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Bear in the Woods: Environmental Law Blog

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Lobsters making the case on warming oceans

Drastic declines in New England lobster larvae over the past year may be linked to rising ocean temperatures, not over-fishing, warns Dr. Rick Wahle of the School of Marine Science at the University of Maine.

Dr. Wahle and his crew of divers, who track lobster harvest data for the American Lobster Settlement Index, have seen a recent “widespread downturn” in the populations of larval lobsters. Although the adult population of lobsters is unchanged, Dr. Wahle’s research suggests that oceanographic changes are responsible for the sudden decline in lobster eggs.

Young lobster populations are approximately 50 percent of what they were in 2007. Recently, summer waters have been warmer than the lobster comfort zone (below 68° F), creating stress for lobsters. Complicating matters for lobster populations, warmer waters off the New England coast also aggravate a shell disease that eats away at lobster shells. The disease can be fatal to the crustaceans or make them unmarketable for selling live. As a result of the temperature changes affecting their habitat, lobster populations have been pushing north into areas that were once too cold for lobsters to thrive. 
Illustration of the water cycle and its interaction with the 
greenhouse effect.  The upper-left insert indicates the 
relative increase of potential water vapor content in the air 
with an increase of temperature (roughly 7% per degree).  
The white curls illustrate evaporation, which is compensated 
by precipitation to dose the water budget.  The red arrows 
illustrate the outgoing infrared radiation that is partly 
absorbed by water vapor and other gases, a process 
that is one component of the greenhouse effect. 
The stratospheric processes are not included in this figure.  
Reproduced with authorization from: Myhre, G., D. Shindell, 
F.-M. BrĂ©on, W. Collins, J. Fuglestvedt, J. Huang, D. Koch, 
J.-F. Lamarque, D. Lee, B. Mendoza, T. Nakajima, 
A. Robock, G. Stephens, T. Takemura and H. Zhang, 
[Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, 
J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. 
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United 
Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. 

Over the past 50 years, the ocean has borne the brunt of climate change. Sea surface temperature changes are among the dangers associated with climate change. The average temperature of the global ocean has increased down to depths of at least 3,000 meters. See Intergovernmental Panel on  Climate Change (“IPCC”), Contribution of theWorking Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, 408-21 (S. Solomanet l. eds. 2007).

In its most recent report, the IPCC estimated that oceans absorb approximately 90 percent of the heat added to the climate system, and the multinational experts report with high confidence that it is very likely that the increase in global ocean heat content observed has a substantial contribution from human activity. See IPCC, Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, Ch. 10.901-03 (Cambridge University Press 2013).  

Humans have an impact on water temperature in ways that extend beyond climate change as well.  When an industry uses water for processes such as cooling, the facility often discharges water that is hotter than the temperature of the receiving waters. When a power plant, for example, discharges heated water to a river, it can create a thermal plume or area of elevated temperature within that river. This human-caused change in the temperature of surface water is known as thermal industrial pollution. The combination of thermal industrial pollution with other forms of water pollution such as chemical or biological contamination can create severe stresses on aquatic ecosystems. See IPCC 2013, Ch. 10, at 869-928. In local areas, it can also intensify the effects of higher temperatures caused by climate change.

The EPA has the power to limit thermal industrial pollution because heat is defined under the Clean Water Act as a pollutant. 33 U.S.C. § 1362 (6).  Section 301(a) of the Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of any pollutant by any person unless otherwise permitted under the Act. 33 U.S.C. § 1311(a). 

In order to qualify to release these pollutants, a discharger must obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit approved by EPA or a qualified state agency.  33 U.S.C. § 1342. The NPDES permit contains limitations on the quantity or concentration of pollutants, including heat, which the facility can discharge into a natural water body. 33 U.S.C. § 1342. 

Courts have recognized the importance of the direct effects of thermal industrial pollution in reversing approval of a permit for construction of two nuclear power plants. Duke Power vs. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc., 438 U.S. 59, 74 (1978), citing United States v. SCRAP, 412 U.S. 669, 686-87 (1973). (“Certainly the environmental and aesthetic consequences of the thermal pollution of the two lakes in the vicinity of the disputed power plants is the type of harmful effect which has been deemed adequate in prior cases to satisfy the ‘injury in fact’ standard.”)  

In order to fully account for the harm to water bodies from the effects of higher temperatures, it is important to consider the effects of both climate change and thermal industrial pollution together. Fortunately, federal law requires EPA to do just that when it conducts environmental reviews as part of its NPDES permitting process for new sources. For industrial facilities considered “new sources” under the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1316(a)(2), EPA must conduct an environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 33 U.S.C. §1371(c)(a). NEPA requires the federal agencies to fully consider the environmental impact of actions it permits by considering, among other things, the “cumulative impacts” of all actions that could impact the environment. 40 C.F.R. Parts 1500-1508; see 42 U.S.C. § 4332.

