ISSUE: Inside EPA

Tariff Case Seen Driving Courts On ‘Major Questions,’ Emergency Action

The Supreme Court is slated to hear arguments Nov. 5 in a case over President Trump’s tariffs and the decision could have big impacts for the reach of the “major questions” doctrine (MQD) in environmental cases, whether courts can review presidential emergency actions and could even help drive future environmental policy, sources say. The case, Learning Resources, Inc., et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al. , challenges Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Power Act (IEEPA) to impose...

Utilities Press EPA To Boost WIFIA Support Amid Loan-Closure Slowdown

A coalition of wastewater and drinking water groups is urging EPA to boost its support for its Water Infrastructure and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan program given key financial aid it provides for water infrastructure projects amid fears over significant slowdowns in WIFIA loan closings over the past year. Led by the Water Environment Federation, the groups sent an Oct. 27 letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, urging EPA to “continue growing this important source of financing for locally- and regionally-...

EPA Continues CCR Enforcement Amid Trump Shifts, Former Official Says

EPA is continuing to enforce violations of its 2015 coal combustion residuals (CCR) regulations despite broad concerns regarding a Trump administration retreat, a former enforcement official says, but the types of violations the agency is enforcing appear likely to shift given ongoing and future changes to the agency’s regulatory landscape. “I actually don’t think enforcement is retreating on coal ash,” Lynne Davies, former chief of the Waste Enforcement Branch in EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) now at...

Environmentalists Reassess NEPA Strategy After String Of Court Losses

Environmentalists are reassessing their strategy when bringing new cases under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) following mounting court losses in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark Seven County ruling bolstering agency deference and narrowing the scope of reviews. Environmentalists say they are still determining how best to move forward while conceding that they can no longer bring cases alleging that broad downstream climate impacts must be considered in NEPA reviews. “We’re more cautious about the litigation we’re bringing...

EPA Union Breaks With AFGE, Backs Democrats’ Shutdown Demands

The head of EPA’s largest union is urging congressional Democrats to hold out for healthcare concessions in the ongoing government shutdown battle, linking it to EPA’s role in protecting human health, apparently breaking with the larger union organization, which has recently called for an end to the shutdown. “Trump and Republicans in Congress have the power to end the shutdown now by supporting a deal that includes healthcare funding,” said Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)...

EPA’s Repeal Proposal Sparks Fears Of Costly GHG Reporting ‘Patchwork’

Technology and other groups are warning that EPA’s proposal to gut its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) could raise costs to businesses due to the likely need to implement ramped up voluntary or state-based reporting programs, while also jeopardizing the competitiveness of U.S. exports. The concerns surface in formal comments to the agency filed by a Nov. 3 deadline, including warnings that scuttling GHG reporting mandates could spur a proliferation of state reporting programs and hamper data availability critical to...

Biofuels Groups Seek Full ‘Reallocation’ Of Waived RFS Refiner Volumes

Biofuels groups are pressing EPA for a full “reallocation” of waived renewable fuel standard (RFS) blending volumes when it finalizes its RFS requirements for 2026 and 2027, rebuffing the agency’s proposal to reallocate only half of the volumes waived for small refiners and asserting that anything less than full reallocation is unlawful. In comments on EPA’s supplemental RFS proposal for 2026 and 2027 submitted ahead of an Oct. 31 deadline, biofuels groups were adamant that EPA must reassign all waived...

Small Parties In CERCLA Suit Oppose Loper Review, Citing NEPA Ruling

Small parties at a New Jersey Superfund site are urging an appeals court to uphold a 2024 settlement allowing them to cash out of future liability, arguing against claims by the major responsible party that the Supreme Court’s 2024 Loper Bright ruling narrowing agency deference expanded courts’ duty to review Superfund settlements. In an Oct. 27 brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in USA v. Alden Leeds, et al. , the Small Parties...

EPA, Agencies Grapple With Questions Over Low PFAS Levels In Soil

EPA is wrestling with how to address low concentrations of PFAS in soil at sites wanting to further develop, as other federal departments and state regulatory agencies are starting to focus on determining background levels of the ubiquitous class of chemicals in soil. In a speech to state waste managers last week, Steven Cook, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s waste office, raised questions about how regulators should deal with low concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil,...

Environmentalists Claim EPA ‘Guidance’ On NSR ‘Construction’ Is Unlawful

Environmental groups are asserting that EPA’s recent “guidance” enabling some construction to begin before an industrial air pollution source obtains a new source review (NSR) permit is neither real guidance nor lawful, and that it would expose companies relying on such a policy to legal challenges. In an Oct. 30 letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, first reported by E&E News , Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Sierra Club say: “EPA does not have authority to allow any...

