Preview Newsletter
AM ACC 6/22/2016
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(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Activity Points To A Stronger Economy
Jun 22, 2016 | Seeking Alpha
By Scott Grannis
The Chemical Activity Barometer, published monthly by the American Chemistry Council since 1919, has jumped 3% in the past 3 months, and is up 2.5% in the past year. -
(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Activity Barometer Continues Solid Growth In June, ACC Says
Jun 21, 2016 | Chemical Engineering
By Scott Jenkins
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), expanded 0.8 percent in June following a revised 0.9 percent increase in May and 0.7 percent... -
EPA Honors Newlight, Verdezyne
Jun 22, 2016 | Plastics News
By Gayle S. Putrich
You might think that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just ramps up regulations and hands out warnings and fines all day long -
(ACC Mentioned) Obama to Sign Toxic Chemical Rules; 1st Overhaul in 40 Years
Jun 22, 2016 | AP (In The Washington Post)
By Josh Lederman
President Barack Obama will sign into law the first overhaul of toxic chemical rules in 40 years while hailing a rare moment of cooperation between Republicans and Democrats. -
(ACC Mentioned) Obama To Sign First Overhaul of Toxic Chemical Rules in 40 Years
Jun 22, 2016 | International Business Times
By Seerat Chaba
President Barack Obama is set to sign into law the first overhaul of toxic chemical rules in 40 years, marking a rare moment of cooperation between the Republicans and the Democrats. -
(ACC Mentioned) Obama to Sign TSCA-Reform Bill June 22
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
President Barack Obama is scheduled to sign the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 2576) into law mid-day on June 22. -
(ACC Mentioned) Environmental Health Advocates Ambivalent About New Chemical Safety Law
Jun 21, 2016 | WCAI
By Heather Goldstone
A major overhaul of a federal chemical safety law recently passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming majorities. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act has been hailed as a bipartisan success and a major step forward. -
White House Touts Certainty from TSCA 'Compromise'
Jun 21, 2016 | Inside EPA
The White House says the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) approved by Congress and set for President Obama's signature June 22 is “a measure of compromise” that will provide uniform EPA standards for the chemical sector, despite concerns from some critics... -
US NGO Finds Lead, Phthalates in Garden Products
Jun 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Sylvia Palmer
Potentially hazardous chemicals are still present in many commonly used garden hose products and may leach into hose water, according to a recent study from the environmental NGO, Ecology Center. A study it conducted in 2012 had similar findings. -
$46.5 Million Monsanto PCB Verdict: Outlier or Trend?
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Peter Hayes
Whether a $46.5 million jury verdict against Monsanto Co.—finding liability for personal injuries for contaminating the food chain—is an outlier, or the first of many, may be clarified by an upcoming September trial (Spirer v. Monsanto , Mo. Cir. Ct... -
New York Bill Requires Lead Testing by Schools
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
School districts in New York will be required to periodically test their water for lead contamination under a bill ( A. 10740) Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) is expected to sign. -
Bipartisan House Group Urges Interior to Finish Leasing Rule
Jun 21, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Scott Streater
A bipartisan House coalition urged Interior Secretary Sally Jewell today to finalize a proposed rule that would establish competitive leasing for renewable energy projects on federal lands across the West. -
Federal Judge Strikes Down Interior's Fracking Rule
Jun 21, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
A federal judge today struck down the Bureau of Land Management’s March 2015 fracking rule, saying the Interior Department does not have the authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing. -
Offshore Regulator Touts New Air Quality Proposal
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Dabbs
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's new proposal on air quality controls would make critical regulatory advances in the oil and gas sector, allowing the agency to tie its rules to Environmental Protection Agency standards under the Clean Air Act, a BOEM official said... -
Schumer Signals Democratic Support for Energy Bill Conference
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
Senate Democrats want to go to conference on broad energy legislation, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters June 21, the first signal the minority party would be willing to support a Senate vote to begin formal talks on the bill with the House. -
Enviros Urge Senate Dems to Sink Conference
Jun 22, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Geof Koss
Top environmental groups are calling on Senate Democrats to vote against going to conference with the House on energy legislation, saying the lower chamber's bill would undercut key environmental laws. -
When It Comes to Presidential Politics, Energy Plays Second Stage
Jun 21, 2016 | Fuel Fix
By James Osborne
So far this presidential campaign season, Hillary Clinton has talked about cracking down on hydraulic fracturing in this country. And Donald Trump has called for more fossil fuel production and less environmental regulations. -
Belmont, Monroe Counties Continue to Drive Ohio's Utica NatGas Production
Jun 21, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Belmont and Monroe counties continued to dominate Ohio's Utica Shale production in the first quarter, with wells in the play's sweet spot there accounting for much of the increase in the state's natural gas production, according to data from... -
Clean Power Advances Despite Grim Politics: Meiburg
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Dabbs
U.S. utility energy providers and environmental regulators are shepherding the country through a seismic transition to cleaner energy, but the road ahead is threatened by divisive politics and opposition from some constituencies, speakers told the... -
California Law Boosts Clean Energy Adoption
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
California cities and counties are turning to alternative energy and a shared governance model to power community choice energy programs. -
Clean Heat, Clean Air in Westchester County, New York
Jun 21, 2016 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Abbey Brown
New York City may not be the place that comes to mind when you think of clean air, but NYC has done tremendous work in improving air quality – and now our neighbors in upstate Westchester County are following suit. -
Corporate Demand for Renewable Energy Could Rock the Grid
Jun 21, 2016 | Forbes
By Manish Bapna
This post was written by Letha Tawney, Director Of Utility Innovation and Polsky Chair For Renewable Energy at WRI, and Manish Bapna -
Small Chemical Producers Defend Practices As EPA Readies Safety Rule
Jun 21, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Dave Reynolds
Producers of small batches of chemicals recently met with EPA officials to defend the safety of their production practices in response to federal officials' suggestion that certain small batch production might pose risks, while the agency works to finalize... -
Moving Oil Through Columbia River Gorge More Risky Than Rail Industry Acknowledges
Jun 21, 2016 | Oregon Live
By Chris Carvalho
On June 3, a Union Pacific train carrying crude oil passed through the small Oregon town of Mosier, one of the most beautiful places in the Columbia River Gorge. -
"Bomb Train" Blowup
Jun 22, 2016 | Portland Mercury
By Doug Brown
It was a hectic scene at a railroad crossing near the BNSF Railway terminal in Vancouver, Washington, on Saturday, June 18. -
Trader Joe’s Is Forced to Fix Refrigerators, Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Jun 21, 2016 | Washington Post
By Brady Dennis
Trader Joe’s will spend millions of dollars over the next several years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its refrigeration equipment as part of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department.
Industry and Association News
Chemical Management News
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Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Activity Points To A Stronger Economy
Jun 22, 2016 | Seeking Alpha
By Scott Grannis
The Chemical Activity Barometer, published monthly by the American Chemistry Council since 1919, has jumped 3% in the past 3 months, and is up 2.5% in the past year. This strongly suggests that industrial production - which has been quite weak for the past year or so (due in part to the big slowdown in oil drilling and exploration) - will pick up in coming months. This should go hand in hand with stronger GDP numbers over the course of the year as well. Definitely good news.
The chart above shows the Chemical Barometer Activity index for the past 8 years. The recent uptick is significant.
The index also appears to do a good job of leading the growth in industrial production, and by inference, the overall economy. For more detailed information, see Calculated Risk.
Truck tonnage, shown in the chart above, has also picked up this year. The February spike had looked a bit anomalous, but the May reading confirms that activity has picked up over the course of the year. Chemical activity and truck tonnage both track actual physical activity in the economy, and both are pointing to improvement.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3983524-chemical-activity-points-stronger-economy
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(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Activity Barometer Continues Solid Growth In June, ACC Says
Jun 21, 2016 | Chemical Engineering
By Scott Jenkins
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), expanded 0.8 percent in June following a revised 0.9 percent increase in May and 0.7 percent increase in April. All data are measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA). Accounting for adjustments, the CAB remains up 2.5 percent over this time last year, a marked deceleration of activity from one year ago when the barometer logged a 2.7 percent year-over-year gain from 2014. On an unadjusted basis, the CAB jumped 0.4 percent in June, following a similar 0.4 percent gain in May. The CAB is signaling higher U.S. business activity through the end of the year.
In June, all four categories for the CAB improved for the third month in a row. Production-related indicators were positive, with improvement in plastic resins used in packaging and trends in construction-related resins, pigments and related performance chemistry were positive and suggest recovering housing activity. Equity prices further gained in June, joined by a firming in product prices. Inventories and other downstream indicators were positive.
The Chemical Activity Barometer has four primary components, each consisting of a variety of indicators: 1) production; 2) equity prices; 3) product prices; and 4) inventories and other indicators.
The Chemical Activity Barometer is a leading economic indicator derived from a composite index of chemical industry activity. The chemical industry has been found to consistently lead the U.S. economy’s business cycle given its early position in the supply chain, and this barometer can be used to determine turning points and likely trends in the wider economy. Month-to-month movements can be volatile so a three-month moving average of the barometer is provided. This provides a more consistent and illustrative picture of national economic trends.
http://www.chemengonline.com/chemical-activity-barometer-continues-solid-growth-in-june-acc-says/?printmode=1
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EPA Honors Newlight, Verdezyne
Jun 22, 2016 | Plastics News
By Gayle S. Putrich
You might think that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just ramps up regulations and hands out warnings and fines all day long
But sometimes they also hand out awards — to plastics companies, even!
