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Jackson, Ryan[jackson.ryan@epa.gov] Bloomberg Environment Fri 12/1/2017 12:07:33 PM First Move: 'Glider Kits' Exemption Hearing EPA and Tweeters Alaska Refuge's Battles
`Glider Kits' Exemption Hearing EPA and Tweeters Alaska Refuge's Battles
By Chuck McCutcheon
T
having just come off two days of hearings on its plan to scrap power
sector carbon limits, is about to get an earful on its proposal to eliminate another se'
of emissions requirements.
The agency will hear public input on Monday on its plans to exempt glider kits from
Obama-era greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty trucks, says Abby Smith,
who's been tracking the issi
der kits are new truck chassis and cab assemblies
built for the installation of a used engine and transmission.
The agency proposed N
d roll back emissions limits for the glider kit
indu: i / iove that came after glider kit manufacturers petitioned th /' ii the
issue, arguing the regulation would effectively destroy their businesses. But
regulating emissions from glider kits is critical not only to limiting greenhouse gases
but also
ucing conventional air pollutants, environmental groups say.
Expect to hear much more on these competing cost-versus-public health arguments at Monday's hearing.
Do you sit on a federal advisory board and have an active social media presence?
Hold off on snarky tweets, t
sticide programs office says.
Tiffany Stecker explains that the agency's Office of Pesticide Programs Director
Rick Keigwin asked members of a federal advisory committee last month to not
tweet critical or negative reaction duri
leeting that touched on a number of
contentious topics, such as the effects of pesticides on honeybees and the agency?
handling of an herbicide linked to widespread soybean damage. The tweeting could
discourage committee membei
icing their opinions, he said.
Lori Ann Burd, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity and member of the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC), responded on Twitter: "Hey
, we the people have the right to tweet our observations during public meetings #FirstAmendment #PPDC," she texted at the Nov. 1 meeting.
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At a different advisory commits " r sting yesterday, Kevin Keaney, the t > official in charge of pesticide regulations to protect farmworkers, brought up the incident, saying it "seemed inappropriate and apparently intimidating for some people.."
AH About: Alaska Refuge's Many Fights
Thirty-seven years ago this week, President Jimmy Carter signed into law a bill that
gave a swath of Alaska land more protections and a new name: the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. Now--as proponents seek to overcome procedural obstacles--the
Seni
y be on the verge of allowing drilling there, thanks to language in the
Republicans' pending tax overhaul..
An undated photo shows muskoxen at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Photographer: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Getty Images
Debates about the area predate Alaska's 1959 statehood. In the late 1920s, conservationist Robert Marshall argued for setting aside northern Alaska as permanently wild at a time when military and business groups called for oil exploration there.
After decades of fighting between oil companies and environmentalists, the land that became the refuge was first set aside in 1960. The 1980 law put most of the refuge off-limits, but left it up to future Congresses to decide the fate of the coastal plain and whether drilling could someday be allowed.
The Interior Department sought to open the land for drilling in 1987, during the Reagan administration, provoking an outcry from environmentalists and a rebuff from Congress. In 1991, a provision to allow drilling was included in an energy bill, but dropped after a filibuster.
When Republicans took control of both chambers of Congress in 1995, they included language in a budget package that would have opened ANWR to oil exploration. President Bill Clinton cited that provision when he vetoed the legislation, leading then-Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens to try--unsuccessfully--to attach drilling language to a defense spending bill. An angry Stevens told colleagues, "We know this Arctic. You don't know the Arctic at all."
But both sides have dug in their heels since then. Proponents say it would help wean the U.S. from its dependence on foreign oil; activists have compared it to damming the Grand Canyon for electricity or tapping Yellowstone's Old Faithful for heat.
Other Stories We're Covering
Ad
ington continues covering the World Ocean Council's Sustainable
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Ocean Summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where panelists are expected to focus
on sustainable tourism in the Arctic..
Former House Energy a
mmerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton of
as won't seek i ' ction, making the announcement a week after a nude
photo of him and graphic text message surfaced on the Internet..
North Dakota soybean farmers will face new restrictions in 2018 on the use of
Monsanto's new formulation of the herbicide dicamba that the Farm Bureau
ai
nufacturer say could be onerous and without scientific justification..
Quote of the Day
"We're going to be pulling a lot of data out of the oceans."
--Peter Mabson, president of exactEarth, a Canadian-based company, discussing
the potential for improved satellite technology to transfc
san monitoring and
protection..
Around the Web
Scientific researchers speculate that rising sea levels could somed
an the
White House and Lincoln Memorial have
ved to higher ground..
i dreds of protestors ; i . oected in Richmond, Va., on Saturday in what
organizers describe ;
low of unity for clean water and against the
proposed Atlantic Coast and Mountai
sy pipelines.
Rick Perry is making his first visit to the Middle East as secretary of Energy,
visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, ar
ib Emirates..
Today's Events
9:30 a.m. Disaster Recovery House Appropriations panel holds hearing on
community block grants for disaster recovery.
Administrator Scott Pruitt holds an "invite only" meeting
in Nevada, Iowa.
For all of today's Bloomberg Environment headlines, visit I 'I ' L F J.
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