ISSUE: Clean Air Report

EPA Proposes To Scrap Major Biden-Era Power Plant GHG, Air Toxics Rules

The Trump EPA is proposing to scrap two high-profile Biden administration rules imposing air toxics and greenhouse gas limits on fossil-fuel power plants, including by asserting that the facilities’ GHGs do not “significantly contribute” to public health risks from climate change and thus should not be regulated at all. Any regulation of GHGs under section 111 of the Clean Air Act “would not have a significant effect on GHG air pollution and the public health or welfare impacts attributed to...

House Republicans Target NAAQS Process, Citing Biden PM Rules, AI Needs

House Republicans are renewing a push to amend the Clean Air Act to make national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) reviews less frequent and allow consideration of cost and feasibility alongside health protections, arguing the effort is needed to address the Biden EPA’s “aggressive and burdensome” standards for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). In addition, the GOP lawmakers during a June 11 hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment panel asserted that strict NAAQS limits are creating hurdles for...

Trump Science EO Signals A Return To ‘Secret Science’ Prohibitions At EPA

President Donald Trump’s recent executive order (EO) requiring “gold standard science” mirrors provisions in EPA’s “secret science” rule from Trump’s first term, signaling officials will seek to reinstate the controversial policy that sought to restrict the use of non-public research, such as private medical data, in regulatory decisions. Several experts add that such a rule’s effects would be compounded by the current administration’s unprecedented attacks on EPA’s scientific capacity. The May 23 EO , “Restoring Gold Standard Science,” has “a...

EPA Quietly Converts Oil & Gas Methane Delay Rule To Interim Final Status

EPA now appears poised to quickly delay compliance deadlines for Biden-era oil and gas methane standards, with officials stating that the White House is reviewing an interim final rule to delay the deadlines immediately despite prior indications that they would advance the measure as a conventional proposed regulation. The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) earlier posted a notice that it received from EPA on June 4 a “proposed” rule. The rule is expected to extend various deadlines in the...

Environmentalists, States Seek PFAS, NOx Cuts From Waste Combustors

Environmentalists are seeking first-time air limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from municipal waste combustors as part of their push for stricter standards in the sector, while Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states are seeking steep nitrogen oxides (NOx) cuts to curb ozone, as EPA weighs a Biden-era plan for tougher limits. In May 29 comments to the agency, the New England-based Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) says “EPA should regulate PFAS in its final rule. CLF is particularly concerned about PFAS...

Ruling On NAAQS Designation May Narrow EPA’s Technical Deference

A recent appellate ruling that articulated a new test for when areas’ attainment of national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) should remain “unclassifiable” may also have narrowed deference for EPA and other agencies’ technical expertise in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision ending Chevron deference on statutory interpretation. “This revised decision could have significant implications for regulators, regulated entities, and the public, all of whom rely on highly technical and inherently uncertain, predictive modeling to support or oppose...

Industry, Local Governments Resist Tightening Waste Combustors Air Rule

Waste incinerators and local governments that use the facilities to reduce landfilling are urging EPA against tightening air regulations for municipal waste combustors, reviving arguments over a Biden-era proposal for tougher regulation of the sector after EPA in January reopened the comment period on the plan. “EPA’s proposal is an overreach of federal authority, that is searching for a suitable justification and imposes a one-size fits all approach on all states, regardless of local air quality objectives and compliance. This...

Imminent EPA Plan To Scrap PM2.5 Limit May Turn On Novel Legal Issues

EPA appears likely to rely on novel legal arguments raised by industry groups over EPA’s powers to reconsider federal air standards when it moves to scrap the Biden administration’s tighter limit on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and return to a weaker 2012 standard, with a proposal expected to be floated imminently, sources say. The agency faces a June 23 deadline to tell the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit how it plans to proceed in litigation...

Citizens Urge High Court To Reject Exxon Bid To Review Standing Suit

A Texas environmental group is urging that the Supreme Court reject ExxonMobil’s petition to review a landmark citizen suit case as a vehicle to reverse the years-old Laidlaw precedent on standing, arguing the fractured lower court ruling is a “terrible vehicle” for review and that the absence of circuit conflict means review is unnecessary. In a June 3 reply brief filed in ExxonMobil Corp. v. Environment Texas Citizen Lobby, et al. , environmentalists say the high court should reject...

New EPA Budget Documents Detail Massive Cuts To Staff, Enforcement

EPA’s detailed budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 aims to slash agency staff to the lowest level since 1985 while making drastic cuts to enforcement, Superfund and brownfields cleanups and funds for state-level infrastructure and environmental programs. The cuts, detailed in a White House technical document and an EPA budget in brief released May 30, would reduce EPA’s total budget by around 54 percent -- cutting it from $9.14 billion in FY25 to $4.16 billion in FY26. As part of...

