TOP STORIES

The National Tribal Air Association is hiring a Program Coordinator!

NTAA is seeking a Program Coordinator to help NTAA’s Staff and Executive Committee achieve NTAA’s mission. NTAA was founded in 2002 with a mission to advance air quality management policies and programs, consistent with the needs, interests, and unique legal status of American Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives. NTAA is administered by the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) at Northern Arizona University and is the recipient of a three-year cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agreement.

Click here to visit NAU’s careers website to complete your application. The job is posted until 11:59 pm on February 13, 2020, so be sure to get your application in by then! Contact Andy Bessler at andy.bessler@nau.edu with any questions

DIRECTIONS:

1. Select the link to access our careers site.
2. Sign In to access your account or if you are not an existing user select the New User link to create one.
3. Review the job description and select the Apply button to begin your application.

NTAA Publishes a Fact Sheet on the Cleaner Trucks Initiative

The EPA’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled “Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine Standards” (also known as the Cleaner Trucks Initiative, or CTI) was published in the Federal Register with a comment deadline of February 20, 2020. The NTAA has published a Fact Sheet to help Tribes understand this issue and develop comments. The NTAA will also publish a Tribal template letter prior to the comment deadline.

HEADLINES

Ambient Air Quality/EPA/NTAA/Tribes

CNN – Even short-term exposure to low levels of air pollution can increase risk of cardiac arrest

Ensia – As Tensions Rise along the U.S.-Mexico Border, Cross-Border Ecosystems Suffer

Indian Country Today – Trump pushes for uranium production near Grand Canyon

Indianz – The Revelator: Residents of small town derail fracking operation

High Country News – The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians celebrates federal recognition

ENN – Bats Inspire Detectors to Help Prevent Oil and Gas Pipe Leaks

National Association of Clean Air Agencies – Washington Update

Climate Change/Energy

Vox – Tree planting is Trump’s politically safe new climate plan

Ensia – Opinion: Two Decades Ago Climate Communication Missed a Huge Opportunity. We Can’t Afford to Let That Happen Again.

High Country News – Tom Udall: It’s past time we confront the climate and nature crises

NY Times – Temperatures at a Florida-Size Glacier in Antarctica Alarm Scientists

NY Times – 3 Easy Ways to Save Energy without Extra Effort

CarbonBrief – Tropical forests losing ability to absorb CO2, study says

ENN – Immune Systems Not Prepared for Climate Change

Quartz – Get ready for a year of climate emergency declarations

Arizona Daily Sun – Petition pushes Flagstaff City Council to pass climate emergency resolution

Toxics/Mobile Sources

EPA – EPA Advances New Initiative to Reduce Polluting Emissions from Trucks in Arizona

Utility Dive – At a crossroads: The connected future of EVs, solar, energy storage and software

Indoor Air Quality

The Guardian – Give council’s powers to tackle indoor air pollution, experts urge

Be sure to subscribe to EPA’s IAQ Bulletins

TOP STORIES

Seeking nominations for Alaska’s Alternate Representative on the National Tribal Air Association Executive Committee!

The nomination deadline has been extended to February 14, 2020

For more information on this opportunity, please contact Kayla Krauss at krauss.kayla@epa.gov, Ann Wyatt (NTAA’s current Alaska representative) at 907-755-2265 or annwyatt@klawocktribe.org, or Andy Bessler at 928-523-0526 or andy.bessler@nau.edu.

NTAA is producing two new Policy Resource Kits for Tribes to use to respond to important policy proposals.

Public comment periods are open for EPA’s proposed Cleaner Trucks Initiative until February 20, 2020 and for the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Proposal to update its NEPA Implementing Regulations, comments are due by March 10, 2020. Please visit NTAA’s Policy Resource Kit page for more information.

