Winston’s Environmental Law Update

On April 10, 2020, the Assistant Administrators of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA or Agency) Office of Land and Emergency Management and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance issued a memorandum entitled “Interim Guidance on Site Field Work Decisions Due to Impacts of COVID-19” to all EPA Regional Administrators.

On July 30, 2018, the EPA promulgated revisions to the coal ash disposal rule under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The “phase one, part one” revisions include new groundwater monitoring mandates and a delay of closure deadlines for some leaking facilities.

On May 22, 2017, three months into his new role as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Administrator Scott Pruitt established a “Superfund Task Force” (Task Force) to evaluate the Superfund program and provide recommendations on how the Agency can improve the program.

On July 15, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized revisions to its underground storage tank (UST) regulations for the first time since 1988. The final rule focuses on improving prevention and detection of UST releases by making changes to the training, testing, and inspection requirements.