Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 4:59PM Texas officials informed the U.S. EPA this week they will not change or reinterpret Texas’ air pollution laws to comply with new federal greenhouse gas regulations, arguing that the new climate rules are illegal.
greenhouse gases in Legislation Monday, July 26, 2010 at 1:58PM General Motors Co. recently announced that it will begin using a groundbreaking refrigerant that will drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the air conditioning units beginning in 2013. GM plans to use the new chemical across its Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands.
According to GM, the new refrigerant, developed by Honeywell and DuPont, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 99.7%, in comparison to the current refrigerant used. This near-elimination of emissions is possible by use of a new chemical in the refrigerant, HFO-1234yf, which remains present for only 11 days in the atmosphere before breaking down. The current industry-standard chemical used now, R-134a, remains in the atmosphere for more than 13 years.
Under the recently-released Environmental Protection Agency/Department of Transportation Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards Final Rule, GM may be eligible for regulatory credit for greenhouse gas emissions reductions resulting from use of the new refrigerant. GM said that such regulatory credits will help it meet the Final Rule-mandated 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions fleet-wide by 2016.
DOT, EPA, automobile industry, greenhouse gases in EPA, Fuel Efficiency, Regulatory Actions Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 4:47PM On May 13, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its final “Tailoring” Rule (“Rule”) to exclude emitters of lesser amounts of greenhouse gases from New Source Review and Title V Operating permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act that will begin to apply to greenhouse gas emissions in 2011.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 10:37AM The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will likely modify its proposed permitting requirements for greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources, and will delay implementation until 2011.
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 1:44PM While legislation to regulate greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions may be facing an uphill battle in the Senate, lawsuits claiming global warming damages are becoming a real issue for emitters of GHGs. In late 2009, two circuits of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals made threshold determinations that plaintiffs in suits based on global warming had standing to bring such claims into court.