EPA Archives

May 24, 2018

EPA and Coal Ash Pond Regulation: 2018 Update

On March 1, 2018, EPA proposed rules to amend several provisions of the Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities final rule (the “CCR Rule”). EPA accepted written comments on this proposal through Regulations.gov under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2017-0286 and held a hearing on the proposed rule on April 24, 2018. The comment period ended on April 30, 2018. As noted in EPA’s public hearing announcement, EPA estimates that the proposed rules would save the regulated community between $31 million and $100 million per year. Despite EPA’s proposed amendments, Bloomberg Environment recently reported that Duke Energy and the Tennessee… Read more

May 15, 2018

EPA Announces New Carbon Neutral Policy for Forest Biomass Energy

Carbon Neutral Policy and Forest Biomass

On February 23, 2018, Scott Pruitt announced a new EPA policy which will treat forest biomass burned at power plants as carbon neutral in all future regulations. According to Pruitt, the policy will provide “much-needed certainty and clarity” on the carbon neutrality of forest biomass – a clarification that the forest and paper industries have long sought. Biomass involves obtaining energy by burning wood and other organic matter which is classified as renewable energy in the European Union and United Nations because plant stocks can be replaced with new growth. In the U.S., regulatory uncertainty regarding how the EPA would treat… Read more

Apr 18, 2018

EPA Posts Updated List of “Active” Chemical Substances

The Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory (“Inventory”) is a list of chemical substances manufactured (including imported) or processed in the United States. On April 12, 2018, EPA posted an updated version of the Inventory, designating nearly 31,000 chemicals on the public portion of the Inventory as “active” in U.S. commerce. TSCA regulation generally prohibits the manufacture, importation, or processing of “inactive” chemical substances. On June 22, 2016, Congress amended TSCA pursuant to the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. The amended TSCA initiated an “Inventory reset” process, which required EPA to designate chemical substances as “active”… Read more

Apr 11, 2018

Update on EPA Formaldehyde Emissions in Composite Wood Products

When the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California invalidated the Trump Administration’s attempted one-year delay of the EPA rule limiting formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products on February 16 (see this newsletter published March 14, 2018, found here), it stayed the effect of its Order until March 9 to allow the parties to attempt to reach a settlement on the effective date of the emissions limits. The parties did reach agreement on March 9, and an Order was entered on March 13, establishing that the formaldehyde emissions limits in EPA’s rule become effective on June 1, 2018…. Read more

Apr 4, 2018

EPA Lifts Repair Requirements for Oil and Gas Leaks

The EPA has altered a 2016 rule requiring oil companies to fix leaks from oil and gas wells during unscheduled shutdown periods. Under the now-defunct 2016 rule, oil and gas operators were required to identify and repair sources of fugitive emissions during unscheduled or emergency shutdowns. The EPA estimated that the rule would cost the industry $14-16 million in compliance cost over a 14-year period, and industry representatives have indicated that the rule could potentially disrupt natural gas supplies by taking wells offline for longer periods of time while repairs are being conducted. With this change, owners and operators are… Read more

Mar 13, 2018

Federal Court Rejects EPA Rule Delaying Formaldehyde Standards in Composite Wood Products

In the wake of illnesses reported by refugees from Hurricane Katrina who were housed temporarily in manufactured housing, Congress in 2010, in the Formaldehyde Standards in Composite Wood Products Act, required EPA to issue rules limiting formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products. The Obama EPA took 6 years to issue the final rule, which required compliance with the new emissions limits by December 2017. In September 2017, the Trump EPA issued a rule delaying compliance with the emissions limits until December 2018. The delay rule was challenged by the Sierra Club and the New Orleans-based group A Community Voice. Judge… Read more

Feb 21, 2018

EPA Reverses Toxic Pollutant Policy under Clean Air Act

On January 25, the EPA issued a memorandum reversing the “once-in-always-in” policy under the Clean Air Act (“Act”) which prevented major sources of toxic air pollutants from removing pollution control devices at their facilities once actual emissions fell below major source thresholds. The new policy will allow these facilities to be reclassified as smaller “area” sources subject to less stringent requirements. The policy originated in a 1995 memorandum which clarified when major sources (defined as facilities that released at least 10 tons per year of single toxic air pollutant or 25 tons of any combined toxic pollutants each year) can… Read more

Feb 6, 2018

EPA Must Consider Banning Drinking Water Flouridation

A federal judge in California has ruled that EPA wrongly dismissed a petition to ban fluoridation of drinking water under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Food & Water Watch, Inc. v. EPA, N.D. California, 12/21/2017. The Petitioners sought a determination by EPA to ban the use of fluoride in drinking water. EPA dismissed the petition because it sought only to ban a single use of a chemical, finding that Section 21 of TSCA requires that a Section 21 petition seek to ban all uses of a chemical, rather than a single use. The Court disagreed, holding that the new… Read more

Jan 23, 2018

Supreme Court Rules Challenges to WOTUS Rule Must be Brought in District Court

Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule

In a unanimous decision issued on January 22, 2018, the Supreme Court held that challenges to the WOTUS Rule must be reviewed first in federal district court, reversing the Sixth Circuit’s ruling with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. The Supreme Court’s decision results in a lift of the national stay of the WOTUS Rule ordered by the Sixth Circuit, which could make the Rule’s provisions enforceable, at least until another court issues a national stay of the Rule. In 2015, the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers proffered a definition of the term “waters of the United States”… Read more

Jan 18, 2018

9th Circuit: EPA Must Update Its Lead Dust Standards

In another blow to the Administration’s deregulatory agenda, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled on December 27 that EPA has a non-discretionary duty to propose updates to its 2001 lead dust hazard standard. The Court gave EPA 90 days to issue the proposal, and a year to finalize it. Community Voice, et al v. EPA (9th Circuit, Dec. 27, 2017). The Court’s 2-1 decision rejected the Administration’s argument that its only duty under the law was to issue the original standards in 2001, and that the decision whether to update the standards was within the agency’s discretion. Instead,… Read more