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Activist Suit Could Test EPA Process For Judging State Water Quality Limits

A planned environmentalist lawsuit over EPA's alleged failure to properly review Oregon's landmark proposed revisions to narrative water quality criteria for toxics, citing violations of a number of federal statutes, could force the agency to speed up its reviews of state water quality criteria nationally, activist sources say. While environmentalists are generally supportive of EPA's mandate last year that Oregon set stringent criteria to protect Native American populations that consume large amounts of fish, Northwest Environmental Advocates (NEA) charges EPA...

http://InsideEpa.com/sites/insideepa.com/documents/jan2011/epa2011_0073.pdf

Petition From Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction

Petition From James Woodward

Letter From Environmental Appeals Board Seeking EPA Response

EPA Response To Comments On Proposed Test Well Permit

Automakers To Ask Issa To Help Rein In California's GHG Auto Standards

The auto industry is flagging California's forthcoming greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for 2017-2025 vehicles -- a key driver for similar EPA measures -- as one of the most harmful rules in the country to jobs and the economy, and will ask House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) to help block the regulations. Industry sources say they hope the appeal to Issa will help pressure California officials to rejoin talks with federal regulators on setting a...

Panel Backs Stricter EPA Oil Spill Response, Rejects Call For New Powers

President Obama's oil spill panel is urging EPA strengthen its spill response protocols dealing with clean-up activities, human health protections and spill response plans but the panel stopped short of backing a larger role for the agency in approving drilling operations or environmental reviews as some had suggested during the recent Gulf spill Instead, those responsibilities would remain primarily with the Department of the Interior (DOI), while the commission recommends a larger role for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

U.S. Chamber Suggests Bifurcated Approach For EPA Rule Reviews

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's top lobbyist is suggesting that EPA implement a two-tiered rulemaking process to subject “economically significant” rules, which have costs exceeding $100 million, to more intensive scientific and economic analysis than minor rules, as part of the group's efforts to reform the rulemaking process as a counter to the “regulatory tsunami” it says has been unleashed by the Obama administration. R. Bruce Josten, the Chamber's executive vice president for government affairs, says specific reforms would differ...

STAR Studies For 'Non-Chemical' Stressors

EPA is providing $7 million in grant funding to study the combined effects of chemical and non-chemical stressors -- such as anxiety, poor nutrition and other health factors not usually subject to agency oversight -- on communities that are exposed to pollution, the first time the agency has funded such studies, which many hope could begin to answer long-standing questions about the risks faced by many poor and minority communities. The agency announced that it has provided six Science to...

http://InsideEpa.com/sites/insideepa.com/documents/jan2011/epa2011_0070.pdf

GHG Suits: The Briefing Schedule

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has received contradictory advice for how to schedule briefing and oral arguments in the mass of litigation challenging EPA’s greenhouse gas (GHG) rules. Unsurprisingly, states such as Texas and Virginia that have led the criticism of the rules are seeking a quick timetable, calling in Jan. 10 briefs for arguments ahead of the court’s summer recess. EPA and its supporters, on the other hand, are seeking a longer time...

EPA Suggests Phased Briefing Schedule

States Suggest Argument Before Summer Recess

Industry Seeks Oral Argument 'No Later Than' Early Fall

State Coalition Seeks Court Focus On Endangerment Finding

Industry Desire For Regulatory Certainty May Blunt GOP Assault On EPA

A desire for regulatory certainty from EPA rules could prompt industry to try to soften an expected attack on agency regulations by conservative lawmakers in the divided 112th Congress - especially those with vocal Tea Party support - due to fears that excessive limits on EPA could drive costly regulatory uncertainty, industry sources say. EPA was a prime target for election-year GOP attacks, which highlighted its economic impact while also questioning the broader justification for many of its efforts, especially...

Pressure Mounts For EPA To Weigh Regulatory Impacts Of Risk Estimates

EPA is facing increasing pressure to consider the regulatory impacts of its risk estimates given stakeholder concern that several prominent draft estimates that the agency is striving to advance in 2011 will drive expensive regulations that are impractical to implement as the safety estimates sometimes fall below naturally occurring levels. Several sources argue that the problem could be solved if the agency's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program, its premiere hazard assessment program, were required to consider the risk management...

Key Players Question EPA's Ability To Lead New Sustainability Approach

As EPA takes steps toward building an operational framework for incorporating sustainability measures across the agency, a landmark effort that Administrator Lisa Jackson calls the "new approach" to environmental issues, key former agency officials and other observers are questioning the agency's ability to lead sustainability efforts. While Jackson recently announced the creation of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel to advise the agency on how it can replace its current risk-based approach with a more holistic sustainability approach, some...

DOD, States Recommend EPA UST System Fuel Guidance Include B20

The Department of Defense (DOD) and several states are asking EPA, in an upcoming guidance, to give its stamp of approval on labeling biodiesel blends of up to 20 percent (B20) as compatible with existing underground storage tanks (USTs), arguing such a threshold does not pose leaking or related problems for storage tanks. Their position, however, contrasts with industry groups, which have varying views on the issue. One biofuels industry group contends EPA should wait on a forthcoming study that...

Industry Seeks Consistent Standards for UST Compatibility With E15

Tank owner and petroleum industry groups are joining states in asking EPA to remove language in a draft guidance on the compatibility of underground storage tanks (USTs) with ethanol fuel blends greater than 10 percent (E10) that would provide states wide flexibility in the methods used to determine if a tank system can safely hold the fuel. Industry says that allowing certification options other than a manufacturer's guarantee or a nationally recognized third party would create a "patchwork" of standards...

Groups Ready Defense Of State Environmental Laws As EPA Rollbacks Loom

Some state lawmakers and environmentalists are preparing to defend and promote state environmental laws that are stricter than federal requirements on curbing greenhouse gases (GHGs), exposures to toxics, and other issues, fearing an attack on state laws echoing Republican attempts in the 112th Congress to rollback EPA regulations. State-level attempts to undo or pare back environmental regulations could occur in states where the governor's office or state legislature switched from Democratic to Republican following the November elections, sources say. In...

Hill Pushback May Spur Obama Focus On Executive Orders For EPA Goals

Opposition to new EPA rules from Republicans in the divided 112th Congress is likely to make it difficult to advance new environmental legislation, so the Obama administration may increasingly use executive orders (E.O.) and other presidential authority to advance key EPA goals, sources say. Other key activist sources have indicated that executive-level action to advance clean energy issues is expected in the face of opposition and increased scrutiny from the Republican-led House. Activists and other groups that favor stronger environmental...