Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 12/23/2015
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(ACC Mentioned) How Jessica Alba Helped an Obscure Group Gain Access on the Hill
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
Business executives and lobbyists typically don't draw second glances and selfie snaps from lawmakers and staffers in the halls of the Capitol -- unless Jessica Alba is with them. -
(ACC Mentioned) Commodity Resin Prices Steady
Dec 23, 2015 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American resin prices remained relatively calm in November, with only PET bottle resin and polypropylene showing any movement. -
(ACC Mentioned) US Chemical Safety Law Poised for Reform in Early 2016
Dec 23, 2015 | ChemistryWorld
By Rebecca Trager
The nearly 40-year old law that governs America’s chemicals policy, which had appeared primed for updating back in March, has faced months of ups and downs but is now on course to finally be revamped in early 2016. -
(ACC Mentioned) TSCA Reform Comes Closer with Senate Vote
Dec 23, 2015 | Speciality Chemicals Magazine
The US Senate has overwhelmingly passed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemicals Safety for the 21st Century Act (S 697), thus bringing closer a full reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). -
(ACC Mentioned) Hypothyroidism Linked to Exposure to Flame Retardants
Dec 23, 2015 | EndocrineWeb
By Kathleen Doheny
Younger women exposed to chemicals called PDBEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) may be at higher risk of having a sluggish thyroid, according to a new study. -
EPA Seeks Data on Chlorinated Paraffins for PMN Review
Dec 23, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA is seeking new available data on certain chlorinated paraffins. It will be used to inform its risk assessments on new chemical pre-manufacturing notices (PMNs), submitted for the substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act. -
Products Alleged To Cause Hair Loss Full Of Synthetic Chemicals, Not Just Herbs
Dec 23, 2015 | Environmental Working Group
By Tina Sigurdson
You’ve probably heard by now that thousands of women have complained to infomercial mega-marketer Guthy-Renker that they suffered hair loss after using the popular hair care line WEN by Hollywood hairstylist Chaz Dean. -
California Updates List of Priority Chemicals
Dec 23, 2015 | Chemical Watch
Biomonitoring California has updated its list of priority chemicals. -
Reindeer Dung Contains Flame Retardants -- Study
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
Chemical flame retardants are present in the feces of reindeer in remote Arctic regions, scientists have found. -
Military Eyes How to Beat Hackers After a Power Outage
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
U.S. military leaders want to know how to jump-start the power grid in less than a week in case a cyberattack causes widespread outages. -
Fresh off Keystone XL Win, Greens Turn to Halting Gas
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
Environmental groups that hailed the Obama administration's denial of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are now trying to block multiple natural gas projects cropping up along the East Coast. -
'Party' Not Over in S.D. for Pipeline
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By James Nord
South Dakota's Public Utilities Commission won't make TransCanada Corp. refile its application for the Keystone XL pipeline as the company refuses to forsake its controversial project despite President Obama's recent veto. -
Manufacturers, Businesses Sue Over Ozone Rule
Dec 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The industry groups most critical of new smog rules from the Obama administration are suing over those standards. -
Greens Sue in Effort to Lower Ozone Standard
Dec 23, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
A coalition of environmental and public health groups today filed a lawsuit aimed at forcing the Obama administration to lower its air quality standard for ozone, arguing a new rule is out of line with scientists' recommendations. -
Flurry of Lawsuits for Obama Climate Rules
Dec 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Numerous groups and businesses filed lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s climate change rules for power plants before the deadline on Tuesday. -
States Tell Court EPA 'Spins a Self-Contradictory Tale'
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Robin Bravender
In their latest attempt to persuade federal judges to halt U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, a coalition of states opposing the climate rule insist they're likely to prevail in court, while accusing the agency's lawyers of "obfuscation"... -
The Narrow Path to a Carbon Tax
Dec 23, 2015 | Wall Street Journal
By Greg Ip
Having agreed to ambitious new targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in Paris, the world’s nations now need a way to hit those targets. -
Mont., Wyo. and Ky. Ask EPA to Reconsider Climate Rule
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Elizabeth Harball
Montana, Wyoming and Kentucky yesterday doubled down on their fight against U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, filing three separate petitions for reconsideration of the rule. -
Mich. Can Meet Initial Carbon Targets With No changes, Officials Say
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Jeffrey Tomich
Michigan can meet its carbon reduction targets under U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan through at least the middle of the next decade by merely carrying out existing state policies, according to initial modeling. -
Small Businesses Need Better Analysis on the Clean Power Plan -- Federal Watchdog
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Emily Holden
U.S. EPA's analysis of the potential economic impacts of the Clean Power Plan isn't specific enough, according to an independent federal office that advances the views of small businesses. -
New Infrared Video Reveals Growing Environmental Disaster in L.A. Gas Leak
Dec 23, 2015 | Washington Post
By Joby Warrick
A runaway natural gas leak from a storage facility in the hills above Los Angeles is shaping up as a significant ecological disaster, state officials and experts say, with more than 150 million pounds of methane pouring...
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(ACC Mentioned) How Jessica Alba Helped an Obscure Group Gain Access on the Hill
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
Business executives and lobbyists typically don't draw second glances and selfie snaps from lawmakers and staffers in the halls of the Capitol -- unless Jessica Alba is with them.
The Hollywood-actress-turned-businesswoman turned out to be the golden ticket for the obscure American Sustainable Business Council last summer when the group came to Capitol Hill to spread its message that lawmakers should consider more than the views of big businesses like Dow Chemical and DuPont and their powerful trade association, the American Chemistry Council, when it comes to chemical regulations.
ASBC's message, that California-style regulations of toxic chemicals can actually help the industry, puts it at odds with some of the country's largest and most flush corporations.
Actress Jessica Alba visited the U.S. Capitol earlier this year to lobby lawmakers on chemicals legislation. Alba, 34, founded sustainable products firm the Honest Company and opened doors in Congress for representatives of a trade group for sustainable products manufacturers. Photo by Bill Clark, courtesy of AP Images.
But despite its position and thin wallet, ASBC was able to line up meetings with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) dispatched staffers instead.
The big draw was Alba, who recently has made a name for herself off the silver screen and in the boardroom of the Honest Co., her line of home products made only with nontoxic chemicals.
"You're doing great work here," Merkley told Alba in June as he squeezed past her up a narrow set of stairs beneath the Capitol.
The use of high-wattage celebrities is a formula long exploited by environmental groups, which find they can use the attention these figures bring as a counterweight to heavy spending by big businesses.
Organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club have formed deep links to Hollywood, seeking endorsements and fundraising cash.
"To the extent that celebrities can help to say there is an issue that we need to pay attention to, that for us is a category that can help to drive a deeper discussion," said David Levine, co-founder, president and chief executive of ASBC.
Alba's involvement with ASBC prompted discussion of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 in unexpected places, like The Washington Post's gossip blog, Reliable Source, whichreported on a Twitter post of Alba dining at Washington, D.C.'s Pearl Dive Oyster Palace.
"The 34-year-old mom of two is in town to lobby Congress in partnership with the American Sustainable Business Council ... to try to get comprehensive TSCA (Toxic Substances Control Act) reform," the blog reported in what was probably its first reference to the federal chemical bill.
The Senate last week cleared legislation that would update TSCA and put new limits on state actions against toxic chemicals if U.S. EPA finds they aren't necessary (E&E Daily, Dec. 18).
Alba isn't the only celebrity to visit Capitol Hill in recent years.
In 2014, actor Seth Rogen testified at a hearing of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee about Alzheimer's disease; a C-SPAN video of his testimony has been viewed nearly 7 million times. Earlier this year, actor Richard Gere testified about Tibetan human rights. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow this summer called for labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (E&ENews PM, Aug. 5). And actor Kevin Costner testified on Capitol Hill twice in the aftermath of the 2010 BP PLC oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico about his spill cleanup technology (E&E Daily, Sept. 23, 2010; E&E Daily, June 10, 2010).
These messengers "raise the salience of the issue a little bit," said David Konisky, an associate professor of environmental science at Indiana University, "and perhaps get people to pay a little bit more attention than they normally would."
That's especially difficult -- and necessary -- for the issue of TSCA reform, Konisky said.
The 39-year-old chemicals law "is really an inside baseball kind of an issue," he said. "It's really not even highly salient even among many highly knowledgeable in the environmental community. The substance of the policy is really technical and is not that accessible to the everyday citizen."Avoiding 'nightmare' celebrities
Tiptoeing into the policy realm comes with risks, and these high-profile people have to tread carefully to avoid inviting ridicule, Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook said. Cook said EWG doesn't work with celebrity advocates who are difficult to manage, but earlier in his career, he saw the perils of using these kinds of messengers.
Some celebrities "were a nightmare," Cook said.
"I can't tell you who it was," he quickly added. "Like, you were terrified at the press conference -- that kind of thing."
Industry leaders want consumers to know that some celebrity advocates have agendas, too.
"With certain celebrity activists, they clearly have a personal interest in the issue," American Chemistry Council spokeswoman Anne Kolton said. "And everyone's entitled to have a personal interest in the issue, and everyone's entitled to stand up and say what they think, and naturally, [some] people are going to get more attention than others. ... I would hope that consumers and public policymakers who are interested in learning more about whatever issue is at stake, that they take a moment to look at the entirety of the spokesperson's interest in the issue."
What's key for celebrity spokespeople is to know when to leave the questions to others, Cook said. That means focusing on what the celebrity knows firsthand, rather than trying to guess or speculate about things outside of his or her area of expertise.
When celebrity advocates appear at fault, or argue for positions not considered to have broad scientific support, the backlash can be intense.
Earlier this year, a rumor that the Honest Co.'s sunscreens didn't work spread online amid photographs of scowling mothers with beet-red babies. The company says its sunscreens passed tests that found them effective.
Sean Penn's narration of "The Human Experiment," a recent documentary arguing for tighter regulation of toxic chemicals, fed dismissive riffs on pro-industry blogs that the movie was simply "Sean Penn's new documentary," not the work of filmmakers Don Hardy Jr. and Dana Nachman, a former television journalist.
Some celebrities can straddle both worlds, Cook said, like celebrities in the business or legal worlds.
Erin Brockovich, the environmental activist who became famous with the release in 2000 of an Oscar-winning movie about her life, forges deep connections with audiences, Cook said. Brockovich accomplishes this by seeing issues in "moral and common-sense" terms that resonate with many, Cook said.
Levine's group, meanwhile, tries to find a middle ground between a moral and an economic case.
These connections are "helped by the fact that they are a celebrity," Levine said. "But the facts should remain the facts, the science should remain the science, and the business and economic case should be argued on those merits, as well."
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(ACC Mentioned) Commodity Resin Prices Steady
Dec 23, 2015 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American resin prices remained relatively calm in November, with only PET bottle resin and polypropylene showing any movement.
Regional selling prices for PET bottle resin ticked down a penny per pound for the month, due in part to lower seasonal demand. Prices for the material now have fallen for four consecutive months. The 1-cent November drop followed declines totaling 8 cents combined in August-October.
PET bottle resin prices now are down a net of 3 cents per pound so far in 2015. The market continues to struggle with resin overcapacity and with reduced demands for carbonated soft drinks, its largest end market. Demand for bottled water is up, but thinner bottles are using less PET per bottle than they did in previous years.
While PET prices declined, North American PP resin prices increased by an average of 2 cents per pound in November, as the market continued to struggle with tightness for the material.
The 2-cent hike is the second consecutive monthly price hike, following a 3-cent increase in October. These increases have reversed a trend that had seen regional PP prices fall for three straight months. Even with the November increase, regional PP prices are down a net of 13 cents per pound so far in 2015.
The PP demand picture has been more positive. Through October, North American PP sales were up 5.1 percent vs. the same period in 2014, according to the American Chemistry Council. Domestic sales were up almost 6 percent, but the overall growth rate was dampened by a 14 percent drop in export sales.
Among individual end markets, domestic sales of PP into injection molded housewares were up 15 percent through October, while sales of the material into sheet were up more than 8 percent and into film were up almost 5 percent.
Average North American selling prices for all grades of polyethylene — as well as for solid polystyrene and suspension PVC — were unchanged in November. For the year to date, prices for all grades of PE and of solid PS are down a net of 13 cents per pound, while suspension PVC prices have declined by a net of 3 cents per pound.
Through October, U.S./Canadian sales of high density PE were up 6.6 percent, according to ACC. Domestic sales were up only 1 percent for the period, but export sales rocketed up almost 42 percent. Sales of HDPE into household chemical bottles provided a domestic bright spot, growing 7 percent.
Regional sales of low density PE through October improved 3.3 percent, with domestic growth of almost 4 percent lessened somewhat by growth of only 1.2 percent in export markets. Sales of LDPE into non-food packaging film soared more than 11 percent in that 10-month period.
For linear low density PE, 10-month sales grew 6.3 percent. Domestic sales growth of almost 6 percent was amplified by a 9 percent rise in export sales. Sales of LLDPE into all types of film — packaging and non-packaging — climbed almost 8 percent in that period.
North American PS sales dipped 1.2 percent through October, even as sales in its leading food packaging/food service segment ticked up 0.3 percent. That category accounted for almost 62 percent of regional PS sales in the first 10 months of the year.
The North American PVC field had an odd year, as the construction market — PVC’s biggest consumption sector — didn’t rebound as expected. As a result, U.S./Canadian PVC sales are on track to be down almost 3 percent in 2015.
Sales of PVC into the domestic market fell 3 percent in the first 10 months of 2015, according to the American Chemistry Council, but export sales fell less than 2 percent, lowering the overall sales loss.
Ten-month sales into PVC’s dominant rigid pipe and tubing sector — which accounted for almost 45 percent of domestic sales — fell almost 2 percent in that period. Sales into siding and related uses provided a bright spot, growing almost 3 percent through October.
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(ACC Mentioned) US Chemical Safety Law Poised for Reform in Early 2016
Dec 23, 2015 | ChemistryWorld
By Rebecca Trager
The nearly 40-year old law that governs America’s chemicals policy, which had appeared primed for updating back in March, has faced months of ups and downs but is now on course to finally be revamped in early 2016.The Senate broke its deadlock and at last passed legislation to revamp the US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) on the evening of 17 December, right before Congress adjourned for 2015.
The bill, which attracted 61 bipartisan cosponsors and passed the Senate unanimously after two years of negotiations, would give the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) new authorities to obtain new information on chemicals, and require a finding of safety before new chemicals enter the market.The general consensus is that the EPA has not effectively regulated chemicals under the TSCA.
The legislation, which was put forward by Democrat Tom Udall and Republican David Vitter, would also require the EPA to prioritise the chemicals of most concern first, and it sets aggressive, judicially enforceable deadlines for EPA decisions. The bill appears to meet the six principles for TSCA reform that the Obama administration laid out in 2009.
Similar TSCA reform legislation was approved by the House of Representatives in June by a vote of 398–1. The Senate and House versions must now be reconciled. A final bill is expected to reach Obama’s desk early in the new year.
‘As many as 1,500 new chemicals come on the market each year, but there is no cop on the beat making sure they’re safe for consumers or our environment,’ Udall said. ‘This bill will require the EPA to test all of them, make sure they’re safe and put the focus where it ought to be – on how these chemicals affect the most vulnerable.’
Since the TSCA was enacted, the EPA has restricted just five chemicals, and prevented only four chemicals from going to market – out of the more than 23,000 new chemicals manufactured since 1976,according to Udall.Approval all-round
The Senate’s newly passed TSCA reform legislation has earned the support of the chemical industry and even some environmental groups, like the Environmental Defense Fund.
The American Chemistry Council’s president and CEO, Cal Dooley, said this ‘comprehensive legislation’ will protect human health and the environment, build confidence in the US chemical regulatory system and address the commercial and competitive needs of the US chemical industry. He called the bill’s bipartisan passage ‘a watershed moment in the history of US environmental legislation.’
The National Association of Chemical Distributors’ president, Eric Byer, also praised the bill as a ‘strong, credible federal chemical regulatory programme.’ He said it is ‘crucial’ for the American public as well as small businesses, including US chemical distributors and their customers.
Even Senator Barbara Boxer, a senior Democrat who has repeatedly opposed previous TSCA reform efforts in the Senate as too weak, expressed enthusiasm about the legislation, describing it as ‘vastly improved’ over the original bill. Boxer, who has been accused by the chemical industry of single-handedly blocking bipartisan efforts to reform TSCA and will not be seeking re-election in 2016, described the process as ‘a difficult, multi-year odyssey.’
Meanwhile, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) called the TSCA reform legislation ‘flawed,’ and said that it must be fixed. Among the changes that the NRDC is calling for is the elimination of language that it says prevents states from protecting their citizens before the federal government has taken action on a chemical.
In the House bill, the NRDC urges the removal of a provision that prevents the EPA from enforcing the requirement that it select the chemicals to evaluate for safety.
The next session of Congress will convene on 5 January, 2016 for the House and on 11 January, 2016 for the Senate. All sides will be working to complete a final TSCA-reform bill in early 2016, both Vitter and Udall stress.
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(ACC Mentioned) TSCA Reform Comes Closer with Senate Vote
Dec 23, 2015 | Speciality Chemicals Magazine
The US Senate has overwhelmingly passed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemicals Safety for the 21st Century Act (S 697), thus bringing closer a full reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This follows the House of Representatives passing a similar, though lighter, piece of legislation, HR 2576, in June. The two houses will now have to negotiate an agreed version for President Obama to sign.
This has been broadly welcomed by industry and some, though not all, environmental activists. American Chemistry Council president and CEO Cal Dooley described the bill’s passage as “a watershed moment in the history of US environmental legislation”, which means that the US “is now closer to updating the nation’s primary chemical safety law for the first time in four decades”. The American Chemical Society, meanwhile, called it an important step towards “a sustainable vision for chemistry”.
“This critical legislation will provide a modern federal chemical management system that will allow companies like Dow to continue providing innovative solutions for consumers, manufacturers, retailers and regulators made possible by today’s advanced chemistry,” said Andrew Liveris, Dow’s chairman and CEO.
Lautenberg himself, a Democrat from New Jersey, died in 2013, shortly after introducing a bipartisan bill. He had spent many years of attempting to get TSCA reform through Congress. S 697 ultimately came about after much wrangling and agreements brokered by Senators Udall, Vitter and Inhofe, who managed to get Senator Barbara Boxer, an influential proponent of stronger legislation, to agree to the bill.
There has long been consensus that TSCA reform was overdue, but industry and NGOs were often poles apart on what form it should take. Some of the latter, notably Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, are unhappy that S 697 will reduce the EPA’s powers to block imports of products known to contain toxic chemicals and stop individual states from taking action against specific substances while the EPA is reviewing them.
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(ACC Mentioned) Hypothyroidism Linked to Exposure to Flame Retardants
Dec 23, 2015 | EndocrineWeb
By Kathleen Doheny
Younger women exposed to chemicals called PDBEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) may be at higher risk of having a sluggish thyroid, according to a new study.
PDBEs are flame retardant chemicals, used in textiles, furniture and electronics, among other products. "What we found is, there is a link between exposure to these flame retardants, especially some of them, and the risk of hypothyroidism [abnormally low thyroid function]," says study leader Youssef Oulhote, PhD, research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health.
In the U.S., PBDEs have been phased out of production through voluntary agreements between the makers of the flame retardants and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Yet, the chemicals can linger for years in products.
Study details
Oulhote and his team looked at 745 women enrolled in the Canadian Health Measures Survey, which includes people ages 6 to 79. For thisstudy, he focused in on women ages 30 to 79 who had blood measurements of PBDEs and information on thyroid functioning. They found 90 women who reported they had hypothyroidism, as informed by their doctor, and they used thyroid hormone replacement medication.
The researchers find a link between the level of the PBDEs in the blood and low thyroid functioning. The increase in risk depended on the type of PBDEs; they measured 9 different types. "Those with detectable level of BDE100 [one type] were 80 percent more likely to have hypothyroidism than those without detectable levels," Oulhote says.
There was no association for one of the PBDEs, he says, and none of the risks were higher than that found for the BDE100.
The thyroid gland sits low on the front of the neck, secreting hormones that affect metabolism, growth, development and body temperature. Healthy brain development in children relies on healthy thyroid functioning.
The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Explaining the link
The risk was higher for those ages 30 to 50 than those above 50, the experts found. This makes sense, Oulhote says, because ''older women, more than 50, would not have been exposed before puberty," which he believes may be the critical window of susceptibility. The chemicals were very common in the 1970s, when the younger women would have been going through puberty, he says.
While there may be more than one mechanism for how the chemicals trigger thyroid problems, he says, what may happen is that the chemical mimic a thyroid hormone because they are structurally similar. The chemical binds to the receptor meant for the thyroid hormone, in the process disrupting the endocrine system, he speculates.
The chemical-thyroid connection
The new study adds strength to other research, from animal studies, finding a link between the chemical and a thyroid problem, says Yawei Zhang, MD, PhD, MPH, associate professor of environmental health sciences, Yale School of Public Health.
The study cannot prove cause-effect, she says, due to its design, so more research is necessary to confirm these results. Even so, she says, it adds valuable information. Her own research has suggested that elevated PBDEs may increase the risk of thyroid cancer.
The new study follows many other that find PBDEs can disrupt the body's normal hormone balance, says Veena Singla, PhD, staff scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco. Besides the effect found for the thyroid, she says, ''other studies find that exposures to PBDEs in early life, especially before birth, are associated with serious problems like IQ loss, hyperactivity, and low birth weigh in children.''
Manufacturer's view
The American Chemistry Council, which represents makers of the retardants, contends that the debate is one-sided, and controversy centers on the type of flame retardant, PBDEs, that are largely phased out.
It also maintains that fire protection is important.
Consumer action
To minimize your exposure, become a label reader, experts say. In California, a law passed last year states that furniture sold there must have a label telling buyers if the product has the chemicals. "Many companies are including the new California label on their furniture sold throughout the U.S. and Canada," says Singla, "so consumers everywhere should look for the new label and ask the store or manufacturer for a product that does not contain harmful and unnecessary flame retardant chemicals."
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EPA Seeks Data on Chlorinated Paraffins for PMN Review
Dec 23, 2015 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA is seeking new available data on certain chlorinated paraffins. It will be used to inform its risk assessments on new chemical pre-manufacturing notices (PMNs), submitted for the substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Chlorinated paraffins are primarily used in:metal working fluids;sealants;resins; andcoatings.
The agency is currently reviewing the PMNs and is requesting new information on a range of environmental releases.
