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Judge Allows Reorganization, RIF Suit To Continue Amid Discovery Battle

A federal district court judge is allowing Trump administration critics to continue their lawsuit challenging restructuring and mass firings at EPA and other agencies, rejecting administration arguments that a July Supreme Court order greenlighting the overhauls means the lawsuit should be dismissed. In a vindication for union, nonprofit and local government plaintiffs, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Sept. 9 to broadly reject the Justice Department’s (DOJ’s) motion to dismiss the...

EPA Moves To Ease NSR Permitting With New ‘Construction’ Definition

EPA is moving forward to ease new source review (NSR) preconstruction permitting, agreeing with Arizona air officials’ decision that a semiconductor manufacturer does not need a permit to build initial stages of a planned facility, under a narrower definition of “begin actual construction” that appears likely to form the basis for a regulation next year. For now, the agency is implementing the policy on a case-by-case basis, starting with its approval of a semi-conductor facility in Maricopa County, AZ. But...

Environmentalists’ Suit Tests EPA’s New Haze Policy Easing State Approvals

Environmental groups are suing over the Trump EPA’s new national policy that allows the agency to more easily approve states’ plans for curbing regional haze, targeting the agency’s approval of West Virginia’s plan that relies on a non-statutory metric in a way that environmentalists claim unlawfully overrides Clean Air Act requirements. National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, and Earthjustice in their Sept. 4 suit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit challenge the agency’s July 7...

D.C. Circuit Revives EPA Emergency ‘Affirmative Defense’ Pollution Rule

A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit has reinstated EPA’s 30-year-old policy that had provided industry with an affirmative defense against enforcement actions in the event of an unavoidable emergency, finding that the Biden-era measure that sought to rescind the policy was arbitrary and capricious. “EPA rescinded a [30]-year-old affirmative defense on the ground that it was unlawful under the Clean Air Act,” the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in the Sept...

EPA, State Officials Clash Over Federal Funds For Environmental Work

SANTA FE, NM -- State regulators and a top Trump EPA official are clashing over the appropriate level of financial support for states to implement core federal environmental laws, with states lobbying Congress to protect these resources while the No. 2 EPA official is renewing claims that states can cope with significantly less funds. EPA’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget “refocused categorical grants where the federal need still exists,” Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi said during Sept. 4 remarks here at...

State Environment Officials Increasingly Grapple With AI Uses, Impacts

SANTA FE, NM -- State environmental regulators are increasingly grappling with the best ways to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into their programs, though officials are expressing a range of reservations about these efforts including how to combat “bias” in such systems and how to best handle the security of the agency’s data. AI-related topics featured prominently at the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) fall meeting that began here Sept. 3, with state officials considering AI to help increase the...

D.C. Circuit Ruling Opens Door To EPA Reclaiming Billions In GHGRF Funds

A split appellate panel has vacated a lower court ruling that stayed EPA efforts to withdraw around $16 billion in funds that the Biden administration distributed from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GHGRF), opening the door to officials seeking to reclaim the funds and forcing the plaintiffs to fight the case in claims court where their remedies are limited. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 2-1 in Climate United Fund et...

EPA’s Planned Superfund Fixes Threatened By Staff Losses, Experts Say

The Trump EPA’s renewed efforts to streamline Superfund processes could help speed cleanups at some sites, a top former official and other experts say, though many are concerned that significant staff losses could outweigh any improvements stemming from the planned increased use of presumptive remedies and removal actions. EPA Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi told Bloomberg in an Aug. 13 article that EPA is promoting the use of presumptive remedies at sites where cleanup options are well-understood, in addition to...

States Renew Warnings Over Delegated Programs Ahead Of FY26 Deadline

State environmental regulators are renewing warnings that they may be forced to return delegated federal environmental programs to EPA should Congress not provide adequate funds in fiscal year 2026, just days before lawmakers return from their summer recess facing a Sept. 30 deadline to fund federal agencies. “Continued increases from state general fund, permit fees, and other funding may not be sustainable to support core programs,” says New Mexico environment secretary James Kenney, who serves as president of the Environmental...

CHPAC Doubts EPA Efforts To Advance MAHA Agenda In Face Of Rollbacks

EPA’s children’s health advisors are doubting Trump administration efforts to advance its Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda given the adverse health effects they expect will result from the agency’s broad rollbacks, though top EPA officials are touting their deregulatory efforts, saying they will result in significant benefits. “I read with great interest the MAHA report, and I agree with a lot of what’s in it, you know, the cumulative impact of chemical exposures on children’s health. . . ...

