EPA is crafting a controversial rule that could set a first-time mandate for Clean Air Act prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit applicants to model their projected emission impacts on states' attainment of the agency's ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standards, which sources say could prevent some facilities from winning permits.1404 words

EPA and environmentalists are pressing the Illinois EPA (IEPA) to require the developers of a 630-megawatt coal gasification facility to install carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology in the facility's air permit because they fear that regulators' failure to require CCS would set a poor precedent for other new coal plants.1424 words

EPA is voluntarily moving to tighten its precedent-setting discharge permit for a planned North Dakota oil shale refinery after activists sued claiming the permit is too weak, but the agency continues to fight other activist demands including conducting a new National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review of the facility's air quality impacts.1218 words

Pennsylvania's top environmental official is asking EPA to dismiss activists' petition that claims the state is violating its own air quality plan for meeting agency air standards by offering streamlined permits for hydraulic fracturing operations in the state -- claims the state strongly rejects.493 words

The federal appellate court decision to stay EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) for power plants is resulting in significant legal and regulatory uncertainty for states and industry, sources say, given that the rule's expected emissions cuts are not available to comply with other requirements and some proposed revisions are now in legal limbo.1855 words

Industry groups are weighing a possible lawsuit challenging EPA's proposed tougher air toxics rules for the feroalloy production sector, primarily because the rule is based on a risk assessment of the ubiquitous metal manganese that industry critics charge overestimates the metal's risks and led to an excessively stringent proposal.1083 words

EPA appears to be stalling its pending proposal to tighten pollution standards for gasoline and vehicles, a delay that some sources attribute to possible concerns within the agency about the political outcry the rule could cause if its critics in industry and Congress succeed in framing it as one that will significantly increase gas prices.1244 words

A bipartisan group of senators is urging EPA to halt its pending proposal to tighten pollution standards for gasoline and vehicles in part due to their concerns that the rule will raise gas prices, escalating an emerging battle over the costs of the rule that states and environmentalists say will provide widespread benefits for minimal cost.1020 words

EPA and the Department of Transportation (DOT) are extending the comment period on their pending greenhouse gas (GHG) rules for model year 2017-2025 vehicles from Jan. 30 to Feb. 13, after the auto industry said it needs more time to analyze the complex rulemaking.287 words

Environmentalists and public health advocates are attacking the legal "fiction" of EPA citing an ongoing review of its 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) to defend the agency against a lawsuit activists filed challenging President Obama's decision in September to force EPA to scrap a stricter ozone standard.1097 words

Industry officials are warning that EPA is underestimating naturally occurring and unpreventable background levels of ozone in its latest draft scientific assessment, a concern that many critics fear could lead the agency to propose tightening the ozone standard to a level that would not be achievable with a higher estimate of background levels.849 words

A major overhaul of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) appears unlikely despite some states' criticisms of the group's approach for forming policy positions on EPA rules, sources say, because many of NACAA's dozens of member states support the current organization and might not back substantial changes.904 words

Public health activists and environmentalists are backing EPA's proposal to tighten the agency's air toxics rules for mineral wool production and wool fiberglass manufacturing, but are pushing EPA to set more stringent controls on toxic emissions from the sector in order to reduce risks from the facilities' hexavelent chromium (Cr6) emissions.710 words

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is reviewing two EPA "residual risk" rules targeting remaining air toxics risks from industrial facilities years after the agency first issued air toxics rules for the affected sectors, which include secondary aluminum production.233 words

EPA has won an month-long extension -- from Jan. 13 to Feb. 13 -- for its legally binding deadline to finalize a controversial rule cutting air toxics from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plants, drawing a cautious welcome from industry officials who say EPA and the White House need more time to assess the "complicated" regulation.640 words

Industry sources say EPA's nascent effort to develop "uniform" air toxics standards applicable to sources within several sectors could create significant regulatory uncertainty, arguing that the approach adds another layer of complexity to the agency's air rules for the refining, chemical and oil and gas industries.583 words

Environmentalists are pursuing a lawsuit aimed at forcing stricter emissions monitoring near the most congested highways in the Los Angeles area, which one source says could be the first such suit to challenge the adequacy of a local air district's EPA-approved air monitoring networks.560 words

