Judge Orders PFAS Personal Injury Plaintiffs To Show Threshold Evidence

The federal judge overseeing PFAS multidistrict litigation (MDL) has backed a joint request from plaintiff and defense attorneys to require the thousands of personal injury plaintiffs in the suit to provide additional threshold evidence supporting their allegations that exposure to the chemicals caused specific health issues. The Oct. 15 case management order (CMO) builds on existing requirements for plaintiffs in the MDL, including those who brought cases alleging personal injury damages, to provide basic information on their claims and reflects...

Amid Greater Disaster Costs, CBO Weighs Steps To Boost Insurance

On the heels of billions of dollars in damages from two major hurricanes in recent weeks, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is floating steps for how the federal government could bolster insurance coverage to help protect against such climate change-related disasters. In an Oct. 16 presentation at the American Academy of Actuaries annual meeting, CBO analysts Sheila Campbell and David Torregrosa floated two options for how the federal government could increase access to disaster insurance. “Both approaches would allow faster...

Inside Cal/EPA - 10/18/2024

Thu, 2024-10-17 12:17

SAB Backs EPA’s Novel Draft IRIS Arsenic Assessment Amid Concerns

EPA’s science advisors have approved their draft report that generally supports the agency’s long-running effort to assess the risks of inorganic arsenic, an assessment that once final is expected to drive tougher standards for drinking water, hazardous waste sites, pesticides and other exposure sources. But in approving the draft report of their arsenic subpanel Oct. 15, members of the chartered Science Advisory Board (SAB) also voted to require some revisions to their report amid objections from some panelists and industry...

Chamber Asks Court To Block ‘Misleading’ Prop. 65 Acrylamide Warning

The California Chamber of Commerce is asking a federal judge to grant summary judgment in its long-running free-speech challenge to the state’s Prop. 65 warning for the food chemical acrylamide, saying regulators’ reworked warning text is “false and misleading” in light of the lack of scientific consensus about acrylamide’s human health impacts. Prop. 65’s “cancer warning requirement for acrylamide, in all its forms, compels CalChamber’s members to provide a false and misleading message that disparages their products and seeks to...

Chamber Asks Court To Block ‘Misleading’ Prop. 65 Acrylamide Warning

The California Chamber of Commerce is asking a federal judge to grant summary judgment in its long-running free-speech challenge to the state’s Prop. 65 warning for the food chemical acrylamide, saying regulators’ reworked warning text is “false and misleading” in light of the lack of scientific consensus about acrylamide’s human health impacts. Prop. 65’s “cancer warning requirement for acrylamide, in all its forms, compels CalChamber’s members to provide a false and misleading message that disparages their products and seeks to...

Power Sector Eyes Merits Fight After SCOTUS Lets EPA’s GHG Rule Advance

Coal and other industry groups are vowing to continue fighting EPA’s power plant GHG rule for new gas and existing coal plants on the merits in the D.C. Circuit after the Supreme Court denied their request to stay the rule, allowing the agency to implement it. Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association (NMA), one of the parties that unsuccessfully sought a stay, said in a statement that the group “look[s] forward to continuing to mak[e] our...

Decision In Fluoride Case Raises Questions For TSCA Citizen Petitions

An industry attorney says the recent ruling by a federal district judge overturning EPA’s denial of a TSCA petition seeking limits on drinking water fluoridation carries broad implications not just for that practice but how the agency handles -- and litigates -- its responses to citizen petitions under the toxics law. The case, Food & Water Watch (FWW), et al., v. EPA , “is particularly newsworthy for review of existing chemicals going forward,” Gregory Clark, a partner at the industry...

Water Provider Plaintiffs Seek Final Approval Of $316.5 Million BASF Deal

Water utility plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to give final approval to a $316.5 million class action settlement with BASF Corp., a key step in resolving consolidated multidistrict litigation (MDL) over PFAS contamination from firefighting foam ahead of a Nov. 1 hearing on the fairness of the proposed agreement. “The BASF Settlement Agreement for Public Water Systems . . . aligns with the pending Tyco Settlement and is yet another building block in the efforts to clean public drinking...

Justices Appear Open To Narrow Ruling In San Francisco CWA Permit Suit

Supreme Court justices on both sides appear open to a ruling that would support EPA’s power to include “narrative” pollution limits in Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge permits but limit their use to certain circumstances, an approach an agency attorney said during Oct. 16 oral argument the government would accept. During oral argument in City and County of San Francisco v. EPA, et al. , several justices -- including Samuel Alito, one of the court’s most vocal conservatives -- suggested...

North Carolina Establishes Interim Groundwater Limits For Eight PFAS

North Carolina’s environment department has implemented interim groundwater limits for eight PFAS despite criticisms from industry groups on the limited time for public comment and questions about whether the interim limits can even be met. The interim maximum allowable concentrations (IMACs) became effective Oct. 15 and come as North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) officials have struggled to get approval from a regulatory oversight panel for permanent groundwater standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The IMACs will remain...

Quote-Unquote: EPA methylene chloride rule, in court -- too much and too little

What they’re saying. Industry’s methylene chloride challenge says EPA ‘grabs sweeping authority’ : “1. Whether, given [the Toxic Substances Control Act’s] mandate to determine whether a given ‘condition of use’ of a substance presents an ‘unreasonable risk,’ EPA can legitimately determine an entire chemical to be unreasonably risky by concluding simply that there is some non-zero risk from some activities using the chemical, and by ignoring the actual conditions of use; 2. Whether EPA’s exposure limits are not supported by...

Inside EPA - 10/18/2024

Wed, 2024-10-16 17:05

Supreme Court Rejects Calls To Stay EPA’s Power Plant GHG Standards

The Supreme Court is rejecting calls from Republican-led states and power companies to stay implementation of EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards as litigation over the measure proceeds in an appellate court, dealing a blow to critics of the regulation. The court in an Oct. 16 order notes that several applications to stay the measure are “denied,” though it flags a dissent from one justice as well as concerns about the legality of EPA’s rule from two others. Specifically, Justice...

Supreme Court Rejects Calls To Stay EPA’s Power Plant GHG Standards

The Supreme Court is rejecting calls from Republican-led states and power companies to stay implementation of EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards as litigation over the measure proceeds in an appellate court, dealing a blow to critics of the regulation. The court in an Oct. 16 order notes that several applications to stay the measure are “denied,” though it flags a dissent from one justice as well as concerns about the legality of EPA’s rule from two others. Specifically, Justice...

Litigants Lay Out Competing TSCA Readings In Landmark Rule Challenges

Stakeholders have filed their first arguments for tightening, easing or scrapping entirely the Biden administration’s first three TSCA rules governing existing chemicals, setting the stage for precedent-setting decisions on how much power and discretion the reformed toxics law gives EPA -- and potentially leading to a circuit split that only the Supreme Court could resolve. Industry, environmentalists, unions and public-health groups have submitted opening briefs in recent weeks on some or all of three closely watched Toxic Substances Control Act...

F3 Shows Less Chronic But More Acute Toxicity Than AFFF, Study Finds

Early tests on the impact of fluorine-free foams (F3) on aquatic organisms show that their acute toxicity is greater than PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), but that chronic toxicity is generally similar to or less than AFFF, critical information as the Defense Department (DOD) faces a looming deadline to transition from AFFF. The acute toxicities of the six F3s tested were slightly more toxic than AFFF but still generally safe, while the chronic toxicities of the F3s varied by species...

Tow Truck Companies Mount Final Bid To Ease CARB Clean Truck Rule

Tow truck companies are mounting a final bid to persuade California air officials to significantly ease mandates in the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule, expanding assertions that a dearth of new conventional combustion trucks will leave them without sufficient vehicles to continue operations and could cripple essential motorist services. “State regulators have created an insurmountable roadblock for towing and recovery truck drivers by mandating electric engine technology that can’t yet support custom, high-performance trucks,” asserts Brandon Neal, owner of Truck...

Washington State, Environmentalists Warn California Over 6PPD Alternatives

Washington state regulators and environmentalists are warning the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to carefully review tire manufacturers’ potential replacement chemicals for the anti-cracking compound 6PPD, arguing that some of the alternatives could be equally toxic to human and aquatic health. “Both 6PPD and the related compound 7PPD are known to be reproductive toxicants, yet 7PPD is included as a potential alternative in preliminary [alternatives analysis (AA)] reports submitted to DTSC,” states Oct. 9 comments to DTSC from...

Justices’ Recent Stay Denials Unlikely To Close Expected Flood Of Petitions

The Supreme Court’s recent decisions denying critics’ requests to stay EPA’s methane and mercury emissions rules are unlikely to close what is expected to be a flood of emergency petitions to stay other agency rules that appellate courts deny, industry observers say, after the court stayed the agency’s Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) interstate ozone rule in June. One court observer says the Supreme Court in granting the GNP stay in Ohio v. EPA -- preceded only by its 2016...

Pages

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