Hill Heat

Toxic soot pollution affects millions, but it doesn’t need to be this way.

Right now thousands people are fighting hard to ensure the EPA doesn’t let big polluters off the hook when it comes to setting the strongest possible standards on soot pollution.

Join us at the EPA HQ for our final public testimony as the comment window on national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) closes.

And please spread the word about this event demanding clean air and healthier communities now

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Hearing page

Witnesses:

• Dr. Eric K. Lin, Director, Material Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Dr. Ariel Stein, Acting Director, Global Monitoring Laboratory and Director, Air Resources Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Dr. Karen M. St. Germain, Earth Science Division Director, Science Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Dr. Bryan Hubbell, National Program Director for Air, Climate, and Energy, Office of Research and Development, United States Environmental Protection Agency

The purpose of this hearing is to assess the challenge of oil and gas sector methane leaks from a scientific, technological, and policymaking perspective. The hearing will discuss the current scientific consensus regarding the role of methane leaks as a driver of oil and gas sector methane emissions. The hearing will highlight recent advances in innovative leak detection and repair technologies, as well as the importance of deploying such technologies broadly throughout oil and gas sector operations to achieve large-scale reductions in methane emissions. Finally, the hearing will examine research gaps related to oil and gas sector methane emissions and opportunities for the Federal government to support scientific research activities pertaining to oil and gas sector methane leaks.

Hearing charter

Committee report

Committee staff conclude that oil and gas companies are failing to design, equip, and inform their Methane Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) activities as necessary to achieve rapid and large-scale reductions in methane emissions from their operations. The sector’s approach does not reflect the latest scientific evidence on methane leaks. Oil and gas companies must change course quickly if the United States is to reach its methane reduction targets by the end of this decade. The Committee staff also learned that oil and gas companies have internal data showing that methane emission rates from the sector are likely significantly higher than official data reported to EPA would indicate. A very significant proportion of methane emissions appear to be caused by a small number of super-emitting leaks. One company experienced a single leak that may be equivalent to more than 80% of all the methane emissions it reported to EPA – according to EPA’s prescribed methodology – for all of its Permian oil and gas production activities in 2020.

Witnesses:

• Dr. David Lyon, Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund
• Riley Duren, Chief Executive Officer, Carbon Mapper
• Dr. Brian Anderson, Director, National Energy Technology Laboratory
• Dr. Greg Rieker, Co-Founder and CTO, LongPath Technologies, Inc.

Hearing page

Witnesses

• Faisal Amin, Chief Financial Officer, Environmental Protection Agency
• Michael Regan, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency

Atmospheric methane continues to rocket up at record rates, NOAA reported yesterday. As fracking booms, methane levels increased by 17 parts per billion in 2021, breaking the 2020 record of 15.3 ppb. Concentrations of this powerful greenhouse pollutant are now 162 percent of their pre-industrial levels, as the Biden administration pushes for more natural gas production and export.

I will take this moment to remind readers that the EPA is undercounting methane pollution by 77 percent.

The essential Kate Aronoff castigates the incoherence of Democrats in Congress who claim to care about the climate crisis begging oil CEOs to increase fossil-fuel production, instead of acting to take their billions in windfall profits and stop their greenhouse pollution:

Appealing to these CEOs’ better angels is pointless. Although they hand fossil fuel companies billions in subsidies each year, American policymakers mostly confine themselves to begging or berating them into doing what they want.

As Adam Tooze writes in his review of three recent books by Andreas Malm:

To harp on the climate crisis while doing nothing about it is, in the long run, intolerable. Liberals’ failures make Trump look honest. He may deny the science, but at least he’s true to himself.

A Public Meeting of the Chartered Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and CASAC Particulate Matter Panel.

Agenda: To discuss the Draft CASAC Report on EPA’s Draft Supplement to the 2019 Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) for PM and the Draft CASAC Report on EPA’s Draft PM Policy Assessment (PA).

11:00 AM	Convene Meeting	Mr. Aaron Yeow, Designated Federal Officer
	Review of Agenda	Dr. Liane Sheppard CASAC PM Panel Chair
	Remarks from EPA	TBD
	Public Comments on the Draft CASAC ISA Supplement Report and the Draft CASAC PA Report	Registered Speakers (TBD)
	Discussion of Draft CASAC ISA Supplement Report Discussion of Consensus Responses Discussion of Letter to the Administrator	Dr. Sheppard and Panel Members
	Chartered CASAC Disposition of Draft CASAC ISA Supplement Report	Dr. Lianne Sheppard Chartered CASAC Chair Chartered CASAC Members
2:00 PM	Deliberation on the Draft Policy Assessment Charge Questions
	Chapter 5 (Reconsideration of the Secondary Standard)	Dr. Chow, Mr. Allen, Drs. Boylan, Ponette-González, Turpin
3:00 PM	Recess	Mr. Yeow

The oft-repeated claim that the United States has significantly reduced its greenhouse pollution since 2005 by switching from coal to gas depends on the EPA’s official accounting that methane pollution has declined during the fracking boom, an implausible scenario.

