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Moving Toward BPA Rules?

EPA has sent for White House review its plan to test the ubiquitous plastic ingredient bisphenol-A (BPA) for its potential hormone effects at low concentrations in advance of possibly setting new regulations. The agency indicated in its October Action Initiation List that it intends to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking on BPA by October 2011. The list indicated that the rule will “request comment on requiring toxicity testing to determine the potential for BPA to cause endocrine-related adverse effects...

Insider - January 4, 2011

Outlook 2011 The Obama administration is pushing forward with an aggressive regulatory agenda, while the new Republican majority is vowing to rein in federal regulation, setting the stage for a major showdown that places EPA policies in the crosshairs. Inside EPA's Outlook 2011 special report provides exclusive news on this emerging showdown, as well as a look ahead at EPA's regulatory agenda for the new year. The following stories are some of the highlights of this must-read report: Industry Desire...

Maine DEP comments

Missouri DNR comments

Texas' Air Permitting Authority In Limbo In Wake Of GHG Rule Delay

Texas' permitting program remains in legal limbo this week, following a temporary court-ordered delay of an EPA rule that would require the state to cede GHG permitting authority to the agency as of Jan. 2, following the state's vocal and steadfast resistance to implementing the agency's GHG rules. It is unclear whether the stay means GHG limits apply in Texas at low permit thresholds or whether the stay means EPA GHG limits do not apply at all in the Lone...

Refiners Join E15 Lawuits

Refiners and oil industry groups are asking a key federal court to overturn EPA’s recent decision to allow gasoline with 15 percent ethanol (E15) in late-model cars, joining a slew of other lawsuits against the approval. The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA), the International Liquid Terminals Association and the Western States Petroleum Association Jan. 3 filed a complaint with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, according to a statement from NPRA. The lawsuit challenges...

SAB Urges Support For EPA Risk Review Of Fossil-Fuel Byproduct

EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) is amending draft advice on assessing cancer risks from whole mixtures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, in order to ensure that its criticism of EPA’s proposed methodology does not hinder the agency’s ability to use the methodology to set regulatory limits for the widespread pollutant. The SAB panel says in a recent draft report that the relative potency factor (RPF) approach the agency is proposing to calculate...

Final Rule

EPA Press Release

http://InsideEpa.com/sites/insideepa.com/documents/jan2011/epa2011_0016.pdf

http://InsideEpa.com/sites/insideepa.com/documents/jan2011/epa2011_0015.pdf

SAB Unveils Latest Mining Data Review

EPA's science advisers have released new drafts of their ongoing peer reviews that largely endorse studies the agency is relying on to justify its strict Clean Water Act permitting requirements for mountaintop mining, ahead of a teleconference later this month to finalize the reviews. A panel of EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) has previously backed the agency's approach to set a new scientific benchmark value for conductivity -- a measure of salinity -- as a proxy for the effects of...

EPA Motion Supporting Request For Delay

Supplemental Declaration Of EPA's Peter Tsirigotis

Sierra Club Motion Opposing Delay

EPA Struggles To Meet Energy Law Mandate For Biofuels Risk Assessment

EPA is struggling to craft a methodology for analyzing the potential environmental impacts of large-scale biofuels production that the agency is required to develop under a 2007 energy law mandate, with agency officials warning that they might be unable to produce an analysis that would be useful to policymakers. Robert Frederick of EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) told a Dec. 8 Society for Risk Analysis meeting in Salt Lake City that the agency is “nowhere near a point...

EPA Scoping, Pilot Projects May Inform Policy Direction For HIA Reviews

Correction Appended An effort by EPA Region IX to develop a scoping document to conduct a health impact assessment (HIA) for the proposed expansion of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, along with pilot HIA projects being funded by private grants, may help solidify how to conduct HIAs as part of environmental reviews, sources involved in the efforts say. These efforts come as the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is due out with a report in the...

DOE Disputes Whether EPA Can Update Radiation Model Without New Rule

Staff for EPA's Office of Radiation & Indoor Air (ORIA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) are at odds over whether EPA can legally update a computer model the agency uses to measure compliance with its radiation emission standards for DOE facilities without initiating a formal rulemaking process. EPA uses the computer model, known as CAP-88, to measure compliance with its National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other Than Radon - standards commonly referred to as 40 CFR Part...

EPA Removes Saccharin From List Of Hazardous Waste And Substances

EPA has finalized its rule removing saccharin -- a common artificial sweetener found in diet soft drinks, chewing gum and juice -- and its salts from the agency's list of hazardous substances. With the Dec. 14 announcement, EPA is granting a seven-year-old industry petition that argued scientific data suggests the food additive is not as harmful as once was thought. EPA had previously included saccharin on its list of hazardous substances and wastes when the lists were created in 1980...

Oil Group Asks EPA For Six-Month Delay For First-Time GHG Reporting

A key oil industry group is asking EPA to delay by six months the deadline for industry to report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over concerns that EPA delays in developing a key related electronic reporting tool mean it will not be thoroughly tested and finalized in time to comply with the first-time reporting requirements. In a Nov. 23 letter, the American Petroleum Institute (API) asks Brian McLean, director of EPA's Office of Atmospheric Programs in the air office, and Dina...