March 25-31, 2023
In this week's issue:
- NACAA Letter to House Appropriations Leadership Recommends State/Local Grant Increases (March 27, 2023)
- NACAA Comments on EPA’s Proposed Decision on PM NAAQS Reconsideration (March 28, 2023)
- EPA Administrator Testifies before House in Support of Proposed FY 2024 EPA Budget (March 28, 2023)
- House Passes Sweeping Energy and Permitting Bill (March 30, 2023)
- Senate EPW Conducts Hearing on “Good Neighbor” Rule (March 29, 2023)
- EPA Grants Waivers for Four California Heavy-Duty Regulations (March 31, 2023)
- CARB and 16 State AGs Commend EPA on Final HD Truck NOx Rule, Petition for Administrative Review of Two Regulatory Provisions (March 24 & 27 2023)
- EPA Publishes Final Outcome of Review of NSPS for Surface Coating of Plastic Parts for Business Machines (March 27, 2023)
- EPA Extends Deadline for CAAAC Nominations to April 30 (March 29, 2023)
This Week in Review
NACAA has sent a letter to Reps. Kay Granger and Rosa DeLauro, the Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, of the House Appropriations Committee, recommending significant increases in FY 2024 federal grant funding for state and local air quality agencies under Sections 103 and 105 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The letter, copies of which were also sent to all the members of the House Appropriations Committee, articulated NACAA’s four recommendations regarding FY 2024 federal appropriations. These are that Congress should: 1) provide $500 million in grants to state and local air agencies, which is an increase of $251 million over FY 2023 and $100 million more than the Administration’s FY 2024 request of $400 million; 2) provide flexibility to state and local air quality agencies to use federal grants to address the highest priority programs in their areas; 3) retain grants for monitoring fine particulate matter (PM2.5) under the authority of Section 103 of the Clean Air Act, rather than shifting it to Section 105; and 4) provide grant increases under authorities of the CAA that do not require matching funds (e.g., Section 103) as much as possible to allow agencies that do not have sufficient matching funds to still obtain the additional grants. NACAA had previously provided testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies communicating these recommendations.
For further information:
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/House-Letter-NACAA-FY-2024-Recommendations.pdf
and
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/House-Testimony-FY-2024-NACAA.pdf
NACAA submitted comments to EPA on the agency’s proposed rule, titled “Reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter.” In the comments, NACAA addresses EPA’s proposed decisions for the primary fine particulate (PM2.5) and PM10 NAAQ and provisions related to PM monitoring. In addition, although implementation may not, and must not, be considered in establishing NAAQS, NACAA also offered perspectives on implementing any final NAAQS revisions because it is critical that EPA be preparing for implementation now, through a separate process parallel to the NAAQS reconsideration. NACAA’s comment with respect to the proposed decisions on the primary PM2.5 and PM10 standards are based on the associations long-standing principle that when EPA establishes or revises any NAAQS the agency should follow the best available science. Regarding monitoring, NACAA offers comments on the proposed changes to the PM2.5 monitoring network design, “next generation” technologies and calibration of PM Federal Equivalent Measures. While highlighting that NACAA firmly believes EPA must maintain a strong firewall between setting or revising NAAQS and addressing issues related to implementing those NAAQS, the association also acknowledges that any decisions by EPA to revise the PM NAAQS will have a profound impact on the work of state and local air agencies and, therefore, urges timely EPA action on several fronts including working in close collaboration with NACAA to 1) review the August 24, 2016, SIP Requirements Rule for implementing the PM2.5 NAAQS to determine whether updates are necessary and, if so, to propose and finalize such updates so that they are in place when any final PM NAAQS revisions are promulgated (two examples of issues to be addressed are contingency measures and environmental justice); 2) adopt, or further strengthen, federal regulatory measures to control a range of PM and PM precursor emission sources, particularly new and rebuilt vehicles and engines in the mobile source sector; 3) request and support additional, adequate federal funding to enable state and local air agencies to successfully fulfill their statutory responsibilities and obligations to provide their citizens with clean, healthful air as expeditiously as practicable, regarding PM as well as all other aspects of their programs; 4) identify and discuss issues of concern related to EPA’s exceptional events rule and guidance and approaches for addressing them; and 5) bring together the Office of Air and Radiation, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and the Administrator’s Office to address the highly problematic enforcement of the residential wood heater New Source Performance Standards and take decisive action to ensure that this federal program is rigorously enforced so that the intended emission reductions are fully realized in practice. EPA’s close and ongoing collaboration with its state and local air agency co-regulators is essential with respect to all of these issues.
