Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources

Air Quality Committee

2009-2010 Committee Chair:

Angela Morrison Uhland, Hopping Green & Sams PA, Tallahassee, FL

Message from the Chair

The Section’s Annual Conference on Environmental Law is moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2010, and we hope you can join us! The conference will be held March 18-21, 2010, at The Grand America Hotel. The Annual Conference on Environmental Law (commonly referred to as the Keystone Conference in the past) is one of the most important educational and professional gatherings available today for environmental law practitioners, academics, nonprofit lawyers, and government lawyers. What began thirty-eight years ago as a small gathering of committed and passionate lawyers has grown to a program that today consistently draws more than 300 attendees. What once was a program known for its morning CLE sessions and free afternoons for the slopes is now a conference spanning four days full of cutting-edge plenary and breakout sessions, packed with keynote and special speakers and an abundance of networking sessions.

The Air Quality Committee members will be getting together for a lunch and a dinner at the Annual Conference, and we will have many opportunities for networking. Also, you won’t want to miss the air quality panel. The title of the air panel this year is: “Implementing the Obama Administration Clean Air Agenda at One Year.” Barely one year into the Obama Administration, new EPA leadership already has taken significant steps toward defining an entirely new clean air agenda. At the one year mark of the new agenda, with leadership on air, policy, legal, and science issues in place, this panel will discuss the next steps in the Obama Administration’s ambitious air agenda through new rulemakings and court actions, and its efforts to chart a course for how to achieve its policy goals during the remaining years of the Administration. The panel will identify the key Obama Administration clean air priorities identified to date, steps the Obama EPA has taken to reverse Bush Administration policies, additional policy initiatives the Obama Administration likely will identify for the remainder of the term, and steps the Obama EPA likely will take through rulemakings, policies, and litigation to achieve such goals. The speakers on this panel include Gina McCarthy, EPA Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation; Robert Meyers, former Acting Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation; and Vickie Patton, with the Environmental Defense Fund. Roger Martella, former general counsel for EPA, will moderate.

We hope to see you on March 12–15 in Salt Lake City. For more information and to register, go to: http://www.abanet.org/environ/programs/envlaw/2010/home.shtml

Angela Morrison Uhland
Chair

Public Service Project - Spread the Light!

Please consider participating in a public service project open to all members of the Section: the BoGo Solar-Powered Flashlight ("BoGo" stands for "buy one, give one"). With each BoGo light purchased in the developed world, the purchaser chooses an organization to which a second identical light will be donated for distribution in the developing world. The BoGo Light charges with a day of sunlight, provides six to eight hours of use per charge and works for thousands of hours before requiring new rechargeable batteries. These ever-ready lights are useful in the United States, and potentially life-changing in Africa. Most importantly, introducing simple clean technology in rural Africa empowers the recipients to choose sustainable energy options in the future. Purchase one to keep and one to give by visiting http://www.bogolight.com. If you click on "choose where to give," you can select where to give the second flashlight. One of the worthy options is Elephant Energy, a non-profit working to introduce renewable energy technologies in rural Africa. Elephant Energy has teamed up with SunNight Solar to distribute BoGo Solar-Powered Flashlights to villagers committed to promote rural development and nature conservation in Namibia (for details, visit http://www.elephantenergy.org). (If you donate a light to Elephant Energy, and also send an e-mail to elephantenergy@gmail.com with your name and e-mail address, they will send you a picture of the recipient in Africa holding the donated light with your name written on it). Please contribute to this important cause and help make a positive impact on the world.

Discussion Board

The Section has also made available to us a new Discussion Board. This will allow us to communicate and collaborate with each other on a topic of interest. With almost 600 members in our committee, this Discussion Board should serve as a wonderful tool for discussions on air issues. This service will be in addition to the list serve, which we will continue to use for notices of latebreaking information and other committee communications. Our committee’s Web page is also a good resource for air quality information. The Air Quality Committee continues to have a strong leadership team who help bring value to your membership in our committee. Our current team is listed in the Leadership module on the right hand side.

Hot News!

EPA issues Proposed Endangerment Finding for Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act
On April 17, 2009, the EPA formally proposed to make a finding that carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases emitted by motor vehicles cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare. Once published in the Federal Register, the proposed endangerment finding will trigger a 60-day public comment period before EPA can issue a final finding. A pdf of the proposal is attached. More information is available at the following link: http://epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html#warming

EPA GHG endangerment proposal pe-pub.pdf

EPA Proposes First National Reporting on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
On March 10, 2009, EPA proposed a comprehensive national system for reporting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced by major sources in the United States. The new reporting rule would apply to suppliers of fossil fuel and industrial chemicals, manufacturers of motor vehicles and engines, and large direct emitters of greenhouse gases with emissions equal to or greater than a threshold of 25,000 metric tons per year. Approximately 13,000 facilities, accounting for about 85 percent to 90 percent of greenhouse gases emitted in the United States, would be covered under the proposal. The rule was published in the Federal Register on April 10, 2009, and the comment period expires on June 9, 2009. Pdfs of the proposed rule and preamble to the proposed rule are attached. More information on the proposed rule is available at the following link: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ghgrulemaking.html

GHG Reporting Proposed Rule.pdf | GHG Reporting Proposed Rule - Preamble.pdf

Clean Air Interstate Rule Reinstated
On December 23, 2008, the DC Circuit reinstated the CAIR Rule and remanded the rule back to EPA for further rulemaking to address the defects identified in the court's July 11, 2008 decision.

EPA Final Rule on New Source Review Aggregation
O n January 12, 2009, EPA issued a final rule addressing aggregation for purposes of the federal New Source Review (NSR) program. Aggregation groups together multiple, related physical or operational changes into a single project for evaluating requirements under the NSR program.

EPA Memorandum on the Deseret Decision
On December 18, 2008, EPA issued an interpretative memo describing what air pollutants are subject to the federal Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program as "regulated NSR pollutants." In the memorandum, EPA Administrator Johnson interprets the phrase "regulated NSR pollutants" to exclude pollutants for which EPA regulations only require monitoring or reporting and not actual control of emissions.

EAB's Deseret Power decision
In a November 13, 2008 decision in In the Matter of Deseret Power Electric Cooperative, EAB App. No. PSD 07-03, the EPA Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) remanded a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit for the Deseret project back to EPA Region VIII for a determination of whether Best Available Control Technology (BACT) is required to limit the proposed coal-fired power plant's CO2 emissions. The EAB held that held that agency has the discretion to determine which pollutants are "subject to regulation" under the Clean Air Act, and the PSD permit was remanded to the region to develop a record for its decision.

About the Committee

The Air Quality Committee provides a valuable forum and practical resources for lawyers interested in air-related issues. Committee members range from experienced practitioners to those who deal with air quality issues on only an occasional basis. The Committee provides information to its members through the programs it presents and its contributions to the various ABA publications. The Air Quality Committee assists its members with:

keeping up to date on new developments, through extensive communications such as newsletters, satellite conferences and seminars;
exchanging ideas and Best Practices with other practitioners around the country; and
maintaining involvement with the environmental lawyer community by contributing to various ABA SEER publications and participating in SEER events.

We have one of the largest sections in the Year in Review, which covers new laws, regulations and recent cases affecting air quality, and we publish a quarterly newsletter with articles and items of interest. While most of our work is done by our excellent and hardworking Vice-Chairs, we are always looking for members interested in getting involved in committee activities.