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.

Topic Subtitle
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 Backs Small Refiner’s Bid To Stay RFS Biofuel Blending Obligation

EPA will not oppose a small refiner’s motion to stay its renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending obligation for 2023 pending the resolution of the company’s suit against a Biden-era decision denying it a waiver from RFS mandates, a potentially precedent-setting move that could spur other refiners to seek similar relief. Refiner Wynnewood on Jan. 29 sued EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, contesting the agency’s denial of small refinery waiver from its 2023 RFS...

Downwind States Fight GNP Case Pause, Warning Of Missed Air Standards

Democratic-led “downwind” states supporting EPA’s stayed Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) interstate air rule are resisting EPA’s bid to pause litigation over the measure, warning this will result in missed deadlines to attain federal air quality standards. The sparring in the GNP litigation also comes as EPA seeks to pause an unrelated industry challenge to its tougher air toxics rule for lime kilns, one of multiple court cases the agency is seeking to pause so that newly installed Trump officials can...

Groups Detail Arguments To Block EPA Delay Of Valley PM Attainment Date

Several environmental and equity groups are detailing arguments to the 9th Circuit to block EPA’s approval of a one-year deadline extension for California’s San Joaquin Valley area to attain a 1997 annual fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standard. “The Court does not defer to EPA's interpretation when the Rule's plain language, structure, and history unambiguously prohibit the one-year extension,” states a Feb. 7 opening brief by the groups in Little Manila Rising, et al. v. EPA, et al . in the...

Industry, Senators Identify Steps To Advance EPA Carbon Storage Permitting

As developers are increasingly applying for permits for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects, some lawmakers and industry representatives are identifying congressional steps to speed such development, including nudging EPA to ease its carbon storage permitting rules, and supporting states taking over primary permitting authority. During a Feb. 12 hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, Kevin Connors, assistant director for regulatory compliance and energy policy at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research...

Trump Formalizes Picks For EPA’s Water, Air, General Counsel Offices

President Donald Trump is formally nominating several top officials to lead EPA’s air and water program offices, as well as its Office of General Counsel (OGC), all of whom are veterans of EPA and other agencies during the first Trump administration. The Feb. 11 Congressional Record includes a slate of executive nominations received by the Senate, including several top EPA picks. For example, the nominees include Sean Donahue, the current principal deputy general counsel in OGC, to serve as the...

States, Industry Press EPA To Extend Proposed Delay Of Haze Program

Several states and industry groups are pressing EPA to extend its proposed implementation delay for the regional haze reduction program, including submission deadlines for state air plans and the program’s overall compliance schedule, with such calls expected to be well-received by the Trump administration. In comments submitted on EPA’s Dec. 23 proposal to extend the submission date of state implementation plans (SIPs) for the program’s third phase, states strongly support the extension. However, several states and industry groups say that...

With Railyard ISR Dead, L.A. Region Struggles To Advance New Port Rules

After having its landmark “indirect source rule” (ISR) for railyards essentially wiped from the books after California failed to obtain a federal preemption waiver for the state’s related locomotives regulation, the South Coast air district is now struggling to advance new measures to reduce air pollution from the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. “The Rail Yard ISR required U.S. EPA approval of” the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) “Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) and In-Use Locomotive regulations, and then approval...

5th Circuit pauses Denka chloroprene deadline extension suit

The 5th Circuit has granted EPA’s request to pause a lawsuit for 120 days over the legality of Louisiana’s deadline extension for Denka Performance Elastomer to meet the agency’s strict new chloroprene standards, with Trump administration officials expected to shift the agency’s posture on the issue. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in a Feb. 7 order granted EPA’s Feb. 5 motion in Denka, et al. v. EPA , “to stay proceedings in this court for 120...

Utah, Industry Groups Launch Suits Over Ozone Status, GNP Remand

Utah and the oil sector are challenging the Biden EPA’s decision to impose a worsened ozone “nonattainment” status for the region north of Salt Lake City, as the gas pipeline sector launches a separate suit over EPA’s response to a remand concerning its Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) interstate ozone rule. In a suit filed Feb. 7 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, Utah challenges the Biden EPA’s Dec. 9 reclassification of the Northern Wasatch Front area...

EPA Asks D.C. Circuit To Pause Suits Over Major HFC Control Measures

EPA is asking the D.C. Circuit to pause two industry challenges to Biden-era rules to implement key elements of the 2020 control law for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that includes a sharp phase down of the climate-warming chemicals, as Trump administration officials review the regulations. At issue is a rule that allocates allowances under EPA’s HFC phasedown program -- with one manufacturer arguing a key element of the 2020 statute violates the Constitution’s “non-delegation” doctrine -- as well as another rule in...

