The U.S. EPA has reached agreement with the United Steelworkers union and a group of states and environmental groups to pause a case that challenges the agency’s rollback of chemical-plant safety regulations, according to Bloomberg Law.
The agency and parties contesting its regulatory action filed a joint motion at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday, Sept. 21, to continue the case until December. The agreement, which marks the second pause in the litigation, comes after EPA on Sept. 4 denied plaintiffs’ request to reconsider the policy.
The abeyance motion states the parties “need time to review and evaluate EPA’s recent responses to their reconsideration petitions.” The plaintiffs and EPA are asking the court to allow motions to be filed by Dec. 3.
The environmental groups sued EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Jan. 7 over a new rule that rolled back parts of an Obama-era safety regulation, which had bolstered the agency’s Risk Management Program regulations.
The final rule was announced late last year (GM Nov. 22, 2019) and went into effect in December. It rescinds provisions in the original 2017 action, which came in response to an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, that killed 15 people in April 2013.
The Trump EPA’s changes included dropping requirements for third-party compliance audits and analysis of the root causes of chemical-release incidents. The rollback also modified procedures for local emergency coordination, emergency response exercises, and public meetings.
Separately, attorneys general in 14 states and the District of Columbia sued the agency and Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Jan. 29 in the D.C. Circuit to challenge EPA’s action. The D.C. Circuit later consolidated the cases.
Emma C. Cheuse, an attorney at Earthjustice, one of the plaintiffs, said the “community groups are pressing forward to ensure that EPA does its job to protect communities, first responders, and workers from these devastating chemical disasters.”
In March, the groups requested and received a six-month pause so EPA and Wheeler could review their petition.