Fw: [Energy Cte] Breaking: AELR Blocks Hogan's NOx Rule!

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Matilda Banga

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Nov 3, 2015, 11:14:15 PM11/3/15
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Matilda Kamara
Ag. OFA Montgomery County Chapter co-lead
2015 Spring Fellow
phone: 571-405-8621
twitter: @OFAMatildak


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Seth Bush <seth...@sierraclub.org>
To:
Cc: David Smedick <david....@mdsierra.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 3, 2015 5:15 PM
Subject: [Energy Cte] Breaking: AELR Blocks Hogan's NOx Rule!

Dear fearless coal fighters,

I have good news.

Last night at the eleventh hour, a group of MD State Legislators that make up the Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review Committee (AELR) notified Governor Hogan's administration that they are putting a hold on his proposed regulation to limit coal plant pollution because it doesn't go far enough to protect public health.

When Governor Hogan blocked the strong regulation previously finalized by O'Malley, he promised to draft a new regulation that would provide as strong or stronger health protections. So, when his administration drafted a new regulation with a loophole tailor-made for coal company NRG, we hired a third party analyst to put it to the test. The analyst found Hogan's rule would in fact allow 21-35% more smog-forming NOx pollution than the original, and a separate analyst commissioned by AELR found the same results.

AELR has demanded that the MD Department of the Environment account for this discrepancy, and they will hold the regulation until they get an answer they're happy with up to 105 days -- that's when MDE can implement the regulation despite the hold.

We obviously have a long way to go before we can claim a victory for cleaner air, but this is fantastic news. A new door has opened in the campaign, and we have an opportunity to keep pushing for the strong health protections we need.

Furthermore, we are alive to fight another day because of YOU. On October 23rd we marched 50 people into the MDE headquarters armed with over 10,000 public comments for clean air and powerful testimony. Our legislators listened, and one even vowed to introduce legislation that would right Hogan's wrong if he doesn't do so of his own volition.

Now our legislators are acting, the media is watching, and I believe that we will win.

Onward,
Seth

P.S. -- Read the article below for more on this story, and then join us TOMORROW in College Park at 7pm for our monthly Energy Committee meeting where we'll be going in-depth on the Beyond Coal campaign. (email rich....@gmail.com for details)


Lawmakers seek delay in Hogan smog plan, questioning its strength

A key legislative committee has asked the Hogan administration to delay its plan for curbing smog-forming pollution from coal-burning power plants after a consultant said it would require "minimal, if any, additional overall emission reductions" beyond what is now required.
Leaders of a joint House-Senate committee that reviews regulations said an analysis by a former Environmental Protection Agency official concluded the Hogan administration's proposed power-plant rule would not protect Marylanders as well from the harmful effects of smog, or ozone pollution, as a regulation signed off on by outgoing Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley. Hogan withdrew that rule as soon as he took office, citing objections from the operator of two Washington-area coal plants.
Del. Samuel "Sandy" Rosenberg, D-Baltimore, and Sen. Roger Manno, D-Montgomery, the panel's co-chairmen, informed Environment Secretary Benjamin H. Grumbles that they were putting a hold on the new regulation until Grumbles' agency could respond. The lawmakers said the analysis by Bruce Buckheit, a former EPA air pollution enforcement chief, contradicts assurances by Grumbles that the rule he put forward would offer equal or greater public health protections as the withdrawn O'Malley rule.
The lawmakers' move drew praise from the Sierra Club, which has accused the Hogan administration of weakening smog protections at the behest of NRG, a New Jersey-based energy company that has two coal plants in the outskirts of Washington that would be affected.
Grumbles issued a statement defending the rule, without specifically responding to the former EPA official's criticism of it.
"We stand behind the smog reduction rule and the greater benefits it provides to Marylanders," Grumbles said. "The science is strong and so is our commitment to finalize this balanced regulation as soon as possible."
Talen Energy, then owner of the C.P. Crane and H.A. Wagner plants in Baltimore, agreed to the O'Malley rule, though it has since sold Crane to an affiliate of Avenue Capital Group. But NRG said the requirements were too stringent and unnecessary, and it warned that it would close its facilities, putting hundreds out of work.The original rule, approved in the final days of the O'Malley administration, aimed to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from coal-burning plants on hot summer days, when smog -- and electricity generation -- are both at their highest levels. It would have given four plants -- two each in the Baltimore and Washington areas -- until 2020 to install costly new pollution controls, switch to burning cleaner natural gas or shut down.
At Hogan's direction, state regulators reviewed the rule and came up with an additional option they said would give plants more flexibility in reducing smog-forming emissions of nitrogen oxide without undercutting health protections. Buckheit's analysis disputed the administration's latter claim.
Though ozone levels have improved considerably since the 1990s, when the Baltimore area had the worst smog in the eastern United States, it remains bad enough at times to pose health risks for vulnerable people, including children, the elderly and those with respiratory problems. The Environmental Protection Agency last month tightened national limits on ozone, saying research has shown existing standards weren't protective enough.

--
Seth Bush
MD Organizing Representative
Sierra Club

3000 Chestnut Ave. | Suite 202 | Baltimore, MD 21211 (map)

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sbush          
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