Preview Newsletter
PM ACC 9/7/2016
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Sen. Feinstein Asks EPA To Prioritize Asbestos TSCA Review
Sep 7, 2016 | Inside EPA
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is asking EPA to include asbestos as one of the first 10 high-risk chemicals the agency prioritizes for review and possible regulation under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), saying that doing so would “reaffirm confidence” in EPA's... -
Rocket Fuel And The Not-So-Safe Drinking Water Act
Sep 7, 2016 | Environmental Working Group
By Alex Formuzis
In a remarkable moment of courtroom candor, an attorney representing the Environmental Protection Agency admitted last week the EPA "blew it" in botched efforts to regulate a hazardous chemical in the drinking water of up to 17 million Americans. -
Dollar Tree Makes ‘No Progress’ on Chemicals of Concern in Three Years
Sep 7, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
US budget store chain, Dollar Tree, has not adopted any new policies or made any progress towards identifying and phasing out chemicals of concern from products it sells, since 2013, according to a coalition of environmental and consumer groups. -
(ACC Mentioned) Energy Execs, AGs Huddled at Resort Ahead of Litigation
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Hannah Hess
Attorneys general from Republican-led states met with energy executives at the West Virginia's storied Greenbrier resort less than two weeks before they filed a lawsuit last year aimed at halting U.S. EPA's rule for curbing greenhouse gases from power plants. -
(ACC Mentioned) Fossil Fuel Industry Paid for Meetings with GOP Attorneys General to Plan Attack on Clean Power Plan
Sep 7, 2016 | YubaNet
By Center for Media and Democracy
Fossil fuel giants Murray Energy and Southern Company paid for meetings with Republican attorneys general to discuss their opposition to the Clean Power Plan less than two weeks before the same GOP officials petitioned federal courts to block the Obama administration’s... -
Court Hands Enviros Big Win on Fracking Review
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Environmentalists notched a major victory on hydraulic fracturing yesterday when a federal court ordered the Obama administration to conduct additional environmental review for fracking on public lands in California. -
Apache: Permian Discovery Holds 3 Billion Barrels of Oil
Sep 7, 2016 | Fuel Fix
By David Hunn
The Houston-based oil exploration company Apache has made a significant discovery in West Texas’s Permian Basin, estimated at 75 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 3 billion barrels of oil — nearly the equivalent of an entire year of U.S. crude production... -
The Birth and Troubled Childhood of an American Supergrid
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By John Fialka
It may seem ironic that the pioneer of projects that could lead to the sharpest increase in emissions-free electricity in the United States started in Wyoming, the state that leads U.S. production of coal, ranks in the top 10 for natural gas production and pumps 2 percent of the nation's oil. -
EPA Issues Final Version of Cross-State Rule
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA today rolled out the final version of its updated Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, geared to cutting summertime emissions of nitrogen oxides from power plants in 22 states that contribute to downwind ozone problems. -
White House to Review EPA Modeling Guideline Changes
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA has sent the final draft of proposed changes to its air quality modeling guidelines to the White House Office of Management and Budget for interagency review.
Industry and Association News - There are no clips to report at this time.
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Environment News
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Sen. Feinstein Asks EPA To Prioritize Asbestos TSCA Review
Sep 7, 2016 | Inside EPA
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is asking EPA to include asbestos as one of the first 10 high-risk chemicals the agency prioritizes for review and possible regulation under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), saying that doing so would “reaffirm confidence” in EPA's power to restrict the known carcinogen.
The senator sent a Sept. 6 letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy that says “expediting the evaluation of asbestos should be a top-level priority” for the agency.
The updated TSCA, signed by President Obama on June 22, requires EPA to decide by mid-December on a list of 10 chemicals that it will prioritize for review and determine whether to restrict or ban their use. Feinstein's fellow California Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) late last month urged EPA to ensure that asbestos is one of those chemicals, arguing that its health risks are well known.
EPA attempted to regulate asbestos years ago using authority under the original 1976 TSCA, but a federal appeals court struck down the ban. The agency's inability to restrict the use of a known carcinogen was seen as an example of the limits of the law and helped spur the push for the TSCA overhaul.
Obama during the signing ceremony for the revised law said, "The system was so complex, it was so burdensome that our country hasn't even been able to uphold a ban on asbestos -- a known carcinogen that kills as many as 10,000 Americans every year. I think a lot of Americans would be shocked by all that. . . . I think most Americans would expect that we could come together to fix this law and do a better job protecting the American people.”
Feinstein in her letter to McCarthy notes Obama's comments from the opening ceremony as further justification for EPA to include asbestos on the list of the first 10 chemicals reviewed under the law. “In my view, this action would serve to reaffirm confidence in the EPA’s ability to protect Americans from dangerous chemicals,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice on Sept. 7 announced that a developer pleaded guilty to violating Clean Air Act requirements on renovating an asbestos-containing property in the District of Columbia.
“The Clean Air Act specifically establishes standards for the safe handling of this dangerous material. This prosecution holds this businessman accountable for his recklessness and shows we will enforce laws that protect the health and safety of workers and citizens in the District of Columbia,” said U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the District of Columbia in a press release on the guilty plea by James Powers.
Jennifer Lynn, acting special agent in charge of EPA's criminal enforcement program in the Mid-Atlantic states, added, “Exposure to asbestos poses serious risks to public health and our communities, so it’s imperative that it be handled properly and disposed of safely. This case demonstrates EPA and its law enforcement partners will hold accountable those who put the public at risk through unsafe practices.”
http://insideepa.com/news-briefs/sen-feinstein-asks-epa-prioritize-asbestos-tsca-review
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Rocket Fuel And The Not-So-Safe Drinking Water Act
Sep 7, 2016 | Environmental Working Group
By Alex Formuzis
In a remarkable moment of courtroom candor, an attorney representing the Environmental Protection Agency admitted last week the EPA "blew it" in botched efforts to regulate a hazardous chemical in the drinking water of up to 17 million Americans.
The attorney, Emily Elizabeth Bretz of the U.S. Attorney's office for New York state, was responding to a lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council over the EPA's failure to set a legal tap water limit for perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel linked to impaired fetal and infant brain development and altered thyroid hormones in women.
The EPA first announced plans to regulate perchlorate in February 2011. Under the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, the agency had two years to propose regulations and another 18 months to finalize them.
The reforms to the drinking water law solidified the EPA’s authority to establish enforceable drinking water standards for previously unregulated contaminants. Yet the last time the EPA set a new legal tap water limit for a chemical pollutant was in 2000.
In 2011, the EPA estimated that up to 17 million Americans may be exposed to perchlorate-contaminated water. According to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office, perchlorate contamination of drinking water, groundwater, surface water, soil or sediment has been found in 45 states and the District of Columbia.
A 2007 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and Boston University researchers found the average breast-fed infant was exposed to more than double the dose of perchlorate that the EPA, at the time, considered safe. Highly exposed babies were ingesting up to 10 times the amount deemed safe. Two years later, the CDC found perchlorate in 15 top-selling brands of infant formula.
For almost two decades, the defense and aerospace industries have lobbied the EPA to block regulation of perchlorate.
In 2008, the EPA announced its intention not to set a drinking water limit for the chemical. But in 2011, in testimony at a Senate hearing, then-EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and the Obama administration reversed the decision and set the agency on a course to finally set drinking water standards for perchlorate and 16 other chemicals.
Among the chemicals targeted for action were tetrachlorethylene, or PCE, and trichloroethylene, or TCE. The chemicals, widely used in dry cleaning agents, are strongly associated with developmental problems in babies, as well as cancer.
The EPA has identified 100 chemicals that can be found in U.S. drinking water but remain unregulated, including:
· Chromium-6, the "Erin Brockovich" chemical and a notorious carcinogen;
· PFOA and PFOS, formerly used in Teflon, Scotchgard and other nonstick or stain-proofing products, which is linked to kidney and testicular cancer;
· 1,4-dioxane, an industrial solvent the EPA classifies as a probable human carcinogen.
The 1996 amendments to the drinking water law require the EPA to set new safety standards whenever there is a “meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public water systems.” Yet 20 years later, the EPA fails to exercise its authority to protect public health from previously unregulated contaminants.
The lead crisis in Flint, Mich., has heightened public concerns about U.S. drinking water, and contamination data show that in many parts of the country tap water quality is questionable at best. The result: Public confidence in the federal government’s ability to ensure clean drinking water is in tatters.
