June, 11 2010, 03:36pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sarah Burt, Earthjustice, (510) 550-6755, sburt@earthjustice.org
Eric Bilsky, Oceana, (202) 833-3900 x 1912, ebilsky@oceana.org
Danielle Fugere, Friends of the Earth, (415) 577-5594
Vera Pardee, Center for Biological Diversity, (858) 717-1448, vpardee@biologicaldiversity.org
Dan Galpern, Western Environmental Law Center, (541) 359-3243, galpern@westernlaw.org
EPA Challenged Over Global Warming Pollution From Ships, Aircraft and Non-road Engines
A day after the U.S. Senate voted to uphold the Environmental
Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gases, a coalition
of environmental groups has filed a lawsuit challenging the agency's
failure to address such pollution from oceangoing ships, aircraft and
non-road vehicles as well as engines used in industrial operations.
WASHINGTON
A day after the U.S. Senate voted to uphold the Environmental
Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gases, a coalition
of environmental groups has filed a lawsuit challenging the agency's
failure to address such pollution from oceangoing ships, aircraft and
non-road vehicles as well as engines used in industrial operations. The
lawsuit was filed in federal district court in the District of Columbiaby
Earthjustice and the Western Environmental Law Center on behalf of
Oceana, Friends of the Earth, the Center for Biological Diversity, the
Center for Food Safety and the International Center for Technology
Assessment.
Together, aircraft, ship and non-road
vehicles and engines are responsible for 24 percent of U.S.
mobile-source greenhouse gas emissions and emit approximately 290,000
tons of soot every year. Pollution from these sources is projected to
grow rapidly over coming decades.
"The shipping
industry is a major contributor to global warming pollution. Annual
U.S. shipping emissions are equivalent to from 130 million to 195
million cars. These emissions are on track to triple over the next 20
years. It is time for the EPA to issue commonsense rules - like
requiring fuel-efficient cruising speeds - to control the pollution
from this important sector," said Eric Bilsky, Oceana assistant general
counsel.
The coalition petitioned EPA in late 2007
and early 2008 to determine whether greenhouse gas emissions from
marine vessels, aircraft and non-road vehicles and engines endanger
public health and welfare, and if so, to issue regulations to control
greenhouse gas emissions from these sources. Despite having had more
than two years to do so, EPA has not responded to the petitions.
"Yesterday
Congress rejected an attempt to strip EPA of its authority to protect
the public from global warming pollution," said Sarah Burt of
Earthjustice, who is representing the coalition. "EPA has a clear moral
obligation and legal duty under the Clean Air Act to act decisively to
protect public health and the environment on which all Americans
depend."
"The Clean Air Act works to reduce
dangerous pollution like greenhouse gas emissions, and it must be
implemented immediately," said Vera Pardee, a senior attorney at the
Center for Biological Diversity. "The Clean Air Act has protected the
air we breathe for 40 years, reaping economic benefits 42 times its
cost. Cost-effective solutions to achieve significant greenhouse gas
pollution reductions from ships, airplanes and non-road engines already
exist. The Obama administration needs to move forward far more quickly
to implement them to avoid devastating climate disruption. Delaying
commonsense pollution-reduction measures is the wrong policy and wrong
on the law."
"The evidence of climate change is
becoming clearer each and every day," said Danielle Fugere, regional
program director for Friends of the Earth. "We can no longer afford the
EPA's refusal to address important and growing sources of greenhouse
gas emissions."
"EPA needs to shift into high gear
and limit the impact that industrial non-road vehicles and engines
impose on our common airshed," said Dan Galpern, an attorney with the
Western Environmental Law Center. "Even the Bush EPA admitted that
climate pollution could be slashed from overpowered diesel engines used
in industrial operations, if it chose to do so. Now EPA, at long last,
is restricting climate pollution from cars and light trucks and certain
stationary sources. But the climate crisis will not be allayed without
the maximum achievable reduction in GHG emissions. This requires
reasonable restrictions on monster earth movers, heavy mining and
logging equipment, agricultural pumps and other industrial machinery
that presently spew climate pollution without end."
Background
Aviation and Global Warming
Aircraft emit 11 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from U.S.
transportation sources and 3 percent of the United States' total
greenhouse gas emissions. The United States is responsible for nearly half of worldwide CO2
emissions from aircraft. Such emissions are anticipated to increase
substantially in the coming decades due to the projected growth in air
transport; in fact, according to the Federal Aviation Administration,
greenhouse gas emissions from domestic aircraft are expected to
increase 60 percent by 2025. While some countries, such as the European
Union, have already begun to respond to these challenges, the United
States has failed to address this enormous source of emissions.
Ships and Global Warming
In 2008, marine vessels entering U.S. ports accounted for 4.5 percent
of domestic mobile-source greenhouse gas emissions. The global fleet of
marine vessels releases almost 3 percent of the world's CO2,
an amount comparable to the total greenhouse gas emissions of Canada.
Because of their huge numbers and inefficient operating practices,
marine vessels release a large volume of CO2,
nitrous oxide, and black carbon, or soot. If fuel use remains
unchanged, shipping pollution will potentially double from 2002 levels
by the year 2020 and triple by 2030. Despite their impact on the global
climate, greenhouse gas emissions from ships are not currently
regulated by the United States or internationally.
Non-road Vehicles and Engines and Global Warming
Non-road vehicles and engines are used in the agricultural,
construction, commercial, industrial, mining and logging sectors. In
2008, such industrial non-road vehicles and engines were responsible
for approximately 9 percent of U.S. mobile source carbon dioxide
emissions, as well as significant emissions of black carbon, or soot.
Nearly a third of these emissions are produced by the construction and
mining sectors, while a fifth are from agriculture. EPA projects that CO2 emissions from the non-road sector will increase approximately 46 percent between 2006 and 2030.
LATEST NEWS
Critics Blast 'Reckless and Impossible' Bid to Start Operating Mountain Valley Pipeline
"The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over," said one environmental campaigner.
Apr 23, 2024
Environmental defenders on Tuesday ripped the company behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline for asking the federal government—on Earth Day—for permission to start sending methane gas through the 303-mile conduit despite a worsening climate emergency caused largely by burning fossil fuels.
Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
"In a manner typical of its ongoing disrespect for the environment, Mountain Valley Pipeline marked Earth Day by asking FERC for authorization to place its dangerous, unnecessary pipeline into service in late May," said Jessica Sims, the Virginia field coordinator for Appalachian Voices.
"MVP brazenly asks for this authorization while simultaneously notifying FERC that the company has completed less than two-thirds of the project to final restoration and with the mere promise that it will notify the commission when it fully complies with the requirements of a consent decree it entered into with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last fall," she continued.
"Requesting an in-service decision by May 23 leaves the company very little time to implement the safety measures required by its agreement with PHMSA," Sims added. "There is no rush, other than to satisfy MVP's capacity customers' contracts—a situation of the company's own making. We remain deeply concerned about the construction methods and the safety of communities along the route of MVP."
Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition—which called MVP's request "reckless and impossible"—said in a statement that "we are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real-time: The reckless MVP is barreling towards completion."
"During construction, MVP has contaminated our water sources, destroyed our streams, and split the earth beneath our homes. Now they want to run methane gas through their degraded pipes and shoddy work," Chisholm added. "The MVP is a glaring human rights violation that is indicative of the widespread failures of our government to act on the climate crisis in service of the fossil fuel industry."
POWHR and activists representing frontline communities affected by the pipeline are set to take part in a May 8 demonstration outside project financier Bank of America's headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
MVP is set to traverse much of Virginia and West Virginia, with the Southgate extension running into North Carolina. Outgoing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and other pipeline proponents fought to include expedited construction of the project in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans last year.