Court Dismisses Ohio Plant’s Suit Over Biden EPA’s CCR Interpretation

A federal court is dismissing an Ohio power plant’s suit challenging the Biden EPA’s interpretation of its 2015 coal combustion residuals (CCR) rule when it denied the facility’s request to extend deadlines to cease receipt of waste and close one of its facilities, marking the second court to find the agency “straightforwardly applied” the rule’s mandates. The decision could complicate efforts by the Trump EPA and industry groups seeking to overhaul the agency’s 2015 CCR rule and some of its...

In New Attack On CARB, EPA Seeks To Limit Truck Smog Check Rule

In another move to scale back California’s strict vehicle pollution standards, EPA is proposing to partially reject approval of the state air board’s “Clean Truck Check” heavy-duty inspection and maintenance (HD/IM) program, blocking its application to trucks registered outside the state or country. The move signals an escalation of the Trump EPA’s clash with California officials on vehicle rules, after the administration and Congress earlier this year rescinded a trio of Clean Air Act preemption waivers for various California car...

In Policy Shift, EPA Grants Dozens Of RFS Waivers, Eyes Future Targets

EPA is approving dozens of long-pending requests for renewable fuel standard (RFS) small refinery compliance waivers, partially granting some waivers and denying many more, detailing a new policy on such waivers that relies heavily on Energy Department (DOE) assessments while also adjusting blending volumes based on predicted waivers. However, EPA is also pledging to issue a supplemental proposal that will outline how it will “reallocate” waived blending requirements from exempted small refiners to larger, non-exempt refiners -- and biofuels interests...

Sierra Club Suit Says CRA Repeal Of Air Toxics Rule Invalidates 2015 Finding

Sierra Club is seeking to renew litigation over EPA’s landmark 2015 finding that the agency met a statutory requirement to regulate emissions of seven “persistent and bioaccumulative” air toxics, claiming that lawmakers’ repeal of a Biden-era rule barring reclassification of some industry plants to less-regulated status invalidates the 2015 finding. A successful legal challenge to this finding could put pressure on EPA to toughen air toxics rules or again show how it has met the Clean Air Act’s obligation to...

Reversing Precedent, Court Rejects Internet Law Defense For Defeat Devices

In a reversal of precedent, a federal appeals court has ruled that a manufacturer of devices used to deactivate vehicle emissions controls required by the Clean Air Act (CAA) is not entitled to immunity under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which shields Internet content providers from liability for third-party content. In an Aug. 20 ruling in United States v. EZ Lynk, et al. , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit reversed a lower court’s...

Critics Blast ‘Egregious’ EPA Proposal To Reverse GHG Risk Finding

Critics of EPA’s proposal to undo its landmark greenhouse gas endangerment finding are offering a barrage of concerns about the plan’s harms and outlining the myriad ways in which they say it violates the law and court rulings -- previewing more detailed comments that groups are developing on the high-profile rulemaking. “In my nearly 50 years of working in this field, through administrations of both parties, this proposal is the most egregious violation of science, law, and EPA’s mission I’ve...

Democratic, GOP States Battle Over EPA Plan To Scrap Biden MATS Rule

Democratic- and Republican-led states are drawing up legal battle lines regarding EPA’s proposal to scrap the Biden administration’s tightened mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) for power plants, detailing arguments that will likely appear in near-certain litigation once the measure is finalized. In comments submitted on the proposal ahead of an Aug. 11 deadline, environmentalists, lawmakers and industry groups offered a range of divergent opinions. The plan would rescind the Biden-era rule that tightened the original 2012 MATS rule, removing...

EPA Looks Beyond Biden-Era ELG, CCR Rules For Potential Revisions

EPA is looking beyond Biden-era rules governing coal-fired power plants’ effluent limitations and coal combustion residual (CCR) disposal at legacy sites for potential revision, signaling in recent legal filings as well as regulatory docket entries that it may revisit aspects of previous Trump and Obama-era rulemakings. EPA is currently in the midst of taking actions to extend compliance deadlines associated with the Biden administration’s 2024 rules strengthening effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) for the steam electric generating category and setting requirements...

Refiners Split Over RFS Plan, But Agree On Push To Drop Import Limits

The refining industry is split over EPA’s proposed increase in biofuel blending targets under the renewable fuel standard (RFS), with large companies that produce their own biofuels supporting larger volumes and smaller refiners resisting them, but the overall sector is unified in claiming that planned import restrictions are harmful. In Aug. 8 comments, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), with a broad membership including small refiners, says the planned RFS volume mandates are unreasonably costly and conflict with the...

Key EPA Union Chief Vows Continued Fight Amid ‘Existential’ Threats

The president of EPA’s largest union says the agency’s termination of its contract is an “existential threat” to the organization, but the union will continue to advise employees and pivot to a more politically oriented strategy in a bid to defend labor rights at EPA. Justin Chen, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Council 238, told members at an Aug. 13 town hall meeting that the union is “fighting for our lives . . . as far...

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