As discussed in one of our earlier blogs, back in March 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its controversial Enforcement Policy outlining certain situations where EPA would not pursue enforcement actions for specific instances of noncompliance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the suspended obligations related to routine monitoring and
environmental compliance
COVID-19 Alert – NYSDEC Guidance on “Essential” Remediation and Brownfields Cleanup Activities
The regulated community received some clarity from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) this week on whether activities to respond to, investigate, and remediate contamination are “essential” in the wake of recent Executive Orders restricting the operation of non-essential businesses and construction work in New York State.
In the guidance, NYSDEC…
U.S. EPA Issues Enforcement Discretion Guidance as COVID-19 Challenges the Regulated Community
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it will temporarily exercise enforcement discretion, retroactive to March 13, 2020, in response to certain facility and operational non-compliance situations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
EPA’s policy applies to noncompliance situations that generally fall in the realm of routine monitoring and reporting; settlement agreement and consent…
NJDEP Adopts Waiver Rule – Waiver of Strict Compliance with NJDEP Rules Now a Possibility
On March 8, 2012, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announced the adoption of its “Waiver Rule.” As set forth in the NJDEP’s press release “strict compliance with rules can sometimes produce unreasonable, unfair or unintended results that may actually undermine, rather than advance, the” goal of the underlying environmental law. The Waiver Rule…