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ACC AM 9/27/16
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(ACC Mentioned) Changes to Chemical Law Causing Heartburn; Long Road Ahead
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Chemical manufacturers are getting heartburn with the ways the Environmental Protection Agency is handling the new chemicals in commerce provisions of the amended chemicals law, according to attorneys who spoke with Bloomberg BNA. -
Military Chemical May Harm Nervous System, Cause Cancer: EPA
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
A chemical used primarily as a military explosive may harm the nervous system and kidneys, and may cause cancer, according to a draft assessment the Environmental Protection Agency released Sept. 26. -
US EPA Sends RDX Review Out For Peer Review
Sep 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has released its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) toxicological review of the explosive hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) for external peer review. -
Phthalates, BPA May Reduce Vitamin D Levels
Sep 27, 2016 | Healio
By Regina Schaffer
Environmental exposure to phthalates and bisphenol A may alter circulating levels of total 25-hydroxyvitamin D in adults, according to findings from a recent cross-sectional study. -
Danish EPA Says Chemicals In Children's Rugs 'No Health Hazard'
Sep 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
A survey for Denmark's EPA has found chemicals of concern in imported children's rugs. However, it says they are not a health hazard. -
Senate Dems Allege Fossil Fuel 'Chokehold' On Rule Foes
Sep 27, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Hannah Hess
Lawmakers who wrote legal briefs opposing U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan have received nearly $83 million from the fossil fuel industry, a group of Senate Democrats said in a new report. -
EPA in 2016 Seeks Existing Oil, Gas Sources’ Methane Answers
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The Environmental Protection Agency aimed to simplify its first of two surveys to be completed on methane emissions from existing oil and gas sources as part of its recently issued second draft information collection. -
Allies, Critics Spar Over Calif. Proposal's Role In Fight
Sep 27, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Amanda Reilly
There's a new front in the legal war over U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan: the role that California's compliance strategy plays in the complex litigation. -
EPA Urged To Quickly Adopt SAB Fracking Report Advice
Sep 26, 2016 | Inside EPA
Environmental groups are urging EPA to quickly adopt the Science Advisory Board's (SAB) recommendations for improving the agency's draft assessment of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water, particularly revising EPA's finding of a lack of “widespread, systemic impacts” associated with fracking. -
Over 200 Groups Urge EPA To Revise Study On Fracking, Drinking Water
Sep 26, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jeremiah Shelor
More than 200 environmental and advocacy groups in a letter Monday asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise last year’s findings that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has not had “widespread, systemic impacts” on drinking water. -
Md. Fracking Regulations Include Enhanced Buffers Around Wells
Sep 26, 2016 | The Washington Post
By Josh Hicks
Maryland environmental officials proposed new regulations Monday to govern the controversial gas-extraction method known as fracking, saying they expect to finalize the rules by the end of the year. -
Wyoming Defends RFS Exemptions For Small Refiners
Sep 26, 2016 | Inside EPA
Wyoming is defending small oil refineries' right to win exemptions from having to comply with EPA renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending mandates, filing a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that backs a small refiner's suit challenging the agency's denial of an exemption for the company. -
As Oral Arguments Approach, Clean Power Plan Remains A Threat To Our Most Vulnerable
Sep 26, 2016 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Jim Martin and Mario Lopez
Following a relatively quiet summer, focus has once again shifted to the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). The Supreme Court’s decision to rule Stay on the Plan on Feb. 9, 2016 effectively put all action on the policy to rest. -
U.S. Outlines New Energy Market Fixes for Southeast Asia
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By John Butcher
The U.S. has ambitions to expand its liquefied natural gas exports to Asia, Mary Warlick, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for the bureau of energy resources, said during a visit to the region last week. -
Obama To Tribes: 'You're Making Your Voices Heard'
Sep 27, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder,
President Obama yesterday told hundreds of tribal leaders and members that their action on the Dakota Access oil pipeline has caught the nation's attention. -
Obama Defends Work On Tribal Issues
Sep 26, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
President Obama on Monday defended his administration's work on Native American issues amid a battle over the future of a contentious pipeline project opposed by local tribes. -
Report: Houston-Area Chemical Facilities Often Ignored, Rarely Inspected
Sep 26, 2016 | Chem Info
By Andy Szal
The Houston metropolitan area is home to one of the world's largest petrochemical complexes, but it's also — as outlined in a sweeping Houston Chronicle investigation — plagued by safety problems. -
Alaska Railroad to Begin Containerized LNG Shipping Demonstration
Sep 26, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Joe Fisher
The Alaska Railroad plans to begin a demonstration of containerized liquefied natural gas (LNG) rail shipment on Tuesday (Sept. 27). Intermodal LNG tanks will be shipped from Southcentral Alaska to the Interior during a month-long project, making the railroad the first in the country to carry LNG. -
EPA Defends Tightening Ozone Air Standard Beyond 'Background' Levels
Sep 26, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
EPA is defending its authority for tightening its ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) below the levels of naturally occurring “background” ozone in some states, rejecting claims from some critics that the decision was unlawful while also fighting advocates' claim that the NAAQS should have been made even stricter. -
Most Energy Emissions Not Subject to Carbon Pricing: OECD
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rick Mitchell
The world's biggest greenhouse gas-producing countries are not using carbon prices to reduce climate-warming emissions, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Sept. 26. -
EPA Targets Climate Pollutant HFCs Before International Meeting
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
Reducing leak rates of air conditioning and refrigeration appliances would reduce potent greenhouse gas emissions by more than 7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent annually, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a final rule (RIN:2060-AS51) released Sept. 26.
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(ACC Mentioned) Changes to Chemical Law Causing Heartburn; Long Road Ahead
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Chemical manufacturers are getting heartburn with the ways the Environmental Protection Agency is handling the new chemicals in commerce provisions of the amended chemicals law, according to attorneys who spoke with Bloomberg BNA.
John Dubeck, a chemical engineer and attorney in Keller & Heckman's Washington office, said: “Business plans are being threatened and upended, all without any notice that the changes to EPA's new chemical review process would be so significant.”
Many more stumbling blocks may emerge as the Environmental Protection Agency prepares four regulatory proposals and other materials needed to implement the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Pub. L. No. 114-182), which amended the Toxic Substances Control Act June 22.
The Lautenberg Act's initial implementation is causing discomfort, according to Richard Denison, senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, and Mike Walls, from the American Chemistry Council. Both men—whose organizations pushed for TSCA reform—urged all parties at a Sept. 22 forum held by the George Washington University to continue the cooperation that led to the Lautenberg Act's passage.
Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who introduced the Lautenberg Act with Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), said: “I'm very hopeful that all sides of this will stay on their best behavior to make sure we can implement the law effectively.”
So far the EPA is off to a good start and continuing to involve a broad array of stakeholders as it carries out its responsibilities under the new law, Udall said at the forum.
“We cannot let this effort fall apart like it did after TSCA passed in 1976,” Udall said.
EPA Reaches 90-Day Milestone
Sept. 19 marked the first milestone of EPA's implementation of the new law. Ninety days had passed since President Barack Obama signed the Lautenberg Act into law.
The date is a milestone, because both the original and amended TSCA give the EPA 90 days to review new chemicals. That means by Sept. 19 the agency had to make calls on the 334 new chemicals it said it was reviewing when the law went into effect.
Since Sept. 19, attorneys and other industry representatives have shared their experiences with the changes the Lautenberg Act has brought to the EPA's new chemicals program in conversations and e-mails with Bloomberg BNA.
