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.

Senators Cite Bipartisan Consensus On Utility Bill To Replace EPA's CAIR

Correction Appended Senators are touting a bipartisan consensus on just-introduced legislation to establish a power plant cap-and-trade plan to cut emissions of three conventional pollutants as a replacement for EPA's remanded clean air interstate rule (CAIR), but key Republican senators are warning of early concerns with the bill's trading program. Proponents of the bill introduced Feb. 4, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 2010, also downplay the bill's lack of carbon dioxide (CO2) limits and say it does not mean...

Ruling Overturns Ohio 'Minor' NSR Plan Activists Criticized As State Model

A federal district judge has sided with environmentalists in their long-running lawsuit to overturn controversial exemptions Ohio allowed to small emission sources subject to the state's "minor" new source review (NSR) permit program, rejecting the program that critics warned was too lax and could serve as a model for other states to adopt. In a Feb. 2 ruling , Judge Mark Abel found that Ohio EPA violated the Clean Air Act by enforcing an NSR exemption from best available technology...

Low-Emissions Vehicle Guidance Coming

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has cleared the way for EPA to soon issue fuel-efficiency guidelines on vehicles eligible for use by the federal government, as a way to reduce the government's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While the details of the guidance -- or the possible revisions sought by OMB -- are not yet available, the document is likely to be controversial. Some senior members of Congress have already been grumbling that the upcoming EPA guidance...

Final RFS Boosts Biofuels' GHG Benefits, Sparking Debate Over Science

EPA's just-issued final renewable fuel standard (RFS) boosts the greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits of many types of biofuels compared to EPA's earlier proposed RFS, a move that allows biofuels such as corn ethanol and soy biodiesel to qualify for credit under the standard but that is sparking debate over the scientific validity of the changes. The agency in its final rule signed Feb. 3 says new science and data compelled EPA to change the way it calculates biofuels' GHG emissions...

Court To Rule On Industry Suit Over Key Test Of EPA Air Permit Policy

A key federal appeals court will soon issue a ruling on an industry lawsuit arguing that EPA unlawfully used a routine applicability determination (AD) under an air permit program to implement a major policy change, with industry saying a win would seriously undermine EPA's ability to use ADs for a similar goal in the future. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will decide the case, American Petroleum Institute (API), et al. v. EPA , based...

White House Clears EPA RFS

The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) has completed its review of EPA's renewable fuels standard (RFS), clearing the way for the agency to soon issue the final rule on new requirements to boost the amount of renewable fuel to be blended into the nation’s fuel supply. OMB completed its review Feb. 1, according to the White House's Web site, which also shows the office received the final rule Dec. 22. Environmentalists, industry and others are waiting to...

Murkowski: No Deadline For Blocking GHG Rule

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told reporters Feb. 2 that she remains committed to moving a resolution aimed at blocking EPA regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs), but says it's not necessary to do so before the expected issuance of the agency's first Clean Air Act climate rules early next month. Murkowski's assertion comes amid speculation about whether she has the votes to move the resolution. The senator says she is continuing her efforts to woo moderate Democrats on the issue, arguing...

Protesting PM10 Inaction

Environmentalists are threatening to sue EPA over what they say is the agency's failure to address large particulate matter (PM10) pollution in five Western states, demanding that EPA take action to either approve state plans to cut PM10 emissions or develop a federal plan to achieve the cuts. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) Feb. 1 sent the agency a notice of intent to sue over EPA's alleged failure to make determinations on whether areas in five Western states are...

EPA Air Advisers Fail To Reach Broad Consensus On BACT For GHGs

An EPA advisory group has failed to reach broad consensus on a number of key issues for how air regulators should apply best available control technology (BACT) for the purpose of first-time greenhouse gas (GHG) permit limits, referring several contentious issues back to EPA, including whether fuel switching is BACT. Nevertheless, the climate change work group of EPA's Clean Air Act Advisory Committee (CAAAC) Feb. 2 reached some agreement on other permitting issues, concluding that the agency's approach to applying...

Activists See OMB Interference In EPA Cuts To NO2 Highway Air Monitors

Environmentalists are claiming White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) officials pushed EPA to scale back its first-time requirements for installing roadway monitors in its recently issued nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air standard, reviving long-running activist criticisms of OMB interference aimed at weakening EPA rules. The activist group OMB Watch Jan. 28 circulated an e-mail exchange between EPA and officials in OMB's Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) that they say "suggests a certain level of coercion" by OIRA...

Air Toxics In Texas

Texas' environmental agency has released a report finding that emissions from some oil and gas production in the state exceed Texas' limits for short and long-term exposure to air toxics and other pollutants, which could aid activists' bid for strict Clean Air Act rules for the facilities. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued a report Jan. 27 compiling data from monitoring sites in the Barnett Shale, the area leading the United States in the fast-growing gas production method...

EPA Crafting Backstop Rule To Ensure States Limit GHGs In Permits

EPA is developing a rule to address broad concerns among states that their laws and regulations may be inadequate to implement the agency's pending greenhouse gas (GHG) "tailoring" permit proposal, which would give EPA authority to take over permitting in states that fail to fix their laws and rules to implement the permit regulation. States are warning that they could need up to two years to pass laws or rules changing their definition of "regulated" pollutants and other provisions in...

EPA Review Of Gas Industry Air Rules May Spur Stricter Emission Controls

EPA is agreeing to review federal air standards for natural gas production, storage and transmission amid ongoing state efforts to evaluate potential adverse air quality and public health impacts from the industry, creating the possibility that the reviews could lead to stricter controls to reduce the industry's emissions. In a proposed consent decree last month, EPA said it would issue by Jan. 31, 2011, a proposal to either revise or maintain its national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP)...

Engine Makers' Request May Delay E15

Engine manufacturers and their allies are asking EPA to conduct a new rulemaking before raising the federal limit on ethanol in gasoline by partially granting a request by the biofuels industry to allow 15 percent ethanol (E15) in newer model vehicles. The engine makers’ request could significantly slow the agency’s approval for expanded use of ethanol. In a Jan. 20 letter to EPA transportation chief Margo Oge, the engine groups assert that EPA lacks the proper authority to approve a...

Activists' Push For EPA To Expand CAIR To Western States Sparks Fears

Environmentalists are urging EPA to expand to Western states its pending replacement for the clean air interstate rule (CAIR) cap-and-trade plan to cut air pollution and include oil and gas production in the new rule, prompting fears by states and others that an expansion would be problematic and undermine the program's effectiveness. EPA is developing a new rule to replace CAIR, a trading program to cut nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from power plants in 28 Eastern...

EPA Brief Highlights Legal Hurdles For CAIR Replacement NOx Allocations

EPA is opposing an industry lawsuit asking a federal court to revoke "fuel factors" that the agency uses to distribute emission allowances for nitrogen oxides (NOx) under its remanded clean air interstate rule (CAIR), with the suit highlighting a number of legal hurdles EPA faces in crafting a replacement for CAIR coming later this year. In a reply brief filed Jan. 27 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, EPA rejects the Florida Power &...

Critics Fault CO2 Lifecycle Problems With States' Low-Carbon Fuel Rules

A low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) adopted in California and being developed by Northeast states could have the unintended consequence of increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions because they fail to fully consider the impacts that would occur when shipping fuels from overseas, according to critics of the standard. The critics argue that the states' LCFS efforts are biased against Canadian crude from oil sands because the standards penalize the carbon-intensive extraction process without taking into account additional CO2 emissions generated through...

Driving Up Enforcement Dollars

EPA's just-announced settlement with Westar Energy to spend $500 million on air pollution controls could provide a boost for the agency's fiscal year 2010 enforcement figures, after its FY09 numbers showed a roughly $6.4 billion drop in so-called injunctive relief compared to the year before. In a Jan. 25 press release EPA said that Westar Energy will pay the money to install air pollution controls at a Kansas power plant that are expected to cut emissions of sulfur dioxide and...

EPA Defends Lead NAAQS' Risk Method From 'Scattershot' Industry Suit

EPA is rejecting industry's "scattershot" arguments in a lawsuit challenging the agency's recently tightened lead air standard, defending against industry's claims that the standard is scientifically unsound because it uses a controversial new IQ-based risk model to set the standard, which critics argue is not allowed under the Clean Air Act. Industry is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the Bush EPA's November 2008 strict national ambient air quality standard for lead...

Increasing The Value of (Statistical) Life

EPA's air office has quietly increased the monetary value of a statistical life (VSL), one of the much-disputed statistics the agency uses to calculate the benefits of regulatory actions. During the Bush administration, the value of the VSL -- which monetizes the value of reduced mortality risks and credits an EPA rule with the total value of a prevented death -- had been a sharp point of contention, when critics charged that administration officials had lowered the VSL in a...

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