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US Groups Seek Organohalogen Flame Retardant Ban
Aug 19, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is seeking public comment on a petition by NGOs, seeking a ban on several categories of products, containing organohalogen flame retardants. -
California Industries Urge White House, EPA To Assess Region 9 TCE Guide
Aug 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Dave Reynolds
California industries are urging EPA and White House officials to assess the costs and benefits of EPA Region 9's guidance for protecting against cardiac birth defects from exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE), arguing the policy is based on uncertain science, primarily targets Silicon Valley businesses, and will cost companies millions of dollars. -
Chemicals In Household Dust May Be Linked To Obesity
Aug 19, 2015 | Environmental Working Group
By Rochelle Cameron
Some chemicals in household dust may lead to obesity, according to a new study by a team of scientists from Duke University and Boston University. -
US Court Reaffirms Conflict Mineral Ruling
Aug 19, 2015 | Chemical Watch
A federal appeals court reaffirmed, this week, its April 2014 ruling, striking down a component of the conflict mineral rule as violating the Constitution (CW 15 April 2014). -
(ACC Mentioned) Advocates Urge EPA To Strengthen Disclosure Of RMP Data In Future Rule
Aug 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Dave Reynolds
Public interest groups are urging EPA in a forthcoming proposal to improve public access to data showing risks from catastrophic chemical releases at industrial facilities, arguing online access would drive facilities to use safer substances, a call federal officials have rejected and appear to avoid revisiting in a document on revising the rule. -
Top Chemical Execs Plead Guilty in W.Va. Spill
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
Two former top officials of the West Virginia company that operated a chemical storage site that fouled the water for hundreds of thousands of Charleston residents in 2014 pleaded guilty in federal court today, closing the last criminal cases linked to the incident. -
Key Democrat Backs 'Strategic' Crude Exports Program
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Daniel Bush
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) relaxed his longtime opposition to lifting the crude export ban yesterday, urging Congress to allow limited exports to U.S. allies that buy oil from Iran. -
EPA's Methane Plan Raises Questions About Industry's Next Steps
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Gayathri Vaidyanathan
At a time when global oil prices have crashed and some American energy companies are struggling with debt, U.S. EPA proposed new regulations yesterday that would require the sector to invest in cleaning up its greenhouse gas pollution. -
Methane Argument Hinges on how Fast Emissions Should be Cut
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Mike Soraghan
The argument about methane regulation in the oil field revolves around whether industry has been reducing emissions quickly enough. -
Gathering, Processing Plants Could be Largest Emitters in Gas Supply Chain -- Study
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Pamela King
U.S. natural gas gathering and processing plants are spewing billions of cubic feet of methane into the atmosphere every year, according to a new study out of Colorado State University (CSU). -
Greens: End Federal Fossil Fuel Production to Cut Emissions
Aug 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Ending fossil fuel production on federal lands in the United States would prevent up to 450 billion tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere, according to a study released Wednesday. -
EPA Narrows GHG Tailoring Rule As Appellate Court Rejects Critics' Appeals
Aug 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
EPA is formally narrowing its “tailoring rule” requirements for when new and modified sources must obtain greenhouse gas (GHG) permits, a long-expected effort that will make the rule consistent with court rulings on the issue even as an appellate court has rejected critics' effort to continue to challenge the agency's GHG permit program. -
MacArthur Foundation Vows to Push Climate Solutions, Starting with $50M Pledge to Green Groups
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Daniel Cusick
The charitable foundation known for its annual "genius grants" and its public broadcasting underwriter's message promoting "a more just, verdant and peaceful world" is deepening its commitment to addressing climate change under a new multimillion-dollar program aimed at building leadership capacity and political consensus around climate solutions.
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US Groups Seek Organohalogen Flame Retardant Ban
Aug 19, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is seeking public comment on a petition by NGOs, seeking a ban on several categories of products, containing organohalogen flame retardants.
The petitioners have requested a CPSC rulemaking, under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA), to declare the following categories of products, containing additive organohalogen, as “banned hazardous substances”:
any durable infant or toddler product, children's toy, childcare article, or other children's product (other than children's car seats);
any article of upholstered furniture sold for use in residences;
any mattress or mattress pad; and
any electronic device with organohalogen in its plastic casing.
The petition was filed by Earthjustice and the Consumer Federation of America, which were joined by groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Women's Association and the Consumers Union.
The petitioners say that additive organohalogen flame retardants are used extensively in the consumer products categories that would be covered by their rulemaking request. They further assert that, based on their physico-chemical properties, all such chemicals in this class will migrate out of consumer products and persist in the indoor environment.
They say that because such substances are, as a class, foreign to the human body and inherently toxic due to their physical, chemical and biological properties, exposure will result in adverse health impacts.
The deadline for comment is 19 October.
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California Industries Urge White House, EPA To Assess Region 9 TCE Guide
Aug 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Dave Reynolds
California industries are urging EPA and White House officials to assess the costs and benefits of EPA Region 9's guidance for protecting against cardiac birth defects from exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE), arguing the policy is based on uncertain science, primarily targets Silicon Valley businesses, and will cost companies millions of dollars.
In a recent letter to Region 9 Administrator Jared Blumenfeld and White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) officials, The Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG), reiterates longstanding industry calls for a reevaluation of EPA's controversial conclusion that TCE poses a birth defects risk. The group also says Region 9 failed to follow proper procedure in adopting the guidance that has led to costly new requirements at certain contaminated sites.
SVLG, representing industries in California, says it is "concerned that a new policy of significant public impact and economic consequences may have been developed based upon a study that has been strongly critiqued, without ensuring that the benefits clearly outweigh the costs, and without an open and public administrative process."
SVLG says Region 9 is implementing its July 9, 2014, guidance for protecting against birth defects from TCE exposure "as a rule of general applicability," despite failing to follow notice and comment procedures. The industry coalition also says the policy is being target ed primarily at Silicon Valley, imposing tens of millions of dollars in costs. If the policy were applied more broadly, the group says it would exceed the $100 million threshold that requires OMB review of the costs and benefits of rules with significant economic impacts.
"If the policy is applied uniformly across Region 9 and the nation, then the costs will be astronomical, the benefits must be demonstrable, and the scientific basis of the policy must be solid," the letter says.
In response, an environmentalist who supports the TCE guidance says that Region 9 has educated the public on its new policy and argues that industry's claims that the new procedures are alarming the public are overstated.
Additionally, the source disputes industry assertions that the Region 9 policy is driving higher sampling costs. While the policy affects how property owners respond to test results, the source says sampling is required under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act -- also known as the Superfund law -- and that EPA headquarters' vapor intrusion guidance released in June details the procedures.
Vapor Intrusion
The industry coalition's letter continues companies' long-standing push-back against Region 9's efforts to protect against risk of birth defects from short-term exposure to TCE through vapor intrusion, which occurs when underground contamination rises into indoor air.
Region 9 began requiring strict new assessment and mitigation at contaminated sites after EPA included the novel birth defects risk in its September 2011 Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of TCE.
The risk is based in part on the agency's use of a 2003 toxicology study by Paula D. Johnson, which industry argues is flawed and unreproducible. But agency officials, speaking publicly, have said the IRIS program also considered several epidemiological studies that also suggest TCE causes birth defects.
In a Dec. 3, 2013 letter, Region 9 urged the San Francisco Bay regional water board to follow a strict new program for assessing risks from short-term exposures to TCE that includes stringent prompt response action levels as well as new sampling strategies.
Although industry pushed back by arguing a lack of a nationwide policy indicated uncertainty about TCE risks, the region pushed ahead and issued a revised approach in a July 9, 2014 memo. The memo says the region's toxicologists had consulted with EPA headquarters officials on the issue.
Later that year, in an Aug. 27 memo to its regional Superfund directors, EPA backed use of "early or interim" action "to eliminate, reduce, or control the [TCE] hazards posed by a site."
The memo was based on the agency's existing guidance, and headquarters acknowledged that the question of what contamination level causes a health risk in the short-term remains unanswered.
Industry Opposition
EPA's actions have failed to quell industry opposition to the TCE policies, and in January the California Manufacturers & Technology Association sought a meeting with EPA officials to press an offer from the TCE producers' group Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance, Inc. (HSIA) to fund an expedited study of whether TCE poses a birth defects risk.
In the more recent letter to EPA and the White House, SVLG says EPA has not responded to HSIA's request. SVLG reiterates calls for a definitive study of TCE risks, seeks independent peer review of whether the common contaminant causes birth defects, and details the costs of Region 9's policy, arguing the plan was not properly vetted.
Region 9's guidance "is based on the assumption that TCE" poses a risk of birth defects, the group says. Also, the letter says there appears to be no administrative record or peer review supporting the development of the Region 9 policy, which was not subject to public comment. The result, SVLG says, are confusing sampling results that unnecessarily alarm tenants in buildings above contaminated sites in northern California.
"This new guidance seems to target Silicon Valley, the economic engine that has been driving the U.S. economy for the past twenty years," the letter says. "The long-term cost to the nation of a policy that targets such a crucial economic area should be carefully evaluated."
The group describes Region 9's vapor intrusion guidance as "a significant shift in public policy" that has had "enormous practical consequences" for California businesses.
Citing estimated cleanup costs in just the South Bay area, SVLG says complying with the Region 9 guidance will cost between $43 million and $64.2 million. The group adds that Region 9's estimates suggest costs of the policy will far exceed $100 million, the threshold for which federal agencies must conduct a cost and benefits analysis under Executive Order 12291, a review that has apparently not occurred.
But the group says even those costs fail to account for the significant disruption for landlords and tenants caused by indoor air testing conducted in order to comply with the policy.
Businesses "occupying buildings over contaminated plumes have spent a great deal of time and money dealing with the legitimate concerns of their employees, based on the information that EPA has circulated about risks," the group says. "In addition, the public has not been made aware of the serious critiques of the methodology on which the key TCE study was based."
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Chemicals In Household Dust May Be Linked To Obesity
Aug 19, 2015 | Environmental Working Group
By Rochelle Cameron
Some chemicals in household dust may lead to obesity, according to a new study by a team of scientists from Duke University and Boston University.
In a paper published July 14 inEnvironmental Science & Technology, the researchers discovered that certain chemicals common in dust activate a special receptor protein called the peroxisome proliferator-activated nuclear receptor gamma, or PPAR gamma for short. PPARgamma regulates many biological pathways-- notably fat metabolism, cell proliferation and cell death. Receptors are a special kind of protein that can send signals to change how a cell responds to its environment.
The Duke-B.U. study joins a mounting body of evidence that the PPAR-gamma receptor activates certain genes in fat cells, resulting in the storage of fat and changes in hormone levels.
The Duke-B.U. team examined house dust samples for PPARgamma activation by a class of common chemicals called semi-volatile compounds. These chemicals include organophosphates, brominated flame retardants, organotins and phthalates, all used in household items such as flame retardants, solvents, plasticizers and lubricants. They are important because they can migrate into the living environment.
Of the semi-volatile compounds tested, 28 of 30 were found to activate the PPARgamma at a “weak or moderate” level. These results suggest that many semi-volatile compounds or related chemicals found commonly in house dust can also activate this important receptor under the right conditions.
One of the most interesting findings of this study, according to co-author Heather Stapleton, Ph.D., an associate professor at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, is that significant activation of PPARgamma occurred after “exposure to an environmentally relevant dose of chemicals found in indoor dust particles.” This means that people going about their daily lives are exposed to chemicals that can activate this receptor.
Children may be exposed to greater concentrations of chemicals because they play close to the ground, touch objects with their hands and then touch their hands to their mouths. Since they are still developing, they are more vulnerable. Activation of PPAR gamma during early development “may be a key factor in obesity,” Stapleton said. “Effects on children can be very different than effects in an adult.”
This research raises a red flag, but many questions remain to be answered.
Most scientific research tends to focus on one chemical at a time because the experiments are easier to interpret but in reality, people are daily exposed to hundreds of chemicals. Scientists are trying to devise ways to recreate real-world situations in a controlled laboratory setting.
“We need to be thinking more broadly and critically about effects that can occur from the [chemical] mixtures we’re exposed to on a daily basis,” said Stapleton.
The Duke-B.U. study advocates testing so that scientists “increase our knowledge of effects of mixtures of chemicals that we are chronically exposed to, particularly for children who have higher exposure to dust particles.” -
US Court Reaffirms Conflict Mineral Ruling
Aug 19, 2015 | Chemical Watch
A federal appeals court reaffirmed, this week, its April 2014 ruling, striking down a component of the conflict mineral rule as violating the Constitution (CW 15 April 2014).
The US court of appeals for the district of Columbia had found, last year, that the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) rule violates free speech rights under the first amendment. The rule forces companies to report whether their products contain minerals from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), under the Dodd-Frank Act, by labelling them as conflict-free.
The court had let stand other disclosure requirements. However, in November, it granted a petition from the SEC, which enforces the rule, for review of its position.
In a 2-1 decision issued on 18 August, the court said: “We see no reason to change our analyses” [regarding its striking down the labelling provision]. “The '[not] conflict-free' is a metaphor that conveys moral responsibility for the Congo war. It requires an issuer to tell consumers that its products are ethically tainted, even if they only indirectly finance armed groups.”
“Requiring a company to publicly condemn itself is undoubtedly a more 'effective way' for government to stigmatise and shape behaviour than for the government to have to convey its views itself. But that makes the requirement more constitutionally offensive, not less so,” the court said.
The SEC is "reviewing the decision," a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, US companies filed conflict minerals specialised disclosure reports (SD) for the second year, in June (GBB July/August)
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(ACC Mentioned) Advocates Urge EPA To Strengthen Disclosure Of RMP Data In Future Rule
Aug 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Dave Reynolds
Public interest groups are urging EPA in a forthcoming proposal to improve public access to data showing risks from catastrophic chemical releases at industrial facilities, arguing online access would drive facilities to use safer substances, a call federal officials have rejected and appear to avoid revisiting in a document on revising the rule.
A coalition of environmental, labor and good government groups have long pushed EPA to use authority under section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act to require industrial facilities to use inherently safer technologies (IST), where feasible. IST involves facilities switching to alternative chemicals or safer processes. The coalition argues that the practice reduces the consequences of an accident or attack.
EPA has said it will consider requests for IST requirements as part of revisions the agency is scheduled to propose to its Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety program in September, though so far EPA has backed IST through voluntary measures, including an alert issued this year and planned guidance.
EPA's forthcoming notice of proposed rulemaking revising RMP is part of a broad federal effort to implement President Obama's Executive Order (EO) 13650 on improving the safety and security of industrial plants.
Issued Aug. 1, 2013, in the wake of an explosion at an ammonium nitrate storage facility in West, TX, that killed 15 people, including first responders, the order calls for strengthening communication and coordination between federal, state and local governments, and for revising policies, rules and standards.
In the July report "Bad Chemistry," the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) says that EPA's RMP revisions should require online posting of facility risk information, arguing that the public information is inappropriately restricted to federal reading rooms.
"EPA should revise the RMP to prioritize disaster preparedness, prevention, transparency, access to information, and overall industry accountability," UCS says in the report. "The agency should fully utilize web tools and social media to ensure timely, accessible, and public access to RMP information, especially during emergency situations."
The report argues the American Chemistry Council (ACC), an industry trade group, has stymied an array of safer chemicals policies, and uses a past debate over whether certain RMP data should be available in reading rooms or posted online as an example.
Hazard Information
The UCS report says that in implementing the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, EPA proposed posting facility hazard information online but balked after the chemical industry lobbied against broad disclosure.
"The law dictates that RMP information must be made public, because publicly available information encourages the public to hold companies accountable for their risks and companies may therefore choose safer procedures or chemical alternatives in response," the UCS report says.
Report author Gretchen Goldman, in an interview with Inside EPA, said arguments against improving public access to information on the risks facilities pose largely rely on fear tactics. Industry and government should have better methods for protecting facilities than hoping terrorists do not know where they are located, she said.
"There are safer alternatives for a lot of these chemicals, and in many cases [facilities] don't need to have this worst-case" scenario-type risk, Goldman said.
Whether posting facilities' so-called off-site consequence analysis information -- the size of the area affected if an accident or attack were to occur at individual facilities -- actually increases or reduces the risk facilities pose to neighbors has been a long-running debate. Federal officials weighed the issue after Congress passed legislation requiring the Clinton administration to issue rules addressing public access to off-site consequence analysis information submitted to EPA under RMP.
At the time, the Justice Department (DOJ) concluded that posting such data online would increase risk of a terrorist attack by providing "one-stop shopping" for those seeking to target facilities that pose the greatest risks from among the 15,000 facilities that had submitted data under RMP, according to a DOJ assessment of whether posting the information online would increase risk.
Although DOJ did not find that releasing all forms of off-site consequence information would increase risks, the assessment said certain RMP off-site consequence information that "could be construed to estimate the precise body count and environmental harm" that a release would cause "is increasingly central to the planning of terrorist attacks."
A federal working group implementing Obama's EO, co-chaired by EPA, said in a June fact sheet that federal officials are considering sharing "specific elements" of RMP data with the general public. EPA officials, in recent public comments, have backed the need for communities to have access to some RMP data to plan for emergencies.
In a July 2014 request for information (RFI) on revising RMP, EPA sought comment on how public disclosure of facility data might improve community understanding of chemical risks and promote regulatory compliance, but the RFI suggests the agency is not considering broader release of off-site consequence data.
The RFI asks, "would requiring RMP-covered facilities to post on a company website unrestricted (i.e., non-off-site consequence analysis) RMP information" improve facility safety or regulatory compliance?
But groups, including Greenpeace and the Center for Effective Government (CEG), which have pushed for IST, are backing UCS' call for greater public access to RMP information, including off-site consequence data currently limited to federal reading rooms, arguing the information is essential for community planning and that current restrictions are inappropriate.
Chemical Releases
In a July 30 statement faulting the pace of federal agencies' implementation of Obama's order, the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters says that in the two plus years since the West disaster, more than 400 chemical releases have occurred, killing 82 people and injuring 1,600 others.
"It's much more important for the public to have access to prepare for accidents that occur much more frequently than people realize," a source with CEG says. The source adds that arguments for limiting public access "assume a terrorist couldn't figure out where chemical facilities are located."
In a July 22 blog, Greenpeace says current restrictions on information showing the hazards posed by industrial facilities shut out people who live far from government reading rooms or are unable to take off work.
"These barriers to easily accessible information reduce community members' awareness of the hazards in their neighborhoods and thus their ability to hold the facilities that endanger them accountable," Greenpeace says.
But industry groups note that federal officials already determined that increasing access to off-site consequence data would increase risk of a terrorist attack, and should not revisit the issue.
A source with the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates told Inside EPA that increasing access to such data would "put a bull's-eye" on facilities that store or manufacture chemicals, rather than increasing safety.
"It hasn't really come up recently" the source says. "I don't foresee DOJ revisiting that restricted access any time soon."
In a statement, ACC says expanding public access to off-site consequence data would undermine industry efforts to keep facilities safe. The group says industry is working with federal officials implementing the EO, including EPA and the Department of Homeland Security, to ensure that local officials and first responders have information they need to respond to an accident or attack.
"EPA recognized the importance of safeguarding this information following the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and removed it from the Agency's website to enhance security," ACC says. "The same security interests that drove EPA to that decision still exist today."
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Top Chemical Execs Plead Guilty in W.Va. Spill
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
Two former top officials of the West Virginia company that operated a chemical storage site that fouled the water for hundreds of thousands of Charleston residents in 2014 pleaded guilty in federal court today, closing the last criminal cases linked to the incident.
Former Freedom Industries President Gary Southern and Dennis Farrell entered guilty pleas at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia earlier today over their roles in the spill, prosecutors said.
Southern, 53, was the public face of Freedom Industries as its leader at the time of the spill. Farrell, 58, was a former Freedom president and owner.
Their actions, prosecutors alleged, led to a spill of a coal-cleaning chemical called 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or MCHM, into the Elk River, causing more than 300,000 people to go without tap water for days in January 2014.
Southern pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act, negligently discharging refuse matter in violation of the Refuse Act and failing to have a pollution prevention plan. Farrell pleaded guilty to violating the Refuse Act and failing to complete a pollution prevention plan.
"This should serve as a wake-up call to those who operate chemical storage facilities near our precious water resources," said Booth Goodwin, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia. "If you place our water at risk, you face prison time."
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will drop 12 bankruptcy fraud charges against Southern, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported today. Prosecutors had previously alleged that Southern committed bankruptcy fraud, wire fraud and lied under oath when he allegedly made false statements to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court concerning his role with Freedom Industries (E&ENews PM, Dec. 17, 2014).
Southern could face up to three years in federal prison and is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
Freedom Industries and four other officials pleaded guilty to criminal charges earlier this year.
Former Freedom Industries owners William Tis and Charles Herzing pleaded guilty in March to one count of negligently discharging refuse.
Tank farm plant manager Michael Burdette and Robert Reynolds, a former Freedom Industries environmental consultant, were charged with violating the Clean Water Act and pleaded guilty in March.
The four officials will face up to one year in prison when they are sentenced in December.
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Key Democrat Backs 'Strategic' Crude Exports Program
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Daniel Bush
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) relaxed his longtime opposition to lifting the crude export ban yesterday, urging Congress to allow limited exports to U.S. allies that buy oil from Iran.
The senator proposed the "strategic" export program in a speech at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., where he came out against the Iran nuclear agreement that's headed for a vote in Congress next month.
Iran could begin exporting 700,000 additional barrels of crude per day and eventually ramp up daily production to 1 million barrels if economic sanctions against the country are lifted as part of a final nuclear deal.
Menendez said the United States would be better off rejecting the deal, keeping the sanctions in place and exporting domestic crude to its allies instead.
The United States should "consider licensing the strategic export of American oil to allied countries struggling with supply because Iranian oil remains off the market," Menedez said, according to a prepared copy of his remarks.
Menendez's break with President Obama on Iran follows Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) announcement earlier this month that he would oppose the nuclear deal when lawmakers return from their August recess.
The New Jersey lawmaker has long stood against lifting the 1970s-era crude export ban and fought other energy policies seen as a boon to the oil and gas sector.
In June, Menendez joined 12 Senate Democrats in writing a letter to Obama urging him keep the ban in place. The group argued that the change would drive up gas prices and lower U.S. jobs in the oil and gas refining sector.
"We are concerned that lifting the crude oil export ban could harm U.S. consumers, businesses and our national security," the letter said.
Earlier this month, Menendez and 18 Democratic co-sponsors reintroduced legislation aimed at a variety of tax deductions for the five biggest oil companies (Greenwire, Aug. 4).
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EPA's Methane Plan Raises Questions About Industry's Next Steps
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Gayathri Vaidyanathan
At a time when global oil prices have crashed and some American energy companies are struggling with debt, U.S. EPA proposed new regulations yesterday that would require the sector to invest in cleaning up its greenhouse gas pollution.
The proposed and existing regulations would reduce leaks of methane from oil and gas well pads by 20 to 30 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. The sector is the largest industrial emitter of the greenhouse gas, which is 84 times as potent as carbon dioxide on a 20-year time scale. Methane is the primary component of natural gas, and the sector leaks enough each year to power 6 million American homes.
The Obama administration hopes to eventually cut the sector's methane emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025 as part of its climate strategy. It also recently addressed methane releases from landfills and carbon dioxide releases from power plants as it prepares for climate change negotiations in Paris this December.
"What this proposal shows is just how serious this administration is about putting real, concrete measures in place to reduce emissions of harmful CO2 and methane," said Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, during a press conference.
The proposed rules are written under the Clean Air Act and apply only to new installed equipment. EPA estimates the new rule would provide net climate benefits of $120 million to $150 million. Altogether, existing and proposed methane rules would avoid 1.2 million to 2 million tons of emissions by 2025.
A provision of the Clean Air Act next forces EPA to consider regulating older, leaky equipment, an area of heated disagreement between the energy industry and environmental groups.
Most energy companies, including ones proactively plugging leaks, do not want EPA to regulate older sources. The burden of retroactively replacing old equipment could be "onerous," said Tom Michels, executive director of the ONE Future Coalition, an industry group that collaborates closely with EPA on methane issues.
"That is what everybody is nervous about," Michels said.
Environmental groups, on the other hand, want EPA to issue rules for older sources. Studies have shown that 90 percent of leaks at the end of the decade would come from facilities that were already installed by 2011 (EnergyWire, March 3, 2014).
"It is very clear that we are going to need regulations for existing sources," said Mark Brownstein, vice president in the climate and energy program at the Environmental Defense Fund, during a press call this week.How to address older leaks?
EPA also released draft guidance yesterday to states to curb volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from older sources in ozone nonattainment areas. Methane leaks may get plugged as a co-benefit, but very few oil and gas facilities occur in such areas, said Conrad Schneider, advocacy director at the Clean Air Task Force.
The agency is hoping, for now, that industry will self-police its older leaks. It set up a voluntary program to curb methane leaks, called the Natural Gas STAR Program, nearly 20 years ago, but very few of the nearly 6,000 energy companies in the United States signed up.
EPA announced a revamped program, called the Natural Gas STAR Methane Challenge Program, in July, but that program does not incentivize companies to participate any more than did its predecessor.
Michels of ONE Future, which collaborates on the Methane Challenge Program, said that it is in companies' "enlightened self-interest" to sign up for the program. It might be the only way to avoid costly regulation on existing sources in the future -- a fate that befell the coal industry recently through the Clean Power Plan.
"We believe that we convinced [EPA] to not regulate existing sources and give us sort of the running time to prove that we could achieve a greater amount of emissions reduction at a lower cost to us by having a more flexible approach," he said.
Mark Boling, executive vice president at Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co., said the EPA rules might encourage companies to participate in voluntary programs.
"I sure hope that more companies will want to voluntarily address methane emissions," he said.
But most companies do not accept this new reality yet, he admitted. The largest industry group, the American Petroleum Institute, dug in its heels yesterday, a sentiment mirrored by America's Natural Gas Alliance and other trade groups.
"We do not think EPA should be regulating methane now," said Howard Feldman, senior director of regulatory and scientific affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, during a press call. It was a message repeated often.
Industry has already cut its emissions from its production sector by 11 percent since 2005, he said. He did not mention that the majority of those reductions were due to EPA regulations enforced in 2012.Expanding 'green completions'
During the initial stages of drilling an oil or a gas well, significant amounts of methane and VOCs are emitted. In 2012, EPA asked natural gas operators to capture the releases through "green completions." Emissions from the process have since reduced by 75 percent.
EPA's new proposal requires oil well operators to perform green completions, as well. The rule also addresses leaks from pneumatic pumps, compressors and other equipment in the oil and gas system.
Unlike previous EPA rulemaking, which focused on VOC curbs and achieved some methane reductions as a co-benefit, the new rule addresses methane directly. The American Petroleum Institute has favored VOC regulations.
It is simpler and cheaper to curb VOC leaks, which may explain industry's preference, said Schneider with the Clean Air Task Force. Curbing methane leaks from well pads, processing and distribution centers, and pipelines can be a much bigger challenge, he said.
The draft rule requires industry to proactively detect leaks and repair them. Colorado and Wyoming already have similar programs, and operators use an infrared (IR) camera to detect methane plumes, which are invisible to the human eye.
Noble Energy Inc. in Colorado used IR cameras and found 8,000 separate leaky components, said Brent Lammert, director of sales at FLIR Systems Inc., a company that sells IR cameras. It was able to repair all those leaks within five days.GOP slams rule as 'war,' while Democrats cheer
Some environmentalists praised the rule as providing benefits far beyond methane, including in Alaska and the Arctic.
Erika Rosenthal, a staff attorney at Earthjustice, noted that reductions in flaring could have a side effect of reducing black carbon, which can exacerbate melting of snow and ice as soot darkens the surface and facilitates heat absorption.
In Congress, many Republicans accused the administration of waging a "war on fossil fuels." They variously termed the rule as unnecessary, misguided, punitive, an unprecedented attack and delusional.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, saw evidence of collusion between green groups and EPA in crafting the rule. He alleged that a former EPA employee had encouraged outside groups to write reports supporting EPA actions.
Democrats said the rule would provide valuable climate and health benefits. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said the rule mirrored the measures Colorado has adopted to regulate methane.
"We're glad that the EPA is following Colorado's lead and starting this process at the national level," he said in a statement. "We look forward to reviewing these draft regulations and are hopeful they will strike the same balance we were able to achieve in Colorado."
Reporter Christa Marshall contributed.
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Methane Argument Hinges on how Fast Emissions Should be Cut
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Mike Soraghan
The argument about methane regulation in the oil field revolves around whether industry has been reducing emissions quickly enough.
U.S. EPA and the Obama administration's answer to that has been "no," judging by their proposal to expand existing regulation to cut emissions by roughly 30 percent compared with 2005 levels.
The agency yesterday proposed methane rules for new and modified oil and natural gas operations, giving environmental groups much of what they had been seeking in methane reductions (Greenwire, Aug. 18).
The oil and gas industry's key argument against the mandates wasn't that emissions don't need to be cut. Rather, industry groups say they're already on their way to reducing methane emissions at their facilities.
EPA figures show emissions from the oil and gas sector are down 16 percent since 1990. It's even better for fractured natural gas wells, which have decreased emissions by 73 percent since 2011, even as production increased.
"The oil and gas industry is leading the charge in reducing methane," said Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. "The last thing we need is more duplicative and costly regulation that could increase the cost of energy for Americans."
Beyond that, gas producers note, they have a financial incentive to reduce methane emissions. It's not just pollution prevention for them. It's plugging leaks and getting more of their product to market.
The environmentalists who are pushing for more regulation aren't making their case by disputing industry's success so far in reducing methane leaks. Instead, they say the industry's success with cutting leaks shows how much more progress can be made, relatively easily, in reducing greenhouse gases.
For example, they say only 1 percent of oil and gas producers participate in EPA's Natural Gas STAR Program, a 20-year-old program aimed at encouraging oil and gas companies to improve efficiency and reduce methane emissions.
"At the end of the day, regulation is necessary to ensure that all in the natural gas industry are doing all that they can to reduce emissions," said Mark Brownstein, who leads the Environmental Defense Fund's work on the oil and gas industry.
About 90 percent of emissions come from 1 percent of components, he said, another example of how methane leaks are a low-hanging fruit in the effort to fight climate change.
And there are areas where industry has not done well. Methane emissions from oil production operations, not covered by earlier rules requiring "green completions," have increased during the drilling boom and are up 10 percent since 2008.
Financial incentives don't always work to curb waste. Oil producers in North Dakota's Bakken Shale were flaring off more than a third of the natural gas they co-produce because there aren't enough pipelines to get gas to market. In the wake of new state regulations, they now burn off a little less than a quarter of the gas.
Beyond that, green groups note that EPA expects the reductions it has recorded to be reversed if there are no new regulations. Emissions could rise more than 25 percent by 2025 without additional steps, the agency said.
EPA was careful to say that it hasn't given up on the voluntary approach. Yesterday's announcement highlighted the agency's update to its voluntary program, called the Methane Challenge Program.
"EPA intends to continue to encourage corporate-wide voluntary efforts to achieve emission reductions through responsible, transparent and verifiable actions," the agency's proposal states, adding that such measures could reduce the need for mandates.
EPA said the proposed standard for new and modified source methane will help avoid between 340,000 and 400,000 short tons of methane emissions in 2025.
The methane draft was combined with a proposal that would apply a 2012 rule requiring gas wellheads to use green completion technology on oil-producing wellheads. Another proposal would tighten restrictions for wellheads in ozone nonattainment areas -- a restriction that could apply to more operations this fall when EPA releases a long-awaited revision to its ozone rule. Both would capture methane as a co-benefit while limiting volatile organic compounds. A fourth proposal would limit emissions from operations on American Indian lands.
The Bureau of Land Management also is putting the finishing touches on a new rule for venting and flaring on federal lands that will come out in September.
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Gathering, Processing Plants Could be Largest Emitters in Gas Supply Chain -- Study
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Pamela King
U.S. natural gas gathering and processing plants are spewing billions of cubic feet of methane into the atmosphere every year, according to a new study out of Colorado State University (CSU).
Published yesterday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the paper estimates that emissions from gathering activities account for 30 percent of the industry's total methane leakage. If added to the Greenhouse Gas Inventory, CSU's newly identified releases would increase the federal account -- a 1.3 percent methane loss -- by about 25 percent, according to Mark Brownstein, a vice president in the Environmental Defense Fund's (EDF) climate and energy program.
The CSU study is part of a long-term project by EDF to track methane emissions from natural gas infrastructure.
"Until now, emissions from thousands of gathering facilities -- which consolidate gas from multiple wells in an area and feed it into processing plants or pipelines -- have been largely uncounted in federal statistics, yet they may be the largest methane source in the oil and gas supply chain," Brownstein wrote in a blog post.
During a 20-week field campaign spanning October 2013 to April 2014, CSU researchers measured methane leakage from 114 gathering stations and 16 processing sites. The team released tracer gases with known flow rates and then used a mobile laboratory with high-precision instruments to calculate methane seepage.
Currently, only very large gas collection sites are subject to U.S. EPA reporting mandates, leading the study's author, CSU engineering professor Anthony Marchese, to conclude that the national inventory represents only a small slice of total gathering infrastructure. An anticipated change to EPA's greenhouse gas reporting program could soon impose stronger reporting requirements for gathering facilities, Marchese said.
Despite the increase reported in the CSU study, the industry's rate of methane loss remains low, said Katie Brown, spokeswoman for the industry research group Energy in Depth.
