EPA is looking to "minimize" new employee hiring and internal staff transfers in response to cuts in the agency's fiscal year 2012 budget, according to an internal agency memo obtained by Inside EPA, just weeks ahead of President Obama's FY13 budget blueprint that sources predict could further reduce the agency's funding levels.1297 words

EPA is weighing how to gather additional economic and production data from the coalbed methane (CBM) drilling sector after industry officials recently warned that low natural gas prices may make it difficult for the agency to show that its planned effluent limitation guideline (ELG) for the sector is "economically achievable," as the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires, industry sources say.1409 words

The ethanol industry is facing a lengthy and uncertain schedule as it seeks to comply with a host of EPA rules and state requirements to allow distribution of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol (E15) in the retail market, even as the industry joins with EPA to defend the agency's Clean Air Act waivers allowing sale of E15 from legal challenges.1250 words

EPA staff and members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) board that will undertake the congressionally mandated reviews of three of EPA's chemical risk assessments are discussing which pending assessments to look at and whether one of the NAS reports could discuss a broader, scientific investigation of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program's operations.1146 words

President Obama has nominated James Jones, the acting chief of EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), to lead the office on a permanent basis, a nomination that could raise the profile of the administration's toxics policies as the Senate weighs Jones' selection.304 words

Federal appeals court judges at Jan. 24 oral arguments appeared to side with EPA in a suit filed by Utah counties that poses an important test for how the agency applies it nine-factor approach for designating areas out of attainment with its fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air standard, with the judges saying EPA has authority for its approach.579 words

A novel pilot project bringing together EPA and Minnesota state, industry and activist officials to try and craft a model plan for easing utilities' compliance with the agency's power sector rules is stalled, sources say, due to uncertainties as a result of litigation and delays for EPA's utility air and climate rules.851 words

Authors of a peer-reviewed study doubting the accuracy of EPA's new regulatory mobile source emissions model that had been slated for publication next month have agreed to an 11th-hour delay in response to a discovery by a contractor that raised last-minute questions about the accuracy of the authors' conclusions. 844 words

EPA is taking some significant steps to resolve long-running concerns about its Office of Civil Rights' (OCR) delays and handling of discrimination complaints by drafting plans to dramatically overhaul its civil rights program, but sources say EPA still faces major hurdles to addressing the concerns, including its apparent reluctance to issue a finding of discrimination.1372 words

The oil and gas industry is calling on President Obama for a more coordinated approach to federal oversight of hydraulic fracturing, warning that having EPA and seven other agencies considering regulations for the sector is chilling new investment and production.801 words

Economic think tank Resources for the Future (RFF) says EPA should develop a flexible new source performance standard (NSPS) to cut greenhouse gases (GHGs) from existing coal-fired power plants, even as EPA struggles with how to address existing facilities in a pending climate NSPS that is expected to only target new power plants.795 words

House Republicans are working to amend Senate-approved legislation that would allow EPA to follow through on its long-pending plans to modernize its system for tracking hazardous waste shipments by providing congressional appropriators oversight authority over the program.617 words

EPA has revealed through court documents that it plans to propose this June long-stalled revisions to its particulate matter (PM) national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) ahead of a final rule set for June 2013, even while the agency fights attempts by states and activists to have a federal appeals court set a hard legal deadline for the rule.903 words

EPA has sent for White House review a rule detailing how it will define areas in attainment with its contested 2008 ozone standard, and is separately preparing a rule giving states guidance on how to implement the limit, key steps toward enforcing the standard even as activists push ahead with a lawsuit challenging the standard as too weak.1245 words

EPA and a group representing local government cleanup officials are floating new guidance to help municipal and other entities decide how and whether to support development of renewable energy facilities on contaminated brownfields sites -- a key agency goal.671 words

EPA is using its Superfund law authority to investigate and address hazardous substances found in drinking water wells in Pennsylvania and Wyoming that the agency is signaling could have been caused by natural gas drilling, a rare move since the law has rarely been used to address oil and gas drilling operations.828 words

A recent appellate ruling rejecting a California plan for attaining EPA's air quality standards throws into question the validity of other state implementation plans (SIPs) that may also rely on years-old air quality data and computer modeling because it rejects an agency policy that requires officials to weigh SIPs based only on the data contained in it.764 words

A top adviser to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is ranking the agency's core environmental concerns related to hydraulic fracturing, with strains on water supply as a top issue.675 words

Construction industry officials are urging EPA to delay finalizing its construction general permit (CGP) for stormwater discharges just weeks before it is slated to take effect, arguing that litigation over the agency's effluent discharge limits on which the permit relies has not yet been resolved and warning they could sue again if EPA moves forward with the CGP.672 words

An EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) panel this week will discuss its Jan. 19 draft report that asks the agency to junk its plan to develop a carbon dioxide (CO2) accounting framework to determine lifecycle emissions from biomass and suggests alternatives including biomass emission in greenhouse gas (GHG) permits unless they are certified as sustainably produced.804 words

EPA and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) say they have reached an agreement in principle to settle a controversial set of lawsuits -- a settlement that critics fear could set a precedent expanding the Clean Water Act's (CWA) jurisdiction over groundwater and nonpoint sources of pollution -- though the litigants are asking a federal court to give them more time to complete the deal.679 words

States are urging EPA to help ward off expected efforts by Congress to cut the agency's grants account by providing the "full picture" of why some grants remain unspent several years after EPA awards them, saying there are many factors behind the delays in using the grant funds long after they are awarded.968 words

Environmentalists and the Teamsters, a key labor union, are strongly urging EPA and top White House officials to release the long-awaited risk assessment of the ubiquitous environmental contaminant dioxin this month, as Administrator Lisa Jackson has promised, according to a flurry of letters sent to the agency over the past week.1067 words

As industry is struggling to meet EPA's supply mandates for cellulosic biofuels under the renewable fuel standard (RFS), the Obama administration is scrambling to create a market for new forms of advanced biofuels that could be commercialized sooner than cellulosic fuels, which were once viewed as the lowest-carbon biofuel.968 words

An article in the Jan. 20 edition of Inside EPA, "EPA Urged To Scrap Zero Emission Credit For EVs in 2017-2025 GHG Rule," incorrectly stated that the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) is suing the agency over its 2012-2016 GHG auto rules. NADA did not join the lawsuit, which is being pursued by industry associations opposed to the vehicle rules that serve as a trigger for stationary source GHG limits.73 words

Indiana has issued the nation's first draft Clean Air Act permit that includes a greenhouse gas (GHG) limit reflecting carbon capture for a proposed project to convert coal to synthetic natural gas, which if finalized could set an important precedent requiring other permits to also set GHG limits based on capturing much of the carbon.1304 words