As of Sept. 21, the agency had announced on its website that 24 new chemicals and new microorganisms could enter the U.S. market, because they would not be likely to present an unreasonable risk. That's the most favorable finding for companies that the agency can make under the law. Less public were the letters that companies began to receive.
More Data, More Time Requested By EPA
“EPA has affirmatively approved only a handful of PMNs [premanufacture notices] and is requesting additional review time and/or is seeking additional toxicological or ecotoxicological data on numerous other PMN cases,” Tom Berger, an attorney focused on rulemakings with Keller and Heckman's LLP Indianapolis office, told Bloomberg BNA.
Chemical manufacturers must submit PMNs 90 days prior to wanting to introduce a new chemical into U.S. commerce. The same requirement applies for new microorganisms, although that notice requires manufacturers to submit a microbial commercial activity notice, or MCAN.
The agency had been planning—prior to the Lautenberg Act—to allow a number of new chemicals to enter commerce and now it is requesting more toxicity data, Berger said.
Dan Newton, senior government relations manager at the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates, said the small chemical makers his trade association represented also had received EPA requests to extend the time the agency has to review the new chemicals they submitted. The society relies on timely responses to its members’ notices from EPA so they can produce customized batches of often unique chemistries.
Richard Engler, a former EPA chemist now working with the Bergeson & Campbell, P.C., said that law firm already has voluntarily agreed to extend the EPA's review time for new chemicals it was evaluating.
He said he also anticipates agency requests for more data, and he expects the agency will restrict uses of new chemicals more often than it did before the Lautenberg Act became law. The agency can impose restrictions through consent orders it develops with the original manufacture of a substance and through various types of significant new use rules, or SNURs, that it can issue. Typically SNURs bind other chemical manufacturers to restrictions the original maker of a chemical agreed to.
“TSCA reform,” Berger said, “has not put an end to protracted, sometimes multi-year, PMN review periods.”
Chemical makers can choose not to voluntarily extend the EPA's 90-day review period, Berger said. Doing so, however, triggers a process that can lead to use and other restrictions of the new chemical, he said.
Those restrictions also will be crafted using worst case assumptions the agency makes unless it receives scientific data that would refine those presumptions, Berger said.
Changes to EPA's New Chemicals Oversight
Chemical manufacturers are reporting other early effects under the amended TSCA as well as decisions the agency appears to have made even prior to the Lautenberg Act becoming law, other Keller and Heckman attorneys told Bloomberg BNA.
Martha Marrapese, an attorney at that law firm, pointed to a four-page list of questions she said the EPA is now asking companies to answer to substantiate any claims they assert that certain information should not be released to the public because it is a trade secret.
She described the agency's requirements for confidential business information claim as a “hard line” interpretation of the Lautenberg Act's substantiation requirements.
David Sarvadi, a partner at Keller and Heckman's Washington office who focuses on chemical management, described a change he said occurred shortly before the Lautenberg Act.
The agency has long allowed some chemicals to be made or imported without requiring premanufacture notices provided the chemicals meet specific criteria, such as production levels of 10,000 kilograms a year or less.
“EPA apparently decided that no substances that triggered concerns for PBT classification—even if solely on the basis of EPA's computer structure activity relationship analysis—would be eligible for low-volume exemptions,” Sarvadi said. PBTs are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals.
“This decision was made without notice to the regulated community, as are many of the decisions now affecting PMNs,” Sarvadi said.
Attorney Dubeck summarized what his law firm's team is seeing with respect to the EPA's new chemicals oversight.
“The fact that these consequences were never identified during the long legislative process strongly suggests they are neither necessary nor intended. Indeed, throughout the legislative process there was a general recognition that the new chemicals program was working well,” he said.
‘Growing Pains for Everyone,’ Denison Says
Denison, from the Environmental Defense Fund, said the new law revised how new chemicals get evaluated and required the agency—for the first time—to make a specific finding about the risks a new chemical would pose before that substance could enter the market.
Previously, if the EPA took no action, a new chemical could be put on the market 90 days after its manufacturer filed its premanufacture notice.
When the agency took action, such as requiring additional data prior to manufacture or to limiting production methods in some way, the concerns the agency had that prompted those actions and the specific restrictions were frequently kept confidential, outside of public view.
The Lautenberg Act requires the EPA to use specific new criteria, such as potential risks to workers or children, to evaluate new chemicals, and it requires the agency to release its findings to the public, Denison said. The 90-day time frame the agency has to review new chemicals didn't change, he said.
There was no time cushion between the law's passage and its effective date, Denison said. “That's going to pose significant growing pains for everyone.”
Walls, from the American Chemistry Council, told Bloomberg BNA he agrees the lack of a transition between the Lautenberg Act's passage and its effective date is a challenge for the agency and regulated parties.
Yet Walls said he heard a positive signal from the agency during the university forum discussion when Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, director of the EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, said her office is open to revising some of the new procedures it is implementing.
The office that regulates chemicals, had to “hit the ground running” and figure out how to make the findings required by the Lautenberg Act, how to implement its requirements that companies substantiate confidential business information claims, how to keep track of claims it substantiates, and figure out what to tell companies about their new chemicals 90 days after the law was enacted, Cleland-Hamnett said.
It has developed procedures to accomplish those tasks, but “we'll be continuing to refine those procedures,” she said.
Developing Rules Amid Budget Uncertainty
The agency's workload won't slacken anytime soon.
By December, the agency plans to propose risk management actions to control excess risks for three chemicals, Cleland Hamnett said. The proposed rules would address worker and consumer risks for certain narrow uses of trichloroethylene (TCE), n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and methylene chloride.
The agency also is working on four Lautenberg Act implementation rules that it also aims to propose by the end of December. Several related tasks also have December deadlines.
The agency invited early comments on three of the four implementation rules. Those three the agency has accepted comment on would: describe how the agency will select high-priority chemicals that must have their risks evaluated; describe how the agency will evaluate chemical risks; and propose fees industry would pay to help it recoup some of its expenditures required to review their products.
Trade associations and law firms also have been submitting comments on the fourth implementation rule: the process the EPA will use to divide the TSCA inventory into two parts: an active inventory of chemicals in commerce and inactive inventory of those that were, but no longer are. The rule will describe the process chemical manufacturers would have to use to move a chemical from the inactive to the active list.
The agency's fall workload is “a pretty heavy lift,” Cleland-Hamnett said and the agency is lifting that load without additional resources. The agency's chemicals management budget is about $56 million in fiscal year 2016, which ends Oct. 1.
Staff from other offices have been temporarily detailed to the pollution prevention and toxics office, but new staff and contractors are needed, Cleland-Hamnett said.
With less than a week before the fiscal year ends, Congress has yet to agree on next year's appropriations.
Udall said a continuing resolution could be a straitjacket for the agency as it works to implement the Lautenberg Act. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Sept. 22 sent a signal showing his commitment to supporting $3 million in new funding for EPA's chemicals work during discussion of a continuing budget resolution, Udall said. The White House had requested $4 million for that purpose.
Transition Ahead
Cleland-Hamnett said the agency wants to finish crafting its regulatory proposals, so that the team the next administration brings in can read public comments and issue final rules, she said.
Three of the Lautenberg Act's implementation rules must be issued as final rules by June 2017.
Blake Morant, dean of the George Washington University Law School, said a new administration poses a particular challenge for the EPA's implementation of the new law.
“How do you get new administrators to treat this as a very important part of their agenda?,” Morant asked, before he and Udall offered some suggestions.
