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.

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...

OFFICIALS FLOAT EMISSION REDUCTION CREDIT PILOTS TO ADDRESS SHORTAGE

Air district officials this week unveiled plans to advance pilot projects to test the feasibility of granting emission reduction credits (ERCs) to "non-traditional" sources, specifically locomotives and dairies that invest in new technologies. Regulators say ERCs are in short supply statewide and more generation of ERCs through non-traditional sources is key to effectively mitigating pollution while allowing industrial and commercial growth. But environmentalists cautioned that ERC programs can cause disproportionate pollution impacts in some communities, and question whether the projects...

EXPECTED RAILROAD SUIT OVER SOUTH COAST IDLING RULES CLOUDS MOU

Railroad companies are expected to sue the South Coast air district over its adoption last week of two new regulations requiring locomotive idling-emission reductions, which is raising questions about whether the companies will also abandon a voluntary agreement with the state air board to reduce emissions at multiple facilities. The South Coast district Feb. 3 adopted two new rules aimed at reducing emissions from idling locomotives. Under Rule 3501, railroads will be required to keep records of all locomotive idling...

REGULATORS PRESS LNG PROJECT DEVELOPER TO ADDRESS KEY AIR CONCERNS

Air pollution limits, mitigation measures and emission offsets are emerging as key issues in the disputed proposal for an onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Long Beach, which is putting pressure on federal regulators to ensure compliance with complex local and state requirements. Environmentalists and other opponents of the proposal are seizing on these disputes to delay or defeat the project, while federal regulators are urging the developer to address these air quality concerns to expedite approval. U.S. EPA...

SUIT OVER CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY EMISSIONS MAY INFLUENCE KEY POLICIES

A company vying to build a novel waste-to-energy facility in northern California has sued a local air district, claiming officials illegally revoked the facility's permits to construct. The outcome of the lawsuit may influence how local air districts and state officials handle the regulation of conversion technology facilities, which are expected by some to expand in the coming years. Integrated Environmental Technologies, LLC (InEnTec), the facility developer, sued the Tehama County air district Feb. 2 in Tehama County Superior Court,...

SENATE PANEL PROBES CONTROVERSIAL EPA PARTICULATE MATTER PROPOSAL

A California senate panel is scrutinizing U.S. EPA's controversial proposal to drop a particulate matter (PM) standard for rural areas based on concerns that public health may be at risk. Meanwhile, EPA has scheduled a March 8 public hearing on the proposal in San Francisco. The intensified focus and criticism on the federal agency may lead to changes to the plan before it is finalized, some sources said. Last month's EPA proposal to rework its PM2.5 and PM10 standards drew...

EPA ADVISORS PLAN TO URGE AGENCY TO FOLLOW PM RECOMMENDATION

U.S. EPA science advisors 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 advisors' 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...

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...

EVANGELICALS LOBBY CONSERVATIVE SENATORS TO SUPPORT CLIMATE CAPS

Evangelical leaders who unveiled a statement this week calling for mandatory carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions controls are lobbying Republican senators, who have so far opposed the controls, to now embrace legislation that would impose economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions limits in a cap-and-trade program. The new statement could allow environmentalists and Democrats to point to the involvement of religious conservatives as further evidence that momentum is growing on all sides to require industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and therefore global...

SENATE ENERGY PANEL'S CLIMATE PLAN RENEWS JURISDICTION BATTLE

A Senate energy committee effort to pursue a possible mandatory climate change program is renewing a jurisdictional face-off with the environment committee over the proper venue for developing the initiative, a dispute that underscores continuing resistance to climate legislation. Energy committee aides, however, are indicating their intention to press on with debate on the issue prior to resolving the procedural concerns. At a Feb. 2 briefing for reporters, staff for energy committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) and ranking member Jeff...

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...

Senators May Form Cross-Committee Group On Natural Gas Prices

Members of the Senate's environment and energy committees may establish a bipartisan group to develop recommendations for bringing down natural gas prices. The move comes as some senators are renewing claims that air pollution requirements are increasing demand for the resource. Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) is calling on Republican and Democratic senators from both the Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee and the Energy & Natural Resources Committee to form a group that would prepare "comprehensive recommendations on how we...

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 national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Critics charge that the effort amounts to political meddling with an established agency science policy review process. They have also questioned who will...

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'...

REFINERIES COULD FACE GHG RULES UNDER CALIFORNIA CLIMATE CAP

California is considering a first-of-its-kind effort to include refineries and other non-utility emitters under an upcoming emissions cap on greenhouse gases (GHG), which would go beyond current state GHG control efforts that target power plants. Observers say the proposed cap, if fully implemented, would go beyond an approach recently agreed to by Northeastern state officials that restricts GHG emission curbs to utilities. Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) President Ned Helme, whose group has advised California on GHG emissions reduction...

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 ( Clean Air Report, Aug. 25, 2005, p23). One...

NORTHEAST STATES DRAFT RULE TO MANDATE NEW CONTROLS ON REFINERIES

LINTHICUM, MD -- Northeast state officials are developing a model rule for states to mandate new emission controls on refineries, in an attempt to reduce ozone levels by updating regulations on this sector in the absence of any new federal requirements on refineries. The state action could also require tighter industrial controls than is mandated under a series of EPA consent decrees with refining companies. The Ozone Transport Commission (OTC)'s model rule will require reductions in nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur...

BUDGET CUTS MAY PROMPT STATES TO RETURN DELEGATED PROGRAMS TO EPA

Sweeping funding cuts for state programs in the White House's proposed budget for fiscal year 2007 are pushing states to consider returning to EPA the control, and related cost, of some environmental programs, including air toxics programs under the Clean Air Act. One state official notes that, while EPA is facing a nearly $310 million budget cut in FY07, funding for state environmental programs was cut by $416 million. "Effectively, EPA is growing at the expense of state and local...

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