The Environmental Protection Agency said the National Advisory Committee (NAC) and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) to the U.S. Representative to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) will host a public meeting May 16 in Washington. The NAC advises the EPA administrator in her capacity as the U.S. Representative to the CEC Council. The committees are authorized under Articles 17 and 18 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, the agency said. The teleconference will discuss and approve the draft advice letter addressing the draft Guidelines for Submissions on Enforcement Matters under Articles 14 and 15 of the NAAEC, the agency said.

The EPA issued a notice to "affected businesses" about Freedom of Information Act requests it has received for its data on the export and import of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste from/to the U.S., the export of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and spent lead acid batteries (SLABs) from the United States, and the export and import of RCRA universal waste.

Dominion said it's confident that its existing agreement with the Sierra Club and the Maryland Conservation Council permits the company to build a natural gas liquefaction plant proposed for its Cove Point facility in Lusby, Md. The full 4.5-5 million metric tons per year output is fully subscribed in deals Dominion signed with Japanese shipper Sumitomo Corp. and another company, it said. Dominion Chairman Thomas Farrell said some opposition is to be expected, in a statement, especially since the Sierra Club "has previously expressed its opposition to all LNG export facilities." But he said he's confident "we can locate, construct and operate a liquefaction plant at Cove Point ... without amending the agreement involving the Sierra Club and the Maryland Conservation Council." Construction is expected to begin in 2014, with an in-service date in 2017.

The Environmental Impact Statement about proposals to export coal from up to six sites in Oregon and Washington did not evaluate the effects of coal exports to Asia, only the environmental effects of transporting and using the coal in the Midwest and eastern U.S., said Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) in a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and officials at the Bureau of Land Management and Army Corps of Engineers.