EPA Reaches First Settlement For Fracking Under Obama-Era Methane Rule

The Justice Department (DOJ), EPA and New Mexico have reached a first-time settlement with an oil and gas producer targeting the company’s failure to follow Obama-era requirements for controlling emissions of methane and other pollution during completion of hydraulic fracturing wells. EPA is touting the Oct. 17 settlement with Hilcorp Energy Co. as the first ever to address violations of the Clean Air Act’s new source performance standards (NSPS) “covering well completions following hydraulic fracturing,” according to an agency press...

EPA Reaches First Settlement For Fracking Under Obama-Era Methane Rule

The Justice Department (DOJ), EPA and New Mexico have reached a first-time settlement with an oil and gas producer targeting the company’s failure to follow Obama-era requirements for controlling emissions of methane and other pollution during completion of hydraulic fracturing wells. EPA is touting the Oct. 17 settlement with Hilcorp Energy Co. as the first ever to address violations of the Clean Air Act’s new source performance standards (NSPS) “covering well completions following hydraulic fracturing,” according to an agency press...

EPA Poised To Stay Good Neighbor Plan Nationwide After Rule Clears OMB

EPA is poised to imminently stay its Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) interstate ozone rule, halting the troubled program pending the resolution of complex litigation, after the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cleared the measure for publication in the Federal Register . OMB completed pre-publication review of the interim final rule October 17, according to its website. The rule responds to the Supreme Court’s June ruling in Ohio v. EPA that stayed the GNP in additional states...

Court Revives PIP (3:1) Rule Challenge As EPA Enforcement Deadline Looms

Industry groups are preparing to resume their long-paused challenge to a Trump-era TSCA rule banning many uses of the flame retardant phenol, isopropylated phosphate (3:1), or PIP (3:1), just weeks before EPA’s enforcement stay is due to expire, and as the agency is preparing to overhaul the policy itself. In an Oct. 17 order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit formally lifted its stay on Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute et al. v. EPA...

Water Policy Report - 10/21/2024

Fri, 2024-10-18 14:42

EPA Defends Data, Methods Used To Derive Aquatic Life Criteria For PFAS

EPA is defending the way it derived its newly finalized aquatic life water quality criteria for two PFAS and “benchmarks” for eight others, disagreeing with comments from state regulators that largely questioned the toxicity data and technical approaches the agency used, as well as the lack of consideration of PFAS precursors and mixtures. EPA released acute and chronic freshwater criteria, along with acute saltwater benchmarks, for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) -- the two most studied per-...

D.C. Circuit Schedules Oral Argument In EPA Power Plant GHG Rule Case

The D.C. Circuit is scheduling oral arguments for early December in the case challenging EPA’s greenhouse gas limits for existing coal and new gas power plants, offering a further signal that the court is proceeding quickly to consider the case and could issue a decision by next summer. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear arguments Dec. 6 in the case, known as West Virginia, et al. v. EPA, et...

DOE picks latest projects for infrastructure law’s grid program

The Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing nearly $2 billion in preliminary awards for 32 grid-related projects across 42 states and Washington, D.C., representing the latest funding round under a $10.5 billion infrastructure law program to strengthen the power grid against climate and other threats and aid transmission of clean electricity. “The funding couldn’t come at a more critical time,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said during a preview of the Oct. 18 announcement , citing energy demand “rising nationwide, outdated...

EPA Coal Ash Deal Leaves Some Violations Unaddressed At APC Facility

EPA has resolved a series of violations with Alabama Power Company (APC) over alleged violations of coal ash storage requirements at a Mobile-power plant though the final settlement fails to address several alleged issues the area agency identified in a notice of potential violations (NOPV), signaling they could be addressed in a future action. EPA Sept. 26 finalized a settlement with APC to resolve alleged violations of its 2015 coal combustion residuals (CCR) rule at the James M. Barry Electric...

Environmentalists Press Utilities To Update New Gas Plans Under EPA Rule

Environmentalists are pressing major utilities to revise their recent plans to significantly increase their fleet of gas-fired power plants that lack carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment, after the Supreme Court refused to stay implementation of EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas rule that is broadly premised on such technology. “Every utility around the country that had been planning previously to build unabated new natural gas plants needs to look at this [EPA rule] very closely,” Evergreen Action’s Charles Harper tells...

