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.

Senator Tells EPA To Accept Company's Data Challenge To Ozone Plans

Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich is urging EPA to accept a data quality challenge to several state ozone reduction plans made by a paint company in his home state, in a fight that could shape how the controversial Information Quality Act applies to state regulations. The senator is asking the agency to "review the sufficiency of data" that were used to call for the emission cuts, which the company criticizes as too steep. The involvement of the senator, who chairs...

Tennessee Poll Shows Bush May Benefit From NSR Confusion

A new poll of likely Tennessee voters found overwhelmingly support for the new source review (NSR) power plant pollution policy favored by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, but less than half know Kerry is advocating that approach -- and 15 percent wrongly attributed the policy to President Bush, who has granted utilities greater flexibility under the program. One political analyst says voter confusion over NSR reflects the fact that environment is not a top-tier issue in this presidential campaign. The...

Industry Raises Data Quality Concerns Over 'Residual Risk' Air Rule

Industry groups are questioning the scientific analyses EPA used in proposing its first "residual risk" air toxics standard, saying the agency may have violated data guidelines under the Information Quality Act. The proposed rule addresses air emissions from coke oven batteries, and could set a precedent for the way EPA develops similar requirements for a host of major industries. At the same time, state air officials are raising separate concerns that the rule is not strict enough and sets a...

TENNESSEE POLL SHOWS KERRY NOT SCORING POINTS ON BUSH NSR POLICY

A new poll of likely voters found Tennesseans overwhelmingly support the new source review (NSR) power plant pollution policy favored by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, but less than half know Kerry is advocating that approach -- and 15 percent wrongly attributed the policy to President Bush, who has made the program more flexible for utilities. One political analyst says voters' confusion over NSR reflects the fact that environmental issues are not top-tier issues in this presidential campaign. The confusion...

EPA DELAYS RELEASE OF MERCURY RULE RE-ANALYSIS UNTIL AFTER ELECTION

EPA is delaying 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...

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...

BARTON DROPPING ENERGY BILL FOCUS FOR CLEAN AIR ACT REAUTHORIZATION

Unable to push comprehensive energy legislation through Congress, a frustrated Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, says he will turn his attention in the next congressional session from the comprehensive energy bill to the Clean Air Act, which has been expired for years. While some proponents of a comprehensive bill on energy still hold out hope for action on a pared-back version in a lame-duck session of Congress, which begins Nov. 16, others concede...

EPA Delays Release Of Mercury Rule Reassessment Until After Election

EPA is delaying until after the presidential election the release of its highly anticipated and politically charged reanalysis of the Bush administration's mercury emissions proposal, agency sources say. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt this summer pledged the agency would release additional research on the mercury rule in late September, including new modeling data on the effects of the mercury proposal combined with its pending Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). But according to one EPA spokesman, the agency will now release the...

DOE SCOPES UPCOMING ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW FOR CO2 STORAGE PROJECTS

The Department of Energy (DOE) has outlined the potential environmental effects it will study as part of an upcoming environmental assessment of its efforts to develop methods for capture or store carbon dioxide (CO2) -- an assessment that could set precedents for environmental requirements governing research and other projects to combat or minimize global warming. The DOE scoping plan of its upcoming environmental review is just one of a number of efforts by federal and state regulators to confront the...

LAND MANAGERS, ACTIVISTS WORRY LONGVIEW OFFSETS ARE BAD PRECEDENT

Federal land managers at the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service, along with environmentalists, say a clean air permit for the West Virginia-based Longview power plant may set a terrible precedent by giving plants "paper" offsets that do not guarantee any reduced sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution. A Forest Service source says the Longview permit marks the first time land managers agreed that such paper offsets would be permissible, rather than real offsets that guarantee reductions. Because Longview, a...

INDUSTRY RAISES DATA QUALITY CONCERNS OVER 'RESIDUAL RISK' STANDARD

Industry groups are questioning the scientific analyses EPA used in setting its first "residual risk" air toxics standard, saying the agency may have violated data guidelines under the Information Quality Act. The pending rule addresses air emissions from coke oven batteries, and could set a precedent for the way EPA develops similar requirements for a host of major industries. At the same time, state air officials are raising separate concerns that the rule is not stringent enough and sets a...

