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ACC AM July 14
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(ACC Mentioned) New Research Reveals Major Pharmaceutical & Financial Industry Lobbying Push for TTIP
Jul 14, 2015 | The Economic Voice
New research by lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory and SumOfUs, a global consumer advocacy organisation, reveals that major corporations in the pharmaceutical and financial industries have dramatically boosted their lobbying efforts in support of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) [1]. -
(ACC Mentioned) P&G Latest to Join The Recycling Partnership
Jul 13, 2015 | Plastics Today
By Kari Embree
Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G; Cincinnati, OH) has joined The Recycling Partnership, a non-profit group which aims to increase curbside recycling in the U.S. The company is the latest member to join the partnership and is among the ranks of Amcor (Ann Arbor MI), Coca-Cola Co. (Atlanta, GA), Sonoco Products Co. (Hartsville, SC)... -
We Don’t Know How Many Chemicals Are In Use Today. We Should Know.
Jul 13, 2015 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Richard Denison
No one knows how many chemicals are in use today. It’s a problem that we don’t. The TSCA Inventory lists about 85,000 chemicals, but because it is a cumulative list that started in 1979, it lists all chemicals that have been in commerce at some point since then. It is not a list of chemicals currently on the market. -
2015 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards
Jul 13, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Stephen K. Ritter
Chemical plants are often vilified for pumping out toxic pollutants from their smokestacks and discharging tainted water from pipes. Environmental laws have gone a long way to curb those problems, but as an added incentive, the Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the White House began the Presidential Green Chemistry ... -
Presidential Award Given To New Green Technologies, Alternatives
Jul 13, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Sam Pearson
This year's Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge was heavy on renewable fuel companies whose technology holds the prospect of reducing the use of fossil fuels. Five companies and a professor are taking home the awards this year, U.S. EPA said this afternoon. The awards, which are given for development of alternative chemicals or... -
European Commission, Environmentalists Seek EPA TSCA Ban For PFCs
Jul 13, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Maria Hegstad
The European Commission and environmentalists are pressing EPA to seek a ban on persistent perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) under Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 6, arguing that a ban would be more efficient and provide greater predictability to industry than EPA's proposal to restrict new uses of the chemicals. -
(ACC Mentioned) Shale Revolution Boost U.S. Chemical Industry
Jul 14, 2015 | Heartland
By H. Sterling Burnett
Just a decade ago, the domestic chemical industry was in decline as natural gas prices were high and estimated reserves low. Of the more than 40 chemical manufacturing plants being built worldwide in the mid-2000’s of more than $1 billion capitalization, none were under construction in the U.S. -
BLM Proposes Update to Security Rules for Oil, Gas
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The Bureau of Land Management has proposed regulations designed to update its security requirements for oil and gas leases produced on federal and Indian lands. The rule (RIN 1004-AE15) would replace Onshore Oil and Gas Order No. 3, which was issued in 1989 and has not been updated since, the BLM said in a notice published July 13... -
Well Application Challenges Fracking Ban
Jul 13, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal
By Joseph De Avila
An upstate New York energy company has filed an application to drill a natural-gas well using a waterless method that will test the state’s fracking ban. The Snyder Farm Group, made up of five landowners from Barton, N.Y., near the Pennsylvania border, signed an agreement with the energy company Tioga Energy Partner... -
Shale Gas and Climate Change
Jul 14, 2015 | The New York Times - Opinion Pages
By Joe Nocera
Every columnist has his or her “go to” sources, people we rely on for their deep understanding of a particular subject, and a mode of thinking about that subject we find persuasive. For me, one such person is Michael Levi, a senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. -
2 Generations Aid Each Other Politically -- And Walk A Fine Line On Gulf Drilling
Jul 14, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Hannah Northey
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) warmed up a large crowd on the sunny beaches of Clearwater, Fla., in late 2008 for GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin by starting off with a familiar Republican chant: "Drill, baby, drill!" Gas prices that summer were on an upward march toward $4 a gallon just as an election was in full swing, and Palin was out... -
Electric Utilities Move Into Gas as Avenue for Growth
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mark Chediak and Jim Polson
Black Hills Corp.'s deal to buy SourceGas Holdings LLC for $1.89 billion shows how sales-challenged electric utilities are on the hunt for natural gas delivery companies that promise better growth. Power distributors such as Black Hills face stagnant electricity demand due to the adoption of energy conservation measures as they grapple... -
Canada To Fast-Track Oil Pipeline Permitting
Jul 13, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The leaders of Canada’s provinces are working toward a national energy agreement that would take a number of steps aimed at increasing oil pipelines in the country. The Globe and Mail, which obtained a confidential draft of the pact that provincial premiers have been working on for three years, reported that they want to cut red tape for... -
Enviros Back Van Hollen For Md. Senate, Though Big Groups Still On Sidelines
Jul 14, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Josh Kurtz
With two strong allies competing in the Democratic primary to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), environmental groups like the League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club have formally stayed on the sidelines in the race and are likely to continue to do so before voters pick a Democratic nominee next April. -
States Take Aim at Power-Plant Rules
Jul 13, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal
By Rebecca Smith and Amy Harder
State regulators are descending on Washington Tuesday to make last-minute pleas for changes in the Obama administration’s sweeping new rules for power-plant emissions, which will determine the direction of utility investments for decades to come and could affect the price of electricity. -
Business Groups Urge Clean Power Plan Compliance
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
States should reject a call from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to boycott the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and develop their own compliance plans, sustainable business groups said. Boycotting compliance with the EPA's proposal would result in a federally issued compliance plan that is likely... -
Obama Officials: Power Plant Rule Part Of A ‘Moral Obligation’
Jul 13, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
World leaders have a “moral obligation” to fight climate change, and top Obama aides are making good on that obligation with its climate rule for power plants, two administration officials write in a new blog post. Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy and Ambassador to the Vatican Ken Hackett wrote Monday... -
EPA Likely To Extend Attainment Date For 'Marginal' Ozone NAAQS Areas
Jul 13, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Stuart Shapiro
EPA is likely to grant a one-year extension for many areas of the United States to attain its 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) if those locations are currently classified as in “marginal” nonattainment, giving them more time to take steps to reduce emissions of ozone-forming pollutants and meet EPA's standard. -
Copper Clusters Convert Carbon Dioxide To Methanol
Jul 13, 2015 | Chemical
By Mark Peplow
With the help of the right catalyst, carbon dioxide emitted by fossil-fuel power stations could be used as a chemical feedstock, rather than contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers have now found that tiny clusters of copper atoms can generate methanol from CO2 at an unusually low pressure... -
Chamber of Commerce Joins in Water Rule Lawsuit
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid and Anthony Adragna
The Obama administration's final rule clarifying the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction is now being challenged by business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. EPA, N.D. Okla., No. 15-00386, complaint, 7/10/15). Filed July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern... -
Colorado Renewable Portfolio Standard Upheld
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By tr
A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to Colorado's renewable portfolio standard, finding that the standard does not disproportionately harm out-of-state businesses (Energy & Env't Legal Inst. v. Epel, 10th Cir., No. 14-1216, 7/13/15). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld a lower court... -
10th Circuit Upholds Colorado Renewable Standard
Jul 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillén and Nick Juliano
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that Colorado’s renewable portfolio standard is not unconstitutional, despite affecting how some out-of-state power operators work. The court sided with a lower court in ruling that a challenge brought by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute took an exceedingly expansive approach to applying... -
Pipeline Rule on Excavation Damage Enforcement Issued
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
State programs intended to prevent excavation damage to natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines will be evaluated for adequacy under a new process detailed in a final rule released July 13 by the Transportation Department. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration rule ...
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Jul 14, 2015 | The Economic Voice
New research by lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory and SumOfUs, a global consumer advocacy organisation, reveals that major corporations in the pharmaceutical and financial industries have dramatically boosted their lobbying efforts in support of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) [1].
According to the research, the pharmaceutical sector increased sevenfold its lobbying push for TTIP from 2012-13 to 2013/14. The financial and machinery sectors also significantly stepped up their game during the same period according to the research.
Corporate Europe Observatory and SumOfUs observe a dramatic corporate bias in the Commission’s approach to the trade deal with the big business leaning not changing significantly since Cecilia Malmström took over as EU Trade Commissioner in November 2014.
According to the research, in her first six months in office, the Commissioner, members of her Cabinet and the director general of DG Trade had 122 behind-closed-doors lobby meetings in which TTIP was discussed. 100 of these meetings were with business lobbyists – 22 with public interest groups.
The research also aims to shed light on how agenda-setting for TTIP has been driven by Western European and US businesses while companies from Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, and Eastern Europe are not lobbying at all. Also, one in five corporate lobby groups meeting the Commission’s trade department on TTIP are absent from the EU’s Transparency Register, among them large companies such as Maersk, Levi's and AON as well as powerful federations such as the world’s largest biotech lobby group BIO and the Big Pharma lobby group PhRMA.
Pia Eberhardt, trade campaigner with Corporate Europe Observatory said: “This data justifies millions of citizens' concerns about the threats posed by TTIP. While big business lobbyists are kept firmly in the loop and exert a powerful influence over the negotiations, public interest groups are kept at bay. The result is an agenda for TTIP that calls into question key standards and rights for citizens and the environment while dramatically expanding business power over politics in both the EU and the US.”
TTIP: a corporate lobbying paradise – the seven key findings:
1. In the early phases of the TTIP negotiations (January 2012 – February 2014), DG Trade had 597 behind-closed door meetings with lobbyists to discuss the negotiations. 528 of those meetings (88%) were with business lobbyists while only 53 (9%) were with public interest groups. So, for every meeting with a trade union or consumer group, there were 10 with companies and industry federations.
2. This pattern hasn't changed significantly since the new Commission took office in November 2014. In the first six months of the job, Cecilia Malmström, members of her Cabinet and the director general of DG Trade had 122 one-on-one lobby meetings behind-closed doors in which TTIP was discussed. 100 of these meetings were with business lobbyists – but only 22 with public interest groups. So, for every meeting with a trade union or a consumer organisation, Malmström and her staff had 5 get-togethers with companies and their lobby groups.
3. The corporate lobby groups which lobbied hardest for TTIP in the early phases of the negotiations are: the European employers’ federation BusinessEurope, the Transatlantic Business Council (representing over 70 EU and US-based multinationals), the European car lobby ACEA, the chemical lobby CEFIC, the European Services Forum, the European pharmaceutical lobby EFPIA, Food and Drink Europe, the US Chamber of Commerce and Digital Europe (whose members include all the big IT names, like Apple, Blackberry, IBM, and Microsoft).
4. These business sectors have lobbied most for TTIP in the early phases of the negotiations: agribusiness and food, cross-sectoral lobby groups such as BusinessEurope, telecom & IT, pharmaceuticals, finance, engineering & machinery, automobiles, health technology, chemicals, express & logistics.
5. Several sectors have significantly stepped up their lobbying for TTIP (comparing the preparatory phase of the negotiations with the first months): the pharmaceutical sector has increased its lobbying for TTIP seven-fold. While only 2,4% of DG Trade’s one-on-one lobby meetings on TTIP were with Big Pharma in the early phases of the negotiations (January 2012 to March 2013), the sector’s share in lobby meetings jumped to 16,5% in the period after (April 2013 to February 2014). The engineering and machinery sector has tripled its TTIP lobbying effort in the same period (from 3,0% to 9,5% of the behind-closed-doors meetings with DG Trade). Financial sector lobbying also doubled (from an 5,1% share in the total amount of corporate lobby meetings on TTIP to 10,8%).
6. One in every 5 corporate lobby groups which have lobbied DG Trade on TTIP are not registered in the EU’s Transparency Register, amongst them large companies such as Maersk, AON, and Levi’s. Industry associations such as biotechnology lobby BIO, pharmaceutical lobby group PhrMA and the American Chemical Council are also lobbying under the radar. More than one third of all US companies and associations which have lobbied DG Trade on TTIP are not in the EU register.
7. TTIP lobbying comes mostly from business in Western Europe and the US. Between January 2012 and February 2014 not a single direct lobby encounter took place on TTIP between DG Trade and businesses from Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and most of Eastern Europe (Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia).
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(ACC Mentioned) P&G Latest to Join The Recycling Partnership
Jul 13, 2015 | Plastics Today
By Kari Embree
Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G; Cincinnati, OH) has joined The Recycling Partnership, a non-profit group which aims to increase curbside recycling in the U.S.
The company is the latest member to join the partnership and is among the ranks of Amcor (Ann Arbor MI), Coca-Cola Co. (Atlanta, GA), Sonoco Products Co. (Hartsville, SC), American Chemistry Council (Washington, DC), Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (Washington, DC) and the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. (Washington, DC).
“At P&G, we are working toward a vision that one day no waste will go to landfill. Helping expand and enable recycling efforts is key to helping us reaching that vision,” said Steve Sikra, P&G’s Global Leader for packaging material science and technology, in a statement. “The Recycling Partnership’s work is helping build solutions and create value that we hope will increase at-home recycling.”
This increase, Sikra said in his statement, will help provide “more recycled materials for companies like P&G to use in their packaging.”
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We Don’t Know How Many Chemicals Are In Use Today. We Should Know.
Jul 13, 2015 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Richard Denison
No one knows how many chemicals are in use today. It’s a problem that we don’t.
The TSCA Inventory lists about 85,000 chemicals, but because it is a cumulative list that started in 1979, it lists all chemicals that have been in commerce at some point since then. It is not a list of chemicals currently on the market.
EPA periodically collects information on chemicals produced or imported above a certain volume threshold (currently set at 25,000 pounds per reporting site in the reporting year). In the most recent data collected in 2012, companies reported producing or importing 7,700 chemicals. However, given the volume threshold and the several exemptions from reporting requirements, we know this number is a significant underestimate of the number of chemicals in active commerce.
This means that all we know is that somewhere between 7,700 and 85,000 chemicals under TSCA’s jurisdiction are presently in commerce. I’ve repeatedly heard industry and environmentalists cite each of these numbers in claims they make about how many chemicals are in use today. The truth, however, clearly lies somewhere within this huge range.
There have been attempts before to close this data gap. Using its current TSCA authority, EPA proposed “resetting” the TSCA Inventory seven years ago. The idea died, however, after industry interests opposed it as too burdensome. And the various iterations of the late Senator Lautenberg’s earlier TSCA reform bill, the Safe Chemicals Act, going all the way back to 2010 featured an inventory reset that entailed companies filing “declarations” of their active production or import of chemicals. That failed to get any Republican support. Now some are dismissing the Inventory reset provisions of the Senate’s Lautenberg Act, S. 697, as mere window-dressing or even an industry-friendly provision. (The House TSCA reform bill, H.R. 2576, has no analogous provision.)
As TSCA reform efforts advance, huge debates have swirled around how long it will take EPA to scrutinize chemicals in use, what resources will be needed, etc. These questions cannot be answered with any confidence at this point – because we simply don’t know how many chemicals are in use. An essential first step under a reformed TSCA is to reset the TSCA Inventory and establish a new baseline.
Another key advantage of an inventory reset is the opportunity it provides to reexamine past confidentiality claims that have masked the identities of some 17,000 of the 85,000 chemicals on the Inventory. S. 697 couples companies’ declarations of active production or import with a requirement that they reassert any chemical identity CBI claims they wish to maintain. (You can’t require reassertion of claims for chemicals no one is making anymore.) EPA then is mandated to review and require substantiation of all such claims within 5 years.
We simply have to reset the TSCA Inventory so that we understand just how big the task ahead is. Not to do so would be to bury one’s head in the sand.
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2015 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards
Jul 13, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Stephen K. Ritter
Chemical plants are often vilified for pumping out toxic pollutants from their smokestacks and discharging tainted water from pipes. Environmental laws have gone a long way to curb those problems, but as an added incentive, the Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the White House began the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards in 1996.
This year’s awards were presented on July 13 in a ceremony held at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
As the name suggests, the awards program challenges chemical companies to do better and recognizes their successes for developing innovative technologies with demonstrable human health and environmental benefits. These benefits include reducing toxicity of chemical products, reducing the use or generation of hazardous substances, introducing a renewable feedstock, saving water or energy, and reducing waste even if it’s not hazardous.
Among this year’s winners, LanzaTech took home the Greener Synthetic Pathways Award for developing a microbial fermentation process to convert carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from steel mill and other industrial waste gas streams into fuels such as ethanol and commodity chemicals such as 2,3-butanediol. The process is projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 70% compared with processes that start from natural gas, coal, or petroleum.
Soltex landed the Greener Reaction Conditions Award for its fixed-bed solid-state catalyst system for manufacturing polyisobutylene, an intermediate used to make additives for lubricants and gasoline. Polyisobutylene is typically synthesized using corrosive liquid formulations of a Lewis acid catalyst such as BF3, which requires costly handling equipment and generates substantial amounts of wastewater. Soltex alleviated those problems by creating a BF3-alcohol complex affixed to solid alumina beads.
Hybrid Coating Technologies and Nanotech Industries received the Designing Greener Chemicals Award for creating polyurethane coatings and foam insulation made with cyclic carbonates and amines instead of isocyanates and polyols. Isocyanates are useful chemicals but have long raised safety and health concerns because they are irritants and potential carcinogens. Algenol’s photobioreactor arrays enable algae living in saltwater to consume carbon dioxide from industrial facilities and produce ethanol and biobased crude oil. Credit: Algenol
Renmatix garnered the Small Business Award for its process using supercritical water hydrolysis to deconstruct cellulosic plant material to unlock sugars that can then be used as feedstocks to make biobased fuels and chemicals. The technology offers a cleaner, faster, and more economical alternative to acids, enzymes, and solvents that are typically used to process biomass.
Algenol was given the Climate Change Award for developing genetically enhanced strains of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) that are highly efficient at producing ethanol and biobased crude oil by feeding on carbon dioxide trapped at industrial facilities. As a bonus, the algae grow in saltwater that can be taken from the ocean rather than using up more precious freshwater resources.
Chemistry professor Eugene Y.-X. Chen of Colorado State University got the nod for the Academic Award for designing greener condensation reactions. These reactions, which fuse molecules together, typically require a metal catalyst and can generate significant waste as unneeded molecule fragments are discarded. Chen’s group developed organocatalysts for derivatizing the biobased feedstock 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and for making polyesters in metal-free, and in some cases solvent-free, processes that are 100% atom-economical.
“This year’s awards are a true tour de force for green chemistry, showing the full breadth of this field,” says Thomas M. Connelly Jr., the executive director and chief executive officer of the American Chemical Society, which helps select the award winners through its Green Chemistry Institute.
Throughout the 20 years of the program, EPA has presented awards to 104 scientists and companies selected from more than 1,600 nominations. According to EPA, the winning technologies each year eliminate nearly 1 billion lb of hazardous chemicals and solvents, save more than 20 billion gal of water, and cut more than 8 billion lb of carbon dioxide emissions.
“What the recipients all share is the commitment to new chemistry with demonstrated superior environmental performance,” Connelly adds. “Each award shows how creativity and innovation can be harnessed to provide safer and more sustainable starting materials, processing, and products.”
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Presidential Award Given To New Green Technologies, Alternatives
Jul 13, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Sam Pearson
This year's Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge was heavy on renewable fuel companies whose technology holds the prospect of reducing the use of fossil fuels.
Five companies and a professor are taking home the awards this year, U.S. EPA said this afternoon. The awards, which are given for development of alternative chemicals or processes that don't pose a risk to human health or the environment, are selected by an independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society's Green Chemistry Institute.
EPA will present the awards to the companies tomorrow at the conference being held in Washington, D.C., this week.
The winning products "reduce the use of energy, hazardous chemicals and water, while cutting manufacturing costs and sparking investments," Jim Jones, EPA's assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, said in a statement. "In some cases they turn pollution into useful products. Ultimately, these manufacturing processes and products are safer for people's health and the environment."
Algenol LLC, a Fort Myers, Fla.-based biofuel company, won a special climate change award for its work on developing a blue-green algae that can be used to produce ethanol and other fuels, which EPA said had the potential to "revolutionize this industry and reduce the carbon footprint of fuel production." EPA gave a boost to the company earlier this year when it determined that ethanol derived from Algenol's algae qualifies as an advanced biofuel under the federal renewable fuel standard (Greenwire, Jan. 13).
Renmatix of King of Prussia, Pa., won in the small-business category for creating a system to break down plant material into sugars that can be used to make renewable chemicals and fuels.
In the academic category, Colorado State University professor Eugene Chen took home the prize for his research on a process to use plant-based materials in the production of renewable chemicals and fuels.
Skokie, Ill.-based LanzaTech Inc. won in the "greener synthetic pathways" category for the company's development of a process to use waste gas to produce fuels and chemicals, including ethanol and chemical ingredients for the manufacture of plastics.
Soltex Inc. of Houston took home the prize for greener reactor conditions for developing a process to eliminate the use of water and reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in the manufacture of additives for lubricants and gasoline. The technology, if widely deployed, could cut down on wastewater production and the use of harmful chemicals, EPA said.
Nanotech Industries and parent company Hybrid Coating Technologies International Inc. of Daly City, Calif., also will take home a greener chemicals prize for designing a plant-based polyurethane, which can be used on floors, on furniture and in foam insulation. The plant-based material eliminates the use of isocyanates, a chemical used in foams, fibers and coatings that has been linked to workplace asthma and other health problems.
The agency has now given out 104 green chemistry awards since the competition began. The agency says the technologies reduced the use or generation of more than 826 million pounds of hazardous chemicals and eliminated 7.8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent releases to the air each year.
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European Commission, Environmentalists Seek EPA TSCA Ban For PFCs
Jul 13, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Maria Hegstad
The European Commission and environmentalists are pressing EPA to seek a ban on persistent perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) under Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 6, arguing that a ban would be more efficient and provide greater predictability to industry than EPA's proposal to restrict new uses of the chemicals.
The European Commission (EC), the executive body for the European Union which represents the EU's positions to other countries, writes in comments on EPA's proposal, "it is not entirely clear to the EC why a [significant new use rule (SNUR)] would be the most effective way for addressing the concerns and an effective use of resources, rather than action under TSCA section 6(a)."
EC writes that it believes "EPA considers the presence of [Long-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Carboxylates (LCPFAC)] and [polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)] in the environment to be undesirable," because of EPA's voluntary work with industry to craft the Stewardship Program for two major PFCs -- PFOA and PFOS -- which are due to be voluntarily phased out by all industry members by the end of 2015.
"Regulatory action under TSCA section 6(a) to codify in law the intentions of the Program would provide full clarity and predictability to all economic operators, whether they are partners of the Program or not, and this with minimal economic impacts as all major producers of LCPFAC who are participating in the Program are anyway committed to the phase-out of the substances by end 2015 and are on track to achieve this objective," EC writes in comments submitted May 28. "In contrast, the proposed SNUR leaves the door open for operators that are not participating in the Stewardship Program to submit notifications for significant new uses (SNUNs), which then will have to be assessed . . ."
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in its June 26 comments echoes the calls for a TSCA ban. While the environmental group applauds EPA's efforts in drafting the SNUR proposal, it also urges the agency to reconsider its decision not to pursue a Section 6 rule on PFCs.
EDF argues that EPA research showing the ongoing presence of PFCs in products and the environment indicates that a ban should be sought. "Promulgating a section 6(a) rule for LCPFAC and PFAS chemical substances would have a two-fold benefit: it would allow the Agency to address risks from ongoing uses of these chemicals, and for those chemicals with no ongoing uses, it would ensure that they do not return to the market," EDF writes in its comments.
"The [2009] PFC Action Plan states that EPA planned to develop a detailed assessment to determine if the use of PFCs 'presents or will present an unreasonable risk,'" EDF notes. And while the draft SNUR states that a Section 6 rule is unnecessary for LCPFACs because they are being phased out, EDF says it is unclear from this language whether EPA completed the detailed assessment or if it is under way. "EDF recommends that the Agency promptly complete the described assessment and initiate a section 6(a) rule, if applicable."
EPA, however, has rarely sought to ban substances under its TSCA authority since its attempt to ban asbestos was struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in a 1991 ruling, Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA. That case has become one of the leading examples for TSCA's critics of why Congress must reform the 39-year-old law. EPA officials have in recent months indicated that EPA is considering Section 6 bans on three other chemicals, but so far the agency has not issued any proposals to do so.
Proposed SNUR
Industry groups and companies, meanwhile, are diverging in their reaction to the proposed SNUR. Some companies are calling for EPA to strengthen the SNUR proposal to protect them from imports containing LCPFACs and PFAS, while other companies, many of which make products potentially containing these chemicals, seek exemptions for their existing uses.
The proposed SNUR on LCPFACs is intended to bar re-entry to the market after domestic manufacturers voluntarily agreed to phase out use of PFOA and PFOS by the end of 2015. Such "dead chemical" SNURs also protect manufacturers who agree to such phaseouts, and their subsequent alternative products, from competition with manufacturers that do not sign on to such voluntary agreements.
The LCPFAC SNUR is notable because it is one of a handful the Obama EPA has proposed with the rare inclusion of "articles," or products, containing the chemical of concern.
Most EPA rules under TSCA exclude articles from the rules, but as more manufacturing takes place overseas since TSCA's enactment, EPA has begun to include a new focus on articles, and has invoked the articles exemption in several recent SNUR proposals.
EPA proposed its LCPFAC SNUR in January, and took comments on the proposal through June 26, a deadline extension it granted to the Intel Corporation, Global Automakers, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Semiconductor Industry Association.
The industry groups cited EPA's proposed articles exemption as one reason for needing the extension and in recent comments warn that including all articles containing PFCs in the SNUR is a daunting task, as they are often unaware of what their various articles may contain.
Intel Corporation, for example, writes in June 25 comments that "Semiconductor manufacturing is highly dependent on the availability of precision tools that perform the intricate tasks necessary to create billions of transistors on a single circuit. These tools are complex machines comprised of thousands of parts . . . the use of these tools is subject to rigorous worker exposure controls, and the end-of-life handling of these tools is conducted by the original tool manufacturers operating under industry best-practice standards."
Intel argues that because of the way in which chemicals and other components are used in its industry, "the likelihood of any risk concern is very low. The proposed rule, however, would subject these tools to SNUN review because it removes the existing exemption for articles in regard to certain substances that would be covered by the SNUR." Intel indicates that to date, it has found it has uses for three LCPFACs, adding that it is continuing to review its supply chain.
The Global Automakers and Auto Alliance respond similarly, by also pointing out the vast number of parts of cars and the difficulties in determining whether targeted LCPFACs are contained in cars. The auto manufacturers urge EPA to "exempt articles from this proposal. If EPA has identified risk associated with specific articles, then we would encourage that EPA limit the scope of coverage to those articles alone," and also to exempt replacement parts.
Voluntary Agreement
But the FluoroCouncil, which represents fluorinated chemical makers that have signed on to the voluntary phase out agreement, presses EPA in June 1 comments to strengthen the SNUR's restrictions, arguing that as part of the industry's "successful transition" from PFOA and other long-chain PFAS to alternative fluorochemistries, "we support regulatory measures to achieve uniform elimination of manufacture, use, and import of long-chain PFAS."
The industry group explains that "[w]e see this Proposed Rule as a step in that transition and a way to build on the success of the Stewardship Program by further reducing environmental exposure to long-chain PFAS. However, the SNUR does not go far enough to prevent fluoropolyymers and fluorinated polymer treated articles made using PFOA and related compounds from coming into the U.S. We look forward to working with EPA to identify additional opportunities to address remaining manufacture and use of these substances."
The FluoroCouncil does not provide more detail on what additional efforts it hopes to see EPA make, but EDF provides some ideas in its comments.
EDF urges EPA to strengthen its action by broadening its proposed inclusion of the SNUR to LCPFAC in articles, or products, "to include all imported articles containing PFAS chemical substances and ii) further investigate the need to include domestic processing of articles containing LCPFAC and PFAS chemical substances . . ."
EDF says there is some ambiguity in the proposed rule as to whether the articles subject to the rule are limited to just PFCs in carpets, or in all articles. The group presses EPA to include all PFC-containing articles in the SNUR, noting that EPA's 2009 plan for regulating PFCs indicated that PFCs are used in products ranging from textiles to paper, rubber, plastics and of course carpets. EDF also urges EPA to remove its exemption of inclusion of articles in the SNUR for domestic manufacturers to exhaust their existing supplies and presses EPA to require that import certification requirements are extended to articles in order to "put the purchaser of the article on notice both that any TSCA requirements have been satisfied, and that the article contains PFAS chemicals. An import certification requirement would also facilitate industry in carrying out its responsibility under a finalized SNUR to determine whether LCPFACs and PFASs are present in articles they import or intend to import."
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(ACC Mentioned) Shale Revolution Boost U.S. Chemical Industry
Jul 14, 2015 | Heartland
By H. Sterling Burnett
Just a decade ago, the domestic chemical industry was in decline as natural gas prices were high and estimated reserves low. Of the more than 40 chemical manufacturing plants being built worldwide in the mid-2000’s of more than $1 billion capitalization, none were under construction in the U.S.
Due primarily to the shale gas revolution, the fortunes of the domestic chemical industry have changed radically. The abundance of cheap natural gas and associated liquids resulting from the widespread use of fracking has made the U.S. the place to build new chemical manufacturing facilities.
Growing Chemical Industry
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) reports, the $800-billion U.S. chemicals industry will experience 3.2 percent growth in 2015 and is expected to expand by more than 3 percent in 2016. With the Federal Reserve estimating just 1 to 2.3 percent GDP growth for the U.S. economy as a whole through 2018, the ACC forecasts the domestic chemical industry’s growth to exceed the U.S. economy as a whole for years to come, topping 5% range in the 2017-to-2019 period. This growth is expected to accompany record trade surpluses for the industry by 2020.
Fracking released abundant and cheap natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL), including ethane, key feedstocks and fuel for the chemical industry. In the mid-2000’s new chemical plant construction in the U.S. was at a standstill, with new construction moving overseas to location with lower labor costs and less oppressive regulatory regimes. Natural gas prices weren’t an issue because they were comparable worldwide.
As fracking combined with horizontal drilling opened up huge natural gas reserves in the Barnett Shale in Texas and the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and nearby states, among other shale formations, gas prices fell sharply in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world. Demand for new natural gas import terminals, shifted to request to build natural gas export terminals.
Consumers have benefitted immensely from the decline in natural gas prices over the past decade. In 2015 alone, those homeowners using natural gas for heating and cooking could expect to see a 5 percent decline in their heating/cooking bill for the year. In late 2014, Charles Acquard, executive director at the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates said, “It’s looking awful good for consumers the next couple years, that’s for sure. Propane users will save anywhere from 20% to 34%,” to the Wall Street Journal (12/22/14).
Billions in New Investment
What’s been good news for consumers has been great news for the chemical industry.
According to Wall Street Daily (7/1/15), the ACC reports 238 U.S. chemicals companies have announced investment projects worth a total of $145 billion, in 2015, up from $90 billion in announced projects as of mid-2014.
Capital spending in the industry soared 64% from 2010 to 2014, to $33.4 billion. The ACC expects spending to jump another 37% to $45.8 billion by 2018.
Sixty-one percent of the announced investment is in the U.S. of from foreign companys. This represents a huge reversal in the flow of chemical plant investment in less than a decade.
U.S. companies, including Du Pont (DD), Dow Chemical (DOW), Eastman Chemical (EMN), Westlake Chemical (WLK), Celanese (CE), and LyondellBasell Industries (LYB) and major oil companies such as ExxonMobil (XOM), are also expanding chemical production in the U.S.
Dow Chemical, for example, is spending $6 billion on expanding its Gulf Coast facilities, including a new “cracker” plant to produce ethylene — a basic building block for other industrial chemicals.
Wall Street Daily reports LyondellBasell CEO Bob Patel told the Financial Times he expects the oil-to-gas price ratio to remain favorable for U.S. companies. And he continues to see the United States as the most favorable location for ethylene production.
Low natural gas prices brought about by increased fracking has resulted in a retrenchment in the industry, with less efficient producers shutting down. Efficient producers using ever improving technologies are picking up the slack and despite fewer natural gas wells, production remains high by historic standards. As a result, the chemical industry sees continued low prices and a bright future.
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BLM Proposes Update to Security Rules for Oil, Gas
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The Bureau of Land Management has proposed regulations designed to update its security requirements for oil and gas leases produced on federal and Indian lands.
The rule (RIN 1004-AE15) would replace Onshore Oil and Gas Order No. 3, which was issued in 1989 and has not been updated since, the BLM said in a notice published July 13 in the Federal Register. The changes to the “site security” rule aim to ensure accurate measurement, production accountability and royalty payments, and to prevent theft and loss, the bureau said.
The proposed rule addresses Facility Measurement Points (FMPs), site facility diagrams, the use of seals, bypasses around meters, documentation, record keeping, commingling, off-lease measurement, and the reporting of incidents of unauthorized removal or mishandling of oil and condensate, the notice said.
Verification and Accountability
The proposed rule would enable the BLM to strengthen its policies governing production verification and accountability by updating Order 3's requirements to address changes in technology and industry practices that have occurred “in the 25 years since Order 3 was issued,” the bureau said.
In addition, the changes come in response to recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office with respect to the BLM's production verification efforts.
It identifies certain acts of noncompliance that would result in an immediate assessment, the BLM said. And it sets forth a process for the BLM to consider variances from the requirements of the rule.
The BLM said it also anticipates it will separately propose new regulations to update and replace Onshore Oil and Gas Orders Nos. 4 (Order 4) and 5 (Order 5) related to measurement of oil and gas, respectively.
‘So Many Proposed Rules.'
Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of government and public affairs for the Western Energy Alliance in Denver, told Bloomberg BNA it “is interesting that BLM is trying to get so many regulations done with just over a year left in the Administration before everything gets tangled up in the presidential race.”
“BLM alone is trying to implement a hydraulic fracturing rule, update 68 resource management plans with sage grouse restrictions, propose flaring and venting rules, increase the royalty rate, institute new planning procedures, and update onshore orders,” she said.
“We might think they were just obsessed with the oil and natural gas industry, one of the few that returns significant resources to taxpayers, and making it even more difficult to operate on federal and Indian lands.”
She said it is hard to see how the BLM will finalize “all these rules” in a short time frame “without exposing itself to further legal challenges.”
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Well Application Challenges Fracking Ban
Jul 13, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal
By Joseph De Avila
An upstate New York energy company has filed an application to drill a natural-gas well using a waterless method that will test the state’s fracking ban.
The Snyder Farm Group, made up of five landowners from Barton, N.Y., near the Pennsylvania border, signed an agreement with the energy company Tioga Energy Partners to collect gas from 53 acres of land collectively owned by the group. Tioga Energy Partners filed an application for a natural-gas well with New York state regulators last week.
New York prohibits the use of high-volume hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Traditional fracking uses hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to crack rocks underground to release natural gas. Tioga Energy Partners said it intends to use liquid-petroleum gas, or LPG, to open up fissures in the rock.
The state hasn’t weighed in on whether this variation on traditional fracking is allowed in New York. A spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation said it is reviewing the application as required by law.
Adam Schultz, an attorney for Tioga Energy Partners, said LPG fracking is “outside of the scope of the ban.”
But environmental groups also oppose LPG fracking, saying it poses health and environmental risks like the conventional, water-based method.
“I have every confidence that they will find that trying to do an end-run around the decision to prohibit high-volume hydraulic fracturing, with the use of a different medium, will not succeed,” said Kate Sinding, director of the Community Fracking Defense Project with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.
Environmental groups hailed New York’s decision late last year to prohibit the practice. Some landowners who could benefit from fracking said the state’s ban hurt the economy.
Kevin Frisbie, a member of the Snyder Farm Group, said the land where he grows soybeans, alfalfa and wheat has been in his family for more than 100 years.
“We think it can be done safely,” Mr. Frisbie said. “We as landowners are concerned about the future of our land and our families and we think this is an alternative source of income besides our farming operations.”
If approved, the well would be drilled on about 3.5 acres of land owned by Ernest Snyder, who said he has owned his plot of land, where he grows hay, for about 20 years.
“I certainly wouldn’t let someone come in if I thought they were going to destroy my property,” Mr. Snyder said.
In traditional fracking, hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, along with chemicals and sand, are pumped down wells to create fissures in rocks to release the gas trapped underground. The method produces large amounts of wastewater that also need to be disposed of.
Instead, Tioga Energy Partners wants to pump pressurized, gelled propane along with sand into the well to fracture the rock. After the rock is sufficiently fractured, some of the pressure is released, and the gelled propane then flows back to the surface and turns into a gas. Drillers are able to recapture most of that propane to use in other projects, or they can resell it.
As a result, there is no fracking water to dispose of, said Jonathan Garrett, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, an energy-consulting firm.
The technique doesn’t require the large quantities of water that traditional fracking does. “It’s quite helpful, especially in places where water is harder to come by,” Mr. Garrett said.
Using propane also makes it easier to release the natural gas because unlike water, it doesn’t cause rock to swell up, said Richard Spears, vice president of Spears and Associates, an oil-field market-research firm.
“It’s almost the perfect frack fluid,” Mr. Spears said.
But LPG fracking isn’t widespread in the natural-gas industry. The Canadian company Gasfrac Energy Services Inc. was the only group that Mr. Spears said he was aware of that used the technology. It filed for bankruptcy in January as oil prices dropped.
STEP Energy Services, an energy company based in Calgary, Alberta, acquired Gasfrac’s physical assets and intellectual property in May. Regan Davis, the company’s chief executive, said STEP Energy planned on licensing the LPG technology to other firms.
Gasfrac “had a lot of technical success,” Mr. Davis said. “They failed commercially for a number of reasons, but we think that technology has a place in the market.”
He said Gasfrac’s LPG technology has been used to complete hundreds of wells in Canada and the U.S., including in Texas and Oklahoma.
Mr. Spears said other players in the industry may have passed on using LPG because they were uncomfortable using propane, which is flammable and explosive.
Mr. Garrett, who called the technology “fantastic,” said LPG could cost anywhere from 20% to 40% more than conventional fracking. He said the rest of the natural-gas industry is trying to cut costs as the price of natural gas remains low.
Gasfrac’s failure is “more of a reflection of the current environment we are trying to live with,” Mr. Garrett said.
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Jul 14, 2015 | The New York Times - Opinion Pages
By Joe Nocera
Every columnist has his or her “go to” sources, people we rely on for their deep understanding of a particular subject, and a mode of thinking about that subject we find persuasive. For me, one such person is Michael Levi, a senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Levi believes in the power of facts. Though sensitive to the importance of dealing with climate change, he doesn’t indulge in the hyperbole that you sometimes hear from environmentalists. And while he appreciates the economic import of fracking and shale gas, he isn’t afraid to call out the industry on its problems. Early in the fracking boom, he went to Pennsylvania to observe what drilling for shale gas was doing to communities — and came away believing that “it was going to stir up much more local controversy than many were assuming.” Which is exactly what happened.
For the latest issue of Democracy, a quarterly magazine focused on progressive ideas, Levi has written an article titled “Fracking and the Climate Debate,” which he described to me the other day as a kind of summing up of his views about the role of cheap natural gas and fracking in the fight against climate change.
There are many people, of course, who believe that natural gas shouldn’t have any role at all in the climate change fight; while it may emit half the carbon dioxide of coal, it is still a fossil fuel that will keep us from going all-in on renewable energy. And the methane that can leak from fracked wells is a potent greenhouse gas that can negate natural gas’s advantage over coal.
There are others who see natural gas as a panacea. They believe that so long as we keep increasing production of inexpensive natural gas — mooting the need to build more coal-fired power plants, and even making it possible to shut some down — then we will be doing more than enough to control carbon emissions. In his article, Levi says, in effect: You’re both wrong.
After recounting a little history — was it really only a half dozen years ago that environmentalists like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were promoting natural gas as a “step towards saving our planet”? — Levi delves into the three rationales behind their abrupt change of heart. One is the disruption that fracking imposes on communities. The second is the methane problem. The third is the “rapid progress” being made by renewable energy, which many environmentalists believe makes further reliance on natural gas unnecessary.
Levi believes that appropriate rules by both state and federal governments can mitigate the first two problems. Indeed, he believes that the industry needs to be better regulated for its own sake; otherwise, people will continue to fear the worst. As for renewables, the hard truth is that if the country were to move away from natural gas, the big winner would be coal, not solar or wind. Continue reading the main story Recent Comments JMM 12 minutes ago
Two aspects of fracking's fit are under estimated. First, it isn't just CO2 vs coal, its also the environmental cost of getting coal out of... Stuart 29 minutes ago
Mr. Nocera is sounding a little bit more reasonable on the issue of fracking, but not reasonable enough. Lately the news from scientists... Richard A. Petro 32 minutes ago
Dear Mr. Nocera,Having no progeny, I should applaud your column since it means I can drive whatever the hell I feel like, at whatever speed... See All Comments Write a comment
But that doesn’t mean that those who cling to the “free-market fundamentalist dream that a thriving shale gas industry will make climate policy unnecessary” have got it right. On the contrary, writes Levi, “merely making natural gas more abundant may do little, if anything, to curb carbon dioxide emissions.” How can this be? The answer is that, although cheap natural gas is helpful in that it “shoves aside coal,” it also boosts economic growth (which means more emissions), and “gives an edge to industries that are heavy energy users and big emitters.” These two conflicting forces effectively cancel each other out.
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The best way to maximize the good that shale gas can do, concludes Levi, is to make it a key component of an overall energy policy that is bent on driving down carbon emissions. The government could promote policies to move the country away from coal, “which accounts for three-quarters of carbon dioxide produced in U.S. electricity generation.”
And while he doesn’t say so explicitly, he does seem to see shale gas as a potential bridge to renewables: If the government enacted policies that “reward emission cuts” no matter what technology achieves that goal, then coal users would gravitate to natural gas, while natural gas users might well move toward renewables. Government would also have to encourage policies that “drive down the cost of zero-based emissions.”
My own belief is that shale gas has been a blessing for all kinds of reasons: It has given us a degree of energy security that we haven’t seen in many decades, and has been a key source of economic growth. And, no matter how much environmentalists gnash their teeth, it is here to stay. That’s why the responsible approach is not to wish it away, but to exploit its benefits while straightforwardly addressing its problems. Ideologues will never get that done. That’s why Michael Levi’s realism — and his pragmatism — are so critical to hear.
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2 Generations Aid Each Other Politically -- And Walk A Fine Line On Gulf Drilling
Jul 14, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Hannah Northey
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) warmed up a large crowd on the sunny beaches of Clearwater, Fla., in late 2008 for GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin by starting off with a familiar Republican chant: "Drill, baby, drill!"
Gas prices that summer were on an upward march toward $4 a gallon just as an election was in full swing, and Palin was out campaigning for Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we should be drilling in [the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]," Bilirakis shouted to the energetic group of Palin supporters. "Drill, baby, drill! Drill, baby, drill! Drill, baby, drill!"
What the congressman didn't call for was oil production off his own state's shores in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, a prickly issue for Florida Republicans weighing domestic energy production with the deep-rooted, regional concerns over the health of the sandy white beaches that draw in tens of millions of tourists -- and billions of dollars in revenue -- each year.
Instead, Bilirakis called for offshore drilling on the other side of the globe.
"Florida Republicans, no matter how conservative they are, tend to be more pro-environment than other Republicans in Deep South states, because Florida's economy is tied to the coast and the water," said Susan MacManus, a political campaign expert and professor at the University of South Florida.
MacManus said Bilirakis' position reflects the region's link to tourism and water, noting that the majority of Floridians live within 10 miles of the coast. Bilirakis' district includes Tarpon Springs, the most highly concentrated Greek community in the United States, with about 23,000 people on the Gulf Coast, where tourism, fishing and beachside sunsets are king. But MacManus added that if the economy is down and gas prices are soaring, polls in Florida reflect support for offshore drilling.
The 52-year-old congressman's father, Michael Bilirakis -- a former lawyer, trained petroleum engineer and 12-term congressman who represented the south Florida district before his son won the seat in 2006 -- balanced the same competing priorities.
The elder Bilirakis, now retired at the age of 84, said during an interview that his childhood home in Tarpon Springs was "right smack on the Gulf," where he watched the sun set on the dock each night. He grew up understanding the importance of protecting the coast but decided to push for rules to ensure safe oil production as opposed to stopping the process altogether.
"You had personal philosophies, but at the same time you have to represent your district; that's what the Republic is all about," he said. "There needed to be rules set up, limitations. We had high prices in gas. ... We wanted to become energy independent and not dependent on the Middle East."
Today, the issue of offshore drilling in Florida is a hot political topic at the center of upcoming presidential elections, putting Republican presidential candidates like former Sunshine State Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio in the spotlight.
For his part, the younger Bilirakis says he supports a ban Congress instituted in 2006 to block offshore oil production within at least 125 miles of the Florida coast. The moratorium is set to expire in 2022. He's even considering supporting legislation that Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), who represents an adjoining Gulf Coast district, introduced to extend the ban through 2027.
"In my opinion, we have to contribute [to energy production] to a certain extent, but there has to be common ground there. We have the best beaches in the world," Gus said during a recent interview. "I'm the kind of guy that wants to get in the room and work with both sides. I agree with the moratorium that was placed on there until 2022." 'A pretty easy transition'
Gus Bilirakis credits himself with launching his father's political career in the 1980s. In doing so, he also got his first taste of politics and paved his own path to Washington, D.C.
When Gus was a teenager, he, along with friends, associates and residents of the newly formed 9th District, persuaded his father to take on his first congressional race in 1982. His father was born in Tarpon Springs and had earned a bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a law degree from the University of Florida. He also served in the Air Force during the Korean War.
But while the bulk of Michael Bilirakis' career was spent as an attorney, he had no political experience. "I really had no political aspirations, but Gus decided, as did quite a few hundred people in the area, that I should run," he recalled.
Michael said he looks back fondly on his son's persistence as a political campaigner, reminiscing about the time when his main opponent in the race wanted a break from the political sign wars and took his family to an island off Florida's coast for a vacation. "When he got to the island off the coast here, the first thing he saw was a Bilirakis sign," he said. "[My son] did a fantastic job."
"I put up all the signs with my friends, it was wonderful," Gus recalled. "I thought he'd be good at it, and I knew he was in it for the right reasons, kind of a policy wonk. He wasn't a showboat or anything like that. I knew that he would get things done. And for selfish reasons, too, because ... back then I was fascinated with the politics."
Michael would go on to represent Florida's 9th District for the next 24 years -- re-elected 13 times with bigger and bigger margins in the largely Republican district.
But his son also had big political aspirations.
At the tender age of 6, Gus was already thinking about getting ahead, his father said. "We named him Gus when he was born, and he made the comment a few years after that Gus was a good political name," the elder Bilirakis said.
In college, Gus interned in the White House for President Reagan and later served as a congressional staffer for former Republican Rep. Don Sundquist, who would go on to serve as the governor of Tennessee. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida and a law degree from Stetson University.
After 16 years working as a lawyer, Gus was elected to his first of four terms in the Florida House in 1998. In 2006, after his father announced he was stepping down, he ran for his congressional seat, facing only token opposition in the GOP primary and winning the general election by 12 points. He has had easy re-election races since, though he's now representing the 12th District thanks to redistricting. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.)
Age: 52
Career: Elected to the House in 2006; served in the Florida House, 1998-2006.
Political lineage: Father Michael Bilirakis served in the House, 1983-2007.
Did you know? Campaigning to succeed his father, Bilirakis appeared on the ballot as Gus Michael Bilirakis.
Name recognition helped pave the way for the younger Bilirakis to make his political jump, said Darryl Paulson, professor emeritus of political science at University of South Florida. Gus touted the relationship he had with his father, appeared on the ballot as Gus Michael Bilirakis and raised money from many political action committees that supported his father, who had a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Gus would follow in his father's footsteps even after he secured a spot in Congress.
Like his father, he was given a seat on three different House Energy and Commerce subcommittees and has championed Greek causes on the Foreign Affairs Committee. He also serves on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.
"It was a pretty easy transition; his father had been in the position for 20 years," Paulson said. "There's nothing better for a candidate than to have name recognition." 'Playing to the constituency'
The Bilirakis father and son have taken nuanced and at times controversial positions as they balance the national Republican Party's call for more domestic energy production with protecting Florida's coastlines -- and their constituent base.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Democrats and Republicans in the Sunshine State stood united against offshore drilling, especially in the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, said Mark Ferrulo, executive director of Progress Florida, a progressive group based in St. Petersburg.
"Drilling was like one of the third-rail issues in Florida politics," Ferrulo said. "You didn't want to harm Social Security or support drilling if you wanted to be elected in Florida. It was a united front against drilling."
In 2001, Michael even co-sponsored legislation, H.R. 1631, to bar all offshore drilling for oil off Florida's coastlines.
Then-Reps. Michael Bilirakis (right) and Adam Putnam flank then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush during a 2005 hurricane emergency response management forum in Tampa. Photo by Steve Nesius, courtesy of AP Images.
But that united front began to crumble in the mid-2000s when Florida saw a consistent upward march in gas prices and fears began to grow that the United States was too reliant on foreign countries for energy. Support for domestic drilling crept up considerably in 2005 and 2006 in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which devastated the Gulf Coast and knocked out infrastructure.
In 2005, Michael drew the scorn of the League of Conservation Voters after voting to allow drilling at 100 to 125 miles off Florida's coasts -- a position he shared with former Gov. Bush.
"The flip-flops keep coming with Rep. Bilirakis joining the team," then-LCV Florida campaign manager Shirin Bidel-Niyat said in a statement. "It appears that Rep. Bilirakis would rather side with Big Oil, Gov. Bush and anti-environmental legislators in Congress who want to erect drilling rigs off the state's coast, than the majority of Floridians who want to protect their beaches and coastal communities from the threat of an oil spill."
A year later, Congress instituted a ban on drilling within at least 125 miles of the Florida coast but extended a moratorium on drilling in other portions of water off Florida's coast through 2022.
The elder Bilirakis in a recent interview said he felt he needed to protect the state's coastlines with rules and regulations for drilling while fostering domestic energy production.
Gus also showed a willingness to compromise, and his office maintains the congressman has remained consistent over the years.
"As co-chairman of the Travel and Tourism Caucus, Congressman Bilirakis knows the value in preserving the integrity of Florida's main industry -- tourism -- a multibillion-dollar boon which attracts beachgoers and recreational fishermen from all over the world," said Ian Martorana, a spokesman for Bilirakis. "Any disruption, such as 2010's Deepwater Horizon spill, to our fragile ecosystem and struggling economy could be catastrophic."
In 2011, a year after the deadly Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers and caused the release of an estimated 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, the younger Bilirakis signaled his support for offshore drilling with limitations.
Specifically, he backed legislation that directed the Department of the Interior to move forward with oil and gas leases in Sale 218, the last remaining Western Gulf Planning Area sale scheduled in the 2007-12 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Natural Gas Leasing Program. The area included 3,913 unleased blocks covering more than 21 million acres up to 250 miles offshore.
Ferrulo said the father's and son's votes reflect reaction to a "backyard issue" that's both economic and emotional, but quickly pointed out that Gus as a Republican is vulnerable to pressure from the petroleum lobby and House leadership. The congressman, he noted, has voted to approve the Keystone XL pipeline almost a dozen times.
"Tarpon Springs is a fishing town, the Gulf is what makes Tarpon Springs. They're playing to the constituency," he said. "But [Gus Bilirakis] would vote for the Keystone pipeline without thinking twice, ... Any pressure from his leadership and the petroleum lobby generally would get traction. Any issue other than putting rigs in his own backyard."
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Electric Utilities Move Into Gas as Avenue for Growth
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mark Chediak and Jim Polson
Black Hills Corp.'s deal to buy SourceGas Holdings LLC for $1.89 billion shows how sales-challenged electric utilities are on the hunt for natural gas delivery companies that promise better growth.
Power distributors such as Black Hills face stagnant electricity demand due to the adoption of energy conservation measures as they grapple with rising costs from new environmental rules. Over the past five years, the amount of power sold by Black Hills has declined, with wholesale volumes falling by more than half, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, a glut of gas from shale formations in Pennsylvania, Texas and other states has boosted use of the heating and power-plant fuel.
Gas “distribution companies have some attributes that electric utilities know well, but are no longer a given for them—customer and sales growth,” said Robert Zabors, chief executive officer of Enovation Partners, a Chicago-based energy consulting company.
In buying SourceGas, Rapid City, S.D.-based Black Hills will expand its customer base by 55 percent and take control of gas utilities in Arkansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming, Chief Executive Officer David Emery said Monday during a conference call with investors. Black Hills sees the transaction adding to earnings per share as customer growth at SourceGas is projected to rise 2 percent a year, Emery said. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2016.
Black Hills fell 2 percent to $45.89 at 1:36 p.m. in New York. It had declined 12 percent this year before the announcement.
Gas Expansions
Black Hills follows other utilities that have expanded into natural gas through acquisitions. In February, Iberdrola SA, which owns electric utilities in New York and Maine, proposed to take over UIL Holdings Corp., which owns gas distribution in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Regulators in Connecticut were weighing a draft recommendation to reject the deal, prompting the companies on July 7 to say they will resubmit their application.
Last month, WEC Energy Group Inc. completed its $5.6 billion purchase of Integrys Energy Group Inc., expanding its gas service into Illinois and Minnesota and becoming the nation's eighth largest distributor.
“Distribution and pipeline assets are where it's at right now,” said Skip Aylesworth, who manages about $2 billion in the Hennessy Gas Utility Fund, including shares of Black Hills. Aylesworth and Hennessy are based in Boston.
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Canada To Fast-Track Oil Pipeline Permitting
Jul 13, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The leaders of Canada’s provinces are working toward a national energy agreement that would take a number of steps aimed at increasing oil pipelines in the country.
The Globe and Mail, which obtained a confidential draft of the pact that provincial premiers have been working on for three years, reported that they want to cut red tape for pipeline approvals and speed regulatory decisions. The group is planning to make the agreement final Wednesday.But while the leaders set out in 2012 to include strategies climate change as one of the priorities in the deal, the draft has few details on such commitments.
In fact, a proposed section that would call on each province to set greenhouse gas reduction goals has been marked for possible exclusion, the Globe and Mail said.
The agreement comes as the Alberta-centered oil sands industry is fighting to improve pipeline infrastructure to sell its products, including the Keystone XL to the United States and less well-known pipelines, like Energy East and Northern Gateway.
The draft document says the premiers agree to “develop and enhance ... transportation networks,” including oil pipelines and electric grids, according to the Globe and Mail.
“As energy production expands to meet growing domestic and international energy demands, our country must have the necessary pipelines, electricity systems and other energy infrastructure in place to move energy products to the people that need them,” it says.Another part calls on provinces and territories to “improve the ti
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Enviros Back Van Hollen For Md. Senate, Though Big Groups Still On Sidelines
Jul 14, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Josh Kurtz
With two strong allies competing in the Democratic primary to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), environmental groups like the League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club have formally stayed on the sidelines in the race and are likely to continue to do so before voters pick a Democratic nominee next April.
But that didn't stop more than 70 Maryland environmentalists from endorsing one of the two candidates, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, yesterday in his primary fight with Rep. Donna Edwards. The environmentalists gathered with Van Hollen along the Severn River in downtown Annapolis -- and most were quick to point out that they were expressing their preference in the primary as individuals, rather than as representatives of the groups they're associated with.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh (D) -- a hero to environmentalists -- kicked off the news conference.
"Protecting our environment for future generations is the fight of our lifetime, and in the 20 years I've known Chris, he's never shied away from a tough fight," Frosh said. "In the state Legislature and in the U.S. House of Representatives, Chris has proven himself a leader who gets things done. I know he'll continue that work as Maryland's next U.S. senator."
Four environmental leaders also spoke: Marcia Verploegen Lewis, chairwoman of the Maryland LCV; Chuck Fox, U.S. EPA's former top official overseeing Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts and a former Maryland Environment secretary; Verna Harrison, a former foundation executive and state government official integral in bay cleanup efforts; and Cindy Schwartz, former executive director of the Maryland LCV.
In fact, while the national LCV office remains neutral in the Van Hollen-Edwards matchup, 11 of 14 members of the Maryland chapter's board of directors were on a new Van Hollen list of green supporters. So were Marion Edey, a founder of the national LCV who lives in Maryland; Mike Tidwell, founder and director of Chesapeake Climate Action Network; Dru Schmidt-Perkins, a veteran environmental activist who is executive director of a land-use and smart-growth group called 1000 Friends of Maryland; Reed Hundt, CEO of the Coalition for Green Capital; and former Sen. Joe Tydings (D-Md.).
"I'm honored to be here today with this group of tireless environmental champions and proud to have their support," Van Hollen said. He went on to say how important working to protect the environment is, adding: "It requires more than just words. I've always partnered with others in our community to find solutions and take action, and I'm committed to continuing that effort in the United States Senate."
That's an argument Van Hollen is going to repeat throughout his battle with Edwards. While both have solidly liberal records -- as an example, Van Hollen has a 98 percent lifetime score from the national LCV, while Edwards' lifetime record is 96 percent (E&E Daily, March 10) -- Van Hollen is touting his ability to achieve results while Edwards is considered more of an outsider and hell-raiser, which endears her to many progressive groups.
Both camps are scrambling for endorsements. Edwards' list of backers includes Emily's List, the fundraising powerhouse that supports Democratic women; J Street, the pro-Israel group that's considered a liberal alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; Democracy for America, a group affiliated with former Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean; the Progressive Change Campaign Committee; and a couple of labor unions.
In a memo released last week, Edwards' campaign communications director, Benjamin Gerdes, touted the congresswoman's grass-roots support and said it will translate into legislative action if she is elected.
"Donna is willing to take on the special interests to get those things done, and with 80,000 grassroots supporters joining Team Donna in just the last three months, she knows she has a grassroots army that will stand with her," he wrote.
Edwards will need to tap all the grass-roots support she can get, because she is lagging behind Van Hollen on the fundraising front so far. Van Hollen last week announced that he had raised about $1.5 million in the second quarter of the year and had banked about $2.5 million. Edwards' campaign said it had taken in just $590,000 and had about $325,000 on hand.
The winner of the Democratic primary -- and it's possible, but not likely, that other candidates could get in -- will be favored in the 2016 general election. The lone Republican candidate thus far is Chrys Kefalas, a lawyer who works for the National Association of Manufacturers.
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States Take Aim at Power-Plant Rules
Jul 13, 2015 | The Wall Street Journal
By Rebecca Smith and Amy Harder
State regulators are descending on Washington Tuesday to make last-minute pleas for changes in the Obama administration’s sweeping new rules for power-plant emissions, which will determine the direction of utility investments for decades to come and could affect the price of electricity.
California and several East Coast states want the Environmental Protection Agency to respect the steps they have already taken to cut carbon pollution in their regions and hold other states to higher standards by not easing proposed emission targets.
“We want a strong rule,” said Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board. “There are not quite as many viewpoints as states, but it’s pretty close.”
Other states, including Tennessee, Ohio and Nevada, say the pollution targets put forth by the EPA are so onerous they threaten to close power plants and cost consumers substantially more to keep the lights on.
At least five governors have threatened not to comply with the new pollution rules, including those of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin.
The EPA has received more than four million comments so far on what the Obama administration is calling its Clean Power Plan—the most in the agency’s history, according to spokesman Tom Reynolds. Once finalized in August, it is expected to face a barrage of legal challenges. In the meantime, some Republicans and coal-state Democrats have been pushing legislation to delay the rule’s compliance deadlines until all the litigation is complete.
State officials, power-utility representatives and special interest groups have held meetings in recent weeks at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to share concerns and praise for the new climate-change regulations, which are the cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s climate agenda.
The plan is widely regarded as the most important environmental rule to touch the electric-power industry, and is expected to change how electricity is generated and consumed in the U.S. The goal of the emissions-reduction plan is to slash U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions 30% from 2005 levels by 2030.
But achieving targets set forth under the draft rule will require huge changes to many companies’ power-generation fleets. The most typical will be to cut power production from plants that burn coal, and switch to cleaner-burning natural-gas-fired power plants. Achieving ambitious carbon-reduction targets also requires new renewable power sources and deploying advanced technologies that boost the efficiency of electrical gear.
People who have met with federal representatives say the meetings are short and give participants just enough time to summarize the chief points of written filings that often run hundreds, or even thousands, of pages. There’s no way to know how many changes will be made to the draft rule, attendees say, because Obama administration officials aren’t showing their cards.
“They just look and listen and take notes,” said Conrad Schneider of the Clean Air Task Force. “They resemble Easter Island statues.”
For some utility executives, a major sticking point is the pace of the required pollution reductions. Most states would have to achieve at least half the required reduction by 2020. Many states say that deadline, five years away, is impossible to meet.
States will have to develop action plans, and it can take three to four years to build new gas-fired power plants. If new natural-gas pipelines or big electric transmission lines are needed, the process of holding public hearings and building those lines can take up to a decade.
Another point of contention concerns how nuclear power, which does not emit any carbon dioxide, gets counted under the new rules. Utilities want any of the 100 existing reactors that get license extensions to be counted as new power generation that helps states meet carbon-reduction goals.
Nick Akins, chief executive of American Electric Power Co. , said Kentucky is the only state of 11 that his company serves that hasn’t raised major objections to the pollution rules. AEP relies on coal to fuel most of its generating capacity.
In a meeting last week, Mr. Akins and other executives told federal officials they were comfortable with 2030 goals, but the interim targets in 2020 don’t give states time to pivot to new electric-power sources. “It was such a dramatic shift in such a short period of time that they threw up their hands and said, ‘We can’t do it,’ ” he said.
Kirk Johnson, senior vice president at the Rural Electric Cooperative Association, said his group’s 900 members fear they might have to prematurely retire coal plants with $4 billion of debt on them. The utilities would have to pay off those liabilities, and then bear the higher cost of new, cleaner power plants on top of that. “It’s a big darn deal for us,” he said.
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Business Groups Urge Clean Power Plan Compliance
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
States should reject a call from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to boycott the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and develop their own compliance plans, sustainable business groups said.
Boycotting compliance with the EPA's proposal would result in a federally issued compliance plan that is likely to be more restrictive and less attuned to each state's unique power sector, the American Sustainable Business Council and Environmental Entrepreneurs said in a July 13 letter to the National Governors Association.
“The decision to ‘opt out' of the Clean Power Plan is simply bad for business,” the business groups said. “Businesses depend upon consistent regulatory compliance and transparency in state planning processes as key ingredients for a secure business environment. If a state were to opt out of writing a plan once the Clean Power Plan is finalized, the law requires the EPA to implement a plan for that state. The opportunity for the state to shape their clean energy future is lost by essentially transferring the legal authority from state energy experts who understand the distinct state energy needs to the EPA, a federal agency, to implement a more generic plan.”
The business groups are pushing back on a similar letter McConnell sent the National Governors Association in March urging states not to develop their own compliance plans.
The EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33), which is expected to be finalized in August, would establish unique carbon dioxide emissions rates for the power sector in each state. State regulators would then develop their own plans to comply with the emissions rates. The EPA would issue federal plans for states that choose not to develop their own.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) has said her state will not comply with the EPA's rule while Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), a presidential candidate, said it would be difficult for his state to comply unless the rule is substantially revised to prevent steep hikes to electricity rates. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) has also said that his state would not comply with the Clean Power Plan unless the final version is significantly revised (132 DEN A-18, 7/10/15).
The American Sustainable Business Council and Environmental Entrepreneurs, which represent 200,000 businesses and 325,000 business leaders and investors, said the Clean Power Plan presents states with an opportunity to invest in clean and renewable energy and the market certainty necessary for local businesses to invest and thrive.
“The Clean Power Plan has the ability to boost state economies and create jobs through new investments in critical clean energy infrastructure and energy efficiency technologies, while saving money for consumers and businesses. The funds saved through energy efficiency can be used for spending on local goods and services while helping to boost businesses’ bottom lines,” they said.
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Obama Officials: Power Plant Rule Part Of A ‘Moral Obligation’
Jul 13, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
World leaders have a “moral obligation” to fight climate change, and top Obama aides are making good on that obligation with its climate rule for power plants, two administration officials write in a new blog post.
Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy and Ambassador to the Vatican Ken Hackett wrote Monday that the EPA’s carbon rule fits with Pope Francis’s moral call to action on climate change released last month.“He makes clear our moral obligation to prevent climate impacts that threaten God's creation, especially for those most vulnerable,” McCarthy and Hackett wrote in the post on the EPA’s blog and The Huffington Post.
The officials lay out various harms of climate change, such as the effects of higher sea levels on the island nation of Tuvalu and increased extreme weather throughout the world.
“For all these reasons, the U.S. government, through the EPA, is taking steps to make good on our moral obligation,” they wrote. “Later this summer, the agency will finalize a rule to curb the carbon pollution fueling climate change from our nation's largest source — power plants.”
McCarthy, a Catholic, has highlighted Francis’s encyclical in recent weeks to promote the carbon rules, which will seek a 30-percent cut in the power sector’s carbon by 2030.
She also traveled to Vatican City in January to meet with top church officials and discuss Francis’s encyclical and administration officials’ work on climate, including the power plant rules.
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EPA Likely To Extend Attainment Date For 'Marginal' Ozone NAAQS Areas
Jul 13, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Stuart Shapiro
EPA is likely to grant a one-year extension for many areas of the United States to attain its 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) if those locations are currently classified as in “marginal” nonattainment, giving them more time to take steps to reduce emissions of ozone-forming pollutants and meet EPA's standard.
It is currently unclear which of the dozens of areas now classified in “marginal” nonattainment will receive extensions to comply, and which ones will receive a “bump up” to “moderate” nonattainment status, bringing with it stricter requirements to cut ozone pollution. States try to avoid nonattainment status generally because of the extra emissions controls it requires, which EPA's critics say drives businesses away from such areas.
Areas are given progressively longer to comply with the standard according to the severity of their nonattainment status. For example, areas in moderate nonattainment will have to comply by July 2018, while areas classified in the worst “extreme” status are given the most time and must attain the NAAQS by 2032.
One key difference between “marginal” and “moderate” status is that marginal areas do not have to craft certain provisions demonstrating that they have attained the NAAQS in their state implementation plans (SIPs), or blueprints for Clean Air Act compliance. EPA in a pending rule is likely to update the status of several areas.
The agency's recently released Action Initiation List of rules launched in May says that within 12 months EPA will issue a proposal that will “1) find that some areas attained the NAAQS by their Areas for the 2008 attainment date; 2) extend the attainment date by 1 year for areas that qualify; and, 3) reclassify as Moderate those areas that did not attain the 2008 ozone NAAQS by the applicable attainment date.”
Sources say it is likely that EPA will seek to grant extensions to the current July 20 deadline for attaining the 2008 ozone limit where it can, rather than worsen the nonattainment status of areas. EPA set the NAAQS at 75 parts per billion (ppb) in 2008 but has proposed tightening it to a limit within the range of 65 and 70 ppb.
Generally, ozone levels across the country have fallen in recent years in response to reduced air pollution and favorable weather conditions, sources agree. Some areas of the country, notably southern and central California, have stubbornly high ozone levels, but overall the trend is one of improvement.
EPA has cited this progress in its projections of how areas could attain a potentially tougher ozone NAAQS, which the agency is due to finalize under a court-mandated deadline of Oct. 1. Industry and GOP critics of a tougher ozone NAAQS warn that a stricter standard will throw much of the country into nonattainment.
While specifics of which areas will be affected by EPA's pending rulemaking remain unknown, some sources suggest that the outcome is predictable in a handful of areas across the country.
For example, a Colorado-based source indicates that the Denver metropolitan area expects to be “bumped-up” to moderate nonattainment status due to that area's pollution levels.
Another source says that national data suggest that most marginal areas in the country will meet EPA's technical criteria to be eligible for an extension. The New York City metropolitan area, however, does not qualify and will likely be reclassified as moderate, the source says.
Meanwhile, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) is welcoming EPA's decision, published in the July 13 Federal Register, to classify three Tennesse counties -- Knox, Blount and Anderson -- as in attainment with the ozone NAAQS. “Receiving federal clean air attainment status for ozone further shows that the air is demonstrably cleaner in Knox, Blount and Anderson counties, and allows companies looking to bring jobs to East Tennessee to more easily get permits to build new plants,” the senator said in a July 13 statement.
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Copper Clusters Convert Carbon Dioxide To Methanol
Jul 13, 2015 | Chemical
By Mark Peplow
With the help of the right catalyst, carbon dioxide emitted by fossil-fuel power stations could be used as a chemical feedstock, rather than contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers have now found that tiny clusters of copper atoms can generate methanol from CO2 at an unusually low pressure (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b03668).
Copper is already used to catalyze industrial methanol production from syngas—a mixture of carbon monoxide, CO2, and hydrogen—at pressures of 10 to 100 atm and temperatures of a few hundred degrees C. But these conditions make the process energy-intensive and costly. “We wanted to use lower pressure to save energy,” says Larry A. Curtiss of Argonne National Laboratory.
Curtiss—working with Peter Zapol, Stefan Vajda, and colleagues—calculated that copper clusters containing four atoms would offer higher catalytic activity than larger clusters or copper surfaces. The smaller clusters have more coordination sites available to bind reaction intermediates, offering a lower-energy reaction pathway.
The team peppered a thin film of alumina with Cu4+ clusters, and then monitored reactions over this catalyst in a gas stream containing 1% CO2, 3% H2, and 96% helium at an overall pressure of 1.25 atm. As they increased the temperature to 125 ºC, the H2 reduced the copper clusters to catalytically active Cu40. Methanol production peaked at 225 ºC, giving the highest reported activity for CO2 reduction to methanol at such a low CO2 partial pressure, a pressure around one-twentieth of that in work with previous catalysts.
Although promising, it remains to be seen whether this would be a chemically—or economically—viable way of utilizing CO2 waste from power plants. For now, Curtiss and his colleagues are looking for clusters that produce longer-chain hydrocarbons from CO2, potentially offering a renewable source of liquid fuels. Preliminary calculations suggest that a Cu20 cluster might be ideal, he says.
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Chamber of Commerce Joins in Water Rule Lawsuit
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid and Anthony Adragna
The Obama administration's final rule clarifying the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction is now being challenged by business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. EPA, N.D. Okla., No. 15-00386, complaint, 7/10/15).
Filed July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, the complaint alleges that their members will suffer “real economic harm” to their businesses and property values if the final clean water rule, or the waters of the U.S. rule (RIN 2040–AF30), is allowed to take effect on Aug. 25.
Joining the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the lawsuit are the National Independent Federation of Businesses, Tulsa Regional Chamber, State Chamber of Oklahoma and Portland Cement Association.
The business groups in their complaint say their members will be forced to submit to “expensive, vague, burdensome, and time-consuming federal regulations before they can perform the most mundane of activities on their property.”
The final clean water rule's revised definitions apply to all Clean Water Act permitting programs, including dredge-and-fill permits that builders and miners require for excavation activities.
Similar to all other challenges posed to the final rule, the business groups also accused the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of violating the Administrative Procedure Act, the Clean Water Act and the U.S. Constitution in promulgating the final rule.
To date, 28 states and 14 agriculture and industry groups have filed lawsuits in federal district courts against the rule. A Republican lawmaker also has filed a resolution to invoke the Congressional Resolution Act to overturn the rule (132 DEN A-3, 7/10/15).
Vermont Law School Professor Patrick Parenteau, who supports the rulemaking, dismissed the complaints filed across the country as political stunts. He told Bloomberg BNA that the claims mostly border on “frivolous” and even the ones that might have merit are “nit picky.”
“Just look at where the cases have been filed and cross reference those states with the political map of the country in the run up to the 2016 election,” Parenteau said in an e-mail. “These are political lawsuits designed to fire up the base of the Republican Party. The merits don't matter. This is about tying EPA in knots so it can't function. It's part of a much larger strategy that includes attacks on virtually every rule or policy that EPA has adopted in the past eight years,” he added.
Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana filed their complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Montana led 12 states in suing in the District of North Dakota and Georgia has led nine states in the Southern District of Georgia. Ohio and Michigan sued in the Southern District of Ohio, and Oklahoma filed in the Northern District of Oklahoma. The industry and agriculture groups filed in the Southern District of Texas, while the business groups filed in the Northern District of Oklahoma.
For the first time, the final clean water rule, which was published June 29, defines tributaries and limits statutory coverage for wetlands and waters adjacent to navigable waters and their tributaries (80 Fed. Reg. 37,054).
The rule also allows the agencies to determine jurisdiction on a case-specific basis by determining the significance of impact that isolated wetlands and waters have either singly or in combination with similarly situated waters and wetlands on downstream navigable waters.
Senate Resolution Appears Unlikely
Separately, there appears to be little movement in the Senate to challenge the rulemaking through the use of the Congressional Review Act.
Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) introduced a resolution (H.J. Res 59) on July 8 seeking to overturn the final rule, but aides to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Neb.) and Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) said they had no immediate plans to introduce their own challenges.
The Congressional Review Act allows the passage of a joint resolution to overturn regulations deemed to be economically significant, but requires the president's signature to become law. President Barack Obama has vowed to oppose efforts to block the Clean Water Act jurisdiction rulemaking.
Senate aides also wouldn't commit to backing Smith's resolution if it reaches their chamber. Thomas Doheny, an aide to Fischer, said he would not “speculate” on what would happen to the challenge in the Senate.
There, instead, appears to be momentum to move the Federal Water Quality Protection Act (S. 1140), which would require the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to rewrite the rule following explicit instructions. Proponents believe they may be able to secure enough support from moderate Senate Democrats to pass it (108 DEN A-6, 6/5/15).
“Senator Barrasso will continue to focus his efforts on his bipartisan Federal Water Quality Protection Act and will look for any opportunity to pass this bill into law,” Laura Mengelkamp, an aide to Barrasso, told Bloomberg BNA July 13.
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Colorado Renewable Portfolio Standard Upheld
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By tr
A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to Colorado's renewable portfolio standard, finding that the standard does not disproportionately harm out-of-state businesses (Energy & Env't Legal Inst. v. Epel, 10th Cir., No. 14-1216, 7/13/15).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling against the Energy and Environment Legal Institute (EELI), which argued that Colorado's renewable portfolio standard means that some out-of-state coal producers will lose business to out-of-state utilities who feed power onto an interconnected grid serving 11 western states, Canada and Mexico.
The institute had argued that, because electricity can go anywhere on the grid and come from anywhere on the grid, and because Colorado is a net importer of electricity, the out-of-state coal producers would be harmed, the court noted.
The institute cited Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig Inc., 294 U.S. 511 (U.S. 1935) , which held that certain price control and price affirmation laws controlling “extraterritorial” conduct are per se invalid under the dormant commerce clause.
Not Price Control
The court disagreed. Colorado's voter-approved renewable portfolio standard, which requires power generators to ensure that 20 percent of the electricity they sell to state consumers comes from renewable sources, is not a price control or price affirmation law, the court said.
Additionally, the court asked, “How can we have the sort of steadfast conviction the Baldwin Court did that interstate commerce will be harmed when, if anything, Colorado's mandate seems most obviously calculated to raise prices for in-state consumers?”
Fossil fuel producers such as the EELI's members will be hurt, the court acknowledged. “But as far as we know, all fossil fuel producers in the area served by the grid will be equally hurt and all renewable energy producers in the area will be helped equally,” the court ruled.
“If there's any disproportionate adverse effect felt by out-of-state producers or any disproportionate advantage enjoyed by in-state producers, it hasn't been explained to this court,” it said in a 16-page ruling.
Could Benefit Fossil Fuels
The net price impact on out-of-state consumers is “far from obviously negative,” and the renewable energy standard could result in lower demand for fossil fuels, meaning it could “tip in favor of those willing to shift usage toward fossil fuel generated electricity.”
“To reach hastily for Baldwin's per se rule, then, might lead to the decidedly awkward result of striking down as an improper burden on interstate commerce a law that may not disadvantage out-of-state businesses and that may actually reduce price for out-of-state consumers,” the opinion said.
David W. Schnare of the Free Market Environmental Law Clinic in Burke, Va., lead attorney for the institute, told Bloomberg BNA July 13 the court “didn't get it right.”
“We believe they failed to take into consideration the arguments we made, but this is not the time or place to go forward with an appeal,” he said, adding that the institute is awaiting a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to rule in a similar case.
Eighth Circuit Decision Pending
The core question of the cases is, “Can a state export its renewable energy policy into another state?” he said. “We'll now have to wait for the Eighth Circuit.”
The ruling clears a path toward a clean energy future, according to a statement by four environmental groups —Conservation Colorado Education Fund, Environment Colorado, Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society—who intervened in the case and joined as defendants with the state Public Utilities Commission.
“It is time for the climate deniers and dirty energy lobby to end their frivolous lawsuits and recognize that clean, renewable energy is here to stay,” Carrie Curtiss, deputy director for Conservation Colorado, said in the July 13 statement.
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10th Circuit Upholds Colorado Renewable Standard
Jul 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillén and Nick Juliano
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that Colorado’s renewable portfolio standard is not unconstitutional, despite affecting how some out-of-state power operators work.
The court sided with a lower court in ruling that a challenge brought by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute took an exceedingly expansive approach to applying a test to determine whether a law violates the Constitution’s dormant commerce clause.
Judges Timothy M. Tymkovich, David M. Ebel and Neil M. Gorsuch determined the RPS would not harm interstate commerce because it “seems most obviously calculated to raise” energy prices for in-state consumers.
“To be sure, fossil fuel producers like EELI’s member will be hurt,” they wrote. “But as far as we know, all fossil fuel producers in the area served by the grid will be hurt equally and all renewable energy producers in the area will be helped equally.”
ClearView Energy Partners wrote in an analysis note that this is the second time a federal court has rejected a commerce clause challenge to an RPS program, sending a positive signal for other states with similar mandates.
“At this time, we believe that today’s ruling indicates that the current most stable driver of renewable power demand faces limited risk from legal challenges,” the firm writes. “However, we note that state legislative efforts to constrain or eliminate RPS programs persist.”CORRECTION: A previous version of this alert misidentified the type of court that issued the ruling. It was a federal court.
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Pipeline Rule on Excavation Damage Enforcement Issued
Jul 14, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
State programs intended to prevent excavation damage to natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines will be evaluated for adequacy under a new process detailed in a final rule released July 13 by the Transportation Department.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration rule (RIN 2137-AE43), would also establish administrative and adjudication processes for states and excavators when practices are determined inadequate or in violation of pipeline safety laws. The agency would serve as a safety back-stop.
“Excavation damage is a leading cause of serious pipeline incidents that cause death, injuries and property damage,” Anthony Foxx, secretary for the Transportation Department, said in a statement. “The rule strengthens our ability to take enforcement action against those who violate pipeline damage prevention requirements, and to address one of the greatest threats to pipeline safety.”
The rule would, at a 3 percent discount over 10 years, cost states and the federal government roughly $2.1 million and would be cost-beneficial if it prevents an average of one reportable pipeline incident annually, PHMSA said. It addresses what has, from 1988 to 2012, been the cause of 188 fatalities, 723 injuries, 1,678 incidents and roughly $475 million in estimated property damages, the rule said.
It will also have ancillary benefits of reducing methane emissions (10 DEN A-1, 1/15/15).
The final rule, which has been under development since October 2009, addresses congressional mandates from the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety Act of 2006 (Pub. L. No. 109-468). It is the third major PHMSA action that the agency has released within the last month alone (62 DEN A-1, 4/2/12).
It will be published in the Federal Register soon and will take effect Jan. 1.
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