The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2026 fundamentally reimagines the federal government's role in environmental policy and regulation. If enacted by Congress, EPA's budget...more
The week of June 23, 2024, in Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified in a 5-4 decision that if a federal agency fails to provide a reasoned response to comments raised during the rulemaking...more
The Clean Air Act (“CAA”) envisions states and the federal government working together to improve air quality. Under the CAA, states must develop State Implementation Plans (“SIPs”) to implement National Ambient Air Quality...more
On March 6, 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register its long-awaited reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM). In...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced today a final rule which will tighten the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”) for fine particulate matter. EPA previously: - Stated on June 10,...more
For anyone involved in the first round of the Clean Air Act regional haze program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) action on the first business day of 2024 came as no surprise: EPA proposed to disapprove the...more
In a decision with implications for air permitting across the West, a divided three-judge panel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded EPA’s approval of Colorado’s state implementation plan (SIP) based...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published a July 21st Federal Register Notice proposing to approve two revisions to the Clean Air Act Arkansas State Implementation Plan (“SIP”). See 88 Fed. Reg....more
In early January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal to revise and strengthen a key national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particle pollution, also known as PM2.5. The Clean Air Act...more
The goal of the Clean Air Act’s visibility program is to achieve natural visibility conditions by 2064 in federal Class I areas (basically, national parks). States must show that they are making “reasonable progress” towards...more
On November 19, 2020, U.S. EPA published its decision to remove Ohio’s air pollution nuisance rule from Ohio’s SIP in the Federal Register. The removal came at the request of Ohio EPA because the nuisance rule does not have a...more
EPA Region 6 recently proposed to approve Texas’s affirmative defense regulations in its State Implementation Plan (“SIP”) applicable to excess air emissions that occur during certain startup, shutdown or maintenance (SSM)...more
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) has scheduled a listening session for August 13th on a pre-proposal draft regulation which is described as streamlining Arkansas Air Quality Regulations. The...more
EPA is required under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to periodically review the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to ensure they reflect the most current scientific information while protecting human health and the...more
The Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies (“AAPCA”) submitted October 31st comments on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Draft FY 2018 – 2022 Strategic Plan (“Plan”). EPA states the Plan...more
NEW REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS - Federal - - Program Requirement Revisions Related to the Public Water System Supervision Programs for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont - EPA is giving notice that...more