ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΤΟΙ ΠΑΝΑΘΗΝΑΙΚΟΙ
Το blog απευθύνεται αυστηρώςPublished on: 24.04.2012
EPA Carbon Standard Hearings For New Power Plants
21 May 2012 14:26:00
EPA to Hold Public Hearings in Washington, D.C. and Chicago on Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold two public hearings on May 24, 2012, on the proposed carbon pollution standard for new power plants. The proposed standard, which only applies to power plants built in the future, is flexible and would help minimize carbon pollution through the deployment of the same types of modern technologies and steps that power companies are already taking to build the next generation of power plants. Currently, there is no uniform national limit on the amount of carbon pollution new power plants can emit.
WHO: U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
WHAT: Public hearings on proposed carbon pollution standard for new power plants
WHEN: May 24, 2012
The hearings will begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue until 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and Central Daylight Time according to the location.
WHERE:
May 24: Washington, DC
Ariel Rios East Building
Room 1153
1301 Constitution Avenue
Washington, DC 20460
May 24: Chicago, Ill.
Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building
Lake Michigan Room (12th floor)
77 West Jackson
Chicago, Ill. 60604
Please take picture identification and allow additional time to enter the buildings and go through security. Pre-registration for the hearings has closed. The public may register to speak in person on the day of the hearing and will be accommodated as time allows. EPA also will accept written comments on the proposed standards until June 25, 2012.
More information on the hearings and instructions for submitting written comments
NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko Resigns
21 May 2012 08:41:00
And The Center Could Not Be Happier
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko announced his resignation today after three tumultuous years. His decision follows a tenure that has featured complaints about his management style from other members of the commission.
The Center found Chairman Jaczko to be arrogant, aloof and rude. We are delighted to see him go. He abused his colleagues, harassed staff and has consistently attempted to sabotage the permit process for approving Yucca Mountain as the nation's repository for nuclear waste.
We know the other NRC commissioners and staff are celebrating today. So are we. Gregory Jaczko was a horrible NRC Chairman and his tenure hurt the agency and the nuclear renaissance.
Now the bad news: The White House plans to nominate a new commission chairman soon and Mr. Jaczko has said he would step down after his successor is confirmed. Please. Please. Please. Leave immediately. (The HIll, 5/21/2012, WSJ, 5/21/2012))
EPA Launches College Stormwater Management Competition
16 May 2012 17:34:00
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a new design competition called the Campus RainWorks Challenge to encourage student teams on college and university campuses across the country to develop innovative approaches to stormwater management. Stormwater is a major cause of water pollution in urban areas in the U.S., impacting the health of people across the country as well as tens of thousands of miles of rivers, streams, and coastal shorelines, and hundreds of thousands of acres of lakes, reservoirs, and ponds. The competition will help raise awareness of green design and planning approaches at colleges and universities, and train the next generation of landscape architects, planners, and engineers in green infrastructure principles and design.
Student teams, working with a faculty advisor, will submit design plans for a proposed green infrastructure project for their campus. Registration for the Campus RainWorks Challenge opens September 4, and entries must be submitted by December 14, 2012 for consideration. Winning entries will be selected by EPA and announced in April 2013. Winning teams will earn a cash prize of $1,500 - $2,500, as well as $8,000 - $11,000 in funds for their faculty advisor to conduct research on green infrastructure. In 2013, EPA plans to expand Campus RainWorks by inviting students to design and complete a demonstration project assessing innovative green infrastructure approaches on their campus.
EPA is encouraging the use of green infrastructure as a solution to help manage stormwater runoff. Green Infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, and natural processes to manage stormwater runoff at its source and provide other community benefits, including economic development.. Green infrastructure is increasingly being used to supplement or substitute for single-purpose “gray” infrastructure investments such as pipes, and ponds. The Campus RainWorks Challenge will help encourage the use of green infrastructure projects on college and university campuses to manage stormwater discharges. (EPA)
More information on the Campus RainWorks Challenge
Lisa Jackson Senate Appropriations 2013 Budget Testimony
16 May 2012 14:25:00
Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
EPA’s budget request of $8.344 billion focuses on fulfilling EPA’s core mission of protecting public health and the environment, while making the sacrifices and tough decisions that Americans across the country are making every day.
Specifically, this budget proposes that $1.2 billion - nearly 15 percent of EPA’s overall request - be allocated back to the States and tribes, through categorical grants. This includes funding for State and Local Air Quality Management grants, Pollution Control grants and the tribal general assistance program.
The budget also proposes that a combined $2 billion - another 25 percent of EPA’s budget request - also goes directly to the States for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. This funding will help support efficient system wide investments and development of water infrastructure in our communities. We are working collaboratively to identify opportunities to fund green infrastructure - projects that can reduce pollution efficiently and less expensively than traditional grey infrastructure.