"The single most important question when evaluating these methane studies is: what is the actual leakage rate?" Brown wrote in an email. "This latest study shows a low leakage rate of about 1.6 percent -- a rate that is far below what is required for natural gas to have significant climate benefits. It is yet another example of how methane emissions have plummeted as natural gas production has ramped up, thanks in large part to voluntary measures and technological innovations by producers."
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Greens: End Federal Fossil Fuel Production to Cut Emissions
Aug 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Ending fossil fuel production on federal lands in the United States would prevent up to 450 billion tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere, according to a study released Wednesday.
The analysis, from the group EcoShift and commissioned by the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth, found that the untapped supply of fossil fuels on U.S. federal lands represents between 349 and 492 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, or about half the potential emissions from all U.S. fossil fuels.
By contrast, the U.S. emitted more than 6.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2013, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Most federal fossil fuels are in areas the government hasn’t leased for development, according to the study. The vast majority are in oil shale and coal stores around the country.
The groups behind the study said the U.S. should not allow those fuels to be developed in order to cut carbon pollution enough to meet scientific standards for preventing global warming.
“Our climate can’t afford the pollution from more federal fossil fuel leasing,” said Taylor McKinnon, a campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity. “The natural place for President Obama to start leading the global fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground is on our public lands and oceans.”
Energy development on federal and Indian lands increased just 0.2 percent in 2014, according to a July study from the Energy Information Administration, even as production has surged on private lands. Stagnant growth has lead some Republicans to call for more energy development, not less, on federal lands.
“Our government has already leased more public fossil fuels than can safely be burned,” Friends of the Earth campaigner Marissa Knodel said in a statement.
“Each new lease puts us farther down the path toward climate catastrophe, and is a direct contradiction to the president’s pledge to attack the climate crisis head-on.”
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EPA Narrows GHG Tailoring Rule As Appellate Court Rejects Critics' Appeals
Aug 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
EPA is formally narrowing its “tailoring rule” requirements for when new and modified sources must obtain greenhouse gas (GHG) permits, a long-expected effort that will make the rule consistent with court rulings on the issue even as an appellate court has rejected critics' effort to continue to challenge the agency's GHG permit program.
The agency Aug. 19 published in the Federal Register a final rule that will remove “Step 2” from the tailoring rule, which had sought to require all new and modified “major sources” to obtain permits based solely on their GHG emissions.
But the Supreme Court held in a 2014 ruling in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA that the agency lacked authority to require permits for facilities' GHG emissions alone, a decision that ultimately forced EPA to narrow the regulation.
And the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit later issued an order in the litigation -- then known as Coalition for Responsible Regulation, et al. v. EPA, et al. -- remanding the tailoring rule to EPA and giving the agency discretion to determine what actions officials should take to make the measure consistent with the high court's ruling.
The just-published final rule -- which EPA issued without the usual notice-and-comment process because the agency found it to be “ministerial” and in the public interest -- will have little direct policy impact because the agency has already allowed states that implement the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit program to rescind previously issued permits for GHG-only sources.
But the move is still significant because it marks one of the last remaining steps the agency must take to complete its GHG permit program in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which first held that GHGs are “pollutants” subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.
Those remaining actions now appear to be even fewer after the D.C. Circuit appears rejected ongoing challenges in the Coalition case, declining efforts by remaining plaintiffs in the case who are seeking to block the permit program from taking effect until EPA takes additional steps to comply with the high court ruling.
The court Aug. 7 rejected requests by dozens of industry, free-market and other groups to reconsider an April decision that let EPA determine how to interpret the Supreme Court's ruling.
EPA's tailoring rule had sought to raise statutory permit thresholds that were intended for conventional pollutants but if applied to GHGs would have resulted in thousands of smaller facilities being subject to PSD permit mandates.
The rule generally raised the statutory PSD thresholds for GHGs to 75,000 tons per year. Step 1 of the tailoring rule required only facilities that triggered PSD for criteria pollutants to undergo analyses to determine best available control technology (BACT) for reducing GHG emissions. Step 2 subjected facilities that emitted GHGs in significant amounts to PSD permits even if they did not trigger the thresholds for criteria pollutants, and Step 3 of the rule reaffirmed Step 2 and allowed states to establish plantwide applicability limits (PALs) for GHGs.
The high court's 2014 ruling narrowed the basis for EPA's GHG permit requirements, finding that regulators could only require BACT reviews for GHGs at facilities that would be subject to PSD for their conventional pollutants regardless of their GHG emissions.
The agency has estimated that limiting the scope of the rule to these so-called “anyway” sources would scale back the permit program from regulating 86 percent of domestic stationary sources' GHG emissions to 83 percent.
De Minimis Threshold
While the high court blocked EPA from permitting facilities for their GHG emissions alone, the court also suggested that EPA should set a de minimis threshold for when GHG limits are needed in PSD permits.
The agency is now taking steps to address the ruling. In addition to the new measure narrowing the tailoring rule, the agency in May also issued a direct final rule to provide a process to rescind air permits that were issued solely based on facilities' GHG emissions.
The agency is also slated in June to propose a rule setting a GHG de minimis threshold above which PSD air permit requirements for new and modified sources would be triggered. Agency officials said when announcing the rule that the threshold will be expressed as a significant emissions rate -- a similar term as the permit triggers EPA uses for conventional pollutants.
However, the remaining petitioners in the Coalition case had asked the D.C. Circuit to rehear their claims that the agency can only require GHG permits after it has promulgated the de minimis threshold, arguing that EPA's view that it can continue to regulate sources using current thresholds is at odds with the Supreme Court ruling.
“The exceptional importance of the EPA’s rules and the strong decision by the Supreme Court in this matter require more than permission from the [D.C. Circuit] to EPA to change the rules if it sees fit,” Shannon Goessling, executive director and chief legal counsel for Southeastern Legal Foundation, said in a statement earlier this year.
But the D.C. Circuit rejected their claims without comment, raising the bar for additional legal challenges and putting the agency's GHG permit program on a more solid legal footing.
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MacArthur Foundation Vows to Push Climate Solutions, Starting with $50M Pledge to Green Groups
Aug 19, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Daniel Cusick
The charitable foundation known for its annual "genius grants" and its public broadcasting underwriter's message promoting "a more just, verdant and peaceful world" is deepening its commitment to addressing climate change under a new multimillion-dollar program aimed at building leadership capacity and political consensus around climate solutions.
Roughly $50 million in initial funding, announced this morning by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, will be shared by nine nonprofits engaged in climate policy and advocacy. It is being characterized by the foundation as "a down payment on a major new commitment to help curb global climate disruption by significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
"Climate change, and its global disruption, threatens to undermine virtually everything we care about as human beings, from quality of life to the economy, from poverty to peace and security," MacArthur Foundation President Julia Stasch said in a statement announcing the new initiative.
"Global climate disruption will have a profoundly negative impact on how humans live and work," she added. "That's why we need effective international leadership and cooperation that bring about sufficient and measurable results."
Officials with the Chicago-based philanthropy, with assets of $6.47 billion, said the initial focus of the new initiative "is on building and sustaining sufficient U.S. leadership to ensure that the nation meets its own responsibilities in addressing climate change." However, the foundation "intends to be a constructive partner to other countries, such as India and China ... whose leadership and action are also critical to addressing a more sustainable future."
The largest first-round grant, $20 million, will be shared by the Nature Conservancy and Environmental Defense Fund to foster political engagement on climate change and to build new constituencies and coalitions for "durable action on climate policy in the U.S.," according to a foundation press release. Officials with the two organizations said the $20 million would help advance a 1-year-old partnership focused on building pragmatic, nonpartisan solutions to climate change.Amplification of anti-coal message
"It's clear we can do more together than we can alone," Jeremy Symons, associate vice president of EDF, said of the effort with the Nature Conservancy, adding that the two organizations "share some common characteristics," including philosophies and organizational strategies that eschew traditional politics and focus on areas where people can find common cause.
Jeff Fiedler, the Nature Conservancy's director of climate policy, said in an interview that the MacArthur grant will support TNC and EDF activities both nationally and at the state level "to build a new optimism around a low-carbon energy future and to rebuild the political center" that has been largely missing from U.S. climate discussions.
But while MacArthur officials stressed their desire to cast a wide net with hopes of bringing traditionally disparate interests together on climate change, the foundation's funding priorities make clear that it believes in a future with little or no coal-fired power generation.
For example, $15 million in new MacArthur funding will go to the Sierra Club to aid the organization's efforts to shutter much of the U.S. coal-fired power plant fleet and press electric utilities to switch to carbon-free energy sources such as wind and solar. The $15 million in new funding follows a $4 million grant made by MacArthur in 2013, according to Bruce Nilles, the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal senior director.
In an interview, Nilles called the new commitment by MacArthur an "awesome and humbling recognition from a well-known, established and highly respected organization." The $15 million will also help the Beyond Coal campaign maintain its 170-person paid staff and provide ongoing support to more than 1,000 grass-roots organizers working in states across the country.
The Sierra Club has also raised by two-thirds its campaign objective to shut down 100,000 megawatts of U.S. coal-fired power plants and now will seek to secure the closure or commitments to close an additional 66,000 MW of coal-fired generation by 2017, Nilles said.
Nilles said that challenge may become easier as political allegiances around energy fuels begin to shift. "The most powerful part of the traditional coal lobby -- the utility sector -- is splitting off" from the mining firms and railroads that used to be aligned in their support for coal, Nilles said. Increasingly, electric utilities "no longer see their fate interwoven with coal," he added. "Over the next few years, we hope to accelerate that transition and get these companies to see themselves as clean energy pioneers instead of defenders of coal."'Big bets' on support and new campaigns
Beyond the two largest grants, MacArthur awarded roughly $14 million to six additional organizations -- including $3 million each to the Natural Resources Defense Council, ClimateWorks, the Energy Foundation and ecoAmerica. Some of the funding will be used for general support, while a portion will be directed to specific campaigns, the foundation said.
The Environmental Law & Policy Center will receive $1.5 million to support its advocacy and legal work in seven Midwestern states, according to officials with the Chicago-based group. Attorneys Rob Kelter and Brad Klein said in a telephone interview that the new funding will help ELPC increase both the scope and intensity of its climate work, particularly in areas of energy efficiency and clean energy solutions.
The smallest of the initial grants, $350,000, will go to the Carbon Disclosure Project, a U.K.-based organization dedicated to accounting, reporting and reducing carbon emissions from a broad swath of businesses and corporations.
Jorgen Thomsen, MacArthur's conservation and sustainable development program director, said in an interview that the new initiative builds on the philanthropy's decadeslong support of organizations and causes related to the environment, energy and conservation. But it also amplifies the foundation's belief that climate change has become one of the world's most pressing problems and that acting immediately and aggressively with significant financial resources is the best strategy for solving the climate crisis.
The foundation has dubbed such priorities "big bets," reflecting its belief that transformative change is needed to solve complex, intractable problems like climate change. Other issues that have received, or are going to receive, similar focus from MacArthur include criminal justice, nuclear weapons and the allocation of capital for social good.
To those who question MacArthur's dramatic boost in funding to strongly opinionated and in some cases well-financed advocacy groups like the Sierra Club and NRDC, Thomsen said there was a clear rationale to its decisionmaking.
"Where we are placing the big bet here is that we think these organizations will help us identify and drive the solutions that not just this country needs, but that we need globally to address the big carbon emitters," he said. "Some of these groups are obviously funded by others. Our hope is that by contributing our resources, we can give them that extra push to help them go the extra mile."
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