Air

Officials with large investor-owned utilities that produce coal-fired power are urging EPA to delay by at least two years the initial 2010 deadline to reduce interstate air emissions, claiming that high costs, and the demands of retrofit technology, will prevent utilities from getting the job done in time. One utility official claims it will cost Southern Company alone at least $5 billion over the next 10 years to retrofit existing coal plants and, using that estimate, it could cost the entire industry over $15 billion.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has outlined the potential environmental effects it will study as part of an upcoming environmental assessment of its efforts to develop methods for capture or store carbon dioxide (CO2) -- an assessment that could set precedents for environmental requirements governing research and other projects to combat or minimize global warming.

At the same time that EPA air chief Jeffrey Holmstead created a furor by suggesting that mandatory climate change regulations are possible in the future, EPA is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit to deny a request by state attorneys general and environmental groups to force the agency to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as part of its statutory duty under the Clean Air Act.

Sen. John Warner (R-VA) was forced to drop a controversial amendment to the defense authorization bill earlier this month that would have banned offshore wind projects pending further congressional action on the issue, but opponents of Cape Wind, the first and largest planned offshore wind farm in the nation, say the issue is far from dead.