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.

EPA LETS STATES MEET DECREE ON AIR STANDARDS BY COMPLYING WITH CAIR

EPA is seeking to satisfy a consent decree it entered with two environmental groups over the agency's failure to require states to revise their state implementation plans (SIPs) to reflect new ambient air quality standards for ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in a way that will allow the 28 states subject to the clean air interstate rule (CAIR) to comply simply by meeting the CAIR requirements. The remaining states, mainly those west of the Mississippi, will have to follow...

CRITICS WARN NEW EPA CRITERIA WILL STOP DETECTION OF MERCURY HOT SPOTS

A shift in EPA's criteria for defining mercury "hot spots" in its recent power plant rule is raising concerns among some EPA staff, who say the new approach may fail to detect localized pollution impacts and ignores levels of the contaminants in humans. "They've basically defined the problem away," one EPA source says. Critics have long raised concerns that the Bush administration's cap-and-trade approach to regulating power plants' mercury emissions could create "hot spots" around facilities that purchase emissions credits...

STATES PLAN LAWSUITS OVER MERCURY RULE'S IMPACT ON COAL INDUSTRY

Illinois' governor and the state's new senator are joining the growing number of Eastern state officials concerned that EPA's mercury regulations create an unfair advantage for coal mined in the West, setting the stage for many states to file suit over the rule following its publication in the Federal Register. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) announced April 27 that he would join a chorus of states in challenging the power plant mercury rule in court, citing its disparate impact on...

NORTHEAST DELAYS CLIMATE CAP AGREEMENT TO ANALYZE IMPACT ON STATES

Northeast states will likely postpone unveiling the framework for a regional greenhouse gas initiative (RGGI) expected this summer because they need more time to assess the impact of a cap-and-trade program on individual states, officials in the region say. Officials working on the program also say they are likely to give wide discretion to states in deciding how to implement the initiative, leaving a daunting task ahead for governors and state legislators between now and the target date for implementing...

GROUPS FEAR GHG REDUCTION TARGETS WILL HURT COMPETITIVENESS

Industry groups are raising concerns that greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets sought by California state officials may be premature and could hurt the business climate and competitiveness. These concerns may affect the fate of a proposal pending in California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) office that could serve as a model for other states, and could sink a state bill that establishes specific GHG emission reduction targets by 2010 and 2020, sources say. Industry organizations have been relatively quiet in...

SENATORS CITE EPA GREENHOUSE INVENTORY IN PUSH FOR NEW CONTROLS

Senators pushing legislation for mandatory controls on greenhouse gases plan to cite a new EPA analysis showing the power plant sector is responsible for the latest annual rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, congressional sources say. Several Senate sources say senators including John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Jim Jeffords (I-VT) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) are all likely to cite the new inventory, released in late April, as evidence that a mandatory approach that applies to power plants is the...

EPA FACES PRESSURE TO EXEMPT BEEF PROCESSORS FROM REPORTING RULES

EPA may grant a request from cattle processors and a key senator to issue a regulatory finding that the industry says would formally exempt the sector from having to report air emissions from animal waste. Industry officials hope to use the finding to avoid citizen suits that have already forced poultry and hog operations to report their emissions. Stephen Johnson, whom the Senate confirmed last week as EPA administrator, told Sen. John Thune (R-SD) April 13 that the agency is...

EPA EYES HIGHWAY BILL FUNDING TO BOOST DIESEL RETROFIT PROJECTS

EPA wants a final congressional highway bill to provide federal funds for industry to update diesel engines to help meet the agency's air quality standards, EPA officials say, a provision the construction industry may oppose because it could give states unprecedented authority in overseeing the updates. The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee included the funding provision for the projects in its version of the massive federal highway financing bill that is now awaiting a floor vote, but the House...

WHITE HOUSE SEEKS ENVIRONMENTAL LAWSUITS LIMIT IN HIGHWAY BILL

The White House is recommending changes to a Senate highway bill that include adding a 180-day deadline for legal challenges to transportation projects based on environmental impacts and restricting the types of projects that can be funded under EPA's traffic congestion management program. The recommendations could raise new roadblocks for final passage of the highway bill, which is pending on the Senate floor and awaiting a vote later this month. The Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee unanimously approved the bill...

ACTIVISTS LAUNCH LEGAL STRATEGY TO TARGET FLARING FROM REFINERIES

Activists are filing a series of lawsuits targeting refineries across the country in an effort aimed at pressuring industry to agree to new limits on when they can incinerate excess gas in a practice known as flaring. The environmentalists hope that by forcing industry to pay millions of dollars in penalties for emissions that result from flaring they can force industry to agree to a new EPA rule regulating the practice. Activists also hope the lawsuits will help build public...

Administration Plans First Meeting On Climate Change Strategy

The Bush administration is announcing plans for the first government-wide meeting on climate change research since release of its broad plan in 2003, with officials from EPA and 12 other agencies expected to be in attendance. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) meeting, scheduled for November 14-16, was announced May 4 in the Federal Register. The meeting, which is being organized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will focus on topics in the final administration plan , which...

Senate Panel Faces Showdown Over Pentagon Push For Environmental Waivers

The fight over the Defense Department's push to win long-sought exemptions from key environmental requirements is likely to be renewed in the Senate Armed Services Committee later this month, where a key Republican says the bill's supporters have the votes to pass the legislation. But the committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), is promising to oppose it. "It would be harmful for human health and the environment and it is not needed for the national defense," his spokeswoman says...

EPA Retreats On Clean Air Analysis Following Johnson Confirmation

EPA appears likely to renege on an earlier pledge to conduct an analysis of the public health benefits of various clean air legislative proposals after the Senate approved Stephen Johnson to be EPA administrator. The agency had offered to conduct the review after Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) placed a hold on Johnson's confirmation, but Carper indicated this response was inadequate. An EPA official says the agency has no plans to provide to Carper any new clean air analysis. "The proposal...

Court Clears Way For Landmark California Case On Pesticide Air Pollution

A federal district court has allowed a lawsuit to proceed alleging that the California pesticides department has failed to live up to its obligations under the state's clean air plan to reduce emissions from spraying chemicals. The case is significant because if environmentalists and the other plaintiffs prevail it could force the department to impose new regulations on pesticide applications in certain areas of the state to more stringently control ozone-forming compounds. In his 18-page ruling allowing the case to...

INDUSTRY GROUP COUNTERS PUSH FOR COAL GASIFICATION IN ENERGY BILL

Competition for funding in pending energy legislation is spurring the clean-coal industry to rebut arguments that integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology represents a better environmental alternative than other technologies, in an effort to ensure continued funding for other alternatives, according to industry and Senate sources. Driving the competition is White House and other pressure to limit the cost of Congress' energy legislation, which may lead lawmakers to limit the amount of subsidies and incentives it grants to different energy...

GROUPS FEAR GHG-REDUCTION TARGETS WILL HURT COMPETITIVENESS

Industry groups are raising concerns that greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets sought by state leaders either through legislation or executive branch action may be premature and hurt California's business climate and competitiveness. These concerns may be affecting the fate of a Cal/EPA proposal pending in the governor's office, and could sink a bill that establishes specific GHG emission reduction targets by 2010 and 2020, according to sources. To this point, industry organizations have been relatively quiet in discussing state...

ACTIVISTS FEAR SAN JOAQUIN CASH PACTS WITH BUILDERS WILL DERAIL KEY RULE

Environmentalists are troubled that recent agreements by two developers to pay the San Joaquin Valley air district hundreds of thousands of dollars to mitigate construction project impacts will permanently shelve the district's commitment to adopt a broader mitigation rule on residential and commercial building. But air district officials counter that the agreements represent a landmark achievement in forcing developers to mitigate air quality impacts, and contend it will serve as a model for other districts and for the draft rule...

SOUTH COAST, OTHERS FEAR IMPACTS OF NEW PLAN TO RELAX GAS SPECS

South Coast air district officials and some utility representatives this week said they fear a new proposal to relax natural gas specifications in parts of the state to accommodate "hotter" liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies may lead to more pollution and potential damage or operational problems to equipment. The issue carries great weight because it is expected that LNG supplies will come to the state and country beginning in several years, and officials are trying to prevent major problems when...

Johnson Pledges Clean Air Analysis As Frist Pursues Confirmation Vote

Acting EPA administrator Stephen Johnson has agreed to conduct a technical analysis of competing Senate clean air bills, after Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) earlier this month said he would place a hold on Johnson's nomination to be the next EPA administrator unless the agency conducted the study. Johnson outlines his plans for the study in a letter to the Senate environment committee, which was sent just days before Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) announced April 27 that he is filing...

EPA's Revised Approach To Detecting Mercury 'Hot Spots' Prompts Criticism

A shift in EPA's approach to detecting localized increases in mercury emissions resulting from the administration's cap-and-trade rule for power plant pollutants is raising concern among some agency staff that the new approach is unlikely to identify the so-called "hot spots" and ignores levels of the contaminant that may already be present in humans. "They've basically defined the problem away," one EPA source says. Critics have long raised concerns that the Bush administration's cap-and-trade approach to regulating power plant mercury...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Sign up for 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting.