Preview Newsletter
ACC AM 10/31/16
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(ACC Blog) Spooky And Scary Can Be Safe, Too: Tips For A Fun And Safe Halloween
Oct 28, 2016 | American Chemistry Matters
By Robert Simon
Are you ready for the tricks and treats of Halloween? We hope your All Hallows’ Eve is filled with spooks and spirits. -
(ACC Mentioned) Cab Gains 0.3% In October, ACC Says
Oct 28, 2016 | (ACC Mentioned) Chemical Engineering
By Scott Jenkins
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), notched a gain of 0.3% in October, following an upwardly revised gain of 0.4% in September, according to the organization. -
(ACC Mentioned) America Recycles Day Events Planned
Oct 30, 2016 | News Dispatch
Those brining in plastic bags for recycling will get a reusable bag for free at one of four upcoming America Recycles Day events in November. -
EPA Proposes SNUR for Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes (Generic)
Oct 28, 2016 | The National Law Review
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton
On October 27, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) for three chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN), including functionalized carbon nanotubes (generic). -
Homeland Security Seeks Help On Bomb Chemicals
Oct 28, 2016 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Jessica Morrison
The Department of Homeland Security wants to keep explosive precursor chemicals, such as ammonium nitrate, out of the hands of would-be bombers without disrupting industries, such as agriculture, that rely on these substances. -
Are Synthetic Fleece And Other Types Of Clothing Harming Our Water?
Oct 30, 2016 | The Washington Post
By Rachel Cernansky
One day last summer, the sailboat American Promise set off from a dock near the Brooklyn Bridge in search of unusual prey in the Hudson River: tiny pieces of plastic, much thinner than a strand of hair. -
EU Asks for Public Input in Five-Year Review of REACH Law
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Commission kick-started a major review of the European Union's main chemical safety law Oct. 28 by publishing a 43-page questionnaire and asking for public feedback through Jan. 28, 2017, on the strengths and shortcomings of the legislation. -
Groups Challenge REACH Hazardous Substance Authorizations
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Commission told Bloomberg BNA Oct. 28 that it will examine a request from four environmental groups for a legal review of a decision to grant hazardous-substance authorizations under the European Union's REACH law to a Dutch subsidiary of Canada's Dominion Colour Corp. -
U.S. Could Follow Australia in Singing Export Blues on Gas
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dan Murtaugh, Perry Williams and Naureen S. Malik
Americans wondering what life with liquefied natural gas exports will bring can look to eastern Australia for a worst-case scenario. -
Fire Near North Dakota Pipeline Protests Is Under Investigation
Oct 30, 2016 | Reuters
By Josh Morgan
Authorities were looking into the cause of a blaze that burned through about 400 acres near where Native American leaders are protesting against a North Dakota oil pipeline they say threatens water and sacred lands, officials said on Sunday. -
Sanders Asks White House To Intervene In Protests
Oct 28, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Hannah Northey
Sen. Bernie Sanders called on the White House today to intervene and protect members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in an increasingly dangerous standoff surrounding the $3.78 billion Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota. -
Both Sides In Tense Dakota Access Fight Appeal To Feds For Help
Oct 28, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Both sides in an intense dispute over the controversial Dakota Access pipeline have appealed to federal officials, including President Obama, for help. -
Refiners Said to Warn White House of Shutdowns Over Ethanol Law
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mario Parker and Jennifer A. Dlouhy
A group of independent U.S. oil refiners has stepped up its lobbying against biofuel rules and told White House officials there will be shutdowns unless changes are made, according to people familiar with the matter. -
EPA Touts Companies Joining Oil & Gas Methane Program
Oct 28, 2016 | Inside EPA
EPA is touting the participation of a handful of additional companies in its voluntary Methane Challenge program aimed at cutting emissions of the potent greenhouse gas (GHG) methane from across the natural gas supply chain, saying the new members bring the total of energy companies up to 46 since the program launched in March. -
Utilities Challenge EPA Landfill Rule, Teeing Up Fight On 111(d) Authority
Oct 31, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
A group of power companies is suing EPA over its rule limiting the potent greenhouse gas methane from existing landfills, a case that could ultimately determine whether the agency has authority to update and strengthen rules issued under section 111 of the Clean Air Act, such as its landmark existing power plant GHG regulation. -
(ACC Mentioned) Safety Board Head Downplays Update to W.Va. Spill Report
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sam Pearson
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board may not release an update to its report on a 2014 West Virginia chemical spill after all, its top official said Oct. 27, contradicting assurances the agency gave at a public meeting in Charleston last month. -
Stephanie Thomas: We Have A Right To Know If We're In Harm's Way
Oct 29, 2016 | Houston Chronicle
By Stephanie Thomas
On May 5, I sat outside in the Medical Center enjoying the sunshine when I saw plumes of black smoke billowing toward the sky. -
EPA Extends Deadline For Input On Utility MACT Reporting
Oct 28, 2016 | Inside EPA
EPA is extending from Oct. 31 to Nov. 15 the deadline for public input on its proposal to complete a shift to centralized electronic emissions reporting to ensure compliance with its maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule setting air toxics standards for the power plant sector. -
EPA Issues Final Air Permit 'Rescission' Rule
Oct 31, 2016 | Inside EPA
EPA has issued its final rule granting air regulators authority to rescind air permits issued under the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) and related new source review (NSR) programs, after a Supreme Court ruling on greenhouse gas (GHG) permits highlighted the need for permits to be scrapped under certain circumstances. -
Beijing Meeting Pushes Environmental Trade Deal
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By John Butcher, Bryce Baschuk
Representatives of green industries, business groups and Chinese ministries met in Beijing and left optimistic that the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) could be struck before the end of the year. -
Companies, Investors Just Cannot Agree on ESG
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
Companies and investors still can't agree on where and how to report on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
Congressional Hearings - There are no relevant hearings to report at this time.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News
Transportation News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News
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(ACC Blog) Spooky And Scary Can Be Safe, Too: Tips For A Fun And Safe Halloween
Oct 28, 2016 | American Chemistry Matters
By Robert Simon
Are you ready for the tricks and treats of Halloween? We hope your All Hallows’ Eve is filled with spooks and spirits. Before you embark on your ghostly adventure let’s make sure you’re taking proper safety precautions. Fire hazards pose a significant risk on Halloween. In fact, 10,300 fires were reported in the United States during the three day period around Halloween from 2011 to 2013. Taking fire safety precautions with your costumes, decorations, and candles can make a difference this Halloween. By following these guidelines you can increase the safety and fun of your night of trick or treating:
Costume Safety
There’s no reason a costume can’t be spooky and safe. By avoiding costumes that are baggy or have long trains you can reduce the likelihood of the costume coming in contact with an open flame or accidentally tripping on it. Also, remember that if you are wearing a homemade mask, the eye holes should be large enough to see where you’re going.To further maximize safety precautions, consider wearing flame-resistant fabrics, like nylon or polyester. These fabrics can be identified by a tag marking them “Flame Resistant.” If ignited, these materials are slow to burn and can give the wearer ample time to remove the costume before burning themselves.
Decoration Safety
We hope you can make your home as scary as possible, but make sure you’re decorating safely. Decorations ignite first, according to statistics from 2009-2012. These statistics show that approximately 860 residential fires every year are a result of decorations catching fire. The study also shows that candles ignited 41 percent of those decorations that caught fire.
There are several ways to keep your haunted house safe this Halloween:Be sure to clear pathways and exits of all decorations in the event of an emergency.Substitute candles for battery-operated lights or glow sticks to protect your home and your jack-o-lanterns. You could also opt for a completely flameless pumpkin. However, if you use a candle remember that flammable objects should maintain a 12-inch radius from an open flame.Never leave a flame unattended, and if you leave the room don’t forget to blow out any lit candles.If you plan on using electric decorations be mindful of their wattage. Check the cord’s wattage rating, as you may need a heavy duty extension cord with adequate power to safely power decorations like fog machines or inflatable decorations. Also, make sure wires aren’t frayed and check that sockets are in good condition.Use plastic hooks or clips to hang lights and reduce the risk of fire or electric shock. These are safe alternative to nails or staples.Check for the UL mark on light strings, extension cords, and electrical decorations. The UL mark says that the product is free of foreseeable hazards. A green UL mark signifies that it is approved for indoor use only. A red UL mark approves the product for indoor and outdoor use.
