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.

Biden Order Gives EPA, HHS Power To Recommend EtO Sterilizer Waivers

President Joe Biden in one of his final actions has issued an executive order specifying a process for commercial sterilizers to use when requesting waivers from EPA’s tougher air toxics rule limiting emissions of the solvent ethylene oxide (EtO), delegating significant responsibility to the agency and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “It is the policy of my Administration to safeguard the reliability of our Nation's supply of safe medical products. To advance orderly implementation of the EtO Rule,...

Denka Prepares For Novel Air Trial While Hoping Trump Quickly Drops Case

Attorneys for Denka Performance Elastomer (DPE) say they will have to begin preparing for a novel Clean Air Act trial a federal judge is ordering to begin April 14 even as they are trying to meet with incoming Trump administration officials in a bid to convince them to dismiss the case, which the company has long argued is politically motivated. Jason Hutt, a Bracewell attorney representing Denka in the suit, United States v. DPE , says a trial is “a...

EPA Eases Controls For Occupational EtO Use As Biden Touts Effort

EPA has issued new requirements for limiting ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions in pesticide and sterilization uses, but the new rules are weaker than those proposed, though the White House is nevertheless touting the measure as part of its broad “Cancer Moonshot” aimed at ending the disease. In its Interim Registration Review Decision (ID) released Jan. 14, EPA imposes a series of restrictions in order to protect workers using EtO as a sterilizing agent and a pesticide used to fumigate certain...

EPA Floats New EtO Limits For Smaller Chemical Plants Ahead Of Trump

EPA is planning new limits on emissions of the solvent ethylene oxide (EtO) from smaller “area source” chemical plants, along with tougher requirements for pressure relief devices, a facility fenceline air monitoring program and new leak detection and repair mandates, but the plan faces seemingly slim prospects under the Trump administration. In a notice signed by Acting EPA Administrator Jane Nishida Jan. 8, but not yet published in the Federal Register , EPA says it is tightening controls under the...

CARB Withdraws Requests For Truck, Train Rule Waivers Ahead Of Trump

California air officials have withdrawn their requests to EPA to waive federal preemption for the state’s Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) zero-emission truck regulation and first-time standards to reduce locomotive emissions, after it became clear that EPA was not going to act on the requests by the end of the Biden administration’s term. The decision, which was expected , was made to avoid near-certain waiver denials from the incoming Trump administration, according to observers. However, it leaves the two rules in...

Judges Eye Dismissing ‘Affirmative Defense’ Air Suit On Standing Grounds

Appellate judges say they may dismiss an industry coalition’s suit against EPA’s rule stripping “affirmative defense” provisions from air permits, citing doubts over the group’s standing to sue because it is declining to disclose any of its members. Nevertheless, during Jan. 14 oral arguments in SSM Litigation Group v. EPA , Judges Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, both Trump appointees, and Senior Judge Douglas Ginsberg, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, otherwise seemed sympathetic to industry’s arguments that the longstanding exemptions...

D.C. Circuit Rejects Steel Industry Bid To Rehear Air Toxics Rule Stay Denial

The D.C. Circuit is denying the steel sector’s push for the full court to rehear a split panel decision denying the industry’s request for a stay of tougher EPA air regulations for integrated steel producers, offering the latest in a series of such stay denials for Biden-era rules. In a Jan. 13 per curiam order , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit without explanation denied rehearing of its Oct. 24 order denying a stay...

Supreme Court Denies Review Of ‘Good Neighbor’ Air Rule Remand

The Supreme Court has denied review of an appeals court order granting EPA a voluntary remand of the Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) interstate air rule’s rulemaking record, upholding the agency’s view that the remand order was ‘interlocutory’ and a poor vehicle to examine the remand that EPA has now completed. In its list of orders published Jan. 13, the high court without explanation denies certiorari in Ohio, et al. v. EPA, et al. a case brought by GOP...

Supreme Court Again Rebuffs Oil Industry Effort To Dismiss Climate Cases

The Supreme Court is again denying a major effort by the oil industry to derail dozens of state and local climate nuisance and fraud cases that are proceeding in state courts, rejecting industry petitions to overrule a Hawaii Supreme Court decision to allow a suit brought by Honolulu officials to proceed. The court in a brief Jan. 13 order denied petitions for a writ of certiorari in Sunoco LP, et al. v. Honolulu and Shell PLC, et al....

