EPN In Action July-August 2023
Welcome to your EPN In Action newsletter
Highlights
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EPN submitted comments on the New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Power Plants.
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EPN submitted comments on proposed amendments to the New Source Performance Standards and to the National Emission Standards of Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) (more commonly referred to as the Hazardous Organic NESHAP or “HON”) for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry (SOCMI), and the NESHAP applying to the Group I and II Polymers and Resins Industries.
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EPN submitted comments on the proposed federal baseline water quality standards for Indian reservations and submitted comments on EPA’s draft human health risk assessment for the registration review of dimethyl tetrachlorophthalate (DCPA), an herbicide used on weeds.
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EPN wrote a letter to the National Drinking Water Advisory Council regarding the PFAS national drinking water rule and sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works regarding draft PFAS legislation.
EPN Announcements
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EPN volunteers provided pro bono technical assistance to low-income communities and communities of color almost 60 times in the last two months, for a total of more than 400 requests for technical assistance.
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In partnership with the EPA Alumni Association, EPN participated in two virtual roundtable discussions and Q&A sessions with potential EPA applicants to EPA Region 6 and to Region 6’s Air and Radiation Division.
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EPN’s Work on Air
August 22, 2023 / by
Sean Reilly /
E&E News
John Bachmann, former Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, was quoted in this article discussing the implications of postponing the tightening of EPA’s air quality standards for ground-level ozone.
July 25, 2023 / by
Mike Magner and Valerie Yurk /
Roll Call
Jeff Alson, former Senior Engineer and Policy Advisor, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was quoted in this article regarding EPA’s recently-proposed vehicle emissions standards and industry anticipation of the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration’s release of their Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
July 19, 2023 / by
Sean Reilly /
E&E News
Kristi Smith, counsel to advocacy groups challenging Clean Air Act permitting practices in Alabama and former Attorney, EPA Office of General Counsel, was quoted in this article discussing EPA’s unanticipated decision to close investigations of civil rights complaints against Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health.
EPN’s Work on Water and Chemicals
Tracey Woodruff, Director of Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, University of California, San Francisco, and former EPA senior scientist and former Policy Advisor, EPA Office of Policy, was quoted in this article discussing trichlorethylene contamination in Milwaukee and the inability of many toxic regulators to keep on top of numerous legacy contaminants.
Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics and former Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2, was quoted in this article discussing EPA’s recent announcement that it may begin a formal risk evaluation of vinyl chloride.
July 9, 2023 / by
Susan Pulliam, Shalini Ramachandran, John West, Coulter Jones, and Thomas Gryta /
Wall Street Journal
Linda Birnbaum, former Director of the National Institute of Environmental and Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, was quoted in this article regarding an investigation that found soil contamination from lead-covered cables abandoned by phone companies. She was quoted in a related article in Yahoo! News.
EPN’s Work on PFAS
Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, was quoted and EPN was mentioned in this article about EPA’s initial release of testing data that found multiple PFAS in public drinking water systems.
Tracey Woodruff, Director of the University of California San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment and former Senior Scientist and Policy Advisor, EPA Office of Policy, was quoted in this article about a study she co-led that found several harmful chemicals, including the PFAS chemical PFOS, in the blood of pregnant women who participated in the research.
July 11, 2023 / by
Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin /
The Hill
Linda Birnbaum, former Director of the National Institute of Environmental and Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, was quoted in this article about the low public awareness of PFAS’ ubiquity in drinking water systems.
EPN Member Op-Eds
EPN members penned their own op-eds on renewable energy, budget cuts, and particulate matter from wildfires.
Jeff Alson, former Senior Engineer and Policy Advisor, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, penned this op-ed explaining why re-opening the Palisades nuclear plant, located on the shores of Lake Michigan, would be a bad and costly idea for Michigan taxpayers.
July 24, 2023 / by
David Coursen /
The Hill
Dave Coursen, former Attorney, EPA Office of General Counsel, penned this op-ed discussing the House Republicans proposed budget for EPA, which would slash agency funding by 40% if enacted, blocking development of new programs and forcing cuts to existing programs.
Bernie Goldstein, former EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, co-authored this op-ed about particulate matter from wildfire smoke and other sources of air pollution and what needs to be done to combat poor air quality due to climate change.
More Examples of EPN in the News
In addition to the articles above, EPN members contributed to a range of articles on topics such as PFAS and vinyl chloride.
Jim Woolford former Director, Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation, EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), was quoted in this article discussing how the Biden administration’s plan to list two PFAS “forever chemicals” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) may put Democrats in a political corner.
Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics and former Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2, was quoted in this article regarding Beyond Plastics’ and other advocacy organizations’ call on EPA to begin a safety assessment on vinyl chloride under TSCA to lead to its eventual ban.
This article discussing environmental groups’ concerns that Congress will permit CERCLA liability exemptions for industries that discharge PFAS quoted EPN’s letter to the Senate Environmental and Public Works committee on their proposed PFAS bill.
Read all recent EPN in the News items here
