EPA Proposes Rule to Modernize Clean Water Act Reporting

E-reporting initiative will increase efficiency, ease burden for states and improve public access to dataThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a rule that would modernize Clean Water Act (CWA) reporting processes for hundreds of thousands of municipalities, industries, and other facilities by converting to an electronic data reporting system. The proposed e-reporting rule would make facility-specific information, such as inspection...

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S. 1240: Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013

Sponsor: Sen. Ron Wyden [D-OR]S. 1240, the Nuclearr Waste Administration Act of 2013 ia a bill [text] to establish a Ron Wydennew organization to manage nuclear waste, provide a consensual process for siting nuclear waste facilities, ensure adequate funding for managing nuclear waste, and for other purposes.The Center was one of the first groups to recommend a nuclear waste management agency outside of the Department of Energy via its work with the...

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Sunrise Powerlink Transmission Project

Sources: San Diego Gas and Electric,  Approved Route for Sunrise PowerlinkThe Sunrise Powerlink Transmission project, which came online on June 18, 2012, adds approximately 800 megawatts (MW) of transmission capability to the Southern California electric grid. The new transmission lines, shown as blue and green lines on the map, will bring renewable energy from Imperial County to San Diego. The additional transmission capability will also...

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Utility Bill Payment Scams

Do Not Fall For The ScamIt appears to be going on all over the countryFrom: Mississippi Secretary of State Mississippi businesses and residential customers are being targeted by con artists posing as Entergy employees who demand immediate payment for an alleged past due utility bill.According to Entergy officials, the scammer calls a customer to say the electric bill payment is past due and threatens to cut off utility service within one hour unless payment is made immediately. Customers are then told they can transfer funds electronically, usually...

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Maryland Governor Releases Global Warming Mitigation Plan

Martin O'MalleyMaryland Governor Martin O'Malley released a global warming mitigation plan on Thursday at a summit on climate change with scientists, business leaders and environmental advocates.  The plan calls for increasing the amount of energy from renewable sources under the Maryland Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard to 25 percent by 2020. The program previously had set an 18 percent benchmark by 2020 and 20 percent by 2022.The plan also...

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Gulf Rig Natural Gas Blowout: 47 Rescued

This photo released by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement shows natural gas spewing from the Hercules 265 drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, Tuesday, July 23, 2013.Natural gas flowed uncontrolled from the Hercules 265 oil drilling rig off the Louisiana coast on Tuesday after a blowout that forced the evacuation of 47 workers aboard a drilling rig.  No injuries or fires were reported. The federal Bureau...

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Kior Opens Wood To Oil Plant in Mississippi

A new wood-to-crude oil conversion facility opening this week in Mississippi. Source: Kior Kior Inc. opened its first commercial-scale plant in Columbus, Mississippi last November to take in 500 tons of biomass a day and transform it into 40,000 gallons a day of gasoline and diesel.  The company’s technology uses catalysts to vaporize biomass, removing the oxygen and condensing the remainder to oil that can be refined into cellulosic...

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Company To Produce Jet Fuel From Overgrown Forest Wood

But Many Other Issues Are Plaguing 4 Forest Restoration InitiationConcord Blue Energy, a German alternative-energy company, wants to produce 40 million gallons of jet fuel a year from wood harvested in the four overgrown northern Arizona forests.  The German company is so confident in its plan that it will start building facilities even before it obtains state environmental permits.  An advisory group of university, non-profit and other...

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Forest Service Job Corps

The Forest Service’s Job Corps curriculum expands employment opportunities for its graduates, helps revitalize local economies in rural communities and enhances the mission of the agency.   According to U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell: "The Forest Service congratulates high school and college students far and wide...and we are especially proud of our own graduates of the Forest Service Job Corps centers. Our students have...

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San Bernardino National Forest Association Urban Conservation Corps Wins U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester's Honor Award

A picture from one of the weeks the crew was in the wildernessThe Angeles and the San Bernardino National Forest(s) in partnership with the SBNFA Urban Conservation Corps and the U.S. Forest Service Southern California Consortium were the recipients of the Region 5 Regional Forester’s Honor Award. On November 28, 2012, they attended the Honors Award at the Hyatt-Regency Sacramento. They were presented with this award for their joint efforts in developing...

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Center President on Energy Panel at CBC Institute Tunica Conference

The Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute (CBC Institute) is holding its Annual Policy Conference, TUNICA-2013. at the Mid-South Convention Center in Tunica, Mississippi from Thursday, August 15 to Saturday, August 17 , 2013.Center President Norris McDonald will serve on the energy panel, Energy’s Future Impact on the American Consumer scheduled for August 16 at 4:00pm. The Annual Policy Conference is representative...

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EPA Software Helps Reduce Water Pollution

National stormwater calculator helps manage stormwater runoff  As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released the National Stormwater Calculator, an innovative addition to the administration’s virtual climate resilience toolkit. EPA’s new calculator will help property owners, developers, landscapers, and urban planners make informed land-use decisions to protect local waterways...

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EPA Carbon Pollution Standards for New and Existing Power Plants

Coming Soon?President Obama is calling for action against climate change, but the plan doesn’t go far enough to put a real dent in the greenhouse gas pollution warming the planet.  The EPA is in the process of establishing carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants. The Center supports a cap and trade program and EPA should consider such an approach. We are also promoting a technological approach to mitigation...

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Healthy Forest Management and Wildfire Prevention Act

Center Supports Congressman Scott Tipton's LegislationScott TiptonCongressman Scott Tipton (R-CO) is pushing the Healthy Forest Management and Wildfire Prevention Act. The bill would streamline hazardous fuels reduction projects.  The bill asks for no additional money and places no requirement on state and local officials to act. It also enables governors and county commissioners to designate high-risk areas and develop emergency hazardous...

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Liberty Natural Gas LNG Proposal Off NY & NJ Coast

 Liberty Natural Gas LLC is asking the federal government for permission to build a facility where ships carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) would dock, vaporize the gas and pump it into the New York City area. The company says it will never use the $300 million terminal in the Atlantic Ocean to export the gas overseas.  The Center supports the project (see our history of supporting LNG proposals). Liberty, based in Manhattan wants...

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Wood Cut To Prevent Wildfires Could Make Electricity

The Center is promoting utility scale biomass power plants as an employment program and as a wildfire mitigation program.  The Center Wildfire Mitigation Program (WMP) is designed to prevent and reduce wildfires.Utility scale biomass power plants have been proposed in different parts of the country as partial solutions to preventing wildfires.  Pre-cut trees and brush in wildfire areas could not only prevent wildfires, but could provide...

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The New EPA Administrator Called Me Today

PRESIDENT'S CORNERBy Norris McDonaldEPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, pictured below in the video message to her staff, called me today. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate last Thursday and sworn in at the newly named William Jefferson Clinton building (EPA HQ) on Friday. I have to say that I am impressed that she would take the time to call. She is personally reaching out to environmental protection stakeholders and I am delighted to...

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San Onofre Owner Starts Legal Action Against Mitsubishi

Norris McDonald at SONGS in 2005Southern Califronia Edison Company (SCE) has started legal action against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the manufacturer of steam generators whose failure forced the permanent closure of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. The plant is on the northern San Diego County coast.  Rosemead, California-based SCE is filing a formal Notice of Dispute with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan and its United States...

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DC Stormwater Management Final Rule & Guidebook

Center Stormwater Credit Exchange On July 19, 2013, DDOE released the 2013 Rule on Stormwater Management and Soil Erosion and Sediment Control (2013 SW Rule), which amended Chapter 5 (water Quality) of Title 21 (Water and Sanitation) of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR). DDOE also released the 2013 Stormwater Management Guidebook (2013 SWMG), which provides technical guidance on how to comply with the rule.Transition to...

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Senate Confirms Gina McCarthy as EPA Administrator

The Senate voted 59-40 on Thursday to confirm the controversial nomination of Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Susan Collins (Maine), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) and John McCain (Ariz.) voted for McCarthy's confirmation, while Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) joined most Republicans in voting against her nomination.  The Senate voted 69-31 to end debate on her nomination. (The Hill, 7/18/2013)Gina McCarthy with Carol Browner and Bob Per...

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National Parks, National Forests, and U.S. Wildernesses

National Parks: In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Act that establishedGreat Basin National ParkYellowstone as the nation’s first national park. Sequoia and Yosemite followed, both designated as national parks in the year 1890. In 1916, the Organic Act led to the creation of the National Park Service, a bureau of the Department of the Interior, to protect all designated national park land. The fundamental purpose of National Park Service...

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FERC Orders $453 Million in Penalties for Western Power Market Manipulation

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today ordered Barclays Bank PLC and four of its traders to pay $453 million in civil penalties for manipulating electric energy prices in California and other western markets between November 2006 and December 2008. FERC also ordered Barclays to disgorge $34.9 million, plus interest, in unjust profits to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Programs of Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington....

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California PUC Lawyers Want $300 Million Fine For Gas Pipe Accident

A new proposal by the California Public Utilities Commission's staff lawyers, asks the agency's commissioners to levy a $300 million fine and additional penalties exceeding $1.9 billion against Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for its role in a lethal natural-gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., in 2010.  A ruptured gas pipeline that caused a deadly explosion in San Bruno, Calif., pictured in September 2010. The...

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