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Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Obama's signature climate change initiative is completely consistent with past EPA regulations
By Richard L. Revesz, U.S. News & World Report.
The legal showdown over the Obama administration's signature climate change initiative is heating up, as the last of the briefs for the lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan were submitted Friday. Now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will begin to assess the legality of these carbon dioxide emissions restrictions for the power sector.
The coal companies and states challenging the plan have crafted a legal argument that essentially focuses on one core assertion: that the rule is "unprecedented." But history suggests otherwise. Every major element of the Clean Power Plan that opponents say is unprecedented has in fact been used by the EPA before, under administrations of both parties.
Courts tend to defer to federal agencies on regulations that involve longstanding statutory interpretations. And an analysis of prior EPA rules and relevant court decisions – some dating back to the Reagan administration – reveals that the structure of this rule is consistent with decades of Clean Air Act practice. The Clean Power Plan is novel and historic in that it finally regulates carbon emissions from the nation's highest-polluting sector. But nothing about the legal structure of the rule is unprecedented.
Republic Services Expands CNG-Powered Fleet on Earth Day
By Zacks Equity Research.
Republic Services, Inc., the second largest domestic non-hazardous solid waste company in the U.S., expanded its fleet of compressed natural gas (CNG) solid waste collection trucks with the addition of 62 such trucks in Broward and Dade counties.
These new CNG trucks will replace the previously used diesel-powered collection trucks. This initiative by the company will accelerate the total number of natural gas vehicles operating in South Florida to 127.
Pollution is a growing concern in today’s world, and keeping that in mind, the company has been taking initiatives to reduce carbon emission. Being one of the renowned operators of a large vocational fleet in South Florida, Republic Services strives to make a positive impact on the environment. The expansion of its CNG truck fleet on Earth Day is symbolic of the company’s efforts.
The Burgeoning Trend of Corporate Climate Policy Support
By Tom Murray, Forbes.
As the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rules limiting carbon emissions from power plants come under a final attack before moving to a crucial legal test in the U.S. Court of Appeals in June, a stark pattern has emerged among companies lining up to support or oppose these reasonable, urgently-needed standards.
Signing on to briefs in favor of the plan are some of the most innovative and fast growing businesses in the world, from high tech leaders Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft to leading consumer facing businesses such as IKEA , Adobe and Mars .
On the other side, opposing the new rules, are corporations that so far aren’t keeping up with the advent of clean energy.
Senators Reach Deal to Act on Comprehensive Energy Bill
By Coral Davenport, New York Times.
WASHINGTON — Senators on Wednesday reached a deal to act on a comprehensive energy bill as soon as this week, breaking a three-month partisan standoff over the tainted water scandal in Flint, Mich.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and chairwoman of the Senate Energy Committee, and Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the panel’s ranking Democrat, has broad bipartisan support and is expected to easily pass the Senate.
It represents the first major energy bill to come to the Senate floor since the Bush administration. A similar measure has passed in the House, and President Obama has signaled his support for it. The bill is designed to address major changes in the ways that power is produced in the United States by updating the nation’s power grid and oil and gas transportation systems.
Vermont Gas Systems to offer renewable natural gas to customers in 2016
By Vermont Business Magazine.
Vermont Gas Systems announced today plans to offer renewable natural gas (RNG) to customers this year. Renewable natural gas from agriculture and landfills will be offered to participating customers who sign up for the program.
“This is an environmental win-win for our customers. Natural gas is a cleaner and more affordable home heating option for almost 50,000 Vermont families and businesses. Beginning this fall, our customers can further reduce their carbon footprint by choosing to heat their homes and businesses with renewable natural gas,” said Vermont Gas CEO Don Rendall.
Capturing methane from farms and landfills provides dual environmental benefits by preventing an intense greenhouse gas pollutant from entering the atmosphere (allowing the constructive use of a waste product as energy) and displacing other higher-emitting fuels such as heating oil and propane.
The Suit Against the Clean Power Plan, Explained
By Bobby Magill, Climate Central.
The Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s most sweeping climate change policy, is being challenged in federal appeals court and its future is expected to hinge on the outcome of at least one court decision — and possibly two — over the next year.
The merits of the lawsuit are set to be argued June 2 before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. Groups on both sides of the issue filed “friend of the court” briefs at the end of March. The documents provide a telling glimpse into each side's arguments and whether the Obama administration has the authority to enforce the plan.
Here are seven things to know about the Clean Power Plan as it winds its way through the courts:
Energy tax breaks dropped from FAA bill
By Melanie Zanona, The Hill.
The Senate is dropping plans to include energy tax breaks in legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration after lawmakers were unable to reach a final deal.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, told reporters on Tuesday that the FAA measure will now only contain standard revenue provisions.
Democrats had been pressing leadership to attach renewable energy tax breaks they claim were unintentionally left out of a tax extenders package Congress passed in December. They said last week they had a general agreement to add the energy tax breaks to the FAA bill, but had yet to unveil final details.
What are the 'real' numbers behind landfilled waste tonnage and landfill gas emissions?
By Arlene Karidis, Waste Dive.
States across the country are scrambling to reach lofty waste diversion rates in response to an EPA call to action to do so. They are setting specific diversion-from-landfill targets and developing calculated waste management practices to reach their end goals. But there's one big problem: many may not know where they’re starting from.
Numbers identifying landfilled waste vary radically depending on where those stats come from. But no matter whose numbers you look at, a common industry consensus is that the EPA’s figures are off—by a good bit. Debra Kantner, an environmental engineer at the Environmental Research and Education Fund (EREF), said, "We see real-life scenarios where states are using the underestimated EPA figures to inform their waste management decisions."
A Columbia University study published in BioCycle reported 269.8 tons of MSW were landfilled in 2011, while EPA estimates were 132.4 tons—a gaping 103% difference.
Cuts Loom for Connecticut's Lauded Cap-and-Trade Emissions Program
By Patrick Skahill, WNPR.
Money set aside for energy-efficiency projects could soon get slashed as state legislators work to close a large budget deficit.
The proposed cut passed out of the legislature's finance committee last week and looks to divert $22 million from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, into the state's general fund.
Currently, that cash is earmarked for efficiency, renewable, and non-carbon energy projects.
Conservative groups step up fight against energy tax breaks in FAA bill
By Melanie Zanona, The Hill.
Conservative groups that oppose a proposal to include energy tax breaks in the long-term reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration are vowing to take their fight to the House if the Senate moves ahead.
Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners said Monday that if the Senate ends up attaching energy tax provisions to the FAA bill, the organizations will ratchet up pressure on lawmakers across the Capitol to oppose the language or pass a clean-extension of FAA.
"If the Senate isn't going to do anything to stop this, we're going to put pressure wont he House," Andy Koenig, senior policy advisor at Freedom Partners, said on a press call. "The House is under no obligation to take up a bunch of energy subsidies if they don't want to."
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