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ACC AM Feb 3
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(ACC Mentioned) What Plastics Makers are Doing to Increase Packaging Recycling, Recovery
Feb 2, 2016 | Environment Leader
By Jessica Lyons Hardcastle
Plastics recycling in the US is at an all-time high, according to two reports released today at the 2016 Plastics Recycling Conference. The 2014 National Postconsumer Non-Bottle Rigid Plastic Recycling Report found recycling of post-consumer rigid plastics surged 276 million pounds, or 27 percent, in 2014 to reach a record high of more than... -
(ACC Mentioned) Plastics Industry Needs Greater Efficiency
Feb 2, 2016 | ICIS News
By Christie Moffat
Global plastic packaging production is in need of a new approach to improve efficiency and sustainability across all facets of the industry, new research and industry executives say. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and supported by McKinsey & Company, released a report in January discussing... -
(ACC Mentioned) Key Points to Know from the Latest Plastics Recycling Reports
Feb 2, 2016 | Waste360
By Allan Gerlat
The recycling of rigid plastics rose 27 percent in 2014 to a record annual high, according to a new report. Post-consumer non-bottle rigid plastic recycling totaled 1.28 million pounds for the year, according to the report authored by Moore Recycling Associates. Also, the reported volume of recycled rigid plastics, tracked separately... -
(ACC Mentioned) Suppliers Prioritise Demands Of Retailer Sustainability In 2016
Feb 3, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Dinesh Kumar
Improved engagement with retailers, and reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), are seen as positive developments in 2016 by a number of up and mid-stream trade groups. Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) president, Chris Cathcart, says "regulation by retailers" has evolved and there is now a “better understanding... -
(ACC Mentioned) A Danger Lurks Behind the BPA-Free Label
Feb 2, 2016 | TakePart
By Taylor Hill
When purchasing a water bottle, a baby bottle, or other products that carry a “BPA-free” sticker, people assume they’re getting an item made out of chemicals safer than Bisphenol A. But BPA’s supposedly benign replacement, Bisphenol S, may not be so safe, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Endocrinology. -
Merged TSCA Bill Foreseen; Disputes Await Conference
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 2 that he expects lawmakers to wait until a formal conference to address certain controversial facets of a revamp of the Toxic Substances Control Act, but he does not see major obstacles to reconciling separate House (H.R. 2576) and Senate (S. 697) efforts. -
California Aims to List Prostate Cancer Drug Under Prop. 65
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has announced plans to identify abiraterone acetate (CAS No. 154229-18-2), the key ingredient in Zytiga, a prescription drug used to treat prostate cancer, as causing reproductive harm under Proposition 65. The agency published an intent to list notice Jan. 29, soliciting comment... -
PHMSA Warns of Storage Facility Failures, Cites Aliso Canyon
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The Transportation Department in a Feb. 2 bulletin urged owners and operators of underground pipeline and storage facilities for natural gas to maintain the safety and integrity of their facilities in light of the ongoing natural gas leak in California. “The Advisory Bulletin directs operators to inspect and take immediate actions... -
Methane Leak Prompts PHMSA To Issue Gas Storage Advisory
Feb 2, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Elana Schor
Federal regulators at the Department of Transportation are set to release a new safety advisory for operators of natural gas storage facilities as part of the Obama administration's response to the months-long methane leak in suburban Los Angeles. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's... -
California Joins Lawsuit Over Natural Gas Leak
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
The California Attorney General's Office took action Feb. 2 against Southern California Gas Co. over the ongoing leak at the utility's underground natural gas storage field near Los Angeles (California v. S. Cal. Gas Co., Cal. Super. Ct., No. BC602973, amended complaint filed 2/2/16). -
Senate Backs Task Force On Massive California Gas Leak
Feb 2, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Darren Goode
The Senate tonight approved an energy bill amendment that would create a federal task force to review the causes and effects of the massive Aliso Canyon natural gas leak near Los Angeles. The language from California Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein was included in a batch of 11 amendments to the energy bill approved by voice... -
Greens Seek To Eliminate Exception In EPA's Refinery Rules
Feb 2, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Sean Reilly
Environmental groups are reopening a fight over U.S. EPA's new oil refinery regulations in a bid to eliminate exemptions for hazardous emission releases stemming from equipment breakdowns. "We call on EPA to recognize the need to reconsider and remove these harmful exemptions, which were put in place at the last minute without... -
Calif. Sues Utility For Health, Safety Violations
Feb 3, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Jeremy P. Jacobs
California today sued Southern California Gas Co., seeking penalties and an immediate end to a massive methane leak in Los Angeles. Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) filed the lawsuit in state court claiming the utility violated several public health and safety laws when its natural gas storage facility in Aliso Canyon began releasing the gas... -
Senate Votes Down Gas Pipeline, Regulatory Budget Amendments
Feb 2, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor and Darren Goode
The Senate today voted down Republican amendments to restrict monument designations and make it easier to build natural gas pipelines as the upper chamber aims to finish its energy bill work this week. Sen. Mike Lee's effort to restrict the president’s ability to designate national monuments failed 47-48, with opposition from moderate... -
FERC Backs Rate-Setting Bill, Criticizes Gas Pipeline Bill
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it supported a bill to allow ratepayers to contest unfair electricity rates, but raised concerns about another bill giving equal weight to aerial and ground surveying in gas pipeline siting, according to House subcommittee testimony. -
RGGI Evaluates Clean Power Plan Compliance Options
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Leslie A. Pappas
The nine states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) would reduce carbon emissions annually by 2.5 percent and eliminate flexibility measures such as offsets under one potential scenario to meet federal limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants debated at a stakeholder meeting Feb. 2. -
Senate Rejects Several Energy Bill Amendments
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed for cloture Feb. 2 on a broad Senate energy bill as work on the legislation drew near to a close. The procedural move, if passed, would end debate on the bill (S. 2012) and set up a vote on final passage expected ... -
McConnell Moves To Wrap Up Energy Bill
Feb 2, 2016 | The Hill - Floor Action
By Jordain Carney
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is moving the upper chamber toward ending its debate on a wide-ranging energy reform proposal. The Republican leader filed cloture Tuesday on the legislation from Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), after senators rejected a slate of partisan amendments to the ... -
Senate Rejects Partisan Amendments To Energy Bill
Feb 2, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Senate on Tuesday voted against six amendments to its broad energy reform bill that pursued partisan priorities on political spending and conservation. The amendments included Republican ones, such as a provision to limit the president’s power to designate national monuments, and Democratic ones, like requiring additional campaign... -
Senators Add Brownfields Reauthorization To Energy Bill
Feb 2, 2016 | InsideEPA
Senators in a Feb. 1 floor voice vote agreed to attach a bipartisan measure to the pending energy bill that would reauthorize and expand EPA's brownfields grants program, mirroring stand-alone legislation introduced by Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) and others last year. -
Why Heritage Action Didn't Lobby on Murkowski's Energy Bill
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Catherine Traywick
Despite issuing a “key vote” against the energy package by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Heritage Action wasn't one of the 162 groups that tried to influence the bill before it came to the floor. Instead, the conservative policy group concentrated on shaping the measure's counterpart in the House, a bill by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) that passed... -
Senate Rebuffs Monument Limits, Efficiency Standard
Feb 2, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Geof Koss
The Senate is working its way through a mini vote-a-rama this afternoon, as the chamber looks to complete work on its bipartisan energy package later this week. Senators this afternoon voted on eight of 257 amendments filed to the energy bill, S. 2012. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said this... -
Clinton Campaign Issues Plan To Improve Energy Efficiency Of Buildings
Feb 2, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Andrew Restuccia
Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign unveiled a plan today to cut energy waste in buildings by a third within a decade of her taking office. Her campaign said the plan would save the average household $600 a year in energy costs by improving building codes, prodding mortgage...
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(ACC Mentioned) What Plastics Makers are Doing to Increase Packaging Recycling, Recovery
Feb 2, 2016 | Environment Leader
By Jessica Lyons Hardcastle
Plastics recycling in the US is at an all-time high, according to two reports released today at the 2016 Plastics Recycling Conference.
The 2014 National Postconsumer Non-Bottle Rigid Plastic Recycling Report found recycling of post-consumer rigid plastics surged 276 million pounds, or 27 percent, in 2014 to reach a record high of more than 1.28 billion pounds for the year. The report also indicated that the reported volume of recycled rigid plastics, which is tracked separately from bottles or film, is now four times greater than the volume reported in just 2007.
Meanwhile the 2014 National Postconsumer Plastic Bag and Film Recycling Report found a minimum of 1.17 billion pounds of postconsumer plastic film was recycled in 2014, an increase of over 29 million pounds, or 3 percent, from the prior year. This year’s study marks the 10th consecutive year of the report, and a 79 percent increase in plastic film recycling since 2005. Based on data from the EPA, the recycling rate for film has grown from 6.6 percent to 17 percent of production during the same period.
Moore Recycling Associates authored both reports, which were funded by the American Chemistry Council. The ACC attributes the increase in plastics recycling to the combination of more advanced sorting technologies coupled with expanded consumer access.
“We want our material to be recovered and given a new life,” says Keith Christman, managing director of plastics markets for the ACC. “We recognize the demand for recycled material is very strong — there’s more demand for recycled materials than stuff going into curbside bins.”
What Is the Future of Plastics?
The ACC report follows a report by the World Economic Forum and Ellen MacArthur Foundation that calls on all stakeholders across the global plastics value chain — including consumer goods companies, plastic packaging producers and plastics manufacturers, recyclers and others — to apply circular economy principles to plastic packaging to reduce harmful environmental effects such as leakage into oceans.
The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics says that while plastics and plastic packaging are an integral part of the global economy and deliver many benefits, their value chains entail drawbacks. The report finds that most plastic packaging is used only once; 95 percent of the value of plastic packaging material, worth $80 billion to $120 billion annually, is lost to the economy.
“We recognize that when recyclable or energy-rich materials are disposed in landfills — or worse, littered — valuable materials are lost,” Christman says. “That’s why we’re working so hard to increase plastics recycling and energy conversion for non-recycled plastics and other materials. This shift will require wider adoption of technologies, greater access to infrastructure, and a cultural shift toward viewing used materials as still having value.”
To this end, the ACC and its 15 plastics division member companies participate in a number of efforts to increase the collection and recycling of plastics, such as the Wrap Action Recycling Program (WRAP), which has set a goal to double plastic film recycling — reaching about 2 billion pounds — by 2020. This partnership with states, municipalities, major brands including Dow, SC Johnson and Procter & Gamble, retailers and nonprofits such as the Sustainable Packaging Coalition works to increase awareness of opportunities to recycle plastic wraps at more than 18,000 participating stores across the US.
How to Increase Plastics Recycling
Christman points to Keep America Beautiful’s “I Want to Be Recycled” campaign, of which ACC is a founding sponsor, as an example of a program promoting a cultural shift toward viewing used materials as still having value.
The Recycling Partnership, of which ACC is a financial supporter and a board member, addresses greater access to infrastructure and wider adoption of technologies, Christman says. One way it does this: the public-private partnership, whose members include P&G and Waste Management, has supplied more than 165,000 US households with new, larger recycling carts.
As a next step, the plastics industry is researching better ways to recover and recycle materials that present more of a challenge, such as plastic pouches used to package some cereals and pet food. “These packages offer tremendous benefits, from reducing GHGs, energy use, packaging waste and food waste, even though they are not recyclable today,” Christman says. “But let’s not stop there. How can we recover this material?”
The WEF and Ellen and Ellen MacArthur Foundation report, as well as the two Moore Recycling reports, show the plastics industry is making progress and they also show opportunities to improve. They “focus on increasing recovery, increasing recycling, increasing energy recovery and keeping plastics out of the environment and we strongly support those goals,” Christmas says. “And we’re not done yet.”
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(ACC Mentioned) Plastics Industry Needs Greater Efficiency
Feb 2, 2016 | ICIS News
By Christie Moffat
Global plastic packaging production is in need of a new approach to improve efficiency and sustainability across all facets of the industry, new research and industry executives say.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and supported by McKinsey & Company, released a report in January discussing how to improve the system effectiveness of plastics, primarily by embracing the principles of a circular economy.
The charity, established in 2010, is dedicated to accelerating the transition to a circular economy, which it defines as a system that “keeps products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times”.
The report findings were based on interviews with over 180 industry experts and on analysis of more than 200 reports.
According to the report, 95% of plastic packaging material value – or $80-$120bn annually – is lost to the economy after a short first use. Only 14% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling.
When additional value losses in sorting and reprocessing are factored in, only 5% of material value is retained for a subsequent use, the report added.
The report raises three main suggestions to improve system effectiveness.
First, it calls for the creation of an effective after-use plastics economy, by improving the economics and uptake of recycling, reuse and controlled biodegradation for targeted applications.
Second, the report for greater efforts to drastically reduce leakage of plastics into natural systems, particularly the ocean, and other negative externalities.
Lastly, it calls for the industry to de-couple plastics from fossil feedstocks, largely by exploring and adopting renewable feedstocks.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) said it welcomed additional opportunities to partner with others in “the shared effort to recycle and recover more plastics, and to keep plastics out of the marine environment”.
When asked about decoupling from fossil feedstocks, the ACC said it should not be assumed that all biobased material is inherently better for the environment or reduces greenhouse gas emissions, compared to plastics derived from natural gas.
“As an innovative industry, we’re always exploring new and emerging technologies, but before considering any substitution we need to take a close look at the full life cycle impacts and infrastructure for recovery,” the ACC’s Plastics Division said in an emailed statement.
The report, which engaged a group of industry advisors to help compile its contents, drew figures from companies and organisations across the plastics manufacturing, processing, packaging, recycling and branding areas.
Trade group European Bioplastics (EUBP) recently voiced its support for the report, advocating that a shift to bioplastics would deliver better economic and environmental outcomes by replacing fossil with bio-based feedstocks.
Jeff Wooster, global sustainability director of packaging and specialty plastics at Dow Chemical, contributed to the report.
In an interview with ICIS, Wooster said that plastics use a “very small percentage” of fossil fuels, and that it would not be possible to remediate fossil fuel shortages by just eliminating or moving away from fossil fuels as a feedstock.
Wooster said that some decoupling could be achieved through the use of more efficient plastics and improving their life cycle, through recycling or recapturing the embedded energy value or feedstock material.
However, he doesn’t think that renewable feedstocks will gain a greater position in the industry in the next five to 10 years, because of the difficulty involved in making plastics from renewable sources.
“At the present time, it’s more economical, and therefore more sustainable, to use more conventional feedstocks,” Wooster said.
Instead, he envisions a slow shift in which renewable feedstock-based plastics continue to grow at a healthy pace, but will remain a small percentage of the market for a long time.
“As far as renewable-based plastics go, I think it will be a long haul, rather than a short term play,” Wooster said.
The report places considerable emphasis on collaboration and engagement, proposing various tools such as a Global Plastics Protocol to establish a core set of standards for the industry. It also suggests mobilising large-scale "moon shot" innovations, building a base of economic and scientific evidence, engaging policymakers, and coordinating and driving communication.
Wooster agrees that collaboration could go a long way in helping the industry on a global basis, and report would help with boosting attention towards the idea of a global plastics economy.
“Historically, the different parts of the value chain have not collaborated very well, and that has resulted in the process that we currently have, which they describe in the report as ‘a linear take-and-dispose’ model,” Wooster said.
“Perhaps there was one segment of the industry that was a bit slow to adopt ideas. I think having the report can certainly help push those people along.”
US chemical company DuPont was also involved with the compilation of the report.
DuPont spokesperson Daniel Turner said the report had many “ambitious but actionable” recommendations that the company supported, that are consistent with DuPont’s sustainability goals.
