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ACC AM Aug 25
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(ACC Mentioned) The US Congress Is Finally Poised To Rethink Its Outdated Chemical Laws
Aug 25, 2015 | The Guardian
By Marc Gunther
Kids dread back-to-school shopping because it means an end to summer fun. Parents have reason to fear it too, particularly those who read the Back-to-School Guide published annually by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). Dangers lurk everywhere, according to the EWG. Avoid plastic covers on binders, the group advises. -
(ACC Mentioned) Vancouver Pilot Program Moves 'Beyond Bags'
Aug 24, 2015 | The Columbian
By Amy M.E. Fischer
Don't throw away that plastic wrapper that encases your rolls of toilet paper — it has a future as Trex composite lumber. It doesn't go in your blue recycling cart, though, because plastic wrappers clog up the machines at the regional recycling plant. -
(ACC Mentioned) Debilitating Drought Focuses Attention On Measures To Curb Water Waste
Aug 25, 2015 | Plastics Makes It Possible
A debilitating drought plaguing many regions of the nation has Americans scrambling to save water, especially during the peak water usage months of summer. While the average family uses 320 gallons of water per day, water use in the summer can spike up to 1,000 gallons per day, primarily due to lawn and landscape care. -
Plastic Food Containers Safe to Use, Study Finds
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mark Wolski
A recent study by an Iowa State University researcher indicates that plastic food containers do contain heavy metals but the metals don't pose a threat to consumers, the university announced Aug. 21. The study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Plastic Film and Sheeting, also indicates that the metals can... -
Unep Says CiP Programme Is An Opportunity For Companies
Aug 24, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
The UN Environment Programme (Unep) has released a proposal for its Chemicals in Products (CiP) initiative. The programme forms part of the UN’s Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (Saicm), and will be discussed at Saicm’s fourth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM4) in Geneva... -
Saicm Publishes Iccm4 Meeting Documents
Aug 24, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The UN's voluntary chemicals programme, the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (Saicm), has released documents on the topics to be discussed at the fourth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM4), next month. -
EPA Knew About Risk of Mining Waste Spill Into River
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The Environmental Protection Agency knew more than a year ago about the risk of a spill of contaminated mining waste into the Animas River watershed. The likelihood of a blowout was referenced in a “Task Order Statement of Work” memo among some 92 pages of documents released by the EPA Aug. 21 on the Gold King Mine... -
Deluge of Hearings on Animas River Spill Awaits EPA
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
At least five separate congressional committees are planning or considering hearings on the release of 3 million gallons of mining waste and sediment into the Animas River in southwestern Colorado, aides told Bloomberg BNA Aug. 24. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Senate Committee on Indian... -
White House Defends Arctic Drilling Plan
Aug 24, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
White House officials are defending the Obama administration’s decision to approve oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Brian Deese, Obama’s senior climate adviser, said Monday that the administration is looking to limit as much drilling as it can under an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell and that he “would caution against... -
OMB Gets Proposed Rule for Oil, Gas Work in Refuges
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
A proposed rule to update federal regulations on oil and natural gas development in national wildlife refuges has been sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for interagency review. The proposal, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, typically would apply to mineral rights retained by private... -
Oil-Export Drive Gains in Senate, but Swift Action Unlikely
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jim Snyder
A drive to end the four-decade ban on U.S. oil exports gained a measure of support from two Senate critics of the energy industry, although any relief from Congress isn't likely to come swiftly. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader who has pushed to repeal billions of dollars in industry tax breaks... -
N.D. Wastewater Well Owner Indicted
Aug 24, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Jeremy P. Jacobs
The owner of a North Dakota well used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas operations was indicted today on 13 charges stemming from alleged violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Jason Halek, 41, of Southlake, Texas, is charged with injecting drilling waste fluids without ensuring the integrity of his well. The fluids, often referred ... -
Podesta Declines To Give Clinton’s Stance On Crude Exports
Aug 24, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia
John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, declined on Monday to say where the former secretary of state stands on lifting the ban on U.S. crude oil exports. "I'm not going to get ahead of her on that because, frankly, I haven't really discussed it with her," he told reporters during an energy summit here. -
Podesta: Clinton 'May Have More To Say' On Keystone
Aug 24, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia
John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said today the former secretary of state is growing impatient over the long-awaited decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline and she "may have more to say" on the issue if the Obama administration’s decision doesn’t come soon. -
Energy Report Looks at Oil Sands Growth, Emissions
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
A report from an energy research institute in Canada said it is possible for the Alberta oil sands production to grow even while the sector cuts greenhouse gas emissions. But the several technical scenarios offered by the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) report would require significant changes in government policy... -
Report Alleges Collusion on Clean Power Plan
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
A free-market advocacy group released a report Aug. 24 that it said showed the White House, certain governors and environmental advocacy organizations colluded in private to advance the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's plan to tackle climate change. The report, authored by attorney Chris Horner of the Energy... -
Obama To Traditional Energy Producers: Get With The Program
Aug 24, 2015 | The Hill - Blog Briefing Room
By Devin Henry
President Obama challenged energy utilities, fossil fuel producers and their allies in Congress on Monday to get onboard with his push for clean energy or risk backlash from American consumers and companies. Speaking at a clean energy summit in Las Vegas, Obama dismissed energy interests that oppose his push... -
Moniz Says U.S. Still Committed to Carbon Capture
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Aug. 24 the Obama administration remains strongly committed to advancing technologies that capture and store carbon dioxide from power plants as vital in the global effort to combat climate change, particularly for rapidly developing nations such as China and India that are likely... -
Energy Secretary Optimistic For Climate Pact
Aug 24, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said on Monday he is optimistic that world leaders will come to an agreement to fight climate change and that technology will play a key role in the effort. Moniz said advances in technology are the main reason that he is optimistic about the results of the December... -
Enviros Sue Over Permit For Utah Coal Plant
Aug 24, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Amanda Peterka
Environmentalists have launched a lawsuit against Utah regulators over a long-delayed permit renewal for a coal-fired power plant. The Sierra Club lawsuit seeks to compel state officials to update the permit for the Hunter coal-fired power plant operated by PacifiCorp division Rocky Mountain Power. -
Obama’s New Climate Change Call: Yes We Can
Aug 25, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia and Edward-Isaac Dovere
Now ‘yes we can’ is about fighting. President Barack Obama wielded his campaign slogan to hail the green energy revolution here on Monday — and to bash the critics who he said were desperately clinging to the past as a renewable energy future approaches. -
California Carbon Updates Target Regional Energy
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Laura Mahoney
Updates to the California greenhouse gas emissions inventory will include regional information and better quantification of emissions from the oil and gas sector, a California Air Resources Board official said. CARB routinely evaluates its methodologies and updates the inventory each year, said Anny Huang... -
Earth’s Average Temperature Continues To Rise
Aug 24, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Steven K. Gibb
Satellite data show July was the warmest month ever on record worldwide and 2015 the hottest year thus far, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says. The temperature findings parallel the ongoing trend of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the ... -
EPA Downplays High Court Rulings' Impact On CWA Transfer Rule Lawsuit
Aug 24, 2015 | InsideEPA
By David LaRoss
EPA is downplaying New York's claim that recent Supreme Court rulings denying deference to the administration’s positions on air and health care policies undermine the agency's legal defense of its rule exempting some water transfers from Clean Water Act (CWA) permit limits, countering that the high court cases are unrelated to the rule. -
12 City Leaders Seek Strong Paris Climate Deal
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
Local government officials from Atlanta, Salt Lake City and 10 other U.S. cities have come together in support of reaching an ambitious global deal to fight climate change at the upcoming talks in Paris. Members of the new Local Climate Leaders Circle, announced Aug. 24, have been meeting...
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(ACC Mentioned) The US Congress Is Finally Poised To Rethink Its Outdated Chemical Laws
Aug 25, 2015 | The Guardian
By Marc Gunther
Kids dread back-to-school shopping because it means an end to summer fun. Parents have reason to fear it too, particularly those who read the Back-to-School Guide published annually by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).
