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acc pm 7/28
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(ACC Mentioned) Saving Water with Plastics
Jul 28, 2015 | Plastics News
By Catherine Kavanaugh
California is parched. Amidst the worst drought in the state’s 164-year history, 38 million residents are two months into historic water conservation rules to reduce urban consumption by 25 percent compared to 2013. -
(ACC Mentioned) Resin Volatility Doesn't Take Summer Break
Jul 28, 2015 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
June was an active pricing month for polypropylene, PET and polystyrene in North America — but prices for polyethylene and PVC chose to kick back and enjoy the summer. -
(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Activity Increase Should Continue into 2016
Jul 28, 2015 | Powder & Bulk Solids
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), increased by 0.1 percent in July. This follows consecutive monthly gains during the second quarter, despite downward revisions in May and June. Data is measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA). Accounting for adjustments, the CAB remains up 2.1 percent over this time last year, a slight deceleration of annual growth as compared to this time last year. -
(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Indicator Rises
Jul 28, 2015 | Investors.com
The Chemical Activity Barometer, a leading economic indicator from the American Chemistry Council, rose 0.1% in July, the fourth straight monthly gain. It was up 2.1% vs. a year ago, and the yearly increase has fallen steadily throughout '15. -
California Agency Formalises Chemical Listing Mechanism
Jul 28, 2015 | Chemical Watch
California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has adopted regulatory language to clarify its Labor Code listing mechanism for adding substances to Proposition 65 (CW 28 April 2015). -
Industry Calls For Risk-Based Approach To EDC Criteria
Jul 28, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Carmen Paun
Governments, industry bodies and companies have called for a risk-based approach to defining endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the EU, according to a report by the European Commission. -
Efsa Updates Chemical Hazards Database
Jul 28, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) has updated its chemicals hazards database. It now includes information drawn from Efsa panels' scientific opinions, decisions and conclusions made during the year to April 2015. -
(ACC Mentioned) ICCSS Co-Sponsors Public Forum on Chemical Safety and Security in Washington
Jul 28, 2015 | ICCSS
Together with Green Cross International and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the ICCSS co-sponsored a public forum on Monday 27 July on “Chemical Safety and Security: TSCA Legislation and Terrorist Attacks”, hosted by CSIS at its modern headquarters in Washington DC. -
Senators Hold Their Fire On First Day Of Markup
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Geof Koss and Hannah Northe
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will resume marking up its comprehensive energy package tomorrow, after the panel moved through day one without any major disagreements on the nearly 100 amendments filed to the bill. -
Nebraska Gov Pushes Obama To Approve Keystone Pipeline
Jul 28, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) is continuing to push President Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. -
Clinton Stays Mum On Pipeline As Obama Faces State Pressure
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Manuel Quiñones
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this morning declined, once again, to take a position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. -
Clinton Hones The Climate Change Wedge
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Darren Goode
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is aiming to turn climate change from an also-ran issue into a wedge in her bid to win the White House. -
Clinton's Energy Plan: Chardonnay Instead Of Beer
Jul 28, 2015 | Forbes
By Michael Lynch
Hillary Clinton has announced her energy program and must be experiencing a Tennyson moment: Environmentalists to the left of her, Republicans to the right, into the Valley of Energy Policy Death rode the frontrunner. (Okay, Tennyson I ain’t.) But her announced energy policy leaves me cold, or would if I took it seriously. -
Climate Change Poses Trillions Of Dollars Of Losses To Investors -- Study
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Daniel Cusick
A new analysis of investment risk by the Economist Group finds that climate change could profoundly affect the global economy over the coming decades, with investor losses expected to be around $4.2 trillion under midrange climate change scenarios and as much as $13.8 trillion if average temperatures rise 6 degrees Celsius by 2100. -
Biz Group Launches Multimillion-Dollar Ads Against Obama’s Ozone Rule
Jul 28, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A major business group launched a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign Tuesday against the Obama administration’s proposal to restrict ground-level ozone pollution limits. -
Big U.S. Corporations Commit To Invest In Clean Energy, But Not All Of Them Buy Obama's Clean Power Plan
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Lisa Friedman
The leaders of 13 major corporations showed off their green bona fides yesterday, committing $140 billion in low-carbon investment and pledging to develop 1,600 megawatts of clean energy. -
Court Sends CSAPR Budgets Back To EPA
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today said EPA must reconsider some emissions budgets under the agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, one of the Obama administration's biggest environmental regulations. -
Court Tosses Part Of Cross-State Rule Back To EPA For Revamp
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Amanda Peterka
A federal court today sent part of U.S. EPA's landmark rule meant to curb air pollution drifting across state lines back to the agency but upheld the rule against broader challenges by state and industry petitioners. -
Calif. Power Producers Warned That Actions Must Quickly Follow Ambitious Climate Plans
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Brittany Patterson
Call it "adaptation," "resilience" or "readiness," but California's utilities must move past planning for the future impacts of climate change and work more collaboratively to start taking action, utility commissioners and other energy-sector stakeholders said yesterday at a climate adaptation workshop. -
Memos From Former Pa. Governor Outline Energy Partnerships
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
Memos obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette outlined the relationship between former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and energy stakeholders of the resource-rich Marcellus Shale formation. -
Grid Operator's Study Concludes State-By-State Carbon Compliance More Costly
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Jeffrey Tomich
Another large U.S. grid operator has concluded what others have found -- that regional compliance with U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan would be significantly less costly than if states seek to comply with the rule on their own. -
Energy Producers Spar Over Ethanol Mandate
Jul 28, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Energy sector business groups locked horns Monday over the Obama administration’s latest proposed ethanol mandate, in a battle pitting fossil fuels against renewables. -
Alaska’s Senior Senator Eyes Smoother Reelection
Jul 28, 2015 | The Hill - Ballot Box
By Timothy Cama
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) appears positioned to avoid a replay of her painful 2010 reelection fight, as she looks to leverage a pair of key gavels and early fundraising success in a bid to keep her job as Alaska’s senior senator in 2016. -
Greens Decry House Ban On Addressing Warming In Trade Deals
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Jean Chemnick
Environmentalists have urged House and Senate negotiators on a customs bill to jettison a House-passed provision stripping the U.S. trade representative of the ability to consider climate change in trade deals. -
Why 40% Of The World's Population Hasn't Heard Of Climate Change
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Camille von Kaenel
Four out of 10 people worldwide had never heard of climate change in 2008. The reasons why vary from country to country, but the key was often education, according to new research published yesterday in Nature Climate Change. -
Inhofe Frustrated With Delays Over EPA Doc Requests
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Alex Guillen
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Jim Inhofe is tired of waiting for EPA to respond to two requests from lawmakers related to the Clean Power Plan. -
Murkowski Will Oppose Amendments That Could ‘Collapse’ Bipartisan Energy Bill
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro Whiteboard
By Darren Goode
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski said she would oppose amendments that risk undercutting bipartisan support for the energy bill moving through her committee. -
Senate Energy Approves Elkind Nomination
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro Whiteboard
By Darren Goode
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Jonathan Elkind’s nomination to be assistant energy secretary for international affairs. -
Panel Advances Stalled Nominee For International Affairs
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today advanced President Obama's nominee to serve as assistant secretary of Energy for international affairs.
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(ACC Mentioned) Saving Water with Plastics
Jul 28, 2015 | Plastics News
By Catherine Kavanaugh
California is parched.
Amidst the worst drought in the state’s 164-year history, 38 million residents are two months into historic water conservation rules to reduce urban consumption by 25 percent compared to 2013.
The city of San Jose bans residents from washing their cars at home and filling new pools and hot tubs. The Santa Clara County Water District issues rebates to convert lawns to drought-resistant plants. And, water wasters face more than fines as public reprimands mount under the hashtag #DroughtShame.
The goal is to safeguard California’s remaining potable urban water supplies in preparation for a possible fifth year of drought.
However, Los Angeles-based pipe manufacturer JM Eagle — the top ranked company in Plastics News’ new list of the largest North American pipe, profile and tubing manufactures — is pushing for what many in the industry say is a longer-term solution: Save water with plastic pipes.
More than 2 trillion gallons of treated water is lost every year in the United States due to pipe leaks and breaks, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates. That’s about 16 percent of the nation’s purified water — enough to put Manhattan under 300 feet of water by one account.
What’s to blame? Old pipes in more 51,000 water systems in which the dominant pipe material has been metal that corrodes and fails.
Could concerns about water scarcity be the conduit in which plastic pipes, namely PVC and high density polyethylene, gain wider acceptance and overcome what some call the “habituation factor” of using “legacy” materials like ductile iron?
Piping up
With an estimated $2.5 billion of sales in 2014, JM Eagle kept its top spot. Sales are up $150 million from 2013. To appeal to more customers, the company launched a new educational program to raise awareness about the benefits of plastic pipe.
Initially targeting civil engineers and contractors in California and 10 other western states dealing with extreme drought, about 1,500 public sector employees have clicked on the training course since it went online in April and a “significant number” have taken it, according to Neal Gordon, JM’s vice president of marketing.
Gordon said in a telephone interview he believes the program is the first free, accredited online course about plastic pipes that provides the continuing education credits engineers and contractors need to keep up their professional licenses.
“Every day we have conversations with cities across the country like Los Angeles encouraging them to switch to plastic,” Gordon said.
JM Eagle is promoting the benefits of plastic pipe with the course that covers the pros and cons of various pipe materials, installation methods, types of pipe failure, corrosion, joint leak prevention and cost comparisons. The course also says PVC and HDPE pipes meet industry standards for product leaching but not ductile iron pipe unless it is lined with another material.
“As the leader in the industry we feel it’s our responsibility to expand the industry and encourage the shift from ductile iron and other materials to plastic pipe,” Gordon said. “Last year we took the message to the nation with a national advertising campaign — a 60-second commercial — that ran over 4,000 times on air. We overlaid the TV campaign with a digital campaign targeting engineers and contractors and we touched base with close to 100,000 of them across the country.”
Making the case
The American Water Works Association (AWWA) says more than 1 million miles of pipes in the U.S. are nearing the end of their useful life. The exact makeup of the buried water systems isn’t known. The group has a distribution chart that shows cast iron pipes were used from 1870-1930; cement-lined cast iron from 1930-70; asbestos cement from 1950-70; ductile iron pipes from 1960 on; and PVC from 1970 on.
However, the Plastics Pipe Institute Inc. (PPI), a Dallas-based trade organization with 140 members, says ductile iron pipe was introduced in 1955 and use took off after the products were able to handle water pressure with a thinner wall. This group says use of PVC pipes dates back to the 1950s and PE to the 1960s.
“A lot of different products are used in water systems and it’s a challenge to get the data,” PPI President Tony Radoszewski said in a telephone interview. “Ductile iron is No. 1. No question. It’s been around the longest. It’s in the ground the most.”
Of the two plastics, PVC is the dominant material. Radoszewski said he has seen market share numbers ranging around 40 percent but it might be as low as 35 percent. He puts PE in the mid- to high-single digits in market share.
“But if you look at new materials being installed then it changes some because PVC has really gained market share over the years,” he added. “For new installations it may be 60 percent or higher.
“The biggest advantage of plastic is that it doesn’t rust and that’s the No. 1 failure mode in water pipe,” he said.
At AWWA’s Annual Conference and Expo 2015 in Anaheim, Calif., in June, JM Eagle showed slides that say 54 percent of the water main breaks in the U.S. and Canada involve ductile iron, cast iron and steel pipes compared to 3 percent for PVC. PVC pipes are designed to last more than 100 years while ductile iron fails in about 40 years, the same slide says.
Still a newcomer
Despite more than half a century of use, plastic pipes are the new kids under the block. Radoszewski describes the public sector’s employees as “conservative in that they don’t want to change.” He said they find something that works and they stick with it. He calls it a habituation factor.
“One of the things we struggle with is that ductile iron in water systems and concrete in storm water systems have been around forever,” Radoszewski said. “For plastics, PVC started coming in about 1950 and PE in about 1960. They’re still newcomers. When will we no longer be a newcomer?”
In some areas, procurement policies prohibit plastic pipe materials from the bidding process. A state bill pending in Ohio would ensure “all proven and acceptable piping materials” are included in bids for water and wastewater utility services.
“There are a lot of places that don’t allow for specification of plastic pipe,” Radoszewski said. “Ohio is typical. Virtually every state has some restrictions when it comes to plastic pipe.”
PPI is working with the American Chemistry Council to promote “equal opportunity.”
“If the product meets the engineering requirements for the application it should be allowed on the bid,” Radoszewski said. “If that happens typically plastics win because they are more competitive.”
Procurement progress
Ever since Advanced Drainage Systems went public last July, Chairman and CEO Joe Chlapaty has said repeatedly, most recently in a May earnings call, that “the ADS story at its core is one of our conversion, displacing alternative materials like concrete, metal and PVC pipe” with HDPE and polypropylene pipe.
Based in Hilliard, Ohio, ADS ranks No. 2 in Plastics News’ updated listing with sales of $1.1 billion. Chlapaty said the company has long history of gaining market share via material conversion.
Last year ADS benefitted from the state of Florida’s approval of its N-12 high performance PP pipe in 12- to 60-inch diameters for road and bridge construction. The pipe passed tests for use in side drain, cross drain and storm sewers.
Greg Bohn, ADS’s director of national engineering, explained in a news release why contractors and local agencies might want to choose PP pipe for their storm drains. He said it “provides a superior sanitary-grade joint and can reduce the installed cost versus traditional pipe materials. In addition, the pipe is manufactured with impact modified copolymer PP resins, which provide increased pipe stiffness and excellent durability characteristics to achieve 100-year design service life performance.”
In some cases, the evolution of the pipeline infrastructure, particularly for storm and wastewater, involves the switch from one plastic to another. ADS came out with high performance PP pipe a few years ago for customers reluctant to use HDPE pipe, particularly in Texas.
“The HP product line has been a real game changer for us and has opened up opportunities for us kind of throughout the whole geography,” Chlapaty said.
No drop in the bucket
AWWA projects it will cost $1 trillion over the next 25 years to repair existing potable water systems that are reaching the end of their useful lives and to serve areas with growing populations. If the investment isn’t made, the number of water main breaks and system failures will increase, the group says. That will threaten public health through compromised tap water quality and fire hydrant flows and public safety through flooding and sinkholes.
“These maladies weaken our economy and undermine our quality of life,” says an AWWA report called “Buried no longer: Confronting America’s water infrastructure challenges.
PVC pipe is the material making a big splash in the market right now. In addition to JM Eagle, the major manufacturers are Diamond Plastics, which is based in Grand Island, Neb., and North American Specialty Products LLC, a subsidiary of North American Pipe Corp. based in Houston. North American Pipe Corp. is ranked No. 3, with sales of $930 million. Diamond Plastics is ranked No. 13, with $295 million in sales.
However, Radoszewski said PE pipe deserves more attention, too, with potable players including Performance Pipe of Plano, Texas, Dura-Line Corp. of Knoxville, Tenn., and W.L. Plastics of Fort Worth, Texas,
“The biggest problem for the most part, maybe until recently, is that municipalities didn’t care that water leaked. They just didn’t,” he said. “They may say they do but the facts belie that. If they said we want a zero-leak system they would probably go to a product that’s fused like PE. It’s a leak-free, fused-joint system. It adds a different step but that’s the reason the gas industry uses it. If gas leaks, people have a tendency to die. If water leaks, nobody cares. The drought and greening of America have brought more attention to this so PE has seen some growth in market share.”
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(ACC Mentioned) Resin Volatility Doesn't Take Summer Break
Jul 28, 2015 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
June was an active pricing month for polypropylene, PET and polystyrene in North America — but prices for polyethylene and PVC chose to kick back and enjoy the summer.
Buyers of PP and PET bottle resin each saw price hikes take hold in the region during June, with PP up 1 cent and PET up 3. The 1-cent PP increase for June evened out a similar drop in May and ended a streak in which prices for the material had fallen five times in six months. Even with that increase, regional PP prices are down a net of 14 cents per pound so far in 2015. Prices also had taken a 10-cent plunge in December 2014.
The June PP increase also could be a sign that strong North American demand is finally having an impact on the market. Through May, sales in the region were up 6.4 percent, according to the American Chemistry Council in Washington. Domestic sales growth of almost 7 percent was dampened a little by a drop of 4.5 percent in export sales.
Regional PP demand growth through May was led by a gain of almost 17 percent in injection molded consumer and institutional products, including furniture and housewares. Regional sales of PP into sheet also were up 13 percent in those five months.
Scott Newell, PP market analyst with Resin Technology Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, toldPlastics News that the domestic PP field “is entering a new era,” where propylene monomer is plentiful and at the lowest price around the globe. As a result, he added, PP resin “is seeing growth and high utilization rates and producers have pricing power,” he added. “Again, this is all very different from recent history.”
A PET bottle resin hike of 3 cents per pound was seen for North America in June, marking the third straight month that prices for that material have increased. The three-month wave of increases now totals 10 cents per pound. Demand for PET bottle resin has improved with warm weather — which drives beverage demand — as its feedstock costs have climbed.
As prices for PP and PET rose, the PS market headed in the other direction, slipping 5 cents per pound in June. The drop came as benzene feedstock prices tumbled 60 cents per gallon. Benzene prices had jumped a total of 77 cents in April-May, but whipsawed back down, taking PS prices down with them. The April-May benzene hike had lifted PS resin prices a total of 8 cents per pound. With the 5-cent drop, prices for the material now are down a net of 8 cents since Jan. 1.
North American PS sales grew 1 percent in the first five months of 2015, according to ACC. Sales of PS into the market’s leading food packaging/food service end market were up almost 4 percent in that period. Food packaging/food service accounted for almost 60 percent of regional PS sales in those five months.
After climbing in May for the first time in eight months, regional PE prices resumed their slumber in June. In those prior eight months, the material had absorbed four price drops totaling 16 cents.
A PE buyer in the southeastern United States previously told Plastics News that he expects regional PE prices to be flat through the summer, unless Asian prices drop below North American prices, as was the case earlier in 2015.
Regional PE sales posted solid growth in the first five months of 2015. Sales of high density PE were up almost 7 percent, with linear low density PE sales up more than 5 percent and sales of LDPE up almost 2 percent.
HDPE sales growth of almost 3 percent was bolstered by a 30 percent surge in export sales. Domestic LLDPE growth of more than 6 percent was dampened by an export sales gain of less than 1 percent. For LDPE, an export sales drop of almost 6 percent softened a domestic sales gain of almost 4 percent.
North American PVC resin prices were flat for a third straight month in June, following a 3-cent increase that hit the market in March. U.S./Canadian PVC demand growth essentially was flat in the first half of 2015, growing only 0.1 percent. Export sales growth of 0.3 percent provided a slight boost to flat domestic sales.
Among major domestic PVC end uses, siding and related applications showed the most life in the first half, with demand increasing just over 10 percent. Regional demand for PVC in extruded film and sheet was off almost 2 percent for the half.
PE and PVC prices remained flat even as prices for crude oil — a global price setter for ethylene monomer used in both of those materials — fell 5 percent in June. West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices began the month around $61 per barrel, but fell to $58 by the time June ended.
Natural gas prices rose slightly in June — with a 4 percent hike taking prices from $2.70 per million British thermal units to $2.80 during June — but the material still maintained a strong advantage vs. crude oil as a regional feedstock.
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(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Activity Increase Should Continue into 2016
Jul 28, 2015 | Powder & Bulk Solids
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council(ACC), increased by 0.1 percent in July. This follows consecutive monthly gains during the second quarter, despite downward revisions in May and June. Data is measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA). Accounting for adjustments, the CAB remains up 2.1 percent over this time last year, a slight deceleration of annual growth as compared to this time last year.
The CAB has four primary components, each consisting of a variety of indicators: 1) production; 2) equity prices; 3) product prices; and 4) inventories and other indicators. During July, chemical equity prices were down, while product prices and production were flat, and inventories continued to improve.
The Chemical Activity Barometer is a leading economic indicator derived from a composite index of chemical industry activity. The chemical industry has been found to consistently lead the U.S. economy's business cycle given its early position in the supply chain, and this barometer can be used to determine turning points and likely trends in the wider economy. Month-to-month movements can be volatile so a three-month moving average of the barometer is provided. This provides a more consistent and illustrative picture of national economic trends.
Applying the CAB back to 1919, it has been shown to provide a lead of two to 14 months, with an average lead of eight months at cycle peaks as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The median lead was also eight months. At business cycle troughs, the CAB leads by one to seven months, with an average lead of four months. The median lead was three months. The CAB is rebased to the average lead (in months) of an average 100 in the base year (the year 2012 was used) of a reference time series. The latter is the Federal Reserve's Industrial Production Index.