Turner said that DuPont’s corporate purpose included an official commitment to reducing society’s dependence on fossil fuels, which has led to the company actively developing new products.
As a result, he said, DuPont had “the most extensive portfolio of biobased materials in the industry and regularly continue to introduce new renewable materials”.
DuPont’s biobased products include enzymes used in cotton textile processing, propanediol used in products across the personal hygiene and cosmetics category as well as in carpets and fabrics, and separate enzymes used for laundry detergents.
Turner pointed to the recent announcement of a joint development with Archer Daniels Midland of a renewable monomer that will enable the production of a platform of renewably-sourced polymers for packaging and other applications.
As for the economic feasibility of the report’s suggestions, he noted that the report had many suggestions, “some of which are exceptionally ambitious and cannot be successfully implemented by any one company, any single trade association or even one country”.
To achieve them, collaboration and a long-term view would be necessary, he said.
“In terms of renewable materials, DuPont has always focused on delivering products with superior performance at competitive prices so our value propositions have never depended on a ‘green premium’,” Turner said.
“Therefore, the economic realities we face are inherently driven by delivering real value to customers through more sustainable solutions and this principle is what guides our choices of what we work on.”
Although the establishment of global standards is a central theme in the report, Wooster doesn’t believe that standardisation is necessarily the best solution to efficiency issues affecting the plastics industry.
“As with any recommendations that you make in a report that’s intended to be at global scale, sometimes some items are easier to implement in one geography than in another,” he said.
Rather, Wooster said that flexibility should be the goal, along with the best resource efficiency possible.
“If standardisation is the best tool to give us that result, that’s fine, but if we have some other tool to give us that result, that’s fine too.”
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(ACC Mentioned) Key Points to Know from the Latest Plastics Recycling Reports
Feb 2, 2016 | Waste360
By Allan Gerlat
The recycling of rigid plastics rose 27 percent in 2014 to a record annual high, according to a new report.
Post-consumer non-bottle rigid plastic recycling totaled 1.28 million pounds for the year, according to the report authored by Moore Recycling Associates. Also, the reported volume of recycled rigid plastics, tracked separately from bottles or film, is now four times greater than the volume reported in 2007, according to a news release.
The Sonoma, Calif.-based Moore Recycling also published a report on bag and film recycling, which stated that recycling of plastic film in 2014 rose 3 percent from the previous year, for a minimum of 1.17 billion pounds. Recycling of plastic film, which includes consumer wraps and bags, has increased 79 percent since 2005. The recycling rate for film has grown to 17 percent from 6.6 percent during that period.
Here are seven important points about the reports. Moore Recycling said the big jump in rigid plastics came from a rebound from the 2013 Green Fence effort in China, improved bale quality and growing standardization of plastics bales, which is how post-use plastics are sold after collection.Consistent with previous years, polypropylene and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) comprised the two largest resins in the category, representing 38.3 percent and 34.1 percent, respectively, of total rigid plastics collected. Rigid plastics include food containers, lids, tubs, clamshells, cups and bulky items.Approximately 64 percent of the 1.28 billion pounds of rigid plastics collected for recycling was processed in the United States or Canada, down slightly from 2013. The remainder was exported overseas, primarily to China.From Steve Russell, vice president of plastics for the Washington-based American Chemistry Council (ACC): “This is really exciting news. The combination of more advanced sorting technologies coupled with expanded consumer access is making a positive difference, and we look forward to seeing growth in rigid plastics recycling continue.”Regarding film, of all the material collected for recycling in 2014, about 45 percent was processed in the United States or Canada. The remainder went primarily to China.The take from Patty Moore, president of Moore Recycling: "We’re pleased to see growth in these important areas of plastics recycling. Continued expansion of a healthy sorting and processing infrastructure, and further development of end markets for recycled materials are essential for building on recent gains.”A study on the other major segment of plastics, bottles, was published late last year. The plastic bottle recycling climbed 3.3 percent to top 3 billion pounds in 2014, according to the report from the ACC and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR). The recycling rate for plastic bottles climbed 1 percent to 31.8 percent for the year.
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(ACC Mentioned) Suppliers Prioritise Demands Of Retailer Sustainability In 2016
Feb 3, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Dinesh Kumar
Improved engagement with retailers, and reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), are seen as positive developments in 2016 by a number of up and mid-stream trade groups.
Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) president, Chris Cathcart, says "regulation by retailers" has evolved and there is now a “better understanding of what it is that is impacting them … and how we, and our companies that put products on their shelves, can help.”
He adds that “cooperative synergy” is improving up and down the supply chain.
The CSPA has “ramped up in that arena”, anticipating pressure on retailers to do more about sustainability, transparency and chemical control. Mr Cathcart says, in the past year, such retailer initiatives have become more harmonised as companies see the practical advantages of common approaches.
Ernie Rosenberg, president of the American Cleaning Institute, expects to see more retailer sustainability activity this year too. “And the nice thing about getting TSCA passed is that we are not going to the retailers empty handed,” he says. “We can now say ‘give this new law a chance’. It is a real federal cop on the beat.”
The American Chemistry Council says it is in “consultation” with many retailers and is “starting to share more information with them, just so they have a better picture of the chemistries involved [in products] and the perspectives they need to make wise decisions,” says spokeswoman Anne Kolton.
The group wants retailers and other third-party groups to base their decisions on science and take decisions in terms of actual risk.
On TSCA reform, most industry executives are optimistic that Congress will pass legislation, this year, that the President can sign. ACC’s Ms Kolton does not see any impediments to enactment of TSCA reform other than the legislative calendar, which is tight because of the November elections.
“I don’t think some of the issues are going to be that easy to resolve between the House and Senate [bills] but I do expect [TSCA reform] to be resolved,” says Mr Rosenburg. Mr Cathcart says CSPA is confident that the Senate and House leadership will bring forward a bill that is workable and signed into law.
The Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates has raised concerns over certain provisions of the Senate bill that it does not want to see go forward, said Bill Allmond, Socma’s vice president of government relations.
Bills to reform TSCA passed the House by a 398-1 vote, last June, and the Senate by a unanimous voice vote, last December.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement is a “big priority” for Socma, he says, “but I don’t anticipate the negotiations will be finalised this year.”
At the state level, Kristin Power, CSPA’s vice president for state affairs, says she expects to see a continuation of the trend seen in the past several years, when a number of states have introduced broad and substance-specific control. She adds that states with a "legislative interest in establishing programmes will continue to do so”, even if TSCA reform moves ahead.
The ACC will continue to “advocate for legislation or regulations” at the state level that are science based, and let states know that if TSCA reform goes ahead, “there is a robust federal programme in place that that creates a level playing field for the products of chemistry.”
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(ACC Mentioned) A Danger Lurks Behind the BPA-Free Label
Feb 2, 2016 | TakePart
By Taylor Hill
When purchasing a water bottle, a baby bottle, or other products that carry a “BPA-free” sticker, people assume they’re getting an item made out of chemicals safer than Bisphenol A.
But BPA’s supposedly benign replacement, Bisphenol S, may not be so safe, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Endocrinology.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found BPS accelerated development of zebrafish larvae exposed to the chemical, leading to premature births.
“Our findings are frightening,” said Nancy Wayne, the study’s lead author and a reproductive endocrinologist at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. “Consider it the aquatic version of the canary in the coal mine.”
BPA is a chemical often added to plastic products to strengthen them. It’s a hormone disruptor that mimics the effects of estrogen and testosterone. More than a decade’s worth of research has linked BPA to reproductive development issues, early onset puberty, and breast and prostate cancer. The Food and Drug Administration in 2012 banned BPA use in baby bottles and children’s cups, but the chemical is still used in products ranging from canned foods to cash register receipts.
Wayne and fellow researchers exposed zebrafish to low levels of BPA and BPS—the same concentrations fish could encounter in polluted rivers—to see what impact the chemicals would have on genes and brain cells that control reproduction.
Apart from sharing about 80 percent of their genes with humans, zebrafish are good case studies for developmental effects because their embryos are transparent. That allowed researchers to watch in real time the effect the chemicals were having on the embryos. Within 25 hours of exposure, the team saw changes.
“Egg-hatching time accelerated, leading to premature birth,” Wayne said. “The embryos developed much faster than normal in the presence of BPA or BPS.”
Researchers also tracked the development of zebrafish brain cells that control hormones that trigger puberty and fertility. They found the number of endocrine neurons increased up to 40 percent with exposure to the chemicals. The findings could help explain the rise in cases of premature puberty and reproduction system issues in human populations. Advertisement
Wayne, who studied BPA’s impact on embryos in 2008, said she was most surprised by how similarly the fish reacted to BPA and BPS.
“In 2008, we were kind of just starting to gather data on Bisphenol A, but the research has accumulated, and the FDA is still dragging its feet on doing much about it,” Wayne said. “We’ve raised a red flag here on how safe Bisphenol S is, but the main issue is whether any endocrine-disrupting chemicals can be safe to use at any level—there’s just not enough research yet.”
The American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry’s largest trade organization, contends that the new study has little bearing on human health.
“The relevance for human health of this limited study on zebrafish is unclear,” the group said in a statement. “Many government bodies around the world have evaluated the scientific evidence on BPA and have clearly stated that BPA is safe for use.”
But most research done so far hasn’t studied what impacts endocrine disruptors such as BPA and BPS have on the development of organisms, says Maricel Maffini, a former senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council who is unaffiliated with the study.
“The development process is like a symphony; it’s a synchronization of chemical signals, neuron releases, and correct timing,” Maffini said. “This study highlights the fact that you can easily change and disrupt the process with small amounts of either chemical. If we’re going to continue to release this chemical into the environment, we need more testing like this to see how it affects developing organisms.”
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Merged TSCA Bill Foreseen; Disputes Await Conference
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 2 that he expects lawmakers to wait until a formal conference to address certain controversial facets of a revamp of the Toxic Substances Control Act, but he does not see major obstacles to reconciling separate House (H.R. 2576) and Senate (S. 697) efforts.
“It's important for us to get this thing done and I think we all know that,” said Shimkus, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment and the Economy.
Among the controversial aspects of TSCA reform that could wait until a formal conference to be addressed, according to Shimkus: preemption, how to handle confidential business information, and how the Environmental Protection Agency should address new chemicals.
Ways the House and Senate bills would deal with those three and many other provisions of TSCA are summarized below in an extensive chart Bloomberg BNA prepared.
At issue are the TSCA Modernization Act (H.R. 2576), which sailed through the House June 23, 2015, on a 398–1 vote, and the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which the Senate approved unanimously by voice vote Dec. 17, 2015. Prior to the vote, the Senate bill was designated S. 697, but it passed as a substitute amendment (S. Admt. 2932) to H.R. 2576.
Inhofe: ‘Very Close’ to a Solution
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, told Bloomberg BNA legislators are “very close” to a solution that would resolve differences between the House- and Senate-passed bills.
A challenge, Inhofe said, is that most ordinary people aren't plugged into the issue of updating the nation's primary chemicals law.
“There's not the outside pressure,” Inhofe said, even as he described TSCA reform as “very, very significant.”
Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who championed the bipartisan TSCA-overhaul bill in the Senate, told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 1 that House and Senate legislators have an incentive to secure passage of a final bill.
“For both sides to get out bills is a very positive thing in this climate,” he said. “We just need to work through the TSCA as it is and look at the differences and look at the parts each side legislated and sort it out, I think we can do that.”
Staff are having productive discussions, and the plan is to soon get the members involved, he said.
Momentum Toward Reform
Martha Marrapese and Herb Estreicher, partners with the Keller and Heckman LLP law firm, told Bloomberg BNA they expect a final TSCA bill to be approved by this Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama.
“This Congress has demonstrated time and again its commitment to see this through,” Marrapese said.
“Both bills have the same central focus—existing chemical reviews—which gave the reform effort its needed momentum.
“Both bills allow EPA adequate time and resources to review a manageable number of chemicals.
“There are incentives to have chemicals reviewed, and disincentives that should prevent chemicals from being held hostage under the new system. Transparent, risk-based decisions will need to be made more transparently than they are today, and followed,” she said.
“The preemption provisions of either bill are not ideal—the House bill has a long period before preemption takes effect and the Senate bill permits preemption in fits and starts. But if EPA's system has the respect of the states, they will have naturally less incentive to second guess the agency,” Marrapese said.
Preemption Remains Central Issue
State preemption has taken center stage in the TSCA modernization effort prompting particularly active engagement by state attorneys general.
“States should not be preempted until EPA has taken a final action,” attorneys general from California, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington wrote in a Jan. 21 letter to key members of Congress (14 DEN A-3, 1/22/16).
That view on preemption was shared by more than 120 health, environmental, consumer, labor, business and religious organizations that weighed in on many issues in a Feb. 1 letter sent to key House and Senate legislators by Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.
The coalition's letter touched on issues ranging from the pace of EPA's chemical assessments, to toxicity tests, chemical nomenclature and the judicial standard citizens' rulemaking petitions would have to meet if an organization legally challenged an agency decision.
As did a recent state analysis of the House and Senate bills, the coalition's letter did not endorse wholesale either chamber's approach, but highlighted specific provisions in each bill that the advocates would support or reject.
“Congress can reconcile the two bills in a way that allays those concerns, provides clear progress for public health and the environment and enjoys broad public support,” the coalition said.
For example, the coalition preferred the Senate's language on fees industry would pay.
The coalition, however, preferred the House approach to addressing persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals.
Nomenclature, Citizen Petitions
The coalition weighed in on one highly technical change to TSCA that has been in many versions of the Senate's bill, including the final approved unanimously, yet has received little—if any—attention at public forums.
The provision addresses nomenclature, or the ways chemicals are identified by names and Chemical Abstracts Service numbers.
Robert Sussman, principal in Sussman and Associates, a consulting firm, and a former senior policy counsel to the EPA administrator under the Obama administration, told Bloomberg BNA it is odd that the Senate included such prescriptive language on a highly technical issue without any public discussion of the problem the language is designed to fix and how it would accomplish that goal.
The congressional intervention could affect the EPA's reviews of new chemicals and enforcement actions, he said.
Sussman declined to speculate on the motives behind the nomenclature provision, but he said it's a technical issue that could have broader ramifications than people recognize.
Similarly, he said, a newly added provision in Section 20 of the Senate's bill would make it more difficult for private parties—which can include industry and environmental organizations—to legally challenge the EPA's denial of a citizen's petition that seeks rulemaking under TSCA.
EPA's Implementation
Estreicher, from Keller and Heckman, focused on the post-legislative stage of updating U.S. management of chemicals.
“The most important question now is how a new TSCA will be implemented by EPA,” he said.
“Under both bills EPA has a relatively short period of time to promulgate regulation that will define how the agency goes about implementation.
“Industry needs to be engaged at the rulemaking stage to ensure that the implementing regulations will allow the U.S. to maintain its competitive edge while at the same time ensuring that products placed on the market are safe,” Estreicher said.
Legislative Chart
Many recent analyses of the House and Senate bills updating TSCA have focused on narrow issues such as how they would affect state preemption or how the Senate-approved bill differed from previous versions.
Below, Bloomberg BNA offers a comprehensive view of ways the Senate's Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act and the House's TSCA Modernization Act would change TSCA and the legal provisions they would retain.
This issue offers a side-by-side look of the current law and the bills as approved by each chamber. The side-by-side was prepared by Bloomberg BNA with the assistance of individuals that took part as the Senate and House each negotiated their separate bills.
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California Aims to List Prostate Cancer Drug Under Prop. 65
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has announced plans to identify abiraterone acetate (CAS No. 154229-18-2), the key ingredient in Zytiga, a prescription drug used to treat prostate cancer, as causing reproductive harm under Proposition 65. The agency published an intent to list notice Jan. 29, soliciting comment on the plan to administratively list the chemical under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly called Proposition 65. The law's regulations require that a chemical be listed once a state or federal agency requires a chemical be labeled or identified as causing cancer or reproductive toxicity, OEHHA said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved label for Zytiga “indicates that uses of abiraterone acetate during pregnancy can cause fetal harm” and that the chemical “has the potential to impair reproductive function and fertility in humans,” OEHHA said. The drug is not prescribed to women. Comments are due on the proposed listing by Feb. 29. The intent to list notice is available at http://src.bna.com/cnR.
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PHMSA Warns of Storage Facility Failures, Cites Aliso Canyon
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The Transportation Department in a Feb. 2 bulletin urged owners and operators of underground pipeline and storage facilities for natural gas to maintain the safety and integrity of their facilities in light of the ongoing natural gas leak in California.
“The Advisory Bulletin directs operators to inspect and take immediate actions to ensure the safety of underground natural gas storage facilities across the country,” Marie Therese Dominguez, administrator for the department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which is developing rules for these facilities, said in a statement.
The bulletin follows the failure of Southern California Gas Co.'s Aliso Canyon Well in Los Angeles last October. Since then, the well has released more than 84 million kilograms of the potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere, and California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has declared a state emergency. The gas leak also has caused more than 4,400 families to be relocated (see related story).
In its advisory, PHMSA specifically directs operators to verify that the pressure needed to inject natural gas does not exceed design pressure limits of the reservoir, wells and other equipment and facilities and to use a corrosion monitoring and integrity evaluation program. It says they also should periodically monitor wells for certain gases or liquids, inspect wellheads and attached pipelines, and test valve systems, among other steps.
The bulletin is intended to highlight problems that could become potential environmental or safety risks. It was signed Feb. 2 by Alan Mayberry, deputy associate administrator for policy and programs for the agency, and sent to the Federal Register for publication.
American Petroleum Institute Responds
The American Petroleum Institute responded by highlighting its own efforts to improve best practices for natural gas storage facilities.
“Safety is our industry's core value and we are committed to zero incidents,” Robin Rorick, midstream group director, said in a statement. “PHMSA's new safety advisory is in part guided by the best principles industry already has in place for natural gas storage facilities.”
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Methane Leak Prompts PHMSA To Issue Gas Storage Advisory
Feb 2, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Elana Schor
Federal regulators at the Department of Transportation are set to release a new safety advisory for operators of natural gas storage facilities as part of the Obama administration's response to the months-long methane leak in suburban Los Angeles.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's forthcoming advisory tells operators to "review their operating, maintenance, and emergency response activities," including pressure monitoring and verification as well as periodic tests of valves, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO.
PHMSA's advisory is not the final step regulators plan to take in response to the leak of methane from the Aliso Canyon storage facility, now estimated by the Environmental Defense Fund to top 91 million metric tons of the potent greenhouse gas. But it comes as California's Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, join climate activists in pressing for a stronger federal role in response and prevention of future natural gas leaks.
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California Joins Lawsuit Over Natural Gas Leak
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
The California Attorney General's Office took action Feb. 2 against Southern California Gas Co. over the ongoing leak at the utility's underground natural gas storage field near Los Angeles (California v. S. Cal. Gas Co., Cal. Super. Ct., No. BC602973, amended complaint filed 2/2/16).
Southern California Gas Co., a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, “violated state health and safety laws by failing to promptly control the release of natural gas and report the leak to authorities,” caused a public health and statewide environmental emergency and released more than 80,000 metric tons of methane posing a threat to the state's effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the Attorney General's Office said in a Feb. 2 statement.
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris filed documents in California Superior Court in Los Angeles County to intervene in a legal enforcement action Los Angeles city and county attorneys previously filed against SoCalGas. The filing includes an amended complaint on behalf of the California Air Resources Board and the local prosecutors.
Los Angeles City Attorney Michael Feuer welcomed the attorney general's action. The “action today is a significant step in the ongoing effort to hold Southern California Gas accountable, end this public health emergency and ensure it never happens again,” he said in a statement.
Harris's amended complaint is among more than a dozen lawsuits filed since November over the leaking damaged well SoCalGas discovered Oct. 23. All the cases are being consolidated with a putative class action Richard McCune of McCuneWright LLP and Taras Kick of the Kick Law Firm APC brought on behalf nearby residents (Gandsey v. S. Cal. Gas. Co. , Cal. Super. Ct., No. BC 601844, 11/23/15).
Air Quality Violations Alleged
The attorney general is alleging violations air quality laws that bar discharges of pollutants at levels that create a public nuisance or cause injury, laws that require immediate reporting of releases hazardous materials and unfair business practices. Much of the complaint addressed the potential climate change and health impacts of the leak.
Harris is seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief to require SoCalGas to mitigate the leak's harmful impacts, similar those the South Coast Air Quality Management District is pursuing in a related action (18 DEN A-3, 1/28/16).
Residents in Porter Ranch and other neighborhoods near the facility in Aliso Canyon have reported headaches, nausea, nosebleeds, dizziness and other ailments the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment said can be caused to exposure to odorants used in natural gas.
“This gas leak has caused significant damage to the Porter Ranch community as well as our statewide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the impacts of climate change,” Harris said. “My office will continue to lead this cross-jurisdictional enforcement action to ensure justice and relief for Californians and our environment.”
SoCalGas is drilling a relief well to cap the leak, a project it expects to be completed by the end of February.
Meanwhile, the utility is temporarily relocating residents, installing air scrubbers and weatherizing homes.
“We are working hard to both stop the leak and to address our neighbors' concerns,” Kristine Lloyd, a spokeswoman for the utility, told Bloomberg BNA in a Feb. 2 e-mail. “Beyond that, we do not comment on pending litigation and will respond to the lawsuit through the judicial process.”
Robert Wyman of Latham & Watkins LLP in Los Angeles is representing the utility.
Emissions Decreasing
Levels of emissions at the facility have decreased over time, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a Jan. 31 report. While methane levels in the nearby community are above those normally observed, they “are below flammable levels and are not expected to cause any health effects,” the report said. The odorants in the gas are below detection levels but still may cause the short-term ill-health effects being reported, the county said.
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Senate Backs Task Force On Massive California Gas Leak
Feb 2, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Darren Goode
The Senate tonight approved an energy bill amendment that would create a federal task force to review the causes and effects of the massive Aliso Canyon natural gas leak near Los Angeles.
The language from California Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein was included in a batch of 11 amendments to the energy bill approved by voice vote.
Boxer and Feinstein's amendment would create a task force led by the Energy Department to do a broad review of the leak, including the cause, response and impacts on communities and the environment, and report findings and recommendations within six months. It comes as the surrounding community continues to struggle with gas spewing from a malfunctioning underground system at the Aliso Canyon storage facility — a type of natural gas infrastructure that wouldn't be covered by EPA's pending methane emissions regulations.
The Senate also approved an amendment from Susan Collins, Amy Klobuchar and Angus King directing federal agencies to promote biomass as a carbon-friendly energy source. Eight green groups had objected to an initial version of the bipartisan amendment because they argued it would interfere with EPA's current consideration of whether biomass energy should qualify toward a state's compliance with the carbon reduction mandates of the Clean Power Plan. The amendment was modified before being adopted by voice vote tonight.
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Greens Seek To Eliminate Exception In EPA's Refinery Rules
Feb 2, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Sean Reilly
Environmental groups are reopening a fight over U.S. EPA's new oil refinery regulations in a bid to eliminate exemptions for hazardous emission releases stemming from equipment breakdowns.
"We call on EPA to recognize the need to reconsider and remove these harmful exemptions, which were put in place at the last minute without notice and without comment," lawyers for Air Alliance Houston and 10 other organizations said in a news release today.
Besides announcing a lawsuit filed yesterday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, they released an approximately 50-page administrative petition to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
From 2009 to 2013, Texas refineries alone released almost 1 million pounds of hazardous air pollutants during "non-routine events," usually claiming that the releases did not represent violations because they were caused by malfunctions, the petition says.
"The sheer frequency of these events at certain refineries and not others illustrates that better planning and maintenance could help prevent these emissions in many instances and almost always minimize the amount of pollution released when an event is absolutely unavoidable," it adds.
EPA officials issued the final refinery regulations in September, formalizing them with publication in the Federal Register in early December. At the time, environmental groups hailed inclusion of a long-sought provision requiring refiners to ring their properties with air monitors that given benzene readings every two weeks (E&ENews PM, Sept. 29, 2015).
Such welcome provisions notwithstanding, "there are shortcomings in this rule that we feel it is necessary to re-litigate," Adrian Shelley, executive director of Air Alliance Houston, said in a phone interview this afternoon.
For example, while the new regulations allow up to two uncontrolled releases from "pressure release devices" every three years, there are more than 15,000 such devices at refineries around the country, according to the petition.
"That's a lot of pollution," Shelley said.
The coalition is also seeking to add stronger health safeguards to the final rule, according to the news release.
Other groups signing on to the lawsuit and administrative petition are the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment and California Communities Against Toxics. The Sierra Club has joined the petition, but not the lawsuit.
Representing them are attorneys from Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project.
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Calif. Sues Utility For Health, Safety Violations
Feb 3, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Jeremy P. Jacobs
California today sued Southern California Gas Co., seeking penalties and an immediate end to a massive methane leak in Los Angeles.
Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) filed the lawsuit in state court claiming the utility violated several public health and safety laws when its natural gas storage facility in Aliso Canyon began releasing the gas in October.
The leak has yet to be capped, emitting an estimated 80,000 metric tons of methane into the Porter Ranch neighborhood.
Methane is a potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas, and Harris emphasized that the leak has compromised the state's ability to curb greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change.
"The impact of this unprecedented gas leak is devastating to families in our state, our environment, and our efforts to combat global warming. Southern California Gas Company must be held accountable," said Harris, who is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate, in a statement.
The Aliso Canyon leak began Oct. 23 from one of the 115 wells at Southern California Gas's large storage facility in the San Fernando Valley. The utility has repeatedly sought to cap the well but has been unsuccessful. The gas contains an additive that produces a noxious smell, leading to health complaints in the nearby community. More than 4,400 homes have relocated.
Southern California Gas has said that the rate of methane released has slowed significantly. Yesterday, the utility said a new well designed to intercept the gas is close to reaching the depth where it is designed to connect with the damaged well.
Harris' lawsuit alleges numerous violations of the state's public health and safety code, including allegations that Southern California Gas failed to promptly stop the leak and notify authorities.
She also filed charges for public nuisance and the discharge of air pollutants from the well.
The lawsuit includes the California Air Resources Board and is one of several filed against the utility. It joins another from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates air pollution in the area, as well as one from the city of Los Angeles.
In addition to the legal action, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has declared a state of emergency because of the leak. Other state regulators including the California Public Utilities Commission have launched investigations.
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Senate Votes Down Gas Pipeline, Regulatory Budget Amendments
Feb 2, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor and Darren Goode
The Senate today voted down Republican amendments to restrict monument designations and make it easier to build natural gas pipelines as the upper chamber aims to finish its energy bill work this week.
Sen. Mike Lee's effort to restrict the president’s ability to designate national monuments failed 47-48, with opposition from moderate Republicans Lamar Alexander, Kelly Ayotte and Mark Kirk, the latter two of whom are facing tough re-elections. West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin broke ranks to support the amendment.
Sen. Al Franken came up short, 43-52, in his bid to establish a nationwide energy efficiency resource standard. Maine Sen. Susan Collins was the only Republican to support the measure, while Democrats Heidi Heitkamp, Jon Tester and Manchin opposed it.
Sen. John Barrasso's effort to ease construction of natural gas pipelines on federal land failed 52-43, with support from Manchin and Heitkamp. Sen. John Sullivan's amendment to create a regulatory budget, which would require a rule to be repealed whenever a new one is proposed, failed 49-46, with Collins joining Democrats in opposition. The amendments needed 60 votes to pass.
The Senate adopted on voice vote an amendment from Sen. Mike Rounds to establish a conservation incentives program run by the departments of Interior and Agriculture and is scheduled to vote on several more amendments today. Barrasso told POLITICO that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to move Tuesday night to file cloture on the bill, setting up a vote Thursday to end debate on the measure.
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FERC Backs Rate-Setting Bill, Criticizes Gas Pipeline Bill
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it supported a bill to allow ratepayers to contest unfair electricity rates, but raised concerns about another bill giving equal weight to aerial and ground surveying in gas pipeline siting, according to House subcommittee testimony.
The bills were among eight energy infrastructure bills discussed during a Feb. 2 hearing by the Energy and Commerce Energy and Power Subcommittee.
Five of the bills dealt with extending hydroelectric licenses no further than 10 years, which FERC said it would not oppose.
The timing for when the bills will be marked up by the subcommittee will be announced soon, a committee aide told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 2.
Several of the bills proposed changes to the Federal Power Act, the law that gives FERC its constitutional authority.
Contesting Rate Decisions
Max Minzer, FERC's general counsel, said he saw benefits for consumers from the Fair RATES Act (H.R. 2984), sponsored by Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.). The bill would amend Section 205 of the Federal Power Act to allow rehearing of decisions affecting rates when the five-member commission is deadlocked at 2–2.
Currently, when the commission reaches a 2–2 vote on a rate-setting matter, the process goes forward even though no order is issued, and there is no way to contest the decision via a rehearing process. The bill would allow for ratepayers to seek a rehearing of a rate decision they oppose that was reached in a 2–2 vote.
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), ranking member of the subcommittee, said this scenario has occurred five times in the past 14 years. Kennedy added that this could continue to occur, since the commission currently has only four commissioners after one left last fall and the White House has yet to nominate a replacement (206 DEN BB-1, 10/26/15).
The bill “will ensure all administrative judicial actions for redress are available whenever a rate takes effect, including in the event of a deadlocked commission,” Kennedy said. “Without a fifth commissioner so much as nominated, it's setting the stage for this to come into play in the next weeks and months ahead.”
Aerial Surveys for Gas Pipelines
During the hearing, Ann Miles, director of FERC's Office of Energy Projects, said she had some concerns with another FERC-related bill—the AIR Survey Act or 2015 (H.R. 3021), sponsored by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.).
The bill would allow companies to use aerial survey data to complete prefiling processes for gas pipeline certifications at FERC. The bill also would allow FERC to require companies, as a condition of approval, to verify the aerial survey data through the use of ground survey data before construction or extension of proposed pipelines.
Currently, FERC allows companies to conduct aerial surveys of land where they want to build a pipeline, especially when ground access isn't available in the prefiling or application review processes. Most applications, however, include ground surveys for a signification portion of the proposed pipeline.
While Miles said FERC didn't oppose the bill, she expressed concerns that some endangered species and watershed resources could be overlooked if a company relied only on aerial data before beginning construction of a gas pipeline.
This could delay the application process and incur additional costs if a company then had to conduct an on-the-ground survey and amend its approved route, she said.
Tim Powell, director at the Williams Cos, an Oklahoma-based gas company, said in his testimony he supported the proposed legislation, which could speed up the pipeline permitting process at FERC.
“The legislation would address one important cause of interstate pipeline project delays while protecting the integrity of the [National Environmental Policy Act] review and other related permitting processes,” he said.
FERC Approval of Mergers
Another bill (no bill number yet), sponsored by Pompeo, proposed a change to Section 203 of the Federal Power Act to raise the monetary threshold from $50,000 to $10 million for which FERC has to give prior approval before a merger or sale among public utilities takes place.
FERC also supported the bill, as it would require FERC to approve fewer mergers, thus freeing up agency time and resources. Minzer said the bill “could ease the administrative burden on the commission staff and the regulatory burden on industry without a significant negative effect on the commission's regulatory responsibilities.”
He added that transactions below $10 million are “unlikely to impose a significant negative impact on competition or the rates of utility customers.”
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RGGI Evaluates Clean Power Plan Compliance Options
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Leslie A. Pappas
The nine states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) would reduce carbon emissions annually by 2.5 percent and eliminate flexibility measures such as offsets under one potential scenario to meet federal limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants debated at a stakeholder meeting Feb. 2.
The meeting of the Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic regional trading program was held in Wilmington, Del., to discuss policy scenarios and gather input from environmentalists, utilities and other stakeholders on ways the program should change to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33).
The trading group offered two policy scenarios for reducing carbon dioxide emissions between 2020 to 2030—one scenario would adopt the EPA targets while the other would go beyond the Clean Power Plan's requirements. The Clean Power Plan sets carbon dioxide emissions limits for the power sector in each state. The standards would be implemented by state regulators and phased in between 2022 and 2030.
Reductions in Annual Cap
Environmental groups were encouraged by the second proposal, which called for a reduction of the RGGI cap annually by 2.5 percent from its 2020 level while eliminating cost containment reserves (CCR) and carbon offsets.
The model would set the RGGI cap at 76.2 million tons for 2021, an amount that would decrease to 56.7 million tons by 2031.
“If we could end up with that, it would be a solid outcome for the RGGI region,” Jackson Morris, director of eastern energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 2 after the meeting.
Morris said the first scenario that simply adopted the EPA's standards would be a “setback” for RGGI because the states would no longer be in a leadership position.
In a statement Feb. 2, Mark Kresowik from the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign called the model “encouraging” and said he hoped RGGI would consider stricter limits to meet its climate goals. A goal of 2.5 percent “is not enough to curb the harmful effects of climate disruption which many of these states have already experienced,” Kresowik said in the statement.
The nine RGGI states are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Clean Power Plan's Goal
The Clean Power Plan's mass-based carbon dioxide emissions limit for the nine states is 79 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2030 for existing sources and 80 million tons if states choose to regulate new natural gas plants along with existing fossil fuel units. Under the current RGGI structure, the cap will be 78 million tons in 2020 and beyond (223 DEN A-3, 11/19/15).
Some stakeholders disagreed that offsets should be eliminated, saying they could be beneficial if incorporated properly into the program's design.
Arjun Patney, policy director at the American Carbon Registry, a registry for carbon offsets, said that offsets have “a variety of co-benefits” and “the environmental benefit is inherently greater when using offsets instead of allowances.”
RGGI participants can generate offsets through actions such as planting trees and other carbon reduction programs. However, RGGI has not given credit for a single offset in the program's life.
In future program designs, it might be worth considering “giving offsets priority before kicking into the CCR, since every additional allowance released under the CCR is another ton of emissions released into our atmosphere,” he said. “Whereas with offsets, those emissions are neutralized.”
Trading With Other States
The meeting also discussed trading with other states and whether RGGI should set strict limits on trading or encourage other states to join.
Franz T. Litz, a consultant at Litz Energy Strategies LLC and part of a group called the Collaborative for RGGI Progress, noted that when RGGI was started, one of the goals was to have it become a model for the federal program. Today, RGGI should be actively reaching out to other states to coordinate and communicate about what others are doing, he said.
“You want to be thinking about whether you are making yourselves attractive to other states for trading,” Litz said.
The meeting was the second of several stakeholder meetings the group will hold between now and September. The first meeting was held Nov. 17, 2015, in New York (222 DEN A-9, 11/18/15).
According to Nicole Singh, executive director of RGGI, the next meeting will take place sometime in April, followed by one in July and possibly another in September. The organization will take comments on the proposed scenarios through Feb. 19, Singh said.
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Senate Rejects Several Energy Bill Amendments
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed for cloture Feb. 2 on a broad Senate energy bill as work on the legislation drew near to a close.
The procedural move, if passed, would end debate on the bill (S. 2012) and set up a vote on final passage expected Feb. 4.
Earlier on Feb. 2 the Senate voted to reject several amendments that would have phased out tax incentives for the fossil fuel industry and expedited the permitting process for natural gas pipelines on public lands.
The Senate also rejected an amendment by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) that would have required utilities to save a set amount of energy by reducing energy demand, and an amendment by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) that would have required campaign finance disclosures from the fossil fuel industry.
The Senate also rejected amendments by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that would have declared that any proclamation of a national monument on federal land expires after three years unless specifically approved by federal and state law, and an amendment by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) that would have required federal agencies to repeal at least one rule before they could issue new ones.
Each amendment was subject to a threshold of 60 affirmative votes for adoption.
The underlying five-part energy bill includes language to expedite the federal approval process for liquefied natural gas exports and also includes provisions that would increase cybersecurity protections for the electricity grid and expedite the licensing process for hydropower projects.
Brownfields Amendment Adopted
The Senate has been considering the bill since the week of Jan. 25, and late Feb. 1 adopted several amendments by voice vote including a measure by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) that would reauthorize the Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields program through 2018. The amendment would also establish a program to provide grants to locate clean energy projects at Brownfields sites and expand funding eligibility for governmental entities that didn't cause or contribute to the contamination, according to a bill summary.
Adopted by voice vote Feb. 2 was an amendment by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) that would direct the Agriculture Department to establish a conservation incentives landowner education program, and an amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that would increase bill funding for the Energy Department's Office of Science by $2.7 billion over five years.
Dark Money Amendment Fails
The Senate did not adopt an amendment by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) that aimed to expose “dark money” used to block or stunt climate change action. The term refers to money given to politically active nonprofit groups that don't have to disclose their funding sources.
The amendment would have required companies that receive $1 million or more from fossil fuel-related activities to disclose political spending. Organizations and individuals covered by the terms of the measure would have been required to disclose political spending such as funding of certain issue ads or electioneering communications if the total spending since the beginning of 2014 topped $10,000. The amendment failed by a 43-52 vote.
Prior to the vote, several public interest groups including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a letter urging senators to adopt the amendment.
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McConnell Moves To Wrap Up Energy Bill
Feb 2, 2016 | The Hill - Floor Action
By Jordain Carney
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is moving the upper chamber toward ending its debate on a wide-ranging energy reform proposal.
The Republican leader filed cloture Tuesday on the legislation from Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), after senators rejected a slate of partisan amendments to the otherwise uncontroversial bill.
The move means senators will take a procedural vote on Thursday, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) telling reporters, separately, that they hope to finish work on the bill that day as well.
But to make that happen leadership will need to get a time agreement or consent from every senator to either speed up the votes or skip over procedural hurdles that could otherwise threaten to drag out consideration of the energy bill.
While senators have voted on dozens of amendments to the legislation, Democrats are pushing Republicans to include link the proposal to the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich.
"[The] same Republicans that call for relief when their states face natural disasters are disparaging government action in Flint," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said from the floor on Tuesday. "I hope Senate Republicans will support our efforts to protect the people of Flint."
Senate Democrats have offered an amendment that would give up to $600 million in federal assistance, though some Republicans have raised concerns about tying what they view as a local issue to the energy bill.
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Senate Rejects Partisan Amendments To Energy Bill
Feb 2, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Senate on Tuesday voted against six amendments to its broad energy reform bill that pursued partisan priorities on political spending and conservation.
The amendments included Republican ones, such as a provision to limit the president’s power to designate national monuments, and Democratic ones, like requiring additional campaign finance disclosures from fossil fuel companies.In rejecting the amendments, the chamber kept up the goals of leaders and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to keep a bipartisan bill that would avoid turning off either party.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) sponsored the national monument amendment, which would give states and Congress veto power over the president’s ability to protect land from development.
“The amendment provides Congress and the applicable state legislatures a three-year window to approve presidentially declared national monuments, ensuring that land-use decisions finally have an input from the various states,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said.
Republicans also put forward a provision from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) to expedite permitting for natural gas lines on federal land, which also got rejected.
