EPA Sends Final Power Plant ELG Rule For White House Review

摘要

EPA has sent its final power plant effluent limitation guideline (ELG) rule to the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) for mandatory pre-publication review, which could keep the agency on track to finalize the wastewater rule by a Sept. 30 judicial deadline. The utility ELG will update the current limits for the sector, set in 1982, to account for liquid discharges that have become more toxic in recent years, as plants are installing equipment, such as scrubbers, to meet new air regulations. EPA floated five options for curbing such discharges in the proposed ELG, but has indicated it is unlikely to adopt the most stringent of the controls, arguing that portions of that standard may be too costly and could violate the Clean Water Act's (CWA) requirement that such rules be "economically achievable." But environmentalists have repeatedly urged the agency to adopt either of the two most stringent options and have threatened to sue if EPA finalizes a weaker standard.