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2020 has so far been defined almost entirely by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the public health crisis has affected environment, health, and safety (EHS) enforcement along with everything else. Let’s take a look at what’s been happening with enforcement at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), from the pandemic’s effect on policy to some recently […]
Asserting that there is no clear scientific evidence that more stringent standards would produce additional human health and environmental benefits, the EPA is proposing to retain without change the 2012 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM).
In June 2019, the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance announced its six National Compliance Initiatives (NCIs) for fiscal years 2020 through 2023. Before the Trump administration, the Agency referred to this program as its National Enforcement Initiatives. Regardless of the title, the program identifies sectors or types of activities that are in need […]
In a final action, the Trump EPA has reversed a finding the Agency made in 2000 (and affirmed by the Obama EPA in 2012) that it is appropriate and necessary (A&N) to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from coal- and oil-fired electric generating units (EGUs) under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act […]
On May 6, 2020, the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) unanimously approved—by identical votes of 21–0—two bipartisan bills that, combined, would invest nearly $20 billion in wastewater infrastructure projects and community drinking water improvements.
In a final rule, the EPA has issued its Residual Risk and Technology Review (RTR) for the Site Remediation source category regulated under the Clean Air Act’s National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP).
The White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) January 2020 proposal to revise its regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) prompted more than 172,000 public comments.
The EPA has announced that its Science Advisory Board (SAB) will significantly ramp up its research into the human and environmental health impacts of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19.
By a tally of 6 to 3, the U.S. Supreme Court found that under certain circumstances, a discharge of pollution from a point source that travels in groundwater before entering a navigable water subjects the discharger to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The COVID-19 pandemic may be restricting travel, access, and safety for personnel who perform required Clean Air Act (CAA) monitoring and related tasks at power plants. Accordingly, the EPA has issued an interim final rule that provides flexibility intended to cut compliance costs under three 40 CFR Part 75 programs: the Acid Rain Program, the […]