ISSUE: Clean Air Report

EPA Withdraws Extension Of Coke Ovens Air Toxics Compliance Deadlines

EPA has withdrawn its interim final rule (IFR) extending air toxics compliance deadlines for the coke ovens sector, avoiding difficult legal arguments over the legality of its use of “good cause” authority to directly extend the deadlines without first issuing a proposal, and effectively mooting litigation over the issue by environmentalists. In a rule signed by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Oct. 2, but not yet published in the Federal Register , EPA scraps the July 8 IFR, citing new data...

Shutdown Raises Questions On Pace Of EPA’s GHG Regulatory Rollbacks

Observers are increasingly asking whether the ongoing federal government shutdown could last long enough to slow EPA’s rollbacks of greenhouse gas regulations, even as some sources are flagging factors that could blunt or eliminate such effects, including leftover funds and the possibility that key staff will be exempted from furloughs. “I can’t speak with any certainty,” one agency source says about divergent rumors about how long the agency can continue operating at relatively normal levels with such leftover funds. The...

Biofuels Groups, Refiners Clash Over RFS Volumes ‘Reallocation’ Proposal

Biofuels groups and refiners are clashing over EPA’s proposal to partially compensate for waivers it issued for small refineries from renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending mandates, with biofuel producers insisting on a full “reallocation” of volumes to non-exempt refiners, and refiners opposing any reallocation as unlawful. During an Oct. 1 virtual public hearing on EPA’s supplemental RFS volumes proposal for 2026 and 2027, biofuels groups restated their opposition to EPA’s approval of small refinery exemptions (SREs) in general, and...

Lawsuits Mount Over EPA’s RFS Compliance Waiver Denials For Refiners

Litigation is growing over EPA’s denial of compliance waivers for small refiners from renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending requirements, as the agency shifts its rationale for granting or denying waivers and prepares to compensate for such waivers in RFS volumes for 2026 and 2027. Refiners’ lawsuits are being consolidated under REH Company LLC v. EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in line with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in EPA v....

Groups Say EPA Ignores Trillions In Harm From Ending Vehicle GHG Limits

Environmental and other groups are floating new analyses claiming that EPA’s proposed repeal of Biden-era vehicle greenhouse gas standards for vehicles ignores trillions of dollars of harms the plan would cause, part of an effort to make the case that EPA is acting arbitrarily in moving to scuttle its vehicle GHG program. The analyses are included in broader comments to the agency that claim EPA’s draft cost-benefit analysis for its plan is flawed for reasons including that it ignores the...

EPA Proposal Floats Novel De Minimis Air Toxics Waiver For Lead Smelters

EPA is proposing to exempt de minimis air toxics emissions from lead smelters from regulation, a novel policy the agency says remains compatible with a key legal precedent requiring regulation of all toxics emitted by a facility. In its proposed rule published in the Federal Register Oct. 1, the agency also weighs the impact of a court decision that enables use of “affirmative defenses” in permits. EPA’s proposal generally makes only minor changes to the national emission standards...

Judge Seeks Post-Trial Briefs Before Ruling On Parent Firm’s NSR Liability

A federal judge in Michigan has ordered lawyers for parties in a major new source review (NSR) case to submit post-trial briefs before he rules on key issues, including whether utility DTE is liable for the conduct of its subsidiary EES Coke, which the court already found to have violated NSR requirements, as well as the size of any penalty. In a Sept. 29 order, Judge Gershwin Drain of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan directed...

Judges Grapple With Biofuels Groups’ Suit Over ‘Retroactive’ RFS Waivers

D.C. Circuit judges are grappling with whether a challenge by biofuels groups over a 2020 renewable fuel standard (RFS) rule is moot, as the producers seek to force EPA to compensate for blending volumes lost to refinery waivers for past years, but the agency claims their case cannot proceed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held Sept. 30 arguments in the case, Clean Fuels Alliance America v. EPA , despite a last-minute bid by biofuels...

EPA Eyes Major Overhaul Of Regional Haze Rules To Ease State Burdens

EPA is weighing major changes to its regional haze program that could extend its 2064 target to restore visibility, establish a “safe harbor” to enable states to avoid further emissions controls on industrial sources, and create a status of “preservation” that requires no further action by states that cannot cut haze further by lowering manmade emissions. In its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) signed by Administrator Lee Zeldin Sept. 29, EPA explores future scenarios to streamline the regional haze...

Former Trump Official Seeks ‘Presumptive’ State Air Plan, Permit Approval

Clint Woods, a former Trump EPA air official who is now Indiana’s environment commissioner, is calling for EPA and Congress to pursue “presumptive” approval of state air plans and permits if the agency takes too long to act, one idea among many that Woods is floating as the administration and Republicans seek to ease Clean Air Act compliance. In written testimony submitted to the House Energy & Commerce Committee environment subcommittee at a hearing Sept. 16, Woods broadly supported draft...

