EPA Archives - The Florida Capital Star

House Passes Bill Hitting Back Against Biden’s EV Agenda

December 8, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The House passed a bill Wednesday that would neutralize one of the key policies underlying the Biden administration’s electric vehicle (EV) push.

The Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act passed by a bipartisan vote in the legislature’s lower chamber, and it will now head to the Senate. The bill would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from imposing new vehicle emissions rules that either mandate the use of a specific technology or reduce the availability of new cars based on the type of engine.

Biden Admin Preparing to Finalize Barrage of Methane Regulations

November 26, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The Biden administration is gearing up to finalize a host of emissions rules and regulations in the coming months, E&E News reported Wednesday.

The rules and regulations are all focused on methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent, but dissipates more quickly, than carbon dioxide, and align with the administration’s commitment to attacking climate change with a “whole-of-government” response. The Biden administration is aiming to finalize the slew of methane regulations in the coming months ahead of the 2024 election, which would make the rules more difficult for a potential Republican administration to scrap should President Joe Biden lose, according to E&E News.

Commentary: The EPA’s Coming Energy Catastrophe

November 10, 2023 RealClearWire

The nation’s electric grid experts and operators now work in a constant state of emergency. There’s little if any respite in the change of seasons. Fears of soaring electricity demand overwhelming power supplies during searing summer heat are now matched by an equally unnerving fear millions will be left shivering in darkness during the coldest days of winter.

The question is no longer will there be rolling blackouts or grid emergencies but rather when or where.

EPA Shelled Out Millions to Dem Megadonor-Tied Group Seeking to Hamstring American Industry

September 26, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave a $13 million grant to a Michael Bloomberg-tied group looking to undermine a key U.S. industry under the EPA’s regulatory purview.

The EPA grant went to the Deep South Center For Environmental Justice (DSCFEJ), a grassroots eco-activism group that is a coalition partner of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ “Beyond Petrochemicals” campaign, according to the campaign’s website. The “Beyond Petrochemicals” campaign seeks to halt the expansion of petrochemical projects that manufacture fertilizer, plastics and packaging in the U.S., according to its website.

Most EPA Employees Really Don’t Want to Show Back Up to the Office, Survey Finds

September 4, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

More than 80% of surveyed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees said that they would experience “personal hardships” if the agency changes its remote work policies to align more with the White House’s push to get government employees back into their offices, E&E News reported.

The survey results indicate that there is a significant disconnect between rank-and-file EPA employees and senior Biden administration officials over the White House’s return-to-office push for federal employees who have enjoyed expanded remote work policies since the pandemic. About 66% of the survey’s respondents said that they would consider leaving the agency if remote work flexibility diminished, and more than 65% of polled EPA employees said that reductions to remote work would negatively impact “diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility,” according to a summary of the survey’s results.

Commentary: The Biden Admin Has a Bad Regulation for Every Room in Your House

August 7, 2023August 6, 2023 Admin

This year began with federal regulators targeting gas stoves, but we have since seen a host of other proposals going after washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers, ceiling fans, water heaters, and others. They are all part of the Biden administration’s prioritization of the climate change agenda over the interests of consumers. Each runs the risk of boosting appliance prices, limiting choice, and compromising performance. And cumulatively, they add up to substantial headaches for homeowners that will only grow in the years ahead.

EPA Poised to Turbocharge Biden’s Climate Agenda After Ripping Up Trump-Era Rule

July 14, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 7 rescinded a Trump-era EPA rule which required the agency to conduct benefit-cost analysis of any significant new air pollution rules.

While it was in effect, the rescinded benefit-cost analysis rule required the EPA to identify the specific problem a new air pollution regulation addresses, explain why market alternatives cannot solve that problem and distinguish between direct and indirect health benefits that an air pollution emission is expected to generate. The Biden EPA will be able to more freely pursue its regulatory agenda against fossil fuels using the Clean Air Act after issuing a final rescission of the benefit-cost rule.

19 State Attorneys General Sue Biden Admin over Electric Trucking Rules

July 10, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

Nearly 20 state attorneys general are filing a lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over regulations it has attempted to implement demanding that the trucking industry shift towards electric vehicles.

In an op-ed for Fox News, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R-Iowa) refers to policies first enacted back in March, in conjunction with an effort by the state of California to ban gas or diesel trucks in favor of electric trucks, ostensibly in the name of reducing so-called “global warming.”

10 States to Sue EPA for Not Updating Wood Stove Emission Standards

July 5, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

Ten states and a regional government clean air agency plan on suing the Environmental Protection Agency for allegedly failing to update emission standards for wood-burning stoves, allowing high-emission stoves to still be sold.

The mostly Democratic state attorneys general filed a notice of intent to sue the EPA last week.

