The WSJ has an article on Denbury Resources Inc.'s plan to use CO2 recovered from industrial plants to improve its oil recovery. "Denbury wants to capture the entirety of the Dow plant's annual carbon-dioxide emissions, taking a liability off Dow's hands equivalent to the annual emissions of 27,000 cars." Interesting.
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U.S. EPA has issued its endangerment finding, announcing that greenhouse gases threaten the public health and welfare of the American people:
The Administrator finds that six greenhouse gases taken in combination endanger both the public health and the public welfare of current and future generations. The Administrator also finds that the combined emissions of these greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contribute to the greenhouse gas air pollution that endangers public health and welfare under CAA section 202(a).
You can find copies of both the finding itself and EPA's technical support documents here.
[Update: We neglected to mention - These findings do not themselves impose any requirements on industry or other entities. However, this action is a prerequisite to finalizing the EPA’s proposed greenhouse gas emission standards for light-duty vehicles, which were jointly proposed by EPA and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Safety Administration on September 15, 2009.]
Yesterday, Public Citizen - a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization - sued the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to force the commission to regulate CO2 emissions when considering permits for new coal-fired power plants and other facilities. A copy of the organization's press release can be found here, including a copy of the complaint that was filed.
If successful, expect to see similar suits around the country.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has issued its decision in State of Connecticut, et al. v. American Electric Power Company Inc., et al. (Case Nos. 05-5104-CV and 05-5119-CV), finding that plaintiffs (several states and land trusts) may sue power companies for the public nuisance of global warming due to emissions of carbon dioxide. From the court's decision, and setting the stage:
In 2004, two groups of Plaintiffs, one consisting of eight States and New York City, and the other consisting of three land trusts (collectively “Plaintiffs”), separately sued the same six electric power corporations that own and operate fossil-fuel-fired power plants in twenty states (collectively “Defendants”), seeking abatement of Defendants’ ongoing contributions to the public nuisance of global warming. Plaintiffs claim that global warming, to which Defendants contribute as the “five largest emitters of carbon dioxide in the United States and . . . among the largest in the world,” Connecticut v. Am. Elec. Power Co., 406 F. Supp. 2d 265, 268 (S.D.N.Y. 2005), by emitting 650 million tons per year of carbon dioxide, is causing and will continue to cause serious harms affecting human health and natural resources.
They explain that carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the earth’s atmosphere, and that as a result of this trapped heat, the earth’s temperature has risen over the years and will continue to rise in the future. Pointing to a “clear scientific consensus” that global warming has already begun to alter the natural world, Plaintiffs predict that it “will accelerate over the coming decades unless action is taken to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.” (Pages 3-4.)
Interested yet?
Reversing the lower court's dismissal of the complaint, the court of appeals held that the political question doctrine did not bar adjudication of the plaintiffs' claims; that the plaintiffs had standing to pursue their claims; and that the federal common law of nuisance governed and was adequately stated in the complaint (among other things).
Expect quite a bit of commentary!
American Electric Power (AEP) is poised to begin a carbon capture and storage project at its West Virginia Mountaineer Power Plant to test the viability of the technology, according to this article in the NYT. Its plan - to inject about 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide, converted to a fluid, annually for two to five years, or roughly 1.5% of Mountaineer’s yearly CO2 emissions. Very interesting.
The Times-Picayune has an interesting article on the use of interstate pipelines to transport carbon dioxide from underground deposits or manufacturing processes in one state (e.g., Mississippi and Texas) to be used for oil production in another.
While power use could increase more than 20% over the next two decades, companies are reconsidering new coal-fired power plant construction over uncertainty regarding greenhouse gas regulation, according to this USA Today report.
EPA has decided that greenhouse gas output cannot be considered by officials reviewing federal applications to build new coal-fired power plants, according to this article from the NYT. This is in response to a decision by EPA's Environmental Appeals Board last month, Deseret Power Electric Cooperative. A complete copy of the interpretive memorandum can be found here.
[Update: U.S. EPA published a notice of the interpretive memorandum in the Federal Register indicating that challenges to the interpretation must be brought in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by March 2, 2009. (Moved up.)]
[Update: U.S. EPA reconsidering its interpretation: "EPA today granted a petition for reconsideration of a Bush Administration memo regarding the scope of the Clean Air Act. The interpretive memo, put forward by then-EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson in December 2008, addresses when the Prevention of Significant Deterioration program applies to carbon dioxide, a chief greenhouse gas." (Moved up).]
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