ISSUE: Water Policy Report

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...

Water Utilities Raise Fears Over EPA’s Failure To Allocate FY25 LCRI Funds

Officials at Midwestern municipal water systems are calling for additional federal funding to support implementation of the Biden-era lead and copper rule improvements (LCRI), raising concerns that states have not received federal fiscal year 2025 allocations and spurring uncertainty for future funding resources. During an Oct. 22 webinar hosted by BlueGreen Alliance on implementation of lead service line replacement efforts across major cities, Patrick Pauly, superintendent of the Milwaukee Water Works, noted the success that funding from the $15 billion...

Some EPA Regulatory Staff Continue Work Amid Broad Furlough Uncertainty

As the government shutdown nears its 5th week, some EPA regulatory staff, including in the air, waste and chemicals offices, are continuing to work on the Trump administration’s policy priorities, Superfund cleanups and other matters even as the agency furloughs scores of staffers amid uncertainty over how long funding will remain. Lynn Dekleva, deputy assistant administrator in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), told reporters following an event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Oct. 22 that...

EPA Tweaks Final ‘Good Samaritan’ Guide But Eyes Case-By-Case Reviews

EPA’s final guidance addressing permittees’ financial assurance requirements under its Good Samaritan mine cleanup program seeks to address some concerns raised by industry groups regarding certain definitions, clarifying the definition of “low risk” projects and broadening certain financial assurance considerations. But on some issues, such as determining whether a project is “low risk” and thus eligible for the law’s liability protections, the agency said it would rely on case-by-case determinations. EPA on Oct. 22 issued its final guidance on financial...

Free-Market Group Urges Permanent Approval Of Mine Cleanup Law

A free-market group is urging Congress to make permanent the 2024 law that created a limited EPA pilot program to remediate abandoned hardrock mine sites, touting the law’s early implementation as a global model for other mine sites, while praising its liability protections and allowances for recovery of critical minerals from mine waste. ConservAmerica, which advocates for free-market environmental solutions, issued an Oct. 14 white paper that urges Congress to permanently authorize the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines...

Waterkeeper Seeks FOIA Records On EPA’s SDWA PFAS Rule Changes

Environmentalists are questioning EPA’s transparency in its decision to delay and partially rescind landmark drinking water limits for several PFAS, filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking a range of records related to its planned rule changes, including a stalled risk assessment that may undercut agency efforts to ease the limits. Waterkeeper Alliance Oct. 21 filed a FOIA request with EPA asking for records from Jan. 20 to the present related to the agency’s drinking water rule for...

Meat Sector Seeks To Intervene In Suit Over Slaughterhouse ELG Withdrawal

Meat industry groups are seeking to intervene in environmentalists’ suit challenging the Trump EPA’s withdrawal of a Biden-era proposal establishing tough effluent limits to curb nutrient and other releases from meat and poultry product (MPP) facilities, asserting that their direct interests in the litigation are not fully represented by the agency. A coalition of industry groups, labeled the MPP Coalition, filed an Oct. 14 motion to intervene in Cape Fear River Watch, et al., v. EPA, et al. , in...

New York Lawmakers Press Hochul To Revive 401 Pipeline Fight With Trump

Ten New York Democrats are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to renew a Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 certification fight over a natural gas pipeline with the Trump administration, a move that could provide new fodder for EPA efforts to narrow the scope of states’ 401 authority, though Hochul may be poised to make a different deal over the pipeline. The delegation sent her an Oct. 15 letter that notes that the state has thrice declined to certify that...

Parties Settle Novel Prop. 65 Suit Against Chrome Platers’ PFAS Discharges

Environmentalists are settling their novel Proposition 65 lawsuit that alleges two chrome-plating firms unlawfully discharged PFAS into drinking water sources, settlements that rely on the law’s rarely used prohibition on unlawful discharges to win soon-to-be-released agreements. The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) “will be settling with Teikuro Corp. in the next few weeks and mediating with Electro-Coatings of California later this month,” according to an attorney representing environmentalists. “I can’t disclose yet, but hopefully we’ll have a signed agreement with...

Key House Democrat Presses Zeldin On Delayed PFNA Risk Assessment

A key House Democratic appropriator is pressing EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to release a delayed risk assessment for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), a long-chain PFAS linked to developmental harms, questioning its delay this spring at the same time Zeldin moved to rescind drinking water limits for PFNA and other PFAS. “The delay in issuing the PFNA report coincided with EPA’s decision, in May of this year, to rescind some PFAS Safe Drinking Water Act regulations, one of which happens to be...

