Short Takes – 9-13-23

We’re on a Collision Course with the 14th Amendment and Trump. ThinkBigPicture.Substack.com blog post. Pull quote: “In this piece, I’ll summarize the best arguments each side has for why Donald Trump is, or isn’t, disqualified from running under Section 3. Then we’ll walk through the three questions I laid out above to try and make sense of the procedural and political mess that this question might wind up creating.” Complex problem, conflicting answers, lots of problems.

Lab-grown meat can be kosher and halal, experts say. Reuters.com article. Pull quote: “GOOD convened a panel of three sharia experts who reviewed the company's production and on Sunday said cultivated meat can be halal if, among other factors, the cells from which the meat is made come from an animal slaughtered according to Islamic law.”

White House mulls rating system to boost cybersecurity for critical infrastructure. UtilityDive.com article. Pull quote: “The Department of Energy is working on a [Cyber Trust Mark?] standard for smart meters, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology is working on a standard for smart routers. Major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy have expressed strong support for the program.

Regulatory Requirements for New HAP Additions. Federal Register EPA NPRM. Summary: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to amend the General Provisions for National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) to address applicability and compliance issues resulting from the addition of a compound to the list of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) under the Clean Air Act (CAA). This action focuses on issues related to newly applicable standards for sources that become major sources solely from the addition of a compound to the CAA HAP list. This action also includes a discussion of the impacts of a newly listed HAP on the federal operating permit program.” Comments due November 13^th, 2023.