Though many of us may be enjoying a yuletide fire this time of year, fires of a different sort made news last week.
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups secured a big victory last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals decided to regulate pollution spikes from refineries, called “flares”. The decision will affect 21 refineries located in California.
A 14-year-old federal regulation permitted flares during start-up, shut-down and when equipment was out. However, it was charged by environmental groups and advocates for public health that the loophole was frequently used to come in under pollution caps. The court ruled that the EPA’s regulation exceeded its authority under the Clean Air Act.
This can only mean cleaner air for Southern California, and maybe for Texas and Louisiana as well, where accusations of unnecessary emissions also exist.
Photo Credit: Hassan Abdel-Rahman on Fickr via a Creative Commons License
