On August 3rd, the Obama Administration and U.S. EPA released the much-anticipated final Clean Power Plan designed to curtail greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change. The regulations promise to be the most comprehensive, complex and costly regulatory program ever launched without specific authorization from Congress.
How the Plan Works
The final plan calls
On June 29th the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that EPA was required to consider costs of compliance when deciding whether it was "appropriate and necessary" to regulate emission of mercury and other air toxics from power plants. (Michigan v. EPA, U.S., No. 14-46, 6/29/15). The majority decision, written by
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court released their opinion in AEP v. Connecticut in which the Court held that the Clean Air Act ("CAA") and the EPA actions on regulating greenhouse gas emissions displaced any federal common-law right to seek greenhouse gas emission reductions. The suit was filed by Eastern States and non-profit land groups against coal-fired power plants in
Boiler MACT Rules- On December 7th, EPA filed a motion with the Court requesting more time in order to re-propose the Boiler MACT rules and allow for public comment. In EPA’s motion to the Court, EPA sets forth following timetable if its motion is granted to move impending January deadline is moved to April: it will publish
While the political and policy focus is clearly on the Country’s struggling economy, caught within that debate is U.S. policy on climate change. As the economy continued to languish this summer, any hope of a cap and trade bill emerging from Congress died.
The bill was a victim of a Congress that created a Christmas tree of
U.S. EPA has released its CAIR replacement program called the "Transport Rule." In a previous post I discussed EPA’s efforts under the Transport Rule to address the Court’s ruling striking down the CAIR rule. After listening to a presentation by EPA, the structure of the Transport Rule is a little clearer.
The major issue identified by the Court
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
On March 31st, a Federal District Court in Tennessee (6th Circuit) issued the latest decision in relation to litigation stemming from New Source Review (NSR) enforcement actions against electric coal fired utilities. The TVA Bull Run decision is another example of the inconsistent application of the test for determining when projects trigger NSR.
The NSR regulatory program continues to
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
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The Obama Administration announced it would review the revised ozone standard of .75 ppb that was previously established by the Bush Administration. The Obama Administration has said if they decide to revise the ozone standard below .75 ppb they will announce it by December of 2009 and finalize the standard by August 2010.
As reported