In its efforts to tackle the problem of climate change, the Australian government will introduce a carbon tax starting July 1, 2012. Australia’s goal is to reduce the country’s total emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2020; to achieve this goal, the country is starting with a carbon tax,
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On November 1, 2011, the amended China Provisional Regulation of Resources Tax (资源税暂行条例)[1] came into force. The amended regulation imposes a five to ten percent tax rate on the sale of crude oil and natural gas. The tax rate for rare earth ores and coking coal also increased, while the tax rate for regular coal,
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Canadian law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP has issued a summary of environmental law that applies to projects in the Alberta, Canada oil sands in western Canada. Oil sands are composed primarily of sand, bitumen, mineral-rich clays and water. Bitumen, in its raw state, is a heavy, viscous, crude oil. According to the Alberta government, Alberta’s oil sands have 170.4 billion barrels of proven reversible reserves. These reserves are the second-highest source of proven crude oil reserves in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia , , ,

In this “as good as it gets” economic recovery, companies are intent on growing the top line while minimizing costs. Corporate staffs are shrinking or disappearing entirely, and the traditional EHS role faces internal competition from other groups that are taking on parts of the broader sustainability agenda. In this context, EHS VPs who keep their heads down and do their jobs well may be highly skilled, highly valuable, highly overworked—and highly likely to be headed to extinction. In contrast, entrepreneurial EHS leaders are keeping and expanding their roles by moving beyond their traditional comfort zones . . . .

Failure of a cement barrier in the production casing string was identified as a central cause of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to the Report Regarding the Cause of the April 20, 2010 Macondo Well Blowout released by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement
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Newsweek released on October 17th its third annual Green Rankings, which rates the 500 largest publically traded global and U.S. companies on the basis of performance in three categories: Environmental impact (emissions, water, waste, and product impact) Environmental management (environmental policies and initiatives) Disclosure (company reporting and transparency efforts) The Green Rankings were first released
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As the prospect of cap and trade legislation in the United States has slowly faded, energy efficiency standards for commercial buildings and industrial facilities have emerged as a viable and palatable alternative that could achieve significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. One example in this growing trend is President Obama’s Better Building Initiative, which was
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Ongoing concerns about the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water have pushed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate public concerns in light of the growing importance of natural gas in the clean energy future of the United States.  On 23 June 2011, the EPA announced plans to conduct a draft
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The U.S. EPA released the final health assessment for trichloroethylene (TCE) to the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. The final assessment characterizes TCE as carcinogenic to humans and as a human noncancer health hazard. According to the EPA, this assessment will allow for a better understanding of the risks posed to communities from exposure to TCE in soil, water, and air. It will provide federal, state, local, and other policymakers with the latest scientific information to make decisions about cleanup and other actions to protect …

This article is the second in a two-part series analyzing environmental, health, and safety (EHS) laws and regulations in Africa. The first installment, Africa: Strengthening the EHS Regulatory Framework, identified three important factors that are contributing to EHS improvements in African countries: pressure to modernize EHS regulatory frameworks caused by increased foreign investment; desire for
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