News Topic - EPA
Articles 11 - 20 of most recent articles
NEW INFO: Federal Court Rules Against EPA in Attempt to Prevent Invasive Species
An appeals judge says the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate the water discharged from ships as a way to protect local ecosystems from invasive species.
WSAW.com – 13 hours, 29 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: Wisconsin: Wausau-Rhinelander
An appeals judge says the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate the water discharged from ships as a way to protect local ecosystems from invasive species.
WSAW.com – 13 hours, 29 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: Wisconsin: Wausau-Rhinelander
State seeks EPA approval for new air regs
Accused by environmental groups of trying to undermine the federal Clean Air Act and weaken state air pollution laws, Gov. Bob Riley and the state's congressional delegation have petitioned the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to approve a new version of Alabama's smokestack law "without delay." The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has been seeking federal approval for the rule change since 2003, when ADEM's Environmental Management Commission adjusted the existing smokestack law at the behest of major air polluters in the state, including the power, paper, chemical and cement industries. But for the last five years, the EPA has refused to approve those changes, citing concerns that they will lower air quality in Alabama. The rule cannot take effect until EPA approves it. While EPA officials said the agency couldn't comment on a pending matter, an agency document in the April 2007 Federal Register states that Alabama's proposed change could result in "an increase in particulate matter emissions," or soot. For that reason, and because the state did not prove the new rule would comply with the federal Clean Air Act, EPA wrote that Alabama's change was "not approvable as submitted." Negotiations between the EPA and ADEM have been ongoing since then, resulting in a new proposal Riley described in a June letter to the head of the EPA as "in fact, added protection over the previous" ADEM proposal. In e-mailed statements to the Press-Register, Riley's office argued that the new rule change "ensures that air quality (in the state) will continue to improve." The governor's e-mails also state, "we are not asking for a relaxation of air quality regulations. In fact, Alabama has proposed more stringent standards for our state." Riley noted that Alabama's proposed new standard is still more stringent than some neighboring states, such as Georgia, which allows companies to emit twice as much soot as Alabama. A Press-Register review of EPA documents found that some states - including Texas, Michigan, New Mexico and Washington - force companies to meet a more stringent standard than the one Alabama seeks approval for. Regulators in Virginia, meanwhile, are trying to make their standard more than twice as stringent as the one Alabama proposes. Officials with the Alabama Environmental Council, which seeks to block the change, say it would authorize power plants and other large industries in the state to legally exceed their current pollution permits up to 2 percent of each calendar year without fear of being penalized for violating the Clean Air Act. In addition, the changes are designed to let industries emit higher average levels of soot from their smokestacks each day than they were legally allowed under state rules in place since the 1970s. Asked to explain how allowing more pollution into the state's air would improve air quality, Riley's staff directed the Press-Register to ADEM, writing that the agency, "has told the Governor's Office this won't have a negative impact on air quality." ADEM officials said the agency has had an informal policy of allowing companies to exceed their permits by 2 percent for 25 years. The new rule change is an effort to turn that informal policy into official state law, according to ADEM officials. "Under what rationale could you say this improves air quality?" asked George Hays, an attorney representing the Environmental Council and the Sierra Club in a lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority. "How does allowing companies to legally release more pollution increase air quality?" ADEM officials explained that they let companies exceed the air permits because the state believes existing regulations are too strict for those companies to meet on a day-in, day-out basis. "As a practical matter there will be no more pollution in the air. In the past, even though it has been a violation, we have not treated this 2 percent (above the permitted level of pollution) as such," said Ron Gore, chief of ADEM's air division, discussing limits on soot emissions from power plant smokestacks. "Some people described the 2003 rule (change) as a relaxation, I described it as a codification of our enforcement practices," said Gore. "If you are a state trooper and you see someone driving 70.5 on the freeway, are you going to give them a ticket, or use your discretion to let them go? ... What our (new) 2 percent rule does is codify that discretion." In a 2005 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, a judge found that ADEM's decision to allow companies to exceed their permitted pollution levels was as an "illegal, unilateral modifica tion" of Alabama's regulations. Gore said the rule change the judge objected to came about because the state's biggest power providers - including Alabama Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority - and other industrial polluters asked for it. In the case of TVA, the federally owned corporation believes the rule change will help it defend itself against the Sierra Club/Environmental Council lawsuit, which is scheduled to be heard in U.S. District Court in December. Letters to top EPA officials from ADEM director Trey Glenn, Riley, and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, and Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, stress the need for a speedy resolution, something the Alabama Environmental Council's lawyers say was designed to help TVA's court case. Internal ADEM documents reject some of EPA's suggestions for making the proposed law acceptable on the grounds they, "would not meet the Department's timeliness needs." Asked to explain Glenn's "requirement that the process be concluded quickly," in an April 1 letter to EPA officials, an ADEM spokesperson said it had to do with a 30-day public notice period for the new rule that ends Aug. 6. "There is a certain time frame that has to be adhered to or you have to start the process over," said ADEM's Scott Hughes. "The issue has been dragging on for several years now, and we just want to make sure we can meet the timeline and deadlines associated with this public process." Hughes said Glenn was not trying to get the rule approved before TVA's court date. Hays took issue with ADEM's posture. "ADEM may run around saying, 'We are making our state law more stringent,' but that's not true. This is just a continuing effort to weaken the original law in Alabama. ... This whole effort appears to be aimed at getting the rule approved before we go back to court."
