D.C. Circuit Pauses Suit Over EPA Lime Kilns Rule Pending Possible Review

The D.C. Circuit has granted a request from an industrial lime production group to pause its lawsuit challenging EPA’s recently tightened air toxics rule for the sector while the agency decides whether to grant a parallel industry petition for administrative reconsideration that could resolve many or all issues in the litigation. In an Oct. 7 order , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit grants the National Lime Association’s (NLA) request for abeyance in the suit,...

Deputy Administrator McCabe departs EPA

EPA’s Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe has ended her latest tenure at the agency, after serving at the agency for most of the Biden administration as well as the Obama administration. “I am grateful to Janet McCabe for her leadership as EPA’s Deputy Administrator. Her contributions to this agency will leave a lasting legacy of progress in delivering on EPA’s mission,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told Inside EPA said regarding McCabe’s departure. McCabe sent a Sept. 19 email to EPA staff...

Methane Stay Denial Gives EPA Strong Position, But Utility GHG Rule Looms

The Supreme Court’s denial of state and industry requests to stay EPA’s oil and gas methane rule likely leaves the agency in a strong position to defend the rule in appellate litigation, even as some industry observers are suggesting the justices might be more willing to grant pending requests concerning the agency’s power plant greenhouse gas standards. The high court Oct. 4 declined to block implementation of both the methane rule as well as EPA’s rule updating air toxics standards...

High Court Grants Review In Potential ‘Major Questions’ Nuclear Waste Case

The Supreme Court has granted requests from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the nuclear power sector to review an appellate ruling finding that regulators lack authority to license temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel, a case that could test the reach of the “major questions” doctrine and agency deference after the justices’ overruling of the Chevron doctrine. The high court granted certiorari in an Oct. 4 order list for the case NRC, et al. v. Texas, et...

Methane Stay Denial Gives EPA Strong Position, But Utility GHG Rule Looms

The Supreme Court’s denial of state and industry requests to stay EPA’s oil and gas methane rule likely leaves the agency in a strong position to defend the rule in appellate litigation, even as some industry observers are suggesting the justices might be more willing to grant pending requests concerning the agency’s power plant greenhouse gas standards. The high court Oct. 4 declined to block implementation of both the methane rule as well as EPA’s rule updating air toxics standards...

EPA Investigating Massive AFFF Spill From Former Navy Facility In Maine

EPA Region 1 is actively investigating a recent record-breaking spill of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) from a former naval facility in Maine, asking local officials to provide information to help the agency determine if the spill violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and informing the Navy that it will seek changes to the site’s PFAS sampling plan. The Aug. 19 spill from a fire suppression system malfunction released 1,450 gallons of AFFF, which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), mixed...

DOD Outlines To Appropriators Plans To Adopt EPA’s PFAS Water Limits

The Pentagon is outlining to congressional appropriators its general plans for adopting EPA’s drinking water limits for six PFAS, noting it is reviewing existing PFAS sampling results, will expand cleanup investigations, assess “background” levels of PFAS, and will prioritize responding to high levels of private well contamination. The Defense Department’s (DOD) plans are laid out in briefing slides submitted to the Senate and House Appropriations committees and echo policy DOD issued Sept. 3 aimed at explaining DOD’s plans for incorporating...

ACC Backs TSCA Reporting Extension For PFAS But Seeks New Guidance

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is welcoming EPA’s eight-month delay of TSCA reporting mandates for PFAS manufacturers and importers while warning the agency that industry needed earlier “guidance and robust engagement” on other aspects of the program -- particularly the breadth of chemical-safety studies companies must submit. ACC filed an Oct. 3 comment letter on the direct final rule EPA published a month earlier to postpone its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reporting program, endorsing the new timeline -- a...

Risk Policy Report - 10/08/2024

Mon, 2024-10-07 12:56

EPA OKs California PM ‘Contingency Measures,’ Defends Policy Guidance

EPA is approving two “contingency measures” (CMs) submitted by California to meet fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standards in the San Joaquin Valley, while also detailing legal arguments that its controversial draft policy on how such measures should be crafted is protective of human health and the environment and compliant with federal law. “In short, we preliminarily concluded that the [CMs] met the requirements for such measures because both measures are designed to be both prospective and conditional, include appropriate triggering...

