EPA Archives

Category: EPA

March 9, 2023 • Emissions, EPA

Court Denies Challenge to EPA Emissions Rule, Defers Due to Rule’s “Complex and Technical” Nature

Companies operating in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia – whose operations involve the release of emissions — will need to consult the Environmental Protection Agency’s Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Update Rule to determine whether their operations might be affected by the Federal Implementation Plan. … Continued

Close up view of railroad, transport background

March 2, 2023 • Emerging Issues, EPA

What We Know – and Might Never Know – about the East Palestine, Ohio, Train Derailment

A few hours after dinner time on Feb. 3, and approximately 20 miles following a dramatic slow-down from a speed of 50 miles per hour to about half that, a Norfolk Southern freight train consisting of 38 cars – 11 of which were carrying hazardous materials – derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Although the derailment … Continued

March 2, 2023 • EPA, WOTUS

New Year, New WOTUS: Is There Resolution in Sight?

The Environmental Protection Agency’s and Army Corps of Engineers’ “Revised Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’”(WOTUS) rule will become final on March 20. This latest iteration codifies the agencies’ pre-2015 approach to defining WOTUS and attempts to establish a bridge between the interpretations offered by the prior two administrations. In particular, the rule’s preamble … Continued

Close up the pouring purified fresh drink water from the bottle on table in living room

February 16, 2023 • EPA, PFAS

EPA: $2 Billion in Funds to Address Emerging Contaminants, Build on PFAS Strategic Roadmap

The EPA announced Monday the availability of $2 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address emerging contaminants such as Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in drinking water across the country. This investment, allocated to states and territories, will be made available to communities as grants through EPA’s Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities (EC-SDC) Grant … Continued

February 9, 2023 • Coal Ash, EPA

EPA Being Pushed Off the Fence on Coal Ash

With names like “boiler slag” and “bottom ash,” it’s no wonder that anyone who has ever heard of coal ash, or the coal combustion residuals (CCRs) produced from burning coal, assumes they are the basest forms of pollution. And they’re not entirely wrong; bottom ash is the burn-up matter that is too large to be … Continued

February 2, 2023 • Due Diligence, EPA

Advancing Environmental Justice: EPA Releases New Roadmap to Address Cumulative Impacts

The Environmental Protection Agency recently published a Cumulative Impacts Addendum (“Addendum”) to its Legal Tools to Advance Environmental Justice (“EJ Legal Tools”), issued in May 2022. This Addendum builds on the cumulative impacts discussion in the EJ Legal Tools and provides additional detail and analysis regarding the EPA’s legal authority to address cumulative impacts affecting … Continued

January 19, 2023 • Clean Air Act, EPA

EPA Proposes Revisions to Particulate Matter NAAQS Under the Clean Air Act

In early January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal to revise and strengthen a key national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particle pollution, also known as PM2.5. The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set two types of NAAQS: health-based standards, called primary standards, and standards to protect public welfare, called secondary standards. Based on … Continued

A man's hand in a blue glove takes a close-up of water into a test tube to measure water pollution. Background

January 19, 2023 • EPA, Wastewater

EPA Seeks Input From the Slaughterhouse to Reduce Nutrients in Discharged Wastewater

On Jan. 18, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it is seeking input regarding the development of Meat and Poultry Products (“MPP”) Effluent Limitations Guidelines Rulemaking Revision. As part of this process the EPA seeks to put together a Small Business Advocacy Review Panel. The EPA is looking to gather comments and suggestions from small entity representatives. Changes … Continued

May 20, 2021 • Emerging Issues, EPA

A Change is Gonna Come … (and it’s kinda sorta already here)

The legendary singer/songwriter Sam Cooke may have intended for his 1964 anthem, “A Change is Gonna Come,” to be a protest song to surreptitiously fuel the civil rights movement and its pursuit of social justice, but little did he know the soulful R&B melody may realize its revival in the Biden administration as the U.S. Environmental Agency’s (EPA’s) new battle cry … Continued

May 13, 2021 • EPA

EPA Releases Historic Climate Change Indicators Report

After a four-year gap, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) resumed its issuance of climate change indicators reporting on Wednesday May 12, 2021. The newly released data, which used 54 separate indicators, provides the federal government’s most comprehensive and up-to-date public release of information to date and demonstrates that an ever-increasing warming trend world is making … Continued