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 Floats New ‘Safeguards’ In Revised ‘Once In, Always In’ Air Toxics Rule

EPA is proposing to adopt a revised version of its longstanding “once in, always in” (OIAI) air toxics control policy, preserving a Trump-era option that had allowed facilities to reclassify from strictly regulated “major sources” to lesser-regulated “area sources,” though with new provisions giving states power to craft and enforce new permit “safeguards” that aim to prevent any emissions increases. “Today, EPA is proposing additional safeguards to address emissions of hazardous air pollutants from major industrial sources,” said Joe Goffman,...

States’ Suit Seeks Wood Heater NSPS Review As Tougher PM Limits Loom

States led by New York are suing EPA to force a review of new source performance standards (NSPS) for residential wood heaters, amid concern about weak testing that allows sales of heaters that do not meet current emissions limits and would undercut attainment of the agency’s looming strengthening of fine particulate (PM2.5) standards. In their suit filed Sept. 21 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Alaska, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont...

Oil & Gas Groups Seek Compliance Deadline Extension For Methane Rule

Oil and gas groups are bolstering their pitch for EPA to significantly delay the deadline for complying with the agency’s forthcoming methane standards for new equipment in the sector, citing an industry survey finding supply chain constraints for a range of equipment needed to achieve the requirements. The pitch builds on more general comments submitted in February on EPA’s supplemental proposal, in which the American Petroleum Institute (API) flagged supply chain challenges as one of numerous concerns with the plan,...

SAB Seeks To Soften Workgroup’s Criticism Of Ethanol’s Climate Impact

EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) is seeking to soften language in a draft workgroup “commentary” that suggested corn ethanol fails to achieve greenhouse gas cuts compared with regular gasoline, a claim that has sparked significant debate between biofuels and environmental groups over the fuels’ benefits. During a Sept. 21 meeting, the Chartered SAB suggested the workgroup temper its suggestion that ethanol fails to achieve GHG cuts by adding contrasting language reflecting studies showing emissions reductions. Steven Hamburg, a member of...

EPA Plan Fails To Resolve OIG Calls To Improve Ports’ Emissions Monitoring

EPA is agreeing to recommendations from its Office of Inspector General (OIG) to assess and enhance air monitoring around ports and in near-port communities and set performance measures for its Ports Initiative, but the agency’s proposed corrective actions for its Ports Initiative falls short by failing to set defined objectives. OIG issued a Sept. 21 report highlighting the need for EPA to track changes in air emissions in near-port communities and develop guidance for using community group air-monitoring data. The...

First-Time TRI Data Ups Pressure On EPA To Cut Gas Processors’ Air Toxics

First-time Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data submitted to EPA by natural gas processing stations shows large emissions of carcinogenic air toxics, but environmentalists say the numbers significantly underestimate the problem, as pressure mounts on the agency to tighten rules for the sector, which is expected to grow as gas exports ramp up. According to a Sept. 6 analysis of EPA’s data compiled by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), 258 plants reported releasing a combined total of 3.2 million pounds of...

Industry Sues EPA Over Removal Of ‘Affirmative Defense’ From Air Permits

A broad industry coalition is challenging EPA’s recently published rule dropping “affirmative defenses” that allowed facilities to qualify for waivers from Clean Air Act permits in emergencies, as a major court ruling looms that could determine the fate of the agency’s position on such startup, shutdown and malfunction (SSM) exemptions. In its suit filed Sept. 19 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the SSM Litigation Group challenges EPA’s policy that the court’s precedent requires...

‘Unprecedented’ EPA Rules Hurt White House Goals, Chemical Sector Warns

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is urging the White House and Congress to loosen EPA’s “unprecedented” slate of proposed rules for the sector, warning that if finalized those policies would not only harm industry but undermine major Biden administration goals like bolstering domestic electric-vehicle and semiconductor production. “What we’re trying to do is connect the dots for the administration,” ACC President Chris Jahn said at a Sept. 20 press conference announcing the group’s “Chemistry Creates, America Competes” initiative. He and...

