Utilities Rebut EPA Claims Over Power To Impose Interstate Emission Cuts

Utilities are rebutting EPA's claim that the Clean Air Act gives it broad authority to grant petitions from states asking it to directly impose emissions controls on industrial sources in neighboring states, saying the law requires that EPA first gave states a chance to fix the problem before imposing a federal air pollution control plan. In recent legal briefs, utility GenOn and others say that EPA's interstate emissions control authority under section 126 of the air law only serves as...

Appeals Court Vacates EPA Transport Rule For Exceeding Air Law Powers

A federal appeals court in a 2-1 ruling has vacated EPA's utility emissions cap-and-trade rule after finding the agency exceeded its Clean Air Act authority with the requirements it imposed on states, but the dissenting judge warns that the decision is a "trampling" over past court rulings that gave EPA authority for the transport rule. The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit triggers a host of questions over the fate of agency policies,...

In State Split, California Court Backs Policyholders' Cleanup Indemnity Claims

The California Supreme Court has backed policyholders' claims that insurers are obliged to broadly indemnify their cleanup claims at waste sites in a precedent-setting ruling that adds to the patchwork of rulings on the issue from several other state high courts. California's highest court in California v. Continental Insurance Company, et al. Aug. 9 upheld an appellate court ruling finding that insurers can be held liable for property damage caused by pollution occurring outside of their respective policy periods and...

Tanks Office Highlights Need For States To Reduce Cleanup Backlog

EPA's Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) Director Carolyn Hoskinson told state regulators in a recent memo that cleaning up the nation's backlog of nearly 85,000 leaking underground storage tanks (LUSTs) is one of her office's top priorities, asking states to place a special emphasis on stalled cleanups and suggesting strategies states may use to speed cleanups. In the memo emailed to state regulators July 30, Hoskinson emphasizes that OUST conducts all of its cleanup-related activities with backlog reduction in...

Revision Of Industry Assessment Standard Could Boost Brownfields Cleanups

Planned revisions to an industry standard used to assess the risk of contamination at sites would increase the likelihood for identifying pollution and are likely to boost brownfields redevelopment, environmental attorneys and consultants say, although the changes may also allow lawyers to argue against liability protections at sites where assessors fail to warn that contamination might be present. At issue is ASTM International's E1527-05 standard for conducting Phase 1 environmental site assessments, a preliminary study of potential contamination at a...

Appellate Decision Illustrates Limits On Superfund Apportionment Claims

A recent circuit court ruling affirming a lower court's decision to reject the apportionment of cleanup liability for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Wisconsin's Lower Fox River illustrates the difficulty in winning Superfund divisibility claims despite a landmark 2009 Supreme Court ruling that allowed for the apportionment of cleanup liability, according to several lawyers who follow Superfund cases. In an Aug. 3 decision in United States, et al. v. NCR Corp. , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit...

Risk Group Agrees To Industry Request To Review EPA's New TCE Policies

An alliance of risk assessment experts has agreed to a request from a group concerned about costly cleanups to convene a panel of experts to review EPA policy decisions regarding the ubiquitous solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) -- an area of growing concern since the agency strengthened its risk values for the contaminant last year. The Alliance for Risk Assessment (ARA), a group of environmental consultants and other risk experts that crafts technical risk assessment products and services, Aug. 15 agreed to...

States Eye Short-Term TCE Exposure Levels Despite EPA Uncertainty

Several states have either begun to use a controversial EPA proposed short-term exposure limit for trichloroethylene (TCE) or are considering developing their own short-term limits, even as industry and the Defense Department (DOD) have questioned the validity of the limit and EPA headquarters is continuing to review the science behind the limit. Regulators in California have begun enforcing EPA Region IX's proposed interim Removal Action Level (RAL) of 15 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m^3) in indoor air, requiring mitigation in...

