Emergency Waiver of EPA Regulations: Authorities and Legislative Proposals in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Feb. 14, 2006 |
| Report Number |
RL33107 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
James E. McCarthy and Claudia Copeland, Resources, Science, and Industry Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
As state, local, and federal officials respond to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, there has
been
discussion regarding whether environmental regulations might slow or impede response efforts, and
whether Congress needs to provide authority to waive environmental regulations in order to speed
response to and recovery from the hurricane and subsequent flooding.
Responding to these concerns, on September 16, 2005, Senator Inhofe, the Chairman of the
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Senator Vitter of Louisiana introduced
S. 1711 , to allow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to waive or modify the
application of any requirement that is contained in any law under EPA's administrative
jurisdiction,
if it is necessary to respond in a timely and effective manner "to a situation or damage
relating to
Hurricane Katrina." On September 22, Senator Vitter and Senator Landrieu of Louisiana
introduced
S. 1765 and S. 1766 , identical bills to provide disaster relief and recovery
incentives for Louisiana. Identical legislation, H.R. 3958 , was introduced by
Representative Melancon of Louisiana on September 29. These bills would allow the President to
issue emergency permits under which any project carried out in response to the disaster would be
considered to be in compliance with any applicable Federal law. A fifth bill, Representative
Shadegg's H.R. 3836 , would require expedited issuance of permits for Katrina-related
refinery reconstruction.
This report reviews some of the environmental laws that could affect response and recovery
actions, discusses existing waiver authority, and identifies issues raised by proposals to grant new
waiver authority. The focus is on regulatory programs administered by EPA, including the Clean
Water Act, Superfund, and the Clean Air Act. In the short term, in the immediate aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina, environmental regulations do not appear to have posed an obstacle to local, state,
federal, or private response efforts, in part because existing waiver or flexibility provisions were used
in certain cases.
For the longer term, the report raises questions concerning the waiver authority that new
legislation might grant, including what its scope (both geographic and regulatory) would be, how
facilities granted waivers would be regulated after the expiration of the waiver period, the effect of
such legislation on state and local requirements, and whether substantive as well as procedural
requirements should be waived, if waivers are to be granted.
Questions have also been raised regarding the requirements of the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), a non-regulatory statute that, with exceptions, requires written analyses of
environmental impacts before major federal actions are undertaken. NEPA questions are addressed
in CRS Report RL33104 , NEPA and Hurricane Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding Efforts ,
by
Linda Luther. This report will not be updated.
