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AM ACC 12/27/2016
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(ACC Mentioned) ACC: US Specialty Chemicals Markets Rise During 4Q 2016
Dec 26, 2016 | Hydrocarbon Processing
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) reported that US specialty chemicals market volumes rose 0.4% in November. This follows a revised 0.1% gain in October and a 0.2% gain in September. Volumes have generally been moving up since May. -
Minnesota Becoming First State to Ban Common Germ-Killer Triclosan in Soap
Dec 26, 2016 | CBS News
Minnesota’s first-in-the nation ban on soaps containing the once ubiquitous germ-killer triclosan takes effect Jan. 1, but the people who spearheaded the law say it’s already having its desired effect on a national level. -
Some Driveway Sealants Create Toxic Muck in Streams
Dec 26, 2016 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (In USA Today)
By Don Behm
Coal-tar sealants applied to blacktop parking lots and driveways are the primary source of toxic chemicals found in the muck at the bottom of area waterways, according to a study from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. -
Trump's Energy Policy: 10 Big Changes
Dec 26, 2016 | Forbes
By James Taylor
President-elect Donald Trump intends to hit the ground running on energy and environment policy. Trump already has an expert team in place drafting important policy changes from the Obama administration. Here are 10 likely changes that will impact energy production... -
Trump's DOT Chief Pick Calms Shipper, Transport Provider Nerves
Dec 26, 2016 | Journal of Commerce
By Reynolds Hutchins
Few shippers and transportation providers planned for billionaire businessman, reality television star, and Republican nominee Donald Trump to win the US presidential election. But Trump’s November victory may be the last surprise he has in store for the transportation sector... -
California, at Forefront of Climate Fight, Won’t Back Down to Trump
Dec 26, 2016 | New York Times
By Adam Nagourney and Henry Fountain
Foreign governments concerned about climate change may soon be spending more time dealing with Sacramento than Washington. -
Trump's EPA Leadership to Inherit Fewer Enforcement Cases
Dec 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Renee Schoof
President-elect Donald Trump promises to downsize the Environmental Protection Agency, but recent data show that by some measures, such as the number of new environmental criminal cases and inspections, the EPA is already shrinking.
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(ACC Mentioned) ACC: US Specialty Chemicals Markets Rise During 4Q 2016
Dec 26, 2016 | Hydrocarbon Processing
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) reported that US specialty chemicals market volumes rose 0.4% in November. This follows a revised 0.1% gain in October and a 0.2% gain in September. Volumes have generally been moving up since May.
All changes in the data are reported on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. Of the 28 specialty chemical segments ACC monitors, 21 expanded in November and seven experienced decline. During November, large gains (1.0% and over) were noted in cosmetic chemicals, mining chemicals, oilfield chemicals, and specialties.
The overall specialty chemicals volume index was off 0.7% year-over-year (Y/Y) on a 3MMA basis. The index stood at 105.2% of its average 2012 levels. The downturn in the oil and gas sector affected headline volumes and weakness spread to other segments as well. Year-earlier comparisons have been negative since second quarter 2015. Lately, the year-earlier declines have been moderating. On a Y/Y basis, there were gains among 16 market and functional specialty chemical segments.
Specialty chemicals differ from commodity chemicals. They may only have one or two uses, while commodities may have multiple or different applications for each chemical. Commodity chemicals make up most of the production volume in the global marketplace, while specialty chemicals make up most of the diversity in commerce at any given time, and are relatively high value with greater market growth rates.
“This data is the only timely source of market trends for twenty-eight market and functional specialty chemical segments,” ACC said in a press release. “Chemistry directly touches over 96% of all manufactured goods, and trends in these specialty chemical segments provide a detailed view of trends in manufacturing. The data also sheds light on how various consumer end-use markets are performing compared to others in the marketplace.”
http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2016/12/acc-us-specialty-chemicals-markets-rise-during-4q-2016
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Minnesota Becoming First State to Ban Common Germ-Killer Triclosan in Soap
Dec 26, 2016 | CBS News
Minnesota’s first-in-the nation ban on soaps containing the once ubiquitous germ-killer triclosan takes effect Jan. 1, but the people who spearheaded the law say it’s already having its desired effect on a national level.
The federal government also called for a ban in September of this year, which will take effect in September 2017. Major manufacturers have largely phased out the chemical already, with some products being marketed as triclosan-free. It’s an example, say some, of how changes can start at a local level.
“I wanted it to change the national situation with triclosan and it certainly has contributed to that,” said state Sen. John Marty, an author of Minnesota’s ban.
Triclosan once was widely used in anti-bacterial soaps, deodorants and even toothpaste. But studies began to show it could disrupt sex and thyroid hormones and other bodily functions, and scientists were concerned routine use could contribute to the development of resistant bacteria. University of Minnesota research found that triclosan can break down into potentially harmful dioxins in lakes and rivers.
