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.

FLOREZ, ENVIRONMENTALISTS SEEK MOYER AUDIT TO IMPROVE PROGRAM

Troubled by the way air districts dole out hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to reduce diesel engine pollution, a leading senator is calling for a state audit of the program to expose weaknesses and identify actions for improvement. The request is being backed by environmentalists, who have also complained that the program has inequities and must be tightened to ensure consistency and fairness across the state. At issue is the Air Resources Board-administered Carl Moyer grant program, which...

INDUSTRY CLAIMS TRI BILLS WOULD STRETCH CAL/EPA RESOURCES THIN

Two bills seeking to create a Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) within Cal/EPA are drawing fire from industry groups, who claim establishing a new statewide toxics inventory program would impose staffing constraints and complicate current funding problems within the toxics department. The bills are seen as a significant tool for environmentalists to counter a recent U.S. EPA proposal to reduce TRI reporting, which is seen as a burden by industry. EPA in September proposed to streamline TRI reporting by allowing the...

TRANSIT OPERATORS URGE ARB TO RELAX ZERO-EMISSION BUS RULES

The state's largest public bus operators are asking the air board to back down from a plan to accelerate the number of zero-emission buses used in the largest urban fleets, claiming that substantive costs and delays in the advancement of fuel cell technology will prevent them from keeping pace with the board's vision. The plan to expand the use of bus fuel cell technology is seen by the Air Resources Board as one of several key strategies to develop clean...

NOVEL CAL/EPA TRIBAL INCLUSION POLICY SEEN MOVING SLOWLY

California Native Americans working with Cal/EPA to draft a new policy to address environmental issues affecting tribal lands worry the absence of an agency secretary could slow progress toward final approval. Tribal sources said the new policy may significantly raise their profile during negotiations with state and federal officials, and address air, water and toxics problems that transcend the boundaries of their sovereign nations. Lenore Volturno, who chairs Cal/EPA's Tribal Policy Stakeholder Group, explained the draft Cal/EPA tribal relations policy...

INVALID CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY POLLUTION DATA PROMPTS HEATED DEBATE

A recent South Coast air district review of a key conversion technology emissions study has led district officials to invalidate some of the findings, claiming that data initially showing low levels of harmful emissions were not properly characterized. The study is significant because it is one of the first to analyze emissions coming from conversion technologies, data the Legislature has stated it needs before placing the waste-to-energy processes on the same level as recycling. While environmentalists say the South Coast...

DISPUTE OVER OFFSHORE LNG PROJECT MAY PORTEND AIR ACT LAWSUIT

Disputes over air pollution mitigation plans for a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project 14 miles off the Ventura coast may foreshadow a major Clean Air Act (CAA) lawsuit if and when the project is approved by state and federal agencies, according to sources. Such a suit may set a precedent for how federal agencies must consider impacts from offshore LNG projects to local air plan conformity under the act, among other key determinations. LNG project proposals on the West...

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...

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...

SAB ECHOES INDUSTRY CALL TO IMPROVE KEY TSCA MODEL FOR NEW CHEMICALS

EPA's science advisers are urging the agency to periodically update data in its model used to evaluate new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), amid industry calls to ensure the model complies with the data quality act. The model, known as the estimation programs interface (EPI) suite, allows EPA and others to screen new chemicals without new testing by comparing the new compounds' physical and chemical properties and environmental fate and transport to information on similar chemicals in...

PANEL FLOATS AIR ACT CHANGES SETTING NEW POLLUTION CONTROL LEVELS

An EPA advisory panel may recommend major changes to the Clean Air Act that would require minimum levels of pollution control at all emission sources nationwide, known as "reasonable performance levels," out of concern that existing controls vary depending on the location of industrial sources and how recently they were built. The new approach, which the panel is discussing in draft form, could enhance controls on a diverse array of sources, including industrial boilers, manufacturers of consumer products and trucks...

INDUSTRY RAISES CONCERN OVER STRICT STATE EMISSIONS CREDIT PLAN

Efforts by Northeast state regulators to develop a stricter version of EPA's clean air interstate rule (CAIR) are prompting concerns from utility officials, who say the state effort is creating uncertainty over which version of the regulation they will be required to implement. Specifically, utilities are concerned that EPA's plan -- which provides credits directly to utilities late next year if states fail to implement CAIR -- may complicate efforts in Northeast states to implement an emissions trading program more...

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...

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...

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...

CRITICS SAY NEW OHIO PLAN RELAXING NSR UNDERMINES KEY EPA CLAIMS

Recent changes the Ohio state legislature adopted easing the state's minor new source review (NSR) permitting program undermine Bush administration claims that relaxing the federal NSR program would not hurt the environment because state programs would serve as "backstops," critics say. State sources and environmentalists critical of the Bush NSR reforms fear the push in Ohio could be a model for industry efforts to relax another aspect of the controversial Clean Air Act program. One environmentalist describes the combined relaxing...

EPA ADVISERS FIGHT DIVERSION OF RESEARCH FUNDS TO SECURITY PROJECTS

EPA's science advisers are criticizing the agency's proposed fiscal year 2007 research budget, which cuts funding on air pollution and toxic chemicals and increases funds for homeland security research. In a March 30 letter to EPA, the Science Advisory Board (SAB) used unusually strong language to warn that EPA's research and development resources were "grossly inadequate" and called the budget cuts a "serious impediment" to EPA's mission. The SAB raised concerns that EPA's homeland security research initiatives appear to be...

PANEL FLOATS AIR ACT CHANGES SETTING NEW POLLUTION CONTROL LEVELS

An EPA advisory panel may recommend major changes to the Clean Air Act that would require minimum levels of pollution control at all emission sources nationwide, known as "reasonable performance levels," out of concern that existing controls vary depending on the location of industrial sources and how recently they were built. The new approach, which the panel is discussing in draft form, could enhance controls on a diverse array of sources, including industrial boilers, manufacturers of consumer products and trucks...

EPA PM PROPOSAL WOULD PREEMPT STATES ON FEDERAL FACILITY CONTROLS

EPA earlier this month quietly proposed a first-time particulate matter (PM) emissions level for federal facilities that sets a so-called de minimis level of emissions -- below which no regulations apply -- which has prompted harsh criticism from at least one environmentalist who says that if EPA finalizes the rule, it would preempt more stringent state standards. Under the proposal, EPA is setting a "general conformity" level for federal facilities' emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) at 100 tons per...

AIRCRAFT PM TEST COULD HELP PUSH FOR NEW EPA EMISSIONS STANDARD

A landmark test for measuring particulate matter (PM) emissions from military and civilian aircraft could give environmentalists and state regulators a new tool to press EPA to set first-time PM emissions standards for aircraft engines, since the agency has argued in the past that any aircraft standard would be hard to develop because of the difficulty in measuring engine PM output. The test could also help the military site new aircraft squadrons -- such as those for the Joint Strike...

EPA DRAFT GUIDE ALLOWS CO2 CREDITS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY PURCHASES

EPA has drafted guidelines for how corporations in its voluntary climate change program can claim some credit for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions based on the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs), in the midst of a growing debate over whether the purchases actually displace greenhouse gas emissions, according to a copy of the draft guide obtained by Inside EPA. The guide is available on InsideEPA.com . RECs, also known as green tags, are commodities that represent the purchase of...

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