LATEST INSIGHTS

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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Scientist-with-beaker
PFAS / Toxic Substances
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EPA Removes Toxic Substances Control Act Exemptions for PFAS

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Dec. 4 finalized amendments on the regulation of new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Specifically, the EPA targeted stricter regulations of certain exemptions under the TCSA for PFAS and PBT chemicals. As our blog has previously reported, the challenges surrounding the manufacturing of PFAS and PFAS PBT chemicals continue to steadily increase.

The EPA through the TCSA review program acts as a “gatekeeper” for the manufacture of “new chemicals” (i.e. chemicals not presently listed in the …

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Wave crashing against the beach
Clean Power
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Surf’s up: Wave energy no longer confined to sports venues

Can wave-energy be a green-power solution for coastal communities? That question may be at least partially answered in Newport, Oregon, a small seaside town cooperating with the U.S. Department of Energy in an attempt to convert wave power into electricity. Newport expects the project to provide enough energy to power thousands of its homes and businesses.

The process uses buoy-type converters located miles offshore. These converters transfer energy to underwater connectors into which they are plugged. From the connectors, cables buried underneath the seafloor carry …

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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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Emerging Issues
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A salted battery: will sodium-ion technology change the electric-power game?

We have relied upon lithium-ion batteries to power electric vehicles and mobile phones, among other things, almost since the inception of their respective industries. But the mining and processing necessary to manufacture these batteries provides one of their major drawbacks—not only does their production pose environmental and human costs, but their improper disposal can inject toxins into the environment.

Sodium, which is both cheaper and more environmentally friendly than lithium, recently emerged as a promising alternative. Sodium-ion batteries also last much longer than their lithium-based …

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Molecules
Emerging Issues
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What the TFA! Is Trifluoroacetic Acid Another “Forever Chemical” on the Rise?

A couple of months ago, our blog published an article on the exploding ubiquity of Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in the environment.

TFA is a breakdown product of several hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC). It is regulated under the Montreal Protocol (MP), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) used mainly as refrigerants.

Trifluoroacetic acid is (1) produced naturally and synthetically, (2) used in the chemical industry, and (3) a potential environmental breakdown product of a large number (>1 million) chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and polymers.

In 2016, EPA stated that the “formation …

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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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oil refinery
California / Regulations
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Law Gives California’s Energy Commission Ability to Nudge Oil Refiners to Make Better Inventory Decisions

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on October 14 signed into law Assembly Bill X2-1, significantly increasing the authority of the California Energy Commission (CEC) to create requirements for the state’s oil refiners to preserve minimum inventories of state-compliant refined transportation fuels.

Authored by assemblymembers Gregg Hart and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry in conjunction with Sen. Nancy Skinner, the law take effect in January 2025 and expands the powers of the recently created Division of Petroleum Market Oversite (DPMO) within the CEC.

DPMO was created last year as …

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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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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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