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.

Deflecting Post-2016 GHG Vehicle Questions

EPA and the Department of Transportation (DOT) have just announced their first-time greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for model year 2012-2016 light-duty vehicles, but Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is deflecting questions on the Obama administration's plans for post-2016 vehicles. “First of all, let me just say that our people have been working 24/7 to get this rule out, and anything post-2016 will come after people get a good week of sleep and a good opportunity to clear their heads,” LaHood said...

EPA Rejects Texas Air Permits

EPA has issued a disapproval of Texas' contentious “qualified facilities” air permit program that the state operated without federal backing for several years, saying that it does not satisfy key Clean Air Act requirements including requirements for public review of the program. In a March 31 statement, EPA said its has completed its “careful review” of the program and is issuing a final disapproval. The agency in September issued a Federal Register notice proposing to disapprove the qualified facilities program,...

Colorado Advances Natural Gas Bill

The Colorado Senate March 30 approved a bill requiring Denver-area utilities to replace coal-fired power plants with natural gas in order to help the state meet EPA air pollution standards, a move that proponents of the bill have said could set a precedent for other states aiming to attain federal visibility, ozone and possible greenhouse gas (GHG) limits. The Senate approved H 1365 by a voice vote and will conduct a third reading of the bill before delivering it to...

EPA Proposal To Bolster MACT 'Hammer' Authority Draws Activist Praise

Environmentalists are praising EPA's just-issued proposal to amend the permitting process for a "hammer" provision of the Clean Air Act requiring case-by-case maximum achievable control technology (MACT) limits in the absence of an agency sector-based MACT, saying it clarifies and reinforces states' duty to comply with the hammer. EPA in a March 30 Federal Register notice outlines its legal justification for requiring case-by-case MACTs at facilities in the event a federal court vacates an EPA sector-based MACT. Environmentalists say the...

Cement Industry Seeks OMB 'Risk-Risk' Study To Soften EPA's Air Rule

The Portland cement industry is calling on White House regulatory reviewers to conduct a "risk-risk" analysis of EPA's pending air toxics rule for the sector to consider what the industry says is expected "leakage" of emissions that will result as companies move their operations to China and other developing countries to avoid costly domestic controls. The industry is hopeful that White House regulatory chief Cass Sunstein will agree to their request as he has previously endorsed the idea of conducting...

Ending NSR 'Aggregation' Rule

EPA is formally proposing to revoke an 11th-hour Bush EPA new source review (NSR) “aggregation” rule that changed the way facilities combine projects to determine whether they trigger NSR, with the agency saying the rule is “less effective” than past policy. The agency issued a March 30 proposed rule responding to a Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) request for reconsideration of the NSR aggregation policy, which the Bush EPA issued Jan. 15, 2009, just days before the administration left office...

(Another) Stay For 'Fugitive' NSR

EPA is slated to issue a final rule extending a stay until October 2011 of a controversial Bush-era new source review (NSR) exemption that eased requirements for which facilities must count “fugitive” emissions -- or those that do not come from a vent or stack -- in permit limits. The agency will publish in the March 31 Federal Register a final rule extending the stay for 18 months, until Oct. 3, 2011. The decision comes after EPA in September issued...

Lead Risks In The Air

EPA could soon take an initial step toward regulating lead emissions from general aviation aircraft after the White House completed its review of the agency's second response to activists' request for an endangerment finding on the risks that the emissions pose to human health. According to the White House Office of Management & Budget's (OMB) Web site, OMB March 29 finished its review of EPA's pre-rule on lead aircraft emissions. The pre-rule will respond to a 2006 Friends of the...

EPA Or FAA?

An upcoming House-Senate conference committee is poised to decide whether to require a third-party review that would recommend if EPA or the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) should take sole responsibility for setting civil aircraft engine emissions and noise standards. The conference committee is poised to begin after the Senate March 22 passed its FAA reauthorization bill, H.R. 1586, by a 93-0 vote. The lower chamber last year passed its version of the bill that included an identical section calling for...

Despite Permit Delays, EPA Urges States To Use Discretion To Cut GHGs

EPA in a just-issued notice is following through on its vow to delay first-time federal greenhouse gas (GHG) permit requirements until 2011, but is urging states to use their existing powers to immediately begin considering mandatory efficiency measures in facilities' Clean Air Act permits to cut GHGs along with conventional air pollutants. Although EPA does not intend to impose GHG limits in air permits until Jan. 2, 2011, states with delegated air act permitting authority "are already in a position...

Setting Sail For Ship Pollution Cuts

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has given its formal approval to EPA’s plan to establish emission control areas (ECA) requiring ships traveling in waters off North American coasts to meet stringent standards to reduce their emissions. The IMO, a London-based organization responsible for coordinating international shipping treaties, March 26 signed off on the United States’ March 2009 proposal to designate waters off the North American coasts as an ECA. The IMO adopted the proposal “in the fastest possible timetable,” according...

States Warn EPA E15 Approval Would Require Mitigation Of New Pollution

States are warning EPA that its apparent impending approval of an industry request to raise the ethanol limit in gasoline to 15 percent (E15) from the current 10 percent cap will impose new burdens on states, which by law must mitigate increased air pollution that they believe the higher ethanol blend levels will cause. States say the 2007 energy law imposes anti-backsliding measures requiring mitigation of any air pollution increase caused by a new renewable fuel allowed into the marketplace...

Colorado Gas Bill Touted As Model For States To Meet EPA Air Rules

Proponents of a bill in Colorado to push Denver-area utilities to replace coal-powered plants with natural gas in order to cut air pollution and help the state meet new EPA air standards say the measure is a model for other states that could assist them in attaining federal visibility, ozone and possible greenhouse gas (GHG) limits. Natural gas is a viable alternative to coal for energy in states such as Colorado due to a reliable supply and decreased price volatility,...

Texas Doubts On EPA Ozone Science May Hint At Suit Over Strict NAAQS

Texas may be laying the groundwork for a lawsuit challenging EPA's proposed tightening of its ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) if the agency issues a final standard within the range of the proposal, observers say, based on Texas environmental officials' recent criticisms of the science underlying EPA's plan. At a Feb. 25 hearing of Texas' House Committee on Environmental Regulation, officials from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) argued that some studies cited by EPA in its...

Moving NSR 'Aggregation' Rule

EPA is poised to propose whether to scrap a controversial Bush-era new source review (NSR) “aggregation” policy that critics say makes it easier for facilities to avoid triggering NSR requirements, after the White House completed its review of the proposed rule. The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) March 17 completed its review of EPA's proposed rule on reconsideration of the NSR aggregation rule, according to OMB's Web site. The White House received the proposed rule for review...

Deserted Rock?

Developers of a contested coal-fired power plant in New Mexico appear to have dropped their financial support for the facility, which was stalled from beginning construction because of a dispute about whether the plant should include greenhouse gas (GHG) limits in its air permit. The proposed power plant -- which environmentalists fought to block -- was on hold after EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) remanded an air permit for the facility back to the agency. EPA last fall sought and...

EPA Launches New Ethanol Pump Rule, Clearing Path For E15 Waiver

EPA appears to be paving the way to grant partial approval of an ethanol industry request to lift the federal limit on ethanol in gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent (E15) by announcing plans to develop a pump label to prevent misfueling of vehicles and engines not authorized to use E15 fuel, and to provide manufacturer certification to sell E15. The agency March 18 posted the new labeling and certification rulemaking on its "action initiation" list, saying it "is...

EPA Delay Of GHG Permits Prolongs Uncertainty For New Coal Plants

EPA's decision to delay until 2011 its mandate for first-time greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting requirements at stationary sources is prolonging uncertainty for new coal-fired plants aiming to win final permits before the requirements take effect, because industry fears EPA will aggressively stall issuance of final permits until next year. Still, industry officials are in part welcoming the delay -- announced by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in a recent letter to Democratic senators -- because it allows them to go forward...

Letting Air Quality Go South?

Environmentalists fear that a bipartisan bill to cut mercury and other emissions from utilities could worsen air quality in the South, if the legislation includes an option floated to allow facilities to “average” their emissions and not have to meet the strictest pollution controls at all times. Glen Hooks, Arkansas-based regional director for Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign that opposes new coal-fired power plants, told a March 17 teleconference that it is critical the legislation at issue impose the same...

Court Backs Novel Bid By New Plant Owners To Escape NSR Liability

A federal court in Illinois is backing a novel industry argument allowing new owners of a power plant to escape liability for alleged violations of EPA's new source review (NSR) rules committed by prior owners, finding that because the new owners had only purchased the generating assets of the plant, rather than the corporate entity, they are not liable for alleged violations committed by the prior owner. The ruling also marks a departure from another high-profile district court ruling that...

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