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editorial_affiliates
Our Editorial and News Affiliates
Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
Sive Paget & Riesel is a law firm located in New York that is a leader in the field of environmental law and litigation. The firm has been a pioneer in environmental law for over forty years and continues to be an industry leader in Environmental Law, Commercial and Employment Litigation, Development & Land Use, and Municipal Law. For the past six years, SPR has been ranked the #1 Environmental Law Firm in New York by an independent ratings organization.
The SPR Environmental Law Blog contains news & updates concerning significant legal developments in the field of environmental law.
Please visit the blog here: http://blog.sprlaw.com
Website: http://www.sprlaw.com
Contact:
Ashley S. Miller
SIVE PAGET & RIESEL, P.C.
460 Park Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10022
P: 212 421-2150
F: 212 421-1891
amiller(at)sprlaw.com
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/sprlaw
New Federal Handbook Guides Coordination of Environmental, Historic Preservation Review
March 27, 2013 08:26 AM - Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
Earlier this month, the Council on Environmental Quality ("CEQ") and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation ("ACHP") published a new handbook governing the coordination of project review under the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act ("Section 106"). Drawing from existing rules and guidance from both agencies, the Handbook for Integrating NEPA and Section 106 Reviews (the "Handbook") summarizes regulatory requirements; provides checklists and flow-charts to assist project sponsors and reviewing agencies; and emphasizes opportunities to synchronize and streamline review under both statutes.
Recent Supreme Court Decision May Affect Environmental Standing
March 13, 2013 09:05 AM - Devin McDougall, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
A recent decision by the United States Supreme Court has raised questions about the scope of plaintiffs' standing to bring suit in federal court, a critical issue for environmental litigants. Federal courts have long recognized that certain types of environmental harms can form the basis of standing under Article III of the United States Constitution, which requires plaintiffs to establish an "actual or imminent" injury that is "fairly traceable" to the challenged conduct and "likely to be redressed" by a favorable decision.
EPA Finalizes Vapor Intrusion Regulations
January 23, 2013 03:38 PM - Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") recently finalized the first of several pending guidance documents and regulations governing the evaluation and mitigation of vapor intrusion at contaminated sites, a growing area of focus that has thus far been regulated primarily on the state level. EPA’s new guidance requires regional EPA offices to address vapor intrusion risks during the five-year reviews for most completed Superfund cleanups.
Hurricane Sandy Highlights Stormwater Management, New Industrial Discharge Permit
November 5, 2012 04:28 PM - Michael Bogin, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy highlights why coastal flooding and stormwater control can be expected to receive increased regulatory attention. As the New York metropolitan area struggles to regain its footing, regulators can be expected to take a closer look at plans to manage industrial stormwater runoff, which can carry chemicals, oil, and other pollutants. In fact, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has already made industrial stormwater runoff a high priority.
Cross State Air Pollution Rule is Overturned by Court
August 24, 2012 07:08 AM - Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
Four years after overturning a major Environmental Protection Agency air pollution rule as inconsistent with the Clean Air Act, this week the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the program that EPA had tailored to take its place, ruling that the replacement rule "exceeds the agency's statutory authority" and imposes "impossible" burdens upon covered states. As a result, hundreds of power plants in 28 states are once again subject to the very rule the same court rejected in 2008. The regulations in question implement the Clean Air Act’s "good neighbor" provisions, which prohibit states from significantly contributing to unsafe levels of air pollution, or interfering with Clean Air Act compliance, in downwind states. In 2005, EPA finalized the Clean Air Interstate Rule, establishing an emissions trading program for Eastern and Midwestern power plants aimed at reducing interstate air pollution transport.
New York Passes Sewage Pollution Right-to-Know Act
August 23, 2012 08:33 AM - Ed Roggenkamp, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
On August 9th, New York State passed the "Sewage Pollution Right-to-Know Act", which requires the operators of publicly owned sewer systems or sewage treatment plants to notify regulators and the public of discharges of untreated sewage or partially treated sewage. This bill adds to existing federal and state spill reporting requirements for sewage treatment plants.
RGGI Update: Regional Cap-and-Trade Program Survives New York Challenge But Faces Others
July 13, 2012 01:57 PM - Maggie Macdonald , Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) — a cap-and-trade program designed to limit power plant emissions in 10 Northeastern states — has been under close scrutiny in recent months as a result of lawsuits in New Jersey and New York, and legislation in New Hampshire. Each of these developments demonstrates the polarization and controversy that continue to surround greenhouse gas regulation, and RGGI in particular, years after the regional trading program first took effect.
D.C. Circuit Upholds EPA's Climate Change Regulations
June 28, 2012 08:23 AM - Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
The nation's first limits on greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions survived a major legal challenge yesterday, as the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals upheld two Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") climate change regulations on the merits and dismissed challenges to two others for lack of standing. The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel (which included one of the Court's most conservative members) resolved consolidated lawsuits filed by states, industry trade associations, and other opponents of the embattled climate regulations.
EPA Proposes Carbon Dioxide Emissions Standards for New Fossil Fuel Power Plants
April 9, 2012 07:47 AM - Vicki Shiah, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
On March 27, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule limiting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new power plants fired by fossil fuels such as coal or natural gas. The rule applies to new fossil fuel-fired electric utility generating units in the continental United States; it does not apply to existing units or new transitional units that already have received preconstruction air emission permits and that start construction within 12 months of the proposed rule’s publication in the Federal Register.
D.C. Circuit Hears Challenges to EPA Climate Regulations
March 5, 2012 10:45 AM - Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C.
On February 28 and 29, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a series of challenges to the [EPA's] regulation of [GHGs] under the Clean Air Act, far-reaching litigation spanning dozens of parties and at least four separate rules. Decisions from the panel of Judges David Sentelle, David Tatel and Janice Rogers Brown are expected later this year. The rare, two-day argument began with a challenge to EPA's December 7, 2009 finding that emissions of six GHGs, including carbon dioxide, "may reasonably be anticipated both to endanger public health and to endanger public welfare." This "endangerment finding" is the cornerstone of all subsequent action by EPA.