Focus
EPA to stop collecting emissions data from industrial facilities
The New York Times – September 12
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved last Friday, September 12, to stop requiring thousands of coal-burning power plants, oil refineries, steel mills, and other industrial facilities across the country to report the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases driving climate change) that they release into the air. For the past 15 years the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program has collected data from about 8,000 of the country’s largest industrial facilities. That information has helped guide numerous decisions on federal policy, and private companies have relied on the program’s data to demonstrate to investors that their efforts to cut greenhouse gases are working. Communities often use the data to determine whether local facilities are releasing air pollution that threatens public health. After the EPA proposal is published in the Federal Register, the EPA will solicit public comments for 47 days before finalizing the proposal, likely within the next year.
News
EPA keeps polluters on the hook to clean up ‘forever chemicals’
The New York Times - September 18
Despite chemical industry opposition, the EPA has elected to retain a major rule related to the clean-up of contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals” because they are virtually indestructible in nature. The Biden administration last year designated two types of PFAS compounds as hazardous substances under the nation’s Superfund law. Industry trade groups have challenged that move in court, arguing that the designation was too expensive and would lead to litigation that could impose significant costs on businesses, ultimately slowing cleanup of the chemicals. Environmental groups hailed EPA’s latest decision. EPA has called on Congress to pass laws to shield local municipalities, farmers, and others who did not manufacture or generate the chemicals but may have inadvertently handled them.
EPA streamlines preconstruction permitting to accelerate power plants, data centers, and manufacturing reshoring
Power Magazine – September 11
EPA on September 10 published new guidance on its website under its New Source Review (NSR) preconstruction permitting program that could allow power plant developers to begin certain non-emissions‐related site work — such as installing concrete pads, grading, and utility trenching — before obtaining a Clean Air Act construction permit. The change is designed to shave months off project timelines for power generation facilities, data centers, and reshored manufacturing facilities. The agency is expected to follow up with a formal rulemaking in early 2026 to revise the regulatory definition of “Begin Actual Construction” in 40 CFR § 52.21 and codify the distinction between emissions units and other parts of a facility. The EPA says it will continue issuing case-by-case guidance in the interim.
Eaton fire contaminated Altadena with lead. It’s lingering even after cleanup, final county report finds.
Los Angeles Times – September 15
A final report from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released last Friday concluded that the Eaton fire left significant levels of lead in Altadena’s soil even after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hauled away debris and soil from destroyed properties. People whose homes are still standing, both within and outside the burn scar, also face significant contamination. Most analysts think the lead in the soil comes from incinerated lead paint that coated most homes built before it was banned in 1978. The concern is largely for children, because ingestion of lead can damage the brain, leading to developmental and behavioral issues. For the vast majority of properties “these levels that we’re talking about are not acute hazardous levels,” an environmental consultant for the County said. To cause significant harm “they require a lifetime of exposure.”
Santa Barbara District Attorney files 21 criminal charges against Sable for oil pipeline work
Noozhawk – September 17
The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office filed 21 criminal counts against Sable Offshore Corp. this week related to oil and gas pipeline work. Sable, which owns the Santa Ynez Unit of offshore oil platforms, is attempting to restart operations for the infrastructure that’s been shut down since the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill. The 21 counts include five felony charges of knowingly discharging a pollutant into a waterway. Sable released a statement in response, calling the allegations “inflammatory and extremely misleading.” The statement said the excavation work was supervised by Office of the State Fire Marshal personnel.
Calistoga landfill owners to give millions for environmental projects after 2019 contamination
The Press Democrat – September 12
The owners of a Calistoga landfill have agreed to restore damaged property and pledge $2.6 million toward environmental projects as part of a settlement with Napa County that resolves violations the landfill incurred in 2019 following a 40,000-gallon leachate spill at Clover Flat off of Silverado Trail, prosecutors announced last Friday. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife investigated the matter and uncovered unauthorized removal of trees and vegetation, and road development through a stream, officials said. The settlement requires the landfill owners to restore 4.24 acres of habitat in and around the landfill; remove the unauthorized road; and restore natural streams and vegetation. Restoration is expected to cost about $4 million with the additional $2.6 million going toward funding for other Napa County environmental restoration projects, according to the county District Attorney’s Office.
C&H Sugar Company agrees to settlement following odor emissions from East Bay facility
The Mercury News - September 17
A historic East Bay company has settled a lawsuit over alleged sewer odor violations with Contra Costa County prosecutors for approximately $500,000, including $400,000 in civil penalties and $100,000 in costs, authorities said Tuesday. C&H Sugar, whose plant has been a staple in the unincorporated city of Crockett since 1906, allegedly committed the sewer odor violations in 2022 due to operational disruptions at a wastewater treatment plant it jointly owns, according to a statement from the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.
California asks appeals court to allow preliminary work for Delta tunnel to begin
Courthouse News Service – September 16
The California Department of Water Resources this Tuesday argued to a state appellate court that a preliminary injunction on geotechnical investigations for the controversial Delta Conveyance Project — a proposed 14-mile tunnel that would divert water from the Sacramento River to Central and Southern California – should be lifted. In 2024, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto agreed with a group of local counties and water districts, as well as environmental and tribal organizations, that the preliminary work is a “covered action,” and the state agency must certify that the entire project complies with the requirements of the California Delta Reform Act.
*This article may require a subscription to read.
[View source.]
