By The Associated Press • March 27, 2021 at 8:35 am | Updated March 27, 2021 at 8:36 am JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The state of Alaska and several other groups have filed to defend the Tongass National Forest’s exemption from a rule that limits development on federal land. The filing fights back against a group of
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Unpacking the US CLEAN Future Act, World Resources Institute
By Dan Lashof, Devashree Saha, Karl Hausker, Greg Carlock, Kevin Kennedy and Tyler Clevenger • March 12, 2021 U.S. Representative Frank Pallone, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, together with subcommittee chairs Bobby Rush and Paul Tonko, introduced the CLEAN Future Act on March 2, 2021. While numerous climate bills are introduced in each Congress, this proposal deserves special attention: It is
MORE »The Biden era of climate-aware forest policy, The Hill
By Mike Dombeck And Jim Furnish, Opinion Contributors • 03/04/21 04:30 PM ESTThe Views Expressed By Contributors Are Their Own And Not The View Of The Hill One of the most egregious acts of the previous administration’s public lands agenda was the October decision to revoke protections for 9 million acres of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, one
MORE »House Democrats introduce bill with pathway to 100% clean energy by 2035, Utility Dive
By Catherine Morehouse • Published March 3, 2021 Dive Brief: House Democrats unveiled legislation on Tuesday that would bring economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net-zero by 2050, and cut emissions 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 or sooner. The CLEAN Future Act proposes a national Clean Energy Standard that would require all retail electric providers to generate 100% of their
MORE »Millennium parent company files for Chapter 11; Columbia River site goes back to Alcoa, The Columbian ($)
By Marissa Heffernan • The Daily News • Published January 19, 2021 10:15AM LONGVIEW — After Millennium Bulk Terminals’ parent company filed for bankruptcy this month, the fate of the proposed coal terminal on the old Reynolds Aluminum Co. site is again in doubt, with opponents to the terminal calling the project dead. On Jan. 8, a
MORE »Bankrupt coal firm fails to find buyer for West Coast export terminal, Casper Star Tribune
Camille Erickson • Jan 11, 2021 | Updated May 26, 2021 Wyoming’s long-held dream of exporting Powder River Basin coal from a West Coast terminal was recently dashed when the project’s owner filed for bankruptcy and failed to find an interested buyer. Lighthouse Resources Inc. petitioned for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 3. The company owns the Decker coal mine
MORE »Trump Administration Lifts Protections For Largest National Forest In US, NPR
Emily Kwong, Madeline K. Sofia, and Rebecca Ramirez • November 17, 2020, 4:00 AM ET The Trump administration has eliminated federal protections for the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. In late October, the U.S. Forest Service, part of the Department of Agriculture, cleared the way for
MORE »Trump Rolled Back 100+ Environmental Rules. Biden May Focus on Undoing Five of the Biggest Ones, Inside Climate News
Together, the five regulations, if not reversed, would release an additional 1.8 billion to 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by 2035. By Marianne Lavelle • November 17, 2020 Even if President-elect Joe Biden can reassemble the pieces of climate policy shattered by President Donald Trump, it is not likely to be
MORE »Biden EPA likely to confront tough Clean Air Act choices for US power sector, S&P Global Market Intelligence
By Zack Hale • 10 Nov, 2020 With razor-thin control of the U.S. Senate resting on the outcome of two special elections in January 2021, President-elect Joe Biden will likely be forced to pursue much of his energy and climate agenda through executive orders and administrative rulemakings. And that may require the U.S. Environmental Protection
MORE »Colorado Coal Mine Road Construction Blocked by Tenth Circuit, Bloomberg Law ($)
Mountain Coal Co. LLC can’t continue road work as part of a coal mine expansion in western Colorado, the Tenth Circuit ruled in a win for environmental groups who argued the Arch Resources Inc. subsidiary was violating the court’s mandate. The Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, and others sought an injunction after
MORE »In Colorado, Federal Judges Block Coal Mining Construction in Protected Roadless Forest, Earthjustice Press Release
