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ACC PM 2/17/2017

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) AdvanSix Joins American Chemistry Council as Full Member
Feb 17, 2017 | Yahoo Finance

AdvanSix (ASIX) has joined the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the company announced today, becoming a full member of the industry group and taking a seat on its Board of Directors.
On Eve of Confirmation Vote, Judge Orders EPA Nominee to Release Thousands of Emails
Feb 16, 2017 | Washington Post
By Brady Dennis

An Oklahoma judge on Thursday ordered Scott Pruitt, the state’s attorney general and President Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, to turn over thousands of emails related to his communication with the oil, gas and coal industry.
Dems Rail All Night Against Pruitt; Vote Still Set for 1 p.m.
Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen and Kavya Balaraman

Democrats staged an all-night fight in the Senate in a final play to delay a vote on the nominee they say is unfit to lead U.S. EPA.
Invoking Benghazi, Democrats Fail to Delay Pruitt Vote
Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus and Geof Koss

Senate Democrats unloaded on Republicans for refusing to delay a vote on U.S. EPA administrator nominee Scott Pruitt during a morning news conference today.
Senate Confirms Pruitt to Head EPA
Feb 17, 2017 | Politico Pro
By Alex Guillén

The Senate handed the Environmental Protection Agency to one of its most determined foes on Friday, confirming Scott Pruitt as administrator despite public opposition from hundreds of EPA employees and Democrats' demands for thousands of his still-undisclosed emails.

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Chemical Management News

(ACC Mentioned) Reverse the 'Post-Truth' Attitude to Public Health Research
Feb 17, 2017 | The Hill - Pundits Blog
By Nancy Beck, Ph.D., D.A.B.T.

In recent weeks politicians of both parties have traded barbs with each other and with the media over so called “fake news.” While the debate over the actual validity of facts in political reporting (rather than its impartiality) is relatively new, when it comes to public health information, the subjective interpretation of information is unfortunately the status quo.
(ACC Mentioned) Top 5 Challenges in Chemical Labeling
Feb 17, 2017 | Chem Info
By Greg Wimble

Today’s chemical manufacturers are faced with a wide range of requirements that complicate labeling—and leave many companies accepting their current process as the cost of doing business.

Energy News

(ACC Mentioned) Trade Groups Warn of 'Potentially Crippling Situation' at FERC
Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak

A dozen energy, chemical and manufacturing trade groups have warned of a "potentially crippling situation" at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is currently operating with only two members.
4 Think Tanks Influencing Trump's Energy Agenda
Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Robin Bravender

During the campaign and continuing into the early days of his administration, President Trump has leaned heavily on conservative policy shops for personnel and strategies for rolling back Obama-era regulations and beefing up domestic energy production.
Dakota Access Final Construction Resumes; May 1 In-Service Planned
Feb 17, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec

Since gaining its federal easement Feb. 8, builders of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) have been drilling the tunnel to traverse 90 feet below the bottom of a dammed portion of the Missouri River in south-central North Dakota, a spokesperson for the project backers told NGI's Shale Daily.

Chemical Security News

As Okla. Attorney General, EPA Nominee Did Nothing to Protect Oklahomans from Toxic Swine Waste
Feb 17, 2017 | Environmental Working Group
By Kelly Hunter Foster, Melanie Benesh, and Wicitra Mahotama

Oklahoma has a dangerous and widespread groundwater pollution problem caused by illegal discharges of toxic swine waste from industrial-scale swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs.
Enbridge Denies Its Own Report About Degraded Lines
Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Greenwire

Enbridge, the Canadian oil pipeline company, denied reports that the company's two 64-year-old natural gas pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac connecting lakes Michigan and Huron are losing their protective coating.
Texas Pipeline Explosion Under Investigation
Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Energywire

Authorities are investigating the explosion yesterday morning of a Kinder Morgan Inc. pipeline in Refugio County, Texas.
Small Chemical Leak Follows Coal Plant's Introduction
Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Greenwire

An Alpha Natural Resources coal preparation plant in West Virginia last week spilled a small amount of a chemical, the state Department of Environmental Protection confirmed yesterday.

Transportation News

Canada's Safety Board Seeks Strategies to Reduce Severity of Hazmat Derailments
Feb 17, 2017 | Progressive Rail Roading

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) yesterday called for Transport Canada to develop strategies aimed at reducing the severity of derailments involving hazardous materials.

Environment News

State Leaning Toward Cap-and-Trade Extension
Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Debra Kahn

Cap and trade is still gathering momentum as the state's preferred policy to reduce emissions despite anti-poverty groups' best efforts to stymie it.

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) AdvanSix Joins American Chemistry Council as Full Member

Feb 17, 2017 | Yahoo Finance

AdvanSix (ASIX) has joined the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the company announced today, becoming a full member of the industry group and taking a seat on its Board of Directors.
“AdvanSix is honored to join with other industry leaders to help tell the story of how chemistry and chemical manufacturing can deliver value and innovation to customers and the economy,” said Erin Kane, president and CEO of AdvanSix. “Everyone at AdvanSix has a relentless focus on safety. Being a member of the ACC reinforces our ongoing commitment to excellence in health, safety and environmental performance and sustaining safe operations for our employees, our customers and the communities in which we operate.”
Cal Dooley, president and CEO of ACC added, “Having AdvanSix, a leading producer of nylon, plant nutrients, and chemical intermediates, helps make ACC a stronger, more effective organization. Our diverse and ever-growing membership represents today’s innovators who play such a vital role in the creation of the ground-breaking products that make our lives and world healthier, safer, more sustainable, and more productive.”
AdvanSix, formerly part of Honeywell, became an independent company in October, 2016 and is one of the world’s leading producers of nylon products, with four U.S.-based manufacturing sites and a global customer base. The company is a fully integrated manufacturer of nylon 6 resin, chemical intermediates and ammonium sulfate fertilizer. AdvanSix has participated in the ACC’s Responsible Care® initiative focused on environment, health, safety and security for many years and will continue to implement that program across the organization.
AdvanSix has a long history in the chemical manufacturing industry, including ownership of the first chemical plant in the United States (Frankford, Penn.). The company’s facility in Hopewell, Va. is one of the world’s largest single-site producers of caprolactam, a primary feedstock for nylon polymers and is a global leader in the production of ammonium sulfate fertilizers. The company’s plant in Chesterfield, Va. is one of the largest U.S. producers of Nylon 6 resins, and its location in Pottsville, Penn. produces films used in packaging and other applications.
About American Chemistry Council
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry. ACC’s mission is to deliver business value through exceptional advocacy by pursuing and advocating for science-based policies that enable companies to provide products and services that make people's lives better, healthier and safer. ACC is committed to improved environmental, health and safety performance through Responsible Care®, common sense advocacy designed to address major public policy issues, and health and environmental research and product testing. The business of chemistry is a $797 billion enterprise and a key element of the nation's economy. It is the largest exporting sector in the U.S., accounting for 14 percent of U.S. exports. Chemistry companies are among the largest investors in research and development.
About AdvanSix
AdvanSix is a leading manufacturer of Nylon 6, a polymer resin which is a synthetic material used by our customers to produce engineered plastics, fibers, filaments and films that, in turn, are used in such end-products as automotive and electronic components, carpets, sports apparel, fishing nets and food and industrial packaging. As a result of our backward integration and the configuration of our manufacturing facilities, we also sell caprolactam, ammonium sulfate fertilizer, acetone and other intermediate chemicals, all of which are produced as part of the Nylon 6 resin manufacturing process. More information on AdvanSix can be found at http://www.advan6.com.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/advansix-joins-american-chemistry-council-153000768.html

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On Eve of Confirmation Vote, Judge Orders EPA Nominee to Release Thousands of Emails

Feb 16, 2017 | Washington Post

By Brady Dennis

An Oklahoma judge on Thursday ordered Scott Pruitt, the state’s attorney general and President Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, to turn over thousands of emails related to his communication with the oil, gas and coal industry.
The Center for Media and Democracy has been seeking the release of Pruitt’s correspondence with fossil-fuel representatives under public records laws for more than two years. The group filed suit over Pruitt’s refusal to turn over the documents and requested the expedited hearing that led to the judge’s decision, which was first reported by E&E News.
The ruling by District Court Judge Aletia Timmons, who said there had been “an abject failure to provide prompt and reasonable access to documents requested,” came a day before the Senate is expected to vote on confirming Pruitt to head the EPA, an agency that he has sued repeatedly during the Obama years.
Timmons gave the attorney general’s office until Tuesday to release the records, meaning they likely won’t come to light until after he is sworn in to his new position.
“It should never have come to this,” Nick Surgey, the advocacy group’s director of research, said in an interview. “We shouldn’t have had to go to court to force the release of emails that were requested more than two years ago. … It makes it pretty difficult for people to vet his record.”
The ruling led environmental groups and some Senate Democrats to immediately call for a delay of Pruitt’s confirmation vote until lawmakers and the public have a chance to review the emails.
“A rushed Senate vote to confirm Pruitt as EPA Administrator right now would be a travesty,” Elizabeth Thompson, vice president for climate and political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. “The documents in question are related to Pruitt’s fitness to serve as head of EPA. Senators should exercise due diligence when confirming nominees, and they can’t do that when they’ve been denied access to relevant information.”
But those calls are likely to fall on deaf ears among Senate Republicans. Formal debate on Pruitt’s nomination was already underway on the Senate floor Thursday.
“Attorney General Pruitt has been more thoroughly vetted than any nominee for EPA administrator,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement. “Democrats have been stalling nominees across the Senate. The EPA needs an administrator. It is time to confirm him.”
Pruitt’s close ties with the fossil fuel industry have long been the focus of criticism from environmental advocates.
He has received more than $300,000 from oil and gas companies during his campaigns over the years. He also led the Republican Attorneys General Association, which received substantial sums of money from Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Murray Energy and other firms. In 2014, the New York Times reported that a letter ostensibly written by Pruitt alleging the EPA had overestimated air pollution from natural gas drilling was actually written by lawyers for Devon Energy, one of Oklahoma’s largest oil and gas companies.
“That’s actually called representative government in my view of the world,” Pruitt later said of the letter.
He has continued to defend his alliances with fossil fuel firms, saying during his recent confirmation hearing that he has never sought to represent a single company but rather stand up for the concerns of one of his state’s largest industries.
During that same hearing, Pruitt told lawmakers that as EPA administrator, he would steer the agency away from what he called an era of overzealous and unlawful regulation during the Obama years. He said the EPA under his leadership would respect the authority of states and be open to a “full range of views.”
Thursday evening, the attorney general’s office said it “remains committed to following the letter and spirit of the Open Records Act.” Spokesman Lincoln Ferguson said that in light of the court ruling, “we are reviewing all of our options in order to ensure fairness to all requestors rather than elevating the importance of some requests over others.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/16/on-eve-of-confirmation-vote-judge-orders-epa-nominee-to-release-thousands-of-emails/?utm_term=.b56d9cf61864

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Dems Rail All Night Against Pruitt; Vote Still Set for 1 p.m.

Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Climatewire

By Niina Heikkinen and Kavya Balaraman

Democrats staged an all-night fight in the Senate in a final play to delay a vote on the nominee they say is unfit to lead U.S. EPA.
Scott Pruitt, the Republican attorney general of Oklahoma, has been a controversial pick to lead the agency since his selection in December. In the days leading up to the full Senate vote on his nomination, Pruitt's opponents have stepped up efforts to stall or even derail it. In the final hours before his expected confirmation today, Democrats continued to press their case that Pruitt's record disqualified him from the top environmental enforcement job.
One of their main concerns: that Pruitt is not committed to EPA's goal of protecting the environment and public health.
Pruitt's statements through his confirmation that though humans affect climate change in "some manner," the science is still "unsettled" also didn't sit well with Democratic senators. Several suggested that Pruitt's rejection of climate science and attacks on environmental regulations were a direct result of the "dark money" he had received from fossil fuel donors such as Murray Energy Corp.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) displayed a diagram he called "The Denial Beast," which marked out the reach of the fossil fuel industry in perpetuating climate denial. He called it a "visual description of the complex matrix of fossil fuel interests that [Pruitt] has been so closely involved with."
"This is a very, very significant matrix of fossil fuel interests, and that is what Scott Pruitt has been serving, not the public and not his duties," he said.
Whitehouse and other Democrats called for a delay in the vote on Pruitt until they had a chance to carefully review records of Pruitt's communication with the fossil fuel industry. The correspondence was the subject of a lawsuit brought against the attorney general by the Center for Media and Democracy. Lawmakers noted that emailed correspondence would be available in a matter of days following a recent court ruling.
"Maybe this is just an empty concern. But over and over and over again, emails have been really important at breaking investigations open, and certainly our friends on the other side, until the election in November, had a fascination with emails," said Whitehouse. "Now, suddenly, everybody is looking at the ceiling, examining the ceiling tiles, when it's time to wonder about these emails."
Yesterday afternoon, an Oklahoma judge ruled that Pruitt would have to produce the first batch of roughly 2,500 outstanding emails that the Oklahoma attorney general had not sent in response to nine outstanding public records requests submitted by the Center for Media and Democracy (Greenwire Feb. 16; Climatewire, Feb. 15).
These first emails will include correspondence between Pruitt and fossil fuel donors, such as Devon Energy Corp., Peabody Energy Corp. and the American Petroleum Institute, to be delivered by Tuesday. The next batch, slated to come out in 10 days, will include email correspondence with the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, which supports partisan policy, according to Whitehouse.
Following the court ruling, Senate Republicans continued to deny calls to delay the vote for Pruitt, scheduled for 1 p.m. today.
"Now, that smells to the high heavens. The American people have the right to know what's in those emails," said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). He dubbed the GOP the "Gas and Oil Party."
Democrats noted that failure to analyze the emails prior to a vote could come back to bite Republicans, who would have to answer to their voters if the emails do reveal evidence of illegal activity.
Markey compared the concerns about Pruitt to those surrounding President Reagan's controversial picks to lead the Department of the Interior and EPA — James Watt and Anne Gorsuch Burford, respectively. Both Watt and Burford, the mother of current Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch, resigned from their posts.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said it is unfortunate that Republicans have chosen not allow a delay in the vote.
"We are finally getting some transparency after stonewalling for week after week and month after month. Now we are going to see what kind of potential collusion went on," he said.
Dems: Questioning climate change a disqualifier
Beginning yesterday afternoon and continuing through the night, Democrats came to the Senate floor armed with charts and anecdotes from Pruitt's record as Oklahoma attorney general to argue against his appointment.
Pruitt has filed more than a dozen legal cases against EPA regulations, including those restricting mercury pollution, smog and carbon dioxide emissions. Many cited his stance on climate change as an important factor in influencing their vote, especially since it has affected their own states.
From threatened blue crab fisheries in Maryland to warming temperatures hurting maple syrup production in New England, senators outlined how climate change is already affecting natural resources, wildlife and infrastructure across the country.
"As a result of climate change, we have seen 40 percent reduction in the moose population," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) of New Hampshire. "Because of milder winters, ticks don't die off; they multiply on moose, they ravage it and eventually kill."
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) called his state "ground zero" for sea-level rise, citing measurements in South Florida over the past four decades that have shown a 5- to 8-inch increase in sea levels.
"Oh, and by the way, where is three-quarters of the population in Florida? It's along the coast," he said.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) pointed out that while Pruitt did not follow Trump's example in calling climate change a "hoax," his denial was more "subtle" and "intentionally deceptive."
"If we look at Mr. Pruitt's record, it shows that he has been steadfastly against action on climate change — including a suit to block the first requirements of power plants to reduce their carbon emissions," he said.
He also criticized Pruitt's implication that imposing regulations on the environment would reduce employment and economic prosperity, saying that Minnesota has managed to balance both: The state adopted a renewable energy standard in 2007, and the clean energy economy currently employs around 54,000 of its residents.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) summed up his opposition to Pruitt with one sentence.
"We have enough foxes guarding henhouses as it is in this administration," he said.
He went on to criticize Pruitt's lack of transparency, in terms of contributions from the energy industry, and his refusal to accept the scientific evidence of climate change.
"I'm not here to argue climate change. I'm here to argue that Scott Pruitt is unqualified to fight climate change because he denies it as a problem, and he denies the mission and purpose of the EPA," he said.
GOP: Stop the 'blind obstruction'
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said that she disagreed with Pruitt's claim that the "debate" on climate change is "far from settled," citing national climate assessments as well as the impacts that shifting weather patterns are having on the Midwest.
"We may not have tsunamis, but in the Midwest, what we see is major unpredictable weather, which is just as dangerous. We've seen the devastating impact of natural disasters like Hurricane Matthew, and we've seen flooding from Cedar Rapids [Iowa] to Duluth. We now know the risk of climate change to Minnesota, to the country and to our planet," she said, adding that she also opposed Pruitt's nomination on the basis of his record on the renewable fuel standard.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spent nearly an hour on the floor issuing scorching criticisms of Pruitt, including of his "flippant, evasive and outright misleading" responses during his confirmation hearing.
"Scott Pruitt has the nerve to say that the cause of climate change is 'subject to debate.' More debate? We had that debate — in the 1980s, in the 1990s, in the 2000s. Maybe Mr. Pruitt missed it, buried under a pile of Big Oil money," she said.
Meanwhile, Republican senators scolded their Democratic counterparts for what they described as "blind obstruction" of Pruitt's confirmation process.
"These boycotts and these delay tactics do nothing to protect our environment or the health of Americans. Democrats are engaged in nothing more than political theater. They are wasting time while the Environmental Protection Agency needs a new administrator," said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Barrasso described Pruitt as the "right man for the job" to lead EPA.
"I would plead with our colleagues across the aisle: Stop the dysfunction," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). "Instead, let us fight for the people we represent and find common ground where we can and put forward legislation that represents them well."
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/02/17/stories/1060050246

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Invoking Benghazi, Democrats Fail to Delay Pruitt Vote

Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Greenwire

By Kevin Bogardus and Geof Koss

Senate Democrats unloaded on Republicans for refusing to delay a vote on U.S. EPA administrator nominee Scott Pruitt during a morning news conference today.
Invoking the yearslong GOP investigation into the Benghazi incident and the flap over emails related to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private server, Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member Tom Carper (D-Del.) asked, "What if the shoe was on the other foot?"
He said, "Do you think they would go quietly into the night, taking 'no' for an answer? No way."
Democrats want to stall the vote on the Republican Oklahoma attorney general until senators can review more records, including emails between Pruitt and fossil fuel companies and groups. Under an Oklahoma district court order, Pruitt's office has until Tuesday to turn them over.
Environmental groups have heavily lobbied against the confirmation of Pruitt. He has been a vocal EPA critic who has led or joined litigation against the agency over several of its rules, including the Clean Power Plan.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Republicans are not holding Pruitt to the same standards they held for EPA leaders picked by President Obama.
Schumer noted GOP outrage over former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's email alias and Republicans stalling Gina McCarthy's 2013 nomination for the job "because they felt she wasn't honoring a commitment to transparency."
"Surely my Republican colleagues would be concerned about a similar lack of transparency from the soon-to-be EPA administrator," Schumer said.
"But what is the Republican leadership response? Strap blinders on their members, and rush Pruitt through. The absolute height of hypocrisy," he said. "The same standard they had for Lisa Jackson and Gina McCarthy they ought to have for Scott Pruitt."
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said his proposal to delay Pruitt's vote until the Monday after the weeklong Presidents Day recess "is a very responsible motion."
"Delaying this vote until the Monday we return would not delay the business of the Senate at all," Merkley said. "And it would greatly honor the responsibility of the Senate under the advice-and-consent clause of the Constitution to determine if Scott Pruitt is fit or unfit to hold this particular office."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) objected to Merkley's request this morning for unanimous consent to delay the vote. The chamber will instead hold a roll call on the motion, and likely defeat it.
Also this morning, McConnell asked for unanimous consent to accelerate consideration of nominees to lead the Interior and Energy departments. Democrats objected.
Schumer said he offered Republicans the opportunity to confirm another unnamed Cabinet official today to avoid further delaying the seating of Trump's team. He said GOP leaders rebuffed his entreaty.
"They're ashamed of them," Schumer said of Trump's picks. "What's happening with Pruitt is a metaphor for the whole Cabinet. Rush it through, no daylight; the disinfectant of sunlight might bring most of these Cabinet members down. ... We have done America a service by showing who this people are."
McConnell dismissed Democrats' concerns, saying that if it weren't Pruitt's emails, the minority party would come up with a different excuse to stall a vote on the EPA nominee.
"If it wasn't one thing, it would be another," McConnell said during a briefing today with reporters. "The effort has been to delay the nomination that they have made controversial in order to play to their left-wing base, which will not accept the results of the election."
The Senate's confirmation vote on Pruitt is expected at around 1 p.m. today. He is expected to be approved on a mostly party-line vote.
Two Democrats, Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have said they will vote for Pruitt. One Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, has said she will vote against him. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) may not be at the vote.
If confirmed, Pruitt is expected to be sworn in as EPA administrator at 5 p.m. today in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building's Secretary of War suite, according to a White House spokeswoman.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/02/17/stories/1060050273

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Senate Confirms Pruitt to Head EPA

Feb 17, 2017 | Politico Pro

By Alex Guillén

The Senate handed the Environmental Protection Agency to one of its most determined foes on Friday, confirming Scott Pruitt as administrator despite public opposition from hundreds of EPA employees and Democrats' demands for thousands of his still-undisclosed emails.
Senators voted 52-46, almost entirely on party lines, to confirm Pruitt, who as Oklahoma's attorney general has repeatedly sued the EPA to attack many of its highest-profile regulations. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkampof North Dakota were the only Democrats voting yes, while Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine voted no.
Pruitt has been one of the most divisive Cabinet picks of President Donald Trump, who as a candidate pledged to "get rid of" the EPA "in almost every form," leaving only "little tidbits left." Pruitt has attracted fierce criticism for his own skepticism of mainstream climate science, as well as widespread expectations that he would carry out Trump's agenda of dismantling the agency's regulatory powers.
"Obviously there is some trepidation about how the new administration is going to go about enforcing and implementing the laws that EPA is bound to implement," said Nicole Cantello, a Chicago-based EPA attorney and a union official there. "There’s a lot of anxiety around that because there’s been reports about what the incoming administrator stands for and what he's done in his state that he was attorney general for."
Trump is rumored to be planning a trip to EPA's headquarters, just blocks from the White House, to sign executive orders on climate change or other EPA issues. The White House and EPA have remained mum about any such plans for a visit or any forthcoming orders.
Democrats also complained that Pruitt has yet to meet their demands for the release of emails he exchanged with the fossil fuel companies whose cause he often took up in court as attorney general. An Oklahoma judge on Thursday ordered Pruitt to release thousands of emails by early next week, acting on a suit filed by a liberal activist group.
Pruitt has accused EPA of siphoning power away from the states while handcuffing the coal, oil and natural gas industries and achieving only questionable environmental and public health benefits. His supporters made it clear they have high expectations for his reign in the agency's headquarters — in a building just across the street from Trump's hotel in downtown Washington, D.C.
“He’s going to be a great administrator, and hopefully he’ll begin to form a team who will get EPA back to the business of regulating air and water and not the extra-legal stuff they’ve been doing the past few years,” said Tom Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative think tank backed by the oil and gas industry.
“Quite candidly, this president ran on an agenda that is very different from the person he beat, which was remarkably similar to the person who previously occupied the White House,” Pyle added. “So nobody should expect there to be no differences or changes in the focus of this administration.”
He joins a Cabinet already marked by strong affinity for the fossil fuel industry, including former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.
Pruitt faces a daunting challenge: rolling back years of regulations issued under Obama, defending those actions in court and trying to scale back EPA’s power, budget and workforce. And that’s on top of issues that vexed his predecessors, such as the Flint water crisis, contentious ethanol mandates, a much-attacked regulation on wetlands and waterways, and ever-prickly Superfund cleanup operations.
He will also face a challenge no previous EPA administrator has ever faced — outspoken opposition from the agency's rank and file before he's even sworn in, including dozens of current employees who have held public protests against his nomination and 773 former employees who have signed onto a letter panning him.
Other career agency staffers are also fearful of what Pruitt will bring, said Christine Todd Whitman, former President George W. Bush’s first EPA administrator.
“They’re nervous and hunkering down,” she said.
Democrats contend that, policy aside, Pruitt is fraught with conflicts both from his role as one of EPA’s biggest antagonists and because of his close political connections to fossil fuel companies.
Pruitt has for now sidestepped the question of whether he can or will participate in any of the many issues he has sued EPA over, including its greenhouse gas regulations, restrictions on smog-creating ozone and limits on toxic mercury pollution from power plants. He has said he will consult with agency ethics experts on a rolling basis about the potential need to recuse himself — although he noted that as EPA administrator, he will not be acting as an attorney representing the government.
Pruitt also emerged relatively unscathed over his connections to oil and gas companies.
In 2014, The New York Times connected him to a “secretive alliance” with oil and gas companies designed to fight the Obama administration's regulations. Pruitt denied raising money from fossil fuel interests for the Republican Attorneys General Association or the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a nonprofit offshoot of RAGA that he once chaired. He also had connections to a super PAC and a leadership PAC, both of which received major donations from energy interests but have since shut down operations.
Pruitt denied specifically fundraising from the companies that gave to those groups, and Republicans waved away concerns about his ties, saying he was only doing his job to represent the interests of his oil- and gas-heavy state.
Whitman said that once he’s settled in at EPA, Pruitt might find it’s not as easy to run an agency with national responsibilities as it is to throw rocks from Oklahoma City. She said she learned of similar constraints during her first days in the administrator's office in 2001.
“What really struck me was the extent to which the agency was constrained by the enabling legislation,” she said.
Pruitt’s critics hope that EPA’s career staff will stand up to Pruitt if he weakens or slow-walks environmental protections.
“EPA is composed of civil servants who have been there a long time and believe in the mission of EPA and believe in the work they’ve done,” said Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “I don’t expect they’ll go quietly into that good night and just wave a white flag and surrender.”
Whitman said she found that some EPA staffers were “staunch Democrats,” but that “for the most part they just wanted to protect human health and the environment, and they’d work with you if they thought that’s what you wanted to do.”
She also called on Pruitt to stand up to Trump if he feels an order goes too far.
“You do work for the president and at some point you have to salute. But if you really don’t believe in what the action is, you step aside yourself,” said Whitman, who left EPA in 2003 following repeated clashes with the Bush White House.
Pruitt represents an especially sharp departure from Obama's approach to climate change, which relied heavily on EPA's regulations to reduce carbon pollution from cars, trucks and power plants.
Scientists “continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind,” Pruitt wrote last May in National Review — disagreeing with the overwhelming consensus of climate researchers, who say warming driven by human-caused pollution is a gathering threat to civilization. He co-wrote the article with then-Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, who was recently appointed to fill Jeff Sessions’ Senate seat and plans to vote on Pruitt’s nomination.
Pruitt walked a finer line during his confirmation hearing, saying human activity contributes in some way to climate change but that the degree of that connection is “subject to more debate.” That still amounts to climate change denial, his critics say.
Scientists have long held that human activity, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, has been the primary driver of climate change, and that the only way to stave off the worst effects is to drastically curb emissions now. A recent peer-reviewed study calculated that Earth is warming 170 times faster than it would without contributions from human activity.
Pruitt said at his hearing that he feels no need to revisit the EPA's scientific finding that carbon pollution threatens human health and safety, the legal underpinning for a suite of climate regulations. But EPA’s critics hold out hope that Trump will order him to repeal the finding — noting that if it remains in place, Pruitt will eventually face a legal obligation to regulate carbon.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2017/02/major-epa-foe-confirmed-to-lead-agency-148433

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Chemical Management News

(ACC Mentioned) Reverse the 'Post-Truth' Attitude to Public Health Research

Feb 17, 2017 | The Hill - Pundits Blog

By Nancy Beck, Ph.D., D.A.B.T.

In recent weeks politicians of both parties have traded barbs with each other and with the media over so called “fake news.” While the debate over the actual validity of facts in political reporting (rather than its impartiality) is relatively new, when it comes to public health information, the subjective interpretation of information is unfortunately the status quo.
In fact much of the “news” about public health developments is often little more than hyperbolic headlines that are unsupported by credible and thorough scientific study, but that are excellent clickbait to drive website traffic and advertising sales.
This troubling trend is especially apparent in news coverage around cancer. In the last two years, headlines have warned that eating meat, using a cell phone, or drinking a hot beverage could raise your risk of cancer. But are these common activities actually impacting our health?
According to most scientists and public health organizations, the answer is no — these activities generally pose a very small, if any, risk of cancer. Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped one cancer research agency from loudly sounding alarm bells.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) regularly publishes “monographs,” which proclaim the potential of many substances, everyday items, and activities to cause cancer. IARC, a World Health Organization (WHO) agency based in France, examines hazard, whether a substance or activity could cause cancer under any possible scenario, and not risk, whether it’s likely you’ll actually develop cancer under real world scenarios.
Identifying hazards, without considering risk, isn’t helpful to consumers.
For example, water poses a hazard because someone could slip on it, drink too much of it, or drown in it. But it poses little risk, especially if proper precautions are taken. Though IARC hasn’t labeled water a carcinogen, the agency’s exclusive focus on hazard explains why IARC has assessed nearly 1,000 substances and activities and found only one that was “probably not likely” to cause cancer.
Further adding to the public’s confusion, IARC classifies substances based on how convincing it finds the link between the substance and cancer, and not how likely it is that exposure will cause cancer. That’s why plutonium, sunshine, and processed meat are lumped in the same category as “known carcinogens.”
With its extreme reliance on hazard and a confusing categorization system, it’s easy to see how IARC’s cancer determinations generate overblown media attention. However, these are far from the agency’s only flaws.
IARC’s processes — how it reviews and considers scientific literature, invites participants to its workgroups, and publishes its decisions — are fraught with a lack of transparency and consistency.
As the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Jason Chaffetz, has highlighted, IARC actively discourages scientists who participate in the development of its cancer reviews (and whose salaries and research are often funded by U.S. taxpayers) from complying with U.S. freedom of information laws.
Considering that our federal government foots the bill for roughly two-thirds of IARC’s Monographs Program, it’s even harder to understand why policymakers and the public are left in the dark trying to decipher IARC’s baffling decisions.
Reforming the way IARC conducts its monographs is essential. The decisions of this agency have implications far beyond hyperbolic headlines and confusing news coverage.
For example, California’s chemical labeling law, Proposition 65, uses IARC classifications to require warning labels on consumer products even when IARC’s findings are inconsistent with actual risk. Retailers have used IARC classifications to justify unwarranted product bans or unnecessary phase outs.
As part of our push for improvements to IARC’s Monographs Program, the American Chemistry Council and its members have launched the Campaign for Accuracy in Public Health Research (CAPHR).
This new campaign will help individuals and policymakers decipher the latest headlines generated by IARC and what they actually mean for public health. The campaign’s website enumerates six principles for the reform of IARC’s Monographs Program, and serves as a resource for those seeking more context around IARC’s work.
Identification of carcinogens must be guided by a full and transparent consideration of the weight of scientific evidence, free from conflicts of interest.
Without reform, IARC will continue to generate misleading news coverage and misguided public policies that muddle our understanding of the most effective ways to improve public health and mitigate cancer risks.
Nancy Beck, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., is Senior Director, Regulatory Science Policy, at the American Chemistry Council.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/320123-reverse-the-post-truth-attitude-to-public-health-research

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(ACC Mentioned) Top 5 Challenges in Chemical Labeling

Feb 17, 2017 | Chem Info

By Greg Wimble

Today’s chemical manufacturers are faced with a wide range of requirements that complicate labeling—and leave many companies accepting their current process as the cost of doing business. But it doesn’t have to be. Here are five of the most common labeling challenges, as well as some helpful tips and proven approaches to overcome them.
Meeting GHS And Other Regulatory Requirements
Even as OSHA’s GHS labeling deadlines have come and gone in the U.S., companies still struggle with compliance. There are also international GHS guidelines stipulated by various countries and regions that must be met. The challenge of course with GHS and other regulations is managing all the information that goes on each label. Not only do you need accurate data—including hazard statements as well as your transactional data—you also must accommodate a wide range of symbols, color printing, different size products and containers, and multiple languages.
To accurately create GHS labels, chemical companies often have to pull data from multiple systems. They may rely on a source of record like SAP or Oracle as well as at least one system for regulatory information. There are other systems that can also come into play like warehouse management (WMS), manufacturing execution (MES), lab systems, and product lifecycle management (PLM), to name a few. A good labeling system that meets good manufacturing practices has the ability to retrieve data from multiple systems for the same label without having to manually replicate the information.
And because regulations, not just GHS, continue to require color elements on the label, it’s recommended that companies transition from preprinted label templates with pictograms, warning symbols, etc.—which can quickly become an outdated and wasted expense—and adopt a color labeling solution that can support the wide array of labels across your global enterprise.
Printing And Supporting Different Languages
The chemical supply chain is as complex and global as any industrial supply chain. Companies need to manage raw materials, feed stock, commodity pricing, regulatory issues and more—both locally and internationally. To ensure the swift, efficient transfer of product, either upstream or downstream, labels need to be in the native language of receiving countries. There may be other requirements on the label, depending on the destination. For example, China has special labeling demands that if not met can result in costly delays, fines, even returned product.
There are instances where companies will stock a particular SKU of the same product in the same size container, and use five different labels—each to meet the specific language and compliance requirements of different regions. Because of how their systems are being used, they have to print labels ahead of shipping, which leads to escalating costs in added inventory, warehousing, and employee productivity.
There is a better way. By standardizing on a single, end-to-end labeling solution with robust design capabilities and configurable business rules, chemical companies can enable label formatting and content changes—including languages—dynamically. Using this approach, chemical companies can actually label containers with the correct languages later in the process. This has resulted in some companies reducing inventory of SKUs by up to 60%, which translates into hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost savings.
Managing Variable Data on Labels
Language is just one of the many changing elements on today’s chemical labels. Manufacturers are increasingly asked to meet additional customer requirements, which can range from special handling instructions and regional requirements to barcodes, logos, graphics, and other branding elements. Depending on a company’s customer, supplier, toller or 3PL base, this label variability can be difficult to manage as some manufacturers may have literally hundreds of unique label templates that they have to maintain and update. Not only does this create inefficiencies in time and labor, but also opens the door for costly errors.
This is where you’ll want to look for a solution that has those built-in business rules to enable formatting changes like language, barcodes, even imagery to occur dynamically within the same template. By applying business logic to automatically update labels, you can keep up with constant variability while greatly reducing the number of templates. Also a centralized approach to labeling—where labels are created, shared and updated across an organization—further optimizes the labeling process and improves overall supply chain efficiency.
Extending Labeling Beyond Four Walls
For years chemical companies have struggled with how to integrate partners like distributors and tollers into their processes. Today many companies use third parties as extensions of their own business for value-added services like direct shipment to customers. When it comes to labeling, companies handle third parties in multiple ways—but it’s commonly a difficult, manual process. Many manufacturers still package and ship the labels right to the partner or they pay to have the labels printed for the third party by an outside vendor. These options can be extremely costly as well as wasteful if the labels become outdated over time.
Now there are innovations in labeling that enable suppliers, tollers or other partners to quickly access and print labels locally via the web. Chemical companies can implement such a solution in a secured environment so third parties have restricted access to specific data, labels and printers. This approach ensures consistency of labels produced by business partners while eliminating the costly, time-consuming process of relabeling goods upon receipt. Additionally, because you’re leveraging the data that is fundamental to the labels, you can ensure the labels created upstream also meet the requirements for downstream use.
Adapting to Growth, M&A Activity
Based on recent projections from the American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years. As companies look to expand operations and add new facilities, it becomes more important than ever to standardize on technology and processes—including labeling. A labeling solution already integrated with enterprise applications like ERP and PLM systems across multiple sites makes it that much easier to scale and bring on new plants and users. The browser-based capabilities of some labeling solutions further simplifies expansion to more users—even in the event of a merger or acquisition.
Major players throughout the industry continue to acquire new companies, spin off separate businesses, or sell divisions. When these developments occur, one of the first things a company will want to tackle is the consolidation of labels to reflect proper marketing or branding information and ensure one face to the customer. With a standardized, centralized labeling solution, chemical companies can quickly and efficiently design new labels or, better yet, update existing templates to accommodate the new acquisition or division. You can pull information from trusted data sources as well as connect to new sources of data using the same system to ensure accuracy and consistency of the new chemical labels.
When it comes to labeling, few industries are as complex and challenging as the chemical industry. From stringent regulatory requirements—with their heightened demands for accuracy and auditability—to the pressures of globalization and need for greater flexibility, agility, and cost-awareness, chemical companies need to look at labeling as a strategic process. With the right solution in place, organizations can not just overcome challenges, but improve supply chain efficiency and better meet operational goals.
http://www.chem.info/article/2017/02/top-5-challenges-chemical-labeling

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Energy News

(ACC Mentioned) Trade Groups Warn of 'Potentially Crippling Situation' at FERC

Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Energywire

By Blake Sobczak

A dozen energy, chemical and manufacturing trade groups have warned of a "potentially crippling situation" at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is currently operating with only two members.
The lack of a three-commissioner quorum at FERC could freeze pipeline, hydropower and other energy infrastructure projects and has brought mounting pressure on President Trump to fill the vacancy left last month by the resignation of Commissioner Norman Bay. FERC Chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur and Commissioner Colette Honorable are the two remaining commissioners on the five-member body.
In a letter dated Feb. 15, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Chemistry Council, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association and nine other organizations urged Trump to "fill the vacancies at FERC as quickly as possible."
"The undersigned associations appreciate the strong steps you have taken to accelerate the regulatory process for high-value energy infrastructure projects," the groups wrote to the White House. "However, the recent loss of a quorum at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has placed energy infrastructure permitting on an indefinite hold, creating an unexpected barrier to your recent streamlining actions and threatening their ultimate success."
Many of the signatories' members could stand to benefit from additional energy infrastructure projects such as pipelines. (The Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance and the American Iron and Steel Institute both signed onto the latest call for a quorum.)
"Investments to enhance our energy infrastructure to improve efficiency, affordability, reliability and security are placed in jeopardy when FERC seats are left empty," the organizations said in their letter.
Lawmakers have said Trump intends to fill the vacancies soon, though that hasn't stopped a deluge of energy groups, including the American Gas Association, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and Nuclear Energy Institute, from sounding the alarm about FERC's paralysis (Greenwire, Feb. 10).
Sharla Artz, vice president for government affairs in policy and cybersecurity at the Utilities Technology Council, which represents many electric utilities, natural gas companies and other critical infrastructure providers, pointed out in a recent interview that "a number of energy utilities are very concerned about the lack of a quorum," calling it "probably the No. 1 priority" for many industry groups.
"Those projects could be on hold for a very long time without the quorum," she said of the unfilled seats.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1060050236

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4 Think Tanks Influencing Trump's Energy Agenda

Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Greenwire

By Robin Bravender

During the campaign and continuing into the early days of his administration, President Trump has leaned heavily on conservative policy shops for personnel and strategies for rolling back Obama-era regulations and beefing up domestic energy production.
It isn't unusual for the executive branch to draw upon think tanks for staff and ideas, but political observers say the Trump team's reliance on them is without parallel.
"It's pretty unprecedented, really, at least for Republican administrations," said Stephen Moore, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation who was an economic adviser to Trump during the presidential campaign.
Heritage staffers spread out across government to work on Trump's agency transition teams, and some have joined the administration.
"This is pretty amazing how many people are leaving here to go across to Pennsylvania Avenue," Moore said. "I haven't seen anything like it before."
And Heritage isn't alone. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Institute for Energy Research, the Texas Public Policy Foundation and others have offered staff and advice to the Trump team. The new administration's lobbying restrictions have likely played a role in some recruits coming from nonprofit idea shops, where hires don't face the same hurdles as K Street staffers.
To be sure, previous Republican and Democratic administrations have pulled people and ideas from think tanks. During the Obama administration, the liberal Center for American Progress served as both a training ground and a source of policy ideas for the White House.
Environmentalists and others on the left have watched warily as conservative policy shops' profiles have risen.
"The right-wing think tanks are having a huge impact in putting bull's-eyes on environmental safeguards that they don't like," said Dan Weiss, who was previously director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress.
Weiss said think tanks are having "much more influence" under Trump than they had under the George W. Bush or Reagan administrations.
Here's a look at some of the conservative think tanks and staffers who have played big parts in Trump's energy agenda so far and could help sway executive branch decisions throughout the administration.
Heritage Foundation
Backstory: Washington-based think tank formed in 1973 and led by former South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint.
Key staff: Stephen Moore, a former Wall Street Journal columnist who pushed Trump to spend more time talking about natural gas and oil development on the campaign trail. Moore said he isn't planning to enter the administration but isn't ruling it out. "If Trump asked me to do it, I would certainly do it," he said.
David Kreutzer, former senior research fellow on energy and climate change. Kreutzer was on Trump's EPA transition team ahead of Inauguration Day and has since joined the EPA "beachhead" team of political appointees. He recently said he doesn't support any government regulations to limit carbon dioxide (Greenwire, Jan. 26).
Jack Spencer, vice president for the Heritage Foundation's Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity. He's a specialist on nuclear waste management and nuclear energy who served on the Trump transition team for the Energy Department.
Energy/environmental platform: One way Heritage could be most influential under Trump is in influencing budgets that are expected to soon see major cuts in domestic spending. The group's proposed budget blueprint calls for slashing a host of energy and environmental programs at U.S. EPA and DOE (Greenwire, Jan. 27).
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Backstory: Founded in 1984 by libertarian political writer Fred Smith. The limited-government advocates are proud of their reputation as a thorn in the side of environmentalists.
Key staff: Myron Ebell, director of CEI's Center for Energy and Environment, who led the EPA transition team until Trump's inauguration. He's not part of the administration but has called for drastic reductions in EPA's staff and rollbacks of the Obama administration's signature regulations.
Chris Horner, a CEI senior fellow, who worked alongside Ebell on the Trump EPA transition team. He's known for hounding the Obama EPA for years over emails, text messages and other documents. He's also the author of books like "Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud and Deception to Keep You Misinformed" and "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism" (Greenwire, Dec. 12, 2016).
Energy/environmental platform: CEI, according to its website, "questions global warming alarmism, makes the case for access to affordable energy, and opposes energy-rationing policies, including the Kyoto Protocol, cap-and-trade legislation, and EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. CEI also opposes all government mandates and subsidies for conventional and alternative energy technologies."
Institute for Energy Research
Backstory: Nonprofit energy think tank founded in Houston in 1989 by Robert Bradley Jr. that advocates "free-market" energy and environmental policy. The group, which is now based in Washington, launched a political arm — the American Energy Alliance — in 2008.
Key staff: Tom Pyle, the president of IER, who was the leader of the Trump transition team at DOE. He was previously an energy lobbyist whose clients included Koch Industries and a Republican congressional aide.
Travis Fisher, a former IER economist and a former employee at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission who worked on the Trump transition teams for both DOE and FERC. He joined the beachhead team of political staffers working at DOE after the inauguration.
Daniel Simmons, IER's former vice president for policy and former director of the natural resources task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council, who was also on the transition team and joined the beachhead team at DOE.
Energy/environmental platform: IER was sharply critical of the Obama administration's energy policies and has been supportive of Trump's early moves, including efforts to advance the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Backstory: The Austin, Texas-based conservative think tank was founded in 1989 by James Leininger, a physician and investor. Leininger is a devout Christian conservative with close ties to Energy secretary nominee Rick Perry, according to The Texas Tribune.
Key staff: Doug Domenech, who led the Trump administration's transition team for the Interior Department and is now a political aide at that agency, hails from TPPF. He was director of the think tank's Fueling Freedom Project before joining the Trump team. He was also secretary of natural resources in Virginia under then-Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and an Interior official during the Bush administration.
Kathleen Hartnett White of TPPF's Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment, who was rumored to be in the mix for Trump's EPA administrator and is considered a possible pick to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality. White, a former Texas regulator, was a Trump adviser on the campaign trail. She has argued that treating carbon dioxide like a pollutant is damaging to the U.S. energy sector (Greenwire, Nov. 28, 2016).
Energy/environmental platform: The group advocates for a pivot toward state autonomy and "less burdensome" regulations. Views pushed by TPPF's personalities — like support for fossil fuels, questions about climate change and calls for regulatory changes — have spurred attacks from critics including environmental and consumer groups (Energywire, Dec. 6, 2016).
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/02/17/stories/1060050262

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Dakota Access Final Construction Resumes; May 1 In-Service Planned

Feb 17, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence

By Richard Nemec

Since gaining its federal easement Feb. 8, builders of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) have been drilling the tunnel to traverse 90 feet below the bottom of a dammed portion of the Missouri River in south-central North Dakota, a spokesperson for the project backers told NGI's Shale Daily.
Under current timetables, the nearly 1,200-mile oil pipeline from the Bakken oilfields to a hub in south-central Illinois could be in service on May 1.
As reported last monthwith the advent of the Trump administration's push and the fact that all but the controversial water crossing had been constructed, the May date now confirmed by a spokesperson for Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the main sponsor of DAPL, has been established as realistic.
Noting that drilling began "immediately upon receiving the [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] easement," the spokesperson said ETP is estimating 60 days from that date to complete the drilling (April 8) and another 23 days to fill the pipeline, which equates to May 1.
Filling the pipeline means sending Bakken sweet crude from northwest North Dakota to Patoka, IL, where it can be shipped east or to the Gulf Coast.
In January, Christi Tezak, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners LLC, predicted that an early February ruling favoring the DAPL project "would imply an in-service date of early May," and Tezak had been projecting that the six-month-old dispute between ETP's nearly completed pipeline project and the federal government would be resolved in the first half of this year.
Originally, an easement to cross a dammed portion of the Missouri River, Lake Oahe, was granted last July by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers only to be rescinded at the eleventh-hour by the Obama administration in the face of stiff opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation is adjacent to the pipeline route and near the lake.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/109456-dakota-access-final-construction-resumes-may-1-in-service-planned

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Chemical Security News

As Okla. Attorney General, EPA Nominee Did Nothing to Protect Oklahomans from Toxic Swine Waste

