Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 12/22/2016
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(ACC Mentioned) Resin Prices End 2017 With a Whimper
Dec 22, 2016 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American commodity resin prices weakened as 2016 drew to a close, with prices for several materials falling in November. -
Major Shakeup Likely with Carl Icahn at Trump's Elbow
Dec 22, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Arianna Skibell
President-elect Donald Trump's choice of billionaire investor Carl Icahn to advise on regulatory reform has upped the ante for his promised regulatory overhaul. -
(ACC Mentioned) Environmental Policy and Enforcement in the Trump Era
Dec 22, 2016 | Lexology
By Douglas H. Green and Kyle W. Robisch
A month after President-elect Trump's victory, the specifics of his environmental agenda are beginning to come into focus, and it is clear the Trump EPA will differ significantly from its Obama-era predecessor. With the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt—a leading critic and challenger of the Waters of the United States Rule ("WOTUS Rule") and the Clean Power Plan (CPP)—as EPA administrator, the Trump administration confirmed that its major environmental policy priorities are what most expected. -
EPA Removes Informal Meeting Duty from TSCA Section 6 Process
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By David Stegon
The US EPA has issued a final rule that removes a number of procedural requirements for rulemaking under TSCA section 6, most notably the need for an informal public hearing. -
US EPA Round-Up
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has officially published its initial list of ten chemical substances that will be subject to the agency’s chemical risk evaluations under TSCA in the Federal Register. -
Shortage of Chemical Experience on Donald Trump’s EPA Transition Team
Dec 22, 2016 | Bloomberg BNA
President-elect Donald Trump’s EPA transition team has energy and climate professionals, but the nine-member group lacks chemical, pesticide and water pollution expertise, reports Tiffany Stecker, our new reporter who covers pesticides and biotechnology. -
US Trade Bodies Back Publishing of Cosmetics Adverse Event Reports
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
US trade bodies the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) and the Independent Cosmetics Manufacturers and Distributors (Icmad) are backing the FDA’s decision to publish adverse event report data for cosmetics. -
FDA Proposes Lead Limits for Cosmetics
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By David Stegon
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released draft guidance on the recommended maximum level of lead in cosmetic lip products and other externally applied cosmetics. -
Some Teethers Advertised as BPA-Free Leach the Compound
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Deirdre Lockwood
Small amounts of the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A leach from many plastic baby teethers, including some labeled BPA-free, a new study shows. -
No Vote on Latest EDC Criteria Drafts
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The European Commission refrained from asking for a vote on the proposed criteria to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) at Wednesday’s meeting of the Plants Animals Food and Feed (PAFF) standing committee. -
Member State Ministers Tell Commission Their Key Issues for REACH Review
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
The EU’s Environment Council has adopted conclusions on the protection of human health and the environment through the ‘sound management’ of chemicals. -
Echa Committee to Provide Opinion on Carcinogenicity of Glyphosate
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Philip Lightowlers
Echa's Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) began to consider whether the herbicide glyphosate should be classified as a human carcinogen under harmonised classification and labelling proposals at its meeting in November and December. -
Echa Round-Up
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
Echa has added perfluorohexane-1-sulphonic acid and its salts to its registry of current SVHC intentions. The dossier, on the grounds of the substance's suspected PBT properties, is expected from Sweden on 7 February. -
Republicans Cheer on Pruitt Ahead of Confirmation Meetings
Dec 22, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
Key Republicans have stepped up their rallying around the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) as the future head of U.S. EPA. -
Pledging to Remain in Legal Defense, States & Utilities Support EPA's NSPS
Dec 22, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
A coalition of states, major environmental groups and several low-carbon utilities are offering their legal defense of EPA's greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for new power plants, as such groups are poised to take a much more significant role in litigation over the regulation if the incoming Trump administration drops its legal defense of the rule. -
Golden Pass LNG Project Gets a Key Approval
Dec 22, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
Federal safety and environmental regulators yesterday approved a plan to liquefy and ship as much as 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from a plant to be built near Sabine Pass in East Texas. -
Company in N.D. Spill Must Fix 12 Years of Safety Problems
Dec 22, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
The Department of Transportation ordered the pipeline company responsible for a 176,000-gallon oil spill in North Dakota to improve its leak detection system and make other changes to correct a history of safety problems that were identified as far back as 2004. -
(ACC Mentioned) UP Recognized for Safe Transportation of Hazardous Materials
Dec 22, 2016 | Progressive Rail Roading
Union Pacific Railroad recently earned the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care® Management System (RCMS) certification, which recognizes the railroad's safe and secure handling of hazardous materials while transporting customer shipments. -
Pan Am Southern, Pan Am Railways Seek Resolution with MBTA Over PTC Dispute
Dec 22, 2016 | Progressive Rail Roading
Pan Am Southern LLC (PAS) and Pan Am Railways (PAR) earlier this week served default and dispute notices concerning operational safety agreements with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority(MBTA). -
Trump Transition News: 4 Items You May Have Missed
Dec 22, 2016 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
Just a year ago we were celebrating a climate agreement in Paris. Now we find ourselves behind the barricades, ready to fight off attacks from the presidency of Donald Trump.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News
Transportation News
Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) Resin Prices End 2017 With a Whimper
Dec 22, 2016 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American commodity resin prices weakened as 2016 drew to a close, with prices for several materials falling in November.
Price drops for polyethylene, polypropylene, solid polystyrene and suspension PVC were tied into changes in demand and feedstock costs. Prices dropped even as regional oil prices jumped from $47 per barrel in early November to $51 by the end of the month. Oil prices typically affect commodity resins on a macro level.
A 3-cent drop on all grades of high, low and linear low density PE was tied to lower prices for ethylene feedstock. The drop comes after prices were flat in October and in five of the previous six months overall.
The only change in that six-month period took place when prices jumped an average of 5 cents per pound in September. Sources attributed that move to an inventory correction connected to several maintenance turnarounds and unplanned outages.
U.S./Canadian PE demand growth was mixed in the first 10 months of 2016, according to the American Chemistry Council. Regional sales of HDPE were up almost 2 percent, while sales of LLDPE fell 0.5 percent and those of LDPE declined almost 3 percent.
Through October, the top domestic growth market for HDPE was blow molded household chemical bottles, where sales were up almost 9 percent to just over 1 billion pounds. For LDPE, non-food packaging film led the way in that 10-month period, growing almost 5 percent to more than 590 million pounds.
The top domestic growth markets for LLDPE for the 10 months were food packaging film, up 3 percent to almost 1.6 billion pounds, and shrink/stretch film, also up 3 percent to almost 1.4 billion pounds.
Regional PP prices took the biggest slide in November, declining by an average of 6 cents per pound. Prices for the material settled downward for the second straight month after falling 1.5 cents per pound in October. Prices continue to fall as inventories of propylene monomer feedstock grow, sources said.
Prior to these two price drops, regional PP prices had soared a total of 9.5 cents per pound in August-September as inventories tightened.Esposito
North American PP sales essentially were flat in the first 10 months of 2016, according to ACC. The material’s top domestic growth market in those 10 months was sheet, where sales expanded almost 4 percent to almost 1.5 billion pounds.
PVC makers in November essentially gave back a 2 cent increase they had won in October. As in PE, lower ethylene feedstock prices played a role. Prior to that October increase, prices had been flat for four consecutive months.
Through October, U.S./Canadian PVC sales were up more than 5 percent, according to ACC. PVC’s flagship rigid pipe and tubing segment also was its largest domestic growth market for the 10 months, surging almost 7 percent to more than 4 billion pounds.
