Preview Newsletter
PM ACC 4/28/2016
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(ACC Mentioned) Prices Up for PE, PVC, PET; Down for PP
Apr 28, 2016 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American selling prices for polyethylene, PVC and PET resins all have risen since April 1, while regional prices for polypropylene have taken a surprising fall. -
(ACC Mentioned) D'Amato for Polish Arms Company
Apr 27, 2016 | Politico - Influence
By Isaac Arnsdorf
Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Reps. Brian Babin (R-Texas) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) attended a luncheon today to introduce the Chemical Industry Labor-Management Committee, a partnership between the chemical industry and organized construction labor... -
(ACC Mentioned) Flame Retardants Debate Heats up in Massachusetts
Apr 26, 2016 | Chem.Info
By Meagan Parrish
A group of lawmakers in Massachusetts are pushing the most sweeping ban on flame retardant chemicals proposed by any U.S. state so far. -
TSCA Action to Wait Till After Recess
Apr 28, 2016 | Politico - Morning Energy
By Eric Wolff
Negotiators trying to forge a bicameral deal on updating the Toxic Substances Control Act told ME that any congressional action won’t happen until after the upcoming week-long recess. -
US Authority Clamps Down on ‘All Natural’ Product Claims
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reached proposed settlement agreements with four personal care product companies that allegedly violated federal law, by falsely claiming that their products were “all natural” or “100% natural”, when they contain synthetic ingredients. -
US EPA Provides Data Reporting Guidance on Intermediates
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has issued guidance on non-isolated intermediates under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. This comes under the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). -
Unfulfilled: EPA’s 2009 Commitment to Fix Lead-Based Paint Hazard Standard
Apr 28, 2016 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Tom Neltner
In 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama, supported by then-Senator Hillary Clinton, forced the Bush administration to issue a long-overdue rule to ensure contractors used lead-safe work practices when conducting renovations, repairs, and painting work... -
NGOs Call on SC Johnson to Stop Using Fragrance Ingredient
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Women’s Voices for the Earth and Michigan Clean Water Action have called for consumer products conglomerate SC Johnson to cease the use of the synthetic musk, galaxolide, in its products. -
US Toxicology Programme Finalises Cobalt Cancer Report
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) Office of the Report on Carcinogens has finalised a monographfor cobalt and its compounds that release cobalt ions in vivo. It finds that the substances are reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens. -
OECD Experts Work Towards Guidance for Grouping Nanomaterials
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
Experts have begun the complex task of expanding and updating OECD guidance on grouping and read-across for nanomaterials, by identifying common elements in existing schemes. -
Toxic Contamination Found on Portions of Tracks at Penn Station
Apr 28, 2016 | Wall Street Journal
By Andrew Tangel
For all its ills, New York Penn Station can count one more: toxic contamination on at least two of its tracks. -
Echa Round-Up
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
Echa has launched a public consultation on 29 applications for authorisation, covering 47 uses. -
Reid, McConnell Trade Fire over Stalled Energy Bill
Apr 28, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Jordain Carney
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ripped into Democrats Thursday for blocking an energy bill, telling them: "Do your job." -
Interior Dept. Needs to Review Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program
Apr 28, 2016 | The Hill - Contributors Blog
By Jayni Hein and Jessica Wilkins
As evidence mounted that the current system of leasing federal lands for coal mining was deeply flawed, the Department of the Interior took a bold step in January. -
McCabe Says Existing Source Methane Data Call Could Come In Two Stages
Apr 28, 2016 | InsideEPA
By Doug Obey and Lee Logan
EPA's top air official is suggesting that the agency's upcoming information collection request (ICR) regarding existing oil and gas sector methane sources will proceed in two stages, and some industry sources hope that approach will reduce some reporting burdens on the industry. -
Texas Study Tracks Contaminant Changes Near Drilling
Apr 28, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
Unconventional oil and gas development can lead to abnormalities in nearby groundwater over time, according to new research from the University of Texas at Arlington. -
Pennsylvania Investigates Earthquakes Near Fracking Operations
Apr 28, 2016 | AP (In Fuel Fix)
The state Department of Environmental Protection is investigating whether fracking contributed to two small earthquakes near a western Pennsylvania drilling operation. -
How Safe is Natural Gas?
Apr 28, 2016 | Tacoma Weekly
By Steve Dunkelberger
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frank E. Cuthbertson is set to decide today, April 29, whether his previous temporary decision will become permanent to keep the City of Tacoma from releasing the city’s hazardous response plans... -
Groups Threaten Lawsuit over Tardy EPA Reviews of NOx, SOx
Apr 28, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Two environmental and public health groups are threatening a lawsuit against U.S. EPA over the agency's slowness in revisiting ambient air quality standards for two major classes of pollutants. -
Texas Rebuts Enviro Pollution Oversight Report
Apr 28, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Texas environmental regulators are disputing a new report that accuses the state of continuing a "hands-off" approach in regulating air pollution stemming from plant maintenance or equipment breakdowns.
Industry and Association News
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News
Transportation News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) Prices Up for PE, PVC, PET; Down for PP
Apr 28, 2016 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American selling prices for polyethylene, PVC and PET resins all have risen since April 1, while regional prices for polypropylene have taken a surprising fall.
PE prices rose by an average of 4 cents per pound as oil prices recovered from less than $38 per barrel early in the month to almost $45 in early trading April 27. Oil is a global price setter for PE, although natural gas is the most common PE feedstock in North America.
Regional PE prices now have risen in back-to-back months after dropping in the first two months of 2016. The 5-cent January/February drop had been canceled out by a 5-cent gain in March.
“Just about everyone in the PE market sees the massive wave of capacity starting to come online soon, and PE processors are anxious to start enjoying a multi-year buyer's market,” said Phil Karig, managing director with the Mathelin Bay Associates LLC consulting firm in St. Louis.
“Unfortunately, oil prices are supporting strong PE export volumes right now and domestic operating rates are extremely tight,” he added. “So PE producers are determined not to miss one more chance to increase their margins before the whole PE pricing complex starts to roll downhill as we move toward 2017.”
The 4-cent April hike was the result of “pure determination” on the part of North American PE makers, according to Mike Burns, a PE market analyst with Resin Technology Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Without oil getting to $50, the increase should have been hard to get, but [PE makers] got it,” he said. Burns added that lower Asian resin prices and high oil prices could open the door for finished PE products to enter the market later in 2016, creating the possibility of lower North American PE prices or at least fewer increases.
North American PE markets also could be tightened by the April 20 explosion at a plant in Mexico that made ethylene feedstock and other petrochemical products. The incident has resulted in at least 32 deaths and caused force majeure to be declared on products made there.
The complex near Coatsacoalcos was a joint venture between Mexican state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and PVC pipe leader Mexichem SAB de CV. Pemex already had been facing shortages of ethane needed to make ethylene, Burns said.
Through March, U.S./Canadian LDPE sales were up just over 2 percent vs. the same period in 2016, according to the American Chemistry Council in Washington. Regional LLDPE sales were up almost 9 percent in the same comparison.
PVC prices bumped up an average of 2 cents per pound in April, as warmer weather increased demand for construction-related products. Prices for the material had climbed 4 cents in March after being flat in February.
