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 MAY SEEK OUTSIDE INPUT ON NAAQS REVIEW IN WAKE OF CRITICISM

EPA's top air official says the agency could seek input from outside groups on its controversial evaluation of the standard-setting process for air pollutants, following criticism that the agency's effort could lack transparency. Congressional Democrats and environmentalists have criticized EPA's plans for a "top-to-bottom" review of the process for setting national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), which EPA announced shortly after issuing a controversial particulate matter (PM) rule that did not reflect advice from the agency's science advisers to significantly...

ISO GREENHOUSE GAS STANDARD ADDS TO INDUSTRY CLIMATE CONTROL EFFORTS

The influential International Standards Organization (ISO) is set to issue new standards enabling businesses to consistently quantify and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions under both voluntary and mandatory emissions reduction programs, a significant addition to the growing number of private-sector efforts to tackle climate change. However, some sources are concerned the upcoming ISO standard could allow credits for less-stringent actions than those currently allowed under the private sector protocol developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and World...

COURT BATTLE COULD FORCE AIR ACT CONTROLS ON MEXICAN POWER PLANTS

A federal district court ruling allowing to proceed an environmentalists' lawsuit over two Mexican utilities that provide power to California could undermine the companies' bid to sidestep key Clean Air Act requirements by building the plants across the border. The case could also result in a first-time ruling that the plants -- in operation now for 2-1/2 years -- would have to install after-the-fact emissions controls or offset their emissions through other projects, environmentalists involved in the case say. The...

Senate Environment Panel Joins Congressional Focus On Nanotechnology

Senate environment committee staff are beginning a bipartisan look at how environmental laws could be applied to regulate nanotechnology as committee staff consider the issue ahead of a possible hearing later this year. While the hearing has not yet been scheduled, environment committee interest in nanotechnology comes as several other House and Senate committees are beginning to consider the issue. Nanotechnology refers to materials that can be manipulated at the molecular level to create unique properties that are expected to...

North Carolina Case Could Test Air Act Preemption Of Nuisance Suits

North Carolina's recently filed nuisance suit seeking to force the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to reduce utility emissions could result in a precedent-setting federal court ruling over whether the Clean Air Act preempts public nuisance suits regarding emissions, legal scholars say. The eventual ruling could have widespread implications, the sources say, because states and environmental groups have turned to nuisance suits in a bid to force utilities and other facilities to reduce carbon dioxide and other emissions absent federal regulation...

EPA Science Advisers Plan To Urge Agency To Follow PM Recommendation

EPA science advisers are taking the unprecedented step of urging EPA to revise its proposed air quality standards for particulate matter (PM), after the agency declined to follow the advisers' recommendations to tighten the annual standard for the pollutant. During a Feb. 3 teleconference, the majority of members on EPA's Clean Air Science Advisory Committee (CASAC), which plays a congressionally mandated role in EPA's process for setting new air quality standards, announced they had decided to write a letter to...

Panel's Approval Of Farm Emissions Plan Sets Stage For Court Review

An EPA review board's approval of a controversial plan to shield animal feeding operations (AFOs) from Clean Air Act and Superfund enforcement has paved the way for a legal battle in federal court over whether the agency has the discretion to provide this exemption, sources say. Environmentalists argue EPA is taking the unprecedented step of crafting an enforcement plan that has the effect of a rulemaking. The agreement also requires a scientific study of emissions from AFOs, which may prove...

ISO Greenhouse Gas Standard Adds To Industry Climate Control Efforts

The influential International Standards Organization (ISO) within weeks will issue new standards that will enable businesses to consistently quantify and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions under both voluntary and mandatory emission reduction programs, a significant addition to the growing number of private-sector efforts to tackle climate change. However, some sources are concerned the upcoming ISO standard could allow credits for less-stringent actions than those currently allowed under the private sector protocol developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI)...

DOJ Refocuses Air Enforcement On MACT, Non-Utility NSR Violations

EPA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are focusing on new priority areas for their clean air enforcement efforts, including air toxics violations and new source review (NSR) violations in sectors other than utilities, as the two agencies wind down their NSR utility initiative, a top DOJ environment attorney says. Bruce Gelber, a top attorney with DOJ's environment and natural resources division, told attendees at an American Bar Association conference in Bethesda, MD, last week that EPA and DOJ intend...

Oil Industry Raises Concerns On New Fuel Mandate In State Strategy

A petroleum industry group is raising legal concerns over a state's attempt to impose a new fuel blend requirement, underscoring difficulties that other states could face if they attempt to mandate so-called "boutique" fuels in order to meet a strict new EPA ozone standard. Ohio is attempting to end a generally unpopular vehicle inspection/maintenance (I/M) requirement for vehicles and substitute it with a new fuel blend to control pollution. The American Petroleum Institute (API) sent a Jan. 31 letter to...

EPA Eyes European Approach To Bolster Multimedia Permits

EPA is assessing a European approach to air, water and land permits that may bolster the agency's efforts to increase the use of multimedia permits, and also require new controls on raw materials conservation and energy efficiency, agency sources say. As a first step, EPA is considering pilot projects with several industry sectors, including the pharmaceutical and pulp and paper industries, to test the European approach known as "integrated permitting," which would require new legislative authority if adopted here. Integrated...

DOE Climate Plan Seeks To Shield Scientists From Hill 'Retribution'

The Department of Energy (DOE) has anonymously posted the comments it received on a draft strategy governing its Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP), in order to shield the commenters, many of whom are federal scientists, from "retribution" by powerful House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), sources familiar with the plan say. Barton caused a furor last summer when he questioned the funding sources of several prominent climate scientists. One DOE source says, "There are Hill committees that...

EPA Draws Criticism For Failure To Regulate PM2.5 Precursors

Some states and activists are criticizing EPA's proposal not to require states to mandate controls of ammonia and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions when they draft their air quality plans for meeting the agency's existing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standard, arguing these emissions should be regulated as precursors to PM2.5 pollution. Regulation of these pollutants may affect industries including animal feeding operations, chemical plants, pulp and paper manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, and the iron and steel industry, among several other industry...

9/11 SUIT MAY BOOST PUSH FOR GREATER EPA DISASTER RESPONSE ROLE

A federal court ruling earlier this month allowing a class action suit against EPA to proceed over the agency's actions immediately after the 2001 terrorist attacks may bolster arguments that EPA is required to reduce environmental risks following disasters even when those threats fall outside its traditional authorities, such as widespread indoor health risks from Hurricane Katrina. Most notably, environmentalists have long criticized EPA's assertion that it lacks statutory authority to regulate indoor air -- and therefore building interiors --...

AMID CONCERN, EPA EYES MORE RELIEF FOR 'PERFORMANCE TRACK' FACILITIES

Despite new criticism from states and environmentalists, EPA is preparing to expand its Performance Track (PT) voluntary program -- which provides more than 350 facilities relief from environmental requirements for superior performance -- by boosting hazardous waste regulatory exemptions, recruiting new PT members and launching efforts to grant more relief. As part of its fiscal year 2007 budget, EPA is touting efforts to expand the PT program, which requires companies to implement environmental management systems and commit to improving environmental...

DIESEL CAR PENETRATION RAISES DURABILITY, SMOG CHECK QUESTIONS

The expected influx of diesel passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks beginning within a year or two in California is raising questions among regulators and environmentalists about potential negative air quality impacts that may result from faulty new technology and a current exemption for diesels in the state's Smog Check program. These issues may eventually be reviewed by lawmakers for regulatory changes, sources speculated. Though encouraged by advances in diesel engine technology and particulate filters to dramatically reduce emissions, regulators and...

ARB EYES RELAXING OBD II PROPOSAL TO ACCOMMODATE CLEAN DIESELS

Air board officials are considering relaxing proposed on-board diagnostic (OBD) rules to help some clean diesel passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks comply with the state's low emission vehicle (LEV) regulation for the first time. The proposal may draw objections from environmentalists and alternative-fuel advocates, based on arguments that rules should not be bent to accommodate diesels, and that officials may be sending the wrong message about how automakers should reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At issue are the Air Resources Board's...

BUDGET PLANS LEAVE GAPS IN FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION OF ENERGY LAW

The Bush administration's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget for EPA and other federal agencies funds Energy Policy Act (EPACT) mandates at levels often well below those Congress sought, leaving key decisions on implementing many of the provisions dependent on Capitol Hill or subsequent federal action, according to congressional and industry sources. The discrepancies mean a likely reprise of funding debates over programs ranging from efficiency-related initiatives to clean-coal technology spending, in a tight budget climate that is already hampering agencies'...

WARNER COULD REPLACE INHOFE AS ENVIRONMENT PANEL CHAIR AFTER 2006

Senate Republican rules setting six-year terms for GOP committee chairmen could allow Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) to replace Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) as head of the environment committee in 2007 -- when Warner loses control of the military oversight panel -- even though Inhofe will not have served all six years of his term, sources say. Warner is the senior Republican on the environment committee so if he wanted to force Inhofe out of the chairmanship...

SENATORS RIP ARB, OFFICIALS OVER LACK OF BOND PLAN DETAILS

Senate transportation committee members this week ripped air board and other administration officials for not providing sufficient details of the governor's billion-dollar plan to mitigate air pollution while expanding infrastructure. Disputes over mitigation plans and future funding sources may lead to Democratic counterproposals that identify specific industry fees, give the air board more project decision-making authority and set enforceable emission-reduction targets at ports, sources said. At issue are the governor's Congestion Reduction, Clean Air & Trade Corridor Bond Acts of...

Pages

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