12/12/12, "NY, 6 other states suing EPA over drilling methane," AP, Kevin Begos, via Yahoo News
"NY, 6 other states plan to sue EPA over methane emissions from oil and gas drilling."
"Seven Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states announced plans Tuesday to sue the Environmental Protection Agency, saying it is violating the Clean Air Act by failing to address methane emissions from oil and gas drilling,
which has boomed in nearby states such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a news release Tuesday that the EPA is violating the Clean Air Act by failing to address the emissions. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and the oil and gas industry is the largest source of emissions in this country. Other major sources come from landfills and livestock.
The EPA said in an email that it plans to review and respond to the notice from the states.
Howard Feldman, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, said the lawsuit “makes no sense” since the EPA passed rules on oil and gas emissions earlier this year, and many companies have already started installing new equipment to limit methane leaks and other pollution. Those rules take effect in 2015.
Peter ZalZal, a staff attorney with the Environmental
Defense Fund, said the group thinks the recent EPA rules are “a good
first step,” but that more can be done to target methane emissions
directly.“We think that controlling and reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry is critical,” ZalZal said.
Schneiderman said that the coalition of states “can’t continue to ignore the evidence of climate change or the catastrophic threat that unabated greenhouse gas pollution poses to our families, our communities and our economy.”"...
[Ed. note: Schneiderman is either mentally incompetent or a liar to make such a blatantly false statement. Even Obama has acknowledged massive US greenhouse gas drop.]
(continuing): "He said Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont joined in sending a required 60-day notice of intent to sue to EPA.
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio — all states with intensive oil and gas drilling — didn’t join in the campaign. None of the states that sent the notice to the EPA are major producers of oil or gas.
It’s not clear whether New York is also taking extra steps to limit methane emissions from other sources.
While the EPA estimates that the oil and gas industry is responsible for 37 percent of the nation’s methane emissions, landfills are responsible for 16 percent, and livestock such as cattle and pigs contribute 21 percent. Some natural gas leaks also occur not just at wells, but from distribution networks in cities....
Overall, EPA says methane is responsible for 3.8 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Other major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and ozone. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but it also decays much quicker.
Patrick Henderson, Pennsylvania’s energy executive in Gov. Tom Corbett’s office, noted that other top New York officials have recently supported more natural gas use.
“Gov. Cuomo proposed investing
$500 million in natural gas distribution infrastructure, and New York
City Mayor Bloomberg wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that shale gas ‘is
one of the best things we can do to improve air quality and fight
climate change,’” Henderson said in an email.Henderson added that natural gas also has environmental benefits, since it emits just 50 percent of the carbon dioxide of coal-fired power plants. That switch from coal to gas has contributed to declining greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., according to federal energy statistics. He also noted that increased domestic oil and gas production has helped reduce imports.
Federal climate researchers say they haven’t yet seen signs that increased drilling is affecting global methane levels, but they’re worried about the threat.
“Not the mid-latitudes where the drilling is being done, which is interesting,” said James Butler, head of global monitoring for NOAA. Butler said the tropics and the arctic are the biggest current sources, from decaying vegetation (linked to a rise in rainfall) and thawing of the Arctic tundra (linked to global warming)."
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6/4/12, “Climate change stunner: USA leads world in CO2 cuts since 2006,” Vancouver Observer, Saxifrage
“Not only that, but as my top chart shows, US CO2 emissions are falling even faster than what President Obama pledged in the global Copenhagen Accord.”…
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"Virtually everyone believes the shift could have major long-term implications for U.S. energy policy.”…
8/16/12, “AP IMPACT: CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low,” AP, Kevin Begos
“In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.
Many of the world’s leading climate scientists didn’t see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.
Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the shift away from coal is reason for “cautious optimism” about potential ways to deal with climate change….
In a little-noticed technical report, the U.S. Energy Information Agency, a part of the Energy Department, said this month that energy related U.S. CO2 emissions for the first four months of this year fell to about 1992 levels. Energy emissions make up about 98 percent of the total. The Associated Press contacted environmental experts, scientists and utility companies and learned that virtually everyone believes the shift could have major long-term implications for U.S. energy policy.”…
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For Schneiderman's information, President Obama noted US greenhouse gas emissions have plunged over the past 20 years in a speech on Aug. 28, 2012. He used the term ‘greenhouse gases‘ though the recent AP report about the 20 year drop specifically cited CO2. Following is relevant excerpt from AP report, then the Obama citation:
8/16/12, AP: “In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years.“…
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Relevant text from Pres. Obama’s speech in Ames. Iowa followed by NY Times comment:
8/28/12, at Iowa State: “We’re on track to emit fewer greenhouse gases this year than we have in nearly 20 years. You can keep those trends going.”
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The NY Times noted Obama avoided connecting the meaning of these scientific findings to ordinary Americans on whose backs they were obtained. The NY Times says:
8/28/12, “He did not note the role of the recession, with its attendant drop in manufacturing and car and truck trips.”
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Schneiderman also led a recent environmental lawsuit to force stricter federal soot regulations:
2/10/12, "EPA sued by 11 US states over soot pollution," Reuters
"The case is New York et al v. Jackson, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-01064....Eleven states, including California and New York, sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday to compel it to review clean air standards for soot pollution nationwide, after the agency had missed an October deadline.
The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court seeks a court order demanding that the EPA fulfill its obligation under the federal Clean Air Act to review, and as necessary update the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for the pollution....
"Clean air is a public right," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. "The EPA must take prompt action to reduce pollution now, and safeguard the health of the public and the air we breathe."...
Soot is also known as "fine particulate matter pollution" or "PM 2.5," and is often produced by power plants as well as diesel buses and trucks."..
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7/18/2008, "Soros Money Flows to New York Senate Democrats," NY Observer
"The Soros family became more interested in helping the Democrats take over the State Senate primarily through a relationship that developed around 2004 with Schneiderman, a Democratic State Senator. Schneiderman declined to speak publicly about the Soros, but did say he was grateful for their support and looked forward to more of it in the future."...
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Soros and Schneiderman raised money for Elizabeth Warren's
recent successful Massachusetts campaign for US Senate:
10/19/11, "Schneiderman, Soros raising for Warren," Politico, Ben Smith
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4/21/12, "Why [CO2] Emissions Are Declining in the U.S. But Not in Europe," by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, newgeography.com
"As we note below in a new article for Yale360, a funny thing happened: U.S. emissions started going down in 2005 and are expected to decline further over the next decade."
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Ed. note: The EPA would've increased regulations with or without Schneiderman-led lawsuits. The lawsuits provide a way for lots of taxpayer money to be funneled to "environmental lawyers."
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