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ACC AM Oct 20
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(ACC Mentioned) How to Take Advantage of The Investment Upswing in The US Chemical Sector
Oct 19, 2015 | Chem.Info
By Danielle Holt
There are huge changes happening in the U.S. chemical sector as global sales have doubled over the past decade. It has now topped at $100 billion with a total of 148 chemical and plastics projects announced publicly, and newer solutions are evolving such as the conversion of coals to liquids. -
(ACC Mentioned) Rove-Aligned Group to Spend Early for Roy Blunt
Oct 19, 2015 | Roll Call
By Eli Yokley
More than a year before Election Day, Republicans in Washington are already spending big to assist Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt. One Nation — a nonprofit organization with ties to Republican strategist Karl Rove’s web of political groups — has plans to launch an $800,000 statewide television and radio ad campaign to boost Blunt’s... -
(ACC Mentioned) Blunt Gets Campaign Help From Group With Ties To Rove
Oct 19, 2015 | St. Louis Public Radio
By Jo Mannies
A tax exempt group with ties to Bush adviser Karl Rove plans to launch a major TV and radio ad blitz in Missouri this week on behalf of U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. The group is called One Nation and is assisting Republican senators around the country who are up for re-election next year. -
(ACC Mentioned) Coons Touts Senate TSCA Reform Bill 'Sustainable Chemistry' Provisions
Oct 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Maria Hegstad
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) is touting the language in stalled Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform legislation that would promote green chemistry programs supported by former EPA research chief Paul Anastas, while Coons and other supporters of the bill push for senators to hold a delayed floor vote on the overall reform bill. -
(ACC Mentioned) More Time Sought to Comment on Flame Retardants
Oct 20, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Chemical manufacturers and other interested parties will have more time to comment on the agency's proposed approach to assessing the risks of three types of flame retardants. The American Chemistry Council, Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council had asked the Environmental Protection Agency to extend the deadline... -
(ACC Mentioned) Ocean Conservancy Releases Global Report Outlining Solutions To Ocean Plastic Waste
Oct 20, 2015 | Recycling Portal
A new report outlines specific land-based solutions for plastic waste in the ocean, starting with the elimination of plastic waste leakage.:The first step should focus on the five priority countries China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand that together account for between 55 and 60 percent of the total plastic-waste leakage. -
(ACC Mentioned) KAB Announces America Recycles Day Theme
Oct 19, 2015 | Recycling Today
Keep America Beautiful (KAB), Stamford, Connecticut, has announced “Bathrooms, Bags & Gadgets” is the theme of the 2015 America Recycles Day, which takes place on and in the weeks leading into Nov. 15. America Recycles Day, a KAB initiative, is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the U.S... -
Comment Period on Safer Products Guide Extended
Oct 20, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control announced Oct. 19 that it is extending, from Oct. 23 to Nov. 16, the public comment period on draft guidelines for the alternatives analysis required under the Safer Consumer Product Regulations. Released Sept. 24, the document aims to help manufacturers and other regulated entities... -
The Many Bad Reasons to Support TSCA
Oct 20, 2015 | Competitve Enterprise Institute
By Angela Logomasini
With reform to nation’s chemical law—the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)—basically around the corner, groups from both left and right are commenting on why we need reform and for some, why the current proposals should pass quickly. But the reasons they offer aren’t very compelling. -
Study Finds Toxic Chemical In Nail Polish
Oct 19, 2015 | The Hill - Regulation
By Lydia Wheeler
Women who paint their fingernails might be absorbing a toxic chemical, a new study published Monday found. Researchers at Duke University and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found evidence of a suspected endocrine-disrupting chemical widely used in popular nail polishes in the bodies of more than two-dozen women... -
Rep. Pallone Hails New Study For Nailing Cosmetics Industry
Oct 20, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Dylan Brown
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) yesterday called on Congress to step up and regulate the cosmetics industry after a new study found that women who painted their fingernails had elevated levels of a chemical linked to reproductive and development problems. -
Udall 'Optimistic' On Possible LWCF Deal To Allow Vote On TSCA Reform
Oct 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Bridget DiCosmo
Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), a lead co-sponsor of legislation to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), says he is “optimistic” on reaching a deal with senators to resolve a dispute over reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) that has led to an indefinite delay of a Senate floor vote on the TSCA bill. -
(ACC Mentioned) Time An Issue On Rail Safety
Oct 19, 2015 | The Houston Chronicle
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Railroads are pushing Congress to extend a deadline for installing safety technology on trains that carry cargo as well as commuters, warning that oil, gasoline and other goods moved by rail could be stopped in their tracks without extra time. At issue is Positive Train Control, a communications system that is meant to coordinate... -
(ACC Mentioned) Railroad Officials Warn Of Shutdown If Safety Deadline Not Extended
Oct 20, 2015 | CT Post
By Dan Freedman
Although Congress appears close to extending the Dec. 31 deadline for Positive Train Control, railroad executives and lobbyists on Monday warned of dire consequences to transportation and the economy if lawmakers fail to do so. “It has to be done now,” said Edward Hamberger, president of the Association of American Railroads... -
(ACC Mentioned) Time Needed For New Railroad Braking System
Oct 19, 2015 | My AJC (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution )
By Edward R. Hamberger
The clock continues to tick toward a shutdown of critical railroad services that would have far-reaching consequences for the nation’s economy. But Congress can avert this crisis by giving rail operators more time to safely implement complex braking technology across the nation’s rail system. -
The Trains Won’t Stop Running, Despite Dire Warnings About Federal Deadline For Safety Equipment
Oct 19, 2015 | The Washington Post
By Ashley Halsey III
The railroad industry on Monday held a conference call with reporters to raise the possibility that commuter rail lines nationwide might shut down on Jan. 1 unless Congress steps in to extend a deadline for the installment of new safety equipment. As representatives from three commuter lines — Virginia Railway Express, Chicago’s Metra system... -
Safety Rule Deadline Will Cause 'Crisis' -- Industry Leaders
Oct 19, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Sean Reilly
Some commuter railroads, including one that serves the Washington, D.C., region, could have to shut down if Congress doesn't extend a Dec. 31 deadline for implementation of the automated safety system known as positive train control, industry leaders warned today. -
DOT Proposes Tougher Safety Regulations For Hazardous Liquids Pipelines
Oct 19, 2015 | Breaking Energy
On October 1, 2015, the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) proposed changes to strengthen its hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations. The proposal aims to address mandates from the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011... -
Biden Touts Climate Accomplishments
Oct 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Vice President Biden used a Monday speech to outline his accomplishments on fighting climate change, going back nearly three decades. Biden repeatedly thanked business leaders assembled at the White House for their commitments to cut greenhouse gases.But the vice president, who could announce any day whether... -
Canadians Oust Keystone’s Champion
Oct 19, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Elana Schor
President Barack Obama will wake up Tuesday with a new Canadian leader who’s more interested in helping him reach a global climate change deal — but the long continental chill over the Keystone XL oil pipeline isn't over yet. Canada’s prospective new leader, Justin Trudeau, led his Liberal Party to a decisive win at the polls Monday... -
More Businesses Get on Board with Climate Deal
Oct 20, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
Pressure is building on the world's governments to successfully strike a deal to fight rising temperatures and other impacts of climate change, as even more American businesses get on board with the idea. Eighty-one companies, from tech giants such as Facebook Inc. and Intel Corp. to chocolate makers Hershey Co... -
Obama Courts Big Business For Support In Climate Talks
Oct 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
President Obama is enlisting big companies to help him make the case for an international climate change pact. Obama is meeting Monday morning with the chief executive officers of five major companies to talk about how they’re cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and 68 companies signed on Monday to a White House pledge to reduce... -
Former BLM Chiefs Push Obama On Methane Rules
Oct 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Two former land management chiefs are calling for tough new rules regulating methane emissions from oil and gas instillations on federal lands. In a Monday letter to the White House, former Bureau of Land Management (BLM) directors Bob Abbey and Mike Dombeck said a new methane waste rule would both limit emissions... -
Supreme Court to Hear Cases on Power Plant Subsidies
Oct 20, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether states with competitive power markets have authority to run subsidy programs to develop new power plants (Hughes v. PPL EnergyPlus, U.S., No. 14-614, cert. granted 10/19/15; CPV Maryland v. PPL EnergyPlus, U.S., No. 14-623, cert. granted 10/19/15).
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(ACC Mentioned) How to Take Advantage of The Investment Upswing in The US Chemical Sector
Oct 19, 2015 | Chem.Info
By Danielle Holt
There are huge changes happening in the U.S. chemical sector as global sales have doubled over the past decade. It has now topped at $100 billion with a total of 148 chemical and plastics projects announced publicly, and newer solutions are evolving such as the conversion of coals to liquids. Overall, process manufacturing footprints have pivoted to take advantage of the growing trend in shale gas supplies.
The shale gas revolution has disrupted the U.S. chemical sector dramatically. Thirty-three percent of the U.S. chemical industry is going towards ethylene investment production, making the States a key global provider of low-cost energy. By 2018 the Federal Reserve predicts a 1 to 2.3 percent increase in GDP, and the American Chemistry Council sees the chemical industry surpassing the U.S. economy by 2019. Chemical makers are revamping factories, expanding production and reorganizing their operations to account for the boom in plentiful, affordable natural gas and the 637,000 new permanent jobs for U.S. jobseekers.
Taking advantage of this upswing may require rethinking business as you know it in order to play in emerging markets. Many global companies are struggling to compete with their local rivals because of supply and demand; supply problems are due to advancing, nascent domestic companies, and demand problems stem from the volume growth shifting from export-oriented business to those catering to local customers. In order to push past the competition, global chemical businesses should be investing in organic or natural options like shale gas, which are tailored to shining a light on the chemical market’s multiple traits. Stay away from an umbrella approach, and instead optimize to be able to produce or both regional and global products.
Another way to get involved with the investment increase is by embracing the digital transformation. Nearly 50 billion devices around the world are expected to be connected to the Internet by 2020, up from the 4.9 billion connected to the Internet in 2015, so chemical businesses are focusing on their technology to enhance business goals like better performance, innovation and customer satisfaction. The processes involved in the chemical industry are scattered across various departments, so having a business management solution that can keep your business organized is a must. A business can grow and thrive through automated processes and organizing data. Maintaining compliance with industry and government regulations is non-negotiable, so a good management solution will help manage the information needed for Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) Title III reporting. The software should also have updated shelf-life information, product packing and unit of measure conversions.
Using a business management solution during this period of growth will help you streamline processes by managing products and data. Look at the challenges that are presented during this upswing as opportunities to expand and outperform the competition. Being a forward thinker by identifying emerging markets and embracing digital transformation through the right business management solution is what defines a successful chemical business.
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(ACC Mentioned) Rove-Aligned Group to Spend Early for Roy Blunt
Oct 19, 2015 | Roll Call
By Eli Yokley
More than a year before Election Day, Republicans in Washington are already spending big to assist Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt.
One Nation — a nonprofit organization with ties to Republican strategist Karl Rove’s web of political groups — has plans to launch an $800,000 statewide television and radio ad campaign to boost Blunt’s image on veterans and military issues, the Springfield News-Leader reported.
“In Missouri, $800,000 is a sizable buy at this stage in the election cycle,” said James Harris, a Show-Me State Republican strategist. “Holding the Senate is a top priority for Republicans, and it is not surprising that One Nation would jump in the race to help Sen. Blunt.”
Already this year, the group has spent money to boost Sen. Mark S. Kirk in Illinois, Sen. Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, Sen. Rob Portman in Ohio and and Sen. Patrick J. Toomey in Pennsylvania — a who’s who list of vulnerable Republican incumbents.
Last month, Blunt received similar outside help from the American Chemistry Council, which represents U.S. chemical companies and which also ran ads in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The script for the Missouri commercial has not been released, but the topic — veterans and military issues — is one that has already been a focus of both campaigns. Blunt’s Democratic opponent, Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, is an ex-Army officer and has played up his own military record on the campaign trail.
Democrats said Monday the ad buy is a sign that national Republicans see Missouri as a similarly competitive state.
“Karl Rove running ads in your state is the surest sign that you are both a vulnerable Republican and a reliable vote for Washington special interests,” said Chris Hayden, a spokesman for the Missouri Democratic Party.
As a nonprofit organization, One Nation cannot directly advocate for a candidate. But, it can laud a candidate for policy positions. In some of its other commercials, it has attempted to tout a Senator’s legislative successes.
One Nation is one of four groups affiliated with Rove, including American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS, and the Senate Leadership Fund. It is led by Steven Law, a former chief of staff to Mitch McConnell who is also president of American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS.
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(ACC Mentioned) Blunt Gets Campaign Help From Group With Ties To Rove
Oct 19, 2015 | St. Louis Public Radio
By Jo Mannies
A tax exempt group with ties to Bush adviser Karl Rove plans to launch a major TV and radio ad blitz in Missouri this week on behalf of U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
The group is called One Nation and is assisting Republican senators around the country who are up for re-election next year.
It’s led by Steven Law, a former top aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Law also is the president and chief executive officer of American Crossroads, an independent conservative campaign consortium founded by several years ago by Rove.
One Nation has 501C4 status, which means that under the IRS code, it does not have to identify its donors. The group cannot coordinate any activities with the Blunt campaign.
A spokesman says One Nation is spending $785,000 on a pro-Blunt ad campaign that, beginning Wednesday, will air spots on cable and broadcast TV stations in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia.
The TV ads will run through the end of the month. The radio ads will air in early November.
The ads will promote Blunt’s actions on behalf of veterans. That topic is notable since Blunt’s Democratic rival – Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander – is a veteran.
If the ads fit the model of One Nation’s spots elsewhere, they will praise Blunt – but not mention Kander.
A spokesman for One Nation said, “Since the Senate has been under new management, it has championed the cause of military families and veterans, and Sen. Blunt has led the charge on that effort with his support of the Military Family Stability Act. We want to highlight that work and intend to do more on the issue in the future.”
Chris Hayden, a spokesman for the Missouri Democratic Party, sees another motive. “Karl Rove running ads in your state is the surest sign that you are both a vulnerable Republican and a reliable vote for Washington special interests. Sen. Blunt has spent his career in Washington fighting for the lobbyists, and now they are coming to his rescue. Sen. Blunt’s Washington allies will stop at nothing to ensure they keep their senator and leave Missourians to fend for themselves."
Blunt backers dismiss the “insider’’ criticism, saying the tactic didn’t work in 2010 when it was used by Democratic rival Robin Carnahan. Kander allies say outside groups wouldn't be running pro-Blunt ads so early if they weren't concerned about his re-election chances.
The Blunt-Kander contest already is attracting national attention.The latest campaign reports showed Blunt with almost three times as much money in the bank. But Kander allies note that he launched his campaign just last winter and that their pace of fundraising has been close much of this year.
One Nation isn’t the first outside group to run ads lauding Blunt. The American Chemical Council, a group with ties to the chemical industry, ran pro-Blunt ads statewide in September.
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(ACC Mentioned) Coons Touts Senate TSCA Reform Bill 'Sustainable Chemistry' Provisions
Oct 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Maria Hegstad
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) is touting the language in stalled Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform legislation that would promote green chemistry programs supported by former EPA research chief Paul Anastas, while Coons and other supporters of the bill push for senators to hold a delayed floor vote on the overall reform bill.
The TSCA bill, S. 697, was repeatedly touted in recent comments by many of its co-sponsors as being more comprehensive than its House rival, H.R. 2576, passed in June.
Coons, one of nearly a dozen senators to speak about the bill's attributes at an Oct. 6 press conference, outlined the importance of the legislation's sustainable chemistry section. The language comes from a stand alone bill that Coons introduced last May, S. 1447, along with co-sponsor Susan Collins (R-ME).
"One of the contributions that I made to this bill was the sustainable chemistry research and development act, a separate bipartisan bill that grew out of my experience as a chemist in Delaware and my work with the Delaware sustainable chemistry alliance to lay the foundation for real progress in sustainable chemistry," Coons said.
During his tenure as chief of EPA's research and development office, Anastas, the director of the Yale Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering, often spoke of the need for EPA to set a floor but not a ceiling on chemical development and regulation. He called for stronger regulation on chemicals, but also for more support to advance green chemistry, the idea of designing new chemicals with sustainability and safety principles in mind to make them less harmful or even non-toxic.
The latest version of S. 697 includes about half of Coons' green or sustainable chemistry bill, which would add a new Section 23 to TSCA, called the Development and Evaluation of Test Methods and Sustainable Chemistry. The section would create a new, interagency sustainable chemistry program, aiming to "promote and coordinate Federal sustainable chemistry research, development, demonstration, technology transfer, commercialization, education, and training activities."
The bill calls for the program to study ways in which the federal government can incentivize sustainable chemistry processes and products, expand collegiate chemistry training to include sustainable chemistry, and support "economic, legal and other appropriate social science research to identify barriers to commercialization and methods to advance commercialization of sustainable chemistry."
Additionally, the bill section calls for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to create an interagency working group on the subject, co-led by EPA's research chief and the director of the National Science Foundation. Other representatives to the group should come from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Agriculture, Defense and Energy departments and the National Institutes of Health. The group would be responsible for coordinating federal sustainable chemistry activities and spending, and providing a report to Congress two years after its inception on its progress.
Advisory Council
The bill would also create an advisory council to assist the interagency working group, comprised of industry, academic, state and tribal and non-government organization experts.
The TSCA bill excludes other components of Coons' and Collins' original bill, which had also called for a grant program to fund sustainable chemistry partnerships and a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study.
The original bill called for the interagency working group and program to award grants that would support partnerships between industry and universities to train students and collaborate on research and commercialization of sustainable chemistry. Additionally, it called on the National Science Foundation to seek a study from NAS that would lay out the current status of sustainable chemistry and suggest priority areas for research. And, the original bill required the interagency working group to craft within two years a national strategy document to guide advancement of sustainable chemistry.
At its introduction last May, the original bill's supporters included the American Chemistry Council, the American Chemical Society, the American Sustainable Business Council Action Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR), and the Yale Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering among others, according to a May 21 statement from Coons' office.
Speaking at the annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference in Bethesda, MD, in July, Coons said that "we can and must do a better job as a country of building closer ties between the classroom, the laboratory, and the marketplace. And while the federal government does currently have several programs dedicated to sustainable chemistry, they really lack a coherent vision of how best to serve the industry and how to encourage innovation."
Coons said in July that his bill aimed at improving these flaws, adding that he hoped that more of the original bill is added to the TSCA reform bill. "I'm pleased a portion of this bill is already included in the underlying TSCA bill . . . and I'm going to continue working with my colleagues to ensure that the entire bill is included in what is ultimately adopted. I believe there is, today, a historic opportunity for larger TSCA reform, and part of the solution has to be to continue the federal investment in sustainable chemistry innovation." Coons' spokeswoman did not return a request for comment on whether Coons continues to advocate for adding the rest of his bill to S. 697.
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(ACC Mentioned) More Time Sought to Comment on Flame Retardants
Oct 20, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Chemical manufacturers and other interested parties will have more time to comment on the agency's proposed approach to assessing the risks of three types of flame retardants. The American Chemistry Council, Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council had asked the Environmental Protection Agency to extend the deadline, which was Oct. 19, according to the Federal Register notice published Aug. 18 (80 Fed. Reg. 49,997; 157 DEN A-1, 8/14/15). ACC, NRDC and Earthjustice asked the agency to give parties more time because flame retardants are important and because there is a lot of information to be reviewed. The EPA's Federal Register notice is available at http://src.bna.com/Dx.
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(ACC Mentioned) Ocean Conservancy Releases Global Report Outlining Solutions To Ocean Plastic Waste
Oct 20, 2015 | Recycling Portal
A new report outlines specific land-based solutions for plastic waste in the ocean, starting with the elimination of plastic waste leakage.:The first step should focus on the five priority countries China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand that together account for between 55 and 60 percent of the total plastic-waste leakage. The report describes an integrated set of measures (or levers) that together could reduce leakage in these five countries by 65 percent and reduce total global leakage by approximately 45 percent by 2025.
„Stemming the Tide: Land-based strategies for a plastic-free ocean“ has been published by Ocean Conservancy – a first-of-its-kind, solutions-oriented report in partnership with the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment. “Today’s report, for the first time, outlines a specific path forward for the reduction, and ultimate elimination, of plastic waste in the oceans,” said Andreas Merkl, CEO of Ocean Conservancy. “The report’s findings confirm what many have long thought – that ocean plastic solutions actually begin on land. It will take a coordinated effort of industry, NGOs and government to solve this growing economic and environmental problem.”
Cutting leakage by 45 percent in the next 10 years
Eight million metric tonnes of plastic leak into the world’s ocean every year and the amounts continue to grow. Without concerted global action, there could be one ton of plastic for every 3 tons of fish by 2025, leading to massive environmental, economic and health issues. With at least 80 percent of ocean plastic originating from land-based sources, the report’s findings propose a four-point solution to cutting leakage by 45 percent in the next 10 years, dramatically reducing ocean plastic waste by 2025 with the ultimate goal of eradicating the issue by 2035. The report estimates that total costs for implementing these solutions could be contained at $5 billion a year, with significant returns to the global economy.
“Considering this is a global environmental challenge impacting sanitation and health, land values, important sources of global protein, and the growth of the consumer goods and packaging industries, an estimated $5 billion scale of intervention makes this one of the most solvable of the environmental challenges we collectively face,” said Steven Swartz, an Expert Principal in McKinsey’s Center for Business and Environment.
The important role of industry
„Stemming the Tide“ specifically underscores the important role of industry in driving the solutions and catalyzing public and private investment to solve the problem of ocean plastic leakage. “We’re committed to working toward a future of a plastic-free ocean,” said Jeff Wooster, global sustainability director, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, a partner on the report. “Companies don’t make plastic with the intent of it ending up in the ocean, and we acknowledge the strong role industry must play in order to help eliminate ocean plastic waste by 2035.”
In the short and medium term, the report calls for accelerated development of waste collection and plugging of post-collection leakage, followed by the development and rollout of commercially viable treatment options. In the long term, the report identifies the critical need for innovations in recovery and treatment technologies, development of new materials and product designs that better facilitate reuse or recycling.
5 countries account for 50% of global plastic leakage
The report further emphasizes the need for all approaches and solutions to be tailored at the regional level, specifically in the five priority countries identified, which account for half of all plastic leakage globally. While countries have made major improvements in curbing plastic leakage, greater global support is needed to scale impact swiftly in these priority regions.
“The issue of plastic waste in our oceans is having drastic consequences on the livelihoods and health of the people of Dagupan,” said Belen Fernandez, Mayor of the city of Dagupan, a coastal community in the Philippines. “Our town has had a dump site on our beach for over 50 years. We’re working hard to close the dump, and increase the capacity of waste management in Dagupan. Addressing the problem of ocean plastic will have real benefits for not just the environment, but for our citizens – by improving their quality of life. I hope our city and our work will become a model for what’s possible around the world.”
Next 10 years will be critical
The report underscores that the next 10 years will be critical to effectively solve the problem of ocean plastic– a problem that is not just local, but global in nature. To achieve success, the report calls for a concerted global response driven by an international coalition of companies, governments and NGOs that will catalyze commitments from political leadership, provide local “proofs of concept,” provide waste management technology support and prioritize the ocean plastic waste issue as part of the global policy agenda on the ocean and the environment.
The report is a signature initiative of the Trash Free Seas Alliance®, an effort of Ocean Conservancy to unite industry, science and conservation leaders who share a common goal for a healthy ocean free of trash. The report was made possible through the support of numerous partners, including The Dow Chemical Company, The Coca-Cola Company, the American Chemistry Council, REDISA and World Wildlife Fund, as well as the following funders: Adessium Foundation, 11th Hour Racing, Hollomon Price Foundation, Forrest C. & Frances H. Lattner Foundation and Mariposa Foundation.
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(ACC Mentioned) KAB Announces America Recycles Day Theme
Oct 19, 2015 | Recycling Today
Keep America Beautiful (KAB), Stamford, Connecticut, has announced “Bathrooms, Bags & Gadgets” is the theme of the 2015 America Recycles Day, which takes place on and in the weeks leading into Nov. 15. America Recycles Day, a KAB initiative, is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the U.S., according to KAB.
The theme for 2015—“Bathrooms, Bags & Gadgets” —shines a light on some of the everyday but not “top of mind” consumer products Americans use, which can and should be given another life through recycling, KAB says. These include personal care items commonly found in the bathroom, such as hair care and mouthwash bottles; plastic bags, such as those used at retail stores, and plastic wrap used in packaging paper towels, toilet paper or dry cleaning; and consumer electronics and gadgets, such as mobile phones, tablets, game consoles, televisions and more.
During America Recycles Day 2015, KAB says individuals are encouraged to take the “I Will Recycle” Pledge. Between Oct. 15 and Nov. 20, the America Recycles Day “I Will Recycle” Sweepstakes will provide four people the chance to win an Apple Certified Refurbished iPad mini 3. KAB encourages individuals to demonstrate their recycling spirit and automatically be entered in the sweepstakes by posting a photo on Twitter using one of the following handles: @KABTweet, @RecyclesDay or @KeepAmericaBeautiful, or on Instagram holding a recyclable product that they pledge to recycle with the hashtags #IWillRecycle and #Sweepstakes. Individuals must enable public viewing of Twitter and Instagram photos to be entered.
“America Recycles Day provides key moments in time to educate and encourage individuals to better understand how, why and where they can recycle to divert relevant products from the waste stream and give their garbage another life,” says Brenda Pulley, senior vice president, recycling, KAB. “For 2015, we want to encourage people to think beyond bottles and cans to other products that may not be as top of mind but are also recyclable. We look forward to having more people take the ‘I Will Recycle’ pledge this year and to seeing and sharing their photographs for America Recycles Day.”
Online registration is open at AmericaRecyclesDay.org for local organizers to schedule events in their communities and gain access to resources to plan, promote and host an America Recycles Day event, KAB explains. Events can be scheduled any time during the fall, but should be held as close to Nov. 15 as possible.
In 2014, more than 2,000 America Recycles Day events were registered online, engaging more than 2 million estimated participants nationwide. More than 200,000 people have taken the “I Will Recycle” Pledge online and in paper form at America Recycles Day events, joining a growing movement of citizens committed to increase the recycling rate in America.
America Recycles Day is supported by Amcor, American Chemistry Council, CyclePoint® from Source America®; Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, Northrop Grumman Corp. and Pilot Corporation of America (Pilot Pen).
KAB says it is a leading national nonprofit that inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, KAB says it provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people end littering in America, increase recycling in America and beautify America’s communities. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 600 community-based KAB affiliates, millions of volunteers and the support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials and individuals. -
Comment Period on Safer Products Guide Extended
Oct 20, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control announced Oct. 19 that it is extending, from Oct. 23 to Nov. 16, the public comment period on draft guidelines for the alternatives analysis required under the Safer Consumer Product Regulations. Released Sept. 24, the document aims to help manufacturers and other regulated entities navigate the process for identifying and reducing exposure to toxic chemicals in products sold in California (188 DEN A-18, 9/29/15). Still being implemented, the Safer Consumer Product Regulations will require manufactures and sellers of products containing specific chemicals to determine if the products pose a significant risk to public health or the environment. The second of two webinars on the draft guidelines is set for 9-10:30 a.m. Oct. 21. Information on the Draft Stage 1 Alternatives Analysis Guide and webinar is available at http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/SCP/AlternativesAnalysisGuidance.cfm.
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The Many Bad Reasons to Support TSCA
Oct 20, 2015 | Competitve Enterprise Institute
By Angela Logomasini
With reform to nation’s chemical law—the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)—basically around the corner, groups from both left and right are commenting on why we need reform and for some, why the current proposals should pass quickly. But the reasons they offer aren’t very compelling.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) exclaims in a press release:
Our nation’s chemical safety laws are outdated. Without reform, we’ll likely see a continued proliferation of costly and ineffective state-based chemical regulatory programs that confuse consumers and manufacturers alike. Congress must restore the public’s confidence in EPA’s chemical control laws, and one way of doing so is by passing S. 697.
TSCA may be old, but it has the best risk standard on the books, as I note here. And passing a major bureaucratic regulatory initiative to “restore public confidence” is, well, just plain dumb.
I do understand CEA’s position on using reform to halt bad state-level laws. But it’s not clear this reform will accomplish that task. Sure, it would be great if we could pass a law that would curb a growing patchwork of ill-conceived and dangerous state-level chemical regulations that impede interstate commerce, raise consumer prices, reduce choice, and force product reformulations resulting in inferior consumer products. And current proposals include some language to preempt such laws under certain circumstances, but overall these provisions may be too weak to make a difference.
The number one bad reason for TSCA reform comes from activist green groups. According to NRDC, we need reform to protect public health, as noted on the group’s website:
The country's main chemical safety law -- the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) -- makes it nearly impossible for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take regulatory action against dangerous chemicals, even those that are known to cause cancer or other serious health effects…But weaknesses in the law have left the EPA largely unable to act on known health dangers or require testing on specific chemicals that may be unsafe. …To protect public health and allow the law to work as originally intended, we need new legislation that will reform and strengthen TSCA by shifting the burden of proof from the federal government to the chemical industry.
Never mind that there is no evidence to support assertions that trace exposure to chemicals through consumer products pose risks, such as cancer or other health effects. And never mind the fact that people are living longer, healthier lives than ever before despite the fact that chemical use has gone up. As I have noted many times, TSCA reform has nothing much to do with public health since the risks at issue are too small to even measure.
Richard Denison with the Environmental Defense Fund has been one of the leadingsupporters of TSCA reform and worked with industry to make a host of changes to reform bills. Bloomberg BNA published Denison’s list of “reforms,” which follows below, that he says will improve the law. (Note: I numbered Denison’s list to correspond with my perspectives on each item which follows below; BNA originally used bullet points.) According to Denison, the bill’s useful provisions include:“allowing the EPA to obtain chemical data by ordering it; (Under TSCA the agency must issue a rule to obtain data or obtain it through negotiations with chemical manufacturers.)a mandate to conduct safety reviews on all chemicals in use; (TSCA has no mandate to review chemicals in commerce.)criteria the EPA would be required to use to prioritize and regulate chemicals; (TSCA has “broad authority and vague priorities,” Charles Auer, who managed chemicals at EPA for years told a House subcommittee.)judicially enforceable deadlines by which each step in the required reviews and regulatory processes must be completed; (TSCA has no process and no deadlines to review chemicals in commerce.)minimum number of chemicals EPA must move through the pipeline;an express requirement for protection of vulnerable populations; (TSCA is silent on such populations.)a safety standard that explicitly precludes consideration of costs.
Again, since the risks are so low, the only real thing at stake here is how much control we will give EPA over chemicals and related consumer freedom and commerce. Accordingly, here is my take of Denison’s list:More power for EPA to mandate industry data collection and submission simply means costly research mandates that translate into higher consumer prices, fewer resources for useful R&D, and more useless rodent testing in return for data of little value. More mandated government “safety reviews” is a bureaucrat’s job security program. Consumers and business get more expensive bureaucracy and posturing about chemical risks with no benefits. The only ones who gain are environmental activists who want to generate alarmist headlines for direct mail or funding of questionable government research programs.“Prioritization of chemicals” essentially means placing chemicals on “concern lists” largely based on political priorities and agendas, rather than a need to address serious health risks. Such listings will have adverse market implications for many valuable chemical products, causing yet more dumb retailers to pull products from store shelves, facilitating activists fear campaigns. The final result will be reduced consumer choice and higher prices for inferior products.Setting judicially enforceable deadlines for EPA is a joke. Government is not good at meeting deadlines—“enforceable” or not--because bureaucrats are highly unaccountable people. You can’t vote them out, you can’t fire them, nor can you levy heavy fines on them. At best, members of Congress can call them to testify at oversight hearings. Big deal. Setting a minimum number of chemicals that EPA must “put through the pipeline” means the agency is supposed to take actions whether or not such action is necessary. In reality none of these actions are “necessary,” so this is just another bureaucrat’s job security program and an excuse for more government action.“Express protection” for “vulnerable” populations is just another green marketing term to push a regulatory agenda that promises to do more harm than good for everyone—including vulnerable populations. Of course we want to be sure babies, the elderly, and the infirm of society are cared for and face no needless risks. But there are no good reasons to believe that vulnerable populations face significant risk from exposure to trace chemicals from consumer products. Exposure is simply too low, even for babies. The real risks will result from needless green regulations that ban essential chemicals needed to make useful and even life-saving products. For example, if greens have their way, EPA would regulate away the chemicals used to make plastic medical devices and supplies that are essential for such things as storing the nation’s blood supply and treating kidney dialysis patients. Last, but not least, Dennison applauds the idea that agencies should not consider costs when issuing regulations! The absurdity of this is beyond measure. TSCA’s current mandate that EPA consider costs and apply “the least burdensome” regulations forces the agency to consider all costs—including the costs to human health and life! It has prevented EPA from issuing regulations that could increase overall loss to human life.
At this point, all we can do is cross our fingers and hope that the “reformed” law does something good by curbing insane regulations at the state level. But before passage, lawmakers should consider whether they are trading off too much for what will likely be a modest if not overly watered down and useless preemption provision.
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Study Finds Toxic Chemical In Nail Polish
Oct 19, 2015 | The Hill - Regulation
By Lydia Wheeler
Women who paint their fingernails might be absorbing a toxic chemical, a new study published Monday found.
Researchers at Duke University and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found evidence of a suspected endocrine-disrupting chemical widely used in popular nail polishes in the bodies of more than two-dozen women who participated in a biomonitoring study.
The study, published in Environment International, found that all women had a metabolite of triphenyl phosphate, or TPHP, in their bodies just 10 to 14 hours after painting their nails. Their levels of diphenyl phosphate or DPHP, which forms when the body metabolizes TPHP, had increased nearly sevenfold.
EWG said laboratory studies have found that exposure to TPHP can cause endocrine or hormone disruption, which can lead to cancerous tumors and birth defects and other developmental disorders in unborn babies.
“It is very troubling that nail polish being marketed to women and teenage girls contains a suspected endocrine disruptor,” Johanna Congleton, a senior scientist at EWG and co-author of the Duke-EWG study, said in a news release. “It is even more troubling to learn that their bodies absorb this chemical relatively quickly after they apply a coat of polish.”
According to EWG, more than 1,500 nail polishes contain TPHP.
In a statement Monday, the Personal Care Products Council’s Chief Scientist Beth Lange said there is no substance the Duke-EWG study and called its claims "alarming."
“American consumers should not be concerned by new research that is speculative, misleading and does not use sound science to assess the safety of an ingredient, which has a long and well-documented history of safe use,” she said.
She went on to say that TPHP has been widely and safely used across many industries and sometimes an “extremely small amount” is used in nail polish as a way to increase its flexibility and durability.
Like all ingredients in cosmetic products, the council said TPHP must be safe for its intended use under current Food & Drug Administration regulations. The group said data from other biomonitoring studies have shown that TPHP is found in both men and women, contradicting EWG’s conclusion that its use in nail polish is an important contributor to TPHP exposure.
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Rep. Pallone Hails New Study For Nailing Cosmetics Industry
Oct 20, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Dylan Brown
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) yesterday called on Congress to step up and regulate the cosmetics industry after a new study found that women who painted their fingernails had elevated levels of a chemical linked to reproductive and development problems.
The report published yesterday by the Environmental Working Group and Duke University found that using nail polish caused a sharp spike in a toxin produced when the body metabolizes triphenyl phosphate.
Known as TPHP or TPP, triphenyl phosphate is a common fire retardant in foam furniture and a "plasticizer" that makes nail polishes more durable and flexible. The chemical, often found in higher concentrations in clear polishes, is a suspected endocrine disruptor, a compound that affects hormones.
"Millions of Americans assume that the cosmetics they are using on a daily basis are considered safe, but that is a myth," Pallone said in a statement. "This latest study shows that these products can contain harmful chemicals, and that they are being absorbed into the body and putting consumers' health at risk."
The EWG-Duke study tested 10 polishes from the more than 3,000 nail polishes and treatments compiled in EWG's Skin Deep database. While 49 percent of polishes in the database list triphenyl phosphate on their labels, eight out of the 10 polishes used in the study contained the chemical, including two that omitted it from their label.
In a statement, EWG officials said they decided not to disclose the names of any of the brands tested because they did not test a manufacturer's entire line of products -- and that manufacturers could have updated their labels before the study was published.
Pallone, the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he plans to get to work on "long overdue" bipartisan legislation that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the framework and resources for reining in an unregulated industry.
"Every day, consumers carefully decide which brands to buy and which products their families use -- they deserve to know that they are making safe choices," Pallone said.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have already introduced legislation regulating personal care products in the upper chamber (E&E Daily, April 22).