Dangers lurk everywhere, according to the EWG. Avoid plastic covers on binders, the group advises. Don’t buy dry-erase or permanent markers, which contain solvents. Avoid lunch boxes made with lead paint, PVC, BPA and antimicrobial chemicals. Look for plain wooden pencils, no paint or glossy coating. Choose clothing that doesn’t carry Gore-Tex or Teflon tags, and avoid fabrics labeled stain resistant or water repellent.
“We’re basically operating in the dark as consumers,” says Heather White, a mother of two and executive director of the EWG. “Our federal toxics law is broken. It’s a mess.”
Few would argue. Mounting confusion over chemical safety has created an unlikely coalition pushing for reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the federal law governing chemicals policy. Unlike most other environmental laws, TSCA hasn’t been significantly amended since it was passed in 1976. But now, after years of debate and inaction, Congress is poised to rewrite the law. Republicans and Democrats, along with environmentalists, the chemical industry, consumer product brands and retailers all say that the US needs a regulatory system that will restore consumer confidence in the safety of the products on store shelves.
With such a broad group pushing for reform, action could come by the end of this year. “We have, for the first time, both parties in both houses recognizing the need for reform,” says Richard Denison, lead senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund. Will the US ever pass a new chemical safety law?
Unfortunately, parents would need an advanced degree to sort through the never-ending stream of claims and counterclaims about chemical safety. Even brands known for their sustainability commitments – such as North Face, Nike, Patagonia and Puma – stand accused of selling shoes and jackets using “a family of chemicals you don’t want near your family”. It’s hard to know who to trust.
“When I look at backpacks and lunch boxes, I think vinyl chloride,” says EWG’s White.
But such fears are overblown, says the American Chemistry Council, an industry group. “When ‘avoidance’ lists such as these are created to raise alarm about certain products, it is a disservice to consumers,” says Kathryn St John, an industry spokeswoman. “The approach completely ignores the fundamental scientific principles of exposure and potency.”
But even as the industry and its critics wage public relations battles over the chemicals in food, cosmetics, household cleaners and consumer products, both sides agree on one thing: the way the US regulates chemicals is broken.
California law change sparks nationwide demand for flame-retardant-free furniture
The American Chemistry Council, in a written statement, says both the House and Senate reform bills reflect advances in science and should give families more confidence in the safety of chemicals in consumer products. The ACC notes that both bills include input – and support – from industry, labor, environmental, public health and consumer groups.
But in Congress – as in baseball – it ain’t over until it’s over. The House and Senate bills both have strong and weak points, environmentalists say, and will need to be reconciled at some point. In the meantime, there’s disagreement over which is superior, and the American Chemistry Council – which has reportedly spent more than $4m on lobbying so far this year, as well as over $11m last year – supports both bills. Why the broad push for reform?
It isn’t hard to see why so many groups are pushing for reform. In the absence of federal action, dozens of states have enacted policies to regulate chemical use, according to Safer States, a coalition of environmental groups. For companies, this translates into an expensive, difficult process as they try to navigate a patchwork of state-by-state rules. To make matters worse, unless the US acts, strict regulation by the European Union could emerge as a de facto global standard.
Chemical companies also had to contend with so-called “retail regulation”, in which companies screen products at the store level. Last year, Walmart and Target joined forces to organize closed-door meetings with suppliers on the safety and sustainability of beauty and personal care products. Target has built its own Sustainable Product Standard that scores thousands of products on a 100-point scale, 50 points of which are related to the toxicity of ingredients. And Walmart has pledged to eliminate 10 chemicals from its shelves but hasn’t said what they are.
“When Walmart decides they’re not going to carry products with a certain chemical anymore, there’s no ability to appeal that to the courts,” notes the EDF’s Denison.
Healthcare companies have also taken matters into their own hands. “A growing number of hospitals are taking a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach to chemicals, eliminating suspected hazards and switching to safer alternatives,” says Health Care Without Harm, an industry alliance. Citing concerns about “increasing levels of potentially harmful chemicals in the environment”, Kaiser Permanente, an industry leader on sustainability, said last year that it would stop buying furniture treated with flame retardants.
The trouble is, without government oversight, the ad hoc removal of a chemical from the marketplace provides no assurances that whatever replaces it will be safer or perform better. Back in 2008, Walmart, Target and CVS stopped selling baby bottles and sippy cups containing bisphenol-A, or BPA. Some suppliers turned to a chemical analog known as bisphenol S, or BPS. But, according to Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institutes of Health, a recent study indicates that BPS and BPA have “nearly identical impacts on the rat cardiovascular system”.
BPS is just one of many chemicals whose effects are little-known. In fact, no one knows how many chemicals are in use today – much less, what their side effects are. As Denison has written, “We have tens of thousands of chemicals on the market that we know little or nothing about,” he says, expressing hope that Congress will act soon to improve TSCA. “The ultimate long term solution is a very strong federal system. It’s going to take a while to get there.”
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(ACC Mentioned) Vancouver Pilot Program Moves 'Beyond Bags'
Aug 24, 2015 | The Columbian
By Amy M.E. Fischer
Don't throw away that plastic wrapper that encases your rolls of toilet paper — it has a future as Trex composite lumber.
It doesn't go in your blue recycling cart, though, because plastic wrappers clog up the machines at the regional recycling plant.
Now, there's another option.
Starting Saturday, all 12 Safeway stores in Clark County will begin accepting clean, dry plastic polyethylene wrappers (also called "film") and bags as part of a pilot program called "Beyond Bags — Recycling Plastic Wrap and Film." In addition to packaging film, polyethylene plastic is used to make disposable grocery bags, bread bags, dry cleaning bags, plastic envelopes and newspaper bags.
The "Beyond Bags" program is a partnership between the city of Vancouver, Waste Connections, Clark County and its cities, Safeway, Trex and the Wrap Recycling Action Program, which is headed by the American Chemistry Council's Flexible Film Recycling Group.
The public is invited to bring their plastic bags, wrap and questions to the "Beyond Bags" launch event from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Cascade Park Safeway, 13719 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd. There will be refreshments and giveaways. The syndicated "Weekend Warrior" radio program (KPAM 860) featuring Parr Lumber representatives will broadcast from the event, talking about recycling and interviewing local officials and national experts.
The stores will send the plastic to the Safeway distribution center in Clackamas, Ore., to be baled and then trucked to Trex's manufacturing facility in Nevada. Trex uses recycled materials to make wood-alternative decking and lumber. It takes roughly 2,250 plastic bags to make a standard 16-foot composite lumber board.
"This actually becomes a really valuable resource, and it has a market," said Loretta Callahan, spokeswoman for Vancouver's Public Works department.
The goal of the program is to increase awareness that plastic wrappers and bags do not go into blue recycling carts. This would reduce the equipment clogs the materials cause at the regional West Van Material Recovery Facility. (Once the plastic is cut out of the sorting machines, it's too dirty to be recycled and must be thrown away.) In addition, recycling polyethylene into other products consumes less energy than making new products from scratch, said Tanya Gray, solid waste supervisor for the city of Vancouver.
"We want to provide a convenient and comprehensive solution to keeping all of that plastic out of the environment and in our economy," she said.
It's also important for people to reduce waste they generate by, for example, not using disposable grocery bags if they're buying just a couple of items, Gray said. And if they do take bags, they should find ways to reuse them, such as for trash. Bags that aren't reused should be taken to Safeway — and they must be clean and dry.
The city isn't getting revenue from the program, Gray said. However, when the regional recycling plant runs efficiently and there are fewer contaminants in the recyclables, the city gets a higher value for them.
"Although we're not being paid directly for it, the community is benefiting as a whole," Gray said.
At the end of the pilot program, the partners hope to bring on more retailers to accept polyethylene for recycling.
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(ACC Mentioned) Debilitating Drought Focuses Attention On Measures To Curb Water Waste
Aug 25, 2015 | Plastics Makes It Possible
A debilitating drought plaguing many regions of the nation has Americans scrambling to save water, especially during the peak water usage months of summer. While the average family uses 320 gallons of water per day, water use in the summer can spike up to 1,000 gallons per day, primarily due to lawn and landscape care.
Yet not all of that water winds up where intended. An estimated 50 percent of outdoor water is wasted, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Drought affected areas are implementing measures – including mandated water use reductions – to rein in over-watering of lawns and other wasteful practices.
