EPA climate change regulations

The Aviation Endangerment Finding

While we are watching the political conventions, EPA took an important step forward

Last Monday, EPA issued a formal finding that carbon emissions from commercial aviation endanger human health and welfare.   Understanding the significance of the finding requires a little background. Section 231(a)(2) of the Clean Air Act directs the EPA Administrator to “issue proposed emission standards applicable to the emission of any air pollutant from any class …

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The Supreme Court Stay and the Dog That Didn’t Bark

EPA’s Requirements for New Plants Remain Intact

The Supreme Court’s stay of the Clean Power Plan was a surprise to almost all observers, maybe even to the lawyers requesting the stay.  We can only speculate on what the five majority Justices had in mind, since there was no written opinion. The practical impact of the decision is also unclear. E&E news reports that the …

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Texas’s Unsuccessful (And Self-Defeating) Defiance of EPA

Texas has lost another round of its battle to halt EPA regulation of greenhouse gases — this time involving its effort to drag its feet on implementation of the regulations even if it could not undo them.  The effect of Texas’s action is that it lost the ability to help shape how the rules apply …

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NEWS FLASH: D.C. Circuit Appeal of GHG Rules

According to E&E News, the D.C. Circuit has set oral argument for Feb. 28 and Feb. 29 in the complex legal challenges to EPA’s endangerment finding and initial batch of rules regulating greenhouse gases.  As I’ve written previously, I consider the endangerment-finding a slam dunk; the tougher issue is the “tailoring” rule that exempts smaller …

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EPA Takes the First Step

The  NY Times has a story about EPA’s climate change regs that doesn’t contain anything newsworthy but does get the facts right.  The key facts are these: 1.  EPA has little choice about regulating given the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Clean Air Act in 2007. “With Mr. Obama’s hand forced by the mandates of …

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