Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 9/13/16
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California Agencies to Sponsor Forum on BPA in Cans
Sep 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry is holding a public forum on identifying and evaluating alternative materials to bisphenol A (BPA) in can linings. -
Echa Urges Big Companies to Commit to Enes Tools for 2018
Sep 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
Echa has released the final template in a package of tools developed as part of an initiative to improve communication of uses and exposures between REACH registrants and downstream users. -
Update U.S. Energy Policy
Sep 13, 2016 | The Wheeling Intelligencer
By U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito
When United States Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz visited West Virginia on Monday, he got a first-hand look at our state’s role in America’s energy revolution. -
Clean Power Plan Will Enable The Clean Tech Evolution, Say High-Tech Giants
Sep 13, 2016 | Forbes
By Ken Silverstein
Despite the fact that a U.S. district court will soon pass judgement on the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, American companies are moving forward to cut their carbon emissions. -
Rule Meets Clean Air Act Requirements — Legal Experts
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
The Clean Power Plan falls squarely within the bounds of the Clean Air Act, a trio of law professors at New York University argue in a new policy brief. -
PG&E CEO Sees EPA Rule Boosting Western Market
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro
Should U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan survive judicial challenges, it could be the incentive needed in some Western states to support the creation of a new electricity market encompassing as many as 11 states. -
Murky Methane Findings Complicate Obama's Regulatory Plan
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Camille von Kaenel
The jury is still out on the culprit behind the recent increase in global methane emissions. -
Small Pipe Leak Found at SoCalGas Gas Storage Facility
Sep 13, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Sempra Energy's Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) said a small natural gas leak was discovered and plugged in an above-ground pipeline at the still-closed Aliso Canyon underground gas storage facility along the northern fringe of Los Angeles. -
The Difficulty of Oil Pipeline Routing, Whether in North Dakota or Azerbaijan
Sep 13, 2016 | Platts Blog
By Meghan Gordon
Richard Kauzlarich was among the Washington energy policy watchers surprised by the Obama administration’s 11th-hour halt to the Dakota Access oil pipeline, September 9. The contentious pipeline project reminded him of another energy era in a very different part of the world. -
Pipeline Developer Undaunted by Project Freeze, Protests
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
The Texas billionaire behind the proposed $3.7 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline is doubling down on the project despite a temporary freeze from the Obama administration and ongoing protests. -
Technology and Training Improve Rail Safety
Sep 12, 2016 | Huffington Post
By Edward R. Hamberger
While some may have you believe that railroads today still use “Civil War era technology,” today’s network features countless components unfathomable at the time of Lincoln. -
EPA Asks Court to Reconsider Tossing Boiler Rules
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
U.S. EPA yesterday asked for a rehearing of a federal court's decision to toss out part of the agency's rules setting emission standards for industrial boilers.
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California Agencies to Sponsor Forum on BPA in Cans
Sep 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry is holding a public forum on identifying and evaluating alternative materials to bisphenol A (BPA) in can linings.
The event will take place on 4 November. It is sponsored by:
the California EPA (CalEPA);
the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (Oehha);
the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC); and
federal partners.
https://chemicalwatch.com/49599/california-agencies-to-sponsor-forum-on-bpa-in-cans
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Echa Urges Big Companies to Commit to Enes Tools for 2018
Sep 13, 2016 | Chemical Watch
Echa has released the final template in a package of tools developed as part of an initiative to improve communication of uses and exposures between REACH registrants and downstream users.
The revised specific environmental release category (Sperc) factsheet completes the package, which also includes templates to describe worker exposure (Sweds) and consumer exposure (Sceds), as well as use maps.
The tools build on work done during earlier REACH deadlines on generic exposure scenarios. This aimed to systematise supply chain communications.
The developers of the tools – the Exchange network on exposure scenarios (Enes) – include experts from Echa and EU member states, plus upstream and downstream industries. They have high hopes for the revised processes.
Furthermore, Echa says if widely adopted, the approach should enable it to better understand risk assessments within registration dossiers. This will make it easier to identify substances that do not warrant further evaluation
Upstream challenge
But the agency notes the completion of the templates comes at a critical moment as companies plan for 2018 REACH registrations. It wants the leading companies to insist on receiving use information for their dossiers in the new format as a way of driving demand for the Enes use maps.
Mike Rasenberg, head of Echa’s computational assessment and dissemination unit, recognises this is a challenge, as preparing the dossiers is a significant task in itself. However, the agency wants big companies to commit to using data from the new tools to send a signal to downstream users that they need to prepare their:
sector specific use maps;
Sweds;
Sceds; and
Spercs.
He says the benefits will only be gained if the tools are implemented. For this to happen:
the templates have to be populated with standardised use information gathered from the members of different downstream sector groups; and
registrants have to be ready to receive this information and incorporate it into their REACH dossiers. They must also be prepared to invest in systems to extract exposure scenarios. This way they can be incorporated in extended SDSs and sent to customers in a harmonised format.
The main message Echa wants to convey is that there are business benefits to companies implementing the new processes.
The agency recognises that the company experts involved with registration data are often not the people responsible for taking the kinds of investment decisions needed for implementation of the Enes tools.
"We need to get the message to the right level in companies. If you want to make sure your chemicals are not under scrutiny – this is where you have to invest,” says Mr Rasenberg.
"Engage in this process, so you have a systematic, good understanding of use and exposure information."
He cites the example of the petroleum industry group Concawe. It has investigated more thoroughly the use information contained in 2010 dossiers. The updated information is likely to see around 50 substances removed from regulatory scrutiny under the REACH evaluation process.
To help get the message across the agency's executive director Geert Dancet wrote to Cefic earlier this year. And he will attend the trade group's annual general meeting next month.
Downstream activity
So far seven downstream sectors have indicated to Echa they will generate use maps:
Cepe, representing paints and coatings;
Aise, for detergents, cleaning and maintenance products;
Feica, for adhesives and sealants;
EFCC, for construction chemicals;
I&P Europe, representing imaging and printing companies;
Fertilisers Europe; and
Cosmetics Europe.
The Downstream Users of Chemicals Coordination (Ducc) group is coordinating this effort.
From the work done for previous REACH deadlines, more than 30 downstream sector organisations developed the first generation use maps. The agency hopes use of the new templates will spread to these groups, and then beyond.
It will make the new or revised sector use maps (and associated Sweds, Sceds and Spercs) available on its website. It also plans to support registrants using the information – either for updating existing dossiers, or making new registrations.
Mercedes Viñas, a regulatory officer at Echa, says case studies should be developed to show how the system works and what the benefits are. For downstream users, she says, the experience of extended safety datasheets has not been good so far, as exposure scenarios have not been standardised.
She says suppliers should see use of the Enes tools as a way of improving the service provided to their customers – in this way it will benefit business.
To gauge the current situation and company intentions on Enes tools, Chemical Watch and Chemical Risk Manager are running a poll. It should take five minutes to complete and will provide invaluable information on the situation regarding demand and supply of the tools.
We are also considering hosting a list of registrants that want to publicise their plans to require data from updated use maps for their 2018 registrations or registration updates and what sectors they want the information from.
The poll will run until 30 September. The results will be discussed in future articles, and at the 10th Enes meeting, 15-16 November in Helsinki.
https://chemicalwatch.com/49617/echa-urges-big-companies-to-commit-to-enes-tools-for-2018
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Sep 13, 2016 | The Wheeling Intelligencer
By U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito
When United States Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz visited West Virginia on Monday, he got a first-hand look at our state’s role in America’s energy revolution.
The United States is quickly becoming a dominant player in global energy production. In 2013, the United States surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia as the leading oil and gas producer in the world. By exporting liquefied natural gas to our allies abroad, we can continue to grow jobs in energy producing states.
West Virginia is in a prime position to be a major player in this production boom.
Located in the heart of the Marcellus shale region, we have the right location, resources and workers necessary to continue powering the nation with affordable, reliable energy. We can do this not only through natural gas development, but also by advancing carbon capture and storage technologies that can ensure coal remains part of the nation’s energy portfolio.
The only thing standing in our way is a woeful lack of infrastructure and a blanket of overreaching regulations.
During an energy field hearing I hosted in Morgantown last month, Brian Anderson, Director of West Virginia University’s Energy Institute, spoke about the potential of an ethane storage and distribution hub in the Utica-Marcellus-Rogersville shale region. An Appalachian ethane distribution hub would not only create new downstream energy infrastructure but also boost manufacturing in the region.
West Virginia has a robust chemistry sector that accounts for nearly 40 percent of our state’s manufacturing jobs. Ethane from natural gas serves as a feedstock for many chemical companies, so an ethane storage hub in the region would mean more companies choosing to operate in West Virginia. As of April of this year, there have been over 250 new industry projects nationally because of the shale gas boom. Imagine if this potential was unleashed in West Virginia.
Secretary Moniz learned about Longview Power in Maidsville, the newest, cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power plant in the country. This West Virginia facility is proof that you can continue to operate coal plants that create affordable energy while implementing more efficient technologies that produce fewer emissions. Coal is a reliable source of base load generation, and it must remain a part of our energy mix to meet the demands of powering the nation.
Innovation, not across-the-board regulation, should be our focus. This is why I support bipartisan legislation to promote carbon capture technologies through tax credits that encourage research. I have long been a big proponent of investments that will extend the life of coal and a big opponent of crushing mandates like the harmful Clean Power Plan.
Since 2011, overreaching regulations have cost more than 60,000 coal workers across the country their jobs, devastating American communities and families. During the Morgantown hearing, one witness testified that the decline in coal production has caused a “great depression” in six southern West Virginia counties.
Unfortunately, some have signaled that natural gas will be the next target. Choking off our most reliable and affordable sources of energy will not only devastate the livelihoods of other hard-working people around the country, it will discourage progress and stifle emerging technologies.
