Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources

Air Quality Committee

2007-2008 Committee Co-Chairs:
Howard J. Hoffman
[hoffman.howard@epa.gov]

Angela Morrison Uhland
[auhland@hgslaw.com]

EPA Releases Federal Register Notice Denying California Waiver Petition

On February 29, 2008, EPA released its official notice denying California's petition for a waiver under section 209 of the Clean Air Act to allow California to have greenhouse gas emission standards for new motor vehicles. EPA had previously announced in December its intention to deny the petition. Today's notice is the official denial and sets forth EPA's rationale. The Federal Register notice, as well as other documents relating to California's waiver petition, can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/ca-waiver.htm.

D.C. Circuit Vacates Clean Air Mercury Rule

On February 8, 2008, the D. C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated EPA's Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) for Electric Generating Units (EGUs), by vacating EPA's initial delisting "Revision of December 2000 Regulatory Finding ("Delisting Rule"), 70 Fed. Reg. 15,994 (Mar. 29, 2005). With this vacature, the D.C. Circuit did not reach the fundamental merits of a national "cap and trade" system for Mercury under the NSPS standards, but simply vacated the CAMR's regulations because, if EGU's remain listed under 112, then they cannot be regulated under section 111, stating: "EPA promulgated the CAMR regulations for new sources under section 111(b) on the basis that there would be no section 112 regulation of EGU emissions and that the new source performance standards would be accompanied by a national emissions cap and a voluntary capand-trade program. See CAMR, 70 Fed. Reg. at 28,608-10, 28,614-15, 28,619, 28,622; see also id. at 28,616." A pdf of the decision is attached or you can access the following link for a copy of the decision: http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200802/05-1097a.pdf

CAA Nanotechnology Briefing Paper

The American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER) is pleased to make available the results of a comprehensive review of the core federal environmental statutes to assess the suitability of each to address issues pertinent to human health and the environment arising from applications of nanotechnology. Earlier this year, the Section offered to brief representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of General Counsel (OGC) and pertinent other EPA representatives in EPA program offices on legal and regulatory issues arising in connection with the application of existing statutory and regulatory authorities to engineered nanoscale materials. Specifically, the Section offered to prepare detailed briefing documents on each of the six core environmental statutes, and a briefing document on innovative governance mechanisms, that identify key legal and regulatory issues EPA can be expected to encounter as it considers how best to address issues likely to arise in connection with nanotechnology.

Section Nanotechnology Project Home Page

CAA Nanotechnology Briefing Paper

Message from the Chair

The Air Quality Committee continues its many activities this Spring. At the 36th Annual Conference on Environmental Law at Keystone, Colorado, we hosted a dinner for Air Quality Committee attendees on the first night of the conference. We helped plan the air hot topics panel on Saturday. And, most importantly, we are a major sponsor of the ABA-EPA Law Office Eco-Challenge that was rolled out at Keystone. We hope that hundreds of firms will sign up for the Challenge, and meet the requirements of the Green Power, WasteWise, or Energy Star Programs as modified for law firms. For more information go to www.abanet.org/environ/ecochallenge.

We are working with the planners of the 15th Section Fall Meeting, to be held in Pittsburgh on Sept. 26-30, 2007, to create a panel that will address a number of key air issues in the context of a mock permit negotiation. Finally, we will hold quick teleconferences with lawyers for the parties to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Massachusetts v. EPA and Duke Energy cases, both decided on April 2 and discussed in our April 2007 newsletter.

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.