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Obama admin is going to be awfully busy with new environmental regulations

by Silvester Mongan Posted on November 29, 2013

Obama admin is going to be awfully busy with new environmental regulations

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Looks like federal environmental officials might be headed for some all-nighters in the coming months.

Hundreds of planned new regulations were outlined by the White House just before Thanksgiving, including many proposed environmental rules that could help the country clean up its act and fight climate change.

No fewer than seven reporters for E&E Publishing scoured the latest biannual Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, published Wednesday, and here is a sampling of the environmental regulatory efforts that they say are in the works:

EPA

U.S. EPA has a full plate with more than 140 items on the docket, including its high-profile regulations tightening carbon dioxide emissions from both new and existing power plants. The rule for future power plants — proposed earlier this fall — does not have a finalization date listed but is expected to be done next year. …

Interior

The agency, which oversees energy development, wildlife protections and recreation on roughly one-fifth of the nation’s land and nearly all of its oceans, is still working on rules governing hydraulic fracturing, Arctic drilling, oil shale management and endangered species, among hundreds of others.

High-profile actions include the finalization of the Bureau of Land Management’s sweeping hydraulic fracturing regulations, targeted for May 2014. …

DOE

The Department of Energy will maintain its renewed focus on energy efficiency requirements for various consumer and industrial appliances, according to its agenda. Among the 82 activities listed on the agenda are new or updated rulemakings covering a variety of products, including residential boilers, vending machines and commercial ice makers. …

DOT

The agenda also lists a series of forthcoming hazardous material regulations required by the surface transportation bill signed into law in 2012. MAP-21 requires the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to set new benchmarks for the evaluation and approval of special permits for the transportation of chemicals and other hazardous materials.

The agency will also consider stricter safety rules for the transportation of hazardous material by rail and regulatory changes that cover liquids transported in onshore pipelines.

That’s just a small snapshot of what the reporters found. You can scour the upcoming regulations for yourself. But we recommend you just head right over to the exhaustive summary put together by the E&E folks.


Source
White House releases agenda for hundreds of new rules, E&E Publishing

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Obama admin is going to be awfully busy with new environmental regulations

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House Passes GOP Bill That Could Curb Civil Rights Lawsuits

by BerndHugg Posted on November 18, 2013

Mother Jones

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Last week, the House passed a GOP bill that would slap fines on people who file “frivolous lawsuits”—like that one against the Weather Channel for failing to predict a storm. Except that the bill could also discourage Americans from filing civil rights lawsuits, according to Democrats who oppose the bill.

The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, which was introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), passed the House 228 to 195, with only three Democrats voting in favor. It would require courts to fine attorneys for bringing suits that are intended to harass the defendant, or whose claims are not based on fact or existing law, or are not backed by a legitimate argument for establishing new law.

“Lawsuit abuse is common in America because the lawyers who bring these frivolous cases have everything to gain and nothing to lose,” Smith said when the bill passed. He and fellow Republicans say that frivolous lawsuits waste thousands of court hours and cost companies billions of dollars each year.

But Democrats say the bill would have dangerous side effects. Smiths’ bill could also make it harder for people to successfully bring civil rights lawsuits, they say, because these cases often hinge on new types of legal issues—such as transgender rights—making them more vulnerable to being shot down as invalid by a court. (Earlier this month, House Speaker John Boehner called discrimination lawsuits brought by LGBT individuals “frivolous“.) Victims of discrimination may be less likely to file suit if they know they could be penalized for doing so.

The bill “will turn the clock back to a time when federal rules of civil procedure discouraged civil rights cases and limited judicial discretion,” House judiciary committee ranking member John Conyers (D-Mich.) told The Hill after the bill passed, adding that the legislation would “have a disastrous impact on the administration of justice.”

So, it’s a good thing Smith’s bill isn’t going anywhere. The White House opposes it, and the Senate is unlikely to take the legislation up for a vote.

