-18268-Updated-Environmental-and-Energy-Brief-Blog-OIL-DERRICK-PUMPS-AT-SUNSET.jpg606833Samuel B. Boxermanhttps://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.pngSamuel B. Boxerman2024-09-19 09:02:342024-09-18 10:28:10District of North Dakota Halts Bureau of Land Management’s Venting and Flaring Rule
On Tuesday, September 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule establishing requirements for major sources of hazardous air pollutants — sources that emit or have the potential to emit 10 tons per year of a single hazardous air pollutant or 25 tons per year of a combination of hazardous air pollutants — that reclassify as area sources below these thresholds. Reversing a rule adopted during the Trump administration, the rule provides that sources emitting any of the seven persistent and bioaccumulative hazardous air pollutants listed under Section 112(c)(6) of the Clean Air Act must continue to comply with major source standards even if otherwise reclassified as area sources. As a result, reclassified sources will still be subject to maximum achievable control technology standards rather than less stringent standards applicable to area sources. In so doing, EPA maintains that at least 90% of the cumulative emissions of these pollutants will be subject to National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regardless of future source reclassifications.
https://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.png00Samuel B. Boxermanhttps://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.pngSamuel B. Boxerman2024-09-18 09:38:232024-09-18 10:17:05EPA Issues Final Rule for Major Source Reclassification Under Clean Air Act Section 112
There have been several recent developments in enforcement, litigation, and regulatory implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
https://environmentalenergybrief.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/09/MN-21635_Photo-Request_EnvironmentalEnergy-Blog-2-3.jpg6271200Brittany A. Bolenhttps://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.pngBrittany A. Bolen2024-09-13 15:35:012024-09-13 15:35:01Recent Developments in U.S. EPA’s Hydrofluorocarbon Phasedown
On September 6, 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Space Commerce announced that it had selected the first 17 individuals to serve on the inaugural Advisory Committee on Excellence in Space (ACES).
https://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.png00Peter Whitfieldhttps://goodlifesci.sidley.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2022/03/sidleyLogo-e1643922598198.pngPeter Whitfield2024-09-13 10:52:252024-09-13 12:06:42National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Appoints Members to New Advisory Committee on Space Commerce
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EPA Publishes First-Of-Its-Kind Framework for Considering Cumulative Impacts Across Agency Actions
On November 21, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published Notice of a newly developed draft framework intended to provide all EPA programs with a shared reference point for determining when and how to analyze or consider cumulative impacts—defined broadly to include the totality of exposures to combinations of environmental stressors and their effects on health and quality-of-life outcomes. Keeping pace with the Biden administration EPA’s environmental justice drive, key goals of the Interim Framework for Advancing Consideration of Cumulative Impacts include empowering EPA to (1) more fully and accurately characterize the realities communities face, (2) pinpoint the levers of decision making and identify opportunities for interventions that improve health and quality of life while advancing equity, and (3) increase meaningful engagement, improve transparency, and center actions on improving health and environmental conditions in communities.
(more…)
Samuel B. Boxerman
Washington, D.C.
sboxerman@sidley.com
Peter Whitfield
Washington, D.C.
pwhitfield@sidley.com
Brooklyn Hildebrandt
Los Angeles
bhildebrandt@sidley.com
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Proposes New Licensing Framework for Advanced Reactors
Since the U.S. adoption of commercial nuclear power, large-scale commercial reactors — typically boiling or pressurized water designs — have been licensed under the provisions of 10 C.F.R. Part 50 (Part 50) and later 10 C.F.R. Part 52 (Part 52). Under these licensing approaches, license applicants submit construction and operating license permits in a multiyear process largely tailored to address the risks and controls necessary to operate bespoke, large-scale nuclear power plants at a specific site.
