A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit appeared skeptical of a West Virginia wastewater treatment plant's push to revive a challenge to EPA's denial of a change to the state's copper water quality standard, with one of the judges saying the treatment plant's attorney was “tilting at windmills.”
A retired EPA water attorney has filed a complaint with the agency’s inspector general (IG) alleging that Region 5 Administrator Cathy Stepp suppressed critical staff comments on a water permit for a controversial Minnesota mine, clearing the way for a permit that environmentalists and a member of Congress say is inadequate.
Environmentalists are seeking to block military efforts to dispose of material containing perfluorinated compounds before EPA advances a plan to regulate the compounds under Superfund law, calling for a halt in the incineration of firefighting foam containing the chemicals and successfully objecting to disposal of contaminated soil in a New Jersey landfill.
EPA is facing pressure from states and water utilities to tighten its assessment of the risks posed by a pair of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) substances, known as GenX and PFBS, intensifying pressure on the agency to step up its oversight of the broad class of chemicals in part as a way to harmonize state standards.
The Waterkeeper Alliance says EPA has missed Safe Drinking Water Act deadlines to review and revise drinking water standards for a dozen chemical and biological contaminants as well as develop new standards.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito's (R-WV) concern is raising doubts about acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler's confirmation due to reports the agency has decided not to craft enforceable standards for two PFAS.
EPA will ask the 9th Circuit to overturn a district-level decision that held a two-year enforcement delay on the 2015 jurisdiction rule to be unlawful, which helped create a nationwide patchwork for water policy.
Trump administration plans to narrow the Obama-era standard for determining Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction might undercut some states’ plans to assume CWA section 404 dredge-and-fill permitting authority, a top state water official says, because it would limit the waters subject to the law and reduce the incentive for new state permit programs
Even as concern mounts over EPA's decision not to craft enforceable drinking water standards, the agency is considering other steps, including Superfund regulation and emergency cleanup orders under SDWA.
EPA is urging the Supreme Court to deny a Michigan road commission's petition seeking judicial review of federal “objections” to state-crafted Clean Water Act (CWA) section 404 permit proposals, arguing even when the agency uses its power to move authority over a permit away from state regulators it is not “final agency action” subject to litigation.