Air

Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

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Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

EPA Faces Policy Concerns After Court’s Rejection Of RFS Waiver Denials

A regional appeals court’s decision scrapping EPA’s denial of waivers for six Gulf Coast oil refineries from renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending mandates contradicts Biden administration policy that has seen the agency reject all recent waiver requests, and raises questions about additional waiver denials being litigated elsewhere. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in a split Nov. 22 decision vacated and remanded EPA’s denial of RFS waivers for refineries in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, rejecting the...

Wastewater Utilities Worry Over Future Potential Air Toxics Listing For PFAS

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) is warning that EPA’s proposed Clean Air Act regulatory framework for listing of new air toxics may expose sewage incinerators to new and onerous regulatory burdens, with the group raising special fears on the potential for listing of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In Nov. 13 comments , NACWA, which represents publicly owned wastewater utilities, criticizes EPA’s September proposal establishing procedures for what happens when the agency lists a new substance as a...

To Bridge Debates, U.S. To Seek Near-Term Coal Limits At Dubai Summit

The United States at the upcoming United Nations climate conference will be pushing other countries to commit to halt permitting for new “unabated” coal power plants this decade, a position that officials hope can bridge heated debates about whether to adopt broader restrictions on fossil fuels. At the Nov. 30-Dec. 12 summit in Dubai, nations will be facing pressure to agree on specific actions to accelerate carbon emissions cuts -- with some groups and countries pressing for a goal to...

Ahead Of Dubai, IEA Warns Oil Sector Against Over-Reliance On CCUS

As world leaders prepare to gather this week for the annual United Nations climate summit in Dubai, the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a new report is pressing the oil and gas sector not to overly rely on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and to instead ramp up investment in other types of clean energy. CCUS “is an essential technology for achieving net zero emissions in certain sectors and circumstances, but it is not a way to retain the...

IG Launches Probe Of EPA’s Class VI Program Ahead Of Louisiana Decision

As observers await EPA’s expected approval of Louisiana’s primacy request for issuing carbon storage permits, the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) is launching an evaluation of its Class VI permit program that officials have been bolstering via enhanced congressional appropriations. “We intend to identify how the EPA either has used or plans to use $5 million in annual Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding” for the Class VI program that extends from fiscal years 2022-2026, says a Nov. 15...

DOT Finalizes Long-Pending GHG Performance Measure For Highways

The Transportation Department is finalizing a long-pending rule creating a new greenhouse gas performance measure that will require states and regional planners to set targets for reducing emissions linked to highway projects, though the agency is stressing wide “flexibility” in determining the targets’ stringency. States and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) “have the flexibility to set targets that work for their respective climate change policies and other policy priorities, so long as they are declining,” the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) says...

EPA Request For Input Highlights Multiple Hurdles To AFO Air Reporting

EPA’s request for public input on the options for animal feeding operations (AFOs) to report emissions of harmful air pollutants under the community right-to-know law reveals numerous issues that the agency must overcome to implement an effective reporting regime, suggesting a tough road ahead for the long-delayed effort. In an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) published in the Federal Register Nov. 17, EPA invites comment on the approach it could take to air reporting for AFOs under the...

EPA extends comment on petroleum storage vessels plan

EPA is extending public comment by 18 days on its proposal to tighten limits for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from more than 9,000 tanks storing petroleum and other organic liquids, after receiving “numerous requests for additional time” from industry associations, the agency says. In a Nov. 21 Federal Register notice , EPA extends the deadline for comment from Nov. 20 to Dec. 8. EPA’s Oct. 4 proposal would modify the new source performance standards (NSPS) for the sector...

L.A. District Pivots To Railyard Rule After Industry Demands Funding In MOU

The Los Angeles regional air district is scrapping an effort to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the railroad industry to reduce pollution from its facilities and instead plans to promulgate an indirect source rule (ISR) on the sector, after rail company officials recently demanded the district provide them with a certain amount of funding as part of the MOU, according to district officials. “This was not part of the original discussion, and to expect South Coast [Air Quality...

EPA Cites 6th Circuit In Bid To Bring ‘Good Neighbor’ Suits To D.C. Court

EPA is continuing to press appellate courts to transfer lawsuits over its disapproval of states’ interstate ozone plans to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, citing a recent ruling from the 6th Circuit transferring Kentucky’s case against the related Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) rule to the D.C.-based court. Agency lawyers have recently urged the 4th, 5th and 8th circuits to transfer litigation over its disapproval of interstate ozone state implementation plans (SIPs) -- a prerequisite...

EPA Faces Lawsuit Over Partial Denial Of Suncor Refinery Title V Permit

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed a new lawsuit challenging EPA’s approval of a Clean Air Act Title V operating permit for the Suncor refinery in Denver, arguing it fails to ensure compliance with federal air quality standards. The Nov. 17 suit , CBD v. EPA, et al., in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, asks the court to order the agency to object to the Colorado-issued operating permit that is supposed to house...

SAB Floats Various Critiques Of EPA’s Methane Reporting Update Plan

EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) is floating draft critiques of the agency’s proposed update to oil and gas sector greenhouse gas reporting requirements, urging alternative approaches that could either increase or decrease reported emissions depending on the scenario. SAB’s draft recommendations , which are scheduled for discussion during a Nov. 30 board meeting, also urge EPA to consider expanding efforts to track other pollutants emitted along with methane. The agency’s science advisors are responding to updates proposed in July to...

Small Power Companies Press EPA To Ease Proposed GHG Standards

A panel representing small power companies is urging EPA to rework its power plant greenhouse gas standards to include multiple compliance flexibilities for such companies, including excluding small entities from the rule’s strictest standards, according to a just-released report to the agency. EPA is taking input on the Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panel’s recommendations , released Nov. 20, as part of a supplemental proposal in which the agency is also seeking comments on broader options to preserve grid reliability...

EPA Finalizes Stronger Air Emissions Standards For Lead Recyclers

EPA is finalizing tougher air standards for “secondary lead smelters,” including facilities that recycle lead from batteries and other materials, but it eased some aspects of the final rule compared with an earlier proposal following criticism from industry about the feasibility of some proposed changes. In its revised new source performance standards (NSPS) for the sector, published in the Federal Register Nov. 20, EPA tightens existing emissions limits for particulate matter (PM) from certain furnace types that are used...

Officials Tout U.S. Plans For Future Methane Target As Dubai Talks Near

Biden administration officials are highlighting plans to include a specific methane reduction target in the next U.S. formal climate commitment -- due in 2025 under the Paris Agreement -- as countries prepare for upcoming international climate talks in Dubai expected to include a major focus on methane emissions. A senior State Department official during a Nov. 17 call about methane issues highlighted a recent joint U.S.-China statement as one indicator of upcoming efforts on methane and other potent greenhouse gases...

Advocates Fight Industry Claim That PM Limits Distract From EV Push

Environmental and public health advocates are ramping up calls for EPA to finalize strict passenger vehicle emissions limits that would effectively require particulate matter (PM) filters, disputing automaker claims that the requirements are a costly distraction from electrification investments touted as a climate strategy. Detailed in multiple recent letters sent to President Joe Biden, the environmentalists’ advocacy comes in the wake of public comments from automakers either objecting to the de facto filter requirements or urging that they be...

Former Official Expects EPA To Cut Hydrogen Limits From Power Plant Rule

A former top Bush EPA official is expecting the agency to scrap its proposal that co-firing with low-carbon hydrogen can help to set greenhouse gas standards for power plants, even as Biden officials appear to be focused on retaining requirements based on carbon capture and storage (CCS). Such a scenario would represent a significant overhaul of the proposed GHG standards, which would allow certain gas-fired plants to choose between hydrogen- or CCS-based standards. However, one environmentalist says that removing the...

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