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 Moves To Codify Narrow Approach To Title V Air Permit Reviews

In a blow to environmentalists, EPA is planning to codify its current narrow view of what “applicable requirements” may be examined during review of Clean Air Act Title V air operating permits, seeking to entrench a more-restrictive approach first taken by the Trump administration that largely excludes consideration of underlying air permitting decisions. An EPA proposal slated for Federal Register publication Jan. 9 would formalize an approach the agency has taken in individual permit reviews since 2017 that mostly...


Supreme Court sets argument on Good Neighbor rule

The Supreme Court has set a Feb. 21 date to hear oral arguments on state and industry requests for a nationwide stay of EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) air rule, according to a Jan. 5 order in the court docket, in a session that may deliver a strong message over the future of the flagship program. Justices will hear arguments from Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and a wide coalition of industry groups that are seeking a national stay of EPA’s...

Beshear Urges Biden To Adopt ‘Step-Down’ Approach For Tougher PM Limit

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) is pressing President Joe Biden to force EPA to rethink its plan for tightening federal limits for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), urging that the agency withdraw its plan and instead float a “singular” annual limit rather than a range of possible limits, while also calling for a novel phased implementation for any standard. “To the extent that it is supported by peer-reviewed clinical evidence, the most reasonable approach is a gradual step-down of the standard...

Environmentalists Weigh Options After EPA Publishes Louisiana CCS Rule

Environmental groups are considering their legal options after EPA formally published its rule granting Louisiana primary authority to issue “Class VI” carbon storage wells, a move that starts a 45-day clock for groups to sue over the highly contested decision under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). “It’s pretty early -- and with the holidays -- I think people are still deciding whether this is something they want to challenge or just move on to the next phase, which is...

Truckers Plan To Drop State Claims After Court Backs L.A. Warehouse Rule

The California Trucking Association (CTA) is dropping its remaining state claims in its failed lawsuit challenging the Los Angeles region’s novel “indirect source rule” (ISR) to reduce pollution at warehouses, after a federal judge last month rejected the group’s arguments that the rule is preempted by the Clean Air Act (CAA) and other federal laws. However, sources say they expect CTA to appeal the ruling to a federal appellate court. In a Jan. 2 joint status report , CTA and...

GNP Critics Ask D.C. Circuit To Pause Briefing Pending High Court Ruling

States and industry groups suing EPA to overturn the agency’s Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) air rule are asking a federal appeals court to pause briefing in the litigation, pending the Supreme Court’s decision on whether to stay the rule nationwide, after the high court announced it would hear oral argument on the issue in February. In their joint emergency motion filed Jan. 4 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, petitioners led by Ohio ask...

Ohio city delays tire-to-gas permit after EPA intervention

Youngstown, OH, officials have enacted a one-year moratorium barring a proposed facility that wants to convert used tires into synthetic natural gas after EPA last fall sought provisions to address a host of environmental justice (EJ) concerns in a draft permit issued by the state. While EPA addressed its concerns to the Ohio EPA, late last year Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown (D) signed an ordinance imposing a one-year moratorium barring approvals for such industrial processes. Inside Climate News...

Multiple Industry Groups File Suits Against EPA’s End-Use HFC Limits

Semiconductor manufacturers, grocers and refrigerant companies are launching suits over aspects of an EPA rule restricting various uses of climate-warming hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), even as the agency is offering an additional year to comply with the rule’s requirements for the air conditioning sector. The industry interests late last month filed three separate suits over EPA’s October rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI); Chemours , which makes HFCs...

EPA Seeks Remand Of Trump Ozone Standards, Buying Time For Review

EPA is asking a federal appeals court for voluntary remand of its Trump-era national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone, a move that would allow the agency to buy time as it seeks to conduct a fresh review, citing the need to consider new science and announcing its intention to revise or scrap Trump EPA guidance on such reviews. In a Jan. 3 motion filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in State...

Environmentalists, States Urge White House Not To Further Delay PM NAAQS

Environmental groups and state air regulators are urging the Biden administration not to further delay issuance of EPA’s rule tightening national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), as industry continues to lobby against tougher limits and the White House engages in extended review of the measure. EPA in a Jan. 2 legal filing said it will need until Jan. 30 to finalize the rule, which the agency had hoped to issue by the end of 2023...

