Have you ever seen a truck belching black soot as you drive on the highway and wondered, “isn’t that level of pollution illegal?” We see less and less of that these days, thanks to common sense standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that protect us from this harmful, excessive pollution. But that progress is […]

By Alice Henderson

Have you ever seen a truck belching black soot as you drive on the highway and wondered, “isn’t that level of pollution illegal?”

We see less and less of that these days, thanks to common sense standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that protect us from this harmful, excessive pollution.

But that progress is now at risk. The current EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, is trying to reopen a loophole that would allow the sale of super-polluting trucks that lack modern pollution controls.

The trucks in question are called “glider trucks.” They look new – but their engines are old and polluting. Anyone who likes to breathe air should be concerned.

Loophole would risk as many as thousands of lives a year

Pruitt’s proposed loophole would allow the sale of glider trucks – new trucks with old engines installed in them – without any modern pollution controls.

These super-polluting trucks emit harmful soot and smog-causing pollutants – including oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter, and cancer-causing diesel particulate – at a rate as much as forty times that of new engines. By 2025, glider trucks would comprise just five percent of the nation’s truck fleet, but they would cause one third of the air pollution.

Data that Pruitt’s own agency has collected shows that reopening the loophole could result in as many as 6,400 premature deaths by 2021 from oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter pollution. That assessment is actually conservative, as it doesn’t account for the health harms from cancer-causing diesel particulate pollution or from smog formation caused by these super-polluting trucks.

Benefiting the worst polluters at the expense of responsible companies

Pruitt’s action to reopen this loophole goes against the stated wishes of other truck manufacturers and dealers, who responsibly invested in pollution control equipment and depend on a level playing field for the well-being of their businesses and the Americans they employ.

For example, truck dealership Nuss Trucks commented that:

The original intent of selling gilder [trucks] has moved from a rebuilding mechanism to now mainly evading diesel emissions EPA mandates.

Volvo, the manufacturer of MAC Trucks, noted that the availability of “glider trucks” is creating:

an unlevel playing field for manufacturers of new vehicles designed and certified to be compliant to all current emissions, fuel efficiency, and safety regulations.

So why is Pruitt giving the glider industry special treatment over responsible trucking companies — and over the health of American families?

As recently reported by the Washington Post, Pruitt granted a glider industry request to reconsider the standards after a meeting with a major glider manufacturer in May.

That same manufacturer prominently hosted an event for Donald Trump early in his presidential campaign.

Super-polluting trucks are designed to evade pollution controls

Historically, only a few hundred glider trucks were sold each year. They were typically produced by truck repair shops when a customer wanted to salvage the undamaged engine from a wrecked truck by installing it into a new frame.

But after pollution limits on heavy-duty freight engines were updated in 2010, a small handful of companies recognized a loophole – an opportunity to sell old, dirty engines in new frames, and thereby evade modern pollution standards. The result was mass production of super-polluting trucks that do not come close to meeting current emission standards.

Glider truck manufacturers created a market that didn’t exist before 2010. They made a business out of sourcing large numbers of old, high-polluting engines to sell in new trucks, with sales likely surpassing 10,000 a year in the last few years. The pre-2002 engines they mainly use have essentially no air pollution controls, and cause the classic puff of black diesel smoke you hated to be stuck behind in traffic. (And with good reason, as diesel particulate is known to cause lung cancer.)

EPA took action in 2016 to close the loophole and bring glider truck sales back to pre-2010 levels.

The agency took pains to cause as little disruption as possible while still meeting its responsibility under the Clean Air Act to protect public health and welfare. It phased in the glider truck standards over a period of several years, and never outright banned the sale of glider vehicles (since it recognized the benefit to truckers in being able to salvage the engine from a damaged truck).

Under EPA’s common sense actions to close the loophole, beginning in 2018, glider manufacturers must cap production of high-polluting vehicles at 300 annually beginning in 2018. They may continue to produce additional glider vehicles as long as those meet the modern air pollution controls that all other manufacturers already have to meet.

A decision with devastating consequences for our health  

Pruitt announced his intent to revisit the just-closed loophole in August of this year. He has now released a new proposal to repeal emission requirements for these super-polluting trucks, indicating that he is moving forward with his regressive plan to reopen this loophole and put thousands of lives at risk.

Pruitt’s attempt to repeal these important safeguards reeks of political cronyism, and is being done at the expense of public health. Families and communities across America will be exposed to the dangerous pollution from thousands more of these dirty trucks on our highways. We all deserve better – especially from EPA, the agency with the core mission of protecting us from pollution.

Have you ever seen a truck belching black soot as you drive on the highway and wondered, “isn’t that level of pollution illegal?” We see less and less of that these days, thanks to common sense standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that protect us from this harmful, excessive pollution. But that progress is […]

The election of Phil Murphy as New Jersey’s next governor represents an opportunity for the state to adopt technologies that will make our electric grid more efficient and permit the integration of large amounts of renewable energy, as well as provide customers with the ability to better manage their energy use and save money. The […]

The election of Phil Murphy as New Jersey’s next governor represents an opportunity for the state to adopt technologies that will make our electric grid more efficient and permit the integration of large amounts of renewable energy, as well as provide customers with the ability to better manage their energy use and save money. The […]

The post New Jersey’s new governor campaigned on a robust clean energy plan. Let’s get started. appeared first on Energy Exchange.

The election of Phil Murphy as New Jersey’s next governor represents an opportunity for the state to adopt technologies that will make our electric grid more efficient and permit the integration of large amounts of renewable energy, as well as provide customers with the ability to better manage their energy use and save money. The […]

By Mary Barber

The election of Phil Murphy as New Jersey’s next governor represents an opportunity for the state to adopt technologies that will make our electric grid more efficient and permit the integration of large amounts of renewable energy, as well as provide customers with the ability to better manage their energy use and save money.

The Governor-elect’s agenda includes a robust clean energy plan, including goals to power 1.5 million homes with offshore wind by 2030; add 600 MW of energy storage by 2021, and 2000 MW by 2030; and to increase energy-efficiency investment.

Governor-elect Murphy is well-positioned to achieve his goals, as New Jersey is abuzz with clean energy activity from both the public and private sectors. Here’s a sampling.

New Jersey’s new governor campaigned on a robust clean energy plan. Let’s get started.
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Positioned for success

Staying abreast of developments like the following will be key as the Governor-elect creates and implements state programs to make his campaign clean energy goals realities:

• Electric vehicles (EVs) – The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities recently established an Electric Vehicle Stakeholder group to prepare for the widespread adoption of EVs. The group will analyze the impact EVs will have on the way we move electricity. According to a 2016 Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative report, which researched consumer interest in clean energy, less than 22 percent of customers believe they understand solar and EVs, and customer willingness to use distributed generation like home solar is also based on values, rather than strictly demographics. This shows that states like New Jersey have an opportunity to fill this public information gap so that we can engage one of our biggest clean energy allies: New Jerseyans, who regardless of income or geography deserve access to the benefits of a modern grid, including lower energy bills and a cleaner environment.
• Advanced metering infrastructure – The Board of Public Utilities also recently approved Rockland Electric Company's proposal for the first territory-wide smart meter program throughout Bergen, Passaic and Sussex counties. The smart meters will use Green Button Connect My Data, which is part of standards developed by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Commerce for collecting, protecting, and providing customer data to make the grid less wasteful and save money.
• Market analysis – Rutgers EcoComplex and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), in partnership with The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative, convened a forum last month, Exploring New Jersey’s Approach to a Modern Grid: Opportunities and Pathways to the Clean Energy Future. We discussed challenges and opportunities for accelerating market penetration of clean energy technologies. Utility representatives, clean tech companies, and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and Rate Counsel were all represented. Together, we explored ways to ensure a reliable, resilient, and affordable electric system that can also reduce energy waste.

Getting down to business 

States like New Jersey have an opportunity to fill this public information gap so that we can engage one of our biggest clean energy allies: New Jerseyans.

Since New Jersey endured the devastation of Hurricane Sandy five years ago, its utilities have made strides to modernize and strengthen the electric system.

The Garden State has dedicated resources to make the grid more resilient – better able to quickly recover from power problems. We’ve smartly invested: in back-up systems to reduce outages, in monitoring tech for faster power restoration, and in a microgrid initiative focused on town centers.

But there’s more to do to enable the adoption of renewable energy and to give customers tools to better manage their energy use and save money. We look forward to working with the Governor-elect and his administration to help make his clean energy agenda a reality

The election of Phil Murphy as New Jersey’s next governor represents an opportunity for the state to adopt technologies that will make our electric grid more efficient and permit the integration of large amounts of renewable energy, as well as provide customers with the ability to better manage their energy use and save money. The […]

The election of Phil Murphy as New Jersey’s next governor represents an opportunity for the state to adopt technologies that will make our electric grid more efficient and permit the integration of large amounts of renewable energy, as well as provide customers with the ability to better manage their energy use and save money. The […]

By Elena Craft, PhD

Michael Honeycutt – the man set to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious Science Advisory Board – has spent most of his career as a credentialed counterpoint against almost anything the EPA has proposed to protect human health.

Fortunately, his lone voice for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rarely carried beyond the Lone Star State. Until now.

The EPA science advisory panel Honeycutt will chair is supposed to provide the agency with independent scientific expertise on a wide range of issues. In a highly unusual move, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt picked the Texan for the job even though he has never been a member of the board.

More than Honeycutt’s inexperience, however, what worries me most is his faulty logic and what this means for science at the EPA.

Honeycutt downplays ozone dangers

A toxicologist by training, Honeycutt has criticized the EPA’s health-based standards for ozone because “most people spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors,” reducing their exposure to the ubiquitous pollutant.

Houston residents know differently. The city’s worst day for lung-damaging ozone this year happened while many people were outside for long hours of cleanup after Hurricane Harvey.

Honeycutt doubled-down on his position that ozone is not harmful to human health in a 2014 interview with the Texas Tribune.

“I haven’t seen the data that says lowering ozone will produce a health benefit,” he said. “In fact, I’ve seen data that shows it might have a negative health benefit.”

Honeycutt’s statement suggests he believes that more air pollution might actually be good for you.

…even though ozone can cause premature death

I am a toxicologist in Texas, too, and here is the truth about ozone: The pollutant can exacerbate asthma, lung disease and heart disease – and even lead to premature death.

The current acceptable limit, recommended during the George W. Bush administration and set under Obama’s in 2015, is 70 parts per billion, a standard that the public health community still believes is too high. The EPA’s own science advisors had recommended a limit as stringent as 60 ppb to protect human health.

Honeycutt spent millions to refute science

In his Texas role, Honeycutt responded to the recommendation by paying more than $2.6 million for research that says tighter ozone rules would cost the state billions of dollars annually with little or no impact on public health.

“Every part per billion that they don’t lower it is millions of dollars,” Honeycutt told the Houston Chronicle. “So we think that the return on investment in this is just phenomenal. Just phenomenal.”

And it’s not just ozone that seems to be a target for Honeycutt. He also has issues with protections against mercury, particulate matter and air toxics.

The reality is, however, that by failing to improve air quality, we’re paying more in health and social costs. This is real money lost on hospital visits, and on missed work and school days.

…and now he’ll steer EPA science

All this matters because Honeycutt, as the board’s chair, will help prioritize which issues the EPA decides to investigate and pick the scientists who review studies and reports before they come to the full board.

My worry is that he will continue down a path that is destructive to public health protections, a well-known pattern within the Trump administration.

We know that clean air and a strong economy go hand in hand – and that claims by industry doomsayers claims are unsubstantiated.

But none of that matters to an administration that scrubs qualified scientists from serving on advisory committees, that eradicates scientific data from websites that do not support the its agenda, and that does not want to be challenged.

Honeycutt’s appointment is yet another attack against science. With American health at stake, we can not stay silent about this latest EPA development.

This post originally appeared on our EDF Voices blog.

Image source: Source: Flickr/Science Democrats.

Michael Honeycutt – the man set to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious Science Advisory Board – has spent most of his career as a credentialed counterpoint against almost anything the EPA has proposed to protect human health. Fortunately, his lone voice for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rarely carried beyond the Lone […]

By Elena Craft, PhD

Michael Honeycutt – the man set to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious Science Advisory Board – has spent most of his career as a credentialed counterpoint against almost anything the EPA has proposed to protect human health.

Fortunately, his lone voice for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rarely carried beyond the Lone Star State. Until now.

The EPA science advisory panel Honeycutt will chair is supposed to provide the agency with independent scientific expertise on a wide range of issues. In a highly unusual move, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt picked the Texan for the job even though he has never been a member of the board.

More than Honeycutt’s inexperience, however, what worries me most is his faulty logic and what this means for science at the EPA.

Honeycutt downplays ozone dangers

A toxicologist by training, Honeycutt has criticized the EPA’s health-based standards for ozone because “most people spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors,” reducing their exposure to the ubiquitous pollutant.

Houston residents know differently. The city’s worst day for lung-damaging ozone this year happened while many people were outside for long hours of cleanup after Hurricane Harvey.

Honeycutt doubled-down on his position that ozone is not harmful to human health in a 2014 interview with the Texas Tribune.

“I haven’t seen the data that says lowering ozone will produce a health benefit,” he said. “In fact, I’ve seen data that shows it might have a negative health benefit.”

Honeycutt’s statement suggests he believes that more air pollution might actually be good for you.

…even though ozone can cause premature death

I am a toxicologist in Texas, too, and here is the truth about ozone: The pollutant can exacerbate asthma, lung disease and heart disease – and even lead to premature death.

The current acceptable limit, recommended during the George W. Bush administration and set under Obama’s in 2015, is 70 parts per billion, a standard that the public health community still believes is too high. The EPA’s own science advisors had recommended a limit as stringent as 60 ppb to protect human health.

Honeycutt spent millions to refute science

In his Texas role, Honeycutt responded to the recommendation by paying more than $2.6 million for research that says tighter ozone rules would cost the state billions of dollars annually with little or no impact on public health.

“Every part per billion that they don’t lower it is millions of dollars,” Honeycutt told the Houston Chronicle. “So we think that the return on investment in this is just phenomenal. Just phenomenal.”

And it’s not just ozone that seems to be a target for Honeycutt. He also has issues with protections against mercury, particulate matter and air toxics.

The reality is, however, that by failing to improve air quality, we’re paying more in health and social costs. This is real money lost on hospital visits, and on missed work and school days.

…and now he’ll steer EPA science

All this matters because Honeycutt, as the board’s chair, will help prioritize which issues the EPA decides to investigate and pick the scientists who review studies and reports before they come to the full board.

My worry is that he will continue down a path that is destructive to public health protections, a well-known pattern within the Trump administration.

We know that clean air and a strong economy go hand in hand – and that claims by industry doomsayers claims are unsubstantiated.

But none of that matters to an administration that scrubs qualified scientists from serving on advisory committees, that eradicates scientific data from websites that do not support the its agenda, and that does not want to be challenged.

Honeycutt’s appointment is yet another attack against science. With American health at stake, we can not stay silent about this latest EPA development.

This post originally appeared on our EDF Voices blog.

Image source: Source: Flickr/Science Democrats.

Michael Honeycutt – the man set to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious Science Advisory Board – has spent most of his career as a credentialed counterpoint against almost anything the EPA has proposed to protect human health. Fortunately, his lone voice for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rarely carried beyond the Lone […]

America’s wild turkey population was once estimated to be approximately 30,000 – a number comparable to today’s estimates for polar bears worldwide.

The post The wild turkey may be America’s greatest wildlife conservation success story first appeared on Growing Returns.

America’s wild turkey population was once estimated to be approximately 30,000 – a number comparable to today’s estimates for polar bears worldwide.

The post The wild turkey may be America’s greatest wildlife conservation success story first appeared on Growing Returns.

America’s wild turkey population was once estimated to be approximately 30,000 – a number comparable to today’s estimates for polar bears worldwide.

Dourson should not be responsible for protecting our children from toxic chemicals. MCAF. C3. Regional.

Written by Molly Rauch

This week, as international leaders met in Bonn, Germany, for climate negotiations, Moms Clean Air Force participated in events across the U.S. to celebrate the actions states, cities, businesses, and other leaders are taking to fight dangerous climate change. From Reno to Philadelphia, from Denver to DC, Moms Clean Air Force joined...

By Tom Murray

Photo credit: Rhys Gerholdt (WRI)

After the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP 21) in 2015, where the historic climate accord was established, it was near impossible to imagine a future COP where the US federal government wouldn’t play a central role. Yet now, at COP 23 in Bonn, Germany, the US government doesn’t have an official presence at the event – for the first time ever.

To fill the void of federal policy action, companies and organizations from across the US are voicing their support for the Paris agreement at the U.S. Climate Action Center, a pavilion sponsored exclusively by non-federal US stakeholders.

The Climate Action Center is an initiative of the We Are Still In coalition of cities, states, tribes, universities, and businesses that are committed to the Paris Agreement. Thus far over 1,700 businesses including Apple, Amazon, Campbell Soup, Nike, NRG Energy and Target have signed the We Are Still In declaration – evidence that public climate commitments are quickly becoming the norm.

Businesses at the heart of climate action in Bonn

We Are Still In signatories – especially major US businesses that have a vast global presence – know the value of keeping an open dialogue with the rest of the world. These companies also know that clean energy innovation, investment and job creation is a game plan for success in the 21st century.

#WeAreStillIn signatories show their support for a low carbon economy and help fill the gap in US…
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Jeff Moe from Ingersoll Rand, a Fortune 500 industrial manufacturing company that has pledged to reduce the carbon footprint of their products 50 percent by 2020, noted at the opening of the Climate Action Center, "We're not changing our strategy because there's a different administration. It's the right thing to do as a business."

Sustainability leaders from Citi, Johnson Controls, PG&E Corporation, Coca-Cola and others are also publicly sharing insights on innovation, investment and action geared toward transitioning to a cleaner future.

To me, this is what corporate climate leadership is all about: setting public goals, collaborating for greater impact, and supporting smart climate and energy policy.

Tom Murray, VP EDF+Business

COP 23 sparks new commitments

On the first day of the climate summit, HSBC pledged to provide $100 billion in sustainable financing and investment by 2025, and to source 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 – all part of HSBC’s broader goal to support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Earlier this week, Microsoft pledged to reduce their operational carbon emissions 75 percent by 2030. In 2012, Microsoft became one of the first companies to institute an internal price on carbon, which enabled them to “operate 100 percent carbon neutral.”

America’s Pledge co-chairs Michael Bloomberg and California Governor Jerry Brown released a new report, “America’s Pledge Phase 1: States, Cities, and Businesses in the United States Are Stepping Up on Climate Action,” which highlights the scope and scale of non-federal climate action across the U.S.

Lastly, the US Business Showcase event in Bonn represents the first major international gathering of American business climate leaders since the federal government’s announcement in June to withdraw from the Paris Accord. Hosted by World Wildlife Fund – US and Ceres, the event brings together a diverse array of companies to share how they’re increasing resiliency and setting emissions-reduction targets.

A year of climate action in review

Other We Are Still In businesses made headlines throughout 2017 for setting ambitious climate goals and making clean energy investments despite the lack of federal action on climate change:

• Mars Inc. pledged to invest $1 billion towards its Sustainable in a Generation Plan. This includes a goal to slash GHG emissions by 67 percent across its value chain by 2050.
• Walmart set a new goal to reduce emissions in their supply chain by 1 gigaton (1 billion metric tons) by 2030.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise launched the first-ever supply chain program based on climate science, requiring 80 percent of manufacturing suppliers to set “science-based emissions reduction targets in their operations by 2025, seeking to avoid 100 million tons of emissions.”
• Amazon announced their biggest wind farm yet. The company now has 18 wind and solar projects across the US, with plans to build 35 more – this is part of Amazon’s goal to use 100% renewable energy.

There are many more companies I can add to the list. Business made progress on climate action in 2017, but more needs to be done to keep us on track towards a low carbon future.

For example, preliminary findings from Bloomberg’s annual Climatescope report show that clean energy investments in emerging markets are falling, despite the Paris Agreement commitment for wealthier nations to provide $100 billion annually through 2020 to emerging nations to combat and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Sustainability leadership in 2018

Register for EDF and Ceres’ upcoming webinar on November 28th:The Business Case for Climate Leadership and the Clean Power Plan: Why Company Voices Matter Now.

I’m hopeful that we will see more companies thinking globally, and setting long-term climate commitments, but we need to keep the momentum going.

There are countless opportunities for businesses to weigh in on smart climate policy, for example by supporting the Clean Power Plan here at home.

If you’re not taking a long-term, systematic approach to building a healthy business for a healthy environment, EDF’s three-part framework to sustainability leadership can empower and equip your company to meet the challenges ahead.  With a leadership vacuum in Washington, DC, now’s the time for business to continue to lead on climate.

Follow Tom on Twitter, @tpmurray

Stay on top of the latest facts, information and resources aimed at the intersection of business and the environment. Sign up for the EDF+Business blog. [contact-form-7]