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.

Hunter Eyes Defense Authorization Bill To Site New Refineries On BRAC Land

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) is considering adding language to the defense authorization bill being marked up May 3 that would allow oil refineries to be sited on closing military bases while waiving some environmental requirements for the facilities, according to Democratic sources, reflecting a call President Bush made last year as part of efforts to boost U.S. energy supplies. An Armed Services Committee spokesman declined to comment, saying the committee could not discuss anything related to...

EPA Fighting State Adoption Of Strict Mercury Control Regulations

EPA officials are taking a series of steps designed to stop Pennsylvania and other states from enacting strict mercury control plans that bar credit trading and impose steeper emissions reduction requirements than EPA's controversial regulation. Agency officials last week testified before a Pennsylvania Senate panel in favor of a state bill that would block the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from finalizing its own mercury rule, and instead require regulators to adopt EPA's rule. EPA officials are also seeking...

DESPITE LIMITED PUSH, DOD LIKELY TO CONTINUE INTRODUCING EXEMPTIONS BILL

Despite the military's limited bid to win passage of proposed exemptions to environmental rules in upcoming defense authorization legislation, the Defense Department is expected to continue introducing exemption language in future years because it wants to maintain the appearance that the legislation is necessary, a House source says. The House Armed Services readiness subcommittee April 27 declined to include DOD's controversial package of exemptions to environmental rules in the fiscal year 2007 defense authorization bill, a development that the panel's...

U.S. CALL FOR STRICTER INTERNATIONAL SHIP EMISSION RULES SPARKS DEBATE

Federal agencies are calling for more stringent diesel emissions cuts from ships than under an international treaty awaiting U.S. ratification, and are also saying they can set more strict domestic standards if necessary. The push has ignited a debate among environmentalists and industry groups, who both support stricter emissions standards than under the current treaty but disagree on how restrictive future standards should be. The executive branch has drafted Senate legislation obtained by Inside EPA to implement an international treaty...

ACTIVISTS FAIL TO CONVINCE CHAFEE TO OPPOSE EPA AIR CHIEF'S NOMINATION

Environmental groups last week failed in their last-minute lobbying of Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) to oppose the nomination of William Wehrum to head EPA's air office, after Chafee joined the majority in a 10-8 Senate environment committee vote approving the nominee. The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) approved Wehrum's nomination April 26 in a party-line vote, despite lobbying by the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and others to convince the senator to oppose the nomination, which...

MEDICAL ASSOCIATION URGES EPA TO STRENGTHEN FINE PARTICULATE RULE

The American Medical Association (AMA) is joining a host of environmental and public health groups in calling on EPA to strengthen its proposed new fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality standard, an unusual move by an organization that has generally stayed out of air quality debates. Environmentalists who support stricter standards are pointing to recent AMA comments on the PM2.5 standard as important backing for their call for EPA to tighten it. The agency has already faced controversy for rejecting...

Senate GOP Struggling To Force Spending Bill Vote On Refinery, Gas Price Plans

Senate Republicans are facing roadblocks in their bid to attach a legislative package to address gas prices -- including provisions to speed permitting for refineries and other energy projects and clarify fuel economy rules -- to pending spending legislation despite a public call by President Bush for Congress to act. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) agreed May 1 to drop a controversial accounting provision from the amendment, while acknowledging that he may not be able to attach the package...

Bill Blocking Strict State Air Rules Failing To Win Broad Backing

A model bill drafted by a group of conservative state lawmakers, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which would block states from implementing rules requiring power plants to make pollution reductions steeper than EPA's clean air interstate rule (CAIR) is failing to gain traction, an ALEC source says. But the source adds that legislative bodies realistically have until later this year to pass such legislation because state environment departments do not need to send their CAIR plans to EPA until...

Agriculture Sector Forms Lobbying Group To Push CAFO Exemption Bills

Major agricultural industry groups have formed a new lobbying coalition called Farmers for Clean Air and Water to press Congress to exempt large farming operations from reporting and other requirements under the Superfund law and Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), according to industry and congressional sources. The group has hired a lobbying firm headed by former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingstone (R-LA) to lobby on its behalf. The industry recently formalized the coalition, which had previously existed...

EPA Letter Could Aid Critics Of Bill Exempting CAFOs From Cleanup Law

Recent EPA responses to questions on a House bill exempting concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from Superfund requirements could bolster arguments by the bill's critics that the legislation is unnecessary and would deprive regulators of unique authorities to require CAFOs to report and clean up their releases. In recent comments submitted to House lawmakers, EPA is acknowledging concerns raised by Democratic critics that the bill would deprive regulators of key cleanup authorities because clean air and clean water laws fail...

