Monthly Archives: December 2020

Yesterday, Massachusetts released its “2050 Decarbonization Roadmap.”  I’m tempted to call it a tour de force.  At the very least, it’s jam-packed with important issues.  One of the most valuable aspects of the Roadmap is its discussion of the potential tradeoffs among the different paths towards a decarbonized economy.  Acknowledging that the Roadmap contains much more good stuff than can be summarized in a single post,… More

Yesterday, EPA formalized its decision to leave the ozone NAAQS unchanged, at 70 ppb.  I don’t think that this decision is in the same category of egregiousness as EPA’s recent decision not to reduce the PM2.5 NAAQS.  After all, only one decision can be the single worst environmental policy of an entire administration.

I’m not that close to the science on the ozone NAAQS,… More

Today, three of the states participating in the Transportation Climate Initiative – Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island – and the District of Columbia released a Memorandum of Understanding describing a “cap and invest” program intended to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels and raise money “to accelerate the transition to an equitable, safe, and affordable low-carbon transportation sector.” Here are the big takeaways:

• The four participating states are eight short of full participation among the TCI states. …

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Yesterday, EPA finalized its decision to retain the existing PM2.5 NAAQS of 12 ug/m3, rejecting substantial scientific evidence that PM2.5 causes significant harm at concentrations below 12 ug/m3.  In fact, as noted in one of my prior posts on this subject, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated that exposure to PM2.5 at concentrations below 12 ug/m3 causes more than 10,000 deaths annually. … More

The Lancet’s Countdown on Health and Climate Change for 2020 offers a pretty sobering assessment of the impacts of climate change.  As I noted the last time I posted about one of these reports, it’s important to remember that, while flooding and sea level rise get much of the attention, heat waves cause much of the harm to public health.

I found this statistic particularly sobering.… More

The recent decision by the 8th Circuit that the Coyote Creek Mining Company did not require a major source permit under the Clean Air Act is both fascinating and important.  The question on the merits was whether CCMC had to include its fugitive emissions in determining its potential to emit.  Such emissions are normally excluded, but are included if they are part of a “coal processing plant.”

The Court concluded that the regulations are ambiguous and that EPA guidance did not resolve the issue. … More