Preview Newsletter
ACC AM Nov 16
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Full Committee Vote on H.R. 1321, H.R. 2017, H.R. 3014, H.R. 3537, H.R. 3716, H.R. 3821, H.J.Res. 71, H.J.Res. 72, and S. 611
Nov 17, 2015 | Energy & Commerce Committee
Location: 2123 Rayburn House Office Building/ 4:00 PM Note: A second meeting will be held November 18 at 10:00 AM -
Examining the International Climate Negotiations
Nov 18, 2015 | U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 406/ 9:30 AM -
(ACC Mentioned) Chemistry Graduate School Enrollment Remains Flat
Nov 16, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Andrea Widener
Enrollment in chemistry graduate programs has been essentially flat for a decade, a recent study shows. But what that means for chemistry isn’t clear. Whether the trend is good or bad is part of a larger debate about the state of chemistry education. Even before the 2008 financial crisis pushed up the unemployment rate for many fields... -
(ACC Mentioned) Demilec, Publix, The Recycling Partnership Win Plastic Recycling Awards
Nov 13, 2015 | Environmental Leader
Demilec, Publix and The Recycling Partnership (TRP) have been selected by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) to receive Innovation in Plastics Recycling Awards for 2015. The awards recognize companies and nonprofits that successfully bring new technologies, products and initiatives to communities and the marketplace... -
(ACC Mentioned) America Recycles Day Begins Saturday
Nov 14, 2015 | The Indian Republic
By Divyansh Mangeskar
In a press release, ISRI said it will celebrate America Recycles Day by applauding all individuals who make a strong effort to make recycling part of their daily lives. The Chadron schools brought in 4,639 pounds of recyclables past year with another 1,200 pounds brought in during the Recycle Roundup. -
(ACC Mentioned) November 15 America Recycles Day: Pledge to Recycle
Nov 14, 2015 | Shanghai Metals Market
Thousands of creative recycling events are being planned for America Recycles Day (ARD), a Keep America Beautiful initiative, which takes place on and in the weeks leading up to Nov. 15. America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating ... -
(ACC Mentioned) Meat Industry, California Could Head To Court Over Cancer Warning Labels
Nov 13, 2015 | AP (in the Post Bulletin)
The recent finding by an international panel that eating processed meat increases the risk of cancer could trigger warning labels under California law and a legal battle by meat producers and their trade groups to avoid the requirement. California is one of the country's largest producers and consumers... -
Full Steam Ahead for Safer Choice Logo Program
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Schultz
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy voiced support for the Safer Choice logo program at a Nov. 13 conference in Arlington, Va. “It's been much more successful than we could have hoped for,” she told a group of retailers, chemical manufacturers and environmental activists at EPA's Safer Choice Partner and Stakeholder... -
California Bans Plastic Microbeads: A Key Step in Reducing Marine Plastic Pollution
Nov 13, 2015 | Natural Resources Defense Council Blog
By Elizabeth Murdock
On October 8, Governor Jerry Brown signed California state bill AB 888 (Bloom, D-Santa Monica), which prohibits the sale in California of personal care products, such as soap, shampoo and toothpaste, that contain plastic microbeads. The ban, which will take effect on January 1, 2020, targets products designed to "rinse off." -
Rural Utility, Microbead Bills On Tap For Panel Vote
Nov 16, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Annie Snider
A measure to increase technical assistance to rural drinking water utilities is on the docket for a busy House Energy and Commerce Committee markup tomorrow. The bill, S. 611, sailed through the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy earlier this month, despite disputes between the panel's Republicans and Democrats about whether... -
Some 3-D-Printed Parts May Leach Toxic Chemicals
Nov 13, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Deirdre Lockwood
The three-dimensional printing craze has attracted hobbyists and researchers alike, making it easy to fabricate stuff from footwear to molecular models. As the technology becomes cheaper and more popular, however, researchers are investigating potential hazards of these products to people and the environment. -
(ACC Mentioned) Point-Counterpoint: Are Voluntary Standards And Existing Rules Enough In The Chemical Industry?
Nov 13, 2015 | The Houston Chronicle
It's been a year since the fatal explosion at DuPont's LaPorte plant that took the lives of four workers. As we've since learned, the accident could have been avoided. Two months ago, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board reported that it found flawed safety procedures, equipment design and inadequate planning had contributed to the incident. -
(ACC Mentioned) Crude-by-Rail Update: PHMSA Rejects Administrative Challenges to CBR Rule
Nov 13, 2015 | JD Supra Business Advisor
By Alexander Obrecht
Despite challenging oil prices and a decrease in the volume of crude oil traveling by rail,[1] recent events have renewed the spotlight on crude-by-rail (CBR) transportation. First, two trains derailed in Wisconsin last weekend – one carrying ethanol and the other hauling crude oil.[2] Second, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety... -
PHMSA: California, County Hazmat Rules Stand
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The company whose pipeline in California spilled more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil in May must shut down a different pipeline to address pipe integrity and safety concerns, the nation's pipeline regulator said in an amendment to a corrective action order released Nov. 13. -
PHMSA Review Finds Underestimated Corrosion In Ruptured Plains Line
Nov 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Andrew Restuccia
An independent review conducted by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration found that an in-line inspection tool used by the company behind a 100,000-plus-gallon California oil spill underestimated the degree of corrosion that occurred on key portions of the pipeline. -
Plains All American Must Shut Down California Pipe
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The company whose pipeline in California spilled more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil in May must shut down a different pipeline to address pipe integrity and safety concerns, the nation's pipeline regulator said in an amendment to a corrective action order released Nov. 13. -
Regulators Tell Plains To Purge Shut California Oil Pipeline
Nov 13, 2015 | Reuters
By Kristen Hays
U.S. pipeline regulators have ordered LP to purge a California pipeline system of crude to prevent corrosion after a separate pipeline ruptured and fouled Santa Barbara County shores last May. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)... -
EPA Extends Comments on Draft Oil, Gas Well Controls
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The Environmental Protection Agency is extending until Dec. 4 the comment period on draft guidelines for the control of emissions of volatile organic compounds from oil and gas facilities, according to a notice to be published in the Federal Register Nov. 16. The comment period was originally scheduled to close Nov. 17. -
LNG Developers Can Mitigate Effects of Project
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Naureen S. Malik
Developers of the Magnolia liquefied natural gas terminal and related pipelines in Louisiana have a plan to reduce the environmental impacts of the project to “less-than-significant levels,” staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said. FERC staff members released their final environmental impact statement Nov. 13... -
Industry to Be Judged on Pennsylvania Pipeline Build-Out
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Leslie A. Pappas
Natural gas drillers will need to do their part to make sure the build-out of pipeline infrastructure in Pennsylvania is carried out responsibly, the head of the state's Department of Environmental Protection told Bloomberg BNA Nov. 12. “Pipeline development is touching every single county in Pennsylvania,” DEP Secretary John Quigley told Bloomberg... -
Judges Press Sierra Club Over FERC's Role On LNG
Nov 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Darius Dixon
The Sierra Club pressed a federal court on Friday to set a new precedent that would drastically expand how FERC measures the environmental impact of liquefied natural gas export facilities. But the club's bigger task seemed to be convincing the three judges who presided over the hearing that the greens had picked the right target in FERC... -
House Panels To Discuss Security, Resource Prospects
Nov 16, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Margaret Kriz Hobson
At a time when offshore oil drilling has been indefinitely postponed in the U.S. Arctic, federal efforts to update the navigational charts for Alaska's northern shores are opening new opportunities for national security, business and resource extraction. Tomorrow, two House Foreign Affairs subcommittees are holding... -
States Kick Into Gear With Meetings On Clean Power Plan
Nov 16, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Emily Holden and Rod Kuckro
Stakeholders in Iowa meet today to further discuss U.S. EPA's rule and hear from officials from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator and the Southwest Power Pool. Here's the agenda. Tomorrow, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative meets in New York for a meeting where stakeholders will consider state approaches to the... -
Energy Secretary: ‘All Of The Above’ Includes Reducing Emissions
Nov 13, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Friday that the Obama administration’s “all of the above” approach to energy sources means it seeks to reduce carbon dioxide from the energy sector. Moniz sought to clarify the “all of the above” policy, saying that while certain energy sources such as wind and solar have no carbon emissions... -
Vote on EPA Climate Rules Set by House Committee
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
The full House Energy and Commerce Committee plans Nov. 18 to mark up and vote on two measures that would immediately nullify the centerpieces of President Barack Obama's climate change agenda. Rep. Ed Whitfield's (R-Ky.) resolutions would immediately kill the Clean Power Plan (H.J. Res. 72), which regulates emissions from... -
House Won't Vote On Resolutions To Kill EPA Climate Rules Before Paris Talks
Nov 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillén
The House will not vote on measures to kill President Barack Obama’s power plant carbon rules before the start of international climate talks in Paris begin on Nov. 30, according to a GOP leadership aide. Matt Sparks, a spokesman for Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the twin Congressional Review Act resolutions... -
Liberal Donors Double Down On Climate Change
Nov 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia and Kenneth P. Vogel
At a closed-door gathering next week in Washington, influential liberal donors and operatives plan to double down on their efforts to make climate change a central voting issue in 2016, despite disappointing returns on a similar campaign in 2014. The meeting at Washington's Mandarin Oriental hotel... -
North Carolina Sues EPA Over Missed SIP Deadline
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality asked a federal district court to require the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a final decision on the state's implementation plan for addressing fine particulate matter emissions (Van der Vaart v. McCarthy, E.D.N.C., No. 5:15-cv-593, 11/13/15). -
Mingo Claims MACT Ruling Shows Lack Of Cost Review Dooms CWA 'Veto'
Nov 13, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Bridget DiCosmo
Coal company Mingo Logan says the Supreme Court's ruling faulting EPA for not considering costs in deciding to craft a utility air toxics rule should also doom the agency's novel retrospective Clean Water Act (CWA) “veto” of disposal sites for a mountaintop mine Mingo is pursuing, because EPA did not weigh costs as part of the veto decision.