MERCURY RULING MAY BOLSTER BROAD EFFORTS TO FORCE FOIA DISCLOSURES

A recent court ruling requiring EPA to turn over computer modeling for its mercury emissions rule could bolster industry and government watchdog efforts under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to seek information on federal agency decisionmaking and could prompt industry to intervene against EPA if the agency appeals the decision. Agency officials declined to speculate on possibilities for appealing the ruling, but a source with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says the group would consider intervening in court in...

STATES EYE PERMIT STREAMLINING TO COPE WITH EPA'S FY07 BUDGET CUTS

Facing shrinking budgets because of proposed EPA state and local grant funding cuts, state environmental officials are looking for innovative ways to streamline their air, water and waste permits to free up resources, several state officials say. An official from Iowa, one of the states pursuing these efforts, says permit streamlining is "going to become one of the major undertakings most states will have to address in the coming years as budgets shrink and the public demands more accountability." The...

USDA BACKS MARKET-BASED FOCUS TO LIMIT ENVIRONMENT CUTS IN FARM BILL

The Agriculture Department (USDA) is highlighting a host of new market-based approaches that encourage environmental improvements on farmland as part of a new strategy for leveraging private sector dollars to head off likely shortages in conservation program funding when the Farm Bill is reauthorized next year. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) says in a strategic plan for 2005-10 that the agency is exploring air and water quality trading initiatives and other programs that would give private sector companies incentives...

AGRICULTURE SECTOR FORMS LOBBYING GROUP TO PUSH CAFO EXEMPTION BILLS

Major agricultural industry groups have formed a new lobbying coalition called Farmers for Clean Air and Water to press Congress to exempt large farming operations from reporting and other requirements under the Superfund law and Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), according to industry and congressional sources. The group has hired a lobbying firm headed by former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston (R-LA) to lobby on their behalf. The industry recently formalized the coalition, which had previously existed...

EPA LETTER COULD AID CRITICS OF BILL EXEMPTING CAFOS FROM CLEANUP LAW

Recent EPA responses to questions on a House bill exempting concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from Superfund requirements could bolster arguments by the bill's critics that the legislation is unnecessary and would deprive regulators of unique authorities to require CAFOs to report and clean up their releases. In recent comments submitted to House lawmakers, EPA is acknowledging concerns raised by Democratic critics that the bill would deprive regulators of key cleanup authorities because clean air and clean water laws fail...

CARPER TO CUT MERCURY TRADING FROM UPCOMING UTILITY EMISSIONS BILL

Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) will prohibit any emissions credit trading for utilities to meet strict mercury pollution limits in legislation he intends to reintroduce soon, which will also contain revised targets and timetables for mercury and other pollutants, according to a source in Carper's office. Carper, lead sponsor of a legislative alternative to the Bush administration's Clear Skies proposal, will propose to mandate 90 percent mercury reductions from power plants by 2015, and prohibit any cap-and-trade program that would allow...

EPA FACES DIM PROSPECTS FOR A FUNDING BOOST AS HOUSE ACTION NEARS

House sources from both parties are casting dim prospects on whether the chamber will be able to restore major cuts the Bush administration is proposing for EPA in fiscal year 2007, as a key House panel prepares to mark up the agency's funding bill as soon as this week. "It's just an average year -- not as good as last year but better than next year," says one Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. The House interior, environment and related...

EPA REBUFFS REGION'S REQUEST FOR NEW COMMENT PROCESS ON RULES

EPA headquarters is declining to change its process for accepting comments from its 10 regional offices on draft rules and guidance, despite a recent request from Region IX that the agency do so given claims that it may not have incorporated regional input when drafting a controversial rule revamping air toxics requirements. "Why would we change?" an agency spokeswoman says. "Every indication is that candid assessments are welcomed." EPA Region IX has raised concerns that agency headquarters did not adequately...

EPA Backs New Leak Detection Plan To Lower Costs, Boost Disclosure

EPA is proposing to allow a first-time alternative to already-approved equipment for detecting leaks and fugitive emissions at industrial facilities such as chemical plants and refineries, a technology stakeholders say could make it easier and cheaper to find leaks contributing to air pollution, which some claim is an area of widespread noncompliance. The issue of fugitive emissions, which can include emissions occurring when facilities start up, shut down and malfunction (SSM), has been controversial recently, with environmentalists vowing to challenge...

States Eye EPA Talks To Boost Support For Vehicle Inspection Programs

State and local air regulators are planning to meet with EPA policymakers next month to discuss ways to boost support for vehicle inspection/maintenance (I/M) programs, which have been increasingly targeted by Midwestern state legislators because of the politically unpopular requirement for vehicle owners to test -- and possibly repair -- their automobiles' emissions systems. "We have been seeking support from EPA on a national basis to reaffirm the importance of I/M and to fend off attacks," says a state official...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Sign up for 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting.