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.

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...

LAWMAKER EYES BILL WAIVING SOME ENVIRONMENT RULES ON MILITARY BASES

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 air pollution or 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...

SENATE GOP STRUGGLING TO HOLD VOTE ON REFINERY, GAS PRICE PLAN

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...

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 SCIENCE ADVISERS SEEK EARLY INPUT UNDER NAAQS REFORM PLAN

EPA's plan to revise its process for setting national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) is prompting concerns from agency science advisers who say it will curtail their input, which is mandated by the Clean Air Act. Sources say the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee (CASAC) is preparing to call on EPA to consult with the committee before the agency issues a proposal for public input, as recommended by a recent EPA reform proposal. CASAC "is not a stakeholder and those...

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

Environmental groups 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 Chafee to oppose the nomination, which would have resulted...

BOEHLERT VOWS TO SEEK HOUSE VOTE TO BOOST FUEL ECONOMY RULES

Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), the retiring chairman of the House Science Committee, is vowing to seek a vote on the House floor later this year on a measure tightening fuel economy rules, predicting that the measure will pass as part of a package of energy legislation intended to address high gas prices. Boehlert made the comments April 26 at a media breakfast where he noted that members are telling him privately that they would change their earlier votes and support...

REPORT URGES DEVELOPMENT OF GASIFICATION TECHNOLOGY IN WEST

A new report from an environmental policy group says Western officials must take aggressive steps to encourage development of coal gasification technology capable of using the region's coal, or risk subjecting the West's coal industry to a long-term decline as climate change and other environmental concerns force future carbon dioxide (CO2) regulations and other rules that could favor Eastern coal supplies. The report calls for commitments that would go beyond a recent agreement between California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and...

OZONE STANDARD LIKELY TO SPARK BENEFITS BATTLE AS EPA BEGINS REVIEW

EPA's pending review of its ozone air pollution standard is likely to launch a battle over how to calculate the health benefits that could justify a stricter standard because recent studies are now linking short-term ozone exposure to premature death, according to scientists, industry officials and environmentalists. Health advocacy groups argue that the recent mortality research should drive more stringent regulatory limits. But industry argues that a larger body of toxicology research shows little or no evidence that long-term ozone...

White House Plan On CAFE Reform Legislation Faces Stiff Opposition

An upcoming plan by the White House to grant the administration authority to revamp the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) program for automobiles away from the current weight-based approach is already facing opposition from both Democrats and automakers. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta acknowledged at a May 3 House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing that the department was working on a "major legislative proposal" to reform passenger car CAFE that would be ready for White House review within a week, as...

Backers Hope New 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 are evidence that the debate is moving in their direction, and see possible gains by Democrats in this year's midterm elections as boosting chances of eventually enacting a bill that would include first-time nationwide controls on carbon dioxide (CO2). But despite the changes, the bill's main author, Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), has failed to...

Controversial Rail Study Faces Challenge In Novel NEPA Climate Suit

Environmentalists and landowners are challenging a new government review of the air quality impacts of a proposed railroad project that could provide lower-priced coal to Midwestern power plants, charging that the review flouts a landmark appellate ruling requiring the government to consider the project's greenhouse gas impacts. The Sierra Club and the Mid States Coalition for Progress, a group representing local landowners, say in a petition filed last month in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit that...

Proposed EPA Pact On Regional Haze Rule May Ease Utility Burdens

EPA is proposing a settlement with a utility industry group that could reduce industry's burdens under the agency's regional haze rule, prompting concerns from environmentalists that the settlement could allow the industry to avoid strict controls. Despite the proposed settlement, the agency still faces several pending claims from industry and environmental groups over other provisions in the rule. EPA in a May 2 Federal Register notice announced a proposed settlement with the Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG) in the U.S...

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...

Pages

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