As EPA cuts enforcement staff, the agency is putting greater emphasis on communicating its enforcement actions in an effort to make sure industry knows the “enforcement cop is on the beat.”
A top Defense Department (DOD) official is asking the military services to account for recent costs related to investigating and cleaning up per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), an effort that comes after officials acknowledged that their earlier estimates fell short.
EPA’s largest union, for now, cannot pursue further litigation against an unlawful contract the agency unilaterally imposed on its members due to a key government vacancy, but the union hopes to eventually hold future talks over a new contract because the contested contract has been a “disaster” for management to implement, a union source says.
Federal mediators sided with labor unions who have charged that EPA imposed an unlawful contract that eliminated telework and imposed other conditions not agreed to by the union.
The Senate has overwhelmingly approved a package of fiscal year 2020 spending bills, including provisions for EPA, though next steps for final enactment remains unclear as senators must resolve spending and policy differences with their House colleagues.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has approved by voice vote bipartisan legislation to almost double current spending levels for EPA’s clean water state revolving fund (SRF) by 2025 as well as allow states the flexibility to extend the terms of some Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge permits from five to 10 years.
The Trump administration “has targeted Superfund sites in majority white communities, medium income communities and where there are deep corporate pockets to pay for cleanup,” CHEJ says.
The Government Accountability Office found that many agencies in the EPA-led interagency working group on environmental justice are failing to live up to requirements that they craft and follow equity plans.
The new law makes it easier for states to shift money between their clean water and drinking water revolving funds in order to assist communities in replacing lead drinking water pipes.
