Critics Say EPA’s CCS Defense In Power Plant GHG Rule ‘Strains Credulity’

Critics are reiterating their suite of legal attacks on EPA’s greenhouse gas standards for power plants, arguing that EPA’s justification for the rule “strains credulity” by asserting that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is available at a reasonable cost to meet the strictest standards in the rule. In litigation over the rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, EPA argued in an Oct. 11 brief that the “totality of the record” clearly shows...

Wisconsin Urges State High Court To Reverse Ruling Voiding PFAS Listing

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is urging the state’s highest court to overturn a landmark ruling that struck down its “hazardous substance” listing for PFAS and other emerging contaminants under the state Spill Law, contending that upholding the decision would obstruct nearly all enforcement under the law and could halt cleanups at thousands of sites beyond just those with PFAS. The state appeals court decision, if left to stand, “would halt virtually all Spill Law enforcement,” DNR says...

Risk Policy Report - 10/29/2024

Mon, 2024-10-28 12:46

D.C. Circuit To Hear Suit On RFS Volumes; CHPAC Weighs Lead Rules

The D.C. Circuit is scheduled to hold oral arguments in refiners and environmentalists’ suit challenging EPA’s renewable fuel standard “set” rule. EPA’s children’s health advisors are slated to discuss the agency’s recently released rules requiring replacement of lead service lines and tightening standards for lead paint dust. Also: RFF and ABA on environmental justice. Renewable Fuel Standard The D.C. Circuit is scheduled to hear arguments Nov. 1 in Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA, et al. , where environmentalists and...

Input Closes On TSCA Pre-Prioritization; CHPAC Weighs Fluoride Risks

Public comments are due this week on EPA’s list of 27 chemicals that the agency announced last month as candidates for its next TSCA prioritization cycle. The Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC) will discuss fluoride’s neurotoxic risks -- which were the focus of the recent court decision ordering EPA to regulate drinking water fluoridation under TSCA. Pre-Prioritization EPA is accepting comments through Oct. 31 on 27 “pre-prioritization candidates” from which it will choose five chemicals to prioritize under the...

Briefing Wraps In Power Plant GHG Case; Groups Talk Permitting, COP29

Briefing is set to conclude in D.C. Circuit litigation over EPA’s high-profile power plant GHG rule, ahead of oral arguments scheduled for early December. Meanwhile, attorneys and other experts discuss permitting and environmental justice policy, ahead of the Nov. 5 election that will have a major effect on the future of those and other climate-related policies. On the international front, groups are hosting analyses ahead of next month’s annual climate negotiations in Azerbaijan. Power Plant GHG Standards EPA and other...

Inside TSCA - 10/28/2024

Sun, 2024-10-27 22:40

Industry, Environmentalists Both Seek Vacatur Of EPA Sterilizer Rule

Industry and environmentalists are both urging a federal appellate court to vacate EPA’s air toxics rule limiting emissions of ethylene oxide (EtO) from sterilizers, though they are offering competing arguments over why the landmark measure is unlawful and should be vacated. In Oct.18 opening briefs in the consolidated litigation, the Ethylene Oxide Sterilization Association, Inc. v EPA and California Communities Against Toxics, et al. v. EPA , industry groups charged the measure’s emission limits and deadlines are unlawfully stringent...

TSCA Prioritization Renews Debate Over PVC As Lead-Pipe Replacement

EPA’s proposed designation of vinyl chloride as “high-priority” for evaluation and regulation under TSCA is reigniting debate over the safety of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes in drinking water systems as the agency prepares to implement its separate rule requiring replacement of nearly all lead service lines (LSLs) nationwide. Industry and environmental groups’ comments on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) prioritization proposal for vinyl chloride and four other chemicals not only weighed in on EPA’s justification for targeting the candidates...

TSCA Prioritization Renews Debate Over PVC As Lead-Pipe Replacement

EPA’s proposed designation of vinyl chloride as “high-priority” for evaluation and regulation under TSCA is reigniting debate over the safety of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes in drinking water systems as the agency prepares to implement its separate rule requiring replacement of nearly all lead service lines (LSLs) nationwide. Industry and environmental groups’ comments on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) prioritization proposal for vinyl chloride and four other chemicals not only weighed in on EPA’s justification for targeting the candidates...

