Waste

Just days before a high-level meeting, the Energy Department’s (DOE) top lawyer has, at the 11th-hour, detailed extensive arguments seeking to sway EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to back the department in a potentially precedent-setting argument that seeks to allow the department to skirt EPA’s strict Superfund cleanup levels.

Chemical manufacturers and other industrial waste generators are signaling they plan to fight efforts by water utilities, airport operators and other groups that are seeking narrow, sector-specific waivers from cleanup liability should policymakers list per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law.

Environmentalists have compiled a suite of documents that could bolster a House Democrat’s suggestion that chemical companies continued to produce and sell per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances’ (PFAS) despite knowing the health risks just as one of those companies, DuPont, is strengthening its pledge to remediate any contamination and curb risks.

The fight over landmark California legislation that would set a target of reducing plastic waste from single-use plastic containers 75 percent by 2030 is heating up as the end of the state’s 2019 legislative session nears, with business groups warning of substantial economic costs while environmentalists are ramping up grass-roots lobbying.