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EPA Signals Intent To ‘RIF’ 20-30 Waste Office Staff Amid Broader Firings

The Trump administration is moving forward on its threats to initiate firings of employees at EPA and other agencies during the ongoing government shutdown, sending notices that it intends to issue reduction in force (RIF) notices to between 20 and 30 EPA employees in its waste office, sources say. In an Oct 10 court filing , the Trump administration said EPA “issued a general ‘intent to RIF’ notice to approximately 20-30 employees on October 10, 2025, notifying them that they...

EPA Begins Furloughing Some Employees As Funds Appear To Dwindle

EPA has begun to furlough some staff amid the ongoing government shutdown, likely signaling that “carryover” funds from left-over appropriations and other sources that the administration was using to keep employees paid and working have begun to run thin. A regional union source tells Inside EPA Oct. 9 that Regions 2, 6 and 9, as well as the Office of Air and Radiation, have furloughed an unknown number of staff. Region 5 is also expected to begin furloughing employees...

Courts Stall Most Federal Environmental Cases Amid Government Shutdown

Federal courts are agreeing to most Justice Department (DOJ) requests to pause proceedings in an array of lawsuits involving EPA and other federal agencies, citing the lapse in funding and statutory furlough requirements, though some judges are making exceptions for particularly pressing cases. Many DOJ employees, along with support staff in EPA and other agencies, are statutorily barred from working during a shutdown unless they are performing narrowly defined critical functions, and DOJ has cited those requirements to justify pausing...

With Hill Talks In Limbo, Groups Step Up Efforts To Use AI In NEPA Reviews

Public and private entities are stepping up their efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) to speed National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, as Capitol Hill talks on overhauling federal permitting practices remain in limbo in the midst of the ongoing government shutdown. These efforts range from a pilot project at the Energy Department’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) looming request for proposals on its Permitting Technology Action Plan to speed NEPA reviews,...

Lengthy Shutdown Could Slow EPA’s Deregulatory Agenda, Critics Say

A prolonged shutdown requiring EPA to furlough employees could throw the agency off its accelerated deregulatory timelines, administration critics say, potentially delaying the conclusion of possible litigation that the administration wants to finalize before President Trump leaves office. However, a short shutdown would likely have minimal impacts on the pace of deregulation, they say. If the administration is forced to furlough the majority of the agency, “there will be impacts in meeting the timelines that they’ve set out for themselves,”...

Despite Shutdown, Trump’s Expedited Permitting Agenda Moves Forward

The Trump administration’s agenda for streamlined environmental and other permitting requirements for energy and infrastructure projects is moving forward despite a partial governmental shutdown that threatens to halt all but critical operations until the White House and congressional Democrats reach an agreement on federal funding. The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC), the congressionally authorized agency charged with expediting permitting, announced Oct. 2 that its members had met Oct. 1 and identified adequate funding from the Environmental Improvement Fund to...

As Shutdown Starts, EPA Plans ‘Normal’ Functions But Funds May Not Last

EPA is reportedly keeping all agency employees on board for the first days of the government shutdown, using “carryover” funds such as unobligated appropriations to continue paying employees, though it is unclear when such funds will run out and the agency will furlough up to 89 percent of its workforce. “To my knowledge, from all my sources, everybody in the agency is working right now,” Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Council 238, the main union...

Shutdown Plan Retains 11 Percent Of EPA, Keeps CERCLA, Pesticide Work

EPA’s plan for the impending government shutdown says around 11 percent of those currently “on board” will continue working during any shutdown, expanding the number of workers expected to continue working on Superfund and pesticide work relative to previous plans. In a Sept. 29 contingency plan , issued before funding is expected to lapse Oct. 1, the agency says 1,734 of more than 15,000 employees will continue “essential” activities. The document, which is a required biennial update to EPA’s shutdown...

Looming Funding Lapse Could Intensify ‘Serial’ EPA Shutdown, Critics Say

The impending government shutdown could grant extensive powers to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to accelerate its ongoing effort to reshape EPA’s staffing, budget and other activities, say former agency officials who oppose such efforts. At a Sept. 29 webinar held in advance of a potential funding lapse on Oct. 1, members of the Environmental Protection Network (EPN) of former officials told reporters that the shutdown could add fuel to what they characterized as an ongoing...

Sen. Markey Warns EPA’s NSR ‘Construction’ Guidance Likely Unlawful

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) is questioning EPA over its recently changed guidance that excludes some industry activities from the definition of “construction” that would otherwise trigger new source review (NSR) air permitting, challenging Administrator Lee Zeldin to justify the legal rationale for the move, which Markey warns is likely unlawful. “Your recent reinterpretation of the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review (NSR) permitting requirements will translate to direct harm to human health here in the United States. By allowing pre-construction...

