EPA Sends Worst Case Discharge Delay NPRM to OMB

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Information (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from the EPA on “Clean Water Act Hazardous Substance Facility Response Plans: Compliance Date Delay and Changes to Reflect Administration Policy”.

According to the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“The Clean Water Act (CWA) provides that regulations shall be issued "which require an owner or operator of a tank vessel or facility ... to prepare and submit ... a plan for responding, to the maximum extent practicable, to a worst-case discharge, and to a substantial threat of such a discharge, of a hazardous substance." The Environmental Protection Agency EPA published a final rule in March 2024 to require planning for worst case discharges of CWA hazardous substances under section 311(j)(5)(A). Section 3 of the January 20, 2025 Executive Order 14154 [link added] Unleashing American Energy” requires an immediate review of agency actions to identify those that may impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources. As EPA considers options, the agency is proposing to extend the compliance date and make administrative changes.”

It would appear that the ‘compliance date’ that the UA entry refers to is the 40 CFR 118.4(a)(1) deadline for plan submissions of June 1^st, 2027.

Deregulatory Action

The Spring 2025 Unified Agenda has added a new information category for each of the listed rulemakings: “EO 14192 Designation”. This is found below ‘RIN Status’ entry and above the ‘CFR Citation’ entry. This EO is “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation” and it would appear that this information is provided in reference to the requirements of §3 of that EO which would require that ten regulations be eliminated for every new regulation proposed.

This rulemaking has been designated as a deregulatory action, so it would seem that there will be no requirement for identifying 10 offsetting regulations to eliminate.