Friday, October 31, 2014

EPA Releases Climate & Sustainability Plans

EPA Releases Climate Plans on Fifth Anniversary of President Obama's Sustainability Initiative/Plan Builds Capacity to Protect Human Health and the Environment in a Changing Climate - These Sustainability Plans and Climate Change Adaptation Plans coincide with the fifth anniversary of President Obama's 2009 Executive Order on Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance, which set aggressive energy, climate and environmental targets for agencies, and detail how EPA's actions have already contributed to reducing the Federal Government's greenhouse gas emissions by more than 17 percent since 2008 – the equivalent of permanently taking 1.8 million cars off the road.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

EPA revamps High Priority Violator policy, ends 'watch list'

EPA revamps High Priority Violator policy, ends 'watch list' - EPA has eliminated the complicated matrix by which it evaluates facilities that commit high priority violations (HPVs) of polluted air, water and soil.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

EPA Provides Additional Clean Power Plan Information & Comment

EPA Provides Additional Information on Clean Power Plan & requests public comment on additional information and proposes carbon goals for areas in Indian Country and U.S. Territories - EPA is making additional information and ideas on its proposed Clean Power Plan rule available for public comment in a notice of data availability (NODA) and is following through on its commitment made in June to propose goals to reduce carbon pollution in areas of Indian Country and U.S. Territories where fossil-fuel power plants are located -- nearly 1.5 million public comments the agency has received so far; comments due  on Dec. 1 & Dec. 19, 2014.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Environmental Assessment Certificate issued for TransCanada's Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project

Environmental Assessment Certificate issued for TransCanada's Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project - TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TransCanada) announced Oct. 24, that the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) has issued an Environmental Assessment Certificate for the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project (Coastal GasLink) -- The proposed project involves the construction and operation of an approximately 670-kilometre (415-mile), 1,219-mm (48-inch) diameter natural gas pipeline from the Groundbirch area near Dawson Creek, B.C. to the proposed LNG Canada liquefied natural gas export facility near Kitimat, B.C.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Encouraging Ending to Bonn Talks as World Readies for Lima UN Climate Conference

Encouraging Ending to Bonn Talks as World Readies for Lima UN Climate Conference -  The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) says: A positive stage has been set for the UN climate convention conference in Lima [COP20/CMP10] following a week of governmental negotiations in Bonn that have evolved a range of issues needed to deliver a draft climate agreement in the Peruvian capital in December -- the draft is meant to form the basis for a new universal climate agreement scheduled to be inked in Paris, France next year and due to come into effect in 2020.

Friday, October 24, 2014

European Commission Approves ambitious proposals to cut GHG at least 40%

European Commission Approves ambitious proposals to cut GHG at least 40% - No player in the world is as ambitious as the European Union when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions. Indeed, the proof that it is ambitious is that we are now going from a goal of 20% cut by 2020 compared to 1990 to 40% by 2030, so, doubling the effort.

  • EU 2030 framework for climate and energy policies Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40%; Increasing the share of renewable energy to at least 27%; Increasing energy efficiency by at least 27%; & Reform of the EU emissions trading system

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Coalition of Farmers and Environmental Groups to Challenge EPA Over Herbicide Approval

Coalition of Farmers and Environmental Groups to Challenge EPA Over Herbicide Approval - A coalition of farmers and environmental groups filed a lawsuit to sue the U.S. EPA on behalf of six Midwest states where a toxic herbicide cocktail called Dow's Enlist Duo, a blend of glyphosate and 2,4-D, was approved on October 15 for use on genetically engineered (GE) crops.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Geochemical Tracers Can ID Fracking Flowback Fluids

Geochemical Tracers Can ID Fracking Flowback Fluids - The National Science Foundation reports scientists have developed tracers that can identify hydraulic fracturing flowback fluids that have been spilled or released into the environment, and they have been field-tested at a spill site in West Virginia and downstream from an oil and gas brine wastewater treatment plant in Pennsylvania.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

US, EU want UN to stress low cost of climate change fight; draft document

US, EU want UN to stress low cost of climate change fight; draft document - (Reuters) - The United States and European Union want the U.N. to stress the low cost of fighting climate change in a draft handbook on the issue that it is compiling, a leaked document showed on Tuesday.

