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.

ENGINE MAKERS WARN AGAINST OIL INDUSTRY EFFORTS TO DELAY DIESEL RULE

Engine manufacturers are ramping up opposition to a possible delay in EPA enforcement of landmark clean diesel rules, in response to oil industry claims that EPA should provide it more time to minimize fuel contamination during transport. While the oil industry is not demanding major changes to EPA's standard, industry and congressional sources say officials appear to be outlining a basis for EPA or Congress to allow some fuel that exceeds the agency's sulfur content limit to be classified as...

NOVEL SUIT SEEKS ENDANGERED SPECIES REVIEW DURING TITLE V CHALLENGES

A new lawsuit by environmental groups could set an unusual precedent by using the Clean Air Act's Title V permit program to force scrutiny of regulators' compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when permitting power plants or other industrial facilities, according to industry and citizen group attorneys. At issue is a lawsuit filed March 16 alleging that EPA has not met a legal obligation to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on the effects on wildlife of...

PILOT MEXICAN TRUCK STUDY MAY PROMPT WIDESPREAD EMISSIONS TESTING

An EPA-funded study on air pollution from Mexican trucks crossing the Arizona border could be the basis for future studies in other states, whose results some states may use to lobby for laws targeting emissions from foreign trucks, sources say. Mexican trucks will soon gain full access to U.S. roads under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), prompting state concern that these trucks will not be subject to EPA limits on diesel emissions. An Arizona state source says extensive...

STATES EYE STRICTER MERCURY POLICIES AS EPA ISSUES LONG-AWAITED RULE

Officials in numerous states are considering tough new legislative or regulatory proposals to control mercury emissions from power plants, after EPA issued a controversial rulemaking that many state officials criticized as insufficiently stringent. Starting this year, proposals for strict mercury requirements are expected to come up in states with a major coal industry presence, such as Pennsylvania and Indiana. And other states may seek to get around existing policies that prevent them from issuing any environmental requirements stronger than those...

NEW DATA ON EPA MERCURY RULE MAY HELP DEFENSE IN KEY LEGAL FIGHTS

New scientific data EPA unveiled to justify its decision not to set strict technology-based standards for power plant mercury emissions could help the agency defend its controversial mercury rule in upcoming lawsuits challenging the regulation, industry sources and environmentalists say. The agency is citing these scientific data in its reversal of a Clinton administration finding that power plant mercury emissions must be regulated under section 112 of the Clean Air Act, which sets strict standards for companies to install emissions...

UTILITY CONTROLS COULD TRANSFER MERCURY TO DRY WALL MAKERS

EPA officials may consider first-time mercury emissions regulations for wallboard manufacturers because the industry production techniques could release mercury trapped in power plant waste as a result of utility controls required by the agency's controversial new mercury rule. Utility researchers, wallboard manufacturers and Energy Department (DOE) officials are launching a series of new studies to quantify how much mercury from utility waste is released when the waste is processed and heated during the manufacture of wallboard. However, it is unclear...

FINAL MERCURY RULE WEAKENS EMISSIONS LIMITS COMPARED TO PROPOSAL

EPA's final mercury rule includes less stringent caps for new and existing power plants in the first phase of reductions for the toxic air pollutant, compared to the expected caps in the agency's initial proposal. The agency is justifying the change based on a new analysis of the "co-benefits" achieved by the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) released earlier this month. Under the rule released March 15, EPA followed its expected approach in setting up a controversial cap-and-trade system for...

EPA MERCURY RULE FRUSTRATES STATE EFFORTS TO MEET WATER STANDARDS

The mercury reductions required under EPA's new rule creating a cap-and-trade approach for cutting mercury emissions from power plants will make it nearly impossible for states to achieve water quality standards for the toxin, state sources and environmentalists say. The rule, which requires a 70 percent cut in mercury emissions by 2018, falls short of the 90 percent reduction goal that critics have long said is needed in most states to meet their water quality requirements. "Unless EPA uses its...

NAFTA PANEL MOVES CLOSER TO INQUIRY INTO EPA MERCURY CONTROL RULES

A North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel is moving one step closer to launching an in-depth investigation into whether EPA is taking sufficient steps to cut mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, a move that could help environmentalists argue that upcoming EPA clean air rules violate the Clean Water Act (CWA). The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), an investigative body created in a side-accord to NAFTA, issued a determination Feb. 24 calling on the Bush administration to...

INDUSTRY CONCERNS MAY LIMIT SCOPE OF EPA AIR PACT FOR FARMERS

EPA is meeting resistance from many sectors of the agriculture industry over its clean air enforcement agreement for animal feeding operations (AFOs), raising the prospect that the agreement could be less effective if these businesses decline to participate. The mounting concern comes as the agency has extended the deadline for signing on to the agreement, in response to pleas that many businesses could not participate without more time to review possible concerns. Companies will now have until July 1, rather...

