Covid-19 Pandemic And The Issue Of Environmental Deregulation

One day after the CARES Act passed, the 26th of March, the Environmental Protection Agency (from now on referred to as the EPA) suspended its enforcement of environmental laws. This means that during the state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic companies will not face any sanction for polluting (Oliver Milman, 2020).

The details can be found on the Memorandum published by the EPA: “The consequences of the pandemic may constrain the ability of regulated entities to perform routine compliance monitoring, integrity testing, sampling, laboratory analysis, training, and reporting or certification”. (EPA, 2020) Through this change, pollute will be able to ignore environmental laws if they can claim that the violations are related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It needs to be highlighted that, neither on the memorandum or in other declarations, is found an end date for the dropping of enforcement. The justification argued by Andrew Wheeler, the administration of EPA, was that the pandemic had made it complicated for businesses to protect workers and the public while adhering to clear air and water rules. Another clear goal of this measure is to make it easier to approve of major infrastructure projects like oil and gas pipeline (Dzhanova, 2020).

This memo has had immediate effects. For instance, oil refineries aren’t obliged to report and reduce their carcinogenic benzene emission. At the moment, at least ten refineries had already started exceeding the limits, most of them found in Texas. It almost seems ironic that the White House is asking nonetheless to try to follow the regulations and that they have trust in businesses on doing so (Oliver Milman, 2020).

Some changes to enforcement of the EPA had already been proposed before the pandemic. The argumentation back in January 2020 was that the bureaucracy of environmental regulation had blocked the construction of many projects and that this needed a change to maintain the growth economy. The main change was that projects that lack substantial government funding wouldn’t need federal environmental review (Dzhanova, 2020).

But behind this measure, we need to see the lobbying of different oil and gas producers that were pushing for this deregulation. The American Petroleum Institute wrote a letter to Trump and to the EPA asking for waiving “non-essential compliance obligations” such as record-keeping, training and other non-safety requirements The letter said: “The oil and natural gas industry needs to maintain safe and reliable operations, taking into consideration that there may be limited personnel capacity to manage the full scope of the current regulatory requirements” (Frazin, 2020).

Nonetheless, this measure has again found different kinds of opposition. Even from the inside of the institution, the previous administrator, Cynthia Giles, has argued that this memo poses different dangers to the American public. One of the main concerns is air pollution emitted by industrial facilities, because Covid-19 attacks the respiratory system and these industries are usually located around low-income communities. These worries and other complaints were expressed through a letter directed to Trump by Giles and several other environmental advocates (Oliver Milman, 2020). Another negative opinion was expressed by the Union of Concerned Scientists, that said in a tweet: “we can’t use one crisis like #coronavirus to make another crisis like climate change worse’ (Frazin, 2020).

Nonetheless the rollback of the EPA comes with other measures that promote environmental deregulation. Following the research done by the team of Drilled News (Westervelt & Gertz, 2020), we find the next cases:

– Regulatory Relief from the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) effective since March 25. Provides immediate regulatory relief and fee exceptions for a wide range of chemical manufacturers, including petrochemical manufacturers. TSCA is the main federal law regarding the safety of chemicals used in commerce.

– EPA Temporary Waiver on Summer Low-Volatility Gas Requirements, effective since March 27. ‘EPA intends to provide additional flexibility to the marketplace to transition from winter-grade, high volatility gasoline to summer-grade low vapor pressure gasoline. EPA will temporarily waive the summer low volatility requirements and blending limitations for gasoline.’ Winter-blend gasoline emits more volatile organic compounds, which are precursors of smog, when used in warmer weather.

• Rollback of Fuel Efficiency Standards since March 30. An agreement with automakers to raise fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks (known as CAFE, or Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency standards) to 55 mpg by 2025, significantly lowering greenhouse gas and other air pollution. The Trump administration has changed that mandate to about 40 mpg by 2026.
• California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington Fuel Breaks Project – Department of Interior/Bureau of Land Management Fuel Breaks Project DOI approved a $275 million BLM plan to construct and maintain a system of up to 11,000 miles of strategically placed firebreaks, aimed at protecting native vegetation and vulnerable species such as the Greater sage-grouse. It was finalized April 1, 2020.
• FERC Fast-Tracks Requests for Regulatory Relief with a stated goal of ensuring the ‘reliability of the nation’s energy infrastructure’ during the COVID-19 emergency since April the 7th. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has shortened the review period for requests and petitions to waive some regulations or extend deadlines for meeting them. FERC regulates the nation’s electricity and natural gas suppliers, as well as oil pipelines.
• Proposal to Change Rule on Nuclear Waste Disposal from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that would allow for the disposal of some nuclear waste in municipal landfills, rather than a licensed nuclear waste facility.
• Bureau of Land Management Releases Final Plan to Open 1.7 Million Acres of Colorado Public Lands to Fossil Fuel Extraction finalized on April 10. The plan faces popular opposition from inconsistency with climate and land planning laws.
• EPA Moves to Finalize “Secret Science” Rule. The EPA has forged ahead with finalizing new rules that will upend how the agency uses science to inform important anti-pollution regulations. The public comment period ends on May 18.

As a final analysis of this environmental deregulation, I would like to briefly mention the effects on certain plans and projects. In March already, Interior ticked off required procedural steps in March on consideration of a ConocoPhillips oil and gas project in the Alaska wilderness, and on a development plan for land surrounding New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a World Heritage site at the center of a long debate over oil and gas development, among other projects. (Knickmeyer, 2020)

Finally, Trump unblocked the construction of the pipeline known as Keystone XL, going from Canada to the U.S. and that is 1.900 kms long. He justified this project to create employment during the crisis of Covid-19. This announcement came after some of the states involved declared it as essential infrastructure. Again, this project rises opposition because it cuts through indigenous territories, it will have negative environmental effects and the Obama administration blocked it 2015 (Rico, 2020). In the context of a lockdown due to a pandemic, it is also controversial that TC Energy, the constructor, is moving workers (considered essential) to rural America where the health systems are already strained (McKibben, 2020).