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CARB Eases Truck Fleet Rule But Utilities Press For More Compliance Delays

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is easing requirements under its Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) truck regulation applying to state and local government fleets, but power and wastewater utilities are pressing for more compliance relief and credit for trucks powered by renewable natural gas, among other changes to ease their obligations. “Today’s approval of amendments to ACF -- a critical component in the state’s efforts to achieve emissions reductions for a healthier future for all residents -- keeps California advancing...

EPA Questions On Key TSCA Terms’ Definitions Could Narrow Evaluations

EPA is seeking comments on whether and how to define key TSCA terms in its replacement to the Biden-era “framework” rule that sets procedures for TSCA risk evaluations, which could narrow the breadth of future evaluations and rules through first-time descriptions of terms Congress added to the reformed law but that remain in question. “Probably the most surprising thing in the [proposed] rule, is that EPA asks commenters, ‘Should EPA define what is reasonably foreseeable?’” an industry source tells Inside...

Despite New California Law, Oil Industry Warns Of Fuel-Supply Shortage

While California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has signed into law a multi-pronged bill to encourage the oil industry to increase crude oil production in the state and boost supplies of finished transportation fuels, the industry is issuing fresh warnings that if lawmakers don’t take additional actions the state will still face a supply shortage. California’s “energy crisis can't be fixed with just one bill,” asserted Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association (CIPA), in a Sept. 22 press...

Industry Expects CARB To Issue Interim Guidance For E15 Sales In State

Ethanol industry representatives expect the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to release interim guidance for fuel suppliers to sell gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol (E15) if Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signs a pending bill allowing such blends to be used in the state for the first time, while the board works on longer-term regulations. “We’d expect CARB to issue some temporary/interim guidance explaining how fuel marketers/retailers can legally offer E15 while CARB is working on a formal rulemaking,” says one...

GAO Urges DOE To Step Up Efforts To Determine PFAS Cleanup Needs

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is pressing the Energy Department (DOE) to step up efforts -- and set a deadline -- for surveying the more than 100 sites it has yet to investigate for historical and current uses of PFAS, data GAO says will be key to prioritizing cleanups and estimating costs. GAO points out that while DOE policy memos direct all of DOE’s sites to characterize per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) use, they lack clear deadlines for completing such...

DOJ Asks Court To Dismiss California’s Suit Over CRA Waiver Repeals

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking a court to dismiss a suit by a California-led state coalition that claims EPA and other federal officials wrongly used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to rescind waivers for several California vehicle pollution programs, asserting the suit is precluded in part because of a bar on judicial review in the CRA statute. “This lawsuit asks this Court to invalidate three federal statutes that received majority votes in both Houses of Congress, and that...

In U.N. Address, Trump Urges Allies To Halt Climate Mitigation Efforts

In an address to the United Nations, President Donald Trump called climate change a major “con job” and jabbed wind energy as expensive and ineffective -- bringing the administration’s anti-renewable and pro-fossil fuel agenda to the global stage. He urged allied nations to follow his lead to abandon carbon reduction goals and expand use of traditional energy -- building on comments from administration officials encouraging countries to buy United States oil and gas exports, and abandon Russian fuel. Climate change...

In Test, Air Force Urges Panel To Send New Mexico State Claims To MDL

The Air Force is urging a joint judicial panel to reject New Mexico’s opposition to sending the state’s latest PFAS cleanup lawsuit to multidistrict litigation (MDL) governing firefighting foam contamination claims, arguing the new state law claims mirror federal waste law claims previously overseen and then dismissed by the MDL court. The case could test what recourse states have in pursuing their per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) cleanup claims against federal facilities. The Air Force in a Sept. 10 brief...

CARB Lays Out Plan To Implement New Laws Modifying Cap & Trade System

California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials are laying out a plan to implement two new laws that extend and modify the state’s greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program, which is now called “cap-and-invest” -- including updates to annual GHG allowance budgets and credit allocations to regulated entities. The new regulatory proposals will be made as part of an existing rulemaking that CARB essentially suspended earlier this year to allow the Legislature to debate how to extend and modify the program . On...

Industry Asks 9th Circuit To Halt California GHG Disclosure Laws Amid Appeal

Industry groups are seeking to convince the 9th Circuit to quickly block implementation of California’s corporate climate-disclosure laws while they appeal a lower court decision rejecting their preliminary injunction request -- with the plaintiffs bringing First Amendment arguments already eyeing Supreme Court appeal. “Plaintiffs now face imminent, irreparable harm, with compelled speech due on or before January 1, 2026, and unrecoverable compliance burdens being incurred already,” states a Sept. 15 motion for injunction pending appeal in Chamber of Commerce of...

