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Persistent Drugs Added To Global Agenda On Chemicals
Oct 12, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Naomi Lubick
Representatives of governments, industry, and environmental organizations have agreed to add environmentally persistent pharmaceutical products to a list of emerging policy issues under the United Nations’ Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). -
TPP: It’s Not Over
Oct 12, 2015 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Mara Burr
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an ambitious and far-reaching agreement that has the potential to transform the global economy and individual countries. -
Oil Exports Should Be Paired With Clean Energy Tax Breaks
Oct 12, 2015 | The New York Times
By The Editorial Board
The oil industry and its friends in Congress, mostly Republicans, want to get rid of restrictions on exports of crude oil that were established 40 years ago during the energy crisis. -
Exports Deal 'Above Our Pay Grade' -- API's Gerard
Oct 12, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Geof Koss
The oil industry's top lobbyist is criticizing Democrats' suggestions that drillers should have to make concessions to win a legislative repeal of the crude export ban, while saying the contours of a possible deal are up to congressional leaders. -
Parent Coalition Calls for 'Bold Action' on Climate Change
Oct 12, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Lydia Wheeler
Climate-focused advocacy groups, made up of parents, grandparents and families, are joining forces in an international coalition aimed at pushing global leaders to cut carbon pollution. -
UN Climate Science Head Calls for Carbon Pricing
Oct 12, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The new head of the United Nations’s climate science agency said countries around the world need to implement systems to put a price on carbon dioxide emissions. -
(ACC Mentioned) Suit Aims to Keep Chemicals Moving Past Safety-System Deadline
Oct 12, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
On Capitol Hill, the chemical industry and large freight railroads have presented a united front in urging more time for implementation of the automated safety system known as positive train control. -
W.Va. Oil Train Derailment Preventable -- Feds
Oct 12, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
Federal investigators said Friday an oil train derailment that set a home and nearby area ablaze in southern West Virginia in February was preventable.
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Persistent Drugs Added To Global Agenda On Chemicals
Oct 12, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Naomi Lubick
Representatives of governments, industry, and environmental organizations have agreed to add environmentally persistent pharmaceutical products to a list of emerging policy issues under the United Nations’ Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). That international effort is focused on helping developing countries safely manufacture, transport, use, and dispose of commercial substances. The decision about environmentally persistent pharmaceuticals was made by participants at the fourth International Conference on Chemicals Management, . . .
Access to full text unavailable – subscription required.
Story can be found here: http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i40/Persistent-Drugs-Added-Global-Agenda.html?type=paidArticleContent
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Oct 12, 2015 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Mara Burr
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an ambitious and far-reaching agreement that has the potential to transform the global economy and individual countries.
But, as U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman made clear at last week’s announcement, this agreement is just a “first step.” The reality is that many more negotiations are about to take place which will ultimately determine whether TPP ever becomes a reality, opening markets, and lowering barriers as envisioned by its architects.
Immediately after the negotiations concluded, the attorneys went to work in full force to complete the “legal scrub” of TPP to ensure that all of the words included in the agreement were actually agreed to and that each and every comma and semicolon are appropriately placed. This can become a negotiation in and of itself. Once the text is fully agreed to, it will be shared with a group of “cleared advisors,” private individuals who sit on the many committees advising the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the Department of Commerce on trade and investment issues. The cleared advisors write reports advising Congress whether TPP is in the interests of the United States and a recommendation on whether the legislation should be passed.
During this period there is often a separate, closed-door negotiation between USTR and the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee which is how USTR and the Obama administration secure the necessary votes to pass TPP. Failure on this front means a failure of TPP.
We can look back to 2006, when the Bush administration concluded trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama, and South Korea only to have those agreements reopened and renegotiated when the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in 2007. The so-called May 10, 2007 Agreement between the Bush administration and Congress led to the passage of the Peru Trade Promotion Agreement in 2007 and the ultimate passage of the South Korea, Panama, and Colombia agreements after a significant delay.
The May 10 renegotiations were possible for these bilateral agreements but highly unlikely for TPP, which involves twelve nations in one agreement and covers a broad set of trade and investment issues. Pushing for renegotiation could doom the entire agreement. The congressional dynamics are also different this time around with a Republican Congress and a Democrat president.
It will also be important to watch the political dynamics in the other TPP countries – the upcoming election in Canada, the reaction of entrenched economic interests in Japan, and the ability of Malaysia to push forward an agreement in the midst of political upheaval.
Even after each TPP party ratifies the agreement, there will be a period of implementation which could take years, including phase-in periods, phase-out periods for the highest tariff categories – some taking as many as 20 years - and changes to each party’s legal and regulatory systems on labor rights, environmental protection, and IP safeguards.
There will then be negotiations on whether countries have implemented the items necessary for the United States to certify that they are in compliance and the commitments in the agreement will become operational. In an agreement like TPP, entry into force will most likely be staggered based on each nation’s ability to implement its obligations. The private sector will need to keep a close eye on the timeline of implementation to determine when they will need to act on issues of interest to their business.
Sorting out these details and understanding the entirety of what has been agreed will take time. Even the parties are likely just now trying to determine how they will go about implementing the specific commitments undertaken and what timelines will be necessary to complete those efforts.
As this next phase of negotiations begin, there are still additional questions to be answer about the eventual impact of TPP: Will TPP influence India, China, or other large economies to deal with issues like agriculture, intellectual property, environment, and labor in their trade agreements? Will TPP create pressure on non-TPP countries to speed up reforms to be eligible to join TPP at a later date? It will be interesting to see if the conclusion of TPP provides any momentum for the ongoing Doha Round at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and bolsters the outcomes of the upcoming WTO Ministerial in Nairobi at the end of this year.
Burr is senior vice president at Albright Stonebridge Group, served as deputy assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, where she negotiated trade, investment, and economic policy issues for the 14 countries of South Asia and Central Asia.
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Oil Exports Should Be Paired With Clean Energy Tax Breaks
Oct 12, 2015 | The New York Times
By The Editorial Board
The oil industry and its friends in Congress, mostly Republicans, want to get rid of restrictions on exports of crude oil that were established 40 years ago during the energy crisis. President Obama and most Democratic lawmakers are rightly opposed to such measures, at least in their current form.
A boom in oil production in recent years has created a domestic glut, in part because American refineries do not have the capacity to process the grade of crude oil discovered in Texas and North Dakota into gasoline, diesel and other marketable fuels. Producers are therefore pressing Congress and the Obama administration to allow the sale of American crude oil abroad — above and beyond the very limited exports now allowed by law.
Congress forbade oil exports in 1975, when the nation was still reeling from the Arab oil embargo and long gas lines, allowing only exceptions in the “national interest.” Until recently, there was no serious interest in changing that policy, not least because dwindling reserves made America increasingly dependent on imports from volatile and sometimes hostile parts of the world. Between 2010 and 2014, however, domestic oil production shot up 59 percent, to 3.2 billion barrels a year, according to the Energy Information Administration, while imports dropped 21 percent, to 3.4 billion barrels a year.
Companies that produce oil argue that removing export restrictions would boost the economy and provide foreign allies with another source of oil, so they would rely less on Russia and the Middle East. But companies that refine oil are worried that making it easier to sell American oil abroad would increase overall demand, raise the price they pay for crude and hurt their profits.
The environmental community vigorously asserts that allowing more exports would increase oil production, open sensitive offshore waters to drilling and increase the carbon emissions responsible for climate change.
There is no question that policy makers need to figure out ways to reduce the use of fossil fuels and lower emissions. However, a recent report by the Energy Information Administration asserts that lifting export restrictions would result in a very small increase in oil production in the next 10 years, and would have little to no impact on domestic gasoline prices. Changing the law would lower profits for refiners by about $22.7 billion over the next 10 years, but would boost profits for oil producers by as much as $29.7 billion.
Therein may lie the seeds of a bargain. The House on Friday passed abill lifting restrictions on crude oil exports. The White House has said it will veto it — a veto the Republicans almost certainly cannot override. But what if the industry and the Republicans offered a deal — a bill, say, that would lift the ban on exports in exchange for a host of measures that could actually help in the fight against climate change?
These measures could include long-term extensions of tax credits for renewable fuels like wind and solar power, which are set to expire next year. And any such bill would have to put a stop, once and for all, to some of the billions of dollars of lucrative and wholly unnecessary tax breaks that the oil and gas industry has enjoyed for years.
Republicans as a whole care little about climate change and have a deep aversion to compromising with Mr. Obama. Perhaps on this issue they can remove their blinders.
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Exports Deal 'Above Our Pay Grade' -- API's Gerard
Oct 12, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Geof Koss
The oil industry's top lobbyist is criticizing Democrats' suggestions that drillers should have to make concessions to win a legislative repeal of the crude export ban, while saying the contours of a possible deal are up to congressional leaders.
American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard on Friday acknowledged bipartisan interest among House and Senate leadership in a compromise that would end the decades-old export ban.
"From our vantage point, we're working obviously to get the export ban lifted," Gerard told reporters after the House easily passed repeal legislation (Greenwire, Oct. 9). "There may be a lot of conversation among leadership in both the House and the Senate as to how they actually want to accomplish that. To date, we haven't taken a position on that, and frankly, that's above our pay grade. That's something that they decide as leadership."
But Gerard criticized suggestions that a legislative repeal should be coupled with a repeal of oil industry tax breaks and/or new production fees.
"You want to make the U.S. competitive to create American jobs, so the first thing you do is go raise the costs on American consumers?" Gerard asked. "It doesn't make any sense."
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Congressional Democrats and the Obama administration have long targeted the billions of dollars of tax breaks the oil and gas industry enjoys, a point that surfaced repeatedly during Friday's floor debate on the exports bill (H.R. 702).
Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), a frequent industry critic, said the bill would hand billions of dollars to oil companies "while doing virtually nothing for consumers."
But Gerard said the punitive mindset of industry opponents ignores the fact that the current oil glut is dragging the overall U.S. economy down.
"There's a report that came out last week that showed the oil and gas industry has lost 200,000 jobs in the last year -- 200,000 jobs," he said. "Now tell me any other industry in this country that would lose 200,000 jobs and wouldn't be viewed as a crisis in Washington, D.C. But that's what's taken place in the oil and gas industry."
But Gerard seemed more receptive to a possible deal that would repeal the exports ban while permanently reauthorizing the expired Land and Water Conservation Fund -- one of the suggestions recently floated by the head of the National Wildlife Federation (Greenwire, Sept. 30).
While the popular program's authority expired earlier this month, Gerard noted that the industry's obligation to pay leasing fees and royalties to drill on public land remains unchanged.
"We are still contributing $80 million a day to the federal Treasury," he said. "The issue of how you fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund is a function of the Congress. Do they appropriate the dollars to that fund or don't they?"
Pressed on whether an LWCF reauthorization would then be a more acceptable compromise than some of the other provisions put forth, Gerard said it's not the industry's decision.
"That's something leadership is going to have to figure out, and as an industry we're going to continue to push for lifting the ban on crude oil exports," he said.
Top leaders in the Senate, including Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), have said coupling a repeal with an extension of renewable tax credits could help clear the way for crude exports. But with the House falling well short of the 290 votes needed to override a promised White House veto, and uncertain prospects in the upper chamber, some sort of sweeteners appear necessary to getting a repeal bill to the White House.
Gerard and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), the lead sponsor of the House bill, conceded export backers have more work ahead of them in the Senate.
"I think we're well on our way" to 60 votes in Senate, Gerard said.
But echoing a point made by Senate GOP export backers, he suggested that a repeal could make an appearance as a rider to a must-pass year-end legislative package.
"A lot of those things get done at the end of a session, and we're just going to watch that process and continue to advocate for good, sound U.S. energy policy, and that's to lift the ban on crude exports," he said.
Asked Friday by Greenwire about the prospects of a deal with the Senate to move crude exports to the president's desk, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) declined to offer an opinion.
"Ask the speaker," Scalise responded as he got into a waiting sport utility vehicle after the House vote.
