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ACC AM 3/16
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(ACC Mentioned) Rigid Plastics Recycling Surges 27%
Mar 15, 2016 | Greener Package
By Anne Marie Mohan
A new report shows post-consumer rigid plastics recycling reached a new high of 1.28 billion pounds in 2014, with the greatest increase in volume from pre-picked bales. -
Inhofe Sees TSCA-Reform Deal by Recess; Boxer Doubtful
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The House and Senate are striving to resolve by the end of this week differences between their bills to update the Toxic Substances Control Act, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told Bloomberg BNA March 15. -
Congress' Monsanto Mystery
Mar 16, 2016 | Colorado Springs INdependent
By Jim Hightower
Our Congress critters can't even do right without turning it into a wrong! -
Jury to Decide if Monsanto PCBs Caused Plaintiffs’ Cancer
Mar 15, 2016 | Eco Watch
By Lorraine Chow
Monsanto’s controversial history with PCBs is being played out in trial in California state court this week, as the agrochemical giant has been accused of causing two retired plaintiffs to develop cancer. -
Washington Close to Banning Several Flame Retardants
Mar 16, 2016 | Chem.Info
By Meagan Parrish
A bill to ban flame retardants has moved one step closer to becoming law in Washington. -
EPA Panel to Review 1-Bromopropane in May
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
An Environmental Protection Agency draft assessment that concluded a spray adhesive, dry cleaning chemical and degreasing agent could harm the health of chronically exposed workers and women of childbearing age exposed briefly to high concentrations will be peer-reviewed by a new agency advisory committee in May. -
EPA Consults on Toxicological Review of Explosive
Mar 16, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has announced a consultation on the draft Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) toxicological review of the explosive hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX). -
EU Committees Back REACH Substance Restrictions
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Chemicals Agency said March 15 that its Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) and Socio-Economic Analysis Committee (SEAC) have adopted opinions in favor of a REACH restriction the U.K. proposed on the use of two substances in personal care products in the European Union. -
EIA Data Point to Permanent Foothold for Efficiency
Mar 16, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro
Retail electricity sales dropped by 1.1 percent in 2015, marking the fifth time in eight years that consumers at all levels have used less power even as the U.S. economy resumed growing in the aftermath of the Great Recession. -
Natural Gas Surplus to Slow Energy Industry Recovery
Mar 15, 2016 | Houston Chronicle
By Chris Tomlinson
Oil may be bouncing back from punishing prices, but its sibling natural gas is still sliding, tempering hopes that the energy sector could be on the mend. -
Revenue Impasse Endures, Despite Atlantic Announcement
Mar 16, 2016 | E&E News
By Geof Koss
Key lawmakers signaled yesterday that the Interior Department's decision not to allow oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic Coast for the foreseeable future is having little effect on a controversial amendment that would expand the sharing of federal offshore revenues with state governments -- an issue that is holding up the Senate energy bill. -
Labor Secretary Defends Fertilizer Regs to Skeptical GOP Reps
Mar 16, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Sam Pearson
Lawmakers were wrong to block an administrative change to put new safety requirements in place for fertilizer storage, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said yesterday. -
Roberts: 'Sound Science ... On Our Side'
Mar 15, 2016 | Politico - Morning Agriculture
By Jason Huffman
abor Secretary Tom Perez can expect to face some heat over the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s decision to apply strict chemical management and storage rules to fertilizer retailers when he testifies this morning at a hearing of the House Appropriations labor subcommittee. -
Republican Budget Tears Into EPA ‘Activist' Policies
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Dabbs
House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) railed against Environmental Protection Agency regulations, including its Clean Water Rule and Clean Power Plan, as part of his fiscal year 2017 fiscal blueprint, unveiled on March 15. -
Court Sets 2017 Deadline for EPA Toxics Reviews
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency must complete by Oct. 1, 2017, the required risk and technology reviews for the toxic pollutant standards for equipment at pulp mills and yeast manufacturing plants, a federal judgeordered March 15 (Sierra Club v. McCarthy, N.D. Calif., No. 15-cv-01165, 3/15/16). -
EPA Battered by Lawmakers for Flint Water Crisis
Mar 15, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Annie Snider
EPA critics in Congress made clear the agency won't go unscathed in the reckoning over the lead contamination in Flint, Mich., drinking water.
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(ACC Mentioned) Rigid Plastics Recycling Surges 27%
Mar 15, 2016 | Greener Package
By Anne Marie Mohan
A new report shows post-consumer rigid plastics recycling reached a new high of 1.28 billion pounds in 2014, with the greatest increase in volume from pre-picked bales.
The recycling of post-consumer rigid plastics surged 276 million pounds, or 27%, in 2014 to reach a new high of over 1.28 billion pounds for the year, according the “2014 National Postconsumer Non-Bottle Rigid Plastic Recycling Report,” from the American Chemistry Council. The report also indicates that the reported volume of recycled rigid plastics—tracked separately from bottles or film—is now four-times greater than the volume reported in 2007.
“This is really exciting news,” says Steve Russell, Vice President of Plastics for ACC. “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.”
Moore Recycling Associates Inc., which authored the report, attributes much of the strong gain to a rebound from the 2013 Green Fence effort in China, improved bale quality, and growing standardization of plastics bales—the unit by which post-use plastics are sold after collection.
The source of non-bottle rigid plastics collected with the biggest increase in 2014 was the Pre-Picked Bale, which is generated from municipal programs and contains a mixture of products with bottles removed.
The rigid plastics category includes food containers, caps, lids, tubs, clamshells, cups, and bulky items, such as buckets, carts, and lawn furniture, along with used commercial scrap, such as crates, battery casings, and drums. Typical end markets for these materials include automotive parts, crates, buckets, pipe, lawn and garden products, and thick-walled injection molded products.
