Environmental Law & Litigation 101 for Electric Utilities

June 11, 2021 | Online ::

0621-environmental-law

This one-day course will help you identify the nine different environmental legal areas of interest for electric utilities and how recent or proposed regulatory changes in those interest areas may affect your project or daily activity. These topic areas affect a wide range of disciplines and personnel within a utility and will be a satisfying overview of up-to-date changes and status of rules affecting each topic area. The areas discussed as part of this course are: the Clean Air Act, Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Regulation, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species, Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, Spill and Release Notifications, Agency Enforcement, Environmental Tort Litigation and Environmental Citizen Suits, and Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know and Release Notification.

Those last three topics are of interest to individuals as they can impact all the other areas discussed. Agency enforcement will address the regulatory and statutory enforcement authority of EPA and DOJ of the various rules while the Tort Ligation and Citizen Suits will review what a utility should know in these situations and wrapping up the day, the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know section covers what a utility needs to know in regards to the reporting and sharing of information regarding chemicals and toxic substances on their sites.

Attendees to this course will walk away with a better understanding of the issues and challenges within these nine environmental law areas as they apply to electric utilities and their operations.

Learning Outcomes         

• Review the history and current components of the Clean Air Act
• Discuss greenhouse gas regulation in the United States and the correlation to climate change
• Detail the various components that make up the Clean Water Act and their effect on electricity production
• Review the updated Endangered Species Act and in-progress revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act
• Engage in a review of solid and hazardous waste management issues for utilities
• Cover in detail the spill and release reporting requirements for utilities under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
• Address the regulatory and statutory enforcement authority of the EPA and DOJ in these matters
• Discuss claims insights and defense opportunities within Environmental Tort Litigation and Environmental Citizen Suits
• Review the scope of and critical information within the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know (EPCRA)

Friday, June 11, 2021 : Central Time

9:20 – 10:05 a.m. :: Clean Air Act Overview

With the new administration’s Executive Orders announcing the replacement of a host of EGU-related air quality rules, we are likely to see significant regulatory activity on everything from Ozone Transport and Regional Haze to Air Toxics to CCRs and, yes, Carbon Dioxide.  This presentation will provide overviews to include a recap of the current state of play, the likely first regulatory moves we will see (or have already seen), and informed predictions of how things will play out at EPA, in the states and in the courts. 

10:05 – 10:50 a.m. :: Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Regulation (GHG)

This presentation will include an evaluation of both the legal state of play of the ACE Rule and its anticipated replacement, as well as evolving state policies that relate to the regulatory treatment of carbon dioxide emissions and, once captured, the utilization and storage of carbon dioxide.

10:50 – 11:00 a.m. :: Morning Break

11:00 – 11:45 a.m. :: Clean Water Act

This presentation will explain  the various components that make up the Clean Water Act and what utilities should know. Topics covered will be: NPDES permitting, CWA section 401 certification, NWP 12 issues, ELGs, and Citizen Suits and enforcement issues.

11:45 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. :: National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species

This discussion will describe the key aspects of NEPA and the Endangered Species Act.  The Endangered Species Act regulations were recently updated and revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act are underway, and this session will cover these changes and review the implications for utility projects and permitting.  This session also will discuss recent court decisions relating to ESA and NEPA requirements for utility projects, and specifically pipelines.

12:20 – 1:00 p.m. :: Lunch Break

1:00 – 1:45 p.m. :: Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

This discussion will cover a wide scope of topics within solid and hazardous waste management to include: scope of RCRA, differences from CERCLA, solid wastes, hazardous wastes, defining solid and hazardous wastes, requirements for hazardous waste management, treatment, storage and disposal requirements and RCRA citizen suits.  We will also discuss emerging legal issues related to the designation of PFAS chemicals as a RCRA hazardous waste and/or CERCLA hazardous substance, and potential implications for site cleanups and enforcement of such a designation.

