Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 11/4/2016
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Revised TSCA 'Use' Criteria Appears Narrower For New Chemical Reviews
Nov 4, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Bridget DiCosmo
New language in the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) on how EPA must consider "conditions of use" of chemicals when reviewing the safety of chemicals appears to apply in a much narrower context for new substances compared to existing chemicals and other TSCA reviews, according to industry officials tracking the law. -
3 Takeaways on Walmart's 2025 Sustainability Aims
Nov 4, 2016 | Green Biz
By Elizabeth Sturcken
Amidst the noise in the run-up to the election, later today Walmart CEO Doug McMillon will map out the company's sustainability goals for 2025. -
EPA OKs Dow Herbicide Combo With Glyphosate
Nov 3, 2016 | Chem Info
By Andy Szal
The Environmental Protection Agency this week affirmed its approval of a Dow Chemical herbicide combination and proposed expanding it to additional crops and states. -
New Dakota Access Pipeline Route Sought by Obama to Accommodate Sioux
Nov 4, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
President Obama said Wednesday that a re-routing of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline project now under construction is being considered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to resolve the stalemate among developers, Native American tribal opponents and the federal government (see Shale Daily, Oct. 14). -
Appeals Court Upholds FERC LNG Project Approval
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
A federal court today knocked down another legal challenge by environmentalists over a planned project to export liquefied natural gas. -
Fluor Takes $154 Million Hit on Delayed Petrochemical Project Near Houston
Nov 3, 2016 | Fuel Fix Blog
By Jordan Blum
The chief executive of Fluor engineering and construction company said he’s “extremely disappointed” by the financial loss it’s taking on building the $6 billion Chevron Phillips petrochemical expansion in Baytown. -
Enviros Warn of Danger to Famed West Texas Springs
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
A plan to rapidly ramp up drilling and fracking in Texas' picturesque Big Bend region increases the risk of contaminating the natural springs in the area, according to a report commissioned by an environmental group. -
Oil Majors Pledge $1B for Methane Reduction, Carbon Capture
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Hess
Major oil companies today announced a $1 billion investment in low emissions technologies, targeting four areas they believe can bolster climate change mitigation. -
Industry Adapting Slowly to Climate Regulations
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
The oil and gas industry may not be adapting to the new environmental landscape quickly enough, some experts say. -
Colonial Set to Restart Sunday After Deadly Blast
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
The Alabama pipeline that erupted early this week should be operating again by Sunday, company officials have said. -
(ACC Mentioned) UPS Reciprocal Switching Comments to the STB Surprise Shippers
Nov 4, 2016 | Material Handling & Logistics
By David Sparkman
The prospect of the Surface Transportation Board adopting its proposed reciprocal switching rule for railroads became a bit murkier after parcel delivery giant UPS came out in opposition to it. -
Safer, Greener, More Competitive - CIAC Welcomes Minister Garneau's Transportation 2030 Strategy
Nov 4, 2016 | Edmonton Journal
With a vision "of a safe, secure, green, innovative and integrated transportation system that supports trade and economic growth, a cleaner environment and the well-being of Canada's middle class," Minister Garneau presented his transportation strategy, Transportation 2030. -
US Firm Metrom Rail Releases New Positive Train Control System
Nov 4, 2016 | Railway Technology
US-based Metrom Rail has launched a new positive train control (PTC) solution to address challenges faced by executives at transit agencies to adopt systems to improve passenger and worker safety. -
The Paris Agreement on Climate Change Is Official. Now What?
Nov 4, 2016 | The New York Times
By Keith Bradsher
When the landmark Paris Agreement to address climate change officially goes into effect on Friday, the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe will be floodlit green to celebrate the occasion. Now comes the hard work: figuring out the details. -
Deal Takes Force Under Cloud of U.S. Election
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Jean Chemnick
The landmark Paris Agreement enters into force today as U.S. voters prepare to choose between a candidate who supports the climate deal and one who has said he would cancel it. -
EPA Moves Forward with Optional Cap-and-Trade System for Climate Rule
Nov 4, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Obama administration is moving forward with an optional cap-and-trade system that states could use to comply with its climate change rule for power plants.
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Revised TSCA 'Use' Criteria Appears Narrower For New Chemical Reviews
Nov 4, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Bridget DiCosmo
New language in the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) on how EPA must consider "conditions of use" of chemicals when reviewing the safety of chemicals appears to apply in a much narrower context for new substances compared to existing chemicals and other TSCA reviews, according to industry officials tracking the law.
The requirement that EPA must consider a chemical's "conditions of use" is significant because how broadly EPA ultimately interprets the scope of the term could dictate how broadly a risk evaluation may apply for a particular chemical that has multiple uses. Section 5 of the law governs the agency's review of new chemicals entering the marketplace, while section 6 covers risk evaluations and management decisions for existing chemicals.
If the agency has a narrower requirement to consider such uses when reviewing new substances under section 5 of the law, that could affect the outcome of the review that must more broadly consider all potential uses of the chemical, as opposed to specific uses that might result in lower exposure potential and therefore lower risk.
"Conditions of use appears to play a distinctly different, narrower and more complex role in Section 5 of new TSCA as compared to its much broader use in Section 6," Bergeson & Campbell senior regulatory and policy advisor Charles Auer, a former EPA toxics official, and Lynn Bergeson, managing partner of the industry firm, write in the paper "Role of 'Conditions of Use' Under Sections 5 and 6 of Amended Toxics Law," published recently in BNA Insights.
Under the revised TSCA signed into law June 22, section 5 mandates for the first time that EPA must determine whether the chemical may present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment before the substance may be sold. The prior law as enacted in 1976 did not require this finding for new chemicals.
Section 6 requires the agency to determine whether an existing substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, under conditions of use, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including an unreasonable risk to susceptible subpopulations.
The term "conditions of use" has been the subject of much debate ahead of EPA's planned rules implementing much of section 6 and a fee system to partially fund the reviews the agency will conduct under sections 5 and 6 of the law. The term applies both in the context of assessing chemicals' risk and in assessing how to structure fees for industry.
The statute defines "conditions of use" as the "circumstances, as determined by the Administrator, under which a chemical substance is intended, known, or reasonably foreseen to be manufactured, processed, distributed in commerce, used, or disposed of."
Auer and Bergeson in their Oct. 14 paper write, "This definition lays out an EPA role in determining the circumstances involved in a chemical's conditions of use wherever the term appears."
