EPA has launched a broad new rulemaking to clarify and consolidate its regulations for hazardous waste generators, a move that one industry source says could make it easier for some companies to comply with disparate requirements, but which also could open the door to controversial policy changes.725 words

A recent report from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that recommends ending some of the state's landmark product stewardship programs -- citing high costs and in some cases low recycling rates -- is drawing strong criticism from national and state environmental groups but praise from industry groups.1646 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.1210 words

California Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) budget proposal to eliminate several toxics department "brownfield" cleanup programs in the state may have a negative impact on cities facing new cleanup oversight authority as a result of the state's elimination of redevelopment agencies, sources say. Although sources note most redevelopment groups do not currently rely on the department programs slated to be cut, the elimination of redevelopment agencies may force local officials to reassess the programs' worth, sources say.642 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

Republican lawmakers are calling on EPA to delay the submission period for data required under the agency's new industrial chemicals reporting rule by four months just weeks before the Feb. 1 start of when industry begins to provide 2011 data the rule requires.925 words

EPA is investigating whether an error published in the latest edition of its drinking water standards document has led to any mistakes at hazardous waste cleanup sites or drinking water facilities that would have to be corrected retroactively, an agency source says.872 words

EPA has issued a revised method for measuring levels of hexavelent chromium (Cr6) in drinking water, which appears to resolve concerns raised by drinking water utilities while fueling speculation that the agency's upcoming Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3) will require utilities to monitor for the ubiquitous contaminant.1350 words

Environmental and public health groups are suing EPA to try to force a hard legal deadline for the agency to issue the final version of its long-stalled coal combustion residuals (CCRs) disposal rule, arguing that EPA is ignoring a Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) requirement to periodically review and revise its waste rules.859 words

A natural gas distribution company is urging the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that allowed a judge, rather than a jury, to impose enhanced criminal fines for a waste law violation, warning the justices that allowing the ruling to stand would undermine defendants in a host of environmental and other enforcement actions.1247 words

State environmental commissioners are pressing the White House budget office and Energy Department (DOE) to fully fund DOE's nuclear cleanup budget next year, even as a DOE waste official warned last year that the cleanup program will likely suffer cuts in the coming years with possible breaches of cleanup milestones.470 words

Open government and environmental groups are circulating draft letters they hope to send this week to the Defense and Health & Human Services secretaries to stress concerns and question the legal justification for the Department of the Navy's (DON) recent decision to restrict the release of water contamination data from a North Carolina base where up to 1 million people may have been exposed to toxic chemicals.1181 words

The Army is working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on plans for the environmental monitoring of depleted uranium (DU) contamination at multiple sites, even as the military has raised concerns over the training restrictions the NRC has imposed at these sites and questioned NRC's jurisdiction at ranges the military continues to operate.1055 words

EPA is including a controversial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guide for cleaning up after nuclear attacks on a short list of reference materials it is providing to Japanese officials seeking advice on how to remediate the Fukushima power power plant meltdown, a move that is prompting strong criticisms from environmentalists who fear such advice could set a precedent that would dramatically weaken domestic cleanup standards.1247 words

EPA is weighing whether to add the commonly used detergent chemical nonylphenol (NP) to the list of substances that require reporting under federal emergency planning laws, a move the agency first suggested in the chemical action plan it released for the substance in 2010.779 words

EPA's Office of Inspector General (IG) says the agency's recently issued plan to improve its Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) -- known as EDSP21 -- falls short of some recent IG recommendations to improve the program's management and speed its implementation.784 words

Longtime observers of EPA's chemical risk assessment program are urging the agency to fix what they see as major substantive flaws with the program, such as inadequate consideration of risk uncertainty, saying a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report calling for improvements focuses too narrowly on procedural issues.1220 words

EPA is backing new calls from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to further enhance the transparency and efficiency of its chemical risk assessment program, after GAO warned EPA may face new challenges to releasing its assessments in a timely manner, such as its failure to win White House approval to respond to industry data quality challenges.664 words

Organizations representing the food and agriculture industries are joining the chemical industry in urging EPA to withdraw its dioxin risk assessment from interagency review just weeks before the agency is slated to release the document.1017 words

Military researchers are suggesting that EPA and other federal agencies use a non-cancer risk level less stringent than the current EPA standard for the explosive RDX -- a contaminant at military sites -- as a result of a new modeling approach the researchers applied to both old and new data.1134 words

Reggie Cheatham, a long-time EPA career employee, has been named officially to lead EPA's Federal Facilities Restoration & Reuse Office (FFRRO), after serving as acting director for more than a year, an EPA spokeswoman says.323 words

EPA's research chief, Paul Anastas, who has led the agency's controversial chemical risk assessment program, is leaving the agency next month.696 words

A key group of White House business advisers is urging the administration to voluntarily strengthen the process it uses to review EPA's and other agencies' rules, including increasing the use of pre-rulemaking efforts to better justify the need for new regulations and crafting mechanisms to allow permanent review of existing rules' costs and benefits.764 words

Industry groups are aiming to revise their plan for EPA to create a framework for testing and regulating nanoscale materials even as the agency continues to move forward with issuing case-by-case rules for the particles -- which present a major challenge for the agency because of the vast difference in toxicity based on small changes in their properties.1286 words

A White House science advisory panel is slated to highlight the importance of assessing potential environmental impacts of nanoscale materials prior to manufacturing in an upcoming report evaluating the effectiveness of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), which coordinates nanotechnology programs across EPA and other agencies.706 words

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) is calling for U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to launch an investigation into the seismic risks associated with hydraulic fracturing and related waste disposal activities following a series of earthquakes in Ohio that have already prompted calls for stricter EPA disposal regulations.617 words

Industry and Republican sources are raising concerns that separate EPA investigations into whether hydraulic fracturing operations in Wyoming and Pennsylvania contaminated water supplies may preempt the finding of a broader EPA fracking study, and are also criticizing the differing approaches in the two existing investigations.1635 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.713 words