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An apparent statutory conflict about which information about a company the EPA must protect from public disclosure was decided in favor of protection by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The EPA has issued a stay of several requirements of its New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for the oil and natural gas (O&G) industry (June 3, 2016, FR). The stay responds to objections to the rule raised by the sector and is intended to provide the Agency time to reconsider the merits of the objections.
Petroleum refineries, in California as in the rest of the United States, have long been regulated by the same state or federal process safety management (PSM) standards that apply to all types of chemical facilities. But following the chemical release and fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, CA, on August 6, 2012, California regulators […]
On May 24, 2017, the House voted 256–165 to wipe the EPA’s Pesticide General Permit (PGP) off the books. Basically, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2017 (H.R. 953) would prohibit the EPA or a state from requiring a Clean Water Act (CWA) national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit for the application of a […]
A Senate Bill that would eliminate the need for new or revised Cal/OSHA standards to undergo in-depth economic assessment is one step closer to passage. Eight other occupational safety and health-related bills currently in the legislature could also affect California businesses if they are passed.
In its fiscal year 2018 budget, the Trump administration did nothing to change the position, expressed in its earlier Budget Blueprint, that EPA’s portion of federal dollars should be cut by 31.4 percent. Neither did the president back down from either proposing elimination of virtually all EPA programs that are not statutorily required. The president’s […]
The proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2018 is out, and President Trump is asking Congress to approve an overall cut of $2.4 billion for the Department of Labor (DOL), a reduction of 21 percent.
Virginia’s Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe has directed the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to begin rulemaking to establish a statewide cap-and-trade program to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil-fuel power plants.
Industry lost no opportunity to respond to EPA’s request for comment on the impact of regulations on the public and business and suggestions on repealing, replacing, or modifying those regs.
Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have introduced legislation to reinstate OSHA’s recently overturned recordkeeping rule.