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.

Industry Cites Loper In Bid To Revive ‘Affirmative Defense’ In Air Permits

A broad coalition of industry groups is urging a federal appellate court to vacate EPA’s rule removing “affirmative defense” from Clean Air Act (CAA) Title V operating permits, citing recent high court rulings to argue that the agency’s removal of the long-standing provision that exempted excess emissions during startups, shutdowns and malfunctions (SSM) is unlawful. In its July 29 opening brief in SSM Litigation Group v. EPA , the coalition cites Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo , the Supreme Court’s...

CARB OKs Plan To Delay Valley PM Attainment By Five Years Amid Outcry

California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials are approving a state implementation plan (SIP) for the San Joaquin Valley to meet federal fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standards that includes a five-year extension to 2030 to meet one of them, despite vocal opposition by dozens of environmental and equity groups. “The story of Clean Air Act attainment in the San Joaquin Valley is one of delay, neglect, and repeated failures to meet nearly every single Clean Air Act requirement put in place...

States, Industry Cite High Court Stay In New Push To Reverse GNP Rule

Republican states and industry groups are citing the Supreme Court’s recent stay of EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) interstate ozone rule in their suit challenging the rule’s legality, in a new push to reverse the beleaguered measure. In a July 29 reply brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in State of Utah, et al., v. EPA, et al. , the Republican states frequently cite the high court’s recent decision in Ohio v. EPA...

Environmentalists Target Industrial Sector GHGs For Possible Harris Term

Evergreen Action, the climate-focused environmental group, is outlining its wish list for a possible Harris administration -- including a broad array of EPA actions, such as new rules to drive down industrial emissions, tougher permit requirements and working with states to support strict power-sector standards. In a report released July 31, the group -- which was a key driver for much of the Biden administration’s whole-of-government climate agenda -- recommends the agency subject a range of industrial sources, including boilers,...

EPA Proposes TSCA Rule Banning 1-BP From Most Consumer Goods

EPA is proposing to ban the solvent 1-bromopropane (1-BP) from all but one consumer product in which it is used, as well as some commercial and industrial uses for which the agency says it has determined that there are alternatives, while seeking to require workplace exposure limits and protective gear for those uses that it is allowing to continue. EPA’s proposed 1-BP rule , released July 31, would ban all uses in consumer products, including in aerosol spray degreasers, spot...

Chemical Industry Cites Chevron’s End To Bolster MON Rule Challenge

Months after oral argument, the chemical industry is urging an appellate court to consider the Supreme Court’s recent ruling ending Chevron deference as it weighs the lawfulness of EPA’s air toxics rule for certain plants, arguing that the holding bolsters its claim that the agency violated Clean Air Act mandates when it relied solely on a controversial risk value for ethylene oxide (EtO). In a July 26 “supplemental authority” letter , the American Chemistry Council (ACC) urged the U.S...

Court rejects EPA request to hear GNP arguments this year

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is rejecting EPA’s request to hold oral arguments on the legality of its ozone transport Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) this year, after the Supreme Court blocked the agency from implementing the rule during the litigation. The court in a July 30 per curiam order in State of Utah, et al. v. EPA, et al ., denied EPA’s request to hear arguments in the case in 2024. It also rejected...

EPA, California Renew Focus On Mobile Sources In New Ozone Agreement

EPA and California officials have quietly agreed on a joint plan for addressing persistently high ozone levels in the South Coast basin, with regulators pledging to take a series of actions to address emissions from aviation, locomotives, non-road engines, and ocean-going vessels, though environmentalists say many of the pledges are “vague.” At the same time, California air officials have withdrawn a proposed ozone state implementation plan (SIP) for the region to avoid EPA’s proposed rejection of the plan and implementation...

D.C. Circuit Reopens Briefing In Two Vehicle Cases On Standing, Deference

A federal appellate court is seeking new briefing in litigation over a pair of high-profile Biden administration vehicle rules to discuss the potential impact of recent Supreme Court and other rulings on the long-pending litigation, a move that will almost certainly further delay a ruling in the cases that were argued in September 2023. In a July 29 order , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit asked parties in litigation over EPA’s model year 2023-2026...

