Environmental Policy & Law
Environmental policy and law addresses federal, state and international policies and regulations to control climate change, police carbon emissions and drive conservation of natural resources. Key stories discuss the United Nations efforts towards climate control and the EPA Clean Water Act and EPA Clean Air Act.
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: RFS 2011, EU ETS, UK Solar Subsidy Cuts, IMO Code
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has asked that the EPA deny a petition submitted this month by the petroleum industry that would retroactively change the ...
ExxonMobil Fined $4.4m for Under-Reporting Carbon Emissions
ExxonMobil was fined £2.8 million ($4.4 million) after failing to report carbon emissions from a Scottish chemical plant, it has emerged.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency ...
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: E15 Approved, Dioxin Exposure, Fracking Study, Utility MACT, Shell
The EPA approved ethanol fuel blend E15 for voluntary use in all autos and light trucks built since 2001 after completing testing of E15’s impact ...
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, EU ETS, MATS, MACT, 2012 CGP
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, an effort to reduce black carbon, ...
UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability
Final report of the UN Secretary General's High-Level Panel on Global ...
Wastewater Snowmaking Gets Legal OK
Ski resort Arizona Snowbowl has avoided legal censure for its reuse of human wastewater to make snow.
The resort, located 14 miles outside Flagstaff, Ariz., is ...
DuPont, 3M Meet EPA Perfluorinated Chemical Goals
Daikin, DuPont, 3M/Dyneon and Solvay Solexis have met the goals of an EPA-backed program aimed at reducing the emissions from, and use of, long-chain perfluorinated ...
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: CSAPR Signed & Adjusted, New Nukes, Keystone XL, Fracking Tax
The EPA has made a few adjustments to its cross-state air pollution rules (CSAPR), which were signed Tuesday. The adjustments increase budgets in 17 ...
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: Bank of England Considers Carbon Bubble, Diesel Health Study Delayed
The governor of the Bank of England has acknowledged that there is a need for evaluation of the financial system's exposure to high carbon and ...
Plastic Bag Bans ‘Present Hidden Environmental, Economic Costs’
Plastic bag bans incur hidden economic and environmental costs that are "virtually ignored," according to conservative think tank the National Center for Policy Analysis.
More than ...
Utility Asks for 15% Rate Hike; Efficiency Spend to Double
Utility Ameren Missouri is planning a 14.6 percent rate hike next year to reimburse investments in renewable energy, efficiency and reliability.
The subsidiary of Ameren ...
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: CARB Diesel Vehicles, China vs. EU ETS, Mexico Climate Law
California's On-Road Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles (In-Use) Regulation has shifted the reporting date to March 30, 2012, for most privately and federally owned diesel fueled trucks ...
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: Climate Risk, Solyndra, MATS, Clean Air Act, China Diesel Emissions
Insurance commissioners in California, New York and the state of Washington said that insurance companies must disclose disaster response and risk management plans for increasingly ...
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: CASE Report, Solyndra Probe, Keystone XL, Halliburton
The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) has found that levying 100-percent import duties on Chinese-made solar cells and modules may cost more than ...
UN Documents Propose Mandatory Sustainability Reporting
Two influential documents - the Rio+20 negotiating text and the recommendations of the U.N. secretary general's High Level Panel on Global Sustainability - both propose ...
Trusting Science to Help Create Environmental Policy
Public policy should be based on solid scientific research and it is often presumed that when policy decisions are made, decision-makers have utilized ...
Microsoft, Coke, Nestle Detail Climate Adaptation Plans
Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Levi's, Nestle and Starbucks are among a slew of multinational companies listed in an online database just launched by the U.N. that details ...
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: Calif. Car Standards, Dam Removal, Gulf Lease Sale, Biorefinery Help
The California Air Resources Board has unanimously approved new emissions standards for cars and light trucks, for model years 2017 to 2025. The standard cuts ...
Varian Slashes Redesign Time for RoHS, REACH Compliance
Varian Medical Systems, a $2.6 billion manufacturer of medical devices and software, is reducing its time to implement engineering changes from 18 to five days ...
Policy & Enforcement Briefing: Manufacturing Tax Credit, Natural Gas Drilling, Ener1 Chapter 11, Tier 3 Emissions
The White House has released more details about the manufacturing efficiency incentives that President Obama announced in his State of ...