“The drought has focused attention on outdoor water saving techniques, many of which are readily available and inexpensive,” said Steve Russell, vice president of plastics at the American Chemistry Council, which sponsors the Plastics Make it Possible® initiative. “Waterproof plastics enable many of the outdoor products that help cut back on water use and waste.”
Plastics Make it Possible® is sharing some tips on curbing outdoor water use and waste that can lead to substantial water savings. Water The Roots, Not The Air: Compared to typical sprinklers, drip irrigation systems and plastic soaker hoses deliver water more conservatively to outdoor landscaping through flexible and durable plastic hoses. They can reduce evaporation and runoff and deliver water more directly to plants’ roots. Gardeners often layer mulch over the soaker hose to further focus the water on the roots. Retain The Rain: Make the most of infrequent rainfall by installing a plastic rain barrel or two to collect and store water from gutters for later use. These durable containers (some are made with recycled plastics) last a long time even in harsh outdoor elements. Collecting rain helps cut back on outdoor water needs and helps reduce water bills. Stop Watering The Lawn: Virtually eliminate landscape watering by installing synthetic grass in all or parts of a lawn. Modern synthetic grass and lawns are similar to the synthetic turf that has been used for decades in sports stadiums. Each individual blade of grass is made from durable plastics – sometimes even recycled plastics – to mimic the soft but sturdy texture of natural grass. This turf eliminates the need for watering, although it may need to be cleaned with a hose occasionally. Evade Evaporation: Evaporation can rob swimming pools of lots of water, but plastic pool covers provide a barrier between the water and air to help reduce water lost to evaporation. Some covers even act as electricity-free solar water heaters by trapping heat from the sun, much like a greenhouse.
For more information on plastics and sustainability, visit plasticsmakeitpossible.com.
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Plastic Food Containers Safe to Use, Study Finds
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mark Wolski
A recent study by an Iowa State University researcher indicates that plastic food containers do contain heavy metals but the metals don't pose a threat to consumers, the university announced Aug. 21.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Plastic Film and Sheeting, also indicates that the metals can leach out if they are disposed of improperly. In such situations, they could cause pollution or have other environmental repercussions, according to the study's author, Keith Vorst.
Vorst, an associate professor of food science and nutrition at Iowa State, told Bloomberg BNA Aug. 24 that the study conducted experiments on a range of plastics, subjecting them to heat, microwaves, acids and various pH levels. In all instances, he said, the research found that the metals in the plastic didn't migrate into the food or beverage products they contained or they migrated at levels that posed no threat to consumers.
Given that some reports have said people shouldn't drink water from plastic bottles, or that all plastic packaging should be eliminated, Vorst said he expected quite different results.
“The reality is,” Vorst said, “[plastic packaging] is pretty darn safe.”
However, Vorst said consumers should ensure that the manufacturer of the products they consume monitors the source of the plastic going to product containers. If the supply chain is well-managed and regulators do their jobs then plastic containers should be safe, he said.
Additionally plastics should be recycled, Vorst said. When bottles are tossed into landfills they can decompose, allowing the trace metals they contain—lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium and antimony—to leach out, Vorst said, adding there is always the possibility that the metals will leach into groundwater or other bodies of water. The amount of the metals in each container might be small, but when one considers the thousands of tons of plastic containers thrown away, the leachate could become a serious problem, he said.
Vorst said while it can take anywhere from a year to 100 years for plastics to break down, there is no question that they will break down and enter the environment. How significant the amount of leachate would be is something that must be examined, he said.
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Unep Says CiP Programme Is An Opportunity For Companies
Aug 24, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
The UN Environment Programme (Unep) has released a proposal for its Chemicals in Products (CiP) initiative.
The programme forms part of the UN’s Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (Saicm), and will be discussed at Saicm’s fourth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM4) in Geneva this September.
The proposal sets out the scope of the voluntary programme, including: objectives;guidance for participating stakeholders; andhow to track progress.
Its principle goal is to ensure stakeholders – chemical suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, consumers, waste managers, governments and NGOs – have greater access to information on chemicals in products.
In 2009, the second session of ICCM adopted a resolution agreeing to implement a Unep-led project on chemicals in products. Following the meeting the organisation conducted a survey, which identified the need for more accessible information in this area.
Many existing information systems were identified in the survey, based mainly in North America and Europe. “This survey uncovered systems in other parts of the world. However, there is a clear imbalance geographically, with many survey respondents from Africa and Asia-Pacific reporting the lack of involvement in CiP-related information systems,” the report said.
The proposal calls for stakeholders to join the programme by notifying the secretariat of their commitment to take actions to meet the objectives. They are then expected to carry out and make those actions publicly known.
Participants are “free to choose” how they exchange information through product lifecycle stages relevant to them. They may report on their actions and progress towards the objectives through annual reports, or corporate websites, for example.
Unep programme officer, Kevin Munn, who was involved in developing the proposal, says that once companies start to provide information on their activities, it is an opportunity for the Saicm community to turn this into an “international chemicals control story, and to go beyond the occasional company-by-company anecdotal spotlight”.
One of the challenges will be for intergovernmental organisations, such as Unep, to identify and bring together developing and developed country governments to drive progress.
Mr Munn says this may happen through identifying a group of companies in a developed country with a "desire" to improve their chemicals management.
“But they need information, like how the Globally Harmonised System (GHS) of classification and labelling of chemicals works, for example, and how to bring information that may be available into their manufacturing operations and then follow through so that information is available to brands."
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Saicm Publishes Iccm4 Meeting Documents
Aug 24, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The UN's voluntary chemicals programme, the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (Saicm), has released documents on the topics to be discussed at the fourth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM4), next month.
Included in the 15 documents are: emerging policy issues and others of concern: this provides information on progress made in the areas of lead in paint, chemicals in products, hazardous substances within the lifecycle of electrical and electronic products, nanotechnologies, endocrine disrupting chemicals and the management of perfluorinated chemicals;the UN Environment Programme’s chemicals in products proposal (CW 24 August 2015), which sets out scope and objectives;nomination for new emerging policy issues: environmentally persistent pharmaceuticals pollutants (EPPP) (GBB June 2015). The document says that because EPPPs are one of the few groups of chemicals specifically designed to resist chemical degradation, during passage through a human or animal body, “they present a special risk … when they or their active metabolites or degradants enter, persist or disseminate in the environment”; anda progress report on the implementation of Saicm for the period 2011-2013.
ICCM4 will be held in Geneva, from 28 September to 2 October. It is the last decision-making meeting, in the context of Saicm, scheduled before 2020.
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EPA Knew About Risk of Mining Waste Spill Into River
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The Environmental Protection Agency knew more than a year ago about the risk of a spill of contaminated mining waste into the Animas River watershed.
The likelihood of a blowout was referenced in a “Task Order Statement of Work” memo among some 92 pages of documents released by the EPA Aug. 21 on the Gold King Mine, where EPA investigators accidentally triggered a spill of contaminated mining waste and sediment into Upper Cement Creek near Silverton, Colo.
EPA released the documents as members of Congress along with state and local government officials in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah are urging the federal agency to be more forthcoming with information in the aftermath of the Aug. 5 spill of 3 million gallons of heavy-metals-laced waste and sludge into river.
Mine Discharging
According to the June 25, 2014, memo by the EPA's Region 8 office in Denver, Gold King Mine was characterized by a mine discharge that was a “significant contributor of manganese, copper, zinc and copper into the Cement Creek drainage of the Animas River watershed.”
The Animas flows through Durango, Colo., before merging with the San Juan River in New Mexico. The San Juan empties into the Colorado River at Lake Powell in Utah. The EPA and state regulators say the water quality in the rivers has returned to “pre-event” levels and said the plume has had “no significant impact” on Lake Powell.
Gold King Mine, which sits at about 11,300 feet, had not had maintenance since 1991, and mine workings had not been accessible since 1995 when the mine portal collapsed, the EPA said.
Water Impounded Behind Collapse
The June 2014 memo cited the likelihood that water was impounded behind the collapse. Additionally, other collapses and blockages within the mine workings may have created additional water impounding conditions, the EPA memo said.
“Conditions may exist that could result in a blowout of the blockages and cause a release of large volumes of contaminated mine waters and sediment from inside the mine, which contain concentrated heavy metals,” the June 2014 memo said.
Now, post-spill, additional work is needed to ensure there are no more blockages holding back water that could result in future surges of contaminated water, the agency said. EPA and state responders have begun these efforts, but they are not yet completed, the agency said Aug. 21.
Details on the Spill
The documents provided some additional details on how EPA investigators accidentally triggered the spill.
The EPA, Colorado, private companies and other interested parties have been working since the 1990s to assess water quality impacts in the Upper Animas River and its tributaries from mining-related heavy metals.
In a May 2015 work plan, the EPA proposed to re-open the Gold King Mine portal and workings “to investigate the conditions to assess the ongoing releases.”
Prevention of Blowouts
The agency said the investigation would require the “incremental dewatering and removal of such blockages to prevent blowouts.” The plan called for the work to take place in late summer or fall 2015.
EPA investigators were using a backhoe to remove backfill near the mine portal Aug. 5 when the blowout occurred. It was simultaneously installing a pipe to drain the water impoundment. No worker on site was harmed.
The EPA said Aug. 24 its activities at the mine site were to address the risk of blowout by taking actions to relieve pressure buildup from historic construction operations at the interconnected mines by the previous mining operator.
The work included “improving site access, stabilizing the mine structure, controlling water and metal precipitate, and treating surge water as necessary.”
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Deluge of Hearings on Animas River Spill Awaits EPA
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
At least five separate congressional committees are planning or considering hearings on the release of 3 million gallons of mining waste and sediment into the Animas River in southwestern Colorado, aides told Bloomberg BNA Aug. 24.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and House Natural Resources Committee said they were scheduling hearings in September on the actions from the Environmental Protection Agency that led up to the spill and expect to finalize dates shortly.
“It should be sometime in September after Congress returns from recess,” Senate Committee on Indian Affairs spokesman Mike Danylak told Bloomberg BNA Aug. 24.
In addition, an aide to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said the panel was interested in scheduling its own hearings on the Aug. 5 incident at the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colo.
“It's not 100 percent sure yet, but there's a good chance [for a hearing],” an aide to the committee said.
Hearing Set for Sept. 9
Those plans for hearings come on the heels of an announcement from House Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) that his committee will conduct an oversight hearing on the incident Sept. 9. Smith has asked EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to testify(163 DEN A-1, 8/24/15).
Several other committees—the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee—told Bloomberg BNA they had no current plans for hearings on the spill.
The 3 million gallons of mining waste and sediment contained heavy metals including lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, though state and EPA tests show water quality has returned to “pre-incident” levels. McCarthy has called the accident—triggered when EPA investigators attempted to enter Gold King Mine—a “tragic and very unfortunate incident” (155 DEN A-8, 8/12/15).
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White House Defends Arctic Drilling Plan
Aug 24, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
White House officials are defending the Obama administration’s decision to approve oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
Brian Deese, Obama’s senior climate adviser, said Monday that the administration is looking to limit as much drilling as it can under an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell and that he “would caution against the characterization” that they have opened up the region for more oil exploration. “Even in the context of the activities that are happening in the current season, we are talking about an application for a permit to drill a single well that is in process right now,” he said on a call with reporters.
The Obama administration approved Shell’s drilling plan last week, giving the company the right to explore for oil in the Chukchi Sea off the northeastern coast of Alaska.
Officials have looked to emphasize their oversight of the project, noting that regulators are present on the drilling rig at all times and that they set strict limits on where Shell can drill to avoid harming local wildlife.
“You’ve seen by this administration, consistently over the last several years … setting unprecedented high levels of safety standards for Shell or any other company to meet," Deese said. "That has resulted in a process where Shell’s planned activities have been delayed or narrowed quite substantially."
But the decision to grant a drilling permit is controversial, especially among environmentalists who have warned about the Arctic’s sensitive ecosystem and the difficulty associated with cleaning up a potential spill.
They also say blocking Arctic drilling is an important step toward combating climate change.
But Deese said granting Shell’s drilling permit doesn’t prevent other Obama administration climate policies from moving forward.
He also defended oil drilling in general, saying that expanded American oil and gas production is a necessary part of the “transition” from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
“When it can be done safely and appropriately, U.S.-produced oil and natural gas is important, and domestic production has energy security benefits over importing those fuels,” he said. “When it can be done consistent with the highest safety standards, that is going to be our focus.”
Obama heads to Alaska next week to discuss energy policy and climate change in the Arctic. During the trip, Deese said, Obama will “talk about climate issues and the need for a global response.”
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OMB Gets Proposed Rule for Oil, Gas Work in Refuges
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
A proposed rule to update federal regulations on oil and natural gas development in national wildlife refuges has been sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for interagency review.
The proposal, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, typically would apply to mineral rights retained by private or state owners when property was acquired for a national wildlife refuge. For the rights holders, new regulations may mean added expenses or at least new layers of regulatory procedures.
The contents of the proposed rule have not been publicly divulged, but an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in 2014 provided a sense of the concerns of the Fish and Wildlife Service and, through a public comment period, the contrasting views of energy companies, environmental advocates and state regulators (RIN 1018-AX36).
The advance notice requested comments on such basic elements as how to ensure effective, efficient operating standards, how to manage permitting, how best to ensure compliance, what financial assurances to use (such as performance bonds), what access fees to use and whether the regulations of the National Park Service or the U.S. Forest Service could serve as a model.
There are 1,665 active oil and gas wells in national wildlife refuges, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Most of those are in three refuges in Louisiana, notably 928 active wells in the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge.
The Fish and Wildlife Service tentatively announced in 2013 that it would update the regulations (241 DEN A-2, 12/16/13).
‘Least Impacting Alternatives' Wanted
The Natural Resources Defense Council and four other environmental activist groups responded to the advance notice by urging the service to establish regulations ensuring that anyone using the surface of a wildlife refuge to access private minerals “employ the least impacting alternatives.”
Industry groups questioned the need for new regulations. Their responses were somewhat similar to their criticisms of the Bureau of Land Management's recent update of oil and gas regulations for federal and Indian lands where mineral rights are managed by the BLM.
The Fish and Wildlife Service “fails to provide a legitimate purpose and need for additional regulation,” the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the American Petroleum Institute said in joint comments.
The service has begun to collect information on oil spills in refuges but “does not conclude that such spills have had an adverse impact to the refuges or that operators categorically fail to address and remediate spills,” the two industry associations said. “To the contrary, FWS personnel have indicated they are working positively with operators,” the associations said.
Oil and gas producer Ultra Resources Inc. offered a cautionary note: “Courts have held that federal agencies cannot impose stipulations or conditions of approval (COAs) that make development on existing leases either uneconomic or unprofitable.”
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Oil-Export Drive Gains in Senate, but Swift Action Unlikely
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jim Snyder
A drive to end the four-decade ban on U.S. oil exports gained a measure of support from two Senate critics of the energy industry, although any relief from Congress isn't likely to come swiftly.
Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader who has pushed to repeal billions of dollars in industry tax breaks, last week said there is room to compromise on the issue. And Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, indicated he would back the “strategic export” of oil to allies as a political tool.
“The center of gravity on this issue is starting to move,” said Mike McKenna, a lobbyist close to Republicans in Congress. “We're talking about how it's going to change, not whether it's going to change.”
McKenna and other analysts say while export supporters have recently made gains, lawmakers aren't likely to settle on the issue before the 2016 election.
Oil companies including Continental Resources Inc. and ConocoPhillips have spent a year pressing Congress to change the export policy, enacted in response to supply shortages during the Arab oil embargo in 1973.
The debate is being fueled by the sharp increase in U.S. production and a global glut that pushed oil prices below $45 a barrel, which has spurred lobbying.
Record Production
Last year, U.S. drillers pumped the most crude since the early 1970s, before the restrictions took effect. Imports fell to their lowest level since 1995, though the U.S. still buys about 5 million barrels a day from other countries, or a third of total U.S. petroleum supply, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which tracks and analyzes data.
The comments by Reid and Menendez break from the party's general opposition to allowing exports. On July 30, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a party-line vote advanced legislation to repeal the restrictions. No Democrats backed the measure.
The Obama administration is gradually letting producers ship lightly processed condensate, a form of light oil. Last week, the U.S. approved the swap of 100,000 barrels of U.S.- produced crude for similar quantities of heavy oil from Mexico.
But the industry, which has shed thousands of jobs as prices fall, is seeking unfettered exports to let the market operate more efficiently and give U.S. companies access to the slightly higher global crude prices.
‘Sit Down.’
Reid, among the oil industry's most withering critics in Congress, told Washington-based publication Politico that lawmakers have to “work out some sort of compromise” on the issue.
“We should sit down and try to work something out with the people who are so focused on exporting it and those people who are so focused on not exporting it and come up with a deal,” Reid said, according to a transcript released by his office. “That's how we always used to legislate until my Tea Party-driven Republicans showed up in town.”
Menendez was one of 13 Senate Democrats who wrote to President Barack Obama in June to say consumers would be hurt by U.S. exports of oil. In a speech Aug. 18 announcing his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal, Menendez said some exports should be allowed to allies, “struggling with supply because Iranian oil remains off the market.”
Tricia Enright, a spokeswoman, said Menendez still backs the restrictions on exports generally. “This was used as a sweetener to alleviate allies’ concerns regarding higher energy prices should sanctions be snapped back into place,” she said.
Geopolitical Tool
Industry supporters noted Menendez acknowledged exports could be a geopolitical tool, a point they have pressed with the prospect that Iranian oil producers could soon sell their oil on the global market while U.S. companies are constrained.
“Providing our allies and trading partners with a reliable and stable alternative to Iranian and Russian crude is in our national interest and enhances our national security,” George Baker, executive director of Producers for American Crude Oil Exports, said in an e-mail.
Baker said the group was optimistic that Congress will vote to lift the export ban by the end of the year.
Other energy analysts and lobbyists said it remained a long shot.
Kevin Book, co-founder of ClearView Energy Partners, an energy research firm based in Washington, said Republicans who control Congress are unlikely to make a deal with Democrats and advance their proposals to repeal oil industry tax breaks or long-term extension of credits for renewable energy like wind and solar power.
Next President
“The bargains being bandied about don't sound like deals Republican leadership is likely to accept if they think they can do better in 2017,” when a new president takes office, Book said in an e-mail.
His firm puts the odds of action before the 2016 election at 15 percent.
McKenna, president of MWR Strategies in Midlothian, Va., said there's “no way” Republicans, who want to reduce the size of government, would accept renewable energy subsidies in exchange for oil exports.
He also said they would rather wait for the election, which could give them more power to end the restrictions without having to bargain with Democrats.
House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, has said repealing the restriction was a high priority once lawmakers return from their summer break. The House may vote in September on a bill to repeal the export ban.
Senate Calendar
But in the Senate, where it is harder to cut off debate, little time remains for debating exports, with the Iran deal, a defense authorization bill and a series of spending measures to tackle taking a higher priority.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said during an Aug. 6 meeting with Bloomberg editors and reporters that her bill to allow oil exports was a few votes short of the 60 necessary to advance.
Murkowski said she was encouraged that members are discussing an issue that six months ago only she and a few others bothered to bring up.
“I'm not looking to any specific idea and saying, good, bad or indifferent,” Murkowski said. “But what I find very encouraging is that these are discussions that are out on the table at all, because six months ago nobody was talking about oil exports except those of us that have been driving this conversation.”
She said the Senate may not take up the issue before the end of the year, but would take it up before the 2016 election.
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N.D. Wastewater Well Owner Indicted
Aug 24, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Jeremy P. Jacobs
The owner of a North Dakota well used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas operations was indicted today on 13 charges stemming from alleged violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Jason Halek, 41, of Southlake, Texas, is charged with injecting drilling waste fluids without ensuring the integrity of his well. The fluids, often referred to brines, or "salt water," can contain chemical additives, polymers and other contaminants.
They are typically shot into hydraulically fractured wells to aid oil and gas recovery.
"Our nation's energy independence and security is enhanced by the safe, responsible, and lawful extraction of domestic energy, but it is undermined when laws are abused in a race to profit," Assistant Attorney General John Cruden said in a statement. "The American people expect nothing less than legal behavior from those involved in oil and gas development and the Justice Department will vigorously prosecute those who do not honor this obligation."
U.S. EPA has said "salt water" like that injected into Halek's well can contain toxic metals and radioactive substances.
"Oil and gas production must be safe and legal every step of the way, including the treatment and disposal of drilling byproducts," said EPA Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles. "People who deliberately violate rules that protect drinking water from contamination put communities at risk."
Halek is charged with multiple violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, as well as conspiring to inject the brines without approval from North Dakota. In September, he separately pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts relating to the well.
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Podesta Declines To Give Clinton’s Stance On Crude Exports
Aug 24, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia
John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, declined on Monday to say where the former secretary of state stands on lifting the ban on U.S. crude oil exports.
"I'm not going to get ahead of her on that because, frankly, I haven't really discussed it with her," he told reporters during an energy summit here. Legislation to overturn the 40-year-old ban on exporting U.S. crude is advancing in both the House and the Senate, and Sen. Harry Reid said last week that lawmakers should work out a compromise on the policy.
Podesta also said he gave the Obama administration a heads up that Clinton planned to publicly break with the president an oppose drilling in the Arctic.
"I let them know that we were going to do it, so they understood that's where we were coming from," he said.
Asked what his former colleagues' reaction to the news was, Podesta said, "That's a better question to ask them." -
Podesta: Clinton 'May Have More To Say' On Keystone
Aug 24, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia
John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said today the former secretary of state is growing impatient over the long-awaited decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline and she "may have more to say" on the issue if the Obama administration’s decision doesn’t come soon.
Asked if there's any chance Clinton will weigh in on the pipeline before President Obama does, Podesta said, "It depends on when the president does it.”
Clinton has steadfastly refused to take a position on Keystone, arguing it would be inappropriate speak ahead of the president because she had jurisdiction over the project at the State Department.
Podesta stressed that Clinton has the “obligation” to step aside and allow the president to evaluate the project.
"But she also has an obligation to say what she thinks and she’s getting a little frustrated as to how long that’s taking," Podesta told reporters. "So, she may have more to say about that if the process keeps dragging out. But I don’t know whether it will or it won’t. I don’t have any inside information about how long that’s going to take."
Podesta's comments come after Clinton told reporters earlier this month that she is "getting impatient" on Keystone "because I feel that at some point a decision needs to be made." She added: "And I'm not comfortable saying, you know, 'I have to keep my opinion to myself' given the fact that I was involved in it. So at some point I may change my view on that." -
Energy Report Looks at Oil Sands Growth, Emissions
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
A report from an energy research institute in Canada said it is possible for the Alberta oil sands production to grow even while the sector cuts greenhouse gas emissions. But the several technical scenarios offered by the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) report would require significant changes in government policy, updates to oil sands practices or adoption of new technologies. “It's the policy piece that's missing,” Pembina Institute energy think tank director Simon Dyer told Bloomberg BNA Aug. 20, responding to the report. “Alberta needs to put a significant price on carbon.” CERI is a not-for-profit research establishment created through a partnership of industry, academia and government in 1975. The report, released Aug. 18, is available at http://op.bna.com/env.nsf/r?Open=ghen-9zls92.
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Report Alleges Collusion on Clean Power Plan
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
A free-market advocacy group released a report Aug. 24 that it said showed the White House, certain governors and environmental advocacy organizations colluded in private to advance the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's plan to tackle climate change. The report, authored by attorney Chris Horner of the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, says the White House and more than a dozen governors began work in December 2013 with a network of wealthy environmental groups to help implement the rules to cut carbon dioxide emissions from the nation's power plants. Horner said the report stemmed from documents obtained through federal and state open records laws. The report is likely to pop up this fall as the Republican-led House and Senate ramp up efforts to roll back the regulations. The full report is available at http://bit.ly/1EfaPpz.
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Obama To Traditional Energy Producers: Get With The Program
Aug 24, 2015 | The Hill - Blog Briefing Room
By Devin Henry
President Obama challenged energy utilities, fossil fuel producers and their allies in Congress on Monday to get onboard with his push for clean energy or risk backlash from American consumers and companies.
Speaking at a clean energy summit in Las Vegas, Obama dismissed energy interests that oppose his push to green the energy sector as “naysayers” who are “backed by fossil fuel interests, or conservative think tanks, or the Koch brothers."
He encouraged supporters to fight back against them and their push to influence American energy policy.
“They’re trying to undermine competition in the marketplace and choke off consumer choice and threaten an industry that is turning out new jobs at a fast pace,” Obama said. “That has the potential to hurt a lot of communities and set back America’s leadership in fighting climate change.”
He made veiled references to members of Congress who have been outspoken opponents of his energy policy, be it his push toward renewable energy installations or regulations aimed at coal-fired power plants.
He encouraged lawmakers to keep tax credits for wind and solar power on the books rather than letting them permanently lapse. Doing so, he said, would go against the choices of American consumers who are increasingly using renewable energy.
“It’s one thing if you’re consistent in being free market,” Obama said. “It’s another thing when you’re being free market until it’s solar that’s working and people want to buy, and suddenly you’re not for it anymore. That’s a problem.”
In his speech, Obama highlighted major companies like Wal-Mart and Google, which have embraced renewable energy, as well as utilities around the country that are moving in that direction.
He also plugged the growing — albeit still small — share of renewable energy in the American power sector, and highlighted administration steps to boost it even further.
“For decades we’ve been told that it doesn’t make economic sense to switch over to renewable energy,” he said. “Today that’s no longer true.”
Obama’s speech — and his confrontational tone toward the fossil fuel sector and it supporters — comes as he pushes to overhaul the American electricity sector, both by encouraging more renewable energy around the U.S. and instituting regulations to crack down on carbon emissions.
Earlier this month, Obama announced his climate rule for power plants, something that has triggered lawsuit threats from both state attorneys generals and energy producers. A Senate panel has passed a bill to block the rule, and congressional Republicans have grown increasingly hostile toward it.
Obama defended the climate rule on Monday, calling it the “single most important step Americans have ever taken to tackle climate change.” He vowed to spend the rest of his presidency pursuing ways to cut emissions from the American electricity sector by investing in solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.
“As long as I’m president the federal government is going to do its part, beyond the investments that we’ve already made, to promote this issue,” he said.
Obama’s speech comes hours after the White House announced a slate of executive actions to encourage more renewable energy. Those steps included a $1 billion loan guarantee fund for projects like rooftop solar and a program to help families improve energy efficiency at their homes.
Renewable energy boosters praised the steps, but some Republicans voiced their skepticism.
“Once again, the President is deceptively touting his administration’s agenda as necessary to expand affordable energy to more Americans,” House Natural Resources Committee chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said in a statement.
“This could not be further from the truth. The administration’s energy policies are leveling increased costs and decreased choices on all Americans and especially the most disadvantaged communities,” Bishop said.
The National Clean Energy Summit, a forum organized in part by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), drew Obama and a handful of administration officials to Las Vegas’s Mandalay Bay Casino on Monday.
Before the president’s speech, Reid said Obama “will forever be remembered as the leader who finally put the world on the path to stop climate change,” and he pledged to fight congressional efforts to undo his climate agenda.
Obama said that consumers and clean energy supporters should do the same.
“Folks whose interests and ideologies run counter to where we need to go, we’ve got to be able to politely but firmly say, sorry, we’re moving forward,” he said.
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Moniz Says U.S. Still Committed to Carbon Capture
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Aug. 24 the Obama administration remains strongly committed to advancing technologies that capture and store carbon dioxide from power plants as vital in the global effort to combat climate change, particularly for rapidly developing nations such as China and India that are likely to rely on increasing amounts of coal to power their industrialization.
Carbon capture and storage technologies (CCS), though today largely limited to the demonstration stage, remain “a very important area to develop,” Moniz said, noting that annual coal consumption in China is approaching 5 billion tons. The energy secretary spoke at the eighth annual National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas held by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) (see related story).
“We need all tools” to curb increasing global greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change, Moniz said.
“We need to both push on the highest efficiency and also to get a reasonable carbon profile,” one in which particularly developing nations reliant on coal begin to ratchet down their emissions, Moniz said. “And that's going to require CCS.”
President Barack Obama was slated to speak at the clean energy summit late Aug. 24. Brian Deese, White House senior adviser to the president on climate issues, said the president would highlight “the imperative of acting to address climate change, the progress we've made to cut carbon pollution and accelerate the transition to a clean-energy economy.”
The president also was to highlight how decentralized generation of electricity through rooftop solar and other small, or “micro” clean energy projects, could contribute to climate efforts and overall grid reliability, Deese told reporters on a press call.
The White House said the clean energy announcements would help states meet the reductions in carbon pollution from power plants under the Environmental Protection Agency's power plant rules and “set us on a path” to reach other U.S. targets, including its pledge to cut total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 under a global climate deal to be negotiated at an end-of-year summit in Paris.
Obama's appearance at the Las Vegas summit is one of several trips the president plans in the weeks ahead to address clean energy, climate change and the need to make nations more resilient to increasingly severe storms linked to climate change. Obama is to join other leaders at the Aug. 30-31 Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic in Anchorage, Alaska, and will travel to New Orleans Aug. 27 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Project Collapse, Funding Supported
The commercial viability of CCS has been under question for years, with the U.S. in February suspending funding for its $1.65 billion FutureGen 2.0 project in Illinois, envisioned as the nation's most comprehensive effort to capture carbon dioxide emitted from a power plant. The plant would have piped those emissions to an underground storage facility 30 miles away in Morgan County, Ill. (24 DEN A-1, 2/5/15).
But the International Energy Agency argues that CCS is essential to curbing greenhouse gas emissions in the next few decades, and it has placed carbon capture alongside three other developments—expansion of renewable energy, efficiency programs and nuclear power—it considers crucial to halting the rise of global greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2050.
The Obama administration argues that the collapse of the FutureGen project did not spell the end of its support for CCS, noting that the president's fiscal 2016 budget request included a $28.6 million increase for carbon capture development, a 32 percent increase over the current $88 million funding level. The president also asked Congress to authorize $2 billion in refundable investment tax credits for carbon capture technology and a 20-year, refundable carbon sequestration tax credit for plants that qualify for the carbon capture investment tax credit (25 DEN A-2, 2/6/15); (22 DEN B-7, 2/3/15).
Driving Down Costs
Moniz, who spoke on a panel alongside John Podesta, former climate and energy adviser to Obama and now head of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, said the U.S. has maintained its commitment through cutting-edge carbon capture and storage research and development efforts. Those include research under its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and cooperative efforts on CCS technology research with China, he added.
One of the “very promising” developments at ARPA-E addresses the challenge of reducing the cost of capturing carbon dioxide from power plants, Moniz said. Its focus, Moniz said, is to drive down the cost to where such technologies become commercially viable.
“As you know, the major cost driver is the capture side, as opposed to the sequestration” or storage of carbon dioxide, he said.
Moniz noted that he also will chair a ministerial meeting just weeks before the two weeks of high-level United Nations climate negotiations beginning Nov. 30 in Paris. The International Energy Agency energy ministerial, held every two years, will be held in Paris Nov. 17-18.
The IEA, first formed in 1974 in the wake of major disruptions in global oil supplies, is comprised of 29 member countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Turkey and the U.S. But representatives from non-member countries also have attended in the past from China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and South Africa.
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Energy Secretary Optimistic For Climate Pact
Aug 24, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said on Monday he is optimistic that world leaders will come to an agreement to fight climate change and that technology will play a key role in the effort.
Moniz said advances in technology are the main reason that he is optimistic about the results of the December meeting in Paris hosted by the United Nations, where world leaders hope to come to a deal on reducing greenhouse gases.Technology sets the Paris meeting apart from previous attempts at a deal, including the 2009 U.N. meeting in Copenhagen that did not yield a deal, Moniz said at the National Clean Energy Summit 8.0 in Las Vegas.
