EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has announced EPA will be ending practice of “sue and settle.”

In sue and settle, a third-party group sues a federal agency, asking the courts to require the agency to change statutory duties or to enforce specific timelines written within laws. In the past, EPA has settled out of court with these groups through a consent decree or settlement agreement. EPA says the resulting negotiations would often change regulations, causing unreasonable deadlines or commitments to actions which weren’t part of the existing regulations.

These consent agreements were negotiated privately and any new requirements were not eligible for public comment. On top of that, the agency would pay tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees and litigation costs of the groups which were suing them.

Going forward, EPA promises further transparency and public engagement when it comes to considering any settlement or consent decree, including:

• Establishing procedures to publish lawsuits, complaints, and petitions which have been filed against them or their state agency counterparts;
• Publishing a list of consent decrees and settlement agreements, including attorney’s fees paid;
• Providing sufficient time for public comment on any action which would modify a proposed or final rule, and publishing proposed and modified decrees and settlements for public comment;
• Not entering into any consent decree that exceeds the authority of the courts; and,
• No longer paying attorney’s fees and litigation costs of the groups who are suing them.

To learn more, see EPA’s announcement.

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EPA has announced at least four postponements of upcoming regulations regarding air emissions and air quality.

RMP Rule Amendment

In the final days of the Obama administration, EPA issued amendments to the Risk Management Program (RMP) rule. These included additional requirements for process hazard analysis, incident investigation, emergency preparedness, public availability of chemical hazard information, additional regulatory definitions, and audit requirements. In order to give the agency more time to review petitions, hear additional comments, and consider revisions, the new effective date has been moved to February 19, 2019.

Emissions Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources for Oil and Gas; NSPS Subpart OOOOa

EPA has issued a stay on certain parts of OOOOa until August 31, 2017. It is reconsidering the rule as a whole, including fugitive emissions monitoring requirements for well sites and compressor stations. Initially, companies were to have a monitoring plan in place and perform initial LDAR compliance by June 6, 2016. EPA also wants to take another look at the entire rule. For now, they’ve issued a stay on fugitive emissions requirements, PE certifications, and standards for pneumatic pumps at well sites.

Ozone Standard

EPA has delayed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground level ozone. EPA is giving states another year to develop and refine their air quality plans. Last fall, states were to turn in their recommendations on what to do about those areas which couldn’t reach the 70 ppb standard. Then EPA was to make their final designations and set those recommendations into motion by October of this year. Now those designations have been postponed to October 2018.

Landfill Methane Emissions From Municipal Solid Waste Landfills

Over 1,000 municipal solid waste facilities were going to be impacted by two separate standards relating to methane emissions. EPA has issued a stay until August 29 to reconsider items such as design approval, definition of cover penetration, annual liquids reporting, surface emissions reporting, corrective action timelines, and overlapping requirements. EPA estimates that implementation of the changes as written could cost businesses more than $100 million per year to install and operate gas collection and control systems.

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