Tamar Wilner

Tamar Wilner is the managing editor of Environment Energy Pro. She has has 15 years’ experience as a journalist covering business, renewable energy, urban planning, green building and public policy, among other issues, mostly for B2B audiences. She was North America correspondent for Windpower Monthly and has also written for Architectural Record, Regeneration & Renewal, Real Business and Real Finance. She can be reached at Tamar@environmentenergypro.com or 970.377.9505 x15.

Standards & Compliance Briefing: IHG’s LEED, Cargill’s RSPO, Siemens’ LEED

February 18, 2014February 18, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

InterContinental Hotels Group‘s online sustainability program, IHG Green Engage, is now recognized by the US Green Building Council under its LEED Volume program, as well as by Green Key Global, as providing streamlined pathways to certification. IHG says it is the first hotel company to provide an approach to pre-certification ... Read more »

Top EPA Management Challenges: Site Reuse, Chemical Risks, Delegation to States

February 17, 2014February 17, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

The EPA’s top management challenges in 2013 were oversight of delegation to states, safe reuse of contaminated sites, enhancing IT security to combat cyber threats, lack of information and authority for managing chemical risks, and workforce planning, according to the agency’s inspector general. The OIG’s annual plan for FY14 says ... Read more »

Policy & Enforcement Briefing: US Climate Fund, Drought Help, Cap-and-Trade Fines

February 17, 2014February 17, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

President Obama on Friday unveiled proposals for a $1 billion fund to help communities prepare for the effects of climate change. Money would go to research, “breakthrough technologies” and infrastructure. But the fund – which Obama will formally outline in his 2015 budget in March – requires Congressional approval, Reuters ... Read more »

Water Markets ‘Could Reduce Drought Costs’

February 14, 2014February 19, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

The creation of water trading in California could help reduce the costs of drought, a group of professors and non-profit fellows have argued. The authors – including Jay Lund, director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California – say that in the past, drought pressures have led ... Read more »

Policy & Enforcement Briefing: Duke Investigation, Cooling Towers, Chemical Studies

February 14, 2014February 14, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

The federal government has launched a criminal investigation into Duke Energy’s February 2 coal ash spill in North Carolina’s Dan River. The US Attorney’s Office in Raleigh issued subpoenas seeking records from from Duke and the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the AP reports. The EPA has extended the comment ... Read more »

GE, HP, Walmart Play Regulator in Their Own Supply Chains

February 13, 2014February 13, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

Where regulation of environmental impacts is weak, what do big companies do? They take on the regulatory role themselves, according to Bloomberg. The news outlet says government enforcement of environmental rules in some developing countries is struggling to keep up with a surge in manufacturing – so General Electric, Wal-Mart ... Read more »

Standards & Compliance Briefing: ANSI Type I Pilot, Green Building Addenda, Ethanol Blends

February 13, 2014February 13, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

ANSI has created a pilot program to determine the eligibility of a Type I environmental labeling certification scheme and to assess the competence of eco-labeling certification bodies. The pilot follows ANSI’s recently sponsored market analysis, which found a growing demand for ISO-based accreditation of Type 1 environmental labeling. ANSI will be accepting applications for ... Read more »

Patriot Coal Spills Slurry in West Virginia Tributary

February 12, 2014February 12, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

Over 100,000 gallons of coal slurry leaked from a Patriot Coal processing plant into a tributary of West Virginia’s Kanawha River yesterday, blackening six miles of the creek. The leak comes barely a month after a Freedom Industries chemical spill into the Kanawha polluted the drinking water of 300,000 people. ... Read more »

Policy & Enforcement Briefing: Fracking Diesel, GM Corn, Fukushima

February 12, 2014February 12, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

The EPA yesterday released revised underground injection control permitting guidance, along with an interpretative memorandum, for fracking wells that use diesel fuels. EPA developed the guidance to clarify how companies can comply with a law passed by Congress in 2005, which exempted hydraulic fracturing operations from the requirement to obtain a ... Read more »

States Accuse Companies of Improper Cleanup Payments

February 11, 2014February 11, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

Chevron, Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Sunoco have paid more than $105 million through state settlements in the past three years after they were accused of getting paid twice to deal with the same contamination cases, including leaks from underground fuel storage tanks. The cases allege the companies were paid once by ... Read more »

Enforcement Trends: What the EPA Numbers Show

February 10, 2014February 10, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

The number of EPA civil enforcement case initiations and conclusions last year continued a downward trend seen since FY09, as the agency continued to pursue larger and more complex cases, according to newly released data. The FY13 EPA Enforcement and Compliance Annual Results show that last year the agency initiated 2,418 civil ... Read more »

Anadarko, Encana, Pioneer, Apache Have Greatest Fracking Water Risks

February 7, 2014February 7, 2014 by Tamar Wilner

Anadarko, Encana, Pioneer and Apache have the highest exposure to water exposure risks among hydraulic fracturing companies, according to a report by Ceres. But many more companies connected to fracking face long-term water sourcing risks, according to the non-profit. These include the top three service providers, Halliburton, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes, ... Read more »

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