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Environmentalists See Momentum For Permitting Reform This Congress

Environmentalists from across the political spectrum see growing momentum for a long-sought bipartisan deal on overhauling the permitting process for energy and other infrastructure projects, citing pressures within both parties to expedite construction of major projects to meet the differing demands of their bases. At a Sept. 30 virtual press briefing hosted by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), on the eve of a partial government shutdown, climate policy advocates representing conservative and progressive perspectives argued the time...

Groups Say EPA Ignores Trillions In Harm From Ending Vehicle GHG Limits

Environmental and other groups are floating new analyses claiming that EPA’s proposed repeal of Biden-era vehicle greenhouse gas standards for vehicles ignores trillions of dollars of harms the plan would cause, part of an effort to make the case that EPA is acting arbitrarily in moving to scuttle its vehicle GHG program. The analyses are included in broader comments to the agency that claim EPA’s draft cost-benefit analysis for its plan is flawed for reasons including that it ignores the...

Groups Say EPA Ignores Trillions In Harm From Ending Vehicle GHG Limits

Environmental and other groups are floating new analyses claiming that EPA’s proposed repeal of Biden-era vehicle greenhouse gas standards for vehicles ignores trillions of dollars of harms the plan would cause, part of an effort to make the case that EPA is acting arbitrarily in moving to scuttle its vehicle GHG program. The analyses are included in broader comments to the agency that claim EPA’s draft cost-benefit analysis for its plan is flawed for reasons including that it ignores the...

Truck Makers Urge ‘Major Questions’ Attack On Some Vehicle GHG Limits

Truck and engine makers are pressing EPA to rely on the major questions doctrine, rather than scuttling its underlying greenhouse gas endangerment finding, to undo “Phase 3” truck greenhouse gas standards, citing fears that a legal strategy of relying on the GHG finding gambit is too risky to provide needed regulatory relief. The suggestion in Sept. 22 formal comments highlights broader industry fears in both the truck and auto sectors that EPA’s push to rollback vehicle GHG limits in tandem...

Chemical Industry Urges TSCA ‘Adjustment’ To Preempt State PFAS Rules

Chemical sector groups are urging lawmakers to make an “adjustment” to TSCA in order to preempt state PFAS rules in Minnesota, Maine and other states, one of a series of actions they are seeking as part of the Trump administration’s broad effort to target state laws “adversely affect the national economy.” “One potential adjustment to TSCA’s preemption provision is that states could be preempted from enacting or enforcing state PFAS in products laws to the extent EPA has concluded that...

Deregulatory Advocates See ‘Opportunity’ For Reg Reform In Congress

Top officials at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) say Hill Republicans are moving closer than they have been in years to adopting major regulatory reforms for EPA and other agencies, including long-sought legislation that requires Congress to approve major rules and require transparency for guidance documents. CEI President Kent Lassman says the greatest opportunity for lasting regulatory reforms is in Congress, even as the most activity right now is happening at the state level. Yet...

Padilla Eyes Relief For PFAS Passive Receivers As Bill Remains Uncertain

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), a member of the Senate environment committee, is signaling he is leaving the door open to supporting a bill limiting Superfund liability for a narrow set of “passive receivers” of PFAS contamination, a sign that any effort to enact such protections could win bipartisan support though the panel has yet to advance legislation. Padilla “recognizes the importance of this issue and wants to work with other [Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW)] members to develop legislation...

Automakers Seek ‘Backstop’ Vehicle GHG Standards As Regulatory Hedge

The main auto sector trade group is calling on the EPA to adopt revised vehicle greenhouse gas standards as an “alternative or backstop” to the agency’s proposal to scrap its greenhouse gas endangerment finding and related vehicle GHG limits, calling such a plan “critical if motor vehicle GHG standards are retained or reinstated in some way.” The pitch in Sept. 22 comments from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation builds on the sector’s recent push for interim relief from the standards...

Agriculture Coalition Urges Broad Array Of Actions To Address PFAS

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the American Farmland Trust’s lead role in developing the recommendations. A wide range of agriculture groups is endorsing a broad set of recommendations for Congress, EPA and other agencies to adopt to tackle PFAS on farms, including calling for EPA to craft health-based PFAS thresholds for land-applied biosolids and for Congress to create dedicated financial relief and support programs for impacted farmers. The recommendations , released Sept. 16,...

New York State Drafts Limits For ‘Unintentionally’ Added PFAS In Apparel

New York state environment regulators are seeking public comment on draft limits for “unintentionally” added PFAS in apparel above which the product will be banned, targeting contamination in products that have stemmed unintentionally from the manufacturing process, which one environmentalist says could be what states focus on next. “That is my hope, that we’re mindful of the PFAS below the surface in terms of what it takes to make products, and looking at how to address that,” Bobbi Wilding, executive...