New Analysis Sees ‘Backstop’ Role For Biden EPA Power Plant GHG Rule

A new analysis from economists and other researchers finds the Biden EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas standards would slash even more emissions than the agency projected and that the rule would provide a key backstop in the event high-emissions coal power generation increases, though the rule is unlikely to survive the incoming Trump EPA. The rules “accelerate emissions reductions in the power sector,” the researchers write in a Jan. 9 article published in the journal Science , adding that...

Health Groups Push For Tougher Gas Turbines Plan Ahead Of Trump Return

Environmental and health groups are urging EPA to strengthen its plan tightening controls on stationary combustion turbines at gas-fired power plants and industrial facilities, asking the agency to require universal use of the most stringent controls though the Trump EPA, which will face a legal deadline to take final action, is unlikely to tighten the limits. At a public hearing Jan. 8, health advocates pushed for EPA to mandate selective catalytic reduction (SCR), the toughest available control technology to reduce...

CBD Sues EPA Over Secondary Air Limits, Likely Targeting Species Issues

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed a lawsuit against EPA over its revised “secondary” national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), targeting a rule that requires no additional pollution cuts but which the petitioners are likely to allege violates the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Clean Air Act. CBD filed suit Jan. 6 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over EPA’s final rule signed Dec. 10 and published in the Federal Register...

Former EPA Deputy Counsel Said To Be Considered For Top EPA Air Post

Adam Gustafson, an environmental lawyer for Boeing who served as deputy general counsel in the first Trump EPA, is reportedly being considered to lead the Office of Air and Radiation in the incoming administration, according to two sources familiar with the issue. Reached for comment by Inside EPA , Gustafson said, “I have no comment.” If nominated and confirmed, Gustafson would bring significant experience to a position that is expected to play a key role in the incoming administration’s deregulatory...

High Court Justices Slated To Decide Whether To Hear GNP Remand Suit

The Supreme Court is set to consider at its Jan. 10 conference whether to hear another appeal over EPA’s troubled Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) interstate air rule, this time over a lower court’s remand of the rulemaking record, in a case that GOP states say involves serious administrative law violations with broad implications. Justices are scheduled to decide in State of Ohio, et al. v. EPA, et al. whether to grant review of the GNP remand order by the...

Griffith Reintroduces Bill To Ease NSR Amid Expected Permit Reform Push

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-WV), who is chairing a key House panel that oversees EPA, has reintroduced legislation to ease when the agency’s strict Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) permitting requirements apply at major industrial sources undergoing modifications. In a statement, Griffith says he intends to advance the legislation as a stand-alone measure though the GOP is expected to seek to move major permitting legislation early this year. The Jan. 3 bill , H.R. 161, eases the trigger for...

Revised EPA Air Science Panel Faces Uncertain Future Under Trump

EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) faces an uncertain future under President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming second administration, as conservatives raise calls to “reset” the panel and rebalance its roster to include more representatives of industry and GOP states, just months after the agency named several new members. Although some new members of the seven-seat chartered CASAC are only months into terms that would normally last three years, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint for a Republican administration urges EPA...

EPA Grants Partial Waiver For California’s Harbor Craft Emissions Rules

EPA is partially granting California’s request for a federal preemption waiver allowing the state to enforce its latest commercial harbor craft (CHC) emissions rules, as the Biden administration scrambles to address waivers for several of the state’s mobile source programs just weeks before the Trump administration takes office. The move is outlined in a notice poised for Federal Register publication and a formal decision document -- both signed Jan. 6 by acting EPA Administrator Jane Nishida. It leaves just...

Industry Group Contests EPA Waivers For California ZEV, Truck NOx Rules

An industry group is filing quick legal challenges to EPA’s Clean Air Act preemption waivers for California’s latest Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) program and the state’s heavy truck nitrogen oxides (NOx) standards, teeing up what could be the first of multiple suits over the high-profile waivers. The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 6 filed petitions for review -- on the first day of a 60-day window to challenge the two EPA waivers -- in the...

States Seek Collaboration From Trump Team On Clean Air Regulations

The National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA), representing air regulators in most states, is urging the incoming Trump EPA to cooperate with state officials as it develops new rules, which is an area that is expected to see significant activity as Trump officials are expected to overhaul various Biden-era air and climate policies. In addition, the state group is pressing the incoming administration to ensure adequate funding for state agencies, take steps to curb interstate air pollution and reduce...

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