EPA, OIG At Odds Over Interpretation Of Audit Sufficiency For SRF Programs

EPA and its Office of Inspector General (OIG) are at odds over the watchdog arm’s finding that the agency lacks sufficient clarity on its state revolving fund programs’ (SRF) operations to identify potential waste, fraud and abuse without audited financial statements of the program, despite OIG declining to provide recommendations to the agency. OIG issued an Oct. 15 report titled “Audit of Compliance with the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Financial Statement Audit Requirements,” which aimed to...

Trump Sets New Political Criteria For EPA Hires, Extends Hiring Freeze

President Trump has signed a new executive order (EO) that broadly extends the hiring freeze at EPA and other agencies, except for hiring consistent with the president’s “priorities” and subject to strict management by administration appointees. The Oct. 15 EO , “Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring,” indefinitely extends a pre-existing hiring freeze and orders the creation of political “Strategic Hiring Committees” within each agency to supervise every new hire. “No Federal civilian position that is vacant may be filled,...

IPI Seeks To Bolster PFAS Research, Fearing Studies Underestimate Effects

A progressive think tank is urging federal and state policymakers to pursue research into both non-legacy PFAS compounds as well as exposure pathways other than drinking water, raising concerns that existing studies underestimate the significant economic and other impacts from the chemicals and prohibit a class-based approach to regulations. “By addressing these research gaps, policymakers will be better equipped to conduct robust cost-benefit analyses, leading to more informed and effective regulations that minimize the economic and societal burden of PFAS...

EPW Reschedules Chemical Regulation Hearing As House Nears TSCA Draft

The Senate environment committee has re-scheduled for next week its long-pending oversight hearing on chemicals regulation, which could offer insight into a bipartisan TSCA bill Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) recently reiterated the panel is crafting while House Republicans prepare to release a draft bill of their own. The Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) announced Oct. 16 that the panel’s chemical safety subcommittee, chaired by Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), will hold an Oct. 23 hearing titled, “Examining the Beneficial...

Judge Blocks ‘Illegal’ And ‘Politically Motivated’ Shutdown Firings At EPA

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the Trump administration’s attempts to use the ongoing government shutdown to fire 28 EPA waste office employees and thousands of other federal workers. In an Oct. 15 ruling from the bench, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California blocked the White House, EPA and other agencies from issuing reduction in force (RIF) notices to federal employees “during or because of the federal...

EPA Argues AI Energy Demand, Future Grid Needs Justify ELG Delay Plan

EPA is citing several studies detailing projected energy demand from artificial intelligence (AI) growth and grid reliability needs to justify its proposal to extend deadlines associated with a Biden-era rule governing power plants’ effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs), likely serving as the basis for future substantive revisions to the rule. The agency on Sept. 29 issued a proposed rule and companion direct final rule extending -- in some cases by as much as six years -- compliance and other deadlines in...

Environmentalists Warn EPA’s ‘Extreme’ ELG Delays Lack CWA Justification

Environmentalists are urging EPA to drop its plan delaying implementation of the Biden-era rule governing power plants’ effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs), warning that the “extreme” delays lack justification under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and that EPA failed to assess its adverse effects or show the delays are needed to bolster energy supply. “EPA’s current proposal to delay the most stringent requirements in the ELGs by five years is very extreme and must be rejected,” Thomas Cmar, an attorney at...

OW’s Publication Pause At Odds With EPA Clearance Policy, Staffers Say

EPA’s Office of Water (OW) is pulling back peer-reviewed staff research ahead of publication in scientific journals in order to undergo an unprecedented level of political review that is at odds with the agency’s clearance policy, current and former staff say though an EPA spokesperson says the agency is not barring staff from publishing. EPA staff say they were ordered late last month to pull back any research that has not been published, even if it was already approved internally,...

EPA Begins Furloughing Some Employees As Funds Appear To Dwindle

EPA has begun to furlough some staff amid the ongoing government shutdown, likely signaling that “carryover” funds from left-over appropriations and other sources that the administration was using to keep employees paid and working have begun to run thin. A regional union source tells Inside EPA Oct. 9 that Regions 2, 6 and 9, as well as the Office of Air and Radiation, have furloughed an unknown number of staff. Region 5 is also expected to begin furloughing employees...

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