EnviroPolitics Blog

EPA to Accelerate Lead Pipe Replacements in Underserved Pennsylvania Communities

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From the USEPA

PHILADELPHIA (January 27, 2023) – Today, EPA announced a new initiative to accelerate progress toward the goal of achieving 100% lead service line removal and replacement.

The “Lead Service Line Replacement Accelerators” initiative was introduced during a White House convening with Vice President Kamala Harris and EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan, alongside state and local leaders celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan.

“EPA’s partnership with Pennsylvania will go a long way in helping thousands of small drinking water systems begin to address aging lead pipes and ultimately provide safe drinking water to their communities,” said EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “This historic funding is going to improve lives and we’re eager to get started in the Commonwealth.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invested an unprecedented $50 billion in the nation’s water and wastewater infrastructure, including $15 billion dedicated to lead service line replacement and $11.7 billion for general Drinking Water State Revolving Funds that can also be used for lead service line replacement.

The EPA said it is committed to this work and using every tool available— statutory authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act, technical assistance, funding for lead service line replacement, and more—to protect all Americans from lead in drinking water.

For more information about water technical assistance for communities and the Lead Service Line Replacement Accelerators, please visit. https://www.epa.gov/water-infrastructure/water-technical-assistance.

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More leachate regs coming from EPA after study finds PFAS at 95% of surveyed landfills

A photo of the EPA entrance sign in the foreground of the agency's building — *Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images via Getty Images*

The agency is assessing new effluent limitation guidelines and pretreatment standards, but their effect on daily operations is not clear. WM, Republic Services, and waste trade groups have weighed in.

By Megan Quinn, Waste Dive

The U.S. EPA has announced plans to develop new effluent limitation guidelines and pretreatment standards for landfill leachate due to the presence of PFAS.

The recommendation is based on a study of 200 landfills it conducted in September 2021, which found PFAS was present in leachate at 95% of the locations. It counted 63 different PFAS among the sites surveyed.

It’s not yet clear when new rules would take effect or how they might impact daily landfill operations, in part because the process is “pending resource availability” according to the report. The waste industry is also awaiting other EPA decisions on PFAS that could affect operations, such as the anticipated regulation of certain PFAS as hazardous substances under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the establishment of certain drinking water standards.

David Biderman, executive director and CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America, called the ELG announcement a “potentially significant development.” He said in an email that SWANA has been discussing the news with members and “will be developing its response in the coming months.”

SWANA met with the EPA during the landfill study stakeholder process. The agency also met with the National Waste & Recycling Association, WM and Republic Services, and the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials.

Read the full story here

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Here’s the man who unwittingly triggered the war over gas stoves

By Maxine Joselow, Washington Post

The son of a labor icon, Richard Trumka Jr. warned that gas ranges could harm children’s health. He’s since been swept up in the backlash against regulating gas appliances.

Until he became an unwitting flash point in the nation’s culture wars, Richard Trumka Jr. was little known to most Americans, despite being the son of a famous labor leader.

But less than three weeks ago, this member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission was thrust into the public limelight. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Trumka said his commission was considering regulations — or even a ban — on new gas stoves over concerns about their harmful indoor air pollution.

Ban gas stoves? Totalitarian, declared Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands,” tweeted Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.).

Trumka never imagined his offhand comments would ignite such a viral furor, which partly explains why he is now clearly uncomfortable talking about himself. At the beginning of an hour-long interview with The Washington Post, he fidgeted with his hands and looked at the floor. He was reluctant, he said, to become part of the story.

Read the full story here

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Biden bans logging roads in much of Tongass National Forest in Alaska

*A truck carrying old-growth trees that were recently cut drives on North Island Road in the Tongass National Forest on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)*

From the Washington Post

The Biden administration on Wednesday restored protections for more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, safeguarding one of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforests from new roads and logging.

As Timothy Puko reports, the Tongass is a relatively pristine expanse in the state’s southeast that has been the focus of a long fight between environmentalists and Alaskan timber interests. State leaders had persuaded the Trump administration in 2020 to open it up to new roads and logging, reversing protections dating to the Clinton era, in a bid to boost economic development.

Biden restores protections for Tongass National Forest after Trump rollback
Biden restores the ‘roadless rule’

Biden administration officials said Wednesday the forest is too important to wildlife habitat — especially fish — and to fighting climate change to go without protections. Its decision, through the Agriculture Department, will repeal the 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule, now making it illegal again for logging companies to build roads and cut and remove timber throughout more than 9.3 million acres of forest.

The rule is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Friday and goes into effect immediately.

Biden Coming To New York And Baltimore To Tout Tunnel Projects Under Hudson And Potomac Rivers

From NJ Spotlight

President Joe Biden will travel to New York City next Tuesday to show support for the Gateway tunnel project, under which two new tubes are to be added to the century-old pair already in place, the White House said today.

Full funding for the project has yet to be identified, and it was not clear from press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s remarks today whether the president would make any news on that front.
The visit is to be preceded by a Monday trip to Baltimore, where Biden will appear in support of the plan to replace the 150-year-old Baltimore and Potomac tunnel complex, also on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.
Under Gateway, construction of the two new tunnels under the Hudson River would allow the original tubes to be taken offline for wholesale restoration.
The expanded Gateway project also includes N.J.-based components, including a fully funded replacement of the Portal Bridge that’s currently underway in Secaucus.

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Three more Republican lawmakers call for a pause to NJ’s offshore wind projects

Assembly Republican News

SOUTHERN SHORE LAWMAKERS SAY UNPRECEDENTED WHALE DEATHS WARRANT SUSPENSION OF OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS

TRENTON, N.J. – Sen. Michael Testa and Assemblymen Erik Simonsen and Antwan McClellan are intensifying calls to suspend offshore wind projects following an unprecedented number of whale deaths along the coasts of New Jersey and New York. They join a chorus of concerned elected officials and environmental and commercial fishing groups who are worried the push for more offshore wind development has contributed to the death of seven whales in a little over a month, including two on the endangered species list.

Despite the opposition, Gov. Phil Murphy continues his aggressive green energy goals, which call for increasing offshore electric wind generation to 11,000 megawatts by 2040. To date, three offshore wind projects have been approved by the state Board of Public Utilities. One would add 98 wind turbines in Ocean and Cape May counties and others could produce as many as 350 along Atlantic County’s shoreline.

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“It has been clear for a long while that the wind projects as proposed may pose significant impact risks to the local environment,” said Testa (R-Cumberland). “Our coastal communities and the thriving commercial fisheries and recreational fishing activities rely upon a healthy and safe ocean and these projects unnecessarily imperil that which is unacceptable. Until the proponents can assure our region that these projects are not playing a part in these incidents, it would be wise to suspend the work.”

The South Jersey state lawmakers have spoken out against Murphy’s energy plans alongside fishermen and entrepreneurs whose jobs depend on the coastline.

“We believe that the work related to offshore wind activities is the primary difference in our waters and an investigation should be done as to why these magnificent marine mammals are dying in alarming numbers,” McClellan (R-Cape May) said.

Simonsen echoed calls for an investigation, saying, “It is essential that there is transparency and accountability for what has been such a tragic loss of sea life. Our whales must be safeguarded before any further progress can be made.”

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Cape May County), state Sen. Vincent J. Polistina, Assemblyman Don Guardian, and Assemblywoman Claire Swift (R-Atlantic County) have also demanded a halt to offshore wind activities at the Jersey Shore.

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