Feb 17, 2017 | Environmental Working Group

By Kelly Hunter Foster, Melanie Benesh, and Wicitra Mahotama

Oklahoma has a dangerous and widespread groundwater pollution problem caused by illegal discharges of toxic swine waste from industrial-scale swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs. But an investigation by Waterkeeper Alliance and EWG found that Scott Pruitt – the state’s attorney general since 2011 and President Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency – has not taken a single legal action to enforce Oklahoma’s stringent water quality laws and protect the public from a pollutant that can be deadly for infants.
State data shows that more than 40 percent of water samples taken last year from monitoring wells on Oklahoma swine CAFOs were contaminated with nitrates at levels that exceeded, sometimes by a great margin, federal standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Hog manure contains nitrates, other chemicals and bacteria that can foul surface water and groundwater if not managed properly. Nitrates are pollutants associated with so-called blue baby syndrome, or methemoglobinemia, which can cause permanent brain damage or death to infants from even short-term exposures. Pregnant or lactating women, adults with reduced stomach acidity, and people with enzyme deficiencies are also susceptible to methemoglobinemia.
High levels of nitrates have also been associated with bladder cancer in women, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, miscarriages and other adverse birth outcomes. In 2001, an EPA enforcement action against several swine CAFOs in Kansas reported that a woman living down-gradient from a facility with high nitrate levels had five miscarriages.
Pruitt was elected Oklahoma attorney general in 2010. Eleven years earlier, in 1999, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, or ODAFF, began measuring, analyzing and tracking pollutant levels in groundwater monitoring wells near swine CAFOs. Annual samples are tested for nitrate-nitrogen, ammonium-nitrogen, total phosphorus, fecal coliform bacteria, pH and electrical conductivity.
Data collected in 2016, as in prior years, showed widespread groundwater contamination in wells located on swine CAFOs across Oklahoma, from the northeastern Panhandle to the state’s southeast region. The overall trend since 2000 was a clear increase in pollution generally. But the nitrate numbers are startling.
In 2016, the state took a total of 369 samples from CAFO monitoring wells. It found that 160 wells, about 43 percent, exceeded the legal limit of 10 parts per million, or ppm, of nitrates under the Safe Drinking Water Act. One groundwater monitoring well, at Smithfield Food’s Murphy Brown Tumbleweed-Sagebrush facility near Lavern, Okla., showed nitrate contamination at 174 ppm, more than 17 times the legal limit. As Figure 1 shows, many other facilities also had very high levels of nitrate pollution.
A table from ODAFF’s 2016 report also shows that 16 big swine operations have for many years discharged toxic hog waste unabated into Oklahoma’s groundwater, leading to extremely high nitrate levels. Across all CAFOs monitored, the average nitrate contamination concentration in 2016 was 13.78 ppm, well above levels that are safe for drinking water. In 2015, levels were even higher, with average measurements of 27.52 ppm – almost triple the federal legal limit.
Many Oklahomans who live near swine CAFOs get their drinking water from private groundwater wells, but may be unaware of the monitoring results or the need to test their wells to determine if they are safe from nitrates and other pollutants. Some public water supply groundwater wells are also in the vicinity of dense concentrations of swine CAFOs with unsafe nitrate levels. Many of the swine CAFOs with high nitrate measurements also sit atop groundwater the state has designated as particularly vulnerable to pollution.
Removing high levels of nitrates from drinking water is an expensive burden that could prove cost prohibitive for smaller rural wastewater treatment facilities, leaving the communities they serve vulnerable to ongoing contamination. For example, a rural water district in Major County, Okla. – about 100 miles northwest of Oklahoma City, where Seaboard Farms has a large swine CAFO called Fairview Sow #2 – has a history of Safe Drinking Water Act violations for nitrates. (Seaboard Farms also operates the Kansas CAFOs cited in the 2001 EPA enforcement order that reported the multiple miscarriages suffered by a woman living down-gradient from one of the facilities.)
Because of these risks, Oklahoma has strict laws regulating swine CAFOs and toxic hog waste discharges. Legislation signed in 1997 and 1998 mandates licensing these facilities, and requires swine waste to be stored in lined wastewater lagoons that are monitored through a leak detection system or groundwater monitoring wells. To prevent water pollution, the state also places stringent prohibitions on the discharge of waste from the waste lagoons and land application sites into surface water and groundwater.
But the strict laws have not driven down nitrate levels. As seen in Figure 2, state data shows that the annual average levels of nitrates have increased from 7.21 ppm in 2000 to 13.78 ppm in 2016.
The state Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry is responsible for permitting swine CAFOs, conducting inspections and sampling the monitoring wells. But the Oklahoma Attorney General has broad authority to enforce Oklahoma’s environmental laws to serve the public interest, including specific responsibilities for CAFOs.[i]
Conspicuously, on the list of environmental achievements he submitted to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Pruitt included no actions to stop or clean up groundwater pollution at the facilities, or any actions to enforce existing long-term cleanup settlements. Nor are any such actions mentioned in press releases by his office since he took office. EWG submitted an open records request to the attorney general’s office for documents and communications concerning since Pruitt took office, but has not yet received an answer. But based on our research, we have been unable to identify a single instance in which Pruitt has taken an enforcement action to address groundwater pollution at a swine CAFO.
By contrast, Pruitt’s predecessor, Drew Edmondson recognized the massive problems Oklahoma faced from increasing CAFO pollution, and made it a priority to enforce the laws on swine operations. For example, a 2010 report from Edmondson’s office shows that during his tenure, he negotiated a settlement to address groundwater risks and other problems at two Seaboard swine CAFOs, Wakefield Sow and Dorman Sow, in Beaver County, Okla. As of 2016, neither of those facilities are listed as having elevated levels of nitrates in groundwater in ODAFF’s annual report.
Edmondson also took an enforcement action against a swine CAFO operated by Hanor Roberts Ranch for illegal waste discharges, land application and lagoon leakage. The enforcement action resulted in a $360,000 fine for violations, substantial facility changes and a prohibition on further land application. Edmondson also took actions against several other Seaboard hog farms in Major and Kingfisher counties, resulting in $6.9 million in environmental improvements to address groundwater pollution and other problems at those facilities. Another action against Cimarron Pork resulted in the company spending nearly $1 million to clean up groundwater pollution from illegal discharges from its waste lagoon.
The record is clear that despite ample evidence of a serious problem and his legal responsibility to take action, Pruitt failed to take a single step to address dangerous levels of nitrate pollution from swine CAFOs in Oklahoma. This is yet another example of how Pruitt failed to protect Oklahoma citizens and why he is unfit to take on the country’s top environmental post.
http://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2017/02/okla-attorney-general-epa-nominee-did-nothing-protect-oklahomans-toxic-swine

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Enbridge Denies Its Own Report About Degraded Lines

Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Greenwire

Enbridge, the Canadian oil pipeline company, denied reports that the company's two 64-year-old natural gas pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac connecting lakes Michigan and Huron are losing their protective coating.
But a work plan filed by Enbridge with U.S. EPA last year notes areas where anti-corrosive coating has fallen off or is missing. The report is available on the company's website.
The twin lines carry up to 23 million gallons of light crude oil and liquid natural gas per day through Michigan's Upper Peninsula to the Lower Peninsula. Debate has roiled for years over the pipelines due to widespread concern over the impact of a pipeline spill on the Great Lakes and coastal communities.
A company spokesman called the report on lost pipe coating hypothetical, but the report lists specific areas of the pipe where coating is missing.
The report was mandated as part of the company's $177 million settlement with the federal government after the 2010 oil pipeline spill in the Kalamazoo River, the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history. It took four years and $1 billion to clean up.
In the report, Enbridge says it will take samples to assess the thickness of the pipes in corroded areas.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/02/17/stories/1060050256

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Texas Pipeline Explosion Under Investigation

Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Energywire

Authorities are investigating the explosion yesterday morning of a Kinder Morgan Inc. pipeline in Refugio County, Texas.
The explosion, which occurred around 12:15 a.m., shook sleeping residents and further rattled environmentalists concerned about the pipeline industry.
The incident sent flames shooting high into the sky, creating a spectacle that was visible from over 50 miles away.
"It lit up the sky, and it seemed like it was daylight," said Refugio County Chief Deputy Sheriff Gary Wright.
The apparent cause of the explosion was a weak point in the pipeline that had gone without maintenance, Wright said.
But Kinder Morgan spokeswoman Melissa Ruiz disputed the existence of a weak point, saying an investigation will eventually determine the cause.
Environmentalists and others were quick to denounce the explosion as yet another example of the threats posed by the pipeline industry.
"If pipeline operators can't stop these accidents and threats to health, safety and the environment, they need to get out of the business," said Luke Metzger, director of the advocacy group Environment Texas.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/02/17/stories/1060050206

