The debate over whether the Environmental Protection Agency should use cost-benefit analysis to help determine possible upgrades to existing powerplants has hit the Supreme Court. Oral arguments on Dec. 2 dealt with an appeal of a lower-court decision striking down a 2004 EPA rule allowing costs of upgrades to be weighed against environmental benefits. At issue are older powerplants that use once-through cooling systems, which draw millions of gallons of water to cool their facilities. Environmental groups want older plants to be retrofitted with closed-cycle cooling systems, which use cooling towers. Entergy Corp. argues that upgrade costs could approach $1.5
The Housing and Urban Development Dept. on Nov. 26 parceled out $2.1 billion in Community Development Block Grants to help 13 states and Puerto Rico rebuild from 2008 storms and other natural disasters. Texas gets $1.3 billion, Louisiana $438 million and Iowa $125 million. Some funds can go for infrastructure repairs. The allotment is part of $6.5 billion in CDBG disaster aid contained in a spending bill enacted on Oct. 1.
Despite objections from state congressional representatives who seek funding from the Obama administration, Washington state sued the U.S. Energy Dept. on Nov. 26 in federal district court in Spokane for failing to meet key milestones to clean up 53 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste at the 586-square-mile Hanford former nuclear weapons site. The lawsuit addresses DOE’s pace in emptying 177 aging and leaking underground waste tanks and seeks earlier completion of the site’s $12.3-billion high-level waste vitrification plant, already years behind schedule. Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) also seeks new groundwater and soil remediation deadlines at the country’s largest cleanup
Construction groups are pleased that proposed new Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for pollutant discharges from construction sites would rely more on “best management practices” for sediment and erosion control than on numeric limits on sediment in stormwater runoff. Under the proposal, circulated on Nov. 19, only certain sites of 30 acres or more would be required to meet specific numeric levels for turbidity. Leah Pilconis, environmental consultant for the Associated General Contractors, calls EPA’s proposal “workable” but adds that the numeric limits on large sites could be costly for contractors. In September, a federal appeals court upheld a lower-court ruling
With the Bush administration coming to a close, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s head, Edwin G. Foulke Jr., has left to join Fisher & Phillips LLP, an Atlanta-based law firm. He started there as a partner, effective on Nov. 10. Thomas M. Stohler, the Labor Dept.’s deputy assistant secretary for occupational safety and health since May, was named acting assistant secretary. He had been a senior legislative officer at Labor.
Environmental groups and renewable-energy advocates are hailing the ascendancy of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to the helm of the Energy and Commerce Committee. House Democrats voted 137-122 on Nov. 20 to replace long-time Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), a staunch auto-industry ally, with Waxman. “Greens” see Waxman as friendlier than Dingell on issues such as climate change. Renewable-energy groups hope that, with Waxman as chairman, they can make more headway on incentives for alternative power sources. Greg Wetstone, American Wind Energy Association senior director of government and public affairs, says his group looks forward to securing, “at last, a long-term national
With a big push from President-elect Barack Obama, a new economic-stimulus measure is virtually certain to be introduced soon after the new Congress begins in January. Odds also are good that infrastructure funding will be part of that package. Major questions remain, however, including how large the overall plan will be and how much of the money will go for public works. Obama says stimulus plan should be “significant enough that it really gives a jolt to the economy.” Obama continues to say a stimulus is at the top of his domestic agenda. The President-elect on Nov. 24 announced his
Environmental groups are cheering the election of Barack Obama and an end to an era they view as less than friendly to the environment. “The Bush administration has done a lot of damage to our nation’s environmental protections over the past eight years,” says Mike Daulton, National Audubon Society’s legislative director. Looking ahead, environmentalists’ priorities include securing passage of global warming legislation, limiting offshore oil drilling and reversing changes to the Endangered Species Act. Other environmental goals dovetail with those that construction groups support, such as reauthorizing Clean Water State Revolving Funds and boosting spending on water infrastructure. The National
As the Senate began a lame duck session, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Nov. 17 proposed a $100.3-billion economic-stimulus bill, with about $23 billion for infrastructure work. But in a sign that the plan faces long odds, Reid also said he has a smaller backup plan, without public-works aid. The $100.3-billion bill has $10 billion for highways, $2.5 billion for transit, $2.5 billion for wastewater treatment and drinking-water projects, $2.5 billion for schools and $900 million for Corps of Engineers civil works. Some Republicans, cool toward a public-works stimulus, may block the bill. Reid’s Plan B only has an
Fewer employers than initially proposed will be required to use the government’s electronic system for checking employees’ immigration status under a final Dept. of Homeland Security rule that takes effect on Jan. 15. DHS had proposed that companies holding prime federal contracts over $3,000 would have to use the federal “E-Verify” system. But the final rule, published on Nov. 14, changes the prime contract level to $100,000. Business groups had lobbied heavily for a higher threshold. But the American Sub�contractors Association is disappointed that subs still will be subject to the $3,000 level. DHS says companies enrolling in the program
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