There was a lot of anticipation this summer about the scope of the energy bill coming out of the U.S. Senate. Would the Senate try and tackle climate change? Would it develop a national renewable portfolio standard?
The bill was released yesterday and the answer was "no" on both accounts.
The White House kept a glimmer of hope that
President Obama is convening a meeting tomorrow to explore all possible alternatives that would lead to passage of a climate bill before the midterm elections. The most likely alternative that will receive consideration is a much narrower cap that would only be applied to utilities. Under this approach, the provisions covering large industrial emitters and
In a very close vote 53-47, the U.S. Senate defeated a resolution designed to block U.S. EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases utilizing its existing authority under the Clean Air Act. Six Democrats supported the Republican effort to block EPA. Republicans needed 51 votes to effectively block or delay EPA’s efforts. Now everyone is offering their opinions as
As reported in the New York Times, Senator Murkowski announced that the Senate will vote June 10th on her resolution to block EPA from implementing climate change regulation under the Clean Air Act. The proposal was announced this past December and the vote follows finalization of EPA regulations that will initiate regulation of
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Greenhouse Gas Regulation Commences January 2, 2011 without Legislation
On May 13, 2010, EPA finalized its regulatory approach for control greenhouse gases (GHGs) from large stationary sources. As discussed in prior posts, the statutory thresholds for triggering EPA’s New Source Review program (NSR) are 100/250 tons per year of a regulated Clean Air Act pollutant.
As
Last week, two distinct paths clearly emerged for addressing climate change. The first, legislation that would put in place a market mechanism to reduce emission over time- the Kerry-Lieberman Bill. The second, EPA’s use of its existing regulatory authority under the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse (GHGs) emissions (EPA Tailoring Rule)
EPA
On April 23, 2010 EPA is finalized revisions to the Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program (RRP) that went final on April 22, 2008.
Under the revisions EPA eliminates the “opt-out” provision that currently exempts a renovation firm from the training and work practice
requirements if the firm obtains certification from the owner that no child under age
Last week, Senator Voinovich drew attention and criticism for proposing a significant expansion of the preemption language in the forthcoming bi-partisan climate bill to be introduced by Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Graham. Failure to carefully consider the preemption language and possible additional limits on other regulatory authority would be short-sighted.
One of the main reasons for Congress
On October 30, 2009 U.S. EPA finalized the first mandatory rule related to climate change- Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Mandatory Reporting Rule. Beginning this year 31 industries must track and report their emissions. Overall, the original GHG mandatory reporting rule required reporting for an estimated 85 percent of the total GHG emissions in the U.S.
Only a
The President called together key Senators and members of his cabinet in hopes of re-invigorating stalled discussions in the Senate over climate change legislation. This summer the House of Representatives passed a bill that would require greenhouse gas reductions of 17 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels. Since legislative debate moved to the Senate, a viable