Safe, clean drinking water should be a right for all Americans. But to ensure this right, the EPA must do its job, instead of “blowing” its promises to the public.
http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2016/09/rocket-fuel-and-not-so-safe-drinking-water-act
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Dollar Tree Makes ‘No Progress’ on Chemicals of Concern in Three Years
Sep 7, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
US budget store chain, Dollar Tree, has not adopted any new policies or made any progress towards identifying and phasing out chemicals of concern from products it sells, since 2013, according to a coalition of environmental and consumer groups.
The Campaign for Healthier Solutions criticised the product safety section of Dollar Tree’s recently released 2016 sustainability report for being identical to that of 2013.
Campaign for Healthier Solutions director, Jose Bravo, wrote to Dollar Tree CEO Bob Sasser raising the group’s concerns.
In the letter, Mr Bravo said: “A comparison of your 2013 and 2016 sustainability reports lists no new policies adopted or actions taken, in the last three years, on these great issues of concern to many customers.”
He added: “This cut and paste attempt to paper over the harm caused by dangerous chemicals, found in many Dollar Tree products, is disrespectful to Dollar Tree investors, customers, and the communities which depend on discount retailers for their products, toys, food and other household goods.”
Last year, NGO Healthystuff.org tested 164 items from four major discount store chains, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar and 99 Cents Only. The tests were carried out in six US states and revealed that 81% of products, sold by the retailers, had at least one hazardous chemical above levels of concern, including lead and phthalates.
Concerns have been raised that any health risks from using the products would fall disproportionately on people of lower socio-economic backgrounds, who make up the store’s demographic.
A spokesman for Dollar Tree did not comment directly on the group’s criticism of the company’s sustainability report, but told Chemical Watch that customer safety was “a top priority” and that all products sold had passed independent testing to ensure they were compliant and safe.
He added: “We have a robust and stringent product testing programme, which includes working with independent Consumer Product Safety Commission accredited testing companies, like Bureau Veritas and Intertek, to ensure our suppliers' products meet all safety and legal standards.”
The Campaign for Healthier Solutions was set up by the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, a network of environmental justice groups, and Coming Clean, an environmental health collaborative. Its members include NGOs, consumers, health experts, business leaders and scientists.
https://chemicalwatch.com/49461/dollar-tree-makes-no-progress-on-chemicals-of-concern-in-three-years
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(ACC Mentioned) Energy Execs, AGs Huddled at Resort Ahead of Litigation
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Hannah Hess
Attorneys general from Republican-led states met with energy executives at the West Virginia's storied Greenbrier resort less than two weeks before they filed a lawsuit last year aimed at halting U.S. EPA's rule for curbing greenhouse gases from power plants.
The closed-door meetings took place last August at a four-day summit hosted by the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), according to an agenda obtained by a watchdog group using public records requests.
Representatives of Murray Energy Corp., American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and Southern Co. attended private meetings of up to 40 minutes.
Documents obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy say corporations could pay a premium-rate RAGA membership fee of up to $125,000 for the privilege of holding private briefings with attorneys general and their staff, as well as attending the annual meeting.
"State attorneys general are supposed to enforce the law and serve the public interest, but instead these Republican officials have hung a 'For Sale' sale on their door, and the fossil fuel industry proved to be the highest bidder," Nick Surgey, research director for the nonprofit, said in a statement.
The summit also provided an opportunity for attorneys general to solicit campaign contributions from attendees, according to a separate fundraising schedule. Attendees could discuss their priorities during private meetings, informal conversations and leisure activities — kayaking, a five-hour golf game and a shooting tournament sponsored by the National Rifle Association.
A Murray Energy attorney and the head of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity joined three Republican attorneys general from states leading the fight against the Clean Power Plan — Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma and Ken Paxton of Texas — for an hourlong panel during the conference titled "The Dangerous Consequences of the Clean Power Plan & Other EPA Rules."
Murray Energy spokesman Gary Broadbent said the company is "proud" to support RAGA "in working to combat the numerous illegal and destructive actions of the Obama administration." The company's arguments against the rule, stayed by Supreme Court in February, are well-documented in public comments and court filings, he said.
Broadbent said the state attorneys general who have lined up to fight the rules in court "determined that this [plan] is illegal and acted on their own."
Opponents of the rule argue that virtually all Democrats support regulations that threaten coal and other fossil fuels, so they have no choice but to support politicians who are trying to protect the industry.
RAGA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Greenwire.
Scott Will, executive director of RAGA, told Bloomberg Politics that there is no link between contributors and litigation, only "between executive overreach and litigation."
An attendee list for the 2015 summer conference also included representatives from Koch Industries Inc., the American Chemistry Council, America's Natural Gas Alliance, Devon Energy Corp., the Edison Electric Institute, Georgia Power Co., the National Mining Association, NextEra Energy Inc., the Nuclear Energy Institute and Peabody Energy Corp.
RAGA has received since 2015 at least $100,000 from Exxon Mobil Corp., $350,000 from Koch Industries, $85,000 from Southern, $378,250 from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity and $250,000 from Murray Energy, according to materials reviewed by the watchdog group.
"It's no coincidence that GOP attorneys general have mounted an aggressive fight alongside the fossil fuel industry to block the Clean Power Plan — that appears to be exactly what the industry paid for," Surgey said.
"Together, these documents reveal a sustained pattern of collusion between the fossil fuel industry and the Republican attorneys general on climate change obstructionism," he added.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060042450/search?keyword=%22american+chemistry+council%22
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Sep 7, 2016 | YubaNet
By Center for Media and Democracy
Fossil fuel giants Murray Energy and Southern Company paid for meetings with Republican attorneys general to discuss their opposition to the Clean Power Plan less than two weeks before the same GOP officials petitioned federal courts to block the Obama administration’s signature climate proposal, according to private emails from state attorneys general obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy. Confidential documents also reveal that some of the GOP attorneys general again discussed “the future of the fight to stop the Clean Power Plan” at a meeting of the Republican Attorneys General Association’s 501(c)(4) organization, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, this past April.
The initial meetings took place at an August 2015 summit hosted by RAGA in West Virginia, where attendees were offered the opportunity to meet with GOP attorneys general in exchange for financial donations to help reelect the Republican state prosecutors.
The previously unknown meetings and financial donations – revealed in copies of conference materials, most stamped “confidential,” that were emailed to state attorneys general who attended the summit and obtained by CMD through public records requests – offer the first look at the behind-the-scenes coordination between GOP attorneys general and the fossil fuel industry to undermine the implementation of the Clean Power Plan.
“State attorneys general are supposed to enforce the law and serve the public interest, but instead these Republican officials have hung a ‘For Sale’ sale on their door, and the fossil fuel industry proved to be the highest bidder,” said Nick Surgey, Research Director at the Center for Media and Democracy, a national watchdog group. “It’s no coincidence that GOP attorneys general have mounted an aggressive fight alongside the fossil fuel industry to block the Clean Power Plan – that appears to be exactly what the industry paid for. Together, these documents reveal a sustained pattern of collusion between the fossil fuel industry and the Republican attorneys general on climate change obstructionism.”
In addition to the private briefings, the RAGA conference also included a panel presentation entitled “The Dangerous Consequences of the Clean Power Plan & Other EPA Rules,” featuring Mike Duncan, President of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) and Geoffrey Barnes, Counsel at Murray Energy, as well as three attorneys general: Scott Pruitt (R-OK), Patrick Morrisey (R-WV), and Ken Paxton (R-TX). All parties are currently engaged in legal challenges to the CPP.
Opening arguments are scheduled to begin in federal appeals court this September over legal challenges filed by the fossil fuel industry and GOP attorneys general seeking to halt implementation of the CPP.
Corporations can pay a premium rate RAGA membership fee of up to $125,000 for the privilege of holding private briefings with attorneys general and their staff, as well as attending the annual meeting. The conference provides ample opportunity for attorneys general to directly solicit campaign contributions from corporate representatives during private meetings, informal conversations and leisure activities—like kayaking, a five-hour golf game, and a National Rifle Association-sponsored shooting tournament.
An attendee list for the 2015 summer conference also included representatives from Koch Industries, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), American Chemistry Council, America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), Devon Energy, Edison Electric Institute, Georgia Power, National Mining Association, NextEra Energy, Nuclear Energy Institute, Troutman Sanders, U.S. Chamber for Legal Reform, the State Policy Network and Peabody Energy.
