Acting SEC Chair Allison Herren Lee issued a February 24 statement directing the Commission Staff to review public-company climate-change-related disclosures. The staff will assess current disclosures in light of the SEC’s prior 2010 guidance and “update” that guidance.
The prior guidance did not mandate specific climate disclosures but instead focused on how climate-change issues might affect existing disclosure obligations regarding, for example, material legal compliance or litigation issues, material risks, and the effect of known trends, developments, or a ...
The U.S. Climate Finance Working Group released its February 18, 2021 policy statement, “Financing a U.S. Transition to a Sustainable Low-Carbon Economy.” The Working Group comprises eleven of America’s leading financial-services industry associations, broadly representing “Wall Street.”
With climate-change initiatives among the top priorities announced by the new Biden administration, the Working Group
“seeks to engage with incoming leaders and members of Congress on a bipartisan basis to help establish a shared vision for U.S. climate policy. By so doing ...
In late July, the Environment and Natural Resources Division (“ENRD”) of the Department of Justice released a memo setting forth the Division’s policy for handling enforcement of civil Clean Water Act matters when a State has previously instituted a civil penalty proceeding under an analogous state law arising from the same operative facts. The policy reflects a cooperative federalism theme, which follows the current U.S. EPA’s commitment to work cooperatively with states and to acknowledge, respect, and promote the critical role they play in implementing the Federal ...
Three months after issuing its COVID-19 Implications for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program temporary policy memorandum suspending enforcement of certain environmental requirements, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced it is supplementing the temporary policy to include a specific termination date.
The supplement, described as an Addendum on Termination, indicates EPA’s temporary enforcement policy will terminate on August 31, 2020. As EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance explains, EPA will not base an ...
In early 2020, the Alabama Environmental Management Commission promulgated rules establishing procedures by which the Department of Environmental Management will regulate land application of eligible non-hazardous by-product materials within the State. The rules became effective April 13, 2020, and are intended to work in conjunction with the U.S. EPA’s Biosolids Program governing the use or disposal of sewage sludge.
The term “land application” is not defined in the ADEM rules, but, in general, it is the spreading, spraying, injection, or incorporation of ...
Apropos of the ongoing celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the U.S. Supreme Court today released its opinion in the Clean Water Act case of County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al. Justice Breyer delivered the majority opinion, joined by Justices Roberts, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Kavanaugh. Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, as well as Justice Alito, filed dissenting opinions.
The Court’s analysis addresses the question of whether the Clean Water Act requires a permit when pollutants originate from a point source but are conveyed to navigable waters by a ...
In a much-anticipated memo dated March 26, 2020, the U.S. EPA shares “COVID-19 Implications for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program.” The memo, from Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Susan Bodine, outlines EPA’s temporary approach to enforcement discretion for covered non-compliance resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy recognizes that the “consequences of the pandemic may affect facility operations and the availability of key staff and contractors and the ability of laboratories to timely analyze ...
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management can finally breathe a sigh of relief, as the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion today affirming the U.S. EPA’s January 11, 2017 decision not to commence proceedings to withdraw the State’s NPDES permitting program authority and ending nearly a decade of uncertainty for the agency.
The process began in January 2010, when several environmental groups filed a petition with EPA alleging twenty-six grounds for withdrawal of Alabama’s program authorization. EPA issued an interim response to the ...
On April 15, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released a much-anticipated Interpretative Statement on Releases of Pollutants from Point Sources to Groundwater. Last February, EPA received public comments on whether the Agency should revise or clarify its position on whether National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits are required for releases of pollutants to groundwater. Since then, both regulators and the regulated have been waiting to see how EPA would respond. EPA’s Statement concludes “releases of pollutants to groundwater ...
The Senate narrowly confirmed Andrew Wheeler as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, February 28, 2019, by a vote of 52-47. No Democrats supported the nomination and one Republican also opposed. (The Hill). Interestingly, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) voted against Wheeler after having been the only Democrat to support his earlier nomination as Deputy Administrator. Manchin explained that Wheeler has not demonstrated a desire or will to make progress in standards for drinking water and has worked to roll back certain clean air standards, both of ...