The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9,1970;it began operation on December 2,1970,after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.
The California Air Resources Board is an agency of the government of California that aims to reduce air pollution. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act,combining the Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board,CARB is a department within the cabinet-level California Environmental Protection Agency.
Lisa Perez Jackson is an American chemical engineer who served as the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2009 to 2013. She was the first African American to hold that position.
Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency,549 U.S. 497 (2007),is a 5–4 U.S. Supreme Court case in which Massachusetts,along with eleven other states and several cities of the United States,represented by James Milkey,brought suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) represented by Gregory G. Garre to force the federal agency to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) that pollute the environment and contribute to climate change.
Susan Elaine Dudley is an American academic who served as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA),Office of Management and Budget in the administration of George W. Bush. As such,Dudley was the top regulatory official at the White House.
The United States produced 5.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020,the second largest in the world after greenhouse gas emissions by China and among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person. In 2019 China is estimated to have emitted 27% of world GHG,followed by the United States with 11%,then India with 6.6%. In total the United States has emitted a quarter of world GHG,more than any other country. Annual emissions are over 15 tons per person and,amongst the top eight emitters,is the highest country by greenhouse gas emissions per person. However,the IEA estimates that the richest decile in the US emits over 55 tonnes of CO2 per capita each year. Because coal-fired power stations are gradually shutting down,in the 2010s emissions from electricity generation fell to second place behind transportation which is now the largest single source. In 2020,27% of the GHG emissions of the United States were from transportation,25% from electricity,24% from industry,13% from commercial and residential buildings and 11% from agriculture. In 2021,the electric power sector was the second largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions,accounting for 25% of the U.S. total. These greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to climate change in the United States,as well as worldwide.
United States vehicle emission standards are set through a combination of legislative mandates enacted by Congress through Clean Air Act (CAA) amendments from 1970 onwards,and executive regulations managed nationally by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),and more recently along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). These standard cover common motor vehicle air pollution,including carbon monoxide,nitrogen oxides,and particulate emissions,and newer versions have incorporated fuel economy standards.
The environmental policy of the United States is a federal governmental action to regulate activities that have an environmental impact in the United States. The goal of environmental policy is to protect the environment for future generations while interfering as little as possible with the efficiency of commerce or the liberty of the people and to limit inequity in who is burdened with environmental costs. As his first official act bringing in the 1970s,President Richard Nixon signed the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) into law on New Years Day,1970. Also in the same year,America began celebrating Earth Day,which has been called "the big bang of U.S. environmental politics,launching the country on a sweeping social learning curve about ecological management never before experienced or attempted in any other nation." NEPA established a comprehensive US national environmental policy and created the requirement to prepare an environmental impact statement for “major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the environment.”Author and consultant Charles H. Eccleston has called NEPA,the world's “environmental Magna Carta”.
A low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) is an emissions trading rule designed to reduce the average carbon intensity of transportation fuels in a given jurisdiction,as compared to conventional petroleum fuels,such as gasoline and diesel. The most common methods for reducing transportation carbon emissions are supplying electricity to electric vehicles,supplying hydrogen fuel to fuel cell vehicles and blending biofuels,such as ethanol,biodiesel,renewable diesel,and renewable natural gas into fossil fuels. The main purpose of a low-carbon fuel standard is to decrease carbon dioxide emissions associated with vehicles powered by various types of internal combustion engines while also considering the entire life cycle,in order to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation.
The indirect land use change impacts of biofuels,also known as ILUC or iLUC,relates to the unintended consequence of releasing more carbon emissions due to land-use changes around the world induced by the expansion of croplands for ethanol or biodiesel production in response to the increased global demand for biofuels.
The climate change policy of the United States has major impacts on global climate change and global climate change mitigation. This is because the United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world after China,and is among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in the world. In total,the United States has emitted over 400 billion metric tons of greenhouse gasses,more than any country in the world.
The,United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began regulating greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the Clean Air Act from mobile and stationary sources of air pollution for the first time on January 2,2011. Standards for mobile sources have been established pursuant to Section 202 of the CAA,and GHGs from stationary sources are currently controlled under the authority of Part C of Title I of the Act. The basis for regulations was upheld in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in June 2012.
Energy Tax Prevention Act,also known as H.R. 910,was a 2011 bill in the United States House of Representatives to prohibit the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gases to address climate change. On April 7,2011,the bill passed the House by a vote of 255 to 172. The bill died in January 2013 with the ending of the Congressional session.
The Clean Power Plan was an Obama administration policy aimed at combating anthropogenic climate change that was first proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014. The final version of the plan was unveiled by President Obama on August 3,2015. Each state was assigned an individual goal for reducing carbon emissions,which could be accomplished how they saw fit,but with the possibility of the EPA stepping in if the state refused to submit a plan. If every state met its target,the plan was projected to reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation 32% by 2030,relative to 2005 levels,as well as achieving various health benefits due to reduced air pollution.
Margo T. Oge is an American engineer and environmental regulator who served as the director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air from 1990 to 1994 and director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality from 1994 to 2012. Beginning in 2009,Oge lead the EPA team that authored the 2010-2016 and the 2017-2025 Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards. By 2025,these rules require automakers to halve the greenhouse gas emissions of cars and light duty trucks while doubling fuel economy. These rules were the US federal government's first regulatory actions to reduce greenhouse gases.
The environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration represented a shift from the policy priorities and goals of the preceding Barack Obama administration. Where President Obama's environmental agenda prioritized the reduction of carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy with the goal of conserving the environment for future generations,the Trump administration policy was for the US to attain energy independence based on fossil fuel use and to rescind many environmental regulations. By the end of Trump's term,his administration had rolled back 98 environmental rules and regulations,leaving an additional 14 rollbacks still in progress. As of early 2021,the Biden administration was making a public accounting of regulatory decisions under the Trump administration that had been influenced by politics rather than science.
Fossil fuel regulations are part of the energy policy in the United States and have gained major significance with the nation's strong dependence on fossil fuel-based energy. Regulatory processes are established at the federal and state level due to the immense economic,socio-political and environmental impact of fossil fuel extraction and production. Over 80% of the United States' energy comes from fossil fuels such as coal,natural gas,and oil. The Bush administration was marked by the Energy Policy Act of 2005,which provided a monetary incentive for renewable energy adoption and addressed the issue of climate change. The Obama administration was made up of advocates for renewable energy and natural gas,while Donald Trump built his campaign on promises to revive the coal industry.
Andrew R. Wheeler is an American attorney who served as the 15th administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2019 to 2021. He served as the deputy administrator from April to July 2018,and served as the acting administrator from July 2018 to February 2019. He has been a senior advisor to Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin since March 2022. He previously worked in the law firm Faegre Baker Daniels,representing coal magnate Robert E. Murray and lobbying against the Obama Administration's environmental regulations. Wheeler served as chief counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and to the chairman U.S. senator James Inhofe,prominent for his rejection of climate change. Wheeler is a critic of limits on greenhouse gas emissions and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
William Ludwig Wehrum Jr. is an American attorney,lobbyist,and government official who served as Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for Air and Radiation in the Donald Trump administration.
Michael Stanley Regan is an American environmental regulator. He has been serving as the 16th administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency since March 11,2021. He is the first African American man to serve in the role.