The Mexican outage also should have an impact on the regional PVC market, since the plant was a major supplier of vinyl chloride monomer feedstock. One industry source said that regional operating rates for suspension PVC resin already were above 90 percent before the accident.
U.S./Canadian PVC sales were off to a strong start in the first quarter of 2016, growing 8.3 percent. Domestic sales growth of 2.5 percent was bolstered by a surge of almost 23 percent in the export market.
North American PET bottle resin prices also ticked up 2 cents per pound in April, as warmer weather improved seasonal demand for bottled water and carbonated soft drinks. It’s the second straight monthly price hike for that material, following a similar 2-cent move in March.
Prior to these back-to-back increases, regional PET prices had fallen for six consecutive months.
The regional PP market surprised some by posting a 3-cent price drop since April 1. Prices had climbed in five of the previous six months, raising prices a total of 11 cents per pound.
Market watchers said the April drop was the result of increased competition coming from PP imported into North America from other parts of the world. Growing PP demand and limited supplies have created the opportunity for foreign suppliers to enter the region, sources said.
The decrease occurred even though prices for propylene monomer feedstock decreased slightly in April, according to Scott Newell, a PP market analyst with RTI. “It’s a very competitive [PP] marketplace all of a sudden,” he said. “The domestic guys have to compete with material from Korea, Brazil and other places.
“Supply is being added through imports, so [PP] producers are saying they need to back down their prices before they get too far out of line.”
Karig at Mathelin Bay added that PP producers have enjoyed healthy margin expansion over the last several years as operating rates tightened and the industry “hardly had to worry” about lower priced PP imports. But now, he added, low-cost PP imports “roared into the US market over the last few months and domestic PP producers finally had to take note of them.”
“Now that oil prices have bottomed, PP imports are not as attractive as they were, but there are still enough lower priced imports floating around to make the PP market interesting,” Karig explained. “What’s also interesting is that there’s currently a wider than normal range of prices among PP buyers, as some buyers are benefiting disproportionately from the import market.”
In addition to Korea and Brazil, sources told Plastics News that Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Thailand and Singapore also have been active in importing PP into North America.
A PP buyer in the Midwest U.S. said that he expects more price drops as increased summer gasoline production lifts supplies of propylene monomer feedstock. Market watchers added that lower oil prices already have increased supplies of propylene in the region by allowing more use of crude oil, which produces more propylene than natural gas does.
Regional PP production remains limited as a result of at least 3 billion pounds of North American capacity being removed during the recession. No major PP expansions for the region have been announced. As a result, Newell said, imports of PP could make up more than 5 percent of the market by the end of 2016.
Through March, North American PP sales were up almost 2 percent, with a 3 percent domestic sales gain softened by a 44 percent drop in export sales.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20160428/NEWS/160429817/prices-up-for-pe-pvc-pet-down-for-pp
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(ACC Mentioned) D'Amato for Polish Arms Company
Apr 27, 2016 | Politico - Influence
By Isaac Arnsdorf
...CHEMISTRY: Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Reps. Brian Babin (R-Texas) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) attended a luncheon today to introduce the Chemical Industry Labor-Management Committee, a partnership between the chemical industry and organized construction labor, including the American Chemistry Council andNorth America's Building Trades Unions. Other founding members are Albemarle Corporation, Calgon Carbon Corporation, Solvay Americas, the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, and the United Association - Union of Plumbers, Fitters, Welders, & Service Techs.
— Also today, Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) formed the Congressional Chemistry Caucus, cheered on by Thomas Connelly Jr. of the American Chemical Society, Cal M. Dooley of the American Chemistry Council and Eric Byer of the National Association of Chemical Distributors...
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/politico-influence/2016/04/damato-for-polish-arms-company-apco-for-ukraine-rocket-men-blow-up-ndaa-markup-moak-hires-two-213995
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(ACC Mentioned) Flame Retardants Debate Heats up in Massachusetts
Apr 26, 2016 | Chem.Info
By Meagan Parrish
A group of lawmakers in Massachusetts are pushing the most sweeping ban on flame retardant chemicals proposed by any U.S. state so far.
According to a Boston Globe report, the legislators have joined forces with local firefighters and environmental advocates who worry that the exposure to the chemicals increases the risk of cancer while doing little to slow encroaching fires.
The debate around flame retardants has intensified in recent years and often pits environmentalists against the chemicals industry.
It all started after California passed a flammability standard in 1975, requiring the use of the chemicals in furniture and baby products. Because furniture manufacturers didn’t want to make products differently for one state, it became the de facto standard for the whole country.
Then in 2012 the Chicago Tribune released an investigative report that accused industry leaders of covering up the potential health hazards of the chemicals, saying that the industry had engaged in a “decades-long campaign of deception” that put profits above public health. According to the Tribune, the science often cited as showing that flame retardants are safe is flawed.
The American Chemistry Council has maintained that the link between cancer and flame retardants hasn’t been confirmed and that the chemicals still play a vital role in slowing down fires.
“Because these substances do deter fires, they provide additional time for families to escape and provide more time for firefighters to arrive,” Robert Simon, vice president of chemical products and technology at the American Chemistry Council, said in the Boston Globe report. Simon also pointed out that firefighters are exposed to a host of carcinogens at higher rates, including diesel fumes from their trucks.
But a physician who worked with the Boston Fire Department for 13 years said firefighters are three times as likely to have cancer than the general public. A study by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine also concluded that Massachusetts firefighters are more likely to develop colon, brain and balder cancers. And studies in other major cities have found that firefighters have an increased risk for lung, digestive and urinary cancers.
So far, 13 other states have proposed bans on flame retardants. About a month ago, the Washington state legislature passed a bill that would ban or restrict the manufacture of five flame retardant chemicals including TBBPA, a replacement chemical for a flame retardant that was banned in 2011.
In Massachusetts, lawmakers are lobbying to ban 10 chemicals — more than any other state so far.
While the debate plays out in state legislative halls across the country, some argue that there should be federal regulations instead, which would provide clear and consistent standards across the industry.
Meanwhile, California has since reversed its flammability standard, which has eliminated the mandate for using flame retardants. With all of the concern circulating in the public, several large retailers, including Macy’s and Ikea, have opted to phase out the chemicals ahead of any legal requirement.
http://www.chem.info/news/2016/04/flame-retardants-debate-heats-massachusetts
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TSCA Action to Wait Till After Recess
Apr 28, 2016 | Politico - Morning Energy
By Eric Wolff
...TSCA ACTION TO WAIT TILL AFTER RECESS: Negotiators trying to forge a bicameral deal on updating the Toxic Substances Control Act told ME that any congressional action won’t happen until after the upcoming week-long recess. That’s despite a push, particularly by Republicans, to wrap it up before Capitol Hill gets bogged down with spending bills and nomination fights. “It’s going to have to wait. [It's] still over in the House and we haven’t quite gotten our deal yet,” Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe said.
“There’s a lot of positive developments. It isn’t that we’re in a deadlock on many, many issues,” Sen. Tom Udall said. “We’re not going to be ready this week, but we’re getting closer,” House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton said. “I don’t want to give it a timeline, but I think every day we get closer,” Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone said. A big sticking point remains the power the bill gives the federal government to preempt state law, including Senate language that would pause state action on high-priority chemicals while EPA is doing a risk review...
