Outlook 2014

OUTLOOK 2014

Inside EPA's Outlook 2014 is a comprehensive special report on the major policies EPA is developing this year through a wide range of climate, air, water, toxics and other rules.

Or read individual articles below.

SAB To Weigh Viability Of 'Whole Economy' Rule Review Favored By GOP

EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) this year will begin a review of how the agency could use modeling to assess the "whole economy" impact of its rules, an approach backed by GOP lawmakers who say EPA's existing models fail to analyze employment impacts but which is opposed by advocates who say doing such an analysis is a near-impossible task. While EPA has agreed to ask SAB for input on how to use whole economy modeling in its regulatory work --...

CAFO Suit Opens Door To High Court Reversal Of 'Deference' Precedent

EPA's recent appeal of a ruling that limited its regulation of animal feedlots could provide private parties with a vehicle to overturn a landmark Supreme Court ruling that granted judicial deference to agencies' interpretations of their own rules -- nearly a year after conservative justices on the high court invited parties to bring such a suit. "This is the first step in how we're going to rein in, to the extent that it's possible, this problem of limited judicial review...

Interagency Group Could Resolve Lengthy Debate Over 'Safer' Technology

A federal working group of EPA and other agencies tasked by President Obama with crafting new steps to improve security of industrial plants is likely to craft recommendations by May that could finally end a long-running debate over whether the government should mandate that facilities use "safer" technologies, sources say. Environmentalists have petitioned EPA to use its Clean Air Act authority to impose mandates on facilities to boost their security by using inherently safer technology (IST), such as requiring companies...

With Groundwater Facing Pressure, EPA Grapples With Key Policy Questions

As climate change and other factors increase stress on scarce groundwater resources, EPA is working to revise key regulatory policies, including those under Superfund, the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), though review of the policies is already raising concern from states, industry groups and environmentalists. But the issue is complicated by a series of factors, including the lack of technology to remediate some groundwater contamination, a lack of clear regulatory authority, uncertainty over the availability...

TSCA Reform Bill Raises Doubts Over EPA Resources For Implementation

Debate over a bipartisan Senate bill to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is sparking questions over whether the agency will have adequate resources to implement the rigorous chemical testing and screening requirements the legislation would mandate, amid uncertainty over future agency funding levels. While much of the TSCA debate has focused on the bill's suite of unresolved policy issues, EPA officials and some lawmakers are beginning to consider whether the agency has sufficient funding to assess, review and...

EPA Faces Growing Calls To 'Reality Check' Key Cancer Risk Assessments

As EPA grapples with assessing risks of substances that either occur naturally or are produced endogenously in the human body, agency risk assessors are facing growing pressure from industry and other critics to "reality check" their cancer risk estimates to ensure they align with observed disease incidence in the United States. "We'd like to see realistically conservative [risk] factors," Michael Honeycutt, director of toxicology at the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ), said in a Dec. 10 presentation to the...

EPA Implementation Of Regional Haze Air Program Faces Key Legal Tests

EPA's implementation of its program to curb regional haze emissions to improve visibility in national parks faces a number of key appellate court tests -- and potentially a Supreme Court challenge -- filed by some states, industry and others that are contesting the agency's approach for imposing pollution controls in haze air quality plans. Attention is shifting to litigation over the haze program after years of regulatory delay in states submitting to EPA state implementation plans (SIPs) outlining the pollution...

EPA Air Transport Policy Faces Uncertainty Regardless Of CSAPR Ruling

EPA's long-term air transport policy faces significant uncertainty regardless of whether the Supreme Court later this year upholds or reverses an appellate ruling that scrapped the agency's flagship Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) emissions trading program, as both a victory and a loss in the suit would create a host of new questions. Should EPA be victorious in persuading a majority of the eight justices that heard the case -- Justice Samuel Alito recused himself -- then a slew of...

After Suit Dismissed, Calls Grow For EPA To Clarify Water Trading Power

Proponents of water quality trading will craft informal guidance in 2014 to further clarify how dischargers, states, and other practitioners can trade credits as a way to comply with regulatory mandates, an effort they say would be aided by new rules from EPA -- though the agency is not likely to issue new measures despite growing legal uncertainty. "An EPA rule would be helpful," says a source involved in a new network of government officials, water industry managers and non-profit...

Water Quality Focus Shifts From Nutrients To Toxics, Testing Key Issues

Under pressure from environmentalists and others, water quality regulators are beginning to shift their focus from the thorny issue of addressing nutrients to the long dormant issue of strengthening water quality standards for toxics, but EPA faces several policy decisions as it works with states to revise their standards. At EPA, Region X officials continue to be the most aggressive in pushing for tougher limits, though headquarters officials are showing signs of increased engagement. Still, ongoing revisions in Washington state,...

EPA Pushes 'Green' Infrastructure Despite Key Stormwater Rule's Doubts

EPA is expected to press ahead with new incentives and regulatory requirements designed to encourage the use of stormwater-retaining "green infrastructure" in 2014 even though the centerpiece of its plan, a long-awaited rule to require retention on newly-built or redeveloped properties, has been delayed indefinitely, sources say. "Even without a rulemaking, there are still permits being worked on that require retention, there are still enforcement orders, and there are still the voluntary programs that EPA is pushing municipalities to use,"...

Bid To Boost Oil, Gas Exports Will Drive Debate On Environmental Impacts

Efforts to expand oil and gas exports this year will drive further debate over how to assess the impact of such exports on domestic energy production and air, climate and other pollution, with GOP lawmakers, industry and others calling for limited environmental review while advocates warn of significant unchecked pollution impacts. The Obama administration could provide new signals in the coming months on the scope of environmental analysis it will require, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) releases several...

Data Limits Add Further Hurdle To Calls For Strict New Fracking Policies

Severe constraints in the data on environmental releases to air and water from hydraulic fracturing operations continue to constrain EPA and other agencies’ efforts to craft long-pending regulatory policies during President Obama’s second term, a further hurdle for environmentalists and others seeking measures already hampered by political factors. The agency is facing pressure from environmentalists and a coalition of Eastern states to directly regulate methane — a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) — from the oil and gas sector, but those...

Industry Eyes Ways To Overcome EPA, FERC Regulatory Hurdles For CHP

Industry officials are looking for options to overcome what they say are EPA and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) barriers to promoting greater use of combined heat and power (CHP) for the electric grid, saying the agencies' rules could limit CHP's use despite an administration push to promote it as a clean power source. CHP technologies produce both electricity and steam from a single fuel at a facility, and advocates say the systems reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and...

California's Lead Role On GHG Policies Seen Continuing Beyond EPA Rules

California will continue to heavily influence the development and implementation of U.S. EPA's policies and rules to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) from various sources based on its own programs and experiences, well beyond its current central role in shaping how the agency implements planned rules for power plants, experts say. "Will EPA's [power plant] standards be the final or only word? Absolutely not," says Manik Roy, vice president for strategic outreach for the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. In...

EPA Faces Struggle To Credit Demand-Side Efficiency In Utility Climate Rule

EPA faces significant hurdles in granting requests by states and some industry representatives to credit demand-side energy efficiency efforts in its pending landmark rule for existing power plants, sources say, as the agency has no experience in evaluating reductions that result from such beyond-the-fenceline measures and lacks a uniform method for doing so. Given the agency's likely struggle in explicitly crediting such off-site greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction efforts under its new source performance standard (NSPS) being crafted under Clean Air...

EPA Pledges Greater Flexibility In New CWA 'Affordability' Framework

EPA expects to release in January a draft of its new guide for assessing communities' ability to pay for new infrastructure and other upgrades necessary to comply with Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements, and is indicating that it will allow the agency to consider economic measures other than median household income (MHI) -- a long-standing request from municipalities and utilities. EPA's Kevin Weiss and Andy Crossland told the agency's Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB) at a Dec. 12 meeting in...

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