ISSUE: Superfund Report

Environmentalists Raise Early Concerns Over North Dakota CCR Program

Environmentalists are raising concerns regarding EPA’s proposal to approve North Dakota’s request to operate its own coal combustion residuals (CCR) program, warning that the draft program’s partial nature could create tension between federal and state oversight of the program and that the plan lacks adequate transparency. Gavin Kearney, deputy managing attorney of Clean Energy at Earthjustice, tells Inside EPA that one of his major concerns is that the approving of North Dakota’s coal ash permit program as a “partial...

Trump EPA Still Evaluating Path Ahead For PFAS Rules, Top Official Says

NEW YORK -- The Trump EPA is still figuring out how to move ahead with PFAS regulations, such as the landmark Biden-era drinking water and Superfund rules, a top official says, as the agency seeks a range of stakeholder feedback to determine how to mitigate costs and other compliance issues. “Everything was on the table for each of the actions that we have been reviewing and [we’re] really trying to understand what is the best path forward,” Travis Voyles, EPA’s...

Industry Eyes Senate To Kill Superfund Chemical Tax After House Loss

A chemical industry group is pledging to work with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and other senators in an effort to repeal the Superfund excise tax on chemicals in budget reconciliation legislation, after House lawmakers approved the legislation last week without such provisions. But the effort may face a high bar as any repeal of the taxes would likely have to offset any lost revenue to ensure it remains budget neutral -- or face a 60-vote threshold under Senate budget rules...

EPA Faces Competing Pressures Over Plans For CERCLA PFAS Rule

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers -- 40 Democrats and 4 Republicans -- is urging EPA to retain the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances” while industry groups call for its repeal, highlighting the tricky task the agency faces as it weighs next steps in litigation over the measure. The competing pressures come as a top EPA official says the agency is likely to ask a federal appellate court for more time to decide what to do...

ExxonMobil Rebuts Groups’ Key Claim In Seeking Dismissal Of Plastics Suit

ExxonMobil is rebutting environmentalists’ response to why their federal lawsuit alleging the company engaged in “deceptive public messaging” to promote recycling as a solution to plastic waste concerns should not be dismissed, asserting the groups make it clear they have failed to state a claim as required by law. “The most striking feature of Plaintiffs’ opposition brief is the argument they do not make. Plaintiffs’ Complaint alleges that ExxonMobil is liable in nuisance and under the [Unfair Competition Law (UCL)]...

DOD Finds At Least 574 Sites Require RI/FS For PFAS Contamination

The Defense Department (DOD) has completed preliminary investigation work examining PFAS contamination at 99 percent of the more than 700 military bases where the defense law required such testing, finding that 574 require a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) to determine cleanup actions while no action is required at 131 sites. As of September 2024 -- the end of last fiscal year -- DOD says it determined that 722 of its properties -- active military bases; Base Realignment and Closure, or...

Environmentalists Vow New Suit Against Alabama Power For CCR Violations

Citing EPA’s Biden-era findings, environmentalists are threatening to sue Alabama Power over alleged violations of EPA’s 2015 coal combustion residuals (CCR) rule, an action that could test the Trump administration’s willingness to intervene in the matter and head off any citizen suit. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed a May 20 notice of intent on behalf of Coosa Riverkeeper notifying Alabama Power of its intent to sue for violations of the CCR rule and the open dumping prohibition under...

Judge Poised To Halt RIFs, Reorganization Amid White House-EPA Clash

A federal judge is poised to issue a preliminary injunction further barring the reorganization and downsizing of EPA and other agencies, as emerging details suggest that EPA leadership may have clashed over the size of personnel cuts with White House officials who were pushing for large-scale firings. Judge Susan Illston said at the start of a May 22 hearing that President Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) for restructuring and staff cuts, as well as agency plans to implement the EO,...

Agencies Ramp Up Study On PFAS’ Risks To Children But Downplay Rules

EPA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are ramping up their efforts to research the cumulative risks that PFAS and other substances pose to children, responding to findings from the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) report, which called for more study on the impacts of such exposures. The May 22 report , “Make Our Children Healthy Again: Assessment,” also touts the Trump EPA’s decision to implement part of the Biden-era drinking water standards as it reconsiders limits...

Key Lawmaker Charges New Draft Plastics Recycling Rules Are Unlawful

A high-ranking California state lawmaker is criticizing revised draft rules by the Newsom administration to implement the landmark 2022 law SB 54 requiring an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program for plastic recycling, saying they flout the law in part by allowing exemptions for certain products. “[W]e have concerns with several provisions that appear to conflict with law. Notably, it appears the proposed draft regulations exempt certain products that are clearly in the program’s scope,” Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) said...

