In late January 2018 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) issued an internal memorandum and in early February USEPA Administrator Scott Pruitt testified to Congress about his desire to rescind the “Once In Always In” (OIAI) policy for major sources under the federal National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) program. Under OIAI, a
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On June 11, 2015, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) released its long awaited vapor intrusion guidance documents: The Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) Technical Guide for Assessing and Mitigating the Vapor Intrusion Pathway from Subsurface Vapor Sources to Indoor Air (VI Technical Guide), and Technical Guide for Addressing Petroleum Vapor
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A lot of attention has been spent explaining the impacts of the 16-day U.S. federal government shutdown, which ended on October 17th. Although the shutdown did slow rulemaking efforts at the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as federal employees were furloughed, the shutdown has now ended and these activities are proceeding as scheduled. This article
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In response to a court order, the U.S. EPA finalized on December 14, 2012 an update to its national air quality standards for harmful fine particle pollution (PM2.5), setting the annual health standard at 12 micrograms per cubic meter. This announcement has no effect on the existing daily standard for fine particles or the existing daily standard for coarse particles (PM10)…
In April 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its 17th annual U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory, The Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2010. The report shows overall GHG emissions in 2010 increased by 213 million metric tons or 3.2 percent from the previous year, despite the sluggish economy. According
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The EPA released its annual national analysis of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2010 on January 5, 2012. The TRI program publishes information on toxic chemical disposals and other releases into the air, land, and water, as well as information on waste management and pollution prevention activities in neighborhoods across the country. Total releases including disposals for the latest reporting year, 2010, are higher than the previous two years but lower than 2007 and prior year totals . . .
Ongoing concerns about the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water have pushed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate public concerns in light of the growing importance of natural gas in the clean energy future of the United States. On 23 June 2011, the EPA announced plans to conduct a draft
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This fall, colleges across the United States can compete to see which schools reduce, reuse, and recycle the most waste as part of the U.S. EPA’s 2011 Game Day Challenge. The challenge is for schools to design a waste reduction plan for one 2011 regular season home football game. Registration for the competition is now open, and champions will be crowned this December…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making it easier to find data about chemicals. EPA is releasing two databases — the Toxicity Forecaster database (ToxCastDB) and a database of chemical exposure studies (ExpoCastDB) — that scientists and the public can use to access chemical toxicity and exposure data. Improved access supports EPA Administrator
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A pending Information Collection Request (ICR) from the USEPA will require all 152 operating petroleum refineries in the United States to update their air emissions inventories in accordance with the newest protocols and may require them to conduct air emissions testing on an accelerated schedule. NPRA and API estimate that up to 2,000 man-hours per refinery will be required to respond to the ICR. […]
