Environmental Insider News articles from June 2001

Environmental Insider News archives from June 2001

EPA OK's TMDL's for Fort Worth Legacy Pollutants.
June 5, 2001... TNRCC reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved Total Maximum Daily Loads - the amount of a pollutant that a particular water body can support without impairing water quality - for 11 legacy pollutants in streams and...

EI NEWS Embarks on a New Era.
June 5, 2001... After a lengthy legislation session in which the news broke daily, EI NEWS has belatedly gotten around to the format we had long ago envisioned - daily (well, many days a month, at the very least) updates on the news, arguments, and...

Today Is World Environment Day!
June 5, 2001... Way back in 1972, the United Nations General Assembly decided to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment by proclaiming June 5 as World Environment Day. On the same day, the General Assembly adopted a second...

Corps Fights for Its Right To Pollute the Potomac.
June 5, 2001... Maybe New York City should have taken a cue from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. While New Yorkers, and most of the rest of us, too, have to dispose of the sewage sludge created as a byproduct of water treatment activities on land somewhere,...

President Bush Seeks Help for Klamath Farmers.
June 5, 2001... President Bush on June 1 asked Congress to allocate $20 million in emergency assistance for California and Oregon farmers in the Klamath Basin, whose livelihoods have been threatened in April when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation shut off crop...

An Environmental "Magical Mystery Tour".
June 6, 2001... What could be more fitting as a theme for the 13th annual Texas Environmental Superconference than the old Beatles' tune (and album), "Magical Mystery Tour"? After all, the 2001 legislative session was indeed magical for Texas...

UN Launches "State of the Earth" Study.
June 6, 2001... What better time than World Environment Day (see yesterday's entry) for the United Nations to launch a new $21 million study with the aim of assessing the earth's ecosystems? The new "Millennium Ecosystem Assessment" was announced at WED events...

Propane Gets a Boost.
June 6, 2001... The Texas Alternative Fuels Council has unanimously agreed to fund a project that will allow the state's propane gas industry to fuel more of the state's growing fleet of low-emissions vehicles, Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams...

Public Meetings on Permitting Cases.
June 6, 2001... TNRCC has announced that it will conduct public meetings for the specific purpose of debating the following pending permitting applications: * June 7, 7 pm, City of Cleburne Council Chambers, to discuss the city's application for a...

Wal-Mart Out $5.5 MM for Stormwater Sins.
June 7, 2001... In the first-ever federal enforcement action against a company for multi-state violations of the Clean Water Act's stormwater provisions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department have announced a settlement with...

NAS/NRC To Bush: More Studies Needed.
June 7, 2001... A research committee of the National Academy of Sciences asked by President Bush to review the state of the science on global climate change says it will soon release a 40-page report, "Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key...

Will Nation Catch Up with Texas on Grandfathers?
June 7, 2001... It may not be universally known that neither the 1970 Clean Air Act, nor its 1990 amendments, required previously licensed power plants to meet the more stringent emissions requirements imposed on new plants in that federal legislation. That,...

Duncanville Resident to Water Utility Panel.
June 9, 2001... After picking nominees for the Advisory Committee for Water Utility Operator Certification last month, TNRCC learned that one of its nominees, Jimmie Lee Johnson, had accepted a job with the agency. So the Commission went back to the drawing...

Texas To Benefit from California Energy Fight?
June 9, 2001... The battle between California lawmakers and the energy industry and the Bush-Cheney Administration appears ready for escalation, now that the Democrats are in control of the U.S. Senate. And Texas could be a big beneficiary, according to...

TNRCC Work Session Agenda.
June 9, 2001... The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission will actually have two work sessions on June 12 - at 9:30 am and again at 1:30 pm. At the morning session, the Commissioners will consider a proposal to establish a Memorandum of Understanding...

Too Much Hot Air in Oxy-Fuels Stories.
June 11, 2001... More than two years after California Governor Gray Davis and the California Air Resources Board asked then-EPA Administrator Carol Browner to waive Clean Air Act requirements for oxygenated gasoline in the Golden State, Democratic Party leaders...

Beating Up on the Press - Round Two.
June 11, 2001... While we are at it, today's Wall Strreet Journal includes an article by Richard S. Lindzen, the MIT meteorologist who was a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel on climate change (see our story from June 7) that made recommendations...

EPA Proposes, Adopts Rules.
June 11, 2001... Last Friday, EPA announced in the Federal Register two significant rulemaking actions. The first was a final version of the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations: Filter Backwash Recycling Rule [40 CFR Parts 9, 141, and 142,...

EPA OK's Parts of Houston SIP.
June 11, 2001... In the Federal Register on June 11, EPA announced full approval of revisions to the Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) Program for the Houston-Galveston ozone nonattainment area that replace the two-speed idle in Harris County with ASM-2...

