Tue Jul 7th, On Environmental Law, by Anna Viele
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to end its temporary policy that allowed for enforcement discretion in the enforcement of some types of violations in the context of COVID-19. On June 29, 2020, EPA gave notice that this policy will be terminated as of August 31, 2020, or possibly earlier. If the policy is terminated earlier than August 31, 2020, then seven days advance notice will be […]
Fri Apr 24th, On Rulemaking and Legislative Practice, by Anna Viele
The D.C. Circuit ruled this week that EPA must discontinue its practice of banning grant recipients from serving on its federal advisory committees. This precedent-setting ruling reverses a lower court’s decision which found the EPA did not violate a conflict-of-interest statute regarding executive branch employees and related regulations. The D.C. Circuit’s ruling comes in a lawsuit seeking to overturn former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s October 2017 directive regarding alleged conflicts […]
Thu Apr 23rd, On Rulemaking and Legislative Practice, by Anna Viele
The State Water Board adopted a regulation this week requiring the state’s largest urban retail water suppliers to report their monthly water use. A similar emergency policy was adopted on a mandatory basis during the last statewide drought; however, since November 2017, reporting has been implemented on a voluntary basis. The regulation affects California’s 400 largest water systems serving approximately 90% of the state’s population. The goal of collecting this […]
Fri Mar 27th, On Compliance Counseling, by Anna Viele
EPA’s head compliance official, Susan P. Bodine, recently announced EPA’s intention to loosen regulatory enforcement for businesses in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a memo dated March 26, 2020, Bodine refers to pandemic conditions that have complicated enforcement, including a smaller workforce, social distancing requirements, and travel restrictions. Given all of these sudden, dramatic changes, EPA concludes that “efforts to protect workers and the public from COVID-19 may […]
