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October 7-13, 2023
In this week's issue:
- National Academies of Sciences to Review Texas’s Ethylene Oxide Risk Estimates – Seeks Volunteers (October 10, 2023)
- Supreme Court Denies Auto Dealers’ Petitions for Review of Minnesota’s Clean Cars Program and State Petitioners’ Standing to Challenge Administration’s Metric for Calculating Social Cost of GHGs (October 10, 2023)
- State, Municipal Petitioners Ask Court to Lift Abeyance on Case Challenging EPA’s 2020 Ozone Standards (October 6, 2023)
- Extension of Comment Period for Proposed Air Emissions Reporting Requirements Revisions Announced in Federal Register (October 12, 2023)
- EPA Promulgates Final Rule on HFC Restrictions and Technology Transitions Under AIM Act (October 6, 2023)
- EPA Publishes Update to Ozone Measurement Method (October 12, 2023)
- DOE Announces Hydrogen Hubs, 16 States To Share $7 Billion (October 13, 2023)
This Week in Review
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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has announced that it will establish an ad hoc committee to conduct a scientific review of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ’s) ethylene oxide (EtO) carcinogenic dose-response value, which TCEQ issued in 2020. NASEM is seeking volunteers by October 30, 2023 to participate as committee members for the scientific review. TCEQ carried out its own dose-response assessment due to the commission’s opposition to the value contained in EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). EPA developed the IRIS value following a comprehensive review that lasted from 1998 until 2016. It found that EtO was approximately 60 times more carcinogenic than previously estimated. EPA has relied on its updated IRIS value in the development of several air toxics standards and proposals. TCEQ has recommended the use of its value for EPA’s rule development, instead of the IRIS value. Texas’s assessment has been criticized for several things, including not adequately considering breast cancer. NASEM is soliciting suggestions for experts to participate in the scientific review. The committee is expected to consist of 10 volunteers and NASEM is also seeking potential speakers, participants and peer reviewers for any publications that may result. NASEM seeks expertise especially in the following areas:
- public health carcinogenic risk assessment
- systematic review methods
- environmental epidemiology
- toxicology
- carcinogenesis
- biological modeling
- exposure assessment
- dose-response modeling
The committee will review the methods, results, and conclusions of TCEQ’s assessment document and consider whether the conclusions are clearly presented, scientifically supported and based on the best available scientific information. To volunteer or recommend qualified participants, interested individuals should contact NASEM.
For further information:
The U.S. Supreme Court denied two air-related petitions for review. In the first, filed August, 14. 2023, the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association (MADA) asked the court to review “[w]hether, under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act, Minnesota qualifies to adopt California’s vehicle emission standards when there are no areas in Minnesota which fail to satisfy the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.” In January 20, 2023, the Minnesota Court of Appeals rejected MADA’s argument that the state does not meet the criteria to adopt California’s vehicle standards under CAA Section 177. On May 15, 2023, the Minnesota Supreme Court declined to review the appellate court’s decision. The case (No. 23-143) is Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association v. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. In the second denied petition, filed by a coalition of 11 states led by Missouri, the petitioners asked the court to review the October 21, 2022, opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upholding the dismissal, for lack of standing, by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri of the states’ challenge of the Biden Administration’s reinstatement, on an interim basis, of metrics used in federal rulemakings to estimate the social cost of greenhouse gases (SC-GHG). The Administration’s action, argued the petitioning states, would result in increased regulatory burden and cost. The three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit, concluded that
the “Plaintiff States failed to plausibly allege the ‘irreducible constitutional minimum’ of Article III standing – concrete and particularized actual injury in fact that is fairly traceable to defendants’ challenged conduct, publication of the interim SC-GHG estimates.” The case (No. 22-1248) is State of Missouri v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. The states that joined Missouri on the Supreme Court petition include Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Kansas.
For further information:
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/Litigation-SCOTUS_Order_List-101023.pdf
and
and
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/DocketFiles/html/Public/23-143.html
and
and
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/Litigation-Petition_for_SCOTUS_Review-SC-GHG-062523.pdf
and
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/DocketFiles/html/Public/22-1248.html
A group of 15 states and a municipal government, led by New York, filed a motion in the U.S, Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit asking the court to lift the abeyance over challenges to EPA’s December 2020 final decision to retain, without revision, the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone. The case was held in abeyance while EPA re-examined the decision pursuant to a January 2021 Executive Order directing the agency to do so. In their petition, the states and municipality write that EPA sought and was granted a series of abeyances during its re-examination and once it committed to reconsidering the decision, and that EPA “suggested that its timely reconsideration of the 2020 ozone decision would render litigation in this case ‘unnecessary.’” However, the petitioners continue, “Thirty-one months later, no notice of proposed rulemaking has [been] issued. Instead, in September 2023, EPA informed the parties and this Court that it will take no action regarding the 2020 ozone decision at this time. EPA now intends to leave the challenged decision in place until it conducts a new full, statutory review to be completed at an unknown date in the future.” The state and municipal petitioners, therefore, ask the court to lift the abeyance and reset the deadline for initial filings and submission of a briefing format. In addition to New York, parties to this motion include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and New York City.