EPA moves to enter NOx NAAQS deadline deal

EPA is asking a federal court to enter its proposed consent decree that would establish binding deadlines for the agency’s delayed review of national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for nitrogen oxides (NOx), requiring the agency to issue both proposed and final rules updating the standards or leaving them unchanged in 2028. If entered by the court, the decree would resolve a suit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and other groups last September, CBD, et al. v....

Missouri Fights EPA Disapproval Of Good Neighbor ‘Supplemental’ Plan

Missouri and utility Ameren are fighting EPA’s proposed rejection of the state’s “supplemental” plan for interstate ozone pollution requirements, even as EPA’s disapproval of the original plan and imposition of a federal solution remain stayed by courts and the agency. EPA Aug. 6 proposed to disapprove Missouri’s supplemental state implementation plan (SIP) to meet the Clean Air Act’s “good neighbor” requirement with respect to the 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). The supplement modifies an earlier SIP that...

Fleet Operators, Other Industry Groups Back Suit Over EPA Truck GHG Rule

Trade groups representing large truck fleets and wholesale distributors are backing a challenge to EPA’s heavy truck greenhouse gas rule, supporting claims that its electrification-related provisions violate the “major questions” doctrine or are otherwise flawed due to failure to adequately consider factors such as charging infrastructure readiness. The groups are outlining their pitch in Oct. 23 amicus briefs in State of Nebraska, et al. v. EPA , litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...

EPA Says PFAS Notice Fulfilled TSCA Mandate To ‘Initiate’ Rulemaking

EPA is countering environmentalists’ novel claim that TSCA requires it to quickly regulate PFAS in fluorinated plastics as a “significant risk” to human health, arguing that the provision only requires it to “initiate” that process -- a step it says it took by seeking new data on the contamination, even though a final rule could still be far off. While the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) gives EPA just 180 days to “initiate applicable action” under any of three other...

WHEJAC Floats Carbon Management Input But Does Not ‘Endorse’ Projects

White House environmental justice (EJ) advisors are offering an additional suite of recommendations for agencies deploying carbon management projects such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), even though they are taking pains to highlight their threshold opposition to such efforts and say they do not “endorse” them. Many of the recommendations in a report released earlier this month by the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) would bolster communities’ input in such projects, subject the projects to rigorous greenhouse...

Superfund Report - 10/28/2024

Fri, 2024-10-25 15:50

Chiding Industry, CARB Eases Truck ZEV Rule To Tackle Vehicle Shortages

California air officials are easing compliance with their embattled Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) rule to address a shortage of model year 2024 diesel trucks being offered for sale in the state, even as they are criticizing manufacturers for helping to create the problem via flawed compliance strategies. During an Oct. 24 meeting, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) unanimously approved amendments to the ACT that generally aim to ease certain compliance requirements through more flexible options and...

Chiding Industry, CARB Eases Truck ZEV Rule To Tackle Vehicle Shortages

California air officials are easing compliance with their embattled Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) rule to address a shortage of model year 2024 diesel trucks being offered for sale in the state, even as they are criticizing manufacturers for helping to create the problem via flawed compliance strategies. During an Oct. 24 meeting, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) unanimously approved amendments to the ACT that generally aim to ease certain compliance requirements through more flexible options and...

New Hampshire Urges Court To Disregard 3M’s Latest Bid To Move PFAS Case

New Hampshire is urging a federal appeals court to reject 3M’s latest arguments seeking to move the state’s PFAS contamination suit to federal court, saying that the company cannot claim its federal and non-federal actions were intertwined when it made aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) products only for the government. 3M earlier this month cited Puerto Rico v. Express Scripts, Inc. , a recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, to back its call for removing...

Landfill Operators Sue EPA Over Revised Air Emission Estimation Factors

Waste and recycling companies are suing EPA over a recent update to its “emission factors” used to estimate emissions from municipal solid waste landfills for regulatory purposes, after warning in earlier comments on a draft version that EPA’s factors are unclear, inaccurate or inflexible in their approach. EPA Aug. 15 updated its “AP-42” list of emission factors with respect to landfills. In a lawsuit filed Oct. 14 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Request 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting.