Preview Newsletter
ACC AM June 22
-
Accounting for the True Cost of Regulation: Exploring the Possibility of a Regulatory Budget
Jun 23, 2015 | U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs
Location: SD-G50, Dirksen Senate Office Building/ 10:00 AM -
Subcommittee Markup: FY16 Transportation, Housing & Urban Development Appropriations Bill
Jun 23, 2015 | U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 138/ 10:00 AM -
The Impacts of EPA’s proposed Carbon Regulations on Electricity Costs for American Businesses, Rural Communities and Families, and a legislative hearing on S. 1324
Jun 23, 2015 | U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works
Location: EPW Hearing Room - 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building/ 2:00 PM -
The State of Positive Train Control Implementation in the United States
Jun 24, 2015 | U.S. House of Representatitves Transportation & Infrastructure Committee
Location: 2167 Rayburn House Office Building/ 10:00 AM -
Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1937
Jun 25, 2015 | Committee on Natural Resources
Location: 1334 Longworth House Office Building/ 10:30 AM -
(ACC Mentioned) Free Tools Evaluate Plastics-To-Fuel Technologies
Jun 19, 2015 | Packaging World
By Anne Marie Mohan
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and Ocean Recovery Alliance have introduced two new tools aimed at helping communities around the globe evaluate their potential to adopt plastics-to-fuel technologies.A growing number of experts believe that harnessing more non-recycled plastics to create valuable fuels and manufacturing feedstocks... -
(ACC Mentioned) Correct Erroneous Exposure Information, American Chemistry Council Panel Tells EPA
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Inaccurate information the Environmental Protection Agency has published about the extent to which the public is exposed to a chemical primarily used to make plastics and resins should be corrected by the agency, according to an American Chemistry Council panel. The chemistry council's Phthalic Anhydride Producers Panel... -
(ACC Mentioned) Regulators And Retailers Raise Pressure On Phthalates
Jun 22, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Britt E. Erickson
In a world without plasticizers, all objects made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) would be as hard and rigid as sewer pipes. But thanks to a class of compounds called phthalates, PVC can be soft, flexible, and durable, making it attractive for use in endless applications—artificial leather, electrical wire insulation, and garden hoses, to name a few. -
(ACC Mentioned) EPA Seeks Comments on Antimicrobial Guidance
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking comments on draft test guidelines for antimicrobials, sterilants, sporicides and disinfectants by Aug. 17. The EPA updated and reformatted guidelines issued in March 2012 to correct technical errors and clarify elements that users said were confusing, the agency said in a June 17 Federal Register... -
(ACC Mentioned) Effort To Limit Chemicals In Kids' Products Finds Better Luck In Oregon Legislature
Jun 21, 2015 | The Oregonian
By Jacy Marmaduke
Some Oregon legislators and lobbyists hope the third time's the charm for a bill aimed at keeping potentially dangerous chemicals out of children's products. Senate Bill 478, which originates from failed 2013 legislation, would require manufacturers and importers of children's products to report any that contain "high priority chemicals of... -
(ACC Mentioned) Children's Toxic-Free Bill Headed Toward Senate Vote
Jun 19, 2015 | The Lund Report
By Chris Gray
The Toxic-Free Kids Act has resurfaced and cleared a critical budget committee, with passage in the full Committee on Ways & Means expected next week. From there, before it goes to the friendly House, Senate Bill 478 heads to the Senate floor -- the place where earlier bills have been known to die. -
(ACC Mentioned) Broadmoor Products Eyes Growth In Push For Greener Chemicals
Jun 21, 2015 | MiBiz
By John Wiegand
As more companies focus on the sustainability of their operations, one Grand Rapids-based specialty chemical manufacturer has expanded its portfolio of environmentally friendly products to meet customers’ demand. Broadmoor Products Inc. wants to capitalize on the growing push for green chemicals where customers seek to use... -
Chemical Safety Bill Slated for Floor Vote; Rules Panel to Move Two Environmental Bills
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
The House is scheduled to vote June 23 on legislation to revamp the nation's toxic chemicals safety law, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced June 19. In separate action, the House Rules Committee will meet June 23 in advance of expected floor consideration of a ... -
House GOP To Take Up TSCA Bill On Suspension Calendar Tuesday
Jun 19, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
The Toxic Substances Control Act bill that cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee with no opposition earlier this month is set to come to a vote on the suspensions calendar Tuesday, a GOP aide said today. The suspensions calendar, typically reserved for noncontroversial legislation, requires a two-thirds majority... -
House To Vote On TSCA Bill Under Suspension Of Rules
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Sam Pearson
In what would be the most significant action to date to update the 39-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act, House lawmakers are expected to approve a bill tomorrow to reform the nation's regulation of toxic chemicals. Under suspension of the rules, an accelerated procedure reserved for noncontroversial legislation, debate on H.R.... -
Industry Backs EPA Self-Audit Update Despite Fears Of Delay, Disclosure
Jun 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Dave Reynolds
Industry officials are welcoming EPA's plan to continue a policy allowing companies to self-audit and report to the agency violations of environmental laws with a streamlined online reporting tool, despite their fears the plan will delay notifying some violators of whether they qualify for benefits, and the risk of disclosure of data submitted to EPA. -
Is Your Sofa Toxic? Ask the EPA
Jun 19, 2015 | Bloomberg View
rom the formaldehyde in your floorboards to the phthalates in your nail polish to the flame retardants in your upholstery, substances that can be toxic to humans are in countless everyday products. Are they safe when used in these ways? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to ensure that they are, but its hands... -
Phthalates’ Structural Truths
Jun 22, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Stephen K. Ritter
Phthalate plasticizers have been added to polymers such as polyvinyl chloride for decades to impart flexibility and durability. Their benefit to society—seen in the plethora of synthetic materials they’ve made possible—is unquestionable. But in the 1990s, after years of believing phthalates were safe, scientists began making... -
A Reckoning For Phthalates
Jun 22, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Michael McCoy
Phthalates are everywhere. Dozens of vinyl products we use every day are made flexible and more durable with phthalate plasticizers. But their ubiquity goes deeper than that. A 2009 report on human exposure to chemicals published by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention found measurable levels of many phthalate metabolites... -
Polymer Materials Company Joins ZDHC Group
Jun 19, 2015 | Chemical Watch
Polymer materials and services company, PolyOne, has joined the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) group, as an associate member. Led by global clothing and footwear brands, including Nike, H&M and Levi Strauss, the group aims to stop the discharge of harmful chemicals from member supply chains by 2020. -
(ACC Mentioned) EPA To Convene Small-Business Panel On Risk Management Rules
Jun 19, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Sam Pearson
U.S. EPA will convene a small-business advocacy review panel to examine the possible impacts of a rule in development to update the agency's risk management program regulations. But the panel is not expected to slow down the process, the agency said. Though EPA did not list the step on its most recent unified... -
Small Business Review Could Delay EPA's Chemical Risk Management Proposal
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Robert Iafolla
The Environmental Protection Agency will put a proposed update to its regulation for high-hazard chemical facilities through a small business panel review, which could delay the issuance of a final update beyond 2016. The EPA announced June 19 its intention to convene a small business panel to review possible changes to its risk... -
British Columbia, U.S. Western States Work Toward Coordinated Oil Spill Response Plans
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jeremy Hainsworth
State and provincial jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canadian West are developing coordinated environmental protection responses for oil spills and accidents involving hazardous material, the Pacific States–British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force said June 18. All jurisdictions need integrated responses to land-based spills... -
(ACC Mentioned) U.S. Industrial Natural Gas Usage Falls Unexpectedly
Jun 19, 2015 | Reuters
By Scott DiSavino
U.S. manufacturers have not soaked up as much excess shale gas in the first half of 2015 as expected, but the shortfall may be an anomaly as a Gulf Coast manufacturing boom is poised to insulate the sector from seasonal demand fluctuations. Average industrial demand for gas in 2015 was expected to increase... -
(ACC Mentioned) Industry Groups Use Mayors’ Meeting To Push Against Ozone Rule
Jun 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A hundred business groups signed a letter to President Obama Friday asking him to abandon his plan to restrict ozone pollution levels. The groups sent the letter the same day Obama is speaking at the annual meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors in San Francisco.They argued that the Environmental Protection Agency’s... -
(ACC Mentioned) Industry Groups Urge Obama To Keep 2008 Ozone Standard
Jun 19, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
One hundred industry groups today appealed to President Barack Obama to abandon plans to raise the existing ground-level ozone standard from its 2008 level. In a letter to Obama spearheaded by the National Association of Manufacturers and joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the American Chemistry... -
Top Dems: Raise Drilling Royalty Rates
Jun 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Two House Democrats asked the Bureau of Land Management on Friday to increase the royalty rates for gas and oil drilling on federal land. Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, and Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), said the BLM should consider raising its minimum royalty... -
America’s Self-Punishing Oil Export Ban
Jun 22, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal
By Harold Hamm
Amid news of a pending nuclear deal with Iran, some OPEC countries have struck agreements with refineries in Asia to avoid losing market share when Iranian oil comes back on the market. If U.S. policy will allow Iran to export oil, shouldn’t it allow America to do the same? Clearly, our allies would rather get their oil from America than Iran... -
Partisan Divide Over Exports To Surface In Foreign Relations Hearing
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Hannah Northey
Republicans keen on exporting the country's oil and gas are likely to clash with their Democratic colleagues tomorrow as a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee digs into the international implications of selling energy overseas at a faster clip. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Multilateral International... -
Cassidy: Natgas Exports And Keystone Can Help The Poor Cope With Climate Change
Jun 19, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
Speeding liquefied natural gas exports and building Keystone XL are the best ways to answer the Pope’s recent call for action on climate change, Sen. Bill Cassidy said in an interview set to air this weekend. The Louisiana Republican, in an interview taped Thursday for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program, said that while he has... -
White House Seeking Help of Mayors In Gaining Support for Clean Power Plan
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
The Obama administration is looking to U.S. mayors, who are doing much of the front-line work on climate change issues, to support the fight for the president's Clean Power Plan, a White House adviser told the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Cities are leading the way in solving problems from climate change to veteran homelessness... -
GOP Paints Bull's-Eye On Clean Power Plan With Week Of Votes And Hearings
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Jean Chemnick
Capitol Hill Republicans will use President Obama's flagship carbon dioxide rule for target practice this week, as the House considers two bills on the floor that would prevent U.S. EPA from implementing its Clean Power Plan while the Senate and House each holds a hearing to highlight its costs. -
House To Vote On Interior-EPA Spending Bill
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Amanda Peterka and Phil Taylor
The House this week will take up a fiscal 2016 spending plan for the Interior Department and U.S. EPA that includes several policy riders aimed at key Obama administration environmental regulations. The legislation would provide the combined departments and related agencies with $30.17 billion, or $246 million below current spending levels and ... -
California Governors Tend To Win State Budget Fights
Jun 19, 2015 | The Sacramento Bee
By David Siders
Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, defending a more expansive state spending plan than Gov. Jerry Brown would allow, sermonized earlier this week on the Senate floor about the power of the Legislature. “We don’t treat whoever occupies executive office ... as a deity,” he said. “This is a coequal branch of government.” -
GOP Lawmaker Looks To Block EPA Ozone Rule
Jun 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) has introduced a bill to block a proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule setting stringent new standards for surface-level ozone. Grothman’s bill would prevent the EPA from tightening regulations on any of the six pollutants covered by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Instead, Congress... -
O'Malley Climate Plan Seen Prodding Clinton Toward Greater Policy Specifics
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) said making the U.S. run entirely on clean energy by 2050 would be a top priority if he is elected president, and environmental advocates told Bloomberg BNA June 19 they were optimistic his climate platform would push Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton to get more specific about ... -
California Helps Lead U.N. Mission On Climate Change
Jun 20, 2015 | San Francisco Chronicle
By John Diaz
Pope Francis’ clarion call on climate change has been duly hailed as a potential game changer in the long-elusive effort to gain a global commitment for action. His 184-page encyclical, released last week, framed the issue in stark moral terms. The former chemist warned of the planet devolving into “an immense pile of filth"... -
Court Tosses Lawsuit Seeking to Stop New California Oil Train Regulations
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pamela Maclean and Robert Burnson
The U.S. railroad industry failed to stop California from rolling out safety measures aimed at trains hauling crude oil (Ass'n of Am. R.R. v. Cal. Office of Spill Prevention and Response, E.D. Cal., No. 2:14-02354, 6/18/15). The regulations, authorized last year but still in the drafting phase, are the most populous state's response to the crude-... -
Surface Transportation Board Nominee Set To Sail Through Senate
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Sean Reilly
The leadership of the Surface Transportation Board could soon be back to full strength, following a Senate confirmation vote scheduled for late today on the nomination of Daniel Elliott to rejoin the small regulatory agency. Elliott, who spent much of his career as a lawyer with the United Transportation Union, served as the board's...
Congressional Hearings
Industry and Association News
Chemical Management News
Chemical Security News
Energy and Environment News
Transportation News
Full Text of Stories Below
-
Accounting for the True Cost of Regulation: Exploring the Possibility of a Regulatory Budget
Jun 23, 2015 | U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs
Location: SD-G50, Dirksen Senate Office Building/ 10:00 AM
-
Subcommittee Markup: FY16 Transportation, Housing & Urban Development Appropriations Bill
Jun 23, 2015 | U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 138/ 10:00 AM -
Jun 23, 2015 | U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works
Location: EPW Hearing Room - 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building/ 2:00 PM
-
The State of Positive Train Control Implementation in the United States
Jun 24, 2015 | U.S. House of Representatitves Transportation & Infrastructure Committee
Location: 2167 Rayburn House Office Building/ 10:00 AM
-
Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1937
Jun 25, 2015 | Committee on Natural Resources
Location: 1334 Longworth House Office Building/ 10:30 AM
-
(ACC Mentioned) Free Tools Evaluate Plastics-To-Fuel Technologies
Jun 19, 2015 | Packaging World
By Anne Marie Mohan
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and Ocean Recovery Alliance have introduced two new tools aimed at helping communities around the globe evaluate their potential to adopt plastics-to-fuel technologies.A growing number of experts believe that harnessing more non-recycled plastics to create valuable fuels and manufacturing feedstocks could help dramatically reduce ocean litter and deliver economic and environmental benefits to local communities.
