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 DELAYS RELEASE OF MERCURY RE-ANALYSIS UNTIL AFTER ELECTION

EPA delayed until after the presidential election the release of its highly anticipated and politically charged re-analysis of the Bush administration's mercury emissions proposal, EPA sources say. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt this summer promised that EPA would release additional research on the mercury rule in late September, including new modeling data on the effects of the mercury proposal combined with the pending clean air interstate rule (CAIR). According to one EPA spokesman, EPA will now release the data in mid-...

KEY SENATOR PRODS EPA TO ACCEPT PAINT INDUSTRY PROTEST OF OZONE PLANS

Republican Sen. George Voinovich (OH) is urging EPA to act on a Ohio-based paint company's data quality challenge to several state ozone reduction plans, asking the agency to "review the sufficiency of data" used to call for much more dramatic emissions cuts than the company claims are necessary. The involvement of the senator, who chairs the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee's air quality panel, is the latest development in a dispute that could affect the degree to which information...

CONGRESSMAN ASKS RNC TO RETRACT INFORMATION IN CLEAR SKIES FLIER

Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME) is taking issue with a flier the Republican National Committee (RNC) sent to thousands of Maine voters just before Election Day, touting expected pollution reductions from electric utilities through President Bush's long-stalled Clear Skies legislative initiative. In a recent letter to RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie, Allen demanded that the RNC retract its claim that Clear Skies would cut air pollution by 70 percent over 15 years because EPA's own data shows such predictions are highly unrealistic...

New York Supreme Court Upholds Unprecedented Acid Rain Rules

The New York Supreme Court upheld the state's temporary, or emergency, acid rain rules that require power plants to install year-round nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution controls, and reduce NOx and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions far beyond federal requirements. The court last month rejected an industry appeal of the emergency rules. With the temporary rules finally taking effect, New York will become the first state to require NOx emission reductions of 70 percent and SO2 reductions of 50 percent, creating the...

Appeals Court Ruling Deals Major Blow To Clean Air Citizen Suits

A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is likely to be a major blow for citizen suits under the Clean Air Act, according to attorneys familiar with the case. One lawyer says if the decision stands, it is "the end" of air act citizen suits in the Sixth Circuit. Another says the Oct. 26 ruling in Ellis et al. v. Gallatin Steel Company et al. will encourage industry to delay compliance as long as...

RULING MAY BLOCK FUTURE CHALLENGES TO FEDERAL AIR PERMIT PROGRAMS

A federal appeals court has set what could be a decisive precedent blocking court challenges to state implementation of federal air permitting requirements by ruling that EPA decisions on whether to sanction states for inadequate program implementation are not subject to judicial review. Environmentalists are alarmed by the decision, saying it could pave the way for future legal arguments to prevent judicial review of other EPA actions. The decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit affirms...

Conservative Group's Agenda For Next Congress Includes Clean Air Act Repeal

Property-rights advocates who represent the far-right wing of conservatives have outlined an environmental agenda for Congress and regulators over the next four years, which includes market-based approaches to revising EPA ozone rules and repealing the federal Clean Air Act in favor of state-level initiatives. The recommendations are unlikely to be adopted by policymakers at face value regardless of the outcome of this week's election. But the proposals may help set the tone for debate next year by defining the conservative...

Coal Industry Document Reveals Strategy For Opposing Air Quality Initiatives

An industry group that represents coal producers and suppliers has been carrying out an ambitious strategy for defeating or scaling back a host of ongoing congressional and state initiatives to limit greenhouse gases, mercury and other air pollutants, according to a recent internal letter obtained by Inside EPA . The letter , sent between governing officers of the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED), boasts about the group's ties with Republican officials and provides an unusual window into CEED's...

Bush Administration Weighs Exempting Minnesota From Air Transport Rule

High-level EPA and White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials are considering a Minnesota power company's request -- supported by key members of the state's congressional delegation -- to exempt Minnesota from regulation under the agency's pending interstate air pollution rule. The company, Minnesota Power, is arguing that a proposed threshold for tracking whether a state is sending pollution downwind is too low to be modeled effectively, that Minnesota is already complying with clean air standards and that...

COAL-GASIFICATION BACKERS EYE NOVEL PROJECT FOR METHANE PRODUCTION

Energy industry officials are poised to submit a permit application to Illinois for a new power plant that would produce synthetic natural gas from coal and generate electricity -- the first facility of its kind in over two decades and a project that is drawing the attention of coal-state lawmakers seeking to boost the fuel's use. Sources say the project's backers recently met with members of the Illinois congressional delegation to inform them of the proposed facility, but add that...

SOUTH COAST ADVANCES DISTRIBUTED GENERATION EMISSION CAPS

Makers of distributed generation (DG) technology plan to step up efforts to dissuade the South Coast air district from advancing a set of emission limits for new DG that some critics say would essentially ban all technology other than solar-based units. After delaying the plan earlier this summer, district officials recently rejected one company's proposed intermediate nitrogen oxide (NOx) limit and is now moving forward with the controversial caps. The proposal is strongly supported by environmental groups. The proposed South...

ACTIVISTS REVIEW LEGAL GROUNDS TO CHALLENGE NOAA CALFED DECISION

Environmental attorneys have labeled as "political science" the findings of a federal fisheries agency that maintains several planned CALFED projects will not harm salmon runs. Environmentalists and sportfishing groups are analyzing these findings to determine whether they have grounds for legal action to postpone the projects. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) "biological opinion" asserts that CALFED's Operating Criteria & Plan (OCAP) will not jeopardize five species of spawning salmon. It gives an apparent green...

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY BRACES FOR ARB OFF-ROAD DIESEL PM RULES

Construction and other industries that use heavy-duty diesel off-road vehicles are bracing for a forthcoming air board regulatory proposal to reduce particulate matter (PM) emissions from these fleets, which may include idling limits, accelerated fleet turnover or installation of best available control technology (BACT). Industry representatives say that if the board imposes compliance deadlines that are too strict, it may cost the state thousands of jobs and give national and international companies a significant advantage over state businesses. But air...

ARB AGAIN DELAYS GAS-PUMP RULES BASED ON INADEQUATE TECHNOLOGY

For the second time in two years, the air board is expected to delay compliance with a sweeping regulation requiring gas station owners to reduce emissions from various fueling components, based on inadequate technology advancement. The delay, supported by petroleum companies, pushes back the hydrocarbon emission reductions the board has previously anticipated and incorporated into air plans and emission inventories. Because the board is the only regulatory agency that certifies gas pump equipment, the delay is expected to have national...

RULING MAY BLOCK FUTURE CHALLENGES TO FEDERAL AIR PERMIT PROGRAMS

A federal appeals court has set what could be a decisive precedent blocking court challenges to state implementation of federal air permitting requirements by ruling that EPA decisions on whether to sanction states for inadequate program implementation are not subject to judicial review. Environmentalists are alarmed by the decision, saying it could pave the way for future legal arguments to prevent judicial review of other EPA actions. The decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit affirms...

ADMINISTRATION WEIGHS EXEMPTING MINNESOTA FROM AIR TRANSPORT RULE

High-level EPA and White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) officials are considering a Minnesota power company's request -- supported by key members of the state's congressional delegation -- to exempt Minnesota from regulation under the agency's pending interstate air pollution rule. The company, Minnesota Power, is arguing that a proposed threshold for tracking whether a state is sending pollution downwind is too low to be modeled effectively, that Minnesota is already complying with clean air standards and that...

NEW CLEAN COAL PLANT MAY EXPAND METHOD'S USE WITH OTHER COAL TYPES

A southern power company's planned new advanced coal gasification power plant -- partially funded with over $200 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) -- will rely on technology that could make it less expensive to use so-called low-ranked coal in energy-efficient gasification facilities, according to sources tracking the issue. Low-rank or low-heat value coals generate less energy per quantity of coal burned, and their emissions have typically been harder to reduce than emissions from burning other coal types. However,...

Administration Backed Clean-Coal Plant May Expand Use Of Technology

A proposal by utility giant Southern Company to build a new advanced coal gasification power plant -- partially funded with more than $200 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) -- will rely on a process that could make the cutting-edge technology less expensive by using a wider variety of fuels, according to industry and other sources tracking the issue. The proposed gasification plant will be able to burn so-called low-rank coal, unlike other similar projects. Low-rank, or low-heat value,...

Ruling May Block Future Challenges To Federal Air Permit Programs

A federal appeals court has set what could be a decisive precedent blocking court challenges to state implementation of federal air permitting requirements by ruling that EPA decisions on whether to sanction states for inadequate program implementation are not subject to judicial review. Environmentalists are alarmed by the decision, saying it could pave the way for future legal arguments to prevent judicial review of other EPA actions. The decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirms...

Coal-Gasification Proponents Eye Novel Project For Methane Production

Energy industry officials are poised to submit, possibly this week, a permit application to Illinois for a new power plant that would produce synthetic natural gas from coal as well as generate electricity -- the first facility of its kind in over two decades and a project that is already drawing the attention of coal-state lawmakers looking for ways to boost the fuel's use. Sources say the project's backers recently met with members of the Illinois congressional delegation to inform...

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