Monday, October 20, 2014

EPA's Rules on Ozone-Depleting Chemicals Miss the Mark on Health and Climate Protection

EPA's Rules on Ozone-Depleting Chemicals Miss the Mark on Health and Climate Protection - (October 17, 2014) – David Doniger, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate and Clean Air Program, made this comment on a final rule issued by EPA limiting the use of HCFC-22, used in air conditioners and refrigeration. It is the most powerful ozone-depleting chemical still in widespread use and traps nearly 2,000 times more heat than carbon dioxide.

Friday, October 17, 2014

IPCC releases full Working Group II report

IPCC releases full Working Group II report - Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the full version (1820-pages) of its contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability on October 15 – 32-page summary also available

Thursday, October 16, 2014

EPA Approves Dow's Enlist Duo, Herbicide Containing 2, 4-D and Glyphosate

EPA Announces Final Decision to Register Enlist Duo, Herbicide Containing 2, 4-D and Glyphosate/Risk assessment ensures protection of human health, including infants, children - EPA announced it is registering in six states the highly controversial herbicide, Enlist Duo with first-time ever restrictions to manage the problem of resistant weeds.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Revealed: the companies doing the most to combat climate change

Revealed: the companies doing the most to combat climate change - 187 businesses from around the world, including BMW AG, Centrica, Samsung Electronics and Unilever, demonstrate a superior approach to climate change mitigation. [from the Carbon Disclosure Project]

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

The Pentagon's "2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap"

The Pentagon's "2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap" - The Department of Defense (DoD) released its 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, which focuses on various actions and planning the DoD is taking to increase its resilience to the impacts of climate change [the report is dated June 2014, but released 10/13/14.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Secretary of State John Kerry On Clean Energy & Climate Change

Secretary of State John Kerry Remarks With U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond - "Together, both of our countries recognize that never before has a threat like climate change found in its solution such a level of opportunity – the opportunity to unleash the clean-energy economy that will get us out of this mess but also take us forward towards a safer, more sustainable future."

Thursday, October 09, 2014

Building community resilience by strengthening America's natural resources and supporting green infrastructure

FACT SHEET: Building community resilience by strengthening America's natural resources and supporting green infrastructure - The Administration is announcing new executive actions and a series of private and public sector commitments that will improve the management of our natural resources in the context of a changing climate and support investment in green infrastructure.

Wednesday, October 08, 2014

Keystone Be Darned: Canada Finds Oil Route Around Obama

Keystone Be Darned: Canada Finds Oil Route Around Obama - Energy East, an improbable pipeline that its backers say has a high probability of being built would cost C$12 billion ($10.7 billion) and could be up and running by 2018. Its 4,600-kilometer (2,858-mile) path, taking advantage of a vast length of existing and underused natural gas pipeline, would wend through six provinces and four time zones ending in Saint John, New Brunswick

Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Additional Opportunity to Provide Input on Critical Clean Water Proposal

Additional Opportunity to Provide Input on Critical Clean Water Proposal - U.S. EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers extended for a second time, until November 14, the public comment period on the proposed Clean Water Protection rule -- i.e. Definition of "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS)

Monday, October 06, 2014

U.S. Supreme Court denies industry challenge to ground-level ozone health standard

U.S. Supreme Court denies industry challenge to ground-level ozone health standard - The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear legal challenges to the national, health-based air quality standard for ground-level ozone (Docket No. 13-1235, Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG) v. EPA, Et Al.) [See page 9]

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com
 

Friday, October 03, 2014

US nears solution for safe disposal of Ebola medical waste

US nears solution for safe disposal of Ebola medical waste - The United States is days away from settling the critical question of how hospitals should handle and dispose of medical waste from Ebola patients

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Administration Launches Climate Action Champions Competition

Obama Administration Announces Climate Action Champions Competition to Recognize Climate Leaders Across the United States - New Competition will Showcase Local and Tribal Governments Taking Action to Cut Carbon Pollution and Build Resilience to the Impacts of Climate Change -- The application for the Competition will be open until October 27

  • Recognizing American Communities as Climate Action Champions - From more frequent and extreme storms to higher average temperatures and rising seas, Americans are experiencing first-hand what climate change will mean for their communities and their children. [Blog post by John Podesta Counselor to the President].

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Power Plant Standards Could Save Thousands of U.S. Lives Every Year

Power Plant Standards Could Save Thousands of U.S. Lives Every Year - New study from Harvard, Syracuse, and Boston University scientists links strong carbon standards to substantial reductions in air pollution and widespread health benefits -- the study, "Health Co-benefits of Carbon Standards for Existing Power Plants"