March 9-15, 2024
In this week's issue:
- Biden Administration Requests Increases to EPA and Air Grants for FY 2025 (March 11, 2024)
- EPA Issues Final Rule to Reduce Ethylene Oxide Emissions from Commercial Sterilizers (March 14, 2024)
- EPA Publishes Amendments to Chemical Accidental Release Management Program (March 11, 2024)
- EPA Announces Final NESHAP and NSPS for Gasoline Distribution and Bulk Gasoline Terminals (March 14, 2024)
- White House Announces Strategy to Accelerate Build Out of Charging Infrastructure to Achieve 100 Percent Zero-Emission Freight Sales by 2040 (March 12, 2024)
- Senate Minority Leader McConnell Introduces CRA Resolution to Disapprove Final PM NAAQS Reconsideration Rule (March 14, 2024)
- ICCT Finds That Announced Charging Infrastructure Deployment Marks “Promising Sign” for U.S. Transition to EVs (March 13, 2024)
- U.S. DOT Announces $450-Million FY 2024 Funding Opportunity for Port Infrastructure Development Program (March 13, 2024)
- NACAA Representatives to Attend Biden-Harris Administration Announcement of Final Multipollutant LMDV Rule on Wednesday (March 14, 2024)
This Week in Review
The Biden-Harris Administration has released its proposed budget for FY 2025, calling for increases for EPA – and for state and local air grants – over the amounts contained in the recently adopted FY 2024 appropriation. Specifically, the budget requests:
- $11 billion for EPA’s total budget (FY 2024 proposed budget was $12 billion and appropriation was $9.16 billion);
- $400.2 million for state and local air grants under Sections 103 and 105 (FY 2024 proposed budget was $400.2 million and appropriation was $235.9 million);
- $100 million in Diesel Emission Reduction Act grants (FY 2024 proposed budget was $150 million and appropriation was $90 million);
- $69.9 million for Targeted Airshed Grants (FY 2024 proposed budget was $69.9 million and appropriation was $67.8 million);
- $10.2 million for Multipurpose Grants (FY 2024 proposed budget was $10.2 million and appropriation was $0); and
- $7 million for Wildfire Smoke Preparedness Grants (FY 2024 proposed budget was $7 million and appropriation was $7 million).
Other highlights of the proposed budget include $2.9 billion in EPA climate-related programs, $1.5 billion for Environmental Justice Efforts and $1.5 billion for Office of Air and Radiation programs. The proposal would add over 2,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff to EPA over FY 2023 levels (for a total of over 17,000 FTEs). Within other federal departments, the Administration’s budget request also includes funding for climate-related programs. For example, the Department of Energy’s budget includes $10.6 billion in climate and clean energy research, development, demonstration and deployment programs (including over $1 billion to improve technologies to reduce pollution from industrial facilities) and over $2.4 billion in clean energy research and development to improve carbon-free electricity generation, transmission, distribution and storage technologies. The Department of Interior’s budget includes $5.5 billion in climate adaptation and resilience to address the increasing severity of extreme weather events fueled by climate change and $275 million for science to improve understanding of the impacts of climate change and improve land management practices from the federal to the local level. The Administration’s proposal now goes to Congress for consideration, where it is almost certain many changes will be made to the requested amounts.
For further information:
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-03/fy-2025-epa-bib.pdf
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https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-03/fy-2025-congressional-justification-all-tabs.pdf
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https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/cj
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EPA has issued final amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions from Commercial Sterilization Facilities. According to EPA, the regulation, which will address emissions at 88 existing and 2 new facilities, will reduce emissions of EtO from the source category nationwide by 90 percent and will result in no person being exposed to EtO at lifetime cancer risk levels of greater than 100-in-1-million. Among the regulation’s provisions are the following: percent-reduction standards for currently unregulated emissions, such as fugitive emissions (“room air emissions”) and chamber exhaust vents; strengthened standards for sources such as sterilization chamber vents and aeration room vents; requirements for the use of continuous emissions monitoring systems; and a mandate that emission standards be met during startup, shutdown and malfunction. The compliance deadlines provided by the rule for sources using under one ton per year of EtO are the maximum the Clean Air Act allows, which are three years with a possible one-year extension. Compliance times are shorter for sources using greater amounts of EtO. Additionally, facilities will have 180 days to demonstrate compliance. The President is also provided with the ability to grant an additional two-year waiver if necessary. The rule does not address emissions from off-site warehouses, but EPA has indicated it will examine those in other rulemakings. In other EtO-related activity, EPA is expected to issue standards to address EtO from chemical manufacturing (under the hazardous organic NESHAP, or the “HON”) later this month and is developing measures to reduce worker exposure to EtO under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
For further information:
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EPA has published in the Federal Register final amendments to the Risk Management Program (RMP) requirements under Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act, which are intended to reduce risks from chemical accidents. The rule will affect over 11,000 regulated facilities around the country. The amendments call for, among other things, a “safer technologies and alternatives analysis” and, for certain facilities, implementation of safeguard measures; increased employee participation, training and opportunities for decision-making in accident prevention; third-party compliance audits and root cause analysis incident investigations at facilities with prior accidents; increased sharing of chemical release information with local responders; evaluation of risks of natural hazards and climate change, including associated losses of power; and access to RMP facility information for nearby communities. EPA has also developed a query tool that allows the public to access information about RMPs in their communities. The final rule is effective May 10, 2024.
