EPA Guide May Complicate Permitting Under Rights Law, Lawyer Warns

As EPA weighs comments on its landmark new guidance on how environmental justice (EJ) considerations can be addressed in permits, an industry lawyer is warning that the measure exceeds the agency’s legal authorities under the civil rights law and may complicate the permitting process for both states and industry. Karen Bennett, an attorney at Lewis Brisbois, warns that EPA’s new guidance, laid out in a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) document that the agency released in August, imposes “broad environmental justice...