Short Takes – 1-7-25

National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: National Perchloroethylene Air Emission Standards for Dry Cleaning Facilities Technology Review. Federal Register EPA final determination. Summary: “This action finalizes the Clean Air Act (CAA) technology review (TR) conducted for the commercial and industrial dry cleaning facilities using perchloroethylene (PCE) as the cleaning solvent (PCE Dry Cleaning) source categories regulated under National Emission Standards for Hazardous air Pollutants (NESHAP). This final rule does not finalize the changes made at proposal and makes no amendments to the current NESHAP given the recently finalized action under the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) which has instituted a 10-year phaseout of the use of PCE for dry cleaning.” Effective date: January 7^th, 2024. (NOTE: That is not a typo here, that is the date given in the official text).

Dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP); Draft Risk Evaluation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Notice of Availability and Request for Comment. Federal Register EPA notice. Summary: “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is announcing the availability of and seeking public comment on a draft risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for Dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP) (1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-dicyclohexyl ester) (CASRN 84-61-7). The purpose of risk evaluations under TSCA is to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including unreasonable risk to potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations identified as relevant to the risk evaluation by EPA, under the conditions of use. EPA has used the best available science to prepare this draft risk evaluation and to preliminarily determine that DCHP poses unreasonable risk to human health.” Comment due date: March 10^th, 2025.

New Orleans attack came as the FBI was facing political heat and bracing for a transition. APNews.com article. Pull quote: “Besides initially stating that the attack was not an act of terror, Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent in charge in the New Orleans field office, said officials did not believe Jabbar had acted alone. A day later, the FBI said that upon further review it had concluded otherwise and that he had been in fact a solo actor.” Another reason for law enforcement not discussing ongoing investigations; new information frequently changes the direction of investigations and is not an indication of incompetence or dereliction.

NASA Lays Out Two New Options for Mars Sample Return. UniverseToday.com article. Pull quote: ““We will reach Mars before the end of my term,” Trump said during a campaign rally last October. “Elon promised me he was going to do that. … He told me that we’re going to win, and he’s going to reach Mars by the end of our term, which is a big thing. Before China, before anybody.”” Is NASA or SpaceX going to get to Mars by 2029? Trump may decide that NASA funding can be reduced if this becomes a SpaceX job that Musk is going to fund anyway.

SpaceX's Starship Flight 7 test flight will deploy simulated Starlink satellites for 1st time. Space.com article. Pull quote: “In terms of upgrades, the flaps on the Starship upper stage are reduced in size and closer to the tip of the vehicle, reducing their exposure to heat and allowing simplified protective tiling, while redesigns to the propulsion system allow a 25% increase in propellant volume, SpaceX revealed in a statement.”

BluShift Aerospace hopes to launch 1st suborbital rocket from Maine in 2025. Space.com article. Pull quote: “"After our initial heavy duty Starless Rogue launch, we'll also be upgrading that vehicle with more lightweight components and some technology that will be used in our orbital vehicle to increase its performance further. That will enable us to ultimately go to 350 to 400 kilometers (~217 to 249 miles) in altitude, which means six to eight minutes of zero-G micro-gravity time for our customers' payloads."”