State and local officials are raising concerns about the legality and practicality of a novel EPA effort to regulate excessive water "flow" as a proxy for "sediment" in an impaired stream in Fairfax County, VA, an approach that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has encouraged but which EPA may not have authority to regulate.1546 words

EPA and the states of Washington and Idaho are considering including an interstate nutrient trading program in water discharge permits issued to meet nutrient pollution restrictions for the Spokane River, which could be one of the first attempts to integrate nutrient trading into water discharge permits across state lines.1176 words

State environmental commissioners are crafting a resolution to urge EPA and other federal agencies to coordinate their disparate programs for limiting harmful runoff from nonpoint sources -- such as parking lots, roadways and animal feedlots -- and more fully recognize states as a partner in the effort to curb such pollution.650 words

Industry officials hope that EPA's request for a federal appeals court to remand its strict numeric discharge limits for the construction and development sector will curtail state efforts to implement similar standards, because EPA in the request acknowledged errors in the data justifying the standard that some states are looking to adopt.694 words

EPA and environmentalists are increasingly seeking to strengthen Clean Water Act (CWA) rules governing how states designate waterbodies' uses in response to a slew of efforts by cash-strapped states to change the designation of certain waterbodies as a way to reduce the need to develop costly pollution control plans.1322 words

EPA's impending revisions to its water quality standards rules will not establish criteria by which to rank different uses that can be designated for a waterbody, as the agency encourages states to ensure all waterbodies get as close as possible to the default "fishable and swimmable" uses defined in the Clean Water Act, agency officials say.463 words

EPA officials are reassuring stakeholders the agency will take costs into consideration in developing a revised water quality standards rule but are insisting the rule needs to be updated to address court rulings and recurring disputes with states and Indian tribes, among other reasons.726 words

A forthcoming final action plan for reducing the levels of toxics in the Columbia River watershed -- which focuses on coordinated efforts from a diverse array of stakeholders -- is being considered a model for toxics reduction in other watersheds faced with high levels of contamination, according to EPA and state sources working on the plan.1081 words

A recent court settlement requiring federal agencies to review Oregon's water quality standards for toxics to address endangered species concerns could lead to increased reviews of endangered species issues nationally as well as more stringent water quality standards, according to an environmentalist following the issue.737 words

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is backing a 2003 district court ruling that revoked a long-standing EPA permit exemption for roads at timber harvesting sites, requiring regulators to permit the developments in the key logging states that the court oversees and possibly beyond.991 words

A key appellate court is strongly underscoring an earlier ruling that effectively blocked private parties from appealing remand orders issued by district courts until EPA or any other agency subject to the remand takes final action required by the order, a ruling that one legal expert says could lead to significant delays in judicial resolutions.1032 words

EPA in a new draft report is outlining a number of steps it wants to take to boost its existing Clean Water Act (CWA) authority through new regulatory, permitting and enforcement efforts, while saying Congress needs to pass legislation clarifying the scope of the CWA to ensure EPA can implement some of the steps.654 words

Despite EPA's recent moves aimed at limiting mountaintop mining in Appalachia, environmentalists in Kentucky, ground zero in the ongoing battle over mountaintop mining, say the agency seems unwilling or unable to use all the tools at its disposal to curtail the practice they say is harming streams, damaging water supplies and destroying wildlife.1412 words

EPA is crafting a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with federal mining agencies and Kentucky that offers to streamline issuance of controversial permits for mountaintop mining operations in exchange for industry minimizing the fill material discharged, providing a model that could resolve disputes over pending projects in several other states.1301 words

EPA is pushing ahead with its efforts to solicit data from power plant operators and states on its existing facility cooling water rules, despite objections from industry that the solicitation is unnecessary because the rule has been suspended.775 words

Environmentalists are pushing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to assess what appears to be first-time Clean Water Act penalties for gas released in BP's Gulf of Mexico spill, in addition to penalties for spilled oil, a move that would require a novel interpretation of the water law and EPA's current regulations and set a precedent for releases at other offshore sites.1288 words

A recently created task force in EPA Region III is exploring options to use existing tools such as targeted enforcement and permit objections to impose stricter environmental protection standards on fossil fuel extraction in the key energy states of Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia -- which include growing natural gas drilling operations and a heavy coal mining presence.1202 words

The Army Corps of Engineers is urging a federal court to dismiss an industry lawsuit that aims to test the scope of EPA-Corps rules exempting "prior converted croplands" from wetland permit requirements under the Clean Water Act, with the Corps arguing that it has yet to make a final decision on the issue that would be ripe for litigation.857 words

