Congress focuses on whether the Environmental Protection Agency should go where no federal regulators have gone before and regulate greenhouse gases. But the agency did something more prosaic on Monday, albeit something it has not done effectively for the last 15 years or so: it put more than 100 cement kilns on notice that they will have to spend almost $1 billion annually to clean up the pollution they put into the atmosphere.

That’s the agency’s estimate. A statement by the Portland Cement Association, a trade group, put the cost at “several billion dollars.”

The E.P.A. estimates that the new rules will eliminate 92 percent of the mercury and fine-particulate emissions from cement kilns (more than 10 percent of the national total). The rule will also save 960 to 2,500 lives annually starting in 2013, not to mention avert hundreds of cases of bronchitis and 1,500 heart attacks, the agency said.

Continue reading: E.P.A. Cracks Down on Cement Pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a stricter standard for smog-causing pollutants that would bring substantial health benefits to millions of Americans while imposing large costs on industry and local governments.

The standard would replace one set by the Bush administration in March 2008, which has been challenged in court by state officials and environmental advocates as too weak to adequately protect human health and the environment.

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Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell wants the Environmental Protection Agency to halt its effort to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Parnell says the proposed regulations would bury Alaska’s businesses, institutions and state environmental agencies in paperwork without accomplishing its goal.

Parnell says he wants the EPA to wait on the rules until Congress comes up with a solution to the greenhouse gas problem.

People in the business of weatherizing homes are expecting to profit from the new economic stimulus plan. The federal aid package sets aside $5 billion worth of spending for making homes and buildings more energy-efficient. The idea is to save energy, create jobs — and even perhaps slow global warming.

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For more information about weatherization in Alaska, click here to be directed to the PORTAL.

President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, and the tax section of the act provides greater tax credits for clean energy projects at homes and businesses and for the manufacturers of clean energy technologies. For homeowners, the act increases a 10% tax credit for energy efficiency improvements to a 30% tax credit, eliminates caps for specific improvements (such as windows and furnaces), and instead establishes an aggregate cap of $1,500 for all improvements placed in service in 2009 and 2010 (except biomass systems, which must be placed in service after the act is enacted). The act also tightens the energy efficiency requirements to meet current standards. For residential renewable energy systems, the act removes all caps on the tax credits, which equal 30% of the cost of qualified solar energy systems, geothermal heat pumps, small wind turbines, and fuel cell systems. The act also eliminates a reduction in credits for installations with subsidized financing.

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President Obama today declared a national goal of ending dependence on foreign oil and promised new U.S. leadership in the fight against global warming as he announced a series of steps aimed at making American cars more fuel efficient and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In remarks at the White House at the start of his second week in office, Obama called on Congress to pass a massive stimulus package that he said would help “create a new American energy economy.” And he directed federal agencies to reexamine two policies that could force automakers to produce more fuel-efficient cars with reduced tailpipe emissions.

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 Lisa P. Jackson, chosen to head the Environmental Protection Agency, said at her confirmation hearing Wednesday morning that her first task would be to restore scientific and legal integrity to an agency battered by charges of political interference and coziness with industry.

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Yale Environment 360 asked a wide-ranging group of environmental activists, scientists, and thinkers to answer the following question: If you were advising Barack Obama, what would you tell him are the most important environmental and energy initiatives that he should launch during his first 100 days?

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In early winter 2008, Fairbanks [Alaska] has had some of the worst air quality ever recorded, according to Jim Conner, an air quality specialist for the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

“We exceeded (federal air quality) standards in October this year for the first time,” Conner said. “It looks like we’ll have twice as many exceedances this year, about 50 (days).”

The bad air — caused by tiny floating particles from burned fuels — will lead to the Environmental Protection Agency in December to declare the borough as “out of attainment” of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

This means that Alaskans will have three years to come up with a plan on how to solve Fairbanks’ air problems, or the federal government will draw up a plan for Fairbanks.

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examines the pros and cons of a proposed technology that would capture coal plant carbon dioxide emissions and store them underground. UCS supports construction of five to 10 full-scale demonstration projects to test carbon-capture-and-storage technology’s ability to cut emissions. The report also says no new coal plants should be built that do not capture and store carbon emissions. The country can meet its near-term energy needs and curb emissions using readily available renewable-energy technologies.

Click here for a link to download the report.