The group Friends of the Mississippi River and its allies in the state government, including Marty, persuaded Gov. Mark Dayton to sign a ban in 2014 that gave the industry until Jan. 1, 2017, to comply.
In September, when the FDA announced their soon-to-be instituted national ban of triclosan and a list of other anti-bacterial chemicals used in hand and bodywash products, they issued a press statement that said, “Antibacterial hand and body wash manufacturers did not provide the necessary data to establish safety and effectiveness for the 19 active ingredients addressed in this final rulemaking.”
Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in the statement, “Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water.”
In fact, she added, “Some data suggests that antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long-term.”
However, the FDA allowed the continued use of triclosan in some products, such as Colgate Total toothpaste, saying it’s effective at preventing gingivitis.
John Marty and Trevor Russell, the water program director for Friends of the Mississippi River, acknowledged they can’t take direct credit for the FDA’s action because that rulemaking process began in 1978, though it didn’t finalize the rule until after a legal battle with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
However, they believe their efforts helped prod manufacturers to accelerate a phase-out that some companies such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson had already begun.
Most major brands are now reformulated, said Brian Sansoni, spokesman for the American Cleaning Institute, a lobbying group. Soaps containing triclosan on store shelves are likely stocks that retailers are just using up, he said.
Russell noted he recently found Dial liquid anti-bacterial hand soap at two local Wal-Marts, two supermarkets and a Walgreens.
The industry is now submitting data to the FDA on the safety and effectiveness of the three main replacements, benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride and chloroxylenol.
“Consumers can continue to use these products with confidence, like they always have,” Sansoni said.
By going first, Russell said, Minnesota can identify any issues with implementing the ban and share them with the rest of the country.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/minnesota-first-state-to-ban-triclosan-germ-killer-soap/
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Some Driveway Sealants Create Toxic Muck in Streams
Dec 26, 2016 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (In USA Today)
By Don Behm
Coal-tar sealants applied to blacktop parking lots and driveways are the primary source of toxic chemicals found in the muck at the bottom of area waterways, according to a study from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
Tests of muck samples collected at 40 locations along 19 creeks and rivers in the metropolitan area and dust from six parking lots found that coal-tar sealants contributed up to 94% of all polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, in streambed sediment, according to the study, published Thursday in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
Fully 78% of the samples contained enough PAHs to be considered toxic and capable of causing adverse effects in aquatic animals, said Austin Baldwin, a USGS scientist and lead author of the study. The most toxic sediment came from Lincoln Creek and Underwood Creek.
Rain and melting snow rinse PAHs and other contaminants off the pavement and into stormwater storage basins or directly into storm sewers that carry the load to waterways.
Even before the study was published, early circulation of its findings boosted support for local restrictions or even bans on the use of coal-tar sealants and a switch to sealants containing asphalt emulsions, according to Chris Magruder, a retired Milwaukee sewer district scientist who is science advisory committee coordinator for the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust.
Threat to aquatic life
While a 2013 federal study determined that PAHs posed a greater risk of harm to aquatic life in the streams than other chemicals, this study went beyond that in two ways, Baldwin said.
First, researchers used multiple methods for identifying separate sources of PAHs in sediment, he said. Apart from coal-tar sealants, the remainder of the PAHs came from a variety of other sources, such as coal combustion at power plants and vehicle emissions.
Animas, San Juan rivers reopen from toxic mine spill
Second, this study exposed aquatic insects and small crustaceans to sediment taken from streams in the area.
"This study shows that PAHs pose a very real threat to aquatic organisms at the base of the food chain," he said. Among the adverse effects are fin erosion, liver abnormalities, cataracts and immune system damage. Exposure to the chemicals also can cause high rates of tumors in fish.
The study also reveals a costly consequence of regulations in Wisconsin and many other states requiring developers to excavate stormwater storage basins next to massive parking lots. PAHs cling to dirt, sand and other particles in the stormwater that settle to the bottom of the basins.
Communities in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area estimate it will cost up to $1 billion to dispose of PAH-contaminated sediment in the stormwater ponds when the basins are dredged for maintenance.
Coal tar, a byproduct of converting coal to coke is a solid-carbon fuel and carbon source for the steel-making industry, and it's a known human carcinogen. As coal is heated to produce coke, coal tar vapors are released.
Pavement sealants made with coal tar contain much higher concentrations of PAHs — up to 1,000 times more — than available substitute products made with asphalt emulsions, according to other studies.
Asphalt sealant products are known as seal coats. They are used to improve the appearance and maintain the surface of parking lots and driveways.
As of this month, Milwaukee's sewer district no longer allows its contractors to use coal-tar sealants for sewer district projects, officials said.
