Preview Newsletter
PM 4/27/2016
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(ACC Mentioned) Labor and Management Develop Some Chemistry
Apr 27, 2016 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Cal Dooley and Sean McGarvey
Sparks are flying between the chemical industry and organized construction labor -- two groups which, by working together, could have a major impact on economic growth and job creation in our country. -
(ACC Mentioned) Food Firms Respond to NGOs' Call for BPA Phase-Out
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Some brands, named in a recent NGO report on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in canned foods, are moving away from the substance – but a lack of supply of alternative packaging is slowing progress. -
Potency Has No Role in Identifying EDCs, Experts Suggest
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
Potency should not be used to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), according to experts from Europe and the US, led by Rémy Slama from the Institut Albert Bonniot in Grenoble, and including Andreas Kortenkamp from Brunel University. -
Groups Push Cosmetics Maker to Dump Fragrance Substance
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
A commonly used fragrance chemical may pose a threat to human health and the environment, two advocacy groups said yesterday. -
Walmart Reduces Chemicals of High Concern by 95%
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Walmart has announced a 95% by weight reduction of “high priority chemicals” from certain products sold in US locations, according to its latest global responsibility report. -
OECD Approves h-CLAT Test for Skin Sensitisation
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The OECD working group of the national coordinators of the test guidelines programme (WNT) has approved the human cell line activation test (h-CLAT) for skin sensitisation. -
States Still Thinking About CO2 Cuts Regardless of Rule Status
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Emily Holden
Energy and environment officials from around the country are still considering opportunities to cut greenhouse gases from the electricity sector, regardless of the legal status of the Clean Power Plan. -
Obama Drilling Plan Called 'Troubling' Job Killer
Apr 26, 2016 | Washington Examiner (In Real Clear Energy)
By John Siciliano
The Obama administration's latest five-year offshore oil and gas plan is worrying industry groups representing some of the largest segments of job creation and investment in the country, as the Interior Department holds its last public meeting on the plan... -
EPA Offers No Timetable for Methane Rule at Current Drilling Sites
Apr 27, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
A top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official said regulations on methane leaks from new oil and gas well is coming “soon,” but sidestepped questions on when a similar rule for existing wells will come out. -
Democrats Successfully Block Cloture on Energy and Water Bill
Apr 27, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Darius Dixon
Senate Democrats today filibustered the energy and water spending bill to prevent a potential vote on a Republican amendment related to Iran. -
Cuomo’s Pipeline Decision May Have Ripple Effects for Energy Policy
Apr 27, 2016 | Politico New York
By Scott Waldman
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration chose Earth Day, April 22, to reject the proposed Constitution pipeline, which would have carried natural gas from Pennsylvania through portions of upstate. -
EPA Sends Clean Energy Incentive Program to OMB for Review
Apr 27, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is now reviewing EPA’s proposed early-action incentive program under the Clean Power Plan. -
Advocates' Air Permit Suit Ramps Up Attack On California Crude Oil Facility
Apr 27, 2016 | InsideEPA
Environmentalists are suing EPA for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act by failing to review an air permit for a controversial proposed California crude oil refinery and rail terminal facility issued by the state's San Joaquin Valley air district... -
Pipeline Safety Agency Plans Public Meeting as Part of Rule Update
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
The Transportation Department will convene a workshop in May to discuss future changes to the safety rules surrounding liquefied natural gas, the agency announced yesterday, in an update geared to address a new generation of LNG plants. -
Hurdles Ahead as Committee Advances Safety Bill
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Hess
After the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved pipeline safety legislation this morning, Republicans hope to work with their colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure panel to make the legislation... -
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton Appoints State Rail Director
Apr 27, 2016 | Minneapolis Star Tribune
By Maya Rao
Gov. Mark Dayton has appointed Alene Tchourumoff to serve as the state’s rail director, a role newly created to increase Minnesota’s oversight of the Bakken oil trains rumbling within a half-mile of 326,000 residents. -
Texas Industries Spewed 68M Pounds of Excess Pollutants in 2015
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Texas refineries and other industrial sites last year released tens of millions of pounds of benzene, hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous air pollutants above permitted levels because of maintenance activities and equipment breakdowns...
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(ACC Mentioned) Labor and Management Develop Some Chemistry
Apr 27, 2016 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Cal Dooley and Sean McGarvey
Sparks are flying between the chemical industry and organized construction labor -- two groups which, by working together, could have a major impact on economic growth and job creation in our country.
The good news is that these sparks aren't the result of labor discord. Rather, they're signs of a partnership being forged between industry and labor -- one that's all too rare in today's hyper-partisan political and economic environment.The two groups are working together to grow the U.S. chemical sector -- and create more secure, well-paying middle-class jobs in the process. The partnership could emerge as a model for reviving other American industries and ending the years of economic stagnation that so many workers have endured through a slow, anemic recovery from the Great Recession.
Federal officials say that the U.S. economy began its recovery nearly seven years ago, in June 2009. For millions of American workers, that finding rings hollow. The percentage of people participating in the labor force has hovered below 63 percent for nearly two years. That's well below pre-recession levels.
Upwards of 50 percent of American workers have endured a decade of "depressed employment." After taking inflation into account, the middle class has seen its income drop more than 7 percent over the last decade and a half.
Fortunately, there are several bright spots in our economy that can help to arrest this decline -- and deliver the middle-class recovery our country has been waiting for.
Take the chemical industry. This $800 billion sector already supports nearly 6 million American jobs, both directly and throughout the supply chain. Chemical firms serve as the foundation of the manufacturing sector -- creating the building blocks for 96 percent of domestic manufactured goods.
Thanks to the shale-energy boom, American Chemistry is growing. Natural gas and natural gas liquids from shale formations are supplying chemical firms with abundant, affordable energy and the raw materials needed to create chemical products that are integral to countless finished products. America's chemical industry has swiftly transitioned from the world's high-cost producer to among the lowest-cost producers today. Because of this competitive advantage, so far $164 billion in new chemical industry investment is completed, planned or underway in the United States.
That investment is creating jobs -- especially for middle-class Americans.
New chemical facilities and capacity expansions are generating jobs for skilled craft construction professionals, as well as process engineers, and project managers. All told, chemical companies are expected to either directly or indirectly create 465,000 new jobs by 2023, thanks to the shale boom.
That's especially good news for highly skilled blue-collar workers. Over the next three years, Houston's petrochemical and construction industries alone will need 60,000 skilled craft professionals. Those who fill these jobs can expect double or triple the minimum wage.
But the chemical industry can't fill the tens of thousands of construction jobs it's creating on its own. That's where organized labor comes in.
