Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The attorneys general (AGs) of 20 states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) because the Agency had no legal authority to promulgate them. The AGs base their argument on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Michigan v. EPA (2015), in which a 5–4 majority ruled that the […]
There are several significant revisions in EPA’s proposal to amend its Risk Management Program (RMP) affecting approximately 12,500 facilities holding threshold quantities of regulated chemicals. There are also several significant omissions.
In an effort to cut the cost of complying with EPA’s lead-based paint (LBP) program, the Agency has issued a final rule simplifying refresher training under the lead renovation, repair, and paining (RRP) rule and removed the jurisdiction-specific certification and accreditation requirement under the LBP activities rule in states where the Agency implements that rule. […]
In a final rule, the EPA has added three categories of non-hazardous secondary materials (NHSMs)—construction and demolition (C&D) wood, paper recycling residuals, and creosote-treated railroad ties—to the initial list of four categories it published in a 2013 rule. NHSMs in these seven categories can be burned in combustion units as nonwaste fuels without the owner […]
The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition from 29 states and state agencies seeking to stay EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) while challenges to the plan progress through the federal courts. The practical effect of the Court’s order is that the first deadline of June 30, 2016, for states to submit their initial plans for […]
If you were considering submitting comments on OSHA’s proposed Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines, but haven’t done it yet, you’ve got an extra week.
In a proposal, the EPA has described how it intends to align its National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (more commonly called the National Contingency Plan or NCP) with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Response Framework (NRF) and National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House to block the EPA from requiring compliance with its National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the brick and structural clay products manufacturing and clay ceramics manufacture maximum achievable control technology (collectively, Brick MACT) until any judicial proceedings, including appeals, addressing the rule are final.
The EPA published its proposed Hazardous Waste Generator Improvement rule on September 25, 2015, that it says addresses problems the Agency identified with the current generator regulations:
OSHA recently certified New Jersey’s state plan for protecting the safety and health of state and local government workers. The New Jersey Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health State Plan covers more than 530,000 state and local government workers. The New Jersey state plan was initially approved in January of 2001, and certification became effective […]