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.

ARMY STUDY SHOWS MUNITIONS USE HAS MINIMAL IMPACT ON AIR QUALITY

An ongoing study by the Army Environmental Center (AEC) and EPA on the air quality impacts of firing various munitions has so far not found significant contributions to air pollution from mortars, smoke-producing flares or other weapons being tested in the study, according to an AEC spokesman. The results are expected to influence future decisions about whether ranges should be allowed to operate both over the short and long term and what types of training can be conducted, the spokesman...

LOBBYING INTENSIFIES ON PREEMPTION, EPA ROLE IN CHEMICAL SECURITY

Environmentalists, unions and industry officials are stepping up their lobbying ahead of a long-awaited Senate markup this week of a chemical security bill given lingering divisions over what EPA's security role should be, whether federal legislation should preempt stricter state standards and other issues, sources say. The Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee was slated at press time to mark up a bipartisan chemical security bill June 14 introduced by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), but...

SIERRA CLUB BOOSTS GRASSROOTS ENERGY EFFORT WITH NEW LABOR PACT

The Sierra Club has taken another step in its effort to refocus its activism outside the Beltway on clean energy and climate change, announcing a new strategic alliance with the nation's largest private-sector manufacturing union aimed at influencing policymaking on issues such as global warming and toxic pollution. The alliance also bolsters a grassroots infrastructure that environmentalists say could ultimately boost debate on environmental issues in upcoming elections, including the 2008 presidential contest, with one source familiar with previous collaborations...

CHILDREN'S STUDY BACKERS PLAN SENATE PUSH TO BOOST FUNDING

Supporters of the National Children's Study (NCS) are planning to urge the Senate to boost funding for the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) -- the agency that oversees the study -- to prevent the agency's other programs from suffering if Congress demands that the study continue with no overall budget increase. The push comes after the House appropriations subcommittee for labor, health and human services called for NICHD to provide $69 million for the study --...

EPA EYES NEW PERFORMANCE TRACK CHECKS FOLLOWING CRITICAL REPORT

EPA is revising how it verifies whether facilities meet commitments under its Performance Track (PT) voluntary program for companies that exceed regulatory compliance requirements, after environmentalists alleged in a report that many PT facilities' commitments were measured from data that conflicted with other information reported to EPA, agency sources and environmentalists say. The agency says it will now compare data reported under its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) with data companies provide when they enter the PT program, a development that...

EPA Plan To Exempt 'Exceptional Events' From Air Rules Prompts Debate

EPA's proposal to waive air quality requirements for pollution based on "exceptional events" is fueling controversy between state officials, environmentalists and industry over how much impact the pollution from such an event would have to cause in order to be exempted. Additionally, the groups are disagreeing over how to regulate cleanups from exceptional events. The plan has major significance for Western states in particular, where wind-borne dust and forest fires often cause violations of EPA's particulate matter (PM) standards. Regulators...

EPA Faces Growing Pressure To Study PM Risks From Different Sectors

EPA is under growing pressure from the electric utility industry and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to study the relative risk of particulate matter (PM) from different industry sectors for its next round of national ambient air quality standards, which the agency will begin studying after it completes a new PM rule later this year. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a utility industry funded research group, is seeking a series of meetings with EPA to...

EPA STAFF PUSH AGENCY FOR TIGHTER PARTICULATE POLLUTION CONTROLS

EPA staff are pushing agency managers to tighten the agency's proposed ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standard, arguing that stricter standards would not force the agency to amend strategies such as its clean air interstate rule (CAIR), which EPA claims will ensure localities attain existing air pollution standards. But some sources say any efforts to tighten the proposed limits could face an uphill battle within the Bush administration even if EPA itself endorses changes. Any changes will also be scrutinized...

ARMY STUDY SHOWS MUNITIONS USE HAS MINIMAL IMPACT ON AIR QUALITY

An ongoing study by the Army Environmental Center (AEC) and EPA on the air quality impacts of firing various munitions has so far not found significant contributions to air pollution from mortars, smoke-producing flares or other weapons being tested in the study, according to an AEC spokesman. The results will have a definite impact on future decisions about whether ranges should be allowed to operate both over the short and long term and what types of training can be conducted,...

ENVIRONMENT LAWS MAY NOT BLUNT HIGH COURT WHISTLEBLOWER RULING

The recent Supreme Court opinion rejecting First Amendment claims for public employees who act as whistleblowers combined with ongoing Bush administration efforts to eliminate special whistleblower protections contained in environmental statutes may discourage EPA staff from discussing misconduct with supervisors, observers say. They note that although many environmental statutes are designed to shield EPA employees from retaliation, those protections may be inadequate in light of the ongoing assaults. One source points out that statutes such as the Clean Air Act...

