Air

Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

Topic Subtitle
Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

DOJ Cites D.C. Circuit Vehicle Waiver Ruling To Defend EPA Standards

The Department of Justice (DOJ) says its recent victory against GOP states and others that challenged EPA’s permission for California vehicle emissions programs offers an additional legal precedent that undercuts states’ standing to challenge EPA’s model year 2023-26 light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas standards. The pitch surfaces in an April 15 letter formally notifying the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit about the court’s April 9 decision in State of Ohio, et al. v. EPA, et al....

EPA close to releasing tougher MATS rule

EPA appears poised to release its rule likely tightening the mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) for power plants, thought the measure appears to have cleared White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review earlier than anticipated as officials canceled previously scheduled meetings with industry groups. OMB completed interagency review April 12, according to its website, despite planned meetings on its schedule with the National Mining Association (NMA) and other industry groups out as far as April 24. EPA...

EPA Denies Air Toxics Waiver For Turbines, Prepares Multi-Pollutant Strategy

EPA has denied industry’s longstanding effort to “delist” over 1,000 stationary combustion turbines at 300 facilities from Clean Air Act air toxics regulations, a widely anticipated move that prepares the way for a broad new strategy that will address air toxics, ozone and greenhouse gases from the source category, the agency says. “Today’s action will ensure people who live, work and play near these facilities are protected from harmful air pollution,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan, announcing the final decision...

EPA Power Plant GHG Rule May Expand Universe Of New Gas Plants

EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards that officials are scrambling to finalize by the end of the month may expand the universe of new gas plants that would face tough limits based on carbon capture and storage (CCS), and they are also expected to scrap limits based on the use of clean hydrogen. Regarding the applicability of GHG standards for new gas plants, environmentalists say they are optimistic EPA will expand the “baseload” category that must comply with a CCS-based...

Host Of Industry Groups Press EPA To Reject California Locomotive Waiver

Dozens of agricultural and other industry groups are pressing EPA to reject the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) request for a Clean Air Act waiver of federal preemption to implement its novel regulation to reduce pollution from existing locomotives, joining with a host of railroads to oppose the state’s request. “If the CARB regulations were authorized by EPA, we believe freight rail carriers and their rail customers would be significantly hindered financially and operationally. The inevitable increases in transportation costs...

EPA sets May hearing for secondary NAAQS rule

EPA will hold a virtual public hearing May 8 on its just-released proposal to leave “secondary,” or eco-system-based federal air standards for nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx) and particulate matter (PM) largely unchanged, floating only a revised SOx standard that the agency says will not require additional emissions cuts. EPA announced the public hearing in a Federal Register notice scheduled for publication April 15, when the agency will also publish the proposal in the Register . The plan...

GOP States Urge D.C. Circuit To Stay EPA’s Oil & Gas Methane Limits

A coalition of two dozen Republican-led states is urging an appellate court to pause implementation of EPA’s methane standards for the oil and gas sector, arguing the rule is “legally unsound” because it limits states’ discretion to write implementation plans for existing sources. “The rule’s sweeping reordering of our nation’s oil and gas industries deserves appropriate review. The court should stay this rule pending petitioners’ legal challenge,” says an April 12 motion to stay the rule, filed by the Oklahoma-led...

EPA Eyes Delay, Streamlining For Next Phase Of Regional Haze Program

As EPA struggles to implement the second phase of its regional haze program, officials are weighing a late start to the third phase, and are soliciting early input on streamlining measures such as reducing requirements for state haze plans, early exit from the program for states that have met their goals, and minimum thresholds for visibility improvement and cost-effectiveness. In an April 11 webinar presentation , agency staff outlined questions they are asking of states and others in preparation for...

California Truckers Decline To Appeal Ruling Upholding L.A. Warehouse Rule

The California Trucking Association (CTA) is declining to appeal a federal court’s ruling upholding the Los Angeles region’s novel “indirect source rule” (ISR) to reduce pollution at warehouses -- a move that could provide further incentive for other states to copy the measure. “CTA will not be appealing the District Court decision,” a CTA source recently told Inside CalEPA in an email, ending speculation earlier this year that the group could pursue an appeal because CTA dropped its remaining...

