March 9-15, 2019
In this week's issue:
- NACAA Files Comments on National Compliance Initiatives (March 11, 2019)
- Administration Proposes FY 2020 Budget (March 11, 2019)
- NACAA Submits Written Testimony on FY 2020 Appropriations (March 14, 2019)
- NACAA Joins with Coalition to Support Reauthorization of DERA, Bipartisan Reauthorization Bills Introduced in Congress, Senate Committee Holds Hearing (March 12-14, 2019)
- EPA Proposes to Allow Year-Round Sale of E15 (March 12, 2019)
- CASAC Drafts Response to EPA Recommending “Substantial Revisions” to External Review Draft of Integrated Science Assessment for PM (March 7, 2019)
- Scientific Integrity Act Introduced in Congress (March 13, 2019)
- UN Reports Urgent Global Action Needed to Protect Human Health from Environmental Degradation; Air Pollution Is Largest Environmental Driver of Death and Disease (March 13, 2019)
- Fiat Chrysler Recalls Vehicles Implicated in Emissions Enforcement Action (March 13, 2019)
This Week in Review
NACAA provided comments to EPA on the agency’s National Compliance Initiatives for FY 2020 to 2023. In its comments, NACAA notes the absence of reference to local agencies, and recommends that both state and local clean air agencies be explicitly included as partners wherever these agencies have a role with respect to the National Compliance Initiatives (NCI) related to air pollution. NACAA also offers that EPA should consider an additional NCI focused on compliance by mobile sources with applicable laws and regulations. This NCI could include proactive investigation of diesel engine “defeat devices” and also serve as a focal point for compliance assurance activities pertaining to non-road vehicles and engines, such as construction and farm equipment and marine vessels including enforcement of the Emissions Control Area along the United States’ coasts. Further, this NCI could be the focus for action against excessive rail idling. EPA sought comment on whether to broaden the NCI titled “Ensuring Energy Extraction Activities Comply with Environmental Laws” into one that more broadly seeks compliance with programs addressing volatile organic compounds (VOC) and whether both programs should be merged into the “Cutting Hazardous Air Pollutants” NCI. NACAA notes in its comments that a broader focus on VOCs should not be accompanied by reductions in compliance assurance activities that are producing public benefits; similarly, given the incomplete overlap between listed hazardous air pollutants and VOCs, any change should not lead to reduction in compliance assurance activities in either arena. NACAA supports the extension of the “Cutting Hazardous Air Pollutants” initiative as a national priority, and because EPA has not offered evidence to support returning it to the core program, NACAA opposes removal of the “Reducing Air Pollution from the Largest Sources” initiative from the national priority list. Finally, in 2018, EPA changed the name of the National Enforcement Initiatives to NCIs; NACAA reiterated in its comments that EPA should continue to communicate its willingness to use enforcement as an important tool for compliance assurance when regulated entities violate the law. For further information: http://4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/NACAA_Comments%20_%20EPA%20NCIs%202020_2023%20_%20031119.pdf
The Administration issued its FY 2020 budget proposal – A Budget for a Better America – calling for significant cuts for EPA. In the budget proposal, the Administration recommends $6.1 billion for EPA, which is approximately $2 billion less than Congress appropriated in FY 2019 ($8.06 billion). The Administration’s proposals for air program funding also include large reductions. These include the following: $151.96 million for state and local air quality grants under sections 103 and 105 of the Clean Air Act, which is $76.2 million (33.4 percent) less than the $228.2 million Congress appropriated for FY 2019; $10 million for grants under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) program, for which Congress appropriated $87 million in FY 2019; nothing for Targeted Airshed Grants, for which Congress appropriated $52 million in FY 2019; and $10 million for Multipurpose Grants, for which Congress appropriated $11 million in FY 2019. The proposal now goes to Congress, which must consider the recommendations and determine how much to appropriate for FY 2020.