HEADLINES

Ambient Air Quality/EPA/NTAA/Tribes

The Hill – More than 320 groups seek more time to comment on Trump environmental law changes

EPA – EPA proposes to approve Utah’s regional haze plan

The Hill – One-third of Americans experienced poor air quality due to pollution in 2018: study

NPR – Trump Administration Cuts Back Federal Protections for Streams and Wetlands

EPA – EPA and Army Deliver on President Trump’s Promise to Issue the Navigable Waters Protection Rule – a New Definition of WOTUS

Science Daily – Air pollution in New York City linked to wildfires hundreds of miles away

Science Daily – High air pollution exposure in 1-year-olds linked to structural brain changes at age 12

City Metric – Here’s why air pollution affects mental health

AP News – Navajo lawmakers opt for smaller buffer around national park

National Association of Clean Air Agencies – Washington Update

Climate Change/Energy

AZ Central – Navajo look to Arizona utilities to make up for coal losses

E&E News – Grid congestion costs billions, stymies renewables

Indian Country Today – Navajo coal plant is the next to close; the end of an industry

Forbes – The Pacific Ocean Is So Acidic That It’s Dissolving Dungeness Crabs

Yes Magazine – The Time for Postponing Climate Action Is Over

Yes Magazine – Strength from Grief: How Aboriginal People Experience the Bushfire Crisis

Utility Dive – NYC’s roofs are getting a sustainable makeover, but is green or solar better?

Folio – Four ways climate change is affecting our health – and what we can do about it

The Hill – EPA fails to provide scientific evidence backing claim climate change damage was ’50 to 75 years out’

Toxics/Mobile Sources

AP – Trump ups mileage proposal, but it’s well below Obama plan

Cheddar – Steer Car Subscription Service Trying to Reduce Barriers to Electric Vehicles, Says CEO

E&E News – World’s largest renewable developer bets on EVs

Utility Dive – Automakers: New tech, battery advances will curb EV range anxiety

Air Quality News – Electrification of waste collection vehicles could improve localized air pollution

Indoor Air Quality

Lexology – Air Quality: Government urged to bring in radical indoor air quality legislation

Be sure to subscribe to EPA’s IAQ Bulletins

TOP STORIES

Save the Date for the 2020 National Tribal Forum on Air Quality (NTFAQ)!

          This year’s annual conference will be held on May 27-29, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the River Spirit Hotel and Casino. The 2020 NTFAQ host Tribe is the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The NTFAQ provides environmental professionals from tribes, EPA, and other organizations an opportunity to meet and discuss current policies, regulatory initiatives, and technical topics in air quality. The NTFAQ is a cooperative endeavor co-sponsored by The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) and the National Tribal Air Association (NTAA), made possible by funding from US EPA and our generous sponsors. Online registration will start in February so check back on ITEP’s website!

NTAA Chairman Discusses Indoor Air Quality on Native America Calling

In case you missed Tuesday’s broadcast of the radio show, Native America Calling, NTAA Chairman Wilfred J. Nabahe was joined by EPA’s Dave Rowson and former EPA staff and IAQ expert Priyanka Pathak were all on the hour-long show to speak about IAQ in Indian Country. You can listen to the broadcast on the Native America Calling home page.

Federal Register Publication Notice: EPA’s Cleaner Trucks Initiative — Advance Notice of Proposed Rule

The EPA’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rule (ANPR) titled “Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine Standards” has been published in the Federal Register. Please note that the 30-day comment period for this ANPR began Monday, January 21, 2020, and all comments must be submitted on or before February 20, 2020. The EPA websites, ANPR: Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine Standards

and Cleaner Trucks Initiative will be updated, replacing the earlier “pre-publication” version of the ANPR with the official version in the link above. The NTAA will be submitting a request for comment extension as well as developing a Policy Resource Kit.

HEADLINES

Ambient Air Quality/EPA/NTAA/Tribes

NPR – Elk Raise Tensions Between Tribes And Farmers In Washington’s Skagit Valley

EPA – EPA Grant Will Support Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma’s Environmental Programs

Native Sun News – Town okays water for KXL: tribes hold out

Phys.org – Chemists find fungal shrapnel in the air

Illinois News Bureau – New study examines mortality costs of air pollution in US

National Association of Clean Air Agencies – Washington Update

Climate Change/Energy

AZ Central – APS will eliminate carbon emissions by 2050 and close coal plant ahead of schedule, CEO says

Utility Dive – Proposed 2.2 GW storage project plans to use Navajo coal station power-lines

Indian Country Today – Beyond coal: Building out solar

Native News Online – Navajo Nation Announces Solar Partnership With Salt River Project

Rolling Stone – America’s Radioactive Secret

E&E News – Regulator nixes NEPA reviews for plutonium production

NPR – Microsoft Pledges to Remove From the Atmosphere All the Carbon It Has Ever Emitted

NPR – Kids’ Climate Case ‘Reluctantly’ Dismissed By Appeals Court

E&E News – Closing the ozone hole helped slow polar warming

E&E News – Land battles threaten wind, solar build-out – report

E&E News – LNG plant explosion raises concerns about federal oversight

Indian Country Today – ‘Climate change is happening now, and we are seeing the effects of it’

NY Times – Climate Change Takes Center Stage in Davos

Utility Dive – 2020 Outlook: Renewables, resilience and reliability needs will drive storage

The Guardian – Study finds shock rise in levels of potent greenhouse gas

Toxics/Mobile Sources

EPA – EPA visit to Navajo Shippers highlights Cleaner Trucks Initiative and Colorado trucking community’s leadership on clean air

NY Times – China Says It Will Ban Plastics That Pollute Its Land and Water

NY Times – I Quit Cars

AZ Daily Sun – Why cutting car and truck emissions is so hard

Ogden Standard Examiner – Utah doctors’ group sues another vehicle business over air pollution

Indoor Air Quality

Science Daily – School indoor air quality cannot be reliably assessed based on pupils’ symptoms

Fatherly – The Air in Your Home Is Making Your Family Sick. Here’s what to do about it.

KVOE – Attorney General wants to add vaping provisions to Clean Indoor Air Act

Be sure to subscribe to EPA’s IAQ Bulletins

TOP STORIES

Native News Online – Tribal Leaders Hope Large South Dakota Solar Project Becomes Model for Others

Green Transportation Summit & Expo and the West Coast Collaborative Partners Meeting April 13-15, 2020

The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) and the Green Transportation Summit & Expo (GTSE) have partnered to provide 25 complimentary full-conference passes to the Green Transportation Summit & Expo in Tacoma this April 13-15. The GTSE is the Pacific Northwest’s premier clean fleet and transportation event, focusing on fleets, fuels, technologies, policy & practice, with a regional focus and a national scope. We will provide you the opportunity to see, touch, drive, and learn about new transportation technologies firsthand, such as electric, hydrogen, natural gas and propane-powered heavy-duty vehicles, off-road utility vehicles, generators, and others. Workshops on DERA, VW funding, other federal funding opportunities, and alternative fuels will be presented. Please join us at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center for the 10^th annual GTSE to learn about clean transportation, how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollutants, and costs in your fleet operations. To learn more about the conference, check out our website. To receive the code for the complimentary passes, please contact ITEP’s Dara Marks Marino at Dara.Marks-Marino@nau.edu.

HEADLINES

Ambient Air Quality/EPA/NTAA/Tribes

Gizmodo – UN Tells Canada to Stop Building the Trans Mountain Pipeline

NPR – California Reservation’s Solar Microgrid Provides Power during Utility Shutoffs

CNN – Australia’s indigenous people have a solution for the country’s bushfires. And it has been around for 50,000 years

NPR – With Their Land in Flames, Aboriginals Warn Fires Show Deep Problems in Australia

Lewiston Sun Journal – Sweeping recommendations would overhaul Maine’s Indian land claims act

Indianz – Damming Little Colorado River for power projects is opposed by tribes, environmentalists

The Intercept – The War on the War on Cancer

New York Times – Why Is Air Pollution So Harmful? DNA May Hold the Answer

National Association of Clean Air Agencies – Washington Update

NEPA Changes

The Hill – Critics warn Trump’s latest environmental rollback could hit minorities, poor hardest

NPR – Trump Administration Proposes Major Changes to Bedrock Environmental Law

NY Times – Trump’s Move against Landmark Environmental Law Caps a Relentless Agenda

Utility Dive – Trump infrastructure proposal impacts ‘virtually every’ federal decision on environment: DOI Secretary

Climate Change/Energy

NPR – Hopi Look to Tourism, Ranching For Income after Coal Power Plant Closure

Reuters – BlackRock vows tougher stance on climate after activist heat

Ensia – How Can We Adapt to Climate Change? This Online Hub Has Answers

Ensia – More and More Homeowners Are Renovating Existing Homes to Make Them “Net Zero” Energy Consumers. Here’s How.

