Inside EPA

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is pressing grid operators to justify their current market rules or propose changes for integrating large power users such as data centers to the grid, with officials seeking to prevent major cost increases on other customers though the effort might have indirect emissions implications.

The Congaree Riverkeeper is suing a South Carolina plant under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), charging that its operators are discharging large amounts of microplastic pellets, or “nurdles”, into the Congaree River, the latest in a series of suits targeting plastic pollution.

Inside EPA is a subscription-fee-based daily digital news service from Inside Washington Publishers. SITE LICENSES Economical site license packages are available to fit any size organization, from a few people at one location to company-wide access. For more information on how you can get greater access to Inside EPA.com for your office, contact Online Customer Service at 703-416-8505 or iepa@iwpnews.com. STAY CONNECTED

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is asking Congress to clarify the process and timeline in the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) for making affirmative regulatory determinations -- a move that would effectively bolster industry’s legal arguments that the Biden EPA failed to follow SDWA’s process for proposing to regulate four PFAS.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is ending its long-standing practice of automatically conducting cumulative effects studies in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews of gas projects, with the agency’s chairman citing a “sea change” in NEPA policy from key Supreme Court and White House decisions.

EPA’s new research office, the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (OASES), is emerging as an agency-wide “coordinating hub” and enforcer of President Trump’s science policies, raising doubts about its capacity to conduct original research after the administration slashed and decentralized the agency’s science enterprise.

EPA has released draft TSCA analyses associated with five chemicals its Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) will review at an Aug. 3-7 meeting -- with at least one of the draft documents using a controversial assessment method to discount the need for a quantitative cancer assessment.

After multiple legal setbacks, the Trump administration appears to have shifted its strategy to block wind energy projects by having the Pentagon suspend needed security reviews of the facilities, though senators of both parties are pushing back by including provisions in this year’s defense policy bill to require a resumption of such reviews.

Inside EPA is a subscription-fee-based daily digital news service from Inside Washington Publishers. SITE LICENSES Economical site license packages are available to fit any size organization, from a few people at one location to company-wide access. For more information on how you can get greater access to Inside EPA.com for your office, contact Online Customer Service at 703-416-8505 or iepa@iwpnews.com. STAY CONNECTED

A federal district court will hear from New Jersey and local officials on whether to move ahead with approving proposed $2.5 billion PFAS cleanup and natural resource damages settlements with chemical manufacturers. And lawyers will discuss multidistrict litigation (MDL) on firefighting foam, including settlements and how water suppliers are addressing PFAS contamination.