"A number of trends remain evident as we head into the second-half of the year," said ACC chief economist Kevin Swift. "There was upward momentum in plastic resins used in light vehicles, which are on track for a very good sales year, but we also continue to see declines in oilfield chemicals and U.S. exports overall, largely as a result of softer oil prices and a strong U.S. dollar. Despite these modest headwinds, the Chemical Activity Barometer is still signaling slow, albeit potentially accelerating, gains in business activity into the early part of 2016."
The CAB comprises indicators relating to the production of chlorine and other alkalies, pigments, plastic resins and other selected basic industrial chemicals; chemical company stock data; hours worked in chemicals; publicly sourced, chemical price information; end-use (or customer) industry sales-to-inventories; and several broader leading economic measures (building permits and new orders). Each month, ACC provides a barometer number, which reflects activity data for the current month, as well as a three-month moving average. The CAB was developed by the economics department at the American Chemistry Council.The next CAB is currently planned for August 25, 2015.
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(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Indicator Rises
Jul 28, 2015 | Investors.com
The Chemical Activity Barometer, a leading economic indicator from the American Chemistry Council, rose 0.1% in July, the fourth straight monthly gain. It was up 2.1% vs. a year ago, and the yearly increase has fallen steadily throughout '15.
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California Agency Formalises Chemical Listing Mechanism
Jul 28, 2015 | Chemical Watch
California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has adopted regulatory language to clarify its Labor Code listing mechanism for adding substances to Proposition 65 (CW 28 April 2015).
The regulation, which takes effect 1 October 2015, stipulates that the mechanism may only be used in situations where a link between exposure and cancer has been proven by the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (Iarc) (CW 11 August 2014).
Chemicals subject to the listing mechanism are those classified by Iarc as:group 1: carcinogenic to humans;group 2A: probably carcinogenic to humans (with sufficient animal evidence);group 2B: possibly carcinogenic to humans (with sufficient animal evidence; substances without sufficient evidence of cancer in animal testing will not be eligible for Labor Code listing).
The OEHHA made several modifications to the draft rule following the Office of Administrative Law's (OLA) earlier disapproval of its proposal.
It added language to the 45-day comment period provision that prohibits the challenging of the science underlying Iarc monographs.
To ensure consistency with the outcome of the 2012 Styrene Information and Research Center (Sirc) v OEHHA, the final rule requires there be sufficient animal evidence in substances classified in Group 2B by Iarc in order to meet the state's threshold for “known to cause cancer.”
Pursuant to the court's findings in Sierra Club v. Schwarzenegger (Brown), the agency also included regulatory language allowing the listing of chemicals with as yet uncompleted Iarc monographs.
The OEHHA's final rulemaking omits the originally-proposed provision to list substances identified by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (Osha) Hazard Communication Standard (HCS 2012) as causing cancer or reproductive toxicity.
According to a coalition of 20 industry stakeholders, spearheaded by the California Chamber of Commerce, the listing of chemicals under HCS “was flawed as a factual and legal matter”.
The coalition said that the “fundamental purpose of the HCS 2012 ... was to repeal the mandate that employers treat substances listed on Iarc's monographs or National Toxicology Program's (NTP) Reports on Carcinogens as conclusive findings of carcinogenicity”. It supported the removal of the language from the proposed rule.
The Labor Code listing mechanism is one of four pathways that the OEHHA uses to list substances under Proposition 65. Prior to the passage of the rulemaking, it remained the only method without regulatory language outlining the listing process.
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Industry Calls For Risk-Based Approach To EDC Criteria
Jul 28, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Carmen Paun
Governments, industry bodies and companies have called for a risk-based approach to defining endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the EU, according to a report by the European Commission.
The report summarises last year's consultation on the Commission’s proposals for setting EDC criteria. Comments came from 863 organisations and around 21,000 citizens (CW 2 February 2015).
Many focus on the proposal to set hazard-based criteria.
Several governments stressed the need for basing the criteria on risk rather than hazard (CW 22 January 2015). These were in:the US;Canada;Argentina;Kenya;Australia; andNew Zealand.
Comments by organisations representing plant protection and agriculture companies, as well as farmers, say that a hazard-based approach would result in many crucial pesticides being taken off the market. This could then lead to massive losses in grains, vegetables and fruit yields, they say.
Most of the 136 companies contributing to the consultation – a majority of which were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – called for EDC criteria to be based on risk assessment.
About 50 of these were large companies, including multinationals such as:BASF;Bayer;Dow Chemicals;Sony;Johnson & Johnson; andMerck.
Using criteria based on hazard does not take into account all relevant scientific information, and does not provide a suitable basis for regulatory decision-making, BASF said.
It pointed to the case of cholecalciferol or vitamin D3, which is supported as a rodenticide under the biocides Regulation. At the same time, the substance is an essential vitamin in vertebrates, and is naturally synthesised in the skin in the presence of sunlight, the company said.
“Without a full risk assessment approach to biocides, cholecalciferol could potentially be considered an endocrine disruptor and would not be approved for rodent control despite exposure levels being well below the safe level proposed by Efsa, but would still be allowed in food supplements,” the company added.
While the Commission is working to set the criteria as part of the biocides and pesticides Regulations, it has said they may, in the long-term, have an effect on other European law, such as the EU cosmetics and food legislation (CW 28 May 2015).
In another comment, chemical company DuPont called for Europe and the US to bring their approaches to EDCs more inline.
Swedish construction company Skanska, and electronics firm, Sony Mobile Communications, called on regulators to quickly establish criteria to make it easier for them to restrict such substances in their supply chain once they are officially identified as EDCs.
Most of the support for hazard-based criteria for EDCs, including categories based on evidence, came from civil society organisations and citizens.
The European Commission expects to conclude an impact assessment on the introduction of EDC criteria into the biocides and pesticides legislation next year (CW 1 June 2015).
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Efsa Updates Chemical Hazards Database
Jul 28, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) has updated its chemicals hazards database. It now includes information drawn from Efsa panels' scientific opinions, decisions and conclusions made during the year to April 2015.
The database holds summary hazard information from all of the authority’s previous chemical risk assessments in food and feed. It supports Efsa staff and scientific experts by allowing rapid consultation and sharing of data with other agencies.
The updates are made and put out to tender annually (CW 3 December 2013).
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(ACC Mentioned) ICCSS Co-Sponsors Public Forum on Chemical Safety and Security in Washington
Jul 28, 2015 | ICCSS
Together with Green Cross International and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the ICCSS co-sponsored a public forum on Monday 27 July on “Chemical Safety and Security: TSCA Legislation and Terrorist Attacks”, hosted by CSIS at its modern headquarters in Washington DC. The 3-hour forum was attended by more than 60 participants from government agencies, policy groups, industry and NGOs and was also webcast simultaneously on the CSIS website. (A streaming video of the webcast will soon be available on the ICCSS website.)
The forum program focussed on three issues: the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the first update in four decades of U.S. congressional legislation governing toxic chemicals, which is pending approval by the House and Senate;
the U.S. Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, a new regime established and implemented by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); and
G7 Global Partnership efforts to improve chemical safety and security of industry and transportation.ICCSS President Krzysztof Paturej presented in the third session on the work of the ICCSS and forthcoming Global Summit on Chemical Safety and Security to be held from 18-20 April 2016 in Kielce, Poland. He spoke on a panel with Amb Bonnie Jenkins, the coordinator for Cooperative Threat Reduction activities in the Department of State, and Mr Ali Gakweli, a Deputy Government Chemist from Kenya, who made a presentation on the ICCSS’s Kenyan Programme on Chemical Safety and Security.
Other speakers in the programme included Mr Michael Walls, Vice President of the American Chemical Council; Dr Michal Ilana Freedhoff from the office of U.S. Senator Edward Markey; and Mr Todd Klessman, senior policy advisor in the Infrastructure Compliance Division of the Department of Homeland Security.
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Senators Hold Their Fire On First Day Of Markup
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Geof Koss and Hannah Northe
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will resume marking up its comprehensive energy package tomorrow, after the panel moved through day one without any major disagreements on the nearly 100 amendments filed to the bill.
"We are in a good place," Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said at the outset of today's markup, while putting members on notice that she will "reluctantly oppose" some amendments that she would otherwise support in the interest of retaining the bipartisan spirit in which the bill was drafted.
Ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) echoed the sentiment. "Our hope is that bipartisanship will carry us to the Senate floor," she said.
Yet there were signs of ideological divisions between the two parties, including on anamendment by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) that would have established a federal efficiency resource standard for retail suppliers of electricity and natural gas.
Cantwell backed the plan, which would have required annual "electricity savings" for both power markets and natural gas suppliers, as a cheap and readily available source of energy.
But Murkowski questioned the need for a "one-size-fits-all" approach, and Franken's amendment failed on a 13-9 vote.
The panel adopted by a 20-2 margin an amendment sponsored by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) that would reauthorize the Energy Department's vehicle technology program, with authorized spending starting at $316 million in fiscal 2016 and rising 4 percent each year through fiscal 2020.
Committee members also debated an amendment that Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced -- which eventually failed -- that would have increased the amount of money funneled to state-administered priorities from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to 50 percent. As it stands, the base bill would provide at least 40 percent of the funds for the federal government and an equal amount to state-based purposes. The fund is set to expire Sept. 30.
Barrasso argued that the law initially required 60 percent of the money to be used for state grants. But in 1976, the act was amended to simply guarantee that at least 40 percent of funds be used for federal land acquisition.
Although Murkowski supported Barrasso's efforts, a number of members objected, saying that doing so would upset a hard-won agreement and bipartisan balance the committee had achieved on capping 40 percent for both state and federal grants. "I think we should keep this balance in the legislation; otherwise, we're going to have a lot of trouble moving forward on the LWCF provision, which will also make it more challenging when we get to the floor," Cantwell said.
The panel rejected the amendment on a 7-15 vote.
The committee adopted by voice vote a manager's package that included 10 amendments, including a provision that would delay the compliance date for DOE's efficiency standards for commercial refrigerators by three years for certain products covered by the rule.
The package also includes an amendment by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) that would require DOE to submit a report to Congress by Jan. 1, 2016, that evaluates the costs of various methodologies for "potentially duplicative" green building programs within the department.
Language by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) would make changes to the workforce provisions of the underlying bill to assist minorities and displaced energy workers.
The manager's package also contains provisions that would allow DOE and U.S. EPA to rely on voluntary verification programs for complying with testing requirements on efficiency standards and the Energy Star program.
It would expand the federal definition of "biofuels and bio-based products" to include "biofuels, bio-based products, bio-power and woody biomass heat projects." The provision would also create a new loan program for woody biomass heat and bio-power systems.
The manager's amendment would repeal an assortment of reports mandated in earlier laws.
As expected, senators discussed and withdrew a series of amendments they plan to raise again when the bill hits the floor.
Barrasso offered but then pulled his amendment to reform DOE's handling of the public stockpile of excess uranium after receiving commitments from Murkowski to work on the issue. Barrasso's language, which has the backing of Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Heinrich and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, would have allowed the public to weigh in on how the stockpiles are used and cap the amount of uranium DOE transfers.
Murkowski pledged to work with Barrasso and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to find more predictable policies for nuclear waste cleanup while stabilizing the domestic uranium industry. Portman noted that DOE has for years bartered stockpiles not necessary for nuclear weapons in exchange for cleanup of the Piketon, Ohio, gaseous diffusion plant (E&E Daily, May 22).
A number of amendments reflected members' focus on an evolving grid and a booming oil and gas sector.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), an outspoken committee member for new energy technologies, said he would withhold his amendment to allow more customers to interconnect with the U.S. electric grid to bolster reliability and savings. He noted that grid operators in New England struggling to manage energy demand during peak usage have turned to voluntary electricity cuts. King said he would most likely bring the language to the Senate floor.
Although she didn't offer or pull language, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said she was disappointed the bill didn't address the need to reform the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's review of natural gas pipelines. Capito had floated language that would have set deadlines for FERC and other agencies responsible for licensing or permitting natural gas pipelines and established a conflict-resolution process when deadlines are missed (E&E Daily, May 11).
Capito said the process for approving major, interstate gas pipelines has been shown to be time-consuming, even though production is on the rise, adding that the House bill included language to address the issue.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) offered and withdrew an amendment co-sponsored by Stabenow that would expand qualification for the DOE alternative vehicle loan guarantee program to include natural-gas-powered vehicles and certain vessels.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) plans to offer a proposal on the payment in lieu of taxes program, which provides aid to local communities to offset the loss of tax revenue from federally owned lands in their vicinities. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) signaled he'll offer an amendment reauthorizing for six years the Secure Rural Schools program, which he called a "a lifeline for rural areas where the federal government owns most of the land."
Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) withdrew an amendment co-sponsored by Heinrich that aims to expedite permitting for geothermal and renewable energy projects on public lands.
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) signaled plans to offer the "North American Energy Infrastructure Act," which aims to streamline permitting for cross-border energy projects. Noting it was inspired by the delay in a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, Hoeven also reiterated that the bill would not affect that project.
After the markup, Murkowski told reporters that ongoing staff discussions on pending amendments could produce a second manager's package later this week.
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Nebraska Gov Pushes Obama To Approve Keystone Pipeline
Jul 28, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) is continuing to push President Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
Ricketts sent Obama a letter on Tuesday arguing that the pipeline takes a safe path through his state and warrants approval by the Obama administration.
“Like many other Nebraskans, I support the revised route and the construction of the pipeline,” he wrote.
“However, you alone have the power to approve this important infrastructure project that will bring good-paying jobs and much-needed tax revenue to Nebraska countries during construction and for years to come.”
TransCanada, Keystone’s operator, agreed to reroute the proposed pipeline after local opposition to its original plan, which would have sent it through the state’s environmentally-sensitive Sand Hills region.
Nebraska officials approved that plan in 2013, and the state’s Supreme Court upheld it this January, effectively clearing the way for the Keystone in the state. Ricketts, who has long supported the pipeline, said then that it was time for Obama to approve the project.
Local opposition to the pipeline had been one of the Keystone’s stumbling blocks, but with opponents’ legal options exhausted there, Ricketts reiterated to Obama that the plan should move forward.
“Given the public process in Nebraska has worked to ensure that the health, safety and environment of our communities along the proposed pipeline route are protected, I hope you will take the necessary action to issue a cross-border permit for the Keystone XL pipeline,” Ricketts said in his letter.
Obama has said he won’t approve a pipeline that could contribute to climate change. The State Department is conducting its final review of Keystone and Obama could issue his decision on the project soon.
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Clinton Stays Mum On Pipeline As Obama Faces State Pressure
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Manuel Quiñones
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this morning declined, once again, to take a position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.
"This is President Obama's decision, and I am not going to second-guess him," she told a crowd in New Hampshire. "If it's undecided when I become president, I will answer your question."
It's the second time this week that Clinton, a Democratic presidential candidate, declined to express her views on KXL, which was under her purview at the State Department.
But Clinton's suggestion that she won't express her opinion on the issue until after Obama makes up his mind or after the election prompted a rebuke from critics.
The Republican National Committee quickly distributed a clip of Clinton's remarks and said they showed, "Precisely why Americans don't trust her."
Many Democrats and environmental groups are divided on Clinton's silence. Some praised her newly released climate plan while others kept pressing for her views on KXL.
Clinton's comments came after TransCanada Corp., the company developing KXL, released aletter from Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) pressing the president to make up his mind on the pipeline.
"Like many other Nebraskans, I support the revised route and the construction of the pipeline; however, you alone have the power to approve this important infrastructure project that will bring good-paying jobs and much-needed tax revenue to Nebraska counties during construction and for years to come," Ricketts wrote.
The pipeline's route through Nebraska has been a sticking point in the debate and one reason the administration has given for delaying a decision on whether the project can cross the U.S. border with Canada.
"Given the public process in Nebraska has worked to ensure the health, safety and environment of our communities along the proposed pipeline route are protected, I hope that you will take the necessary action to issue a cross-border permit for the Keystone XL pipeline so that Nebraskans can reap the economic and other benefits of this critical infrastructure project," Ricketts wrote.
Earlier this year, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the state's permitting process for KXL, but it did so only on a technicality. Landowners have relaunched their litigation (E&ENews PM, Feb. 12).
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission has considered a renewal of KXL's permit to cross the state. Pipeline opponents are actively opposing that renewal.
The White House and the State Department, which is reviewing TransCanada's application, have been silent about when they will end the federal permitting process for KXL.
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Clinton Hones The Climate Change Wedge
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Darren Goode
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is aiming to turn climate change from an also-ran issue into a wedge in her bid to win the White House.
The Democratic front-runner released a strategy Sunday night calling for ramping up renewable energy sources like solar power as part of the effort to “decarbonize” the U.S. economy, and she mocked Republicans for their skepticism or outright denial of climate science in a video posted on her campaign website.
For Democrats, it’s an issue they see as putting daylight between them and the Republican field.
“I think this is a bold plan that’s not only achievable but is in America’s best interest,” said Heather Zichal, a former top Obama energy and climate aide. “It underscores her commitment not only to tackling carbon pollution but also campaigning on this issue and showing the major divide between her views and those of the Republican candidates.”
And that strategy has not gone unnoticed by some Republicans, who are pressing the GOP candidates to develop a green platform for 2016 and engage their Democratic opponents in the climate debate.
“It’s simple. GOP candidates need to lay out their own plans,” said Tony Kreindler, who runs a Republican outreach effort at Environmental Defense Fund.
A small cadre of green-minded Republicans are trying to spur their candidates to do that — but using the conservative pillar of free-market capitalism over government mandates.
Andrew Sabin, owner of a New York-based precious-metal refining business and a longtime GOP donor, said he is part of a working group that meets weekly to help Jeb Bush come up with his environmental platform.
“He’s going to be the Republican environmental candidate,” Sabin told POLITICO. “There’s no question he’s going to cut carbon emissions and there’s no question he’s going to create jobs doing it. But it’s going to be a doable plan, a realistic plan, not a dreamer plan that Hillary’s got and can’t get done.”
Jay Faison, the Republican businessman who is pledging to spend at least $175 million in a campaign to get the GOP to take climate change seriously, said Clinton and President Barack Obama were turning the climate debate into a divisive issue.
“When it comes to clean energy, Republicans don’t need to be lectured to by Sec. Clinton, but we do need to lead and I believe we will,” Faison said in a email. “The Obama-Clinton approach to this issue puts divisive politics and big government policy in the driver’s seat, but a growing number of Republicans know that market forces are essential to steering this country and the world on a better path.”
Announcements like Clinton’s “remind me that big government always over-mandates and mismanages in ways that stifle innovation,” he said. “This is going to be a big issue in the the general election, so I believe you will see more and more Republicans embracing clean energy solutions that minimize Washington bureaucrats and maximize results from the greatest engine of prosperity and innovation the world has ever known.”
Recent poll results appear to back up the argument Faison and Sabin have been making to their GOP colleagues.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll this spring noted that 58 percent of registered voters say that they would favor a candidate who will take action to fight climate change, with the independent voters who are important to both parties leaning toward Democrats on the issue in enthusiastically backing government action.
Yet polls like one from Pew Research Center last year suggest climate change still lags far behind other priorities, such as fighting ISIL or dealing with Iran.
For the most part, Republican candidates are fighting for a share of the GOP spotlight and sticking to their well-honed attacks against regulations, and particularly those from the EPA.
Scott Walker’s campaign Monday highlighted an interview with the Washington Examiner in which the Wisconsin governor called on states to essentially take over EPA’s duties.
“All 50 states have the equivalent of an Environmental Protection Agency,” Walker said. “I’d shift that power and that money out of Washington and basically just leave in place an umbrella organization that really is limited to mediating interstate conflicts over, say, where a body of water or a piece of land goes through multiple states.”
Those comments also drew interest from the Democratic National Committee, which shot out an email on Monday to highlight Walker’s stance.
And Bush has so far has stuck closely to the conservative playbook, calling for an end to all tax incentives for energy sources — including oil, gas and renewables.
But Clinton has her own primary challengers who have staked out strong stances on climate change to the left of the front-runner.
Two of her primary challengers — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley — have sought to outflank her on the left on climate change.
Sanders has noted his that his views on curbing fossil fuels and opposing the Keystone XL oil pipeline distinguish him from Clinton. O’Malley, who’s struggled to build momentum, issued a preemptive strike Sunday afternoon touting his positions as “What Real Climate Leadership Looks Like.”
As governor, O’Malley signed into law a statewide target of reducing total greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 2006 levels by 2020, and his presidential platform includes apush for electricity to be solely derived from renewable sources by 2050.
That’s the exact same pledge billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer is seeking from 2016 presidential candidates. But Steyer appears to be in Clinton’s camp, calling her green power vision “ambitious” after previously holding a fundraiser for her at his San Francisco home.
For Clinton, showing her conviction to fight climate change is likely to become a recurring theme in the campaign to show that she’s will either be willing to work with a Republican Congress — or that she’s at least gearing up for a fight.
“Making this a central issue in my campaign, I hope, will give me the momentum to be able to go to the Congress and say, ‘Look, cease fire,’” she said on Monday. “We need to make the transition, and we can do it and save money at the same time and create millions of new jobs and businesses that will be to the benefit of our country, so stay tuned.”
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Clinton's Energy Plan: Chardonnay Instead Of Beer
Jul 28, 2015 | Forbes
By Michael Lynch
Hillary Clinton has announced her energy program and must be experiencing a Tennyson moment: Environmentalists to the left of her, Republicans to the right, into the Valley of Energy Policy Death rode the frontrunner. (Okay, Tennyson I ain’t.) But her announced energy policy leaves me cold, or would if I took it seriously.
As a grad student, I once created a homemade campaign button that read, “64-40 or fight.” (Look it up.) The point was to express my skepticism about political promises: both presidents Bush promoted manned flight to Mars, for example, but actually did little with regard to achieving said goal. And no few politicians have supported nuclear power without overcoming the economic problems that have plagued that industry, and indeed, most have done nothing concrete in support of their support. Clinton’s energy plan is already becoming a rallying point (and target for critics of both sides) as well as a part of the political debate, but doesn’t really move the policy debate forward very much.
Renewable energy goals such as Secretary Clinton’s are more achievable than a trip to Mars, but still more aspirational than practical and suffer from the usual problems: ignoring costs and thinking mandates can force progress. Renewables, especially residential photovoltaics, tend to be among the most expensive ways to reduce emissions, something usually glossed over with happy talk. “They don’t cost that much” (if someone else is paying for them). “Costs will come down” (so why don’t we wait). “The more you suffer, the more it shows you really care, right?” Sorry, that’s The Offspring song “Self-Esteem”. (Yes, I’m hip. Just don’t ask my teenage daughter.)
Support for renewable mandates (including biofuels) appears to be declining because of the costs, which are becoming more and more apparent as the share of renewables grows. Germany has become the poster child for an economically incautious energy policy, pursuing an aggressive renewables program with minimal regard for costs—until now, when they are becoming onerous. Pressure against renewable energy standards seems to be growing in a number of states in the US, and as costs grow, it is likely to increase. Clinton’s program is now part of this debate.
Although I personally find the “coasts vs heartland” political divide distasteful, energy policy increasingly suffers from this categorization, and raising electric bills to pay for renewables feeds into this meme. Money given to the well-off to help them buy expensive electric cars is the most extreme case of energy class warfare, but residential solar falls into this category as well. It has not yet become a working-class, blue-collar issue because few realize as yet the costs of the programs, but that is slowly changing.
It might seem unreasonable to complain about the area of my interest, energy, getting political attention, but that’s kind of like telling an immigration policy expert not to complain about Donald Trump’s comments. Remember when candidate Barack Obama advised checking the inflation on your tires? I winced, even though I completely agreed with him, because I knew it would be treated as a joke or worse, boring. Electric cars are sexy, tire inflation is not. And so we will probably get the energy policy we deserve, or at least the energy policy debate we deserve.
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Climate Change Poses Trillions Of Dollars Of Losses To Investors -- Study
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Daniel Cusick
A new analysis of investment risk by the Economist Group finds that climate change could profoundly affect the global economy over the coming decades, with investor losses expected to be around $4.2 trillion under midrange climate change scenarios and as much as $13.8 trillion if average temperatures rise 6 degrees Celsius by 2100.
The new risk report, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Aviva Investors, notes that climate change is different from other economic stressors such as recession due to its global scope and likely irreversibility. Therefore, unmitigated climate change presents "a permanent divergence towards a path of lower growth and diminished prosperity," the analysis states.
"Assets can be directly damaged by floods, droughts and severe storms, but portfolios can also be harmed indirectly, through weaker growth and lower asset returns," the authors state. As a result, investors and portfolio managers will have to account for such risk to meet their fiduciary duties and act in the best interests of their beneficiaries, the report states.
Yet in spite of these responsibilities, especially under more extreme "tail risk" scenarios, few investors have addressed climate change in a meaningful way, and "only a modest minority are even able to measure the carbon footprint of their own portfolios," the authors state.
Moreover, the analysis says, governments require little in the way of accountability on the part of investors when it comes to climate risk, "despite the fact that these risks are both material and systemic."
Governments should require that companies disclose their carbon emissions to regulators or independent tracking agencies to further reduce investor risk, the authors say. Carbon pricing is crucial to addressing climate change, they state, and "government inaction with respect to this market failure neglects an issue of systemic risk and global importance."
In addition to government action, the authors stress that investors and fund managers should act collectively to address climate risk by both "decarbonizing" their portfolios and steering more dollars toward projects that aid in the transition to a low-carbon economy, including alternative energy and energy efficiency programs.
"Investors currently face a stark choice," Brian Gardner, the report's editor, said in a statement. "Either they will experience impairments to their holdings in fossil-fuel companies should robust regulatory action on climate change take place, or they will face substantial losses across the entire portfolio of manageable assets should little mitigation be forthcoming.
"Charting a path away from these two options should be a strong motivation for long-term investors to engage with companies in their portfolios and to shift investments towards a profitable, low-carbon future," he added.
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Biz Group Launches Multimillion-Dollar Ads Against Obama’s Ozone Rule
Jul 28, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A major business group launched a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign Tuesday against the Obama administration’s proposal to restrict ground-level ozone pollution limits.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) says it’s taking a more direct and negative approach with its new ads that previous business campaigns against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule, by pointing to various national parks that naturally have more pollution than the proposed limits.
The group is hoping that the campaign will spur lawmakers to discuss the ozone rule with their constituents during the August recess, and cause the Obama administration to rethink the proposal.
“With members of Congress about to head out for recess and D.C. about to slow down, we think it’s time to turn up the volume on that to make sure it’s at the front of everybody’s minds,” said Ross Eisenberg, NAM’s vice president for energy policy.
By highlighting national parks with little human-caused pollution, NAM is trying to show “the absurdity of what the EPA’s proposed,” and “that EPA’s setting standards that are just out of touch with reality,” Eisenberg said.
The campaign is centered on television and digital ads, in addition to a newspaper campaign.
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The television commercial shows parks like Yosemite and Grand Canyon national parks, which NAM says would violate the EPA’s proposed 70 parts per billion limit for ozone.
“Under new ozone rules out of Washington, these national treasures would actually violate clean air laws,” the narrator says. “If national parks can’t comply, how can your community?”
Ozone is the main component of smog and is a byproduct of various pollutants caused by burning fossil fuels.
The substance has been linked to various respiratory ailments, including asthma attacks, leading the EPA to predict that restricting it would lead to benefits of up to $38 billion and costs of up to $16.6 billion.
NAM disagrees. A study it commissioned predicted that the ozone rule would cost $1.1 trillion, making it the most expensive regulation ever.
It is a high-stakes fight for fossil fuel industries and the sectors that rely on them, since to comply with the rule, states might restrict activities that use fossil fuels.
The EPA has proposed to lower the current limit of 75 parts per billion to between 65 and 70 parts per billion.
The lower limit of the range would put areas like Yellowstone, Mesa Verde and Acadia national parks out of compliance, NAM says.
The new campaign will focus initially on the Washington, D.C., area, but the group will expand it to states that have not yet been chosen later, Eisenberg said.
The EPA is under a court order to set the final ozone regulation by Oct. 1.
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Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Lisa Friedman
The leaders of 13 major corporations showed off their green bona fides yesterday, committing $140 billion in low-carbon investment and pledging to develop 1,600 megawatts of clean energy.
But not all the companies that signed the White House's climate change pledge are ready to put their weight behind the Obama administration's effort to tackle global warming pollution in the United States by regulating emissions from coal-fired power plants.
Metals manufacturer Alcoa Inc., for example, which said it will slash the company's emissions in half by 2025, has raised concerns that the proposed U.S. EPA Clean Power Plan could force manufacturing jobs overseas. Other companies, like Apple Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Cargill Inc., haven't taken a public position on the controversial rule, and their representatives yesterday sidestepped questions about whether the companies vowing support for climate action will use their political capital to lobby in favor of the domestic regulations.
"I can't comment on the specifics of individual legislation, but ... anything that can help bring greater certainty to the market is a good thing," said Kyung-Ah Park, director of environmental markets at Goldman Sachs.
Microsoft Corp.'s chief environmental strategist, Robert Bernard, added: "At this point, the majority of our discussions are around how do you leverage IT [information technology] to catalyze the transformation of society."
The White House pledge comes at a key moment in both domestic and international efforts to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. Next week, the administration is expected to release a final version of the proposed Clean Power Plan rule. That regulation will be central to the United States' meeting its international pledge to slash emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 -- a commitment that will help make up a new global accord that could be signed in Paris in December.
Energy analysts yesterday called the business pledge significant and argued that when major multinational corporations from a variety of sectors -- some of which, like PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola Co., are also competitors -- join together to pledge major action on global warming, potentially, it sends a powerful message.Ranks include the mainstream of U.S. business, mostly
In addition to clean energy investment, the companies collectively called for an agreement in Paris that "takes a strong step forward toward a low-carbon, sustainable future" and declared that delaying action on climate change will ultimately cost more than moving to a low-carbon economy.
"Both clean energy and now climate change have gone totally mainstream and are increasingly bipartisan," asserted Dan Reicher, executive director of Stanford University's Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.
Reicher also said it stands to reason that companies still have mixed positions on the Clean Power Plan, particularly since the final rule has not yet been unveiled.
"I'm not surprised that this very diverse group of companies has not taken a position on the Clean Power Plan. But it's gratifying to see that they've taken a broader commitment to address climate change," he said. "Going into Paris, to be able to kick off a list of major U.S. companies with international reach that have signed onto an initiative like this, it's important."
The other companies that signed the White House pledge include Bank of America Corp., Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., General Motors Co., Google Inc., UPS Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The commitments vary. Apple, for example, vowed to bring on about 280 megawatts of clean power generation by the end of 2016; Coca-Cola said it will reduce the carbon footprint of "the drink in your hand" by 25 percent by the end of the decade by reducing emissions across the value chain; and General Motors committed to reducing energy intensity from its facilities 20 percent by 2020 while also reducing carbon and water intensity.
Google, Microsoft and Wal-Mart are members of Business Forward, which has advocated in favor of the Clean Power Plan and argued that the EPA proposal will ultimately save businesses more than it will cost by helping to avoid the supply-chain interruptions caused by extreme weather events. Google in its public comments on the regulation applauded EPA for giving states flexibility, also arguing that smart implementation could promote economic growth.
Berkshire Hathaway Energy also submitted a public comment in favor of the rule, making some technical suggestions and saying the "continued development of North American non-carbon generation will be an important compliance tool in state plans to achieve emission reductions."
A Coca-Cola spokeswoman, asked if the company supports the Clean Power Plan, declined to answer directly.
"Our sustainability priorities are women, water and well-being -- all areas that tie closely to our business. We focus our company efforts on these areas and matters that can impact our business," the spokeswoman said.
A Cargill spokesman said the company has not taken a position on the rule but noted that the company is part of the climate project Risky Business. "One of the many ways to ensure food security in a changing climate is through trade, and we pursue trade policy through the U.S. Chamber and the American Farm Bureau. We also advocate for greenhouse gas reduction within our trade associations and among our supply chain partners," the spokesman said.Self-enforced commitments
Yet the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- which also counts pledge signers Google, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Alcoa among its members -- is one of the Clean Power Plan's fiercest opponents.
Asked if his company would consider leaving the Chamber of Commerce over the disconnect, Alcoa's chief sustainability officer, Kevin McKnight, said the chamber has broad constituencies.
"There are times when they take positions that are not exactly aligned with the positions of most of their members," he said. Alcoa has argued that states should be allowed to take into account the "measurable and verifiable" carbon reductions made by utilities and industrial power generators since 2005, but overall, it has pledged to work constructively with EPA to design the regulation.
Meanwhile, he said, Alcoa is fully behind the Paris climate change agreement.
"We think Paris is a big deal. We think it is critical that the business community get behind governments, and we really do use Paris to move the world in a different direction," McKnight said. He called for a global deal that "drives a level playing field around the world."
All of the companies that signed the White House pledge have made previous efforts to rein in emissions or boost clean energy, but the White House said all of yesterday's commitments are new. More pledges are expected later in the year. There will not, however, be any organized effort to monitor the companies' efforts.
"The good news is, in a world of increased transparency, I think the public market will enforce any company that makes a pledge," said Microsoft's Bernard. "We will remain accountable to our shareholders and ourselves."
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Court Sends CSAPR Budgets Back To EPA
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today said EPA must reconsider some emissions budgets under the agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, one of the Obama administration's biggest environmental regulations.
CSAPR was designed to improve air quality in “downwind” states that saw air quality impacted from emissions from “upwind” states.
The Supreme Court in 2014 broadly upheld the rule, but said courts can consider case-by-case complaints about particular emissions budgets for specific states.
A three-judge D.C. Circuit panel today said that some 2014 emissions budgets were “unnecessary,” meaning EPA in some cases required emission cuts that were more stringent than necessary to clean up air quality in downwind states.
EPA must reconsider the 2014 sulfur dioxide budgets for Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. The agency must also take another look at 2014 ozone-season nitrogen oxides budgets for Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
However, the court did not vacate the 2014 budgets because that “could cause substantial disruption to the trading markets that have developed around the 2014 emissions budgets.” But the court also warned EPA against dragging its feet, writing that EPA is expected to "move promptly on remand."
The court rejected a series of other challenges to the rule, including complaints about models used by EPA and objections to how EPA identified upwind states that "interfere with" air quality in downwind states. EPA says it is reviewing the ruling. -
Court Tosses Part Of Cross-State Rule Back To EPA For Revamp
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Amanda Peterka
A federal court today sent part of U.S. EPA's landmark rule meant to curb air pollution drifting across state lines back to the agency but upheld the rule against broader challenges by state and industry petitioners.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that EPA had erred in its 2014 budgets for sulfur dioxide and ozone pollution in several states. While it did not vacate the budgets, the court sent them back to EPA for reconsideration.
Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote the ruling.
EPA's budgets "have required states to reduce pollutants beyond the point necessary" to achieve air quality improvements in downwind areas, Kavanaugh wrote.
The court rejected other arguments by states and local petitioners that the agency did not have the authority to put in place federal plans for 22 states. The court also rejected challenges to the models used by EPA to create the rule.
The Environmental Defense Fund touted the decision for leaving EPA's rule fully in place. EDF noted that the court affirmed EPA's core methodology underlying the rule.
"The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule will continue to protect 240 million Americans from dangerous smokestack pollution in upwind states," said EDF attorney Graham McCahan, who argued the case in its remand phase, in a statement. "The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is already helping to ensure healthier and longer lives for millions of Americans, including the children at risk of increased asthma attacks."
Kavanaugh wrote that sending the rule back to the agency without vacating it created "a risk that an agency may drag its feet and keep in place an unlawful agency rule." The court urged EPA to move "promptly" on reconsideration of the rule and noted that the petitioners may bring a lawsuit if the agency does not act swiftly.
EPA also said it was pleased that the court had kept the rule in place.
"The Cross-State Rule was promulgated to address a serious problem and continued implementation of the rule will lead to significant benefits for human health and the environment. The agency remains committed to working with States and the power sector as we move forward to implement the Rule," EPA said. "We are reviewing the decision and will determine any appropriate further course of action once our review is complete."
More than a dozen states had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to throw out all or part of EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, or CSAPR, a regulatory regime for 28 Eastern states.
The Supreme Court in April 2014 upheld the program's reliance on costs for determining how much upwind states must reduce emissions of pollutants like nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2).
The justices had remanded the case to the D.C. Circuit to resolve remaining issues, and the states as well as a large number of utilities and energy companies had pressed the appeals court to vacate major components of CSAPR that had been finalized in 2011.
At issue in today's ruling, the petitioners had challenged EPA's 2014 sulfur dioxide budgets for Texas, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. In downwind states, SO2 transforms into fine particulate matter, a pollutant linked with lung problems.
They had also challenged the 2014 ozone-season nitrogen oxides emission budgets for Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. NOx is an important precursor to ground-level ozone, which is a main component of smog.
The challengers' main argument was that CSAPR sometimes required an upwind state to cut its emissions by more than its contribution to a neighboring state exceeding air standards. In the rule, EPA had applied a two-step approach to determine whether and to what extent a state must reduce its emissions to comply with the Clean Air Act's "good neighbor" provision.
The court agreed with the petitioners, finding that EPA had misapplied a uniform threshold for upwind states that helped downwind states overachieve national ambient air quality standards.
In Texas, for example, the court found that EPA's emissions budget for SO2 would reduce particulate matter pollution in Madison, Ill., by 76 micrograms per cubic meter more than is needed to comply with the fine particle standard.
EPA had, in part, argued that it had the authority to set the budgets even if they caused downwind states to overattain air quality standards. The agency described overattainment as an "incidental" benefit that would occur as a result of its rule.
The Supreme Court, however, had found that EPA was not allowed to set targets that achieve overattainment if they weren't actually necessary, Kavanaugh wrote.
Frank O'Donnell, president of advocacy group Clean Air Watch, said, however, that the court had missed the point that CSAPR was written to comply with older criteria air pollution standards. EPA is currently working on a rule that would tighten the national ambient air quality standard for ozone from 75 parts per billion to between 65 and 70 ppb.
"We need more power plant cleanup, not less," O'Donnell said. "The court overlooked the fact that CSAPR is a tool to meet outdated standards."
Before last year's Supreme Court ruling, EPA had long struggled to implement a program for pollution that crosses state lines.
The agency's past two attempts have been thrown out in court, including the George W. Bush administration's Clean Air Interstate Rule, or CAIR, which the D.C. Circuit tossed in 2008 for being insufficient to protect public health in North Carolina v. EPA.
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Calif. Power Producers Warned That Actions Must Quickly Follow Ambitious Climate Plans
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Brittany Patterson
Call it "adaptation," "resilience" or "readiness," but California's utilities must move past planning for the future impacts of climate change and work more collaboratively to start taking action, utility commissioners and other energy-sector stakeholders said yesterday at a climate adaptation workshop.
Hosted by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and California Energy Commission, the daylong workshop held in San Francisco focused on how the state's energy infrastructure will be affected by climate change and what steps utilities can take and are taking to adapt.
"I have to admit that adaptation and resilience have often been viewed as the stepchild ... I think that has to come to an end," said Ken Alex, senior policy adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and director of the Office of Planning and Research. "Both mitigation and adaptation are inextricably interconnected."
In April, Brown issued an executive order that called for a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2030. The order stressed the importance of climate adaptation and tasked state agencies to factor climate change into planning and investment decisions.
California's utilities expend a lot of effort to reduce the energy sector's greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet the state's climate change goals, said CPUC Commissioner Mike Florio, but assessing the threats from future climate change and determining the best way to handle them are more of a challenge.
There is a significant risk for much of the state's energy infrastructure. Research done by the California Energy Commission forecasts projected climate change will require utilities to increase generating capacity 30 to 40 percent because of increased demand and reduced efficiency, said Guido Franco, team lead for climate and environmental research with the California Energy Commission.
A longer, more virulent wildfire season will increasingly threaten transmission lines and substations. Costal power plants face threats from sea-level rise. In the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta -- home to natural gas reservoirs, transmission lines and pipelines -- levees seem to be subsiding, compounding the problem of sea-level rise.'Adaptation is crucial'
In high-elevation locations, where melting snowpack is the major source of water for about 75 percent of the state's hydropower facilities, a warmer climate is expected to decrease snowpack and increase rates of evapotranspiration, both factors that will lead to less electricity generation.
Resilience seems to be on the minds of many utilities. Representatives from Pacific Gas and Electric Co., San Diego Gas & Electric Co., Southern California Edison Co. and Southern California Gas Co. -- utilities that represent a large chunk of electric ratepayers and generation in California -- presented adaptation plans at the workshop.
In 2009, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, or SMUD, began accessing the risks posed by a changing climate on its business and infrastructure. Today, climate change is factored into all long-term planning efforts the utility undertakes, said Kathleen Ave, climate program manager for SMUD.
Early steps for the utility included conducting research to understand how climate change could alter things like wildfires and flooding in its service territory, Ave said. Even though adaptation work touches more stakeholders than just utilities within a community, she said it's been challenging to collaborate with other agencies to talk about shared risks and benefits. She said the disconnected way funding is being doled out for this type of work, much of it through cap-and-trade revenue, has also made developing integrated adaptation systems challenging.
Further challenges remain in linking the role state agencies like the CPUC have in adaptation efforts, while many effects of climate change happen on a local level and vary across regions.
According to CPUC Commissioner Liane Randolph, utilities, which are in the business of accessing and mitigating risk, have the skill set to implement "aggressive actions" on climate adaptation.
"Adaptation is crucial because mitigation won't be enough," Randolph said.
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Memos From Former Pa. Governor Outline Energy Partnerships
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
Memos obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette outlined the relationship between former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and energy stakeholders of the resource-rich Marcellus Shale formation.
The memos from his 2010 campaign open a window to a sliver of the money received by Corbett from the energy industry, which solidified his party's role as a friend to the industry. Corbett declined to be interviewed, but emailed a response to the newspaper.
"During my administration, I met with thousands of people who were interested in helping to build a stronger Pennsylvania," he wrote. "I worked with the private sector to create jobs and provide cheaper energy sources for all Pennsylvanians. We succeeded in creating a more business-friendly environment that allowed the private sector to create over 150,000 jobs and dramatically reduced the state's unemployment rate. The energy industry was a driving force behind those efforts and I was proud of the work we accomplished for the people of Pennsylvania."
Environmentalists had flogged Corbett's friendliness toward the energy sector, saying his policies open the door to a "gas driller's" state.
"This was the driller's playground during the Corbett administration," said Jan Jarrett, who is coordinating a four-state research project on shale gas drilling for the left-leaning Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 27).
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Grid Operator's Study Concludes State-By-State Carbon Compliance More Costly
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Jeffrey Tomich
Another large U.S. grid operator has concluded what others have found -- that regional compliance with U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan would be significantly less costly than if states seek to comply with the rule on their own.
The Southwest Power Pool released its latest analysis of the Clean Power Plan yesterday, and its findings were consistent with those of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and PJM Interconnection, both of which determined that multistate approaches to meeting the carbon-reduction targets would be more efficient.
Little Rock, Ark.-based SPP, whose footprint sprawls across much of the Great Plains, has been the most bearish of the large grid operators regarding the ability of members to comply. But its latest study concluded that a state-by-state approach would be 40 percent more costly than a regional approach.
The additional costs include additional generation, capital investment and energy production costs. They do not include the cost of new transmission, gas pipelines and other system improvements.
"Our analysis affirmed that a state-by-state compliance approach would be more expensive to administer than a regional approach," Lanny Nickell, SPP's vice president of engineering, said in a statement. "A state-by-state solution also would be more disruptive than a regional approach to the significant reliability and economic value that SPP provides."
The grid operator's analysis was based on the proposed state carbon emissions reduction goals proposed by EPA in its draft rule, which calls for a 30 percent nationwide reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 2030. EPA is set to release a final version of the rule as soon as next week.
SPP estimated that state-by-state compliance, which assumed a $45-a-ton carbon adder to encourage dispatch of cleaner resources, would put an additional 15.1 gigawatts of generation at risk of retirement. It also incorporated 5.5 GW of wind and 4 GW of natural gas-fired generation above currently planned capacity, which includes 4 GW of new wind and 22 GW of new gas resources.
The study also concluded that multiple individual state plans in a regional market where energy flows freely across state lines would be "extremely challenging and risky."
The study is SPP's third assessment of the Clean Power Plan.
This spring, SPP released an assessment of regional compliance with EPA's draft rule (EnergyWire, April 9).
Last fall, an SPP reliability assessment concluded that the rule didn't allow enough time to build the generation and transmission infrastructure needed to maintain system reliability and avoid system overloads (EnergyWire, Oct. 10, 2014).
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Energy Producers Spar Over Ethanol Mandate
Jul 28, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Energy sector business groups locked horns Monday over the Obama administration’s latest proposed ethanol mandate, in a battle pitting fossil fuels against renewables.
The oil industry, along with other organizations that oppose the mandate, told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that its plan to ramp up ethanol blending into gasoline relies on an overly rosy view of the market and demand for the corn-based fuel.
The ethanol industry and its allies lashed back in comments filed with the EPA on the final day for formal submissions, saying the EPA is obligated under the Renewable Fuel Standard to increase the blending requirements even further than agency is proposing.
The back-and-forth was just the latest wrangling between pro- and anti-ethanol interests trying to influence how the EPA implements a 2007 law that imagined a larger market for gasoline — and more room for ethanol — than what has panned out.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers joined together for their comment filing blasting the EPA.
“The overarching problem with this regulation is that EPA’s assumptions of growing demand for high-ethanol fuel blends are simply wrong,” Bob Greco, the API’s director for downstream operations, told reporters Monday in a preview of the groups’ submission, which they planned to file later in the day.
“High ethanol blends, such as E15 and E85, that EPA is pushing are not compatible with most cars on the road today, and they could potentially put American consumers and their vehicles at risk,” he said.
Greco accused the EPA of severely overstating the market for E85 — a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent petroleum-based gasoline — and understating the demand for ethanol-free gasoline.
“EPA made overly aggressive assumptions about the amount of ethanol that can be used in the marketplace,” said Brendan Williams, executive vice president of the refiners’ group.
The main concern of the oil industry is that blending ethanol or buying credits from other companies can be expensive.
Ethanol interests, meanwhile, accused the EPA of improperly ignoring the ethanol volumes that Congress set, instead using a waiver system built into the law.
“By adopting the narrative of the oil industry with regard to how much ethanol can be blended into gasoline, EPA has unnecessarily and illegally curtailed the unprecedented evolution occurring in the transportation fuels market that was delivering technology innovation, carbon reduction and consumer savings,” the Renewable Fuels Association wrote to the EPA.
Fuels America, a coalition of various companies involved in different ethanol production activities, delivered more than 200,000 comments from individuals supporting a strong mandate to the EPA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The agency proposed in May to require oil refiners across the country to blend 17.4 billion gallons of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel into their traditional gasoline and diesel, with up to 14 billion gallons coming from standard ethanol from feedstock like corn and soybean.
The EPA also proposed to set 2014 and 2015 renewable mandate levels at 15.93 billion gallons and 16.3 billion gallons respectively, based on the actual and expected volumes at which refiners actually used the fuels. The levels should have been set before each of those years started.
As of Monday afternoon, the EPA had received and processed nearly 48,000 comments from stakeholders, individuals, lawmakers and others on the proposal.
After reviewing the comments and making necessary changes, the EPA plans to set a final mandate by Nov. 30, the deadline set out in the law.
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Alaska’s Senior Senator Eyes Smoother Reelection
Jul 28, 2015 | The Hill - Ballot Box
By Timothy Cama
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) appears positioned to avoid a replay of her painful 2010 reelection fight, as she looks to leverage a pair of key gavels and early fundraising success in a bid to keep her job as Alaska’s senior senator in 2016.
Murkowski and her campaign staff would like to think they learned some valuable lessons when she lost the primary to Tea Party favorite Joe Miller, only to mount an improbable write-in campaign in an effort to hold onto the seat.
“That’s not the situation that we’re going to be in this time,” said campaign coordinator Scott Kendall, an Anchorage lawyer who, in 2010, worked to fend off Miller’s legal challenges to the write-in effort.
From an early focus on growing her war chest to her chairmanship of two panels with authority over Alaska priorities such as oil, natural gas and federally owned land that covers nearly 70 percent of her state, Murkowski is going all-out to fend off election challenges from both sides of the political spectrum.
An early sign of the moderate Republican’s efforts came this month when the campaign announced she had raised $1.1 million in the second quarter and has $2.3 million on hand. The finances are the best on record for any Alaska race.
“We’ve got plenty of resources, we’ve got a ton of support,” Kendall said. “And if anyone’s learned anything from the write-in campaign, it’s that the senator’s a fighter, she’s fighting for Alaska in the Senate, and she’s going to fight to keep the Energy Committee chair for Alaska for another six years.”
In a brief interview in the Capitol, Murkowski only said her campaign’s progress was “fabulous” but declined to speak further, saying she’s focused on the broad energy reform bill that she just unveiled with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the Committee on Energy & Natural Resources.
Murkowski’s leadership of the panel, a position her father Frank Murkowski held from 1995 to 2001, had been one of her top goals since coming to the Senate in 2002.
Upon learning in November that Republicans had taken the Senate majority, all but guaranteeing Murkowski’s ascension to the top of the panel, she reportedly held a chair above her head at an Anchorage victory party, proclaiming “I am the chairman!”
Her ability to influence policies that are central to Alaska is certain to help her in what could be a tough campaign.
And the Energy Committee chairmanship puts Murkowski in line for donations from well-heeled interests in the oil and natural gas industries, among other energy sectors. She’s already received significant donations from the political action committees of the American Petroleum Institute, America’s Natural Gas Alliance, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Corp., Marathon Oil Corporation and others.
“The chairmanship of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee has helped her,” said Jerry McBeath, a political science professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, adding that she’s in a much better place right now than she was six years ago.
“So many of the issues on that panel are relevant to Alaska’s oil and gas industry, which is what the state is so highly reliant on,” he said.
In the six months since taking the gavel, Murkowski’s priorities have included lifting the ban on exporting crude oil, increasing offshore drilling, giving states a bigger share of the revenues from offshore drilling and pushing back against the Obama administration’s efforts to block any future oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — all major priorities for her state.
The position also allowed her to write the first major energy bill in eight years, released last week with the promise that it would be a major boon for Alaska and its energy sector.
“There’s no committee in the entire Senate that’s more important to Alaska,” said Kendall.
Murkowski also chairs the Appropriations Committee subpanel with authority over the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department, giving her sway over funding for Alaska native communities, President Obama’s Clean Water Act jurisdiction rule and more.
“Her focus is on making sure that Americans have access to Alaska’s energy resources, and their own,” Kendall said.
Murkowski’s chief focus before the June 1 primary election is likely to be on fighting off potential challenges, McBeath said.
Miller, who also ran unsuccessfully against now-Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) last year, has been mentioned as a likely opponent, as has state Sen. Mike Dunleavy (R). Neither responded to requests for comment.
During the 2010 campaign, Murkowski shored up support among the conservative rural constituencies, which should help her out greatly next year, McBeath said.
“It was a new element of her support base,” he said. “And now she has to pay attention to that support base. It’s difficult, because you’ve got 20 percent of the state voting population that may be described as Tea Party or religious right, but they’ve got all these litmus-test issues of extreme importance to them.”
Murkowski is consistently ranked among the most liberal Republicans in the Senate and has a strong independent streak, said Geoffrey Skelley, a political analyst with the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
“One recent example of her independent streak: In early July, she joined Democrats, and fellow Republicans Susan Collins and Mark Kirk (also moderates), in supporting an amendment that would have lifted the global gag rule that restricts federal funding for international organizations that provide abortion services,” Skelley said.
She’s taken liberal positions on same-sex marriage and been criticized by her efforts to steer funding toward Alaska.
Murkowski is also taking on a vocal effort against the proposal by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republicans to sell off part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to pay for highway infrastructure. Despite being a moderate, she has repeatedly fought President Obama’s energy and environmental policies, such as his landmark climate rule for power plants, his water rule for minor streams and wetlands and his restrictions on offshore drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
All of that plays extraordinarily well to Alaska’s conservatives.
Skelley and the Center for Politics rank the Alaska race as “likely Republican,” since it judges Alaska as a firmly Republican state.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said the committee has not yet recruited a candidate to run in Alaska, but it plans to.
“We would love to have a good candidate in Alaska,” he said. “We think Alaska’s a winnable state, but we don’t have anybody right now.”
Ex-Sen. Mark Begich (D), who lost last year to Sen. Dan Sullivan (R), has been mentioned as a candidate, though he has not committed to it, and he was not available to comment. Begich unseated the late and extremely popular Sen. Ted Stevens (R) in 2008, thanks in part to Stevens’s felony convictions days before the election.
Murkowski’s campaign will not underestimate any threat from the left, Kendall said.
“We’re going to be prepared for any of those,” he said. “If something happens, we’ve got a game plan for it.”
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Greens Decry House Ban On Addressing Warming In Trade Deals
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Jean Chemnick
Environmentalists have urged House and Senate negotiators on a customs bill to jettison a House-passed provision stripping the U.S. trade representative of the ability to consider climate change in trade deals.
The House attached the language to its version of the bill granting the president "fast-track" trade promotion authority, but greens say it could compromise future climate action and even some bilateral agreements the United States is already party to.
"If accepted, it would limit the United States' latitude to safeguard climate policies from trade attacks under existing and future trade agreements," the green groups wrote in a letter to conferees. "It would inject even greater uncertainty into ongoing negotiations in the [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] and other arenas by raising new questions about the scope of U.S. negotiating authority, and it would raise serious challenges to the fulfillment of formal agreements like the U.S.-China commitment to facilitate trade in clean-energy technologies, and global commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies."
The provision would bar the U.S. trade representative from entering into agreements that "require changes to U.S. law or that obligate the United States with respect to global warming and climate change."
Republicans say the language would prevent the administration from using trade deals as a way to circumvent congressional authority to legislate on climate. But groups including the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity say the clause could put a variety of actions out of reach, making it impossible for the U.S. to preserve the integrity and effectiveness of existing U.S. environmental regulations while negotiating with another country.
The inclusion of this language in the bill is particularly concerning, the letter argues, in light of the world's hopes of securing an international climate deal in Paris at the end of this year.
Conferees originally aimed to complete the bill before the House leaves for August recess this week, but the House has not yet moved to go to conference.
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Why 40% Of The World's Population Hasn't Heard Of Climate Change
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Camille von Kaenel
Four out of 10 people worldwide had never heard of climate change in 2008. The reasons why vary from country to country, but the key was often education, according to new researchpublished yesterday in Nature Climate Change.
The study looked at what -- and why -- people knew about climate change on a global scale. Two main questions drove the researchers: how many people knew global warming was happening, and how many perceived it as a serious threat. They pulled their results from the 2008 Gallup World Poll, which surveyed 119 countries representing around 90 percent of the world's adult population.
Some of the results, such as those for the United States, could be out of date. But there's been so little public opinion research about developing countries that the study gives an almost unprecedented world snapshot.
More than 90 percent of the people surveyed in North America, Europe and Japan answered that yes, they did know about climate change. But in developing countries, many had never even heard of the concept. That includes more than two-thirds of respondents in countries like India, Egypt or Bangladesh. Those high levels of unfamiliarity surprised Anthony Leiserowitz, a researcher at the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and an author of the study.
"This is after decades of science, decades of media coverage, at least a decade-plus of world leaders at top geopolitical levels having climate change on the agenda," he said. "There was basically a north-south split in basic awareness of climate change."
The trend switched, however, when he and the rest of the team -- from Yale University; Columbia University; Utah State University; Princeton University; the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan -- analyzed the answers to the next question.
People in developing countries were as likely or more likely to say that global warming was a serious threat, if they knew what it was, than those in developed countries. Countries in Latin America led the pack, with more than 90 percent of the respondents who knew what climate change was saying it posed a serious risk to them or their families. In the United States, it was close to 80 percent.China vs. U.S.
The researchers dug deeper to understand what pushed people to answer the way they did. They measured the relative influences of different variables like religion, income, media access or civic engagement on the responses of the people polled. The top factors underlying awareness and risk perception changed often from country to country, they found. Take China and the United States, for example.
Access to media, civic engagement and education predicted basic knowledge of climate change in the United States. Across the Pacific, it was high income and education, as well as living in a city, that led to awareness.
Americans who believed that humans caused global warming and that local temperatures were increasing were the most likely to think that climate change was a threat to them. Belief in man-made climate change also drove Chinese to feel at risk from global warming, but so did poor local air and water quality.
Similar contrasts could be drawn between other countries. In Germany and Argentina, income predicted awareness; in Colombia and Angola, local temperatures predicted risk perception.
The researchers found it hard to generalize. Countries with similar indexes, like gross domestic product or the human development index, didn't often share the same influences, Tien Ming Lee, from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the lead author, wrote in an email. Latin America was the area with the most similarities between countries.'They've just never heard this message before'
But there was one clear pattern: Education was the single most likely factor to influence whether someone knew about climate change, worldwide. That suggests basic education could be the best investment to include the 2 billion or so people who don't know what climate change is in the global discourse, Leiserowitz argued, especially because local temperature changes remain an important forecaster of both awareness and risk perception around the world.
In some of his previous research, he had found that almost half of Indians had never heard of global warming. They were, however, keenly aware of local shifts in weather. When given a single-sentence description of climate change, more than 70 percent recognized it immediately.
"This isn't a hard thing to convince people of, it resonates with their own lived experiences," Leiserowitz said. "They've just never heard this message before."
For those trying to share information about climate change, the study offers a wealth of information on which buttons to push in different economic or cultural contexts, said Barry Rabe, a public policy scholar at the University of Michigan and the Woodrow Wilson Center. He has researched how weather affects public opinion in the past (ClimateWire, July 9).
"I've long felt that within the U.S., the most effective teaching has been done by state climatologists, who can really speak to what is occurring in a particular state," Rabe said. "Someone trying to communicate on issues like this is going to impact people in different countries in different ways, [based on] what sort of information they were able to secure, what is their preparedness to interpret it."
Education strategies are particularly timely given the upcoming global climate negotiations in Paris, he said. There, global leaders are expected to commit their country's people to cutting carbon emissions, even if many have never heard of global warming.
"Getting the support of your population will be more important than ever before," Leiserowitz said.
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Inhofe Frustrated With Delays Over EPA Doc Requests
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Alex Guillen
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Jim Inhofe is tired of waiting for EPA to respond to two requests from lawmakers related to the Clean Power Plan.
In April, Inhofe asked for documents on alleged influence from the NRDC and other environmental groups over the climate rulemaking. And in June, House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop asked for EPA to explain why it did not consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the rules' Endangered Species Act-related issues.
In a letter to EPA today, Inhofe says the agency has not fully complied with those requests and objects to "ongoing delays and lack of transparency."
“EPA's lack of timely and complete responses and the ongoing uncertainty over its document searches frustrate Congress' ability to fulfill its constitutional duty to perform oversight,” Inhofe writes. -
Murkowski Will Oppose Amendments That Could ‘Collapse’ Bipartisan Energy Bill
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro Whiteboard
By Darren Goode
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski said she would oppose amendments that risk undercutting bipartisan support for the energy bill moving through her committee.
“It doesn’t help us if we go on and on and on and the same things over and over again,” she said at the start of a committee markup this morning. She will also oppose any amendment that “would collapse the broader effort that we have been engaged in,” adding that “we are committed to maintaining” that bipartisan support.
The panel is considering compromise legislation from Murkowski and ranking member Maria Cantwell.
Murkowski said 94 amendments have been filed but that she will try to expedite things. Still, she has already scheduled the panel to resume the markup at 10 a.m. tomorrow. -
Senate Energy Approves Elkind Nomination
Jul 28, 2015 | PoliticoPro Whiteboard
By Darren Goode
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Jonathan Elkind’s nomination to be assistant energy secretary for international affairs.
The nomination was approved, 17-5, without debate. Five Republicans voted no — John Barrasso, Jim Risch, Mike Lee, Jeff Flake and Steve Daines. -
Panel Advances Stalled Nominee For International Affairs
Jul 28, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today advanced President Obama's nominee to serve as assistant secretary of Energy for international affairs.
The committee voted 17-5 with bipartisan backing to advance the nomination of Jonathan Elkind, whom the president initially nominated in 2013 but whose nomination then languished in the upper chamber during last year's lame-duck session.
Despite securing backing across the aisle, Republican Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Jim Risch of Idaho, Mike Lee of Utah, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Steve Daines of Montana cast a "no" vote.
Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she supported Elkind despite disagreements with DOE. Murkowski pressed Elkind during his confirmation hearing in June about the U.S. ban on crude oil exports, but he did not directly address the issue.
"I think [Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz] deserves to have a full complement of appointees at DOE," Murkowski said.
While Barrasso didn't elaborate on his opposition today, he voiced his objection to the nomination this summer (Greenwire, June 16).
Elkind currently serves as DOE's principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of International Affairs and has served in a similar capacity for DOE's Office of Policy and International Affairs from 2009 to 2013.
Before joining the agency, Elkind worked as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution focusing on energy security and foreign policy issues. He also founded EastLink Consulting LLC, an independent consultancy focusing on energy, environment and investment.
Elkind also has prior DOE experience.
In the 1990s, he served at the Council on Environmental Quality under President George H.W. Bush, as well as in various positions in DOE and as vice president of the National Security Council staff. Elkind holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of Maryland, a master's degree in Soviet history from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan.
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