They note that the term appears in section 5; section 6; section 9, which refers to other federal laws; section 14, dealing with confidential business information; section 18, addressing state programs; section 21, pertaining to cancer clusters and section 26, which governs administrative measures.
"Conditions of use is a centralizing concept under which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determines how a chemical is made, processed, used and disposed," the paper says.
'Conditions Of Use'
The role of "conditions of use" in section 5 differs from its role under section 6, and is more limited and complicated in the former provision, the paper says.
Under section 6(b), EPA's conditions of use determination for existing chemicals is "directly tied" to both the agency's prioritization decisions and to the risk evaluation. "Section 6(b)(4) concerning the risk evaluation process includes several additional references to conditions of use that make clear how central the concept is to this process," including the requirement that EPA must include 'conditions of use in its scoping document for the evaluation, and that the agency must account for a variety of factors affecting exposure under conditions of use," the paper says.
Comparatively, the attorneys write, though the term appeals multiple times in section 5, it is "not consistently applied in the initial determination provisions under section 5(a)(3)."
Section 5(a)(3) requires EPA to make one of three possible determinations: a 5(a)(3)(A) decision that a substance or SNU presents an unreasonable risk, a 5(a)(3)(B) decision that the information is insufficient, or that the substance will be produced in such quantities that the substance may present an unreasonable risk, or a 5(a)(3)(C) determination is not likely to present an unreasonable risk.
"When used in the (A) and (C) initial determinations ('presents' and 'not likely to present,' respectively), the term is narrowly applied and does not include consideration of environmental organism or general population exposure and risk aspects, but is limited to considerations revolving around potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations," the paper says.
The authors further write that whereas section 6 "clearly envisions and requires" that EPA determine and apply conditions of use as such in its prioritization and risk evaluation analysis and in subsequent stages, the "situation is very different in section 5 where conditions of use is, at best, inconsistently applied."
The paper says the statutory language could be read to apply a de facto conditions of use concept that does not envision an EPA role in making "conditions of use" determinations regarding environmental and general human health risks and exposures and risks in making section 5(a)(3)(A) and section 5(a)(3)(C) initial determinations, and all aspects of the section 5(a)(3)(B) determinations.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/revised-tsca-use-criteria-appears-narrower-new-chemical-reviews
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3 Takeaways on Walmart's 2025 Sustainability Aims
Nov 4, 2016 | Green Biz
By Elizabeth Sturcken
Amidst the noise in the run-up to the election, later today Walmart CEO Doug McMillon will map out the company's sustainability goals for 2025. As a keynote speaker at this year’s Net Impact Conference, he'll be delivering a fairly lengthy, aspirational list; here are a few highlights of what the world’s largest retailer has planned:
50 percent renewable energy
18 percent absolute emissions reduction Scopes 1+2
1 Gigaton emissions reduction Scope 3
Zero waste to landfill by 2025 in key markets
Zero net deforestation in key commodities
100 percent recyclable packaging in private brands
These are my initial big takeaways as a director of the NGO who has worked with Walmart closely on its sustainability journey over the last 10 years.
(By the way, EDF takes no money from our corporate partners — we are funded solely through grants, donations and membership. We like to say we get paid in environmental results.)
1. Walmart can’t accomplish such ambitious goals alone — which is good
Getting to 50 percent renewables, reducing absolute emissions from their stores and trucks, and removing a gigaton of GHG emissions from their supply chain are exactly the kinds of leadership goals Walmart should be putting forth to help meet the challenge of climate change.
But actually delivering on these goals will be no joke. Luckily, our 25 years of working with companies have consistently revealed two important guideposts:
Specific, ambitious goals are vital for driving innovation and progress
Achieving real, science-based results truly takes a village of collaborators
To give just one example, three years ago Walmart set a policy to eliminate eight of the most prevalent and concerning chemicals in their home and personal care products. With no clear path forward, Walmart engaged thousands of suppliers, requiring them to submit full product formulations to a 3rd-party database, then replace those eight ingredients with safer substitutes.
The result? A 95 percent reduction of chemicals of concern, adding up to 23 million pounds. This affects 90,000 products that are sold everywhere, not just on the shelves at Walmart. At the same time, this work also helped to set the stage for this year’s passage of the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, the first piece of environmental legislation in a generation that is aimed at fixing our broken system of regulating toxic chemicals.
By aiming big and bringing on strategic partners, Walmart was able to go further, faster than they’d ever dreamed. The same holds true now.
2. Corporate sustainability is officially a trend
Walmart’s announcement is just the latest in a string of other companies — PepsiCo, Kellogg, General Mills — who have also put forth ambitious sustainability goals. What this tells us is that companies are proving, over and over again, that this is not about “doing the right thing,” it’s about doing what creates business value and environmental progress.
As if to prove this point, last month Doug McMillon talked publicly about how sustainability is a core part of its business strategy during an investor call. In this first-time-event-for-a-Walmart-CEO, he emphasized to Wall Street that one of the four ways that Walmart will win in the 21st century is to lead on sustainability by being "the most trusted retailer" and called out progress on making products such as shampoo and lotion safer, healthier and better for the planet, increasing renewables and reducing waste.
(I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that while Walmart is committing to healthy products in its 2025 goals, we are disappointed to not see further goals on the path to becoming a "toxic free" store.)
Sustainability is finally being seen for what it is: a smart business strategy. In a world of decreasing resources and consumers that want better products there’s no other path forward in the long term. And looking around at what’s happening, the long term is here!
3. The election is finally (almost) over — now let’s get back to work
This election has shown that people want change. It’s been scary and unsettling but it’s a challenge we can’t shrink from. We have healing to do as a country, which can only begin if we engage with each other. Climate change and its effects are going to get worse before they get better. Just look at this summer’s fires in California, the hurricane in Haiti, the floods in Louisiana and North Carolina.
I know there’s another path forward.
Having worked with companies over the last 25 years doing what many thought was impossible, I have hope. These corporate leaders aren’t waiting for regulation to force them to act, but choosing to consciously, aggressively become more sustainable. And I’m inspired by companies doing the hard work to think beyond their corporate walls and take ownership for the impact of the products they make and sell in the world.
The scary truth is, the aspirational goals that we need for our planet and for long-term business viability mean that business won’t know exactly how to achieve them. It will force an openness to innovation and requires bring suppliers and customers in as partners to achieve those goals.
So congratulations, Walmart, on setting aggressive yet achievable goals for 2025 — and doing what the science tells us needs to get done for a stable and healthy planet. You have a proven track record of meeting and exceeding big sustainability goals. We expect the same here.
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/3-takeaways-walmarts-2025-sustainability-aims
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EPA OKs Dow Herbicide Combo With Glyphosate
Nov 3, 2016 | Chem Info
By Andy Szal
The Environmental Protection Agency this week affirmed its approval of a Dow Chemical herbicide combination and proposed expanding it to additional crops and states.
Regulators first registered Dow's Enlist Duo in 2014 but, after securing a court order, conducted an additional review this year to examine previously undisclosed documentation from the company's patent filings.
On Tuesday, the agency said that the combination of herbicides glyphosate and 2,4-D "does not show any increased toxicity to plants and is therefore not of concern."
Enlist Duo is approved for use with genetically modified corn and soybean crops in 15 states, and the EPA proposed adding modified cotton crops to the registration along with 19 other states. A final decision on the amendment is expected early next year.
"EPA’s protective and conservative human health and ecological risk assessments re-confirmed our 2014 safety findings," the agency said in a statement.
Dow originally expressed confidence that Enlist Duo would be re-approved by the EPA and said that it expected "enthusiastic grower adoption" of the product.
Enlist Duo, like numerous other herbicides, is designed to be applied to farm fields whose crops are genetically engineered to resist it.
But glyphosate, the most heavily used herbicide in the world, faces weeds that are increasingly resistant to it. The addition of 2,4-D aims to provide additional protection against any glyphosate-resistant weeds.
Both pesticides, however, were classified as possible carcinogens by the World Health Organization's cancer research arm last year. Dow and Monsanto, the maker of glyphosate-based Roundup, disputed those findings, and EPA said its analysis found "very low risks to human health" and "no health risks to people living near treated fields."
Environmental advocacy groups, however, criticized the EPA's decision as “a capitulation to the agrichemical industry.”
“Once again, EPA has failed to protect the health, well-being and livelihood of America’s farmers and rural communities,” said Pesticide Action Network senior scientist Marcia Ishii-Eiteman. “The agency’s decision dramatically increases the risk of pesticide drift causing severe crop losses and harms to human health.”
https://www.chem.info/news/2016/11/epa-oks-dow-herbicide-combo-glyphosate
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New Dakota Access Pipeline Route Sought by Obama to Accommodate Sioux
Nov 4, 2016 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
President Obama said Wednesday that a re-routing of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline project now under construction is being considered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to resolve the stalemate among developers, Native American tribal opponents and the federal government (see Shale Daily, Oct. 14).
The president's remarks drew instant support from the Standing Rock Sioux, who are leading opposition to the project, and equally quick rejection from pipeline supporters, who contend that the nearly 1,200-mile project through four upper Midwest states has already been thoroughly vetted and is 70% completed.
On a social media interview podcast, Obama said as a "general rule, my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans, and I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline." He said a decision is still "several more weeks" away.
Dave Archambault, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, cheered the president's interview, calling it a "commitment to protect our sacred lands" and adding that while the USACE is examining the issue "we call on the administration and the Corps to issue an immediate 'stop work order' on the project.”
He cited the nation and the world as "watching" what he called "injustices done to Native people" in North Dakota and throughout the country that need to be addressed.
In contrast, Craig Stevens, a spokesperson for a business/labor coalition supporting the project, the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN), said while rerouting the pipeline near the disputed portion slated to cross under a dam-created lake in the Missouri River "sounds simple enough; it would be, in fact, incredibly difficult, and it might be impossible.
"Even if possible, rerouting the line would require years to complete, new easements, new environmental and cultural studies, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars."
Stevens went on to reiterate what the project backers at Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and MAIN have been saying: the current route only passes through about 35 miles of federally controlled land, does not cross the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, and it is co-located with a 30-year-old natural gas pipeline so as to ensure that it avoids culturally significant sites.
While Native American and anti-fossil fuel activists have widened the protest to include banks that have financed the pipeline project (see Shale Daily, Oct. 31), industry sources have sounded more alarms about the possible chilling effect this could have on future energy infrastructure projects (seeShale Daily, Sept. 13).
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/108337-new-dakota-access-pipeline-route-sought-by-obama-to-accommodate-sioux
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Appeals Court Upholds FERC LNG Project Approval
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
A federal court today knocked down another legal challenge by environmentalists over a planned project to export liquefied natural gas.
The Sierra Club had filed a petition for review challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the proposed Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project in Texas, a joint effort of Cheniere Marketing LLC and subsidiary Corpus Christi Liquefaction LLC.
In a two-page, unanimous order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the lawsuit raised challenges identical to ones that the court had recently rejected.
FERC did not have to address the indirect effects of the natural gas that would be exported from the Corpus Christi terminal, the court ruled.
The decision is the latest in a string of losses for the Sierra Club in lawsuits alleging that FERC should have considered the greenhouse gas impacts of proposed LNG export projects.
In July, the D.C. Circuit rejected a challenge to Dominion Resources Inc.'s plan to convert its $3.8 billion Dominion Cove Point LNG import terminal in Maryland into an export facility. The Sierra Club has also recently lost lawsuits challenging export terminals in Texas and Louisiana.
As in other cases, the D.C. Circuit wrote today that the Department of Energy, not FERC, should have been the target of complaints because DOE has the sole authority to license the export of natural gas.
The Sierra Club has several lawsuits challenging DOE's approval of LNG export facilities pending in the courts, but none have yet been decided.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/11/04/stories/1060045293
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Fluor Takes $154 Million Hit on Delayed Petrochemical Project Near Houston
Nov 3, 2016 | Fuel Fix Blog
By Jordan Blum
The chief executive of Fluor engineering and construction company said he’s “extremely disappointed” by the financial loss it’s taking on building the $6 billion Chevron Phillips petrochemical expansion in Baytown.
Irving-based Fluor, which is building Chevron Phillips’ “U.S. Gulf Coast Petrochemicals Project” in a joint venture with Japan-based JGC, said it recorded a $154 million impairment charge for the project in the third quarter. That is largely responsible for Fluor reporting a net profit of just $5 million for the quarter.
“We are very disappointed in the construction progress on a fixed-price Gulf Coast project that led to a significant charge this quarter,” said David Seaton, Fluor chairman and CEO.
Seaton confirmed Fluor will take a net loss on the entirety of the project. He cited weather delays, which were caused by Houston-area flooding in the spring, as well as problems with “piping performance” during the construction process. There was also one fatality in May when a Fluor contractor died after an on-site accident.
Last month, Chevron Phillips acknowledged some minor delays caused by weather and additional retraining needed for some craft workers.
Chevron Phillips’ petrochemical expansion is more than 80 percent complete and it’s now expected to be up and running in fall 2017. The effort involves building a massive ethane cracker – on a plot the size of 44 football fields – at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown to take a component of natural gas to churn out 1.5 million metric tons a year of ethylene, the most common building block of plastics.
Chevron Phillips Chemical, which is jointly owned by Chevron and Phillips 66, also is building two new polyethylene plastics units southwest of Houston in Old Ocean by Phillips 66’s Sweeny complex to take that ethylene and turn it into plastic resin that’s shipped both domestically and internationally.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/11/03/fluor-takes-154-million-hit-on-delayed-petrochemical-project-near-houston/
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Enviros Warn of Danger to Famed West Texas Springs
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
A plan to rapidly ramp up drilling and fracking in Texas' picturesque Big Bend region increases the risk of contaminating the natural springs in the area, according to a report commissioned by an environmental group.
Apache Corp., a Houston-based independent oil producer, announced in September it had found a new field that could extend the Permian Basin drilling boom to the south. The Alpine High field, located largely in Reeves County, could hold as much as 75 trillion cubic feet of gas and 3 billion barrels of oil. Apache has already leased 300,000 acres in the area (EnergyWire, Sept. 8).
The tiny town of Balmorhea sits in the middle of the field. It's famous for a spring-fed lake and swimming hole that was developed in the 1930s by the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps. The park gets about 160,000 visitors a year, and Balmorhea serves as a gateway to the Big Bend country — a three county area including a national park that contains some of the best scenery and the most unspoiled natural areas in Texas.
Oil development poses a number of risks to the springs, according to the report from Tom Myers, an independent hydrologist hired by the nonprofit group Earthworks. Surface spills could contaminate the groundwater, and improperly constructed oil wells could leak into the formations that channel groundwater to the springs.
Also, some of the springs near Balmorhea have gone dry, apparently due to pumping for agriculture, and there's a chance that the oil industry could contribute to the problem if it uses spring water for drilling and fracturing.
"Developing in an area like this, you have to be utterly cautious because it doesn't take a lot to really have a big impact on these springs," Myers said in an interview.
Myers based the report on a review of previous scientific studies of the springs; he said he didn't conduct any field work.
Apache has pledged not to drill beneath the town or the state park and plans to use brackish water for its operations, rather than water from the springs. The company has awarded a grant to the University of Texas, Arlington, to study the baseline quality of the water around Balmorhea before and after drilling occurs.
"We have made it clear from the start: Environmental considerations are top of mind in this new development," a company spokeswoman said.
"It is disappointing that Earthworks and their allies continue to pursue tactics aimed at undermining the spirit of collaboration and transparency that Apache has emphasized from the beginning," she said. "Our company has a clear track record of working with organizations across the spectrum on environmental concerns, and we see the value in fostering an open dialogue."
Apache started acquiring acreage in the Alpine High field in 2014 and has drilled 19 wells in the area, according to a company presentation. The company plans to run four or five drilling rigs in the field in 2017 and install natural gas processing plants and other infrastructure. Full development could take 20 years, and Apache may drill 2,000 to 3,000 wells.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/11/04/stories/1060045273
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Oil Majors Pledge $1B for Methane Reduction, Carbon Capture
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Hess
Major oil companies today announced a $1 billion investment in low emissions technologies, targeting four areas they believe can bolster climate change mitigation.
Ten executives representing the companies that comprise the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) said in a joint statement that they are personally committed to reducing greenhouse gases, while still providing the energy the world needs. The statement comes as the Paris international climate agreement takes effect today.
Over the next decade, the largest share of the companies' investments will focus on minimizing methane emissions from natural gas and accelerating deployment of carbon capture technology. They also will put money toward industrial energy efficiency and work with manufacturers on reducing the carbon and energy intensity of transportation.
"The creation of OGCI Climate Investments shows our collective determination to deliver technology on a large-scale that will create a step change to help tackle the climate challenge," said the CEOs of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP, Statoil ASA, Total SA and others.
A CEO and management team for OGCI Climate Investments will be announced in the near future.
The coalition touted its action as an unprecedented collaboration within the oil and gas industry. The companies said it will complement their existing low emissions technology programs and will draw on the collective expertise and resources of the coalition members.
In Paris last year, countries charted a course to cut carbon emissions, and private investors promised to put up the capital for clean energy technologies that can compete with fossil fuels.
The oil and gas sector faces increasing pressure from investors and the public to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. OGCI, which was founded in 2014, represents a fifth of the world's fossil fuel production.
Critics pointed out the $1 billion investment averages to $10 million per year per company involved.
"For comparison, Shell's [capital expenditure] budget for 2016 alone is $25 [billion]-$29 billion, Saudi Aramco values itself at more than $2 trillion, and the cost incurred by BP following the Deepwater Horizon spill was $61.6 billion," said Jonathan Marshall, an energy analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, in response to the investment.
"Relative to these numbers, this figure is a drop in the ocean," Marshall said.
Microsoft Corp. co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, Marshall noted, is contributing $1 billion to the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group of international investors committed to clean energy research and development.
"The business models of these companies are fundamentally incompatible with the commitment governments gave at the Paris climate summit to keep global warming well below 2 Celsius. And this announcement shows that oil and gas companies are contemplating no real deviation from their traditional business models," he added.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/11/04/stories/1060045304
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Industry Adapting Slowly to Climate Regulations
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
The oil and gas industry may not be adapting to the new environmental landscape quickly enough, some experts say.
The sector has faced a variety of challenges in recent years: Oil and natural gas prices plunged due to global oversupply, new technologies are making vehicles more efficient, and electric vehicles are slowly gaining traction.
Most importantly, oil and gas companies will also face a spate of regulations as an outcome of the Paris Agreement. Industry experts think the climate agreement could prevent as much as two-thirds of remaining fossil fuel reserves from being burned. The International Energy Agency estimates that oil demand might drop by 20 percent by 2040, while demand for natural gas will rise only slightly.
To some extent, oil and gas companies are moving in the same direction: Many have introduced strategies to reduce methane emissions; some are looking into sourcing hydrogen for fuel cells; and others, like Exxon Mobil Corp., are contemplating carbon capture technology.
