A recent Ninth Circuit decision calls into question the government’s practice of using consent decrees in a judicial proceeding to set policy for parties nationwide in environmental matters. In Conservation Northwest v. Sherman (Conservation Northwest II), No. 11-35729, 2013 WL 1760807 (9th Cir. Apr. 25, 2013), the court makes a critical distinction between consent decrees which temporarily modify a rule to achieve a particular result in a particular case, and consent decrees which purport to have broader applicability. Specifically, the court...
Thursday, 23 May 2013
The White House held a forum on climate change today that included women from all over the country. The forum included 100 women leaders in a dialogue on the science of climate change, communication about the climate and energy challenges, policy solutions, and activism in workplaces, careers, and communities.Speakers:Dr. Kathy Sullivan, Acting Administrator, NOAAChair Nancy Sutley, Council on Environmental QualityHeather Zichal, Deputy...
FracFocus is the national hydraulic fracturing chemical registry. FracFocus is managed by the Ground Water Protection Council and Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, two organizations whose missions both revolve around conservation and environmental protection. The site was created to provide the public access to reported chemicals used for hydraulic fracturing within their area. To help users put this information into perspective, the site...
EPA New Source Performance Standards Proposed Rule For Pulp MillsThe EPA is proposing revisions to the new source performance standards for kraft pulp mills. These revised standards include particulate matter emission limits for recovery furnaces, smelt dissolving tanks and lime kilns, which apply to emission units commencing construction, reconstruction or modification that are different than those required under the existing standards for...
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Tesla Motors has repaid the entire remaining balance on a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy nine years earlier than originally required. Loan losses to date represent about 2 percent of the overall $34 billion portfolio. The other 98 percent of the portfolio includes 19 new clean energy power plants that are adding enough solar, wind and geothermal capacity to power a million homes and displace 7 million metric tons of carbon...
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Sue and Settle: Regulating Behind Closed DoorsDownload: Sue and Settle: Regulating Behind Closed DoorsExecutive Summary | List of Rules and Agency Actions | List of Recommendations What Is Sue and Settle?According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sue and settle occurs when an agency intentionally relinquishes its statutory discretion by accepting lawsuits from outside groups that effectively dictate the priorities and duties of the agency...
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Koch Carbon owns the small mountain of of waste petroleum coke in Detroit (see photo) from oil sands bitumen refining. The company is controlled by Charles and David Koch, wealthy industrialists who back a number of conservative and libertarian causes including activist groups that challenge the science behind climate change. The company sells the high-sulfur, high-carbon waste, usually overseas, where it is burned as fuel. ...
The Energy Department (DOE) on Friday approved a controversial application allowing liquefied natural-gas exports to nations that lack a free-trade agreement with the United States. The department gave the green light to Freeport LNG Expansion and FLNG Liquefaction’s proposal to send 1.4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas overseas from a terminal on Quintana Island, Texas, for 25 years. The project is the second to get DOE approval to...
Friday, 17 May 2013
Under proposed fracking rules, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management would require wider disclosure of chemicals used in drilling. It would also require that companies have a water-management plan for fluids that flow back to the surface and take steps to assure wellbore integrity and prevent toxic fluids from leaking into groundwater.Most environmentalists contend that the new draft provided weaker water protections than a version...
Thursday, 16 May 2013
California Governor Jerry Brown has proposed borrowing $500 million from the state's carbon cap-and-trade auctions and using those to help balance the general fund budget.The governor presented a $96.4 billion revised spending plan for the coming fiscal year that included the loan from the carbon trading program, a move that triggered outrage from environmental and community groups. The Legislature will have to approve the revised...
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
113th CONGRESS1st SessionS. 761To promote energy savings in residential and commercial buildings and industry, and for other purposes.IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESApril 18, 2013Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. COONS, and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural ResourcesMay 13, 2013Reported by Mr. WYDEN, with amendmentsA BILLTo promote energy savings in residential and commercial buildings and industry, and for other purposes.TITLE I--BUILDINGSSubtitle A--Building...
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Administration officials warned Monday that sequester cuts would weaken wildfire management as agencies prepare for a season with “above normal significant fire potential.” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has noted that authorities were “dealing with significantly challenged budgets.” The automatic, across-the-board spending cuts forced the Agriculture Department to shed 500 firefighters and 50 engines — roughly a 5 percent decline for each...
