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Interior Department on Wednesday said it would cancel oil and gas leases in a federal wildlife refuge that were bought by an Alaska state development agency in the final days of former President Donald Trump's administration. Environmentalists and an Alaska indigenous group praised the move while a Republican Senator from Alaska slammed it. A Republican-passed tax bill in 2017 opened the area to oil and gas leasing and directed Interior to hold two lease sales by December 2024. The oil and gas industry largely failed to embrace the 2021 lease sale, which generated just $14 million in high bids, mostly from AIDEA. “We commend Secretary Haaland for canceling unlawfully issued oil-and-gas leases in the Arctic Refuge,” Abigail Dillen, president of environmental group Earthjustice, said in a statement.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Joe Biden, Biden, Deb Haaland, AIDEA, “, ” Abigail Dillen, Dan Sullivan, Interior's, Jarrett Renshaw, Nichola Groom, Chizu Nomiyama, David Gregorio, Mark Porter Organizations: U.S . Fish, Wildlife Service, Library, Fish, REUTERS, Conocophillips, U.S . Interior Department, Alaska Industrial Development, Export Authority, Wildlife, Democrat, National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska Natives, Trump, ConocoPhillips, United Nations, ALASKA Trump's Interior Department, Republican, Biden, Thomson Locations: Beaufort, Wildlife Service Alaska, U.S, Alaska, United States, ALASKA Trump's, ANWR, Washington, Los Angeles

The decision by EPA Administrator Michael Regan means that one of the agency's most important air quality regulations will not be updated until well after the 2024 presidential election. Political Cartoons View All 1145 ImagesThe delay marks the second time in 12 years that a Democratic administration has put off a new ozone standard prior to an election year. Former President Barack Obama shut down plans to tighten ozone standards in 2011, leading to four-year delay before the standards were updated in 2015. "Unfortunately we’ve seen the process for updating the ozone standards repeatedly swept up in political games that risk lives,'' the lawmakers said in an Aug. 7 letter to EPA. Lianne Sheppard, a University of Washington biostatistics professor who chairs the scientific advisory panel, said Regan's decision was “his alone” to make.

Persons: Michael Regan, “, Regan, ”, Barack Obama, Paul Billings, Raul Garcia, ” Garcia, Sen, Sheldon Whitehouse, we’ve, Conor Bernstein, EPA’s, Donald Trump, Bernstein, Andrea Woods, —, Lianne Sheppard, Richard Moore, Peggy Shepard, Moore, Sheppard, Tomas Carbonell, Carbonell Organizations: WASHINGTON, Environmental Protection Agency, Republicans, Democratic, American Lung Association, National Mining Association, American Petroleum Institute, Scientific Advisory, White, Environmental, EPA, University of Washington, E, White House, Los Jardines Institute, WE ACT, Environmental Justice, Air Locations: Billings, Albuquerque , New Mexico, New York City

☆ 'We are being poisoned': Black residents living in Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' say the state is guilty of 'genocide' and environmental racism
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Trisha Gopal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Black residents living in the area have a disproportionate lifetime cancer risk. The complaint alleged that the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality discriminated against Black residents by issuing permits that authorized new industrial facilities. Last year, the EPA announced a critical civil-rights investigation into Louisiana, looking into whether the state had violated the rights of Black residents in Cancer Alley. Smoke billows from a chemical plant in the area along 'Cancer Alley', October 12, 2013. "Once we came up with Cancer Alley, industry hated it, and they've been trying to prove that it's not a reality," he said.

Persons: Sharon Lavigne, James, Lavigne, " Lavigne, Andrew Lichtenstein, Michael Regan, Regan, Matthew, Giles Clarke, Deena Tumeh, Earthjustice, Darryl Malek, Wiley, they've, Kimberly Terrell, Terrell, I'm, James Parish, Pamela Spees, Spees, Malek, " Malek, I've Organizations: EPA, Service, Cancer, Getty, Civil, Inclusive, Brigade, Louisiana Department of Environmental, Center for Public Integrity, Environmental, Sierra Club, Atomic Workers Union, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, Louisiana Tumor, Shell Oil Co, Cancer Alley, Formosa Plastics, Center for Constitutional Rights, Mount Triumph Baptist Church, Local Locations: Louisiana, St, James Parish, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Inclusive Louisiana, Black, Cancer Alley, Baton Rouge, Cancer, Formosa

The proposal requires safe management of coal ash that was dumped in currently unregulated areas, including inactive power plants with surface impoundments that are no longer in use. Coal ash contains hazardous pollutants including arsenic, chromium, lead, and mercury, which have been linked to cancer, heart and thyroid disease and other illnesses. It tends to have a larger impact on low-income, minority communities living near power plants. The groups that filed the petition last year, represented by Earthjustice, found that the EPA exempted coal ash heaps at 566 landfills and dumps at 242 coal plants in 40 states. Now, plant owners in states including Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, New Mexico and Florida with some unregulated coal ash dumps would be required to monitor and clean up all coal ash at a given site, Earthjustice said.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the law, which instructed the U.S. Circuit said the law "makes clear" that those leases are no longer subject to requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires a thorough look at environmental impacts of proposed major federal actions. Earthjustice attorney Steve Mashuda, who represented the environmental groups, said in a statement that the decision will harm Gulf communities and ecosystems. A spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute called the order a “positive step toward more certainty and clarity for energy producers.”The Interior Department, which did not appeal the lower court decision, declined to comment. v. Debra Haaland et al., U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, case No.

