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October 16-21, 2022
In this week's issue:
- NACAA Elects New Leadership at Fall 2022 Membership Meeting (October 20, 2022)
- EPA announces 2024 HFC Phasedown Level, a 40% Reduction (October 20, 2022)
- EPA Publishes Proposed Finding of Endangerment for Aircraft Lead Emissions, Sets November 1 Hearing and January 17 Comment Deadline (October 17, 2022)
- Bipartisan Group of Senators Urges EPA Administrator to Set Increased Renewable Fuel Volume Obligations for 2023 (October 19, 2022)
- ICCT Releases Assessment of U.S. Light-Duty EV Costs and Consumer Benefits (October 18, 2022)
- States Challenging EPA’s Reinstatement of California Waiver File Opening Brief in D.C. Circuit (October 20, 2022)
- EPA Data Shows 2021 GHG Pollution Uptick (October 17, 2022)
- Climate Change Increasing Near-Shore Hurricane Intensification Along US Atlantic Coast (October 17, 2022)
- Researchers Link California, Oregon Fires with Great Plans Hail (October 17, 2022)
- Study: GHG Emissions from California's 2020 Wildfires “Wiped Out” Its Reductions Since 2003 (October 17, 2022)
This Week in Review
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At its 2022 Fall Membership Meeting, NACAA elected new state and local leadership to lead the association. Mark Buford from Northwest Clean Air Agency in Mount Vernon, WA, is the new local co-president of the association; the new state co-president is Kelly Crawford of the District of Columbia. The association elected Tracey Babbidge of Connecticut to be state co-vice president; the new local co-vice president is Sam Rubens of Akron, OH. Wayne Nastri from the South Coast Air District in Los Angeles, CA, was elected NACAA’s local co-treasurer and Kathy Taylor from Washington State was elected state co-treasurer for the association. Frank Kohlasch from Minnesota and Rollin Sachs from Johnson County, KS, round out the NACAA Executive Committee as immediate past co-presidents. In addition to these Executive Committee members, NACAA’s state board of directors will include Rick Brunetti from Kansas, Edie Chang from California, Christopher LaLone from New York State, Kendal Stegmann from Oklahoma, Michelle Walker Owenby from Tennessee and Bo Wilkins from Montana. Bill Hayes from Boulder, CO, Richard Stedman from Monterey Bay, CA, and Erik White from Placer County, CA join local agency NACAA Executive Committee members on the association’s local agency board of directors. Thanks to Frank and Rollin for a great year of leadership and service, and congratulations and welcome to our new leaders and directors!
EPA announced a proposal for the next year’s hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emission limits as part of its ongoing rollout of regulations implementing the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act of 2019, passed on a bipartisan basis by Congress on December 27, 2020. The Agency’s proposal establishes the methodology for allocating HFC production and consumption allowances for 2024 and later years, similar to the methodology used for issuing allowances in 2022 and 2023. EPA had announced the 2023 phasedown level of 10 percent on September 30, 2024, and the 2024 level of a 40 percent reduction represents the next step, with a final 2036 goal of an 85 percent reduction. HFCs are potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) sometimes used in refrigeration and air conditioning, aerosols, and foam products with a global warming potential hundreds to thousands of times greater than the same amount of CO2.
For further information:
EPA published in the Federal Register (87 Fed. Reg. 62,753) its proposed finding (originally announced on October 7, 2022) that lead emissions from aircraft engines that operate on leaded fuel cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare under Clean Air Act section 231(a). Consideration of an endangerment finding is a first step in the process of exercising EPA’s and the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) statutory authorities to address lead pollution from aircraft. EPA has stated that this “proposed finding, if finalized, would not apply new requirements to entities other than EPA and FAA” and notes that it is not, at this time, proposing lead emission standards for aircraft engines. Should EPA finalize the endangerment finding it would then take action to propose regulatory standards. A final finding of endangerment would also trigger FAA’s statutory mandate to set standards for the composition or properties of an aircraft fuel or fuel additive that would control or eliminate aircraft lead emissions. FAA has a set of integrated efforts underway focused on a safe transition of the piston-engine aircraft fleet to a lead-free future: 1) the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative (PAFI) and 2) the FAA-industry partnership to Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE). FAA has also approved the safe use of an unleaded fuel that can be used in many piston-engine aircraft, as well as other aircraft-specific unleaded fuels. EPA will hold a public hearing on this proposed action on November 1, 2022, and accept public comments until January 17, 2023.
For further information: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-10-17/pdf/2022-22223.pdf
Thirteen U.S. Senators from both sides of the aisle joined together to send a letter to EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan asking that the agency “establish robust and expanded renewable volume obligations (RVOs)” in the forthcoming “Set” rule, in which EPA itself will set the RVOs beginning with those for 2023. The signatories highlight especially that “[t]hrough this rulemaking, EPA has a historic opportunity to not only reinforce its efforts to restore integrity to the [Renewable Fuel Standards], but chart a new course for biofuels that will help meet America’s diverse energy demands while further decarbonizing numerous sectors of our economy.” They also identify factors EPA should consider when setting the RVOs as well as ways in which the agency can justify ambitious blending targets, and note that “the most efficient way to promote higher blends is to provide the marketplace the certainty that fuels like E15 may be sold year-round, removing the costly deterrent of fuel switching.” In addition, the Senators call on EPA to formally adopt the Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model for lifecycle analysis in the “Set” rule. The letter was led by Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) and also signed by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Gary Peters (D-MI), Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Tina Smith (D-MN).