al.com - Everything Alabama – 17 hours, 2 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: Alabama: Mobile
Accused by environmental groups of trying to undermine the federal Clean Air Act and weaken state air pollution laws, Gov. Bob Riley and the state's congressional delegation have petitioned the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to approve a new version of Alabama's smokestack law "without delay." The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has been seeking federal approval for the rule change since 2003, when ADEM's Environmental Management Commission adjusted the existing smokestack law at the behest of major air polluters in the state, including the power, paper, chemical and cement industries. But for the last five years, the EPA has refused to approve those changes, citing concerns that they will lower air quality in Alabama. The rule cannot take effect until EPA approves it. While EPA officials said the agency couldn't comment on a pending matter, an agency document in the April 2007 Federal Register states that Alabama's proposed change could result in "an increase in particulate matter emissions," or soot. For that reason, and because the state did not prove the new rule would comply with the federal Clean Air Act, EPA wrote that Alabama's change was "not approvable as submitted." Negotiations between the EPA and ADEM have been ongoing since then, resulting in a new proposal Riley described in a June letter to the head of the EPA as "in fact, added protection over the previous" ADEM proposal. In e-mailed statements to the Press-Register, Riley's office argued that the new rule change "ensures that air quality (in the state) will continue to improve." The governor's e-mails also state, "we are not asking for a relaxation of air quality regulations. In fact, Alabama has proposed more stringent standards for our state." Riley noted that Alabama's proposed new standard is still more stringent than some neighboring states, such as Georgia, which allows companies to emit twice as much soot as Alabama. A Press-Register review of EPA documents found that some states - including Texas, Michigan, New Mexico and Washington - force companies to meet a more stringent standard than the one Alabama seeks approval for. Regulators in Virginia, meanwhile, are trying to make their standard more than twice as stringent as the one Alabama proposes. Officials with the Alabama Environmental Council, which seeks to block the change, say it would authorize power plants and other large industries in the state to legally exceed their current pollution permits up to 2 percent of each calendar year without fear of being penalized for violating the Clean Air Act. In addition, the changes are designed to let industries emit higher average levels of soot from their smokestacks each day than they were legally allowed under state rules in place since the 1970s. Asked to explain how allowing more pollution into the state's air would improve air quality, Riley's staff directed the Press-Register to ADEM, writing that the agency, "has told the Governor's Office this won't have a negative impact on air quality." ADEM officials said the agency has had an informal policy of allowing companies to exceed their permits by 2 percent for 25 years. The new rule change is an effort to turn that informal policy into official state law, according to ADEM officials. "Under what rationale could you say this improves air quality?" asked George Hays, an attorney representing the Environmental Council and the Sierra Club in a lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority. "How does allowing companies to legally release more pollution increase air quality?" ADEM officials explained that they let companies exceed the air permits because the state believes existing regulations are too strict for those companies to meet on a day-in, day-out basis. "As a practical matter there will be no more pollution in the air. In the past, even though it has been a violation, we have not treated this 2 percent (above the permitted level of pollution) as such," said Ron Gore, chief of ADEM's air division, discussing limits on soot emissions from power plant smokestacks. "Some people described the 2003 rule (change) as a relaxation, I described it as a codification of our enforcement practices," said Gore. "If you are a state trooper and you see someone driving 70.5 on the freeway, are you going to give them a ticket, or use your discretion to let them go? ... What our (new) 2 percent rule does is codify that discretion." In a 2005 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, a judge found that ADEM's decision to allow companies to exceed their permitted pollution levels was as an "illegal, unilateral modifica tion" of Alabama's regulations. Gore said the rule change the judge objected to came about because the state's biggest power providers - including Alabama Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority - and other industrial polluters asked for it. In the case of TVA, the federally owned corporation believes the rule change will help it defend itself against the Sierra Club/Environmental Council lawsuit, which is scheduled to be heard in U.S. District Court in December. Letters to top EPA officials from ADEM director Trey Glenn, Riley, and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, and Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, stress the need for a speedy resolution, something the Alabama Environmental Council's lawyers say was designed to help TVA's court case. Internal ADEM documents reject some of EPA's suggestions for making the proposed law acceptable on the grounds they, "would not meet the Department's timeliness needs." Asked to explain Glenn's "requirement that the process be concluded quickly," in an April 1 letter to EPA officials, an ADEM spokesperson said it had to do with a 30-day public notice period for the new rule that ends Aug. 6. "There is a certain time frame that has to be adhered to or you have to start the process over," said ADEM's Scott Hughes. "The issue has been dragging on for several years now, and we just want to make sure we can meet the timeline and deadlines associated with this public process." Hughes said Glenn was not trying to get the rule approved before TVA's court date. Hays took issue with ADEM's posture. "ADEM may run around saying, 'We are making our state law more stringent,' but that's not true. This is just a continuing effort to weaken the original law in Alabama. ... This whole effort appears to be aimed at getting the rule approved before we go back to court."
