New Environmental Appeals Board Permit Appeal Procedures Take Effect Sept. 21, 2020

On Aug. 21, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Final Rule, Streamlining Procedures for Permit Appeals, in the Federal Register (85 Fed. Reg. 51,650), which becomes effective Sept. 21 for all applicable appeals filed thereafter. This follows EPA's proposal for a more expansive rule, Modernizing the Administrative Exhaustion Requirement for Permitting Decisions and Streamlining Procedures for Permit Appeals, published on Dec. 3, 2019 (84 Fed. Reg. 66,084). The rulemaking addresses procedural rules of the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), which oversees administrative appeals of certain permits where EPA is the permit-granting authority under the federal Clean Water Act National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), Safe Drinking Water Act Underground Injection Control (UIC) program, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and certain permitting decisions under the Clean Air Act (CAA).