Since our March 2011 Web conference, several significant actions by EPA and the U.S. Supreme Court have great potential effects on companies regulated by the Clean Air Act (CAA):
EPA issued proposed “Mercury and Air Toxics Standards” for electric generating units on May 3, 2011. This proposed rule replaces the judicially invalidated “Clean Air Mercury Rule.” EPA recently extended the public comment deadline to August 4, 2011.
EPA issued its final “Cross-State Air Pollution Rule” on July 6, 2011. The rule requires 27 states to impose additional sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide controls on electric generating units. This rule replaces the judicially invalidated “Clean Air Interstate Rule.”
The U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in American Electric Power v. Connecticut on June 20, 2011. The Court ruled against parties claiming a “federal common law” to seek emission controls on greenhouse gases (GHGs) in light of the CAA’s comprehensive GHG regulatory authorities.
On June 24, 2011, the D.C. Circuit issued its long-awaited opinion in Medical Waste Institute v. EPA, in which several CAA MACT issues of great importance to all industrial sectors were in play.
On May 18, 2011, EPA announced indefinite stays of recently-issued major source “Boiler MACT” and “Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Unit” (CISWI) regulations while it undertakes a reconsideration of those rules through new rulemaking. EPA has since announced that it intends to issue new final Boiler MACT and CISWI rules by the end of April, 2012, but environmental groups have launched challenges to these delays in the D.C. Circuit.
On August 11, 2011, Richard G. Stoll, Mark A. Thimke, and Brian H. Potts from Foley’s Environmental Regulation Practice provided an in-depth overview of these updates.
For more information, please contact Jennifer Bartz at [email protected].
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