“I believe that continued technology innovation and cost reduction ultimately will be the determinant of strong policy moves, because a lot more becomes possible with cost reduction, especially in the emerging economies,” Moniz said in a conversation with John Podesta, chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and a former adviser to presidents Obama and Clinton.
“And so I’m very pleased that in Paris there’s going to be, I think, a stronger focus on technology innovation than has been the case in the past,” he said.
President Obama is scheduled to give the closing keynote address later Monday at the event, which is hosted by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Earlier Monday, the White House said Obama would speak at length about renewable energy’s role in fighting climate change, and would announce efforts to boost clean energy.
Moniz and Podesta singled out carbon capture and storage (CCS) — in which carbon dioxide is removed from a fossil fuel-fired power plant and stored — as a promising technology to reduce greenhouse gases.
“CCS certainly, I think remains a very important area for us to develop, because we need all the tools that we can get,” Moniz said.
Moniz said the climate deal Obama struck with China last year will enable the countries to collaborate extensively on carbon capture.
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Enviros Sue Over Permit For Utah Coal Plant
Aug 24, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Amanda Peterka
Environmentalists have launched a lawsuit against Utah regulators over a long-delayed permit renewal for a coal-fired power plant.
The Sierra Club lawsuit seeks to compel state officials to update the permit for the Hunter coal-fired power plant operated by PacifiCorp division Rocky Mountain Power. According to the environmental group, the power plant has been operating without a valid air permit since 2003.
"For too long, our public officials have failed to ensure that the Hunter plant is complying with the most current clean air protections," said Lindsay Beebe, organizing representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, in a statement.
The Hunter power plant located near Castle Dale, Utah, was opened in 1978 and has a generating capacity of 1,320 megawatts. Each year, the plant burns 4.5 million tons of subbituminous coal mined from PacifiCorp's Deer Creek Mine.
The Sierra Club filed its complaint Friday in state court in Salt Lake City, charging that the Utah Department of Environmental Quality had failed to act on a permit renewal application submitted by Rocky Mountain Power in 2001 by a required 2003 deadline.
PacifiCorp said it has made improvements over the years to reduce emissions and operate the plant more efficiently, but environmentalists blame it and Rocky Mountain Power's Huntington coal-fired power plant for reduced visibility at nearby national parks and adverse health effects among residents living nearby.
The lawsuit comes as U.S. EPA is considering a plan submitted by Utah to control regional haze that impairs visibility at national parks and wilderness areas. Environmental groups say that plan doesn't go far enough and would allow coal-fired power plants to continue operating without modern pollution controls.
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Obama’s New Climate Change Call: Yes We Can
Aug 25, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia and Edward-Isaac Dovere
Now ‘yes we can’ is about fighting climate change too.
President Barack Obama wielded his campaign slogan to hail the green energy revolution here on Monday — and to bash the critics who he said were desperately clinging to the past as a renewable energy future approaches.
“Folks whose interests or ideologies run counter to where we need to go, we’ve got to be able to politely but firmly say we’re moving forward,” Obama told about 1,000 supporters an energy summit hosted by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, adding, “It’s a debate between those who say ‘no we can’t’ and those who say, ‘Yes we can’.”
The president lit into fossil fuel interests, pointedly calling out the Koch brothers, Reid’s long-time foes.
“When you start seeing massive lobbying efforts backed by fossil fuel interests or conservative think tanks or the Koch brothers pushing for new laws to roll back renewable energy standards or prevent new clean energy businesses from succeeding, that’s not the American way. That’s not progress. That’s not innovation,” he said. “That’s rent-seeking. That’s trying to protect old ways of doing business.”
Monday’s speech kicked off a two-week global warming messaging sprint by Obama that will take him from the Las Vegas event to New Orleans on Thursday for a Hurricane Katrina commemoration tour to a glacier in the north of Alaska next week.
Throughout, he’ll be using the devastating prospects of extreme weather and other climate changes in an effort to galvanize support for the executive actions he’s already taken — such as the first-ever greenhouse gas rules for power plants released earlier this month — as he lays out the groundwork for the major international climate change agreement he’s hoping will emerge from the global climate summit in Paris in December.
If successful, that international agreement could stand as one of the defining accomplishments of Obama’s presidency. It would also be an important reset for Obama after his failure to secure a significant international climate deal at the 2009 conference in Copenhagen during his first term, despite rushing there in person at the last minute to plead for progress.
In the past two years, Obama’s efforts to combat global warming has become a core policy priority, and he’s been pressing world leaders to support an ambitious agreement. Meanwhile, he’s seeking to drum up more support among the American public, and he’s hoping the combination of dire talk and searing images from his trip to Alaska will help.
Still, Obama has at times angered his green supporters, including earlier this month when his administration granted permission to Shell to drill in the waters off Alaska’s northern coast, and by starting the process that could eventually open up the southeast U.S. coastline for oil and gas companies.
The trip to Las Vegas was in large part a retirement gift to the outgoing Reid, a major green energy booster and one of Obama’s main allies through his presidency, and a host of the conference. Obama agreed to come to the conference when Reid asked shortly after announcing his retirement, sources familiar say. After the speech, he’s headed to a Nevada Democratic Party fundraiser to benefit Reid’s preferred pick to succeed him, former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.
Reid delivered a gushing introduction before Obama’s speech, calling his climate agenda the most significant in history. Obama, in turn, praised Reid’s leadership and thanked him for coming out in support of the administration’s Iran deal over the weekend.
The president’s speech capped a day of panel discussions about climate change and renewable energy with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, former Obama adviser and current Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta and others. Throughout the day, Obama’s allies rallied around the president’s climate agenda.
And the president went out of his way to praise renewable energy in a state where solar power is king.
“For decades we’ve been told that it doesn’t make economic sense to switch to renewable energy. Today, that’s no longer true,” he said to loud applause, adding later, “Solar isn’t just for the green crowd anymore. It’s for the green eyeshade crowd, too.”
Obama’s criticism of Republican climate skeptics was red meat for the largely Democratic crowd. And liberals are confident it’ll help them in the presidential election too.
“The more the president talks about climate, the more the Republican presidential candidates will go the other way, which is not good for them,” Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden said in an interview at the summit.
Obama touted a slew of wonky climate and renewable policy announcements during the speech, including the news that the administration is opening the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program up to distributed energy projects with a $1 billion solicitation.
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California Carbon Updates Target Regional Energy
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Laura Mahoney
Updates to the California greenhouse gas emissions inventory will include regional information and better quantification of emissions from the oil and gas sector, a California Air Resources Board official said.
CARB routinely evaluates its methodologies and updates the inventory each year, said Anny Huang, manager of the board's emissions inventory analysis section. Regionalization of the statewide inventory data will provide a local scale to existing greenhouse gas studies, she said.
The board is studying several energy-production sectors to update the greenhouse gas inventory, Huang said. Emissions from natural gas transmission and distribution through main lines and pipelines, measurements of leaks from above and below ground, emissions from water percolation ponds from oil and gas production, and fugitive and vented air emissions from oil- and gas-well stimulation are part of CARB's current greenhouse gas inventory update studies, she said.
CARB is partnering with other organizations to update the state inventory focused on the energy sector, including the California Energy Commission, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Huang told attendees of the California Climate Change Symposium held in Sacramento, Calif.
Faster Assessments Needed
Inventory testing and measurements are less important than diagnosing large sources of emissions, said Riley Duren, principal engineer and chief systems engineer for the Earth Science Directorate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Detailed analysis of the size of the emissions aren't always necessary, just as measuring the rate of a leak in a garden hose isn't necessary to take action and stop the leak, Duren said.
Scientists should be better at providing quick assessments of emissions and short-term emissions projections to show whether progress is being made, he said. For example, NASA recently used satellite data to detect 200 major emitters of methane in the Tulare area of the California Central Valley. Most of the sources were related to agriculture and oil production.
With limited resources, aircraft can be used to pinpoint the sources better, and individuals in cars can be used to confirm the sources and follow up with controls, Duren said.
“We need to do more than make measurements in the atmosphere,” he said.
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Earth’s Average Temperature Continues To Rise
Aug 24, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Steven K. Gibb
Satellite data show July was the warmest month ever on record worldwide and 2015 the hottest year thus far, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says.
