The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reportedly negotiating a settlement in the multi-state lawsuit seeking to overturn the current reporting rules to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), according to Inside EPA (subscription required). The agency has requested and received a 60-day extension on the deadline for its response to the states' motion to throw out the current TRI reporting rules. According to the report, the extension was granted by a federal court "to permit the parties to engage in settlement discussions." 

The article also mentions the concern that, without specific language instructing EPA otherwise, the current Bush rule could apply to the reporting of 2008 data, even if the Bush rule is discarded. Covered facilities have until July 1 to file their TRI reports with EPA. Many facilities likely submit earlier than the deadline. If a restoration of the previous reporting rule – either through a legal settlement or Congressional action – does not instruct EPA to apply the restored rule to submissions of 2008 data, then the public could lose data for yet another year.

Two bills now working through Congress also seek to reverse the reporting rule. The same concern about losing data for a third year in a row applies to these bills as well.