Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 11/5/15
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(ACC Mentioned) Prices Fall for PVC, PET
Nov 5, 2015 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American selling prices for suspension PVC and PET bottle resin each ticked down a penny per pound in October, due in part to lower seasonal demand. -
(ACC Mentioned) EPA Tackles Highly Toxic Pesticide in Major Advance for Farming Areas in the U.S.
Nov 5, 2015 | Center for Effective Government
By Brian Gumm
After years of pressure by public health and environmental advocates, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finally proposing to greatly restrict a dangerous, neurotoxic pesticide called chlorpyrifos. -
EPA Crafting Children's Health Plan To Address Climate, Chemical Risks
Nov 5, 2015 | Inside EPA
EPA is crafting a work plan to better address risks to children's health from a variety of stressors, including climate change and exposure to toxic chemicals, following a discussion in early October between EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Susan Mathews Burwell. -
EPA Working with California on Synthetic Turf Studies
Nov 5, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Dinesh Kumar
The US EPA says it is working with states, including California, that are conducting studies to gauge the safety of recycled rubber tyre crumbs used in synthetic playing fields. -
US Furniture Industry Calls for National Flammability Standard
Nov 5, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A coalition of industry trade groups has petitioned the US Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) to adopt California's Technical Bulletin (TB) 117-2013 as the nation's first flammability standard for residential upholstered furniture (CW 22 October 2014). -
Agency Continues Use of Questioned Green Chemistry Statistics
Nov 5, 2015 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
A call by the U.S. EPA inspector general to consider ending a popular green chemistry program hasn't stopped the agency from pressing ahead with next year's event and doubling down on statistics criticized as lacking scientific basis. -
Study Shows Some 3-D-Printed Objects are Toxic
Nov 5, 2015 | R&D
By Sean Nealon
Researchers at the Univ. of California, Riverside have found parts produced by some commercial 3-D printers are toxic to certain fish embryos. -
Cyber Experts Say 'It's Time to Wake Up,' Reapproach Grid Defense
Nov 5, 2015 | E&E Energywire
By Peter Behr
Three senior electricity grid security experts are calling for a radically new approach to cybersecurity that shifts from complex technical defenses to simpler, surer protection that isolates the most critical power-sector systems from attack. -
After Toxic Exposure, Barriers to Workers' Comp are High
Nov 5, 2015 | E&E Greenwire
By Jamie Smith Hopkins
Workers' compensation rarely comes through for Americans harmed by toxic chemicals they were exposed to at work, according to researchers and federal overseers. -
(ACC Mentioned) CSX Develops App to Better Serve Public Safety Agencies' Cargo Information Needs
Nov 5, 2015 | Progressive Railroading
By Jeff Stagl
For years, CSX Corp. has worked with law enforcement agencies on joint security training and preparedness exercises. The Class I also long has tried to provide critical cargo information to state homeland security officers, local first responders and other officials to help them ensure the public’s safety. -
(ACC Mentioned) BNSF Railway Helped Lead Fight to Delay Train Safety Technology
Nov 5, 2015 | West Central Tribune
By Reuters Media
When an Amtrak passenger train derailed in Philadelphia in May, killing eight people and injuring scores more, the railroad industry’s campaign to delay a Dec. 31 deadline to install technology to prevent such disasters appeared to be finished. -
On the Misuse of Environmental History to Defend the EPA’s WOTUS Rule
Nov 5, 2015 | Washington Post
By Jonathan H. Adler
This week, the Senate considered proposals to reject a new regulation issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency redefining the meaning of “waters of the United States” subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act. -
These 3 States Have a Head Start on the Clean Power Plan. You'd Never Guess Who They Are.
Nov 5, 2015 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
Everyone in Colorado skis, all Oklahomans can rope a calf, and native New Jerseyans like me all talk like Pauly D did onJersey Shore. -
Legal Action Supporting EPA Climate Rule Reveals More Discord in States
Nov 5, 2015 | E&E Climatewire
By Elizabeth Harball
Republican-led Florida is among the 26 states suing U.S. EPA in an attempt to kill the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration's newly released rule aiming to slash the nation's carbon emissions 32 percent by 2030. -
US NGO Publishes GreenScreen Guidance for Building Professionals
Nov 5, 2015 | Chemical Watch
NGO, Clean Production Action, has published guidance on how to use its chemicals assessment tool, GreenScreen, to meet criteria under the US Green Building Council's (USGBC) certification programme, Leed v4.
Industry and Association News
Chemical Management News
Chemical Security News
Transportation News
Energy and Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) Prices Fall for PVC, PET
Nov 5, 2015 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American selling prices for suspension PVC and PET bottle resin each ticked down a penny per pound in October, due in part to lower seasonal demand.
It’s the third straight 1-cent drop for PVC in the region. Sales of the material typically slow down as cooler temperatures slow construction, PVC’s largest end market. Prices now are down a net of 2 cents per pound so far in 2015.
In the first nine months of the year, U.S./Canadian PVC demand fell 1.4 percent, according to the American Chemistry Council. Export growth of more than 1 percent was canceled out by a 2.5 percent drop in sales to the domestic market.
Some domestic end markets have fared well in 2015 in spite of the overall softness in demand. Sales of PVC into wire and cable in the region have grown more than 7 percent in the nine-month period, while sales into siding and related uses are up more than 4 percent.
Third-quarter PVC sales at resin maker Axiall Corp. of Atlanta fell 4 percent to 648 million pounds vs. the same quarter in 2014. Axiall’s nine-month sales of chlorovinyls — including PVC and related products — slipped 22 percent to $1.94 billion.
Regional PET bottle resin prices also notched a 1-cent downturn in October. Prices for that material now have fallen for three consecutive months. The 1-cent October drop followed declines of 4 cents in August and 3 cents in September.
PET bottle resin prices now are down a net of 2 cents per pound so far in 2015. The market continues to struggle with resin overcapacity and with reduced demands for carbonated soft drinks, its largest end market.
Plastics News also this week is showing downward price corrections for several engineering resins. The corrections reflect lower feedstock prices that have affected regional and global markets since mid-2014, when prices for crude oil and related feedstocks began to see steep declines.
Prices for all grades of polycarbonate on the PN pricing chart are being corrected downward by 50 cents per pound. Nylon 6 and 6/6 prices are being corrected downward by 25 cents per pound, while average selling prices for polybutylene terephthalate are being corrected downward by 15 cents per pound.
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(ACC Mentioned) EPA Tackles Highly Toxic Pesticide in Major Advance for Farming Areas in the U.S.
Nov 5, 2015 | Center for Effective Government
By Brian Gumm
After years of pressure by public health and environmental advocates, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finally proposing to greatly restrict a dangerous, neurotoxic pesticide called chlorpyrifos. This chemical causes a variety of developmental problems and lowers IQs. The pesticide is especially dangerous to children and developing fetuses.
Despite mounting evidence of the harm the pesticide causes to farmworkers and their families, as well as documented contamination of food, air, and drinking water near treated fields, EPA has continued to allow agribusiness operations to spray the chemical on crops. In California alone, more than 1.1 million poundsof the chemical are being sprayed on agricultural fields each year, sometimes near public schools.
A coalition of advocates led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Pesticide Action Network of North America, Farmworker Justice, and Earthjustice has been working tirelessly to get this dangerous pesticide banned. They had an early success when the EPA restricted indoor use of the pesticide in 2000. In 2002, the agency further restricted its use on certain fruit crops, and in 2012, EPA established "no-spray" buffer zones around homes and public recreation areas. The new proposed rule would stop all agricultural uses of the chemical.
In June, the EPA said it would take formal action to tackle the food contamination issue, but it did not plan to act until spring of 2016. The public health and environmental groups objected to this delay and asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene. The court did and told the agency that it had until the end of October 2015 to either reject the organizations' formal petition, issue a proposed rule on chlorpyrifos, or issue a final rule. The agency chose to propose the agricultural ban because it said combined exposure to chlorpyrifos in food and drinking water could be unsafe.
The agency is scheduled to issue a final rule on the pesticide in December 2016.Dow Chemical, a manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, has been lobbying against restrictions on its use.
Dow Chemical, which manufactures chlorpyrifos and opposes restrictions on its use, spent more than $36 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies between 2012 and 2014. It had 26 lobbyists to undertake this work in 2014, and it is also a board member of the American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry's main trade association and lobbying arm.
Dow's Midland, Michigan facility, which produces chlorpyrifos (among other chemicals), houses over 2 million pounds of toxic chemicals and over 6 million pounds of flammable substances, and it released more than 300,000 pounds of chemicals into the environment in 2013, according to the Toxics Release Inventory. Dow was named a chemical industry bad actor in the Center for Effective Government's October 2015 report, Blowing Smoke, because of the high numbers of serious workplace health and safety and environmental violations at its inspected chemical manufacturing facilities.Public interest advocates prevail in the face of chemical industry influence.
The proposed ban on chlorpyrifos in agriculture is an important victory for public and worker health.
"It's a step forward on the path to environmental justice," said Virginia Ruiz of Farmworker Justice. "Farmworkers and their families, who are predominantly poor and majority people of color, bear the brunt of poisonings from pesticides and pesticide drift."
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EPA Crafting Children's Health Plan To Address Climate, Chemical Risks
Nov 5, 2015 | Inside EPA
EPA is crafting a work plan to better address risks to children's health from a variety of stressors, including climate change and exposure to toxic chemicals, following a discussion in early October between EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Susan Mathews Burwell.
Ruth Etzel, director of EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection, told the annual meeting of the National Institute of Environmental Health and EPA Children's Centers Oct. 29 that the action plan will address four major children's health challenges -- climate change, toxic chemicals, healthy housing and asthma disparities.
The action plan stems from the recent meeting between McCarthy and Burwell, co-chairs of the President's Task Force on Environmental Health and Safety Risks to Children, established through a 1997 executive order signed by President Bill Clinton. The meeting also included representatives from 14 other agencies.
Etzel told the children's health conference that the hour-long meeting between McCarthy and Burwell was a significant and rare event, noting that top federal leaders in children's health protection met rarely during the George W. Bush administration.
"It's really important for us to get all the federal agencies working together on children's health issues," she said.
Etzel told Inside EPA that agency staff will write a draft of the plan in the next three months, though it will have to undergo review so a date for public release is uncertain.
During the meeting Etzel noted that Obama reiterated in an Oct. 2 Child Health Day proclamation that the administration is committed to addressing climate change, which poses risks for children's health.
"The changing environment is something we can't leave to individuals, it's about changing things at the national and international level so that children will have a healthier environment," Etzel said, citing Obama's recent proclamation.
Speaking to children's health experts, including researchers on pesticides' neurodevelopmental risks, Etzel also noted recent agency efforts to protect children.
She touted the agency's Sept. 28 announcement of highly-anticipated revisions to its farmworker protection standards (WPS), seeking to limit pesticide exposures. EPA published those revisions in the Federal RegisterNov. 2.
The WPS revisions seek to reduce pesticide exposures to farmworkers and their families by strengthening training requirements and setting a first-time minimum age of 18 for pesticide handlers, Etzel said, adding that children, who are still developing, are at greater risk from pesticide exposure. They may also lack judgment to safely apply pesticides.
The revised standards also require training to prevent workers from tracking pesticides into their homes where their children may be exposed.
Although EPA announced the revisions recently, Etzel says federal and state officials will have roughly 14 months to educate businesses before regulators begin enforcement.
She also noted that EPA Oct. 1 finalized its new national ambient air quality standard for ozone, tightening the standard from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 70 ppb, adding that the new standard would lead to 160,000 fewer missed school days. "We believe these updated standards will give more protection for children at the ground level," she said.
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EPA Working with California on Synthetic Turf Studies
Nov 5, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Dinesh Kumar
The US EPA says it is working with states, including California, that are conducting studies to gauge the safety of recycled rubber tyre crumbs used in synthetic playing fields.
Existing studies on their safety – including one done by the EPA itself – “do not comprehensively address” recently raised concerns about the exposure risk to children, the agency told Chemical Watch.
The potential harm posed by fields using the crumbs has drawn national attention. And Congressional leaders have asked the EPA whether the issue has been fully assessed (CW 29 October 2015).
The EPA's 2009 “limited study” did not detect a level of concern. However, the agency said, it only focused on environmental impacts such as air emissions.
“The Synthetic Turf Council [STC] and others should not characterise EPA studies as a determination that tyre crumb is safe or not safe,” it added.
In contrast, the STC says the available science indicates that the playing surface presents “no elevated health risks” (CW 20 October 2015).
Other federal agencies, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, have also done limited studies. But like the EPA's, they were “not designed, nor were they sufficient in size and scope, to draw conclusions about the safety of all fields across the nation,” the agency said.
They too do not fully address recent concerns about exposure. In particular the potential risk from ingesting the beads, or their ability get under the skin when abrasions occur.
“As new questions arise, new data and analysis are needed,” the EPA told Chemical Watch.
However, a study commissioned by California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (Oehha) (CW 26 October 2015) is a comprehensive evaluation of tyre crumb, the agency said. It includes scientific research to determine the possibility of chemicals being released and any potential health risks to sports players using synthetic fields.
The EPA and other federal agencies are collaborating with California in designing and carrying out the assessment. EPA scientists have been providing technical advice on the design of the studies and “we will continue to engage with California on the implementation of the studies as well as the interpretation of the results,” the agency said.
“Our hope is that by working with the state of California, and other federal and state agencies, we will optimise our ability to gather sound, scientific credible data on potential risks and exposures, as we as identify critical remaining data gaps.”
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US Furniture Industry Calls for National Flammability Standard
Nov 5, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A coalition of industry trade groups has petitioned the US Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) to adopt California's Technical Bulletin (TB) 117-2013 as the nation's first flammability standard for residential upholstered furniture (CW 22 October 2014).
The nine trade groups who co-signed the petition say that federal adoption of California's standard would improve safety and “lead to further reductions in the use of flame retardant chemicals in residential upholstered furniture sold nationwide”.
In the absence of a federal standard, California's has served as the de facto national standard for furniture flammability for close to 40 years.
Until the 2013 update of TB 117, this had included an “open flame” test that “effectively required” the use of flame retardants, says the petition. TB 117-2013 removed the open flame test and made more stringent the smoulder-resistance test. The result was a standard that could be met without added flame retardants (CW 25 November 2013).
Marketplace shifts towards flame retardant-free
The American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA), a coalition member, says that after TB 117-2013 passed, “US foam suppliers immediately began removing flame retardants from the foam produced for the residential furniture industry”.
Thomas Reardon, executive director of co-petitioner the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (Bifma), notes a similar trend in non-residential furniture: “There is widespread agreement and support for the elimination of flame retardants across the industry, and … most companies are taking steps to remove those chemicals where they are no longer needed.”
The use or non-use of flame retardant additives in cushion foam is an individual decision made by manufacturers, says Bob Luedeka, executive director of the Polyurethane Foam Association (PFA). However, “as furniture manufacturers continue to request flame retardant-free foam, foam supply chain (including foam distributors and cushion fabricators) conversion to flame retardant-free foam cushions should near completion”.
NGO initiatives like the Mind the Store campaign also continue to advocate the removal of flame retardants from furniture (CW 28 October 2015).
However, a spokesperson from the AHFA said that after TB 117-2013, retailers “would be hard-pressed to find a supplier still using foam that contains flame retardants”.
Fire safety questions
Bryan Goodman, speaking on behalf of the North American Flame Retardant Alliance (Nafra), says that “the wholesale removal of flame retardants from furniture eliminates an important layer of fire protection”. He adds that “it's unfortunate that retailers find themselves under pressure” to remove all flame retardant substances from products.
With regards to the adoption of California's standard, the trade group said it looks forward to working with the furniture industry to develop a uniform, national standard. However, it hopes that the CPSC “actively evaluate the relevance of the open-flame test” during the process.
“According to the National Fire Protection Association, upholstered furniture can be a major fuel source during fires, so it is important that the CPSC implement a national standard that fully addresses fire safety, and that standard should actively consider open flame sources,” says Mr Goodman.
The AHFA says that while seat cushion filling is “the most flammable part of upholstered furniture”, smouldering cigarettes have been cited as the source of ignition for 90% of the upholstered furniture fires that resulted in a fatality.
“Because most fires involving upholstery begin with a smouldering cigarette, the new smoulder standard focusing on cover fabrics is believed to be more effective than adding chemicals to the foam underneath”, it adds.
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Agency Continues Use of Questioned Green Chemistry Statistics
Nov 5, 2015 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
A call by the U.S. EPA inspector general to consider ending a popular green chemistry program hasn't stopped the agency from pressing ahead with next year's event and doubling down on statistics criticized as lacking scientific basis.
The agency said yesterday it is seeking nominations for the 2016 Presidential Green Chemistry Awards Challenge, which recognizes companies for their use of safer chemicals. Companies that win are slated to be recognized at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in June 2016, including in a new category for a green chemistry technology that addresses climate change.
In seeking the nominations, the agency repeated statistics touting the winning technologies' role in preventing the use or generation of more than 826 million pounds of hazardous chemicals each year. In addition, the agency said the products saved 21 billion gallons of water and cut 7.8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent releases to air.
The awards are chosen by an independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute. While the outside group selects the winners, EPA administers the program and has given out 104 awards since it began 20 years ago.
In a statement, Jim Jones, the assistant EPA administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, touted the green chemistry awards as having "led to significant environmental benefits, innovation and a strengthened economy."
But in September, the IG's office found figures issued by EPA on the program's success "are not adequately supported or transparent" (Greenwire, Sept. 15). It also warned that the figures threaten to distort the agency's broader annual summary of pollution prevention program accomplishments.
That's because no one at EPA verifies the data, which are self-reported by award winners, the report found.
EPA said in September it would formally respond to the report within 60 days. However, Jones wrote that some of the IG's conclusions "appear to be based on inaccurate data or a misunderstanding."
In a statement, an EPA spokeswoman confirmed that the agency had not yet formally responded to the report.
It was appropriate to continue citing the questioned data if attributed to the companies, EPA said in a statement, just not to take credit for it in broader measurements of the agency's performance reducing pollution.
"In our announcement we give the credit to the nominees for the results," the agency said. "EPA will continue to collect and analyze the environmental results data from the nominated and winning [Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award] technologies."
Despite the questions over the awards, the agency stands behind them as serving "a critical role in raising the profile, importance, and credibility of green chemistry technologies and the findings of the report do not alter the importance of the program or the very real environmental results of the recognized innovative technologies," the statement said.
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Study Shows Some 3-D-Printed Objects are Toxic
Nov 5, 2015 | R&D
By Sean Nealon
Researchers at the Univ. of California, Riverside have found parts produced by some commercial 3-D printers are toxic to certain fish embryos. Their results have raised questions about how to dispose of parts and waste materials from 3-D printers.
“These 3-D printers are like tiny factories in a box,” said William Grover, an assistant professor of bioengineering in the Bourns College of Engineering. “We regulate factories. We would never bring one into our home. Yet, we are starting to bring these 3-D printers into our homes like they are toasters.”
The researchers studied two common types of 3-D printers: one that melts plastic to build a part, and another that uses light to turn a liquid into a solid part. They found that parts from both types of printers were measurably toxic to zebrafish embryos, and parts from the liquid-based printer were the most toxic. They also developed a simple post-printing treatment—exposure to ultraviolet light—that reduced the toxicity of parts from the liquid-based printer.
The research comes as the popularity of 3-D printers is soaring. The value of the 3-D printing market grew from $288 million in 2012 to $2.5 billion in 2013 and is projected to grow to $16.2 billion by 2018, according to a report by Canalys.
And, as the price of 3-D printers continues to drop—printers that use melted plastic are currently available for as little as $200, and the liquid-based printer used in this study can be bought for less than $3,000—they are moving beyond industry and research labs to homes and small businesses.
The research started about a year ago when Grover bought a 3-D printer for his lab. Shirin Mesbah Oskui, a graduate student in Grover’s lab, is developing tools for studying zebrafish embryos, and she wanted to use the printer in her research. However, her plans were thwarted when she noticed that zebrafish embryos die after exposure to parts from the 3-D printer.
From those observations, Oskui and Grover then decided to test the toxicity of printed objects from the two types of 3-D printers. Their results are described in a paper published online inEnvironmental Science and Technology Letters. Joining Oskui and Grover as authors on the paper are Jay Gan and Daniel Schlenk, professors in the Dept. of Environmental Sciences; Graciel Diamante, a graduate student working with Schlenk; and Chunyang Liao and Wei Shi, both of whom work in Gan’s lab.
Oskui used two commercial 3-D printers in their study, a Dimension Elite printer made by Stratasys (which uses melted plastic to build parts) and a Form 1+ stereolithography printer made by Formlabs (which uses liquid resin to make parts).
She used each printer to create disc-shaped parts, about an inch in diameter. Then she placed the discs in petri dishes with zebrafish embryos and studied survival rates and hatch rates and monitored for developmental abnormalities.
While the embryos exposed to parts from the plastic-melting printer had slightly decreased average survival rates compared to control embryos, the embryos exposed to parts from the liquid-resin printer had significantly decreased survival rates, with more than half of the embryos dead by day three and all dead by day seven. And of the few zebrafish embryos that hatched after exposure to parts from the liquid-resin printer, 100% of the hatchlings had developmental abnormalities.
Oskui also investigated methods for reducing the toxicity of parts from the liquid-resin printer. She found that after exposing the parts to ultraviolet light for one hour, the parts are significantly less toxic to zebrafish embryos. The UC Riverside Office of Technology Commercialization has filed a patent for this work.
The researchers’ findings call attention to regulations related to the materials used to create 3-D printed parts.
The substances used to create the 3D-printed parts would be regulated by the Toxic Substances Control Act, which is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. But the precise identity of these substances is often unknown to researchers and printer users because the printer manufacturers don’t disclose this information.
In the future, the researchers plan to further study the toxicity of the components of the 3-D printer material both individually and when mixed together in a completed part. They also want to find out at what level the material could be harmful to humans.
Other unanswered questions include how to dispose of the waste material—both solid and liquid—created by 3-D printers. At this point, the researchers think it is best to take it to a hazardous waste center.
“Many people, including myself, are excited about 3D printing,” Grover said. “But, we really need to take a step back and ask how safe are these materials?”
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Cyber Experts Say 'It's Time to Wake Up,' Reapproach Grid Defense
Nov 5, 2015 | E&E Energywire
By Peter Behr
Three senior electricity grid security experts are calling for a radically new approach to cybersecurity that shifts from complex technical defenses to simpler, surer protection that isolates the most critical power-sector systems from attack.
"To disrupt today's nation state adversaries and tomorrow's cyber terrorists and hacktivists, we must reengineer selected last-mile and endpoint elements of the grid," Michael Assante, Tim Roxey and Andy Bochman said in a paper titled "The Case for Simplicity in Energy Infrastructure," published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Assante is a senior associate with CSIS and former chief security officer of the North American Electric Reliability Corp. Roxey is a vice president of NERC and head of the electric power industry's cyberthreat information-sharing program. Bochman is senior cyber and energy security strategist of the Idaho National Laboratory.
"If we narrow our vision and set our sights on the comparatively small number of systems that MUST, from a national security perspective, be kept safe, we already have the process and technology means at our disposal to take back control. It's simple," they write.
They couple their argument with warnings about the increasing vulnerability of critical infrastructure to sophisticated cyber assaults, and a growing gap in cyber defense capabilities to stop these threats.
Recalling the character Neo in the film "The Matrix," the authors say the grid's operators and managers must choose between the "red pill" that delivers harsh reality and the "blue pill" of more comfortable illusion.
"One thing's for certain: the current approach to grid protection works well for reliability but will not stop skilled, adaptive adversaries, for whom our current methods virtually guarantee success. It's time to wake up and face this reality head on," they wrote.
Their statement about the gravity of the threat echoes those of senior administration security officials and grid regulators.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told a Council on Foreign Relations security conference in Washington yesterday that cyberattackers have penetrated some supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, the nerve centers of the power grid and other key infrastructure assets.
"I would argue that they've infiltrated many of our SCADA systems already and can turn the switch off -- that's the power that they have," McCaul said. "It can happen today. It's not in the future, it's not some science fiction thing -- it's real, and the capability is out there today, and I think we have to come to terms with that. We're way behind the curve."
Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, who also spoke at the conference, said, "We do have a national cyber incident plan that is a working document; it hasn't been finalized yet, and potential attacks on the power grid are part of that plan. But there's more we can do there, but this is something that we have [been] partnering with the private sector with, with critical infrastructure, been thinking about actively."'Fraying around the edges'
The authors of the CSIS article said: "Many electric utility security programs and professionals are already fraying around the edges, with most running full speed just to stand still. How these teams will handle a concerted series of medium- to long-duration targeted attacks on critical systems is very much in question.
"The price we bore for all that running? Escalating costs, high and ever-increasing complexity, more regulation, more oversight, more uncertainty, and more risk.
"In short, they got us right where they wanted us," the authors said of the nation's most formidable adversaries. "And in a very real sense, we were totally complicit.
"The old analog relays and circuit protection devices were as reliable as the day was long. But they are now being replaced by computer-based devices with more memory and processing horsepower than the utilities' first mainframes had."
For every major piece of grid equipment, hundreds of digital devices have evolved to support it, the authors wrote. "Remote terminal units, intelligent electronic devices, programmable logic controllers, distributed control systems, field programmable gate arrays: these are specialized computers with circuit boards, memory chips, and communications circuits, the parts sourced from innumerable suppliers, and animated via instructions coded in software. And while the hardware brings loads of complexity, it's in software that complexity truly runs wild," they wrote.
"Against this gathering storm of complexity, we find regulatory regimes providing demonstrable risk reduction," they said, with a salute to the cyber regulations required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and developed by NERC. But these controls are "not sufficient when it comes to targeted attacks by determined adversaries."
"With regulation, no matter how well we write it, implement it and audit it, we won't be able to deal with attackers of greatest concern," Assante said in an interview. The authors see their "isolation" strategy running in parallel with current cyber regulation.Attack blocking zones
To carry out their prioritize-and-protect strategy, the authors introduce the concept of attack surface interruption (ASI) zones. "We can use analog, nondigital, or purpose-built digital circuits that act as ASI zones to thwart attackers," they said. One "retro" approach would be to insert analog (non-programmed) boards or trusted human operators between critical systems and the digital control network, so that cyberattacks cannot pass through by finding holes in digital software systems.
A homespun example of an old analog grid control system is "Fred, who used to sleep at the substation with his dog," one of the authors said. "Give him an instruction to change a setting, and Fred would do it."
An updated version of "Fred" could be a control board produced by affordable 3-D printing that will pass through only the information that is right for a control device, and blocks the view and reach of a potential attacker into the system, Assante said.
"Meanwhile, as business interests have strong economic incentives to continue treating the symptoms (vs. solving the core problem), the already well-established engine of incremental security improvements will continue to roll on, addressing hygiene-level challenges and making profits for suppliers attempting to address the ever-expanding universe of lower-risk threats," the authors wrote.
"But businesses -- utilities and suppliers alike -- can and must be part of the ultimate solution," they concluded.
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After Toxic Exposure, Barriers to Workers' Comp are High
Nov 5, 2015 | E&E Greenwire
By Jamie Smith Hopkins
Workers' compensation rarely comes through for Americans harmed by toxic chemicals they were exposed to at work, according to researchers and federal overseers.
It can be hard to prove what happened because most diseases that can be caused by on-the-job exposure to chemicals have other causes, too. Companies are sure to raise those causes to argue they were not responsible for the exposure.
In addition, state-run workers' compensation programs have erected procedural barriers at the urging of industry groups.
At least 11 states require workers to file claims within a few years of their employment, but it could take longer for symptoms to appear. Some states also require that occupational exposure be more likely than all possible outside causes.
The insurance industry has defended the limits as necessary to prevent fraud. But others wonder whether the barriers are excessive and may simply shift worker health costs to other government programs, where taxpayers ultimately pick up the bill.
Glenn Shor, an analyst who worked on a report on workers' compensation for the Department of Labor in the 1980s, said a stronger system would encourage companies to act more responsibly to prevent workplace exposures.
Under current law, "if you don't have to pay for it," Shor said, "you're not going to do much to prevent it".
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(ACC Mentioned) CSX Develops App to Better Serve Public Safety Agencies' Cargo Information Needs
Nov 5, 2015 | Progressive Railroading
By Jeff Stagl
For years, CSX Corp. has worked with law enforcement agencies on joint security training and preparedness exercises. The Class I also long has tried to provide critical cargo information to state homeland security officers, local first responders and other officials to help them ensure the public’s safety.
Since the early 1990s, CSX has generated hazardous materials density reports for local emergency response and planning officials that include specific information on chemicals and other hazmat shipments moved through a particular community. And since 2007, the railroad has offered a map-based monitoring tool that enables homeland security and emergency management center officials to trace trains and rail cars in near real time.
Now, CSX is trying to provide vital cargo information in more ways, more detail and more immediacy, as well as in easier-to-use formats. To that end, the railroad in late August introduced Rail Respond, a mobile emergency information application. Using the app on any web-enabled device, first responders can look up the contents of a rail car or obtain train-list information in real time.
CSX aims to balance the need for transparency with the importance of protecting information from falling into the wrong hands — especially after 9/11, says spokesperson Melanie Cost. So, the Class I has attempted to leverage evolving technologies and collaborate more with constituents to improve its information-sharing tools.
“We know that having the facts — for planning and during an incident response — can make all the difference for keeping responders and the public safe,” says Cost.A new Rail Respond app is designed to help first responders learn the contents of a rail car in real time.Photo: CSX Corp.The railroad has made information-sharing strides from the original Community Emergency Response Guide paper document sent to 13,000 jurisdictions in CSX’s network, she says. Among the first: SecureNOW, which enables public safety and security officials to access to CSX’s Network Operations Workstation to track the location of trains and specific cars.
Introduced in 2007, the system initially covered the railroad’s operations in New Jersey and New York. But over the past eight years, it’s been expanded to 20 of the 23 states in CSX’s network, including focuses on the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., areas. A SecureNOW system is in place at the U.S. Department of Transportation,Transportation Security Administration and CHEMTREC, a communications center for emergency responders established by the chemical industry in 1971.
The system displays CSX trains that are operating in certain municipalities or moving into high-threat urban areas. SecureNOW is designed to help state homeland security and local law enforcement officers identify the status of trains and cars, and better prepare for and respond to emergencies.
CSX executives believe that by providing additional train shipment information, the system can help law enforcement officials more efficiently allocate resources, integrate rail security into their operations and coordinate efforts with the railroad’s security staff.Launched in late August, the app is expected to attract about 8,000 users by year's end. Source: CSX Corp.Now, Rail Respond is the “new kid on the block” that enables CSX to better share info with emergency responders and law enforcement officials, says Skip Elliott, CSX’s vice president of public safety, health and environment. The free-to-use application can be accessed from any Android-, iOS- or Windows-based mobile device.
After signing in with an I.D. and password, a user can learn the contents of any train or car in real time, including the hazard classification, and toxic or poison inhalation hazard identification number. Rail Respond also provides a car’s diagram, volume, weight, load status, shipment packing group and train position.
Hazmat-carrying cars are highlighted for easier identification. The application is designed to help guide responders as they walk along a train to locate specific cars.
Last year, CSX developed the app with assistance from the Operation Respond Institute, which created a computer-based system that provides emergency responders with information about a rail car’s hazmat contents. The Class I purchased the Operation Respond technology and re-launched it in August as Rail Respond with additional features and what CSX executives characterize as a more user-friendly design.
Rail Respond builds on the railroad’s existing suite of tools for first responders, as well as meets and exceeds recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Boardfor improving information sharing, says Elliott.
