Environment, Health & Safety regulatory compliance

On January 5, 2021, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) released the final version of a rule revamping certain nationwide permits (NWPs) under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The CWA authorizes the Corps to issue general permits authorizing categories of activities that have minimal individual and cumulative adverse environmental effects. These permits remain in effect for no more than five years, at which point the Corps must renew the permits.

This rule reissues and modifies 12 nationwide permits (NWPs) and issues four new NWPs. Of these 16 NWPs, the most impactful changes are to NWP 12.Continue Reading U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revamps Clean Water Act Nationwide Permit 12

Reed Smith’s U.S. based environmental team recently held a CLE webinar on what US environmental, health and safety legal and regulatory changes we can expect in 2021.  The webinar provided an insightful discussion on environmental policy and topics including:

  • Environmental Policy With Biden Win: Anticipating new federal regulation and enforcement actions
  • United States Supreme Court:

As the transition in presidential administration draws closer and COVID-19 cases continue to increase in certain parts of the country, it appears increasingly likely that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) will undertake a rulemaking relating to COVID-19.  Additionally, state plan OSHA agencies continue to revise and issue guidance relating to their own rules,

The European Commission’s “’Blue Guide’ on the Implementation of EU products rules” (the Blue Guide) was last issued in 2016, and is now becoming out of date on a number of topics. In late 2019 the Commission announced its intention to prepare an updated version of the Blue Guide which, among other things, is intended

Just one week after the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) made its proposed COVID-19 Emergency Regulation (“COVID-19 Rule”) available, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (“OSHSB”) responsible for approving such regulations unanimously passed it without revisions.  Cal/OSHA is the fourth state OSHA plan to promulgate a rule to address COVID-19, following Virginia, Oregon, and Michigan.  The Washington Department of Labor & Industries has made violations of emergency proclamations subject to workplace safety citations.

In response to OSHSB’s September granting of a labor advocacy group’s petition seeking COVID-19 regulation of employers, on November 11, 2020 Cal/OSHA issued a 21-page draft COVID-19 Rule along with a notice of emergency.  Although employers and workers in California were not provided the ordinary months of time usually associated with rulemakings to review and digest the draft COVID-19 Rule, participation in the OSHSB November 19, 2020 public meeting was significant.  With over 500 virtual participants, not including those on the phone or live streaming, and 150 verbal commenters, the public meeting lasted over ten (10) hours.  The Board Chair estimated that the meeting had four times the usual number of attendees, and technical challenges occurred throughout the discussion.  Commentary was wide ranging with employee and industry interests equally represented.  Individual workers and labor groups generally urged OSHSB to adopt the ETS immediately and to consider the addition of future anti-retaliation provisions, while employer and industry representatives expressed frustration with the lack of stakeholder input or engagement, questioned whether Cal/OSHA has the authority to regulate wage and leave issues, pointed to the effectiveness of existing orders, and identified implementation challenges and inconsistencies with other California laws regulating COVID-19 response that have yet to become effective (i.e., AB 685).Continue Reading California rapidly approves sweeping Cal/OSHA emergency COVID-19 regulation

On November 7, 2020, Joe Biden became the projected President-elect of the United States. With an aggressive climate change plan that includes rejoining the Paris Agreement on the first day of his term, President-elect Biden and his administration will likely make significant changes to environmental, health, and safety rules and policies that will rollback Trump administration environmental actions and increase civil and criminal enforcement of environmental laws.

New Regulatory Rollbacks and Expansions

The Trump administration took deregulatory actions that weakened or repealed more than 100 environmental policies and regulations.  For example, President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which set targets for greenhouse gas emissions for existing power plants, was repealed and replaced with the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which removed emission targets and directed states to determine the best course of action for regulating power plant emissions.  The Trump administration issued the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule, which authorized the Department of Transportation to establish fuel economy standards and preempted similar state regulations, including California’s regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions for new passenger cars and light trucks.  The Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule significantly narrowed the “Waters of the United States” Rule under the Clean Water Act.  Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) repealed Obama-era methane and volatile organic compound emissions standards for new and existing oil and gas operations, and removed the most stringent requirements of newly promulgated revisions to the Risk Management Program rule.  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), meanwhile, largely stalled new rulemakings that had been initiated under the Obama administration, including the Process Safety Management (PSM) standard, and has so far declined to initiate a rulemaking in response to COVID-19 under the current administration.Continue Reading Swinging the Pendulum: Significant Shifts in Environmental and Safety Regulation under a Biden Administration

California has joined dozens of nations in a global pact to preserve biodiversity and prevent species loss by pledging to conserve 30 percent of the state’s land and coastal water by 2030 (“30 by 30”).  Governor Gavin Newsom signed the executive order earlier this month, which also directs the state to streamline approval of land

Within the last few days, the European Commission has opened the ‘public consultation’ stage of its evaluation of the law relating to both electromagnetic compatibility and packaging waste.

Evaluation of the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive 2014/30/EU

Although the EMC Directive was implemented fairly recently, it largely incorporated its predecessor directive without any major amendments. As

The European Commission has opened a consultation on a potential legislative proposal on substantiating green claims made when advertising and marketing products. The proposals are intended to implement one aspect of the European Green Deal which states, among other things, that “Companies making ‘green claims’ should substantiate these against a standard methodology to assess their

California will ban the sale of new, gasoline-powered cars by 2035, an aggressive action by Governor Gavin Newsom to combat the causes of climate change.

The executive order Newsom signed will require that all new passenger vehicles sold in California beginning in 2035 be “zero-emission.”  That category currently includes battery-powered electric cars and those running on hydrogen fuel cells. The ban will also include hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles that still use some gasoline or diesel in addition to electricity.  Older gasoline-powered cars on the road after 2035 and sales of used gasoline-powered cars would still be allowed.  The order further directs that all new medium- and heavy-duty trucks be zero-emission by 2045, which aligns with the state’s goal to eliminate all net emissions from its economy by 2045.Continue Reading California going electric: Sale of new gasoline-powered cars banned in 2035