Preview Newsletter
ACC AM 6/16
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(ACC Mentioned) Finally, At Least Some Chemicals Will Be Tested and Regulated in the US
Jun 15, 2016 | Sustainable Business
While many Americans assume any chemical allowed on the market has been tested for safety, the fact is 80,000 of them have not. -
European Commission Publishes Delayed Endocrine Disruptors Criteria
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Commission proposed June 15 that a World Health Organization standard be used as the basis for identifying endocrine-disrupting substances under European Union pesticides and biocides laws, a long-awaited announcement that pleased neither chemical companies nor environmental advocates. -
Small Businesses Weigh in on EPA Rules for Three Solvents
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The Environmental Protection Agency has launched two advisory panels for small businesses to provide feedback the agency may impose on three solvents, according to a recent agency update. -
Letter: It’s Time to Start Hoarding Before the TSCA Kicks In
Jun 15, 2016 | The Wall Street Journal
Regarding Fred Krupp’s “When Red and Blue in Congress Makes Green” (op-ed, June 10): After all the glowing articles about the bipartisan revisions to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), what this means to average citizens is that they need to hustle to the nearest home center and purchase a lifetime supply of acetone, MEK, lacquer thinner, etc., as... -
Our Bodies Are Rife With Cancer-Causing Chemicals, Landmark Study Shows
Jun 16, 2016 | Truth Dig
By Deirdre Fulton
The first inventory of its kind has found that hundreds of cancer-causing chemicals are building up in the bodies of Americans. -
Ground Broken For Louisiana Petrochemical Project
Jun 15, 2016 | Natural Gas Inelligence
By Joe Fisher
Ground has been broken for a $3 billion chemical manufacturing project in Lake Charles, LA. -
House Republicans Add More Riders to EPA Spending Bill
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Dabbs
House appropriators piled more policy riders onto legislation to fund the Environmental Protection Agency June 15, approving measures to limit the president's authority to designate national monuments and delay revisions to offshore oil and gas pollution tracking. -
Cantwell: House Willing to Drop Some Energy Bill Provisions
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
House members expressed an interest in dropping some of the controversial measures from their energy bill during a meeting on sending an energy bill to conference, but more work remains to be done, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told Bloomberg BNA. -
Overnight Energy: EPA Spending Bill Blocking Rules Heads to House Floor
Jun 15, 2016 | The Hill - E2 WIre
By Timothy Cama and Devin Henry
The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a $32.1 billion spending bill for the Interior Department and environment programs, sending a bill laden with policy riders to the House floor. -
Spending Bill Blocking EPA Regulations Heads to the House Floor
Jun 15, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday advanced a $32.1 billion spending bill for the Interior Department and environment programs, sending a bill laden with policy riders to the House floor. -
Party-Line Vote Sends Interior-EPA Bill to the House Floor
Jun 15, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Amanda Reilly and Scott Streater
The House Appropriations Committee voted 31-18 along party lines today to advance a spending bill for the Interior Department and U.S. EPA that carries policy riders aimed at quashing Obama administration regulations. -
Congress Must Pass Historic Energy Bill
Jun 15, 2016 | Real Clear Energy
By Brigham McCown
The last time Congress passed a bill to modernize the United States energy sector, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was unveiling the first iPhone. The world has changed rapidly since 2007, and policymakers have struggled to keep pace with our nation’s burgeoning energy industry, with many proposals lacking any staying power. -
Senate Conference Vote in Limbo
Jun 16, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Geof Koss
A Senate vote to go to conference with the House on energy reform legislation is on hold as Republicans try to build up support among wary Democrats uneasy with the lower chamber's own energy package. -
Lawmakers Say Spending Bill Rider Threatens Negotiations
Jun 16, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Tiffany Stecker
A few lines deep within the report accompanying a Senate spending bill has dragged a long-standing regional water battle onto the national stage. -
Eighth Circuit Finds Energy Act Unconstitutional
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mark Wolski
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected as unconstitutional a Minnesota law that sought to bar the importation of energy that could contribute to carbon dioxide emissions (N.D. v. Heydinger, 8th Cir., Nos. 14-2156 and 14-2251, 6/15/16). -
EPA, Opponents Divided on New Power Plant Briefing Schedule
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
Both the Environmental Protection Agency and states and industry groups challenging the agency's carbon dioxide standards for new power plants agree that the briefing schedule in the current litigation will need to be reset to accommodate additional lawsuits that are expected, but they remain divided on when and how best to do that. -
EPA Ordered to Issue Particulate Matter Plan for Texas
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nushin Huq
The Environmental Protection Agency must issue a federal plan for Texas to prevent the state's particulate matter emissions from interfering with efforts by neighboring states to meet air quality standards, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered (Sierra Club v. EPA, 2016 BL 188609, D. D.C., No. 10-cv-01541 , 6/14/16). -
D.C. Circuit Grants Request To Dismiss Utility NSPS Suit
Jun 15, 2016 | Inside EPA
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit June 15 granted EPA and the power sector's joint request to dismiss a long-stayed challenge by utilities to aspects of its maximum achievable control technology (MACT) and new source performance standards (NSPS) rule setting air toxics limits for power plants. -
Oil and Gas Emissions Boost Cancer Risk -- Enviro Study
Jun 15, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Sean Reilly
Millions of Americans are at higher risk of developing cancer because of toxic emissions from the oil and gas industry, according to two environmental groups. -
Chamber Lobbying at Odds With Members' Climate Views: Report
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
Lobbying efforts by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against Obama administration efforts on climate change are deeply at odds with the perspectives of its board members, eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus said in a report June 15. -
Gov. Jerry Brown Wants to Extend California's Climate Change Law Beyond 2020
Jun 16, 2016 | Los Angeles TImes
By Liam Dillon
Gov. Jerry Brown is endorsing an extension of the state's main climate change law. -
Chaffetz Readies WOTUS Contempt Resolution for White House Official
Jun 15, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Annie Snider
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz is moving to hold a White House official in contempt of Congress over documents related to the Obama administration's controversial water regulation, escalating the battle around the EPA rule and potentially altering the high-stakes court challenges over it.
Industry and Association News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Transportation News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) Finally, At Least Some Chemicals Will Be Tested and Regulated in the US
Jun 15, 2016 | Sustainable Business
While many Americans assume any chemical allowed on the market has been tested for safety, the fact is 80,000 of them have not.
And they still won't be - not in your lifetime anyway - even though the House and Senate passed a long overdue overhaul of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
Stain-resistant carpeting, teflon pans, building products, clothing and just about every non-organic product people buy contains chemicals of varying toxicities. 10 trillion of pounds of chemicals are produced every year in the US, according to Environmental Working Group.The bill passed easily in the Senate by voice vote and by 403-12 in the House. President Obama will soon sign it.
Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) worked with the American Chemistry Council to develop language acceptable to the industry and the regulation-averse Republican Congress.
So, what did he get?
Not much, even though it's a major improvement from the very weak, original bill, which assumed any chemical already on the market was safe and didn't need to be tested.
That incorrect assumption is the reason we have 80,000 chemicals on the market that haven't been tested for safety to humans. We now have a very deep hole to get out of and it would take many years for even the most aggressive and well-funded administration.On the positive side, the handcuffs are removed from EPA, which finally has the authority to test and regulate chemicals already on the market - and require testing before any new chemical enters it.
But the pace of testing is so slow it's laughable. EPA is confiined to testing about 20 chemicals simultaneously and can take as long as seven years per chemical. And EPA's decisions can pre-empt stronger state rules, which have always taken the lead in regulating chemicals.Another version of the bill, pushed by the environmental community, required EPA to test over 100 chemicals a year, while allowing states to enact stronger regulations.
"In particular, the bill does not provide EPA with the resources or clear legal authority to quickly review and, if needed, ban dangerous chemicals linked to cancer and other serious health problems," says Scott Faber of Environmental Working Group, which analyzes personal care and food products for toxicity.
A "pause" provision blocks a state's right to ban a chemical that under EPA review, even if action is years away. States' often enact laws much stronger than at the federal level, and when they require a company to modify or stop selling chemicals, that often ripples across the US.
And if EPA rules no action is required for a chemical, that preempts state laws which may contradict the finding.What will happen to California's progressive Green Chemistry law? Instead of trying to determine how toxic specific chemicals are, it asks why they are necessary at all.
Other elements of the law: EPA can evaluate chemicals purely on health and safety, without considering cost to business. Increases transparency - companies can't claim ingredients are confidential, making testing impossible.No more testing on animals where scientifically valid alternatives exist.
The bill is far from perfect, says Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), but it's a good step toward getting dangerous chemicals like lead, mercury and asbestos out of consumer products, out of commerce, and out of the environment."
Most Important Law Since Clean Air Act?This isn't just any bill. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemicals for the 21st Century Act, is considered the only major environmental law to pass Congress since the Clean Air Act of 1990.
It is named after the late Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) for his many years of struggling to improve the 1976 law.
Besides not allowing EPA to test chemicals already on the market, the 1976 law set the bar for regulating a chemical so high that even asbestos is still legally produced. Only five chemicals have been regulated, such as formaldehyde, in 40 years and less than 300 have been tested.
Because of this, activists and states got involved, pressuring companies to take lots of chemicals off the market. Industry finally decided to stop fighting reform, and thus began a 3-year negotation process which produced the final bill.
As usual, Republicans are all for state rights until it comes to their preferences. Democrats fought hard against those provisions. As is often the case, industry won the argument that it would be too great a burden to comply with a patchwork of state laws.It's especially interesting because today, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) released a proposal that turns most federal regulations over to the states: environment, labor and rules for financial institutions implemented after the 2008 crash.
Here's a fact sheet on the bill:
Website: blogs.edf.org/health/files/2016/05/Fact-Sheet-on-FRL-Act-5-23-2016.pdf
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26645
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European Commission Publishes Delayed Endocrine Disruptors Criteria
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Commission proposed June 15 that a World Health Organization standard be used as the basis for identifying endocrine-disrupting substances under European Union pesticides and biocides laws, a long-awaited announcement that pleased neither chemical companies nor environmental advocates.
Endocrine disruptors are substances with hormone-altering effects. Scientific understanding of the characteristics of endocrine disruptors and their impacts is still under development.
The commission proposed that, for the purposes of EU legislation, substances should be identified as endocrine disruptors if they meet criteria set out in a modified version of a 2002 WHO definition.
The WHO definition states that an endocrine disruptor is “an exogenous substance or mixture that alters function(s) of the endocrine system and consequently causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, or (sub)populations.”
The European Commission said a substance should be considered an endocrine disruptor if it “has an endocrine mode of action” that is causally linked to “an adverse effect relevant for human health.”
The commission, the European Union's executive arm, said the publication of the criteria was a pioneering move. A commission official who asked not to be named told Bloomberg BNA that “to our best knowledge, and that would include the situation in the U.S., this is the first time that such criteria have been written into legislation.”
Late Delivery
The European Commission was required to publish the criteria by the end of 2013 under two EU laws: the 2012 Biocidal Products Regulation ((EU) No. 528/2012) and the 2009 Plant Protection Products Regulation ((EC) No. 1107/2009).
The criteria were delayed after the commission opted in 2014 to prepare an impact assessment to consider different options for defining endocrine disruptors. The 414-page impact assessment was published alongside the commission's proposals June 15.
The commission was strongly criticized for delays in adopting the criteria, and was declared in December 2015 to be breaching EU law for not publishing the criteria.
Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EU's health and food safety commissioner, said June 15, “It is true that the commission failed its legal obligation to deliver on time,” but “it has not been easy to agree how to legislate and make the criteria operational. We were trying to find common language for a while.”
Amending Regulations
The commission proposed two amending regulations that would write the criteria into the annexes of the biocides and pesticides regulations.
Both the Biocidal Products Regulation and the Plant Protection Products Regulation ban proven endocrine disruptors from biocidal products or pesticides. The Biocidal Products Regulation, however, allows endocrine-disrupting substances to be approved in cases where there is negligible risk.
In the amending regulation for the Plant Protection Products Regulation, the commission also proposed to modify the annexes so that endocrine-disrupting substances could be approved in pesticides if there is negligible risk of exposure.
The commission official said this change was “not moving away from the basic hazard-based approach” of the pesticides regulation, but represented “an alignment” of the regulation with other EU laws on hazardous chemicals.
“Science is telling us that risk should be considered when you look at endocrine disruptors. Our proposal is just following science,” the official said.
No Immediate Change
The commission official added that the adoption of the criteria was not expected to lead to significant immediate changes in the number of substances outlawed from being used in biocides or pesticides.
“Over time, we will surely see product prohibitions,” but this would be “an evolution,” the official said.
The commission said it would ask the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the European Food Safety Authority to start “looking at individual substances for which indications exist that they could be endocrine disruptors,” so that once the criteria are in force, relevant substances can be quickly assessed.
ECHA said in a statement that it welcomed the criteria and was “analyzing how the new endocrine disruptor criteria will impact in particular the approval process for active substances under the Biocidal Products Regulation.”
Nobody Pleased
The commission's proposed criteria pleased neither industry groups nor environmental advocates.
The European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) representing pesticide manufacturers said the commission had not sufficiently factored into the criteria that substances with endocrine-disrupting hazards could nevertheless be used safely.
“Endocrine disruptors can and should be treated like most other substances of potential concern and subject to risk assessment which considers both hazard and exposure,” ECPA said.
Lisette van Vliet, senior policy officer with campaign group the Health & Environment Alliance, said the criteria had not satisfied the requirements of the biocides and pesticides regulations, which was that endocrine disruptors should be banned on a precautionary basis.
The commission should have acted to “ban hormone disruptors which may cause adverse effects and not only those with a proven causal link,” van Vliet said.
Potential Roadblocks Ahead
The commission's amending regulations that implement the criteria could face a roadblock in the European Parliament. The Parliament has the right to object to the amending regulations, though it cannot modify them.
EU countries represented in the Council of the EU also have the right to disapprove of the amending regulations.
Bas Eickhout, a Dutch Green member of the European Parliament, said the commission has “proposed a very restrictive definition of what constitutes an endocrine disruptor” and “has also proposed wider exemptions” by allowing assessment of the risks for endocrine disruptors in pesticides.
“We will now have to build the necessary majorities in the Parliament to veto this shameful proposal,” Eickhout said.
The commission said the Parliament and EU member states should “work closely and constructively in order to swiftly adopt these texts.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=91996789&vname=dennotallissues&fn=91996789&jd=91996789
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Small Businesses Weigh in on EPA Rules for Three Solvents
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The Environmental Protection Agency has launched two advisory panels for small businesses to provide feedback the agency may impose on three solvents, according to a recent agency update.
The EPA has established a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panel for a proposed Toxic Substances Control Act rulemaking (RIN:2070-AK03) that would restrict or ban trichloroethylene (TCE), which is used in commercial degreasing operations, dry cleaners and some consumer products, the agency said on a SBAR website updated June 14.
The agency also established a panel for a proposed rule (RIN:2070-AK07) that would restrict or ban n-methylpyrrolidone's (NMP) and methylene chloride's use in paint and coating strippers, the EPA said.
The EPA's rulemakings would affect minor uses of the three solvents, which in 2011 were produced in volumes greater than 100 million pounds by several manufacturers, including the BASF Corp., Bayer Group, Dow Chemical Co., GreenChem Industries LLC and PPG Industries Inc.
EPA Goal to Propose Both Rules by Fall
Both rulemakings resulted from risk assessments the agency issued in 2014 and 2015 as part of its ongoing TSCA Work Plan initiative to evaluate health and environmental risks of about 90 chemicals in commerce.
The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act requires the EPA to convene Small Business Advocacy Review Panels for most proposed rules unless the agency can certify that a rule won't significantly affect small companies.
The EPA convened the two panels June 1, and no additional companies can join, the agency said.
Interested parties can track the panels' activities through yet-to-be-established dockets. Parties also can comment on the rules when the EPA proposes them.
The EPA plans to propose the TCE rule by the end of September and propose the NMP and methylene chloride rule by the end of October, the agency said on its Regulatory Development and Retrospective Review Tracker.
Rules Issued Under TSCA's Section 6
The EPA is considering issuing rules under the authority provided by Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act.
The agency hasn't initiated a Section 6 rulemaking in 24 years, since a federal appeals court invalidated its 1991 rule banning most uses of asbestos (Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA, 947 F.2d 1201, 33 ERC 1961 (5th Cir. 1991)).
The rarely used section of TSCA authorizes the agency to take a wide variety of actions such as requiring labeling or warning instructions, restricting particular uses of a chemical, regulating its disposal and banning it.
Small Businesses Activities That May Be Affected
During a May 28 webinar, the EPA said the types of small businesses that could be affected by the TCE rule include shops that:
• repair automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles or electronics;
• fabricate metal, glass, or plastic components into a final product including aircraft, motor vehicle parts and jewelry;
• plate or coat metal onto a surface;
• assemble a wide variety of electronic devices onto circuit boards, such as electric capacitors, semiconductors and electronic instrumentation; and
• spray clothes to pretreat them for dry cleaning.
Small business activities that the EPA said could be affected by the NMP and methylene chloride rule include: bathtub refinishers; automotive refinishers; companies and contractors that strip small or large boats, ships or aircraft; graffiti removal operations; and contractors that refinish wood structures and floors.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=91996795&vname=dennotallissues&fn=91996795&jd=91996795
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Letter: It’s Time to Start Hoarding Before the TSCA Kicks In
Jun 15, 2016 | The Wall Street Journal
Regarding Fred Krupp’s “When Red and Blue in Congress Makes Green” (op-ed, June 10): After all the glowing articles about the bipartisan revisions to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), what this means to average citizens is that they need to hustle to the nearest home center and purchase a lifetime supply of acetone, MEK, lacquer thinner, etc., as these products will start disappearing from store shelves due to our new enlightenment. I hope you don’t need these products in the future.
Steve Helmreich
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Just because a thing is overwhelmingly bipartisan doesn’t mean it is right or even good. The unelected “experts” at the EPA and related groups have been given even more power to control every inch of our existence—in the name of helping, of course.