UTILITY RESEARCH GROUP CITES AUTO METALS AS MAJOR PARTICULATE RISK

Scientists at a power industry-funded research organization say preliminary, unreleased data indicates possible adverse health effects from metals found in car brakes and tires. The power industry may use these results to pressure states and EPA to enact strict emissions regulations for particulate matter (PM) that comes from mobile sources rather than utilities, industry officials and some scientists say. However, some scientists not affiliated with the study maintain the only types of metals proven to have serious health effects are...

RESEARCH GROUP POISED TO BEGIN NEW INQUIRY OF PM RISK DRIVERS

The Health Effects Institute (HEI), a joint EPA/industry research group that focuses on health effects of mobile source pollutants, is launching a major new effort to identify the most toxic components of fine particles (PM) that may indicate what industry sectors EPA and states may target in current and future air regulations, sources say. The plan is moving ahead at a time when an electric utility research group recently unveiled preliminary study results that suggest PM from automobiles may be...

INDUSTRY BATTLES PENDING NEW JERSEY LAW TO MANDATE DIESEL RETROFITS

Engine manufacturers are fighting New Jersey legislation that would establish one of the nation's first mandates for retrofitting diesel engines, with the industry arguing that voluntary incentives are a better option and that state action is prohibited under the Clean Air Act. Yet the state legislation may be gaining momentum after its sponsors claim to have found an alternative funding source that would pay for the bill's costs to industry. New Jersey environment officials also dispute the industry's argument that...

LAWMAKERS PUSH CLEAR SKIES ALTERNATIVES DESPITE DOUBTFUL SUPPORT

Bipartisan opponents of the Bush administration's Clear Skies legislation are pushing alternatives to the bill in the House and Senate in an effort to continue a debate on multi-pollutant legislation, despite a widespread belief among congressional sources, activists and the utility industry that neither of the alternative bills on the table will get a hearing. The Clean Smokestacks Act of 2005, introduced in the House last week by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), would create cap-and-trade systems...

CLEAR SKIES BACKERS EYE HOUSE STRATEGY TO PUSH FOR NEW SENATE VOTE

Following the tied vote in the Senate environment committee, Republican supporters of Clear Skies legislation now hope to pass the bill in the House to pressure the Senate to act, but opponents -- including a key Senate Republican -- say the strategy is unlikely to work. A House Energy & Commerce subcommittee hearing on the bill, originally scheduled for March 17 but delayed until April 21, should be seen as a "broad signal" that Clear Skies supporters will push forward...

SENATE BUDGET VOTE UNLIKELY TO END HILL FIGHT OVER ANWR DRILLING

Supporters and detractors of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) say the Senate's vote to retain language in the budget blueprint that assumes revenue from the project is unlikely to end legislative debate on the issue. Nevertheless, the vote removes a major hurdle for advocates to make drilling in ANWR become a reality and is a major blow to environmentalist opponents of the effort. "It is one step at a time. This is not the final vote," said...

BOXER EYES HOLD ON JOHNSON CONFIRMATION TO PROTEST MERCURY RULE

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) may place a hold on EPA Administrator-nominee Stephen Johnson's nomination to protest the agency's recently released mercury emissions rule, as one of several options to oppose the controversial regulation. But Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is suggesting that Johnson's involvement with one rule may not be enough for him to oppose the nomination. Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT), the ranking senator on the Environment & Public Works Committee, has strongly endorsed Johnson's nomination. Boxer told Inside Washington Publishers...

PROPOSED WESTERN STATE PSD REFORMS COULD PROVIDE NATIONAL MODEL

Officials in several Western states say changes they have proposed to simplify the agency's prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) program could provide a nationwide model for reforming the complicated requirements, which set out an air quality permitting regime that determines whether pollution can be increased near national parks and other pristine areas. Air quality officials in the West have been urging EPA to make changes to the way the agency implements the program, saying it puts a huge burden on...

WESTERN STATES URGE DIALOGUE WITH EPA TO BLUNT HAZE RULING

State and local government officials in the West are pledging to cooperate with EPA in the development of analyses bolstering the legal rationale for a regional emissions trading program for sulfur dioxide (SO2), responding to a ruling questioning the basis for the program for addressing haze problems at national parks and monuments. Five Western states and the city of Albuquerque, NM, wrote a letter March 4 to EPA air chief Jeffrey Holmstead urging that EPA immediately engage with the states...

EPA DELAYS CAIR DECISION ON EXCLUDING EAST FROM REGIONAL HAZE RULE

EPA has postponed a decision on whether its newly issued interstate air rule effectively exempts the Eastern half of the United States from an upcoming standard to reduce regional haze. EPA earlier indicated the interstate rule might be sufficient to address regional problems in the East, but the agency now says it will wait until next month, when it issues its haze rule, to determine whether the Eastern region will be subject to additional requirements. The controversy stems from EPA's...

Pages

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