Congressional Hearings
Industry and Association News
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Chemical Security News
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Full Text of Stories Below
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Nov 17, 2015 | Energy & Commerce Committee
Location: 2123 Rayburn House Office Building/ 4:00 PM
Note: A second meeting will be held November 18 at 10:00 AM -
Examining the International Climate Negotiations
Nov 18, 2015 | U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 406/ 9:30 AM
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(ACC Mentioned) Chemistry Graduate School Enrollment Remains Flat
Nov 16, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Andrea Widener
Enrollment in chemistry graduate programs has been essentially flat for a decade, a recent study shows. But what that means for chemistry isn’t clear.
Whether the trend is good or bad is part of a larger debate about the state of chemistry education. Even before the 2008 financial crisis pushed up the unemployment rate for many fields, including chemistry, the community was wrangling over whether it was producing too many Ph.D. chemists.
Some people argue . . .
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(ACC Mentioned) Demilec, Publix, The Recycling Partnership Win Plastic Recycling Awards
Nov 13, 2015 | Environmental Leader
Demilec, Publix and The Recycling Partnership (TRP) have been selected by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) to receive Innovation in Plastics Recycling Awards for 2015. The awards recognize companies and nonprofits that successfully bring new technologies, products and initiatives to communities and the marketplace that advance plastics recycling.
Demilec converts polyethylene terephthalate (PET) scrap into polyols, which can be used in its spray foam insulation products. The company has recycled more than 300 million plastic bottles into spray foam insulation products in recent years and expects to recycle more than 35 million plastic bottles into high-performing spray foam insulation in 2015.
Publix has established itself as a leader in recycling rigid plastic packaging. The supermarket chain has optimized its back-of-store recycling stream through the use of a vertical and a horizontal baler that produce large, dense bales of clean plastic material for recycling.
TRP facilitates public-private partnerships to boost curbside recycling programs. Over the last 15 months, TRP has provided 115,000 large recycling carts and improved public education in Florence, Alabama; Columbia, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and East Lansing, Michigan. Cumulatively, these efforts are expected to recover an additional 22 million pounds of plastics over the next ten years.
ACC’s Innovations in Plastics Recycling Awards program is open to all US companies, nonprofits, individuals, government entities and schools that collect or process plastics for recycling, promote plastics recycling through education and infrastructure, manufacture equipment used to collect or process plastics for recycling, or manufacture a new product made in whole or part from recycled plastic.
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(ACC Mentioned) America Recycles Day Begins Saturday
Nov 14, 2015 | The Indian Republic
By Divyansh Mangeskar
In a press release, ISRI said it will celebrate America Recycles Day by applauding all individuals who make a strong effort to make recycling part of their daily lives.
The Chadron schools brought in 4,639 pounds of recyclables past year with another 1,200 pounds brought in during the Recycle Roundup.
Conservation Commission is asking residents to take the "I Will Recycle" pledge in celebration of America Recycles Day November 15. It has been held annual on November 15 since 1997.
In 2014, Americans recycled almost 32% or more than 3 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic bottles, according to the 2014 United States National Postconsumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Report from the Plastics Div. of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and The Assn. of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR). The recycling industry is growing in North Carolina and provides more than 17,000 private sector jobs at more than 750 companies statewide.
The big challenge is getting the public to keep in mind to recycle. "Were doing that through events like this, were doing that through having recycling options in public locations".
The event will feature the winning posters of RethinkWaste's second annual America Recycles Day poster contest, created by local third- to sixth-graders.
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(ACC Mentioned) November 15 America Recycles Day: Pledge to Recycle
Nov 14, 2015 | Shanghai Metals Market
Thousands of creative recycling events are being planned for America Recycles Day (ARD), a Keep America Beautiful initiative, which takes place on and in the weeks leading up to Nov. 15.
America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States. In its 18th year, ARD educates people about the importance of recycling to our economy and environmental well-being, and helps to motivate occasional recyclers to become everyday recyclers.
A number of ARD special events are focusing on this year’s theme of “Bathrooms, Bags & Gadgets." They include:
-- Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies and its Care to Recycle program are giving away 10,000 bathroom recycling bags this ARD. The objective is to provide a reminder to individuals about what bathroom items are recyclable.
-- CyclePoint® from SourceAmerica®, the 46-member nonprofit eRecycling network whose mission is to create jobs for people with disabilities, will be hosting 50 eRecycling events nationwide, including marquee events in Maryland, Michigan and Oklahoma.
-- More than 100 collection and educational events featuring plastic bag recycling are taking place during 2015 America Recycles Day.
“Bathrooms, Bags & Gadgets” shines a light on some of the everyday but not “top of mind” consumer products, which can and should be given another life through recycling. These include personal care items commonly found in the bathroom, such as haircare and mouthwash bottles; plastic bags and wraps used in packaging produce, paper towels, bathroom tissue or dry cleaning that can be recycled at grocery stores; and consumer electronics and gadgets, such as mobile phones, tablets, game consoles, TVs and more.
“There are so many consumer products beyond aluminum cans and plastic bottles that can be recycled and made into something new and useful, which is why this year’s theme is ‘Bathrooms, Bags and Gadgets,’” said Brenda Pulley, Keep America Beautiful’s senior vice president, recycling. “We also want to encourage people to participate in the ‘I Will Recycle’ online pledge sweepstakes, which is a fun and engaging way to commit to recycling this America Recycles Day.”
“I Will Recycle” Sweepstakes
During ARD 2015, individuals are encouraged to take the “I Will Recycle” Pledge, which runs through Nov. 20. The “I Will Recycle” Sweepstakes will provide four people the chance to win an Apple Certified Refurbished iPad mini 3. Individuals are encouraged to demonstrate their recycling spirit and automatically be entered in the sweepstakes by posting a photo on Twitter at @KABTweet or @RecyclesDay or @KeepAmericaBeautiful 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. Keep America Beautiful may share tagged social media posts with its fans and four individuals will be selected at random to win an Apple Certified Refurbished iPad mini 3. For more details on how to enter, read the Official Rules.America Recycles Day Congressional Briefing
Keep America Beautiful, in partnership with the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and other partners, will host a Congressional briefing for ARD on Wednesday, Nov. 18. The purpose of the briefing is to provide information to Members of Congress and staff about the state of recycling, the business of recycling, its many benefits, and the importance of engaging individuals to recycle.Other featured ARD 2015 events include:
-- New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Council Member Antonio Reynoso, who is chair of the Council Sanitation Committee, will celebrate ARD on Saturday, Nov. 14, with an event at the Cooper Park Houses in Brooklyn. The 1:00 p.m. event is being conducted along with the New York City Housing Authority and the City of New York Department of Sanitation, with participation by Keep America Beautiful and GrowNYC.-- In celebration of ARD, Mathy Stanislaus, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, and EPA Region 4 Regional Administrator Heather McTeer Toney will announce preliminary results of the EPA’s analysis on job creation in the recycling sector as well as a discussion about the importance of recycling to the supply chain. This Nov. 16 event will occur at the Food Recovery Summit, a meeting bringing together industry leaders to discuss steps to achieve the announced goal to reduce food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030.
-- For the second year in Georgia, during the week of Nov. 9-15, K-12 school students in the state of Georgia are encouraged to read books that celebrate, educate, and encourage waste reduction activities through the Read for Recycle Georgia program.
-- America Recycles Day at SandBlast 2015 on Saturday, Nov. 14, in Holmes Beach, Florida, is a sand sculpture competition that helps raise awareness about recycling.
It’s not too late to register your ARD event at AmericaRecyclesDay.org. Local organizers can schedule events in their communities and gain access to valuable resources to plan, promote and host an ARD event. Events can be scheduled any time during the fall, but should be held as close to Nov. 15 as possible. Learn more about ARD athttp://americarecyclesday.org/ where you can find a recycling event near you, register to host your own, or discover more information about how, when and where to recycle in your community.
America Recycles Day is made possible through the generous support of Amcor, American Chemistry Council, CyclePoint® from Source America®, Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, Northrop Grumman Corporation and Pilot Corporation of America (Pilot Pen).
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(ACC Mentioned) Meat Industry, California Could Head To Court Over Cancer Warning Labels
Nov 13, 2015 | AP (in the Post Bulletin)
The recent finding by an international panel that eating processed meat increases the risk of cancer could trigger warning labels under California law and a legal battle by meat producers and their trade groups to avoid the requirement.
California is one of the country's largest producers and consumers of meat, and the meat industry is likely to fight any effort by the state to label its products under Proposition 65. That law, approved by the state's voters three decades ago, requires warnings about products that contain substances known to cause cancer.
"I expect to see a lot of activity from the meat industry about that process," said Patty Lovera, assistant director of Food and Water Watch, a consumer watchdog group. "They'll beat it down in the court of public opinion."
Industry advocates and legal experts anticipate that the meat producers will try to cast doubt on the findings or downplay their significance and could take California to court over the labeling requirements.
"We may have to," said Janet Riley, senior vice president for public affairs at the North American Meat Institute, the industry's trade association. "The level of reaction is not proportional to the level of threat."
California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the agency that enforces Proposition 65, relies heavily on the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer for guidance on what to list and label as carcinogenic. In California, the body's research is considered as authoritative as that of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The agency has added about 800 chemicals to the list since it was first published in 1987. Once a substance is listed, businesses with 10 or more employees have a year to comply with its labeling requirements.
Based on hundreds of studies, the international panel last month added bacon, sausage, ham, hot dogs and other processed meats to its list of Group I carcinogens, which include tobacco and asbestos. However, the panel emphasized that the classification of processed meats in that category did not mean the danger was equal to that of those substances.
The panel also classified red meat as "probably carcinogenic" based on "limited evidence" showing a relationship between its consumption and colon cancer. Red meat includes beef, pork, veal and lamb.
The panel also cautioned that the cancer risk from meat consumption was relatively low compared with smoking and excessive drinking, and it acknowledged that meat has known health benefits.
Critics of Proposition 65, which passed in 1986, have argued for years that its public benefits are limited because it gives consumers little context or comparison of relative risk. A warning typically only states that the product in question contains chemicals or substances known by the state to cause cancer.
"It doesn't tell them what the risk is," said Karyn Schmidt, senior director for regulatory and technical affairs at the American Chemistry Council, a trade group in Washington. "People don't know how much they can eat."
Groups that support Proposition 65, however, say products should be labeled so consumers can choose whether to accept the risk of exposure to carcinogens and if not, choose other products instead.
"The solution to that problem isn't to label less," said Stephanie Feldstein, population and sustainability director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. "It's to have better products."
California's environmental health office will now consider the World Health Organization's findings. Allan Hirsch, the California agency's chief deputy director, said the next step would be to formally notify the public of its intent to list processed meat and red meat as carcinogens, and a public comment period would follow.
Groups on both sides anticipate that the meat industry will attempt to discredit the science of the panel's research in a bid to head off a listing. But it could be tough to dissuade the state agency from disregarding a report from an international body whose work it considers highly persuasive.
"It would be an uphill battle for the industry to contest this on the science," said Laura MacCleery, regulatory affairs attorney for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Meat producers might have better luck arguing that federal law pre-empts Proposition 65. The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates meat labeling, and courts have struck down state laws when they have come in conflict with federal requirements, though not always.
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Full Steam Ahead for Safer Choice Logo Program
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Schultz
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy voiced support for the Safer Choice logo program at a Nov. 13 conference in Arlington, Va.
“It's been much more successful than we could have hoped for,” she told a group of retailers, chemical manufacturers and environmental activists at EPA's Safer Choice Partner and Stakeholder Summit.
The Safer Choice logo—until recently known as Design for the Environment—is something companies can put on their products if the chemicals the products contain meet high environmental and human health standards set by the EPA. The purpose of the logo is to convey information about a product's eco-friendly qualities to interested consumers (87 DEN A-5, 5/6/15).
McCarthy said one of the primary reasons for the success of Safer Choice is that her agency has a brand in the minds of consumers as being tough on pollution. She also pointed out that this same tough-on-pollution brand identity can occasionally put the EPA in hot water politically.
“While we may get criticized a lot on the Hill, go ahead and criticize,” she said.
Ultimately, McCarthy said, the Safer Choice program is one of her favorite initiatives at the EPA because it creates value for businesses while also improving environmental quality.
“It is letting you make money by doing the right thing,” she told the conference attendees. “This breaks out of the cycle that EPA's only ability to influence anything is through regulation. That is so wrong.”
Concerns Over Efficacy
With consumers becoming ever more conscious about the environmental impact of the items they purchase, companies are eager to learn what they can do to earn the right to place the Safer Choice logo on their products, according to several participants in a panel discussion on the future of the program.
Emily Orme, a communications specialist with the Washington State Department of Ecology, said her agency conducted an informal survey of the companies it regulates to find out more about any potential barriers preventing them from making or from using Safer Choice products.
She said transition costs weren't one of the concerns her agency heard. Rather, Orme said, many companies said they were worried the chemicals used in Safer Choice products would be less effective than chemicals that are ineligible for use in these products.
Paul Yaroschak, who works on chemical and material risk management issues at the Department of Defense, echoed these concerns.
While he said his department has been eager to expand its use of Safer Choice products, the unique needs of the military mean there are some situations where that's difficult.
Hexavalent Chromium Cited
He cited the example of hexavalent chromium. While the compound is known to be a potent carcinogen, it's also extremely effective at preventing corrosion.
That's why the military often uses paint that contains hexavalent chromium for its aircraft, Yaroschak said, especially for planes that will be frequently exposed to salt water while sitting on carriers.
Yaroschak said it was harder than he expected to get the military to switch to a safer alternative anti-corrosion chemical. His division ultimately had to issue a mandatory phase-out order after several non-mandatory orders failed to stop chromium use.
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California Bans Plastic Microbeads: A Key Step in Reducing Marine Plastic Pollution
Nov 13, 2015 | Natural Resources Defense Council Blog
By Elizabeth Murdock
On October 8, Governor Jerry Brown signed California state bill AB 888 (Bloom, D-Santa Monica), which prohibits the sale in California of personal care products, such as soap, shampoo and toothpaste, that contain plastic microbeads. The ban, which will take effect on January 1, 2020, targets products designed to "rinse off." Microbeads are a source of microplastic pollution that is particularly difficult to address, as the tiny pieces of plastic easily slip through wastewater treatment plants and make their way into the ocean, where they can harm marine life.
California's law exempts microbeads in prescription drugs and in products containing less than 1 part per million (ppm) of plastic microbeads, and does not include cosmetics. Despite these loopholes, and the fact that the ban will not take effect for five years, the law is terrific news for everyone concerned about ocean pollution, marine wildlife and human health.
Plastic microbeads are commonly included in products designed to exfoliate dead skin. But excellent biodegradable alternatives already exist, such as apricot and jojoba seeds, walnut shells, and rice bran. Many companies using microbeads are voluntarily phasing out microbeads in favor of these natural options--and we hope California's law will encourage companies to accelerate this change even before the 2020 deadline.
Plastic microbeads are accumulating rapidly in the marine environment--in California waters and beyond--compounding plastic pollution in oceans worldwide. Plastic is the most common human-made pollutant in oceans, and plastic trash, including microbeads, also litters our beaches. Like other plastic pollution, microbeads are not biodegradable, or recoverable, but remain in the environment, breaking down into ever-smaller bits over time.
While scientists are still studying exactly how much plastic is polluting our oceans, experts agree that we dump many millions of tons of it into the marine environment each year. Recent studies illustrate the severity of the marine plastic pollution crisis. According to the paper Scientific Evidence Supports a Ban on Microbeads, microplastics--small pieces of plastic equal to or less than 5 mm in diameter--have been reported in every major open ocean, as well as in many freshwater lakes and rivers. Microplastics often result from larger pieces of plastic pollution breaking down into tiny bits; however, they also include microbeads, which are human-engineered spheres of plastic. In some places, microplastics outnumber plankton and other critical food for fish and whales.
In the first major study of plastic pollution in San Francisco Bay, published in September 2015, researchers found that each day, at least 3.9 million pieces of plastic, comprised of microbeads and bits of synthetic fibers from fleece clothing, washed into the Bay from eight large wastewater treatment plants. Concentrations in San Francisco Bay were considerably higher than in the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and other major U.S. waters.
Another recent study is one of the first to link plastic and human-made debris directly to the fish people eat. Researchers from University of California, Davis took samples from fish purchased at markets in Indonesia and in Half Moon Bay and Princeton, California--and found that roughly one quarter of the fish sampled had ingested human-made debris or plastic. This level of contamination has potential implications for human health, as plastics are known to accumulate toxins in the marine environment, such as DDT, DDE, PCBs, and flame retardants. Researchers are investigating whether chemicals from the plastic eaten by fish can transfer into the fish meat--and perhaps affect the people who eat it.
Plastic pollution--whether from microbeads or other microplastics, or from larger pieces of plastic--also poses significant risks to marine animals. Plastic ingestion has been documented in 86% of sea turtle species, 36% seabird species, and 33% of marine mammal species worldwide. This can have dire health consequences--including wounds, suffocation, and starvation, as well as possible contamination from accumulated toxic. On Midway Atoll, roughly 40% of Laysan albatross chicks die each year, with their stomachs full of plastics. Marine animals can also become injured or die from entanglement in plastic trash.
Microplastics have been found in the bodies of fish, marine mammals, reptiles, mussels, and seabirds. Filter feeding animals--from mussels to basking shark to baleen whales--have been found to take up microplastics during feeding. In one study, sharks and whales had increased levels of contaminants from ingesting the plastic debris. Addressing Plastic Pollution in Our Oceans
While the extent of marine plastic pollution is overwhelming, common-sense laws like AB 888 can actually reduce the flow of plastic into seas. It's a discrete but important step towards addressing a much bigger problem. California's law sets a precedent for other states and regions striving to address microplastics and other plastic pollution.
NRDC and partner organizations are working together to stem the flow of plastics into the oceans by raising awareness about marine plastic pollution and by supporting legislative efforts to reduce plastic pollution. For example, we are supporting another microbeads ban in New York State and New York City.
We are also supporting a state ban on single-use plastic bags in California (SB 270), which is under threat of repeal through a referendum on the November 2016 ballot. Stay tuned and take action with us to keep this important law in place. (See our previous blog post on the topic).
In the meantime, you can help reduce marine plastic pollution by avoiding personal care products with the ingredient polyethylene (PE) and instead choosing natural alternatives, or looking for a list of products containing microbeads at websites such as Beat the Microbead. Working together, we can build momentum to reduce the flow of plastics into our oceans.
