EPA has agreed to hold public hearings on three contested Clean Air Act rollbacks imposed in July without advance notice.
Yielding slightly to sometimes angry feedback, the agency will also allow more time for written comments on the interim final rules, which pushed back compliance deadlines for updated air toxics regulations for leading steel and coke manufacturers and delayed stricter limits on methane emissions by the oil and gas industry.
Under President Donald Trump, the delays are expected to be a prelude to outright repeal of the three rules, all of which were issued last year during the Biden administration.
A senior staffer at one of the groups that sought the hearings called it important for regulators to hear directly meanwhile from people who live near polluting plants.