Organizations with access to the candidates’ inner circles can discuss reasons the new chemicals law is important, Morant said. He urged them to highlight the law's bipartisan development and passage.
Udall said interested parties can put forward names of individuals to serve at the EPA and its chemicals office that could be accepted by the regulated community and environmental health advocates.
EPA's staff will continue to implement the amended law during the next administration's initial months in office, said Lynn Goldman, dean of George Washington University's School of Public Health.
It seems to take the Senate twice as long to clear political appointees as it did in the 1990s, said Goldman, who served as assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention from 1993 to 1998 under President Bill Clinton.
Walls, from the American Chemistry Council, said litigation of final decisions the EPA will make under the Lautenberg Act is likely.
Litigation results because people have different interpretations of the law, it is not an indication of failure, he said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=97895847&vname=dennotallissues&fn=97895847&jd=97895847
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Military Chemical May Harm Nervous System, Cause Cancer: EPA
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
A chemical used primarily as a military explosive may harm the nervous system and kidneys, and may cause cancer, according to a draft assessment the Environmental Protection Agency released Sept. 26.
Exposure to hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (CAS No. 121-82-4), more commonly called Royal Demolition Explosive (RDX), is likely limited to individuals in or around military facilities where the explosive is or was produced, used or stored, the EPA said.
People living on or near military sites could be exposed by drinking contaminated groundwater or ingesting crops irrigated with contaminated water, while soldiers working with RDX, or chemical manufacturing workers making it, could inhale or touch it, the agency said.
Worker studies are limited, but research on animals shows the explosive can harm the nervous system and kidneys, and affect male reproduction. Animal studies also provided suggestive evidence that the chemical could cause cancer, the EPA said.
The EPA's Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee will peer review the draft assessment. Questions the committee will address are posted on its website, although a peer review date has yet to be scheduled.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=97895843&vname=dennotallissues&fn=97895843&jd=97895843
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US EPA Sends RDX Review Out For Peer Review
Sep 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has released its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) toxicological review of the explosive hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) for external peer review.
The Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) will conduct a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the RDX assessment. It will then release a final report of their review.
The CAAC is a committee of the agency's Science Advisory Board.
The EPA previously held a 60 day consultation and public meeting on the substance.
https://chemicalwatch.com/49880/us-epa-sends-rdx-review-out-for-peer-review
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Phthalates, BPA May Reduce Vitamin D Levels
Sep 27, 2016 | Healio
By Regina Schaffer
Environmental exposure to phthalates and bisphenol A may alter circulating levels of total 25-hydroxyvitamin D in adults, according to findings from a recent cross-sectional study.
In an analysis of blood and urine samples from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers observed an inverse relationship between di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) metabolites and total 25-(OH)D, with the strongest association observed in women.
“This study provides additional evidence for the potential far-reaching impacts of exposure to common endocrine-disrupting chemicals, as well as the diversity of possible biological pathways involved in those impacts,” John Meeker, ScD, professor of environmental health sciences and senior associate dean for research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, toldEndocrine Today. “Given the widespread nature of these exposures and the important role vitamin D plays in the body, the public health impact could be quite large.”
Meeker and colleagues analyzed data from 4,667 adults participating in three cycles of NHANES (2005-2006; 2007-2008 and 2009-2010) who had complete data on urinary phthalate metabolites, urinary bisphenol A (BPA), urinary creatinine and serum 25-(OH)D. Researchers measured total urinary BPA and 15 urinary phthalate metabolites in spot urine samples. Besides analyzing individual metabolites, researchers also created a summary measure of the four metabolites that share DEHP as their parent compound (MEHP; MEHHP; MEOHP and MECPP). All participants completed in-home questionnaires and provided information on 30-day vitamin D supplement use.
Researchers found that metabolites of DEHP were inversely associated with total 25-(OH)D in the complete cohort and in sex-stratified models. An interquartile range increase in the molar sum of DEHP metabolites was associated with a 1.9% decrease (95% CI, –3.64 to –0.17) in total 25-(OH)D.
The strongest associations were observed for MEHP and MEHHP; interquartile range increases in each were associated with a 2.07% (95% CI, –3.62 to –0.52) and 2.09% (95% CI, –3.87 to –0.32) decline in total 25-(OH)D, respectively.
Researchers observed an inverse relationship between BPA and vitamin D levels in women only; an interquartile range increase in urinary BPA was associated with a 3.71% decrease in total 25-(OH)D (95% CI, –6.41 to –1.02).
“Future human health and animal studies should aim to confirm these findings as well as inform the exact mechanisms through which these chemicals may impact vitamin D,” Meeker said. “Research into the clinical and public health implications of these relationships is also needed.”
http://www.healio.com/endocrinology/adrenal/news/in-the-journals/%7B8791c9c4-31bf-43b9-848f-291c8877777c%7D/phthalates-bpa-may-reduce-vitamin-d-levels
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Danish EPA Says Chemicals In Children's Rugs 'No Health Hazard'
Sep 27, 2016 | Chemical Watch
A survey for Denmark's EPA has found chemicals of concern in imported children's rugs. However, it says they are not a health hazard.
The study assessed emissions of VOCs, phthalates and PFAs in 21 imported products from non-EU countries. It focused on rugs designed to appeal to children aged under eight.
It identified a low content of PFAS in five rugs and the phthalate DBP in one rug. Acrolein and acetaldehyde – which can cause respiratory infection at low doses – were found in one rug.
The report says that as acrolein is very volatile, and children's rugs are small, it is probable that the substance will not be found in the air after some time. However, the performed measurements used in the project could not confirm this.
The study also found that all 21 rugs emitted VOCs at different levels.
"Even though the identified VOCs are not found to be hazardous to health at the measured concentrations, they can decrease indoor air quality in children’s rooms," the report says.
https://chemicalwatch.com/49875/danish-epa-says-chemicals-in-childrens-rugs-no-health-hazard
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Senate Dems Allege Fossil Fuel 'Chokehold' On Rule Foes
Sep 27, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Hannah Hess
Lawmakers who wrote legal briefs opposing U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan have received nearly $83 million from the fossil fuel industry, a group of Senate Democrats said in a new report.
The document, dubbed "The Brief No One Filed," came yesterday ahead of oral arguments this morning in litigation on the climate rule before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The document, spearheaded by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), tallied direct contributions to members of Congress from the oil, gas and coal industry, and political action committees linked to fossil fuel interests, using data from the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Center for Responsive Politics since 1989.
The report also highlights ties between trade associations that have opposed the rule, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, and the companies and individuals who oppose the plan.
"In light of the chokehold fossil fuel money has on our legislative branch, we have encouraged the Executive Branch to use its existing authority to take meaningful and lawful actions to address the climate crisis," the report says.
"Tragically," it says, "time after time these efforts are hindered and thwarted as special interests deploy influence and tactics designed to defy the will of the American people."
Whitehouse is the lead sponsor of legislation, S. 229, to require outside organizations spending more than $10,000 on political messaging to disclose their donors.
The report supports the bill and says the "financial relationship" between fossil fuel interests and Clean Power Plan foes provides helpful context when considering arguments by Republican politicians challenging the plan.
Also backing the report were Democratic Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada, Barbara Boxer of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. Boxer and Markey are co-sponsors of Whitehouse's bill.
More than 200 Republican lawmakers jumped into the legal brawl over the Clean Power Plan earlier this year. They penned a court brief accusing U.S. EPA of trying to "usurp" them (Greenwire, Feb. 23).
