Appalachians Hail EPA’s Great Victory for Clean Water Act and Justice
By Jeff Biggers Earlier this morning, I wrote a piece for April Fool’s Day, Obama Ends 150-Year War of Strip-Mining in 24 States: Mountaintop Removal Loses Its Groove. Well, turns out the second part wasn’t an April Fool’s joke after all. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson invoked the rule of science and law today–and for the [...]
Sen. Byrd splits with Rocky IV on bill to block EPA from issuing greenhouse gas limits
by Ken Ward Jr. This just in: Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., on why he declined to co-sponsor Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s bill to block EPA from issuing greenhouse gas limits: I do not plan to cosponsor Senator Rockefeller’s legislation at this time. I was encouraged by the response last week from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson [...]
Rocky IV seeks more delay in greenhouse gas controls, but offers no plan of his own
by Ken Ward Jr. West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller today is introducing legislation seeking to delay — for two years — any federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Rockefeller says his bill aims to give Congress: … The time it needs to address an issue as complicated and expansive as our energy future … Congress, [...]
Meet me at Starbucks: EPA’s secret rendezvous with 3M
by Ken Ward Jr. The last we heard, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials had held a couple of days of closed-door meetings with folks from DuPont Co., listening to DuPont’s pitch against tougher regulation of perfluorinated chemicals like PFOA (C8) and PFOS. Now, it turns out that those meetings, held in October at EPA headquarters [...]
EPA moves to set stage for regulations
by Ken Ward Jr. Word just in today that a federal appeals court has declined to consider DuPont Co.’s appeal of a district judge’s decision that allowed New Jersey residents to pursue claims of private nuisance and strict liability as class-action suits against the chemical giant. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the [...]
Obama EPA moves to tighten smog standard
by Ken Ward Jr. In a move that’s been expected since September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just announced that it is tightening the nationwide air pollution standards for smog. EPA said: Smog, also known as ground-level ozone, is linked to a number of serious health problems, ranging from aggravation of asthma to increased risk [...]
EPA responds to WVDEP fill policy announcement
by Ken Ward Jr. This statement was just released by U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, in response to WVDEP Secretary Randy Huffman’s new policy on surface mining permits with valley fills: Today’s announcement from West Virginia’s State government is a critical acknowledgement of the substantial environmental, water and health impacts that result from mountaintop mining [...]
Remembering the Kingston, Tenn., coal-ash disaster
by Ken Ward Jr. A year ago next Tuesday, at about 1 a.m., a coal-ash dike ruptured at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Plant near the junction of the Emory and Clinch rivers in East Tennessee. An estimated 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash spilled into nearby streams, fields and homes. The disaster revealed [...]
EPA IG: Coal ash report withholding an ‘oversight’
by Ken Ward Jr. In May, Coal Tattoo covered the release of a once-secret U.S. EPA report that examined the risks of living near a coal-fired power plant ash dump. I wrote at the time: Every year, coal-fired power plants dump nearly 100 million tons of various wastes — fly ash, bottom ash, and scrubber [...]