As in prior years, polypropylene and high-density polyethylene comprised the two largest resins in this category, representing 38.3% and 34.1%, respectively, of total rigid plastics collected. Approximately 64% of the 1.28 billion pounds of rigid plastics collected for recycling was processed in the U.S. or Canada, down slightly from 2013. The remainder was exported overseas, primarily to China.
http://www.greenerpackage.com/recycling/rigid_plastics_recycling_surges_27
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Inhofe Sees TSCA-Reform Deal by Recess; Boxer Doubtful
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The House and Senate are striving to resolve by the end of this week differences between their bills to update the Toxic Substances Control Act, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told Bloomberg BNA March 15.
Inhofe said the chambers may be able to reach agreement before recess on a final bill that would merge the two chambers' bills: the House's TSCA Modernization Act (H.R. 2576) and the Senate's Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (passed in December as substitute amendment, S. Admt. 2932, to H.R. 2576).
“I know they [House members] are getting a lot closer, and they do have that target date of getting it done before the recess to have that agreement,” Inhofe said. “They made a lot of headway last week with staff-to-staff negotiations,” he added.
“We won't need a conference. It depends on what they can still come up with,” said Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW).
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), however, doesn't think an agreement will be reached before spring recess, which, in the Senate, begins March 21.
“I don't think we're that close yet,” Boxer told Bloomberg BNA.
Negotiations are, however, “intense,” Boxer, ranking member of EPW, said.
‘Everyone Remains Optimistic.'
In an e-mail, a spokesman for Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) would only say “the talks are ongoing and everyone remains optimistic.”
Shimkus shepherded H.R. 2576 through the House to a 398-1 favorable vote June 23, 2015.
Both the House and Senate bills would update the core chemical regulatory provision of TSCA, Title I, which hasn't been revised since it became law in 1976.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy has said the agency prefers many aspects of the Senate bill; however, it “strongly prefers” the implementation provisions of the House's legislation (43 DEN A-1, 3/4/16).
Different Scenarios Facing Chambers
Jim Aidala, a former senior EPA official who led the team responsible for legislative drafting of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, told Bloomberg BNA there are many different scenarios the chambers could use to secure final passage of a bill.
These include passing amended bills between the chambers, known colloquially as passing “bounce” or “ping pong” bills. The procedure involves sending legislation back and forth until both chambers agree to identical language.
If the Senate reached unanimous consent on a revised bill, which included provisions of the House legislation, a new bill could be introduced that could be approved by voice vote, said Aidala, who now is a senior government affairs consultant with Bergeson & Campbell P.C.
“All sorts of things can be done,” he said. “The key is the agreement.”
With assistance from Pat Rizzuto in Washington, D.C.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=84760346&vname=dennotallissues&fn=84760346&jd=84760346
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Mar 16, 2016 | Colorado Springs INdependent
By Jim Hightower
Our Congress critters can't even do right without turning it into a wrong!
They've been rewriting the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, which has been so riddled with loopholes that the law itself is toxic to nature and human health.
The good news is that Congress' rewrite is said to be a big step forward in protecting us and the Earth from the witches' brew of poisonous chemicals industry spews everywhere.
But — look out! — tucked deep inside the 46-page proposal is a single paragraph known as the "Mysterious Monsanto Clause."
Actually, the purpose of the paragraph is not at all mysterious — it shields the maker of highly toxic PCB chemicals from liability for the enormous environmental and health damages they're causing.
Also, the beneficiary of this exemption from lawsuits is no mystery.
While Monsanto is not mentioned by name, it produced almost all the PCBs that now contaminate our water, soils and bodies.
The mystery is this: Who slipped this gift for one corporate giant into the proposed law, with no public hearing, no debate and no vote?
Monsanto insists, with a straight face, that it never asked to be spared from having to shoulder any legal responsibility for recklessly profiteering on PCBs for decades.
Congressional insiders confide that House Republican staff members inserted the paragraph — but at the behest of which Congress critter? That's a secret.
Not one of them has had the guts or moral character to own up to this grand theft of taxpayer money, putting America's workaday families on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up Monsanto's massive mess.
The real mystery is that these thieving congressional Republicans can't figure out why most Americans consider them to be contemptible corporate whores.
http://www.csindy.com/coloradosprings/congress-monsanto-mystery/Content?oid=3675652
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Jury to Decide if Monsanto PCBs Caused Plaintiffs’ Cancer
Mar 15, 2016 | Eco Watch
By Lorraine Chow
Monsanto’s controversial history with PCBs is being played out in trial in California state court this week, as the agrochemical giant has been accused of causing two retired plaintiffs to develop cancer.
The civil lawsuit, Dauber, et al. v. Monsanto Co., et al, regards plaintiffs Roslyn Dauber, 62, and John Di Costanzo, 87, who both claim that their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was caused by eating PCB-contaminated food for years, Courtroom View Network (CVN) reported.Scott Frieling, representing plaintiff Roslyn Dauber, delivers his opening statement.
PCBs, or Polychlorinated Biphenyls, are man-made chemicals once used to insulate electronics decades ago. Before switching operations to agriculture, Monsanto was the sole manufacturer of the compound, raking a reported $22 million in business a year. But when PCBs were found to be highly toxic, the company stopped production of them in 1977 over human health and environmental concerns.
Still, the pervasive legacy of PCBs remains. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)banned them in 1979, saying:
PCBs have caused birth defects and cancer in laboratory animals, and they are a suspected cause of cancer and adverse skin and liver effects in humans. EPA estimates that 150 million pounds of PCBs are dispersed throughout the environment, including air and water supplies; an additional 290 million pounds are located in landfills in this country.
Countless individuals, school districts as well as major U.S. cities have since slammed Monsanto with lawsuits for cleanup costs, environmental pollution and for claims that exposure to PCBs causes health problems to people and wildlife.
On Thursday, plaintiff attorney Scott Frieling of Dallas-based law firm Allen Stewart PC delivered an opening statement to jurors and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Czuleger about the history of PCBs, the difficulty in removing them from the environment and how these chemicals make their way into the food chain.
“They are virtually indestructible,” Frieling said. “Once PCBs are created, they will last a very long time.”
Frieling also touched on how Monsanto allegedly knew that PCBs were toxic for decades but continued production of the profitable compound anyway.
According to CVN:
Frieling showed jurors internal Monsanto documents dating back to the 1950’s that he claimed would prove the company knew for decades that PCBs posed a substantial public health risk but falsely represented them as being safe.
Freiling told jurors it was easy to link the PCBs in Dauber and Di Costanzo’s bodies to Monsanto, because the company produced 99 percent of the compounds sold in the United States. He claimed Monsanto intentionally avoided long-term safety testing on PCBs and instead publicized the results of short-term tests which didn’t allow enough time for negative health effects to become evident.
In response, Monsanto attorney Anthony Upshaw of Chicago-based law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP argued that it could not be definitively proven that PCBs caused the plaintiffs’ cancer and that many people who have the same amounts of PCBs in their bodies never suffer any adverse effects, CVN reported.
“The evidence simply doesn’t support the assertion that the historic use of PCB products was the cause of the plaintiffs’ harms,” Monsanto spokeswoman Charla Marie Lord told CVN. “We are confident that the jury will conclude, as past juries have done, that the former Monsanto Company is not responsible for the alleged injuries.”
She also added that Monsanto’s involvement in the trial stems from contractual obligations associated with former chemical businesses that operated under the company’s name, and that Monsanto today is focused solely on agriculture.
The current trial is expected to run through the end of March. Previous rulings over PCBs lawsuits, however, have ruled in favor of Monsanto. CVN noted that a Los Angeles jury and a Missouri state court jury handed the company wins in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Incidentally, a current House bill could give Monsanto permanent immunity from liability for injuries caused by PCBs. The New York Times reported last month that Republicans in Congress have inserted a clause into the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reauthorization bill that would effectively exempt Monsanto from liability for injuries caused by PCBs.
Environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has sparred over PCBs for three decades, wrote this week that the “so-called ‘Monsanto Rider’ would shield the chemical colossus from thousands of lawsuits by cities, towns, school districts and individuals, who have been injured by exposure to PCBs.”
“If Monsanto gets its way, the American people will pay a high price for corporate greed and political corruption,” Kennedy said.
https://ecowatch.com/2016/03/15/jury-decide-pcbs-caused-cancer/
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Washington Close to Banning Several Flame Retardants
Mar 16, 2016 | Chem.Info
By Meagan Parrish
A bill to ban flame retardants has moved one step closer to becoming law in Washington.
Last week the Washington state House of Representatives passed amendments to a Senate bill to ban several chemicals additives that are commonly used as flame retardants in furniture and home products.
The bill received bipartisan support and will head to the governor’s desk. If signed into law, it will be the first time that a U.S. state has banned TBBPA in upholstery and kids products.
TBBPA is a replacement chemical for another flame retardant that was banned in 2011. It has since become one of the most common flame retardants in consumer products. TBBPA is considered an endocrine disruptor that has been linked to several health concerns including obesity.
Called the Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act, the bill also restricts manufacturing of the following chemicals:TDCPP (tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)phosphate);TCEP (tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate);decaBDE (decabromodiphenyl ether); andHBCD (hexabromocyclododecane).
If passed, the law will go into effect July 1, 2017.
http://www.chem.info/news/2016/03/washington-close-banning-several-flame-retardants
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EPA Panel to Review 1-Bromopropane in May
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
An Environmental Protection Agency draft assessment that concluded a spray adhesive, dry cleaning chemical and degreasing agent could harm the health of chronically exposed workers and women of childbearing age exposed briefly to high concentrations will be peer-reviewed by a new agency advisory committee in May.
The Chemical Safety Advisory Committee (CSAC) will meet May 24–26 to discuss a draft risk assessment for 1-bromopropane (CAS No. 106-94-5), according to a Federal Register notice set to run March 16. The EPA announced the assessment March 8, and it is accepting comments on the document through May 9 (81 Fed. Reg. 12,098).
The draft assessment concluded that workers chronically exposed to 1-bromopropane, a solvent that also is called n-propyl bromide, face an increased risk of cancer along with neurological and other health problems other than cancer.
Women of childbearing age briefly exposed to high concentrations of 1-bromopropane at work or as consumers face an increased risk of harm to a developing fetus if the exposure occurs during a critical window of susceptibility, the draft assessment found.
Manufacturers, Downstream Users
The Albemarle Corp.; Dow Chemical Co.; Israel Chemicals Ltd., also known as ICL; and Special Materials Co. are among the five companies known to have made or imported more than 15 million pounds of 1-bromopropane in 2011, according to the EPA's draft assessment. A fifth company claimed its identity as confidential business information, the EPA said.
The EPA's draft assessment also named companies, or “downstream users,” that use or have used 1-bromopropane to make aerosol spray adhesives, spot removers, spray cleaners, refrigerant flushes, lubricants and other products.
These companies include Albatross USA Inc., the manufacturer of Everblum® Gold™ Cleaning Fluid, which lists 1-bromopropane as 20 percent to 30 percent of the product by weight, and CRC Industries Inc'., the maker of Cable Clean® degreaser, which lists n-propyl bromide concentrations of 90 percent to 100 percent by weight.
EPA Posing Questions to Committee
The May meeting will be the first for the Chemical Safety Advisory Committee, which the EPAestablished in 2015 to advise its Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics on the scientific basis for risk assessments, methodologies and pollution prevention measures or approaches.
The EPA hasn't posted the names of the committee members nor did it reply March 15 to three e-mails and a telephone call requesting the information.
Questions the EPA has asked the advisory committee to address include:
• Are there additional workplace exposure scenarios the assessment should address?
• Are committee members aware of additional sources of occupational exposure monitoring data?
• Has the agency adequately described how 1-bromopropane causes cancer by mutating DNA?
• Are there health problems in addition to liver toxicity, kidney toxicity, reproductive/developmental toxicity and neurotoxicity that the agency should consider as it assesses 1-bromopropane's human health effects?
Protections Recommended
When it issued its draft assessment, the EPA urged people to minimize their exposure to 1-bromopropane by using products containing it only outside or in “extremely well-ventilated areas.” Consumers and workers also should use gloves and eye protection, the agency said.
If the agency's final risk assessment continues to show that 1-bromopropane could harm worker and consumer health, the agency could address the risks by working with companies to transition to safer chemicals or to restrict its uses, the agency said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=84760335&vname=dennotallissues&fn=84760335&jd=84760335
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EPA Consults on Toxicological Review of Explosive
Mar 16, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has announced a consultation on the draft Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) toxicological review of the explosive hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX).
The 60-day consultation period closes on 9 May. A public science meeting the next day will discuss the document.
The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD).
https://chemicalwatch.com/45670/epa-consults-on-toxicological-review-of-explosive
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EU Committees Back REACH Substance Restrictions
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Chemicals Agency said March 15 that its Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) and Socio-Economic Analysis Committee (SEAC) have adopted opinions in favor of a REACH restriction the U.K. proposed on the use of two substances in personal care products in the European Union.
According to the U.K.’s restriction proposal, the substances—octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5)—would be prohibited above a concentration of 0.1 percent by weight from products such as shaving creams and shower gels that are designed to be washed off the skin.
D4 is considered in the EU to be persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic, while D5 is rated very persistent and very bioaccumulative. ECHA said in a statement that when washed away, the substances could “accumulate in the environment and cause effects that are unpredictable in the long term and are difficult to reverse.”
D4 and D5 are “high tonnage substances,” which are used in other applications besides personal care products, the chemicals agency added.
The RAC opinion on the substances is a final opinion, while the SEAC opinion is a draft. ECHA said a consultation on the SEAC draft opinion would start during March and the opinion would be finalized in June.
The SEAC also finalized an opinion in favor of a proposal to restrict the proportion of methanol in windshield washing fluids sold to the general public, according to the agency.
Last December, the RAC adopted its opinion approving the methanol restriction, which was proposed by Poland.
The opinions and draft opinions were agreed at meetings of the RAC and SEAC that took place between Feb. 29 and March 11.
Once finalized, RAC and SEAC opinions are forwarded to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, which formalizes the addition of substance restrictions to Annex XVII of the European Union's REACH law (Regulation No. 1907/2006 on the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals).
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=84760339&vname=dennotallissues&fn=84760339&jd=84760339
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EIA Data Point to Permanent Foothold for Efficiency
Mar 16, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro
Retail electricity sales dropped by 1.1 percent in 2015, marking the fifth time in eight years that consumers at all levels have used less power even as the U.S. economy resumed growing in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
And the data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration suggest that the dip represents a trend that will continue -- regardless of electricity prices -- as the residential, commercial and industrial sectors of the economy embrace energy efficiency.
"The flattening of total electricity sales reflects declining sales in the industrial sector and little or no growth in sales to the residential and commercial building sectors, despite growth in the number of households and growth in commercial building space," EIA said.
The agency credited market forces and state and federal government policies for the efficiency.
Normally, during a period of "decent economic activity and low fuel prices, you would expect consumption to be going up, and instead it's down," observed Jim Barrett, chief economist for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
Data courtesy of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly.
In 2010, as the nation emerged from the recession, there was a large jump in electricity consumption -- an "economic whiplash effect," Barrett said.
But "now that things are settling down, I think it's something more like a long-term trend," he said.
In 2015, the United States used 40,175 gigawatt-hours less electricity than in 2014, even as the nation's gross domestic product grew 2.4 percent.
Before the early 2000s, "there was very steady growth of almost 2 to 4 percent generally per year" in electricity sales, said EIA analyst Tyler Hodge. And any decline before then was "most likely due to something like a recession."
Since 1950, EIA data show robust annual growth in electricity demand with only three periods of decline before 2002, each coinciding with a recession. The first was in 1974, when a recession was caused by a quadrupling of oil prices due to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries oil embargo. The second decline was in 1982 after the Iranian Revolution led to a second oil shock. The third was in 2001 after the Internet bubble burst.
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The usual reaction to high prices is for "people to pay more attention, they look for what they can do" to reduce consumption, Barrett said.High-price habits have stuck
He noted that when energy prices were high several years ago, homeowners and businesses "put capital improvements and practices in place to keep their energy consumption down."
As they keep those practices in place, "it seems pretty clear that businesses who are growing and surviving are ones that are consuming their energy wisely," Barrett said.
Hodge agreed, saying that within the last 10 years, "there have been quite a number of declines in the residential sector because of increased energy efficiency, and the commercial sector has seen very flat growth in last few years even though the economy has been slowly growing."
Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, said that "whether high prices are there or not, the trend is going to continue. Businesses are really smart, and they get it on energy efficiency. It's good for the bottom line."
"We've doubled energy productivity since the late 1970s, meaning we're getting twice as much GDP for each unit of energy consumed today as we were back then. And the trend lines are that that will continue," Callahan said.
Growth in sales of power to commercial buildings averaged 1.1 percent annually from 2000 to 2015 and accounted for 36.5 percent of retail electricity use in 2015, up from a 35.6 percent sales share in 2007, EIA said. Standards to improve efficiency for major end uses such as lighting and heating and cooling equipment have helped to moderate growing commercial building energy demand as electricity demanded for ventilation and data center servers has increased, the agency said.
Electricity sales to industry decreased at an annual average rate of 0.7 percent over 2000-2015, as the sector's share of total retail electricity sales fell from 31.2 to 25.8 percent, EIA said. Electricity-intensive industries grew at about the same pace as the rest of the industrial sector, and efficiency improvements in these industries have contributed to declining electricity sales to industry, EIA said.
The residential sector accounted for 37.7 percent of all retail electricity sales between 2007 and 2015, EIA said. The recession slowed new household formation and resulting electricity demand. Shifts in population and changes in housing square footage and type also had an effect on residential use. EIA also credited new lighting technologies for a drop in residential demand.
While technology improvements have been a spur to efficiency, Callahan credits "good public policies put in place at the local state and federal level" that "lock in" savings. "Unless we roll back those, we'll continue to see progress, and we can hang onto the reduction in demand that we've made over time," she said.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/03/16/stories/1060034061
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Natural Gas Surplus to Slow Energy Industry Recovery
Mar 15, 2016 | Houston Chronicle
By Chris Tomlinson
Oil may be bouncing back from punishing prices, but its sibling natural gas is still sliding, tempering hopes that the energy sector could be on the mend.
Oil prices get most of the attention because they help determine what consumers pay for gasoline, but natural gas is arguably wreaking greater havoc, hurting drillers, liquefied natural gas exporters, electric utilities and even renewable energy companies.
Natural gas prices are down 32 percent from this time last year, while West Texas Intermediate oil is down 18 percent. Natural gas prices peaked at $15 for a million British thermal units in 2005, but this week they are about $1.80 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
That's hurting Houston's energy companies and the oil field services providers that work for them. Natural gas is an important part of the income from most oil wells, while pure natural gas wells are a staple of the Barnett Shale in North Texas and the Eagle Ford play in South Texas.
Like oil, horizontally drilled wells and hydraulically fractured shale flooded the market with an oversupply of gas. But unlike oil, the natural gas glut shows no sign of easing.
Natural gas producers have made remarkable progress in bringing down the cost of wells in recent years. Domestic production is 2.4 percent higher than last year even though the number of operating natural gas rigs has dropped to the lowest level since Baker Hughes started keeping track in 1944.
Making matters worse, a warm winter killed demand for natural gas heating, and the U.S. has 2,479 billion cubic feet in storage, which is 58 percent higher than last year and 42 percent above the five-year average.
Electricity generators are trying to take advantage by closing expensive old coal-fired plants and replacing them with cleaner, more efficient natural gas turbines. Natural gas will generate 33 percent of the nation's electricity this year, exceeding coal's portion for the first time, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Texas generators in particular are shutting down coal-fired generation in favor of natural gas, at least until demand for electricity picks up again this summer, according to Houston-based energy investment banker Tudor Pickering, Holt & Co.
Petrochemical companies are building refineries to soak up some of the cheap gas, investing more than $50 billion along the Houston Ship Channel. But they will use only a small slice of the raw natural gas, primarily ethane and associated liquids.
None of those changes, however, seem to make a difference. Electricity demand in the U.S. dropped 1.1 percent in 2015, the fifth drop in the last eight years, according to the EIA. Greater energy efficiency and a slowing rate of economic growth are the key reasons Americans require less power.
As a result, Moody's Investors Service expects U.S. natural gas prices to average $2.25 in 2016, $2.50 in 2017 and $2.75 in 2018. The only way it breaks $3, the level that the industry says is necessary to be profitable, is if the U.S. becomes a major exporter of liquefied natural gas.
While the first shipment of U.S. LNG left Cheniere Energy's plant at Sabine Pass two weeks ago, the global market is facing a massive oversupply. Multi-billion-dollar projects planned five years ago, when prices were still high, are coming online across the Middle East and Asia.
Cooling natural gas into a liquid for export adds about $5 to the price, and transportation can add another $1. The spot price for LNG in Asia last week was $5.34, according to Platts, the main provider of energy market data.
China's economic slowdown and Japan's decision to restart nuclear power plants were the main reasons for the slump in demand, and the collapse in prices. Asian natural gas contracts are also frequently tied to the price of oil, which has led many traders to move more contracted gas onto the market.
These low prices hurt the entire energy industry.
Exploration and production companies that borrowed money to drill the wells don't have the revenue they expected to pay back the loans. Banks that lend to these companies are re-evaluating lines of credit for producers, which are based on the value of the natural gas still in the ground. A credit squeeze is coming.
Low natural gas prices hurt electricity generators because their profits are based on margins above the fuel price. When gas prices are low, so are their profits.
In deregulated electricity markets, like Texas, owners of hydroelectric dams, wind farms and solar arrays also suffer because natural gas is the marginal fuel cost. Low natural gas prices make those sources of electricity less competitive.
Natural gas promoters are scouring the land for new demand, including using compressed natural gas to power vehicles. But such proposals are suspect and will take decades to implement. The only reliable source of new demand comes from shutting down coal plants and replacing them with natural gas, which is something Texans should cheer.
So while oil prices may be rising, that's just one part of the energy sector. The same companies that pump oil also sell gas, and until prices recover for that commodity, the industry will remain hamstrung, struggling to make reliable profits.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/tomlinson/article/Natural-gas-surplus-to-slow-energy-industry-6890814.php
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Revenue Impasse Endures, Despite Atlantic Announcement
Mar 16, 2016 | E&E News
By Geof Koss
Key lawmakers signaled yesterday that the Interior Department's decision not to allow oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic Coast for the foreseeable future is having little effect on a controversial amendment that would expand the sharing of federal offshore revenues with state governments -- an issue that is holding up the Senate energy bill.
Proponents of the amendment sponsored by two Republican senators from Louisiana, Bill Cassidy and David Vitter, had hoped that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's reversal yesterday on allowing leasing in Atlantic waters from 2017 to 2022 would ease the bill's path (Greenwire, March 15). Specifically, they hoped Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) would drop his opposition to an agreement that would set up votes on about three-dozen amendments to the energy legislation (S. 2012) and an aid package for Flint, Mich.
"I'm stunned that Senator Nelson would think that it's smart business to be the last man standing between a resolution for the people of Flint and an energy bill," Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said yesterday, noting that a competing amendment by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to eliminate revenue-sharing in the Gulf of Mexico is also in the queue. "You'd like to think that this [Interior] announcement would relieve some of the concerns that he has."
She added that getting the 60 votes needed to pass the Cassidy-Vitter amendment is "a heavy lift."
Noting that his amendment does not open any areas to leasing, Cassidy was more blunt about the Florida Democrat, a longtime opponent of offshore drilling who fears that increasing state shares of drilling revenue will eventually lead to rigs off his state's coasts.
"It makes Nelson's objections that much more stupid," Cassidy told E&E Daily yesterday. "This doesn't affect Florida -- this even more clearly means it doesn't affect Florida. So now he doesn't even have to read the bill. Now he can just look at the lease plan and feel reassured."
But Nelson isn't backing down from his opposition, citing a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report that raised red flags over the safety of offshore drilling (E&ENews PM, March 11). "It bolsters my argument against Cassidy," he told E&E Daily yesterday.
Nelson repeatedly cited the GAO report in a floor speech defending his opposition to drilling.
"It's been nearly six years since we faced one of the greatest natural disasters that our country has ever seen -- that was the Gulf oil spill," he said on the floor yesterday afternoon. "And yet, according to the GAO report, we are no better off than we are now than we were before on that tragic accident."
While Nelson's opposition is a major hurdle to getting an agreement to set up votes on the energy bill and Flint assistance, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) yesterday noted that discussions also continue with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who wants changes made to the pay-fors in the $220 million aid package.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) yesterday said it was "becoming increasingly unlikely" that energy and Flint could come up this week.
"We're still working it, still determined to get it," he told reporters.Pentagon concerns
While many Democrats are opposed to offshore drilling, one exception -- Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine -- said yesterday he was surprised by the Defense Department's concerns that drilling off the state's coast would affect military training, which he said deviated from the minor issues they've raised in the past.
"What I need to understand from them is, if they really have real objections and say this is incompatible with naval operations, that is a huge and important factor," said Kaine, a former governor. "It's just that I deal with them all the time, I've been working on this issue for 10 years, they've never suggested a concern to me. So I'm going to have to get them in and talk to them and find out if they changed their position, if so why, what's the basis for it."
But Kaine, who along with fellow Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is a co-sponsor of the Cassidy-Vitter amendment, said Interior's decision would not change his support for the amendment. Both lawmakers say their support for drilling is contingent on the state receiving federal revenues.
"It doesn't affect my support of the amendment because there needs to be a practice so if this is ever done under any circumstance, Virginia isn't caught out to dry with no revenue," he said in an interview, adding that the lack of Atlantic leasing for the next five years "makes the vote a little bit theoretical or speculative."
Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), a former governor of South Carolina, said yesterday that he's always opposed drilling off the state's coast, though he initially was open to at least allowing seismic testing. He reversed course when he heard from constituents, he said.
"The district consensus was overwhelming, which was, 'Why test if you're never going to explore?'" he said in an interview.
That position "fits" his district, he added. "There's always been a preservation/environmental ethos to the coast of South Carolina.
"I literally rode my bike on Saturday out along a couple of the barrier islands, and saw 'Don't drill S.C.' in yard sign after yard sign after yard sign," Sanford continued. "Big day and a big win for South Carolina."
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/03/16/stories/1060034072
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Labor Secretary Defends Fertilizer Regs to Skeptical GOP Reps
Mar 16, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Sam Pearson
Lawmakers were wrong to block an administrative change to put new safety requirements in place for fertilizer storage, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said yesterday.
Testifying before the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Perez said the funding rider inserted in last year's omnibus spending bill stalled changes that were made with the goal of protecting emergency responders.
"The context of the issue ... is the horrific incident that occurred in West, Texas, where there was a dramatic explosion [in 2013] that killed 15 people, mostly first responders," Perez said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued guidance documents last year announcing that it planned to reinterpret existing process safety management regulations for highly hazardous chemicals and concentrations of chemicals. It also issued guidance meant to extend the process safety management program to additional retail facilities previously granted an exemption.
The update stemmed from an executive order President Obama issued more than two years ago directing agencies to work together to identify safety gaps that could be closed through regulatory action (Greenwire, Aug. 1, 2013).
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, took credit for the policy rider earlier this year (E&ENews PM, Jan. 14). He said anhydrous ammonia "has not posed a problem" and should not see new safety regulations.
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) told Perez that farmers in his district had told him the change would force them to travel longer distances to obtain anhydrous ammonia fertilizer because fertilizer retailers may stop selling the product to avoid being subject to tougher oversight.
Dent said OSHA should commit to subjecting the change to "a proper public notice and comment rulemaking." So far, the agency has decided only to not enforce it through the end of the current fiscal year, Perez said.
In his opening statement, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the subcommittee chairman, painted the change as part of a "recent trend of making major changes in policy through administrative reinterpretation."
"These efforts circumvent the intent of Congress in the Administrative Procedures Act to interpret and implement the law of the land through the formal regulatory process," Cole said.
Perez noted that the Supreme Court had upheld the department's authority to issue administrative guidance in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association and Nickols v. Mortgage Bankers Association. The consolidated cases were decided unanimously in 2015 (Greenwire, March 9, 2015).
"We have a shared interest in getting it right," Perez said. "Nobody has a monopoly on the commitment to safety, and we all want to do the right thing here."
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/03/16/stories/1060034082
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Roberts: 'Sound Science ... On Our Side'
Mar 15, 2016 | Politico - Morning Agriculture
By Jason Huffman
...AG LOOKS TO APPROPS TO HALT FERTILIZER STORAGE CRACKDOWN: Labor Secretary Tom Perez can expect to face some heat over the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s decision to apply strict chemical management and storage rules to fertilizer retailers when he testifies this morning at a hearing of the House Appropriations labor subcommittee. Agricultural groups are pressing lawmakers to use OSHA’s budget to block the agency from enforcing the new standards, which they say are unnecessary and should be made through the proper rulemaking process.
OSHA’s crackdown was a response to the 2013 explosion at the West (Texas) Fertilizer Company that killed 15 people. It led the agency to change which businesses are covered under its rules for handling hazardous chemicals to include roughly 3,800 agricultural retailers that sell anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer used heavily for corn. But the Agricultural Retailers Association, Fertilizer Institute, American Farm Bureau Federation and other farm groups say policymakers are picking on the wrong group. While anhydrous ammonia was being stored at the West facility, the explosion was actually caused by ammonium nitrate, which is not subject to the safety standards, they say.
The farm groups succeeded in getting report language in the omnibus bill late last year that delayed OSHA's implementation of the standards until October, but now they want lawmakers to permanently exempt agricultural retailers from the rules. Pros can read the rest of Jenny Hopkinson’s article here.
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-agriculture/2016/03/roberts-sound-scienceon-our-side-ag-looks-to-approps-to-stop-fertilizer-storage-crackdown-pelosi-16-other-house-dems-headed-to-cuba-213216
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Republican Budget Tears Into EPA ‘Activist' Policies
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Dabbs
House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) railed against Environmental Protection Agency regulations, including its Clean Water Rule and Clean Power Plan, as part of his fiscal year 2017 fiscal blueprint, unveiled on March 15.
In a collection of budget documents released to the public, Price accused the agency of killing American jobs and weakening the U.S. economy through onerous requirements.
“The highest regulatory costs come from rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency,” the budget legislative text said. “The [Clean Power Plan] standards are unachievable with current commercially available technology, resulting in a de facto ban on new coal-fired power plants.”
Budget Committee members will mark up the document on March 16, at which point lawmakers may advance the bill and set precise funding levels. The legislation currently lacks those figures, but a budget summary released by the committee's majority staff pledged EPA reductions.
Budget to Cut EPA
The committee vowed to crack down on what it termed EPA's “activist” policies through funding allocations that constrain the agency's focus to minimal implementation of legislation.
“This budget reduces annual funding levels for the EPA in order to allow the EPA to focus on its core mission of simply enforcing laws passed by Congress rather than continuously attempting to re-write them through regulations,” said the summary document.
The EPA faces a slew of legal challenges from stakeholders over rules such as the Clean Water Rule, clarifying which waters can be regulated under the Clean Water Act, the Clean Power Plan, regulating power plant emissions, and others. Those challenges illustrate how impractical EPA mandates can be, the summary said.
Democratic Alternative
In remarks to reporters on March 15 on Capitol Hill, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the committee's ranking member, predicted major cuts to EPA funding levels in the Republican blueprint, but admitted he hadn't poured over the entire package.
“If you're looking at the discretionary spending cuts, they're clearly, if past is prologue, going to the EPA and the very important programs that the EPA has to protect drinking water … protect our air,” he told reporters in a March 15 Capitol Hill briefing.
Van Hollen predicted zero Democratic support for the budget package.
Democrats will propose an alternative budget if the resolution heads to the House floor, and may do so anyway if it fails to make it that far in the legislative process, Van Hollen said. That proposal will include drinking water priorities, he said.
“In the alternative Democratic proposal that we're working on, we will have special provisions to address the crisis in Flint, Michigan, and we're finalizing that now,” Van Hollen said. “We also believe that we should have a broader set of policies that will improve drinking water systems and sewer systems and infrastructure around the country.”
The ranking member pointed to past House Democratic bills on the Flint crisis as models for budget provisions. The House overwhelmingly passed legislation in early February to strengthen EPA's authority to notify the public over drinking water contamination (28 DEN A-2, 2/11/16).
Key Tea Party Rejection?
The budget is viewed as a critical test for House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.), a former Budget Committee chairman and fiscal hawk. But House GOP Freedom Caucus members dealt a critical blow to the package following its release.
“From the beginning of the budget process, the House Freedom Caucus has called for a Republican budget that shows the American people we are serious about addressing Washington's out-of-control spending problem,” the group said in a statement released by caucus Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). “House leadership has continually asked the Republican conference to support President Obama's budget levels, even though the national debt passed the $19 trillion mark in January, and the Congressional Budget Office has reported that the federal deficit increased by $105 billion this year.”
Freedom Caucus members represent six of the 22 Republican seats on committee. Should the 14 Democrats on committee fall in line behind Van Hollen's opposition, the Freedom Caucus dissent could spell collapse for the legislation.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=84760353&vname=dennotallissues&fn=84760353&jd=84760353
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Court Sets 2017 Deadline for EPA Toxics Reviews
Mar 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The Environmental Protection Agency must complete by Oct. 1, 2017, the required risk and technology reviews for the toxic pollutant standards for equipment at pulp mills and yeast manufacturing plants, a federal judgeordered March 15 (Sierra Club v. McCarthy, N.D. Calif., No. 15-cv-01165, 3/15/16).
Ruling on motions for summary judgment, Judge Haywood Gilliam of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said that should provide the EPA with sufficient time to complete the residual risk and technology reviews for the national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for both source categories as required by Section 112 of the Clean Air Act.
Neither the EPA nor the petitioners, the Sierra Club and California Communities Against Toxics, had disputed the fact the agency has failed to perform the required review for chemical recovery sources at kraft, soda, sulfite and stand-alone semichemical pulp mills and nutritional yeast manufacturing facilities within eight years of promulgation as required by the Clean Air Act. The only matter before the court was the timetable for the EPA to conduct the review.
The nearly two years granted by Gilliam was longer than the one year sought by the petitioners, but much less than the 40 months the agency has requested.