For further information: https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/fy-2020-epa-budget-brief (for the discussion about air quality, see p. 19 of the document [p. 23 of the PDF] and for the charts see p. 64 of the document [p. 68 of the PDF]), https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-fy-2020-budget-proposal-released, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/budget-fy2020.pdf (EPA’s section begins on page 93 of the document [p. 97 of the PDF version]) and https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/
NACAA submitted written testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies regarding FY 2020 appropriations. NACAA’s testimony requests that Congress 1) increase federal grants to state and local air pollution control agencies by $82 million above FY 2019 levels, for a total of $310 million; 2) provide flexibility to state and local air quality agencies to use any additional grants to address the highest priority programs in their areas; and 3) retain grants for monitoring fine particulate matter under the authority of section 103 of the Clean Air Act, rather than shifting it to section 105. Miles Keogh, NACAA’s Executive Director, provided similar oral testimony during the Subcommittee’s hearing on February 26, 2019.
For further information: http://4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/NACAAFY2020HouseWrittenTestimony-03142019.pdf
NACAA, as part of a coalition that also includes industry groups, environmental and public health organizations and other stakeholders, signed onto letters to Senators John Barrasso (R-WY) and Tom Carper (D-DE), Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Reps. Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Billy Long (R-MO), supporting reauthorization of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA). In the letters, the coalition highlights the cost effectiveness of the DERA program, noting EPA’s estimates that every $1 in federal assistance is met with another $3 in non-federal matching funds and generates $5 to $21 in health and economic benefits. As indicated in the letter, EPA also estimates that the DERA program has resulted in the upgrading of nearly 73,000 vehicles or pieces of equipment for total lifetime emissions reductions of 335,200 tons of nitrogen oxide and 14,700 tons of particulate matter, which equate to approximately $12.6 billion in health benefits. The coalition also explains that every state benefits from DERA, with 30 percent of funding dedicated to supporting state programs. On the same day, Senator Carper and Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), joined eight by of their colleagues (four Republican and four Democrat), introduced the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2019 to reauthorize the DERA program through fiscal year 2024. The following day, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing to consider the bill, during which the legislation received broad support from Committee members. On Thursday, Reps. Matsui and Long introduced a House companion bill to the Senate’s Diesel Emission Reduction Act of 2019.
For further information: http://4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/FINAL2019DERAMemberLetterSupportingReauthorization-Barrasso.pdf, http://4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/FINAL2019DERAMemberLetterSupportingReauthorization-Carper.pdf, http://4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Leigslation-DERA-Coalition_Letter_to_Rep_Matsui_Supporting_Reauthorization-031419.pdf, http://4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Legislation-Diesel_Emissions_Reduction_Act_of_2019-Senate-031219.pdf, https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=39A090B5-600F-4E7C-81A9-11F332FC196C, and https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/747/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22s+747%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=2
EPA announced a proposal to grant a 1-pound-per-square-inch Reid Vapor Pressure waiver to E15 (gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol) during the summer months (i.e., the high ozone season) thereby allowing year-round sale of the fuel. Sale of E15 from June 1 through September 15, heretofore prohibited under the Clean Air Act, would be allowed under EPA’s proposal based on a new agency interpretation of sections 211(h)(4) and 211(f). The proposal also includes provisions to modify certain elements of the Renewable Fuel Standard to improve how renewable identification number markets function and prevent market manipulation. The proposal has not yet been published in the Federal Register but EPA has already set April 29, 2019 as the deadline for public comments. The agency will hold a public hearing on this proposal on Friday, March 29, 2019 in Ypsilanti, Michigan; a notice formally announcing the hearing will be published in a forthcoming Federal Register notice.
