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The Ten Most Important U.S. Environmental Laws

Legal Planet

Clean Air Act. It is significant because if its huge public health benefits and because it has provided the basis for EPA regulation of greenhouse gases. In public health terms, what makes air pollution distinctive is the millions of people exposes to common pollutants such as particulates and smog.

Law 273
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EPA Strengthens Emissions Controls for Facilities Emitting Cancer-Causing Ethylene Oxide

Union of Concerned Scientists

Last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized updated regulations for certain facilities that emit ethylene oxide (EtO), a colorless, cancer-causing gas. For the first time, the government will regulate fugitive or “unintended” emissions and require permanent total enclosure of sterilization operations.

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What’s Been Killing U.S. Coal?

Legal Planet

From 1960 to 2005, coal use grew more or less steadily by 18 million tons per year. The decline probably wasn’t due to environmental regulation. The passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act and its major 1990 Amendments don’t show up at all in a graph of coal use. electricity to about one-fifth today. Download as PDF

2012 266
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Will the EPA Strengthen Ethylene Oxide Standards Without Outside Interference?

Union of Concerned Scientists

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates emissions of EtO, yet the agency is years behind on updating standards and control requirements, despite mounting evidence of the harm of long-term EtO exposure. A decade overdue , EPA is finalizing updated regulations for commercial sterilizers now.

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The Profound Climate Implications of Supreme Court’s West Virginia v. EPA Decision

Union of Concerned Scientists

That’s because the case, which was about the nature and scope of EPA authority in regulating carbon emissions from existing power plants, turned on a rule that does not exist. Because while this decision does still recognize EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, it simultaneously sharply curtails the agency’s ability to do so.

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It’s Time to Repeal the Clean Power Plan

Legal Planet

The Clean Power Plan (CPP) was the Obama Administration’s signature climate effort. This 2015 regulation aimed to move state power grids away from coal and toward renewable energy. Yet the Supreme Court is now set to address numerous challenges to this zombie regulation. The Clean Power Plan was a noble effort.

2015 260
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Ask a Scientist: EPA Failing to Protect Communities from Cancer-Causing Gas

Union of Concerned Scientists

A decade later, in 2005, the agency contemplated banning new commercial sterilizers from using the gas, forcing them to use alternatives. The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to review—and update—its ethylene oxide emissions standards every eight years, but the last time it did so was in 2006.