The downward 2-cent move on PS for November comes after prices were flat in October. Prices had climbed a total of 5 cents in August-September. Regional prices for benzene feedstock — used to make styrene monomer — were down almost 4 percent in November after falling almost 8 percent in October. Short-term production issues for PS in October had prevented prices from following benzene.
North American PS sales through October were down almost 1 percent compared to the same period in 2015, according to ACC. Domestic PS demand growth was led by food packaging and food service — its largest end market — where 10-month sales were up almost 1 percent to more than 2.3 billion pounds.
Regional prices for PET bottle resin ticked up an average of 1 cent per pound again in November, matching similar increases in September and October. Higher feedstock prices played a role in the increase, as did the market’s recovery from supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Matthew. PET maker DAK Americas LLC had limited production for most of October at its plants in Fayetteville, N.C.; and Columbia and Charleston, S.C.
Net price changes for 2016 through November show North American PVC prices up an average of 7 cents per pound, all grades of PE up 6 cents per pound and PS up 4 cents per pound. Regional PP prices through November have gone in the other direction, sliding by a net of 4 cents per pound. For the year, PET prices in the region now are up a net of 3 cents per pound.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20161222/NEWS/161229974/resin-prices-end-2017-with-a-whimper
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Major Shakeup Likely with Carl Icahn at Trump's Elbow
Dec 22, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Arianna Skibell
President-elect Donald Trump's choice of billionaire investor Carl Icahn to advise on regulatory reform has upped the ante for his promised regulatory overhaul.
"The idea that he'd put a close personal friend in this position and someone who's clearly influential does indicate it's a huge priority," said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform.
Trump and Icahn say President Obama's regulations have hamstrung U.S. business, slowed down the economy and cost jobs.
Icahn, who has an estimated net worth of $16.5 billion, has spent his career as a brash outsider, battling corporations as an activist investor. His critics call him a "corporate raider," so abhorred that companies sometimes offered him cash to go away, a now-restricted practice called "greenmailing."
An early Trump booster, Icahn has said the real estate mogul and reality TV star offers the only way to save the United States from economic ruin. He has already wielded considerable influence on the Trump transition, offering advice on energy policy and helping vet candidates for running U.S. EPA.
While Icahn is seen as an outspoken champion of freeing the country from regulations, the native New Yorker says he does favor some financial rules.
"I'm not against regulation," he told Bloomberg TV in August. "I think some of the investment banks really caused a lot of problems in [2008]."
On the other hand, he attributes the decline in U.S. productivity to EPA and other regulatory agencies.
"That's so typical," said Scott Slesinger, legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Finance is "something that he really knows about, where he knows abuses go on every day. He saw the system collapse from the inside, he knows regulations are necessary."
The 80-year-old Icahn has spent months deriding EPA over a rule that he says hurts the oil and gas industry, of which he is a major stakeholder.
"I am against what I consider to be arbitrary and capricious regulation, such as what the EPA is now doing concerning refineries," Icahn told Bloomberg TV.
He has bashed the EPA renewable fuel standard requirement that refiners and importers, as opposed to fuel blenders, meet the mandates to mix ethanol into gasoline, and he's called on EPA to switch the so-called point of obligation. The agency is taking public comment on that issue until late February.
In a statement, the Renewable Fuels Association, representing ethanol companies, cited Trump's "unwavering support" for the RFS and said it would work with Icahn to identify regulations that inhibit the growth of renewable fuel. Those would include seasonal limitations on sale of E15 fuel, the blending of 15 percent ethanol with gasoline, a spokeswoman said.
"There are a number of regulations the ethanol industry believes are over-reaching and provide no benefit to either the environment or the consumer and we welcome the appointment of a regulatory czar," RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen said in the statement.
"Thus, we look forward to working with Mr. Icahn to identify those regulations that have hampered growth in ethanol and free up the power of the renewable fuels industry by providing increased consumer choice, lowering prices and expanding opportunities for renewable energy entrepreneurs across rural America."
Icahn has said he worries such restrictions could bankrupt CVR Energy Inc., a refiner in which he holds an 82 percent stake. Icahn is unlikely to divest his holdings, intensifying concerns over conflicts of interest in the next administration.
"A billionaire in the oil industry explaining what regulations they want to get rid of, it's not dissimilar to having [famed bank robbers] Bonnie and Clyde advise on how banking regulations are too strict in preventing bank robberies," Slesinger said.
'If you need a friend, get a dog'
Icahn was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Queens. After dropping out of medical school, he served in the Army. Afterward, his uncle, M. Elliot Schnall, lent him $400,000 to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
He's had a varied career, holding positions in numerous corporations over the years, including RJR Nabisco, TWA, Texaco, Phillips Petroleum, Western Union, Gulf & Western, Time Warner, Netflix and Motorola.
Icahn gained a reputation as a critic of corporate boards, arguing the current system stifles growth.
He made a name as an activist shareholder who bought up stakes and pushed boards to change by firing their CEOs, buying back shares and selling assets.
In the first of these ventures, in 1978, he launched Icahn & Co. with his uncle's help. As the largest shareholder of Tappan Co. stock, Icahn launched a proxy fight; the Swedish company Electrolux bought Tappan, and stock prices doubled.
Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell said of Icahn in 2014: "He lies. He has no ethical boundaries. He will say anything, do anything. I have no time for him."
Over the years, Icahn has been investigated and sued a number of times over concerns spanning the gamut, from corporate debt payments to securities violations.
While filmmaker Oliver Stone was working on his 1987 movie, "Wall Street," he met with Icahn, who supplied the line spoken by the character Gordon Gekko, who was played by Michael Douglas: "If you need a friend, get a dog."
Few who track federal regulations were surprised by the Icahn appointment.
"It's not shocking," said Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch. "It reinforces what we knew, that we need to brace ourselves for early rollbacks."
She added, "We are worried."
Trump team promises transparency
Gilbert said Trump's choice of Icahn signals a powerful deregulatory push.
"He is someone who has consistently talked about the need to deregulate. He talks about how expensive regulation is for the economy without spending time talking about the benefits, whether that's stopping consumer ripoffs or protecting our air, water and health," she said.
NRDC's Slesinger also cautioned that the Trump administration isn't taking into account the benefits regulations provide.
"People need to remember these are not regulations that require companies to take money and throw it away, they're to protect workers and the environment," he said.
Jerry Ellig, a senior research fellow at the free-market Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said that if Icahn helps the Trump administration take "a long, hard look" at regulations, "that would be a good thing."
"I have thought for a long time that the U.S. regulatory system needs an overhaul in order to get regulations that are based more on fact and research rather than just good intentions," he said.
Icahn's specific role in the Trump administration is unclear. The transition team today said it plans to lay out more details about his advisory job.
The team said yesterday Icahn will be advising Trump in his "individual capacity" and not as a federal employee or a special government employee. He will not have any specific duties or receive compensation.
Asked today about concerns over Icahn staying in the private sector while playing a role in administration decisions, transition spokesman Jason Miller said there will be oversight.
"There will be plenty of transparency when it comes to how this all ultimately comes together, but Mr. Icahn is someone who has been an absolute business giant for decades in America, someone who has put together a number of fantastic deals," Miller said. "I'm sure there will be much more detail to report on this as we move along."
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/12/22/stories/1060047627
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(ACC Mentioned) Environmental Policy and Enforcement in the Trump Era
Dec 22, 2016 | Lexology
By Douglas H. Green and Kyle W. Robisch
A month after President-elect Trump's victory, the specifics of his environmental agenda are beginning to come into focus, and it is clear the Trump EPA will differ significantly from its Obama-era predecessor. With the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt—a leading critic and challenger of the Waters of the United States Rule ("WOTUS Rule") and the Clean Power Plan (CPP)—as EPA administrator, the Trump administration confirmed that its major environmental policy priorities are what most expected. Much has been written on these high-profile plans, which include scrapping the CPP, modifying the WOTUS Rule, and approving the Keystone XL pipeline.
But beyond these few headline-grabbing policy changes lay other significant implications of the election of the new president. Three likely under-the-radar developments are worthy of the regulated community's attention: the future of government-initiated enforcement actions and citizen suits, opportunities to drive President-elect Trump's initial environmental priorities, and the future of TSCA reform.
Enforcement Actions and Citizen Suits
Most broadly, regulated entities should prepare for a downtick in government-initiated enforcement actions, accompanied by a commensurate uptick in citizen-initiated lawsuits. Throughout his campaign, President-elect Trump repeatedly signaled an intention to create a regulatory environment friendlier to industry. Part of that strategy will entail reworking the regulatory structure at large by softening or removing certain regulations. Another piece of this strategy will be to modify environmental enforcement priorities and strategies. Though pending cases are unlikely to change significantly, beyond the possibility of more favorable settlement options, future enforcement actions are likely to differ in both scope and substance. Administrator-to-be Pruitt will set new national enforcement initiatives, probably deemphasizing enforcement against energy extraction and production firms. Of course, EPA- and DOJ-initiated enforcement actions will not cease entirely. But the regulated community can expect future investigations and lawsuits to be brought with somewhat less frequency and settled more favorably.
There are two important corollaries of an administration that is more sympathetic to industry. First, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) will pursue their agendas with renewed vigor. After the election, environmental NGOs immediately began devising strategies to defend environmental regulations they believe President-elect Trump could roll back, identify opportunities for future citizen suits, and work with certain state and local governments to advance their agendas. Companies should expect more citizen suits and NGO resistance—both legal and lobbying—against regulatory rollbacks.
Second, significant federal regulatory and enforcement authority will be pushed downward to state and local authorities. Attorney General Pruitt is a long-time federalism advocate, both generally and in the environmental policy arena. One of Pruitt's first moves as Oklahoma Attorney General was to create a "federalism unit" in his office, challenging several federal environmental programs during his tenure, arguing that each represented an overextension of federal power. As a result, a Pruitt-led EPA is likely to grant states renewed autonomy to implement and enforce environmental laws as they see fit. Some states will step up environmental enforcement while others will deprioritize it, but given Attorney General Pruitt's established preference for state-level environmental regulation, it is expected that the EPA will stay out of the way of states, regardless of the approach each state takes. In short, regulated entities should prepare to counter NGO litigation challenging federal regulatory changes, defend against impending citizen suits, and monitor state and local environmental policy developments.
Advocating Targeted Regulatory Changes
Outside the regulatory schemes already identified by President-elect Trump, the incoming administration offers regulated entities a rare chance to push for additional targeted regulatory changes. Groups wishing to amend adverse administrative rules, processes, or enforcement priorities should act quickly to get their desired environmental reforms onto the President-elect's agenda. Because only a small portion of EPA staff are politically appointed, identifying and executing policy changes could be a relatively slow process within the agency. Not only will career staffers need time to be brought up to speed, but many permanent agency staffers are unlikely to buy into a deregulatory agenda.
Nonetheless, opportunities for energy extraction and production companies are particularly promising, and most regulated entities can expect to be favorably heard by the Trump administration, given the President-elect's stated pro-growth policy goals. Since the incoming administration is still in the process of fleshing out its environmental plan of action, now is the ideal time for regulated entities to get in the door and put their environmental policy goals on the table.
TSCA Reform
While President-elect Trump appears poised to reshape major pieces of the federal environmental regulatory scheme, recent amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)—which the EPA is in the process of implementing—will likely be left relatively untouched. Known as the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (LCSA), the TSCA reform law was passed by Congress with strong bipartisan and industry support and sets enforceable deadlines for the EPA to evaluate numerous chemicals under a new risk-based safety standard. After the election, a bipartisan group of congressional and industry leaders, including Senate Environment and Publics Works Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and the American Chemistry Council, expressed confidence that the new administration will continue to implement the LSCA. Because the LSCA forces the EPA to issue rulemakings on existing and future chemicals within certain deadlines, a Trump EPA would struggle to meaningfully delay implementation of the LCSA, even if it wished to do so. So though certain chemicals might be regulated differently under a Trump-led EPA, appreciable changes to the LCSA are not on the horizon.
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=54a2af45-a312-4d2b-aa0b-00105907c2c0
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EPA Removes Informal Meeting Duty from TSCA Section 6 Process
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By David Stegon
The US EPA has issued a final rule that removes a number of procedural requirements for rulemaking under TSCA section 6, most notably the need for an informal public hearing.
The rule is intended to speed up the risk evaluation process, one of the top priorities of the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act.
In a notice posted to the Federal Register, the EPA said section 6 was significantly modified under the law’s revision to include specific deadlines and procedures for prioritising chemicals for risk evaluations. This, it said, made steps that were previously in place no longer necessary to ensure a transparent rulemaking process with public participation.
While this rule removes the need for a hearing, officials believe it will not reduce the public’s opportunity to voice opinions on a proposed rule. The hearing served as an additional way for the public to provide input, but rulemakers believe that process is out of date and causes to slow the process without providing much value.
“EPA does not interpret the removal of the hearing requirement as an indication that reduced public input is desired,” the agency wrote in the notice. “To the contrary, the amended TSCA section 6 specifically requires public comment periods at several stages during the chemical prioritisation, risk evaluation, and risk management processes.”
EPA officials also said that advances in information technology now allow the agency to post an electronic record of all agency actions, along with public comments. This technology was not available when TSCA was originally drafted.
The rule takes effect immediately and the EPA will not accept comments.
https://chemicalwatch.com/51857/epa-removes-informal-meeting-duty-from-tsca-section-6-process
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Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
First ten chemicals for TSCA review published
The US EPA has officially published its initial list of ten chemical substances that will be subject to the agency’s chemical risk evaluations under TSCA in the Federal Register.
The EPA named the chemicals last month, but they did not become official until the notification was posted. The EPA now has three years to conduct the risk evaluations with a possible six-month extension.
Proposed rule to prohibit TCE
The EPA has published its proposed rule to prohibit the manufacture and distribution of trichloroethylene in aerosol degreasing and for spot cleaning in dry cleaning facilities. The pre-publication proposal setting oput the details was issued earlier this month.
EPA has identified significant health risks associated with TCE and believes the chemical provides an unreasonable risk to those that use it. EPA will accept comments until 14 February 2017 on the proposed rule.
https://chemicalwatch.com/51860/us-epa-round-up
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Shortage of Chemical Experience on Donald Trump’s EPA Transition Team
Dec 22, 2016 | Bloomberg BNA
President-elect Donald Trump’s EPA transition team has energy and climate professionals, but the nine-member group lacks chemical, pesticide and water pollution expertise, reports Tiffany Stecker, our new reporter who covers pesticides and biotechnology.
She has a full story coming, but here’s a glimpse:
“Myron Ebell, who leads Trump’s EPA landing team, is a well-known skeptic of man-made climate change. Amy Oliver Cooke—one of the more recent additions to the team—built her career as a radio personality promoting energy independence and criticizing environmental regulations. David Schnare of the Energy and Environment Legal Institute has sought damaging information on climate scientists via the Freedom of Information Act.
These advisers, along with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, the president-elect’s pick to lead the agency, advocated for a hands-off federal EPA that transfers power to the states.
While that approach might appease the leaders of some energy and utility sectors, it could rankle industries that must comply with those decisions such as the pesticides and commercial chemicals sectors."
https://www.bna.com/shortage-chemical-experience-b73014448971/
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US Trade Bodies Back Publishing of Cosmetics Adverse Event Reports
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
US trade bodies the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) and the Independent Cosmetics Manufacturers and Distributors (Icmad) are backing the FDA’s decision to publish adverse event report data for cosmetics.
The PCPC says publishing the reports is a necessary and important aspect of cosmetic safety. And in a written statement to Chemical Watch, Icmad says it supports transparency and information sharing when it comes to adverse events, and that access to information helps “level the playing field for all involved”.
Reports are submitted to the FDA’s centre for food safety and applied nutrition' adverse event reporting system (CAERS). This, said PCPC spokesperson Lisa Powers, gives the FDA the information to “appropriately regulate our products”. It has led to investigations to specific products, targeted inspections and product testing, import alerts, warning letters and enforcement action.
However, Ms Powers says that there are some “crucial caveats” about the use of CAERS data, which have also been highlighted by the FDA. “CAERS captures any adverse events or complaints related to foods or cosmetics. These can include minor to major medical events, but also complaints about off-taste or colour of a product, defective packaging, and other non-medical issues.”
She says that it is important to understand that the information in the database is exactly as reported to the FDA, and the agency has not necessarily determined if the products in question were the actual cause of the events reported.
Chemical Watch also contacted three global cosmetics companies for comment. L’Oreal and Avon declined and Estee Lauder did not respond.
'Inadequate' law
US NGO, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), also welcomed the FDA’s decision. Publishing these reports, said Tina Sigurdson, assistant general counsel, will allow consumers to more easily identify potential risks associated with personal care products. This, she says, is particularly important because the FDA has insufficient resources and authority to adequately regulate these products.
The law governing cosmetics regulation is “woefully inadequate”, said Ms Sigurdson, with many of its provisions unchanged since 1938.
“Increased action by the FDA is crucial for keeping risky products off the market, but the agency lacks the statutory authority it needs to protect the public. Congressional action could empower it to take essential regulatory steps like requiring premarket safety substantiation of products and issuing mandatory recalls when the need arises.”
This, she says, would help prevent adverse reactions before they occur. “Legislation proposed in the House and Senate would increase the FDA’s authority over personal care products and better fund the agency’s oversight.”
In 2015, two bills aiming to update the current law were introduced in the US Senate. These are the Personal Care Products Safety Act and the Cosmetic Modernization Amendments of 2015. And earlier this year, US Congressmen Frank Pallone Jr (D-New Jersey) and Leonard Lance (R-New Jersey) released a discussion draft of legislation intended to strengthen the FDA's oversight of cosmetics.
The bills have remained stalled in committee, but those introduced in the 2015-16 Congress may still be considered during the “lame duck” session which runs until 3 January 2017.
https://chemicalwatch.com/51843/us-trade-bodies-back-publishing-of-cosmetics-adverse-event-reports
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FDA Proposes Lead Limits for Cosmetics
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By David Stegon
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released draft guidance on the recommended maximum level of lead in cosmetic lip products and other externally applied cosmetics.
The proposed guidance recommends a level of 10 parts per million for lead in cosmetic lip products sold and marketed in the US. FDA data shows that almost all cosmetic products currently in this category contain lead levels at or below this threshold.
“The issuance of this guidance supports our effort to limit human exposure to lead in finished FDA-regulated cosmetic products by educating new manufacturers who wish to enter the market and encouraging current manufacturers to continue to follow or improve on voluntary good manufacturing practices that limit trace amounts of lead as an impurity,” the FDA wrote.
The FDA has tested the amount of lead in lipsticks several times in recent years, most recently in 2012 when the agency studied more than 400 different products.
This guidance applies to cosmetic lip products such as lipsticks, lip glosses, and lip liners and externally applied cosmetics such as eye shadows, blushes, shampoos, and body lotions.
FDA will accept comments on the draft for the foreseeable future, but recommended stakeholders submit comments before 21 February 2017. The agency plans to begin work on the final version of the guidance at that time.
https://chemicalwatch.com/51858/fda-proposes-lead-limits-for-cosmetics
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Some Teethers Advertised as BPA-Free Leach the Compound
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Deirdre Lockwood
Small amounts of the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A leach from many plastic baby teethers, including some labeled BPA-free, a new study shows (Environ. Sci. Technol.2016, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b04128). The teethers also leach low levels of other endocrine-disrupting chemicals, including parabens. However, the estimated exposure to BPA for babies is much lower than the safety thresholds suggested by U.S. and European regulatory agencies.
Kurunthachalam Kannan of the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center and his colleagues study the exposure of infants and children to chemicals in the environment, including endocrine disruptors. They recently decided to examine plastic baby teethers, a potential source that has not been clearly characterized. Kannan’s team tested 59 different teethers—53 of which are sold in the U.S. —for 26 potential endocrine disruptors. These include bisphenols, which are used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins; parabens, which are used as preservatives; benzophenones, which prevent UV damage; and antimicrobials, including triclosan and triclocarban. They soaked the teethers in highly purified water, free of any of the contaminants being tested, for an hour to simulate the average amount of time per day that babies suck on a teether. After measuring the chemicals that leached into the water using high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass-spectrometry, the researchers estimated chemical exposure levels for average-sized, one-year-old children.
They found that the teethers leached small amounts—up to hundreds of nanograms each—of parabens, bisphenols, and benzophenones, and even smaller amounts of antimicrobials. BPA leached from all of the teethers, despite the fact that 48 of the 59 were labeled BPA-free.
The team calculated a maximum daily BPA exposure level for babies from the teethers of about 13 ng/kg body weight, which is 0.3% of the tolerable daily intake of 4 μg/kg recommended by the European Food Safety Authority, and 0.03% of the U.S. EPA’s safety threshold of 50 μg/kg/day. For parabens, the team found a maximum daily exposure level of 4 ng/kg body weight. The EFSA has established an acceptable daily intake of 10 mg/kg/day for methyl and ethyl paraben combined.
“This is one of the first pieces of evidence that ‘BPA-free’ may not actually mean that,” says Heather Patisaul, a toxicologist and endocrine disruptor expert at North Carolina State University. While noting that the exposure levels calculated in the study are very low, she says the work emphasizes how “tiny exposures start to add up over the course of the day if you’re talking about a baby that has plastic teethers, plastic cups, plastic diapers,” and so on. It’s important to determine where the BPA the researchers detected is coming from, she adds—it could come from the product itself or its packaging.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/94/web/2016/12/teethers-advertised-BPA-free-leach.html
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No Vote on Latest EDC Criteria Drafts
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The European Commission refrained from asking for a vote on the proposed criteria to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) at Wednesday’s meeting of the Plants Animals Food and Feed (PAFF) standing committee.
DG Sante spokesperson Enrico Brivio said “further discussions are needed” after the latest draft proposals failed to raise a qualified majority of supporting member states. The Commission has not yet released dates for any future meetings.
The PAFF was due to vote on two texts which were published last week: the second revised version of the draft criteria; and a draft legal Act changing the plant protection products (PPP) Regulation from referring to "negligible exposure" to "negligible risk", concerning an exception for active substances with ED properties.