A few weeks later, more than 200 current and former members of Congress from 38 states — mostly Democrats — filed their own "friend of the court" brief backing EPA (Greenwire, April 1).
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/09/27/stories/1060043462
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EPA in 2016 Seeks Existing Oil, Gas Sources’ Methane Answers
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
The Environmental Protection Agency aimed to simplify its first of two surveys to be completed on methane emissions from existing oil and gas sources as part of its recently issued second draft information collection.
The operator survey would focus more broadly on all domestic onshore oil and gas production facilities equipment, while the facility survey would gather more detailed information on emissions sources and emissions control efforts. Only randomly selected wells would be required to submit the more detailed “facility survey,” following the submission of the broader “operator survey,” the agency said in its second draft of its information collection issued Sept. 23.
The cost for the industry of responding to the information collection request would be approximately $37 million, the EPA said. Owners would have 30 days to respond to the broader survey and 120 days to respond to the more specific survey.
The agency's goal is to receive responses to the broader survey in 2016, the agency said in a fact-sheet on the second draft. The second draft will be available for comment for 30 days after the Federal Register publishes it under Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2016-0204.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=97895848&vname=dennotallissues&fn=97895848&jd=97895848
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Allies, Critics Spar Over Calif. Proposal's Role In Fight
Sep 27, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Amanda Reilly
There's a new front in the legal war over U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan: the role that California's compliance strategy plays in the complex litigation.
Last week, the 27 states that are suing the Obama administration over its signature climate rule argued that the Golden State's proposal shows EPA's vision of carbon trading under the program is unachievable.
Today, EPA's allies — California, New York and Massachusetts — countered, telling the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the opponents are "mischaracteriz[ing] the proposal and its relevance to the case."
A 10-judge panel tomorrow will hear oral arguments over the rule that requires states to develop strategies to lower carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants.
Although the Supreme Court froze the rule in February while litigation plays out, California last month became the first state to propose a compliance plan. It relies on extending the state's cap-and-trade program (EnergyWire, Aug. 3).
States opposing the plan told the D.C. Circuit last week the proposal bears out their concerns that overachieving states like California may "refuse entirely" to link their emissions trading programs with traditional coal states.
They also raised concerns that California may force coal states to adopt stringent regimes to gain access to trading systems (E&ENews PM, Sept. 23).
But the Democratic attorneys general for California, New York and Massachusetts are pushing back on those claims, telling the D.C. Circuit the Golden State is not refusing to link to other states' future compliance plans.
"To the contrary, the proposal explicitly anticipates multistate trading," the attorneys generalwrote, "consistent with California's longstanding support for multistate collaboration to reduce emissions, including for CPP implementation."
California has already linked its program with a cap-and-trade regime in Quebec "and is considering further linkage," the attorneys general argued.
The three states also rejected the notion raised by Clean Power Plan foes that the rule illegally relies on trading to meet emissions reduction targets.
"Sources can comply in many ways, even absent multistate trading," the attorneys general wrote, adding that most states suing over the Clean Power Plan "are well on track to meet their CPP targets, without any credits from out-of-state programs."
California, New York and Massachusetts have intervened in the litigation over the Clean Power Plan on behalf of EPA.
Tomorrow, six judges appointed by Democratic presidents and four by Republicans will hear the arguments over the rule. It's unclear whether the California issue will play at all during the scheduled 3 ½ hours of arguments.
Republican Attorneys General Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia and Ken Paxton of Texas — the top state opponents of the Clean Power Plan — today expressed optimism about tomorrow's arguments.
"We feel good about the merits," Morrisey said at an event hosted by Americans for Tax Reform and the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2016/09/26/stories/1060043436
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EPA Urged To Quickly Adopt SAB Fracking Report Advice
Sep 26, 2016 | Inside EPA
Environmental groups are urging EPA to quickly adopt the Science Advisory Board's (SAB) recommendations for improving the agency's draft assessment of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water, particularly revising EPA's finding of a lack of “widespread, systemic impacts” associated with fracking.
“That is, the SAB has instructed the agency to either drop the language it used for its top finding or 'provide quantitative analysis that supports' the statement,” a slew of environmental groups say in a Sept. 26 letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
The letter was signed by Food & Water Watch, WildEarth Guardians, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace, Earthjustice, and more than 200 other environmental and public health groups.
The groups point to SAB's Aug. 11 final recommendations to revise the report, saying that EPA did not “support quantitatively its conclusion about lack of evidence for widespread, systemic impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources, and did not clearly describe the system(s) of interest (e.g., groundwater, surface water), the scale of impacts (i.e., local or regional), nor the definitions of 'systemic' and 'widespread.'”
The letter says the language indicates a “clear rebuke” of the agency's draft statement, and that EPA should revisit its statements of findings to make them consistent with SAB's recommendations and resolve what the groups say are three major problems with the controversial language.
The groups charge that EPA did not properly define what “widespread, systemic impacts” on the drinking water system would be; that the conclusion is problematic because it failed to adequately consider local impacts and impacts to residents living near fracking sites; and that the agency failed to properly explain the obstacles to crafting quantitative estimates for the frequencies and severity of the impacts the study did identify.
“We urge you to act quickly on these and other recommendations in the SAB's report, and we look forward to the agency finalizing an assessment of fracking's impacts on drinking water resources,” the letter says.
EPA's controversial draft conclusion in the June 2015 study says, “We did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States.”
The SAB is recommending that if the agency retains its draft conclusion, it should also provide additional quantitative analysis to support the finding, though four members of the SAB panel that reviewed the draft assessment say in a dissent from that recommendation that the conclusion is “clear, concise, and accurate.”
http://insideepa.com/news-briefs/epa-urged-quickly-adopt-sab-fracking-report-advice
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Over 200 Groups Urge EPA To Revise Study On Fracking, Drinking Water
Sep 26, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jeremiah Shelor
More than 200 environmental and advocacy groups in a letter Monday asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise last year’s findings that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has not had “widespread, systemic impacts” on drinking water.
The letter cites a recent review by EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) that took issue with the way EPA summarized its findings in the landmark 2015 study (see Shale Daily, Aug. 12).
In a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy Monday, the groups criticized what they called a “problematic and scientifically unsupported top finding,” lamenting that “news media quickly relayed this wholly inaccurate statement about the findings of the...study, much to the delight of the oil and gas industry…”
The groups asked EPA to revise its study to more clearly define what it meant by “widespread” and “systemic,” to “place more emphasis on the significance of local impacts” and to more thoroughly explain “the impediments to arriving at quantitative estimates for the frequencies and severities of the impacts already occurring.
“The agency should use the instances of contamination it has documented in the draft assessment to fully explain all sources of data gaps and uncertainties, as well as outline steps that could be taken to fill these gaps and reduce uncertainties,” they wrote.
“By dismissing fracking’s impacts on drinking water resources as not ‘widespread, systemic,’ the EPA seriously misrepresented the findings of its underlying study. This has done the public a disservice...We expect, given the SAB’s firm recommendations, that the agency’s final assessment will be clear about where thorough scientific analysis ends and any political considerations begin.”
Katie Brown, a spokeswoman for Energy In Depth, a research and education program from the Independent Petroleum Association of America, called Monday’s letter “wishful thinking from anti-fracking groups.
