Latest News from Inside EPA

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) has introduced a bill that would increase authorization levels for EPA's clean water and drinking water state revolving funds (SRFs), in response to President Obama's fiscal year 2017 budget request that has prompted push-back for its proposal to cut the drinking water SRF by $411 million.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected environmentalists' bid to revisit a ruling from 2014 that restricted “segmented" National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review of natural gas pipelines, backing energy regulators' argument that the advocates' petition for a court order was premature.

State air regulators are offering EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy broad support for the agency's stalled greenhouse gas rule for existing power plants in the wake of the high court's stay, signaling that even regulators from coal states whose officials oppose the rule will continue discussions about the carbon-intensity of their power grids and suggesting that the delay may aid their eventual compliance.

Pesticide producer Bayer CropScience is vowing to seek a rare administrative hearing to contest EPA's plans to cancel the insecticide flubendiamide, arguing the agency's finding that the pesticide poses ecological risks is based on an inadequate assessment, and that a provision in EPA's 2008 conditional registration of the ingredient is unlawful.

Despite raising concerns about draft recommendations in a review of EPA's draft benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) assessment, the agency's chartered Science Advisory Board (SAB) has approved the draft peer review of the assessment of the chemical's human health risks pending minor changes.

Appellate judges at Feb. 11 oral arguments in litigation over EPA's vehicle emissions model grappled with whether the model qualifies as a judicially reviewable agency action and whether groups suing over it can prove injury from use of the model -- threshold questions that will determine whether the court also weighs the model's merits.

The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) is reviewing EPA's draft formal response to Government Accountability Office (GAO) criticisms that the agency violated legal restrictions on use of appropriations in how it promoted its Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule, says EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

Oil sector and refining groups are suing EPA over its renewable fuel standard (RFS) for 2014 through 2016 in a bid to force reductions in ethanol volumes required to be blended in the fuel supply in 2016 under the program, warning that EPA's rule proposes unachievable targets for renewable fuels and will force a rise in consumer fuel prices.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy is indicating that the agency will have to extend at least some deadlines under its greenhouse gas standards for existing power plants even if the rule is ultimately upheld in court, given the Supreme Court's unexpected stay of the rule pending resolution of litigation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has denied road builders' petition to revise a unanimous opinion that sent a suit over EPA's approval of California's “in-use” non-road engine air rules to the 9th Circuit, rejecting claims that the ruling inadvertently implies that other states could adopt the same rules.

Utilities and environmentalists are raising competing criticisms over EPA's proposed Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) emissions trading program update for power plants, with utilities doubting the need for the rule and fearing a possible expansion to other sectors while advocates claim the rule will fail to adequately protect public health.

A metals company's lawsuit over an EPA total maximum daily load (TMDL) for streams within a Southwestern Pennsylvania watershed impaired due to pollutants from acid mine drainage (AMD) could set a precedent on whether the agency's use of TMDL limits in Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge permits exceeds EPA's authority.

State regulators' threat to terminate their programs for certifying pesticide applicators, unless EPA significantly revises its proposed rule updating training requirements for applicators, could delay the final rule beyond the end of Obama's term, an observer says, noting the agency likely will have to address the states' concerns in a final rule.

Despite the Supreme Court stay of EPA's existing power plant greenhouse gas standards, a top official says the agency will continue to develop the rule's policy framework and work with businesses and states that continue compliance planning, while also promising to step up efforts to adopt several other pending climate rules before President Obama leaves office.

Leading state opponents of EPA's greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for existing power plants say the Supreme Court's decision to stay the rule pending the outcome of legal challenges should spur other states to “put down your pencils” and halt work on any compliance activities, though it is far from clear that the agency's supporters will do so.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is planning to include language in a 2016 Army Corps of Engineers authorization bill that would create a voluntarily-financed federal trust fund for financing repair of aging water infrastructure, arguing that the measure would fill gaps left after EPA's state revolving funds (SRFs) are exhausted.

EPA has moved its Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Program into its Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), an organizational change that will not affect reporting requirements and appears consistent with the agency's long-standing claims that reporting of TRI data gives companies an incentive to reduce their toxic releases.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is urging EPA to grant the oil and gas sector credit for reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under the agency's voluntary methane reduction program, saying that the credit should apply toward industry's compliance with pending agency guidelines on reducing emissions from existing drilling.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is urging EPA to undertake Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation with the service over a pending update to the agency's 2001 ambient water quality criteria for cadmium, a call echoed by environmentalists and California officials, who argue the criteria are insufficiently protective of endangered species.

Environmentalists are suing EPA to force the agency to object to the "synthetic minor" Clean Air Act permit of a Georgia power plant, a type of permit that some environmental sources say is problematic because its limits on emissions, which are designed to avoid tougher "major source" pollution controls, can often be difficult to enforce.