The Trump administration has launched a top-to-bottom overhaul of the Environmental Protection Agency. There's never been a more important time to read Inside EPA.
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Patrick Breysse, director of the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR), says federal agencies are working on developing “consistent messaging” for rolling out ATSDR's controversial draft risk numbers for perfluorinated chemicals that were blocked after EPA and the Defense Department (DOD) raised concerns that they were much stricter than EPA values.
Biofuels groups are expressing skepticism over an apparent proposal by EPA to boost targets for advanced biofuels production in the agency's pending 2019 renewable fuel standard (RFS), saying the Trump administration's decision to grant a number of RFS compliance waivers for “small” refiners is undermining the market for biofuels.
Supporters of the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda are urging lawmakers to codify President Donald Trump's executive order (EO) forcing OSHA, EPA and other agencies to repeal two existing rules for every new measure, though their call is drawing strong pushback from Democrats who say it will undermine protections by limiting rules' estimated benefits and devalue human lives.
Vanessa Allen Sutherland, who the Obama administration appointed to lead the federal board that investigates and advises EPA and other agencies on industrial chemical accidents, announced unexpectedly May 21 that she will be resigning from the board next month, though it is not clear if or who President Trump will select to fill two vacant slots on the panel given his administration's push to eliminate it.
EPA is signaling that it expects a battle with California over planned changes to national vehicle efficiency and greenhouse gas standards, and could try to block application of the Golden State's more-stringent vehicle rules outside its borders, even as the auto industry is outlining an agenda that would preserve Obama-era targets as an option for negotiation.
Two former chairmen of EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) are faulting Administrator Scott Pruitt for not consulting with the independent panel before issuing his memo on overhauling the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) review process, and faulting plans to include costs as a factor in reviews.
A federal district judge in a newly released opinion rejects a slew of legal arguments the Trump administration made for transferring litigation over its delay of the Obama-era Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule and consolidating it with suits over the rule, boosting states and environmentalists aiming to keep myriad cases over the delay separate.
Responding to staff concerns, EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) has delayed its ongoing reorganization effort to propose a revised plan that relies on OPPT leadership being able to hire sufficient number of new scientists to fill a second risk analysis division to bolster chemical assessments required by the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
What's ahead for EPA in the second year of the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda and Administrator Scott Pruitt's efforts to overhaul the agency
Staff in EPA's Office of Transportation & Air Quality (OTAQ) are pursuing “necessary technical work” to review the agency's 2010 nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions standard for heavy-duty trucks with an eye to potentially suggesting a stricter limit, but it is unclear whether Administrator Scott Pruitt would back any effort to tighten the limit.
Exclusive news, hot documents, and timely updates on legislation and litigation over EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers' joint Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule.
