Yesterday, a group of environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, Puget Soundkeeper, Columbia Riverkeeper and others, sent a 60-day notice letter to Burlington Northern, Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, Ambre Energy, Cloud Peak Energy, Global Mining Holding Co., FirstEnergy Corporation, and TransAlta USA, alleging violations of the Clean Water Act related to alleged discharges of
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Manufacturers: A New Class of Liability for Cleanup Statutory Schemes?
By Doug Steding on
Most people familiar with state cleanup laws or the federal counterpart, CERCLA, are familiar with four general classes of liable parties:
1) Owners or operators of contaminated facilities;
2) Past owners or operators of facilities at the time of release or disposal of hazardous substances;
3) Parties that arranged for disposal of hazardous substances at…
Coal Exports from Washington: NEPA/SEPA Scoping Begins for the Millennium Coal Export Terminal
By Doug Steding on
On Tuesday, the Washington Department of Ecology announced an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to jointly oversee the preparation of an environmental impact statement (“EIS”) for Millenium Coal’s proposal to develop a coal export terminal at the site of a former aluminum smelter in Longview, Washington. This MOU comes on the heels…
Washington Begins the Process of Updating its Water Quality Criteria for Toxics
By Doug Steding on
I’ve written a fair amount on the issue of fish consumption in Washington, including discussions of the technical issues, speculation about possible impacts of this effort, and the appropriateness of addressing persistent bioaccumulative contaminants within this regulatory framework.
On September 13th, Ecology announced it is commencing the long-anticipated formal process of updating…