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 opens comment on proposed PM2.5 standards

EPA has published its proposal to tighten federal air quality standards for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the Federal Register Jan. 27, opening a 60-day public comment period for input on the controversial plan. The agency will take comment through March 28 and will likely receive numerous comments from environmentalists and possibly some states seeking to strengthen the plan, while industry groups may oppose any tightening of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for PM2.5 as unwarranted. EPA will...

Regan Said To Be Eyeing Early Departure As Regulatory Agenda Ramps Up

As EPA ramps up its regulatory agenda, Administrator Michael Regan is said to be seriously considering leaving the agency he has led for the first two years of the Biden administration and has been exploring options outside of the federal government, according to a press report, though an agency spokesperson is denying it. Citing four unnamed sources, Reuters reported Jan. 26 that Regan has been thinking seriously about departing and has been exploring options outside the Biden administration but...

8th Circuit Denies En Banc Review Of Republican States’ SCC Challenge

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has denied a request from Republican-led states to reconsider a three-judge panel’s decision dismissing the states’ lawsuit targeting the Biden administration’s social cost of carbon (SCC) tool, a move that could clear the way for the states to urge the Supreme Court to review the case. “The petition for rehearing en banc is denied. The petition for rehearing by the panel is also denied,” says a Jan. 27 order...

EPA Criticized For Eyeing Voluntary Steps To Curb Locomotive Emissions

EPA’s rail study team conducting a preliminary evaluation to inform next steps on reducing pollution from locomotives and railyards is considering ways to voluntarily accelerate fleet turnover, but the plan is drawing stiff criticism from a coalition of civic associations that works to toughen such measures. During EPA’s Jan. 24 National Environmental Justice Community Engagement call, Mary Arnold, who leads Civics United for Railroad Environmental Solutions (CURES), told Lauren Steele of the agency’s Office of Transportation & Air Quality, who...

EPA Moves To Integrate Cardiovascular Effects In Lead Rules’ Analyses

EPA is moving closer to accounting for adverse cardiovascular effects stemming from lead exposures into its regulatory decisions, a move that would bolster its ability to address risks that adults face from such exposures and allow the agency to advance rules that have stalled because of a lack of such data while strengthening other pending measures. “Incorporating new scientific developments into regulatory analysis is important for ensuring a well-informed policy process. The impact of lead on premature cardiovascular mortality is...

CBD Suit Over Colorado NSR Expands Push For Tougher Oil, Gas Permits

Environmentalists are again suing EPA to force the agency to disapprove Colorado air rules for oil and gas production, claiming that the state must consider well construction emissions in addition to operating emissions, in a further test of new source review (NSR) permitting that industry says in a related case could create “an adverse national precedent.” In a suit filed Jan. 23 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) seeks to...

EPA sends plan ending SSM waivers from ‘SIP Call’ to OMB

EPA has sent for White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) pre-publication review its proposal to end the Trump-era waivers granted to Texas, Iowa and North Carolina from the agency’s 2015 “SIP Call” that requires states to end regulatory exemptions for periods of facility startup, shutdown and malfunction (SSM). OMB received the proposal Jan. 25, according to its website. Review typically takes up to 90 days, but can be faster or slower, depending on the circumstances. EPA plans to...

Truck rule’s promulgation sets deadline for possible litigation

EPA Jan. 24 promulgated its final rule setting tighter nitrogen oxide (NOx) limits for heavy trucks in model year 2027 and beyond in the Federal Register , opening the 60-day window for any lawsuits on the measure even as the agency now turns its attention to a separate plan for a new round of greenhouse gas standards for the vehicles. The regulatory notice also sets an effective date for the rule of March 27, 2023. The action follows EPA’s Dec...

SAB Floats Draft Report With Broad Backing For EPA’s Methane Plans

EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) is advancing draft recommendations that generally support the agency’s proposed oil and gas methane standards, including its threshold for defining “super-emitter” events, while calling for steps to adopt up-to-date technology for emission measurement and engage affected groups on key issues. A draft SAB report about the science and technology supporting EPA’s proposal comes as parties face a Feb. 13 deadline to submit formal comments on the agency’s supplemental plan affecting new and existing sources in...