Secretary Moniz’s visit to West Virginia comes as a House-Senate conference committee is in the process of reconciling the first comprehensive energy bill since 2007. This legislation includes several important measures to expedite pipeline permitting, advance clean coal technology and study the benefits of a regional ethane storage distribution hub.
This modern, comprehensive energy bill is a needed step to ensure West Virginia remains part of nation’s energy foundation. I am glad Secretary Moniz had an opportunity to witness our potential, our challenges and the benefits an updated energy policy will bring. His visit comes at a critical time.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the Environment and Public Works Committee.
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Clean Power Plan Will Enable The Clean Tech Evolution, Say High-Tech Giants
Sep 13, 2016 | Forbes
By Ken Silverstein
Despite the fact that a U.S. district court will soon pass judgement on the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, American companies are moving forward to cut their carbon emissions. It’s not just boosting their brands. It’s also saving them money, while giving the New Energy Economy the lift that it needs.
The country is already on course to meet the objectives of the plan — to cut carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030, from 2005 levels. Beyond the switch from coal-to-natural gas, it’s also a function of America’s Internet dynamos that have pledged to consume nearly all of their electricity from sustainable sources. Just last week, Apple, Amazon.com, Google and Microsoft filed a brief favoring the Clean Power Plan.
The four own more than 50 data centers in 12 states. Meantime, Adobe Systems, Mars and Blue Cross of Massachusetts also filed amicus briefs favoring the carbon reduction plan. The circuit court will begin hearing arguments on September 27.
The high-tech companies “have committed to consuming energy in an environmentally responsible way and, specifically, to reducing the carbon footprint associated with their operations,” says their brief. “Because the Clean Power Plan reflects reasonable expectations about the operations of the electricity market and the increasing use of renewable energy,” the group supports the plan.
The culmination of those efforts has helped prompt the solar industry skyward in the United States. Solar installations here jumped by 43 percent in the second quarter of this year, reports the Solar Energy Industries Association. More than 2,000 megawatts solar were installed.
To be clear, that was utility-scaled PV, which generates solar power that feeds into the grid. It is different from rooftop solar that generate power for homeowners and businesses. Earlier this year, the nation recorded its 1 millionth residential rooftop installation — a market has grown by 29 percent a year in the last few years. It is expected to hit 2 million in two years, the solar association adds.
“We’re seeing the beginning of an unprecedented wave of growth that will occur throughout the remainder of 2016, specifically within the utility PV segment,” says Cory Honeyman, GTM Research associate director of U.S. solar research. “With more than 10,000 megawatts of utility PV currently under construction, the second half of this year and the first half of 2017 are on track to continue breaking records for solar capacity additions.”
The country is also on track to achieve its carbon goals because America’s utilities are changing out their older coal-fired power plants for those that run on natural gas, and renewables. The result: natural gas now supplies about 34 percent of the country’s electricity mix while coal has fallen from more than half in 2007 to what is expected to soon be 30 percent.
Altogether, about 40 percent of the 523 coal plants that were in operation 5 years are getting phased out, says the Sierra Club. Since 2011, the coal industry’s total market capitalization has fallen from $62.5 billion to $4.59 billion, adds S&P Global Market Intelligence.
What about the doomsday scenarios — that America’s economic collapse is on the offing and that the poor will be left to pay more for electricity as a result of this energy transition?
Consider that between 1980 and 2012, pollution levels from six common air pollutants fell by 67 percent even though the economy kept producing and the country kept growing: the population grew by 38 percent while gross domestic product doubled and energy consumption rose by 27 percent.
Even more, electricity prices have remained in check for three decades. From 1989 to 2000, such rates rose by 1.1 percent a year while inflation climbed by 2.4 percent during the same time period, says the Edison Electric Institute. Since 2000, it says that electric rates have risen by 2.5 percent while inflation has been at 2 percent. Still, it says that the increases are in line with other vital services.
“Even if we don’t want to talk about climate change, the Clean Power Plan will make a huge difference in our quality of life,” says Christine Whitman, former head of EPA and former governor of New Jersey, in an interview with this writer.
“If history has proven correctly, we can have a clean and green environment and a growing economy,” adds Whitman, now a co-chair of the CASEnergy Coalition.
If the insiders are correct, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will affirm the Obama administration’s carbon plan and if so, it will remain in effect, permanently. That’s because the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the plan in February by a vote of 5-4 that included Justice Antonin Scalia in the majority. If the case would be appealed again, a tie vote would not upend the lower court’s ruling.
The practical effect of this legal rigmarole will be to delay implementation by the states. But many of the country’s major corporations are already on board, vowing to limit their carbon emissions and to incorporate more renewables into their business planning. For some companies, it’s part of their brand. For others, it’s abusiness decision that has to drive results.
The prevailing market forces are stronger than any political winds or legal decisions. Indeed, innovation is at the core of coal’s financial troubles — a movement that has been fostered by the demand for cleaner air and water. Contrary to the views of some, national policy is not uprooting the traditional energy economy but rather, it is simply enabling the clean-tech evolution.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2016/09/13/clean-power-plan-will-enable-the-clean-tech-evolution-say-high-tech-giants/#d1e6fca749be
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Rule Meets Clean Air Act Requirements — Legal Experts
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
The Clean Power Plan falls squarely within the bounds of the Clean Air Act, a trio of law professors at New York University argue in a new policy brief.
