ISSUE: Clean Air Report

EPA Reg Agenda Sets Ambitious Goals For Rolling Back Climate Rules

The latest federal regulatory agenda is underscoring EPA’s plans to quickly adopt rules that scale back or entirely scuttle numerous climate programs, including the agency’s greenhouse gas endangerment finding and related vehicle GHG rules that the new agenda suggests could be finalized well before the end of the year. The Spring agenda, delayed for months as the Trump administration developed its priorities, sets a goal of finalizing the agency’s high-profile GHG endangerment finding repeal and vehicle GHG rules by September...

DTE NSR Appeal Tests EPA Enforcement Power Over State-Issued Permits

Michigan utility DTE Energy is asking a federal court to certify interlocutory appeal of its ruling that a subsidiary is liable for violating strict Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) permitting mandates, in an effort that could test whether the subsidiary is by itself a “major source” subject to NSR and whether EPA can disregard state permits. Because the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan accepted EPA’s position that the EES Coke battery subsidiary is a...

Environmentalists, Industry Clash Over Delay To Biden’s Steel Sector Rule

Environmental and community groups are clashing with the steel industry and a labor union over EPA’s two-year compliance extension for Biden-era air toxics rules for the sector, as environmentalists attack the move as unlawful and harmful to health, while industry cites “infeasible” compliance requirements to justify the delay. At EPA’s Sept. 3 virtual public hearing, environmentalists and community groups located near steel facilities lined up to call for the agency to rescind its July 3 interim final rule (IFR) delaying...

Appeal Of Maryland Wind Farm Air Permit Tests Venue For Legal Challenges

A pending dispute before EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) over a state air permit for a major offshore wind project is testing whether local municipalities must challenge such permits before the EAB or in state court, though the Trump administration is planning to withdraw approval for the project, raising doubts about the litigation’s fate. In filings in the case, In Re: US Wind Inc., for the Maryland Offshore Wind Project , the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City and...

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...

Environmentalists Sue EPA Over Small Incinerators Air Emissions Rule

Two environmental groups are suing EPA over its Trump-era rule setting emissions standards for “other” solid waste incineration units (OSWI), which exempted many more small incinerators from tougher regulation than the agency originally proposed, notably units in remote areas of Alaska. In a suit filed Aug. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit, Sierra Club and California Communities Against Toxics challenge EPA’s June 30 rule revising performance standards for new sources and emission guidelines for...

EPA Strips ‘Affirmative Defense’ From Polyether Polyols Air Toxics Rule

EPA is stripping “affirmative defense” provisions from its air toxics regulation governing polyether polyols (PEPO) manufacturers, as part of an ongoing effort to remove the measures that provide a shield from civil liability for industry in the event of malfunctions, after courts found such provisions unlawful. In a rule signed Aug. 27 by Administrator Lee Zeldin ahead of its upcoming publication in the Federal Register , EPA removes the affirmative defense from the national emission standard for the hazardous air...

Critics Target Data Quality, Procedure Flaws In EPA’s GHG Finding Repeal

Former EPA staff, environmentalists and other critics are claiming an array of procedural weaknesses in EPA’s proposed rollback of its greenhouse gas risk finding and related vehicle standards in a bid to stop or slow it, including short comment periods, violations of federal data quality rules, and basic scientific and other methodological errors. The strategy comes as numerous observers say EPA appears to be seeking a Supreme Court battle to undo or narrow the high court’s landmark 2007 affirmation of...

Environmental Groups Seek To Debunk PM2.5 Permitting ‘Gridlock’ Claim

Environmentalists say continued issuance of air permits shows that industry predictions of permitting “gridlock” from the Biden EPA’s tougher fine particulate matter (PM2.5) federal air standard have not borne out, as the agency races to roll back the rule by February, when it could have to finalize “nonattainment” designations for states. “Our findings show that large facilities continue to seek and receive approvals and permits for modifications and new construction, proving polluters’ doomsday economic predictions are once again wrong.,” write...

EPA Approval Of RFS Refinery Waivers Raises Thorny Legal Questions

EPA’s major policy shift that allows for dozens of full or partial waivers from renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending mandates is raising difficult legal questions about the agency’s rationale that differs sharply from Biden-era practice, as EPA is redefining the “disproportionate” harm required to win a waiver. Central to the new policy , announced Aug. 22, is a new interpretation of the statutory term “disproportionate economic hardship” (DEH) that is required for small refineries to win waivers from their...

EPA Warned Of Small Business Act Violation In GHG Vehicle Rule Repeal

A progressive policy advocate is arguing that EPA likely violated the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) by certifying that its proposal to revoke all of the agency’s greenhouse gas vehicle rules, which it is advancing as part of a repeal of EPA’s GHG endangerment finding, would not have major effects on small entities. EPA’s claim “fundamentally misunderstands what is required of the agency under the law,” argued Center for Progressive Reform Policy Director James Goodwin during an Aug. 22 public hearing...

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...

EPA Rejects Need For ‘Contingency’ Steps In Areas Meeting Ozone Limits

EPA is rejecting environmentalists’ claims that it must confirm states met regulatory “milestones” toward attaining ozone standards in areas that already met the limits, in a dispute over the agency’s determination that Sacramento met the 2008 ozone limits and will not have to impose “contingency measures” (CMs) that apply if the milestones are missed. The agency has already issued an interim final determination to stay emissions “offset” and federal highway funding sanctions associated with its 2023 disapproval of the Sacramento...

EPA Allows Industrial Incinerators To Temporarily Burn ‘Disaster’ Debris

EPA is authorizing temporary use of commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators (CISWI) to burn debris from disasters such as hurricanes, citing the Biden administration’s refusal to take the step in response to a request from North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene that caused extensive damage to the state in 2024. The authorization made in an Interim Final Rule (IFR) announced Aug. 22 will enable faster emergency cleanup of damage, the agency says. “With this action, EPA is...

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...

Environmentalists Fight EPA’s State-By-State Bid To Adopt New Haze Policy

Environmentalists claim EPA’s approvals of state plans to reduce regional haze unlawfully alter national policy established by current rules, and that such approvals relying on new agency policy have “nationwide scope or effect” under recent Supreme Court precedent, directing litigation over the approvals to the District of Columbia Circuit. In Aug. 18 comments on EPA’s proposed approval of Indiana’s state implementation plan (SIP) for regional haze, seven groups including National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Sierra Club and others say that...

Environmentalists Fight EPA Bid To Freeze MATS, PM2.5 NAAQS Litigation

Environmentalists are resisting EPA’s push to continue delaying litigation over presidential waivers from power plant air toxics standards and the Biden administration’s tougher fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air standards, warning that further delay would merely postpone resolution of issues ripe for decision now. EPA is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for additional pauses in cases over its exemption of power plants from compliance with the Biden EPA’s tightened mercury and air toxics standards...

Environmentalists Urge D.C. Circuit To Quickly Scrap Methane-Delay Rule

Environmental groups are pressing the D.C. Circuit to quickly scrap EPA’s interim final rule (IFR) delaying oil and gas companies’ compliance deadlines for Biden-era methane rules, filing a motion for summary vacatur that argues the interim measure flouts core Clean Air Act procedural requirements. “EPA’s action substantially delays compliance dates under a final Clean Air Act rule the agency issued in 2024, which provides critical protections against some of the nation’s largest sources of air pollution,” the groups say in...

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...

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