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Abandoning decades-long practices, on January 11, 2022, the EPA announced it is taking meaningful actions to comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) before registering new active ingredients (AI) in pesticides. Moving forward, before the Agency registers any new conventional AI, it will evaluate the potential effects of the AI on federally threatened or endangered […]
The EPA’s annual report on power plant emissions—released on February 18, 2022—reveals a 20% increase in sulfur dioxide (SO2), a 13% rise in mercury, and a 7% increase in carbon dioxide (CO2). The data also showed a 5% increase in nitrogen oxides (NOx) during ozone season (May 1 to September 30) and a 3% increase […]
The old adage that you can’t please everyone definitely applies to the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). According to the fall Unified Agenda, a new WOTUS definition was proposed to be released by the Biden administration in February 2022. However, there is a mountain of comments to sort through, as the EPA […]
In the latest move in an ongoing battle with the EPA, the state of Texas and its environmental officials filed a petition dated January 28, 2022, asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the EPA’s revised findings that ozone levels in El Paso County exceed the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). […]
The EPA recently proposed to “reaffirm the scientific, economic, and legal underpinnings of the 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for power plants, which require significant reductions of mercury, acid gases, and other harmful pollutants,” the Agency stated in a news release dated January 31, 2022. To do so, the Agency’s proposal is to […]
All eyes concerned with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are on the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) as regulated industry, the EPA, states across the nation, and environmental activists anxiously await the showdown scheduled to occur on February 28, 2022. On that date, SCOTUS will hear arguments in the West Virginia v. EPA case, which consolidates with […]
The EPA announced a settlement with Par Hawaii Refining LLC on January 19 that included a $176,899 penalty over Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at its oil refining facility in Kapolei, Hawaii. The company’s EPCRA violations included “failures to immediately notify the state emergency response commission and […]
Moving forward, property management companies (PMC) performing or offering to perform regulated renovations in housing built before 1978 or in child-occupied facilities will be required to obtain certification from the EPA and ensure that renovations in the homes they manage are performed by certified firms and employees trained to use lead-safe work practices. On January […]
Four more per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were added to the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) list on January 24, 2022, as part of the Agency’s “comprehensive Strategic Roadmap to confront the human health and environmental risks of PFAS,” according to an EPA news release. Regulatory framework The process for adding additional PFAS to TRI […]
On January 11, 2022, the EPA announced coal-fired power plants will be required to clean up their coal-ash waste ponds as the Agency begins enforcing regulations to remove decades of coal combustion residue (CCR). Facilities impacted by this announcement are located in New York, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, and Kentucky, reports CNN. CCR […]