The rule also require transitioning existing fleets to zero-emission vehicles. Big rigs, local delivery and government fleets must transition to zero emission by 2035, garbage trucks and local buses by 2039, and sleeper cab tractors and specialty vehicles by 2042. American Trucking Associations Chief Executive Chris Spear criticized the decision to force motor carriers to purchase zero-emission vehicles. On Thursday, CARB adopted new locomotive regulations requiring that by 2030 only those less than 23 years old could operate in the state. The Biden administration must still approve waivers for California to implement the new regulations.

CompaniesCompanies Law Firms Conocophillips FollowApril 3 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday rejected a bid by environmentalists to temporarily suspend the U.S. government’s approval of ConocoPhillips' (COP.N) multibillion-dollar oil drilling project in Alaska’s Arctic. Gleason said an injunction was inappropriate because the groups wouldn't be irreparably harmed by the construction that ConocoPhillips has scheduled for this month, which includes building roads and a gravel mine. Bridget Psarianos, an attorney challenging the approval, called the planned construction schedule "aggressive" and said the judge's decision is "heartbreaking." The approvals for the project in northern Alaska give ConocoPhillips permission to construct three drill pads, 25.8 miles of gravel roads, an air strip and hundreds of miles of ice roads. The 30-year project would produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak, according to the company.

Companies Conocophillips FollowWASHINGTON, March 14 (Reuters) - Six environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday over the Biden administration's approval of ConocoPhillips' (COP.N) Willow oil and gas project in Alaska, which they claimed could be a stepping stone to more development in an ecologically sensitive region. Trustees for Alaska, the Alaska Wilderness League, the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society and other groups said the U.S. Interior Department approved Willow on public lands on the north coast of the state despite acknowledging and failing to mitigate "known harms" to Arctic communities, public health, wildlife and climate. The Interior Department on Monday approved three drill pads for Willow after saying last month it was concerned about the greenhouse gas emissions. The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suits.

Companies Conocophillips FollowWASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The oil industry on Monday cheered the U.S. government's greenlighting of ConocoPhillips' multibillion-dollar oil drilling project in Alaska's Arctic, but court challenges could mire the plans in further delays. President Joe Biden's administration approved a trimmed-down version of the $7 billion Willow project on federal lands in a pristine area on Alaska's north coast. Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, another group involved in the previous suits, said Monday's approval for the Willow project is "still inadequate in numerous respects." Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, told reporters the state's lawmakers are prepared to defend the decision against "frivolous" legal challenges. Even if Interior could beat back the oil company's challenge, it would probably only mean another delay for Willow, he said.

☆ US Postal Service plans to buy 9,250 EV Ford delivery vehicles
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Postal Service (USPS) said Tuesday it plans to buy 9,250 Ford (F.N) E-Transit battery electric vehicles starting later this year and will also purchase an equal number of gasoline-powered models from Chrysler-parent Stellantis (STLAM.MI). Congress in August gave USPS $3 billion as part of a $430 billion climate bill to buy electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. USPS said it will also buy 9,250 2023 and 2024 model year Ram ProMaster vans from Chrysler-parent Stellantis "to fill the urgent need for vehicles." They are part of the 21,000 vehicles included in USPS December vehicle plan. Democratic Senator Gary Peters praised USPS for using funding to "quickly adopt more cost effective and energy efficient electric vehicles."

☆ EPA is investigating Colorado for potentially discriminating against Hispanic residents with air pollution regulations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

DENVER — The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether Colorado’s regulation of air pollution from industrial facilities discriminates against Hispanic residents and other racial minorities, according to a letter released Wednesday. Since then she’s pushed for community air monitoring and stronger protections, but it all feels too late. “We would have moved.”Advocates say the Suncor refinery too often malfunctions, spiking emissions. Nevertheless there are some signs the agency chose Colorado because it could prove a willing partner. Ian Coghill, an attorney with Earthjustice that is challenging the Suncor permit, says the push and pull between the EPA and state hasn’t yielded major improvements.

The Biden administration on Friday announced plans to significantly tighten regulations against methane emissions from domestic oil and gas drilling. The Environmental Protection Agency said the proposed standards would reduce methane from the oil and gas sector by 87% below 2005 levels. In the United States, oil and natural gas operations are the nation’s biggest industrial source of methane, according to the EPA. The Biden administration announced its plan to reduce methane emissions in November 2021 at the last U.N. Last year, the U.S. and the European Union launched the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce the world’s methane emissions by 30 percent by the end of the decade.

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