The 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2822) is divided into several divisions, reflecting separate appropriations acts. A cursory reading of this massive legislation discloses a few environmental and regulatory provisions of interest: Almost all of these appropriations bills included language specifically forbidding the use of federal funds by the agencies…
In IRS Provides Additional Guidance on Treatment of Same-Sex Marriages under Benefit Plans, Pillsbury partner Peter Hunt and senior law clerk Benjamin Asch discuss the IRS’s guidance in IRS 2015-86, in which provides guidance to sponsors and administrators of employee benefit plans regarding the application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s…
On Friday, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia declined to entertain EPA’s argument that it could dictate venue for review of its decision by including within the decision that it would have “nationwide scope or effect.” Pursuant to Section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, venue over challenges to EPA actions lie exclusively…
In their alert “Reverse CEQA” Reversed, California Supreme Court Rejects CEQA Analysis of Impacts of the Environment on the Project, Pillsbury attorney David Farabee discusses the California Supreme Court’s recent rejection of a requirement of so-called “reverse CEQA” analysis, concluding that “CEQA does not generally require an agency to consider…
For several years, EPA has encouraged the regulated community to audit their facilities for compliance with environmental laws, and to self-disclose to EPA any violations noted in the audit to obtain reductions to or even eliminate altogether civil penalties if the report is made on a timely basis and demonstrates…
Public and private contractors take note of new law in Nevada that limits retainage for both public and private works contracts to five percent. Previously, for public works contracts, a public body undertaking a public work was permitted to withhold as a retainage at least five percent from progress payments made to a contractor…
In New Legislation Threatens to Further Erode Market Share of Non-Trade Union Contractors in California, Pillsbury attorneys Chris Rodriguez, Rob James, John Heisse, Andrew Bluth, and Marissa O’Connor discuss two new laws that go into effect in January 2016 that are expected to change the face of various public and…
For contractors who often subject to one or more of federal environmental laws or regulations, below is a brief report on some the significant environmental law and administrative cases decided since late June of 2015 by jurisdiction: District of Columbia Energy Future Coalition, et al. v. EPA, et al., 793 F.3d…
Owners of some farms subject to EPA’s Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures (SPCC) Regulation will be relieved to hear that some relief from the rigid requirements is here. EPA’s SPCC Regulation applies to nearly everyone—including farms—who manages “oil” in regulated quantities in locations where, due to the location of the oil storage…
Everyone potentially exposed to civil penalties available under the Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(7), should familiarize themselves with the eight factors a court will consider when deciding what penalty should be assessed. In the case known as “Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of…