To protect yourself and your family from harm this Halloween, make sure any decorations and costumes you use are fire safe.
Robert Simon is ACC’s VP of the Chemical Products and Technology Division and is with the North American Flame Retardant Alliance.
https://blog.americanchemistry.com/2016/10/spooky-and-scary-can-be-safe-too-tips-for-a-fun-and-safe-halloween/
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(ACC Mentioned) Cab Gains 0.3% In October, ACC Says
Oct 28, 2016 | (ACC Mentioned) Chemical Engineering
By Scott Jenkins
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), notched a gain of 0.3% in October, following an upwardly revised gain of 0.4% in September, according to the organization.
The CAB is up 4.2% Y/Y, a marked increase over earlier comparisons and the greatest year-over-year gain since August 2014, ACC says. All data are measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. In October, three of the four core categories for the CAB improved. Production-related indicators, product prices, and inventory were positive, while equity prices remained flat.
Meanwhile, the ACC also reported that the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) expanded by 0.2% in September, following a 0.3% decline in August, and flat growth in July. In September, chemical production rose across all regions, with the largest gains in the Ohio Valley, Gulf Coast, and Midwest regions, ACC says. There were gains in the production three-month moving average output trend of adhesives, fertilizers, pesticides, coatings, organic chemicals, synthetic rubber, plastic resins, pharmaceuticals and other specialty chemicals. These gains were offset by declines in the output trend in inorganic chemicals, consumer products, industrial gases, dyes and pigments, and manufactured fibers, the ACC adds.
http://www.chemengonline.com/cab-gains-0-3-in-october-acc-says/?printmode=1
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(ACC Mentioned) America Recycles Day Events Planned
Oct 30, 2016 | News Dispatch
LA PORTE — Those brining in plastic bags for recycling will get a reusable bag for free at one of four upcoming America Recycles Day events in November.
The La Porte County Solid Waste District has once again teamed up with Al’s Supermarkets to promote all forms of recycling available in La Porte County through several in-store November events.
New this year will be an additional plastic bag swap at the JMARt BP on U.S. 30 in Wanatah. According to a press release from the La Porte County Solid Waste District, not only will residents be able to swap plastic bags – a major source of litter in the community – for a bag they can reuse time and time again, but they can also learn what they can recycle every day at Al’s stores in Michigan City and La Porte, snag giveaways, play a game and more.
All events at Al’s Supermarkets will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Join the Solid Waste District at the specified location on the following dates:
• Nov. 14 – Al’s Franklin, 3535 Franklin St., Michigan City
• Nov. 15 – Al’s East, 702 E. Lincoln Way, La Porte
• Nov. 16 – Al’s Karwick, 1002 N. Karwick Road, Michigan City
The event at J-MARt BP, 10300 U.S. 30 in Wanatah, will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 17, inside the gas station.
Thanks to Al’s and Republic Services, the District’s curbside recycling contractor, for donating reusable bags for these events. One reusable bag will be handed out for every 50 plastic bags brought in, up to a total of three reusable bags per person.
“Last year we collected 14,198 plastic bags for recycling, and this year we hope to get even more,” said Alicia Ebaugh, District education and public outreach coordinator. “The convenience of plastic bags comes with a price to wildlife and the cleanliness of our streets when not disposed of properly, so we hope these events provide an incentive for change.”
Each year, Americans use 100 billion plastic bags. That figures out to about 313 per person, so a family of four might go through about 1,250 single-use plastic bags per year. The amount collected would have been used by about 45 residents over one year. That might be enough people to fill one apartment building.
Ebaugh said consumers bring plastic bags home from pretty much anywhere they shop for food, clothes and other items, including newspapers that are often wrapped in them, and even more bags are purchased to simply be thrown away.
“They may be convenient, but when only one county – ours – can go through more than 34 million of them in a year, it’s time to start thinking about ways to reduce the amount of waste we create,” she said.
The amount of bags collected for recycling this year was less than last year, but that’s actually a good thing.
“We’ve been educating on the proper way to recycle plastic bags – at the store – for a year now, and many participants said they’ve been doing just that,” Ebaugh said. “Plus, those who have gotten reusable bags are using them, reducing the number of plastic bags they are bringing in even more.”
The La Porte County Solid Waste District gave out about 250 reusable bags to residents in exchange for these plastic bags during their events.
“When you make the switch to reusable bags for shopping, you not only reduce waste, you reduce the amount of litter that ends up in our communities,” said Ebaugh. “Let’s keep reducing, reusing and recycling!”
America Recycles Day, celebrated on Nov. 15, is the only nationally recognized day and coast-to-coast community-driven awareness campaign dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States.
In 2015, the District’s plastic bag swap events were among 2,000 America Recycles Day events nationwide, engaging more than 1.5 million estimated participants nationwide. More than 200,000 people have taken the “I Will Recycle” Pledge online and in paper form at ARD events, joining a growing movement of caring citizens committed to increase the recycling rate in America and to learn how to recycle right.
America Recycles Day is made possible through the generous support of the American Chemistry Council, Amcor, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, and the Northrop Grumman Corporation.
http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/news/article_9b374831-290f-538d-acf6-72c888833c61.html
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EPA Proposes SNUR for Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes (Generic)
Oct 28, 2016 | The National Law Review
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton
On October 27, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) for three chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN), including functionalized carbon nanotubes (generic). According to the notice, the PMN states that the substance will be used as a thin film for electronic device applications. Based on structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis of test data on analogous carbon nanotubes and other respirable poorly soluble particulates, EPA identified potential lung effects and skin penetration and toxicity induction from inhalation and dermal exposure to the PMN substance. Further, EPA predicts toxicity to aquatic organisms via releases of the PMN substance to surface water. EPA states that it does not expect significant occupational exposures due to the use of impervious gloves, and because the PMN is used in a liquid and is not spray applied except in a closed system. EPA does not expect environmental releases during the use identified in the PMN. Therefore, EPA has not determined that the proposed manufacturing, processing, and/or use of the substance may present an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment. EPA states that it has determined, however, that any use of the substance without the use of impervious gloves, where there is potential for dermal exposure; manufacturing the PMN substance for use other than as a thin film for electronic device applications; manufacturing, processing, or using the PMN substance in a form other than a liquid; use of the PMN substance involving an application method that generates a mist, vapor, or aerosol except in a closed system; or any release of the PMN substance into surface waters or disposal other than by landfill or incineration may cause serious health effects or significant adverse environmental effects. Based on this information, according to EPA, the PMN substance meets the concern criteria at 40 C.F.R. Section 721.170(b)(3)(ii) and (b)(4)(ii). EPA determined that the following tests would help characterize the health and environmental effects of the PMN substance:
The results of a fish early-life stage toxicity test (OPPTS Test Guideline 850.1400);
A daphnid chronic toxicity test (OPPTS Test Guideline 850.1300);
An algal toxicity test (OCSPP Test Guideline 850.4500);
A 90-day inhalation toxicity test (OPPTS 870.3465) with additional testing parameters beyond those noted at 40 C.F.R. Section 870.3465, for using the 90-day subchronic protocol for nanomaterial assessment;
A two-year inhalation bioassay (OPPTS Test Guideline 870.4200); and
A surface charge by electrophoresis (for example, using ASTM E2865-12 or NCL Method PCC-2 — Measuring the Zeta Potential of Nanoparticles).
EPA promulgated final SNURs on May 16, 2016, for these three chemical substances. EPA received notices of intent to submit adverse comments, however, and withdrew the direct final SNURs on July 14, 2016. EPA notes that the applicable review periods for the PMNs submitted for the three chemical substances all ended prior to June 22, 2016, the date on which President Obama signed into law the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which amends the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Comments on the proposed PMNs are due November 28, 2016.
