Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 1/6/2017
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(ACC Mentioned) 2017 - A Risky Year Ahead
Jan 6, 2017 | ICIS
By Paul Hodges
It is hard to be optimistic about the outlook for 2017. -
Super PAC Rules Could Keep Pruitt's Corporate Cash Flowing
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Benjamin Storrow and Mike Soraghan
One of the country's largest coal companies contributed $50,000 to a political action committee supporting Scott Pruitt in August, just as the company and the Oklahoma attorney general prepared for a key court appearance in their challenge to U.S. EPA's sweeping restrictions on power plants. -
Ahead of Confirmation, Pruitt's Record of Suing EPA Raises Ethics Issues
Jan 6, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Dawn Reeves
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) may have to recuse himself from participating in key EPA issues if his nomination to run the agency under the Trump administration is approved by the Senate, sources say, because executive branch ethics requirements could limit his involvement due to his record of bringing multiple lawsuits challenging agency climate and other rules. -
Stepping Up Scrutiny, Democrats Plan to Target Pruitt Over Exxon Ties
Jan 6, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Amanda Palleschi
Senate Democrats are stepping up their oversight of Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead EPA, as well as other top nominees, seeking to ensure they are subject to rigorous financial disclosure procedures while sharpening their messaging that the nominees, like Trump, stand to personally benefit from their new positions. -
EPA Defends PFOA Health Advisory Following New Jersey's Criticisms
Jan 6, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Suzanne Yohannan
EPA is defending its drinking water health advisory for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) against criticisms a New Jersey regulatory advisory body levied when the state panel proposed a much stricter level for the state's first-in-the-nation enforceable drinking water standard for the chemical. -
Obama Admin Nixes All Atlantic Oil and Gas Exploration
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Emily Yehle
The Obama administration has denied all applications to conduct seismic surveys in the Atlantic Ocean, citing a "diminished need" for oil and gas companies to map the seafloor in a search for mineral deposits. -
Energy-Sector CO2 to Stagnate Without Clean Power Plan — EIA
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Emily Holden
Coal use and energy-sector carbon emissions in the United States would both flatline without the Obama administration's climate standards for power plants, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration outlook released yesterday. -
US Army Corps Keeps Oil Pipelines in Streamlined Permitting Rule Over Protests
Jan 5, 2017 | Platts
By Meghan Gordon
The US Army Corps of Engineers will not remove oil pipelines from the next five-year authorization of its streamlined permitting program, despite opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline and historic preservation groups calling for more scrutiny in order to prevent spills. -
County Approves Plan for Huge Pipeline Compressor Station
Jan 6, 2017 | Washington Post
By Associated Press
The governing board of a central Virginia county has granted approval for the construction of a natural gas compressor station along the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. -
U.S. on Track to Be a Net Energy Exporter — EIA
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Nathanial Gronewold
Federal researchers are once again predicting that the United States is on track to become a net energy exporter, only slightly earlier than initially projected under a baseline scenario. -
New Texas NatGas Pipeline Would Feed Spectra's Proposed Valley Crossing, Mexico
Jan 5, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Joe Fisher
Pomelo Connector LLC has filed at FERC for permission to construct a 14-mile pipeline in Texas connecting Texas Eastern Transmission LP (Tetco) with the proposed Valley Crossing Pipeline LLC in support of a system that would enable export of U.S. natural gas to Mexico. -
Energy Dept. Report Highlights New Threats to Electric Grid
Jan 6, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A new Obama administration report on the country’s energy system released Friday is looking to shine a spotlight on vulnerabilities and threats to the electricity grid. -
DOE: Congress Should Help Protect Power Grid From 'Imminent Danger'
Jan 6, 2017 | Politico Pro
By Darius Dixon
The Obama administration warned on Friday that the U.S. power grid faces "imminent danger" from cyber attacks, and it called on Congress to empower federal regulators to impose new rules on the utility industry to help protect the nation's energy network. -
Departing OSHA Chief Leaves Robust Oil and Gas Legacy
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
Recent findings that the fatality rate for the oil and gas workforce has declined would appear to indicate that federal initiatives to improve the industry's safety record are taking root. -
EPA Seeks Public Input on Ozone Reg's 'Good Neighbor' Data
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA is seeking public input on preliminary interstate ozone modeling data that will play a key role in guiding states' efforts to comply with "good neighbor" requirements embedded in the stricter ozone standard set last year. -
Agency Chiefs Take Victory Laps, Tout Work on Climate
Jan 5, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
It's closing time for the Obama administration.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News
Transportation News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) 2017 - A Risky Year Ahead
Jan 6, 2017 | ICIS
By Paul Hodges
It is hard to be optimistic about the outlook for 2017.
As I suggested last year (ICB, 11-17 January 2016), policymakers have now given up on the idea that stimulus could somehow enable today’s ageing populations to maintain the level of economic growth seen when the Baby Boomers were young. As a result, markets are returning to being based on supply and demand fundamentals, rather than central bank money-printing. Unfortunately, just as I feared, it will be companies and investors who will now bear the costs of this failed experiment.
Essentially, there are now five major risks facing the global economy:
Global recession: The American Chemistry Council (ACC) index of global capacity utilisation is the best indicator that exists in terms of the outlook for the economy. As the chart shows, it has been falling since December 2015, and its latest reading is close to the all-time low seen in March 2009.
Populist policies are gaining support: Populists provide simple answers to complex questions, and 2016 saw them gain major success with the Brexit vote for the UK to leave the EU, Donald Trump winning the US Presidency, and Italy’s referendum creating the potential for the country to vote on leaving the euro.
Protectionism is replacing globalisation: One key result of these changes is that countries are turning inwards. The Doha and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership trade deals are effectively dead, and President-elect Trump has promised to cancel the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal on coming into office.
Interest rates have begun to rise around the world: Investors have begun to worry about return of capital, rather than just return on capital. Benchmark 10-year interest rates have more than doubled in the US since the summer. They have also trebled in the UK and doubled in Italy, while negative rates in Germany and Japan have turned positive again.
India’s economy is under major strain as a result of the currency reforms, while China’s debt levels remain far too high for comfort. China’s housing bubble has reached price/earnings ratios in the tier 1 cities that are double those seen at the height of the US subprime bubble. Unsuprisingly, the value of its currency has been falling, adding potential for major trade friction with the new Trump administration.
A growing disconnect
It is clear, therefore, that we are now moving into a New Normal world. In consumer-led economies such as those in the west, the major changes that have taken place in life expectancy and fertility rates since 1950 inevitably have an impact on the economy. As I have discussed before in these pages, demand growth is created by young people as they enter the workforce, set up home and have children. Older people already own most of what they need and so today’s ageing western societies, where fertility rates have also been below replacement levels for 45 years, are inevitably going to see growth prospects reduce.
Essentially, we have swapped an extra 10 years of life expectancy for economic growth. I doubt that any reader will feel this is a trade that needs to be reversed. But it does mean that we face a growing disconnect between perception and reality. Most people now working in industry or finance have no memory of the pre-1983 period, before the Boomer-led SuperCycle began. They therefore still assume that the global economy will always be growing, and that chemical demand will be a multiple of this growth. They also assume that any downturn will be short-lived, as central banks will always be able to quickly step in and reverse any decline.
This, of course, is why companies have continued to invest in new capacity, particularly in the US. They have assumed that shale gas would give them long-term competitive advantage as oil would always be priced above $100/bbl, and China’s import volumes would always be increasing. They also assumed that globalisation would continue forever. It would have been bad enough if just one of these core assumptions had proved incorrect. The fact that all three have disappointed means that the future has become most uncertain indeed.
It is always tempting at such times to simply double-down on one’s bets. Tempting, but potentially disastrous when the real issue is an urgent need to develop new business models, more suited to the challenges ahead. The oil industry provides a clear warning of the problems that can be created by this type of wilful blindness, with OPEC and many western companies simply refusing to accept the advice from the auto companies that the days of constant demand increases for transport fuel are over.
They have fallen into the trap of silo thinking, and of assuming that the world will never change. But in reality, very few trends last forever and as the president of General Motors, Dan Amman, noted earlier this year: “We think there’s going to be more change in the world of mobility in the next five years than there has been in the last fifty”.
Amman’s warning followed that of Ford’s chairman, Bill Ford, who highlighted the rationale for the paradigm shifts now underway: “The average American spends about a week a year stuck in traffic jams, and that’s a huge waste of time and resources….The freedom of mobility that my great-grandfather brought to people is now being threatened, just as the environment is.”
The oil industry is a classic example of the problems that can be created by ignoring changes in demand patterns. It is already clear, for example, that many young Americans do not share their Boomer-parents’ love affair with cars. Latest data, for example, shows only around three-quarters of those aged 20-24 now have a driver’s licence, compared to over 90% in the past. And young people without driver’s licences are unlikely to be buying much gasoline in the future, and nor will they be buying too many cars.
The problems caused by only focusing on supply-side issues are a wake-up call for all of us, especially given today’s global energy glut. They emphasise that the future will belong to those who focus on end-user demand. We need to follow industries such as autos in developing new business models that include a service package, where the value proposition is based on the total value provided, rather than just the value of the physical product.
The new normal
We can already see some of these new business models in action with the growth of car-sharing services and Uber-type taxi services, as well as the growing excitement over the potential for autonomous vehicles. As the second chart shows, these models highlight how the need for mobility is replacing the former focus on car ownership. Similarly, the need for shelter is replacing home ownership. Sustainability is also replacing globalisation as a key driver for revenue and profit growth. This is inevitable with today’s ageing populations, where the Boomers’ previous need for more “stuff” is being replaced by a need to “do more with less”, and a focus on affordability rather than affordable luxury.
These trends have a long way to run, and will likely impact other functions as they develop. Already, for example, concerns are rising that some of today’s production sites risk becoming white elephants, as the growth of the circular economy drives a move towards more local, smaller-scale and flexible production. We can, after all, already see this trend developing in another demand-focused industry, pharmaceuticals, where companies are moving away from the production of blockbuster drugs towards the adoption of personalised medicine.
As we move into 2017, it is clear that major challenges await us. Global recession will create volatility and uncertainty, particularly as it becomes obvious that stimulus policies are part of the problem, rather than the solution. But we have been through difficult times in the past as an industry. We know that the best way to survive and prosper is to develop a long-term view of the outlook, whilst keeping a close eye out for bumps in the road.
The Winners in today’s New Normal world will be those who follow the auto, pharma and other industries in refocusing their business models on demand rather than supply issues. They will find their future revenue and profit growth becoming turbo-charged, as they benefit from investment in designing materials and providing sustainable solutions that can meet current and future market needs for mobility, shelter, health, food and water affordably.
http://www.icis.com/resources/news/2017/01/06/10068042/2017-a-risky-year-ahead/
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Super PAC Rules Could Keep Pruitt's Corporate Cash Flowing
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Benjamin Storrow and Mike Soraghan
One of the country's largest coal companies contributed $50,000 to a political action committee supporting Scott Pruitt in August, just as the company and the Oklahoma attorney general prepared for a key court appearance in their challenge to U.S. EPA's sweeping restrictions on power plants.
Murray Energy Corp., the Ohio-based mine owner, will be able to make a similar contribution this year, legal experts say, even if the Senate confirms Pruitt, a Republican, to run EPA.
The practical impact: Pruitt's Super PAC, Liberty 2.0, can keep raising money from the corporate interests he is charged with regulating.
A coal company owner "can write him a million-dollar check," said Larry Noble, former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission.
"It's not a great idea," said Noble, now with the Campaign Legal Center, a money-in-politics watchdog. "It puts him in a very compromising situation."
Pruitt would be among the first Cabinet-level appointees to enter office with such a super PAC. The political action committees, which can accept unlimited donations from corporations, unions and individuals, are a relatively new phenomenon. They've been evolving since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling paved the way for their creation.
The idea of corporate titans writing checks to the head of EPA is astounding to William Reilly, who had the job in the administration of President George H.W. Bush.
"I'd be amazed if he thinks he can keep that going," Reilly said. "That doesn't pass the smell test."
But the people running the super PAC have made no move to dissolve it since President-elect Donald Trump picked Pruitt in December. Charles Spies, attorney for the committee, said discussions over the super PAC's future are ongoing.
"[Attorney] General Pruitt's nomination was just a few weeks ago, and Liberty 2.0 leadership is now assessing plans to continue to fully comply with the law and the highest ethical standards," Spies told E&E News.
Blurry legal and ethical lines
An E&E News review found no record of an Obama administration appointee entering office with a super PAC. Three members of the incoming Trump administration, including Pruitt, are affiliated with active super PACs.
Politicians are technically not allowed to coordinate with their super PACs, but experts say they get around that by hiring trusted aides familiar with their desires.
Liberty 2.0 has paid $24,000 to Crystal Coon, a campaign aide who was Pruitt's first chief of staff in the attorney general's office. The top recipient of money from Liberty 2.0, according OpenSecrets.org, is a firm founded by Tamara Cornell, the primary consultant and fundraiser for his state campaign efforts.
Candidates can even solicit money for their super PACs, although any solicited contributions must then stay within federal contribution limits. And solicited donations cannot come from labor unions or corporations, Noble said.
When someone becomes a Cabinet secretary, federal rules prevent him or her from directly soliciting money. But the Cabinet member can speak at fundraisers for political action committees and even help plan the event.
Obama's former Education secretary, Arne Duncan, and former Energy secretary, Steven Chu, appeared at fundraisers during his 2012 re-election campaign.
Super PACs add another wrinkle to the equation because they are technically independent from the candidate. But Pruitt's case demonstrates just how blurry those lines can be.
Whether a contribution was solicited or coordinated is a distinction that matters little in the real world. Contributors who want access to a powerful officeholder can usually figure out how to give without a direct request from the politician.
"The donors are aware that he's going to know," Noble said. "You don't need to have anything spoken."
That doesn't mean the public won't see it for what it is, Noble said. "Even Trump admitted, people make these contributions to influence the policymakers," he said.
Spies noted that the PAC is following the rules regarding coordination.
"Liberty 2.0 is an independent expenditure committee set up by supporters of [Attorney] General Pruitt," Spies said. "Pruitt currently has no control over or involvement with this group and will not going forward."
Spies is counsel for the Rule of Law Defense Fund, an offshoot of the Republican Attorneys General Association where Pruitt is a director.
'There's nothing to prevent them in law'
Pruitt is not the only Trump nominee associated with a super PAC. Ben Carson, Trump's nominee for secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was supported by a super PAC called the 2016 Committee during his presidential campaign. It remains active.
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), the nominee for secretary of the Interior, has come under fire for his relationship to a super PAC, Special Operations for America. The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint in 2014 accusing Zinke of coordinating with the committee (Climatewire, Jan. 5). FEC filings show it remains active.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has closed three super PACs associated with his presidential campaign, FEC filings show. Perry is Trump's pick for Energy secretary.
Pruitt and Zinke are the most likely to pursue elective office after their Cabinet stints and therefore can be helped by contributions to super PACs. Political observers think Pruitt might have his eye on the seat of Sen. Jim Inhofe, his fellow Oklahoma Republican, should Inhofe retire.
The influx of nominees with super PACs surprised some legal analysts. Super PACs have been around for several election cycles. But only in 2016 did the barrier between candidates and super PACs dissolve so completely into a paper fiction.
"I have not dealt with this specific problem before, but I have long complained about our corrupt campaign finance system," said Richard Painter, who served as the chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration. "And the problems spill over to the executive branch when elected officials who are beholden to campaign contributors become Cabinet members."
Steven Billet, director of the legislative affairs master's degree and PAC management graduate certificate at George Washington University, similarly had never dealt with the issue.
"I don't know if Cabinet members can have super PACs," he said. "My guess is there is nothing to prevent them in the law."
The legal distance between the super PAC and the Cabinet official would presumably allow the committee to solicit donations, Billet said.
Money flowed as lawsuits piled up
Like many politicians in oil-rich Oklahoma, Pruitt has long looked to the energy industry for campaign contributions. An analysis of his state campaign filings reads like a who's who of Sooner oil-field royalty. Lew Ward, the late founder of Enid-based Ward Petroleum Corp., made five donations totaling $11,700 to Pruitt's state campaigns, according to FollowTheMoney.org. Continental Resources Inc. Chairman and CEO Harold Hamm gave $5,000. Aubrey McClendon, the brash, now-deceased founder of Chesapeake Energy Corp., chipped in $10,000.
Overall, Pruitt raised $282,111 from oil and gas interests over four state campaigns. Only lawyers and lobbyists gave more, at $298,717.
By 2015, Pruitt was seeking to widen his fundraising net. On Feb. 2 of that year, a multi-candidate political committee set up by former Pruitt campaign staff members set up shop at 15 West 6th St. in Tulsa, FEC filings show. The Oklahoma Strong Leadership PAC is able to accept limited donations and coordinate with Pruitt, enabling the Oklahoma attorney general to funnel money to preferred political candidates across the country. The downtown Tulsa address is the same as that of Pruitt's campaign office.
A couple of weeks later, a second committee, Liberty 2.0, was set up at the same address. Both were housed in the same suite, 2507, and listed Pruitt aide Millan Hupp's email address under the committee's contact information.
Pruitt already had several lawsuits against EPA under his belt by that time, including an ultimately unsuccessful challenge to the agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and its haze mitigation plan for Oklahoma.
A bevy of new Obama administration regulations released that year offered an opportunity to file more. The Oklahoma attorney general sued over the Clean Power Plan and Clean Water Rule in July, then joined 25 states for a second challenge to the Clean Power Plan in October (Greenwire, Dec. 8, 2016).
In the case of Liberty 2.0, the money came slowly at first. American Energy Partners LP, a company founded by McClendon after leaving Chesapeake, and Lucas Oil Products Inc. were among the PAC's first donors, contributing $10,000 and $50,000, respectively, in 2015.
But the more Pruitt sued, the more the energy dollars rolled in. In August of last year, just as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was preparing to hear the state and industry challenge to the Clean Power Plan, Pruitt sued EPA over a rule to limit oil-field methane emissions.
Liberty 2.0 collected $102,500 in energy money that month. The donations included $25,000 from Jeffrey McDougall, president of JMA Energy Co., an oil and gas company; $15,000 from Continental Resources; and the $50,000 from Murray Energy.
In a statement, Murray Energy said its support of Pruitt makes sense.
"Murray Energy Corporation has no choice but to support those politicians who have vowed to protect and defend the United States coal industry, and the jobs and family livelihoods that depend on it," the statement said. "Attorney General Pruitt has been a strong advocate for a fair and balanced approach to environmental protections, which follows the letter of the law."
If he's confirmed as EPA administrator, Pruitt's portfolio will go far beyond the energy sector, Reilly said, broadening both opportunities and potential conflicts.
"Can you think of any sector of the economy," Reilly said, "that EPA doesn't touch?"
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/01/06/stories/1060047955
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Ahead of Confirmation, Pruitt's Record of Suing EPA Raises Ethics Issues
Jan 6, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Dawn Reeves
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) may have to recuse himself from participating in key EPA issues if his nomination to run the agency under the Trump administration is approved by the Senate, sources say, because executive branch ethics requirements could limit his involvement due to his record of bringing multiple lawsuits challenging agency climate and other rules.
Pruitt is not expected to be subject to stringent ethical requirements imposed by a President Barack Obama executive order that President-elect Donald Trump is likely to revoke, but he nonetheless will have to craft an ethics -- or recusal -- agreement with EPA's Office of General Counsel and the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), sources say.
One former knowledgeable EPA official says Pruitt will have to comply with two sets of rules. One is a standard of conduct for executive branch employees that generally requires recusal from issues that a person worked on one year prior to beginning federal service, though there are waivers available to avoid this requirement.
The second set of rules are American Bar Association (ABA) model rules that prohibit “side switching” and could prohibit Pruitt from litigating against EPA for Oklahoma and subsequently representing EPA in suits over the same regulations.
The executive branch requirements have been waived in the past for top EPA positions. For Pruitt to win such a waiver, the source says, “The determination that will need to be made by the agency's ethics official is that a reasonable person with the relevant facts would not question the impartiality of the appointee in addressing the matter before him or her.”
The executive branch rules come from a statute that is administered by OGE. The source notes that office has its “own views, at times, on what those rules mean. But my sense is that it has not been approached in an iron-clad fashion when it comes to the top-most positions at agencies, because a lot of times the folks who are appointed into these positions have prior experience that is relevant, and that is part of the reason they're picked for the job.”
So Pruitt may able to win a waiver that would allow him to continue to participate in agency regulations over which he was litigating as a state official, including EPA power plant greenhouse gas rules, the Clean Water Act jurisdictional rule and others. But he would unlikely directly participate in the lawsuit, as agency administrator, and a waiver could allow his general input, the source says.
'Side Switching'
More tricky could be the ABA rules that apply to the work Pruitt has been doing as Oklahoma's top attorney. They prohibit side switching, which is when a lawyer represents the interest of a client in a matter and then moves to represent the interests of another party in that same matter. “That would seem to apply here,” the source says.
One environmentalist attorney, however, suggests that the rules may not apply because Pruitt is not switching positions on the regulation. As Oklahoma's attorney general, he opposed the EPA regulations and he is expected to continue to do so at the helm of the agency under Trump, who is expected to switch the agency's position to opposing these regulations.
But the former agency official says that the side switching prohibition applies to clients, not the particular issues in a case. “I think the way the bar rule is structured, that would still be an issue, because it is more focused on party identity than what the position of the party is.”
The source adds that the ABA model rules are slightly amended by each state bar, and the specific requirements are determined by the state in which a person practices.
For example, the ABA model rules allow for an exemption from side switching if a former client -- in this case the state of Oklahoma -- consents, an important consideration due to attorney-client privilege and work-product privilege intended to protect the interests of the former client, the source explains. “So if they consent to the change, then it's considered that their interests are unaffected.”
However, the D.C. Bar does not include the consent mechanism in its side-switching prohibition, so there is no option to allow Pruitt to do so.
The source says the controlling ABA rules apply in the jurisdiction in which the matter is pending. So here, suits pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit -- including the challenge to the power plant GHG rules -- means the D.C. Bar rules control and would prohibit Pruitt from representing EPA in those cases.
“I think there's a question that is present under the D.C. Bar rules” that could impact Pruitt's ability to fully represent EPA issues. “I'm sure the folks advising [him] and the analysts within the federal government are sizing all that up now,” the former agency official says. “To figure out what kind of judgment to make about where he can engage, they will want to have that figured out before his confirmation hearing.”
Transition Team
Trump and EPA transition team spokespeople did not respond to numerous requests for comment, but a source familiar with the transition team who is helping get nominees confirmed says the only ethics requirement actively under consideration is asking nominees to agree to a five-year, post-employment ban on lobbying anyone in the executive branch. The source says restrictions on activities based on past work have not been discussed.
Another former top EPA official warns that the Trump transition team might not have fully vetted this issue before nominating Pruitt. “I think he has some serious conflict-of-interest issues that so far there is no sign he is addressing. I don't see how a guy acting as a lawyer in litigation against EPA can ethically be involved in that litigation as an EPA decisionmaker.”
The source says there appears to have been little, if any, contact so far between EPA's ethics office, housed in the general counsel's office, and the transition team or Pruitt, and there are “also signs that Trump does not think he needs to seriously vet nominees.”
For example, Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich told Politico Dec. 19 that Trump could simply pardon any adviser who violated ethics rules. “Technically, under the Constitution, he has that level of authority,” Gingrich said.
As a sign of such concern, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), who will be the ranking Democrat on the Senate environment committee in the new Congress, sent Dec. 22 letters to the designated ethics officials at 17 agencies including EPA, urging them to uphold the Ethics in Government Act and address potential conflicts of interests for their agency nominees prior to their hearings.
Even though Trump “has indicated he plans to depart from the practices of past presidents and will not conduct himself in a manner consistent with federal conflict of interest laws,” Carper writes that his nominees “will be subject to criminal and civil penalties for violations of these laws.”
Carper adds that reports have indicated that some of Trump's most important nominees have been slow to complete the process to address any conflicts.
Despite these concerns, the environmentalist attorney and industry sources believe that Pruitt will be able to overcome most ethical hurdles and that his nomination will survive any questions of the appearance of a conflict. But the second former EPA official says some GOP senators may pose hurdles to his confirmation if he cannot properly address the conflicts, as well as clarify his position on climate science.
One current EPA official involved in crafting ethics agreements with political appointees says, “Any ethics agreement is necessarily tied to the specific facts of any individual's situation.”
'Unresolved Conflicts'
OGE's website warns that “unresolved conflicts of interests can derail a nomination or ultimately expose Presidential appointees to potential criminal, civil or administrative penalties for inadvertent violations of law.”
OGE has issued a nominee ethics guide that says, “You will be subject to a variety of ethics laws and regulations, which come with the potential of criminal, civil and administrative penalties.” It also notes that the complex ethics requirements are “not necessarily intuitive,” and it encourages nominees “to make ethics a priority.”
The OGE process includes financial disclosure and tax return requirements, an FBI background check and an analysis of the nominee's report of potential conflicts of interest that results in OGE preparing an ethics agreement outlining steps to avoid conflicts of interest. This must be completed before Senate confirmation hearings occur.
Most of the guidance focuses on financial conflicts, but it also includes an impartiality provision that says, “The ethics rules prohibit you from participating as a government official in any particular matter involving specific parties if you have a 'covered relationship' with a party to the matter (or with the representative of a party) whenever a reasonable person would question your impartiality.”
This includes any organizations to which the nominee provided services in the past year and would appear to apply to Pruitt's work for Oklahoma as “representing others before the government.”
The guide does not detail the waiver process.
The first former government official says Pruitt's recusal statement could be complicated. For example, it could allow him to proceed with policy work on an issue he has challenged but not the litigation. The source notes it is unusual for an agency head to be actively involved in a case anyway, but a total recusal would be difficult because it could prohibit an administrator from “being able to engage or inquire” about a topic at all.
“Pruitt was nominated for this position [to allow him to] engage on important policy questions that rise to the top for the Trump administration, so I am sure there's going to be a strong desire to have him not [be] separate[d] from the issues that are embedded in the litigation,” the source says.
Executive Orders
The environmentalist attorney expects Trump to immediately revoke an expansive Obama executive order signed on Jan. 21, 2009, that prohibits cash gifts from lobbyists and imposes various “revolving door” bans.
A George H.W. Bush-era exectutive order, from 1989 appears to still be in effect, the source says, though its requirements are more general and not binding.
EPA also issued a Guidance on Ethics & Conflicts of Interest in 1983 that includes Clean Air Act restrictions that say, “Certain high-level officials may not be employed by, serve as attorney for, act as consultant to, or hold any other contractual relationship to: any organization . . . which is a party to litigation or engaged in political, educational or informational activities relating to air quality.”
The environmentalist notes that the general OGE requirement for appointees to avoid the appearance of a conflict may apply to Pruitt, but it is unclear how that appearance will be resolved.
Lisa Jackson, Obama's first EPA administrator, had a recusal agreement barring her from participating in certain New Jersey-related issues she had worked on as head of state's environment department and as chief of staff to then-Gov. Jon Corzine (D) prior to coming to the agency, sources explain. But unlike Pruitt, Jackson had not personally participated in litigation with EPA.
The second former top EPA official says Pruitt could face some difficulty in crafting his recusal statement. “If my experience is any guide, I could not get into a specific party matter that was handled by my old law firm even if I personally didn't participate in it.”
This source says Pruitt may be able to work on policy revisions to the power plant climate rules, “but he would have to be very, very careful. In other words, I don't think he would be able to say, 'I'm directing my legal staff to take a position in the case.' Now, if EPA does a separate rule to amend the Clean Power Plan, I think that would probably be OK because that is not a specific party matter.”
But another former senior EPA official says Pruitt should not face many hurdles and that “very few people have [law practices] that are so expansive” that it would prevent them from working at EPA. Recusal requirements protect the federal official and the clients, the source adds, and at least during the George W. Bush era those recusals were generally limited to one or two years.
This source would “be shocked” if Pruitt appeared in court to represent EPA but said he would not be barred from participating in policy decisions related to the rules he challenged in Oklahoma. The general conflict of interest restrictions are not often applied broadly because “it would be impossible to find people” to serve.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/ahead-confirmation-pruitts-record-suing-epa-raises-ethics-issues
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Stepping Up Scrutiny, Democrats Plan to Target Pruitt Over Exxon Ties
Jan 6, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Amanda Palleschi
Senate Democrats are stepping up their oversight of Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead EPA, as well as other top nominees, seeking to ensure they are subject to rigorous financial disclosure procedures while sharpening their messaging that the nominees, like Trump, stand to personally benefit from their new positions.
In Pruitt's case, Democrats say they plan to highlight Pruitt's ties to ExxonMobil, the oil giant they are targeting for selling high-emitting oil and other fuels even though the company allegedly knew of the climate risks.
The New York Times reports that the stepped up oversight could delay the speedy confirmation that Republicans and the incoming administration are seeking, especially for some of the wealthier nominees who have to detail complex and numerous holdings in financial disclosure forms.
According to the Times, the ranking Democrats on all 16 Senate committees released a joint statement signaling they will block confirmation votes until nominees have cleared an FBI background check, completed a financial disclosure statement and ethics agreement approved by the federal Office of Government Ethics, and “satisfied reasonable requests for additional information.”
Their push comes as Democrats are stepping up their criticism of Trump and his nominees, citing the president-elect's failure to place his own assets in a blind trust as other presidents have. Instead, Trump is handing his commercial interests over to his adult children, though Democrats and other critics say this will do little to prevent a conflict of interest and allow the president-elect and his family to benefit financially from his tenure in violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause.
Trump's defenders, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), say that while Trump and his family will have to take some steps to separate the president from his businesses, the current conflict of interest rules are “an absurdity” for a man of Trump's vast holdings, Gingrich recently told NPR.
Rather than a blind trust, Gingrich suggested the creation of a “panel of respected experts with 'total access' regularly monitor Trump's businesses and tell the president: 'Don't go over these bounds. This has to be fixed; that can't be done that way.'”
Carper's Questions
But the suggestion did little to satisfy Democrats. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), who will be the ranking Democrat on the Senate environment committee in the new Congress, is urging top ethics officials at 17 federal agencies, including EPA, to strictly enforce financial disclosure requirements to prevent nominees from running into potential conflicts of interest.
In his Dec. 22 letter to Kevin Minoli, EPA's designated ethics official, Carper asked a series of questions aimed at ensuring that Pruitt, the Republican attorney general of Oklahoma, is subject to the same strict vetting that other nominees have faced. For example, he asks whether the transition has sought an expedited vetting procedure. And he underscores that any conflicts of interest have to be remediated.
While Trump is facing questions over his personal holdings, Pruitt appears likely to face questions over contributions he and other attorneys general received from Exxon, the oil giant that many Democrats and environmentalists are targeting for its alleged failure to address climate change despite knowing the risks.
According to the Huffington Post, Democrats plan to highlight annual contributions Exxon made to the Republican Attorneys General Association, including while Pruitt led the group in 2012 and 2013, which coincided with his alleged stepped up defenses of the company and its practices.
The company's history of contributions to the GOP group “only feeds the narrative that this is a rigged Cabinet out only for their personal bottom lines,” a Democratic source told the publication. “This is exactly the type of thing Democrats intend to hammer AG Pruitt on throughout the confirmation process.”
Democrats have already promised to ensure an “historic showdown” over Pruitt's nomination, an action that may have contributed to conservative groups gearing up to defend the nominee.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/stepping-scrutiny-democrats-plan-target-pruitt-over-exxon-ties
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EPA Defends PFOA Health Advisory Following New Jersey's Criticisms
Jan 6, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Suzanne Yohannan
EPA is defending its drinking water health advisory for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) against criticisms a New Jersey regulatory advisory body levied when the state panel proposed a much stricter level for the state's first-in-the-nation enforceable drinking water standard for the chemical.
EPA's comments are among several sets of comments the New Jersey Drinking Water Quality Institute (DWQI) received on the institute's recommendations to the state to set a health-based maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFOA at 14 parts per trillion (ppt) for chronic drinking water exposure. DWQI is an advisory body to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). State standards are often applicable at Superfund sites when determining cleanup levels.
While EPA rebuts criticisms of its less stringent health advisory level for the chemical by clarifying the scientific basis for its value, it refrains from critiquing New Jersey's proposed value.
In other comments, environmental groups and a well-known academic researcher contend New Jersey should set a stricter drinking water limit, while the chemical industry within the state alleges flaws in New Jersey's work and says such a strict level would not be feasible for water providers to meet.
Following consideration of the public comments, DWQI will vote on a formal recommendation to DEP, which then has discretion on whether to adopt the MCL. If it adopts an MCL, the state would be the first in the nation with an MCL for PFOA, one of the most common chemicals in a class of emerging contaminants known as perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs).
PFOA, a persistent, toxic non-stick chemical, was used in a slew of consumer and industrial applications, and has been linked to adverse health effects, including kidney and testicular cancers.
New Jersey's proposed MCL, publicly released in September, is much more stringent than EPA's unenforceable health advisory of 70 ppt in drinking water for chronic PFOA exposure, issued last May. The state advisory board included an appendix to its proposal that was critical of various scientific aspects of EPA's advisory level, including a side-by-side comparison between the two.
In its criticisms, DWQI doubts EPA's health advisory level would achieve a 1-in-1-million lifetime cancer risk, instead suggesting risk would be 40-fold higher.
Both EPA and DWQI's cancer assessments were based on a higher incidence of testicular tumors in rats, the DWQI appendix says, but "[t]he two assessments differ in the approach used for animal-to-human conversion." It says that "DWQI used the ratio of half-lives to account for interspecies phamacokinetic differences, since serum PFOA data are not provided in this study," while EPA used the default animal-to-human extrapolation for its cancer risk assessment, which the panel says "does not account for interspecies pharmacokinetic differences."
EPA's Approach
EPA's approach not to account for pharmacokinetic differences for cancer risk assessment, even though it considered such differences for non-cancer risk assessment, "does not appear to be logical or consistent." DWQI says.
Further, in comparing DWQI's stricter reference dose (RfD) of 2 nanograms/kilogram/day (ng/kg/day) to EPA's RfD of 20 ng/kg/day, the panel says these were identical numerically, except for the DWQI's application of an additional uncertainty factor of 10 "to account for more sensitive developmental endpoints."
But in response, EPA defends its cancer risk assessment, saying the agency "used the linear multistage model and a body weight adjustment to account for conversion between animals and humans to determine [human equivalent dose] for derivation of the cancer slope factor."
It notes that EPA's approach differs from that used by DWQI, "where no correction based on the body weight ratio was applied. In its place, NJ DWQI applied a 120-fold uncertainty factor account for the difference between a half-life in humans and rats." EPA notes that half-life should only be used as a tool to adjust for species difference as they relate to lifespan.
Additionally, EPA in its comments defends its derivation of an RfD, responding to DWQI's arguments that "some toxicological endpoints (e.g. persistent liver toxicity from developmental exposures and delayed mammary gland development) were not considered in EPA's non-cancer risk assessment for PFOA."
EPA responds, "Increased liver weight is acknowledged as a common finding, but not considered adverse in the absence of other effects as defined by Hall et al. (2012). Thus, EPA selected the critical endpoint that reflects adverse effects in the developing fetus and newborn as the most sensitive effect to serve as the basis for the derivation of the RfD."
In a brief set of comments, the Air Force writing on behalf of the Defense Department (DOD), also lends support to EPA's health advisory, telling DWQI that it "fails to adequately explain why EPA's conclusions are defective."
DOD fears setting a much stricter MCL than EPA's health advisory level "could result in significant costs, while failing to provide any measurable health benefit beyond that already provided by" EPA's 70 ppt limit. DOD faces liability for PFOA and other PFCs, which have been found as contaminants stemming from the use of aqueous firefighting foam in training at military bases around the country.
Proposed MCL
Meanwhile, environmental groups and one well-known academic researcher are advising New Jersey that the proposed MCL should be even stricter. Environmental groups are also urging the state to quickly adopt an MCL.
While commending DWQI for its guidance and research that may be used by other regulatory agencies, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a national environmental organization, in its comments urges the state to adopt an even more protective drinking water limit. "In setting a health-based maximum contaminant level the DWQI identified, but did not utilize, numerous studies completed on animals and humans that show health effects occurring from PFOA exposure at even lower concentration than the studies used.
"Incorporation of these studies will result in a lowering of the proposed drinking water value for PFOA, potential to zero," EWG says.
Specifically, it calls for adding in "the evidence of PFOA exposure-related effects on mammary gland development as well as the direct human evidence of harm including immunotoxicity effects."
The Green Science Policy Institute also recommends New Jersey recalculate an MCL, raising the concern that the level proposed by DWQI "exceeds a previously estimated threshold protective of PFOA-associated immunotoxicity."
Philippe Grandjean, a Harvard School of Public Health epidemiologist who has published peer-reviewed findings on human exposures to PFCs, says in his comments that while the panel's report summarizes much of the epidemiological evidence on PFOA, its conclusions nonetheless ignore "the human data while establishing a limit for PFOA in drinking water. Thus, I estimate that the proposed limit for PFOA is approximately 50-fold too high."
Another clinician-researcher who has contributed to the literature on PFOA, Alan Ducatman of the West Virginia University School of Public Health, submitted comments fully supporting the panel's work, calling it "scientifically defensible and practically achievable."
But industry comments from the Chemical Council of New Jersey raise "significant concerns" over the panel's recommendations, saying they are "needlessly low and could not be feasibly implemented by New Jersey water providers." The council urges DWQI "to further review the detailed scientific data and literature that was either ignored or missed in its current review of PFOA" before it submits final recommendations to the DEP.
In an earlier set of comments, specifically commenting on DWQI's support document for the MCL, the council says the proposed MCL is based on several uncertainties that "significantly undermine the scientific merit of DWQI's recommendation." These are: the advisory panel's choice of a health effect endpoint in rodents that toxicologists generally concur would not likely extend to humans, the panel's decision to apply an additional uncertainty factor for an effect endpoint that did not actually cause an adverse effect in rodents, and the panel's decision to assume a relative source contribution of drinking water to total PFOA exposure that the council says "is both illogical and contrary to earlier recommendations by the same committee for the health-based MCL for" another PFC known as perfluorononanoic acid or PFNA.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-defends-pfoa-health-advisory-following-new-jerseys-criticisms
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Obama Admin Nixes All Atlantic Oil and Gas Exploration
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Emily Yehle
The Obama administration has denied all applications to conduct seismic surveys in the Atlantic Ocean, citing a "diminished need" for oil and gas companies to map the seafloor in a search for mineral deposits.
The decision comes two weeks after Obama banned drilling in parts of the Atlantic and most of the Arctic (E&E News PM, Dec. 20, 2016). The Interior Department also had previously removed Atlantic waters from its five-year oil and gas drilling plan.
Abigail Ross Hopper, director of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said that the agency was "guided by an abundance of caution," ultimately deciding that the potential risks to marine life outweighed the value of the surveys.
"Since federal waters in the Mid and South Atlantic have been removed from leasing consideration for the next five years, there is no immediate need for these surveys," she said in a statement.
Seismic surveys use air guns to create images of the geology beneath the seafloor, enabling oil and gas companies to find untapped mineral deposits. BOEM received six applications for the surveys because of initial plans — later reversed — to open the Atlantic to drilling for the first time in decades.
Scientists say the surveys can mask whale calls and interrupt breeding and feeding (Greenwire, Sept. 8, 2015). The oil and gas industry has said that such concerns are overblown; seismic surveys have been conducted in the Gulf of Mexico for years. Companies are also required to follow numerous mitigation measures, including hiring observers to watch for marine mammals in the area.
Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said the decision underscores why the beginning of the Trump administration "cannot come soon enough." He pointed to BOEM's previous assertion that there is "no documented scientific evidence" that air guns adversely affect marine animal populations.
"Not only does this decision conflict with BOEM's own scientific conclusion that seismic surveys are environmentally safe, it is self-fulfilling rhetoric, basing its reasoning on President Obama's recent withdrawal of 3.8 million acres in the north and mid-Atlantic Ocean," Luthi said. "This decision continues the Obama administration's dismissal of scientifically backed offshore policies and ignores the fact that seismic and other geophysical surveys have been safely conducted offshore in the U.S. and around the world for more than 50 years."
In a press release, BOEM said it decided to deny the seismic survey permits because the information may not be used at all or may become outdated if the Atlantic isn't leased soon. It also asserted that "lower impact technology" will probably be developed before such geophysical and geological information is needed.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said the decision "will reverberate up and down the East Coast."
"In New England, we know that oil and water don't mix, and I will fight any attempt by the Trump administration to open up our coastlines to oil and gas drilling," he said.
Claire Douglass, campaign director for Oceana, praised Obama as a "visionary president" and said he and Hopper should be "revered" for moving the country away from offshore drilling. Oceana kicked off a grass-roots campaign in 2015, urging local governments to protest the surveys off their shores. Lawmakers in the area — including some Republicans — also voiced concern about the surveys, particularly after the administration canceled its leasing plans.
"East Coast communities can finally take a well-deserved sigh of relief knowing that their ocean and economies are currently spared from dangerous seismic airgun blasting," she said. "With offshore drilling off the table for the near future, there was absolutely no reason to risk the damage that would be caused by seismic airgun blasting in the region."
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/01/06/stories/1060047986
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Energy-Sector CO2 to Stagnate Without Clean Power Plan — EIA
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Emily Holden
Coal use and energy-sector carbon emissions in the United States would both flatline without the Obama administration's climate standards for power plants, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration outlook released yesterday.
Natural gas and renewable power would grow to meet increasing power demand, although the specific levels will depend on how much each cost, the annual report notes. Overall, many EIA cases suggest the country could become a net energy exporter in the 2020s.
The study's baseline case assumes existing laws and regulations will be in place, although President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have sworn to reverse climate action in ways that could greatly alter the independent agency's projections.
"There's a lot of nuances in policy changes," said EIA chief Adam Sieminski. "Until we see a clear pattern of what both the Congress and the executive branch are going to do, I think you have to stick with EIA's existing set of side cases."
EIA has received some criticism for assuming in its business-as-usual case that the Clean Power Plan will move forward even though it faces court challenges and now will likely be shot down by the Trump administration. Projections from EIA traditionally assume current policies will continue, although alternative cases explore what else might happen.
A list of probing queries to EIA from Trump's transition team also questioned some of the agency's figures and whether it has maintained independence from the Obama administration (Energywire, Dec. 16, 2016).
Speaking to reporters after a presentation, Sieminski said the questions were similar to those EIA receives from the public and congressional offices.
"Everyone can have their own theories about what motivates questions, but they're legitimate questions, and we had answers," added Deputy Administrator Howard Gruenspecht, who has been working with the transition team. "There's no problem in doing that."
Sieminski said that historically there has always been some controversy over outlooks, but "generally speaking EIA is seen as a valuable resource to Republicans as well as Democrats."
"EIA's reports and so on, they are not reviewed by the White House, even by the secretary of Energy or any of the congressional committees," Sieminski said. "It's in the law that created EIA. We're nonpartisan, we're supposed to provide independent data and analysis, and that's what we do."
Although the carbon intensity of energy use continues to fall, the U.S. population and economy are expected to grow and offset that decline.
If the Clean Power Plan does not move forward, coal use in the U.S. will level off. Some coal production, however, could rebound. That moderate recovery would mostly help Western coal mines, not Appalachian ones, where the industry has been in downturn for longer.
Sieminski said that with or without the regulation, coal exports won't change much because other countries like China are slowing their use of the fuel because of clean air and public health concerns.
In the transportation sector, EIA's study suggests energy use would decline between 2018 and 2034, driven by improvements in fuel economy. But it's unclear what GOP-led policy changes will mean for those estimates.
A second phase of fuel efficiency regulations for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles would spur a decrease in consumption between 2027 and 2033, even as people traveled more miles, EIA noted.
Under Trump, however, Congress could relax those standards.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/01/06/stories/1060047925
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US Army Corps Keeps Oil Pipelines in Streamlined Permitting Rule Over Protests
Jan 5, 2017 | Platts
By Meghan Gordon
The US Army Corps of Engineers will not remove oil pipelines from the next five-year authorization of its streamlined permitting program, despite opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline and historic preservation groups calling for more scrutiny in order to prevent spills.
The agency released a final rule Thursday authorizing the program through March 2022.
More than 53,000 of the 54,000 comments the Corps received about the wide-ranging program dealt with Nationwide Permit 12, or NWP 12, a provision that allows oil pipelines to avoid much of the federal scrutiny that interstate natural gas pipelines undergo.
NWP 12 includes oil pipelines in its definition of utility lines that are eligible for streamlined federal permitting authorizing construction, maintenance and repair work in federally regulated waters. Some projects can begin work without prior approval from the Corps.
Other projects with certain characteristics -- including those that cross a navigable river or run more than 500 feet in a single water body and those that may affect sensitive cultural resources or endangered species -- must get pre-construction authorization from the Corps' regional office that oversees that area of the pipeline and comply with a number of general conditions.
The Corps decided not to make any major changes to the provision.
Dakota Access Pipeline opponents like the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota amplified calls to modify or eliminate NWP 12, which would have made it more difficult for companies to site oil pipelines.
Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault said NWP 12 was intended for projects with minimal effect on the environment.
"However, as events across the country have shown, spills from oil pipelines occur with great frequency, often with devastating environmental effects, particularly when they occur in the aquatic environment," Archambault said in comments on the rulemaking.
"The Corps should address this fundamental disconnect by expressly recognizing that oil pipelines in waters of the United States require individual permits and are not properly deemed to be utility lines within the meaning of NWP 12," he added.
Interstate gas pipelines must get permission from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for construction and operation. During the review, FERC looks at environmental impacts, safety standards, market conditions and other factors. The process averages about 12 months for projects that begin a pre-filing process at least seven months before filing for a certificate application, according to a January study by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
The Corps responded to some of the comments in the final rule, saying it does not regulate oil and gas pipelines per se. Rather its legal authority is limited to regulating discharges of dredged or fill material into federal waters and work done in navigable waters.
The Corps used the example of Enbridge's 600,000 b/d Flanagan South crude pipeline from Flanagan, Illinois, to Cushing, Oklahoma. It said the segments subject to the Corps' jurisdiction under NWP 12 amounted to just 2.3% of the total pipeline route.
The Corps said other agencies like the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard address pipeline operations and spills.
"We do not have the authority to regulate the operation of oil and gas pipelines, and we do not have the authority to address spills or leaks from oil and gas pipelines," the Corps said.
http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/washington/us-army-corps-keeps-oil-pipelines-in-streamlined-21517802
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County Approves Plan for Huge Pipeline Compressor Station
Jan 6, 2017 | Washington Post
By Associated Press
The governing board of a central Virginia county has granted approval for the construction of a natural gas compressor station along the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2iQ7xD1 ) the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors approved the special use permit after a five-hour public hearing Thursday. Most of the 95 people who signed up to speak implored the board to deny the permit.
The station would be one of three used to compress the natural gas to keep it moving.
Opponents said it would pollute the area and create safety hazards, but a pipeline spokeswoman says the station would have features to limit emissions and noise and would be continuously monitored.
The station still needs a state air permit, and the pipeline is awaiting approval from federal regulators.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/county-approves-plan-for-huge-pipeline-compressor-station/2017/01/06/90595732-d425-11e6-9651-54a0154cf5b3_story.html?utm_term=.6eec3b4d635b
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U.S. on Track to Be a Net Energy Exporter — EIA
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Nathanial Gronewold
Federal researchers are once again predicting that the United States is on track to become a net energy exporter, only slightly earlier than initially projected under a baseline scenario.
The reason: rising domestic oil production and expanding exports of natural gas, in particular gas in the form of liquefied natural gas from LNG export projects built along the coast.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration made a similar call earlier, forecasting that economic and regulatory conditions could see energy imports and exports balancing out by 2028, with net exports growing in the following years. Yesterday, EIA updated its views in its latest Annual Energy Outlook, arguing that the United States may become a net exporter of energy as early as 2026.
EIA models a range of possible scenarios in its outlook. In most of these scenarios, EIA models show the United States achieving net energy exporter status, thanks to LNG exports, domestic oil displacing oil imports and refined products exports. The nation stays a net energy importer if oil prices stay low, and if the sort of technological enhancements that would improve oil field production do not materialize.
"In the Low Oil Price and Low Oil and Gas Resource and Technology cases, the United States remains a net importer over the analysis period," EIA clarifies. The analysis period looks out to 2040.
In its latest draft five-year plan for offshore oil and gas drilling rights leases, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management argues that the nation's massive trade deficit may be curbed once the status of net energy exporter is achieved. Citing Bureau of Economic Analysis statistics, BOEM notes that imports of crude oil and petroleum products alone likely constituted about 37 percent of the total trade deficit in 2015. "The country's transition away from being a net importer of energy will greatly improve the balance of trade," BOEM states.
Thus far, there is little evidence that rising LNG exports, gas exports to Mexico by pipeline or expanding crude oil exports have materially cut into the total trade deficit, though they may with time. The goods trade deficit with China and other non-oil-exporting nations dwarfs the import costs for oil and liquid petroleum goods (Energywire, Oct. 6, 2016).
The United States achieved an annual net trade surplus with the OPEC in 2015 for the first time, a consequence of the shale oil boom and the collapse in oil prices.
More recently, however, the nation's refineries have responded to the pullback in shale oil drilling with increases in crude oil imports. Recent data suggest the United States may have slipped back into deficit in trade with OPEC as crude imports expanded. Still, U.S. oil production may be growing once again, supporting EIA's longer-term view of where the nation's balance of energy trade is heading.
The Census Bureau and BEA will report November 2016 trade statistics today. Full year 2016 data are due to come out in February.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/01/06/stories/1060047951
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New Texas NatGas Pipeline Would Feed Spectra's Proposed Valley Crossing, Mexico
Jan 5, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Joe Fisher
Pomelo Connector LLC has filed at FERC for permission to construct a 14-mile pipeline in Texas connecting Texas Eastern Transmission LP (Tetco) with the proposed Valley Crossing Pipeline LLC in support of a system that would enable export of U.S. natural gas to Mexico.
The 30-inch diameter Pomelo would run from Tetco's Petronila Station in Nueces County to its Valley Crossing interconnect near Agua Dulce. Valley Crossing Pipeline LLC, a unit of Spectra Energy, has proposed a Texas pipeline and U.S.-Mexico border crossing to serve power generation and other gas demand in Mexico as well as in Texas [CP17-19].
Upon in-service of the pipeline, Pomelo Connector would abandon by lease to Tetco all of its capacity, the pipeline told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [CP17-26]. Separately, Tetco would apply for a certificate application modification [CP15-499] in order to acquire the capacity as well as make rate changes and facility modifications. Pomelo is a unit of Canyon Midstream Partners II LLC.
The 400,000 Dth/d Pomelo Connector would "...be located in close proximity to other pipeline systems in Nueces County, including NET Mexico Pipeline LP, which has an existing header in the area that connects to various other pipeline systems," Pomelo told FERC. "By interconnecting with one or both of these header systems, the Pomelo Connector Pipeline will provide direct access to numerous downstream pipeline facilities for gas flowing on Pomelo's facilities."
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/108948-new-texas-natgas-pipeline-would-feed-spectras-proposed-valley-crossing-mexico
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Energy Dept. Report Highlights New Threats to Electric Grid
Jan 6, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A new Obama administration report on the country’s energy system released Friday is looking to shine a spotlight on vulnerabilities and threats to the electricity grid.
The nearly 500-page report from the Department of Energy (DOE) is the second piece of what the agency is dubbing the Quadrennial Energy Review, an opportunity for federal officials to take deep dives into energy policy issues and provide recommendations to lawmakers and regulators.
Cybersecurity threats are central to the report, which explores the benefits and risks of the increasing integration between technology and the electric grid.
“On the one side there’s the value creation, and on the other side, there is the security aspects of making sure that we benefit from the capabilities that we are being offered through this convergence of electricity and information, in ways that we can protect those values,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said at a Capitol Hill briefing Friday morning on the report.
The report, coming just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, serves in part as an Obama administration wish list for the next administration and the GOP-controlled Congress going forward.
Other subjects in the report include ensuring a diverse mix of energy sources in the electric grid, how to ensure that the industry maintains the workforce it needs, and how to best serve rural and tribal customers.
“As a critical and essential national asset, it is a strategic imperative to protect and enhance the value of the electricity system through modernization and transformation,” the report reads. “Reliable and affordable electricity provides essential energy services for consumers, business, and national defense.”
The DOE report makes more than 70 recommendations to policymakers, including declaring that the electric grid is a national security asset and deserves that heightened level of protection, boosting federal support to state efforts to reduce electricity demand and providing grants for small utilities to increase grid security.
The first installment of the report, from April 2015, included 63 recommendations, 21 of which Congress has enacted.
http://www.thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/313000-doe-report-highlights-new-threats-to-electric-grid
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DOE: Congress Should Help Protect Power Grid From 'Imminent Danger'
Jan 6, 2017 | Politico Pro
By Darius Dixon
The Obama administration warned on Friday that the U.S. power grid faces "imminent danger" from cyber attacks, and it called on Congress to empower federal regulators to impose new rules on the utility industry to help protect the nation's energy network.
The proposals called for lawmakers to give FERC more authority over cyber defenses of the power grid and for a suite of programs to upgrade the network's technology to make it more resilient against potential attacks.
