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 Lacks Authority For Air Toxics Plant Classification Policy, Critics Warn

National industry groups and several states are warning EPA that it lacks statutory authority for its proposed replacement for the Clinton-era “once in, always in” (OIAI) air toxics policy, saying that the agency misinterprets the Clean Air Act in order to justify retention of “major source” controls on facilities reclassified to “area source” status. EPA’s current position “is not a permissible or reasonable interpretation of the statute. In effect, EPA seeks to impose emissions standards on area sources that are...

EJ Groups Intervene In CARB Locomotive Rule Suit, Citing Special Expertise

Environmental justice (EJ) groups are intervening in support of the California air board’s defense of its rule requiring railways to reduce emissions from existing locomotives, saying they have “special expertise” and knowledge of disadvantaged communities that the state cannot fully represent in the railroad industry lawsuit. “Proposed Intervenors represent community members that live on the frontlines of major freight railyards and rail corridors, and bring specialized, firsthand knowledge and expertise of the pollution that the Locomotive Regulation seeks to address,”...

Groups Clash Over EPA Support For L.A. Warehouse Rule Amid Litigation

Industry groups are clashing with environmentalists and Los Angeles-area air regulators over EPA’s plan to approve the region’s controversial “indirect source rule” (ISR) requiring warehouses to reduce mobile source pollution as a state implementation plan (SIP) revision. In recently filed comments, industry groups urged the agency to wait to approve the SIP revision until their legal challenge over the novel rule is resolved. While environmentalists and regional air regulators expressed support for EPA’s approval of the ISR, they are also...

Ahead Of Dubai Summit, U.S.-China Agreement Boosts Focus On Methane

China for the first time is agreeing to include methane and other potent greenhouse gases beyond carbon dioxide in its national climate targets under the Paris Agreement, offering the commitment in a new joint agreement with the United States that officials in both countries hope will add momentum to the upcoming international climate meeting in Dubai. U.S. officials have placed a heavy focus on curbing methane because it could have significant near-term benefits for curbing climate change damages. To that...

Industry Cites Air Act Preemption In New Test For Emissions Cheating Suits

The automobile and other industry groups are urging an appellate court to dismiss a consumer lawsuit seeking damages from General Motors (GM) for allegedly cheating on emissions limits, in a new legal test over whether the Clean Air Act preempts such claims after Volkswagen lost its bid to dismiss suits brought by local governments seeking additional penalties for similar cheating. In a Nov. 2 amicus brief , the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation urge the...

Utah sues EPA to force decision on haze plan

Utah is suing EPA to force a decision to approve or disapprove its state implementation plan (SIP) for the second phase of the agency’s regional haze rule, adding to existing lawsuits already brought by utility PacifiCorp, Wyoming and environmentalists over EPA’s missed deadlines in addressing compliance plans filed by dozens of states. In its suit filed Nov. 13 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Beehive State officials ask the court to compel EPA action on its...

House GOP Urges Regan To Scrap PM2.5 NAAQS Rule On Cost Grounds

More than 70 House Republicans are urging EPA Administrator Michael Regan to scrap the agency’s forthcoming rule tightening national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), arguing the agency should follow the Obama administration’s example and halt the “discretionary” rulemaking due to its “stifling costs.” In a Nov. 14 letter to Regan, the lawmakers, led by House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and environment subcommittee Chairman Bill Johnson (R-OH), say that EPA has...

States Tell EPA Expanded Air Monitoring Rule Goes Too Far, Too Fast

States are pushing back on EPA’s proposed rule that will substantially expand the number of industrial facilities subject to air toxics monitoring and reporting requirements, warning that the measure will overstretch limited state resources, is not achievable in the proposed timelines and may exceed the agency’s legal authority. In early comments submitted ahead of a Nov. 17 deadline for public input, both Democratic- and Republican-led states criticize the July proposal for dramatically expanding Clean Air Act reporting requirements, including for...

