Author: Sarah B. Mangelsdorf

EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / PFAS
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EPA Announces List of Upcoming Agency Actions to Address PFAS

The Environmental Protection Agency announced April 28 a list of upcoming agency actions to address Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). 

This week’s announcement provides a broad outline of EPA’s plans that centers around three principles: (1) strengthening the scientific understanding of PFAS, (2) fulfilling statutory obligations and enhancing communication, and (3) building partnerships. 

PFAS are a class of thousands of humanmade “forever chemicals” that can last for many years in the environment. They are used in manufacturing and consumer products, such as non-stick pans, raincoats, …

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Computer Monitor screen, concept of email
Emissions / EPA
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EPA Introduces New Email Account for Regulated Community to Request Presidential Exemption

The Environmental Protection Agency announced March 12 it set up an e-mail account allowing the regulated community to request a presidential exemption under Section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act (“CAA”). 

The CAA permits the president to grant exemptions to stationary sources from compliance with any standard or limitation set forth under Section 112 for up to two years if the technology required to meet the standard is not available and if it’s in the United States’ national security interests.

In particular, the EPA requested …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / Wastewater
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Supreme Court Requires EPA to Set Specific Targets in Water Permits

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, in San Francisco v. EPA, held in a 5-4 decision that the EPA cannot enforce requirements in wastewater permits that “do not spell out what a permittee must do or refrain from doing.” 

San Francisco’s Oceanside plant, which has a combined sewage treatment plant and stormwater control system, discharges treated sewage and stormwater into the Pacific Ocean through eight pipes. Because one of the pipes discharges into federal waters, this facility is required to obtain a National Pollution …

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Majestic giants in Sequoia National Park in California, USA
NEPA / Regulations
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Navigating NEPA in the New Year

On January 31 — in Marin Audubon Society et al. v. FAA et al. — the D.C. Circuit Court declined petitions for en banc review of a panel’s November 2024 ruling that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) does not have the legal authority to promulgate regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The dispute centers around claims made by environmental groups that the Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service violated NEPA when they approved tour flights over California’s Bay Area …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / PFAS
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EPA Continues Removing Confidential Business Info and De Minimis Exemptions for PFAS Chemicals

While ringing in the New Year, the Environmental Protection Agency announced the addition of nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances to the list of chemicals covered by the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) pursuant to the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), making them the latest PFAS that can no longer be claimed as confidential business information. 

These chemicals include the following:

  • Ammonium perfluorodecanoate (PFDA NH4) (3108-42-7)
  • Sodium perfluorodecanoate (PFDA-Na) (3830-45-3)
  • Perfluoro-3-methoxypropanoic acid (377-73-1)
  • 6:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate acid (27619-97-2)
  • 6:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate anion (425670-75-3)
  • 6:2
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Smoke-stacks-view-from-above
Emissions / EPA
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Waste Not, Charge Not: EPA Finalizes Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Nov. 12 its final rule to further reduce methane emissions from oil and gas industries as required under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

In particular, Congress established a Waste Emissions Charge for high-emitting oil and gas facilities once emissions exceed 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Coupled with the final Clean Air Act standards issued in March, the Waste Emission Charge is a central component of EPA’s efforts to reduce methane …

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Freight train on the railroad at sunrise. Aerial view
NEPA
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What’s Next For NEPA?

The U.S. Supreme Court last week scheduled oral arguments for December 10 in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, a highly anticipated case that focuses on whether a federal agency should be required to consider environmental effects that it does not have direct authority to regulate and that do not occur near the project itself. 

In other words, the court will determine whether the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires a federal agency to study environmental impacts beyond the proximate effects of the …

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Servers. Servers room data center. Backup, mining, hosting, mainframe, farm and computer rack with storage information. 3d rendering
Clean Power
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Big Tech’s Investment in Geothermal Energy Continues to Heat Up

On August 26, Sage Geosystems announced an agreement to supply Meta with 150 MW of geothermal power. Sage will use its proprietary Geopressured Geothermal System (GGS) to provide carbon-free power for Meta’s data centers. This makes Meta the latest tech giant to invest in geothermal energy.  In June 2024, Google negotiated a similar deal with NV Energy for 115 MW of geothermal energy to help Google power its Nevada data center.

Data centers typically require ever increasing amounts of energy around the clock, which alternate …

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Hazy morning pollution and dusty smoke and smog atmosphere in Bangkok
EPA
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In Aftermath of Supreme Court Decisions in Ohio and Loper, EPA’s Defense of ‘Good Neighbor Plan’ Persists

The Environmental Protection Agency’s implementation of the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards “Good Neighbor Plan” (GNP) was met with a fury of legal challenges (see ELM’s previous coverage of EPA’s GNP here).   

Then, on June 27, the Supreme Court in Ohio v. EPA (Ohio) issued a 5-4 opinion granting a temporary stay of EPA’s implementation of its Good Neighbor Plan (see ELM’s recent coverage of Ohio v. EPA here). However, in another landmark 5-4 decision that same day, the Supreme …

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Supreme_Court
Regulations
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Living in a De Novo World – Life after Chevron

On June 28, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises, et al. v. Raimondo Secretary of Commerce, et al., held that federal courts must exercise independent judgment in deciding whether a federal agency has acted within its statutory authority. This decision upends 40 years of precedent set forth by the court’s prior finding in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (“Chevron”). 

Until now, it was well known that Chevron was the legal standard in administrative law for determining …

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