A popular internet video modeled after Paul Harvey's classic essay, "If I Were the Devil," asks “What would you do if you wanted America to fail?” The answer, according to the video’s creators, is continue on America’s current energy and environmental policy path.

The EPA continues to drag its feet in issuing the final coal ash residuals rules, but some groups have filed lawsuits to speed the process. The EPA has said it would finalize the rule in 2012, and the lawsuits seek to hold EPA to that promise with a court-ordered deadline.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has released its long-awaited proposed rule to require companies to publicly disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations on public and Indian lands.

The Foundation has been posting a lot of articles recently about the EPA’s regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and frac sand mining in Wisconsin. It has come to our attention that reads could use a bit more background on what fracking actually is and why Wisconsinites are interested in the topic.

The United States Department of Energy has released a set of maps on its Wind Powering America website illustrating the growth of wind energy across the United States.

According to the Dept. of Energy, which relies on data from the American Wind Energy Association, Wisconsin’s wind production has increased from 23 to 631 megawatts (MW) over the past thirteen years.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency are both accepting comments on a multitude of issues impacting Wisconsin businesses. The agencies are accepting comments on various air, water, and waste rules; and in addition, the DNR is also asking for help identifying burdensome and outdated rules.

The Energy Department recently released a renewable energy resource assessment detailing the potential to develop electric power generation at existing dams across the United States that aren't currently equipped to produce power. The report estimates that without building a single new dam, these available hydropower resources, if fully developed, could provide an electrical generating capacity of more than 12 gigawatts (GW).

In response to a court deadline, the EPA has finalized its long-awaited rules regulating air pollution from hydraulic fracturing. According to the EPA, the standards rely on technologies already in use at about half of the nation’s natural-gas wells, and these technologies will trap 95 percent of the harmful emissions from these wells.

On April 13, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument on EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). Court watchers who attended the arguments think the case could go either way based on the judges’ questioning.

President Obama signed an executive order Friday establishing the Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources. The group includes representation from many federal agencies, some of which are already studying, and in some cases proposing to regulate, natural gas drilling, including fracking.

An agreement signed by 10 federal agencies and the governors of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania, is designed to speed review of proposed offshore wind projects in the Great Lakes by increasing collaboration between federal and state agencies.

The EPA announced it has taken a step toward wide distribution of gasoline mixed with 15 percent ethanol by allowing manufacturers to register as suppliers. Twenty ethanol makers have registered to sell E15, including Ace Ethanol LLC in Stanley, WI.

The EPA is again delaying the release of final air pollution standards for the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of natural gas wells. The agency requested the additional time to fully address the 156,000 public comments it received on the proposed rules.

Bloomberg BNA recently published an article, EPA Tells Wisconsin Officials to Consider More Efficient Turbines in BACT Analysis, that draws attention to the EPA’s rejection of the DNR’s BACT analysis for Wisconsin's Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility.

Supporters and detractors of the recently proposed rule to limit greenhouse gas emission from existing power plants all agree that the rule will limit the construction and use of coal-burning power plants. GLLF provides a summary of the biggest stories from the Wisconsin and national media.

On March 27, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first ever Clean Air Act standard for carbon emissions from future power plants. The rules have the potential to end the construction of conventional coal-fired facilities in the United States.

Federal agencies have been targeted by the Obama administration for emissions and consumption reductions. Not only will agencies consume less fuel, but all of the greenhouse gas emissions from fuel consumption and other activities must be reported.

On March 7th, the Senate referred back to committee a bill that would have directed the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to craft new windmill siting standards. Although a bill could still come to the floor, if it does not pass both houses by the last day of the legislative session, March 15th, the PSC’s 2010 windmill siting rules will go into effect.

The EPA recently filed its reply brief in EME Homer City Generation LP v. EPA, the case challenging the Cross State Air Pollution Rule.

On February 16, 2012, the EPA published the final Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) in the Federal Register. The purpose of these standards, according to the EPA’s website, is to reduce pollution created by coal and oil power plants.