William Reilly, who served as EPA administrator during the George H.W. Bush administration, is urging Andrew Wheeler, the agency's new acting chief, to advance an affirmative environmental agenda rather than a continued focus on regulatory rollbacks, but he is also indicating that he does not expect Wheeler to wholeheartedly embrace that advice.

Several groups representing state environmental regulators are criticizing EPA's consideration of a possible new rule the agency says would increase consistency and transparency of its cost-benefit analyses for regulations, claiming it could clash with statutory directives and calling on EPA to instead pursue any cost-benefit changes in flexible guidance.

AUSTIN, TX -- EPA expects states to meet an Oct. 1 deadline for submitting plans to reduce interstate air pollution and predicts many will opt to use regulatory “flexibilities” that could reduce their obligations, but some sources say there is major concern about the potential sanctions the agency could impose on states that will miss the deadline.

AUSTIN, TX -- A top EPA air official is predicting some stakeholders will push for significantly ramping down the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) ambient air standard from the current limit of 12 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3) to as low as 5 ug/m3 as part of EPA's ongoing review of the limit, but is suggesting such a standard might be technically impossible.

California is taking a major step to retain its current vehicle greenhouse gas rules in the face of EPA plans to block or reverse them, clarifying that automakers would only be “deemed to comply” with state standards if they are meeting current limits and that if the state is “prevented” from meeting its emissions goals, it may craft new rules, such as for the oil sector.

AUSTIN, TX -- Pending litigation from 15 states and environmentalists to force the Trump EPA to issue first-time methane emissions standards for existing oil and gas equipment could, if successful, broadly force the agency to issue tougher Clean Air Act rules for several sectors, according to legal experts.

Opponents of the pesticide chlorpyrifos concerned about its human health harms are eyeing preemptive steps to block use of the substance including calling on California to suspend it and rallying support for legislation to impose a national ban, as they expect EPA to appeal a recent appellate ruling that requires it to prohibit the substance.

Federal and state farm regulators are sharply criticizing a wildlife agency's novel opinion calling for limiting use of certain pesticides to protect listed species as the result of a failed Obama-era review process, though Washington state, while backing some of the criticism, is urging EPA to implement some of the opinion's protections for listed species.

EPA is asking a federal appeals court to remand several provisions of its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) rule for evaluating the risks of existing chemicals so that it can revise them, but is defending the rest of the policy, arguing that Congress gave the agency broad discretion in how to craft rules under the revised TSCA.

EPA is exploring at least three new metrics for measuring communities' ability to afford water infrastructure projects as it seeks to respond to congressional and other pressure to revise existing guidance to account for utilities' infrastructure needs and enforcement compliance and move beyond its current, controversial metric of median household income (MHI).

In a significant loss for environmentalists, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit has upheld Virginia's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 certification for an interstate natural gas pipeline, finding the environmentalists' charges that the state's actions were arbitrary and capricious to be unfounded.

The Senate has approved a “minibus” fiscal year 2019 spending bill that largely maintains EPA's existing funding level, teeing up a fight with the House that has already approved an FY19 measure to cut funding for the agency's budget by between $100 million and half a billion dollars, depending on which programs are counted as base EPA funding.