REGION PRESSES AHEAD TO IMPLEMENT CONTROVERSIAL AIR ENFORCEMENT POLICY

An EPA regional office is charging ahead to implement a controversial Clean Air Act enforcement policy even though the policy has not yet been finalized by the agency's Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance, according to a recent regional memo. While the policy in question is still being refined, EPA's regional office in Chicago made it clear this month that it will force companies to install state-of-the-art pollution control equipment in cases where they violate preconstruction permitting requirements. EPA is...

EPA POISED TO PROPOSE STRATEGY TO REDUCE TOXIC URBAN AIR POLLUTION

EPA is set to propose a strategy to reduce urban toxic air pollution that calls for 34 categories of relatively small emissions sources to be regulated over the next eight to ten years, agency sources say. The proposal, which is due to be finalized August. 31, is designed to ensure that pollutants posing a particular threat to urban populations are well regulated. EPA sources would not comment on what categories of sources would be captured under the proposal, but sources...

EPA FINALIZES MORE STRINGENT STORAGE TANK ENFORCEMENT STRATEGY

EPA officials have issued a new underground storage tank enforcement strategy that does not provide tank owners with a grace period to come into compliance with requirements that kick in this December, a position that is substantially different from a draft floated by agency officials earlier this year. A Feb. 5 draft policy had offered up to 180 days for non-compliant underground tank owners to upgrade their systems despite the agency's firm stance that there would be no extension. Officials...

EPA MAKES CONCESSION TO CORPS ON NEW SEDIMENT TESTING GUIDELINES

EPA is poised this week to finalize a new set of guidelines for testing polluted sediments that provides the Army Corps of Engineers with an opportunity to challenge an agency determination that a particular sediment may be contaminated, agency sources say. This is considered to be an important concession because the Corps has vehemently opposed previous agency efforts to establish numeric testing standards that could be used by EPA and state regulators to complicate Corps' dredging efforts. EPA and the...

EPA MAY DEFER CALL ON CONTINUOUS MONITORS IN HAZWASTE COMBUSTION RULE

EPA may defer making a controversial decision on whether hazardous waste combustion facilities need to continuously monitor their emissions until further studies can confirm whether the monitors are reliable and accurate, agency sources say. Under this approach, EPA sources say the agency would finalize its combustion rule next year without a continuous emission monitoring (CEM) requirement and perhaps promulgate a CEM rule at a later date if testing demonstrates that the monitors are suitable. This addendum, according to one official,...

INDUSTRY CALLS FOR EPA TO TERMINATE REGION VII ENFORCEMENT INITIATIVE

A broad coalition of industry groups this week called on EPA enforcement chief Steve Herman to scuttle a controversial emergency reporting initiative launched by Region VII, charging that the effort is mistargeted, legally tenuous and in conflict with previous agency policy statements. Industry sources argue that the agency's initiative basically amounts to extortion since the agency is asking that companies pay fines and confess to violations that EPA could never prove in court. EPA sources could not be reached for...

STATES SAY DRAFT EPA GUIDANCE COULD SCUTTLE REG REINVENTION DEAL

Draft guidance from EPA headquarters to regions on how to implement a new reinvention agreement between EPA and states could scuttle the entire deal, because it undermines carefully worded criteria for advancing innovative projects, state officials charged this week. State sources say the draft guidance adds a requirement that only companies with clean enforcement records be allowed to participate in reinvention pilot projects, a caveat that states say undercuts the original agreement in two ways. First, it would limit regulatory...

EPA LOOKS FOR WAYS TO BOLSTER INCOMPLETE STATE CLEAN AIR PLANS

EPA is considering a plan that would allow areas with entrenched ozone problems to avoid being sanctioned under the Clean Air Act so long as they agree to adopt all control measures required under the act and implement a suite of politically unpopular measures that are being used in California, agency sources say. EPA staff point out that such a strategy is needed to ensure that a few large urban areas make a firm commitment to clean up their air...

COURT STRIKES DOWN EPA AUTHORITY TO 'OVERFILE' ENFORCEMENT CASES

A U.S. district Court Judge this week delivered a stunning blow to EPA's enforcement program, ruling that the agency could not "overfile" enforcement cases that had already been adjudicated by state environmental agencies. In general, the judge overruled an Environmental Appeals Board ruling and held that EPA and state agencies share a common interest and therefore EPA cannot take action in instances where a case has been resolved by state authorities, even if EPA is unsatisfied with the action taken...