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Rural Utility, Microbead Bills On Tap For Panel Vote
Nov 16, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Annie Snider
A measure to increase technical assistance to rural drinking water utilities is on the docket for a busy House Energy and Commerce Committee markup tomorrow.
The bill, S. 611, sailed through the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy earlier this month, despite disputes between the panel's Republicans and Democrats about whether the types of assistance it covers should be expanded.
Democrats generally support the measure, although they say it deals only with one small portion of the country's overarching water infrastructure needs.
The measure would not only reauthorize U.S. EPA's program providing technical assistance to small public water systems but would also expand the types of activities that fall under such assistance, opening the door for the agency to offer grants and enter into cooperative agreements with nonprofit organizations for such work.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are eager to move quickly on the measure so the EPA assistance program it reauthorizes can have a shot at funding in the fiscal 2016 appropriations cycle.
Also slated for consideration during tomorrow's markup is ranking member Frank Pallone's (D-N.J.) bill (H.R. 1321) aimed at staunching the flow of synthetic plastic microbeads from personal care products into local rivers and streams. The measure is co-sponsored by the panel's chairman, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.).
Industry groups support the proposed microbeads restrictions. Many companies are already moving away from the products.
Schedule: The markup is Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 4 p.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
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Some 3-D-Printed Parts May Leach Toxic Chemicals
Nov 13, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Deirdre Lockwood
The three-dimensional printing craze has attracted hobbyists and researchers alike, making it easy to fabricate stuff from footwear to molecular models. As the technology becomes cheaper and more popular, however, researchers are investigating potential hazards of these products to people and the environment. A new study shows that parts made by a common 3-D printing method are toxic to zebrafish, a model organism often used to predict toxicological effects on humans (Environ. Sci. Tech. Lett. 2015, DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.5b00249).
Last year, Shirin Mesbah Oskui, a graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, 3-D printed a small part for a research project involving zebrafish. When she exposed zebrafish to the part, the fish didn’t develop normal coloring, and within a week, most of them died.
To investigate, she and colleagues, including her research adviser, William H. Grover, designed experiments to expose zebrafish embryos to half-dollar-sized disks 3-D printed with two common methods: stereolithography and fused deposition modeling.
Zebrafish exposed to disks printed with stereolithography lacked normal coloring, showed abnormal swelling, and died within a week, similarly to Oskui’s initial observations. In contrast, fish exposed to disks printed with fused deposition modeling mostly developed and survived similarly to controls.
Stereolithography-based printers use light to polymerize layers of a liquid resin usually containing acrylate and methacrylate monomers, a class of chemicals known to be toxic. The researchers hypothesize that monomers or short-chain polymers that are not fully polymerized could be leaching from the parts. Fused deposition modeling, on the other hand, builds parts from melted, fully polymerized material that then resolidifies.
In an effort to reduce the toxic effects of stereolithography-printed pieces by completing polymerization, the team exposed the printed parts to ultraviolet light for an hour, and found that this mostly obviated the toxic effects on the zebrafish. The findings are too preliminary to draw conclusions about human toxicity, Grover says, but they indicate that 3-D printing waste should be carefully managed to prevent harm to ecosystems.
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Nov 13, 2015 | The Houston Chronicle
It's been a year since the fatal explosion at DuPont's LaPorte plant that took the lives of four workers. As we've since learned, the accident could have been avoided. Two months ago, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board reported that it found flawed safety procedures, equipment design and inadequate planning had contributed to the incident. The disaster brought to the fore questions that loom anytime something goes amiss in our vast petrochemical complex: Do voluntary standards work, and are existing regulations effectively enforced?
Brian Gumm, senior policy analyst at the Center for Effective Government and author of "Blowing Smoke," presents one view, our POINT. Cal Dooley, president and CEO of the American Chemical Council, presents the opposition perspective, our COUNTERPOINT.
POINT: No, multiple examples show why more oversight is needed of the chemical industry.
On her way to work, Crystle Wise, a grandmother from Texas, passed a sign outside DuPont's La Porte plant. The sign read, "Safety is a core value." On Nov. 14, 2014, Wise would pass that sign for the last time. Early the next morning, a massive leak in one of the pesticide manufacturing buildings where she worked left her and three others dead. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case.
Every two days, a leak, fire, or explosion occurs at a chemical plant in the United States. Last year, 27 chemical workers were killed on the job, and more than 2,400 people were evacuated from nearby areas because of toxic leaks, spills, or emissions. But many more Americans are at risk since nearly 14,000 active chemical manufacturing plants in the U.S. are using highly toxic substances to make everything from pesticides to industrial cleaning products.
The U.S. has notoriously weak laws regulating the use the toxic chemicals. Of the 84,000 chemicals registered for use today, only 250 have been tested for their impact on human health, and just nine have been banned or restricted. Although the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, passed in 1986, is supposed to provide information to people who live near the places that process and store hazardous chemicals, in an earlier study this year, we found few states make this information easily available to citizens. And despite fatal disasters like the fertilizer facility explosion in West, Texas, two years ago, no law or rule requires a local facility to use safer chemicals and manufacturing processes even when they are available.
The chemical industry tells us that everything is under control and no new oversight is needed. In fact, the industry's lobbying association, the American Chemistry Council (formerly the Chemical Manufacturers Association), has operated a voluntary program to "improve industry performance" and make workers and communities safer for over 25 years. Does its Responsible Care® program work? Using data on inspections and violations collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), we checked.
In our new report, "Blowing Smoke," we found that EPA and OSHA inspected about 42 percent of the nation's 13,868 active chemical manufacturing plants over the past three to five years. Their inspectors found serious environmental and workplace safety violations at 25 percent of those facilities, meaning workers were exposed to toxic chemicals above safety limits and/or there were leaks, spills, or toxic emissions at these facilities. And how many serious hazards lurked undiscovered at the facilities that went uninspected?
We identified 12 large corporations that owned at least 20 chemical manufacturing plants, at least some of which had serious environmental and workplace violations. Seven of them (DuPont, Dow Chemical, Honeywell, BASF, Mitsubishi, Chemtura, and Arkema) were members of American Chemistry Council and should have been following the industry standards outlined in the Responsible Care® program guidelines. All but one of those seven held seats on its board.
Voluntary standards don't work. But the chemical industry spent at least $182 million dollars over three years fighting mandatory standards that would require facilities to transition away from the most dangerous chemicals and make it possible for the EPA to ban the most toxic substances. This included more than $32 million in lobbying by the ACC.
There are solutions. We could reduce the amount of toxic chemicals that could be stored on a site. We could require companies to shift to inherently safer chemicals and manufacturing processes. We could increase the resources we spend enforcing existing laws. We could choose to reduce our risks. And we should.
Crystle Wise deserved better. And so do the American people.
COUNTERPOINT: Yes, the chemical industry maintains high safety standards through self-regulation and voluntary actions.
The U.S. chemical manufacturing industry plays a key role in the development of countless products and innovations that make life more convenient, healthier, safer and more sustainable. Our industry has a central place in the fabric of the Greater Houston area and plays a crucial role in the Texas economy. The Lone Star State's $165 billion chemical industry is the second-largest manufacturing industry in the state, directly employing more than 73,000 Texans and generating $7.3 billion in payroll and $2.9 billion in state and local taxes.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and our member companies are proud not only of our economic and societal contributions to the state of Texas, but also the many benefits our products provide to people across the United States and around the world. But, as valuable as the products of chemistry are, we also know our industry has a tremendous responsibility to ensure our facilities and operations are safe and to protect the health of our employees and the communities where we operate.
Chemical facilities abide by numerous requirements that are strictly enforced by multiple federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Transportation. The State of Texas also oversees chemical facility safety through its own robust regulatory system.
However, ACC members go above and beyond state and federal requirements by adhering to Responsible Care®, the global chemical industry's world-class environmental and safety performance initiative. Responsible Care means that we constantly focus on improving what we do and how we do it.
Responsible Care requires ACC member companies to put in place a comprehensive environment, health, safety and security management system, at headquarters and at individual facilities. Members must publicly report their environmental and safety performance, including the number and severity of process and occupational safety incidents at every facility.
And companies must demonstrate that they do more than just talk the talk. Member facilities are subject to regular reviews by independent, third-party auditors who ensure that Responsible Care companies also walk the walk. If companies do not meet Responsible Care requirements, they jeopardize their membership in ACC, as well as their reputation and standing in the community at large.
Responsible Care is not a static program. It evolves as new issues arise or as a new learning is realized. For example, ACC recently strengthened Responsible Care requirements focused on the safety of the products our companies make and the processes by which they are manufactured. Under these new process safety requirements, companies must identify and prioritize potential process safety risks and implement comprehensive systems to manage these risks, including ensuring that employees have the knowledge, tools and training they need to properly manage those risks.
The results speak for themselves. Responsible Care companies have a worker safety record more than five times better than the U.S. manufacturing sector as a whole and almost three times better than the business of chemistry overall. Responsible Care companies also have reduced recordable injury and illness rates by 78 percent since 1990. Over the last five years, Responsible Care companies have averaged less than one OSHA-recordable injury or illness per 100 employees, a rate that is lower than the retail, agriculture, food store and general merchandising business sectors. And Responsible Care companies have reduced the number of incidents that have resulted in a product spill, fire, explosion or injury by 55 percent since 1995.
It is our obligation to earn the full confidence of the communities we call home. For this reason, every single day, safety is our first job and our most important job. Responsible Care means ACC and its members are committed to doing what it takes to continuously strengthen safety and security at all of our facilities.
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(ACC Mentioned) Crude-by-Rail Update: PHMSA Rejects Administrative Challenges to CBR Rule
Nov 13, 2015 | JD Supra Business Advisor
By Alexander Obrecht
Despite challenging oil prices and a decrease in the volume of crude oil traveling by rail,[1] recent events have renewed the spotlight on crude-by-rail (CBR) transportation. First, two trains derailed in Wisconsin last weekend – one carrying ethanol and the other hauling crude oil.[2] Second, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) reaffirmed its commitment to its CBR Rule.
Although the Wisconsin derailments resulted in no injuries, the crude oil derailment caused home evacuations and spilled roughly 1,000 gallons, and the ethanol derailment spilled an estimated 20,000 gallons directly into the Mississippi River. The incidents will likely refocus public and special interest group ire on CBR at a sensitive time when the fate of the CBR Rule rests with the judicial system.
PHMSA recently rejected administrative appeals from four trade associations and a consortium of Indian Tribes to the CBR Rule. The rejection closes one potential avenue of relief for parties affected by the rule. Now, affected parties must turn their hopes to the courts or Congress for any reformation to or repeal of the new rule.
What does PHMSA’s rejection mean?
PHMSA’s denial of the administrative appeals means that the agency likely will not take any action outside a mandate from the courts or Congress to alter the CBR Rule. Although affected parties should not be surprised by PHMSA’s rejection of the administrative appeals, PHMSA’s actions move the rule one step closer to surviving the post-issuance minefield intact.
Under PHMSA’s regulations, an affected party can file an administrative appeal to challenge a final rule.[3] An administrative appeal does not stay the effectiveness of a final rule,[4] but it does provide affected parties a quick and relatively inexpensive – compared to Administrative Procedure Act litigation in a federal court – opportunity to convince the agency to change its own rule.
Four trade associations appealed the CBR Rule to PHMSA – the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Association of American Railroads (AAR), and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). Collectively, the associations asked PHMSA to alter the final rule in a number of ways.
Noticeably absent from the appealing associations is a direct representative of shippers or producers of crude oil – although the American Petroleum Institute (API) has filed suit against the rule in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. As a result, the appeals appear to augment a growing schism between the parties affected by and challenging the rule,[5] separating the chemical industry, tank car manufacturers, and the railroads from shippers and producers of crude oil.
The chemical industry asked PHMSA to narrow the scope of the CBR Rule to only apply to tank cars shipping crude oil and ethanol in a high-hazard flammable train (HHFT).[6] DGAC’s and ACC’s arguments do not challenge the CBR Rule’s applicability to crude oil and ethanol, but rather have transitioned to a focus on how the rule incorrectly captures Class 3 flammable liquids[7] that allegedly do not pose the same danger as crude oil or ethanol.
The railroad industry generally asked PHMSA to increase the final rule’s applicability and requirements for tank cars. First, AAR argued that PHMSA should eliminate the use of any DOT-111 tank cars for Class 3 flammable liquid service regardless of whether the tank car is placed in a HHFT. Second, AAR advocated for enhanced thermal protection for new and retrofitted tank cars. And third, AAR implored PHMSA to repeal the CBR Rule’s electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brake systems mandate. While AAR’s first and second positions appear to increase costs for tank car owners and reduce liability for the railroads, AAR’s third position has been advocated by API as well.
Where do we go from here?
With PHMSA’s rejection of the administrative appeals, affected parties must now focus on the courts and the pending challenges to the final rule in the D.C. Circuit. The court has consolidated the challenges from industry, special interest groups, and municipalities. The next deadline will be for the parties to submit briefing proposals by November 23, 2015. Considering that briefing has not begun, the court is unlikely to issue a substantive ruling until well into the first half of 2016 at the earliest.
As a backstop to the courts, however, AAR and the Railroad Supply Institute have experienced success in their lobbying efforts before Congress related to the CBR Rule. The House recently passed a highway funding bill with provisions for thermal jackets on tank cars – similar to AAR’s proposal before PHMSA – and to commission a study of the effectiveness of ECP brake systems.[8] While there appears to be some consensus between the House and Senate related to strictly related to railroad issues – like the ECP brake study – it is unlikely that oil and gas interests will be able to secure any reprieve related to the CBR Rule from the full Congress.
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PHMSA: California, County Hazmat Rules Stand
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The company whose pipeline in California spilled more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil in May must shut down a different pipeline to address pipe integrity and safety concerns, the nation's pipeline regulator said in an amendment to a corrective action order released Nov. 13.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration directed Plains All American Pipeline LP to purge and shut down most of its 129.5 mile Line 903 pipeline that carries crude oil from Kern County, Calif., to Santa Barbara County, Calif., and to empty the fed-in Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas lines from Freeport's offshore platforms. Line 903 has been mostly idle since May 28, except for a 15-mile segment that has been operating occasionally at a reduced pressure.
“Due to the number of corrosion-caused anomalies on Line 903 in past ILI [in-line inspection] surveys, particularly on the Gaviota to Sisquoc segment, it does not appear that Plains has an effective corrosion control program and the pipe can be expected to have degraded (lost metal due to corrosion) since the last ILI survey,” the amendment to the corrective action order said.
The order includes an outline for what Plains's Line 903 “purge plan” must include. At least one part aims to correct an issue from its previous in-line inspection tool investigation by requiring Plains to provide its inspection vendor with field data from “direct investigation of anomalies.”
“Common practice in the pipeline industry is to provide the ILI vendor with field data from direct investigation of anomalies to validate the ILI tool's detection capabilities and limitations,” the amendment said. “Plains did not share its actual field findings with the ILI vendor so that it could enhance its interpretation of the ILI data.”
This is the second amendment filed to the corrective action order against Plains since the May 19 Santa Barbara County spill from Line 901 that affected more than 20 miles of coastline, aquatic life and wildlife.
The order was issued Nov. 12 by Jeffrey Wiese, PHMSA's associate administrator for pipeline safety. Plains can contest the amendment within 10 days of receipt.
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PHMSA Review Finds Underestimated Corrosion In Ruptured Plains Line
Nov 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Andrew Restuccia
An independent review conducted by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration found that an in-line inspection tool used by the company behind a 100,000-plus-gallon California oil spill underestimated the degree of corrosion that occurred on key portions of the pipeline.
That's one of the findings in an amended corrective action order issued by PHMSA on Friday to Plains Pipeline — the operator of Line 901, which burst in May.
The amended order demands that Plains purge a major segment of Plains' Line 903 of any raw or unprocessed crude because that material may contribute to internal corrosion. That section of the line, much of which had already ceased operation, must remain shut down until further notice because PHMSA found that it has "similar corrosion characteristics" to the failed Line 901.
"The crude oil in Line 903 needs to be removed from the pipeline and the line purged with an inert gas in order to prevent further degradation of the pipeline, and eliminate the potential harm it poses from an unintended release," the amended order says.
The order added later that as a result of the corrosion-caused anomalies found in Line 903 in previous in-line inspection surveys, "it does not appear that Plains has an effective corrosion control program" and the pipe can be expected to have lost further degraded since the last survey.
PHMSA issued its corrective action order on May 21. This is the second amendment to the order.
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Plains All American Must Shut Down California Pipe
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The company whose pipeline in California spilled more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil in May must shut down a different pipeline to address pipe integrity and safety concerns, the nation's pipeline regulator said in an amendment to a corrective action order released Nov. 13.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration directed Plains All American Pipeline LP to purge and shut down most of its 129.5 mile Line 903 pipeline that carries crude oil from Kern County, Calif., to Santa Barbara County, Calif., and to empty the fed-in Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas lines from Freeport's offshore platforms. Line 903 has been mostly idle since May 28, except for a 15-mile segment that has been operating occasionally at a reduced pressure.
“Due to the number of corrosion-caused anomalies on Line 903 in past ILI [in-line inspection] surveys, particularly on the Gaviota to Sisquoc segment, it does not appear that Plains has an effective corrosion control program and the pipe can be expected to have degraded (lost metal due to corrosion) since the last ILI survey,” the amendment to the corrective action order said.
The order includes an outline for what Plains's Line 903 “purge plan” must include. At least one part aims to correct an issue from its previous in-line inspection tool investigation by requiring Plains to provide its inspection vendor with field data from “direct investigation of anomalies.”
“Common practice in the pipeline industry is to provide the ILI vendor with field data from direct investigation of anomalies to validate the ILI tool's detection capabilities and limitations,” the amendment said. “Plains did not share its actual field findings with the ILI vendor so that it could enhance its interpretation of the ILI data.”
This is the second amendment filed to the corrective action order against Plains since the May 19 Santa Barbara County spill from Line 901 that affected more than 20 miles of coastline, aquatic life and wildlife.
The order was issued Nov. 12 by Jeffrey Wiese, PHMSA's associate administrator for pipeline safety. Plains can contest the amendment within 10 days of receipt.
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Regulators Tell Plains To Purge Shut California Oil Pipeline
Nov 13, 2015 | Reuters
By Kristen Hays
U.S. pipeline regulators have ordered LP to purge a California pipeline system of crude to prevent corrosion after a separate pipeline ruptured and fouled Santa Barbara County shores last May.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said Plains must purge oil from Line 903, a 130-mile (209 km), pipeline that runs from Gaviota, California inland to Kern County. Plains also must purge three shut offshore oil pipelines operated by Freeport McMoRan that normally feed Line 903.
PHMSA said surveys have shown that Line 903 has "similar corrosion characteristics" as Line 901, which ruptured and spilled up to 3,400 barrels of crude in mid-May, fouling Santa Barbara County shores as well as wildlife.
Line 901 has been shut and empty since the spill, and the damaged section was excavated and removed shortly thereafter. Line 903, also shut, has been "full of crude oil" since late May except for a section that operates intermittently at lower pressures, PHMSA said.
PHMSA said in the order made public on Friday that the crude could contain corrosive elements and must be purged to head off another potential breach.
Plains has no estimate of when the lines will restart, according to regulatory filings. The company cannot restart them without PHMSA's approval.
PHMSA, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice and California state and county agencies are investigating the spill.
Plains has estimated that spill-related costs could reach $257 million, including fines, settlements and cleanup. That amount does not include lost revenue from the shutdowns, the company said in a quarterly filing with regulators.
Line 901 moved crude produced in Exxon Mobil Corp's Santa Ynez offshore oilfield from Las Flores north along the California coastline to Gaviota. Line 903 moved oil from Freeport McMorRan's Point Arguello offshore inland.
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EPA Extends Comments on Draft Oil, Gas Well Controls
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The Environmental Protection Agency is extending until Dec. 4 the comment period on draft guidelines for the control of emissions of volatile organic compounds from oil and gas facilities, according to a notice to be published in the Federal Register Nov. 16. The comment period was originally scheduled to close Nov. 17. The EPA issued the draft control techniques guidelines in August as part of a package of rules intended to curb methane emissions from new oil and natural gas wells. The guidelines, which the EPA said do not impose any legal requirements on sources, are intended to be used to meet ozone precursor control requirements in certain nonattainment areas (160 DEN A-1, 8/19/15). The EPA's Federal Register notice is available at https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-29174.pdf.
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LNG Developers Can Mitigate Effects of Project
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Naureen S. Malik
Developers of the Magnolia liquefied natural gas terminal and related pipelines in Louisiana have a plan to reduce the environmental impacts of the project to “less-than-significant levels,” staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said.
FERC staff members released their final environmental impact statement Nov. 13 on the Magnolia LNG terminal in the port of Lake Charles, which would have the ability to export 1.08 billion cubic feet a day of gas. While the project would have “adverse environmental impacts,” most of which would be temporary during construction and operation of the facilities, developers have filed proposals to mitigate those effects.
Kinder Morgan Inc. will expand its pipeline system in the area and build a new compressor station to support the project.
“We determined that construction and operation of the proposed projects would result in adverse environmental impacts, but impacts would be reduced to less-than-significant levels with the implementation of the applicants’ proposed and our recommended mitigation measures,” the staff report said.
More than 99 percent of the area permanently affected by the LNG terminal is within areas that have already been disturbed by commercial or industrial activities, staff found. Magnolia's proposal includes replacing wetlands at the terminal site.
FERC commissioners will take the staff's assessment into consideration when making a final decision on the project. Magnolia LNG is a unit of Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd.
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Industry to Be Judged on Pennsylvania Pipeline Build-Out
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Leslie A. Pappas
Natural gas drillers will need to do their part to make sure the build-out of pipeline infrastructure in Pennsylvania is carried out responsibly, the head of the state's Department of Environmental Protection told Bloomberg BNA Nov. 12.
“Pipeline development is touching every single county in Pennsylvania,” DEP Secretary John Quigley told Bloomberg BNA in a phone call Nov. 12. “There's a big opportunity to raise the bar … in terms of how these projects are planned.”
Pennsylvania is expecting a massive pipeline infrastructure build-out in the coming decade to move gas out from thousands of wells tapping Marcellus Shale deposits in the northern part of the state. The expected pipeline expansion could affect as much as 300,000 acres, or 1 percent of the state's total land.
Smarter planning, better communication and a comprehensive pipeline map are among the key recommendations from a task force charged with developing best practices to ensure “responsible pipeline development” that takes the community and environment into account, Quigley said.
The draft report from the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force, a 48-member team of volunteers who compiled recommendations from 110 people in 12 different workgroups, came out Nov. 10 (218 DEN A-9, 11/12/15).
Industry Must Take Active Role
Industry will need to play an active role, along with local governments, state agencies and others, to put the task force's 184 recommendations into practice, Quigley said.
“They will be judged rightly on how they respond,” Quigley said. “We expect serious participation” from industry to help meet the task force goals. “They need to be held to account, just as public agencies.”
Public comment will be taken on the 335-page draft report through Dec. 14, and a final report from the task force is due to Gov. Tom Wolf (D) in February.
“When we hand the report to the governor, that's when the real work starts,” Quigley told Bloomberg BNA. “It will not do anybody any good if this report sits on a shelf.”
Key Takeaways
One overarching recommendation that came from multiple workgroups is the need for smart planning, Quigley said, “to shrink right-of-ways, to avoid wetlands, avoid cutting somebody's barn in half.”
Another takeaway from the report is that industry needs to communicate “early and often” with landowners and the community when pipelines are planned. “And not every company has done that,” Quigley said, without offering specifics.
Information technology also plays a big role in the report's recommendations, with several of the groups calling for comprehensive pipeline maps using GIS (geographic information system) mapping technologies.
That will be a challenge for the department, which has seen its information technology budget cut from $22 million in 2004 to $16 million today, Quigley said. “We have 1990s technology.”
The DEP is also short of manpower, operating with 671 fewer positions than it had in 2008, Quigley said.
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Judges Press Sierra Club Over FERC's Role On LNG
Nov 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Darius Dixon
The Sierra Club pressed a federal court on Friday to set a new precedent that would drastically expand how FERC measures the environmental impact of liquefied natural gas export facilities.
But the club's bigger task seemed to be convincing the three judges who presided over the hearing that the greens had picked the right target in FERC, or that they had a right to bring the case at all.
Sierra has waged a well-known campaign against coal in recent years, and it's been expanding its efforts against other fossil fuels and challenging natural gas development on several fronts, including FERC’s environmental assessments of new individual LNG terminals or their expansions. Those reviews, Sierra Club argued to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, should include possible emissions increases from coal-fired power on the electric grid.
But less than three minutes into his opening arguments, Sierra Club lawyer Nathan Matthews was cut off by Judge Thomas Griffith, who questioned whether the group had challenged the proper agency. “Why is this action directed at FERC? ... FERC isn’t the problem here,” he said.
The Energy Department is tasked with conducting analyses on whether LNG export applications are in the public interest, while FERC performs the environmental assessments of those individual projects in a parallel process.
Sierra Club argued that FERC violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not studying how natural gas production, spurred on by the potential LNG exports, would affect overall emissions in the power sector. FERC should also therefore be studying how increases in gas production contribute to greenhouse gas and regional ozone emissions before it approves an LNG facility, according to the group, a factor that the regulator has said is beyond its scope of review.
Because the FERC and DOE processes have moved in parallel — with final decisions from DOE contingent on FERC's approval of the LNG sites — Matthews told the three-judge panel that a FERC approval puts a “thumb on the scale” in favor of a project.
In the lead case, Sierra Club v. FERC (14-1249), the Sierra Club argued that FERC violated NEPA by not doing a more expansive review when it approved a permit for Sabine Pass Liquefaction, in Louisiana, to increase its maximum LNG production. The second case involved FERC’s approval of the Freeport LNG project in Texas.
Arguments in the two cases were heard back to back at the court in hearings that lasted for three hours.
FERC’s lawyer, Robert Solomon, told the court that if greens take issue with LNG exports, they should take their case to DOE.
In the Sabine Pass case, Solomon argued that Sierra was wrong in its complaint about FERC’s approval last year of a 25 percent increase in the facility’s maximum production, saying that a full environmental study wasn’t necessary because it entailed no new construction.
Judge Judith Rogers, however, noted that while there may be no new construction, the production increase might require “new activity” worth evaluating.
But Solomon appeared to satisfy the judges by citing the agency’s original study of the Sabine Pass facility, which considered it at its maximum operation rather than the lower production levels the company initially requested. The approval, he explained, was essentially a formality.
And the Sierra Club was repeatedly questioned about whether it had “standing” to bring the case at all.
The green group cited two of its local members to justify its involvement, saying that export facilities have adversely affected Sierra Club members’ “recreational enjoyment” of the area.
That drew a skeptical response from Judge Patricia Millett, who said from the perspective of those two members, “My behavior hasn’t changed, just my marginal happiness?”
While the judges seemed to agree that DOE was a proper target, they appeared frustrated that FERC put so many aspects of the export issue at the feet of DOE.
Given that Congress has required that requests for LNG shipments to countries that have free trade agreements with the U.S. receive automatic approval of export permits by DOE, that leaves FERC’s environmental assessment as the only roadblock, and all of the judges seemed concerned about how the public could weigh in.
“If we build it, the gas will come,” Millett said, echoing the famous line from 1989’s “Field of Dreams.” And if the facilities incentivize new gas production, she said, shouldn’t there be environmental studies performed on how LNG exports affect domestic output? DOE is allowed to delegate certain responsibilities but “not to wash its hands,” she said.
Griffith asked why a regional analysis by FERC wasn’t a fair request.
“It’s a significant event happening right before our eyes,” he said of the rise in U.S. gas production. “Who’s going to tell the public the cost of this boom?”
Solomon said that for both Sabine Pass and Freeport projects, it stuck to what it knows: site-specific environmental studies. And he cited the studies that Sierra Club relied upon, such as the Energy Information Administration 2012 report on the market impacts of LNG exports, as far too speculative to be useful. He also noted that DOE has also requested some of its own studies, and that FERC often attaches several conditions for companies seeking to build LNG facilities.
The judges did seem to be sympathetic to arguments from Sabine Pass lawyer Jonathan Franklin that it was DOE that approves both the volume of LNG to be exported as well as the general location of plants, and that had tied FERC's hands.
