Friday, June 20, 2014

WIMS Environmental HotSheet 6/20/14

 

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National / International News

 

<> Subcommittee Begins Oversight of EPA's Power Plan - The Subcommittee on Energy and Power, chaired by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), held a hearing to examine EPA's proposed new carbon dioxide regulations for existing power plants. . .

<> EPW Republicans Request Hearing on President's Proposed Cap-and-Trade Rule - U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, along with all EPW Republican Senators sent a letter to EPW Chairman Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), requesting a Committee hearing, with federal witnesses, to examine the impacts of U.S. EPA's recently proposed regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants that is part of the President's Climate Action Plan.

<> NRDC: GOP Leaders Threaten Government Shutdown, This Time Over and Action - GOP lawmakers held the appropriation bills hostage with unrelated amendments -- riders would block EPA from addressing climate change and keeping pollution out of our water.

<> New Analysis: America's Largest Companies are Jumping on Clean Energy Bandwagon and Saving More Than $1 Billion a Year - The nation's largest companies are leaving Washington gridlock on climate change behind and rapidly embracing renewable energy sourcing and greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts, according to a new report from. . .

<> Senators Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Maintain Highway Trust Fund - U.S. Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) unveiled the first bipartisan proposal to shore up the Highway Trust Fund by making changes to the federal motor fuels tax, which funds improvements to roads, bridges and transit systems.

<> House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Clean Water Act Agricultural Exemptions - On Thursday, June 19, the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry of the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing entitled, "A Review of the Interpretive Rule regarding the applicability of Clean Water Act. . .

<> Groups seek internal government documents detailing back-room dealings on power plant water pollution - Environmental groups are filing a complaint against the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to compel the agency to release additional information about the roles OMB played in weakening EPA's proposed rules to satisfy the concerns of power companies.

<> BTLaw Alert: EPA Proposes to Drop 2005 ASTM Standard from AAI Rule - On June 17, EPA proposed to remove reference to the 2005 ASTM Phase I environmental site assessment standard (1527-05) from EPA's "All Appropriate Inquiry" (AAI) rule under the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).

<> ARPA-E Announces 13 New Projects at New York Energy Week - ARPA-E Announces 13 New Projects at New York Energy Week Today at New York Energy Week, ARPA-E Acting Director Dr. Cheryl Martin announced $33 million in funding for 13 new projects aimed at developing transformational fuel cell technologies for low-cost distributed power generation.

<> FERC Approves Cameron LNG Liquefaction-Export Project - Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) announced today that its subsidiary Cameron LNG has received authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to site, construct and operate a natural gas liquefaction and export facility at the site of the company's LNG receipt terminal in Hackberry, LA

<> New Report: Water and Climate Risks Are a Growing Threat to U.S. Corn Production - A new Ceres report released today 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. . .

<> Spokane to Vote on Monday to Ban Neonicotinoids - (Beyond Pesticides, June 19, 2014) The city of Spokane, Washington is inching ever closer to a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, a class of chemicals that has been linked to the global disappearance of honey bee populations.

<> Will Energy East be operational before the Northern Gateway pipeline? - June 19, 2014 - 3:42pm The short answer is no, our commitment is stop both pipelines. The Enbridge Northern Gateway is a 1,177 kilometre 525,000 barrels per day pipeline westbound to the Pacific coast, while TransCanada. . .

<> NERC's Summer Reliability Assessment highlights regional electricity capacity margins - (Fri, 20 Jun 2014) The North American Electric Reliability Corporation's (NERC). . .

<> DOE Announces Webinars on Hydrogen Fueling for Current and Anticipated Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, Net Metering for Tribes, and More

<> Environmental Organizations to Sue Companies Owned by Coal Giant Jim Justice for Clean Water Violations

<> Groups Say BLM's Powder River Basin Coal and Gas Plan Out of Step with National Climate, Clean Energy Goals

 

Federal Register Highlights 

The following is an alert of Environmental Federal Register announcements that may be of interest for: Day, Month, date, 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)