The public event marks CARB’s next step to promulgate new, lower NOx standards for heavy-duty engines and vehicles.

By: Arthur Foerster and Reed McCalib

Background

On Wednesday, January 23, 2019, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will hold a public workshop in Sacramento focusing on potential regulatory changes that would lower oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions for new, on-highway heavy-duty vehicles and engines. Members of the public may attend the workshop in person or via webcast. (Event details are included at the end of this article.)

According to the agency’s public notice, CARB staff will discuss potential regulatory updates, challenges, and implementation strategies as the agency pushes for ever-lower emission standards. In particular, staff will discuss durability demonstration requirements, a supplemental certification test cycle for low-load operations, zero emission credits, in-use testing protocols, longer useful life and warranty periods, warranty claim reporting, lower particulate matter (PM) emissions, and NOx emissions tracking. Staff will also provide updates on ongoing low-NOx demonstration projects and will explain next steps in the rulemaking process.

The announcement signals EPA’s intent to publish a proposed rule in 2020.

By Arthur F. Foerster

On November 13, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its “Cleaner Trucks Initiative” (CTI) to further decrease oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions from on-highway trucks and engines. EPA intends to publish a proposed rule in early 2020, which will both reduce emissions and also “cut unnecessary red tape while simplifying certification of compliance requirements.” According to EPA’s announcement, deregulatory efforts will center around onboard diagnostic requirements (OBD), reassuring real-world compliance, recertification, and certain types of testing. The announcement stated, “New programs borne out of the CTI offer opportunities to streamline regulations through smarter program design and reduce the overall regulatory burden while protecting human health and the environment.”

EPA’s Acting Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, launched the initiative and was joined by labor and industry representatives, EPA and White House officials, and certain state partners. Wheeler did not provide a specific proposal, only touching on a broad framework for the eventual rule. However, he did say that “reducing NOx emissions from heavy-duty vehicles is a clean air priority for this administration.” According to Wheeler, “the Cleaner Trucks Initiative will help modernize heavy-duty truck engines, improving their efficiency and providing cleaner air for all Americans.”

By Joern Kassow and Patrick Braasch

Latham has previously written about the Lliuya v. RWE AG case, in which a Peruvian farmer has sought damages from German energy giant RWE for climate change effects in his home country. The Higher Regional Court of Hamm indicated during oral hearings that it would likely proceed to take evidence. The court has since issued its decision, providing further insight and analysis of the case.

RWE claimed that it could not be held liable for damages, as the company held valid environmental permits under emission control regulations relating to the operations of its material CO2 emitting plants — and therefore the emissions were legal. However, the court rejected RWE’s claim, noting that Mr. Lliuya did not seek to shut down or limit RWE’s operation of business. The court further explained the fundamental legal principle that anyone who causes damages to third party property — even through lawful acts — generally may be liable. That RWE obtained, and presumably complied, with all required permits under German environmental law would therefore not preclude liability for the potential damage caused by the company’s lawful emissions.

By Paul Davies, Bridget Rose Reineking, and Andrew Westgate

In recent months, teams of inspectors from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Communist Party’s anti-corruption commission have conducted a slew of surprise inspections of various industrial facilities throughout China. Estimates suggest that China has temporarily closed as many as 40% of the country’s factories at some point in the last year — sometimes for weeks at a time. The recent crackdown is the fourth in a series of region-wide inspections that began in July 2016, which together amount to some of the most dedicated and comprehensive efforts to enforce environmental compliance in the country’s history.

China’s somewhat urgent enforcement of environmental laws appears — at least in part — motivated by China’s 2013 pledge to reduce emissions from heavily polluting industries by 30% before the end of 2017. Earlier this month, the country ramped up environmental pledges at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, announcing an ambitious plan to reduce the concentration of hazardous fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from 47 micrograms in 2016, to 35 in 2035, reported Xinhua, the China’s official press agency.

By Paul Davies and Michael Green

Six Portuguese children are raising funds to sue 47 European countries, asserting that their right to life has been threatened because governments have allegedly failed to adequately deal with climate change.

With the support of lawyers from the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), the children will ask nations in the suit to strengthen their emissions reduction policies, and to commit to keeping the majority of their existing fossil fuel reserves “in the ground”. The 47 countries targeted by the legal action are collectively responsible for approximately 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and include Europe’s “major emitters”, such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

The children, who are between 5 and 14 years old, claim to have been directly affected by Portugal’s worst-ever forest fires in Leirria this summer, which resulted in more than 60 fatalities. Climate change is thought to have exacerbated the Iberian Peninsula’s extreme heatwave that extended the wildfire season from two months (July and August) to five months (June to October).

By Claudia O’Brien and Karl Karg

In the wake of EPA’s proposed rule to force 36 states to revise their state implementation plans (SIPs) to control emissions during periods of startup, shutdown and malfunction (SSM Rule), a number of states filed comments objecting to EPA’s approach as heavy-handed and contrary to the cooperative federalism scheme of the Clean Air Act (the Act).  Claudia O’Brien and Karl Karg have written a blog entry describing the rule, the controversial rulemaking process, and