In the News

The EPA announced a proposal today that will cut power-plant pollution in 31 states, replacing a Bush administration cap-and-trade system overturned by the courts. The announcement comes as the chatter on Capitol Hill has turned to a utility-only approach to cap-and-trade. The targets of EPA’s proposed rule are not greenhouse gases, but two unhealthy toxins released into air when coal is burned — sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The substances are dangerous thanks in part to the tiny particles that can wreak havoc on our respiratory systems. The consequences: asthma, heart disease, and cancer.

Jason Schwartz, legal fellow at the Institute for Policy Integrity, a nonpartisan research organization at the New York University School of Law, published a report last month that found that up to 259 lives could be saved every year in New York City if it disallowed the use of residual oils for heating. He said that the current bill was a great accomplishment on the state level, but more action needs to be seen here in the city to clean the air. “This bill is doing a lot,” he said. “But it’s focused on number two heating oil, so we still need action at the city level to transition New York City customers from the dirtiest heating oil to cleaner types.”

New York City has some of the dirtiest air in the country, but now there is a move to cut down on one especially potent source of pollution.

Nearly 260 lives could be saved if boilers in big buildings burned cleaner oil, a new study says. “Switching to a less toxic fuel is relatively inexpensive compared to the serious health consequences of burning dirty oil,” said Michael Livermore of New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity.

Scott Holladay, an economist who researched coal ash disposal for the New York-based nonprofit the Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI), said the debate over whether to classify ash as hazardous or not will get the lion’s share of attention, but the language governing beneficial use could be the most important.

“How we define beneficial use will be the meat of this,” Holladay said. “There is room to gut the regulations from within.”

Heating buildings can be deadly. That’s according to a report released last week by NYU’s Institute for Policy Integrity. The document, entitled “Residual Risks: The Unseen Costs of Using Dirty Oil in New York City Boilers,” finds that the low-grade heating oil used in many apartment buildings emits a dangerously large amount of particulate matter, which can cause respiratory problems, heart attacks and even death. The study estimates that more than 150 deaths could be avoided each year if the city’s buildings burned cleaner fuel.

What’s behind that black smoke pouring out of many city buildings? From the NYU Institute for Policy Integrity, Executive Director Michael Livermore and fellow Jason Schwartz discuss their recent study of the effects of oil boilers on the city’s air, and the larger efforts being made to clean up air pollution in the area.

Switching from cheap and dirty #6 fuel oil to cleaner #2 oil would save up to 56 lives a year, and switching to natural gas would save up to 188 people, according to scientific models from New York University Law School’s Institute for Policy Integrity.

On December 22nd, 2008, a quiet evening in the town of Harriman, Tennessee was interrupted when 1.2 billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge burst out of a nearby landfill, poisoning the land and water in its path and causing untold hardship for families whose lives were turned upside down. A year later, the underlying cause of this massive environmental disaster is still unregulated.

Or the EPA could provide those market-based approaches itself. Michael Livermore at the NYU Law School notes over at TNR’s The Vine that the EPA has the authority to create its own cap-and-trade plan under the Clean Air Act. (Even under legislation, the EPA would have to run the thing anyway.)