Obama ready to take last shot at climate change legacy

 
The EPA will launch the most dramatic anti-pollution regulation in a generation early next month, a sweeping crackdown on carbon that offers President Barack Obama his last real shot at a legacy on climate change — while causing significant political peril for red-state Democrats, Erika Martinson writes in Politico.

“The move could produce a dramatic makeover of the power industry, shifting it away from coal-burning plants toward natural gas, solar and wind. While this is the big move environmentalists have been yearning for, it also has major political implications in November for a president already under fire for what the GOP is branding a job-killing “War on Coal,” and promises to be an election issue in energy-producing states such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Louisiana.

“The EPA’s proposed rule is aimed at scaling back carbon emissions from existing power plants, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases. It’s scheduled for a public rollout June 2, after months of efforts by the administration to publicize the mounting scientific evidence that rising seas, melting glaciers and worsening storms pose a danger to human society.

““This rule is the most significant climate action this administration will take,” said Kyle Aarons at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, one of a host of groups awaiting the rule’s release. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has urged the EPA to “go ahead boldly” with the rule, saying the agency must step in where Congress has refused to act.”


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Where do Pa governor candidates stand on frack taxes?

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who is seeking a second term, does not want to increase taxes on natural gas drillers.

His Democrat challengers all do.

In the audio report above,State Impact‘s Marie Cusick and Katie Colaneri discuss the differences and also explore where the candidates stand on gas drilling in state parks
and in the Delaware River watershed.

Related energy and environment news stories:
Controversial Marcellus certification program starts
Pennsylvania’s budget woes revive talk of natural gas extraction tax
Other Opinion: Tax rate on natural gas drilling to shape Pa. elections
Severance tax proposals called ‘short-sighted tax schemes’
Amid state budget woes, gas drilling tax turns GOP heads

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On the house, today’s issue of EnviroPolitics 
Ex-Port Authority cop advised to ignore corruption?   
Former NY manufacturing site added to Superfund list   
Christie team under fire for energy, enviro decisions  

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Controversial Marcellus certification program starts

An uncommon partnership between oil and gas companies and some environmental groups has accepted its first application for a certification program aimed at promoting voluntary but tough new standards in addition to existing government regulations on drilling in the Marcellus Shale, the Associated Press reports.

The Pittsburgh-based Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) said Thursday one drilling company, which was not identified, has submitted an application to be certified. Director Susan LeGros said an independent audit of the company is scheduled for early June.

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The center has hired Bureau Veritas, a French global testing and inspection firm, to review applications and compliance by drillers. The certification process involves the independent review of each applicant’s drilling and environmental protection practices. A firm that passes the review is monitored for two years then undergoes the review process again.

The gas drilling boom in the Marcellus Shale, largely brought on with the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has generated tens of billions of dollars and reduced energy bills and fuel imports in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. But it’s also brought concerns, and sparked protests, over air and water pollution.
The certification program was not welcomed by all, eliciting sharp differences among environmental groups and the energy industry.
The Sierra Club has criticized the effort, saying a voluntary program is no substitute for tough state or federal rules. Chesapeake Energy has said the program unnecessarily goes beyond government regulations, and the company has no plans to join the partnership. The founding members of the center include energy companies Chevron, Shell, EQT and Consol Energy, along with the Clean Air Task Force, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, and other groups. The Richard King Mellon Foundation this week announced a new $150,000 grant to the center but the Heinz Endowments and the William Penn Foundation are no longer providing grant support.

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On the house, today’s issue of EnviroPolitics

We’ll be up front about it. We’d like you to subscribe to our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics.



But, rather than fill up a paragraph or two with words extolling the virtues of the publication and how much it can help you and your business, law firm, consultancy, association or…
(we’re doing it aren’t we?)….


…we’ll simply invite you to click to open a free copy of our May 14 2014 issue.


Today’s edition can speak for itself.













































































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PA honored for Clarion County abandoned mine project


The Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation within the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has received the 2013 Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI) Pennsylvania State Award for an abandoned mine project in Farmington Township, Clarion County.

The project consisted of grading material into a pit in order to return the surface to its original contour, draining and removing two water impoundments and eliminating 3,500 linear feet of hazardous high walls. The reclamation will provide cover and habitat for wildlife and a safe place of for local residents to visit while enjoying the outdoors.

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The total project covered 25.3 acres, with 5,381 newly planted trees covering 12.3 acres. Federally funded through the Office of Surface Mine Reclamation and Enforcement, the total cost of the project was $367,480. Reclamation was completed May 13, 2013.


ARRI is a coalition of citizens, members of the coal industry and government agencies dedicated to restoring forests on coal mined lands in the Eastern United States.

ARRI Excellence in Reforestation Awards are presented each year to honor active and abandoned coal mine reclamation operations from every state in the Appalachian Region that best exemplify the use of the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) in conducting reclamation operations. Highly productive forestland can be created using FRA by planting trees on reclaimed coal mined lands.

The project was designed and inspected by PADEP’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation staff in Cambria. The area was reclaimed by Gralan Corporation of West Port Ann, New York.
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