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...

EPA Guide Renews Calls For Water Systems To Bolster Cybersecurity

EPA is again offering assistance for owners and operators of drinking water and wastewater systems (WWSs) to assess gaps in their cybersecurity practices and controls and reduce risks posed by cyberattacks, amid water utilities’ concerns over potential mandates to report security breaches to the government. The agency’s latest cybersecurity guidance to water systems, dated Sept. 18, highlights technical support programs EPA provides to the sector while warning of the severe consequences a successful attack can inflict. “WWSs are frequent targets...

Judge Denies Tire Companies’ Bid To Dismiss ESA Suit Over Use Of 6PPD

A federal judge has denied -- for now -- tire companies’ request to dismiss for lack of standing fishery groups’ suit over their use of the anti-cracking chemical known as 6PPD, holding that their arguments are too “intertwined” with substantive questions that will require fact-finding to decide. “Defendants' motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) for lack of Article III standing . . . is denied without prejudice,” Judge James Donato of the U.S. District Court for...

Judge Denies Tire Companies’ Bid To Dismiss ESA Suit Over Use Of 6PPD

A federal judge has denied -- for now -- tire companies’ request to dismiss for lack of standing fishery groups’ suit over their use of the anti-cracking chemical known as 6PPD, holding that their arguments are too “intertwined” with substantive questions that will require fact-finding to decide. “Defendants' motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) for lack of Article III standing . . . is denied without prejudice,” Judge James Donato of the U.S. District Court for...

DOE Touts New Transmission Funds, Inter-Regional Grid Planning Study

The Energy Department (DOE) is touting $1.5 billion in preliminary purchasing deals for four transmission projects that will help integrate greater levels of clean electricity, while officials have also finalized a transmission planning study that highlights paths to inter-regional projects needed to reduce future energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The announced investments represent the second wave of awards under the bipartisan infrastructure law’s Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP), Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk told reporters during a preview of the...

Inside Cal/EPA - 10/04/2024

Thu, 2024-10-03 13:55

Newsom Signs Bill To Curb Warehouse Impacts Despite EJ Opposition

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has signed into law a controversial bill that aims to curb pollution from warehouses in disadvantaged communities by creating first-time logistics standards for the sector, despite opposition from environmental and equity groups that argue the new requirements are too lax and will establish poor precedents. “This legislation strikes a delicate balance that puts in place a higher standard for logistic development near sensitive receptors,” said Assemblywoman Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-Colton), co-author of the bill, AB...

VA Plans To Assess Kidney Cancer Links To Veterans’ PFAS Exposure

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is proposing to launch a scientific assessment to evaluate a potential link between kidney cancer among veterans and PFAS exposure during military service -- an effort that will aid the department in deciding whether to label kidney cancer a presumptive service-connected condition for veterans exposed to the chemicals. The VA is taking comment until Dec. 20 on its plans to examine the scientific literature and historical claims data to decide if there is a...

Industry, GOP States Seek Cost Consideration In Suit Over PM NAAQS

Industry groups and mainly GOP-led states suing EPA over its tougher, “reconsidered” limits for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are again arguing that it lacked authority to revisit the Trump-era standard but also seeking to force cost considerations into all reviews of such standards, despite a landmark Supreme Court precedent. In their reply brief filed Sept. 30, industry petitioners in Commonwealth of Kentucky, et al., v. EPA renew their claim that the agency lacked statutory authority for its 2024 rule...

In Wake Of Helene, Climate Advocates Seek Insurance Market Improvements

In the aftermath of significant flooding damage from Hurricane Helene, climate policy advocates are urging state and federal officials to increase efforts to improve the property insurance system, including calling for new state agencies that would provide comprehensive disaster insurance while also leading risk reduction efforts. “The rising frequency and severity of storms alongside other types of disasters in other parts of the country like wildfires, floods and other climate-related disasters have laid before us the significant flaws in our...