CBD Targets State Drilling Permits For Poor Venting, Flaring Enforcement

Environmentalists are escalating a campaign against what they say are flawed air permits for oil and gas production in Colorado, petitioning EPA to object to numerous permits it says have no real enforcement mechanisms for flares and gas venting, in a fight that the group hopes will spur tougher requirements in Colorado and other states. So far this year, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed 15 petitions for EPA to object to Title V air operating permits issued...

Lawmaker Abruptly Shelves Bill Giving CARB ‘Indirect Source Rule’ Power

A California state lawmaker is abruptly shelving a bill to give state air regulators authority to adopt and enforce “indirect source rules” (ISRs) to reduce air pollution from mobile sources that visit large stationary sources such as warehouses, saying he plans to use the time to address opposition from labor and industry groups. “[I] have decided to hold my bill on the Assembly Floor at this time,” said Assemblyman Robert Garcia (D-Rancho Cucamonga) in a May 30 press release announcing...

IPI Rebuts Expected EPA Arguments Over Power Plant GHG ‘Contribution’

A left-leaning think tank is seeking to rebut the Trump EPA’s expected argument that power plants’ greenhouse gases do not “significantly contribute” to climate change and therefore should not be regulated, with the group asserting the sector’s emissions are clearly a major factor in climate change risks. “[P]ower sector emissions ‘significantly contribute’ to climate change by any measure -- and certainly, under the approach that EPA has taken to assess significant contributions over the past [50] years,” New York University’s...

Environmentalists Ask States To Electrify Industrial Boilers To Cut Emissions

Environmental groups are urging states to pursue clean energy policies focused on reducing carbon dioxide and conventional air emissions from industrial boilers that burn fossil fuels, using electrification to reduce pollution from a sector that to date has garnered less attention than power plants or vehicles. In a May 28 report , “Embracing Clean Heat,” the groups Evergreen Collaborative and Sierra Club tout industrial boilers as an overlooked potential source of greenhouse gas and conventional air pollution reductions. But amid...

California Bill Tightening Facility Permits Stalls Amid Budget Deficit Concerns

A novel California bill to aggressively tighten state and federal air pollution permits on industrial facilities in part by requiring the installation of zero-emission technologies has stalled in the state Senate’s fiscal panel, amid strong opposition from regional air regulators and concerns among lawmakers about the state’s $12 billion budget deficit. The bill, SB 318 by Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), was not brought up for a vote by the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 23, the deadline for bills...

Trump Signs CRA Resolution Scrapping EPA Air Rule For Tire Facilities

President Donald Trump has signed into law lawmakers’ Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapproval resolution scrapping the Biden administration’s tougher air toxics standards for rubber tire manufacturing, drawing praise from Republican architects of the measure who say it will save tire manufacturing jobs. The measure, H.J. Res. 61, nullifies the latest update to the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for rubber tire manufacturing, in which EPA tightened emissions rules for the sector. “The signing of H.J. Res. 61...

EPA Utility GHG Plan Seen As Bid To Scuttle All Stationary Source Rules

EPA’s draft plan that reportedly would eliminate greenhouse gas rules for power plants because they do not “contribute significantly” to climate harms likely previews the agency’s arguments to scrap controls for all stationary sources, but observers say the approach carries significant legal risks given that the power sector is responsible for a quarter of national emissions. The approach, first reported by the New York Times , relies on a key legal argument that power plants’ GHGs do not “contribute significantly”...

EPA Approves Weaker Texas Haze Measures, In Reversal From Biden Era

As EPA adopts a more deferential approach to states’ plans for curbing regional haze, the agency is approving years-old plan submissions by Texas and dropping some control requirements for power plants, in a reversal of the tougher Biden-era approach that saw the agency disapprove Texas provisions it viewed as too soft on industry. In a May 23 Federal Register notice , EPA proposes to approve a series of state implementation plan (SIP) elements related to regional haze, mostly submitted...

EPA Quietly Eases Haze Policy, Sparking State, Environmentalist Warnings

EPA has quietly adopted a new policy easing state and industry requirements to limit haze-forming emissions, a move that is sparking stiff criticism from environmentalists and East Coast regulators, who are condemning the plan as unlawful and a “complete and unsupported reversal in position” even as industry and GOP states welcome the move. EPA announced the new policy in an April 18 proposal to approve West Virginia’s state implementation plan (SIP) for the second phase of the haze program, which...

Democratic States Launch New Clean-Car Group After Trump, GOP Attacks

The governors of California and 10 other Democratic-led states are launching a new coalition to “advance clean cars” and “preserve states’ clean air authority,” in response to multiple recent actions by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to strip states of such mobile source programs and legal power. “These actions have included attempts to terminate funding for electric vehicle infrastructure, impose tariffs and disrupt supply chains, eliminate consumer credits for purchasing an electric vehicle, raise consumer costs for owning an...

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