Take on Toxics

Court ruling finding that plaintiffs Center for Food Safety and Environmental Defense Fund have standing to pursue their claims based on harm to their members.

On May 30, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule entitled “Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act,” 83 Fed. Reg. 24,850 (May 30, 2018) (the “Rollback Rule”). The Rollback Rule would rescind or weaken almost all of the chemical disaster prevention and mitigation measures previously adopted by the agency in its January 2017 final rule, “Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act,” 82 Fed. Reg. 4594 (Jan. 13, 2017) (the “Chemical Disaster Rule”). Comments on the Rollback Rule were originally due July 30, 2018, but EPA extended this deadline to August 23, 2018, pursuant to a Notice of Data Availability. See “Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act; Notification of Data Availability and Extension of Comment Period,” 83 Fed. Reg. 34,967 (July 24, 2018). The undersigned groups submit the following comments to oppose EPA’s proposed Rollback Rule. For reasons discussed herein and provided in the D.C. Circuit’s decision vacating EPA’s 2017 Delay Rule, EPA should withdraw, and not finalize, the proposed Rollback Rule. See Air Alliance Houston et al. v. EPA, No. 17-1155, Slip Op. (D.C. Cir. Aug. 17, 2018).