Preview Newsletter
PM ACC 4/6/2016
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(ACC Mentioned) California Launches Controversial Prop 65 Website
Apr 6, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (Oehha) has launched a Proposition 65 warning website. This despite concerns expressed by a coalition of more than 170 trade groups. -
Senator Markey: ‘High Probability’ of TSCA Enactment in Next Few Weeks
Apr 6, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) has said there is a "high probability" that Congress will enact a reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in the next few weeks. -
Legal Experts Caution Lawmakers on TSCA Wording
Apr 6, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Legal experts have voiced concern that terminology under consideration to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) may unintentionally burden the EPA with a requirement to take into account economic considerations... -
EPA Finalizes New Restrictions for TCE Sprays
Apr 6, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
U.S. EPA is finalizing a rule to keep new companies from using a cancer-causing chemical in aerosol arts and crafts sprays. -
Banned Chemical Still Used in Hospital IVs is Linked to Attention Deficit Disorder
Apr 6, 2016 | Washington Post
By Amy Ellis Nutt
A chemical used to make plastic IV tubes and catheters has been linked to attention deficit disorder in children who received treatment for a serious illness, according to a new study. -
It’s National Teflon Day – But Hold The Celebration
Apr 6, 2016 | Environmental Working Group
By Bill Walker
On this day in 1938, a DuPont chemist named Roy J. Plunkett in Deepwater, N.J., accidentally discovered polytetrafluoroethylene, a slippery substance remarkably resistant to water, grease and stains. -
EWG Ranks Cleaning Products For Babies
Apr 6, 2016 | Environmental Working Group
By Megan Boyle and Samara Geller
Every parent knows that caring for a new baby requires lots and lots of cleaning. But can washing up the milk and spit-up introduce your baby to potentially harmful chemicals? -
Lumber Liquidators Avoids Liability in Formaldehyde Warning Case
Apr 6, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. may avoid liability under California law over its use of formaldehyde in some laminate flooring. -
(ACC Mentioned) Oil Exports up, Emissions Forecast Down as Omnibus Deal Looks Better and Better
Apr 6, 2016 | Bloomberg Environment
By Mark Drajem
Each day, more evidence emerges showing that the year-end tax/omnibus deal was the biggest energy policy change since the 2009 stimulus program. -
Dominion Defends Rule's Goals as 'Feasible'
Apr 6, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Rod Kuckro and Elizabeth Harball
Energy giant Dominion Resources Inc. is making a strong business case in favor of U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, telling a federal appeals court that compliance with the rule to curb carbon emission from power plants is "feasible"... -
Fracking Could Put Human Development at Risk -- Study
Apr 6, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
Exposure to oil and gas waste found in groundwater and surface water could be messing with human hormones, according to a new study from Duke University, the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Missouri (MU). -
America’s Next President Must Continue Obama’s Progress on Clean Energy
Apr 5, 2016 | Washington Post
By David Ignatius
So much of America’s future is at stake in the 2016 presidential election. But let’s focus for a moment on just one area — energy and the environment — where the Obama administration has made startling progress... -
EPA Expects to Issue Methane ICR This Fall, With Data Due Beginning in 2016
Apr 6, 2016 | InsideEPA
By Abby Smith
An EPA official says the agency is planning a months-long public consultation to craft its planned information collection request (ICR) to gather data that could inform first-time methane limits for existing oil and natural gas facilities... -
Industry Group 'Completely Opposed' to Changes in Pa. Natgas Royalty Law
Apr 6, 2016 | Platts
By Jim Magill
A group representing the state's oil and gas industry has vowed to oppose a proposed change to Pennsylvania's royalty law that would prohibit operators from making post-production deductions that result in the payment of less... -
California Residents Face Summer Blackouts After Natural Gas Leak
Apr 6, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
A months-long natural gas leak at a Southern California storage facility means local residents could see up to 14 days of scheduled blackouts this summer, officials announced this week. -
Amtrak Crash Shows U.S. Anti Rail-Collision System May Have Gaps
Apr 6, 2016 | Reuters (In The Philadelphia Inquirer)
By Scott Malone
Sunday's fatal Pennsylvania Amtrak accident may have exposed possible blind spots in a nationwide collision prevention system that is meant to stop crashes on U.S. railroads. -
EPA Head Says Paris Agreement Will Require More Climate Work from Next Administration
Apr 5, 2016 | Fuel Fix
By James Osborne
As the United States works to meet the climate change goal agreed to in Paris last year, actions taken by President Barack Obama to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will need to be expanded... -
John Kerry Urges Business to Act on Climate Change
Apr 5, 2016 | TIME
By Justin Worland
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday called on private businesses to move rapidly away from fossil fuels—both to prevent devastating climate change and to drive global economic growth.
Industry and Association News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
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Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Transportation News
Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) California Launches Controversial Prop 65 Website
Apr 6, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (Oehha) has launched a Proposition 65 warning website. This despite concerns expressed by a coalition of more than 170 trade groups.
The site’s launch follows the agency’s adoption of a regulation earlier this year to create a “Lead Agency website.” This is intended to provide information to the public on exposure to chemicals that require warning disclosure under Prop 65.
Accuracy questioned
However, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) says that a spot check of the site showed that it "contains inaccurate information and no simple remedy for correction."
Lisa Dry, the ACC's senior director of product communications, says that the "most egregious example" of this is with the formaldehyde fact sheet. This contains "inaccuracies that are in direct conflict to the science."
But Caroline Cox, research director at the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) – an advocacy group and frequent Prop 65 plaintiff – says the Oehha has a "strong reputation for scientific accuracy".
The CEH is "really in support of the website", Ms Cox adds, so long as its intended use as a supplement to a warning on a product is maintained, rather than as a replacement to it.
Sam Delson, deputy director for external and legislative affairs at Oehha, says that the agency has not yet received any specific requests for correction of information on the site, but would welcome such feedback.
A statement released by the ACC, following the site’s release, says the agency "has a responsibility to avoid confusing and needlessly alarming consumers with inaccurate information presented as 'fact.'"
It requested that Oehha "incorporate more transparency and vetting of information before it is finalised and posted to avoid regrettable errors."
But Mr Delson told Chemical Watch that the agency has "received a number of positive comments" on the site.
And, it expects support for it to grow as more information is added, and after the adoption of a proposed regulation for new Prop 65 warnings that would direct consumers to the site.
New business obligations
The lead agency website regulation also empowers the agency to request additional information from industry to populate the site.
Within 90 days of an agency's request, a manufacturer, producer, distributor or importer of a product giving a Prop 65 warning may be required to supply information on a chemical for which warning is needed. This includes the:
· name;
· concentration;
· location; and
· anticipated pathways and levels of exposure to it.
But the rule does not authorise the agency to ask a business to perform any new or additional testing, or analysis, for the purpose of responding to such a request.
Mr Delson said that the agency has thus far been sourcing its information from publicly-available sources and it has not yet begun to contact manufacturers to supply information to the site.
But, he added, "in the event we need additional information that is not publicly available, Oehha will reach out to businesses individually or through their trade organisations."
