Outlook 2010

OUTLOOK 2010

Inside EPA's Outlook 2010 is a comprehensive special report on the legislative and regulatory outlook for EPA.

Or read individual articles below.

Disposal Of TVA's Coal Ash Spill Highlights Tough Equity Hurdles For EPA

EPA's decision to allow the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to landfill waste -- from its December 2008 coal ash spill -- in a predominantly black Alabama community is highlighting the significant difficulties Administrator Lisa Jackson faces as she seeks to address the legacy of agency decisions on poor and minority communities. Jackson acted quickly to launch a cleanup of the massive spill in the mostly white neighborhoods adjacent to TVA's Kingston, TN, plant, and in early January 2009 the agency...

EPA Faces Widespread Hurdles In Bid To Bolster Communities' Role

EPA is planning several actions in 2010 to bolster the role that local communities -- particularly low-income and minority communities -- play in its decision making across the agency, a top priority of Administrator Lisa Jackson in her effort to broaden political support for agency actions and environmentalism. But the efforts could be a tough sell among communities that have long been skeptical that the agency will take their considerations into account and industry officials concerned that it will result...

EPA Faces Major Resource Burdens Establishing New Climate Regime

EPA is facing major difficulties meeting a slew of strict Clean Air Act deadlines for implementing first-time greenhouse gas (GHG) rules under the air law, including an insufficient workforce and budget limitations, which could stymie its ability to handle a mandate of issuing an estimated 22 air act GHG rules within two years. The agency, after issuing its final finding that GHGs endanger human health and welfare, has a duty under the air act to issue a slew of rules...

Push For Natural Gas To Limit GHGs Poses Unintended Pollution Impacts

Policymakers seeking to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are weighing several measures to encourage increased use of natural gas as a lower-emitting alternative to coal -- but increased use and production of the fuel is already resulting in unintended pollution consequences that could be difficult to address. The issue is likely to be especially challenging for EPA, which has begun to take some steps to address the issue, for example by reviewing some air quality regulations and requiring first-time GHG...

EPA, State Rules Keep Pressure On Congress To Address Climate Change

Advocates of climate rules appear likely to continue pursuing state and federal greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations in 2010 in part as a way to continue pressuring industry to lobby a reluctant Congress to preempt and streamline the disparate efforts while also putting the federal program on a more solid legal footing. While climate regulation advocates have long pursued state and federal rules as a way to pressure Congress to act, some critics of climate controls now argue that actions taken...

Facing Legal Hurdles, Industry Eyes New Ways To Challenge EPA Science

Federal courts' long-standing deference to EPA's scientific findings will likely pose major legal hurdles for industry groups seeking to challenge pending assessments on the risks posed by climate change, chemicals' toxicity and other issues, forcing industry litigants to seek alternative strategies to soften their regulatory impact, sources say. "A [court] challenge to the science, you're going to lose those," says an attorney advising pesticide industry clients concerned about EPA's new program to screen chemicals for possible harmful effects on human...

Despite Fresh Funding Concerns, Superfund Tax Could Stall Until 2011

Democratic and environmentalist proponents of reinstating the Superfund tax on industry say the effort may be stalled another year despite fresh concerns that Supreme Court rulings limiting EPA's ability to recover cleanup costs, bankruptcies of the major automakers and growing deficit concerns could make it more difficult for EPA to fund cleanups on its own. Cleaning up the abandoned auto sites will take "a lot of money and Superfund is already financially ailing," a source with the Center for Health,...

Base Closure Cleanups Offer Lessons Learned For Polluted Auto Sites

The lessons learned from cleaning up and redeveloping dozens of military bases over the past two decades may provide guidance for regulators seeking to clean up and redevelop the dozens of former automobile manufacturing and related sites in the wake of General Motors and Chrysler's bankruptcies, sources say. The scale of the cleanup effort from closing dozens of former auto manufacturing sites and the cascading effect on dealers and suppliers may not be quite as large as the hundreds of...

Major EPA Water Efforts May Be Alternative To Strict New TMDL Rule

EPA water officials are crafting several measures to strengthen pollution controls in tens of thousands of impaired waters that regulators are required to address which together may provide an alternative to calls from activists for EPA to reissue a controversial Clinton-era rule to strengthen development of cleanup plans, known as total maximum daily loads (TMDLs). Among the actions is a new rulemaking to allow permits for new or expanded sources in impaired watersheds; the agency's ongoing effort to set and...

Upcoming Cement Kiln Rules May Set Model For Multi-Pollutant Approach

EPA's plan to streamline air pollution rules for key industry sectors may mirror the agency's approach to regulating cement kilns by coordinating air toxics standards with minimum performance standards for a range of pollutants, an approach that could also open the door to including greenhouse gases in the agency's multi-pollutant strategy. But some in industry are already raising questions about the legality of the effort. Gina McCarthy, EPA's air chief, has repeatedly said that she plans to coordinate air rules...

EPA Push For Air Quality Monitoring Seen As Key To 'Systemic' Reform

EPA is taking a number of enforcement, regulatory and other actions to impose new monitoring requirements for collecting emissions data that could be key to a "systemic" change in the agency's air regulations, sources say, because the new data may aid EPA's shift to a stricter regulatory approach that addresses multiple pollutants at the same time. Environmentalists welcome EPA's emissions data collection efforts, which include expanding monitoring requirements in revisions to its national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), ramping up...

Health Care Reform Emerges As Key Driver For Strict Environmental Rules

Imminent passage of health care reform legislation is providing new arguments for EPA officials and environmentalists to strictly regulate pollution as a way to prevent harmful diseases while cutting health care costs -- and may even create new opportunities for advocates to pressure health insurers to join their efforts as a way to prevent diseases they will now have to cover and limit their risk. With Congress poised to pass a major overhaul of the health insurance system -- including...

EPA Increasingly Using Enforcement Actions To Quickly Drive Key Policies

The Obama EPA is taking a number of aggressive steps to quickly drive novel policies through enforcement actions rather than pursuing lengthy notice-and-comment rulemakings to implement them, a move that could help the agency overcome future objections from industry groups and other agencies. Evidence of the approach -- which drew criticism from industry when the agency pursued it under the Clinton administration -- has so far cropped up in several enforcement actions under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe...

EPA's Regulatory Push Shifts Environmental Policy Focus From Congress

Despite continued calls for Congress to enact major new environmental legislation, environmentalists and industry officials are shifting away from Capitol Hill to focus on the Obama EPA's ramped up regulatory efforts to address high-priority issues such as climate change, toxic chemicals, and air and water quality using existing authorities. On climate change, for example, the agency is poised in 2010 to finalize a landmark rule limiting vehicle greenhouse (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act, also triggering first-time permit limits...

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