The federal government, through the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), released the Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II, on the Friday following Thanksgiving. ...more
A recently published report that studied all 417 U.S. National Parks indicates climate change is having a significant and unique impact on many of them. ...more
The Trump Administration announced a long-awaited proposal to roll back the Obama-era Clean Power Plan late last month. (Chicago Tribune). The action had been promised by the President and his appointees at EPA, who pursued...more
9/7/2018
/ Air Pollution ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Coal Industry ,
Deregulation ,
Energy & Climate Debates ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Health and Safety ,
Natural Gas ,
Power Plants ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Renewable Energy ,
Rollbacks ,
Trump Administration
President Trump has promised that his Administration will resolve any continuing debate on climate change. On the front line of the effort, the President’s EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, has moved to eliminate climate...more
The issue of climate change has become the focus of air emission regulations and prompted deep division in the process. The last Presidential election brought the issue to the fore in the sense that those who are now...more
President Trump is expected to announce this afternoon his decision whether to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. Several news sources yesterday indicated that President Trump has decided to withdraw....more
While the Trump Administration has taken steps to dismantle or revise many of the Obama Administration’s actions regarding climate change, there are conflicting opinions within the Administration and key businesses about the...more
5/2/2017
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Change ,
Coal Industry ,
Energy & Climate Debates ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Oil & Gas ,
Trump Administration
The past week was not a good one for the cause of science as it relates to environmental issues and may foreshadow what might be described as an Age of Un-enlightenment....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
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
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
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
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
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
Late last month, President Obama addressed the United Nations Climate Summit and just a few days ahead of that, EPA announced that it has extended the comment period on the Clean Power Plant proposed rule to December 1, 2014....more
On Monday, June 22, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a much anticipated decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency where it affirmed EPA’s authority to impose limits for greenhouse gas (GHG)...more
7/3/2014
/ BACT ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Permits ,
Power Plants ,
SCOTUS ,
Title V ,
Utilities Sector ,
Utility Air Regulatory Group v EPA
This past Monday (March 31), Working Group II of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented its report: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Copies of the two-volume report can be...more
In June, President Obama directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to propose standards regulating greenhouse gas emissions (“GHG”) from existing power plants. The requirements would be imposed under Section 111(d) of...more
A recent article carried by Reuters News Service reports that President Obama favors Gina McCarthy to replace Lisa Jackson as Administrator of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. In December, Jackson indicated a...more