Additionally, EPA’s budget request would fund the protection of the nation’s land and water in local communities, including important waters such as the Narragansett Bay. Reflecting the President’s commitment to restoring and protecting the Great Lakes, this budget requests that Congress maintain the current funding level of $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. This support will continue to be used for collaborative work with partners at the State, local and tribal level, and also with non-profit and municipal groups. The budget also requests support for protection of the Chesapeake Bay, and several other treasured and economically significant water bodies. The budget reflects the importance of cleaning up contaminated land sites in our communities by requesting $755 million for continued support of the Superfund cleanup programs and maintains the Agency’s emergency preparedness and response capabilities.
EPA’s budget request makes major investments in its science and technology account of $807 million, or almost 10 percent of the total request. This request includes $576M for research, including $81 million in research grants and fellowships to scientists and universities throughout the country for targeted research as part of the Science to Achieve Results - or STAR – program, including children’s health, endocrine disruption, and air monitoring research. Also, as part of this request, EPA includes funding increases into key areas that include green infrastructure and hydraulic fracturing.
As I’ve mentioned before, natural gas is an important resource which is abundant in the United States, but we must make sure that the ways we extract it do not risk the safety of public water supplies.
This budget continues EPA’s ongoing congressionally directed hydraulic fracturing study, which we have taken great steps to ensure is independent, peer reviewed and based on strong and scientifically defensible data. Building on these ongoing efforts, this budget requests $14 million in total to work collaboratively with the United States Geological Survey, the Department of Energy and other partners to assess questions regarding hydraulic fracturing. Strong science means finding the answers to tough questions, and EPA’s request does that.
Taken together, the Administration’s standards for cars and light trucks are projected to result in $1.7 trillion dollars of fuel savings, and 12 billion fewer barrels of oil consumed. This funding will also help support implementation of the first ever carbon pollution and fuel economy standards for heavy duty trucks.
Mister Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. While my testimony reflects only some of the highlights of EPA’s budget request, I look forward answering your questions. (EPA-Shortened by the Center)
Palm Oil Biofuels Under the Renewable Fuels Standard
16 May 2012 12:24:00
March 29, 2012
The Honorable Lisa Jackson
Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460
Re: The Treatment of Palm Oil Biofuels under the Renewable Fuels Standard from the Center for Environment, Commerce & Energy (Center); Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2011–0542
Dear Ms. Jackson:
The Center for Environment, Commerce & Energy (Center) is a national environmental organization dedicated to protecting the environment, enhancing human, animal and plant ecologies and increasing participation in the environmental movement. We focus on regulations, taxes, trade policies, monetary policies, and environmental issues as they relate to energy policy.
The Center is a strong advocate for U.S. energy prosperity and our organization raises awareness of the costs and consequences of policy changes for consumers. We believe it is important to ensure that minority communities are not burdened by artificially high energy costs. We also believe communities should be free to exercise a full range of choices in the marketplace, unburdened by short-sighted regulation or market manipulation.
To that end we stand in firm opposition to the EPA’s recent decision to penalize palm oil under the Agency’s management of the Renewable Fuels Standard. Palm oil is by far the lowest-cost biodiesel fuel source on the international market. By not allowing the lowest cost vegetable oil into the U.S. biofuel market, the EPA is ensuring that the RFS2 will lead to significantly higher prices at the pump as blenders rely on more costly vegetable oil feedstocks, like soybean oil and canola.
Blocking its trade in the United States will unduly burden poor communities. We have already seen the baleful effects of higher energy costs in recent months as prices paid at the gas pump have risen steadily. These price increases have meant minority households have had less money at their disposal for food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, savings and investment, and more. The EPA’s decision will make an unfortunate situation worse.
More choices means more options when prices of one fuel rise. More choices means greater predictability and security when it comes to planning for the future. Restricting choices means minority groups are acutely vulnerable to price shocks in other sectors of the energy market.
Businesses and their workers are also keenly interested in policies regarding energy availability and affordability. For example, truckers and independent rail and transportation owner operators are significant consumers of diesel energy, including biodiesel. Many of these workers are minorities, and many of the businesses are minority owned and managed. Indeed, the transportation sector has been important to ensuring upward mobility and economic growth for minority communities.
As such, denying these communities the widest range of options in the energy market reduces their flexibility and their earnings prospects. It makes it more difficult to plan for growth, to hire workers and to expand operations that create opportunities and jobs for others.
The advance of sophisticated biodiesel systems is one of the most promising technological developments in recent memory. It promises to lower costs and generate long-run efficiencies that will benefit all stakeholders. But the full promise of biodiesel will not be realized without ample global competition and diversity of supply. As such, the EPA would be wise to avoid manipulating the market for biodiesel and let competition and consumer choice determine the ultimate shape and contours of market.
While we appreciate the EPA’s interest in ensuring a healthy domestic environment, we believe its rush to penalize foreign biofuel will do little to help America’s ecology and a great deal of harm to America’s minority communities. The EPA should reconsider its decision.
Sincerely yours,
Norris McDonald
Norris McDonald
President
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