Litigation

New York has sued EPA over its decision to certify that General Electric (GE) had completed cleanup of sediment in the upper Hudson River contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) even though EPA withheld a finding that the cleanup remedy is protective under a related review.

Key House Democrats are raising concerns about EPA’s draft plan to limit the role of the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) in permit reviews as a way to speed permitting, demanding information on the issue, including whether EAB’s work reviewing enforcement matters will continue despite the planned policy changes.

A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling that rejected on procedural grounds a suit over an EPA memo undoing a strict air toxics policy gives few clues about how the court might rule on the merits of a future expected lawsuit over a pending agency regulation that would codify the memo.

The White House regulatory office has begun reviewing EPA’s draft proposal to ease aspects of the Obama EPA’s Clean Water Act (CWA) power plant effluent rule, though the plan’s rationale may be undercut by a series of court losses the agency has suffered over the effluent rule and a related waste rule governing coal ash.