Preview Newsletter
ACC Nov 24
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(ACC Mentioned) 4 Things Williams Companies Inc.’s CEO Wants You to Know
Nov 23, 2015 | The Motley Fool
By Matthew DiLallo
Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) is navigating through an uncertain period, both in the commodity market and in its own history. That said, despite these uncertain times, the company believes it and its MLP Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) are on the right path forward. That was clear from comments made by CEO Alan Armstrong on its... -
(ACC Mentioned) TSCA-Reform Vote Still Possible, Industry Officials Say
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Despite fleeting floor time, the Senate still could vote on legislation to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act this year, two senior trade association officials told Bloomberg BNA Nov. 23. Ernie Rosenberg, president and chief executive officer for the American Cleaning Institute, and Michael Walls, vice president of regulatory and... -
(ACC Mentioned) Agencies Lay Scientific Foundation for Rapid Toxicity
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The scientific and regulatory foundation to allow further rapid, computer-enabled toxicity and exposure data about chemicals to be used by governments and industries continued to be built at a recent toxicology meeting. “We need to get smart. We need to get tactical about how we employ these solutions,” Maurice Whelan, head of systems... -
EPA Rejects Industry Call For White House Review Of Region 9 TCE Guide
Nov 23, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Dave Reynolds
EPA Region 9 has rejected a request from a California industry group to seek a White House cost-benefit review of the region's guidance to protect against cardiac birth defects from exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) at contaminated sites, arguing the plan is consistent with EPA headquarters cleanup policies and based on sound science. -
Two EPA Formaldehyde Rules Combined Into One
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The Environmental Protection Agency has combined two formaldehyde emissions standards rules it proposed in 2013 into a single rule it is working to finalize, the agency announced Nov. 23. The EPA referred to a proposed rule issued in 2013 that would apply California's wood product formaldehyde emissions limits nationwide... -
Colo. AG Defends Authority to Sue Over Clean Power Plan
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Colorado attorney general's authority to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency Clean Power Plan over the objections of the governor is well established, Attorney General Cynthia Coffman (R) argued to the state Supreme Court (Hickenlooper v. Coffman, Colo., No. 2015SA296, reply brief filed 11/20/15). -
Industry Seeks Supreme Court Review of EPA Permitting
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency should be required to repropose its greenhouse gas permitting requirements in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the scope of the program, an industry trade group said in a petition for certiorari (Energy-Intensive Mfg. Working Grp. on Greenhouse Gas Regulation v. EPA, U.S... -
Federal Agencies Look to Beat Emissions Goal
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The federal government wants to go above and slightly beyond the president's expectations for curbing its carbon footprint. Federal agencies pledged Nov. 23 to cut their greenhouse gas emissions 41.8 percent from 2008 levels by 2025, slightly above the 40 percent goal President Barack Obama laid out for them in a recent executive... -
Journal Pushes Back At GOP Over Climate Change Study
Nov 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The academic journal that published a controversial study on climate change is pushing back against Republican accusations that the research’s publication was rushed. A spokeswoman for the journal Science told the Washington Post that the study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in fact underwent more... -
EPA Faces Second Lawsuit Over Revised Effluent Limits
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
The Environmental Protection Agency's revised wastewater effluent limits for power plants face an additional challenge from the Waterkeeper Alliance and Environmental Integrity Project (Waterkeeper Alliance v. EPA, 2nd Cir., No. 15-03773, 11/23/15). The environmental groups' petition for review was filed by Earthjustice... -
House Members Want EPA Water Rule Defunded
Nov 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Dozens of House lawmakers are asking the Appropriations Committee to defund a controversial Obama administration water pollution regulation. Eighty-eight lawmakers — nearly all Republican — sent a letter to Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) Monday formally asking the committee to make defunding the Waters of the U.S. rule a priority.
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(ACC Mentioned) 4 Things Williams Companies Inc.’s CEO Wants You to Know
Nov 23, 2015 | The Motley Fool
By Matthew DiLallo
Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) is navigating through an uncertain period, both in the commodity market and in its own history. That said, despite these uncertain times, the company believes it and its MLP Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) are on the right path forward. That was clear from comments made by CEO Alan Armstrong on its third-quarter conference call. Here are four things he wanted to make certain that its investors knew about the company.
