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.

Concerns Over Barton Bill Help Stall Senate Refinery Plan

Lingering concerns over a controversial House-passed refinery bill appear to have contributed to a deadlock in the Senate environment committee over a separate plan intended to expand gasoline supplies, raising doubts about the ability of Congress to adopt new policies in response to fuel shortages following the Gulf Coast hurricanes. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee deadlocked largely along party lines on Oct. 26 in a 9-9 vote over legislation introduced by Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) that offers incentives...

EPA Raising Concerns CAFO Legislation May Undermine Enforcement Pact

EPA is raising concerns that new language in the agriculture spending bill could jeopardize a pending enforcement agreement with animal feeding operations because it exempts the industry from cleanup and reporting requirements under Superfund law. EPA suggests the language may also block a pending lawsuit filed by the Oklahoma attorney general, while environmentalists say the measure may prevent them from filing citizen suits against agricultural facilities. A conference committee on the agriculture appropriations bill considered an amendment Oct. 25 backed...

EPA's E-Reporting Rule Grants State Push For Flexible Verification

EPA's long-delayed rule allowing regulated entities to submit compliance reports electronically grants states' request to require approval of their electronic reporting programs rather than mandating specific technologies for verifying the authenticity of filers' signatures as the agency initially proposed. At the same time, EPA added new language that appears aimed at preserving the agency's enforcement authority, which the deleted provisions mandating specific signature verification technologies were intended to guarantee. The alternative approach appears to address long-standing disputes between states and...

EPA Delay In Issuing California Air Waivers Weakens State Enforcement

California air board officials are pressing EPA to approve long-pending Clean Air Act waiver requests for several key on-road and off-road vehicle regulations, complaining that the delays hurt the state's ability to enforce its more restrictive emission limits. While some rules are being held up because of industry challenges through the federal waiver hearing process, others have been languishing for five years for no apparent reason, according to sources. EPA officials acknowledge that the bureaucratic review process is time-consuming and...

EPA Plans Further Vapor Intrusion Revisions Amid New Criticism

EPA plans to convene a public meeting next spring to discuss revisions to its controversial vapor intrusion guidance, following criticism from agency scientists and others that the implementation of the risk assessment tool the guide is based upon may lead to uncertainties of the human health risks posed by the chemical vapors. The planned meeting comes as EPA scientists are raising new concerns over the guide, which estimates human health risks posed by indoor chemical vapors from soil and groundwater...

EPA PLANS FURTHER VAPOR INTRUSION REVISIONS AMID NEW CRITICISM

EPA plans to convene a public meeting next spring to discuss revisions to its controversial vapor intrusion guidance, following criticism from agency scientists and others that the implementation of the risk assessment tool the guide is based upon may lead to uncertainties of the human health risks posed by the chemical vapors. The planned meeting comes as EPA scientists are raising new concerns over the guide, which estimates human health risks posed by indoor chemical vapors from soil and groundwater...

POSSIBLE STATE PREEMPTION RAISES NEW QUERIES ON EPA WAIVERS BILL

Congressional efforts to grant EPA the authority to waive rules that may impede Gulf Coast reconstruction are facing new questions over whether a federal waiver would prevent a state from enforcing its own environmental rules and whether courts could hear disputes sparked by the legislation. Depending on how they are answered, the questions could embolden the already vigorous Democratic and environmentalist opposition to the bills by bringing states onto their side, observers say. States are becoming increasingly concerned that Congress...

Evangelical Push For Climate Change Plan Puts GOP In Awkward Spot

Evangelical Christians will soon issue their first policy statement on global warming that will likely call for mandatory greenhouse gas controls, a policy observers say could force the Bush administration and some conservative Republicans to choose between supporting a key part of their religious base and industry's long-standing opposition to climate change legislation. The policy will likely put the administration and some congressional Republicans at odds with a movement that is widely credited with helping President Bush win re-election last...

Possible State Preemption Raises New Queries On EPA Waivers Bill

Congressional efforts to grant EPA the authority to waive rules that may impede Gulf Coast reconstruction are facing new questions over whether a federal waiver would prevent a state from enforcing its own environmental rules and whether courts could hear disputes sparked by the legislation. Depending on how they are answered, the questions could embolden the already vigorous Democratic and environmentalist opposition to the bills by bringing states onto their side, observers say. States are becoming increasingly concerned that Congress...

Changes To California Gas Pump Rules Draw Industry, Air District Ire

Oil industry and state air district representatives are objecting to a new California air board proposal that would place more stringent standards on the board's testing procedure for certifying gasoline pump vapor reduction equipment. The dispute is significant because emission reductions at gas stations are considered an important piece of the state's plan to meet federal air quality standards. But the oil industry fears the board's proposal could further drive up the price of gas, at a time when Congress...