The “2015 Plastics-to-Fuel Developers Guide” and “Cost Estimating Tool for Prospective Project Developers” in Microsoft Excel were designed to help potential investors, developers, and community leaders determine whether this rapidly growing family of technologies could be a good fit for meeting local waste management needs and local demand for the relevant commodities. Available at no cost, these tools provide for the first time an exploration of available commercial technologies, operational facilities, and things to consider when developing a business plan.
Also known as “pyrolysis,” today’s plastics-to-fuel technologies are versatile and can be designed to match local conditions. Depending on the specific technology chosen, they can manufacture a variety of products, including synthetic crude or refined fuels for home heating; ingredients for diesel, gasoline, and kerosene; or fuel for combined heat and power for industrial uses.
“We are excited to introduce these new tools,” says Doug Woodring, Director and co-founder of Ocean Recovery Alliance. “Sustainable materials management is largely a local issue, but one with important global implications. Our goal is to give communities and government leaders the tools they need to make good decisions that meet local needs. These new technologies can help mitigate the flow of plastic resources into our communities, our waters, and the ocean.”
Adds Steve Russell, ACC’s Vice President of Plastics, “Modern plastics-to-fuel technologies are a critical tool to recapture the value in materials that otherwise would be destined for landfill.”
-
(ACC Mentioned) Correct Erroneous Exposure Information, American Chemistry Council Panel Tells EPA
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Inaccurate information the Environmental Protection Agency has published about the extent to which the public is exposed to a chemical primarily used to make plastics and resins should be corrected by the agency, according to an American Chemistry Council panel.
The chemistry council's Phthalic Anhydride Producers Panel, which consists of BASF Corp., Exxon Mobil Chemical Co., Koppers Inc. and Stepan Co., submitted a Request for Correctionto the agency June 12.
The EPA strives to respond to such requests within 90 days but often needs additional time before completing its response.
The chemistry council panel asked the EPA to correct information the agency's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics disseminated in October 2014.
OPPT's information said phthalic anhydride (CAS No.85-44-9) is “widely used in consumer products,” “present in groundwater and ambient air” and released in large quantities to the environment. That summary was included in a larger document listing 90 chemicals that the EPA office said are a high priority for further analysis. These 90 chemicals constitute OPPT's “work plan” list.
Phthalic anhydride is an important intermediate, or chemical, used to make other chemicals, which is used in the production of plastics, resins, pigments and other compounds, according to a 2005 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development initial assessment.
According to the most recent EPA information available, nearly 600 million pounds of the chemical, phthalic anhydride (CAS No. 85-44-9), was made in or imported into the U.S. in 2011 by companies, including the BASF Corp., Cook Composites & Polymers Co. and ICC Industries Inc.
HPV Information Not Challenged
The ACC panel didn't challenge the high production volume information chemical manufacturers have reported but said those production and importation levels don't mean the EPA's claims about phthalic anhydride's widespread use in consumer products or releases to the environment are true.
The panel provided the agency documents from or citations to information provided to various EPA offices, the European Chemicals Agency, the National Institutes of Health Household Product Database, OECD, the Substances in Preparation in Nordic Countries (SPIN) database maintained by the Nordic Council of Ministers, the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council, the Environmental Working Group and the Personal Care Products Council.
These resources show phthalic anhydride is no longer used in nail polishes, the panel said. Phthalic anhydride's use to make other chemicals that, in turn, are used to make consumer products does not mean consumers would be exposed significantly to phthalic anhydride itself, the panel said.
Presence of Chemical in Environment
As to phthalic anhydride's presence in the environment, the ACC panel said, “A review of the evidence available from EPA and other sources indicates that very little data exist to support OPPT's contention that phthalic anhydride is present in groundwater and ambient air.”
Information reported to the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory also shows limited releases to the environment, the panel said.
The panel requested OPPT revise its conclusions about the potential exposure to phthalic anhydride to accurately reflect available information on uses, emissions and environmental measurements.
-
(ACC Mentioned) Regulators And Retailers Raise Pressure On Phthalates
Jun 22, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Britt E. Erickson
In a world without plasticizers, all objects made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) would be as hard and rigid as sewer pipes. But thanks to a class of compounds called phthalates, PVC can be soft, flexible, and durable, making it attractive for use in endless applications—artificial leather, electrical wire insulation, and garden hoses, to name a few.
Phthalates provide flexibility to vinyl products, but they are also controversial. Concerns—justified or not—have been bubbling up for more than a decade over their potential to disrupt hormones and cause reproductive and developmental effects. As a result, the plasticizer industry is in a state of flux, scrambling to adapt to ever-changing demands from regulators and the marketplace.
And it’s a big marketplace. The global plasticizer market was about 8 million metric tons last year, according to IHS Chemical, a market research firm. Phthalates make up about 70% of that volume, IHS says.
The plasticizers are widely used in building and construction materials to make vinyl surfaces longer-lasting and easier to maintain. Items in which they’re used most often include floor and wall coverings, roofing membranes, and cable and wire insulation. Phthalates are also used as plasticizers in automotive parts, medical goods, and synthetic leather. In rubber, inks, paints, adhesives, perfumes, hair spray, and nail polish, they act as a solvent.
The chemicals have been manufactured since the 1930s by reacting an alcohol with an acid, such as phthalic anhydride. The properties of the resulting esters depend on the specific alcohol and acid. The number of alcohol-acid combinations that are possible and their resulting properties are as endless as the number of applications.
Most phthalates, however, never make it into commercial products because of concerns about performance, cost, availability, or toxicity. The alcohols used in making phthalates typically range from one or two carbons up to 13, forming either a straight or branched alkyl chain. Phthalates that end up with three to eight carbons in their alkyl side chain have received the most scrutiny because they have been associated with reproductive and developmental effects in lab animals.
Such studies have prompted regulators around the world to impose restrictions on a handful of phthalates in toys and other children’s products, as well as in cosmetics and, more recently, electronics equipment in the European Union. But regulators are not in agreement over which phthalates and applications should be restricted.
Public health and consumer advocacy groups, meanwhile, are pushing for broader restrictions, saying phthalates should be removed from all consumer products, including the construction materials and other durable goods that make up the bulk of plasticizer use.
Major retailers in the U.S. are bowing to pressure from such advocacy groups and voluntarily removing products containing phthalates from their store shelves. Home Depot, for example, announced in April that it would stop selling vinyl flooring containing phthalates by the end of this year.
“As the world’s largest home improvement retailer, Home Depot’s new policy sends a strong signal to the marketplace that retailers want healthier building materials free of harmful chemicals like phthalates,” says Andy Igrejas, director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, a coalition of public health advocacy groups. The coalition launched a campaign two years ago called Mind the Store, which aims to encourage retailers to stop selling products that contain harmful chemicals.
Other major home improvement retailers in the U.S., including Lowe’s and Lumber Liquidators, quickly followed Home Depot’s lead, also pledging to stop selling flooring that contains phthalates.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC), which represents chemical manufacturers, claims that “the science does not support the removal of phthalates from vinyl flooring.” Retailers and customers should “closely examine misleading claims about phthalates used in vinyl flooring, rather than allowing scare tactics to distort the facts,” the group’s phthalates panel tells C&EN.
Health advocacy groups previously put pressure on retailers to stop selling food packaging, shower curtains, rubber ducks, and children’s toys that contain phthalates. Mike Schade recalls working on those campaigns several years ago for the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, an advocacy group. Today, as director of the Mind the Store campaign, Schade is focusing his efforts on getting retailers to stop selling phthalate-containing building materials and household products beyond vinyl flooring. His targets include adhesives, caulks and sealants, vinyl-backed carpeting and area rugs, garden hoses, mini blinds, roofing membranes, and wall coverings.
The campaign is also concerned about phthalates in “children’s back-to-school supplies, apparel—especially for children and women of child-bearing age—beauty and personal care products, and cleaning products,” Schade tells C&EN.
Consumers can avoid exposure to phthalates by not purchasing PVC products, Schade advises. “Approximately 90% of all phthalates are used to soften vinyl plastic products,” he says. Those products, he adds, are often labeled with the word “vinyl” or a plastic recycling sign with the number 3 in the center.
Regulators are taking their own steps toward removing phthalates from the marketplace, albeit at a much slower pace than retailers. Officials in the U.S. and Europe agree on the fate of three phthalates—di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), and dibutyl phthalate (DBP)—in children’s toys but are at odds about many other phthalates in myriad applications.
Over the past decade, production and use of DEHP in the U.S. and EU have decreased as a result of regulatory pressure and are likely to decline more in anticipation of new European rules. DEHP, also known as dioctyl phthalate, is currently banned at levels greater than 0.1% in toys and child care products in the U.S. and EU, as well as in cosmetics in the EU. It is still the largest-volume general-purpose PVC plasticizer globally, however, because of its widespread use around the world in other products. BBP and DBP are also banned in toys and child care products in the U.S. and EU, as well as in cosmetics in the EU.
Production and use of diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), and di(2-propylheptyl) phthalate, on the other hand, are on the rise in the U.S. and EU.
In the U.S., the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is proposing to expand the number of phthalates subject to restrictions in toys and child care products. In addition to the three phthalates already banned, DINP, diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), di-n-pentyl phthalate (DPENP), di-n-hexyl phthalate (DHEXP), and dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP) would be prohibited. The proposal would, however, lift interim bans on DIDP and di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP).
DINP, DIDP, and DNOP are currently prohibited in toys and child care products sold in the EU that can be placed in the mouth by children.
CPSC’s proposal to permanently ban DINP in children’s products has generated a lot of debate because DINP is number two on the list of most-used phthalates by volume. Many health advocacy groups support the ban, claiming DINP can disrupt androgen hormone pathways in lab animals. Chemical manufacturers, however, say the proposal is based on an unproven process and outdated exposure data.
“Exposures to DINP are many times below the concentrations that induce adverse effects in rats,” the ACC’s phthalates panel says. But CPSC’s proposed rule relies on a cumulative risk assessment for all phthalates that have antiandrogenic effects. So even if exposure to a particular phthalate is below the level of concern, it contributes to the overall risk from all antiandrogenic phthalates. ACC, however, argues that this cumulative risk assessment is unproven.
Exposures to DIBP, DPENP, DHEXP, and DCHP are also expected to be below levels of concern, but they too contribute to the cumulative risk from antiandrogenic phthalates.
ACC points out that CPSC’s proposed rule relies on biomonitoring data from 2005–2006. More recent data from 2009–2010 and 2011–2012 show a marked decrease in overall phthalate exposure compared with that older data, the industry group contends. [+]PDF
In a letter sent to CPSC earlier this year, the EU also raises concerns about the proposed restrictions on DINP, DIBP, DPENP, DHEXP, and DCHP, saying they “would be substantially different from the current rules applicable in the EU.” The biggest difference is that in the EU, each phthalate is assessed individually. In the U.S., the proposed rule is based on the combined risk of all phthalates.
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) evaluated the risks of DINP, DIDP, and DNOP in 2010 and concluded that, unless people put a product containing the substances in their mouth, the chemicals do not present a health risk. CPSC, however, reached a different conclusion for DINP because it considered cumulative risk from all antiandrogenic phthalates. ECHA did not assess combined exposure to DINP with other phthalates.
The U.S. and EU agree on restrictions on DEHP, BBP, and DBP in children’s toys. But EU officials are planning to completely phase out the three phthalates, along with DIBP, in all but a few authorized applications.
Earlier this month, the EU announced a ban on these four phthalates in electrical equipment, effective 2019. ECHA is currently seeking information to identify what other products contain the four phthalates, what the levels are, and how much migrates out of the products. Nine other phthalates are widely expected to be phased out in the EU.
It will likely be several more years before regulators completely remove these phthalates from the market and evaluate the safety of alternatives. In the meantime, retailers will face continued pressure from advocacy groups to pull phthalate-laden products off the market. And chemical manufacturers, even as they defend phthalates, are racing to develop the next best plasticizer.
-
(ACC Mentioned) EPA Seeks Comments on Antimicrobial Guidance
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking comments on draft test guidelines for antimicrobials, sterilants, sporicides and disinfectants by Aug. 17. The EPA updated and reformatted guidelines issued in March 2012 to correct technical errors and clarify elements that users said were confusing, the agency said in a June 17 Federal Register notice (80 Fed. Reg. 34,638). This guidance is different from guidance the EPA is expected to issue soon to comply with a legal settlement the agency reached with the American Chemistry Council earlier this year (Am. Chemistry Council v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 13-01207, settlement agreement signed, 3/2/15; 47 DEN A-6, 3/11/15). Information on several dockets where the newly updated draft test guidelines are found is available at https://federalregister.gov/a/2015-14955. Comments should be marked Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OPP-2015-0276 and submitted at http://www.regulations.gov.
-
(ACC Mentioned) Effort To Limit Chemicals In Kids' Products Finds Better Luck In Oregon Legislature
Jun 21, 2015 | The Oregonian
By Jacy Marmaduke
Some Oregon legislators and lobbyists hope the third time's the charm for a bill aimed at keeping potentially dangerous chemicals out of children's products.