Among this year's Presidential Green Chemistry Award winners were two plastics companies: biochemical company Verdezyne of Carlsbad, Calif. and Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Newlight Technologies LLC.
Carbon-emission-to-thermoplastic transformer Newlight is no newcomer to Plastics News readers, with its 20-year resin distribution deal with Vinmar International Ltd. last year and its 2014 partnership with Dell Inc.
EPA honored Newlight for developing its its AirCarbon-brand polyhydroxyalkanoates, a plastic made from methane-based greenhouse gas, noting the company' deal with Dell as well as Hewlett Packard, Sprint, Virgin, and the Body Shop, among others.
Newlight uses a biocatalyst in a large-scale reactor to convert and assemble carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules into long chain PHA-based polymers. By weight, about 40 percent is oxygen from the air, and 60 percent is carbon and hydrogen from carbon emissions and the resultant resin is considered net carbon negative by the EPA.
Verdezyne was recognized for developing a yeast that naturally produces a chemical used to make high-performance nylon 6/12 for hairbrushes, toothbrushes, adhesives, coatings, fragrances and automotive and aviation oils. "In addition to using a plant-based feedstock and having lower greenhouse gas emissions, this process is also safer because it does not use high temperatures or concentrated nitric acid," EPA said in a news release about the awards. The yeast has already qualified for the USDA-certified Biobased label.
Verdezyne has also been recognized by Bloomberg as a "New Energy Pioneer" and as one of the top 40 hottest small companies by The Digest, a top bioeconomy publication.
The Presidential Green Chemistry award is in its 21st year, with winners responsible for "annually reducing the use or generation of more than 826 million pounds of hazardous chemicals, saving 21 billion gallons of water, and eliminating 7.8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent releases to air," according to EPA. Submissions are judged by an independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society's Green Chemistry Institute.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20160621/BLOG11/160629949/epa-honors-newlight-verdezyne
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(ACC Mentioned) Obama to Sign Toxic Chemical Rules; 1st Overhaul in 40 Years
Jun 22, 2016 | AP (In The Washington Post)
By Josh Lederman
President Barack Obama will sign into law the first overhaul of toxic chemical rules in 40 years while hailing a rare moment of cooperation between Republicans and Democrats.
Lawmakers from both parties planned to join Obama on Wednesday for the ceremony, along with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, environmental advocates and industry groups that backed the legislation. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the bill, which passed with broad bipartisan support, was an outlier in a political climate in which the two parties agree on little.
"Any time you see Democrats and Republicans come together on a piece of legislation, it does reflect a measure of compromise, which means that there may be some people who will criticize it because it's not perfect," Earnest said.
In addition to updating rules for tens of thousands of everyday chemicals used in household cleaners, clothing and furniture, the bill also sets safety standards for dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde, asbestos and styrene. The goal is to standardize on the national level what is currently a jumble of state rules governing the $800 billion-per-year industry.
Congress spent more than three years working on the bill, which rewrites the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act and aims to "bring chemical regulation into the 21st century," according to the American Chemistry Council, which backed the overhaul.
The bill passed the Senate on a voice vote, reflecting an unusual degree of consensus for legislation that gives the EPA new authority to assess the safety of new and existing chemicals. In recent years, many Republicans have worked to pull funding for the EPA or eliminate it entirely.
But business groups had sought a single, federal standard to eliminate the complexity of dealing with state regulations that don't always line up with each other. Still, some Republicans opposed the legislation and called it an overzealous Washington takeover of a matter they said should be left to the states.
The bill's namesake, former New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, died in 2013 after having worked for years to fix the law.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/obama-to-sign-toxic-chemical-rules-1st-overhaul-in-40-years/2016/06/22/1eb49cd2-384d-11e6-af02-1df55f0c77ff_story.html
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(ACC Mentioned) Obama To Sign First Overhaul of Toxic Chemical Rules in 40 Years
Jun 22, 2016 | International Business Times
By Seerat Chaba
President Barack Obama is set to sign into law the first overhaul of toxic chemical rules in 40 years, marking a rare moment of cooperation between the Republicans and the Democrats.
“By removing 40-year-old barriers and modernizing procedures, we reduce the risk to consumers. This means the chemicals and products we use every day will be safer for Americans,” Reutersreported Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan saying last month.
Lawmakers from both parties, along with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy, environmental advocates and industry groups that backed the legislation, are to join Obama Wednesday for the ceremony.
Along with updating rules for tens of thousands of everyday chemicals used in household cleaners, clothing and furniture, the bill also sets safety standards for harmful chemicals like formaldehyde and styrene, and minerals such as asbestos.
The Associated Press reported White House press secretary Josh Earnest saying the bill was an outlier in a political climate in which the two parties agree on little.
“Any time you see Democrats and Republicans come together on a piece of legislation, it does reflect a measure of compromise, which means that there may be some people who will criticize it because it's not perfect,” Earnest said.
The bill, which the Congress spent more than three years working on, rewrites the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act and attempts to “bring chemical regulation into the 21st century,” according to the American Chemistry Council, the AP reported.
The House of Representatives had passed the measure with a 403-12 vote last month.
With the Senate passing it on a voice vote, the bill showcased an unusual degree of consensus for legislation that gives the EPA new authority to assess the safety of new and existing chemicals, despite the attempt by many Republicans in recent years to pull funding for the EPA or eliminate it entirely.
Former New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, the bill’s namesake, died in 2013 after repeated attempts to amend the existing law.
http://www.ibtimes.com/obama-sign-first-overhaul-toxic-chemical-rules-40-years-2385304
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(ACC Mentioned) Obama to Sign TSCA-Reform Bill June 22
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
President Barack Obama is scheduled to sign the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 2576) into law mid-day on June 22.
The bill revises the core provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act for the first time since they became law in 1976.
Congressional sponsors of the bill along with representatives of the American Chemistry Council, Environmental Defense Fund and Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization are among those who have been invited to attend the signing of the law in recognition of the roles they played in securing its passage in Congress.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=92293177&vname=dennotallissues&fn=92293177&jd=92293177
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(ACC Mentioned) Environmental Health Advocates Ambivalent About New Chemical Safety Law
Jun 21, 2016 | WCAI
By Heather Goldstone
A major overhaul of a federal chemical safety law recently passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming majorities. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act has been hailed as a bipartisan success and a major step forward. But environmental health advocates say there are still reasons for concern, or at least caution.
For forty years, testing and regulation of chemical products has been guided by the Toxic Substances Control Act. Despite the name, critics say it has done little to actually control toxic substances. It only allows the EPA to require safety testing once it has evidence of risk, and even after a chemical has been found to pose a threat to human health or the environment, the EPA isn’t required to restrict its use. In fact, it might not be allowed to impose limits if it would cost too much.
As a result, the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates there are currently 80-100,000 chemical substances in commercial circulation in the U.S. Of those, less than 200 have been subjected to some kind of safety testing. And EPA has only regulated a handful.
"Much of the chemical industry and many product manufacturers flag that they do test chemicals, but the tests are conducted and overseen by the industry interests and not publicly available," says Cindi Luppi, New England Director of Clean Water Action and a member of the steering committee for Safer Chemicals Healthy Families. "So, this issue of the right to know and the right to act on chemicals with links to human health damage is a really key pressure point in this debate."
The Lautenberg Act makes some key changes. Under the new law, the EPA can be notified about new chemicals, prioritize certain chemicals or classes of chemicals, acquire information from both manufacturers and independent sources, and - most importantly - make regulatory decisions based on risks to human health and the environment, rather than manufacturers' bottom lines. But it does not make testing mandatory for all chemicals.
"You could say that this law gives EPA the tools to get in the game, finally, which is good," says Luppi. "But I don't think you could characterize this law as precautionary or really even completely preventive."
A major point of concern for Luppi and other environmental health advocates are limits the new law imposes on states' abilities to restrict chemicals. Certain existing laws and regulations would be allowed to stand but, going forward, EPA actions would preempt those of states, and states would not be allowed to enact stricter limits than the federal ones.
"States have been the drivers and the leaders of innovative protections for public health in the light of this federal inaction that's gone on for so long," says Luppi. "States will actually be preempted from acting at a certain point."
Luppi says we could see a flurry of activity, as states try to get laws in place before the window of opportunity closes. For example, Massachusetts' Senate recently passed a ban on some flame retardants in furniture and children's clothing; the legislation is pending in House of Representatives.
Andrew Rosenberg, Director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, says the limits on states' rights are a symptom of undue influence by the chemical industry. Rosenberg is a former fisheries' regulator, and fully supports industries being involved in their own oversight. But he says there's a distinct difference between the two examples.
"In the fishing industry, you're talking about small businesses - very small businesses - not with that lobbying capability at the Washington level," Rosenberg says. "In the chemical industry, you're talking about gigantic businesses - Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, Dupont - who have enormous influence and are international operators."
According to a report published last year by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the American Chemistry Council - the leading industry advocacy group - spent $23 million on federal lobbying in 2013-14.
"We live in the era of Citizens United," says Luppi, "where the overwhelming corporate checkbook has fewer limits than it should and - I would say, I think many would say - undue influence on how decisions get made on many levels."
The American Chemistry Council declined to speak with Living Lab, but they have released a statement expressing their support for the new law and calling it "truly historic."
"This legislation is significant not only because it is the first major environmental law passed since 1990, but because TSCA reform will have lasting and meaningful benefits for all American manufacturers, all American families and for our nation’s standing as the world’s leading innovator."
Pressed on whether or not the new law will make consumers safer, both Rosenberg and Luppi express ambivalence.
"I think we will know that when it's implemented. On it's face, it has the opportunity for some success," says Rosenberg. "It really depends on how the EPA moves forward in implementing the law, what resources it's given from Congress on an ongoing basis - this isn't a one-year thing- and, of course the perspective of the industry, and whether they will be cooperative and be engaged and actually work with the EPA."
Luppi says that lawsuits and litigation challenging EPA actions are a distinct possibility and could slow down implementation of the new law.
"It'a cliche, but time will really tell ultimately whether this ends up being a net positive," says Luppi, emphasizing that consumers and retailers need to continue to push for safe chemical products, and not assume federal regulators will take care of it. "It is one piece of an overall puzzle, though, of how we all need to press for common sense updates that reflect modern science and reduce exposure to chemicals that can damage us."
http://capeandislands.org/post/environmental-health-advocates-ambivalent-about-new-chemical-safety-law#stream/0
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White House Touts Certainty from TSCA 'Compromise'
Jun 21, 2016 | Inside EPA
The White House says the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) approved by Congress and set for President Obama's signature June 22 is “a measure of compromise” that will provide uniform EPA standards for the chemical sector, despite concerns from some critics about the deal's preemption of state toxics programs.
During a June 20 press conference at the White House, Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed Obama will sign the bill -- known as the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act -- at a ceremony in the South Court Auditorium. Attendees will include members of Congress that called for TSCA reform, as well as “advocates and organizations that played a critical role in passing this legislation,” Earnest said.
A reporter asked Earnest for his response to claims from some critics of the bill that it “handcuffs the ability of states like California to press forward with tougher chemical safety regulations.”
Earnest said, “This is a rare instance of strong bipartisan support for a piece of legislation. We haven’t seen a lot of that over the last year and a half, but I think that is an indication of how this bill could ultimately make our communities safer. And I think any time you see Democrats and Republicans come together on a piece of legislation, it does reflect a measure of compromise, which means that there may be some people who will criticize it because it’s not perfect.”
Nevertheless, he added that Obama backs the bill because it will provide regulatory certainty. “The President believes strongly that by instituting more uniform standards, we can more effectively regulate substances that are used in consumer products in a way that ultimately will better protect the American people. And the President was pleased to see Democrats and Republicans come together in strong support of this bill,” he said.
http://insideepa.com/news-briefs/white-house-touts-certainty-tsca-compromise
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US NGO Finds Lead, Phthalates in Garden Products
Jun 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Sylvia Palmer
Potentially hazardous chemicals are still present in many commonly used garden hose products and may leach into hose water, according to a recent study from the environmental NGO, Ecology Center. A study it conducted in 2012 had similar findings.
The report calls on retailers and manufacturers to phase out the use of these chemicals in garden hoses.
Hoses from several national retailers – including Home Depot, Amazon, Target, Lowe's and Walmart – were tested for the study. Chemicals like lead and phthalates were found in them, along with other substances the NGO says have been linked to various health problems, like birth defects and impaired learning.
“It’s unconscionable that in the year 2016 these chemicals are still found in products on store shelves,” said Mike Schade, director of the Mind the Store campaign at NGO Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.
Seventy five percent of hoses tested were polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The rest were various types of polyurethane, synthetic rubber and other polymers.
Testing of the flexible plastic parts of the PVC hoses found that:
· 29% contained lead as high as 68,000 parts per million (ppm);
· 75% contained phthalates;
· 50% contained elevated levels of bromine (> 1000ppm); and
· 50% contained antimony (> 500ppm).
Lead was found in 15% of metal parts. This is an improvement over a previous study, where 40% of metal fittings tested contained lead.
According to the study, recycled electronic waste vinyl appears to also have been used in some of these PVC hoses, as shown by the high levels of lead, antimony, tin and bromine, the latter of which, it says, is indicative of brominated flame retardants. Non-PVC hoses did not contain these chemicals.
Additional research showed that water from half of PVC hoses contained chemicals like BPA and lead. This indicates that leaching of these chemicals can occur, the report says.
Three samples tested contained 13, 19 and 20 parts per billion (ppb) lead. The EPA’s action level for lead in drinking water is 15ppb.
BPA as high as 87ppb was detected in one sample.
The study report advises consumers to:
· read hose labels and buy "drinking water safe", "lead-free" or PVC-free hoses;
· allow hose water to run before using in order to drain sitting water, which the study says could have the highest levels of chemicals;
· avoid storing hoses in the sun, which increases the leaching of plastic additives;
· avoid drinking water from a hose, unless it is phthalate-free; and
· request that retailers and garden hose manufacturers eliminate these chemicals from products.
https://chemicalwatch.com/48168/us-ngo-finds-lead-phthalates-in-garden-products
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$46.5 Million Monsanto PCB Verdict: Outlier or Trend?
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Peter Hayes
Whether a $46.5 million jury verdict against Monsanto Co.—finding liability for personal injuries for contaminating the food chain—is an outlier, or the first of many, may be clarified by an upcoming September trial (Spirer v. Monsanto , Mo. Cir. Ct., No. 12SL-CC01263, trial date 9/12/16).
A St. Louis jury May 25 found the company liable in a first-of-its-kind verdict to three plaintiffs who contracted non-Hodgkins lymphoma allegedly caused by contamination of the food chain by polychlorinated biphenyls.
But the outcome of future lawsuits is likely to turn on whether other plaintiffs can establish specific causation and whether this award holds up on appeal, sources tell Bloomberg BNA.
Monsanto spokeswoman Charla Lord told Bloomberg BNA June 20 an appeal is planned in Walker v. Monsanto Co., but hasn't yet been filed.
Large Pool
“The pool of potential plaintiffs would be very large—everyone with non-Hodgkins lymphoma—but proving causation would be extremely difficult,” Professor Kenneth S. Abraham at the University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Va., told Bloomberg BNA.
Abraham's scholarship focuses on torts and insurance law and he's an advisor to the Restatement of Torts (Third). He has also been a consulting counsel and an expert witness for environmental cleanup, toxic tort and products liability claims.
“Most courts would require Daubert-valid evidence, either statistical or expert, that exposure to PCB's more probably than not caused any particular plaintiff's disease,” he said.
Abraham referred to the test for evaluating scientific evidence set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993).
“I don't know what the evidence of specific causation was in Walker, but I would be surprised if there were sufficient evidence in most instances,” he said.
Specific Causation
Professor Jean Eggen at Widener University School of Law, Wilmington, Del., agreed that the key question is causation.
Eggen teaches toxic torts, civil procedure, torts, and science and the law, and she is the author ofToxic Torts in a Nutshell.
“Plaintiffs in other recent PCB cases against Monsanto on similar theories have not recovered,” she said.
Even if the plaintiffs can prove negligence, Eggen said, they would still need to establish general and specific causation.
Specific causation, she said, “typically requires demonstrating the amount, time, and route of the individual plaintiff's exposure and a recognized latency period between exposure and development of the disease, all supported by appropriate clinical evidence.”
A report by the The International Agency for Research on Cancer proved helpful at trial in establishing a general link between the type of cancer the plaintiffs developed and PCBs. The IARC is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations.
But the report doesn't help with determining whether an individual's particular disease was caused by the toxic exposure.
“The International Agency for Research on Cancer report addressed the general causation aspects of the association between PCB exposure and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, but of course couldn't address the specific causation aspects because it was looking at the populations in the studies, not at the particular plaintiffs in the case,” Eggen said.
“Clearly the jury accepted whatever evidence of specific causation the plaintiffs introduced, however,” in the Walker case, she said.
“I think on appeal the court will look at both aspects of causation—whether the IARC report and other studies of general causation demonstrated a sufficient association, and whether there was sufficient evidence of specific causation in each of the plaintiffs,” Eggen said.
These cases are also difficult to prove because “non-Hodgkins lymphoma is not a ‘signature disease’ of PCB exposure,” Eggen said.
A signature disease is an illness whose association with a particular exposure is extremely strong and nearly exclusive, such as mesothelioma's link to asbestos exposure.
“Non-Hodgkins lymphoma has other causes, and even the IARC, in its 2015 monograph on PCBs, couldn't rule out ‘chance,’ ” she said.
‘Ubiquitous Contaminants.’
The plaintiffs in Walker alleged that Monsanto's PCBs contaminated the food chain and continue to be “ubiquitous contaminants of air, water and soil.”
“From 1929, when Monsanto's predecessor Swann Chemical Co. (which merged into Monsanto in 1935) first began producing PCBs, until 1977, when Congress banned the manufacture of PCBs, Monsanto produced and sold more than 99 percent of all the PCBs that were ever sold in the United States,” the complaint said.
The plaintiffs alleged that Monsanto was negligent in the marketing and distribution of its PCB products, which “led to plaintiffs' and decedents' environmental exposures, and were a producing cause, proximate cause, and substantial factor in the development of plaintiffs' and decedents' NHLs.”
