Preview Newsletter
ACC AM 7/20/16
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(ACC Mentioned) U.S. Specialty Chemicals Market Declines for 3rd Consecutive Month, ACC Says
Jul 19, 2016 | Chemical Engineering
By Scott Jenkins
The Specialty Chemicals Market Volume Index, a tool created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) slipped 0.4 percent in June. -
(ACC Mentioned) Data Shows Continued Decline in US Specialty Chemicals Market
Jul 19, 2016 | Powder & Bulk Solids
The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Specialty Chemicals Market Volume Index showed that the market in the US declined by 0.4% this June, the third consecutive month of reported decline, the organization announced Tuesday. -
(ACC Mentioned) Weekly Resin Report: Spot PP, PE Resin Prices Firming Up
Jul 19, 2016 | PlasticsToday
By PlasticsToday Staff
Spot plastics trading activity improved the week of July 11, reports the PlasticsExchange (Chicago) in its Market Update. -
(ACC Mentioned) Major Recycler Entropex Shuts Down
Jul 19, 2016 | Plastics News
By Jim Johnson
A Canadian mixed plastics recycling company, one of the larger such firms in North America, has closed its doors and laid off 155 workers. -
(ACC Mentioned) Ontario-Based Plastics Recycler Closes Its Doors; Nearly 160 Jobs At Risk
Jul 19, 2016 | Shanghai Metals Market
By Carolina Curiel
Entropex-a Sarnia, Ontario-based plastics recycling company has decided to cease its manufacturing operations. -
(ACC Mentioned) San Francisco Bans Foam Containers, Beach Toys
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
Foam food wares, packing peanuts and coolers will be banned in San Francisco starting January 2017 under a law unanimously approved by the city's Board of Supervisors July 19. -
PFOA, PFOS Likely Hazardous to Immune System: Scientists
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Two chemicals that have made thousands of industrial and consumer products stick-, heat- and grease-resistant also are presumed to be hazardous to people's immune systems, a scientific panel said July 19. -
Non-Animal Toxicity Test Data Sought by NTP
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Chemical testing laboratories, chemical makers and other parties using non-animal methods to predict acute systemic toxicity are being asked by a National Toxicology Program center to provide data on the strategies and technologies they use. -
More Chemicals Info Can Be Shared Between U.S., Canada
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
More information on new uses of chemicals can be shared among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Health Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada according to an update the three agencies posted July 18. -
Monsanto Fights to Keep PCB Claims in Federal Court
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Peter Hayes
Monsanto Co.'s effort to keep polychlorinated biphenyls cancer claims against it in federal court was put on hold July 19 by the Eastern District of Missouri (Burford v. Monsanto Co., 2016 BL 229568, E.D. Mo., No. 16-CV-536, 7/18/16). -
Disputed Study Links Shale Gas Wells to Asthma
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
A statistical study of asthma cases that suggests a link to shale gas wells has contributed to debate over hydraulic fracturing just days before an anti-fracking protest march scheduled for Philadelphia near the start of the Democratic National Convention next week. -
North Dakota Launches First Challenge To EPA Methane Rule
Jul 19, 2016 | Inside EPA
North Dakota has filed the first suit challenging EPA's rule regulating methane from the oil and gas sector though many others are expected to follow. -
(ACC Mentioned) DHS Updates Process for Classifying High-Risk Plants
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sam Pearson
The Department of Homeland Security moved July 19 to change requirements for chemical facilities under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. -
Response Planning, Preventive Focus Put on CSB Wish List
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sam Pearson
Improved emergency response and planning and preventive maintenance have been added to a list of safety improvements the U.S. Chemical Safety Board identified as priorities. -
Republican Platform Would Imperil EPA, Climate Action
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
Signature elements of President Barack Obama's climate change strategy, ranging from rules to curb emissions from power plants to international agreements to combat the problem, would be gutted under the Republican Party's 2016 platform. -
Republican Platform Targets Over-Regulation ‘Tyranny'
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Patrick Gregory
The Republican Party's 2016 platform calls on Congress to “reclaim its constitutional powers from the bureaucratic state.” -
Rep. Gibbs Hails Platform Stance On EPA, Water Rule
Jul 19, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Jennifer Yachnin
Ohio Rep. Bob Gibbs (R) today praised language in the GOP's 2016 platform that would reshape U.S. EPA as an independent commission, asserting that federal overseers have overstepped their authority under the Clean Water Act. -
Texas Haze Plan Stay Poses Questions For Regional Haze Program's Future
Jul 19, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
An regional appellate court's decision to stay EPA's precedent-setting federal haze plans for Texas and Oklahoma throws into question the agency's policies for reducing visibility-obscuring pollution, and narrows its ability to claim that regional rules have national scope and must therefore be litigated in Washington, D.C., sources say. -
Global Deal to Cut HFCs Near ‘Finish Line,' EPA Says
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ben Remaly
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency July 19 said she expects an amendment will be passed this year under the Montreal Protocol for a global phase down of hydrofluorocarbons—short-lived but extremely potent greenhouse gases. -
Refinery Settlement Advances Use Of Leak Detection Monitoring
Jul 19, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
A recent EPA and Department of Justice (DOJ) settlement with refiners Tesoro Corp. and Par Hawaii pioneers use of cutting-edge leak detection monitoring advocated by EPA under its “Next Generation Compliance” initiative, and further expands use of flare-gas recovery technology to reduce both conventional pollution and greenhouse gases emitted by the sector.
Industry and Association News
TSCA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
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Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) U.S. Specialty Chemicals Market Declines for 3rd Consecutive Month, ACC Says
Jul 19, 2016 | Chemical Engineering
By Scott Jenkins
The Specialty Chemicals Market Volume Index, a tool created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) slipped 0.4 percent in June. This follows a 0.3 percent decline in May and a 0.5 percent decline in April. All data are measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. Of the twenty-eight specialty chemical segments we monitor, eleven expanded in June, two were stable and the remaining fifteen experienced decline. Large gains (1.0 percent and over) were noted in only rubber processing chemicals.
The overall specialty chemicals volume index was off 1.4 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) also on a 3MMA basis. Year-earlier comparisons were generally in the 4.0 percent to 6.8 percent range during 2012-2014 but since February 2015 they have fallen below that range as the downturn in the oil and gas sectors affected headline volumes. In addition, the strong U.S. dollar has adversely affected a number of export-oriented customer industries. Weakness spread to other segments as well and year-earlier comparisons have been negative since second quarter 2015. Still, on a Y/Y basis, there were gains among market and functional specialty chemical segments. With few exceptions, however, year-earlier comparisons have been moderating.
Specialty chemicals are materials manufactured on the basis of the unique performance or function and provide a wide variety of effects on which many other sectors and end-use products rely. They can be individual molecules or mixtures of molecules, known as formulations. The physical and chemical characteristics of the single molecule or mixtures along with the composition of the mixtures influence the performance end product. Individual market sectors that rely on such products include automobile, aerospace, agriculture, cosmetics and food, among others.
http://www.chemengonline.com/u-s-specialty-chemicals-market-declines-for-3rd-consecutive-month-acc-says/?printmode=1
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(ACC Mentioned) Data Shows Continued Decline in US Specialty Chemicals Market
Jul 19, 2016 | Powder & Bulk Solids
The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Specialty Chemicals Market Volume Index showed that the market in the US declined by 0.4% this June, the third consecutive month of reported decline, the organization announced Tuesday. The ACC’s data, measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA), shows the market slipped by 0.3% in May and 0.5% in April.
Among the 28 specialty chemical segments measured by the ACC, the organization said 11 segments expanded in June, two remained stable, and 15 experienced a decline. Only rubber processing chemicals saw a “large” gain of over 1% last month, the organization said.
Overall, the ACC reports that the specialty chemicals volume index was off 1.4% year-over-year, also on a 3MMA basis. Year-earlier comparisons ranged from 4% to 6.8% from 2012 to 2014, but the organization said that the figures fell below that range after February 2015, resulting from a downturn in the oil and gas sectors. The strengthening of the dollar has also impacted export-oriented industries.
On a year to year basis, the ACC said “there were gains among market and functional specialty chemical segments.”
The segments that expanded in June were adhesives and sealants, antioxidants, corrosion inhibitors, food additives, I&I cleaners, lubricant additives, mining chemicals, plastic additives, plasticizers, rubber processing, and water management chemicals. Biocides and coatings showed no change.
http://www.powderbulksolids.com/news/Data-Shows-Continued-Decline-in-US-Specialty-Chemicals-Market-07-19-2016
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(ACC Mentioned) Weekly Resin Report: Spot PP, PE Resin Prices Firming Up
Jul 19, 2016 | PlasticsToday
By PlasticsToday Staff
Spot plastics trading activity improved the week of July 11, reports the PlasticsExchange (Chicago) in its Market Update. After a slow start in July, the flow of both resin supply and material requests returned to a more typical pace. Polyethylene (PE) demand was good from both the processor and reseller sectors. Polypropylene (PP) buyers mostly were looking for special deals and seemed armed with patience. Spot resin prices firmed up: PE saw gains of $0.005 to 0.015/lb, depending on the grade, while PP prices were mixed, with generic prime gaining a penny and export and off-grade prices under pressure.
PE demand was good: Processors were buying to fill in supply gaps, some resellers had short orders to cover and market sentiment was moving away from bearish, now approaching neutral. While PE availability increased, the volume of offers, which was still relatively limited, would not suggest that the market is grossly over supplied and ready for prices to tumble, according to the PlasticsExchange. LDPE and LLDPE for both film and injection remains relatively tight, although some material has been trickling into the secondary market, which is quickly placed. While HDPE film and blowmolding grades are a bit looser, the market is far from flooded with material.
PE production was off sharply in June, affected by reactor issues caused by planned and unexpected outages.
Expectations for a price decrease on July contracts, which had already been downgraded to only hopeful, seems to be waning further. It is starting to feel like average PE contracts will roll flat again in July. PlasticsExchange analysts note that they would not be surprised to see a fresh price increase letter floated, if only for good measure.
The spot PP market also saw increased activity, as processors continued to peck at well-priced supply, but in limited quantities. A steady flow of wide-spec railcars continued to pelt the secondary market, while resellers offered up their warehoused inventories. The cumulative effect was good liquidity among most commodity grades. Prices were mixed, with domestic prime edging a penny higher while off grade remained soft and the export market was more than adequately supplied.
According to the preliminary reports issued by the American Chemistry Council, cited by the PlasticsExchange, PP production remained very strong: Reactor rates ran at nearly 95% and have been above 90% in all but one of the last 13 months.
http://www.plasticstoday.com/resin-pricing/weekly-resin-report-spot-pp-pe-resin-prices-firming/35248568524927
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(ACC Mentioned) Major Recycler Entropex Shuts Down
Jul 19, 2016 | Plastics News
By Jim Johnson
A Canadian mixed plastics recycling company, one of the larger such firms in North America, has closed its doors and laid off 155 workers.
Entropex LLC, of Sarnia, Ontario, ceased operations amid difficult conditions for plastics recyclers due to depressed commodity prices for recycled resin.
The continued low cost of oil has pushed down virgin resin prices. And that hurts the recycled resin market.
Entropex President Keith Bechard spoke briefly in a July 19 interview about the closure.
“It’s a difficult situation, absolutely,” said Bechard, who has an ownership stake in the company.
He also issued a statement explaining the closure.
“For the past several months, Entropex has struggled to meet the financial challenges caused by the dramatic decline in oil prices and a very competitive business environment. Despite our best efforts to reduce costs, the costs of operating Entropex business remain prohibitively high and unsustainable,” Bechard’s statement reads.
“Because of our deteriorating financial position, Entropex’s bankers decided earlier this month to call the Entropex bank loan,” it continued.
A court-appointed receiver, corporate recovery and restructuring firm MNP Ltd., is now in control of the company.
“Entropex management does not know if or when Entropex will resume operations,” Bechard’s statement said.
It was less than three years ago that the American Chemistry Council recognized Entropex with its Innovation in Plastics Recycling award, one of three firms to be honored that year.
Entropex received the honor for its RigidReclaim recycling technology aimed at non-bottle plastic containers for all major packaging resins.
More than 70 percent of the plastics processed through RigidReclaim at the time were not otherwise recycled by conventional methods, ACC said.
But that was before oil prices plummeted amid the shale oil and gas boom that has rewritten the plastics recycling narrative.
Entropex ranked 13th in the most recent Plastics News listing of largest plastics recyclers in North America, recycling 175 million pounds annually.
“There is a possibility of it reopening. The receiver has indicated he is marketing this facility en banc and looking for a buyer that would be interested in restarting operations,” Bechard said.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20160719/NEWS/160719818/major-recycler-entropex-shuts-down
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(ACC Mentioned) Ontario-Based Plastics Recycler Closes Its Doors; Nearly 160 Jobs At Risk
Jul 19, 2016 | Shanghai Metals Market
By Carolina Curiel
Entropex-a Sarnia, Ontario-based plastics recycling company has decided to cease its manufacturing operations. The company press release stated that the bankers had approached the Court seeking appointment of receiver to take over the company management. Accordingly, MNP Ltd. has been appointed as receiver for Entropex. The decision to close down is feared to affect nearly 160 employees. The company cited difficult market conditions for the closure.
Media reports suggest that the company has been struggling to meet the financial obligations for quite a few months. The declining oil prices and fierce market competition have made it difficult for the company to sustain in difficult times. Despite of implementing several cost-cutting measures, the cost of operation has continued to remain above affordable levels, the company noted. The company press release declined to make any comment on whether the facility will reopen and if so by when, as all such decisions have to be taken by the court-appointed receiver.
Entropex has terminated most of its employees. A few employees has been kept around to deal with accounting issues and packaging jobs, MNP Ltd London office noted. Also, MNP Ltd. said that it is on the lookout for a buyer who is willing to reopen the facility located on Lougar Street in Sarnia. It added that the process to market and sell the company to a potential buyer may take at least 1-1.5 months, as any offer recommended by the receiver needs court approval. Robin Smith with the London office of MNP Ltd expressed the hope that it could be able to find a potential buyer so as to resurrect the company at the earliest.