A federal district court has vacated and remanded EPA's indefinite stay of its controversial boiler and incinerator air rules after finding the agency failed to adequately justify the delay -- a mixed ruling for activists as it means the delayed rules are again in effect though EPA is slated to amend them in April 2012, well before they take effect as early as 2014.1679 words

States suing EPA over its sulfur dioxide (SO2) air standard are reiterating their attacks on the agency's decision to rely primarily on emissions modeling rather than monitoring to determine compliance with the standard, saying it will overestimate SO2 levels and force states to implement costly and unnecessary pollution control measures.614 words

EPA is proposing to issue a rule allowing diesel reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICE) to operate for up to 60 hours during "emergency" situations while being exempt from the agency's RICE air toxics rule, in order to settle a lawsuit filed by energy groups challenging EPA's existing 15-hour limit on use of the engines during emergencies such as blackouts.346 words

A North Carolina permit review board Jan. 11 delayed ruling on a novel state water permit that seeks to regulate ammonia air releases from a large poultry farm and instead remanded the permit to an administrative law judge (ALJ) for an evidentiary hearing to decide if the emissions constitute a "discharge" that can be regulated in the permit.521 words

EPA is appealing a 2010 federal district court ruling that found new owners of a power plant were not liable for the alleged Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) program violations by the prior owner, fighting a decision that observers agree is a significant finding that could stymie the agency's ongoing NSR enforcement efforts if upheld.701 words

Major European airline Lufthansa is strongly pushing the viability for commercial biofuel use in the aviation sector that could lead to substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, touting biofuel as a strategy for meeting new European airline GHG rules, while activists seek EPA rules to curb aircraft GHG emissions in the United States.901 words

EPA is looking to expand its renewable fuel standard (RFS) to include several new feedstocks for making jet fuels and heating oil, which one activist calls a "moderately big deal" as it could encourage greater use of lower-carbon fuel alternatives for the aircraft sector.635 words

Power company GenOn is suing EPA over its precedent-setting decision granting New Jersey's Clean Air Act petition asking the agency to directly impose emission controls on a coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania that EPA says is harming air quality in the Garden State.417 words

Refrigerant manufacturers may file a new lawsuit over EPA's proposed rule setting production and consumption quotes for ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), because the rule would preserve prior "interpollutant transfers" of the quotas that could unfairly give a financial benefit to some HCFC producers over others, sources say.1066 words

Industry is urging EPA not to adopt as an industry standard a company's first-of-its-kind plan to separate recyclable materials from municipal solid waste (MSW) in order to qualify for use as a feedstock for biofuels in the agency's renewable fuel standard (RFS), saying that different processes require flexibility in such plans.463 words

As many as a dozen natural gas, electric power and renewable energy trade associations have quietly formed a major coalition to launch a dialogue on addressing concerns about the potential adverse impact on grid reliability from the power sector's shift from coal to gas, a move seen as driven in part by EPA's power sector regulations.904 words

Biodiesel producers are forming a new coalition to tout the use of biodiesel as a method for coal-fired utilities to comply with EPA regulations for the power sector, arguing that co-firing power plants with coal and biofuels can reduce emissions while improving efficiency and reducing maintenance costs for coal-fired boiler systems.630 words

EPA air chief Gina McCarthy says the agency's just-released database of industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions should pressure polluters into reducing their GHGs, while sources say the data could in the future serve as the basis for lawsuits over violations of GHG permit limits.764 words

California's top air official is denying she said there was a "vow of silence" among the Obama administration, state officials and auto company representatives on the development of vehicle greenhouse gas (GHG) rules, trying to fend off claims by a House Republican that the rules were crafted in possibly illegal closed-door negotiations.868 words

Industry officials are warning that EPA's final rule setting stricter air toxics limits for secondary lead smelters sets an "illegal" precedent by establishing limits based on a facility's allowable rather than actual emissions, while also criticizing the agency's decision to require continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS) in the rule.698 words

Industry groups have filed lawsuits challenging EPA's final rule tightening its national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) to cut air toxics from primary lead smelting, while sources warn of another suit over a related NESHAP for secondary lead smelters.339 words