Category: Regulatory Developments

Wisconsin farm, Waters of the United States (WOTUS)

WOTUS Rulemaking: Farmers Are a Captive Audience

In their Spring 2019 Regulatory Agendas, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) indicated they are aiming for December 2019 to issue their final revised definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS). The revised definition of WOTUS is intended to provide clarity to farmers and other members on the regulated community […]

Renewable fuel standard, biofuel, corn

Proposed RFS Obligations Widely Met with Dissatisfaction

The EPA’s proposed 2020 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for petroleum refiners, which are required under the Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), were greeted with almost universal disapproval from the ethanol industry and the farmers who grow crops that are converted into ethanol.

Construction worker on hot day, heat stress

New House Bill Would Mandate a Federal Heat Standard

OSHA would have to establish a federal heat stress standard if a bill just introduced in Congress becomes law. The bill, introduced July 10, would require the agency to issue a proposed standard within 2 years and a final regulation within 42 months.

Coal Plant

EPA Says Power Companies Don’t Need Financial Responsibility Rule

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.

EPA’s Air Monitoring Rule Upheld by D.C. Circuit

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).

EPA Offices, Washington DC

FOIA Revisions Issued by EPA

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 […]

Air pollution, pollutants, smokestacks

EPA Proposal Would Allow Major Sources to Reclassify

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. […]