http://www.environmentalleader.com Environmental Leader Fri, 25 May 2012 17:41:13 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/05/14/epas-mercury-and-air-toxics-standards-costly-and-time-consuming-for-coal-plants/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/05/14/epas-mercury-and-air-toxics-standards-costly-and-time-consuming-for-coal-plants/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 13:45:06 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=76399 Compliance with the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) poses “significant challenges” for coal plants, forcing many to retire rather than make the required retrofits, according to a study commissioned by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO). Economists at the Brattle Group evaluated the MATS, which requires the US coal and oil fleet [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/05/14/epas-mercury-and-air-toxics-standards-costly-and-time-consuming-for-coal-plants/feed/ 5 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/05/11/pepsico-wal-mart-partner-to-manage-ecosystem-risks/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/05/11/pepsico-wal-mart-partner-to-manage-ecosystem-risks/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 16:45:19 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=76364 Anglo American, Grupo Andre Maggi, PepsiCo, Vale, Votorantim and Walmart have partnered to develop business strategies that protect the ecosystems in which they operate in Brazil. The newly formed Parceria Empresarial pelos Serviços Ecossistêmicos, or Brazilian Business and Ecosystem Services Partnership, is an initiative to show how biodiversity and ecosystem services – the benefits that [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/05/11/pepsico-wal-mart-partner-to-manage-ecosystem-risks/feed/ 2 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/23/policy-enforcement-briefing-air-standards-supreme-court-ruling-eu-ets-chevron-keystone-fast-track/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/23/policy-enforcement-briefing-air-standards-supreme-court-ruling-eu-ets-chevron-keystone-fast-track/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:49:12 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=72556 The EPA is retaining the existing secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for NOx and SOx. The agency said that though the standards do not provide adequate protection from harmful deposition-related effects on plants, soil, water and wildlife, levels of NOx and SOx in the air have fallen by more than 50 percent and [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/23/policy-enforcement-briefing-air-standards-supreme-court-ruling-eu-ets-chevron-keystone-fast-track/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/21/johnson-controls-hikes-battery-prices-cites-environmental-costs/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/21/johnson-controls-hikes-battery-prices-cites-environmental-costs/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2012 06:39:28 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=72306 On the heels of a Johnson Controls’ China battery factory being ordered to suspend production after the Shanghai Environment Production Bureau found that the company was the main polluter in the region, the company has announced that it will implement an eight percent price increase on lead-acid batteries sold in the US and Canada for [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/21/johnson-controls-hikes-battery-prices-cites-environmental-costs/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/02/policy-enforcement-briefing-offshore-wind-clean-energy-standard-10-coal-fired-plants-to-retire/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/02/policy-enforcement-briefing-offshore-wind-clean-energy-standard-10-coal-fired-plants-to-retire/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:29:27 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=71054 A planned six-year $180 million Department of Energy initiative is targeting the potential of offshore wind energy. Four offshore wind energy installations will have access to $20 million this year, subject to congressional appropriations, the DOE announced. Letters of intent are due on March 30 and applications are due on May 31, 2012. The EPA [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/02/policy-enforcement-briefing-offshore-wind-clean-energy-standard-10-coal-fired-plants-to-retire/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/02/climate-leadership-award-winners-revealed/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/02/climate-leadership-award-winners-revealed/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:04:18 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=71046 Twenty companies, including IBM, San Diego Gas & Electric, Port of Los Angeles, SAP and UPS, were named the winners of the inaugural Climate Leadership Awards by the EPA, the Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO), the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) (formerly the Pew Center on Global Climate Change), and The Climate [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/03/02/climate-leadership-award-winners-revealed/feed/ 1 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/29/policy-enforcement-briefing-keystone-xl-australia-carbon-tax-eu-ets-permit-supply-u-s-ghg-report/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/29/policy-enforcement-briefing-keystone-xl-australia-carbon-tax-eu-ets-permit-supply-u-s-ghg-report/#comments Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:11:39 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=70827 The White House backed TransCanada Corp.’s bid to build a major portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline – a $2.3 billion section called Gulf Coast Project, which runs from Cushing, Okla., to Texas. It would carry crude oil pumped in the Midwest to refineries in Texas, The Hill reports. The EPA released a statement [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/29/policy-enforcement-briefing-keystone-xl-australia-carbon-tax-eu-ets-permit-supply-u-s-ghg-report/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/17/policy-enforcement-briefing-short-lived-climate-pollutants-mats-mact-smart-energy-act/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/17/policy-enforcement-briefing-short-lived-climate-pollutants-mats-mact-smart-energy-act/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:08:48 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=70186 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, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and methane. The new coalition is the first effort to treat the pollutants together and work on national action plans and policy priorities as a collective challenge. Founding [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/17/policy-enforcement-briefing-short-lived-climate-pollutants-mats-mact-smart-energy-act/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/15/policy-enforcement-briefing-fy-2013-budget-8-3bn-for-vogtle-nukes-pvc-emissions-set/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/15/policy-enforcement-briefing-fy-2013-budget-8-3bn-for-vogtle-nukes-pvc-emissions-set/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:30:08 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=69995 President Obama has proposed his FY 2013 budget, whose measures include the cancellation of $4 billion a year in oil and gas tax breaks and an extension for the Section 1603 tax credit, which covers up to 30 percent of the costs for renewable energy development, according to the Chicago Tribune and Business Week. The [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/15/policy-enforcement-briefing-fy-2013-budget-8-3bn-for-vogtle-nukes-pvc-emissions-set/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/10/policy-enforcement-briefing-csapr-signed-adjusted-new-nukes-keystone-xl-fracking-tax/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/10/policy-enforcement-briefing-csapr-signed-adjusted-new-nukes-keystone-xl-fracking-tax/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:12:34 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=69755 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 states and ease limits on market-based compliance options. These state-level adjustments vary, and the total budget increases by about 2 percent, Clean Air Watch said. CSAPR is still under a stay, [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/10/policy-enforcement-briefing-csapr-signed-adjusted-new-nukes-keystone-xl-fracking-tax/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/01/11/policy-enforcement-briefing-2/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/01/11/policy-enforcement-briefing-2/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:08 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=68164 The elders of the Haisla First Nation voiced their opposition at the opening of a regulatory joint review hearing in Kitamaat Village, British Columbia, on Enbridge’s proposed $5.4 billion Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline for its potential impact on fishing and traditional life on the Pacific Coast. The pipeline would move 525,000 barrels of oil [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/01/11/policy-enforcement-briefing-2/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/23/policy-enforcement-briefing-nrc-approves-reactor-china-tightens-air-pollution-new-zealand-bans-un-offsets/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/23/policy-enforcement-briefing-nrc-approves-reactor-china-tightens-air-pollution-new-zealand-bans-un-offsets/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:51:32 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=67434 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission unanimously approved a new nuclear reactor design, the Westinghouse AP1000, to be used at two American utilities projects in South Carolina and Georgia. The Westinghouse AP1000 is a 1,154-megawatt that reactor relies more on forces like gravity and natural heat convection and less on pumps, valves and operator actions potentially lessening the [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/23/policy-enforcement-briefing-nrc-approves-reactor-china-tightens-air-pollution-new-zealand-bans-un-offsets/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/22/eu-air-directive-upheld/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/22/eu-air-directive-upheld/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:00:32 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=67415 United/Continental Airlines and American Airlines have failed in an attempt to block a European Union law charging airlines flying to the continent for their carbon pollution. The airlines and their trade association, Air Transport Association of America – now known as Airlines for America – had challenged the legality of the EU’s Aviation Directive in [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/22/eu-air-directive-upheld/feed/ 2 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/22/epa-issues-power-plant-mercury-rules/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/22/epa-issues-power-plant-mercury-rules/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:01:00 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=67323 The EPA has issued requirements to control mercury and other toxic air emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants – what it calls the largest unregulated industrial sources of hazardous air pollution in the United States. Under the new, much-delayed rules, power plants will be required to install pollution controls within three years. The regulations [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/22/epa-issues-power-plant-mercury-rules/feed/ 0 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/21/policy-enforcement-briefing-eu-ets-keystone-xl-china-seeks-environmental-investment-mats/ http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/21/policy-enforcement-briefing-eu-ets-keystone-xl-china-seeks-environmental-investment-mats/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:00:01 +0000 Environmental Leader http://www.environmentalleader.com/?p=67300 European Union lawmakers backed a proposal to allow the EU Commission to  support low carbon investments by withholding 1.4 billion permits from the third phase of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The vote is the first of three ballots that could lead to a cut of 8 percent in the supply of permits during the [...]]]> http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/12/21/policy-enforcement-briefing-eu-ets-keystone-xl-china-seeks-environmental-investment-mats/feed/ 0