Its initial review “preliminarily determined” that the chlorinated paraffin PMN substances may present an unreasonable risk to the environment for two reasons:they are expected to be persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals; andtheir release may exceed concentrations of concern (COCs) to aquatic and sediment-dwelling organisms, even without taking into consideration the expected persistence and bioaccumulative properties of the PMN substances.
The EPA says it realises that its assessment of some uses may be improved by more specific information. This may include whether there are "uses for the PMN chlorinated paraffin substances that do not present the potential for direct or indirect release to water.”
The PMN substances are:alkanes C14-16, chloro;alkanes, C18-20, chloro;alkanes, C14-17,chloro;alkanes, C22-30, chloro;alkanes, C14-C16, chloro;tetradecane, chloro derivs; andoctadecane, chloro derivs.
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Products Alleged To Cause Hair Loss Full Of Synthetic Chemicals, Not Just Herbs
Dec 23, 2015 | Environmental Working Group
By Tina Sigurdson
You’ve probably heard by now that thousands of women have complained to infomercial mega-marketer Guthy-Renker that they suffered hair loss after using the popular hair care line WEN by Hollywood hairstylist Chaz Dean.
According to his promotional video, Dean claims he found inspiration (and supposedly the ingredients) for the product line in his yard.
As Dean tells the story on his official video, “I literally went to my garden. I got sage, rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, apples, bananas and pears, went in my kitchen and did like an elixir, potpourri mix…. I knew I was onto something so I went and I met with a lab…. So that’s where it all started….”
Somewhere between his first inspirational harvest of whole herbs and fruits and the formulation of a finished product, Dean switched to a mixture full of synthetic chemicals, including known allergens.
Why is WEN by Chaz Dean allegedly causing hair loss? No one has gotten to the bottom of these allegations.
We do know that the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, which governs the safety of personal care products such as WEN, does not require manufacturers to substantiate the safety of their products before selling them. However, federal legislation introduced last April by U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) aims to fix this problem. Among other things, it would shift the burden for proving that cosmetic products are safe to manufacturers such as Chaz Dean, Inc.
According to the label, Dean’s cleansing conditioner contains two chemical preservatives -- methylisothiazolinone and its sister substance methylchloroisothiazolinone -- that have been restricted in the European Union for use in personal care products, on grounds that they are sensitizing allergens.
Labels on Dean’s products also list “fragrance” as an ingredient. “Fragrance” is a generic term for any cocktail of chemicals used to make a product smell good. These mixtures can contain individual ingredients linked to cancer, endocrine disruption and serious allergic reactions. By using the catchall term “fragrance” on the label, cosmetic companies such Dean’s can avoid telling consumers the whole truth about what’s in the bottle.
Confused yet? It gets even more complicated. If you’re buying WEN by Chaz Dean from Guthy-Renker instead of from Dean himself, you’re buying a product that is not the same one that Dean describes in his video. Although the bottles look nearly identical, the backs of the labels tell a different story. The ingredient lists are not the same.
And because Guthy-Renker sells its formula in Europe, where regulation of ingredients in personal care products is much more stringent, its bottle says that it contains seven known allergens in its “fragrance.” Are these allergens in Chaz Dean’s garden apple and banana-inspired WEN? We don’t know.
Guthy-Renker has reformulated its WEN line more than once since consumer complaints of hair loss began pouring in. Court documents show that Guthy-Renker has received more than 17,000 such complaints. We don’t know whether the complaints had anything to do with the reformulations (Guthy-Renker claims they did not), but we do know that one of the changes the company made was to lower the concentration of the botanical ingredients that so inspired the product’s inventor.
As is the case with all personal care products, Chaz Dean and Guthy-Renker can use almost any mixture of chemicals they choose to make WEN. The decades-old federal law regulating the personal care products industry has established one of the weakest regulatory systems on the books. It has remained largely the same since 1938.
The public deserves greater regulatory oversight of potentially risky personal care products such as WEN, and that’s where the Personal Care Products Safety Act could make a big difference. Among other critical reforms, the bill would require cosmetics makers to ensure that their products are in fact safe and would give the federal Food and Drug Administration the power to recall dangerous products. The FDA currently lacks the ability to order recalls. It would also require companies to tell the FDA when they receive complaints from consumers about adverse reactions such as hair loss.
For now, Chaz Dean and Guthy-Renker continue to peddle WEN hair care lines in infomercials, online and in retail stores like Sephora. And until the Personal Care Products Safety Act becomes law, they’ll be doing so with very little federal oversight.
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California Updates List of Priority Chemicals
Dec 23, 2015 | Chemical Watch
Biomonitoring California has updated its list of priority chemicals.
The state's Scientific Guidance Panel (SGP) lists the chemicals according to:degree of potential exposure;likelihood of a chemical being a carcinogen or toxicant;the limits of laboratory detection for the chemical; andany other criteria that the panel may agree to.
The SGP recommends a priority chemical in line with its public health importance in California.
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Reindeer Dung Contains Flame Retardants -- Study
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
Chemical flame retardants are present in the feces of reindeer in remote Arctic regions, scientists have found.
Researchers at China's National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center found that reindeer on the Norwegian island of Svalbard produce dung containing polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PDBEs, according to a study recently published in the journal Chemosphere.
The chemicals are used in a variety of consumer products and are slow to break down in the environment. They show up in the moss reindeer eat, according to the study.
U.S. EPA has reported finding the chemicals in air, sediments, water, fish and marine animals, in addition to human exposures (Alaska Dispatch News, Dec. 22)
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Military Eyes How to Beat Hackers After a Power Outage
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
U.S. military leaders want to know how to jump-start the power grid in less than a week in case a cyberattack causes widespread outages.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known for its work on an early version of the Internet and other key technologies, is offering $77 million to address a "worst-case scenario" cyber-enabled assault on electricity systems.
"If a well-coordinated cyberattack on the nation's power grid were to occur today, the time it would take to restore power would pose daunting national security challenges," DARPA program manager John Everett said in a statement announcing the funding opportunity last week. "Beyond the severe domestic impacts, including economic and human costs, prolonged disruption of the grid would hamper military mobilization and logistics, impairing the government's ability to project force or pursue solutions to international crises."
DARPA's five-part program, dubbed Rapid Attack Detection, Isolation and Characterization Systems, isn't the first time the military has sought creative responses to a persistent online attack on the power grid.
Earlier this year, the Department of Defense finished building a cyber-secure microgrid to keep an outpost in Hawaii operational in the event the wider power system goes down (EnergyWire, Aug. 28).
The majority of the nation's critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, posing a unique challenge to military bases and communication networks that rely on electricity.
Big power utilities face enforceable cybersecurity standards, and most take additional precautions that would make it very difficult for hackers to wreak havoc on grid control systems, experts say.
But DARPA notes in its latest solicitation that "although the market for [industrial control systems] network and host defensive technologies is growing as utilities are increasingly focusing on their cyber defenses, this process may require many years to reach fruition."
The Defense Department's research arm "seeks to produce innovative technical solutions to complement these efforts within a shorter time horizon," it said.
Specifically, the agency wants researchers to figure out how to help utilities identify, respond to and recover from a broad-base cyberattack in seven days or fewer. Proposals are due in February.
"Seven days is a good number," said Richard Andres, a professor of national security strategy at the National War College. "In a blackout where those affected can't easily get to the edge of the outage, after seven days, food, clean water and other supplies will have run out and social order will have become tenuous."
DARPA's goal comes with a catch: The solution can't rely on utilities to adopt the technology before the attack.
The agency "focuses on things that are not already done by other stakeholders from a national security point of view -- the 'black sky' or doomsday-type scenarios," said Manimaran Govindarasu, a professor of computer engineering at Iowa State University who specializes in securing cyber-physical systems. "If that happens, how do they bring the grid back online so that the infrastructure is not affected too much, and no cascading critical infrastructure impacts happen around it?"
The electric utility industry grappled with these questions last month during a "war game" scenario in which coordinated cyber and physical attacks crippled the grid (EnergyWire, Nov. 20). While the exact details of the GridEx III simulation are still under wraps, it's clear that many outages would have lasted much longer than a week given equipment, logistical and communications limitations. The exercise is designed to put existing safeguards to the test by presenting an unlikely but high-impact crisis.
Researchers competing for the DARPA grants will need a "sandbox" to model such a disaster and show off their solution.
Doug Jacobson, director of the Iowa State University Information Assurance Center, said he and his team -- including Govindarasu -- are "looking very seriously" at applying for one or more of the technical areas in DARPA's solicitation.
At Iowa State, the two professors have helped put together the PowerCyber test bed, a "sandbox" stand-in for the actual grid that relies on real control system software and equipment.
Jacobson said DARPA's solicitation reflects how the government is "really wrestling" with what role to play in the wake of a major blackout caused by computer hackers.
"It makes this assumption that 'Hey -- no matter how well we build our defenses, there's a chance they get in. What are we going to do now?'" he said. "In the power system, it's really about being able to gather the data and make a decision about how to get the grid back going again."
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Fresh off Keystone XL Win, Greens Turn to Halting Gas
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
Environmental groups that hailed the Obama administration's denial of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are now trying to block multiple natural gas projects cropping up along the East Coast.
More than 40 groups launched a campaign called "Keystone the Constitution" to pressure New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) into denying the 124-mile Constitution pipeline, which is proposed to run from Pennsylvania to New York.
"The gas industry is putting a lot of pressure on Governor Cuomo and the [state] Department of Environmental Conservation to approve plans for the proposed Constitution Pipeline before the end of 2015 so they can cut down 700,000 trees this winter," the groups wrote on their website. "Instead of doing what the industry wants, Governor Cuomo should follow President Obama's lead and 'Keystone the Constitution'."
Anne Marie Garti, a volunteer attorney with the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic in New York, said she founded Stop the Pipeline and initiated the campaign a couple of weeks ago, and members are now being encouraged to send texts and emails to Cuomo urging him to deny water quality certificates for the project.
The group tapped into the Keystone XL debate because Stop the Pipeline was the first group to fight a natural gas pipeline and hold up the project by empowering landowners. Both the gas pipeline and KXL, she added, are symbolic of grass-roots fights to stop fossil fuel development to halt climate change.
"We've been called the Keystone of the natural gas pipelines," she said.
The aim now, she said, is to persuade the state to deny the project a certificate under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.
Garti also said she's hopeful that Cuomo will come out against the project, given his recent veto of a deepwater natural gas import facility off the coast of his state and New Jersey, citing terrorism threats, economic concerns and possible roadblocks to offshore wind development that is key to the state's climate goals (E&ENews PM, Nov. 12).
"He's been doing all the right things in the past year," she said. "A year ago, he banned fracking, and then he denied the Port Ambrose LNG facility."
The Obama administration's determination that the Keystone XL project should not move forward has galvanized other green groups opposed to the spread of natural gas infrastructure.
Some pipeline companies are even beginning to train their workers to handle civil disobedience and monitor websites and blogs of groups like 350.org and the Sierra Club (EnergyWire, Oct. 16).
The Constitution pipeline is one of many projects becoming a flashpoint in ongoing feuds along the East Coast over whether gas pipeline capacity is needed.
The project has been touted as a means of easing high natural gas prices in New York City and New England, but could bring aesthetic pains to the Pennsylvania and New York landowners in its way (EnergyWire, March 24).
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'Party' Not Over in S.D. for Pipeline
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By James Nord
South Dakota's Public Utilities Commission won't make TransCanada Corp. refile its application for the Keystone XL pipeline as the company refuses to forsake its controversial project despite President Obama's recent veto.
Commission Chairman Chris Nelson said the panel will decide on whether to reapprove the South Dakota portion of the pipeline at its January meeting, rejecting an appeal from Keystone XL opponents to toss the previous application and permits. The state initially authorized the project in 2010, but it must do so again to renew the permits (Greenwire, Dec. 21).
"TransCanada has not said this party is over," TransCanada attorney William Taylor said. "Rather, TransCanada has said, speaking with the voice of its chief executive officer, the company is absolutely committed to the project."
Some landowners, Native American tribes and environmental groups maintain their objections to the pipeline, citing the environmental and climate toll of carrying oil from Canada to Louisiana refineries.
"What I find remarkable about the position that TransCanada is taking is that it seems to embody a lack of recognition of reality, that this project is, for all practical purposes, dead," Dakota Rural Action attorney Robin Martinez said (James Nord, AP/Casper [Wyo.] Star-Tribune, Dec. 22). -- DTB
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Manufacturers, Businesses Sue Over Ozone Rule
Dec 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The industry groups most critical of new smog rules from the Obama administration are suing over those standards.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) limits on surface level ozone on Wednesday.
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, NAM reiterated its long-held arguments against the rule, calling it costly to implement and saying it threatens jobs in industrial sectors.
“The EPA’s ozone regulation, which could be one of the most expensive in history, is unworkable and overly burdensome for manufacturers and America’s job creators," Linda Kelly, NAM's senior vice president and general counsel, said. "Manufacturers across the United States need regulations that provide balance and allow us to be globally competitive."
The Chamber also said the rule threatens jobs.
“The EPA has created a web of regulations that makes it almost impossible for businesses to succeed in this already tough economic climate,” said William Kovacs, the Chamber’s senior vice president for environment, technology and regulatory affairs.
In early October, the EPA tightened the ozone standard from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion over the objection of business groups and Republican lawmakers. Both had warned implementing the rule would be difficult and expensive.
NAM lead the charge against the ozone rule while the EPA was considering updating the standard. The group commissioned a report saying that a standard of 65 parts per billion — which the EPA had considered — could cost up to $1.1 trillion to implement.
The EPA and the rule’s supporters have questioned those analyses, and have said the rule will help improve public health. Green groups and health organizations, though, have criticized the rule for not going far enough toward cutting down smog.
Five states have already sued over the ozone rule, questioning the EPA’s scientific review of the standard.
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Greens Sue in Effort to Lower Ozone Standard
Dec 23, 2015 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
A coalition of environmental and public health groups today filed a lawsuit aimed at forcing the Obama administration to lower its air quality standard for ozone, arguing a new rule is out of line with scientists' recommendations.
Environmentalists had pushed for a new standard of 60 parts per billion and were dismayed when EPA set it at 70 ppb in a rule finalized in October. The standard had previously been set at 75 ppb in 2008.
"This standard leaves kids, seniors and asthmatics without the protection doctors say they need from this dangerous pollutant," said Earthjustice attorney David Baron. "The EPA has a duty to set standards that assure our air is safe to breathe. We say they violated that duty here."
The groups suing are the Sierra Club, Physicians for Social Responsibility, West Harlem Environmental Action, Appalachian Mountain Club, and the National Parks Conservation Association. They are represented by Earthjustice.
Murray Energy, several states led by Arizona and an industry coalition led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers have filed lawsuits challenging the new standard as too strict.
Despite being upset with the new standard, a slightly different green coalition — Earthjustice, Sierra Club, NRDC, the American Lung Association and Physicians for Social Responsibility — haveintervened in those challenges to defend EPA’s authority to lower the standard.
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Flurry of Lawsuits for Obama Climate Rules
Dec 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Numerous groups and businesses filed lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s climate change rules for power plants before the deadline on Tuesday.
Court records show that at least 10 parties filed suit in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Tuesday to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
They join the dozens of states, energy companies, business groups and others who want the court to overturn the rule.
Tuesday’s filings came from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the American Forest & Paper Association, the American Wood Council, the Energy-Intensive Manufacturers’ Working Group on Greenhouse Gas Regulation, the Local Government Coalition for Renewable Energy, the National Alliance of Forest Owners, Minnesota Power, Prairie State Generating Co., Denbury Onshore and the Biogenic CO2 Coalition.
“EPA’s Clean Power Plan violates constitutionally protected state rights by forcing set emissions standards for each state’s energy section,” Sam Kazman, general counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said in a statement.
“The Clean Power Plan will also result in less power at higher prices. Its only beneficiary will be EPA itself,” Kazman added.
Donna Harman, president of the forest group, took a different tack in criticizing the regulations.
“The Clean Power Plan does not put biomass on a level playing field with other renewable energy sources; this litigation will assure that EPA does not improperly constrain states’ ability to take advantage of the important role biomass energy can plan in addressing climate change,” Harman said.
The lawsuits are likely to be consolidated by the court into cases led by West Virginia and North Dakota that challenge the rules for existing and new power plants, respectively.
Given the high stakes, the cases are likely to eventually reach the Supreme Court, which may decide whether the rules align with the Clean Air Act and the Constitution.
The EPA argues that its rules are necessary and fit well within its authority.
“The Clean Power Plan has strong scientific and legal foundations, provides states with broad flexibilities to design and implement plans, and is clearly within EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said when the lawsuits started in October.
“We are confident we will again prevail against these challenges and will be able to work with states to successfully implement these first-ever national standards to limit carbon pollution the largest source of carbon emissions in the United States.”
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States Tell Court EPA 'Spins a Self-Contradictory Tale'
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Greenwire
By Robin Bravender
In their latest attempt to persuade federal judges to halt U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, a coalition of states opposing the climate rule insist they're likely to prevail in court, while accusing the agency's lawyers of "obfuscation" and contradicting their own arguments.
The 27 states challenging the administration's rule to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants made their arguments in a document filed today with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. They're hoping federal judges will step in to block the rule while the lawsuit plays out in court -- a process that could take years in what's shaping up to be one of the biggest and most complex lawsuits ever challenging an environmental regulation.
EPA's state challengers said they expect the judges to side with them once they weigh the merits of the case. And "absent a stay, the plan will continue to immensely and immediately impact the sovereignty and resources of petitioner States, on a scale exceeding any environmental rule the states have seen," they told the court.
The states opposing the rule: West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Mississippi.
Lawyers representing those states rejected the Obama administration's attempts to dissuade the judges from halting the rule.
"Attempting to walk a line between downplaying the need for a stay and advocating for the Power Plan's immediate importance, EPA's opposition spins a self-contradictory tale of two rules," the states said. "EPA asserts that the Plan is central to 'establish[ing] this country's leadership' right now ... and is 'critically important' to combating 'the nation's most important and urgent environmental challenge,' such that any delay 'would adversely affect public health and welfare.'" But, they said, EPA "belittles the notion that petitioners 'must devote substantial efforts during the period of judicial review to develop plans.'"
They added that "no amount of obfuscation can conceal that the Power Plan is an unprecedented attempt by this nation's environmental regulator to force states to reorder their mix of electricity generation."
EPA told the court earlier this month that its foes haven't shown that they'll suffer from irreparable harm while the case is pending or that they're likely to prevail on the merits of the case. Those challenging the rule "have no likelihood of merits success," the agency said, adding that its rule is based on "well-established authority" under the Clean Air Act.
Halting the rule would also be contrary to the public interest, EPA told the court, arguing that any delay in slashing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants would be "highly consequential" (E&ENews PM, Dec. 3).
The D.C. Circuit is expected to decide early next year whether to block the rule.
Click here to read the states' reply.
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The Narrow Path to a Carbon Tax
Dec 23, 2015 | Wall Street Journal
By Greg Ip
Having agreed to ambitious new targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in Paris, the world’s nations now need a way to hit those targets.
There’s no dispute among economists on the most cost-effective way to do that: a carbon tax. President Barack Obama agrees. In Paris he called such a tax “the most elegant way” to incentivize investment in, and consumer demand for, cleaner energy technology.
But that sentiment is at odds with Mr. Obama’s own record. He has never formally proposed a carbon tax or even an increase in the gasoline tax. The message isn’t that a carbon tax is impossible, but that Mr. Obama is not the person to deliver it. Crafting a carbon tax acceptable to business and to those Republicans who want to address climate change would probably require trade-offs that Mr. Obama couldn’t swallow, such as using the money to finance corporate tax cuts instead of new spending or deficit reduction, and rolling back regulations on greenhouse gases.
The political radioactivity of carbon taxes dates to 1993 when President Bill Clinton proposed a “BTU” tax based on the heat content of fuel. That tax died as farmers, manufacturers and others pressed for exemptions and legislators on both sides of the aisle complained of the hit to the middle class.
Mr. Obama campaigned on a pledge to not raise taxes on any family earning less than $250,000 a year, which made it difficult, politically, to propose a carbon tax or higher gas tax. Instead, he and Democrats in Congress went with selling tradable permits to emit greenhouse gases—an approach, known as cap and trade, that is economically similar to a tax. Nonetheless, it died in 2010 amid opposition by most Republicans, who called it “cap and tax,” and some Democrats in Congress.
Since then, Mr. Obama has instead turned to regulations, such as boosting required fuel efficiency of cars and a Clean Power Plan that compels states to limit power-plant emissions (they can use cap and trade to do that). At the same time Congress continues to shower billions of dollars of tax credits on renewable energy.
These are expensive ways to combat climate change. Mandated energy efficiency limits consumer choice and makes cars and appliances more expensive. Plunging gasoline prices have sent consumers flocking to less efficient light trucks, and auto makers are pressing to relax the fuel-efficiency standards when they come up for review in 2017. Subsidies create industries addicted to taxpayer support. Regulations also provide less certainty than legislation: two dozen states are suing to overturn the Clean Power Plan.
What are the odds a carbon tax will fare better under the next president? Only a few Republican candidates for president say climate change needs to be addressed, and none have made it a priority. That could change if one actually became president. Jerry Taylor,president of the Niskanen Center, a libertarian think tank that backs a carbon tax, notes Republican voters are more concerned than their candidates about climate change. One poll found a slim majority believe there’s “solid evidence” of global warming.
While Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, promises more action on climate change, she has not embraced a carbon tax, while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley is open to the idea.
But any president who wants to enact a carbon tax will almost certainly have to make it palatable to business and some Republicans.ENLARGE
For example, Mr. Clinton wanted to use the BTU tax to reduce the deficit while Mr. Obama originally earmarked the money from selling trading permits for worker tax credits and green-energy subsidies. To win over conservatives, a carbon tax would probably have to be “revenue neutral,” that is, used to reduce other taxes, as with the Canadian province of British Columbia’s carbon tax.
George Frampton, an environmental adviser to Mr. Clinton, and Walter Minnick, a former Democratic congressman, are drumming up support for a carbon tax, half of whose revenue would be used to offset the effect on lower- and middle-income taxpayers and the other half to cut corporate tax rates, a longstanding priority of both Republicans and business. Mr. Frampton says the most promising way to create bipartisan support for the tax is to tie it to tax reform. By boosting investment, lower corporate tax rates could make the package, on net, neutral or even positive for growth.
Their proposal would collect the tax using existing federal infrastructure to collect fees, taxes and data on coal, refined oil and natural gas. A tariff on carbon-intensive imports would neutralize concerns about competitiveness.
Mr. Obama’s regulations weaken the incentive for Democrats to compromise (since they leave less for a carbon tax to accomplish) but for Republicans and business, the opposite is true. For them, the power plan “represents an endless series of regulations from an agency they hate,” says Mr. Taylor.
Yet in the wake of the Paris climate accord, further action on climate change looks inevitable. The question, he says, is “whether we address it using markets or using regulators.”
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Mont., Wyo. and Ky. Ask EPA to Reconsider Climate Rule
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Elizabeth Harball
Montana, Wyoming and Kentucky yesterday doubled down on their fight against U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, filing three separate petitions for reconsideration of the rule.
In separate administrative filings, the states argued that the final rule is markedly different from the regulation that EPA proposed in 2014.
All three states previously announced they are suing EPA in an attempt to kill the rule, which aims to slash U.S. carbon emissions from power plants by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.
"Our state did not have a fair opportunity to evaluate, understand and comment on the rule actually adopted," Montana Attorney General Tim Fox wrote. "This means, in turn, that your agency acted without fair working knowledge of the impacts of the final rule."
Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael wrote, "Wyoming's emission reduction goal more than doubled in the Final Rule even though Wyoming conclusively showed the EPA that it was impossible to meet the smaller goal set forth in the Proposed Rule. This significant, inexplicable, and unreasonable change in course by EPA can't stand without reopening the rule."
Wyoming's petition also outlined concerns about whether the Clean Power Plan adequately considers other environmental issues such as sage grouse conservation (Greenwire, Dec. 22).
Kentucky's petition was penned by Charles Snavely, the state's new secretary of the Energy and Environment Cabinet. Kentucky's newly elected Republican Gov. Matt Bevin appointed Snavely, a former executive with Arch Coal Inc., to the position earlier this month (Greenwire, Dec. 8).
In the petition, Snavely faults EPA for its methodology in examining Kentucky's renewable energy potential under the final Clean Power Plan and argues EPA did not conduct a state-by-state cost-benefit analysis, saying such an analysis "will demonstrate that the targets for Kentucky have a devastating effect on ratepayers, the economy, and the standard of living in the Commonwealth and other similarly situated states."
In addition to challenging the Clean Power Plan in court, Montana and Wyoming are also working on state plans to submit to EPA outlining how the states could comply with the rule. It remains unclear if Kentucky's new Republican governor will do the same.Additional legal challenges filed
There are 27 states legally challenging the rule. The 60-day filing deadline for lawsuits challenging the Clean Power Plan was yesterday. The pro-coal group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity last week suggested more states would challenge the rule, but no additional states did so before the deadline.
However, several groups supportive of the biomass energy industry did join on the legal challenge of the rule yesterday. The American Forest and Paper Association, the American Wood Council, and the National Alliance of Forest Owners yesterday filed petitions for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, citing concerns with how wood energy is treated under the final Clean Power Plan.
"After reviewing EPA's Clean Power Plan, it appears that the rule may place unnecessary and inappropriate restrictions on states' use of biomass energy as part of their plans to reduce CO2 emissions from electric power generation," Robert Glowinski, president and CEO of the American Wood Council, said in a statement. "This litigation seeks to protect biomass energy use as a critical component of renewable power. When biomass is used, it helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels."
Also, a group of cities yesterday filed a motion of intervention in support of the Clean Power Plan at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, including Baltimore; Houston; Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; Providence, R.I.; Salt Lake City; and San Francisco. Sixteen states and a number of other cities previously announced they would legally defend the rule (ClimateWire, Nov. 5).
"Cities are on the front line of the work to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change," Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker (D) said in a statement. "While there is much we can do, and are doing, at the municipal level, we need federal actions like the Clean Power Plan to help move us away from fossil fuel consumption related to energy generation."
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Mich. Can Meet Initial Carbon Targets With No changes, Officials Say
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Energywire
By Jeffrey Tomich
Michigan can meet its carbon reduction targets under U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan through at least the middle of the next decade by merely carrying out existing state policies, according to initial modeling.
Synapse Energy Economics was hired by the state to evaluate four base-case scenarios for compliance with the EPA rule. In each case, modeling results showed the state can meet prescribed targets through at least 2025 by doing nothing different. In one scenario, the state achieved compliance through 2028.
"We are well on our way to achieving compliance with the carbon rule," Valerie Brader, head of the Michigan Agency for Energy, said during a conference call with reporters. "We could essentially stay the course for a decade."
Under the final Clean Power Plan released Aug. 3, Michigan must reduce its carbon dioxide emissions rate by 39.4 percent by 2030. Less-stringent initial limits take effect in 2022.
Analysis showing that Michigan -- a state that got half of its electric generation from coal last year -- can easily meet its targets in the early years of the Clean Power Plan supports the positions of environmental groups and other carbon rule backers that insist it won't be as onerous as critics insist.
The Union of Concerned Scientists this spring did an analysis of EPA's draft rule that showed Michigan was among the states that were already more than halfway toward 2030 emissions rates. While the final rule included important changes, it is unsurprising the state wouldn't need to do much to meet its initial emissions rate targets, said Sam Gomberg, an energy analyst in the group's Midwest office.
But Gomberg said it's still important for Michigan to act swiftly to take advantage of opportunities, including EPA's clean energy incentive program as well as investing in efficiency to reduce utility bills and mitigating fuel cost risk by adding renewables.
"What we don't want to see is this be an excuse to sit on our hands for 10 years," he said.
While the state can easily remain in compliance with the Clean Power Plan with no additional actions, investments will be required before 2025 to ensure that Michigan can meet emissions targets in later years, state officials said on yesterday's call.
"This allows us to take a broad, thoughtful approach," said Dan Wyant, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Michigan's analysis of Clean Power Plan compliance approaches comes as the General Assembly is in the throes of an overhaul of state energy policy. The Legislature is expected to pass a bill and have it on Gov. Rick Snyder's (R) desk as soon as next month (EnergyWire, Nov. 12).
Snyder, a moderate Republican, announced Sept. 1 that the state would forge ahead and craft a plan to comply with the rule rather than be subject to a federal implementation plan (Greenwire, Sep. 2).
The governor has for several years said the state must move away from coal and toward cleaner energy sources. His energy plan announced this spring would replace many aging coal plants with a combination of natural gas, renewables and energy efficiency (EnergyWire, March 16).
Brader, who was tapped by the governor in spring to head the energy agency, said bills under consideration in both chambers -- especially the House version -- have ample flexibility to be consistent with whatever carbon plan compliance strategy is decided upon.'Conservative' assumptions
Meanwhile, state Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) is part of a coalition of two dozen states challenging the rule in court (Greenwire, Oct. 23).
Schuette said when the EPA's final rule was announced that he was "deeply concerned" about the rule's effect on possible electricity price increases and on consumers and the state economy.
A spokeswoman for the attorney general yesterday didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment on the state modeling effort.
Wyant said the state would submit an initial Clean Power Plan compliance plan to EPA by the Sept. 6 deadline and seek a two-year extension to file a final plan. The two extra years are necessary for Michigan to enact administrative rules that make the plan enforceable, he said.
Wyant also said state agencies would work together and begin a "robust" stakeholder process next month to develop the state's initial plan.
State agencies have already sought the Legislature's input, and the stakeholder process will specifically involve energy companies, businesses, advocacy groups, government and the public.
The model used by Synapse forecasts power flows, costs and air emissions across the upper Midwest, letting regulators see what power plants would may close under certain conditions.