Commentary: The EPA’s Proposed Carbon Capture and Storage Regulations Is a Trial Lawyer’s Dream

June 15, 2023 RealClearWire

In May, the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed new regulations that will require power plants to capture almost all their CO2 emissions, compress them, transport them via a network of pipelines, and store them underground. The plan is economic folly, but the problems go beyond money: CO2 injected underground may well escape into the atmosphere or contaminate underground water supplies, either of which could yield deadly results and create a feeding frenzy of litigation. The liability risks will be another nail in the coffin for the country’s reliance on fossil fuels to supply electricity, which in 2022 accounted for about 60% of all generation.

GOP House Settles Rift, Returns to Conservative Agenda in Passing Bill Protecting Gas Stoves

June 14, 2023 Just the News

The rift with within the Republican House Conference that shut down floor votes last week appears to have been resolved enough for the chamber to resume voting, with the Tuesday passage of a marquee conservative bill to stop Biden administration initiatives to further regulate gas-powered stoves.

The Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act passed 248-180, after failing to get a final vote last week because 11 conservative-leaning conference members – in a nearly unprecedented move – blocked a preliminary procedural vote, essentially over what they considered House GOP leadership’s mishandling of the debt-ceiling agreement with Democrat President Joe Biden.

Commentary: The Nonsensical ‘Holy Climate Panacea’ Triad of More Wind, Solar, and Electric Cars is Maddening

May 31, 2023 RealClearWire

This list could be closer to 50 but let’s just stick to a handful of them. I literally live in this business every day, and I’m just so confused.

Supreme Court Rolls Back Biden EPA’s Expansive Water Regulation

May 26, 2023May 25, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The Supreme Court rolled back the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate under the Clean Water Act (CWA) in a unanimous decision Thursday.

Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, brought by a couple prevented by the EPA from building a home on their own land near Priest Lake, Idaho because it contained wetlands, considered the scope of the agency’s “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, which defines what “navigable waters” can be regulated under the CWA. Plaintiffs Chantell and Mike Sackett, who have spent 15 years fighting the agency’s rule in court, allege the EPA has overstepped the authority it was granted when Congress enacted the CWA in 1972—forcing them to stop construction on their land or face fines.

House Follows Senate in Voting for Resolution to Halt Tougher EPA Vehicle Emission Standards

May 25, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The GOP-led House on Tuesday voted in favor of a resolution to strike down the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions restrictions for heavy-duty trucks.

The joint-chamber resolution, which passed the House by a 221-203 vote, was introduced by Republican lawmakers in February via the Congressional Review Act (CRA) – a law that allows Congress to reverse rules made by a federal agency.

Americans Less Concerned about Environment as Battle over Far-Reaching ‘Waters of the U.S.’ Hits Fever Pitch

April 18, 2023April 17, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

As the battle over the controversial federal Waters of the United States environmental rule heats up, new polling shows that Americans are growing less concerned about the environment.

Newly released Gallup polling found a dip in environmental concerns, even though the Biden administration continues to push increasingly far-reaching policies.

EPA Proposes New Standards to Require Two-Thirds of New Car Sales by 2032 Be EVs

April 13, 2023 Just the News

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced what is being considered its strongest-ever proposed pollution standards for gas-powered vehicles – which if enacted would effectively mandate that 67 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2032 must be zero-emission ones.

The rule has been expected for weeks and is a dramatic, proposed increase from President Biden’s stated goal of 50 percent zero-emission passenger car sales – including battery-powered electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles – by 2030. It would also likely and dramatically increase EV sales, which accounted for just 5.6 percent of new car sales in the U.S. last year, according to Road & Track.com.

Biden Vetoes Bipartisan Attempt to Repeal EPA’s ‘Waters of the United States’ Rule

April 10, 2023April 9, 2023 Admin

President Joe Biden vetoed a bipartisan bill Thursday that would limit his administration’s broad interpretation of the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule that grants the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) significant new authority.

The president rejected the bill, arguing that his administration’s new rule provides “clear rules of the road” to protect both economic efforts and water quality under the Clean Water Act, according to the veto. The rule dramatically expands the traditional limits of WOTUS — which allow the EPA to regulate navigable waters — to include all territorial seas, interstate waters, adjacent wetlands, traditional waters’ tributaries and some artificial reservoirs.

Commentary: The ‘Lower Energy Costs Act’ Could Be a Big Win for Americans

April 4, 2023 Admin

Before they scooted out of lawless and increasingly dangerous Washington, DC, for the Easter recess, the House of Representatives passed the most important energy legislation (emphasis on “energy”) Congress has considered in almost a decade.

The Lower Energy Costs Act is a buffet of various energy and permitting provisions ranging from an affirmation of the wisdom of exporting crude oil (which strengthens the United States’ own domestic oil and natural gas production) to a remedy for a nettlesome provision in the Clean Water Act that has given States a de facto veto over energy projects.