However, many oil executives still believe demand for fossil fuels will continue to increase, leading industry experts to question whether they are doing enough to adapt.
"Oil companies are moving slowly but surely. Some are moving faster, and some are moving much, much slower, if at all," said Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/11/04/stories/1060045271
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Colonial Set to Restart Sunday After Deadly Blast
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
The Alabama pipeline that erupted early this week should be operating again by Sunday, company officials have said.
A small fire was still burning as of yesterday afternoon at the site of the Colonial Pipeline Co. explosion, which killed one worker. The company said the explosion was related to a leak on the same pipeline in September (Greenwire, Nov. 2).
The blast has raised concerns about aging oil and gas infrastructure across the United States (Greenwire, Nov. 3).
If the company's plan holds, the pipeline outage will have lasted six days. Around 40 percent of all gasoline supplied to the Eastern Seaboard runs through the pipe, according to one study (Dennis Pillion, Birmingham News, Nov. 3).
Meanwhile, the company has reported "substantial progress" in digging up the pipe. Excavation began Wednesday night.
Environmental groups have slammed Colonial for the accident. "It is time for spills, leaks and accidents from the Colonial Pipeline to end in Alabama. We cannot afford to continue playing Russian roulette with lives and our drinking water," said the Waterkeeper Alliance.
Colonial shot back. "We have robust system integrity, inspection and maintenance programs that meet or exceed all federal regulatory requirements," the company said.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/11/04/stories/1060045278
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(ACC Mentioned) UPS Reciprocal Switching Comments to the STB Surprise Shippers
Nov 4, 2016 | Material Handling & Logistics
By David Sparkman
The prospect of the Surface Transportation Board adopting its proposed reciprocal switching rule for railroads became a bit murkier after parcel delivery giant UPS came out in opposition to it.
Specifically, UPS told the STB it would shift shipments away from the railroads and onto highways if rail service declines. “Ultimately, if rail intermodal service levels fall below UPS’ time-in-transit obligation standards, we would have no business option but to shift intermodal traffic back to the highway,” UPS said in comments on the proceeding.
UPS also told the STB in no uncertain terms that its experience in other contexts led it to conclude the implementation of reciprocal switching will result in decreased network velocity, diminished capital investments by railroads, and deteriorating rail intermodal service levels.
The board issued its proposal rulemaking in July in response to a petition filed by the National Industrial Transportation League six years earlier. It drew overwhelming support from shipper and rail customer groups, and just as strong pushback from the nation’s largest railroads and their chief lobbying group, the Association of American Railroads.
Reciprocal or competitive switching occurs when a railcar from one railroad is interchanged on the tracks of another railroad to arrive at a customer’s siding for loading or unloading freight.
At September’s Intermodal Expo in Houston, top rail executives said that if they are required to adopt such a practice it would prove to be so costly it would damage their ability to make enough money for financing needed infrastructure improvements, resulting in reduced service quality.
In addition, the railroads have managed to persuade several right-wing organizations to write a letter to Congress supporting AAR’s view that permitting reciprocal switching amounts to reregulation and will take us back to the “bad old days” before passage of the Staggers Act in 1980.
Led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the groups endorsing AAR’s position are the American Conservative Union, Campaign for Liberty, John Locke Foundation, The Maine Heritage Policy Center, National Taxpayers Union, R Street Institute, Taxpayers Protection Alliance and the Grassroots Institute of Hawaii, which for some unexplained reason feels called upon to comment on interstate rail regulation on the Mainland.
Shippers dispute the AAR claim that competitive switching will damage the profitability of Class 1 railroads or that it is the first step to pre-Staggers Act reregulation. They also accuse the railroads of threatening “the sky is falling” type warnings of imaginary consequences that in reality would never materialize in order to scare the unwary and intimidate the STB.
“According to the experts, if approved by the STB competitive switching will have minimal impact if any, and won't take effect for several years into the future and on a case-by-case basis,” notes Paul Delp, president of Lansdale Warehouse Co. and co-chairman of the International Warehouse Logistics Association Transportation Advisory Committee (formerly the Rail Council).
“The Class 1 railroads are losing coal and oil unit trains but still can’t think creatively and will guard their turf at all costs. The two Canadian Class 1s have operating ratios in the 50s and have had competitive switching for years,” Delp says. He points out that both in Canada, where competitive switching has regularly taken place for more than 100 years, and under the STB’s proposal, railroads are directly compensated for every car they are required to switch.
“In the U.S. the Class 1 railroads have operating ratios in the 60s, which is remarkable in the transportation world, but they’ve cut service, furloughed crews, and parked cars and locomotives while increasing rates on linehaul and accessorial charges like demurrage,” asserts Delp, who also is president of the American Chain of Warehouses and active in shipper groups supporting the proposal.
One such group, the Rail Customer Coalition, observes that the STB is simply adhering to direction provided by Congress in recent rail reform legislation. “Current regulations, such as the board’s archaic policies that prevent customers from requesting to switch their cargo from railroad to another, actually shield the railroads from competing with one another. The problem isn’t re-regulation; it’s existing regulations that are nearly 40 years old,” RCC says.
Rail Costing Controversy
In a separate STB proceeding shippers slammed a consulting company’s report on the board’s handling of rail rate cases which recommends that the board maintain the status quo in regard to Stand Alone Costing formulas.
STB chairman Daniel R. Elliott III said the board soon will adopt changes recommended by the report, which include holding earlier technical conferences, formalizing the prioritization calls that need to be made, and formalizing the staff training program.
However, the Rail Customer Coalition says the failure to support changes in the SAC procedures “embraces the status quo.” The group also points out that the consulting group commissioned to produce the report, InterVISTAS, has represented the railroads in the past and that their report failed to include outside input from rail customers.
“The effort to improve the integrity of the STB’s rate review process is too vital to be undermined by such an incomplete and poorly-developed report,” said American Chemistry Council president Cal Dooley in separate comments. “Despite clear direction from the STB, InterVISTAS conducted its report by focusing on rail profitability, while disregarding the need to justify high rates entirely.”
RCC notes that the report was commissioned by the STB in June 2015, seven months before Congress provided a new policy direction for the STB regarding rail rate regulation when it unanimously passed the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act in December 2015.