The modeling assumed the previously announced closure of 25 coal-fired units in the state by 2020. It also assumed 1 percent annual energy savings through efficiency (less than the current trend of 1.4 percent per year). And the modeling assumed Michigan electricity demand would rise 1.2 percent per year, which is above historic levels.
"We took care to make sure our assumptions for this analysis were on the conservative side," Brader said during a conference call with reporters.
Among those assumptions is a range of future natural gas prices of $3 per million British thermal units in 2016 to $4.13 in 2034. Brader said the price data were based on New York Mercantile Exchange futures and forecasts by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Brader said additional modeling would be performed in coming months as part of the stakeholder process and might include a wider band of natural gas prices and other key assumptions based on input from a technical advisory team.
Gomberg, who is part of the technical team that had its first meeting last week, said he's optimistic about the stakeholder process that's ramping up. And he's among those who would like to see the analysis factor in higher gas prices.
"Those natural gas prices for a reference case are too low," he said.
The four scenarios evaluated by Synapse Energy included two rate-based and two mass-based plans. The modeling did not assume any trading of emissions allowances or credits among states, which economists generally agree will make it easier and less costly for states to achieve prescribed CO2 reductions.
Officials said the Michigan-only analysis isn't meant to suggest the state will not trade with others, but provides a snapshot of where the state is before those discussions pick up.
"I think this gives us a much more specific idea of where Michigan stands," Brader said.
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Small Businesses Need Better Analysis on the Clean Power Plan -- Federal Watchdog
Dec 23, 2015 | E&E - Climatewire
By Emily Holden
U.S. EPA's analysis of the potential economic impacts of the Clean Power Plan isn't specific enough, according to an independent federal office that advances the views of small businesses.
The Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy in a letter to EPA on Monday found fault with a proposed federal version of the Clean Power Plan that would be applied to states that don't write acceptable carbon-cutting blueprints for their power companies.
EPA proposed the federal plan in August and is accepting comments until Jan. 21.
But the Office of Advocacy says EPA's initial regulatory flexibility analysis doesn't provide enough information for small businesses to understand how the rule might affect them.
Because EPA doesn't know how many states might require a federal plan, the agency performed its analysis by assuming implementation of a uniform federal plan across the entire country.
"While perhaps necessary for analytical purposes, it makes understanding the likely impacts on small entities very difficult," the letter to EPA said, noting that it's "not surprising that there was little consensus" in the small-business community during panel discussions and the public comment period.
EPA convened a panel to hear small-business concerns in April, but the Office of Advocacy says the regulated community didn't have enough information about the potential federal plan then to evaluate its impact. EPA didn't lay out the specifics for the federal plan -- which essentially provides for carbon trading among power generators -- until several months later.A wait-and-see approach
The Office of Advocacy represents a variety of businesses, from municipal utilities to cooperatives to privately owned small entities.
"In addition to ownership structure, they have different management philosophies, different rate structures and, for practical and historical reasons, different asset mixes," the letter said. "These differences lead to different preferences for the options EPA must consider in developing state-specific plans."
Small businesses are subject to different market conditions and state regulatory regimes, and "there appear to be significant regional differences across the country that may lead EPA to choose different options in different parts of the country," the Office of Advocacy said.
For example, EPA analysis shows that in some regions a rate-based system will raise electricity rates more than a mass-based system. A rate-based system would require companies to achieve a specific rate of emissions while a mass-based one would cap carbon output from the sector. States writing their own plans must pick which option they prefer, but EPA has not said which type it might apply in a federal plan.
States under a rate-based plan may not trade compliance credits with states under a mass-based plan. And while small entities might prefer a broad trading market, they might be better off with a series of smaller regional markets that reduce costs to their consumers, the Office of Advocacy noted. But it may be too early for them to decide that, without knowing what decisions neighboring states will make.
"The choices that states make in their plans (for those that submit acceptable plans) will have a significant bearing on the desirability of particular options in states subject to a federal plan," the office said.
The Office of Advocacy suggested that, for each state that does not submit an acceptable proposal for the Clean Power Plan, EPA repropose a federal plan and develop a supplemental analysis for each one.
EPA has said it does not intend to complete a federal plan and will only write one if a state fails to comply by not submitting its own approvable proposal. While more than half of states are challenging the regulation in court, most are simultaneously working on their own compliance proposals in case those challenges fail.
EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison did not comment on the letter but said her agency appreciates the input and will review all comments received before Jan. 21.
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New Infrared Video Reveals Growing Environmental Disaster in L.A. Gas Leak
Dec 23, 2015 | Washington Post
By Joby Warrick
A runaway natural gas leak from a storage facility in the hills above Los Angeles is shaping up as a significant ecological disaster, state officials and experts say, with more than 150 million pounds of methane pouring into the atmosphere so far and no immediate end in sight.
The rupture within a massive underground containment system — first detected more than two months ago — is venting gas at a rate of up to 110,000 pounds per hour, California officials confirm. The leak already has forced evacuations of nearby neighborhoods, and officials say pollutants released in the accident could have long-term consequences far beyond the region.
Newly obtained infrared video captures a plume of gas — invisible to the naked eye — spouting from a hilltop in the Aliso Canyon area above Burbank, like smoke billowing from a volcano. Besides being an explosive hazard, the methane being released is a powerful greenhouse gas, more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the lower atmosphere.
Scientists and environmental experts say the Aliso Canyon leak instantly became the biggest single source of methane emissions in all of California when it began two months ago. The long-term impact of greenhouse gases released since then is the equivalent of emissions from six coal-fired power plants or 7 million automobiles, environmentalists say.
“It is one of the biggest leaks we’ve ever seen reported,” said Tim O’Connor, California climate director for the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit group that obtained the video. “It is coming out with force, in incredible volumes. And it is absolutely uncontained.”
The gas is pouring from an underground storage field owned by the Southern California Gas Co. The facility, the largest of its kind on the West Coast, contains billions of cubic feet of natural gas, stored under pressure to supply the company’s 20 million customers. While the exact cause of the leak is unknown, company officials believe the problem began when an underground well casing failed, allowing the pressurized gas to push through geological cracks to the surface near the community of Porter Ranch.
About 1,700 homes and two schools were evacuated because of the leak, as noxious odors settled over Porter Ranch, about 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles. California officials have aided the company in a series of efforts to stop the leak, but the state officials say it could be weeks or months before the gas flow is halted.
The gas company has pledged in statements to “execute all possible efforts” to plug the leak.
“SoCalGas recognized the impact this incident is having on the environment,” company president Dennis V. Arriola said in a letter last week to Gov. Jerry Brown (D).
The company’s losses in natural gas alone are estimated in the tens of millions of dollars, with total damages likely to exceed that figure many times over. A number of neighbors already have filed lawsuits, part of a growing outcry that includes calls for the company to close the facility altogether.
The leak has dealt a significant blow to California’s efforts to reduce the state’s greenhouse-gas emissions, by reducing dependence on fossil fuels while also strengthening measures intended to prevent methane from escaping from refineries, pipelines and storage facilities.
“We’ve been working to terminate leaks,” Dave Clegern, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, said in an interview. “This has been distressing to watch.”
While the leak is unusually large, scientists and environmental groups have long sought to call attention to the problem of methane emissions from oil and gas operations. The Obama administration is considering tightening restrictions on drilling and storage to reduce leaks.
Adam Brandt, an assistant professor at Stanford University’s Institute for the Environment, said substantial leaks can sometimes go completely undetected.
“Even large leaks can be hard to find if they occur away from populated areas,” Brandt said. “ One important step forward for sustainability will be to design ways to quickly detect and fix these large leaks soon after they happen.”
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