For further information: https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/72684688-25ad-4ac5-bd57-db786f0c7ae2/79AA4F0ACE7A21E139C3D070758BC590.senate-rfs-set-letter-oct-19-2022-001-.docx.pdf?source=email
The International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT) published its most recent assessment of U.S. light-duty (LD) electric vehicle (EV) costs, consumer benefits and expectations for the timing of price parity. In Assessment of the Light-Duty Electric Vehicle Costs and Consumer Benefits in the 2022-2035 Time Frame, ICCT analyzes “bottom up vehicle component-level costs” from 2022 to 2035 to calculate prices of battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) across major LDV classes (cars, crossovers, SUVs and pickup trucks) and compares them to prices of conventional gasoline vehicles. Among ICCT’s key findings are 1) BEV purchase price parity will occur before 2030 for BEVs with up to 300 miles of range across all major LDV classes; 2) because of their lower per-mile fuel and maintenance costs, BEVs provide substantial cost savings to drivers several years before purchase price parity occurs; and 3) transitioning to BEVs “unlocks” billions of dollars in consumer savings.
For further information: https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ev-cost-benefits-2035-oct22.pdf
Seventeen states challenging EPA’s March 14, 2022 decision to 1) reinstate California’s waiver of federal preemption for California’s light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards and zero emission vehicle (ZEV) sales mandate, which the agency had previously withdrawn in a 2019 action; and 2) withdraw its 2019 interpretive view that states may not adopt California’s GHG standards pursuant to CAA Section 177 even if EPA has granted California a waiver for such standards, filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit arguing that the waiver is unconstitutional and unlawful. First, the petitioner states argue that CAA Section 209(b) – the statutory provision under which EPA issued California’s waiver – is unconstitutional under the “equal-sovereignty doctrine.” Though not spelled out in the Constitution, the states argue, this doctrine is implicit in the Constitution’s structure and history. “Because the original Constitution nowhere strips the States of their equal sovereignty, the States retained it,” the petitioners assert. Thus, they argue, “laws passed pursuant to Congress’s Article I powers violate the Constitution if they withdraw sovereign authority from some States but not others.” It follows that CAA Section 209(b) violates the Constitution, they assert, and because the California waiver rests on an unconstitutional statute, it is invalid. Second, the states argue that the waiver violates the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, which prohibits states from adopting or enforcing a law or regulation related to fuel economy standards. “California’s Low Emission Vehicle and Zero Emission Vehicle programs both require auto manufacturers to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions, and the only way to do so is to improve fuel economy or eliminate the use of fuel,” the petitioner states assert. “Accordingly, both programs are ‘related’ to fuel economy and thus preempted.” The 17 state petitioners challenging the California waiver are Ohio, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. Several trade associations, including the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and a number of biofuel manufacturer groups, have also challenged the reinstatement of the California waiver. Their opening brief is due on October 24.
For further information: https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/Ohio-v.-EPA-Petitioners-Brief-10-20-22.pdf
EPA has released 2021 data collected under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) that shows power plant GHG emissions increased 6.3 percent in 2021 and that GHG emissions from large industrial sources were approximately 4% higher than in 2020. While there has been an overall long-term decreasing trend in industry GHG emissions since 2011, primarily driven by a decrease in emissions from power plants, the 2021 increases reflect an increase in economic activity following the economic slowdown and decrease in emissions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Increasing fossil gas prices also led to greater dispatch of coal-fueled plants in the power sector in 2021.
For further information:
A new study by the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has found that hurricanes are likelier to become more intense near shore along the Atlantic coast in the U.S. as climate change worsens. The study, “Increasing Hurricane Intensification Rate Near the US Atlantic Coast”, was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. “While hurricanes pose a significant socioeconomic threat in general, those that intensify close to the coast are particularly challenging for operational forecasters and decision makers”, the study says. “Trends for the 86-year period 2015–2100 indicate that the nearshore environment will continue to become more favorable for hurricane intensification near the Atlantic coast.”
For further information: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GL099793
A new study undertaken by PNNL, CalTech, and the University of Oklahoma has linked wildfires in Califonria and Oregon to extreme rainfall and hailstorms in the Midwest. The study, “Notable impact of wildfires in the western United States on weather hazards in the central United States”, examined data from 2009 to 2018 for examples of western wildfires coinciding with major rain or hail events in the central United States. They linked major wildfires burning in California and Oregon in July 2018 with four separate severe storm events that occurred in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota, including extreme rainfall and large hail. “We find that the western US wildfires notably increase the occurrences of heavy precipitation rates by 38% and significant severe hail… by 34% in the central United States,” the researchers said. The study asserts that both heat and aerosols from wildfires played an important role by increasing moisture and aerosol transport and creating larger wind shear and storm-relative helicity in the central United States.
For further information:
A study by researchers at the University of California and University of Chicago has found that greenhouse gases emitted by the 2020 wildfires in the state were nearly double the total reduction of GHGs accomplished by the Golden State between 2003-2019. The research found that thanks primarily to programs reducing emissions from the power sector, California’s GHG emissions declined by 65 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (mmt CO2e) between 2002 and 2019. However, the historic 2020 wildfires resulted in emissions of 127 mmt CO2e – seven times the 2003–2019 mean of annual wildfire emissions in California. The study, “Up in smoke: California’s greenhouse gas reductions could be wiped out by 2020 wildfires”, is published in the October 2022 edition of the journal Environmental Pollution.