ISSUE: ALT Top Stories

DOJ Urges Appellate Court To Reverse Stay Of WOTUS Rule In Colorado

The Justice Department (DOJ) is urging an appellate court to overturn a judicial stay of the Trump administration’s narrowed “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) definition in Colorado, arguing the lower court erred in its analysis of Colorado’s likelihood of success on the merits and that the state failed to show it will be irreparably harmed by the rule. “At most, one could speculate that Colorado will have to choose whether to bring one or two additional enforcement actions” as...

In Win For Environmentalists, D.C. Circuit Faults EPA Ozone Designations

In a major win for environmentalists, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled in favor of their claims that EPA erred in how it issued designations for which areas of the country are attaining or violating federal ozone standards, remanding the findings to the agency to fix “as expeditiously as practicable.” The July 10 ruling by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit in Clean Wisconsin v. EPA, et al. does not scrap...

States Will End Suit Over EPA Enforcement Policy If Terminated By Aug. 31

Democratic-led states suing EPA over its COVID-19 enforcement discretion policy are indicating they will drop their challenge if agency enforcement chief Susan Bodine follows through on her plan to terminate the policy by Aug. 31. The controversial policy -- which signals the agency does not intend to seek fines for facilities that miss routine reporting and monitoring requirements -- was put in place in March to help regulated facilities cope with mandatory stay-at-home orders being put in place to try...

Amid Sparring Over EPA Policies, House Democrats Advance FY21 Bill

House Appropriations Committee Democrats are advancing their fiscal year 2021 spending bill for EPA after adding a new provision blocking the agency’s controversial science “transparency” rule and rejecting Republicans’ attempts to scrap existing provisions in the bill that block other Trump administration environmental policies. During a July 10 markup by the full appropriations panel, lawmakers did not alter the bill’s spending levels for EPA, which would see an increase in overall funding by roughly 3 percent from just over $9...

Ernst Blocks Benevento Nomination For EPA Deputy Chief Over RFS Fears

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is blocking President Donald Trump’s nomination of Doug Benevento to be EPA deputy administrator over concerns that the agency is considering granting dozens of renewable fuel standard (RFS) waivers to biofuel production mandates, making it impossible for the nomination to move forward. “Until EPA tells us exactly what they plan to do with the ‘gap year’ waivers, Mr. Benevento does not have my vote,” Ernst said in a June 26 statement. “Iowa’s hardworking ethanol and biodiesel...

CARB Approves Landmark ZEV Truck Sales Rule With Other States’ Backing

California has approved a landmark rule requiring medium- and heavy-duty truck makers for the first time to sell a minimum number of zero-emission models starting in 2024, with support from Northeastern state officials but continued opposition from major truck manufacturers. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) also adopted a more streamlined rule requiring California companies to report on the makeup of their truck fleets, which is aimed at shaping a forthcoming regulation requiring those companies to purchase a minimum number...

DOJ Appeals Stay Of WOTUS Rule In Colorado, Fights Bid To Narrow Policy

The Justice Department (DOJ) is appealing a federal district court’s stay of the Trump administration’s narrowed definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) in Colorado to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, and is urging a federal court in New Mexico to deny ranchers’ request to stay a small portion of the rule. The appeal was docketed in the 10th Circuit June 25 following DOJ’s June 23 notice to the U.S. District Court for the District...

EPA Offers First Detailed Legal Defense Of CPP Repeal, ACE Replacement

EPA for the first time is detailing to a court its legal arguments for repealing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP) utility greenhouse gas rule and replacing it with the much narrower Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, charging that the CPP was unlawfully broad while ACE is the only way to “lawfully regulate” power plant climate emissions. The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the June 16 brief on behalf of EPA in the case, American Lung Association, et al., v....

Judge Weighs Nationwide Injunction As States Spar Over WOTUS Rule

A federal district court judge in California is seeking additional briefing on whether he could issue a nationwide injunction halting the Trump administration’s waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, even while cautioning he has not decided, even tentatively, that Democratic state attorneys general (AGs) are entitled to an injunction. The June 12 order from Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California comes as he is scheduled to hold a June 18 hearing...

Senate Democrats Press EPA Over Concerns With Air, Climate Rollbacks

Senate Democrats are seeking answers from EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to questions and concerns about a host of EPA regulatory rollbacks in air and climate policy, including particulate matter (PM) standards, interstate pollution transport, vehicle greenhouse gas standards, wood heater standards and other rules. Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) on June 5 sent written questions to Wheeler following his appearance before a May 20 EPW oversight hearing. While senators from both parties quiz Wheeler on...

