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.

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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.

UNCONVINCED LAWMAKERS REJECT GOVERNOR'S HYDROGEN HIGHWAY BUDGET

A Senate budget subcommittee this week rejected proposed air board funding to implement the second year of the governor's Hydrogen Highway project, arguing that the technology is too far away from mainstream use to justify investing millions more in Fiscal Year 2006-07. While the rejection is seen by some as a blow to the administration's highly publicized efforts to speed the advancement of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, similar action by lawmakers last year was tempered by the reinstatement of at least...

DEMOCRATS SEEN LEERY OF GHG EMISSIONS TRADING DUE TO EJ CONCERNS

A potential state carbon-credit trading program to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is facing growing skepticism within the Legislature due largely to growing opposition by environmental justice (EJ) groups, which fear negative, disproportionate impacts on at-risk communities, according to sources. While some officials see a GHG cap-and-trade plan as key to combating the state's contribution to global warming, the Legislature's growing uneasiness is likely to complicate ongoing negotiations to advance critical climate change legislation. While Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los...

VALLEY AIR OFFICIALS SEE OBSTACLES IN NEW PM, OZONE GOALS

State and valley air officials expressed concern this week over meeting their own recently unveiled and ambitious particulate matter (PM) and ozone reduction goals. The regulators said reaching these goals is necessary for the valley to achieve federal attainment status in the coming years. Reductions in PM and ozone are key to cleaning up the air in the agriculturally dominated central valley, where these emissions are abundant. The Air Resources Board and the San Joaquin Valley air district May 17...

SENATORS BACK NEW ARB FUNDING FOR CONSTRUCTION, DAIRIES, DISTRICTS

A Senate budget subcommittee with oversight of Cal/EPA decided this week to approve $25 million to reduce air pollution impacts from locomotives, dairies and construction equipment, and provide a $10 million increase to local governments to carry out additional programs, as part of the state air board's budget. The funding hikes are being applauded by environmentalists and air districts, but are opposed by the finance department and Republicans on the panel. At a May 17 hearing, the subcommittee voted to...

STATES EYE POLLUTION CUTS TO OFFSET EMISSIONS INCREASES FROM ETHANOL

As states begin crafting plans to meet U.S. EPA's strict new 8-hour ozone standard, air regulators throughout the country are considering new requirements on stationary and other pollution sources to address expected emissions increases from the energy law mandate to add more ethanol to gasoline. Meanwhile, California air board officials are working to quantify ethanol usage in the state. These sources say it is too soon to tell what additional cuts will be mandated on emissions sources and how great...

ENVIRONMENTALISTS JOIN FIGHT AGAINST EMINENT DOMAIN INITIATIVE

Environmentalists are joining opposition to an anti-eminent domain initiative they say may stop regulators from protecting air and water quality on private lands and may complicate brownfields redevelopment. The measure's backers are defending the initiative's ability to protect low-income landowners and argue environmentalists are teaming up with a "Goliath" of industry and government opposition. The initiative is expected to draw significant stakeholder concern as it gains momentum for the November 2006 election, both because of its significant support and because...

AIR RULES PROMPT EPA TO CONSIDER NEW WATER MANDATES FOR MERCURY

EPA may require several industry sectors to implement technology-based controls under the agency's effluent limitation guidelines (ELG) program to curb mercury discharges into waterbodies, in part because recent agency rules to reduce mercury emissions from power plants may cause more of the toxin to reach waters, according to internal EPA briefing documents obtained by Inside EPA . EPA is required under the Clean Water Act to review and potentially revise every two years the existing ELGs for industrial dischargers, as...

OMB MAY EXCLUDE EPA, OTHER AGENCY COMMENTS ON WHITE HOUSE RISK GUIDE

The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) may not accept EPA and other federal agencies' comments on its controversial proposed risk assessment guidance, in a move agency staff fear will prevent any discussion of the guidance's impact on EPA statutory requirements, current risk approaches and resource constraints. OMB is collecting comments from the public on its draft guidance until June 15, but EPA and other federal sources working on the comments say OMB has set no firm deadline...

EPA DELAYS PERC RISK STUDY FOR IN-DEPTH REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC UNCERTAINTY

Following recommendations from industry, EPA science chief George Gray has delayed the final risk review of the dry-cleaner solvent perchloroethylene (PERC) to implement for the first time his plans for broader consideration of scientific uncertainty in EPA risk assessments in the agency's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. But the delay could undermine an EPA air office effort to issue an air toxic rule for dry cleaning facilities that emit the solvent and spark opposition from staff scientists, agency sources...

HIGH COURT TO RESOLVE LENGTHY NSR DISPUTE OVER EMISSIONS 'INCREASES'

The Supreme Court's decision to review a controversial appellate ruling interpreting Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) rules could resolve a decades long-dispute over the level of emissions increases that triggers environmental control requirements for power plants and other industrial sources, according to legal experts. The court's decision to hear the case will also prompt a debate over which court should consider federal Clean Air Act regulations given conflicting decisions on the issue, with some experts saying it is...

