Download or read book Additional Analyses of Mercury Emissions Needed Before EPA Finalizes Rules for Coal Fired Electric Utilities written by United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-10 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Additional Analyses of Mercury Emissions Needed Before EPA Finalizes Rules for Coal-Fired Electric Utilities
Download or read book Additional Analyses of Mercury Emissions Needed Before EPA Finalizes Rules for Coal Fired Electric Utilities written by Rick Beusse and published by . This book was released on 2005-04-01 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reviews EPA's development of its proposed rule for controlling mercury emissions (ME) from coal-fired electric utilities. Coal-fired electric utilities represent the largest source of airborne ME in the U.S. Once airborne, mercury can be deposited into water, where it bio-accumulates in fish & animals at the top of the food chain. Human consumption of fish is the primary method of exposure to mercury, which has been shown to cause neurological & fetal developmental problems. On Jan. 30, 2004, EPA proposed rules for regulating ME from coal-fired steam generating electric utility units. EPA proposed two options for controlling ME, one a control technology standard with emission limits & the other a performance based cap-&-trade approach.
Download or read book Additional Analyses of Mercury Emissions Needed Before EPA Finalizes Rules for Coal fired Electric Utilities written by United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of the Inspector General and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mercury Emissions from Electric Power Plants written by James E. McCarthy (Specialist in environmental policy) and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: EPA studies conclude that at least 7.8% of American women have blood mercury levels sufficient to increase the risk of adverse health effects (especially lower IQs) in children they might bear. Thus, there was great interest in the agencys March 15, 2005, announcement that it was finalizing new regulations to control mercury (Hg) emissions from coal-fired electric power plants -- power plants account for 42% of total U.S. mercury emissions, according to EPA. In announcing the regulations, however, EPA stated that most mercury in the atmosphere comes from non-U.S. global sources. Thus, even if regulations could reduce power plant mercury emissions to zero, the agency concluded, there would be little change in the mercury health effects it has identified. Instead of more stringent requirements, EPA promulgated "cap-and-trade" standards that rely heavily on cobenefits from sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide controls installed under a separate agency rule, the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). This approach minimizes costs for electric utilities: by 2015, less than 1% of coal-fired power plants will have installed equipment specifically designed to control mercury, according to EPA. By 2020, only 4% of plants will have such equipment. Ten states have filed suit to overturn the agency s action, arguing that EPA is required by the Clean Air Act to impose more stringent Maximum Achievable Control Technology standards at each individual plant. Beginning in 2010, the cap-and-trade standards limit total power plant mercury emissions to 38 tons annually (a 21% reduction vs. 1999 levels). A second phase caps annual emissions at 15 tons, starting in 2018. According to the agency, trading and banking of emission allowances will result in lower than required emissions in the early years, but will delay achievement of the 15-ton cap to at least 2025. Thus, the net effect of the rule appears to be to postpone until the 2020s direct regulation of mercury (except as a co-benefit achieved from regulating other pollutants). EPA has sent contradictory signals regarding the importance of controlling mercury emissions. Its January 2004 analysis of the proposed rule estimated that the indirect benefits of more stringent regulations ($15 billion annually) would outweigh compliance costs by a factor of at least 16 to 1. Direct benefits (although unquantifiable) were said to be "large enough to justify substantial investment in Hg control." The analysis of the final rule, by contrast, concludes that quantifiable direct and indirect benefits of mercury control are just $43 million per year, with annual costs as high as $896 million. EPA s calculations did not include consideration of an academic study that it had funded, a factor contributing to the calculation of smaller benefits. This decision was one of several irregularities in the regulatory process alleged by the agency's Inspector General, GAO, and critics of the rule. In addition to EPAs regulatory effort, five bills that would regulate these emissions have been introduced so far in the 109th Congress, with more expected. S. 131, the Clear Skies Act, has many points in common with the EPA regulatory approach. This report will be updated.
Download or read book The Need for Multi emissions Legislation written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hearing on the Nominations of Michael Dourson Matthew Leopold David Ross and William Wehrum to be Assistant Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and Jeffery Baran to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 976 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Need for multiemissions legislation hearing written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The War Against Regulation written by Phillip J. Cooper and published by Studies in Government and Public Policy. This book was released on 2009 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise survey and analysis of presidential attempts over the last thirty years--by Democrats and Republicans alike--to dismantle the regulatory state that first appeared under FDR. Argues that the war against regulation failed and that its excesses remind us of the value and proper role of regulation in American government.