Court Finds Up to Two Years Adequate
“The Court finds, based on its review of the EPA's estimates, that it would be feasible for the agency to perform its rulemaking obligations with respect to yeast manufacturers within 24 months and with respect to pulp mills within 22 months. For that reason, the Court finds that the EPA has failed to meet its burden of showing that it is infeasible to comply with the presumptive two-year compliance deadline to promulgate revised emissions standards for yeast manufacturers and pulp mills under [Section 112(d)(6)] and [Section 112(f)(2)],” Gilliam said.
There are only five nutritional yeast manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and more than 100 pulp mills, the court said.
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to review its toxic pollutant standards every eight years to determine whether the source poses any residual risk to public health and whether any new pollution controls are available.
The Sierra Club and California Communities Against Toxics sued the EPA in 2015 seeking to compel the agency to perform the residual risk review for chemical recovery sources at kraft, soda, sulfite and stand-alone semichemical pulp mills (66 Fed. Reg. 3180) and for nutritional yeast manufacturing facilities (66 Fed. Reg. 27,876); 49 DEN A-14, 3/13/15)
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=84760345&vname=dennotallissues&fn=84760345&jd=84760345
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EPA Battered by Lawmakers for Flint Water Crisis
Mar 15, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Annie Snider
EPA critics in Congress made clear the agency won't go unscathed in the reckoning over the lead contamination in Flint, Mich., drinking water.
Two days before EPA chief Gina McCarthy and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder are set to appear before a House committee, lawmakers from both parties took turns leveling blistering attacks on the agency for its failure to step in and help fix the health crisis in the poverty-stricken city.
Republicans pounced on an internal email by an Midwestern EPA official who, wary of the poor financial management in the hard-hit city, wrote she was "not so sure Flint is the community we want to go out on a limb for."
"According to the EPA’s website, its mission is ‘to protect human health and the environment.’ They failed at every single level," said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz.
Internal agency emails unveiled at the hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee showed EPA officials were reluctant to formally punish Michigan environmental officials for failing to require corrosion controls at Flint's water treatment plant, and that they doubted whether pushing Michigan to direct more federal dollars to Flint was worth the political fight. Other emails indicated that an EPA scientist who first raised alarms about lead levels in Flint felt retaliated against over the move.
Even though a Michigan audit found it was the state that bore most of the blame, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle today heaped blame on former EPA Regional Administrator Susan Hedman, who resigned in January over the Flint crisis.
Hedman testified that she felt stepping aside was the "honorable thing to do," but argued that she and her staff made no missteps because EPA's options were restricted under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
"I don’t think anybody at the EPA did anything wrong, but I do believe we could have done more," she told lawmakers.
That drew scorn from lawmakers who argued that she fostered an unhealthy work environment at EPA.
"We're in mid-March 2016 and you still don’t get it and neither does the EPA administration. You screwed up," said Chaffetz.
Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the panel, said he was "glad" Hedman resigned.
"There’s something going on in that Region 5 that we need to deal with and I don’t know exactly what it is, but there are problems."
Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards, who helped bring the health crisis to light, also blasted Hedman, calling her slow response to the crisis “completely unacceptable and criminal, frankly… . I don’t know the law but as a human being she should have told people immediately.”
As the extent of the lead contamination crisis in the ailing Rust Belt city was becoming clear last fall, emails show that EPA staffers were weighing whether to press the state to send additional federal money to Flint, but they raised concerns about doing so because the city was diverting money from its water utility to fill a hole in its budget that was created when property values crashed and the state slashed revenue sharing with cities. Those diversions left the water fund depleted and sent water rates sky-high, leaving the city unable to afford Detroit water and seeking a cheaper source.
"Perhaps she already knows all this, but I'm not so sure Flint is the community we want to go out on a limb for," a top Midwestern water official at EPA wrote to colleagues on Sept. 24. "At least without a better understanding of where all that money went."
Another water division employee suggested in a July 9, 2015, email that EPA should focus on working with the state "as our partner" rather than issuing a formal violation and "rubbing their nose in the fact that we're right, and they're wrong."
Miguel Del Toral, the EPA water expert who raised the alarm internally over Flint's lead problems, pushed back, arguing that failing to punish local leaders "will set a very bad precedent."
When an independent study by a Flint pediatrician confirmed that the city's children were showing elevated lead levels, Del Toral argued that his colleagues spent "more time trying to maintain State/local relationships than we do trying to protect the children."
But emails show Del Toral, who shared a draft report with a Flint resident showing elevated lead levels at her home months before state and local officials would finally acknowledge there was a problem, was already worried about retaliation over the move.
“It almost sounds like I'm to be stuck in a corner holding up a potted plant because of Flint. One mis-step in 27+ years here and people lose their minds," Del Toral said in an July 8, 2015, email to his section chief when his request for permission to travel to Milwaukee for a presentation on lead in water sampling was met with skepticism.
Hedman testified emphatically that he was "absolutely not" retaliated against and that she in fact nominated Del Toral for an award during this time. But lawmakers were unconvinced.
"Not only did you silence him, but you sat around and did nothing," said Rep. Buddy Carter, arguing "there's a special place in Hell for actions like this."
The hearing is likely only a preview of the fireworks to come when McCarthy and Snyder take to the committee's witness stand Thursday.
McCarthy mounted a preemptive defense in a Washington Post editorial Monday, arguing that Michigan was "dismissive, misleading and unresponsive" to EPA as federal regulators handled drinking water issues, and that the groundwork for the crisis was laid by "a long history of disinvestment" in communities like Flint.
Even as Democrats today acknowledged EPA owned a share of the blame, the Republican governor and his administration have been their top targets.
"The EPA has some responsibility here, but the person who I think has the most responsibility is certainly the governor," Cummings, the panel's top Democrat, told reporters after the hearing. He said more than two dozen members of Snyder's staff had declined requests to appear before the committee. "So I’m going to ask him when he comes to us on Thursday: what are you hiding?"
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2016/03/flint-101782
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