The recommendations in the Energy Department's nearly 500-page second Quadrennial Energy Review, come amid rising fears about America's vulnerability to cyber attacks. On Thursday, top U.S. intelligence officials testified at a Senate hearing on Russian hacking that they said was part of an effort to influence last year's presidential election.
FERC and the North American Electric Reliability Corp., the industry group that writes reliability standards for the grid, have put together a “comprehensive set" of binding standards over the past decade, the QER says. But it quickly notes that federal oversight authority over those standards is limited because FERC can only approve or reject NERC proposals, not write the rules.
“In the area of cybersecurity,” the QER states, “Congress should provide FERC with authority to modify NERC-proposed reliability standards — or to promulgate new standards directly — if it finds that expeditious action is needed to protect national security in the face of fast-developing new threats to the grid.”
The QER calls that request a “narrow expansion of FERC’s authority” that would “would maintain the productive NERC-FERC structure,” but it’s certain to rankle the utility industry, which owns the majority of the hardware that runs the grid. It also wants FERC, an independent agency within DOE, to adopt rules requiring regional electricity security planning.
Because electricity production has become more dependent on natural gas than it was a decade ago, the report also calls for assessing the cyber protections on gas pipeline infrastructure “to determine whether additional or mandatory measures are needed to protect the electricity system.”
“Grid security is a national security concern — the clear and exclusive purview of the Federal Government,” the QER says.
DOE’s new report was completed after months of combing through meeting notes and comments from lawmakers, environmental groups, utility companies, state regulators, trade associations and more than a dozen federal agencies.
The QER asks for Congress to “clarify and affirm” DOE’s authority to develop “preparation and response capabilities that will ensure it is able to issue a grid-security emergency order” if critical electric infrastructure is subject to cyber attacks, physical assaults, electromagnetic pulses, or geomagnetic storms.
The QER — a concept initially conceived in part by Ernest Moniz before he became Energy secretary — is designed to help establish regular government-wide planning on energy policy and has generally has received bipartisan support.
The process was officially kicked off in 2014 after President Barack Obama tucked it into the climate action plan he launched the prior year. The QER process aims to emulate the one the Pentagon uses — the Quadrennial Defense Review — to establish goals and anticipate military needs over four-year intervals.
As both the planner and the cash dispenser, the Defense Department has a lot of say over its long-term goals and needs. In the energy space, however, the infrastructure — which includes more than 6,000 power plants and hundreds of thousands of miles of pipelines and electric transmission — is largely in private hands.
Still, it's not clear whether the DOE staff's work in crafting the latest QER will receive any consideration by the incoming administration. Donald Trump will be sworn in two weeks, and agency policy aides and industry groups that participated in the QER are waiting to see if his team allows the project to wither on the vine.
The Obama administration also sought to make the release of the energy review more frequent than every four years, in part to cement the process in some way before a new president came to power.
But Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said there may be an opportunity to feed the QER’s recommendations into infrastructure legislation.
“I definitely think that these recommendations have legs as an infrastructure issue," she said at the unveiling of the report alongside Moniz and Obama climate aide Dan Utech on Capitol Hill Friday.
"There are many aspects of this that could also be part of an infrastructure bill, if there’s going to be such an infrastructure bill," Cantwell said. "Cybersecurity is an unfulfilled action item here [in Congress] and one that I think is growing in importance. I certainly plan to introduce legislation on the implementation of these recommendations."
Cantwell noted she expects to meet with former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead DOE, and urged people not to dismiss his interest in the electric grid and distributed renewables.
“I do think one of the attributes of his background may be a little more centered on grid and grid transmission issues than one might think, given the unique nature of Texas in its own independent system," she said, noting that she plans to ask Perry QER-related questions during his confirmation hearing. "As governor, he probably made a lot of decisions that governors normally don’t make about the grid."
She added: “We’ll see how knowledgeable he is and how game he is, and how game the administration is on those issues."
The Obama administration's first QER, released in 2015, focused on transmission, storage and distribution infrastructure. Friday’s Part Two, dubbed version 1.2, is similarly wide-ranging and encompasses "the entire electricity supply chain from generation, through transmission and distribution, to end use." It studied five major trends, including the growing interdependencies between the electric grid and other critical infrastructure, management challenges of the grid, reducing the carbon production of the system, and national security threats.
Friday’s QER includes a total of 76 recommendations, ranging from calls for federal studies of distributed power, an increase in state-level clean energy financing, the potential for more appliance efficiency standards, and hikes in federal spending on renewable energy research.
Congress should also expand DOE's loan program, the QER argues, in order to give it clear authority to lend money to public and public-private entities such as state agencies and grid operators to support modernizing electricity infrastructure.
"By their nature, transmission projects, especially big projects, involve many entities and jurisdictions," the QER says. "Statutory clarification is needed on indirect lending authorities to such entities for multijurisdictional projects."
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2017/01/monizs-pushes-congress-states-and-regulators-with-electricity-study-143102
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Departing OSHA Chief Leaves Robust Oil and Gas Legacy
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
Recent findings that the fatality rate for the oil and gas workforce has declined would appear to indicate that federal initiatives to improve the industry's safety record are taking root.
Under the leadership of David Michaels, the longest-serving assistant secretary of Labor for occupational safety and health, the rate of oil field deaths last year dipped to 16.7 per 100,000 workers, the industry's lowest fatality rate since Michaels took office in 2009 (Energywire, Dec. 23, 2016). He has made oil and gas safety a centerpiece of his tenure as chief of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, inserting the industry in the agency's Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), introducing new standards for crystalline silica exposure during hydraulic fracturing and bringing to light a "culture" of underreporting injuries in the energy sector.
But the true test of those efforts will be whether the oil and gas industry's fatality rate stays low over time, said Michaels, who leaves OSHA today, making room for a successor to be appointed by President-elect Donald Trump.
"I'm hesitant to look at one year's worth of data," Michaels said, noting that there was a spike in oil field fatalities in 2014, even as the industry's activity slowed (Energywire, Sept. 18, 2015). "We're not taking any credit yet."
When he first took his post at OSHA, Michaels sought to help the agency become more data-driven. He quickly noticed that the oil and gas industry was recording a higher rate of occupational deaths than most other sectors. OSHA calculates its own fatality rate for oil and gas, even though Labor Department statisticians don't.
An official oil and gas safety standard has never been on the agenda for Michaels, who instead urged companies to improve their own performance internally (Energywire, Dec. 8, 2014). His most formal efforts to regulate the industry came in the form of a new silica exposure standard and requirements to increase reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses. The latter inadvertently excluded oil and gas employers (Energywire, May 17, 2016).
But oil and gas has been a focus of many non-regulatory OSHA initiatives. The agency last month issued a guidance memorandum to help inspectors conduct more effective workplace evaluations. OSHA investigators don't specialize in oil and gas safety, and the memo was designed to explain which employers on a work site are responsible for which hazards and how federal regulations should be applied in the oil field, Michaels said.
A standard, on the other hand, would provide instruction for employers. But the standard-setting process is a slow one, and Michaels said it's unlikely that the regulation-averse Trump administration would pursue that effort.
"I'd like to be surprised by that," he said.
Some in industry have critiqued Michaels' strategy of addressing oil and gas safety outside of a formal rulemaking. OSHA's inclusion of the upstream sector in SVEP may have been too sweeping an action that failed to take into consideration safety measures operators had already implemented, said Catherine Wilmarth, an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP (Energywire, Aug. 25, 2015).
The move "marred a whole industry as particularly unsafe," she said.
"He's definitely done a lot, but we have to ask ourselves if what he's done overall has been helpful or detrimental for industry, and I think it's a mixed bag there," Wilmarth said.
Industry partnerships
Though Michaels, a former professor of environmental and occupational health at the George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, had no personal connection to the oil and gas industry, he found eager partners at the National Service, Transmission, Exploration & Production Safety (STEPS) Network and the Association of Energy Service Companies (AESC).
During the early days of Michaels' tenure, the relationship was a rocky one, said AESC Executive Director Kenny Jordan. The industry was "coming off of a trust issue" with an OSHA that had taken a hard-line regulatory approach and didn't take time to listen to the operators that had to implement its rules, he said.
"He was at least willing to engage and listen to industry," Jordan said of Michaels. "We might not necessarily agree on how to implement some of the things, but he would seriously listen to you. He would work with us, and we would proceed as a group to work toward the common goal."
Michaels has spoken at OSHA conferences and AESC meetings, where in the past an area director or regional administrator might have made an appearance, Jordan said.
Operators were impressed by Michaels' efforts to engage the industry, rather than making assumptions about the business, said Rick Ingram, chairman of the STEPS Network, which was founded in 2003. Ingram said he hadn't worked with any of Michaels' predecessors quite as closely, but that could be a function of timing. Michaels' start date at OSHA coincided with the early days of the U.S. shale boom.
"He didn't buy into the negative stories about the industry," Ingram said. "He just rolled up his sleeves and went to work to try to improve the industry."
Though industry may not have always agreed with Michaels' approach, many companies were grateful to have a dialogue about OSHA's process, said Neal Kirby, spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Association of America.