Talk of a ban
On Dec. 12, the Milwaukee County Intergovernmental Cooperation Council of suburban city mayors and village presidents unanimously approved a resolution in support of municipal restrictions or outright bans on coal-tar products.
While no community in the county is considering such a policy now, the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust intends to spark the discussion early next year with a recommendation that municipalities in the region consider bans on the use of coal-tar sealants, Magruder said.
Dane County adopted a ban on the sale and use of tar-based sealants in 2007. Before the ban, researchers estimated that 300,000 gallons of coal-tar sealants a year were applied to parking lots and driveways in the county.
Among retailers who sell alternative sealants with lower amounts of PAHs are Ace Hardware retail cooperative; Home Depot (HD); Lowe's (LOW); Menard's, a private home-improvement chain based in Eau Claire, Wis., with about 300 stores in 14 states; and True Value retail co-op, according to Magruder.
Md. governor's plan sets new limits on farm pollution
At Poblocki Paving Corp. in West Allis, Wis., the largest sealcoat application contractor in the state, the majority of its asphalt maintenance work is done with asphalt emulsions rather than coal-tar sealants, company owner John Poblocki said.
However, some customers prefer coal-tar products because they provide a jet black appearance and last longer, Poblocki said. Asphalt emulsion products are improving but are more expensive.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/12/26/driveway-sealant-pollution/95844732/
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Trump's Energy Policy: 10 Big Changes
Dec 26, 2016 | Forbes
By James Taylor
President-elect Donald Trump intends to hit the ground running on energy and environment policy. Trump already has an expert team in place drafting important policy changes from the Obama administration. Here are 10 likely changes that will impact energy production, energy use, and the U.S. economy.
1. Goodbye to the Clean Power Plan. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan was political poison for Democrats in the November elections. In 14 Senate races highlighted before the elections by the liberal website Mother Jones as being especially important in the global warming debate, 11 were won by candidates opposing the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan was decisively damaging to Hillary Clinton in Great Lakes battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The American public supports government taking some steps to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions that cause some global warming, but Donald Trump realized expensive, highly partisan, top-down restrictions are an unpopular prescription. Expect Trump to fulfill his campaign promise to retract the Clean Power Plan immediately upon taking office. Don’t be surprised, however, if he extends an olive branch to people concerned about global warming by offering alternative policies that address carbon dioxide emissions in a more affordable, fair, free-market manner.
2. Increased energy production on federal lands. Oil and natural gas prices have fallen dramatically thanks to the fracking revolution and increased production. This increased production, however, has occurred in spite of – rather than because of – Obama administration policies. Fortunately for American consumers, increased production on privately owned and state-owned lands has more than compensated for the Obama administration increasing the percentage of federal-owned lands rendered off-limits to oil and gas production. Expect the Trump administration to open up more federal lands to energy production, which will further increase domestic oil and natural gas production. This will in turn lower energy prices, increase royalty payments to offset our national debt, and bolster the American economy.
3. Coal gets a reprieve. Restrictions on coal production and coal power have reached unprecedented severity under the Obama administration. Coal is unlikely to be saddled with any new environmental restrictions under the Trump administration. Just as importantly, the Trump administration is likely to rescind many of the restrictions imposed by the Obama administration, such as a new slate of restrictions announced last week. This may not revive coal power, which faces strong competition from inexpensive natural gas. Nevertheless, coal will face fewer regulatory restrictions under the Trump administration.
4. Wind power industry loses its free pass to kill bald eagles. Private individuals, oil producers, natural gas producers, and everybody else in America justifiably pay severe penalties for killing bald eagles, even inadvertently. Not so the wind power industry. In the ironic name of environmentalism, wind power gets a free pass on the 1.4 million birds and bats the industry kills each year, including endangered and protected species like the bald eagle. The Obama administration last week dramatically increased the number of bald eagles wind power companies can kill without penalty. Expect the Trump administration to reverse this course and make the wind power industry accountable to the same environmental protections that apply to everyone else.
5. Wind and solar power loses disproportionate subsidies. Wind and solar subsidies during the past decade have dwarfed those of all other energy sources, imposing expensive and unreliable power on American consumers. The wind and solar industries claim their products are falling in price and insist they can provide power on a cost-competitive basis with conventional power. Expect the Trump administration to hold the wind and solar industries to their word, reducing subsidies and restoring a level playing field for competing energy sources.
6. Ethanol gets closer scrutiny. The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, enacted into law with the support of the Bush administration, imposes costly ethanol requirements on America’s gasoline consumers. Since passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act, research has proven ethanol is in many ways worse for air pollution and the environment than gasoline. Consumer advocates, free-marketers, and environmental groups have united in opposition to ethanol, yet the ethanol requirements remain. Not only do they remain, but the Obama administration recently increased the amount of ethanol that must be blended into gasoline. Expect the Trump administration to take a hard look at ethanol and consider rolling back federal ethanol mandates.