The company had been a pioneer in plastic recycling for many years. The RigidReclaim technology developed by the company had integrated plastics sorting, cleaning and processing to enable recovery of all seven grades of plastic, including non-bottle plastic containers. It resulted in recovery of several categories of plastics which were not typically recycled by using conventional methods. The technological innovation had created a dramatic impact by increasing Ontario’s plastics materials recovery rate by more than 30%. The company was honored by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) as one of the three companies to receive the 2013 Innovation in Plastics Recycling award. The technology had also won the 2013 Gold award for excellence in waste reduction from the Recyclign Council of Ontario (RCO).
Earlier in 2013, the Entropex partners were fined $410,000 after a worker was pinned against a nearby forklift. The OSHA inspection had revealed that the baler equipment was not properly guarded to prevent worker access. Also, the company had failed to provide adequate instruction and information to protect workers around the baler.
Entropex is a privately owned Canadian Company involved in the reprocessing of post industrial and post consumer plastics. Since 1978, Entropex has been a leader in the development of market specific recycled plastics for a variety of consumer and industrial applications. The company’s plastic recovery facility and warehouse complex at Sarnia is spread over 180,000 square feet. Entropex was once ranked the 8th largest post consumer recycler and the 18th largest Plastic Recycler in North America.
http://www.metal.com/newscontent/95646_ontario-based-plastics-recycler-closes-its-doors-nearly-160-jobs-at-risk
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(ACC Mentioned) San Francisco Bans Foam Containers, Beach Toys
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
Foam food wares, packing peanuts and coolers will be banned in San Francisco starting January 2017 under a law unanimously approved by the city's Board of Supervisors July 19.
The landmark bill now heads to Mayor Ed Lee (D) who has 10 calendar days to sign, veto or allow to become law what the sponsors called the strongest foam ban in the country—one that the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, small business and environmental groups support.
The American Chemistry Council —whose members include Dart Container Corp., Shell Chemical LP and WinCup—and trade group Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Industry Alliance, whose members include BASF, Styrotek Inc. and Shell Chemical, opposed the bill approved to expand the city's current ban on foam carry-out containers.
Medical, Appliance Exemptions
Foam meat and seafood trays are banned starting July 1, 2017, while other uses, including beach toys and packaging, are banned starting Jan. 1, 2017.
The legislation exempts foam containers for medicines, appliances, computers and furniture. Nor does the law apply to prepared food packaged outside San Francisco and sold or otherwise provided to consumers in the same container in which it was originally packaged.
The requirement can be waived due a feasibility-based hardship following a written application that demonstrates no feasible alternative exists to a specific non-compliant product.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184914&vname=dennotallissues&wsn=495060500&searchid=28030213&doctypeid=1&type=date&mode=doc&split=0&scm=DELNWB&pg=0
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PFOA, PFOS Likely Hazardous to Immune System: Scientists
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Two chemicals that have made thousands of industrial and consumer products stick-, heat- and grease-resistant also are presumed to be hazardous to people's immune systems, a scientific panel said July 19.
A panel of epidemiologists, toxicologists, microbiologists and other scientists critiqued and then supported the National Toxicology Program's draft analysis that concluded perfluorooctanoic acid, more commonly known as PFOA, and perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS, are presumed to be immune hazards to humans.
Legal, Water System Interest
The scientific panel's support for the toxicology program's conclusions come as the DuPont Co. and its spinoff, the Chemours Co., have been found liable in the first two of 3,500 lawsuits in which people claim their exposures to PFOA caused cancer and certain other health problems.
The panel's backing also comes as health officials in Alabama, New York, Pennsylvania and other states are investigating people's exposure to both chemicals in drinking water sources.
Just two months ago, on May 19, the Environmental Protection Agency released voluntary guidance for local water systems, states and others concerned about the highly fluorinated chemicals.
If drinking water concentrations for both PFOA and PFOS are kept below the EPA's benchmark of 0.07 micrograms per liter or 70 parts per trillion for a lifetime, the agency would not expect people's health to be harmed.
The voluntary benchmark level applied to the chemicals individually or in combination.
Products once made with chemicals produced through the use of PFOA and PFOS included food packaging, lubricants, water-resistant coatings and aqueous fire-fighting foams.
Production Shifted to Asia
Chemical manufacturers have stopped making both chemicals in the United States and much of Europe, Andrew Rooney deputy director of the toxicology program's Office of Health Assessment and Translation, said as he presented an overview of the program's draft conclusions.
Discharges of PFOA and PFOS also have been reduced as have concentrations of the chemicals in people's bodies, he said.
Yet, production of both chemicals appears to have shifted to Asia, Rooney said.
Another source of exposure may remain, he said. It is unclear whether certain chemicals called telomer alcohols, which can break down into PFOA and PFOS, have been eliminated or reduced, Rooney said.
Neither PFOA or PFOS degrade under typical environmental conditions, the toxicology program's draft systematic review said.
“Once in surface water, apparent half-lives of PFOS and PFOA are 41 and 92 years respectively. Estimated half-lives in the human body are also long, ranging from two to eight years,” the review found.
Similar Conclusion, Separate Considerations
The toxicology program and the peer review panel examined the scientific evidence on immune suppression separately for each chemical, even though similar conclusions were reached.
The strongest evidence that both chemicals could be hazardous to the human immune system comes from animal studies that showed the chemicals reduced the ability of large Y-shaped proteins, called antibodies, to fight viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms, the toxicology program and scientific panel agreed.
No one spoke during the panel's public comment period, although 3M and consultants working for it; the Endocrine Disruption Exchange, an non-governmental organization; and Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, submitted comments before the meeting.
Use of Systematic Review
Each of these commenters praised the toxicology program's systematic review as did the members of the peer review panel.
The systematic approach helped readers to clearly understand what science the program considered and the reasons some scientific studies provided higher levels of confidence while others were graded more moderate or lower priority in the program's final conclusions, the commenters and panel members said.
Several 3M commenters and others, however, said they had less confidence about some studies than did the toxicology program.
The peer review panel also raised concerns about some lines of evidence. For example, the toxicology program had concluded that animal studies showed a high level of support that PFOA cause allergic responses in the airways. The panel said the evidence provided only moderate support for that conclusion.
The panel, however, agreed with the bottom-line conclusion that PFOA and PFOS both could harm the human immune system.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184888&vname=dennotallissues&fn=94184888&jd=94184888
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Non-Animal Toxicity Test Data Sought by NTP
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Chemical testing laboratories, chemical makers and other parties using non-animal methods to predict acute systemic toxicity are being asked by a National Toxicology Program center to provide data on the strategies and technologies they use.
Acute systemic toxicity tests are the most common type of safety test conducted for regulatory purposes worldwide.
The toxicology program's Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods is seeking data and information by Sept. 1 as part of its broader effort to identify non-animal tests that can reduce, replace or refine toxicity tests using experimental animals, it said in a July 19announcement.
Acute systemic toxicity tests are designed to determine the potential for a single or short-term dose of a substance that causes illness or death when inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the skin. “These tests are required by multiple regulatory agencies and can use large numbers of animals,”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184912&vname=dennotallissues&fn=94184912&jd=94184912
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More Chemicals Info Can Be Shared Between U.S., Canada
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
More information on new uses of chemicals can be shared among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Health Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada according to an update the three agencies posted July 18.
