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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to reconsider emissions limits of the PVC MACT industry regulation in September 2012, a process that normally takes less than 3 years to complete. Since 2012, the EPA has been reviewing data and other information provided by Vinyl...

As states implement varied reopening schedules, some state legislatures started deliberating on legislation beyond COVID-19 and policing issues in recent weeks.  Recycling bills, for example, started moving through the legislative process in three key states: California, New Jersey and Michigan. In California, SB1238 was passed...

House Democrats unveiled a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package that the House will take up later this week before the July 4 recess.  “The Moving Forward Act” (H.R. 2) includes not only roads and bridges, but housing, education, and health care. The proposal invests more than...

On June 17, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held an oversight hearing entitled, “Responding to the challenges facing recycling in the United States.” The committee examined the recent challenges facing recycling programs in the U.S. and the potential solutions to these problems. Several...

Recycling Many in the plastics industry are calling for Congress to include the “The Realizing the Economic Opportunities and Values of Expanding Recycling Act” (RECOVER Act, H.R. 5115) in the next coronavirus relief bill. The industry-supported legislation would allocate $1 billion to municipal and state recycling...

Since being rolled out on April 3, 2020, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has issued loans totaling $510 billion to roughly 4.3 million small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the popularity of the program, there have been bipartisan calls for legislative revisions to strengthen...

In March, when the Pacific Northwest was ground zero for the COVID-19, hospitals were scrambling to secure vital personal protective equipment (PPE). At one point Legacy Health, with eight hospitals in the region, was down to a 2-day supply. Then they got new face shields,...

Coronavirus Stimulus House Democrats on May 12 unveiled the “Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act,” their proposal for a massive $3 trillion “Phase 4” coronavirus stimulus package. The 1,815-page bill (H.R. 6800) contains a multitude of Democratic priorities that were left out...