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.

California Senator Eyes Novel Legislation To Impose Pollution Fee On Motorists

A California state senator is considering drafting landmark legislation that would impose a fee on motorists to reduce air pollution from vehicles, in response to industry complaints that stationary sources of emissions bear the burden of reducing smog. It is unclear how such a charge could be levied, but some experts have in the past floated a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee that could be tied to motorists' auto registrations. California Sen. Dean Florez (D), who has authored legislation to...

Environmentalists Dismiss Impact Of Court Order On EPA Mercury Rule

Environmentalists are downplaying the impact of a court decision to reject suspending EPA regulation of mercury emissions from power plants pending further judicial review of the rule sought by states and environmentalists. The United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Aug. 4 rejected a motion by the plaintiffs in State of New Jersey et al. v EPA, seeking to stay the rule pending its review by the court. In its decision on the motion, the court found...

NG VEHICLE INDUSTRY RIPS ARB CREDIBILITY IN BUS RULE RELAXATION

California's natural gas vehicle industry is strongly questioning the air board's credibility in light of a proposal by staff to relax a transit bus rule for diesel engines. But air board officials say if the rule change is not made, many transit agencies may simply wait longer to buy new buses, thereby delaying any emission reductions that may be gained earlier. The bus regulation is one of the board's key diesel risk reduction measures to help achieve attainment of federal...

FLOREZ EYES NOVEL FEE ON VALLEY RESIDENTS TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION

Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), who has authored crackdowns on the agriculture and building industries to mitigate air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley, is now considering a novel plan to charge residents a fee to offset pollution caused mostly by vehicle travel. Florez is convinced that residents in the highly polluted valley must bear some of the burden of improving air quality, rather than forcing developers and industrial stationary sources to fully carry the load. Such a plan is considered...

MAJOR INDUSTRY GROUPS QUESTION CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVE

Major California industry organizations expressed doubt and concern about the direction of Cal/EPA and administration officials on the state's landmark climate change initiative, especially potential proposals for a carbon pollution cap-and-trade program. Other stakeholders -- including environmentalists, clean energy advocates and Silicon Valley businesses -- were more optimistic that significant strides can be made to meet the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets set in June by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The initiative is considered important by a variety of interests...

A.G., ARB PONDER ENERGY BILL IMPLICATIONS ON ETHANOL WAIVER APPEAL

Attorney General (AG) and air board lawyers are expected to discuss whether their new appeal of U.S. EPA's latest rejection of California's gasoline oxygenate waiver request will be made moot when the federal energy bill is signed. While it is expected the president will soon sign the energy bill, which contains elimination of the oxygenate requirement in favor of a national ethanol mandate, the complexity of the legislation is leading air board and AG officials to more fully review its...

EPA STUDY OF AIRCRAFT EMISSIONS COULD SPUR FUTURE REG ACTION

U.S. EPA and other federal and state agencies are launching major new studies in California on aircraft emissions, which could ultimately lead to regulatory action by EPA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), several sources said. But aircraft industry sources caution that the emissions testing may not lead to any new regulations because the technology does not exist for modern aircraft to install extensive pollution controls without jeopardizing engine safety. EPA also cannot finalize any aircraft regulations without FAA approval...

INDUSTRY, CEC PLAN KEY STUDY OF LNG IMPACTS ON LARGE TURBINES

The natural gas industry and California Energy Commission (CEC) are planning an extensive study to determine whether "hotter" liquefied natural gas (LNG)-based energy supplies will have harmful impacts on large industrial turbines and burners, such as higher pollutant emissions or performance problems. The study is considered critical to calming the nerves of power generators and state air officials, who have strong concerns about incorporating higher levels of richer LNG supplies into the natural gas flow in California. The study may...

HIGHWAY BILL MAY LIMIT TRIBES' ABILITY TO EXCEED STATE ENVIRONMENT RULES

Senate environment committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) has included language in the recently approved highway funding bill that could frustrate Indian tribes' efforts to set their own environmental standards on tribal lands -- a key issue for tribes that have sought authority to boost protections beyond state standards. The rider also could block pending efforts by an Oklahoma tribe to establish stringent water quality standards in portions of the Tar Creek Superfund site -- one of the most contaminated sites...

EPA VOWED TO ISSUE FINE PARTICLE RULE PRIOR TO SENATE VOTE ON NOMINEES

Assurances by Bush administration officials that EPA would soon issue a rule to control fine particle pollution may have contributed to a behind-the-scenes deal that cleared the way for the Senate to confirm two nominees to head top spots at the agency, according to observers closely tracking the issue. Just prior to the Senate vote last week confirming EPA nominees Marcus Peacock as the agency's deputy administrator and Granta Nakayama to head the enforcement office, administration officials told Sen. James...

