ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL BLOGS

Clean Air Act Permitting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Final Rules

Clean Air Act Permitting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Final Rules

FACT SHEET

ACTION

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On December 23, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a series of

rules that put the necessary regulatory framework in place to ensure that 1) industrial

facilities can get Clean Air Act permits covering their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

when needed and 2) facilities emitting GHGs at levels below those established in the

Tailoring Rule do not need to obtain federal Clean Air Act permits.

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On January 2, 2011, EPA’s GHG emissions standards for light-duty vehicles take effect. On

that date, permits issued under the Clean Air Act permitting programs for large stationary

sources – the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and the Title V Operating Permit

Programs – must begin to address GHGs.

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Last April, EPA issued the tailoring rule to ensure that only the largest sources of GHGs,

those responsible for 70 percent of the GHG pollution from stationary sources, would require

air permits.

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EPA has been working with state local agencies since that time to make sure that:

o

All permitting agencies have the authority to permit GHGs or are on the path to

have such authority, with EPA serving as the permitting authority in the interim,

and

o

Only those sources identified in the tailoring rule—the largest emitters of GHGsare

required to obtain permits.

 

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The rules signed today address these critical permitting program components and ensure that

new and expanding facilities in all states can seek permits for greenhouse gas emissions.

Go to http://www.ercweb.com/resources/viewtip.aspx?id=7657 to access the complete EPA Fact Sheet.

 

Did New York snow crews sabotage clean-up?

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is investigating whether the real problem during this week's blizzard wasn't snow, but sabotage by the crews meant to be cleaning it up.

With the Big Apple still reeling from officially the sixth biggest snow storm in its history, City Council member Dan Halloran says sanitation workers told him their department deliberately worked slowly in revenge for budget cuts.

In his bombshell revelations, Halloran told CNN on Friday that three municipal workers told him after Monday's blizzard that supervisors instructed them to take it easy in the midst of the crisis.

via www.breitbart.com

Sounds like Europe.

Mayor Bloomberg admits that failing to tackle blizzard was 'character building' - NYPOST.com

The Blizzard of 2010 may have forever dented Mayor Bloomberg's popularity.

The mayor admitted today that the botched snow removal effort this week was a "character building" experience for him.

"This year is not ending the way I would have preferred, but it's still been a good year," he said this morning on his radio show. "Nobody has a career that goes straight up."

via www.nypost.com

Well, he better enjoy his character-building in retirement.

Daily Star: Simply The Best 7 Days A Week :: News :: Winter may be coldest in 1000 years

BRITAIN’S winter is the coldest since 1683 and close to being the chilliest in nearly 1,000 years.

Latest figures reveal that the average temperature since December 1 has been a perishing -1C.

That makes it the second coldest since records began in 1659.

via www.dailystar.co.uk

Telegraph Blogs

Here’s something you’ll never hear from the Met Office. Joe Bastardi, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, has laid into the the global warming lobby for making absurd claims, especially their assertion that the cold weather is caused by global warming.

via blogs.telegraph.co.uk

Newark Mayor uses Twitter to help manage snow emergency - Yahoo! News

While Mayor Michael Bloomberg faces criticism over New York City's slow response to the northeast blizzard, a nearby big-city mayor is getting praise for his unique, hands-on response to the snow emergency. The Village Voice has already proclaimed Newark Mayor Cory Booker as the "Hero of the Snowpocalypse."

For the past two days, Booker has been responding non-stop to residents' concerns over Twitter. Booker's Twitter feed has offered a fascinating window into how a public official can harness social media to handle a city crisis.

via news.yahoo.com

Coal-based power projects advance in Midwest US | International Mining

Two coal-based power plant projects last week passed significant milestones. The Indiana Finance Authority gave the green light to a proposed $2.65 billion coal gasification project in Rockport, Indiana, that is expected to supply 17% of the total gas used by residential and commercial customers in the state. Kansas also moved ahead on a permit from Sunflower Electric Power to build a $2.8 billion coal-based power plant in the southwest of the state. The utility company has been issued an air quality permit that does not require compliance with federal greenhouse gas regulations expected to take effect in January.

The project launched by Indiana Gasification, a subsidiary of Leucadia National Corp, will create 1,000 construction jobs beginning in early 2012, 200 full-time jobs at the plant site and 300 mining jobs. Project managers say 90% of carbon dioxide emissions will be captured for use in enhanced oil recovery and most all conventional pollutants will be removed from plant emissions. “This project does all that and it was worth all the work of the four years it took to get there,” said Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. “We’re out to become a leader in the high-tech field of cleaner energy.”

via www.im-mining.com

FoxBusiness.com - Italy to Ban Plastic Bags Starting Jan. 1

Italy, one of the top users of plastic shopping bags in Europe, is banning them starting January 1, with retailers warning of chaos and many stores braced for the switch.

Italian critics say polyethylene bags use too much oil to produce, take too long to break down, clog drains and easily spread to become eye sores and environmental hazards.

Italians use about 20 billion bags a year -- more than 330 per person -- or about one-fifth of the total used in Europe, according to Italian environmentalist lobby Legambiente.

via www.foxbusiness.com

New controversy over hexavalent chromium

A new study by a nonprofit organization called the “Environmental Working Group” has studied the tap water of 35 US cities and found that 31 of the cities had tap water with detectable levels of hexavalent chromium.  Hexavalent chromium is a suspected carcinogen, so this has set off alarm bells at the Group and in the environmental community.

            The number of cities with health-threatening levels of the chemical in water supplies declines to 25 when one uses the recently-adopted California standard 0.06 parts per billion.  Moreover, the American Chemical Council is contending that the California standard is ridiculously strict.

            For one thing, according to the Council, some water that is supplied to consumers has naturally-occurring hexavalent chromium at higher levels than the new California standard.  For another thing, claims the Council, present technology cannot even measure down to levels of 0.06 PPB (although as noted above the Environmental Working Group claims to have done this and, by so doing, to have reduced the number of “problem” water suppliers from 21 to 25).

            Federal EPA has not yet weighed into this debate.  At present, EPA merely regulates the amount of total chromium that can be in drinking water.  Total chromium measures not only the suspect hexavalent chromium but also the beneficial chemical trivalent chromium (which helps the body metabolize glucose).  EPA has indicated that the agency will study the matter and be ready with a conclusion next year regarding whether specifically to regulate hexavalent chromium and, if so, what level of the chemical to allow in drinking water.

 

As originally published in my column for Valley News Group of papers serving San Fernando Valley, California

FROM POLITICO-EPA AND INDSUTRY BATTLE IN FULL SWING

EPA to double down on climate By: Robin Bravender December 21, 2010 07:18 PM EST

The Obama administration is expected to roll out a major greenhouse gas policy for power plants and refineries as soon as Wednesday, signaling it won’t back off its push to fight climate change in the face of mounting opposition on Capitol Hill. The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to a schedule for setting greenhouse gas emission limits, known as “performance standards,” for the nation’s two biggest carbon-emitting industries, POLITICO has learned. Under the schedule agreed to by EPA, states and environmental groups, the agency will issue a draft greenhouse gas performance standard for power plants by July 2011 and a final rule by May 2012. The agreement – which comes after states and environmentalists challenged the George W. Bush administration’s failure to set the standards – requires EPA to issue a draft limit for refineries by Dec. 2011 and a final rule by Nov. 2012. FROM http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=0B6F4294-B06E-28EB-6F698FE46275EDF2