Joint Agreement

EPA Commitments

CARB Commitments

SCAQMD Commitments


Citing State Failures, OIG Seeks Tighter EPA Oversight Of ‘Minor Sources’

A new report from EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) says the agency failed to ensure that Texas and California air regulators properly controlled emissions from certain “synthetic minor” pollution sources -- and even though federal officials agreed with that finding they are at odds with the watchdog on how to strengthen the program. OIG’s July 25 report , “The EPA Did Not Ensure that Two of the Largest Air Oversight Agencies Identified and Inspected Potentially Significant Sources of Air...

Biofuels Groups Plan To Appeal Vacatur Of Most 2022 RFS Waiver Denials

Biofuels industry groups are criticizing an appellate court’s apparent decision to vacate most of the Biden EPA’s denials of dozens of compliance waivers for small refineries from renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending mandates, with the groups suggesting they may appeal the still-sealed decision. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 26 issued an opinion in consolidated litigation known as Sinclair Wyoming Refining, et al. v. EPA, et al. ,...

EPA Urges 5th Circuit To Reject Denka’s Novel Request To Block Air Rule

EPA is pressing an appellate court to reject a synthetic rubber manufacturer’s attempt for a “second bite at the apple” to stay the agency’s air toxics rule with tight chloroprene limits for the chemical sector, arguing that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the company’s effort to validate a novel compliance delay that Louisiana granted. In a July 22 response brief , EPA argues that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit lacks jurisdiction to review Denka Performance...

EPA Updates Analytical Method To Measure PFAS In Air Emissions

EPA has quietly updated one of its methods for measuring PFAS in air emissions from stationary sources, adding to the number of pre-sampling standards to improve measurements, addressing when lab materials containing the fluoropolymer PTFE can be used, and modifying conditions for testing GenX chemicals. The agency on July 1 released a revised version of its “Other Test Method 45” (OTM-45) along with a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document on the method to highlight many of the questions it received...

Groups Test EPA Air Permit Notice Policy With Chemical Plant Petition

Environmentalists in Virginia are testing EPA’s recently narrowed policy on when the agency will object to industrial facilities’ air operating permits, asking the agency to object to a chemical plant’s permit on the grounds that the state failed to provide proper notice-and-comment procedures on the permit, one of the first such petitions to do so. In a petition filed with EPA July 22 by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) on behalf of Chesapeake Bay Foundation; Mothers Out Front; Sierra...

EPA Pledges To Propose Updated Landfill Methane Standards In 2025

After longstanding pressure from environmental groups, EPA has announced plans to issue sometime next year a proposed rule that would update methane emissions standards for new and existing municipal solid waste landfills, even as the agency and its allies are fighting litigation from the landfill sector on its greenhouse gas reporting rules. The White House announced the rulemaking schedule during its July 23 summit on addressing climate change “super pollutants.” EPA’s expects to propose in 2025 standards to cut emissions...

EPA Moves To Strip Malfunction Waiver From Waste Combustors Air Rule

EPA is proposing to remove regulatory exemptions for periods of malfunction from its rule governing air toxics from hazardous waste combustors (HWC), in line with its broader policy requiring the removal of exemptions for startup, shutdown and malfunction (SSM) waivers from its air rules. In a notice published in the July 24 Federal Register , EPA proposes to remove a malfunction exemption for the sector, to add electronic reporting provisions, and to amend emergency safety vent provisions. “The removal of...

Seeing No ‘Irreparable’ Harm, EPA, Allies Resist Critics’ Push For MATS Stay

EPA and its supporters are urging a federal appellate court to deny critics’ calls to stay the agency’s tightened mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) for the power sector on the grounds that it results in no “irreparable harm,” echoing the court’s recent findings when it rejected similar calls to stay its greenhouse gas rule for power plants. In legal filings responding to mainly GOP state and industry motions to stay the MATS rule, EPA and its supporters tell the...

GOP States Quickly Petition Supreme Court To Stay Power Plant GHG Rule

Days after losing their bid to block EPA’s power plant GHG rule, a group of GOP-led states is urging the Supreme Court to step in and stay the measure, seeking a ruling that some critics hope will send a message to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit about its unwillingness to stay EPA rules for the power and other sectors. A group of 25 Republican states led by West Virginia and Indiana, filed a July...

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