EPA proposes new greenhouse gas rule
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A proposed federal rule is aimed at limiting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from the biggest U.S. sources, federal regulators said Wednesday.
Lisa P. Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the regulations would apply to power plants and other industrial facilities that emit at least 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year, The New York Times reported. She said most of the 14,000 facilities that would be covered are already required to get permits because of other emissions regulated by the Clean Air Act.
The 25,000-ton threshold is far higher than that applying to sulfur dioxide and other pollutants with more immediate health effects. The high threshold protects small businesses and other emitters like apartment buildings.
Jackson said the proposed rule does not place an "undue burden" on business.
"This is a common-sense rule that is carefully tailored to apply to only the largest sources -- those from sectors responsible for nearly 70 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions sources," she said.
Charles T. Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, promised a legal challenge, saying the EPA would be exceeding its authority if the rule takes effect.
Senate panel votes down abortion proposals
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A proposal to broaden abortion restrictions under the overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system was voted down Wednesday in the Senate Finance Committee.
The committee, on a 13-10 vote, defeated an amendment offered by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that stated the current ban on federally funded abortions except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother's health would apply to all aspects of health insurance in the healthcare bill, CNN reported.
All but one Democrat on the committee -- Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota -- voted against the amendment. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine was the lone GOP committee members who supported it.
Snowe and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said the amendment set a new limit on a woman's right to abortion by requiring women with private health insurance to purchase supplemental coverage for abortions.
Hatch said the health insurance system in the bill made it difficult to prevent federal money from paying for abortions, so he sought blanket provision to cover any possibility, CNN said.
Noting that many Americans "find it personally offensive to pay tax dollars that can be used to pay for abortions," Hatch said the amendment would have allowed individuals to pay for supplemental abortion coverage "with their own money."
Another Hatch amendment that would have barred government at any level from forcing hospitals, doctors and other healthcare providers to provide abortions also was defeated on another 13-10 vote.
Judge blocks restrictions on abortions
PHOENIX, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- An Arizona judge Tuesday blocked restrictions on abortions that had been passed by the state legislature.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Donald Daughton issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday putting on hold the restrictions, The Arizona Republic reported. Daughton concluded a Planned Parenthood suit challenging the new state restrictions on abortions would have a strong chance of prevailing if it went to trial.
Provisions the injunction blocked would have required that:
-- Women be provided information about risks, benefits and alternatives to abortion orally and in person by a physician. A 24-hour "informed consent" will still be required but can be done by non-physician staff and over the phone.
-- Doctors perform abortions. Nurse practitioners can do surgical abortions, under the ruling.
-- Minors get a notarized statement of parental consent before an abortion. Parental consent is required, but it does not have to be notarized.
The injunction also blocks a restriction that would have allowed pharmacists and others healthcare workers to refuse to provide contraception.
Report blames both Georgia and Russia
TBILISI, Georgia, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Georgia ignited the August 2008 conflict but Russia provoked violence and exploited the consequences, a European Union inquiry released Wednesday found.
The EU report found no evidence a Russian invasion had commenced Aug. 7, 2008, when Georgia ordered shelling of separatists in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, The New York Times reported. It also said Georgia broke international law when it used force against Russian peacekeepers in the city.
However, the EU report said it had been determined Russia went beyond reasonable defense in its actions, allowed ethnic cleansing in some Georgian villages and acted illegally when it recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as sovereign. The report also dismissed Russian allegations that Georgia was carrying out genocide.
Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini of Switzerland authored the report and urged its readers to look beyond Aug. 7. She said the actions on that date were just the culmination of mounting tensions.
"While the onus of having actually triggered off the war lies with the Georgian side, the Russian side, too, carries the blame for a substantial number of violations of international law," she said.
Both sides claimed the report vindicated them, the Times said.
