Industrial Emissions

With little attention or sympathy from the American public, much of the U.S. oil industry is packing it in and moving overseas. Few sectors of the economy have faced a more wrenching adjustment during a period of fundamental economic change than the domestic oil business. Some statistics from the American Petroleum Institute tell the story: * More than half the 754,500 jobs in U.S. exploration and production that existed in 1982 are now gone. * Almost a third of 165,800 jobs in U.

The Obama administration has decided to delay a rule that would cut emissions from power plants at major industrial facilities, the most recent in a series of decisions since the midterm election to postpone controversial environmental regulations and steer a more business-friendly course. The Environmental Protection Agency's decision Monday about the rule comes three days after President Obama announced plans to open more domestic territory to oil and gas drilling. FOR THE RECORD: The subheadline on an earlier online version of this article erred in stating that the emission rule in question would affect "power plants.

Declaring that toxics in the air are threatening public health, the South Coast Air Quality Management District on Friday approved controversial new limits on industrial emissions of 11 cancer-causing air contaminants. The new rule, which takes effect immediately, requires all new and existing businesses that expand or relocate within the region to comply with the new limits or be denied a permit to operate equipment that produces the pollution.

Green is good, right? Not necessarily when it comes to lawns, according to a new study by UC Irvine researchers. For the first time, scientists compared the amount of greenhouse gases absorbed by ornamental turf grass to the amount emitted in the irrigation, fertilizing and mowing of the same plots. It turns out keeping a lawn is not good for Mother Earth. In four parks near Irvine, researchers calculated that emissions were similar to or greater than the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the air through photosynthesis -- a finding relevant to policymakers seeking to control the gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.

Oil refineries and other large industrial polluters are making major errors in estimating their emissions, which means air quality officials are basing critical smog-fighting decisions on "outdated, incomplete or inaccurate" numbers, according to a University of Southern California study.

Environmentalists and industry representatives pleaded their case with federal regulators Tuesday over rules that would slash toxic emissions from cement kilns, the top source of mercury emissions in California. The Environmental Protection Agency issued proposed regulations for Portland cement kilns earlier this year, after more than a decade of pressure from environmental groups.

Electric utilities and 12 other industries that are major emitters of greenhouse gases responded Wednesday to President Bush's climate change initiative by making a commitment to limiting the increase of their emissions. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the declarations represent each industry's fair share in meeting the president's goal of an 18% decrease in the so-called greenhouse gas intensity by 2012.

The Cabinet, acting to save West Germany's forests from air pollution, voted Wednesday to reduce industrial emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide by about one-third over the next five years.

For more than 40 years, this remote desert community in southern Kern County existed as an unregulated destination for junkmen needing a place to burn, bury and dump waste products ranging from copper wire to car batteries. Along with the junkmen came carbon products manufacturers and metal recovery plants, which belched foul-smelling smoke that settled on this town of 3,200 people at the western gate of Edwards Air Force Base and stung the eyes and noses of residents.

In the Kyoto Protocol's accounting of greenhouse gases, the former Eastern bloc is a smashing success. Russia: Down 29% in carbon dioxide emissions since 1990. Romania: A 43% reduction. Latvia: A resounding 60% drop. Reductions such as those across Eastern Europe were the main reason the United Nations was recently able to report a 12% drop in emissions from the accord's industrialized countries over the 1990-2005 period. It was an illusion.

International negotiators are quietly making progress here on steps to reduce "stealth" pollutants that contribute to climate change, including soot, refrigerants and methane gas, which together account for nearly as much greenhouse gas pollution as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, of course, is the poster gas for global warming. Disagreements over how to reduce its emission from cars, factories and power plants have dominated the Copenhagen climate talks so far. But carbon dioxide accounts for only half the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

The Obama administration on Monday declared that greenhouse gases produced by vehicles, power plants and factories were a danger to public health, clearing the way for broad federal limits on climate-warming emissions. The announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency is a key step in a legal process that would allow the agency to act, without Congress, to develop tough rules to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that scientists blame for global warming. "The vast body of evidence not only remains unassailable, it's grown stronger, and it points to one conclusion," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in announcing the decision.

India found itself under growing pressure this week to set an emission reduction target after China and the United States announced their pledges in advance of a global summit on climate change that opens early next month. The two Asian powerhouses, both of which have eschewed binding targets over concerns about undercutting national development, are seen in some Washington circles as the biggest impediment to an agreement. China and India, as the world's two most populous nations and with rapidly developing economies, have said they will work toward a common position on a climate deal.

China vowed Thursday to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half over the next decade, a move that environmentalists and the Obama administration hailed as a major, and perhaps decisive, development toward agreement on a comprehensive climate treaty. FOR THE RECORD China's climate promise: An article in Friday's Section A incorrectly stated that China had agreed to reduce its overall carbon dioxide emissions by 40% to 45% from 2005 levels by 2020. China actually promised Thursday to reduce its "carbon intensity," a measure of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product, by 40% to 45% by 2020, compared with 2005 levels.

California officials on Tuesday issued the nation's first blueprint for a broad-based cap-and-trade plan, an innovative and controversial effort to use market forces to control global warming. FOR THE RECORD: Cap-and-trade program: An article in Wednesday's Section A on California's cap-and-trade program quoted Greg Karras, senior scientist for Communities for a Better Environment, as saying that the program was "institutionalized environmental justice." Karras called it "institutionalized environmental injustice."

People in their 30s and 40s here complain of unpredictable senior moments: They go to the store and can't remember what they wanted to buy, or they forget the names of old friends. The children lose so much weight that they look like they're shrinking instead of growing. The leaves drop from the trees throughout the year -- not just autumn -- and the corn crop is stunted. Piglets are stillborn. Now thousands of Chinese are trying to flee a landscape poisoned by decades of lead manufacturing.

With the conclusion of the Earth Summit, has anyone taken the time to ask, "Did the rest of the world have emission controls installed in automobiles in 1965?" The answer is no! As recently as four years ago, the Western industrial powers of England, Germany and France had no controls on their cars and burned high-lead content gasoline in them. Has everyone forgotten that most Third World countries still have no controls on auto or industrial emissions? Contrary to popular belief, the United States is the leader in environmental conscience and practice.

In a major policy change, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency called for a complete phase-out of the use of CFCs and other chemicals linked to depletion of Earth's protective ozone layer. EPA Administrator Lee M.

The nation's largest business lobby wants to put the science of global warming on trial. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, trying to ward off potentially sweeping federal emissions regulations, is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a rare public hearing on the scientific evidence for man-made climate change. Chamber officials say it would be "the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century" -- complete with witnesses, cross-examinations and a judge who would rule, essentially, on whether humans are warming the planet to dangerous effect.

Two environmental officials were being investigated Saturday after more than 1,300 children were sickened with lead poisoning caused by pollution from a manganese-processing plant in central China. Officials seek to punish those responsible for the poisoning from the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant in Wenping township in Hunan province. Days earlier, reports said emissions from a lead smelter in another province had sickened hundreds. The plant in Wenping opened in May 2008 without the approval of the local environmental protection bureau, within 500 yards of a primary school, a middle school and a kindergarten.