Former NRDC attorney joins Edelson

Aaron Colangelo, who spent two decades litigating high-profile environmental law cases for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), has joined Edelson PC, a national plaintiffs’ class, mass and governmental action firm, in its Washington, DC, office. “I’m thrilled to be joining the impressive team at Edelson,” Colangelo said in a Jan. 3 press release . “I can’t imagine a better place to continue fighting for safe water, clean air, and a healthy environment. I look forward to helping represent the...

OIG Flags Verification Concerns Under EPA Clean School Bus Program

EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) is warning that initial awards under the infrastructure law’s Clean School Bus program is vulnerable to fraud due to insufficient verification procedures for program applicants, with the office pressing the agency to implement several fixes that could address the issue. The warning in a Dec. 27 report comes as the OIG in a separate supply chain report also cites utility upgrades as a possible barrier to implementing the school bus program. The latter report...

EPA seeks delay of PM NAAQS until late January

EPA is asking a federal appellate court to extend until the end of January its pause on litigation challenging Trump-era national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM), saying it will need until then to issue its final rule expected to strengthen the standards due to a slower than expected interagency review process. In a Jan. 2 filing , EPA asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to extend abeyance until Jan. 30...

Justices Could Send ‘Very Strong Message’ On EPA’s Good Neighbor Rule

The Supreme Court’s surprise decision to hear oral argument in February over states’ and industry groups’ “emergency” applications to stay EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) interstate air rule could result in a clear signal to the agency that attempting to further implement or expand the rule would be futile, sources say. The high court surprised some legal experts with its Dec. 20 decision to hold oral argument on the efforts by three states and several industry groups to stay the...

EPA Rejects Kansas’ Haze Plan, Signaling Possible Rejection Of Many More

As EPA strives to get its delayed regional haze program back on track, the agency is proposing to reject Kansas’ plan for reducing regional haze, in what could be the first of many more such rejections as environmentalists press the agency to quickly act on more than 30 other pending state plans. In a decision published in the Federal Register Jan. 2, EPA faults the 2021 Kansas state implementation plan (SIP), saying it fails to properly analyze emissions sources...

Amid ‘Mandate’ Fight, EDF Finds Battery EVs Not Needed For EPA Auto Rule

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is sharpening claims that EPA’s light- and medium-duty vehicle emissions proposal is flexible enough to allow multiple compliance strategies, flagging analysis that industry could even comply with the requirements without any battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales. The group’s analysis, styled as a rebuttal to auto manufacturers’ comments claiming EPA’s plan depends on a rosy assumption of vehicle electrification over the next decade, could also aid EPA in justifying its proposal as a performance-based standards approach...

EPA Grants Louisiana Primacy To Permit CCS Wells, Despite EJ Concerns

EPA has quietly granted Louisiana primary authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to permit carbon dioxide wells needed for carbon capture and storage (CCS), despite concerns from environmental justice (EJ) advocates who fear the approval will harm local communities. “That's a damn shame to announce primacy during Christmas/holiday break. Louisiana cannot be trusted with Primacy,” the Louisiana Sierra Club said in a Dec. 28 tweet. EPA Administrator Michael Regan Dec. 28 signed the rule granting the Pelican State...

Litigants Clash Over EPA’s ‘Retroactive’ Boiler Rule As Oral Argument Looms

Industry and environmental groups have filed final briefs in a case over EPA air toxics limits for industrial boilers, clearing the way for a federal appellate court to schedule oral arguments that will test the agency’s adoption of standards that the industry parties say are unlawfully retroactive and wrongly apply to existing plants. While environmentalists are generally defending the agency’s approach, they charge officials ignored newer data and set impermissibly weak limits. Completion of briefing in the case , U.S....

EPA Faces Wide Range Of Reliability Concerns Over Power Plant GHG Rule

The utility sector, fossil fuel groups, grid operators, Republican officials and even some Democratic senators are reiterating sweeping concerns about EPA’s proposed power plant greenhouse gas rule’s risks to grid reliability, even as environmentalists and Democratic state officials defend the rule as a relatively modest effort amid broader trends toward cleaner electricity. EPA re-opened comments on reliability-related issues linked to its high-profile GHG standards in response to concerns from a small business advisory panel. In addition to issues linked to...

Pages

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