The biofuels industry is planning to push EPA to soften its renewable fuel standard (RFS) to improve the greenhouse gas (GHG) profile of biofuels compared to gasoline, one biofuels advocate says, an option that could provide an administrative fix for an issue that is threatening to stall pending climate-energy legislation. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

The Supreme Court’s recent request for supplemental briefs in a key Clean Water Act case could signal support for environmentalists’ novel argument that an Alaska mine should be subject, for the first time, to strict EPA pollutant discharge limits in an Army Corps permit usually reserved for dumping “fill” material, according to Department of Justice (DOJ), industry and environmentalists’ briefs filed in response to the court’s request. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

Environmentalists are opposing EPA Region V’s recent approval of controversial changes Indiana made to its environmental enforcement policy that critics say will weaken enforcement, but the activists say they are left without any clear legal options to challenge the approval because it was made in a non-regulatory policy decision. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

Paul Anastas, President Barack Obama’s choice to head EPA’s research office, who is known as the “father of green chemistry,” could revolutionize agency efforts to focus on sustainable product design and production, safer chemicals and “green jobs,” which some observers believe could eventually drive greater use of regulatory approaches that consider products’ lifecycle impacts. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

The Obama EPA is tightening the Bush administration’s proposed new source performance standard (NSPS) for coal processing plants, but is drawing fire from environmentalists who want even stricter limits and industry officials who say the changes are too strict and create compliance cost concerns. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

An Obama administration statement of principles calling on Congress to “broadly protect” waters under the Clean Water Act (CWA) could provide political cover for moderate Democratic senators who have stalled progress on a bill to address the issue in the Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW), sources say. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

Little-noticed House climate bill provisions amending the Clean Air Act could dramatically shift courts’ roles in reviewing EPA regulations by giving judges the option of vacating rules only if the vacatur will not result in environmental harm. The bill also sets a deadline on petitions for reconsideration that would markedly speed the pace at which challenges to rules are reviewed by courts. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

EPA’s just-announced plan to speed and strengthen Bush-era reviews of chemical hazard assessments is facing doubts from key observers, who say the agency has not done enough to scale-back the Bush program and doubt whether the agency will be able to meet the new 23-month deadline for completing the reviews. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report urging the White House Office of Management & Budget’s (OMB) regulatory review office to improve transparency when it changes agency rules could guide modifications President Obama is weighing for a Clinton-era executive order (E.O.) on regulatory reviews. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

Wyoming environmentalists fear that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s recent tour of energy facilities in the state obscured the projects’ adverse air quality, water and other impacts because activists were denied a meeting with Jackson to raise their concerns about energy production. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

An EPA air advisory workgroup is considering calling on the agency to develop a comprehensive data collection plan for its new mobile source emissions model to address their concerns that EPA lacks specifics on how the agency will update the model in future years, fill data holes and validate the data-intensive model. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

House Republicans are pushing legislation that would extend the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) chemical facility security standards -- due to expire in October -- through to 2012 as an alternative to Democratic legislation that seeks to strengthen the current standards. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)

Activists are criticizing an EPA proposal issued in response to a court remand that seeks few changes to how “hot spots” are analyzed to determine individual road projects’ emissions impacts on transportation conformity. (from Inside EPA Weekly Report)