E&E News – Scientists see promise in new solar panel material

Utility Dive – Tri-State to shut New Mexico, Colorado coal plants by 2030, but move may not satisfy unhappy members

PR Newswire – Deloitte-Ballard Joint White Paper Assesses Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Solutions for Transportation

E&E News – Kan. should ease costs of aging coal plants – study

E&E News – DOE publishes first new efficiency standards since 2017

E&E News – Warming cost the U.S. an extra $24B – research

Reuters – U.S. coal-fired power plants closing fast despite Trump’s pledge of support for industry

Indianz – Trump administration’s push for U.S. uranium production opposed near Grand Canyon

NY Times – 2019 Was Second Hottest Year on Record

Utility Dive – DOE unveils plan to make US global storage leader by 2030, reduce foreign dependence

Utility Dive – Renewable advocates highlight ‘most effective’ path to net-zero emissions as House releases clean energy proposal

ENN – Pathways to a Low-Carbon Future

Toxics/Mobile Sources

Reuters – Trump administration moves closer to rolling back U.S. vehicle fuel economy increases

EPA – EPA Jumpstarts Cleaner Trucks Initiative

Reuters – Trump administration moves closer to rolling back U.S. vehicle fuel economy increases

Jalopnik – One of Climate Change’s Biggest Contributors Is in Your Car, But its Not Coming From the Tailpipe

EPA – Punch It Performance and Tuning Agrees to Stop Selling Illegal Devices That Defeat Emissions Control Systems of Vehicles in the Wake of Clean Air Act Enforcement Action

Indian Country Today – Drive. Ride. Rethink.

Yes Magazine – What We Could Do With a $5 Carbon Charge on Your Flight

Indoor Air Quality

Vox – Installing air filters in classrooms has surprisingly large educational benefits

EPA – Prevent Lung Cancer: Test Your Home for Radon

Be sure to subscribe to EPA’s IAQ Bulletins

Virgil Masayesva Excellence Award and TAMS Steering Committee

The TAMS Center is announcing a call for nominations for the Virgil Masayesva Tribal Air Programs Excellence Award and three (3) positions on the TAMS Steering Committee.  Further information and the nomination forms are online and can be accessed at Virgil Masayesva Excellence Award Nomination Form and TAMS Steering Committee Nomination Form. The deadline to submit the nominations is February 28, 2020. We sincerely appreciate your time to consider submitting a nomination. For further information, please contact either Farshid Farsi, TAMS-EPA Codirector (Farsi.Farshid@epa.gov or 702-784-8263), or Christopher Lee, TAMS-ITEP Codirector (christopher.lee@nau.edu).

Ambient Air Quality/EPA/NTAA/Tribes

Editor’s Note: Did you know that if you cannot open a link because you do not have a subscription to that website, you can usually open it successfully in an “incognito or private window”?

U.S. EPA – EPA at 50: Progress for a Stronger Future

E&E News – Region 5 EPA chief stepping down

High Country News – Young Indigenous activists lead climate justice action in Alaska

The Hill – EPA’s independent science board questions underpinning of numerous agency rollbacks

NY Times – Science Panel Staffed With Trump Appointees Says E.P.A. Rollbacks Lack Scientific Rigor

Indian Country Today – Company to shut down inactive Mount Taylor uranium mine

CNN – Smoke in Australia’s capital is so bad that the agency responsible for emergency management shut down

Indian Country Today – Trump administration’s environmental protection is ‘a regulatory failure’

Sydney Morning Herald – Health impacts of bushfires won’t be known for years, experts say

National Association of Clean Air Agencies – Washington Update

Decade Wrap Up

Grist – We broke down the last decade of climate change in 7 charts

Gizmodo – The Satellite Images That Show a Decade of Climate Change

USA Today – 10 years to save planet Earth: Here are 6 imaginative climate change solutions

USA Today – Were the predictions we made about climate change 20 years ago accurate? Here’s a look

NPR – The Global Stories of 2019 That You Probably Missed

NPR – Reporters Pick Their Favorite Global Stories of the Decade

Climate Change/Energy

Indian Country Today – The sunrise ahead: What’s next for closed Navajo power plant

E&E News – NEPA climate overhaul could unleash energy projects

NY Times – Trump Rule Would Exclude Climate Change in Infrastructure Planning

NY Times – N.A.A.C.P. Tells Local Chapters: Don’t Let Energy Industry Manipulate You

Reuters – Trump to overhaul environmental review process, dismiss climate impacts: sources

ARS Technica – Ditching coal in the US is saving lives, helping crops

NPR – More Ice and Less Snow Gets a Chilly Reception in Anchorage, Alaska

NPR – California Cities Turn to Hired Hooves to Help Prevent Massive Wildfires

Ensia – As the Planet Warms, Unusual Crops Could Become Climate Saviors – But Only If We’re Willing to Eat Them