EPA FACES PRESSURE ON CLIMATE CHANGE INDICATORS IN ENVIRONMENT REPORT

A panel of independent scientists is asking EPA to include new climate change indicators in an upcoming report on the state of the environment, a suggestion that could put the agency in an awkward position with the White House, which reportedly had asked that similar indicators be removed from the report earlier this year. EPA will have to reconcile the scientific arguments against the likely wishes of the Bush administration, which has strongly opposed regulating greenhouse gases. EPA's Report on...

Long Island Pipeline Backers Seize On Energy Bill In Water Quality Fight

Proponents of a major natural gas pipeline that would cut across New York's Long Island Sound are poised to seize on language in the recently passed energy bill to challenge in federal court Connecticut's rejection of a water quality permit for the project, a case that could be the first legal dispute over the legislation's provisions for expediting energy projects. At issue is a joint venture between Duke Energy and Key Span Energy to build the so-called Islander East pipeline...

Counties Fear Lingering MTBE Concerns May Divert Tank Cleanup Funds

County officials are mounting a lobbying campaign to ensure Congress lives up to its pledge outlined in recently approved energy legislation to increase cleanup funding for contamination from leaking underground storage tanks. At the same time, the county officials are raising concerns that the funds could be diverted to clean up the controversial gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), which the officials say may not necessarily leak from underground tanks. The local officials are responding to energy legislation approved...

Cement Industry Files Data Challenge To EPA's Dioxin Emission Estimates

Cement makers have filed a data quality act challenge urging EPA to revise downward its estimate of dioxin emissions from hazardous waste-burning kilns, saying the overestimates could expose the facilities to legal attacks from environmentalists. The Cement Kiln Recycling Coalition (CKRC), which represents cement making companies that burn hazardous-waste derived fuels in their kilns, says emission estimates in EPA's latest inventory are inflated because the report uses an improper methodology. The coalition has filed a formal data-correction petition on EPA's...

Legislative Push Would Exempt Livestock Pollution From Superfund

House lawmakers are floating draft legislation that would exempt pollution from livestock feeding farms from Superfund cleanup requirements, a plan that could undercut groundbreaking new lawsuits charging the industry is liable for contamination and resource damages from animal manure. At the same time, EPA has been working on a legal agreement with the agriculture industry to temporarily exclude it from certain pollution reporting requirements. The House proposal , reportedly drafted by Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC), appears to go further than...

EPA Vowed To Issue Fine Particle Rule Prior To Senate Vote On Nominees

Assurances by Bush administration officials that EPA would soon issue a rule to control fine particle pollution may have contributed to a behind-the-scenes deal that cleared the way for the Senate to confirm two nominees to head top spots at the agency, according to observers closely tracking the issue. Just prior to the Senate vote last week confirming EPA nominees Marcus Peacock as the agency's deputy administrator and Granta Nakayama to head the enforcement office, administration officials told Sen. James...

Climate Change Lawsuits Renew Debate Over 'Standing' In Environmental Cases

High-profile global warming lawsuits moving through the federal courts have opened the door for a push by industry and the government to limit the ability, or standing, of citizen plaintiffs to file suits enforcing environmental laws, an effort that legal experts say could lead to a new Supreme Court review on the issue. Ensuring citizens have broad access to the courts is a top priority for environmentalists, who often rely on such lawsuits to force industrial plants to limit pollution...

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCESSIONS HELP PAVE WAY FOR ENERGY BILL PASSAGE

A House-Senate conference committee decision to omit or soften a number of controversial environmental provisions in a final energy bill has helped to pave the way for passage, after Congress struggled for almost four years to adopt a national energy policy, according to congressional sources and observers. Key last-minute revisions include rejection of a liability protection for producers of the fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), removal of language that would have allowed EPA to extend attainment deadlines for...

INDUSTRY RIPS STATE PLAN TO TAX POWER PLANT EMISSION CREDITS

Energy companies and other industry organizations are exhorting state officials to reject a plan to tax pollution emission reduction credits (ERCs) tied to power plants, saying they do not represent a property value component and if assessed could further discourage economic and industrial growth. However, the state tax board's legal counsel and some local government officials argue ERCs are clearly part of an energy facility's property value, and say refusing to tax ERCs in this fashion unfairly advantages polluting facilities...

CAL/EPA URGES MEXICAN CONGRESS TO PURSUE LOW-SULFUR DIESEL

As part of this month's Border Governors' Conference XXXIII, 10 U.S.-Mexico border governors signed several environmental declarations drafted by Cal/EPA and Mexican officials, including a measure to urge the Mexican Congress to advance production of ultra low-sulfur diesel fuel to improve air quality and public health. The declarations are considered important by officials and stakeholders to expedite certain projects that otherwise may not see significant progress in coming years. Cal/EPA will soon draft a letter encouraging the Mexican Congress to...

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