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U.S. EPA released is long awaited replacement rule for the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) which was the controversial cap and trade program for coal-fired utilities. In December of 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled CAIR exceeded EPA’s regulatory authority and ordered the Agency to develop an new proposal.
Originally, the
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
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
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
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
The twists and turns in the saga of regulation greenhouse gases (GHGs) continue. After the State of the Union and release of the President’s budget, there is speculation that President Obama has abandoned Cap & Trade legislation.
Meanwhile, businesses face greater risk as a result of new and impending regulatory action. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued guidance telling companies
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I was giving a speech to a trade association last night regarding Cap and Trade legislation in Congress. The sentiment of most participants in this manufacturing group was that they had dodged a major bullet because passage of a bill looks very unlikely. While that is true, I told the audience don’t lose sight of
A new report regarding fine particulate pollution in the Midwest shows that achieving compliance with federal air quality standards is linked to U.S. EPA’s fix for the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). The Lake Michigan Air Director’s Consortium (LADCO) released its white paper discussing recommendation on addressing fine particulate (p.m. 2.5) pollution in the Midwest. The white paper
The past two days I have been in Houston at the Environmental Markets Association (EMA) fall conference. If you are not familiar with the EMA, it is an organization that supports the use of market-based solutions to environmental issues. The members are largely made up of consultants, traders of environmental credits and project developers.
Many
On September 30th, U.S. EPA announced the release of its proposed rule regulating emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from large industrial sources. The proposal represents a risky move by U.S. EPA in the event climate change legislative efforts fail and U.S. EPA is forced to move forward with the rules. The risk is two fold: 1)