7. Yucca Mountain finally begins accepting nuclear waste. Nuclear power is currently hampered by strong government headwinds. The Yucca Mountain storage facility for spent nuclear fuel is essentially ready to accept spent fuel but the Obama administration and Obama’s Senate ally Harry Reid have blocked Yucca Mountain from accepting spent fuel. Some states have enacted laws prohibiting the construction of new nuclear power facilities until Yucca Mountain is available to accept spent fuel. Expect the Trump administration to streamline the opening of Yucca Mountain, relieving states and local communities from the burden of storing spent nuclear fuel.
8. Next-generation nuclear power surges forward. Nuclear power faces many obstacles in addition to spent fuel issues. Energy economics and excessive government regulation make traditional large nuclear power plants uncompetitive with coal and natural gas power. However, there is substantial promise for small, next-generation nuclear reactors utilizing new technologies. For example, many scientists, economists, and environmentalists see tremendous promise for small molten salt reactors powered by thorium. Any new nuclear technologies, however, must receive government scrutiny and approval. To date, the federal government has been dragging its feet studying and approving new nuclear reactor designs. Expect the Trump administration to prioritize removing government obstacles to new nuclear power designs, which coincidentally would provide more emissions-free power.
9. Hydro power reverses its long decline. The Obama administration has presided over the removal of existing hydropower dams despite hydropower providing affordable, emissions-free electricity. The U.S. Department of Energy reports opportunities exist to increase hydropower production by 50 percent in the near future with minimal environmental impact. Expect the Trump administration to reverse federal energy policy that hinders hydropower production. Hydropower could be poised for a major comeback.
10. Natural gas exports increase. Natural gas is in high global demand to reduce pollution in an affordable manner. Asia in particular suffers extreme air pollution exacerbated by Chinese coal. In Europe, our friends and allies are overly dependent on Russian natural gas, making them vulnerable to aggressive Russian foreign policy. The Obama administration has blocked the construction of natural gas export terminals that would allow American energy companies to deliver natural gas to countries that need it. Expect the Trump administration to reverse course on this short-sighted policy. More natural gas exports will bring environmental and strategic political relief to countries abroad, while simultaneously providing America economic and strategic political benefits.
What will be the impact of these expected changes in federal energy policy? The answer is more abundant energy, more affordable energy, and environmental policy that addresses true environmental concerns rather than serving as a protection racket for politically favored energy sources.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2016/12/26/trumps-energy-policy-10-big-changes/#1c9f362118aa
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Trump's DOT Chief Pick Calms Shipper, Transport Provider Nerves
Dec 26, 2016 | Journal of Commerce
By Reynolds Hutchins
Few shippers and transportation providers planned for billionaire businessman, reality television star, and Republican nominee Donald Trump to win the US presidential election. But Trump’s November victory may be the last surprise he has in store for the transportation sector, because, as president-elect, Trump’s decisions and stated direction have been more conventional than controversial.
Shippers were preparing for a brave new world last fall, when the evolving Trump administration was doubling down on its promises to deliver $1 trillion in infrastructure investment via public-private partnerships; reset — or withdraw from — trade deals, most notably the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement; and repeal, or at least curb, existing and new regulation.
Now, winter has come, and with it revelations that those plans may have been pitches, not promises. Since his election, Trump has nominated former labor secretary, Washington insider, and the wife of the Senate majority leader to head the Department of Transportation; said he’d rather see the North American Free Trade Agreement reworked than ripped up; and is struggling to sell an enormous infrastructure booster shot to a Congress that has said infrastructure isn’t a top priority.
“Without meaning to make light of the outcome of the presidential election, we all need to take a breath and pause,” said Susan Kohn Ross, an international trade attorney at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp. “First, business will continue. Second, cargo will continue to flow across borders — in and out. Whether costs will go up and delivery times be delayed remains to be seen.”
On the campaign trail Trump made it clear: “We will withdraw from NAFTA and start all over and get a much, much better deal than we ever had before.”
Withdrawing from NAFTA would dump the whole lot of tariffs on shippers moving goods across North American borders that were eliminated under the trade pact. It also wouldn’t be impossible, as some thought early on. Article 2205 of NAFTA allows any party to withdraw from the agreement with six months’ notice. It’s something Trump, as Republican nominee to the highest office in the land, said he had every intention of pursuing. Trump as president-elect, however, has toned down that rhetoric.