Georgia-Pacific Argues Paper Companies Raise ‘Meritless’ CERCLA Appeal

Paper company Georgia-Pacific (GP) is charging that two other firms in the sector are raising a “meritless” appeal over a district court’s decision holding the two defendants liable for future Superfund response costs as well as those in the past, which ultimately questions the scope of a precedent-setting appellate ruling addressing the trigger for the statute of limitations in Superfund contribution actions. GP filed an Oct.1 merits brief in the long-running litigation over liability for cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)...

EPA Readies New TSCA Review Targets Amid Court Battles

EPA is beginning a fresh round of pre-prioritization that will identify five new targets for potential TSCA evaluation and regulation, even as it is wrestling with not just an array of past-due chemical reviews but high-profile court cases that could require it to add new rulemakings on fluoride and PFAS to its already crowded docket. Last week, a federal district judge held that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires EPA to take steps to address “unreasonable risk” posed by...

Inside EPA - 10/04/2024

Wed, 2024-10-02 16:15

Judge Stays Suit Over CARB Locomotive Rule Pending EPA Waiver Decision

A federal district court judge has paused the railroad sector’s pared-down lawsuit challenging a California Air Resources Board (CARB) rule limiting air pollution from existing locomotives until EPA decides on the state’s request for a waiver of federal preemption -- effectively denying industry’s motion for summary judgment, for now. “Having considered the Parties’ briefing and arguments, the Court finds that a stay is warranted. California has not previously sought authorization from the EPA to regulate emissions for non-new locomotives. Thus,...

Final TCEP Evaluation Rejects Stakeholders’ Calls For Major Revisions

EPA’s response to comments on its final risk evaluation of the flame retardant tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) lays out arguments against requests from industry and environmental groups alike to significantly broaden the review or rework its conclusions, defending both the TSCA office’s analysis of TCEP and its overall approach to existing chemicals. The response document EPA issued in support of its Sept. 23 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) evaluation of TCEP -- the first completed review of an existing chemical since...

EPA Proposes Major Expansion To Reporting PFAS Releases Under TRI

EPA is proposing to add 16 individual PFAS as well as 15 PFAS categories representing more than 100 individual chemicals to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) -- a major expansion to the public reporting database and one which would bar use of an exemption for de minimis releases as the agency has recently done with other PFAS listings. In an Oct. 2 press release, EPA announced the proposed rule , saying it plans to designate the new additions as...

States, Industry Renew Calls To Vacate CWA Section 401 Certification Rule

A coalition of GOP states and industry groups is renewing arguments that the Biden EPA’s Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 water quality certification rule is unlawful in multiple respects, telling a federal district court that it disrupts the balance Congress struck in writing the statute and improperly applies retroactively to already-submitted applications. Plaintiffs in the pending suit over the rule filed a joint Sept. 30 brief opposing EPA’s motion for summary judgment and supporting their own, reiterating long-running claims...

Judge Stays Suit Over CARB Locomotive Rule Pending EPA Waiver Decision

A federal district court judge has paused the railroad sector’s pared-down lawsuit challenging a California Air Resources Board (CARB) rule limiting air pollution from existing locomotives until EPA decides on the state’s request for a waiver of federal preemption -- effectively denying industry’s motion for summary judgment, for now. “Having considered the Parties’ briefing and arguments, the Court finds that a stay is warranted. California has not previously sought authorization from the EPA to regulate emissions for non-new locomotives. Thus,...

Quote-Unquote: In the courts -- fluoridation, climate disclosure, and more

What they’re saying. EPA must regulate drinking water fluoridation, district court rules : “The issue before this court is whether the plaintiffs have established by a preponderance of the evidence that the fluoridation of drinking water at levels typical in the United States poses an unreasonable risk of injury to health of the public within the meaning of Amended [Toxic Substances Control Act]. . . . The court so finds. Specifically, the court finds that fluoridation of water at 0.7...

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