The EPA has determined that 45 areas across the country, including Sheboygan County, are not meeting the 2008 8-hour ozone standards based on the most recent certified air quality data. It is possible the number of Wisconsin counties with nonattainment status will increase by the end of the month as the EPA has yet to designate Kenosha County.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency are both accepting comments on a multitude of issues impacting Wisconsin businesses. The agencies are accepting comments on various air, water, and waste rules; and in addition, the DNR is also asking for help identifying burdensome and outdated rules.

The EPA has released the 17th annual U.S. greenhouse gas inventory. After dropping for two years during the recession, the latest report shows overall emissions in 2010 increased by 3.2 percent from the previous year.

In response to a court deadline, the EPA has finalized its long-awaited rules regulating air pollution from hydraulic fracturing. According to the EPA, the standards rely on technologies already in use at about half of the nation’s natural-gas wells, and these technologies will trap 95 percent of the harmful emissions from these wells.

On April 13, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument on EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). Court watchers who attended the arguments think the case could go either way based on the judges’ questioning.

On May 12, 2011, the DNR submitted provisions affecting the Forest County Potawatomi Community (FCPC) Class I Area for inclusion in Wisconsin’s State Implementation Plan (SIP). The EPA has released a draft rule incorporating the FCPC Class I Area rules, and is now accepting comments on the proposal.

The EPA is again delaying the release of final air pollution standards for the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of natural gas wells. The agency requested the additional time to fully address the 156,000 public comments it received on the proposed rules.

Bloomberg BNA recently published an article, EPA Tells Wisconsin Officials to Consider More Efficient Turbines in BACT Analysis, that draws attention to the EPA’s rejection of the DNR’s BACT analysis for Wisconsin's Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility.

Supporters and detractors of the recently proposed rule to limit greenhouse gas emission from existing power plants all agree that the rule will limit the construction and use of coal-burning power plants. GLLF provides a summary of the biggest stories from the Wisconsin and national media.

On March 27, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first ever Clean Air Act standard for carbon emissions from future power plants. The rules have the potential to end the construction of conventional coal-fired facilities in the United States.

The EPA has completed a final rule setting secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2), and has submitted it to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. This is the last step before the rules become final.

The EPA recently filed its reply brief in EME Homer City Generation LP v. EPA, the case challenging the Cross State Air Pollution Rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency will not lower the existing thresholds in its tailoring rule for stationary emissions sources to obtain greenhouse gas permits, the agency said in a proposed rule released February 27, 2012.

On February 16, 2012, the EPA published the final Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) in the Federal Register. The purpose of these standards, according to the EPA’s website, is to reduce pollution created by coal and oil power plants.

The EPA is currently accepting comments on its proposal to redesignate the Milwaukee- Racine and Sheboygan areas to attainment for the 1997 8-hour ozone standard.

Although the underlying rule has been stayed by the courts, the EPA has released revisions to the Cross State Air Pollution Rule. Meanwhile, the court has set an expedited briefing schedule and announced the date of oral arguments.

The EPA has submitted several major environmental regulations that are part of the EPA’s train wreck of rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, one of the last steps before a rule is released to the public.

Citing data from the state of Illinois, the EPA has announced it intends to revise its proposed designation for Kenosha County, and recommend it be designated nonattainment for the 2008 8-hour ozone standard. This decision by the EPA is unwelcome, as nonattainment designations carry with them substantial regulatory and related economic burdens.

The EPA’s Boiler MACT rules were reconsidered and stayed after their publication in March 2011. This article provides analysis of the federal court case that overturned the stay, and details on the EPA’s reconsidered rules which are now available for comment.

The stay of the Cross State Air Pollution Rule by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit casts uncertainty over an EPA proposal to allow states to rely on the Cross State Air Pollution Rule to meet the Clean Air Act’s regional haze requirements. The regional haze program modifications, announced the same day as the stay, are now uncertain.