al.com - Everything Alabama – 17 hours, 2 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: Alabama: Mobile
Idee's PixID Image Monitoring Service Adopted by World's Leading Editorial Photo Agencies
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Idée Inc. today announced that The European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), Matrix Photos, Capital Pictures and Feature Flash have selected
Business Wire – 17 hours, 31 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Business
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Idée Inc. today announced that The European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), Matrix Photos, Capital Pictures and Feature Flash have selected
Business Wire – 17 hours, 31 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Business
Keep Away: Court Rules For Protection From Invasive Species
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An appeals court in California has upheld a ruling ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the water discharged from ships as a way to protect local ecosystems from invasive species. Wisconsin is among the states that joined with environmental groups in the lawsuit against the EPA.
WSAW.com – 17 hours, 35 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: Wisconsin: Wausau-Rhinelander
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An appeals court in California has upheld a ruling ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the water discharged from ships as a way to protect local ecosystems from invasive species. Wisconsin is among the states that joined with environmental groups in the lawsuit against the EPA.
WSAW.com – 17 hours, 35 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: Wisconsin: Wausau-Rhinelander
EPA finds toxins near an Oakland day care
EPA will test the air over a long-gone metal shop for toxic chemicals near a day care.
KGO-TV – 22 hours, 11 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: California: San Francisco
EPA will test the air over a long-gone metal shop for toxic chemicals near a day care.
KGO-TV – 22 hours, 11 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: California: San Francisco
EPA urged to control mercury from cement kilns
Environmental groups today called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce a law that would control the thousands of pounds of toxic mercury discharged into the atmosphere every year by cement kilns in the United States. Two of the nation's...
SFGate.com – Jul 24, 2008 04:01 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: California: San Francisco
Environmental groups today called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce a law that would control the thousands of pounds of toxic mercury discharged into the atmosphere every year by cement kilns in the United States. Two of the nation's...
SFGate.com – Jul 24, 2008 04:01 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: California: San Francisco
EPA cuts Liverpool asbestos penalty
EAST LIVERPOOL - The city will pay just $5,000 in penalties to the Environmental Protection Agency for mishandled asbestos instead of the $30,000 fine the regulatory agency initially assessed.Mayor Jim Swoger said Wednesday that Law Director Charles Payne had received a phone call from the OEPA advising him the agency will agree to the lowered fine."That's unofficial," Swoger said, saying the
Lisbon Morning Journal – Jul 24, 2008 03:59 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Ohio: Youngstown
EAST LIVERPOOL - The city will pay just $5,000 in penalties to the Environmental Protection Agency for mishandled asbestos instead of the $30,000 fine the regulatory agency initially assessed.Mayor Jim Swoger said Wednesday that Law Director Charles Payne had received a phone call from the OEPA advising him the agency will agree to the lowered fine."That's unofficial," Swoger said, saying the
Lisbon Morning Journal – Jul 24, 2008 03:59 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Ohio: Youngstown
Judge: EPA must regulate ship water discharge
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An appeals court Wednesday upheld a ruling ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the water discharged from ships as a way to protect local ecosystems from invasive species....
AP – Jul 24, 2008 02:48 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Technology: Science
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An appeals court Wednesday upheld a ruling ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the water discharged from ships as a way to protect local ecosystems from invasive species....
AP – Jul 24, 2008 02:48 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Technology: Science
States win court fight with EPA on ship discharges
7/23/08 Cuomo says decision prohibits large vessels from discharging polluted ballast without permit...
Newswatch 50 – Jul 23, 2008 8:01 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: New York: Watertown
7/23/08 Cuomo says decision prohibits large vessels from discharging polluted ballast without permit...
Newswatch 50 – Jul 23, 2008 8:01 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: New York: Watertown
N. Idaho roads district, utility settle with EPA
Lakes Highway District, SI Construction and the Hayden Lake Recreational Water and Sewer District agreed to settle the case brought by the Environmental Protection Agency under a streamlined process available to first-time offenders.
KBCI Channel 2 – Jul 23, 2008 7:54 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Idaho: Boise
Lakes Highway District, SI Construction and the Hayden Lake Recreational Water and Sewer District agreed to settle the case brought by the Environmental Protection Agency under a streamlined process available to first-time offenders.
KBCI Channel 2 – Jul 23, 2008 7:54 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Idaho: Boise