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House Passes GOP Bill That Could Curb Civil Rights Lawsuits

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In 2 Charts: Why Hillary (and Bill) Clinton Damn Well Better Hope Obamacare Succeeds

by Julie Plunkett Posted on November 13, 2013

Mother Jones

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Bill Clinton did it again. On Tuesday, he interjected himself into the ongoing political tussle over the implementation of Obamacare by declaring that President Barack Obama “should honor” his “commitment” to allow people to hang on to their preexisiting health insurance plans. With this comment, the Secretary of Explaining Stuff gave ammo to the foes of Obamacare, and he, unintentionally or not, undermined a core element of the health care law. And, no surprise, he kicked off a spasm of speculation among the politerati: What are the Clintons up to? Will Hillary, if she runs for president, distance herself from the White House? Will she somehow suggest she’s more competent than Obama? All this commentary was to be expected. There’s something about the Clintons that encourages folks to sniff out clever schemes, intricate plots, and self-serving conniving.

But there’s a basic fact that cannot be escaped: The Clintons need Obamacare to succeed. Just look at the chart in the video below:

After Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992, he placed his wife in charge of health care reform. (It was part of the two-for-one deal.) And she subsequently unveiled a complicated reform plan that was quickly dubbed Hillarycare by Republicans and conservatives. The Clintons did seem to have a decent amount of political momentum on their side, and their GOP foes, fretting about being rolled, initially entertained the crazy idea of working with the White House to hammer out compromises and shape the legislation a bit more to their liking. Then came Sen. Arlen Specter, a cantankerous Pennsylvania Republican (who years later would switch parties). He hit the Senate floor with charts—complicated wire diagrams that appeared nearly impossible to sort out—that purportedly showed that Hillarycare would create a bureaucratic nightmare. It looked incomprehensibly complicated.

Meanwhile, Rep. Dick Armey, a leading House Republican, created his own chart:

Courtesy of Freedomworks

Armey’s office captioned the chart, “Simplicity Defined.” Dole showcased it in his 1994 response to Clinton’s State of the Union address.

After first toying with a get-along strategy for dealing with Hillarycare, the Republicans mounted a fierce opposition against it, and these charts fueled that effort (along with the Harry and Louise ad campaign orchestrated by the health insurance industry). Waving these charts, the GOPers succeeded in killing Hillarycare—and, decrying the Clintons’ health care proposal, they went on to seize control of the House in the 1994 midterm elections.

Hillarycare ended up a political failure and set back the cause of health care reform for nearly two decades. It’s not an episode that Hillary Clinton would want discussed during a 2016 presidential campaign. If Obamacare thrives, there will be no reason to look back to Hillarycare and drag these charts out of the dustbin of history. But should the Affordable Care Act falter or collapse, a question will loom: What would Hillary do about health care? Her past record would be raked over and that would likely not boost her presidential prospects. Having screwed up in the early 1990s, could she argue that she would do a better job in reforming the health care system than Obama?

It would be best for a Clinton 2016 campaign for health care to be off the table—with no need to revisit all this inconvenient ancient history. That means she and Bill should be hoping that the implementation of Obamacare proceeds well—and they should do all they can to encourage that. So Bill Clinton ought to coordinate (closely) with the White House on what stuff he should be explaining. It’s not only the president’s political fortunes that are tied to Obamacare.

Source:

In 2 Charts: Why Hillary (and Bill) Clinton Damn Well Better Hope Obamacare Succeeds

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Administration Presses Ahead With Limits on Emissions From Power Plants

by Myrna Posted on September 19, 2013

The limits, to be announced Friday, are an aggressive move to bypass Congress on climate change, and a sign that the White House is not backing down from a confrontation on emissions. Source:  Administration Presses Ahead With Limits on Emissions From Power Plants ; ;Related ArticlesThe Texas Tribune: Texas, Where Oil Rules, Turns Its Eye to Energy EfficiencyU.S. Revives Aid Program for Clean EnergyMisgivings About How a Weed Killer Affects the Soil ;

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Administration Presses Ahead With Limits on Emissions From Power Plants

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Big biz fights Obama admin’s calculations on carbon costs

by rpgf8m1 Posted on September 12, 2013

Big biz fights Obama admin’s calculations on carbon costs

By

The White House

Is he pondering the social cost of carbon?