Anthony Scaramucci, a senior adviser on the Trump transition team, calls Trump a free-trader looking to make trade deals more fair, not scrap them. “I don’t think we’re looking to rip up NAFTA as much as we are looking to right-size it and make it fairer,” Scaramucci said at a meeting of the bipartisan political organization No Labels. “I don’t think anybody in the administration from the top to the bottom is looking for protectionism. We understand the economic harm and the impact that would take.”
Other trade deals Trump targeted on the campaign trail, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, were proclaimed dead before Trump won the election. The Republican-controlled Congress shot down the TPP, the cornerstone of the Obama trade agenda, in the run-up to the election, and the UK’s stunning June referendum to leave the European Union sealed TTIP’s fate.
In the near term, there will be no new trade agreements. Business will continue, however, and those in the transportation industry best look to Trump’s pick for transportation secretary for insight on how that business will be conducted.
Elaine Chao is no new face to Washington circles and has a track record of rolling back regulation and a pro-business reputation. Chao, wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., represents a thoroughly establishment pick. In addition to serving as labor secretary during the most recent Bush administration — the only member of President Bush’s Cabinet to serve an eight-year term — she served as deputy secretary of transportation from 1989 to 1991 under the first Bush administration. Before that, she served as deputy administrator for the DOT’s Maritime Administration and as chair of the Federal Maritime Commission in the 1980s.
Chao also has roots in the shipping industry. Her father, James S.C. Chao, founded the shipping, trading, and finance enterprise Foremost Group in 1964, where he still serves as chairman.
Her pro-business approach could be a big win for motor carriers that have faced a laundry list of regulations under the Obama administration that, while aimed at increasing driver safety, threaten to tighten capacity and increase shipping rates.
Under more conservative leadership, some elements of the regulatory tsunami prepared to hit motor carriers could be avoided, according to industry analysts, many singling out a proposed truck speed limiter mandate introduced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in August. Transportation interests also suggest that Chao could streamline the controversial Compliance, Safety, Accountability, or CSA, initiative.
Revision of other existing regulations, such as the driver coercion rule that took effect last spring or hours-of-service regulations, is considered less likely. Many don’t expect the electronic logging mandate, required by law and scheduled to take effect late in December 2017, to be sidelined, either. The ELD mandate and driver coercion rule weren’t the product of federal bureaucrats but instead mandated by a Republican Congress in 2012 transportation funding legislation.
“There are a lot of other things in flight now — the speed limiter rule, a detention time study, minimum insurance standards for truckers,” said C. Randal “Randy” Mullett, founder and principal of Mullett Strategies. “With the change of administrations, I think ELDs are going on. But perhaps we don’t move forward with speed limiters.”
Trucking interests in Washington have been more hopeful. After eight years of sometimes cooperative, sometimes contentious relations with federal regulators, the American Trucking Associations, the largest trucking lobbyist in the US, is hoping for a restart. The Trump administration may allow the ATA “increased input to shape regulatory proposals in a transparent, inclusive and data-driven manner,” according to the group’s President and CEO Chris Spear.
The group says it views Chao’s nomination as a good start toward achieving these goals. “Chao understands the issues we face as we try to keep America’s freight moving safely and efficiently,” said Spear, who worked alongside the DOT nominee at the Labor Department from 2001 through 2004.
Railroad interests also welcomed Trump’s election and Chao’s nomination as the dawning of a new era of regulation rollbacks. Under the new Trump administration, the Surface Transportation Board, the top rail regulatory agency in the US, will expand from three members to five. “Railroad industry lobbyists breathed a sigh of relief upon the election of Donald J. Trump,” said John Larkin, managing director at investment firm Stifel. “Once the change of administrations is complete, three of the five members will ultimately be Republicans.”
The Association of American Railroads, the largest US rail lobby, says it is particularly hopeful that an enlarged, more conservative, more pro-business STB will sidetrack a proposed rule that would allow shippers without access to other transportation modes to request their freight be moved to a competing rail line. The June proposal followed years of shipper-rail regulatory battles. Shippers refer to the concept as “reciprocal” or “competitive switching,” but the AAR calls it “forced access.”
“Our industry has made it clear that rules should protect a true free market, and that no agency can spur ‘competition’ through regulation,” said Edward R. Hamberger, the group’s president and CEO.
Trucking and rail interest groups also welcomed the news that Chao and her ties to the business community — and Congress — may put some momentum behind the incoming administration’s big infrastructure push. When the plan was announced in the days immediately after Trump’s victory, Democrats and Republicans alike said they were encouraged by the much-needed funding boost, which would allow shippers to avoid disruptions and save on transportation costs.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said the Trump administration’s emphasis on infrastructure may present more than a few rare moments of peace between Democrats and Republicans. “One of the few issues that provided common ground was the need for investments in America’s transportation network and infrastructure,” he said, adding that the election provides a “unique opportunity.”
