Andrew Wheeler, EPA's acting administrator, is committed to continuing the Trump administration deregulatory agenda but he is charting a different path than his predecessor. Follow every move with Inside EPA.
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A district court ruling vacating the Trump administration's attempt to pause Obama-era Department of Education rules regarding predatory lenders could help supporters of strong environmental standards oppose similar Trump EPA efforts to keep those rules from taking effect.
Three GOP-led states are asking a federal district court to scrap the Obama-era Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule due to a lack of “clear” authorization from Congress for the policy, a claim that echoes Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's preferred test for reviewing major agency rules and could bolster their suit if it reaches the high court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has broadly rejected three challenges to EPA's designations for which areas are attaining or violating the 2010 sulfur dioxide (SO2) air standard, defending the agency's discretion on technical issues and faulting suits from environmentalists and a Kansas utility on procedural grounds.
Environmentalists are claiming that EPA has misled the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) and mishandled a contentious utility's Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge permit in order to avoid settling a separate case over the same facility's permit, saying the agency is prioritizing its attempt to avoid “sue-and-settle” cases over CWA compliance.
EPA’s just-unveiled Unified Agenda commits the agency to quick action on many of its highest-profile rollbacks and deregulatory rulemakings, with policies like reform of the renewable fuel standard (RFS), replacements for Obama-era climate rules, and the repeal of the 2015 Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction standard all scheduled to land by the spring of 2019.
EPA has for the first time proposed significant new use rules (SNURs) to address risks that a group of new chemicals could present if used in certain reasonably foreseen ways, an approach that follows a draft framework for considering new chemicals that the agency floated last year but appeared to abandon after environmentalists sued.
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is preparing to review Defense Department risk analyses of trichloroethylene (TCE) and lead, chemicals for which EPA has struggled to craft risk estimates.
Publication of the final Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) fees rule allows EPA to start collecting fees under the revised law, but the regulation could face legal challenges.
EPA and the Transportation Department (DOT) will likely face strong criticism in upcoming comments that their proposed rollback of vehicle greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards overstates the cost of reducing emissions, including by not accounting for existing technologies and exaggerating the cost of other compliance options.
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.
