Waste

From brownfields to Superfund sites, and from coal waste rules to handling hazardous waste, this section tracks EPA's efforts to tackle a wide-ranging waste agenda.

Topic Subtitle
From brownfields to Superfund sites, and from coal waste rules to handling hazardous waste, this section tracks EPA's efforts to tackle a wide-ranging waste agenda.

D.C. Circuit grants EPA pause in legacy CCR rule suit

The D.C. Circuit is granting EPA’s motion to hold in abeyance industry-brought litigation challenging its Biden-era rule governing legacy coal combustion residuals (CCR) surface impoundments pending the agency’s reconsideration of the measure. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an Aug. 13 order in the suit City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri v. EPA, et al. , granting EPA’s motion asking the court to hold the case in abeyance until Dec. 15 while it reconsiders the measure. The...

Responding To NOI, EPA Orders Novel ESA Review At Superfund Site

EPA is ordering a liable party at a Montana Superfund site to prepare a biological assessment on the effects of a planned cleanup on listed species and consult with federal wildlife agencies under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a move that appears to respond to novel threats from local tribes and environmentalists to sue over the issue. EPA Region 8 issued a July 31 unilateral administrative order (UAO) to the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (CFAC) requiring the potentially responsible party...

EPA Floats Power Plant ELG Deadline Extension As Officials Weigh Rollbacks

The Trump EPA is floating for interagency review a draft plan delaying compliance with zero-discharge requirements in a Biden-era rule governing effluent limitations for power plants, though officials are asking a federal appellate court to delay litigation over the regulation as they weigh more substantive revisions. According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), EPA Aug. 11 submitted for interagency review its proposed rule extending zero-discharge compliance deadlines. The agency floated the proposal on the same day it filed...

EPA Plans Quick Finalization Of Federal CCR Permit Plan Amid Rule Review

EPA is planning to quickly finalize a rule creating a federal coal combustion residuals (CCR) permit program that would regulate sites in states that lack approved programs, even as officials are separately seeking to delay until December a pending suit over the Biden-era legacy CCR rule while officials review it. EPA filed an Aug. 11 motion asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to hold the case, City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri v. EPA, et...

EPA weighs revisions to North Dakota’s CCR program

EPA is reopening its comment period on its proposed approval of North Dakota’s application to operate a partial coal combustion residual (CCR) permitting program given recent changes to the state rules that make conforming changes and remove certain language to more closely align with federal requirements. EPA issued an Aug. 8 prepublication version of a notice announcing its plans to reopen the comment period on its proposed approval of North Dakota’s CCR partial permit program under the Resource Conservation and...

States Ready Supreme Court Petition To Review PFAS Venue Decision

South Carolina and Maryland are planning to ask the Supreme Court to review the appellate ruling that backed 3M’s bid to remove their PFAS contamination suits to federal court, opening the door to a legal reckoning over whether defendants will be able to keep such suits in federal court where they can raise the government contractor defense. As such, if Maryland and South Carolina succeed, it could allow several other states to keep their similar claims against 3M and other...

Stay Motion

Extension Request


Court Rejects Environmentalists’ Suit Seeking Farms’ Emissions Reporting

A federal district court is rejecting environmentalists’ lawsuit seeking to force EPA to issue air emissions reporting mandates for animal feeding operations (AFOs), backing the agency’s view that a 2018 law barring such reporting under the Superfund law also bars reporting under community right-to-know legislation for emergency pollution releases. The Aug. 7 ruling by Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump-appointed judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, deals a blow to environmental and community groups that for...

EPA’s Recent CCR Actions Could Preview Direction Of Coal Ash Rules

EPA’s recent actions rolling back Biden-era coal ash policies and delaying compliance deadlines could preview the direction it takes overhauling the 2024 rule governing legacy coal combustion residuals (CCR) surface impoundments and potentially even its 2015 CCR rule, given that the changes it has already made hew closely to industry advocacy. EPA is currently facing an Aug. 11 deadline to file a motion to govern future proceedings in the suit City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri v. EPA, et al. ,...

CCIG Memo

USWAG Letter


PFAS Receivers Press EPA To Issue Biosolids Guide, Revise Assessment

A group representing PFAS receivers, such as wastewater utilities and landfills, is urging EPA to issue interim guidance on the land application of biosolids to combat the uncertainty it says the agency’s draft risk assessment for two PFAS in biosolids has caused, arguing it would also give EPA more time to appropriately revise the risk assessment. “The absence of any risk management analysis contextualizing the Draft Risk Assessment--which EPA has historically completed at the same time as its completion of...

Setting National Model, New Jersey Inks $2 Billion PFAS Cleanup Deal

New Jersey has reached a landmark proposed settlement valued at over $2 billion with DuPont and related entities over longstanding PFAS contamination, setting what officials say is the largest environmental settlement achieved by a single state and one that will continue the Garden State’s “nation-leading” PFAS abatement efforts. “The companies have agreed to fully clean up contamination at four New Jersey sites and to pay $875 million in natural resource and other damages to the State for the harm that...

Environmentalists Sue Alabama Power To Address Biden EPA’s CCR Findings

Environmentalists are suing Alabama Power over alleged violations of EPA’s 2015 coal combustion residuals (CCR) rule, picking up the baton on Biden-era findings that the company planned to close impoundments at its Plant Gadsden in violation of the rule’s groundwater monitoring mandates. The suit , Coosa Riverkeeper Inc., v. Alabama Power Company , filed July 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, signals the Trump administration is not pursuing similar actions against this plant. “The...

EPA Signals It May Revisit Science Behind PFAS Biosolids Risk Assessment

The Trump EPA is signaling it may revisit the science underlying the Biden-era draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids, according to slides presented during recent listening sessions the agency held with states, the wastewater sector and other stakeholders, in a first sign of whether or how it will pursue sludge disposal rules. “The EPA is seeking feedback from potentially impacted stakeholders -- states, the wastewater sector, and the agricultural sector -- to better understand stakeholder views and...

EPA Slides

Summary Of EPA Listening Sessions

Notes From June 12 Call


Experts Doubt Speedy Benefits From Trump Order Easing Permitting For AI

Lawyers and permitting experts are doubtful that Trump administration efforts to ease environmental permitting for data centers and other artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure will yield quick results, as regulators work to craft rules to implement the policies while project developers will likely resist testing them early due to legal risks. “If federal agencies successfully implement these streamlining efforts, businesses developing data centers or associated energy sources may be subject to reduced regulatory requirements and may be able to take advantage...

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