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.Volume 2, No. 35............ September 8,
2006 |
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... ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
EPA Panel Recommends Tighter Ozone Standard
The Clean Air Science Advisory Committee (CASAC), a panel of independent scientists assembled to provide external guidance to EPA, has recommended that the Agency lower the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone. EPA is under court order to reassess the standard set in 1997 that lowered allowable ambient level from 0.12 to 0.08 parts per million. While many experts at EPA and elsewhere feel that the 1997 standard is protective of human health and the environment and should be affirmed by the current reassessment, the CASAC disagreed, recommending that the proposed standard—which is scheduled for the end of this year—should consider levels in the 0.055-0.07 range. Some CASAC members are have expressed displeasure at EPA for proposing a NAAQS for particulate matter that was outside the range suggested by the panel.
Contact Tom
Carter
States, Environmental Groups Petition EPA for NSR Revision
New York joined
13 other states, several cities, and a number of environmental non-governmental
organizations to file a petition to compel EPA to revise a provision
of the new source review (NSR) regulations. In 2002, EPA finalized a
proposal dating back to the Clinton Administration that simplified the
way in which emissions are counted and emission increases are identified.
Hearing a challenge to the rule, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals largely
affirmed the rule changes but remanded some provisions for EPA reconsideration.
One of the remanded portions addressed a facility’s obligation to keep
records for the purposes of identifying a possible emission increase
resulting from a process modification. Under the 2002 rule, the facility
would only be required to keep such records if they decided that an
a reasonable possibility of an emission increase resulted from the change.
The Court asked EPA to explain how the Agency could be certain that
facilities made a good-faith determination as to the likelihood of an
emission increase. EPA has not responded to the Court’s request, and
the current petition would compel them to do so.
Contact Tom
Carter
Former Highway Chief Named Transportation Secretary
President Bush has chosen Mary Peters, the former Federal Highway Administrator from 2001 to 2005, to succeed Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation.
Before coming to Washington, Peters spent three years as head of the Arizona Department of Transportation. Since leaving the Federal Highway Administration, she has been national director for transportation policy and consulting in the Phoenix office of engineering and consulting firm HDR Inc.
Peters has pledged
to modernize the nation’s aging infrastructure. She is an advocate of
user fees, or tolls, for building new highways. In a recent interview,
Peters said the federal highway program will run out of money by decade's
end without substantial changes in funding mechanisms.
Contact Robert Sullivan, David
Hubbard, Jim Kolb,
or John Sullivan
Stickler Re-Nominated for MSHA Post
Richard Stickler has been re-nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, despite the Senate’s previous rejection of his original nomination. Mr. Stickler’s nomination process was complicated by the series of coal mining accidents early in the year, which prompted Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) to put a hold on his nomination. Senator Byrd has announced that he will again oppose the Stickler’s nomination to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Contact Tom
Carter
On September 7, 2006, OSHA announced that it will publish an ANPRM on September 12, 2006, and begin accepting comments on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The GHS is a system for uniformly addressing hazards associated with chemical substances in production and transportation across the globe. If adopted by OSHA, the GHS is expected to require substantial changes in hazard information about chemical substances in the workplace. Effectively, all existing hazard communication systems in the US will have to change if GHS is adopted; this includes in particular OSHA, EPA, and DOT's hazardous material and communication standards.
NRMCA will provide comment on the ANPRM and follow development as it progresses. OSHA developed a guidance document on the GHS which can be accessed on its Web site.
Contact Tom
Harman
Trucking and retail industry executives testified at a House Highways, Transit and Pipeline Subcommittee hearing designed to provide members a better understanding of the critical role an efficient and reliable transportation system when making supply chain management decisions.
The executives expressed deep concern with the impending freight capacity shortage on America’s highways, pointing to USDOT projects that commercial freight traffic projected to double by 2025, with little or no corresponding increase in freight capacity––highway capacity in particular.
In his testimony, Federal Express President and CEO Douglas Duncan stated that “the current infrastructure is not sufficient for our needs today, much less tomorrow.” He also stated that the recently enacted SAFETEA-LU legislation “won’t adequately fund needed maintenance of current interstate system much less expand it,” and the current funding is “clearly inadequate to solve the problem.” He told the subcommittee that Fed Ex Freight supports “increasing the federal fuel tax if the additional revenue is used solely to improve highways.”
Contact Jim
Kolb
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