‘The Entire Food Chain.’
“Literally, Monsanto has polluted the entire food chain,” attorney for the plaintiffs Steve Kherkher with Williams Kherkher in Houston told Bloomberg BNA.
“Organic food has PCBs in it too, and it accumulates in our bodies,” he said. “But everybody has their own way of storing PCBs.”
“We all have PCBs in our body,” Kherkher said. But the plaintiffs' blood tests showed PCB concentrations that were “off the charts.”
“They were in the highest quartile of PCB concentration.”
The plaintiffs' fate and transport expert, Dr. David O. Carpenter, testified that PCBs “are in all animal fats,” and that eating them is the most common way for PCBs to get in our bodies. Another “major exposure is breathing the air,” he said.
The allegations of the plaintiffs in the next case set for trial, Spirer v. Monsanto, are essentially the same, Kherkher said.
The upcoming case, like Walker, also involves three plaintiffs.
Kherker's firm represents in total about 1,000 plaintiffs with similar claims against Monsanto.
“We need to win about three more to convince Monsanto's board that the product is causing cancer,” he said.
The suits name as defendants Monsanto, Solutia Inc., Pharmacia Corp., and Pfizer Inc., each of which was related to the earlier PCB-manufacturing iteration of Monsanto.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=92293160&vname=dennotallissues&fn=92293160&jd=92293160
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New York Bill Requires Lead Testing by Schools
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
School districts in New York will be required to periodically test their water for lead contamination under a bill ( A. 10740) Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) is expected to sign.
The bill, which was approved by both houses of the Legislature June 17, also would provide state aid to pay a portion of testing and remediation costs.
Supporters of the bill said many districts already test for lead, which is recommended by federal rules, but it is not a statutory requirement. Cuomo said New York would be the first state to enact a statutory requirement.
The bill, supported by the New York State School Board Association, would require that schools notify parents, teachers and others of test results. The bill is available at http://src.bna.com/f6x.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=92293164&vname=dennotallissues&fn=92293164&jd=92293164
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Bipartisan House Group Urges Interior to Finish Leasing Rule
Jun 21, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Scott Streater
A bipartisan House coalition urged Interior Secretary Sally Jewell today to finalize a proposed rule that would establish competitive leasing for renewable energy projects on federal lands across the West.
Fourteen House members led by California Reps. Paul Cook (R) and Alan Lowenthal (D) wrote in a three-page letter to Jewell that completion of the rule unveiled in 2014 is critical to continue the unprecedented effort by the Obama administration to develop commercial-scale solar, wind and geothermal projects on federal lands.
"We strongly encourage you to prioritize completion of this rulemaking," the lawmakers wrote.
The White House regulatory agenda released last month targets finalizing the rule by midsummer (Greenwire, May 19). A Bureau of Land Management source said the rule could be finalized as early as next month.
The rule would establish a process similar to that guiding oil and natural gas development on public lands, where the industry could bid on nominated parcels for the right to be given a lease. The rule would also set rental and bonding requirements to ensure a fair rate of return to taxpayers (E&ENews PM, Sept. 25, 2014).
Its major impact will be to promote solar development, allowing BLM to hold competitive lease sales inside 19 formally designated solar energy zones (SEZs) covering nearly 300,000 acres, similar to the process in place for proposed oil and natural gas projects on federal land.
In the absence of the leasing rule, BLM has used an interim competitive "auction" process that the industry has criticized at times as confusing. Under the interim process, winning bidders are little more than BLM's "preferred applicants," meaning they pay for the right to be first in line to have their right-of-way applications and plans of development processed.
The lawmakers told Jewell the total rent paid to the Treasury in 2014 for solar and wind-power projects on federal lands was only $12.7 million.
But industry demand to develop commercial-scale projects on federal land is growing, they added, noting that a competitive auction held in June 2014 inside the Dry Lake SEZ in southern Nevada saw energy developers bid $5.8 million.
"Transitioning from the antiquated right-of-way process for siting renewable energy projects to a competitive leasing process (as has long been the practice for fossil fuel resources) should generate considerably more revenue for the taxpayer," the letter says. "Adopting a modern approach to leasing should also benefit the renewable energy industry by streamlining the application process."
The lawmakers also push Jewell in the letter to include in a long-term renewables development strategy provisions guaranteeing "that a portion of the revenues" derived from projects on public land "are used to assist local communities, help with habitat restoration, and reduce the backlog of renewable energy permits."
Those priorities, they write, are included in the Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act of 2015, H.R. 2663, sponsored by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). The bill would require the establishment of a royalty for wind and solar production that would be shared among states and counties and help fund permit processing, wildlife habitats and public lands access.
Gosar, whose bill has stalled in the House despite bipartisan support, is not among the 14 congressional members to sign today's letter.
A companion bill, S. 1407, sponsored by Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), has also stalled (E&E Daily, July 30, 2015).
"We hope the BLM will complete its rulemaking and work with Congress to advance this complimentary legislative solution to expand responsible renewable energy on public lands," the letter concludes.
The latest letter falls in line with the views of conservation groups like the Wilderness Society, which has said it favors transitioning to a competitive leasing process and believes BLM's proposed rule will help ensure renewables projects are sited properly.
BLM since late 2011 has been working to develop a formal rule that would establish a competitive leasing process for renewables that replaces the auctions and preferred applicant process. Developers that hold federal leases have legal rights that the preferred applicants in the current interim process do not.
Industry groups, including the Solar Energy Industries Association, have complained that the interim competitive auction process for developing parcels inside the SEZs is confusing and has turned some energy developers off of developing in the zones.
That became clear when BLM held its first competitive auction in 2013, involving three parcels covering 3,700 acres inside two SEZs in Colorado's San Luis Valley, a region considered to have some of the nation's best solar energy potential (E&ENews PM, Oct. 24, 2013).
The industry submitted no bids, in part, government and industry officials conceded, because of the confusing "preferred applicant" process.
Still, BLM has permitted 35 solar power projects on federal or tribal lands since 2009. Those projects, if all are built, would have the capacity to produce nearly 10,000 MW of electricity, or enough to power more than 3 million homes.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2016/06/21/stories/1060039168
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Federal Judge Strikes Down Interior's Fracking Rule
Jun 21, 2016 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
A federal judge today struck down the Bureau of Land Management’s March 2015 fracking rule, saying the Interior Department does not have the authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing.
“Congress has not delegated to the Department of Interior the authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing,” concluded Judge Scott W. Skavdahl of the U.S. District Court of Wyoming. “The BLM's effort to do so through the Fracking Rule is in excess of its statutory authority and contrary to law.”
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 “expressly removed” Interior's authority to regulate most types of fracking, the judge concluded. (The law does allow BLM to regulate fracking involving diesel fuel.) The Safe Drinking Water Act gives EPA "the authority and duty to regulate hydraulic fracturing on all lands, federal, state and tribal,” he wrote.
Interior argued that neither the SDWA nor the 2005 EPAct specifically prohibited regulating fracking under other laws — but Skavdahl wasn't buying it.
“Congress' inability or unwillingness to pass a law desired by the executive branch does not default authority to the executive branch to act independently, regardless of whether hydraulic fracturing is good or bad for the environment or the citizens of the United States,” Skavdahl wrote.
Skavdahl, who was named to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2011, put a temporary injunction on the rule last summer. An appeal of that injunction is pending in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, though it was unclear whether that appeal would move forward given Skavdahl’s ruling.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Offshore Regulator Touts New Air Quality Proposal
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Dabbs
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's new proposal on air quality controls would make critical regulatory advances in the oil and gas sector, allowing the agency to tie its rules to Environmental Protection Agency standards under the Clean Air Act, a BOEM official said June 21.
The proposal would update a 36-year-old, outdated framework and permit the agency to regulate emissions from support vessels within 25 miles of an offshore unit, Mike Celata, the regional director of the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Region, told the Air and Waste Management Association annual conference June 21.
The Air Quality Control, Reporting, and Compliance proposal (RIN:1010–AD82), which Republicans criticized recently during debate on funding for the Interior Department, would also require emission reporting for all hazardous pollutants and establish new recordkeeping and performance measures, among other changes.
“We set up a schedule to make sure we go back and review old plans and additional plans for air quality that we may have missed in the past,” Celata said. “The benefits are this provides better data and information and helps us make better decisions.”
The comment period for the new rulemaking wrapped up June 20 with roughly 60 submissions.
EPA Hamstrung
Meanwhile, the EPA continues to lack the capacity to crack down on oil and gas sector polluters, Steve Gilrein, deputy director of compliance assurance and enforcement for EPA's Region 6 office, told the conference.
“There's very few oil and gas regulations for EPA to enforce; the vast majority of oil and gas production is exempted from environmental regulation,” Gilrein said, referring to air, water and waste.
The agency also is hamstrung by staff and data limitations, but most enforcement efforts are delegated to states, Gilrein said. Still, the agency prioritizes detection of inefficient flares.
“We contract out overflying gas fields; we have actually done infrared overflights over virtually all of our states looking for chemical plants and also the oil and gas fields,” he said.
