Preview Newsletter
AM ACC 2/24/2017
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(ACC Mentioned) Prices Corrected for EPS and TPEs
Feb 23, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
Plastics News this week is correcting prices for expandable polystyrene and for some grades of thermoplastic elastomers shown on the weekly resin pricing chart. -
Assault on Rules Key to Broad Trump Agenda — Bannon
Feb 23, 2017 | E&E News PM
By Robin Bravender
President Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, said today that a White House priority is the "deconstruction of the administrative state." -
Eric Trump's Brother-in-Law Lands at Agency
Feb 24, 2017 | E&E News PM
By Hannah Northey
A member of President Trump's extended family is now working in the Department of Energy office formerly tasked with carrying out President Obama's climate change plans, according to documents obtained by E&E News. -
White House Taps Key Climate Advisers
Feb 24, 2017 | Inside EPA
The White House has selected two Republican former officials to serve as key energy and climate advisers, according to recent announcements. -
U.S. Indicts a Lab Chemicals Supplier
Feb 23, 2017 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Marc S. Reisch
A federal grand jury has indicted lab chemical supplier AK Scientific, based in Union City, Calif., and its owner, Peiwen Zhou, for smuggling and illegally shipping hazardous chemicals. -
(ACC Mentioned) Pruitt, EPA Working on Ways to Speed Up New Chemical Review Process
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
A backlog of chemicals needing EPA approval has doubled in the past eight months—a jam chemical manufacturers say is significant to an industry that depends on creating new products. -
(ACC Mentioned) Acting EPA Toxics Chief Says Pruitt 'Engaged' On Meeting TSCA Deadlines
Feb 23, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad David LaRoss
EPA's acting toxics office chief says new agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is “very engaged” on implementing the new rulemaking mandates in the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and how to meet statutory deadlines for issuing the rules... -
Monsanto Can't Shake Seattle's PCB Public Nuisance Claims
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Peter Hayes
Monsanto Co. lost a bid to dismiss Seattle's public nuisance claims over PCB contamination of public waterways (City of Seattle v. Monsanto Co., W.D. Wash., 16-cv-00107, 2/22/17). -
Invisible ‘Microplastics’ Becoming Major Ocean Pollutant, Group Says
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Wachira Kigotho
The world's biggest environmental network is calling for a global ban on microscopic plastics that it says are quietly harming the world's oceans. -
EPA Chief Scott Pruitt’s Emails Show Close Ties With Oil and Gas Companies
Feb 23, 2017 | Wall Street Journal
By Amy Harder and Erin Ailworth
Thousands of newly released emails showing close contact between Scott Pruitt, the new chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, and oil and natural-gas companies are casting clouds over Mr. Pruitt’s newly minted leadership... -
U.S. Energy Regulator Still Advancing Obama-Era Climate Guidance
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Catherine Traywick
In what appeared to be a belated adoption of an Obama-era directive, the U.S. energy agency responsible for approving multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline projects has directed companies to start disclosing potential climate change impacts. -
One Fewer Clean Power Plan Foe: North Carolina Drops Lawsuit
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
Though the Trump administration has vowed to kill the Clean Power Plan, the Obama EPA's limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants faces one fewer legal foe. -
Total US gas exports to Mexico set to rise 30% in 2017: Platts Analytics
Feb 23, 2017 | Platts
By Ross Wyeno
US natural gas exports to Mexico have been on the rise over the last several years as Mexico contends with declining natural gas production and rising demand. -
Rice Energy Continues Marcellus/Utica Bolt-Ons Following Vantage Acquisition
Feb 24, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Rice Energy Inc. added 100,000 net dry gas acres to its Appalachian core last year, expanding its position and significantly boosting production ahead of big plans for 2017 that would set it up for even more growth in the coming years. -
(ACC Mentioned) Blocking Rule to Prevent Plant Blasts May Burn Bridges: Advocates
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sam Pearson
Opponents of a GOP resolution to rescind an EPA rule meant to reduce chemical plant explosions face competing congressional priorities in an environment awash in anti-regulatory resolutions and Cabinet fights. -
CEOs Want to Slash Clean Power Plan, WOTUS, Ozone Curbs
Feb 23, 2017 | E&E News PM
By Arianna Skibell
An association of top U.S. executives is calling on President Trump to slash or tweak three key Obama environmental regulations. -
EPA Extends Comment Deadline on POTW Air Toxics Rule
Feb 23, 2017 | Inside EPA
EPA is extending by 30 days -- from Feb. 27 to March 29 -- the comment period on its proposed rule to tighten air toxics limits on publicly-owned wastewater treatment works (POTWs), following a request from facility operators for more time to weigh in on the Obama-era proposal... -
California Senate Leader Unveils Bills To Retain Pre-Trump Air, Water Rules
Feb 23, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
A top California lawmaker is floating legislation that would require state air and water regulators to maintain state standards that are at least as stringent as federal law prior to President Donald Trump taking office, with the measure aimed at countering... -
UN Climate Chief Seeks Tillerson to Keep Paris Deal Alive
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jessica Shankleman
The United Nations’ climate change chief is not taking no for an answer as she travels next week to Washington in the hope of meeting top diplomat Rex Tillerson. So far, no response. -
Ivanka, Kushner Pushed to Strike Climate Deal Criticism from Executive Order: Report
Feb 23, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Nikita Vladimirov
President Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser, pushed to exclude criticism of a global climate deal from a forthcoming executive order, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday evening.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News
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) Prices Corrected for EPS and TPEs
Feb 23, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
Plastics News this week is correcting prices for expandable polystyrene and for some grades of thermoplastic elastomers shown on the weekly resin pricing chart.
