Latest News from Inside EPA

An EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) panel appears to be stepping back from its broad disagreement with the agency's draft study that found no “widespread, systematic” impacts to drinking water from hydraulic fracturing, instead questioning the ambiguity of the conclusion and calling for better definitions from EPA in its findings.

A new Montana law requiring the state's environmental agency to list all pipelines crossing "navigable" waters in the state could inform the Army Corps of Engineers' next round of streamlined Clean Water Act (CWA) pipeline permits, which could address advocates' concerns that the Corps fails to consider how many crossings are occurring.

Economists in EPA's Office of Policy are seeking guidance from agency advisors on proposed updates to EPA's policies on valuing risk reduction -- values used in the agency's cost-benefit analyses to support its regulations -- by asking for peer review of their plan to better quantify the benefits associated with reduced mortality risks.

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is urging the Supreme Court to “decide once and for all” whether EPA's landmark total maximum daily load (TMDL) water cleanup plan for the Chesapeake Bay is within the agency's authority or, as AFBF and others claim, sets a negative precedent by vastly exceeding EPA's authority.

Environmentalists and industry groups are jointly asking EPA to extend and synchronize any proposed deadline to phase out several hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) -- high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants -- in commercial chillers, opening the door for similar talks over chemicals used in other appliances that advocates had petitioned the agency to ban.

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) is petitioning EPA to issue strict national standards to protect aquatic species from runoff from neonicotinoid-treated seeds, part of advocates' wide-ranging push to show that the commonly-used insecticides they blame for harms to bees pose significant ecological risks with little or no economic benefit.

House lawmakers are weighing how the next version of the biennial Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) could promote novel water projects such as coastal stormwater management technologies, saying input from states and local communities will be a central challenge and focus as Congress works on crafting the legislation.

Senators in a Feb. 1 floor voice vote agreed to attach a bipartisan measure to the pending energy bill that would reauthorize and expand EPA's brownfields grants program, mirroring stand-alone legislation introduced by Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) and others last year.

Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) victory in the Feb. 1 Iowa Republican presidential caucus is spurring debate over whether it signals dwindling support for EPA's renewable fuel standard (RFS), with RFS critics saying the result is a major defeat for the ethanol lobby while supporters of ethanol say the RFS has gained support across the state.

EPA has sent for White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) pre-publication review a proposed rule that would establish a user fee schedule to impose service fees on manifest users under the agency's upcoming hazardous waste electronic manifest (e-manifest) system.

States are urging EPA to expand its proposal to lengthen the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act permitting terms for experimental landfill projects, such as bioreactors and alternative covers, and develop a new rule that would grant the projects permanent approval.

A pair of recent appellate court rulings blocking citizen groups' suits trying to enforce federal air and water laws underscore limits that judges have placed on such cases, legal observers say, highlighting the need for advocates to ensure they quickly intervene in other enforcement cases filed by regulators to push for major penalties.

Road builders are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to revise its opinion sending the industry's suit over an EPA approval of California's “in-use” non-road engine air rules to the 9th Circuit, warning that the ruling as written inadvertently implies that the in-use restrictions could be adopted by other states.

High-level New York state officials are urging EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to address the threat of the persistent chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in drinking water across the country by expeditiously developing an enforceable drinking water standard, marking what appears to be the first time a state has sought national EPA action to address any of the class of chemicals known as perfluorochemicals (PFCs).

The biomass industry is asking a federal appellate court to determine whether its challenges to two EPA rules -- one limiting greenhouse gases (GHGs) at new power plants and a second aimed at existing facilities -- should be consolidated, after the agency agreed with its request that the claims be held in abeyance but opposed combining them.

EPA has sent for White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) pre-publication review a final rule that would revise several technical aspects of its “Tier 3” fuel and vehicle emissions rules, after withdrawing an earlier version of the regulation that fuel industry groups warned would create confusion about regulatory requirements.

Environmentalists and one municipality are threatening EPA with legal action in a bid to force the agency to either grant or reject proposed water quality criteria in three states, claiming EPA has either failed to meet Clean Water Act (CWA) deadlines for making a decision on the plans or issuing federal standards in lieu of state criteria.

Environmentalists are pointing to a new Health Canada report finding neonicotinoid-treated seeds benefit corn and soybean yields in calling for EPA to release similar reviews, which advocates believe will show that the pesticide products they blame for harms to bees fail to benefit growers, though industry is touting Canada's study as showing the seeds' value.

A biochemicals advocacy group is weighing its options after EPA rejected a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) petition seeking to ease the regulatory path for certain biobased chemicals, including challenging the denial in court or filing a new request under a different section of the toxics law.

A House Democrat is citing the drinking water contamination crisis in Flint, MI, as underscoring the need for swift oversight from EPA and Ohio regulators in response to fears about high lead levels in the water supply of Sebring, OH, warning that the Flint disaster is a possible “canary in the coal mine” for widespread water infrastructure problems.