Download or read book The State of Mercury Regulation Science and Technology written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works. Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Reforming Regulatory Impact Analysis written by Winston Harrington and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past decades, considerable debate has emerged surrounding the use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to analyze and make recommendations for environmental and safety regulations. Critics argue that CBA forces values on unquantifiable factors, that it does not adequately measure benefits across generations, and that it is not adaptable in situations of uncertainty. Proponents, on the other hand, believe that a well-done CBA provides useful, albeit imperfect, information to policymakers precisely because of the standard metrics that are applied across the analysis. Largely absent from the debate have been practical questions about how the use of CBA could be improved. Relying on the assumption that CBA will remain an important component in the regulatory process, this new work from Resources for the Future brings together experts representing both sides of the debate to analyze the use of CBA in three key case studies: the Clean Air Interstate Rule, the Clean Air Mercury Rule, and the Cooling Water Intake Structure Rule (Phase II). Each of the case studies is accompanied by critiques from both an opponent and a proponent of CBA and includes consideration of complementary analyses that could have been employed. The work's editors - two CBA supporters and one critic - conclude the report by offering concrete recommendations for improving the use of CBA, focusing on five areas: technical quality of the analyses, relevance to the agency decision-making process, transparency of the analyses, treatment of new scientific findings, and balance in both the analyses and associated processes, including the treatment of distributional consequences.
Download or read book Undermining Science written by Seth Shulman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-05-07 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shulman asserts that the Bush administration has systematically misled Americans on a wide range of scientific issues affecting public health, foreign policy, and the environment by ignoring, suppressing, manipulating, or even distorting scientific research.
Download or read book Mercury Emissions from Electric Power Plants written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: EPA studies conclude that at least 7.8% of American women have blood mercury levels sufficient to increase the risk of adverse health effects (especially lower IQs) in children they might bear. Thus, there was great interest in the agency's March 15, 2005, announcement that it was finalizing new regulations to control mercury (Hg) emissions from coal-fired electric power plants -- power plants account for 42% of total U.S. mercury emissions, according to EPA. In announcing the regulations, however, EPA stated that most mercury in the atmosphere comes from non-U.S. global sources. Thus, even if regulations could reduce power plant mercury emissions to zero, the agency concluded, there would be little change in the mercury health effects it has identified. Instead of more stringent requirements, EPA promulgated "cap-and-trade" standards that rely heavily on cobenefits from sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide controls installed under a separate agency rule, the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). This approach minimizes costs for electric utilities: by 2015, less than 1% of coal-fired power plants will have installed equipment specifically designed to control mercury, according to EPA. By 2020, only 4% of plants will have such equipment. Ten states have filed suit to overturn the agency's action, arguing that EPA is required by the Clean Air Act to impose more stringent Maximum Achievable Control Technology standards at each individual plant. Beginning in 2010, the cap-and-trade standards limit total power plant mercury emissions to 38 tons annually (a 21% reduction vs. 1999 levels). A second phase caps annual emissions at 15 tons, starting in 2018. According to the agency, trading and banking of emission allowances will result in lower than required emissions in the early years, but will delay achievement of the 15-ton cap to at least 2025. Thus, the net effect of the rule appears to be to postpone until the 2020s direct regulation of mercury (except as a co-benefit achieved from regulating other pollutants). EPA has sent contradictory signals regarding the importance of controlling mercury emissions. Its January 2004 analysis of the proposed rule estimated that the indirect benefits of more stringent regulations ($15 billion annually) would outweigh compliance costs by a factor of at least 16 to 1. Direct benefits (although unquantifiable) were said to be "large enough to justify substantial investment in Hg control." The analysis of the final rule, by contrast, concludes that quantifiable direct and indirect benefits of mercury control are just $43 million per year, with annual costs as high as $896 million. EPA's calculations did not include consideration of an academic study that it had funded, a factor contributing to the calculation of smaller benefits. This decision was one of several irregularities in the regulatory process alleged by the agency's Inspector General, GAO, and critics of the rule. In addition to EPA's regulatory effort, five bills that would regulate these emissions have been introduced so far in the 109th Congress, with more expected. S. 131, the Clear Skies Act, has many points in common with the EPA regulatory approach. This report will be updated.
Download or read book Science Under Siege written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 994 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Open for Business written by Judith A. Layzer and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2012-11-02 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed analysis of the policy effects of conservatives' decades-long effort to dismantle the federal regulatory framework for environmental protection. Since the 1970s, conservative activists have invoked free markets and distrust of the federal government as part of a concerted effort to roll back environmental regulations. They have promoted a powerful antiregulatory storyline to counter environmentalists' scenario of a fragile earth in need of protection, mobilized grassroots opposition, and mounted creative legal challenges to environmental laws. But what has been the impact of all this activity on policy? In this book, Judith Layzer offers a detailed and systematic analysis of conservatives' prolonged campaign to dismantle the federal regulatory framework for environmental protection. Examining conservatives' influence from the Nixon era to the Obama administration, Layzer describes a set of increasingly sophisticated tactics—including the depiction of environmentalists as extremist elitists, a growing reliance on right-wing think tanks and media outlets, the cultivation of sympathetic litigators and judges, and the use of environmentally friendly language to describe potentially harmful activities. She argues that although conservatives have failed to repeal or revamp any of the nation's environmental statutes, they have influenced the implementation of those laws in ways that increase the risks we face, prevented or delayed action on newly recognized problems, and altered the way Americans think about environmental problems and their solutions. Layzer's analysis sheds light not only on the politics of environmental protection but also, more generally, on the interaction between ideas and institutions in the development of policy.
Download or read book Mercury Emissions to the Air written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On December 15, 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed standards for emissions of mercury from coal-fired electric power plants, under the authority of Sections 111 and 112 of the Clean Air Act. (The proposal appeared in the Federal Register January 30, 2004.) In their first phase, the standards could require a 29% reduction in emissions by 2008 or 2010, depending on the regulatory option chosen. A nearly 70% reduction would take effect in 2018, although EPA indicates that flexibility built into the proposed standards could delay the full 70% reduction to as late as 2030. EPA's analysis of the proposed rule indicates that its benefits would outweigh the compliance costs by a factor of at least 16 to 1, leading many critics of the proposal to ask why the regulations should not be more stringent, or implemented more quickly. The Agency's official position is that technology will not be available to achieve reductions greater than 30% until after 2010. EPA's own Office of Research and Development (ORD) appears to disagree, however. A recent ORD white paper found that reductions of 72% - 98%, depending on coal type, are already being achieved at some plants using current technology. Other issues likely to be raised in the public comment period, which extends until June 29, include the impacts on eastern coal production and the effect of the proposals on mercury "hot spots." In addition to EPA's regulatory effort, in the current Congress nine bills have been introduced to regulate these emissions. An Administration bill, the "Clear Skies Act," has many points in common with the EPA regulatory proposal. The other bills before Congress are generally more stringent than the Administration's approach. These regulatory and legislative proposals reflect increasing concern over the potential health effects of mercury emissions. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can affect human health at very low concentrations. EPA considers children born to women with umbilical cord blood-mercury concentrations above 5.8 parts per billion to be at increased risk for adverse health effects, such as delayed development, neurological defects, and mental retardation. Recent EPA studies conclude that at least 7.8% (and possibly as many as 15.7%) of American women of child-bearing age have blood mercury levels above this threshold. U.S. air emissions of mercury come from eight principal sources. Of these, the largest source, and the last major source for which emission standards have been proposed, is coal-fired electric power plants. Coal-fired power plants account for between one-third and one-half of total U.S. mercury emissions. This report provides background on mercury and reviews regulatory and legislative proposals to reduce emissions of mercury to the air. CRS Report RL32203 and CRS Report RL31908 discuss legal issues raised by EPA's proposed rules and mercury in products and waste, respectively. This report will be updated as warranted.
Download or read book The American Energy Initiative written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Energy and Power and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Interference at the EPA written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the simple yet profound charge "to protect human health and the environment." EPA scientists apply their expertise to protect the public from air and water pollution, clean up hazardous waste, and study emerging threats such as global warming. Because each year brings new and potentially toxic chemicals into our homes and workplaces, because air pollution still threatens our public health, and because environmental challenges are becoming more complex and global, a strong and capable EPA is more important than ever. Yet challenges from industry lobbyists and some political leaders to the agency's decisions have too often led to the suppression and distortion of the scientific findings underlying those decisions -- to the detriment of both science and the health of our nation. While every regulatory agency must balance scientific findings with other considerations, policy makers need access to the highest-quality scientific information to make fully informed decisions. Concern over this problem led the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to investigate political interference in science at the EPA. The investigation combines dozens of interviews with current and former EPA staff, analysis of government documents, more than 1,600 responses to a survey sent to current EPA scientists, and written comments from EPA scientists. The results of these investigations show an agency under siege from political pressures. On numerous issues -- ranging from mercury pollution to groundwater contamination to climate change -- political appointees have edited scientific documents, manipulated scientific assessments, and generally sought to undermine the science behind dozens of EPA regulations. These findings highlight the need for strong reforms to protect EPA scientists, make agency decision making more transparent, and reduce politicization of the regulatory process."