Michael Moussourakis
Long Island City, N.Y.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/its-time-to-start-hoarding-before-the-tsca-kicks-in-1466020649
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Our Bodies Are Rife With Cancer-Causing Chemicals, Landmark Study Shows
Jun 16, 2016 | Truth Dig
By Deirdre Fulton
The first inventory of its kind has found that hundreds of cancer-causing chemicals are building up in the bodies of Americans.
The analysis from Environmental Working Group (EWG), based on more than 1,000 biomonitoring studies—which measure the burden of certain chemicals present in the human body—and other research by government agencies and independent scientists, found that up to 420 chemicals known or likely to cause cancer have been detected in blood, urine, hair, and other human samples.
“The presence of a toxic chemical in our bodies does not necessarily mean it will cause harm, but this report details the astounding number of carcinogens we are exposed to in almost every part of life that are building up in our systems,” said Curt DellaValle, author of the report and a senior scientist at EWG.
According to the report, Pollution in People, carcinogens detected in biomonitoring studies come from diverse sources, including:Industrial chemicalsCommercial products including flame retardants in furniture and other items; dry cleaning chemicals; styrene in plastics; nonstick, waterproof and grease-resistant chemicals in cookware, clothing and food wrappers; other chemicals in paints and hair coloring; and flavoring and fragrance ingredientsPesticidesHeavy metalsByproducts of combustion, heating and disinfectionSolvents
“Many of the carcinogens this study documents in people find their way into our bodies through food, air, water, and consumer products every day,” added EWG president Ken Cook. “Dozens of them show up in human umbilical cord blood—which means Americans are exposed to carcinogens before they’ve left the womb.”
EWG, which is known for its health guides and online consumer tools to help people avoid toxic cancer-causing chemicals in their daily lives, said the findings underscored the need for greater public awareness of our everyday exposure as well as urgent action on the part of elected officials.
In a press statement, the nonprofit group noted that the inventory “comes at an auspicious moment for the issue of cancer and chemicals,” citing last week’s passage of a bill updating the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) as well as President Barack Obama’s recent announcement establishing the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative,a $1 billion program led by Vice President Joe Biden, “to eliminate cancer as we know it.”
But as EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs, Scott Faber, said of the TSCA at the time:
The law that Congress now sends to President Barack Obama’s desk will give EPA the direction and resources to review and regulate, at most, a few hundred chemicals over the next decade — out of thousands used in the market. The new bill will do nothing to require the FDA to review and regulate the chemicals routinely used in food and cosmetics. While pesticide residues on produce have been reviewed, thousands of other pesticides have escaped meaningful government oversight. The net result is that consumers will continue to be exposed to a witches’ brew of unregulated chemicals that have been linked to serious health problems, including cancer.
Furthermore, the group points out, “the only concrete agenda related to prevention in the Moonshot Initiative is for screening and vaccination. As demonstrated by the success of anti-smoking efforts, which have cut the rate of lung cancer by more than 25 percent in the last 25 years, to prevent and defeat cancer it is necessary to understand the environmental causes.”
EWG is calling for the Moonshot Initiative to include federal funding for investigation of the environmental causes of cancer and the development of prevention initiatives.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/landmark_study_shows_our_bodies_are_rife_with_cancer-causing_chemicals_2016
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Ground Broken For Louisiana Petrochemical Project
Jun 15, 2016 | Natural Gas Inelligence
By Joe Fisher
Ground has been broken for a $3 billion chemical manufacturing project in Lake Charles, LA.
LACC LLC, a joint venture of Lotte Chemical and Axiall Corp., will build a $1.9 billion ethane cracker complex near Axiall's existing manufacturing plants in Calcasieu Parish. Using a portion of ethylene produced by that plant, Lotte Chemical will produce monoethylene glycol at a $1.1 billion plant constructed beside the ethane cracker. A final investment decision on the project was made late last year (see Daily GPI, Dec. 18, 2015).
Both plants are expected to begin operating in 2019. Axiall will use its portion of the ethylene output to make vinyl chloride monomer, a precursor to plastics, and other products, such as caustic soda, chlorine and ethylene dichloride. Lotte Chemical will make monoethylene glycol (MEG), which is an important ingredient in the making of paper, textile fibers, latex paints, asphalt, resins, antifreeze, coolants and adhesives. It is expected to be the largest MEG plant in the U.S.
Lotte will be the sole owner of the MEG plant, with construction on that site and the ethane cracker under way now. Upon completion of the MEG plant, Lotte plans to produce 700,000 tons per year of that product, chiefly for export to customers abroad. The ethane cracker is designed for an annual capacity of 1 million tons to be shared equally by the two companies.
"The southwest region of Louisiana is a global industry leader, from the production of refined fuels and chemicals to liquefied natural gas, cryogenic insulation, paper products and agricultural goods," said Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. "Axiall and its predecessor, PPG, have operated one of the largest economic driver industrial sites in Louisiana for many decades."
CB&I will execute the main steam cracker contract, using its proprietary technology, following completion of front-end engineering and design, and other early-stage engineering works. LACC will engage a number of other firms to execute ancillary offsite facilities developments and tie-ins to existing infrastructure.
The state-of-the-art steam cracking facility will be built adjacent to Axiall’s largest chlor-alkali chemical facility to take advantage of Axiall’s existing infrastructure, access to competitive feedstock resources, and ethylene distribution infrastructure.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/106760-ground-broken-for-louisiana-petrochemical-project
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House Republicans Add More Riders to EPA Spending Bill
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Dabbs
House appropriators piled more policy riders onto legislation to fund the Environmental Protection Agency June 15, approving measures to limit the president's authority to designate national monuments and delay revisions to offshore oil and gas pollution tracking.
The House Appropriations Committee approved the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies bill 31-18 at markup with the endorsement of only one Democrat, Rep. Sanford Bishop (Ga.).
Democrats, led by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), ranking member on the committee, and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), failed to advance amendments to strip the legislation of the riders added to the bill before the June 15 markup.
The $32.1 billion legislation, which includes nearly $8 billion for the EPA, already cut funding for the Clean Power Plan, the Clean Water Rule, Superfund financial assurances and other agency initiatives.
Gold King Remediation
The committee approved a manager's amendment that makes minor changes to the funding allocations and issues some policy directives, including indicating congressional support for ongoing water treatment linked to the 2015 Gold King Mine blowout in Colorado that sent 3 million gallons of mining waste into the Animas River and downstream waterways.
“The committee believes any long-term solution should be consistent with a site remediation plan following the addition to the National Priorities List,” the amendment reads, referring to Superfund status. “The committee understands that such plan will take time to develop and directs the EPA to so maintain and operate the temporary water treatment plant until a more permanent solution is developed.”
The comment period for the EPA's Superfund proposal for Bonita Peak Mining District, a southwest Colorado region that includes the Gold King Mine, wrapped up June 13 (see related story).
Approved Amendments
The bill would prevent the Interior Department from moving forward with its April proposal (RIN 1010-AD82) to update air pollution requirements for oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Under the amendment authored by Reps. John Culberson (R-Texas) and Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) and approved 31-16, Interior's Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management couldn't move forward with the proposal until it concludes, following completion of studies and public outreach, that the operations are “significantly affecting the air quality of any state.”
The oil and gas sector has criticized the rulemaking, but environmental advocates praise the plan to update the existing regulations for the first time in 36 years.
Bishop's Support
Bishop joined Republicans in support.
“You've got to balance the health, safety and welfare of the public against the economic exigencies that are faced by the companies that have to comply that supply the jobs and income for families,” Bishop told Bloomberg BNA on the sidelines of the markup. “Many of the regulations cannot be complied with; the technology doesn't exist.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) successfully pushed an amendment to bar the president from designating national monuments in specific counties in states across the West, as well as one county in Maine.
Some stakeholders, including Indian tribes, have pushed the Obama administration to protect the Bears Ears region of Utah as a national monument, but Stewart said the designation would devastate the local community.
Fowl Measures
Republican appropriators overrode Democratic opposition to amendments to ban the Interior Department from listing sage grouse and the lesser prairie chicken as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), the sponsor of the prairie chicken amendment, said designation would harm the oil and gas industry in the region, joking that his constituents have been “grousing” about the prospect.
The committee also passed a measure by voice vote to allow Interior to transfer wild horses and burros removed from public lands to other federal, state and local government agencies for use as work animals.
Democrats Fall Short
Lowey urged colleagues to boost Zika funding, but the measure, which would meld H.R. 5044 into the spending bill, failed 21-28.
McCollum and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) also failed to earn enough support for an amendment to strengthen funding for the Flint lead contamination water crisis, and Democrats also fell short in moving a separate lead detection measure.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=91996808&vname=dennotallissues&fn=91996808&jd=91996808
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Cantwell: House Willing to Drop Some Energy Bill Provisions
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
House members expressed an interest in dropping some of the controversial measures from their energy bill during a meeting on sending an energy bill to conference, but more work remains to be done, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told Bloomberg BNA.
“We are trying to get a sense of what their objectives are in the House,” Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said June 15. “I always want to get energy bills done, but we've got to get some assurances. We need some recognition by the House they are going to do due diligence on these thorny issues.”
Other than agreeing “to keep talking,” no decisions were made during the June 14 meeting, which was called by committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and also involved Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the respective chair and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and ranking member Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) also attended.
No Decisions Made
“We had a good beginning conversation, but we need to follow through,” Cantwell said.
She declined to say whether she would support the bill at this point but cast doubt on the likelihood a vote to go to conference would occur this week.
Murkowski, however, told reporters she remained optimistic the Senate would vote this week on a formal motion to go to the energy bill, but she added, “I also recognize in order to do that you've got to have those votes to move forward, so that's what I'm doing.”
“It was the first time for all of us to visit and kind of talk about expectations,” Murkowski told reporters. “We didn't get into particulars and details.”
House Approved Bill in May
The House voted along party lines in May to approve an 806-page amendment to the Senate's legislation adding a number of bills opposed by Democrats and the White House, such as a bill expediting the permitting process for mines, and California drought legislation opposed by some environmentalists.
“The chances are pretty slim we'll get Democrats to support it,” Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), a Democrat conferee for the House bill, told Bloomberg BNA.
Upton said additional meetings are planned for the week of June 19.
“We're waiting for the Senate to name conferees,” Upton said. “I don't know if they're gonna do that before we break for summer.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=91996805&vname=dennotallissues&fn=91996805&jd=91996805
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Overnight Energy: EPA Spending Bill Blocking Rules Heads to House Floor
Jun 15, 2016 | The Hill - E2 WIre
By Timothy Cama and Devin Henry
HOUSE ADVANCES EPA, INTERIOR SPENDING BILL: The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a $32.1 billion spending bill for the Interior Department and environment programs, sending a bill laden with policy riders to the House floor.
The bill would cut $64 million from current spending levels on Interior and environment programs, including a $164 million cut for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Democrats were most upset at a Wednesday hearing, however, with the riders attached to the legislation. They counted 33 policy changes, saying they would damage environmental protections and public health.
"The number and outrageous nature of the riders in this bill pander to special interests at the expense of the public good," Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) said at the Appropriations Committee's markup on Wednesday.
The bill blocks several rules, including those setting carbon limits on power plants, protecting streams from coal mining waste, regulating methane emissions and defining bodies of water under the EPA's purview.
Regardless, the bill passed on a 31-18 vote. It goes to the House floor, which saw debate over this same appropriations bill last year blow up amid a fight over the display of the Confederate flag at national cemeteries.
Read more here.
EXXON FIGHTS OFF CLIMATE INVESTIGATION: Exxon Mobil Corp. is trying to get a federal court to block a demand for documents that the Massachusetts attorney general sent for its climate change investigation into the company.
In the Wednesday filing, Exxon said Attorney General Maura Healey's (D) request amounts to using her "law enforcement power" to deter the company from "participating in ongoing public deliberations about climate change" and alleges she is "abusing the power of government to silence a speaker she disfavors."
The demand, similar to a subpoena, was sent in April as part of Healey's probe into whether Exxon lied to customers or investors about what it knew regarding climate change and its impact on the company.
Healey's request demands four decades worth of records "concerning Exxon's development, planning, implementation, review, and analysis of research efforts to study [carbon dioxide] emissions ... and the effects of these emissions on the climate."
Exxon says it's a violation of numerous rights under the Texas and federal constitutions, including free speech and protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
Read more here.
FRANCE SAYS 'OUI' TO PARIS CLIMATE DEAL: French President François Hollande formally ratified the Paris climate deal on Wednesday, making France the first major nation to do so.
"Signing is good, ratifying is better," Hollande said at a ratification ceremony in Paris.
More than 170 countries have signed the Paris deal, the first step toward formally joining it. But the deal doesn't take effect until 55 countries representing 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions formally ratify it.
Before Wednesday, 17 small countries representing less than 1 percent of global emissions have ratified the agreement, according to the World Resources Institute. France is part of the European Union, which negotiated the deal as a bloc with the intention of cutting its total emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030.
The United States and other major emitters China and India have said they will ratify the deal this year, increasing the chances it kicks in before President Obama leaves office in January.
Read more here.
ON TAP THURSDAY: The Senate Appropriations Committee will mark-up its Interior/EPA spending bill. A subpanel passed the bill on Tuesday.
AROUND THE WEB:
Temperatures in the Southwest U.S. will be pushing all-time records this weekend, the Arizona Republic reports.
Louisville officials are worried about falling short of new EPA ozone standards, the Courier-Journal reports.
Residents of Hoosick Falls, N.Y., stormed the state Capitol Wednesday to demand more action from the governor and legislature regarding the city's drinking water crisis, the Times Union reports.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/overnights/283652-overnight-energy-interior-epa-spending-bill-goes-to-the
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Spending Bill Blocking EPA Regulations Heads to the House Floor
Jun 15, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday advanced a $32.1 billion spending bill for the Interior Department and environment programs, sending a bill laden with policy riders to the House floor.
The bill cuts $64 million from current sending levels and would block a handful of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules.
It would cut the EPA’s budget by $164 million, which is a smaller cut than Republicans have pursued in the past. But the spending bill blocks a handful of regulations — Democrats counted 33 policy riders on the bill — that Democrats say will hurt environmental programming.
“The number and outrageous nature of the riders in this bill pander to special interests at the expense of the public good,” Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) said at the Appropriations Committee’s mark-up on Wednesday.
The bill blocks a host of rules, including those setting carbon limits on power plants, protecting streams from coal mining waste, regulating methane emissions and defining bodies of water under the EPA’s purview.
The Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment on Wednesday blocking a rule on offshore oil drilling, among others, and it rejected Democratic efforts to pull back the riders.
“The EPA’s regulatory agenda is not working, certainly not for coal mining communities, American businesses and industries, or for hard-working Americans who rely on having good jobs and reasonable energy bills to take care of their families,” said Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
The full bill is $1 billion less than what President Obama requested in his budget. It bumps funding for clean water and drinking water state grant programs, directs the U.S. Forest Service to spend up to half its funding on wildfire prevention and suppression and cuts funding for the Fish and Wildlife Service.
The bill was sent to the floor on a 31-18 vote. The House has not passed the Interior and Environment spending bill for several years; last year's version fell apart on the floor amid a debate over the display of Confederate flags at national cemeteries.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/283602-committee-sends-interior-epa-spending-bill-to-house-floor
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Party-Line Vote Sends Interior-EPA Bill to the House Floor
Jun 15, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Amanda Reilly and Scott Streater
The House Appropriations Committee voted 31-18 along party lines today to advance a spending bill for the Interior Department and U.S. EPA that carries policy riders aimed at quashing Obama administration regulations.
Appropriators approved the spending bill a day before the Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up its own measure. The House legislation spearheaded by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) will now move to the floor, where GOP leaders have said they would limit debate in a bid to increase the chances for passing spending bills.
The House committee rejected several attempts by Democrats to boost funding levels for water infrastructure and to eliminate what Appropriations ranking member Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) called "poison pill riders that cause harm to our environment or public health."
In all, the House spending measure would provide about $32.1 billion for Interior and EPA, about $1 billion below what the White House requested. The committee also approved a 302(b) spending allocation for Interior and EPA for that amount.
EPA would receive $7.98 billion, about $164 million less than the agency's current funding level and well below President Obama's request of $8.26 billion.
Other agencies funded under the bill would see generally modest cuts or small increases. Within Interior, for example, the Bureau of Land Management would get $1.5 billion next year, $17 million below this year's level, and the National Park Service, which marks its 100-year anniversary this year, would receive $2.9 billion, or less than a 1 percent increase over the current benchmark.
The bill contains dozens of policy riders aimed at curtailing the administration's regulatory agenda. Among EPA policies targeted by the riders are carbon dioxide regulations for new and existing power plants, the agency's new ozone standard and the Waters of the United States rule.
"There is a great deal of concern over the number of regulatory actions being pursued by EPA in the absence of legislation and without clear congressional direction," said Calvert, who leads the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee.
The bill also includes many riders attacking key administration proposals on conservation and lands management, among them a proposal to block a major rule proposed by BLM to curb the escape of natural gas from drilling operations on federal lands in the West.
The appropriations measure would also require the Fish and Wildlife Service to reissue rules removing Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Wyoming and the Great Lakes. FWS delisted the predators in those areas in 2011 and 2012, but the decisions were overturned in federal court.
In addition, the committee added amendments affecting Interior efforts to protect the greater sage grouse, improve the management of public lands and regulate air pollution from offshore oil and natural gas operations.
Democrats pushed back against the policy provisions.
"The number of riders in this bill has become absurd in my opinion," said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), the ranking member on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee.
But Democrats were unsuccessful in overturning any riders. McCollum offered an amendment to strike what she called 33 of the "most egregious" policy riders in the bill that failed in a 19-28 vote along party lines.Flint crisis
Appropriators also struck down attempts by Democrats to provide emergency funding for Flint, Mich., and to boost the bill's funding levels for EPA water infrastructure programs.
Democrats framed the Flint lead contamination crisis as the product of "starving" EPA's budget for years.
McCollum offered an amendment called the "Flint Families Act" that would provide $385 million in emergency funding for Flint. She said the bill as is "does not provide a penny which is targeted to Flint."
Republicans opposed the amendment, which fell by a vote of 20-29. Calvert argued the emergency funding was "off budget and not paid for" and that the Interior-EPA spending plan already provided money that Michigan could use through EPA's Clean Water and Drinking Water state revolving funds (SRF).
The bill would set aside $2.07 billion for EPA's water funds, slightly more than the president's request.
The Clean Water SRF -- which funds stormwater and sewage treatment systems -- would get $1 billion, slightly more than the $979.5 million in Obama's budget request and just under the $1.018 billion lawmakers appropriated for fiscal 2016.
The Drinking Water SRF -- which is reserved for water treatment facilities and drinking water systems -- would receive $1.07 billion, a 24 percent increase from the $863 million in current spending levels.
The House bill would also set aside $50 million for loans under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, marking the first time the loan program would be funded since it was enacted in 2014.
But Democrats also opposed the cut to the Clean Water SRF. Lowey described herself as "shocked" that Republicans would reduce the fund "considering the severity of the Flint water crisis."
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) introduced an amendment that would provide $394 million to the water fund by moving the same amount in the payments in lieu of taxes program, which compensates local governments for tax revenues lost from federal lands, from discretionary to mandatory spending.
"The amendment will not completely correct the challenge we face, but it at least moves us in the right direction," Kaptur said.
The House committee rejected the amendment by a vote of 17-31. House appropriators also rejected, by a 19-28 vote, an amendment offered by Lowey that would strike a policy rider targeting EPA's proposed requirements for workers to use agency-recognized lead test kits in housing construction projects.
As part of a manager's amendment offered by Calvert, the committee added language to the bill that stipulates that a long-term cleanup solution to the Gold King mine spill, in which EPA accidentally discharged 3 million gallons of wastewater from an abandoned Colorado site, should be consistent with Superfund remedial action requirements.
The manager's amendment also directs EPA to consult directly with the Agriculture Department on regulatory decisions that affect farmers in the United States. House appropriators also added an amendment offered by Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) that would add "Buy America" requirements for EPA.National monuments
One of the most contentious amendments was offered by Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) and aimed at restricting the president from using his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate national monuments in areas where there is "significant" local opposition to doing so.
It's not known what would qualify as "significant" opposition, but Stewart made no secret of the amendment being aimed at preventing Obama from designating a 1.9-million-acre monument in the Bears Ears region of southeast Utah. The site is of spiritual and historical significance to American Indians, but a monument designation is strongly opposed by local elected officials, as well as Gov. Gary Herbert (R) and Utah's congressional delegation.
McCollum said the amendment "inappropriately restricts" the president's ability to designate monuments.
McCollum said she understands Stewart's concerns about Bears Ears. "But including this poison pill rider in the bill is not the answer," she said.
Obama has used his authority under the 1906 law to establish 23 monuments, and he has been sharply criticized for doing so each time. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said this week that she will visit the Bears Ears region this summer (Greenwire, June 14).
The measure was approved 27-22, mostly along party lines.
"My state is controlled nearly 70 percent by the federal government," Stewart said. "We're about to lose another 2 million acres, all without the consent of the people, without working with Congress, by the stroke of the pen of a president who has never come to the state and asked the people what they think."Sage grouse, prairie chicken
The committee also approved a contentious amendment proposed by Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei (R) that would forbid Interior during fiscal 2017 from implementing federal sage grouse management plans in states that already have a grouse management plan approved by the governor.
The amendment is another Republican shot at federal plans finalized last fall that amend 98 BLM and Forest Service land-use plans in 10 Western states to incorporate strong grouse protections. The federal plans also propose withdrawing 10 million acres of the most critical grouse habitat -- called sagebrush focal areas -- from new mining claims.
But Amodei's amendment, approved by the committee 29-20, would forbid Interior in those states with governor-approved plans from implementing the federal mandates. It also would forbid withdrawing the 10 million acres from new mining claims, and prevent the Fish and Wildlife Service in fiscal 2017 from altering its decision last fall not to list the bird for federal protection.
Calvert urged the committee to approve the amendment "given the heavy-handed approach to sage grouse conservation" from the Obama administration.
But McCollum said the amendment if enacted would give governors too much power to decide how federal lands are managed. It would also undermine all the work of federal and state leaders and private landowners to prevent the grouse from being listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The amendment is similar to language in the House defense authorization bill approved last month that would prevent Interior from listing the greater sage grouse as endangered for 10 years. The bill would also empower states to block federal management plans for the bird.
Amodei noted in lobbying for the committee to approve his amendment that it's only for one year and is a more "measured approach compared to some other things going on that are longer in time."
Similarly, the committee approved an amendment that would prevent Fish and Wildlife from making a future decision to list the lesser prairie chicken for ESA protection.
A federal judge in 2014 threw out the agency's earlier decision to list the prairie chicken as threatened, and the Justice Department last month dropped an appeal of that ruling.
Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), who proposed the amendment, said he's concerned things could change. He said committee members who vote for the amendment are "supporting hardworking people that don't need the weight of this federal government coming down upon them next year, or the year after."
"Right now we're in a good spot, but tomorrow or the next day the Fish and Wildlife Service could again put this species on the threatened list," he said. "We don't want that to happen."
The Senate Interior and EPA bill set to be considered tomorrow includes a similar provision blocking FWS from reassessing the status of the bird.BLM planning reforms
Another amendment approved today would delay by 90 days implementing a new planning rule to overhaul how BLM manages hundreds of millions of acres of public land.
BLM's proposed rule was unveiled in February as part of a broader agency effort called "Planning 2.0," which began in 2014.
The new rule is designed to allow BLM to more quickly revise and amend the 160 RMPs that guide energy development, wildlife protections and recreation on the agency's 245 million acres in an effort to address a host of major land management issues in a more timely manner (E&E Daily, May 13).
BLM by September plans to issue a final rule, which could have a major impact on how the agency manages activities like energy development, mining, grazing and recreation.
But the draft Planning 2.0 regulation has drawn concerns from Western counties over whether it could reduce their influence over BLM's land-use decisions.
In offering the amendment, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) noted concerns that the proposed changes would cut local input, and his amendment directs BLM during the 90-day delay to hold a public hearing to gather more comments in 11 Western states, including Texas and Oklahoma.
"We're not telling them to scrap this plan," Simpson said. "What we are saying is give us an additional 90 days for public comment and hold a hearing."
McCollum countered that the updates are badly needed, in large part because they have not been revised in more than 30 years.
But Simpson, who agreed the updates are needed, said that's no excuse for rushing the rule through the process. "After 30 years," he said, "you'd think 90 days would be no problem."
The measure was approved by a voice vote; a vote tally was not requested.
The committee also approved an amendment by Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) and co-sponsored by Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) that would block Interior from updating its air regulations for offshore oil and gas operations until after it has completed all air quality studies and analysis justifying the changes proposed in March.
The proposal by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management would reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter, as well as allow officials to more accurately account for these emissions (E&ENews PM, March 17).
The proposed changes also include measuring air impacts from the state-federal water boundary -- 3 nautical miles offshore -- rather than only at the coastline.
But the amendment -- approved 31-16 along party lines -- contends BOEM has not yet completed studies to show that offshore oil and gas emissions have a significant impact on onshore air quality.
Calvert noted that the administration has targeted completing the update by the end of the year, even though the air pollution studies won't be completed until at least next year.
But McCollum disagreed that BOEM needed to delay the updated regulations, noting the current regulations have not been updated in 36 years.
"The updated regulations reflect current science," she said.
Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) said he agreed.
"All you are going to do is delay, delay, delay" to the benefit of the oil and gas industry, Farr said. "You're going to do more bad than good."Wild horses
The committee approved a bipartisan amendment proposed by Stewart, the Utah Republican, that would help BLM address growing wild horse and burro herd sizes across rangelands in the West.
Stewart's amendment would allow BLM to transfer horses immediately to federal, state and local agencies that request them, such as the U.S. Border Patrol.
BLM asked Congress in its fiscal 2017 budget request to approve legislation that would do this as the number of wild horses and burros on federal rangelands is at the highest level in more than three decades.
There are currently more than 67,000 wild horses and burros on federal rangelands -- approaching three times the number of animals that BLM says federal rangelands can sustain.
The agency is already holding more than 46,000 horses and burros in off-range corrals and pastures, and it does not have the resources to round up and hold all the excess animals.
BLM Director Neil Kornze told the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee at a hearing last spring that the agency is "overwhelmed" by the growing herds, which are causing environmental harm to vast swaths of rangeland (E&E Daily, March 4).
Stewart sponsored legislation several years ago to allow BLM to transfer some of the nearly 50,000 horses in holding to willing state partners.
That legislation was not approved, and Stewart said his latest amendment is now badly needed as the number of wild horses and burros could double in the next four years.
"This is a step in the right direction, and it would give the BLM the tools they need" to address the growing herd sizes, McCollum added.
