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.

Immigration Measures Could Undermine EPA-Mexico Environmental Plan

Pending legislation to crack down on illegal immigration by building hundreds of miles of fencing along the southern border of the United States could hamper a joint EPA-Mexico effort known as Border 2012, which is designed to improve environmental conditions along the frontier, according to agency sources, tribal officials and activists. The proposed legislation's requirements could also focus attention on an upcoming lawsuit environmentalists are planning to file challenging new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authority to waive environmental and...

EPA Faces Emissions, MTBE Cleanup Concerns Over Energy Law Fuel Changes

A manufacturer of the fuel oxygenate methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and environmentalists are raising separate concerns that EPA's implementation of revised fuel content requirements mandated in the Energy Policy Act could increase emissions of harmful pollutants. The MTBE manufacturer, Lyondell Chemical Corp., is also calling for EPA to preempt pending state law claims related to MTBE contamination after Congress failed to provide the manufacturers with a liability safe harbor in the energy law. At issue are a series of...

EPA Brief Raises Questions On Endangered Species Rules For Air Permits

EPA has issued an unprecedented statement saying it is sometimes required to consider impacts on endangered species before approving air permits for new industrial facilities, while questioning whether this responsibility extends to all states that implement federal air programs. EPA's statement could have sweeping implications for fights over future air permits for coal-fired power plants, many of which are being proposed near pristine locations that contain endangered species. The statement, made in a brief submitted March 17 to EPA's Environmental...

Oil Price Adjustment Fails To Force Increase In New Fuel Economy Rule

The Bush administration's March 29 rule setting new corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for light trucks and sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) maintains standards close to what was outlined in a proposal last year even though the rule takes into account higher oil prices that environmentalists and other observers have cited to argue for stricter standards. Instead, the rule justifies maintaining the proposed standards by assuming that higher gas prices will cause people to drive fewer miles. Language in the rule...

Environmentalists Blast DOE Advisory Report Seeking Air Act Waivers For Clean Coal

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is strongly criticizing a recent report from Energy Department advisers which calls for Clean Air Act exemptions to encourage use of new clean coal technologies, such as plants that gasify coal to produce electricity or liquefy it to produce vehicle fuels. NRDC says in a March 28 paper that the National Coal Council's March 22 report, Coal: America's Future, is a "fantasy" of Peabody Energy, the nation's largest coal producer, whose president Gregory Boyce...

EPA Guide To Urge Multi-Media Approach For Tribal Risk Assessments

EPA is poised to recommend that agency risk assessors employ an unprecedented cross-media approach weighing cumulative pollution effects when developing cleanup levels, discharge limits and other environmental standards on tribal lands, according to a draft guide obtained by Inside EPA. The upcoming guide, Paper On Tribal Issues Related To Tribal Traditional Lifeways, Risk Assessment, And Health & Well-Being: Documenting What We've Heard , also recommends taking unique exposure patterns associated with tribal traditions and cultural practices into account when conducting...

Western States Press EPA On Delay In Reforming Air Permit Program

Western state air officials, who are meeting this week in Las Vegas, are demanding that EPA respond to their year-old recommendations for changes to EPA's program for issuing air permits in rapidly-growing areas. These states say the changes would help resolve disputes among air permitting officials, industry and environmentalists over new industrial construction that may impact air quality in the West. The Western States Air Resources Council (WESTAR) finalized recommendations in May 2005 for administrative changes to EPA's prevention of...

EPA Audit Policy Seen Bolstering Liability Reports Following Mergers

EPA says its self-audit policy, which encourages companies to voluntarily disclose and correct environmental violations, is gaining wider industry acceptance, particularly in sectors witnessing a wave of mergers and acquisitions, such as the telecommunications sector. The development is significant because many companies were initially skeptical that the 10-year old policy would provide sufficient protection from future EPA enforcement, although some industry officials are still concerned that voluntary disclosures to the agency do not adequately protect them from additional state enforcement...

Companies Urged To Rely On Strict NSR Test In Wake Of Appellate Ruling

In the wake of the appellate ruling striking down EPA's key new source review (NSR) rule, industry lawyers are urging companies to rely on a strict emissions measurement test for determining their possible regulatory liability under the NSR program, even though industry opposes the test and EPA is seeking to replace it in a pending rulemaking. The lawyers say relying on the strict test is necessary to ensure that EPA cannot conclude that a planned project would result in an...

DOD RESUMES PUSH FOR EXEMPTIONS FROM WASTE CLEANUP LAWS

DENVER -- The Bush administration has resumed its years-long push for Defense Department (DOD) exemptions from federal waste laws, a top DOD official says. The move, however, reverses the position the Pentagon previously took saying it was not going to pursue the CERCLA and RCRA exemptions this year, sources say. One congressional source says DOD did not follow the usual Office of Management & Budget interagency review process, circumventing EPA when it re-submitted to Congress the legislation, which is identical...

