On April 10, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued its first-ever regulatory drinking water limits on per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”), or “forever chemicals,” under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”). By requiring purveyors of public drinking water to reduce PFAS concentrations, EPA hopes to decrease PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million people. Background on PFAS PFAS have been widely used since the 1940s in industry and consumer […]

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The oceans of the world, which makeup over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, contain approximately 97 percent of the planet’s water. The remaining 3 percent, which humans, animals and vegetation rely upon for drinking and agriculture, can be found within the rivers and lakes that constitute freshwater. As global temperatures continue to give rise to drought and dehydration, the pressure to access suitable freshwater for land-based ecosystems also increases. […]

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On the morning of October 2, 2021, Orange County residents awoke to a coastal oil spill of approximately 25,000 gallons, measuring an expansive 5.8 miles in length. This tragedy, referred to as Orange County Oil Spill, was caused as a result of two container ships making contact with an underwater pipeline, and the subsequent negligence on the part of the pipeline’s management team responsible for reporting the incident. Months later, […]

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The vast differences between the Biden and Trump platforms mean the U.S. environmental policy is likely to change quite a bit in the wake of the 2020 election. Joe Biden advocates what he calls a “clean energy revolution,” while Donald Trump’s term was spent rolling back significant environmental protections. Many of the environmental policies that have been recently changed were originally created under the Obama-Biden administration, and a Biden presidency […]

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