On December 15, 2022, U.S. EPA issued its final rule adopting the ASTM E1527-21 standard for Phase I environmental site assessments as meeting the All Appropriate Inquiries (AAI) requirement to qualify for new owner and operator defenses against liability under
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U.S. EPA Proposed Listing of PFOA and PFOS: The Effects and Costs of Forever Chemicals
On September 6, 2022, the U.S EPA’s long-awaited proposed rule to list perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perluoroocanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as CERCLA hazardous substances was published in the Federal Register (Proposed Rule).[1] This triggers a 60-day public notice and…
CALIFORNIA PROPOSES FURTHER CHANGES TO PROPOSITION 65 SHORT-FORM WARNINGS
On December 13, 2021, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (“OEHHA”) issued another notice in its efforts to amend the short-form warning regulations under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly known as Proposition…
The PFAS Roadmap: Pathway to Environmental Justice
In October 2021, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) issued its PFAS Roadmap, establishing a comprehensive, three-year plan to address the potential risks posed by this large class of manmade compounds, often referred to as “forever chemicals.” The Roadmap…
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency PFAS Strategic Roadmap: A Not-So-Brief Overview — with More to Come
For the past decade, environmental regulators in the United States have considered poly- and per-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to be “emerging contaminants,” based on initial studies linking two of the potentially thousands of PFAS to various alleged health effects. The October…
Final Minimum Risk Levels for PFAS: What Do They Mean?
In May 2021, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) finalized a report containing toxicological profiles and associated Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs) for several perfluoroalkyls (PFAS), a family of chemicals marked by their persistence in the environment,…
2021: The Year of the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority?
If you’ve been involved with an energy project in Ohio any time in the last several decades, you may well already be familiar with the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority (OAQDA), which marks its 50th anniversary this year.[1] But…
Nationwide Permit 12 Has Been Vacated. Does that Matter Nationwide?
Update 7/16/2020: On July 6, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court significantly narrowed the scope of the District Court’s injunction by staying the order except as applied to the Keystone XL pipeline, pending resolution of the appeal before the U.S. Court…
RENEWED IMPORTANCE OF INTERPRETING AND DRAFTING FORCE MAJEURE CLAUSES IN MINING AND ENERGY CONTRACTS IN LIGHT OF COVID-19
Economic fluctuations bring about a number of difficult decisions for businesses operating in mining and energy industries in the form of staffing levels, production capacity increases or reductions, areas of expansion or contraction, supply chain challenges and overall business strategies. …
Ohio’s Final Workgroup Report on Smart Meter Data Access: Are We There Yet? Not Quite, Kids….
It may be 2020, but some big issues have carried over from the last decade at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, including the question of what the Commission will do to facilitate customer and third-party access to AMI (or…