“This is a commonsense solution that helps taxpayers, helps Indian country, helps our environment,” Barrasso said in defense of the measure.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wanted to require fossil fuel companies to disclose big political donations that wouldn’t otherwise require disclosure, another provision that was rejected.
“I very much hope that consistent with past Republican support for sunshine and disclosure, we can get a bipartisan vote in favor of disclosure of the big money donors who are now putting secret money into our elections,” he said.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) sponsored an amendment to end certain tax incentives that benefit fossil fuel companies, which the Senate voted down.
“If we're serious about creating a level playing field, then we should phase out incentives for fossil fuels as we phase them out for wind and solar power,” he said.
The Senate passed two amendments Tuesday to the bill by voice vote.
One from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) increases the science research funding the bill authorizes. The other, from Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), would create a program to educate landowners about land conservation programs available from the federal government.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is likely to file for cloture on the bill later Tuesday, which would line it up for a final vote on Thursday.
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Senators Add Brownfields Reauthorization To Energy Bill
Feb 2, 2016 | InsideEPA
Senators in a Feb. 1 floor voice vote agreed to attach a bipartisan measure to the pending energy bill that would reauthorize and expand EPA's brownfields grants program, mirroring stand-alone legislation introduced by Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) and others last year.
The amendment was attached to S. 2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act, Feb. 1 during floor debate. At press time, the Senate was continuing to consider the bill.
Inhofe and Sens. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), co-sponsors of the brownfields legislation, praised its adoption. "With the passage of this amendment, we are one step closer toward fulfilling my goal of reauthorizing the Brownfields program," Inhofe says in a Feb. 2 press release. "The passage by voice vote shows the depth of bipartisan support for the Brownfields program in the Senate," he added.
"Cleaning up Brownfields sites is a win-win, helping to create jobs and spur economic activity while revitalizing underutilized and polluted lands," Markey said in the release.
The measure would reauthorize the brownfields program through 2018. It mirrors S. 1479, the so-called Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development Act, introduced last June.
The amendment would make several revisions to the program, creating a set-aside for technical assistance grants for small communities, rural areas, Indian tribes and disadvantaged communities, providing them with individual grants of up to $7,500, with the overall set-aside for these grants not to exceed $600,000. It would also boost funding limits for remediation grants to $500,000 per site, and allow for multi-purpose grants of up to $950,000. In general, the brownfields program provides grants to communities to assess and clean up brownfields.
Also, under the amendment, eligibility for grants to nonprofit groups would be expanded to include certain nonprofit organizations, limited liability corporations, limited partnerships and community development entities.
The legislation would also allow government entities that do not qualify as bona fide prospective purchasers of brownfields to be eligible for grants as long as they did not cause or contribute to a release of hazardous substances at the site; would authorize eligible parties to use up to 8 percent of their grant funding for administrative costs; and would direct EPA when awarding grants to consider brownfields sites adjacent to federally designated floodplains.
It would also require EPA to set up a program to offer grants of up to $500,000 to eligible parties for conducting cleanup and related activities "to locate a clean energy project" at one or more brownfield sites, the amendment says. The legislation calls for capitalizing "a revolving loan fund" to locate these clean energy projects at brownfields sites.
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Why Heritage Action Didn't Lobby on Murkowski's Energy Bill
Feb 3, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Catherine Traywick
Despite issuing a “key vote” against the energy package by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Heritage Action wasn't one of the 162 groups that tried to influence the bill before it came to the floor. Instead, the conservative policy group concentrated on shaping the measure's counterpart in the House, a bill by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) that passed that chamber in December.
“You look at the Senate—they tend to be less receptive,” said Heritage Action vice president of government affairs Dan Holler. “The goal of our organization is to be close to the people, to be a voice for the folks outside Washington. It's a natural thing that representatives are more receptive to our message—they understand what's going on in their districts.”
In some respects, the House and Senate measures are similar: They both call for expediting liquefied natural gas export permitting, enhancing grid security and boosting efficiency in federal buildings (13 DEN A-1, 1/21/16).
They also both started out as bipartisan measures.
But H.R. 8, thanks to some prodding from Heritage, lost many of its bipartisan provisions on the road to passage (233 DEN A-4, 12/4/15).
Focusing on Single Chamber
Heritage wasn't alone in narrowing its efforts to a single chamber. While 111 groups, including top spenders such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and Exxon Mobil Corp., tried to influence both measures, several dozen companies picked just one, according to Bloomberg Government lobbying data. Arch Coal, Bloom Energy, Occidental Petroleum and Vestas Wind were among those that listed only S. 2012 in their 2015 filings, while Chesapeake Energy, Chevron, Devon and Marathon named only H.R. 8.
That split may be driven by the types of relationships the companies or their lobbying firms have with members of either chamber. In Heritage's case, lobbyists felt they had more clout with House Republicans, who skew more conservative than their Senate counterparts.
According to Holler, Heritage Action's efforts paid off. Upton ultimately cut some of the provisions Heritage didn't like, including energy subsidy provisions. But the measure passed the House with just nine Democratic votes, and a veto promise from President Barack Obama.
In some cases, companies that worked both chambers found more success in one. Government contractors Boeing, Honeywell and Fluor lobbied on both the Senate and House measures, citing issues that are as wide-ranging as the bills themselves. Boeing listed among its priorities energy work-force development. Fluor, which operates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, cited an interest in Energy Department site management. Honeywell reported lobbying on several energy-efficiency issues. Those priorities fared better in the Senate than the House, which voted to strike from its energy bill much of the language on work-force development, the SPR and energy efficiency.
The No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn, said Feb. 1 he expects final passage of the bill in by Feb. 4 following further amendment votes.
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Senate Rebuffs Monument Limits, Efficiency Standard
Feb 2, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Geof Koss
The Senate is working its way through a mini vote-a-rama this afternoon, as the chamber looks to complete work on its bipartisan energy package later this week.
Senators this afternoon voted on eight of 257 amendments filed to the energy bill, S. 2012. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said this afternoon that negotiations were underway for roll call votes on another tranche of amendments tomorrow. Some may also move forward by voice vote later today.
The chamber rejected on a 47-48 vote an amendment by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to sunset presidential national monument designations unless Congress or the hosting state enacts legislation making them permanent.
Conservation advocates, tribal groups and the NAACP had all urged senators to oppose Lee's amendment (Greenwire, Feb. 2).
Senators also voted 43-52 against an amendment by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to create a national energy efficiency resource standard -- a top priority for Democrats.
An amendment by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) to direct the Interior and Agriculture departments to create a landowner education program for conservation incentives passed by voice vote.
The chamber rejected on a 52-43 vote an amendment offered by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) to expedite the permitting process for natural gas gathering lines on federal and tribal land. It needed 60 votes to pass.
Co-sponsor Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) urged colleagues to support the plan, noting that it would help reduce flaring of natural gas, but Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) opposed the plan, which she dubbed "Keystone XL lite."
Senators were also voting this afternoon on the following measures: An amendment by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) requiring federal agencies to repeal or amend one regulation before issuing or revising a new one. An amendment by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) to phase out fossil fuel tax breaks in concert with winding down incentives for renewables. An amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to increase funding for the Energy Department's Office of Science. An amendment by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) to require campaign finance disclosures for certain people who benefit from fossil fuels.
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Clinton Campaign Issues Plan To Improve Energy Efficiency Of Buildings
Feb 2, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Andrew Restuccia
Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign unveiled a plan today to cut energy waste in buildings by a third within a decade of her taking office.
Her campaign said the plan would save the average household $600 a year in energy costs by improving building codes, prodding mortgage agencies to take efficiency into account when valuing homes and extending efficiency standards for appliances, among other things.
It also aims to phase out heating oil that is used to warm many buildings in the Northeast by giving grants to cities and states to replace oil-fueled boilers and furnaces with less polluting options. "This not only makes household budgets vulnerable to price spikes but also contributes to local air pollution and increases US dependence on oil," Clinton's plan says.
The plan could help Clinton in New Hampshire, where households rely heavily on heating oil. But Clinton is trailing Bernie Sanders by double digits in the state in most polls.
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