EPA is sending its long-awaited proposal setting criteria for biomass to be considered carbon neutral when burned for energy, and potentially when used in agricultural applications, to the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) for inter-agency review as soon as Feb. 21, sources say.
New EPA data showing its Superfund site “construction completions” were the lowest in decades, on top of its recent report showing the largest backlog of sites awaiting construction starts, is again raising questions about the adequacy of the program’s funding while highlighting the absence of broader data on why the slowdown is occurring.
The IRS has released long-awaited guidance on implementing expanded tax credits for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects that embraces CCS backers’ calls to allow up to six years to complete eligible projects, though it is delaying action on thornier issues such as how operators certify emissions are stored over the long term.
Some environmentalists are criticizing a plan floated by Democrats on the House energy panel because it includes a clean energy standard (CES) with partial credit for natural gas but a new study suggests their CES could cut more criteria pollutants than a competing plan without such credit, highlighting tradeoffs in power sector climate policy.
Thirty Senate Democrats are expressing disappointment that many commitments in year-old EPA’s PFAS action plan “remain unfulfilled,” including drinking water and waste regulatory determinations for key chemicals.
A new Government Accountability Office report urges EPA to create a technical assistance network and Congress to require climate resiliency considerations in federally funded water infrastructure projects.
A group largely backed by major industries and former Republican officials is ramping up advocacy for a carbon tax-and-dividend plan by releasing a policy “roadmap” with important new details, such as the design of an emissions backstop tool and elaboration on which EPA rules the plan would preempt.
The former state official and top EPA liaison to states could give the agency a more high-profile role at a time of growing agency conflict with mostly Democratic states over the administration’s deregulatory agenda.
The bill seeks to shift responsibility for recycling and cleanup to producers in an effort to “put the United States on a path to break free from plastic pollution,” the lawmakers say.
