States Seek High Court Review Of D.C. Circuit’s ‘Proscribed’ GNP Remand

Ohio is leading a quartet of states in asking the Supreme Court to review the D.C. Circuit’s recent order granting EPA’s request for a voluntary remand of the rulemaking record for the troubled Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) to better justify the measure. In their Oct. 18 petition for certiorari , Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky argue that the remand of the already stayed rule is unlawful under the Clean Air Act. “The Clean Air Act does not permit remand...

EPA, Air Force Settle Dispute Over Arizona Site’s PFAS Contamination

EPA and the Air Force have settled a dispute over PFAS-contaminated drinking water in Tucson, AZ, after the service pledged to take a series of actions, determine the extent of the contamination, undertake cleanup actions where appropriate and cover past and future costs for PFAS treatment at the site. The settlement allows EPA to sidestep a potentially messy legal dispute over Air Force claims that officials’ interpretation of its enforcement authority could withstand legal scrutiny after the Supreme Court ended...

Developers appeal D.C. Circuit vacatur of FERC LNG approval

Developers seeking to build a liquified natural gas (LNG) export project are asking the full D.C. Circuit to reverse a three-judge panel’s vacatur of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of the project, warning that the decision would spur dire economic harm in the energy sector if allowed to stand. In separate Oct. 21 petitions, Rio Bravo Pipeline Co. and Rio Grande LNG urged the court to grant panel rehearing or rehearing en banc to overturn the precedent-setting...

D.C. Circuit Suit Over EPA Power Plant GHG Rule Draws Greater Scrutiny

The D.C. Circuit’s review of litigation over EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards is taking on greater importance after the Supreme Court rejected calls to stay the high-profile regulation, which includes strict emissions limits for existing coal plants and new gas plants. The appellate court is considering the litigation, known as West Virginia, et al. v. EPA, et al. , on an accelerated schedule -- with briefing slated to conclude in the coming days and oral arguments set for Dec...

Former Official Flags Climate Finance Goal Discord Ahead Of U.N. Meeting

A top Obama-era climate envoy is warning that wealthier nations are not prepared to promise as much climate financial assistance as developing nations are seeking at next month’s annual climate conference in Azerbaijan, even as the looming Nov. 5 elections in the U.S. will also play a pivotal role in the success of the summit. Agreeing on a new climate finance goal “will be very difficult to wrestle to the mat,” said Todd Stern, former special envoy for climate at...

Lawyers Warn Of California Law Boosting Enforcement Of PFAS Restrictions

Industry attorneys are warning companies involved in the manufacture and sale of products containing PFAS that California recently enacted a law that significantly bolsters registration, certification and enforcement provisions to the state’s existing and forthcoming restrictions on the use of the chemicals in juvenile products, textiles and food packaging. “The registration requirement may be the most expansive in recent memory,” attorneys with the firm DLA Piper say in an Oct. 3 blog post about the new law, AB 347 ...

As LCRI Takes Effect, EPA, OIG Clash On State LSL Funding Allocations

EPA is rejecting calls from its Office of Inspector General (OIG) to revise its state allocations for billions of dollars in funds for replacing lead service lines (LSLs), after the OIG found that officials failed to verify largely inaccurate state data, resulting in skewed allotments. The dispute is renewing concerns about the adequacy of EPA’s allocations of $15 billion in funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) just days after the agency released its landmark Lead and Copper...

OMB Backs Tougher Dust-Lead Rule, Teeing Up Affordable-Housing Fight

The White House has concluded its review of EPA’s final TSCA rule that is expected to strengthen dust-lead hazard and clearance standards for residential buildings and associated remediation of lead paint, fulfilling the judicial remand of a Trump-era policy, but teeing up new battles over application of such requirements to affordable housing programs. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its work on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) dust lead hazard standard (DLHS) rulemaking on Oct. 21, which...

Regan Clashes With Youth Advisory Council Over ‘False’ Climate Solutions

EPA Administrator Michael Regan is defending several aspects of EPA’s climate policy against claims by members of the National Environmental Youth Advisory Council (NEYAC) that it “supports and helps implement several misguided false solutions for climate change,” such as carbon capture and greater use of natural gas. NEYAC used its Oct. 22 meeting to unveil its final recommendations for EPA on potential policy changes pertaining to climate change, environmental justice and a circular economy. The recommendations it released that day...

OMB Backs Tougher Dust-Lead Rule, Teeing Up Affordable-Housing Fight

The White House has concluded its review of EPA’s final TSCA rule that is expected to strengthen dust-lead hazard and clearance standards for residential buildings and associated remediation of lead paint, fulfilling the judicial remand of a Trump-era policy, but teeing up new battles over application of such requirements to affordable housing programs. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its work on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) dust lead hazard standard (DLHS) rulemaking on Oct. 21, which...

Clean Air Report - 10/24/2024

Tue, 2024-10-22 15:40

Parties Downplay Chevron’s Role In Case Over Pension Plan ESG Rule

Litigants in a case challenging a Labor Department (DOL) rule affirming that money managers may weigh climate-related factors in certain instances are downplaying how the Supreme Court’s decision to scrap Chevron deference should affect the case even though a district court upheld the rule based on that doctrine. In supplemental briefs filed Oct. 16 to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, both DOL and GOP-led states and fossil fuel groups challenging the rule broadly say...

CARB Weighs ZEV Truck Rule Changes As Debate Over Shortage Heats Up

California air officials are poised to expand some compliance flexibilities in their Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) regulation, as debate intensifies about whether the state’s stringent ZEV and other emissions rules are causing a shortage of new diesel trucks on the market. “As businesses face unexpected challenges securing clean trucks, and communities face continued dirty air and sick kids, it’s time for California to make sure everyone in the industry is playing fair,” said Craig Segall, senior vice...

Climate Extra - 10/22/2024

Tue, 2024-10-22 13:26

Sen. Brown Urges DOD To Drop Incineration As PFAS Waste Disposal Method

As the Department of Defense (DOD) prepares to update its PFAS disposal guidance, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is urging DOD to “immediately halt” its reconsideration of incineration as a disposal method, noting that recent reports indicate that it is moving toward resuming the practice. In an Oct. 10 letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Brown asks DOD to ban the incineration of waste containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) “until clear steps are taken to both ensure community safety and...

Chamber Seeks Amicus Status In Arguing PFAS Water Rule Too Costly

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is asking a federal appeals court for permission to share additional arguments backing drinking water utilities and the chemical industry’s challenge of EPA’s landmark rule regulating PFAS in drinking water, with the Chamber arguing EPA failed to properly assess costs and benefits and used deficient science to craft the rule. EPA “failed to accurately assess the likely costs and consequences of its rule,” the Chamber says in an Oct. 16 amicus brief filed in...

Industry Says TSCA Requires OSHA To Regulate Workers’ Chemical Risks

Trade groups are asking a federal appeals court to hold that the reformed TSCA gave OSHA, not EPA, primary responsibility to regulate any “unreasonable risks” to workers from toxic substances, seeking to scrap the agency’s approach to chemical-specific rules that has focused primarily -- sometimes exclusively -- on workplace dangers. The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is “not a worker protection law,” an array of industry groups wrote in their joint opening brief to the U.S. Circuit Court for the...

Over Industry Objection, EPA Ends ‘Defense’ In Oil & Gas Sector NESHAP

Over strong industry objections, EPA has removed the “affirmative defense” provision from its air toxics rule for the oil and gas production, and gas transmission and storage sectors, stripping away the shield against civil penalties amid a broader fight over the future of such defenses in state air plans, air permits and other EPA air rules. In a Federal Register notice slated for publication Oct. 22, EPA removes the affirmative defense language from the National Emission Standards for Hazardous...

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