The document is a comment letter from the Competitive Enterprise Institute to the EPA regarding its draft strategic plan. The letter argues that the plan implies the EPA intends to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, but that the EPA has no authority from Congress to do so. The letter provides several reasons from the Clean Air Act language and legislative history that show Congress did not give the EPA power to regulate greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and climate change. The letter urges the EPA to revise passages in its final strategic plan to remove any implication that it can or plans to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.
A letter from Dan Fitzsimmons, president of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo expressing profound disappointment that Cuomo intends to let the Nov. 29 date slip by without releasing new drilling rules to allow shale gas drilling in the state.
A letter from Dan Fitzsimmons, president of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo expressing profound disappointment that Cuomo intends to let the Nov. 29 date slip by without releasing new drilling rules to allow shale gas drilling in the state.
Required Resources
Required Text
1. Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet
a. Chapter 3: Dollars and the Environmental Sense: Economics of Environmental Issues
b. Chapter 21: Air Pollution
Multimedia
1. Annenberg Learner. (n.d.). Carbon lab [Interactive lab]. In The Habitable Planet. Retrieved from http://learner.org/courses/envsci/interactives/carbon/
2. dennettracerocks3d. (2013, June 12). Carbon tax and cap and trade [Video clip]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmRNCEur1ks
· Transcript
Recommended Resource
Article
1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2012). Cap and trade. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/captrade/
CrITICAl THINkING IssUe
Should Carbon dioxide Be Regulated Along with other Major Air Pollutants?
The six common pollutants, sometimes called the criteria pol- lutants, are ozone, particulate matter, lead, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide. These pollutants have a long history with the EPA, and major efforts have been made to reduce them in the lower atmosphere over the United States. This effort has been largely successful—all of them have been significantly reduced since 1990.
In 2009, the EPA suggested that we add carbon dioxide to this list. Two years earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had or- dered the EPA to make a scientific review of carbon dioxide as an air pollutant that could possibly endanger public health and welfare. Following that review, the EPA announced that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. This proclamation makes it possible that greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, will be regulated by the Clean Air Act, which regulates most other serious air pollutants.
The EPA’s conclusion that greenhouse gases harm or en- danger public health and welfare is based primarily on the role these gases play in climate change. The analysis states that the impacts include, but are not limited to, increased drought that will impact agricultural productivity; more intense rainfall, leading to a greater flood hazard; and increased frequency of heat waves that affect human health. The EPA’s proposal pro- gram to regulate carbon dioxide as an air pollutant has been upheld by court decisions
The next step in adding carbon dioxide and other green- house gasses, such as methane, to the list of pollutants regulated by the EPA was a series of public hearings and feedback from a variety of people and agencies. Some people oppose listing carbon dioxide as an air pollutant because, first of all, it is a nutrient and stimulates plant growth; and, second, it does not
directly affect human health in most cases (the exception being carbon dioxide emitted by volcanic eruption and other volcanic activity, which can be extremely toxic).
The EPA in late September of 2013 announced the initial steps to reduce carbon pollution under President Obama’s Cli- mate Action Plan. The objective will be standards for new coal burning power plants. Conversations are st ...
Seeds of actions on Climate Change, Is it now India’s moment? TERRE Policy Centre
Secretary of State John Kerry will be in India this week and India should lend its support on priority for HFC phase down under the Montreal Protocol. Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Washington DC later this year can seal the deal to demonstrate that three largest economies of the world working shoulder to shoulder to take action on climate change would be good omen and a strong signal.
White House State of the Union 2016 - Enhanced GraphicsObama White House
On January 12, 2016, President Obama delivered his final State of the Union address to Congress and the nation.
Check out the slides from the enhanced broadcast of his address, featuring charts, graphs, and images that help explain the policies and issues he discussed.
Learn more at WhiteHouse.gov/SOTU.
President Obama penned a letter to Congressman Nadler of New York outlining how the Iran deal is a key piece of our strategy to help our allies in the Middle East counter Iran's destabilizing activities.
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). "Nicolay Copy," Gettysburg Address, 1863. Page 1 and 2. Holograph manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. Gift of Hay family, 1916 (2.5). Courtesy of the National Archives and Library of Congress.
Message: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the White House FellowsObama White House
This is the President's message commemorating the establishment of the White House Fellows, a prestigious program dedicated to giving the nation’s most promising leaders insight into the inner workings of the Federal government. To learn more visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/fellows.
The minimum wage helps support family incomes, reducing inequality and poverty, but as a slide deck from the Council of Economic Advisers shows, as the real value of the minimum wage has been allowed to erode, it has stopped serving this important purpose.
White House State of the Union 2014 Enhanced Graphics PosterObama White House
On January 28, President Obama delivered the 2014 State of the Union Address to Congress and the nation.