Senate Bill 478, which originates from failed 2013 legislation, would require manufacturers and importers of children's products to report any that contain "high priority chemicals of concern," such as formaldehyde, arsenic and mercury. The bill's most controversial component: An eight-year phase-out of the chemicals from select products.
The plan has drawn fervent support from parents, environmental and medical groups – as well as former Gov. Barbara Roberts and Josie Cannistra, an eighth-grader at Portland's Sunnyside Environmental School, who collected 161 signatures from her classmates.
But its opponents, lobbyists in the toy and chemical industries, say the federal government should bear the burden of regulating chemicals in children's products.
Although the bill hasn't reached either chamber for a vote, it passed a milestone last week: The same committee that killed a similar bill last year moved it one step closer to a Senate vote with a recommendation for passage.
"In the Legislature, you can never count your chickens before they're hatched, but having said that, I feel optimistic," said Angela Crowley-Koch, legislative director for the Oregon Environmental Council and one of the bill's principal champions.
The proposal has morphed over the years as sponsors tried to reach an elusive combination of mandates and exceptions that would seal approval in the Legislature.
"It's tough anytime you're fighting multiple industries and lobbyists," said sponsor Sen. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene. "It's difficult to get a win for health and the environment. That's why it's taken three sessions."
It also helps that Democrats increased their majorities this session by one seat in the House and two in the Senate.
In 2009, Washington enacted a similar measure that requires manufacturers and importers to report to the state the presence of 66 chemicals in clothes, cosmetics, car seats and other products designed for kids younger than 12. Research has linked some of the chemicals to child developmental disabilities and diseases.
Under Oregon's bill, the Oregon Health Authority would create a list identical to Washington's but could add as many as five chemicals every three years. The phase-out provision is unique to Oregon and applies only to children's cosmetics, products meant for children younger than 3, and products meant to be put in the mouth such as cups and pacifiers.
The bill allows several exceptions: Businesses that make less than $5 million a year in sales don't have to report or stop using the chemicals. And businesses don't have to comply if they can prove that replacing a chemical with another substance would be technically or financially unfeasible.
Groups that oppose the bill say federal regulations already protect children from toxic chemicals and that even well-meaning state regulations would only muddle compliance. Congress is currently considering updates to the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Tim Shestek, director of state, local and public affairs for the American Chemistry Council, said in an interview Friday that navigation of state-by-state regulations can become "a logistical nightmare" for companies. The bill also errs in assuming a "chemical of concern" should be removed from products, he said
A small amount of chlorine can disinfect drinking water, for example, while a large amount can be deadly, he said.
"Suggesting that you can paint chemicals with this broad brush, that they are either toxic or nontoxic, does not stand up to a sound scientific evaluation," he said at a hearing for the bill this month.
Crowley-Koch called that argument "really misleading."
"They're trying to put a burden of proof on the average consumer, who is not a biochemist, as opposed to the company that is purposely putting the chemical in the product," she said. "Parents and consumers shouldn't have to be biochemists when they go the store."
If the bill passes, it won't be cheap. Washington's ecology department estimated reporting would cost businesses a combined $22.4 million to $34.8 million during the first year and as much as $69.5 million during the first 20 years. Oregon would spend about $500,000 during the next four years to enforce compliance, according to the bill's fiscal statement.
Edwards, whose 13-year-old son is on the autism spectrum, said any strategy that may prevent developmental disabilities in children is worth the expense.
"The long-term tradeoff in cost is a no-brainer," he said. "Playing with our children's health is a lot more expensive than simply getting these worst-of-the-worst toxic chemicals out of children's toys."
-
(ACC Mentioned) Children's Toxic-Free Bill Headed Toward Senate Vote
Jun 19, 2015 | The Lund Report
By Chris Gray
The Toxic-Free Kids Act has resurfaced and cleared a critical budget committee, with passage in the full Committee on Ways & Means expected next week.
From there, before it goes to the friendly House, Senate Bill 478 heads to the Senate floor -- the place where earlier bills have been known to die.
Sen. Alan Bates, D-Medford, passed it out of the Budget Subcommittee on Human Services Thursday, but warned he was uncertain of its fate in the Senate: “It has a difficult passage through the Senate,” he said.
The bill will also likely require Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, to sit in on the Committee on Ways & Means to cast an extra vote of support, since a disproportionate makeup of the state’s budget committee gives lopsided power to Republican opponents if just one Democrat, such as Sen. Betsy Johnson of Scappoose, breaks with her party.
However, Sen. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, this year’s chief Senate supporter, assured The Lund Report he had enough senators signed on to get the bill through the upper chamber, while explaining the delay : “We have the votes. I’m pretty confident. We’ve had the votes for a while. We just had some other budget bills we had to get through first.”
The Toxic-Free Kids Act requires the manufacturers and distributors of children’s products to report their use of toxic chemicals. If the products are geared toward children under 3 or are designed for use in the mouth or directly on the skin, manufacturers must take steps to remove and replace the chemical with a safer substance, or explain why the toxic chemical is not harmful.
The policy is designed to protect consumers from the flood of unsafe products that have been entering the country from China and exposing wide gaps in federal consumer safety laws -- gaps that the Republican Congress has been none too eager to close.
The budget committee tagged it with $88,000 for the Oregon Health Authority to get the process started, although future budgets will require greater funding. Eventually, the program will generate fees from manufacturers to offset some of the costs for analyzing products to go beyond the self-reporting of the industry.
Years-Long Battle with Strange Bedfellows
Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland, has tried to get such a bill passed every year since she came into office in 2012, with policy assistance from the Oregon Environmental Council. This year, since the Senate has been the obstacle, responsibility for the bill has been passed to Edwards.
“The biggest story is the politics of it,” Edwards said. “It is tough to take on the American Chemistry Council and all the industries that they supply. It’s like taking on all of corporate America.”
Edwards and Bates both said that they’ve experienced some of the fiercest lobbying against them of any policy in their time in office. One of the most powerful lobbyists against SB 478 has been Paul Cosgrove, representing the American Forest & Paper Association -- a perhaps uncomfortable position, considering that Cosgrove also represents Legacy Health, which has pledged support for SB 478, in a letter co-signed by Moda Health and Oregon Health & Science University.
“This targeted bill addresses the most vulnerable age group, children, whose delicate developmental processes are easily disrupted,” reads the letter, signed by Dr. Joe Robertson, president of OHSU, Dr. Everett Newcomb of Legacy and Robin Richardson of Moda. “For example, if cells in the developing brain are harmed by exposure to mercury, lead, or solvents—or if important nerve connections fail to form—the child will likely suffer permanent and irreversible neurobehavioral dysfunction.
“The patients we serve—and all Oregonians—would benefit from public policies to reduce exposure to harmful chemicals. Many health impacts and associated healthcare costs could be reduced. Please support the Toxic-Free Kids Act.”
The list of chemicals span the gamut from outright poisons like cadmium, formaldehyde and arsenic to endocrine disruptors like phthalates and bisphenol-A. Based on a Republican suggestion, Edwards said this year’s bill has been simplified to apply to the 66 chemicals already reported in Washington -- not just the 19 chemicals identified in earlier bills.
Edwards said a partisan fault-line developed over whether lawmakers should just mandate reporting the chemicals or set up a program to require manufacturers to phase out the use of hazardous chemicals in children’s products.
“I’m very much for the reporting requirements,” said Rep. Duane Stark, R-Central Point. “My hang-up is that I don’t want to make an assumption and go to the phase-out.”
Edwards said that was a false compromise, however, because lobbyists against the bill knew that he had the votes to pass the more robust measure, and were only trying to head that off at the pass.
In earlier sessions, with Sen. Johnson casting the crucial vote on their side, Republicans and industry lobbyists had been able to defeat bills that called simply for reporting of hazardous chemicals in their products, legislation that mirrored a law in Washington. (Stark, a freshman legislator, had not had a chance to weigh in on earlier versions of the policy.)
Johnson receives substantial amounts of campaign money from the chemical industry and large manufacturers and votes accordingly. Since the Senate Democrats had only a simple majority from 2011 to 2014, Johnson could veto any legislation she didn’t like if it had no Republican support.
Betsy-Proof Majority
Labor unions and environmental groups led a campaign in 2014 to produce a “Betsy-proof” Democratic supermajority and ousted two Republican senators in Hillsboro and Albany. They won their campaign promoting policies like paid sick leave, the clean fuels law, and the toxic disclosures act.
Unlike the first two bills, SB 478 will still likely gain some GOP votes in the House, where Republicans are more moderate than their Senate counterparts. Rep. Mark Johnson of Hood River has sponsored the bill, and, along with Rep. Julie Parrish of West Linn, supported a similar measure when it passed the House in 2013. Rep. Knute Buehler of Bend has also indicated his support.
The earlier measure attracted six Republicans, partly built on the support of Buehler’s predecessor, former Rep. Jason Conger, R-Bend, who sought his party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2014. The policy was borne from the public health activism of Keny-Guyer, who has sought to adopt reporting standards for toxic materials in children’s products, similar to Oregon’s more liberal neighbors, and one up California and Washington by requiring companies doing business in Oregon to rid the shelves of products tainted by the chemicals.
Manufacturers of harmful toys would still have a long time before they would have to start replacing dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives -- something the legislation effectively puts off until 2023.
Edwards said an Oregon law could help compel the federal government and Congress to get serious about improving the law governing toxic materials in consumer products, as well as pave the way for state phase-out laws in California or the liberal Northeastern states.
If Congress does pass a law restricting the chemicals in the products covered by SB 478, the federal law would preempt Oregon’s law. Jun 19 2015
-
(ACC Mentioned) Broadmoor Products Eyes Growth In Push For Greener Chemicals
Jun 21, 2015 | MiBiz
By John Wiegand
As more companies focus on the sustainability of their operations, one Grand Rapids-based specialty chemical manufacturer has expanded its portfolio of environmentally friendly products to meet customers’ demand.
Broadmoor Products Inc. wants to capitalize on the growing push for green chemicals where customers seek to use environmentally benign alternatives to traditional petroleum-based formulas and other potentially harmful products.
It’s a trend President Trevor Wolfe has observed gaining steam among customers over the last few years.
“It’s been on the forefront for some time, but I think there’s going to be more as businesses continue to do well,” Wolfe said. “That’s why we try to stay on top of it as much as we can.”
Broadmoor, which employs 25 people at its Grand Rapids headquarters, has worked to replace a number of its chlorinated solvents and other harmful chemicals with those that are more environmentally friendly. The company also recycles the 55-gallon drums used for the storage and transport of chemicals.
“We try to do as much as we can to help the environment,” Wolfe said. “Our green side is pretty strong.”
Among the customers clamoring for environmentally safe chemicals, companies in the craft brewing industry have been some of the earliest adopters, Wolfe said.
“Breweries are leading the charge,” Wolfe said. “I don’t know how many emails we get saying, ‘We want to do this, but we want to keep this (chemical) out of it.’ They’re very environmentally focused, much more so than other industrial markets.”
Beyond being one of the key proponents for green chemistry, the growing ranks of craft breweries is also creating a significant growth market for Broadmoor in the state, Wolfe said.
“Breweries have obviously just exploded, and we’re fortunate to be working with a lot of the big ones,” he said.
Since so much of the brewing process hinges on cleanliness, Broadmoor primarily provides the industry with cleaners and sanitizing chemicals that can be easily washed away without leaving a residue that could impact the taste of the beer.
Broadmoor has the capacity to produce approximately 20 million pounds per year of mostly liquid chemicals, Wolfe said.
“We have so many formulations because if you go to a wash line and something foams too much or too little, we can tweak that formulation for that specific customer to make it work the best for them,” Wolfe said. CHALLENGES AHEAD?
Broadmoor’s move to greener chemicals is part of a wider industry shift that’s taken place gradually, said Lawrence Sloan, president and CEO of the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates.
Recently, manufacturers have been moving toward industrial biochemicals — which are derived from agricultural waste, such as the remains of corn or switchgrass — instead of petrochemicals to form the base from which finished products are built.
However the “burgeoning” biochemical sector has faced some headwinds from consumers who are unwilling to pay for the premium attached to developing and producing green products. At the same time, the low price of crude oil has also stifled the development of new biochemical technology as manufacturers turn back to more cost-effective petrochemicals, Sloan said.
“You have the challenge in this sector to set up the supply chain because you have all of this agricultural waste around the country, but do you have the methods in place to collect all that?” Sloan said. “There are supply chain issues that have to be analyzed and figured out in order to make it a cost-effective and efficient process.”
As the industry grapples with those challenges, Sloan said he expects to see a slow but upward trajectory for biochemicals over the next five to 10 years as chemical manufacturers continue to improve the environmental safety of chemicals made from petroleum-based sources.
Domestic chemical manufacturers comprise a $812 billion industry that encompasses nearly 800,000 jobs in the U.S., according to data from the American Chemistry Council. Chemical manufacturers in Michigan account for $15.5 billion in economic activity — the third largest manufacturing sector in the state, according to the Council. The industry provides more than 28,000 direct jobs in Michigan, which ranks 13th nationally as a chemical-producing state. MITIGATING SUPPLY CHAIN RISK
Since Broadmoor manufactures a wide variety of chemicals to serve its customer base, the company often runs into supply chain constraints for various chemical components it uses in its products. Refinery shutdowns or other disruptions can cause suppliers to put key chemicals on allocation, limiting what Broadmoor can purchase at a given time.
“We feel very confident in the ability of our suppliers to get us what we need, but with that being said, there are absolutely times when things come across the board that we have no control over and we just have to work with it,” Wolfe said.
To compensate, the company maintains a diverse network of suppliers to source its chemical components from if its main suppliers are on allocation. The company also makes sure to stay current with the industry so it can predict shortfalls and stock material in advance.
Going forward, Broadmoor plans to continue to enhance the customer service side of its business to maintain growth. Since the company’s most experienced field representatives are beginning to approach retirement age, Broadmoor has begun to hire and train new employees to work under their tutelage to maintain the service side of the business, Wolfe said.
“Getting young talent in here has really been important because for our growth, I want to make sure we keep that service level high,” Wolfe said. “We don’t want this to turn into a business where you can just go order a chemical online and it just shows up at the door.” - See more at: http://mibiz.com/item/22631-broadmoor-products-eyes-growth-in-push-for-greener-chemicals#sthash.ubO1vUtB.dpuf
-
Chemical Safety Bill Slated for Floor Vote; Rules Panel to Move Two Environmental Bills
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
The House is scheduled to vote June 23 on legislation to revamp the nation's toxic chemicals safety law, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced June 19.
In separate action, the House Rules Committee will meet June 23 in advance of expected floor consideration of a $30.2 billion fiscal year 2016 Interior and Environment appropriations bill (H.R. 2822) and a bill (H.R. 2042) to allow states to opt out of the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Clean Power Plan.
McCarthy's schedule does not include a bill that would give states a greater role in regulating coal ash management and disposal (H.R. 1734).
McCarthy had previously indicated the coal ash and TSCA measures would receive votes at the same time as Rep. Ed Whitfield's (R-Ky.) Ratepayer Protection Act pushing back against the Clean Power Plan. (104 DEN A-13, 6/1/15).
On the EPA funding bill, the House plans to move ahead with the Interior and Environment appropriations package (H.R. 2822), which is chocked full of provisions favored by Republicans. The measure would create hurdles for efforts by President Barack Obama's administration to reduce carbon pollution from power plants, revise the national ozone standard, regulate hydraulic fracturing and clarify the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, among other riders.
The package more broadly provides $7.4 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency—a 9 percent reduction over current funding levels—and nearly $11.4 billion for programs within the Interior Department. It passed the House Appropriations Committee along party lines June 16 (116 DEN A-2, 6/17/15).
Whitfield's bill would allow states to delay compliance with the proposed Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33) until all legal challenges are exhausted or opt out of the regulation if complying with it would jeopardize reliability or increase electricity rates.
“This bill is essential for families all across the nation,” McCarthy said on the House floor June 18. “If we do not act, electricity bills could skyrocket as a result of EPA's Clean Power Plan rule.”
Amendments to the Ratepayer Protection Act would be due by 10 a.m. June 23 ahead of House Rules Committee consideration of a possible rule to limit debate on the House floor, according to the meeting announcement.
-
House GOP To Take Up TSCA Bill On Suspension Calendar Tuesday
Jun 19, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
The Toxic Substances Control Act bill that cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee with no opposition earlier this month is set to come to a vote on the suspensions calendar Tuesday, a GOP aide said today.
The suspensions calendar, typically reserved for noncontroversial legislation, requires a two-thirds majority of the chamber for passage.
A bipartisan Senate TSCA bill also awaits floor action, though an earlier prediction from Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe that the full chamber could vote this month appears likely to slip. -
House To Vote On TSCA Bill Under Suspension Of Rules
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Sam Pearson
In what would be the most significant action to date to update the 39-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act, House lawmakers are expected to approve a bill tomorrow to reform the nation's regulation of toxic chemicals.
Under suspension of the rules, an accelerated procedure reserved for noncontroversial legislation, debate on H.R. 2576, or the "TSCA Modernization Act," is permitted for 40 minutes before lawmakers must vote on it without proposing amendments.
Both the debate and vote are scheduled to occur tomorrow, with the bill likely to see a roll call vote after 6:30 p.m., Energy and Commerce Committee spokesman Dan Schneider said. A two-thirds majority vote is required for bills to pass under suspension of the rules.
Though proposals to update how the federal government regulates chemicals have attracted their share of debate over the years, lawmakers in the House were able to iron out a series of policy differences in part by keeping the bill narrower than a competing Senate proposal.
However, at an Energy and Commerce Committee markup of the bill earlier this month, a rift emerged over how states may enforce their own chemical laws.
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) warned Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), the chairman of the Environment and Economy Subcommittee and lead author of the bill, that the bill risked losing the support of a significant number of members from large states, including her own, if lawmakers did not address legal ambiguities concerning how states may enforce their own chemical laws (Greenwire, June 3). Eshoo, though, won't be able to offer these amendments on the House floor.
-
Industry Backs EPA Self-Audit Update Despite Fears Of Delay, Disclosure
Jun 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Dave Reynolds
Industry officials are welcoming EPA's plan to continue a policy allowing companies to self-audit and report to the agency violations of environmental laws with a streamlined online reporting tool, despite their fears the plan will delay notifying some violators of whether they qualify for benefits, and the risk of disclosure of data submitted to EPA.
During a June 10 webinar, EPA announced plans to preserve its years-old audit policy by creating an online "eDisclosure Portal" to streamline the program, which agency officials have indicated in recent years takes significant resources and may be inconsistent with its goal of focusing enforcement on violations that pose the greatest risks.
EPA's policy, started in 2000, provides incentives, such as penalty mitigation and avoiding criminal prosecution, for companies that disclose and correct violations, if the disclosure meets certain EPA standards.
The new online portal, due out this Fall, will be a two-tier system, offering prompt resolution for certain disclosed violations, provided companies' assertions are true, but deferring consideration of whether disclosures of other violations, will receive audit policy benefits until after the agency decides whether it will take enforcement action.
Tier 1 disclosures include most Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) violations, if they meet all conditions of the audit policy, and do not provide significant economic benefit as defined by EPA.
For Tier 1 disclosures, the eDisclosure system will automatically generate an electronic notice of determination that the violation is resolved without civil penalty.
Tier 2 disclosures cover all other violations, including certain chemical release reporting violations under EPCRA and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and disclosures of EPCRA violations where the disclosure fails to meet all of the audit policy's criteria.
For Tier 2 violations companies will receive an acknowledgment of receipt, though EPA will not determine whether the submission qualifies for penalty mitigation until it decides whether to pursue enforcement action.
The eDisclosure system, which EPA will launch with a Federal Register notice in the Fall, will allow streamlined reporting for companies and limit the resources the agency must devote to reviewing submissions. EPA will spot check so-called Tier 1 disclosures to ensure they meet audit policy standards, and screen submissions under Tier 2 for significant problems, including criminal conduct or imminent hazards that could result from a violation.
EPA's decision to retain and update the self-audit policy follows an agency review of the program that it undertook two years ago. While industry officials are backing the agency's preservation of the audit policy and the increased efficiency expected from an online reporting system, they are raising concerns that companies reporting Tier 2 disclosures under the new approach may receive less legal certainty about whether they will face enforcement than in years past.
"EPA is now saying, 'We're deferring our work [on certain violations] until we decide to enforce against you," an industry source says, adding, "Companies won't get the same kind of closure," they are used to receiving.
Reporting Violations
In a June 12 blog post, the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani says companies that report certain violations through the tiered online portal will remain "somewhat in limbo" on whether their disclosure will qualify for penalty mitigation, and suggests EPA should address the concern. "EPA may be able to allay such fears by providing greater clarity about what its silence means, how long it is likely to last, and what their enforcement consideration process is" after the agency acknowledges receipt of disclosure certain violations through the forthcoming online portal, the firm says.
During the webinar, EPA staff said they "strongly" believe the audit policy gives companies incentive to conduct self-audits and to report and correct violations. And they emphasized that while the agency is streamlining implementation of the audit policy, they are not currently proposing changes to the incentives it provides.
EPA also appeared to downplay industry fears about releasing self-audit data under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Staff generally backed public release of companies' disclosures of violations, saying "EPA generally expects to make Tier 1 and Tier 2 disclosures publicly available within a relatively short period of time after their receipt."
Staff said the agency has always considered audit policy disclosures subject to FOIA after enforcement has been resolved. While disclosures of unresolved violations may be withheld from release pursuant to FOIA's exclusion for legal proceedings, EPA will consider whether to release disclosures of unresolved violations on a case-by-case basis.
A second industry source says that while industry generally backs the updated self-audit plan, companies are still seeking additional clarity and opportunities for input prior to EPA's finalizing the process. "There are going to be details everyone will need to work through," the source says. "I would anticipate that until you know what information is and is not going to be FOIA-able, that will be a significant issue."
-
Is Your Sofa Toxic? Ask the EPA
Jun 19, 2015 | Bloomberg View
From the formaldehyde in your floorboards to the phthalates in your nail polish to the flame retardants in your upholstery, substances that can be toxic to humans are in countless everyday products. Are they safe when used in these ways?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to ensure that they are, but its hands are largely tied: The 1976 law that governs chemical regulation sets the bar for action too high. Before limiting the use of any substance, the agency must show that its restriction is less burdensome than possible alternatives and that the financial benefits outweigh the costs -- a standard that's been hard to prove in court. The EPA hasn't issued any new restrictions on chemicals since 1990.
Many states have rushed in to fill the vacuum, but this isn't ideal, either. If a chemical is proved to be dangerous to you or your children, protection from it shouldn't depend on what state you live in. (Conversely, if a chemical is proved to be safe, access to it shouldn't depend on where you live, either.) Meanwhile, manufacturers are left trying to follow sometimes contradictory regulations.
A better fix is to update federal law to give the EPA the authority and resources it needs to investigate -- and when necessary, restrict or ban -- chemicals used in commercial and industrial products. Bipartisan legislation in Congress would move in this direction by making it easier for the EPA to impose restrictions on chemicals it deems unsafe and requiring the agency to review at least 25 chemicals every five years.
The bill isn't perfect, though. It would also prevent states from putting restrictions on any chemicals that the EPA says it plans to examine -- a process that can take years. And it would enable the EPA to approve vaguely defined "low-priority" chemicals without a full-scale review. So if for some reason the EPA were to lose interest in such regulation, state efforts could be blocked without much to replace them. Congress could address this concern by amending the bill to let states decide whether to apply their own restrictions on a chemical until the EPA has finished its review.
Then the bill would go a long way toward fixing a system that serves neither consumers nor industry particularly well. And it would ease any concerns that the stuff in your living room or medicine cabinet is going to kill you.
-
Jun 22, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Stephen K. Ritter
Phthalate plasticizers have been added to polymers such as polyvinyl chloride for decades to impart flexibility and durability. Their benefit to society—seen in the plethora of synthetic materials they’ve made possible—is unquestionable.
But in the 1990s, after years of believing phthalates were safe, scientists began making connections between constant exposure to the chemicals and endocrine-disrupting health effects.
That discovery led to greater scrutiny of the compounds by scientists, advocacy groups, consumers, and regulatory agencies. The plastics industry has had to stay on its toes, not only to defend its products but also to figure out exactly which phthalates are problematic and to develop safer alternatives.
One thing scientists on all sides of the debate have learned is that the size and shape of phthalates are important. Many natural and synthetic chemicals encountered at home, at work, and at play have roughly the same size and shape as hormones such as estradiol and testosterone or share structural features with them. Some of those chemicals are capable of interacting in the body with hormone receptor proteins or with enzymes involved in the synthesis or activation of hormones.
That activity can fool the body into overreacting, underreacting, or responding at inappropriate times. To complicate matters, chemicals in the same class might lead to different toxic effects. In addition, the chemicals’ metabolites and oxidation products can be more problematic than the parent compounds—for example, phthalates are diesters that can be metabolized to monoesters, which can be more disruptive.
As toxicologists and endocrinologists try to understand the cause and effect of endocrine disruption in a sea of chemical influences, chemists and chemical engineers are looking at the chemical structures of phthalates to shine light on what leads to unwanted bioactivity. The goal is to design new molecules that provide the desired plasticizing properties of phthalates but avoid the toxicity.
To that end, Michael E. Baker of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, has been using three-dimensional molecular modeling to look at how a diverse array of chemicals bind to hormone receptors (Endocr. Disruptors 2014, DOI: 10.4161/23273739.2014.967138).
A molecule typically has to be the right size and shape to park itself squarely in the binding pocket of a receptor protein, like a key fitting into a lock. But proteins are not static objects. They have flexibility that gives incoming molecules a bit of wiggle room to fit. Sometimes a square peg can fit into a round hole.
Estradiol and testosterone, which are steroid hormones derived from cholesterol, have a four-ring framework, labeled A to D. The hormones bind to estrogen and androgen receptors in cells, an action that triggers the receptors to bind to DNA to regulate gene activity.
Estradiol and testosterone are structurally identical in their B, C, and D rings, Baker explains. Where they differ is in the A ring: Estradiol has a phenolic A ring, whereas testosterone’s A ring is partially unsaturated and has keto and methyl substituents. Estradiol binds to its primary receptor about 1,000 times as strongly as does testosterone, Baker says, suggesting that the phenolic A ring is essential to the binding process.
Natural and synthetic chemicals that contain a phenolic ring are likely to interact with estrogen receptors, Baker says. The hydroxyl group on estradiol’s D ring is also important in binding and activating the estrogen receptor. So when compounds contain a phenolic ring and a properly spaced second hydroxyl group, they potentially can bind with higher affinity.
Baker’s structural studies of compounds that can bind hormone receptors include genistein and coumestrol, found in soybeans; zearalenone, produced by fungi living on cereal grains such as corn and wheat; and controversial synthetic chemicals such as the polycarbonate plastic building block bisphenol A (BPA), the surfactant building block 4-nonylphenol, and hydroxylated versions of the insulating fluids known as polychlorinated biphenyls.