Ensia – How Can We Adapt to Climate Change? This Online Hub Has Answers

E&E News – N.Y. set to close last coal plant

NY Times – To Fight Climate Change, One City May Ban Heating Homes with Natural Gas

Toxics/Mobile Sources

E&E News – EPA wants to strengthen – not weaken – this truck regulation

The Hill – Critics skeptical of EPA plans for tougher truck standards

E&E News – House makes PFAS bill first order of business

Indoor Air Quality

Indian Country Today – The gift of coal for Hopi and Navajo families

ENN – Potentially Toxic Chemicals from LCDs in Nearly Half of Household Dust Samples Tested

KRSL – Governor Proclaims January as Kansas Radon Action Month

The American Prospect – Death by Recycled Air

This Is Reno – Updates to Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act now in effect

Be sure to subscribe to EPA’s IAQ Bulletins

Yahoo Finance – Emissions Soar As Permian Flaring Frenzy Breaks New Records

NY Times – Climate Change Is Ravaging the Arctic, Report Finds

You can help NTAA publish the 2020 Status of Tribal Air Report! The NTAA STAR helps tell the story of Tribal Air Programs, why additional funding for Tribes is critical to advance air quality, and is a great resource for Tribes. You can help by calling into the STAR planning calls starting on January 8th at 2pm ET. Calls will take place every other week until publication in May of 2020. To learn more, contact NTAA Project Director Andy Bessler.

Ambient Air Quality/EPA/NTAA/Tribes

EPA – Power Sector Programs Progress Report

AP News – Documents: Mining Company writing own environmental report

NY Times – It’s a Vast, Invisible Climate Menace. We Made It Visible.

Reasons To Be Cheerful – Power Struggle

CARB – 2019 Community Air Grants Awardees

Editor’s Note: this year’s awardees include the Blue Lake Rancheria, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians!

EPA – EPA proposes air quality plan for oil and gas emissions on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation

MPR – North Dakota, tribe to develop Dakota Access pipeline spill plan

National Association of Clean Air Agencies – Washington Update

COP25 Coverage

The Hill – Climate negotiators postpone decision on carbon markets

NPR – U.N. Climate Summit Goes To Extra Time, but Ends with Major Questions Unresolved

Indian Country Today – Breaking: Governments end climate talks with no deal

NY Times – U.N. Climate Talks End with Few Commitments and a ‘Lost’ Opportunity

CarbonBrief – COP25: Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Madrid

Climate Change/Energy

Cronkite News – Arctic to Arizona: NAU professor explains how climate change affects everyone

Indian Country Today – ‘No strong sea ice layer’ and the Arctic is ‘unsafe for travel, hunting, our future’

Chicago Daily Herald – Thousands of dead Alaska seabirds are washing ashore, for a fifth year. Experts call that a climate ‘red flag

The Atlantic – How Coal Country Becomes Solar Country

CNN Business – Africa’s ‘first fully solar-powered village’ wants to be a model for a renewable future

NPR – Powered By Faith, Religious Groups Emerge As a Conduit for a Just Solar Boom

E&E News – Fear of famine rises as climate gets hotter

E&E News – Industry warned of tariff ‘devastation.’ That didn’t happen

CarbonBrief – Interactive: When will the Arctic see its first ice-free summer?

U of T News – Halting climate change means a world without fossil fuels – not merely curbing emissions: U of T researchers

CNN Business – Goldman Sachs is first big US bank to rule out loans for Arctic drilling

Financial Times – Bank of England to set up tough climate stress tests

Toxics/Mobile Sources

CNBC – GM expects Cadillac to be majority, if not all, EVs by 2030

Ensia – Opinion: In the Absence of Strong U.S. Government Regulation, Communities Need to Take a Holistic Approach to Pesticide Use

EPA- U.S. Refiners to Deliver Cleaner Marine Diesel Fuel with Key Regulatory Change

AP- Multi-state pact could curb transportation carbon emissions

Indoor Air Quality

NBC – E-cigarettes linked to lung problems, first long-term study on vaping finds

Wired – The Quest for Clean Air

Vice – I Bought an Air-Quality Monitor and My Life Will Never Be the Same

Be sure to subscribe to EPA’s IAQ Bulletins