Outlook 2021

OUTLOOK 2021

Prospects for the Biden EPA’s ambitious plans with a closely divided Congress

Inside EPA's Outlook 2021 is our extensive and exclusive special report on the year ahead for environmental policy, and the extent to which President-elect Joe Biden and Democrats will be able to achieve their ambitious policies on climate change, water, toxics, and other issues. The closely divided Congress -- where Democrats will have a narrow lead in the House and appear set to narrowly control the Senate -- could put some limits on Biden’s ability to implement a sweeping environmental agenda. And even though President Donald Trump is leaving office, fights over his deregulatory policies will continue at EPA, in federal courts and in Congress. Opponents of the rollbacks are urging Biden to scrap such measures or stop defending them, but some legal hurdles and other barriers to swiftly undoing top Trump EPA actions remain. As in prior years, this report focuses on the legislation, litigation and rulemaking efforts in the coming year on major air, climate, toxics, water, waste, and other policies.

EPA Recycling Strategy Tees Up Test Of Biden’s Approach To Plastics

The Trump EPA is leaving behind a draft recycling strategy aimed at addressing what environmentalists, industry and regulators all agree is a growing plastic waste crisis, setting up an early test of whether President-elect Joe Biden’s team will heed calls from Democrats and environmental groups to greatly strengthen the plan. Although EPA lacks statutory authority over most aspects of recycling, the agency still faces arguments that it can do more to boost the use of recycled plastics in manufacturing than...

Biden EPA Could Become Key Player In Vehicle Electrification Push

The Biden EPA’s likely push to issue tougher vehicle greenhouse gas standards could lead to a possibly unprecedented agency role in advancing vehicle electrification, amid questions on how EPA policy would interact with other federal and state actions and the extent to which it would require continued gains in fuel efficiency. The prospect of boosting deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) while reversing Trump-era rollbacks comes amid mounting pressure for automakers to respond to interest in such vehicles that has ballooned...

Biden, Democrats Face Dilemma Over Policy Decisions On Future Of RFS

President-elect Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress face a dilemma over key looming policy decisions on the future of EPA’s renewable fuel standard (RFS), grappling with how to resolve ongoing fights between fuel producers, environmentalists and others over pending major RFS decisions including biofuels production goals. Among the unresolved policy disputes that the Biden EPA will have to address are choices over how much biofuel to require that refiners and importers blend under the RFS next year, the fate of...

Congress Faces Few Options To Revisit EPA Water Infrastructure Debate

Lawmakers’ decision to drop EPA-related provisions from water resources legislation late in 2020 was likely driven by a combination of factors influenced by the presidential election and the pandemic rather than a waning interest in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, but options for revisiting the issues in 2021 are limited, observers say. Water utility sources say they were disappointed, although not entirely surprised, that House and Senate negotiators finalized Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) legislation that was focused solely on...

Biden EPA Faces Calls To Undo Trump NAAQS Review Process Overhaul

Among the top air quality issues that the Biden administration will have to address is how to respond to calls by environmentalists and others to undo major changes that the Trump EPA made to the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) review process, which critics say made it easier to justify weaker emissions limits than are required. President-elect Joe Biden and North Carolina environment chief Michael Regan, Biden’s planned nominee to head EPA, will have to grapple with a push...

Incoming Biden EPA Faces Tough TSCA Risk Management Choices In 2021

Incoming Biden officials face a looming test in EPA’s implementation of the revised TSCA -- crafting its first risk management rules for the first 10 chemicals the Trump administration is slated to evaluate before leaving office, with industry and environmentalists already at loggerheads over the stringency over any future regulations. Industry officials have long been pushing the agency to codify a narrow, “tailored” approach to writing any risk management rules while environmentalists are pushing officials to take speedy, short-term actions...

Biden Likely To Be More Aggressive On PFAS, But Extent Of Plan Unclear

The incoming Biden administration’s plans to jumpstart efforts to regulate the two most studied per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) using the Superfund and drinking water laws will likely prompt new cleanups, but experts say it is less clear whether EPA will address the chemicals as a class or carve-out certain entities from liability. Experts suggest the Biden EPA may fast-track drinking water regulation for the two most studied PFAS -- perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) -- after the...

Biden EPA Might Move Quickly On CWA Section 401, Groundwater Policies

In contrast to the legal and policy quagmire of trying to define the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Biden administration is likely to face fewer obstacles to reversing other Trump EPA water policy decisions and might move quickly on issues including groundwater regulation and CWA section 401 water quality certifications, sources say. The incoming administration could pursue swift action even though at least one of the affected policies is part of pending litigation, former EPA and Justice...

Calls For Biden To Overhaul Trump CWA Policies Face Significant Limits

The incoming Biden administration is likely to face significant challenges in reversing or revising Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations such as the Trump administration’s narrowed scope of CWA jurisdiction, former EPA staff say, noting that even the quickest options of repeal or seeking a voluntary remand are judicially uncertain. The Waterkeeper Alliance, among other environmental groups, has called on President-elect Joe Biden to revoke several executive orders (EOs) as a first step in addressing two CWA rules that are currently...

Offering Lead To Biden, California Plans Stricter Climate, Equity Policies

Despite losing one of its top air and climate policymakers, California is expected to continue an aggressive agenda of even tougher pollution rules for a variety of sources while ramping up programs to cut greenhouse gases and achieve environmental justice (EJ), in what could provide a partial roadmap for the incoming Biden administration. “The programs the state has adopted should serve as a model for the Biden Administration as it seeks to address environmental injustices caused by air pollution,” says...

Biden Faces Multi-Faceted Challenge In Undoing Trump EPA Rollbacks

The incoming Biden administration will face a multi-faceted challenge as it tries to successfully undo a slew of Trump administration climate and environmental rollbacks – with many of Trump’s policies targeting rules that were issued when President-elect Joe Biden served as vice president. That going-in knowledge is likely to be helpful, sources say, and will be bolstered by his decision to select Gina McCarthy as White House domestic climate “czar,” since she developed many of those rules as the second-term...

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