In the paper released yesterday, the experts from NYU's Institute for Policy Integrity contend that U.S. EPA's foes are incorrect that the agency "dramatically overstepped its authority" in issuing the rule to reduce the power sector's carbon footprint.
"It is certainly true that EPA's regulatory authority over existing power plants is not boundless," the NYU professors wrote. "But critics are wrong to suggest that the Clean Power Plan represents a 'dramatic overstepping' of these statutory boundaries."
EPA's Clean Power Plan requires states to develop plans to reduce CO2 emissions from existing power plants. The Supreme Court stayed the rule in February while massive litigation over it plays out.
On Sept. 27, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is scheduled to hear more than 3 ½ hours of arguments over the rule (Greenwire, Aug. 17).
NYU's Richard Revesz, Denise Grab and Jack Lienke said in their policy brief yesterday that EPA abided by each of the eight "significant constraints" contained in the Clean Air Act's Section 111 when it issued the Clean Power Plan.
Those include the requirement that EPA identify the "best system of emission reduction," or BSER, and consider the amount of emissions reductions that system will produce. EPA must also consider cost, indirect environmental effects, energy requirements and whether the system has been "adequately demonstrated."
The section also requires that EPA's guidelines translate into "standards of performance" for individual sources of pollution and give states flexibility to account for the "remaining useful life" of existing sources.
"The plan explicitly acknowledges and respects each of Section 111's constraints on EPA's regulatory authority," the law professors wrote.
The Clean Power Plan includes three "building blocks" to guide emissions cuts throughout the power sector. Those blocks — improving heat rate at coal-fired steam plants, substituting natural gas combined-cycle plants and switching to renewable generation — have been "adequately demonstrated" and give states flexibility, the NYU brief argues.
The Institute for Policy Integrity earlier this year filed an amicus brief in the D.C. Circuit in support of the Clean Power Plan.
Opponents of the rule say its scope is unprecedented and violates Section 111 of the Clean Air Act in several ways, including by requiring states to adopt standards that cannot be applied to individual power plants.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/09/13/stories/1060042725
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PG&E CEO Sees EPA Rule Boosting Western Market
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro
Should U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan survive judicial challenges, it could be the incentive needed in some Western states to support the creation of a new electricity market encompassing as many as 11 states.
That is the hope of PG&E Corp. Chairman, CEO and President Anthony Earley.
"I would love to see that. I think the next step for the West would be to expand the footprint of the California ISO [Independent System Operator]. I think it would be good for California, it would be good for the West," he said yesterday in Washington, D.C.
The concept of creating a robust Western power market has been around since the late 1990s, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was encouraging the formation of independent system operators such as the PJM Interconnection LLC. But the fallout from the California energy crisis in 2000 and 2001 dampened enthusiasm for such a market.
Currently, the California ISO operates an energy imbalance market (EIM) with PacifiCorp that is intended to help moderate variable renewable generation and promote access to the lowest-cost power every five minutes.
"If you look at it, California projecting in the mid-2020s over-generation from renewables during the day and then you've got a number of the Intermountain West states that still burn coal — under the Clean Power Plan, they're going to have to cut back on their emissions," he said.
"It would be a great win-win to have a broader footprint where it would be a lot easier to sell power back and forth. There are times during the year when California could buy wind from places like Wyoming," he said.
Without question, "there will be transmission investments that are needed" to make a Western market succeed, Earley said. But those investments "will be cost-effective" because of the "diversity in the renewables between the wind in Montana and Wyoming, sun from the California desert," he said.
As Earley sees it, if the EPA rule to curb carbon emissions from power plants survives, states are "going to have put together their plans, and when they start to run the numbers and they see that there is pretty cheap power that is going to be available from California — remember, when you're over-generating, one of the responses is negative power pricing — that should be attractive. Ultimately, the rationality of having a broader market ought to come through that it'll be good for their constituents."
But even if the Clean Power Plan is upended, "the economics eventually will suggest that it's the way to go" and have a Western electricity market, he said.
While Western states are starting to discuss a regionwide market, "if anything, it'll be driven by the utilities reaching the conclusion that we really do need to put some pressure on our states to jump in," Earley said.
In California, market stakeholders are "going to have to give up control. The governor of Oregon and the governor of Wyoming are not going to agree to let their utilities come in if all of the board members of the ISO are appointed by the governor of California. I've said that to legislators; it's just not going to happen," he said. "If you really want to make progress, then everyone's going to have to compromise."
As of now, it appears that creation of a large Western electricity market won't occur until next year at the earliest. The California ISO doesn't anticipate completing work on rules for operating such a market until this fall, and some environmental interests are concerned a larger market would support coal-fired generation in some Western states (Greenwire, Aug. 9).
