Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports that the Agency is years behind in meeting the terms of a 2005 agreement with the animal feeding operation (AFO) industry to develop methods to estimate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from AFOs.
The Trump administration’s plan to wipe major environmental regulations issued by the Obama administration off the books has caused the courts to ponder how it should address petitions to either uphold or vacate these rules. Specifically, even if a rule has been lawfully issued by an agency (under Obama), why should the court bother to […]
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has informed several industry stakeholders that he will grant their requests to reconsider provisions of the Agency’s December 2014 final rule imposing Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle D requirements on the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) generated by fossil-fuel power plants.
Developing a “framework providing for the implementation of One Federal Decision,” is a top item in the Council of Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) list of actions to enhance and modernize the federal environmental review and authorization process for infrastructure projects.
In a positive response to an industry petition, the EPA has issued a final rule that will postpone by 2 years certain effluent limitations (ELs) and pretreatment standards for existing sources (PSESs) that the Agency promulgated in 2015 for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category.
In response to the EPA’s final rule to extend for 20 months a stay of recent revisions to chemical accident prevention regulations, a coalition of attorneys general (AGs) from 11 states filed a petition July 24 with the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit asserting the agency exceeded its authority […]
The U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently released a policy document and factsheet on its Infrastructure Security Compliance Division’s (ISCD) process for assessing civil penalties and cease operations orders under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. The ISCD has authority to issue administrative orders and to assess civil penalties for violation of CFATS […]
Based on the settlement in a recent enforcement case involving violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) Risk Management Program (RMP) discussed in yesterday’s Advisor, it seems likely that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will maintain the controversial third-party audit provisions of the RMP amendments. Let’s take a look at these requirements and industry […]
Responding to petitions for reconsideration from several industry organizations, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has announced that the Agency will “revisit provisions” of its Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles—Phase 2 (October 25, 2016, FR). Based on short letters he has sent to petitioners, it appears that Pruitt […]
Three new federal requirements for pesticide worker safety take effect in January 2018. This infographic breaks down the changes and whether the new worker protection standard (WPS) will apply to you.