S. 1014 would require FDA to evaluate the safety of at least five chemicals each year, starting with diazolidinyl urea, a preservative used in deodorants, shampoos and other products; lead acetate, a color additive in hair dyes; methylene glycol, a form of formaldehyde in hair treatments; and preservatives propyl paraben and quaternium-15.
If passed, the legislation would allow FDA to order recalls of products deemed unsafe under the same standards used by U.S. EPA for pesticides. Products would also have to be registered annually, and a complete list of ingredients and product warnings would be required to appear online.
EWG and other health advocacy groups back the bill and, after extensive meetings with lawmakers, so does the Personal Care Products Council, which represents major companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Revlon, Estée Lauder, Unilever and L'Oréal.
"While we believe our products are the safest category that FDA regulates, we also believe well-crafted, science-based reforms will enhance industry's ability to innovate and further strengthen consumer confidence in the products they trust and use every day," said Lezlee Westine, president and CEO of the Personal Care Products Council, in a statement at the time the Senate bill was introduced.
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Udall 'Optimistic' On Possible LWCF Deal To Allow Vote On TSCA Reform
Oct 19, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Bridget DiCosmo
Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), a lead co-sponsor of legislation to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), says he is “optimistic” on reaching a deal with senators to resolve a dispute over reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) that has led to an indefinite delay of a Senate floor vote on the TSCA bill.
“Conversations about the path forward for both TSCA and LWCF continue, and Senator Udall remains optimistic that an agreement will emerge,” a spokeswoman for Udall's office tells Inside EPA Oct. 19.
Udall, who introduced the TSCA bill with Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), earlier this month said he would try to craft an agreement with Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) who are pushing for reauthorizing the LWCF, which expired Sept. 30. Burr and Ayotte had floated the possibility of trying to attach a reauthorization measure to the TSCA reform bill, which led to senators holding off on a planned floor vote on the reform bill.
Ayotte and Burr are both supporters of the TSCA reform legislation, S. 697, but their push on the LWCF has created major uncertainty about when the Senate might try to hold votes on any of the measures.
Udall has said he supports Burr and Ayotte in pushing a stand-alone bill to reauthorize the LWCF, and is trying to reach a deal with the senators through which they would drop the planned TSCA bill amendment in exchange for Udall helping to promote support for the stand-alone LWCF bill.
A spokesperson for Burr's office declined to give an update on the negotiations over the LWCF, a fund that helps acquire and maintain park lands and is funded by companies drilling offshore for oil and gas.
Politico has reported that a TSCA bill amendment on the LWCF could face opposition from a handful of senators, including Republicans Ted Cruz (TX) and Mike Lee (UT), leading to neither the rider nor the bill getting a vote. While the TSCA bill currently has at least 60 declared supporters -- enough to overcome a potential filibuster threat from Sen. Barbara Boxer, who opposes the bill's state preemption and other provisions -- attaching the LWCF measure could cause a loss of support that cuts S. 697's support to under the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Ayotte and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) both attempted during Senate floor action Oct. 8 to advance the standalone LWCF reauthorization bill, calling for unanimous consent of its passage. Both efforts were quickly stifled with Sens. Lee and James Lankford (R-OK) objecting, and the timetable for future action is unclear.
In floor remarks Oct. 6, supporters of the TSCA reform legislation urged Ayotte and Burr -- both co-sponsors of S. 697 -- to find another avenue for reauthorizing the LWCF. For example, Vitter said, "I urge all of us to come together, now, and get this done. In the Senate these opportunities don't come a dime a dozen. . . .The only issue is Senator Burr and Senator Ayotte, and their desire to have a vote on a completely different piece of legislation. But we have an agreement to move forward in two hours and we need to do that."
Pending Vote
Senators finished their most recent session Oct. 8 without holding a vote on S. 697, and Oct. 19 reconvened with consideration of a "sanctuary cities" bill, S. 2146, unrelated to TSCA reform.
The Senate Press Gallery in an Oct. 19 entry on its website says that the next day, Oct. 20, the Senate will begin consideration of the nomination of Ann Donnelly to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, with a vote on confirmation of the nomination taking place that morning. “Further, at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, vote on the cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 2146, the Sanctuary Cities bill,” the entry says.
Adding to complications on advancing the TSCA bill, Democrats blocked energy and water appropriations legislation, H.R. 2028, from proceeding before the Columbus Day break.
The 49-47 vote to prevent cloture drew the ire of Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chair of the Appropriations Committee's energy and water panel, who called it "a very bad precedent and it really insults the Senate.”
Even if senators can resolve the impasse over unrelated legislation such as the LWCF, they might still have to address some lingering concerns about the bill from advocates and states.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has said that the revised bill does not address its fears about language that could weaken EPA's significant new use rule power to identify chemicals of concern.
In addition, the Environmental Council of the States and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) -- two groups representing state officials -- in a recent letter to the top Republican and Democratic members of the Senate say they welcome the push for TSCA reform but add that changes to the bill are necessary. For example, the groups call for softer preemption of state chemicals programs and other updates. The two states groups urge the senators to ensure that the final TSCA measure limits preemption of state chemicals programs; permits states to regulate chemicals during the period when states seek a waiver to regulate chemicals that have been assessed by EPA; and address concerns about how to ensure that EPA has the necessary funding and other resources "to fully implement this legislation" should it become law.
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(ACC Mentioned) Time An Issue On Rail Safety
Oct 19, 2015 | The Houston Chronicle
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Railroads are pushing Congress to extend a deadline for installing safety technology on trains that carry cargo as well as commuters, warning that oil, gasoline and other goods moved by rail could be stopped in their tracks without extra time.
At issue is Positive Train Control, a communications system that is meant to coordinate the movement of trains nationwide, preventing collisions and derailments. Congress mandated railroads use the technology in 2008, after a commuter train's crash in California killed 25 people.
But most U.S. railroads are on track to miss a Dec. 31 deadline for adopting the complex technology.
Some safety advocates say the industry has moved too slowly to roll out PTC, more than four decades after federal accident investigators first recommended such train control systems.
But installing the vast satellite-based system across multiple railroads - and ensuring the trains, towers and signaling boxes effectively communicate with each other - has proved challenging. Some PTC components had not been developed before Congress mandated the system. And delays were exacerbated by a 13-month federal moratorium on the installation of new communication poles in rights of way to transmit radio signals.
"You cannot purchase PTC systems off the shelf at Best Buy," said Michael Melaniphy, president of the American Public Transportation Association, which is pushing Congress for more time. Otherwise, Melaniphy warned reporters Monday, "there will be a transportation crisis in this country with severe economic consequences."
The repercussions could be steep for the oil and gas industry, which increasingly turned to rail during a domestic drilling boom to move crude and refined petroleum products across North America. Where railroads transported 29,606 carloads of crude in 2010, last year they carried almost 16 times that.
Just in the week ending Oct. 10, some 13,621 carloads of petroleum and petroleum products were carried across U.S. rail lines, according to the Association of American Railroads. That's a 16.6 percent decline from the same week a year earlier but still represents 5 percent of total U.S. railcar traffic.
That crude-by-rail traffic and the transportation of other commodities "could grind to a standstill" without at least three more years to install the system - and up to two more years for testing and validating it - said the association's president, Ed Hamberger.
Major U.S. freight railroads, including BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern, have said they will shut down many operations on Dec. 31 to comply with the deadline and avoid hefty fines for flouting it.
Because railroads will begin shutting down services weeks earlier, they need a clear signal from Congress before the end of October, Hamberger said.
If rail service is significantly suspended, the oil industry could turn to trucks to move some currently railed crude across the country. But road traffic and competition for truck transport would soar as other industries also looked to ship their commodities along highways instead of rail.
In an Oct. 2 letter, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the National Propane Gas Association, the Texas Cast Metals Association and the American Chemistry Council joined scores of other trade groups pleading for Congress to "avert the potentially catastrophic shutdown of the American rail network."
The American Petroleum Institute did not sign on to the missive. The trade group supports "a resolution to ensure that there are continuous and safe movements of freight rail," said spokeswoman Sabrina Fang.
But she declined to be more specific about API's policy preference - including whether the group favors a broad, rail-wide extension and how long it should be.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has opposed a blanket extension and urged Congress not to capitulate to railroads on an urgent safety issue. Experts say PTC could have averted a deadly May 13 Amtrak accident in Philadelphia and other train derailments.
So far, Congress is inclined to extend the deadline.
A Senate-passed transportation bill would give railroads until 2018 to install positive train control.
A stand-alone bill in the House would extend the PTC deadline to the end of 2018.
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(ACC Mentioned) Railroad Officials Warn Of Shutdown If Safety Deadline Not Extended
Oct 20, 2015 | CT Post
By Dan Freedman
Although Congress appears close to extending the Dec. 31 deadline for Positive Train Control, railroad executives and lobbyists on Monday warned of dire consequences to transportation and the economy if lawmakers fail to do so.
“It has to be done now,” said Edward Hamberger, president of the Association of American Railroads, in a conference call with reporters. “It cannot be business as usual in Washington, with Congress waiting until the day before the end of the fiscal year to pass legislation. That will not work in this case.”
Hamberger referred to the unsettling predictions of an American Chemistry Council analysis, which included 700,000 jobs lost and a GDP downturn of 2.6 percent. If no extension is forthcoming, railroads need time to plan an orderly shutdown, Hamberger and other railroad representatives said.
In the meantime, there were signs that lawmakers in both parties were close to an agreement on extending the deadline for PTC, a GPS-like train safety system that uses transponders, radio bandwidth and trackside towers to automatically slow or halt trains that are on a collision course or speeding excessively.
Congress in 2008 mandated the 2015 deadline for PTC, but the railroads have insisted they need more time to install and test a system so technologically advanced.
“It could be close at hand,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee.
He said political dysfunction in the House owing to House Speaker John Boehner’s impending departure may prove to be a key obstacle to a settlement. “The question is who speaks for the House?”
Blumenthal also accused the railroads of using “scare tactics to bolster their bargaining position.” But railroad executives insisted they were simply being realistic about the potential cost of congressional inaction.
“Let us never take for granted what Congress may or may not do,” said Michael Melaniphy, president of the American Public Transportation Association.
Metro-North and its parent, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, have taken a more measured approach to a potential shutdown.
“If Congress does not act on implementation extension, the impacts on our customers and the economy of the New York metropolitan area could be very significant,” said MTA chairman Thomas Prendergast in a Sept. 14 letter to Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee chairman Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. “Currently there is little in the way of definitive answers about what will occur, absent an extension, on Jan. 1, 2016.”
Metro-North has said it needs until the end of 2018 to make PTC operational.
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(ACC Mentioned) Time Needed For New Railroad Braking System
Oct 19, 2015 | My AJC (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution )
By Edward R. Hamberger
The clock continues to tick toward a shutdown of critical railroad services that would have far-reaching consequences for the nation’s economy. But Congress can avert this crisis by giving rail operators more time to safely implement complex braking technology across the nation’s rail system.
In 2008, Congress required railroads to install an automatic crash-avoidance braking system – called Positive Train Control (PTC) – which would kick in when an unsafe situation arises. To comply with this mandate, the rail industry developed a completely new and untested technology that it is now working to install on 60,000 route-miles of track.
Unfortunately, the Dec. 31, 2015 deadline Congress set for installing PTC is unworkable given the complexities of the technology. Despite enormous progress and $6 billion spent by the industry on implementation to date, freight rail operators will not meet this deadline.
At the heart of this challenge is the fact that PTC is not ready-to-go technology. More than 70 railroads had to create a system from scratch that would work seamlessly across all tracks, regardless of which operator owns those trains and tracks.
Achieving this interoperability is easier said than done. Before the research and development process surrounding the new technology could take place, railroads needed to build a consensus on interoperability requirements among rail operators, customers and the Federal Railroad Administration.
PTC needs real-world testing to identify and fix any problems, a time-consuming, but extremely necessary safety-check process that could leave serious issues undetected if rushed. This is why railroads have told Congress they need until 2018 to install PTC and an additional two years to validate that the nationwide systems work as envisioned.
Without an extension, many freight and passenger railroads will be forced to shut down to avoid breaking the law. A shutdown of this size would have far-reaching consequences for Georgia and the entire country, while leaving millions of commuters without a way to get to work.
Freight railroads ship essential cargo through the state, including chemicals often used as fertilizer for farming or for purifying drinking water. Without these products, Georgia’s agriculture industry could be dealt a serious blow, and municipalities may have to find a new source for clean drinking water. Of course, states throughout the country will be similarly affected as these shipments and others, such as grain and coal, grind to a halt.
This scenario would have vast economic repercussions. According to the American Chemistry Council, a rail shutdown of only one month would cut GDP growth by 2.6 percent in the first quarter and pull $30 billion from the economy.
Only Congress has the ability to extend the PTC deadline, but time is quickly running out. Lawmakers must come together now to pass an extension and avert the economic disaster that awaits if the nation’s rail industry is forced into a shutdown.
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The Trains Won’t Stop Running, Despite Dire Warnings About Federal Deadline For Safety Equipment
Oct 19, 2015 | The Washington Post
By Ashley Halsey III
The railroad industry on Monday held a conference call with reporters to raise the possibility that commuter rail lines nationwide might shut down on Jan. 1 unless Congress steps in to extend a deadline for the installment of new safety equipment.
As representatives from three commuter lines — Virginia Railway Express, Chicago’s Metra system and California’s San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission — told it, a shutdown would send millions of commuters onto the highways, causing the ultimate gridlock. Edward Hamberger, president of the Association of American Railroads, joined the call to say that if the freight railroads also shut down those additional cars on the highway would be joined by every truck that was able to roll.
It is more likely that Christmas will come in October. A discussion with leaders on Capitol Hill Friday made clear that Congress has every intention of doing what the railroad industry wants done, and doing it as expeditiously as possible.
At issue is something called positive train control (PTC). Put simply, in 2008, after a California rail disaster than killed 25 people, Congress said that railroads should install a complex automatic braking system that would have prevented it — and other accidents, like the Amtrak derailment in May that killed 8 and injured upward of 200 — by the end of this year.
The railroads haven’t accomplished that. They’ve told Congress that they won’t make it, and Congress intends to extend the deadline by at least another three years. An extension already is in a big transportation bill that was passed by the Senate. The House has introduced a stand-alone PTC extension bill. The most likely plan, staff members said Friday, is for the House to pass its bill and send it conference committee. There, since the Senate already passed a bill with that provision in it, the Senate action can be carved out of the larger transportation bill, merged with the House bill and sent to the floor for final action. It may not pass unanimously, but everyone agrees it won’t be a close vote.
House comes up with 6-year, $325 billion transportation bill, with a catch
Hamberger, who maintains one of the most influential lobbying operations in Washington, is as wired into the heartbeat of Congress as an electrocardiogram machine.
When it was pointed out on the conference call that there is virtually no chance that the gridlock scenarios will come to pass, and that federal regulators have forecast more deadly accidents if PTC is postponed, Hamberger deferred for a response to Michael Melaniphy, president of the American Public Transportation Association.
“Let us never take for granted what Congress may or may not do,” Melaniphy said. “Our job is to raise the knowledge and to bring these issues to the forefront so that everybody has the facts and they can make their decisions based on the facts.”
The fact, as a key transportation staff member said on Friday, is that there’s reason to be “very optimistic” that the PTC extension will pass.
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Safety Rule Deadline Will Cause 'Crisis' -- Industry Leaders
Oct 19, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Sean Reilly
Some commuter railroads, including one that serves the Washington, D.C., region, could have to shut down if Congress doesn't extend a Dec. 31 deadline for implementation of the automated safety system known as positive train control, industry leaders warned today.
Without more time for implementation, "there will be a transportation crisis in this country," Michael Melaniphy, president and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association, told reporters on a conference call. "It is critical that Congress move this legislation now."
Both Melaniphy and Edward Hamberger, head of the Association of American Railroads, urged lawmakers to approve any extension by the end of next week, citing the advance notice otherwise needed to give freight and passenger customers time to find other options after December.
Most large freight and commuter railroads say they cannot meet the existing timetable.
The Senate has included a three-year extension in H.R. 22, a long-term transportation reauthorization bill passed in July; leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last month introduced H.R. 3651, a stand-alone measure that would also roll back the deadline until the end of 2018, albeit under different terms, with up to another two years allowed for individual railroads that meet certain conditions.
"We think we're very close" to an agreement, a T&I Committee staffer told reporters late last week. Any final deal could be folded into a broader highway and transit reauthorization bill set for a markup by the House committee Thursday.
Even assuming, however, that House and Senate negotiators forge a compromise, several pitfalls loom. House leaders, for example, probably won't take the reauthorization bill to the floor until the Ways and Means Committee finds tens of billions of dollars to help cover the cost, the staffer indicated.
But earlier this month, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said Senate Democrats will agree to an extension only if the House approves it as part of the broader reauthorization bill. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) objects to a blanket rollback of the deadline for positive train control implementation, saying that the extensions should be granted only on a case-by-case basis. The Obama administration has so far taken a similar stance.
If lawmakers fail to agree on an extension, many freight and commuter railroads have already outlined their contingency plans in letters to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; today's conference call appeared to be an attempt to ratchet up the sense of urgency surrounding the issue.
"Let us not take for granted what Congress may or may not do," Melaniphy said.
Without an extension, some freight railroads have said they won't allow passenger trains or some toxic chemical shipments on their tracks for fear of the potential liability (E&E Daily, Sept. 15). Among the commuter lines that stands to be affected is Virginia Railway Express (VRE), which shuttles thousands of passengers each workday between Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia.
While VRE will "substantially complete" the process of installing positive train control equipment on its locomotives by year's end, CEO Doug Allen said, its trains run on track owned by CSX Transportation Inc. and Norfolk Southern Railway Co., both of which have acknowledged that they won't make the deadline.
If an extension is not granted, "it's likely that we'll have to cease operations," Allen said. VRE managers will be meeting Nov. 5 with the railroad's governing commissioners to make a decision, he said. Once that happens, he added, "we will be communicating to our customers as to what the situation is, so they can start looking for options if there is no extension."
Positive train control is an umbrella label for an approach that combines central dispatching and wireless communications to help provide an automated safety backup to a locomotive's engineer. Congress set the current timetable in a 2008 law signed soon after 25 people died in a Los Angeles-area collision between a commuter train and a freight train.
