House Members Agency to Tighten Ozone Standards

Twenty two members of Congress—including six Republicans—sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week urging the agency to promulgate a final national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone at lower than the range proposed. 

Earlier this year, EPA proposed lowering the current standard of 0.08 parts per million (ppm) to somewhere in the range of 0.070 to 0.075 ppm. 

The members of Congress recommended a range of 0.060 to 0.070, which mirrors the recommendation EPA Science Advisory Board.

Contact Tom Carter.

According to a white paper released by the committee October 3, a House bill being drafted by U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Representative Rick Boucher (D-Va.) to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would cover a broad array of industry sectors under a cap-and-trade plan, including electric power producers, transportation, and industrial operations such as manufacturing, construction, and mining.

According to the paper, those sectors should bear the brunt of any comprehensive effort to curb emissions because together they account for more than 80 percent of U.S. emissions. Chairman Dingell and Rep. Boucher hope to have their legislation marked up by the House Energy Committee this fall to ensure it can be brought to the House floor by the end of 2007.

The Dingell-Boucher white paper is the first in a series of documents they plan to "focus the discussion" in the energy committee "towards the development and eventual passage of comprehensive climate change legislation," the lawmakers said in an October 3 memo to committee members.

Other white papers slated for release in the coming weeks will discuss a range of issues to be included in the bill, including timetables for reducing emissions, cost-containment measures, carbon sequestration, offsets and credits, efforts to ensure emissions reductions by developing nations, and distribution of carbon allowances.

Click here to read the Dingell-Boucher cap-and-trade white paper.

Contact Andy O'Hare or David Hubbard.

Senate Committee Holds Hearing on National
Flood Insurance Program

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, chaired by Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), held a hearing to examine the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). This comes after last week's House passage of a measure revamping the NFIP and expanding it to include wind coverage.

Testimony in the Senate Committee hearing centered on the need for updating National Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM), establishing actuarially sound rates, improving and requiring better mitigation standards, increasing coverage amounts, and rethinking who should be covered. There was also discussion on phasing out discounted rates for non-primary residences and vacation homes.

The Director of Financial Markets and Community Development for the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Orice Williams, gave testimony based on a 2005 GAO study. Williams stated that the "financial solvency" of the program will continue to be threatened if measures are not taken to "mitigate expenses from repetitive loss properties, increase compliance with mandatory purchase requirements, and expedite FEMA's flood map modernization efforts." So-called repetitive loss properties represent about 1 percent of all those covered by flood insurance policies, but they account for 25-30 percent of claims.

David Maurstad, Assistant Administrator for Mitigation and Federal Insurance Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) testified that since 2005 FEMA has been situating itself toward "phasing out discounted premiums" for pre-FIRM properties in order to charge "actuarially sound premiums", and to reduce "risk through proven mitigation practices."

Senator Carper stated during the hearing that he plans to report out legislation on the issue by the first part of next year.

Mining Safety Gets Poor Report

Earlier this week, both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate held committee hearings on Mine Safety, spurred by the August 6th Crandall Canyon mine collapse in central Utah.

Committee members heard testimony by representatives from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), Colorado School of Mines, and the Vice President for Safety and Health, as well as family members of victims of the mine collapse.

The two hearings, held separately by the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor and U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, explored an alleged disconnect between MSHA and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Kevin Stricklin, the public health and safety administrator for MSHA, testified at the Senate Committee hearing that, prior to the Crandall Canyon mine collapse, the BLM had deemed the mine to be unsafe but had not relayed that information to MSHA. Furthermore, he testified that the safety inspection of the Crandall Canyon mine had been done by a graduate student and then directly passed on to MSHA.

Last year, after the Sago mine incident in West Virginia, Congress passed the MINER Act, aimed at solving the problems addressed in the committee hearings. The hearings this week were held in anticipation of House and Senate action on additional legislation that would boost penalties and tighten regulations established by the MINER Act.

Contact Robert Sullivan.

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