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Livestock Operations Are Responsible for Over Half of California’s Methane Emissions—Why Won’t CARB Regulate Them?

Legal Planet

The absence of baseline regulation of dairy operations isn’t limited to greenhouse gas emissions. At the federal level, agricultural operations are exempt from laws intended to prevent pollution to water and to the air. But here’s the thing: CARB itself has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from dairies.

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Roundup: Biden Administration Revamps Procedures for Reviewing Regulations

Union of Concerned Scientists

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Biden administration finalized updated procedures for conducting cost-benefit analysis and encouraging public participation in meetings about regulations. When reviewing proposed regulations, OIRA invites public input via meetings that outside parties request to present their views on the topic.

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Roundup: Biden Administration Revamps Procedures for Reviewing Regulations

Union of Concerned Scientists

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Biden administration finalized updated procedures for conducting cost-benefit analysis and encouraging public participation in meetings about regulations. When reviewing proposed regulations, OIRA invites public input via meetings that outside parties request to present their views on the topic.

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State Air Regulations Can Go Above and Beyond National Standards 

Legal Planet

States and local air quality regulators have the legal authority to set particulate matter (PM), ozone, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions standards and adopt regulations for these pollutants when they are already in attainment of the national ambient air quality standards ( NAAQS ) set by the U.S.

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What’s Been Killing U.S. Coal?

Legal Planet

The decline probably wasn’t due to environmental regulation. The passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act and its major 1990 Amendments don’t show up at all in a graph of coal use. Coal began to really plunge in 2012, three years before Obama’s Clean Power Plan was issued. Download as PDF

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Why UCS Supporters Are Pressing EPA to Let California Enforce Its Truck Pollution Rules

Union of Concerned Scientists

California has a longstanding leadership role on transportation pollution, and the Clean Air Act grants the state the right to set strong vehicle emissions standards. Over 10,000 UCS supporters chimed in with EPA in support of granting California’s ability to enforce its truck regulations. Washington.

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Environmentalism and the Supreme Court

Legal Planet

The case involved the lynchpin of the Clean Air Act, EPA’s power to set national air quality standards. The Court then held that greenhouse gases are covered by the Clean Air Act as a type of air pollutant. Among other things, the Clean Air Act gives federal protection to wetlands.