Featured Publications

Labor, Employment and Benefits: Alert - February 6, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court recently denied an employer’s request for review of a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which held that tipped employees spending more than 20 percent of their time performing related but non-tipped duties must be paid the full minimum wage for that time, without the tip credit.

More

Construction: Alert - January 30, 2012

For almost 50 years, lessors have had the ability to limit their liability for liens that arose from improvements to the leasehold made by a lessee. However, in the most recent legislative session, the Florida Legislature enacted revisions to Florida Statute § 713.10 that provide a potential pitfall for lessors by inserting a provision that may allow a contractor to lien the lessor's interest even where there is a recorded document advising of the limitation of liens.

More

Search Our Library

Search

  • Print Article
  • Email this page to a friend
  • Print Newsletter / Alert
Environment
Newsletter - Third Quarter 1999
 
In this Issue...
No Records Found
Ozone and PM 2.5 Air Standards
 
 September 1, 1999
 

As previously reported, on May 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that EPA exceeded its delegated authority in 1997 when it promulgated revised ozone and particulate matter (PM) air quality standards under section 104 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The court held that EPA failed to adequately justify or explain why the particular protection levels reflected in the standards were set and remanded the standards to EPA.

The court vacated the revisions to the PM-10 standard, but not the new eight-hour ozone standard, and on June 18, decided not to vacate the PM 2.5 standard. The court did not vacate the ozone and PM 2.5 standards because states are not required to implement those standards until after 2000, so they cannot be enforced. The court has also stayed State Implementation Plan (SIP) deadlines for implementing the remanded standards. On June 28, the Department of Justice and EPA filed a petition for rehearing of the appellate court's decision.

In related action, on April 30, EPA took final action on Section 126 petitions filed by eight Northeastern states that seek to mitigate the transport of nitrogen oxides (NOx) across state boundaries. The section 126 petitions claim that NOx transported across state lines prevented the states from attaining the federal ozone standards (NOx are primary precursors of ground-level ozone). The April 30 action called for implementation of NOx controls under section 126 of the CAA. On May 25, the appellate court delayed implementation of EPA's September 1998 "NOx SIP call," which imposed a September 1999 deadline for affected states to submit SIPs to reduce NOx and ozone transport.

On June 24, EPA stayed the effective date of the April 30 final determination and issued an interim rule in order to allow EPA time to develop and propose stand-alone regulations for controlling NOx emissions in 12 Midwestern states and the District of Columbia, which were determined to be contributing to ozone violations in the eight Northeastern states. The April 30 rule determined that the following states were contributing to ozone violations in the eight Northeastern states that filed petitions: Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Under the new interim rule, these jurisdictions must implement necessary controls by 2003 that will reduce NOx emissions under the existing one-hour ozone standard.

The temporary stay of the April 30 determination is effective from July 26 to November 30, 1999.

Related Practices