The amendment was approved unanimously by voice vote.
The panel also took up an amendment by Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) to direct the Bureau of Reclamation to relax some pumping restrictions on California's Central Valley Project, the main water delivery system from the San Joaquin River Delta to central and Southern California. California Republicans have pushed for the changes, which they say will allow for better use of the water in periods of high rainfall.
The provision is similar to Valadao's H.R. 2898, which farm groups in the drought-stricken state support. Environmentalists say the legislation would weaken protections to threatened fish species. The amendment passed 31-18.
Although the issue is not under either EPA's or Interior's jurisdiction, Democrats attempted to add funding to address the Zika virus to the bill, arguing Republicans were moving too slowly to address transmission of the virus. An amendment offered by Lowey that would have added $1.9 billion in emergency funding was rejected along party lines in a 21-28 vote.
Reporter Tiffany Stecker contributed.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2016/06/15/stories/1060038894
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Congress Must Pass Historic Energy Bill
Jun 15, 2016 | Real Clear Energy
By Brigham McCown
The last time Congress passed a bill to modernize the United States energy sector, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was unveiling the first iPhone. The world has changed rapidly since 2007, and policymakers have struggled to keep pace with our nation’s burgeoning energy industry, with many proposals lacking any staying power.
Yet now, nine years later, Congress is attempting to pass energy policy consistent with the current state of one of the United States’ most successful industries.
S. 2012, the “Energy Policy Modernization Act,” gained notoriety in late April, when it passed the Senate with staggering bipartisan support. The Washington Post described it as something which, "Doesn't happen every day, but it happened Wednesday…The Senate just passed — overwhelmingly — an actually bipartisan energy bill."
Introduced last summer by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the bill had its fair share of bumps and hurdles along the way. After passing the Senate Energy Committee on June 30, 2015, the bill moved to a full Senate vote in February 2016, but remained postponed for more than two months over disagreements regarding funding for the Flint, Michigan water crisis.
Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations between Senators and key staff went into unshackling this promising piece of legislation until the April approval. Now, following passageof the House of Representatives’ amended version of the bill last month, the Senate continues attempts to organize a conference with the House to reconcile their versions and create one overarching energy package. But several factors threaten to derail this process, includingpartisan interests and Congress’ upcoming August recess.
Passing a reconciled energy bill in the next month is critical. It will help us alleviate issues facing an industry that accounts for a significant portion of economic activity in the U.S. In fact, this bill includes several provisions that would bolster business security to our industry, including one overwhelmingly bipartisan measure to streamline the federal review of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.
The U.S. continues to produce natural gas at unprecedented levels. In March, fellow Forbes contributor Jude Clemente stated the U.S. could become the world’s third-largest LNG supplier by 2020, after Qatar and Australia. His reasoning is sound and reflects the reality of our energy sector. Domestic stockpiles of LNG are about 25 percent higher than last year and trending about 23 percent above the five-year average. BP’s highly respected “Energy Outlook 2016” even predicted that the U.S. will become a net exporter of natural gas, “later this decade.”
But as I wrote back in February, bureaucratic red tape in the review process for U.S. LNG exports continues to stifle our extraordinary capabilities with this resource.
More than 30 permit applications for LNG export are currently untouched, awaiting review from the Department of Energy (DOE) due to an open-ended review process. As a result, DOE has authorized only four terminal applications to date. But if S. 2012 receives President Obama’s signature this year, DOE will be forced to stop dragging its feet and issue decisions on permit applications within 45 days of review by either the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) or the Maritime Administration. This type of accountability will allow the U.S. energy sector and economy to grow stronger and more competitive.
The urgency for Congress to pass updated energy legislation has reached its peak, and one of the most prominent reasons for this is America’s stifled LNG export potential. By aligning federal legislation with the realities of our current energy sector, we can strengthen one of America’s most competitive and economically stimulating sectors. Congress and President Obama must say yes to energy reform, and do so quickly.
Brigham McCown is the Chairman of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii) and former first acting administration at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).
http://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2016/06/15/congress_must_pass_historic_energy_bill_109169.html
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Senate Conference Vote in Limbo
Jun 16, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Geof Koss
A Senate vote to go to conference with the House on energy reform legislation is on hold as Republicans try to build up support among wary Democrats uneasy with the lower chamber's own energy package.
Republicans had tentatively hoped to schedule a conference vote this week, but Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) acknowledged yesterday that there was more work to be done to reach the 60-vote threshold.
"My hope is that we're going to see it shortly," Murkowski told reporters. "I absolutely believe we will get there."
Following Senate passage of the chamber's energy package in April, Murkowski said she hoped for a quick conference that could reconcile the competing measures before the August recess (E&E Daily, April 20). But yesterday she conceded that goal was ambitious.
"I get itchy and want to get moving on things, but I also recognize that in order to do that, we've got to have those votes to go forward, so that's what we're doing," Murkowski said.
Asked if a conference vote might happen before the July 4th recess, she responded: "That is certainly my design and desire."
Murkowski's comments came the day after key House and Senate negotiators met to discuss the conference and Democrats' concerns over the House bill, which contains numerous measures that have drawn veto threats (E&E Daily, June 15).
Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told reporters yesterday that the meeting was "a good starting conversation" but that there was "a lot more to be followed up on."
Asked whether she feels more comfortable about a conference, Cantwell responded: "I wouldn't say that. I just would say that we started a conversation and we need to keep talking."
She also said there was no discussion of taking issues off the table for the conference. "We didn't get there," she said.
During the meeting, Cantwell said that "we gave some assignments and we'll hear what happens and we'll meet again next week."
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Committee, declined to comment on the meeting yesterday.
"I don't really want to talk about it," he told E&E Daily. "We had a meeting, and we're just having ongoing discussions."
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/06/16/stories/1060038909
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Lawmakers Say Spending Bill Rider Threatens Negotiations
Jun 16, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Tiffany Stecker
A few lines deep within the report accompanying a Senate spending bill has dragged a long-standing regional water battle onto the national stage.
The tri-state water war between Alabama, Georgia and Florida has sputtered on for nearly three decades, with the possibility of a Supreme Court showdown this fall if state leaders fail to resolve their grievances through mediation.
Now a provision in the committee report for the Senate's Commerce, Justice and Science spending bill threatens to derail the possibility of an agreement to allocate dwindling water supplies equitably, say Georgia's senators.
The language, inserted by powerful appropriator Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), would direct the Army Corps of Engineers to perform audits on all federal water contract violations in multi-state water basins since 2005.
The passage makes explicit mention of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) system -- the former made the top of a recent list of the nation's "most endangered" rivers due to the dwindling downstream supply.
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Inclusion of the language in the bill report spurred Peach State Republican Sens. Johnny Isakson and David Perdue to vocalize their concerns on the floor this week.
Debating the issue "will be injecting 100 senators into the issue between six. That's not the right way to do it," Isakson said Monday.
The Georgia senators voted against moving forward with the CJS legislation Tuesday.
"It puts the federal government in the middle of what should be a state negotiation," Perdue told E&E Daily. He added that states were moving toward an agreement and that Shelby's actions could deter progress.
Even though the report language is not within the actual CJS bill and, therefore, not legally binding, it could put the spotlight on Georgia at a sensitive time.
Attorneys for Georgia and Florida told the high court last week that the parties were ready to go to trial this fall if a resolution remained elusive.
The Supreme Court's "special master" in charge of the case has encouraged states to settle the matter with an interstate compact, warning them that a legal order would likely please neither side. Alabama is not involved in this case.Downstream vs. upstream
On Capitol Hill, members of Alabama and Florida's congressional delegation together significantly outnumber representatives from Georgia.
"Every time it's gone to Congress there's been that tension," said Gil Rogers, an Atlanta-based attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. "You've got two downstream states and one upstream state."
Both the ACT and ACF river systems originate in the mountains of northern Georgia.
The ACT system passes through several reservoirs before moving to Alabama, where its waters help cool the state's power plants, energize hydropower dams and carry barges. It empties near Mobile.
The Chattahoochee and Flint rivers flow along the Georgia-Alabama border, filling Lake Seminole and exiting through Florida as the Apalachicola River, which empties in Apalachicola Bay, home of the state's critical mussel and oyster fisheries.
The gatekeeper to that water is the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the Lake Lanier reservoir outside of Atlanta. The city's burgeoning population competes with water needs downstream.
The tug of war has been the subject of litigation for 27 years, with each state slamming the Army Corps on decisions to either retain or release water downstream from Lake Lanier. So far, Georgia has prevailed in the fight to keep its water.
Two different federal appeals courts offered conflicting opinions in 2008 and 2011 on the Army Corps' authority to operate the reservoir, and the Supreme Court denied to hear that case. The high court did agree to hear a separate case on capping Georgia's water allocation in 2014.
Shelby slipped his language into the fiscal 2016 omnibus spending bill last year, days before Congress was set to vote on the measure. But it was not in the final version.
The language "simply ensures transparency and disclosure of federal water storage contract violations in multi-state river basins," said Shelby spokeswoman Torrie Matous in an email. "Any water authority in compliance with the terms of its storage contract should not be concerned about the disclosure of this information."
