As a senior attorney and the Director of NRDC's Clean Air Program, I work on national legislation, litigation and Environmental Protection Agency rulemakings that will have the greatest impact on ensuring clean air for all Americans. My work focuses on reducing smog, soot and toxic air pollution from power plants, factories, vehicles and other sources. I frequently challenge EPA rulemakings in federal court for running afoul of the Clean Air Act and failing to protect the public. I joined NRDC in 2000 from EPA's Office of General Counsel in Washington, D.C., where I worked as a clean air attorney for over three years. Prior to that, I worked as an associate attorney at a private law firm in Washington. I graduated from Harvard Law School in 1993, and graduated with a B.A. from Duke University in 1990.
Posted May 22, 2012 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
What does it say about the character of a Congress that would compel government officials to lie to you and me about the healthiness of the air we breathe?28 members of Congress [pdf] voted to do that last week when the...continued→
Posted April 23, 2012 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Sometimes a moment captures dirty, squirming truths like a rat trap. That happened last week in the Senate. The Senate’s clean air subcommittee convened a hearing on EPA’s mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) for power plants that burn coal and oil....continued→
Posted April 16, 2012 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
What do gasoline prices have to do with eliminating Americans' 40+ year right to clean air? Nothing – and everything to some House Republicans. In a gratuitous legislative assault that is cynical even by jaded Washington standards, Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY)...continued→
Posted March 23, 2012 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) has introduced a resolution [pdf] under the Congressional Review Act to eliminate EPA’s mercury and air toxics standards for power plants. The resolution would immediately nullify historic health protections against mercury contamination, heart attacks, strokes, asthma attacks...continued→
Posted March 6, 2012 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
This week the Senate could vote on a deadly amendment to the transportation bill that will abolish clean air standards for the 2nd largest source of industrial toxic air pollution in America. Once enforced, these standards for incinerators and industrial boilers will save...continued→
Posted February 16, 2012 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
If your neighborhood utility industry lobbyist looks a little more harried than usual, it’s because today, February 16th, is yet another reminder to power companies that they, like other industries, are finally going to have to clean up their mercury...continued→
Posted February 8, 2012 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Americans continue to support clean air safeguards in resounding numbers [pdf], yet Congressional Republicans persist in attacking standard after life-saving standard to reduce dangerous air pollution. This week is no exception to that deadly rule. The House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and...continued→
Posted December 12, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Congress enters the week engaged in critical negotiations over an omnibus spending bill and a payroll tax extender package, with Congressional Republicans continuing their furious push to include harmful, unrelated “riders” targeting public health and environmental safeguards. NRDC president Frances...continued→
Posted December 2, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency re-proposed [pdf] standards to reduce mercury, toxic metals, acid gases and other hazardous air pollution from industrial boilers and incinerators. These standards already are over a decade overdue, and EPA’s newly-revised standards achieve significant health...continued→
Posted November 11, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Senators Dan Coats (R-IN) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) have introduced a bill called the Fair Compliance Act of 2011 that blocks and delays clean air safeguards against smog, soot, mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants that burn...continued→
Posted November 8, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Last week the U.S. Senate rejected an extreme agenda disguised as a jobs and transportation bill. This unsuccessful effort was founded on the absurd notion that more pollution would mean more jobs and that what the country really needs is more...continued→
Posted October 28, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
In the law there is a concept called a "heckler's veto" to describe the ability -- but not the right -- of a person to be loud and obnoxious enough to drown out the free speech of others.This week House...continued→
Posted October 27, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
This week I testified before the House Energy & Power Subcommittee in opposition to H.R. 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011. In this post, I set forth my oral statement to the subcommittee, supplemented by some additional...continued→
Posted October 14, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
Under the fundamentally misleading title of the “Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011,” identical bills have been introduced in both the House [pdf] and Senate [pdf] to block the Environmental Protection Agency from updating health standards for coarse particle...continued→
Posted September 30, 2011 by John Walke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
The week of October 2nd, two bills aimed at blocking critical health protections against mercury and other toxic air pollution from incinerators and boilers (H.R. 2250) [pdf] and cement plants (H.R. 2681) [pdf] are expected to be brought up for...continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
