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EELP Tracker Updates
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Regulatory and Federal Environmental Justice Tracker Updates


Spring is off to a busy start at EPA. The agency recently released the Good Neighbor Rule and Effluent Limitation Guidelines for the power sector, and it is expected to soon issue proposals for the Mercury and Air Toxics Rule and greenhouse gas regulations for the power sector. We also have news about monuments as well as actions from the Department of the Interior. 

EPA
On March 15, EPA released the final “Good Neighbor Plan” rule, which requires upwind states to reduce ozone precursor emissions to help downwind states attain the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The rule contains new regulatory design features that will refine EPA’s long-standing interstate emissions program to require power plants to reduce smog-forming pollutants. 

On March 30, EPA proposed new effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) that would set more stringent standards for coal-fired power plants, including “zero-discharge” limitations for two types of wastewater. The proposal includes less stringent requirements for a new subcategory of units that have complied with the 2015 or 2020 ELG Rules and will cease coal combustion by 2032, and proposes to retain the less stringent subcategory for power plants that cease coal operations by December 31, 2028. EPA is accepting comments on the proposal until May 30, 2023. 

Along with a flurry of briefs filed in the DC Circuit cases challenging EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s clean car regulations, EPA granted California’s waiver for the state’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule on March 31. California’s rule will require an increasing percentage of new truck sales to be zero-emissions vehicles, and six additional states have moved to adopt the rule. 

Monuments
There have been several recent developments for public lands. On March 21, President Biden announced new national monuments, the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and Castner Range National Monument in Texas, which the White House has said will protect cultural heritage and enhance outdoor access. The administration also announced a plan to expand the waters protected under the Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Monument

Department of the Interior
The administration also announced significant actions in Alaska. On March 12, President Biden withdrew 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea as indefinitely off limits for future oil and gas leasing. On March 13, the Department of the Interior issued a final decision approving the Willow Project, a large oil and gas extraction project in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A). The selected alternative would allow ConocoPhillips to develop three of the five proposed drill sites, along with associated infrastructure. On March 14, Interior withdrew a Trump-era land exchange that would have allowed the State of Alaska to build a gravel road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge connecting the communities of King Cove and Cold Bay.

Rules we've recently updated in our Regulatory Tracker

Pages we’ve updated in our Federal Environmental Justice Tracker 
  • Dept. of Energy (Funding Opportunities)
  • Dept. of the Interior (Co-Stewardship and Co-Management, Funding Opportunities)
  • Dept. of Transportation (Funding Opportunities) 
  • EPA (Funding Opportunities, Pollution Exposure and Public Data, Rulemaking)
  • FEMA (Internal Equity Efforts)
  • Other Agencies (Denali Commission, HHS, HUD, FERC, Labor, USDA, Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, State)
  • White House (CEQ, OMB, Office of Science and Technology Policy)

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