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.

NEW ENGINE TESTING METHOD EXPECTED TO EXPAND BIODIESEL USE

The Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA) earlier this month unveiled a test specification for determining how 20 percent biodiesel blends (B-20) perform in advanced diesel engines. Biodiesel industry sources say the specifications represent a significant step toward national standards that will bolster acceptance of the fuel. Expanding the use of biodiesel is considered by state and federal officials and other stakeholders as key to reducing petroleum use and increasing cleaner renewable fuels into the transportation energy sector. It is also seen...

EPA TO ADDRESS EQUITY IN DISASTER RESPONSES WITH NEXT STEPS UNCLEAR

EPA has decided to consider environmental justice issues in emergency response activities, after an advisory panel recommended that EPA improve how it addresses harm to low-income and minority populations following the Gulf Coast hurricanes, according to EPA's enforcement chief and other agency officials. Members of the panel are also pointing to Hurricane Katrina as an example of the disparate impact of environmental events on minority and low-income populations, amid controversy over whether race and income should be factors in how...

EJ ACTIVISTS' EFFORT MAY PROMPT CHANGE IN CALIFORNIA AIR TOXICS BILL

California environmental justice (EJ) groups are joining with industry to oppose a bill that would regulate the state's largest ports, airports and railyards under the air board's toxics "hot spots" program. EJ activists say the bill undermines environmental protection in the most heavily polluted communities by relying solely on flawed risk assessments to regulate toxic air contaminants (TACs). State bill AB 1101, introduced by Democratic Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, on June 20 passed the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee and awaits...

EPA TO USE NEW ASSESSMENT TOOL TO JUSTIFY FUTURE AIR REGULATIONS

EPA plans to justify future air rules using a new integrated assessment tool that projects the health benefits of clean air rules, which air office sources say will standardize EPA regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) for air rules and make them more transparent. The Environmental Benefits Mapping & Analysis Program (BenMAP) model relies on air quality monitoring data and a range of inputs about the likelihood of reducing certain health effects and their severity. The model also projects the savings associated...

SENATORS BLAME TIGHT BUDGET ALLOCATION FOR FAILURE TO RESTORE CUTS

Senate appropriators, who in the past have been able to restore some of the EPA budget cuts proposed by the Bush administration, say the limited allocation of funds to the panel that oversees the agency's budget made it all but impossible for them to restore cuts in the agency's fiscal year 2007 budget. The Senate Appropriations subcommittee for interior and related agencies June 27 approved a bill that provides EPA with $7.5 billion for FY07, up from the $7.315 billion...

DOE COAL PANEL REJECTS SEN. LIEBERMAN'S CHARGE OF BIASED MEMBERSHIP

The National Coal Council, a federal committee that advises the energy secretary, is defending the balance of its membership in response to a request by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) for the Department of Energy (DOE) inspector general to investigate the body. Lieberman's June 1 letter asks for an investigation into "whether the composition, funding, and recent conduct of the National Coal Council (NCC) comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and all U.S. Department of Energy regulations, orders and...

Methyl Bromide Case Allows EPA To Argue For Limiting Citizen Standing

EPA is urging a federal appellate court to deny an environmental group standing to sue the agency if a regulatory decision has a low probability of hurting the group's members, in a case that could set a precedent narrowing groups' ability to challenge rules based on a quantitative analysis of the harm the regulations cause. But at the same time, EPA has qualified its argument by urging the court to re-evaluate a quantitative analysis developed by an industry group that...

Industry Groups Urge OMB To Allow Data Challenges Under Risk Guide

Industry groups are seeking the right to pursue information quality challenges against EPA and other agencies' risk assessments if they do not meet standards established in a proposed Office of Management & Budget (OMB) guidance on how federal agencies should conduct risk assessments, even though federal courts do not allow such lawsuits. Environmentalists, however, are urging OMB to withdraw the guidance entirely, claiming the document itself and any related information quality challenges would undermine risk assessments used to support federal...

Senators Blame Tight Budget Allocation For Failure To Restore EPA Cuts

Senate appropriators -- who in the past have been able to restore some of the EPA budget cuts proposed by the Bush administration -- say the limited allocation of funds to the panel that oversees the agency's budget made it all but impossible for them to restore cuts in the agency's fiscal year 2007 budget. The Senate Appropriations subcommittee for interior and related agencies June 27 approved a bill that provides EPA with $7.5 billion for FY07, up from the...

EPA PROPOSES NEW MECHANISM IN EFFORT TO LIMIT MACT APPLICATION

EPA is proposing a rule that continues a trend of limiting the application of strict technology-based air toxic requirements -- known as maximum achievable control technology (MACT) -- by seeking for the first time to substitute a less-stringent Clean Air Act program for MACT requirements, critics say. In the June 12 proposal, EPA suggests that two categories of stationary engines can meet MACT by complying with less-stringent new source performance standards (NSPS) the agency is also proposing for the categories...

