At a legislative hearing on the status of California’s cap-and-trade system yesterday, the Chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), Mary Nichols, indicated they are proposing to start the program in 2012 but delay the first compliance period to 2013. Cap-and-trade is a cornerstone of California’s approach to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to […]
The Environmental Protection Agency is delaying issuing final regulations aimed at cutting pollution from factory boilers until April 2012. The delay is one in a serious of slowdowns in regulatory agenda to curb carbon dioxide emissions using the Clean Air Act and several rules aimed at reducing emissions from coal-burning power plants. Although the federal […]
Texas is now the first state with a law requiring upstream oil companies to publicly disclose the chemicals they use when extracting oil and gas from dense shale formations. The natural-gas industry, bowing to longtime pressure, will disclose more information about the chemicals it uses for hydraulic fracturing. Several other state agencies have regulations forcing […]
New York Times reported that scientists have been using small variations in the Earth’s gravity to identify trouble spots around the globe where people are making unsustainable demands on groundwater, one of the planet’s main sources of fresh water. They found problems in places as disparate as North Africa, northern India, northeastern China and the […]
EPA will impose stricter pollution controls on wetlands and streams. The new guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency, which will be codified in a federal regulation later this year, could prevent the dumping of mining waste and the discharge of industrial pollutants to waters that feed creeks, lakes, and drinking water supplies. The specific restriction […]
One of the chief complaints of Japanese citizens—and indeed the world community—as the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has unfolded has been the lack of information that TEPCO, the electric utility that owns and operates the plant, (and the Japanese government) have shared. From thousands of miles away, the nuclear community is piecing together […]
US EPA today announced that they are extending this year’s deadline for their greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting program to September 30, 2011. The program was launched in October 2009, and requires large emission sources and fuel suppliers to report their GHG emissions to EPA on an annual basis. EPA previously indicated that the original reporting deadline of March […]
Locus Technologies has expanded its flagship product EIM to manage data and information for natural gas exploration and production sites that use hydro fracturing technologies to extract gas from shale. The relatively new drilling method for natural gas extraction — known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking — carries significant environmental risks. It involves […]
On Wednesday, February 2, 2011, the Obama administration outlined a more aggressive approach to curbing levels of certain chemicals in drinking water, saying it will develop a legal nationwide maximum for one chemical and signaling a separate effort to set new limits for other substances. The Environmental Protection Agency announced that they would be moving […]
Two-Month Grace Period for Operators Subject to 1 October 2010 Verification Deadline.