Along with the other Class Is, CSX supports the Association of American Railroads’AskRail™ tool, which enables first responders to use their smartphones to retrieve data about rail-car contents. But Rail Respond takes information sharing several steps further, says Elliott.
“We prefer to provide more specific information,” he says. “Rail Respond provides locomotive data, which we think is important. An emergency responder can know how much fuel is left in the locomotive’s fuel tank.”
Rail Respond offers two user levels: basic and advanced. Basic access is granted to firefighters and other responders, who can look up all information except trainset lists. Advanced access to all info is provided to fire and police chiefs, and other incident command officers.
In addition to obtaining train and car data, users can view an isolation zone based on a commodity’s characteristics and the proximity to day care centers, hospitals, schools and other sensitive facilities; access satellite imagery to zoom into a specific area; and obtain weather data to learn about any impending storms.
By year’s end or in early 2016, CSX plans to add a feature to Rail Respond that will enable users to identify water intakes and watersheds. The feature is designed to help responders coordinate efforts with local water authorities.
The railroad performs real-time monitoring of Rail Respond to ensure the app’s security. Controls are in place to notify CSX officials about any system abuse. If a user accesses car or trainset info, an automatic alert is sent to CSX’s Public Safety Coordination Center, which prompts a phone call to the user to determine the nature of an emergency and how the railroad can provide assistance.
“We want to make sure no one goes on a shopping spree of car numbers. We know who is making the inquiries,” says Elliott.
So far, about 4,000 emergency responders are using Rail Respond — a number that’s expected to grow to 8,000 by year’s end.
When CSX debuted the app Aug. 28 at the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ (IAFC) annual expo in Atlanta, more than 2,000 responders and fire officials viewed a demonstration.
“Then, 539 of them signed up to use it,” says John McFall, CSX’s manager of emergency planning and coordination-public safety, who manages the Rail Respond program.
A steering committee that includes representatives from the IAFC, National Volunteer Fire Council, Congressional Fire Services Institute and CHEMTREC provided feedback during Rail Respond’s development. Committee members — who continue to offer input — meet twice a year, but communicate on a regular basis, says McFall.
One committee member suggested CSX add the capacity of tank cars to the application instead of only showing a car’s current volume, so that data was incorporated into the app, he says.
Charles Werner, a retired chief of the Charlottesville, Va., fire department, also provided input to CSX. He believes Rail Respond is a critical tool for first responders.
“This real-time critical information is a game changer for public safety as it allows the use of today's smart device technology and computers to easily access the information when and where needed and at no cost,” Werner says. “Additionally, CSX has demonstrated its commitment to work with public safety to continue to listen and make improvements to Rail Respond.” -
(ACC Mentioned) BNSF Railway Helped Lead Fight to Delay Train Safety Technology
Nov 5, 2015 | West Central Tribune
By Reuters Media
When an Amtrak passenger train derailed in Philadelphia in May, killing eight people and injuring scores more, the railroad industry’s campaign to delay a Dec. 31 deadline to install technology to prevent such disasters appeared to be finished.
Not, as it turned out, if billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, had anything to do with it. Thune chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the rail industry.
Last week, under pressure from companies including Buffett’s BNSF Railway Co., which has spent more money lobbying Congress this year than any other railroad, U.S. legislators passed, and President Obama signed, a law that delays the so-called positive train control mandate for at least three years, with the possibility of an additional two-year delay.
That means railroad operators can put off having to buy and install equipment that safety advocates say would have prevented accidents that have claimed more than 245 lives and caused over 4,200 injuries since the National Transportation Safety Board began calling for the technology in 1969.
Railroad advocates presented a blunt argument: Unless the mandate to install positive train control technology was delayed, the railroads would attempt to cripple the economy. Railroads that missed the deadline to install systems that automatically slow or stop a train under dangerous circumstances claimed that they would face heightened liabilities by operating outside of federal law, and that therefore they would decline to carry passengers, including commuters. They wouldn’t deliver commodities that are classified as hazardous, but are also vital to the economy – including chemicals like chlorine and ammonia needed to run city water treatment plants, refine oil and keep farms and factories running.
BNSF, at $3.9 million, was the biggest spender among individual rail operators as railroads and allies including unions and regional transit authorities spent almost $25 million lobbying Congress on PTC and other issues, according to Senate documents.
BNSF, along with Norfolk Southern Corp and Canadian Pacific Railway, referred questions for comment to the Association of American Railroads.
“We commend Congress for passing the extension,” said AAR spokesman Ed Greenburg. “We have been warning for years that the deadline was unworkable because the technology had to be developed from scratch.” Railroads have spent $6 billion on PTC up to now and expect to spend another $4 billion before implementation is complete, according to the AAR.
Opponents of the deal, including Senators Diane Feinstein of California, Chuck Schumer of New York, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, all Democrats, found themselves outmaneuvered by the rail industry, aided by Thune and a regulator’s favorable interpretation of an obscure law.
“It is entirely inappropriate that the railroad industry would make hostages of America’s passenger rail services and chemical shippers in order to secure their favored legislative outcome,” Feinstein said in a statement for the Congressional Record. “It is offensive that only when a railroad could face full liability for an accident that they find operation without PTC to be unacceptably dangerous.”
Lobbying
Lobbying by shippers and other interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, drove total spending to almost $113 million over the course of the year. Records show that lobby spending jumped from about $18.5 million in the first quarter to $70 million in the third quarter as the push intensified.
Thune said he realized early on that the New Year’s Eve deadline could have dire consequences for the economy and for railroads, which were reporting problems with positive train control systems.
But after May’s Amtrak disaster, “when they announced that this could have been prevented if they’d had positive train control, there was a real spotlight on why we weren’t there and what we could do to get there faster,” Thune told Reuters in an interview.
Meanwhile, the railroads were hampered by anti-trust considerations that prohibited operators from talking directly with each other to launch a collaborative effort.
That changed in August after Thune sent letters to the regulatory Surface Transportation Board and individual railroads asking what would happen if the PTC deadline was not extended. His committee then publicized their responses.
“That was sort of the seminal moment,” Thune said. Now the railroads had a channel for their views.
Then on Sept. 3, Surface Transportation Board Chairman Daniel Elliott wrote a letter to Thune stating that railroads could be exempt from their federal obligation to provide service to shippers due to issues involving safety. The board is an economic regulatory agency charged by Congress with resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers.
Less than a week later, major U.S. and Canadian railroads including BNSF, Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific began informing Thune that Congress’ failure to act on a PTC extension would lead to crippling disruptions for shippers and rail passengers beginning Jan. 1.
“Everybody thought they were hyping this or overreacting,” Thune said. Then letters started coming in from shippers, farmers and cities alarmed by the potential disruptions. Railroad executives also raised the issue in quarterly calls with investors.
Soon, members of Congress were hearing from a host of industries — automakers, oil companies, high-tech firms, farmers, water treatment facilities and even the makers of bullet-proof vests. The American Chemistry Council, the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce weighed in on the railroads’ behalf.
Household names and giant employers including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Cisco Systems, General Electric, Cargill Inc and Land O’ Lakes joined the fray.
“I started having members coming up to me and saying, What are we going to do about this and how are we going to fix this? Democrats and Republicans,” Thune said.
That left it to four members of Congress — all of them big beneficiaries of rail industry campaign contributions — to work out a deal that could win bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. They then pushed to attach it to a must-pass short-term extension to the Highway Trust Fund.
The four were Thune and the Senate Commerce Committee’s top Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida, the House Transportation Committee’s Republican chairman Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania and that panel’s top Democrat, Peter DeFazio of Oregon.
Together, the four have received $1.2 million rail industry campaign contributions during their Capitol Hill careers, with about two-thirds of that sum going to the two Republicans, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
The measure passed both chambers on simple voice votes that meant individual lawmakers didn’t have their positions recorded. Supporters said that showed near universal support for the measure.
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On the Misuse of Environmental History to Defend the EPA’s WOTUS Rule
Nov 5, 2015 | Washington Post
By Jonathan H. Adler
This week, the Senate considered proposals to reject a new regulation issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency redefining the meaning of “waters of the United States” subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act. This so-called WOTUS rule is intended to clarify and extend the scope of federal regulatory jurisdiction in light of two Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 concluding that the agencies had adopted an unduly broad interpretation of the scope of their authority. This rule is opposed by many business and landowner groups and is already subject to multiple court challenges.
Arguing in defense of the WOTUS rule, and against a measure to rescind it, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) argued that rejecting the regulation would dramatically roll back federal protections of drinking water and place public health at risk. From the Wall Street Journal:
“You don’t want to be frightened when your child swims in a stream or drinks water that makes him or her sick,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), who is a ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “What this [bill] would do today is takes us back…to the day when rivers caught on fire.”
This claim is ridiculous. Whether or not the new WOTUS rule is a good idea, rejecting it would not “[take] us back … to the day when rivers caught on fire.” Not even close.
Some history: There was a time when rivers in the United States would catch fire with some frequency. In the late 19th and early 20th century, river fires were disturbingly common as industrial facilities often dumped chemicals and debris into neighboring waterways. This was a fairly obvious environmental problem, however, and local communities and state governments responded. They took action to prevent such fires from happening long before the federal government enacted the CWA. By the time the CWA was enacted in 1972, river fires were a problem that had long since been solved.
The last significant river fire was in 1969 — the infamous Cuyahoga River fire. This was not the first fire on the Cuyahoga, nor was it the worst, but it was the one that received the most national attention. The story of this fire even helped spur passage of the CWA, but the CWA did nothing to prevent river fires. As occurred elsewhere, relevant cleanup efforts were led at the local level. For those interested, I’ve written an extensive account of this history and common misperceptions about river fires, the Cuyahoga in particular.
So Boxer is wrong to suggest that curtailing federal regulatory authority would “[take] us back … to the day when rivers caught on fire,” as federal regulation had nothing to do with eliminating the problem of river fires. Whatever else the CWA has done for environmental protection, it had nothing to do with the end of river fires.
Boxer’s claim is wrong in a second way insofar as it suggests that voiding the new WOTUS rule would represent a significant rollback of environmental protection — to the levels that persisted in the 1960s. This too is wrong. The WOTUS rule is a brand-new regulation. It is a response to Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006. So rejecting the WOTUS rule would restore the status quo ante that has existed for nearly a decade, leaving the Army Corps and EPA with the same regulatory authority that they enjoyed for the first six years of the Obama administration. Whether or not one believes this is sound policy, it is not turning back the clock on environmental protection to the days of river fires.
The Senate ultimately rejected legislation to repeal the WOTUS rule on Tuesday. On Wednesday, however, the Senate passed a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Should this resolution become law (which is unlikely, as the president is sure to veto it), it would rescind the rule. It will not, however, “[take] us back … to the day when rivers caught on fire.”
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These 3 States Have a Head Start on the Clean Power Plan. You'd Never Guess Who They Are.
Nov 5, 2015 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
Everyone in Colorado skis, all Oklahomans can rope a calf, and native New Jerseyans like me all talk like Pauly D did onJersey Shore. Right?
You may also stereotype when it comes to clean energy: Progressive states such as California are pumping out clean, renewable energy while others insist on clinging to old, dirty power plants. Well, it’s more complicated than that.
California, which has a market-based system for cutting carbon pollution, does lead the country. But a number of states nationwide, including notably Nevada, Texas and North Carolina, are also making great progress on clean energy – which may surprise some.
Their success is evidence that the supposed divide on clean power may be more about politics than economics and opportunities on the ground.
And that bodes well for the federal Clean Power Plan’s goal of reducing emissions from America’s power plants. Because if Texas is well-positioned to comply, why couldn’t other states do the same? Energy policies that boost state economies
Texas, home of Big Oil, big hats, and JR Ewing, actually has more energy potential from resources sweeping over its prairies – in the form of wind and sunshine – than from those flowing underneath them. The state leads the nation in wind power and combined heat and power, and has the potential to generate more solar power than any other state.
If energy efficiency used by Austin Energy were extended across the state, it would reduce peak electricity growth by 40 percent, while keeping Texans as high-powered as ever.
Nevada, meanwhile, has also been smart about exploiting its huge solar energy potential. The state’s current renewable energy standard requires utilities to generate 25 percent of its power from renewable resources by 2025, with 6 percent coming from solar energy by 2016.
With more than 250 days of sunshine a year and abundant wind and geothermal energy potential, this goal is well within reach. Nevada’s forward-thinking energy policies and commitment to clean energy are part of the reason Tesla chose it as the location of its multi-billion dollar gigafactory to produce batteries for electric cars.
Finally, in North Carolina, tax credits and a modest renewable energy portfolio standard created opportunities to build a strong clean energy industry.
North Carolina is now one of the top four states in installed solar capacity and second behind California in large, utility-scale solar projects. Clean energy added nearly $5 billion to the state’s economy last year, and today provides nearly 23,000 jobs.
Earlier this year, tech giants like Google, Apple and Facebook told lawmakers that state policies “made North Carolina particularly attractive to [their] businesses.” Retail giants Walmart and North Carolina-based Lowe’s Home Improvement told lawmakers they want more choice and competition when it comes to energy.
North Carolina’s burgeoning clean energy economy suffered a set-back this year, however, when state lawmakers chose not to extend the tax credit – proving that state legislators are not required to take the Hippocratic Oath.Back-track or invest in the future?
All this will make a big difference when it comes to implementing the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which gives each state a target and flexibility for cutting climate pollution.
As much as some leaders in the Lone Star State and elsewhere complain and sue over this rule, they are actually well on their way to meeting their goals under the plan. If state governments would only take advantage of the natural opportunities they have – be more like Nevada and less like the recent back-tracking in North Carolina – they’d be in great shape.
We need to protect ourselves from the trillions in potential damage that Citibank and others say we’d face from unchecked climate change, so the world is moving toward clean energy. Wouldn’t it be better if state political leaders, who have so much to gain and such an achievable path forward, put their efforts in to creating that future rather than clinging to the past?
Forward-looking leaders do, because stereotypes aside, it ultimately comes down to good economics.
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Legal Action Supporting EPA Climate Rule Reveals More Discord in States
Nov 5, 2015 | E&E Climatewire
By Elizabeth Harball
Republican-led Florida is among the 26 states suing U.S. EPA in an attempt to kill the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration's newly released rule aiming to slash the nation's carbon emissions 32 percent by 2030.
But that doesn't mean everyone in Florida wants the climate rule to go away. Yesterday, citing the risk of sea-level rise, the city of South Miami and Broward County joined 23 other states, cities and counties in filing a motion of intervention in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in support of the climate rule.
Several participants in the new motion provide additional examples of how elected officials and state agencies across the United States are finding themselves at odds about whether to support the Clean Power Plan, and they will likely face each other from opposite sides of the courtroom.
"We have a governor who believes that climate change and the effects of humans on climate change has not been verified yet and is not based on the consensus of the scientific community," said South Miami City Attorney Thomas Pepe. "Where he got that information, I have no idea."
Pepe explained that due to saltwater intrusion from rising ocean waters, many homes in South Miami soon will need to be connected to the city's sewer system, an endeavor expected to cost millions of dollars.
By 2030, scientists predict Florida's sea levels could rise by 3 to 7 inches above 2010 levels (ClimateWire, Aug. 8, 2014).
Broward County Mayor Tim Ryan said in a statement that South Florida is "literally the front line in combating sea level rise," adding, "We need national action, and the Clean Power Plan represents the most important step the US has ever taken to reduce the carbon emissions which are driving these impacts."
While South Florida makes a significant contribution to the state's economy, Pepe said, "it's not getting the protection that it needs from Tallahassee with regards to the issues we're talking about today."Iowa AG defies governor's opposition to EPA rule
The legal fight against the Clean Power Plan kicked off in late October when the rule was published in the Federal Register. Twenty-six states and a number of industry groups announced they aim to defeat the EPA rule in court, calling the rule costly and an example of federal overreach (E&ENews PM, Oct. 23).
But in addition to South Miami and Broward County, other participants in the legal action supporting the Clean Power Plan are defying leaders in their own states who oppose the rule. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller (D) acknowledged yesterday on a press call that Gov. Terry Branstad (R) doesn't share his support for EPA's regulation.
"We're in different parties and have different views on issues, particularly of relationships with the federal government." Miller said. "I feel very strongly about the danger of climate change and its consequences in Iowa, in particular, and ... I feel very strongly that this plan will have a major effect in dealing with this."
Like other attorneys general on the call announcing the motion yesterday, Miller said that meeting EPA's targets for his state wouldn't be a challenge. Iowa is expected to achieve a 42 percent carbon emissions rate reduction by 2030.
"It's quite doable, it's very doable in our state because of wind energy, in particular," Miller said, adding that Iowa's governor-appointed utility board "is working very closely with us and the industry to move forward in dealing with the plan and meeting the plan's goal."
Boulder, Colo., also signed on to the coalition defending the EPA rule, while Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman (R) is participating in the lawsuit to challenge it. Colorado's governor agrees with Boulder in supporting the Clean Power Plan and is seeking a state court review of Coffman's action (E&E Daily, Oct. 27).
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) is leading the motion to intervene in support of the Clean Power Plan; other state participants are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. The participating cities are the District of Columbia, New York City, Boulder, Chicago and Philadelphia.
On yesterday's press call, Schneiderman called the Clean Power Plan "a vital tool for stopping the climate change crisis," adding that it is "a very reasonable and doable plan."
However, the legal battle over the Clean Power Plan is not expected to be resolved until 2018, four years before the compliance period begins.
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US NGO Publishes GreenScreen Guidance for Building Professionals
Nov 5, 2015 | Chemical Watch
NGO, Clean Production Action, has published guidance on how to use its chemicals assessment tool, GreenScreen, to meet criteria under the US Green Building Council's (USGBC) certification programme, Leed v4.
The latest edition of the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (Leed v4) awards up to two points for meeting certain material ingredient criteria. One credit is awarded for disclosure of chemical ingredients, and another for avoiding chemicals of high concern in building materials (GBB September 2015).
Leed details several pathways to achieving credits, including through the use of GreenScreen, Health Product Declarations, Cradle to Cradle and other USGBC-approved programmes. Points earned contribute towards a building project's Leed certification level, within the green building scheme.
According to the CPA, “there has been a steep learning curve for both manufacturers and Leed practitioners, who are scrambling to keep current with the rating system and its approach to inherently safer materials, through the new material ingredient disclosure and optimisation credits.”
The CPA guidance outlines steps for achieving the new credits, via the use of the GreenScreen tool. These include:identifying chemicals that meet declarable thresholds, under Leed v4;using GreenScreen to identify and declare hazards, associated with those substances;reporting the necessary documentation to receive credits; andearning certification to more readily communicate that a product meets Leed's criteria.
According to Mark Rossi, executive director of CPA, “GreenScreen is helping to clarify the world of chemicals in building products, where disclosure is largely absent and knowledge of hazardous and safer chemicals is unknown.”
The Leed 2009 rating system – the prior edition to Leed v4 – had been due to close to new project registrations by mid-2015. However, last year, the USGBC extended the period to the end of October 2016.
A November 2014 survey, conducted by the USGBC, said that 61% of respondents were “not ready” or “unsure” if they could yet pursue projects under the new Leed v4 standard.
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