(more…)
Tara Higgins
New York
thiggins@sidley.com
Kenneth W. Irvin
Washington, D.C.
kirvin@sidley.com
Aaron L. Flyer
Washington, D.C.
aflyer@sidley.com
Nicole E. Noëlliste
Washington, D.C.
nnoelliste@sidley.com
U.S. EPA Removes Regulatory Affirmative Defense Provision Against Alleged Violations of Oil and Gas Facility NESHAPs
On October 22, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule removing an affirmative defense from Clean Air Act (CAA) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulations for the Oil and Natural Gas Production Facility and Natural Gas Transmission and Storage Facility Source Categories (Final Rule).[1] Prior to the Final Rule, owners or operators could assert an affirmative defense that alleged NESHAP standard violations were caused by an equipment malfunction.[2] A “malfunction” is defined as any sudden, infrequent, and not reasonably preventable failure of air pollution control and monitoring equipment, process equipment, or a process to operate in a normal or usual manner.[3]
(more…)
Samuel B. Boxerman
Washington, D.C.
sboxerman@sidley.com
Jim Wedeking
Washington, D.C.
jwedeking@sidley.com
Rose Quam-Wickham
Washington, D.C.
rquamwickham@sidley.com
U.S. EPA Power Plant Effluent Rule Allowed to Go Into Effect
On October 9, 2024, the Eighth Circuit refused to block new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wastewater limits for coal-fired power plants. In Southwestern Electric Power Co., et al v. EPA, et al, multiple states, trade groups, and utility companies challenged EPA’s May 2024 Supplemental Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category (ELG Rule).
(more…)
Hannah Posen
Chicago
hposen@sidley.com
Samuel B. Boxerman
Washington, D.C.
sboxerman@sidley.com
District of North Dakota Halts Bureau of Land Management’s Venting and Flaring Rule
On Thursday, September 12, 2024, Judge Daniel Traynor of the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota granted a preliminary injunction sought by North Dakota, Montana, Texas, Wyoming, and Utah (the States) to halt the April 2024 “Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation” rule from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which mandates that oil and gas well operators on federal land flare rather than vent excess methane gas. The April 2024 rule revised a 2016 BLM rule that the District of Wyoming vacated in 2020. The States raised a number of challenges to the April 2024 rule, arguing that it exceeded BLM’s statutory authority under, or violated, the Mineral Leasing Act, Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act, Clean Air Act, and Federal Land Policy and Management Act and was otherwise arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.
(more…)
Samuel B. Boxerman
Washington, D.C.
sboxerman@sidley.com
Jim Wedeking
Washington, D.C.
jwedeking@sidley.com
Aaron L. Flyer
Washington, D.C.
aflyer@sidley.com
EPA Issues Final Rule for Major Source Reclassification Under Clean Air Act Section 112
On Tuesday, September 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule establishing requirements for major sources of hazardous air pollutants — sources that emit or have the potential to emit 10 tons per year of a single hazardous air pollutant or 25 tons per year of a combination of hazardous air pollutants — that reclassify as area sources below these thresholds. Reversing a rule adopted during the Trump administration, the rule provides that sources emitting any of the seven persistent and bioaccumulative hazardous air pollutants listed under Section 112(c)(6) of the Clean Air Act must continue to comply with major source standards even if otherwise reclassified as area sources. As a result, reclassified sources will still be subject to maximum achievable control technology standards rather than less stringent standards applicable to area sources. In so doing, EPA maintains that at least 90% of the cumulative emissions of these pollutants will be subject to National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regardless of future source reclassifications.
(more…)
Samuel B. Boxerman
Washington, D.C.
sboxerman@sidley.com
Jim Wedeking
Washington, D.C.
jwedeking@sidley.com
Aaron L. Flyer
Washington, D.C.
aflyer@sidley.com
Recent Developments in U.S. EPA’s Hydrofluorocarbon Phasedown
There have been several recent developments in enforcement, litigation, and regulatory implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
(more…)
Brittany A. Bolen
Washington, D.C.
bbolen@sidley.com
Samuel B. Boxerman
Washington, D.C.
sboxerman@sidley.com
Sophia E. Wallach
Century City
swallach@sidley.com
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Appoints Members to New Advisory Committee on Space Commerce
On September 6, 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Space Commerce announced that it had selected the first 17 individuals to serve on the inaugural Advisory Committee on Excellence in Space (ACES).
(more…)
Peter Whitfield
Washington, D.C.
pwhitfield@sidley.com
Sophia E. Wallach
Century City
swallach@sidley.com
Samuel B. Boxerman
Washington, D.C.
sboxerman@sidley.com
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