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The EPA is proposing not to use its authority under Section 108(b) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) to impose financial responsibility requirements on facilities in the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution sector.
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected challenges the Sierra Club mounted against procedures the EPA uses to approve plans states develop to monitor compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
In a final rule, the EPA has revised the Agency’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations to incorporate amendments to the FOIA that Congress issued in 2007, 2009, and 2016. These are the first substantive changes the Agency has made to its FOIA regulations since 2002. Among the more important revisions, the rule clarifies which […]
The National Safety Council (NSC) raised concerns about roadway and workplace safety after Illinois’s governor signed a bill allowing recreational marijuana use in the state.
Under a new EPA proposal, a major source of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) could be reclassified as an area source at any time by limiting its potential to emit (PTE) HAPs to below the major source thresholds of 10 tons per year (tpy) of any single HAP or 25 tpy of any combination of HAPs. […]
In a final rule, the EPA has revised its dust-lead hazard standards (DLHS) to address exposures generated by lead-based paint in residential dwellings and child-occupied facilities (COFs). The rule complies with orders issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in December 2017 and March 2018. The court had found in favor […]
In an action that ranks in importance with President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formally repealed the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) and replaced it with the Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE). Both actions are contained in the same rule along with a third […]
In March 2019, the EPA used its authority under Section 6(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to issue a final rule prohibiting the manufacture (including import), processing, and distribution in commerce of methylene chloride for consumer paint and coating removal (stripping). The action carried out part of a proposal the Agency published in […]
In a final rule, the EPA has exempted air emissions from animal waste at farms from the emergency release notification requirements of Section 304 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which is part of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), recently issued a memo clarifying how it determines if a proposed federal rule is a major rule and the level of cooperation the OIRA expects from federal agencies to assist in that determination. The […]