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/epa-proposes-snur-functionalized-carbon-nanotubes-generic
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Homeland Security Seeks Help On Bomb Chemicals
Oct 28, 2016 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Jessica Morrison
National Academies studying ways to control availability of substances used in improvised devices
The Department of Homeland Security wants to keep explosive precursor chemicals, such as ammonium nitrate, out of the hands of would-be bombers without disrupting industries, such as agriculture, that rely on these substances. DHS is turning to the National Academies for help.
At the behest of DHS, a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine began studying this issue in late October. The panel includes chemists and engineers with expertise in explosives materials.
DHS already has a good handle on the level of threat posed in the U.S. from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), David Wulf, a Homeland Security division director, told the panel, which met in Washington, D.C. In addition, the department knows which “chemicals can be made to go boom.”
“We hope that you’ll take a critical look at the universe of IED precursor chemicals that have legitimate uses and provide recommendations so that we can have a common sense approach” for restricting access to the chemicals, Wulf said. He gave as example of this sort of approach the federal methamphetamine law. That statute led to restrictions on the sale of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, legal drugs that are used as raw materials by those cooking up the illicit drug methamphetamine.
Eight years ago, Congress required DHS to regulate the sale and transfer of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer, “to prevent the misappropriation or use of ammonium nitrate in an act of terrorism.” The substance was used in the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 and injured hundreds of others. DHS proposed an ammonium nitrate rule in 2011, but it has yet to finalize restrictions on the chemical.
Wulf said the legislation’s narrow focus on ammonium nitrate has made it challenging for DHS complete the rule. Such restrictions could shift would-be bombers to other explosive chemical precursors, he explained.
DHS is asking the National Academies committee to identify chemicals that have been used or are likely to be used in IEDs and analyze how these chemicals move through the supply chain. DHS wants the committee to prioritize the chemicals for control.
The committee expects to complete its report in 2017.
https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/web/2016/10/Homeland-Security-seeks-help-bomb.html
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Are Synthetic Fleece And Other Types Of Clothing Harming Our Water?
Oct 30, 2016 | The Washington Post
By Rachel Cernansky
One day last summer, the sailboat American Promise set off from a dock near the Brooklyn Bridge in search of unusual prey in the Hudson River: tiny pieces of plastic, much thinner than a strand of hair.
These microfibers are shed by every garment that is made with synthetic materials and has been put through a washing machine. When the water is expelled from the machine, it goes into wastewater systems and eventually into rivers and oceans, where it has become a major source of concern to environmentalists and marine-life researchers.
“I surveyed thousands and thousands of kilometers of ocean. We found microfibers in nearly 90 percent of the samples, and in every sample we found fibers, they were the majority of particles we identified,” said Amy Lusher, a British-based microplastics researcher and a co-author of a 2014 study of microplastic pollution in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.
Microfibers are part of the larger problem of microplastic pollution, which has gained attention in recent years as tiny pieces of plastic — usually defined as smaller than five millimeters, or about the size of a single piece of short-grain rice — accumulate in surface waters around the globe. Microplastics generally refer to small fragments of plastic that result from the microbeads used in such items as cosmetics and toothpaste — the latter burnish teeth to make them whiter — and from the breakdown of bags, bottles and other plastics that make their way into our waterways.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a giant, soupy collection of marine debris, is the most famous manifestation of the problem, but tiny plastics are turning up just about everywhere scientists look, including the Great Lakes and Antarctica.Looking at the food chain
What the enormous stream of microfibers means for the health of the world’s waterways — and for the marine animals living in them — remains unclear. The limited research on the topic suggests that marine organisms — with smaller animals being the most vulnerable — are ingesting the fibers, which leads them to eat less food, potentially harming their growth prospects and survival rates.
“If you’ve got plastics in your stomach and you can’t get rid of them, you eat less,” said Andrew Watts, a scientist at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, who published a study last year suggesting that microfibers reduce the growth — and possibly the survival — of crabs essentially by interfering with their consumption of real food. “We saw that in the worms, crabs; we’ve seen it in the langoustines study as well.”
Watts said it’s possible that the fibers also pick up and transport chemicals with them, and once animals eat the fibers, they are vulnerable to the effects of any chemicals they’ve also ingested.
Researchers are still trying to determine whether these effects climb up the food chain and reach humans who eat seafood. They also want to know what plastic fibers mean for drinking water and larger marine animals.
“As a research community, we’re still in the really early stages of figuring out what the effects of microplastics are on organisms in the environment,” Watts said.
Only in recent years have researchers realized that synthetic clothing — including yoga pants, fleece jackets and some dress suits — was also a major contributor to the microplastics problem. A 2011 study looking at the composition of microplastics found on shorelines around the world first raised the alarm, saying that microfibers dominated the plastic debris they found and seemed to be coming from clothing being washed.
In response, Patagonia, which produces hugely popular fleece and other outerwear using synthetics, commissioned another study to better understand the problem.
“We were faced with this issue, and we wanted to try to understand from scientists what exactly our contribution was to the problem,” said Jill Dumain, director of environmental strategy at Patagonia.
The research, published in June, found that a single synthetic fleece jacket released as much as 250,000 microfibers, or 2.7 grams — about the weight of a Ping-Pong ball — when washed in a machine. The study also found that top-loading washing machines cause more shedding than front-loaders, that older garments shed more than new ones and that higher-quality garments shed less than lower-quality ones.
A more recent study found that acrylic garments in particular may release more than 700,000 microfibers each.
What drives these variations is still unclear and is part of what Patagonia plans to continue studying. In the meantime, the company is looking for solutions that could mitigate the problem, including product redesign to reduce fabric degradation and discussions with the appliance industry to incorporate some kind of apparatus into laundry equipment — possibly like the lint catchers that are built into dryers — that would keep fibers from being discharged into wastewater. “We’re open to any and all solutions to this problem,” Dumain said.“A plastic world”
The American Promise’s Hudson River trip was part of an effort by the nonprofit Rozalia Project to see how pervasive microfibers have become in U.S. waterways.
The researchers were collecting water samples every three miles along the river to document the types and concentrations of microfibers. They were hoping as well to figure out how the fibers might be entering and moving along the river — looking to see whether there were concentrations, for example, near population clusters or near wastewater treatment plants.
Abby Barrows, a microplastics researcher for the nonprofit Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation who is analyzing the American Promise water samples, said microfibers were turning up in most of the samples she’d processed so far.
She’s not surprised: “We live in a plastic world.”
Josh Kogan said the Hudson River effort, like other citizen scientist projects, is collecting data that may help fill in some research gaps — and thinks it may also help the public see a connection between human activities and this type of pollution. “It helps to tell the larger story about plastics in our surface waters, how they get there and how citizens are directly involved in this particular issue,” said Kogan, the Trash Free Waters program coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 2, which includes New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico. “No matter what you wash, you are going to discharge fibers.”
The Rozalia Project is working to develop a “microfiber catcher” that consumers will be able to throw into their washing machines, trapping the fibers inside the appliance rather than sending them out to sea in wastewater, said Rachael Miller, a co-founder of the group.
“We see [microfibers, unlike microplastics from soda bottles, bags, cosmetics and the like] as something that can’t be regulated away,” Miller said. “Synthetic fibers have allowed us to love winter and skiing.”
As the sailboat sets out from Brooklyn, Miller holds up a prototype of the catcher. It looks like a hollowed-out version of the dryer ball designed to keep clothes wrinkle-free, but with little plastic teeth running across the middle. She said preliminary testing of an early design showed that it reduces the microfibers discharged from each laundry load by about 30 percent, but there’s still a lot of product refining and testing to do. Miller hopes to have the ball available by spring.
Unfortunately, Barrows said, the microfiber catcher is not going to completely solve the problem, even if it does help somewhat.
