Environmental Case Could Factor Emissions in Granting Permits

A case before the Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) could require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider greenhouse gas emissions when granting permits to new power plants.

In 2007, the EAB agreed to review an EPA Region 8 permit granted to Deseret Power Electric Cooperative for a new coal-fired generating unit at the company's plant near Bonanza, Utah. The permit did not require any controls on carbon dioxide.

The Sierra Club petitioned EAB to review the permit and also charged that EPA was required by the Clean Air Act (CAA) to consider the new generator's carbon dioxide before granting a permit under the CAA prevention of significant deterioration program.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and several public interest groups from Utah and other Western states also have filed briefs in support of the Sierra Club.

EPA and Desert Power Cooperative have until March 21 to file response briefs.

Contact Tyrone Wilson.

Motor Carriers to Compile Data on Truck-Related Fatalities

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a plan to find out how many deaths are attributable to truck drivers.  The plan is based on collecting more accurate data on fatalities involving trucks.

FMCSA plans on updating its current safety rating program, SafeStat, as the starting point for collecting and analyzing the data.

FMCSA Administrator John Hill said the administration is considering putting analysts in certain jurisdictions “to analyze the preventability of all commercial vehicle crashes.” Hill also said these efforts would be used to “assign fault to crashes.”

The announcement by FMCSA follows the release of a study conducted by the American Trucking Association on data complied by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The study concluded that truck safety made major improvements in 2006.

The fatal crash rate for large trucks fell to 1.93 per 100 million miles traveled, down 0.04 from 2002. The rate of truck-related fatalities fell from 2.35 per 100 million miles traveled in 2005, to 2.24. Furthermore, the number of trucks involved in fatal crashes has fallen from 2.21 per 100 million miles traveled in 2005, to 2.12 in 2006.

Lastly, the number of people killed in truck-related crashes has declined from 5,212 in 2005, to 4,995 in 2006.

Contact Robert Sullivan or David Ayers.

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