ISSUE: Environmental Policy Alert

Zeldin Revives Trump NSR Policy Aimed At Barring EPA ‘Second Guessing’

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says the agency has re-issued a policy from the first Trump administration aimed at barring officials from “second guessing” states and industry when deciding whether “major source” new source review (NSR) air permits are necessary for new or modified facilities, the latest in a series of NSR revisions he has announced. Zeldin announced the 2017 policy’s reinstatement , reversing the Biden administration 2022 rescission , during a Sept. 15 White House meeting with industry groups, key...

EPA Proposes To Largely Scrap Industrial GHG Reporting Requirements

EPA is seeking to repeal reporting requirements for virtually all industrial sectors currently subject to its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), despite a congressional mandate to create such a program, and to suspend until 2034 most “Subpart W” oil and gas sector rules while also repealing mandates for gas distribution operations. The proposal follows through with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s March pledge to “reconsider” the program -- and subsequent reports that EPA would virtually eliminate it -- even as critics...

EPA Extends Certain TCE Compliance Deadlines Days Ahead Of Bans

EPA is extending certain compliance deadlines in the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of trichloroethylene (TCE) that it says critical industry sectors will be unable to meet, just days before the first of those deadlines for wastewater discharges and nuclear fuel manufacturing were set to take effect. EPA released Sept. 12 a pre-publication copy of a Federal Register notice describing the interim final rule, which extends the compliance deadline for the 2024 TCE risk management rule’s ban...

Trump EPA Asks D.C. Circuit To Vacate Four PFAS Drinking Water Limits

The Trump EPA is urging the D.C. Circuit to vacate four of six Biden-era drinking water standards for PFAS, arguing the agency did not follow mandatory procedural requirements when it promulgated them, in an effort to quickly resolve legal questions over whether officials can follow through on their plan to withdraw the landmark limits. The Biden “EPA initially attempted to defend the Rule against forceful legal challenges raised in these petitions for review,” the Trump EPA says in a Sept...

Ruling Could Enable EPA To Retain ‘Defenses’ In Multiple Air Toxics Rules

The recent D.C. Circuit ruling upholding “affirmative defenses” for plant malfunctions from civil liability in Clean Air Act (CAA) Title V permits may enable the agency to reverse or modify its practice of removing such measures from multiple air toxics regulations, sources say. In its Sept. 5 ruling in SSM Litigation Group v. EPA, et al. , a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a Biden-era rule that required the removal...

POTWs Renew Calls For Withdrawal Of Biden-Era Delaware River Plan

Local and national wastewater groups are renewing calls for EPA to reconsider a Biden-era plan to set water quality standards (WQS) to protect aquatic life in the Delaware River, and withdraw a proposed consent decree that would require the rule’s finalization, charging the policy conflicts with Trump administration priorities. The Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) and Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority (DELCORA) separately met with EPA and White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials last month regarding...

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...

Zeldin Overruled Top Appointees To Reverse Asbestos Rule Redo Plan

The Trump EPA’s recent 180-degree reversal on its initial plan to rescind the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out six uses of chrysotile asbestos and instead issue new guidance on the 2024 rule, came after Administrator Lee Zeldin overruled two other senior Trump EPA appointees, a source with knowledge of the internal matter says. According to the source, after a series of emergency meetings in July, Zeldin reversed a decision by Lynn Dekleva, deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical...

Citing EPA, DOJ Seeks To Delay AFFF MDL Scrutiny Of CERCLA Claims

The Justice Department (DOJ) is asking the court overseeing multi-district litigation (MDL) on PFAS contamination from firefighting foam to stay or deny consideration of a variety of Superfund cost claims, pointing in part to uncertainty over EPA’s active review of the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS as hazardous substances. In a Sept. 8 motion , DOJ asks the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina to hold in abeyance Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) sections...

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...

Capito Renews Support For PFAS Policies As EPA Weighs CERCLA Rule

Senate environment committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) is expressing support for PFAS policies that do not impose burdens on taxpayers or essential service providers, echoing her push to shield passive receivers from Superfund liability for PFAS contamination and signaling she may be reticent to back any EPA bid to drop support for the Biden-era Superfund rule. “Senator Capito has long prioritized tackling PFAS contamination through regulations that accurately account for challenges in rural and underserved areas,” said a spokesperson...

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...

EPA Outlines Broad Slate Of Air Rules To Scrap, Replace Biden Measures

EPA is outlining an ambitious slate of upcoming rulemakings to quickly scrap and replace Biden-era air rules that now includes an imminent rollback of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standards, a two-step plan to replace stayed interstate ozone regulations and moves to ease air permitting, as well as a host of air toxics rule rollbacks. The newly released Unified Agenda of upcoming rulemakings released Sept. 4 indicates that the reconsideration of the tougher Biden PM2.5 national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS)...

EPA Rule Agenda Details Plans To Delay, Revise Biden-Era PFAS Measures

The Trump EPA is planning to move ahead with a number of PFAS regulatory policies initiated by the Biden administration though it is expected to scale back the stringency of some of the rulemakings and in general has slowed the schedule for issuing new PFAS rules, according to the spring 2025 Unified Agenda. Released Sept. 4, the Unified Agenda -- the first to be released during President Donald Trump’s second term -- includes plans for a host of per- and...

EPA Plans Oil & Gas ELG Revision As Part Of Broad Deregulatory Agenda

EPA’s Spring 2025 Unified Agenda announces a new rulemaking that could potentially broaden the reach of effluent limitations for the oil and gas extraction category, which currently only allows discharges of produced water in areas west of the 98th meridian, the geographic dividing line between East and West. The measure appears to be the only new rulemaking in the agency’s Sept. 4 unified agenda, which otherwise aligns with sweeping deregulatory efforts the agency has already announced, setting deadlines for measures...

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...

EPA Withdraws Legacy CCR Direct Final Rule, Extending Comment Deadline

EPA is withdrawing its direct final rule that would extend compliance deadlines associated with the Biden-era rule governing legacy coal combustion residual (CCR) surface impoundments and CCR management units (CCRMU) given adverse comments on the measure. In a notice slated for publication in the Sept. 4 Federal Register , EPA said it has received adverse comments on the direct final rule and as a result, is extending the comment period for its companion proposed rule and is slated to hold...

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...

EPA Said To Reverse Support For CERCLA PFAS Rule, Eying Repeal

A top EPA waste official appears to be steering the agency toward reversing its planned support for the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law after hearing industry’s objections to the landmark regulation, with Administrator Lee Zeldin likely to soon decide whether to back the new position. According to The New York Times , Steven Cook, principal deputy assistant administrator in the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), in late July met...

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