Check out the slides from the enhanced broadcast of his address, featuring charts, graphs, and images that help explain the policies and issues he discussed.
White House State of the Union 2014 Enhanced GraphicsObama White House
On January 28, President Obama delivered the 2014 State of the Union Address to Congress and the nation.
Check out the slides from the enhanced broadcast of his address, featuring charts, graphs, and images that help explain the policies and issues he discussed.
See more at WhiteHouse.gov/SOTU.
President Obama's Handwritten Tribute to the Gettysburg AddressObama White House
150 years after President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, President Obama penned a handwritten tribute to President Lincoln's historic remarks.
President Obama believes we have a moral obligation to lead the fight against carbon pollution. Share the details of his plan to help make sure people in your community get the facts.
Now Is the Time: President Obama's Plan to Reduce Gun ViolenceObama White House
The President’s plan to protect our children and our communities by reducing gun violence.
Learn More: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/preventing-gun-violence
President Obama is calling on Congress to make sure that taxes don’t go up on 98 percent of American families next year, as they are scheduled to do January 1, 2013. Learn more about his plan in this new infographic.
The Obama Administration recognizes that the interconnected challenges in high-poverty neighborhoods require interconnected solutions. The Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative is a community-based approach to help neighborhoods in distress transform themselves into neighborhoods of opportunity.
31052024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
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‘वोटर्स विल मस्ट प्रीवेल’ (मतदाताओं को जीतना होगा) अभियान द्वारा जारी हेल्पलाइन नंबर, 4 जून को सुबह 7 बजे से दोपहर 12 बजे तक मतगणना प्रक्रिया में कहीं भी किसी भी तरह के उल्लंघन की रिपोर्ट करने के लिए खुला रहेगा।
role of women and girls in various terror groupssadiakorobi2
Women have three distinct types of involvement: direct involvement in terrorist acts; enabling of others to commit such acts; and facilitating the disengagement of others from violent or extremist groups.
01062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
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हम आग्रह करते हैं कि जो भी सत्ता में आए, वह संविधान का पालन करे, उसकी रक्षा करे और उसे बनाए रखे।" प्रस्ताव में कुल तीन प्रमुख हस्तक्षेप और उनके तंत्र भी प्रस्तुत किए गए। पहला हस्तक्षेप स्वतंत्र मीडिया को प्रोत्साहित करके, वास्तविकता पर आधारित काउंटर नैरेटिव का निर्माण करके और सत्तारूढ़ सरकार द्वारा नियोजित मनोवैज्ञानिक हेरफेर की रणनीति का मुकाबला करके लोगों द्वारा निर्धारित कथा को बनाए रखना और उस पर कार्यकरना था।
03062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
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In a May 9, 2024 paper, Juri Opitz from the University of Zurich, along with Shira Wein and Nathan Schneider form Georgetown University, discussed the importance of linguistic expertise in natural language processing (NLP) in an era dominated by large language models (LLMs).
The authors explained that while machine translation (MT) previously relied heavily on linguists, the landscape has shifted. “Linguistics is no longer front and center in the way we build NLP systems,” they said. With the emergence of LLMs, which can generate fluent text without the need for specialized modules to handle grammar or semantic coherence, the need for linguistic expertise in NLP is being questioned.
1. 2FtRMS 617 PagelIof 4
RECORD TYPE: FEDERAL (NOTES MAIL)
CREATOR:Kameran L. Onley ( CN=Kameran L. Onley/OU=CEQ/O=EOP CEQ
CREATION DATE/TIME:24-APR-2003 15:32:32.00
SUBJECT:: FW: CEI Comment on EPA's Draft Strategic Plan
TO:Bryan J. Hannegan ( CN=Bryan J. Hannegan/OU=CEQ/O=EOP@EOP CEQ I
READ :UNKNOWN
TO:Kenneth L. Peel ( CN=Kenneth L. Peel/OU=CEQ/O=EOP@EOP [ CEQI
READ :UNKNOWN
TO:Debbie S. Fiddelke CN=Debbie S. Fiddelke/OU=CEQ/O=EOP(?EOP CEQI
READ :UNKNOWN
TO:Phjl Cooney( CN=Phil Cooney/OU=CEQ/O=EOP@EOP I CEQI
READ :UNKNOWN
TEXT:
…---Original message…---
From: Mario Lewis [mailto:mlewis~cei.org]
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2003 2:50 PM
To: Mario Lewis
Subject: CEI Comment on EPA's Draft Strategic Plan
April 17, 2003
Ms. Linda M. Combs
Chief Financial Officer
office of the Chief Financial Officer
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. 2710A
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Ms. Combs:
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA's) March 5, 2003 Draft Strategic Plan. I am
submitting these comments on behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
(CEI), a non-profit, free-market public policy group headquartered in
Washington, D.C.