Activists Seek Legal Deadline For Broad EPA Review Of Ash Regulations

Environmentalists are urging a federal district court to set a hard legal deadline forcing EPA within six months to undertake a broad review of its regulations on coal combustion residuals (CCR) disposal, including whether to regulate CCR as hazardous waste and to review possible changes to its toxicity testing process for analyzing coal ash. Coal ash recyclers that use the waste in products such as cement are seeking a shorter three-month deadline, though their request is narrower as they only...

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EPA Defends 2012 RFS Mandates

EPA is defending its 2012 renewable fuel standard (RFS) cellulosic biofuel mandate from industry's lawsuit claiming the targets are based on flawed data and impossible to meet, with the agency countering that it fully justified the mandates and relied on the most current information. The pending suit, American Petroleum Institute (API) v. EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is one of several legal challenges the oil industry is making to the RFS...

Appeals Court Vacates EPA Transport Rule For Exceeding Air Law Powers

A federal appeals court in a 2-1 ruling has vacated EPA's utility emissions cap-and-trade rule after finding the agency exceeded its Clean Air Act authority with the requirements it imposed on states, but the dissenting judge warns that the decision is a “trampling” over past court rulings that gave EPA authority for the transport rule. The decision triggers a host of questions over the fate of agency policies, not just limited to those relating to the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule...

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Insider -- August 21, 2012

Climate NSPS Criticisms Colorado and others are raising concerns that EPA's proposed first-time greenhouse gas (GHG) rule for power plants could force the agency to lower its threshold for requiring GHG permits: EPA Struggles To Calm Fears Utility NSPS May Lower GHG Permit Trigger EPA is struggling to calm fears from Colorado and others that the agency's proposed utility greenhouse gas (GHG) new source performance standard (NSPS) could inadvertently trigger a Clean Air Act provision requiring the agency to dramatically...

States Eye Short-Term TCE Exposure Levels Despite EPA Uncertainty

Several states have either begun to use a controversial EPA proposed short-term exposure limit for trichloroethylene (TCE) or are considering developing their own short-term limits, even as industry and the Defense Department (DOD) have questioned the validity of the limit and EPA headquarters is continuing to review the science behind the limit. Regulators in California have begun enforcing EPA Region IX's proposed interim Removal Action Level (RAL) of 15 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m^3) in indoor air, requiring mitigation in...

Risk Group Agrees To Industry Request To Review EPA's New TCE Policies

An alliance of risk assessment experts has agreed to a request from a group concerned about costly cleanups to convene a panel of experts to review EPA policy decisions regarding the ubiquitous solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) -- an area of growing concern since the agency strengthened its risk values for the contaminant last year. The Alliance for Risk Assessment (ARA), a group of environmental consultants and other risk experts that crafts technical risk assessment products and services, Aug. 15 agreed to...

Wisconsin Phosphorus Implementation Rule Could Be Model For Other States

Wastewater industry sources and environmentalists say an implementation plan developed by Wisconsin and recently approved by EPA Region V that encourages reductions in phosphorus pollution from nonpoint sources without an elaborate trading framework could serve as a model for other states looking to develop numeric nutrient criteria. The plan is the latest indication of EPA's willingness to allow states to use creative methods to implement numeric nutrient criteria, following approval of a statewide variance in Montana and ongoing reviews of...

States Evaluating Cleanup Costs

State cleanup officials have created a spreadsheet tool for estimating the full costs of long-term stewardship (LTS) of hazardous waste sites, responding to the realization that many contaminated sites will never be entirely cleaned up and states will have to ensure contamination is contained at thousands of sites across the country. The Association of State & Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO) this month released a conceptual framework document and spreadsheet to help states plan for the ongoing, monitoring, maintenance...

Court's Opinion

Court's Order

Background Reading: EPA Rejects States' Claim Over 'Contribution' Flaws In Transport Air Rule

 

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Risk Policy Report - 08/21/2012

Tue, 2012-08-21 00:00

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