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Parent Coalition Calls for 'Bold Action' on Climate Change
Oct 12, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Lydia Wheeler
Climate-focused advocacy groups, made up of parents, grandparents and families, are joining forces in an international coalition aimed at pushing global leaders to cut carbon pollution.
Our Kids’ Climate coalition, which includes groups like Climate Mama and DearTomorrow in the U.S. and the Norwegian Grandparents Climate Campaign and Canadian Parents for Climate Action, is circulating an international parent petition.
With a little over 3,000 signatures now, the petition calls for a commitment to keep global temperature rise at safe levels and create a world that’s powered by 100 percent clean energy with net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Our Kids’ Climate hopes to garner hundreds of thousands of signatures and deliver the petition to the United Nations secretary-general in Paris at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP21, in December.
On its website, the group, which will officially launch on Tuesday, said it’s had enough of “political passivity and profit-motivated roadblocks to bold action on climate.”
“We want a safe, healthy and fair future for all children,” the group’s website says. “One where our children’s lives are powered by 100 percent clean energy and where fossil fuels have been left in the ground.”
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UN Climate Science Head Calls for Carbon Pricing
Oct 12, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The new head of the United Nations’s climate science agency said countries around the world need to implement systems to put a price on carbon dioxide emissions.
Hoesung Lee, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said at a news conference in his native South Korea that he wants the agency to put more focus on solving problems around climate change.
“During the election campaign, I realized how much the countries longed for the organization’s leading role in solving the problem of climate change,” Lee said, according to the Korea Herald. “The practical tool for that, I believe, is the pricing of carbon emissions.”
Lee did not specify whether countries should implement carbon taxes, cap and trade or some other method, and said that should be left to individual governments.
“The pricing methods vary and it must be chosen based on each country’s conditions,” Lee said. “But one thing is sure that they need to pay as much as they release greenhouse gases. There’s an unavoidable need to price the carbon emissions.”
Lee, a professor, was elected last week as head of the IPCC, which was established in 1988 and is often called upon to release comprehensive reports about the state of climate change science.
At his news conference, Lee also promised to push more developing countries to become more active in the IPCC process, calling it an essential part of its scientific reporting.
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(ACC Mentioned) Suit Aims to Keep Chemicals Moving Past Safety-System Deadline
Oct 12, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
On Capitol Hill, the chemical industry and large freight railroads have presented a united front in urging more time for implementation of the automated safety system known as positive train control.
If lawmakers don't act, however, chemical shippers are hedging their bets.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and two other trade groups asked a federal judge in a recently filed lawsuit to effectively force freight railroads to keep carrying chorine, anhydrous ammonia and other "toxic by inhalation" (TIH) products.
Without an extension of the current Dec. 31 implementation deadline, some railroads have warned that they will bar shipments of TIH chemicals out of liability concerns.
Any such move would violate their legal "common carrier" obligations, ACC lawyers wrote in a filing late last month asking U.S. District Judge James Boasberg for a preliminary injunction.
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W.Va. Oil Train Derailment Preventable -- Feds
Oct 12, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
Federal investigators said Friday an oil train derailment that set a home and nearby area ablaze in southern West Virginia in February was preventable.
The Federal Railroad Administration fined CSX Corp. and its inspection contractor $25,000 each for failing to catch a rail defect before 27 of 109 cars in a CSX train went off the rails in Mount Carbon. The explosion and subsequent fire destroyed a home, injuring the owner, while 3 million gallons of North Dakota's oil field crude spilled, polluting the Kanawha River and a nearby creek.
During two inspections in the preceding months, a CSX contractor driving the rails in an truck outfitted with rail-reading technology found a potential problem but did not inspect more closely, incorrectly deeming the crack a surface flaw.
FRA chief safety officer Bob Lauby said speed and the Feb. 16 snowstorm were not factors, but the weight of previous trains likely expanded the crack. The agency is advising more detailed inspections and advanced training for inspectors as oil trains have derailed in flames in six states in recent years.
"Where we see a need for action in order to increase safety, we will not hesitate to take it," acting FRA Administrator Sarah Feinberg said. "It is increasingly clear that as limits are pushed on rail wear, there is cause for concern and need for action."
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