On May 8, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued in the Federal Register a notification stating that a public meeting will be held to elicit public input on approaches for assigning and applying Unique Identifiers (UID) that are now required whenever it approves a Confidential Business Information (CBI) claim for the specific chemical identity of a chemical substance. 82 Fed. Reg. 21386. The meeting will be held on May 24, 2017, from 1:00 p.m. to...
During its spring meeting in April, the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) adopted several resolutions. ECOS is the national nonprofit, nonpartisan association of state and territorial environmental agency leaders. The resolutions ECOS adopted are: Resolution 04-3: Small Community Challenges: This resolution requests that the federal government work with state and local governments to address current and future small community drinking water and wastewater requirements and assist small...
On April 27, 2017, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced legislation that would transition the U.S to 100 percent clean energy by the year 2050. The bill is the first introduced in Congress that fully envisions a transition off of fossil fuels for the U.S. The 100 By ’50 Act (S. 967) bill has seven core components: Greening the Grid -- Phase-out fossil fuel electricity by 2050 and replace it with clean...
April 26, 2017
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP): Take Advantage of This Regulatory Reform Advocacy Opportunity
On February 24, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 13777, “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda.” Issuance of the EO, and the subsequent measures undertaken by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt offer unique opportunities for chemical stakeholders. This memorandum summarizes EPA’s efforts to date in this regard, and identifies opportunities that stakeholders may wish to pursue to eliminate or amend regulatory...
April 14, 2017
Federal Court Invalidates Air Reporting Exemption For Large-Scale Livestock Operations
On April 11, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a decision vacating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule exempting livestock feeding operations from air reporting requirements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Large-scale animal feeding operations that confine, for example, more than 1,000 cattle, 2,500 hogs, or...
On April 6, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published three waivers to the now final Sanitary Transportation rule mandated by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) for businesses whose transportation operations are subject to separate state-federal controls in the Federal Register. 82 Fed. Reg. 16733. The waivers include: Businesses holding valid permits that are inspected under the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments’ Grade “A” Milk Safety Program,...
A trio of recent internal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) memoranda are providing insight into how EPA intends to implement President Trump’s review and potential pogrom of EPA regulations. Virtually no program or regulation appears to be secure from the chopping block. Many stakeholders in industry and other sectors may be alarmed to see programs that are of benefit to them assigned a slot in the guillotine. Supporters of these programs, thus, would be wise to educate senior EPA...
On March 29, 2017, U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Pruitt signed an order denying the September 2007 petition of the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) requesting that EPA revoke all tolerances and cancel all registrations for the pesticide chlorpyrifos. This is the latest EPA action in a long and contentious battle concerning chlorpyrifos tolerances and registrations, and is likely not the end of this...
On March 9, 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) published a report entitled Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology, prepared by the Committee on Future Biotechnology Products and Opportunities to Enhance Capabilities of the Biotechnology Regulatory System (Committee). Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner of Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), was an external contributor to the Committee’s deliberations and presented...
President Trump’s February 28, 2017, Executive Order (E.O.) directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to rescind and replace the Clean Water Rule (CWR) is the latest development in the attempt to resolve the long-standing question of which surface waters and wetlands may be federally regulated and subjected to permitting under the Clean Water Act (CWA). In the decade since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its fractured opinion...