EPA Plan to Extend Key Power Plant ELG Deadline Sparks Shutdown Fears
Anna Wildeman, counsel in Troutman Pepper's Environmental + Natural Resources Practice Group, and Dave Ross, a partner in Troutman Pepper's Environmental + Natural Resources Practice Group, were quoted in the January 10, 2023 Inside EPA article, " EPA Plan to Extend Key Power Plant ELG Deadline Sparks Shutdown Fears."
"The agency's strategy could be to allow stakeholders to see just how stringent and costly their new proposed ELG rule will be and then provide coal-fired units another opportunity, through the direct-final PCCC notification extension, to choose retirement over compliance," David Ross and Anna Wildeman, the two top officials in EPA's water office during the Trump administration, said in a Jan. 5 environmental law blog for the Troutman Pepper law firm where they now serve.
Ross, who was the head of EPA water office, and Wildeman, who was his deputy, have previously warned that they expect EPA's upcoming rule will requiring installation of costly membrane treatment systems as "best available technology (BAT)" for controlling wastewater from flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) systems, though they have also raised legal concerns with such an approach.
"The strong membrane messaging in EPA’s announcement suggests the agency has predetermined the outcome of its future rulemaking, potentially already raising [Administrative Procedure Act] concerns, at least with respect to FGD wastewater," they wrote in 2021 after EPA sought comment on the issue.
"EPA's announcement strongly implies that membranes are currently being used by this sector to control discharges of FGD wastewater, but that is not accurate and raises questions about EPA's commitment to compliance with the [Information Quality Act]," they added.