Category: EPA

EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / PFAS
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EPA Rule Kills Trichloroethylene and Cripples Perchloroethylene

Our blog has written on EPA’s placement of Trichloroethylene (TCE on the chopping block and the phase down of Perchloroethylene (PCE). And early this week, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized those proposed rules with the latest risk management regulations for those two chemicals.

Under the rule, “all uses of TCE will be banned over time (with the vast majority of identified risks eliminated within one year), and safer alternatives are readily available for the majority of uses.” Further, the rule will “ban[] manufacture, processing and distribution …

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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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Smoke from chimney
EPA / Litigation
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Frustrated by EPA’s Delay on Air Quality, Environmental Groups Tell the Agency: “NOx it Off!”

Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) is a very reactive, brown-hued gas commonly produced when fuels are burned at high temperature by motor vehicles, chemical plants, etc. Industries will often intentionally oxidize NOx to produce lacquers, dies, and Nitric Acid, which is basic component in both fertilizers and explosives. When NOx is released into the atmosphere as an industrial byproduct, the results contribute substantially to smog, ozone depletion, and acid rain. More directly, exposure to NOx by humans can result in respiratory difficulty and eye, nose, and throat …

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Golden Gate bridge
Clean Water Act / EPA
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Did San Francisco Awaken the Ghost of the Chevron Doctrine? The Supreme Court Weighs In

During the first week of oral arguments of its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court heard City & County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency. (Audio of the roughly 90-minute proceedings can be found here.)

This case marks the court’s first look at the Clean Water Act following its decimation last term of the Chevron deference doctrine in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (covered by ELM here), in which the court reversed long-standing precedent to hold that federal courts must exercise …

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emissions
Emissions / EPA
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U.S. Supreme Court Rejected Challenge to EPA Efforts to Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions

On October 16, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an attempt to block the implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from power plants while the EPA is being challenged in pending court proceedings, but three justices indicated they had concerns with the rule’s legality.

The October 16 order arises out the emergency stay applications filed by multiple Republican-led states, utility and coal industry groups after the D.C. Circuit Court rejected their stay bids in July. These parties …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / PFAS
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EPA Proposes Addition of More PFAS and PFAS Categories to Toxic Release Inventory

As our blog has reported frequently, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an ambitious national strategy to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Dubbed a “roadmap,” the EPA says it is centered on three guiding strategies focused on research, restrictions, and remediation. Specifically: “Increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination.”  As part of this plan, we have blogged many times about the additions of various …

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Flag of the US State of Louisiana
EPA / Louisiana
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EPA Disparate Impact Assessments Permanently Halted by Louisiana Federal Court

On August 22, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana permanently blocked the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice from implement Civil Rights Act Title VI “disparate impact” regulations within the state of Louisiana. Disparate impact assessments are typically undertaken by the federal government when determining harms to communities significantly impacted – typically lower-income communities and communities of color – by large governmental projects and industrial or commercial permitting changes. Disparate impact assessments have been prioritized by …

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Tractor spraying crops
EPA
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For the First Time in Four Decades, EPA Uses Emergency Suspension Power on a Pesticide

On August 6, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an Emergency Order directing the suspension of all registrations issued under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for pesticide products containing the active ingredient dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA), also marketed under the trade name Dacthal. According to EPA, this is the “first time in almost 40 years that EPA is using its emergency suspension authority to stop the use of a pesticide.”

DCPA is a benzoic acid herbicide that inhibits cell division of root tips in …

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close-up view of water flowing from tap into glass
EPA / SDWA
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EPA Seeks Input from Small Businesses on Proposed Regulations for Drinking Water

Opportunity knocks for water treatment entities to provide their input on new regulations about to be rolled out by EPA that could either boost or harm their businesses. The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires EPA to establish a panel, including small businesses that may be economically impacted before any revisions to regulations become effective. But beware, the deadline only provides one week to apply.

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a review every six years covering the existing …

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Landfill with blue sky and cumulus clouds
Clean Air Act / EPA
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EPA not Afraid of Changin’, Wants Landfills to Bring it (Methane Emission) Down

The Environmental Protection Agency intends to issue a rule updating its Clean Air Act emission standards for new and existing municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills to cut methane and other harmful landfill gas emissions. 

The rule follows another Clean Air Act-related proposal the EPA issued in January, designed to reduce emissions of nine pollutants, including smog- and soot-forming sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by approximately 14,000 tons per year at MSW incinerators, as found here.

The EPA expects landfill operators to achieve these standards …

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