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On October 9, 2020, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler issued a memorandum to EPA regional administrators addressing “the question of whether and when it may be permissible for a state to include certain types of provisions governing periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM) in state implementation plans (SIPs) developed pursuant to section 110 of the […]
Permit writing, rulemaking, data collection and analysis, issuing policy statements and guidance documents, holding public hearings, maintaining community liaisons and other communication with the public and, of course, conducting compliance inspections—these are some of the critical EPA functions that ground to a halt on December 28, 2018, when the Agency’s funding ran out because of […]
Despite the government shutdown affecting many federal agencies and contractors (including the EPA), it is business as usual for the time being at OSHA. Both OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) are fully operational during the shutdown.
Explosions and fires at oil refineries and chemical facilities are far more likely to occur during equipment start-ups and shutdowns, notes the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) in a recent Safety Digest. Workers are typically the first line of victims when such incidents occur. In the Digest, the CSB describes three start-up/shutdown […]