Maureen Gorsen, a former head of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and now a partner at Alston & Bird, says in a blog post that the law firm expects the agency to begin requesting additional information from businesses "within the next 90 days".
https://chemicalwatch.com/46130/california-launches-controversial-prop-65-website
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Senator Markey: ‘High Probability’ of TSCA Enactment in Next Few Weeks
Apr 6, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) has said there is a "high probability" that Congress will enact a reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in the next few weeks.
The comment was made when speaking at an International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) convention in Washington, DC this week. He was remarking on the reconciliation of the bills passed by the House and Senate to modernise the decades-old legislation.
"We have more work to do in the conference committee to get us across the finish line," he said, "but I do believe we are getting close to producing a good bill."
Last year, Mr Markey co-authored a counter TSCA bill with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California), and he told IAFF attendees that he "actively opposed" S 697 when it was first introduced.
But he became one of the bill’s crucial final sponsors, after several amendments were made to the measure that eventually passed in the Senate. These included:
· changing provisions surrounding access to confidential business information;
· tightening deadlines on the EPA’s review of TSCA work plan chemicals and with industry compliance with agency regulations; and
· simplifying the process for states to get waivers from preemption.
According to his remarks, these and several other areas remain his priorities as negotiations to reconcile the bills continue.
Regarding the much contested issue of state preemption under a modernised TSCA, Senator Markey said he remains committed to "further improving upon the Senate preemption provisions so that states can continue to be the toughest cops on the beat”
Regarding the much contested issue of state preemption under a modernised TSCA, Mr Markey said he remains committed to "further improving upon the Senate preemption provisions so that states can continue to be the toughest cops on the beat".
He also expressed concern on a provision in the House bill that has "gotten very little attention". This concerns an exemption for replacement parts for products.
If adopted, he said, this could mean "couch replacement seat cushions could forever be coated with TBB and other flame retardants, even if they were banned from being used in everything else; and that is just plain wrong."
Mr Markey said that in his capacity as the senior democrat on the Senate subcommittee of jurisdiction, he is "one of a handful of members in the House and Senate who are participating in an informal conference" to negotiate the bills.
Bill co-author Senator Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) "remains very optimistic" that a final TSCA bill will go to the president, a spokesperson told Chemical Watch. She added that negotiations are "continuing and productive".
https://chemicalwatch.com/46322/markey-high-probability-of-tsca-enactment-in-next-few-weeks
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Legal Experts Caution Lawmakers on TSCA Wording
Apr 6, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Legal experts have voiced concern that terminology under consideration to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) may unintentionally burden the EPA with a requirement to take into account economic considerations when regulating chemicals.
In a letter to Congressional officials, more than 30 public interest lawyers and legal scholars say that certain provisions in the Senate bill could, if adopted into a final TSCA bill, "impose unintended requirements on the EPA to consider costs before deciding whether to regulate a chemical".
These requirements, they say, could "unduly burden EPA’s ability to effectively protect public health, even in the face of credible threats of toxic chemical exposures."
The letter refers to a ruling last June by the Supreme Court. It found that the words "appropriate and necessary" in the EPA’s regulation of mercury emissions from certain power plants implicitly requires the EPA to consider costs.
The letter says that courts could extend this reasoning to references in the Senate bill to the EPA taking action "as appropriate". Such an interpretation could result in cost consideration requirements that would "undermine EPA’s ability to effectively – and expeditiously – manage risks posed by harmful toxic chemicals", the letter says.
Asbestos ruling
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), an NGO with an attorney who co-signed the letter, points out that "lurking over this discussion is the ghost of the 1991 ruling" which overturned the EPA’s final rule to ban asbestos. The historic ruling – Corrosion Proof Fittings v EPA – centred on the term "unreasonable risk".
Last year, in analysis of existing TSCA law, the NGO Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) said that determining "unreasonable risk" requires the EPA to "formally balance consideration of costs and other non-risk factors against the potential danger to human health or the environment".
And according to the EWG, "the cost requirements it saddled EPA with paralysed the agency’s efforts to address chemical safety."
Since the court overturned the asbestos rule, the EPA has not attempted to regulate a substance via Section 6 of TSCA. But it has announced plans to do so later this year.
'As appropriate'
nalysis performed earlier this year by the EDF says the Senate bill text explicitly precludes the EPA from considering cost and non-risk factors when making safety determinations. The bill reiterates this exclusion at each occurrence of the term "unreasonable risk", says the EDF.
But the legal experts who weighed in on the bill have concerns that the terms "appropriate" and "as appropriate" could raise economic consideration issues. They have urged Congressional leaders to remove references to "as appropriate" and "make clear that EPA should not have to consider costs when deciding whether to regulate a chemical."
When lawmakers broke for the March recess, resolution had not been reached on reconciling House and Senate bills to modernise TSCA. But industry and lawmakers alike have expressed confidence that a compromised bill will be passed into law this year.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46069/legal-experts-caution-lawmakers-on-tsca-wording
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EPA Finalizes New Restrictions for TCE Sprays
Apr 6, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
U.S. EPA is finalizing a rule to keep new companies from using a cancer-causing chemical in aerosol arts and crafts sprays.
The agency said today it is finalizing a significant new use rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 for trichloroethylene, or TCE, which agency health assessments have linked to cancer and other health problems.
The action means companies seeking to begin manufacturing or importing TCE for new uses will have to notify EPA, which will have at least 90 days to determine whether the use poses an unreasonable risk to the public. The rule, however, does not apply to TCE used in dry cleaners and degreasing facilities, which are thought to be where most of the exposure to TCE occurs.
Last year, EPA reached a voluntary agreement with PLZ Aeroscience Corp. of Addison, Ill., the only domestic manufacturer of TCE sprays, to remove the chemical from its products. Under TSCA, EPA must wait until companies have stopped using TCE for this purpose to finalize a rule preventing others from resuming its use.
"EPA is putting into place a level playing field to ensure importers and domestic manufacturers do not re-enter the marketplace before EPA has an opportunity to review," Jim Jones, EPA's assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, said in a statement.
EPA first proposed the rule last year (Greenwire, July 31, 2015). It will take effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
Addressing other uses of TCE will require EPA to issue a proposed rule under Section 6 of TSCA, something it says it plans to do by the end of the year.
Under Section 6 -- a rarely used part of the law -- EPA may ban or require risk-reduction actions for a chemical if it can prove that it poses an unreasonable risk to the public and that the action is the least burdensome way to address the risk.
Though EPA's use of the rules is untested since a 1991 appeals court decision limiting its authority under TSCA, Jones said at the 2016 GlobalChem Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C., last month that EPA was determined to press ahead with the action.
"We're going to give it the old college try," Jones said.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/04/06/stories/1060035177
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Banned Chemical Still Used in Hospital IVs is Linked to Attention Deficit Disorder
Apr 6, 2016 | Washington Post
By Amy Ellis Nutt
A chemical used to make plastic IV tubes and catheters has been linked to attention deficit disorder in children who received treatment for a serious illness, according to a new study.
The tubing and catheters contain plastic-softening chemicals, called phthalates, which have been banned from children's toys and products such as teething rings and soft books because of their potential toxic effects. The chemicals are known to disrupt hormones and have been implicated in everything from asthma to autism.
"We found a clear match between previously hospitalized children's long-term neurocognitive test results and their individual exposure to the phthalate DEHP during intensive care," lead researcher Soren Verstraete, from Leuven, Belgium, told the Endocrine Society.
Verstraete and his colleagues tested 449 children, newborns to age 16, who were treated in pediatric intensive care units and whose care involved between one and 12 medical tubes. They found high levels of phthalates, even among those admitted with only catheters in place. Until the young patients' discharge from the ICU, those levels remained 18 times higher than in a control group of healthy children.
Four years later, the once-critically ill children underwent neurocognitive tests. Adjusting for other risk factors, the scientists found a strong association between high exposure to phthalates and development of attention deficit disorder. The research was repeated with an additional group of more than 200 pediatric ICU patients, and the findings were similar.
The study concluded that the medical tubing and catheters were "potentially harmful" to children's brain development and function.
"The phthalate exposure explained half of the attention deficit in former [pediatric ICU] patients," Verstraete said at the endocrinologists' conference last week. "Development of alternative plastic softeners for use in in-dwelling medical devices may be urgently indicated."
Congress banned phthalates from children's products in 2008. For those younger than 12, the Consumer Product Safety Commission imposed a permanent ban on three particularly dangerous phthalates, including DEHP, the chemical still used in medical tubing.
The Food and Drug Administration recommended reducing exposure to phthalates in medical devices as long ago as 2002.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/04/06/attention-deficit-disorder-linked-to-iv-tubes-used-with-critically-ill-children/
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It’s National Teflon Day – But Hold The Celebration
Apr 6, 2016 | Environmental Working Group
By Bill Walker
On this day in 1938, a DuPont chemist named Roy J. Plunkett in Deepwater, N.J., accidentally discovered polytetrafluoroethylene, a slippery substance remarkably resistant to water, grease and stains. DuPont patented PTFE as Teflon. To honor Plunkett’s discovery, April 6 is National Teflon Day, according tonationaldaycalendar.com, which tracks such things.
We won’t be celebrating.
Teflon became the basis for hundreds of products, from cookware to food wrappers to waterproof clothing, a brand that eventually earned DuPont $1 billion a year. The market expansion was boosted by another chemical called PFOA, which smoothed out Teflon and made it easier to work with.
The 3M Company was the original manufacturer of PFOA, but DuPont was its biggest customer for the stuff. DuPont used billions of pounds of PFOA, also known as C8, to make Teflon at its Washington Works plant near Parkersburg, W.Va.. Between 1951 and 2003 DuPont dumped or emitted more than 1.7 million pounds of PFOA into the Ohio River, unlined landfills and the air around the Parkersburg plant.
Independent research studies have linked tiny amounts of PFOA to kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, reproductive and developmental disorders, compromised immune systems and many other health problems. According tointernal company documents, 3M and DuPont knew PFOA was hazardous, but for decades kept it secret. In 2005, after the documents became public in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 70,000 residents of the mid-Ohio Valley, the Environmental Protection Agency forced DuPont to phase out PFOA over 10 years.
National Day Calendar suggests marking the special day by showing off your Teflon pans, but if you’re reading this you probably got rid of yours years ago, when the dangers of PFOA first became widely known.
Who, then, should celebrate National Teflon Day?
· Not Bucky Bailey, whose mother breathed C8 fumes at Washington Works for nine months before he was born with multiple facial deformities. When she returned to work, Sue Bailey stumbled on an internal DuPont memo about a 3M study detailing deformities in lab animals whose mothers were fed C8 during pregnancy.
· Not the 3,500 other residents of the mid-Ohio River Valley who are suing DuPont in federal court for illnesses they say were caused by drinking PFOA-contaminated water. Last October, in the first case to come to trial, a jury found DuPont liable for causing Carla Marie Bartlett’s kidney cancer, awarding her $1.6 million in damages.
· Not the 98 percent of Americans who, according to tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have PFOA in their blood from its widespread use in consumer and industrial products. Studies show the chemical can be passed through from mothers to child in the womb and in breast milk.
· Not the more than 6.5 million Americans in 27 states where an EPA-mandated drinking water testing program found drinking water contaminated with PFOA or related chemicals at concentrations up to 174 times the “safe” level indicated by the newest research.
· Not the residents of Hoosick Falls, N.Y., North Bennington, Vt., or a string of other New England villages where investigators have discovered PFOA contamination in recent months. Those towns and many others are too small to participate in the EPA testing program. That means no one really knows the true scale of nationwide PFOA contamination.
The list could go on: babies almost 200 miles downstream from the Parkersburg plant,children in the Faeroe Islands, residents near aDuPont plant in The Netherlands, polar bears in the Arctic, dolphins in the ocean – all have been affected by the spread of PFOA and its chemical cousins. And because PFOA and its chemical cousins take decades to pass from our bodies and never break down in the environment, the problem is here to stay.
All due respect to Roy J. Plunkett, who did not know the harm that would come from his discovery, but the only the appropriate way to observe National Teflon Day is with a moment of silence for its victims.
http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2016/04/it-s-national-teflon-day-hold-celebration
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EWG Ranks Cleaning Products For Babies
Apr 6, 2016 | Environmental Working Group
By Megan Boyle and Samara Geller
Every parent knows that caring for a new baby requires lots and lots of cleaning. But can washing up the milk and spit-up introduce your baby to potentially harmful chemicals?
For its spring 2016 update, EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning analyzed more than 400 new cleaning products and formulations, including ones marketed for new parents and their babies’ needs.
The guide looks closely at product ingredients, labels and online transparency, then ranks products with a letter grade from A (best) to F (worst). Of course, some of the products are better than others. Click here to view the list of cleaning products for babies.
Products that score poorly contain such hazardous ingredients as the allergenic preservative methylisothiazolinone (MIT) or sodium borate (borax), which can disrupt hormones and harm the reproductive system.
Poorly rated products use sparse or vague terminology – such as “biodegradable surfactants,” “fragrance” and “fabric brighteners” (also known as optical brighteners) – but do not disclose specific ingredients on the label. Visit the guide’s Label Decoder to learn more about what these terms mean.
Almost half of the products EWG analyzed failed to display a complete list of specific ingredients anywhere. Manufacturers can get away with this legally, since virtually no federal or state laws require manufacturers to disclose their cleaning products ingredients.
Products with better scores contain ingredients with fewer health hazards and make more ingredient disclosure on the package and on the company website.
The cleaning products for babies are among 406 new products from 85 brands just added to EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning. The new products were available in stores from October 2015 to February 2016 or were submitted directly to EWG by manufacturers. EWG evaluated and rated the products according to the Guide to Healthy Cleaning methodology.
For more information on the cleaning products for babies – as well as those for your whole household – visit EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning.
http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2016/04/ewg-ranks-cleaning-products-babies
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Lumber Liquidators Avoids Liability in Formaldehyde Warning Case
Apr 6, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. may avoid liability under California law over its use of formaldehyde in some laminate flooring.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge George Hernandez issued a tentative ruling Monday that the company did not fail to adequately warn consumers under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, or Proposition 65.
The company was sued by environmental health group Global Community Monitor and accused of violating Prop 65, which requires companies to warn consumers if consumer products contain substances known to the state to cause cancer or birth defects.
Lumber Liquidators also agreed last month to pay $2.5 million to the California Air Resources Board to settle an investigation into its laminate flooring products. The company said regulators had made "no formal finding of violation" and it had not admitted wrongdoing (Robert Burnson, Bloomberg, April 4).
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/04/06/stories/1060035159
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(ACC Mentioned) Oil Exports up, Emissions Forecast Down as Omnibus Deal Looks Better and Better
Apr 6, 2016 | Bloomberg Environment
By Mark Drajem
Each day, more evidence emerges showing that the year-end tax/omnibus deal was the biggest energy policy change since the 2009 stimulus program. The deal, which traded the extension of solar and wind tax credits for ending the ban on crude-oil exports, has powered exports to The Netherlands, Italy and China — even amid depressed prices. And the tax credits could allow President Obama to meet his carbon reduction goals, even without the Clean Power Plan, BNEF’s founder argues.
U.S. crude exports to nations not called Canada surged to 2.88 million barrels in February, more than doubling the total from January. (Most U.S. crude exports go to Canada, which was exempt from the export ban.) What’s remarkable is that these exports are growing even as oil prices remain depressed and U.S. WTI crude is less than $2 cheaper than Brent.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Michael Liebreich told the BNEF Summit yesterday that the extension of the ITC and PTC will spark an additional 40 gigawatts of installation of wind and solar power in the U.S. What that means: the U.S. is going to reduce carbon emissions from power plants with or without the Clean Power Plan, he said. If over the next decade “the price of gas comes up, you don’t need the Clean Power Plan for renewables to be healthy,” he said. “If the gas price remains very low, the Clean Power Plan will be a key part of the policy mix driving forward.”
These developments come as the Senate is considering expanding the investment tax credit to include technologies such as small wind, combined heat and power and fuel cells. Democrat Ron Wyden says that “fix” to the ITC is necessary for Democrats to support the FAA reauthorization bill, which is up for debate this week. We have more on that Inside the Beltway below.
Low natural gas prices and the boom in wind and solar were very much in the discussion during the BNEF conference, but — surprisingly — often more with concern than applause. In the PJM market of the Northeast, natural gas is so cheap that coal is being pushed out of the market, leaving the regulator scrambling to set up rules to ensure there are enough reserves on hand for peak days. Cheap gas isn’t going away anytime soon, as producers costs fall, and lease terms mean they can’t shut in existing wells, analysts said. There was nothing but unrelenting optimism from solar and wind developers, which was summed up best by our friend Ethan Zindler. He asked a panel of executives if this is a great time for the industry, or the GREATEST time for it. First Solar’s Jim Hughes went with the superlative. “I’m more optimistic about North America’s market for at least the next five years than I ever have been,” he told Chris Martin.Quotable
“In the end we’re going to be phasing into a new energy future,” former President Bill Clinton said while campaigning for his wife in Wyoming, according to the Casper News Tribune. “It’s going to be a long time, and Wyoming has the most efficient and lowest sulfur (coal) in the world.”The Predictor
EV lithium-Ion battery pack prices will fall 77% from 2010 to 2018, Liebreich said in his presentation. To see the full slide show, CLICK HERE. (The New York Times plucked at some of the same strings in a story today on decoupling between growth and emissions. Read it here.)Editor’s Note
In yesterday’s newsletter we highlighted how utility executives such as Tom Fanning of Southern and Chris Crane of Exelon are talking about how they want to transform how they interact – and make money from – customers. In today’s edition we are excited to have two Up for Debate items about how state policy is moving to help bring about that change. Arvin Ganesan examines how state markets can adapt to boost efficiency or renewables; Sara Chieffo discusses states that want to curb their reliance on coal.
In his presentation, BNEF’s Liebreich predicted that “universally cheap or cheaper gas seems to be a thing.” This chart illustrated one reason he thinks that’s the case: While new drilling is falling, the productivity from existing wells continues to rise.Inside the Beltway
Hop On the ITC Bandwagon! Energy lobbyists are close to getting a tax credit extension they’ve been fighting for since December — but they didn’t bargain for other industries trying to hitch a ride onto their effort.Sens. Hatch, Wyden, and Thune have all said they’re considering adding a tax extender package to the FAA reauthorization bill that’s up for a procedural vote today. As a baseline, that package would extend the investment tax credit for technologies that were mistakenly left out of the year-end budget deal: geo-thermal, fuel cells and small wind. But there’s some disagreement about whether an ITC extension opens the door to other tax credits — and now coal companies, environmental groups and biofuel advocates are all asking lawmakers to consider tax breaks for their own industries.
Lobbyists are hoping that the ITC renewal will be added as part of a manager’s package — that way it will take 60 votes to kill, rather than approve, it — but a Republican leadership aide tells us it’s more likely to come up as a stand-alone amendment. If the measure is added to the bill, then the fight moves over to the House, where conservative groups opposed to the measure hold more sway. Yesterday, nearly three dozen of them came out against the tax credit, but Republicans are more likely to grumble but go along in the Senate. For more on the FAA-enery machinations, read this storyfrom Bloomberg BNA’s Ari Natter.
Something Coal Companies and Greens Agree On Coal companies and environmentalists are linking arms to lobby for a tax credit seen as essential to wider deployment of carbon capture and sequestration projects that can trap greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and industrial facilities, Jennifer Dlouhy reports. Members of the strange bedfellow coalition include some of the biggest U.S. coal producers, including Peabody Energy Corp., Arch Coal Inc. and Cloud Peak Energy Inc., as well as major green groups, such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clean Air Task Force. Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Archer Daniels Midland Co. also are part of the effort.Coal companies view the technology as vital to sustaining power sector demand for the fossil fuel, now competing against lower-cost and cleaner burning natural gas as the United States and other countries seek to pare greenhouse gas emissions. The threat is existential; Arch Coal and other producers have already filed for bankruptcy protection, and Peabody is on the verge of following suit.
Their common goal: Extending a tax credit for each ton of carbon dioxide that is stored underground when used to to help energy companies glean more crude from oilfields. The so-called Sec. 45Q carbon dioxide sequestration tax credit is projected to expire this year, once it reaches a threshold of supporting the storage of 75 million tons of carbon dioxide.
Forget Merrick Garland — Sen. Jim Inhofe has his sights set on a different Democratic nominee: Jessie Roberson, who’s up for a vacant seat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, plans to use a portion of today’s hearing on the NRC’s 2017 budget to grill the commissioners about Roberson’s nomination to the five-member panel.”I’m gonna make a pretty strong case that nothing’s going to happen there unless we pair it” with a Republican nominee, Inhofe told Catherine Traywick after yesterday’s policy lunches. Don’t miss it: 10 a.m. in 406 Dirksen.
