Environmental Law

USEPA Vapor Intrusion Guidance -- Need for a More Practical Approach

Posted on June 03, 2013
  As reported on this blog at the time it was released, on April 16, 2013, USEPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response released for public input two draft vapor intrusion guidance documents: a general guidance for all compounds ('Guidance'); and one focused on petroleum hydrocarbons released from underground storage tanks...

PROPOSED US HYDRAULIC FRACTURING REGULATIONS MAY HAVE LIMITED IMPACT ON FEDERAL LANDS IN PA

Posted on May 31, 2013
  While our newest contributor, Derald Hay, awaits his new-media login, he's asked me to post this piece on his behalf: On May 24, 2013, the Bureau of Land Management published a revised set of proposed regulations pertaining to hydraulic fracturing on Federal and Indian lands...

What You Should know About PADEP's On-Lot Septic Systems Proposed Guidance

Posted on May 31, 2013
Our blog's newest contributor, Derald Hay, recently wrote on PADEP's proposed guidance for on-lot septic systems over at Fox Rothschild's Berks County Law Update blog.  As Derald notes in his post, the public comment period on the proposed guidance document ends on June 3...

PADEP's Permit Review Process Public Participation Policy ... It's Back?

Posted on April 30, 2013
Following up on my posts of February 7, 2013 and November 28, 2012, the agenda for next week's meeting of the Pennsylvania DEP's Environmental Justice Advisory Board includes a scheduled discussion of the status of the Department's draft Permit Review Process Public Participation Policy...

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What Developers Should Know About DVRPC's Updated Comprehensive Plan

Posted on April 30, 2013
  Last week, I attended the April meeting of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission's Environmental Justice Work Group. DVRPC staff presented an overview of its updated comprehensive plan, Connections 2040, which contained eye-opening information that is relevant to developers throughout the Delaware Valley...

USEPA Issues Vapor Guidance for Public Comment

Posted on April 16, 2013
This afternoon, April 16, 2013, USEPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response released for public input two draft vapor intrusion guidance documents: a general guidance for all compounds; and one focused on petroleum hydrocarbons released from underground storage tanks...

TOP 5 TAKEAWAYS FROM THE PENNSYLVANIA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW FORUM

Posted on April 11, 2013
As I train back from the second day of the Environmental Law Forum, here are some takeaways from the presentations I attended today: ...        1. The Environmental Hearing Board Roundtable session continues to be one of the most useful and entertaining sessions at the Forum...

Vapors and Phase I's, More on the Revision of ASTM's E 1527

Posted on March 20, 2013
As indicated in a recent post, ASTM International has developed a revision of the Phase I protocol, Standard Practice for Environmental Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process ('E 1527?05') that will be issued this year. A topic being heatedly discussed, especially by consultants, is whether the revised E 1527 will require vapor intrusion evaluation or a vapor encroachment analysis under ASTM's E 2600-10, Standard Guide for Vapor Encroachment Screening on Property Involved in Real Estate Transactions...

Revision of ASTM Protocol Will Clarify the Focus of Phase I Environmental Site Assessments

Posted on March 18, 2013
A Task Group within ASTM International has developed a revision of its ubiquitous Phase I protocol, Standard Practice for Environmental Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process ('E 1527?05'). The revision is currently under review by USEPA and will be issued this year...

Bill to Allow Fracking with Mine Influenced Waters Clears PA Senate Committee

Posted on February 25, 2013
Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Senate Environment Resources and Energy Committee took up Senate Bill No. 411, designed to foster the use of mine influenced water for hydraulic fracturing and other gas well development. The bill, originally proposed by Senator Richard Kasunic, was unanimously approved by the committee and can now move on to the full Senate...

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT UPCOMING CHANGES TO PUBLIC PARTICIPATION FOR PERMITS IN PA

Posted on February 07, 2013
Updating my November 28, 2012 post, the Department is in the process of finalizing updated guidance for its policy covering public participation in the permit review process. The existing policy, Document ID 012-0900-003 (PDF copy here), was last updated in July 2005...

Latest Developments in the Revision of Pennsylvania's Vapor Intrusion Guidance

Posted on January 31, 2013
In December 2012 we reported on some of the challenges created by the vapor intrusion pathway under the Act 2 brownfields program in Vapor Intrusion and Act 2 – Imperfect Together. This is an update.  On January 29, 2013, the Department convened a meeting of the vapor intrusion subcommittee of the Cleanup Standards Scientific Advisory Board at the Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg...

PADEP Issues White Paper on Use of Mine Influenced Waters in Natural Gas Extraction

Posted on January 17, 2013
For the past several months, PADEP has been working internally and with stakeholders to develop policy supporting the use of mine influenced waters ('MIW') in the natural gas extraction process — that is, using acid mine drainage and mine pool water, from Pennsylvania's long history of coal mining, for fracking...

New TMDL Waivers and Vineyards

Posted on January 09, 2013
The TMDL regulatory scheme is taking hold in many sectors of our country. In fact, even the wine growing industry in Napa and Sonoma Valleys are being impacted by proposed regulations.  If interested (and yes, Pennsylvania has a growing wine industry too), see Philip Hinerman's recent post at Fox Rothschild's Legal Tastings blog...

UECA Deadline for Conversion of Deed Restrictions Fast Approaching

Posted on January 04, 2013
Brownfield developers have been living with the Uniform Environmental Covenants Act (UECA) in Pennsylvania since it became effective in February 2008.  At the time it became effective, we all knew that it required that deed restrictions put in place prior to February 18, 2008 would have to be converted to UECA environmental covenants (ECs) five years down the road...

