Preview Newsletter
AM ACC 4/27/2016
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(ACC Mentioned) CAB Accelerated in April, ACC Says
Apr 26, 2016 | Chemical Engineering
By Scott Jenkins
The Chemical Activity Barometer, a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), expanded 0.6 percent in April, following a revised 0.1 percent increase in March and 0.2 percent decline in February. -
(ACC Mentioned) Sachs Media Wins Pollie Award from Association of Political Consultants
Apr 26, 2016 | Saint Peters' Blog
By Drew Wilson
Sachs Media Group took home a prestigious Pollie Award April 14 from the American Association of Political Consultants at its annual awards conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. -
(ACC Mentioned) Strategy to Prioritize Chemicals for Risk Assessment Proposed
Apr 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Combining data from short, quick toxicity tests with knowledge about biological changes leading to diseases may be a way the Environmental Protection Agency could decide which chemicals to examine for health risks, according to a recent study by a former EPA computational toxicologist. -
EPA, Scientists Discuss Ways to Get Inhalation Safety Data
Apr 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Getting regulatory-required acute inhalation toxicity data from non-animal tests may be possible using approaches regulators now use to apply test data from one species to another species, an Environmental Protection Agency toxicologist said April 26. -
US EPA Issues Significant New Use Rule for TCE (Trichloroethylene) in Consumer Products
Apr 27, 2016 | National Law Review
By Stephen A. Owens
On April 8, 2016, US EPA issued a final significant new use rule (“SNUR”) for trichloroethylene (“TCE”). The TCE SNUR requires anyone manufacturing, importing or processing TCE for use in a consumer product to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing any such manufacturing... -
US EPA to Host Webinars on 2016 Chemical Data Reporting
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA will be holding two chemical data reporting (CDR) webinars. -
US Urges Illinois City to Give Customers Bottled Water
Apr 26, 2016 | AP (In The Washington Post)
By Ryan J. Foley
Federal regulators are recommending that an Illinois city provide bottled water or filters to residents affected by high levels of lead in their drinking water. -
Senate to Pass Energy and Water Bill, Avoid Tough Amendments
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Daily
By George Cahlink
The Senate is expected to approve the $37.5 billion energy and water spending bill later this morning, though the upper chamber will likely dodge contentious amendments on climate change and banning the purchase of heavy water from Iran. -
In Senate Hearing, Experts Warn of Uncertainty Around Oil Prices
Apr 26, 2016 | Fuel Fix
By James Osborne
Oil and gas market experts warned senators Tuesday not to allow the dramatic drop in commodity prices over the past two years to affect U.S. energy policy. -
Growth Powers Natgas, Renewable-Energy Mergers
Apr 27, 2016 | USA Today
By Bill Loveless
The growth in natural-gas and renewable-energy trade in the U.S. is driving mergers and acquisitions to high levels in North America. -
Aftershock in Oklahoma Quake Lawsuit: Producers Seek Dismissal
Apr 26, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Oklahoma producers on Monday fired back at environmental groups in a legal tussle in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, asking for dismissal of a lawsuit over alleged oil/natural gas injection well-induced earthquakes in the state. -
Trash Talk: Is Waste-to-Energy the Next Step in Sustainable Waste Management?
Apr 26, 2016 | Environmental Leader
By Jessica Lyons Hardcastle
Let’s talk trash — or, more specifically, turning waste into energy. -
Safety Bill Still 'Not What I Wanted' -- Top Republican
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Hannah Hess
A top House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican who has threatened to derail the panel's pipeline safety legislation said the latest version of a Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) reauthorization is "better" but still "not what I wanted." -
Cuomo’s Energy Jobs Veto
Apr 27, 2016 | Wall Street Journal
By Editorial Board
Andrew Cuomo is gearing up to prevent any liberal challenge to his re-election campaign in 2018. Having banned hydraulic fracturing, New York’s Governor is now blocking a pipeline to deliver cheap natural gas to New York and New England. -
DiNapoli Wants More Insurance for Oil Trains
Apr 27, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Scott Waldman
New York's oil train operators might have to carry significantly more insurance under a new proposal by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. -
Activists Demand Regional Ban on Oil Trains
Apr 26, 2016 | North Country Public Radio
By Zach Hirsch
Activists in the North Country and Vermont are breathing new life into the campaign against oil trains. -
Revealed: How Native Americans are Backing Hillary over Trump Because They Fear...
Apr 26, 2016 | Daily Mail
By Chris Summers
'If we get a Republican president we will get a pipeline within three weeks,' says Martin Jorgensen, a 91-year-old cattle farmer and bull breeder. -
Water Chief Announces National Action Plan
Apr 26, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Tiffany Stecker
U.S. EPA's top water official announced today the agency was taking steps to develop a national action plan on drinking water, to be released by the end of the year. -
Inhofe, Boxer Go Big on Water Infrastructure in Their Final WRDA
Apr 26, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Annie Snider
Senate leaders are angling to move the most substantive changes to the nation's clean water and drinking water programs in decades on the back of an otherwise sleepy infrastructure bill. -
EPA Regional Haze Rule Revisions Offer Clarity but Could Delay Air Plans
Apr 27, 2016 | InsideEPA
By Stuart Parker
EPA is floating revisions to its 1999 regional haze emissions reduction rule that offer clarity on states' duty to curb haze-forming air pollution and bolster the involvement of federal land managers earlier in the air control planning process... -
Without Change, Cap and Trade is an Illegal Tax
Apr 26, 2016 | Sacramento Bee
By Carson Bruno
A state Senate budget subcommittee has begun hearings on how to spend money collected by the California Air Resources Board from its cap-and-trade auctions. -
Emissions of Businesses' Suppliers May Be Needed: FSB Panel
Apr 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jessica Shankleman
Large businesses will be pressed to reveal the pollution coming from their suppliers and prove their resilience to tightening climate-change regulations under recommendations due to be made later this year by a panel set up by Financial Stability Board Chairman Mark Carney. -
Six Years Later, We’re Still Learning How Badly the BP Spill Damaged the Environment
Apr 27, 2016 | Washington Post
By Brady Dennis
Six years on, scientists are continuing to tally the ecological harms caused by the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Industry and Association News
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(ACC Mentioned) CAB Accelerated in April, ACC Says
Apr 26, 2016 | Chemical Engineering
By Scott Jenkins
The Chemical Activity Barometer, a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), expanded 0.6 percent in April, following a revised 0.1 percent increase in March and 0.2 percent decline in February. All data are measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA). Accounting for adjustments, the CAB remains up 1.8 percent over this time last year, a marked deceleration of activity from one year ago, when the barometer logged a 2.7 percent year-over-year gain from 2014. On an unadjusted basis, the CAB jumped 1.4 percent, following a solid 0.8 percent gain in March.
In April, production-related indicators were positive, with improvement in plastic resins used in packaging and trends in construction-related resins, pigments and related performance chemistry suggesting a housing recovery. Equity prices rebounded significantly in April, joined by a firming in product prices. Inventories and other downstream indicators were positive.
The Chemical Activity Barometer has four primary components, each consisting of a variety of indicators: 1) production; 2) equity prices; 3) product prices; and 4) inventories and other indicators.
The Chemical Activity Barometer is a leading economic indicator derived from a composite index of chemical industry activity. The chemical industry has been found to consistently lead the U.S. economy’s business cycle given its early position in the supply chain, and this barometer can be used to determine turning points and likely trends in the wider economy. Month-to-month movements can be volatile so a three-month moving average of the barometer is provided. This provides a more consistent and illustrative picture of national economic trends.
Applying the CAB back to 1919, it has been shown to provide a lead of two to 14 months, with an average lead of eight months at cycle peaks as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The median lead was also eight months. At business cycle troughs, the CAB leads by one to seven months, with an average lead of four months. The median lead was three months. The CAB is rebased to the average lead (in months) of an average 100 in the base year (the year 2012 was used) of a reference time series. The latter is the Federal Reserve’s Industrial Production Index.
http://www.chemengonline.com/cab-accelerated-in-april-acc-says/?printmode=1
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(ACC Mentioned) Sachs Media Wins Pollie Award from Association of Political Consultants
Apr 26, 2016 | Saint Peters' Blog
By Drew Wilson
Sachs Media Group took home a prestigious Pollie Award April 14 from the American Association of Political Consultants at its annual awards conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The Tallahassee-based public affairs firm won the award for its 2015 “Healthy Pools” campaign, which pulled in organizations including the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the National Swimming Pool Foundation to refute the myth that chlorine in pools turn people’s eyes red. That symptom is instead caused by urine.
“This campaign generated tremendous outcomes for one of our most important clients,” said Michelle Ubben, partner and COO of Sachs Media Group. “We’re immensely honored to receive this award and so proud of our team for the outstanding work they put into this campaign.”
The Sachs campaign received one of only five Pollie Awards handed out by AAPC in 2016. The award, dubbed the “Oscars of political advertising” by Esquire magazine, is the industry’s highest honor bestowed upon political consultants at the national and international level.
The Healthy Pools campaign was developed by Sachs Media Group for the American Chemistry Council. SMG also partnered with the council to develop the “Moms Against Cooties” campaign, which was designed to educate parents on proper cleaning and hygiene habits to help prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses that cause disease.
With the receipt of the 2016 Pollie Award, Sachs Media Group has brought home seven awards for its work with the American Chemistry Council.
http://saintpetersblog.com/sachs-media-group-honored-american-association-political-consultants-pollie-award/
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(ACC Mentioned) Strategy to Prioritize Chemicals for Risk Assessment Proposed
Apr 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Combining data from short, quick toxicity tests with knowledge about biological changes leading to diseases may be a way the Environmental Protection Agency could decide which chemicals to examine for health risks, according to a recent study by a former EPA computational toxicologist.
Former EPA toxicologist Lyle Burgoon, who now directs the bioinformatics and computational toxicology group at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, led a team of government researchers that piloted a strategy to quickly gather information to help EPA sort through the thousands of chemicals in commerce should be priorities for risk assessment.
Burgoon's team described their strategy using a cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, benzo[k]fluoranthene, as a case study in researchpublished online April 18 in the journal Risk Analysis. The journal is published by John Wiley & Sons Inc. for the Society for Risk Analysis.
Richard Becker, senior director of the American Chemistry Council's Science and Research Division, told Bloomberg BNA: “Chemical prioritization is critical to a modernized Toxic Substances Control Act.”
The Senate's Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which would overhaul TSCA, would require the EPA to sort through the chemicals in commerce and decide which are priorities for risk assessment. Formerly numbered S. 697, the bill passed the Senate unanimously as an amendment to H.R. 2576, the House's TSCA Modernization Act.
A chemical prioritization process will help EPA create a clear process so the agency does not waste time and resources evaluating well-understood chemicals, Becker said in an April 26 email.
Novel, Limited Approach
Burgoon's approach is novel, but is limited to one chemical and a few health effects, he said.
The newly published study did not use an approach that would compare predicted health effects with predicted exposures to understand that difference or “margin of exposure,” Becker said.
“We agree with the authors that additional scientific research is needed to develop the high-throughput screening datasets, dose-response modeling and to improve exposure evaluations,” he said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=88319617&vname=dennotallissues&fn=88319617&jd=88319617
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EPA, Scientists Discuss Ways to Get Inhalation Safety Data
Apr 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Getting regulatory-required acute inhalation toxicity data from non-animal tests may be possible using approaches regulators now use to apply test data from one species to another species, an Environmental Protection Agency toxicologist said April 26.
Toxicity testing methods and prediction models used for interspecies extrapolation can provide context to understand the relationship between the dose that caused biological effects in cells and tissues exposed to a chemical and the amount of that chemical in people or animals, said Annie Jarabek, EPA deputy national program director for human health risk assessment.
Marianna Gaca, pre-clinical assessment manager at British American Tobacco, said a combination of cellular, lung-on-a-chip and other in vitro tests in development appear capable of providing some of the safety data traditionally obtained through laboratory animal tests.
Jarabek and Gaca addressed 399 participants from 30 countries that participated April 26 in the second of six webinars in a series called “Alternative Approaches for Acute Inhalation Toxicity to Address Global Regulatory and Non-Regulatory Data Requirements.” The series is coordinated by the National Toxicology Program's Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM), PETA International Science Consortium Ltd., the Dow Chemical Co., the EPA and other organizations.
The series examines test methods that could replace, reduce, or refine the use of animals to identifying chemicals that may cause acute systemic toxicity when inhaled.
Many Applications for Test Data
Conducting an acute inhalation toxicity test according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's guideline costs between $12,000 and $30,000 and requires up to 40 animals, Amy Clippinger, molecular and cellular biologist with the PETA International Science Consortium, told Bloomberg BNA in an April 26 e-mail.
Companies may be required to submit acute inhalation toxicity data to register pesticides in the U.S. and to comply with requirements in the EU's Biocidal Products, Plant Protection Products and REACH regulations.
Acute inhalation toxicity data are used for purposes including:
• classification and labeling of chemicals;
• safety data sheets;
• development of occupational exposure levels; and
• development of emergency response procedures.
Paving Way Towards New Tests
Jarabek said scientists have a wealth of historical information on particle behavior in lungs to draw upon and a growing number of databases and toxicity testing strategies they can use to develop computer-enabled predictions of toxicity from acute inhalation.
Scientists also have a growing understanding of biological changes that occur in cells and tissues that lead to disease, she said.
This range of information helps set the stage to understand how particle deposition in a cell culture or other “dish” relates to internal doses that people could experience, she said.
In vitro tests offer insights as to how different inhaled substances, such as fibers, gases and engineered nanomaterials, could be deposited in different parts of the lung or under different conditions such as hard labor versus desk work and how that may or may not be linked to health concerns, Jarabek said.
The EPA has developed computer-enabled models that take data from animal tests and apply it to people, and it can draw on that experience to use models to add context to in vitro data, she said.
Gaca described a range of in vitro tests, some in early stages of development, that may eventually provide useful information. These include tests using tumor derived cell lines, 3D cell culture tests that mimic cellular complexity and lung-on-a-chip approaches that engineer lung function onto a computer chip.
Computer-Based Models Next
Scientists from the EPA and Dow will discuss computer-based prediction models during the series next session, May 26.
Securing regulatory acceptance of non-animal test data or data generated from tests using fewer animals will be challenging, according to a March 29 presentation from Ian Indans, regulatory scientist with the U.K.'s Chemicals Regulation Directorate. He spoke during the first webinar of the series.
But information from new types of tests can provide useful information for regulations, he said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=88319602&vname=dennotallissues&fn=88319602&jd=88319602
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US EPA Issues Significant New Use Rule for TCE (Trichloroethylene) in Consumer Products
Apr 27, 2016 | National Law Review
By Stephen A. Owens
On April 8, 2016, US EPA issued a final significant new use rule (“SNUR”) for trichloroethylene (“TCE”). The TCE SNUR requires anyone manufacturing, importing or processing TCE for use in a consumer product to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing any such manufacturing, importation or processing. The SNUR expressly exempts the use of TCE in cleaners and solvent degreasers, film cleaners, hoof polishes, lubricants, mirror edge sealants, and pepper spray, however, since EPA determined that these are current ongoing uses and by definition cannot be subject to a SNUR.
TCE is a volatile organic compound (“VOC”) that is classified as a human carcinogen. EPA estimates that 250 million pounds of TCE are either produced or imported into the US annually. TCE is used as a solvent, a refrigerant and in dry cleaning fluid. According to EPA, the vast majority of TCE (approximately 84%) is used in closed systems as an intermediate chemical for manufacturing refrigerant chemicals, with most of the remainder (15%) used as a solvent for metals degreasing. Only a very small percentage of TCE actually ends up in consumer products. EPA’s Work Plan Chemical Risk Assessment for TCE identified degreasers found in some household cleaning products and arts and crafts aerosol sprays as consumer products that contain TCE.
The Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”) authorizes EPA to determine whether the use of a chemical substance is a “significant new use” trigging notification is required. 15 U.S.C. § 2604(a)(2). If EPA determines that the use of a chemical qualifies as a “significant new use” and issues a SNUR, anyone manufacturing, importing or processing the chemical for a commercial purpose must submit a significant new use notice (“SNUN”) to EPA 90 days before they manufacture, import or process the chemical substance for that use. 15 U.S.C. § 2604(a)(1)(B). Comparable to the Pre-Manufacture Notice (“PMN”) requirement under TSCA for new chemicals, the SNUN process gives EPA the opportunity to evaluate a significant new use of an existing chemical (as designated in the SNUR) on a case-by-case basis before the manufacturing, importing or processing of the chemical for the new use begins.
The TCE SNUR is designed to ensure that consumer products with TCE do not enter the marketplace before EPA has an opportunity to review them (except for those uses exempted in the SNUR). The term “consumer product” is defined as “a chemical substance that is directly, or as part of a mixture, sold or made available to consumers for their use in or around a permanent or temporary household or residence, in or around a school, or in recreation.” 40 C.F.R. 721.3. Therefore, except for the uses of TCE expressly excluded from the definition of “significant new use” in the SNUR, all persons involved with the manufacture, importation or processing of consumer products containing TCE must comply with the 90-day notice requirement before commencing any manufacturing, importation or processing.
As a result of the SNUR, except for the uses exempted in the SNUR, persons who import consumer products containing TCE must also comply with TSCA’s certification requirements, which mandate that importers certify that the chemical substance complies with TSCA — including the new TCE SNUR requirements. Likewise, exporters of TCE are now subject to TSCA’s export notification requirements.
The final TCE SNUR will become effective 60 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register. However, the significant new uses of TCE covered by the SNUR are designated as of the date of publication of the proposed rule (August 7, 2015), rather than as of the effective date of the final rule. Consequently, anyone who began commercial manufacture, importation or processing of TCE after August 7, 2015 must cease such activity before the effective date of the final SNUR. To resume their activities, these persons would have to comply with the SNUN requirement. EPA considers any uses that began after the publication of the proposed rule to be new uses. Additionally, EPA has stated that it is initiating rulemakings under TSCA section 6 focused on the current ongoing use of TCE in aerosol degreasers and as a spotting agent at dry cleaning facilities, as well as in vapor degreasing operations. Under TSCA section 6, EPA can take a range of actions if it determines that the use of a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk to human health and the environment, including significantly restricting or banning it. EPA has not issued a TSCA section 6 rule since the decision 25 years ago by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA, 947 F.2d 1201 (5th Cir. 1991) that overturned EPA’s TSCA section 6 rule banning most uses of asbestos.
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-epa-issues-significant-new-use-rule-tce-trichloroethylene-consumer-products
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US EPA to Host Webinars on 2016 Chemical Data Reporting
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA will be holding two chemical data reporting (CDR) webinars. These will take place:
· 4 May, 1–4pm (Eastern daylight time) EDT; and
· 1 June, 1–4pm EDT.
The webinars are to familiarise industry with this year's reporting requirements of the CDR rule. They will demonstrate the use of the current electronic reporting tool, used to complete the online form.
The CDR rule is part of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). It requires manufacturers and importers to report information on the production and use of chemicals, used in large quantities, to the EPA.
The submission period – which happens every four years – runs from 1 June to 30 September.
Webinar information is available on the EPA’s CDR website.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46948/us-epa-to-host-webinars-on-2016-chemical-data-reporting
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US Urges Illinois City to Give Customers Bottled Water
Apr 26, 2016 | AP (In The Washington Post)
By Ryan J. Foley
Federal regulators are recommending that an Illinois city provide bottled water or filters to residents affected by high levels of lead in their drinking water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is also urging Galesburg, Illinois, to pay for additional lead testing for customers who request it and provide more public education about health risks. In addition, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the city to perform a corrosion control study to learn whether specific treatments might better prevent old pipes and plumbing from leaching lead into tap water.
The actions come in response to an investigation published this month by The Associated Press, which found that Galesburg had one of the nation’s most persistent problems of lead in drinking water. An AP analysis of EPA data involving 75,000 water systems found that nearly 1,500 systems serving 3.3 million Americans have exceeded the lead cap of 15 parts per billion at least once in the past three years.
Galesburg’s water has exceeded that level 22 times over the last 25 years, including in the most recent sampling period last fall. Knox County, which is home to Galesburg, has also long struggled with some of the highest rates of childhood lead poisoning in Illinois.
In an April 20 letter to Illinois officials, EPA regional water division director Tinka Hyde said the agency was concerned about the elevated blood lead levels and the city’s history of lead in water. She urged the state to get a commitment from Galesburg, a city of 30,000 located 150 miles southwest of Chicago, to provide bottled water or filters to residents whose homes exceed the federal action-level for lead.
“Otherwise we will consider other options to protect public health,” Hyde wrote.
The EPA has taken several actions to improve the monitoring of lead in drinking water after the crisis in Flint, Michigan, where some children were poisoned when the city shifted to a more corrosive water source.
Galesburg city manager Todd Thompson told the city council in a meeting Monday night that the steps recommended by the EPA would cost about $90,000 to implement. That includes $33,000 for the extra lead testing, $25,000 for certified water filters, $10,500 for bottled water and $10,000 for the corrosion control study.
City aldermen said the lead poisoning rates were unacceptable, but several insisted that there’s no proof their drinking water plays any role in them. Instead, they argued it made more sense to spend money removing lead paint from the city’s old homes, which health officials believe to be the biggest factor in childhood lead poisoning.
Alderman Jeremy Karlin said the city’s response was “in many ways being dictated” by regulators.
But U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat who has been calling on the city to act, said she’s pleased Galesburg leaders are considering the EPA’s recommendations.
Also Tuesday, an Illinois EPA employee was in the city taking water samples at six homes where lead exceeded the federal standard last fall. Spokeswoman Kim Biggs said that move would assure that the samples, typically collected by homeowners, would be professionally drawn.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/us-urges-illinois-city-to-give-customers-bottled-water/2016/04/26/84e80d80-0bee-11e6-bc53-db634ca94a2a_story.html
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Senate to Pass Energy and Water Bill, Avoid Tough Amendments
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Daily
By George Cahlink
The Senate is expected to approve the $37.5 billion energy and water spending bill later this morning, though the upper chamber will likely dodge contentious amendments on climate change and banning the purchase of heavy water from Iran.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) yesterday evening announced a cloture vote would be held at 11 a.m. today to limit debate on the measure and move to final passage. Invoking cloture would require 60 votes, a threshold likely to be reached for the generally bipartisan bill.
Earlier yesterday, the Senate backed two relatively benign amendments boosting wind energy and Western water resources (Greenwire, April 26).
There were expectations that more amendment votes would come, but McConnell adjourned the Senate without any agreements for voting on more amendments.
A late push by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) for a vote on a partisan amendment filed yesterday to ban the United States from buying heavy water from Iran seems to have fallen short.
The Energy Department announced Friday that it would spend $8.6 million to buy 32 tons of heavy water from Iran. The liquid is used in nuclear reactors, but Republicans have criticized the purchase as they have the larger nuclear deal with Iran that would permit the heavy water purchase.
"Regrettably, it's become difficult to separate fact from fiction when it comes to President Obama sidling up to Iran. It seems the president will go to any lengths to protect his nuclear deal," Cotton said in introducing the amendment.
The White House defended the purchase, saying it comes as Iran has been acting to reduce its nuclear stockpile. It also mocked Cotton, who last year led a GOP effort to write to Iranian leaders to say the next president might not enforce the agreement, by suggesting that he "write another letter to the supreme leader" over the heavy water sale.
It is also now unlikely there will be a vote on a bipartisan amendment that says climate change is real and that "human activity contributes to climate change" (E&ENews PM, April 22).
McConnell yesterday moved forward with procedural maneuvers for bringing up the transportation spending bill to the floor. Lawmakers could begin debating it after the energy and water measure passes.
Zika supplemental
Senate negotiators, meanwhile, said they are making headway on what's expected to be a $1 billion-plus emergency spending bill for combating the Zika virus.
"I think there is general willingness from the Senate side to move forward in the foreseeable future," said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the chairman of the Labor, Health, Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, who is the GOP's leader on bipartisan Zika talks.
Senate Democrats back more Zika funding, too, but urged Republicans not to leave for a weeklong break Friday until it's been passed.
They suggested that conservative calls for limiting spending are holding up quick action.
"Republicans are tied in a knot and don't know what to do. So their response has amounted to telling people to buy fly swatters and bug spray," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Blunt acknowledged he does not expect a deal this week. He also said the measure could be attached to an upcoming appropriations bill to help speed its route to the president's desk.
One such measure is the transportation spending bill. If a Zika package were attached, it could help further bolster the usually bipartisan transportation measure in the Senate, though it could complicate the bill's path in the House, where there is conservative resistance to a large expenditure to fight the virus.
"I do believe the best place to deal with this is in the appropriations process," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters yesterday. But, the lawmaker said, he believes the administration already has enough unobligated dollars it can move from other accounts to address Zika through at least the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30.
McCarthy said it was too soon to say if the proposal would require offsets, saying he first needed more details about how any funds would be spent by the administration.
While supplemental spending bills have a history of attracting funding for a range of issues, Democrats say they no longer will press to add aid for the city of Flint, Mich., to the Zika legislation. They say funding for Flint will be considered as part of a broader renewal of the Water Resources Development Act unveiled yesterday (Greenwire, April 26).
Reporter Hannah Hess contributed.
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/04/27/stories/1060036310
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In Senate Hearing, Experts Warn of Uncertainty Around Oil Prices
Apr 26, 2016 | Fuel Fix
By James Osborne
Oil and gas market experts warned senators Tuesday not to allow the dramatic drop in commodity prices over the past two years to affect U.S. energy policy.
From liquefied natural gas terminals to emissions standards on automobiles, the availability of cheap gasoline and natural gas has found its way into a number of policy debates in Washington of late. During a hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, academics and consultants advised decisions on environmental regulations, offshore drilling and other policy must be made independent of the price of gasoline and other fuels.
“While oil prices are low today, it is far from clear they will remain low,” said Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “The oil industry has long known cycles of boom and bust, and there are many factors today that may combine to cause a price spike more quickly than anticipated.”
What might sound like common sense to those who follow the volatile oil and gas markets does not always translate in Washington.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, cited arguments from car manufacturers attempting to slow the roll out of new car efficiency standards. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, described a lack of motivation in Washington to update outdated policies caused at least in part by the current glut of cheap oil.
“We need to provide new access, we need to establish reasonable systems for leasing and development, and we need to reform what is often an overly cumbersome permitting process,” Murkowski said. “We should be tackling this right now, not the next time oil is $100 a barrel.”
For the next couple of years at least, the outlook for oil and natural gas prices remains shaky. Suzanne Minter, manager of oil and gas consulting services at Platts Analytics, said while U.S oil production had fallen since January 2014, in other countries production was actually growing – pumping more oil into an already oversupplied market.
The difference, she said, was that countries like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela relied on oil to fund their national budgets and could not afford to slow production.
“Given the fact that they are currently receiving 25 percent of the revenues per barrel of oil as they were as recently as June 2014, basic math says these countries need to create and sell more volumes at current low prices in order to keep their economies viable” she testified.
Unlike their counterparts abroad, U.S. officials do not have the ability to directly raise and lower oil and natural gas production. Rather the oil and gas companies themselves decide how much to produce, based on current prices, costs and in some part by U.S. policies on everything from the environment to drilling on federal lands and waters.
“The industry plans out 5, 10 15 years based on existing regulations at the time,” said Michael Ratner, specialist in energy policy at the Congressional Research Service.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/04/26/in-senate-hearing-experts-warn-of-uncertainty-around-oil-prices/
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Growth Powers Natgas, Renewable-Energy Mergers
Apr 27, 2016 | USA Today
By Bill Loveless
The growth in natural-gas and renewable-energy trade in the U.S. is driving mergers and acquisitions to high levels in North America.
That includes increasing interest from investors in Canada and other countries in assets in the U.S., where a relatively stable regulatory environment and low interest rates make American pipeline, transmission and distribution companies attractive targets.
A new report from the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers puts the total value of North American power and utilities deals at $41.4 billion in the first quarter of 2016, compared to $11.5 billion in the previous quarter.
“The flows of natural gas in this country are completely changed because of shale gas, and the flows of electricity have changed because of the integration of renewables,” said Jeremy Fago, PwC’s leader for U.S. power and utilities deals.
“A lot of infrastructure investment is needed to support that, not just on the natural-gas-pipeline side but on the electricity-transmission side, too,” Fago said. “And the quickest way to get a foothold on something like that is to leverage existing businesses with portfolios that you can build upon in the future.”
Those trends are clear from a look at the top two deals in PwC’s report:TransCanada Corp.’s plans to acquire Houston-based Columbia Pipeline Group and a bid by Fortis Inc., Canada’s biggest utility owner, for ITC Holdings Corp., a large independent electric transmission company in the U.S.
PwC values the TransCanada offer at more than $13 billion and the Fortis tender at nearly $11.5 billion, accounting for well over half of the value of the top 10 deals cited in the firm’s report for January through March.
“There’s a lot of pension money and investment dollars in Canada looking for a home,” Fago said in an interview. “We continue to see a lot of inbound interest (in U.S. energy assets) because of the opportunity around the U.S., especially when you talk about regulated businesses here. That’s an appealing, stable, predictable cash flow.”
A continuing consolidation of regulated utilities in the U.S. is also evident from the PwC list, with acquiring companies looking to increase their share of revenue from operations whose rates of return are set by state commissions, and thus more reliable. The combinations are especially attractive when they involve gas customers, whose numbers are growing in comparison to electricity customers, whose numbers are stagnant.
Among the Q1 deals are a proposal by Richmond, Va.-based Dominion Resources to buy Questar Corp., a Salt Lake City, Utah-based gas company, for more than $6 billion, and one by Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., a Canadian company, for TheEmpire District Electric Co. in Missouri for $2.4 billion.
Low on the list of Q1 deals are renewable-power acquisitions, which accounted for just 3% of the $41.1 billion in activity value tallied by PwC, down from 8% of the total in the previous quarter.
Fago attributed the decline in activity involving solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy in part to uncertainty over the stability of "yieldco" companies, which bundle renewable-energy assets to generate cash flows.
Such concerns were heightened recently with a bankruptcy filing by solar developer and yieldco operator SunEdison.
Looking ahead, Fago sees a “busy year” for mergers and acquisitions in the North American power sector, “with a lot of consolidation available in the market, especially in some of the natural-gas plays” involving pipelines and local-distribution companies.
PwC’s outlook is shared by other analysts, including rival Ernest & Young.
An upcoming EY report adds up $34 billion in power and utilities deals in theAmericas for Q1 2016, which includes South America and North America. That’s five times the value that the firm attributed to such deals in Q1 2015.
“While large integrated utilities continue to dominate buyers, financial investors are returning after a quiet 2015,” noted the EY report, excerpts of which were provided to USA TODAY. “Infrastructure and pension funds from the U.S., Brazil and Columbia contributed deals worth more than $9 billion, primarily in traditional generation and renewables.”
Matt Rennie, EY’s head of power and utilities transactions, predicts “a really robust year” for transactions in that sector, especially in the U.S.
“The U.S. is such a great investment destination with such quality assets,” Rennie said in an interview. “It’s going to be the beneficiary of a shortage of deals globally.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2016/04/26/growth-powers-natgas-renewable-energy-mergers/83552834/
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Aftershock in Oklahoma Quake Lawsuit: Producers Seek Dismissal
Apr 26, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Oklahoma producers on Monday fired back at environmental groups in a legal tussle in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, asking for dismissal of a lawsuit over alleged oil/natural gas injection well-induced earthquakes in the state.
At issue is a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club (Sierra Club v. Chesapeake Operating LLC, et al.) against four producers to get court-ordered production waste cutbacks as a means of preventing future earthquakes.
Companies like Devon Energy argued that there is no reason to ask the federal court to order drilling operation cutbacks when the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), which already regulates the industry, is on the job and addressing the problem.
Although the state regulatory body and its authority are at the center of this lawsuit, an OCC spokesperson told NGI's Shale Daily that the commission does not comment on lawsuits and would not do so regarding this one. Sierra Club attorneys argue the state regulators are "too intertwined" with the oil/gas industry and, thus, the federal court involvement is needed to fully address the problem.
"The relief [Sierra Club] demands would throw a wrench into the process with no corresponding benefit, since only four of hundreds of saltwater disposal well operators are singled out [in the filing]," said Devon's court filing, contending the OCC has taken the seismic issue very seriously "by vetting each of the named defendants' disposal wells."
The lawsuit would bring the federal court into territory that is expressly reserved to the state as part of what Devon's filing for dismissal called the OCC's "comprehensive regulatory process for wastewater injection permits," noting the state regulators have the primary role under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Last month, the OCC ordered more than 400 wastewater injection wells targeting the Arbuckle Formation to reduce their disposal volumes by 40% below 2014 levels over the next two months (see Shale Daily, March 7).
"[The Sierra Club] pretends that increased seismicity is an overlooked byproduct left unaddressed by Oklahoma authorities, and so asks the court to order Devon and three other producers to reduce immediately and substantially the amount of production wastes they are injecting into saltwater disposal wells to levels that seismologists believe will not cause or contribute to increased earthquake frequency and severity," Devon said in its court filing for dismissal.
Along with Chesapeake and Devon, New Dominion LLC and SandRidge Energy Inc. are named as defendants in the case.
The ongoing legal battle comes at a time when U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers have said that Oklahoma is one of six states at greatest risk for human-induced seismic activity (see Shale Daily, March 28). In both Oklahoma and Texas there have been numerous instances of modest quake activity blamed on drilling waste injection wells, sparking the USGS interest in recent years.
Sierra Club attorneys used the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) as the basis for their lawsuit, but the oil/gas operators' filings countered that wastewater disposal falls under the SDWA jurisdiction as part of the underground injection well permitting process.
RCRA is supposed to be focused on allegations of pollution and contamination, and the Sierra Club lawsuit makes no accusations against the operators in that regard, their attorneys said.
Devon and the other defendant companies in the case also point out that they collectively only account for part of the wastewater injection activity in Oklahoma, and the lawsuit does not include any of those hundreds of other operators.
Late last year, OCC prepared another round actions for halting or curtailing wastewater disposal well operations, following a 4.7-magnitude earthquake -- the second of such magnitude in less than two weeks and tied for third-strongest in state history -- that struck north-central Oklahoma (see Shale Daily, Dec. 2, 2015). So far, the largest earthquake located near several active injection wells registered a 5.6 reading in 2011 near Prague, OK.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/106187-aftershock-in-oklahoma-quake-lawsuit-producers-seek-dismissal
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Trash Talk: Is Waste-to-Energy the Next Step in Sustainable Waste Management?
Apr 26, 2016 | Environmental Leader
By Jessica Lyons Hardcastle
Let’s talk trash — or, more specifically, turning waste into energy.
The US generated about 254 million tons of trash in 2013 and recycled and composted about 87 million tons, or 34 percent, of this material. While more of this could undoubtedly be recovered for recycling, there’s growing interest in diverting other difficult-to-dispose-of waste streams, such as those from agricultural or food production, for example, to energy production.
Twelve US national laboratories are currently working together to develop new technologies that can efficiently produce biofuel from waste streams.
“The idea of using waste as energy source really isn’t new,” says Cynthia Jenks, assistant director of scientific planning and division director for chemical and biological sciences for the Ames Laboratory, on the national laboratory’s website. “For example, some municipal and regional utilities already burn landfill waste as a source for electrical power. But we think there are better, cleaner, and more efficient ways to get at that carbon and use the potential energy from it.”
While waste-to-energy has been slow to take off in the US, it’s big business in Europe, driven largely by EU waste legislation.
It’s also picking up steam in Asia. The Chinese government plans to build 300 waste-to-energy plants over the next three years, including the world’s largest such plant in Shenzhen, which, when it opens in 2020, will burn 5,000 metric tons of trash every day.
The global waste-to-energy market is expected to reach $37.64 billion by 2020 growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.9 percent, up from $25.3 billion in 2013, according to a Grand View Research report.
While Europe was the largest regional market and accounted for 47.6 percent of total market revenue in 2013, Asia Pacific is expected to register highest growth rate over the forecast period and is expected to grow at an estimated compound annual growth rate of 7.5 percent from 2014 to 2020, the report says.
At the end of 2015, the US had 71 waste-to-energy plants that generated electricity in 20 states, with a total generating capacity of 2.3 gigawatts, according to the US Energy Information Administration. More than one-fifth of the nation’s waste-to-energy electricity generation capacity is in Florida. And, in 2015, Florida’s Palm Beach Renewable Energy Facility Number 2 became the first new such plant to come online since 1995 and the largest single waste-to-energy electricity generator in the country.
As communities and companies around the US pursue zero-waste-to-landfill and look for renewable energy sources, Covanta’s chief sustainability officer Paul Gilman expects waste-to-energy to play a larger role in sustainable waste management.
Covanta, which operates 45 waste-to-energy facilities in North America, China and Europe, slashed carbon emissions at its facilities by 18.2 million metric tons in 2014, according its latest sustainability report, while reducing landfill intake by 20.7 million metric tons. Covanta generates energy from waste after all the recyclable materials have been removed. Covanta also works with companies including Subaru and American Airlines to help them achieve zero waste to landfill.
“These companies have found that zero waste to landfill is a theme that really resonates with their client base and so they look to us, especially for hard-to-dispose-of materials like paint sludges that can be used to create energy,” Gilman said in an interview with Environmental Leader.
For example, working with Subaru of Indiana Automotive since 2004, the automaker has reduced the amount of waste per vehicle produced by 53 percent, compared to 2000 levels, and “cut costs to the tune of millions of dollars each year through adoption of the four ‘Rs,’” reduce, reuse, recycle and recover for energy. Subaru ships about 4 percent of its total waste, or 3,000 tons, to Covanta for disposal and energy and metal recovery each year.
“They were aggressive in minimizing their waste and recycling,” Gilman says. “Energy recovery isn’t the biggest part of what they do, for but for them to achieve zero waste to landfill, it was the final piece.”
Proponents like Covanta say burning waste for energy saves money on trash hauling, provides a renewable source of power and is better for the environment than landfills, which produce massive amounts of methane and can leach toxins into the soil and groundwater.
But because the US — unlike European countries — has more land to build new landfills and doesn’t have a federal policy that discourages this, waste-to-energy plants have been slow to grow in the US. “We have no policies or legislation that says let’s achieve more sustainable waste management, let’s minimize our landfills,” Gilman says.
Public opposition to these facilities has also played a role. Opponents including the Sierra Club counter that waste-to-energy plants pollute the air and argue that burning trash should not count as renewable energy. The Sierra Club would not comment on waste-to-energy for this story.
According to the EPA, waste-to-energy plants actually reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere compared to landfilling. The agency estimates these facilitiessave about 1 ton of greenhouse gas emissions per ton of trash burned.
Clean Air Act amendments in 1990 brought waste-to-energy facilities under the purview of the federal air pollution regulation. “Most people who talk about emissions [from waste to energy] are talking about pre-Clean Air Act plants,” Gilman says. “Half a plant today is air pollution technology. I laugh when I hear people in the coal utility business complain about scrubbers — our sector was using this technology in the early ’90s. We are very proud of the story that is emissions reduction for our facilities. When you look at the Clean Air Act’s criteria, we compare on par with natural gas plants.”
As companies and municipalities are under pressure from consumers to set ambitious sustainability goals and reduce or eliminate waste sent to landfills, expect waste-to-energy to pick up steam in the US.
https://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/04/26/trash-talk-is-waste-to-energy-the-next-step-in-sustainable-waste-management/
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Safety Bill Still 'Not What I Wanted' -- Top Republican
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Hannah Hess
A top House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican who has threatened to derail the panel's pipeline safety legislation said the latest version of a Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) reauthorization is "better" but still "not what I wanted."
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) yesterday signaled Section 15, a provision that would provide the Transportation secretary with emergency authority to order operational controls for up to 30 days, remains problematic after weeks of negotiations.
In the six weeks since the Energy and Power Subcommittee approved draft legislation, Democrats and Republicans have tweaked their four-year plan to enhance pipeline oversight (E&E Daily, April 25).
The bill that will be voted on today would mandate minimum safety standards for underground gas storage facilities, expand the definition of "high consequence" areas to include coastal waters and adjacent lands, and give the administrator of PHMSA direct-hire authority to fill critical vacancies.
It also includes new language that allows for expedited judicial review of emergency orders in U.S. District Court, but Barton said last night that the provision "still gives the secretary of Transportation too much power."
Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) convinced critics to put off a number of issues, including concerns about Section 15, until the bill reaches full committee (Greenwire, March 16).
Democrats and Republicans praised the compromise legislation last night.
On Section 15, Whitfield said there were "still a few changes that need to be made to clarify our intent." He also announced a manager's amendment.
The full committee convenes today at 10 a.m. to kick off a two-day markup. H.R. 5050, the "Pipeline Safety Act of 2016," is first on the agenda, according to a Republican spokesman.
Energy lawmakers are working in conjunction with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which advanced its own bill last week (E&ENews PM, April 20).
Barton said he "will continue to listen and to work to see if we could yet strengthen the language."
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/04/27/stories/1060036308
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Apr 27, 2016 | Wall Street Journal
By Editorial Board
Andrew Cuomo is gearing up to prevent any liberal challenge to his re-election campaign in 2018. Having banned hydraulic fracturing, New York’s Governor is now blocking a pipeline to deliver cheap natural gas to New York and New England.
As world leaders celebrated the Paris climate change accord in New York on Friday, Mr. Cuomo made a toast by rejecting a water permit for the 124-mile Constitution natural gas pipeline between eastern Pennsylvania and Albany. He wants to prevent other states from realizing economic benefits that he’s denied New Yorkers.
Shale fracking has driven down natural gas prices and boosted manufacturing in the Midwest and Southeast—domestic production has more than quadrupled since 2009—but limited pipeline capacity has constrained supplies in the Northeast. Consumers compete with power plants for heating fuel in the winter, raising gas and electricity prices.
In 2014 the average retail price of electricity in New York was 16.3 cents per kilowatt hour—fourth highest after Hawaii, Alaska and Connecticut, and 60% more than the national average. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont ranked fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth, respectively.
The Constitution Pipeline promised to deliver enough natural gas from the Marcellus Shale to fuel three million homes in New York and New England. Converting to natural gas from heating oil would save the typical upstate New York homeowner $1,000 per year.
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, a Democrat, advocated the pipeline’s approval to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2014 because of “unprecedented electricity price increases in the coming years” due to natural gas infrastructure constraints. Amphenol Aerospace, a manufacturer, says it stayed in Sidney, New York, only because of assurances from “state officials that they would assist us in bringing natural gas to plant.”
FERC approved the pipeline in 2014, declaring that careful engineering and $26 million in environmental mitigation would reduce any adverse impact to “less than significant levels.” After delaying the pipeline’s water-quality certification for 16 months, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation now says developers haven’t provided “comprehensive and site-specific analysis.”
The developers including Williams and Piedmont Natural Gas dispute the agency’s story, and green groups are taking victory laps. The greens hope that restricting the market for shale gas will limit drilling in the Marcellus.
Constitution plans to appeal in federal court. In addition to abridging due process, the state may be violating the Constitution’s Commerce Clause by unfairly blocking the distribution of Pennsylvania gas throughout the Northeast.
Meantime, Mr. Cuomo announced last week $150 million in new renewable-energy subsidies and $57 million more to “help low-income households reduce utility costs.” The Associated Press also reported last week that the Cuomo administration is crafting a plan to prop up struggling nuclear plants to provide back-up generation for unreliable renewables and prevent thousands of job losses upstate.
Behold Mr. Cuomo’s economic growth strategy: Destroy private high-paying energy and manufacturing jobs. Then create government programs that soak state taxpayers to compensate the victims and subsidize his politically favored industries.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/cuomos-energy-jobs-veto-1461712400
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DiNapoli Wants More Insurance for Oil Trains
Apr 27, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Scott Waldman
New York's oil train operators might have to carry significantly more insurance under a new proposal by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
DiNapoli on Monday sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx asking the Obama administration to do more to protect New York's taxpayers and communities from a potential oil train disaster like those elsewhere around the country.
“The potential for oil train accidents demands that we take every measure to avoid loss of life and financial loss,” DiNapoli said. “A major accident could impose not only tragic human costs, but loss of local jobs and tax revenues.
DiNapoli administers the state oil spill fund, which is funded by oil train operators but capped at $40 million. A major derailment in a populated area — like ones in recent years in Canada, North Dakota and Virginia — could cost billions of dollars, and DiNapoli cautioned that taxpayers could be left on the hook if the train companies are unable to bear the costs.
He argued that oil train operators in New York don't carry adequate insurance. For example, his office noted, CSX is self-insured at $25 million per occurrence of non-catastrophic insurance, such as that caused by a derailment, and $50 million for catastrophes like floods or hurricanes.
The costs of a catastrophic oil train accident would be borne by state taxpayers, First Deputy Comptroller Pete Grannis told POLITICO New York. DiNapoli’s letter seeks to shift that risk back onto the train operators.
“It wouldn’t take a particularly egregious accident to wipe out the oil spill fund, and this is very parochial for New York,” Grannis said. “At that point, there is no resource available, except the state’s general fund, to help communities and people that have been hurt badly by an accident.”
DiNapoli asked the federal government to consider reducing train speeds in more cities, ensure oversight of tracks and cars, improve grade crossings and evaluate state and local emergency response planning. He also proposed that railroads be required to have enough insurance to cover emergency responses.
Oil trains and other trains hauling hazardous materials currently traverse 21 New York counties.
“The increase of crude oil transportation has unfortunately come with devastating consequences in many communities across North America,” said Marcia Bystryn, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, in a statement. “We applaud Comptroller DiNapoli’s efforts to ensure that crude oil transport companies, not taxpayers or local towns and villages, are financially responsible when something goes wrong.”
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2016/04/dinapoli-wants-more-insurance-for-oil-trains-109564
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Activists Demand Regional Ban on Oil Trains
Apr 26, 2016 | North Country Public Radio
By Zach Hirsch
Activists in the North Country and Vermont are breathing new life into the campaign against oil trains.
85 environmental groups, businesses, and elected officials have signed a petition calling for a ban on trains carrying crude oil near Lake Champlain and other ecologically sensitive areas. That would mean changing basic rules about how the rail industry operates in the U.S.
Representatives for the environmental groups gathered near an old rail bridge over the Saranac River in downtown Plattsburgh earlier this month. It’s a place where freight trains cross all the time, carrying crude oil and other hazardous material.
The activists set up a gallery of enlarged photographs showing the fiery scene in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Oil trains there derailed and exploded, killing 47 people in 2013.
Lori Fisher is executive director of the Lake Champlain Committee. She called oil tankers “a ticking time bomb.” “Lac-Megantic, their fishery is devastated. Their community is devastated. It’s not a matter of if, it is a matter of when something like this happens in our backyard,” Fisher said.
Lake Champlain Committee is one of dozens of environmental groups asking federal lawmakers to divert oil by rail traffic away from Lake Champlain, the Adirondacks, and the Hudson River. “They are putting at risk our communities as well as the economy, the ecology, the culture and recreation that is the heart and soul of the communities here,” Fisher said, pointing out that a lot of public tax dollars have been spent trying to restore and protect Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks.
Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation said there isn’t a precedent for a regional ban on oil trains, but he thinks it’s feasible. “And the best way to get at it is through Congress and the regulators,” he said, “and we realize that that’s going to be a difficult challenge. But we feel if we get it out there, and we get a push, we could make traction.”
Activists have been calling for bans on oil trains for years. Past efforts have focused on the DOT-111 tanker cars – the kind of rail car in the Lac-Megantic disaster.
This latest petition is different. They’re not asking Congress to ban a certain kind of rail car; this would be a ban on an entire type of commercial traffic in a specific area.
The thing is, railroads are federally regulated. And rail companies have worked hard to make sure those regulations are consistent and uniform across the country.
Andy Cummings represents Canadian Pacific Railway, which operates tracks throughout the North Country. He said breaking away from that national continuity would set a bad precedent. “If each community gets to decide which products pass through its borders and which can’t, it will become difficult or impossible to deliver these products to destination," Cummings said.
Ed Greenberg, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, said the industry recognizes environmentalists’ concerns. “We don’t take the feedback lightly,” he said. “It is something we take very seriously. And we share that same commitment to safety.”
Right now the U.S. Department of Transportation is in the process of rolling out its new rules for oil trains. Over the next several years, DOT-111’s are being upgraded or replaced with rail cars that are deemed safer.
Just yesterday, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli called on the federal government to strengthen safety measures even further. DiNapoli said rail companies should be required to have better insurance plans for disasters and cleanups. He also suggested the government “consider rerouting trains carrying hazardous materials around population centers.”
But David Thomas, contributing editor with the online journal Railway Age, said it’s unrealistic to talk about regional bans and creating new routes in the state. “The railways would object certainly, they don’t want states becoming regulators. They want to deal with a single regulator and that’s perfectly reasonable,” Thomas said.
Jim Murphy with the National Wildlife Federation said activists are pressing on, and they’re taking it one step at a time. “This is part of a continued effort; it takes persistence.” Murphy sent the petition to eight congressmen and women from the northeast.
In a statement, North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said oil pipelines should be considered as a safe alternative to moving crude oil.
http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/31656/20160427/activists-demand-regional-ban-on-oil-trains
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Revealed: How Native Americans are Backing Hillary over Trump Because They Fear...
Apr 26, 2016 | Daily Mail
By Chris Summers
'If we get a Republican president we will get a pipeline within three weeks,' says Martin Jorgensen, a 91-year-old cattle farmer and bull breeder.
The pipeline in question is known as Keystone XL and would carry Canadian oil from the tar sands of Alberta 1,700 miles across America to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would join up with other pipelines taking it to refineries in Texas and Illinois. Most of it would then be exported.
It would run for a mile under Mr Jorgensen's land near the tiny community of Winner, South Dakota.
It is a hugely divisive issue in Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana and the front-runners for the White House in November's presidential elections are not surprisingly on opposite sides of the fence.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have both said they would give it the go-ahead while Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both promised to uphold the presidential veto which Barack Obama imposed last year.
Sanders won the Democratic primary in Nebraska in March and his more outspoken opposition to Keystone XL is believed to have been a factor.
Nebraska holds its Republican primary on May 10 while South Dakota holds both Republican and Democratic primaries on June 7.
Earlier this year Cruz, who is from oil-loving Texas, said: 'If you’re a Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging Greenpeace activist, you should love the Keystone pipeline.
'The Canadians are not going to leave the tar sands unmolested. They’ll send it to China to be refined there and it will be refined in a much, much dirtier way.'
Trump, being Trump, has dollar signs in his eyes.
He said recently he would give Keystone XL the go-ahead but wanted a 'big, big chunk of the profits, or even ownership rights' for the U.S.
Referring to TransCanada, the company behind the project, he said: 'I want 25 per cent of the deal for the United States. They’re going to make a fortune.'
The discovery of the tar sands deposits has made Canada a net oil exporter and Alberta in particular has seen a major economic boom.
But Alberta is land-locked and getting the oil refined and exported provides a dilemma.
There is an existing Keystone pipeline which delivers up to 590,000 barrels per day to oil refineries in Texas and Illinois.
But Keystone XL would, as its name suggests, be much larger and would have a much greater capacity.
TransCanada is also trying to push through another controversial pipeline, known as Energy East, which would carry oil to Quebec, where it could be refined and exported.
Some oil is transported by rail but in July 2013 an oil train derailed and exploded in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic, killing 47 people.
But while transportation by pipeline may appear safer there are many environmentalists and residents who say the dangers of a leak in Nebraska or South Dakota would be catastrophic.
This is partly because of the Ogallala Aquifer, a natural water table which sits beneath the Great Plains and provides fresh drinking water for 2.3 million people and irrigation for 30% of the farmland in the US.
The aquifer was formed millions of years ago and many opponents of Keystone XL say an oil leak could make the water undrinkable for decades.
Among those who rely on the aquifer are Oglala Lakota Nation, a Native American tribe who live on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.
The Oglala Lakota - better known in days gone by as the Sioux - were once proud warriors. Crazy Horse, who defeated Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, was an Oglala Lakota.
Nowadays they are a pale shadow of their former selves.
Unemployment on the Pine Ridge reservation is 80% and alcoholism is so endemic that liquor has been banned. Even so dozens of drunks from the reservation wander across the border and drink themselves into a stupor in the town of Whiteclay, Nebraska, which has to be one of the saddest places I have ever visited.
Tom Poor Bear, tribal vice president of the Oglala Lakota Nation, told me clean drinking water was one of the few things the white man had not taken away from his people, until now.
Speaking to me in front of a large tribal flag in his office in Pine Ridge, he said: 'There has already been breaks in the pipeline in Canada where it has poisoned the water and killed animals and plants.'
He described the proposed pipeline as being like a 'black snake crawling across America to bring destruction and death'.
Mr Poor Bear says the pipeline will not bring jobs to his people and he says the only people to benefit will be the big oil corporations and the infamous Koch brothers, who not only drill for oil in Alberta but also refine much of it.
The Koch brothers have donated millions of dollars to the Republican Party.
The resentment of the Oglala Lakota has to be put into context.
In 1868 they signed the Fort Laramie Treaty, which set up the Great Sioux Reservation, a vast area covering western South Dakota.
Then in 1874 gold was discovered in the Black Hills (Paha Sapa), which were considered sacred to the Lakota.
The treaty was torn up and the Lakota were shunted into tiny infertile corners of the state, like Pine Ridge.
To rub salt in the wound the faces of four presidents were later carved into Mount Rushmore, deep in the heart of the Black Hills.
Mr Poor Bear voices the anger at the latest incursion that Keystone XL represents: 'If this pipeline becomes a reality it will cause a civil war and not just with the Native Americans but also the white ranchers. People will fight for their lifestyle. Our way of life is under threat again.'
Ford Walks Out, 68, a distant descendant of Crazy Horse, said he believes lobbyists in Washington have 'brainwashed' people into thinking the pipeline is safe.
TransCanada will also pay $3m (£2.11m) a year to each county the pipeline crosses.
His friend, Mona Sue Walks Up, agrees: 'What's $3m a year if your grandchildren have only got polluted water to drink?'
Mona, 70, praises the president's exercise of his power of veto and says: 'Obama is thinking about our people but it makes us sad that Obama's time is nearly up and the Republicans are the rich ones with the money and they will try to get it through.'
Steele City, Nebraska is at the center of this big political showdown but it is a sleepy town with a population of only 84 and there are no protest signs or graffiti to indicate the controversy which surrounds it.
Just outside of town is a pumping station which gives the only clue to the area's importance as a proposed junction on the oil pipeline network.
Don Swett's house overlooks the pumping station and the fields nearby where little TransCanada marker posts indicate 'WARNING - High Pressure Petroleum Pipeline'.
They have had a pipeline in these parts since 2010 and it has ruffled few feathers.
Mr Swett said: 'There wasn't much controversy with the first pipeline and most people in town are probably for the new one. There's certainly nobody that upset about it. I think it's a safer option than the railroad.'
TransCanada says Keystone XL has undergone eight safety reviews and the company points to aquifer experts like James Goecke, who says that even if oil were to leak it would not affect the majority of the Ogallala Aquifer because oil cannot run uphill.
But Hillary Clinton came out against the pipeline last year. She said: 'I oppose it because I don’t think it’s in the best interest of what we need to do to combat climate change.'
That came as no great surprise to Martin Jorgensen, who has little time for Democrats, refers to Obama as 'that damn fool president' and says Hillary would be 'just as bad as he is'.
Mr Jorgensen's father came to South Dakota from Denmark more than 100 years ago and started out as a 'homesteader'.
'Now we farm 20,000 acres and have 5,000 cattle too. We are the biggest bull breeders in America,' he says proudly.
He says the Democrats are opposed to 'progress' and he says: 'There are a hell of a lot of pipelines in the US, both for crude oil and natural gas. They don't create any problems.'
Mr Jorgensen looks at the world much as he views his animals.
The most fertile bulls have the best of everything while those who don't come up with the goods soon find themselves on their way to the abattoir.
Mr Jorgensen claims the local Native American population are workshy and 'want to live on welfare' and he said he had given up on employing them because they were too unreliable.
It remains to be seen whether he will get his wish in November and see a Republican in the White House but if so expect Keystone XL to get the green light within weeks of the inauguration ceremony.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3545526/Native-Americans-prepare-battle-Keystone-XL-oil-pipeline.html
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Water Chief Announces National Action Plan
Apr 26, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Tiffany Stecker
U.S. EPA's top water official announced today the agency was taking steps to develop a national action plan on drinking water, to be released by the end of the year.
EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator Joel Beauvais published a blog post today outlining a "concerted, strategic engagement with key partners and stakeholders" to create a plan to correct drinking water problems around the country.
In addition, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology is undertaking a study of the science and technology needed to prevent drinking water disasters like the current crisis in Flint, Mich.
"Too often, the toughest infrastructure challenges are found in low-income, minority communities -- both large and small -- where inadequate revenue and investment have left many water systems crumbling from age and neglect, and where citizens lack the resources and timely and accurate information about their water quality to do something about it," Beauvais wrote. "These are big challenges and EPA recognizes that no one can tackle them alone."
As part of the agency's outreach, EPA will seek to strengthen implementation of Safe Drinking Water Act regulations, including boosts to transparency. The agency will look for ways to incorporate its environmental justice goals in infrastructure funding, strengthen protections against lead in drinking water and address unregulated contaminants like algae toxins.
The PCAST study will offer recommendations to the federal government, states and cities on how to use science and technology to protect drinking water.
The announcement came this morning, after the Senate unveiled its $9 billion Water Resources Development Act bill, nearly half of which authorizes improvements to clean water and drinking water infrastructure in Flint and elsewhere (Greenwire, April 26).
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2016/04/26/stories/1060036293
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Inhofe, Boxer Go Big on Water Infrastructure in Their Final WRDA
Apr 26, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Annie Snider
Senate leaders are angling to move the most substantive changes to the nation's clean water and drinking water programs in decades on the back of an otherwise sleepy infrastructure bill.
The 271-page Water Resources Development Act unveiled Tuesday represents the most comprehensive congressional response yet to the lead-contamination crisis that has left many residents of the city of Flint, Mich., without safe drinking water for two years and has raised new worries across the nation about the safety of what comes out the tap. It stands as the most likely vehicle to secure federal aid for Flint and other cities to upgrade ailing infrastructure after Michigan's senators gave up on trying to tie it to a bipartisan energy bill that passed last week.
In addition to the Flint deal, Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) included a number of new EPA drinking water programs in their WRDA bill. Among them are a $300 million, five-year grant program to help communities across the country replace lead pipes and a water infrastructure trust fund to bring more money to fixing the country's sewer and pipeline problems. The bill also directs EPA to reevaluate how it decides what upgrades to require of communities with overflowing sewer systems and how itcalculates affordability for ratepayers. And it would authorize a number of regional restoration programs, including ones in the Great Lakes and at Lake Tahoe, and offer a variety of provisions aimed at helping drought-stricken communities boost supplies.
"Christmas came in April," said Patricia Sinicropi, who heads up legislative affairs for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, which has advocated for a number of the changes proposed in the new measure.
The focus on municipal water infrastructure issues represents a major change for a Water Resources Development Act, which typically authorizes Army Corps of Engineers lock, dam, levee and ports projects, while making policy tweaks at the red-tape-laden agency.
But committee staffers say the water infrastructure provisions for programs housed at EPA make sense on the bill.
"In recognition of the work that Sen. Inhofe has done on both Flint and other water infrastructure issues, and considering that this might be one of the last large bills that leaves this committee this year, we felt like it was an important opportunity to take advantage of both," an EPW aide said.
Moreover, this year's WRDA bill offers perhaps the last chance for the two Environment and Public Works Committee leaders to leave their mark on one of the country's most pressing — and bipartisan — environmental and public health issues, after the past few years have brought a series of water contamination problems across the country. Inhofe will be term-limited as the committee's chairman at the end of this year and Boxer is retiring.
Lawmakers are hoping that this year's WRDA will benefit from the same positive, bipartisan energy that carried their 2014 WRDA across the finish line. That bill was so uncontroversial that it cleared the House 417-3, handing a much-needed win to Republican leaders who at the time were desperate to show that they could accomplish something following the disastrous 2013 Tea Party-led government shutdown.
The question now is whether a WRDA bill that is roughly equally split between authorizing routine Army Corps of Engineers projects and new EPA programs can produce the same sort of bipartisan victory that Republican leaders will be thirsty for during the height of a raucous presidential campaign season.
While the measure could buoy Republican senators up for reelection in moderate states like Ohio and Illinois, its more than $9 billion price tag - albeit primarily for authorizations — could worry fiscal conservatives in the midst of campaign season.
And while the 2014 WRDA bill contained something for everyone after seven years of pent-up demand for Army Corps projects, the 2016 measure contains far fewer projects and policy changes.
"Are there good provisions in here? Sure, they’re good. But they’re not earth-shattering. You don’t have the clamor of people how had previously waited 10 years for an authorization," said a waterways industry source who requested anonymity to speak frankly.
After the heavy-lift of passing the 2014 bill, congressional leaders have been eager to return to an every-other-year cycle for WRDA bills, in part so that each one isn't so difficult. But the industry source worried that adding major changes to EPA water programs in the Senate's measure would undercut that goal.
"I’m really afraid it’s going to die under its own weight," the source said.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is scheduled to mark up its measure Thursday, and staffers say they are "bullish" about the odds of getting the bill to the floor— and maybe even through conference — before Congress breaks for its long summer recess.
But the House has yet to unveil its WRDA bill. There, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), who is facing a tough primary challenge Tuesday, has shown less interest in tackling the EPA water infrastructure issues, and suggest his bill would be narrow.
And even if a WRDA bill is passed with the Senate's water infrastructure provisions intact, the measure only authorizes funding for the new programs. It would then be up to appropriators to decide whether to actually provide the money.
Both Republicans and Democrats on the EPW committee have argued that there should be more federal funding for water infrastructure. But EPA's budget is more often a victim of cuts than a recipient of increases. New programs like those proposed in the bill to fund lead pipe replacement and innovative new water technologies, could then be left to compete with existing EPA programs, especially the popular State Revolving Funds. Those funds are the bread and butter of federal support for water infrastructure, but as the largest line item in the agency's budget — at $2.3 billion last year they made up more than a quarter of its funding — are a frequent target for cuts.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2016/04/inhofe-boxer-go-big-on-water-infrastructure-in-their-final-wrda-109534
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EPA Regional Haze Rule Revisions Offer Clarity but Could Delay Air Plans
Apr 27, 2016 | InsideEPA
By Stuart Parker
EPA is floating revisions to its 1999 regional haze emissions reduction rule that offer clarity on states' duty to curb haze-forming air pollution and bolster the involvement of federal land managers earlier in the air control planning process, but the changes could also delay deadlines for crafting air plans and ease states' compliance burdens.
The proposed rule, signed April 25 by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy but not yet published in the Federal Register, outlines long-awaited options for improving the regional haze program. The program requires that states restore visibility in “Class I” areas -- national parks and wilderness areas -- to natural conditions by 2064, but some states have said the rule's complicated requirements have delayed their ability to craft compliance plans.
“EPA is proposing revisions to various requirements of the Regional Haze Rule that will streamline, strengthen, and clarify aspects of the agency’s regional haze program,” the agency says in a fact sheet accompanying the proposal, adding, “these updates will ensure that haze-forming pollution continues to be reduced, while providing states and industry the time, tools, and flexibility they need to meet Clean Air Act requirements.”
EPA plans a public hearing on the proposed rule May 19 at its offices in Washington, D.C., and will take public comment on the proposal for 30 days following its publication in the Register.
The agency has already implemented the first phase of the rule covering haze reduction requirements from 2008 to 2018. States submitted state implementation plans (SIPs) outlining how they will comply, identifying pollution sources eligible for best available retrofit technology (BART), a level of emissions control required for large sources such as power plants. The SIPs defined BART, according to EPA's criteria, but also contained provisions to ensure “reasonable further progress” (RFP) toward meeting the program's long-term goal.
Earlier this year, the agency said that it has recently informally reached out to state air regulators to alert them of its pending work to amend the deadline for the haze SIPs.
In the fact sheet, EPA says it “has consulted widely with states, tribes, federal land managers, and other stakeholders in developing this proposal, which responds to many issues that have arisen throughout the first planning period.”
The next round of haze SIPs, covering the period 2018-2028, will not address the one-time requirement for BART, and will instead focus on RFP. EPA's proposal aims to make demonstrating RFP less onerous for states, while ensuring that states collaborate to address their haze-forming emissions.
Plan Deadlines
EPA in the rule proposes to extend the SIP submittal deadlines for the second planning period from July 31, 2018, to July 31, 2021.
The agency says this will allow states to integrate planning for other federal rules affecting the power sector into their haze planning, including the utility sector air toxics rule, the 2010 national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide, the 2012 annual fine particulate NAAQS, and the Clean Power Plan to curb greenhouse gases from existing power plants.
States should still aim to achieve RFP goals by 2028, even if they submit SIPs later, EPA says.
In the fact sheet, the agency also says it will adjust deadlines for submission of interim progress reports, due mid-way through the existing 10-year planning periods, so that second and subsequent progress reports would be due by January 31, 2025, July 31, 2033, and every 10 years thereafter.
EPA would also “remove the requirement for progress reports to take the form of SIP revisions. States would be required to consult with Federal Land Managers and obtain public comment on their progress reports before submission to the EPA,” according to the fact sheet.
Federal land managers include U.S. National Park Service (NPS) managers who have oversight over Class I areas. They are tasked with making recommendations about a haze rule requirement called Reasonable Attributable Visibility Impairment (RAVI), where land managers identify sources that are impairing visibility in a specific Class I area. Under the proposal, states would have to consult with the managers earlier in the planning process for both SIPs and interim progress reports.
Also, the proposal clarifies the responsibility of states to consult with each other when crafting haze plans, in situations where more than one state contributes to haze problems in any given national park or wilderness area.
Environmentalists' Reaction
The environmental group National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) gave the proposal a mixed reaction, saying in an April 26 statement, “Some of these changes are a step in the right direction and, if adopted, will result in every state being held accountable for achieving steady reductions in park pollution.
“However, other proposed changes would allow known polluters to delay cleaning up their act and set back efforts to clean up the air in national parks for years.”
NPCA welcomes EPA's proposals to provide “greater detail and clarity as to every state's independent responsibility for improving the air quality of park and wilderness areas affected by its pollution sources, regardless of whether the state has these protected places within its borders,” and to require “states to support their haze plans with more robust technical analyses.”
NPCA also praises measures to enhance the role of the NPS and other federal land managers.
However, the group objects to the three-year extension of the deadline for states to submit their SIPs for the second planning period.
An NPCA source also objects to the proposal floating the idea that states might able to delay responding to RAVI recommendations from federal land managers for nearly 10 years, by responding to them in the next 10-year SIP. The proposal also solicits comment on leaving the time to respond at the existing three years.
The source also expresses concern that by accepting interim reports from states that fall short of being formal SIPs, states may escape public notice-and-comment procedures, or input from federal land managers.
In its public statement, NPCA says such non-SIP reporting would risk “weakening the ability of EPA and the public to force corrective action if states fall behind in achieving their pollution reduction obligations.”
Haze Litigation
Environmental groups have sued EPA where regional haze SIPs have either been late or, in advocates' view, inadequate to achieve the necessary pollution cuts.
States have also in several instances sued EPA over what they say are excessively tough measures imposed on them where EPA has disapproved their haze plans and imposed federal plans instead.
Texas, Oklahoma and various industry groups are suing EPA over the agency's imposition of a federal implementation plan in place of their own plans, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and also the 5th and 10th Circuits. The courts are currently trying to establish which venue has jurisdiction to hear the cases.
On balance, the NPCA source says EPA's proposals are positive and are improvements to the existing regional haze rule, providing a “crisper blueprint” for how states should reduce emissions.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-regional-haze-rule-revisions-offer-clarity-could-delay-air-plans
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Without Change, Cap and Trade is an Illegal Tax
Apr 26, 2016 | Sacramento Bee
By Carson Bruno
A state Senate budget subcommittee has begun hearings on how to spend money collected by the California Air Resources Board from its cap-and-trade auctions.
But it is ignoring a fundamental issue: As currently implemented, the law that led to the auctions is likely unconstitutional.
Assembly Bill 32 directs the Air Resources Board to implement policies to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The board chose cap and trade – capping the allowed amount of emissions and selling permits to emit greenhouse gases, which businesses can trade.
But Propositions 13 and 26 require a two-thirds majority for the Legislature to approve new or higher taxes and fees. Whether or not AB 32, which barely passed in 2006, is unconstitutional depends on whether the cap-and-trade revenues constitute either a tax or a fee.
These auction revenues fit the definition of both a tax and fee. They are imposed by a government entity, spent on government activities and are collected in exchange for a transaction – in this case a permit to emit greenhouse gases.
Naturally, the Air Resources Board disagrees, claiming that the revenues are merely a byproduct of its regulatory activities. But AB 32 doesn’t mandate it to use cap and trade, let alone an auction to distribute permits. In fact, half of the permits have been distributed for free and the board may increase the free share to 60 percent.
Between 2012 and 2017, the state will collect $7 billion from cap and trade. This could increase to as much as $45 billion by 2020. And the governor and Legislature have been all too happy to spend that money, with 60 percent going to high-speed rail, affordable housing, intercity rail projects and transit operations and the remaining 40 percent appropriated by the Legislature for whatever it chooses.
Moreover, the Legislative Analyst’s Office has determined that “there is significant uncertainty regarding how much emissions would be reduced” with the proposed auction revenue appropriations.
Sacramento seems unconcerned. The governor continues to make spending proposals, legislators continue to hold appropriation hearings, and the board continues to schedule auctions.
Yet two-thirds of Californians think Sacramento does what is right only some of the time, largely because of runarounds like this. But maybe more important to Sacramento power brokers, ignoring the state constitution could complicate California’s ability to reduce emissions beyond 2020.
The legislative counsel is quite certain that AB 32 is quite explicit that the board only has authority to operate a cap-and-trade scheme through 2020. After that, there is significant legal uncertainty about the further use of AB 32 revenues.
Thus, lawmakers should pass AB 32 with a two-thirds majority to give them and the board flexibility in collecting and spending the revenue. Otherwise, the board should spend the revenues only on administration to run the cap-and-trade system.
Anything else is illegally taxing the people of California.
Carson Bruno is a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University who studies California policy and politics.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article74005247.html
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Emissions of Businesses' Suppliers May Be Needed: FSB Panel
Apr 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jessica Shankleman
Large businesses will be pressed to reveal the pollution coming from their suppliers and prove their resilience to tightening climate-change regulations under recommendations due to be made later this year by a panel set up by Financial Stability Board Chairman Mark Carney.
A consensus is forming among the 24 members of the FSB's Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures that would focus the attention of companies both on their own fossil-fuel emissions and also those of their suppliers, said Michael Wilkins, global head of environmental and climate risk research at Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, who sits on the committee. The panel has its third session in Washington next week.
“There are some unifying themes coming out, like ensuring there is a focus on what is material and relevant in terms of disclosure,” Wilkins said in an interview Tuesday at S&P's offices in Canary Wharf, London's financial district.
Companies increasingly are disclosing the financial risks they face from climate change, but they lack a coherent framework to do so. The FSB task force was established by the Group of 20 nations to draw up guidelines for reporting that would allow investors to compare the performance of different companies on a number of sustainability measures.
Areas to Be Resolved
Certain areas are still up for debate, such as the size of companies covered by the guidelines. Panel members agree that it's also important not to waste the time of investors with extraneous data, he said.
Useful information would include stress tests on how businesses would perform under different scenarios for rising temperature. That's a key concern for insurance companies on the panel, he said. Temperatures warming by just over 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit), would wipe $4.2 trillion off the value of global assets this century, according to research commissioned by U.K. insurer Aviva Plc, which is on the panel.
“The task force is coming at it from a very cold light of day angle,” said Wilkins, adding that the panel members hadn't had many heated debates yet or objections from climate change skeptics. “It's very much the financial side. Are banks going to have to write down their loans? Are those companies going to take bigger losses? Are they going to be downgraded by the ratings agencies?”
A report by S&P showed that extreme storms and floods caused by climate change increases the risk of downgrades of sovereign borrowers by 20 percent. Climate change alone would increase government debt by between slightly more than 4 percent of gross domestic project in Vietnam to 42 percent in the Bahamas, it found.
The task force also believes companies should reveal greenhouse gas pollution in their supply chains—known as Scope 3—as well as their operational emissions, he said. “There seems to be a growing consensus that unless you look at the total sources of carbon then you're not picking up everything.”
Carney named Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News and its parent company Bloomberg LP, to lead the panel. Bloomberg LP is also the parent company of Bloomberg BNA. The panel is due to publish a series of voluntary guidelines at the end of this year.
The guidelines will prompt many companies to change their reporting practices despite being voluntary, predicted Wilkins. “Not to comply with the FSB's recommendations stands out like a sore thumb,” he said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=88319596&vname=dennotallissues&fn=88319596&jd=88319596
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Six Years Later, We’re Still Learning How Badly the BP Spill Damaged the Environment
Apr 27, 2016 | Washington Post
By Brady Dennis
Six years on, scientists are continuing to tally the ecological harms caused by the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The latest glimpse at the ongoing environmental effects of the disaster came in a new report by the conservation and advocacy group Oceana, which compiled the findings of a broad range of studies — primarily from the past two years — examining the aftermath of the spill. The report makes clear that the reach of the disaster, which ranks as one of the costliest environmental catastrophes ever, continues to grow.
Among the effects highlighted in the recent report:
Years after the spill, scientists detected hydrocarbons from the Deepwater Horizon spill in 90 percent of pelican eggs tested in Minnesota — more than 1,000 miles away — where many birds that winter in the Gulf of Mexico spend their summers. In addition, the chemical dispersant used to break up oil in the wake of the spill was found in about 80 percent of the eggs. Researchers say that exposing bird eggs to oil can cause birth defects and premature deaths in offspring. Scientists are continuing to study the problem.
Endangered sea turtles that had migrated to the Gulf from West Africa, South America and elsewhere died as a result of the spill, underscoring the global ripple effects of the disaster. About 75 percent of the sea turtles that died after the Deepwater Horizon spill were Kemp’s ridley sea turtles — among the smallest and most endangered species in the world. Scientists have estimated that four times as many Kemp’s ridley sea turtles died in 2010, about 65,000, than in the year before the oil spill.
Bottlenose dolphins living in Barataria Bay, La. — an area heavily affected by the oil spill — had mortality rates 8 percent higher than dolphin populations elsewhere. But their “reproductive success” dropped a startling 63 percent, according to a team of researchers. “Several years after the spill, pregnant bottlenose dolphins only gave birth to healthy calves 20 percent of the time, compared to 83 percent prior to the oil spill,” the report found.
A long list of fish, from bluefin tuna to sharks to shellfish, were exposed to oil from the spill, with potentially devastating consequences. The Oceana report details varied scientific research that has documented heart failure in juvenile bluefin and yellowfin tuna, as well as hindered swimming ability in juvenile mahi-mahi fish caused by gill tissue damage. “The consistency of serious negative effects in embryonic heart development in tuna species indicates that many other large fish species spawning at the same time in the oiled areas also faced high rates of juvenile mortality, including swordfish and billfish,” the report states.
A separate report released this month by Florida International University’s Southeast Environmental Research Center found while crude oil alone didn’t cause significant harm to moon jellyfish — a species commonly found in the Gulf of Mexico where the spill occurred — the chemical used to disperse oil following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused changes in the color of jellyfish, irregularities in their bell shape and even death. “The use of dispersant in response to an oil spill is generally regarded as the best option to reduce biological impact and protect shoreline habitats, but it comes with trade-offs,” Gary Rand, co-author of that study, said in a statement.
The Oceana report, which also details the ongoing human, economic and environmental fallout from the 2010 oil spill, comes amid additional finding that said far more coastline was affected by the catastrophe than experts initially thought. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with several private research companies,recently reported finding oil along more than 1,300 miles of shoreline (out of 5,930 miles surveyed) after the spill. The area spanned numerous states, from Texas to Florida.
The recent findings also seem largely in line with a massive damage assessment published by the federal government earlier this year.
“Unprecedented in both scope and nature, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The spill dealt a heavy blow to the Gulf Coast region natural resources and its natural resource-dependent economy,” the assessment found. “The oil came into contact with and injured natural resources as diverse as deep-sea coral, fish and shellfish, productive wetland habitats, sandy beaches, birds, endangered sea turtles, and protected marine life. The oil spill prevented people from fishing, going to the beach, and enjoying their typical recreational activities along the Gulf of Mexico. 1 Extensive response actions, including cleanup activities and actions to try to prevent the oil from reaching sensitive resources, were undertaken to try to reduce harm to people and the environment. However, many of these response actions had collateral impacts on the environment.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/04/26/six-years-later-were-still-learning-how-badly-the-bp-spill-damaged-the-environment/
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