For further information:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-03-11/pdf/2024-04458.pdf
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EPA has issued final amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for gasoline distribution facilities (both major and area sources) and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for bulk gasoline terminals. EPA estimates that the rules will reduce air toxics emissions by 2,200 tons per year and VOC emissions by over 45,000 tons per year. The amendments are the result of technology reviews required for both NESHAPs and NSPS and they call for the following, among other provisions: volatile organic compound (VOC) emission limits for facilities that were new, reconstructed or modified after June 10, 2022; reduced loading rack emission limits; stronger requirements for cargo tank vapor-tightness; additional storage tanks controls for major and area toxics sources; instrument monitoring to detect equipment leaks; monitoring and operating requirements for control devices; and removal of exemptions during startup, shutdown and malfunction. The amendments apply to storage tanks, loading operations and equipment leaks and do not apply to gas stations.
For further information:
The Biden-Harris Administration’s Joint Office of Energy and Transportation announced the National Zero-Emission Freight (ZEF) Corridor Strategy to guide deployment of the ZE medium- and heavy-duty vehicle (MHDV) charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure necessary to achieve the nation’s goals of promoting at least 30 percent ZE MHDV sales by 2030 and 100 percent ZE MHDV sales by 2040. The Administration says, “The Strategy is designed to meet growing market demands by targeting public investment to amplify private sector momentum, focus utility and regulatory energy planning, align industry activity, and improve air quality in local communities heavily impacted by diesel emissions.” The Strategy includes four phases for prioritizing, sequencing and accelerating infrastructure along the National Freight Network (NHFN): 1) from 2024 to 2027, establishing priority hubs based on freight volumes; 2) from 2027 to 2030, connecting hubs along critical freight corridors; 3) from 2030 to 2035, expanding corridor connections to initiate network development; and 4) from 2035 to 2040, achieving a national network by linking regional corridors for “ubiquitous” access.
For further information:
https://driveelectric.gov/files/zef-corridor-strategy.pdf
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by 45 other Republican Senators, introduced a Joint Resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to disapprove EPA’s final PM NAAQS reconsideration rule – in which, based on available scientific evidence, the EPA Administrator lowered the health-based, annual PM2.5 standard to make it more protective – rendering it without force or effect. Upon proposal of S.J. Resolution 65, Senator McConnell, speaking on the Senate floor, said, “Just recently, the Biden administration rolled out yet another job-killing mandate that would impose more unilateral economic pain here at home. This one goes well beyond the regulatory standards of most of our European allies, let alone our top strategic competitor, China. The EPA wants to tighten limits on fine particulates in the air, known as PM2.5, despite its own data showing that concentrations have actually gone down by over 40 percent in the last two decades. The vast majority of these emissions come from sources like wildfires and dust from agriculture and roads that are not easily contained and, in some cases, impossible to control.” A similar measure was introduced in the House of Representatives on March 6, 2024 (see related article in the March 2-8, 2024, Washington Update).
For further information:
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https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/65?s=5&r=1
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https://www.congress.gov/118/crec/2024/03/14/170/46/CREC-2024-03-14.pdf (Congressional Record, see p. S2414, beginning in middle column)
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In a newly published analysis, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) reports that “announcements of charging infrastructure deployments indicate the U.S. is on track to meet the charging needs of a burgeoning BEV [Battery Electric Vehicle] fleet, marking a promising sign for the transition to clean vehicles.” In Assessment of U.S. Electric Vehicle Charging Needs and Announced Deployments Through 2032, ICCT finds that, compared to its assessment of future charging needs, explicit commitments and nonspecific announcements by private stakeholders such as charging providers, auto manufacturers and retailers, combined with announcements by the federal government, states and utilities, total over 180 percent of the necessary DC fast chargers and approximately 60 to 80 percent of the necessary Level 2 chargers. In a press statement, ICCT concludes, “Continued commitment and collaboration among stakeholders will be essential to sustain this momentum, and it is likely that additional charging deployment will be announced in the years ahead. Considering the proliferation of announcements, the results of the ICCT’s study highlight the promising position of U.S. charging deployment to keep up with estimates of potential market growth from EPA’s proposed Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards, an encouraging sign for the continued transition to BEVs.”
For further information:
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for $450 Million in fiscal year (FY) 2024 funding to modernize U.S. coastal and inland waterway ports under the MARAD Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP). Competitive grants awarded under the PIDP are to facilitate completion of important port and port-related infrastructure projects in urban, rural and tribal communities. The funding is provided under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act at a rate of $450 million a year from FY 2022 through FY 2026. MARAD is planning a series of webinars, to be announced soon, on the NOFO requirements and application process. MARAD says this grant program complements EPA’s Clean Ports Program, for which the agency announced, on February 28, 2024, two NOFO’s totally nearly $3 billion: 1) the Zero-Emission Technology Deployment Competition and 2) the Climate and Air Quality Planning Competition (see related article in the February 24-March 1, 2024, Washington Update).
For further information:
https://maritime.dot.gov/PIDPgrants
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EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan sent “non-transferrable” invitations to members of NACAA’s Washington DC staff and to leaders of the association’s Mobile Sources and Fuels Committee for an in-person event in Washington, DC on March 20, 2024, during which he “will make an important announcement on EPA’s work to address climate change, improve air quality and protect public health.” The announcement is expected to be of the final rule setting multipollutant emission standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles (LMDV). The final Phase 3 heavy-duty vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards rule is expected to follow shortly.
For further information: