Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘EPA’

EPA Freezes Hundreds of Mountain Top Removal Permits

Posted in Coal, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 24, 2009 |

app_mtns2

MOST EXCELLENT news from Dina Cappiello at the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency put hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold Tuesday, saying it wants to evaluate the projects’ impact on streams and wetlands.

The decision by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson targets a controversial practice that allows coal mining companies to dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.

It could delay 150-200 surface coal mines, including mountaintop removal operations, according to the EPA.

Those permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, an agency that has been criticized by environmental groups and has been sued for failing to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of mountaintop removal.

Under the Clean Water Act, companies cannot discharge rock, dirt and other debris into streams unless they can show that it will not cause permanent damage to waterways or the fish and other wildlife that live in them.

Last month, a three-judge appeals panel in Richmond, Va., overturned a lower court’s ruling that would have required the Corps to conduct more extensive reviews. The appeals court decision cleared the way for a backlog of permits that had been delayed until the lawsuit was resolved.

The EPA’s action on Tuesday leaves those permit requests in limbo a little longer.

The EPA said in a statement that it would be actively involved in the review of the long list of permits awaiting approval by the Corps, a signal that the agency under the Obama administration will exercise its oversight. The EPA has the authority to review and veto any permit issued by the Corps under the Clean Water Act, but under the Bush administration it did that rarely, environmentalists say.

The freeze only appears to apply to permits for new mines, and not those already in operation, but just the same — this is truly fantastic news for opponents of coal, the communities living near these mountains, and the environment in general.  Happy Day! Purple Mountains Majesty! Yonder Mountain String Band! Rocky Mountain High! My Home is in the Blue Ridge Mountains!

Read Full Post »

Busy day, a quick news roundup

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 24, 2009 |

Public Citizen will be testifying on nearly three dozen bills today during committee meetings in the House and Senate.  You can watch the action in the House or the Senate by going to the individual committees.  Be sure to tune in to our 10am Press Conference on a coal moratorium by clicking on the link to the Senate Press Room in the video feeds.  Links to the committees we’ll be testifying in all day today:

House Agriculture and Livestock 7:30 am

Senate Business and Commerce  8am  (where most of the solar bills will be heard)

Senate Natural Resources 1pm (including the coal moratorium)

House State Affairs 1pm

Also, if you’re looking for something to do today, come down and show your support for solar energy, the coal moratorium, or any of the other over 30 bills we’ll be testifying on.

For those of you interested in some light reading, I highly reccomend Forecast: The Global Conseqeunces of Climate Change by Stephen Faris.  As an international correspondant, he has seen how the conflict in Darfur began as a conflict over resources, and how the wildfires of Australia have decimated the countryside.  This is just a taste of things to come in a world of disrupted and rapidly changing climate.  The following excerpts are available:

Part 1: The Florida Keys are sinking

Part 1: Can insurance cover the costs of climate change?

Part 1: Who will be able to afford to live on the coast?

Part 2: Pathogens find new habitats

Part 2: Countries could backslide into poverty

Part 2: How disease relates to carbon dioxide

Part 3: Easier passage through the Arctic

Part 3: A scramble for control of the Arctic

Part 3: Opening the Arctic to damage

Also, for anyone who missed it, an article in today’s Washington Post about the EPA qietly delivering to Obama a finding that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant,(like we needed the EPA to tell us that) opening the door for states to regulate emissions standards for cars, permitting of CO2 in power plants, etc.

Read Full Post »

E.P.A. Proposes Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Posted in Consumers, Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 15, 2009 |

picture-14

The first step towards greenhouse gas regulation is underway! On Wednesday, the EPA proposed a rule that industries measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions. The rule would apply to 13,000 facilities nationwide, including manufacturers of chemicals, oil, cement, iron and steal, automobiles, electricity generation, and more! Green Inc reports that this will cover 85%-90% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and not just carbon dioxide emissions. The reports will also include emission amounts of those other things we hate to inhale, such as methane, hydrofluorcarbons, and nitrous oxide.

If put into action, emissions tracking will begin in 2010 for reports to release in 2011. Of course, this program would cost a significant amount of cash—$160 million in the first year and then $127 million each year thereafter.

The reports will allow us to pinpoint exactly how much greenhouse gas is released into the atmosphere, and from where. Though some firms are already participating in voluntary reporting, this kind of industry-wide reports will provide comparative analysis. With such detailed (and presumably accurate) information, we will also be in a better position to make informed decisions about how emission regulation should be formulated.