Marcellus Shale at Year's End

Posted on December 31, 2012
The year comes to a close today with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court having yet to rule on the constitutionality of Act 13's provisions concerning the ability of municipalities to control Marcellus Shale development through local zoning rules (those provisions were overturned by the Commonwealth Court in a closely divided decision in July 2012)...

PA EHB Goes Electronic

Posted on December 19, 2012
The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board is proposing amendments to its Rules of Practice and Procedure to keep it in step with most county and federal courts in the Commonwealth.  At long last, the EHB is adopting a mandatory electronic filing process...

US EPA Revises Guidance to Encourage Renewable Energy on Contaminated Land

Posted on December 10, 2012
On December 5, 2012, US EPA issued a 'Revised Enforcement Guidance Regarding the Treatment of Tenants under the CERCLA Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Provision.'  US EPA undertook this effort to encourage reuse of contaminated properties for renewable energy development...

Vapor Intrusion and Act 2 -- Imperfect Together

Posted on December 03, 2012
Vapor intrusion, the migration of a volatile chemical from subsurface contamination into the indoor air of a building, was not viewed as a significant exposure pathway in 1995 when Act 2 was written into law. It is viewed as significant now...

PADEP's New Permit Decision Guarantee Offers Opportunities Among Challenges

Posted on November 28, 2012
On November 3, 2012, PADEP published notice of final new guidance for its revamped Permit Decision Guarantee Policy, which restructures the environmental permitting process. Last week, Joel highlighted the way the new Permit Decision Guarantee Policy interacts with the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory review; this week, I'm going to discuss how the Permit Decision Guarantee Policy interacts with the Department's existing Environmental Justice Public Participation Policy...

Interplay Between PADEP's Policy on PNDI Coordination and its New Permit Decision Guarantee

Posted on November 19, 2012
In a recent PA Bulletin Notice. PADEP released proposed revisions to its existing policy on PNDI reviews to clarify PNDI coordination within the Department's permit application review process.  For those not familiar with PNDI, it stands for the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory...

Case to Watch -- Federal Court Allows Challenge to Air Permits that Bypasses Pennsylvania EHB

Posted on October 10, 2012
On September 24, 2012, Judge Robert D. Mariani of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania denied Ultra Resources, Inc.'s motion to dismiss a citizen suit that challenges the issuance of general air permits for seven natural gas compressor stations (read the decision in its entirety here)...

Pennsylvania DEP Issues Guidance on Air Laws for Marcellus Operations

Posted on October 10, 2012
For several decades, EPA has wrestled with how to define air emissions sources that are near to each other.  EPA has tried to determine whether nearby sites should be 'aggregated' for purposes of determining whether to consider the combined emissions for air permitting thresholds or whether each site stands on its own for purposes of deciding whether regulatory thresholds have been crossed...

PADEP Proposes Changes to NPDES General Permit for Stormwater Construction Activities

Posted on August 29, 2012
In a notice published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on August 18, 2012, PADEP proposes to make revisions to the NPDES general permit (GP) for stormwater construction activities, known as PAG-02.  The notice includes a summary of the proposed changes to the existing GP and solicits comments which must be provided to the Department by September 17, 2012...

Commonwealth Court Declares Local Zoning Preemption in Act 13 Unconstitutional, Null and Void

Posted on July 26, 2012
The Commonwealth Court, in a 4-3 decision,  has declared that the provisions in Act 13 that preempt local zoning are unconstitutional, null and void.   I've read the decision and one thing is still puzzling.  There were 7 judges that heard the case, and 3 filed a dissenting opinion...

Governor Corbett Issues Executive Order 2012-11 Creating Permit Decision Guarantee for PADEP

Posted on July 24, 2012
Earlier today, Governor Tom Corbett issued Executive Order 2012-11 which establishes a permit decision guarantee program for PADEP.  According to the Executive Order, it is designed to build upon the Money-Back guarantee that was put in place by Governor Ridge and Secretary Jim Seif back in 1995...

EHB Rules on Interesting Mine Subsidence Claim

Posted on June 19, 2012
The PA Environmental Hearing Board issued a decision yesterday in an interesting case involving the application of the PA Mine Subsidence Act.   The case involves a claim filed by the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) against a mining company for alleged damages to a dam at the Ryerson Station State Park...

Feedback on New Jersey Attempt to Ban Marcellus Waste

Posted on June 18, 2012
In my last posting, I raised some questions about whether it would be legitimate for Pennsylvania lawmakers to reciprocate if New Jersey proceeds to ban Marcellus wastewater or drill cuttings from entering the Garden State.   In addition to the examples I provided, one of our readers pointed out an even more obvious question raised by NJ trying to ban the importation of Marcellus Waste...

New Jersey Assembly Committee Votes to Ban Marcellus Waste

Posted on June 15, 2012
An article in the Harrisburg Patriot News this morning noted that the Environment Committee of the New Jersey State Assembly voted 5-1 to prohibit any facility in the state from receiving Marcellus waste material, including frac water and drill cuttings...

Pitt Releases Study on Marcellus Shale Supply Chain

Posted on June 08, 2012
The University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Business has just released a report titled Understanding the Marcellus Shale Supply Chain.   The report is a must read for small businesses trying to break into the Marcellus Shale industry...

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