“After studying EPA’s groundwater report for months, the Science Advisory Board did not ask EPA to change its topline finding that hydraulic fracturing has ‘not led to widespread, systemic impacts’ on drinking water sources,” Brown said.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/107878-over-200-groups-urge-epa-to-revise-study-on-fracking-drinking-water
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Md. Fracking Regulations Include Enhanced Buffers Around Wells
Sep 26, 2016 | The Washington Post
By Josh Hicks
Maryland environmental officials proposed new regulations Monday to govern the controversial gas-extraction method known as fracking, saying they expect to finalize the rules by the end of the year.
State Environment Secretary Ben H. Grumbles called the guidelines “the most stringent and protective regulations in the country” for the drilling technique, technically called hydraulic fracturing.
But several environmental groups and state lawmakers say they will push to ban fracking permanently, saying no safeguards can protect the public and the environment from the practice, which involves pumping water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground to break up rock and release natural gas.
Sen. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) said he plans to introduce legislation early next year that would permanently prohibit hydraulic fracturing in the state, similar to a bill he sponsored in 2014.
“There is only one answer, and that is to ban fracking in the state,” Zirkin said. “If at some point in the future it is absolutely foolproof safe, then we can have another discussion. But as of 2016, multiple states have done this, and all of them have seen bad results.”
Opponents of fracking — which is permitted in Pennsylvania and West Virginia — cite concerns about groundwater contamination, air pollution and earthquakes. Supporters, including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), say the practice could provide economic benefits for Western Maryland and an influx of new revenue for the state.
Maryland’s Department of the Environment sent the proposed rules to the legislature’s regulatory-review committee on Monday, too late for the agency to meet an Oct. 1 legislative deadline for finalizing the regulations. The process includes a 30-day public comment period and a possible hearing before the committee, among other steps.
Environmental officials said the delay was necessary to thoroughly consider the rules that are in place in other states and the concerns of citizens and stakeholders.
“It was time well spent for us to review what’s working, what are the key safeguards and how to improve upon those safeguards,” Grumbles said.
A moratorium on fracking within Maryland is in place until October 2017, giving the Democratic-majority General Assembly time to prohibit the practice or impose additional guidelines during the next legislative session, which runs from mid-January to mid-April.
“These regulations show that Governor Hogan and his administration clearly have the best interest of the oil and gas industry in mind, not the health and safety of Maryland residents,” said Thomas Meyer, an organizer with Food and Water Watch. “The only appropriate response from the Maryland General Assembly to these disastrous regulations is a statewide ban on fracking in Maryland.”
The proposed rules include several changes to regulations developed under former governor Martin O’Malley (D), including faster permitting and relaxed requirements for buffers to protect areas near the drilling sites.
[O’Malley ready to allow fracking, with safeguards]
But Grumbles said the plans are “so comprehensive and so protective that the buffers we’re providing for are ample.” He said the regulations involve stricter guidelines for casings around wells and also ban drilling in three watersheds in Garrett and Allegany counties, where fracking is most likely to occur.
The proposal calls for four layers of steel casing and cement around fracking wells to prevent water, gas and other fluids from migrating to other areas.
The plans would also require drillers to disclose the chemicals they use for fracking — something the industry has fought, on grounds that revealing the information would expose trade secrets.
“If fracking ever comes to Western Maryland, these rock-solid regulations will be in place beforehand,” Grumbles said.
A Goucher College poll released Monday found that Marylanders are divided over hydraulic fracturing. Among the 76 percent of respondents who said they have heard about the practice, 43 percent said they would support a statewide ban, while 32 percent said they would oppose it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/md-fracking-regulations-include-enhanced-buffers-around-wells/2016/09/26/24812e9a-8420-11e6-ac72-a29979381495_story.html
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Wyoming Defends RFS Exemptions For Small Refiners
Sep 26, 2016 | Inside EPA
Wyoming is defending small oil refineries' right to win exemptions from having to comply with EPA renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending mandates, filing a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that backs a small refiner's suit challenging the agency's denial of an exemption for the company.
In its amicus brief filed Sept. 23 in Sinclair Wyoming Refining Company and Sinclair Casper Refining Company v. EPA, the state says the agency is using the wrong criteria to assess whether small refiners deserve exemptions from the RFS. The agency concluded that the company lacked the “disproportionate economic hardship” necessary to exempt it from the RFS' fuel blending mandates for its refineries.
Wyoming claims that EPA is ignoring the significant disadvantages faced by small refiners lacking the ability to blend their own renewable fuels, and also the hardship faced by rural states like Wyoming that lack large, integrated refineries. “As a mostly rural state with the smallest population in the Union, Wyoming has a significant interest in ensuring that small, independent refiners -- the only type of refiners that operate in Wyoming -- are treated fairly and in accordance with the intent of Congress,” the state argues in its brief.
Small refiners, defined as those processing fewer than 75,000 barrels per day of oil on average, enjoyed an exemption from the RFS fuel blending mandates initially, but must now apply to EPA for one-year exemptions on a case-by-case basis. The agency has denied some applications, however, based on its view that the refiners do not meet the “disproportionate economic hardship” test set out by the Clean Air Act.
EPA interprets this term to require that the RFS' impact threatens the commercial viability of a refinery. But, “Neither the term 'viability' nor the concept of a threat to viability appears in the statute,” Wyoming says.
“If EPA’s 'viability' interpretation stands, then every refinery in Wyoming will continue to be negatively and unfairly impacted by the agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard. Indeed, every refinery in Wyoming may be pushed to unprofitability or the very brink of insolvency,” the state says.
Refiners without their own blending capacity must purchase RFS credits, called renewable identification numbers (RINs), in order to comply. This increases their costs, exacerbating disadvantages relative to larger refiners that can rely on economies of scale, Wyoming says. Further, the state's unusually high usage of diesel fuel worsens the problem, because of scarcity of diesel-fuel RINs, Wyoming says.
Previous litigation has not shifted EPA's statutory interpretation, however. In a 2015 decision, the 8th Circuit in August 2015 rejected Arkansas-based small refiner Lion Oil's suit, Lion Oil Company v. EPA, seeking a waiver, backing the agency's discretion in determining whether a refiner has suffered sufficient economic hardship to qualify for waiving the requirements. EPA in that case sought to move the case to the D.C. Circuit as “nationally applicable,” but the 8th Circuit disagreed and retained jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the D.C. Circuit in June 2015 remanded a similar waiver denial to EPA, in a case involving another Wyoming refiner, because of errors in the agency's calculation of the Wyoming Refining Company's financial position in the case Hermes Consolidated LLC v. EPA. The court in that case did not overturn EPA's “viability” criterion, though.
http://insideepa.com/news-briefs/wyoming-defends-rfs-exemptions-small-refiners
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As Oral Arguments Approach, Clean Power Plan Remains A Threat To Our Most Vulnerable
Sep 26, 2016 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Jim Martin and Mario Lopez
Following a relatively quiet summer, focus has once again shifted to the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). The Supreme Court’s decision to rule Stay on the Plan on Feb. 9, 2016 effectively put all action on the policy to rest. Finally, the time has come for supporters and detractors to make their cases for and against the Plan. In an Amicus brief submitted prior to the stay, 60 Plus, Hispanic Leadership Fund, and several other organizations with the aim of protecting our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, argued against the Clean Power Plan for the threat that it poses to those who live on meager fixed incomes. As the Plan nears its day in court, it remains an overreaching threat to the livelihoods of seniors and minority citizens.