Victory: The injunction prevents Mountain Coal from further destruction of the roadless forest in the West Elk Mountains until a challenge from conservation groups is resolved DENVER, CO The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today blocked further construction for a coal-mine expansion in the Sunset roadless area of Colorado’s Gunnison National Forest. The injunction prevents Mountain Coal,
MORE »Trump Administration Releases Plan to Open Tongass Forest to Logging, New York Times ($)
The effort to open the Alaskan wilderness area, the nation’s largest national forest, has been in the works for about two years. By Coral Davenport • Published Sept. 24, 2020 | Updated Dec. 1, 2020 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday finalized its plan to open about nine million acres of the pristine woodlands of Alaska’s Tongass National
MORE »20 states sue over Trump rule limiting states from blocking pipeline projects, The Hill
By Rebecca Beitsch • 07/21/20 03:31 PM EDT A coalition of 20 states is suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a rule that weakens states’ ability to block pipelines and other controversial projects that cross their waterways. The Clean Water Act previously allowed states to halt projects that risk hurting their water quality, but that
MORE »Coal company says its freshly bulldozed road in roadless area near Paonia is legal, Colorado Sun
Colorado mining regulators this week ordered Mountain Coal to stop building roads after a federal court ruling blocked the West Elk Mine from expanding into the Sunset Roadless Area. Jason Blevins • 4:20 AM MDT on Jun 20, 2020 Mountain Coal Co. says the road it blazed into the Sunset Roadless Area below Kebler Pass is legal
MORE »Trump Weakens Major Conservation Law to Speed Construction Permits, New York Times ($)
By Lisa Friedman • Published July 15, 2020 | Updated Aug. 4, 2020 WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday unilaterally weakened one of the nation’s bedrock conservation laws, the National Environmental Policy Act, limiting public review of federal infrastructure projects to speed up the permitting of freeways, power plants and pipelines. In doing so, the Trump administration claimed it would save
MORE »E.P.A. Weakens Controls on Mercury, New York Times ($)
The agency is changing the way it calculates the benefits of mercury controls, a move that would effectively loosen the rules on other toxic pollutants. By Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport • Published April 16, 2020 | Updated Dec. 7, 2020 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday weakened regulations on the release of mercury and other toxic metals from
MORE »E.P.A. Finalizes Its Plan to Replace Obama-Era Climate Rules, New York Times ($)
By Lisa Friedman • June 19, 2019 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Wednesday replaced former President Barack Obama’s effort to reduce planet-warming pollution from coal plants with a new rule that would keep plants open longer and undercut progress on reducing carbon emissions. The rule represents the Trump administration’s most direct effort to protect the
MORE »Trump’s order would make it harder to block pipelines, and projects such as Longview coal-export terminal, Seattle Times ($)
By Hal Bernton • Seattle Times staff reporter • April 10, 2019 at 7:49 pm | Updated April 11, 2019 at 9:32 am President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that could make it harder for state governments to block energy-development projects such as a proposed coal-export terminal in southwest Washington that has failed to get a permit
MORE »Trump signs executive orders to stop states from delaying energy projects, Globe and Mail ($)
Jeff Mason and Timothy Gardner • Reuters • Published April 10, 2019 | Updated April 11, 2019 U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders in the heart of the Texas energy hub on Wednesday seeking to speed natural gas, coal and oil projects delayed by coastal states as he looks to build support ahead
MORE »Court Rejects EPA Challenge to State BACT Determination for Coal Power Plant, Schnapf LLC Environmental Law
Air Pollution • By Larry Schnapf The Clean Air Act imposes an alphabet soup of emission control technologies on owners and operators of stationary sources. Depending on the regulatory program and air pollutants, a facility may have to comply with BACT, BART, BDT, GACT, LAER, MACT and RACT. While the process of identifying the applicable emission
MORE »The Scenic Protections of the Clean Air Act, North Dakota Law Review, Vol 87
The Scenic Protections of the Clean Air Act By John Copeland Nagle North Dakota Law Review: Vol. 87 : No. 4 , Article 5.First Page 571 – Last Page 602 I. INTRODUCTION The purpose of the Clean Air Act (CAA) is to make sure there is cleanair throughout the United States.2 The air in many
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