Daily News

EPA, California and industry officials are expressing greater optimism that truck makers can implement strategies for curbing nitrogen oxides (NOx) without degrading fuel economy and boosting greenhouse gases, as both EPA and the state begin developing stricter NOx controls for heavy-duty trucks.

California air board officials are floating a “concept” proposal that would set a first-time cap on low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) credit prices and expand a cost-containment mechanism, in response to concerns that prices may soar to the point where state lawmakers could suspend the high-profile greenhouse gas reduction program.

A National Academies of Sciences (NAS) panel is backing the use of chemical dispersants to address oil spills but is urging EPA and other agencies to harmonize their toxicity testing methods and take other steps to address them, advice that could help environmentalists who are pledging to sue to force the agency to update its rules on dispersants.

State environmental commissioners are joining environmentalists to urge EPA and state governments to bolster the use of “alternative compliance” provisions in their rules limiting methane releases from oil and gas operations, a step they argue could ease industry costs while still delivering equivalent emissions cuts.

EPA is approving state implementation plans (SIPs) to meet federal ozone standards that rely on Obama-era vehicle greenhouse gas limits for reducing emissions even as the agency prepares to scrap such measures after finishing its controversial rule preempting states from enforcing their own vehicle GHG rules.

Groups representing state environment officials are publicly criticizing EPA's recently released multi-media action plan for addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), citing weaknesses across many program areas and calling for the agency to go farther such as by setting binding standards for contaminants across multiple media.

A bloc of California lawmakers and a coalition of environmental groups are urging appropriators to propose an additional $400 million of greenhouse gas program revenue in fiscal year 2019-20 for multiple programs that sequester GHGs in “natural and working lands,” complaining that the Newsom administration wants to cut such funding.

Capitol Hill Democrats are pressuring EPA chief Andrew Wheeler to reconcile what they argue are yawning discrepancies in his generic support for greater environmental protections and the agency's fiscal year 2020 budget request -- which seeks significant cuts -- and other activities that threaten to undercut such protections.