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Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine hazardous air pollution and the EPA’s strategies for dealing with climate change. Following the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that happened in early February, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has […]
The EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued its Fiscal Year 2023 Oversight Plan, which details the projects the OIG intends to conduct through September 2023 and identifies top management challenges faced by both the EPA and the OIG. “Oversight is at the core of the EPA OIG’s mission,” said Inspector General Sean O’Donnell […]
The EPA recently released the “Cumulative Impacts Addendum to EPA Legal Tools to Advance Environmental Justice (EJ Legal Tools).” It provides a collection of examples of the Agency’s legal authorities to identify and address cumulative impacts through a range of actions, including permitting, regulations, and grants, in order to consider the lived experience of communities […]
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Friends of the Earth sued the EPA in the Northern District of California on February 6, 2023, for failing to finalize nationwide standards that would protect U.S. waterways from harmful vessel discharges. The lawsuit states the EPA is more than 2 years behind schedule to establish standards for […]
The EPA has proposed a Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) that would prevent companies from starting or resuming the manufacturing, processing, or use of an estimated 300 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have not been made or used for many years without a complete EPA review and risk determination. In the past, these chemicals, […]
On February 17, 2023, the EPA reaffirmed the scientific, economic, and legal underpinnings of the 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for power plants, which required significant reductions of mercury, acid gases, and other harmful pollutants. This reinstates an Obama-era legal finding that affirmed the science behind clean air standards, and it reverses a […]
The EPA recently released Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 (Plan 15), which lays out how the Agency will work to protect the nation’s waterways by following science and the Clean Water Act (CWA) to develop technology-based pollution limits and studies on wastewater discharges from industrial sources. The plan focuses on evaluating the extent and nature […]
On January 19, 2023, the EPA announced its proposed 2024–2027 National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECIs). Every 4 years, the Agency selects national initiatives to focus resources on serious and widespread environmental problems where federal enforcement can make a difference. The primary objective of these initiatives is to protect human health and the environment by […]
On January 12, 2023, the EPA announced updates to the Safer Chemicals Ingredients List (SCIL), which “is a list of chemical ingredients, arranged by functional-use class, that the Safer Choice Program has evaluated and determined to be safer than traditional chemical ingredients. This list is designed to help manufacturers find safer chemical alternatives that meet […]
On January 18, 2023, the long-awaited final “Revised Definition of ‘Waters of the United States (WOTUS)’” rule was published in the Federal Register. It is set to go into effect March 20, 2023. The definition of WOTUS is the key to determining the EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA). This final rule repeals […]