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Taft's environmental attorneys practice in all facets of environmental law, including Superfund defense and negotiation, enforcement defense, cost-recovery for plaintiffs and defendants, criminal environmental defense, environmental insurance and toxic tort litigation, mold and sick building litigation, lawsuits involving environmental problems discovered as a result of real property transfers or mergers and acquisitions, Brownfields redevelopment, defense of claims of occupational exposures, and administrative proceedings before state and federal agencies. Taft's environmental lawyers also are regularly engaged in insurance disputes concerning environmental issues and agricultural issues involving CAFOs and CFOs. The purpose of this newsletter is to provide you with insights from our team that may be of interest to yours.
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Sixth Circuit Finds That, Under Title V of Clean Air Act, Adjacent Means Adjacent
In a broadly reasoned opinion, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of Summit Petroleum and determined that the USEPA could not aggregate emissions from a natural gas processing plant and an associated complex of production wells covering forty-three square miles into a stationary source under Title V of the Clean Air Act. The decision upends the USEPA's longstanding predisposition to evaluate the nature and degree of interdependence between facilities as an essential factor in determining whether a group of facilities is permitted as single source or separate sources under Title V.
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EPA Releases Peer Review Plans For 2012 Work Plan Chemicals
On August 17, US EPA released for public review and comment its "Peer Review Plans" for risk assessments on the following seven "work plan chemicals" for 2012:
- Antimony and Antimony Compounds
- HHCB (1,3,4,6,7,8 - Hexahydro- 4,6,6,7,8,8, -hexamethylcyclopenta[g]-2-benzopyran)
- Long-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins
- Medium-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins
- Methylene Chloride
- N-Methylpyrrolidone
- Trichloroethylene
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Amendments to Ohio Alternative Renewable Energy Standard Increase Opportunities to Generate Renewable Energy Credits
Recently enacted Senate Bill 315 established important changes to the Alternative Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard originally established by Senate Bill 221 in 2008, notably expanding the Alternative Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard ("Portfolio Standard") to include waste energy recovery systems and combined heat and power systems. The incorporation of these systems into the Portfolio Standard will provide many industries with the opportunity to promote energy efficiency by capturing and reusing excess heat produced in their operations, thereby substantially decreasing energy costs, while concurrently generating valuable renewable energy credits, which can be sold on the open market and contribute to a business' bottom line.
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Ohio River Basin Water Quality Pilot Trading Program Moves Forward
During a ceremony on August 9 in Cincinnati, representatives from Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana announced that they had signed-on to an innovative interstate water quality pollutant trading program designed to try to reduce levels of nutrients in the Ohio River Basin through the buying and selling of pollutant credits. The pilot scale program, known as the "Ohio River Basin Water Quality Trading Project," was designed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) with support from the State of Ohio, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the State of Indiana, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, American Farmland Trust, and ORSANCO.
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Dry Cleaner Liable Under CERCLA and Headed to Trial on RCRA Claims
A federal district court recently entered summary judgment against a dry cleaner on a property owner's CERCLA claim for past response costs and declaratory judgment claim regarding future response costs, and allowed the property owner's RCRA claims to proceed to trial in Forest Park National Bank & Trust v. Ditchfield, 2012 WL 3028342, Case No. 10-C-3166 (N.D.Ill.July 24, 2012).
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Senate Committee Passes Latest Version of Proposed TSCA Amendments
On July 25, 2012, the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committe passed an amended version of the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 (S. 847), sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D -N.J.). The 174-page bill is the latest attempt to overhaul the Toxics Substances Control Act of 1976, which has been heavily criticized as not providing sufficient authority for US EPA to address chemical risks.
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Ohio Tackles Shale Exploration and Developmen
Eastern Ohio is in the midst of a rush of natural resources development which presents both remarkable opportunities and challenges for the State of Ohio and its businesses and residents. The development of the Marcellus and Utica shale gas, natural gas liquids ("NGL's") and oil resources will require the drilling and development of wells, the storage, transportation and disposal of substantial quantities of brine and flow back water, the construction and operation of roads, pipelines and railroads to transport equipment and product and the capability to maintain this infrastructure. Ohio took a significant step toward establishing a proactive framework for regulating these activities by enacting Senate Bill 315 which was signed by Governor Kasich on June 11, 2012.
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Will That Coal Ash Impoundment Send Someone To Jail?
A recent criminal prosecution should have corporate management, in-house counsel, and environmental managers evaluating their coal ash and coal slurry impoundments and employee responsibilities. On July 5, 2012, The Ohio Valley Coal Company ("Ohio Valley") pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of having negligently violated the Clean Water Act for allowing coal slurry releases into a tributary of the Ohio River in separate incidents in 2008 and 2010. This came on the heels of the criminal prosecutions against both a plant manager and environmental manager as a result of the 2008 incident. The 2008 incident resulted from the negligent discharge of wastewater from a coal slurry impoundment, whereas the 2010 incident resulted from a ruptured pipeline that caused a discharge that bypassed the treatment system.
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Taft's Environmental Law Newsletter is used to inform our clients and friends of significant new developments and current issues in environmental law. For more information about Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, please visit http://www.taftlaw.com.
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