The Environmental Protection Agency soon will issue new guidance to regulators responsible for issuing permits for surface mining, says Nancy Stoner, EPA acting assistant administrator for water. Stoner told a House subcommittee on May 11 that the Office of Management and Budget is reviewing the new guidance, which will take note of input from EPA’s Science Advisory Board and replace April 2010 interim guidance. GOP members of the subcommittee said the environmental requirements of the interim guidance make it nearly impossible to get a coal mining permit and are costing jobs in Appalachia. Stoner said the guidance is not binding
The Dept. of Energy has named a panel of outside specialists to study natural-gas hydraulic fracturing. The panel, which DOE Secretary Steven Chu announced on May 5, will make recommendations within 90 days about immediate steps that could improve the safety and environmental impact of “fracking.” Panel members include representatives from industry, academia, environmental groups and state government.
As the Dept. of Transportation works with congressional committees to draw up a new multiyear transportation bill, DOT officials are dismissing a legislative text obtained by a Washington newsletter as “an early working draft that was never formally circulated within the administration.” The 498-page document, obtained by Transportation Weekly, tracks the $555.9-billion, six-year highway-transit-rail proposal that DOT outlined in February. The draft includes some new items, such as multiple, but vague, references to a “new energy tax.” In a statement, DOT spokesman Justin Nisly said, “This is not an administration proposal ... and does not represent the views of the
The National Labor Relations Board's acting general counsel has filed a complaint in federal court against Arizona for passing a measure that says workers can only use secret-ballot elections to determine whether they want to unionize. Organized labor prefers employees have the option of signing authorization cards to show support for unionizing. In a complaint filed on May 6 in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, NLRB's Lafe Solomon said a 2010 Arizona constitutional amendment conflicts with federal labor law. Three other states have adopted similar measures. Solomon says he plans to file a complaint in South Dakota and may take
An Office of Management and Budget proposal to sell thousands of surplus federal buildings is garnering support on Capitol Hill and among industry groups. OMB says selling the properties could save the government $15 billion. Some of that amount would come from selling the excess properties. The plan could give a lift to the construction industry's buildings sector. As much 40% of the proceeds from the property sales would be plowed back into retrofitting other federal buildings to make them more energy efficient, OMB officials say. The plan, sketched out in the Obama administration's fiscal 2012 budget, calls for a
Federal and state officials say they already have taken steps to address some of the concerns raised in a National Research Council report that was critical of a draft plan to protect fragile and endangered species in the California Bay-Delta while diverting water to the central and southern parts of the state. The draft plan, which was circulated in fall 2010, calls for the construction of a large structure—either a canal or two 33-ft-dia 37-mile twin-bore tunnels—to provide a reliable source of freshwater from areas north of the delta, where water is plentiful, to central and southern California. The plan
Congressional and industry opposition is mounting to an Obama administration plan to use some Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund money for purposes other than dredging ports and harbors, its sole use now. At an April 13 hearing before the Senate appropriations energy and water development subcommittee, the Army's assistant secretary for civil works, Jo-Ellen Darcy, said the administration plans to develop a bill in the coming months that would allow the trust fund to finance port security and other non-dredging activities. Several senators, including subcommittee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), expressed displeasure with the plan. Bills to ensure all trust-fund receipts continue
The Environmental Protection Agency says new draft guidance to identify waters that are protected by the Clean Water Act clarifies current confusion stemming from Supreme Court rulings over when contractors need a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to build in such areas. But some industry groups say the guidance, which the Corps and EPA issued on April 27, greatly expands the scope of the Clean Water Act's protections and could slow down projects and lead to lawsuits. Glynn Rountree, environmental policy analyst for the National Association of Home Builders, says, “A lot of what they are doing is adding
The restoration of the Gulf of Mexico is expected to get a boost as a result of an agreement between the Natural Resource Trustees for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and BP. The agreement, announced on April 21, stipulates that BP will pay $1 billion for “early” restoration projects related to the Gulf spill. According to administration officials, BP is providing the restoration funds voluntarily. “This agreement accelerates our work on Gulf Coast restoration and in no way limits the ability of all the Natural Resource Trustees from seeking full damages from those who are responsible as the process moves
Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy is reporting that workers have successfully stemmed the flow of fluids from a well that blew out April 19. The blowout resulted in thousands of gallons of drilling waste fluids leaking into local fields, streams and Towanda Creek. Related Links: Natural Gas Well Blows Out In Bradford County, Pa. The well blowout occurred during hydrofracking operations at a well operated by Chesapeake around 11:45 p.m.on April 19. Although the well emitted what Chesapeake is calling “limited amounts of gas,” gas plume modeling performed by both the Bradford County Emergency Management Agency and Chesapeake suggests that “any
