Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In an apparent timing maneuver, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has formally proposed to rescind the Obama administration’s 2015 rule establishing requirements for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of oil and gas (O&G) reserves on federal and tribal lands.
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, better known as Cal/OSHA, is known for having some of the most stringent workplace safety regulations in the country. Employers in California need to comply with a number of rules with no federal counterpart, including the Injury and Illness Prevention Program rule, heat illness prevention standards, and many […]
By a vote of 229 to 199, the House passed H.R. 806, the Ozone Standards Implementation Act, a bill that would double the 5-year time frame under which the EPA reviews the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and provide the Agency the authority to consider factors other than […]
Interest is growing in a “directive” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt may have issued regarding a new Agency position to the so-called sue-and-settle approach to federal environmental rulemaking. In sue and settle, which gained notoriety with the Obama EPA, the Agency responds to a lawsuit demanding new environmental protections by entering into a consent decree in […]
In a minor victory for the EPA, a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed to recall its July 3, 2017, vacatur (mandate) of the Trump EPA’s 90-day administrative stay of the Obama EPA’s June 2016 New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for fugitive emissions (leaks) of methane and other pollutants […]
Stating that it wishes to prevent disruption to the supply chain, the EPA has issued a direct final rule allowing manufacturers (including importers), sellers, and suppliers of composite wood products to label these products as compliant with Title VI (the 2010 Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) […]
Stays, delays, proposals in abundance Five months into his term, President Donald Trump announced that no other president—with the exception of Franklin D. Roosevelt—accomplished so much in the same period of time. As of June 26, 2017, the president has signed 40 pieces of legislation and about an equal number of Executive Orders (EOs). Critics […]
Led by an industrial workers’ union, 14 environmental and health organizations have petitioned the D.C. Court of Appeals to stay EPA’s final rule (June 14, 2017, FR) delaying by up to 2 years the Agency’s amendments to regulations implementing the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) Risk Management Program (RMP), CAA Section 112(r). According to the petitioners, […]
OSHA will hold a public meeting July 17 in Washington, D.C., to solicit ideas for strengthening its Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP). The agency is “seeking to reshape VPP so that it continues to represent safety and health excellence, leverages partner resources, further recognizes the successes of long-term participants, and supports smart program growth.”
In a ruling that may significantly change the way hazardous waste and hazardous materials are recycled and who recycles them under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld in part and vacated in part EPA’s Definition of Solid Waste final rule (January […]