EPA Rescinds 70 Draft Water Office Guidances, Sets New Deadlines

摘要

EPA water chief David Ross has rescinded approximately 70 draft water policy documents that were more than two years old and set a new two-year deadline to finalize any draft policies or have them automatically rescinded, saying having reasonable timeframes to finalize guidance is necessary to prevent misuse of the documents. "The Office of Water does not expect today's policy to affect documents that are critical to national program implementation because they were never finalized," Ross says in an Aug. 6 memorandum to Office of Water program directors. "It is reasonable to conclude that any draft policy and guidance documents would have been finalized if they were necessary to enhance effective program implementation." However, if there are any draft guidance or policy documents important to EPA water programs, "those documents will need to be re-issued and finalized in a timely manner in accordance with today's policy. Office Directors should prepare a strategy to re-issue any such documents which identifies the process that will be used to update, modernize, and finalize the drafts in accordance with today's policy."