Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘natural resources defense council’

Texas Tops List of States at Risk From Toxic Coal Ash Waste

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

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, discusses a bill that would monitor coal waste at a press conference at the Capitol on Thursday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Paul Chouy at The Daily Texan

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, discusses a bill that would monitor coal waste at a press conference at the Capitol on Thursday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Paul Chouy at The Daily Texan

A while back we held a press conference to highlight the scale of Texas’ coal combustion waste problem. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently released a report which found that Texas is the worst state in the nation in terms of toxic coal-ash waste that will result from proposed dirty coal-fired power plants.  I could tell you all about it, or let the media that picked up the story speak for themselves.  Today I am le tired and pick door number two.

So here it is, all the news that’s fit to link:

Lawmakers search for cleaner, safer ways to deal with excess coal waste,” by Matt Stephens with The Daily Texan

Environmental agency says Texas leads nation in production of coal ash waste,” by Randy Loftis at the Dallas Morning News

You can also watch a video of the press conference, courtesy of the House Archived Broadcasts.  Look for the link at 3/12/09 titled “Press Conference – Coal Combustion Waste – Sponsored by Rep. Rodriguez.” Check it out to hear Texas State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) discuss his bill, HB 1450, which would improve the regulation of coal combustion waste, and to hear Travis Brown, president of Neighbors for Neighbors, speak about the danger coal combustion waste represents to human and environmental health.

NRDC’s new coal combustion waste site, launched along with the report, is also worth checking out.  If you find the dropdown to see Texas’ state specific profile, you can find a map of existing and proposed coal plants in Texas as well as a statistical breakdown of the coal waste and toxic metals from existing and proposed plants.  Scary stuff.

And of course, if you really, really want it… you can read the press release after the jump.

(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 »