Jun

30

EPA Grants California GHG Waiver

Filed Under Clean Air Act, Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord, Western Climate Initiative | Comments Off

EPA is granting California’s waiver request enabling the state to enforce its greenhouse gas emissions standards for new motor vehicles, beginning with the current model year. Using the law and science as its guide, EPA has taken this action to tackle air pollution and protect human health.

“This decision puts the law and science first. After review of the scientific findings, and another comprehensive round of public engagement, I have decided this is the appropriate course under the law,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “This waiver is consistent with the Clean Air Act as it’s been used for the last 40 years and supports the prerogatives of the 13 states and the District of Columbia who have Read more

Feb

22

EPA could be coal industry’s nightmare come true

Filed Under Clean Air Act, EPA | Comments Off

Time Magazine has a nice piece talking about the possibility of the EPA regulating carbon in the US and how it scares the hell out of the coal industry.

On Feb. 17, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson announced that the agency would reconsider a Bush Administration decision not to regulate CO2 emissions from new coal power plants. The next day, she backed up that statement by telling the New York Times she was considering acting on an April 2007 Supreme Court decision that empowers the EPA to regulate CO2 as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. If the EPA exercises that authority as expected — a process that would likely play out over months — it could potentially put in place one of the farthest-reaching regulations in U.S. history, affecting the way we use electricity, the way we drive and more.