RCC also notes that the STRA mandated an independent study of the handling of rate cases be conducted by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. The resulting TRB report called the board’s current rate review process arbitrary and unreliable and said it should be replaced with a “faster, sounder and more reliable tool that compares disputed rates to those charged in competitive rail markets for comparable shipments.”
http://mhlnews.com/transportation-distribution/ups-reciprocal-switching-comments-stb-surprise-shippers
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Safer, Greener, More Competitive - CIAC Welcomes Minister Garneau's Transportation 2030 Strategy
Nov 4, 2016 | Edmonton Journal
With a vision "of a safe, secure, green, innovative and integrated transportation system that supports trade and economic growth, a cleaner environment and the well-being of Canada's middle class," Minister Garneau presented his transportation strategy, Transportation 2030.
The strategy places a significant focus on the role transportation has in the economy. A message the Minister had stressed at a roundtable hosted by the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) on October 20, 2016. At the time, Minister Garneau asserted that "transportation is an economic portfolio."
The chemistry sector requires rail services for more than 70 per cent of deliveries to its markets. This makes the industry the second largest shipper by rail in Canada. More importantly, for more hazardous products, rail often represents the safest and most environmentally responsible mode of transportation.
CIAC has long advocated that a reliable, safe, and competitive rail transportation system is a cornerstone to the economic sustainability of the chemistry industry in Canada. Minister Garneau seems to have heard the message. The government's strategy reflects many of the recommendations made by CIAC.
"We welcome Transportation 2030 and applaud the Minister's leadership in recognizing the link between transportation, competitiveness and economic growth," said CIAC President and CEOBob Masterson. "As founders of TRANSCAER® (Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response) and TEAP® III (Transportation Emergency Assistance Program) we also welcome the strategy's focus on safer transportation."
Measures of relevance to the chemistry industry include:
Investing $10.1 billion for transportation infrastructure to help eliminate bottlenecks and building more robust trade corridors.Introducing legislation in the spring of 2017 to advance a long-term agenda for a more transparent, balanced, and efficient rail system that reliably moves our goods to global markets:
establish the ability to apply reciprocal penalties between railway companies and their customers in their service level agreements;
better define 'adequate and suitable service;
'improve access and timelines for Canadian Transportation Agency decisions; and
address the future of the Maximum Revenue Entitlement and extended interswitching.
Pursuing legislation that will allow reciprocal penalties in service level agreements between railway companies and their customers.
Putting in place a new data regime to support evidence-based decision making by government and all stakeholders that is available to all who operate, oversee, analyze and use the transportation system.
Moving up its review of the Railway Safety Act from 2018 to 2017 to further improve railway safety.Introducing requirements for locomotive voice and video recorders to be used during accident investigations.
Furthering the message of how critical Canada's transportation system is for the well-being of the economy, Minister Garneau asserted that "we need our railways to be efficient and competitive. We need goods to get where they're going – be it here in Canada, across the border to the United States, or to a port for shipment overseas." The proposed measures in the strategy provide a promising path forward to make this happen.
Masterson added "Minister Garneau has been highly accessible and consultative in the development of the Transportation 2030 strategy. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Minister and his department on the implementation of this strategy."
For further information, the Minister's speaking notes can be found here and a summary of CIAC recommendations can be found here.
The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) is the voice of Canada's $53 billionchemistry industry and represents more than 50 members and partners across the country. The industry employs 87,500 Canadians and supports another 525,000 jobs in Canada. Members of CIAC are signatories to Responsible Care® – the association's U.N.-recognized sustainability initiative.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/cnw/release.html?rkey=20161103C7957&filter=5599
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US Firm Metrom Rail Releases New Positive Train Control System
Nov 4, 2016 | Railway Technology
US-based Metrom Rail has launched a new positive train control (PTC) solution to address challenges faced by executives at transit agencies to adopt systems to improve passenger and worker safety.
The new modular Aura PTC solution, which can be implemented without any impact on train throughput, uses wireless sensor systems that do not require centralised back-office operations.
Designed for transit lines that do not share track with freight trains, the system provides collision avoidance, speed and signal compliance, precision berthing, and worker protection.
The modular design of Aura ensures integration with new and existing transit rail systems.
Metrom Rail co-founder and CEO Jim Marchi said: "PTC technology is vital to improving the safety of passenger rail.
“Aura utilises the most advanced technology to solve these critical safety challenges for transit agencies."
The Aura PTC system can be installed easily and ensures signal compliance, speed limit adherence, and separation enforcement, as well as position monitoring by sounding a warning in case a train operator violates operation rules.
The system will decelerate or stop the train if the operator takes no action.A data recorder integrated with the Aura system enables transit agencies to monitor train and operator activity and performance.
Metrom Rail co-founder and chief operating officer Rick Carlson said: "As technology innovators with experience in aerospace and healthcare, Jim and I have developed a knack for questioning the status quo and developing alternatives to legacy systems.
"After helping a majority of the Class I freight railroads for the past four years, we are excited to bring transit agencies a more practical solution to enhance efficiency and improve safety."
http://www.railway-technology.com/news/newsus-firm-metrom-rail-releases-new-positive-train-control-system-5658843
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The Paris Agreement on Climate Change Is Official. Now What?
Nov 4, 2016 | The New York Times
By Keith Bradsher
When the landmark Paris Agreement to address climate change officially goes into effect on Friday, the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe will be floodlit green to celebrate the occasion. Now comes the hard work: figuring out the details.
Top energy policy makers and corporate leaders caution that it will be challenging to meet even the deal’s modest goals to reduce planet-warming emissions of greenhouse gases.
Many companies have not even figured out yet how much greenhouse gas they emit, much less made plans to curb these emissions. Rapid technological advances in areas like electric cars are not enough to stop the world’s long climb in oil consumption, let alone reverse it.
The financial framework, namely a carbon price or tax that would force industries to pay for the pollution they spew, has barely started to emerge. And while tens of billions of dollars of green bonds have been issued to finance environmental projects, these are a pittance compared to the sums required to make a difference.
“It’s not a question of billions, it’s a question of trillions,” said Ángel Gurría, the secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, speaking on Thursday at The New York Times Energy For Tomorrow conference in Paris.
The Paris Agreement, reached in December among 195 countries, was never imagined as the silver bullet for global warming. Rather, the goal of the agreement was to stave off the most devastating effects of climate change by limiting the increase in global temperatures to two degrees Celsius, and to just 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible.
But even that may prove problematic. If every country fully accomplishes its initial pledges, the increase would be closer to 2.7 degrees, according Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, which is based in Paris. (In the next several years, countries are supposed to set additional goals for deeper reductions.)
