Focus
Federal court bars EPA effort to send California vehicle emissions rules to Congress
Reuters – September 2
A judge in Washington this Wednesday blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from sending California vehicle emissions rules to Congress for a potential repeal under the Congressional Review Act. The four waivers sent by EPA to Congress for review grant California authority to enact its own emission standards for cars and trucks as well as lawn-and-garden equipment. In June, EPA said the vehicle emissions waivers granted to California under the federal Clean Air Act by prior Democratic administrations should have been sent to lawmakers under the Congressional Review Act, which would allow the U.S. Senate to repeal them by a simple majority rather than the 60 votes needed for most legislation. California argued that the Congressional Review Act only allows regulations to be repealed, and the waivers at issue are not regulations.
News
EPA seeks more public comments as it struggles to devise water rule that limits scope on wetlands
Associated Press – September 4
EPA is seeking additional public comments as part of a “supplemental” rule to help evaluate a wider range of options as it and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) work toward a final rule defining “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, that fully implements the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA. The 2023 ruling sharply limited the federal government’s authority to police water pollution in certain wetlands. On November 17, 2025, EPA announced proposed revisions to the definition of WOTUS that it said would “fully implement the Court’s direction by ensuring federal jurisdiction is focused on relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water—such as streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes—and wetlands that are connected and indistinguishable from such waterbodies.” The EPA and Army Corps will accept public comments for 30 days once the supplemental plan is published in the Federal Register, expected in the next week.
Bay Area lawmakers push data center transparency, send bills to Newsom
ABC7 – September 2
California lawmakers have passed seven bills aimed at increasing oversight of data centers in the final days of the legislative session, sending the measures to Governor Gavin Newsom for consideration. Among the bills are proposals that would require greater disclosure of water and energy use by data center operators. The Data Center Coalition, an industry group representing data center owners, opposes the legislation, arguing that data centers are being singled out and that the bills threaten development. The bills come after Newsom vetoed similar measures last year.
EPA draft guidance on PFAS in biosolids draws mixed reviews
Waste Dive – September 2
The U.S. EPA has extended the comment period by 30 days for its new guidance for managing PFAS contamination in biosolids. EPA’s new draft guidance released in July criticized a previous EPA assessment, claiming the prior assessment was “disconnected from real-world conditions” in its findings of health risks for farmers exposed to biosolids. The new draft guidance has the potential to affect management practices at wastewater treatment plants, which receive leachate that may contain PFAS from landfills and other facilities. The comment period closes on October 5.
California Legislature passes bills to create first-in-the-nation standards for smoke damage
San Francisco Chronicle – September 2
On Monday, the California Legislature passed two bills that ask state agencies to study, create, and enforce science-based standards for remediating homes that survive wildfires but are left contaminated by airborne pollutants. Assembly Bill 1642 asks the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, in consultation with other agencies, to pursue regulatory standards for how to detect and remove lead and asbestos, which are frequently components of ash, by the end of 2028. Meanwhile Assembly Bill 1795 would mandate that insurance companies pay the cost of chemical testing and temporary living expenses for homes in ZIP codes that are fully or partially within the designated fire perimeter and assume that any smoke, ash, soot, and char found in homes were caused by the wildfire itself unless the insurer can prove otherwise.
EPA sued over approval of ‘forever chemical’ pesticide
Courthouse News Service – August 31
Several advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against EPA over its approval of trifludimoxazin, a chemical used as a pesticide on crops such as corn, wheat, oats, soybeans, oranges, apples, peanuts, and almonds, alleging the chemical is a PFAS. The groups filed a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit on August 28, challenging the agency’s June registration of trifludimoxazin and asserting it is harmful to native plants and potentially carcinogenic. EPA claims trifludimoxazin is not considered a PFAS under the current definition the Biden administration instituted because it has one fluorinated carbon, and single-fluorinated-carbon molecules commonly lack concerning traits associated with PFAS, such as toxicity and bioaccumulation properties.
NY’s plan to charge fossil-fuel producers $75B for climate change damages struck down
ABC News – September 1
New York's attempt to make fossil fuel-producing industries pay into a $75 billion fund to repair the damage wrought by climate change was struck down by a federal judge, who said the sweeping law reaches beyond a state's jurisdiction and into an area of federal interest. The 2024 law was challenged in court by a range of fossil fuel interests, business associations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 22 Republican state attorneys general, and the U.S. EPA. Climate change activists urged New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who signed the 2024 law, to appeal.
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