EPA To Propose Risk-Based Exemptions In Major Chemical Plant Rule

EPA plans to propose allowing chemical plants to opt out of a major new air toxics rule if they can demonstrate the plants pose a low public health risk, agency officials say. The proposal would continue EPA's controversial strategy of issuing rules that allow these "risk-based" exemptions, which have led to court challenges over previous air toxics rules for plywood and boiler facilities. However, agency officials are likely to argue that the upcoming proposed rule, known as the hazardous organic...

NON-UTILITY GROUPS LIKELY TO PRESS EPA FOR BROADENED NSR RELIEF

EPA's new proposal to further ease new source review (NSR) rules for electricity generators may allow other industrial sectors to seek similar relief, according to industry and other sources who say EPA is trying to restrict the proposal's scope despite expected industry challenges to those restrictions. Some legal experts say EPA may succeed in limiting to the electricity sector the scope of its current proposal, but a final rule on the subject would create a marker for future agency or...

EPA DELAYS IN GRANTING ARB WAIVERS WEAKEN STATE ENFORCEMENT

Air board officials are pressing U.S. EPA to approve long-pending Clean Air Act waiver requests for several key on-road and off-road vehicle regulations, acknowledging that the delays hurt the state's ability to enforce its more restrictive emission limits. While some rules are being held up because of industry challenges through the federal waiver hearing process, others have been languishing for five years for no apparent reason, according to sources. The EPA waiver, or "authorization," process for Air Resources Board regulations...

CEQA REFORM SEEN AS POTENTIAL POLITICAL BARGAINING CHIP IN 2006

Proposed reform of the state's overarching environmental protection law may become a political bargaining chip after the special election in November and into the next legislative year, according to several sources close to the legislative process. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has long been the source of countless headaches for local government officials and builders -- who lament its complexity and promotion of litigation -- and is a tool activists commonly use to block developments they think are poorly...

ASSEMBLYWOMAN PLANS MAJOR BOND TO PAY FOR PORT EXPANSION MITIGATION

The chairwoman of the Assembly Transportation Committee plans to introduce next year major bond legislation to potentially raise billions of dollars for the mitigation of air pollution from future port and highway expansion projects. The bond proposal, however, is not expected to be an easy sell in the Legislature, given the state's budget deficits and already swollen bond indebtedness, sources said. Following a special committee hearing last week on potential health and environmental implications of future "goods movement" expansion projects,...

CIWMB SEEKS NEW LAW WITH SOUTH COAST TO REDUCE FACILITY ODORS

The waste board is seeking legislation with the South Coast air district to pursue tougher regulations cracking down on waste facility odors. The idea is being pitched as an alternative to a proposed rule by the air district to implement a stringent odor reduction plan for some southern California waste facilities that have been hit with a barrage of public complaints. In an Oct. 11 letter to the air district, the California Integrated Waste Management Board asks the district to...

AIR OFFICIALS SPAR WITH SCHOOL DISTRICTS OVER BUS-CLEANUP FUNDING

The state's largest air districts are criticizing air board plans to potentially alter diesel school bus cleanup funding rules to send less money to larger cities, arguing that the move will result in less overall pollution reduction. But school district representatives and lawmakers, primarily from the Central Valley, are pressing for the funding changes to retire first the oldest and most unsafe buses. The dispute is significant because it focuses on a key source of toxic diesel particulate matter, which...

MORE CHANGES TO ARB GAS PUMP RULES DRAW INDUSTRY, AIR DISTRICT IRE

Oil industry and air district representatives are objecting to a new air board proposal that would place more stringent standards on the board's testing procedure for certifying gasoline pump vapor reduction equipment. The dispute is significant because emission reductions at gas stations are considered an important piece of the state's plan to meet federal air quality standards. Air Resources Board staff unveiled at an Oct. 18 workshop proposed changes to the board's vapor recovery regulations, including tighter testing for cracking...

ARB MEMBER'S POSSIBLE DEPARTURE TROUBLES ENVIRONMENTALISTS

Environmentalists are troubled that the air board member they consider "greenest" may soon be replaced by a new Schwarzenegger Administration appointee, with some questioning the administration's general environmental protection direction these days. Their apprehension is heightened over the recent controversy involving the administration's unsuccessful appointment of a former industry organization lobbyist to chair the board. Administration officials are refusing to comment about whether a new appointment is imminent, but they acknowledge they want to soon appoint a new chair to...

BOE SHELVES PROPOSAL TO TAX ERCS HEAVILY OPPOSED BY INDUSTRY

Offering no explanation, the vice chairman of the state's tax board shelved a proposal to assess property taxes on energy companies' emission reduction credits (ERCs) tied to power plants. The proposal was heavily opposed and attacked as illegal by the energy, petroleum and manufacturing industries, which own hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ERCs, according to sources. Claude Parrish, vice-chairman of the Board of Equalization (BOE) and the chairman of the board's Property Tax Committee, recently pulled the proposal...

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