Inside TSCA - 10/07/2024

Mon, 2024-10-07 12:14

First-Of-Its-Kind Study Finds Mixtures More Toxic Than Individual PFAS

A first-of-its-kind study has found that mixtures of PFAS are more toxic than individual compounds, results that could lead to PFAS being regulated as mixtures as well as helping to assess the effectiveness of remediation efforts, according to the study’s authors. The study published last month in Environmental Science & Technology examined the cytotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and mitochondrial toxicity of up to 12 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) using concentrations typically observed in the environment, such as in wastewater or...

Plaintiffs Urge Court To Reject Industry Bid To Dismiss GM Cheating Case

Michigan plaintiffs suing General Motors (GM) over claims that the company submitted false emissions test data to EPA are urging a federal appeals court to reject the company’s request -- backed by major industry groups -- that the full court overturn a three-judge panel’s holding allowing their case to go forward in state court. In an Oct. 3 brief opposing GM’s request for en banc review, the plaintiffs urge the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit...

High Court Seeks SG’s Views On Novel State Push To Block Climate Suits

The Supreme Court is asking the solicitor general (SG) to provide the government’s formal position on Republican-led states’ novel petition seeking to block climate change nuisance suits brought by Democratic-led states, a move that will delay the justices’ decision on how to address the petition. The high court in a short Oct. 7 order in Alabama, et al. v. California, et al . says the SG is “invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the...

ELI Weighs SCOTUS’ New Term; Opening Briefs Due In Key Regulatory Suits

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) will hold its annual Supreme Court review and preview event, where legal experts will discuss the high court’s landmark decisions from the past term, as well as upcoming cases slated for review. Opening briefs are due in a series of cases challenging EPA rules addressing drinking water limits for PFAS, greenhouse gas standards for power plants and the revised TSCA “framework” rule for its risk evaluations of existing chemicals. Supreme Court ELI is scheduled to...

EPA Defends Power Plant GHG Rule; FERC Officials Talk Grid Policy

EPA is poised to detail its arguments in defense of its high-profile greenhouse gas standards for power plants. Meanwhile, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) officials will discuss grid stability, and a former top EJ official will talk about the future of environmental and energy justice. Power Plant Litigation EPA’s response brief is due Oct. 11 in West Virginia, et al. v. EPA, et al. , before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the case challenging the agency’s...

Comments Close On PFAS Rule Deadline; Evaluation Rule Briefing Begins

Stakeholders have until Oct. 7 to submit comments on EPA’s last-minute extension of the compliance period for its TSCA reporting rule on manufacture and import of PFAS. Industry and labor groups suing over the redone TSCA “framework” for chemical risk evaluations are preparing to file their first merits briefs. PFAS Reporting Oct. 7 is the deadline for comments on EPA’s extension of the deadline for companies to begin submitting what is expected to be a massive amount of one-time per-...

Industry Seeks ‘Consistent’ EPA Approach To TSCA De Minimis Levels

Trade groups are using comments on the proposed TSCA rule for the solvent 1-bromopropane (1-BP) to urge EPA to craft a “consistent approach” for setting de minimis exemptions in all risk management rulemakings under the toxics law, while also renewing pressure on the agency for more transparency on its chemical-specific workplace exposure limits. “We agree that EPA should seek to establish de minimis levels as a matter of course in [Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)] risk management rules, and here...

EPA seeks small business advice on perchlorate rule

EPA is calling on small businesses, governments, and not-for-profit entities to provide advice and recommendations to a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panel on its development of a rule that will regulate the contaminant perchlorate in drinking water. EPA issued an Oct. 3 press release seeking input from small entities to inform its SBAR panel on the agency’s development of a rule to regulate perchlorate under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). EPA is seeking the advice after the U.S...

Regulators Bring First Enforcement Actions Against Carbon Credit Fraud

Officials who regulate financial derivatives are bringing their first enforcement actions to penalize fraud related to voluntary carbon credits, offering another indication that regulators are seeking to bolster the integrity of such credits and offsets. The enforcement actions, announced Oct. 2 by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), concern the carbon credit project developer known as C-Quest as well as top former executives. CFTC in a pair of orders announced a settlement with C-Quest and the company’s former chief operating...

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