EPS prices now are showing an 8-cent-per-pound increase for full-year 2016. The increase reflects strong demand for the material and higher prices for benzene feedstock, which is used to make styrene monomer.
The U.S./Canadian EPS market enjoyed a strong year in 2016. Sales in the region were up almost 11 percent, according to the American Chemistry Council, with domestic sales up more than 11 percent and sales into the export market up almost 7 percent.
In TPEs, prices for styrenic TPEs are being corrected upward by 70 cents per pound, while polyester TPE prices are being corrected downward by 25 cents per pound. Both moves are designed to reflect market changes.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20170223/NEWS/170229940/prices-corrected-for-eps-and-tpes
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Assault on Rules Key to Broad Trump Agenda — Bannon
Feb 23, 2017 | E&E News PM
By Robin Bravender
President Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, said today that a White House priority is the "deconstruction of the administrative state."
Speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Bannon noted that the administration's work will involve reversing many of the rules put in place by Democrats in addition to a broader overhaul of the federal regulatory system.
"The way the progressive left runs is if they can't get it passed, they're just going to put in some sort of regulation in an agency," he said. "That's all going to be deconstructed, and I think that that's why this regulatory thing is so important."
That effort is reflected in Trump's picks for agency leaders, he added.
"If you look at these Cabinet appointees," he said, "they were selected for a reason, and that is the deconstruction."
Several of Trump's appointees have suggested scaling back or even eliminating the agencies they've since been hired to lead. Energy secretary nominee Rick Perry previously advocated abolishing the Energy Department, although he's since walked back those comments. U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has promised drastic overhauls for that agency.
Bannon spoke at the CPAC event with Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, who also lauded the administration's early work to roll back regulations.
Priebus pointed to Trump's executive order requiring agencies to scrap two regulations for every one created.
"That's a big deal," Priebus said.
For those searching for other clues about Trump's agenda, Bannon said, look to Trump's comments on the campaign trail.
"If you want to see the Trump agenda, it's very simple, it was all in the speeches," Bannon said. "All he's doing right now is — he's laid out an agenda with those speeches, with the promises he made — and our job every day is just to execute on that."
Trump won't break the promises he made to voters, Bannon said, despite some pressure to change course.
"Many, many people try to come in and try to convince President Trump, 'Hey, you won on this, but this is what you want to do.' And he's like, 'No, I promised the American people this, and this is the plan we're going to execute on.' ... All of those promises are going to be implemented."
Trump's two high-powered advisers also sought to dispel rumors and reports that they're locked in a West Wing power struggle pitting the longtime GOP insider Priebus against the conservative outsider Bannon.
"In regard to us two, I think the biggest misconception is everything that you're reading," Priebus told the audience. "We share an office suite together. We're basically together from 6:30 in the morning until 11 o'clock at night."
Bannon added, "I have a little thing called the war room, he has a fireplace with nice sofas."
The two exchanged friendly banter throughout the interview, and Priebus, asked what he likes best about his co-worker, poked fun at Bannon's wardrobe. "I love how many collars he wears, interesting look."
Priebus said they're both focused on getting Trump's vision enacted, and he sees their presence in the White House as an embodiment of Trump's diverse support among conservatives.
"President Trump brought together the party and the conservative movement, and I've got to tell you, if the party and the conservative movement are together — similar to Steve and I — it can't be stopped. And President Trump was the one guy ... that was able to bring this party and this movement together."
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2017/02/23/stories/1060050495
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Eric Trump's Brother-in-Law Lands at Agency
Feb 24, 2017 | E&E News PM
By Hannah Northey
A member of President Trump's extended family is now working in the Department of Energy office formerly tasked with carrying out President Obama's climate change plans, according to documents obtained by E&E News.
Kyle Yunaska, the brother-in-law of Eric Trump and a former nominee as one of Washington's "hottest bachelors," is now part of the DOE "beachhead" team of temporary political appointees within the Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis, according to internal agency documents.
he agency did not respond when asked about Yunaska being brought on board.
Yunaska's sister, Lara, married Eric Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., in 2014.
Another name listed alongside Yunaska on the document was Daniel Simmons, vice president for policy at the Institute for Energy Research and former director of the natural resources task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Yunaska began working as a tax analyst at Georgetown University in 2014, according to his Facebook page, and graduated from Carolina University in 2009 with a master's degree in finance. He also worked as an accounting manager at the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and at Vail Resorts, according to his page.
In 2013, according to The Washington Post, Yunaska was listed as one of more than a dozen finalists in newsmagazine Inside Edition's "hottest bachelors inside and around Washington."
Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz launched EPSA as part of a larger DOE overhaul and stocked the office with top talent from the climate and energy arenas. Trump has since tapped former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) to lead the department, and he's up for a vote on the Senate floor as early as next week.
Richard Painter, who served as the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, said rules of nepotism would not be violated unless President Trump directly encouraged Yunaska's hiring.
But Painter raised broader concerns, saying it's arguable that members of the so-called beachhead team are de facto employees if they're participating in agency meetings or functions, and subject to a criminal conflict-of-interest statute.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2017/02/23/stories/1060050497
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White House Taps Key Climate Advisers
Feb 24, 2017 | Inside EPA
The White House has selected two Republican former officials to serve as key energy and climate advisers, according to recent announcements.
Michael Catanzaro, a former energy industry lobbyist who previously worked for then Senate environment committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) has been tapped as an energy adviser on the National Economic Council.
And George David Banks, another former Inhofe staffer who also served in the Bush administration's State Department, is slated to serve as a senior adviser on international energy and environmental issues.
Banks' move is worth nothing because he has in the past worked on international climate policy, while Catanzaro has not weighed in publicly on the matter but is thought to oppose greenhouse gas reduction rules given his background.
Catanzaro's move has been long expected, after the industry lobbyist with CGCN Group joined the Trump energy transition team late last year. However, he left his lobbying job after the team imposed a requirement for its members to turn in their lobbying licenses.
Catanzaro could not be reached to confirm the move -- an email to his CGCN address was returned as undeliverable. Also, the National Economic Council does not have a current website listing any staff, but E&E News reported that he started work at the council Feb. 21, citing a White House spokeswoman.
Banks' move was announced Feb. 22 by his former employer, the American Council for Capital Formation, where he served as executive vice president. The statement says he will serve as special assistant to the president and senior director for international energy and the environment, and started work last week.
Banks previously worked on EPW as well as at the State Department under Bush, where he worked on climate issues. He also worked in the White House Council on Environmental Quality under Bush.
He wrote a November 2015 paper about the “emissions gap” between the Obama administration's GHG reduction programs and the pledges it made to cut GHGs in the United Nations Paris Agreement.
The paper, “Success of the U.S. Climate Pledge Depends on Future GHG Regulation of U.S. Industry, Other Sectors,” noted that while the administration was unlikely to have time to issue “specific GHG rulemakings impacting industrial sub-sectors before the next election, the Administration has already begun deliberations that aim to build a political foundation for GHG regulation of the U.S. industrial sector.
“After the conclusion of any Paris agreement, we can assume that the Obama White House would focus its efforts on this objective -- in preparation for a possible Democratic victory in November 2016,” the paper said.
Scott Segal, an industry lawyer, called their arrival a “welcome relief” because they have significant energy policy experience, according to E&E News.
Their arrivals also come as President Donald Trump is expected to sign executive orders or memorandums rolling back EPA's climate change and other authority as soon as Feb. 24.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/white-house-taps-key-climate-advisers
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U.S. Indicts a Lab Chemicals Supplier
Feb 23, 2017 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Marc S. Reisch
A federal grand jury has indicted lab chemical supplier AK Scientific, based in Union City, Calif., and its owner, Peiwen Zhou, for smuggling and illegally shipping hazardous chemicals.
According to allegations contained in the indictment, Zhou told his employees to purchase hazardous chemicals (using false names) from suppliers in China. The indictment also charges that Zhou told employees to ship chemicals to customers in the U.S. and abroad without labeling them as hazardous.
Reached via e-mail, an AK spokesperson describes the company’s hazardous materials shipment program as “industry leading.” He adds that “AK Scientific looks forward to working with the government to reach a just and reasonable conclusion.”
If convicted, Zhou faces 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the smuggling charge alone. AK faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and several years of probation.
The indictment alleges, for instance, that AK smuggled 25 kg of the carcinogenic reagent 1,2-dibromoethane from China in 2012 with shipping papers describing the package contents as “Bema Inkjet Ink.”
In 2014, the firm allegedly shipped triphosgene to a customer in South Korea with documents describing it as a “chemical reagent for laboratory research.” Triphosgene may be fatal if inhaled.
“It can be very profitable to bypass the law,” says one lab chemical shipper who did not want to be named. But those who do flout regulations risk both getting caught and placing hazardous materials in the wrong hands, he says.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i9/US-indicts-lab-chemicals-supplier.html
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(ACC Mentioned) Pruitt, EPA Working on Ways to Speed Up New Chemical Review Process
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
A backlog of chemicals needing EPA approval has doubled in the past eight months—a jam chemical manufacturers say is significant to an industry that depends on creating new products.
The Environmental Protection Agency recognizes the backup and is working to address it. Possible changes include considering whether it needs to reinterpret requirements of the Toxic Substances Control Act, which was amended in June 2016.
Chemical manufacturers, which once found the EPA to be fairly predictable and reasonably quick in its reviews, are saying it is no longer predictable or quick.
“This is serious for industry as we rapidly need to bring new innovative systems to the market,” said Lynn Ann Dekleva, who manages product stewardship and regulations at DuPont.
The U.S. economy depends upon the innovation enabled by new chemistries, said Chemistry Council President Cal Dooley.
Without new chemicals, companies can't make products that improve people's lives or create new jobs, he said. It's vital that the U.S. chemical industry remain at the forefront of innovation, Dooley said.
The backlog of industry requests to the EPA to make new chemicals has doubled from 331 to 658, he said. The EPA has allowed only 33 new chemicals to enter commerce since the law was amended, Dooley said.
“This is stunning for a program that has historically reviewed about 1,000 substances annually,” he said.
Those new chemicals, however, must be safe, Jonathan Black, senior policy adviser for Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) said Feb. 22 during an American Bar Association meeting about TSCA. Udall, who introduced the amendments to TSCA and worked for years to secure bipartisan passage of the law, wanted the EPA to give a robust review before chemicals reach the market, Black said.
Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, EPA acting assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, said that help is on the way. She spoke at the 2017 Global Chemical Regulations Conference in Washington organized by the American Chemistry Council.
“You have his commitment we'll be working to get that process closer to where it should be,” Cleland-Hamnett said. She said EPA's career staff met with Administrator Scott Pruitt on Feb. 22 to discuss the new chemicals program.
Original, Amended Law
Chemical manufacturers have been required under the original and amended TSCA to submit a premanufacture notice to the EPA before they make, distribute or sell a new chemical in the U.S.
What's new in the amended law, is that the EPA must review that notice and make an “affirmative finding” before the new chemical can enter commerce. The affirmative finding could conclude the new chemical would not pose an unreasonable risk. The EPA also could find, for example, that a possible health or ecological risk was addressed through data the would-be manufacturer provided or the agency could place restrictions on the chemical's use.
Under procedures the EPA developed to comply with the original law, the agency considered ways a new chemical might be used before deciding whether it had concerns about the substance and different populations, including workers that might be exposed to it.
The TSCA amendments require the EPA to determine whether a new chemical's “conditions of use” may present an unreasonable risk to potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations including infants, children, women of childbearing age and workers.
The law said the EPA's review must consider both intended and reasonably foreseen uses of new chemicals.
Meeting Planned in June
DuPont's Dekleva said the EPA's interpretation of the TSCA amendments has prompted a huge change.
Prior to the TSCA amendments, the EPA was prepared to allow a number of new chemicals to enter commerce. Now, the agency is demanding toxicity and other data for those very same chemicals, she said.
Those demands are arising at times because the agency is making unrealistic presumptions, such as the new chemical would be manufactured without any controls to protect workers or other potentially exposed populations, she said.
Cleland-Hamnett said the agency is discussing different ways to interpret what it must do to comply with the TSCA amendments, ways it should reach out to companies that have submitted premanufacture notices and information the EPA should providing companies to help smooth the review process.
Nearly “everything is on the table,” she said.
The one exception, Cleland-Hamnett said, is that the EPA must make an affirmative finding about a new chemical before it can enter commerce.
The agency held a meeting in December with chemical manufacturers, processors, states, health advocates and other interested parties to discuss concerns about and support for the agency's approach to managing new chemicals since TSCA was amended.
Another meeting will be held in June, Cleland-Hamnett said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106168448&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106168448&jd=106168448
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(ACC Mentioned) Acting EPA Toxics Chief Says Pruitt 'Engaged' On Meeting TSCA Deadlines
Feb 23, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad David LaRoss
EPA's acting toxics office chief says new agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is “very engaged” on implementing the new rulemaking mandates in the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and how to meet statutory deadlines for issuing the rules, downplaying fears that the Trump EPA might try to slow the law's implementation.
Speaking at the GlobalChem chemical policy conference Feb. 23 in Washington, D.C., Wendy Cleland-Hamnett -- acting assistant administrator in the agency's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) -- said Pruitt told both her and Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) Director Jeff Morris that he will offer his support to help OCSPP and OPPT comply with its TSCA requirements.
“He was very engaged and asked questions about what we were doing in the new chemicals area and the existing chemicals area. He asked us what he could do to help us meet the deadlines that are coming up in June and after those to implement the law. I was very encouraged by that as were my staff. I hope you will be too,” Cleland-Hamnett said.
One day earlier, Cleland-Hamnett told a Feb. 22 panel on TSCA reform implementation, hosted by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and American Bar Association (ABA), that the agency is planning to work “swiftly” on TSCA rules covering an inventory of chemicals in commerce and other issues.
“Needing to finalize by June 22, we will be moving pretty swiftly to put final rules together after that comment period closes,” she said on the ELI-ABA call.
The TSCA reform law gives EPA until June 22 to develop the three rules: a process for conducting risk evaluations; taking inventory of chemicals in commerce to guide potential regulatory actions; and outlining how agency staff will prioritize as high priority those chemicals that “may present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment,” and as low priority those that do not meet that standard.
EPA issued proposed versions of the three rules Jan. 13, but observers have questioned whether the agency can meet the June 22 target, especially if Pruitt or others in the Trump administration seek to rework the proposals since they were crafted by Obama appointees.
Cleland-Hamnett downplayed those fears in her GlobalChem presentation, noting Pruitt's statements to her and OPPT's Morris that he would support efforts to implement TSCA.
“Although it is a difficult time and . . . the new administration is still working in terms of getting leadership in place, figuring out how they're going to move forward with some of the processes, there is a commitment at the very highest levels to implement this law as the broad array of stakeholders envisioned,” she said.
TSCA Rulemakings
Cleland-Hamnett said, “Everybody in my office has been working extremely hard for the last eight months or so to make this happen. And it is difficult in a time of presidential transition in particular to keep things moving and meet the deadlines that we think are very important for us to meet and that Congress laid out for us.”
On the ELI-ABA panel, Cleland-Hamnett said the toxics office is also continuing its work on a rule to set industry fees that will support many of EPA's activities under the new TSCA, predicting that there will be a proposal within a “couple of months.”
Addressing the panel, she said that the agency had originally hoped “to have a fees rule out in about six months too. That's taking a little bit longer. . . . My guess is that will be probably another couple of months before we have a proposed rule.”
Obama administration toxics chief Jim Jones originally sought to issue a fees proposal at the same time as the three rules subject to June 22 statutory deadlines, but Cleland-Hamnett said that target slipped in part because the agency has been holding ongoing meetings with industry to refine its eventual proposal.
Despite the delay in proposing a formal rule, EPA has delivered a report to Congress where it predicts that it will cost roughly $3.7 million to assess each existing chemical that the agency prioritizes for review.
The TSCA reform law authorizes EPA to set industry fees high enough to offset up to 25 percent of the agency's costs to operate the program generally, with a cap of $25 million. After three years, the fees and cap will be adjusted based on inflation to remain at 25 percent of EPA's costs.
Stakeholder Sparring
Also during the ELI-ABA event, speakers from the chemicals industry and pro-regulation groups sparred over whether the Obama EPA's proposals are sound or should be reworked by the Trump administration before June.
Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families' Bob Sussman, a former EPA policy official, said the proposed rules for implementing TSCA section 6, which deals with chemicals already in use, “are textbook examples of how section 6 should be working. We are very pleased by those.”
But the American Chemistry Council's Mike Walls pointed to areas where industry sees the agency applying incorrect legal standards for risk review, delaying approval of chemicals for use, or otherwise applying the law too stringently.
On risk evaluations, he said the proposals seem to blur the line between hazard, which is a standard that focuses purely on whether a chemical can cause harm, and risk, which varies based on the actual chance of exposure. “I have concern that EPA is applying a hazard-based criteria to determining what substances are likely to pose an unreasonable risk, when the statute is clearly risk-based,” he said.
On prioritization of chemicals, Walls said “there are issues about how the balance is being reflected” between industry needs and EPA's risk assessment responsibilities.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/acting-epa-toxics-chief-says-pruitt-engaged-meeting-tsca-deadlines
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Monsanto Can't Shake Seattle's PCB Public Nuisance Claims
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Peter Hayes
Monsanto Co. lost a bid to dismiss Seattle's public nuisance claims over PCB contamination of public waterways (City of Seattle v. Monsanto Co., W.D. Wash., 16-cv-00107, 2/22/17).
Seattle doesn't need to own the contaminated water to bring a public nuisance claim, the Western District of Washington said.
Huge sums are at stake in a case, which represents the intersection of product liability and hazardous waste law.
“As the owner of property abutting the East and Lower Duwamish Waterways—not to mention as the operator of municipal wastewater and stormwater systems that facilitate the migration of PCBs into the river—Seattle has suffered injury to its property giving rise to an action” under state law, the court said.
Seattle is one of several public entities that have sued Monsanto under a novel theory of public nuisance alleging the company is liable for damage to municipal property, even though third parties used the electrical product containing Monsanto's PCBs.
The court did, however, dismiss the city's allegations that Monsanto's PCBs were a defective product and that it had a duty to warn users of the defect, finding only a user or consumer of the product may bring those claims.
The court also dismissed the city's equitable indemnity claim, reasoning that it doesn't promote the public welfare, but seeks to indemnify the city as a corporate entity, which triggers a three-year statute of limitations.
In addition to Seattle, Monsanto is now defending public nuisance suits filed by the Port of Portland, The City of Portland, Or., as well as Spokane, Wash., and San Diego, San Jose, Oakland and Berkeley, Calif.
It is estimated that the cleanup in Portland alone could cost $1 billion.
Monsanto argues that there is no public nuisance liability for a product manufacturer unless a manufacturer actively caused and deposited chemicals in the bays and are among those who polluted the property.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106168445&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106168445&jd=106168445
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Invisible ‘Microplastics’ Becoming Major Ocean Pollutant, Group Says
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Wachira Kigotho
The world's biggest environmental network is calling for a global ban on microscopic plastics that it says are quietly harming the world's oceans.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature says that unlike larger plastic wastes that are well known as ocean pollutants, microplastics are not visible.
“But their release into oceans has far-reaching consequences as they have potential to enter the food chain,” said Julien Boucher, the lead author of the group's Feb. 23 report.
Microplastics are small plastic particulates that are usually less than 5 millimeters wide and are classified as primary microplastics and secondary microplastics. Primary microplastics originate mainly from scrubbing agents in toiletries, cosmetics, particles from the erosion of tires and abrasion of synthetic textiles. Secondary microplastics are caused by the degradation of larger plastic items into smaller plastic fragments once exposed to the marine environment.
Several countries in recent years—including the U.S.—have banned microbeads from cosmetics and personal-care products such as toothpaste. The international organization backs a United Nations Environment Program proposal requiring a systemic approach and entering into a dialogue with all stakeholders, from product design to urban infrastructure planning.
“Technologies are readily available and the challenge is more a political and financial one,” said Inger Andersen, the group's director general.
About 1.5 million tons of microplastics pollute the oceans each year, the organization said.
“The main pathways of these plastics into the ocean are through road runoff (66 percent), wastewater treatment systems (25 percent) and wind transfer (7 percent),” according to the report.
Most microplastics are generated through unintentional losses through abrasion, weathering, spills during production, transport, use, maintenance or recycling of products. “Taking into account that most microplastics originate from losses of product use and maintenance, the problem should be tackled with a global producer-consumer perspective,” said Damien Friot, co-author of the study.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106168435&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106168435&jd=106168435
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EPA Chief Scott Pruitt’s Emails Show Close Ties With Oil and Gas Companies
Feb 23, 2017 | Wall Street Journal
By Amy Harder and Erin Ailworth
Thousands of newly released emails showing close contact between Scott Pruitt, the new chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, and oil and natural-gas companies are casting clouds over Mr. Pruitt’s newly minted leadership of the agency tasked with protecting the nation’s air and water.
The emails, which cover a period when Mr. Pruitt was attorney general of Oklahoma, were released earlier this week after an order from a state judge. They detail Mr. Pruitt’s correspondence with several oil companies that have big operations in Oklahoma, including Devon Energy Corp.
Under President Donald Trump, the work Mr. Pruitt has been tasked with includes repealing major climate and environmental regulations enacted by the Obama administration.
The emails released so far could bolster the concerns of congressional Democrats and other critics, who say Mr. Pruitt has potential conflicts of interest since he will be running an agency whose job is to regulate companies he was close to in his prior position.
“He came from an oil and gas state, and you would expect that kind of an interchange between he and the constituents in that state, and he was an elected representative of those constituents,” said Christine Todd Whitman, a former EPA administrator under George W. Bush, in an interview on MSNBC on Thursday.
“So that, in and of itself, isn’t unusual,” Ms. Whitman added. “What he’s got to do is make very clear, first of all, his understanding that he’s now in a totally different position.”
As Oklahoma attorney general, Mr. Pruitt was part of a coalition of about two dozen mostly Republican state attorneys general who sued the federal government over an array of regulations during Mr. Obama’s presidency, targeting numerous environmental rules. Mr. Pruitt often joined lawsuits with energy companies that also contributed to his campaigns for the attorney general post.
“As attorney general, administrator Pruitt consistently stood up for the state’s energy industry and other constituencies who sought representation to stop real-life harm that was occurring as a result of overreaching federal regulations and actions,” said a spokesman for the EPA.
The Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive group that filed the lawsuit seeking the emails’ release, said it would keep pushing to release more emails. “The newly released emails reveal a close and friendly relationship between Scott Pruitt’s office and the fossil-fuel industry, with frequent meetings, calls, dinners and other events,” said Nick Surgey, research director at the group.
The emails reveal that Mr. Pruitt’s office worked closely at times with Devon Energy, an oil-and-gas producer based in Oklahoma, and other energy companies, as they worked to influence proposed federal regulations affecting the industry.
The close alliance between Mr. Pruitt and Devon, along with other fossil-fuel companies, was first reported by the New York Times in 2014.
There was much back-and-forth, for instance, over a letter that Devon helped draft and that Mr. Pruitt’s office ultimately used to make a case against a methane emission rule in 2013.
In another instance that year, Devon provided Mr. Pruitt’s office with its thoughts on a proposed draft rule from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that one Devon executive characterized as “sweeping unnecessary federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing operations on federal and Indian lands.”
Devon defended its interactions with Mr. Pruitt’s office, saying it has a “clear obligation to our shareholders” to be involved in such discussions and sometimes serves a resource for decision makers.
“Our engagement with Scott Pruitt as Attorney General of Oklahoma is consistent—and proportionate—with our commitment to engage in conversations with policymakers on a broad range of matters that promote jobs, economic growth and a robust domestic energy sector,” the company said in a statement.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/epa-chief-scott-pruitts-emails-show-close-ties-with-oil-and-gas-companies-1487896729
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U.S. Energy Regulator Still Advancing Obama-Era Climate Guidance
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Catherine Traywick
In what appeared to be a belated adoption of an Obama-era directive, the U.S. energy agency responsible for approving multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline projects has directed companies to start disclosing potential climate change impacts.
On Feb. 22, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission posted a new manual on environmental reporting, updating its guidance for the first time since 2002. The two-volume, 470-page handbook advises project developers to include in their applications potential greenhouse-gas emissions, a cause of global warming that President Barack Obama said the agency should start taking into account in reviews. A previous version of the manual doesn't mentioned climate change.
The guidance comes just in time for President Donald Trump to potentially kill it. Trump has promised to roll back the environmental and climate policies imposed by his predecessor. Both he and newly appointed Environmental Protection Agency Chief Scott Pruitt have questioned the science behind global warming and whether humans are to blame.
The timing of the revised manual has “no special significance” and was part of a “very large, comprehensive, and detailed effort” by the energy commission's staff that was just recently finalized, agency spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen said Feb. 22. The goal is to improve the “overall quality and consistency” of information submitted by project developers, she said.
Young-Allen declined to comment on whether the energy commission will have to amend its guidance yet again under the new administration.
Guidance Only
The manual recommends that a developer assess its project's resilience to hazards associated with climate change, such as storm surges and rising sea levels. The agency emphasized that the book is guidance only and “imposes no new legal obligations.”
That's consistent with a directive issued by the Obama administration in August, asking federal agencies to incorporate climate change impacts into their environmental reviews.
The energy commission listed information in its new manual that's often missing from project applications, including local climate information, air quality modeling and data on emissions from pipelines. None of those were mentioned in the previous version.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106168423&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106168423&jd=106168423
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One Fewer Clean Power Plan Foe: North Carolina Drops Lawsuit
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
Though the Trump administration has vowed to kill the Clean Power Plan, the Obama EPA's limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants faces one fewer legal foe.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Feb. 23 that it would be withdrawing from the lawsuit (West Virginia v. EPA, D.C. Cir. en banc, No. 15-1363, motion to withdraw 2/23/17).
The move comes after Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper replaced his Republican predecessor Pat McCrory, who had opposed the rule.
The D.C. Circuit heard a full day of argument over the Environmental Protection Agency's carbon dioxide limits (RIN:2060-AR33) in August 2016 and a decision is expected shortly. The Trump administration has vowed to undo the carbon dioxide standards as part of an effort roll back regulatory burdens on the energy sector. Newly installed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was among the attorneys general who led the legal battle against the rule.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106168439&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106168439&jd=106168439
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Total US gas exports to Mexico set to rise 30% in 2017: Platts Analytics
Feb 23, 2017 | Platts
By Ross Wyeno
US natural gas exports to Mexico have been on the rise over the last several years as Mexico contends with declining natural gas production and rising demand. In 2017, Platts Analytics’ Bentek Energy expects that US exports to Mexico could reach as high as 5.4 Bcf/d by late-summer. However, the timing and strength of that build will be highly dependent on the timely addition of a roughly 4.1 Bcf/d year-on-year build in export capacity.
US natural gas exports rose to 3.7 Bcf/d in 2016, a 20% build over 2015, largely due to new exports along the NET Mexico pipeline in South Texas.
This year, total US exports to Mexico are set to rise by another 1.1 Bcf/d, or 30%, supported by the addition of three four new border crossings in South and West Texas.
These new exports will fill in for falling domestic natural gas production in Mexico, which is expected to decline by another 20% in 2017. Demand is also expected to rise by around 11%, largely supported by growing gas-fired power generation needs. There is over 7 GW of new natural gas fired generation planned with a 2017 in service date, according to data compiled in the Platts Analytics Mexico Facilities Databank. These new exports will reach the Mexican market via four new export pipelines: Roadrunner, Comanche Trail, Trans-Pecos, and Nueva Era.
Combined with downstream pipelines in Mexico, Platts Analytics estimates that these new Texas border crossings will be able to access up to 4.7 Bcf/d of downstream demand by late summer, a 1 Bcf/d build from last year.
The primary new export corridors are likely to be along the Trans Pecos pipeline in West Texas and the Nueva Era Pipeline in South Texas.
In West Texas, the 1.35-Bcf/d Trans Pecos pipeline is set to come online in March and will provide incremental delivery capacity into the Mexican city of Chihuahua. The pipeline will also support deliveries further south into Durango with the adjoining pipeline expansions in Mexico, which are expected to startup concurrent with Trans Pecos. In South Texas, the 0.6 Bcf/d Nueva Era pipeline is set to come online in June and will largely serve power producers in the Monterrey area.US NATURAL GAS EXPORTS TO MEXICO EXPECTED TO TOP 5 BCF/D BY LATE SUMMER: PLATTS ANALYTICS BENTEK ENERGY
The startup of these two pipelines is likely to be followed soon thereafter by strong increases in US exports to Mexico, which are expected to rise above 5 Bcf/d by mid-summer.
Until the next Snapshot- we’ll be keeping an eye on the markets.http://www.platts.com/videos/2017/february/snapshot-mexico-texas-gas-022317
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Rice Energy Continues Marcellus/Utica Bolt-Ons Following Vantage Acquisition
Feb 24, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Rice Energy Inc. added 100,000 net dry gas acres to its Appalachian core last year, expanding its position and significantly boosting production ahead of big plans for 2017 that would set it up for even more growth in the coming years.
The company added 85,000 net Marcellus acres in Greene County, PA, last September when it acquired Vantage Energy Inc. subsidiaries in a $2.7 billion deal. The other 15,000 acres came through leasehold acquisitions, the majority of which were in the fourth quarter as the company continued to block up its acreage in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Rice added 4,000 acres in Greene County alone after the Vantage acquisition. The company now holds 248,000 net acres in Appalachia.
"Our land team's primary focus is to add acreage to extend the lateral lengths of planned development and enhance our net revenue interests across these units," said COO Toby Rice. The company wasn't alone last year in seizing opportunities as Appalachian gas prices firmed and the commodities downturn eased. Some of the basin's leading operators, such as Gulfport Energy Corp., Antero Resources Corp. and EQT Corp. have all bolted-on acreage to extend laterals and push up production.
