In a Federal Register notice published June 23, the EPA proposed changes to its permitting program under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to ensure the use of sufficiently sensitive analytical methods for monitoring chemical pollutants in discharge water.

Specifically, the new rule affects the CWA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Its purpose is to specify that applicants and permittees must use analytical methods that are capable of detecting and measuring pollutants at, or below, current water quality criteria.

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Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the EPA has proposed a rule that would regulate coal combustion residuals (CCR) for the first time.

CCRs, commonly known as coal ash, are residues captured from the combustion of coal at power plants and are typically disposed of at large surface impoundments in liquid (wet or slurried) form and at landfills in solid (dry) form. CCRs are currently considered exempt wastes under an RCRA amendment.

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In May 2010 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a response to key comments and recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on the EPA’s 2003 draft dioxin reassessment. This response addresses the human health and exposure risk assessment of dioxins.

The EPA’s draft report includes significant new analyses that relate to issues raised by the NAS, including potential cancer and non-cancer human health effects that may result from exposures to dioxins. The NAS identified three areas that require substantial improvement:

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In April 2010, the EPA announced that there is sufficient data to support the removal of saccharin and its salts from the agency’s lists of hazardous wastes, hazardous constituents, and hazardous substances through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). These substances no longer meet the criteria for hazardous waste regulation.

Saccharin is a white crystalline powder that is about 300 times sweeter than sucrose. It is typically available in the acid form (saccharin) or as salts (sodium saccharin or calcium saccharin). The most common uses are in diet soft drinks, table-top sweeteners, syrups, juices, chewing gums, and jellies. It is also used in personal-care products (e.g. toothpaste, mouthwash, dental cleaners, lipstick), pharmaceuticals (e.g. coatings on pills), and electroplating (e.g. brightener in nickel-plating baths).

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On April 29, 2010, the EPA announced two proposed air toxics standards: (1) an amendment to emission guidelines and new source performance standards, and (2) proposed new rules to clearly define and identify solid and non-solid, non-hazardous secondary materials.

The two air toxic standards will affect emissions from industrial, commercial, and institutional boilers and process heaters. One is written for major source facilities, which are those that emit or have the potential to emit 10 or more tons per year of any single air toxin or over 25 tons per year of any combination of air toxins. The second is for area source facilities that emit less than 10 tons per years of a single air toxin or less than 25 tons of any combination.

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