- Posts by Michael P. Murphy
PartnerMichael P. Murphy focuses his practice in the area of environmental law, including litigating enforcement matters before state and federal courts and administrative agencies, assisting clients with environmental compliance ...
Summarizes a recent ruling by an Illinois appellate court upholding the Illinois Pollution Control Board's rules governing coal ash ponds (35 Ill. Adm. Code 845).
Discusses published agenda proposing changes to Illinois EPA AERs, including elimination of Illinois’ Emissions Reduction Market System
Summarizes the Illinois Pollution Control Board’s new Time-Limited Water Quality Standard for chloride
Summarizes key environmental justice aims of 2021 Executive Order on Climate Crisis: philosophy, new Councils, added enforcement duties and emphases
Illinois’ EPA issued health advisories for PFAS. U.S. EPA under Biden plans to prioritize regulating PFAS
On September 9, 2019, Midwest Generation, LLC (“MWG”) asked the Illinois Pollution Control Board (“Board”) to reconsider its interim order of June 20, 2019, in the enforcement case of Sierra Club v. Midwest Generation, LLC (docketed as PCB 13-15). That decision may have far-reaching implications for any party that has entered into an environmental compliance or remediation agreement with regulators incorporating Groundwater Management Zones (“GMZs”). According to MWG, the Board misconstrued the Illinois Environmental Protection Act and operative ...
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“Agency”) issued guidance on April 15, 2019, “clarifying” that releases of pollutants from point sources to groundwater are not subject to the Clean Water Act’s permitting requirements. The Agency, however, announced that its interpretation only applies to states outside the Fourth and Ninth Circuits, because those Courts of Appeal have ruled exactly the opposite on this issue. Upstate Forever v. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., 887 F.3d 637 (4th Cir. 2018) (“Kinder Morgan”); Hawai'i Wildlife Fund v ...