Administrative rules; adopting environmental protection criteria stricter than federal requirements prohibited

Alabama agencies face tighter environmental rulemaking limits

Alabama agencies cannot adopt or amend covered numeric environmental limits that are stricter or broader than comparable federal standards. This covers drinking water, water pollution, air quality, hazardous substances, contaminated-site cleanup, and solid or hazardous waste handling. Without a comparable federal standard, limits for each covered substance or waste must meet the law’s scientific evidence tests. These tests weigh evidence quality, reliability, relevance, independence, verification, and applicability to the rule. Rules protecting human health, safety, or welfare must show that exposure at or above the limits directly causes bodily harm. That means an existing, diagnosable physical disease or injury—not just a substance in the body or increased disease risk. When voluntary human study data are unavailable, animal or cell studies qualify only with evidence supporting the link to human harm. Exceptions cover federally required rules where agencies lack discretion, less strict or equivalent rules, rules loosening existing limits, and emergency rules. Agencies also cannot require or default to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Risk Information System when setting numeric water quality limits. Existing rules making that system the default must change within nine months after the law’s effective date.