Clean air rules are the environmental focus in news out of Washington. This week in CIB..

Washington Watch: EPA Announces Tougher Smog Standards

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed tightening its rule limiting ground-level ozone, one of the most important contributors to urban smog and related health problems. EPA’s move represents a long-awaited next step by the Obama Administration to toughen rules last updated by the Bush Administration in 2008.

EPA proposed a standard of 65 to 70 parts per billion (ppb) for ozone pollution, tougher than the current standard of 75 ppb put in place in 2008. The proposal announcement also asked for comments on an even tougher standard of 60 ppb.

EPA estimated that the new standards would be particularly valuable to the health of children and other vulnerable populations, preventing from 320,000 to 960,000 asthma attacks, 330,000 to one million missed school days, 750 to 4,300 premature deaths, 1,400 to 4,300 asthma-related emergency room visits, and 65,000 to 180,000 missed workdays. It estimates that the economic value of these benefits “will significantly outweigh the costs,” returning to the economy up to three times the costs of compliance.

A number of industry groups and Congressional Republicans attacked the proposed new standards as too costly, with allegedly severe adverse economic impacts. Environmental and health groups reacted positively to the proposal, although many also support the stronger standard of 60 ppb for ozone.

The EPA was under a court-ordered December 1 deadline to announce its new rule proposal. The Obama Administration delayed the announcement in 2011 to take another round of comments before making its determination. Both industry and environmental groups have undertaken extensive lobbying efforts to impact the decision. Both sides are expected to continue those efforts, directed at EPA and at Congress, over the coming year.

EPA announced a 90-day formal public comment period, and a final rule issuance deadline of 10/1/15. For more information: visit www.epa.gov/glo/.

Judicial Watch: Supreme Court Will Hear Mercury Rules Challenge

Also last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up in 2015 an industry challenge to another major air pollution control rule: EPA’s new limits on emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from coal-fired power plants.

The major question to be reviewed by the Court is whether – and at what stage – the Clean Air Act requires consideration of the costs of compliance with an air pollution control standard. As in many such cases, this technical legal issue is standing in for a critical policy debate over how much should be done to control pollution and its health and environmental impacts. In addition to major direct benefits, the rule in question here is a big part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to control pollution contributing to climate change. How the cost analysis question is handled by the Court in this case will also have serious impacts on the process for considering other air pollution rules. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) attorney John Walke called the mercury controls required by this rule “the greatest clean air achievement of the Obama administration’s first term.”

Legislative Watch: Moore Tagged as Next House Speaker

Representative Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) will be the new Speaker of the NC House next year, following his selection last week as the nominee of that chamber’s dominant Republican caucus. Environmental issues did not appear to play a significant role in the caucus’s selection process for its new leadership team for the 2015 session.

Looking at Moore’s background on environmental policies, the record is mixed. His 2014 NCLCV Scorecard score was 0%, as was the case with a large number of the House members this year. His lifetime NCLCV average score is higher: 30%. While still an overall failing grade, his score is actually in the upper tier of the current body of state Republican legislators.

On the notable plus side, Moore was an advocate for clean energy, including North Carolina’s important Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (REPS), during the 2013 session. REPS ensures that a percentage of our state’s electric generation is produced by renewable sources such as solar. Moore’s advocacy helped preserve REPS from attack by a cadre of anti-environmental groups. Moore was subsequently named “Legislator of the Year” by the NC Sustainable Energy Association.

In related actions, House Republicans also nominated Paul Stam (Wake) for speaker pro tem, and selected Mike Hager (Rutherford) as majority leader and John Bell (Wayne) as majority whip.

House Democrats selected Larry Hall (Durham) as House minority leader.

That’s our report for this week.