Estradiol binds its primary receptor about 10,000 times as strongly as BPA, he notes, and the molecular modeling shows why. BPA is too short to completely fill the binding pocket—it only contacts amino acids at one end. Baker actually found that the BPA metabolite known as MBP, which has three more carbon atoms between BPA’s two phenol rings, fits better and could be a culprit in BPA toxicity.
Baker has yet to study phthalates, but he points out that some hormones, such as 27-hydroxycholesterol, bind and activate estrogen receptors despite having a long alkyl side chain—like some phthalates— that sticks out of the binding pocket. “The key point relevant to endocrine disruption for me is that estrogen receptors are capable of binding a diverse group of chemicals beyond estradiol,” Baker says. “This structural basis for binding is also relevant for other receptors.”
A case in point is a set of toxicology studies that in part link phthalate toxicity to the compounds’ ability to activate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), which help control sugar and lipid metabolism. Researchers led by Nicolas Kambia of the University of Lille, in France, recently carried out a molecular modeling study to evaluate how likely some phthalates and nonphthalate plasticizer replacements are to bind and activate PPARs (J. Enzyme Inhib. Med. Chem. 2015, DOI: 10.3109/14756366.2015.1037748). They found that phthalates interact with PPARs via contacts with their aromatic ring and their alkyl side chains.
Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, known as DEHP, is currently the most widely used phthalate. Kambia and his coworkers found that DEHP is capable of weakly binding PPARs. The Lille researchers also found that, among the pool of phthalate replacements in the offing, diisononyl cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH), tris(2-ethylhexyl) trimellitate (TOTM), and acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) appear incapable of binding PPARs. On that basis, they expect those chemicals to have low toxicity, and laboratory studies are bearing that out.
However, PPAR binding is just one way phthalates could cause toxic effects. “Our docking study highlights the need for a more comprehensive toxicological evaluation of the biological effects of these alternatives as well as their main metabolites,” Kambia and coworkers write.
As phthalate toxicity studies proliferated a decade ago, researchers quickly zeroed in on phthalates with three to six carbons in their alkyl side chains as being the most problematic, says Mark S. Holt, director of plasticizer market development and advocacy at Eastman Chemical, a major plasticizer manufacturer.
Among the most cited studies supporting this finding is work by Environmental Protection Agency endocrinologist L. Earl Gray Jr. and his colleagues. The researchers dosed pregnant rats with different phthalates and then studied the effect on sexual development and testosterone production in the male offspring (Toxicol. Sci. 2000, DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/58.2.350).
They found that short-chain dimethyl and diethyl phthalates had no effect relative to DEHP, which was used as a benchmark. Dipentyl phthalate, with five-carbon chains, was the most potent, disrupting sexual development about three times as much as DEHP, which has eight-carbon chains. Going beyond eight carbons, diisononyl phthalate (DINP) is about an order of magnitude less active than DEHP.
The results suggest that the problematic compounds have some properties in common: their alkyl chain length, their molecular weight, and the ability of digestive enzymes to cleave an alkyl chain to form a monoester, Holt says. Some toxicity studies show that feeding rats a phthalate monoester produces similar effects as feeding them a diester, and some researchers have found that the monoesters activate PPARs.
The nonphthalate alternatives now being deployed are promising for avoiding toxicity, Holt says, although it turns out they aren’t actually new compounds. During the past 80 years, perhaps 2,000 plasticizers have been commercialized, Holt explains. Few of them have been used on a large scale, but they are a good pool to select from.
“You might not find a more highly studied class of industrial compounds,” Holt says. But researchers are doing additional testing on the replacements just to be sure.
“The level of toxicity testing being done on these compounds is now higher than in the past,” he says. “No one is going to switch to a nonphthalate plasticizer without a full set of data on PPAR proliferation, testosterone suppression, reproductive toxicity, carcinogenicity, or mutagenicity. The industry is making sure it has all the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed.”
For example, Eastman is celebrating its 40th anniversary of producing di(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHT), which is now one of the leading phthalate replacements. In Gray’s EPA studies, DEHT did not show any disruption of sexual development in male mice relative to DEHP. Being a terephthalate, with the ester groups on opposite sides of the phenyl ring instead of adjacent to each other, is an indication that DEHT might not readily bind hormone receptors and/or metabolize to a monoester, Holt says.
When designing alternative plasticizers, says Daniel F. Schmidt of the department of plastics engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, chemists have been looking at molecules with similar molecular weight to existing plasticizers that are not too volatile or too soluble. He suggests it’s also a good idea to avoid aromatic rings.
Schmidt points to BASF’s approach to developing DINCH as a smart way to balance performance and toxicity concerns. “When people began demanding nonphthalate plasticizers, they took DINP, which is made in large amounts, and hydrogenated it. The result is DINCH, which acts a lot like its phthalate analogs but is nonaromatic. That seems to substantially reduce endocrine disruption.”
Even so, Schmidt emphasizes that despite the progress being made there’s a lot scientists still don’t know about chemical structure and toxicity. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if a conversation very much like this one we are having now concerning phthalates would occur decades from now involving some other class of compounds we currently think of as not so bad. A measure of precaution is warranted, tempered with the realization that we will never be able to provide an absolute guarantee that any substance is totally safe.”
-
Jun 22, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Michael McCoy
Phthalates are everywhere. Dozens of vinyl products we use every day are made flexible and more durable with phthalate plasticizers.
But their ubiquity goes deeper than that. A 2009 report on human exposure to chemicals published by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention found measurable levels of many phthalate metabolites in the bodies of almost everybody tested.
The report made clear that finding metabolites in detectable amounts does not imply adverse health effects. Nonetheless, environmental activists have been quick to capitalize on the notion that phthalates are coursing through virtually everyone’s veins. The fact that many phthalates are known endocrine-disrupting chemicals is the source of additional unease.
In fact, concerns about phthalates date back to the 1990s. U.S. companies have been prohibited from using certain phthalates in children’s products since 2008. Similar rules are in effect in Europe.
Now, after some years of relative quiet, controversy over phthalates is heating up again. Prodded by environmental groups, major home improvement retailers recently told their suppliers to remove phthalates from vinyl flooring by the end of this year. And the Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposing to expand the restrictions on phthalates in toys and child care products.
What follows are three articles that examine where phthalates stand today.
First, Senior Editor Britt Erickson explores how retailers and regulators are going beyond the relatively modest baby product restrictions and starting to take the ax to phthalates in large-volume construction and consumer applications.Next, Senior Correspondent Alexander H. Tullo looks at how chemical companies, some of which are phthalate manufacturers themselves, are vying to commercialize phthalate replacements. Finally, Senior Correspondent Stephen K. Ritter takes a step back to explain how the shape and molecular weight of many phthalates contribute to their ability to disrupt the endocrine system.
When it comes to phthalates, there are no easy answers. As Ritter points out, the synthetic materials made possible by phthalates have become essential to a successful modern society. Society is now trying to decide if that success has come at too great a cost.
-
Polymer Materials Company Joins ZDHC Group
Jun 19, 2015 | Chemical Watch
Polymer materials and services company, PolyOne, has joined the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) group, as an associate member.
Led by global clothing and footwear brands, including Nike, H&M and Levi Strauss, the group aims to stop the discharge of harmful chemicals from member supply chains by 2020.
ZDHC programme manager, Cheryl Kreindler, said that since joining, PolyOne has presented ideas to the group on reducing water consumption and contamination, which are “major challenges for the industry”.
Last month, the group released its latest annual report, which sets out key achievements and plans towards improving the textile industry’s environmental performance (CW 6 May 2015).
Also in May, the ZDHC appointed its first executive director, Frank Michel, who was formerly global director of regulation and sustainability management at product data management company 1WorldSync.
-
(ACC Mentioned) EPA To Convene Small-Business Panel On Risk Management Rules
Jun 19, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Sam Pearson
U.S. EPA will convene a small-business advocacy review panel to examine the possible impacts of a rule in development to update the agency's risk management program regulations. But the panel is not expected to slow down the process, the agency said.
Though EPA did not list the step on its most recent unified regulatory agenda containing the risk management update rule, Mathy Stanislaus, the agency's assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response, said today it was required because EPA believes the rule will have a significant impact on small entities.
EPA still intends to propose the risk management program changes in September, Stanislaus said.
The panel will consist of representatives from the Small Business Administration and the White House Office of Management and Budget, and small-entity representatives who can nominate themselves by contacting EPA through its website by July 3.
EPA has been under pressure from advocacy groups to complete the risk management updates before President Obama leaves office, since the rulemaking was called for under a 2013 executive order and considered a key part of the president's legacy on chemical safety.
Stanislaus, speaking at a webinar on work performed by an interagency working group on chemical safety, of which EPA is a member, also defended a recent safety bulletin on how companies can switch to safer procedures to reduce the consequences of a toxic release or other safety threats.
Those who want additional details on how using safer chemical processes can help their business or examples of how other companies have switched away from the riskiest chemicals will have to wait for a future EPA document, which won't be completed until fall 2016, Stanislaus said.
This "future guidance product will offer more practical details and examples," he said.
Stanislaus also rebuffed questions from advocacy groups on whether the final rule would require companies to assess and implement safer chemical processes.
However, extensive work is ongoing at EPA, including preparing detailed economic impact analyses of the future proposed rule, Stanislaus said.
"Unfortunately, I can't give you the contents of what the rule will include at this moment," he said, "but we'll continue to engage all stakeholders as we roll out the proposed rule."
The American Chemistry Council, in a statement, said the working group had made progress on chemical safety issues since its establishment in 2013.
"Because of their critical role to the nation's economy and their responsibility to their employees and communities, ACC and its members remain committed to enhancing safety and security," the group added.
-
Small Business Review Could Delay EPA's Chemical Risk Management Proposal
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Robert Iafolla
The Environmental Protection Agency will put a proposed update to its regulation for high-hazard chemical facilities through a small business panel review, which could delay the issuance of a final update beyond 2016.
The EPA announced June 19 its intention to convene a small business panel to review possible changes to its risk management program rule. The agency's most recent regulatory agenda, released May 21, listed no plans for a small business panel and set a September deadline for issuing a proposed rule.
Mathy Stanislaus, EPA assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response, declined to comment on how the small business review might affect the timeline for issuing a proposal to update the risk management program rule.
“All I can tell you is we're involved in all of the work necessary to propose a rule, which is complex, including an economic analysis,” Stanislaus said during a June 19 webinar on progress of the Obama administration's chemical safety working group.
The EPA is contemplating updates to its risk management program rule as part of its work on the chemical safety working group. The White House created the working group in August 2013 in response to the catastrophic explosion and fire at a Texas fertilizer facility in April 2013.
Coalition Urges Action Soon
A coalition of nearly 150 environmental, labor and public interest groups told the White House that the September target date for the proposal could be too late to ensure that the changes take effect before the end of the Obama administration (54 DEN A-15, 3/20/15).
But the small businesses review could further delay the proposed rule and, in turn, the final rule. For the past five EPA rulemakings that involved small business reviews and published proposed rules, an average of 14 months has passed between the small business panel being convened and publication of the proposed rule.
The EPA has set a July 3 deadline to nominate small business representatives for the panel. Given the various steps that follow, it is unlikely the agency will issue its proposal by the end of 2015, James W. Conrad of Conrad Law & Policy Counsel told Bloomberg BNA June 19.
The EPA has moved slowly through the rulemaking thus far, and the small business review may further delay the process, Rick Hind, legislative director with Greenpeace, told Bloomberg BNA June 19.
“We have an EPA that's already moving as if it has 90 ton railcars attached to each of its legs,” Hind said. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE HE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
-
British Columbia, U.S. Western States Work Toward Coordinated Oil Spill Response Plans
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jeremy Hainsworth
State and provincial jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canadian West are developing coordinated environmental protection responses for oil spills and accidents involving hazardous material, the Pacific States–British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force said June 18.
All jurisdictions need integrated responses to land-based spills from hydrocarbons, petrochemical and mining incidents, as well as marine incidents arising from growing traffic in liquefied natural gas, crude oil and petrochemicals, according to Wes Shoemaker, chairman of the task force.
British Columbia Environment Minister Mary Polak said in a statement that the province is not prepared for a major spill.
On June 15, the B.C. government introduced legislation and regulations for a land-based pipeline spill plan to respond to environmental threats outside the purview of a federal response. Shoemaker, Polak's deputy minister, said the legislation will likely take effect in 2017.
The development of liquefied natural gas in the province and the proposed transportation of Alberta oil sands crude to the West Coast through the Enbridge Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipelines highlight the need for terrestrial response plans, according to Polak.
The legislation would fill gaps in federal laws and regulations on oil transportation, he said.
State Efforts
Meanwhile, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Larry Hartig said the state is working with Royal Dutch Shell on exploratory drilling proposals to ensure they meet state and new Arctic standards .
In Oregon, Department of Environmental Quality Director Dick Pedersen said oil-by-rail has “just exploded” in the Pacific Northwest and the state is in the process of passing legislation for spill responses.
Oregon House Bill 3225 would require oil spill response planning for rail, expand inland spill response capacity and increase funding for oil spill prevention and preparedness.
The bill went to public hearing June 17.
Washington State Department of Ecology Spill Preparedness & Response Program acting manager Kathy Taylor said oil transportation poses specific threats on the Columbia River and in Grays Harbor, where Westway Terminal Co. and Imperium Renewables have proposed building facilities that would receive crude oil among other hazardous materials .
In April, Washington lawmakers gave final approval to House Bill 1449 to increase oil train safety, which Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed in May. The new bill goes into effect July 1.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife Office of Spill Prevention and Response administrator said the state would soon be rolling out spill response regulations with contingency requirements for plan holders.
The task force was established in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and previously issued 111 recommendations to improve coordination by entities responding to oil spills near the Alaska-Canada border or Canada-Washington border.
-
(ACC Mentioned) U.S. Industrial Natural Gas Usage Falls Unexpectedly
Jun 19, 2015 | Reuters
By Scott DiSavino
U.S. manufacturers have not soaked up as much excess shale gas in the first half of 2015 as expected, but the shortfall may be an anomaly as a Gulf Coast manufacturing boom is poised to insulate the sector from seasonal demand fluctuations.
Average industrial demand for gas in 2015 was expected to increase nearly 4 percent over 2014, according to federal energy forecasts. But almost halfway through the year, it has eased about 1 percent to 21.7 billion cubic feet per day from 22 bcfd a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters Analytics.
The primary reason for the decline was a milder winter this year than last year's brutal cold in the heavily industrialized U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast.
"The industrial sector has become more temperature-sensitive over the years, so it's not surprising industrial demand was a little disappointing this winter," said Kyle Cooper, managing director of research at energy consultancy IAF Advisors in Houston.
Experts, however, expect the industrial sector to become less weather-sensitive as more manufacturing facilities enter service along the Gulf Coast, where heating is in less demand than in the Midwest.
Power generators and manufacturing companies will consume most of the gas in the United States over the next 25 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. So far this year, however, only the power sector had gobbled up its share of near-record output from shale fields.
Power generators accounted for 33 percent of U.S. gas consumption, burning on average 23.9 bcfd so far in 2015. That compared with 20.1 bcfd a year earlier and a 10-year average of 19.0 bcfd.
With the retirement of dozens of U.S. coal plants for economic and environmental reasons, power generators used near-record amounts of gas this year because the fuel was relatively cheap.
Futures at the Henry Hub benchmark supply point in Louisiana averaged $2.77 per million British thermal units so far this year, the lowest since 2012. That compared with $4.66 per mmBtu for the same time in 2014.
And the market expects prices to remain low for years as shale gas output grows, with futures trading below $4 through 2022.
SHALE-INSPIRED RENAISSANCE
Plentiful and affordable gas supplies from shale plays have transformed the United States from one of the world's highest-cost producers 10 years ago to among the lowest-cost today.
Chemical companies alone expect to spend more than $100 billion to build or expand more than 200 U.S. projects and create more than 300,000 jobs by 2023, according to the American Chemistry Council lobbying group.
"The boom in industrial demand will not take off until 2017 to 2020, when many new manufacturing facilities, especially chemical plants, enter service," said Gregory Shuttlesworth, executive director of natural gas at consultancy PIRA Energy Group in New York.
Experts said they did not expect manufacturers to dominate the U.S. gas market the way they once did, however.
"The industrial sector will soon get back to the same volume of gas it used in 2000," IAF Advisors' Cooper said, "but I doubt we'll ever see manufacturing back to the same percentage of total gas used 15 years ago."
The EIA forecast gas used by industrial companies would rise to about 22.5 bcfd in 2016, the first time it would top the 22.3 bcfd level set in 2000.
In the mid 2000s, many gas-intensive U.S. companies fled for lower cost markets after gas futures jumped above $10 per mmBtu in 2000 and then to an all-time high past $15 in 2005 after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast.
The EIA said it expected U.S. industrial companies to continue to consume about 30 percent of the nation's gas over the next 25 years, compared with more than 35 percent 15 years ago. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Jessica Resnick-Ault and Lisa Von Ahn)
-
(ACC Mentioned) Industry Groups Use Mayors’ Meeting To Push Against Ozone Rule
Jun 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A hundred business groups signed a letter to President Obama Friday asking him to abandon his plan to restrict ozone pollution levels.
The groups sent the letter the same day Obama is speaking at the annual meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors in San Francisco.They argued that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to set the ozone limit at 65 to 70 parts per billion — down from the current 75 parts per billion — would stifle economic activity.
“The objectives of this regulation are important: ensuring clean and safe air for the public and environment. We are committed to these objectives,” wrote the groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Chemistry Council.
“However, the simple fact is that we have reached a point with this particular policy that regulatory flexibilities are diminishing and technological feasibility is lacking,” they said. “We are committed to striving for additional improvements in environmental protection, but we need policies that allow us to grow, innovate and unlock the next generation of technological breakthroughs.”
The groups urged Obama to listen to the Conference of Mayors, which filed comments with the EPA in March opposing the rule, along other other associations of local government leaders.
Cities are uniquely impacted both by air pollution and by the regulations meant to control it; dense areas are like to have concentrated manufacturing, transportation and other activities that burn fossil fuels.
Those fossil fuels can turn into ozone, the main component of smog that can cause or exacerbate various respiratory illnesses.
Areas that do not comply with ozone limits must work to reduce pollution, which could impact businesses that rely on fossil fuels.
-
(ACC Mentioned) Industry Groups Urge Obama To Keep 2008 Ozone Standard
Jun 19, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
One hundred industry groups today appealed to President Barack Obama to abandon plans to raise the existing ground-level ozone standard from its 2008 level.
In a letter to Obama spearheaded by the National Association of Manufacturers and joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the American Chemistry Council, the industry groups noted that the U.S. Conference of Mayors — which the president is set to address today in San Francisco — came out in favor of keeping the 2008 ozone standard in March.
“[T]he simple fact is that we have reached a point with this particular policy that regulatory flexibilities are diminishing and technological feasibility is lacking,” the industry groups wrote. “We are committed to striving for additional improvements in environmental protection, but we need policies that allow us to grow, innovate and unlock the next generation of technological breakthroughs."
-
Top Dems: Raise Drilling Royalty Rates
Jun 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Two House Democrats asked the Bureau of Land Management on Friday to increase the royalty rates for gas and oil drilling on federal land.
Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, and Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), said the BLM should consider raising its minimum royalty rate for oil and gas drilling from 12.5 percent to 18.75 percent.They said the agency should consider “other royalty-rate structures” like a sliding scale based on oil prices, and they suggested regulators should be able to raise royalty rates on individual lease sales without having to go through a formal regulatory process.
“Ensuring a fair return to the American taxpayer for the extraction of their resources from public lands is one of the most critical stewardship tasks of the Bureau of Land Management,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to BLM Director Neil Kornze.
The BLM announced in April that it was considering raising the royalty rate for oil and gas drilling on federal lands. The current level is 12.5 percent of drilling operations’ production value, lower than the royalty rate in several states and the federal rate for offshore drilling.
Friday is the last day the BLM is accepting comments on the proposal. The oil industry pushed back on the plan when the bureau announced it, and Grijalva’s Republican counterpart on the Natural Resources Committee, Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah), opposes it as well, calling it “another regulatory assault from the Obama administration” in April.
Grijalva and Lowenthal, the ranking member on the Natural Resources energy and mineral resources subcommittee, said the BLM should also increase bonding levels and civil penalties for companies that violate lease terms.
“In general, we are concerned that the current leasing process is excessively generous to oil and gas companies,” the lawmakers wrote.
-
America’s Self-Punishing Oil Export Ban
Jun 22, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal
By Harold Hamm
Amid news of a pending nuclear deal with Iran, some OPEC countries have struck agreements with refineries in Asia to avoid losing market share when Iranian oil comes back on the market. If U.S. policy will allow Iran to export oil, shouldn’t it allow America to do the same? Clearly, our allies would rather get their oil from America than Iran if given the choice. But without the ability to export, the U.S. is not even in the game.
Congress must lift the ban on U.S. crude oil exports. The ban is a terrible relic of the Nixon era that harms the American economy. As Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) has pointed out, restrictions on oil trade effectively amount to domestic sanctions. Combined with a mismatch in refining capacity, the ban on oil exports is creating a significant discount for U.S. light oil at no benefit to anyone except refiners and their foreign ownership. It has cost U.S. states, producers and royalty owners $125 billion in lost revenue in four years, according to industry estimates.
Foreign producers are using their heavy oil—and the U.S. ban on exports—as a weapon against America. Over the past three decades countries such as Venezuela, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Canada have overtaken U.S. refining capacity to run their heavy crude in American refineries and capture a large portion of the U.S. market. Without firing a shot, they have disadvantaged American oil and interests.
It started in the late 1980s, when the consensus was that America was running out of crude oil. To ensure a never-ending market for their grade of crude, foreign producers began buying into U.S. refining capacity and making joint-venture deals for their heavy oil.
This is still happening, even as U.S. independent producers have discovered an abundant supply of domestic high-quality light oil. Today, 28% of U.S. refining capacity is foreign-owned, according to the Energy Information Administration, and nearly all of it is configured to process heavy oil. The goal is to use the export ban to devalue U.S. oil production by limiting light crude refining capacity. This keeps America from becoming energy independent.
Exporting oil would not drive up prices at the pump. American drivers buy refined products, which the U.S. already exports. Many studies—from a range of institutions and government agencies, including the Congressional Budget Office and the Energy Information Administration—have shown that lifting the export ban could actually lower gas prices.
The situation is urgent, as OPEC’s recent predatory pricing tactics are also hurting America and prematurely ending the boom in U.S. oil production due to hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, and horizontal drilling. The U.S. rig count has dropped by more than 50% since Thanksgiving, according to the oilfield services company Baker Hughes. More than 126,000 oil and gas workers have been laid off, and job losses are expected to double if the export ban is not lifted.
Almost 50 years of experience has taught me it takes about three times as long to bring crude oil production back on as it does to ramp it down. If the ban is not lifted, prices will likely shoot up as a short-supplied market is created. Manufacturing will slow down, America will again become dependent on foreign oil, and our allies will be forced to get supplies from Russia and Iran.
Unleashing American oil into the global marketplace is not only a timely way to stimulate economic growth, but also shows our allies that we are willing to be their partners in reducing OPEC and Russian foreign-policy leverage. Without the ability to export crude oil, we are chasing our allies into the open arms of dictatorial regimes.
If America’s interest is stability of supply, peace and prosperity, then our current policy doesn’t work. There isn’t a more urgent issue affecting the future of our nation and the world than lifting the ban on U.S. oil exports.
-
Partisan Divide Over Exports To Surface In Foreign Relations Hearing
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Hannah Northey
Republicans keen on exporting the country's oil and gas are likely to clash with their Democratic colleagues tomorrow as a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee digs into the international implications of selling energy overseas at a faster clip.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic Energy and Environmental Policy, will likely tout his effort to fast-track exports of liquefied natural gas to U.S. allies at a hearing on the issue.
The senator earlier this month tried unsuccessfully to attach language to the defense bill, which would have sped up federal approvals of LNG exports (E&E Daily, June 10).
Yet two other members of the Senate subcommittee -- Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) -- have emerged as some of Capitol Hill's leading export skeptics and will likely take issue with any efforts to push for faster sales abroad.
Keenly aware of the partisan tension is David Gordon, senior adviser for the Eurasia Group and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, who is scheduled to testify before the subcommittee.
Gordon said during an interview last week that he plans on talking about the national security benefits that the United States would derive from speeding up LNG exports and lifting the crude export ban, namely making the global energy market more resilient by introducing energy sources not vulnerable to political upheaval or instability. Gordon said doing so would weaken Russia's grip on Eastern Europe, improve stability between the United States and China, and open Asian markets.
Gordon said he backs a number of Barrasso's export measures but acknowledged there are a number of ways to "get from here to there." He also said the United States will likely see faster LNG export approvals before seeing any action on lifting the crude export ban, an issue that's attracting more support among Democrats but remains a prickly topic on the Hill.
"You might get some speeding up of LNG, but the oil issue isn't likely to move all that quickly," he said. "We're still in an educational mode in some sense."
Schedule: The hearing is Tuesday, June 23, at 2:45 p.m. in 419 Dirksen.
Witnesses: Robert McNally, president of the Rapidan Group LLC; David Gordon, senior adviser for the Eurasia Group, and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security; and Jamie Webster, senior director of IHS Energy.
-
Cassidy: Natgas Exports And Keystone Can Help The Poor Cope With Climate Change
Jun 19, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
Speeding liquefied natural gas exports and building Keystone XL are the best ways to answer the Pope’s recent call for action on climate change, Sen. Bill Cassidy said in an interview set to air this weekend.
The Louisiana Republican, in an interview taped Thursday for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program, said that while he has yet to read the papal encyclical on the environment, “what I was told was, it’s a moral imperative because those who are poor are most likely to be affected.”
Fighting global warming, Cassidy added, should not exacerbate poverty among those already struggling with energy costs.
“Natural gas exports create jobs,” he added, and provide other nations with a cleaner-burning alternative to coal. In addition, he said, “The Keystone XL pipeline is something we could do to address the moral problem of poverty and climate change.” -
White House Seeking Help of Mayors In Gaining Support for Clean Power Plan
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
The Obama administration is looking to U.S. mayors, who are doing much of the front-line work on climate change issues, to support the fight for the president's Clean Power Plan, a White House adviser told the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Cities are leading the way in solving problems from climate change to veteran homelessness, said Rogan Patel, special assistant to the president and deputy director of intergovernmental affairs at the White House.
President Barack Obama spoke to the annual mayors' conference June 19 in San Francisco hours after Patel made his pitch to mayors for their help in the political heavy lifting on the climate action plan.
“There's a lot of great work happening at the city level, and one of the more political reasons we are so anxious to lift that up is because the crown jewel of the president's clean air plan is going to be around the Clean Power Plan” and fights about how states put together plans to comply, Patel said.
The Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33), expected to be finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency in August, would set carbon dioxide emissions limits for existing power plants in each state (106 DEN A-4, 6/3/15).
Benefits of Clean Energy
States such as Florida and Texas “are actually benefiting in a huge way from wind, solar, fuel cell technology and from a lot of other technology, both in terms of jobs and clean energy deployment. But you will see for the politics of it some of their governors not necessarily leaning in and saying they want to develop plans,” Patel said.
“If we have mayors stepping up in places like Pensacola, Fla., and we have mayors in places like Houston, Texas, stepping up and saying, ‘This is not only the right thing to do morally—this is the right thing to do economically, as cities that's what we're taking advantage of.’ We will be doing everything in our power to lift up the stories here today,” Patel said.
Mayors' Letter Supports Action
The mayors of 47 cities outlined the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda in a June 18 letter to Obama. The letter called on the administration to fight for the strongest possible climate agreement at the upcoming United Nations negotiations in Paris and for federal action to establish binding national greenhouse gas emission limits.
Houston Mayor Annise Parker announced the letter at a climate change action event on the eve of the Conference of Mayors meeting.
Karen Florini, State Department deputy special envoy for climate change, who spoke to the mayors' Energy Independence and Climate Protection Task Force, told Bloomberg BNA that cities “are well-organized. They are increasingly vocal. They are bringing forward a number of combined ways the commitments are being made on an individual jurisdiction.”
Help for cities working on climate solutions is coming from Pope Francis, who June 18 issued an encyclical on climate change and the environment and from companies such as Google Inc., the task force was told (118 DEN A-6, 6/19/15).
Obama is meeting with Pope Francis when he visits the U.S. this fall, one week after meeting with Chinese officials, Patel said. An agreement forged in 2014 between the U.S. and China on greenhouse gas emissions “broke down something that has been a real albatross in terms of the international side of things,” Patel said.
Cities Should Seek Business as Partners
John Eddy, a principal with global consulting firm Arup, said cities should look to business for willing partners.
Google operates 200 buses to get workers to the job. “They're solving problems that aren't being solved fast enough,” Eddy said. And companies now are talking about building houses for workers, almost going back to the mills and factory-city days to attract workers, he said.
“You've got to engage with the businesses because many of the businesses that are really concerned about staying where they are and the quality of life are willing to spend money to solve problems,” said Eddy, who predicts businesses “are going to be helping you more than ever and give you money.”
-
GOP Paints Bull's-Eye On Clean Power Plan With Week Of Votes And Hearings
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Jean Chemnick
Capitol Hill Republicans will use President Obama's flagship carbon dioxide rule for target practice this week, as the House considers two bills on the floor that would prevent U.S. EPA from implementing its Clean Power Plan while the Senate and House each holds a hearing to highlight its costs.
The House will vote this week on a bill by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) that would allow states to defer compliance with the existing power plant rule or opt out of it altogether. The measure, H.R. 2042, would give all states a reprieve from writing implementation plans -- which would be due to EPA beginning next year -- until judicial review has concluded. It is scheduled to hit the floor Wednesday.
Even after the courts weigh in, state governors can choose not to comply with the rule citing a variety of economic concerns under the Whitfield measure, with EPA prevented from stepping in with a state implementation plan in either case.
Still, Whitfield, who leads a key House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, said at a markup in April that his bill was not aimed at killing the EPA rule. Rather, it is an attempt to save states the trouble and expense of complying with it before it meets what critics predict will be its demise in the courts.
"We're simply saying it's so outside the bounds of expectations that we should allow the courts to render a decision before states are put in this position," the Energy and Power Subcommittee chairman said.
It is clear that the rule will not just have its day in court, but could be tied up in the legal system for years.
Energy companies and 12 states have already launched a pre-emptive strike against the draft, previewing many of the same arguments that will likely figure in subsequent challenges when the rule is final later this summer (Greenwire, June 9).
The crux of the challenge headed by Murray Energy Corp. and West Virginia -- which was dismissed by the courts as premature because the rule has not been finalized -- is whether EPA has the statutory authority to regulate power plant greenhouse gas emissions under one section of the Clean Air Act when it is already controlling mercury from the same sources under a different section of the law. A discrepancy in the statutory language casts doubt on the agency's authority to do both, and that argument is likely to resurface after the rule is final, along with questions about its architecture and scope.
Environmentalists note that it is already possible to petition the court for a judicial stay if plaintiffs can show they are likely to prevail and that complying with the rule in the meantime will cause them irreversible harm.
Whitfield's measure currently has 67 co-sponsors, including three Democrats -- Reps. Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Terri Sewell of Alabama.
It is expected to clear the chamber with little difficulty, but it is unclear how a similar but not identical Senate bill would fare. The measure, S. 1324, will be the subject of a hearing next week in the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety headed by sponsor Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) seems to have pinned his hopes for scuttling EPA's rule on the annual appropriations process. McConnell used his perch on the Appropriations Committee to tack language onto the fiscal 2016 Interior Department and EPA spending bill last week that would bar EPA from using funds to implement the rule (Greenwire, June 18).
The measure that McConnell inserted into the Interior spending bill solidifies in legislative text that states have the option to refuse to comply with EPA's power plant rule. The language will give governors who follow McConnell's advice and "just say no" to the rule a reprieve from its provisions, he said in a statement last Thursday.
"If enacted, the measure I secured today will guarantee that governors who heeded my warning will be protected, while also prohibiting funding for the EPA to force states to submit an implementation plan," he said. He added that he had joined the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee last year "specifically to be in a position to oversee the EPA's budget and to protect Kentucky jobs."
The spending bill the House will vote on this week also contains a policy rider providing a temporary stay on the Clean Power Plan (see related story). But Obama has already said he would veto the bill should it arrive on his desk. And the decision by all of the Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats to vote against the bill in committee last week to protest this and other policy riders highlights how contentious the measure is in a chamber that requires a 60-vote majority for passage.
Meanwhile, congressional committees continue their scrutiny of the rule, with Capito's subcommittee holding a hearing on its chairwoman's measure tomorrow with industry, state, labor and medical witnesses.
While Whitfield's bill deals solely with the Clean Power Plan, Capito's would scrap EPA proposals for new and modified power plants, as well. Witnesses Paul Cicio, president of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, Eugene Trisko of the United Mine Workers of America and Harry Alford of the National Black Chamber of Commerce are likely to argue that staying all three of the rules is necessary to avoid runaway costs and reliability problems that could jeopardize economic growth. Democratic invitees James Martens, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and Mary Rice, a professor at the Harvard Medical School, are expected to counter that crippling EPA's ability to regulate heat-trapping emissions would undermine public health and allow atmospheric carbon to grow unchecked.
On the other side of the Capitol on Wednesday, another EPA critic, House Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), will hold a hearing on the existing power plant rule's economic costs.
The panel will consider the economic modeling of the rule the U.S. Energy Information Administration completed in May at the Science Committee's request, which showed that electricity prices would tick up modestly if it were enacted (E&ENews PM, May 22).
They would increase by between 3 and 7 percent between 2020 and 2025 compared with a no-rule scenario, according to EIA estimates. They would be 4 percent higher by 2030 and 2.6 percent higher by 2040.
Howard Gruenspecht, deputy administrator of EIA, will appear to explain the analysis.
Schedule: The Senate hearing is Tuesday, June 23, at 2 p.m. in 406 Dirksen.
Witnesses: Eugene Trisko, consultant for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity; Harry Alford, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce; Paul Cicio, president of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America; Joseph Martens, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; and Mary Rice, instructor in medicine in the Harvard Medical School, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine.
Schedule: The House hearing is Wednesday, June 24, at 10 a.m. in 2318 Rayburn.
Witnesses: Kevin Dayaratna, senior statistician and research programmer for the Heritage Foundation; Stephen Eule, vice president for climate and technology at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Howard Gruenspecht, deputy administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration; and Susan Tierney, senior adviser for the Analysis Group Inc.
-
House To Vote On Interior-EPA Spending Bill
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Amanda Peterka and Phil Taylor
The House this week will take up a fiscal 2016 spending plan for the Interior Department and U.S. EPA that includes several policy riders aimed at key Obama administration environmental regulations.
The legislation would provide the combined departments and related agencies with $30.17 billion, or $246 million below current spending levels and $3 billion below President Obama's fiscal 2016 request for the agencies.
EPA would take a hit of about 9 percent, or $718 million, under the spending plan. House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) has said that both the bill's funding levels and the policy provisions would put a halt to regulations that Republicans believe are crippling industry.
"We must do whatever we can to keep the government from inhibiting economic growth and overregulating and overtaxing American business and industry, and this appropriations is a great place to start," Rogers said last week.
The bill includes slight funding boosts for Interior agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service, while funding for the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service -- which is housed within the Agriculture Department -- would remain roughly level.
The full House Appropriations Committee last Tuesday approved H.R. 2822 on a 30-21 party-line vote.
Likely to take center stage during a contentious floor debate on the bill are the more than 20 policy riders targeting regulations on greenhouse gases, air pollution, water quality and endangered species protections, among others. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow to decide on debate rules; Democrats will likely put forth many amendments in an attempt to strip away the policy provisions and slow the bill's progress.
President Obama is also likely to issue a veto threat on the bill. Last week, Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan told House appropriators that the Obama administration had "serious concerns" about both the legislation's funding levels and its "ideological riders."
Chief among the bill's regulatory targets are EPA's plans to require carbon dioxide reductions from new and existing power plants. The bill would put a halt to both EPA's Clean Power Plan for existing plants, as well as the agency's new source performance standards for new or modified operations.
The legislation would also stop EPA's final rule to change the scope of water bodies in the United States that receive automatic protection under the Clean Water Act.
Last week, the House Appropriations Committee added language in a party-line vote that would also push back EPA's review of the national ambient air quality standard for ozone. Under the measure, EPA would not be able to issue a new standard until at least 85 percent of counties have achieved the current limit, which was last set in 2008 during the George W. Bush administration.
This week's floor debate may also shine a spotlight on the greater sage grouse, a boisterous species whose decline in 11 Western states has sparked one of the biggest Endangered Species Act battles in history. Fish and Wildlife Service is required by Sept. 30 to decide whether grouse need federal protections, but the House spending bill would forbid it from writing a listing rule until October 2016. Democrats, backed by wildlife groups, may seek to strip the bill of that language.
Democrats and Republicans may also try to force a vote on President Obama's proposal to shift some wildfire funding to a disaster pot in order to allow more predictable budgeting at the Forest Service. The House bill rejects the administration's proposal, but Senate Republican appropriators last week signed off on a modified version of the wildfire plan.
The House bill would also block the Bureau of Land Management's new hydraulic fracturing rule and rejects BLM's request to impose new fees for oil and gas inspections. Democrats support both the fracking rule and new inspection fees, but Republicans warn they would stifle drilling on public lands.
Funding levels for the National Park Service's centennial and for the Land and Water Conservation Fund are also ripe for potential floor debate.
Schedule: The meeting is Tuesday, June 23, at 5 p.m. in H-313 Capitol.
-
California Governors Tend To Win State Budget Fights
Jun 19, 2015 | The Sacramento Bee
By David Siders
Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, defending a more expansive state spending plan than Gov. Jerry Brown would allow, sermonized earlier this week on the Senate floor about the power of the Legislature.
“We don’t treat whoever occupies executive office ... as a deity,” he said. “This is a coequal branch of government.”
But the budget agreement announced the next day – and passed by lawmakers on Friday – laid bare how overmatched the Democratic-controlled Legislature stands in spending talks with a governor of its own party.
Though lawmakers secured significant spending increases for education and health care, the $115.4 billion general fund plan largely preserves the lower overall spending levels Brown proposed, as well as his more conservative revenue estimates.
At the news conference announcing the agreement, the governor was asked, “How were you able to get them to blink?”
The outcome reflected a political dynamic fixed for years in California budget talks: For as much as lawmakers demand, it is the governor who holds greater leverage in negotiations. He wields the power of a line-item veto.
Governors virtually always get what they want
Steve Merksamer, who was Republican Gov. George Deukmejian’s chief of staff
“Governors virtually always get what they want,” said Steve Merksamer, who was Republican Gov. George Deukmejian’s chief of staff. “The governor, at the end of the day, wields the ultimate authority because he has the blue pencil (veto), and he can knock out programs that he thinks are over-funded.”
Brown, a fourth-term governor with favorable public approval ratings and a well-funded campaign account, asserted himself in budget talks in 2011, when he issued what was believed to be an unprecedented budget veto.
Negotiations have become less rancorous in years since. This year, by working within Brown’s overall spending framework, legislative Democrats successfully prodded Brown to agree to funding increases for preschool and college education and to expand Medi-Cal coverage to 170,000 undocumented children starting in May 2016.
The administration recalculated expenses in Medi-Cal and a college scholarship program, finding a total of $257 million.
Though total general fund spending came in only about $61 million higher than Brown proposed, a series of budget shifts allowed lawmakers and the governor to free up money already in Brown’s plan. The administration recalculated expenses in Medi-Cal and a college scholarship program, finding a total of $257 million.
On Friday, de León said lawmakers had made “unprecedented gains” in child care and education.
Yet Brown forced lawmakers to abandon proposals to eliminate a cap on welfare-to-work payments and to fund a rate increase for caretakers of developmentally disabled people, among other measures.
“Our realities are you can’t always get what you want or what we need, given the limited resources that we have,” de León said. “However, we live to fight for another day.”
At a rally outside the Capitol on Wednesday, Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, lamented that disabled people “don’t have a political action committee, they don’t give money to candidates … there’s no high-priced lobbyists running around lobbying for them” during budget deliberations.
Asked why the Legislature conceded to Brown on funding, Beall said, “I don’t know. He’s very steadfast in his refusal to increase spending.”
Brown and lawmakers often fought over spending when Brown was governor before, from 1975 to 1983, including a legislative override when he vetoed a pay raise for state employees.
