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nitrogen oxide
Southern California Passes First US Rule to Electrify Water Heaters, Boilers
"When it comes to our industrial sector, we don't have to boil the planet to boil water," said one campaigner."If Southern California can forge ahead and do this, so can the rest of the nation."
Jun 07, 2024
Climate and environmental campaigners on Friday applauded a Southern California regulator's passage of a new rule that proponents say will sharply reduce emissions produced by more than 1 million water heaters and boilers by mandating a major shift from gas to electric-powered equipment.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) approved Amended Rule 1146.2, which will require smaller heaters and boilers in newly constructed buildings to meet zero-emissions limits beginning in 2026. Existing buildings will have until 2033 to comply. The new rule follows another first-in-the nation SCAQMD measure approved last year requiring zero-emissions standards for commercial ovens.
"What we're trying to do is figure out how to transform industry and drive the right types of investments... that prioritize low- and zero-emission technology," said Evan Gillespie, a partner at Los Angeles-based Industrious Labs, which co-sponsored the legislation along with the climate and environmental justice group Earthjustice.
According to Earthjustice:
The South Coast Air Basin, which covers Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, is home to the worst air quality in the country. In order to bring the region's dangerously polluted air into compliance with state and federal laws, the air district is tasked with reducing harmful emissions from all major pollution sources. While less visible than emissions-spewing pollution sources like refineries and trucks, fossil fuel-powered boilers and water heaters are a significant source of smog-forming nitrogen oxide (NOx) and deadly particulate matter (PM 2.5) in the region.
"When it comes to our industrial sector, we don't have to boil the planet to boil water," said Adrian Martinez, deputy managing attorney of Earthjustice's Right To Zero campaign. "With this pivotal rule, Southern California is set to replace over a million pieces of gas-powered equipment with zero-emissions technology."
"This is a major step forward in our region's fight to clean the air for over 17 million people and invest in zero-emissions solutions," Martinez added. "If Southern California can forge ahead and do this, so can the rest of the nation."
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Green Group Slams EPA Failure to Curb 'Dangerous Levels of Air Pollution'
"Air pollution standards must protect endangered plants and wildlife, but the agency failed to follow the law, or the science, to fully address this toxic air pollution's harms to the environment," said one attorney.
Apr 15, 2024
The Center for Biological Diversity on Monday lamented what it called the Biden administration's failure to improve "outdated" limits on nitrogen and soot air pollution.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed keeping existing secondary national ambient air quality standards for sulfur and nitrogen oxides after estimating that new benchmarks previously put forth would result in reduced pollution from sources including coal-fired power plants.
However, Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) staff attorney Ryan Maher argued that "the EPA failed to seize this important opportunity to better protect plants and animals from these toxic pollutants."
"Since the EPA's last review of these pollution standards, the science showing the ecological harm from soot, sulfur, and nitrogen air pollution has become more certain."
"Since the EPA's last review of these pollution standards, the science showing the ecological harm from soot, sulfur, and nitrogen air pollution has become more certain," Maher added. "Rather than aligning its standards with this new research, the EPA has chosen to perpetuate dangerous levels of air pollution."
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to set primary, or health-based, and secondary, or welfare-based, "national ambient air quality standards" for pollutants including sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter—better known as soot. However, the EPA has failed to update the secondary standards for nitrogen and sulfur air pollution for more than half a century. Key portions of the EPA's secondary soot standards also haven't been updated in decades.
According to the CBD:
The agency published today's proposal under an agreement that resulted from a 2022 lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health. That agreement requires the agency to finalize its decision on the air quality standards no later than December 10, 2024.
The agency will hold a virtual public hearing on the proposed rule on May 8.
Critics have also called out the EPA for not completing a mandatory Endangered Species Act consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Services about how pollution levels allowed under the proposed standards could harm endangered plants and animals.
"Air pollution standards must protect endangered plants and wildlife, but the agency failed to follow the law, or the science, to fully address this toxic air pollution's harms to the environment," Maher noted.
Separately, green groups including Earthjustice, Sierra Club, California Communities Against Toxins, and Southwestern Environmental Law Center on Monday welcomed the EPA's decision to deny an industry petition to delist energy turbines as a major source of air pollution.
"Today's decision upholds critical environmental protections that are essential for safeguarding public health, particularly in communities that have historically borne the brunt of industrial pollution," Earthjustice director of federal clean air practice James Pew said in a statement.
"Keeping pollution control requirements in place is not just a matter of regulatory compliance; it's a fundamental environmental justice issue," Pew added. "EPA did the right thing by rejecting industry's attempt to dodge these requirements and get a free pass to pollute."
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