Big business doesn’t like the way the Obama administration tallies the costs of carbon pollution. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute, America’s Natural Gas Alliance, and other industry groups are fighting the federal government’s latest “social cost of carbon” calculations.

The social cost of carbon is an attempt to quantify the climate-related costs of fossil-fuel burning — costs associated with floods, falling farmland productivity, and climate-related illnesses. The social cost of carbon was raised by the Obama administration in May, from $23.80 per ton to $38.

The change would help justify federal policies that more aggressively rein in carbon pollution. And that’s not something that groups representing America’s biggest and dirtiest companies want.

“The SCC [social cost of carbon] estimates are the product of an opaque process and any pretensions to their supposed accuracy (and therefore usefulness in policy making) are unsupportable,” the groups wrote in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget, petitioning it to abandon the recent calculations.

And opponents are doing more than sending a letter. From Fuel Fix:

The move dovetails with action on Capitol Hill, as the House voted in July to block the EPA from using the social cost of carbon to evaluate the merits of potential energy-related regulations, unless specifically authorized by Congress. A House subcommittee also held a hearing exploring the issue.

American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said the decisions about the costs of greenhouse gas emissions belong in the hands of elected officials, not bureaucrats.

Right, because a Congress full of climate deniers that can’t even pass basic spending bills should be charged with tallying complicated pollution impacts and calculating the economic repercussions of global warming. Thanks for the suggestion.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

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Big biz fights Obama admin’s calculations on carbon costs

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Canadian PM to Obama: Let’s make a deal on Keystone!

by rezhh8j Posted on September 7, 2013

Canadian PM to Obama: Let’s make a deal on Keystone!

By

Jason Ransom / US embassy – Canada

Harper says, “Let’s make a deal, eh”? Obama laughs inscrutably.

Looks like Canada is getting desperate.

The country’s leaders and its oil industry really, really want the Keystone XL pipeline built so they can ship tar-sands oil from Alberta to refineries along the Gulf Coast. But the Obama administration keeps postponing its decision on the pipeline.

In his big climate speech in June, President Obama said he would approve Keystone only “if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.” And in an interview with The New York Times in July, Obama said, “there is no doubt that Canada at the source in those tar sands could potentially be doing more to mitigate carbon release.”

So now Canada is trying a new approach, offering to make a deal with Obama on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. CBC broke the story:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama formally proposing “joint action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector,” if that is what’s needed to gain approval of the Keystone XL pipeline through America’s heartland, CBC News has learned.

Sources told CBC News the prime minister is willing to accept targets proposed by the United States for reducing the climate-changing emissions and is prepared to work in concert with Obama to provide whatever political cover he needs to approve the project.

The letter, sent in late August, is a clear signal Canada is prepared to make concessions to get the presidential permit for TransCanada Corp.’s controversial $7-billion pipeline …

[T]he White House has yet to respond to the letter.

Enviros, of course, are not impressed. Just last week, the Sierra Club and other green groups put out a new report: “FAIL: How the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Flunks the Climate Test” [PDF].

News of Harper’s letter did not change activists’ minds. Expansion of tar-sands operations “is a recipe for climate failure and the Obama administration should reject any deal from the Harper government,” said Danielle Droitsch of the Natural Resources Defense Council. 350.org made the same point more colorfully:

350.org


Source
Harper offers Obama climate plan to win Keystone approval, CBC

Lisa Hymas is senior editor at Grist. You can follow her on Twitter and Google+.

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Canadian PM to Obama: Let’s make a deal on Keystone!

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Seventh Generation 22813 Disinfecting and Cleaning Wipes, 7 x 8, White, 70/Canister

by Myrna Posted on August 24, 2013

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Proctor Silex 62515 5-Speed Easy Mix Hand Mixer, White

by Myrna Posted on August 21, 2013

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Innoo Tech 55ft/17m 100 LED white Solar Fairy String Lights for outdoor, gardens, homes, Christmas party

by Myrna Posted on August 20, 2013

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Omega J8003 Nutrition Center Single-Gear Commercial Masticating Juicer, White

by Myrna Posted on August 18, 2013

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