EPA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are struggling to determine which agency -- and with what money and legal authority -- would oversee cleanup in the event of a large-scale accident at a nuclear power plant that disperses radiation off the reactor site and into the surrounding area.1820 words

House Republicans' plans for extensive committee oversight of EPA in the 112th Congress -- including broad reviews of agency rules and environmental statutes -- could face key hurdles as the GOP looks to quickly hire staff with the necessary expertise to achieve the political and other goals of the hearings, sources say. 1346 words

The Department of Commerce is predicting dramatically more job losses from EPA's air toxics rule for boilers than EPA predicted in its proposed version of the rule, raising the stakes in an ongoing disagreement between the agency and industry critics who charge the rule will shut down facilities and hurt the economy.924 words

Power industry officials are crafting a strategy for working with EPA to avoid fears of a "train wreck" of compliance costs and other burdens from pending agency air, water, waste and climate rules due within the next five years, though other industry officials are looking to the GOP-led House next year to restrict EPA's rulemaking authority.1710 words

EPA staff are recommending that the agency significantly tighten its carbon monoxide (CO) ambient air standard to better protect human health, a move that could spur a legal challenge from the automobile industry that might be subject to stricter automobile air rules under a tighter standard because the sector is the largest source of CO.535 words

EPA's final greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting rule for the oil and natural gas sector includes language suggested by industry that explicitly limits the definition of a facility to the reporting rule, in order to address industry's concerns that the agency could set an overly broad definition that could then be used in other emission rules.604 words

EPA's just-issued guidance on how to conduct emission control technology reviews for first-time greenhouse gas (GHG) permits opens the door to allowing biomass to qualify as a GHG control technology, but stops short of granting industry's request to exempt biomass-burning facilities from GHG permitting requirements.1415 words

EPA's Clean Air Science Advisory Committee (CASAC) is withholding its support for EPA's novel approach to developing its forthcoming combined national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur oxide (SOx), citing ongoing ambiguities over the science that EPA must resolve before the advisers can lend their full support.562 words

EPA has expressed "significant concerns" over an Army Corps of Engineers proposal that would soften Clean Water Act (CWA) dredge-and-fill permit requirements for renewable energy projects, and offered to work with the Corps and other federal agencies to ensure that the new rules result in minimal environmental harm, according to an EPA spokesperson.905 words

Environmental and industry groups are outlining competing claims over whether EPA can consider the stigmatic effect that strict hazardous waste rules will have on industry's ability to reuse coal ash when it regulates the material, with activists charging that EPA is barred from considering stigma while industry is claiming that Congress effectively mandated that stigma be considered.1564 words

The oil and gas industry is opposing EPA's bid to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the agency's policy to require Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) permits for drilling operations that use diesel in their hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," process, arguing EPA cannot rely on a regional, years-old court ruling to justify the policy. 910 words

Major Republican election gains in Florida could bolster opposition from a broad swath of local officials and regulated industries to EPA's forthcoming rule setting landmark numeric criteria for nutrient pollution in the Sunshine State's rivers and streams.1567 words

EPA is expanding the list of chemicals that must be reported to its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), moving to issue a final rule that will add 16 carcinogenic compounds to the list in what one key official says will be the biggest expansion of the program since the early 1990s.646 words

EPA is taking steps to stop a host of states from using its strict numeric discharge limit for the construction industry while the agency revises it, a move that could address industry fears that states would use the water quality limit in their permits even though EPA is revising it due to data errors.591 words

The Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) is calling on EPA to streamline its premiere chemical risk assessment program by reducing opportunities for interagency review and prioritizing assessments by statutory and program office needs in an effort to develop more of the toxicological reports faster to advance agency regulation.277 words

EPA and environmentalists are close to signing a settlement that is expected to delay a planned deadline for the agency's upcoming Clean Water Act rule governing power plants' cooling water intakes, a rule that sources say is also expected to back industry's request to allow for flexible, site-specific requirements, in addition to its across-the board technology mandates.1363 words

EPA has agreed to a legal deadline to establish effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) for coal-fired power plants in a settlement agreement with environmentalists who had threatened to sue over the 1982 standards, providing activists with a legally enforceable agreement to force EPA to finalize the rule regardless of the outcome of the next presidential election.726 words

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is rejecting House Republican's concerns about the pace and cost of the agency's Clean Air Act rules, arguing the agency is on track to issue fewer rules than the previous two administrations had at a similar point in their terms and that implementation of the rules has a positive impact on the U.S. economy.785 words

The boiler industry is planning to seek a major National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study next year on how to determine job losses and other "valid economic impacts" of EPA rules, a study that is expected to seek to focus on rules' costs well beyond what EPA includes in traditional cost-benefit analysis to support its rulemakings.845 words

States and environmental groups pursuing climate nuisance litigation against several power companies are urging the Supreme Court to leave intact a lower court ruling allowing the landmark suit to proceed, citing factors including "regulatory flux" on EPA's greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations that they claim make high court review unnecessary.435 words

Facing strong opposition from farm groups, supporters of legislation authorizing EPA's Chesapeake Bay cleanup program are weighing their options for moving the legislation during the upcoming lame duck session as part of a package of land and water conservation bills.680 words

EPA is pursuing an aggressive new enforcement strategy to address adverse environmental impacts from mountaintop mining projects and is considering retroactive application of its strict new Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting guidelines in enforcement actions against existing surface mining water permits, sources say.1387 words

A just-issued appellate court's ruling that cleanup activities on abandoned coal mine sites are subject to Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting requirements could boost prospects in the next Congress for long-stalled bipartisan legislation that would provide "Good Samaritan" waivers from those requirements for mine cleanups, Senate and other sources say.1046 words

By the end of this year, EPA plans to issue a new strategy for holistic regulations of the nation's surface waters and drinking water supplies, combining previously floated plans and examining ways the agency could use authorities in non-water-specific statutes to protect all waters, a top water official says.480 words