The Trump plan, after all, isn’t that dissimilar from the work programs initiated under the Democratic Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression, said Mike Regan, chief of relationship development at TranzAct Technologies and advocacy chairman at shipper group NASSTRAC. Perhaps, he said, that’s “just what this country needs.”
The president-elect’s $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan, however, relies on murky — at best — public-private partnerships. Although the details are sketchy, the government under Trump would avoid direct spending and instead subsidize private development with significant tax credits — equivalent to 82 percent of the equity private financiers spend on infrastructure. Developers would own the infrastructure and benefit directly from the collection of tolls and fees.
Although Democrats and Republicans, rail and trucking lobbyists, and shippers industrywide welcomed the plan in the days after Trump’s victory, the road ahead seems littered with potholes for the president-elect and Chao. Some Democrats, for example, are highly skeptical of the work program, which is reminiscent of Democratic New Deal programs in the 1930s. “There’s danger in the details, danger that these projects will be a Trojan horse for tax breaks and giveaways to investors who simply get credits to do projects we’re already doing,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Congressional Republicans also appear uneasy with the plan, with McConnell explicitly saying he doesn’t see infrastructure investment as a priority.
Blumenthal and McConnell’s words illustrate that the Trump administration will face its fair share of pushback from both sides of the aisle, which could leave the incoming president with little room to maneuver and lock him into a more conventional path as leader of the free world.
http://www.joc.com/regulation-policy/transportation-policy/us-transportation-policy/path-keeping-us-freight-moving-begins-new-dot-chief_20161226.html
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California, at Forefront of Climate Fight, Won’t Back Down to Trump
Dec 26, 2016 | New York Times
By Adam Nagourney and Henry Fountain
Foreign governments concerned about climate change may soon be spending more time dealing with Sacramento than Washington.
President-elect Donald J. Trump has packed his cabinet with nominees who dispute the science of global warming. He has signaled he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. He has belittled the notion of global warming and attacked policies intended to combat it.
But California — a state that has for 50 years been a leader in environmental advocacy — is about to step unto the breach. In a show of defiance, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and legislative leaders said they would work directly with other nations and states to defend and strengthen what were already far and away the most aggressive policies to fight climate change in the nation. That includes a legislatively mandated target of reducing carbon emissions in California to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
“California can make a significant contribution to advancing the cause of dealing with climate change, irrespective of what goes on in Washington,” Mr. Brown said in an interview. “I wouldn’t underestimate California’s resolve if everything moves in this extreme climate denial direction. Yes, we will take action.”Continue reading the main story
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The prospect of California’s elevated role on climate change is the latest sign of how this state, where Hillary Clinton defeated Mr. Trump by more than four million votes, is preparing to resist the policies of the incoming White House. State and city officials have already vowed to fight any attempt by Washington to crack down on undocumented immigrants; Los Angeles officials last week set aside $10 million to help fund the legal costs of residents facing deportation.
The environmental effort poses decided risks for this state. For one thing, Mr. Trump and Republicans have the power to undercut California’s climate policies. The Trump administration could reduce funds for the state’s vast research community — including two national laboratories — which has contributed a great deal to climate science and energy innovation, or effectively nullify state regulations on clean air emissions and automobile fuel standards.
“They could basically stop enforcement of the Clean Air Act and CO2emissions,” said Hal Harvey, president of Energy Innovation, a policy research group in San Francisco. “That would affect California because it would constrain markets. It would make them fight political and legal battles rather than scientific and technological ones.”
And some business leaders warned that California’s embrace of environmental regulations — from emission reductions to new regulations imposing mandatory energy efficiency standards on computers and monitors — could put it at a disadvantage, all the more so as conservatives elsewhere move to roll back environmental regulations.
“If the other states pursue no-climate-change policies, and we continue to go it on our own with our climate change policies, then we would be at a competitive disadvantage for either relocating companies or growing companies here, particularly manufacturing factories,” said Rob Lapsley, the president of the California Business Roundtable.
Still, Democrats relish the prospect of challenging Mr. Trump on climate change, noting that other states have followed California in trying to curb emissions. And California has the weight to get into the ring: It is one of the 10 largest economies in the world, with a gross domestic product of approximately $2.5 trillion.
“California more than ever is strongly committed to moving forward on our climate leadership,” said Kevin de Leon, the leader of the State Senate. “We will not deviate from our leadership because of one election.”
The state has been at the forefront of climate and energy policy for more than half a century, beginning with setting appliance and vehicle emissions standards in the 1960s. Those policies will continue, analysts said, in no small part because they are overwhelmingly popular here: 69 percent of Californians said they supported the law requiring the state to roll back emissions in a July survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.
“This is not something that’s going to be fueled by dislike of Donald Trump,” said Adrienne Alvord, the western states director for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “This will be fueled by people liking these policies and wanting to see them continue. Our leadership and the people of California support the science.”
