Category: EPA

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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Long exposure of Hudson Yards and Midtown Manhattan across the Hudson River on a hazy day where the Canadian fire smoke engulfs the city including the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building
Clean Air Act / EPA
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EPA Clearly Wants the Haze Gone

On a clear day, you can’t actually see forever — if you follow the blue sky out to the horizon, you will often see it become somewhat more pale and opaque, owing to ‘visible pollution,’ or “haze” — the result of the interaction of sunlight with particulate matter in the air.

Before the modern industrial age, haze was largely attributed to wind-blown dust, soot from wild-fires, and other types of volatile organic compounds (VOC) released by trees and plants into the atmosphere from America’s vast …

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United States Environmental Protection Agency sign on the Clinton building
Emissions / EPA
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Won’t You Be My [Non-Emitting] Neighbor? SCOTUS Stays EPA’s Federal Emissions Plan for States

Last week, in a 5-4 opinion, in Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court granted applications for a stay of the implementation of the “Good Neighbor” Plan, the EPA’s federal emissions reduction rule, set in 2015. The application of this rule was intended to address transboundary ozone pollution that can exacerbate health hazards. As previously explained by ELM, the Clean Air Act’s Good Neighbor provision enabled the EPA to require each state to implement regulations meant to reduce emissions that would …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / PFAS
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EPA Releases Updated Guidance on Destroying and Disposing PFAS

In furtherance of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap, which our firm has written about frequently, the EPA released an updated guide on destroying and disposing of PFAS.

According to EPA, the updated guidance (found here) reflects the “latest, best available science” to provide information that managers of PFAS wastes can use to evaluate the most appropriate destruction, disposal, or storage method. EPA instructs that the primary audience of this guidance are decision makers who need to identify the most effective …

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Heap of rechargeable batteries of differentes sizes, NiMH rechargeable.
EPA
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US EPA’s Proposed New Rule: An Assault on Batteries?

On June 5, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed limits on the use of N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP), a solvent found in products such as arts and crafts supplies and paint remover. Manufacturers also use NMP during the production of semiconductors and lithium-ion batteries. Studies link NMP to a range of negative health effects, including miscarriages, reduced male fertility, and damage to the liver, kidneys, and immune and nervous systems.

The US EPA’s proposed rule bans the commercial use of NMP in automotive care products, cleaning and …

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Hand with a spatula renovating the paint.
Emerging Issues / EPA
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Don’t you know that you’re toxic? EPA spears most uses of controversial solvent.

In late April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a ban on most uses of methylene chloride, a toxic solvent used for paint stripping and linked to over 85 deaths in the last 45 years. The ban forbids all consumer use of the substance, as well as most industrial and commercial uses. TheEPA did not completely ban all uses — it did allow some exemptions for the military, in addition to makers of climate-friendly coolants and electric-vehicle components.

Users often employ methylene chloride to refinish bathtubs …

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Smoke emerging from chimneys
Emissions / EPA
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Greenhouse Gas Regulation Heats Up as EPA Finalizes Rule for Reducing & Reporting Methane Emissions

After much anticipation, the Environmental Protection Agency issued its final rule this week aimed at cutting methane emissions as well as strengthening and updating greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reporting for the oil and gas industries.

Methane is a “super pollutant” that is many times more potent than carbon dioxide. Methane also contributes to approximately one third of the global warming from GHGs today, and the oil and natural gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions in the United States.  Toward that end, …

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Thick smoke rising from chimneys
Emerging Issues / EPA
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Attorneys General from 23 States Petition to End EPA’s Use of Disparate Impact In Regulating Pollution

Attorneys General from 23 states have filed a petition for rulemaking with the Environmental Protection Agency demanding the agency stop using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when regulating pollution. The petition, the main signatory of which is Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, comes on the heels of a decision in Louisiana v. EPA, No. 2:23-cv-692, 2024 WL 250798 (W.D. La. Jan. 23, 2024), where the EPA was enjoined from enforcing any Title VI based requirements on the state based on …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC
Clean Air Act / EPA
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Big Wheel Keep on Turnin’, EPA Keep on Churnin’ Out Regulations

Stationary combustion turbines, often referred to as gas turbines, are used to generate high volumes of electricity at power stations, dams, and industrial centers. Despite their size, noise, and prodigious output, these engines are simple, with a design that dates, at least in concept, all the way back to 150 BC when a Greek inventor named “Hero” designed a ‘toy’ sitting on top of heated water, the gases of which caused the toy to spin.

This concept, compressing air and then injecting fuel and heat …

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Ecological catastrophe
Emissions / EPA
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EPA Finalizes New Rule Requiring More Than 200 Chemical Plants to Reduce Toxic Emissions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced April 9 a set of final rules under sections 111 and 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to significantly reduce toxic air pollution from more than 200 chemical plants in the United States.

The plants affected make products such as synthetic organic chemicals, plastics, paints, synthetic fabrics, pesticides, petrochemical products, and various polymers and resins, including neoprene. The new rules strengthen protections for communities living near these industrial facilities, especially along the Gulf Coast, and it is anticipated …

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