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.

Bolstered By New Law, New Mexico Sues Air Force Over PFAS Releases

New Mexico is again suing the Air Force in state court over its alleged failure to control PFAS releases and mitigate off-base contamination at Cannon Air Force Base (AFB) under its hazardous waste permit, bolstered by a new state law that regulates firefighting foam containing PFAS as “hazardous waste.” The June 23 suit brings the state’s long-running fight with the Air Force over its per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) releases and cleanup demands at Cannon AFB full-circle, after originally filing in...

EPA Sidesteps Pyrolysis Questions In Weaker Small Incinerators Air Rule

EPA is sidestepping difficult questions about whether to regulate plants using pyrolysis or gasification to dispose of waste as incinerators, or instead as manufacturing facilities subject to weaker rules, in a newly final rule governing “other” solid waste incinerators (OSWI) that primarily eases requirements for small, remote incinerators in Alaska. Administrator Lee Zeldin quietly signed the rule June 17, ahead of its forthcoming publication in the Federal Register . EPA is under a June 30 legal deadline to issue the...

EPA Waste Office Faces Major Transition After Exodus Of Career Leaders

Facing a host of early retirements and buyouts, EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) is in a state of flux with the top career officials leading three key offices -- Superfund, federal facilities cleanup and mountains and plains offices -- having recently left the agency while OLEM’s highest-level career official recently retired. The Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI) within OLEM, which oversees cleanups, appears to particularly be hard hit as its top slot, along with...

Courts Expected To Settle CERCLA Liability Question Over Biosolids Use

As questions grow over potential Superfund liability for application of PFAS-containing biosolids, attorneys say they expect courts will be drawn into settling unresolved legal questions that are intensifying uncertainty for those seeking to dispose of biosolids, parties involved in real estate transactions at disposal sites, their consultants and others. Among other things, the attorneys expect that courts will ultimately have to decide whether such applications are covered by the exclusion under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)...

States Urge Proactive Engagement With EPA In Superfund Site Transitions

A new report from state waste officials is urging regulators to be more proactive in preparing to take over management of Superfund-financed cleanups from EPA through multiple steps of the process to avoid cost overruns and other concerns that have plagued such cleanups. Use of the Superfund trust fund in cleanups requires states to assume responsibility for long-term operation and maintenance (O&M) after a remedy is constructed. But often, “the costs associated with O&M are not fully understood until late...

California Advances Bill Requiring Suppliers To Recycle Dead EV Batteries

California lawmakers are continuing to advance a bill that would create a regulatory system in which electric vehicle (EV) battery suppliers must ensure the responsible end-of-life management of batteries, including recycling and repurposing, a measure that supporters say will serve as a strict national model but which has split auto manufacturers. “Even as we seek to dramatically grow our EV system, we simply don’t have a good policy framework in place to ensure that these beneficial outcomes that we seek...

North Dakota DEQ Chief Eager To Work With EPA Amid Budget Cut Worry

Dave Glatt, director of North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), says he is happy to be working with the Trump EPA, which he expects will “let states run with a lot of things,” though he continues to worry over the impact of dramatic proposed budget cuts from the agency for crucial state grant programs. In a June 6 interview with Inside EPA , Glatt says he is extremely concerned about EPA’s plan to slash state grant programs under Administrator...

EPA Efforts To Collect PFAS Air Data May Aid In Assessing Incineration

The Trump EPA’s plan to boost long-running efforts on crafting air measurement methods and collecting data on PFAS air emissions may aid the agency in setting parameters for thermal destruction technologies as it looks to place a greater focus on assessing destruction and disposal methods, attorneys say. Under the agency’s April 28 general outline of “major EPA actions” that the agency plans to undertake to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is a focus on air emissions data collection and...

D.C. Circuit grants additional abeyance in CCR suit

The D.C. Circuit is granting EPA’s request to extend by 60 days its ongoing abeyance in the power industry’s suit challenging the Biden-era rule governing legacy coal combustion residuals (CCR) surface impoundments and management units (CCRMU). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a June 13 order granting EPA’s request to extend its current abeyance in the suit, City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri, et al. v. EPA, et al. , by 60 days -- through...

Senate Passes Bill For New DTSC Metal-Shredding Rules, End Of Litigation

The California Senate has passed a bill to set up a new toxics department regulatory structure to govern metal-shredding facilities, a measure aimed at balancing rules for different parts of the process, while also ending several long-running lawsuits that have targeted individual facilities for pollution as well as the department’s existing rules. “This bill will ensure that California remains a sustainability leader in ‘reducing, reusing and recycling’ by fostering the recycling of scrap metal into new metal products, while at...

