Monthly Archives: April 2019

MassDEP Proposes to Ratchet Down PFAS Standards

On Friday, MassDEP proposed a number of revisions to the Massachusetts Contingency Plan, including reporting and cleanup standards for PFASThe proposed GW-1 standard, applicable to current and potential drinking water source areas, would be 20 parts per trillion for the sum of six PFAS compounds (PFDA, PFHpA, PFHxS, PFOA, PFOS, and PFNA) – significantly more stringent than the 70 ppt guideline for the sum of five PFAS compounds currently in effect.… More

EPA Weighs In On Whether Discharges to Groundwater Can Be Subject to the CWA — You Won’t Be Surprised at the Answer

On Monday, EPA issued an Interpretive Statement concluding that point source discharges to groundwater are never subject to NPDES permitting requirements.  EPA did a good job marshalling its arguments – much better than this EPA has done in a number of similar situations.

I have previously noted the difficulties associated with regulating point source discharges to groundwater under the NPDES program,… More

Yes, Virginia, Selling a Building Known to Contain PCBs Can Constitute An Arrangement for Disposal

Some cases just make you wonder what people were thinking.  I’m not  sure even Donald Trump would have tried to get away with what Dico, Inc., tried to get away with.

In 1994, EPA issued an administrative order, requiring Dico to address PCBs in insulation in buildings it owned in Des Moines, Iowa.  Without informing EPA, Dico sold the buildings.  Dico did not inform the buyer of the buildings about either the presence of PCBs or the EPA order.… More

Reason Number 42,659 For Putting a Price On Carbon

I don’t work in the oil and gas industry.  This lede from Bloomberg Environment (subscription required) may not be news to anyone in the industry, but it absolutely blew me away:

America’s hottest oil patch is producing so much natural gas that by the end of last year producers were burning off more than enough of the fuel to meet residential demand across the whole of Texas.… More

Can You Say “Pyrrhic Victory”?

In 2008, EPA issued an administrative order to Chantell and Michael Sackett, requiring them to remove what EPA had concluded was illegally placed fill on their property in Northern Idaho.  Litigation followed, including a fairly well-known Supreme Court decision.

After the Supreme Court ruled that the Sacketts were entitled to appeal the administrative order, the case was remanded to the District Court. … More

Disposing of Coal Combustion Residuals Just Got Much More Expensive — At Least in North Carolina!

On Monday, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality issued determinations with respect to six Duke Energy coal plants, requiring that Duke close coal combustion residual surface impoundments at the plants by excavating and removing all coal ash from the impoundments.  DEQ did so notwithstanding that the impoundments all received “low-risk” classifications by DEQ.

According to Greenwire (subscription required), the directives will increase the cost of complying with CCR requirements at these plants by $4B-$5B.… More

The Clean Peak Standard Starts to Take Shape

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources has released its Clean Peak Standard Straw Proposal, providing its thinking on the implementation of that part of An Act to Advance Clean Energy, from 2018.  As a reminder, the basic idea is that a “Qualified RPS Resource,” installed after January 1, 2019, may obtain “clean peak certificates” for energy generated during seasonal peaks.  Existing Qualified RPS Resources may obtain CPCs if they are paired with battery storage installed after January 1,… More