OMB Threatens Further Mass Firings At EPA If Government Shuts Down

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is ordering EPA and other agencies to consider reductions in force (RIFs) for programs “not consistent with the President’s priorities” if lawmakers fail to agree on a fiscal year 2026 spending deal by Oct. 1, exposing a wide array of agency employees to potential firings. In a Sept. 24 memorandum , OMB Director Russell Vought ordered agencies to “use this opportunity” to consider issuing RIF notices “for all employees in programs,...

Appeals Court Hands Texas Another Defeat On Interstate Air Planning

A divided 5th Circuit panel has handed Texas another defeat on interstate air issues, upholding EPA’s years-old disapproval of a state ozone plan while leaving in place a federal program and again defending EPA’s broad discretion on technical matters such as air standards attainment. In their Sept. 22 ruling in State of Texas v. EPA , a split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upholds EPA’s rejection of a state implementation plan (SIP) submitted...

EPA Formally Launches Agency Reorganization, Opening Door To RIFs

The Trump administration is officially launching its long-awaited efforts to significantly reorganize EPA’s structure, notifying staff that it is moving forward on the restructuring that would dismantle the agency’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) and open the door to a planned reduction in force (RIF) for its personnel. The agency on Sept. 22 launched its agencywide reorganization plan, which eliminates ORD and moves many of its scientists to program offices as well as kickstarting the newly created Office of...

Appeals Court Opens Door To New Block On EPA RIFs, Reorganization

An appeals court is allowing union, nonprofit and local government plaintiffs seeking to block mass firings and restructuring at EPA and other agencies another shot at stopping the overhauls, while allowing discovery revealing the Trump administration’s secretive plans for such changes to proceed in the lower court. In a Sept. 19 order in American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, et al. v. Donald Trump, et al. , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied the administration’s request...

EPA’s WOTUS Plan Appears Aimed At Quelling Industry, State Concerns

The Trump EPA’s upcoming plan to revise the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) appears aimed at quelling concerns raised by industry groups and states over the Biden-era rule, broadening the scope of certain existing exclusions and incorporating flexibilities to account for states with differing hydrology. The agency’s draft plan, currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), establishes explicit definitions on such hot-button terms such as “continuous surface connection” between waterbodies and whether they...

In Surprise, EPA Decides To Retain Landmark Biden-Era CERCLA PFAS Rule

In a surprise move, EPA has told a federal appellate court it is planning to retain the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, clearing the way for the agency to defend the measure in a pending industry suit despite recent reports that one top EPA official advocated for the agency to oppose the rule. “EPA has reviewed the underlying rule and has decided to keep the Rule in place,” the agency says in...

EPA Floats Options For Full, Partial ‘Reallocation’ Of Waived RFS Volumes

EPA is floating a “co-proposal” that suggests either a full “reallocation” of waived biofuel blending volumes for small refiners under the renewable fuel standard (RFS) in future years, or a 50 percent reallocation, under a plan that in effect would see volumes waived for 2023, 2024 and 2025 added instead to proposed volumes for 2026 and 2027. In its proposal announced Sept. 16, EPA suggests a full reallocation of waived volumes to non-exempt refiners could be justified to avoid a...

Zeldin Revives Trump NSR Policy Aimed At Barring EPA ‘Second Guessing’

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says the agency has re-issued a policy from the first Trump administration aimed at barring officials from “second guessing” states and industry when deciding whether “major source” new source review (NSR) air permits are necessary for new or modified facilities, the latest in a series of NSR revisions he has announced. Zeldin announced the 2017 policy’s reinstatement , reversing the Biden administration 2022 rescission , during a Sept. 15 White House meeting with industry groups, key...

Former Officials Warn Trump Is Gutting Environmental Enforcement Capacity

Two former top environmental enforcement officials -- one from EPA, one from the Justice Department (DOJ) -- are warning that the Trump administration has gutted the federal government’s capacity to prosecute environmental violations, resulting in a historic enforcement slowdown that is significantly threatening public health and the environment. In addition to regulatory rollbacks, enforcement policy changes and support for the fossil fuel industry, staff losses that have hollowed out enforcement divisions will damage environmental protection for decades, David Uhlmann, who...

Ruling Could Enable EPA To Retain ‘Defenses’ In Multiple Air Toxics Rules

The recent D.C. Circuit ruling upholding “affirmative defenses” for plant malfunctions from civil liability in Clean Air Act (CAA) Title V permits may enable the agency to reverse or modify its practice of removing such measures from multiple air toxics regulations, sources say. In its Sept. 5 ruling in SSM Litigation Group v. EPA, et al. , a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a Biden-era rule that required the removal...

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