Regulation
Mountaintop removal review moves to next stage
EPA finished September with a flourish. In addition to proposing New Source Review rules for greenhouse gas emissions and pushing for TSCA reform, the agency took the next step toward a crack-down on mountaintop removal. On September 11, EPA announced preliminary plans to review all 79 pending permit applications. Today, after considering public comment, it …
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CONTINUE READINGJackson Announces Proposed New Stationary Source Rules for Greenhouse Gases
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, speaking at the California Governor’s Global Climate Summit, has announced a proposed new Clean Air Act rule requiring new and modified stationary sources to install the best available control technology to control greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). The text of the proposed new rule can be found here. According to a press release about …
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CONTINUE READINGJackson Comes Out Swinging on TSCA, But Pulls Some Critical Punches
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson delivered a one-two combination in chemical policy on Tuesday, announcing principles for legislative reform of TSCA while directing the agency to publicize administrative “enhancements” to the existing program. At a speech in San Francisco, the Administrator presented the Obama Administration’s “Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals Management Legislation,” a set of …
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CONTINUE READINGSmall Steps on Nanosilver
Regulation often develops through accretion rather than bold paradigm shifts, at least in its nascent stages. Nanotechnology appears to be no exception. In mid-September, the agency announced an upcoming meeting of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) focused on the use of nanoscale silver and other nanomaterials in pesticides. …
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CONTINUE READINGIt’s the Enforcement, Stupid!
We rightly celebrate large legislative environmental victories like the passage of the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Europeans, too, are proud of accomplishments such as the establishment of the European Union Emission Trading System to address greenhouse gas emissions through cap and trade and the passage of sweeping legislation, …
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CONTINUE READINGDelivering on Reform?
It seems that TSCA reform is heating up for this and next year, but the form it will ultimately take is still quite hazy. Senator Lautenberg and Representatives Waxman and Solis introduced the Kid Safe Chemical Act (KSCA) twice before, and the Senator is about to take a third swing at it very soon. In …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change Lesson #2: Watch Out for Those “Unknown Unknowns”
This is the second in a short series of homilies on the lessons we can learn from climate change. Donald Rumsfeld famously distinguished between knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. He didn’t take the occasion to provide sharp analytical distinctions, but the difference between known unknowns and unknown unknowns is very much like a difference …
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CONTINUE READINGDavid Nawi Appointed to High-Ranking USDOI Post
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has named a respected California environmental lawyer to serve in a key, newly-created Department of Interior post. Salazar appointed David Nawi as his Senior Advisor to the Secretary for California and Nevada. In his announcement selecting Nawi, Secretary Salazar stated, “The current water crisis and land management challenges …
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CONTINUE READINGMeg Whitman Would Suspend AB 32
In a rather stunning and little-noticed op ed last week, California GOP gubernetorial candidate Meg Whitman — former CEO of EBay – called on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to suspend the implementation of AB 32. Her rationale? To create jobs in California. AB 32, also known as the Global Warming Solutions Act, cuts California’s greenhouse gas emissions …
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CONTINUE READINGOld MacDonald Had a Farm . . .
But unfortunately, the farm wasn’t as bucolic as you might imagine, as the NY Times reports: Agricultural runoff is the single largest source of water pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams, according to the E.P.A. An estimated 19.5 million Americans fall ill each year from waterborne parasites, viruses or bacteria, including those stemming from …
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