Hazardous Substances Remediation
U.S. EPA Finalizes Rule Requiring Facility Response Plans for Hazardous Substance Discharges
On March 28, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule requiring certain onshore facilities to prepare Facility Response Plans (FRPs) for the worst-case discharges of Clean Water Act (CWA) hazardous substances. FRPs are due to EPA by June 1, 2027, or prior to the start of operations for facilities constructed after…
2023 Update on Federal and New York City Lead-Based Paint Laws
This year has seen notable changes and clarifications to Federal and New York City lead-based paint standards for residential properties. These provisions relate to lead paint investigations, testing, remediation, and penalties that may impact compliance planning for building owners and managers. Because these legal changes were adopted after SPR’s May 4, 2023 webinar on the…
EPA Publishes Proposed Rule Banning TCE
On October 31, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to ban all manufacturing and use of trichloroethylene (TCE) under Section 6(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) (15 U.S.C. 2605(a)). TCE is a highly toxic and carcinogenic chemical that has historically been used in numerous industrial, commercial and consumer applications,…
EPA Broadens Efforts to Address PFAS Contamination in Water Bodies
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s efforts to address contamination by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) continue to rapidly evolve. Although federal efforts were initially focused on PFAS in drinking water, EPA has recently begun to address PFAS in a wider variety of sources, including wastewater and stormwater. In April of this year, EPA brought its…
DEC Publishes Final Revisions to Solid Waste Management Regulations
Almost five years after publishing the first substantial revisions to its solid waste management regulations, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) published a new set of final revisions to the regulations, which became effective on July 22, 2023. DEC’s solid waste management regulations (the Part 360 Regulations) govern the management of solid…
NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation Proposes New Enforcement Rules
In September 2022, the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) published draft rules proposing to establish OER’s authority to commence enforcement actions against parties who fail to comply with OER-approved Site Management Plans (SMPs). The proposed rules would enable OER to issue summonses returnable before the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, and seek…
