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, OMB SPAR OVER PANEL REVIEW FOR STUDY ON OZONE CONTROL BENEFITS

EPA and White House regulatory officials are debating who should review agency estimates of the benefits of reducing ozone emissions, with EPA favoring a speedy review before its Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Office of Management & Budget (OMB) officials seeking a lengthier National Academy of Sciences (NAS) evaluation, agency sources say. The resolution of the dispute could affect the timing and stringency of a host of upcoming EPA air rules because an NAS review may take up to two...

EPA Plans To Lower Priority Of NSR Enforcement Cases

EPA is overhauling its enforcement policy to place a lower priority on future action to prosecute power plants for violations of new source review (NSR) rules, and instead concentrate on other enforcement issues, agency officials say. While the agency will continue to pursue cases it has already brought against utilities, one activist charges that the change in enforcement policy is "carefully calculated to sabotage" future NSR enforcement. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson in an Oct. 13 teleconference said he was directing...

EPA, OMB Spar Over Panel Review For Study On Ozone Control Benefits

EPA and White House regulatory officials are debating who should review agency estimates of the benefits of reducing ozone emissions, with EPA favoring a speedy review before its Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Office of Management & Budget (OMB) officials seeking a lengthier National Academy of Sciences (NAS) evaluation, agency sources say. The resolution of the dispute could affect the timing and stringency of a host of upcoming EPA air rules because an NAS review may take up to two...

Engine Makers Seek Clean Fuel Protection In Contentious Refinery Plan

In another sign that a controversial House-passed bill to boost refinery capacity faces obstacles in the Senate, engine makers are approaching key Senate staff with concerns that the pending legislation could derail upcoming clean diesel fuel rules and other requirements, according to industry and other sources. The concerns come after the House's razor-thin approval Oct. 7 of legislation to spur the expansion and construction of oil refineries. The passage of the bill by such a narrow margin underscores political divisions...

Court Ruling Preserves State Air Monitoring Until New EPA Rule

EPA will propose a new rule restricting states' ability to require monitoring in clean air permits after a federal court rejected an existing rule on procedural grounds, although states in the interim can continue imposing the industry-opposed monitoring requirements. The court decision is the latest in a long-running battle over whether states have discretion to impose new monitoring, beyond what is mandated in specific air requirements. "We are pleased that the court is allowing EPA to address the procedural flaw...

Cantwell Eyes New Legislation To Change EPA's Fuel Mileage Test

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is looking for an "appropriate vehicle" to move legislation that requires EPA to change its tests for determining gas mileage in new cars, after she failed to include the provision in the final version of the massive transportation bill, according to a source in her office. The maneuvering comes as renewed attention is being focused on fuel efficiency after the Gulf Coast hurricanes helped push gasoline prices to record highs. It also comes as EPA and...

EPA Ozone Review Could Undermine OMB Queries On Control Benefits

Over opposition from White House regulatory officials, EPA scientists are supporting a causal connection between ozone exposure and shortened human life-spans, a connection which regulators could use to justify upcoming regulatory controls on emissions sources, agency sources say. EPA on Oct. 4 released a portion of its draft "criteria document" on ozone, which concludes, "The epidemiological evidence continues to support likely causal associations between acute ambient ozone exposure and increased risk of acute respiratory morbidity and mortality, based on the...

INDUSTRY WEIGHS SUPERFUND, RCRA IMPLICATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

Industry sources are highlighting a variety of ways Superfund, the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) and other environmental laws could apply to emerging technologies that rely on nanoscale materials, as EPA pursues plans to address the particles under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) while acknowledging that regulation under other statutes may be necessary, observers say. EPA is developing a white paper on the potential application to nanotechnology of the Superfund law, known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation...

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY WANTS 'SAFE HARBOR' FOR NANOTECH REPORTING

The chemical industry is urging EPA to develop a "safe harbor" from agency enforcement as an incentive for industry participation in a voluntary reporting program on nanoparticle data that will help EPA develop a regulatory approach for the emerging technology. The Nanotechnology Panel of the American Chemistry Council presented written comments to the Interim Ad Hoc Work Group on Nanoscale Materials of the National Pollution Prevention and Toxics Advisory Committee during a Sept. 29 public meeting in Arlington, VA. The...

EPA DENIES 'ONE CLEANUP PROGRAM' HAS STALLED, DESPITE STATE CONCERNS

EPA is denying that its "One Cleanup Program" has stalled, despite concerns raised both by state waste regulators and environmental commissioners that there has been little activity under the initiative, which seeks to reduce duplication and barriers between the agency's numerous site remediation programs. At the annual meeting of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) earlier this month, Terrance Gray of the Association of State & Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO) raised concerns that the One Cleanup Program...

