Insights

On April 21, 2020, the U.S. EPA and the USACE published in the Federal Register the so-called “Step Two” rule revising the definition of the term, “Waters of the United States” now entitled the “Navigable Waters Protection Rule”.

On January 23, 2020, the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule redefining the scope of federal regulatory jurisdiction over “waters of the United States.”

On New Year’s Day in 1970, Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”), creating the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) and proclaiming “that the 1970s must be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its waters, and our living environment.”

Foley Partner Laura Whiting, Of Counsel Dorothy Watson, Peter Tomasi and David Bates, along with Associate Amanda Aragon, authored an article for Pratt's Energy Law Report's May 2019 Edition, titled "Oilfield Operators Take Note: EPA Held Public Hearing on Proposed Methane Rule That Would Relax Your Vapor Monitoring Deadlines and Streamline Your Bureaucratic Layers."

While much of the environmental bar was focused on the Waters of the U.S. rulemaking, on December 11, U.S. EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed the new hazardous waste pharmaceutical rule.

Oilfield operators of every size have been busy implementing the Obama Administration’s labor-intensive requirements to detect and repair vapor leaks from well site equipment, often called the Quad Oa requirements, in reference to the federal rules at 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart OOOOa.

On September 11, 2018, the U.S. EPA announced proposed changes to NSPS Rule to give operators more flexibility by allowing them to comply with certain state fugitive emissions requirements in lieu of federal requirements.