For further information: https://www.epa.gov/renewable-fuel-standard-program/notice-proposed-rulemaking-modifications-fuel-regulations-provide
EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) released its draft response to the agency’s Integrated Science Assessment for Particulate Matter (External Review Draft) – October 18, 2018 (Draft ISA). The response is based on CASAC’s discussions during a December 12-13, 2018 meeting to peer review the Draft ISA; the ISA is a major component of EPA’s statutorily required review of the PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) established in 2013. The group states in its draft response that, “Overall, the CASAC finds the Draft ISA does not provide a comprehensive or systematic assessment of the available science relevant to understanding the health impacts of exposure to fine particulate matter, nor does it follow widely accepted scientific methods for deriving sound, independently verifiable, scientific conclusions from available data.” CASAC goes on to recommend that four “fundamental limitations” be remedied in a second draft ISA: 1) lack of comprehensive systematic review, 2) lack of scientific method and of verifiable derivations of conclusions, 3) use of unverifiable opinions to draw major policy-relevant conclusions and 4) lack of scientific support for policy deliberations and decision-making. Because of the “substantial revisions” to the Draft ISA that CASAC says are necessary the Committee further recommends that EPA develop a Second Draft ISA for CASAC’s review and that the Committee be provided access to “additional technical expertise, as needed, to thoroughly review the Second Draft ISA.” The seven-member CASAC will convene a public teleconference on March 28, 2019 during which it will discuss its draft response and take public comment.
For further information: https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/WebCASAC/FE50D8FD06EA9B17852583B6006B7499/$File/03-07-19+Draft+CASAC+PM+ISA+Report.pdf, https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/isa/recordisplay.cfm?deid=341593 and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-03-08/pdf/2019-04254.pdf
Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced companion bills in the Senate and House to require federal agencies that fund or direct public science to establish and maintain scientific integrity policies. As the Scientific Integrity Act was introduced Senator Schatz stated, “These are challenging and unprecedented times for science. And while it’s not the first time it has been under attack, this time feels worse. That’s why we need to answer the call of our times and stand up for science. Our bill will protect government science from political interference. It would make data and findings off-limits for political appointees and managers, and make sure scientists follow careful processes for review.” Rep. Tonko added that “Independent, rigorous scientific research is one of the most powerful tools we have for advancing the public interest and keeping the American people safe…. Protecting the integrity of that science is one of the most important ways we can hold this President and his administration accountable.”
For further information: https://www.schatz.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Scientific%20Integrity%20Act.pdf, https://www.schatz.senate.gov/press-releases/schatz-tonko-introduce-new-legislation-to-protect-integrity-of-public-science and https://tonko.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=821
Unsustainable human activities globally have degraded the Earth’s environment to the extent that they are “endangering the ecological foundations of society,” and “urgent action at an unprecedented scale” is needed to address and reverse the situation, according to a landmark report issued by the United Nations. The sixth Global Environment Outlook, assembled by hundreds of scientists, peer reviewers and supporting institutions from more than 70 countries, presents a comprehensive assessment of the state of the environment, the effectiveness of policy responses in addressing environmental challenges and possible pathways to achieving international environmental goals. With respect to air, the UN reports that emissions generated by human activity continue to alter the composition of the atmosphere, leading to air pollution, climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and exposure to persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals. It is “well established” that air pollution is the main environmental contributor to the global burden of disease, the UN concludes, leading to between 6 million and 7 million premature deaths annually. Further, as stated in the report, at the global level, decreasing emission trends in certain sectors and regions have been offset by larger increases in others, including some rapidly developing countries and areas of rapid urbanization. The UN also finds that “transformational changes” leading to deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and the balancing of emission sources and sinks are needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement in addressing climate change.
For further information: https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/global-environment-outlook-6
Fiat Chrysler announced it will recall 862,520 cars that fail to meet emissions standards. The recall affects six vehicle models built between 2011 and 2016, and will require replacement of their catalytic converters. This action was prompted by in-use emissions investigations conducted by EPA. The recall comes after Fiat Chrysler agreed in January 2019 to pay over $300 million to settle an enforcement action brought by California and the U.S. Department of Justice, which alleged that the company’s diesel-powered pickups and SUVs violated clean air rules. In January 2017, Volkswagen AG pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties. EPA said it will continue to investigate other Fiat Chrysler vehicles that are potentially noncompliant and may become the subject of future recalls.
For further information: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/fiat-chrysler-automobiles-issues-voluntary-recall-nearly-900000-vehicles-united-states