Newly enacted legislation that calls for quicker congressional action on trade agreements and lays out U.S. negotiating objectives in those talks has won praise from business groups, including construction-equipment manufacturers, but critics worry that the measure's environmental and labor provisions aren't strong enough. President Obama signed the trade bill on June 29 along with a measure extending a program providing educational aid and other financial assistance to workers who lose jobs because of trade agreements.The fast-track bill has been controversial and pitted many lawmakers from the president’s own party against an odd alliance of pro-business Republicans and the White House.The
Related Links: AFL-CIO page on Fast-Track Trade legislation/trade deals National Association of Manufacturers Page on Fast-Track/TPP Business groups, including construction-equipment manufacturers, are supportive of the congressional passage of fast-track legislation giving the president broader authority in negotiating a major trade deal with 11 other countries in the Asian Pacific region.But labor and environmental advocates worry that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has largely been negotiated in secret over the past five years, will enable corporations to cut corners or move jobs overseas, where labor and environmental safeguards may not be enforceable.President Obama signed the bill, which was approved shortly before lawmakers
Related Links: Link to Supreme Court June 29 ruling EPA's page on MATS rule In a major setback for the Obama administration, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 29 that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not consider the costs firms would face to comply with a 2013 federal rule aimed at reducing emissions of mercury and other air pollutants.The high court is sending the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule (MATS) back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and to EPA to evaluate compliance costs.Although EPA critics such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch
The U.S. Supreme Court, for the second time in three years, has affirmed the legality of key provisions of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a measure that is viewed as one of President Obama's central legislative achievements.
Related Links: Summary of House Appropriations Committee report on Interior-Environment bill Summary of Senate Apprpriations Interior-Environment bill House and Senate appropriations committees have approved spending bills to fund the Environmental Protection Agency for fiscal year 2016 that make deep cuts into EPA's water infrastructure program. The bills, which the committees cleared along party lines, also include controversial environmental policy riders that are expected to draw presidential vetoes.The Senate appropriations measure trims combined funding for EPA's clean-water and drinking-water state revolving funds (SRFs) by 23%, to $1.8 billion, from this year's level. The House bill includes similar numbers: $1 billion for
Photo Courtesy of California Dept. of Water Resources Scientists from California's Dept. of Water Resources measure subsidence in the Central Valley. Related Links: Abstract of Water Resources Research article Two new studies show that some of the largest groundwater basins in the world are being drained by human consumption but that there is little information about how much water remains in them.Published in Water Resources Research on June 16 and conducted by a team of researchers from the University of California at Irvine, the studies draw upon data supplied by NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites. The study evaluates
Related Links: Information on EPA's proposed NAAQS for ozone update ARTBA's comments to EPA on proposal Opposition is mounting to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed more stringent limits for ground-level ozone, or smog.EPA says the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone of 75 parts per billion over an eight-hour period does not adequately protect public health and proposed to tighten the limit to a range of 65 ppb to 70 ppb in November 2014. EPA also seeks public comments on a 60-ppb standard or leaving the benchmark at 75.The proposal’s critics, including construction groups, contend that a
Related Links: Court Ruling on the Power Plan A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has ruled it is too soon to legally challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule to trim carbon emissions from existing powerplants.Judge Brett Kavanaugh said on June 9 that although industry groups, companies and states are "champing at the bit" to challenge EPA's proposal, expected to be made final this summer, the court lacks the authority to evaluate proposals that are not final.
Related Links: Link to EPA assessment Link to additional peer-reviewed articles and reports A new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draft assessment confirms what many engineering, construction and oil and gas companies have been saying for years: that hydraulic fracturing, when done properly, does not have a negative impact on drinking-water sources.The long-awaited, congressionally mandated study, released on June 4, examined the potential impacts that hydraulic fracturing and related activities can have on current drinking-water sources and potential sources, such as groundwater.The assessment, which EPA says is more a scientific document than a policy report, concludes that U.S. hydraulic fracturing activities
California Wastewater Project Gets Record $1.6B EPA Loan The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $1.6 billion in Clean Water Act State Revolving Funds (SRF) - the largest block of financing it has ever issued - for a $2-billion upgrade of the Sacramento regional wastewater treatment plant in Elk Grove, Calif., which broke ground on May 28.Construction, set to take eight years, will bring the 181- million-gallon-per-day plant to advanced treatment. It has been one of the largest sources of ammonia and nitrate pollution in the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuary, says EPA.Louisiana Legislators Approve $884M for Gulf Coast