EPA Details Legal Defense For Easing Waivers For State Locomotive Rules

EPA officials are laying out legal justification for their controversial rule easing the regulatory path for California and other states to obtain Clean Air Act (CAA) preemption waivers to implement first-time standards to reduce emissions from existing “non-new” locomotives, providing an early window into agency arguments for an expected lawsuit from the railroad industry. Specifically, EPA is rebutting industry claims that its rule violates the Constitution’s “equal state sovereignty” principle and that the agency failed to adequately explain revisions it...

CARB Urges Court To Dismiss Industry Challenge To Locomotive Rule

California air board attorneys are urging a federal court to dismiss an industry challenge to its rule requiring railroad companies to reduce emissions from existing locomotives, arguing in part that the court lacks jurisdiction while noting that it will be up to EPA to decide whether the rule can be enforced through a Clean Air Act (CAA) preemption waiver. “This Court . . . lacks jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ CAA claim, which rests on determinations Congress directed EPA to make...

Environmentalists expand litigation over state haze plans

Environmental groups are expanding their litigation over EPA’s failure to ensure that state air quality plans are in place to reduce regional haze, adding 27 more states to the list of those that lack EPA-approved state implementation plans (SIPs) for the haze program, which is again slipping behind schedule. In an amended complaint filed Nov. 10 with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Sierra Club, et al. v. EPA , environmentalists say EPA has failed to...

Final Rule

Fact Sheet


EPA Eases States’ Mandates For Crafting Section 111 Compliance Plans

EPA in a just-released final implementing rule is extending the default deadline for states to submit compliance strategies for climate and air standards developed under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, while also adding new flexibilities for administrative and outreach requirements imposed on states as they craft their plans. The revised procedure for states’ 111(d) plans -- included in a final rule that Administrator Michael Regan signed Nov. 9 and was publicly released Nov. 13 -- concerns a section...

Rejecting Industry, Court Preserves EPA’s Incinerator Review Schedule

A federal district court has denied a request by a waste industry group to consolidate its legal challenge seeking to force an EPA risk review of air regulations for large waste incinerators with environmentalists’ suit over similar issues, avoiding a potential delay in a review schedule already agreed by the agency with environmental groups. In a Nov. 9 order , James Boasberg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, denied the motion by the Waste-To-Energy...

Chamber warns of permit ‘gridlock’ from tighter PM limits

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is warning that a proposed tightening of national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) would result in permitting “gridlock,” exacerbated by EPA’s failure to account for 2023’s severe wildfire smoke impacts that will expand the number of areas in “nonattainment” with the limits. In a report released Nov. 9, the Chamber urges EPA not to tighten PM2.5 limits as proposed, and to instead retain existing limits in order to allow continued...

NPS Backs EPA Plan To Add PFAS To Air Emissions Reporting Rule

The National Park Service (NPS) is backing EPA’s suggestion to subject PFAS releases to a proposed rule aimed at boosting reporting of air toxics under the federal air emissions reporting requirements (AERR), offering to collaborate with the agency in future efforts to address the effects of PFAS and other hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in national parks. “The new emissions information collected under this rule will aid the NPS in our work to protect air resources in parks,” NPS says in...

Local Officials Ask EPA To Update Landfill Rules To Address Food Waste

Dozens of municipal and local officials from across the country are asking EPA to update its landfill methane rules in an effort to better address the potent greenhouse gas emission that is caused by food waste, a step that would dovetail with a new EPA initiative aimed at keeping such waste out of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. The officials sent an Oct. 31 letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan asking the agency to “update its existing landfill standards, with...

Environmentalists Renew Calls To Tighten RMP, Citing Recent Incident Data

Two environmental groups are renewing their push for EPA to strengthen its upcoming Risk Management Program (RMP) update, citing data on chemical-facility accidents as recent as Oct. 15, as supporters of a strict policy continue to raise public concerns that the agency’s upcoming final rule will fall short of their goals in several key areas. On Nov. 9, the nonprofits Coming Clean and Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) jointly released an incident tracking report compiling data...

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