Category: Special Topics in Environmental Management

GHG, vehicle emissions

Dissecting the Revocation of California’s CAA Waiver

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) and the EPA’s proposed amendments (August 24, 2018, Federal Register (FR)) to regulations governing corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards (NHTSA) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (EPA) for model years (MYs) 2021–2026 passenger cars and light trucks will likely face legal challenges should the agencies promulgate final rules […]

Yosemite Merced River el Capitan Panorama

WOTUS Definition Reinstated by District Court Judge

Judge David C. Norton of the U.S. District Court for South Carolina upended the Trump administration’s careful plans to eliminate and replace the Obama administration’s Clean Water Rule by issuing an injunction against the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) “Suspension Rule” that delayed the effective date of the Clean Water Rule for 2 […]

Gavel, court decision

EPA’s 20-Month Delay of RMP Amendments Vacated by Court

Stating that the Trump EPA cannot use a general provision of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to negate a specific provision of the Act, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated an Agency final rule that sought to delay by 20 months the effective date of the Obama EPA’s […]

Farm

Farm Emissions Get a Regulatory Exemption

The EPA has issued a direct final rule—that is, an action for which there was no prior opportunity for public comment, and, in this case, one that is effective immediately—that appears to put an end to a 10-year dispute over whether air emissions from animal waste at farms should be subject to reporting under the […]

GHG, vehicle emissions

California GHG Emissions Standards Would Be Rolled Back By EPA/NHTSA Proposal

In a joint press release, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles, which seeks to establish new 50-state fuel economy and tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions standards. The proposed SAFE Vehicles rule would revise […]

Prop 65

Is Your Business Ready for the New Proposition 65 Rules?

On August 30, 2018, California’s complex new Proposition 65 requirements for “clear and reasonable warnings” will take full effect, impacting companies across the country that do business in the Golden State. Though the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) adopted the new regulations in August 2016, businesses have had a 2-year phase-in period to […]

Superfund site

EPA’s Year-1 Superfund Report

One of the main goals of ex-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was development and implementation of measures to expedite removal of sites from Superfund’s National Priorities List (NPL) and returning those sites to economic productivity. A significant step in this process was 42 recommendations to improve Superfund issued in July 2017 by a Superfund Task Force […]