The Mine Safety and Health Administration proposed to amend its existing regulations to better protect mine workers against occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica, a carcinogenic hazard, and to improve respiratory protection for all airborne hazards.
NOAA revised its Consultation Handbook describing procedures for government-to-government consultation with federally recognized Indian tribes, and updated an associated NOAA Administrative Order (NAO 218-8) and the Indigenous Knowledge guidance.
With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and Water Resources Development Act of 2022, the statutory landscape has changed to reflect the Biden Administration’s emphasis on environmental justice. On February 27, 2023, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and ELI’s Pro Bono Clearinghouse co-hosted a panel of experts who explored how communities can leverage the statutory changes that have taken place, what decisions have been left up to agencies, and how proposed legislation, like the Environmental Justice for All Act, will affect future environmental justice efforts.
DOI, acting through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, proposed to modify its criteria for determining whether oil, gas, and sulfur lessees, right-of-use and easement grant holders, and pipeline right-of-way grant holders may be required to provide bonds or other financial assurance above the current regulatorily prescribed base bonds to ensure compliance with their Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act obligations.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration proposed amendments to its hazardous materials regulations to require all railroads to generate in electronic form, maintain, and provide to first responders, emergency response officials, and law enforcement personnel, certain information regarding hazardous materials in rail transportation to enhance emergency response and investigative efforts.
EPA seeks comment on implementation of a plan to ensure that farmworkers have access to bilingual pesticide labeling by December 2025 under the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2022.
EPA seeks comment on the draft Cumulative Risk Assessment (CRA) Guidelines for Planning and Problem Formulation, which describe steps for the planning and problem formulation of CRAs and offer guidelines for when they could be appropriate.
EPA announced a proposed consent decree that resolves Center for Food Safety v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 4:22-cv-6001-JST (N.D. Cal.), alleging the Agency unreasonably delayed responding to a petition for rulemaking, submitted to EPA on or around July 10, 2017, relating to the revision of testing requirements of pesticides prior to registration.
FEMA seeks input on implementation of the Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act of 2022, including updates to the methodology and data used for the National Risk Index and any other hazard assessment products; potential improvements to FEMA’s provision of hazard data; the process used to designate community disaster resilience zones; financial and technical assistance for resilience or mitigation projects primarily benefitting community disaster resilience zones; and the community disaster resilience zone project application and certification process.
The Army Corps of Engineers finalized a rule implementing a new credit assistance program for safety projects to maintain, upgrade, and repair dams identified in the National Inventory of Dams with a primary owner type of state, local government, public utility, or private.