Industry Urges CERCLA PFAS Rule Repeal After Zeldin’s Reg Support

Industry groups are urging a top White House official to rescind the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances” after EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced his support for maintaining the law’s “polluter pays” model and his plans to work with Congress on targeted liability carveouts for so-called passive receivers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 14 other industry groups May 12 wrote White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, recommending the administration rescind the...

Industry Lawyers Say Trump EO Marks Major Shift In Criminal Enforcement

Industry attorneys say President Donald Trump’s recent executive order (EO) seeking to scale back criminal enforcement of environmental and other regulations could mark a “significant policy shift” in how the federal government approaches such enforcement, likely easing penalties for regulated industries. The May 9 EO , “Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations,” says criminal prosecution of regulatory offenses is “disfavored,” while stressing that such prosecutions “should focus on matters where a putative defendant is alleged to have known his conduct was...

Padilla Puts Holds On EPA Nominees Over Attack On California Waivers

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) is placing procedural holds on Senate consideration of four top EPA nominees, arguing the move stems from Republicans’ “reckless” attempt to revoke a trio of preemption waivers for California’s vehicle emissions programs via the Congressional Review Act (CRA). “This objection is a direct result of the agency’s cynical attempt to weaponize the [CRA] by attempting to submit as ‘rules’ three waivers issued to the State of California under the Clean Air Act (CAA),” Padilla said in...

OCSPP To Use AI To Speed TSCA New Chemical Approvals, Zeldin Says

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the agency’s chemical office will use artificial intelligence (AI) to help clear backlogs in TSCA new chemical approvals, a long-time concern for the administrator, lawmakers from both parties and industry groups. The Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention’s (OCSPP’s) struggles to issue decisions on new chemical approvals within the statutory 90-day deadline are partially the result of “outdated technology,” Zeldin told the committee at a...

Fearing Superfund, MS4s Urge EPA To Scrap PFAS Monitoring From MSGP

Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) are urging EPA to drop first-time PFAS monitoring mandates included in a Biden-era proposed multi-sector general permit (MSGP) for industrial stormwater, arguing stormwater systems could become liable under the Superfund law without any Congressional protections for passive receivers. “While EPA has publicly stated that their intention is to not hold MS4s and other public entities liable for PFAS transport, it was stated that EPA does not have the ability to indemnify these entities from...

EPA Admits Defeat On APA Violations In Grant Freeze, Termination Case

The Trump administration is not contesting plaintiffs’ claims that EPA’s freezes and terminations of certain climate and environmental justice (EJ) grants are illegal under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), an apparent concession that could have broader consequences for the litigation challenging those freezes. In a May 16 filing in The Sustainability Institute, et al. v. Donald Trump, et al. -- brought by cities and nonprofits in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina -- Justice Department...

6th Circuit Vacates District Court Order On Future Superfund Cost Liability

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit is vacating a lower court’s order holding two paper companies liable for future Superfund response costs at the Kalamazoo River Superfund site, emphasizing the court’s precedent and urging the parties to commit to completing their Superfund cleanups. Judge Raymond Kethledge of the 6th Circuit in a May 12 opinion in Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP (GP), et al., v. NCR Corporation, et al. finds that a lower...

Lawmakers May Struggle With Scope Of PFAS ‘Passive Receivers’ Relief

Lawmakers could face difficulties in determining which sectors and activities should be categorized as “passive receivers” and be given a waiver for those actions from Superfund liability for PFAS contamination, even as momentum within the Trump administration and Congress to provide such relief has built. While environmental groups continue to oppose such carveouts, action to try to provide such relief appears more likely than in the last Congress, with Republicans now controlling the Senate and as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin...

House Democrats Warn EPA Budget Plan Will Devastate State Agencies

House Democratic appropriators are warning that the Trump EPA’s proposal to slash categorical grants to state environmental agencies would devastate environmental protections nationwide and might even force states to give up their primary implementation of federal environmental laws and force EPA to resume those tasks. EPA’s categorical grants fund state agencies that are responsible for implementing approximately 90 percent of federal environmental programs. But the Trump administration’s May 2 “skinny” budget proposal asks Congress to cut $1 billion from that...

Senate Confirms Controversial EPA General Counsel Amid Legal Fights

The Senate on a party-line vote has confirmed Sean Donahue to lead EPA’s Office of General Counsel (OGC), where he will serve as the agency’s top lawyer despite controversy over his qualifications given limited experience supervising other lawyers, a previous termination, and other concerns. During a May 15 vote, the Senate voted 51-46 on party lines to confirm Donahue for the role, with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) not voting. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin...

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