ISSUE: CAR Top Stories

9th Circuit Appears Poised To Let EPA Delay Federal Landfill Methane Rule

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit appears likely to block a lower court’s order setting a deadline for EPA to complete its federal plan to reduce methane emissions from municipal landfills, in a move that would be a win for the agency after it significantly delayed a series of deadlines in the Obama-era standards. However, the panel during July 17 oral arguments also signaled it would stay the lower court’s order rather than...

EPA Likely To Punt On Low-NOx Truck Proposal Until After Election

Update Appended EPA appears to have given up efforts to issue a long-awaited proposal setting stronger nitrogen oxides (NOx) standards for heavy-duty trucks until after the Nov. 3 election, despite top agency officials previously touting the measure as a win for both air quality and industry. The latest delay for a plan whose timeline has frequently slipped is in line with prior trucking sector calls not to “rush” the process, with industry officials earlier this year citing the need...

EPA Ozone NAAQS Proposal Spurs Fight Between Health Groups, Industry

EPA has formally proposed to keep its national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone unchanged at the levels set in 2015 by the Obama administration, setting the stage for a fight between public health advocates seeking tougher limits and industry groups opposing stricter standards as the agency moves to finalize its rule by the end of the year. Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed the proposal July 13, ahead of its forthcoming publication in the Federal Register . The proposal ,...

In Remand Rule, EPA Tightens Boiler MACT With Reliance On ‘Co-Benefits’

In response to a federal appeals court remand, EPA is proposing to tighten its maximum achievable control technology (MACT) air toxics limits for 28 types of boilers while weakening limits for six other types, relying in part on counting the “co-benefits” of the rule reducing air pollutants not directly regulated by the proposal. The agency’s reliance on counting the co-benefits of cutting pollutants not targeted by the rule to help justify it appears at odds with the Trump administration’s plan...

10th Circuit Ruling May Force Broader EPA Review Of State Air Permits

A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit likely will force EPA to take a broader look at states’ decisions when they craft Clean Air Act permits, partially scaling back the Trump administration’s policy of not “second-guessing” state regulators’ decisions and giving environmentalists more opportunities to challenge such permits. In a unanimous July 2 ruling in Sierra Club v. EPA, et al., a three-judge panel of the court rejects EPA’s rationale for refusing environmentalists’...

Divisions Over EPA’s PM Plan Raise Questions Over D.C. Circuit Deference

Legal experts say unprecedented divisions between EPA, its own staff, scientific advisers and advocacy groups make it likely the agency will face a lawsuit if it finalizes its plan to retain the suite of particulate matter (PM) air limits and that the fate of the rule could depend on how much deference a key federal appeals court gives EPA. “How much deference does EPA get when it ignores the recommendation of the overwhelming weight of mainstream science?” asks attorney Seth...

Bodine Sets Aug. 31 ‘Termination’ For COVID-19 Enforcement Discretion

EPA enforcement chief Susan Bodine has set an Aug. 31 “termination date” for the agency’s controversial enforcement discretion policy issued for the COVID-19 pandemic, adding a hard deadline to a previous agency statement that only said the policy would wind down “soon” even as Bodine seeks to defend it. A June 29 memo from Bodine addressed to “all governmental and private sector partners” says that as most states have relaxed their social distancing requirements and allowed industry to move closer...

District Court Judge Backs EPA On One-Time Air Toxics Rule Risk Reviews

A federal district court judge is backing EPA’s long-standing position that it need only conduct “residual” health risk reviews for its existing air toxics regulations once, rejecting environmentalists’ claim that the reviews must occur every eight years alongside related Clean Air Act-mandated reviews of air toxic control technologies. The June 26 opinion by Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, et al. v. Wheeler could potentially help...

EPA Plans To ‘Terminate’ COVID-19 Enforcement Flexibility Policy ‘Soon’

Correction Appended EPA in the near future will “terminate” its controversial policy granting industry broad discretion from meeting compliance obligations under environmental regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic, says a top agency enforcement official who adds that EPA might still offer similar discretion for future unforeseen circumstances. Speaking on a conference call hosted by the conservative non-profit Federalist Society June 22, John Irving, EPA deputy assistant administrator with the agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), said, “We will...

