EPA will hold three public hearings in May on the proposed mercury and air
toxics standards requiring power plants to install pollution control
technologies to cut emissions of mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and acid
gases. There will be a hearing on May 24 in Philadelphia, Pa. at the
Westin, 99 S. 17th St. at Liberty Place, Philadelphia, Pa. Other hearings
will take place May 24, in Chicago, Ill., and May 26, in Atlanta, Ga. EPA
will accept written comments on the proposed standards until July 5, 2011 and
will finalize the rule by November 2011. For More information on the hearings
and instructions for submitting written comments, go to http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/
EPA is commemorating Asthma Awareness Month to publicize asthma as a growing
national problem especially among children. To help alleviate the problem, EPA
is updating air quality regulations and reducing air pollution such as mercury
and fine particle pollution from power plants, industry and vehicles. For
information to reduce asthma triggers such as dust mites, mold, cockroaches, pet
dander, and secondhand smoke, go to http://www.epa.gov/asthma/index.html For more
information about community-based asthma programs, go to http://www.AsthmaCommunityNetwork.org
"America's vast natural gas
resources can generate many new jobs and provide significant environmental
benefits, but we need to ensure we harness these resources safely," said
Secretary Chu. "I am looking forward to hearing from this diverse, respected
group of experts on best practices for safe and responsible natural gas
production."
A group of highly respected experts
with experience in industry, environmental groups and state regulatory agencies
will form a subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board to conduct
the review, and will work to identify, within 90 days of beginning their work,
any immediate steps that can be taken to improve the safety and environmental
performance of hydraulic fracturing. They will also develop, within six months
of beginning their work, consensus recommended advice to the agencies on
practices for shale extraction to ensure the protection of public health and the
environment.
Membership of the group
includes:
John Deutch, Institute Professor at MIT
(Chair)
John Deutch served as Director of Energy
Research, Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Technology and Under Secretary
of Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy in the Carter Administration and
Undersecretary of Acquisition & Technology, Deputy Secretary of Defense and
Director of Central Intelligence during the first Clinton Administration. Dr.
Deutch also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Raytheon and Cheniere
Energy and is a past director of Citigroup, Cummins Engine Company and
Schlumberger. A chemist who has published more than 140 technical papers in
physical chemistry, he has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1970, and has
served as Chairman of the Department of Chemistry, Dean of Science and
Provost.
Stephen Holditch, Head of the Department of
Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University
Stephen Holditch serves as Head of Texas A&M's
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering and serves on the Boards of
Directors of Triangle Petroleum Corporation and Matador Resources Corporation
Texas. In 1977, Dr. Holditch founded S.A. Holditch & Associates, a petroleum
technology consulting firm which provided analysis of low permeability gas
reservoirs and designed hydraulic fracture treatments. He served as president of
the company until it was bought by Schlumberger in 1997. Dr. Holditch has worked
for Schlumberger, Shell Oil Company and Pan American Petroleum
Corporation.
Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense
Fund
Fred Krupp has overseen the growth of EDF into
a recognized worldwide leader in the environmental movement. Krupp is widely
acknowledged as the foremost champion of harnessing market forces for
environmental ends. He also helped launch a corporate coalition, the U.S.
Climate Action Partnership, whose Fortune 500 members - Alcoa, GE, DuPont and
dozens more - have called for strict limits on global warming pollution. Mr.
Krupp is coauthor, with Miriam Horn, of New York Times Best Seller, Earth: The Sequel. Educated at Yale and the University of
Michigan Law School, Krupp was among 16 people named as America's Best Leaders
by U.S. News and World Report in 2007.
Kathleen McGinty, Former Secretary of the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Kathleen McGinty is a respected environmental leader,
having served as President Clinton's Chair of the White House Council on
Environmental Quality and Legislative Assistant and Environment Advisor to
then-Senator Al Gore. More recently, she served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection and as Chair of the Pennsylvania Energy
Development Authority. Ms. McGinty is Senior Vice President of Weston Solutions,
Inc. and a Director at NRG Energy.
Susan Tierney, Managing Principal, Analysis
Group
Susan Tierney is chairman of the Board of the
Energy Foundation, and serves on the Boards of Directors of the World Resources
Institute and the Clean Air Task Force. Until recently, she was a co-chair of
the National Commission on Energy Policy. Currently, she chairs the National
Petroleum Council Policy Subgroup's study of North American natural gas and oil
resources. Dr. Tierney served as Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S.
Department Energy during the Clinton Administration. In Massachusetts, she
served as Secretary of Environmental Affairs, Chair of the Board of the
Massachusetts Water Resources Agency, Commissioner of the Massachusetts
Department of Public Utilities and executive director of the Massachusetts
Energy Facilities Siting Council.
Daniel Yergin, Chairman, IHS Cambridge
Energy Research Associates
Daniel Yergin is the
co-founder and chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. He is a
member of the Board of the United States Energy Association and a member of the
U.S. National Petroleum Council. He has chaired the U.S. Department of Energy's
Task Force on Strategic Energy Research and Development. Dr. Yergin is also
CNBC's Global Energy Expert and the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning
book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and
Power.
Mark Zoback, Professor of Geophysics,
Stanford University
Mark Zoback is the
Benjamin M. Page Professor of Geophysics at Stanford University. He was
co-principal investigator of the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth project
(SAFOD) and has been serving on a National Academy of Engineering committee
investigating the Deepwater Horizon accident. He was the chairman and co-founder
of GeoMechanics International and serves as a senior adviser to Baker Hughes,
Inc. Prior to joining Stanford University, he served as chief of the
Tectonophysics Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Reduction
Program.
A copy of the subcommittee charge
is available online HERE.