"I think it'll get done, but it's taking longer than I had hoped," Earley said.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/09/13/stories/1060042697
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Murky Methane Findings Complicate Obama's Regulatory Plan
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Camille von Kaenel
The jury is still out on the culprit behind the recent increase in global methane emissions.
A new study published yesterday found that fossil fuel production has emitted significantly more of the potent greenhouse gas since 2000 and could account for much of the unexplained uptick in global atmospheric methane since 2007. That is an opposite finding from other recent research, which has blamed sources like agriculture, animal husbandry and wetlands instead.
"What's going on in the gas and oil sector has been the big question with methane," said Andrew Rice, a researcher at Portland State University and the lead author of the newresearch, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "It's not settled, but we give some new pieces to the puzzle."
The back-and-forth results have electrified the debate over President Obama's expanded regulations on the energy industry.
U.S. EPA is preparing rules to curb methane leaks from existing oil and gas sources, pointing to its data that show increasing methane emissions from fossil fuel extraction points in the United States. House Republicans will likely question those data at a Thursday hearing on the regulations titled "A Solution in Search of a Problem."
Scientists around the world have been trying to figure out whether oil and gas production, particularly a boom in the United States, could be responsible for the global rise in methane. It is one of the most enduring mysteries in the planet's atmosphere. Global levels of methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide, have more than doubled since the Industrial Revolution. But growth slowed to zero in the 1990s. Levels began climbing again in 2007. About 17 teragrams more methane is now emitted every year compared to the annual emissions between 2000 to 2006.
Researchers have focused on disentangling the trends for different sources to figure out which ones might be responsible for the recent rise. Wildfires, bacteria in wetlands, submerged rice fields and cows all release methane. So does leaky equipment in oil fields.
Old air samples lead to new models
Rice's study suggests that oil and gas production might be to blame.
The new results come from old air samples. Rice and his colleague analyzed the isotopic fingerprint of methane captured in air samples collected at Cape Meares, Ore., from 1977 to 1998. The data gave them a rough sketch of the rise and fall of individual sources of methane. Then they had to come up with more specific guesses about long-term trends and test them out, comparing the model's results with the observations.
The model that most closely matched the data showed that fugitive fossil fuel emissions have been increasing since 1984, with the majority of the growth after 2000. Methane from livestock and landfills rose over the time period from 1984 to 2009. Methane from rice fields trended down, while methane from wetlands varied year-to-year, then dropped significantly from 2000 to 2009.
Francis O'Sullivan, director of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Energy Initiative, praised the research as a useful contribution to an ongoing scientific debate.
"It's a very complex landscape," he said. "No one team out there has been able to say, 'This is the correct answer.'"
In a landmark study published in Science in March, a group of international researchers from New Zealand, Germany and Boulder, Colo., found that agriculture or dairy farming, particularly in the tropics, was more likely responsible for the rise in methane (ClimateWire, March 11).
The two groups of researchers used similar fingerprinting methods, but different models. Lori Bruhwiler, a physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory, suggested that Rice's process may be sensitive to first-guess assumptions. She called the inversion modeling technique used by Rice "tricky to interpret" because it uses more variables.
"You're trying to retrieve a lot of unknowns with not a lot of data," she said. "You can often get a solution that matches the data very well but comes to the wrong conclusion about sources. ... If you run an inversion and instead of allowing anthropogenic emissions to increase, you hold them constant, you will get a much smaller increase in anthropogenic emissions and an increase in another source."
"It all comes down to how much you believe your first-guess emissions versus how well you think you can simulate the observations with your model," she added.
Other research, including a 2012 Nature paper, has also suggested fugitive fossil fuel emissions were decreasing from 2000 to 2009 because of trends in ethane, a non-greenhouse gas that often correlates with methane. Ethane emissions decreased from 1984 to about 2010. It is tricky to link ethane and methane trends because scientists do not know the ratio at which they are co-emitted, but the ethane trends can hold some clues.
Rice suggested that the researchers in the Nature paper may have wrongly assumed wildfires and biomass burning were releasing more ethane during that period. His model and some other studies show emissions from biomass burning decreasing.
The worldwide ethane trend has recently reversed, however, at least partly because of oil and gas development (ClimateWire, June 20).
Gearing up for a policy fight Thursday
The scientific uncertainties have set a tricky backdrop for regulators and policymakers looking to weigh the economic and climate benefits of the boom in domestic natural gas production with Obama's mission to combat climate change-causing gases. Critics say the industry is decreasing greenhouse gas emissions already and the regulations will hurt the economy.
House Science, Space and Technology Committee lawmakers are planning to scrutinize EPA's plans to expand methane regulations to existing oil and gas operations Thursday (E&E Daily, Sept. 12). The agency is working to finalize a request for up-to-date information from the industry, which has called the effort a "rushed job."
EPA earlier this year finalized a set of rules targeting methane emissions from new and heavily modified oil and gas operations, which has drawn legal challenges from several states.
Environmental advocates say the regulations are necessary to avoid some of the worst methane leaks from a few "super-emitters" and spur better technology at other sites.
David Lyon, a scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, praised Rice's study as an alternative hypothesis for global methane trends but suggested it may be "irrelevant" to the discussion about EPA's methane rules.
"It is valuable to understand some trends in methane emissions, but the more important question is that we know current methane emissions are really high, and that oil and gas is a big part of that," he said. "If they're decreasing, they're not decreasing fast enough."
Katie Brown, a spokeswoman for Energy in Depth, a project of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said she does not think Rice's paper has big implications for policy because other research has found the opposite. She's "still seeing a positive story for methane" from oil and gas because emissions have not spiked despite an increase in production, she said.
Witnesses testifying at the hearing include Elgie Holstein, senior director for strategic planning at the Environmental Defense Fund; Erik Milito, director of upstream and industry operations for the American Petroleum Institute; Anthony Ventello, executive director of the Progress Authority; and Bernard Weinstein, associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University.
Weinstein called the methane rules "regulatory overreach."
He noted that methane is a product that natural gas producers want to sell, so there is already an economic incentive for drillers to capture fugitive emissions. There are already state-level environmental regulations for methane, and many companies in the United States are moving on their own to limit methane releases.
"There's no question that the industry has kind of become the whipping boy," he said.
He said the larger concern should be methane emissions coming from other parts of the world that are drilling for fossil fuels with lower environmental standards. "If the rest of the world follows our example, we would have this problem of emissions more or less under control," he said.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/09/13/stories/1060042723
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Small Pipe Leak Found at SoCalGas Gas Storage Facility
Sep 13, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Sempra Energy's Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) said a small natural gas leak was discovered and plugged in an above-ground pipeline at the still-closed Aliso Canyon underground gas storage facility along the northern fringe of Los Angeles.
Since the four-month-long storage well leak that was sealed in mid-February at the 3,600-acre storage facility (see Daily GPI, Feb. 18), SoCalGas has reported several minor leaks in recent months as Aliso's 114 storage wells go through a six-part battery of tests (see Daily GPI, March 29).
The leak was discovered in a pipe used to withdraw gas from the storage reservoir, and it was quickly isolated and stopped, according to a SoCalGas spokesperson, who minimized the possibility that nearby residents would be affected, although some residents are still complaining about symptoms from the storage well leak months after it was stopped. Community activists and environmental groups have continued to call for closing the 86 Bcf capacity facility (seeDaily GPI, Aug. 29; May 16).
While the cause of this latest pipe leak has not been determined, the SoCalGas spokesperson said the utility has determined the leak began only a short time before its discovery, so the utility estimate is the releases of methane have been small.
"We do not anticipate that the released gas will be noticeable in the surrounding community," the spokesperson said. "At no point was there a threat to public safety."
In July a similar small pipeline leak was found at Aliso Canyon and repaired (see Daily GPI, July 7), and it restimulated opponents to call for the permanent closure of the troubled facility.
"Residents are renewing calls to Gov. Jerry Brown to decommission the storage facility and shut it down permanently," said Alexandra Nagy, a spokesperson for Food & Water Watch, which joined residents from nearby Porter Ranch in a protest at the storage field's public entrance after the leak was discovered.
Monday's leak was discovered at 4:50 p.m. CDT, and the SoCalGas spokesperson said the utility notified relevant state agencies as it took steps to make permanent repairs of the pipe.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/107731-small-pipe-leak-found-at-socalgas-gas-storage-facility
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The Difficulty of Oil Pipeline Routing, Whether in North Dakota or Azerbaijan
Sep 13, 2016 | Platts Blog
By Meghan Gordon
Richard Kauzlarich was among the Washington energy policy watchers surprised by the Obama administration’s 11th-hour halt to the Dakota Access oil pipeline, September 9. The contentious pipeline project reminded him of another energy era in a very different part of the world.
As US ambassador to Azerbaijan in 1994-97 under President Bill Clinton, part of Kauzlarich’s job was to facilitate discussions between the government and US oil companies eager to develop oil resources in the Caspian Sea region. A chief barrier was getting the supply to market.
“A major part of the effort there was to make a decision on should this pipeline go by pipeline or should it go by a combination of rail and tanker,” he said. “As we looked at this issue from an environmental and cost point of view, putting that oil on rail cars and shipping it across Azerbaijan and Georgia to a Black Sea port made the environmental risks very, very high.”
So the country decided to go with a pipeline — just the start of a multi-year negotiating process.
“You were building it across three countries, going under rivers, through national parks and areas that were culturally and historically significant. At the end of the day, it was possible to negotiate all of the issues. The stakeholders all saw it in their interest to make this pipeline a success.”
Now Kauzlarich teaches the geopolitics of energy security at George Mason University and is wondering why that sort of stakeholder consultation seems to be breaking down in his own country.
The White House jumped into the Dakota Access oil pipeline fight September 9 after weeks of clashes in North Dakota between private security guards and Native American tribes and environmentalists protesting the construction.