“FERC’s duty is not as broad as Sierra Club says,” Franklin said. “There’s no condition that would satisfy what Sierra Club is asking for.”
In the end, Rogers pointed to a larger issue in the case.
“A lot of the argument [from FERC and Sabine Pass] is that Sierra Club is in the wrong place,” she said. But, noting how few LNG export applications have ever been filed, “Everyone’s trying to figure out what their role is,” she added.
Sierra Club, alongside other environmental groups, have filed similar lawsuits against FERC on LNG projects in the appeals court, including Cove Point LNG — which has drawn local protestors to FERC headquarters — and Corpus Christi LNG.
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House Panels To Discuss Security, Resource Prospects
Nov 16, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Margaret Kriz Hobson
At a time when offshore oil drilling has been indefinitely postponed in the U.S. Arctic, federal efforts to update the navigational charts for Alaska's northern shores are opening new opportunities for national security, business and resource extraction.
Tomorrow, two House Foreign Affairs subcommittees are holding a joint hearing on future military and economic prospects created as the government improves nautical charting for Alaska's 6,640 miles of coastline.
The hearing will also focus on the Obama administration's agenda for the Arctic Council, as well as "what specific steps the Executive Branch is taking to promote the economic development and prosperity for those living and working in the Arctic," noted Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.
Federal reports have shown that the American Arctic contains considerable economic resources, including oil, natural gas, fisheries and minerals.
As the frigid polar waters remain ice-free for longer periods each summer, marine traffic is increasing along Alaska's north and west shores. Cargo haulers and tourist ships are expanding their use of the Northwest Passage past Canada and the Northern Sea Route past Russia. Those routes could significantly reduce the time and cost of traveling between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
However, the U.S. government has been slow to update its navigational charts for Alaska waters. Some of the most recent surveys date back to the Cold War; others come from the late 18th century, when British Capt. James Cook explored the region.
Meanwhile, national security concerns have heated up as Russia beefs up its military presence along that country's northern shores and top Russian officials assert broad ownership claims in the Arctic Ocean (Greenwire, Oct. 13).
"As other nations, such as Russia and China, begin to show increased interest in the Arctic, the U.S. must show that it can be a leader there," said Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
He argued that the Obama administration should use its term as chairman of the Arctic Council to assert U.S. leadership over Arctic issues. "The recent ascension to the Arctic Council chairmanship earlier this year for a two-year term provides the ideal platform to ensure that U.S. interests are represented," Duncan said.
Instead, he argued that the White House has "politicized the issue by focusing more on climate change instead of the vital energy and economic potential of the Arctic."
Schedule: The hearing is Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. in 2172 Rayburn.
Witnesses: Retired Coast Guard Adm. Robert Papp Jr., special representative for the Arctic, Department of State; Navy Rear Adm. Timothy C. Gallaudet, oceanographer and navigator, Department of Defense; Coast Guard Vice Adm. Charles D. Michel, vice commandant, Department of Homeland Security.
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States Kick Into Gear With Meetings On Clean Power Plan
Nov 16, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Emily Holden and Rod Kuckro
Stakeholders in Iowa meet today to further discuss U.S. EPA's rule and hear from officials from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator and the Southwest Power Pool. Here's the agenda.
Tomorrow, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative meets in New York for a meeting where stakeholders will consider state approaches to the Clean Power Plan and discuss broadening the RGGI market to include more trading partners. Many states are curious whether RGGI might expand or seek to trade with states outside its system.
Also tomorrow, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will host a stakeholder meeting on the Clean Power Plan in St. Paul. The agenda will feature an update on multistate meetings that have been occurring and discussion of how to develop state comments on the proposed federal plan and model trading rule. ClimateWire's Daniel Cusick will be reporting.
On Wednesday, New Mexico's Environment Department will host the first of several "public involvement meetings" on the Clean Power Plan in Santa Fe. A second meeting is planned for Thursday in Albuquerque.
The public meetings were preceded on Friday by a pair of calls hosted by the department to discuss Clean Power Plan implementation, one with state utilities and a second with nongovernmental organizations. Environment & Energy Publishing initially was invited to cover the calls but later was informed a reporter would not be allowed to participate.
"The utility call will not be a policy making or voting meeting," Allison Scott Majure, a spokeswoman for the Environment Department, said in an email. "It is a meeting to understand the concerns of the utilities (in the morning) and the NGOs (in the afternoon) to better understand their concerns, questions and ideas about the Clean Power Plan for New Mexico."
EPA's Clean Air Act Advisory Committee will meet Wednesday in Arlington, Va., and EPA air chief Janet McCabe will lead off the morning session. The afternoon session will include a discussion of the Clean Power Plan and the Clean Energy Incentive Program.
On Wednesday in Washington, D.C., EPA will hold the first of two days of public hearings on the proposed federal plan and model trading rules. E&E reporters will attend.
Also Wednesday, Arkansas' Department of Environmental Quality begins a series of conference calls on the Clean Power Plan, the first of which will focus on the regulatory framework and impact of the rule. Future calls are scheduled for Dec. 2, 9 and 16. The telephone number is 877-411-9748, and the access code is 8652725.
On Thursday in Atlanta, EPA will hold the first of two days of public hearings on the proposed federal plan and model trading rules. EnergyWire's Kristi E. Swartz will attend.
On Thursday, the Regulatory Assistance Project holds a webinar about how the Clean Power Plan will affect regional voluntary and regulatory renewable energy markets.
Thursday evening, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control will host in Greer, S.C., what is billed as a public engagement session on the state energy plan and EPA's Clean Power Plan.
In case you missed it: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) formed an advisory council on a state plan to cut carbon emissions (EnergyWire, Nov. 13). Georgia regulators pressed EPA to clarify the role of biomass in the Clean Power Plan (EnergyWire, Nov. 13). EPA confirmed that only wind and solar can qualify for an early-action credit (ClimateWire, Nov. 12). EPA leaders told state regulators market-based carbon trading is key to the Clean Power Plan's success (ClimateWire, Nov. 10). Uncertainty is a central risk as states ponder compliance options (EnergyWire, Nov. 10). Most states suing EPA over the Clean Power Plan are also working on compliance options (ClimateWire, Nov. 9).
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Energy Secretary: ‘All Of The Above’ Includes Reducing Emissions
Nov 13, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Friday that the Obama administration’s “all of the above” approach to energy sources means it seeks to reduce carbon dioxide from the energy sector.
Moniz sought to clarify the “all of the above” policy, saying that while certain energy sources such as wind and solar have no carbon emissions, the administration is truly committed to all forms of energy, including fossil fuels.“We say ‘all of the above,’ but let me be very clear: ‘all of the above’ starts out with a commitment to low carbon,” Moniz said Friday at a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace event.
“The Department of Energy’s responsibility is to advance the research and development demonstration for all fuels, for a low-carbon world.”
He said that contrasts with a “some of the above” approach, which for Moniz translates to “my favorite technology as the silver bullet,” he said. “It’s just not going to work.”
The “all of the above” policy has long been a favorite rallying cry for President Obama and his staff, in part to try to blunt attacks from fossil fuel advocates affiliated with the coal and oil industries who charge that Obama is trying to harm them.
But Moniz, who is heading to Paris soon to meet with his counterparts around the world in advance of a United Nations meeting to write a global climate change pact, said that’s not the case, using coal as an example to illustrate the low-carbon strategy.
“That means advancing and engaging in the same kind of cost reduction for carbon capture, utilization and sequestration,” he said.
Natural gas, with its low emissions, is currently part of the solution, Moniz said, but it will probably need to adapt to carbon capture in the future too.
“Not in this decade or the next decade, perhaps, but as we go to a trajectory of ever-lower carbon emissions, well then, natural gas will be too carbon-intense, and it will need carbon capture and sequestration,” he said.
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Vote on EPA Climate Rules Set by House Committee
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
The full House Energy and Commerce Committee plans Nov. 18 to mark up and vote on two measures that would immediately nullify the centerpieces of President Barack Obama's climate change agenda.
Rep. Ed Whitfield's (R-Ky.) resolutions would immediately kill the Clean Power Plan (H.J. Res. 72), which regulates emissions from existing power plants, and final emissions limits for new and modified power plants (H.J. Res. 71).
“Cap and trade was rejected by a Democratic Congress in 2010, and the rules are just as ill-advised today as they were five years ago,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who chairs the committee, said in a Nov. 13 statement to Bloomberg BNA.
Whitfield's Energy and Power Subcommittee passed both measures on party-line 15-12 votes Nov. 3. Both resolutions, introduced under the provisions of the Congressional Review Act, ultimately would require the support of two-thirds of the House to override a certain veto from Obama (213 DEN A-16, 11/4/15).
A vote (247 to 180) on similar legislation (H.R. 2042) earlier this year from Whitfield to allow states to opt out of the Clean Power Plan shows that the House would be well short of the two-thirds supermajority necessary to override the veto.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) office did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment on when the chamber might take up the resolutions.
Both regulations were formally published Oct. 23 (80 Fed. Reg. 64,510; 80 Fed. Reg. 64,662). More than half the states and dozens of industry groups already have challenged the Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33), and some of those same entities also have filed legal challenges to the standards for new and modified plants (RIN 2060-AQ91).
Companion Efforts in Senate
The House will not be alone in challenging the EPA rules. Companion efforts (S.J. Res. 23; S.J. Res. 24) in the Senate, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), are also likely to get votes before nearly 200 nations gather in Paris for international climate change negotiations in December.
A spokesman for McConnell said Nov. 13 there is no schedule yet for when the Senate might take up its own Congressional Review Act challenges to the rules.
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House Won't Vote On Resolutions To Kill EPA Climate Rules Before Paris Talks
Nov 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillén
The House will not vote on measures to kill President Barack Obama’s power plant carbon rules before the start of international climate talks in Paris begin on Nov. 30, according to a GOP leadership aide.
Matt Sparks, a spokesman for Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the twin Congressional Review Act resolutions will not hit the floor next week, which is the last Congress will be in session before the start of the international negotiations. No other decisions on timing had been made, Sparks said.
With Congress in recess for Thanksgiving the week after next, the earliest date the House could vote on its CRA resolutions would be the first day of the two-week-long Paris talks. Obama plans to attend at the beginning of the gathering.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to mark up the CRA measures on Wednesday. A simple majority is needed to pass on the floor. The Senate could vote on its own CRA resolutions as early as next week.
Obama is expected to veto the resolutions, and Republicans do not have the votes to override.
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Liberal Donors Double Down On Climate Change
Nov 13, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia and Kenneth P. Vogel
At a closed-door gathering next week in Washington, influential liberal donors and operatives plan to double down on their efforts to make climate change a central voting issue in 2016, despite disappointing returns on a similar campaign in 2014.
The meeting at Washington's Mandarin Oriental hotel, organized by the Democracy Alliance liberal donor club, will feature discussions with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, representatives from powerful green groups and billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, according to an agenda obtained by POLITICO.
It sketches out a bevy of presentations detailing initiatives to which the Democracy Alliance is recommending its members donate to elevate climate change on the national agenda.
Steyer, whose $74 million climate-focused spending spree in 2014 congressional races produced mixed results, will tout his 2016 efforts, according to the agenda. It lists a presentation by Steyer on the "economic benefits of a clean energy economy" during a session on Thursday that will be followed by a panel discussion on how the 2016 election "can be a step toward a longer-term plan towards progressive governance."
Fighting climate change is a major theme of the Democracy Alliance's 2020 Vision plan, which last year created a Democracy Alliance Climate Fund to steer cash to groups fighting for environmental causes and candidates in key states.
The group’s leaders say they won’t be deterred from pursuing the plan by the disappointing 2014 election, during which Republicans who largely oppose efforts to limit carbon emissions won huge victories.
“I don’t think it was a setback, I don’t see any signs of that,” said Democracy Alliance President Gara LaMarche. “I’m sure everybody is living and learning,” LaMarche added, praising Steyer’s commitment to the cause.
“It’s good that he is staying the course and plans to invest in a lot of states this time," LaMarche said. "We obviously think that in terms of the future of the planet, in terms of our politics, climate change is important and we have to engage in the political sphere. And Tom Steyer is a big player in that.”
As he has become a bigger player in national politics, Steyer has emerged as an influential member of the Democracy Alliance. The billionaire former hedge fund manager, who has used a largely self-funded super PAC to make climate change a more prominent political issue, played a starring role at the group's April meeting in San Francisco.
The Democracy Alliance hope to accomplish four top-line goals on climate change by 2020, according to documents obtained by POLITICO: diminish the influence of the fossil fuel industry in elections, position Congress to pass a national carbon price, encourage states to adopt climate and renewable energy policies and improve the United States' global leadership on climate change.
The group's 2020 Climate Fund will invest in local and state organizations with an eye toward boosting their advocacy and organizing capabilities, while continuing to funnel money to larger groups like the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters.
Activists from Virginia and Pennsylvania will huddle with DA members on Thursday to discuss their strategy for building a "progressive infrastructure" in the states when it comes to climate change, and they'll talk about how the president's climate change agenda "is creating opportunities for organizing on the intersection of climate and economic justice," according to the agenda.
Steyer will also host a dinner at the Tabard Inn near Dupont Circle on Thursday night. Natural Resources Defense Council President Rhea Suh will be a featured guest at the dinner. League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski will be a featured guest at a separate dinner on Thursday night at Restaurant Nora, which boasts that it is America's first certified organic restaurant.
The League of Conservation Voters and the NRDC Action Fund — through the groups' joint Leading Green initiative — are among the organizations to which the the Democracy Alliance encourages its members to donate.
McCarthy will give Democracy Alliance members a "behind-the-scenes look" at the administration's climate change regulations for power plants, as well as a preview of "what lies ahead" during a closed-door session with Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden and Labor Secretary Tom Perez on Wednesday, according to the agenda.
Democracy Alliance members will also urge senators and senior Obama administration officials to defend the climate change regulations during a series of meetings on Tuesday. And Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion on Friday about the climate regulations.
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North Carolina Sues EPA Over Missed SIP Deadline
Nov 16, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality asked a federal district court to require the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a final decision on the state's implementation plan for addressing fine particulate matter emissions (Van der Vaart v. McCarthy, E.D.N.C., No. 5:15-cv-593, 11/13/15). The state environmental department, in a lawsuit filed Nov. 13, alleged the EPA missed a statutory deadline to either approve or disapprove of the revised plan, known as a SIP. North Carolina submitted the plan to the EPA Sept. 5, 2013. The EPA was required under the Clean Air Act to issue a decision on approval by Dec. 13, 2014, but has failed to do so, the state environmental department said. The lawsuit asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina to issue an injunction directing the EPA to make that decision by a certain date. A copy of the lawsuit is available at http://src.bna.com/4s.
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Mingo Claims MACT Ruling Shows Lack Of Cost Review Dooms CWA 'Veto'
Nov 13, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Bridget DiCosmo
Coal company Mingo Logan says the Supreme Court's ruling faulting EPA for not considering costs in deciding to craft a utility air toxics rule should also doom the agency's novel retrospective Clean Water Act (CWA) “veto” of disposal sites for a mountaintop mine Mingo is pursuing, because EPA did not weigh costs as part of the veto decision.
EPA's “cavalier approach would not pass muster even outside the special context of vitiating a permit,” argues Mingo in a Nov. 13 reply brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where the company is challenging EPA's decision to use CWA section 404(c) authority to revoke approval of the disposal sites. The agency argues that the water law only requires it to consider environmental harms in such decisions.
EPA has exercised its section 404(c) authority only a handful of times, but the Mingo case marks a rare instance of the agency taking action after the Corps had already issued a final CWA permit.
Mingo cites the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision issued June 29 in Michigan v. EPA, which remanded to the D.C. Circuit litigation over EPA's utility maximum achievable control technology (MACT) air toxics rule. The majority faulted the agency for not considering costs in deciding whether the MACT standards were “appropriate and necessary” under the air law. EPA had argued the law's silence on the issue meant that it did not “unambiguously” require consideration of costs in issuing the finding, and that the agency weighed costs when it later set the actual MACT pollution limits.
Quoting from Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion, Mingo in its new brief argues, “Agencies have long treated cost as a centrally relevant factor when deciding whether to regulate” and “reasonable regulation ordinarily requires paying attention to the advantages and the disadvantages of agency decisions.”
The industry attorneys representing Mingo are arguing that EPA faces a similar obligation to consider the cost when weighing applying its section 404(c) authority to a final CWA permit. The brief seeks to counter EPA's argument that it has broad discretionary authority under section 404(c) and that its factual finding that the disposal sites would have had an “unacceptable adverse effect” on wildlife is sufficient to uphold the veto.
In the Mingo litigation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) on EPA's behalf argued in an Oct. 9 brief that the permitting decision was not subject to a higher level of scrutiny because it represented a reversal of policy.
DOJ argued that the company is misconstruing both the CWA and the 2009 Supreme Court 5-4 ruling, FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. In Fox, the high court said that an “about face” on agency policy demands a “more detailed justification,” especially when the prior position “engendered serious reliance interests.”
But Mingo argues in its reply brief that “None of EPA’s arguments for disregarding Fox is persuasive,” saying EPA's decision to let the Corps issue a final permit constituted a decsion on the merits, and its “late-blooming 'adverse effect' finding necessarily contradicts its earlier decision to green-light the permit.”
Legal Challenge
Mingo, which is pursuing the mountaintop mine in West Virginia, is asking the D.C. Circuit to overturn a September 2014 decision by U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Amy Berman Jackson, which found that EPA's decision under section 404(c) was not arbitrary and capricious.
Jackson's ruling followed her earlier decision that initially vacated EPA's rejection of the disposal sites saying EPA lacked authority under the CWA for the veto, but did not address the merits of the case.
The D.C. Circuit then reversed that decision on appeal by finding that the agency has authority under section 404(c) to act “whenever” it finds that adverse environmental effects would occur.
While the Corps issues "dredge-and-fill permits" under CWA section 404, the law says EPA has the ability under section 404(c) to "prohibit the specification (including the withdrawal of specification) of any defined area as a disposal site . . . whenever [EPA] determines, after notice and opportunity for public hearings, that the discharge of such materials into such area will have an unacceptable adverse effect on water supply, aquatic life, wildlife or recreational areas.”
The CWA provides EPA with authority to withdraw disposal sites associated with the permits, but the action usually has the effect of stopping development since permits provide authority to dispose of dredge-and-fill material only in specified disposal sites. For that reason, industry attorneys say that EPA should have to consider similar criteria to what the Corps considers in order to revoke a final permit.
In the new brief, Mingo says that, “EPA claims a power that is tantamount to the Corps’ revocation authority but is unencumbered by any such restrictions.” The company notes that DOJ has argued that the agency must only weigh “one, and only one, factor -- the environment -- when revoking a specification,” and need not balance environmental benefits against non-environmental costs. Mingo argues that EPA declined to account for cost at all, and that the agency is still constrained by the Administrative Procedure Act to do so regardless of whether it is stated explicitly in section 404(c) of the CWA.
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