EPA EYES NEW PERFORMANCE TRACK CHECKS FOLLOWING CRITICAL REPORT

EPA is revising how it verifies whether facilities meet commitments under its Performance Track (PT) voluntary program for companies that exceed regulatory compliance requirements after environmentalists alleged in a report that many PT facilities' commitments were measured from data that conflicted with other information reported to EPA, agency sources and environmentalists say. The agency says it will now compare data reported under its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) with data companies provide when they enter the PT program, a development that...

EPA GENERAL COUNSEL ANN KLEE ANNOUNCES PLANS TO LEAVE IN JULY

EPA General Counsel Ann R. Klee will be leaving the agency in July, according to an email the agency's top lawyer recently sent to officials. The May 19 e-mail says Klee will not be taking a government appointment, dispelling widespread speculation that she would be returning to the Interior Department (DOI), according to an agency source. Many industry and government sources believed Klee would return to DOI to work for the department's recently confirmed secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, who was sworn...

States Push Key Programs In Talks With EPA Over FY08 Budget Request

State officials are pushing several key environmental programs as funding priorities in discussions with EPA as the agency develops its fiscal year 2008 budget proposal, highlighting the need to provide sufficient funding for programs such as air monitoring, underground storage tank (UST) inspection and the agency's clean water loan fund. EPA's Chief Financial Officer Lyons Gray has been meeting with the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) in ongoing discussions that state officials say could help avoid a repeat of...

NAS Study May Influence State, Federal Implementation Of NSR Policies

An upcoming National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on the Bush administration's controversial changes to the Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) program could influence state implementation of revised NSR rules EPA issued in 2002, and is also anticipated for how it will address a recent court ruling overturning more recent NSR revisions. The report may also have implications for ongoing policy debates over a pending EPA regulation that would codify a more lenient emissions test under the program...

EPA Eyes New Reporting Rules For Key Voluntary 'Performance' Program

EPA is revising how it verifies whether facilities meet commitments under its Performance Track (PT) voluntary program for companies that exceed regulatory compliance requirements, after environmentalists alleged in a report that many PT facilities' commitments were measured from data that conflicted with other information reported to EPA, agency sources and environmentalists say. The agency says it will now compare data reported under its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) with data companies provide when they enter the PT program, a development that...

EPA EYES NEW PERFORMANCE TRACK CHECKS FOLLOWING CRITICAL REPORT

EPA is revising how it verifies whether facilities meet commitments under its Performance Track (PT) voluntary program for companies that go beyond regulatory compliance requirements, after environmentalists alleged in a report that many PT facilities' commitments were measured from data that conflicted with other information reported to EPA, agency sources and environmentalists say. The agency says it will now compare data reported under its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) with data companies provide when they enter the PT program, a development...

EPA GUIDANCE MAY SPEED CREATION OF TRIBAL WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

EPA is crafting a guidance document to speed its reviews of requests from Indian tribes to be treated as states when administering clean water and air programs, a status tribes must win in order to set their own, more stringent water quality standards. The so-called treatment as a state (TAS) strategy is one of several recent EPA initiatives involving tribal governments and water quality, and comes as state officials say they are seeing an increasing trend among tribes to develop...

STATES PUSH KEY PROGRAMS IN TALKS WITH EPA OVER FY08 BUDGET REQUEST

State officials are pushing several key environmental programs as funding priorities in discussions with EPA as the agency develops its fiscal year 2008 budget proposal, highlighting the need to provide sufficient funding for programs such as air monitoring, underground storage tank (UST) inspection and the agency's clean water loan fund. EPA's Chief Financial Officer Lyons Gray has been meeting with the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) in ongoing discussions that state officials say could help avoid a repeat of...

PEACOCK EYES ECO-REGIONS AS NEW WAY TO TRACK ENVIRONMENT PROGRESS

An initiative EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock launched to divide the agency's regional offices into four so-called eco-regions will form a new way of highlighting and tracking success in achieving a set of top regional and state environmental priorities such as energy issues in the West and disaster and hurricane preparedness in the Southeast, according to EPA documents and state sources. The effort, which Peacock launched last November and is still in the development stages, aims to "focus a spotlight...

EPA GENERAL COUNSEL ANN KLEE ANNOUNCES PLANS TO LEAVE IN JULY

EPA General Counsel Ann R. Klee will be leaving the agency in July, according to an e-mail the agency's top lawyer recently sent to officials. The May 19 e-mail says Klee will not be taking a government appointment, dispelling widespread speculation that she would be returning to the Interior Department (DOI), according to an agency source. Many industry and government sources believed Klee would return to DOI to work for the department's recently confirmed secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, who was sworn...

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