Pollution & Health
Environmental Disasters and Regulatory Failures
There is a strong nexus between environmental disasters and regulatory failures. The connection is most obvious for the BP oil spill, where weak regulation contributed to a massive spill whose ecological consequences are not yet completely known. It’s also apparent in the reactor melt-down after the recent Japanese tsunami, which has resulted in radioactive releases. …
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CONTINUE READINGU.S. Supreme Court Justices Are on USEPA’s Case
You can’t blame the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of late for feeling it’s under siege. All of the current Republican presidential candidates are regularly excoriating EPA on the campaign trail, and Congress has conducted oversight hearings and threatened all sorts of legislative action designed to clip EPA’s regulatory wings. Now the U.S. Supreme Court appears …
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CONTINUE READINGRick Santorum: The Second-Most Anti-Environmental Candidate
This is one of a series of posts describing presidential candidate’s views. I didn’t cover Santorum earlier because his poll numbers were so low, but that has obviously changed. Santorum’s website does not have a page dedicated to energy or environment but does make a number of pledges: Rick Santorum is committed to reviving our …
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CONTINUE READINGGlocalizing Garbage
“Glocalize” is a new term for me. I got it from an article in the Economist about garbage. It means “dealing with big global problems through myriad small or individual actions.” For instance: The movement complements other efforts such as a United Nations-backed campaign, now in its 19th year, called Clean Up the World. . …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy Critics Should Stop Bashing EPA (And What They Should Talk About Instead)
Bashing EPA is apparently a good political tactic, at least if you’re in a red state, but it’s also a smokescreen — what is presented as an attack on the agency is actually an attack on the mission assigned by Congress. In terms of carrying out the mission, EPA is no different than the Defense …
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CONTINUE READINGFederal Court Halts Implementation of Important Air Pollution Program
The Obama Administration’s cap-and-trade program to control air pollution that crosses state lines (explained in detail here) will not go into effect this month as planned. Instead, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has halted the program’s implementation temporarily until it decides on its legality. The program, known as the cross state …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA’s Achievements
You’re going to be hearing a lot from certain quarters about EPA and what a terrible agency it is. Despite shortcomings in the statutes, repeated assaults on its budgets, and political harassment, the agency’s accomplishments have been quite remarkable. As this chart shows, the volume of air pollutants has gone done very substantially in the …
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CONTINUE READINGFederal Court Invalidates California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard
U.S. District Judge Lawrence O’Neill has ruled that the California Air Resources Board’s pioneering Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a key component of California’s multifaceted strategy to reduce the state’s aggregate greenhouse gas emissions under AB 32, is unconstitutional. In his December 29th ruling in Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Goldstene, the Fresno-based federal judge issued …
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CONTINUE READINGTen of the Top Environmental Stories of 2011
Nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan. EPA issues new rules limiting mercury emissions by power plants. Durban climate summit produces modest progress, as developing countries begin to acknowledge the need for binding limits on their carbon emissions. White House kills scheduled new regulations of ozone. California adopts cap-and-trade system under AB 32. White House announces stringent …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA Set to Release New Mercury and Air Toxics Regulations
Later this afternoon – at 2pm ET – EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson is expected to announce EPA’s new regulations on mercury and toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants. EPA is developing the air toxics emissions standards for power plants under the Clean Air Act (Section 112), consistent with the D.C. Circuit’s opinion (PDF) regarding …
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