Democrats Renew Climate-Rollback Concerns As EPA Nominees Advance

Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) are stepping up their concerns over EPA and congressional Republicans’ ongoing efforts to roll back key climate policies, though they have so far not been able to leverage their concerns into stopping GOP senators from continuing to advance nominees for key roles at EPA. During a June 11 business meeting, senators on the committee voted 10-9 along party lines to approve John Busterud to serve as EPA’s assistant administrator for...

Environmentalists, States Seek PFAS, NOx Cuts From Waste Combustors

Environmentalists are seeking first-time air limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from municipal waste combustors as part of their push for stricter standards in the sector, while Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states are seeking steep nitrogen oxides (NOx) cuts to curb ozone, as EPA weighs a Biden-era plan for tougher limits. In May 29 comments to the agency, the New England-based Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) says “EPA should regulate PFAS in its final rule. CLF is particularly concerned about PFAS...

D.C. Circuit Grants EPA’s Request For Another Stay In SDWA PFAS Case

The D.C. Circuit has granted EPA’s fourth request to delay litigation challenging the Biden-era drinking water rule, giving the agency until July 21 to determine next steps in the case after officials announced they would extend compliance deadlines for two of the six PFAS subject to the rule while reconsidering limits for the other four. In a June 5 order , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted EPA’s request to continue abeyance in American...

Industry, Local Governments Resist Tightening Waste Combustors Air Rule

Waste incinerators and local governments that use the facilities to reduce landfilling are urging EPA against tightening air regulations for municipal waste combustors, reviving arguments over a Biden-era proposal for tougher regulation of the sector after EPA in January reopened the comment period on the plan. “EPA’s proposal is an overreach of federal authority, that is searching for a suitable justification and imposes a one-size fits all approach on all states, regardless of local air quality objectives and compliance. This...

Consultants Grapple With ‘Due Diligence’ For Biosolids Containing PFAS

Environmental consultants are grappling with whether the application of PFAS-containing biosolids to farmland triggers “due diligence” requirements for landowners under a Phase I environmental assessment due to EPA’s Superfund PFAS rule or if those requirements can be avoided per the Superfund law’s exclusion for fertilizer application. The effects of these legal questions are potentially significant because it could create uncertainty in real estate transactions since prospective purchasers seeking protection from potential Superfund liability are required to comply with the relevant...

EPA Plans Superfund Cuts, FTE Increases As Excise Taxes Again Fall Short

EPA is seeking to fully transition funding for the Superfund cleanup program to the chemical and oil industry taxes that Congress reauthorized during the Biden administration, resulting in massive cuts to the cleanup program as officials add additional funding burdens to the trust fund -- even as tax revenues again fall short of past projections. According to EPA’s just-released fiscal year 2026 Budget in Brief , the agency is seeking significant cuts to its Superfund remedial program given plans to...

EPA Faces Looming Deadlines To Make Key Decisions On Major PFAS Rules

EPA has outlined general policy plans for addressing PFAS contamination but it remains ambiguous on the details of just how far it will go in regulating the chemicals and how it may address competing interests, sources say, though the agency has little time to make some key decisions as it faces looming court deadlines. “You can only regulate and posture by press release for so long,” one industry attorney says, referring to press releases issued by EPA in recent weeks...

EPA seeks more comment on proposed Superfund listing of Exide site

EPA is seeking additional comment on the high-profile proposed listing of the former Exide Technologies lead battery-smelting facility in Vernon, CA, to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), due to new data becoming available about a specific area of the site. “These additional data pertain to the lines of evidence of aquifer interconnection and contaminant attribution and may be used by the EPA in a future determination on whether to list the site on the NPL,” states a June 2...

Environmentalists Raise Early Concerns Over North Dakota CCR Program

Environmentalists are raising concerns regarding EPA’s proposal to approve North Dakota’s request to operate its own coal combustion residuals (CCR) program, warning that the draft program’s partial nature could create tension between federal and state oversight of the program and that the plan lacks adequate transparency. Gavin Kearney, deputy managing attorney of Clean Energy at Earthjustice, tells Inside EPA that one of his major concerns is that the approving of North Dakota’s coal ash permit program as a “partial...

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