Black carbon - tiny soot particles released into the atmosphere by burning fuels - has been linked to adverse health and environmental impacts through decades of scientific research. It is also one of the major short-lived contributors to climate change.

The 3-year-study is the first comprehensive regional assessment of the climate impact of black carbon on California. In conducting the study, scientists used computer models and air pollution data collected by aircraft, satellite and ground monitors.  The study's results support a growing body of scientific evidence that suggests it is possible to immediately slow the pace of climate change regionally by reducing emissions of short-lived climate pollutants, like black carbon.

When all sources of black carbon emissions from diesel fuel combustion are considered, including farming and construction equipment, trains and ships, the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions can be as high as 50 million metric tons per year over the past 20 years. That's roughly equal to a 13-percent reduction in the total annual carbon dioxide emissions in California.

What this means to you

California's Air Resources Board has shown its efforts to reduce black carbon from diesel engines are successful in terms of health and climate warming effects.  California often sets national emission control trends, and particulate matter control is likely to be continued with reduced emission targets.

MIRATECH can help

Contact MIRATECH to discuss diesel particulate emission solutions for your diesel engines.

That orientation began to shift as the Obama administration ramped up efforts to bring large-scale solar energy development to federal lands in the states in the southwest.  Today, it appears that look-before-you-leap, landscape-scale approach is now going to be expanded according to a 21 June 2013 report in Climate Progress.

The Bureau of Land Management is issuing draft guidelines for how its employees should develop and implement regional strategies to mitigate the impacts of development projects; not just by finding ways to compensate on its own lands, but also on other federal, state, tribal and even private lands. Rather than devising ways for making up for the impacts of a single oil and gas project during the permitting stage, for example, this new approach will have a blueprint in place for an entire region. And mitigation won't be limited just to that one oil and gas project site.

Interior will be able to compensate for resource damage in one development location by preserving resources elsewhere when appropriate, and for at least as long as the damage will be occurring on the development site.

A recent poll showed that 65 percent of respondents in western states favor protecting public lands for future generations, while just 29 percent say that the government should focus on more opportunities for oil and gas drilling.  Seventy-eight percent say that some of the money collected from allowing oil and gas companies to drill on public lands should be used to repair the damage that drilling causes.

What this means to you

In many western states much of the land is owned by the federal government, primarily the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management.  Controversy has always prevailed over federal land usage.  A plan that allows mineral production in some areas offset by land protection elsewhere could be a win/win solution.

MIRATECH can help

Contact MIRATECH to learn how to make sure your engines operating on public lands meet emission standards.

Click image to learn more about RICE NESHAP

• Get regulation information
• CI Engines 
• SI Engines

• Obtain product information
• Substrates
• NEXT 
• VORTEX 

• Catalyst Types
• Formulations
• SCR Catalysts

• Catalyst Only Housings
• IQ Catalyst Housings 

• Catalyst/Silencer  Combination Units
• VX Series Catalyst Housings  
• RX Series Catalyst Housings
• ZX Series Catalyst Housings
• Ground Access  

• Control Systems  
• Air Fuel Ratio Control (AFRC)
• MIRA-MONITOR
• ACIS

The announcement provides new hope for the EPA and environmental groups that suffered a defeat in 2012 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that forces cuts from plants in 28 states in the eastern half of the country, finding that it exceeds EPA's powers under the Clean Air Act to force pollution cuts in upwind states.

The appellate decision was a victory for industry groups, some states and GOP lawmakers, who alleged the rule would create economic burdens and force the closure of substantial numbers of coal-fired power plants.  But the Supreme Court's agreement to examine the rule, depending on the outcome, could breathe new life into the regulation.

The EPA, when finalizing the rule in the summer of 2011, said substantially cutting sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions would bring public health benefits that far outstrip the projected costs.

The agency estimated that the rule would prevent up to 34,000 premature deaths; 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks and 19,000 cases of acute bronchitis annually.  The rule would force emissions cuts in more than two dozen states in the eastern half of the country.

What this means to you

Stationary engine operators in these areas could be affected if the court re-instates CSAPR.