ON DIVIDED COURT, KENNEDY EMERGES AS KEY IN FUTURE ENVIRONMENT SUITS

The Supreme Court's divided ruling last week on the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA) underscores sharp divisions among the justices since President Bush's nominees joined the court, a dynamic legal observers say will almost certainly elevate Justice Anthony Kennedy's role as the key swing vote in future environmental cases. Several observers believe that the divisions are so sharp that the court may not be able to reach consensus in environmental cases, limiting prospects for regulatory certainty in several...

AGENCIES' REPORTS FAIL TO QUELL BIPARTISAN SENATE BID FOR FOIA REFORMS

Key senators who have spearheaded efforts to improve public access to government information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) say plans finalized this month by federal agencies, including EPA, to improve FOIA compliance will not halt their efforts to move legislation that would dramatically strengthen public data access. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Open Government Act last year as part of an effort to curb the Bush administration's broad push...

NEW ENGINE TESTING METHOD EXPECTED TO EXPAND BIODIESEL USE

The Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA) earlier this month unveiled a test specification for determining how 20 percent biodiesel blends (B-20) perform in advanced diesel engines. Biodiesel industry sources say the specifications represent a significant step toward national standards that will bolster acceptance of the fuel. Expanding the use of biodiesel is considered by state and federal officials and other stakeholders as key to reducing petroleum use and increasing cleaner renewable fuels into the transportation energy sector. It is also seen...

AIR FORCE EYES MAJOR AVIATION CHANGES IN ENERGY-SAVING STRATEGY

Concerned about rising fuel prices, the Air Force has laid out an energy strategy that looks to overhaul its aviation operations -- including the use of alternative fuels, improving aircraft technology, and reducing flight times by relying more on flight simulators, among other measures -- in an effort to reduce energy costs. The strategy also describes infrastructure and facility changes to reduce energy consumption, although the Air Force has already implemented many of these types of changes, according to one...

High Court Wetlands Ruling Could Shape Arguments In CO2 Suit

The Supreme Court's sharply divided ruling in a major wetlands case could help shape environmentalist, industry and the government's arguments in the landmark case the court agreed to hear this week over EPA's ability to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from mobile sources. The high court announced June 26 that it will review the controversial appellate ruling Massachusetts et al. v. EPA -- where a federal appellate court ruled that the Clean Air Act gives EPA discretion to decide whether...

Industry Study Finds High Costs, Low Benefits In California Climate Bill

An industry-funded study is expected to bolster claims by opponents of proposed legislation that would cap industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in California, by showing that the bill would likely result in substantial costs that would drive businesses out of state while providing minuscule environmental benefits. But environmentalists and clean-energy advocates supportive of the legislation are charging the study is flawed and driven by an overbearing oil industry protecting its own interests. The June 15 study , written by the...

HIGH COURT SPLITS MAY LIMIT LEGAL CERTAINTY IN FUTURE ENVIRONMENT SUITS

The Supreme Court's divided ruling last week on the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA) underscores sharp divisions among the justices since President Bush's nominees joined the court, a dynamic legal observers say will almost certainly elevate Justice Anthony Kennedy's role as the key swing vote in future environmental cases. But several observers believe that the divisions are so sharp that the court may not be able to reach consensus in environmental cases, limiting prospects for regulatory certainty in...

Midwestern States Join Other U.S. Regions In Eying Climate Registry

Midwest state officials are developing the region's first voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry because of what they consider deficiencies in existing federal and private climate change programs, joining the Northeast, the three Pacific Coast states and the Western Governors' Association in developing separate regional GHG initiatives. The plan is already drawing opposition from industry officials who say the plan would be an unnecessary burden, while activists say they would rather see the states develop mandatory limits on GHG emissions. The...

NAS Plan To Update Key Risk Report May Eclipse OMB Risk Reform Plan

A forthcoming National Academy of Sciences (NAS) update of its seminal 1983 report that laid the foundations for EPA and other agencies' risk assessment practices could limit the influence of a controversial White House document that seeks to dramatically increase the stringency of those practices, EPA sources and other observers say. Earlier this month, EPA and the NAS entered into a contract to update the influential volume Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process , or "Red Book,"...

STATES BLUNT CRITICISMS OF FUELS PROGRAMS IN UPCOMING EPA REPORT

State officials appear to have blunted criticisms in an upcoming EPA report that state fuels programs contribute to fuel shortages and high gasoline prices, according to draft versions of the document obtained by Inside EPA . The states' efforts appear likely to head off calls for changing clean fuel or state renewable fuels rules as a way to reduce gasoline costs, despite Bush administration urgings that the task force consider ways to cut the number of the fuels and legislative...

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