TNRCC, DPS Opt To Open I/M Market.
June 12, 2001... In a major turnaround, Commissioners from the Department of Public Safety and Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission on June 12 agreed unanimously to allow multiple vendors to compete in an open market to sell or lease motor vehicle...

Fine Particulates Linked to Heart Attacks.
June 12, 2001... Here come the lawsuits! A new report, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, claims there is a significant linkage between inhalation of fine particulates (PM 2.5) and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. The...

No Waiver for California.
June 12, 2001... It is now official, and the mourning can begin. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman announced today that her agency cannot approve California's request to waiver the federal oxygen content requirement for reformulated gasoline (RFG), if for no...

TNRCC Staff Gearing Up for Rules Rush.
June 14, 2001... The good news for TNRCC staff is that the 77th Legislature has completed its business and - barring a very unlikely surprise from Governor Rick Perry - the agency is still in business (though with a new name as of 2004). The bad news is that,...

Three More EPA Actions.
June 14, 2001... In the June 14 Federal Register, EPA announced proposed revisions to its rules that address federal plan requirements for small municipal waste combustion units constructed on or before August 30,1999. The agency also proposed to add ten sites...

PUC Gets Former Enron Official.
June 14, 2001... Former Enron executive Mario Max Yzaguirre, who for the past several years had headed up the company's Mexican operations, was appointed to the Texas Public Utility Commission by Governor Rick Perry. Yzaguirre's appointment was criticized by...

A Hodgepodge of Environmental Humor.
June 14, 2001... President Bush reaffirmed his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, calling the agreement fundamentally and fatally flawed. On the other hand, he did promise to work in other ways toward addressing carbon dioxide emissions levels. Many of Europe's...

Whitman Gives Dallas Buildings an ENERGY STAR.
June 15, 2001... EPA Administrator Christie Whitman was in Dallas yesterday, and while she was in town she handed out new ENERGY STAR labels for four buildings owned and operated by Harwood. ENERGY STAR is a voluntary labeling program devised by EPA in 1992...

Barbara Boxer: Energy Tycoon!?!*&$!!!
June 15, 2001... California Senator Barbara Boxer announced on Thursday that she and her husband are now planning to "divest our holdings of all energy stocks," in light of the state's energy crisis. Boxer explained that her family has used a financial advisor...

San Antonio Site Also Proposed for Superfund.
June 15, 2001... Yesterday we reported that the Patrick Bayou site near Deer Park had been proposed by EPA for inclusion on the Superfund National Priorities List. Somehow we forgot to mention that a second Texas site, the R & H Oil Company property near...

Judith Ayres Headed for EPA Post.
June 15, 2001... President Bush has announced plans to nominate Judith E. Ayres to be EPA Assistant Administrator for International Activities. Ayres, who directed EPA's Region 9 from1983 to 1988 (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and American protectorates...

Governor Perry Vetoes Four Energy Bills.
June 18, 2001... As part of what is being dubbed as "bloody Sunday," Texas Governor Rick Perry vetoed four bills with significant energy impacts. Some of the vetoes were made in concert with still-disappointed bill sponsors, but others were met with shock and...

NAS/NRC Panel Finds Fault with TMDL Program.
June 19, 2001... The controversial and financially burdensome Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) process is in need of a make-over, according to a brand-new report by a National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council panel. The eight-member panel, headed by...

Do Texas Industries Have "Permits To Pollute"?
June 19, 2001... Just at the close of the 2001 legislative session, Texas environmental groups announced the release of a new report, "Permit To Pollute," prepared by the National Environmental Trust. The report paints a picture of late, incomplete,...

A Little Extra on the Governor's Vetos.
June 19, 2001... In our lead story of June 18, we noted that we had been unable to reach any spokesman from the Texas Oil and Gas Association regarding their alleged role in convincing Governor Perry to veto two bills - House Bill 2436 (Merritt), which would...

EPA Releases Particulate Matter Papers.
June 19, 2001... EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards has released to the public for review and comment a preliminary draft document, "Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter: Policy Assessment of Scientific and...

GBRA Water Right Battle Goes to SOAH.
June 20, 2001... With hundreds of sign-carrying Canyon Lake residents looking on, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) took a second look at an application by the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority to add 40,000 acre-feet per year to its water...

Environmental Defense Says LA To Heat Up.
June 20, 2001... There appears to be some good news in the bad news Environmental Defense report, released on June 19, that predicts severe consequences for Los Angeles and all of southern California in coming years as part of the plague brought on by global...

TNRCC Public Meetings in Permitting Cases.
June 20, 2001... TNRCC has announced that it will conduct public meetings for the specific purpose of debating the following pending permitting applications: * June 21, 7 pm, Tarver Rendon Elementary School, Burleson, to discuss an application by...

PUC Says Texas Has Abundant Electric Power.
June 21, 2001... Unlike that big state to the west, Texas has an abundant supply of electricity to meet summer peak needs, according to the Texas Public Utility Commission. On the other hand, consumers will probably be paying up to a third more for their power,...

DOE Sued over A/C Rule.
June 21, 2001... The attorneys general of California, New York, and Connecticut have joined with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Consumer Federation of America, and the Public Utility Law Project to file suit against the U.S. Department of Energy and...

"Concerned" Scientists Rap Gas Guzzlers.
June 21, 2001... The U.S. should forego the drilling for oil on public lands and instead utilize Detroit's ingenuity to produce cars and trucks that travel at least 40 miles per gallon of gasoline, according to a report prepared by the Union of Concerned...

Bonanza for Waco in Congress.
June 21, 2001... The Waco Tribune-Herald reports that the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development has approved measures in the Corps of Engineers budget that would provide millions of dollars for the Waco area. Rep. Chet Edwards...

Elm Fork Project Gets NCRS OK.
June 21, 2001... The Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced today that there will be no environmental impact statement prepared for the Elm Fork Watershed, Multiple-Purpose Structure No. 19, in Cooke County. The...

Water Development Board Hands Out Money.
June 22, 2001... The Texas Water Development Board on June 20 approved over $3 million in loans, all funded via the pre-design funding option of the Texas Water Development Fund, to three entities for water and wastewater system improvements. Under this plan,...

GBRA's Comments on Canyon Lake.
June 22, 2001... As promised in our June 20 update, we have obtained comments from the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority regarding the split decision by TNRCC's Commissioners to remand consideration of the GBRA's application for a water rights permit amendment...

Air Liquide Pays $4.5 MM , Works CFC Deal.
June 22, 2001... The Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on June 21 announced a settlement with Air Liquide America Corporation to replace refrigerant chemicals that allegedly destroy the earth's stratospheric ozone layer with...

Private Real Property Rights Guidelines.
June 22, 2001... The Office of the Attorney General has begun its annual review of the Private Real Property Rights Preservation Act guidelines. The guidelines, which assist governmental entities in identifying and evaluating governmental actions that might...

Special Report: Gov. Perry Signs Senate Bill 5.
June 24, 2001... Using Houston's Enron Field as a backdrop, Governor Rick Perry on June 20 signed into law Senate Bill 5, which authorizes the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan. The ballpark, he explained, was built on a brownfield that had been exposed to...

EPA Issues Two Reports.
June 24, 2001... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday announced issuance of (a) new "Ozone Flex" guidelines encouraging political subdivisions to make voluntary, early reductions of air emissions that form ground-level ozone (smog) and (b) a...

Nixon-Era EPA Official Urges New Technology.
June 24, 2001... In written testimony filed this week before the U.S. Department of Energy, former EPA regional administrator Edward W. Furia challenged the Bush Administration to "seize the opportunity to deploy new technologies to address [the nation's...

Power Plant Pollution Bill Vetoed in CT.
June 24, 2001... Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland has vetoed the so-called "sooty six" bill passed by state lawmakers in what he called "one of the more difficult decisions I've had to make as governor over the last seven years." The bill, debated for four...

Lufkin Mill Gets a Second Chance.
June 26, 2001... Lufkin's Donohue paper mill and its new owners Abitibi Consolidted, Inc., won a reprieve from forced closure last week. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it will allow the mill to continue operating despite its decision to...

More Pollution Cutting in Houston.
June 26, 2001... In the never-ending effort to cut ozone-forming emissions in the smog-bound Houston-Galveston area, TNRCC and EPA have worked with the Houston-Galveston Area Council to forge a voluntary agreement with the Texas Waterway Operators Association...

Water Board Moves Water Planning Along.
June 28, 2001... The Texas Water Development Board has authorized the execution of contracts totaling $575,421 for solicited grant proposals for development of regional facility plans. The Board also approved eight more adopted regional water plans, completing...

Fine Particulates Standard Questioned.
June 28, 2001... A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report, written by Kay Jones, Ph.D., and Ben Lieberman, suggests that the evidence has yet to implicate fine particulate matter as a serious public health threat, despite the recent Supreme Court ruling...

EPA To Get 2 AA's, 3 RA's.
June 28, 2001... President Bush announced on June 28 his intention to nominate consultant Marianne Lamont Horinko to be EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) and former Ohio EPA Administrator Donald Schregardus...

Three Named to NEETF Board.
June 28, 2001... In other environmental appointment news, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman has named three new members of the Board of Trustees for the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, Inc.: Thomas M. Ferguson, Chairman and CEO of...