CNNMoney.com also reported that this information could be important to investors. For those ill-prepared companies, emission regulation could drastically affect their earnings.

Mindy Lubber, the Director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk stated:

The SEC needs to protect investors from the risks companies face from climate change, whether from direct physical impacts or new regulations. Shareholders deserve to know if their portfolio companies are well positioned to manage climate risks or whether they face potential exposure.

Public release of information would be a powerful tool to prepare companies, especially those that are energy-intensive, to be held accountable for their energy emissions. Or a good kick in the pants to take the next step to become ecologically conscious!

Read Full Post »

EPA to Reconsider Standards for Particulate Matter

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 25, 2009 |

A federal appeals court yesterday ordered the EPA to reconsider its standards for pollutants, particularly particulate matter (PM).  Fine particulates, such as soot, have been linked to premature death, asthma, lung cancer, and heart disease.  Furthermore, black carbon soot is a major greenhouse player,  as it absorbs and then radiates massive amounts of heat back to earth when it is in the air.

Reports the New York Times,

pm1Researchers have drawn direct and immediate links between ambient levels of fine particulates and hospital admissions and deaths. By some estimates, tens of thousands of Americans die each year from exposure to airborne particulates.

Among other sources, fine particulates come from diesel engines, power plants, certain industrial processes and even fireplaces. Perhaps one-thirtieth the diameter of a human hair, they can make their way deep into the lungs and in some cases even into the bloodstream.

The EPA last approved PM standards in 2006, when scientists from within the agency itself argued that they were too weak.  Scientists argued that acceptable levels should be lowered to 12 to 14 micrograms per cubic meter of air instead of 15, but (surprise, surprise) then-chief administrator Steven Johnson said that not enough evidence linked PM to detrimental health effects.

The article continues,

The case decided on Tuesday also involved coarse particulates, like dust, and particulate contributions to haze… and it said the E.P.A. must act to reduce the role of particulates in haze.

The court’s ruling may mean that cities notorious for smog– such as Houston – will have to start doing even more to clean up the air.  If pollutant standards are fixed at lower levels that will actually protect public health, these cities may find themselves even closer to non-attainment.

Reports the Houston Chronicle,

For Houston, which is already struggling to meet the EPA’s standards for smog-forming ozone, the designation would mean another deadline, another costly pollution-fighting plan and another threat that federal highway dollars will be withheld if the air doesn’t get cleaner.

“This comes at a really good time because there is concern that the state and federal agencies will take their eye off the ball when it comes to fine particulates,” said Matthew Tejada, executive director of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention. “It will force use to look at this important issue in a timely manner.”

Its pretty nice to have an EPA that is serious about Environmental Protection Again.

Read Full Post »

NRG Coal Plant Hearing Protest

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2009 |

nrgprotest10Last Friday two administrative law judges refused to hear testimony on the impact of carbon dioxide emissions during the permitting process for the NRG Limestone coal-fired power plant. The contested case hearing for NRG’s air quality permit application will be going on all week long, but testimony on the proposed plant’s contribution to global warming will not be allowed.  The judges decided that the TCEQ has adopted clear policies that they would not consider testimony on the issue, even though the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 (EPA vs Massachusetts) that the EPA had the authority to regulate CO2 as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. If built, the plant will emit 7.4 million tons of carbon dioxide every year.

NRG has acknowledged that climate change is a serious environmental issue, and has agreed to offset a portion of its greenhouse gas emissions from the proposed new plant. Yet, lawyers for the company maneuvered to strike all references to CO2 or climate change from the week-long hearing.

nrgprotest4In protest, local environmentalists gathered for an 8:30 a.m. protest Monday Feb 22 outside the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Groups supporting the protest included: Public Citizen, SEED Coalition, Environment Texas, Clean Water Action, Re- Energize Texas, and the Texas Climate Emergency Campaign.

Some of the protest’s participants made the following comments in a press release: (more…)

Read Full Post »

Jackson to Reverse Johnson’s Reversal!

Posted in Coal, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 17, 2009 |

Breaking News!  Remember back in December, when I was having a daily conniption due to various midnight memos and parting shots from the outgoing Bush administration?  Particularly troubling was former EPA administrator Stephen Johnson’s decision to reverse the landmark Bonanza decision.  Well, now Johnson’s reversal has been reversed.

