ISSUE: Water Policy Report

NASEM Report Urges EPA To Finalize, Update Cumulative Impact Framework

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) is urging EPA to update and finalize a Biden-era interim framework on how to assess cumulative pollution and other impacts, though the agency says it has “paused” work on the issue. NASEM’s ad hoc committee on the issue released its Oct. 9 report titled “State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment,” which provides recommendations on the state of the science surrounding cumulative impacts...

POTWs Fear New Jersey PFAS Deals Curb Recoveries, Undercut Authorities

Wastewater and other local agencies are raising concerns over New Jersey’s landmark proposed PFAS cleanup settlements with major chemical manufacturers, urging state regulators to reconsider the deals’ broad liability waiver that they say prevents them from recouping adequate funds and undercuts their pre-treatment and other enforcement powers. “Simply stated, the proposed [judicial consent orders (JCO)] would grant 3M an essentially unquantifiable amount of PFAS liability protection[] without demanding nearly enough money in return to address the water contamination caused by...

Courts Stall Most Federal Environmental Cases Amid Government Shutdown

Federal courts are agreeing to most Justice Department (DOJ) requests to pause proceedings in an array of lawsuits involving EPA and other federal agencies, citing the lapse in funding and statutory furlough requirements, though some judges are making exceptions for particularly pressing cases. Many DOJ employees, along with support staff in EPA and other agencies, are statutorily barred from working during a shutdown unless they are performing narrowly defined critical functions, and DOJ has cited those requirements to justify pausing...

GOP Poised To Swiftly Confirm Troutman Over Democrats’ Stiff Opposition

Senate Republicans appear headed to confirm Doug Troutman to lead EPA’s chemicals office over strident objections from Democrats on the Senate environment committee due to Troutman’s industry ties, with the committee chairman also securing Troutman’s commitment to work with the committee on additional reforms to TSCA. In her opening remarks at Troutman’s Oct. 8 confirmation hearing, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, described Troutman as a “well-qualified nominee[],” adding that she supports his...

Industry Urges 9th Circuit To Adopt SCOTUS’ NEPA ‘Course Correction’

Industry groups are urging the 9th Circuit to follow the Supreme Court’s recent “course correction” in its landmark ruling restricting challenges under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), seeking to extend the precedent after it was recently embraced by the D.C. Circuit. In an Oct. 6 amicus brief in Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, et al. v. U.S. Forest Service, et al. , the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) urge the U.S. Court of...

With Hill Talks In Limbo, Groups Step Up Efforts To Use AI In NEPA Reviews

Public and private entities are stepping up their efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) to speed National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, as Capitol Hill talks on overhauling federal permitting practices remain in limbo in the midst of the ongoing government shutdown. These efforts range from a pilot project at the Energy Department’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) looming request for proposals on its Permitting Technology Action Plan to speed NEPA reviews,...

State Wetlands Group Eliminates Key Slots After EPA Deobligates Grants

The National Association of Wetland Managers (NAWM), a group that seeks to “build capacity” for state and tribes to protect wetlands, is eliminating four positions and its current executive director is stepping down, due to funding challenges after EPA deobligated several grants and sought to cut ties with the group. Maria Stelk, the departing executive director, announced the changes in an Oct. 6 statement that blames the Trump administration’s “disdain” toward nonprofits that led to the grants’ deobligation. “NAWM must...

California Eyes Drinking Water Limit For PFHxS As EPA Seeks To Drop Standard

California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is launching a drinking water public health goal (PHG) review for perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), taking a step toward crafting an enforceable standard for the substance as the Trump EPA seeks to rescind its Biden-era drinking water limit for the widely used PFAS. OEHHA announced plans for the first-time PHG in an Oct. 3 notice , which also announced plans to revise the state’s current PHG for arsenic. “PHGs are non-regulatory in...

Industry Urges ‘Strict Adherence’ To Sackett In Proposed WOTUS Rule

Industry groups are pressing Trump administration officials to ensure “strict adherence” to the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision when they issue a proposed rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), though the timing of any proposal’s release is uncertain amid the federal government shutdown. The industry groups made their pitch in meetings on a pending draft proposal with EPA and White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials last month before federal funding for EPA and other government...

Despite Shutdown, Trump’s Expedited Permitting Agenda Moves Forward

The Trump administration’s agenda for streamlined environmental and other permitting requirements for energy and infrastructure projects is moving forward despite a partial governmental shutdown that threatens to halt all but critical operations until the White House and congressional Democrats reach an agreement on federal funding. The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC), the congressionally authorized agency charged with expediting permitting, announced Oct. 2 that its members had met Oct. 1 and identified adequate funding from the Environmental Improvement Fund to...

EPA Floats Revisions To RMP, ‘Worst Case’ Spill Rules Ahead Of Shutdown

EPA has floated a pair of draft measures aimed at reconsidering the Biden administration’s Risk Management Program (RMP) final rule, as well as its Clean Water Act (CWA) “worst case” spill rule, submitting both measures to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review days before the government shutdown began Oct. 1. While the agency sent both measures to OMB for interagency review on Sept. 29, it is not clear what effect the lapse in federal funding...

Industry Urges 4th Circuit To Reverse Injunction Over PFAS Discharges

Industry parties are urging the 4th Circuit to lift a trial court’s injunction restricting Chemours’ PFAS discharges into the Ohio River, arguing the decision on environmental plaintiffs’ standing and irreparable harm could impose broad impacts that would set the bar so low as to allow minor regulatory violations to trigger injunctive relief. “The district court’s standing and irreparable-harm rulings are not merely wrong; they threaten to wreak havoc in both areas of law, enabling plaintiffs to obtain injunctive relief for...

Newsom Vetoes PFAS Mitigation Fund Bill, Citing Lack Of Funding, Need

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has vetoed a bill to create a PFAS mitigation fund allowing state water regulators to cover or reduce costs associated with treating for PFAS in drinking water, recycled water, stormwater, and wastewater, saying it would duplicate current CalEPA efforts, lacks funding, and would divert money from other areas. “While well-intentioned, this bill is unnecessary,” Newsom writes in an Oct. 1 veto message for SB 454 by Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton), which lawmakers approved unanimously last...

Boeing Rebuts L.A. Water Board Defense Of SSFL Cleanup Permit In Appeal

The Boeing Co. is rebutting arguments by the Los Angeles regional water board in defense of its strict testing, cleanup and monitoring requirements contained in a water permit for cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL), arguing in part that the regulator’s monitoring requirements and effluent limits far exceed its authority. “The Board’s position reflects an unprecedented expansion of regulatory authority far beyond what state and federal law -- not to mention common sense -- allow,” states Boeing’s Sept...

As Shutdown Starts, EPA Plans ‘Normal’ Functions But Funds May Not Last

EPA is reportedly keeping all agency employees on board for the first days of the government shutdown, using “carryover” funds such as unobligated appropriations to continue paying employees, though it is unclear when such funds will run out and the agency will furlough up to 89 percent of its workforce. “To my knowledge, from all my sources, everybody in the agency is working right now,” Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Council 238, the main union...

Court Dismisses Farmers’ Suit Seeking EPA Biosolids Rules For PFAS

A federal district court has dealt a blow to Texas and Maine farmers who sought to compel EPA to regulate certain PFAS in biosolids, dismissing their lawsuit after finding the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not mandate that EPA identify and regulate sewage sludge pollutants within a prescribed timeline. “Although the plain language of the CWA imposes a non-discretionary duty on EPA to review its regulations on a biennial basis, it does not mandate that EPA also identify and...

Army Corps sends final NWP package to OMB for review

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has begun formal review of the Trump’s administration’s final five-year overhaul of dozens of Clean Water Act (CWA) dredge-and-fill general permits for pipelines, transmission lines and other projects after the Army Corps of Engineers submitted the measure for review. The Corps sent its final package of reissued and modified nationwide general permits (NWPs) to OMB for interagency review on Sept. 26, teeing the measure up for finalization well ahead of the March 2026...

Eyeing Coal Boost, EPA Seeks To Ease Haze Rules, Power Plant ELGs

EPA is floating plans to scale back its regional haze program governing air quality in Class I areas such as national parks and delay effluent limitation compliance deadlines for coal-fired power plants, highlighting Trump administration efforts to bolster the coal sector. Together with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Undersecretary Wells Griffith, Administrator Lee Zeldin Sept. 29 signed the two regulatory plans at a White House National Energy Dominance Council event aimed at “advancing America’s beautiful clean coal.” “We can...

Seeking Merits Ruling, NRDC Fights EPA Bid To Split SDWA PFAS Suit

Environmentalists who are defending the Biden-era drinking water standards for six PFAS are urging the D.C. Circuit to weigh EPA’s motion to vacate four of the limits on the merits and ultimately deny the agency’s motion because there was no procedural error in setting the novel standards for the four PFAS. “EPA’s motion should be referred to the merits panel because it requires a merits ruling and raises contested issues that are intertwined with the rest of the case,” Natural...

Groups Applaud EPA’s Good Samaritan Guide But Seek Clear Definitions

Industry groups and water utilities are applauding EPA’s draft guidance implementing its congressionally authorized pilot program that limits environmental liabilities for so-called Good Samaritans that seek to voluntarily clean up hardrock mine sites, though they urge the agency to revise certain definitions to provide clarity. The National Mining Association (NMA) and American Exploration and Mining Association (AEMA) filed Sept. 12 comments on EPA’s guidance, touting the bipartisan legislation establishing the program as providing “conservation, mining, and local stakeholders the opportunity...

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