Nor have all the countries actually ratified the Paris Agreement. Ségolène Royal, France’s minister for ecology, sustainable development and energy, announced at the conference on Thursday morning that 94 countries that had signed the agreement had ratified it, representing 66 percent of global emissions.
From a market perspective, many companies do not yet have a strong financial imperative to make sweeping changes to address climate change.
Fledgling exchanges for trading carbon emissions rights have attracted limited interest. And the prices on those markets are well below the $100 a ton or more that experts say would force companies to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases.
The world needs “a big, fat price on carbon,” Mr. Gurría said at the conference.
The market for carbon emissions has actually weakened in the months since the deal was approved. “It has gone from $9 after the agreement to $6 — it shows us the market impact of the Paris Agreement has not been as strong as we all think,” Mr. Birol said.
The scope of the issue continues to expand.
Worldwide petrochemical consumption is doubling every 10 years. Aviation fuel consumption has surged as hundreds of millions of people in China and other advanced developing countries have become able to afford air tickets. And sales of fuel-guzzling trucks have soared in developing countries.
Ben van Beurden, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference that he thought worldwide demand for oil in the transportation industry, as well as worldwide demand for oil over all, would not peak until the 2030s.
Technological advances by themselves may not slow the surge in the world’s oil consumption.
Electric car sales, for example, have taken off globally, increasing elevenfold in the last five years. But they still represent a little less than 1 percent of all cars sold.
Some automotive experts have predicted a rapid embrace of electric cars in the next decade, as governments and automakers set ambitious targets for sales. If plug-in hybrids are included, more than 20 electric car models are already on the market.
But it is unclear how powerful a force they will be in fighting climate change.
If half the cars sold worldwide were electric starting next year and continuing for the next 20 years, worldwide oil demand would keep rising, Mr. Birol said at the conference, citing an analysis that his agency plans to release on Nov. 16. The problem is that trucks, aviation and petrochemical production are now the main drivers of the growth in oil consumption.
Patrick Pouyanné, the chairman and chief executive of Total, the French oil and gas giant, predicted that electric cars would not represent more than a third of sales until 2025 and would not represent a third of all cars on the road until a decade later. That will be too late and too little to make a big difference in global oil consumption, he said.
Even so, automakers view electric as crucial to their future profits. They are convinced that regulators will keep loading more rules onto gasoline- and diesel-powered cars.
“If you don’t have 20 percent-plus of your sales in electric cars, you’re not going to make it,” said Carlos Ghosn, the chairman and chief executive of Nissan and Renault and the chairman of Mitsubishi Motors.
There are other forces at work, too. A common refrain among many executives these days is that they are feeling more social pressure to address global warming — sometimes from within their own families.
Mr. van Beurden of Shell said that a year ago he found his 9-year-old daughter inconsolable, and initially thought it was because he and his wife were leaving the children for a short excursion. But when he spoke to his daughter, he learned that her teacher had talked about dire risks from climate change, blamed oil companies for causing it and suggested that the answer was giving money to Greenpeace.
He said he reassured his daughter that global warming would be addressed and that he would help in the struggle. “She said, ‘Of course, I trust you,’” Mr. van Beurden said, adding, “and in that sense she is different from the rest of society.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/business/energy-environment/paris-climate-change-agreement-official-now-what.html?_r=0
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Deal Takes Force Under Cloud of U.S. Election
Nov 4, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Jean Chemnick
The landmark Paris Agreement enters into force today as U.S. voters prepare to choose between a candidate who supports the climate deal and one who has said he would cancel it.
The agreement reached by nearly 200 countries outside the French capital last December has taken effect more than three years before its framers expected it to, after nations rushed to submit their ratification documents in just 10 months.
John Morton, director for energy and climate change at the National Security Council, said negotiators will assemble in Marrakech, Morocco, next week for the first U.N. conference since Paris "with a tremendous amount of positive momentum."
"2016 has been a truly historic year for international climate action," he told reporters on a call yesterday, referring not only to the early entry into force but also to new deals on aviation emissions and an amendment limiting climate-forcing coolants. Both were long-sought goals of the Obama administration.
Morton and U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Jonathan Pershing said on the call that parties are looking forward to focusing on the nuts and bolts of the deal after more than two decades devoted to getting it across the finish line.
"The political dynamics here are quite significant," Pershing said.
Besides this year's trifecta of climate deals, global markets have also shown an uptick in investment in renewables compared with fossil fuels.
"Those kinds of things are a clear mark of progress," Pershing said.
The two-week conference begins Monday on the eve of the U.S. presidential election, which threatens to doom U.S. participation in global climate agreements if GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump wins. He disputes man-made climate change and has promised to "cancel" or at least "renegotiate" the global agreement.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton supports the Paris deal and the U.N. climate process.
In Michigan on Monday, Trump promised to cancel "billions in climate change spending for the United Nations, a number Hillary wants to increase." Also this week, his campaign released its "New Deal for Black America," which pledged to "cancel all wasteful climate change spending from Obama-Clinton" — a move the campaign claimed would save the U.S. government $100 billion over eight years that could be redirected to infrastructure projects in the "inner cities."
It's unclear what line items the Trump campaign has in mind. The United States has pledged $3 billion to the United Nations' Green Climate Fund between now and 2020 and has already written its first $500 million check. Another half-billion is likely to be appropriated before a new president is inaugurated on Jan. 20. The United States has also contributed to some other funds in the past to help poor countries respond to warming — Marrakech could give the United Nations' Adaptation Fund a new lease on life, for example.
Trump would drop U.S. support for the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. Republicans in Congress say U.S. participation is unlawful because the agency has accepted Palestine as a non-member state. Also on the chopping block could be any or all of President Obama's domestic climate policy programs. But Trump's claim that disposing of those measures would result in net savings is controversial. The Obama White House in 2014 estimated that if temperatures rise by 3 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial levels, climate change could cost the U.S. economy $150 billion a year.
Climate talk participants acknowledge that the U.S. election will cast a long shadow at the start of Marrakech. Aziz Mekouar, Morocco's ambassador of multilateral negotiations, said in a recent interview that it could be a distraction (ClimateWire, Nov. 2). And Pershing's predecessor, Todd Stern, told E&E News that the U.S. Election Day could prove to be the most important day of the summit.
"For Marrakech itself, you have this very positive backdrop going into it," he said, adding that the election of Clinton would signal continuity to negotiating partners.