1. We're on track with our merger
One of the chief causes of Williams' uncertainty is its pending merger with Energy Transfer Equity. Armstrong addressed this by saying:I'd like to provide a brief update on the transaction we announced with Energy Transfer. ... We are on the path to completion [and the deal is] expected to close in the first half of 2016.
Because the merger is still being reviewed by regulators, Armstrong couldn't say much about it on the call and even asked analysts to refrain from questions on the deal. That said, he did reiterate the fact that the company is moving toward completion, with a close expected next year. In other words, no news is good news.
2. Here's how we're handling weak commodity prices
The other big uncertainty in the market is the impact that lower commodity prices will have on Williams' cash flow due to its direct and indirect exposure to prices. Armstrong addressed this concern by saying:Despite the fundamental pressures on our industry from dramatically lower commodity prices, we've continued with very substantial growth in our adjusted EBITDA and DCF, so really, showing strength as we continue to see prices erode and some really dramatically low NGL prices in the quarter, but our strategy of continuing to invest in these big fee-based projects is really starting to overwhelm those lower prices.
While most of the industry's cash flow is contracting due to weak prices, Williams Companies and Williams Partners are growing largely due to a number of fee-based projects that are coming online. This is helping to mute the exposure to those lower prices.
3. We are feeling some impact from commodity prices
That said, Armstrong went on to say:And so that's not to say we aren't feeling some of the effects of the low commodity prices directly in our commodity margins and indirectly via the volume shut in on some of our gathering systems, particularly in the Northeast.
Armstrong points out two areas where it is feeling the pinch of lower prices. First, it does have some direct exposure to prices, primarily at its processing plants, which is crimping margins. Further, because prices are so low in places like the Marcellus shale producers are turning off wells, which is hurting the gas volumes flowing through its gathering systems. Neither issue will go away until prices being to improve.
4. Demand growth for natural gas is coming
The good news is that an improvement could to be on the horizon because demand is expected to start to pick up. Armstrong noted the expected shift in industry fundamentals by saying that,The North American producers continue to really amaze us and continue to innovate and deliver production at costs levels that no one thought was possible even a year ago, and while this has led to painfully over-supplied markets in the short-term, it continues to lead the way toward growing demand and expanding prosperous markets for natural gas and natural gas derivatives. And so, over the long-term, we think we're really seeing a supply led expansion, and I know that people are getting impatient about that, but I can assure you, as you look through our backlog of projects, it's very evident to us that that capital is going in place to pave the way for growing demand.
Natural gas demand is expected to increase dramatically over the next few years due to billions of investments across the petrochemical and utility industries, which are building facilities to consume cheap natural gas. For example, according to the American Chemistry Council, 148 petrochemical projects have been announced -- including new factories, expansions, and process changes to increase capacity -- valued at $100.2 billion. Meanwhile, in Ohio alone there are five natural gas power plants in development representing upward of $3.8 billion in investment that are expected to be online by 2019. As these projects start to come online it will increase demand for natural gas, which could spur better prices and then additional supply growth. That suggests new opportunities for Williams Companies and Williams Partners to move additional natural gas supplies from production basins to these end users.
Investor takeaway
There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding both Williams Companies and its MLP Williams Partners at the moment. However, Williams is confident in its future, not only because it has limited exposure to commodity prices, but more importantly due to the fact that the natural gas story remains intact thanks to the tremendous growth in demand that's just over the horizon.A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity
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A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity
The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early-in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. -
(ACC Mentioned) TSCA-Reform Vote Still Possible, Industry Officials Say
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Despite fleeting floor time, the Senate still could vote on legislation to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act this year, two senior trade association officials told Bloomberg BNA Nov. 23.
Ernie Rosenberg, president and chief executive officer for the American Cleaning Institute, and Michael Walls, vice president of regulatory and technical affairs at the American Chemistry Council, said their organizations are doing everything they can to encourage the Senate to bring the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S. 697) to the floor before its target adjournment date of Dec. 18.
“That is still our No. 1 priority for 2015. We're very focused on getting it done this year,” Walls said. He reiterated a goal voiced at the beginning of this year (10 DEN B-1, 1/15/15).
Senate sponsors tried to get S. 697 to the floor in October, but it has been stalled because Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) have placed a hold on the bill until they are guaranteed a vote on legislation to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (218 DEN A-1, 11/12/15).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) continues to work with those senators to address their goals and allow S. 697 to move, Rosenberg said.
“We think a Senate vote is possible before the end of the year,” he said.
“If a hot-button issue gets stalled and a time slot opens up, it could come to the floor,” he said.
Near-Term Priorities
After the Thanksgiving recess, lawmakers face a two-week deadline to agree on a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill to fund the government after Dec. 11.
Funding a multiyear highway bill also is a priority with the latest, temporary funding extension set to expire Dec. 4 (222 DEN B-1, 11/18/15).
Clashes over how to deal with refugees also are likely to arise after Thanksgiving.
Based on years of working with Congress, however, Walls said opportunities may arise where there didn't appear to be any.
“We're doing what we can to encourage Senate leadership and the bill's sponsors,” he said.
Past as Prologue?
Scott Jensen, a spokesman for the ACC, pointed to the four-year extension of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (Pub. L. No. 113-254), which the House approved Dec. 11, 2014, capping off a feverish year-end push to finish legislation (239 DEN A-6, 12/12/14).
Walls said, “If you look at the amount of support this has generated—environmental groups, public health, labor, a solid coalition of chemical industry groups, 60 members of the Senate and former EPA officials, you've got all the pieces necessary to successfully move this to the floor and get an overwhelming vote in favor of it.”
Rosenberg said the American Cleaning Institute and its members are calling individual senators and saying, “Please, we've worked on this for years. We're so close. There's so much support.”
If a slot opens up in the Senate schedule, this bill will pass, Rosenberg said.
“If not, it's not the end of the world,” he said. The Senate could still pass the legislation early on next year.
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(ACC Mentioned) Agencies Lay Scientific Foundation for Rapid Toxicity
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The scientific and regulatory foundation to allow further rapid, computer-enabled toxicity and exposure data about chemicals to be used by governments and industries continued to be built at a recent toxicology meeting.
“We need to get smart. We need to get tactical about how we employ these solutions,” Maurice Whelan, head of systems toxicology at the European Commission's Joint Research Center, said Nov. 19 during the opening of the Society of Toxicology's (SOT) meeting.
Academic, government and private-sector scientists have passed the tipping point, Whelan said. The question is no longer whether they will use predictive high throughput and computational tests to generate toxicity and exposure data to make decisions about chemicals.
“It's how, when and how fast,” Whelan said at SOT's meeting, Transforming 21st Century Science into Risk Assessment and Regulatory Decision-Making in Arlington, Va.
European Union and U.S. government scientists joined toxicologists working with the American Chemistry Council, Procter & Gamble, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals International Co. to discuss their current uses of and plans to develop automated, high throughput screening methods and computational approaches to predict the toxicity and exposure potential of chemicals including pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
Companies Investing Millions of Dollars
Companies such as Bayer HealthCare AG, Dow Chemical Co., Procter & Gamble and Takeda already have spent millions of dollars on capital equipment, staff and other resources to enable their use of high throughput and computer-based early drug discovery and toxicity tests (138 DEN B-1, 7/20/15).
“Application of these new methods early in product development increases the chances of success for the development of sustainable products by quickly, reliably and cost-effectively identifying and eliminating products with undesirable traits that could target them for future de-selection,” J. Craig Rowlands, a senior scientist at Dow said in an Insights article he wrote for Bloomberg BNA (201 DEN B-1, 10/19/15).
Adoption of predictive toxicity methods by regulatory agencies has been relatively slow, he said.
Animal welfare concerns and legislative and other drivers are, however, impelling increased regulatory use of high throughput and computational toxicity and exposure prediction data, Rowlands said.
