Environmental groups and the Trump administration are in talks to resolve advocates' long-running “mega” lawsuit seeking to force EPA to consult with wildlife officials on risks of dozens of pesticides to endangered species, though an environmentalist says prospects for a deal are slim, because the pesticide industry opposes the reviews the groups want.
Highlighting their concerns with the data EPA uses under the revised toxics law, environmentalists are filing a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request to force the agency to release two dozen studies that it relies on in its landmark draft assessment of pigment violet 29 (PV29) but which the agency has deemed as confidential business information (CBI) and withheld.
No matter the final disposition of Mr. Wright’s nomination, the EPA should keep its promise and move forward with the release of the long-overdue formaldehyde report,” the Democratic senator says.
EPA wins support from its Inspector General after it agreed to strengthen oversight of state drinking water programs, including meeting with regional branch chiefs this month.
House and Senate negotiators have agreed to compromise language in the Farm Bill that tasks EPA and federal wildlife officials with improving an Obama-era process for assessing pesticides' risks under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but it drops a House plan to curb the reviews though the Trump administration is seeking to weaken the mandate in a rulemaking.
A federal judge says that some former EPA science advisors can challenge former Administrator Scott Pruitt's 2017 directive barring the agency's advisors from receiving EPA research grants but Judge Trevor McFadden signaled during a Dec. 7 hearing that he is still weighing the merits of the suit.
In threatening to sue EPA, NRDC is pointing to Amazon and other retailers' refusal to sell paint strippers containing methylene chloride as evidence of the Trump administration's failure to protect the public.
EPA and Canadian regulators are rejecting a push from the chemical industry and other sectors to align regulatory decisions on pesticides and other toxic chemicals, citing conflicting statutory directives and strict time lines for decision-making under the countries' governing statutes such as the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
EPA water office staff are facing calls from President Donald Trump and acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to quickly propose revisions to the drinking water lead and copper rule (LCR) even as they continue to wrestle with how to reconcile calls from advisers for full lead service line (LSL) replacement with questions about costs and legal authority to do so.