Ms. Alvord said that in the new political climate, the fossil-fuel industry may feel emboldened to take on some of the state’s energy and climate initiatives. “But they would be fighting a very uphill battle,” she said. “Politically, it’s going to be very difficult to really slow this train down.”
California’s economy is powered by a high-tech industry and prominent research institutions that make it well placed to continue to lead on energy and climate. The state has already taken on an international role. Mr. Brown has spearheaded the Under 2 MOU initiative, backed by a coalition of state, local and regional governments in 33 countries — more than 160 jurisdictions with a total population of more than 1 billion — that have agreed to deep emissions cuts to try to keep global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
California’s cap-and-trade program, which imposes a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allows companies to buy and sell emissions credits, is linked with one in Quebec. The program has suffered recently from weak sales, and it is facing a legal challenge from the state Chamber of Commerce. Its future is likely to be the subject of debate by the Legislature. State officials have also had discussions with other countries, including Mexico and China, about joining forces on cap-and-trade policies.
Domestically, California has long been a leader on vehicle emissions. The federal Environmental Protection Agency allowed it to have tougher standards under the 1970 Clean Air Act, and more than a dozen states have adopted its standards. The Trump administration could deny the state a new waiver, as the George W. Bush administration did, which would lead to a court fight.
The clean-air initiatives here have become an intricate part of the economy and a source of growth and jobs. Federal cutbacks would no doubt hurt the state to some extent, but analysts say the very energy-efficiency policies that may soon come under attack by the new administration have been a significant factor in California’s economic reversal.
“If the president-elect and his administration work to undermine our climate leadership, they will hurt our economy, “ Mr. de Leon said. “They will kill jobs. And ultimately, they will hurt the economy of the United States. We are 13 percent of the overall G.D.P.”
Still, California officials and environmentalists said climate measures in place here will undoubtedly be undercut if the Trump administration rolls back environmental policies put in place by President Obama.
“Our system works better — our cap-and-trade system and other ways of addressing climate change — if we have more company,” said Anthony Rendon, the speaker of the Assembly. “The more company we have, the better.”
Dan Jacobson, the state director of Environment California, said the state can “keep doing what we are doing, leading the way.”
“But will that be enough, soon enough? Not without the partnership of other cities, states, and nations. So that’s why it’s so dangerous for Trump to pull out of the accord,” he wrote in an email, referring to the Paris climate agreement.
Mr. Brown will be a critical player in this fight. He has presented himself as an environmental advocate since he first served as governor in the 1970s. As he enters what will probably be his last two years in public life, he has seized on the prospect of leading an anti-Trump environmental movement.
“We’ve got the lawyers and we’ve got the scientists and are ready to fight,” Mr. Brown declared in a speech in San Francisco earlier this month to the American Geophysical Union. “We’re ready to win.”
Mr. Brown, in the interview, called Mr. Trump’s election a setback for the climate movement, but predicted that it would be fleeting.
“In a paradoxical way, it could speed up the efforts of leaders in the world to take climate change seriously,” he said. “The shock of official congressional and presidential denial will reverberate through the world.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/us/california-climate-change-jerry-brown-donald-trump.html?_r=0
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Trump's EPA Leadership to Inherit Fewer Enforcement Cases
Dec 27, 2016 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Renee Schoof
President-elect Donald Trump promises to downsize the Environmental Protection Agency, but recent data show that by some measures, such as the number of new environmental criminal cases and inspections, the EPA is already shrinking.
Trump's choice to lead the agency, Scott Pruitt, is known for suing it over its main initiatives. He disbanded an environmental protection unit in his office when he became Oklahoma's attorney general. If confirmed as expected, he will take over an EPA whose budget and enforcement results have been curtailed in recent years.
The EPA's latest enforcement results, released Dec. 19, show the EPA opened 170 environmental crime cases in fiscal year 2016, a 20 percent decline from 213 cases in fiscal year 2015. Inspections declined to 13,500 from 15,400 the previous year and from 19,800 in 2012.
Grant Nakayama, who was the assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance from 2005 to 2009 and now is a partner at King & Spalding in Washington, said a downward trend in inspections was significant.
“If you don't inspect, if you don't have a presence in the field, then you don't really have a compliance program. You're just depending on the good will of the people to comply,” he said.
The EPA has said that its Next Generation Compliance strategy, which includes pollution monitoring from a distance with infrared cameras, has helped the agency keep up with inspections with fewer people as its enforcement budget has declined from $597 million in fiscal year 2010 to $545 million in fiscal year 2016, not adjusted for inflation.
“The decline in EPA's funding is evident in the drop in the number of inspections and the decrease in new criminal cases,” Nakayama said. “This steady erosion is a long term trend that must be addressed.”
