EPA's proposed cap-and-trade rule to cut power plant emissions will in some states unfairly disadvantage power companies that have already invested in pollution controls by awarding more emission credits to those utilities that have not installed controls, creating an inequity that may form the basis for a lawsuit over the rule, industry says.1493 words

State air officials are urging EPA to expand its proposed cap-and-trade sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions rule beyond power plants, pushing the agency to address other pollution sources such as boilers when it finalizes the rule next year, while public health groups are also calling on EPA to tighten the rule's pollution limits.969 words

WHITEFIELD, NH -- A major new work group including EPA, the heads of state environment departments, and key state and local air officials is vowing to pursue stricter federal air rules as a way to improve the state implementation plan (SIP) process because that would reduce the burden on states to pursue strict state-level emission rules.1054 words

EPA's recent decision to reject an effort by Indiana to add regulatory flexibility to its Clean Air Act permitting program highlights a worsening relationship between some key states and the agency, state officials say, after EPA disapproved Texas' "flexible" air permit program and has had disputes with Ohio over key air rules.686 words

WHITEFIELD, NH -- EPA is seeking to downplay the threat of its pending takeover of some Clean Air Act permitting duties for greenhouse gases (GHGs) next year in states that cannot or will not implement its tailoring rule establishing GHG emission limits, saying that one approach could be that the agency splits permitting duties with state agencies similar to an existing agreement to share some permitting work in California.1138 words

WHITEFIELD, NH -- The White House is poised to soon release its guide for policymakers to consider climate change impacts in their decision-making, a move that a top administration official said shows that climate adaptation policies are moving forward even while comprehensive climate change legislation has stalled in Congress.429 words

EPA is prodding the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to conduct more rigorous analyses of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions impact of proposed new nuclear power plant construction, questioning broad statements by the NRC that the carbon profile of nuclear facilities is a "small fraction" of fossil fuel plants.1049 words

In anticipation of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), lawyers with several states and Canadian provinces that plan to launch the regional greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade program in 2012 are considering various legal defenses, according to a source close to the issue. One potential challenge to the WCI is expected to argue that a U.S.-Canadian pact to carry out a cap-and-trade program is banned by federal preemption statutes, according to some legal experts. 582 words

Environmentalists plan to press Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) officials to explore expanding the program into bordering states and potentially including additional sources of emissions, during an upcoming mandated review of the program, according to sources.710 words

Industry is cautiously backing EPA's plan to allow foreign countries to use an "aggregate" compliance approach to prove that their biofuels crops are not replacing forests and are eligible for credit under the agency's renewable fuels standard (RFS), but environmentalists are warning that the approach is flawed and unlawful.1068 words

A coalition of industry and environmental groups is asking the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee to hold an oversight hearing this month on EPA's pending decision on whether to grant a waiver allowing the ethanol content of gasoline to be boosted from the current 10 percent to 15 percent (E15).305 words

A federal district court has ruled that a "clean truck" emissions reduction program at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is legal and rejected industry claims that federal law preempts key provisions of the program, paving the way for ports in New York, Florida, Washington and other states to implement similar programs, sources say.914 words

EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Aug. 30 unveiled a long-awaited proposal to change vehicle fuel economy labels to include plug-in hybrids and electric cars that also seeks to add a first-time letter grade to the label and makes major changes to the rating system for conventional vehicles. The proposal also includes a first-time rating of a vehicle's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.695 words

Several industry groups are strongly criticizing EPA's proposed strict air toxics rules for boilers and incinerators as technologically unachievable and developed using a flawed and legally questionable methodology.1509 words

Industry is criticizing the cost and feasibility of EPA's final emissions rule for stationary internal combustion engines used in oil and gas operations and other sectors, despite key concessions the agency made by withdrawing numeric emission limits on many engines and agreeing to reconsider a related engine emissions rule.863 words

Industry is claiming that EPA used "flawed" data to set its strict maximum achievable control technology (MACT) emissions standard for medical waste incinerators, arguing in a lawsuit over the standard that the agency erred in claiming that at least 12 percent of the industry is already able to meet the new standard.382 words

Industry representatives, scientists and public-health advocates are split over whether the mortality risks associated with particulate matter (PM) are strong enough to support EPA staff's work-in-progress suggestion to Administrator Lisa Jackson to propose a tightening of the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS).1087 words

Environmentalists and public health advocates say that scientific data justify their calls for urging EPA to issue a finding that lead emissions from general aviation endanger public health and welfare, and that under the Clean Air Act EPA cannot consider fuel or cost issues that some critics are raising in their opposition to such a finding.577 words

Industry officials are stepping up opposition over EPA's plans to issue novel distinct secondary national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) to protect against emissions' adverse ecological and other non-health effects, saying the standards would be costly and exacerbate the recession and also be vulnerable to a likely legal challenge.1049 words

EPA is delaying until late October its pending tightening of its ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS), telling a federal court that it is scrapping earlier plans to issue the final standard later this month in order to give the agency more time to review public comments.397 words

The Department of Justice (DOJ), representing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), is urging the Supreme Court to vacate an appellate ruling allowing common law nuisance claims to proceed against numerous utilities for their climate change emissions, citing pending EPA greenhouse gas (GHG) rules that DOJ says will eventually preempt the tort claims.989 words

Environmentalists are preparing to take EPA back to court to force consideration of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions limits at power plants, with some advocates casting the issue as a test of whether the agency is serious in regulating the emissions after the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently cited current and pending GHG rules to dismiss a common law climate change suit against major utilities.986 words

A series of companies, trade associations and states have just petitioned the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review EPA's recently revised national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) strengthening requirements for sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions.630 words

Two environmental groups are seeking to intervene on EPA's behalf in a high-profile lawsuit brought by Texas challenging the agency's disapproval of the state's "flexible" air permitting program. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) filed an Aug. 27 motion to intervene in the case, State of Texas v. EPA, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The motion is available on InsideEPA.com.356 words

Industry groups have pulled their lawsuit over EPA's decision to stay a Bush-era rule allowing coarse particulate matter (PM10) to be a "surrogate" for calculating fine particulate (PM2.5) emissions in air permits, saying the stay at issue has lapsed but readying a new suit for when EPA issues a final rule revoking the surrogacy policy.896 words

The outcome of open gubernatorial races in two dozen states in the November elections will have major implications for states' interactions with EPA including their delegated environmental permitting authority, the stringency of hydraulic fracturing rules, new rules for toxic chemicals and other issues, sources say.1049 words

EPA is preparing a rule to amend its monitoring requirements for fossil fuel power plants, which could address long-running industry claims that certain data-gathering mandates and other provisions are unnecessarily onerous.421 words

EPA's new plan to prevent areas that failed to comply with the agency's revoked 1-hour ozone standard from "backsliding" and weakening pollution controls as they transition to the existing 8-hour ozone standard might leave areas unable to comply with an even stricter ozone standard expected this fall, an environmental legal source says.1037 words

Pulp and paper industry officials are protesting plans by EPA's air program to issue a series of rules for air toxics, criteria pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that will impact the sector, with industry warning the rules overlap with an ongoing data collection request for the sector and overwhelm industry's limited resources.1170 words