Trump DOJ seeks pause for Clean Air Act section 111(d) case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking the D.C. Circuit to pause litigation in a case challenging the Biden EPA’s implementing rule for how states comply with federal climate and air standards issued under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, with Trump officials generally expected to ease the measure’s restrictions on states. The government seeks “an order holding this case in abeyance for 120 days to allow new EPA leadership to review the rule under review,” says DOJ’s Feb...

Midwestern Lawmakers, Industry Groups Push Zeldin To Boost Biofuels

Biofuels advocates are stepping up pressure on the Trump EPA to support the industry by bolstering renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending requirements, minimizing the number of RFS compliance waivers for refiners and removing obstacles to the year-round sale of 15 percent ethanol fuel (E15). In a Feb. 6 letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin , 28 House lawmakers from both parties urge Zeldin to quickly propose RFS biofuel blending targets for 2026 and beyond that maintain or increase blending...

Senate GOP Starts Reconciliation Process, Targeting IRA Methane Fee

Senate Republicans are floating a plan to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) oil and gas methane fee as part of their initial budget reconciliation legislation, signaling such repeal could happen relatively quickly even as questions swirl about which other attacks on the IRA Republicans will prioritize in that bill or subsequent legislation. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in a Feb. 7 press release said that “stopping the Biden Administration’s natural gas tax, also known as the methane...

Supreme Court Declines To Pause California Waiver, Air Act Venue Cases

The Supreme Court is refusing Trump administration requests to pause major Clean Air Act cases involving the Biden EPA’s preemption waivers for California vehicle emissions rules and battles over the correct court venue for suits over states’ interstate ozone plans and refiners’ requests for renewable fuel standard (RFS) compliance waivers. In a Feb. 6 order , the court without explanation denied abeyance in the three suits, after parties on different sides of the various disputes opposed the Justice Department’s (DOJ)...

Opening Door To Rollbacks, EPA Seeks To Delay Suits Over Biden Rules

EPA is asking federal courts to pause legal challenges to dozens of recent Biden-era rules, actions that if approved will open the door to the new Trump administration reviewing and likely rolling them back as part of its broad deregulatory agenda, though in some cases parties are opposing agency requests to delay the litigation. Over the past few days, EPA’s lawyers have asked federal appellate courts to pause litigation over the power plant greenhouse gas rule, a rule governing Toxic...

Lawsuit Cites ‘Cumulative’ Harms To Halt BLM Drilling Permits In California

Environmentalists’ latest federal lawsuit to block oil and gas drilling on public land in central California alleges that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is failing to properly assess cumulative environmental harms, including air and climate pollution increases, from multiple drilling projects for which the bureau is approving permits. “We’re going back to court for what are now becoming routine violations and disregard of our country’s laws and California’s Valley communities,” argued Michelle Ghafar, an Earthjustice attorney who is representing...

California air district sues to reverse EPA FIP

California’s Mojave Desert air district is pressing the 9th Circuit to overturn EPA’s recent rule imposing a federal implementation plan (FIP) for the region after the agency rejected a new source review rule adopted by the district, arguing the action will “usurp the District's sovereign authority to regulate air quality” in the region. In a petition for review filed Jan. 31 , attorneys with the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District (MDAQMD) ask the U.S. Appeals Court for the 9th...

5th Circuit Panel Appears Poised To Toss CCS Primacy Suit On Standing

A panel of appellate judges during Feb. 4 oral arguments seemed unconvinced that environmentalists have standing to challenge EPA’s rule granting Louisiana officials primary authority over Class VI carbon storage permits, previewing a decision that could make it difficult for critics to challenge numerous other state “primacy” rules. The arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, et al. v. EPA also underscored ongoing debates about the state’s liability...

Western States, Industry Challenge Biden EPA Disapproval Of Haze Plans

Western states and industry groups are suing over the Biden EPA’s disapproval of state plans to implement the second phase of the agency’s regional haze program, amid uncertainty over the Trump administration’s approach to the program as officials weigh substantial streamlining measures to ease compliance. In a suit filed Jan. 30 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, North Dakota challenges EPA’s Dec. 2 disapproval of its state implementation plan (SIP) for the second phase of the...

Refiner Wynnewood sues EPA over RFS waiver denial

Texas-based refiner Wynnewood Refining Co. is suing EPA over its Jan. 2 denial of a small refinery compliance exemption for the firm from renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending limits, testing one of the Biden administration’s last decisions on the waiver program and the Trump EPA’s position on the issue. The lawsuit filed Jan. 30 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit by Wynnewood, a subsidiary of CVR Energy, Inc., concerns the denial of a waiver for...

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