The update from the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council, which encourages regulatory cooperation between the two countries, describes progress the three agencies are making in their efforts to jointly assess new uses of chemicals and to conduct regulatory chemical risk assessments.
Having consistent chemical evaluations is helpful to chemical manufacturers and downstream users, because many chemicals made in each country are sold in the other.
The update did not offer details on the information the two countries could share, but said they were identifying options, such as strategies companies could use to allow the jurisdictions to share confidential business information.
The update describes steps they will be taking for the remainder of this year and the first half of 2017. For example, technical working groups for both the new uses of chemicals and chemical risk assessment projects will meet in October, the update said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184902&vname=dennotallissues&fn=94184902&jd=94184902
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Monsanto Fights to Keep PCB Claims in Federal Court
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Peter Hayes
Monsanto Co.'s effort to keep polychlorinated biphenyls cancer claims against it in federal court was put on hold July 19 by the Eastern District of Missouri (Burford v. Monsanto Co., 2016 BL 229568, E.D. Mo., No. 16-CV-536, 7/18/16).
The court put off a ruling on whether to uphold Monsanto's removal of a suit over the chemical to federal court on the grounds that it operated under the direction of the federal government.
The court deferred to the Eighth Circuit to decide the issue in a separate suit against Monsanto in which the Eastern District of Missouri ruled against the company on the issue (Bailey v. Monsanto Co., 8th Cir., No. 16-02096).
In this case, 28 plaintiffs sued Monsanto in state court, alleging they developed cancer as a result of dietary and other environmental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls.
The plaintiffs limited their claims to the chemicals sold for use in open applications—such as inks, paints, pesticides, plasticizers, hydraulic fluids, lubricants, adhesives, heat transfer fluids, and carbonless copy paper—and renounced any cause of action for “any exposure to PCBs sold by defendants at the direction of any officer of the United States or any of its agencies or entities or any person acting at their direction.”
Monsanto removed the case to federal court under the federal officer removal statute, which allows the transfer of a suit if the defendant acted as a federal contractor (28 U.S.C. §1442(a)(1)).
The plaintiffs sought to remand, arguing that Monsanto didn't contract directly with the government, but rather with government contractors, and that Monsanto failed to show any government contracts for PCBs that were used in open applications.
The court stayed the motion, finding the “decision in Bailey will likely have a significant effect on the ultimate disposition of the instant matter.”
Judge Patricia L. Cohen issued the memorandum and order.
Waters Kraus & Paul LLP in Dallas represents the plaintiffs.
Thompson Coburn LLP in St. Louis represents Monsanto.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184879&vname=dennotallissues&fn=94184879&jd=94184879
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Disputed Study Links Shale Gas Wells to Asthma
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
A statistical study of asthma cases that suggests a link to shale gas wells has contributed to debate over hydraulic fracturing just days before an anti-fracking protest march scheduled for Philadelphia near the start of the Democratic National Convention next week.
A research team led by Sara Rasmussen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded that it had found a statistical association between asthma cases and nearby clusters of gas wells and the size of gas wells.
“Those who lived closer to a large number or bigger active natural gas wells were significantly more likely—1.5 to four times more likely—to suffer asthma attacks,” a Johns Hopkins press release announced July 18, the day the study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“Whether these associations are causal awaits further investigation, including more detailed exposure assessment,” the study said.
“While we hypothesize that stress and air pollution are the most likely pathways responsible for our observed associations, we cannot determine what pathway is most important from this study,” Rasmussen said in an e-mail to Bloomberg BNA.
Not Exactly About Fracking
The news release attracted attention by announcing that the study found “fracking industry wells” were associated with asthma.
Protest organizers including the group Food & Water Watch and others held a news teleconference July 19 to cite the study as one more piece of evidence to support their calls to ban hydraulic fracturing, the well stimulation technique used to fracture rock layers so that natural gas or oil can flow to a well.
The news release could have caused a degree of misunderstanding, however. The study did not exactly focus on fracking.
The study divided shale gas operations at wells into four phases—site preparation, drilling, well stimulation and production. It found that an increased incidence of asthma was greater during the production phase, when no fracking is going on.
Rasmussen added, “Because the metrics for the four phases were highly correlated, we were unable to definitively distinguish among them.”
Industry Group Questions Study
The study did not sit well with Energy in Depth, an oil and gas industry advocacy group. The groupposted a response with an analysis calling attention to a map in the study that appears to show no correlation between well sites and the counties with the highest incidence rates of asthma.
The study made use of asthma case data from Geisinger Health System, a health-care provider for people in 40 counties in northern and central Pennsylvania. Areas in the study with the highest concentrations of asthma sufferers had little or no shale gas production, a point that Energy in Depth noted to question the statistical validity of the study conclusions.
The group questioned whether the researchers were maintaining objectivity.
“Just to provide some quick context, this is the same team of researchers who published a study claiming premature birthrates were higher in counties closest to shale wells, even though they were right in line with the national premature birth rate,” Energy in Depth said. “One of the researchers that stands out is Brian Schwartz, a fellow at the Post Carbon Institute. which has called fracking a ‘virus.' ”
Foes of Fracking, Nuclear
During the teleconference by activist groups planning to participate in the July 24 protest in Philadelphia, nuclear energy was denounced along with fracking. Several of the speakers called for Pennsylvania to transition to 100 percent renewable energy.
Karen Feridun of Pennsylvanians Against Fracking, said, “We want an immediate moratorium and, in the long term, a ban on fracking in Pennsylvania.” She said citizens of the commonwealth had lost their sense of safety, “and we've lost democracy.”
Russell Greene of the Progressive Democrats of America, which supported the quest of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to become the Democratic party nominee for president, stressed the risk of climate change as a basic motivation for opposing fracking, which adds to the world's supply of fossil fuels.
John Forster of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees lamented “unbridled greed that is driving us to environmental disaster.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184887&vname=dennotallissues&fn=94184887&jd=94184887
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North Dakota Launches First Challenge To EPA Methane Rule
Jul 19, 2016 | Inside EPA
North Dakota has filed the first suit challenging EPA's rule regulating methane from the oil and gas sector though many others are expected to follow.
The state filed a July 14 petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that alleges that EPA's new source performance standards (NSPS) “exceeds EPA's statutory authority, goes beyond the bounds established by the United States Constitution and is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with the law.”
The petition asks the court to hold the measure “unlawful and set aside the rule.”
The NSPS, which EPA published in the Federal Register June 3, set the first national regulation (/node/180236) to curb emissions of methane from new and modified oil and gas facilities, and is one of several EPA measures to limit emissions from the industry. EPA also issued an information collection request that is seen as a first step to rules limiting methane at existing facilities.
But EPA's regulatory efforts are already drawing criticism from Oil Patch states as well as industry groups.
Oil giant Exxon Mobil, for example, said recently that its support for a carbon tax is contingent on preempting EPA's methane rules
And several others are expected to file suit. The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry in the Lone Star State, has been urging Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to file suit over the rule, calling it “another assault from the Obama administration in its war against fossil fuels and a blatant attempt to forcibly take over the regulation of Texas' oil and gas industry, a job the Railroad Commission has excelled at for almost a century,” the commission said in a June 7 statement.
