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The EPA has launched its voluntary Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production New Owner Audit Program (O&G Audit Program), a descendent of the Agency’s various self-audit policies designed specifically for the upstream O&G sector.
A 1,880-page draft report on the risk particulate matter (PM) imposes on human health may undergo extensive revisions because the EPA’s powerful Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) has concluded that the methods used by the authors of the report are flawed and that the authors’ estimated impact PM has on mortality is overstated.
For the second time in 2 months, a U.S. district court judge has dismissed a suit claiming that the EPA’s October 2017 directive establishing new guidelines for membership in Agency science committees was illegal.
Michigan has joined a growing list of states that have lost patience with the EPA’s progress on setting a limit on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. The EPA’s lack of action, says Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, has compelled her to begin the process of completing a state maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFAS […]
On October 23, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA). The law established the parameters and federal funding levels for many types of water infrastructure improvement projects, including work by the Army Corps of Engineers to upgrade navigation, expand the ability of FEMA to assist states in flood management, […]
In a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a bipartisan group of six senators added their voice to those urging the Agency to leave in place its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).
There is strong bipartisan support in the Senate to reauthorize the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA), which directs federal dollars into grants, rebates, and loans to public and private entities implementing projects that reduce emissions from diesel engines. As noted by sponsors of the reauthorization bill, as well as witnesses at a recent Senate hearing, […]
On March 8, 2019, President Donald Trump signed legislation to extend the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA) through September 2023. An amendment to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the original PRIA, or PRIA 1, became law in 2004.
President Donald Trump’s proposed 2020 federal budget—a record-high $4.75 trillion—includes a 31% decrease in funding for the EPA, from $8.9 billion in 2019 to $6.1 billion. The proposal would eliminate 37 current EPA programs and four “subprogram projects” and reduce the budgets of 15 major programs. The president also proposes a new $50 million Healthy […]
In September 2018, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) promulgated amendments that eliminated or replaced most provisions of the Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation final rule the Obama administration issued in 2016. However, several 2016 provisions were retained with modifications, including a provision relating to measuring and […]