"Obviously they perceive something much, much less certain, to put it mildly, with respect to Trump," he added.
The post-election pitch
Some international delegates have been unusually frank in their criticisms of the Republican candidate. Weighing in on a foreign election — especially a U.S. election — is a risky proposition for a diplomat. But earlier this week, veteran Chinese climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua told Reuters that Trump's pledge to remove the United States from Paris would be "unwise."
And Brazil's minister of environment, Sarney Filho, went a step further yesterday, telling reporters that "on a personal note, I hope Trump doesn't win."
He expressed optimism that the United States will keep its Paris pledge to cut emissions between 26 and 28 percent compared with 2005 levels by 2025, pointing to states' policies and private-sector actions.
"I believe that the American society is a strong society, much stronger than any possible head of state," he said.
Filho dismissed questions about whether other countries would follow suit if Trump withdrew the United States from Paris.
"We're doing our part," Filho said. "Other countries are also doing their part."
Stern said foreign negotiators he has met with since leaving the State Department early this year have shown "a lot of concern and a lot of desire to be reassured that the United States is going to stay on its program."
"If the election goes a particular way, then the bet on what the U.S. approach will be going forward is much less clear," he added.
On their press call, Pershing and Morton seemed to be previewing a post-election message directed as much at a skeptical president-elect as at nervous foreign delegations.
"I think the question of commitment to action is no longer one which is being debated," Morton said. "It's a question of how quickly it will move forward and, frankly, who will lead and who will benefit most from this transition to a lower-carbon economy."
Pershing also cast adherence to Paris as a matter of U.S. prestige. "We're a leading country. We'll continue to be a leading country," he said. "I think that's the likely outcome, and that's the message that we're going to be passing on to the global community."
Meanwhile, Trump's team is likely exploring ways that the candidate could cancel the Paris Agreement on his first day in the White House, according to a source close to the campaign.
Myron Ebell, who heads Trump's U.S. EPA transition team, has urged that a Trump administration submit Paris to the Senate for ratification. Ebell argues that such a move would effectively rescind the United States' participation, since it's unlikely to pass the Senate.
'Not a fight worth picking'
Paul Bodnar, Morton's predecessor at the National Security Council, who is now a senior fellow at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, said Trump might find that scrapping the agreement would anger his negotiating partners and deplete his store of political capital early in his presidency.
"Trump likes to talk about how he's going to 'renegotiate' everything internationally, whether it's NATO or trade deals," Bodnar said. "Negotiation is a two-way street. ... If he tries to tear down the structure of Paris, which an awful lot of countries, from China to the Europeans, care a lot about, it stands to reason that he would have much less success renegotiating other things that he wants. I think even he will realize that's not a fight worth picking."
Stern said former President George W. Bush saw his international clout take a hit when he walked away from the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 after the Clinton administration had taken an active role in brokering it.
"But I think that's nothing compared to what would happen with respect to Paris," said Stern, adding that the 2015 treaty is much more popular at home and abroad.
"I think if the United States were to suddenly say 'not interested; we're going to back away from this,' it would radiate out in a much broader way diplomatically with respect to the whole panoply of issues that we have to address with partners and allies all over the world," he said.
Frank Maisano of Bracewell LLP said there would be no price exacted for a decision to scrap Paris, because it isn't binding. "You may be scorned publicly, but that has never really stopped any nation before," he said.
"The problem is, our negotiators (and others) always knew that the symbolic Paris Agreement would never be enough," he said in an email. "While they try to hammer out more details, I expect a lot of other nations will be annoyed by others' demands."
While most foreign negotiators remain circumspect about what the election might mean for the Paris Agreement and other issues, international climate advocates have not been.
"People around the world are watching the U.S. elections with keen interest, as decisions taken in Washington, D.C., have impacts far beyond U.S. borders," said Harjeet Singh of Action Aid. "It's clear that the candidates have differing views when it comes to climate change, but whoever is elected must make sure that the U.S. sticks to its obligations under the Paris Agreement and increases ambition to tackle climate change."
Nations are invited to revise and tighten their commitments to Paris by 2020, the final year of the next president's first term.
Saleemul Huq, a senior fellow at the U.K.-based International Institute for Environment and Development, said poor countries are following the U.S. election with "huge trepidation."
"From what I can tell of Mr. Trump's views and personality, his attitude to climate change is the least of the problems the world will have to contend with him in the White House!" he said in an email.
Trump has said at various points throughout the campaign that he might use nuclear weapons, he noted.
"So we probably won't need to wait for climate change to destroy the world as he may do it even sooner!"
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/11/04/stories/1060045274
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EPA Moves Forward with Optional Cap-and-Trade System for Climate Rule
Nov 4, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Obama administration is moving forward with an optional cap-and-trade system that states could use to comply with its climate change rule for power plants.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final model trading rule went to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review, the office said Friday, despite the fact that the underlying Clean Power Plan is on hold by order of the Supreme Court.
“Many states have asked EPA to move forward with our outreach and to continue providing support and developing tools related to the Clean Power Plan,” the EPA said in a statement.
“We are developing these tools in a way that is consistent with the Supreme Court’s stay of the Clean Power Plan,” it said.
Congressional Republicans and others opposed to the Clean Power Plan have repeatedly hounded the EPA for moving forward on initiatives related to the rule despite the Supreme Court’s order, issued in February.
That includes the Clean Energy Incentive Program, which the EPA has proposed to give states credit for early compliance with the rule.
The court “did not tell EPA to stop all work related to the Clean Power Plan, and, in fact, many stakeholders have asked the agency to continue providing assistance so that they can move forward on a voluntary basis,” the EPA said.
The Clean Power Plan requires existing power plants to decrease carbon dioxide emissions and assigns each state a reduction target, with some latitude in deciding how to comply.
The rule sent to the White House was proposed last year in an attempt to give states a pre-made compliance mechanism that the EPA would approve.
As proposed, the rule would set up an emissions trading system for a state’s power sector, mandating cuts for power producers but allowing them to trade reduction credits with low-carbon electricity generators like wind or solar power.
“The model trading rules do not impose additional requirements, and states are not required to use them,” the EPA said.
White House review is the final step before the EPA can issue the final rule, which it might do before President Obama leaves office.
The EPA has also proposed a model rule for a cap-and-trade system that it would impose on states that do not comply with the Clean Power Plan. The agency is not taking any action on that rule.
http://www.thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/304301-epa-moves-forward-with-optional-cap-and-trade-system-for-climate
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