User login

Air

Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

Topic Subtitle: 
Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

Ruling Bolsters Plaintiffs’ Push For GHG Review Of BLM Leasing Program

A federal judge is requiring the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to consider the cumulative greenhouse gas impacts of its oil and gas drilling lease approvals in Wyoming in a landmark ruling that plaintiffs say could ultimately force the administration to review the climate impacts of its entire oil and gas leasing program. One environmentalist says that while Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia did not order a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS)...

Environmental Defense Fund Comments

First Environmentalist Coalition Comments

Second Environmentalist Coalition Comments

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Comments


Environmentalists Urge EPA To Scrap Weaker New Coal Plant GHG Plan

A large coalition of environmental groups is urging EPA to abandon its proposal to revise new source performance standards (NSPS) limiting greenhouse gases from new coal plants, saying the plan is unlawful because its GHG limit is weather than what existing coal plants can already achieve, among other reasons. They also are strongly urging the agency to reconsider issuing a standard based on partial carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), saying the technology has advanced far beyond where it was when...

Stricter ship-fuel sulfur limits on track, industry official says

A top shipping industry official says that tougher fuel sulfur limits for domestic ships mandated by an International Maritime Organization (IMO) agreement are on track to be introduced without delay next year and should not cause significant fuel price hikes, despite calls from some conservative groups in the United States to postpone the limits. John Butler, president and CEO of the World Shipping Council (WSC), told a March 19 conference of the American Association of Port Authorities in Washington, D.C.,...

Trump has 'unprecedented' failure rate in APA cases

The Trump administration's early failures to defend a range of environmental and other policies in court are “virtually unprecedented,” according to a report, underscoring how EPA's initial rush to roll back Obama-era measures has been hampered by Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requirements. The report from the Washington Post comes as several groups say the administration has a poor legal record at roughly the halfway point of President Donald Trump's current four-year term. While the government typically prevails in APA...

Citizens Win Landmark Ruling Setting Standing, Mobile Source Precedents

A federal district judge in Utah is backing a citizen suit alleging diesel aftermarket parts makers violated the Clean Air Act (CAA), with the decision notable because it may be the first successful private enforcement case against a mobile source manufacturer and because it granted standing to the plaintiffs even though the emission contribution of the alleged violations was small. As a result, industry sources expect environmentalists to cite the ruling in an effort to bring similar suits in other...

Fearing Litigation Delays, Industry Urges EPA To Finalize RMP Revisions

Groups representing major industries are urging EPA to quickly finalize its rollback of an Obama administration rule that strengthened the Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility accident prevention program, fearing expected litigation over the rollback could extend beyond some of the existing RMP rule’s compliance deadlines. But their effort faces resistance as environmentalists and public health groups are ramping up their calls for EPA to drop the planned rollback, citing the ongoing industrial fire at a Houston-area refinery. These proponents of...

California Air Districts Struggle To Implement Landmark Clean Air Program

California air districts are struggling to implement the state’s landmark AB 617 air monitoring and mitigation program on time, with local officials saying public outreach is slowing the process while environmentalists and others are raising lingering questions on issues including monitoring, emissions reduction rules, and enforcement. Speakers at a March 18 Assembly Natural Resources Committee oversight hearing outlined their concerns with AB 617, enacted in 2017 as a companion bill with AB 398, which authorized the California Air Resources Board...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Sign up for 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting on EPA, the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda, and the pushback from the Democrat-controlled House.