Remember The Pickens Plan? T. Boone Pickens really “deserves pride of place” at today’s Hudson Institute event on the U.S. shale boom considering he “really foresaw where all this was going to go,” Senior Fellow Arthur Herman said ahead of today’s event on the long-term effects of the U.S. shale boom. Herman told Laura Curtis he’ll ask Pickens how he foresaw the switch to natural gas in fuel, manufacturing and feedstock as the shale revolution was just getting underway and which elements of his ‘Pickens Plan’ are still important to focus on. “If he were advising the next president, where he would see the key energy policy going,” Herman said. Also at today’s event are George Allen, the former senator from Virginia, EIA economist Victoria Zaretskaya and Owen Kean of the American Chemistry Council. Look for Laura shadowing Pickens this morning at 8:45 a.m. at the think tank’s headquarters at 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. The discussion with Pickens is at 11:45.
Obama Seeks to Begin Modernization of SPR President Obama proposes FY2017 budget amendments including one for the Energy Department that would “initiate modernization of Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) infrastructure, which is at the end of its design life,” in letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan. The amendment also proposes to fund capacity upgrades for SPR marine terminal distribution.Outside the Beltway
Issa Wants DOE to Hold Nuclear Waste Forum in Calif.: AP In a letter to the Department of Energy, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said his district should be added to a list of communities where the agency is holding hearings this year to discuss the storage of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. He said residents want the waste removed from San Onofre, which is located near an active earthquake fault line and borders densely populated Orange and San Diego counties. Environmentalists have depicted San Onofre as a nuclear waste dump that could leak or be damaged by flooding or an earthquake.
New Mexico Tribe Fears Contamination From Los Alamos Lab: E&E The San Ildefonso Pueblo community borders the birthplace of the atomic bomb, and groundwater sampling of the area has shown a plume of chromium spreading near the border of the tribe’s land and the Los Alamos National Laboratory property. New Mexico regulators think DOE would need around $255 million per year to adequately contain and clean the contamination.
One Thing California, Texas Have in Common Is Negative Power It’s expensive for nuclear plants and coal- and natural gas-fired units to turn on and off. So when output from wind and solar farms jumps and supply exceeds demand, prices have to fall below zero to force some generators offline. Average, wholesale power prices in Southern California have gone negative on about a dozen days over the past year, falling as low as minus $23.87 a megawatt-hour, grid data compiled by Bloomberg show. In Texas, power at one major hub traded below zero for almost 50 hours in November and again in March. The growing frequency of these price plunges are a testament to how renewable power is reshaping U.S. power markets and squeezing the profits of traditional power generators.Oil, Gas and Coal
Market Wrap: Oil extended gains after Kuwait said a deal to freeze output can be reached without Iran and U.S. industry data showed crude stockpiles declined. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery increased as much as $1.19 to $37.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $36.93 at 9:02 a.m. London time. Natural gas futures for May delivery fell as much as 1.1% to $1.932/mmBtu on the Nymex and were trading at $1.937 by 8:30am London time.
California Risks Two Weeks of Blackouts Without Sempra Gas Field Millions of Californians might face blackouts this summer unless energy providers take steps including removing natural gas from the Sempra Energy storage site, which was closed after a historic leak. Without tapping the site, power plants may not have enough access to natural gas on as many as 14 days to produce electricity in Southern California during certain peak-use times, according to a draft report issued yesterday by agencies including theCalifornia Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Independent System Operator and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
http://about.bgov.com/blog/oil-exports-up-emissions-forecast-down-as-omnibus-deal-looks-better-and-better/
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Dominion Defends Rule's Goals as 'Feasible'
Apr 6, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Rod Kuckro and Elizabeth Harball
Energy giant Dominion Resources Inc. is making a strong business case in favor of U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, telling a federal appeals court that compliance with the rule to curb carbon emission from power plants is "feasible" and that "effects on power plants and customers can be successfully managed" with market-based tools.
And in a rebuke to opponents of the EPA rule, led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Dominion said their "overly narrow interpretation of the Clean Air Act would be more disruptive to the power sector, and result in higher compliance costs for power plant owners and electricity customers."
Richmond, Va.-based Dominion is the dominant utility in the state. Even with its diverse generation fleet, Dominion produced the majority of its electricity -- 32 percent -- from coal-fired power plants in 2015.
But in its amicus brief filed Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Dominion emphasized that the EPA rule "is compatible with current trends toward additional renewable and natural gas generation in the power sector based on market condition and customer demands."
Dominion was the sole electric utility to file an amicus brief by the Friday deadline in advance of the appellate court hearing oral arguments on the EPA rule on June 2 (EnergyWire, April 4).
A handful of other utilities, including Southern California Edison Co. and Pacific Gas and Electric Corp., had earlier intervened in the case on EPA's side, but most in the power sector are seeking to block the rule.
Still, Dominion spokesman David Botkins made a point of saying the brief does not amount to "an endorsement" of the Clean Power Plan.
That comes as news to some, such as Walton Shepherd, a staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council who also is a member of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe's stakeholder group weighing compliance with the EPA rule.
"They've been consistent in their support of the Clean Power Plan" in the group's meetings, Shepherd said.
He praised Dominion's brief for recognizing that the Clean Power Plan goals "are actually imminently achievable" and for warning against an assault on "market-based approaches" to compliance such as emission trading that can lower costs for customers.
"If you look at their emissions trajectory, it is already in a downward trajectory compared to 10 or 20 years ago," Shepherd said. "So they're basically saying, 'We got this.'"
Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, said Dominion "should be given credit. They could have sat on the sidelines and done nothing. But to their credit they responded appropriately as one should when the regulatory agency meets most of the company's expectations."
He commended the company for "calling out" Morrisey and other petitioners "who have been arguing against the flexibility" the EPA rule offers in terms of compliance options. "Taking that flexibility away would result in more of their [coal] plants shuttering," he said.'Lowest cost' is Dominion's goal
"Our two points are that government and industry must plan accordingly if the Clean Power Plan moves forward, and we want to pursue the option that results in the lowest cost for all our customers," Dominion's Botkins said.
"We contend that two types of flexibility the rule authorizes -- the ability to average and trade emission credits among multiple power plants, and the ability to customize an emission reduction glide path between 2022 and 2030 -- could make the rule significantly more workable," he said.
Botkins emphasized that the brief "endorses the widely held and long-standing view that the Clean Air Act allows and encourages the use of market-based programs."
"Electric utilities such as Dominion have a long history of successfully using similar programs to comply with past Clean Air Act rules that have achieved substantial reductions in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants," he said.
Paul Patterson, an analyst with Glenrock Associates in New York who follows Dominion, said that not all utilities can make the same case as Dominion.
"They clearly have the vision so they're pretty well-positioned. You're talking about one of the larger, more sophisticated utilities that has a large amount of natural gas infrastructure, nuclear expertise and now they're involved in renewables," he said.
Parties opposed to the EPA rule were reluctant to comment on Dominion's brief.
A spokesman for coal company Alpha Natural Resources Inc., which operates in Virginia, declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a national group that is participating in the legal challenge of EPA's climate rule.
A spokeswoman for Virginia-based Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, which has been critical of the EPA rule, also declined to comment on the brief.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/04/06/stories/1060035136
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Fracking Could Put Human Development at Risk -- Study
Apr 6, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
Exposure to oil and gas waste found in groundwater and surface water could be messing with human hormones, according to a new study from Duke University, the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Missouri (MU).
The paper, slated for publication today in Science of the Total Environment, is a companion piece to forthcoming USGS research that finds evidence of oil and gas wastewater in surface water near a West Virginia injection site. The research was supported by crowdfunding efforts and an MU grant.
"Approximately 36,000 of these disposal wells are currently in operation across the U.S., and little work has been done to evaluate their potential impacts on nearby surface water," said lead author Christopher Kassotis, a current postdoctoral fellow at Duke University. "Given the large number of disposal wells in the U.S., it is critical for further investigation into the potential human and environmental health impacts."
USGS's collaboration with Duke and Missouri zooms in on a wastewater disposal facility in West Virginia. The scientists found a higher level of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in samples collected on and downstream of the site, compared with levels upstream and in a background sample.
"The level of EDC activity was within the range or higher than the level known to impact the health of aquatic organisms," Susan Nagel, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health in MU's School of Medicine, said in a statement yesterday.
Nagel's prior research serves as a foundation for the study. In 2013, she found hormone-mimicking chemicals in groundwater near Colorado oil and gas sites (EnergyWire, Dec. 17, 2013). The following year, Nagel conducted a literature review, from which she recommended further study of fracking's impact on human reproductive and developmental health (EnergyWire, Dec. 9, 2014).
Her work with USGS and Duke is the first step down that path, she said.
"To date, it's the strongest association that we have found with oil and gas activity and endocrine disruption activity in surface water," Nagel said of the paper.
But, she added, "there has not been a systematic study looking at the impacts of these types of disposal facilities on surface water in the area. And this is not a systematic one, but this would strongly suggest that there needs to be one."
Seth Whitehead, researcher for the industry group Energy In Dept, said earlier research by Kassotis misleads readers about the concentrations of EDCs that are likely to be found in the environment.
"Fracking fluid is typically 95 percent water, and even in the unlikely case in which all 24 chemicals were used in a single frack job, the chemicals would be highly diluted," Whitehead said, referring to a cocktail injection that the scientists administered to mice to demonstrate frack fluid's effect on sperm count.
Whitehead also questioned Nagel's willingness to consider other sources of EDCs.
Nagel said she and her colleagues have secured funding from the National Institutes of Health to track exactly what chemicals are causing the endocrine-disrupting activity. The project could more definitively link EDCs to oil and gas activity, she said.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/04/06/stories/1060035140
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America’s Next President Must Continue Obama’s Progress on Clean Energy
Apr 5, 2016 | Washington Post
By David Ignatius
So much of America’s future is at stake in the 2016 presidential election. But let’s focus for a moment on just one area — energy and the environment — where the Obama administration has made startling progress that could be reversed if either of the GOP front-runners becomes president.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, arguably President Obama’s best Cabinet appointment, has been leading a quiet revolution in clean-energy technology. Innovation is transforming this industry, costs are plummeting and entrepreneurs are devising radical new systems that create American jobs — in addition to protecting the planet.
The leading GOP candidates, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), offer know-nothing denials of this march of science. Trump told The Post last monththat all that’s happening is “a change in weather. I am not a great believer in man-made climate change.” Cruz told an audience in New Hampshire in January that “climate change is the perfect pseudoscientific theory,” propounded by “big-government politician[s].” If either is elected president, you have to assume he will try to gut clean-energy programs.
Here’s a suggestion for any fact-based, technology-respecting candidate in either party: Promise that, if elected, you’ll try to persuade Moniz to remain in place. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist by training, he has proved to be one of this administration’s most skillful players, as illustrated by his decisive, behind-the-scenes role in the Iran nuclear talks.
Moniz showed me the future of energy technology last month during a visit to one of his pet projects — the “innovation summit” of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E. As the name implies, it tries to do for energy what DARPA has done for defense science. A tour of the exhibits shows why the program is succeeding: It connects with the market. Since 2010, 45 projects that were initially ARPA-E-seeded have received anadditional $1.25 billion in follow-on private funding.
First, some Energy Department numbers that illustrate the transformation that’s underway: The cost of purchasing energy-efficient LED lights hasdropped 90 percent since 2008; the cost of producing large-scale solar energy has fallen 60 percent over that period; prices for wind energy and efficient batteries have declined by more than 40 percent.
As costs have fallen, usage has increased radically. Since 2008, the number of LED lightbulbs installed in the United States has increased from 400,000 to 78 million. Wind energy production has tripled; production of solar energy has increased nearly 20-fold. And scientists say we’re still fairly early in the cycle of innovation and cost reduction.
Moniz describes three ARPA-E projects he thinks are especially promising. One company is building an advanced photovoltaic cell that could, by 2020,reduce the cost of installed solar energy by 50 percent from its 2009 level. Another company is creating new systems that could significantly cut power use by electric motors, which currently consume about 30 percent of America’s electricity. A third company is building a new kind of airborne turbine that could capture wind energy from 85 percent of America’s land mass, compared with 15 percent today.
Wandering through the ARPA-E exhibition hall with Moniz — looking at a few of the more than 200 presentations — you get a sense of how fast new technology is being applied to big, real-world problems.
A company called Rebellion Photonics demonstrates a system for chemical imaging that can spot gas leaks and other potential problems before disaster strikes. A consortium of universities and private companies, dubbed TERRA, shows off robots that can assess biofuel crops and select the best genetic traits, doing in four hours what now takes seven days. A company called Local Motors pitches a car built with 3-D printing. And yes, you’ll be able to make a copy of the Mustang you drove back in high school, if you want.
This intense interaction between technology and the marketplace is what powers innovation in the United States. Contrary to right-wing myth, the government in modern times has been a key incubator and facilitator for business. DARPA’s research spawned the Internet and its world-transforming networks, and it is now helping to drive the astonishing progress of machine learning and autonomous systems. Thanks to Moniz, ARPA-E is having a similar catalytic effect with energy-related technologies.
This political season has been a horror show, making even those who are optimistic about America’s future begin to wonder. Moniz’s innovation summit was a bracing reminder of why, as Warren Buffett likes to say, people have never gone wrong betting on America. It also illustrates the importance of having world-class scientists such as Moniz oversee the intersection of government and technology.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-next-president-must-keep-advancing-our-quiet-revolution-in-clean-energy/2016/04/05/3b4f4e48-fb47-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html
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EPA Expects to Issue Methane ICR This Fall, With Data Due Beginning in 2016
Apr 6, 2016 | InsideEPA
By Abby Smith
An EPA official says the agency is planning a months-long public consultation to craft its planned information collection request (ICR) to gather data that could inform first-time methane limits for existing oil and natural gas facilities, estimating a final ICR will be published in the fall and the agency would begin to collect data through the end of the year and into next year.
But because the data collection effort will extend into 2017, it will put the onus on any future administration to develop existing source standards limiting methane from the sector, consistent with predictions of several sources who say it is unlikely EPA could complete -- or even propose -- a rulemaking before President Obama leaves office in January.
Brenda Shine of EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards told an April 5 environmental justice stakeholder call that the agency plans to release a draft ICR by the end of April, after which the measure will undergo two review periods before a final version is issued.
Stakeholders will have an initial period of 60 days to comment on EPA's draft ICR once it appears in theFederal Register, Shine said. The agency will then take those comments into account and “may make additional changes” before it submits a second draft to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, with another 30-day public review period.