Those operations cost $60,000 to $70,000 each, and consume a significant portion of the EPA contract budget, Gilrein said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=92293179&vname=dennotallissues&fn=92293179&jd=92293179
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Schumer Signals Democratic Support for Energy Bill Conference
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
Senate Democrats want to go to conference on broad energy legislation, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters June 21, the first signal the minority party would be willing to support a Senate vote to begin formal talks on the bill with the House.
Support from Senate Democrats has been slow in coming after the Republican-controlled House loaded up its version of the bill with measures opposed by the White House.
“They don't have a real energy bill. They have seven pieces, and it's not clear how you conference on it, but we'd like to have a conference,” said Schumer, the Senate's No. 3 Democrat.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told reporters she won't decide whether to support a vote on proceeding to an energy bill conference until after she meets with the other architects of the broad legislation later this week.
“I'm not deciding anything today,” Cantwell said June 21.
Informal Meeting Planned
The meeting, which is also expected to include committee chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and the chairman and ranking members of the House Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources Committee, will occur either June 22 or June 23, Cantwell said.
The group met the week of June 13 but only agreed to hold further discussions, Cantwell previously told Bloomberg BNA, though she added that Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich). and Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the chairmen of the Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources committees respectively, expressed an interest in dropping some of the controversial measures from the bill.
Upton and Bishop issued a joint statement June 20 signaling they would be willing to compromise, saying “our goal is to get something to the president that he will sign into law.”
The delay in holding a conference on the two bills comes as Congress begins to run out of time to get things done. A seven-week recess begins July 15, and then the presidential campaign season intensifies going into the fall, leading some analysts to question whether there will be enough time to work out the differences in the two chambers' massive bills.
“I'd like to get us moving,” Murkowski told reporters, adding she remained optimistic the Senate would vote by June 24 on a formal motion to go to conference with the House's bill. “We are going to have another meeting … and hopefully be able to move from there.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=92293176&vname=dennotallissues&fn=92293176&jd=92293176
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Enviros Urge Senate Dems to Sink Conference
Jun 22, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Geof Koss
Top environmental groups are calling on Senate Democrats to vote against going to conference with the House on energy legislation, saying the lower chamber's bill would undercut key environmental laws.
Nearly two dozen groups -- including the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and League of Conservation Voters -- made their case against the House bill in a letter to senators yesterday.
"America needs a forward-thinking, bipartisan update to our nation's energy policies," they wrote. "Yet, the legislation sent over from the House of Representatives undermines the progress our nation needs.
"Their amendment substituted a bipartisan energy bill with a long list of extreme ideological provisions that would take us backwards on many of our critical environmental priorities."
The groups added that the House bill "undermines many of our current protections including those secured under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Equal Access to Justice Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other key laws."
Among the "troubling provisions" the groups cite are on energy efficiency, cuts to the Energy Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy "and the rubber stamping of new pipelines through national parks."
The pressure from environmentalists raises new questions about whether there will be 60 votes in the Senate to go to conference, a vote that Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said yesterday could happen as soon as tomorrow.
Murkowski noted that she and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) would meet with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and their respective ranking members, Democratic Reps. Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Raúl Grijalva of Arizona.
"We're going to have another meeting ... and hopefully be able to move from there," Murkowski told reporters. That meeting is expected later today.
Asked about the timing of a vote, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said he would like to see the conference get underway, noting the joint statement from Upton and Bishop this week acknowledging their hope for a final bill the president will sign (E&ENews PM, June 20).
"Some of the House members said they want to put something on the president's desk that he'll sign, and I'm all for that," he said.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Energy panel, said yesterday he was unaware of the timing of a vote to go to conference but signaled he would oppose it.
"My inclination is that the House bill is so unacceptable that I'm not sure that a conference would be very productive," he said in an interview.
Another Energy Democrat, New Mexico's Martin Heinrich, suggested that negotiators could reconcile at least part of the competing bills informally.
"I think having a process like what we saw with the education bill, where maybe things are pre-conference a little bit, to get something that can pass all three bars -- House, Senate and the president's signature -- would be an ideal approach," he told E&E Daily.
Should the Senate back a formal energy conference, it would be the first time the two bodies have done so since 2005, when the GOP-led Congress hashed out the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
While Congress enacted a second energy measure two years later outside the conference process, that effort marked the last major energy reform signed into law.
In their letter yesterday, the activists acknowledged the work of lawmakers "to return to regular order and work across party lines on energy policy."
But they said "process isn't the same as progress." They wrote, "The House-passed amendment would undoubtedly take our country down the wrong track and contains so many controversial and problematic provisions it is impossible to see how agreement could be found. Rejecting a conference with the current House offer is essential to protect against harm to our environment."
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/06/22/stories/1060039186
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When It Comes to Presidential Politics, Energy Plays Second Stage
Jun 21, 2016 | Fuel Fix
By James Osborne
So far this presidential campaign season, Hillary Clinton has talked about cracking down on hydraulic fracturing in this country. And Donald Trump has called for more fossil fuel production and less environmental regulations.
But don’t expect to hear much beyond that on energy policy this election.
Unless gasoline is running at $5 a gallon, energy issues tend to run pretty low among candidate’s talking points, a panel of Republicans and Democrats agreed at a forum hosted by the American Petroleum Institute Tuesday.
“You might see some policy papers on their websites. But I don’t expect a lot of discussion,” on energy, Sean Spicer, chief strategist of the Republican National Committee said.
At a time world leaders are working on enacting tougher climate change regulations that stand to radically shift how energy is produced, energy policy would seemingly be high on voter’s priorities.
But unlike issues like immigration and income taxes, energy has traditionally struggled to incite much passion among voters. That is only likely to be more true this election year, as income equality and international trade deals dominate candidates’ stump speeches.
And with the tough, populist tone taken by Trump so far this campaign season, policy issues in general stand to play a lesser role than in elections past, said Stefan Hankin, a political strategist who has worked for a number of Democratic campaigns.
“I think we’re going to be hearing, ‘you’re terrible, ‘no, you’re terrible,’ and that’s about it,” he said.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/06/21/when-it-comes-to-presidential-politics-energy-plays-second-stage/
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Belmont, Monroe Counties Continue to Drive Ohio's Utica NatGas Production
Jun 21, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Belmont and Monroe counties continued to dominate Ohio's Utica Shale production in the first quarter, with wells in the play's sweet spot there accounting for much of the increase in the state's natural gas production, according to data from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).
Belmont County continued to lead the way, as it has in recent quarters. Operators there reported producing 99.2 Bcf of natural gas in the first quarter, up from 85.8 Bcf in 4Q2015. First quarter production in Monroe County, the state's second highest producing county, was up to 63.3 Bcf from 49.3 Bcf in the fourth quarter (seeShale Daily, March 11). Carroll County remained the state's No. 3 county with 56.7 Bcf of natural gas produced, which was down from 59.4 Bcf in the fourth quarter, when it was the second highest.
ODNR reported record natural gas production in the first quarter of 329.5 Bcf, up from 303 Bcf in 4Q15 and 183.6 Bcf in 1Q2015 (see Shale Daily, June 20).
Oil volumes fell 12.3% sequentially, going from about 6.2 million bbl of oil in the fourth quarter to 5.5 million bbl in the first quarter, reflecting a shift to the state's drier acreage in places such as Belmont and Monroe, where low breakeven prices, better infrastructure and prolific wells have been favored during the downturn. It was the first time oil production has declined since ODNR began tracking quarterly production data in 2014.
The state's top-three oil-producing counties were Harrison, Carroll and Guernsey, respectively, which combined to account for 4.7 million bbl during the period. Those counties led in oil production during the fourth quarter, too. The state's leading drillers also remained unchanged and were Chesapeake Energy Corp. (608 wells), Gulfport Energy Corp. (180 wells) and Antero Resources Corp. (129 wells).
The state's top-producing natural gas well was once again Rice Energy Inc.'s Mohawk Warrior 12H in Belmont County, which reported 1.6 Bcf during the period. Two other wells on that pad rounded out the state's three leading gas-producing wells. The top oil well was Antero Resources Hall Unit 1H in Noble County, which produced 57,160 bbl during the quarter.
Carroll, Harrison, Belmont, Monroe and Noble were the top-five counties respectively for wells drilled, accounting for a combined 1,110. At the end of last week, there were 2,183 Utica wells permitted in the state and 1,751 drilled, according to ODNR's latest figures.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/106833-belmont-monroe-counties-continue-to-drive-ohios-utica-natgas-production
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Clean Power Advances Despite Grim Politics: Meiburg
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Dabbs
U.S. utility energy providers and environmental regulators are shepherding the country through a seismic transition to cleaner energy, but the road ahead is threatened by divisive politics and opposition from some constituencies, speakers told the Air and Waste Management Association conference.
Still, the U.S. private and public sector is increasingly breaking down innovation barriers in the energy and safety technology fields, the speakers, including acting Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Administrator Stan Meiburg, said at the conference's keynote session June 20.
The U.S. has now broken the link between economic development and pollution, Meiburg told the audience.
“Since 1980, we travel nearly twice as far with vehicles, we have 41 percent more people in this country, we consume 26 percent more energy, but we emit 61 percent less traditional air pollution even though our economy has increased by almost 150 percent,” Meiburg told the audience. “That, I submit, is a tremendous accomplishment that this country should be very proud of, and which is the envy of other countries around the world.”