The CPP would force utilities to charge higher prices across the country. For those in middle and high-income communities, an increase in monthly electricity bills might go unnoticed. It may represent such an insignificant portion of a family’s income that the change is largely negligent. For many in our country, this is not the case. Senior citizens spend disproportionate amounts of their monthly incomes on electricity. Many live on fixed incomes, like social security, that do not adjust for inflation, and certainly not for increased utility costs. For seniors an increase in a necessity like electrical power takes away from other expenses- and that can mean skimping on medications or domestic care. With seniors living in such financial fragility, it is truly irresponsible on the part of the government to propose an increase to an essential component to living.
The Plan poses an equivalently disproportionate threat to minority communities and their families. As it is, Hispanic and Black families make up a very high portion of those living in poverty in the United States. In 2014, the numbers were 24 and 26 percent respectively, and the CPP would only exacerbate this condition. Not only do Black and Hispanic families live in poverty significantly more often than other groups, they spend considerably more of their income on essentials like food, clothing, and utilities. While an increase in utility costs for some families may mean tying up discretionary spending, for many Black and Hispanic families that same rise could mean a lack of ability to put food on the table.
Despite the clear threat that the Plan poses to America’s most vulnerable demographics, it does almost nothing to quell its problems. Language in the Plan offers hopes of Renewable energy programs that would supplant the rising electricity costs it creates, not to mention existing jobs in the power sector, particularly coal, that it would eliminate, but these are hollow offerings that would mean little to a single mother trying to support her family or an elderly person living by their limited social security. The Plan also mentions existing state, local and federal programs to help low-income households with their energy bills, but these too are ambiguous offers that present little real hope. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy herself has even admitted that the Plan will impact low-income communities the hardest.
The Clean Power Plan, some call it a cruel Power Plan because it remains a serious threat to low-income populations across the United States. As the Plan heads into Oral Arguments before the D.C Circuit Court, it has never been more important for these groups to make their voices heard. It is the responsibility of elected officials to craft policy which will elevate our most vulnerable citizens- not oppress them. With a clearly negative turn towards senior citizens, Hispanics, Blacks and other low-income minority groups, the Clean Power Plan is a threat to entirely too many citizens to be upheld.
Jim Martin is founder and Chairman of the 60 Plus Association. Mario Lopez is president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/297761-as-oral-arguments-approach-clean-power-plan-remains-a
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U.S. Outlines New Energy Market Fixes for Southeast Asia
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By John Butcher
The U.S. has ambitions to expand its liquefied natural gas exports to Asia, Mary Warlick, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for the bureau of energy resources, said during a visit to the region last week.
Speaking to an Asia Pacific gas summit in Singapore Sept. 22, and on Sept. 23 from the Philippines to reporters via a conference call, Warlick said the U.S. would seek collaboration with governments and organizations in the region to encourage a more efficient energy market with secure supplies and fewer subsidies.
The U.S.'s rapid increase in natural gas production from shale has “absolutely redrawn the energy landscape,” she told the audience in Singapore, creating greater “interconnectivity” for the U.S. to global markets.
With the Asia Pacific region representing 72 percent of liquefied natural gas demand in 2015, yet producing only 38 percent of global supply, the U.S. has a major role to play in providing energy to the region, she said.
As a growing exporter of gas, the U.S. will gradually alter the gas market status quo, providing “a more reliable and secure alternative to purchases from some countries that leverage their energy resources for political purposes,” she told reporters Sept. 23.
The U.S. hopes to foster “meaningful diplomatic engagement” with the aim of collaborating with governments and organizations to “advocate for the kinds of changes that will achieve greater market efficiencies and reduce regulatory burdens,” she added.
She told the audience in Singapore that the U.S. is “initiating engagement with our partners in ASEAN to adapt the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline concept to include LNG infrastructure and to identify where efficiencies can be realized by merging national interest with regional integration.”
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, is made up of 10 countries, including Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The U.S. also is pushing for subsidies—which in Southeast Asia amounted to $51 billion in 2012—to be redirected toward investment in infrastructure, she added.
Supply sources and routes are becoming increasingly diverse, which is a good thing for energy security in the region, she said Sept. 23. However, in Singapore, she also cited “critical chokepoints in the South China Sea and surrounding the Malacca Straits” as posing energy security risks for the region.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=97895822&vname=dennotallissues&fn=97895822&jd=97895822
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Obama To Tribes: 'You're Making Your Voices Heard'
Sep 27, 2016 | E&E Daily
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder,
President Obama yesterday told hundreds of tribal leaders and members that their action on the Dakota Access oil pipeline has caught the nation's attention.
"I know that many of you have come together across tribes and across the country to support the community of Standing Rock, and together, you're making your voices heard," he said.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II went to Washington, D.C., last week to continue advocating for tribal consultation with agencies over infrastructure projects, like the Dakota Access pipeline (E&E Daily, Sept. 23).
"Sometimes things are legal, but they're just wrong," Archambault said of the project then.
And at the eighth annual White House Tribal Nations Conference yesterday, tribal leaders had the same message.
Obama spoke on the topic, as well: "And in the spirit of cooperation and mutual respect, we made a lot of progress for Indian Country over the past eight years. This moment highlights why it is so important that we redouble our efforts to make sure that every federal agency truly consults and listens and works with you sovereign-to-sovereign."
During the conference, Obama and tribal leaders reflected on the progress they've made together in the eight years of the Obama administration.
"This whole time I have heard you, and I have seen you, and I hope I've done right by you," Obama said.
When the ceremony at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium concluded, protestors gathered outside to continue drawing attention to the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe claims the pipeline, which could carry up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil each day, would damage their drinking water.
Last week, the departments of the Interior, Justice and the Army invited tribal leaders to participate in government-to-government consultation over infrastructure projects like pipelines (E&ENews PM, Sept. 23).
Both Obama and tribal leaders expressed concern over how the government-to-government relationship may change with the next president.
"Even after my time in this office comes to an end, I'm going to be standing alongside you because I believe that yes, our progress depends in part on who sits in the Oval Office and whether they're setting the right progress," Obama said. "But lasting progress depends on all of us, not just who the president is."
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2016/09/27/stories/1060043458
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Obama Defends Work On Tribal Issues
Sep 26, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
President Obama on Monday defended his administration's work on Native American issues amid a battle over the future of a contentious pipeline project opposed by local tribes.
At his last annual White House Tribal Nations Conference, an event established at the onset of his presidency, Obama highlighted his work on tribal healthcare and justice matters, as well as his trips to several reservations during his presidency.
“I pledged to all of you, when I ran for president, that I would be a partner with all of you in the spirit of a true nation-to-nation relationship,” Obama said.
“I’ve been proud of what we’ve been able to do together. We haven’t solved every issue, we haven’t righted every wrong, but together we’ve made significant progress in almost every area.”
Obama highlighted the creation of the White House Council on Native American Affairs and the administration's work on preserving sacred sites and consolidating tribal land around the country. He noted that an update to the Violence Against Women Act, which he signed in 2013, expands protections for women on tribal land.
Obama didn’t directly discuss the Dakota Access Pipeline, a project opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota and an issue that looms large over the relationship between tribes and the federal government.
“I know that many of you have come together to support the community at Standing Rock, and together, you’re making your voices heard,” Obama said.
Obama’s speech comes as tribes insist the administration do more to consult them before approving energy projects near their land.
The touchstone in that fight is the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was a major issue for many of the 567 tribes invited to the White House’s event. Standing Rock Sioux officials briefed attendees on the matter this weekend before the conference kicked off.
The government has blocked construction of the $3.8 billion, 1,170-mile pipeline, which the Standing Rock Sioux says threatens sacred sites and drinking water in the region.
Tribes cheered that decision, thought the energy industry and its allies have opposed it: The National Association of Manufactures, which tends to supports pipeline projects, has launched a seven-figure ad buy urging Obama not to cancel Dakota Access.
Three administration offices — led by the Interior Department and the Army Corps of Engineers — have launched a broader review of permitting policies near American Indian land, an effort tribes have greeted and encouraged.
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault called that review a “historic moment” in a Friday statement marking upcoming meetings on the matter.
Even so, he said, his focus is on stopping Dakota Access.
“This invitation is a good start, but the government has a lot more to do to permanently protect the millions of people who rely on the Missouri River for water and who are put at serious risk because of this pipeline,” he said.
Tribal groups hope the review will give them a bigger say in energy projects, up to and including veto authority over federal permits for them. The energy industry, which has otherwise said a review of the permitting process is appropriate, worries about that outcome.
“Should the federal or state governments update their regulations moving forward, they should be transparent, consistent, and reasonable so the regulatory process can ameliorate the concerns of our nation’s various constituencies while not stifling America’s economy,” Craig Stevens, a spokesperson for the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now Coalition, said in a Friday statement.
Like Dakota Access, Obama didn’t directly address the infrastructure review in his Monday speech. But he said he’s optimistic about the future relationship between tribes and the federal government.
“I want everybody in this auditorium and all the folks back home in your respective communities to know that this whole time, I heard you, I have seen you and I hope I’ve done right by you and hope I set a direction that others will follow,” he said.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/297870-obama-defends-work-on-tribal-issues
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Report: Houston-Area Chemical Facilities Often Ignored, Rarely Inspected
Sep 26, 2016 | Chem Info
By Andy Szal
The Houston metropolitan area is home to one of the world's largest petrochemical complexes, but it's also — as outlined in a sweeping Houston Chronicle investigation — plagued by safety problems.
The latest installment of the "Chemical Breakdown" series, however, shows that in addition to the inherent dangers of storing large quantities of potentially volatile chemicals, city officials and emergency responders are often in the dark about the locations and quantities of those substances.
Officials attributed part of the problem to a lack of building inspections.
The review showed that less than a quarter of facilities with hazardous materials permits were inspected, and that even when inspectors show up, the investigations were sloppy or lacked follow-up instructions.
Meanwhile, a database system implemented more than two years ago isn't keeping up with the existing inventory of chemical facilities. Only a small number of officials know how to update the system, while firefighters — fearing a backlog — stopped making emergency planning visits to nearby buildings.
Elected officials also indicated that additional resources to conduct more inspections likely aren't forthcoming. The office of Mayor Sylvester Turner said that his administration is primarily focused on flood relief and pension changes.
Experts warned that the lack of proper oversight is endangering first responders — who often don’t know what chemical they’re dealing with during an accident — and the public at large.
"That's the thing that keeps me up at night," retired firefighter and fire inspector Chris Cato told theChronicle.
https://www.chem.info/news/2016/09/report-houston-area-chemical-facilities-often-ignored-rarely-inspected
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Alaska Railroad to Begin Containerized LNG Shipping Demonstration
Sep 26, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Joe Fisher
The Alaska Railroad plans to begin a demonstration of containerized liquefied natural gas (LNG) rail shipment on Tuesday (Sept. 27). Intermodal LNG tanks will be shipped from Southcentral Alaska to the Interior during a month-long project, making the railroad the first in the country to carry LNG.
Containers full of LNG will be trucked 70 miles to the Titan LNG facility near Port MacKenzie, where they will be filled with Alaska LNG before returning to the Anchorage rail yard to be loaded onto a railroad flatcar and hauled 350 miles north as part of Alaska Railroad's northbound overnight freight train to Fairbanks, the railroad said in a project description. The containers will then be transported by flatbed truck the last 4.5 miles to the Fairbanks Natural Gas storage facility. Empty containers will be carried back on the southbound freight train headed to Anchorage.
Demonstration trips are expected to continue through October. As part of the project, the railroad has provided training to emergency first responders to make them familiar with the LNG containers and their contents.
Alaska's is the first railroad in the country to obtain permission to haul LNG by rail. In October 2015, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) approved the railroad's request to move LNG in an effort to eventually help meet Alaska's growing energy needs, particularly in the Interior (see Daily GPI, Oct. 14, 2015). FRA will review the results of the demonstration project.
Hitachi High-Tech AW Cryo Inc. based in Vancouver, BC, loaned two 40-foot LNG ISO containers to the railroad for the project. The cryogenic containers carry up to 26,586 liters (7,023 gallons) of LNG.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/107881-alaska-railroad-to-begin-containerized-lng-shipping-demonstration
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EPA Defends Tightening Ozone Air Standard Beyond 'Background' Levels
Sep 26, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
EPA is defending its authority for tightening its ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) below the levels of naturally occurring “background” ozone in some states, rejecting claims from some critics that the decision was unlawful while also fighting advocates' claim that the NAAQS should have been made even stricter.
Petitioners and the agency on Sept. 26 filed a number of final briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Murray Energy Corporation v. EPA, which consolidates several legal challenges to the more-stringent NAAQS. Litigants are arguing that the revised standard is either too tight or too weak, but the court has in prior rulings shown deference to EPA on how it interprets scientific data and sets its NAAQS.
EPA on Oct. 1 issued a rulemaking that revised the primary health-based standard and secondary environment-based limit down to 70 parts per billion (ppb), compared to the 2008 standard of 75 ppb.
Groups representing major industrial sectors say in the litigation that the new limit is stricter than necessary for EPA to satisfy a Clean Air Act mandate that NAAQS be set at a level requisite to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety. They claim that there is no scientific justification for the change, and that high levels of background ozone -- which cannot be regulated -- could make it impossible for some states to attain it.
Nonattainment is a major concern for states and industries because it triggers an air law mandate for such areas to impose costly pollution controls on industrial sources of ozone-forming air pollution. Industry and some states argue that background ozone will exacerbate difficulties in complying with the 70 ppb limit.
However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) on EPA's behalf says in its final brief that nothing in the Clean Air Act requires the agency to take background into consideration when setting the NAAQS, and that implementation measures will include flexibility for states faced with high background levels.
Background Ozone
DOJ does concede that background levels may sometimes be higher than the 70 ppb standard. Industry petitioners “seek to derail the health and welfare goals of the NAAQS by arguing that EPA should have set the standards above every background ozone level anywhere in the Nation, however rare and isolated,” the department says.
But the brief adds that, “Background ozone will not prevent states from attaining the NAAQS and does not justify subjecting millions of Americans to unhealthy levels of ozone.”
DOJ says, “Though stratospheric intrusions and wildfires may cause background ozone levels to spike infrequently in a few locations, EPA reasonably decided to address those events through the form of the NAAQS, which allows three exceedances a year without causing any violations, and through implementation provisions that directly govern background pollution, instead of making the standards less stringent nationwide.”
Industry groups in their final reply brief say EPA's treatment of background “misses the mark,” however. “EPA’s analysis is flawed. First, despite EPA’s assertion, it has not demonstrated that the instances where it admits background ozone levels would exceed 70 ppb would not themselves cause nonattainment.
“More importantly, EPA disregards the fact that, even where background levels alone would not exceed 70 ppb, they can comprise such a significant portion of total ozone levels in an area that they effectively preclude attainment, given that NAAQS must allow for some man-made U.S. emissions,” industry petitioners say.
EPA relies on provision of mechanisms to exempt high ozone readings from regulatory compliance using its “exceptional events,” “rural transport” and “international transport” mechanisms. But industry again warns that, “the alternative relief mechanisms EPA identifies do not adequately address situations where background ozone levels cause or contribute significantly to nonattainment of the NAAQS.”
Environmentalists' Criticisms
The form of the standard is key to environmentalists' argument that the standard is too weak, because it allows such exceedances without triggering a formal violation. EPA in setting the standard lawfully considered how much of the population is exposed to levels of ozone higher than 72 ppb, the lowest level of ozone at which agency Administrator Gina McCarthy was confident that harmful effects occur, DOJ says.
This means consideration of how many people are breathing ozone at high “ventilation rates,” as for example during physical exercise, DOJ says. “The key scientific point is that adverse responses to ozone exposure are critically dependent on ventilation (breathing) rates. The Administrator thus stressed that 'it is important to consider activity patterns in the exposed population,'” according to the brief.
DOJ says, “Because the Environmental Petitioners ignore the science, they advocate for a standard that would beoverprotective -- more than requisite to protect public health.” The Clean Air Act mandates that EPA set the standard sufficient to protect public health “with an adequate margin of safety.”
EPA contends that the 70 ppb standard, set below 72 ppb, provides such a margin. Environmentalists had pushed EPA for a standard as low as 60 ppb, at the bottom end of the scale of 60 ppb to 70 ppb recommended by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, which advises EPA on the level of the NAAQS.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-defends-tightening-ozone-air-standard-beyond-background-levels
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Most Energy Emissions Not Subject to Carbon Pricing: OECD
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rick Mitchell
The world's biggest greenhouse gas-producing countries are not using carbon prices to reduce climate-warming emissions, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Sept. 26.
The Paris-based OECD released updated data Sept. 26 showing that some 60 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from energy use in 41 countries surveyed—accounting for 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions from energy use—are not subject to any effective carbon rates (ECR) on energy.
The International Energy Agency said energy consumption generates about two-thirds of carbon dioxide emissions responsible for global warming. The new OECD report posits a 30 euro ($33.80) a ton low-end estimate for the social cost, or damage, of a ton of carbon dioxide emissions.
It calculates an 80.1 percent “carbon pricing gap”—the extent to which emissions are priced at below 30 euros a ton from market-based policy instruments.
“If you really believe that carbon pricing is a core element of climate policy, this is not a very happy picture,” said Kurt Van Dender, environmental tax policy expert from the OECD's Center for Tax Policy & Administration, who presented the data.
Highest Rates in Road Transport
The report—which defines ECR as the sum of carbon taxes, specific taxes on energy use and tradable emission permit prices, expressed in euros per ton of carbon dioxide emissions—provides a more complete sector- and country-level picture of “headline” data first released at the Paris climate summit in December 2015, the organization said.
On a sectoral basis, some 46 percent of road transport emissions are priced at 30 euros a ton or more. That is far more than for the non-road sectors, for which 70 percent of emissions are not priced at all, Van Dender said.
In fact, only 2 percent of industrial emissions, 3 percent of electricity sector emissions, and 4 percent of residential and commercial sector emissions are priced, the report found.
“The point here is not to say that the rates are very high in transport, but that the other sectors have very low rates,” Van Dender said.
For industry and electricity, the majority of the effective carbon rates come from specific taxes, mainly excise taxes, then a smaller amount from emissions trading systems, and a very small amount from carbon taxes, according to the report. For the residential and commercial sectors, “by far” the dominant component of ECRs is specific, mostly excise, taxes, with fractional amounts from the other two sources.
For the road transport sector, specific taxes dominate even more.
“That shows that you can make a lot of progress by using existing administrative systems for taxing energy” to increase ECRs, even though those systems might have been initially created to raise revenues rather than for climate objectives, he said.
‘No Big Shock to Competitiveness.'
The report finds that countries that price a higher share of emissions above 30 euros a ton tend to have a lower carbon-intensity of gross domestic product. It found a wide variation in ECRs across the 41 countries, with the 10 countries with the highest ECRs—all European—representing just 5 percent of the studied countries' total carbon emissions.
On the other hand, the 10 countries with the lowest rates, including Chile, Mexico, the U.S., Brazil and India, accounted for 77 percent of total emissions.
Increasing average carbon rates and their coverage to that of the median country in each sector could reduce the carbon pricing gap to 53.1 percent. Even such a “modest collective action would be significant progress towards the low-carbon transition,” Van Dender said.
And despite fears by companies that carbon rate increases will hurt their competitiveness, there is no material evidence for that, because rates are so low, he said. By starting to increase carbon rates now, guided by a price path increasing over time, it would be possible to transition to a low-carbon economy gradually, “rather than have a big shock later when suddenly it becomes urgent to act,” he said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=97895840&vname=dennotallissues&fn=97895840&jd=97895840
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EPA Targets Climate Pollutant HFCs Before International Meeting
Sep 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
Reducing leak rates of air conditioning and refrigeration appliances would reduce potent greenhouse gas emissions by more than 7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent annually, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a final rule (RIN:2060-AS51) released Sept. 26.
A second EPA rule (RIN:2060-AS80) also released Sept. 26 would avoid up to 7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent in 2025 by listing certain hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which can be thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide, as unacceptable for use in refrigeration units.
Reducing use of these greenhouse gases, which were intended to replace ozone-depleting substances, is part of the EPA's efforts to address climate change.
“These two rules demonstrate the United States’ continued leadership in protecting public health and the environment,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a statement. “I'm especially excited that we have taken these actions ahead of next month's Montreal Protocol negotiations.”
McCarthy was referring to the October 10-14 final negotiating session in Kigali, Rwanda, where nations will gather with the aim of adopting an amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
The protocol governs use of ozone-depleting substances aimed at curbing use of HFCs globally.
EPA Action on HFCs
The EPA's first rule expands regulations under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act to bar, as appropriate, the intentional venting, release or disposal of non-ozone depleting substances, including HFCs.
It also bolsters existing requirements to reduce emissions of ozone-depleting refrigerants, for example, through lowering the leak rate threshold that would prompt the duty to fix certain air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment.
Additionally, the rule adds mandatory leak inspections or monitoring for equipment that exceeded the maximum leak rate.
The rule is expected to have $24.5 million in compliance costs per year industrywide in 2014 dollars using a 7 percent discount rate and to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by reducing ozone-depleting refrigerants' emissions by approximately 114 metric tons per year, in addition to preventing roughly 7.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the rule said.
The rule will take effect Jan. 1, 2017. The second rule under Section 612 of the Clean Air Act under EPA's Significant New Alternatives Policy adds new substitutes for ozone-depleting substances for the refrigeration, air conditioning and fire suppression sectors, changes some substitutes' listings for the refrigeration and air conditioning sectors, and adds new substitutes to the list of unacceptable alternatives for the refrigeration, air conditioning and foam blowing sectors.
For example, under the second rule, a number of HFCs that were previously considered “acceptable” are now listed as unacceptable, largely for refrigeration and foam blowing. However, for the parts of air conditioning sectors, certain HFCs have now been deemed acceptable. Annualized compliance costs of the changes in status are estimated to be between $59.2 million and $71.3 million industrywide using a 7 percent discount rate, the rule said.
The effective dates range from 30 days after publication of the final rule to as late as the start of 2025.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=97895850&vname=dennotallissues&fn=97895850&jd=97895850
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