The Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments on April 19 in an environmental case that could have broad ramifications on the ability of states and private parties to file public nuisance claims against utilities that emit greenhouse gasses. At issue in the case, American Electric Power v. Connecticut, is whether states and individuals can sue utilities under federal common law for contributing to global warming, and force them to reduce emissions of CO2. Legal observers say it is one of the most significant environmental cases since the landmark 2007 Mass. v. EPA, which gave the Environmental Protection Agency broad legal
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
Late on April 19, a natural gas well in Bradford County, Pa. blew out and spewed thousands of gallons of drilling waste fluids into local fields, streams and Towanda Creek. Related Links: Drilling for Treasure The well blowout occurred during hydrofracking operations at a well operated by Oklahoma City�based Chesapeake Energy around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday evening. 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 natural �gas releases will not pose a risk to the area’s public safety,” says Brian
An appellate court has rejected a National Roofing Contractors Association challenge to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration's directive on fall protection in residential construction. The directive, issued in December 2010, takes effect on June 16. It rescinds OSHA's 1999 guidelines, which allowed roofing and residential contractors to use “alternative” methods, such as slide guards—also called “roof brackets”—to protect workers. The new directive discards that option, except in narrow circumstances, and requires contractors to have written fall-protection plans. In a ruling issued on April 7, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that because the OSHA directive was not
The Senate has approved the nomination of Peter Lyons, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission member, to be the Dept. of Energy's assistant secretary for nuclear energy. Lyons, who was confirmed on April 14, has been acting assistant secretary in DOE's nuclear office since November 2010. The Nuclear Energy Institute supports Lyons' confirmation, saying he always has advocated high standards for nuclear plant safety.
Although it is difficult to determine how the Supreme Court justices might rule in a major environmental case argued on April 19, they asked several questions related to whether the courts or another branch of government should establish the nation's policies on global warming and whether, in a hypothetical common-law public-nuisance case, a federal regulation would supersede a determination by a district judge. At issue in the case, American Electric Power v. Connecticut, is whether states and individuals can sue utilities under federal common law for contributing to global warming and force them to reduce emissions of CO?. Legal observers
Bills dealing with air-pollution regulation have met different fates in the House and Senate. The Republican-controlled House on April 7 passed a bill to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from moving ahead with greenhouse-gas rules. But in the Senate, where Democrats have a majority, four air-pollution-related measures, including one identical to the House-passed bill, on April 6 failed to win the 60 votes needed to advance.
By the end of April, President Obama will release details of a proposal to realign, consolidate and dispose of excess federal buildings, Obama administration officials say. The plan, modeled on the military's Base Realignment and Closure program, includes a commission that would recommend which buildings ought to be sold. Obama proposed the panel in his State of the Union speech. The Office of Management and Budget suggests the program could save $15 billion. Another money-saving idea would retrofit buildings to be more energy efficient, said Daniel Werfel, OMB controller, at an April 6 House transportation and infrastructure subcommittee hearing. Subcommittee
As drivers travel down Route 6 through Mansfield, Pa., they quickly realize something has changed about the rural town. Trailers for energy companies are popping up like mushrooms, and traffic has become increasingly snarled as trucks carrying material to and from natural-gas drilling sites share the road with local cars. It's not quite a boomtown, but it is certainly changing, and the transformative agent over the past two years has been the discovery of an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas locked in the Marcellus Shale Formation some 5,000 to 8,000 feet below the earth's surface. The
TerrAqua Resource Management's (TARM) new treatment facility in Williamsport, Pa., for wastewater generated from hydrofracking, well development and production was the first of its kind in Pennsylvania and required the firm, a subsidiary of Williamsport, Pa.-based Larson Design Group, to obtain a special “beneficial re-use permit” from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection. < Photo: Courtesy of TARM The custom facility contains 96 “frac” tanks to store and keep separate the watercoming from different clients. Related Links: Drilling for Treasure LDG principal Marty Muggleton says TARM saw a need that local sanitary authorities had trouble meeting and stepped in with