On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
"Federal, state, and local elected officials have spoken out against this unneeded proposal to ship more methane gas into North Carolina," said Sierra Club senior field organizer Caroline Hansley. "The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over. After MVP Southgate requested a time extension for a project that it no longer plans to construct, it should be sent back to the drawing board for this newly proposed project."
David Sligh, conservation director at Wild Virginia, said: "Approving the Southgate project is irresponsible. This project will pose the same kinds of threats of damage to the environment and the people along its path as we have seen caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline during the last six years."
"FERC has again failed to protect the public interest, instead favoring a profit-making corporation," Sligh added.
Others renewed warnings about the dangers MVP poses to wildlife.
"The endangered bats, fish, mussels, and plants in this boondoggle's path of destruction deserve to be protected from killing and habitat destruction by a project that never received proper approvals in the first place," Center for Biological Diversity attorney Perrin de Jong said. "Our organization will continue fighting this terrible idea to the bitter end."
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'Seismic Win for Workers': FTC Bans Noncompete Clauses
Advocates praised the FTC "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
Apr 23, 2024
U.S. workers' rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khansaid "keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism."
"The FTC's final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market," Khan added, pointing to the commission's estimates that the policy could mean another $524 for the average worker, over 8,500 new startups, and 17,000 to 29,000 more patents each year.
As Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Heidi Shierholz explained, "Noncompete agreements are employment provisions that ban workers at one company from working for, or starting, a competing business within a certain period of time after leaving a job."
"These agreements are ubiquitous," she noted, applauding the ban. "EPI research finds that more than 1 out of every 4 private-sector workers—including low-wage workers—are required to enter noncompete agreements as a condition of employment."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has suggested it plans to file a lawsuit that, as The American Prospectdetailed, "could more broadly threaten the rulemaking authority the FTC cited when proposing to ban noncompetes."
Already, the tax services and software provider Ryan has filed a legal challenge in federal court in Texas, arguing that the FTC is unconstitutionally structured.
Still, the Democratic commissioners' vote was still heralded as a "seismic win for workers." Echoing Khan's critiques of such noncompetes, Public Citizen executive vice president Lisa Gilbert declared that such clauses "inflict devastating harms on tens of millions of workers across the economy."
"The pervasive use of noncompete clauses limits worker mobility, drives down wages, keeps Americans from pursuing entrepreneurial dreams and creating new businesses, causes more concentrated markets, and keeps workers stuck in unsafe or hostile workplaces," she said. "Noncompete clauses are both an unfair method of competition and aggressively harmful to regular people. The FTC was right to tackle this issue and to finalize this strong rule."
Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, praised the FTC for "listening to the comments of thousands of entrepreneurs and workers of all income levels across industries" and finalizing a rule that "is a clear-cut win."
Demand Progress' Emily Peterson-Cassin similarly commended the commission "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
While such agreements are common across various industries, Teófilo Reyes, chief of staff at the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, said that "many restaurant workers have been stuck at their job, earning as low as $2.13 per hour, because of the noncompete clause that they agreed to have in their contract."
"They didn't know that it would affect their wages and livelihood," Reyes stressed. "Most workers cannot negotiate their way out of a noncompete clause because noncompetes are buried in the fine print of employment contracts. A full third of noncompete clauses are presented after a worker has accepted a job."
Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) executive director Mike Pierce pointed out that the FTC on Tuesday "recognized the harmful role debt plays in the workplace, including the growing use of training repayment agreement provisions, or TRAPs, and took action to outlaw TRAPs and all other employer-driven debt that serve the same functions as noncompete agreements."
Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director at Open Markets Institute, highlighted that the addition came after his group, SBPC, and others submitted comments on the "significant gap" in the commission's initial January 2023 proposal, and also welcomed that "the final rule prohibits both conventional noncompete clauses and newfangled versions like TRAPs."