In a draft guidance document published in 2010, the Council on Environmental Quality recognized the importance of incorporating the effects of climate change on the environment when conducting an environmental review under NEPA. Council on Environmental Quality, 2010. DraftNEPA Guidance on consideration of climate change and GHG emissions.  Unfortunately, the cumulative effect of the impact of climate change is not always fully analyzed in NEPA reviews. See Patrick Woolsey, Consideration of Climate Change in Federal EISs, 2009-2011, Centerfor Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School, July 2012, at 15-16. By incorporating a robust analysis of the effects of climate change into its NEPA analysis for NPDES permitting decisions, EPA can better ensure that thermal industrial pollution does not compound the effects of climate change and exacerbate the plight of lobsters and other plants and animals that rely on a stable environment. 

Leading British economist Lord Nicholas Stern warns that we “grossly underestimate” the economic damage wrought by climate change. Indeed, lobsters are not the only aquatic organism that is sensitive to water temperature. The trout species that call Pennsylvania’s streams and rivers home also suffer stress at higher water temperatures. And, in fact, warming waters are but one of many of the impacts of climate change that can adversely affect both our environment and our economy.

To minimize those negative effects, we must not only address the direct causes of climate change, but we must also minimize other activities having negative effects on ecosystems. Although it will not stop climate change, if EPA closely monitors offshore and coastline discharges of heated water or other pollutants throughout the East Coast, it may improve the likelihood of survival for temperature-sensitive species like the New England lobster and Pennsylvania’s trout species. 

The Supreme Court, with a hiccup, holds EPA can regulate GHGs from new and modified stationary sources

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA (UARG). The case embodied another industry challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) attempt to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act (CAA). It’s often a poor sign for the environment when Justice Antonin Scalia delivers the majority opinion for the Court. In this instance, however, the majority upheld EPA’s authority to regulate GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act. The case did not play out exactly as the federal government had planned, however.

UARG involved challenges to EPA’s attempt to regulate GHGs from major stationary sources of air pollutants (power plants, factories, etc.) after its decision to regulate GHGs from mobile sources was upheld. Justice Scalia joined with the conservative block to rule 5-4 that EPA lacked “standalone” authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate GHG emissions from stationary sources.  He then, however, went on to join with the more liberal block (along with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy) to affirm 7-2 that EPA could regulate GHG emissions from stationary sources, so long as those facilities otherwise required an air permit for emitting conventional air pollutants. This means that there are now seven justices on the Supreme Court who affirmed that the Clean Air Act covers GHG emission since its 2006 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA.

In the Beginning There Were Mobile Sources

Section 202(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 42 U.S.C. § 7521(a)(1), requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to set emission standards for "any air pollutant" from motor vehicles or motor vehicle engines "which in his judgment cause[s], or contribute[s] to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." In 2003, the Bush Administration’s EPA denied a petition by twelve states (but not Pennsylvania) and several cities to regulate carbon dioxide and other GHGs from motor vehicles under the CAA. EPA took the position that it lacked the authority to regulate GHGs under the CAA, and even if it had the authority, regulation at that time was not consistent with President Bush’s policies to address climate change.

Total US Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Economic Sector
 in 2012 from EPA's Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Petitioners brought suit to compel EPA to take action, and in April 2007, Justice John Paul Stevens led a 5-4 majority in Massachusetts v. EPA to reject EPA's argument that the CAA was not meant to cover carbon emissions. The Court said that the Act's definition of "air pollutant" was written with "sweeping," "capacious" language so that it would not become obsolete, and that the EPA could not delay its decision on the basis of prudential and policy concerns. Instead, EPA had to base any inaction on regulating carbon emissions upon a consideration of "whether greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change." In dissent, Justice Scalia argued that the Clean Air Act was intended to combat conventional lower-atmosphere pollutants and not global climate change.

Though President Bush issued an Executive Order requiring EPA to use its authority under the CAA to regulate carbon emissions from mobile sources in May 2007, it would not be for another two and one half years (December 2009) before EPA issued its "Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Finding, " which found, as required by Massachusetts v. EPA, that motor vehicle emissions of six GHGs threatened the health and welfare of current and future generations, which set up for the first time the promulgation of federal regulations to control carbon emissions from mobile sources. This led to the establishment of greenhouse gas emission standards under Section 202 of the CAA (the so-called "Tailpipe Rule").