Andrew Stewart, former acting director of the EPA's Special Litigation and Projects Division in the Office of Civil Enforcement, said one way to look at the trend is that there can be concerns about the loss of a level playing field when on the ground enforcement is diminished.
“The notion is that having a cop on the beat motivates companies of different sizes to maintain compliance,” Stewart, now a member of Vinson & Elkins LLP's environmental and natural resources group in Washington, D.C., told Bloomberg BNA in an e-mail.
Stewart said the results also show a downward trend from fiscal year 2012 in civil enforcement cases. For example, there were 115 civil judicial complaints filed in court in fiscal year 2012, compared with 93 in fiscal year 2016.
“The administrator could certainly decide new priorities and where to shift resources, and decide to scale back certain programs,” Stewart said. “For example, the new administration could place greater emphasis on compliance assistance programs to conduct outreach to regulated industries regarding applicable environmental regulations, rather than traditional enforcement investigations and actions.”
He also could reorganize the agency and put enforcement work under the direction of program offices. But big reorganizations are time consuming, Stewart said. In addition, any attempt to scale back enforcement would be met with protests from nongovernmental groups.
“I think a more likely outcome is that if the budget declines, the workforce shrinks, and those vacant positions are not backfilled, then some of the enforcement metrics could continue a downward trend,” he said. “The new administrator could propose smaller budgets for EPA enforcement resources as part of that process.”
Pruitt has not disclosed his views of how he will run the EPA or who he would choose to be in charge of environmental enforcement. But, his history as Oklahoma attorney general has drawn scrutiny for clues to what he will do.
Environmental Unit Out
As Oklahoma attorney general, one of his first actions was to disband a three-person environmental protection unit in the state attorney general's office and create a “federalism” unit in charge of suing the federal government over what Pruitt saw as unnecessary regulation.
Pruitt is known for suing the EPA on high-profile regulations such as the Clean Power Plan, the EPA's first attempt to put carbon dioxide limits on power plants. He supports letting states take the lead on their own environmental cases.
Jim Marston, regional director for the Environmental Defense Fund in Texas, told Bloomberg BNA that having a separate division in charge of environmental protection shows that it is a priority and signals that the staff has experts in the field.
Shelly Perkins, deputy attorney general for communications and public relations at the Oklahoma attorney general's office, told Bloomberg BNA that since Pruitt took office, environmental cases have been handled by the Solicitor General's Unit.
The Oklahoma deputy solicitor general serves as liaison counsel to state environmental agencies, including the Department of Environmental Quality and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Perkins said the unit “has a track record of successful settlements in dozens of environmental cases.”
The state Department of Environmental Quality said the change at the attorney general's office had no effect on the department's work, and that the office continued to provide legal support.
“During the prior attorney general administration, the majority of the focus of the environmental staff was dedicated to a singular lawsuit against poultry producers in Arkansas,” the Department of Environmental Quality Executive Director Scott Thompson told Bloomberg BNA. “When Attorney General Pruitt took office, his team restored a more traditional balance of prioritizing legal representation to all state agencies involved in regulation of Oklahoma's resources.”
“Since the reorganization at the attorney general's office, Pruitt's legal team has consistently shown deference to the expertise of the professionals at the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, and there is not an instance I can recall where they did not allow us to pursue any legal action we sought,” Thompson said.
The Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association told Bloomberg BNA in an e-mail that it was not affected by the change.
Chad Warmington, president of the Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association, said in an e-mail that environmental enforcement for his industry is under the Department of Environmental Quality and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, and that recent guidelines for drilling wastewater injection, put in place with industry cooperation, were an example of the system working well.
Oklahoma Cases
Pruitt's time as attorney general has been marked by some significant environmental cases involving pollution in his state. Perkins said these included negotiation of a water rights settlement with Indian tribes that preserved rivers and lakes and an agreement to reduce pollution in the Illinois River.
In another case, Oklahoma and Alabama were co-plaintiffs in a settlement in 2014 in which Oklahoma-based LSB Industries Inc. and four subsidiaries agreed to reduce nitrogen oxides emissions at its plants.
The Justice Department at the time announced that $206,250 of the $725,000 penalty would be paid to Oklahoma's Department of Environmental Quality.
Environmental Crime by Organizations
Meanwhile, new data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission show that overall crime by organizations, mostly corporations and limited liability companies, went up nearly 12 percent in fiscal year 2015 over the previous year, and that the most common offense was environmental crime.
A report Dec. 22 by the commission, an independent agency in the judicial branch, showed that environmental crimes made up 32.2 percent of offenses by organizations in fiscal year 2015, followed by fraud (21 percent) and food and drug crimes (12.2 percent).
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=102466985&vname=dennotallissues&fn=102466985&jd=102466985
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