Last November the EPA’s governance board ruled that its regional office had been too hasty in approving  a new coal-fired power plant in Bonanza, Utah because the plant didn’t include carbon dioxide emissions or control techniques in their permit application.  The Sierra Club helped secure this victory by filing a suit against Utah’s Deseret Power Electric Cooperative for not controlling carbon dioxide. Their argument was based upon the landmark Massachusetts v EPA case, which required the agency to regulate CO2 as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.  But then at the last minute, outgoing Stephen Johnson issued a memo reversing this decision and saying that the EPA should ignore CO2 emissions when permitting new coal fired power plants.

But REJOICE, for this morning the Sierra Club reports:

Washington, DC: President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today took the first step toward regulating carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. EPA, under the new leadership of Administrator Lisa Jackson, granted a petition from the Sierra Club and other groups calling for reconsideration of an unlawful, midnight memo issued by former EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson which sought to prohibit controls on global warming pollution from coal plants. EPA announced in a letter to the Sierra Club that it will publish a proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register and seek public comments on the decision in the near future.

Today’s decision is consistent with a previous ruling by the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) in the Bonanza case, which found that there was no valid reason for the Bush administration’s refusal to limit carbon dioxide emissions from new coal-fired power plants. The so-called Johnson Memo sought to unlawfully overturn that decision.

Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Environmental Defense Fund filed suit against the Bush administration to overturn the Johnson Memo. That litigation will now be put on hold as a result of today’s announcement.

Okay, so the EPA hasn’t officially nixed the memo, but they are posting a proposed rulemaking (to nix it) and inviting public comment.  Not too shabby for a Tuesday.

The decision to grant the Sierra Club’s petition says a lot about the EPA’s new direction and leadership under Lisa Jackson.

Said David Bookbinder, Chief Climate Counsel for the Sierra Club in a press release this morning,

Today’s victory is yet another indication that change really has come to Washington, and to EPA in particular. This decision stops the Bush Administration’s final, last-minute effort to saddle President Obama with its do-nothing policy on global warming.

Not only does today’s decision signal a good start for our clean energy future, it also signals a return to policy based on sound science and the rule of law, not deep pocketbooks or politics. Lisa Jackson is making good on her promises to bring science and the rule of law back into the center of the decision making process at EPA.

We live in exciting times.

Read Full Post »

A Clean Energy Economy

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2009 |

This morning President Obama outlined his energy and environmental policy and how it fit into his broader effort to jump start our flailing economy. It was a like taking a breath of fresh air to hear someone actually addressing the environmental problems we face reasonably. Finally!

sexyobamapic

He focused on the problems we face as an opportunity to secure our interests and security, create jobs, and restore America’s moral standing in the world. Outlining his plan in four pragmatic steps, he stated unequivocally that “it will be the policy of [his] administration to reverse our dependence on foreign oil while building a new energy economy that will create millions of jobs.”

1) The plan aims to create 460,000 jobs that will provide the workforce to double the domestic production capacity of energy. Among the projects he listed were 3000 miles of transmission lines to move this energy and to increase the energy efficiency of government buildings and private residences.

2) It aims to revitalize the American Auto Industry by encouraging energy efficient innovation, hoping the new cars will be produced in the US and meet more stringent emissions standards by model year 2011. He ended by saying that by 2020 all cars would get at least 35 mpg, reducing daily oil consumptions by 2 million barrels a day.

3) Referencing the Bush Era EPA’s rejection of California’s and 13 other state’s waiver requests to increase emissions standards, he said “Washington stood in their way”. California had sued the EPA for inaction…it took them two years to review their application. And they rejected it. He wants the EPA to empower rather than stifle states to make these changes. He said that the EPA will review the California waiver rejection and insinuated that it would be approved.

4) He argued that energy independence was important to secure our interests and safety, as hostile governments maintain power over the US because we depend on them for oil. Dwindling resources, hostile regimes, and unhealthy climate problems are the facts that underpin his plan and it is his intention to use these to guide pragmatic problem solving. He emphasized that facts, not ideology would be used to inform the conversation on these issues. (What a concept!) He said the aim ought to be for America to set the standard and call nations like India and China to greater participation in what needs to be a global effort to clean up our environment.

Mirroring the talking points of Public Citizen, Mr. Obama has taken the first sensible step toward a real remedy for this problem. We are happy to see someone is finally thinking in the Whitehouse. How refreshing…

You can read the president’s full remarks here.

Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/energy_and_environment/ to see the Obama/Biden Energy and Environmental Plan.

Read Full Post »

Worry, why do I let myself worry?