Regulators Discuss Stormwater; States Outline PFAS Cleanup Priorities

State and federal regulators are meeting at the National Stormwater Roundtable in Washington, D.C., where PFAS are among the topics to be discussed. Northeast state waste regulators will present their top PFAS priorities during an environmental health conference covering a wide range of cleanup issues. Stormwater The Association of Clean Water Administrators’ National Stormwater Roundtable Oct. 22-24 will include a discussion of how to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other emerging contaminants. The roundtable allows state and federal...

Inside PFAS Policy - 10/18/2024

Fri, 2024-10-18 10:39

EPA Eyes TSCA ‘Co-Exposure’ Method To Bolster Chemical Assessments

A top scientist at EPA’s toxics office told the agency’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) this week that a nascent screening tool for chemical “co-exposures” could boost efforts to ensure that TSCA risk evaluations meet the law’s requirement for those reviews to protect vulnerable populations -- though he emphasized that the tool needs substantial refinement to be fit for regulatory use. Jason Todd, senior science lead within EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), highlighted the draft Toxic Substances...

Agricultural Research Service Identifies Science Needs For PFAS Roadmap

The Agriculture Department’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), along with state and academic partners, has identified key areas to include in a research roadmap for crafting science-based solutions to address the burgeoning challenges posed by the discovery of PFAS in agricultural soils and waters. The effort comes amid growing federal attention to the agricultural impacts from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including a recent EPA award of $15 million in agricultural research grants and an upcoming National Academies of Science, Engineering...

Both Sides Express Optimism After High Court Declines To Stay GHG Rule

Supporters and opponents of EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards are expressing optimism over their future litigation prospects after the Supreme Court rejected critics’ request to stay the rule as merits challenges proceed in a lower court, though rule critics are acknowledging disappointment that the justices did not immediately pause the measure. While the court’s Oct. 16 order declines to issue a stay, three justices expressed a willingness to conclude that at least some elements of EPA’s power plant rule...

Both Sides Express Optimism After High Court Declines To Stay GHG Rule

Supporters and opponents of EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards are expressing optimism over their future litigation prospects after the Supreme Court rejected critics’ request to stay the rule as merits challenges proceed in a lower court, though rule critics are acknowledging disappointment that the justices did not immediately pause the measure. While the court’s Oct. 16 order declines to issue a stay, three justices expressed a willingness to conclude that at least some elements of EPA’s power plant rule...

Kentucky sues EPA over Louisville ozone designation delay

Kentucky is suing EPA over the agency’s delay in determining that portions of the Louisville area now attain the agency’s 2015 national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone, a move that would ease regulatory requirements for local industry, after EPA already reclassified Indiana counties in the Louisville region to attainment. In a lawsuit filed Oct.16 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Commonwealth of Kentucky, et al. v. EPA, et al. , the state says...

Observers See New Burdens From Possible High Court Deal On CWA Permits

A potential compromise ruling in the closely watched Supreme Court case over the legality of EPA’s use of “narrative” pollution limits in Clean Water Act (CWA) permits would require major changes to how regulators craft them, sources say, even after a federal attorney told the justices such a decision would merely codify current practice. But while an industry attorney and a retired EPA official agree that a possible middle-ground decision from the justices in City and County of San Francisco...

GOP States, Industry Detail Legal Claims Against ‘Phase 3’ Truck GHG Rule

GOP-led states and industry groups are detailing their legal claims that EPA’s “phase 3” greenhouse gas rule for heavy trucks “vastly exceeds” the agency’s authority, offering another example of critics’ claims that multiple EPA vehicle regulations represent de facto and improper electric vehicle (EV) mandates. The claims in Oct. 16 opening briefs, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in State of Nebraska, et al. v. EPA , significantly overlap with similar arguments...

WHEJAC Floats Suite Of Steps To Implement Biden EJ Executive Order

White House advisors are pressing the Biden administration to take a series of substantive steps to implement a 2023 executive order on environmental justice (EJ), including offering health services to communities harmed by pollution, offering to help people relocate from those areas and giving them greater ability to reject federal projects. The recommendations are included in an Oct. 4 report from the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) in response to President Joe Biden’s Executive Order (EO) 14096 that...

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