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The EPA only recently issued almost all the remaining area designations for the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone (only eight counties in the San Antonio, Texas, area have not been designated). Now, with the ink barely dry on those designations, the Agency is facing yet another Clean Air Act (CAA) deadline […]
We recently encountered a list of the 10 most common Clean Air Act (CAA) violations, which included failure of facilities to track the loss of regulated refrigerants from equipment. (Seven of the other violations relate to permits.) In fact, tracking the loss of a refrigerant and recordkeeping in general are major responsibilities under EPA’s refrigerant […]
In its continuing effort to bring its Clean Air Act (CAA) greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations in line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA (UARG v. EPA), the Agency is proposing several amendments to provisions in its Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program. Essentially, the proposal describes specific conditions […]
In anticipation of international adoption of an amendment to the Montreal Protocol and also in fulfillment of parts of President Obama’s June 2013 Climate Action Plan (CAP), the EPA has issued two final rules that will reduce releases of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) to the atmosphere.
More than 20 years after first issuing rules governing the process by which parties can petition the EPA to consider possible Clean Air Act (CAA) infractions contained in Title V operating permits, the Agency is proposing a new set of requirements pertaining to such petitions and the overall petition process. The stated intent of the […]
Following the $14.7 billion penalty leveled against Volkswagen®, EPA’s $12 million settlement with Harley-Davidson, Inc., over the company’s alleged sale of illegal defeat devices for use on its motorcycles, is a significant enforcement action that highlights the government’s militant stance against vehicle manufacturers it asserts are violating the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Two Clean Air Act (CAA) provisions governing deadlines for submission of state implementation plans (SIPs) to bring areas into attainment with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) were at the core of a recent decision by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Referencing an opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court, the EPA is proposing to remove a restriction on when a Clean Air Act (CAA) Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit may be rescinded. Specifically, the proposal would remove from 40 CFR 52.21(w) the provision indicating that a stationary source may request to have its PSD permit […]
Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House to block the EPA from requiring compliance with its National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the brick and structural clay products manufacturing and clay ceramics manufacture maximum achievable control technology (collectively, Brick MACT) until any judicial proceedings, including appeals, addressing the rule are final.
In a proposal, the EPA is seeking to revise the public notice provisions for draft Clean Air Act (CAA) New Source Review (NSR) and Title V permits by eliminating the requirement that notice of a draft be published in general circulation newspapers and instituting an electronic public notification system. The proposal would also allow other […]