For further information:
EPA published notice in the Federal Register (88 Fed. Reg. 70,616) of its decision to extend the public comment period for its proposed revisions to the Air Emissions Reporting Requirements (AERR) rule by 30 days. Comments on the proposed rule are now due on November 17, 2023. Concurrently, EPA has extended the public comment period on an Information Collection Request associated with the AERR proposal to the same date. In the notice announcing the extension, EPA stated that it “has received numerous requests to extend the comment period given the complexity and length of the proposed rulemaking.” The proposed rule, which was published on August 9, 2023, would amend the AERR to require the reporting of hazardous air pollutant emissions from stationary sources, greatly expanding the universe of facilities required to report. It would require facilities to report HAP emissions directly to EPA, with the option for state and local agencies to report on behalf of facilities within their jurisdictions if the agencies apply for and receive approval to do so. Among many other proposed changes to the current rule, it would also phase in earlier point source reporting deadlines for state and local agencies.
For further information:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-10-12/pdf/2023-22530.pdf
and
https://www.epa.gov/air-emissions-inventories/air-emissions-reporting-requirements-aerr
EPA has promulgated a final rule (EPA Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0643) pending publication in the Federal Register implementing sections of the December 27, 2020 American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. This final rule governs technology transitions for industry use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). It restricts the use of HFCs in specific sectors or subsectors, establishes a process for submitting technology transitions petitions, establishes recordkeeping and reporting requirements, and addresses certain other elements related to the effective implementation of the AIM Act. It limits HFCs in aerosols, foams, and refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pump products and equipment beginning January 1, 2025, and requires transitions to alternatives in manufacture, distribution, sale, installation, import, and export of products containing restricted HFCs.
For further information:
https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction/regulatory-actions-technology-transitions
EPA published in the Federal Register (88 Fed. Reg. 70,595) a final rule that updates a standard parameter, called the “absorption cross-section value,” used to measure atmospheric ozone in ultraviolet (UV)-based ozone analyzers and Standard Reference Photometers. The new value, which is a consensus-based recommendation of an international working group, is 1.2% lower than the current value in 40 C.F.R. part 50, appendix D (established in 1961), and reduces the uncertainty in the value to 0.31%. It is currently being implemented worldwide, with a target date of January 1, 2024 for full implementation. EPA says this update may increase measured ozone concentrations by up to 1.2%, but considering the other potential impacts to variability in ozone monitoring data – including monitor measurement precision, calibration and verification; data handling and design value computation procedures; and precision and bias criteria – the agency “does not expect a predictable effect on reported data.” The final rule will become effective on November 13, 2023.
For further information:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-10-12/pdf/2023-22531.pdf
and
https://www.epa.gov/amtic/final-rulemaking-40-cfr-part-50-appendix-d
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced seven proposed “hydrogen hubs” in 16 states will share $7 billion in federal grants to jump-start the emerging hydrogen industry. Funded by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the Hydrogen Hubs convene teams of states to deploy projects that are intended to “accelerate the commercial-scale deployment of clean hydrogen helping to generate clean, dispatchable power, create a new form of energy storage, and decarbonize heavy industry and transportation”, according to DOE. The regional hubs responded to a competitive solicitation to propose networks of hydrogen producers and consumers linked with new and existing infrastructure. The goal of the overall program is to increase clean hydrogen output by a factor of five to 10 million metric tons by 2030 and 50 million tons by 2050, and reduce 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from end-uses each year. The awardees for these projects include seven projects. The Mid-Atlantic hub includes Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, who were awarded $750 million to repurpose oil infrastructure to produce hydrogen. The Appalachian hub includes West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, awarded $925 million to deploy natural gas electrolysis with carbon caprure and storage (CCS) as part of the hydrogen production; an additional $1.2 billion was awarded to Texas for a similar project using gas electrolysis with CCS. California was awarded $1.2 billion for a hydrogen hub to produce hydrogen exclusively from renewable energy; a Pacific Northwest hub that includes Washington, Oregon and Montana were also awarded $1 billion for projects producing hydrogen exclusively from renewables. The Midwest hub includes Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, which was awarded $1 billion for steel and glass production, power generation, refining, heavy-duty transportation and sustainable aviation fuel. Finally, a Heartland hub, made up of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, was awarded $925 million with a focus on clean hydrogen production to decarbonize agriculture, generation, and space heating.
For further information:
https://www.energy.gov/oced/regional-clean-hydrogen-hubs-selections-award-negotiations