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DOT Proposes Tougher Safety Regulations For Hazardous Liquids Pipelines
Oct 19, 2015 | Breaking Energy
On October 1, 2015, the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) proposed changes to strengthen its hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations. The proposal aims to address mandates from the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011 (Pipeline Safety Act), which requires improvements in operation, maintenance, and inspection of hazardous liquids pipelines. The requirements were prompted by recent pipeline accidents, notably the 2010 crude oil spill near Marshall, Michigan, which released almost one million gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River.
Based on the varying requirements, the PHMSA proposal is estimated to result in annual costs ranging from approximately $1,000 to $16.7 million for the different requirements, with aggregate costs of approximately $22.4 million, and annualized benefits of approximately $3.5 million to $17.7 million.
Among the key provisions, the PHMSA proposal would alter repair and replacement criteria for high-risk pipelines under the agency’s risk-based management framework by expanding the list of conditions that require immediate repair, shortening timelines for critical repairs, and tightening pressure test standards. The proposal would expand reporting requirements, and work toward a data- and risk-informed approach by requiring operators to integrate available data on the operating environment, pipeline condition, and manufacturing and construction defects to manage risk. It would require all hazardous liquids pipelines to incorporate leak detection systems and establish a timeline for inspections of pipelines affected by extreme weather events. In addition, it would also require annual assessments of protective measures for pipeline segments in High Consequence Areas (HCAs) and set a deadline for the use of internal inspection tools in new and replaced pipelines.
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Biden Touts Climate Accomplishments
Oct 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Vice President Biden used a Monday speech to outline his accomplishments on fighting climate change, going back nearly three decades.
Biden repeatedly thanked business leaders assembled at the White House for their commitments to cut greenhouse gases.But the vice president, who could announce any day whether he will run for president, detailed extensively his work both in the Senate and in the Obama administration on climate.
His boasting could prove essential if he goes up against Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the leaders of the Democratic presidential field, who have pledged to go beyond what President Obama has done to reduce the use of fossil fuels, increase renewable energy and help communities adapt to climate change, among other policies.
“The administration’s Climate Action Plan outlines how we can go about curbing pollution, ushering in a clean energy economy, making sure we lead the world, and we have to lead the world, in tackling the most consequential issue of our time,” Biden said. “That’s why we hosted this summit, to show that, as we head to Paris, we are really close to a historic deal.”
Biden boasted about his role overseeing implementation of the 2009 Recovery Act, which included $90 billion for clean energy.
“It was destined to be an absolute failure, because everybody knew that the government can’t administer an almost $1 trillion program and spend $1 trillion in 18 months and make it work,” he said. “But the interesting thing is, every outside and inside study shows less than 0.2 percent of the $832 billion spent resulted in waste or fraud.”
He highlighted the administration's other clean energy work, which has resulted in dramatic increases in solar and wind power installations.
“We’ve increased electric generation from solar energy 20 fold. It’s now the fastest-growing electricity source, enough to provide clean and reliable electricity for 4.6 million American homes,” he said. “That’s not nearly enough, but it’s a hell of a lot more than we would be getting.”
Biden spoke extensively about the need to take care of people, communities and industries that could be hurt by the fight against climate change, such as coal-dependent areas.
“There’s a whole group of hard-working, decent, honorable people who’ve built an entire culture for the last 150 years around coal,” he said. “It’s not just a salary, it’s not just a coal mine. It’s how you get married, how you get buried, what your social mores are, what churches you go to.”
He brought up his native Scranton, Pa., as an example of a formerly coal-dependent community.
“Those of my liberal friends who just dismiss this notion that, ‘well, it’s just the way transitions occur,’ there are people who get hurt,” Biden said. “There will be industries that get hurt, and it matters, and we have an obligation to help them transition.”
Biden also took subtle steps that could differentiate him from Clinton — with her fraught relationships with Republicans — and Sanders — who has been criticized for a platform that’s seen as attacking the rich.
“I don’t consider Republicans enemies. They’re friends,” he said, a likely reference to Clinton listing Republicans in response to a debate question about which enemies she was proud to have.
On the rich, he said, “I’m not one of these guys, ‘let’s go after the rich and the powerful and they’re the problem.’ They’re not a problem. But everybody has to do their part, man.”
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Canadians Oust Keystone’s Champion
Oct 19, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Elana Schor
President Barack Obama will wake up Tuesday with a new Canadian leader who’s more interested in helping him reach a global climate change deal — but the long continental chill over the Keystone XL oil pipeline isn't over yet.
Canada’s prospective new leader, Justin Trudeau, led his Liberal Party to a decisive win at the polls Monday, with the Canadian Broadcast Corp. projecting liberals would hold a majority of seats in the government. Trudeau would unseat Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, whose nine-year reign has been marked by notable friction with the U.S. over Obama’s slowness to decide on Keystone.
The Alberta-to-Texas pipeline, a linchpin of Harper's energy strategy, has drawn fire from environmentalists in both countries who call it a symbolic threat to the climate effort. While Trudeau is also pro-Keystone, a fast rejection of the pipeline by Obama could give a new Liberals government time to pivot away from the controversial project to open a new chapter in continental relations.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Harper has narrowed the entire relationship with the United States to a single point around the Keystone XL pipeline, and he went to New York and criticized and harangued the President," Trudeau said during a televised debate last month.
But even a Liberal victory could ultimately disappoint greens who turned Harper’s persistent cheerleading for Keystone and withdrawal from the 1990s Kyoto climate pact into a political liability. That’s because while the Canadian Liberals have vowed to be stronger on the environment than Harper has been, they also promise to give individual provinces greater power to decide on their own carbon-cutting strategies.
That's a departure from the nationally enforced cap-and-trade system that Obama backed for the U.S., before he turned to executive branch regulations when Congress wouldn't come around. And combined with Trudeau’s own backing of Keystone, it could spell less change on climate change than greens want.
Keith Stewart, chief of the energy unit at Greenpeace Canada, compared Trudeau's potential environmental strategy to Obama's during his first term, when the president "made great speeches but wasn't spending a lot of political capital, frankly," until the Keystone fight heated up.
Trudeau would promise that "'Canada is back! We’re going to be a constructive player. We will be better than Stephen Harper.'" Stewart said. "They will be better than Stephen Harper. How much better depends on how they’re doing domestically."
Liberals only recently surged into first place in public polls, and few analysts were prepared to count out Harper in the waning hours of the election thanks to his past tendency to perform better than surveys suggest — and also since none of the parties need a majority to prevail.
In fact, it remained unclear even as the Liberals romped in eastern Canada whether they would win enough seats in Parliament to claim an absolute majority. The election day drama may yet run for days beyond Tuesday if the Queen of England's representative in Canada, known as the Governor General, is called upon to resolve a battle over which party has the support needed to form a working government.
The rival New Democratic Party, which is much more hostile to Keystone and sits well to the Liberals' left on climate, was a distant third in the most recent national surveys.
Unlike the U.S. presidential election, where voters rarely rank the environment as a top concern, the Canadian campaign homed in early on the consequences of Harper's relentless push for Keystone.
New Democratic leader Thomas Mulcair taunted Harper for vowing that he wouldn't "take no for an answer" from Obama on the pipeline, drawing laughter during the debate last month.
“Guess what?” Mulcair told Harper. “The answer was no, and you weren’t able to do anything about it.”
But plummeting oil prices around the globe have put a painful squeeze on the government of carbon-rich Alberta, the home province of both Keystone and Harper himself. Trudeau brings his own baggage to relations with the Canadian oil patch as the son of Pierre Trudeau, who infuriated Alberta in the 1980s by forcing its drillers to sell to eastern provinces at a lower price than they would to the U.S. or other foreign markets.
Jason Kenney, a Cabinet minister for Harper's Conservatives, stoked those bad memories during his party's official election kickoff in August by comparing the younger Trudeau's "arrogant, anti-Alberta attitude" to his father's.
Part of Trudeau's energy strategy involves looking for "at least one big pipeline project" to support that would help Canadian oil producers weather the months-long downturn, said Steven Guilbeault, co-founder of the green group Equiterre.
But Trudeau would also come to power with an Alberta government run by the climate-friendly New Democrats, who earlier this year ended a 44-year reign by Harper's Conservatives in the oil patch province. With Alberta strengthening its own plans to regulate industry emissions, Guilbeault said, "the stars are aligning themselves in Canada for us to a have much better environmental policy than the last 10 years."
"One might say anything would be better than what we had" under Harper, he added, "but it’s more than that."
Trudeau has promised that if victorious, he would convene a climate change summit of provincial leaders within 90 days of taking over, but he'll first have to push past his own late Keystone-related campaign scandal. The Liberals' campaign co-chair, David Gagnier, stepped down last week amid a flurry of criticism after the leak of a memo he wrote to Keystone backer TransCanada on how to most effectively lobby a Liberal government.
"An energy strategy for Canada is on the radar and we need a spear carrier for those in the industry who are part of the solution going forward rather than refusing to grasp the implications of a changing global reality," Gagnier wrote to the pipeline giant.
A Harper victory would have portended ongoing tension in U.S.-Canada relations that go beyond Keystone, such as over the recent hiccups during talks on the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal and a dispute over Buy American rules during construction on a ferry that links Alaska and the province of British Columbia.
A Trudeau win stands to bring warmer ties, even if it gives Obama no additional leverage to win a strong global climate deal during United Nations Talks in Paris next month. The 43-year-old Liberal leader slammed Harper for frostiness towards the president during last month's debate.
"[T]he fact is that Canadians are sitting around worried about their jobs because we have a Prime Minister that doesn’t like Barack Obama," Trudeau said.
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More Businesses Get on Board with Climate Deal
Oct 20, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
Pressure is building on the world's governments to successfully strike a deal to fight rising temperatures and other impacts of climate change, as even more American businesses get on board with the idea.
Eighty-one companies, from tech giants such as Facebook Inc. and Intel Corp. to chocolate makers Hershey Co. and Mars Inc., have now joined a climate action pledge organized by the White House, up from 13 original corporate backers in July (144 DEN A-3, 7/28/15).
Chief executive officers from a handful of the companies met with President Barack Obama for a roundtable on Oct. 19. The White House also hosted a public summit later in the day, where federal officials got together with private sector and civil society leaders to talk about what they are doing to act on climate.
“If you notice, until you all started to come on board, this was a very, very steep hill to climb,” Vice President Joe Biden told the summit audience. Now, he said, “our most iconic businesses are stepping up at a time” when the world is close to sealing a historic deal on climate change.
Progress Toward Paris
The Obama administration doesn't want to stop there. A third round of pledges will be unveiled later this fall, before nations gather in Paris in hopes of signing the climate agreement.
With just six weeks to go until the Paris summit starts, the talks have already made significant progress by getting climate pledges from developed countries, including the U.S. and the European Union nations, and developing countries, such as China and India, for the first time. Altogether, 150 nations representing more than 85 percent of global carbon emissions have made their own contributions toward the deal.
“And so as we look at this major conference that we're going to be having in Paris in just a few months, where we've already mobilized the international community, including China, to participate, I just want everybody to understand that American businesses want this to happen as well,” Obama said at the roundtable.
The White House meetings were held the same day international negotiators began meeting in Bonn, Germany, to continue their work toward finalizing the text of the climate agreement (see related story).
Makes Business Sense
Aside from showing their support for the global climate deal, the companies that have signed onto the White House pledge are also committing to reduce their own emissions, increase their low-carbon investments and become more sustainable in other ways, by reducing water use or tackling deforestation in their supply chains, for example.
Some of the pledges have been in place for quite some time, while others are new.
Walmart's efforts to cut emissions, for example, date back to 2005, when the company's then-CEO recognized that doing so makes business sense.
Kathleen McLaughlin, president of the Walmart Foundation, said reducing emissions “has a number of business benefits,” including saving about a billion dollars a year in utility costs. As the world's largest retailer, Walmart also needs to make sure its supply chain is resilient to the impacts of climate change, McLaughlin said at the summit.
Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg BNA, was among the signatories to the pledge.
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Obama Courts Big Business For Support In Climate Talks
Oct 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
President Obama is enlisting big companies to help him make the case for an international climate change pact.
Obama is meeting Monday morning with the chief executive officers of five major companies to talk about how they’re cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and 68 companies signed on Monday to a White House pledge to reduce emissions and support the climate talks.It’s all part of Obama’s efforts to shore up support domestically and internationally for the ongoing United Nations climate talks. Negotiators hope to sign a final pledge to fight climate change worldwide in December in Paris.
In showing corporate support for the talks, the White House hopes to contrast big businesses’ opinions with those of congressional Republicans, who are trying to undermine and block the United States’ participation in the negotiations.
“These commitments show that international action on climate is not only good for our planet, it’s good for the bottom line,” top Obama adviser Brian Deese told reporters Monday.
“They also show when the United States leads on climate issues, not only do other countries step up and make more progress, but you see businesses, as well as other key actors, also stepping up to rally the world to address this issue,” he added.
The Monday meeting will include Obama and the heads of Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., Hershey Co., Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Johnson & Johnson and Intel Corp., all of whom have signed into the pledge.
“The president will have a conversation with them about the efforts that they are taking to combat climate change and about our mutual goal of driving to a successful, ambitious outcome in Paris in achieving an international climate agreement,” said Deese.
Todd Brady, environmental director for Intel, said his company’s commitment is a recognition of the business sense in fighting climate change.
“By us both committing to reduce the impacts of our operations as well as introducing new products and technologies, we believe we can help others to reduce the impacts of their operations as well,” he said.
Intel’s specific promises include a 10 percent reduction in its emissions intensity and continued installation of on-site clean energy production at its facilities.
The 68 companies on the climate pledge add to 13 who signed on when it was launched this summer, for a total of 81 companies.
Later Monday, Vice President Biden will speak at a White House event on the current state of the climate talks and the role of business leaders in that effort.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren and Deese will also speak.
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Former BLM Chiefs Push Obama On Methane Rules
Oct 19, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Two former land management chiefs are calling for tough new rules regulating methane emissions from oil and gas instillations on federal lands.
In a Monday letter to the White House, former Bureau of Land Management (BLM) directors Bob Abbey and Mike Dombeck said a new methane waste rule would both limit emissions of a potent greenhouse gas and provide new revenue to tribal governments.Dombeck and Abbey — Obama’s first BLM head, from 2009 to 2012 — said federal regulators should look to ban gas venting from oil-producing wells and cut natural gas flaring. The rule should require officials to test for leaks at least four times per year, they said, and it should apply to both new and existing oil and gas operations.
Those steps and others, they said, would reduce emissions of methane, the key component of natural gas. It would also provide more revenue for tribes that allow oil and gas drilling because it means putting more fuel on the market.
“We believe a rigorous rule is critical for reducing methane waste (the primary component of natural gas) from oil and gas operations on America’s public lands and of the federal mineral estate more broadly,” the officials wrote in a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan.
“This rule, in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, would also cut waste from tribal lands and generate revenue for tribal governments.”
In January the Obama administration proposed a series of steps to combat methane leaks, including new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency and the BLM. The EPA announced its proposed rule in August, but BLM officials have yet to unveil theirs.
Officials have indicated the new BLM rules — which govern energy development on federal and tribal lands — will update old standards for venting, flaring and leaks from new and existing oil and gas wells.
The oil and gas industry has opposed new methane regulations, noting emissions are decreasing on their own and acknowledging that drillers already have a financial incentive to cut back on leaks.
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Supreme Court to Hear Cases on Power Plant Subsidies
Oct 20, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether states with competitive power markets have authority to run subsidy programs to develop new power plants (Hughes v. PPL EnergyPlus, U.S., No. 14-614, cert. granted 10/19/15; CPV Maryland v. PPL EnergyPlus, U.S., No. 14-623, cert. granted 10/19/15).
The Supreme Court granted certiorari Oct. 19 on two Maryland cases, which were then consolidated into one, with hour-long oral arguments taking place next year and a decision before the term ends in June.
The cases deal with a subsidy program established by the Maryland Public Service Commission in 2012 that compels electricity companies to enter into long-term, 20-year contracts with generators selected by the state, with the intention of encouraging development of more natural gas-fired power generation.
PPL EnergyPlus, which spun off its competitive energy generation business and formed Talen Energy Corp. in June, sued, saying that the program is preempted under the Federal Power Act, which grants exclusive authority over interstate rates to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Determining Jurisdiction Between States, FERC
Experts said the Supreme Court could have agreed to hear the cases to draw a line between state and FERC jurisdiction in wholesale energy markets.
The court heard oral arguments Oct. 14 in a case that questioned FERC's authority to run demand response compensation programs in the wholesale energy markets. Electricity generators claimed FERC entered into retail energy markets, which are run by states, not FERC, when overseeing these demand response programs (FERC v. Electric Power Supply Ass'n, U.S., No. 840, oral arguments 10/14/15199 DEN A-15, 10/15/15).
“The court is clearly grappling with this bright line that the Federal Power Act draws between retail and wholesale,” Joel Eisen, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told Bloomberg BNA Oct. 19.
Third, Fourth Circuit Decisions
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in June that Maryland's subsidy program was preempted by the Federal Power Act.
Separately, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in September on a similar case filed by PPL EnergyPlus that a similar subsidy program in New Jersey was preempted by the Federal Power Act.
In addition, U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli filed a brief in mid-September affirming the Third and Fourth Circuit decisions, and saying he didn't recommend the Supreme Court grant certiorari for the Maryland and New Jersey cases.
‘Disincentive for Investment.’
George Lewis, director of corporate communications at Talen Energy, said subsidy programs such as those in both Maryland and New Jersey could harm development of future power generation.
“The subsidized development of new generation would cause significant harm to competitive generation markets in those states,” Lewis told Bloomberg BNA Oct. 19. “It would create a disincentive for investment in new generation and establish a precedent for developers [to] expect and wait for state subsidies to develop new generation, which in our view is contrary to the competitive generation markets that have been established in both of those states.”
Lewis said he remains optimistic the Supreme Court will affirm the lower court rulings. “In every case, there have been unanimous decisions by federal judges that Maryland and New Jersey improperly stepped into areas that are reserved for the federal government in terms of competitive generation markets,” he said.
On the other hand, Delia Patterson, general counsel for the American Public Power Association, which represents municipal electric utilities, said she remains hopeful the Supreme Court will use the case to delineate state and federal authorities on pricing of electricity. APPA filed an amicus brief in support of the Maryland Public Service Commission's subsidy program.
“We're hopeful the Supreme Court clarifies that the Federal Power Act and FERC regulations support long-term contracting and Maryland was not preempted from what it was doing by the federal government,” she told Bloomberg BNA Oct. 19.
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