Environmentalists Urge EPA Against Legacy CCR Rule Compliance Delays

Environmental groups are urging EPA against finalizing its proposal to delay compliance deadlines under a Biden-era rule governing legacy coal combustion residual (CCR) surface impoundments, emphasizing that the extensions lack justification and pose a significant public health risk. Their arguments came during a Sept. 12 EPA public hearing on its proposed rule that extends deadlines in the Biden legacy CCR rule, as the agency prepares broader, substantive revisions to the legacy site rules. Environmentalists were quick to criticize the agency’s...

Bipartisan House Group Floats Permitting Bill ‘Framework,’ Advancing Talks

A bipartisan House group is floating an environmental permitting bill “framework” that draws provisions from pending plans addressing transmission, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA), a plan that could advance talks on the issue even as many are skeptical that lawmakers can reach a final deal. The framework , released Sept. 18 by the House Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of 49 House lawmakers -- 23 Republicans and 26 Democrats -- includes several key...

Trump’s Energy Council Offers Industry Open-Door NEPA Permitting Policy

The White House’s National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) is offering industry broad access to help in approving the administration’s favored projects on a schedule consistent with construction deadlines, the office’s director says, a departure from prior environmental permitting procedures that can often slow down or scuttle projects. President Donald Trump “wanted a group at the White House that could cut through the bureaucracy and get projects done,” NEDC executive director Jarrod Agen said during a recent appearance. His remarks offer...

Optimistic Industry Groups Ramp Up Advocacy For PFAS Reporting Waivers

Industry representatives are optimistic that the Trump EPA will include several exemptions requested by industry in the agency’s revised PFAS reporting rule under TSCA that would ease burdens on regulated entities, but they are nevertheless ramping up their advocacy and urging officials to adopt a host of waivers. Several industry groups are already meeting -- or preparing to meet -- with White House officials reviewing EPA’s draft Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) proposed rule. And one lawyer said he is...

North Carolina Panel Adopts Delayed Groundwater Limits For Three PFAS

North Carolina’s regulatory oversight panel voted unanimously to adopt long-delayed groundwater standards for three PFAS, as members again defended their decision to whittle down the original proposal from eight PFAS to three, but a subcommittee punted a vote on surface water monitoring and minimization plans to its November meeting. North Carolina’s full Environmental Management Commission (EMC) voted unanimously Sept. 11 to adopt the Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) proposed groundwater standards for three per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -- perfluorooctanoic...

EPA Proposes To Largely Scrap Industrial GHG Reporting Requirements

EPA is seeking to repeal reporting requirements for virtually all industrial sectors currently subject to its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), despite a congressional mandate to create such a program, and to suspend until 2034 most “Subpart W” oil and gas sector rules while also repealing mandates for gas distribution operations. The proposal follows through with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s March pledge to “reconsider” the program -- and subsequent reports that EPA would virtually eliminate it -- even as critics...

Zeldin’s Aggressive Agenda Wins Supporters’ Praise But Critics See ‘Grift’

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s aggressive deregulatory agenda and related messaging strategy is winning strong praise from conservatives, who say he is delivering on an agenda that prior Trump EPA leaders have not, though critics accuse him of “classic grift” and “gaslighting.” Myron Ebell who led the EPA transition team during President Donald Trump’s first term, says Zeldin is being highly aggressive in both his actions and his messaging. “He is doing deregulatory work every week. I don’t know how the...

As EPA Pulls Back, States Eye Creative Enforcement Amid Budget Cuts

SANTA FE, NM -- State environmental officials are grappling with ways to advance creative enforcement actions due to tight agency budgets and a “perception” that EPA and other federal officials are easing their approach to enforcement under the Trump administration. Leah Feldon, director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, suggested during a Sept. 4 panel at the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) fall meeting in Santa Fe, NM, that officials can get “creative” amid tighter budgets, including by...

Zeldin Overruled Top Appointees To Reverse Asbestos Rule Redo Plan

The Trump EPA’s recent 180-degree reversal on its initial plan to rescind the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out six uses of chrysotile asbestos and instead issue new guidance on the 2024 rule, came after Administrator Lee Zeldin overruled two other senior Trump EPA appointees, a source with knowledge of the internal matter says. According to the source, after a series of emergency meetings in July, Zeldin reversed a decision by Lynn Dekleva, deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical...

Zeldin Overruled Top Appointees To Reverse Asbestos Rule Redo Plan

The Trump EPA’s recent 180-degree reversal on its initial plan to rescind the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out six uses of chrysotile asbestos and instead issue new guidance on the 2024 rule, came after Administrator Lee Zeldin overruled two other senior Trump EPA appointees, a source with knowledge of the internal matter says. According to the source, after a series of emergency meetings in July, Zeldin reversed a decision by Lynn Dekleva, deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical...

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