Member states were torn on a new paragraph in the criteria draft which exempts substances, designed to act on their target organism’s hormonal system to block their moulting or growth, from being identified as EDCs. Some authorities said it would create a loophole and want it deleted.
According to comments usbmitted by the French authorities before the meetings, the paragraph makes it possible not to identify EDCs for non-target organisms, as soon as the active substance has an intended endocrine mode of action.
And Switzerland commented that industry could use the exemption to avoid identification of their substance as an EDC, by showing its mode of action. "It is absolutely crucial to consider and use the information on the mode of action of the active substance to raise an ED concern on non-target organisms."
Germany, however, wants to widen the exemption to cover other existing and future modes of action. Its comments said they were "ready to support Commission’s new approach in principle".
The EDC-Free Europe coalition said the German proposal would “completely defeat” the criteria’s intention, and it was relieved the Wednesday meeting did not approve the latest draft proposal.
”Member states clearly and rightly want a better proposal, that befits the commitments in the [Commission's] seventh environmental action plan and responds to the recent Council conclusions, and the Commission needs to listen and deliver,” it said.
Industry also voiced concerns with the latest drafts. Cefic said the criteria “remain insufficient”. Peter Smith, executive director for product stewardship, said without including potency and hazard characterisation, “it is difficult to see how we can avoid inadvertently banning disinfectants, preservatives or pest control substances that, when used correctly, cause no harm.”
The European Crop Protection Association repeated its arguments that including potency and hazard characterisation is “the only way to regulate and ensure you can identify substances of concern from those that are not.”
“We fail to understand why a Commission that continues to talk of the importance of innovation, trade, competitiveness, agriculture and Better Regulation would persevere for so long with a proposal that ignores all of these elements, with no increased benefit for health or the environment. Given the level of uncertainty going in to the meeting, and the confusion created by the Commission splitting the proposal, it’s not really a surprise that there was no decision.”
https://chemicalwatch.com/51851/no-vote-on-latest-edc-criteria-drafts
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Member State Ministers Tell Commission Their Key Issues for REACH Review
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
The EU’s Environment Council has adopted conclusions on the protection of human health and the environment through the ‘sound management’ of chemicals.
The aim, the Council said, is “to send a political message” to the Commission at a time when chemicals legislation and measures are to be developed or reviewed. This takes into account the REACH review and fitness check of chemicals legislation except REACH, expected next year; and development of the criteria for identifying an endocrine disruptor (ED).
At its meeting on 19 December, the Council concluded that the Commission should “pay particular attention” to the following aspects of the REACH review and fitness check:
the compliance, quality, sufficiency and usability of REACH registration information;
the effectiveness and efficiency of REACH risk management procedures;
the procedures to remove dossier non-compliances or data gaps; and
the stability of the financial basis for relevant Echa activities post 2018.
It said the review and fitness check should ensure the safety of manufactured nanomaterials, provide appropriate regulatory approaches to address combination effects of chemicals, and reduce exposure to chemicals in products.
The checks must reduce exposure to endocrine disruptors and encourage substitution and sustainable chemistry, the Council said. It further highlighted the importance of the public’s right to information to enable consumers to make informed choices.
SVHCs
The Council said that given the decline in the number of SVHC dossiers, achieving the objective to list all SVHCs in the candidate list by 2020 is “at risk”. And it invited the Commission and member states to take appropriate measures to “safeguard the timely realisation” of the objective.
Member states have previously warned that unless the requirements for conducting risk management option analyses are made less onerous for authorities, the Commission’s goal will not be met.
Endocrine disruptors
The Council meeting came two days before member states discussed the revised proposal on ED criteria on 21 December. Thérèse Coffey, from the UK’s environment ministry, told the Council said she was “disappointed” the ED meeting is happening at such short notice since the revised proposal was only sent on 7 December. She said member states need more time to “fully understand” it.
While Swedish environment minister Karolina Skog urged member states to “carefully scrutinise” the revised proposal since, she said, “the Commission has not listened to the critique of Sweden and others”.
EAP measures delay
The Council said it was concerned about the Commission’s delay in implementing the four horizontal measures that were due to be undertaken by 2015 in line with the 7th Environmental Action Plan (EAP).
The measures are to ensure:
the safety of manufactured nanomaterials and materials with similar properties;
the minimisation of exposure to EDs;
appropriate regulatory approaches to address combination effects of chemicals; and
reduction of exposure to chemicals in products.
The Council asked the Commission to speed up their implementation and requested a progress report by 30 June 2017.
Poison centres
In other business, the Council decided not to oppose the adoption of the European Commission's proposed Regulation to harmonise information related to emergency health response at poison centres.
Now that the Council has given its consent, the Commission may adopt the Regulation unless the European Parliament objects.
https://chemicalwatch.com/51827/member-state-ministers-tell-commission-their-key-issues-for-reach-review
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Echa Committee to Provide Opinion on Carcinogenicity of Glyphosate
Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Philip Lightowlers
Echa's Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) began to consider whether the herbicide glyphosate should be classified as a human carcinogen under harmonised classification and labelling proposals at its meeting in November and December.
The committee will have the principal role in deciding the conclusion of the scientific debate which has developed over the last four of years: Is glyphosate a "probable human carcinogen" (Group 2A) as the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) maintains, or is the EU dossier submitter – Germany’s Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Baua) – correct that no hazard classification for carcinogenicity is warranted?
Glyphosate is one of the world's most widely used herbicides – developed by Monsanto and widely associated with its genetically engineered glyphosate-tolerant crops such as soybeans. It is out of patent in the US.
The compound began to be considered for renewal of its approval under the EU plant protection products Regulation and also for review of its classification under the CLP Regulation in 2012 (see timeline below). Germany was the rapporteur member state for both processes.
A very public scientific disagreement began when IARC published its results in 2015 that glyphosate was a probable human carcinogen. This was based on evidence of excess non-hodgins lymphoma in exposed workers, evidence of tumours in mice fed high doses of glyphosate and experimental studies suggesting the compound causes DNA damage and oxidative stress. The findings were at odds with the conclusions of Baua, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) and the joint FAO/WHO meeting on pesticide residues (JMPR).
Rac spent an afternoon hearing presentations from six key stakeholders: Baua, Efsa, IARC, JMPR, an industry Glyphosate Task Force (GTF) and the Health And Environmental Alliance (HEAL) representing civil society. The presentations are available on Echa's website.
Committee chair Tim Bowmer said: "Rac will focus on the hazard properties of the chemical itself and will not take the downstream and economic consequences of the decision into account. The starting point of the proposal by Germany is no classification for carcinogenicity. In the end, Rac having reviewed all available information, may agree or come to a different conclusion."
"We are confident in the experts of the RAC making sound and balanced opinions that are carefully considered," Graeme Taylor at the European Crop Protection Association. "The fact that Rac allows key stakeholders the chance to present their information is unique and is a model that should be encouraged in developing a robust, sound scientific opinion. We trust that at the end of the process, a clear opinion from Echa will allow, after the months of political posturing, for the case for the re-approval of glyphosate to be put beyond doubt."
Rac has to meet a deadline of November 2017. It will continue discussing glyphosate at its next meeting in March and expects to reach a final Opinion on the proposed classification in June or September.
https://chemicalwatch.com/51828/echa-committee-to-provide-opinion-on-carcinogenicity-of-glyphosate
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Dec 22, 2016 | Chemical Watch
SVHC intention
Echa has added perfluorohexane-1-sulphonic acid and its salts to its registry of current SVHC intentions. The dossier, on the grounds of the substance's suspected PBT properties, is expected from Sweden on 7 February.
Restriction proposals
The agency has published a restriction proposal for the marketing and use of lead compounds in PVC and marketing of PVC articles stabilised with lead compounds.
New authorisation guidance
Echa has published a step-by-step guide to give potential applicants practical advice on how to prepare a fit-for-purpose application for authorisation. It outlines key issues, describes essential information and presents examples from previous applications.
New CLH proposals
The agency has received five new proposals to harmonise the classification and labelling of the following substances:
2-[4-(4-chlorophenoxy)-2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-1-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propan-2-ol;
5-fluoro-1,3-dimethyl-N-[2-(4-methylpentan-2-yl)phenyl]-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamide; penflufen;
trimethoxyvinylsilane;
thiophanate-methyl (ISO); dimethyl (1,2-phenylenedicarbamothioyl)biscarbamate; and
formic acid.
Guidance outline on endocrine disruptors
Echa and the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) have published an outline of the guidance they are developing on how to identify substances with endocrine-disrupting properties in pesticides and biocides.
The outline includes a projected table of contents, as well as a plan of the drafting process, including timelines, responsibilities, consultations with relevant parties and an explanation of how the document will be endorsed.
Testing proposals
The agency has received 12 testing proposals for 10 substances. The deadline for submitting information is 30 January.
Updates to PACT
Echa's Public Activities Coordination Tool (PACT) has received updates for the following risk management option analyses (RMOAs)/hazard assessments:
1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, di-C10-12-branched alkyl esters;
alkanes, C16–(branched), C20-(branched) and C24-(branched);
beryllium;
molybdenum trioxide;
nickel oxide (nickel monoxide);
nickel sulphate;
perfluorohexane-1-sulphonic acid [1] and its salts;
phenol, heptyl derivatives; and
tributyl O-acetylcitrate; and tris(methylphenyl) phosphate.
Guidance
Two drafts of updated guidance on REACH have been sent to the Member State Committee for consultation. They are:
Guidance on recommendations for nanomaterials for environmental endpoints; and
Guidance on recommendations for nanomaterials for human health endpoints.
Potential registrants for the 2018 deadline may be interested in viewing the draft documents, Echa says.
Additionally, draft Guidance on recommendations for nanomaterials applicable to Qsars and grouping of chemicals has been sent to the committee for consultation.
Echa has also published:
updated Guidance on IR&CSA chapter R.7a (with revised sections R.7.2, R.7.3 and R.7.4); and
updated Guidance for identification and naming of substances under REACH and CLP (new appendix on sustance identity profile only).
CLH consultations
Echa is consulting on harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) proposals for:
2,2'-methylenebis(6-(2H-benzotriazol-2-yl)-4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol), with hazard class open for commenting on hazardous properties to the aquatic environment; and
dibutylbis(pentane-2,4-dionato-O,O')tin, with hazard classes open for commenting on reproductive toxicity and specific target organ toxicity — repeated exposure.
The deadline for comments is 9 February. The agency has also opened CLH consultations on:
carboxin, with all hazard classes open for comment, except aspiration hazard and hazard to the ozone layer; and
metaflumizone, with physical hazards, health hazards (with the exception of aspiration hazard), environmental hazards (with the exception of hazardous to the ozone layer) open for comment.
Deadline for comment for both substances is 13 February.
Translated guidance on CLP
Echa has advised that its updated guidance on CLP has been translated into other EU official languages. They can be accessed by a tab on the relevant webpage.
https://chemicalwatch.com/51765/echa-round-up
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Republicans Cheer on Pruitt Ahead of Confirmation Meetings
Dec 22, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
Key Republicans have stepped up their rallying around the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) as the future head of U.S. EPA.
For Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Pruitt's appeal is his opposition to EPA's power plant regulations, which McConnell cited as a major source of lost U.S. coal jobs.
"I'm hoping that the Clean Power Plan regulation both directed at existing plants and new plants will be phased out and we'll have a more sane approach at EPA," McConnell said in an interview on Kentucky Educational Television's "One to One" program.
Other Republicans suggested Pruitt would put more emphasis on business interests, along with environmental protection.
The Oklahoma attorney general would be an important partner for American economic growth, said outgoing Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.).
"Under Pruitt's leadership, EPA will return to an agency that works to protect human health and the environment based on sound science and transparent data while respecting the laws passed by Congress," Inhofe said in a statement.
Inhofe called the current EPA a "rogue agency" that had failed to adequately work with "innovators and job creators" in developing regulations. But under a Trump administration, Republicans would focus on putting the economic well-being of Americans on equal footing with environmental health, Inhofe said.
The Oklahoma senator has described Pruitt as one of his closest personal friends and someone he has worked with on past EPA-related issues (Climatewire, Dec. 8).
Pruitt has yet to meet with many members of the EPW Committee, which will hold hearings to confirm his nomination.
Staff members for a number of senators on the committee said meetings with Pruitt won't happen until next year. Republican Sens. John Boozman of Arkansas, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia were among those who plan to meet Pruitt during the first week of January.
Sullivan praised Pruitt's nomination in a press release earlier this month, saying EPA under his leadership would be managed under its "congressionally defined scope of authority."
"All Americans, regardless of their political leanings, want clean air and clean water. But Americans do not want an out-of-control federal government and an endless stream of regulations that are more about control than the health of our environment," he said.
In an op-ed on CNN's website yesterday, former Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said he couldn't think of anyone more suited to run EPA.
While environmental groups and Democrats have decried Pruitt's environmental record challenging EPA's Clean Power Plan and methane regulations on the oil and gas industry, and for denying "basic science," Bush said Pruitt's views had been distorted to appear anti-science (E&E News PM, Dec. 7; E&E Daily, Dec. 8).
"Unlike liberals who want to shut down any rational debate about climate change, Pruitt has acknowledged human impact on the climate and supports a robust discussion about its effects and what the government should and shouldn't do to address it," said Bush.
The Oklahoma attorney general would focus environmental regulation back at the state level and would limit federal government "intrusion," he said.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/12/22/stories/1060047579
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Pledging to Remain in Legal Defense, States & Utilities Support EPA's NSPS
Dec 22, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
A coalition of states, major environmental groups and several low-carbon utilities are offering their legal defense of EPA's greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for new power plants, as such groups are poised to take a much more significant role in litigation over the regulation if the incoming Trump administration drops its legal defense of the rule.
Groups that intervened on behalf of the new source performance standards (NSPS) -- “many of whom sued EPA a decade ago to force EPA to adopt the challenged Rule -- will continue defending the Rule,” says one recent court filing from the intervenors.
In a Dec. 21 response brief, a coalition of 18 states, the District of Columbia and New York City argue that all of the components of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology -- a key component of the NSPS rule -- “have been demonstrated and are currently in use. CCS is already in full-scale, integrated operation in the energy and chemical industries.”
The litigation over the rule, North Dakota, et al. v. EPA, et al., pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is expected to hinge on whether EPA appropriately included partial CCS in its best system of emission reduction (BSER) for new coal plants.
Thus, arguments like the states' are critical because Clean Air Act section 111(b) requires technologies to be “adequately demonstrated” to be used as the basis of standards such as the power plant NSPS.
Under the rule, new coal plants must meet a GHG emissions rate of 1,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour. That standard is based on the use of CCS to capture a portion of a plant's CO2 emissions.
While that requirement is sometimes referred to as a “CCS mandate” by opponents of the rule, the standard does not require installation of the technology. EPA notes in the rule that plants also can comply with the standard by co-firing with natural gas.
The defense from states and other supporters of the rule comes after the Obama EPA filed its initial brief in the case, offering a roadmap for continued defense of the NSPS after President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January and seeks to roll back the rule.
Briefing in the litigation continues beyond Inauguration Day, and it is unclear whether the incoming administration will continue to defend the rule.
The states supporting EPA's rule note that many states challenging it in court, “outside of this proceeding . . . appear to agree and assert that CCS is an established emission control system.” They cite a December report from a state working group on CCS for use in enhanced oil recovery that generally touts the technology.
Among the other challenger arguments that the supportive states fault is a claim that an NSPS cannot be based on technology found at plants that received government support.
“Indeed, this unfounded claim appears to be designed solely to preclude EPA from considering the successful integration of CCS at the Boundary Dam” plant, the brief says, referring to the Canadian coal plant that retrofitted with CCS technology and is a major example cited by EPA in the rule.
Further, the states also fault a “baseless” argument “that EPA must ignore emission controls unless they are now available for purchase as a single package,” underscoring the agency's claim that only each component of CCS -- capturing carbon dioxide, transporting it via pipeline and storing it underground in deep saline formations -- must be shown to be “demonstrated.”
'Level Playing Field'
A separate Dec. 21 brief from eight “clean” utilities that support the rule argues that the NSPS “assures that decisions to modernize the nation’s fossil fleet meet federal minimum standards, providing both a level playing-field across the country and a regulatory backstop in the event that prevailing market conditions favoring renewable and gas-fired generation should change.”
The utilities seek to counter several arguments in opponents' briefs, particularly that EPA erred in basing its BSER for coal plants on CCS while declining to do so for the rule's gas plant standard, which is simply based on the operation of an efficient combined-cycle plant.
That claim “ignore[s] critical distinctions in the reasons why a power company might decide to build a new coal- or gas-fired unit,” the utilities' brief says, noting that gas plants are increasingly deployed as flexible backup generation for intermittent renewables.
As such, “EPA appropriately concluded that partial CCS has not been adequately demonstrated for gas-fired units based on the absence of data on its feasibility for units that frequently start-up, shutdown, and cycle.”
And a coalition of environmental and public health groups in their Dec. 21 brief charges that opponents of the NSPS are attempting to “avoid any CO2 pollution control for these massive sources. Their arguments subvert Section 111's command to select the 'best' system to reduce emissions.”
The environmentalists also criticize opponents' claims that CCS technologies are not “adequately demonstrated.” They write: “In challenging these reasonable standards, Petitioners deny irrefutable climate science and repudiate proven control technologies.”
Delay Request
The NSPS faces opposition from a 23-state coalition led by West Virginia. North Dakota was also granted permission to file a separate brief in its challenge due to the state's significant reserves of high-carbon lignite coal. They are joined by a host of utility sector, coal and other industry groups that outlined their arguments against the rule in October.
The recent intervenors' filings -- along with separate amicus briefs submitted by academic and other experts supporting CCS' technical viability and its expected cost declines -- could provide a boost to rule supporters, even as the incoming Trump administration has signaled it will drop its defense of the regulation.
Along those lines, the state and environmentalist intervenors in a separate brief filed late Dec. 20 urge the court to reject rule opponents' request to delay briefing in the litigation because the new administration could seek to short-circuit the suit because it opposes many Obama EPA climate rules.
“[I]t remains a matter of speculation whether the new administration will propose, let alone finalize, any changes to the Rule,” the filing says. “Scheduling decisions should not be informed by Movants' speculation about the forthcoming administration.”
Citing the specific delay request to move the deadline for reply briefs to Feb. 24, EPA in a separate response filed Dec. 21 says that opponents' “invocation of the bare inconvenience of filing reply briefs in light of highly speculative assumptions about the possibility of the next presidential administration adopting some new litigation position by February 24 is not 'extraordinarily compelling.'”
The current briefing schedule requires state and industry opponents of the NSPS to file reply briefs Jan. 19 -- the day before President-elect Trump takes office -- with briefing to conclude Feb. 6. In a surprising order issued after the election, the D.C. Circuit also scheduled oral argument for April 17.
The outcome of the litigation and the ultimate fate of the rule is important given that the NSPS is a legal prerequisite for any regulation of existing power plants under Clean Air Act section 111(d).
That means that if the NSPS survives, it would create a legal requirement for EPA to eventually regulate existing plants' GHGs -- in some fashion -- even if the incoming administration succeeds in scrapping the agency's landmark rule for existing plants known as the Clean Power Plan.
Amicus Filings
The Obama EPA's arguments about the viability of CCS are bolstered by a Dec. 21 amicus brief from 11 CCS experts, who argue that the rule's CO2 standard is “based on the deployment of well-established CCS technologies that have been successfully deployed in industrial applications for decades, are commercially available, and have been proven to be technically viable for power plants on the scale required for compliance with the rule.”
Of note, they cite the Boundary Dam plant, which they argue employs all elements of the rule's BSER, including storing some of its CO2 in deep saline formations. They also cite the Petra Nova power plant in Texas, which “is now fully built and will begin operating in 2017,” and is designed to capture 1.4 million metric tons of CO2 annually.
Those projects “demonstrate that the NSPS is attainable through the deployment of proven CCS technologies, specifically: post-combustion capture, pipeline transport, and geologic storage.”
The CCS experts -- including long-time Energy Department CCS official Julio Friedmann and MIT researcher Howard Herzog -- also cite a host of large-scale industrial CCS projects that show that all of the components of the rule's BSER can be “successfully integrated to meet the NSPS.”
And in a separate Dec. 21 amicus brief, several technology innovation experts argue that the NSPS will encourage increased deployment of CCS, spurring continued cost declines for the technology along similar lines as earlier pollution control equipment that was required in regulation.
The experts “conclude that [implementation] costs will be at least as low as those projected by EPA in its regulatory analysis of the Rule, and almost certainly lower.” And they add that “while the standard is achievable now and EPA’s determination is sound, EPA’s cost estimation is conservative; new coal-fired power plants covered by the Rule will experience declining costs with increasing levels of deployment.”
The experts cite earlier “technology-forcing” air rules that spurred increased deployment of emission control technology for sulfur dioxide, as well as cost declines and technology innovation.
“This evidence supports [our] conclusion that CCS in power plants will respond positively to a technology-forcing regulation and will produce further diffusion and cost declines,” the technology experts write. “While EPA predicts that few coal power plants will be built under current market conditions, regulation will facilitate widespread deployment should market conditions change; moreover, costs of the technology will decrease with deployment.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/pledging-remain-legal-defense-states-utilities-support-epas-nsps
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Golden Pass LNG Project Gets a Key Approval
Dec 22, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
Federal safety and environmental regulators yesterday approved a plan to liquefy and ship as much as 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from a plant to be built near Sabine Pass in East Texas.
The project would add LNG export capabilities to an existing import terminal, Golden Pass LNG, which was completed in 2010, just as U.S. drillers had started to create an abundance of gas after tapping previously inaccessible shale deposits.
Just two years later, the developers launched a $10 billion effort to retool the barely used facility for exports. The proposal included upgrading access pipelines, as well as adding the advanced cooling and storage equipment that brings natural gas to the super-cool temperatures at which it turns to a liquid and can be loaded onto tankers for international transport.
Yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave its go-ahead for the project based on safety and environmental criteria, subject to a series of environmental conditions. The project can now proceed to consideration by the Energy Department, which has jurisdiction over the commodity export. Golden Pass has already secured a permit to export LNG to U.S. free trade partner countries, and DOE is now free to issue a non-free trade permit, which is required to sell into important gas markets like Japan, China and India.
