EPA
Consumer Group: White House Left Fuel-Efficiency Savings on the Table
The Obama administration's proposal to raise auto fuel-efficiency (CAFE) standards to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 could have gone even further in order to reap the maximum environmental and economic benefits of cleaner cars, according to a new analysis [PDF] released today by the Consumer Federation of America.
November 24, 2009
GOP Senators Protest Evaluating the Climate Impacts of Transport Projects
The 40-year-old National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), which requires the federal government to evaluate the environmental consequences of future projects, is a valuable tool for local residents and green groups that work to defeat highway expansions -- but as Streetsblog L.A. noted earlier this year, NEPA can be an equally valuable tool for opponents of clean transportation projects.
October 26, 2009
The Dirty Secret of Coal Ash: It’s in Our Roads
Last night's 60 Minutes featured an eye-opening report (viewable above) on the 130 million tons of coal ash waste generated every year by the nation's thirst for energy. The show outlined the lack of oversight over disposal of the toxic ash, which is routinely used in the most commonplace of areas: concrete.
October 5, 2009
The New White House Fuel Efficiency Rule: Count the Loopholes
The final fuel-efficiency rule released by the Obama administration this morning includes what some lobbyists have nicknamed "the German provision," giving automakers that sell less than 400,000 vehicles in the U.S. an exemption for 25 percent of their fleet.
September 15, 2009
White House Releases Fuel Efficiency Rules — Will the Loophole Make it in?
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson will head to the White House briefing room this afternoon to release the final version of fuel-economy rules that will bring the nation's auto fleet to an average of 35.5. miles per gallon by 2016.
September 15, 2009
EPA to Declare CO2 a Pollutant, Release Final Fuel-Efficiency Rules
Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson made news on two fronts in a meeting with reporters yesterday: she is preparing to officially declare carbon dioxide a pollutant under the Clean Air Act and release the final version of the Obama administration's new fuel economy standard for autos.
September 1, 2009
EPA Chief Urges a More Urban Environmentalism to Fight Climate Change
With Congress returning to work next week after a month away from Washington, a national dialogue long dominated by health care is about to open to the long-awaited Senate debate on climate change.
August 31, 2009
In the Works: Senate Bill to Promote Sustainable Development
In Washington politics, the term "kumbaya moment" is used to describe those rare occasions when self-interested stakeholders join hands to support a set of reforms. And today's appearance before the Senate Banking Committee by the chiefs of three Cabinet departments -- Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency -- definitely qualified for kumbaya status.
June 16, 2009
EPA Asks For Bike to Work Feedback, Inhabitat Gives Away a Bike
We get a lot of Greenversations press releases over the transom and most go right to the trash, in no small part because “Greenversations” is one of the more odious portmanteaus a government agency or corporation has yet proffered. Not quite as annoying as the idea that Ray LaHood’s multi-modal transportation blog is called the … Continued
June 15, 2009
Judge in Vermont Upholds California Emissions Standards
Detroit car makers lost another battle in their fight against stronger emissions regulations last week, this time in Vermont.
September 17, 2007