SMG POV


Fingers Crossed that the Senate TSCA Reform Bill Could Pass This Year



Sarah Carty

The authors of the TSCA reform bill (S 697) are confident that it will hit the Senate floor this year and could be on the president’s desk by the end of the year. The House overwhelmingly approved its own TSCA bill in June of this year. However, in the Senate there has been an absence […]


The Rise of Consent Decrees



Josiah Frey

On Thursday, August 6th , 2015, EPA announced that Arch Coal, Inc. will enter into a Consent Decree for Clean Water Act violations.  Arch Coal is the latest example of EPA levying Consent Decrees as a preferred enforcement tool in recent years.  EPA’s website shows that it has enforced Consent Decrees and levied multi-million dollar […]


Start Ups, Shut Downs and Upsets



Sara Smith

On June 12, 2015, EPA published a final rule (80 Fed. Reg. 33839) concluding that the State Implementation Plan (SIP) of many states, including Kentucky, is deficient due to their defenses for excess emissions during startup, shutdown, and malfunction.  The rule, entitled “State Implementation Plans: Response to Petition for Rulemaking; Restatement and Update of EPA’s […]


New Regulations and Programs – Making Sense of It All



Sara Smith

As we have discussed frequently, in these pages and elsewhere, the adoption of new programs and regulations seems to be continuing to increase, both in pace and number and in complexity and cost.  As a limited example, just recently we have seen the Water of the US rule finalized; we are about to see a […]


Tennessee Tests a New Silt Fence Product



Daniel Hardin, P.E.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has conducted tests over an eight month period on the performance of a new silt fence product. Silt-Saver Inc. is the name of the company that produces the Staged Release Silt Fence (SRSF).  The study site was along interstate I-65 near Franklin, TN.  Testing was completed by the end of […]

TAGS: