Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 4/13/16
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(ACC Mentioned) US Extends Antidumping, Anti-Subsidy Duty on Asian HDPE Bags
Apr 13, 2016 | CCF Group
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) determines that the existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on imports of polyethylene retail carrier bags from six Asian countries will remain in place. -
(ACC Mentioned) Industries Protest EPA’s Approach To Analyzing Chlorinated Paraffin Risks
Apr 13, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad
The chemical industry and downstream users of chlorinated paraffins are protesting EPA’s efforts to assess and manage the risks of medium- and long-chain chlorinated paraffins, arguing that EPA’s approach to the group of chemicals is unorthodox and has ignored long-time users of the chemicals in a program that can lead to regulation. -
(ACC Mentioned) Study Suggests Link Between Fast Food, Phthalate Exposure
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
Consumers who eat more fast food are more likely to be exposed to a common plasticizer known as phthalates, according to research published today. -
(ACC Mentioned) Fast-Food Eaters Have More Industrial Chemicals in Their Bodies
Apr 13, 2016 | Bloomberg
By John Tozzi
People who reported eating fast food in the last 24 hours had elevated levels of some industrial chemicals in their bodies, according to a new analysis of data from federal nutrition surveys. -
(ACC Mentioned) Could Fast Food Expose People to Harmful Chemicals?
Apr 13, 2016 | Health Day
By Dennis Thompson
Eating fast food may expose a person to potentially harmful chemicals known as phthalates, a new study suggests. -
(ACC Mentioned) Fast Food Exposes You to Harmful Chemicals
Apr 13, 2016 | Newsmax Health
Eating fast food may expose a person to potentially harmful chemicals known as phthalates, a new study suggests. -
US EPA to Convene Scientific Public Meeting on TBA and BaP
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has announced an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) public science meeting on 29-30 June, to further discuss the draft toxicological assessments for tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). -
US EPA Issues Snurs for Three Chemicals
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has proposed significant new use rules (Snurs) on three chemicals, which were the subject of pre-manufacture notices. -
US EPA to Step Up Antimicrobial Pesticides Enforcement
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The US EPA has "significant enforcement goals" for antimicrobial pesticides in the coming years, the Chemical Watch Biocides USA conference heard this week in Washington, DC. -
DEHP Medical Exposure Linked to Attention Deficit in Children
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Philip Lightowlers
A group of Belgian researchers has found that critically ill children, treated in hospital intensive care units, are exposed to high levels of DEHP metabolites, which are strongly associated with long-term attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). -
Echa to Host Workshop on New Approach Methodologies
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Philip Lightowlers
Echa will hold a workshop on “new approach methodologies” in regulatory science at its Helsinki headquarters on 20-21 April. Such techniques – including read-across, omics and high throughput screening – have a promising role to play in REACH, CLP and biocides Regulation. -
EPA Says States Can Target Climate Change Despite Utility GHG Rule Stay
Apr 13, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Anthony Lacey
Top EPA officials say that states can pursue strategies to address climate change despite the Supreme Court stay of the agency's power plant greenhouse gas (GHG) rule, though EPA says it will not formally process any compliance plans for the rule during the stay even if states submit them on schedule. -
La.'s Top Environment Official Says 'Sharpen the Pencil'
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Elizabeth Harball
Louisiana's new top environmental regulator believes the Supreme Court stay of U.S. EPA's climate regulation doesn't mean his state should stop planning for federal efforts to reduce carbon emissions. -
State Unveils Strategy to Slash Methane, Heavy Climate Pollutants
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Debra Kahn
California regulators yesterday issued a sweeping plan to deal with some of the biggest contributors to global warming. -
Oil and Gas Bust Takes a Bite Out of Pipeline Boom
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
North American oil and gas companies will need at least 30,000 miles of new pipelines and to invest about $550 billion in infrastructure over the next two decades, according to a new analysis that digs into how lower commodity prices and ongoing economic weakness are stressing the industry. -
Leasing Dispute Spells Trouble for Largest Oil-by-Rail Proposal
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
The rent's due, but tenants Tesoro Corp. and Savage Cos. aren't ready to move in yet. -
Public Health Groups Blast GOP Bill to Delay Ozone Standard
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
A dozen public health groups are denouncing a bill that would delay implementation of U.S. EPA's recently adopted ozone benchmark and revamp the broader framework for reviewing air pollution standards.
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(ACC Mentioned) US Extends Antidumping, Anti-Subsidy Duty on Asian HDPE Bags
Apr 13, 2016 | CCF Group
Story
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) determines that the existing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on imports of polyethylene retail carrier bags from six Asian countries will remain in place.
PE bags from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand are also subject to the taxes for another five years.
The U.S. started to impose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on PE bag imports from Vietnam in 2010 after the first double investigation into products from Vietnam was conducted.
Impacts
- A number of enterprises in the industry said Vietnam has been almost unable to ship PE bags to the U.S. market due to high tariffs. The Vietnam Competition Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade quoted USITC’s conclusion as saying that the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on PE bags imported from Vietnam and the other five markets will continue hitting the local industry, said Vietnam breaking news.
- The plastic bag industry began to focus on cheaper imports at least 15 years ago, when the influx of products from Asia more than doubled from 2001 to 2003, according to Mark Daniels, chairman of the American Progressive Bag Alliance (APBA) industry group, and he also marked that market share was simply shifted to Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
In the US, plastic retail bags accounted for roughly 4% of HDPE production in February, according to data from the American Chemistry Council (ACC). North American retail bag production increased almost 5% in February, but in the first two months this year declined by 3.5% from the same month in 2015. US bag makers have been fighting for survival on two fronts, though, said ICIS.http://www.ccfgroup.com/newscenter/newsview.php?Class_ID=600000&Info_ID=20160413060
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(ACC Mentioned) Industries Protest EPA’s Approach To Analyzing Chlorinated Paraffin Risks
Apr 13, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad
The chemical industry and downstream users of chlorinated paraffins are protesting EPA’s efforts to assess and manage the risks of medium- and long-chain chlorinated paraffins, arguing that EPA’s approach to the group of chemicals is unorthodox and has ignored long-time users of the chemicals in a program that can lead to regulation.
Medium- and long-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs and LCCPs) were among the first handful of chemicals and chemical groups that EPA announced in 2012 would be assessed in its new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) work plan risk assessment program. The program was intended to more strictly apply EPA’s existing TSCA authorities than previous administrations to chemicals that were in the marketplace before TSCA was passed in 1976, while the agency awaits congressional reform of TSCA.
But in 2009, “after more than three decades of regulating chlorinated paraffins under [two Chemical Abstract Service numbers, intended to be unique identifiers for chemicals], EPA suddenly decided that none of the currently manufactured or imported chlorinated paraffin products was properly covered by the existing category descriptions on the TSCA Inventory and therefore these substances must all be treated as new chemicals and go through the premanufacture notice (PMN) process,” according to joint March 18 comments from the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the Chlorinated Paraffins Industry Association, Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association and the Vinyl Institute, among others.
As part of a settlement agreement with EPA, the two domestic manufacturers and importers of MCCPs and LCCPs, Dover and Ineos, now known as INOVYN Americas, Inc., agreed to treat certain MCCPs and LCCPs as “new” chemicals and submit PMNs, which both companies did in 2012, an industry source previously told(/node/188013) Inside EPA.
And in January 2015, “EPA informed the MCCP and LCCP PMN submitters that, based on environmental concerns as detailed in the Risk Assessments . . . it planned to seek to eliminate the manufacture and import of these substances . . . EPA indicated that it may now be seeking a [cessation] date . . . in mid-2017,” ACC and the other trade associations add.
The recent comments come in response to EPA’s Dec. 23 Federal Register notice requesting additional information on seven MCCPs and LCCPs, five of which are based on the PMN information submitted by Dover and INOVYN and two based on PMNs that another company, Qualice, LLC, submitted in 2014.
EPA says in the Federal Register notice that because of the findings of its preliminary risk analyses, that the chemicals could present an unreasonable risk to the environment, it has informed the companies “that it does not believe that manufacture of these PMN substances should commence (Qualice, LLC,) or continue (Dover Chemical and INOVYN Americas, Inc.) absent the development of sufficient information to permit a reasoned evaluation of the environmental effects of the substances . . .”
In the meantime, EPA has dropped the chlorinated paraffins, used primarily in metal working fluids, from its work plan risk assessment program for existing chemicals and is instead assessing the chemicals “as [PMNs] under section 5 of TSCA, rather than as Work Plan chemicals,” according to its website.
Industry Concerns
This decision has raised concerns from associations representing manufacturers and downstream users, as most of the chemicals have been in use for decades. The PMN process requires new chemicals to undergo pre-manufacture review by EPA, which can place restrictions on the chemicals’ use, or bar them from entering the market.
“Industry representatives, Coalition members, and even Members of Congress have requested that EPA reconsider its approach of reviewing and regulating these substances under the TSCA section 5 PMN process given their ongoing use in the U.S.,” ACC and the other associations write in their joint comments. “TSCA is clear that existing substances such as chlorinated paraffins are subject to regulation under section 6. The TSCA Work Plan program is the appropriate mechanism for review and regulation of these chemicals given their history.”
The industry coalition’s comments warn that “it is completely unnecessary and a serious overstep for EPA to seek the cessation of the manufacture and import of these MCCP and LCCP PMN substances . . . Indeed, the complete review of the scientific evidence suggests that EPA has an insufficient legal basis to propose a ban of these substances. MCCPs and LCCPs have been and can continue to be managed by restricting/eliminating existing or future discharge pathways to water using ongoing effective industry practices with discharge restrictions under the existing regulatory framework. Additional research on current levels of MCCPs and LCCPs in the U.S. environment could provide additional information to further refine risk estimates in the Risk Assessments.”
The associations further warn that the MCCP and LCCP risk assessments meet the criteria to be considered highly influential science assessments that must undergo peer review per EPA and the White House Office of Management and Budget’s guidance. This guidance requires that the peer review be undertaken by a panel compliant with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) or by the National Academy of Sciences. EPA has recently announced the first meeting of its new FACA, the Chemical Safety Advisory Committee, designed to peer review the work plan program’s risk assessments. The new committee is scheduled to meet in Washington, D.C., May 24-26 to peer review the agency’s draft work plan assessment of 1-bromopropane.
ACC’s Mike Walls, vice president of regulatory & technical affairs, questioned Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, director of EPA’s toxics office, about the status of the chlorinated paraffins during public remarks at a recent chemical industry conference, noting the associations’ request that the assessment process be moved back to the work plan program.
“We have been reviewing them in the new chemicals space because of the settlements, but we recognize that these are chemicals in use,” Cleland-Hamnett replied during March 23 remarks at the annual GlobalChem conference in Washington, D.C. “As Jim [Jones, EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention] said, a risk assessment is a risk assessment... Actions taken are still … to be determined.”
Downstream Users
The industry coalition’s concerns are seconded by downstream users, particularly groups representing auto makers and the aerospace industry. The Association of Global Automakers, Inc., which represents Aston Martin, Honda, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota, among others, urges EPA to include downstream users as it moves forward.
“EPA’s most recent approach to negotiated or voluntary chemical management excludes participation by many of the potentially impacted sectors. This approach appears to rely solely on EPA’s discussions and negotiations with primary chemical manufacturers, to the exclusion of key input and information from downstream users,” the automakers write in March 23 comments. The group argues that the consequences will be that “EPA places the increased burden of ‘refuting’ misinformation regarding use on processors and users ‘after the fact.’ Lead times negotiated with primary chemical manufacturers are most often inadequate to allow for an orderly transition in the supply chain.”
The automakers press EPA to engage downstream users and provide a five-year phase-out period, explaining that MCCPs and LCCPs “have been used by downstream users, including the automotive industry, for many decades and for a variety of uses. Many of these uses currently have no viable alternative. In order to transition to a new chemical, the manufacturers, processors and users need to identify and test chemicals to ensure performance to federal, state and local mandated standards.”
The Aerospace Industries Association raises similar concerns, noting that while its members continue to search for ongoing uses of the chemicals, they have already identified some uses for which there are no known alternative chemicals. “We believe that alternatives for many of these materials are not possible in all uses and, even when alternatives may exist, reformulation, validation and certification (i.e., via customer specification, Department of Defense or other competent authorities requirements) would be a lengthy multi-year process that would cost U.S. industry billions of dollars,” the group writes in its March 23 comments.
By contrast, the National Tribal Toxics Council (NTTC), raises concerns that EPA’s preliminary risk assessments do not consider the unique risks that the chemicals may pose to Native Americans, as some tribal members consume much more fish than the average American.
“EPA’s assessment only considered risks of fish ingestion at consumption rates assigned to the general population, which led to the conclusion that there were no risks to humans via fish ingestion,” NTTC’s Feb. 22 comments state. “In addition, EPA’s assessment only considered dermal and inhalation exposure risks for industry workers. The assessment did not consider for tribal populations the potential for dermal exposures from contact with contaminated sediment or plants from unique subsistence, cultural, and ceremonial activities, or for inhalation exposures from emissions resulting from open burning of household wastes at rural homes and landfills.”
The council asks EPA to “take a precautionary position and also request that manufacturers supply information on the eventual fate of these chlorinated paraffins compounds in fish tissue, plant tissue, sediments, and particulate deposition . . .”
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/industries-protest-epa%E2%80%99s-approach-analyzing-chlorinated-paraffin-risks
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(ACC Mentioned) Study Suggests Link Between Fast Food, Phthalate Exposure
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
Consumers who eat more fast food are more likely to be exposed to a common plasticizer known as phthalates, according to research published today.
George Washington University scientists found people who reported eating larger quantities of fast food had phthalate levels as much as 40 percent above those of people who ate much less. Meat and grain consumption, the study found, seemed to be the largest contributors to phthalate exposure.
Researchers at GW's Milken Institute School of Public Health also examined whether exposures to bisphenol A were correlated with fast food consumption, but they found no connection.
The findings were published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Although the exposure path isn't certain, phthalates are known to be present in packaging used at fast food restaurants and in plastic materials used to prepare food at the restaurants.
The survey of the eating habits of more than 8,000 people was compared with urine tests that revealed exposure to two phthalates: diethylhexyl phthalate, or DEHP, and diisononyl phthalate, or DINP.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has imposed an interim ban on DINP in children's products and child care materials, while DEHP was permanently banned from the products under the 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
"Our findings raise concerns because phthalates have been linked to a number of serious health problems in children and adults," said Ami Zota, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at GW and the study's lead author.
Industry groups today largely dismissed the study, which was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
In a statement, the American Chemistry Council said the study was of limited use for consumers.
The study didn't establish a link between fast food consumption and exposure to any specific phthalate, the trade group said, nor had the researchers confirmed any were present in specific foods.
"Phthalates have been reviewed and studied by numerous government scientific agencies and regulatory bodies world-wide," the group said. "Their conclusions have been essentially the same each time: that the phthalates in commerce today do not pose a risk to human health at real-life exposure levels."
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/04/13/stories/1060035540
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(ACC Mentioned) Fast-Food Eaters Have More Industrial Chemicals in Their Bodies
Apr 13, 2016 | Bloomberg
By John Tozzi
People who reported eating fast food in the last 24 hours had elevated levels of some industrial chemicals in their bodies, according to a new analysis of data from federal nutrition surveys.
The study is the first broad look at how fast food may expose the public to certain chemicals, called phthalates, that are used to make plastics more flexible and durable. The chemicals, which don’t occur in nature, are common in cosmetics, soap, food packaging, flooring, window blinds, and other consumer products. The Centers for Disease Control says "phthalate exposure is widespread in the U.S. population."
Though the health consequences of encountering these substances aren’t fully known, scientists have increasingly focused on their effects on health and development, particularly for pregnant women and children. Research in rats has shown that they can disrupt the male reproductive system, and there’s evidence for similar effects in humans.
The latest research suggests that fast food is a significant source of the chemicals, which may leach into food from machinery used in processing or packaging, or from gloves worn by workers.
"Right now there are few choices for individuals who are interested in reducing their exposure, and there’s also not very much regulation” of phthalates, said Ami Zota, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. In the U.S., "research happens once they’ve been introduced in commerce, rather than before,” she said.
Zota and colleagues from GW analyzed data from almost 9,000 people who participated in federal nutrition surveys between 2003 and 2010. Participants answered detailed questions about what they ate in the last 24 hours and gave urine samples that were analyzed for byproducts that indicated the presence of three chemicals. The study was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, which is supported by the National Institutes of Health.
For two of the three substances Zota examined—phthalates designated as DEHP and DiNP—there was a significant relationship between fast-food intake and exposure. People who ate more fast food had more evidence of phthalates in their urine. The third chemical they measured was Bisphenol A, or BPA, which is commonly used to line aluminum cans. That wasn't significantly correlated with fast-food intake.
It’s difficult to determine what the health risks of phthalates are. The American Chemistry Council says that they’ve been thoroughly studied and “phthalates used in commercial products do not pose a risk to human health at typical exposure levels.” The Environmental Protection Agency, in a 2012 Phthalates Action Plan, notes that it is "concerned about phthalates because of their toxicity and the evidence of pervasive human and environmental exposure to them."
Japan banned vinyl gloves in food preparation over concerns about DEHP, and the European Union has limited the use of the chemicals in food products and toys. Some phthalates, including DEHP, were restricted in children’s toys in the U.S. by a 2008 law.
The latest study is based on snapshot surveys, rather than following people over time. So it can’t establish that eating fast food caused people to have elevated levels of phthalates, but the association is strong. It also doesn’t tell us anything about the health effects of potential exposure to the chemicals from eating fast food.
The cost of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, a group that includes phthalates, in the EU is estimated to be €163 billion annually, or 1.28 percent of the EU’s gross domestic product, according to a recent paper by Leo Trasande, associate professor of pediatrics, environmental medicine, and population health at NYU School of Medicine. He said the study out today "adds further data to support the notion that people should avoid eating highly processed or highly packaged foods.” That doesn't mean just junk food, he notes. Canned vegetables or organic milk that’s been piped through plastic tubing could carry the same chemical risks. “It’s not fair to say, ‘Oh, these exposures only happen if you eat unhealthy foods.' "
Zota said that for people interested in reducing their exposure, “common-sense approaches will take you a long way. Eat organic when you can. If you can’t still, try to eat fresh vegetables,” she said. "Try to eat low on the food chain."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-13/fast-food-eaters-have-more-industrial-chemicals-in-their-bodies
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(ACC Mentioned) Could Fast Food Expose People to Harmful Chemicals?
Apr 13, 2016 | Health Day
By Dennis Thompson
Eating fast food may expose a person to potentially harmful chemicals known as phthalates, a new study suggests.
People who consumed lots of fast food tended to have levels of phthalates in their urine that were 24 percent to 40 percent higher than people who rarely ate take-out fare, the researchers found.
"We found statistically significant associations between the amount of fast food consumed in the prior 24 hours and the levels of two particular phthalates found in the body," said study author Ami Zota. She is an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, in Washington, D.C.
However, the study did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between fast food and phthalate exposure.
The two phthalates in question are di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DiNP), Zota said. Industries use these chemicals to make plastics flexible, and they can be found in a wide array of food packaging and food-processing machinery.
The U.S. Congress has permanently banned the use of DEHP in children's toys, baby bottles and soothers, and it has temporarily banned DiNP for the same uses, according to the Environmental Working Group. The group is a nonprofit that focuses on environmental health issues.
The bans are based on concerns that phthalates can affect the development of the male reproductive system, Zota said. The chemicals also have been implicated in birth defects, childhood behavioral problems and childhood chronic illnesses, such as asthma.
The two phthalates can get into fast food during the processing of the food, explained Shanna Swan. She is a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science with the department of preventive medicine at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine, in New York City.
The chemicals also can leach into the food from the packaging in which it is stored, both prior to cooking and when it is served, Zota said.
Fast food even can pick up phthalates from the vinyl gloves that restaurant workers wear to prevent food poisoning, Zota added.
"To reduce exposure to phthalates, my recommendation always is to minimize exposure to processed foods, and the ultimate processed food platform is the fast-food restaurant," Swan said. "They don't use anything fresh."
The U.S. National Restaurant Association did not respond to a request for comment on the new findings.
To see whether people who eat fast food have more phthalates in their systems, Zota and her colleagues reviewed data on nearly 8,900 people participating in a regular survey on health and nutrition conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The participants all had answered detailed questions about their diet in the past 24 hours, including consumption of fast food, and provided a urine sample that could be tested for signs of DEHP and DiNP.
Researchers defined fast food as anything obtained from a restaurant without waiter or waitress service, or any type of pizza place. All carryout and delivery foods were also considered fast food.
People were considered heavy fast-food connoisseurs if they obtained more than 35 percent of their daily calories from such sources, Zota said.
Zota and her team found that the more fast food participants in the study ate, the higher their exposure to phthalates.
People with the highest consumption of fast food had 24 percent higher levels of the breakdown product for DEHP in their urine sample. Those same fast-food lovers had nearly 40 percent higher levels of DiNP byproducts in their urine compared to people who reported no fast food in the 24 hours prior to the testing.
Grains and meats most significantly contributed to phthalate exposure, the study reported. Grains include a wide variety of items, such as bread, cake, pizza, burritos, rice dishes and noodles, Zota explained.
But a group that represents the chemical industry took issue with the findings.
"The authors acknowledge that a limitation of the study is that they cannot establish a link between any phthalate exposure and fast-food consumption," Lisa Dry, senior director of product communications at the American Chemistry Council, said in a statement.
"No phthalates were actually measured or confirmed to be present in any foods," Dry added. "Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the last 10 years, the same data on which this study is based, demonstrate that exposure to phthalates from any source is extremely low, including any contribution from fast foods, and significantly lower than acceptable levels as set by regulatory agencies."
Besides phthalates, the researchers also looked for exposure to another chemical found in plastic food packaging -- bisphenol A (BPA). The investigators found no association between fast-food intake and BPA, but people who ate fast-food meat products had higher levels of BPA than people who reported no fast-food consumption.
The findings were published online April 13 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Expectant mothers should limit or eliminate fast food in their diet to prevent phthalates from affecting fetal development, Swan and Zota suggested.
"This is of particular concern for pregnant women, or women who might get pregnant," Swan said. "The risky period seems to be early in pregnancy."
http://consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/food-and-nutrition-news-316/fast-food-linked-to-exposure-to-potentially-harmful-chemicals-709888.html
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(ACC Mentioned) Fast Food Exposes You to Harmful Chemicals
Apr 13, 2016 | Newsmax Health
Eating fast food may expose a person to potentially harmful chemicals known as phthalates, a new study suggests.
People who consumed lots of fast food tended to have levels of phthalates in their urine that were 24 percent to 40 percent higher than people who rarely ate take-out fare, the researchers found.
"We found statistically significant associations between the amount of fast food consumed in the prior 24 hours and the levels of two particular phthalates found in the body," said study author Ami Zota. She is an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, in Washington, D.C.
However, the study did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between fast food and phthalate exposure.
The two phthalates in question are di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DiNP), Zota said. Industries use these chemicals to make plastics flexible, and they can be found in a wide array of food packaging and food-processing machinery.
The U.S. Congress has permanently banned the use of DEHP in children's toys, baby bottles and soothers, and it has temporarily banned DiNP for the same uses, according to the Environmental Working Group. The group is a nonprofit that focuses on environmental health issues.
The bans are based on concerns that phthalates can affect the development of the male reproductive system, Zota said. The chemicals also have been implicated in birth defects, childhood behavioral problems and childhood chronic illnesses, such as asthma.
The two phthalates can get into fast food during the processing of the food, explained Shanna Swan. She is a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science with the department of preventive medicine at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine, in New York City.
The chemicals also can leach into the food from the packaging in which it is stored, both prior to cooking and when it is served, Zota said.
Fast food even can pick up phthalates from the vinyl gloves that restaurant workers wear to prevent food poisoning, Zota added.
"To reduce exposure to phthalates, my recommendation always is to minimize exposure to processed foods, and the ultimate processed food platform is the fast-food restaurant," Swan said. "They don't use anything fresh."
The U.S. National Restaurant Association did not respond to a request for comment on the new findings.To see whether people who eat fast food have more phthalates in their systems, Zota and her colleagues reviewed data on nearly 8,900 people participating in a regular survey on health and nutrition conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The participants all had answered detailed questions about their diet in the past 24 hours, including consumption of fast food, and provided a urine sample that could be tested for signs of DEHP and DiNP.
Researchers defined fast food as anything obtained from a restaurant without waiter or waitress service, or any type of pizza place. All carryout and delivery foods were also considered fast food.
People were considered heavy fast-food connoisseurs if they obtained more than 35 percent of their daily calories from such sources, Zota said.
Zota and her team found that the more fast food participants in the study ate, the higher their exposure to phthalates.
People with the highest consumption of fast food had 24 percent higher levels of the breakdown product for DEHP in their urine sample. Those same fast-food lovers had nearly 40 percent higher levels of DiNP byproducts in their urine compared to people who reported no fast food in the 24 hours prior to the testing.
Grains and meats most significantly contributed to phthalate exposure, the study reported. Grains include a wide variety of items, such as bread, cake, pizza, burritos, rice dishes and noodles, Zota explained.
But a group that represents the chemical industry took issue with the findings.
"The authors acknowledge that a limitation of the study is that they cannot establish a link between any phthalate exposure and fast-food consumption," Lisa Dry, senior director of product communications at the American Chemistry Council, said in a statement.
"No phthalates were actually measured or confirmed to be present in any foods," Dry added. "Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the last 10 years, the same data on which this study is based, demonstrate that exposure to phthalates from any source is extremely low, including any contribution from fast foods, and significantly lower than acceptable levels as set by regulatory agencies."
Besides phthalates, the researchers also looked for exposure to another chemical found in plastic food packaging -- bisphenol A (BPA). The investigators found no association between fast-food intake and BPA, but people who ate fast-food meat products had higher levels of BPA than people who reported no fast-food consumption.
The findings were published online April 13 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
Expectant mothers should limit or eliminate fast food in their diet to prevent phthalates from affecting fetal development, Swan and Zota suggested.
"This is of particular concern for pregnant women, or women who might get pregnant," Swan said. "The risky period seems to be early in pregnancy."http://www.newsmax.com/Health/Health-News/fast-food-chemicals-harmful/2016/04/13/id/723713/
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US EPA to Convene Scientific Public Meeting on TBA and BaP
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has announced an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) public science meeting on 29-30 June, to further discuss the draft toxicological assessments for tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP).
For TBA, the programme has outlined two specific topics for further public discussion. This will help revision of the draft assessment and its submission for peer review. The two areas are:
mode of action for thyroid follicular cell tumours; and
disentangling mechanisms of kidney toxicity and carcinogenicity.
For BaP, it will initiate a discussion on the challenge of estimating the potential risk of human skin cancer, from dermal exposures.
In September 2014, IRIS released a draft assessment that included an approach for estimating this risk. In April 2016, the EPA’s Science Advisory Board Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (SAB CAAC) released their peer-review advice on the 2014 draft. This review recommended that a more coherent, logical structure support the extrapolation of human data from tests performed on mice. They also recommended that skin cancer risk be modelled as a function of absorbed dose rather than applied dose of BaP.
The programme now proposes three science topics for discussion, at the June meeting, to address the SAB CAAC recommendation to obtain a broad range of scientific perspectives on potential approaches. Key science questions for discussion will be:
determining appropriate dose-metrics for expressing absorbed BaP dose;
modelling absorbed dose as a function of exposure parameters; and
scaling absorbed dose between mouse and human skin.
Registration information for this meeting will be made available, in early May.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46470/us-epa-to-convene-scientific-public-meeting-on-tba-and-bap
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US EPA Issues Snurs for Three Chemicals
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has proposed significant new use rules (Snurs) on three chemicals, which were the subject of pre-manufacture notices.
The agency had issued direct final Snurs for the substances last October, but withdrew them, after receiving notices of intent to submit adverse comments. No substantive comments were submitted, however.
The EPA is reproposing them, and awaits the adverse comments, during the open comment period for this proposed rule.
The substances are:
isocyanate prepolymer (generic);
methylene diisocyanate polymer with diols and triols (generic); and
polymer of isophorone diisocyanate and amine-terminated propoxylatedpolyol (generic).
https://chemicalwatch.com/46511/us-epa-issues-snurs-for-three-chemicals
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US EPA to Step Up Antimicrobial Pesticides Enforcement
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The US EPA has "significant enforcement goals" for antimicrobial pesticides in the coming years, the Chemical Watch Biocides USA conference heard this week in Washington, DC.
According to chemical enforcement division associate director, Donald Lott, the agency is adopting an increasingly stringent enforcement programme. The last ten to 15 years have seen more cases resulting in penalties over $1m, and Mr Lott said there are "a lot more of these in the pipeline".
"This is no longer a slap-on-the-wrist type of [enforcement] programme, and industry is taking notice," he said.
For this year and next, the EPA enforcement division has chosen three priority areas:
pesticide imports;
product integrity; and
worker protection.Meanwhile, the EPA aims to progress its "next generation" enforcement tools. These include an import programme that enters notices of arrival in an electronic format, to speed up getting products through customs.
Industry is also increasingly encouraged to take compliance into its own hands, by conducting internal audits. The EPA has introduced an e-disclosure programme. This allows companies to avoid penalties, by self-disclosing violations identified through the audits.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46510/us-epa-to-step-up-antimicrobial-pesticides-enforcement
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DEHP Medical Exposure Linked to Attention Deficit in Children
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Philip Lightowlers
A group of Belgian researchers has found that critically ill children, treated in hospital intensive care units, are exposed to high levels of DEHP metabolites, which are strongly associated with long-term attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The results were presented by lead author, Sören Verstraete, at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston on 1 April.
DEHP is widely used as a plasticiser in medical devices, such as catheters and plastic tubing, Dr Verstraete said, despite widespread controls on its use in toys and other articles.
The use of the devices, containing this phthalate, are “potentially harmful” for brain development and function in critically ill children, he said, adding that the development of safer plasticisers for this purpose is urgently needed.
The scientists found that in a sample of 100 healthy children, DEHP blood plasma metabolite levels were almost undetectable, averaging 0.029 micromoles(μmol) per litre(l). But in 490 critically ill children admitted to intensive care units, metabolite levels averaged 4.41μmol/l – 150 times higher. While in care, the children’s phthalate metabolite levels declined rapidly, although on discharge these still averaged 18 times the normal.
Testing the exposed children four years later, the group found that high DEHP metabolite exposure was significantly and strongly associated with attention deficit and impaired motor coordination. The statistical analyses adjusted for the patients’ initial risk factors that could influence the neurological outcome as well as length of stay, complications and treatments in the intensive care unit.
The scientists also validated this finding in a different group of 221 intensive care patients. They used a statistical analysis to identify a threshold of exposure to DEHP metabolites, above which there was an association with an increase in attention deficit.
“This phthalate exposure explained half of the attention deficit in former intensive care patients,” Dr Verstraete said.
The European Commission's Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (Scenihr) has long recognised that patients’ exposure to DEHP metabolites may exceed safe levels, especially for children and newborns.
However, its opinion rests on the primary concern of potential reproductive toxicity rather than neurocognitive effects.
The Belgian research, undertaken at the Catholic University in Leuven, has also been recently published in the journal Intensive Care Medicine.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46476/dehp-medical-exposure-linked-to-attention-deficit-in-children
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Echa to Host Workshop on New Approach Methodologies
Apr 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Philip Lightowlers
Echa will hold a workshop on “new approach methodologies” in regulatory science at its Helsinki headquarters on 20-21 April. Such techniques – including read-across, omics and high throughput screening – have a promising role to play in REACH, CLP and biocides Regulation.
It is the agency’s annual workshop on topical science, and aims to bring regulators and scientists together to explore how the methodologies can contribute to a better understanding of the way in which chemicals cause adverse effects on human health, and how the new data generated can solve regulatory issues.
Speaking to Chemical Watch ahead of the meeting, Derek Knight, Echa’s senior scientific adviser, said: “It’s the methodology that’s important, the clever way of using new evidence. It’s not one toxicological study that measures a particular hazardous property or perhaps a non-animal replacement for that, but new ways of combining different kinds of techniques, which can be used for better toxicology and to better predict the adverse human health impact of chemicals.”
New approach methodologies, he said, can be better in three ways: by being more accurate in representing human toxicology; cheaper than traditional toxicity studies; and better in avoiding the use of animals in testing.
The workshop is focused on practical science at a regulatory level, Dr Knight emphasised. “We are forcing scientists to answer questions relevant to regulators. We will come to a consensus view that will be published on our website. That can communicate to the research community, and people who fund research, what is actually needed at a practical level.”
The first day will focus on the most practical and short-term aim of improving read-across, an established new approach regulatory technique, where similar chemicals are held to have similar properties.
“But there is often a gap in providing evidence that they really do have similar toxicology,” he said. “The question is: does a subtle difference in structure affect the toxicology? You can split this into does it affect the toxicokinetics – the absorption, the distribution, the metabolism and excretion – and does it affect the toxicodynamics – the effect that a chemical will have at a tissue or organ level.”
Echa is using its read-across assessment framework (Raaf) document as a structured way for examining this kind of evidence. The framework will be used as a vehicle for working out whether new approach methods, in general, can answer these specific questions.
Case studies from the Safety Evaluation Ultimately Replacing Animal Testing (Seurat) project and from BASF research will be examined at the workshop, which could provide tools allowing registrants to prepare better read-across cases, Dr Knight said.
The second day will cover prioritisation of chemicals for testing. New approach methodologies can help in screening and identification of potential human toxicants, for example, in the US Tox21 project.
There will also be a consideration of the longer-term prospects for the methodologies in regulatory science.
The conference will be streamed on the internet. There will also be further coverage on Chemical Watch,following the conference.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46471/echa-to-host-workshop-on-new-approach-methodologies
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EPA Says States Can Target Climate Change Despite Utility GHG Rule Stay
Apr 13, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Anthony Lacey
Top EPA officials say that states can pursue strategies to address climate change despite the Supreme Court stay of the agency's power plant greenhouse gas (GHG) rule, though EPA says it will not formally process any compliance plans for the rule during the stay even if states submit them on schedule.