Corps Approves First 404 Permit On Expedited Track, Spurring Warnings

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued a Clean Water Act (CWA) section 404 dredge-and-fill permit for rerouting portions of the controversial Line 5 oil pipeline in Wisconsin, the first such permit issued under the expedited process created by President Trump’s energy “emergency” executive order (EO), though environmentalists are warning of legal challenges. The Corps on Oct. 29 issued a CWA section 404 permit to Enbridge, Inc., for construction-related effects to federally regulated waters for its Line 5 reroute...

EPA Advancing Biden-Era Plan To Craft Waste Rules For Solar, Li-ion Batteries

EPA is continuing to move forward on Biden-era plans to classify solar panels as universal waste (UW) and lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries as a special UW battery category under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), though EPA and states are still struggling with a range of questions about management of the wastes. Such questions include whether some solar panels are hazardous waste; whether states should require financial assurance or extended producer responsibility for the wastes; and how to improve states’...

Reprising Massachusetts, States May Face Standing Test In GHG Risk Suit

Upcoming litigation over EPA’s planned repeal of its greenhouse gas endangerment finding will test states’ standing to sue over climate measures, warns the head of an academic group working with states to promote strong environmental policies, potentially reprising arguments in the Supreme Court’s Massachusetts v. EPA case. In the 2007 decision in Massachusetts , which directed EPA to consider regulating GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act for the first time, the high court also concluded Massachusetts had standing...

Environmentalists Sue Over EPA Rule Allowing ‘Emergency’ Incineration

Environmentalists are suing over EPA’s interim final rule (IFR) granting emergency permission for solid waste incinerators to burn debris from disasters such as wildfires and storms, claiming the rule unlawfully allows for incineration that will release harmful pollutants for indefinite periods, and that EPA flouted public notice requirements. In their Oct. 24 suit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Sierra Club, Air Alliance Houston, Healthy Gulf, and Concerned Citizens Around Murphy challenge the...

EPA Poised To Stand Up Merged Superfund-Emergency Management Office

EPA plans to stand up its new Office of Superfund and Emergency Management (OSEM) on Nov. 2, as it merges three offices -- Superfund, emergency management and federal facilities cleanup -- under the umbrella of the agency’s Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM). The move is part of its massive reorganization effort that includes overhauling various parts of the agency, including gutting EPA’s research office and changes to the air, water and chemicals offices. For example, EPA deputy chemicals...

EPA Combustor Plan Floats Eased Method For Unregulated Air Toxics

EPA is proposing new limits for previously unregulated pollutants emitted by hazardous waste combustors (HWC), but it is using a broader and less-stringent approach than in previous air toxics rule reviews, making extensive use of alternatives to traditional numeric limits such as work practice requirements and “health-based” standards. In a notice signed by Administrator Lee Zeldin on Oct. 28 ahead of its upcoming publication in the Federal Register , EPA proposes to modify the national emission standards for hazardous air...

Environmentalists Find LNG Terminals Repeatedly Violated Air, Water Limits

Update appended The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) is outlining claims that all seven liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals operating in the country last year violated their Clean Air Act (CAA) permits, and that five of the facilities violated their Clean Water Act (CWA) permits. The findings , released Oct. 29, are prompting environmentalists to urge EPA and state agencies to step up enforcement and to more closely scrutinize planned expansions of the facilities or new terminals in the...

Judge Extends Block On Shutdown Firings, Citing ‘Political Retribution’

A federal judge has extended a block on reductions in force (RIFs) at EPA and other agencies during the government shutdown, saying unions are likely correct that the Trump administration’s firing plans are illegally haphazard, politically motivated and based on the false notion that the shutdown allows for the elimination of statutorily required functions. The order means that EPA must not conduct planned firings in the waste and chemical offices -- in addition to any other RIF plans that may...

States Ask High Court To Review Venue For PFAS Contamination Suits

Maryland and South Carolina are urging the Supreme Court to review and reverse an appellate ruling that backed 3M’s bid to remove their PFAS suits from state to federal court, charging that the appellate court broadened what qualifies as a federally directed action and failed to credit the states’ disclaimers that they would not recover for PFAS from firefighting foam. The case, if reviewed by the Supreme Court, is likely to impact a host of other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

Governors’ Bipartisan Permitting Overhaul Hikes Pressure On Congress

The National Governors’ Association (NGA) has released a bipartisan plan to expedite permitting for energy projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act (CWA) and other laws, hiking pressure on Congress to act at a time that the government shutdown and partisan rancor have stalled debate on the issue. The reform recommendations -- crafted by the Governors Energy and Infrastructure Working Group -- cover four categories: Streamlining Federal Agency Reviews, Reforms to the National Environmental Policy...

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