According to materials reviewed by CMD, in the past year alone RAGA has received at least $100,000 from ExxonMobil, $350,000 from Koch Industries, $85,000 from Southern Company, $378,250 from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), $250,000 from Murray Energy, and numerous other significant contributions from other coal, oil and gas companies.
http://yubanet.com/usa/fossil-fuel-industry-paid-for-meetings-with-gop-attorneys-general-to-plan-attack-on-clean-power-plan/
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Court Hands Enviros Big Win on Fracking Review
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Environmentalists notched a major victory on hydraulic fracturing yesterday when a federal court ordered the Obama administration to conduct additional environmental review for fracking on public lands in California.
The decision, from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is the first major ruling on environmental review for fracking during the federal government's land-planning phase. The court found that the Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately analyze fracking's impacts when it crafted a resource management plan (RMP) and related environmental review for more than 1 million acres in the Golden State's central region.
Judge Michael Fitzgerald, an Obama appointee, ordered BLM to conduct a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) to give greater consideration to fracking's risks, which he noted could include groundwater contamination, seismicity and chemical leaks.
"Although the parties disagree as to whether these concerns are well-founded, the Bureau acknowledges that fracking is, at a minimum, a controversial national issue," he wrote in hisorder.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch challenged the agency's RMP last year, arguing that the agency's development plan for lands in the Central Valley, San Joaquin Valley and southern Sierra Nevada and along the central coast referenced fracking only three times and did not consider new research on its impacts. The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to prepare supplemental environmental impact statements when significant new information comes to light (EnergyWire, June 11, 2015).
BLM has argued that the environmental groups' lawsuit is not appropriate at the RMP stage because they have opportunities to participate in and challenge the NEPA process during leasing and permitting. But Fitzgerald rejected the argument, noting that the agency had an obligation to consider the impacts of a technique unquestionably expected to play a leading role in future development of the RMP area.
"The Bureau was not only aware of the projected growth in the use of fracking but also estimated that 25% of new wells in the Decision Area are expected to be fracked the future," Fitzgerald wrote. "Yet aside from these three isolated and passing references to fracking in the [RMP], the 1,073-page document makes no mention of fracking at all, let alone a meaningful discussion to inform decision-makers and the public of the attendant environmental concerns unique to fracking."
Environmentalists hailed the decision as a major step toward closer review of fracking.
"We are still digesting the decision, but it is without question a significant victory," Earthjustice attorney Greg Loarie, who is representing the groups, said in an email. "Our hope is that the decision will finally put an end to BLM's practice of rubber stamping of fracking in California. Fracking is bad policy under any circumstance, but in a drought fracking is plain insane. We need to be conserving our groundwater, not polluting it."
The only similar decision on fracking came in 2013 from the neighboring Northern District of California, which found that BLM failed to consider fracking's impacts during the leasing stage.
Los Padres ForestWatch Executive Director Jeff Kuyper said in a statement that he hoped the ruling would spur additional protection of public lands in California. CBD's conservation director, Brendan Cummings, said the court's decision should serve as a warning to the Obama administration to "end this reckless rush to auction off our public land to oil companies."
BLM did not respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives for the Western States Petroleum Association or the Western Energy Alliance.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/09/07/stories/1060042412
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Apache: Permian Discovery Holds 3 Billion Barrels of Oil
Sep 7, 2016 | Fuel Fix
By David Hunn
The Houston-based oil exploration company Apache has made a significant discovery in West Texas’s Permian Basin, estimated at 75 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 3 billion barrels of oil — nearly the equivalent of an entire year of U.S. crude production, the company announced on Wednesday.
The new field sits in the southern portion of the Delaware Basin, the Permian’s western and southern half. It is primarily in Reeves County, south of New Mexico, near the Davis Mountains. Apache is calling the field the “Alpine High.”
he company said it has methodically pieced together 307,000 contiguous acres in the area over the past two years, and done “extensive geologic and geophysical work.” It said it paid $1,300 per acre on average.
Apache also said its oil estimates are for the deep Barnett and Woodford formations alone. It expects there is also “significant” oil potential in the shallower Pennsylvanian, Bone Springs and Wolfcamp formations.
The company has drilled 19 wells and identified 2,000 to 3,000 future drilling locations in the Woodford and Barnett alone, expected to deliver a combination of rich gas and oil worth $4 million to $20 million per well at $3 per million cubic feet in gas and $50 per barrel of oil.
It expects well development for a 4,100 foot lateral to cost $4 million to $6 million.
“Today’s announcement is the culmination of more than two years of hard work by the Apache team,” John J. Christmann IV, Apache’s chief executive officer and president, said in a statement. “While other companies have focused on acquisitions during the downturn, we took a contrarian approach and focused on organic growth opportunities. These efforts have resulted in the identification of an immense resource that we believe will deliver significant value for our shareholders for many years.”
To speed up the development of Alpine High, Apache increased its estimated capital spending this year by $200 million to about $2 billion. Work on the discovery will represent more than 25 percent of the company’s total capital spending program, it said.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/09/07/apache-permian-discovery/
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The Birth and Troubled Childhood of an American Supergrid
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By John Fialka
First in a three-part series.
It may seem ironic that the pioneer of projects that could lead to the sharpest increase in emissions-free electricity in the United States started in Wyoming, the state that leads U.S. production of coal, ranks in the top 10 for natural gas production and pumps 2 percent of the nation's oil.
The project started with a 320,000-acre cattle ranch in Carbon County on Wyoming's southern border. In 2006, Philip Anschutz, the ranch's billionaire owner, put it up for sale. Then one of his top aides, Bill Miller, pointed out that the ranch is swept by some of the steadiest, most powerful land-based wind resources in the world.
If there were some way to capture and transmit the ranch's wind energy to California, one of the world's richest markets for emissions-free electricity, that would certainly be a better economic proposition. Anschutz could keep the ranch, continue to raise cattle on it and harvest its formidable wind energy at the same time. Was that possible? Miller and Anschutz did some research and discovered there might just be a way.
By then, a technology called high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) power lines had matured and seemed ready for the task. Most Americans think of Thomas Edison when it comes to direct current, which he used to light up Lower Manhattan in 1882. But Edison's DC proved to be too weak to move electricity much more than a mile beyond a power plant. A Serbian-American inventor, Nikola Tesla, came up with a better idea using an alternating current, or so-called AC electricity, that moved in a regular, wavelike pattern. He also invented a transformer that could step up AC power to carry it over longer distances.
The world of electricity transmission initially moved in Tesla's direction, but in 1954, a persistent Swedish engineer, Uno Lamm, proved he had solved Edison's problem by sending DC power from Sweden's electric grid through an undersea cable to the island of Gotland, 60 miles away in the Baltic Sea. He had invented new controls that made DC electricity lines far more capable of moving electricity over long distances than AC could.
It was a bold accomplishment, and in 1961, the Kennedy administration approved a much more ambitious DC project called the Pacific DC Intertie, an above-ground power line that could move electricity from hydroelectric dams in the state of Washington to markets in Southern California. Private power plant owners in California lined up against the line. Then ASEA, the company that Lamm worked for, sent him to the United States where he convinced experts that importing cleaner DC power would save California's consumers $600,000 a day when the line was completed in 1970, which it did.
DC power lines also have other ways of selling themselves. ABB, the Swedish-Swiss multinational engineering firm, which later took over ASEA, built a DC power line in the 1990s carrying hydroelectric power from Quebec to Montreal and into New England. On Aug. 14, 2003, the more sophisticated and muscular controls on this line stopped the massive blackout in the northeastern United States from cascading into Canada and then helped the U.S. power grid restore power more quickly.
The project that Anschutz and Miller put together is a variant of this line. Called the TransWest Express, it would extend 730 miles from Sinclair, Wyo., to a connection point just south of Las Vegas near Hoover Dam. There, its estimated 20,000 gigawatt-hours per year would be converted into AC power and flow into the grid that serves California and other Southwest markets.
Most of its electricity would come from 1,000 wind turbines that would be installed on the ranch, rechristened as the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project. Miller, who formerly explored and bought land rights for Anschutz's oil and gas projects, was elevated to be president of the Power Company of Wyoming, which would oversee the construction of the wind farm.
He also became president and CEO of TransWest Express LLC and would oversee the construction of the HVDC line, which would cost another $3 billion. A genial man who has repeatedly explained that he and his boss are in this project for the money and are not necessarily environmentalists, Miller has dealt with many skeptics in his new job.
They include some from California, where some businesses and the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) favor local wind and solar power rather than renewable energy imported via an HVDC line. Miller is quick to point out that Brown signed a law in October 2015 that requires state-regulated utilities to meet a 50 percent renewable energy standard by 2030.
"For California to meet that energy standard in the time frame they're talking about is going to be difficult. It will be less difficult if some of that power comes from outside of the state. There is an unfilled capacity between now and the time they get to 50 percent on the renewable side. We can satisfy some of that. So will others," Miller predicted.
A flurry of new power lines
Wyoming already seems satisfied. The projected wind farm is so big it may require a man camp and a railroad spur to the site and take up to 950 installers and construction laborers per year to build it once the whole project is approved. It will also create 114 permanent jobs, making it one of Carbon County's largest employers.
"It makes economic sense for California to obtain a portion of their renewable energy from Wyoming," said Loyd Drain, the former head of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority. The authority commissioned a study that shows that Wyoming wind energy delivered by an HVDC line like the TransWest Express project will save Californians "up to $1 billion in annual generation costs."
Another sign that the electricity market's winds may indeed be blowing in Anschutz's direction are other companies that have since jumped in with proposed, for-profit HVDC lines, which are called "merchant lines" in the business. Some of them, like TransWest, are aimed at bringing renewable energy from Great Plains states to California and the Southwest. Others, such as Houston-based Clean Line Energy Partners, are more interested in moving cheap and abundant wind power from Plains states to markets hungry for renewables in the East.
Michael Skelly, president of Clean Lines, said the company began proposing projects six years ago. Most of his staff, like Skelly, are veterans from the wind industry, builders of wind farms across the country. The way the U.S. power grid — which is primarily based on short distance AC power lines — works means that areas with abundant wind are often locked into small market niches where electricity prices are abnormally low.
"As we looked at the industry going forward, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that the key to expanding renewables is to expand the grid in order to accommodate them," Skelly explained.
Clean Line's investors started with a subsidiary of Ziff Brothers Investments, a New York-based venture capital firm, and attracted several other capital sources as its proposals grew. Its flagship project is the Grain Belt Express Clean Line, a 780-mile HVDC line that would bring wind power from near Dodge City in western Kansas across northern Missouri and Illinois to a point in eastern Illinois, where its power would be converted to AC and flow into the PJM Interconnection, a wholesale electricity market that would feed the power as far as the East Coast.
Other HVDC projects include the 500-mile Rock Island Clean Line, which would bring abundant wind power in northwest Iowa into central Illinois and the Chicago area; the Centennial West Clean Line, a 900-mile line feeding wind power from New Mexico and Arizona to California; the Plains & Eastern Clean Line, a 700-mile line from the Oklahoma Panhandle to Tennessee, Arkansas and other markets in the mid-South and Southeast; and the Western Spirit Clean Line, which would carry wind power 140 miles from east-central New Mexico, feeding it into markets farther west.'
Two different paths' to a cleaner future
The growing stream of U.S. long-distance proposals has also attracted companies with long experience in building and operating HVDC, the main one being National Grid, the U.S. subsidiary of the company that operates the systems that market gas and electricity across Great Britain.
Located in Waltham, Mass., National Grid has invested $40 million in Clean Line's projects, as well as launching two of its own. One, Maine Green Line, would distribute a mix of wind-generated power from Maine and hydroelectric power from Canada. Another, Vermont Green Line, would originate in northern New York and feed wind and hydroelectric power mainly from an underground and underwater line through Vermont.
Stan Blazewicz, vice president of U.S. business development for National Grid, explains that as two aged nuclear power plants are shutting down in New England, the demand for low-cost clean energy is soaring. Most states in the region have set targets for 80 percent renewable power by 2050.
"Those drivers are so strong that there is little chance that these states are going to back away from their public policy goals," he said.
Exactly what policy the U.S. government will adopt toward the surge of interest in merchant-driven HVDC lines remains unclear. There are two studies that show possible futures. One, released in 2012 by the U.S. Department of Energy, included participation from industry and university experts. It calls for more HVDC lines and interconnections to help promote long-distance flows of wind power throughout the nation. It also calls for large batteries and other forms of storage to eliminate the variability of wind and solar power that can impede transmission.
Another study, released in January by a team of weather and grid experts formed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, proposes a "Super Grid," a 30,000-mile nationwide network of underground HVDC lines that can create a national market for excess wind and solar power by quickly distributing renewable energy to places anywhere in the United States that need it. In theory, this grid would eliminate the need for storage.
Both studies aim at 80 percent reduction of emissions from the nation's electricity system by 2050 — which would provide substantial help to efforts to mitigate climate change — however, they differ on costs and the mix of transmission systems that will be needed to reach the target.
"Keep in mind that we both see a cleaner energy future, but we show two different pathways to getting there," explained Bryan Hannegan, an associate director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory at Golden, Colo. He is co-chairman of a consortium of DOE-funded national laboratories working to provide the technologies needed for the future power grid.
Just where Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has called climate change a "hoax," might stand in a battle over the nation's future power grid remains a mystery. Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, however, recently put a statement on her campaign website that sent a little electric charge through some of the many experts involved in this murky, but important, debate. Somebody was listening.
Without stating how she might do it, Clinton promised that in the next 10 years she will add more renewable power "generation capacity to the grid than during any decade in American history."
Tomorrow: Running a gantlet of regulators.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/09/07/stories/1060042384
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EPA Issues Final Version of Cross-State Rule
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA today rolled out the final version of its updated Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, geared to cutting summertime emissions of nitrogen oxides from power plants in 22 states that contribute to downwind ozone problems.
EPA unveiled its initial proposal in November following a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that found the agency's 2014 state budgets for ozone and sulfur dioxide were too strict in some cases and sent them back to EPA for reconsideration (Greenwire, July 28, 2015)
The final version, scheduled to take effect next May, drops North Carolina from the program because air quality modeling showed that the state "is not linked to any downwind or maintenance receptors," according to an agency fact sheet. The remaining states covered by the update are mainly in the eastern half of the United States, although they extend as far west as Kansas and Texas.
The update, when combined with other measures already underway, will cut NOx releases next year by some 80,000 tons in the affected states, or about a 20 percent drop from last year's levels, EPA said. The changes will yield annual benefits valued at up to $880 million, "far outweighing" the $68 million compliance cost, according to the agency's analysis.
To the dismay of environmentalists, however, the update is intended to help downwind states meet the 75-parts-per-billion air quality standard for ozone set in 2008, not the more stringent 70 ppb benchmark put in place last October.
Ozone, the main ingredient in smog, is formed by the reaction of NOx and volatile organic compounds in sunlight. "The common sense actions that power plants can take to quickly and affordably reduce this harmful pollution will help protect the health and lives of millions of Americans," acting EPA air chief Janet McCabe said in a news release today.
The updated regulations will also help improve visibility in national and state parks, according to the agency.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/09/07/stories/1060042449
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White House to Review EPA Modeling Guideline Changes
Sep 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA has sent the final draft of proposed changes to its air quality modeling guidelines to the White House Office of Management and Budget for interagency review.
EPA officials had published their original proposal in July 2015, pursuant to a Clean Air Act requirement that they spell out the models to be used in the agency's Prevention of Significant Deterioration program. Among the proposed changes was adoption of photochemical modeling techniques to better account for formation of fine particulate matter and ozone from "precursor emissions" from single pollutant sources.
The proposal attracted more than 100 comments. While EPA had hoped to unveil the final version this July, the latest draft was received by OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs only on Friday, according to the website Reginfo.gov.
Among the trade groups, environmental organizations and other commenters who weighed in, a key concern was the proposal's potential impact on ozone modeling. In a paper released last year, outside scientists had said that improved modeling and better data would be needed to adequately enforce a tighter ozone standard, given the presence of relatively high levels of naturally occurring background ozone in parts of the Intermountain West (Greenwire, June 5, 2015).
In October, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy lowered the standard from 75 parts per billion to 70 ppb. Modeling "is a key compliance piece," Michael Kennedy, associate general counsel for the National Mining Association, wrote in comments filed soon after, in which he urged EPA to add more details to its proposal and work on communicating results "to the regulated community in a clearer and more efficient manner."
Seth Johnson, an Earthjustice attorney writing on behalf of the Sierra Club, warned EPA against weakening existing guidelines that require major pollution sources to analyze ambient air quality in the course of showing that any new activities won't cause or contribute to violations. Johnson also criticized as "illegal" EPA's plans to rely on an approach known as "modeled emissions rates of precursors" for ozone and fine particulates.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/09/07/stories/1060042438
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