Overnight Regulation: EPA pushes unified fuel emissions standard | Consumer bureau delays prepaid card rule | FDA panel weighs alternative cigarette health claims

Welcome to Overnight Regulations, your daily rundown of news from the federal agencies, Capitol Hill and the courts. It’s Thursday evening here in Washington where the big news is that Justice Department officials found missing text messages from two former FBI agents. Read about it here.  

 

THE BIG STORIES 

The Trump administration is pushing for a unified fuel emissions standard for automobiles across the U.S. 

As, Miranda Green reports, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) head of air and radiation Bill Wehrum said the agency is leaning toward creating a national car standard, a move that could have grave implications for California. 

Here’s why: 

Using a waiver created under the Obama administration, California voted in 2017 to set emissions standards for cars and trucks that are stricter than the federal government’s. 

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Wehrum, who said he was speaking for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in making the announcement at the Washington Auto Show on Thursday, acknowledged the conflict with California.  

He said the agency has “initiated talks” with state officials and hopes to work together toward a consistent and compatible program if the parties agree changes should be made to the federal standard. 

Read the full story here.

 

REG ROUNDUP 

Finance: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Thursday delayed its rule on prepaid cards and debit accounts for a year while also announcing changes to the rule.

The CFPB pushed the effective date of the regulation forward to April 1, 2019, a year later than it was originally intended to begin. The bureau also made changes meant to boost compliance with the rule and loosen rules on linking credit cards to prepaid accounts or “virtual wallets.”

Sylvan Lane has the story here. 

 

Health: The Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Thursday said Philip Morris International had not shown it’s new heat-not-burn cigarette can reduce the risk of tobacco-related diseases. 

At an advisory hearing on the company’s application to market its new IQOS product as “less risky,” a majority of the FDA Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee also said the company had not demonstrated that switching completely to the product presents less of a risk than continuing to smoke cigarettes.

The company is also seeking FDA approval to sell IQOS in the U.S.

Read the story here. 

Environment: The Trump administration has installed signs inside the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) headquarters celebrating “environmental achievements” by the EPA in President Trump’s first year in office.

The “Year of Great Environmental Achievements” poster highlights five actions by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, mostly in rolling back Obama administration policies: his proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan, his proposal to repeal the Clean Water Rule, “cleaning up contaminated sites,” providing “confidence for American families” and providing “certainty” for the economy.

Timothy Cama has the story here. 

 

Finance: The United States’ two top trading regulators on Wednesday asked Congress for more direct jurisdiction over cryptocurrency trading.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo asked lawmakers for “direct oversight” of internet-based cryptocurrency trading platforms only subject to state rules.

“A key issue before market regulators is whether our historical approach to the regulation of currency transactions is appropriate for the cryptocurrency markets,” Clayton and Giancarlo wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday.

Read Sylvan Lane’s story here. 

 

Environment: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) loosened regulatory compliance standards Thursday for certain sources of air pollution previously considered “major.”

Bill Wehrum, head of the EPA’s air office, put out regulatory guidance repealing the “once in, always in” policy, in which facilities like power plants or factories considered “major” sources of hazardous air pollutants were always regulated as such, even if the facilities’ owners took measures to reduce pollution.

“This guidance is based on a plain language reading of the statute that is in line with EPA’s guidance for other provisions of the Clean Air Act,” Wehrum said in a statement.

“It will reduce regulatory burden for industries and the states, while continuing to ensure stringent and effective controls on hazardous air pollutants.”

The previous standard had been enforced since 1995. “Major” air pollution sources are subject to much stricter rules for what they must do to reduce emissions such as mercury compounds and benzene.

Timothy Cama has more here

 

Tech: The employee responsible for sending a false mobile alert across Hawaii warning of an incoming ballistic missile is not cooperating with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigations looking into the matter, an FCC official said Thursday.

Lisa Fowlkes, who heads the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, told lawmakers at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing that, while leaders at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency were cooperating with investigators, the employee who sent the notification was not.

“We are quite pleased with the level of cooperation we have received from the leadership of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency thus far,” Fowlkes said.

“We are disappointed, however, that one key employee, the person who transmitted the false alert, is refusing to cooperate with our investigation,” she added. “We hope that person will reconsider.”

Max Greenwood has the story here.

 

FTC: President Trump has nominated a full slate of commissioners to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has been operating with only two of its five seats filled throughout his administration.

The names are not entirely new. Last year, Trump announced his intention to nominate antitrust attorney Joseph Simons to chair the agency; Noah Phillips, an aide to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), to fill one of the GOP slots; and consumer advocate Rohit Chopra to serve in the Democratic opening. But for some reason, the White House did not submit the proper paperwork to the Senate.

On Thursday, Trump renominated them to the consumer protection agency along with a fourth, Delta Airlines vice president Christine S. Wilson, to fill the Republican opening that will be left by Maureen Ohlhausen, the current acting chair who was recently nominated for a federal judgeship.

Harper Neidig has more on the nominees here.

 

Transportation: The engineer operating the Amtrak train that derailed in Washington state last month missed an advance speed sign prior to the crash, federal officials say.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which interviewed the conductor and train engineer, revealed the development in a report on the crash released Thursday.

“The engineer said that he saw mileposts 16 and 17 but didn’t recall seeing milepost 18 or the 30 mph advance speed sign, which was posted two miles ahead of the speed-restricted curve,” the safety agency said.

Mallory Shelbourne has more here.

 

IN OTHER NEWS

Back pay for furloughed workers to include scheduled overtime, other add-ons – The Washington Post 

Big Tobacco has a lot riding on FDA’s stance toward IQOS, the latest cigarette alternative –The Wall Street Journal 

Alexander and Hatch pitch new music royalty structure – Roll Call

Trump NLRB appointee finds a way around conflict of interest rules – ProPublica 

SEC opens probe of GE’s accounting – The Wall Street Journal 

Bitcoin draws calls for more regulation at Davos – The Telegraph

Opinion: Trump’s one-two punch on the environment will bruise America

Opinion: Finding common ground on long-overdue LGBT laws after “Masterpiece Cakeshop”