Regulation and Market Incentives
The EPA's mercury and air toxics standards (RIN:2060–AP52, RIN:2060-AR31), issued in 2012 and followed by a supplemental finding (RIN:2060-AS76) in April 2016, caused Southern Co. to slash 7,000 megawatts of coal production, the company's Chief Operating Officer Kim Greene told the audience.
“About half of that got retired and about half of that got converted to natural gas,” Greene said. Persistently low gas prices are “giving our company the ability to use that combined cycle fleet more than we anticipated, so it wasn't necessarily singularly a regulatory driver,” she added.
The rule, which falls under the Clean Air Act, sets standards for pollutants emitted by coal and oil-fired units with a capacity of 25 megawatts or greater. Natural gas production emits slightly less carbon dioxide than coal.
Gas now accounts for 50 percent of production at Southern Co., an electric utility holding company that services the southern U.S. That marks a fivefold increase since 2005, with coal production decreasing nearly three times during that period, Greene said.
Renewable Credits
Meanwhile, the extension of the renewable investment and production tax credits pave the way for an increase of wind and solar on the national grid, Chuck Barlow, Entergy Corporation Vice President, said.
“That's been a driver for getting away from coal,” he said. “If it makes economic sense to do it, you're going to do it.” The 2015 omnibus appropriations package renewed the authorization for the wind and solar credits.
Both executives championed nuclear as part of their respective portfolios. Southern Company continues to hit a “nice, steady” nuclear production rate, roughly 16 percent of total output, on an annual basis, Greene said.
The Power Game
Emission controls and innovation are tackling the climate change crisis, said Vickie Patton, general counsel at the Environmental Defense Fund, citing battery technology.
“We are seeing sort of the presence of innovators like Tesla who come up from behind like Lebron James rushing down the court and kind of block your shot and pin it to the backboard and shove it aside and change the utter trajectory of the debate without really ever seeing them coming,” Patton said, the day after James' team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, won the National Basketball Association finals.
Tesla Motor Inc.'s founder Elon Musk unveiled the Powerwall roughly a year ago, and residential installations are now under way. The 6.4-kilowatt-hour unit stores electricity from home solar generation, providing power back during conventional outages.
Much of the energy innovation today is predicated on the need to combat climate change, but Barlow said that isn't a universally held belief.
“You need to start with an assumption that's, quite frankly, not that easy to start with in the South, and that is we're going to do something about climate change,” he said. “I always have to remind people around the country that I'm talking to that that's not a given.”
EPA Constraints: Meiburg
Despite the clean energy advances, the combative political environment, with the U.S. girding for the 2016 presidential election, continues to hamstring the EPA, Meiburg said.
The agency has lost twenty percent of its employees in the last ten years, he said, echoing a common complaint from EPA officials and environmental advocates.
“But even the level budget we had this year, thanks to the direct support of the president I might add, presents us with choices that are not really choices at all because they're choices between EPA's ability to support our basic responsibilities as an organization and our support for grant funds, especially infrastructure,” Meiburg said. “We are not doing more with less. That was a talking point, not a management strategy.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=92293152&vname=dennotallissues&fn=92293152&jd=92293152
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California Law Boosts Clean Energy Adoption
Jun 22, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
California cities and counties are turning to alternative energy and a shared governance model to power community choice energy programs.
Silicon Valley's San Mateo County on June 21 approved giving the Peninsula Clean Energy Authority a $6 million loan as collateral for a $12 million loan from Barclays Bank PLC to fund community choice clean energy program startup costs. The vote came the same day PG&E Corp. announced it was closing California's last nuclear power plant by 2025.
The announced Diablo Canyon shutdown offers a backdrop for how fast renewables are being adopted, Geof Syphers, Sonoma Clean Power chief executive officer, told Bloomberg BNA June 21. PG&E said in an agreement with environmental groups that it would add battery storage and renewables to make up for the lost supply (see related story).
Renewable-fueled Sonoma Clean Power in two years has “saved customers over $50 million and also cut greenhouse gas emissions by almost half. So it's an incredible tool to really provide benefits to the public,” Syphers said June 21.
Giving Consumers Green Choice
Sonoma Clean Power is an example of the community choice aggregator program that San Mateo County and its 20 cities plan to form.
These community choice energy programs allow consumers the option to use 100 percent renewable energy sources and a way to reduce their carbon footprint. The programs also give more local control over the power ratepayers use and offer competitive prices on clean energy.
Clean choice aggregators also have been established in Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Solano and San Francisco counties and Lancaster, Calif.
The combination of all nontraditional power, including rooftop solar, “appears to be having an impact of up to negative 1% on power industry sales growth. So the cumulative impact is material, and California is clearly doing more than most states in this area,” Kit Konolige, Bloomberg Intelligence senior utilities industry analyst, said in a June 21 e-mail to Bloomberg BNA.
CleanPowerSF offers power from 35 percent renewables compared to 29.5 percent for PG&E. Customers selecting the 100 percent renewable program pay the applicable green rate plus an additional 2 cents per kilowatt hour.
Public utilities including PG&E, Edison International's Southern California Edison and Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas & Electric maintain the power grid, respond to outages and send consumers the monthly bill with CCA charges replacing certain utility charges.
The CCAs work with providers including Calpine Corp., Exelon Corp.’s Constellation Energy Resources LLC and PG&E to provide renewable energy.
Low Opt-Out
CleanPowerSF flipped the switch in May for 7,700 customers. CCAs are automatic enrollment programs under the law, so customers must opt out, Charles Sheehan, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission acting director, told Bloomberg BNA.
CleanPowerSF has an opt-out rate of less than 1.5 percent. “We've always known for San Franciscans there's a hunger for clean energy and we're seeing it,” Sheehan said June 21.
Joint Powers across the State
California in 2002 enacted legislation that allowed local governments to aggregate their electric loads and provide direct service to customers.
The municipalities form joint powers authorities or JPAs, which are a method in California to differentiate assets and debts. A city that is a member of a JPA has no financial liability for the debts of that JPA, Sheehan said.
The state and California Public Utilities Commission also enacted a code of conduct governing the relationship between CCAs and the investor-owned utilities.
“And since the passage of the code of conduct, the climate for CCAs in this state has noticeably improved, so that's why you're seeing CCAs popping up in Northern California and indeed in Southern California as well, simply because it's easier to establish a CCA, much easier to work with investor-owned utilities and the model works,” said Sheehan.
Forming, Offering Clean Energy
Marin Clean Energy was the first CCA, formed in 2008 and launched in 2010. MCE is governed by a board composed of one elected representative from each city or county. Consumers can choose 50 percent to 100 percent green power in a service area including Marin County, unincorporated Napa County and cities in Contra Costa and Solano counties.
Lancaster Choice Energy in May 2015 became the first CCA in Southern California Edison's territory, giving consumers the option of receiving 100 percent renewable energy.
CCAs are forming in Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, Humboldt and Mendocino, said Sonoma Clean Power's Syphers.
“What that signals to me is community choice is no longer an experiment. It's a proven model. We're achieving the state's goals for renewable energy faster than the private utilities,” Syphers said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=92293185&vname=dennotallissues&fn=92293185&jd=92293185
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Clean Heat, Clean Air in Westchester County, New York
Jun 21, 2016 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Abbey Brown
New York City may not be the place that comes to mind when you think of clean air, but NYC has done tremendous work in improving air quality – and now our neighbors in upstate Westchester County are following suit.
Seeing the positive health impacts from the phase-out of highly polluting heating oil in NYC, the Westchester County Legislature yesterday approved a resolution to phase out No. 6 and No. 4 oil in their buildings over time – No. 6 heating oil by 2018, and No. 4 oil by 2020.
These oils emit fine particular matter (PM2.5) and harmful chemicals like sulfur dioxide. When burned, they can become lodged in the lungs and worsen respiratory and cardiovascular issues. There were only a few hundred such buildings in Westchester county – compared to thousands in NYC – but that was still too many for Westchester officials to rest on their laurels. The county legislature went to work cleaning their air, and that work is paying off.
Community collaboration
County Legislator Catherine Parker has led the charge for years, and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has worked with her along the way. In a collaborative effort, EDF worked with Parker and the legislature to take lessons learned from NYC and adapt regulatory measures to Westchester.
Since 2011, when EDF and a coalition of organizations and local leaders worked together to phase out dirty heating oil NYC, we’ve been actively working to share our lessons from this experience. EDF believes the work in NYC can serve as an example to cities, counties, and states nationwide. Though NYC went a step beyond the regulation and created the NYC Clean Heat program to help buildings make the switch to cleaner fuels, one of the reasons the program was successful is due to the foundation provided by the city’s regulation.
Part of the success in Westchester is due to cooperation across the aisle, a welcomed sight these days, with co-sponsor Francis Corcoran, a Republican. By phasing out heating oil, Westchester is taking a significant step toward cleaner air for residents throughout the county. EDF was pleased to submit testimony multiple times in support of the bill, speaking to the improvements in air quality and public health we have seen in NYC.
How Westchester may benefit
According to the New York Community Air Survey’s (NYCCAS) recent report, the results of eliminating No. 6 and No. 4 oil in NYC have been impressive.
· Wintertime averages of sulfur dioxide (SO2) have declined 68 percent
· Annual average nitrogen oxide (NO) levels declined 24 percent
· Annual average nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels declined 21 percent
· Annual average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels declined 16 percent
The decline in sulfur dioxide, in particular, is due in large part to the heating oil regulations and work of the NYC Clean Heat program. Sulfur is linked directly to heating oil pollution, so getting rid of the most polluting heating oils has resulted in a tremendous reduction in sulfur pollution. According to the report: “Across the pollutants evaluated in this report, sulfur dioxide has shown the greatest decline, owing to State and Local efforts to phase out high sulfur heating oils through elimination of Nos. 6 and 4 oils, and reducing the allowable sulfur content of No. 2 heating oil.”
As with most clean energy solutions, this one alone will not solve all air pollution problems. But these efforts have paid huge dividends in NYC. And now Westchester residents will soon reap the benefits of some very hard work and smart decisions by their local elected officials.
http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2016/06/21/clean-heat-clean-air-in-westchester-county-new-york/#more-13429
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Corporate Demand for Renewable Energy Could Rock the Grid
Jun 21, 2016 | Forbes
By Manish Bapna
This post was written by Letha Tawney, Director Of Utility Innovation and Polsky Chair For Renewable Energy at WRI, and Manish Bapna
Renewable energy is good for customers, the environment and the bottom line of corporations that run their operations with it. In the United States, though, renewables (including solar, wind, hydropower and biomass) account for only about 10 percent of all energy used and 13 percent of total electricity generated – even as corporate contracts for renewable energy nearly tripled from 2014 to 2015. If there are challenges now, when capacity and use are low, what will happen to business models, technology and financing when renewable power penetration reaches 30, 40 or even 50 percent of the U.S. market?
Since there’s plenty of corporate demand, the problem is supply, which in turn depends on adequate infrastructure to deliver it. Historically, U.S. utilities have decided what fuels to use to generate electricity, with scant incentive to increase the percentage of renewables in the energy mix or to explore technology to encourage that kind of shift.
We know there’s an appetite for many more gigawatts of renewable capacity, but it’s excessively difficult for large companies in the United States to buy as much renewable energy as they want. While retail customers in many states can arrange to buy solar or wind power from local utilities, companies need a large, sophisticated team to get access to renewable energy options at the scale they need – if those options are available at all.
To change this picture, it’s time to look to the demand side, where multinational corporations are joining together to make their preference for more renewable power felt.
Facebook and Microsoft are among 60 companies and over 50 leading project developers and service providers participating in a new network, the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, known as REBA, that aims to break down barriers to lower-carbon energy. The alliance aims to see 60 gigawatts – the same amount of total generating capacity of Turkey — of renewable energy deployed in the U.S. by 2025. That’s a huge jump from the 3 gigawatts of renewable power purchases companies signed in 2015, which was about triple the amount from the previous year.
Turning Supply and Demand on Its Head
Renewable energy is the rare case where the law of supply and demand can be turned on its head, due to the essentially limitless supply of raw material (sun and wind) and the potential to capture economies of scale through innovative technologies. It’s also a case where change can happen on the state and local level. With sluggish legislative progress on renewable energy at the national level, a national price on carbon emissions is unlikely in the near future. But a coalition of powerful companies with large and growing demand for power – and corporate goals for environmental sustainability – is a market force to be reckoned with.
A prime example is Facebook. The social media giant ultimately aims to use 100 percent renewable power in its data centers, with a near-term goal of 50 percent of energy from clean sources by 2018. So when it considers where to put a new data center, the availability of renewables is a central question. One of the corporate supporters of REBA, Facebook looks for locations where utilities can provide the renewably generated power it will need. The support of a long-term, well-capitalized corporate customer offers a powerful incentive for utilities to offer renewable power on a large scale.
Once the utility is set up to offer it to big corporate buyers, smaller businesses could join the trend. Facebook’s Director of Sustainability Bill Weihl said on a recent call to launch REBA that is part of the strategy: “We’re doing this not just for our supply, but to green the grid.”
Corporations are one of the fastest growing customer segments of the renewable energy market, in part because renewables are an important hedge against price variability in fossil fuels, according to Michael Polsky, CEO and founder of Invenergy, the largest privately owned wind power company in the United States. Polsky, a World Resources Institute board director, reckons that as the price of wind and solar continue to fall, economic benefits will rise, and increased demand will promote innovation, new technologies and greater efficiency.
New Avenues of Cooperation
The advances can come through new avenues of cooperation. In Virginia, Microsoft and local utility Dominion Virginia Power worked with state officials to get renewable energy to the grid with a new 20 megawatt solar project. Microsoft will purchase the renewable energy certificates (which help with its corporate sustainability goals), the project becomes more financially feasible for the utility, which builds a solar farm at no cost to other ratepayers. Everybody wins.
Businesses that want to go this route or others than foster renewable energy on the grid can use WRI’s new Corporate Renewable Energy Strategy Map to learn where to buy affordable renewable power at the scale they need from local suppliers. The interactive tool shows that even places whose prosperity has traditionally been linked to fossil fuels – such as Texas – can profitably offer customers a choice in how their electricity is generated.
We know corporate demand for more renewables is coming. We know it’s one way to prosper while cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. It’s time to listen to the demand side and let the supply side understand that it’s in their best interest to make this shift— for profit now and continued profitability down the line.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/manishbapna/2016/06/21/corporate-demand-for-renewable-energy-could-rock-the-grid/#6fbedd835b23
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Small Chemical Producers Defend Practices As EPA Readies Safety Rule
Jun 21, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Dave Reynolds
Producers of small batches of chemicals recently met with EPA officials to defend the safety of their production practices in response to federal officials' suggestion that certain small batch production might pose risks, while the agency works to finalize by the end of the year revised facility safety standards for chemical producers.
The Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) met with senior EPA officials May 19 to argue their members' processes and procedures are safe, specifically noting they include process hazard evaluations and consideration of inherently safer technologies (IST) in design and facility upgrades. Environmentalists have urged EPA to use its upcoming facility safety rule to mandate IST, something that industry generally opposes.
EPA first added details of the meeting to its regulatory docket for the upcoming safety rule on June 15, including a presentation SOCMA gave at the meeting. SOCMA officials say they did not discuss the rule specifically at the meeting, but rather sought to counter assertions in a June 2015 federal fact sheet that says production of small batches is riskier than continuous processing at large facilities.
The fact sheet, "Chemical Safety Alert: Safer Technology and Alternatives," issued in June by the EPA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration suggests minimizing chemicals in a process by using "continuously stirred, flow-through systems vs. batch reactor vessels," and in the inventory process by using "pipe or loop reactors vs. batch vessels."
SOCMA in the presentation at the meeting -- which was added to the risk management plan (RMP) rulemaking docket last week -- countered the assertions in the fact sheet without directly referencing the pending final RMP rule.
“Corrective and Preventative Action (CAPA) is a critical component of ensuring correct manufacturing which includes safe manufacturing," SOCMA says. "Incident investigations and CAPA are a way of life that is required and audited by our customers. Near miss investigations are of high importance,” the presentation says.
In the presentation, SOCMA argues that smaller "batch" chemical producers follow the same process safety management approaches as larger "continuous" chemical producers. And while EPA has proposed requiring that certain facilities consider IST in hazard analyses, the trade group's presentation says producers already conduct "Pre-start up reviews" that "ensure all [Environmental Health and Safety] aspects are addressed."
Additionally, the SOCMA presentation says, "Process hazard evaluations are completed on the steps of the batch process using a variety of evaluation techniques," and that "Mechanical integrity programs for all of the equipment, piping, etc. ensure the reliability of equipment, safety systems, and pollution controls."
RMP Rulemaking
EPA is seeking to issue this fall a final rule revising its Clean Air Act RMP program, which currently requires companies to take steps to prevent accidents and mitigate adverse impacts from such indicents.
The agency took comment through May 13 on its RMP proposal, which would require that certain facilities consider safer chemicals or processes in their hazard assessments and investigate "near misses" that could have caused accidents, among other changes.
EPA's planned update to the RMP rule is part of a broad federal effort to implement President Obama's Executive Order 13650 on improving the safety and security of industrial plants. Obama issued the order in response to the 2013 explosion at a fertilizer facility in West, TX, that killed 15 people.
Advocates have urged EPA to use authority under section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act to require facilities use IST, though the agency has proposed only that some facilities consider those options, which may include using alternative chemicals.
SOCMA officials tell Inside EPA that they did not discuss EPA's pending RMP rule during last month's meeting. They also said the group seeks to meet with agency officials at least once in each presidential administration to educate them on the processes of their member facilities.
In this case, a SOCMA source says they should have met with EPA sooner, noting that the agency is already far along in revising the RMP rule, even though the June 2015 alert shows staff lacks a thorough understanding of the batch chemical processing industry.
EPA "simply did not appreciate sufficiently, the necessity of batch processing, the industry and how it is safe," the source says. "There may be a lack of understanding that over time could be somewhat dangerous to our sector, yet we're going through the rulemaking process with EPA not understanding" significant aspects of the industry.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/small-chemical-producers-defend-practices-epa-readies-safety-rule
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Moving Oil Through Columbia River Gorge More Risky Than Rail Industry Acknowledges
Jun 21, 2016 | Oregon Live
By Chris Carvalho
On June 3, a Union Pacific train carrying crude oil passed through the small Oregon town of Mosier, one of the most beautiful places in the Columbia River Gorge. Sixteen tank cars derailed and several burst into flames. One thousand barrels (42,000 gallons) of oil were released. Fortunately, no one was hurt or killed, and it was a calm day on track away from the water.
Oil shipments through the gorge have been rising rapidly since 2012. Residents, businesses, and recreationists all knew it was only a matter of time before an oil release.
What shocked us all was that it came so soon.
But in hindsight, the numbers say it happened right on schedule.
The industry's risk analysis for the proposed Vancouver, Washington, oil-by-rail terminal indicates an accident the size of the one in Mosier could only happen about once every 58 years, accounting for current levels of oil moving through the gorge. Clearly, something is wrong with the safety predictions for this project. The report's authors used a complex model that needs many assumptions and is open to bias.
As an alternative, I looked at industry data for hazardous materials shipments countrywide and asked, "If we know the failure rate for these shipments in the U.S., what can we expect for the amount of traffic today, and if the Vancouver terminal is approved?"
To make this estimate, all one needs is the industry-quoted failure rate of 0.0023 percent for hazardous-materials shipments by rail, the average trip length, the distance the shipment travels through the Columbia River Gorge, and the number of shipments per month. All these numbers are well known and not subject to bias. The results: Under the current levels of oil transport, an event would happen about once every 30 months, in good agreement with the recent Mosier accident.
It would shorten to once every 18 months in the gorge if the Vancouver oil terminal is approved. Somewhere along the entire route to North Dakota, every 45 days an oil release could be expected. We need to realize that if the terminal were built the residents of many other states will be in danger, too.
That's a shocking disagreement with the rail industry's position, and it matches the reality we're seeing. The Vancouver terminal's risk needs to be reassessed using more than one independent method rather than trusting a group of individuals who could be biased.
If my numbers are right, this terminal shouldn't be built. Even if it isn't, we can look forward to another disaster in less than three years.
Chris Carvalho, of Aloha, is a photographer and chemical engineer.
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/06/moving_oil_through_columbia_ri.html
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Jun 22, 2016 | Portland Mercury
By Doug Brown
It was a hectic scene at a railroad crossing near the BNSF Railway terminal in Vancouver, Washington, on Saturday, June 18.
The crossing gates were closed, the lights flashed, warning bells rang loudly and often. And as a short, three-car train approached, blasting its deafening whistle, about 80 people who'd been blocking the track for more than two hours shuffled out of the way. The rest stayed put, forcing the locomotive to halt.
As a Vancouver police loudspeaker threatened arrest for what seemed like the 100th time, the focus was on the group that wouldn't get off the tracks. There were 19 of them—later joined by two others—sitting in a circle with their arms linked together, continuously belting out protest songs and chants amid the train's whistle, the bells' ringing, and the cops' warnings. They skewed older—mostly gray-haired Woody Guthrie-esque seniors and middle-aged folks who've been around the block a few times, along with a few younger women still early in their civil disobedience careers.
"Coal, oil, gaaaaas, none of these shall paaaaass," the circle sang in unison. "Keep it in the grooouuund, turn the trains arooouuund. Coal, oil, gaaaaas, none of these shall paaaaass..."
They were there because of what had happened 15 days earlier: the massive derailment of an oil train passing through the Columbia River Gorge near Mosier, about 69 miles east of Portland. After 16 of the train's 96 cars derailed around noon on June 3—apparently due to undetectable broken bolts on the track—four of them caught fire, leaking 42,000 gallons of crude oil on its way to Tacoma. A majority of Mosier's 430 residents had to be evacuated.
"Our community would like to see the Mosier derailment and the process of putting our community back together as both the straw that broke the camel's back and a model for our transition to renewable, global energy," Mosier Fire Chief Jim Appleton had told the protesters Saturday morning in downtown Vancouver, shortly before they headed to the tracks. "Mosier proved that those trains are too dangerous. Let's make our policies reflect that."
Saturday's protest was led by the newly formed Fossil Fuel Resistance Network, along with the groups Portland Rising Tide and 350PDX. Against oil extraction in general because of global warming, they're demanding an immediate end to moving oil by rail.
"Bomb Trains Fuel Climate Chaos," read one huge banner at the protest. "Ban the Bomb Trains," said another.
he activists have been making that case for a long time, but in the wake of the Mosier derailment, they've got some powerful new company.
The position has been echoed—at least in part—by Governor Kate Brown, who's asked for a temporary halt to oil train travel through the gorge. And Brown's Oregon Department of Transportation has gone further, suggesting that oil trains should be stopped on all sections of Oregon track that carry risks similar to the rails near Mosier.
Meanwhile, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury last week called on Brown to urge Washington Governor Jay Inslee to reject a $210 million Vancouver Energy terminal being proposed at the Port of Vancouver by Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company, LLC, and Savage Companies.
That project would be the single largest oil-by-rail terminal in the country, theColumbian reports, capable of handling four daily oil trains carrying an average of 360,000 barrels of oil.
"Tesoro has a planned facility across the river in Vancouver and the oil that will go there will come through the gorge on trains," Hales said at a press conference on June 14. "At a time where we're beginning to debate on how to clean up the toxins in our river, at a time of acute concern about toxins in our water and in our air, we do not need to add to that list how we clean up the aftermath and destruction of oil-by-rail projects gone wrong."
Washington officials are in the final stages of reviewing the terminal, with public hearings beginning on June 27 in Vancouver, the Seattle Times wrote, "after which the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council will recommend whether Governor Jay Inslee should approve it."
"State officials rarely have opportunities to limit the increase of oil trains in their territory until safety improvements are fully in effect and proven," a recentSeattle Times editorial said. "That chance comes when governors decide whether to approve or deny major facilities like Vancouver Energy.
"The choice is clear, as Mosier showed us all."
Back at Saturday's protest, the cops finally swarmed in around noon, as they'd threatened they would. Police plucked each of the 21 activists slowly and deliberately, recording them on video, reading them their rights, restraining them with zip-tie handcuffs, and leading them—past a squad of sheriff's deputies in full militarized riot gear ready to pounce if need be—to the back of the large white police van.
They'd be booked on a charge of second-degree misdemeanor criminal trespass, and released later that evening.
The crowd on the other side of the tracks cheered on each of their comrades as they were led off—the gray bearded man wearing a ratty Dennis Kucinich T-shirt under his parka, the stoic retired school teacher, the smiling early-twentysomething woman who drove up from Eugene with her dad, and, at the end, the 85-year-old woman in a red "The People vs. Shell" T-shirt, who earlier in the day led the group in a rousing chant.
"Corporate crime scene," she intoned again and again, punctuating the line with a shrill alarm from a bullhorn. "Corporate crime scene."
http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2016/06/22/18264950/bomb-train-blowup
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Trader Joe’s Is Forced to Fix Refrigerators, Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Jun 21, 2016 | Washington Post
By Brady Dennis
Trader Joe’s will spend millions of dollars over the next several years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its refrigeration equipment as part of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department.
Federal officials had alleged that the grocery chain had violated the Clean Air Act by failing to repair leaks of “R-22,” an ozone-depleting substance and potent greenhouse gas that is commonly used as a coolant in refrigerators. Investigators also claimed that the California-based company had failed to keep adequate service records for its refrigeration equipment and failed to provide information about its compliance record.
As part of the settlement announced Tuesday, Trader Joe’s agreed to spend an estimated $2 million over the next three years to cut down on coolant leaks from refrigerators and other equipment and to put in place a program to better detect and repair leaks. The company also pledged to cut its “average leak rate” to less than half of the grocery industry average, and it vowed to use non-ozone depleting refrigerants at all of its new or significantly renovated stores. At least 15 of those stores must use advanced refrigerants, such as carbon dioxide, that have far less potential to contribute to global warming.
The company also will pay a $500,000 civil penalty.
“Taking action to combat climate change is a priority for the Obama administration, and this settlement will result in substantial cuts to one of the most potent greenhouse gases,” Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in a statement. “These company-wide upgrades Trader Joe’s will make are not only good for the environment, they set a high bar for the grocery industry for detecting and fixing cooling leaks.”
A company spokeswoman, Alison Mochizuki, said in an emailed statement Tuesday that “Trader Joe’s looks forward to working with the EPA in its mission to reduce air pollution and protect the ozone layer, and, with this agreement, has committed to reducing its emissions to a rate that matches the best of the industry.”
Government officials estimated that the settlement, if carried out, could result in reductions of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the amount produced by 6,500 passenger vehicles over the course of a year.
Under current EPA regulations, owners and operators of commercial refrigeration equipment that contain more than 50 pounds of ozone-depleting refrigerants are required to fix any leaks within 30 days after detecting them. Roughly one-third of Trader Joe’s equipment uses hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, or HFCs, that are non-ozone depleting, but that still have a high potential for contributing to global warming. R-22 is a powerful greenhouse gas that has 1,800 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, according to the EPA.
Tuesday’s case, which affects more than 450 Trader Joe’s locations, marks the third time that a national grocery chain has settled with the government over refrigeration practices. In 2013, Safeway agreed to pay a $600,000 penalty and significantly reduce its emissions nationwide. The following year, Costco agreed to take similar actions at hundreds of stores, as well as pay $335,000 in penalties.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/06/21/trader-joes-is-forced-to-fix-refrigerators-cut-greenhouse-gas-emissions/
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