Saturday, 11 May 2013
"The United States is an Arctic Nation with broad and fundamental interests in the Arctic Region, where we seek to meet our national security needs, protect the environment, responsibly manage resources, account for indigenous communities, support scientific research, and strengthen international cooperation on a wide range of issues ."1 1 National Security Strategy, May 2010. The National Strategy for the Arctic Region sets forth the United States...
Friday, 10 May 2013
PRESIDENT'S CORNERBy Norris McDonaldThe Center supports Gina McCarthy's nomination to be EPA administrator. She was approved by the Senate before. She should be again.Republicans on the Senate Enviroment and Public Works Committee boycotted a proposed vote on the nomination this week. On April 25, 2013 the Committee Republicans asked Chairman Barbara Boxer to postpone the nomination vote because they had not received answers to...
Ramaraja Ramasamy, right, and Yogeswaran Umasankar work together to capture energy created during photosynthesis. Ramasamy is an assistant professor in the UGA College of Engineering and Umasankar is postdoctoral research associate working in his lab. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Georgia)Ramaraja Ramasamy, assistant professor in the UGA College of Engineering, is the author of a paper describing the process of how to get electrical...
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Long time environmentalist Izzy Martin was recognized for her conservation work at an award ceremony during Bear Yuba Land Trust’s Annual Oak Tree Ball. This Celebration and Awards Dinner was held April 27, 2013 at the Alta Sierra Country Club in Grass Valley, California. During the event, Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin was recognized with the William Nickerl Award for Conservation Leadership. For 30 years, The Sierra Fund...
Monday, 6 May 2013
Europe’s climate change mitigation program turned carbon emissions into a commodity that could be traded like gold or oil. But the once-thriving pollution trade here has turned into a carbon bust. Carbon started as the commodity of the future, but it has now deteriorated. Under the system, 31 nations slapped emission limits on more than 11,000 companies and issued carbon credits that could be traded by firms to meet their new pollution caps....
The California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) has again been sued over its implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (also known as AB 32). The lawsuit, Morning Star Packing Co. et al. v. CARB, filed on April 16, 2013, resembles an earlier action brought by the California Chamber of Commerce (“CalChamber”) in November of 2012 (discussed here). Both cases allege that the auction of allowances under the cap-and-trade amounts to an illegal...
NEPA: California Federal Court Requires Full Environmental Impact Statement for BLM Leases Involving Hydraulic Fracturing In the first federal court decision to directly examine an agency’s review of the potential environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing, a federal magistrate judge in the Northern District of California ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when the agency failed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prior to entering into two oil and gas...
Unseasonal wildfires that started last week ravaged California. At least four large uncontrollable fires burned acreage and threatened homes in Northern and Southern California. Fires burned in Riverside County, Tehama County, Glenn County and Ventura County. In Northern California, a fire has blackened 11 square miles of wilderness in Tehama County.According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,...
Saturday, 4 May 2013
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a comprehensive scientific report on honey bee health. The report states that there are multiple factors playing a role in honey bee colony declines, including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure. There is an important link between the health of American agriculture and the health of our honeybees for our country's long term agricultural productivity. The forces impacting honeybee health are complex and...
During April 2013, the Internal Revenue Service increased the Production Tax Credit (PTC) from 2.2-cents/kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 2.3-cents/kWh to adjust for inflation. PTC is a financial incentive that supports the development of wind-powered generation. Also this month, the IRS released an advanced copy of Notice 2013-29, which describes the way projects under construction can now qualify for the credit.At the beginning of the year, Congress extended...
In 2012, the United States became a net exporter of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) for the first time. LPG includes the natural gas liquids (NGL) components ethane, propane, butanes, and marketed refinery olefins. In its Annual Energy Outlook 2013 (AEO2013), EIA projects that the United States will continue to be a net exporter of LPG through 2040, mainly because of continued increases in natural gas and oil production. The supply of ethane...
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
American Electric Power Co's Louisiana-based utility said its $1.8 billion Turk power plant in Hempstead County, Arkansas, has begun commercial operation, the nation's first ultra-supercritical coal-fired unit and one of the few coal plants currently being completed. The 600-megawatt John W. Turk Jr. power plant is owned by Southwestern Electric Power Co (SWEPCO) and was built in about four years despite numerous legal challenges by local and...
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