Industries Urge CARB To Extend GHG-Reporting Deadline, Clarify Key Terms

Industry groups and corporations are urging the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to extend a proposed June 2026 deadline to disclose their “scope 1” and “scope 2” greenhouse gas emissions, while also seeking clarity on key terms that will determine which entities are subject to the state’s landmark climate-disclosure program. The California Manufacturers & Technology Association (CMTA), for example, “is concerned that it may not be feasible for companies to gather and assure Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions data...

CARB Urges Court To Reject Industry, DOJ Bid To Block Truck Deal, Rules

California Air Resources Board (CARB) attorneys are detailing arguments for why a federal district court should deny truck manufacturers’ and EPA’s bid to block the board’s 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP) and several emission regulations, including that the plaintiffs are not being injured and the rules do not violate federal law. In a Sept. 16 brief , CARB -- which is being represented by Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) -- argues the manufacturers and Department of Justice (DOJ) have put...

Industry Rebuts California Bid To Dismiss Or Transfer Truck-Deal Lawsuit

A free-market business group is rebutting California’s bid to dismiss or transfer the group’s lawsuit in Illinois federal district court challenging the state air board’s 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP), arguing the board’s executive officer has had many connections with Illinois parties to justify keeping the challenge in that state. The arguments are included in a Sept. 11 brief in American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree) v. Steven S. Cliff in the U.S. District Court for the Northern...

Draft TSCA D4 Evaluation Finds Risk To Workers, Seeks More Release Data

EPA’s draft TSCA risk evaluation of the siloxane known as D4 preliminarily finds that 23 uses of the chemical pose unreasonable risk to workers, the statute’s trigger for risk management rule making, but EPA also says it needs additional data to make preliminary conclusions for 18 other uses of D4 included in the evaluation’s scope. The agency Sept. 17 released its draft Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluation of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4), a substance used in the production of silicone...

Blunting Industry Fear, New Jersey Finds PFAS In Soil Below Cleanup Limits

New Jersey regulators have detected various PFAS in surface soil across the state though the concentrations were found to be below interim soil cleanup standards, effectively blunting industry fears that soil remediation standards for four PFAS might be too stringent for liable parties to attain due to the ubiquity of PFAS in the environment. “Despite the widespread occurrence of many PFAS compounds, no sample had concentrations exceeding [New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP)] current interim residential or non-residential” soil...

HFC Manufacturer Asks Full D.C. Circuit To Reconsider Nondelegation Claim

A hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) manufacturer is asking the full D.C. Circuit to rehear its claim that Congress illegally delegated legislative authority to EPA in the 2020 HFC control law, detailing what it sees as faults of a unanimous panel decision that found no constitutional violations in the law’s HFC phasedown program. RMS of Georgia, also known as Choice Refrigerants, writes in a Sept. 15 petition that the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act “instructs an agency to dictate who may continue...

CARB Chair Retires, Newsom Appoints Climate Advisor As Replacement

California Air Resources Board (CARB) Chair Liane Randolph is resigning from the post after nearly five years, and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is appointing his current senior climate advisor Lauren Sanchez as her replacement to lead an agency that has been battling the Trump administration’s rollbacks of air and climate programs. “Serving the public has been the honor of a lifetime, and I am incredibly proud of everything the agency has accomplished over the last five years,” Randolph said in...

Judge Denies Industry Bid To Block California GHG Laws During Appeal

A federal judge is denying industry groups’ request to block implementation of California’s corporate climate-disclosure laws while they appeal the judge’s earlier rejection of their request for a preliminary injunction, and is also staying the First Amendment case until the appellate court issues a decision. In a Sept. 11 order in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. Liane M. Randolph, et al. , Judge Otis Wright, II of the U.S. District Court for the...

DOJ Urges Justices To Block Climate Suits, Citing Constitution, Air Law

The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court in a new filing to block state and local governments’ suits against the oil industry over climate damages, reiterating arguments that such suits are barred by the Constitution and EPA’s regulatory authority under the Clean Air Act. The Constitution limits states’ sovereign authority to their respective borders, the Justice Department (DOJ) writes in a Sept. 11 amicus brief in Suncor Energy, et al. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, et al...

EPA Prepares For Peer Review Of Manufacturer-Requested D4 Evaluation

EPA is seeking scientists to serve on a panel to peer review the draft TSCA evaluation of the siloxane known as D4, one of a handful of evaluations the agency agreed to complete in response to a manufacturer request, even as officials struggle to comply with a Biden-era consent decree that set steep deadlines for completing a series of other evaluations. EPA announced Sept. 10 that it “is seeking nominations of scientific and technical experts to be considered as ad...

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