For further information:
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies in support of the Administration’s proposed FY 2024 budget for EPA, which calls for an increase of $1.87 billion, for a total of $12 billion, along with increased staffing levels (adding 2,400 full-time equivalents, for a total of 17,000). During the hearing, Regan was questioned about the increase in staff, with several members expressing concern that additional staff would result in more regulation and economic hardship. He was also asked if staff hired for some of the recent bills (which are for a finite period of time) would be fired when those funds are no longer available. Regan noted that some of those being hired are not permanent employees, but are term-limited. The Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), stated that the Administration’s request would be “dead on arrival” and that the agency has already received significant funding from other recent legislation. Several Democrats expressed opposition to a Republican proposal to reduce EPA’s funding to FY 2022 levels, noting this could, among other things, eliminate important programs and hundreds of full-time positions. Regan identified some examples of efforts that would be significantly harmed by such cuts, including environmental justice programs. He noted that many programs within EPA are not related to the Inflation Reduction Act or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and need additional funding. In response to concerns about possible sanctions raised by Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA) from the San Joaquin Valley in California, Regan noted that expected transportation measures will help state and local agencies attain clean air goals.
For further information: https://appropriations.house.gov/legislation/hearings/budget-hearing-fiscal-year-2024-budget-request-environmental-protection-agency
The U.S. House of Representatives, by a vote of 225-204, passed a major energy legislation package that aims to increase domestic energy production, reform permitting processes, reverse energy policies of the Biden Administration, streamline energy infrastructure and exports and boost the production and processing of critical minerals. H.R. 1, the “Lower Energy Costs Act,” was sponsored by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and co-sponsored by Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Sam Graves (R-MO). Among its key provisions, the bill would prohibit President Biden from banning hydraulic fracturing and repeal all restrictions on the import and export of natural gas. It would also prevent states from blocking interstate infrastructure processes, repeal royalty and fee increases on energy production and require the Department of Interior to resume lease sales on federal lands and waters. In addition, the bill would reform the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permitting process to streamline federal review of major projects, limit the scope and set deadlines for NEPA review, and streamline the permitting process under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The bill, which was backed by nearly all House Republicans and four Democrats, will now go to the Senate, where it is viewed as having no chance of passage; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has already declared it “dead on arrival.” President Biden has also said he would veto the legislation.
For further information: https://rules.house.gov/sites/republicans.rules118.house.gov/files/BILLS-118HR1ih_1.pdf
and
https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/house-votes-to-lower-energy-costs-across-the-board
The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) conducted a hearing on the plan finalized on March 15, 2023, for 23 states over the interstate transport of NOx. Under the plan’s cap-and-trade framework, 23 states will need to reduce NOx emissions from coal-fired power plants and/or other industrial sources through backstop daily emissions rates to promote operation and optimization of emissions controls, annual recalibration of the emissions allowance bank, and annual updates to the emissions budgets to account for changes in the generating fleet to meet the Clean Air Act’s “Good Neighbor” requirements for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Beginning in the 2023 ozone season, power plants in 22 states will participate in an allowance trading program based on reductions achievable through immediately available measures, such as the operation of already-installed emissions controls, with additional reductions phasing in in 2024. The rule also applies to other sources such as engines attached to natural gas pipelines, cement kilns, glass furnaces, municipal solid waste incinerators, iron and steel mills, and pulp and paper facilities. In an opening statement, Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) noted that this program would reduce ozone season NOx emissions, avoid over 1300 premature deaths, and have benefits that substantially outweigh costs. Dr. David Hill, a Connecticut physician and American Lung Association board member, pointed to those findings at the hearing, saying “preventing those downwind effects are going to pay health care dividends down the road.” Serena McIlwain, Secretary of Maryland’s Department of the Environment, said that while Maryland was both and upwind and downwind state, it had largely implemented the necessary steps and shown that this could be effectively done. Karen Peters, Secretary of Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality, also argued in favor of the rule, noting that EPA has yet to disapprove Arizona’s state plan but that there is a low contribution of local sources to the emission inventories of areas like Phoenix and Yuma, AZ. In her opening statement, Ranking Member Shelly More Capito (D-WV) suggested that the EPA plan’s $13 billion cost would not result in any areas reaching non-attainment and would harm energy producing states without benefit. Chris Wells, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, asserted that rather than issuing a Federal plan, EPA should have provided his state with an opportunity to revise their State Implementation Plan. Paul Noe, vice president of public policy for the American Forest and Paper Association, also asserted that EPA had erred in its recommendations for technology availability for non-power sector reductions, such as selective catalytic reduction at paper mill boilers. The rule is considered a target for potential disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, although there are no indications that disapproval would have needed bipartisan support, and any disapproval would likely face a Presidential veto.