WHITE HOUSE CALL TO REVIEW PM RULE SPARKS CONCERNS OVER ROLLBACKS

The White House Office of Management & Budget's (OMB) push for EPA to alter the regulatory analysis supporting its controversial rule to curb particulate matter (PM) emissions could lay the groundwork for industry pressure to relax the rule's requirements for individual sectors, some environmentalists say. OMB is telling EPA to reconsider its assumption that all types of particles are equally toxic when finalizing the rule's cost-benefit analysis. Some industry sources have argued the health impact of particles emitted from some...

EPA MULLS ISSUES AFFECTING WELL PERMIT SCHEME FOR UNDERGROUND CO2

EPA is weighing several factors in deciding how it might use a current regulatory system for underground injection wells to regulate underground carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration to address climate change, including whether large quantities of the gas and long storage times make the most stringent well permitting requirements inappropriate, according to an EPA official working on the issue. Bruce Kobelski of EPA's water office said at a recent conference that EPA faces several questions in deciding how to regulate the...

OTC FACES PUSH FOR OZONE DELAY IN BID TO EXPAND STRICT CAIR-PLUS PLAN

Midwestern and other states facing difficulties meeting EPA's 8-hour ozone standard are seeking to hinge their participation in a multi-state effort to require more stringent pollution controls than under EPA's clean air interstate rule (CAIR) for power plants, known as CAIR-plus, in exchange for additional time to meet the ozone standard in particularly polluted areas, state sources familiar with the discussions say. CAIR-plus is being spearheaded by the Ozone Transport Commission (OTC) -- a group representing Northeast and Mid-Atlantic air...

ACTIVISTS' FOCUS ON COSMETICS COULD BOOST BID FOR EPA NANOTECH RULES

Environmentalists and public health activists' growing focus on the risks posed by nanomaterials in cosmetics and other personal care products could bolster their bid for new EPA regulations governing the emerging technology, observers say. As a first step in the effort to force EPA and other federal agencies to develop new nanotechnology regulations, activists filed an administrative petition May 16 with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) calling for amendments to its regulatory framework to address products that contain nanomaterials,...

ENVIRONMENTALISTS' SUPPORT FOR GOP MODERATES DRAWS GRASSROOTS IRE

Environmentalists' recent endorsement of Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), a key swing vote on environmental issues, reflects a broader push by some activist groups to support GOP moderates sympathetic to their cause, but the strategy is also prompting harsh backlash from some grassroots activists. The Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) have both endorsed Chafee in his reelection bid, claiming in part that if Republicans maintain control of the Senate after the midterm elections, they would rather have...

EPA WEIGHS PROVIDING ADVANCED COAL PLANTS WITH NOX EMISSIONS RELIEF

EPA is weighing whether to temporarily free electric utilities proposing new power plants using advanced coal gasification technology from a requirement to install add-on emissions controls that are often employed to curb nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from more conventional facilities, according to agency and other sources. The deliberation is occurring as industry sources and environmentalists say a pending permit in Illinois could establish a precedent in favor of requiring the add-on emissions control technology, selective catalytic reduction (SCR), at new...

EPA CLASHES WITH STATES ON DESIGN OF CAIR EMISSIONS TRADING PLAN

EPA and some Northeast states are at odds over the amount of emissions that should constitute a pollution credit under the federal clean air interstate rule's (CAIR) cap-and-trade program, as the agency is trying to limit the flexibility of states that want to participate in the emissions trading program. At issue is state flexibility in determining how many tons of emissions are contained in a credit that facilities can buy or sell as they work to meet pollution caps set...

BACKERS HOPE BIPARTISAN SENATE BILL SHOWS SHIFT IN CLEAN AIR DEBATE

Environmentalists and other proponents of a newly revised bipartisan clean air bill say key changes to assuage activists and break the logjam over long-stalled multi-pollutant legislation show the debate is moving in their direction. They also see possible gains by Democrats in this year's midterm elections as boosting chances of enacting a bill including first-time nationwide controls on carbon dioxide (CO2). Despite the changes, the bill's main author, Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), has failed to resolve concerns from other activists...

EPA TO INCLUDE CEMENT PLANTS, NON-UTILITIES IN NSR ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS

EPA is targeting cement plants, glass manufacturers and acid producers for possible violations of new source review (NSR) requirements, along with a new focus on enforcing air toxics rules, as the agency continues to adjust its priorities away from NSR enforcement at electric utilities, a top EPA enforcement official told state officials this month. The shifting enforcement priorities come as EPA is reportedly scrutinizing industry compliance with air toxics rules under the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) program. But environmentalists...

HIGH COURT MAY RESOLVE LENGTHY NSR DISPUTE OVER EMISSIONS 'INCREASES'

The Supreme Court's decision this week to review the controversial appellate ruling on the proper interpretation of Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) rules sets the stage for possible resolution of a decades long-dispute over the scope of emissions increases that triggers environmental control requirements for power plants and other industrial sources, according to legal experts. However, the court's decision to hear the case will also prompt a debate over the proper court venue for interpreting federal Clean Air...

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