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-energy/2016/04/morningenergy-wolff-214018
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US Authority Clamps Down on ‘All Natural’ Product Claims
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reached proposed settlement agreements with four personal care product companies that allegedly violated federal law, by falsely claiming that their products were “all natural” or “100% natural”, when they contain synthetic ingredients.
It has also filed a complaint with a fifth company, for making a similar claim.
The FTC’s complaints against the companies covered a variety of products – including lotions, moisturisers, hair care and sunscreens – containing such ingredients as:
· dimethicone;
· phenoxyethanol;
· ethyhexyl glycerin; and
· polyethylene.
The proposed consent orders would bar each of the companies from making similar misrepresentations in the future, and require them to have “competent and reliable evidence” to substantiate the claims.
Separately, a slew of class action lawsuits have been brought, in recent months, against several consumer products companies for claiming their products are “natural” when they contain artificial or synthetic ingredients.
These include:
· CleanWell soaps and wipes containing sodium citrate and/or sodium coco-sulfate;
· Sunology sunscreens, which contain such ingredients as zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, dimethicone and polyhydroxystearic acid; and
· Cutter insect repellants, with such substances as potassium sorbate, glycerin, xanthan gum and sodium benzoate.
The Honest Company and Kimberly-Clark have also faced similar lawsuits in recent months.
FTC guidance
The FTC’s Green Guides, last updated in 2012, do not offer guidance on the use of the term “natural”.
According to Laura Koss with the FTC’s enforcement division, the guides are intended to demonstrate how manufacturers can make “non-deceptive claims”. In the case of the term “natural”, the agency did not have evidence of how consumers would understand those claims sufficiently to offer general guidance.
But Ms Koss said that just because there are no guidelines on “natural” claims, does not mean that manufacturers are not required to comply with section five of the FTC Act, which prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices”.
“Marketers need to make sure they can back up any reasonable interpretation of their claim in the context of the entire ad,” she said.
The agency does not have immediate plans to update its Green Guides to address this, according to Ms Koss.
“At this point, we have not seen a comprehensive, methodologically sound study” on how consumers might reasonably interpret “natural” claims, she said. The commission could consider advancing a change to the guides, should a study be completed that meets the agency’s criteria for serving as a basis for guidance, she added.
But in the case of the “100% natural” or “all natural” claims, such as those that the FTC recently considered, she said the commission proposed that consumers are likely to believe such products do not contain any synthetic ingredients.
“‘All natural’ or ‘100% natural’ means just that – no artificial ingredients or chemicals,” added Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Companies should take a lesson from these cases.”
https://chemicalwatch.com/47001/us-authority-clamps-down-on-all-natural-product-claims
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US EPA Provides Data Reporting Guidance on Intermediates
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has issued guidance on non-isolated intermediates under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. This comes under the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA).
The fact sheet, Non-Isolated Intermediates, give information on what determines whether an intermediate substance can be considered 'non-isolated.'
The manufacture of a non-isolated intermediate is exempt from reporting requirements under CDR.
The sheet provides several examples of manufacturing processes that generate isolated and non-isolated intermediates. It also includes seven case studies of specific manufacturing scenarios.
The agency has available additional fact sheets on various topics relevant to CDR. Topics covered include:
· chemical substances subject to certain TSCA actions;
· reporting thresholds for 2016;
· how to report following changes to company ownership or legal identity;
· importers;
· imported articles;
· toll manufacturing; and
· byproducts reporting for the printed circuit board industry.
Access to the fact sheets and other CDR information for 2016 is available on EPA's CDR website.
https://chemicalwatch.com/47002/us-epa-provides-data-reporting-guidance-on-intermediates
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Unfulfilled: EPA’s 2009 Commitment to Fix Lead-Based Paint Hazard Standard
Apr 28, 2016 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Tom Neltner
In 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama, supported by then-Senator Hillary Clinton, forced the Bush administration to issue a long-overdue rule to ensure contractors used lead-safe work practices when conducting renovations, repairs, and painting work at homes and child-occupied facilities. So when Senator Obama became President Obama, there was tremendous promise for advances in lead poisoning prevention.
By the second half of 2009, it appeared that promise was turning into reality. Under President Obama’s leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made lead poisoning prevention a priority and undertook a series of important commitments to protect children. Despite that initial success, many of those prevention efforts were foundering by late 2010.
One of the several critical commitments Obama’s EPA made was to revise the agency’s outdated 2001 “Identification of Dangerous Levels of Lead” Rule that set standards for health-based lead-based paint hazards in homes and childcare centers. The standards are an essential building block for lead poisoning prevention because they define when the risk posed by lead in paint, in dust, and in soil is so high that action is needed to reduce those hazards. The uses include:
· EPA and state-certified risk assessors use the standards to advise property owners and families;
· Do-it-yourself test kits reference them when telling families whether or not they have a problem;
· Health departments and housing code officials often rely on these standards for citations;
· The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) references the standards in its lead-safe housing rule to protect residents of federally subsidized housing; and
· EPA and state environmental agencies use them to guide cleanup of contamination.
Since 2011, EPA has taken no apparent action to follow through on its commitment. We will explore the status of the other commitments in other blogs, but for now let’s consider what happened on the lead-based paint hazards rule.
1999 to 2001: Establishing the hazard standards
The lead-based paint hazard standards rule is one of many that Congress mandated in the Residential Lead-based Paint Hazards Reduction Act of 1992, a comprehensive program to protect children from paint. Part of the bill, which included establishing Title IV the Toxic Substance Chemical Act, directed EPA to issue a hazards standard rule by 1994 (15 U.S.C. § 2683). It wasn’t until 1999 that the agency released a proposed rule. And it was another two years before the EPA finalized the proposal and promulgated a rule on January 5, 2001 in the last days of the Clinton Administration (40 CFR § 745.61 to 65). The Bush Administration had the option to reverse the decision but declined to act
The rule established three types of hazard standards: paint-lead hazard, dust-lead hazard, and soil-lead hazard. The dust-lead hazard standard established 40 micrograms of lead per square foot (µg/ft2) of the floor of homes and child-occupied facilities as a hazard that must be eliminated. This is equivalent to one gram – the same amount of sugar in a packet we add to our tea – spread evenly over about 1/2 of a football field. The agency set this level because it would “result in a 1 to 5 percent probability of an individual child’s exceeding a blood lead level of 10 µg/dL”. The definition of elevated blood lead level in 2001, when the rule was promulgated, was 10 µg/dL; it was reduced to 5 µg/dL in 2012. For interior window sills, the level was 250 µg/ft2. For bare soil, a hazard was defined as levels over 400 parts per million (ppm) in the play area and 1,200 ppm in the rest of the yard.
2007 to 2009: Standards found to be “insufficiently protective of children’s health”
In 2007, one of EPA’s scientific advisory committees told the agency that the dust-lead hazard standard was “insufficiently protective of children’s health, as indicated by recent epidemiological studies.” The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) reevaluated the available data and concluded that the risk of an elevated blood level was 18% not less than 5% as EPA claimed in 2001.
Two years later, 12 groups, including Sierra Club, NCHH, United Parents Against Lead, Childhood Lead Action Project, Improving Kids Environment, Healthy Homes Collaborative, Environmental Health Watch, Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance, New Jersey Citizen Action, and others petitioned EPA to revise the rule. They asked EPA to:
· Reduce the lead in dust standard from 40 to 10 µg/ft2 on floors and from 250 to 100 µg/ft2 on interior window sills; and
· Change the definition of lead-based paint from more than 5,000 ppm lead to 600 ppm, the maximum allowable level of lead in paint after 1978.
On October 22, 2009, EPA granted the request and said it would coordinate with HUD to revise the definition of lead-based paint because of the agencies' shared responsibility. EPA stated that it did not commit to a specific rulemaking outcome or a certain date to promulgate a final rule.
2010 to 2011: Affirmation from agency science advisors
EPA sought feedback from its Science Advisory Board (SAB) on a proposed approach to revise the dust-lead hazard standard in 2010. Later that year, a panel convened by the SAB to consider the issue, found the approach “to be well conceived, clearly described, logical, and reasonable.” It commended EPA for initiating a revision to the standard. In 2011, the full SAB issued its final report supporting the agency’s overall approach and made recommendations to improve the modeling.
No activity for more than 5 years
Since the SAB report in 2011 affirming the approach, EPA appears to have made no further progress towards updating these standards. With its limited resources, EPA chose to focus on one of its other commitments made in late 2009: implementing an agreement the agency made to settle a lawsuit. Under the terms of the settlement, EPA agreed to reconsider flaws in its renovation, repair and painting rule, including extending the rule to includepublic and commercial buildings and not just housing and child-occupied facilities. Expanding lead poisoning protections to these sites is necessary, but it should not be an either-or proposition. It should not come at the expense of action on other commitments to protect children from lead.
What’s next?
With lead poisoning prevention back in the news, the demand for updated lead standards is all the more urgent. Families are asking about lead more than ever. In February 2016, 24 groups led by Loyola University and the Shriver Center petitioned HUD to update its lead-safe-housing rule. Within a month, HUD moved forward on a proposal to fix the rule. In March 2016, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) introduced legislation directing EPA to revise rule. In addition, EPA has been asked by an National Drinking Water Advisory Council to issue a health-based action level for lead in drinking water that is similar to the lead-based paint hazard standards.
The lead-based paint hazard standards rule is an essential part of the federal lead poisoning prevention program. In the six years since EPA agreed to fix the rule, the evidence of the harm caused by lead has become even more compelling. The agency needs to immediately revise its lead-based paint hazards consistent with the latest science and the recommendations of its own Science Advisory Board.
http://blogs.edf.org/health/2016/04/28/lead-based-paint-hazard-standard/#more-5095
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NGOs Call on SC Johnson to Stop Using Fragrance Ingredient
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Women’s Voices for the Earth and Michigan Clean Water Action have called for consumer products conglomerate SC Johnson to cease the use of the synthetic musk, galaxolide, in its products.
The NGOs say that galaxolide, also known as HHCB, is a threat to the environment and human health. Studies have shown the substance to be present in the Great Lakes and in humans, and it is a potential endocrine disruptor, they say.
WVE commissioned a GreenScreen assessment of the substance, which assigned it a benchmark one status. The third-party chemical hazard evaluation found the substance to have highly persistent, bioaccumulative, and aquatic toxicity properties, and noted a moderate human health hazard concern for endocrine disruption.
According to the NGOs’ report, SC Johnson is one of six manufacturers, named by the EPA, to be importing and using the high production volume (HPV) chemical.
“Galaxolide pollution is not going to go away. Instead it will only get worse over time if companies continue to use it,” said WVE’s executive director, Erin Switalski. “SC Johnson has a clear opportunity to stem the tide of chemical pollution in the Great Lakes, by eliminating synthetic musks like galaxolide from their products.”
Kelly Semrau, SC Johnson’s senior vice president of global corporate affairs, communication & sustainability, told Chemical Watch that the company “vehemently disagrees with WVE’s assertion that SC Johnson products contribute to high levels of galaxolide in aquatic life and waterways”.
“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 the US Environmental Protection Agency,” added Ms Semrau.
The EPA completed a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) workplan chemical risk assessment for galaxolide in 2014. It found that “current environmental exposure concentrations are one to two orders of magnitude below hazard concentrations of concern for aquatic or sediment-dwelling organisms.”
In the EU, HHCB has a mandatory classification for chronic and acute aquatic toxicity.
The International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec) includes galaxolide on its Substitute it Now (SIN List) of chemicals that it wants to see phased out, due to the substance’s reported endocrine effects, potential to be persistent and bioaccumulative, and its frequent presence in humans and the environment.
Galaxolide is used in more than 80 SC Johnson products, in such lines as Glade, Shout!, Scrubbing Bubbles and Windex.
Regarding whether the company intends to phase out galaxolide, Ms Semrau said: “As a matter of standard practice across our product portfolio, we continually monitor the latest scientific studies for safety, toxicity and efficacy.” But today’s science shows that the low concentrations, used in some SC Johnson fragrances, are below levels deemed safe by regulatory agencies, she said.
In a company position statement on galaxolide, SC Johnson says that it is “disappointed by attempts to perpetuate the spread of unfounded fears and misinformation to the public”.
https://chemicalwatch.com/47024/ngos-call-on-sc-johnson-to-stop-using-fragrance-ingredient
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US Toxicology Programme Finalises Cobalt Cancer Report
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) Office of the Report on Carcinogens has finalised a monographfor cobalt and its compounds that release cobalt ions in vivo. It finds that the substances are reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.
The monograph supports this finding with evidence from scientific literature, cancer studies in experimental animals, and research on mechanisms of carcinogenesis.
Cobalt is a naturally occurring element that was chosen for potential carcinogenicity evaluation, based on evidence of widespread exposure. It can be used as a colouring agent for paints and glass, and in green energy electronic applications, such as rechargeable batteries for consumer electronics.
Primary sources of human exposure are through occupational inhalation of dust, fumes or mists, and through food consumption.
The European Commission has been tracking the NTP's formal review of cobalt and its compounds as part of a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pilot project. The substances were selected for potential cooperation and data sharing between the agencies, during their respective classifications as carcinogens, under the EU Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation and the US toxicology programme.
The cobalt monograph will be included in the 14th Report on Carcinogens (RoC), which is currently under development.
https://chemicalwatch.com/46980/us-toxicology-programme-finalises-cobalt-cancer-report
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OECD Experts Work Towards Guidance for Grouping Nanomaterials
Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
Experts have begun the complex task of expanding and updating OECD guidance on grouping and read-across for nanomaterials, by identifying common elements in existing schemes.
The aim is to build on a small placeholder section on nanomaterials (6.9) in the OECD's Guidance on grouping of chemicals, last updated in 2014.
At the OECD meeting on grouping and read-across for the hazard assessment of manufactured nanomaterials, on 13-14 April, experts from the EU, US and Japan presented and discussed different proposed approaches.
“It was an interesting and fruitful meeting, with a number of schemes ... being presented. These had many elements in common and form a good basis for extending the OECD guidance on grouping of chemicals to nanomaterials,” says Andrew Worth, group leader, predictive toxicology at the EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC).
In his presentation to the meeting, Dr Worth argued that experience gained in grouping and read-across of chemicals in non-particulate form can be “usefully extended and applied” to predicting nanomaterial properties.
Meanwhile, Robert Landsiedel from German chemical company BASF's experimental toxicology and ecology unit presented Ecetoc's “decision-making framework” for grouping and testing nanomaterials, called DF4NanoGrouping.
The Ecetoc approach uses three grouping tiers, based on: intrinsic material properties; system-dependent properties; and in vivo screening. It also has four major classification groups for nanoforms. Dr Landsiedel reported on case studies, showing that DF4Nano's non-animal tiers recognised materials with the potential to be hazardous in vivo.
The framework also proved efficient at sorting nanomaterials that could undergo hazard assessment without further testing, as well as identifying sub-groups of active nanomaterials for in-depth investigations, he added.
Blanca Serrano presented on behalf of the business and industry advisory committee to the OECD (BIAC). She stressed that emphasis should be on using “proven methods” to validate emerging techniques. Screening and alternative testing strategies are needed but should be used “with caution”, she added.
A nanoform grouping strategy, developed by the JRC, Echa and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), proved useful during the meeting, says Mar Gonzalez from the OECD secretariat. This stepwise approach suggests making an initial grouping, based on similarities in physico-chemical properties.
Experts at the meeting agreed on the main elements needed to develop grouping systems but disagreements emerged when discussions entered a detailed level, says Ms Gonzalez.
“There are a lot of different views out there about the topic of grouping and read-across but I don't think it especially breaks down into governments or academia or industry having a favoured approach,” says Peter Kearns, principal administrator for nanosafety at the OECD. “It's about trying to work towards something that is practical for everybody.”
"We have an interesting situation in that that the science is moving so quickly. We have to run very quickly to keep up with it,” adds Mr Kearns.
Juan Riego Sintes from the JRC chaired the meeting and will present a report at the next in September.
https://chemicalwatch.com/47027/oecd-experts-work-towards-guidance-for-grouping-nanomaterials
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Toxic Contamination Found on Portions of Tracks at Penn Station
Apr 28, 2016 | Wall Street Journal
By Andrew Tangel
For all its ills, New York Penn Station can count one more: toxic contamination on at least two of its tracks.
Amtrak has launched a cleanup at the widely ridiculed and crowded station after tests found chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, on portions of tracks 1 and 10 at the busy Manhattan transit hub.
Now regarded as potentially cancer-causing pollutants, PCBs were commonly used decades ago in lubricants or other commercial applications. Experts say they can harm the skin, liver or immune and nervous systems.
Riders shouldn’t worry, according to Amtrak. The national passenger railroad owns Penn Station but shares it with NJ Transit, the Long Island Rail Road and the New York City subway.
While PCBs can become airborne, tests showed the air at Penn Station is safe, an Amtrak spokesman said.
“Elevated levels” of PCBs were discovered earlier this month in sediment on sections of two of the station’s 21 tracks, the spokesman said. A bulletin for workers noted PCBs were found on concrete track structures.
Amtrak warned workers they shouldn’t perform work in the areas in question without specific authorization, according to the bulletin, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Late Wednesday night, crews from Amtrak and Clean Harbors, a company specializing in cleaning up hazardous waste, were working on Penn Station’s Track 1. A spokesman for the company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
A truck equipped with a large vacuum backed onto the track, on which were workers dressed in puffy white protective outfits. One them hosed down the track with water.
Amtrak said all concrete track areas should be treated as though they are contaminated with PCBs, and the bulletin notes the cleanup will continue on Penn Station’s other tracks.
“There is no danger to customers as the contamination is confined to an area not accessible by the general public,” the spokesman said in a written statement, which noted its highest priority was workers’ and riders’ safety.
Experts said PCBs’ health risk depended on the chemical’s concentrations, and how long riders or employees may have been exposed.
“The highest risk will be for the workers who are exposed chronically doing the same thing day in, day out, in the same contaminated environment,” said Judith Zelikoff, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University.
The Amtrak spokesman didn’t immediately provide details on the contamination levels but said the PCB source was under investigation. The spokesman said the railroad would make necessary equipment and training available.
But Tom Wohanka, vice chairman of a union representing Amtrak’s track workers, criticized Amtrak for what he described as a slow, reactive response to a decades-old PCB problem.
Mr. Wohanka said his union was pursuing litigation against Amtrak for PCB exposure. The railroad spokesman didn’t immediately respond to his criticism.
Employees who maintain tracks already have dangerous jobs and now have to worry about exposure to toxins in areas where they work, walk and eat lunch, Mr. Wohanka said.
“This is the sandbox that we’re playing in,” Mr. Wohanka said. “Our guys on a regular basis are digging in these contaminated soils and they don’t even know it.”
Penn Station is slated to get an overhaul under a plan launched by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this year. The project would renovate the station and expand into a post office building across Eighth Avenue.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/toxic-contamination-found-on-portions-of-tracks-at-penn-station-1461863531
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Apr 28, 2016 | Chemical Watch
Public consultations on authorisation applications
Echa has launched a public consultation on 29 applications for authorisation, covering 47 uses.
They are for chromium VI compounds, used in:
· surface treatment;
· hard chrome plating;
· conversion coating;
· passivation; and
· cooling systems.
Sectors covered include chemicals, metals, armaments, aerospace, automotive, electronics and lithography.
The consultation also includes:
· 11 uses of 1,2-dichloroethane (EDC);
· seven uses of bis(2-methoxyethyl) ether (Diglyme); and
· two uses of formaldehyde.
More information is available on Echa's website. Comments can be submitted until 22 June.
CLH consultation
And the agency has launched a public consultation on proposed harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) for:
· methylmercuric chloride.
The dossier was submitted by France. The hazard classes open for commenting are: acute toxicity; germ cell mutagenicity; carcinogenicity; reproductive toxicity; specific target organ toxicity – single exposure; and specific target organ toxicity – repeated exposure.
The deadline for comments is 3 June.
New Q&As on restrictions
Working in collaboration with the European Commission, Echa has prepared eight new or amended Q&As on restriction entries 16-17, 18a, 23, 40, 43, 46, 51-52 of Annex XVII to REACH.
The aim is to inform stakeholders and help enforcement authorities implement the restriction provisions.
Chesar launch postponed
The agency has apologised, after postponing the release of its updated version of Chesar. The launch was scheduled for 29 April. However, the agency says it has decided to continue testing the chemical safety assessment and reporting tool. It wants to ensure stability and compatibility of the tool with the new version of Iuclid. Echa says it will announce a new release date soon.
Guidance
And Echa has sent out a draft update of chapter R.14 of its Guidance on information requirements and chemical safety assessment (IR&CSA) for MSC, Rac and Forum consultation. The chapter deals with occupational exposure assessment.
https://chemicalwatch.com/47023/echa-round-up
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Reid, McConnell Trade Fire over Stalled Energy Bill
Apr 28, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Jordain Carney
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ripped into Democrats Thursday for blocking an energy bill, telling them: "Do your job."
"They couldn't wait a single week before throwing an obstructionist wrench into the appropriations process they claim to want," he said Thursday. "I hope they're not dusting off the old filibuster summer playbook, especially in light of the letter they just sent to me about win-win opportunities and restoring regular order."
McConnell responded after Democrats blocked the Senate from moving forward on the energy and water appropriations bill Wednesday because of their concerns about an Iran-related amendment from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
Cotton's amendment would prevent the government from purchasing Iran’s heavy water, which can be used in nuclear reactors. Though the measure isn't currently scheduled to get a vote, Democrats warn that its inclusion could lead to the president vetoing the overall bill.
The Senate is expected to take another vote on the energy bill Thursday before lawmakers leave town for a weeklong recess.
McConnell, who said he supports Cotton's amendment, slammed Democrats' strategy, saying they were willing to sink the appropriations bill "to prevent even the possibility of voting on this amendment."
But Democrats argue that Cotton's amendment amounts to a "poison pill."
"If the Republicans insist on these poison pill amendments — and there's no question that's what it is — we're going to have to continue as we have," Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) fired back. "Now, it takes a lot of gall from my friend, the Republican leader, to talk about filibusters."
After the rhetorical battle on the Senate floor, Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Reid, called the Kentucky Republican "the world's most accomplished hypocrite."
“His self-righteous screeds about taking tough votes ring hollow while he leads an unprecedented effort to deny a vote to President Obama’s highly qualified Supreme Court nominee, Chief Judge Garland," he said. "Meanwhile, if Senator McConnell would simply do his job and avoid getting blindsided by his fellow Republicans with poison pill riders, Democrats would be happy to help vote for the Energy and Water appropriations bill immediately.”
Though Democrats have praised the bipartisan appropriations bill, they huddled Wednesday morning — hours before a procedural vote — to discuss Cotton's amendment and the path forward.
If every Republican supports the legislation, GOP leadership would still need the support of at least six Democrats to move forward. Four Democrats voted Wednesday to move forward.
It's not the first time an amendment from Cotton has gummed up the Senate. Cotton and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a former presidential candidate, tried to force a vote last year on requiring Iran to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
But GOP leadership have come to Cotton's defense in the energy fight. Cotton also told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Thursday that he's talking with Democrats about moving ahead.
"They suggested voting on a stand-alone bill, something I would consider," he said.
But he also slammed Democrats, saying that "they know that the policy is indefensible and they would rather just block the entire bill."
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/278022-reid-mcconnell-trade-fire-over-stalled-energy-bill
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Interior Dept. Needs to Review Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program
Apr 28, 2016 | The Hill - Contributors Blog
By Jayni Hein and Jessica Wilkins
As evidence mounted that the current system of leasing federal lands for coal mining was deeply flawed, the Department of the Interior took a bold step in January. The agency placed a moratorium on new federal coal leases and launched a programmatic environmental review of its coal leasing program.
The federal leasing program for onshore oil and gas is plagued by similar environmental and economic questions. The time is ripe for a review of this program as well.
Two key purposes of the coal program review are to evaluate the overall return to taxpayers, and to assess the climate change impacts of coal production on federal lands. Significant economic and environmental benefits are expected to result from Interior's decision to review and modernize the coal program, as market conditions, scientific understanding and national priorities have changed considerably since the program was last reviewed in the 1980s. Interior is statutorily required to receive a fair return for taxpayers when it allows leaseholders to extract valuable natural resources from public lands. The programmatic environmental review of the coal program gives Interior the opportunity to determine how to best account for the environmental and social costs associated with producing and burning fossil fuels, including climate change impacts, using modern economic tools like the social cost of carbon. The alternatives analysis that Interior will conduct as part of this review will provide critical information on how different royalty rates and coal production scenarios would affect greenhouse gas emissions, revenue, jobs and energy markets.
Interior should undertake a comprehensive review of the federal onshore oil and gas program, as well, in order to maximize social welfare and help meet domestic greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. As the United States seeks to meet its climate commitments made in Paris, reducing emissions from federal fossil fuel production is one promising avenue for securing greater emission reductions, with concomitant benefits for the public. A review can also help determine the socially optimal level of federal fossil fuel production and fiscal terms for these leases.
Other environmental groups have called for a review of the onshore oil and gas leasing program and a corresponding pause on new oil and gas leases during this programmatic review. In January, the environmental law clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law filed a petition on behalf of WildEarth Guardians requesting that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) prepare a "Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement" assessing the climate change and other health and environmental impacts of the onshore oil and gas program. These efforts are related to the growing "Keep It in the Ground" movement, which seeks to halt new fossil fuel leasing on public lands.
A comprehensive environmental review, when done correctly, would provide information on aggregate greenhouse gas emissions, the net social benefits or costs of federal oil and gas production, and the effect of potential modifications to the program, such as revised royalty rates. Such a review would also allow Interior to respond to mounting concerns, including those raised by the Government Accountability Office, that Interior is not receiving an appropriate share of revenue from federal onshore oil and gas leases.
The BLM issued a proposed rule in February to address methane emissions from flaring, venting, and leaks from oil and gas wells on federal lands. The proposal also set the stage for updating the BLM's decades-old royalty rates — which have been set at 12.5 percent for new, competitive leases since 1987 — by adopting a more flexible approach to royalty rates for future leases. The royalty rate for offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico was increased twice under the George W. Bush administration and is now 18.75 percent. Similarly, Western states commonly charge royalty rates between 16.67 and 25 percent — up to twice the rate BLM charges. According to research by the Center for Western Priorities, BLM could be losing out on up to $730 million per year for federal taxpayers and Western states, which receive half of all royalties collected from federal leases within state borders.
The time has come for Interior to conduct a programmatic environmental review of the federal onshore oil and gas program. By undertaking this analysis, Interior can help ensure that environmental and public health costs are properly accounted for, that taxpayers receive a fair return for the lease of their fossil fuel resources, and that the United States is on track to meet its climate change goals.
Hein is the policy director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law. Wilkins is a third-year law student at New York University School of Law.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/278007-interior-dept-needs-to-review-onshore-oil-and-gas
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McCabe Says Existing Source Methane Data Call Could Come In Two Stages
Apr 28, 2016 | InsideEPA
By Doug Obey and Lee Logan
EPA's top air official is suggesting that the agency's upcoming information collection request (ICR) regarding existing oil and gas sector methane sources will proceed in two stages, and some industry sources hope that approach will reduce some reporting burdens on the industry.
Acting EPA air chief Janet McCabe during an April 27 event hosted by Bloomberg Government and Sierra Club also predicted that a companion regulation targeting new and modified oil and gas facilities will be changed from its proposed form, suggesting that the agency is seriously considering flexibilities related to low-producing wells.
McCabe's remarks offer some additional hints on the agency's effort to address emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from both new and existing oil and gas sector facilities, with the agency hoping to make as much progress as possible before the end of the Obama administration.
Asked at the event whether EPA would pursue a two-stage ICR to gather data on existing sources, McCabe said, “We have talked about that and that looks to be an efficient way to gather information.”
McCabe also noted that while the agency has a lot of information on the sector's emissions, it needs more data on “what technologies are available, how they can be deployed at existing facilities across the range of types of facilities that are out there.” She noted facilities range from “single wells in cornfields to big operations, and they are very different.”
In response to a query on methane emissions that occur downstream of oil and gas production, McCabe also indicated the ICR could cover such sources. “We are looking across the industry . . . our information collection request is going to be very broad,” she said.
McCabe did not elaborate on precise timing or format of the two-stage ICR process, including whether the second stage would occur only after EPA had received information from the first request.
An EPA spokeswoman says the agency envisions “one ICR with the information being submitted in phases” and that the agency would collect the second round of information after receiving the initial set of responses.
One oil and gas sector source says EPA appears to be considering issuing a more basic request to thousands of operators, concerning straightforward questions such as what is produced at a given operation, how much, the locations of oil and gas facilities and whether they are near pipelines or sources of electric power.
A second, more detailed query would then go to a narrower universe of facilities, the source says, asking operators questions about specific types of equipment and emissions.
“The idea is to try to narrow the recipients in the second ICR based on . . . what you learn from the first ICR,” the source says.
Another industry source, however, says it is not yet clear whether the second query will be based on the first, or whether EPA might issue the two simultaneously. The source says the industry is “hopeful” the ICR will minimize burdens on the industry, and that information the agency receives will help it account for different types of oil and gas facilities when designing any future rules.
Double-Edged Sword
Industry sources say the ICR process is something of a double-edged sword for the agency -- potentially helping it shore up any future regulation but also taking significant time in the last year of the Obama administration. That time includes a mandatory 60-day comment period on a draft ICR, one source notes.
EPA had originally said it would issue a draft ICR in April, but the first industry source says there are indications that timeline will slip.
An agency official earlier said the agency hopes to start receiving data by the fall or early 2017, and industry sources have said the ICR process is lengthy and will “clearly extend into the next administration.” Further, a top Interior Department official earlier called EPA's work on existing sources “a multi-year effort.”
Even so, McCabe left open the possibility -- however remote -- that EPA could issue a proposed existing source rule by the end of the administration. “Nothing is off the table for us, but our focus right now is on these two pieces,” she said, referring to the ICR and the companion new source performance standards (NSPS) rulethat will be finalized “soon.”
McCabe also indicated that a suite of related regulations affecting the oil and gas sector -- a “control techniques guideline” for areas not attaining ozone air quality standards, a policy for tribal lands and a policy on how to “aggregate” or combine sources for air permitting purposes -- will be issued “pretty much on the same track” as the NSPS, but they would not necessarily come out the same day.
NSPS Changes
With respect to the NSPS, McCabe said to expect some changes between the proposed and final version. “I've never encountered or dealt with an EPA rule that didn't get better between proposal and final. This one will be no different.”
McCabe declined to offer specific changes, but she did acknowledge that EPA received a lot of comments on how it would regulate low-producing wells. “We are taking a hard look at that,” McCabe said. She also acknowledged EPA received many comments on leak detection requirements and the cost of emission control technologies.
In response to a query on industry concerns that the NSPS would duplicate the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) separate proposal to limit venting and flaring of natural gas on federal lands, McCabe said EPA is doing its best to avoid such duplication.
“The agencies have different statutory responsibilities, [but] we don't want there to be redundant or duplicative or inconsistent requirements. We try very hard to make sure that doesn't happen,” McCabe said.
Democrats during a House Natural Resources energy subcommittee hearing April 27 also pushed back on the notion that BLM's proposal would overlap with EPA's methane program.
Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) charged that industry believes BLM's rule is unnecessary “because EPA will do it,” but he asked Department of Interior official Amanda Leiter whether EPA's methane regulations would be in effect “anytime soon.”
In response, Leiter noted that EPA is close to finalizing its NSPS, and “we certainly hope those will be out soon. But those rules do not address emissions from existing operations, and of course that's the majority of the problem for BLM.”
In her response, Leiter did not directly address EPA's ICR and broader work on existing sources, but in earlier testimony at a Senate hearing, she called it “the beginning of a multi-year effort.”
During the Bloomberg/Sierra Club event's discussion on the NSPS, McCabe did not mention requirements for liquids unloading, which were not included in the proposed rule but which environmentalists have urged EPA to include in the final version.
However, the issue did come up at the House hearing, where Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) noted that EPA declined to include liquids unloading in the proposed NSPS. He asked Leiter why BLM had included such requirements in its separate proposal.
Leiter in response said that BLM's rule would only require “best management practices” for liquids unloading at existing facilities, and that more substantive requirements would apply only to new wells. And she added that BLM based its proposed rule on the best information available to it at the time it crafted the measure.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/mccabe-says-existing-source-methane-data-call-could-come-two-stages
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Texas Study Tracks Contaminant Changes Near Drilling
Apr 28, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
Unconventional oil and gas development can lead to abnormalities in nearby groundwater over time, according to new research from the University of Texas at Arlington.
The study, published Monday in the journal Science of the Total Environment, found changes in groundwater quality as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling ramped up in West Texas' Cline Shale. Those effects, which include fluctuations in pH and total organic carbon levels, are likely to regulate over time, said lead author Kevin Schug, a chemistry professor at UTA and director of the university's Collaborative Laboratories for Environmental Analysis and Remediation.
"But it also means there are chemicals of concern present at some times, and that can be dangerous," he said.
Schug and his colleagues aimed to provide a snapshot of groundwater conditions before, during and after drilling and fracking. The team collected its first private water well samples in December 2012. At that time, there were 298 unconventional wells in the three-county study area, but just one within 5 kilometers of the sample sites, according to the study. By January 2014, the study's fourth and last sample date, there were 15 wells in the vicinity.
The first phase was not a baseline assessment, but it was an attempt to assess water quality prior to the onset of increased activity, the authors wrote.
Earlier research from Schug's co-author, Zacariah Hildenbrand, a visiting scholar at UTA and the founder of an environmental consulting firm, fielded criticism from other scientists who have challenged oil and gas industry practices (EnergyWire, July 29, 2013). Among their critiques was the researchers' failure to collect baseline data.
"This was a golden opportunity to do just that," Schug said.
In the previous study, Hildenbrand and his colleagues studied 91 water wells within 3 miles of a natural gas well and compared those results to nine reference wells farther away from oil and gas activity. Monday's study included 42 water wells and no reference wells.
"So they published a study on water quality that receives significant criticism for its methods, and then publish another study a few years later with even worse methods?" Steve Everley, senior adviser to the industry group Energy in Depth, wrote in an email to EnergyWire.
Using data from the Texas Water Development Board could have provided a better historical foundation, said Terry Engelder, a professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University. Thirteen months is too brief a period to build the study's statistical case, and, as the study notes, the methodology doesn't rule out other explanations, he said.
"The authors can't say that UD [unconventional oil and gas development] had anything to do with the content of groundwater and they might as well have been positing that farmers in West Texas have been cleaning crank cases and radiators of tractors for about a century and dumping the stuff in their back yards less than, say, 100 meters of their water wells," Engelder wrote in an email. "Note that most UD activity is more than 5 kilometers from the water samples. The authors also admit that 'the majority of the chemicals used for UD activities are also used in numerous other industrial, agricultural, and residential activities.'"
Sporadic contamination
Engelder and Everley also questioned why contaminant measurements were all over the map.
"If there were a connection between drilling activity and water contamination, you wouldn't see some substances decreasing with more drilling as others increased," Everley wrote. "To their credit, the authors acknowledge that their research may suggest that these substances 'dissipate' over time, but again, you still wouldn't be seeing such wild swings -- as their data showed -- if drilling were playing a statistically significant role in water quality issues."
Total organic carbon and pH levels spiked between UTA's first and second samples, but fell during the third and fourth measurements. Total dissolved solids increased between the team's first and third samples and began to drop by the fourth. Other tracked constituents, such as chloride and bromide, peaked at still different points.
Schug said the results suggest that different stages of oil and gas development bring their own particular groundwater impacts.
Because operators all use different chemical mixtures and because the entire extraction process is so multifaceted, scientists need more information in order to demonstrate the potential impacts of each stage and to suggest possible interventions to reduce contamination, Schug said. That won't be possible without the cooperation of industry, he said.
"Without us talking right now ... we have no way to time our sampling," Schug said.
He added that he has sent proposals to a couple of major energy firms, but none has taken him up on his offer to collaborate.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/04/28/stories/1060036382
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Pennsylvania Investigates Earthquakes Near Fracking Operations
Apr 28, 2016 | AP (In Fuel Fix)
The state Department of Environmental Protection is investigating whether fracking contributed to two small earthquakes near a western Pennsylvania drilling operation.
DEP spokeswoman Melanie Williams says Hilcorp Energy Co. stopped fracking at the Mahoning Township site at about noon Monday. That was about 12 hours after the U.S. Geological Survey recorded a magnitude-1.9 earthquake and about 10 hours before another quake of the same size was recorded.
A woman who answered the company’s phone in New Castle on Thursday referred The Associated Press to a spokesman at the company’s Houston headquarters who wasn’t immediately available.
Williams says Hilcorp was fracking two wells on a four-well pad about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh when the first quake occurred.
There were no reports of property damage.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/04/28/pennsylvania-investigates-earthquakes-near-fracking-operations/
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Apr 28, 2016 | Tacoma Weekly
By Steve Dunkelberger
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frank E. Cuthbertson is set to decide today, April 29, whether his previous temporary decision will become permanent to keep the City of Tacoma from releasing the city’s hazardous response plans for a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.
Puget Sound Energy wants the information to remain secret out of fear that releasing details about the proposed plant’s safety assessment would make it a potential target for terrorist attacks as well as disclose confidential company plans. Red Line Tacoma activist John Carlton sought the details so the environmental group could better understand the potential destruction a blast or fire could have on the surrounding area.
The tideflats is already home to three oil refineries, the third busiest shipping terminals in the nation and oil train traffic. Fears of an accident at one facility causing a chain reaction involving the others might be farfetched to some people but big worries for others. The derailment last week of 18 tanker train cars, albeit it empty ones, just yards away from the PSE site illustrated that point.
PSE claims that any fire or explosion would not only be extremely rare but also just 550 feet wide, well within the fence line of the 30-acre facility at East 11th Street and Taylor Way, just blocks away from what would have been the world’s largest methanol plant had Northwest Innovation Works succeeded despite widespread opposition from local governments and environmental groups, including Red Line Tacoma. Opponents have widely circulated some estimates and a map that shows a three-mile “blast zone” that covers the residential areas of Browns Point around through Fife and even parts of Interstate 5 and downtown Tacoma.
The City of Tacoma’s fact page on the plant, as well as information found on the PSE website, state that the map is based on estimates for a facility five times bigger than the LNG plant being proposed.
“Such zones might be appropriate for LNG import/export terminals served by LNG cargo ships carrying 35 million or more gallons of LNG. They are based on worst-case scenarios involving a terrorist attack on an LNG cargo ship resulting in an uncontrolled spill of LNG over the water. There will be no cargo ships calling on the proposed facility capable of carrying those amounts of LNG, and they will not be permitted to operate as an import/export facility.”
PSE is in the permitting process to build the $275 million facility on the Tacoma tideflats as a way to store natural gas that would be used to power Totem Ocean Trailer Express cargo ships as well as provide for a ready supply of natural gas storage the utility could use during exceptionally cold weather.
The utility company began the permitting process last fall, following an environmental review by the City of Tacoma. The city’s agreement with PSE calls for the utility to pay $5 million for the renovations of the mothballed fire station at East 11th and Taylor Way to allow for faster emergency response times. The United States Coast Guard is conducting a Waterway Suitability Study for the proposed project and the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission must also review the facility’s design. PSE plans to have the plant operational by 2019. That timeline could change, particularly since the Puyallup Tribe has sought to have the process at least delayed, arguing that the environmental review was incomplete and included faulty information.
Specifically, the tribe worries that construction of the LNG facility would churn up the soil at the Superfund cleanup site. That soil could then leak into the waterway and threaten fish runs and the nearby tribal marina.http://www.tacomaweekly.com/news/article/how-safe-is-natural-gas
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Groups Threaten Lawsuit over Tardy EPA Reviews of NOx, SOx
Apr 28, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Two environmental and public health groups are threatening a lawsuit against U.S. EPA over the agency's slowness in revisiting ambient air quality standards for two major classes of pollutants.
The agency is overdue in updating the benchmarks for nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx), a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health said in a notice of intent to sue sent yesterday to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
The two groups plan to go to court as early as late June to prod the agency to act, according to the notice, which EPA officials will review, a spokesman said in an email this morning.
Under the Clean Air Act, the agency is supposed to review -- and update if necessary -- the air quality standards for NOx, SOx and four other "criteria" pollutants every five years to ensure they adequately protect public health based on available scientific evidence.
The agency regularly misses those deadlines, prompting environmental groups to sue to spur action. The agency is also on track to miss a 2017 timetable to revise the standards for particulate matter, another criteria pollutant, according to a draft review plan released for public comment last week.
In the case of both SOx and NOx, the last reviews were completed in 2010, the notice said. According to an assessment released earlier this year, research since then shows that the health effects of NOx exposure "are worse than was known" when EPA set the 2010 standard, according to the notice.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/04/28/stories/1060036430
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Texas Rebuts Enviro Pollution Oversight Report
Apr 28, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Texas environmental regulators are disputing a new report that accuses the state of continuing a "hands-off" approach in regulating air pollution stemming from plant maintenance or equipment breakdowns.
That characterization is "patently untrue and misleading to the public," Andrea Morrow, a spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), said in a lengthystatement to reporters late yesterday.
"TCEQ consistently pursues administrative, as well as civil enforcement, against non-compliant regulated industries in accordance with a vigorous, clearly articulated regulatory framework," Morrow said.
The report, released earlier in the day by the Environmental Integrity Project and the group Environment Texas, said that Texas industries last year spewed 68 million pounds of dangerous air pollutants into the atmosphere above their permitted levels because of "maintenance and malfunction" incidents.
The report also described TCEQ's response to such incidents as inconsistent and called on U.S. EPA to take a look at the state's "byzantine" maintenance rules (Greenwire, April 27).
In response, Morrow said that Texas has "one of the most extensive permitting programs for authorizing maintenance activities." For unplanned maintenance to prevent or deal with equipment failures, companies must meet TCEQ requirements "to minimize emissions, duration, and impacts," she said.
The agency also has extensive reporting requirements regarding excess emissions, with reviews of those reports drawing on such criteria as "design, frequency, and patterns of emissions," Morrow added.
In her statement, Morrow did not specifically challenge the air pollution data in the study -- which the two environmental groups said they took from industry-reported figures in an online state database -- but noted that overall air quality is improving and said TCEQ would provide "additional comment" on specific references.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/04/28/stories/1060036416
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