Regulacje i polityka gospodarcza · 3.12.2019

Modernizing the Administrative Exhaustion Requirement for Permitting Decisions and Streamlining Procedures for Permit Appeals

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes a procedural rule intended to streamline and modernize part of the Agency's permitting process by creating a new, time-limited alternative dispute resolution process (ADR process) as a precondition to judicial review. Under this proposal, the parties in the ADR process may agree by unanimous consent to either extend the ADR process or proceed with an appeal before the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). If the parties don't agree to proceed with either the ADR process or an EAB appeal, the permit would become final and could be challenged in federal court. EPA also proposes to amend the current appeal process to clarify the scope and standard of EAB review, remove a provision authorizing participation in appeals by amicus curiae, and eliminate the EAB's authority to review Regional permit decisions on its own initiative, even absent an appeal. To promote internal efficiencies, EPA also proposes to establish a 60-day deadline for the EAB to issue a final decision once an appeal has been fully briefed and argued and to limit the length of EAB opinions to only as long as necessary to address the issues raised in an appeal; EPA also pro