How MIRATECH can help

Contact MIRATECH to discuss emission compliance options and solutions for your operation.

The EPA is required by the Clean Air Act to review and, if necessary, update its standards every five years to keep up with the latest science and research. The agency was required to finish its current review in March, five years after the previous analysis, but has not yet finalized its evaluation.  Current standards are based on data from 2006.

Tougher standards could prevent up to 12,000 premature deaths per year, according to an analysis by the EPA, but industry groups warn they could cost businesses up to $1 trillion. Protecting lives and health should come first, the organizations argue. They cite a 2001 Supreme Court decision that ruled the EPA should set air quality standards based on health, not costs, though economic impacts should be considered in the standards' implementation.

"EPA is continuing to work with its independent scientific advisors on the ongoing review of the ozone standard to determine whether a revision is appropriate based on the extensive body of research that will inform EPA's decision," the agency said in a statement. "The agency is following its normal open and transparent review process that allows for extensive public comment."

The agency plans to release documents on its review in December and a group of independent science advisors are scheduled to meet to discuss the standards in March.  The EPA tried to update ozone standards during President Obama's first term, but in a blow to environmentalists, the White House shelved that regulation in 2011 to perform a full review this year.   

EPA's current allowable level of ozone is 75 parts per billion but it's still much higher than the level recommended by the EPA's own scientific advisers, who earlier suggested limiting ozone in the air to an average of between 60 and 70 parts per billion over an eight-hour period.

What this means to you

It is not unusual for EPA to be forced to comply with Clean Air Act mandates by a court ordered deadline.  This lawsuit could force EPA to lower ozone standards below 75 ppb placing numerous cities in non-compliance.  The result for non-compliant counties could mean much stricter emission controls in State Implementation Plans (SIP), especially for NOx and VOC, over a wide range of pollution sources.

How MIRATECH can help

Contact MIRATECH to discuss NOx, CO, VOC, and PM emission compliance options and solutions for your operation as they relate to your states SIP.

On 25 June 2013 President Barack Obama laid out his plan to combat climate change, instructing his administration to move forward with rules on power plants and energy efficiency, and to approve the Keystone XL pipeline only if the move will not result in a net increase of greenhouse gas emissions, according to online reports from Politico.com.

The plan re-emphasizes Obama's first-term efforts to raise vehicle emissions standards, foster the development of "clean coal" technology and stimulate green energy production. It looks to expand the use of solar and wind energy on federal lands and subsidized housing, and to encourage coal users to switch to natural gas. And it again takes aim at the oil and gas industry tax breaks that Obama has unsuccessfully urged Congress to eliminate.

Obama's plan, which comes after months of uneasiness from environmental groups unsure of whether the president would take bold steps, relies on executive actions, in an acknowledgement that wide-ranging legislation - including a revival of the cap-and-trade bill that cleared the Democratic House but got bogged down in the Senate during the first two years of his presidency - isn't going to have traction in either chamber.

Obama called on the State Department to only consider approving the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline if it can first determine that the pipeline will not lead to a net increase in overall greenhouse gas emissions. "Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires finding that doing so is in our national interest," he said.

Obama pointed to the authority he has under the Clean Air Act - reinforced by a Supreme Court ruling several years ago - to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and said he will use that authority to rein in power plants.

The president has set aggressive deadlines for the Environmental Protection Agency to finalize regulations on carbon emissions from power plants. He's ordered the agency to finalize its rules - delayed from a release earlier this year - on new power plants by September, and to begin the rule-making process on existing plants. The EPA should develop the rules in "an open and transparent way," he said Tuesday, with flexibility for the needs of various states and companies.

What this means to you

President Obama intends to use authority granted under the Clean Air Act - and reinforced by a Supreme Court ruling - to take action on climate change.  Coal fired power plants will likely be impacted under aggressive deadlines, and the Keystone XL Pipeline and oil and gas industry tax breaks are also targeted.  Tighter emission controls on a wide range of sources could be the foreseeable future.

How MIRATECH can help

Contact MIRATECH to discuss emission compliance options and solutions for industrial engine operations in gas compression, power generation, bio-gas, locomotive, and marine applications.