By almost every account, the Trump Administration is likely to alter substantially the environmental regulatory landscape. Actions have already been taken to delay the implementation of regulations as well as initiating...more
2/2/2017
/ Clean Power Plan ,
Coal ,
Coal Industry ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Department of the Interior ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Drinking Water ,
Electric Generation Suppliers ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Oil & Gas ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Trump Administration
On December 20, 2016, Michigan’s Attorney General announced additional indictments in the Flint water crisis. The indictments against two former emergency managers and two former City of Flint executives bring to 13 the...more
A recent article in The New York Times titled: Perils of Climate Change Could Swamp Coast Real Estate, indicates that rising seas and storm-related flooding in Florida appear to be driven by climate change and may be having...more
The first nuclear generator commissioned in the U. S. in 20 years has begun commercial operation. The Tennessee Valley Authority brought the Watts Bar 2 Reactor on line on October 19 (The Hill). Despite the long interval...more
The EPA’s publication of a coal ash rule on April 17, 2015, did little to resolve the debate about the proper management of the material. Members of Congress have continued to push for legislation which would change...more
For the past three years, since 2013, energy production in the United States from renewable sources (non-nuclear) has remained fairly constant at about 9 ½% of total energy production. (U. S. Energy Information Agency...more
Alabama has joined several other states in a petition filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit seeking to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule regulating emissions standards for certain...more
One of the many issues in the current Presidential campaign involves the question of whether to pursue a tax on carbon emissions. The matter has been viewed by the Clinton campaign with some interest but not commitment,...more
President Obama signed a major reform of the Nation’s chemical safety standards on Wednesday, June 22. The legislation amended the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, providing the first substantive changes in the 40-year old...more
Certain regulated entities that operate under Clean Air Act permits are being reminded that those permits do not necessarily cover air emissions associated with the management of hazardous wastes regulated by the federal...more
The coal industry has experienced substantial economic turmoil over the recent past, including bankruptcies – most recently by Peabody Energy Corporation – but also by Arch Coal, Inc., Walter Energy, Inc., and Patriot Coal...more
Renewable energy investments (primarily solar and wind generation) set a record in 2015 with a collective investment of $286 billion. This according to a report from the United Nations Environment Progamme. (Climate Central...more
Flint, Michigan’s problems with lead in its drinking water have been well documented, and this has prompted reports of similar problems detected in other communities, even though these are apparently not as extensive as the...more
The problems with the quality of drinking water in Flint, Michigan, are not necessarily an isolated collection of failures. From a technical standpoint, the potential for lead leaching into drinking water systems in many...more
As the New Year begins, a number of issues will compete for attention from Congress and the courts, and we may even get some final determinations about matters that have been long simmering. Much of the substantive work of...more
The third global summit on climate change has begun its meetings in Paris. Unlike the two previous summits, in Kyoto (1997) and Copenhagen (2009), there is optimism that an agreement under the auspices of the United Nations...more
A story in the New York Times recently portrays the ice cap in Greenland as rapidly disappearing. (NYT). Indeed, the pictures are dramatic. The story is based on experiences and observations from scientists working in the...more
For the City of Flint, Michigan, the immediate problem is that the water it provides its citizens is not safe to drink. For many other communities across the nation, the problem may be whether they can do the things necessary...more
Legal challenges filed almost immediately after President Obama announced the Clean Power Rule may be premature. That is what attorneys for EPA told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently in...more
9/3/2015
/ Appeals ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Coal Industry ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Register ,
Fracking ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Kyoto Protocol ,
MATS ,
Mercury ,
Natural Gas ,
Obama Administration ,
Oil & Gas ,
Toxic Exposure ,
Utilities Sector
On August 3, 2015, President Obama announced the finalization of the long-awaited Clean Power Plan, a policy primarily intended to further the commitment to combatting global warming. The Plan focuses on the electric power...more
8/7/2015
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Coal Industry ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Register ,
Global Warming ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Mercury ,
Natural Gas ,
Obama Administration ,
Oil & Gas ,
Renewable Energy
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court halted further implementation of a U.S. EPA’s regulation limiting mercury and other hazardous air toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired electric power plants. In a 5-4 decision, the...more
On Tuesday, May 26, 2015, EPA issued a long-awaited rule defining “Waters of the United States.” The final rule is available as a prepublication version. Elsewhere, on EPA’s Clean Water Rule webpage, there are a number of...more
A recent article in USA Today questions whether ethanol’s days are numbered. While that article is written from the perspective of whether the stock of ethanol producing companies is a good investment, it focuses on some of...more
Last December, EPA announced its final rule regarding the management of coal combustion residuals (“CCR” a/k/a “coal ash”). This came several years after initial alternative proposals were offered for public comment, and the...more
EPA’s new rules for limiting emissions of carbon dioxide for both existing power plants and proposed plants have prompted at least two substantive reports by public policy institutes focusing on the economic aspects of the...more