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In 2017, industrial activity accounted for 22% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, third behind transportation (29%) and electricity (28%). When adding indirect emissions from the off-site generation of electricity needed to power industrial facilities, the share increases to 29.7%.
Following several stern tweets from President Donald Trump, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) have put the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on notice that the voluntary framework the state reached with four major automakers “appears to be inconsistent with federal law.” The EPA/DOT letter urged CARB to disassociate itself from the […]
With the Utility Water Act Group (UWAG) at its side, the EPA successfully defended itself against allegations by environmental groups that its postponement of several deadlines in its 2015 Effluent Limitations Guidelines [ELGs] and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category (2015 Rule) violated both the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Administrative […]
The EPA is proposing several significant revisions to its 2015 regulations governing coal combustion residuals (CCRs) generated by electric utilities.
The EPA’s proposed 2020 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for petroleum refiners, which are required under the Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), were greeted with almost universal disapproval from the ethanol industry and the farmers who grow crops that are converted into ethanol.
The EPA is proposing not to use its authority under Section 108(b) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) to impose financial responsibility requirements on facilities in the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution sector.
For the second time in 3 years, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has cast doubt on whether the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is having any more than a negligible effect on U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
In an action that ranks in importance with President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formally repealed the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) and replaced it with the Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE). Both actions are contained in the same rule along with a third […]
Explosions at two petroleum refineries in 2015 and 2018 resulted in a high level of alarm in the neighboring communities about the possibility of releases of clouds of hydrofluoric acid (HF) or modified HF (MHF) into those communities. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) investigated both incidents and also held public meetings […]
The EPA has issued a final rule to allow the sale of E15 during the summer (May 1 through September 15). E15 is gasoline blended with up to 15% ethanol. The Agency’s action, which takes effect 30 days after the rule’s publication in the Federal Register, fulfills President Donald Trump’s October 2018 directive to the […]