“Working in this field of research, it can be really depressing,” she said. “I open up a box of water — it’s from some beautiful place in Palau, and it’s just full of plastics. Or it’s from Antarctica, and I think there’s definitely not going to be anything in here. And it’s just full of fragments. I haven’t seen a sample that doesn’t contain an alarming amount of plastic.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/are-synthetic-fleece-and-other-types-of-clothing-harming-our-water/2016/10/28/eb35f6ac-752e-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e_story.html
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EU Asks for Public Input in Five-Year Review of REACH Law
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Commission kick-started a major review of the European Union's main chemical safety law Oct. 28 by publishing a 43-page questionnaire and asking for public feedback through Jan. 28, 2017, on the strengths and shortcomings of the legislation.
The commission, the EU's executive arm, is required to review the regulation, known as REACH, every five years. The last review, published belatedly in 2013, concluded that no major changes were required to REACH, which the EU adopted in 2006.
The commission is required by REACH to deliver the next review by June 1, 2017. The commission said the aim of the consultation is to “identify needs for adjustment and to propose recommendations to improve the implementation” of REACH (Regulation No. 1907/2006 on the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals).
Under REACH, companies must safety-assess the chemicals they manufacture in, or import into, the EU and file registration dossiers with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). The most hazardous chemicals can be made subject to phaseout orders or otherwise restricted.
Cost Effectiveness Assessment
The commission said it will combine the five-year reviews of REACH with a regulatory fitness and performance (REFIT) evaluation of the law. The commission introduced REFIT assessments to determine if EU legislation is meeting its objectives at the minimum cost.
According to the questionnaire on the review of REACH, responses will inform the commission's “general approach” to the REFIT assessment and should provide information on the “strengths and weaknesses” of REACH, along with “any potentially missing elements.”
Issues the questionnaire covers include whether REACH is succeeding in improving consumer, worker and environmental protection; whether it is an effective framework for providing information on chemicals; if the legal text is sufficiently clear on REACH processes; and whether REACH has had unintended effects.
The questionnaire also asks about the effectiveness of ECHA, whether REACH can be made less burdensome, and whether it is effective in dealing with emerging issues such as nanomaterials, endocrine disruptors or the combination effects of chemicals.
Peter Pierrou, communications manager of the International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec), which campaigns for the phaseout of toxic substances, told Bloomberg BNA Oct. 28 that “instead of opening up REACH, which we fear would be done in order to weaken the best parts of it, we think the commission should consider introducing a number of improvements.”
Among steps that should be taken according to ChemSec are systematic rejection of REACH registration dossiers that contain incomplete or poor-quality information and speeding the process to list hazardous chemicals as “substances of very high concern,” a designation that means they could ultimately be banned from use in the EU.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=99609549&vname=dennotallissues&fn=99609549&jd=99609549
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Groups Challenge REACH Hazardous Substance Authorizations
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Commission told Bloomberg BNA Oct. 28 that it will examine a request from four environmental groups for a legal review of a decision to grant hazardous-substance authorizations under the European Union's REACH law to a Dutch subsidiary of Canada's Dominion Colour Corp.
The environmental groups filed the request for a legal review Oct. 26 in protest against the granting under REACH of continued-use authorizations for two chromate pigments -- lead sulfochromate yellow and lead chromate molybdate sulphate red.
The substances are classified as carcinogenic and reprotoxic and listed in Annex XIV of REACH (Regulation No. 1907/2006 on the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals), meaning they cannot be used in the EU without special authorization. The authorization process applies to the 31 hazardous substances listed in Annex XIV of REACH.
In September, the commission, the EU's executive arm, granted authorizations to DCC Maastricht BV to use the substances to manufacture specialist paints used for road markings and in industrial applications.
Authorization Decision Challenged
One of the environmental groups challenging the authorizations, ClientEarth, said in a statement Oct. 27 that the authorizations were granted although the substances had been “abandoned for decades” in many EU countries and safer alternatives are available.
The authorization was granted though Dominion Colour “failed to show that the toxic pigments in their paint could not be replaced with safer ones—a key legal test,” ClientEarth lawyer Alice Bernard said.
ClientEarth jointly filed the legal review request with the European Environmental Bureau, International Chemical Secretariat and the International POPs Elimination Network. The groups said they could seek to overturn the authorization by referring it to the Court of Justice of the European Union if the legal review request fails.
The commission said it would “carefully examine the arguments” the groups made and “will respond within the applicable deadline,” which is 12 weeks.
The environmental groups requested a review under an EU regulation that implements in the bloc aspects of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=99609538&vname=dennotallissues&fn=99609538&jd=99609538
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U.S. Could Follow Australia in Singing Export Blues on Gas
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dan Murtaugh, Perry Williams and Naureen S. Malik
Americans wondering what life with liquefied natural gas exports will bring can look to eastern Australia for a worst-case scenario.
As Australia is set to overtake Qatar as the world's largest exporter of LNG, its domestic market is showing growing vulnerability to price spikes. In July, with cool weather boosting heating demand, Australians in the southern state of Victoria paid more for domestic gas than customers in Japan did for super-chilled Australian gas shipped 4,400 miles (7,000 kilometers) on tankers.
The reason: Exports are locked into set production systems and long-term contracts that can't be easily adjusted, and companies get a premium for the international deals they arrange. Now, with U.S. consumers increasingly dependent on natural gas as coal and nuclear plants disappear, lawmakers and energy analysts say the country may also be at risk as U.S. exports reach 13.5 billion cubic feet a day in 2020.
In the U.S. “you've got industrial demand, power demand and export demand that we've never seen before, all of which poses significant upside risk to prices,” said Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics LLC in Austin, Texas, in a telephone interview. “Power and gas prices are going up. Enjoy it while it's cheap.”
Almost three-dozen tankers have left the American Gulf Coast since the first cargo of shale LNG set sail in late February. Cheniere Energy Inc., which owns the only terminal now open in the continental U.S., is in the process of doubling its output and will continue to expand next year.
At the same time, the U.S. sent a record 3.6 billion cubic feet a day in July through pipelines into Mexico.
The end result: U.S. gas prices more than doubled from this year's low to more than $3 per million British thermal units in October as America's power generators, burning a record amount of the fuel, nearly wiped out a national surplus.
U.S. lawmakers have noticed.
Last month, a dozen U.S. senators, including Democrats Al Franken of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, asked the Energy Department to slow LNG export approvals until it can investigate impacts on domestic prices. The request comes as the agency has requests in hand for projects to export more than 53 billion cubic feet of LNG a day, and has approved 15.2 billion.
Five terminals are already under construction with the next opening--by Dominion Resources Inc. in Maryland--set for the end of 2017.
Continuing to ratchet up approvals could “put us on a path towards higher energy prices for families and businesses here at home,” Franken said in an e-mail Oct. 27. “I want the Energy Department to put the brakes on new LNG exports until we know the full impact of currently approved exports.”
1989 Start-Up
In Australia, the first LNG exports were shipped out in 1989. Now, the country has seven operating plants and three more under construction. Australia is set to surpass Qatar as the world's largest exporter of LNG by 2018, according to BMI Research.
Some Australians, already seeing price spikes in their country, are expressing similar concerns to those of the U.S. lawmakers.
Wholesale gas prices in Victoria, the only actively traded market in the country, rose as high as $17 per million British thermal units in July, and prices averaged $8.38 for the month, according to the Australian Energy Markets Operator. Japanese imports of Australian LNG cost an average of $6.63 that month, according to LNG Japan Corp.
The Australian Industry Group, which represents 60,000 local businesses, said gas prices have risen and made domestic industry less competitive because of exports. Santos Ltd., which operates the Gladstone LNG export project about 530 kilometers (330 miles) north of Brisbane, said last month that it's having to buy gas from the domestic market to ship abroad after its own drilling didn't produce enough to meet its contractual needs.
“It's the worst of all worlds,” said Tennant Reed, a spokesman for the Australian Industry Group. “Exports have disappointed in value, and domestic users are still taking it in the neck through higher prices.“
Ban Blamed
Energy industry advocates in Australia have defended gas exporters, saying the projects have spurred new drilling that has in many cases developed fresh supplies for local markets. They blamed the price spike, at least partly, on a government ban against on-shore drilling.
“The LNG plants have brought on huge investment in onshore gas production in Queensland, which cannot only fuel our export opportunities which over time are going to be very valuable to Australia but also provide necessary gas to domestic markets,” said Martin Ferguson, the country's former energy minister and a former non-executive director of BG Group, now a part of Royal Dutch Shell.
