ISSUE: Superfund Report

EPA Faces New State Pressure To Tighten Assessment Of PFAS Risks

EPA is facing pressure from states and water utilities to tighten its assessment of the risks posed by a pair of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) substances, known as GenX and PFBS, intensifying pressure on the agency to step up its oversight of the broad class of chemicals in part as a way to harmonize state standards. In recent comments, states including Michigan and Minnesota questioned aspects of EPA's draft assessments of the two substances and urged the agency to...

EPA, Environmentalists Spar Over Path Forward For Ash Rule Revisions

Environmentalists and EPA are making competing arguments for an appellate court's path forward on revisions to Obama-era coal ash disposal standards the agency has pledged to reconsider, with the challengers now suggesting the court could scrap the new rule but stay that mandate to avoid making regulatory compliance “impossible.” In a pair of response briefs filed Jan. 29 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, each side in Waterkeeper Alliance, et al., v. Andrew Wheeler,...

GAO Finds DOE Nuclear Weapons Cleanup Liabilities Jumped $109 Billion

The Energy Department's (DOE) liability for cleaning up the remaining 16 contaminated sites in its nuclear weapons complex jumped $109 billion over the past year, to $377 billion, largely due to updated estimates for addressing high-level radioactive waste at the Hanford reservation in Richland, WA, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a just-released report. The report says DOE's Environmental Management (EM) program's “environmental liability has outpaced its cleanup spending for fiscal years 2011 through 2018, in part, because of...

EPA Faces New Backlog Of Chemical Applications After Shutdown Ends

EPA's chemical office staff are returning to work following the weeks-long government shutdown facing a new backlog of applications for new chemical approvals and limited time to meet statutory deadlines for assessing risks of existing chemicals, sources say. While EPA was shuttered, just 22 of the 981 staff working in the agency's toxics office have been deemed essential and working since December, acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during his Jan. 16 confirmation hearing...

EPA Plan To Limit State Program Reviews Draws ‘Disappointed’ Response

The Trump EPA has made easing federal oversight of state programs a top priority but its recent draft policy that seeks to limit agency scrutiny of state programs -- and even calls federal intervention a “last option” -- has some state officials “disappointed” because it continues to require permit-by-permit reviews. “From our perspective we're slightly disappointed that it is still focused on individual permit reviews,” Julia Anastasio, executive director and general counsel for the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA),...

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