Panel Rejects 3M Request To Transfer Refiled PFAS Class Action To MDL

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has rejected an effort by chemical giant 3M to transfer a high-profile, proposed class action suit seeking medical monitoring for Ohio residents exposed to PFAS to the massive multi-district litigation (MDL) over firefighting foam containing PFAS. In an Oct. 4 order , the JPML distinguished the proposed class action suit from pending MDL litigation over contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) stemming from aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF), and reiterated the limits...

Former Officials Warn Project 2025 Would Stymie EPA’s PFAS Measures

The potential implementation of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy manual for a Republican administration threatens to undo or significantly slow the progress EPA has made in regulating PFAS by calling for the revision of Superfund designations and eliminating key research programs that underlie drinking water rules, a group representing former officials says. “Project 2025 will stop or delay all EPA actions to prevent, control, remediate, and research [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)],” Betsy Southerland, a former EPA water and...

Water Policy Report - 10/07/2024

Fri, 2024-10-04 16:41

CPUC Launches Rulemaking To Cut Natural Gas Reliance Amid Cost Fears

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is launching a proceeding to reduce the state’s reliance on natural gas, which the agency views as a “critical step in supporting California’s clean energy goals,” though officials are under pressure to limit cost increases while ensuring grid reliability. “Broadly, the primary purpose of gas transition planning is to facilitate decarbonization activities over time in a way that supports equity, safety and affordability, and mitigates reliability challenges, commodity price spikes and other potential adverse...

SACC Urges EPA To Consider ‘Non-TSCA’ Uses In Chemical Evaluations

EPA advisors are pushing the agency to broaden the scope of its TSCA risk evaluations in a new peer review of draft analyses for the phthalates DINP and DIDP, arguing that the agency should consider all uses of a target substance -- even those not subject to regulation under the toxics law, such as food packaging or medical equipment. “The Committee agreed that perhaps the most significant issue with the current DIDP and DINP assessments is omission of likely exposure...

Brown Presses DOD For PFAS Cleanup Agreement At Ohio Air Force Base

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is pressing the Defense Department (DOD) to take “immediate action” to address PFAS contamination stemming from an Air Force base that is threatening a sole source aquifer, including responding to a long-standing request from Gov. Mike DeWine (R) to enter into a cooperative agreement with state and local officials. “The Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer is the largest sole-source drinking water system in the United States harmed by military [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)] contamination,” said...

Petitioners Detail SDWA Rule Challenge; Former Official Talks PFAS Rules

Industry and utility critics of EPA’s landmark PFAS drinking water rule are slated to file their opening briefs. A former top Obama-EPA official will discuss the impacts to industry from recent PFAS regulations. Also: a current EPA official will explain the differences between various PFAS definitions. SDWA Rule Opening briefs from two sets of petitioners are due Oct. 7 in the consolidated challenge to EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act limits on six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). One brief will...

Evergreen Urges Automakers To Commit To California’s 2035 ZEV Target

Environmentalists are ramping up calls for automakers to formally commit to phasing out “pure” internal combustion vehicles by 2035 in states that have adopted California’s vehicle emissions standards, arguing this would boost certainty for ongoing electrification efforts ahead of possible legal or political reversals of key EPA or state rules. The pitch, in a Sept. 26 memo from the group Evergreen Collaborative, comes amid uncertainty for both regulators and the auto industry. GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has pledged to...

Supreme Court Rejects Calls To Stay EPA’s MATS Update, Methane Rule

The Supreme Court is rejecting calls from industry groups and Republican-led states to stay implementation of two major EPA rules -- methane limits for the oil and gas sector, as well as updated air toxics limits for certain coal plants -- while litigation over the measures proceeds in a lower court. The court’s Oct. 4 decisions represent key wins for EPA as it defends a suite of major climate, air and other regulations finalized earlier this year. But agency critics...

EPA Urges Court To Reject Louisiana Bid To Block Title VI Rules Nationwide

EPA is strongly opposing an effort by Louisiana to convince a federal judge to impose a nationwide bar preventing the agency from implementing its Civil Rights Title VI disparate-impact rules, arguing the state had not shown any injury in its request to expand the judge’s earlier order blocking the rule’s implementation only in the Pelican State. “Because the State has not proven any injury outside of the State of Louisiana from the application of the challenged regulations, the Court’s permanent...

Evergreen Urges Automakers To Commit To California’s 2035 ZEV Target

Environmentalists are ramping up calls for automakers to formally commit to phasing out “pure” internal combustion vehicles by 2035 in states that have adopted California’s vehicle emissions standards, arguing this would boost certainty for ongoing electrification efforts ahead of possible legal or political reversals of key EPA or state rules. The pitch, in a Sept. 26 memo from the group Evergreen Collaborative, comes amid uncertainty for both regulators and the auto industry. GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has pledged to...

Environmentalists Fault EPA’s Vessel Limits But Stop Short Of Legal Threat

Environmentalists are strongly criticizing EPA’s final rule governing pollution releases from ships, charging that the measure will not adequately protect the Great Lakes and other interior waters from invasive species and pollution though they stopped short of suing over the recently issued regulation. In statements issued shortly after EPA issued its rule, several groups charged that the measure fails to go far enough and regulate existing “laker” ships that operate exclusively in the Great Lakes in addition to setting an...

Inside PFAS Policy - 10/04/2024

Fri, 2024-10-04 10:31

Stymieing PFAS Push, Biden Signs Bill Limiting Chips Projects’ Reviews

Environmental and other groups are facing setbacks in their push to tie PFAS controls and other environmental measures to major federal grants aimed at jumpstarting the domestic semiconductor industry, with President Joe Biden signing into law a bipartisan bill largely exempting certain microchip manufacturing projects from environmental reviews. “This is incredibly troubling news,” Harry Manin, deputy legislative director for industrial policy at Sierra Club, said of the law’s enactment. He noted to Inside PFAS Policy that this is part...

Environmentalists Preview Bid To Preserve Suit Over TSCA Plastics Rule

Environmental groups suing EPA over what they say is the unlawfully slow pace of its TSCA rulemaking to address PFAS contamination in fluorinated plastic containers are outlining plans to preserve the suit against the agency’s claims that a new call for comments to inform the rule bars any further litigation over its progress. Plaintiffs in Center for Environmental Health (CEH), et al., v. EPA filed a five-page brief on Oct. 1 telling the U.S. District Court for the District...

EPA proposes to approve Detroit SO2 plan tied to NAAQS ‘delay’ suit

EPA is proposing to approve a long-contested state implementation plan (SIP) for Detroit to attain the agency’s 2010 federal air quality standard for sulfur dioxide (SO2) -- a step that would partially resolve environmental groups’ litigation claiming that the agency has unlawfully delayed implementing the SO2 limit. In an Oct. 3 Federal Register notice , EPA announces its proposed approval of the SIP for Detroit, which is necessary to bring the area into attainment with the SO2 national ambient...

EPA Seeks To Bolster SEPs With Prescriptive Reporting, Accounting Mandates

EPA’s new administrative settlement with a Puerto Rican cement plant over alleged air toxics violations includes two supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) with highly prescriptive language to ensure that the project complies with a litany of requirements -- a move observers suggest could be an attempt to address GOP opposition to SEPs by showing that all of its terms will be strictly followed. The new SEP, part of a consent agreement and final order (CAFO) announced Oct. 2 between EPA Region...

Lawyers Say Critics Will Face Unique Standing Hurdles In Tax Credit Suits

As the Biden administration rushes to finalize key rules to implement the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) suite of clean energy tax credits, tax lawyers are warning that groups seeking to challenge those measures in court might face unique challenges to establish standing to bring suit compared with challenges to other environmental rules. A non-profit group or other entity not directly claiming the credit faces a “lack of clarity” regarding whether it can show standing to challenge the IRS implementing guidance,...

Newsom Signs Bill For ‘Bidirectional’ Charging On EVs But Urges Caution

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has enacted a bill that aims to spur vehicle makers to equip battery electric vehicles (BEVs) with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) “bidirectional” charging capability, but is also directing state regulators to thoroughly examine the potential technical, cost and energy supply implications before advancing any specific mandates. “Given the technical complexities of bidirectional charging with BEVs, and the relationship between such standards and vehicle standards already set by” the California Air Resources Board (CARB), “I am directing the [California...

D.C. Circuit Denies Stay Of Taconite Air Limits In Blow To Steel Sector Suits

A three-judge D.C. Circuit panel has rejected the steel industry’s bid to stay newly tightened air toxics limits for taconite iron ore production -- a loss for the sector’s overarching efforts to stall EPA’s recent raft of tougher rules for steel production and associated sectors that have invoked broadly similar legal arguments for judicial stays. In an Oct. 3 per curiam order , U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Judges Patricia Millett, Nina Pillard and...

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