Overnight Energy: EPA tweaks ‘major’ pollution source standards | Patagonia fights monument rollback with countdown clock | Zinke uses gun show to promote opening public lands

EPA CHANGES STANDARDS FOR ‘MAJOR’ EMITTERS: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) loosened regulatory compliance standards Thursday for certain sources of air pollution previously considered “major.”

Bill Wehrum, head of the EPA’s air office, put out regulatory guidance repealing the “once in, always in” policy, in which facilities like power plants or factories considered “major” sources of hazardous air pollutants were always regulated as such, even if the facilities’ owners took measures to reduce pollution.

“This guidance is based on a plain language reading of the statute that is in line with EPA’s guidance for other provisions of the Clean Air Act,” Wehrum said in a statement.

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“It will reduce regulatory burden for industries and the states, while continuing to ensure stringent and effective controls on hazardous air pollutants.”

The EPA argued that the “once in, always in” standard disincentivized companies from reducing pollution and targeted it as part of the Trump administration’s overarching goal of cutting regulatory burdens.

The Natural Resources Defense Council slammed the move, saying it will cause the biggest increase in air pollution in United States history.

“This is among the most dangerous actions that the Trump EPA has taken yet against public health,” John Walke, the group’s clean air director, said in a statement.

“This move drastically weakens protective limits on air pollutants like arsenic, lead, mercury and other toxins that cause cancer, brain damage, infertility, developmental problems and even death. And those harmed most would be nearby communities already suffering a legacy of pollution.”

Read more here.

 

PATAGONIA WON’T LET TRUMP FORGET NATIONAL MONUMENTS: Outdoor retailer Patagonia wants to remind the public that time is ticking down for the Trump administration to continue protecting two national monuments.

Patagonia, along with The Wilderness Society, The Center for American Progress and The Conservation Lands Foundation, projected a countdown clock Wednesday night on the front of a Bureau of Land Management building in Denver.

The projection is part of Patagonia’s ongoing actions to protest the Interior Department’s decision to rollback national monument designations at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah.

The designations officially end a week from now, on February 2 at 9 a.m. EST.

The projection showed the hours, minutes and seconds until the designation expires along with the slogan “Monuments for All.”

Read more here.

 

ZINKE MAKES THE ROUNDS AT GUN EXPO: Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke took his professed love for hunting to the world’s largest gun trade show in Las Vegas this week, where he spread the word on the importance of public land access.

Speaking on the Josh Tolley radio show from the event Thursday morning, Zinke said he attended the Shooting, Hunting Outdoor Trade Show — which he referred to as “Trump country” — to “let people know that our public lands belong to our people and not the government.”

“Local voices have been ignored,” Zinke told the radio host, adding that the administration is “opening our roads and letting people enjoy their land and putting the ‘R’ back in recreation,” appearing to allude to Republican.

“These special interest groups don’t want people on what they perceive as their land — you cannot even ride a mountain bike in a lot of lands, so we need to adjust that.”

Zinke made a number of radio appearances at the event and tweeted out photos of him doing interviews with conservative radio hosts Michael Koolidge and Dana Loesch.

“Radio row is always fun. Talking with #Illinois own @koolidge about #hunting and @NatlParkService #SHOTShow, ” Zinke tweeted.

Read more here.

 

DEMS WANT INTERIOR TO DO MORE ON HARASSMENT POLICY: Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee say the Interior Department has a lot of work left to do in its fight against sexual harassment and assault among workers.

The report released by the leading Democrats on the panel found that while the National Park Service (NPS) has robust policies that cover important areas like maintaining confidentiality and prohibiting retaliation, other agencies within the department do not.

The findings come shortly before the other Interior agencies, like the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service, are due to submit revised sexual misconduct policies following Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s request for changes.

“The report shows conclusively that one of the first steps in addressing harassment is to implement a strong anti-harassment policy and make all staff aware of it, a step some agencies have yet to take,” Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) wrote in a piece in The Hill about the report.

“Such policies cannot stop at an often counterproductive ‘zero tolerance’ statement of purpose, as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s comments on the issue have frequently done,” they wrote. “They need to lay out a clear mechanism for reporting incidents of harassment, create a meaningful and predictable process for investigating claims, protect the confidentiality of complainants and explicitly prohibit retaliation against those who come forward.”

Read more here.

 

ON TAP FRIDAY: The Brookings Institution will host Neomi Rao, head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, to discuss Trump’s regulatory agenda.

 

AROUND THE WEB:

California officials are punishing Tesla for alleged violations of state labor laws related to handling of hazardous chemicals, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is conducting a full investigation into the Oklahoma oil rig explosion this week, KFOR reports.

Michael Dourson, Trump’s former nominee to lead the EPA’s chemical office, says he was unfairly maligned during the confirmation process and wanted to fight back more than he did, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

 

FROM THE HILL’S OPINION SECTION:

Jim Lyons of Capricorn Investment Group says electric vehicles are better for the environment and public health than fossil fuel ones.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Thursday’s stories …

– Patagonia protests shrinking monuments with countdown clock projection

– EPA loosens rules on some ‘major’ air pollution sources

– House Dems: Interior’s sexual harassment policy has ‘major deficiencies’

– Zinke touts opening up public lands at Vegas gun show

– EPA pushes unified national fuel emissions standard

– Whitefish Energy spent $150k lobbying Congress amid Puerto Rico scrutiny

– Signs at EPA building tout ‘environmental achievements’ under Trump