What: On August 13, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the reopening of an online portal for all the agency’s guidance documents. The site contains guidance documents from all EPA offices covering air quality, water protection, hazardous waste management, and other subject areas.
Why: While guidance documents generally lack the force of law, they can help small entities better understand how the EPA implements its own rules. They can take the form of memoranda, policy statements, handbooks, manuals, and other documents.
Generally, guidance documents are agency statements of general applicability, intended to have future effects on the behavior of regulated parties, that set forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue, or an interpretation of a statute or regulation.
The portal does not contain documents such as internal guidance directed to the EPA or other federal agencies not intended to have future effect on the behavior of regulated parties, rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice, and internal executive branch legal advice or legal opinions addressed to executive branch officials.
Action: Read EPA’s announcement of the online guidance portal.
EPA GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS:
Updated Guide Portal Now Available
ANNOUNCEMENT:
CONTACT: Nick Goldstein
EMAIL: nick.goldstein@sba.gov
TAG(S): EPA
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