AIR FORCE SIDESTEPS DISPUTE WITH EPA, TENTATIVELY AGREES TO CLEANUP

The Air Force has tentatively agreed to continue to clean up contaminated groundwater at a former California base under an existing EPA remediation plan, sidelining a formal dispute between the military and regulators over the cleanup remedy until technical issues can be further evaluated and discussed. Senior leaders within the Air Force, EPA Region IX, California Department of Toxic Substances Control and California Regional Water Quality Control Board agreed to defer final action on how to address volatile organic compound...

DOD PERCHLORATE POLICY RAISES QUESTIONS ON WATER, RANGE CLEANUPS

The Defense Department has issued what may be its clearest statement so far on how it plans to address extensive contamination by perchlorate -- a component of rocket fuel and military munitions and a naturally occurring chemical that has contaminated a slew of waterbodies across the United States. But at least one critic is raising concerns that the policy will not ensure cleanup of operational ranges and contaminated waterbodies that are not drinking water sources, leading to continuing disputes at...

SAB SAYS EPA'S KATRINA RESPONSE SHOWS FAILURE TO ADDRESS 9/11 CONCERN

Members of EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) say the agency's response to Hurricane Katrina shows officials have failed to implement key 9/11 recommendations for rapidly assessing risks to human health and the environment in the event of an emergency. At an SAB meeting on Sept. 28, panelists expressed the concerns to top EPA officials, including Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock and Chief Science Advisor Dr. William Farland. The panelists charged that the agency has failed to develop methods to rapidly evaluate...

SAB SEEKS IMPROVEMENTS IN LOUISIANA HURRICANE DEBRIS DISPOSAL PLAN

As Louisiana officials prepare to dispose of mountains of waste and debris stemming from hurricane damage, EPA science advisers are urging EPA and state officials to expand and improve air monitoring and carefully consider their waste disposal methods because the state's disposal plans will release scores of contaminants, including asbestos, lead, mercury and other toxics. At the same time, former EPA and other federal attorneys say that agency officials could face class action lawsuits, similar to those filed following the...

EPA PLAN TO WAIVE ASBESTOS RULES COULD PROMPT CLASS ACTION SUITS

Former EPA and other federal attorneys say agency officials could face class action lawsuits similar to those filed after the Sept. 11 attacks if the agency proceeds with plans to waive Clean Air Act rules limiting emissions of asbestos to ease disposal of hurricane-related debris. EPA lays out in its Oct. 3 draft conditions for granting a "no action assurance" for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's (LDEQ) asbestos demolition and disposal plan, but the agency still says it plans...

EPA PLANS STUDY OF CHEMICAL EMERGENCY PANELS' COMPLIANCE WITH EPCRA

Weeks after Hurricane Katrina revealed deep flaws in local and federal disaster management, EPA is preparing to initiate a study to determine whether highly criticized state and local chemical emergency planning groups are meeting federal disaster response requirements. But agency sources and many critics say the study's narrow focus on federal standards is unlikely to improve disaster response efforts because the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), which created the voluntary program, provides EPA with little authority to ensure...

REVIVED BIOMONITORING BILLS MAY GET BOOST BY HURRICANE RECOVERY PUSH

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House and Senate that would establish a health-effects tracking network for first responders, including controversial biomonitoring measures, could get a boost from congressional efforts to respond to the Gulf Coast recovery, as well as recent heightened concerns about the federal government's lax assessment of emergency worker health threats following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to proponents of the bills. The legislation is a reintroduction of a bill that was unanimously approved by the Senate two...

EPA Plan To Waive Asbestos Rules Could Prompt Class-Action Suits

Former EPA and other federal attorneys say agency officials could face class-action lawsuits similar to those filed after the Sept. 11 attacks if the agency proceeds with plans to waive Clean Air Act rules limiting emissions of asbestos to ease disposal of hurricane-related debris. EPA lays out in its Oct. 3 draft conditions for granting a "no action assurance" for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's (LDEQ) asbestos demolition and disposal plan, but the agency still says it plans to...

SAB Seeks Improvements In Louisiana Hurricane Debris Disposal Plan

As Louisiana officials prepare to dispose of mountains of waste and debris stemming from hurricane damage, EPA science advisers are urging EPA and state officials to expand and improve air monitoring and carefully consider their waste disposal methods because the state's disposal plans will release scores of contaminants, including asbestos, lead, mercury and other toxics. At the same time, former EPA and other federal attorneys say that agency officials could face class action lawsuits, similar to those filed following the...

Activists Eye Lawsuit As EPA Exempts Sources From Incineration Rule

Environmentalists are likely to file a lawsuit challenging an EPA final rule that defines industrial incinerators subject to air toxics standards, because it includes language that exempts potentially thousands of facilities from compliance, activist sources say. EPA and some industry sources counter that the exemptions are likely to affect only a handful of incinerator units that are not emitting significant amounts of air toxics, and the units are necessary for useful energy recovery purposes. EPA in a Sept. 22 Federal...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Sign up for 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting.