Rulings May Set Higher Causation Standard For Environmental Tort Suits

Recent court rulings on antitrust, terrorism and other issues may have set a strict precedent raising plaintiffs' burden to prove causation in lawsuits, observers say, which may make it harder for activists to file environmental tort suits, for example litigation against power plants for harm caused by their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Democratic lawmakers concerned about the more stringent causation test are already pushing legislation to reverse the standard to the precedent that was in place before the recent cases...

OIG Criticizes EPA Estimates For Energy Star Products' GHG Reductions

EPA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is criticizing EPA's estimates for the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and energy-savings benefits of Energy Star-labeled products, saying the estimates may be invalid after finding that non-Energy Star products sometimes out-perform those that have won the agency's label that is supposed to be limited to the most efficient products. In a Nov. 30 report , Energy Star Program Integrity Can Be Enhanced Through Expanded Product Testing, OIG recommends that the agency verify energy savings...

EPA Enforcement Heightens Utility Fears Over Wastewater 'Blending' Ban

Some EPA Regions and states are said to be blocking issuance of permits that allow utilities to blend treated and partially treated wastewater during heavy precipitation events, heightening the concerns of utilities that the agency may adopt such a policy nationwide despite a long-stalled agency policy to allow blending in some cases. Senior EPA water and enforcement officials are not aware of the issue, though some industry officials are vowing to challenge the agency actions in court and lobby state...

Navy Retreats From Fight With EPA Region X Over Superfund Penalties

After challenging EPA Region X's authority to assess penalties under federal cleanup law for allegedly failing to adequately consider potential cleanup remedies at a Washington Superfund site, the Navy last month backed down, conceding it would pay the assessment and not push the disagreement up to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. The case appears to be a rare test of EPA's authority to assess stipulated penalties for documents that fail to meet requirements in Superfund law, although a spokeswoman for EPA...

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Ackerson Ruling

Robinson Ruling


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Jackson Moves To Integrate Key Priorities Into EPA Policy Development

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is moving to ensure strong consideration of her top priorities -- environmental justice, children's health and climate change -- across the agency's policymaking apparatus, including in risk assessments, rulemakings and budget decisions. While the agency was already required to consider environmental justice and children's health issues due to two Clinton-era executive orders, sources say that the administrator's reiteration of those issues, along with climate change, in the policy development process will bolster their consideration since they...

OMB, NASA Push Academy Review Of EPA Trichloroethylene Assessment

The White House and other federal agencies are urging EPA to submit its new draft risk assessment of the ubiquitous solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) for review by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a move that could further slow the assessment already long-delayed by interagency disagreement about the chemical's risks. EPA's draft TCE risk assessment is more than 10 years in the making. The Defense Department (DOD) and the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), which feared a 2001 draft assessment...

Industry Urges California To Delay Landmark Chromium Water Standard

The chemical industry is urging California to further delay development of a first-in-the-nation drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium (Cr6) in order to consider data from an ongoing industry study on how the chemical causes cancer, even though environmentalists say the state has missed by five years a legislative deadline to develop the standard. The push comes as New Jersey is backing California's efforts, noting in recent comments that the Cr6 draft public health goal (PHG) California's Office of Environmental...

New Research Links Climate Change Mitigation To Health Care Benefits

A series of new scientific papers find that reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) -- particularly short-lived GHGs such as black carbon -- produces multiple "co-benefits" for improving public health, an argument that may help proponents of climate legislation build support for emissions cuts by citing the health benefits of tackling global warming. British journal The Lancet Nov. 25 released six studies addressing the public health benefits of GHG reductions from power generation, transportation, household energy sources and the food and agriculture...

NAS Panel Reviewing EPA Authority To Boost Pay Levels For Experts

A National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel is reviewing EPA's contentious use of little-known statutory authority that allows the agency to pay experts in the agency's Office of Research & Development (ORD) far above the salary limits generally provided in the federal civil service systems -- and even the vice president. The NAS panel will hold a public meeting Dec. 3 to hear comments on the authority, which recently drew attacks from House Republicans that EPA is using the authority...

EPA Floats Novel Tool For Ranking Species Threatened By Climate Change

EPA is floating a draft framework that for the first time ranks endangered species according to their current and future vulnerabilities to both climate change and non-climate impacts, although the agency warns that the new tool is intended only for species management and planning, not species listing and other regulatory decisions. The agency announced in a Nov. 25 Federal Register notice that it is taking public comment on a draft document, "A Framework for Categorizing the Relative Vulnerability of Threatened...

Industry Praises Lack Of PFC Minimum Risk Limits In ASTDR Assessment

Industry officials at the former manufacturer of two perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are praising the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry's (ATSDR) decision not to set risk levels for any of 13 PFCs in a recent toxicological assessment, though the decision is drawing attacks from activists and some states. While ATSDR does not have regulatory authority over chemicals, some observers say that if the agency had established so-called minimum risk levels (MRL) for the substances under review it could boost...

Investors Urge SEC To Seek Greater Disclosure Of Chemicals' Risk Data

Activist investors are urging the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to take several steps to boost greater disclosure by public companies of "emerging risks," including data on the risks of high-profile chemicals in the supply chain, which comes as some companies are already calling for greater disclosure as part of toxics law reform. The activist Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN) sent a Nov. 13 letter to SEC officials outlining recommendations for improving transparency on companies' risks as part of the...

EPA Data Request May Inform Agency Rules On Formaldehyde Emissions

EPA has submitted an information collection request (ICR) to the White House budget office asking pressed wood manufacturers for information about formaldehyde emissions, which will aid the agency as it assesses "the need for and scope of" rules or other actions to control emissions of the chemical from pressed wood products. The agency's effort comes as industry officials and environmentalists are jointly supporting legislation that would establish a national standard for formaldehyde emissions based on an existing California standard. EPA...

Lawmakers Eye Mid-2010 Goal For Passing Nanotech Bill With EHS Focus

The Senate may vote by early 2010 on legislation to reauthorize the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) that includes a plan for studying the environmental, health and safety (EHS) aspects of the emerging technology, with the goal of presenting a final bill to President Obama for signature by the summer, a key House staffer says. Dahlia Sokolov, a staff director with the House Science & Technology Committee, told a Nov. 18 workshop hosted by the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) that...

Food Industry Expected To Challenge California Risk Level For Corn Carcinogen

Major food companies are seen as likely to challenge a proposed California Proposition 65 risk level for a chemical that is present in many corn-based products and for which one snack-food company is already requesting the office to make a "safe-use determination." An industry attorney said the proposed risk level for the chemical -- fumonisin B1 -- is much more stringent than comparable thresholds set by federal and other regulators, and that it puts many companies at risk of being...

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