Experts Fear New EPA Burdens, Litigation Risk From Cost-Benefit Rule

EPA’s air program cost-benefit proposal could create significant burdens that complicate development of new agency rules and create litigation risks, according to early reaction from former government officials and other experts who say the rule’s impacts might ultimately depend on EPA’s future implementation of the policy. “A lot of what this rule does is plant seeds of doubt,” including about pollution studies justifying new EPA Clean Air Act rules, according to a former Department of Justice (DOJ) official. Separately, Resources...

Rejecting Criticism, EPA Touts CWA 401 Rule’s ‘Cooperative Federalism’

EPA is defending its final Clean Water Act (CWA) rule limiting the scope of state reviews of federally permitted projects’ water quality impacts as defining the appropriate parameters of the agency’s “cooperative federalism” policy balancing EPA and states’ regulatory powers, rejecting calls from critics that the rule undercuts states’ authority. “[T]he final rule does not infringe upon the roles of States as co-regulators, nor does it undermine cooperative federalism,” EPA says in the rule, signed June 1 by EPA Administrator...

EPA Retains Strict EtO Risk Value But Waters Down Controls In MON Rule

EPA’s just-released air toxics rule for the miscellaneous organic chemical manufacturing (MON) sector retains the agency’s strict risk values for the carcinogenic solvent ethylene oxide (EtO) while rejecting, for now, Texas’ weaker values, but the rule still weakens air control mandates and expected cuts in EtO emissions that it earlier proposed. In the final rule , signed by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler May 29 but not yet published in the Federal Register , EPA retreats from earlier proposed controls that...

States, Allies Launch Legal Fight Against Trump’s Vehicle GHG Rollback

Almost two dozen states and a coalition of environmental groups are filing separate litigation against the Trump administration’s final rollback of vehicle greenhouse gas standards, charging it violates statutory responsibilities and is riddled with analytical flaws undercutting the administration’s justifications for its plan. “We are taking this administration to court with three of our best allies by our side -- the facts, the science and the law,” California Attorney General (AG) Xavier Becerra (D) said during a May 27 press...

Top Toxics Official Expects EPA To ‘Tailor’ First TSCA Management Rules

As EPA moves closer to completing some of its first chemical evaluations under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a top official says he expects the agency will narrowly “tailor” any risk management rules the agency eventually writes, to address any “unreasonable risks” it finds in its final evaluations. EPA will consider “how to more effectively tailor risk management solutions for those different unreasonable risks identified,” Stan Barone, deputy director of EPA’s Risk Assessment Division in EPA’s toxics office,...

DTE Agrees To Retire Coal Plants In NSR Pact With Sierra Club, But Not DOJ

A Michigan utility is poised to sign a legal settlement with Sierra Club agreeing to retire four of five coal plants at issue in long-running litigation over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) program, even though it has inked a parallel draft deal with the Justice Department (DOJ) that lacks such retirement pledges. DTE Energy is signing the separate agreement because DOJ would not be a party to a settlement that forces the shutdown of...

EPA Critics Threaten ‘Last Resort’ Suit Over Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Plan

Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and environmentalists are threatening a coordinated suit against EPA for failing to ensure Pennsylvania and New York meet cleanup targets for the Chesapeake Bay, charging the agency is violating statutory requirements unique to the bay that require federal enforcement of the bay’s cleanup plan. “This is a very last resort,” Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) President William Baker said about a pair of notices of intent to sue sent May 18 to EPA Administrator Andrew...

Maui Ruling Could Shape Supreme Court Consideration Of WOTUS Suits

The Supreme Court’s consideration of hydrology in its recent decision finding Clean Water Act (CWA) permits may be necessary for discharges of pollutants that travel through groundwater could lead the court to reject the Trump administration’s definition of waters of the United States (WOTUS) for failing to reflect science, says one legal scholar. But other legal experts downplay the significance of the justices’ April 23 ruling in County of Maui, v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al. , which referenced language...

In Reversal, EPA May Extend Wood Stove Air Rule Deadline Due To Virus

Correction Appended EPA could soon reverse course and grant retailers the ability to sell wood heaters and related appliances that do not comply with stringent air quality limits beyond a looming May 15 deadline to end such sales, according to industry and state sources who say the agency may cite the COVID-19 pandemic as justification to approve the delay. Representatives from the heater production sector say the change in position is likely detailed in a proposed rule that EPA...

Advisors Praise EPA’s Virus Research Plans But Query Transmission Path

EPA science advisors are generally praising the lengthy list of questions guiding EPA’s broad coronavirus research agenda, but during an April 30 conference call questioned the agency’s apparent assumption about an important virus transmission pathway that could alter research needs as they seek to provide rapid advice to the agency. During their initial discussion, members of the hastily assembled Science Advisory Board (SAB) COVID-19 pandemic research panel praised EPA’s multi-page list of short- and long-term research questions in nearly a...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Request 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting.