EPA
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Legal & Regulatory
EPA Rampaging on Coal Ash Rule Despite Groundwater Concerns
Despite pleas by environmental groups for more time to review recent dumps of groundwater monitoring data from power companies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is forging ahead to finalize a proposed overhaul of the Obama administration’s 2015 final Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule. The EPA’s 45-day comment period for the agency’s March 1 proposed rule, […]
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Biomass
EPA Declares Forest Biomass Is ‘Carbon Neutral’
Future regulatory actions issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will treat biomass from managed forests as carbon neutral when used for energy production at stationary sources, an agency policy statement declares. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who revealed the policy statement on April 23 during a meeting with Georgia forestry leaders, also said the […]
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Legal & Regulatory
EPA Proposes Overhaul of 2015 Final Coal Ash Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed more than a dozen significant changes to the Obama administration’s final 2015 rule governing disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR) by the nation’s power generators. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on March 1 signed the first of two rules that propose to amend the 2015 rule, saying the changes […]
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Legal & Regulatory
D.C. Circuit Vacates Parts of EPA Ozone Regulations
The D.C. Circuit last week struck down parts of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule concerning implementation of its 2008 ozone standards, creating new regulatory limbo for the entities required to comply with the rule. Ruling in a set of cases consolidated under South Coast Air Quality Management District v. EPA (No. 15-1115), the federal […]
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Commentary
What’s Next for the Clean Power Plan?
“The Trump administration is listening to the people of Wyoming,” remarked Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. His comment referenced a
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Legal & Regulatory
SCOTUS Sends Controversial WOTUS Rule into More Legal Limbo
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed and remanded a rule the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rolled out in 2015 that asserts federal authority over small bodies of water with a broader definition of the statutory term, “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS). In a ruling for National Association of […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Don’t Let EPA Stall on Clean Power Plan, 17 States Tell Federal Court
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) recent request that the D.C. Circuit hold a case challenging the Clean Power Plan in additional abeyance until it concludes rulemaking has been strongly opposed by 17 states and several cities. The EPA, in its latest 30-day court-required status report filed on January 10, asked the federal court for continued […]
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Legal & Regulatory
New York and Connecticut Renew Interstate Smog Fight in New Lawsuit
New York and Connecticut on January 17 filed suit to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to curb ground-level ozone blowing in from Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia with federal implementation plans (FIPs) issued under the “Good Neighbor Provision” of the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The two states allege in their […]
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Coal
TVA Retires Aging Johnsonville Coal-fired Plant
The Johnsonville Fossil Plant in Humphreys County, Tennessee, came online in 1951, and provided power for generations of Tennesseans as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) vast coal-fired fleet. But the end of 2017 also marked the end of an era for Johnsonville, as the TVA shut down the last operating unit at the […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Eight States Sue EPA, Arguing Ozone Transport Region Decision Is “Unlawful”
Eight northeastern states are again suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force the agency to slash emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) blowing in from power plants and other sources in nine “upwind” Midwestern and southern states. The Ozone Transport Region, which was established by Congress under Section 184 of […]
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