Environmental Responsibility News: EPA

Showing posts with label EPA. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

EPA Greenhouse Gas Rule Upheld

Story first appeared in Reuters.

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld the first-ever U.S. proposed regulations governing heat-trapping greenhouse gases, handing a setback to major industries like coal-burning utilities and a victory to the Obama administration and environmental groups.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled that the EPA's finding that carbon dioxide is a public danger and the decision to set limits for emissions from cars and light trucks were "neither arbitrary nor capricious."

The ruling, which addresses four separate lawsuits, upholds the underpinnings of the Obama administration's push to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, and is a rebuke to a major push by heavy industries including electric utilities, coal miners and states like Texas to block the EPA's path.

In the 82-page ruling, the three-judge panel also found that the EPA's interpretation of the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide regulations is "unambiguously correct."

The court also said it lacked jurisdiction to review the timing and scope of greenhouse gas rules that affect stationary sources like new coal-burning power plants and other large industrial sources.

The ruling clears the way for the EPA to proceed with first-ever rules limiting carbon dioxide emissions from newly built power plants, and to move forward with new vehicle emission standards this summer.

These rulings clear the way for EPA to keep moving forward under the Clean Air Act to limit carbon pollution from motor vehicles, new power plants, and other big industrial sources.

The court in February heard arguments brought by state and industry challenging the EPA's authority to set carbon dioxide limits.

Industry groups said the EPA's regulations will impose burdensome regulations that will spur job cuts.

The EPA's decision to move forward with these regulations is one of the most costly, complex and burdensome regulations facing manufacturers. These regulations will harm their ability to hire, invest and grow.

The EPA's rules could affect 6 million stationary sources including 200,000 manufacturing facilities and 37,000 farms.

The Supreme Court unleashed a fury of regulation and litigation when it ruled in Massachusetts vs. EPA in 2007 that greenhouse gases are an air pollutant that can be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA in 2009 issued an "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gases "reasonably may be anticipated to endanger public health." The agency followed with the "tailpipe rule" in May 2010 setting limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks. The agency is also preparing to issue first-ever standards for carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants, which are likely to spur utilities to opt for cleaner natural-gas burning plants instead.

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

EPA Wants to Revise Stormwater Regulations

Story first appeared in The Seattle Times.
The Presidential administration wants to change the rules applying to stormwater running off logging roads, blunting a landmark court ruling that found the muddy water running into salmon streams and reservoirs should be regulated like industrial pollution.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed notice Wednesday in the Federal Register proposing to revise stormwater regulations to say hundreds of thousands of miles of logging roads on private and public lands nationwide don't need the same kinds of permits that factories must get. Some of the roads are paved, but most are graveled, and some are bare dirt.

Instead, they would be regulated under a less stringent system known as "Best Management Practices," where authorities set up guidelines for the design and maintenance of logging roads to minimize erosion that sends mud into rivers.

The EPA is reviewing how states and tribes handle the issue, and plans to issue the new rules by Sept. 30, when an exemption for the timber industry enacted by Congress expires.

An EPA spokeswoman said the agency was taking advantage of flexibility within the Clean Water Act and would consider a range of approaches that did not require permits.

The move comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to hear the case. The high court asked the Obama administration's top lawyer to suggest whether the question needed higher review. The U.S. Solicitor General's brief is expected in a few days.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2010 that the muddy water running off roads used in industrial logging is the same as any other industrial pollution, requiring a Clean Water Act permit from the EPA. The case was brought by the Northwest Environmental Defense Center in Portland against the Oregon Department of Forestry over logging roads in Tillamook State Forest.

The timber industry said maintaining the status quo through-best management practices as suggested by the EPA was the best course but urged Congress to make permanent the temporary exemption granted the timber industry after the appeals-court ruling.

If allowed to stand, the 9th Circuit approach will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, kill thousands of jobs and invite protracted litigation over permit technicalities without any corresponding environmental benefit. Federal, state, tribal and private resource professionals agree that complicated and costly federal permits will not make our rivers and streams any cleaner.

The executive director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center said industrial permits would provide better protection for salmon habitat and clean drinking water, and that the EPA could award blanket permits similar to those held by the Oregon Department of Transportation for paved roads to makes things less complicated.

EPA ought to provide clarity and certainty through guidance and rule-making, but the substance of the proposal is off-base.

EPA has long recognized that there are some industrial logging activities and logging roads that pollute streams and require (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permits. The EPA will continue advocating that permits are required for industrial-scale activities, while looking for opportunities to be flexible or responsive to concerns about small forest landowners and nonindustrial logging activities.