INDUSTRY PUSHES EPA TO EXEMPT CATTLE FEEDLOTS FROM AIR PERMIT RULES

Industry groups are urging EPA to issue guidance that would designate air pollution from cattle feedlots as "fugitive" emissions, a move that could exempt the industry from federal permit requirements and offer a shield from citizen lawsuits, sources say. While the agency's response to the suggestion remains unclear, EPA has already explored the prospect of temporary enforcement waivers for other types of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), mainly egg farms, dairies and swine facilities. Business groups argue that cattle feedlots...

PENNSYLVANIA TO BECOME FIRST STATE TO INCLUDE FOSSIL FUEL IN RPS

The Pennsylvania legislature is poised to pass the nation's first renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that would include electricity generated by fossil fuels including coal waste. Gov. Edward Rendell (D) heartily supports using coal waste as a fuel and is unlikely to sign such a measure unless the fuel is included, sources say. Despite the controversy over the move, the only outstanding question appears to be whether coal waste would be considered a "renewable" energy source or if it would be...

OFFSHORE WIND OPPONENTS HOPE WARNER KEEPS TRYING TO BLOCK PROJECT

Sen. John Warner (R-VA) was forced to drop a controversial amendment to the defense authorization bill earlier this month that would have banned offshore wind projects pending further congressional action on the issue, but opponents of Cape Wind, the first and largest planned offshore wind farm in the nation, say the issue is far from dead. A long-expected draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed 130-turbine Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound off the Massachusetts coast is being delayed...

DOE FACES TOUGH QUESTIONS ON ADDING CHP TO GREENHOUSE REGISTRY

Department of Energy (DOE) officials plan to offer recognition for combined heat and power (CHP) systems in revisions to proposed greenhouse gas reporting guidelines, giving manufacturing industries an incentive to use energy-efficient systems that produce heat and energy at the same time. But sources following the issue say the department will face complicated questions over how to account for emissions reductions that stem from the use of CHP. DOE is revising guidelines proposed last year for the voluntary reporting of...

EPA DENIES CO2 AUTHORITY TO COURT AS AIR CHIEF HINTS AT FUTURE CONTROLS

At the same time that EPA air chief Jeffrey Holmstead created a furor by suggesting that mandatory climate change regulations are possible in the future, EPA is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit to deny a request by state attorneys general and environmental groups to force the agency to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as part of its statutory duty under the Clean Air Act. The Oct. 12 legal brief, filed by the Department of...

FIRST-TIME SHIPPING GREENHOUSE INDEX PROCEEDS AFTER DISPUTE TABLED

International negotiators have tabled a dispute over pending climate change guidelines for ships, allowing officials to continue developing a first-time procedure for calculating greenhouse gas emissions from ocean-going vessels. An environmental committee within the International Maritime Organization (IMO) met in London Oct. 11-15 to consider issues that included a pending draft of an "indexing scheme" for maritime greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to the meeting, EPA and other U.S. officials had raised concerns about a possible move among developing countries to...

ILLINOIS DECISION NOT TO BACK STATE EMISSION RULES OUTRAGES ACTIVISTS

Environmentalists say they are shocked and angered by an Illinois EPA (IEPA) report concluding it would be "irresponsible" to move forward with state-specific requirements for electric utilities to reduce emissions, particularly because top state officials have long criticized EPA's approach to regulating these emissions as far too weak. The three-year study, released Sept. 30, was widely expected to recommend stricter power plant rules, positioning Illinois to become the first Midwestern, coal-producing state to set utility emission standards that went beyond...

UTILITIES CITE FINANCIAL, OTHER OBSTACLES TO COMPLIANCE WITH CAIR

Officials with large investor-owned utilities that produce coal-fired power are urging EPA to delay by at least two years the initial 2010 deadline to reduce interstate air emissions, claiming that high costs, and the demands of retrofit technology, will prevent utilities from getting the job done in time. One utility official claims it will cost Southern Company alone at least $5 billion over the next 10 years to retrofit existing coal plants and, using that estimate, it could cost the...

CALL FOR ADMINISTRATIVE DATA QUALITY REFORMS SPARKS OPPOSITION

A former EPA attorney is suggesting that the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) require federal agencies to reference the Information Quality Act (IQA) in rulemaking preambles, effectively paving the way for certain data-based disputes to be challenged in federal court. The recommendation is already prompting protests from environmentalists. Gerald Yamada, who served in EPA's general counsel's office for 13 years and was acting head of the office for several periods, wrote in an Oct. 1 opinion letter...

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