OKLAHOMA CITY (May 9, 2024) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond is leading a 14-state coalition in filing a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The petition challenges the EPA’s final rule amending its Risk Management Program (RMP) under the Clean Air Act.
The rule imposes stringent accident prevention program requirements on facilities holding more than a threshold quantity of certain regulated substances. Industries likely to be impacted include agricultural chemical distributors and wholesalers, chemical manufacturers and wholesalers, food and beverage manufacturers, oil and gas extraction operations, petroleum and coal products manufacturers, petroleum wholesalers, water and wastewater utilities, among others.
Drummond testified before a U.S. House subcommittee earlier this week regarding the potential adverse effects of the rule in Oklahoma. “The amendments to the Risk Management Program are unwarranted and they contain significant security concerns,” he said. “Industries in Oklahoma and the consumers they serve should not be punished because of yet another misguided and overly burdensome edict from the EPA.”
Set to take effect this week, the rule has faced strong opposition from various industry and trade associations including the Agricultural Retailers Association, American Chemistry Council, American Coke and Coal Chemicals Institute, American Petroleum Institute, Alliance of Chemical Distributors, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Corn Refiners Association, Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
In an April 18 letter to Congressional leaders, these organizations emphasized that the rule would significantly increase costs without clearly demonstrating safety improvements. “For example,” states their letter,“EPA finalized new requirements to conduct a safer technology and alternatives assessment (STAA) analysis even though EPA provided no evidence that change would reduce accidental releases.” They further noted that “EPA estimates that more than 80 percent of the final rule’s $256 million annual cost will come from these STAA provisions alone.”
Prior comment letters from state attorneys general challenging the rule have pointed out that it increases regulatory burdens without providing sufficient benefits. According to EPA estimations, compliance will cost businesses over $250 million annually; however, there is no clear demonstration by EPA on how these requirements will reduce chemical accidents or improve safety.
Additionally concerning are new information disclosure requirements within the rule which pose national security risks by potentially facilitating access to sensitive information by criminals or terrorists.
The petition seeks a court declaration deeming the rule unlawful along with its subsequent vacatur.
Joining Oklahoma in this filing are attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia Kansas Kentucky Missouri Mississippi Montana Nebraska South Carolina Texas Utah as well as Arizona legislature.