Thursday, June 12, 2014

WIMS Environmental HotSheet 6/12/14

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National / International News

 

<> EPA & Corps Extend Comment On WOTUS - U.S. EPA & the Army Corps of Engineers have extended the comment period for the rule Definition of "Waters of the United States" Under the Clean Water Act. The extension provides an additional 91 days until October 20, 2014. Comments on the interpretive rule on agricultural exemptions has also been extended 30 days until July 7, 2014

<> The American Medical Association's House of Delegates Supports EPA's Carbon Pollution Standards - Dan Utech, Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change posting indicates the body representing more than 500 medical associations and organizations, voted to formally reaffirm their support for carbon pollution standards for power plants and committed to submit comments on the EPA's proposal underscoring the need to keep strong standards that protect public health.

<> Assumptions to the Annual Energy Outlook 2014 - This report presents the major assumptions of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) used to generate the projections in the Annual Energy Outlook 2014, including general features of the model structure, assumptions concerning energy markets, and the key input data and parameters that are the most significant in formulating the model results.

<> Shell joins EDF's Methane Detectors Challenge days before application deadline - Environmental Defense Fund welcomes SWEPI LP (Shell) to the list of companies participating in the pioneering "Methane Detectors Challenge" with seven days remaining for technology developers to submit proposals.

<> American Chemistry Council Files Lawsuit to Remove DINP from Prop 65 List – ACC says listing is unwarranted - diisononyl phthalate (DINP) is not a human carcinogen. . .

<> Energy Department Invests Over $10 Million to Improve Grid Reliability and Resiliency - $10 million for projects that will improve the reliability and resiliency of the U.S. electric grid and facilitate quick and effective response to grid conditions.

<> New Report: Water and Climate Risks Are a Growing Threat to U.S. Corn Production - A new Ceres report shows that water and climate change risks are rising in the $67 billion U.S. corn sector, contributing to production and price volatility and growing concern by corn buyers that the nation's largest crop needs to be grown more sustainably.

<> Clothes Dryers Cost Consumers Up to $4 Billion in Annual Energy Waste - The clothes dryers in U.S. homes are wasting up to $4 billion worth of electricity annually because energy-saving standards for the common appliance have not been significantly updated for almost 30 years, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council report. . .

<> American Views on the Existence of Global Warming: 2008-2014 - More Americans view global warming by what they see outside their windows and not scientific evidence, according to a University of Michigan survey.

<> Meet the 19-Year-Old With a 10-Year Plan to Clean Half the Pacific Ocean - Boyan Slat is the president and founder of the Ocean Cleanup and creator of a technology he says can clean half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in a decade

<> Monarch Butterfly Decline Linked to GE Crops and Shrinking Habitat - According to a new study in the Journal of Animal Ecology, the deficiency of milkweed plants due to the rapid spread of genetically engineered (GE) crops is one of the primary reasons for the decline in monarch butterflies.

 

Federal Register Highlights 

The following is an alert of Environmental Federal Register announcements that may be of interest for: Thursday, June 12, 2014.  (Click here to access today's complete Federal Register index with links to complete announcements).

 

1. Nothing We're Tracking Today (click for the complete Energy & EPA announcements)