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The U.S. Department of Labor has announced funding opportunities for more than $21 million in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training grants for nonprofit organizations. The first availability will provide $10 million under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 for Workplace Safety and Health Training on Infectious Diseases, including the Coronavirus grants. To be eligible […]
In response to the EPA’s request for comments on the Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations and related goals, on June 16, 2021, former EPA Administrator and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, retired generals Russel Honoré and Randy Manner, former EPA Official Robert Bostock, and former National Security Council and Senate Intelligence Committee staff member […]
On June 9, 2021, the EPA and the Department of the Army announced that the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) will again be revised. How WOTUS is defined determines the geographical scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Any body of water defined as WOTUS requires a permit for […]
Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction on June 15, 2021, blocking the Biden administration from continuing to enforce its moratorium on new oil and gas leases on public lands. “Doughty said that the administration cannot stop leasing without congressional approval and that the […]
On June 11, 2021, the EPA published advance notice of proposed rulemaking to add 1-bromopropane (1-BP) to the Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP) list. This addition is historical as it will mark the first time an air toxin has been added to the HAP list through a petition and it “is the first time that a […]
In a report dated May 24, 2021, the EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) determined that the Agency “deviated from typical procedures in its 2018 Dicamba pesticide registration decision.” The watchdog report found required internal peer reviews were not conducted for three dicamba pesticide products. “While division-level management review is part of the typical operating […]
On June 10, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 exposures. The standard focuses on healthcare workers most likely to have contact with someone infected with the virus—primarily in hospital ambulatory care settings—but there are exemptions for healthcare providers that […]
On June 9, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted in a special meeting to withdraw revisions to the state’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standards (ETSs) the board had voted to approve on June 3. The revisions had been sent to the state’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for review. During its special meeting, the […]
Since the first day of his presidency, President Joe Biden has been directing attention to reviewing EPA actions impacting the chemical industry and commercial chemicals—specifically, agency actions under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The EPA is seeking public comment on its proposed 2022 Construction General Permit (CGP) for stormwater discharges from construction activity until July 12, 2021.