Category: Emissions

Emissions / Regulations
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Does EtO’s Recent Regulatory Battle Victory Mean It Will Win the War?

Following years of heightened concern about the dangers of exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO), increased regulatory oversight, and a steady hum of litigation, in 2025 it seems like things might be changing for the beleaguered industry dependent upon this highly effective but potentially cancer-causing sterilizing gas. With a new administration in the White House, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency laser focused on deregulation, and with the first defense verdict issued in an EtO case out in Colorado this past spring (covered by …

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Emissions / EPA
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EPA Grants Coke Plants Breathing Room on Emissions Requirements

The EPA on July 2 issued a finalized interim rule, published six days later in the Federal Register, which delays implementation of certain National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) requirements for coke oven manufacturing facilities.

According to the EPA, hazardous air pollutants (HAP) emitted from these coke oven manufacturing facilities can include benzene, mercury, lead and arsenic. Coke at these facilities is produced using coal and coke-oven batteries (which is a group of connected coke ovens). From there, coke in blast furnaces then …

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Emissions / NEPA
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NEPA’s Greenhouse Gas Guidance Blown Up In Smoke

At the beginning of this year, ELM forecasted that 2025 would be a big year for the National Environmental Policy Act (previously covered by ELM  here), and so far, our prediction continues to ring true. 

In the latest NEPA news, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the withdrawal of its interim guidance on “Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change” in NEPA reviews, effective May 28. The CEQ determined this interim guidance, which was previously …

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Emissions / Illinois
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Illinois Supreme Court to Decide Whether Ethylene Oxide Emissions Qualify as Traditional Environmental Pollution

The question of whether ethylene oxide emissions constitute traditional environmental pollution for the purpose of interpreting commercial general liability pollution exclusions remains unsettled in many jurisdictions across the United States. The issue may soon receive greater clarity in Illinois — and more broadly within the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals — in response to a recent direct request from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to the Illinois Supreme Court to provide specific direction concerning how Illinois law should address the question.

The Seventh Circuit’s …

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Large coal fired power plant with smoking chimneys
Emissions / EPA
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Montana Power Plant Requests Clean Air Waiver: Is This the Future of America’s Coal Energy?

The Colstrip Power Plant in Montana is now one of the early applicants to the new EPA exemption application process which we have previously discussed here. Specifically, the Colstrip plant has requested a two-year exemption from EPA standards regarding air pollution.

Previously, in April 2024, this power plant was subject to stricter standards under updates to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for power plants which was targeted at reducing airborne emissions of heavy metals including lead, arsenic, and mercury and had a compliance …

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Industry chimney with white smoke stack against blue sky.
Emissions
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Colorado Jury Issues First Defense Verdict after Years of EtO Exposure Lawsuits in US

A Colorado jury issued a defense verdict following a six-week trial during which four women alleged their respective cancers were caused by exposure to EtO emitted by the nearby Terumo Blood & Cell Technologies Lakewood plant over the course of several decades. They asked for a $444 million judgment.

Notably, during a years-long nationwide assessment of EtO facility emissions (covered by ELM here), the EPA previously concluded that the fence-line community living next to the Lakewood facility in Jefferson County had an elevated cancer …

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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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Emissions
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New Congress Reverses Biden-Era Methane Waste Emissions Fee

Despite longstanding bipartisan support, the U.S. Senate on Feb. 27 — just as the House did the day prior — passed a resolution withdrawing the waste emissions charge (WEC), which is a fee on methane waste emissions caused by oil and gas producers.

The vote served as one of the first attempts by this Congress to apply the Congressional Review Act in order to bypass the filibuster, which requires at least 60 senators for a successful vote, instead of requiring only a simple majority vote …

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Emissions / EPA
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SCOTUS Declines to Review EPA’s Authority on California’s Vehicle Emission Standards

SCOTUS Declines to Review EPA’s Authority on California’s Vehicle Emission Standards

    In a significant development for environmental law and state autonomy, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) recently declined to review whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to grant California a waiver to set its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for vehicles. This decision leaves in place California’s ability to implement stricter emission rules, marking a key moment in the ongoing battle over federal and state environmental regulations.…

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    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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