89 FR 19952
EPA proposed to revise regulations that allow for the open burning and detonation (OB/OD) of waste explosives by reducing OB/OD of waste explosives and increasing control of air emissions.
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89 FR 19602
United States v. Ameren Corp., No. 1:24-cv-00047 (E.D. Mo. Mar. 12, 2024). Under a proposed consent decree, settling CERCLA defendants must pay $6,074,739 and certain settling federal agencies must pay a further $600,798 for costs the United States incurred responding to releases of hazardous substances at the Missouri Electric Works Superfund site in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
89 FR 19358
United States v. General Recycling of Washington, LLC, No. 2:24-cv-00329 (W.D. Wash. Mar. 12, 2024). Under a proposed consent decree, settling CERCLA, CWA, and OPA defendants must construct, monitor, and maintain a habitat restoration project and pay a total of $360,558.12 for assessment costs in connection with natural resource damages caused by releases of hazardous substances and discharges of oil from facilities located near the Lower Duwamish River.
89 FR 18808
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized minor technical amendments to the test procedures for heavy-duty engines and vehicles regarding the certification procedures for fuel efficiency standards and related requirements.
89 FR 18669
United States v. Crowley Marine Services, Inc., No. 2:24-cv-00307 (W.D. Wash. Mar. 7, 2024). Under a proposed consent decree, settling CERCLA, CWA, and OPA defendants must purchase credits in a habitat restoration project constructed along the Lower Duwamish River, pay a total of $210,000 for natural resource damages, and pay $64,325.63 to reimburse assessment costs in connection with natural resource damages caused by releases of hazardous substances and discharges of oil from facilities located along and near the river.
89 FR 18626
DOE notified interested parties of its intent to launch a Voluntary Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchasing Challenge.
89 FR 15868
EPA announced the availability of and seeks comment on a draft document titled “EPA Criteria for Product Category Rules to Support the Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials.”
Will Risk Aversion at the NRC Avert the Energy Transition?
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) both have long-standing risk regulation regimes. To promote deployment of advanced nuclear reactors, Congress directed the NRC to reform its licensing regulations to increase the use of risk-informed, performance-based, and technology-neutral approaches. However, the NRC has doubled down on its traditional risk-management strategies, which require eliminating even the most remote and improbable risks, and which fail to account for the benefits of advanced reactors.
Avoiding Performative Climate Justice
Today's climate impacts and those on the horizon increasingly infuse mitigation and adaptation efforts with urgency, causing policymakers to contemplate or issue formal declarations of a climate emergency and to streamline review processes to aid rapid development of mitigation and adaptation infrastructure and technology. Yet, this urgency and need have the potential to create injustice and sideline or overwhelm efforts to reduce existing injustice.
The Tyranny of Baselines
Many environmental law paradigms focus on fixed points. Sometimes, the fixed points are in the past, and environmental laws call upon us to look at a baseline or previous state of nature and compare our actions against it. Other approaches call for us to consider an ideal state and develop strategies regarding how to reach it. In a 4° Celsius world, both strategies fail. Adhering to baselines is meaningless and striving for goals that are unachievable may lead to paralysis.