EPA Takes over Management of Ohio Train Accident, Orders Railway to Clean Up Toxic Spill

February 21, 2023 Just the News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced that it would be seizing oversight of the ongoing Ohio train derailment disaster, ordering the company behind the incident to submit to an EPA-approved cleanup plan as part of its management of the crisis. The EPA said in a press release that it would “approve a workplan outlining all steps necessary to clean up the environmental damage caused by the derailment.”

EPA Quietly Quadruples Regulatory Cost of Carbon Emissions in New War on Fossil Fuels

December 5, 2022 Just the News

With the price of everything from gasoline to food soaring in America, nobody is surprised by inflated price tags these days. But even by Washington standards, an action taken earlier this month by the Environmental Protection Agency is creating sticker shock: a nearly fourfold increase in the government calculation of damages from carbon emissions.

Ohio U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan Demands Biden Admin Show Compliance with Landmark Energy Decision

November 2, 2022November 1, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

Republican Ranking House Judiciary Committee Member Jim Jordan told Biden administration authorities Tuesday to show how their agencies are obeying the Supreme Court’s June West Virginia v. EPA decision limiting the EPA’s power to unilaterally regulate emissions.

The court ruled in West Virginia v. EPA that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could not set carbon dioxide emissions caps for power plants to force a national transition away from coal power without explicit congressional authorization. Jordan sent letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Kathi Vidal, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan asking whether their agencies are complying with the decision.

Biden’s EPA Could Kneecap America’s Largest Natural Gas Exporter

July 10, 2022July 9, 2022 Admin

The Biden administration is expanding restrictions on carbon emissions that could impact half the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity in the U.S.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expanding a rule under the U.S. Clean Air Act called the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Pollutants (NESHAP), which places restrictions on the emission of formaldehyde and benzene from stationary combustion turbines. Starting in August, the rule will now apply to two types of gas-fired turbines that were previously left out of the regulation, the EPA announced in February.

Abbott: EPA Plan Will Cripple Oil Production in Permian Basin, Raise Gas Prices Further

June 29, 2022June 28, 2022 The Center Square

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing back against an Environmental Protection Agency proposal that he says would cripple oil and gas production in the Permian Basin – potentially jeopardizing a quarter of the U.S. gas supply.

EPA Inspector General Report Finds Contractor Manipulated Air Filter Data

March 1, 2022 Admin

White smoke emitting from a couple of buildings

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General found that a laboratory contractor with the Office of Research and Development inappropriately manipulated air filter data and failed to follow the appropriate guidance for data of 95 air filter samples, rendering them unusable.

The EPA said the data “drives regulatory decisions, and therefore, it is crucial to accurately assess the quality of data being collected.”

According to the Feb. 16 OIG report, in November 2018, the contractor “misidentified” a subset of filters that they had weighed “during either the loading process in the automated weighing system or by the manner of recording the weight of the filters after they were weighed.”

‘America Is Back’: Biden Unveils Sweeping Oil, Gas Regulations That Would Cut Methane Emissions by 41 Million Tons

November 3, 2021November 2, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The Biden administration rolled out broad new regulations that it said will substantially reduce U.S. methane emissions within 15 years.

The sweeping regulations would cut methane emissions, which account for roughly 10% of the greenhouse gasses emitted by the U.S., by 41 million tons between 2023 and 2035, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday. Such a reduction is equivalent to 920 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or the amount emitted by all cars and commercial aircraft in 2019.

“As global leaders convene at this pivotal moment in Glasgow for COP26, it is now abundantly clear that America is back and leading by example in confronting the climate crisis with bold ambition,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

Commentary: Conservatives File Suit to ‘Derail Biden Climate Railroad’

November 2, 2021November 1, 2021 RealClearWire

Michael Regan began his tenure as President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator by dismissing dozens of outside scientific advisers appointed during the previous administration — part of an effort to “ensure the agency receives the best possible scientific insight to support our work.”

At the time, Regan (pictured) called it a “reset.” Opponents grumbled that it looked more like “a purge.” Now, one of those advisers, Stanley Young, has filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing the agency of violating U.S. law; the suit also seeks an injunction to halt the work of his former committee.

The legal dustup is the latest rearguard action from the right on environmental issues. Conservatives see the case as their best chance to thwart the Biden administration’s multi-agency approach to combating climate change, seen as hostile to the fossil fuel industry.

Biden EPA’s Web of Conflicts with Climate Groups Forces Ethics Waiver for One Official

July 8, 2021July 7, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The revolving door between climate change special interests and the Biden Environmental Protection Agency has swung open so often in recent months that the agency is being forced to grant an ethics waiver to one of its politically appointed lawyers allowing her to participate in cases involving a former client.