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(ACC Mentioned) Funeral Directors May Be at Risk for ALS: Study
Jul 21, 2015 | Safety and Health Magazine
Exposure to formaldehyde during the embalming process may put male funeral directors at increased risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, according to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. -
Lawmakers Re-Up Push for Microbeads Ban
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
New York lawmakers have reiterated their support for a national ban on microbeads, the plastic additives that have turned up in waterways around the country. -
Ousted Agency Chief Avoided, Irked Obama Admin Officials
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
In early 2011, Obama administration drilling "czar" Michael Bromwich wanted to talk to the head of the Chemical Safety Board. -
Federal Court Upholds EPA Pollutant Rule
Jul 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule on emissions of certain toxic air pollutants at manufacturing plants. -
House GOP Unveils Energy Reform Package
Jul 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
House Republicans have unveiled a package of bills aimed at bringing the country’s energy infrastructure, reliability and other energy matters into the modern era. -
Nicholas Institute's Monast Outlines Key Issues to Watch in Clean Power Plan Rollout
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - TV
With U.S. EPA set to release its final Clean Power Plan over the next few weeks, what are the key changes to watch for in the agency's rollout of the rule? -
EPA Asks Court to Dismiss Challenge to Startup-Shutdown Rule
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Amanda Peterka
U.S. EPA has asked a federal court to dismiss a challenge to a new rule that changed how states must address excessive air pollution that occurs during industrial equipment malfunctions or plant startups and shutdowns. -
Vt. Tries to Lower Emissions by Keeping Food Wastes Out of Dumps
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
Vermont is trying to revolutionize how the state, and perhaps the rest of the country, handles leftover food. -
World Mayors Talk Climate Change with Pope Francis
Jul 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Mayors of about 60 world cities, including some from the United States, are set to meet with Pope Francis on Tuesday to urge swift action on climate change. -
McCarthy Taps Longtime Aide as Chief of Staff
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Robin Bravender
Gina McCarthy's top aide from her days as a state environmental regulator is now the U.S. EPA boss' chief of staff.
Industry and Association News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Chemical Security News
Energy and Environment News
Transportation News - There are no clips to report at this time
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(ACC Mentioned) Funeral Directors May Be at Risk for ALS: Study
Jul 21, 2015 | Safety and Health Magazine
Exposure to formaldehyde during the embalming process may put male funeral directors at increased risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, according to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Researchers analyzed national data and determined that male study participants with a high probability of exposure to formaldehyde during the embalming process were nearly 3 times as likely to die from ALS as participants with no predicted exposure. However, the findings did not hold true for female funeral directors.
Some experts cautioned against reading too much into the study.
“It’s important to note that no previous studies have found an association between formaldehyde exposure and ALS, something the authors acknowledge,” the Formaldehyde Panel of the American Chemistry Council said in a press release.
Meanwhile, the authors suggested additional research into the issue.
“In addition to formaldehyde, funeral directors are exposed to other chemicals used in embalming, as well as to viral, bacterial and prion pathogens,” the authors wrote in the study. “Thus, further study of the association of ALS with high levels of formaldehyde exposure and among funeral directors is warranted.”
The study was published online July 13 in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.
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Lawmakers Re-Up Push for Microbeads Ban
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
New York lawmakers have reiterated their support for a national ban on microbeads, the plastic additives that have turned up in waterways around the country.
At least seven states have banned the beads, which are found in toothpaste and facial scrubs, and others are considering doing so.
"These tiny pieces of plastic have already caused significant ecological damage to New York's waterways, and they will continue to do so until they are removed from the marketplace," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said yesterday.
Gillibrand introduced a bill to ban the products earlier this year, but no action has been taken (Katie Reilly, Reuters, July 20). -- SP
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Ousted Agency Chief Avoided, Irked Obama Admin Officials
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
In early 2011, Obama administration drilling "czar" Michael Bromwich wanted to talk to the head of the Chemical Safety Board. He accused the chemical agency of dragging its heels on a plan to test equipment whose failure had caused the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
But then-CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso had been avoiding him.
"I understand that you were unwilling to have a one-on-one conversation with me about this issue," Bromwich wrote to Moure-Eraso in a sharply worded email. "I find this very disappointing, and it simply ensures further delay."
Moure-Eraso told his top staffers at the time that he didn't "want to upset [Bromwich] after denying his one-on-one. But I urgently need to see a man about a dog ... this evening," according to emails recently obtained by Greenwire.
The conflict with Bromwich is just one example of how the ex-chairman of the CSB -- who resigned this year under pressure from the White House -- ruffled feathers during his five-year tenure at the agency, according to interviews and emails from a nongovernmental email account used by Moure-Eraso. A House watchdog committee has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether he lied to Congress about his use of personal emails to conduct business (Greenwire, July 8).
Moure-Eraso's strained relationships with other agencies left him with few allies when a bipartisan chorus of lawmakers pushed for his ouster, and has left CSB's new interim leadership with the task of patching up frayed bonds. Vanessa Sutherland, President Obama's nominee to lead the board, has vowed to lawmakers that she intends to run the agency far differently than her predecessor (Greenwire, April 22).
The conflict between Moure-Eraso and Bromwich occurred in February 2011, several months after oil stopped gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Several federal agencies were trying to test a key part that triggered the disaster.
Bromwich -- then the director of the branch of the Interior Department with oversight of offshore energy production -- was pushing to move forward with a test of the oil well's blowout preventer to determine how it failed and whether it was the fault of Cameron, the Houston-based company that manufactured the part.
At the time, Cameron was facing civil damages in a federal lawsuit in which it was named along with BP PLC, rig owner Transocean Ltd. and contractor Halliburton Co., although U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier dropped Cameron from the suit in 2013.
But CSB was holding things up, according to Bromwich.
To the chagrin of the oil spill czar, the CSB refused to sign off on a multiagency plan to allow for Cameron personnel to perform the test under close supervision by government employees, who would also videotape it, according to emails from a nongovernmental email account used by Moure-Eraso and obtained under the Massachusetts Public Records Law.
CSB officials had told Moure-Eraso they feared Cameron would manipulate the results, although Bromwich and others thought that was unlikely.
Cameron didn't want to proceed without CSB's agreement "because of its concerns about adverse publicity," Bromwich wrote. Cameron didn't respond to a request for comment for this story.
In an email to Moure-Eraso, Bromwich wrote that the resulting delay was "unacceptable" and demanded that the CSB leader speak with him or have someone explain the agency's stance by the end of the day.
As CSB refused to sign off on the testing plan, Cameron spent several days "working through a plan to substitute NASA technicians" to perform the test, rather than company officials, according to emails. NASA contributed an engineering expert to the interagency group investigating the cause of the spill but didn't work on the investigation itself, spokesman J.D. Harrington said.
Three-and-a-half years later, CSB put out its own report finding that the blowout preventer contained a defective blind shear ram -- and that the same defect may be present at blowout preventers at hundreds of other well sites, in a finding that went beyond the claims of other agencies (EnergyWire, June 10, 2014).
The test of the blowout preventer, a complex process, had been proceeding according to plan, Bromwich said in an interview, "until the Chemical Safety Board got involved." CSB "seemed to have their own agenda, which was different from everybody else," he added.
Moure-Eraso told Greenwire the agency's actions were appropriate to ensure the integrity of the process.
CSB is an independent agency charged with conducting its own investigations and issuing recommendations. It lacks the power to issue fines or citations, but its suggestions are monitored closely by industry, regulators and labor groups.'It would be very helpful to hear from you'
That wasn't the only instance of coordination problems under Moure-Eraso's leadership.
They flared again when Bromwich's successor, who led what was by then known as the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, tried to work with CSB nearly two years later on a different offshore investigation.
Rear Adm. Jim Watson, the head of BSEE, had trouble reaching Moure-Eraso as he led an investigation into a fatal explosion at the West Delta 32 platform in 2012, records show.
"I'm sorry to have missed you by telephone and am hoping this email will reach you," Watson wrote. "I am very concerned that our organizations are not coordinating efforts following the fire with loss of life on West Delta Platform 32 last Friday."
Three workers were killed when the platform, operated by Black Elk Energy, exploded on Nov. 16, 2012.
Watson wrote that his agency thought CSB would keep his agency apprised of its actions to avoid conflicting communications but that CSB had since issued subpoenas to Black Elk and that a CSB official had been quoted about the possible cause of the fire. Those actions weren't coordinated with BSEE, "which predictably has caused confusion," Watson wrote.
"Needless to say, it would be very helpful to hear from you about this matter," he wrote.
CSB ultimately didn't complete a report on the Black Elk explosion. BSEE later issued 41 citations to Black Elk for safety violations it said led to the incident (Greenwire, Nov. 14, 2013). Black Elk did not face criminal charges from the incident, and the company sold most of its offshore energy assets to Renaissance Offshore LLC for nearly $150 million last year.
Watson, who's now the president of the Americas Division of the American Bureau of Shipping, a ship classification organization, didn't respond to a request for comment for this story nor did Black Elk representatives.'Imperious' leadership
CSB's management problems cause real challenges that affect whether enforcement agencies can hold violators accountable, said Ellen Widess, who led California's workplace safety agency during the investigation of a 2012 fire at Chevron Corp.'s Richmond, Calif., refinery.
In the Richmond investigation, CSB's technical expertise in areas like metallurgy proved invaluable, but its leaders could be "imperious" and hard to reach, Widess said.
Widess said she recalled reading CSB staff's comments on the investigation in the press that even she was not apprised of. Those disclosures, many of which she said likely occurred without the knowledge of the full board, "could jeopardize our really getting to the bottom of the cause of the explosion," she said.
Running the investigation properly was crucial because deep-pocketed Chevron was sure to use all its resources to dispute the findings, Widess said.
Moure-Eraso, however, said CSB maintained a "very professional" relationship with Cal/OSHA, a division of the state Department of Industrial Relations, during the Richmond investigation, describing his dealings with California regulators as "excellent relationships."
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Federal Court Upholds EPA Pollutant Rule
Jul 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule on emissions of certain toxic air pollutants at manufacturing plants.
The EPA’s 2012 rule was challenged by both the industry, which said it was too stringent, and environmental groups, which argued it didn’t go far enough.
But the Circuit Court upheld the rule and said the EPA took the steps necessary to justify it on both counts.
“We conclude that EPA’s methodology passes muster,” the court wrote. “Keeping in mind the ‘wide latitude’ we afford EPA’s expertise-informed choice of data-gathering methodology, we find that EPA’s data-collection process was reasonable.”
The EPA released its rule limiting hexavalent chromium, a carcinogenic released into the air during chrome-finishing processes at manufacturing plants, in August 2012, saying it was likely to reduce emissions of the toxin by 224 pounds per year.
The agency said the rule would apply to around 1,350 facilities around the country, but that more than 85 percent of them were already in compliance with the new standards.
Implementing the rule would cost $2.6 million annually, EPA said, but most facilities would need to pay less than $1,000 to comply. The agency acknowledged a “small subset of large hard chrome facilities” would need retrofits costing up to $65,000.
Public health and environmental groups said the EPA should have set a higher minimum standard for technologies designed to reduce the pollutant. The court said that step wasn’t necessary in this rule.
The National Association for Surface Finishing, which represents the surface coating industry, sued over the rule, arguing it was too stringent. But the court ruled that the EPA justified its new regulations properly given the emission technologies available to the industry and the data it used to write the rule.
“We uphold EPA’s model as long as the agency ‘explain[s] the assumptions and methodology used in preparing the model’ and ‘provide[s] a complete analytic defense’ should the model be challenged,” the court wrote. -
House GOP Unveils Energy Reform Package
Jul 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
House Republicans have unveiled a package of bills aimed at bringing the country’s energy infrastructure, reliability and other energy matters into the modern era.
The measure from the House Energy and Commerce Committee avoids some of the hot-button, controversial issues on Capitol Hill — such as repealing the ban on exporting crude oil — in an attempt to construct a package that could get broad, bipartisan support.
After unveiling the package on Monday night, the committee announced that its subcommittee on energy and power will start to consider and vote on four sections of the bill Wednesday.
“Wednesday’s markup is the next step in ensuring we not only get this legislation done but get it done right,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the committee’s chairman, said in a statement. “The sooner we say yes to energy, the sooner we can take full advantage of America’s energy abundance and bring our policies into the 21st century to create jobs and keep energy affordable.”
If lawmakers are successful, they could pass the first major energy legislation since 2007.
The 95-page bill package includes a number of provisions that Republicans and Democrats alike have supported at some point. The Obama administration has also expressed a need for legislation in some of the areas the bill confronts, especially in its major energy infrastructure report from May.
It would streamline the permitting process for natural gas pipelines in an attempt to better transport the historically high volumes of gas being produced domestically.
Power utilities would be more free to violate environmental laws if necessary to maintain electric reliability.
The bill includes various electric grid modernization and improvement proposals, such as pushing utilities to better prepare for power disruptions and giving the secretary of energy emergency power to respond to grid threats.
The package is the first result of months of hearings the lawmakers have held this year on the matters.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is working toward its own energy reform package that is likely to be unveiled before lawmakers leave for the August recess.
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Nicholas Institute's Monast Outlines Key Issues to Watch in Clean Power Plan Rollout
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - TV
With U.S. EPA set to release its final Clean Power Plan over the next few weeks, what are the key changes to watch for in the agency's rollout of the rule? During today's OnPoint, Jonas Monast, director of the climate and energy program at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, discusses the critical elements of the draft proposal that are likely to face changes in the final rule. He also talks about the range of options that exist for states that are considering a multistate compliance mechanism.Transcript
Monica Trauzzi: Hello and welcome to OnPoint. I'm Monica Trauzzi. With me today is Jonas Monast, director of the climate and energy program at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. Jonas, thank you for joining me.
Jonas Monast: It's my pleasure.
Monica Trauzzi: Jonas, with EPA set to release its final Clean Power Plan over the next few weeks, you've identified in a new report the key things to sort of watch out for in that final rule. Day of, what are you going to immediately put eyes on?
Jonas Monast: Yeah, so it's a long list. I think that the top three issues are did the state targets change, and if so that means that the formula for calculating the state targets changed. Another point that I'll be looking for is the timing, right, so when do the states have to submit the plans and when do utilities actually have to start taking action. And then the final, does EPA say more about the potential for easing market-based mechanisms under the Clean Power Plan, and how?
Monica Trauzzi: So in terms of the formula, is the sense that there will be a change to how they determine targets?
Jonas Monast: I think there's a good chance. You know, the EPA has received -- well, first off it started with a blank sheet of paper when it created the proposal, and now it's received over 4 million comments. There's been a really robust stakeholder conversation since then, and the EPA is I think well-aware of where those conversations are. I suspect that the formula is going to reflect changes both in the individual building blocks, what's included, and how they apply those building blocks to the states.
Monica Trauzzi: Right. So those building blocks, I mean, how could -- that's kind of the critical foundation of the plan. How could those change?
Jonas Monast: Well, I'll tell you. So for one example, so for Building Block 1, which was looking at efficiency potential for coal-fired power plants, there have been more studies on the efficiency potential for coal-fired power plants. EPA can incorporate that new data into the final rule. And also considering the potential for co-firing, so co-firing with natural gas or biomass in coal-fired power plants as a way to reduce the CO2 emissions.
Monica Trauzzi: There, as you said, have been robust stakeholder conversations with EPA over the draft rule. Which states have made the strongest case for having their overall emissions reduction target reduced?
Jonas Monast: Yeah, you know, that's an interesting question. A lot of states have an argument for why they're being treated unfairly. Some of the states that have really taken action for quite some time to reduce CO2 emissions now have a stringent target and they have fewer options available to them to reduce emissions. Other states that have made investments in coal-fired power plants based on other regulatory requirements, past Clean Air Act requirements, also have an argument for fairness. They don't want to have stranded assets there. So I think you see the arguments coming from states really across the political spectrum that the targets should change as applied to those states.
Monica Trauzzi: The nuclear lobby has made a big push for great inclusion.
Jonas Monast: Sure.
Monica Trauzzi: Is your expectation that nuclear will play a greater role in that final rule?
Jonas Monast: I think the EPA absolutely will address nuclear. I think there are two ways that nuclear plays into the proposal. The first way that the nuclear question comes in is nuclear power plants that were already under construction as of 2012, so that's Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, they have some concerns that including the nuclear power plants in the state target as opposed to allowing the states to take advantage of new nuclear as part of the compliance, that that makes their target more stringent than it would have been otherwise. And then for every state that has nuclear power in this state -- the EPA's proposal has that 6 percent number of at-risk nuclear, incorporated that into the building block. So I suspect that that's going to change as well.
Monica Trauzzi: In terms of legal defensibility, what will you watch for sort of on wording and how the document is crafted?
Jonas Monast: Yeah, so this is going to -- the legal arguments are going to come down to two points. The first point is the difference between the language in 111(d) passed by the U.S. Senate and the language of 111(d) passed by the House of Representatives. There's some conflicting language that was never resolved. The courts are going to address that. And the EPA is going to have to defend why it's making the choice that it's making to move forward under 111(d) in the first place. The other part is going to be how the EPA defines the best system of emission reduction, and it's going to have to come up with an objective standard that's defensible as it applies the best system of emission reduction to each state.
Monica Trauzzi: There is growing momentum, particularly following the Supreme Court's mercury decision, for a stay on the Clean Power Plan as sort of this middle-of-the-road option. Do you think that that would be a reasonable approach ahead of what is expected to be very heavy litigation on this rule?
Jonas Monast: Yeah, it depends on the timeline. It depends on when the states have to submit the plan. And really what it depends on is when the utilities have to start making investments in order to comply with it. In order to prevail on a request for a temporary stay the litigants would have to demonstrate they are likely to secede on the merits, but they also have to demonstrate that they would be harmed if the rule goes into effect at that point. In order to demonstrate that they would be harmed they have to demonstrate they would actually have to be making investments. So if the utilities don't have to start complying until 2020, that's actually long enough for the litigation process to play out. If it turns out that the utilities would have to start making investments soon in order to reach an aggressive interim target, then they may have a stronger argument there.
Monica Trauzzi: The Nicholas Institute has done quite a bit of work digging into multistate options and sort of what the different approaches are there. Is this a net positive approach across the board, or are there certain states where this would work better? And sort of what are the options within the multistate option?
Jonas Monast: Yeah, so modeling, both that comes out of the Nicholas Institute and from other organizations, suggests that on the whole the multistate approach would be lower cost than states going at it on their own. Now of course that's going to be -- that's going to depend on the individual state circumstances. What we've been working on is trying to figure out how to address the political hurdles and the administrative hurdles that may prevent states from implementing markets, and what we think -- and other groups have come to the same conclusion -- is that the EPA and the states could set this up in a way that allows electric generators to opt in to markets, but without the states being in a position of explicitly endorsing markets or explicitly designing markets.
Monica Trauzzi: All right, we'll end it there -- a lot to watch for over the next couple weeks. I appreciate your time.
Jonas Monast: Thanks so much.
Monica Trauzzi: Thanks for watching. We'll see you back here tomorrow.
[End of Audio]
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EPA Asks Court to Dismiss Challenge to Startup-Shutdown Rule
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Amanda Peterka
U.S. EPA has asked a federal court to dismiss a challenge to a new rule that changed how states must address excessive air pollution that occurs during industrial equipment malfunctions or plant startups and shutdowns.
In a court brief filed Friday, EPA said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction over the rule. The state of Texas and several energy companies filed a lawsuit against the rule there in June.
EPA argues that because the rule is national, the Texas challenge should be either dismissed or transferred to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Free-market law firm Southeastern Legal Foundation and Walter Coke Inc. have already filed a separate lawsuit over the rule in the D.C. Circuit.
EPA's final rule published in June rescinded long-standing state provisions known as "affirmative defense" that shield industrial facilities from civil penalties for violations of national ambient air quality standards that occur during startups, shutdowns and malfunctions.
The final rule also found that states cannot automatically exempt facilities from emission limits during those times. EPA required that 36 states -- including Texas -- reopen pollution control plans and submit revisions within 18 months to comply with the changes (Greenwire, May 22).
"The called-for changes to state plans will provide necessary environmental protection and will give industry and the public more certainty about requirements that apply during these periods," EPA said about the rule.
In the lawsuit, Texas noted that it was challenging only the parts of EPA's final rule that apply to the Lone Star State -- specifically, EPA's finding that affirmative defense provisions in Texas' pollution cleanup plans are in violation of the Clean Air Act.
Texas has previously argued that the rule is unlawful because it ignores a recent ruling in the 5th Circuit that upheld the affirmative defense provisions. The state has also argued that its provisions are effective at controlling air pollution emissions at industrial facilities and that it requires companies to report on "upset" emissions.
Environmentalists recently moved to intervene in both the suits filed in Texas and in the D.C. court (E&ENews PM, July 14). Texas yesterday challenged the groups' request, arguing that the environmental groups sought to expand the scope of the lawsuit to the entire county.
The state asked the court to limit the environmentalists' intervention to just the parts of the rule that affect Texas.
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Vt. Tries to Lower Emissions by Keeping Food Wastes Out of Dumps
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
Second of a series. Click here for the first part.
Vermont is trying to revolutionize how the state, and perhaps the rest of the country, handles leftover food. Starting this month, any business, college or university, or other facility that produces 52 or more tons of food scraps per year (1 ton per week) and is within 20 miles of a composting facility is required to divert those scraps from landfills.
This new ban is part of a larger effort by the state to raise its recycling rates and, at the same time, decrease its greenhouse gas emissions that include methane from rotting food. Advocates hope the law will have the added benefits of increasing the amount of unused food that is donated to charity and cutting the energy and fertilizer needed to grow food through a greater use of natural composting.
"We have a need to manage our materials in a more sustainable way for environmental reasons and for future access to resources," said Josh Kelly, the materials management section chief in the Vermont Department of Environmental Protection's Solid Waste Program, who is putting the waste restrictions in place. "While these materials are banned, the focus is to get people to do things better, and we are helping people to do that."SPECIAL SERIES
An occasional series about how nations and states are trying to cut greenhouse gas emissions by controlling food wastes and expanding recycling laws.
Vermont isn't the only state changing how it handles food disposal, but its plan is the most ambitious. The ban is part of Vermont's 2012 Universal Recycling Law, also known as Act 148. Among other waste disposal restrictions, it aims to ban landfill disposal of food scraps from all sources, including residential waste, by July 1, 2020. A year earlier, the state began implementing the ban with producers generating 2 tons of organic waste per week. Most of that food will instead go to one of the state's 10 food scrap composting facilities, with some heading to anaerobic digesters.
The ban was motivated by shrinking landfill space and a decade of stagnant recycling rates that have stayed around 30 to 36 percent, according to the Waste Management & Prevention Division. It would also help to reduce the state's carbon emissions. About 18 percent of all methane emissions in the United States comes from wastes decomposing in landfills, which are the third largest source of the greenhouse gas in the country, according to U.S. EPA. Because much of that methane comes from decomposing food scraps, more recycling means less greenhouse gas gets into the atmosphere.
In Vermont's case, a 2013 report prepared for the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources found that the amount of emissions from food scraps would be cut in half (from 3,009 metric tons of carbon equivalent [MTCE] to 1,575 MTCE) if all food scraps were diverted to compost.
Elsewhere in the Northeast, there is a growing awareness among state governments that sending so much waste to landfills is unsustainable and that diverting leftover food has other benefits like boosting soil health with more compost and preserving natural resources including water. Neighboring Massachusetts started regulating food disposal from businesses and institutions in October 2014, while Connecticut's similar legislation went into effect in 2011 and Rhode Island's version of a ban will begin next year. Both New York and Maryland are considering following in their footsteps.'Upstream' efforts help the poor
While implementation of the commercial food waste bans has primarily focused on composting, food waste generators like grocery stores, colleges and food distributors are strongly encouraged to prioritize "upstream" solutions like reducing wasteful purchasing and production practices and increasing the amount of food they donate to hunger-relief organizations, as outlined in EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy.
The idea is to shift the perception of leftovers as food waste and to think of them as wasted food that has an energy value, said Christine Beling, a project engineer in EPA's Region 1 office, which covers New England. "Nobody wants to waste food, right?" she said. "There's a lot of really wholesome food out there that doesn't need to go to composting."
[+] Last year, according to the Department of Agriculture, volunteer groups and others rescued over 46 million pounds of food from landfills. Members of City Harvest, a group in New York City, pose with their daily haul gleaned from restaurants, grocers, hotel, bakeries and farmers markets. Photo courtesy of the Department of Agriculture.
But it may be some time before anyone will be able to tell definitively whether the bans are making a dent on hunger and poor nutrition, as Vermont and other states continue to work out the logistics of implementing the bans.
Alex Bornstein, the chief operations officer of the Vermont Foodbank, said he and his colleagues weren't sure what to expect when the ban initially went into effect a year ago. It's still unclear whether there have been more donations statewide because diverted food would be donated directly to the 225 local food shelves, meal sites, senior centers or after-school programs affiliated with the food bank.
"The amount of need is amazing," he said of hunger in the state, adding that as many as one in four Vermonters, roughly 153,000 people, use the food bank's services.
Collecting enough food donations is especially challenging in Vermont because the state doesn't have many big-box stores like Wal-Mart that provide bulk donations in most other states. Distribution difficulties are also compounded by limited transportation and infrastructure, Bornstein said.
"What makes Vermont a great place to live also makes it really hard to run a statewide foodbank successfully," Bornstein said. "In Vermont, we're really under-represented by major distributors. Because we don't have those big distribution centers, we don't have major corporations like a Kraft or a Nestle, we're constantly having to be creative in bringing in food."
Passage of Act 148 could make up for that donation shortfall by encouraging more businesses and institutions to donate extra food. Bryn Oakleaf, an environmental analyst in the Department of Environmental Protection's Solid Waste Program, said discussions about the need to donate food have "definitely been present" in the department's presentations and reports on the law.
So far, though, Bornstein said many of the potential donors he has spoken to still don't know that the law exists or don't know that it applies to them. While he praised the Agency of Natural Resources for working closely with the food bank during the ban's rollout, Bornstein said that he and his colleagues had not expected to have to explain the law as much as they currently do.Reaching out to potential donors
"We find that potential donors have some idea of what their responsibilities are under Act 148, but more often than not we need to explain in detail exactly what they need to do to comply," he said.
Gabe Zoerheide, the newly hired executive director of the nonprofit Willing Hands, which delivers food donations to charitable organizations in the Upper Valley region, said it was still too early to tell whether the law would have an effect on food donations. The nonprofit charitable organization works with 22 local food donors and delivers mostly fruits and vegetables to 54 organizations every day of the week, all year long. Last year, drivers delivered about 190 tons of food.
"It's a big question mark for us, it could be a really big deal," he said, referring to the ban.
The implications of the law are especially relevant to Zoerheide, who is looking for new food donors. In the last year or two, Willing Hands has experienced a dip in donations. He said the decline was due to more efficient purchasing by one of its main suppliers, Co-op Foodstores.
"One of the main questions I have is how many places are not in compliance with Act 148," Zoerheide said, adding that it isn't clear how the state would enforce the ban.
Businesses and institutions are required to comply if they are producing 52 tons of food scraps or more per year and if they are within 20 miles of a composting site, which in practical terms means a lot of places could be exempt, according to some critics.
Kelly of the Department of Environmental Protection countered that most of the state, from Burlington down to Brattleboro, is covered by one of Vermont's 10 composting facilities, though the Rutland area is still underserved. Starting on July 1, 2020, all food scraps will be diverted from landfills regardless of their distance from a composting facility.
"The goal with a phased in timeline was to incentivize the collection (hauling) and processing/use (facilities) of food scrap materials before the 2020 milestone takes effect," he wrote in an email.Connecting food wasters with 'food rescuers'
As for enforcement, Oakleaf said staff at the Agency of Natural Resources was providing technical assistance and visiting food scrap generators, haulers and transfer stations that they had received complaints about. Each complaint is entered into a formal enforcement tracking database that is used to show how the agency dealt with each problem. So far, the agency has issued some notices of alleged violation to municipalities related to the submission of their Solid Waste Implementation Plan, she said.
"As it relates to organics, we certainly are seeing proactive compliance even in the instance that the generator is outside of a 20-mile radius. It is not a large number, but we are seeing that happening already," Oakleaf said.
Part of the reason why there haven't been more food donations is because the law was written to divert waste from landfills, not mandate food donation, said Rachel Carter, communications director for Vermont's Farm to Plate Network, which is responsible for implementing the state's 10-year food system plan.
One of the task forces within the network, the Food Cycle Coalition, is looking at how to connect food waste with food rescue efforts. It includes stakeholders within the Agency of Natural Resources, the Vermont Foodbank, as well as the public and private haulers responsible for picking up and delivering food scraps. So far, only one of those haulers, a private company called GrowCompost, has begun a system to pick up food for donation, according to Carter.
The state is also working to improve the law's overall visibility. According to Kelly, Department of Environmental Protection staff is working on developing an education campaign to better inform the public. Part of that compaign will be the promotion of what Kelly hopes will become the new universal symbol of organic waste disposal, a white apple core on a bright green background. Then there is the Materials Management Map, which not only shows where obligated parties can send compost, but shows local food retailers where they can send donations. The new campaign will build on the Agency of Natural Resources' outreach over the past two years, he said.
"Put simply, having three bins [recycling, organics and waste] is the future of solid waste. Meaning organics separation is happening, and it is not a matter of if, but simply when," Kelly said.
Tomorrow: Removing legal and financial obstacles for food donors.
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World Mayors Talk Climate Change with Pope Francis
Jul 21, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Mayors of about 60 world cities, including some from the United States, are set to meet with Pope Francis on Tuesday to urge swift action on climate change.
The mayors are at the Vatican this week to discuss climate issues and human trafficking. They will sign a pledge calling for an international deal to confront global warming at a United Nations summit later this year, the Associated Press reports.
The declaration says, in part, that “human-induced climate change is a scientific reality and its effective control is a moral imperative for humanity,” according to the AP.
The declaration also calls for government policies focused on shifting away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources. It says leaders have a “special responsibility” to approve a climate agreement at the UN’s talks in Paris this December.
"The Paris summit is just months away," New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said at the summit. "We need to see it as the finish line of a sprint, and take every local action we can in the coming months to maximize the chance that our national governments will act boldly."
Pope Francis will meet with the mayors on Tuesday. Francis has become one of the highest-profile voices for action on climate change on a global scale, releasing a landmark papal encyclical last month blaming human action for climate change and urging officials to craft a plan to combat it.
The Vatican has worked with the UN ahead of its climate conference, and during a visit to the United States this fall, Francis will likely use a speech to Congress to push for more action on climate change.
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is also at the conference, as are mayors from Boston, Portland, Ore., San Francisco, Minneapolis, Boulder, Colo., and elsewhere.
“I will walk out of here knowing even more deeply how interrelated and intertwined poverty and climate change are,” Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges tweeted from the Vatican on Tuesday.
“‘Enviro justice’ isn't sidebar [for] main work of combatting/responding [to] climate change; it's intrinsic to every bit of the work.”
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McCarthy Taps Longtime Aide as Chief of Staff
Jul 21, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Robin Bravender
Gina McCarthy's top aide from her days as a state environmental regulator is now the U.S. EPA boss' chief of staff.
Matt Fritz, McCarthy's chief of staff when she led the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, is filling the post on an acting basis, according to EPA. Fritz stepped in after former Chief of Staff Gwen Keyes Fleming was hired earlier this year to become principal legal adviser at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
McCarthy recruited Fritz to join her at EPA headquarters in 2013. As deputy chief of staff for operations, he's been the logistics person for McCarthy's travel and scheduling and helped to manage the team surrounding the administrator.
Before joining EPA, Fritz was outdoor recreation bureau chief at the Connecticut DEP and worked in the office of the state's former Republican Gov. Jodi Rell as a special assistant for policy.
The decision to move from New England to join EPA's staff was "a personal decision to come down and work for Gina as a friend, more than anything else," Fritz said last year in an interview. "I decided to do this for her and for the work that she does" (Greenwire, Dec. 4, 2014).
Keyes Fleming had been McCarthy's chief of staff for two years. She was previously the head of EPA's Atlanta-based Region 4 office and spent almost six years as the top prosecutor in metropolitan Atlanta's DeKalb County (Greenwire, Dec. 2, 2013).
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