Jonathan Harris, a Loyola Marymount University law professor and SBPC senior fellow, said that "by also banning functional noncompetes, the rule stays one step ahead of employers who use 'stay-or-pay' contracts as workarounds to existing restrictions on traditional noncompetes. The FTC has decided to try to avoid a game of whack-a-mole with employers and their creative attorneys, which worker advocates will applaud."
Among those applauding was Jean Ross, president of National Nurses United, who said that "the new FTC rule will limit the ability of employers to use debt to lock nurses into unsafe jobs and will protect their role as patient advocates."
Angela Huffman, president of Farm Action, also cheered the effort to stop corporations from holding employees "hostage," saying that "this rule is a critical step for protecting our nation's workers and making labor markets fairer and more competitive."
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'Discriminatory' North Carolina Law Criminalizing Felon Voting Struck Down
One plaintiffs' attorney said the ruling "makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society."
Apr 23, 2024
Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
In Monday's decision, U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs—an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama—sided with the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute and Action NC, who argued that the 1877 law discriminated against Black people.
"The challenged statute was enacted with discriminatory intent, has not been cleansed of its discriminatory taint, and continues to disproportionately impact Black voters," Biggs wrote in her 25-page ruling.
Therefore, according to the judge, the 1877 law violates the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause.
"We are ecstatic that the court found in our favor and struck down this racially discriminatory law that has been arbitrarily enforced over time," Action NC executive director Pat McCoy said in a statement. "We will now be able to help more people become civically engaged without fear of prosecution for innocent mistakes. Democracy truly won today!"
Voting rights tracker Democracy Docket noted that Monday's ruling "does not have any bearing on North Carolina's strict felony disenfranchisement law, which denies the right to vote for those with felony convictions who remain on probation, parole, or a suspended sentence—often leaving individuals without voting rights for many years after release from incarceration."
However, Mitchell Brown, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, said that "Judge Biggs' decision will help ensure that voters who mistakenly think they are eligible to cast a ballot will not be criminalized for simply trying to reengage in the political process and perform their civic duty."
"It also makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society, specifically Black voters who were the target of this law," Brown added.
North Carolina officials have not said whether they will appeal Biggs' ruling. The state Department of Justice said it was reviewing the decision.
According to Forward Justice—a nonpartisan law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South, "Although Black people constitute 21% of the voting-age population in North Carolina, they represent 42% of the people disenfranchised while on probation, parole, or post-release supervision."
The group notes that in 44 North Carolina counties, "the disenfranchisement rate for Black people is more than three times the rate of the white population."
"Judge Biggs' decision will help ensure that voters who mistakenly think they are eligible to cast a ballot will not be criminalized for simply trying to re-engage in the political process and perform their civic duty."
In what one civil rights leader called "the largest expansion of voting rights in this state since the 1965 Voting Rights Act," a three-judge state court panel voted 2-1 in 2021 to restore voting rights to approximately 55,000 formerly incarcerated felons. The decision made North Carolina the only Southern state to automatically restore former felons' voting rights.
Republican state legislators appealed that ruling to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which in 2022 granted their request for a stay—but only temporarily, as the court allowed a previous injunction against any felony disenfranchisement based on fees or fines to stand.
However, last April the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed the three-judge panel decision, stripping voting rights from thousands of North Carolinians previously convicted of felonies. Dissenting Justice Anita Earls opined that "the majority's decision in this case will one day be repudiated on two grounds."
"First, because it seeks to justify the denial of a basic human right to citizens and thereby perpetuates a vestige of slavery, and second, because the majority violates a basic tenant of appellate review by ignoring the facts as found by the trial court and substituting its own," she wrote.
As similar battles play out in other states, Democratic U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont in December introduced legislation to end former felon disenfranchisement in federal elections and guarantee incarcerated people the right to vote.
Currently, only Maine, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow all incarcerated people to vote behind bars.
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