A federal court has rejected an industry effort to overturn EPA's precedent-setting designation of an Arizona river as a "traditionally navigable water" (TNWs), a designation that industry charges allows regulators to bypass Supreme Court limits on their water act jurisdiction in regulating intermittently flowing streams, wetlands and other marginal waters.322 words

A broad coalition of water utility officials, environmental, labor and other groups is urging senators to break a long-running deadlock and approve a bill to reauthorize EPA's water infrastructure funds before the end of the 111th Congress, though sources say ongoing disputes over prevailing wage provisions make passage difficult.897 words

A host of local environmentalists is planning to publicly oppose Sen. Benjamin Cardin's (D-MD) bill to reauthorize EPA's Chesapeake Bay program, charging that changes the senator made to win GOP support for the bill set a bad precedent for future efforts to amend the Clean Water Act (CWA) and do little good for the Bay.592 words

The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) in a new report is warning that a failure by Congress to boost EPA categorical grants to states in the agency's pending fiscal year 2011 spending bill will exacerbate state budget problems, possibly triggering a need by some states to overhaul and pare back their environmental budgets later this year.711 words

A federal appellate court is weighing the extent to which EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are required to consider the climate impacts of proposed developments when issuing wetlands fill permits, the latest effort by environmentalists to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the Clean Water (CWA).1199 words

A new EPA report says that water utilities can begin to reduce their vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change even without sophisticated modeling that can provide better information on potential impacts.614 words

Preliminary research is showing that there is limited danger to underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) from carbon dioxide (CO2) that mobilizes trace metals while stored underground as part of a massive climate change mitigation regime, EPA staff say.471 words

EPA is poised to hold a series of meetings with officials from other federal agencies to discuss a series of cross-cutting science policy issues, such as application of its cancer guidelines when setting safety limits for chemicals, that the agencies and industry groups have raised but which have complicated EPA efforts to complete a host of pending risk assessments.808 words

EPA is considering changes to a controversial draft guidance for estimating the dose at which a chemical or pollutant poses a risk, a method known as benchmark dose (BMD) modeling, with federal agencies providing comment on a revised version of a 2000 draft document that the agency has never issued in final form.823 words

EPA's interim guidance on incorporating environmental justice (EJ) in agency rules is drawing praise for beginning to tackle the issue of equity, but is also drawing criticism that it is too complicated to be effective, may not lead to substantive rule changes or may go outside the normal process to give some groups more access than other stakeholders.811 words

EPA has dropped key health data from a screening tool that could be used to target enforcement efforts in environmental justice communities, saying that although health impacts could be the screening tool's most significant measure of disproportionate impacts, federal privacy laws prevent use of the data.683 words

EPA continues to accept for investigation new petitions under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act alleging discrimination by state and local agencies that receive EPA funding, despite a longstanding backlog of cases and legal uncertainties about whether the agency could force changes if it finds the targeted action is discriminatory.1126 words

Expected Republican gains in November's mid-term elections, which could put the party in control of one or both chambers of Congress, are likely to heighten congressional oversight of EPA and other federal agencies, although chances for the party to pass legislation that would tie the agency's hands are still seen as unlikely.1133 words

The outcome of open gubernatorial races in two dozen states in the November elections will have major implications for states' interactions with EPA including their delegated environmental permitting authority, the stringency of hydraulic fracturing rules, new rules for toxic chemicals and other issues, sources say.1695 words

A joint study conducted by EPA and other researchers shows harmful developmental effects from exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), the ubiquitous chemical found in manufactured protective coatings, and appears poised to drive strict new EPA and state regulatory limits on the substance, sources say.937 words

The Defense Department (DOD) is warning EPA that its just-issued risk assessment of dioxane, a chemical found in industrial solvents and personal care products, is vulnerable to a Data Quality Act (DQA) challenge because EPA completed the assessment without external review of a revised version of a key study the agency relied on.661 words

EPA has released its new plan for regulating the risks associated with the detergent chemical nonylphenol (NP) and its ethoxylates (NPEs), including an accelerated timeline for an industry-supported phaseout that would end major uses of the the chemical by 2014, two years sooner than what industrial launderers had proposed.554 words

A federal health researcher will soon present a panel of EPA science advisers with new study results indicating that lab rats exposed to the widely used herbicide atrazine show increased incidence of developmental harm -- data that could bolster efforts by environmentalists who are urging EPA to take the rare step of restricting the ubiquitous drinking water contaminant midway through its registration period.622 words