Environmental Law Matters

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation ("TDEC") is soliciting comments on its new Antidegradation Guidance Document. The document, dated July 19, 2016, was made public January 5, 2016. TDEC is requesting comments by February 17, 2016. The Guidance Document was prepared by a Massachusetts company, Industrial Economics, Incorporated.

The Guidance Document is not developed or promulgated by the Board of Water Quality, Oil and Gas ("Board"), which is the entity charged with establishing rules governing water quality standards. The Board promulgated the ...

Today, the State of Tennessee joined in one of the many lawsuits filed by States challenging the EPA and Corps of Engineers Final Rule that defines of Waters of the United States under the federal Clean Water Act. See prior blog post on July 2, 2015. The federal agencies stated in their Final Rule that they had actually narrowed the definition but most agricultural and industry groups believe the Final Rule will do the opposite. Tennessee joined the lawsuit already filed in the United States District Court of Ohio by the States of Ohio and Michigan. Tennessee's foray into the litigation ...

The Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ("Corps") published their Final Rule defining "waters of the United States" on June 29, 2015. The rule becomes effective on August 28, 2015. The rule was pre-published on May 27, 2015 by EPA and the Corps (the "Agencies"), and it has already received unprecedented attention. The Clean Water Act's jurisdiction relates to "navigable waters" which is defined by Congress only as "Waters of the United States or the territorial seas." This vague definition has created substantial confusion to ...

Last December, EPA announced its final rule regarding the management of coal combustion residuals ("CCR" a/k/a "coal ash"). This came several years after initial alternative proposals were offered for public comment, and the Agency's subsequent review of over 450,000 written comments. The announcement reflected a decision to regulate CCR as a non-hazardous waste under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA"). Such a classification had been supported by the power industry and industry groups and businesses that use coal ash in manufacturing and ...