The Golden Pass project is owned predominantly by Qatar Petroleum International (70 percent) with smaller ownership stakes by Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips. Only Qatar Petroleum and Exxon are involved with the new export expansion.
Several years ago, there was a rush by companies with LNG export plans, jockeying for position with prospective buyers. That has cooled down in the past two years as spot markets for LNG have gone slack, due to factors including a global economic slowdown and a pairing of rates with crude prices in certain markets that has pulled LNG prices down into oil's orbit.
The low price environment has also made it more difficult for projects to get the financing required to get off the ground. Earlier this month, Jordan Cove LNG, an export terminal proposed for construction on the Oregon coastline, was turned down in a request for rehearing of its earlier permit rejection. In denying the permit in April, FERC pointed to developers' failure to sign a single sales contract for its output (Energywire, April 19).
Still, some industry analysts warn that new project commitments will be needed over the coming two years if the world is to avoid a supply shortfall in the mid-2020s, when demand is expected to catch up with the projects that have been recently completed or are in final construction phases (Energywire, Nov. 29).
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/12/22/stories/1060047590
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Company in N.D. Spill Must Fix 12 Years of Safety Problems
Dec 22, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
The Department of Transportation ordered the pipeline company responsible for a 176,000-gallon oil spill in North Dakota to improve its leak detection system and make other changes to correct a history of safety problems that were identified as far back as 2004.
The Belle Fourche Pipeline Co.'s Bicentennial line, a 6-inch pipe that runs between Billings and McKenzie counties in North Dakota, suffered a leak on Dec. 5. The oil spilled into Ash Coulee, a tributary of the Little Missouri River, and traveled 4.5 miles downstream.
The pipeline's existing leak detection system didn't spot the spill. Instead, it was reported by a rancher, according to an order from DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
PHMSA inspected parts of Belle Fourche's system in 2004 and 2009, and determined that parts of it didn't have an adequate leak detection system, the order says. Also, PHMSA ordered Belle Fourche's parent company, privately owned True Cos. of Casper, Wyo., to rewrite its response plan for oil spills following a 2015 spill in the Yellowstone River. As of July, PHMSA had determined that the plan was still inadequate.
True Cos. hasn't determined how it will respond to the PHMSA order, company spokeswoman Wendy Owen said.
The cause of the December spill is unknown, but the pipeline was bored beneath a steep slope that had partially collapsed, which may have bent the pipe. No injuries were reported, but the oil may have killed some cattle grazing in the Little Missouri National Grassland, the PHMSA order says.
Within six months, Belle Fourche must install a leak detection system that meets the American Petroleum Institute's standards. Belle Fourche will also have to do geotechnical testing to determine whether other segments of the pipeline that were horizontally bored are installed to prevent damage from shifting soil on hillsides.
Within a year, the company will have to do similar testing on the full length of the pipeline and send a report to PHMSA on whether other sections of the pipeline should be rerouted or horizontally bored. It will also have to conduct aerial patrols of the route for the next year, perform metallurgical tests on the damaged section, inspect the remaining pipe with in-line instruments and submit records to verify the operating pressure of the pipe.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/12/22/stories/1060047588
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(ACC Mentioned) UP Recognized for Safe Transportation of Hazardous Materials
Dec 22, 2016 | Progressive Rail Roading
Union Pacific Railroad recently earned the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care® Management System (RCMS) certification, which recognizes the railroad's safe and secure handling of hazardous materials while transporting customer shipments.
The certification is the chemical industry's initiative to drive continuous improvement in environmental, health, safety and security. Certification requires meeting the chemical industry's global standards, addressing risks and consenting to independent audits by certified inspectors.
This year UP earned its 20th RCMS certification, according to a UP press release.
"Receiving the RCMS certification for two continuous decades reflects Union Pacific's commitment and is a tribute to our dedicated employees who handle our customers' products in the safest, most secure manner," said Kari Kirchhoefer, vice president and general manager – chemicals. "We pledge to continue meeting or exceeding the chemical industry's standards."
Non-chemical companies handling hazardous materials were allowed to begin participating in the program in 1995. UP was the first railroad to engage in the process, receiving the rail industry's first RCMS certification in 1996, UP officials said.
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/union_pacific/news/UP-recognized-for-safe-transportation-of-hazardous-materials--50461
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Pan Am Southern, Pan Am Railways Seek Resolution with MBTA Over PTC Dispute
Dec 22, 2016 | Progressive Rail Roading
Pan Am Southern LLC (PAS) and Pan Am Railways (PAR) earlier this week served default and dispute notices concerning operational safety agreements with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority(MBTA).
The news comes after the MBTA disavowed a 2014 positive train control (PTC) agreement it signed with the two railroads. The pact was aimed at enabling a PTC system to be in place by Dec. 31, 2018, the federal deadline for PTC implementation, Pan Am officials said in a press release.
MBTA's decision to renege on the promise raises questions about the three entities' ability to implement PTC on Boston-area rail lines by the deadline, according to the release.
The agency's action also "throws into doubt the continuation of commuter service on those lines beyond that date," Pan Am officials said.
In addition to providing service on its own lines, MBTA performs commuter service on properties owned by PAS. The 2014 agreement governs installation of PTC over all jointly operated MBTA, PAS and PAR lines.
Since the 2014 agreement was executed, PAR and PAS have "acted in reliance" on the pact to ensure safe and compliant passenger services. MBTA had "repeatedly" progressed and affirmed plans for PTC installation in accordance with the agreement, but Pan Am officials are concerned that the agency's recent disavowal could set back design and implementation of the technology by several years.
PAS and PAR plan to work cooperatively with the MBTA to implement a joint freight- and passenger-rail PTC system as soon as possible.
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/ptc/news/Pan-Am-Southern-Pan-Am-Railways-seek-resolution-with-MBTA-over-PTC-dispute--50458
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Trump Transition News: 4 Items You May Have Missed
Dec 22, 2016 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
Just a year ago we were celebrating a climate agreement in Paris. Now we find ourselves behind the barricades, ready to fight off attacks from the presidency of Donald Trump.
Thankfully, plenty of people are joining that fight.
But to be effective, we need to understand our opposition – who they are, and what they are planning. There’s too much (real) news to keep up with it all, so here are few of the most interesting items to surface in the past week:
1. Why scientists are rushing to save climate data
There have been suggestions that the new administration will shut down climate science at NASA, and some are concerned that government climate data will disappear. Various sectors of our economy depend on these datasets, including farmers and manufacturing companies.
2. What was Pruitt up to in Oklahoma?
President-elect Trump has made a number of disturbing selections for his cabinet, but the most dangerous one may be the choice of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
We know he’s sued the EPA more than a dozen times over anti-pollution rules, but now we’re discovering more troubling information about his record in Oklahoma.
3. The real story about Tillerson’s Russian oil ties
The pick of ExxonMobile CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state has become a symbol of a cabinet far out of balance – with the oil and gas industry being the only voice in policy decisions.
Tillerson has spent his entire career thinking about what’s best for a big oil company. A report from The Guardian about his ties to a Russian oil venture suggests just how deep his connections to that industry go.
4. Perry is “open season” on the environment
Rick Perry famously suggested eliminating the Department of Energy, and now he’s nominated to lead it. An experienced Texas political hand, Jim Marston, analyzes what we can expect.
We’ll continue to monitor, so stay tuned.
https://www.edf.org/blog/2016/12/21/trump-transition-news-4-items-you-may-have-missed
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