"We hope to see many of these same qualities in Assistant Secretary Michaels' replacement," he said.
AESC members had asked Michaels for an oil and gas standard that would provide more specific safety guidelines for the industry, Jordan said.
"The companies that are trying to do it the right way are always going to be leery of companies that are trying to short-cut," he said. "It certainly isn't a level playing field."
Jordan said he's unsure whether a new standard will materialize under Trump's OSHA.
Transition
OSHA under the new president will likely focus more on the rules that are already on the books, rather than introducing new requirements, Kelley Drye attorney Wilmarth said.
There will be "a shift in focus from developing new standards to working on compliance with existing standards and implementing programs to help employers understand their obligation under existing law," Wilmarth said.
In his meetings with the OSHA transition team, Michaels said he has gotten the sense that the agency's mission will remain unchanged. Because OSHA's industry partners have expressed strong support for his oil and gas initiatives, they will likely survive, he said.
STEPS, OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health just signed a five-year extension of an alliance they formed two years ago. That means the partnership could outlive the Trump administration if he is not re-elected in 2020, Ingram said.
"We have a robust plan, and we do expect to be able to work together," he said.
Michaels will return to his teaching position at GW, where he's been on leave for seven years. From his perch in academia, he plans to continue to monitor OSHA's work.
He won't be satisfied until oil and gas — and all other industries — reduce workplace fatalities to zero.
"That has to be the objective," Michaels said.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/01/06/stories/1060047933
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EPA Seeks Public Input on Ozone Reg's 'Good Neighbor' Data
Jan 6, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA is seeking public input on preliminary interstate ozone modeling data that will play a key role in guiding states' efforts to comply with "good neighbor" requirements embedded in the stricter ozone standard set last year.
The agency has set a 90-day comment period on the data, which are geared to detailing the downwind movement of ozone across state lines, a perennial compliance issue that has become more pressing as states strive to meet the 70-parts-per-billion air quality standard. Alongside a 2011 baseline, the data include modeling results to identify areas expected to have problems meeting that limit in 2023, according to the Federal Register notice published today.
Differences between the 2011 data and the 2023 projections are the inclusion in the latter of fire-related emissions from Canada and Mexico and updated estimates of human-related emissions from Mexico, according to the notice.
States have already turned in their initial nonattainment recommendations for the 70 ppb standard, with EPA scheduled to make the final determinations by early this fall (Greenwire, Nov. 10, 2016). States must then draw up implementation plans for bringing nonattainment areas into compliance; under the "good neighbor" provision, they also have to show how they'll clamp down on pollution sources within their borders that may "significantly" contribute to ozone problems in other states, the notice said.
Ozone, the main ingredient in smog, is spawned by the reaction of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in sunlight; exposure can help trigger asthma attacks and worsen emphysema symptoms. As of last September, more than 40 areas of the United States covering close to 120 million people were still out of compliance with the previous 75 ppb standard, set in 2008, according to an EPA tally.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/01/06/stories/1060047981
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Agency Chiefs Take Victory Laps, Tout Work on Climate
Jan 5, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
It's closing time for the Obama administration.
In a series of exit memorandums released today, federal agencies lauded their accomplishments during the past eight years under President Obama. Several energy and environmental agencies noted their work on boosting renewable energy, fighting pollution and addressing climate change.
Obama said in a letter that when he took office in January 2009, "America faced a moment of peril unlike any we'd seen in decades," noting that the economy was in recession, the auto industry was about to collapse, and vast numbers of American troops were still overseas fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Further, he said, "on challenges from health care to climate change, we'd been kicking the can down the road for way too long."
Beating back climate change became one of Obama's top priorities as president. On the White House's website, the administration notes in bar graphs that electricity generated from wind and solar has jumped dramatically during Obama's time in office, while economic growth has surged, with carbon emissions falling.
"Our dependence on foreign oil has been cut by more than half, and our production of renewable energy has more than doubled," Obama said in his letter.
"In many places across the country, clean energy from the wind is now cheaper than dirtier sources of energy, and solar now employs more Americans than coal mining in jobs that pay better than average and can't be outsourced."
The president also touted his administration's work on the 2015 climate change pact reached in Paris, saying his White House "brought nearly 200 nations together around a climate agreement that could save this planet for our kids."
Many of Obama's policies, however, are under serious threat now. President-elect Donald Trump, set to enter office later this month, has said he will withdraw the United States from the Paris deal as well as roll back many of the Obama administration's environmental and energy regulations. Congress under Republican control will also be part of the effort.
Time to 'pass the baton'
In their exit memos, agencies sought to defend Obama's legacy on the environment.
U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy noted her agency's move to reduce carbon pollution with the Clean Power Plan, which targets power plant emissions but has been put on hold by the Supreme Court. The agency chief said that on climate change, "EPA will need to continue implementation" of the plan, which seems unlikely under Trump.
McCarthy also touted EPA's controversial Waters of the U.S. rule, which has been stalled in federal court, as well as its actions to curb methane and ozone. Setting new emissions standards for cars and trucks and passage of the Toxic Substances Control Act reform bill also get notice in EPA's exit memo.
In addition, the EPA administrator mentioned the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich., for which the agency came under scrutiny due to its lackluster response as lead seeped into the city's water supply.
"The situation in Flint has sadly reminded the nation that there is still much work to be done to protect our precious drinking water resources and aging infrastructures," McCarthy said, noting that EPA's Drinking Water Action Plan is a "blueprint" for keeping safe drinking water across the country (Greenwire, Dec. 1, 2016).
McCarthy said it was "an honor" to serve in the Obama administration and praised the president's leadership.
"As we pass the baton, we are proud to have run our leg of the race with steadfast vigor, and left a healthier country and a stronger EPA," McCarthy said.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz applauded his staff in his exit memo, calling them "an extraordinary group of public servants, both career and 'transient' (like me!)."
"They and their families deserve our collective gratitude for the long hours and days and months and years of service, too often against the tide of those advancing narrow interests. They are patriots," Moniz said.
Moniz lays out several "actions needed" in his memo, including those to combat climate change, such as doubling U.S. spending in clean energy research and development; deploying advanced and small modular nuclear reactors; and advancing "policies that accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy across all sectors, such as a carbon emissions charge."
Several other noteworthy events for DOE get play in the memo, including the Iran nuclear deal, responding to Superstorm Sandy and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, and even the Quadrennial Energy Review. Moniz also advocated continuing "to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security strategy," where the opposite may happen under Trump.
In her exit memo, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the Obama administration has helped protect hundreds of millions of acres of land and water through new protected areas, national parks and monuments and "has achieved more successful wildlife recoveries of endangered species than all other Administrations combined."
Further, Interior helped set up an "enduring" renewable energy program for public lands as well as established the country's first program for offshore wind leasing and permitting.
Jewell said she is thankful for "the incredible dedicated career employees" at Interior as well as grateful to the department's political appointees.
"Collectively, we take pride in the opportunity we have had to make a difference on some of the most pressing issues of our time," Jewell said.
Agencies praise climate work
Other agencies noted their work on the environment, as well, in their exit memos.
The Department of Agriculture said the Forest Service helped increase forest restoration by 9 percent from 2011 to 2014, according to its memo. In its memo, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy noted the Paris Agreement as well as the administration's Climate Action Plan. And the Commerce Department mentioned that it launched the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, which helps communities address climate change risks.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx's exit memo highlighted programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the sector and adapt to climate change that could be diminished in the next administration, like fuel economy rules, but also the potential of new technologies to change mobility and curb emissions.
"The next administration is entering a period of advanced automated technologies in transportation, an infrastructure system that continues to work for some and against others in society, dramatic demographic shifts, an increase in extreme weather events in a changing climate, and a backlog of projects needed across the country with not enough resources to address it," he wrote.
He recommended that the next secretary continue the "Smart City" challenge, develop automated and connected vehicle policies, regulate drones, and deploy advanced technologies. He also stressed the need for new policies to raise enough money to meet the country's transportation needs, which is likely to be a spring focus of Congress and the incoming administration.
Speeding up federal projects can be done without "undermining environmental outcomes," Foxx said, citing some examples from his tenure. Elaine Chao, Trump's pick for Transportation secretary, has said one of her priorities would be to streamline transportation projects and reduce regulations.
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter listed his agency's Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap as an accomplishment in his exit memo.
In the third to last paragraph of a more-than-9,000-word memo, Carter touted Defense Department actions to increase energy and water security, including investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
"Already, the Department has reduced energy usage at contingency bases by 30 percent, is on track to meet its commitment of 3 gigawatts of renewable energy purchases at our bases by 2025, and has executed more than $1.8 billion in Energy Savings Performance Contracts," he wrote.
Carter also cited Obama's September memorandum on climate change and national security, which required defense and intelligence agencies to consider climate change when making plans and policies (Climatewire, Sept. 22, 2016).
"The impacts of climate change may increase the frequency, scale, and complexity of future missions, including defense support to civil authorities, while at the same time undermining the capacity of our domestic installations to support training activities," he wrote.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060047909
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