EPA’s Tougher Gasoline Tank Rule Makes Few Concessions To Industry

EPA is finalizing tougher emissions standards for new volatile organic liquid (VOL) storage tanks, including thousands of gasoline tanks, a measure that is largely in line with its 2023 plan while making only minor adjustments in response to industry criticism that the regulation is impractical or unlawful. In an Oct. 15 Federal Register notice , EPA updates the new source performance standards (NSPS) for the sector, seeking to further reduce emissions from the more than 9000 liquid tanks involved...

EPA Says Critics Try To ‘Conjure’ Hurdles For CCS In Power Plant GHG Rule

EPA is detailing the legal defense for its power plant greenhouse gas standards, arguing that challengers are seeking to “conjure” demanding hurdles the agency must clear before it can rely on carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the basis for the rule’s strictest requirements. Critics argue that EPA’s justification for such standards “is inadequate because it did not identify a source that has employed ‘consistent, annual, facility-wide 90%-CO2-capture,’” the agency says in an Oct. 11 response brief in West Virginia,...

Climate Extra - 10/15/2024

Tue, 2024-10-15 13:31

Court Allows Plastics Maker To Pursue PFAS Class Certification Reversal

A federal appeals court is allowing a plastics manufacturer to pursue an interlocutory appeal of a class certification of a tort case alleging the company’s air emissions caused PFAS drinking water contamination affecting potentially thousands of people, with the manufacturer likely to argue the lower court bypassed typical strictures for crafting a class. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit Sept. 24 granted permission to Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation to file an interlocutory appeal of a Dec. 29,...

Inside TSCA - 10/14/2024

Tue, 2024-10-15 12:08

EPA Says Critics Try To ‘Conjure’ Hurdles For CCS In Power Plant GHG Rule

EPA is detailing the legal defense for its power plant greenhouse gas standards, arguing that challengers are seeking to “conjure” demanding hurdles the agency must clear before it can rely on carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the basis for the rule’s strictest requirements. Critics argue that EPA’s justification for such standards “is inadequate because it did not identify a source that has employed ‘consistent, annual, facility-wide 90%-CO2-capture,’” the agency says in an Oct. 11 response brief in West Virginia,...

Supreme Court Slated To Hear CWA Case; SAB Weighs Arsenic Risks, EJ

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that challenges EPA’s authority to set “narrative” limits in its Clean Water Act (CWA) pollutant discharge permits. EPA science advisors are slated to provide advice on a controversial assessment of arsenic’s risks as well as agency environmental justice efforts. Also, state waste management officials hold their annual meeting. Supreme Court The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Oct. 16 in the suit City and County of San Francisco v....

Litigants Detail NEPA, Power Plant Rule Case; IRS Talks Clean Power Credit

Litigants are slated to file briefs in a Supreme Court case regarding the scope of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements, as well as in a D.C. Circuit case challenging EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards. Meanwhile, Treasury officials are hosting a public hearing on proposed rules to implement bonus tax credits for clean electricity in low-income communities, and groups will discuss industrial decarbonization and skepticism concerning voluntary carbon markets. Climate Litigation Respondents’ briefs are due Oct. 18 in the...

Court Weighs Evaluation Rule Challenge; SAB Eyes Chemical ‘Co-Exposure’

Briefing is set to continue this week in labor and industry groups’ consolidated suit over EPA’s redone “framework” rule governing TSCA risk evaluations. The agency’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) is set to provide a “consultation” on EPA’s draft document laying out approaches to considering chemical “co-exposures” in TSCA risk analyses. ‘Framework’ Challenge Oct. 17 is the deadline for the chemical maker Olin Corp. to file its opening brief with the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia Circuit in...

Environmental Groups Back North Carolina Interim Groundwater Limits

Environmental groups are strongly supporting North Carolina’s plan to adopt interim groundwater limits for eight PFAS immediately, following a regulatory oversight panel’s decision to require the state to pursue more permanent standards for only three PFAS, but industry groups are raising concerns about whether the interim limits can be met. Strong interim maximum allowable concentrations (IMACs) “will help protect North Carolinians who rely on groundwater by establishing a clear threshold above which the state deems long term consumption of each...