Posted in Toxics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 24, 2008 |

Am I “Crazy” for wondrin’ if lead in artificial turf is a bad thing, or have I just been listening to too much Willie Nelson lately?

grassThe Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports:

Some of the most hallowed ground in Texas — the artificial turf on its high school football fields — may also be toxic.

Fields in two of the state’s best-known high school stadiums, including the one made famous by the book and movie “Friday Night Lights,” have lead levels far exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for soil, according to independent tests done within the last month.

The results, obtained by The Associated Press, are the first public indication that Texas’ prized high school stadiums have become part of the national controversy over whether artificial turf contains unsafe levels of lead.

Testing commissioned by the Ector County school district on the turf at Odessa’s Ratliff Stadium found lead at roughly 14 times the EPA standard. Similar testing by the Birdville school district in the Fort Worth suburb of North Richland Hills discovered a lead level nearly 10 times the EPA standard at that district’s stadium, the Fine Arts/Athletics Complex.

While tests indicated that the top part of the turf that players have the most contact with was not terribly toxic, the lower portions of the faux grass had high lead levels.  Water runoff from the Birdville field had lead levels twice the EPA’s drinking water standards, indicating that the lead was leaching into the environment — and perhaps, down the line, into groundwater.

In other states, schools that found lead levels much lower than what has been found in Texas were moved to actually shut down their facilities.  In New Jersey, two fields with lead levels 8 to 10 times the EPA’s soil standard were closed this April.  In California, a playground with levels just twice the EPA standard was closed down until the turf could be removed as hazardous waste.  But here in Texas, despite even higher lead levels, school district officials seem unconcerned.

What is it with Texas?  In a post last week on air toxics near schools, we learned that several Texas schools are surrounded by air pollution even worse than what has caused school closures in other states.  Now we’re finding lead on school premises in concentrations much higher than what has caused other states to take real action, and school district officials aren’t even concerned.  Do we just not believe in the health risks of toxic exposure? Do we not care about our kids?  Or are football and industry just higher priorities than a few children with brain damage and cancer?

Bah, humbug.

Read Full Post »

Senator Barbara Boxer vs. EPA Chief Stephen Johnson: Round 1!

Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on December 23, 2008 |

boxerRemember last week, when I was pissed off at EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson for making up last minute rules to get coal plants permitted?

Today this anger is tempered by my love for Senate Environment and Public Works chair Barbara Boxer, who basically told Johnson he was CHEATING AND MAKING UP FAKE RULES.

Boxer sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking that he make Johnson withdraw his “blatantly illegal memo.”

Spake Mrs. Boxer:

Administrator Johnson issued the document without legal authority under the Clean Air Act, and in spite of the clear opinion of the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board in In re: Deseret Power Electric Cooperative, PSD Appeal No. 07-03 (EAB November 13, 2008). Johnson’s guidance also flies in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA (2007).

BOO-YAH! Sometimes, you gotta love a tattle-tale.  Let’s just hope the Attorney General puts Johnson’s ruling in time-out.

Read Boxer’s full letter here.

Read Full Post »

Putting Off the Problem

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , on October 19, 2008 |

From our contributor Sarah McDonald:

Usually when a problem suddenly becomes much more severe, you expect whatever is being done to solve the issue to also ramp up a notch.  For example, if a tropical storm in the gulf suddenly turned into a category 3 hurricane, hurricane preparedness efforts would increase dramatically over night.  Or if your Aunt Mildred had been sick for some time and her doctor announced that she was in fact seriously ill, you’d hope that her physician would boost treatment.  And if the EPA announced that Houston had a “severe”, not a “moderate” smog problem, you’d think that region would be required to put extra effort into emissions reductions.

Well, you’d be wrong.

Because the EPA did in fact reclassify Houston’s smog problem as “severe”, and rather than ordering the 8-county regional area to intensify their clean up plans, the agency actually extended the deadline to meet federal health standards for ozone.  Governor Rick Perry requested the change from “moderate” to “severe” – skipping over a “serious” ranking entirely. The region was supposed to have met the EPA’s standards by 2010, but now has until 2019 to come into compliance.  What’s worse, this extension is still for the EPA’s 1997 ozone standard, which is no longer considered sufficient to protect public health.  The EPA reduced allowable amounts of ozone from 84 parts per billion to 75 ppb earlier this year (which is still significantly higher than the 60 – 70 ppb range recommended by the EPA’s science advisory committee as the safest measure to protect human health  — but what do those scientists know anyway?)  Houston may not be required to meet the current standard until as late as 2030.

Now, not that I wouldn’t trust Governor Perry and the EPA with my life… (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts