Even as EPA faces a Nov. 30 statutory deadline for finalizing its 2020 renewable fuel standard (RFS) production goals, significant doubts linger over the fate of the program including whether the agency will meet the deadline, potential changes to EPA’s RFS waiver policy, and questions on plans for the program’s future years.
“My constituents are rightly concerned about emissions of [EtO], and that is why we need the U.S. EPA to release science-based rules and educate the public on the threat of EtO,” one of the group’s leaders said.
House Democrats are elaborating on their climate change legislative agenda, with nearly two-thirds of the caucus rallying behind newly introduced legislation that would instruct EPA and other federal agencies to work toward a goal of net-zero carbon emissions across the economy by mid-century.
Congress’ long-simmering battle over whether to regulate perfluorinated chemicals under the Superfund law as part of the pending defense bill appears headed for a final showdown as Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over whether to include such legislation in the final measure, which is slated for release this week.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s signals that it might alter long-standing opposition to most climate policy is prompting skepticism from the group’s critics, who argue that a true test of the chamber’s position will be if it shifts specific lobbying and electioneering efforts away from opposing policies that directly reduce carbon emissions.
The Environmental Working Group said the plan “represents a crucial first step in tackling the growing PFAS contamination crisis and finally offering some relief to communities polluted by toxic PFAS.”
A bipartisan group of 18 senators is urging EPA to include a range of agricultural feedstocks in the agency’s long-awaited rule declaring biomass sourced from sustainably managed forests as carbon neutral, a step that effectively exempts the material from greenhouse gas requirements, though it is unclear if the agency is planning to expand the rule.
Environmentalists are raising concerns that a bipartisan compromise the House Energy and Commerce Committee struck on Superfund legislation addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) will weaken Democrats’ push for a more aggressive measure now pending in defense authorization legislation.
Supporters of legislation banning the use and importation of asbestos under EPA’s toxics authority are gearing up to advance the bill in the Senate after the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted overwhelmingly Nov. 19 to approve a bipartisan compromise, which gives the chlor-alkali industry as much as 10 years to phase-in the ban.
