U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has proposed to further delay the effective date of EPA’s revised Risk Management Program (RMP) rule to allow EPA more time to review objections to the rule, solicit additional public input, and conduct new rulemaking.
Pruitt’s proposal, which was signed on March 29, seeks to delay the effective date of the amended RMP until Feb. 19, 2019, well past the existing June 19, 2017, enforcement date, which had already been delayed due to legal challenges. EPA said in a statement that the additional delay will allow the agency “time to evaluate the objections raised by multiple petitioners and consider other issues that may benefit from additional public input.”
The revised RMP has had a bumpy ride since its Jan. 13 publication in the Federal Register. The amended RMP was originally slated to take effect on March 14, 60 days after the Federal Register notice. On Feb. 28, however, a coalition of industry groups petitioned Pruitt for a stay, arguing that EPA’s final rule was “procedurally deficient so as to deprive commentators of effective notice and opportunity to comment.”
The coalition – which included the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the American Forest and Paper Association, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Utility Air Regulatory Group – also charged that the revised RMP undermines safety and creates security risks because it “compels facilities to make available sensitive information about covered processes that could expose vulnerabilities to terrorists and others who may target refineries, chemical plants, and other facilities.”
In response, EPA on March 13 placed a 90-day hold on the rule (GM March 17, p. 1), pushing the enforcement date back to June 19. The agency now claims it needs an additional 20 months to adequately review the rule and to ensure that “all provisions … are in accordance with the explicit mandate granted to EPA by Congress in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.”
The revised RMP is also being challenged in court. On March 13, the ACC industry coalition filed a lawsuit against EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking the court to set aside the rule “because it is unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not otherwise in accordance with law.” On April 13, a number of environmental groups filed a motion to intervene on EPA’s behalf in the case.
The amended RMP was developed in response to an executive order issued by President Obama in August 2013 (GM Aug. 5, 2013) in the wake of the West Fertilizer explosion. Some of the changes proposed in the rule include increasing the frequency and scope of “independent third-party compliance audits” while narrowing the pool of eligible auditors; requiring “root cause investigations” for chemical incidents and “near misses;” requiring companies to evaluate the feasibility of adopting inherently safer technologies (IST) as part of their process hazard analyses; enhancing coordination with local emergency response organizations; and enhancing public information sharing.
“We want to prevent regulation created for the sake of regulation by the previous administration,” Pruitt said in his March 29 statement. “Any expansion of the RMP program should make chemical facilities safer, without compromising our national security.”
The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA), which joined The Fertilizer institute (TFI) in filing comments with EPA during the RMP rulemaking phase (GM May 27, 2016; April 22, 2016), told Green Markets that it is happy with the delay request.
“The prior EPA finalized the rule essentially ignoring the comments and concerns of the regulated community, and we’re hopeful that under Administrator Pruitt’s leadership, the agency will withdraw or substantially revise it,” said Daren Coppock, ARA president and CEO.
EPA is accepting written comments on the proposed delay until May 19, and has scheduled a public hearing on April 19.