The U.S. has an added line of defense. Australian LNG exporters contract to send gas directly to foreign customers with specific destinations, while U.S. exporters only sell the right to buy U.S. gas and chill it in their plants for loading. That means if U.S. prices ever rise above those in Asia or Europe, the exports can just stop.
Producers are also driving “tremendous productivity gains” that will make it profitable to extract shale fuel at even lower U.S. gas prices, but it will take about a year for that to kick in, according to Francisco Blanch, head of commodities research at Bank of America Corp.
Meanwhile, ‘in the next few months the trend is pretty clear,” said Blanch, who is based in New York. “Demand is going to go up pretty quickly and supply is limited. If we get another cold winter we are going to get pretty strong prices in gas.”
In a twist, supply shortages and hefty price spikes for industrial gas users on Australia's east coast, following the start up of export plants in Queensland state, may result in that nation importing U.S. LNG, Neil Beveridge, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said in a research note. Australian buyers effectively must compete with international oil linked prices for gas supply because exporters have contractual commitments with oil linked pricing, he said.
“It would not surprise us in the slightest to see a floating regas and storage unit deployed somewhere offshore Sydney Harbour in the near future,” wrote Beveridge.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=99609531&vname=dennotallissues&fn=99609531&jd=99609531
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Fire Near North Dakota Pipeline Protests Is Under Investigation
Oct 30, 2016 | Reuters
By Josh Morgan
Authorities were looking into the cause of a blaze that burned through about 400 acres near where Native American leaders are protesting against a North Dakota oil pipeline they say threatens water and sacred lands, officials said on Sunday.
The blaze on private property in rural Morton County was extinguished with the help of helicopters that dropped water on it. Authorities have not given any indication on whether the fire was deliberately set or if it was related to the protests taking place a few miles away.
Native American leaders vowed on Saturday to protest through the winter against the oil pipeline, adding they are weighing lawsuits over police treatment of arrested protesters.
More than 400 protesters have been arrested since Aug. 10 in rallies that have attracted support from celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Shailene Woodley, Susan Sarandon and Chris Hemsworth.
The planned 1,172-mile (1,885-km) path of the pipeline, the project of a group of companies led by Energy Transfer Partners LP, would skirt the Standing Rock reservation by about a half mile. But the Standing Rock tribe and environmental activists say it threatens water supplies as well as sacred Native American sites.
Supporters say the pipeline, the construction of which was halted by the federal government in September, offers the fastest and most direct route for bringing Bakken shale oil from North Dakota to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pipeline-idUSKBN12U0VM?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter
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Sanders Asks White House To Intervene In Protests
Oct 28, 2016 | E&E News PM
By Hannah Northey
Sen. Bernie Sanders called on the White House today to intervene and protect members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in an increasingly dangerous standoff surrounding the $3.78 billion Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota.
The Vermont independent in a letter to President Obama said 140 people had already been arrested at the construction site in Cannonball, N.D., highlighting "disturbing reports" of law enforcement officers using sound cannons, pepper spray and rubber bullets.
"The first priority must be protecting the safety of the peaceful protesters," said Sanders, who was one of the first members of Congress to speak in opposition to the Bakken oil pipeline. "This is why I urge you to direct the Department of Justice to send observers to protect the protesters' First Amendment rights to protest the pipeline."
Sanders also called on Obama to ask the governor of North Dakota to remove the National Guard from the camp, which the senator said only serves to inflame an already tense situation. Sanders additionally asked for the Army Corps of Engineers to halt construction of the project within a mile between Highway 1806 and the Missouri River to de-escalate the situation.
Sanders said the project never should have been approved under an expedited regulatory system and doubled down on his previous calls for the project to be halted for deeper environmental reviews. "Mr. President, you took a bold and principled stand against the Keystone Pipeline — I ask you to take a similar stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline," he wrote.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2016/10/28/stories/1060045005
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Both Sides In Tense Dakota Access Fight Appeal To Feds For Help
Oct 28, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Both sides in an intense dispute over the controversial Dakota Access pipeline have appealed to federal officials, including President Obama, for help.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), an early foe of the project, sent a letter to Obama on Friday asking his administration to both monitor and deescalate law enforcement activity at anti-pipeline protest sites in North Dakota.
More than 140 protesters were arrested on Thursday when a heavily-armed police force moved them off of private ground on which the protesters had established a camp. Some protesters set fire to tires and logs and broke fences during the protest, but they also said the policing tactics were heavy-handed.
“I urge you to take all appropriate measures to protect the safety of the Native Americans protesters and their supporters who have gathered peacefully to oppose the construction of the pipeline,” Sanders wrote in his letter to Obama.
Sanders echoed a Standing Rock Sioux tribe request for Justice Department observers to oversee policing at the protest. He also said Obama should direct North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple to remove National Guard forces from the protest site.
Dalrymple (R), meanwhile, was one of three governors to send a letter to Army Corps of Engineers officials asking them to quickly issue the final easement necessary for the pipeline to cross the Missouri River in North Dakota.
The easement is the lynchpin in the fight over the pipeline. The Army Corps has approved the entire pipeline route on federal land, but it hasn’t issued the easement allowing for its construction under North Dakota's Lake Oahe. That is pending an Obama administration review of the approval process.
But the governors — Dalrymple, Terry Branstad (R-Iowa) and Dennis Daugaard (R-S.D.) — said the lack of an easement is improperly delaying construction on the 1,170-mile pipeline, which crosses through all of their states.
“Further delay in issuing the easement will negatively impact our states and our citizens,” they wrote in a Thursday letter.
“Construction delays will negatively impact landowners and farmers who will risk having multiple growing seasons impacted by construction activities. It is in the best interests of all parties to mitigate any further negative impacts.”
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has sued over the pipeline project, saying it threatens sacred sites and drinking water supplies in North Dakota. The pipeline has become a rallying cry for anti-fossil fuel advocates, but the pipeline’s developers say it is safe and meets all necessary regulatory standards.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/303386-both-sides-in-tense-dakota-access-fight-appeal-to-feds-for-help
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Refiners Said to Warn White House of Shutdowns Over Ethanol Law
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mario Parker and Jennifer A. Dlouhy
A group of independent U.S. oil refiners has stepped up its lobbying against biofuel rules and told White House officials there will be shutdowns unless changes are made, according to people familiar with the matter.
The refiners also had meetings this week with Environmental Protection Agency officials, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the discussions. More meetings are planned ahead of a Nov. 30 deadline for the government to decide how much biofuel will be used by motorists in 2017, they said.
Warnings about shutdowns mark an escalation of the rhetoric coming from suppliers of gasoline who oppose the system that mandates the use of ethanol and biodiesel. At the heart of the dispute is the price of tradeable credits called Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs).
Refiners who can't add ethanol to their gasoline must buy RINs to comply with the law. RINs prices have surged this year, threatening some refiners with losses. Billionaire Carl Icahn, who controls refiner CVR Energy Inc., complained to the government in August that the market for the credits is “rigged.“
Joseph Gorder, the chief executive of one of the affected refiners, Valero Energy Corp., said Oct. 25 on a conference call that the industry had “constructive” talks with regulators and the White House. Some refiners are proposing to shift the burden of complying with the law to so-called blenders, who actually have the infrastructure to add ethanol to auto fuel. American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, an industry group, is among parties who have petitioned the EPA on the proposal.
EPA Review
The EPA is reviewing the petitions, spokesman Nick Conger said. He declined to comment on this week's meetings in Washington.
“Both EPA and the White House are interested in getting as much information as they can to understand our proposal and the impacts,” said Geoff Moody, senior director of government relations at the AFPM, which set up this week's meetings. Refiners have long raised financial concerns with U.S. biofuel mandates, he said, but now, “there is definitely a sense of urgency from us and some of our members.“
During the latest discussions in Washington, industry representatives pointed to the recent struggles of Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc., a joint venture between Sunoco and investment company Carlyle Group LP, three of the people said. Philadelphia Energy operates the largest oil refinery on the East Coast. In recent months it has cut jobs and dropped a planned initial public offering, citing financial pressures including $250 million of RINs expenses for 2016.
