It almost seems like the EPA is one of the most powerful branches of government these days.  Everyone who should be is scared of them (meaning: Republicans and polluters).  All the EPA is doing is attempting to protect our health against an assault of money and unregulated environmental damage from fossil fuel companies, lobbying groups and even right-wing members of Congress, who get lots of campaign money from these polluters.  It seems that impending regulations or even just uncertainty over permitting  is forcing positive  things to happen lately, but it’s also leading to an avalanche of propaganda from the fossil fuel industry.  There is a lot at stake with the end of the era of fossil fuels and that is the health and general welfare of all Americans.  Coal and other fossil fuels are heavily polluting and they know their days are numbered.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC this morning [Feb. 3] announced it is postponing plans to drill for oil this summer in seas off Alaska, citing continued uncertainty over whether it would receive federal permits.  Shell CEO Peter Voser … said the company would need to spend as much as $150 million without knowing whether it would receive needed permits from U.S. EPA and the Interior Department.

“Despite our investment in acreage and technology and our work with the stakeholders, we haven’t been able to drill a single exploration well,” Voser said. “Critical permits continue to be delayed, and the timeline for getting these permits is still uncertain.”

The plan took a hit in late December when an EPA appeals board remanded Shell’s Clean Air Act permits back to the company for revisions, faulting the agency’s analysis of the impacts of nitrogen dioxide emissions from drill ships on the Alaska Native communities (Greenwire, Jan. 5).  Read more here.

The EPA is also working slowly to regulate previously-unregulated water pollution under the Clean Water Act.  This is just the beginning of the EPA beginning to regulate water safety. Next their plan is to regulate (and probably ban) several chemicals that are used in natural gas fracking.  The public would be horrified to find out the number and toxicity of the chemicals that are used to extract a supposedly “cleaner” form of energy, and those chemicals are poisoning ground water.  There is also an alarming amount of rocket fuel chemicals in the water in certain places in California.  It’s obvious why the fossil fuel industries can’t regulate themselves!  See story after the break.

EPA to Regulate Rocket Fuel Chemical

Sometime in the future, Americans may not have to worry about perchlorate in their drinking water. For the first time in its history, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving to regulate perchlorate, a potentially toxic substance that may impact the normal function of the thyroid.

In a separate action, the EPA said it is also moving towards establishing a drinking water standard to address a group of up to 16 17 toxic chemicals that may pose risks to human health.

“Clean water is [...]