Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Days before compliance is required with its major rule, Occupational Exposure to Beryllium (January 9, 2017, FR), OSHA has published a direct final rule (DFR) clarifying provisions affecting trace amounts of beryllium materials in general industry workplaces. Specifically, the DFR amends the definition of beryllium work area as well as terms affected by that change.
On April 30, 2018, the EPA issued a rule with final designations under the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone for almost all U.S. counties not previously designated.
Late last week, OSHA released a couple of important news updates. One announced the issuance of a direct final rule revising the beryllium standard for general industry, and the other addressed whistleblower issues in the railroad and trucking industries. Read up on both of them right here.
Nearly 2 years after it was issued in preliminary form, the EPA has announced the availability of its final 2016 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan. Section 304(m) of the Clean Water Act requires the Agency to biennially publish a plan for new and revised effluent limitations guidelines after public review and comment. The intent of a […]
In a display of like-mindedness, congressional Democrats and Republicans came together to pass the Fair Agricultural Reporting Method Act (FARM Act), S. 2421. The bill amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) by explicitly exempting farmers from the requirement to report emissions of hazardous air pollutants from animal waste at their farms. […]
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has followed through on a commitment he made last month to initiate rulemaking to limit the Agency’s use of scientific information that is not accessible to the public and, therefore, not available for independent verification.
Cooperative federalism. The idea encourages national, state, and local governments to interact cooperatively and collectively to solve common problems rather than make policies separately.
A mere 4 days after the 2018 Agriculture and Nutrition Act (Farm Bill, H.R. 2) was introduced in the House, all 26 Republicans on the Chamber’s Agriculture Committee voted to approve the bill for consideration by the full House while all of the Committee’s 20 Democrats voted against it.
The EPA announced that it will initiate rulemaking to resolve uncertainties regarding the Agency’s current position on blending at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). The Agency says it will start the process by reaching out to states, local communities, and other stakeholders who are most affected by how POTWs manage wastewater (EPA news release.)
In its latest regulatory action under Clean Air Act (CAA) Section 112, the EPA has proposed several minor regulatory changes affecting the seven facilities engaged in Wet-Formed Fiberglass Mat Production. Emissions limits, primarily for formaldehyde, for this sector were promulgated in 2002 and would be unaffected by the proposal. Formaldehyde is classified as a known, […]