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Court to EPA: “Read the Statute. Read the Statute. Read the Statute.”

August 20, 2008

Posted by John Walke

Tags:
airpollution, cleanairact, EPA, monitoring, pollution, powerplants

It’s that time of the month – for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to issue yet another decision overturning a Bush EPA rule for violating the plain language of the Clean Air Act. Yesterday’s decision in Sierra...continued

What explains the Bush administration's air pollution agenda for power plants?

August 15, 2008

Posted by John Walke

Tags:
airpollution, bulwer-lytton, bushadministration, powerplants

Does President Bush, powerfully astride a proverbial aircraft carrier rocking on the ocean's perspiring surface undulating like waves, survey the nation’s hoary horizon of power plants erect like smokestacks, not misunderestimating the dirty deed he did for these dischargers, and...continued

EPA’s “Clean Air Mercury Rule” and the Dog Days of Summer

August 11, 2008

Posted by John Walke

Tags:
cleanairact, cleanairinterstaterule, cleanairmercuryrule, EPA, mercury, powerplants, supremecourt

In late May, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied EPA and utility industry requests to rehear the original court panel’s unanimous decision overturning EPA’s so-called Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) for power plants.  I said at...continued

Words That Utility Pollution Apologists Dare Not Utter

August 7, 2008

Posted by John Walke

Tags:
airpollution, cleanairinterstaterule, EPA, newsourcereview, powerplants

I usually don’t bother responding to utility lobbyists’ air pollution talking points. Much less re-publish their propaganda, thereby adding to the abuse of reason, facts, and good sense in the world today.But I’m making an exception today, because the latest talking...continued

EPA Administrator Johnson's CA Waiver Denial: Mind, and Mime Alone

July 31, 2008

Posted by John Walke

Tags:
californiawaiver, epa, globalwarming, presidentbush

Imagine that you’re taking your young son or daughter on a weekend camping trip that you both have been planning and looking forward to for the past year. Your car is all packed the night before and you’re planning to...continued

Demise of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (Part 3): EPA's "Clear Skies" Straitjacket

July 29, 2008

Posted by John Walke

Tags:
airpollution, cair, cleanairact, cleanairinterstaterule, clearskies, EPA, powerplants

And now the story can be told of the Bush administration's 8 year long agenda for air pollution from power plants.Once upon a time, to be exact in the year 2000, then-Governor Bush ran for the office of the Presidency...continued

Demise of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (Part 2): Today's Senate Hearing

July 29, 2008

Posted by John Walke

Tags:
airpollution, cair, cleanairact, cleanairinterstaterule, clearskies, EPA, powerplants

I testified this morning before the clean air subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at a hearing about the D.C. Circuit's July 11th decision overturning EPA's "Clean Air Interstate Rule."This is the second in a series...continued

Bush Environmental Era: Like a Kidney Stone, This Too Shall Pass

July 15, 2008

Posted by John Walke in Health and the Environment , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
bushadministration, globalwarming, kidneystones

But not without considerable harm to the body politic, public health and the environment, with 6 long months left for that painful passage.Turns out there is another connection between kidney stones and Bush administration environmental policies. Global warming -- about...continued

Demise of the Clean Air Interstate Rule: Blame, Shame, Thy Name is Duke Energy

July 15, 2008

Posted by John Walke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
airpollution, cleanairact, cleanairinterstaterule, dukeenergy, powerplants, smog, soot

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”– Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 230. On Friday July 11th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the Bush administration’s signature air quality accomplishment, the “Clean Air Interstate Rule.”  CAIR...continued

Coal Plant Developers Confront The Future of CO2 Controls -- And Freak.

July 2, 2008

Posted by John Walke in Curbing Pollution , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanairact, globalwarming, pollution, powerplants

This week a state court judge in Georgia issued the first court ruling in the country concluding that power plant developers and state regulators must establish permit limits for CO2 pollution from new coal-fired power plants, based upon "best available control...continued

Science Decider in Chief

March 17, 2008

Posted by John Walke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
bushadministration, cleanairact, environmentallaw, EPA, ozone, ozonestandard, presidentbush, science

The Clean Air Act reserves to "the judgment of the [EPA] Administrator" alone, as a matter of law, the revision of the secondary “public welfare” standard for ozone and other air pollution. This legal standard must be based on what...continued

The Mercury Fallout Continues

February 19, 2008

Posted by John Walke

Tags:
airpollution, EPA, mercury, powerplants

The AP's Joe Hebert has written a powerful article on a scandal emerging from EPA in the wake of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously overturning EPA's mercury rules for power plants.  The AP article appeared...continued

F.A.Q. About the Court Decision Overturning EPA’s Illegal Mercury Rule for Power Plants

February 10, 2008

Posted by John Walke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
cleanairact, EPA, mercury, powerplants

On February 8th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sided with NRDC and a coalition of public health groups, tribes, and states, ruling that EPA had illegally evaded the protective Clean Air Act safeguards requiring deep and timely...continued

On “average,” there is no air pollution

October 16, 2007

Posted by John Walke in Greening China , Health and the Environment , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
airpollution, china, EPA

What do Chinese Communist Party air pollution officials share in common with Bush administration air pollution officials?Resort to the rhetoric of “averages” when it comes to obscuring and excusing air pollution.A front page story in today’s Washington Post examines the...continued

The Two Faces of Steve

October 15, 2007

Posted by John Walke in Health and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
AEP, airpollution, enforcement, EPA, newsourcereview

“This is a true story.”  -- Opening line in 1957’s film, The Three Faces of Eve.Administrator Steve Johnson's Environmental Protection Agency has a split personality. And obsessive compulsive disorder probably should be added to that diagnosis too.The root cause -- or is...continued

John Walke
John Walke
Clean Air Director/ Senior Attorney
Washington, D.C.
As a senior attorney and the Director of NRDC's Clean Air Program, I work on...
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