The American Petroleum Institute is also expected to challenge the rule, while groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund are strongly supporting it and could intervene on EPA's behalf.
Deadline for filing suits is Aug. 3, 60 days after EPA published the rule.
http://insideepa.com/news-briefs/north-dakota-launches-first-challenge-epa-methane-rule
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(ACC Mentioned) DHS Updates Process for Classifying High-Risk Plants
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sam Pearson
The Department of Homeland Security moved July 19 to change requirements for chemical facilities under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program.
In a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register July 20, DHS said it was modifying how it categorizes chemical facilities under the program.
The move come as the Chemical Sector Security Summit conference begins in Alexandria, Va,, bringing together DHS and major chemical industry trade associations to discuss plant security issues.
The changes will take effect July 20, the notice said.
The document said the update could result in companies spending 90 percent less time using DHS' Security Vulnerability Assessment and 70 percent less time operating the Site Security Plan application.
In a July 11 podcast published by the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates, David Wulf, DHS' director of infrastructure security compliance, said the change is meant to simplify compliance for companies.
“We have worked hard to streamline those tools and to reduce the burden associated with them and to really enhance the experience that companies will have as they submit information in the fall to feed into the new and improved risk-tiering engine,” Wulf said.
Clarify Standards, Cut Compliance Time
The changes come after questions over how rigorous DHS' criteria is for chemical facilities.
The basis for how the department classifies chemical facilities under the program's jurisdiction was questioned in a Government Accountability Office report last year.
The July 2015 report found DHS “used unverified and self-reported data” in determining what risk a plant posed.
Under the chemical facilities standards program, plants storing chemicals above specified quantities must complete a top-screen and file it with the department. The department then calculates the risk posed by a particular facility, which it assigns to one of four tiers. Facilities also must prepare and file site security plans, and the department can reject plans deemed insufficient. None of this information is disclosed to the public for security reasons.
The revisions will help the department “incorporate the relevant elements of risk in determining the risk of terrorism associated with a covered chemical facility,” according to the document.
The filing sets up a three-step process to transition to an updated system for completing top-screens by October 1. The upgrade could significantly decrease the amount of time companies must spend submitting requested information to the department, the filing claims.
Scott Jensen, a spokesman for the American Chemistry Council , told Bloomberg BNA in an e-mail the group was reviewing the changes and continues to support implementation of the program's goals.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184873&vname=dennotallissues&wsn=495057000&searchid=28030213&doctypeid=1&type=date&mode=doc&split=0&scm=DELNWB&pg=0
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Response Planning, Preventive Focus Put on CSB Wish List
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sam Pearson
Improved emergency response and planning and preventive maintenance have been added to a list of safety improvements the U.S. Chemical Safety Board identified as priorities.
The two items could go a long way in preventing safety incidents at plants, the CSB said in two statements released on its website July 15.
Since 2013, the CSB has kept a list of what it calls its “most wanted” safety improvements. The list also includes modernizing process safety management rules through updating Occupational Safety and Health Administration's combustible dust standard and Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
The board statements said emergency planning and response and a lack of preventive maintenance at facilities frequently plays a role in incidents the board investigates, including at the 2012 Chevron Corp. refinery fire in Richmond, Calif. and a fatal explosion at the Tesoro Corp. refinery in Anacortes, Wash.
Twelve investigations have produced 46 recommendations that relate to a lack of proper emergency response planning, the board said, adding that 11 incidents spurred 21 open recommendations involving insufficient preventative maintenance.
The board cannot issue regulations to spur the adoption of the improvements, but can keep advocating that chemical plants do more on these issues.
Board Member Manuel Ehrlich will take the lead on encouraging more plants to boost emergency response efforts, while Chairperson Vanessa Allen Sutherland will serve as the point person for the issue of preventive maintenance, the statements said.
Former chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso started the “most wanted” improvements program in 2012, describing it as the most cost-effective way for the small agency to raise awareness of its priorities among other government agencies.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184871&vname=dennotallissues&fn=94184871&jd=94184871
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Republican Platform Would Imperil EPA, Climate Action
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
Signature elements of President Barack Obama's climate change strategy, ranging from rules to curb emissions from power plants to international agreements to combat the problem, would be gutted under the Republican Party's 2016 platform.
The platform, released late July 18, calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to be transformed into an independent commission, endorses an “immediate halt” to United Nations efforts on climate change, condemns any calls for a carbon tax and pledges to do away with regulatory efforts to clarify the scope of the Clean Water Act.
“Climate change is far from this nation's most pressing national security issue,” the platform states, referring to statements made in 2015 by Obama. “We propose to shift responsibility for environmental regulation from the federal bureaucracy to the states and to transform the EPA into an independent bipartisan commission, similar to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”
Other tenets of the platform would bar the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide, push an overhaul of the Endangered Species Act “so it can no longer invite frivolous lawsuits, thwart sorely needed projects, kill jobs, and strangle growth” and encourage continued development of the “abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource” of coal.
The document aligns closely with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's public positions on a host of energy and environmental issues.
Similar to 2012 Platform
Many of the themes of the 2016 platform also appeared in the 2012 versions, especially those of overregulation by the EPA and calls for an all-of-the-above energy strategy.
Climate change appears in the 2016 document four times, compared to just once in the 2012 version. The newer platform says conclusions about the severity of the problem must be based on unbiased science.
“Information concerning a changing climate, especially projections into the long-range future, must be based on dispassionate analysis of hard data,” the platform states. “We will enforce that standard throughout the executive branch, among civil servants and presidential appointees alike.”
Republicans were especially critical of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which the platform describes as “a political mechanism, not an unbiased scientific institution.”
The document also calls for no additional funding to go to the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change or the Green Climate Fund, which aims to help developing countries adapt to climate impacts and mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions.
International agreements, such as the Paris pact, “represent only the personal commitments of their signatories” because they were not submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification, according to the platform.
Treatment of Renewables
Certain renewable energy sources received praise in the party's platform—provided their development comes through private sector investment.
“We support the development of all forms of energy that are marketable in a free economy without subsidies, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, and hydropower,” it states. “We encourage the cost-effective development of renewable energy sources—wind, solar, biomass, biofuel, geothermal, and tidal energy—by private capital.”
The document rejects federal attempts to regulate hydraulic fracturing, backs efforts to speed the approval of liquefied natural gas export facilities and supports the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which the Obama administration rejected in November 2015.
Any effort to put a price on carbon dioxide emissions was flatly rejected in favor of continued development of carbon capture and sequestration technologies.
“We oppose any carbon tax,” the platform states. “It would increase energy prices across the board, hitting hardest at the families who are already struggling to pay their bills.”
No Love for EPA
Republicans leveled especially acute criticism of the EPA in the platform—both for ongoing regulatory efforts and the agency itself. The Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of the agency's domestic climate change efforts, would be done away with completely under the platform.
The document calls for an end to so-called “sue and settle” cases in which federal agencies agree to pursue certain executive actions to settle litigation with interest groups.
Another section of the platform calls for “major new” federal regulations to be subject to congressional approval before they can take effect.
The Obama administration's attempt to clarify the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act—frequently called the waters of the U.S. regulation—is described as a “travesty.”
“We must never allow federal agencies to seize control of state waters, watersheds, or groundwater,” the platform states. “State waters, watersheds, and groundwater must be the purview of the sovereign states.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184881&vname=dennotallissues&fn=94184881&jd=94184881
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Republican Platform Targets Over-Regulation ‘Tyranny'
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Patrick Gregory
The Republican Party's 2016 platform calls on Congress to “reclaim its constitutional powers from the bureaucratic state.”
Congressional approval should be required before major new regulations take effect, it says.
That requirement could come in the form of a “Regulation Freedom Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution, the platform says.
According to the American Opportunity Project, an organization that supports the RFA, the amendment says:
Whenever one quarter of the Members of the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate transmit to the President their written declaration of opposition to a proposed federal regulation, it shall require a majority vote of the House and Senate to adopt that regulation.
The platform also affirms “that courts should interpret laws as written by Congress rather than allowing executive agencies to rewrite those laws to suit administration priorities.”
‘Nanny State.'
“Over-regulation is the quiet tyranny of the ‘Nanny State,' ” the platform says.
The Constitution grants all legislative powers to Congress, it says.
But “Congress has delegated increasing amounts of legislative authority to executive departments, agencies, and commissions, laying the foundation for today's vast administrative state.”
Federal agencies improperly “legislate as if they were Congress” and “decide guilt and issue penalties as if they were courts,” the platform says.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184894&vname=dennotallissues&fn=94184894&jd=94184894
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Rep. Gibbs Hails Platform Stance On EPA, Water Rule
Jul 19, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Jennifer Yachnin
CLEVELAND -- Ohio Rep. Bob Gibbs (R) today praised language in the GOP's 2016 platform that would reshape U.S. EPA as an independent commission, asserting that federal overseers have overstepped their authority under the Clean Water Act.
The GOP platform, adopted yesterday by delegates at the Republican National Convention (Greenwire, July 19), would also hand primary regulatory authority over the environment to state governments.CONTINUING COVERAGE
E&E Publishing brings you all the action from Cleveland.
Gibbs, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, made his remarks at a park on the Cuyahoga River -- where decades of pollution and an infamous 1969 fire helped to spur the creation of the Clean Water Act.
"When the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, the intent of Congress was for it to be a partnership between the feds and the states with the states implementing and enforcing it under the guidance of the feds," Gibbs said. "Unfortunately, the administration's proposed water rule negates that, takes the power away from the states."
The platform specifically refers to the joint EPA-Army Corps of Engineers Clean Water Act jurisdiction rule, also called the Waters of the U.S. -- or WOTUS -- rule, which is currently stayed by a federal appeals court.
Rep. Bob Gibbs. Photo by the House of Representatives, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Nonetheless, the GOP platform vows that Republicans "will enforce the original intent of the Clean Water Act, not its distortion by EPA regulations."
"We must never allow federal agencies to seize control of state waters, watersheds or groundwater," the platform states. "State waters, watersheds and groundwater must be the purview of the sovereign states."
Gibbs, who dismissed the jurisdiction rule as "a power grab away from states," said the GOP proposals would help right the balance of power if successful.
"Let's get back to that partnership arrangement and cooperation," said Gibbs, who was in attendance at a charity event for Team River Runner, which offers paddling programs to wounded and disabled military veterans, sponsored by Marathon Petroleum Corp. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman (R), who is locked in a competitive re-election battle, also promoted the event via his campaign and took part in paddling on the river.
"It's frustrating that they think they know better in Washington, D.C., than the states out there that are working hard to protect our waters," Gibbs said.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2016/07/19/stories/1060040507
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Texas Haze Plan Stay Poses Questions For Regional Haze Program's Future
Jul 19, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
An regional appellate court's decision to stay EPA's precedent-setting federal haze plans for Texas and Oklahoma throws into question the agency's policies for reducing visibility-obscuring pollution, and narrows its ability to claim that regional rules have national scope and must therefore be litigated in Washington, D.C., sources say.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in a July 15 order in State of Texas, et al. v. EPA, et al, stayed EPA's Jan. 5 rule that rejected the state implementation plans (SIPs) for haze program compliance of Texas and Oklahoma. The agency replaced the plans with federal implementation plans (FIPs) for the states, requiring significant emissions cuts from power plants under the Texas plan to benefit both states -- but the federal plans are now on hold pending resolution of litigation brought by Texas and industry to overturn the FIPs.
Texas pollution compromised Oklahoma's ability to comply, requiring the agency to reject both states' SIPs, EPA said, although the agency's FIP requires expensive pollution controls in Texas only, and Oklahoma has not sued over the issue.
EPA's haze program seeks to restore visibility to natural conditions in "Class 1" areas -- national parks and wilderness areas -- by 2064. In the first phase of the program, from 2008 to 2018, states' SIPs focused on imposing best available retrofit technology (BART) on eligible sources, chiefly power plants. BART is a one-time requirement, and the next wave of haze plans covering 2018 to 2028 will instead be based on “reasonable further progress,” (RFP) a measure of visibility improvement that states must determine to achieve their long-term haze reduction strategies.
Texas and a coalition of industry groups sued EPA to overturn its FIPs not only in the 5th Circuit, but also in the 10th Circuit, which includes Oklahoma, and the District of Columbia Circuit. The state and its industry allies have pushed hard for the case to be heard in the 5th Circuit, seen by many legal observers as less friendly to EPA than the D.C. Circuit, while EPA pressed for the 5th Circuit action to be dismissed or transferred to the D.C. Circuit.
EPA argued that although the rule is regionally “applicable,” the agency has determined that it has “nationwide scope or effect” because it contains new policy directives for states on how to determine RFP goals for pollution sources. Specifically, the agency established a precedent in the rule that states need not determine pollution reduction mandates based on an assessment of reasonable progress averaged across all sources, but may instead do so based on assessing individual sources or groups of sources.
Industry and Texas say this is a new and unjustified departure in policy, resulting in tougher pollution control mandates for Texas power plants.
At oral arguments held June 22 on issues of venue and jurisdiction, a panel of three 5th Circuit judges was skeptical of EPA's argument that the FIP has nationwide scope or effect and therefore the case against it must be heard by the D.C. Circuit, which under the Clean Air Act hears cases on rules with such scope or national applicability.
Not 'Nationwide Scope'
The court's unanimous July 15 opinion by Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod confirmed the court's rejection of EPA's argument. The court rejects EPA's argument that the air law confers on the agency the ability to determine, on its own authority, that a rule has “nationwide scope or effect,” and that this cannot be challenged in court. EPA argues that its determination is due deference by the courts and can only be overturned under if courts find it to be “arbitrary and capricious.”
Elrod writes, “we conclude that the Final Rule is not based on any determinations that have nationwide scope or effect. EPA based its disapproval of the Texas and Oklahoma SIPs and its FIP on a number of intensely factual determinations. These determinations all related to the particularities of the emissions sources in Texas and the confluence of factors impacting visibility at two locations in Texas and one in southwest Oklahoma.
“Even assuming, arguendo, that our task is to review the agency’s conclusion about the scope or effect of the determinations -- rather than to make our own independent inquiry -- and ask only whether the agency’s finding is arbitrary or capricious, we are not persuaded that the Final Rule is based on a determination of nationwide scope or effect,” Elrod says.
The court finds unpersuasive EPA's argument that the rule has nationwide scope because it applies to states in two different judicial circuits, and also the agency's argument that provisions in the FIP on RFP and requiring greater coordination of haze strategy between states set a national precedent. The ruling noted that other courts have previously held rules applicable to states in different circuits to be only regional in scope, and that because the Texas SIP was a “first round” haze plan, it cannot set the precedent EPA claims for the forthcoming second wave of state plans.
One industry legal source says the ruling is highly significant, not only because it likely will save industry in Texas billions of dollars in costs to install pollution controls, but also because it restricts EPA's ability to shop for the venue of its choice through a determination of nationwide scope or effect.
“EPA can't just throw this pixie dust” of nationwide scope and get the case moved to the court of its choice, the source says. With respect to EPA's guidance in FIP rule on RFP and state cooperation, “what EPA has said is informative, but not dispositive,” the source says. The court has recognized the right of states to craft SIPs specific to their circumstances, and “there is not one path.”
Further, the court justifies its stay of the rule with a forceful argument that EPA is likely to fail on the merits of the litigation. “On the merits it is not going to make it. I think the court really went out of its way to telegraph what they think,” the industry source says. The controls required by EPA in the FIP for Texas “are pretty much off the table, from a judicial standpoint.”
Elrod in her opinion finds that a stay is warranted because, “Petitioners have demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits, because they are likely to suffer irreparable injury in the absence of a stay while EPA has not shown similar injury from the issuance of a stay, and because the public interest weighs in favor of a stay.”
Elrod highlights the costs to industry and consumers from applying EPA's Texas FIP. “Petitioners have demonstrated several irreparable injuries if the Final Rule is not stayed. They argue that compliance with the Final Rule would impose $2 billion in costs on power companies, businesses, and consumers. Because plant emission controls take several years to install, the regulated companies will have to begin installation almost immediately.”
Environmentalist Reaction
Environmentalists following the case, however, say that the court failed to weigh in its decision to grant a stay the very significant public health benefits spurred by installing the FIP's pollution controls. They also disagree with the court over EPA's ability to determine nationwide scope or effect, with one source arguing that the FIP rule “has this forward-looking scope,” even though it only applies to Texas and Oklahoma.
The source further notes that the court incorrectly says that the FIP cannot have the forward-looking effect EPA claims because the plan applies to the first planning period for the haze program, and Texas is the only state yet to complete its first-round planning requirements. Contrary to the court's findings, Louisiana, Nebraska and Pennsylvania also have yet to complete first-round requirements, the source says.
The court also suggests that EPA's arguments about nationwide scope are essentially moot because the agency is planning to release in the near future a revision to its Regional Haze Rule, a national rule governing the program in general, that will cover some of the same policy issues included in the Texas FIP. But the environmental source says this is misplaced, and could in fact lead to a ruling on the merits of these issues by the 5th Circuit that conflicts with the ultimate final national rule.
While the proposed version of the new haze rule stresses a need for greater cooperation between states in crafting their haze SIPs, a draft guidance document already released by EPA includes a detailed discussion of RFP goals that states must include in their plans.
The guidance discusses the use of a “screening” process to determine sources that must undergo a “four-factor” analysis to determine their RFP goals. The four factors are: the costs of compliance; the time necessary for compliance; the energy and non-air quality environmental impacts of compliance; and the remaining useful life of any potentially affected major or minor stationary source or group of sources.
“A state may use a screening analysis that considers visibility impacts, or surrogates for such impacts, to select a subset of sources for full four-factor analysis and decision. However, the state should conduct its screening analysis for each Class I area that may be affected by sources within the state. In other words, if a source or group of sources has large visibility impacts at one Class I area but not at others, the state should bring forward the source for a full four-factor analysis,” the draft guidance says.
EPA released the guidance for public comment June 30 and is taking public comment through Aug. 22, while public comment on EPA's formal haze rule revision closes Aug. 10.
Legal sources say that industry and Texas will now likely seek dismissal of the 10th Circuit and D.C. Circuit cases over the Texas FIP, given the 5th Circuit's retention of jurisdiction, although the ultimate outcome of that issue is uncertain.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/texas-haze-plan-stay-poses-questions-regional-haze-programs-future
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Global Deal to Cut HFCs Near ‘Finish Line,' EPA Says
Jul 20, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ben Remaly
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency July 19 said she expects an amendment will be passed this year under the Montreal Protocol for a global phase down of hydrofluorocarbons—short-lived but extremely potent greenhouse gases.
“We are making tremendous progress, which is what gives me great confidence that this will get over the finish line,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told Bloomberg BNA in an interview.
We do expect the parties “will be delivering an amendment this year,” under which nearly 200 countries would agree to reductions, McCarthy said.
The EPA leader said there have been clear signs of progress at meetings to cut HFCs under the Montreal Protocol now underway in Vienna; McCarthy will be leading the U.S. delegation there later this week. HFCs were developed as an alternative to hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which deplete the ozone layer.
Montreal Protocol negotiations began in Vienna on July 15 and conclude with high level talks known as the Extraordinary Meeting of the Parties on July 22-23.
“Just over the last few days there's an agreement that all of the fundamental issues … have been successfully addressed in a way that will allow us to get to amendment text” ahead of the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol slated for Rwanda in October, McCarthy said.
“Vienna is the test” of whether an amendment gets passed, said Durwood Zaelke, founder and president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, who has participated in the negotiations. He said the goal is to have “narrowed down issues to a manageable set” before the Rwanda meetings.
The EPA's McCarthy said once an agreement is reached in principle, developed and developing countries “can turn to the nitty- gritty of the amendment itself”—issues ranging from finance to help developing nations transition to alternatives to the baseline from which reductions would be made.
All 197 parties of the Montreal Protocol agreed in Dubai in November 2015 to control HFCs, and the U.S. and many other countries are pushing to agree on an amendment finalizing a phasedown at the Rwanda meetings.
Amendments Under Consideration
Currently on the table are four different amendment proposals submitted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico (the North America proposal); the European Union; India and several Pacific Island states.
These proposals differ on emission freeze dates—essentially when they would peak and begin to decline—as well as reductions schedules, finances, and the differing variations of HFC compounds to be cut. All of the proposals call for cutting at least 19 types of HFCs.
The first phase of the meetings that ran July 15-17 concluded with an agreement on key “challenges and solutions,” including assurances of payments by industrialized countries for developing countries to make the switch, David Doniger, director of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, wrote in a July 17 blog post.
HFCs were originally seen as an alternative to ozone-layer-depleting gases, which were to be phased down under the Protocol. HFCs do not have nearly as large an ozone depleting effect yet are a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming potential that can be 10,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Ridding the world of HFCs could avoid up to 0.5 degree Celsius of warming, according to theAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics journal.
What's Being Phased Down?
The four amendment proposals agree on a list of 19 HFCs that should be phased down, each with a global warming potential between 12 and 14,800 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The Pacific Island states' amendment differs from the rest as it calls for the phasedown of three additional hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) that are essentially a form of HFCs, said Nathan Borgford-Parnell, staff attorney at IGSD. HFOs have a much lower global warming potential than the other HFCs. Pacific Island states, arguably the nations most threatened by rising sea levels related to climate change, have included the HFOs in their proposal. The potential mitigation of HFCs is projected to decrease sea-level rise by 13 percent by the year 2100.
The Pacific Island states' proposal would require developed and developing countries alike to reduce HFCs but developing nations would be given additional years to do so.
If an amendment is agreed to by the parties in the fall, it could still be subject to changes in the years ahead. As Borgford-Parnell points out, the Montreal Protocol entered into force in 1989, began as a phasedown of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and has been revised eight times since.
Final Target Dates
All four proposals now on the table for cutting HFCs differentiate between developing countries, known as Article 5 parties, and industrialized countries, known as non-Article 5 parties. The countries within the EU, as well as the U.S. and Canada, are among the developed countries that submitted proposals. Those countries are expected to lead the way on global efforts to cut HFCs, with earlier freeze dates and more emphasis on creating and commercializing HFC alternatives. They also propose contributions to a multilateral fund to help developing nations with the costs of transitioning to HFC alternatives.
The final target date for the phase down of HFCs varies as well, according to the four proposals. North America, the EU, India and Pacific Island states are proposing 2036, 2034, 2035 and 2033 respectively as deadlines for developed countries and 2046, 2040, 2050, and 2040 respectively for developing countries.
Baselines
The four proposed amendments differentiate with varying baselines of HFC production and consumption as well as the schedule in which they are phased down. The U.S., Canada and Mexico, in the North America proposal, want to use 2011-2013 averages of HFC production and consumption as the baseline for developing countries.
India's proposed baseline, an outlier from the rest, would use the years 2028-2030 as the baseline. In effect, India's baseline would allow developing nations' emissions of HFCs to continue to rise for a decade before they could start to decline.
India is likely suggesting a 2031 freeze date because it coincides with the expiration of HFO patents, an alternative to HFCs, expiring that same year, said Borgford-Parnell.
Freeze Dates
Three proposals suggest freeze dates for HFC emissions for developing countries ranging between 2019 and 2021. However, India's proposal would not start a phasedown for developing countries until 2031.
Issues countries had with costs of licensing patents were largely solved in the first phase of the Vienna meetings after additional research was presented and countries were reassured these costs would be covered through the multilateral fund, the NRDC's Doniger wrote in a July 11 blog post.
Doniger says there is a growing consensus that it would make less sense for India and other countries to continue to use outdated technology while producing and consuming HFCs—essentially leaving it “stuck in a technological backwater.”
Montreal Protocol
Zaelke said the Montreal Protocol is “the only thing that's fast enough” to properly phase out HFCs. Zaelke said he is hopeful, but cautioned, “nothing is smooth or easy at the international level.”
In October, the EPA issued a proposed rule (RIN:2060-AS51) that would expand Section 608 of the Clean Air Act to prohibit the deliberate venting, release or disposal of HFCs or other non-ozone-depleting substitute refrigerants when servicing or disposing of air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.
That regulatory action followed a similar EPA effort (RIN:2060-AS18) to phase out the use of HFCs in aerosols, foam blowing, motor vehicle air conditioning, retail food refrigeration and vending machines.
The EPA also announced plans to start new rulemaking under its Significant New Alternatives Program (SNAP) that would render certain high global warming potential HFCs unacceptable as alternatives. It would approve several new climate-friendly alternatives.
McCarthy said that the steps the EPA has taken already have “effectively driven domestic action that is putting the U.S. in a leadership position. We fully expect that with the actions we've already taken, that we'll be able to meet the reductions that the international community will be embracing.”
The EPA will need to review the amendment before determining whether it will have “to take further regulatory actions” to implement reductions in the U.S., she said.
Getting an amendment this year to cut HFCs would build on the progress to combat climate change made in Paris in December, McCarthy said. There, nearly 200 nations agreed to an accord under which, for the first time, developed and developing nations alike are to address climate change.
“We encourage other countries to collaborate with us in another great step forward after Paris to meet our commitment as a planet to protect our environment and our climate,” McCarthy said.
With assistance from Dean Scott in Washington.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=94184890&vname=dennotallissues&fn=94184890&jd=94184890
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Refinery Settlement Advances Use Of Leak Detection Monitoring
Jul 19, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
A recent EPA and Department of Justice (DOJ) settlement with refiners Tesoro Corp. and Par Hawaii pioneers use of cutting-edge leak detection monitoring advocated by EPA under its “Next Generation Compliance” initiative, and further expands use of flare-gas recovery technology to reduce both conventional pollution and greenhouse gases emitted by the sector.
Announced July 18, the proposed consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, settles alleged Clean Air Act violations at six refineries and is worth $425 million. The two companies will spend about $403 million to install and operate pollution control equipment, DOJ says. In addition, Tesoro will spend about $12 million to fund environmental projects in local communities affected by the refinery pollution, and will also pay a $10.45 million civil penalty.
DOJ's top environmental enforcement official John Cruden said in a July 18 statement that the deal “uses cutting edge technology to address global environmental issues like climate change by controlling flaring and provides important reductions of harmful air pollution in communities facing environmental and health challenges.”
Like the June 9 DOJ and EPA deal with Marathon Petroleum, which revised an existing settlement, the Tesoro deal requires use of flare gas recovery to divert waste gases from refining away from disposal in flares and back into the plant for combustion as fuel. The Marathon settlement set a new high bar for such gas recovery, with recovery systems operating rates up to 98 percent of the time, and the Tesoro deal also requires a very high level of gas recovery of up to 98 percent.
The Tesoro settlement also requires deployment of advanced leak detection and repair technologies, including such methods as infrared camera imaging to detect escaping emissions not visible to the naked eye. EPA and DOJ enforcement officials have praised the ability of such methods to aid federal and states officials' enforcement efforts.
“The advanced technologies Tesoro and Par are required to implement are the future for protecting people from toxics air emissions. This settlement puts new enforcement ideas to work that will dramatically cut pollution and protect communities,” said EPA enforcement chief Cynthia Giles of the Tesoro deal.
The agreement covers refineries in Kenai, AK; Martinez, CA; Kapolei, HI; Mandan, ND; Salt Lake City, UT; and Anacortes, WA. All are owned by Tesoro, except for the Kapolei site, which Par Pacific Holdings, parent company of Par Hawaii Refining, purchased from Tesoro in 2013.
Tesoro will use infrared gas-imaging cameras at four refineries to detect leaks of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and will pay for third-party auditing of compliance with enhanced leak detection and repair requirements at all six refineries. EPA estimates the settlement will result in 773 tons of sulfur dioxide, 407 tons of nitrogen oxides, 1,140 tons of VOCs, 27 tons of air toxics, 20 tons of hydrogen sulfide, and 47,034 tons of carbon dioxide.
The decree will be open for public comments for a 30-day period, yet to be announced by DOJ, prior to its finalization by the court.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/refinery-settlement-advances-use-leak-detection-monitoring
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