While EPA will fully comply with the stay, EPA General Counsel Avi Garbow told the Environmental Council of the States' (ECOS) spring meeting here that “the issue of climate change is not stayed” and said the agency will continue to weigh efforts to help reduce GHG emissions, and urged states to do the same.
During an April 12 discussion at the Environmental Council of the States' (ECOS) annual meeting here, some states including California said that they are pushing ahead with a wide range of climate change policies, including crafting a plan to comply with EPA's rule, known as the Clean Power Plan (CPP). Other states said they are either halting all work on the rule entirely, or are weighing unrelated plans to tackle carbon pollution and other emissions.
States are divided over the rule, also known as the existing source performance standards, which the high court halted the agency from implementing while litigation over it is pending (/node/190208) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The rule has divided states, with some backing EPA and others opposing it.
Martha Rudolph, ECOS president and director of environmental programs for Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment, said her state is “definitely in the middle” in that it will not comply with the looming September deadline to submit a CPP compliance plan, but it is weighing policies to curb GHG emissions.
She said her state has already been looking beyond power plants and beyond carbon pollution for ways to improve air quality, but reiterated that “[w]e won't be submitting a plan in September.”
Similarly, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality Director Todd Parfitt said that even though his state has halted work on the CPP, it continues to pursue other options on carbon pollution.
California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Matthew Rodriquez said that his state is pursuing an ambitious range of climate change policies. He questioned EPA's Garbow on whether the agency would formally process a CPP compliance plan if California submits it in September.
“We are not going to take any regulatory activity pursuant to a rule that is stayed,” responded Garbow, saying that EPA will not be issuing formal plan approvals or disapprovals throughout the duration of the stay. He noted that the stay remains in effect until at least the resolution of an expected Supreme Court appeal of whatever the D.C. Circuit decides. The CPP litigation timeline as a result is likely to “carry us through 2017,” he added.
Garbow also noted that EPA “has been very open” that it does not believe the September deadline for submitting a CPP compliance plan is “pertinent for states anymore,” given the stay.
Acting EPA air chief Janet McCabe later said that it is unclear whether the stay will affect the rule's compliance period start date in 2022 and the final compliance deadline in 2030, echoing statements she made to the American Council on Renewable Energy Policy Forum on March 17.
Emissions Reductions
During the stay, EPA will not work on implementing the CPP but will pursue other efforts to help reduce GHGs, including a proposed Clean Energy Incentive Program, which is designed to give states matching compliance credits for renewable deployment and efficiency projects in low-income areas before the rule's compliance period begins. “States have asked for more clarity on that and we have promised it,” Garbow told ECOS.
McCabe said that she hopes states will continue to implement strategies to reduce GHGs -- particularly early actions they were considering -- regardless of the stay. McCabe said that early action to reduce emissions is “good for the climate and good for future compliance with the Clean Power Plan, assuming it is upheld.”
Oral argument is slated for June 2 in the CPP rule suit, known as State of West Virginia, et al. v. EPA, et al., though Garbow noted that there is the potential argument could continue to June 3.
He said that the agency is “quite optimistic” that the D.C. Circuit will ultimately uphold the rule, and cited the extensive public outreach that EPA did in crafting the Clean Power Plan. A “strong” ruling in favor of the rule's legality could help compel new discussions among states and utilities on complying, he added.
In the meantime, he reiterated his suggestion that states continue to look at ways they can reduce GHGs, which prompted a question from Rudolph on how to plan for GHG trading programs during the stay.
“The stay does not prevent any state having a discussion with another state about a putative trading scheme,” Garbow responded, and floated the possibility that EPA could help facilitate such talks.
Several states gave examples of work they are doing to cut GHGs, including Iowa getting at least 40 percent of its power from wind and Maryland weighing options to cut pollution while growing the economy.
At the end of the discussion, Rudolph said, “I think frankly every state is doing something to improve air quality and perhaps the stay allows them to think more creatively and more broadly.”
She added, “We're all looking at what we can do to clean our air and reduce our pollutants,” she said, noting that such an approach aligns with ECOS' new memorandum of understanding with EPA and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials on promoting the link between improving the environment and protecting public health.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-says-states-can-target-climate-change-despite-utility-ghg-rule-stay
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La.'s Top Environment Official Says 'Sharpen the Pencil'
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Elizabeth Harball
Louisiana's new top environmental regulator believes the Supreme Court stay of U.S. EPA's climate regulation doesn't mean his state should stop planning for federal efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
"Some of the coal states are saying, 'Put your pencils down,'" Chuck Carr Brown, secretary of Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality, said in an interview with ClimateWireyesterday at a meeting of the Environmental Council of the States, an association of state environmental agency leaders. "I took this as an opportunity to sharpen the pencil -- to create something that is going to work for the state of Louisiana.
"Regardless what happens, I feel that EPA has already been successful in that now everybody is talking about carbon emissions and addressing them," Brown said, adding later, "I don't think there's anybody out there that doesn't believe climate change is real -- if they do, I don't know where they've been."
Such statements are a big departure from the position Louisiana officials took just months ago under former Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal. Jindal opposed the Clean Power Plan and was among the state leaders threatening to ignore the rule following Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) call to "just say no" to the climate regulation.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, replaced Jindal in January. According to Brown, Louisiana is now working to catch up with other states that began planning for the climate rule after it was finalized last year.
"We've been behind the eight ball," Brown said. "Looking at what Arkansas was doing, they've had at least 10 meetings. And we had zero."
Under the Clean Power Plan, EPA would require the state to cut its emissions rate 29 percent by 2030. Louisiana had its first stakeholder meeting about the Clean Power Plan in March. Brown said the state is now considering whether to hold further meetings on the climate rule.
Brown acknowledged that some industry groups are pressuring his agency to halt planning for the rule. Additionally, Louisiana's Republican leaders remain outspoken opponents of the climate regulation and are unhappy with the state's new course.
"LDEQ is acting against the declared position of the State and the Attorney General to participate in a plan that is designed to shut down affordable, coal-fired electricity throughout Louisiana and shut down coal mines in Mansfield and Red River Parish," Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) said in a statement.
Brown noted that his agency remains involved in the litigation challenging the rule, saying that he and the governor opted not to remove the Department of Environmental Quality from the lawsuit. But they also decided to begin pursuing a "dual path." Before the stay was issued, the Edwards administration planned on filing an initial Clean Power Plan compliance strategy to EPA in September with a request for an extension, Brown said.
Even with the stay in place, Brown argued that it is important for the state to not "get caught flat-footed" should the climate rule be upheld by the Supreme Court, he said.
Any plan Louisiana develops "is going to be right for the state of Louisiana," Brown argued, saying that plan aims to include an "advantageous [carbon] trading component."
Moreover, the regulator said he believes the Clean Power Plan has inherent benefits for his state.
Brown said, "We have an abundance of natural gas. ... We are going to be doing fine, because we are going to be shipping that natural gas to all of the other entities out there as they bridge the gap between where they are and where they are going to be in 2030."
The bulk of Louisiana's power currently comes from natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
"When you start talking to the generators, a lot of them are already taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint," Brown said. "Every one that I have talked to has told me by the time their units reach their useful end of life, they are not going to replace them with coal-burning units -- they are going to replace them with natural gas units."
Brown said Louisiana is now in a position to be a leader among states when it comes to planning for greenhouse gas emissions cuts.
"A lot of folks are looking at what we do in Louisiana," Brown said. "We have a red state and a moderate Democratic governor [and] a new director. If we can get it right, so can everybody else, whatever that plan is."
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/04/13/stories/1060035517
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State Unveils Strategy to Slash Methane, Heavy Climate Pollutants
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Debra Kahn
California regulators yesterday issued a sweeping plan to deal with some of the biggest contributors to global warming.
The California Air Resources Board released a plan to reduce emissions from short-lived climate pollutants 40 to 50 percent by 2030. It targets substances that stay in the atmosphere for a shorter time than carbon dioxide but play an outsized role in short-term warming.
The plan details a host of direct regulations and incentives to reduce the primary short-lived pollutants: methane, carbon-based particulate matter from fires and fluorinated gases. That segment accounted for 42 percent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions in 2013 but was left out of the state's first set of climate regulations.
"These are chemicals which are very effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere," said ARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols. "They represent an opportunity for us to get a quicker start on slowing the advance of global warming, and we think that by organizing our thinking with a focus toward the short-lived climate pollutants, we'll be in a position to buy ourselves some time as we make the transition to a sustainable energy future."
The state envisions reducing methane by 40 percent and fluorinated gases and non-forest black carbon emissions by 50 percent, in line with Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown's executive order last year to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
The downside of dairy
Reductions will come through a number of new regulations, including eliminating food waste in landfills by 2025, requiring oil and natural gas producers to minimize leaks, banning the use of certain gases in new refrigerators and air conditioners, and grant programs to encourage replacement of wood-burning fireplaces with gas versions.
Among the biggest challenges will be to figure out how to reduce emissions from the state's 1.4 million dairy cows -- the largest source of methane in the state, and the biggest source of dairy-related methane in the country. California is subjecting the sector to even more-stringent targets of a 20 percent reduction by 2020, 50 percent by 2025 and 75 percent by 2030.
One of the main tools to control methane is to install digesters at dairies. The devices essentially siphon methane from lagoons of manure and use it to power generators. California is considering a number of efforts to boost their use, including requiring dairies to upgrade their gas into a higher-grade natural gas substitute that can be used as a transportation fuel. The fuel would be eligible to receive credits from the state's low-carbon fuel standard program, as well as the federal renewable fuel standard.
"State agencies, utilities, and other stakeholders need to work immediately to identify and resolve remaining obstacles to connecting distributed electricity with the grid and injecting renewable natural gas into the pipeline," the plan says.
Opposition to digesters
Adding to the challenge is the fact that bringing the sector under direct regulation will eliminate digesters' ability to receive carbon offsets, which they currently are permitted to generate for use in the state's cap-and-trade system.
Nichols said that although the offset revenue stream would eventually end, the prospect of impending regulation could actually spur businesses to reduce methane earlier. "Recognizing that regulation is coming may induce some people to make these investments now in the hope they will be able to recoup more of it more quickly due to offsets," she said.
To nudge industry along, the plan would spend $215 million in proceeds from the state's cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide emissions, in line with the governor's proposed budget for 2016-17. It includes $35 million for dairy digester development, $40 million for black carbon residential woodsmoke reductions, $20 million for hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) reductions from refrigerants, $100 million for waste diversion and $20 million for preserving carbon stocks in soil.
One environmental group yesterday pushed back on the state's plans to expand digester use.
"All these manure-to-energy projects that are being put into place, whether they're digesters or incinerators, really sustain an unsustainable industry," said Scott Edwards, co-director of Food & Water Watch's legal program. "There are so many other problems associated with this highly consolidated mass factory farm approach. When you use digesters as a way to keep that model up and running, it doesn't address all of the other problems we have with water pollution, air impacts, community impacts."
The plan does not deal with the biggest source of black carbon in the state: wildfires. Although fires account for two-thirds of California's black carbon, burning an area the size of Las Vegas on average per year, and are projected to increase along with climate change, wildfires are too unpredictable to assign a carbon target, ARB said.
Instead, the state plans to deal with carbon from wildfires as part of an interagency effort that also includes removing bark beetle-infested trees and requiring utilities to buy electricity made from them (ClimateWire, March 15).
The state plans to hold workshops on the plan released yesterday later this month and in May and to bring it up for a vote this fall. It is accepting public comments through May 26.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/04/13/stories/1060035518
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Oil and Gas Bust Takes a Bite Out of Pipeline Boom
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
North American oil and gas companies will need at least 30,000 miles of new pipelines and to invest about $550 billion in infrastructure over the next two decades, according to a new analysis that digs into how lower commodity prices and ongoing economic weakness are stressing the industry.
"We saw a need to re-examine infrastructure needs in light of significantly lower commodity prices," said Donald Santa, president of the INGAA Foundation, a research organization established by the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America.
"While [exploration and production] activity may dip temporarily because of lower prices, we still will need significant capital investment, particularly in natural gas midstream infrastructure," he added.
The group's study looks at oil and gas industry spending needs for new pipelines, compressor stations, export terminals and other infrastructure for the 20-year period from 2015-2035, and follows on a similar report issued in 2014.
INGAA predicts a range of $471 billion to $621 billion in total midstream infrastructure investment for oil and gas through 2035, coming to about $26 billion a year over two decades.
The study sees 60 percent of spending going to natural gas infrastructure, focused especially on the active Marcellus and Utica shale plays in the Northeast, with oil expenses taking around 30 percent of the pie and natural gas liquids accounting for around 10 percent of expenditures.
Against half a trillion dollars of total expenses, the group sees new integrity management and emissions control technologies that would be introduced in response to environmental and safety concerns as costing a "ballpark" $24 billion through 2035, depending on details like the specific requirements of a newly introduced pipeline safety rule (EnergyWire, March 18).
Among pipeline expenditures, the report showed an increasingly large share of funds going toward compressor equipment as existing pipelines are repurposed by directional changes and other reconfigurations to support new production patterns.
No more U.S. LNG
But as the industry faces the long-term implications of the 2015 price crash, it may have already seen the peak of infrastructure spending, the analysis predicts. The study shows 2016 as the peak year for pipeline build-out through 2035, with the next best years in the rearview mirror in 2010 and 2011.
"While significant, future infrastructure expenditures will be well below recent historical averages," the report notes. Data show the top year for overall capital expenditures for midstream infrastructure as either 2014 or 2016, depending on the accounting method and scenario, dropping down from a peak of more than $50 billion to average around $20 billion in 2020 and falling further from there.
Much of that spending comes in the form of interregional pipeline construction, but the study also notes significant outlays for oil and gas gathering systems, export facilities for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and natural gas liquids, and natural gas pipelines oriented to serving the Mexican export market.
Kevin Petak, one of the report's authors and a vice president of fuel markets analysis with consultancy ICF International, said the study reflects completion of the five LNG export facilities that are currently permitted and in various stages of construction, as well as one medium-sized new facility that would be constructed in Canada. But the analysis envisions no additional U.S. LNG projects moving forward despite a long list of facilities in the early development stages, he said, due to competition from projects elsewhere in the world.
Based on a spending range of $471 billion to $620 billion on infrastructure, the report said the industry's "value added" to the larger North American economy would range from $655 billion to $861 billion, and it would employ between 323,000 and 425,000 people each year.
Rising uncertainty
Unlike previous iterations of the group's infrastructure assessment, this year the study considers two possible scenarios for future growth. The first is a high-growth case in which the economy expands at a "plausibly optimistic" 2.6 percent per year and natural gas use rises to 130 billion cubic feet per day by 2035, with natural gas prices rising from around $2 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) today to a more robust $4 to $5.50 per MMBtu after 2020.
In the group's low-growth case scenario, U.S. gross domestic product grows at just 2 percent annually through 2025 before strengthening. Natural gas prices lag the high-growth case by 15 percent, and oil prices climb more slowly to a long-term level of $75 per barrel.
Of particular significance for the natural gas industry, the low-case scenario includes electric load growth of 0.3 percent per year versus 1 percent per year in the high case. The low case also includes assumption of greater renewables penetration that eat into the share of natural-gas-fired electric power. Neither scenario reflects the requirements of the Clean Power Plan, U.S. EPA's proposal to manage carbon emissions that has been placed on hold as legal challenges are resolved (Clean Power Plan Hub, April 11).
For oil, the low case reflects crude oil and condensate production falling from 13.4 million barrels per day in 2015 to 10.7 million barrels per day in 2035, while the high case shows crude and condensate production roughly flat over the forecast period. Either trajectory would reflect a sharp change from the hard upward path of production over the past five years.
Santa said the introduction of dual scenarios reflects how the natural gas industry has become increasingly tied to two main avenues of future demand growth -- electric power generation and demand from LNG exports -- and faces new uncertainty in its long-term outlook as a result.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/04/13/stories/1060035492
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Leasing Dispute Spells Trouble for Largest Oil-by-Rail Proposal
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
The rent's due, but tenants Tesoro Corp. and Savage Cos. aren't ready to move in yet.
The two companies are eyeing Washington state's Port of Vancouver USA for the biggest crude-by-rail terminal in the nation, capable of transferring 360,000 barrels of oil per day onto tankers bound for coastal refineries.
The Tesoro/Savage joint venture, Vancouver Energy, has stood behind the proposed terminal for nearly three years, riding through a string of fiery oil train derailments and a nosedive in crude prices.
The project is seen as a bellwether for the fate of other crude-by-rail facilities along the West Coast, but its future could hang on a dispute with a landlord.
Staff at Vancouver's port have recommended rejecting a request from Vancouver Energy to modify the terms of its lease, which expires in August unless the firm can complete the Herculean task of getting all its required permits by then.
"We have an obligation to ensure that the properties we manage are returning value to our port and community," said Abbi Russell, communications manager at the port. "We believe the best course of action at this time was to decline the current amendment" to Vancouver Energy's lease.
The joint venture now pays the port $50,000 a month but offered to double that and tweak a few other conditions in order to extend its deadline to obtain permits.
The three commissioners at the port are slated to vote on Vancouver Energy's amendmentFriday.
In a marathon meeting yesterday that had to break for lunch and dinner, the commissioners heard from dozens of community members at turns opposed to the crude-by-rail proposal and eager to see it through.
Opponents urged commissioners to throw out the lease and evict Vancouver Energy outright.
Columbia Riverkeeper called yesterday "the biggest day yet for stopping the largest oil-by-rail facility in North America," and representatives for the environmental group distributed talking points for members of the public to use during yesterday's meeting.
"The oil terminal lease says either party can terminate the lease if Tesoro [Vancouver Energy] fails to obtain all permits by August 1, 2016," the group said in a blog post Monday. "Tesoro failed: it is not on schedule to obtain permits."
For its part, Vancouver Energy has urged the port's commissioners to let the normal energy facility licensing process play out, giving Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) final say on whether the oil-by-rail hub should be built.
"Vancouver Energy is convinced we have a viable project that will receive a positive recommendation from [the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council] and be approved by the governor, and will deliver economic value to the region and provide energy independence by displacing foreign crude that is imported to the West Coast," Vancouver Energy spokeswoman Tina Barbee said in an emailed statement.
She added that the port and Vancouver Energy "have been partners throughout this review" and "share an interest" in the permitting process' completion.
It's one point where port authorities and the would-be terminal operator see eye to eye.
"We want to work in good faith," said Russell, the port's spokesman. "We believe that [the crude-by-rail terminal] can be done safely and in an environmentally responsible way in our community, and we want to continue moving forward."
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/04/13/stories/1060035496
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Public Health Groups Blast GOP Bill to Delay Ozone Standard
Apr 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
A dozen public health groups are denouncing a bill that would delay implementation of U.S. EPA's recently adopted ozone benchmark and revamp the broader framework for reviewing air pollution standards.
The bill, H.R. 4775, is scheduled for a hearing tomorrow morning by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power. It represents "a sweeping attack on lifesaving standards that protect public health from air pollution," the American Lung Association, the March of Dimes and 10 other organizations wrote in a letter sent to subcommittee members today.
"Not only does it delay the long-overdue updated ozone standards and weaken their implementation and enforcement, it also permanently weakens the health protections against many dangerous air pollutants and the scientific basis of Clean Air Act standards," the letter continued.
Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas) introduced the bill last month; its co-sponsors include House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.).
Among other provisions, the measure would push back the deadline for states to make initial attainment recommendations on the new 70 parts per billion (ppb) ambient air quality standard from this fall until 2024. It would also extend the timetable for reviewing the air quality standards for ozone and other "criteria pollutants" from once every five years to once every decade. Five state and regional environmental officials are scheduled to testify at the hearing.
In a statement early this afternoon, Olson labeled allegations that the bill would permanently weaken the Clean Air Act's core health provisions "patently absurd."
"Everyone agrees clean air is important," he said. "My family and I are equally impacted by air quality decisions."
In regard to the concerns about lengthening the review period, he said, EPA did not issue guidance on implementation of the previous 2008 ozone standard until March of last year, with states "only now determining how to comply."
"It's clear the five-year process is simply not working," Olson said.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy set the 70 ppb standard last October, citing fresh scientific evidence on the health effects of ozone, a toxic gas that can irritate lung passageways and aggravate asthma symptoms. The previous standard, set in 2008 during President George W. Bush's administration, had been 75 ppb.
The new benchmark is the target of competing lawsuits filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. An array of business groups charge that the 70 ppb level's stringency is unwarranted; public health and environmental organizations say that it's not strict enough.
All of the suits have been consolidated; the opening round of briefs is due April 22.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/04/13/stories/1060035544
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