VAPOR INTRUSION PANEL DEFINITION COULD SLOW PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS

An international standards organization panel developing screening procedures for detecting vapor intrusion is also considering whether the chemical vapors should be defined as a hazardous substance release during initial environmental assessments of properties, which could slow real estate transactions and result in more extensive and costly cleanups, sources say. ASTM International panelists are currently drafting language and expect to meet later this summer to consider whether vapor intrusion is a recognized environmental condition (REC), which means site assessors would have...

NEW RESEARCH QUESTIONS UPDATED MODEL USED IN EPA VAPOR INTRUSION

An update to the model that forms the basis of EPA's controverisal vapor intrusion guide is facing new criticism from state and EPA scientists, who say the revisions underestimate the amount of the chemical vapors in indoor air in existing structures, necessitating indoor air sampling. While sources say the updates to the model still have value for determining the likelihood of vapor intrusion at sites where new structures have not been built, the most accurate way to measure vapor intrusion...

EPA GUIDE TO URGE MULTI-MEDIA APPROACH FOR TRIBAL RISK ASSESSMENTS

EPA is poised to recommend that agency risk assessors employ an unprecedented cross-media approach weighing cumulative pollution effects when developing cleanup levels, discharge limits and other environmental standards on tribal lands, according to a draft guide obtained by Superfund Report. The upcoming guide, Paper On Tribal Issues Related To Tribal Traditional Lifeways, Risk Assessment, And Health & Well-Being: Documenting What We've Heard , also recommends taking unique exposure patterns associated with tribal traditions and cultural practices into account when conducting...

INDUSTRY OPPOSES POSSIBLE FLY ASH BAN DUE TO MERCURY UNCERTAINTY

EPA has prompted widespread industry opposition to its first-time proposal to ban the use of fly ash, which is a byproduct of coal combustion, due to concerns that the agency's clean air mercury rule (CAMR) for power plants could increase the amount of mercury in fly ash. Specifically, EPA is floating the language for the possible ban in its proposal to reduce air toxics from Portland cement manufacturing facilities, some of which burn fly ash as part of their manufacturing...

AUTOMAKERS EYE EPA MERCURY SWITCH DEAL TO REPLACE STATE PROGRAMS

Automakers are hoping a deal with EPA creating a voluntary program to recover mercury-containing switches from vehicles before they are smelted can replace numerous existing state programs, which are likely to be significantly more costly to the industry than the $2 million it will contribute to the EPA program. One auto industry source says manufacturers are hoping to convince the states, which include Utah, Maine, Arkansas and New Jersey, to replace programs that charge a $2-$5 bounty fee per switch...

INHOFE CONCERNED OVER STATE THREATS TO RETURN PROGRAMS TO EPA

Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) is concerned that some states are considering returning control over implementing environmental programs to EPA as a result of major cuts to state grants the Bush administration proposed in its fiscal year 2007 budget request, according to a member of his staff. Michelle Nellenbach, the senior professional staff member for the environment committee's majority staff, told state environmental officials March 13 that Inhofe is "alarmed" that states are considering handing...

DHS CHIEF BACKS KEY INDUSTRY POSITIONS ON CHEMICAL SECURITY BILLS

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is backing industry calls that pending chemical plant security bills should not force companies to use "inherently safer" technologies to reduce environmental hazards and is suggesting that any federal law should preempt state and local efforts to impose additional chemical security requirements. Chertoff's remarks presage likely Bush administration efforts to revise pending House and Senate bills that would not preempt state and local laws imposing stricter rules on industry. The congressional proposals also would not...

Automakers Eye EPA Mercury Switch Deal To Replace State Programs

Automakers are hoping a deal with EPA creating a voluntary program to recover mercury-containing switches from vehicles before they are smelted can replace numerous existing state programs, which are likely to be significantly more costly to the industry than the $2 million it will contribute to the EPA program. One auto industry source says manufacturers are hoping to convince the states, which include Utah, Maine, Arkansas and New Jersey, to replace programs that charge a $2-$5 bounty fee per switch...

APPELLATE RULING LIMITS ADMINISTRATION'S OPTIONS FOR NSR RELIEF

The federal appellate decision vacating EPA's rule easing new source review (NSR) requirements for the electric utility industry and other industrial sectors is raising questions about the outlook for Bush administration efforts to shield industry from strict regulatory oversight under the controversial Clean Air Act program. Prospects for a legislative fix or Supreme Court action are uncertain, while a related EPA rulemaking providing an administrative venue for relief also faces hurdles, according to some observers. Granting a request from states...

ACTIVISTS CITE EMISSIONS CUTS IN PUSH FOR STRICT LIGHT TRUCK CAFE RULES

Environmentalists are intensifying their efforts to strengthen an upcoming Bush administration fuel economy rule for light trucks, which could be released as soon as next week, arguing that the administration is not considering benefits that would result from tighter fuel economy rules, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The push comes as environmentalists and other sources say the administration may decide to issue the first-ever corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) rules for large sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and vans that weigh...

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