For further information:
https://www.epa.gov/csapr/good-neighbor-plan-2015-ozone-naaqs
EPA announced that is has granted in full, under Clean Air Act section 209, the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) requests for waivers of preemption for the following California regulations: 1) the Advanced Clean Trucks Regulation, 2) the Zero Emission Airport Shuttle Regulation, 3) the Zero-Emission Power Train Certification Regulation and 4) the Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Emission Warranty Regulations and Maintenance Provisions. In an August 22, 2022, letter responding to EPA’s request for comments NACAA supported CARB’s waiver requests for all of these regulations as well as for the waiver request for the Omnibus NOx Regulation. EPA is not acting on the Omnibus NOx Regulation at this time.
For further information:
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-03/carb-hdv-act-zero-em-waiver-frm-2023-03-30.pdf,
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/NACAA_Comments-CA_HD_Waiver_Requests-080222lh.pdf
The California Air Resources Board (CARB), on March 24, 2023, petitioned EPA to reconsider its January 24, 2023, final heavy-duty truck NOx rule, titled “Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards” (88 Fed. Reg. 4296). In a letter to Administrator Michael S. Regan accompanying the petition CARB Chair Liane M. Randolph congratulates EPA on taking “its most significant action in decades to reduce heavy-duty vehicle pollution in its recently published emission standards for on-road trucks” and adds that “CARB commends U.S. EPA’s consequential and important work here and remains eager to partner with U.S. EPA as CARB implements its own rigorous regulatory programs.” Randolph goes on write that for model years 2027 and later “there may be opportunities to align the strongest parts of our programs, and we recognize that the possibility of more fully aligned programs is worth exploring in the future. In particular, we hope to work together on further refining provisions of the U.S. EPA rule with which CARB will be unable to align as things stand, but which might be modified in positive ways through further collaboration. We are there petitioning you to today to provide an administrative forum for that collaboration to further strengthen both our partnership and the EPA CTP-NOx rule [EPA’s Clean Trucks Plan Oxides of Nitrogen rule].” The specific provisions of EPA’s rule to which Randolph refers are 1) the interim compliance allowance, which allows excess in-use emissions with no end date (“despite it’s name”) and 2) the temperature adjustment that allows significant increases in emissions from trucks operating when the ambient temperature is below 25° Celsius. Randolph further writes, “In their current forms, neither provision is necessary or well-supported. Because so many federal-certified trucks enter California to move the nation’s freight, these provisions will harm Californians, as well as communities across the country. But we are confident that we could work together to address them, tackling any technical or industry needs while better protecting communities.” On March 27, 2023, a group of 16 state Attorneys General (AG) petitioned EPA to administratively reconsider the same two provisions of the agency’s final heavy-duty truck NOx rule, writing, “Reconsideration is warranted here because State Petitioners raise objections that arose after the end of the comment period and that concern issues of central relevance to the rule’s adoption, implementation, environmental justice impacts, and overall effectiveness.” The state petitioners are from New York, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
For further information:
and
EPA published in the Federal Register (88 Fed. Reg. 18,056) its final rule reflecting the outcome of its review of the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for the Surface Coating of Plastic Parts for Business Machines. The final rule includes amendments to the NSPS based on EPA’s determination that there are emission reduction techniques used in practice for surface coating operations that achieve emission reductions greater than those currently required under subpart TTT. Accordingly, EPA has set volatile organic compound emission limits for prime, color, texture and touch-up coating operations under a new subpart TTTa for affected facilities that begin construction, reconstruction or modification after June 1, 2022 (the publication date of the proposed version of this final rule). Subsection TTT and new subsection TTTa also include a requirement for the electronic submission of periodic compliance reports. This final action is in effect as of March 27, 2023.
For further information:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-03-27/pdf/2023-04966.pdf
and
EPA announced in the Federal Register (88 Fed. Reg. 18,544) that is has extended, to April 30, the deadline for nominations of candidates to fill vacancies on the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee (CAAAC), which provides advice and recommendations on policy and technical matters related to implementation of the Clean Air Act. EPA seeks nominations from a diverse range of candidates, including state, local and tribal agencies; academia; industry; non-governmental/environmental organizations; community organizations; unions; trade associations; utilities; lawyers; and consultants. The EPA Administrator appoints members for two-year terms, with the possibility of reappointment. CAAAC meets approximately twice each year and the expected workload is five to 10 hours per month. EPA first announced its solicitation for nominations on January 17 (88 Fed. Reg. 2614). The agency expects to fill vacancies by August 2023.
For further information:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-03-29/pdf/2023-06427.pdf, https://www.epa.gov/caaac
and
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-01-17/pdf/2023-00739.pdf