Senators call for E15 emergency waiver

Senators of both parties from biofuel-producing states are pressing the Biden administration to quickly issue an emergency waiver authorizing summertime sales of 15 percent ethanol fuel (E15), citing geopolitical turmoil that they say threatens energy supplies, after EPA delayed its authorization of year-round E15 in Midwestern states until 2025. In their April 11 letter to President Joe Biden, 20 senators led by Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), and longtime ethanol advocate Charles Grassley (R-IA) ask...

EPA Secondary NAAQS Proposal Requires No Additional Pollution Cuts

In an apparent defeat for environmental groups and the agency’s science advisors, EPA is proposing only a minor tightening of its “secondary” air standards for sulfur oxides (SOx), and planning to leave such ecosystem-based limits for other pollutants unchanged, resulting in a rule that would require no additional emissions cuts by industry. The proposal , released by EPA April 11, would revise the secondary national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) under a combined review of limits for SOx, nitrogen oxides...

Republicans Attack Good Neighbor Air Rule As ‘Major Questions’ Violation

House and Senate Republicans are charging that EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) interstate ozone rule violates the Supreme Court’s doctrine that “major questions” of public policy should be decided by Congress, rather than executive agencies, raising the stakes in the battle over the heavily contested regulation. In an April 8 amicus brief , dozens of lawmakers tell the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in State of Utah, et al. v. EPA, et al...

EPA Officials Eye Broad Outreach To Help Address Chemicals In Indoor Air

EPA officials are planning to conduct broad outreach to better communicate the risks indoor chemical exposures pose to vulnerable communities and the private sector “regardless” of any regulatory limits, two agency officials told a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) workshop reviewing the issue. “One of the things that we definitely can do better is communicating the uncertainty and the evolving nature of our knowledge,” of indoor air chemical exposure risks, EPA’s Vito Ilacqua, director of the air...

Youth Plaintiffs Reject EPA Motion To Dismiss Novel Climate Lawsuit

Youth plaintiffs are opposing EPA’s recent request to dismiss their novel constitutional litigation that argues the agency is discriminating against them by permitting unsafe levels of climate-warming pollution to be emitted from the facilities that it regulates. The youth argue in an April 8 filing in Genesis B., et al. v. EPA, et al., in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that the court should hear their “claims of systematic harm and discrimination by these...

EPA’s SOCMI Rule Faces Industry Suits Over Chloroprene, Other Mandates

EPA’s new air rule governing organic chemical and polymer manufacturing plants appears likely to face a series of industry challenges, with Denka Performance Elastomer (DPE), the nation’s only synthetic rubber manufacturer, vowing to challenge its chloroprene provisions while also joining with ethylene oxide (EtO) and other manufacturers in challenging its substantive requirements. A DPE spokesman tells Inside EPA the company “vehemently opposes” provisions that impose a 90-day deadline to comply with the rule’s control and monitoring requirements for chloroprene,...

EPA Retains Strict Air Limits For Chemical Plants But Delays Monitoring

EPA has unveiled its sweeping rule limiting emissions of the solvent ethylene oxide (EtO) and the synthetic rubber component chloroprene, along with other air toxics, from hundreds of organic chemical and polymer manufacturing plants, largely finalizing the rule as proposed, but adding additional time for industry to install fenceline air monitors. The final rule also dropped a proposed cap on flaring of ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions, after agency officials found it was no longer needed. EPA Administrator Michael Regan and...

Additional Fights Loom After D.C. Circuit Rejects EPA Vehicle Waiver Suits

An appellate court’s rejection of litigation from Republican states and liquid fuels groups challenging EPA’s federal preemption waiver for California’s prior round of vehicle emissions standards represents a major initial victory for backers of strong state requirements, though it could be followed by several additional cases seeking to limit such rules. In addition, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s April 9 ruling in State of Ohio, et al. v. EPA, et al . comes amid...

D.C. Circuit Rejects Challenges To EPA Waiver For California Auto Rules

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is rejecting Republican states’ constitutional challenge to EPA’s Clean Air Act federal preemption waiver for California’s passenger vehicle emissions standards, a decision that could bolster a suite of other final and pending waivers the state is seeking. In addition, the court in an April 9 opinion dismissed statutory challenges brought by both the states and liquid fuels groups, concluding that both sets of petitioners lack standing to bring the...

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