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In a joint press release, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles, which seeks to establish new 50-state fuel economy and tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions standards. The proposed SAFE Vehicles rule would revise […]
In its continuing effort to bring its Clean Air Act (CAA) greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations in line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA (UARG v. EPA), the Agency is proposing several amendments to provisions in its Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program. Essentially, the proposal describes specific conditions […]
In a case that set several precedents, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied an appeal from environmental groups seeking to have the court review a final decision by the EPA to grant a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit for a new biomass-burning power plant planned by Sierra […]
On September 3, 2016, the United States and China, the world’s top two emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), formally joined the December 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce emissions and take other actions to stem the advance of climate change. The two nations promptly urged other nations to follow their lead. The agreement enters into force […]
American Trucking Associations (ATA) responded with “cautious optimism” to the final federal Phase 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) and fuel-efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The standards were adopted jointly by the EPA, which developed the GHG portion of the regulations, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which wrote the fuel-efficiency section. Industry’s […]
A little more than 3 years after President Obama introduced his national action climate plan in a speech at Georgetown University, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has released final guidance on how federal departments and agencies should consider greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the effects of climate change in reviews conducted under […]
The EPA has issued a final rule that finds that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from aircraft contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and the welfare of future generations. Having made that determination, the EPA is now obligated by the Clean Air Act (CAA) to propose and issue final […]
Consistent with President Obama’s June 2013 Climate Action Plan, the EPA is using its Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) to propose restrictions on the end uses of certain hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), approve new alternatives to substances with high global warming potential (GWP), and change the status of other substances already on the SNAP list.
Reporting season is in full swing. You may be wrapping up your Tier II chemical inventory reports, as the deadline is just days away, but for sources emitting greenhouse gases (GHG), there is no time to catch your breath. GHG emissions reports required by 40 CFR 98 are due on March 31.
The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition from 29 states and state agencies seeking to stay EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) while challenges to the plan progress through the federal courts. The practical effect of the Court’s order is that the first deadline of June 30, 2016, for states to submit their initial plans for […]