RINs Prices
Philadelphia Energy's experience isn't unique. Valero said Oct. 25 it expects to spend as much as $850 million this year on RINs. CVR said Oct. 27 it's also feeling the burden of RINs-related costs.
President Barack Obama's administration has been sympathetic in the past to refiners. After Sunoco moved to close its Philadelphia refining complex in 2011, administration officials helped speed up its sale to Carlyle. In 2013, the EPA moved to soften biofuel quotas after Carlyle plus Delta Air Lines Inc.’s Monroe Energy subsidiary warned White House officials against increasing mandates.
Prices for RINs tracking biodiesel have climbed 43 percent this year, according to data from StarFuels Inc., a Jupiter, Florida-based broker. Ethanol RINs are up 31 percent. The rally follows the EPA's proposal to boost ethanol quotas for next year. At the same time, a series of plea deals and settlements involving cases of RINs fraud has invalidated some credits, tightening the market even more.
As the EPA's deadline for finalizing 2017 blending targets, approaches, officials at the department have said they're considering petitions from refiners requesting it shift the burden of compliance. One option could be to open a docket and seek public comment on the possibility, leaving the door open for substantive changes.
Advocates for independent refiners argue that shifting the compliance burden would spur more biofuel consumption by putting the onus on blenders, who are closer to consumers in the supply chain. The American Petroleum Institute has argued against the change, which it says would distract from a more fundamental overhaul of U.S. renewable-fuels policy.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=99609542&vname=dennotallissues&fn=99609542&jd=99609542
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EPA Touts Companies Joining Oil & Gas Methane Program
Oct 28, 2016 | Inside EPA
EPA is touting the participation of a handful of additional companies in its voluntary Methane Challenge program aimed at cutting emissions of the potent greenhouse gas (GHG) methane from across the natural gas supply chain, saying the new members bring the total of energy companies up to 46 since the program launched in March.
The agency in an Oct. 28 press release announced that four companies -- National Grid, Southern company Gas, Southwestern Energy and Kinder Morgan -- have joined the ONE Future component of the Methane Challenge program, which seeks to expand on EPA's Natural Gas STAR voluntary reduction program for methane.
All four companies mentioned in the agency's press release were already members of ONE Future, a natural gas industry-led coalition of companies aimed at identifying policy and technical solutions that yield continuous improvement in cutting methane emissions from the sector.
The Methane Challenge aims to encourage companies to cut emissions of methane in addition to EPA's June 3 emissions standards to force methane cuts from the oil and gas sector's new and modified sources.
EPA launched one component of the Methane Challenge framework earlier this year, which aims to drive near-term, widespread implementation of mitigation activities from specific sources of methane. The agency says the program launched with 41 member companies and two additional companies have since joined.
EPA in August launched the ONE Future component of the framework, which the agency says allows companies more flexibility in determining the most cost-effective way to achieve their respective segment emission rate.
The ONE Future partnership is made up of energy companies who have agreed to segment-specific emissions intensity targets that inform a collective goal of reducing methane emissions associated with the production, processing, transmission and distribution sectors to 1 percent or less by 2025.
http://insideepa.com/news-briefs/epa-touts-companies-joining-oil-gas-methane-program
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Utilities Challenge EPA Landfill Rule, Teeing Up Fight On 111(d) Authority
Oct 31, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
A group of power companies is suing EPA over its rule limiting the potent greenhouse gas methane from existing landfills, a case that could ultimately determine whether the agency has authority to update and strengthen rules issued under section 111 of the Clean Air Act, such as its landmark existing power plant GHG regulation.
The Oct. 28 petition for review, filed by the Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG), does not elaborate on its rationale for challenging the landfill standards, which create a more stringent emission capture threshold for landfills than earlier limits set in 1996.
However, UARG's formal comments on a proposed version of the landfill rule charged that “the Agency lacks authority under the [Clean Air Act] to revise the emission guidelines to make them more stringent.”
It was not immediately clear by press time whether other groups had filed lawsuits challenging the methane rule -- which was released alongside similar standards for new landfills July 15 -- but a coalition of environmental groups seeking to strengthen the measure were expected to petition EPA to reconsider the rule.
The rule took effect Oct. 28, and that was the deadline to file such petitions.
EPA developed the landfill rule under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, the same section EPA used for its more high-profile power sector rule, known as the existing source performance standards (ESPS).
UARG is one of a host of groups that is challenging the power sector rule at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
EPA has issued regulations for new and modified facilities under section 111(b) for both sectors.
But UARG says that while Congress provided explicit authority for EPA to strengthen 111(b) standards, lawmakers failed to provide similar authority for existing source standards under section 111(d).
UARG's Concerns
As a result, the group urged EPA to “withdraw” its proposed revision -- a step that EPA ultimately rejected. “The absence of a statutory grant of authority in section 111(d) does not create a discretionary ability to seize authority that a statutory grant, such as the one in section 111(b), would give,” UARG said.
EPA in the final rule for existing landfills rejected UARG's claims about its 111(d) authority. Interpreting that section to prohibit EPA from revising current standards for existing facilities “would mean that the EPA would be unable to address the threats from these sources even as we improve our understanding of the danger presented by the pollutant at issue or new or improved control options become available.”
The agency added that agencies have general authority to revise their regulations, citing a 1967 Supreme Court ruling in American Trucking Association v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co.
“Regulatory agencies do not establish rules of conduct to last forever; they are supposed, within the limits of the law and of fair and prudent administration, to adapt their rules and practices to the Nation's needs in a volatile, changing economy. They are neither required nor supposed to regulate the present and the future within the inflexible limits of yesterday,” the ruling says.
EPA adds: “To interpret the [air law] otherwise would mean that Congress intended to allow existing sources to operate forever without any consideration of the need for updated controls simply because, at some point in the distant past, the EPA had previously required these sources to be regulated.”
Industry Standing
It is not clear that UARG will successfully persuade the D.C. Circuit that it has standing to challenge the methane rule, as the rule regulates an entirely different source category.
However, one industry attorney earlier said that some power interests would have legal standing. “A lot of power plants are located next to landfills” and capture the methane gas they emit, the source said, noting that “there is a nexus” between the two source categories, which could help establish standing.
The attorney noted that every facility built after a 111(b) standard is issued would be regulated by the new source standard. Thus, it makes sense for EPA to have the authority to revise those standards. Then, when the agency sets a new 111(b) standard, “you reach back in time and get the existing units into a 111(d) standard,” the source said, adding that there is then “no longer this issue of an unregulated source.”
The issue could take on heightened importance if Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wins the White House next month, as some environmentalists plan to urge her to make an early pledge to strengthen the ESPS targets.
Progressive advocates also recently issued a report finding “untapped” GHG reductions in the ESPS, suggesting a path that advocates might take to urge tighter targets.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/utilities-challenge-epa-landfill-rule-teeing-fight-111d-authority
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(ACC Mentioned) Safety Board Head Downplays Update to W.Va. Spill Report
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sam Pearson
Oct. 28 — The U.S. Chemical Safety Board may not release an update to its report on a 2014 West Virginia chemical spill after all, its top official said Oct. 27, contradicting assurances the agency gave at a public meeting in Charleston last month.
“At this point, it is unlikely that there will be an actual addendum or supplement,” CSB Chairwoman Vanessa Allen Sutherland told the Charleston Gazette-Mail Oct. 27.
Sutherland discussed the status of the Freedom Industries spill document after delivering a keynote address at a chemical safety workshop sponsored by the West Virginia Chemical Manufacturers Association, the American Chemistry Council and the National Association of Chemical Distributors in Charleston, W.Va.
The board launched the investigation after a spill of the chemical crude methylcyclohexane methanol, or MCHM, on Jan. 9, 2014, left 300,000 people without water for days in the Charleston area. Residents affected by the chemical spill are close to reaching a settlement in a civil lawsuit, according to local news reports ( Good v. Am. Water Works Co. Inc., S.D. W.Va., No. 2:14-cv-01374, 1/13/14).