CEI is concerned that the section entitled "Goal 1: Clear Air" implies an
expectation, intention, or plan to regulate carbon dioxide (C02), even
though Congress has never authorized EPA to undertake such regulation. We
find this troubling. C02 is the inescapable byproduct of the hydrocarbonr
fuels-coal, oil, natural gas-that supply 70 percent of U.S. electricity and
84 percent of all U.S. energy. Mandatory C02 reduction policies like the
Kyoto Protocol are energy rationing schemes-the regulatory equivalent of
growth-chilling, regressive energy taxes.
Misleading terminology
Goal 1 of the Draft Strategic Plan creates the impression that C02
emissions
are a form of "air pollution" that damage "air quality." Consider these
passages:
* Outdoor air pollution reduces visibility; damages crops, forests,
and
buildings; acidifies lakes and streams; contributes to the eutrophication
of
estuaries and the bioaccumulation of toxics in fish; diminishes the
protective ozone layer in the upper atmosphere; contributes to the
potential
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2. Page 2 of 4
Americans
for world climate change; and poses additional risks to Native
and
emphases
others who subsist on plants, fish, and game. [Goal 1 - Page 1,
added]
* Global air quality issues pose a daunting challenge. Releases of
climate
greenhouse gases (GHGs), with potentially far-reaching impacts on
and sea level, will continue to increase worldwide. [Goal 1- Page 11,
emphases added]
greenhouse
Whatever one may opine about C02's role in enhancing the natural
effect, C02 is neither an "ambient" air pollutant like sulfur dioxide (S02)
mercury
and nitrogen oxides (NOX), nor a "hazardous" air pollutant like
(Hg). C02 does not foul the air, impair visibility, contribute to
respiratory illness, or bio-accumulate as a toxin in animal tissues.
Rather,
of most
C02 is plant food, and rising concentrations enhance the growth
trees, crops, and other plant life-an environmental benefit. Furthermore,
or
potential changes in global temperature, whether due to C02 emissions
natural variability, are not attributes of "air quality," as that term is
used either in the Clean Air Act or in common parlance.
as "air
It is therefore an abuse of terminology to describe C02 emissions
pollution," or to label climate change an "air quality" issue. This is no
mere eatcqibe Promulgating regulations to control air pollution
and
change as
improve air quality is business-as-usual at EPA. Defining climate
only bias
an "air quality" issue and C02 emissions as "air pollution" can
public debate in favor of regulatory strategies like the Kyoto Protocol,
Senator Jef fords's (I-VT) "Clean Power Act," and the McCain-Lieberman
opposes.
"Climate Stewardship Act"-policies the Bush Administration rightly
However inadvertently, the Draft Strategic Plan adopts the same
guilt-by-association rhetoric typical of so-called Four-"PI' or
public
multi-"pollutant" bills to regulate C02 from power plants. If the
views C02 emissions as "air pollution," then pro-Kyoto activists can more
air.
easily disguise their energy suppression agenda as a fight for clean
Regulatory signals
an
Even more worrisome, Goal 1 includes two statements that signal
intention
to regulate C02 emissions in the near future:
* We will use regulatory, market-based, and voluntary programs to
protect
human health, the global environment, and ecosystems from the harmful
and
effects of ozone depletion and climate change-restoring, fortifying,
safeguarding Earth's precious resources for future generations. [Goal 1-
Pages 1-2, emphases added]
*Over the next several years, we will use a variety of tools to
achieve our
objectives, including human capital strategies to maintain and secure
and
expertise in atmospheric change assessments and analyses, voluntary
regulatory programs, market-based regulatory approaches, and public
outreach. [Goal 1 - Page 15, emphases added]
the Agency
EPA has no authority to regulate C02. Especially at this time,
should take great care not to imply that it has such power, because seven
unless
state attorneys general are threatening to sue Administrator Whitman
she agrees to regulate C02.
Clean Air Act: no authority to regulate C02
CEI has written a 30-page rebuttal 8 3 of the AGs' legal opinions (available at
<http://www.cei.org/gencon/025,0
33 .cfm>). As that paper shows, the plain
(CAA) all
language, structure, and legislative history of the Clean Air Act
demonstrate that Congress never delegated to EPA the power to regulate CO2.
Following are a few highlights:
*The CAA is not an amorphous mass of regulatory authority but a
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3. Page 3 of 4
structured
statute with distinct titles conferring distinct grants of authority to
accomplish distinct objectives. There is an ambient air quality standards
(NAAQS) program, a hazardous air pollutant program, a stratospheric ozone
protection program, and so on. Nowhere does the Act even hint at
establishing a climate protection program. There is no subchapter, section,
or even subsection on global climate change. The terms "greenhouse gas" and
"greenhouse effect" appear nowhere in the Act.
*"Carbon dioxide" and "global warming" do not occur in any of the
Act's
regulatory provisions. "Carbon dioxide", appears only once-in Section
103(g).
That provision directs the Administrator to develop "non-regulatory
strategies and technologies," and admonishes her not to infer authority for
"pollution control requirements." Similarly, "global warming" occurs only
once-in Section 602(e). That provision directs the Administrator to
"publish" (i.e., research) the "global warming potential", of
ozone-depleting
substances, and admonishes her not to infer authority for "additional
regulation under [the CAA) ." In short, the CAA mentions "carbon dioxide"
and
"global warming" solely in the context of non-regulatory provisions, and
each time cautions EPA not to jump to regulatory conclusions.
* The NAAQS program, with its state-by-state implementation plans
and
county-by-county attainment and non-attainment designations, has no
rational
application to a global atmospheric phenomenon like the greenhouse effect.
For example, if EPA set a NAAQS for C02 above current atmospheric levels,
the entire country would be in attainment, even if U.S. hydrocarbon
consumption suddenly doubled. Conversely, if EPA set a NAAQS for C02 below
current atmospheric levels, the entire country would be out of attainment,
even if all of the nation's power plants, factories, and cars were to shut
down. Any attempt to fit C02 into the NAAQS regulatory structure would be
an
absurd exercise in futility-powerful evidence that when Congress enacted
and
amended the NAAQS program, it did not intend for EPA to regulate C02.
* Congress has debated climate change issues for two decades. It has
consistently rejected or declined to adopt legislative proposals to
regulate
C02. For example, Sen. Jef fords has repeatedly introduced multi-"pollutant"
bills since the 105th Congress-none has ever come to a vote on the Senate
floor. When Congress has legislated in this area, it has authorized the
executive branch to engage in research (e.g., the U.S. Global Climate
Change
Research Act), administer voluntary programs (e.g., Section 1605 of the
Energy Policy Act), and conduct international negotiations.
* The 1992 Rio Treaty remains the most authoritative expression of
congressional intent on climate change policy, and its emission reduction
goals are not legally binding. Rio is not self-executing, and Congress has
not enacted implementing legislation to make Rio's voluntary goals
mandatory. Indeed, Congress has passed measures opposing regulatory climate
policies (e.g., the July 1997 Byrd-Hagel Resolution and the many iterations
of the Knollenberg funding restriction).
Ignoring legislative history
EPA evidently regards "ozone depletion" and "climate change" as related
aspects of a single problem-"atmospheric change" (Goal 1 - Pages 1-2, 15).
EPA may thus believe that it should have regulatory authority to address
climate change as well as ozone depletion-. Such thinking informed Sen. Max
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4. Page 4 of 4
Baucus's (D-MT) failed
version of the 1990
contained a Title VII CAA Amendments, S.
on "Stratospheric Ozone 1630, which
Protection." Title and Global Climate
Vii would have made
for regulating CFCs, "global warming Potential"
halogens, and other a basis
substances. It also "manufactured?- ozone-depleting
would have established
to the maximtum extent a new national goal:
Possible emissions "to reduce
by human activities of other gases [e.g.,
that are likely to C02] caused
affect adversely the
global
However, Title VII
never made it into
Senate conferees considered the 1990 CAA Amendments.
and rejected (a) establishing House and
C02 reduction as
anational goal and
(b) linking global
regulatory purposes. warming and ozone
As the Supreme Court depletion for
statutory construction has stated: "Few principles
are more compelling of
Congress does not intend than the proposition
sub silentio to enact that
has earlier discarded statutory language
in favor of other language" that it
480 U.S. 421, 442-43 [INS v. Cardozo-Fonseca,
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), (1983)].
who chaired the House-Senate
on the 1990 CAA Amendments, conference committee
history in an October confirmed this reading
5, 1999 letter to House of the legislative
Subcommittee Government Reform
Chairman David McIntosh
"Based on my review (R-IN). Dingell concluded:
of
I would have difficulty this history and my recollection
concluding that the of the discussions,
rejected the Senate House-Senate conferees,
regulatory provisions who
greenhouse gas emissions ... contemplated regulating
or addressing global
Act." warming under the Clean
Air
As written, the Draft
Strategic Plan implies
part of its mission that EPA will regulate
to control "air pollution" C02 as
EPA has no authority and improve "air quality."
to develop, propose,
Moreover, regulating or implement such regulation.
C02 would be contrary
well-knownand well-justified-oppositio to the Bush Administration's
Power Act," and the to Kyoto, Sen. Jetffords's
Before EPA publishes McCain-Lieberman "Climate Stewardship "Clean
the final version of Act."
revise the flawed passages its Strategic Plan,
identified in this it should
version should not comment letter. The
equate C02 emissions final
greenhouse effect with with air pollution,
air quality. Most importantly, nor confuse the
should not affirm or the final version
imply that EPA expects,
intends, or plans to
Sincerely, regulate
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
Competitive Enterprise
Institute
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