Category: Regulatory Developments

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 […]

Pesticide worker

Is This Ruling on Chlorpyrifos the Last Word?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ran out of patience with the EPA’s conflicting positions on the pesticide chlorpyrifos and ordered the Agency to revoke all food tolerances and cancel all registrations for the chemical within 60 days of the court’s August 9, 2018, opinion (League of United Latin American Citizens, et […]

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 […]

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 […]

Crane at construction site

OSHA’s Crane Proposal Built on Evaluations of Operators

OSHA’s recent proposal to add a permanent requirement that employers ensure the competency of crane operators through evaluation is intended to correct a prior requirement—which is not yet in effect—that certification alone of crane operators is sufficient to demonstrate operator competency. Compliance with the certification-only standard, which was issued in 2010, is currently required by […]