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Trucks
Automotive / Emissions
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California Hits Harder on Heavy Truck Emissions

On April 28, California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) approved new regulations which would phase out the sales of medium and heavy-duty combustion trucks in California by 2036. The goal is to fully transition existing fleets to zero-emissions vehicles by 2045.   

Known as the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation, the ACF is part of CARB’s latest initiative to accelerate California’s transition to zero-emission medium and heavy duty vehicles. The purpose of the regulation is to protect communities that are near trucking corridors and warehouse locations. Studies have shown …

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Close-up side shot of hands shows microplastic waste contaminated with the seaside sand. Microplastics are contaminated in the sea. Concept of water pollution and global warming.
California / Microplastics
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California Looks to Expand Regulation of Microplastics and PPD Derivatives

California has begun the public process for a potential regulatory proposal expanding the list of chemicals that may be regulated under its Safer Consumer Products Program (SCP). The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), part of the California Environmental Protection Agency, has proposed adding microplastics and para-Phenylenediamine (PPD) derivatives to its Candidate Chemicals List (CCL) in an attempt to control their impact on human health and the environment.

PPD derivatives are a family of chemicals used in a variety of industrial applications. The only PPD derivative …

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Handle fuel nozzle to refuel the car.
Automotive / Emissions
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EPA Gives the Green Light to Ethanol for Summer Travel

The EPA on Friday granted a waiver of its traditional summer ban on the sale of gasoline with 15-percent ethanol — or “E15” — to continue mitigating the disruption of fuel commerce around the globe caused by the conflict in Ukraine.

Ethanol is made by fermenting the sugar in the starches of grains such as corn, sorghum, and barley, and the sugar in sugar cane and sugar beets. The vast majority of gasoline sold in the United States is “E10,” or gasoline with 10-percent ethanol …

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Chemical container for toxic liquid, warning symbol in bio hazard dangerous blue tank. Recyclabe plastic waste barrel. Recycle for climate change concept.
CERCLA / PFAS
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Pandora’s Reopener Box: Lying in Wait when PFAS Compounds Become “Hazardous Substances” under CERCLA

The U.S. EPA published its PFAS Strategic Roadmap booklet in October 2021 and, true to its word, has come very close to meeting most of its self-imposed deadlines to tackle the truly difficult environmental- and human-health challenges that PFAS has presented. The PFAS Roadmap booklet — although close to two years old now — is just that, a roadmap, and is a concise straightforward document of only 22 pages. It’s a must read for anyone interested in PFAS. One of the Roadmap’s goals proposes the …

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Various types of plastic trash on the grass. Plastic for recycling.
EPA / Plastic
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Pitching the Plastic: A Call to Reduce Plastic Pollution

On the eve of Earth Day, the Biden Administration announced a new “White House Interagency Policy Committee (“IPC”) on Plastic Pollution and a Circular Economy.” The IPC is tasked with coordinating federal efforts on plastic pollution, prioritizing public health, economic development, environmental justice, and equity to ensure that the benefits of acting on plastic pollution are available to all.

Alongside the IPC, the Environmental Protection Agency also released a draft “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” for public comment, which seeks to eliminate the release …

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Flag of the US State of New Jersey
New Jersey / Regulations
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New Jersey Governor Announces Nation’s First Environmental Justice Regulations

On April 17, the first day of Earth Week, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced the final adoption of regulations to implement the state’s Environmental Justice Law. According to the Office of the Governor, the Environmental Justice Law and corresponding regulation is the “first in the nation aimed at reducing pollution in historically overburdened communities and communities of color that have been subjected to a disproportionately high number of environmental and public health issues.”

As previously reported by ELM here, Gov. Murphy signed the …

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Justice Scales and books and wooden gavel
California / Emerging Issues
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New Ninth Circuit Ruling: City of Berkeley’s Gas Ban Preempted by U.S. Energy Policy & Conservation Act

On Monday, April 18, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, overturning a lower federal district court’s ruling to revoke the City of Berkeley, California’s ban of natural gas infrastructure in newly constructed buildings.

Berkeley’s prohibition against natural gas was seen as the first city-level law aimed at forcing developers and building owners to switch to building all-electric new buildings. Berkeley’s Ordinance No. 7,672-N.S. was passed unanimously by Berkeley’s City Council in December 2019 …

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United States Environmental Protection Agency
Clean Air Act / EPA
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Highly Anticipated Proposed EtO Rules the EPA Just Announced: Were They Worth The Wait?

After years of delays – largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic – on April 11, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finally issued two proposals that would reduce ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions affecting fence-line communities neighboring EtO sterilization facilities and establish direct protections for facility employees likely to be regularly exposed to this sterilizing chemical. The proposals, which fall under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), are expected to dramatically reduce EtO emissions by a whopping 80% …

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coal power plant emissions
EPA / Wastewater
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The EPA Proposes New Wastewater Discharge Standards on Coal-Fired Power Plants

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on March 29, 2023 new proposed wastewater discharge standards to reduce discharges of toxic metals and other pollutants from coal-fired power plants. Steam electric power plants use heat to create steam that produces electricity. These plants use large amounts of water – approximately 133 billion gallons a day. This water is drawn from rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The plants use this water for various processes including cooling and generating steam. Over the last thirty years, new technologies have been developed …

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truck traffic
Automotive / California
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EPA Gives California Green Light to Hit the Brakes on Heavy Truck Emissions

California has been pushing hard recently to lose its status as the second-largest contributor of the nation’s greenhouse gases (still comfortably behind Texas.)

In 2020, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) enacted the Advanced Clean Trucks (“ACT”) rule, the world’s first zero-emissions commercial truck requirement. Specifically, ACT required large-capacity vehicle (truck) manufacturers to phase out gasoline and diesel trucks, which account for the largest single source of pollution in the world’s fifth-largest economy, by replacing them with ever-larger volumes of vehicles with zero emissions. By …

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