The EPA is proposing to change the way it conducts its eight-year review of some new source performance standards (NSPS). Under the proposal, the EPA would forgo review of a standard if it finds the current level of control is appropriate, no new or modified sources are expected in the next eight years, or more stringent Clean Air Act standards exist for the sources.

In order to implement the Great Lakes Compact in Wisconsin, large withdrawers in the Great Lakes basin will need a Water Use permit beginning on December 8, 2011. Comments on the proposed permitting documents are due by October 31, 2011 so that the DNR can finalize the permits before they are issued beginning on December 8, 2011.

In a letter to Sen. Debbie Stabenow D-Mich., chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said she will recommend to the White House Office of Management and Budget that existing particulate matter regulations governing coarse particulate matter from industrial and agricultural operations, commonly known as the farm dust regulations or PM 10, remain the same.

Earlier this week five environmental and public health groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA in response to the Obama administration’s September 2nd decision to delay any new standards until 2013. The lawsuit was filed in the federal court of appeals in Washington D.C.