The temperature findings parallel the ongoing trend of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
NOAA also found increases in the frequency and intensity of heat waves in July, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Global average temperatures were exacerbated by the recurrence of the El Niño phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, which brings warmer waters to the surface. The recurrence began in June and has an 80% chance of continuing through the spring of 2016, according to NOAA.
NOAA also compared global average temperatures with historical records and found that the first seven months of 2015 were 0.85 °C above the 20th-century average global temperature.
July had a monthly combined average temperature over land and ocean surfaces of 16.61 °C, an all-time high since record keeping began in 1880, NOAA says.
According to a new climate report from NOAA, “The July temperature is currently increasing at an average rate of 0.65 °C (1.17 °F) per century.”
International diplomats will be negotiating a new climate pact in Paris in three months with the international policy goal of limiting warming to below 2 °C by 2100.
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EPA Downplays High Court Rulings' Impact On CWA Transfer Rule Lawsuit
Aug 24, 2015 | InsideEPA
By David LaRoss
EPA is downplaying New York's claim that recent Supreme Court rulings denying deference to the administration’s positions on air and health care policies undermine the agency's legal defense of its rule exempting some water transfers from Clean Water Act (CWA) permit limits, countering that the high court cases are unrelated to the rule.
In a separate lawsuit involving the water transfer rule (WTR) pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, a three-judge panel Aug. 21 opted against reviewing the regulation's legality after finding that the transfer at issue in that case did not require a CWA permit regardless of the rule. That decision shifts attention back to the pending 2nd Circuit case in which EPA and New York are battling over whether the high court's deference rulings should influence the challenge.
The justices in the two recent rulings refused to defer to an agency's reading of a governing statute, first with a 6-3 ruling issued June 25 in King v. Burwell that upheld a key part of President Obama's health care law but did not defer to the administration’s interpretation of the statutory text. That was followed by a June 29 5-4 decision in Michigan v. EPA that faulted EPA's interpretation of the Clean Air Act in crafting its utility air toxics rule.
New York argued in July 23 letters that the rulings showed a lack of deference to the agencies, and that the same principle should apply in the challenge to the water transfer rule, titled Catskill Mountains Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Inc. et al. v. EPA, et al. -- providing an early test of the scope of the rulings.
But the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued on EPA's behalf in Aug. 21 letters to the 2nd Circuit counters that the two Supreme Court rulings address profoundly different circumstances and do not apply in the water case. DOJ says the judges have no reason to narrow their deference to the agency's interpretation of the water law based on either ruling.
While Michigan dealt with a threshold decision to issue a broad new regulation and faulted EPA for not considering costs in deciding to develop the utility air rule, “[T]he WTR is an interpretation of ambiguous statutory text in light of Congressional intent and competing policy considerations; far from imposing billions of dollars of new costs, the WTR merely formalized the agency’s longstanding position,” DOJ says in its letter on the air toxics ruling.
The air law ordered EPA to decide whether regulation is “necessary and appropriate,” but was silent on whether the agency had to consider costs in developing an air toxics rule. The agency argued it had deference not to weigh costs at that early stage and instead assess costs when it set the rule's emissions limits. But the majority of the Supreme Court in Michigan disagreed, remanding the case to the D.C. Circuit for further proceedings.
By contrast, the CWA “instead simply authorizes regulations that are “necessary to carry out [EPA’s] functions under the Clean Water Act,” DOJ says in its letter to the 2nd Circuit.
Water Transfers
The 2008 CWA rule generally says a transfer of water between distinct waterbodies does not require a CWA discharge permit unless it is subject to intervening industrial, agricultural, or other use. EPA and its allies are appealing a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that partially vacated the rule.
New York, which is allied with environmentalists who oppose the WTR, argued in its letters that a broad exemption for such transfers is counter to the structure and goals of the water law and under the recent high court ruling in Michigan and the health care ruling in King should not receive deference.
In King, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion that the case was an exception to the principle that courts should defer an agency's reasonable reading of an ambiguous law under the landmark 1984 ruling Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, because the ambiguity at issue was fundamental to the structure of the health care law, and Congress therefore would not have left it to an agency to interpret for itself.
But DOJ in a letter to the 2nd Circuit discussing King argues that the decision to exempt some water transfers from permits does not rise to the “extraordinary” levels the justices said warranted discarding Chevron deference in King. It points out that King dealt with a rule crafted by the Internal Revenue Service, which is not expert in health care policy, but EPA is expert in weighing environmental regulation.
The Supreme Court “routinely accords Chevron deference to EPA’s Clean Water Act ('CWA') interpretations, including ones of great 'significance' to the public and the statutory scheme. Indeed, this court has previously recognized that the Chevron framework would apply to an EPA regulation governing water transfers,” DOJ writes.
Court's Ruling
The 2nd Circuit case is the sole live litigation over the legality of the WTR after the 9th Circuit decided a long-pending suit over an ongoing transfer in Oregon on fact-specific grounds, rejecting environmentalists' call to address directly the legality of the rule.
The 9th Circuit decided Aug. 21 that the case, Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) Action v. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, need not address the merits of the WTR because the transfer at issue, between Oregon's Klamath River and Klamath Straits Drain (KSD), was merely moving water between different parts of a single waterbody.
“As the waters flowing into the Klamath River from the KSD are not meaningfully distinct, a permit is not required under the CWA,” regardless of the validity of the transfer rule, Judge Richard R. Clifton writes for the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit that also included Judges Milan D. Smith, Jr., and Andrew D. Hurwitz.
The ONRC court based its decision in part on the Supreme Court's 2013 ruling in Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council, where the high court held that no permits were necessary for the county to move stormwater through channelized portions of the Los Angeles that formed part of its storm sewer system.
Clifton says in the ruling that while the unanimous high court “acknowledged that 'storm water is often heavily polluted.' Nonetheless, it is the addition of pollutants from a point source that is prohibited under the CWA, and the Court held that 'no pollutants are “added” to a water body when water is merely transferred between different portions of that water body,'” quoting from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's decision in the Los Angeles case. The ruling comes after all three judges signaled in November oral arguments that they were considering deciding the case on the “distinct waterbody” issue. Doing so sidesteps any concerns over how the 2nd Circuit case would proceed following a ruling by the 9th Circuit directly addressing the WTR.
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12 City Leaders Seek Strong Paris Climate Deal
Aug 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
Local government officials from Atlanta, Salt Lake City and 10 other U.S. cities have come together in support of reaching an ambitious global deal to fight climate change at the upcoming talks in Paris.
Members of the new Local Climate Leaders Circle, announced Aug. 24, have been meeting with high-level representatives from the U.S. government and the international community to advocate for a climate accord that benefits action at the local level.
International negotiators have to date focused on getting national contributions toward the agreement, which would be the first to include actions from both developed and developing countries to reduce greenhouse gases. So far, countries generating more than half the world's emissions have submitted pledges for reductions (155 DEN A-1, 8/12/15).
But some leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, have called for “a truly all-hands-on-deck effort,” urging states as well as private industry and local governments around the world to offer their own pledges to cut greenhouse gases ahead of the December talks (49 DEN A-7, 3/13/15).
Cities Already ‘Way Ahead.'
At the Paris conference, the cities in the Local Climate Leaders Circle plan to showcase steps they have taken to fight climate change in their neighborhoods—from reducing emissions to boosting resilience to climate impacts—and offer lessons learned for their peers across the U.S.
Other members of the group include the mayors of Boulder, Colo.; Chula Vista, Calif.; Columbus, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Oakland, Calif.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; West Palm Beach, Fla. and city council members from Santa Monica, Calif. and King County, Wash.
“These cities already have goals and action plans that show the way toward the stronger action we need,” Lou Leonard, vice president of climate change at the World Wildlife Fund, said in a statement. “As first responders to the expensive and growing impacts of climate change, it makes sense that mayors are way ahead on this challenge.”
WWF is one of several nongovernmental organizations, including the National League of Cities and the U.S. Green Building Council, that are working with the city officials to update measurements of their emissions, help local projects gain access to financing and engage citizens on climate action in advance of the Paris summit.
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