The Environmental Protection Agency is set to make final new air-pollution standards for coal-fired power plants by mid-December, sparking disagreement among power companies about how quickly aging coal plants need to be pushed offline. The EPA wants to give coal-fired plants three years to comply with the new standards—either by shutting down or going through […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a schedule to develop standards for wastewater discharges produced by natural gas extraction from underground coalbed and shale formations. No comprehensive set of national standards exists at this time for the disposal of wastewater discharged from natural gas extraction activities, and over the coming months EPA will […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under industry pressure, is expected to ease an air quality rule that would require power plants in 27 states to slash emissions, said the Wall Street Journal. It appears that changes are needed because the original rule from July 2011 required steep reductions too quickly. This summer the administration, pressed […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission is asking oil and gas companies in the US to provide it with detailed information—including chemicals used and efforts to minimize environmental impact—about their use of hydrofracking. The federal government’s investor-and-markets watchdog is stepping into the heated environmental debate surrounding hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” according to government and industry officials, […]
There is a saying from the book and movie Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) “Water is powerful. It can wash away earth, put out fire, and even destroy iron. Water can carve its way through stone. And when trapped, water makes a new path.” There is also a famous Chinese proverb about water: “not only […]
At a legislative hearing on the status of California’s cap-and-trade system yesterday, the Chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), Mary Nichols, indicated they are proposing to start the program in 2012 but delay the first compliance period to 2013. Cap-and-trade is a cornerstone of California’s approach to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to […]
The Environmental Protection Agency is delaying issuing final regulations aimed at cutting pollution from factory boilers until April 2012. The delay is one in a serious of slowdowns in regulatory agenda to curb carbon dioxide emissions using the Clean Air Act and several rules aimed at reducing emissions from coal-burning power plants. Although the federal […]
Texas is now the first state with a law requiring upstream oil companies to publicly disclose the chemicals they use when extracting oil and gas from dense shale formations. The natural-gas industry, bowing to longtime pressure, will disclose more information about the chemicals it uses for hydraulic fracturing. Several other state agencies have regulations forcing […]
New York Times reported that scientists have been using small variations in the Earth’s gravity to identify trouble spots around the globe where people are making unsustainable demands on groundwater, one of the planet’s main sources of fresh water. They found problems in places as disparate as North Africa, northern India, northeastern China and the […]
EPA will impose stricter pollution controls on wetlands and streams. The new guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency, which will be codified in a federal regulation later this year, could prevent the dumping of mining waste and the discharge of industrial pollutants to waters that feed creeks, lakes, and drinking water supplies. The specific restriction […]