A California construction company is trying to force a new appellate decision on which of two competing Supreme Court Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction tests judges should apply, just as EPA is readying a new jurisdiction rule that would use the firm's preferred narrower test and could get a major boost if courts start to back that standard.

EPA has sent a narrower Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule for White House pre-publication rule to replace the Obama-era jurisdiction rule, but even though the submission marks a major step forward in the agency's repeal-and-replace plan the legal battles over the existing rule and EPA's replacement process are escalating.

Democrats are intensifying their campaign against EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt over his alleged ethics violations, with six House lawmakers asking that the FBI and Justice Department (DOJ) look into possible criminal violations stemming from Pruitt's efforts to obtain a fast-food franchise for his wife and his past lease of a lobbyist-owned condo.

Environmentalists' lawsuit challenging EPA's framework for reviewing new chemicals appears to face legal hurdles because it challenges a policy that is not yet final but it nevertheless appears to have dissuaded the agency from following the novel process it floated last year to speed chemical reviews, industry and environmental attorneys say.

As EPA prepares to unveil a congressionally mandated plan for how to reduce animal testing of chemicals, the agency is facing competing calls from environmentalists and animal rights groups who are still at odds over how quickly officials can end or limit such testing.

EPA's influential Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program is slated to release new protocols for its long-running assessments of the human health risks of arsenic and hexavalent chromium (Cr6) -- two ubiquitous and potent contaminants -- in the fall, part of a revamped schedule of priorities for the controversial program.

The Trump EPA's pending rule to repeal Obama-era greenhouse limits on high-emitting "glider" trucks, which was slated for release last month, is stuck in regulatory limbo and may not advance unless EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt or White House budget director Mick Mulvaney opt to wield political influence and order its release without a required regulatory impact analysis (RIA).

NEW YORK -- New York's environment commissioner is crafting "contingency plans" to promote environmental protection to help balance out potential pollution increases associated with EPA rule rollbacks, including a state push for zero-emission and electric vehicles (ZEVs) to counter any weakening of federal mobile source standards.

EPA is formally launching a rulemaking that has the potential to overhaul how the agency considers regulatory costs and benefits across a wide range of air, water, toxics and other statutes, arguing the effort could address the "perceived inconsistency and lack of transparency" in prior cost-benefit reviews.

BALTIMORE -- Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states are ramping up their push for EPA to propose stricter nitrogen oxides (Nox) emissions limits for heavy-duty trucks, saying it would provide "critical" help in reducing ozone-forming NOx emissions as the states strive to attain the agency's tightened 2015 ozone ambient air limit.

The future of the Trump administration's plan for short-term changes to EPA's renewable fuel standard (RFS) is highly uncertain after push-back from two key GOP senators appears to have blocked a tentative RFS reform "deal," but observers say the administration could yet try to implement some of the deal's most contested provisions.

Industry and free-market groups are backing calls by oil giant Atlantic Richfield Company's (ARCO) for the Supreme Court to reverse a Montana state court ruling that they say would weaken the Superfund law's bar on judicial review of ongoing cleanup remedies and frustrate EPA's ability to reach settlements with potentially responsible parties (PRPs).

EPA staff has begun drafting revisions to 2003 brownfields guidance that outlines when developers can qualify for limited liability protection under the Superfund law, responding to recommendations from Administrator Scott Pruitt's Superfund Task Force and longstanding calls from industry for greater clarity in the wake of controversial legal rulings.