NRCM Blog

NY Times editorial - Judicial Rebukes on Clean Air

Judicial Rebukes on Clean Air - 2/18/2008 New York Times editorial

The federal courts have been a bulwark against the Bush administration’s relentless efforts to weaken 40 years’ worth of environmental law, including statutes protecting the nation’s forests, wetlands and endangered species. The courts have been especially important in resisting the administration’s assault on the 1970 Clean Air Act, which began with Vice President Dick Cheney’s 2001 energy report and continues to this day.

In 2006 and 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to follow the law and require utilities to install pollution controls when upgrading power plants. Another Supreme Court decision last year held that the Clean Air Act required the E.P.A. to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, an obligation the agency continues to duck.

This month, the D.C. Circuit ruled that the E.P.A. had once again ignored the law by failing to require deep and timely reductions in mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. Like most clean air cases, this one was mind-numbingly complex. The gist of it was that the E.P.A. — seeking as usual to please industry — had approved a weak set of regulations that would let many plants off the hook for emissions reductions that would be required under any honest reading of the law.

The D.C. Circuit, by no means a radical group of judges, has become so exasperated that it has taken to quoting Lewis Carroll. In 2006, in a reference to “Through the Looking Glass,” the court said that the E.P.A.’s reading of the law would make sense “only in a Humpty Dumpty world.” This month, invoking “Alice in Wonderland,” the court said the agency’s reasoning recalled “the logic of the Queen of Hearts, substituting the E.P.A.’s desires for the plain text” of the law.

Desire still burns bright at the E.P.A., which reportedly intends to make one last-ditch effort to weaken the rules requiring new pollution controls on upgraded plants. Our advice to the agency would be to take a dispassionate look at its losing streak in the federal courts and, for once, leave the law alone.

Update on energy issues for 2008

Happy New Year from NRCM’s Clean Energy Team!

This winter has been off to a wonderful start for those of us who enjoy snowy outdoor activities, including my dog! I love the four seasons we have in Maine, and this most certainly includes winter! Hopefully everyone is taking advantage of the bountiful snow, since the most recent years have been disappointing as the climate has been changing. Of course, the colder and snowy winter does come with higher energy costs to keep our homes warm and cozy; and this is a real hardship for many Mainers, especially with the rising prices of oil and gas. So what are we doing about this here in Maine?

This legislative session, which began yesterday, has several bills which address global warming and rising energy costs. There is a bill we are working on at NRCM which will require new homes to meet minimum energy efficiency standards and provide incentives for high-efficiency homes, and provide home buyers with more information about energy performance. This way you’ll have an idea how much it will cost to heat and cool your home; this is information I’m sure many people would have liked to have before buying or renting their current place. There is also a bill to require carbon capture and sequestration of any new proposed coal facility in the state, since this would be a huge source of carbon emissions which could undermine the steps we have already taken to lower Maine’s global warming emissions. There is legislation to make it easier to do small renewable projects and provide funding for rail transportation, much needed since Maine’s largest source of global warming pollution is from transportation. The Governor’s Task Force on Wind will also be making recommendations later this month, and the Land Use Regulation Commission will make their decisions about both the Black Nubble Wind Power and Kibby Wind Power proposals on January 14^th.  As you can see this winter is off to a busy start…

We hope that in 2008 we will resolve as a state to move toward a cleaner, healthier future, but we need your help! Make sure to sign up through our action network at http://supporters.nrcm.org/site/Survey?SURVEY_ID=1180&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS to stay updated about energy and global warming issues. We’ll let you know when we need you to contact your legislator, government officials, or rally support in your community!  We hope you will join us.

Sara Lovitz

Clean Energy Outreach Coordinator

Second Mars Hill Wind Tour Participants Enjoy Beautiful Fall Foliage, a Strong Breeze, and Learning First-hand about Maine’s Only Up-and-Running Wind Farm

Many Mainers joined the Natural Resources Council of Maine on Saturday, September 29th, for our second excursion to Maine —and New England’s— only large wind farm, located at Mars Hill.  The group toured the ridge line, met with wind farm developer UPC Wind, enjoyed the incredible fall colors, and went round the mountain to gain perspectives from town officials and residents about the benefits of wind power to our environment and on local communities and to hear the project on a windy day from multiple locations. The weather ended up cooperating and we had at the very least partly sunny skies and steady winds, hot summer sun and beautiful fall colors greeting us in Mars Hill.