As January closes, we take a quick look at the highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective) of actions taken by the US Environmental Protection Agency in the first month of 2010. Noteworthy actions included:
- EPA proposes revisions to smog (ozone) standard
- EPA to issue new standard for nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
- EPA rejects confidentiality claims for toxic chemicals
- EPA announces tip line for bad behavior in oil and gas drilling operations
In addition, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson set forth the agency’s priorities for the coming year.
Summaries of these actions follow. As always, feel free to contact T. Cozzie Consulting for more information.
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In the aftermath of a brutal cold wave that swept across the US (yes, even to our normally balmy South Florida), we take note of a flurry of interesting news stories concerning global climate change and the likelihood of immediate regulatory action to combat greenhouse gas emissions. Here is a sampling…
From the Wall Street Journal, various states are pressing the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delay rulemaking intended to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, fearing that their permitting and regulatory capabilities (and budgets) will be overwhelmed. See online.wsj.com/article/SB126317107565923971.html.
From the Times UK, an allegation that the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) used very weak science – or more precisely, mere speculation – in forecasting the imminent disappearance of major Himalayan glaciers. See www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6991177.ece.
And a recent monograph published in the journal Geophysical Letters Review, www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2009GL040613.shtml, questions whether any statistically significant rise in the airborne fraction of anthropogenetic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has occurred in the past 150 years.
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