And Then There Were New and Modified Stationary Sources (The Tailoring Rule)

Large stationary sources challenged the Tailpipe Rule because of concern that regulation of GHG emissions from mobile sources would lead to exactly what happened here, that EPA would have to regulate GHG emissions from stationary sources. The CAA says that its permit requirements apply to stationary sources emitting "any air pollutant." The EPA, in 2010, took the position that once the agency found that GHGs were enough to warrant vehicle regulations, the Act's permitting requirements were automatically triggered. Industry argued that the cost of regulating GHGs from stationary sources was so large that the EPA should not have regulated tailpipe emissions. A unanimous D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, rejected this argument, holding instead that the EPA lacked any discretion at all in setting tailpipe emissions once it found that that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

The D.C. Circuit Court’s ruling cleared the way for EPA to move forward with regulating major stationary sources of GHG emissions. The challenge for EPA, however, was that the CAA defines "Major" as any source that emits 100 tons per year of a regulated pollutant, which only captures large facilities when measuring criteria pollutants, but when measuring GHGs, the same standard would capture thousands of very small sources such as homes and businesses. To avoid this problem, EPA sought to interpret or "tailor" its GHG rule to only apply to sources emitting 100,000 tons per year of GHGs (and existing sources making modifications that would increase emissions by 75,000 tons per year). Industry challenged application of the CAA to stationary sources, and EPA”s attempt to "tailor" the language of the CAA.

Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA

In UARG, the Supreme Court reviewed whether EPA’s Endangerment Finding and regulation of GHGs under Section 202 of the CAA triggered regulation of GHGs under EPA’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V permitting programs, and whether EPA properly excluded a great number of those sources from regulation under its Tailoring Rule. It should be noted that while industry tried to again challenge EPA’s Endangerment Finding and setting of GHG standards for motor vehicles, the Supreme Court limited its consideration to whether the agency “permissibly determined that its regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles triggered permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act for stationary sources that emit greenhouses gases.”

The Court ruled that EPA could not interpret the CAA in a manner that applied its PSD Program to sources emitting solely GHGs, as that would be inconsistent with the CAA’s structure and design, which intended only to impose those burdens on large facilities. The Court also held that EPA improperly attempted to "tailor" the CAA’s unambiguous numerical definitions of "major" source. Nonetheless, the Court said that EPA reasonably interpreted the CAA as requiring sources that required a PSD permit to comply with Best Available Control Technology (BACT) respecting GHG emissions. The CAA requires the application of BACT "for each pollutant subject to regulation" under the Act.

The case is Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 12-1146.

George Jugovic, Jr. is chief counsel for PennFuture. He is based in Pittsburgh.


Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Where does EPA’s 111(d) authority to regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants come from?

The news has been full of talk this week about the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed public health standard to reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. We’ve blogged about it here and here and -- one more -- here. This is an encouraging development in the fight to limit damage from climate change, but where does EPA’s authority come from?

The short answer is that EPA’s authority comes from the Clean Air Act, which establishes a comprehensive federal regulatory regime for managing air pollution. The Clean Air Act was initially enacted in 1963 but has been amended several times since then. Among other things, the Act establishes a system for achieving national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for certain air pollutants, and addresses releases of substances designated hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). EPA credits the Clean Air Act with reducing emissions of NAAQS-related pollutants – particles, ground-level ozone, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide – by an average of 72 percent since 1970 while the nation’s economy was more than doubling in size. In addition to domestic air pollution controls, the Clean Air Act has been used as a tool to address global problems, such as implementation of the Montreal Protocol, which has been successful at managing ozone-depleting substances to prevent further damage to the planet’s stratospheric ozone layer.  

To regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants, EPA is proposing to use its authority under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7411(d). That section allows the agency to require each state to submit a plan for achieving performance standards for existing sources of air pollution – in this case, carbon dioxide from power plants. Under its proposed rule, EPA would require each state to submit a plan demonstrating that existing electric power plants would be able to meet a state-specific carbon reduction goal by 2030. If all states meet their goals by 2030, the country as a whole will reduce its carbon emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels. EPA’s proposed rule allows states a considerable amount of flexibility in deciding how to achieve their targets. For example, states are allowed to achieve emission reductions in a number of ways – both by achieving efficiency within power plants themselves and by using “outside the fence line” techniques that will reduce demand for power from plants that burn fossil fuels. This flexibility will enable states to accomplish the goals EPA has set in a way that is good for both the environment and the economy.

Although EPA’s proposed rule already has generated controversy and, when finalized, may generate litigation, we hope and expect that by the year 2030, the significant reduction in carbon emissions required by yesterday’s proposed rulemaking will be added to the list of accomplishments enabled by the Clean Air Act.

Mike Helbing is staff attorney for PennFuture and is based in Philadelphia.