Water users in Georgia are in compliance with contracts, said Katherine Zitsch, natural resources division manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission. It's the possible precedent that worries Georgians and should concern other states as well.
The House draft of the 2016 Water Resources Development Act includes a salvo from the opposite side of the issue. Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) snuck in a provision to scrap language from the previous WRDA -- secured in 2014 by Shelby and junior Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) -- allowing Congress to step in if the three states are unable to agree on an interstate water allocation compact.
Reporter George Cahlink contributed.
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/06/16/stories/1060038913
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Eighth Circuit Finds Energy Act Unconstitutional
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mark Wolski
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected as unconstitutional a Minnesota law that sought to bar the importation of energy that could contribute to carbon dioxide emissions (N.D. v. Heydinger, 8th Cir., Nos. 14-2156 and 14-2251, 6/15/16).
Two members of the three-judge panel held that Minnesota's Next Generation Energy Act violated the extraterritoriality doctrine of the Commerce Clause. In a partial dissent, Judge Diana E. Murphy held that the Minnesota act was preempted by the Federal Power Act.
In a statement, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (DFL) said he strongly disagreed with the ruling. He said the law was aimed at encouraging the replacement of more-polluting power plants with cleaner facilities. He said he would review the decision with the state's attorney general to determine how to proceed.
The ruling makes Minnesota unable to implement part of its Next Generation Energy Act (NGEA), which was passed in 2007 with the aim of reducing the state's contribution to climate change.
The law prohibited the state from importing energy that would contribute to carbon dioxide emissions. It also prohibited the state from entering into long-term purchase agreements of energy that would increase statewide power sector carbon dioxide emissions.
North Dakota Lawsuit
North Dakota, which has a lignite coal industry, and three regional electric cooperatives sued the state in 2011, arguing that the act violated the Commerce Clause. A federal court in Minnesota granted their summary judgment motion, holding that the law was “impermissible extraterritorial legislation.“
In affirming the lower court's ruling, Judge James B. Loken wrote that the three cooperatives—Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Minnkota Power Cooperative Inc. and Missouri River Energy Services—were all members of Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO), an operational authority for all transmission facilities in the area. While all three cooperatives are located outside Minnesota, each provides electrical energy to communities and regions inside the state.
The court wrote that NGEA's prohibitions not only would have applied to these non-Minnesota utilities but also would have regulated activity and transactions occurring wholly outside of Minnesota.
It wrote that in the regional MISO transmission grid, a person who “imports“ electricity doesn't know the origin of the electricity received. The generated electrons flow freely, the court wrote, without regard to state borders. As such, it wrote, when a non-Minnesota power generating facility injects electrons into the MISO grid to meet its commitments to non-Minnesota customers, it can't ensure that they won't flow into Minnesota.
Entire Grid Affected
Given the grid system, it wrote, Minnesota's attempt to reduce emissions could affect transmissions throughout the grid area.
Murphy disagreed on the Commerce Clause ruling, writing that entities would only be regulated if they imported electricity into Minnesota and didn't offset new emissions. However, she wrote, the law is still preempted by the Federal Power Act.
In concurrence, Judge Steven M. Colloton added that he believed the law also would conflict with the regulatory scheme Congress designed in the Clean Air Act.
In a statement, North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem (R) said the ruling was important in protecting his state from overreaching regulations. He added that if the law had been allowed to take effect it would have prevented North Dakota utilities from selling power in the MISO market, hurting businesses and customers in North Dakota and Minnesota.
Energy Agreements Affected
Tom Heller, chief executive officer of Missouri River Energy Services in Sioux Falls, S.D., said in a statement that the ruling was important because if NGEA stood, it would have restricted energy agreements between Minnesota utilities and others regarding the term of such agreements and the amount of power Minnesota could buy from out-of-state, coal-fired plants.
He said Missouri River Energy can now consider purchase power agreements that are longer than five years and for more than 50 megawatts of power. Such purchases can often be the cheapest option for coop members, he said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=91996814&vname=dennotallissues&fn=91996814&jd=91996814
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EPA, Opponents Divided on New Power Plant Briefing Schedule
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
Both the Environmental Protection Agency and states and industry groups challenging the agency's carbon dioxide standards for new power plants agree that the briefing schedule in the current litigation will need to be reset to accommodate additional lawsuits that are expected, but they remain divided on when and how best to do that (North Dakota v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 15-1381, reply filed 6/14/16).
States and industry groups opposed to the carbon dioxide new source performance standards for new and modified power plants (RIN:2060-AQ91) reiterated their contention that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit should wait until August to revise the briefing schedule in the lawsuit in a reply filed June 14.
The revised briefing schedule would allow the court to consolidate new lawsuits that are expected to be filed challenging the EPA's decision to deny administrative reconsideration of the performance standards.
“Petitioners and respondents agree that petitions for review of EPA's denial of the reconsideration petitions should be consolidated with these cases so that all issues related to the validity of the rule can be briefed and argued at the same time,” the opponents, which include several states, the Utility Air Regulatory Group, American Public Power Association and other utilities, said in their reply.
While both sides agree the court should set a new briefing schedule, where they differ is the EPA has asked that the schedule be updated immediately to avoid any undue delays in the litigation.
However, opponents of the rule argue that setting a new briefing schedule now would be prejudicial against the litigants who may file additional lawsuits challenging the EPA's denial of the reconsideration petitions. Instead, the court should wait until those additional lawsuits have been filed and consolidated with the ongoing litigation to allow the new petitioners to participate fully in the process, opponents of the rule argued.
“Any new parties to this case should be given the same opportunity other parties have had to provide the court with information that may be relevant to the briefing schedule,” they said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=91996790&vname=dennotallissues&fn=91996790&jd=91996790
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EPA Ordered to Issue Particulate Matter Plan for Texas
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nushin Huq
The Environmental Protection Agency must issue a federal plan for Texas to prevent the state's particulate matter emissions from interfering with efforts by neighboring states to meet air quality standards, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered (Sierra Club v. EPA, 2016 BL 188609, D. D.C., No. 10-cv-01541 , 6/14/16).
In the June 14 decision, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denied the EPA's motion to dismiss the lawsuit as moot and ordered the agency to file a schedule with the court by July 29 for proposing and completing the federal implementation plan for Texas. Under the Clean Air Act's so-called “good neighbor” requirement, the state must control interstate transport of particulate matter emissions that might cause other states to violate national ambient air quality standards issued in 1997.
The Sierra Club sued the EPA in 2010 alleging the agency failed to issue a federal plan for Texas after the state failed to submit an adequate plan of its own.
EPA Argues Claims Moot
The EPA had argued that the lawsuit was moot because it had met the statutory requirement to issue a federal implementation plan for Texas as part of its Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which set limits on power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in 28 states.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has remanded that rule to the EPA for correction after finding the EPA's sulfur dioxide budgets for some states, including Texas, required more reductions than were necessary to mitigate their impact on downwind states (EME Homer City Generation LP v. EPA, 795 F.3d 118, 80 ERC 2005, 2015 BL 239912 (D.C. Cir. 2015)).
However, the rule remains in effect while the EPA makes the necessary revisions, and the agency had argued that was sufficient to fulfill its obligations to issue a federal plan for Texas.
The Sierra Club had argued that the D.C. Circuit's decision invalidated the EPA's plan for Texas, leaving its obligations to issue a federal plan for the state unfulfilled.
The lawsuit will be held in abeyance while the EPA works on the federal plan for Texas.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=91996792&vname=dennotallissues&fn=91996792&jd=91996792
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D.C. Circuit Grants Request To Dismiss Utility NSPS Suit
Jun 15, 2016 | Inside EPA
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit June 15 granted EPA and the power sector's joint request to dismiss a long-stayed challenge by utilities to aspects of its maximum achievable control technology (MACT) and new source performance standards (NSPS) rule setting air toxics limits for power plants.
In a June 15 joint stipulation of dismissal, granted by the court the same day, the groups involved in the case, Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG), et al. v. EPA, agreed to dismiss it without explanation. The case has been held in abeyance since 2013, when it was severed from older litigation filed against the NSPS rule.
Since that time, EPA has addressed in several reconsideration proceedings the issues raised in UARG and other cases over the NSPS that was originally issued in 2011 -- including startup, shutdown and malfunction provisions, continuous monitoring requirements, errors in calculation of specific emissions limits and others.
Litigation over the MACT standard nonetheless continues, with a D.C. Circuit suit, Murray Energy v. EPA, now pending over the agency's April 15 revised finding that it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate power plants. Issuance of the cost finding was required after the Supreme Court last June found EPA had unlawfully excluded consideration of costs from its original finding that the MACT was a necessary rulemaking.
UARG also filed suit June 6 in the D.C. Circuit over EPA's most recent April 6 technical revisions to the MACT, which also scrapped “affirmative defense” provisions that shielded utilities from liability for emissions limit violations due to certain malfunctions. UARG has not yet listed the issues it objects to in that case.
http://insideepa.com/news-briefs/dc-circuit-grants-request-dismiss-utility-nsps-suit
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Oil and Gas Emissions Boost Cancer Risk -- Enviro Study
Jun 15, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Sean Reilly
Millions of Americans are at higher risk of developing cancer because of toxic emissions from the oil and gas industry, according to two environmental groups. The advocates today unveiled anonline map to let people see whether they live or work within what is dubbed a "threat radius" up to a half-mile from active wells and other facilities.
More than 9 million people spread across 238 counties in 21 states face a cancer risk that exceeds U.S. EPA's "one-in-a-million" level of concern because of releases of benzene and other pollutants, the Clean Air Task Force and Earthworks said in an accompanying report, titled "Fossil Fumes."
In 43 of those counties, the risk is about one in 250,000; in two -- both in Texas -- it tops one in 100,000, according to the report, which adds that the boom in domestic energy production is potentially imperiling more people.
In Texas, where oil production grew by 139 percent between 2011 and 2015, EPA expects releases of benzene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde from oil and gas operations will expand by 136 percent from 2011 to 2017, the report said. As a result, the number of counties with a higher cancer risk will grow from 50 to 82.
The threat radius is an indication of concern, the two organizations said, "not a declaration that those within it will have negative health impacts." The radius also "does not quantify the threat stemming" from oil and gas industry emissions.
Inhalation of benzene has been linked to leukemia and other blood disorders; formaldehyde can cause skin, nose and throat irritation, with high levels of exposure possibly causing some types of cancer, according to EPA. While human data on the cancer-causing effects of acetaldehyde are "inadequate," it is classified as a probable human carcinogen, the agency says in a "hazard summary" posted online.
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group, is reviewing the report, a spokeswoman said.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2016/06/15/stories/1060038890
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Chamber Lobbying at Odds With Members' Climate Views: Report
Jun 16, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
Lobbying efforts by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against Obama administration efforts on climate change are deeply at odds with the perspectives of its board members, eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus said in a report June 15.
None of the 108 chamber board members would explicitly endorse the group's lobbying efforts to kill the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and many of the companies said they were unaware of those initiatives, according to the report. Fifty-two of those board members have publicly supported efforts to address climate change.
“Despite the fact that nearly half of Chamber board members have acknowledged the risk of climate change or are actively working to address the risks of climate change, the Chamber has opposed executive action on climate and lobbied heavily in support of legislation undermining climate action,” the report said. “Not a single board member explicitly supported the chamber's lobbying efforts.”
Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Edward Markey (Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) prepared the report, which also examined chamber lobbying efforts on tobacco.
Chamber board members with climate change views at odds with its lobbying activities include Allstate Corp., AT&T Inc., BMO Financial Group, Ryder System Inc., Sanofi S.A., 3M Co. and United Parcel Service Inc., according to the report.
“Chamber members, many of whom act commendably on their own, undermine their own efforts by affiliating with an organization that actively and aggressively undermines efforts to reduce tobacco use and tries to prevent action to address climate change,” the senators wrote in a letter accompanying the report. “By lending tacit support to an organization that has spearheaded a decades-long effort against policies to address both problems, member companies become de facto promoters of tobacco and adversaries of climate action.”
Twelve Senate Democrats originally wrote all chamber board members in September 2015 seeking their views on the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan and their knowledge of chamber lobbying in that area.
‘Egregiously False.'
In a statement, the chamber described the report as an “egregiously false” and “partisan line of attack” and condemned the Senate Democrats for releasing a report to “recycle old myths and tired talking points.”
“Perhaps if these Senators put as much energy into fostering pro-job, pro-growth policies as they are into producing baseless ‘reports’ about groups whose mission is to do just that—and whose opinions they politically disagree with—the country would see more positive economic growth,” the statement said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=91996788&vname=dennotallissues&fn=91996788&jd=91996788
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Gov. Jerry Brown Wants to Extend California's Climate Change Law Beyond 2020
Jun 16, 2016 | Los Angeles TImes
By Liam Dillon
Gov. Jerry Brown is endorsing an extension of the state's main climate change law.
"We will not meet our world-leading clean air and emission reduction targets unless we solidify and redouble our commitment to the state’s cap-and-trade program and climate goals beyond 2020, and we will work hard to get that done," Brown spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman told The Times.
The state's climate program has been beset by political, legal and financial problems and AB 32, the landmark 2006 legislation that established the state's cap-and-trade program alongside dramatic targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, only runs through 2020.
Previously, Brown has extended the greenhouse gas reduction targets through executive orders.
State Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), who authored AB 32, has pushed for new legislation to force lawmakers to show their support for the state's climate change goals before the legislative session ends in August.
Any deal might require a two-thirds vote to bulletproof the new law from legal challenges over revenue generated through the cap-and-trade program.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-governor-wants-to-extend-state-climate-1466025588-htmlstory.html
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Chaffetz Readies WOTUS Contempt Resolution for White House Official
Jun 15, 2016 | PoliticoPro
By Annie Snider
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz is moving to hold a White House official in contempt of Congress over documents related to the Obama administration's controversial water regulation, escalating the battle around the EPA rule and potentially altering the high-stakes court challenges over it.
The Utah Republican plans to introduce a resolution Wednesday night that finds White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Howard Shelanski in criminal contempt for failing to hand over all documents subpoenaed last July relating to the rulemaking around the Waters of the U.S. regulation. That regulation defines streams and wetlands Washington can regulate under the Clean Water Act.
If the resolution passes the full House, Shelanski would be the third Obama administration official to be found in contempt by Congress. In 2012, the House passed a contempt resolution against former Attorney General Eric Holder over documents related to the "Fast and Furious" gun scandal, and two years later passed another against former IRS official Lois Lerner over her refusal to testify on whether the tax agency improperly targeted conservative political groups.
"They should be embarrassed. It should never have come to this," Chaffetz said in an interview.
It's the latest episode of rising tensions between Republicans and Democrats on the Hill, coming just hours after the panel voted on party lines to send a resolution tocensure IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to the House floor. Last week, House Benghazi Committee Republicans subpoenaed a Pentagon official after Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) suggested the official may have tried to hide a witness to the 2012 attack.
Shelanski has testified before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that his office is working to hand over as much of the nine years' worth of documentation as possible and just today delivered an additional 13,000 pages while committing to getting the committee the rest of the documents within a week. Already, OIRA had produced nearly 19,000 pages of documents, according to a committee report, but Republicans said more than three-quarters of those were duplicates, and they have called out specific documents that are missing.
“OMB has worked in good faith to respond to the Committee’s subpoena regarding the review of the Clean Water Rule," an OMB spokeswoman said in an email, calling the subpoena "incredibly broad," and saying the agency will continue to cooperate. Last week the agency detailed its efforts to comply in a letter to the committee, including the transcribed testimony from four of its officials done with the committee.
The contempt resolution is slated to be taken up by the committee on June 23, and could get a swift vote on the House floor, Chaffetz said.
"I have been talking to leadership," he said. "It is such an egregious example of ignoring Congress, I think they're very sympathetic to us."
Under federal law, a contempt resolution approved by the House would be forwarded to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Channing Phillips, although it is unlikely he would choose to prosecute, since he is an Obama administration appointee. Alternately, the House could file its own case against Shelanski, as it did in the Holder case.
If convicted of failing to turn over the documents sought by the committee, Shelanski could face a year in prison and $1,000 in fines.
Oversight Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) complained that the committee Republicans' contempt resolution was based on a faulty rationale given the trove of new documents delivered by OMB.
"This was a reckless, irresponsible attack intended to get cheap headlines that are not based on facts, and it undermines the integrity, the credibility, and the work of our Committee,” he said.
Cornell Law School professor Josh Chafetz said contempt resolutions are uncommon, but have been used in recent years to raise the profile of government scandals.
"'Fast and Furious' was sort of a scandal that was largely created through congressional oversight," he said, referring to the federal operation that allowed guns from the U.S. to pass into hands of suspected smugglers. "It was when Congress started holding hearings that it became more widely reported on and started to take on the aura of a scandal."
During President George W. Bush's administration, House Democrats voted to hold former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and former White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in contempt of Congress over subpoenaed documents relating to the firing of U.S. attorneys.
In the case of the water regulation, also called the Clean Water Rule, the tussle over the OIRA documents has more than just political implications. The EPA rule is being challenged in court by dozens of interest groups and more than 30 states, and the courts are likely to closely scrutinize the administrative process around the rulemaking.
Federal agencies — in this case EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers — aren't required to include deliberative documents like internal memos or emails in the formal administrative record for the court case. However, if Congress obtains such documents and makes them public, plaintiffs can argue that they should be part of the legal record, and used to potentially help their legal challenge.
That's already happened, thanks to a separate action by Chaffetz's committee, which last year obtained and made public internal Army Corps of Engineers memos laying out its experts' concerns with the rule. The water rule's challengers are already fighting to have those documents entered into the legal record.
Time is running out, however, since the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, where dozens of appellate court challenges to WOTUS have been consolidated, this week said briefing on what should be part of the administrative record will be completed by the end of July.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2016/06/chaffetz-readies-wotus-contempt-resolution-for-white-house-official-120243
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