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EPA, Justice Dept., DEP Announce $5.275 Million In Penalties, Plus $1.4 Million In Abandoned Well Plugging Funding Against Shale Gas Drilling Companies-- XTO Energy, Inc., Hilcorp Energy Company For Federal, State Clean Air Act Violations

PA Environment Daily

XTO) [ExxonMobil] and Hilcorp Energy Company (Hilcorp) , agreed to resolve alleged Clean Air Act and Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act violations involving their oil and gas production operations in Pennsylvania. In separate agreements, XTO Energy Inc. Specifically, by Dec. million to plug or remediate them.

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The Origins of Climate Awareness in the Legal Academy

Legal Planet

In particular, he said, “reliance upon coal, on the other hand, could aggravate the ‘greenhouse effect,’ whereby excess carbon dioxide (which accompanies coal burning) traps heat inside the earth’s atmosphere, thus possibly melting the icecaps and raising the level of the oceans.”

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Catch 22 at the Supreme Court

Legal Planet

CT , the Supreme Court said this: We hold that the Clean Air Act and the EPA actions it authorizes displace any federal common law right to seek abatement of carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel fired power plants. In 2011, in AEP v. at 528–529. We answered no, given the existence of Section 111(d).

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Environmentalism and the Supreme Court

Legal Planet

The case involved the lynchpin of the Clean Air Act, EPA’s power to set national air quality standards. The Court then held that greenhouse gases are covered by the Clean Air Act as a type of air pollutant. This gave EPA the power to impose limits on carbon emissions by vehicles and industry.

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ESA Decries the Supreme Court’s West Virginia v EPA Decision

ESA

At stake was the ability to reduce carbon emissions as written in the ‘Clean Power Plan’ regulation under the auspices of the Clean Air Act that gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) power to regulate “the best system of reducing emissions.”

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Black Appalachian Coalition Urges Allegheny County Health Dept. To Hold US Steel Accountable, Protect Community Health, From Clairton Coke Works

PA Environment Daily

The EPA recently stated that the Clairton plant Title V permit violates the emission standards set by the Clean Air Act. EPA, the company emits close to 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. and sulfur dioxide (SO2). In Clairton, nearly 40% of residents are Black, concentrated near the U.S.

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Removing Methane from the Atmosphere: New Sabin Report on Atmospheric Methane Destruction via Oxidation Enhancement

Law Columbia

To date, efforts to advance GHG removal have primarily focused on developing carbon dioxide removal (CDR) techniques, but another GHG removal approach—atmospheric methane removal (AMR)—is now also beginning to receive attention. Removing methane from the atmosphere could bring significant climate benefits.