LATEST INSIGHTS

Clean Water Act / Groundwater Monitoring
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Legal Acrobatics or Sound Interpretation: Ground Water Regulation under the Clean Water Act

In February, we reported about whether ground water can be regulated under the Clean Water Act. As a refresher, we discussed Hawaii Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui — a case involving the indirect discharge of injection well wastewater into the ocean by traveling through groundwater. The court held there that for purposes of the CWA the injection wells were a point source, requiring an NPDES permit for groundwater because “the pollutants are fairly traceable from the point source to a navigable water such that …

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Water Contamination
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GenX Update: State Environmental Agency Seeks Injunction Against Chemours From Further Discharging GenX

We’ve posted on several occasions about the ongoing litigation over GenX contamination emanating from the Chemours Fayetteville Works facility along the Cape Fear River in North Carolina.

The damages that defendants typically face in these trending water contamination actions arise not only from cleanup costs to the waterbody at issue, but from the impact to the surrounding communities —ranging from PI, damage to real property/diminution in value, natural resources, and medical monitoring. There’s also another type of damages in the form of equitable relief. Last …

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Emerging Issues
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There Goes the Neighborhood — New Study Links Oil and Gas Facilities Near Residential Areas to Increased Health Risks

The Colorado School of Public Health has released a study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, which claims that people living near oil and gas facilities may be subject to a higher risk of cancer and other diseases.

The study was focused on residents of Colorado’s northern Front Range, an area of Colorado experiencing an increase in both human population and development of oil and gas resources. The researchers took air samples from multiple sites in Northern Colorado at various distances from …

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Three hydro- fracking derricks drilling natural gas on a plain
Hydraulic Fracturing / Pennsylvania
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Landmark Ruling: Trespass Claims Against Fracking Companies Proceed as Pennsylvania Recognizes Property Rights to Natural Gas

Recently, the Pennsylvania Superior Court — PA’s appellate court — published its opinion in Briggs v. Southwestern Energy Production, potentially altering the landscape of hydraulic fracturing litigation in Pennsylvania.

The intermediary appellate court’s decision centered on the interpretation of Pennsylvania’s rule of capture, which allows companies to drain a natural resource, including oil, gas, or water, from beneath property they do not own so long as they do not trespass on the surface level of the land. In its ruling, the Superior Court noted …

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EPA / Litigation
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States Sue EPA Over Delay in Setting Methane Emissions Standards

On April 5, 2018, 14 U.S. states filed a lawsuit against U.S. Environmental Protection Agency alleging that the agency is “unreasonably delaying” the issuance of federal methane emissions standards.

The complaint names the EPA and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt as the defendants. New York State is taking the lead in this challenge; other states joining the lawsuit include California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Illinois, Iowa, and New Mexico. The District of Columbia and the City of …

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EPA
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The Scorecard

In May 2017, we reported about the intentions of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to rebalance the EPA. At that time, Pruitt discussed core values and stressed that going forward the process and rule making will matter. One of the customs that Pruitt expressed he wanted to shed was “the federal government [being] actively involved in picking winners and losers by using regulations and the power to penalize…” Pruitt contended that the EPA’s mission is and should be clean air, water quality, and land remediation.

On …

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New Jersey
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Tree for All: NJ Forest Department Distributes Free Trees to Residents

We thought it would be a breath of fresh air to report this week on a positive development to the local environment, in this instance, happening right here in my home state of New Jersey. In recent years, New Jersey has been hit with more natural disasters than ever before, resulting in a serious reduction in the amount of healthy trees in the state. The Forest Department has been pining for that to change, so it has instituted a free tree sapling program for residents …

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California / EPA
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The Coming Battle Between California and EPA Over Vehicle Fuel Standards — The Implications for CO2 Emissions and Climate Change

Two weeks ago, we reported on potential moves by the EPA to weaken fuel economy standards, and in doing so, picking a fight with California and the state’s ability to set its own emission rules through its waiver under the Clean Air Act. Those threatened moves are now reality, as the EPA announced on Monday that current fuel economy standards will be revised.

But underlying the moves to roll back fuel economy standards is the ongoing war between the Trump Administration’s EPA and efforts to …

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Colorado
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Wild West: Colorado Court Allows Warrantless Searches of Oilfield Sites

A rancher in southwestern Colorado had three oil wells on his property, leased to an oil company, Maralex Resources, Inc., of which the rancher was the president. One afternoon, an inspection supervisor with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) contacted a local Maralex office and requested access to the wells for a routine inspection. Because the rancher was out of town, and the properties were protected by locked gates, the Maralex office refused to permit access that day. The inspection supervisor agreed to …

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Coal Ash
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Pain in the Ash: Byproduct Contamination at Coal Power Plants Back in Focus

Landfills and man-made ponds have been used for decades as dumping grounds for coal ash, which is the byproduct waste left over from burning coal in coal-fired power plants; it is one of the most prolific types of industrial waste generated in the United States. After all, coal is the biggest source of electricity production in the nation. Coal ash though contains a number of known carcinogens and is often stored in unlined pits, creating the potential for environmental and health risks such as increased …

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