Industry Group Challenges EPA’s Settlement Deadline For Incinerator Rules

As EPA weighs options to toughen its air toxics rules governing large municipal incinerators, an industry trade group is suing the agency over its proposed settlement deadline for reviewing the rules, warning that the current plan would not allow officials to conduct a residual risk analysis as required under the Clean Air Act. The Waste to Energy Association (WTEA), a group that represents waste-to-energy companies and their host municipalities, filed a Sept. 18 complaint with the U.S. District Court for...

Study finds wildfire smoke reversing clean air progress

A new study by researchers at Stanford and Harvard universities finds that a rise in wildfire smoke is undoing years of progress in curbing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in many states, underscoring bipartisan congressional calls for EPA to limit the stringency of any new PM2.5 national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). In their study published Sept. 20 in the journal Nature , The Contribution of Wildfire to PM2.5 Trends in the USA, researchers Marshall Burke, Marissa Childs and their collaborators...

EPA Unveils Billions For Local Climate Plans, But Four States Reject Funds

EPA is making available $4.6 billion in competitive grants for states and local governments to implement a variety of projects that cut carbon emissions pursuant to mitigation plans they drafted earlier this year, though agencies in four states -- Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, South Dakota -- are not eligible for funds as they declined to draft plans. “This gives the cities and states [and] tribes the ability to create a platform by which they can execute a much larger pollution reduction...

Truckers Raise New Concerns With CARB’s MY 24-26 Heavy-Duty NOx Rule

Trucking industry groups, engine makers and other key stakeholders are raising new concerns with the California air board’s proposal to amend its heavy-duty nitrogen oxide (NOx) “omnibus” rule for model years 2024-26, with truckers calling for changes to further ease compliance due to a shortage of new trucks and sky-high purchase prices. The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) proposed regulation seeks to amend the state’s omnibus truck NOx rules for model years 2024-26 to implement a deal the agency struck...

Environmentalists sue EPA to force air toxics review for polyether sector

Environmentalists are suing EPA to force the agency to review and tighten its air toxics regulations for manufacturers of polyether polyols, chemicals found in many consumer products, taking into account a 2016 risk assessment of the solvent ethylene oxide (EtO) that found cancer risks many times higher than previously thought. In their suit filed Sept. 18 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, People Concerned About Chemical Safety and Sierra Club say EPA...

Wildfire Emissions Drive Bipartisan Concerns On EPA’s PM NAAQS Plan

Increasing wildfire smoke emissions are looming large over EPA’s pending plan to toughen national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter, as House lawmakers of both parties raise concerns over states’ ability to meet tougher limits because of the emissions though only GOP lawmakers are publicly opposing tighter limits. At a House Energy and Commerce environment panel hearing Sept. 19, House Republicans lined up to oppose EPA’s proposal to tighten the “primary,” or health-based standard for fine PM (PM2.5),...

EPA Agrees To RFS Enforcement Improvements In Response To OIG

EPA has agreed to a series of steps to improve its internal safeguards against fraud in the renewable fuel standard (RFS) compliance credit program, following a report from its Office of Inspector General (OIG) that found several deficiencies that could leave the program vulnerable to fraud. In its response to the OIG’s Sept. 19 report , EPA agrees to tighten its procedures to verify the correct handling of compliance credits, known as renewable identification numbers (RINs). RINs are earned through...

Environmentalists Urge EPA To Set Hydrogen Plant GHG, Air Standards

Over a dozen environmental groups are petitioning EPA to impose a suite of greenhouse gas and conventional air pollution standards on hydrogen production facilities, citing fears that expected production of the fuel will significantly boost emissions of carbon dioxide and an array of other pollutants. The groups’ Sept. 15 petition to the agency comes amid an expected ramp-up of hydrogen production as a tool to decarbonize multiple sectors, given new federal programs to encourage “clean” hydrogen production. But environmentalists have...

Split Court Panel Finds Permits Must Count ‘Temporary’ Drilling Emissions

In a ruling with potentially far-reaching consequences for oil and gas drilling in Colorado and beyond, a divided appellate panel has vacated and remanded EPA’s approval of a Colorado air quality plan over the state’s exclusion of “temporary” air emissions under new source review (NSR) permitting, finding that the state must count such emissions. In its Sept. 18 ruling in Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) v. EPA , a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th...

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