EPA Extends SSM Air Waiver To Iowa But Denies National Policy Change

EPA is proposing to add Iowa to the list of states that can offer companies Clean Air Act regulatory waivers for excess pollution during periods of facility startup, shutdown or malfunction (SSM), but the agency continues to deny it is making a national policy change on SSM that would be subject a key federal appeals court’s review. In a June 22 Federal Register notice , the agency proposes approval of an Iowa state implementation plan (SIP) for attaining sulfur...

Environmentalists Launch Legal Bid To Undo Rollback Of Obama-Era MATS

Environmentalists are launching a legal bid to undo the Trump administration’s rollback of Obama-era mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) for power plants, saying EPA’s rule that scraps the cost-benefit finding justifying MATS but leaves the regulation in place is a “bogus excuse” for coal companies to ask a court to kill the overall air toxics policy. The lawsuit creates complicated legal questions, including whether the environmental groups have legal standing to sue over the rollback, and whether EPA can...

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....

NRDC Asks Court To Reject EPA Defense Of Enforcement Discretion Policy

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is asking a federal district court to reject EPA’s defense against issuing an emergency rule notifying the public of which companies take advantage of its controversial enforcement discretion policy that might allow lapses in routine monitoring and reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a June 5 reply brief and legal memo filed in NRDC, et al. v. Bodine, et al ., in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the...

Critics Of EPA Air Cost-Benefit Rule Eye Courts, Biden To Block Policy

Critics of EPA’s just-released proposal to mandate cost-benefit analyses for all future air and climate rules are looking to federal courts or a potential Biden administration to halt the plan if EPA does not withdraw it, warning it would deprioritize pollution reduction benefits and make it harder to advance protective air regulations. “I am confident it will be relegated to the growing list of rules that will be overturned in court or reversed by the next administration,” Sen. Tom Carper...

Environmentalists, States Say EPA’s NSR ‘Construction’ Guide Unlawful

Environmental groups and several states are warning EPA that its draft Clean Air Act guidance making it easier for companies to avoid new source review (NSR) permitting requirements is unlawful, outlining a host of legal attacks on the guide that could inform a potential lawsuit if the agency finalizes the guidance as proposed. EPA took comment on its March 25 draft guidance through May 11, and finalizing the guide is now one of a series of deregulatory actions the agency...

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...

Environmentalists, Industry Spar Over EPA Proposal To Retain PM NAAQS

Environmentalists, public health advocates and former EPA scientists are clashing with major industry groups over EPA’s plan to retain its suite of particulate matter (PM) ambient air limits, with critics of the proposal saying it fails to protect public health from PM pollution while industry supporters of the plan say it is scientifically sound. The competing claims arose May 20 on the first day of a three-day virtual hearing on EPA’s April 14 proposal to retain its national ambient air...

Mining Firm’s Suit Over MATS Cost Finding Creates Jeopardy For Air Rule

A coal mining firm is suing EPA over its just-published final rule scrapping the cost-benefit review underpinning the Obama administration’s landmark mercury and air toxics standards (MATS), a lawsuit that environmentalists and others predicted would be filed and that places the fate of the overall utility emissions regulation in jeopardy. The suit appears to be the first quickly filed over the agency’s supplemental cost finding , in which the agency found it is not “appropriate and necessary” to regulate power...

EPA Touts COVID-19 Regulatory Flexibility, Eyes Virus’ Air Quality Impacts

EPA is touting its short-term regulatory flexibility for industry during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide economic relief in line with directives from President Donald Trump while also pushing longer-term deregulatory measures, and the agency is further assessing the long-term implications of a sharp drop in air pollution caused by pandemic shutdowns. Speaking to members of the agency’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee (CAAAC) meeting by teleconference May 20, acting EPA air chief Anne Idsal praised EPA’s recent actions aimed at...

Interstate Air Ruling May Signal High Hurdle For New York’s Ozone Lawsuit

A recent appellate ruling largely upholding EPA’s rejection of a petition by Maryland and Delaware seeking direct federal regulation of emissions from sources in upwind states may set a high hurdle for New York in a similar suit -- and more broadly for East Coast states that are relying on the agency’s help to reduce interstate ozone transport. In its unanimous per curiam ruling May 19 in State of Maryland v. EPA , a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court...

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