Sen. Markey Warns EPA’s NSR ‘Construction’ Guidance Likely Unlawful

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) is questioning EPA over its recently changed guidance that excludes some industry activities from the definition of “construction” that would otherwise trigger new source review (NSR) air permitting, challenging Administrator Lee Zeldin to justify the legal rationale for the move, which Markey warns is likely unlawful. “Your recent reinterpretation of the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review (NSR) permitting requirements will translate to direct harm to human health here in the United States. By allowing pre-construction...

Legal Risks Seen Growing As EPA Eyes Quick Repeal Of GHG Risk Finding

EPA’s rapid schedule for finalizing its greenhouse gas endangerment finding rescission could exacerbate the effort’s legal vulnerability, observers say, potentially further imperiling the sweeping move to deregulate GHGs that sources have already characterized as a high-risk venture. “I think some errors due to the schedule are inevitable,” a former EPA official tells Climate Extra . “The issue is whether they will be fatal or not. We can’t know that till we see the final product.” Questions about the impact of...

EPA Cites 3rd Circuit Ruling To Justify End Of NSR ‘Reactivation Policy’

EPA is citing a 2023 appellate ruling to justify its decision ending its years-old source “reactivation” policy that determined whether an idled facility needs a fresh new source review (NSR) permit, under its new policy that makes acquisition of a new permit unnecessary unless a reactivated source would emit more than it did before being idled. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Sept. 15 announced the end of the prior reactivation policy, alongside other measures aimed at easing air permitting for industry...

EPA Formally Reinstates NSR Policy Barring ‘Second Guessing’ Of States

EPA has formally reinstated its policy from the first Trump administration barring the agency from “second guessing” states’ decisions on new source review (NSR) permitting, after the Biden EPA scrapped a 2017 memo from then-Administrator Scott Pruitt that first prohibited such “second-guessing.” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed the Sept. 15 memo reinstating the policy. It came the same day that he announced it at a White House event, alongside other measures aimed at easing air permitting for industry as part...

EPA GHG Reporting Rollback Could Drive Multiple State, Other Programs

EPA’s proposal to virtually eliminate its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) is sparking warnings that such a step would create new pressures for multiple differing GHG reporting requirements, including at the state level, alongside new difficulties in asserting environmental performance in domestic or foreign markets. Those fears supplement prior concerns that ending EPA’s program would complicate industry’s ability to claim tax credits for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and clean hydrogen production. EPA’s proposal is also sparking claims by the...

State Coalition Charges EPA Lacks Authority To Scrap Vehicle GHG Limits

A California-led coalition of Democratic states and cities is charging that EPA’s plan to scrap all vehicle greenhouse standards ignores states’ reliance interests, exceeds limited agency authority to “revise” the standards, and cannot rely on the agency’s plan to scuttle its GHG risk finding that would be “ineffective” in undoing the basis for the standards. In Sept. 22 comments , the coalition cites $1.2 trillion in avoided climate harms under the current federal GHG program over the next three decades,...

Appeals Court Hands Texas Another Defeat On Interstate Air Planning

A divided 5th Circuit panel has handed Texas another defeat on interstate air issues, upholding EPA’s years-old disapproval of a state ozone plan while leaving in place a federal program and again defending EPA’s broad discretion on technical matters such as air standards attainment. In their Sept. 22 ruling in State of Texas v. EPA , a split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upholds EPA’s rejection of a state implementation plan (SIP) submitted...

Automakers Seek ‘Backstop’ Vehicle GHG Standards As Regulatory Hedge

The main auto sector trade group is calling on the EPA to adopt revised vehicle greenhouse gas standards as an “alternative or backstop” to the agency’s proposal to scrap its greenhouse gas endangerment finding and related vehicle GHG limits, calling such a plan “critical if motor vehicle GHG standards are retained or reinstated in some way.” The pitch in Sept. 22 comments from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation builds on the sector’s recent push for interim relief from the standards...

Critics Fight EPA Bid To Reject Haze Plan Over Use Of Coal Plant Closures

States and environmentalists are fighting EPA’s proposed rejection of a Colorado plan to curb regional haze in a fight over whether states can rely on planned closures of coal-fired power plants to meet program objectives, with critics warning that the Trump administration has created unlawful new hurdles to reducing haze-forming air emissions. In comments submitted to the agency ahead of a Sept. 15 comment deadline, states and environmental groups criticize EPA’s July 16 proposed partial disapproval that employed novel arguments...

Comments Show High Stakes Legal Fight Over EPA’s GHG Finding Repeal

Emerging public comments are underscoring the agency’s high stakes gamble -- pinned largely to threshold Clean Air Act (CAA) legal arguments but also claiming science and technology rationales -- in its bid to scrap its greenhouse gas endangerment finding and related vehicle GHG rules. It is a “high-risk, high-reward endeavor” for the Trump EPA’s deregulatory push, said Boyden Gray attorney Michael Buschbacher, alluding during remarks at a Sept. 17 American Enterprise Institute forum to the finding’s role in justifying GHG...

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