After the second review period, OMB will make any final changes then approve the final ICR, Shine says, noting that “by the time the review process plays out and we get the survey ready to send out to the oil and gas industry . . . we'd be talking sometime in the fall.”
Shine adds that the agency will likely receive some data back by the end of the year and through next year. “At that point we'll begin to develop standards,” she says.
The plan for the ICR that Shine outlined is consistent with suggestions from industry officials who say the ICR process is typically lengthy and will "clearly extend into the next administration."
EPA announced March 10 that it is planning to issue this month a draft ICR requiring industry to provide data on emissions from existing sources and potential technologies to reduce methane. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has largely declined to specify a timeline for the ICR development process, making Shine's comments a first indication from the agency of its plans.
“We're not at this point taking any tools off the table in terms of what else we might do this year, but we have no further announcement at this point,” McCarthy said during a March 10 press call announcing the planned ICR.
Details on the agency's existing source plans come as EPA moves closer to finalizing its companion methane standards for new and modified sources, a prerequisite for any existing source rule. OMB received April 4 the draft final new source performance standards rule, according to the OMB website, though recent comments from McCarthy suggest the upcoming rule may not capture the full range of sources for which environmentalists have been calling.
Requested Information
Shine told the April 5 call that the data EPA plans to request in the ICR is “essentially information that we need to develop existing source standards,” including specifics on facilities, site characteristics and baseline control levels, as well as various options for and the costs of emissions reductions.
With the ICR, she expects facilities may have to do “some limited testing in certain areas to answer questions we have,” noting that “we know we have certain data gaps.” Were such testing required, though, Shine notes EPA would specify how to perform the testing and what the appropriate methods would be.
Shine also expects EPA to ask for information regarding the characteristics of facilities, the availability of electricity or generating capacity and the availability of monitoring equipment.
This type of information, she says, “gives us a sense of the baseline level of controls . . . [and] how much reductions we can get from the industry.”
Still, oil and gas industry officials have said EPA will face various challenges when crafting its ICR, including how to account for varying drilling well sizes, productivity levels and other factors influencing emissions data.
“This is a big lift for the agency,” said one oil and gas industry source, noting that as EPA works on the ICR many smaller natural gas production companies are “really struggling” given low gas prices -- though the Energy Information Administration said recently that the price of natural gas has slightly increased.
Other sources are cautioning the agency to capture with its ICR an accurate sample of the sector, noting that if it does not do so, it could make it difficult for the agency to craft a “best system of emission reduction” in any forthcoming rule setting standards for existing sources in the sector
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-expects-issue-methane-icr-fall-data-due-beginning-2016
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Industry Group 'Completely Opposed' to Changes in Pa. Natgas Royalty Law
Apr 6, 2016 | Platts
By Jim Magill
A group representing the state's oil and gas industry has vowed to oppose a proposed change to Pennsylvania's royalty law that would prohibit operators from making post-production deductions that result in the payment of less than 12.5% of the gross value of unconventional gas production to landowners.
According to the bill's sponsor, Representative Garth Everett, R-Lycoming County, the legislation, House Bill 1391, would mandate that royalties be calculated based on 12.5% of the total price received by the operator for the production in an arm's-length transaction.
"We are completely opposed to this bill," Louis D'Amico, president of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association, said Tuesday.
D'Amico said contracts between operators and royalty owners, not legislation, should determine who is responsible for the payment of post-production costs."Unless a lease specifically said that post-production costs should not be part of the agreement, the landowner should be paying his fair share," he said.
He said the bill is based on a misinterpretation of the original Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act of 1979, which set the minimum royalty rate for oil and gas production at 12.5%.
"They're trying to represent that that was a gross number. It was not a one-eighth gross number; it was one-eighth net, which included the post-production costs," he said.
In a statement, Everett said he introduced the bill to remedy a problem that has arisen with the development of the Marcellus Shale play, in which some gas producers had acted "to reduce royalties below this statutory minimum by deducting what are known as post-production costs from the royalty payments to landowners."
Such post-production costs can include compression, dehydration, transmission and other costs incurred between the wellhead and a final market point of sale, Everett said.
He said the proposed legislation would plug a loophole in state law.
"In 2010, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court considered this issue in Kilmer v. Elexco Land Services Inc., it determined that the current statute did not address the deduction of post-production costs," he said.
In its decision, the court said the General Assembly was the branch of government best suited to determine the proper point of royalty valuation.
Under the proposed legislation, lessors may file civil actions against lessees for failure to pay the minimum royalty in county court, where the burden of proof that payment of less than one-eighth was made rests with the lessor.
"The lessee may rebut this presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the minimum royalty was paid," according to a summary of the bill.
The proposed legislation, which recently had a hearing before the state House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, would pertain to all existing and future unconventional gas wells drilled in the state.
D'Amico said the introduction of the bill comes at an especially critical time for the commonwealth's exploration-and-production industry, which is battling the headwinds of continued low oil and gas prices.
"We're just trying to survive. This entire industry is in dire straits," he said.
However, he added that HB 1391 would not be a good idea, even absent the current industry slowdown.
"There's no such thing as good timing for something like this, but certainly the timing doesn't help," he said.http://www.platts.com/latest-news/natural-gas/houston/industry-group-completely-opposed-to-changes-21215092
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California Residents Face Summer Blackouts After Natural Gas Leak
Apr 6, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
A months-long natural gas leak at a Southern California storage facility means local residents could see up to 14 days of scheduled blackouts this summer, officials announced this week.
A four-month leak at Southern California Power’s Porter Ranch storage facility has diminished local natural gas reserves, the Los Angeles Times reports, and with the facility still shut down, local power plants could occasionally be without the fuel they need to run this summer.
The leak, which began in October and ended in February, left the facility at one-fifth its natural gas capacity, and new shipments of gas have been prohibited until it undergoes more testing. Seventeen power plant in the Los Angeles region rely on the facility for natural gas.
Four energy agencies warned residents of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties about the threat of blackouts on Tuesday. Utilities, they said, could go block-by-block, with power shut down for a short period of time each.
“These pipelines also cannot transport gas fast enough to meet the hour-by-hour or changing demands of power plants during the summer when electricity demand peaks,” Mark Rothleder, the vice president of the California Independent System Operator, said.
Four energy agencies have written a plan with 18 recommendations designed to reduce blackouts, including asking customers to conserve gas by using less hot water and electricity.
Southern California Gas Co. sealed the leak at the Aliso Canyon in February, but not before tens of thousands of metric tons of gas seeped from it.
The company isn’t allowed to inject new natural gas into its stores there until it completes safety tests at its 114 other wells. According to the LA Times, none of the wells have yet passed the tests.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/275337-california-residents-face-summer-blackouts-after-natural-gas-leak
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Amtrak Crash Shows U.S. Anti Rail-Collision System May Have Gaps
Apr 6, 2016 | Reuters (In The Philadelphia Inquirer)
By Scott Malone
Sunday's fatal Pennsylvania Amtrak accident may have exposed possible blind spots in a nationwide collision prevention system that is meant to stop crashes on U.S. railroads.
Amtrak last year became the first U.S. railroad to fully install "positive train control" (PTC) systems on its routes, a congressionally mandated technology that uses antennae on locomotives and sensors on tracks to monitor trains' precise location and prevent collisions.
A dilemma facing railroads is whether to spend funds expanding PTC systems to service vehicles like the backhoe involved in Sunday's crash, or put money into upgrades of aging rail infrastructure.
Officials are still investigating how the backhoe working on the tracks was struck by a Georgia-bound train in Chester, Pennsylvania, killing two construction workers and sending 35 people to hospital.
It is not yet known whether the vehicle had a PTC device. Some railroads have considered installing them on maintenance equipment. It is not clear if Amtrak has done so, experts said.
"If you have a vehicle that's not riding the rails, but on the shoulder or across the rails or on rubber tires alone and you don't allow the circuit to know you're there, you're outside the PTC system," said Allan Zarembski, a professor at the University of Delaware's College of Engineering who specializes in rail safety.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating whether the train's PTC system functioned properly in Sunday's collision, a spokesman said. An Amtrak spokesman declined to answer questions about whether the railroad's PTC system was designed to detect service vehicles on the tracks, citing the NTSB investigation.
The U.S. rail industry has spent about $14 billion installing PTC equipment, though Congress last year extended the deadline for full implementation by three years to 2018.
There are several varieties of PTC systems in use in the United States. Amtrak's is focused on controlling train speeds; development began in earnest following a 1990 incident in which one of the carrier's trains derailed in Boston and struck a commuter train, injuring more than 400 people.
Amtrak finished installing the system following a May 2015 derailment about 20 miles (30 km) north of Sunday's crash site caused by an engineer speeding into a curve, which killed eight people and injured 43.
While locomotives signal their position automatically in the PTC system, work crews need to place a device on the tracks to alert the system to their presence.
Still, high-profile accidents like the recent Amtrak crashes or the February 2015 incident in which a Metro-North commuter train in suburban New York hit a car, are exceptions in an industry that has largely reduced fatal accidents, experts said.
"The routine accidents have been taken care of. The rails, the wheels are safer than ever before and the people have been trained. Yet there are still mistakes that occur," said Steven Ditmeyer, a former Federal Railroad Administration official who now works as a rail consultant.
FRA data show that 15 passengers and 11 employees died in rail accidents last year, marking the deadliest year since 2008, when a Union Pacific Corp train crashed into a Los Angeles MetroLink commuter train, killing 25 people.
Far more people are killed by illegally crossing passenger tracks, which claimed 162 lives in 2015.
For Ditmeyer, the most effective way to bring those accident numbers lower is to invest in significant maintenance and replacement on rail routes like the Northeast corridor between Washington and Boston, which has not had a major upgrade since the late 1970s.
For companies, the issue is cost effectiveness, whether they should spend money on infrastructure or expand the PTC system - especially in the busy northeast.
"It's a multibillion-dollar, multiyear program to get the Northeast corridor up to full strength," Ditmeyer said of needed upgrades.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160405_Reuters_L2N1780LG_Amtrak_crash_shows_U_S__anti_rail_collision_system_may_have_gaps.html
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EPA Head Says Paris Agreement Will Require More Climate Work from Next Administration
Apr 5, 2016 | Fuel Fix
By James Osborne
As the United States works to meet the climate change goal agreed to in Paris last year, actions taken by President Barack Obama to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will need to be expanded, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said Tuesday.
The EPA head said the next administration would need to help promote technologies like carbon capture, nuclear energy and electric cars. She cited efforts now to better understand the extent to which emissions from airplanes and landfills are contributing to global warming.
“We already have a lot in the queue, but I’m sure people will bring new ideas as time moves on,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday morning. “There’s opportunities everywhere.”
With seven months until the election, presidential candidates are widely divided on climate change. On the campaign trail, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders have argued to reduce U.S. dependence on fossil fuels. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has questioned whether climate change is even happening. Donald Trump, meanwhile, said at a rally in December, “a lot of it is a hoax,” according to MSNBC.
Obama has made climate change one of the signature issues of his second term, joining close to 200 world leaders in Paris in agreeing to try and keep global temperature from rising no more than 2 degrees Celsius.
Since taking office in 2009, he has put tougher restrictions on emissions from cars and power plants. He has promoted incentives for renewable energy like wind and solar power. And the administration is now working on rules to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.
“I think the president has brought a visibility to the issue in a way no president has before,” McCarthy said. “He has been using more of his personal time to connect with leaders in other countries. I think if you ask anyone, that changed the dynamic in Paris.”
Both Trump and Cruz have expressed a desire to unwind Obama’s climate-change policies after he leaves office in January.
Asked about the current presidential campaign, McCarthy said, “what you hear in a campaign is not what people tend to do when they get the job.”
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/04/05/epa-head-says-next-administration-must-continue-climate-change-work-to-meet-paris-goal/
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John Kerry Urges Business to Act on Climate Change
Apr 5, 2016 | TIME
By Justin Worland
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday called on private businesses to move rapidly away from fossil fuels—both to prevent devastating climate change and to drive global economic growth.
“If we’re going to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, we have to accelerate this transition,” Kerry said in a speech. “When we talk about the future of energy, we are actually talking about the future of everything.”
The address, delivered at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York, comes as the Obama administration continues to push for expanded commitments to address climate change. Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 31 vowed to sign the Paris Agreement to address global warming later this month and encouraged leaders of other countries to do the same. And on Monday the White House issued a new report showing that climate change could damage public health in the U.S.
The administration’s message—present in Kerry’s speech and in many White House policies pushed in recent years—has emphasized that government regulation cannot solve climate change on its own. White House officials like Kerry have focused on engaging business leaders as well as politicians, and policy announcements have often been paired with commitments from large businesses like Goldman Sachs, Google and Walmart.
“Government can provide the structure, the incentives, the framework, but… it’s the private sector that will ultimately take us to the finish line,” Kerry told more than 1,000 business leaders in the energy space. “Clean energy is one of the greatest economic opportunities the world has ever seen.”
Global businesses have shown increased willingness to tackle climate change in recent years as the costs of clean technology have declined and the number of customers interested in clean energy has skyrocketed. Kerry—who focused on global warming for decades as a senator—noted that only 13 representatives attended the first United Nations talks on climate change in 1992. More than 1,000 businesses sent representatives to Paris in December to support a climate agreement.
But there’s still a great deal of opposition from the private sector on climate action—especially from businesses in the fossil fuel sector, like coal and oil. And while the number of big, international corporations that express support for climate action has been rising, those firms that have a lot to lose have shown no sign of giving up.
Kerry pointed to rising sea levels, temperature spikes and flooding as evidence that failing to act quickly enough would have dramatic consequences for the planet. His speech came on the heels of a number of alarming studies, including one recent paper arguing that melting of the Antarctic ice cap could lead to as much as 3 ft. (1 m) of sea-level rise by the end of the century.
“Every person on the planet has an interest in making sure that transition happens as soon as possible,” he said. “We have the opportunity to transform the way people live and safeguard the future for generations to come.”
http://time.com/4282249/john-kerry-climate-change-speech/
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