The Legal and Practical Challenges of California's Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation
Nota Bene Episode 101: Catching up with Global Climate Regulation with Nico van Aelstyn
Schoenbrod: SCOTUS Ruling Helps EPA Deal With a "Stupid Statute"
The Supreme Court has released its opinion in Ohio v. EPA, a case involving whether the federal government’s “good neighbor” ozone regulations were properly promulgated. This decision impacts the authority of the U.S....more
In March 2023, the EPA issued its final Good Neighbor Plan, the last in a series of legislations designed to reduce emissions of ozone-forming nitrogen oxide (NO2) which cross state borders. Specifically, the Plan was...more
On August 4, 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (U.S. EPA) “Good Neighbor Plan (GNP)” went into effect, requiring power plants and certain industrial facilities to implement emissions reductions through...more
PM NAAQS: Already behind schedule is perhaps the mostly widely impactful rule change EPA has proposed in many years: a lowering of the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). EPA has...more
On Aug. 25, Colorado’s Legislative Interim Committee on Ozone Air Quality convened for its first of five planned meetings, primarily to discuss background information on Colorado’s ozone air quality issues. As defined by...more
Pop quiz: What is the naturally occurring gas that forms a life-sustaining, protective barrier when in the Earth’s stratosphere (15-30km above the surface), blocking harmful ultra-violet radiation reaching the planet from the...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced it is initiating a new review of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”). EPA states it is taking this action based on advice provided...more
Last week, Inside EPA (subscription required) reported that the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee has pretty much agreed that the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone must be made more stringent. Apparently,...more
On March 15, 2023, EPA finalized its Good Neighbor Plan under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”), a rule designed to reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxide ("NOx") pollution from power plants and other industrial facilities in 23 upwind...more
Last week, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected challenges to EPA’s “Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Update Rule”. The Court found that the Rule was “an appropriate exercise of EPA’s statutory authority”....more
For air emission sources in New Haven County, Middlesex County, and Shelton, Connecticut, the regulatory landscape will change on November 7, 2022. Per a regulation published on October 7, 2022, EPA is reclassifying the...more
EPA’s latest proposed rule targeting NOx emissions from fossil-fueled electric generating units (EGUs) is a classic study of diminishing returns. It marks the seventh round of NOx controls for the EGU sector since 1990. The...more
The evidence of the harm resulting from PM2.5 exposures keeps rolling in. Earlier this month, Environmental Research published an article titled “Global mortality from outdoor fine particle pollution generated by fossil fuel...more
Environmental groups have sued the EPA to overturn its December 31st rule retaining Obama Era National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone. The suit alleges that the Trump EPA ignored science and mounting...more
On Friday Jan. 29, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Sierra Club v. EPA, Case No. 15-1465, struck down several provisions in EPA’s 2018 rule implementing the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a final rule retaining the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”). This leaves in place the ozone NAAQS that was promulgated during the...more
On December 23, 2020, EPA formalized its decision to leave the ozone NAAQS unchanged, at 70 ppb. I don’t think that this decision is in the same category of egregiousness as EPA’s recent decision not to reduce the PM2.5...more
The Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (“NESCAUM”) submitted October 1st comments on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) proposal titled: Review of the Ozone National Ambient Air...more
A coalition of environmental groups represented by Earthjustice put the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on notice they intend to file a Clean Air Act citizen suit action over the agency’s alleged failure...more
The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment – Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) issued a draft report titled: Ozone Season Summary 2019 (“Report”) - The Report provides the results of DEQ sampling during...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Clean Air Scientific Air Committee (“CASAC”) has memorialized its disagreement with the a key recommendation of an EPA staff draft policy assessment for a Clean Air...more
On Tuesday, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals vacated EPA’s “Close-Out Rule,” which basically concluded that upwind states contributing to exceedances of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone in downwind...more
On May 9, 2018, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a memorandum outlining a “back-to-basics” process for reviewing National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for criteria...more
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality announced that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has stated that Arkansas is in attainment state-wide with the 2015 Ground-Level National Ambient Air...more
The status of a controversial rule establishing more stringent ambient air quality standards for ozone—promulgated by former President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—remains unclear following a series of...more