Just prior to the July 4th recess, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, by a vote of 10 to nine, reported legislation introduced by Sens. Jim Jeffords (I-VT) (pictured) and Robert Smith (R-NH) that would significantly reduce pollution from electric power plants. "The Clean Power Act," also known as the “multi-pollutant bill,” requires electric power plants to reduce their emissions of nitrogen oxides by 83 percent, sulfur dioxide by 83 percent, mercury by 90 percent and carbon dioxide by 23 percent from today's levels by 2008. ILMA has been following the legislation, largely because of the measure’s potential affect impact on other Clean Air Act requirements that could affect independent lubricant manufacturers and because of the likely cost pass-through to business and industry.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous 9-0 decision last month, upheld an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulation permitting an employer to defend against an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claim by showing that the worker’s disability on the job would pose a direct threat to his, rather than to a co-worker’s, health. Chevron USA, Inc. v. Echazabal (No. 00-1406).

In this case, Chevron denied a job applicant with hepatitis C employment at one of its refineries because of its view that airborne toxins in the plant could make the applicant sicker and could possibly kill him. The Court’s ruling means that an individual with a disability cannot use the ADA to require an employer to provide a “reasonable accommodation” to work in a location that may be hazardous to him. Instead, the Court’s decision allows an employer to refuse to put the person “in harm’s way.”