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Posts Tagged ‘EPA’

Climate Change in the United States: Benefits of Global Action

Monday, July 6th, 2015
GHG Mitigation: Estimated Benefits to the U.S. in 2100

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Actions can be taken now to reduce GHG emissions and avoid many of the adverse impacts of climate change. Quantifying the benefits of reducing GHG emissions (i.e., how GHG mitigation reduces or avoids impacts) requires comparing projections of climate change impacts and damages in a future with policy actions and a future without policy actions. Looking across a large number of sectors, this report communicates estimates of these benefits to the U.S. associated with global action on climate change.

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U.S. EPA: New England is Using Green Infrastructure to “Soak Up The Rain”

Friday, June 19th, 2015

Polluted stormwater runoff is one of the greatest threats to clean water in the nation. EPA-New England launched its “Soak up the Rain” outreach program to raise public awareness about these threats, and help communities understand how green infrastructure (GI) strategies can help mitigate runoff damage. GI uses natural processes (vegetation and soil infiltration) to absorb and treat runoff at its source while offering additional benefits that can include flood mitigation, economic protection, habitat preservation and quality of life improvements. This video shows citizens from several communities using GI to mitigate their stormwater problems; people including school principals, municipal DPW officials, residential property owners and landscape professionals. The video also illustrates how Soak up the Rain actively promotes community efforts to reduce runoff and showcases specific GI projects.

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Drinking Water & Fracking: Risk Assessment

Wednesday, June 10th, 2015
Figure ES-1. Schematic cross-section of general types of oil and gas resources and the orientations of production wells used in hydraulic fracturing.

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
From our assessment, we conclude there are above and below ground mechanisms by which hydraulic fracturing activities have the potential to impact drinking water resources. These mechanisms include water withdrawals in times of, or in areas with, low water availability; spills of hydraulic fracturing fluids and produced water; fracturing directly into underground drinking water resources; below ground migration of liquids and gases; and inadequate treatment and discharge of wastewater.

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Lawrence, MA: Old Rails to Green Trails

Monday, May 11th, 2015

With the help of EPA’s $200,000 Brownfields Area-wide planning grant, this video shows Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera and Congresswoman Niki Tsongas explain the catalytic impact of EPA funding to jumpstart improvements and community outcomes for citizens in underserved communities, such as Lawrence, MA. By planning for, and envisioning, new walking paths to replace a blighted old railway that cuts through the City, residents will someday be able to link to adjacent recreational trails. This video shows the “before” of a key community project that will change the future face of Lawrence and make a real difference to its citizens.

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Granite Creek Watershed, AZ: Working with the Community

Friday, April 17th, 2015

This video features Michael Byrd, Executive Director of the Prescott Creeks Preservation Association, describing some of the challenges faced by Granite Creek Watershed communities (e.g. perennial water flow, drinking water source, and water quality issues) and how the organization uses conservation, restoration, and education to address these challenges.

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EPA’s Clean Power Plan and Reliability

Monday, February 16th, 2015
Figure 1 Application of BSER for 2030 CO2 Emissions Rate Standards by State

THE BRATTLE GROUP
The United States (“U.S.”) power system is undergoing a fundamental transformation, largely driven by advances in technology and low natural gas prices. This transformation is putting significant pressure on existing coal-fired and even nuclear generation, increasingly leads to renewable energy resources being cost-competitive with fossil-fired generation, and results in myriad choices for consumers that promise to permanently alter the role of demand in the power system. As a consequence, the fuel mix and associated emissions of the U.S. power system are changing rapidly, as are the actions taken by system operators to manage the quickly evolving electric system.

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EPA: Technology Promotes Environmental Protection

Friday, January 30th, 2015

EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center is an environmental forensic center. NEIC scientists work with a variety of technologies to monitor, collect data and analyze pollutants in the environment to better understand the threat to human health and ecosystems. Advanced technologies provide tools for scientists to measure, sometimes in near real-time, pollutants emitted from both large and small sources that can adversely affect entire communities.

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Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters

Thursday, January 15th, 2015
epa1

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) General Information The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) has finalized the science report, Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence. The purpose of this report is to summarize the current scientific understanding about the connectivity […]

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The Impacts of EPA’s Clean Power Plan on Electricity Generation and Water Use in Texas

Tuesday, December 9th, 2014
Figure 3. Baseline power generation fuel mix, where coal is gradually replaced by gas and wind power (Units = GWh/yr)

CNA CORPORATION
To determine how Texas could be affected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP), we applied CNA’s Electricity-Water-Climate power sector model to evaluate the potential impacts. We find that under the CPP, the state will save water and reduce levels of conventional air pollutants. In addition, the state will be able to meet the policy’s targets with modest incremental effort even though electricity demand is expected to increase by 25 percent.

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Strengthening the EPA’s Clean Power Plan

Thursday, October 23rd, 2014
FIGURE 1. The EPA’s Renewable Energy Targets under Its Proposed Clean Power Plan Are Modest

UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS
This brief outlines a better way to make the most of renewable energy in the Clean Power Plan, and to strengthen its state renewable energy targets as the cost of sources such as wind and solar power decline. The UCS proposal builds on the EPA’s approach while utilizing the latest available market data, demonstrated rates of growth in renewable energy, and existing state commitments to deploy renewables. Using our recommended modifications, the EPA could nearly double the amount of cost-effective renewable energy in their state targets—from 12 per-cent of total 2030 U.S. electric sales to 23 percent (Figure 1, p. 3).

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