Tagged: air pollution

Without some additional grant funding, the air toxics monitoring run out of the University of Louisville will have to scale back next year.

A federal appeals court has rejected a request from the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its August decision to vacate a major air pollution rule.

The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is designed to reduce the amount of pollution that blows across state lines. It places limits on the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides produced in 28 states, including Kentucky.

Chalk air pollution regulators up as the latest group to splinter because of increasingly divisive partisanship in Washington, D.C. Regulators from 17 states—including Kentucky and Indiana—are forming a new association to assist states with air pollution policies.

Right now, 43 states are members of a group called the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, or NACAA. The group has been around for 32 years, and is a non-partisan member organization that represents state and local air regulators.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced her plans to leave her post after President Obama's inauguration. During her time in the role, she drew fire from the coal industry and manufacturers for her work to increase scrutiny of mountaintop removal coal mining and tighten regulations on coal-fired power plants. But she also won support from environmental groups and occasionally grudging respect from her opponents.

Her successor is unknown, but reports are speculating it could be either Deputy Administrator Robert Perciasepe or Assistant Administrator for Air Gina McCarthy.