Short Takes – 5-7-25 AM

Pipeline Safety: Information Collection Activities. Federal Register PHMSA 60-day ICR renewal notice – No change in burden estimates - 2137-0637, Rupture Mitigation Valve Recordkeeping Requirements, and 2137-0638, Rupture Mitigation Valve Notification Requirements. Comments due: July 7^th, 2025.

H5N1 Bird Flu Cases Have Slowed in Animals and People. MedPageToday.com article. Pull quote: “"It's quite different from seasonality for human influenza viruses, in that the distribution of the virus among wild birds tends to follow migratory patterns, so we expect to see more circulation of H5N1 in wild birds in the fall and early winter as birds are migrating south," Davis said.” There has been unconfirmed, back channel reporting that CDC has been directed to under-report H5N1 cases.

Banning PFAS Would Jeopardize Millions of Medical Devices. MedPageToday.com article. Pull quote: “But these chemicals play an essential role in healthcare: they are crucial to the proper functioning of a broad range of medical devices such as stents, catheters, surgical mesh, pacemakers, heart patches, CPAP machines, prosthetics, surgical instruments, and asthma inhalers. Because there are not yet any clear alternatives to PFAS in the manufacturing and safe operation of many medical devices, regulators should carve out an exemption for the continued use of the chemical for healthcare.” Carving out exemption for these blood and organ contact devices would be appropriate if there is no threat, but no threat in those cases should mean that there is no threat in general environmental exposures.

SpaceX’s Starship Flight 9 Lift Off Date Potentially Revealed In New Notice. WCCFTech.com article. Pull quote: “According to a notice to mariners that surfaced earlier today, SpaceX could fly Starship Flight 9 later this month. The previous Starship test flight flew in March, and since then, SpaceX has remained quiet about the next test except for a couple of updates. The firm tested the Super Heavy booster due to fly Flight 9 at the start of April and followed up with multiple tests of the second-stage rocket later in the month. Between the two, the second stage is the troublesome vehicle as it has failed on both its test flights.”

EO 14290 - Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media. Federal Register.

EO 14291 - Establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission. Federal Register.