A supplement that addressed perceived shortcomings of the original report, if produced, could contain more recommendations to the Environmental Protection Agency or other parties on how to prevent a similar incident.
Broader Safety Recommendations Sought
At a public meeting in Charleston Sept. 28, board members voted unanimously to approve a final report on the chemical leak. The decision came despite public comments calling attention to what critics say was the report's failure to make broader safety recommendations or more fully explain what happened.
At the time, Sutherland and other board members directed CSB staff to work on “a possible supplement or appendix to follow as we explore some of the issues raised,” Sutherland said at the time.
Sutherland said the CSB staff had finished reviewing public comments submitted since the report was approved, the Gazette-Mail report said. She added that CSB staff had recommended that the supplement was unnecessary, according to the report, and board members were likely to approve the recommendation soon.
In a statement to Bloomberg BNA Oct. 28, CSB spokeswoman Hillary Cohen said the agency's staff have met with board members twice since the public meeting “during which the public comments were discussed in general terms.”
“The CSB's board members are still reviewing the comments but have not made a formal decision or approval of an appropriate road forward, and will weigh the investigation team's analysis of those comments,” Cohen said.
The board should decide on the issue “in the next few weeks,” at which point it will notify the public, Cohen said.
Criticism of Report
Outside researchers and chemical safety advocates say they were surprised by the CSB's report.
At a public meeting in Charleston July 16, 2014, then-CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said the report was to “examine regulatory oversight of above-ground storage tanks in West Virginia and the U.S.”
More than two years later, the report failed to mention significant facts of the incident, and did not make any regulatory recommendations, advocates noted.
Andrew Whelton, an assistant professor of civil engineer and environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University who submitted a detailed critique of the CSB's report, said he has heard from officials in the chemical and drinking water industries as well as government agencies who are also highly critical of the document.
“When they read the report, they said it was a piece of garbage,” Whelton told Bloomberg BNA Oct. 28. He added for the CSB to refuse to amend the report would be “an injustice to the taxpayers and the people of West Virginia and the scientific community.”
The report also did little to add to the public health questions that emerged from the incident, to the disappointment of local activists, though the agency had previously said it planned to review but not conduct new research.
Among other lapses, the report failed to note evidence that Freedom Industries stored a mixture of chemicals in the storage tank that ruptured containing more than the six chemicals listed in the materials safety data sheet for MCHM, Whelton said. The report also misstated an Occupational Safety and Health Administration study, Whelton said, and failed to cite significant academic research conducted since the spill.
Maya Nye, past president of West Virginia-based People Concerned About Chemical Safety, told Bloomberg BNA Oct. 28 the CSB had an obligation to West Virginia residents to update the document.
If it backed out after first saying otherwise, Nye said, “It would just further reinforce the trust that was broken during this incident with the government.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=99609564&vname=dennotallissues&fn=99609564&jd=99609564
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Stephanie Thomas: We Have A Right To Know If We're In Harm's Way
Oct 29, 2016 | Houston Chronicle
By Stephanie Thomas
Chemical inventory is good first step,but safety alerts also are necessary
On May 5, I sat outside in the Medical Center enjoying the sunshine when I saw plumes of black smoke billowing toward the sky.
Over the next two days, on social media, I saw images of Spring Branch Creek running red from chemicals released during the Spring Branch fire I had witnessed.
This was not an isolated incident. Evacuations and calls to shelter in place occur regularly in our region, and with a recent spate of chemical accidents, I'm glad to see that the city of Houston is finally getting serious about the reality of chemical hazards in our communities.
Mayor Sylvester Turner and city officials are putting together an action plan by early November to examine the chemical inventories of over 6,000 area businesses. As chemical safety expert Sam Mannan said in the Houston Chronicle's "Chemical Breakdown" series, "We are literally running from disaster to disaster without a well thought-out plan."
This lack of a plan is a serious issue for residents of affected communities. The organization I work for, Public Citizen, is part of the Healthy Port Communities Coalition, which advocates policies to improve public health and safety while encouraging economic growth. We agree that comprehensive, up-to-date chemical inventories are essential to protecting the public. We're encouraged that Turner has taken the first step.
Providing the public with necessary information must be balanced against the need to protect us from those who would do America harm. But our governor and attorney general have moved too far in the wrong direction by using security concerns to justify withholding basic information from the public. Their version of a right-to-know law is "go-and-ask." That's not good enough.
We deserve to know that we might be in harm's way, and we shouldn't have to beg for the information.
Turner should work with state agencies, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and industry to ensure that the public maintains its right to know what's in the air we all breathe. We also recommend continued outreach to families on the importance of disaster preparedness, and for now, also encouraging them to sign up for alerts from local emergency management offices until opt-out systems are in place.
This interagency cooperation might be challenging at times because the exchange of information between levels of government quickly becomes complicated. In the minutes and hours after a chemical disaster, the agencies that are notified or tasked with notifying the public include: emergency responders, local emergency commissions, local offices of emergency management, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security. Although residents are in various ways alerted to the danger and the recommended action via sirens and loudspeaker announcements, reverse-911 calls, text messages, emails and emergency broadcasts on television and radio, those messages can be inconsistent, haphazard and ineffective.
There is a better way. Modern technology allows real-time, geo-targeted messages to be sent across media platforms, similar to Amber Alerts. Sophisticated wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) captured the nation's attention in September when they were issued to notify New York City residents to be on the lookout for bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami.
If Houston were to use WEAs during chemical disasters, emergency responders could target people within the area most immediately affected in order to get people out of harm's way and reduce their exposure to cancer-causing and otherwise dangerous chemicals. The WEAs also could provide a link to information detailing procedures for sheltering in place. Because WEAs operate on an opt-out basis rather than opt-in, their reach is broader than the current systems in place. You have a right to know if your health will be affected, and the Texas Legislature needs to develop policies that require the appropriate agencies to make wireless emergency alerts available. In a recent poll, 92 percent of people surveyed in Houston supported this idea.
In Spring Branch, access to an up-to-date chemical inventory would have helped the Fire Department effectively fight the fire. WEAs would have given neighbors crucial information about immediate risks and the safety of their air and water. We must also remember that while accidents like what happened in Spring Branch catch our attention, communities in Houston are exposed regularly to harmful pollution.
Turner did the right thing in turning his attention to chemical safety and security. Now he should ask state lawmakers to ensure that Houstonians have a reliable and consistent way like wireless emergency alerts to immediately know when their health, safety and lives are threatened. But his voice alone won't get legislation passed. Call your legislators in support of opt-out alerts. We have a right to know when harmful emissions are in the air.
Thomas, Ph.D., is an organizer with Public Citizen and the Healthy Port Communities Coalition, which includes Air Alliance Houston, Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services and the Coalition of Community Organizations.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Stephanie-Thomas-We-have-a-right-to-know-if-10422483.php
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EPA Extends Deadline For Input On Utility MACT Reporting
Oct 28, 2016 | Inside EPA
EPA is extending from Oct. 31 to Nov. 15 the deadline for public input on its proposal to complete a shift to centralized electronic emissions reporting to ensure compliance with its maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule setting air toxics standards for the power plant sector.
In a Federal Register notice slated for publication Oct. 31, the agency says that it is granting the 15-day extension in response to a request from the Utility Air Regulatory Group, which represents the power sector, for a 30-day extension.
EPA's proposed rule, released Aug. 27, governs the shift by power plants to submission of data in electronic form using Extensible Markup Language, “a searchable format that enhances transparency of the data for all stakeholders, including the public, the [pollution] sources, and federal, state, local and Tribal governments,” according to an EPA fact sheet released with the proposal.
The rule will complete the transition to submission of all data to the Emissions Collection and Monitoring Plan System (ECMPS) Client Tool, now used by power plants to report data under the Acid Rain program. The Acid Rain program, introduced in the 1990s, employed emissions trading and other methods to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions blamed for acid rain. ECMPS will replace earlier reporting systems.
After Dec. 1, 2017, the agency proposes that electric utilities must fully transition to using the centralized reporting system for emissions reporting for the MATS. Almost all power plants had to comply with the MACT rule's emissions limits by April 16 this year.
http://insideepa.com/news-briefs/epa-extends-deadline-input-utility-mact-reporting
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EPA Issues Final Air Permit 'Rescission' Rule
Oct 31, 2016 | Inside EPA
EPA has issued its final rule granting air regulators authority to rescind air permits issued under the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) and related new source review (NSR) programs, after a Supreme Court ruling on greenhouse gas (GHG) permits highlighted the need for permits to be scrapped under certain circumstances.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy Oct. 26 signed the final rule that grants air regulators the right to rescind PSD permits issued by EPA, or by others under EPA-delegated authority, after July 30, 1987. Previously, regulators were only able to rescind such air permits issued before that date.
The inability of regulators to scrap previous air permits arose as a concern after the Supreme Court 's June 2014 ruling in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA effectively barred the agency from requiring PSD permits for sources based solely on their GHG emissions.
As a result of the ruling, EPA was forced to amend the PSD implementing rules to allow regulators to rescind the handful of such permits.
But the agency's rule will expand that by removing the 1987 date restriction and including Indian Country in areas where PSD permits can be rescinded -- not only for their GHG emissions but for any other reason, including perhaps a new court ruling that would invalidate such permits.
The rule does not affect permits issued by state or local air regulators under their own authority. “While the EPA’s permitting rules for state and local air agencies do not contain a rescission provision, the EPA believes that many state and local air agencies either have rescission authority in their laws or rules, or they have other mechanisms to rescind permits that are no longer required.
“In order to preserve the flexibility for these agencies to continue to administer their programs as they have done to date, the EPA is not adding a rescission provision to the NSR rules that apply to these agencies,” EPA explains in a fact sheet on the final rule.
Nor is EPA changing the established criteria under which federal regulators or state and local air regulators acting under delegated authority may rescind PSD permits, EPA says.
http://insideepa.com/news-briefs/epa-issues-final-air-permit-rescission-rule
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Beijing Meeting Pushes Environmental Trade Deal
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By John Butcher, Bryce Baschuk
Representatives of green industries, business groups and Chinese ministries met in Beijing and left optimistic that the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) could be struck before the end of the year.
The deal would cut tariffs across a range of products and open markets to U.S. companies engaged in green industries.
“The EGA is ready to be concluded. There's no question about that. There's a very clear understanding of what everybody's priorities are and sensitivities are,” EGA chair, and Australian diplomat, Andrew Martin, said at the Oct. 26 event.
The goal of the agreement is to cut tariffs on an array of environmental products including solar panels, water filters and hydraulic turbines, that could increase global exports by $119 billion per year.
Next month, Martin plans to unveil the final list of EGA products from among the roughly 300 products proposed in more than a dozen categories of environmental goods.
Soon afterwards, EGA negotiators will meet in November to further winnow down the list of products and resolve China's concerns about free-riders to the deal.
EGA negotiators will then gather for a Dec. 3-4 ministerial meeting in Geneva with the goal of producing a final accord before President Barack Obama leaves office.
Benefits for U.S. Companies
The deal would open markets to U.S. companies, according to attendee Jake Parker, based in Beijing as vice president of China operations for the U.S.-China Business Council. The EGA offers “real opportunities” to U.S. firms, he told Bloomberg BNA Oct. 28. “I hope it is finalized to ensure they can fully access this market.”
Negotiations began in 2014 but subsequently stalled. Some participants at the Beijing event said China had in the past thrown its weight around during talks often to the detriment of the deal.
Specifically, China sought more flexible tariff reduction terms, excluded key goods from tariff cuts and demanded specific provisions to prevent non-EGA participants from benefitting from the deal.
Proponents have long sought to persuade Beijing that the deal would benefit China economically and help them fulfill their commitments to the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
A study released by the Coalition for Green Trade revealed that China's full implementation of the accord would increase Chinese exports by nearly $27 billion per year, increase spending on environmental goods by $22 billion per year, and result in $659 billion in annual economic benefits.
Pressure to reach a deal began mounting earlier this year during the Group of 20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, on July 10. Trade ministers issued a joint statement that they had agreed to parameters for the accord and hoped a deal could be reached by the end of 2016.
Positive Impact
Chinese good will toward the EGA was evident on Oct. 26 during the Beijing event, where businesspeople and academics from China spoke about the positive economic impact the EGA could have on China's economy.
Professor Wang Yuming, vice director of the Department of Mechanical and Carrier Engineering, at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the EGA would be “conducive” to China's “reform and opening up.” Professor Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute of WTO studies at the University of International Business and Economics, added that countries with low levels of protectionism tended to be “highly competitive.”
The views expressed at the event—with China's EGA negotiators from the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Environmental Protection present—likely will have a positive impact on reaching a deal, according to one attendee.
Post-event, Jake Colvin, a vice president at the National Foreign Trade Council, who was at the EGA meeting, told Bloomberg BNA, it was a “unique event” and said there was “a strong focus by Chinese academics and industry on the role of trade agreements like the EGA in improving the competitiveness of Chinese industry.”
The EGA is being negotiated among a subset of 17 World Trade Organization (WTO) members that account for roughly 80 percent of global trade in such products, including China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and the U.S.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=99609567&vname=dennotallissues&fn=99609567&jd=99609567
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Companies, Investors Just Cannot Agree on ESG
Oct 31, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
Companies and investors still can't agree on where and how to report on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
Most of the biggest companies in the U.S. now issue standalone sustainability reports. But few investors want to see ESG disclosures that way, according to a new survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Only about one-fifth of the small sample of institutional investors and pension funds surveyed said they wanted to see ESG information published separately, using a framework from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) that has dominated the sustainability disclosure landscape for more than a decade.
Those investors would rather see ESG data incorporated into financial filings using newly drafted industry-specific guidelines from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board . Asset owners such as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and asset managers such as BlackRock are starting to rally behind SASB's approach.
The problem is: none of the chief sustainability officers or other corporates in the survey use SASB—at least in part because its standards aren't yet finalized.
‘Pain Points’ for Investors
The San Francisco-based standards developer says many of the topics it has identified already appear in financial reporting, just in boilerplate language.
“The kinds of things that SASB's addressing have long been known to be pain points for investors,” the group's founder Jean Rogers told Bloomberg BNA. (SASB's board is chaired by Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg BNA's parent company, Bloomberg LP.)
One of those pain points is the comparability of data across companies. The majority of companies in the PwC survey thought their disclosures made comparisons easy. The majority of investors disagreed.
Another is quality. All of the companies surveyed were confident in the quality of the sustainability information they report. Less than 30 percent of investors saw it that way.
How to Show Quality?
Investors said they would feel more confident in its quality if ESG data were certified or audited by a third party or if it were incorporated into filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, especially if a company's executives signed off on the information.
“I think they intuitively would have more confidence in something that is put forth in an SEC filing than something that's just put out on a website or in a glossy CSR [corporate social responsibility] report,” Sara DeSmith , who leads assurance at PwC's sustainable business group in the U.S., told Bloomberg BNA.
The commission recently asked for feedback on corporate reporting on climate change and other sustainability issues as part of a broader review of disclosures.
SASB isn't the only way to get ESG information into financial reporting.
Financial vs. Pre-financial
Companies could submit sustainability reports as an attachment, as the Amsterdam-based GRI has suggested to the SEC. They could also put together integrated reports that combine financial and the kind of “pre-financial” information that shows up in sustainability reports.
Eric Hespenheide , GRI's interim chief executive, says pre-financial reporting on topics like gender diversity and labor practices can act as an “early warning system” for issues that shareholders and other stakeholders should care about.
“You could make a case that, over time, anything left unaddressed could become financially material,” Hespenheide, a former partner at Deloitte LLP, told Bloomberg BNA.
GRI will be able to address emerging issues in a more timely fashion now that it is transitioning from issuing a new installment of guidelines every few years to updating individual topics on the fly.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=99609565&vname=dennotallissues&fn=99609565&jd=99609565
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