The British government has adopted stringent measures to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus effective from 23 March 2020[1], including a nationwide lockdown, closure of non-essential shops and public venues and mandatory social distancing. The general rule is that people should stay at home, but workers can travel to and from work if they cannot perform their work from home[2] ...
On March 26, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a temporary policy on its enforcement of environmental obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many facilities are experiencing unexpected constraints arising from the pandemic, including limited availability of key staff, contractors, and laboratories ...
On March 26, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a temporary policy on its enforcement of environmental obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many facilities are experiencing unexpected constraints arising from the pandemic, including limited availability of key staff, contractors, and laboratories ...
The Ministry of the Interior issued Communication 015 of 2020, through which the Ministry set made recommendations for the prevention, containment, and mitigation of the coronavirus COVID19 in ethnic groups: indigenous peoples, the NARP communities (Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizales, and Palenqueras) and the PROM people ...
Superintendence of Environment orders the suspension of terms and enforces virtual channels in the context of Covid-19 The Superintendence of Environment has suspended all of sanctioning proceedings and implemented virtual channels to receive consultations, complaints and replace its reception office ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every sector of the economy in multiple ways. For businesses whose operations are subject to environmental requirements, including waste management, storage, and disposal laws, these coronavirus-related disruptions may impact a facility’s ability to comply with mandatory reporting and submission deadlines or waste storage time limits ...
On March 19, 2020 the Superintendence of Environment (“SOE”) issued the Exempt Resolution No. 497 (“Res. 497”), which is referred to a number of general instructions within the sanitary context caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19). I. Purpose. Carry out a permanent monitoring of the status of projects or activities and of the compliance with their applicable obligations given the current sanitary context. II. Recipients ...
Federal and state occupational safety and health regulations require employers to record and report certain work-related injuries and serious illnesses, including work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations. While Cal/OSHA has stated that the common cold or flu are exempt from reporting and recording requirements, even if the employee became ill at work, this exemption does not apply to COVID-19 ...
In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) have issued guidance for employers. The guidelines provide guidance on how to determine if COVID-19 is a hazard in the workplace and employer obligations. Is COVID-19 a Workplace Hazard? Employers should determine if COVID-19 infection is a hazard in their workplace ...
Companies, municipalities, and water systems must now report their per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) use to the federal government. A new federal law requires facilities using 100 pounds per year of a listed PFAS compound to self-report to the national Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). Monitoring and reporting requirements are often prerequisites to cleanup and enforcement, and this collection of data may be a bellwether for the future regulation of PFAS ...
On January 23, 2020, Law No. 21,202, which modifies various legal bodies in order to protect urban wetlands, entered into force with its publication in the Official Gazette. Object The Law seeks to protect urban wetlands declared by the Ministry of the Environment, either ex officio or at the request of the respective municipality ...
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in late February that it's delaying enforcement of certain requirements set forth in its Interim Final Rule (IFR) on the Domestic Hemp Production Program (84 FR 58522) under certain circumstances until October 31, 2021, or until publication of the final rule on such hemp production program, whichever occurs first ...
Long considered “emerging contaminants,” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have now emerged. And water agencies throughout California must take heed. As we last reported, in November 2017, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) added two widely used PFAS compounds to the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause reproductive toxicity: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) ...
In another step in President Trump's ongoing efforts to relax environmental restrictions impacting economic development, on January 10, 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality published its proposed rulemaking to update its regulations for implementing procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") ("Proposed Rule"). The deadline for filing comments on the Proposed Rule is March 10, 2020 ...
The Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has recently issued two technical advisories with helpful California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidance on two prominent California land use topics. The first advisory outlines potential CEQA exemptions for immediate-term disaster recovery, with the goal of helping communities and public agencies prepare their climate change adaptation and resilience strategies ...
The Minister of the Environment and Forestry (MOEF) has issued Regulation No. P.38/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/7/2019 on The Types of Planned Businesses and/or Activities Plans which Require an Environmental Impact Analysis (Reg 38/2019), which came into effect on 5 September 2019. Reg 38/2019 replaces Regulation No. 05 of 2012 on the same matter ...
On Nov. 20, 2019, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed the Risk Management Program Reconsideration Rule (Reconsideration Rule), which finalized changes to the 2017 Risk Management Program Amendments. The Reconsideration Rule reflects EPA’s reconsideration of its 2017 Amendments based on objections from three petitions and based on its own review. The Reconsideration Rule was effective on Dec ...
With a new year comes changes. And one change is a law tying business license applications to California's water quality laws. Beginning January 1, 2020, Senate Bill 205 will require that certain applicants for either a new business license or a renewal from cities or counties show that they are complying with the federal Clean Water Act and California's Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act ...
Over the past years, the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/ Head of the National Land Agency (“Minister”) has issued several regulations on location permits due to the progressive system established by the government for the efficiency of investments and licensing. After the Online Single Submission (“OSS”) system became applicable, the Minister issued Regulation No ...
On Oct. 31, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its highly anticipated interim final rules, establishing the USDA Domestic Hemp Production Program to be administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) ...
Amid the noise, vitriol and spectacle, the real debate that we need to have about climate change has been drowned out. In the past few weeks, I have followed with much interest a Swedish child activist’s barely concealed yearning for the Nobel Peace Prize. Sadly, Greta Thunberg, famous for her tirades on climate change, did not win the award, despite her widely watched zero-emission Atlantic crossing in a hydro- and solar-powered yacht to address the UN General Assembly ...