“I may have been on the other side of the world, but somehow we were able to deal with the problems that seem to be in play in this,” Kauzlarich said. “I keep getting more and more convinced that our own energy security is not just a question of how much oil we produce, but how do we efficiently and in an environmentally sound way get oil to its ultimate consumer.”
What’s the Dakota Access project?
A $3.8 billion pipeline to ship Bakken and Three Forks crude from North Dakota to Illinois and onto connecting pipeline networks to Texas Gulf Coast refiners. It has been designed to initially carry 470,000 b/d, with a possible expansion to 570,000 b/d. Energy Transfer Partners, Sunoco Logistics, Phillips 66, Marathon Petroleum and Enbridge Energy Partners own shares in project.
What’s at stake in the Dakota Access battle?
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has accused the US Army Corps of Engineers of failing to adequately assess the project’s threat to cultural sites and drinking water quality of Lake Oahe, a dammed section of the Missouri River near the tribe’s reservation.
North Dakota oil producers want more pipeline takeaway capacity out of the Williston Basin after relying for years on less efficient rail cars to move the crude to market.
When is it expected to start up?
Developers had hoped to start oil flowing by year’s end. But the project needs a key permit from the Army Corps to drill under Lake Oahe. The Obama administration promised to move “expeditiously” toward a “clear and timely resolution” on the permit, after which the company will need 90-100 days to install the pipeline under Lake Oahe plus a few weeks for testing. ClearView Energy Partners analysts now see the best-case scenario as a three-six months delay, while an extended delay or ultimate rejection remains possible.
http://blogs.platts.com/2016/09/13/difficulty-of-oil-pipeline-routing/
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Pipeline Developer Undaunted by Project Freeze, Protests
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
The Texas billionaire behind the proposed $3.7 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline is doubling down on the project despite a temporary freeze from the Obama administration and ongoing protests.
Kelcy Warren, CEO of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, defended the company's work in a letter to employees and vowed to meet with officials at the Army Corps of Engineers.
His comments come after the administration halted construction to reconsider environmental vetting near Lake Oahe, a body of water in the pipeline's path that holds significant importance to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
"We intend to meet with officials in Washington to understand their position and reiterate our commitment to bring the Dakota Access Pipeline into operation," Warren wrote.
The administration's decision came just moments after a federal judge rejected a bid by Native American advocates to halt Dakota Access (E&ENews PM, Sept. 9). It's not clear how long the pause will last.
Warren touted the company's work to meet with tribal nations and landowners. "Nearly the entire Dakota Access pipeline route is across private land. In addition, neither the land abutting nor Lake Oahe itself is subject to Native American control or ownership," he wrote.
"Despite this, we worked to meet with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe leaders on multiple occasions in the past two years and gave the U.S. Army Corps data for their 389 meetings with more than 55 tribes across the project, including nine with The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe at Lake Oahe," Warren added.
He also pointed to the project's financial details, saying the 1,172-mile pipeline is nearly 60 percent complete and employs more than 8,000 highly trained workers "who are safely constructing it, and we have spent just over $1.6 billion on equipment, materials and the workforce to date."
"We — like all Americans — value and respect cultural diversity and the significant role that Native American culture plays in our nation's history and its future and hope to be able to strengthen our relationship with the Native American communities as we move forward with this project," Warren said.
The Dakota Access pipeline will be the subject of a rally near the White House today, where Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe leaders and former presidential adviser Van Jones will call on the president to permanently stop the project.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/09/13/stories/1060042741
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Technology and Training Improve Rail Safety
Sep 12, 2016 | Huffington Post
By Edward R. Hamberger
While some may have you believe that railroads today still use “Civil War era technology,” today’s network features countless components unfathomable at the time of Lincoln. From a sophisticated system in the final stages of testing that uses multidimensional ultrasonic technology to locate defects in tracks before they cause problems, to the use of drones for track and bridge inspections, the industry increasingly resembles Silicon Valley rather than iconic black and white railroad images of days gone by.
This unrelenting pursuit for innovation has a real impact, as federal statistics show railroads are the safest they have ever been. Progress is rooted in a sound strategy: invest billions to maintain and upgrade infrastructure and equipment, constantly innovate to develop and deploy new technology, and work with local communities to train and educate individuals most closely linked to the industry on rail operations and safety. It is the best story never told, one that the public and policymakers alike should come to know and appreciate.
The intersection of technology and community partnership will be on display this week in D.C. when the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS (NAPSG) Foundation awards CSX Transportation with the 2016 Award for Excellence in Public Safety GIS. The Florida-based railroad is being honored for its application “Rail Respond,” a phone and computer based program that emergency managers use to access information about cargo traveling on CSX tracks. The program supplements the shipping papers found in a cab, possibly saving first responders time by allowing professionals to view the information from central command or as soon as they arrive at the scene of an accident.
According to Battalion Chief Dave Hartman of the Charlottesville (Va.) Fire Department, who nominated CSX, the Rail Respond “is a dream come true for incident commanders as it directly and immediately impacts the safety and effectiveness for our responders.”
Rail Respond will soon be combined with a similar tool known as AskRail, currently used by first responders throughout the country on non-CSX track. These programs are a prime example of why railroads will never stop voluntarily innovating to improve safety. No one requires companies like CSX to arm first responders with this information, but railroads dedicate massive resources to do so nonetheless.
Railroads also work tirelessly to train first responders. In recent years, through partnerships with the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) and communities, railroads have educated more than 20,000 first responders per year. In the past two years, more than 3,300 emergency responders have been flown to Pueblo, Colorado to receive intensive, week-long training in CBR response techniques at the industry’s Security and Emergency Response Training Center(SERTC).
“Taking the training course on the road - including materials and classroom instruction in a specialized on-site training trailer equipped with valves, protective housings and other training rail props - is a major development given the time constraints felt by first responders and reinforces just how much the freight rail industry is doing to educate and train the fire fighters and emergency responders serving rural America,” says Mike Cook, executive director of Hazardous Materials Compliance and Training at TTCI.
Even more have participated in the industry’s free online crude-by-rail safety course, which provides web-based training for those who cannot travel to Colorado. Taken together, far more first-line responders now understand rail safety more than just a few years back.
All the while, railroads are still testing and deploying technology that will hopefully reduce the need for first responder engagement.
Consider Positive Train Control (PTC), a made-from-scratch technology which the industry continues to test and implement across its vast network. To date, railroads have retained more than 2,400 signal system personnel to implement PTC and have spent nearly $6.5 billion on a system that will automatically stop a train before certain types of accidents occur. This will curtail train-to-train collisions, speed-induced derailments and situations where trains go onto tracks under construction.
Or consider that freight railroads are increasingly using “big data” to identify trends in equipment malfunctions. “Individual factors by themselves might not be predictors of defects, but in combination they could be,” says Tony Sultana, a principal investigator at TTCI. By investing in data warehouses and skilled technicians to analyze the information, railroads may be able to forecast unsafe trends before they arise.
Safety is a never ending quest for railroads they will continue to pursue.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-r-hamberger/technology-and-training-i_b_11973344.html
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EPA Asks Court to Reconsider Tossing Boiler Rules
Sep 13, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
U.S. EPA yesterday asked for a rehearing of a federal court's decision to toss out part of the agency's rules setting emission standards for industrial boilers.
The agency argued that vacating parts of the rules, as a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia did in July, would have environmental impacts and be disruptive to industry. EPA is seeking en banc review of the ruling by the full D.C. Circuit.
Environmental groups and a power supplier yesterday also petitioned the D.C. Circuit for a full-court rehearing.
EPA issued the rules in question in 2011. They're meant to curb toxic air emissions from large industrial boilers, process heaters and smaller boilers.
Major industry groups challenged the rules, arguing that they were too stringent and that EPA failed to account for what emission reductions are achievable. On the other hand, environmental groups argued that the rules were too weak and that EPA failed to crack down on certain hazardous pollutants.
In the complex opinion issued in July, the three-judge D.C. Circuit panel rejected all industry claims and sided with environmentalists in some challenges (Greenwire, July 29).
At issue in EPA's petition for rehearing is the judges' decision that the agency wrongly excluded some existing boilers that were among the best-performing in certain subcategories. Had they been included, EPA's standards would have been more stringent.
The court vacated standards for all major boiler subcategories that would have been affected had EPA considered all the sources in the subcategories.
EPA said yesterday it is not contesting any of the merits of the panel's July court opinion — just its decision to throw out part of the standards rather than leave them in place while the agency rewrites them.
According to the agency's initial analysis, the opinion would result in vacating 11 of the boiler rules' 33 numeric standards for existing sources, and nine of 33 numeric standards for new sources.
EPA argued that the environmental groups that challenged the rules did not want them thrown out.
"The vacatur required by the Court's opinion would eliminate many of the emission controls required by the Rule, a result not intended by the Environmental Petitioners, and EPA believes not intended by the Court," the agency said.
Vacating the standards would also "eliminate the environmental benefits" that would otherwise be achieved if they were left in place, EPA said.
EPA also argued that throwing out those standards would put "undue hardship" on boiler operators and be disruptive "because it would mean that some sources would be subject to standards while others were not, and some boilers would be subject to standards for some pollutants but not for others."
EPA asked the court to instead remand the rule and give the agency the opportunity to figure out what part of the standards are affected by the court's decision and to modify them through a formal rulemaking.
"There is no question that EPA can promulgate revised standards in accordance with the Court's opinion," the agency said.
In their petition for a rehearing, environmental organizations took issue with the court's decision about EPA's averaging of emissions from best-performing sources. They said EPA's interpretation of the word "average" to mean the "upper limit" of all future emissions from best-performing sources is a "major departure" from prior agency policy.
American Municipal Power Inc. also petitioned the court yesterday for a rehearing. The nonprofit wholesale power supplier argued that the court erred when it rejected industry's contention that EPA shouldn't hold facilities accountable for emissions released during unexpected malfunctions.
The court rarely grants en banc rehearings of panel decisions.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/09/13/stories/1060042724
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