Court Denies Activist Calls To Stay Final Rule Delaying RMP:

American Chemistry Council
The Chlorine Chemistry Report
September 1, 2017

Federal appellate judges have denied a request from environmental and labor groups to stay or summarily vacate the Trump Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule delaying an Obama-era overhaul of the Risk Management Plan (RMP), stating that the groups have failed to meet “stringent standards” for a stay, reports Inside EPA (August 31). In an August 30 order, “a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted environmentalists’ request for expedited briefing and ordered the parties to submit a briefing schedule within 14 days,” notes Inside EPA; “oral argument will be scheduled for the first appropriate date after briefing is complete, the court said.”

The June 14 final rule postpones the RMP update rule's effective date by 20 months from June 19, 2017, to February 19, 2019, to allow time to revise the measure, says the newsletter. At the time of the postponement, EPA reportedly said the “the RMP rule is based on ‘policy preferences’ that could vary between administrations, and that the agency intends to raise concerns with the rule not cited in industry petitions.” Contact: Mark Gibson, (202) 249-6738.