Unions Say EPA Must Exclude PPE From TSCA Reviews Amid Dueling Suits

Unions and worker-safety advocates are asking the D.C. Circuit to hold that TSCA forbids the agency from considering workers’ use of personal protective equipment (PPE) when evaluating chemicals’ risks -- opening the door to a potential circuit split as industry is arguing that the reviews must consider PPE in separate suits over chemical-specific rules. United Steelworkers (USW), the International Association of Machinists and the advocacy group Worksafe filed their joint opening brief on Oct. 10 in consolidated litigation over EPA’s...

EPA Plans To Block Texas Haze Plan Amid Fight Over Program’s Future

EPA plans to largely disapprove Texas’ plan for implementing the second phase of the agency’s regional haze program, raising numerous concerns that the agency is now considering as it takes comment on the program’s future under a likely major revision, and underscoring how difficult it will be to implement the current phase. In a proposal slated for publication in the Federal Register Oct. 15, EPA finds multiple faults with the Texas state implementation plan (SIP) for the haze program’s...

EPA Backs Oregon Haze Plan Over Park Service, Environmentalists’ Criticism

EPA has granted final approval to Oregon’s plan for implementing the regional haze program’s second phase, despite pushback from the National Park Service (NPS) and environmentalists who say it does not meet the stringent requirements of the Regional Haze Rule (RHR), amid an ongoing review of the program. In a notice published in the Federal Register Oct. 8, EPA approves Oregon’s state implementation plan (SIP) for the second phase of the regional haze program, which runs from 2018 to...

Industry Launches Sweeping Legal Attacks On Methylene Chloride Rule

Industry trade groups and individual companies are asking the 5th Circuit to scrap EPA’s TSCA rule governing methylene chloride for a litany of reasons, saying the agency ignored research on the chemical’s dangers and statutory limits on its own authority in both its evaluation of the chemical and subsequent rulemaking. Industry parties’ Oct. 9 opening brief in East Fork Enterprises, et al., v. EPA sets out sweeping arguments for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to...

Chamber asks OMB to speed water assistance assessment review

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is asking the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to expedite its review of EPA’s Needs Assessment for Rural and Urban Low-Income Community Water Assistance called for in the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA). In an Oct. 7 letter , the group warned that House and Senate appropriators need the report to fund 40 pilot communities authorized but not funded under the law, in time to complete EPA’s fiscal year 2025 appropriations...

Final LCRI Renews Clash Over Use Of Plastics In Lead-Pipe Replacement

Industry and environmental groups are again at odds over what materials should replace the estimated nine million lead service lines (LSLs) targeted for removal under EPA’s just-released Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), as the groups clash over whether polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a “safe” option. In the days after EPA released the final LCRI on Oct. 8, trade associations and environmentalists have quickly sought to weigh in on the replacements for LSLs, reviving prior battles over whether PVC and...

SAB Urges EPA To Include ‘Step-By-Step Process’ For EJ Analyses

EPA’s advisors are urging the agency to improve its draft technical guidance for assessing environmental justice (EJTG) in regulatory analyses, pressing officials to use a “step-by-step process for conducting a structured EJ analysis,” an approach they say is “crucial” in cases where any analysis shows the need to revise regulations. EPA’s chartered Science Advisory Board (SAB) is slated to meet Oct. 15 and review a draft report from its Environmental Justice Science & Analysis Review Panel advising EPA on how...

Affirming EPA Study Effort, 9th Circuit Rejects Environmentalists’ CAFO Suit

A three-judge appellate panel has rejected environmentalists’ suit seeking to vacate and remand EPA’s denial of their 2017 petition pursuing tougher effluent limits for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO), with the judges affirming that EPA acted reasonably when it instead chose to conduct a holistic study of the sector’s discharges. Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued an Oct. 2 opinion denying environmentalists’ petition for review in Food and Water Watch (F&WW), et al. v....

Pages

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