A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected an industry attempt to intervene in the Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to tighten coal-fired power plant water pollution rules.
The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia came four days after EPA proposed new plant water pollution standards that would affect about 500 plants starting in 2017. The rule also could alter EPA's proposed regulations on coal ash disposal.
Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced a bill that would keep the Federal Helium Reserve operating.
Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and David Vitter, R-La., led 30 senators to press the Environmental Protection Agency against altering the Clean Water Act to include non-navigable waters.
A group of Senate Democrats called on U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn a lower court ruling that blocked regulations putting caps on market speculation, The Hill reports.
Industry and environmental groups are preparing for the possibility that the Obama administration may back away from regulating coal ash from power plants as a hazardous waste.
The groups are pointing to a brief passage in the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rule, released Friday, to reduce heavy metals water pollution from coal-fired power plants. EPA said in that document that data it has collected from industry combined with the water rule could lead it to conclude that a designation of ash as a solid waste is sufficient.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Energy Secretary Steven Chu is ending his tenure after four years and three months. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman will serve as acting secretary beginning Tuesday and serve until a successor is sworn in.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Monday she plans to soon issue the department's regulations governing natural gas hydraulic fracturing on public lands, ones she said will reflect differences in geology and proximity to groundwater.
"One thing that's clear to me is that one size doesn't fit all," Jewell said during an online Earth Day web chat, her first since taking the post on April 12. "If you're fracking in a formation that is well away from groundwater, thousands of feet away, as long as you have good well bore integrity, the risks should be low."
Opponents of the Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse gas regulations have turned to the Supreme Court to hear their pleas.
Industry groups, states and trade associations filed a number of petitions with the court by Saturday's deadline to appeal the rejection of challenges by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last year.
The United States and the European Union plan to negotiate settlements with China for the import of cheaper Chinese solar panels into Western markets, The New York Times reports.
The Supreme Court declined to hear a case from an Alaskan village arguing it should be allowed to sue energy companies for climate change damages, Reuters reports.
Business and policy groups including the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce called on the Senate to approve the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency bill, The Hill reports.
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell told the Interior Department his administration is willing to invest up to $50 million in an assessment of oil reserves of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Bloomberg reports.
Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee called on the EPA to suspend rulemaking for stormwater runoff until the agency opens the process to small businesses.
