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California
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California Air Resources Board Receives Legal Challenge to the State’s New Climate Disclosure Laws

Last week, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) was named as a defendant in a new U.S. District Court, Central District of California lawsuit challenging California’s two new climate disclosure and financial reporting laws introduced late in 2023 — Senate bills SB 253 and SB 261.

The case is Chamber of Com. Of the U.S. v. Calif. Air. Res. Bd., C.D. Cal., No. 2:24-cv-00801, complaint 1/30/20. The basis for plaintiffs’ lawsuit claims the two new laws unconstitutionally require disclosure by qualifying public and privately held …

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Net full of salmon being hauled onto purse seiner
Emerging Issues
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The Fishing Case that Could Put the Chevron Doctrine Out to Sea

On January 17, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, No. 22-451, an environmental-law dispute concerning fishery management in federal waters.       

The case reached the court via a petition of four commercial fishing companies challenging a federal fisheries regulation, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which provides that the National Marine Fisheries Service can require private vessels to “carry” federal observers onboard to allow for the enforcement of the agency’s regulations (federally-prescribed fishing “catch” limits being the most …

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A large construction excavator removes contaminated soil from an urban brownfield development site.
EPA / Regulations
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Leading with Lead: EPA to Implement Strategy for Lead in 2024

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency kicked off the New Year by strengthening its guidance for investigating and cleaning up lead-contaminated soil at residential properties, especially in areas where children live and play. Toward this end, the EPA lowered the recommended screening levels for lead in residential soil, from 400 parts per million to 200 ppm, for the first time in 30 years. 

While screening levels are not cleanup standard, this change is expected to assist the EPA in making site-specific cleanup decisions, which may include …

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Filling glass of water from the tap
Wastewater
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Anyone Want Some Wastewater to Drink?

Last month, the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) unanimously approved regulations to allow water systems throughout California to develop treatment protocols to quickly convert wastewater into drinking water. This process is known as direct potable reuse and should allow municipalities to generate a climate resilient water source while reducing the amount of wastewater that is discharged into California’s rivers and oceans. Recycled water is also a more reliable source of drinking water than imported water or stormwater sources – the availability of which …

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Supermarket aisle with merchandise and no people
PFAS
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CA Federal District Court Grants Dismissal to Manufacturer in PFAS Complaint

On January 12, 2024, a northern California federal district court dismissed the PFAS-related class-action case of Lowe v. Edgewell Personal Care Company on the grounds that its plaintiffs had not plausibly alleged injury from the products at issue.

The Lowe plaintiffs brought their actions against two different tampon product lines, claiming that the presence of “per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) rendered the manufacturer’s various representations about the products false and misleading.” The plaintiffs alleged that “independent third-party testing” confirmed the presence of PFAS in the tampons …

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A man's hand in a blue glove takes a close-up of water into a test tube to measure water pollution. Background
Clean Water Act / EPA
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Did the 9th Circuit Just Let the EPA ‘Fudge’ the Numbers on Water Pollution?

Ever since the Clean Water Act of 1972 dramatically overhauled the way in which America, through the EPA, monitors and protects its waterways, there has been the struggle between the literal life-and-death need for clean water, and the cold, hard reality that people can, will, and sometimes-have-to release pollutants into the water as part of American life.

The balancing mechanism, however, is built right into the act itself in the form of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program.

As the program dictates, …

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Sterile storage of medical and surgical instruments in the dentist's office. View from above. Closeup shoot.
Emerging Issues / EPA
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FDA Finally Recognizes EtO Sterilizing Alternative as the World Becomes a Force Majeure Pile-Up

Perhaps nothing has proven the indispensable value of commercial sterilizers more than the devastating worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Without the highly effective and efficient commercial sterilizer ethylene oxide (EtO), we would not have been able to rely on lifesaving sterilized medical equipment and supplies – such as cotton swabs for nasal-swab testing, masks, ventilators, and thermometers – to get us through the past four years. Moreover, maintaining basic hospital functionality and everyday healthcare needs outside of the pandemic requires sterile equipment and supplies simply for civilization …

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The toxic symbol on chemical products, dangerous chemicals in industry
EPA / PFAS
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EPA Adds Seven More PFAS To Toxic Release Inventory List

As our blog has reported a number of times, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an ambitious national strategy to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Dubbed a “roadmap,” the EPA says that it is centered on three guiding strategies focused on research, restrictions, and remediation. Specifically: “Increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination.”

As part of this plan, the EPA last week announced the …

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Money roll and judges hammer on wooden table
Regulations
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Environmental and Transportation Regulation Violators Should Expect to Pay More in Civil Penalties in 2024

Both the Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency finished 2023 by issuing new rules that increase the maximum civil penalties for violating certain regulations. For the EPA, those regulations include the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act. For the DOT, the maximum civil penalty increases affect regulations contained within, among others, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Hazardous Materials Regulations, and the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.

For a little background as to why this is happening, …

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Oil field with rigs and pumps at sunset. World Oil Industry
Climate Change
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Supreme Court Denies Petition for Certiorari in Minnesota’s Climate Case Against Petroleum Leaders

In June 2020, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued ExxonMobil, three Koch entities, and the American Petroleum Institute — (energy companies and affiliates that produce or sell fossil fuels around the world and an industry association) — on behalf of the State of Minnesota, alleging that the defendants knowingly engaged in a “decades-long campaign of deception about the fossil fuel industry’s actual contributions to, and true costs of, climate change.”  The lawsuit includes claims for fraud, failure to warn, and multiple separate violations of state …

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