1:45 – 2:20 p.m. :: TSCA Spill and Release Notifications

This presentation will cover spill and release reporting requirements for utilities under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). We will discuss what releases these requirements apply to, to what agencies the information should be reported, and how TSCA PCB cleanup requirements interplay with remediation requirements and standards under other environmental laws.

2:20 – 2:30 p.m. :: Afternoon Break

2:30 – 3:00 p.m. :: Agency Enforcement: Law and Strategies

This discussion will be addressing the regulatory and statutory enforcement authority of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ),  the ability to request information and the related duties to respond, the various types of enforcement actions (administrative, civil, and criminal) and strategies in responding to each, and the fines and penalties associated with the enforcement authorities.

3:00 – 3:45 p.m. :: Environmental Tort Litigation and Environmental Citizen Suits: Claims and Defenses

We will review and discuss an overview of civil litigation, torts, nuisance, negligence, trespass, strict liability, causation, experts, Citizen Suits, class actions and mass torts and damages and injunctive relief

3:45 – 4:20 p.m. :: Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know (EPCRA) and Release Notification

This discussion will review the scope of EPCRA while covering the following topics: EPA notification requirements, release reporting and notification, 15-minute rule, EPCRA enforcement, state requirements, permit notifications and EPCRA best practices

4:20 – 4:30 p.m. :: Wrap Up

• Emily C.  Gerhardt, Senior Counsel, Environmental Policy and Litigation, Southern Company (Invited)

• Alexandra Hamilton, Associate, Hunton Andrews Kurth

• Joshua R. More, Partner, Deputy Practice Group Co-Leader – Environmental, Schiff Hardin LLP

• Michael J. Nasi, Partner – Environmental & Legislative Practice Group, Jackson Walker L.L.P.

• Gregory Wall, Counsel, Hunton Andrews Kurth

• Andrea W. Wortzel, Partner, Troutman Sanders

We will be using Microsoft Teams to facilitate your participation in the upcoming event. You do not need to have an existing Teams account in order to participate in the broadcast – the course will play in your browser and you will have the option of using a microphone to speak with the room and ask questions, or type any questions in via the chat window and our on-site representative will relay your question to the instructor.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: After November 30 you will not be able to join a Teams meeting using Internet Explorer 11. Microsoft recommends downloading and installing the Teams app if possible. You may also use the Edge browser or Chrome.
• You will receive a meeting invitation will include a link to join the meeting.
• Separate meeting invitations will be sent for the morning and afternoon sessions of the course.
  • You will need to join the appropriate meeting at the appropriate time.
• If you are using a microphone, please ensure that it is muted until such time as you need to ask a question.
• The remote meeting connection will be open approximately 30 minutes before the start of the course. We encourage you to connect as early as possible in case you experience any unforeseen problems.

REGISTER NOW FOR THIS EVENT:

Environmental Law & Litigation 101 for Electric Utilities

June 11, 2021 | Online

Your registration may be transferred to a member of your organization up to 24 hours in advance of the event. Cancellations must be received on or before May 07, 2021 in order to be refunded and will be subject to a US $195.00 processing fee per registrant. No refunds will be made after this date. Cancellations received after this date will create a credit of the tuition (less processing fee) good toward any other EUCI event. This credit will be good for six months from the cancellation date. In the event of non-attendance, all registration fees will be forfeited. In case of conference cancellation, EUCIs liability is limited to refund of the event registration fee only. For more information regarding administrative policies, such as complaints and refunds, please contact our offices at 303-770-8800

EUCI is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is recognized internationally as a standard development organization and accrediting body that promotes quality of continuing education and training.

EUCI is authorized by IACET to offer 0.6 CEUs for this event.

Requirements for Successful Completion of Program

Participants must log in and be in attendance for the entirety of the course to be eligible for continuing education credit.

Instructional Methods

Case studies, PowerPoint presentations, and group discussion will be used in this event.