Unified Agenda Signals Delays For Major EPA Waste, Water Office Policies

摘要

Several major EPA water and waste office rulemakings face fresh delays according to the agency's updated Spring Unified Agenda of pending regulations, punting some controversial policies until next year and making it possible that former Vice President Joe Biden's EPA could reverse the rules if he wins the 2020 presidential election. Timelines for several Office of Water (OW) rules in the agenda updated June 30 have slipped, some significantly, from the fall 2019 agenda, including one rule that will now not meet statutory deadlines for promulgation. The 2018 water resources development law mandated EPA promulgate by Oct. 23,2020, a rule authorizing states to require an assessment of restructuring options for drinking water utilities that frequently violate health-based standards and are unwilling or unable to take feasible corrective actions to return to compliance. Where the fall 2019 agenda predicted the agency would propose the rule by December 2019 and finalize it by October of this year, the spring 2020 agenda says the agency plans to propose the rule in January 2021. Other rules whose timelines have slipped include a revamp of wetlands mitigation banking and in-lieu fee programs, revisions to how EPA evaluates whether to "veto" Clean Water Act (CWA) section 404 permits, clarification of permitting requirements for publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) dealing with wet weather events, clarification of how states can assume section 404 permitting, and the proposal of the fifth unregulated contaminant drinking water rule (UCMR5) under the Safe Drinking Water Act.