Inside EPA - 08/28/1998

Fri, 1998-08-28 00:00

ENVIRONMENTALISTS STEP UP PRESSURE ON WHITE HOUSE TO VETO SPENDING BILLS

Top officials from more than a dozen of the nation's largest environmental groups last week stepped up pressure on President Clinton to veto several fiscal year 1999 appropriations bills if Congress does not rid them of "riders" and report language that could undermine environmental protection. In an Aug. 12 letter to Vice President Al Gore, the groups for the second time urged the administration to follow through on its threats to veto the bills, warning that "the President's veto pen...

EPA FINALIZES LONG-AWAITED RULE TO REDUCE EMISSIONS FROM INDUSTRIAL COATINGS

EPA last week finalized a long-awaited and much-maligned rule that will set new national Clean Air Act standards to control volatile organic compounds from architectural and industrial maintenance (AIM) coatings. The rule contains emissions limitations that are similar to those originally proposed by the agency in 1996 proposal. But EPA has augmented the proposal with an innovative compliance provision that will allow companies to pay an exceedance fee in cases where they can not meet their emissions limit. EPA's work...

EPA ADVISORY PANEL TO STUDY WHETHER INCENTIVES COULD BOOST COMPLIANCE

An EPA advisory committee will begin a year-long series of meetings next month to study how EPA could make use of certain incentives to promote better environmental stewardship throughout the regulated community, agency sources say. Last month, the National Advisory Committee for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT) finalized its workplan for the coming year. The group's focus over the next year will be principally trained on how EPA can use incentives to get states and industry to exceed their compliance...

NEW CBO REPORT SAYS FEDERAL CLIMATE SPENDING NOT REDUCING EMISSIONS

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office says that the billions of dollars currently being spent by the federal government on climate change programs are having only a small impact on national greenhouse gas emissions because most of the money is spent to learn more about the global warming phenomenon. Critics of the administration's climate policies are already using the report to bolster their fight against the Kyoto climate change treaty. One critic stresses that the report shows "that...

CORRECTION

An article in the Aug. 7 issue of Inside EPA reported that EPA has decided not to pursue the development of national regulatory standards for hazardous waste in agricultural fertilizers under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act. In fact, the agency has ruled out the development of national regulatory standards under the Toxic Substances Control Act. EPA staff say they are still weighing their options under RCRA. Source: Inside EPA via InsideEPA.com Issue: Vol. 19, No. 33

STATES RAISE CONCERNS OVER EPA'S CLEAN WATER NUTRIENT STRATEGY

Several state water pollution control officials say EPA's recently released strategy for controlling nutrient runoff is too ambitious and should not be designed as a national mandate, but EPA officials say the plan is needed to clarify and head off nutrient pollution problems as they grow. EPA's strategy, released last month, is designed to address runoff from animal waste which contains high amounts of nutrients. EPA's strategy calls for the creation of numerical nutrient control guidelines for four waterbody types...

EPA RELEASES PLANS FOR IMPLEMENTING NEW CLEAN AIR OZONE STANDARD

EPA has sketched out a preliminary plan for implementing the nation's new "eight-hour" ozone standard that calls for most nonattainment areas to come into compliance by the end of 2003 and a handful of others to reach attainment on a sliding schedule before 2010. The proposed policy, which was released Aug. 19, largely tracks a 1997 presidential directive and stresses that most ozone nonattainment areas will be spared from having to implement local control measures so long as they support...

Text: Chart of Weighted Components In Revised 106 State Allocation Formula

Source: Inside EPA via InsideEPA.com Issue: Vol. 19, No. 33

EPA FLOATS POTENTIAL CHANGES TO CLEAN WATER ACT STATE GRANT PROCESS

EPA this week unveiled potential revisions to its formula for granting clean water funds to states, and agency officials say the new model could benefit states west of the Mississippi, but hurt those in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. EPA officials presented their new funding formula to state officials at the annual Association of State & Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA) conference in Alabama this week. State officials voiced mixed reaction to the proposed changes, particularly regarding the increased...

INDUSTRY TO SEEK REINSTATEMENT OF WITHDRAWN WASTE TOXICITY TEST

Representatives of a newly formed industry coalition say they will strongly consider suing EPA if the agency does not accept their proposal to temporarily reinstate a key Resource Conservation & Recovery Act hazardous waste testing protocol that was recently rescinded. Industry officials say they are confident that they can work with the agency to quickly develop a new testing protocol, but in the meantime, they say they need the old test method reinstated to minimize their exposure to enforcement actions...

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