Tag: Trump EPA

Even Big Oil doesn’t like the EPA’s methane rollback

Powerful members of the fossil fuel lobby support the Trump administration’s rollback, but not all of the industry is on board.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday announced it will reverse Obama-era limitations on the greenhouse gas methane, which is far more potent than carbon dioxide and often associated with fracking.

In a statement Thursday, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the Trump administration will remove “unnecessary and duplicative regulatory burdens from the oil and gas industry” by slashing methane regulations.

A number of major fossil fuel corporations have objected to the rollback, however, even as the oil and gas lobby more broadly has played a key role in securing the move. Meanwhile, environmental activists and public-health experts have expressed alarm at the potential impacts of loosening methane regulations.

View the complete August 29 article by E.A. Crunden on the ThinkProgress website here.

Curbs on Methane, Potent Greenhouse Gas, to Be Relaxed in U.S.

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — The Trump administration laid out on Thursday a far-reaching plan to cut back on the regulation of methane emissions, a major contributor to climate change.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule aims to eliminate federal requirements that oil and gas companies install technology to detect and fix methane leaks from wells, pipelinesand storage facilities. It would also reopen the question of whether the E.P.A. had the legal authority to regulate methane as a pollutant.

The rollback plan is particularly notable because major energy companies have, in fact, spoken out against it — joining automakers, electric utilities and other industrial giants that have opposed other administration initiatives to dismantle climate-change and environmental rules.

View the complete August 29 article by Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport on The New York Times website here.

The White House Saw Riches in the Arctic Refuge, but Reality May Fall Short

New York Times logoWhen the Trump administration first pushed to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, it predicted that drilling would generate a windfall for the federal Treasury: $1.8 billion, by a White House estimate.

But two years later, with the expected sale of the first oil and gas leases just months away, a New York Times analysis of prior lease sales suggests that the new activity may yield as little as $45 million over the next decade. Even the latest federal government estimate is half the figure the White House predicted.

The lofty original projection was just one element of a campaign within the administration to present in the best possible light the idea of opening the refuge’s coastal plain after decades of being stymied by Democrats and environmentalists, according to internal government communications and other documents reviewed by The Times.

View the complete August 21 article by Henry Fountain and Steve Eder on The New York Times website here.

Team Trump: ‘The Only Good Forest Is A Dead Forest’

Forest Service Weighs Plan to Lay Waste to Tens of Thousands of Acres of Old-Growth Trees

The evil genius of the people Donald Trump brought into our government so America could become a polluter’s paradise is really something to behold.

The latest Team Trump move would turn our national forests into polluter playgrounds. Companies that want to mow down old-growth trees so they can get at pockets of oil, coal or uranium are about to get pretty much everything they’ve always dreamed about. And roadless areas are marked for new roads extending miles into wilderness areas.

The way it’s being done is, in a perverse sort of way, admirably clever.

View the complete August 15 article by David Cay Johnston on the DC Reports website here.

22 states sue Trump over repeal of Obama-era power plant rules

The Hill logoA coalition of mostly Democratic-led states has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing its rules for addressing power plant pollution are so weak they violate federal law.

Attorneys general from 22 states and several major cities including New York City and Los Angeles argue that the Trump administration’s rule violates the Clean Air Act by having virtually no impact on carbon emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had finalized the rule in June to repeal and replace a capstone Obama-era carbon pollution regulation they say exceeded agency authority.

View the complete August 13 article by Rebecca Beitsch on The Hill website here. 

EPA-funded research shows US air pollution linked to more than 30,000 deaths

The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted air quality standards.

More than 30,000 deaths have been linked to poor air quality in the United States over the past two decades, according to new research funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And even at levels considered to be safe, researchers argue that air pollution can increase mortality rates.

The study, released Tuesday, was also supported by the research charity Wellcome Trust, and reinforces long-running concerns over microscopic pollution particles in the air and their impact on human health. It also widens the gap between the Trump administration’s efforts to rollback clean air rules and the government’s own findings on the importance of air quality.

Researchers from Imperial College London and Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Air, Climate, and Energy Solutions authored the new study, published in PLOS Medicine, which probes the impacts of air pollution across the contiguous United States from 1999 to 2015. At the center of the study is PM2.5, atmospheric particulate matter with a diameter of less

View the complete July 23 article by E.A. Crunden on the ThinkProgress website here.

Bill Wehrum, an Architect of E.P.A. Rollbacks, Faces New Ethics Inquiry

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general will investigate allegations that William L. Wehrum, the agency’s former air quality chief, violated ethics rules when he met with former clients from his days as a lawyer and lobbyist for the oil, gas and coal industries.

The inquiry will look into whether Mr. Wehrum’s efforts at the E.P.A. to weaken climate change and air pollution standardsimproperly benefited those former clients, a congressional aide said.

At issue are Mr. Wehrum’s ties to the Utility Air Regulatory Group, a coalition of utilities and trade groups that lobbies on behalf of coal-fired power plants, which he represented as a lawyer at his former firm, Hunton & Williams.

View the complete July 22 article by Lisa Friedman on The New York Times website here.

E.P.A. Plans to Curtail the Ability of Communities to Oppose Pollution Permits

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to weaken rules that for the past quarter-century have given communities a voice in deciding how much pollution may legally be released by nearby power plants and factories.

The changes would eliminate the ability of individuals or community advocates to appeal against E.P.A.-issued pollution permits before a panel of agency judges. However, the industrial permit-holders could still appeal to the panel, known as the Environmental Appeals Board, to allow them to increase their pollution.

The draft plan was described by three people familiar with the document, who requested anonymity because the proposal is not yet public. The document has been largely completed, they said, and the next step would be to announce the proposed rule change and seek public comment.

View the complete July 12 article by Coral Davenport on The New York Times website here.

EPA rule lets political officials block FOIA document requests

Rulemaking follows Interior Department actions that drew congressional criticism

A new EPA rule would allow political appointees to review and withhold documents requested by the public under the Freedom of Information Act.

The final rule, published Wednesday in the Federal Register, was signed by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on June 14 and takes effect July 25. It was not preceded by a public comment period.

It comes one week after a similar policy was reported by CQ Roll Call  at the Department of the Interior. The practice drew criticism from lawmakers and advocates of public access to records.

View the complete June 26 article by Meg Cunningham on The Roll Call website here.

Trump’s EPA announces new plan to save the coal industry. Experts say it won’t.

Coal is in a death spiral and experts largely agree the ACE rule won’t save it.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Wednesday one of President Donald Trump’s biggest efforts yet to rescue coal, even as projections show the industry in a downward spiral largely due to market forces rather than policy.

The agency unveiled the long-awaited Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, designed to repeal and replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP), which aimed to curb climate change by lowering power plant carbon dioxide emissions. The Trump administration has repeatedly argued the CPP was a federal overreach, one the ACE rule seeks to correct.

The CPP sought to reduce the power sector’s greenhouse gas emissions 32% by 2030, using 2005 levels as a baseline, largely by shifting to natural gas and renewable energy in a blow to coal. By contrast, Trump’s new ACE rule moves power to the states, giving those governments broad authority over coal emissions on a plant-by-plant basis.

View the complete June 19 article by E.A. Crunden on the ThinkProgress website here.