Skilled craft construction openings will account for almost 40 percent of all job growth in the coming years. Businesses need workers to fill those positions. And construction unions have decades of experience recruiting and training people for careers in the skilled trades -- including women, communities of color, and military veterans -- at no cost to taxpayers.
Indeed, North America's Building Trades Unions, along with their contractor partners, operate 1,600 privately funded, cutting-edge apprenticeship training centers nationwide. It is an investment that exceeds $1 billion per year.
So, an industry-labor partnership makes perfect sense to keep this economic momentum going.
That's the main inspiration for the Chemical Industry Labor-Management Committee. The alliance is chaired by the American Chemistry Council, an industry group representing the country's leading chemistry companies, and North America's Building Trades Unions, a group of 14 building and construction trade unions.
The new partnership will advocate for policies that spur the kinds of industry investment and innovation that allow companies to create well-paid, middle-class jobs. For the partnership to succeed, it won't be necessary to agree on every issue. This partnership is based on frank and open exchange in an atmosphere of mutual respect, and a strongly shared commitment to investment and job creation in America.
Such objectives are worthwhile in their own right. But more broadly, the committee's strategy for achieving these goals -- a true partnership between industry and labor -- could offer a new model for labor relations in the United States. It's an approach that recognizes the enormous benefits that can be created for working Americans when unlikely political partners decide to collaborate.Dooley is the President and CEO of the American Chemistry Council and McGarvey is President of North America's Building Trades Unions.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/labor/276846-labor-and-management-develop-some-chemistry
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(ACC Mentioned) Food Firms Respond to NGOs' Call for BPA Phase-Out
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Some brands, named in a recent NGO report on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in canned foods, are moving away from the substance – but a lack of supply of alternative packaging is slowing progress.
In the report, the six NGOs call for food retailers to eliminate BPA from all food packaging, and label all chemicals used in can liners.
Chemical Watch asked Del Monte, General Mills, Walmart, Target, Campbell’s and Kroger for a response to the call.
Del Monte – which was reported to have BPA in 71% of its sampled products – told Chemical Watch that because the report is based on data from last October it does not reflect the “current status” of its use of BPA can linings, nor the company’s commitment to move to non-BPA packaging.
Scott Butler, vice president of research and development, said the company began to move to BPA-free linings in 2009 and all fruit and tomato product cans will move to non-BPA linings this year.
Shortly before the report's launch, Campbell Soup Company announced plans to phase out BPA from its cans by mid-2017.
It said it began to ship cans lined with acrylic or polyester materials last month, and hopes to have 75% of its soups in non-BPA containers by December.
However, the Breast Cancer Fund, one of the NGOs behind the report, questioned whether Campbell's will act on its pledge, saying it made a similar commitment in 2012.
Substitution challenges
Campbell's said in a blog post that the switch is “taking longer than anticipated”. It attributed the delays to:
· technical challenges of converting to new materials;
· balancing the investment in transitioning against other “financial priorities”; and
· the “enormity of the task” to change the linings in close to two billion cans shipped annually, and used for 600 food recipes.
Soup firm Progresso, a subsidiary of food giant General Mills, said it is still testing potential BPA-free materials and once a “viable” option becomes available, it will decide "what makes sense” for its customers.
Whole Foods Markets – which the report named as the retailer that “has clearly adopted the strongest policy” on BPA – said that it is working to move to BPA-free packaging. However, with “every other manufacturer" doing the same, supplies are limited.
It “hopes” that with the rise in demand for alternatives, companies will be encouraged to increase production of the alternate materials.
A Walmart spokesperson said the company has not yet read the report and so could not comment. Kroger and Target did not reply to a request for comment by the time of publishing.
Science and regulatory action
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) said the move away from BPA is a response to consumer and NGO pressure, rather than concern over its safety.
“It is a scientific fact that exposure to BPA from canned food, and all other sources combined, is very low, and well within safety standards,” it said
BPA has recently received significant attention from US state authorities and EU member states, with some adopting regulatory measures and others pushing for them.
Last week, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (Oehha) finalised its emergency regulation, regarding warning of exposure to BPA from canned and bottled foods and beverages under Proposition 65.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46348/food-firms-respond-to-ngos-call-for-bpa-phase-out
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Potency Has No Role in Identifying EDCs, Experts Suggest
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
Potency should not be used to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), according to experts from Europe and the US, led by Rémy Slama from the Institut Albert Bonniot in Grenoble, and including Andreas Kortenkamp from Brunel University.
“The (vague) notion of potency” is meaningless on its own, if exposure is ignored, and should not be used to identify hazards, they suggest.
Three of the authors – Professor Kortenkamp, Dr Slama and Thomas Zoeller from the University of Massachusetts – were also present at a recent German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) meeting, which produced a “breakthrough” consensus statement on identifying EDCs. The statement has not yet been published but is also expected to state that potency is not applicable.
In an article in Environmental Health Perspectives, the experts address the scientific relevance of the European Commission's four policy options for identifying the chemicals, as outlined in its 2014 roadmap, stating a clear preference for option three.
The roadmap's first option consists of no policy change and no specification of criteria. Options two to four all rely on the World Health Organization (WHO) definition, with option four including potency as an element of hazard characterisation.
Only options two and three “comply with science”, suggest the experts, who favour option three, partly because it includes identification of suspected EDCs.
“As is common practice for carcinogens, a multi-level classification of endocrine disruptors based on the WHO definition, and not considering potency, would be relevant (corresponding to option three proposed by the Commission),” write the scientists.
Option three is similar to the Commission's original proposals on EDC identification, which were issued back in 2012.
They point to the fact that potency is not well defined and suggest that using it as a criterion for hazard identification would lead to “difficulties”.
First, a potency concept is not suited to compounds showing a non-monotonic dose response, they write. Second, using it as a decision criterion could lead to regulatory cut-off values that are “not science-based”. In addition, dose-response functions, used to define potency, need to be interpreted in relation to exposure, they add. For example, frequent exposure to low potency chemicals may pose a greater risk than lower exposure to more potent compounds.
The authors describe the EU's three categories for carcinogenic substances (1A, 1B and 2), with category 2 for suspected carcinogens. The fact that policy option two does not cover suspected EDCs means that it would run counter to the policy choice to consider EDCs as being “of equivalent concern” to carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxicants, they write.
The scientists are also clear that the Commission's ongoing impact assessment of the policy options “should not be used to guide scientific criteria”.
“There is no scientific or public health justification for the delay in the adoption of scientific criteria for endocrine disruptors,” they conclude.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46961/potency-has-no-role-in-identifying-edcs-experts-suggest
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Groups Push Cosmetics Maker to Dump Fragrance Substance
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Pearson
A commonly used fragrance chemical may pose a threat to human health and the environment, two advocacy groups said yesterday.
Women's Voices for the Earth and Michigan Clean Water Action said a review the groups commissioned of Galaxolide, or HHCB, flagged the chemical as posing a threat to aquatic health. The groups also touted early studies showing the substance may harm users.
The groups funded a report by ToxServices LLC in Washington, D.C., which used a tool called a GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals assessment. The system, developed by the group Clean Production Action, attempts to flag chemicals of high concern based on inputs of their characteristics. The report said Galaxolide was given the most serious designation, Benchmark 1.
The findings run contrary to a previous U.S. EPA assessment. The agency found in 2013 that HHCB represented a "low concern" for ecological health (E&ENews PM, Jan. 4, 2013). Federal regulators have also not determined that the chemical disrupts the endocrine system.
The group said one of the largest users of Galaxolide, cosmetics company S.C. Johnson & Son, should remove it from its products to protect the Great Lakes. Five other companies also import and use the chemical.
S.C. Johnson said in a statement it "vehemently disagrees" with the findings, including the idea that the chemical does not break down in the environment.
"Every product SC Johnson manufactures undergoes rigorous screening for human health and environmental assessment," the company said. "While Galaxolide is used in some SC Johnson fragrance, it is present at very low concentrations that are hundreds to thousands of times lower than levels deemed safe by worldwide regulatory agencies," including EPA.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/04/27/stories/1060036353
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Walmart Reduces Chemicals of High Concern by 95%
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Walmart has announced a 95% by weight reduction of “high priority chemicals” from certain products sold in US locations, according to its latest global responsibility report.
The company’s policy on sustainable chemistry in consumables, launched in 2013, seeks to remove substances of high concern from goods such as personal care, paper, cleaning, pet, and baby products. It committed to begin publicly communicating its progress from January this year.
Absent from its announcement, however, is the list of the “ten or so” high priority chemicals that have been addressed. Kevin Gardner, senior director of Walmart’s global responsibility communications, toldChemical Watch that the company plans to release the list “in the coming months”.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) – an NGO that worked with Walmart on its sustainability goals – called the announcement a “promising step in the right direction”. It added that “it is difficult to fully appreciate Walmart’s accomplishments, without knowing the names of these chemical targets.”
“[It] is what spurs innovation throughout the supply chain,” said Jennifer McPartland, senior scientist for EDF. Knowledge of the substances the company seeks to eliminate could help bring other players into the picture, who want to be part of the solutions, she added, and could encourage other retailers to follow suit.
Mr Gardner told Chemical Watch that Walmart determined its list of high priority chemicals, based on:
· listing status on one or more authoritative hazard lists, as included in GreenWERCS (the chemical reporting tool, used by Walmart for supplier ingredient disclosure);
· a “relevance ranking” derived from the business volume or distribution, and the exposure or product type; and
· consideration of emerging regulations, stakeholder concern, and feasibility of safer substitution.
The EDF says it expects the company to release more specifics on its chemicals management policy – including “quantitative results on all aspects of the policy’s implementation guide and details about how they achieved the substantial reduction” – on its sustainability hub website in the coming weeks.
Mike Schade, director of the Mind the Store NGO campaign, said that it hopes Walmart will not only disclose their high priority substances list, but also expand it, “to challenge their suppliers to eliminate and safely substitute a broader universe of hazardous chemicals.”
Mr Schade said the campaign also wants the company to extend its policy to “other chemically intensive product categories”, such as children's toys, electronics and apparel.
Walmart’s report also mentions its commitment to expand its range of US EPA Safer Choice-certified own brand products.
It also reported that roughly three quarters of the suppliers who voluntarily responded to the company’s sustainability index survey provided information on their ingredient disclosure policies. Of these, 78% said they are disclosing ingredients online for all their products in accordance with a nationally recognised standard.
According to Mr Gardner, these standards include the US EPA Design for the Environment (DfE) standard for safer products, and the Consumer Specialty Products Association's consumer product ingredient communication initiative.
Walmart set a goal for suppliers to provide online ingredient disclosure for all products covered by the company’s chemicals policy, beginning in January 2015. It aims for disclosure of all priority chemicals on packaging by January 2018.
The EDF said that it attributes the progress reported by the company to:
· the use of a third-party managed chemical database (GreenWERCS);
· prioritisation of specific substances for removal; and
· establishment of a timeline to track and share progress publicly.
“We look forward to the day these practices reflect the business norm rather than the exception,” said Dr McPartland.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46949/walmart-reduces-chemicals-of-high-concern-by-95
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OECD Approves h-CLAT Test for Skin Sensitisation
Apr 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The OECD working group of the national coordinators of the test guidelines programme (WNT) has approved the human cell line activation test (h-CLAT) for skin sensitisation.
The EU Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL Ecvam) validated h-CLAT in 2015.
The test looks for markers of dendritic cell activation that play an important role in priming T cells for an immune response. It complements two other alternative methods, adopted by the OECD in 2015: the Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay (DPRA) and KeratinoSens.
"We hope this will give confidence to companies that they can use these superior non-animal methods, to avoid the estimated 200,000 animals that might otherwise be used for this test in the last stages of REACH," said Katy Taylor, director of science at NGO Cruelty Free International.
Last week, the REACH Committee backed a draft EU Regulation that proposes revising Annex VII so that validated non-animal tests will become the default information requirement, for assessing whether chemicals have the potential to cause skin sensitisation.
The proposal has yet to be formally adopted and published in the EU Official Journal, and has not yet come into force.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46972/oecd-approves-h-clat-test-for-skin-sensitisation
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States Still Thinking About CO2 Cuts Regardless of Rule Status
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Emily Holden
Energy and environment officials from around the country are still considering opportunities to cut greenhouse gases from the electricity sector, regardless of the legal status of the Clean Power Plan.
At a discussion among state regulators and lawmakers yesterday, several officials said the Supreme Court's decision in February to stay implementation of the federal climate regulation has not blocked broader discussions within states about decarbonizing their power sectors.
"Even those states that have pressed pause per se are still having discussions about what life will look like under a carbon-constrained [future]," said Alexandra Dunn, executive director of the Environmental Council of the States, which represents state environmental commissioners.
Those conversations are happening through think tanks and with power companies and grid operators, Dunn said in an interview yesterday after moderating a discussion among two organizations of state regulators and lawmakers -- the Eastern Interconnection States' Planning Council and the National Council on Electricity Policy.
To be sure, there are still "skirmishes" over the rule, including legislators blocking funding for planning in multiple states and governors enacting orders to prevent substantial work on the Clean Power Plan, she said. But states are largely still having talks, they reported yesterday. It's just that "very few states want to have that conversation with the boundaries that the CPP could have placed around them," Dunn explained.
In Georgia, for example, the state has "stopped planning entirely because of the stay," Bill Edge, a spokesman for the state's Public Service Commission (PSC), said during that meeting.
All five commissioners oppose the rule, along with every level of state government, he said. Edge noted that Georgia did appreciate the final Clean Power Plan giving the state credit for carbon-free nuclear generation that will come online in the coming years.
But while Georgia's Environmental Protection Division has said it has ceased all work, electric regulators aren't off the hook, added Sheree Kernizan, electric unit director for the commission.
Kernizan said that as part of its "normal course of business," the commission still must review Georgia Power Co.'s integrated resource plan, the company's long-term business blueprint that she said proposes much more renewable power.
The PSC is also meeting with other Southeastern states as part of Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, to look at modeling and power-sector data.
Before the stay, Kernizan said, "we had been meeting, meeting, meeting just furiously, every week almost, getting ready for outreach for the [Clean Energy Incentive Program] and doing all that planning."
"We were already on track under the proposed rules to kind of meet the goals anyway -- without doing anything -- and this was prior to the 2016 [integrated resource plan] that was filed this year," Kernizan said. "And they're talking about adding more renewables, continuing the energy efficiency programs that have been in place."
At another event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., yesterday, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Philip Moeller said, "Utilities, generally speaking, are assuming that one kind of carbon regime is coming down.
"Remember, utilities are making 20-, 30-, 40-year investments," Moeller said. "They have to be thinking about these things so they don't make a mistake."
A 'frustrating' game of red light, green light
Dunn told state officials yesterday that the stay reminds her of high school, "when your teacher said you were going to have an exam and you were cramming, and all of a sudden the exam is canceled."
"There were all these really hard questions being asked ... and there really were no easy answers. Now that the court has pressed pause, it's like everyone says, 'Oh, good, we don't have to do that,'" she said.
Dunn added that groups like the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions in North Carolina are filling the intellectual policy discussion void, knowing that "the reality is, in about a year, the teacher may reschedule the exam."
At CSIS yesterday, former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D), who heads the Center for the New Energy Economy, which has been organizing Clean Power Plan talks among Western states, said 10 out of 13 of the original attending states are still participating since the court stay in February.
Groups opposing the rule have said planning for it would be a waste of resources. But Ritter said "the resource that you're utilizing isn't great, and the value -- if the Clean Power Plan comes back and you've been at the table in a regional discussion and have some thought about how to move forward when you're doing that in tandem with your utilities -- there's a great deal of value."
Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center, which has also been coordinating state talks, agreed that power companies want to have that discussion, regardless of whether they support the rule.
While those talks are still happening, state officials in an unusually candid conversation at the other D.C. meeting outlined a number of consequences of the stop-and-go planning situation created by the stay.
Michigan is worried it may have wasted $200,000 on modeling on the rule that may be irrelevant in a year or more if the stay is lifted, said Al Freeman, a staffer for the state's Public Service Commission. Freeman said his agency also has been bumping heads with the state's attorney general, who is more opposed to the Clean Power Plan than the governor. And the state faces conflicts with Wisconsin about how to manage coal plant closures in its Upper Peninsula, he added.
Wisconsin is challenging the rule in court and has an executive order prohibiting planning.
Marcus Hawkins, a senior engineer for the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, said that order was narrow, and Wisconsin is still monitoring transmission planning by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), a grid organizer.
"We encouraged MISO in their transmission planning processes to look at a more generic carbon-reduction future instead of a very detailed CPP-rule-like future where the rule and the makeup of the rule could change, let alone the timeline of the rule," he said.
Grid organizations leading on analysis
Electric regulators from D.C. said they are watching modeling from the PJM Interconnection, and officials from South Dakota noted that the Southwest Power Pool is conducting similar work.
The Southwest Power Pool "is also planning for carbon-constrained futures, so the [regional transmission organizations] are definitely considering it," said Darren Kearney, a utility analyst at the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. "As a state, South Dakota has kind of stopped working on the Clean Power Plan, but we're still watching what the RTOs do. Carbon is going to continue to be constrained in the future, I think we all know."
Kearney also pushed back on the Obama administration's argument that the power industry was already starting to favor renewables and natural gas over coal power anyway.
"If the EPA believes that this rule doesn't really mean anything because the markets are picking the resources that are reducing carbon, then why are we all here wasting our time and money talking about this stuff?" Kearney asked. "Just let the markets pick and choose."
He said Midwestern cooperatives that built coal plants in the 1980s and are still getting use out of them will have to switch to wind or solar power, and ratepayers will end up footing the bill.
New Jersey officials, on the other hand, argued that they don't get enough credit for carbon-cutting work done before 2012.
Regulators yesterday also questioned what sectors might be next as EPA figures out how to regulate methane emissions from natural gas production.
Kim Jones, an analyst for the North Carolina Public Utilities Commission, said manufacturers are concerned that they are the next target, so they are loath to put forth any energy efficiency improvements for utilities to take credit for under the Clean Power Plan. They think they might need the credit themselves, she said.
State officials pointed out that the Clean Power Plan is just one of many federal regulations state officials must consider over the next few decades, and Dunn said some agencies are eager to turn their attention to a mounting number of rules.
Some states have said there's not much they can do on the Clean Power Plan without EPA's model trading rules, which Dunn said she no longer expects to come out this summer.
"A number of states are wanting to return to their core business," she said.
Reporter Rod Kuckro contributed.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/04/27/stories/1060036323
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Obama Drilling Plan Called 'Troubling' Job Killer
Apr 26, 2016 | Washington Examiner (In Real Clear Energy)
By John Siciliano
The Obama administration's latest five-year offshore oil and gas plan is worrying industry groups representing some of the largest segments of job creation and investment in the country, as the Interior Department holds its last public meeting on the plan in Washington on Tuesday.
"We continue to be troubled by the administration's short-sighted policy of limiting oil and natural gas production on federal lands," the American Chemistry Council said ahead of the meeting.
The group represents some of the world's largest manufacturers of chemicals, which have created new inroads and factory development due to the boom in crude oil and natural gas production from shale in recent years. Companies such as Dow and DuPont want production to remain high, which keeps the cost of their petrochemical supplies low.
"For three years straight, the Department of the Interior has withdrawn or withheld from development major portions of the [outer-continental shelf] – ignoring the needs of American manufacturers who rely on secure and affordable energy supplies in order to compete in global markets," the group said.
The administration's March offshore drilling plan, which covers leases for 2017-2022, won't be finalized until the end of the year. However, the plan already eliminated an earlier proposal to include leases off the Atlantic coast for the first time. The decision was criticized as administration backpedaling due to increased pressure from environmental groups for the president to secure a global deal on climate change by keeping all fossil fuels in the ground. Many scientists blame fossil fuels for raising the Earth's temperature, resulting in more severe weather, drought and sea-level rise.
Environmentalists claimed the administration reversal as a victory for climate change and its campaign to stop fossil fuel development.
The plan would open new leasing in areas of the Gulf of Mexico while considering whether to open new offshore drilling in the Arctic.
On the supply side, oil and gas producers say the five-year plan would kill jobs while driving up energy costs for consumers.
"The five-year program is a critical part of our nation's ability to secure affordable and reliable energy and create jobs for future generations of Americans," said Eric Milito, the American Petroleum Institute's group director of Upstream and Industry Operations, on a call with reporters Tuesday.
"Too many promising areas are already excluded from the proposal, taking off the table thousands of potential jobs and billions of dollars in potential government revenue," he said. "Knowing that oil and natural gas will be needed for many more decades to come, the Department of the Interior should promote robust development of U.S. offshore energy resources and recognize the Arctic and Gulf of Mexico as core components of the five-year program."
Outside the downtown hotel where the public meeting was being held, environmental groups assembled to protest the offshore drilling plan, favoring the end of all lease sales. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon joined the protesters organized by the activist federation Environment America. Merkley is lead sponsor of a bill that would ban all new drilling on public lands. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is a co-sponsor of the bill.
The Interior Department's comment period on the new plan extends until midnight on Monday. The agency will review the comments over several months, in which it may, or may not, adjust the plan in its final version to be issued later in the year.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-drilling-plan-called-troubling-job-killer/article/2589594
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EPA Offers No Timetable for Methane Rule at Current Drilling Sites
Apr 27, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
A top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official said regulations on methane leaks from new oil and gas well is coming “soon,” but sidestepped questions on when a similar rule for existing wells will come out.
The Obama administration is focused on first collecting data for a potential existing well rule, saidJanet McCabe, the head of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. That type of information, she said, will help EPA regulators write a rule to cut down on drilling site emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas rule.
But, challenged at a Bloomberg Government event Wednesday whether such a regulation will come before Obama leaves office, McCabe wouldn’t say.
“We have been moving in a very methodical manner to address pollution in ways that withstood legal challenges and are making a difference on the ground, and that is what we’re doing,” she said. “We’re proceeding step by step by step, using our legal authorities to address these important issues. Every step that we’re taking is focused in that direction.”
Establishing rules on methane is one of the EPA’s top priorities before Obama leaves office next year. Since last summer, the agency has been reviewing a regulation for methane at new oil and gas drilling sites, something McCabe said will be finalized and released publicly “soon," though she offered no other timetable.
Environmental groups have pushed the Obama administration to form a rule cracking down on methane leaks at wells currently operating, something Obama pledged in March to do.
But EPA officials have hinted that process will take a long time. First, it needs to gather methane information from the drilling sector, but the agency hasn’t done so yet, raising questions about whether there’s enough time to write and proposed a rule while Obama is in office.
But McCabe said Wednesday the agency needs that data before it can move forward with write a rule for existing wells.
“When you’re regulating existing sources it’s different than new, because these are facilities that are already out there, they have various constraints that new sources don’t have,” she said.
“So there’s a lot of information that we need about the way they can be controlled, how much that would cost, what types of controls would be feasible and cost effective,” she added. Requesting data first “will allow us to gather a lot of that information that we can then use to build an existing source rule."
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/277830-epa-offers-no-timetable-for-methane-rule-at-current-drilling-sites
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Democrats Successfully Block Cloture on Energy and Water Bill
Apr 27, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Darius Dixon
Senate Democrats today filibustered the energy and water spending bill to prevent a potential vote on a Republican amendment related to Iran.
A cloture motion failed 50-46, short of the 60 votes it needed, stopping the bill in its tracks.
“If there is some proposal that the Republicans want to come back with that’s reasonable and doesn’t have a poison pill in it, fine, we’re willing to move forward on this,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reidsaid on the floor before the vote.
Before the vote, Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the energy and water appropriations subcommittee, said Sen. Tom Cotton was willing to modify his amendment, limiting it to barring taxpayer funds from the purchase of Iranian heavy water, rather than also barring money for the licenses the private sector would need to purchase heavy water from Iran. The issue garnered more attention after the U.S. agreed last week to purchase 32 metric tons of heavy water from Iran for research.
“I think Sen. Cotton has acted responsibly. He has acted as soon as he knew about the Department of Energy policy,” Alexander said, noting that if Democrats blocked the bill he nevertheless urged them to “keep talking … Senators should be allowed to offer germane amendments.”
Reid shot back over the notion of germane amendments to the energy and water appropriations bill.
“The world is germane on this bill. I did this bill for 15 years … just about everything is germane,” Reid said.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Cuomo’s Pipeline Decision May Have Ripple Effects for Energy Policy
Apr 27, 2016 | Politico New York
By Scott Waldman
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration chose Earth Day, April 22, to reject the proposed Constitution pipeline, which would have carried natural gas from Pennsylvania through portions of upstate.
The move came as the governor has been trying to burnish his green credentials, and environmentalists were indeed as delighted with the administration's decision as the pipeline’s developers were disappointed.
The state’s savvy anti-fracking coalition, which effectively hounded Cuomo until he announced a fracking ban after his re-election in 2014, led the cheers.
“Governor Cuomo and the DEC stood up to the oil and gas industry and effectively shut down the Constitution Pipeline project,” said Wes Gillingham, Catskill Mountainkeeper’s program director.
The decision, he said, meant that Cuomo and other state leaders chose "water over corporate profit.”
But Cuomo’s decision also signals that his ambitious state energy policy has yet to catch up with his own rhetoric.
Even as Cuomo has set aggressive energy goals, such as powering half of the electrical grid with renewables by 2030, New York, like many states across the nation, has become more dependent on natural gas during his tenure.
What’s more, the Cuomo administration’s energy plan, released just last year, envisions an increased reliance on natural gas by 2030. The plan recognized that as long as cheap natural gas is abundant next door in Pennsylvania, New York will buy it and use it to keep the lights on.
In addition, Cuomo wants to shutter the state’s two remaining coal plants, but has suggested they could re-open by powering them with natural gas. He traveled to Western New York in 2013 to propose that very plan for a coal-burning facility in Dunkirk, which has since been mothballed.
And last year, the chairwoman of the Public Service Commission, Audrey Zibelman, said “from the economic perspective, additional pipeline capacity into the state will be useful.”
The state’s independent grid operator has cautioned that “the lights will go out” without additional gas pipelines and transmission lines.
For the state to fulfill its goals, in other words, New York needs and is depending on more natural gas. And in order to get more natural gas, more pipelines are needed.
But environmentalists, who showed their political strength in 2014 when many rallied to the unlikely gubernatorial candidacy of Zephyr Teachout, oppose pipelines and any infrastructure based on the use of fossil fuel.
As it happens, there are three more projects awaiting the Cuomo administration’s approval. Environmentalists oppose all three: a proposed oil train heater in the Port of Albany, a crude oil pipeline along the Thruway corridor from Albany to New Jersey, and a gas storage facility in the Finger Lakes.
The question is whether Cuomo’s decision on the Constitution pipeline signals a series of like-minded moves that together would add up to a profound alteration of the state's overall energy strategy.
In the recent past, the administration has approved other infrastructure projects that increase New York’s reliance on natural gas. The Cuomo administration signed off on the water permits needed for the Algonquin pipeline that runs near the Indian Point nuclear center and in 2013 approved permits for the Cricket Valley gas-fired power plant, which runs on natural gas.
“We believe NYSDEC’s stated rationale for the denial includes flagrant misstatements and inaccurate allegations, and appears to be driven more by New York State politics than by environmental science,” the pipeline’s project developers said in a statement.
The companies behind the pipeline, Williams Partners, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, Piedmont Natural Gas Company and WGL Holdings, promised legal action.
The state’s action shocked the industry. Pipeline developers who met with Cuomo administration officials a few weeks ago in Albany walked away feeling confident that the approval was coming through, according to insiders with knowledge of the meeting.
Certainly, some believe that the state’s rejection of the Constitution pipeline doesn’t bode well for the other three projects awaiting approvals.
E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center, said the Constitution decision makes it clear that the fossil fuel-based energy industry will face significant challenges getting projects approved under a Cuomo administration. He said Cuomo is setting up the state’s energy grid to rely only on “hydropower, windmills and solar panels.”
That will drive away energy-intensive businesses, especially manufacturing.
“This is inconsistent with previous economic development policy in itself, but this certainly would suggest if there is any kind of logical consistency in anything they do, that he’s going to say no to anything that involves an expanded capability of transporting fossil fuels by any means,” he said.
The next decision will likely be on the crude oil heating facility at the Port of Albany, which allows oil trains to offload heavy crude in winter months. Earlier this month, a judge ruled that the DEC must stop its delays and make a decision in June. An approval of that heater would open the state up to more oil trains, including those bearing heavy tar sands crude from Western Canada.
The administration will also have significant input into the Pilgrim pipeline that will be fed by oil trains in Albany, and run down the Thruway to New Jersey. If the administration were to allow that to proceed, it, too, could increase the volume of oil trains as it would provide an additional outlet, in addition to Hudson River barges, for move crude through Albany.
The project with the most visibility is the gas storage project in the Finger Lakes. For more than seven years, the DEC has delayed making a decision on whether or not to store gas in salt caverns on Seneca Lake Hundreds of protesters have been arrested blocking the site, which is located in the heart of New York’s wine region.
The project will create a handful of local jobs, but most of the wineries and local municipalities have opposed it.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2016/04/8597596/cuomos-pipeline-decision-may-have-ripple-effects-energy-policy
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EPA Sends Clean Energy Incentive Program to OMB for Review
Apr 27, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is now reviewing EPA’s proposed early-action incentive program under the Clean Power Plan. The optional Clean Energy Incentive Program is meant to jump-start renewable and efficiency projects ahead of the now-stayed rule’s first compliance deadlines in 2022.
“Sending this proposal to OMB for review is a routine step and it is consistent with the Supreme Court stay of the Clean Power Plan,” EPA said in a statement. The CEIP was outlined in the proposed federal implementation plan that was released last year along with the larger carbon rule. EPA will take public comment on the proposed CEIP and finalize it at a later date.
The CEIP would provide credit for power generated by new wind and solar projects in 2020 and 2021, as well as double credit for energy efficiency measures in low-income communities over that same period.
EPA had proposed offering a pool of federal credits to match state credits worth up to 300 million short tons of CO2-equivalent emissions, though it is unclear whether that pool is still the same size, and EPA still has to determine how to translate that into real-world “emission rate credits.”
How those credits will be allocated for renewables projects versus low-income efficiency measures is yet to be determined, along with questions about how to allocate among the states, what qualifies as a low-income community, and when projects must start construction to qualify, particularly given the stay.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Advocates' Air Permit Suit Ramps Up Attack On California Crude Oil Facility
Apr 27, 2016 | InsideEPA
Environmentalists are suing EPA for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act by failing to review an air permit for a controversial proposed California crude oil refinery and rail terminal facility issued by the state's San Joaquin Valley air district, ramping up their attacks on the facility by trying to force a formal EPA decision on the permit's merits.
The lawsuit, filed April 13 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by the Center for Biological Diversity, Association of Irritated Residents, Sierra Club and Climate Change Law Foundation, seeks to compel EPA to either approve or reject the Title V air permit issued by the San Joaquin Valley air district for the Alon U.S.A and Paramount Petroleum Corp. facility near Bakersfield, CA, which will increase the capacity of the refinery to import crude oil.
The legal action follows a recent ruling against environmentalists by the state's Kern County Superior Court, which rejected advocates' 2014 lawsuit claiming that Kern County violated the California Environmental Quality Act when it approved the environmental impact report (EIR) for the project.
Approval of the EIR allows the developers to pursue building permits to construct the refinery facility. Environmentalists are weighing whether to appeal the ruling.
The environmental groups allege in the new federal court challenge that EPA violated the Clean Air Act by failing to either approve or deny the Title V operating permit for modifications to the refinery's existing permit. They are asking the court to issue an order compelling EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to "perform her mandatory duty to grant or deny the petition, by an expeditious certain date."
Specifically, the environmental groups want McCarthy to "fulfill mandatory duties under the Clean Air Act to respond to the groups' public-health objections" to the permit, according to an April 13 press release by the groups announcing the lawsuit.
The air permit allows Alon to resume refining and expand the refinery's rail terminal to receive hundreds of tank cars a day and up to 63.1 million barrels of crude oil a year, the environmentalists say. But the permit approved by the San Joaquin Valley air district "failed to require Alon to install crucial pollution controls and gave the company emissions-reduction credits for facility changes made almost 40 years ago," the press release states.
'Flawed Permit'
EPA officials "failed to object to the flawed permit for this project, which the groups' lawsuit notes 'will significantly increase harmful air pollution that will only exacerbate climate change and the poor air quality and respiratory illnesses that plague San Joaquin Valley communities already unfairly burdened with industrial pollution,'" the groups charge.
"This dangerous refinery represents an outdated grab for fossil fuel profits at the expense of California's climate future and would result in massive amounts of climate change pollutants spewing into our air," said Noah Garrison, an attorney for the Climate Change Law Foundation, in the press release. "California can do better -- alternative energy options exist, and the EPA has a legal duty to speak up."
The environmentalists say that lower oil prices have led to the project being postponed, "but work could resume at any time," the release adds. "Once the Alon refinery and rail terminal are fully operational, the facility will receive as many as two mile-long trains a day full of dangerously explosive Bakken crude oil. Bakken crude emits high levels of volatile organic compounds that lead to ozone pollution."
An EPA Region 9 spokesman did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Environmental groups in recent years have filed more than a half dozen legal challenges to block projects to increase crude oil imports to California facilities, with more than half of those succeeding.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/advocates-air-permit-suit-ramps-attack-california-crude-oil-facility
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Pipeline Safety Agency Plans Public Meeting as Part of Rule Update
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
The Transportation Department will convene a workshop in May to discuss future changes to the safety rules surrounding liquefied natural gas, the agency announced yesterday, in an update geared to address a new generation of LNG plants.
Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration indicated in aFederal Register notice that a public meeting will be held in Washington, D.C., on May 18 and 19 to convene federal and state regulators, emergency responders, fire prevention specialists, industry, and interested members of the public.
In the announcement, PHMSA officials said the regulations covering LNG facility siting, construction and operations "were first promulgated in the 1970's, when the majority of LNG plants were built by natural gas pipeline operators for 'peak shaving' or storage for injection back into natural gas pipelines to meet peak winter demand."
Since then, they noted, the LNG industry has expanded to include more import and export facilities, as well as smaller facilities to produce LNG as an alternative fuel to replace gasoline and diesel, for use in marine bunkering, and for decentralized power generation, among other uses.
"As a new LNG industry is emerging, the existing LNG infrastructure is aging. Failures at new plants can occur due to unforeseen complications of new technology and design and construction issues, while older systems are vulnerable to risks from obsolescence, and aging, equipment and systems," PHMSA said.
Julie Halliday, a general engineer with PHMSA's Engineering and Research Division, said the public meeting would feed into the agency's process for periodically updating its LNG regulations. The current rules rely in part on technical standards from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) published in 2001 and 2006.
In 2009, PHMSA reviewed more recent NFPA standards for LNG facilities and concluded that the group had "yet to reconcile issues" relating to vapor leaks, spills from single and double containment vessels, snow management, severe weather, emergency pressure loss, and fuel bunkering, and declined to incorporate the updates.
The latest NFPA standards are from earlier this year, and Halliday said the agency is seeking input on the changes. "We will likely incorporate at least most of it," she said.
Halliday said that some time between 2001 and 2015, the NFPA overhauled much of the language in its LNG standards, and updating PHMSA's regulations accordingly would have required a "more intensive update" than the agency normally conducts. In that window, PHMSA also became very busy due to its role in the large number of applications before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build LNG export facilities, she added.
Among the issues that will be discussed in the coming regulatory review will be whether to change the current risk analysis method from a "prescriptive" review that considers specific event scenarios to a "risk-based" analysis. Some advocates believe a risk-based process would provide a more realistic assessment of the potential danger to communities located near LNG facilities (EnergyWire, April 15, 2014).
Existing LNG facilities and those that have started construction when the modified rule eventually goes into effect would not be impacted by any changes governing siting and facility design, Halliday said, but would be bound by updates to the provisions for maintenance, operations, training, personnel qualifications, fire protection and security procedures.
That means the five LNG export projects currently under construction, as well as a host of smaller LNG fueling stations that fall under looser regulatory regimes, will see limited impacts (EnergyWire, April 12).
One area likely to see significant changes is the regulatory environment for marine fueling, or bunkering.
Halliday said current LNG rules include a requirement that fuel transfer not take place where there are more than 50 people gathered. That makes it difficult to incorporate into modern port facilities where a ship might be refueling while also unloading cargo, conducting a shift change, and loading food and beverage supplies for the next voyage. "If you're doing all these things and now you want to switch to LNG, because of that exclusion zone, you can't fuel at that site. You're going to have to build a separate fueling site ... due to the way this regulation is written," she said.
"LNG has a very admirable safety record, I couldn't tell you today is it safer than diesel, we don't have those statistics to say that, but I don't know that it isn't, either," Halliday said. "We do know it's cleaner."
Any changes to LNG regulations stemming from the upcoming May workshop would likely take years to roll out into the real world. After gathering information, PHMSA will draft a rule, conduct an economic analysis on it, post it for public comment, and potentially go through multiple cycles of troubleshooting and review before it is finalized.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/04/27/stories/1060036299
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Hurdles Ahead as Committee Advances Safety Bill
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Hess
After the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved pipeline safety legislation this morning, Republicans hope to work with their colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure panel to make the legislation more "pro-development and pro-energy security" before a floor vote.
A major sticking point is Section 15 of the bill to reauthorize the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. It would give the agency emergency authority to order pipeline operators to implement restrictions, prohibitions and safety measures to abate an imminent hazard.
"Unbridled authority" is how Rep. Kevin Cramer, a Republican who served as one of North Dakota's electricity regulators for nine years before he won the state's only House seat in 2012, characterized the problem.
"Having been a pipeline regulator for a number of years, I have to tell you I like PHMSA a lot. I think they do good work. I think they're understaffed. But their problem is not that they don't have enough authority," Cramer said.
The committee today adopted a manager's amendment to Chairman Fred Upton's "Pipeline Safety Act."
The amendment made four changes to the bill, including clarifying conditions that would allow PHMSA to issue an emergency order and strengthening the definition of "imminent hazard" to include the terms "death, serious illness, severe personal injury, or a substantial endangerment to health, property or the environment."
The amendment also moved to align the procedures for challenging emergency orders with rules governing the transportation of hazardous material.
Upton (R-Mich.) said his amendment makes Section 15 "much stronger and tighter," and that an accompanying bill report would "further clarify" a few key points.
The report instructs PHMSA to consult with owners and operators before issuing an order, he said, and to issue final rules to carry out the new authority as quickly as possible.
"The temporary regulations are just that -- temporary," Upton said.
Critics from the pipeline industry want to curtail PHMSA's power (E&E Daily, April 27). They also object to language on oil spill response plans included in the Senate's version of the legislation (E&E Daily, April 20).
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), who has voiced pipeline company concerns, stayed silent today. But Cramer's comments suggested there were still some hurdles to final passage.
"I would like to see more explicit reference to the pre-consultation of industry," Cramer said.
He has drafted an amendment to Section 15 but said he would refrain from offering the language in hopes of getting the bill to the floor.
"As noble as compromise is, and I think it's a noble goal in a legislative body, I'd be all for compromising if we were rolling back power," he said. "I hope that as this gets to the floor, that we can fix it so it's a little more pro-development and pro-energy security."
Those proposed changes will likely run into resistance from Democrats, who cite Section 15 as proof that the bill would make progress on pipeline safety.
"While I would have preferred to leave the emergency order language untouched, these changes resolve a number of those concerns by conforming the language in our bill to that in a pipeline safety reauthorization reported by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure by voice vote last week," said ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.).
Pallone said changes adopted today represent "true compromise" that he hopes will make it possible to move the legislation closer to passage.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/04/27/stories/1060036356
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Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton Appoints State Rail Director
Apr 27, 2016 | Minneapolis Star Tribune
By Maya Rao
Gov. Mark Dayton has appointed Alene Tchourumoff to serve as the state’s rail director, a role newly created to increase Minnesota’s oversight of the Bakken oil trains rumbling within a half-mile of 326,000 residents.
The governor’s office said Tchourumoff will lead the administration’s efforts to pursue railroad infrastructure improvements, beef up response in the event of a derailment or explosion, monitor rail movements and work with communities and railroad companies to ensure safety along Minnesota’s 4,400 miles of track.
Given the state’s extensive rail network, “Minnesota needs a full-time, highly qualified leader devoting close attention to their safe and efficient operations,” Dayton said in a statement. “She will work out of my office to emphasize the importance I place upon her new role.”
Tchourumoff serves as director of the planning department for Hennepin County Public Works, where she has been responsible for coordinating rail safety efforts. Before that, she was a manager for Deloitte Consulting in Washington, D.C., where she served as a financial and strategic policy adviser to the Federal Railroad Administration at the U.S. Department of Transportation. She has also advised the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the California High-Speed Rail Authority and Dallas Area Rapid Transit on rail and finance issues.
Emergency responders around Minnesota are increasing pressure on railroad companies to release the information they say they need to prepare their towns and counties for a crash involving hazardous liquids. Concerns about communities’ preparedness for a derailment or explosion have increased as the trains travel through populous areas.
Tension along rail lines
Dayton’s move to hire Tchourumoff comes as DFLers have focused on oil train safety as part of a strategy to take back control of the Minnesota House, particularly in competitive legislative districts where tensions have seethed between railroads and local communities.
The Dayton administration has proposed a raft of rail safety measures this legislative session. Those include $69.6 million for highway rail grade separations in Moorhead, Prairie Island and Coon Rapids; $3.5 million for the construction of an oil train derailment and pipeline safety training venue; and an annual railroad assessment that would bring in $33 million a year for rail safety improvements.
Tchourumoff starts work May 2 and will be paid $125,000 a year, the governor’s office said.
DFL transportation leaders praised the move and said they hoped the rail director could better coordinate efforts between state agencies that control transportation, public safety and pollution.
Senate transportation committee chairman Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, said big railroad companies have claimed that federal regulators pre-empted the state’s authority to act on rail safety.
“That’s utter hogwash,” Dibble said. “There are many things the state has and can and will do to address rail issues.”
He said the rail director “can help facilitate a coherent conversation among different interests. I think she’ll carry [the governor’s] authority with her and it’s a signal of his focus and his interest in this.”
House transportation chairman Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, declined to comment on the appointment.
“The state has folks who are interested in rail stuff — they doing great jobs — but I think probably what we’ve been missing is that oversight to bring it all together at the state level,” said Eric Waage, director of Hennepin County emergency management.
Patrick Waletzko, emergency manager for Otter Tail County, said the new rail director could ensure that agencies and companies meet their regulatory requirements. He also hoped that Tchourumoff would be a point person for local officials looking for answers on railroad traffic.
“Any efforts that we can make to help coordinate … are going to be a benefit,” Waletzko said.
http://www.startribune.com/gov-dayton-appoints-state-rail-director/377142171/
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Texas Industries Spewed 68M Pounds of Excess Pollutants in 2015
Apr 27, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Texas refineries and other industrial sites last year released tens of millions of pounds of benzene, hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous air pollutants above permitted levels because of maintenance activities and equipment breakdowns, a new review by two environmental groups has found.
Late last September, for example, an Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary sent almost 12,000 pounds of hydrogen sulfide into the air from an oil and gas site that was legally allowed to emit no more than 0.001 pound per hour of the acid gas, which can be fatal in large concentrations, according to the report released today by the Environmental Integrity Project and Environment Texas.
Earlier in the year, a Dow Chemical Co. plant near Houston emitted about 1,400 pounds of benzene -- a known carcinogen -- over a 13-hour period, or roughly four times the amount allowed by the plant's permit, the report said. In the Texas Panhandle, a ConocoPhillips Co. refinery released more than 143,000 pounds of particulates, often known as soot, in a single day last June.
Overall, such releases -- which the two groups describe in a news release as "mostly illegal" -- added up to more than 68 million pounds of air pollutants last year, stemming from about 3,400 incidents of "maintenance and malfunction," according the report, which draws on industry-reported information posted to an online state database. Enforcement by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is inconsistent, the authors write, with often "negligible results."
The fact that companies are routinely releasing large amounts of air pollution without state follow-up or enforcement is "cause for concern," Ilan Levin, associate director of the Environmental Integrity Project, said in an interview this morning.
Given that some of the same firms have operations in other states, Levin said, "we suspect that the same problem is going on across the country."
A representative of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, an industry trade group, could not immediately be reached for comment this morning. At the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state regulatory agency, officials are reviewing the report and will have a statement later, a spokeswoman said in an email.
Under the Clean Air Act, the report said, industrial plant permits are supposed to account for emissions from regular maintenance, including most equipment startups and shutdowns. While air pollution releases that stem from malfunctions are not included in the permit cap, those breakdowns should be rare and beyond the operator's control, the report said.
Texas regulators, however, "allow industrial sources to exceed permitted limits when plants undergo planned maintenance, often treating these routine activities as though they are unavoidable malfunctions," according to the report. Excessive emissions "from what appear to be planned activities are treated as though they are unavoidable malfunctions," it adds.
While U.S. EPA is currently requiring Texas and 35 other states to strengthen their regulations for dealing with equipment startups, shutdowns and malfunctions, the scope of the review should be expanded to cover Texas' "byzantine" maintenance rules, the report says.
Among other recommendations, the authors also urge EPA to require industrial plants to accurately measure their potential emissions to factor in releases from "all normal and foreseeable operations."
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/04/27/stories/1060036351
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