In contrast, by collaborating with Brown, lawmakers gain more certainty for the program funding they manage to include in their budgets. Last year, Brown’s line-item vetoes totaled only about $38 million, mostly for technical fixes in the budget legislation.
The budget agreement approved Friday won support from some Senate Republicans, while one Senate Democrat, Holly Mitchell, refused to vote on the plan. Mitchell of Los Angeles said the budget did too little to help people living in poverty.
In the lower house, the budget bill passed almost entirely along party lines, with every Republican except for Rocky Chávez of Oceanside voting against it.
Democrats in the Legislature passed a more expansive spending plan on Monday, knowing Brown would not accept it but racing to meet a June 15 deadline or give up pay.
“I was frankly surprised that they did give in so early, and for so little,” said Jeff Cummins, a political science professor at California State University, Fresno.
However, Cummins said, “they might come back later on with something that the Legislature wants” and that it is possible Brown has “signaled some willingness to do what they want” in other areas.
Brown this week called special sessions on health care funding, and roads and infrastructure, and lawmakers are still negotiating with Brown over millions of dollars in spending of revenue from cap and trade, money polluters pay to offset carbon emissions.
Legislative leaders successfully pushed back on Brown on a controversial proposal to exempt a range of drought-related projects from provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act, the state’s signature environmental law. Lawmakers on Friday rejected broader language proposed by the administration, limiting the kind of projects eligible for exemptions.
Former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat who negotiated budgets with both Brown and his predecessor, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, recalled going into budget talks with pressure from constituents and rank-and-file lawmakers to advocate for myriad spending increases, while “knowing that in the end you’re going to negotiate for three or four hundred million dollars” on top of the governor’s proposal.
Steinberg said the Legislature’s achievements in years following the recession should be judged collectively, as program expansions negotiated one year typically enjoy ongoing funding even as lawmakers obtain new spending commitments in other areas.
“It’s so easy to forget how difficult these budgets were a mere five, six years ago,” Steinberg said. “It’s easy to take for granted that we’ve worked through the hard times and are living in better times, so the fights now – these are good fights to have.”
-
GOP Lawmaker Looks To Block EPA Ozone Rule
Jun 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) has introduced a bill to block a proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule setting stringent new standards for surface-level ozone.
Grothman’s bill would prevent the EPA from tightening regulations on any of the six pollutants covered by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Instead, Congress would write those standards.The EPA is currently finalizing a rule lowering the acceptable concentration of surface-level ozone from 75 parts per billion to 65 or 70 parts per billion. Opponents have slammed the rule, warning compliance will be expensive and lead to job losses, especially in the manufacturing sector.
“The new regulations the Obama administration is pushing onto American manufacturers are putting manufacturing jobs at risk," Grothman said in a statement. "The overregulation of America's manufacturing industry is driving away business and innovation, the backbone of our economy."
Under current law, the EPA reviews its air quality standards every five years and determines whether to rewrite them. The EPA says stricter ozone standards are needed to improve public health.
Republicans and red-state Democrats in both the House and Senate have taken aim at the EPA’s ozone rule, which will be finalized by this fall.
Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas) has introduced a bill requiring the EPA to issue new rules only after considering their compliance cost and achievability.
Sens. John Thune (R-S.D) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced a bill this session blocking the EPA from issuing new ozone standards until 85 percent of the counties that are considered in "non-attainment" with the standing regulations can comply. More than 200 counties still can't meet the current ozone standard.
House Energy and Commerce Committee panels have held hearings on the rule each of the last two weeks. And on Wednesday, a group of GOP doctors sent a letter to the EPA saying they don’t think the rule will have the positive health impacts the EPA says it will.
-
O'Malley Climate Plan Seen Prodding Clinton Toward Greater Policy Specifics
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) said making the U.S. run entirely on clean energy by 2050 would be a top priority if he is elected president, and environmental advocates told Bloomberg BNA June 19 they were optimistic his climate platform would push Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton to get more specific about how she would address the problem.
In a white paper, O'Malley said he would take a series of executive actions to build on the Obama administration's Climate Action Plan. Those actions include:
• ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to develop greenhouse gas regulations for other large emitters beyond power plants,
• retrofitting federal buildings and the federal vehicle fleet to the highest efficiency standards,
• adopting a zero-tolerance policy for methane leaks from existing oil and gas infrastructure,
• rejecting offshore drilling and infrastructure projects such as the proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline, and
• creating a Clean Energy Jobs Corps to improve energy efficiency in buildings, boost local resiliency, create new green spaces and grow the nation's forests.
“We cannot meet the climate challenge with an all-of-the-above energy strategy, or by drilling off our coasts, or by building pipelines that bring oil from tar sands in Canada,” O'Malley wrote in a USA Today op-ed article June 18 announcing his platform. “I believe, within 35 years, our country can, and should, be 100% powered by clean energy, supported by millions of new jobs. To reach this goal we must accelerate that transition starting now.”
Creative Uses of Authority
O'Malley's platform drew praise from environmental advocates for its “creative uses of executive authority,” and they told Bloomberg BNA it would place “enormous pressure” on Clinton to announce her own substantive platform for addressing the problem.
“There are a lot of votes that you're going to leave on the table if you don't come up with a real solution to the climate change problem,” Karthik Ganapathy, communications manager for 350.org, told Bloomberg BNA. “That's just an electoral risk that people can't afford to take. It's noteworthy and heartening to see a candidate of this caliber come out with such an ambitious and forward-thinking agenda.”
Advocates have faulted Clinton for her lack of specifics on how to address climate change and for her lack of concrete positions on issues ranging from hydraulic fracturing to the Keystone pipeline. O'Malley and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are expected to push Clinton leftward on environmental issues (104 DEN A-1, 6/1/15).
Other Candidates Urged to Get Specific
Even some environmental advocates who have previously expressed strong praise for Clinton, including billionaire Tom Steyer—who founded NextGen Climate and held a fundraiser for Clinton in May—strongly praised O'Malley's climate plan. He urged other candidates to outline their platforms on the issue.
“This is exactly the type of leadership on climate change the pope, military and business leaders are calling for—and that we need from our next president,” Steyer said of O'Malley in a June 18 statement. “I look forward to seeing candidates in both parties lay out their plans to take decisive action on this issue and build a more prosperous and sustainable future for our kids—and I hope they show the same boldness that Governor O'Malley did today.”
Daniel J. Weiss of the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, who in April praised Clinton's “strong record of leadership in support of public health safeguards and climate pollution reductions,” told Bloomberg BNA his group hoped O'Malley's action would generate debate among all presidential candidates.
“The O'Malley plan is the type we hope to see from all the candidates,” Weiss said. “We hope that this proposal will lead to meaningful discussion among candidates of both parties about proposals to create real and lasting reductions of industrial carbon pollution while growing investments in clean energy technologies that boost the economy and create jobs.”
Sanders Plans Proposals
Sanders, who has called climate change a very important part of his 2016 presidential bid, also told Bloomberg BNA in late May that he planned to unveil “very significant” policy proposals on how to shift the U.S. away from fossil fuels and speed development of cleaner alternatives (99 DEN A-20, 5/22/15).
While Clinton has not yet outlined specific policy solutions to combat climate change, she did in her June 13 launch speech pledge to “make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century” and mocked Republicans who continue to deny the problem
“Ask many of these candidates about climate change, one of the defining threats of our time, and they'll say ‘I'm not a scientist,' ” Clinton said. “Well, then, why don't they start listening to those who are?”
Critics Slam ‘Pie-in-the-Sky' Proposal
Fossil fuel industry groups slammed O'Malley's proposal as hopelessly naive and said the U.S. would continue to rely on traditional energy sources to supply electricity.
“It's disappointing Gov. O'Malley is proposing pie-in-the-sky policies that ignore the economic realities facing millions of hardworking Americans,” Laura Sheehan, a spokeswoman for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, told Bloomberg BNA. Policy makers “should support new and innovative technologies that can cleanly and successfully power the world for generations to come, rather than focusing their effort and ideology on a glide path to economic destruction.”
Another energy industry lobbyist told Bloomberg BNA the O'Malley plan should be seen by the Clinton campaign as a warning that they were not afraid to back another candidate if the former secretary of state did not announce a specific platform for tackling climate change.
-
California Helps Lead U.N. Mission On Climate Change
Jun 20, 2015 | San Francisco Chronicle
By John Diaz
Pope Francis’ clarion call on climate change has been duly hailed as a potential game changer in the long-elusive effort to gain a global commitment for action. His 184-page encyclical, released last week, framed the issue in stark moral terms. The former chemist warned of the planet devolving into “an immense pile of filth” from its wealthier economies’ overreliance on fossil fuels.
As the United Nations prepares to gather world leaders in Paris for yet another conference on the issue this fall, its climate-change chief is citing another factor that could help galvanize support from wary nations: the California experience.
“From an international perspective, developing countries are the ones who are going to have to make most of the changes, because that is where most of the energy demand is in the future; that is where most of the growth is going to be in the future,” said Christiana Figueres, who leads the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“Of course for them, the question is: Show me where there is an example,” she added during a meeting last week with The Chronicle’s editorial board. Climate Change Pope’s encyclical taps demand for social justice EPA seeks to cut truck emissions Pope blasts California’s cap-and-trade system Pope gives climate-change action a needed push
California has a history of pioneering environmental law. In 1965, in response to stifling air pollution in the Los Angeles Basin and elsewhere, it became the first state to regulate vehicle exhaust by setting limits on hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions. A succession of additional state regulations became national standards — and today’s vehicles are 99 percent cleaner than they were in 1975.
The state’s boldest move ever may have been AB32, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, which included more than 20 measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
As Figueres noted, that landmark law has been a magnet for investment in clean technologies here. She acknowledged that the California experience “is not easily replicated elsewhere” in view of the state’s wealth, weather and Silicon Valley innovation hub, where entrepreneurs are positioning to develop world-changing green technologies.
California, she said, is showing that economies do not necessarily have to choose between growth and prosperity and carbon reduction.
Figueres offered an interesting comparison between energy and telecommunications in developing countries. Many of those nations simply could not afford the cost and logistical challenges of wired telephone service. Yet the advent of cellular telephones essentially allowed poorer nations to leapfrog the old technology.
“Exactly the same is true in energy,” she said. “Right now, what is at the heart of what you call industrialization is a highly centralized model based on fossil fuels, with centralized generation and very expensive transportation and distribution lines.”
Renewable energy sources, as with cell phones, are less centralized, with less infrastructure.
Figueres emphasized that there is “no cookie-cutter” solution to climate change. Each nation is going to have to customize its carbon-reduction effort. She has praised California’s cap-and-trade system created under AB32, while, notably, the pope has condemned it.
The upside of cap and trade, as highlighted by Figueres? It creates market incentives for companies to reduce emissions, and a cost for those who do not.
The pope’s issue with cap and trade? It would not necessarily reduce “excessive consumption” by nations and sectors that can afford it.
Such distinct differences between two leaders who are equally dedicated to climate-change action underscores the challenge as the Paris climate conference approaches. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has made climate change his top priority since taking the reins of the world body more than eight years ago.
The Paris confab is sometimes cited as the last best chance to reach the U.N. goal of keeping global temperatures within 2 degrees of preindustrial levels without draconian steps. Time is not on the side of the planet, which already is experiencing the effects of rising temperatures in losses of sea ice, shrinking glaciers, sea-level rise and catastrophic weather events.
“There is no expectation that Paris is going to miraculously solve climate change,” Figueres said. “Let’s take that off the table, because that is to underestimate the complexity of the issue, and denotes a fundamental ignorance of the process of policy development and the difficulty in changing the energy model in the entire world.”
If it happens, as it must, California can be proud of its contribution.
-
Court Tosses Lawsuit Seeking to Stop New California Oil Train Regulations
Jun 22, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pamela Maclean and Robert Burnson
The U.S. railroad industry failed to stop California from rolling out safety measures aimed at trains hauling crude oil (Ass'n of Am. R.R. v. Cal. Office of Spill Prevention and Response, E.D. Cal., No. 2:14-02354, 6/18/15).
The regulations, authorized last year but still in the drafting phase, are the most populous state's response to the crude-by-rail boom and fear of fiery accidents, such as one that killed 47 people in Quebec in 2013.
U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley in Sacramento on June 18 threw out a lawsuit seeking to halt implementation of the new regulations over the objections of Union Pacific Railroad Co., BNSF Railway Co., owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and the Association of American Railways.
Nunley said the lawsuit was premature, because the new rules aren't in place. The railroads “cannot be coerced into complying with regulations that are not in force or even in existence,” he said.
-
Surface Transportation Board Nominee Set To Sail Through Senate
Jun 22, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Sean Reilly
The leadership of the Surface Transportation Board could soon be back to full strength, following a Senate confirmation vote scheduled for late today on the nomination of Daniel Elliott to rejoin the small regulatory agency.
Elliott, who spent much of his career as a lawyer with the United Transportation Union, served as the board's chairman from 2009 until last December, when his term -- including a holdover year -- expired.
Before then, President Obama had tapped him for another five-year term, but not in time for the Senate to act before adjourning for the year. After Obama renominated Elliott in January, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee unanimously approved his candidacy in May. Senate leaders' decision to schedule today's final confirmation vote is a sign that no opposition is likely.
The board, which normally has three governing members, is primarily responsible for regulating freight railroad rates. In Elliott's absence, Deb Miller, another Obama appointee, has been serving as acting chairwoman, and Ann Begeman, a Republican appointee, as vice chairwoman.
Congressional Hearings
Industry and Association News
Chemical Management News
Chemical Security News
Energy and Environment News
Transportation News
Full Text of Stories Below
Add recipients
Suggested