OIG Finds Defeat Device NCI ‘Not On Track’ As OECA Seeks To Drop Priority

Update Appended EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) says the agency’s national compliance initiative (NCI) for stopping aftermarket vehicle defeat devices is “not on track” to meet its goals less than two weeks after EPA’s Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance (OECA) announced plans to drop this issue as a national priority due to its success. But the long-anticipated report issued Jan. 25, is sparking pushback from current and former EPA officials, who say the OIG’s findings ignore the...

Environmentalists Praise 111(d) Plan As Blocking ‘Race To The Bottom’

Environmentalists are broadly praising EPA’s plan to restrict states’ ability to apply less-stringent air and climate pollution controls than federal guidelines crafted under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, arguing the provisions would help prevent a “race to the bottom” as states craft plans to comply with upcoming rules for power plants, oil and gas and other sectors. The advocacy, during a Jan. 24 public hearing on the agency’s section 111(d) implementing rules update, generally aligns with recent comments...

Pennsylvania Says EPA Usurped State Role With Its Federal NOx Plan

In a dispute with consequences for the Northeast and other states, Pennsylvania is asking a federal appellate court to vacate EPA’s federal implementation plan (FIP) to limit ozone-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from power plants, arguing the agency deprived the state of its statutory role as the primary regulator when it issued the plan. In a brief filed Jan. 23 in Keystone-Conemaugh Projects, et al., v. EPA, et al., now pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the...

White House Starts Review Of EPA’s Passenger Vehicle Emissions Plan

The White House has begun reviewing EPA’s draft proposed multi-pollutant emissions standards for passenger vehicles and some larger trucks, offering the latest indication that the agency is on track to release the plan by the end of March as outside groups sharpen their advocacy about the stringency of the requirements. The proposed rulemaking is one of multiple mobile source emissions rules on the agency’s regulatory agenda, as it also readies its “Phase 3” greenhouse gas proposal for heavy-duty trucks. The...

White House Re-Ups Two Key EPA Nominees But Waste Pick Departs

This story was updated at 7:45 P.M. See details below. The Biden administration is renominating Joe Goffman and David Uhlmann to lead EPA’s air and enforcement offices, respectively, after senators failed to vote on the nominees during the last Congress. But the White House did not renominate Carlton Waterhouse, its nominee to lead the waste office, who announced his decision to resign from the agency Jan. 23, a source familiar with the issue says. The White House...

EPA offers alternative testing methods for air rules

EPA is offering the public use of several “broadly applicable” alternative testing methods it has recently approved for use by industry to comply with its air regulations for wood heaters, oil and gas production, marine storage tanks and polymers production, among other sectors, giving plant operators more flexibility in how they demonstrate compliance. In a Jan. 19 Federal Register notice , EPA “specifies five broadly applicable alternative test methods that the EPA approved between January 1, 2022, and December...

EPA Reaches Deal With Environmentalists To Review Oil & Gas Air Rules

EPA has reached agreement with environmentalists to review and possibly tighten its air regulations for oil and gas production, setting binding deadlines for an air toxics review and also for a long-delayed response to a 2012 petition seeking to eliminate an “affirmative defense” regulatory exemption for periods of facility malfunction. In a Federal Register notice scheduled for publication Jan. 24, EPA announces a proposed consent decree that would settle California Communities Against Toxics (CCAT), et al. v. Regan ,...

Environmentalists Pitch Tough EPA Rules As Key To Clean Power Goal

Environmentalists are urging EPA to adopt a strong set of greenhouse gas standards for new and existing power plants as a crucial missing link for attaining the Biden administration’s 2030 clean electricity and climate targets, arguing the upcoming rules, when paired with last summer’s climate law, could nearly reach that low-carbon power goal. According to a Jan. 23 report from Evergreen Action and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the clean energy tax credits and other incentives in last summer’s Inflation...

Environmentalists, States Sue EPA To Force Tougher Aircraft PM Limits

Environmentalists and 11 states are suing EPA to force the agency to strengthen its rule setting particulate matter (PM) emissions limits for aircraft, a regulation that critics say is a “do nothing” measure that merely entrenches the status quo, rather than forcing tougher limits, echoing similar litigation filed against EPA’s greenhouse gas limits for aircraft. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club filed suit Jan. 20 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the...

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