Today, the International Energy Agency revealed in a major report that methane pollution from the fossil-fuel industry is 70 percent higher than official figures globally. Their Global Methane Tracker finds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been seriously undercounting methane pollution. The IEA estimate of 2021 methane pollution is 77 percent higher than the EPA’s inventory:

Not surprisingly, that cancels out all the purported climate benefits of switching electricity production from coal to natural gas.

Furthermore, the U.S. EPA calculates the effect of methane on global warming by using its impact over 100 years, which is about 30 times that of CO₂, instead of more scientifically defensible dynamic measures that take into account methane’s 20-year impact, which is 86 times that of CO₂.

3/7/20 Update: Russia invaded Ukraine the day after the IEA report dropped, so that may help explain why this report didn’t get too much attention. However, the oil and gas industry are claiming the invasion means we have to drill everywhere, and the Senate Energy Committee found time to attack FERC for regulating methane pollution. So I think there’s capacity to discuss this report and its shattering implications, which include the need for the United States to shut down the fracking boom as fast as humanly possible.

Join the U.S. EPA and U.S. Department of the Army for an opportunity to comment on the proposed “Waters of the United States” definition. This is the third of three public hearings.

Please visit Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2021-0602 on Regulations.gov for additional information about how to submit a public comment. The comment period on this proposed rule will close on February 7, 2022.

A public hearing to provide interested parties the opportunity to present data, views, or arguments concerning the proposed rule typically consists of morning, afternoon and evening sessions. In a virtual environment, these hearing sessions will be held on different days. To allow more time for speakers, the agencies prerecorded a video introduction and overview of the rule.

RSVP

Speaker list:

Hearing Session 1: 5:00 PM – 6:25 PM ET

1. Kristine Oblock, Environment America
2. Jen Pelz, Rio Grande Waterkeeper/WildEarth Guardians
3. David Brooks, Montana Trout Unlimited
4. Ryan Yates, American Farm Bureau Federation
5. Chris Edgington, National Corn Growers Association
6. David Simpson, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection
7. Lauren Williams, New York Farm Bureau
8. Anne Coan, NC Farm Bureau Federation
9. Carl Harris, Carl Harris Co., Inc.
10. Gregory Ugalde, National Association of Home Builders
11. Tim Kellogg, WDH Real Estate
12. Kaitlynn Glover, Public Lands Council/ National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
13. Brandon Reeves, Virginia Cattlemen’s Association
14. Sparky Wellman, independent cattle producer; Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Member
15. Jim Magagna, Wyoming Stock Growers Association
16. Lucy Evert
17. Kelly Moser, Southern Environmental Law Center
18. Garrett Hawkins, Missouri Farm Bureau
19. Lowry Crook, Best Best & Krieger LLP
20. Alex Ortiz, Sierra Club
21. Nelson Brooke, Black Warrior Riverkeeper

Hearing Session 2: 6:35 PM – 8 pm ET

1. Victoria Okula, Arizona Farm Bureau
2. Thomas Allen, Cook Allen Engineers and Surveyors
3. Mervin Wright, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe
4. Alexander Funk, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
5. Michelle Diffenderfer, Lewis Longman & Walker
6. Charlie Besher , Besher Farms
7. Kim Bednarek, Okefenokee
8. Aaron Mintzes, Earthworks
9. Lisa Gover
10. Alan Hunt, Musconetcong Watershed Association
11. Vicki Watson, University of Montana

Business Meeting agenda:

• Eighteen GSA Resolutions
• David Uhlmann to be Assistant Administrator of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, of the Environmental Protection Agency
• Martha Williams to be Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, of the Department of the Interior
• Henry Christopher Frey to be Assistant Administrator for Research and Development of the Environmental Protection Agency

The purpose of these calls is to inform communities about EPA’s environmental justice work and enhance opportunities to maintain an open dialogue with environmental justice advocates. As environmental justice continues to be integrated into EPA programs and policies, the Agency hopes that these calls will help reaffirm EPA’s continued commitment to work with community groups and the public to strengthen local environmental and human health outcomes.

Registration: Due to limited space, participation in this call will be on a first come, first-served basis. Pre-registration is highly suggested, but not required. If registration has reached capacity, please see the links below for instructions on how to access the call if seating is available on the day of the meeting. If you are unable to join the call, a summary will be posted to the U.S. EPA Office of Environmental Justice’s website after.

Interpretation: If you need English-language interpretation assistance, or special accommodations for a disability or other assistance, you can submit a request when registering for the meeting. Please submit your request by September 23, to give EPA sufficient time to process.

For more information about the National Environmental Justice Community Engagement Calls, please visit the website or email: Victoria Robinson (robinson.victo[email protected]) or Christina Motilall ([email protected]).

JOIN THE ZoomGov Webinar

IMPORTANT: Due to limited seating, PLEASE enter the call using either your mobile device OR your computer, not both. Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://usepa.zoomgov.com/j/1606599212?pwd=L3lTTFpmRVVLNGVsbVFxUFlhWEUvZz09 Passcode: 11066564