EPA Announcement as ‘Pivot' Point
SOT's speakers repeatedly described an announcement EPA made in June as a “pivot” point in regulatory acceptance of new types of data.
The agency said it would accept for regulatory purposes data generated by three high throughput (HT) screens (118 DEN A-20, 6/19/15).
In this case, pesticide and some chemical manufacturers, which are required to provide the EPA data under its Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, can submit the results from three HT screens in lieu of data generated by two in vitro and one animal study (80 Fed. Reg. 35,350).
By 2017, pesticide and chemical manufacturers will be able to use high throughput tests to submit additional mandated data to the EPA for its endocrine program, Jim Jones, EPA assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, told about 300 toxicologists and other scientists attending the SOT meeting(224 DEN A-6, 11/20/15).
More EPA Applications
Jones described other ways EPA's pesticide and chemical offices are planning to use high throughput screening and computer-generated exposure data.
The pesticide program is reviewing data generated through robotics under a multi-agency program called Toxicology in the 21st Century (Tox21) to determine the extent to which it could provide insight into potential toxicities of inert ingredients used in pesticides, he said.
A high-speed robot screening system unveiled in 2011 is testing thousands of different chemicals using more than 100 tests to secure information about their potential human health effects (48 DEN A-14, 3/11/11).
Using quick, predictive toxicity and exposure methods also is vital for commercial chemicals, Jones said.
The EPA does not know how many thousands of chemicals are on the U.S. market without sufficient public data to know whether they pose a health or environmental risk, he said.
“Frankly the number is so big I really don't care,” Jones said. “Using current techniques, I have no hope, my successors have no hope, of assessing them in our lifetimes, and I'm hoping to live a very long time.”
The EPA does know that at least 10,000 commercial chemicals were made in 2011, and it estimates that up to 30,000 chemicals are in commerce if smaller production volumes are considered, he said.
The EPA's chemicals office already has decided to evaluate the risks of about 90 chemicals in commerce, and it plans to screen more for possible risk assessment, he said.
“When you've got that much to do, the choice of what you do next is extraordinarily important,” Jones said.
ToxCast Data Being Used Under REACH
Whelan, from the European Commission, said he sees tremendous opportunity in high throughput data being used by EU member states to select the chemicals they will evaluate under REACH (Regulation No. 1907/2006 on the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals).
Data generated through the EPA's Toxicity Forcaster (ToxCast) program is being used to help select chemicals that may need to be reviewed due to their potential effects on hormones, he said.
The EPA's ToxCast program uses more than 700 high throughput tests to evaluate cellular responses to chemicals.
That program already has generated data on more than 1,800 industrial and consumer chemicals, food additives and other compounds.
Data for a total of nearly 3,000 chemicals will be available in 2016, said David Dix, director of the EPA's Office of Science Coordination and Policy.
FDA Working on Cardiac Safety Protocol
The Food and Drug Administration is laying the groundwork for pharmaceutical companies to use high throughput, in vitro and computational, or “in silico,” tests to substitute for some of the animal and other testing they currently conduct, said David Strauss, senior adviser for translational and experimental medicine in FDA's Office of Clinical Pharmacology.
As one example, Strauss pointed to a Comprehensive In Vitro Proarrhythmia Assay, on which the Safety Pharmacology Society, FDA and other private and public sector organizations are working.
A rare but potentially fatal side effect, Torsade de Pointes, in which the heart beats abnormally, has caused the withdrawal of 14 FDA-approved drugs, he said.
However, not one drug has caused this particular type of arrhythmic heart beat since the International Conference on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) approved a testing protocol in 2005, he said.
While effective, the protocol is expensive and has led to the premature discontinuation of many potentially useful medications, Strauss said.
The ICH protocol costs $2 million to $3 million per study, according to an article, “Cardiac Safety Investigations 10 Years After ICH Guidance E14,” which appeared in the January 2015 issue of the Journal of Clinical Studies.
If it proves successful, the Comprehensive In Vitro Proarrhythmia Assay would combine information from in vitro and in silico tests and generate the needed cardiac data for far less money, Strauss said.
“The cost of innovative medicine development could drop,” Strauss said.
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EPA Rejects Industry Call For White House Review Of Region 9 TCE Guide
Nov 23, 2015 | InsideEPA
By Dave Reynolds
EPA Region 9 has rejected a request from a California industry group to seek a White House cost-benefit review of the region's guidance to protect against cardiac birth defects from exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) at contaminated sites, arguing the plan is consistent with EPA headquarters cleanup policies and based on sound science.
In a Nov. 19 letter to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) coalition of chemical, technology and other companies based in the state, Region 9 Superfund Division Director Enrique Manzanilla says the guide merely provides a framework for implementing EPA's September 2011 Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment for TCE, and says the agency is denying the SVLG's request for further review of the guidance.
“[T]he overall weight of scientific evidence demonstrates that TCE has a wide range of potential adverse health effects, and EPA has the responsibility to apply the results of the IRIS toxicity assessment for TCE under Federal statutes and regulations,” Manzanilla says in the letter obtained by Inside EPA.
The guide is seen as a first-time agency effort to translate the IRIS conclusions into a short-term exposure risk measurement that could drive policies such as cleanups of TCE-contaminated sites.
SVLG requested review of the guidance in a July 9 letter to Region 9 and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The group argued that Region 9 is implementing the policy as rule, despite not following proper notice and comment procedures, and that the underlying science is flawed.
The group also argued that should the policy, which is primarily targeted at the Silicon Valley, be applied more broadly, it would impose costs exceeding the $100 million threshold that requires OMB review of the costs and benefits of rules with significant economic impacts.
In the Nov. 19 response, Manzanilla defends Region 9's approach, saying that rather than imposing new mandates, the guide merely assists in meeting existing cleanup obligations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).
Manzanilla also defends EPA's IRIS assessment that concluded TCE poses a risk of cardiac birth defects, noting the review was subject to both public comment and peer review.
“There are no significant uncertainties that have arisen since 2011 that were not considered prior to the release of EPA's final toxicity assessment as to whether TCE causes fetal heart defects,” Manzanilla says. “Therefore, the Agency sees no reason to re-evaluate the science on which the Region 9 Memo is based.”
IRIS Assessment
Soon after EPA's September 2011 IRIS assessment established a birth defects risks for TCE, Region 9 began requiring strict new assessment and mitigation measures at contaminated sites to protect against exposure to TCE through vapor intrusion, which occurs when underground contamination rises into indoor air.
In a Dec. 3, 2013 letter, Region 9 urged the San Francisco Bay regional water board to follow a strict new program for assessing risks from short-term exposures to TCE that includes stringent prompt response action levels as well as new sampling strategies.
Although industry pushed back by arguing a lack of a nationwide policy indicated uncertainty about TCE risks, the region pushed ahead and issued a revised approach in a July 9, 2014 memo. The memo says the region's toxicologists had consulted with EPA headquarters officials on the issue.
One year later, SVLG requested EPA and White House review of the guidance, arguing the Region was implementing its July 9, 2014 guidance "as a rule of general applicability,” despite not following an adequate rulemaking process. The group reiterated industry calls for a definitive study of TCE risks and for independent peer review of whether the common contaminant causes birth defects.
In the Region 9 response, Manzanilla says the TCE policy “contains a useful operational framework” for implementing the IRIS findings at contaminated sites, and supports decision-making under CERCLA in a manner consistent with agency Superfund cleanup policies.
Specifically, Manzanilla cites an EPA headquarters Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) August 27, 2014 memo addressing risks from short-term exposures to TCE at contaminated sites, as well as OSWER's vapor intrusion guidance, issued in June. Both documents back “early and prompt action when human health is threatened,” the letter says.
Existing Policy
Manzanilla says that since the Region 9 approach merely implements existing agency policy based on the headquarters-level documents and is not a regulation or rule, a cost-benefit analysis is not required or warranted.
“Because the Region 9 memo operationalized the IRIS TCE Assessment, it is consistent with the OSWER Memo as well as other existing guidance for the Superfund program,” Manzanilla said. “As such, the Region 9 Memo does not warrant additional examination through a separate public review process.”
Manzanilla also says that addressing vapor intrusion at Superfund sites “has been a significant priority requiring a major resource investment” in Region 9, and that the Region's approach is similar to ones used in EPA Region 10, as well as by state regulators in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York. Region 9 officials have sampled more than 650 structures, Manzanilla says, and found vapor intrusion at a number of residences, commercial buildings and schools. Regional staff have temporarily mitigated risk from TCE vapor intrusion at a number of those sites, and is developing permanent mitigation at five school buildings that serve over 1,000 infants, children and teachers in one community, the letter says.
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Two EPA Formaldehyde Rules Combined Into One
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The Environmental Protection Agency has combined two formaldehyde emissions standards rules it proposed in 2013 into a single rule it is working to finalize, the agency announced Nov. 23. The EPA referred to a proposed rule issued in 2013 that would apply California's wood product formaldehyde emissions limits nationwide and a second proposal, issued at the same time, that would establish a third-party certification program to help ensure compliance (104 DEN A-4, 5/30/13). The proposals would implement the 2010 Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act ( 15 U.S.C. 2697 ). The agency will combine both proposals into a single regulation intended for publication by May 2016, the EPA said in its Fall 2015 Regulatory Agenda. The EPA announcement is available at (RIN 2070-AJ44) http://yosemite.epa.gov/opei/rulegate.nsf/byRIN/2070-AJ92. The Fall 2015 Regulatory Agenda description of the single rule is available at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=201510&RIN=2070-AJ44.
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Colo. AG Defends Authority to Sue Over Clean Power Plan
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Colorado attorney general's authority to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency Clean Power Plan over the objections of the governor is well established, Attorney General Cynthia Coffman (R) argued to the state Supreme Court (Hickenlooper v. Coffman, Colo., No. 2015SA296, reply brief filed 11/20/15).
Coffman urged the state Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) because it would undermine the executive independence of the attorney general's office and its ability to bring lawsuits on the state's behalf.
“It is unsurprising that the governor would seek the right to veto the attorney general's independent legal judgments after courts have held that federal policies he has supported are likely based on unlawful assertions of federal power,” Coffman said in a reply brief filed Nov. 20. “But changes to our plural executive system must be made by the people or the legislature, not through an original proceeding brought by a governor who disagrees with the legal decisions of an attorney general from an opposing political party.”
Hickenlooper brought the lawsuit against Coffman Nov. 4 in an attempt to prevent the attorney general from challenging the Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33; 80 Fed. Reg. 64,661), which sets carbon dioxide emissions limits for the power sector in each state. The rule has divided governors and attorneys general who disagree over how to respond to the rule (217 DEN B-1, 11/10/15).
The attorneys general of more than half the states, including Colorado, have already filed lawsuits seeking to overturn the EPA rule (West Virginia v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 15-1363, 10/23/15).
(Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P., Bloomberg BNA's parent company, has launched an advertising campaign that targets the attorneys general of four states for their opposition to the Clean Power Plan.)
Coffman Cites Precedent
Coffman argues the Colorado Supreme Court has already resolved the issues at the core of Hickenlooper's lawsuit in favor of the independence of the attorney general.
In a 2003 lawsuit over legislative redistricting, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the attorney general has the power and the duty to sue the state to protect and promote the public interest (Colorado, ex rel. Salazar, Colo., No. 03-SA-133, 03-SA-147, 12/1/03).
“Because the relevant legal questions presented by the Petition were resolved in Salazar, this Court should not invoke its ‘extraordinary' original jurisdiction to re-litigate the same dispute,” Coffman said.
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Industry Seeks Supreme Court Review of EPA Permitting
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency should be required to repropose its greenhouse gas permitting requirements in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the scope of the program, an industry trade group said in a petition for certiorari (Energy-Intensive Mfg. Working Grp. on Greenhouse Gas Regulation v. EPA, U.S., No. 15-637, petition for certiorari 11/5/15).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit erred when it chose not to vacate the EPA's greenhouse gas permitting requirements under its prevention of significant deterioration program, the Energy-Intensive Manufacturing Working Group on Greenhouse Gas Regulation, an industry trade coalition, argued to the Supreme Court in a cert petition obtained Nov. 23.
Jack McMackin, principal at Williams & Jensen PLLC, who represents the trade group, said the EPA should be required to propose a new permitting program that addresses the Supreme Court's decision to limit greenhouse permitting to only those industrial sources that already are required to obtain prevention of significant deterioration permits for conventional pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide (Util. Air Regulatory Grp. v. EPA, 2014 BL 172973, 78 ERC 1585, 134 S. Ct. 2427 (2014) ; (121 DEN A-1, 6/24/14).
“It would involve a rulemaking that would address all of the concerns that the Supreme Court had with the existing program, and it would address even more fundamental questions like whether the program should exist, whether it's necessary,” McMackin told Bloomberg BNA Nov. 23.
Following the Supreme Court's decision, the D.C. Circuit vacated only those provisions of the EPA permitting program it deemed no longer in effect but left the remaining requirements in place (Coal. for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, 606 Fed. Appx. 6, 2015 BL 199481 (D.C. Cir. 2015) ).
Subsequently, the EPA issued a rule that stripped those vacated provisions from its permitting requirements (80 Fed. Reg. 50,199; 158 DEN A-5, 8/17/15).
The Supreme Court is unlikely to take up the working group's cert petition given the narrow statutory issues involved and the fact that the court has already ruled on the subject, Michael Livermore, an associate professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law, told Bloomberg BNA.
“It's not a question of statutory interpretation,” Livermore said. “It's more a question of a how a lower court is interacting in its oversight role.”
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Federal Agencies Look to Beat Emissions Goal
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The federal government wants to go above and slightly beyond the president's expectations for curbing its carbon footprint. Federal agencies pledged Nov. 23 to cut their greenhouse gas emissions 41.8 percent from 2008 levels by 2025, slightly above the 40 percent goal President Barack Obama laid out for them in a recent executive order (54 DEN A-1, 3/20/15). This new, very specific target represents the average reduction that agencies think they can achieve. They have so far cut their emissions 17 percent. In annual sustainability reports issued the same day, agencies detailed how they plan to continue to make progress by using cleaner sources of energy and less energy overall, as well as making their vehicles more efficient. The federal government is the single largest energy consumer in the U.S., with a footprint that includes 360,000 buildings, 650,000 vehicles and $445 billion spent annually on goods and services. The sustainability reports are available at http://www.performance.gov/node/3406/view?view=public#supporting-info.
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Journal Pushes Back At GOP Over Climate Change Study
Nov 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The academic journal that published a controversial study on climate change is pushing back against Republican accusations that the research’s publication was rushed.
A spokeswoman for the journal Science told the Washington Post that the study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in fact underwent more scrutiny than usual to ensure that it was conducted properly.That clashes with the view of Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Science Committee, who says “whistleblowers” from NOAA told him the research was rushed to publication.
Smith’s assertion supports his view that the study, which disproved the more than 15-year “pause” in global warming claimed by climate change skeptics, was politically motivated and timed to precede President Obama’s carbon limits for power plants.
“This paper went through as rigorous a review as it could have received,” said Ginger Pinholster, spokeswoman American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes Science, told the Post Monday. “Any suggestion that the review was ‘rushed’ is baseless and without merit.”
The NOAA submitted the study in December 2014, and it went through two rounds of peer review before it was accepted in May and published a month later, Pinholster said.
It was sent back to the NOAA once for further work, and a senior editor at Science was assigned to the review, she said.
Science Committee staff told the Post that the study used new temperature data that hadn’t been reviewed or released publicly, but scientists said that isn’t the case.
On Friday, NOAA head Kathryn Sullivan shot back against Smith’s accusations, reiterating that the research was conducted entirely in line with the law and the NOAA’s standards.
Smith has subpoenaed Sullivan and threatened to take civil or criminal action against her for not giving him internal communications among scientists involved in the research, documents that Sullivan says are both confidential and not relevant to his investigation.
“Let me assure you that I am not engaged in or associated with any ‘politically correct agenda,’” Sullivan wrote. “I and the entire NOAA team take seriously the charge to provide the best environmental science and reliable data to the nation and the world … I have not and will not allow anyone to manipulate the science or coerce the scientists who work for me.”
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EPA Faces Second Lawsuit Over Revised Effluent Limits
Nov 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
The Environmental Protection Agency's revised wastewater effluent limits for power plants face an additional challenge from the Waterkeeper Alliance and Environmental Integrity Project (Waterkeeper Alliance v. EPA, 2nd Cir., No. 15-03773, 11/23/15).
The environmental groups' petition for review was filed by Earthjustice in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Their petition comes on the heels of a separate lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Nov. 19 by the Union Electric Co. and a coalition of rural, public and investor-owned power plants represented by the Utility Water Act Group (225 DEN A-2, 11/23/15).
The EPA on Nov. 3 published the final effluent guidelines for about 1,080 power plants that mostly affect coal-fired power plants and natural gas units and, to a lesser extent, nuclear power plants (80 Fed. Reg. 67,838).
The purpose of the EPA's revised effluent limits, which the agency hadn't changed since 1982, is to regulate wastewater associated with flue gas desulfurization, fly ash, bottom ash, flue gas mercury control, combustion residual leachate from landfills and surface impoundments, nonchemical metal cleaning wastes and gasification of fuels such as coal and petroleum coke.
Since the regulation's release in October, the environmental groups have been largely supportive of the final rule except for the provision that allowed wastewater generated prior to Jan. 1, 2018, to be exempt from the new requirements (190 DEN A-15, 10/1/15).
A Few, Narrow Issues
Abel Russ, an Environmental Integrity Project attorney, reiterated what he told Bloomberg BNA in October about the revised effluent limits. “While we think it's a strong rule overall, there are a few narrow issues where we feel that EPA made decisions that were not supported by the record,” Russ said.
The final effluent guidelines (RIN 2040-AF14) define legacy wastewater as that which is involved in the transport of fly ash and bottom ash. It also includes wastewater generated by scrubbers, mercury controls and coal gasification processes.
Under the rule, the EPA is requiring power plants to use a suite of controls to manage discharges of arsenic, selenium, nitrates, mercury, zinc and other pollutants from power plants.
Among those controls are chemical and biological technologies to treat wastewater generated by wet scrubbers, units to curb sulfur dioxide emissions from burning coal. The rule also requires that power plant owners and operators use dry handling of fly ash and bottom ash to eliminate the potential for pollution from the wastewater containing either form of ash.
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House Members Want EPA Water Rule Defunded
Nov 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Dozens of House lawmakers are asking the Appropriations Committee to defund a controversial Obama administration water pollution regulation.
Eighty-eight lawmakers — nearly all Republican — sent a letter to Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) Monday formally asking the committee to make defunding the Waters of the U.S. rule a priority.The rule is one of several Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for which Republicans are trying to block funding, though it is one of the more popular proposed policy riders.
“As you know, the Rule is nothing more than a federal power grab by the EPA and flies in the face of two Supreme Court decisions, wreaking regulatory havoc on farmers, businesses, and families,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio), chairman of that panel’s water subcommittee.
“This rule can potentially roll back the progress we have made in our nation’s water quality by instituting burdensome, duplicative permitting costs and unnecessary bureaucratic red tape,” they wrote.
The Transportation Committee has jurisdiction over the EPA's water-related functions.
The agency finalized the rule in May amid harsh criticism from Republicans, farmers, developers and other business interests.
The Obama administration argues the rule is essential to ensure that the EPA’s regulatory power extends to small waterways such as wetlands and ponds. But opponents say it gives the EPA power over dry creek beds, ditches and even puddles.
A federal court has suspended its implementation while opponents, including more than 30 states, sue to have it overturned. Additionally, the Senate voted, largely along party lines, to reverse it.
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