More on EPA approval of the Hobet 45 mountaintop removal permit

Cross-posted at CPR Blog. On Monday, EPA signed off on the Corps of Engineers' issuance of a Clean Water Act § 404 permit to Hobet Mining for a mountaintop removal coal mining project in West Virginia. The decision is important because it's the first product of the process announced last fall for joint EPA / Corps review of a large number of pending permit applications. It's troubling for several reasons. First and most simply, it allows a major mountaintop mining proj...

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EPA cuts a deal on major mountaintop mining permit

We've been periodically covering the Obama EPA's attempt to find a middle way on mountaintop removal mining, reducing the most egregious environmental impacts of the practice without prohibiting it altogether. On Monday EPA announced, in effect, that it thinks it has found that compromise. In a letter to the Corps of Engineers Huntington office, EPA declared that it would not object to issuance of a permit for Hobet Mining's Surface Mine No. 45 in West Virginia, one of t...

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The Indian Style of Climate Policy

If India ever does something about its growing carbon emissions, this is the book that tells you how it will happen.  Rob Jenkins' Democratic Politics and Economic Reform in India is the best source I have seen so far that really gets into the guts of how the country's political economy works.   And that's what makes it so valuable, even if it doesn't have a word about environmental policy. Jenkins asks: how is it that economic reform has continued in India so many y...

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US-India Climate Dialogue Agenda I: A TRIPS Protocol

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away -- well, no, actually two months ago in Washington, DC, President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Singh inked something called the US-India Climate Dialogue.  It was a pretty transparent attempt to salvage something from the fact that India would never agree to binding emissions cuts (and probably the US wouldn't, either). And what was this Dialogue supposed to do?  Your guess is as good as mine, but here's one place to start: ...

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A Smart Grid Requires Smart Planning

Two-way instant communication, ever-changing electricity prices, lightning-fast micro-switches – the smart grid is all the rage.  In fact, a report just issued by a firm called Pike Research contains the prediction that worldwide expenditure on smart grid stuff will exceed $200 billion over the next five years.  The hope is that a smarter grid will save money by lowering peak electricity demand, improving reliability, and providing greater environmental protection. ...

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A new forest planning rule blog

Sharon Friedman, Director of Strategic Planning for the Rocky Mountain Region, USDA Forest Service, and Martin Nie, Professor of Natural Resource Policy, University of Montana, have launched a blog called A New Century of Forest Planning. It's intended as a discussion forum for issues around the new forest planning rule, which the Forest Service recently declared its intent to develop. Here is how Friedman and Nie describe their blog: The University of Montana’s Colle...

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Mapping EPA Enforcement

EPA has posted a new google map of its enforcement efforts.  It's pretty easy to use -- for example, with a few clicks, I found a $117,000 fine against California Waste Solutions in Berkeley for a water pollution violation.  Check it out, and learn what's happening in your neighborhood....

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EPA Announces Action Plans for Four Existing Chemicals

EPA closed out 2009 by issuing “chemical action plans” for four chemicals: phthalates, long-chain perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in products, and short-chain chlorinated paraffins.  For each chemical, the action plan provides a summary of existing hazard, exposure, and use information, an outline the risks that the chemical may present, and a description of the specific steps that the agency plans to take to address those ris...

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NYT editorial: right headline, half-right story

The New York Times has an editorial today urging Congress to "build on [local and state] actions to fashion a national response to climate change." That sentiment is welcome, but the Times still doesn't quite get it. The editorial rightly lauds widespread state planning and emission reduction efforts, citing as particular examples renewable energy requirements, California's new energy-efficiency rules for televisions, and New York City's new mandate for energy audits on ...

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Salmon woes continue

The Sacramento Bee reports this morning that contrary to expectations the Central Valley fall-run chinook salmon had another weak run this year, probably no better than the record-low return a year ago. That's bad news because the hatchery-boosted fall Chinook is the main target of the commercial salmon fishery off the California and Oregon coasts. The low return suggests that we are in for a third consecutive year of little or no commercial fishing and severe restrict...

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