The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) deeply regrets the Supreme Court’s alarming decision today to severely curtail the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) authority to regulate power plant carbon emissions. “Today, the Supreme Court released a ruling that will have grave consequences on our ability to rapidly reduce carbon emissions,” said EESI Executive Director Daniel Bresette.

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"The proposed Affordable Clean Energy rule is another failure in leadership by this Administration to protect the public and is a sharp divergence from the fundamental mission of the Environmental Protection Agency," said EESI Executive Director Carol Werner.

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EESI is deeply disappointed by the EPA decision today to formally repeal the Clean Power Plan, which had aimed to reduce U.S. carbon emissions from power plants by approximately one-third by 2030 (from 2005 levels). EPA has a legal obligation to regulate carbon emissions, following a 2007 Supreme Court decision and the EPA's own 2009 determination that carbon dioxide is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) is cautiously optimistic that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to release renewable fuel volumes for 2014, 2015 and 2016 will allow renewable fuels to surpass 10 percent of the U.S. fuel supply going forward.

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) welcomes new ozone standards that will further protect public health from the negative respiratory, developmental, and other health effects of ozone exposure. The new standards, set at 70 ppb (down from 75 ppb), seek to strike a balance between health benefits and compliance costs, although public health groups have argued for a more rigorous standard. In setting the standard, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has left out a major contributor to ozone – tailpipe exhaust. Tackling tailpipe exhaust provides the opportunity to further cut ozone emissions without excessive cost.

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) welcomes the release today of the Obama administration’s proposed rule to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The announcement follows the White House’s pledge earlier this year to cut methane emissions from the sector 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. In the proposed rule, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set draft standards for methane emissions from new and modified production, processing, and transmission facilities in the oil and gas sector. The draft standards for existing sources of methane emissions, however, are voluntary.

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EESI welcomes the Obama Administration’s more ambitious Clean Power Plan, whose final version will be unveiled today according to a White House press release. Drafts of the plans called for reducing carbon emissions by at least 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The final plan sets the reductions goal at 32 percent. "This is a very big deal," said Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) Executive Director Carol Werner. "An extra 2 points may not sound like much, but they lead to a 6.7 percent more ambitious target. The Administration is clearly trying to push other countries to be similarly ambitious in their carbon reduction goals ahead of the climate change talks in Paris at the end of this year. That’s excellent news.”

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) commends the EPA for addressing the health effects of ground level ozone in their proposed update to the agency’s ozone air quality standards. However, along with the Urban Air Initiative, the Energy Future Coalition, and the Clean Fuel Development Coalition, EESI cautions that the tools which states are tasked to use in crafting their State Implementation Plans (SIPs) for ozone and other air toxics are flawed. If used by state regulators, these models would force air quality policies and practices that would actually cause ozone and other air toxins levels to increase. Additionally, the role of gasoline aromatic hydrocarbons (gasoline aromatics) in ozone formation are being ignored by the EPA.

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) salutes the Obama administration’s decision to tackle methane emissions, a topic recently covered in an EESI Congressional briefing. Methane is a powerful climate warming pollutant – at least 84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over the first 20 years of its presence in the atmosphere. Because of its potency, reducing methane emissions can reduce the rate of warming substantially in the near term.

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) applauds the recent Urban Air Toxics report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which documents a decrease in air toxics that are “known or suspected of causing cancer and can damage the immune, respiratory, neurological, reproductive, and developmental systems.” Thanks to EPA actions, toxic air pollutants have been reduced by millions of tons in the last 20 years. Yet, the report does not give sufficient consideration to toxic air emissions from gasoline, which may be getting worse. EESI urges, therefore, that emissions from gasoline vehicles be recognized as a potentially worsening public health threat by the EPA.

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