Federal Facilities

A federal district judge has rejected two GOP-led states’ request to block enforcement of the Obama-era Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule within their borders, prolonging a nationwide “patchwork” of CWA standards that has led to fights in courts and Congress over how to apply the law until EPA repeals and replaces the 2015 rule.

New York's health department is preparing to propose the nation's first enforceable drinking water standard for 1,4-dioxane, a ubiquitous contaminant at waste sites and in drinking water systems, likely setting a path for other states to follow as one industry attorney says it may be the next “headline chemical.”

Small-business groups are broadly backing EPA’s plan to narrow the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) reach but appear split on whether the agency’s proposal achieves that goal, with some speakers at a March 19 listening session urging EPA to make major changes to the rule in order to provide more clarity on its scope and other provisions.

EPA has begun to sample for potential contamination of two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at Superfund sites even before it lists the chemicals as “hazardous substances,” suggesting it could move quickly to require cleanup at sites where the agency had previously committed not to and where prior mandates are addressed.