ISSUE: Superfund Report

North Dakota DEQ Chief Eager To Work With EPA Amid Budget Cut Worry

Dave Glatt, director of North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), says he is happy to be working with the Trump EPA, which he expects will “let states run with a lot of things,” though he continues to worry over the impact of dramatic proposed budget cuts from the agency for crucial state grant programs. In a June 6 interview with Inside EPA , Glatt says he is extremely concerned about EPA’s plan to slash state grant programs under Administrator...

EPA Efforts To Collect PFAS Air Data May Aid In Assessing Incineration

The Trump EPA’s plan to boost long-running efforts on crafting air measurement methods and collecting data on PFAS air emissions may aid the agency in setting parameters for thermal destruction technologies as it looks to place a greater focus on assessing destruction and disposal methods, attorneys say. Under the agency’s April 28 general outline of “major EPA actions” that the agency plans to undertake to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is a focus on air emissions data collection and...

D.C. Circuit grants additional abeyance in CCR suit

The D.C. Circuit is granting EPA’s request to extend by 60 days its ongoing abeyance in the power industry’s suit challenging the Biden-era rule governing legacy coal combustion residuals (CCR) surface impoundments and management units (CCRMU). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a June 13 order granting EPA’s request to extend its current abeyance in the suit, City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri, et al. v. EPA, et al. , by 60 days -- through...

Trump’s Energy Agenda Shapes Downsizing, Restructuring Of EPA

President Donald Trump’s push for expanded energy production, particularly fossil fuels, and streamlined environmental permitting to approve those projects, are central to the administration’s restructuring and realignment of EPA, according to recent budget documents and lawmakers reviewing the agency’s proposed spending cuts. “The FY 2026 President’s Budget prioritizes actions that reduce barriers to achieving the goal of energy independence,” says EPA’s fiscal year 2026 budget plan which offers new details on the Trump administration’s plans for restructuring EPA. The Trump...

EPA Plans Major Shift In Economic Analysis To Align With Deregulatory Goals

EPA’s recent budget proposal includes significant changes for how major economic analyses are conducted, including establishing first-time plans to evaluate the benefits of avoiding negative consequences from strict regulations in order to bolster deregulatory measures that are “consistent with current policy goals and priorities.” EPA’s May 30 budget request for fiscal year 2026 outlines plans to dramatically change how EPA conducts economic analyses based on employment and offshoring consequences of regulations. This includes what appears to be new considerations of...

Senate Passes Bill For New DTSC Metal-Shredding Rules, End Of Litigation

The California Senate has passed a bill to set up a new toxics department regulatory structure to govern metal-shredding facilities, a measure aimed at balancing rules for different parts of the process, while also ending several long-running lawsuits that have targeted individual facilities for pollution as well as the department’s existing rules. “This bill will ensure that California remains a sustainability leader in ‘reducing, reusing and recycling’ by fostering the recycling of scrap metal into new metal products, while at...

Democrats Renew Climate-Rollback Concerns As EPA Nominees Advance

Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) are stepping up their concerns over EPA and congressional Republicans’ ongoing efforts to roll back key climate policies, though they have so far not been able to leverage their concerns into stopping GOP senators from continuing to advance nominees for key roles at EPA. During a June 11 business meeting, senators on the committee voted 10-9 along party lines to approve John Busterud to serve as EPA’s assistant administrator for...

OPM Proposal Would Politicize EPA Hiring, Firing Decisions, Critics Warn

Current and former EPA employees, including several past administrators, are warning that the Trump administration’s proposal to reclassify thousands of federal workers to allow at-will firings will politicize the civil service, promote corruption, increase fears of retaliation and irreparably damage agency expertise. They also charge it is unlawful, arguing it overreads civil-service statutes and exceeds executive authority under the so-called major questions doctrine. The Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) proposed rule “will lead to the incredibly destructive loss . ...

Senate Confirms Fotouhi As EPA’s Deputy Chief Over Democratic Opposition

The Senate on a party-line vote has confirmed David Fotouhi to serve as EPA’s deputy administrator, rejecting Democrats’ opposition to the nomination and other EPA picks due to what they say is the Trump administration’s “unprecedented power grab” in revoking EPA’s preemption waivers for key California vehicle emissions rules. The Senate confirmed Fotouhi on a 53-41 vote June 10, after lawmakers previously cleared a procedural hurdle for the nomination June 9. Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Chris Coons (D-DE), Jon Ossoff...

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...

Thousands Of Employees Apply To Leave EPA Amid Morale Collapse

Over 16 percent of EPA employees have applied to leave the agency in the latest round of buyouts and early retirement offers, compounding already significant staff losses from past buyouts, reductions in force (RIFs) and probationary worker firings. As of May 30, EPA had received 2,629 applications for the second round of its buyouts -- the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) -- and Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, an EPA spokesperson told Inside EPA . Those applications will still undergo a review...

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...

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...

EPA Plans To Delay, Reconsider CWA ‘Worst Case’ Chemical Spill Rule

EPA is planning to delay by up to five years implementation of the Biden-era Clean Water Act (CWA) rule requiring facilities to plan for “worst case” spills of hazardous substances while officials broadly reconsider it, a move that backs industry calls for the Trump administration to scale the measure back. EPA officials briefed the American Public Power Association (APPA) on its plans during a recent webinar, the group said in a June 3 article on its website. The compliance-deadline change...

Consultants Grapple With ‘Due Diligence’ For Biosolids Containing PFAS

Environmental consultants are grappling with whether the application of PFAS-containing biosolids to farmland triggers “due diligence” requirements for landowners under a Phase I environmental assessment due to EPA’s Superfund PFAS rule or if those requirements can be avoided per the Superfund law’s exclusion for fertilizer application. The effects of these legal questions are potentially significant because it could create uncertainty in real estate transactions since prospective purchasers seeking protection from potential Superfund liability are required to comply with the relevant...

Padilla Expands Senate Procedural Holds To Cover Most EPA Nominees

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) is expanding his procedural blocks on the Trump administration’s picks for key EPA roles to include all current and most future nominations that require Senate confirmation, arguing the move responds to Republicans’ “unprecedented power grab” in revoking EPA’s waivers for key California vehicle emissions rules. “I want to make clear to my colleagues that I intend to object to the Senate proceeding to all nominations for [EPA], except for the vacancy for the EPA Inspector General,...

5th Circuit Doubts Key TSCA Issues In Landmark Methylene Chloride Suit

A panel of 5th Circuit judges appears skeptical of EPA’s TSCA authority to regulate workplace exposures, as well as its threshold risk finding of methylene chloride, raising the prospect that any ruling in the potentially precedent-setting case could again undercut agency efforts to regulate chemicals as the circuit did in a 1991 asbestos case. Circuit judges Patrick E. Higginbotham, Edith H. Jones and Leslie H. Southwick heard oral argument June 3 in East Fork Enterprises, et al. v. EPA ,...

EPA Plans Superfund Cuts, FTE Increases As Excise Taxes Again Fall Short

EPA is seeking to fully transition funding for the Superfund cleanup program to the chemical and oil industry taxes that Congress reauthorized during the Biden administration, resulting in massive cuts to the cleanup program as officials add additional funding burdens to the trust fund -- even as tax revenues again fall short of past projections. According to EPA’s just-released fiscal year 2026 Budget in Brief , the agency is seeking significant cuts to its Superfund remedial program given plans to...

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...

EPA Faces Looming Deadlines To Make Key Decisions On Major PFAS Rules

EPA has outlined general policy plans for addressing PFAS contamination but it remains ambiguous on the details of just how far it will go in regulating the chemicals and how it may address competing interests, sources say, though the agency has little time to make some key decisions as it faces looming court deadlines. “You can only regulate and posture by press release for so long,” one industry attorney says, referring to press releases issued by EPA in recent weeks...

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