This piece, written by Dr. Olson Huff, originally ran in the Raleigh News & Observer on May 18, 2013. As a doctor, I regularly witness how harmful pollution created by burning coal and other fossil fuels affects public health. As a pediatrician, I have spent decades caring for children whose health is most compromised when [...]
UPDATE: On Thursday, May 15, the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee voted along party lines to approve Gina McCarthy’s nomination (every Republican, including all four Republican Senators from the Southeast opposed McCarthy’s nomination). Up next, McCarthy’s nomination will go before the full Senate for a vote. McCarthy will likely face a tough vote in the Senate. [...]
Last Wednesday, the American Lung Association released its 2013 “State of the Air” report – an annual highlight of cities and regions around the country with unhealthy levels of smog and soot which lead to increased asthma attacks, heart attacks and even premature death. What a difference a few years – and stronger pollution standards [...]
On Friday, April 19, the Environmental Protection Agency met a court-ordered deadline and released long-awaited draft Coal Water Pollution Standards (also known as Effluent Limitation Guidelines or ELGs). These standards, originally scheduled for completion in 2012, are needed to replace woefully outdated rules to regulate wastewater discharges from coal ash, the toxic residue remaining when coal [...]
Saturday, April 13, was set to be the day for the Environmental Protection Agency to release final regulations limiting carbon pollution from new power plants. April 13 came and went, however, with no final regulations from EPA. Instead, on Friday April 12, EPA announced that it would delay issuance of the final rule – but gave no [...]
On March 28, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a revised final Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) rule for new air emission sources (i.e. new power plants). The revised final rule is slightly weaker than the original December 2011 rule, due in part to power plant developers’ complaints that the original standard was unattainable, but [...]
Last week I had the privilege of accompanying experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) on a three-day tour of Georgia and Alabama to highlight coal plants that should be considered for retirement. UCS is a national, science-based non-profit that advocates for policy decisions that are based on credible research. UCS’s report, Ripe for [...]
This guest post was written by Bruce Henderson, writer for the Charlotte Observer, and originally published on the Observer’s Earth & Energy blog. The North Carolina Senate’s move to purge members of three state energy and environmental commissions could upset the Charlotte region’s plan to meet a federal smog standard. The region’s air quality meets [...]
Despite heat waves, droughts, wildfires, melting ice caps and super-charged storms that dominated 2012′s headlines, the words ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ barely warranted a mention during the entire presidential campaign. In a surreal moment, one debate moderator, CNN’s Candy Crowley, noted that she had a question prepared ‘for all you climate change people’ but [...]
This winter has been a busy season of new bioenergy projects and policy developments.
