Latest News from Inside EPA

A federal district court judge in Texas has rejected EPA's motion to allow a quick appeal of the court's denial of several Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) permit violations that the agency alleges Texas utility Luminant committed, in a case seen as an important test on the time limits for EPA enforcing the NSR program.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for permission to intervene on EPA's behalf to defend the agency against ethanol groups' lawsuit that seeks to force EPA to expand biofuel requirements under its recent multi-year renewable fuel standard (RFS).

Environmentalists and brick manufacturing industry groups are questioning the legality of various provisions in EPA's maximum achievable control technology (MACT) air toxics rule for the sector, using recent legal filings to raise a host of concerns about the rule that the groups plan to raise in consolidated litigation over the MACT.

Democratic California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein plan next week to introduce a rider to pending Senate energy legislation that would create an inter-agency task force to address the ongoing massive methane leak in their home state, with the task force to weigh in on whether operations at the facility should continue.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is endorsing a legal agreement between EPA and environmental groups that sets a schedule for EPA to finalize long-delayed Superfund financial assurance rules for the hardrock mining industry and commits to deadlines for deciding if similar rules should follow for other industry sectors, finding that environmental petitioners have standing.

A new paper by academic researchers questions the ability of EPA's ToxCast program to identify a type of endocrine disruptor known as obesogens, findings that come as EPA is turning its Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) to greater use of the computational ToxCast toxicity screen to replace some of its traditional tests.

EPA financial advisors and water utility groups are calling on the agency's new Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center (WIRFC) to make household affordability issues a centerpiece of its mission, noting that the center can serve as a clearinghouse of information and convene conversations between EPA and stakeholders on innovative financing options.

EPA has quietly released its voluntary plan for oil and gas companies to reduce methane emissions from their existing operations though the agency dropped several components from the proposed version of the plan, including a commitment to set interim milestones, prompting criticism from environmentalists who say the program is flawed and underscores the need for strong regulation.

Environmental groups are citing the controversy and public uproar over EPA's handling of the Flint, MI, drinking water crisis as they urge the White House to block a pending EPA drinking water guide for radiological incidents.

Utility groups seeking to keep their lawsuits against specific technical aspects of EPA's utility maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule in abeyance claim the issues they raise are “inexorably” linked to a pending final cost review of the rule, and that therefore the cases should stay on hold until the agency issues the review.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is urging the White House to block an EPA request to collect information to support an expanded use of “citizen science” through which members of the public gather environmental data, with the Chamber warning that the proposal lacks justification and that such data would be of questionable validity.

Environmentalists are faulting EPA's rationale for its decision to tighten its ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) from 75 parts per billion (ppb) down to 70 ppb, saying that the agency should have set a stricter standard and failed to follow advice from its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC).

States opposed to EPA's power plant greenhouse gas rule are moving ahead with efforts to craft initial compliance plans after an appellate court rejected efforts to stay the rule pending judicial review -- moves that will help solidify the rule's implementation and put additional pressure on aging coal plants that face decisions about whether to upgrade.

States are divided over the merits of EPA's cost assessment that the agency says justifies its years-old decision that it was "appropriate and necessary" under the Clean Air Act to issue its air toxics rule for power plants, with some states backing the review while others say the study is based on a flawed analysis that undermines the air rule.

Two recent studies from the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) found cost savings for local governments and increased recycling rates in locations that instituted paint take-back programs but say streamlining the contracting process could further reduce costs.

Environmentalists are pursuing a Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) suit against city and state officials over the drinking water crisis in Flint, MI, that seeks stricter drinking water monitoring and treatment, while the agency and Michigan clash over EPA's power to issue a SDWA order to force some of the actions sought by the suit.

A federal district court has agreed with the United States and denied a petition to certify an interlocutory appeal of a ruling it issued last October that rejected a potentially responsible party's (PRP) divisibility of Superfund liability arguments at the massive Lower Fox River and Green Bay contaminated site in northeastern Wisconsin.

EPA is agreeing with recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that it should consider ways to collect information about drinking water utilities' use of asset management and, along with the Agriculture Department (USDA), compile the benefits of asset management into a single document.

Environmentalists say plans by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and states such as California and Pennsylvania on cutting methane emissions from the natural gas sector could boost their call for EPA to promulgate first-time methane limits on existing drilling operations after it finalizes a methane rule for new drilling.

EPA is fighting the power sector's bid to keep some challenges to provisions in its reconsidered utility maximum achievable control technology (MACT) in abeyance, saying it would best serve “judicial economy” to hear all those challenges now rather than wait for the agency to issue a related final cost review of the regulation.