In The News
EPA to postpone exterior renovation rule by three years
Thursday September 13, 2012
Posted by Matt Dempsey matt_dempsey@epw.senate.gov
In the News...
E&E News
EPA to postpone exterior renovation rule by three years
Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, September 12, 2012
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/print/2012/09/12/1
U.S. EPA today is postponing lead rules for exterior renovations of commercial buildings by about three years.
The agency had originally planned to issue a proposal on exterior renovation for public and commercial buildings by the end of this week. The exterior rule was set to be finalized in February 2014.
But according to correspondence between EPA and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), EPA has extended that schedule.
The legal agreement, reached earlier this month but previously unreported, shows EPA has decided to merge its exterior Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, or LRRP, with its interior regulations, which are set to be proposed in July 2015 and finalized in January 2017.
The LRRP rule, finalized in April 2010, is designed to protect vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women from lead exposure. EPA banned lead from residences in 1978, and the rule requires contractors to be certified in lead-safe practices before conducting renovations.
Applying the certification requirements to commercial buildings has sparked controversy. Republicans on Capitol Hill have argued that the certification process is costly and may be unnecessary for instances where there is little risk of exposure to the potent neurotoxin, such as the exterior of buildings.
EPA reserves the right not to issue the regulations if it determines the renovation activities don't create a health hazard.
The agency was unable to comment at press time.
Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has introduced legislation (S. 2148) that would not allow EPA to expand the rule to commercial or public buildings while creating an exemption for renovations after a natural disaster (E&ENews PM, March 2).
The Republican, who has been critical of how EPA has implemented the rule, applauded the agency's agreement, saying that it shows EPA is "responding to congressional oversight ... in a thoughtful, reasonable manner."
"I have always supported the intention of this rule, which is to protect children and expectant mothers from the potential hazards of lead paint dust, but this rule must be applied in a way in which people can actually comply so that the full health benefits can be realized," Inhofe said.
Inhofe also welcomed EPA's decision to hold public information meetings this winter to seek input from a small-business advocacy review panel.
The decision will likely anger public health advocates, who have criticized EPA for not moving more swiftly with the LRRP regulations. Last year, EPA backed away from a proposed rule that would have required contractors to test dust after renovations to ensure there wasn't any lead contamination remaining -- sparking significant criticism from green groups (Greenwire, July 18, 2011).
Inhofe Op Ed: Human Events: Democrats use hot summer temps to reignite global warming hysteria
Monday August 20, 2012
Over the past few weeks, I had the chance to welcome my alarmist friends back to the discussion about global warming: we've heard news reports with headlines proclaiming this summer is "what global warming looks like" and Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have all jumped to blame the recent heat, droughts, and-in Sen. Reid's case-even the cherry blossoms blossoming early in Washington, D.C. on man-made global warming.
When the weather is hot, according to them, we have proof of global warming. But this is a dangerous game to play because once it turns cold, they will go right back to saying it's climate change not global warming, weather is not climate, and that freezing temperatures are consistent with an overheating planet.
Greenwire: Reid hopes for carbon pricing bill if Dems keep Senate
Wednesday August 8, 2012
"We certainly can't stay where we are; we have to do something," Reid told Greenwire yesterday as he browsed exhibits at his National Clean Energy Summit 5.0.
Asked whether the Senate would return to climate legislation aimed at adding a price to carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping emissions, Reid said, "I hope so."
Global Warming Alarmists Plan Back'Fires' Again
Friday August 3, 2012
Daily Caller: Dumpster fire, not global warming, melted Oklahoma streetlamps: Always a lightning rod for global warming activists' discontent, Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe was treated to some challenging tweets Thursday after the left-wing blog ThinkProgress posted a photo of melting street lights in his home state and claimed they were the result of global warming."WOW. It's so hot in Oklahoma that the streetlights are melting," ThinkProgress declared, noting the temperature topping off at 114 degrees."Hey Senator @InhofePress, even your streetlights are saying #ImTooHot http://ow.ly/cHbX4," the Climate Reality Project tweeted later, linking to the ThinkProgress claim."Senator Inhofe, God may be trying to get your attention. Check out this picture http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/08/02/630211/in-oklahoma-its-so-hot-the-street-lights-are-melting/ ..." added Environmental activist Bill McKibben, highlighted by blogger Tom Nelson. That tweet was later deleted. But according to KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, the street lamps melted because of a dumpster fire in the area the night before. KFOR first posted the streetlamp photo on its Facebook page. "That is the consensus in the newsroom," a KFOR staffer confirmed to The Daily Caller.
These days in Congress, climate change is a question. Rep. Jim McDermott says a carbon tax is the answer.
McDermott (D-Wash.) will introduce a bill Thursday to create a carbon tax that he says will create incentives for long-term changes in the American energy market without harming the economy, and in fact providing much-needed revenues.
“A carbon tax is simple to administer and easy to understand. Over time, the price of carbon emissions is increased, which in turn, creates a market incentive to reduce emissions,” according to a fact sheet provided by his office.
McDermott doesn’t expect his legislation to move soon, he told POLITICO, but he wants to get the idea stewing in advance of possible tax reforms.
Hot times yield lukewarm climate debate in D.C.
Tuesday July 31, 2012
Amid a summer marked by droughts, wildfires, record temperatures and freak storms, Congress is squeezing in just one hearing on the changing climate before it dashes out for a hot August recess.
And that hearing, set for Wednesday, is unlikely to be a show-stopper: No federal officials will testify and no big-name witnesses will appear — none of the elements that could help this gathering compete for an Olympics-mad public’s attention.
It's a reminder of how much things have changed for Democrats in Congress since their hopes for passing a major cap-and-trade bill died in 2010, reducing the entire climate issue to second-tier status. Now, Republicans are eager to argue, Democrats are reluctant to even talk about the issue in an election year.
Boxer hints carbon tax could be part of larger budget deal
Tuesday July 31, 2012
"I think if it's part of a larger package, we could look at it," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), when asked whether a carbon tax could eventually be passed as part of a "tax swap," which would combine a new levy on emissions with a mechanism to return money to consumers.
The idea has enjoyed a limited resurgence in the past few weeks, with Republicans including former Rep. Bob Inglis (S.C.) and former Reagan administration Secretary of State George Shultz championing it. Some within the policy community have suggested offsetting the tax with a rollback of corporate taxes, but Boxer appeared to indicate she would not support that idea.
"What I want to make sure is the middle class gets the breaks in the interim while we move to clean energy," she said.
Boxer leads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which will hold a hearing tomorrow on the science of climate change -- its first such hearing in more than three years. The California senator said she had always planned to return to the issue as soon as she completed work on a transportation bill.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said she probably will not reintroduce a bill this Congress to cap carbon dioxide emissions and refund the money to consumers via dividend checks -- an idea that Inglis has said has merit.
"It's all about timing," she said.
But Cantwell said there has been talk about carbon policy in the context of a deal on the budget.
"I think there's a lot of discussion behind the scenes on both sides about deficit reduction and how to move forward on streamlined policies on all sorts of energy issues," she said. "So I think it will be good for the debate."
But Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), the top Republican on Boxer's committee, said he envisions a very different kind of carbon legislation that would strip U.S. EPA of the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
"It's an easy fix," he said. "I believe Republicans will have control of the Senate and [Mitt Romney will] defeat Obama. If that happens, it's an easy fix because it's a legislative fix."
Reporter Jeremy P. Jacobs contributed.
Inhofe Uncovers Green Fleet Not Just R&D; After All
Friday July 27, 2012
Inhofe Op Ed: The Not-So-Great Green Fleet: President Obama's skewed national defense priorities
Wednesday July 18, 2012
This week President Obama's green regime at the Pentagon will be in the spotlight as the U.S. Navy's "Great Green Fleet" - a strike group that the Obama administration hopes to run completely on alternative fuels by 2016 - sets sail as part of training exercises in the Pacific. One would think the fleet would take to the seas with a great deal of fanfare, but the Navy has kept it quiet and it's not difficult to figure out why. President Obama clearly doesn't want the American people to know how much his plan to green the military will cost. As Wired magazine uncovered, a recent DoD report revealed that their biofuels program will amount to an extra $1.8 billion a year in fuel costs for the Navy alone.
This ludicrous pricetag is not surprising: through Congressional oversight efforts, we found that in 2009, the Navy paid an outrageous $424 per gallon for 20,000 gallons of renewable diesel, and in December 2011, the Navy purchased 450,000 gallons of biofuel for $12 million, equaling about $27 a gallon. The Navy is not the only service being subject to this great greening agenda: last month, the Air Force bought 11,000 gallons of alcohol-to-jet fuel at $59 a gallon, twice as much per gallon as what the Navy was forced to spend. And all of this is being done by the Obama administration while the president guts our military.
Oklahoman: Lawmakers letter urges against endangered listing for lesser prairie chicken
Wednesday July 18, 2012
In a letter to the agency's director, Dan M. Ashe, Sen. Jim Inhofe and several other lawmakers said officials in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico had taken steps to preserve the bird's habitat. In Oklahoma, that has included $42 million devoted to conservation efforts, along with management activities on more than 563,000 acres of habitat, the letter states.
Inhofe, R-Tulsa, has been pushing hard to keep the lesser prairie chicken off the endangered or threatened species list since the restrictions that would follow the federal listing could hamper wind power development and other activities in the bird's northwestern Oklahoma habitat.