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Small Chemical Leak Follows Coal Plant's Introduction

Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Greenwire

An Alpha Natural Resources coal preparation plant in West Virginia last week spilled a small amount of a chemical, the state Department of Environmental Protection confirmed yesterday.
Between 4 and 8 gallons of a mixture containing MCHM was spilled at Alpha's Mammoth Coal facility, and the Feb. 9 incident was not reported to the DEP's hotline until Saturday morning.
MCHM was the main ingredient involved in the January 2014 Elk River spill that affected drinking water supplies for 300,000 people.
The site had just started using the chemical mixture a couple of weeks before the spill.
Samples taken from the Kanawha River did not detect levels of MCHM, according to DEP, but samples found 6.1 parts per million of MCHM in the company's outfall discharging in West Hollow Creek.
That concentration is "well below" the levels that could harm aquatic life, DEP reported.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/02/17/stories/1060050258

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Transportation News

Canada's Safety Board Seeks Strategies to Reduce Severity of Hazmat Derailments

Feb 17, 2017 | Progressive Rail Roading

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) yesterday called for Transport Canada to develop strategies aimed at reducing the severity of derailments involving hazardous materials.
The TSB's action is in response to a February 2015 derailment of a CN crude-oil unit train near Gogama, Ontario. The train was traveling below the 40 mph speed limit when 29 tank cars carrying crude oil derailed; 19 of the cars breached, releasing 1.7 million liters of oil, which ignited and caused fires that burned for five days.
The board has concerns that current speed limits may not be low enough for some trains, especially those carrying flammable liquids, said TSB Chair Kathy Fox in a press release.
The TSB is asking Transport Canada to look at all factors — including speed — that contribute to the severity of derailments and to develop mitigating strategies and amend rules accordingly, board officials said.
The cars involved in the derailment incident were Class 111s built to the newer CPC-1232 standard. Although the standard requires cars to have additional protective equipment, the TSB determined the train's speed had a direct impact on the severity of the tank-car damage.
Additionally, the lack of thermal protection contributed to thermal tears in the cars in the pool fire, leading to additional product release. The cars displayed similar performance issues as those involved in the Lac-Megantic, Quebec, derailment in July 2013, TSB officials said.
"While stronger tank cars are being built, the current ones will be in service for years to come," Fox said. "The risks will also remain until all of the factors leading to derailments and contributing to their severity are mitigated. This is the focus of the recommendation."
The TSB's investigation found that the derailment occurred when joint bars in the track failed. Pre-existing fatigue cracks in the bars at the site of the derailment had gone unnoticed in previous inspections, TSB officials said.
Once the cracks reached a critical size, the combination of cold temperatures and repetitive impacts from train wheels passing over the joint caused the bars to fail.
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/safety/news/Canadas-safety-board-seeks-strategies-to-reduce-severity-of-hazmat-derailments--50879

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Environment News

State Leaning Toward Cap-and-Trade Extension

Feb 17, 2017 | E&E Climatewire

By Debra Kahn

Cap and trade is still gathering momentum as the state's preferred policy to reduce emissions despite anti-poverty groups' best efforts to stymie it.
Activists who oppose cap and trade for its potential to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions while allowing emissions at individual facilities to increase have mounted a fierce battle to get California regulators to consider alternatives as they pursue emissions cuts through 2030. Known as environmental justice groups, they have pushed for direct regulations or a carbon tax.
But at a Wednesday meeting with environmental justice advocates, policymakers reiterated that cap and trade would likely remain the state's preference.
"Cap and trade is going to be the preferred option," said California Air Resources Board member John Balmes. "We'll have more discussion about it, but I think that's what's going to happen in the short term."
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has said he wants legislative approval of cap and trade in order to insulate the program against legal challenges from industry, which argues that it functions as a tax and thus should have received two-thirds approval, in accordance with state law.
Negotiations are still ongoing in the state Legislature, where lawmakers are sympathetic to the environmental justice stance. Some have introduced a bill authorizing a market-based system but have not yet specified which one or whether there will be new restrictions on it (Climatewire, Feb. 10).
But groups that have been pulling for the state to continue its economywide greenhouse gas market through 2030, in line with state targets of 40 percent below 1990 emissions levels by then, are cheering Balmes' statement.
"What he said was like a refreshing shower," said Sean Penrith, executive director of the Climate Trust, which develops carbon offset projects. "That is exactly what we need in the market."
LAO recommends cap and trade or carbon tax
A report from the state Legislative Analyst's Office released Monday bolstered Brown's position. It recommended that the state either extend the cap-and-trade program or enact a carbon tax to meet the 2030 target, rather than use more-costly direct regulations on facilities.
The LAO report ranked cap and trade or a carbon tax above adding the direct regulations. ARB staff are currently considering all three options but are leaning toward meeting the 2030 goals through an extension of cap and trade, combined with a boosted low-carbon fuel standard and rules requiring refineries to cut their on-site emissions 20 percent.
LAO recommended that the Legislature instruct ARB to include direct rules "only if it can adequately demonstrate that they would achieve a specific legislative goal more effectively than market based approaches."
"Complementary policies are generally much more costly approaches to reducing GHGs," LAO said.
Also Wednesday, members of ARB's Environmental Justice Advisory Committee voted to approve a declaration against cap and trade. It vows to "oppose at every turn all efforts to extend the California cap and trade system in California beyond 2020." The group advises ARB on issues facing poor people and people of color, who are more likely to live near factories and power plants.
Not all of the environmental justice committee members backed the anti-trading declaration. It passed with six votes in favor and three abstaining. Some members are unconvinced that cap and trade increases local pollution and point to tangible benefits in the form of revenue from the sale of carbon dioxide permits.
"I don't think there's conclusive evidence, in my opinion ... that cap and trade adversely affects disadvantaged communities," said Eleanor Torres, co-executive director of Incredible Edible Community Garden, a Southern California nonprofit that has received $615,000 in proceeds from the cap-and-trade auctions. "If it ended tomorrow, we will have gained so much from it."
Legislative battle looms
The committee's co-chairwoman said it was aimed at influencing legislative negotiations. "Right now, there's folks in the Legislature who are trying to figure out what they need to do," said Katie Valenzuela Garcia. "This resolution is strongly worded to send a strong message."
ARB head Mary Nichols announced yesterday that the agency would be taking more time than it planned to consider its so-called scoping plan through 2030, in order to incorporate EJ concerns and perform more analysis of alternatives to cap and trade. The agency will consider the plan, including amendments to the existing cap-and-trade program, at its June meeting, rather than next month.
The delay will also give lawmakers more time to weigh in. "It's convenient that it works out that way," Nichols said. "Some of this is going to play out in the Legislature."
The question for regulators remains whether they can continue with cap and trade while complying with a law passed last year by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D), A.B. 197, that requires ARB to "prioritize" regulations that reduce direct emissions from stationary and mobile sources (Climatewire, Nov. 28, 2016).
Nichols defended the agency's analysis of alternatives to cap and trade. "It wouldn't be reasonable to expect the organization that's implementing the program to suddenly decide it's a terrible idea," she said at yesterday's board meeting.
Environmental justice activists are pushing for more joint meetings between the committee and the ARB board, the first of which was Wednesday. They say they are open to continuing to discuss cap and trade despite their ideological opposition.
"If they see a path forward within cap and trade with 197, let's talk about it," Valenzuela Garcia said. "In this dogmatic allegiance to the cap-and-trade system, we haven't even had a conversation."
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/02/17/stories/1060050243

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