Rice produced 1.145 Bcfe/d in the fourth quarter, up 83% from the year-ago period and well above the 1.02 Bcfe/d high-end of its quarterly guidance. For the full-year, the company produced 831 MMcfe/d, or 51% more than it did in 2015. Excluding the Vantage acquisition, year/year production was up 41%. CEO Daniel J. Rice said the company is confident it will reach more than 2 Bcfe/d of production by 2019.
The company plans to spend heavily this year, too. It has budgeted $1.035 billion for drilling and completion activity in 2017 along with another $225 million to secure more acreage. That's compared to the $791 million it spent on drilling, completion, midstream and land activity last year.
Rice plans to run three top hole rigs and four horizontal rigs this year to spud 105 Marcellus and Utica wells and turn to sales 80 of those. It only turned 49 wells to sales last year. It also has locked in 60% of its oilfield service costs for 2017. The company is guiding for 2017 production of 1.290-1.355 Bcfe/d.
For the fourth quarter, Rice's average realized natural gas price was $2.42/Mcf, excluding hedges, and $2.75/Mcf with them. That's compared to $2.05/Mcf without hedges and $3.39/Mcf with them during the year-ago quarter.
The company reported a net loss of $178.4 million (minus 88 cents/share) on $284 million of revenues for the period, versus a net loss of $280.8 million (minus $2.06) in 4Q2015. It recorded a more than $20 million impairment on its gas properties during the quarter.
The company reported a net loss of $298.2 million (minus $1.84) for 2016 on revenues of $778.9 million, compared to a net loss of $291.3 million (minus $2.14) in 2015. Rice finished the year with $1.9 billion of liquidity.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/109520-rice-energy-continues-marcellusutica-bolt-ons-following-vantage-acquisition
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(ACC Mentioned) Blocking Rule to Prevent Plant Blasts May Burn Bridges: Advocates
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sam Pearson
Opponents of a GOP resolution to rescind an EPA rule meant to reduce chemical plant explosions face competing congressional priorities in an environment awash in anti-regulatory resolutions and Cabinet fights.
No floor action has been scheduled yet on a joint resolution (H.J. Res 59), introduced by Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), that threatens to undo years of work by the Environmental Protection Agency on a plan to more closely track and monitor high-risk chemical facilities.
Key Democrats like Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the new ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, are silent so far, but opponents of the resolution expect this to change.
Frustrated safety advocates say even if Republicans have the votes, taking up the resolution to block what they characterize as modest new rules could waste floor time better suited for other issues and burn bridges with lawmakers whose support will be needed for major legislation like infrastructure or tax reform.
“It’s like they’ve beaten it to a pulp and it’s crawling and they want to smother it before it takes another step,” Rick Hind, who worked on the issue as legislative director at Greenpeace, said of the rule. “It’s really an abuse of power on behalf of special interests.”
Industry groups, meanwhile, say the rule has to go because it contains harmful mandates to share excessive information with first responders and audit facilities, among other problems.
The American Chemistry Council, an industry group, pushed the EPA to delay the regulation’s effective date from March 21 to “at least 60 days” beyond in a letter earlier this month. The regulation “imposes significant new regulatory burdens and costs on the chemical industry while adding little benefit in terms of advancing chemical safety,” the Feb. 6 letter said.
Outreach Beginning
Interest groups say they are still in the early stages of reaching out to key senators needed to defend the rule, such as Carper, who led the Democratic opposition to confirming Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to be EPA administrator. That put messaging action on Mullin’s Congressional Review Act resolution to the back burner for now. The 1996 Congressional Review Act provides a procedure for using resolutions that must be passed by both chambers and signed by the president to cancel rules issued in the final months of an administration.
With the support of Republicans, the resolution seems to have an easy path to passing the House. In the Senate, where the GOP holds 52 seats, the resolution could also win the support of moderate Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.).
Heitkamp opposed an Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulatory interpretation known as the retail exemption, which was blocked by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year. Like the risk management program (RMP) rule, the retail exemption was opposed by many facility operators.
Manchin signed a letter to the EPA in May 2016 with eight Republicans warning the RMP’s provisions “are unproven and are not sufficiently justified by EPA.”
Aides to Heitkamp and Manchin did not respond to e-mail requests for comment.
Timing of Floor Action
Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), told Bloomberg BNA in an e-mail no decision has been made on specific Congressional Review Act resolutions that will be brought to the floor. McConnell told reporters Feb. 17 Republicans “plan to take as many of these job-killing regulations off the books as possible.”
A spokesman for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Michele Roberts, co-director of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance, told Bloomberg BNA her group and related advocacy groups have been in touch with Carper’s office about the rule. She said her group and others are sending letters to lawmakers and reaching out to the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses to mobilize opposition to the resolution.
The group urged lawmakers in a Feb. 10 letter to “reject self-interested calls from industries that use extremely hazardous chemicals to overturn the modest changes to the RMP rule.”
Muted Response So Far
Still, with floor prospects unclear, the issue has seen a quieter response so far from Democrats.
As lawmakers prepared to vote on Pruitt last week, Carper declined to weigh in on the pending joint resolution, telling Bloomberg BNA he didn’t have a position because he was “focused on the nomination of the EPA administrator.”
That could change, advocates contend.
“While he’s not being vocal about it right now, we do anticipate when the time comes that he will be standing up on this,” Yogin Kothari, a Washington representative at the Center for Science and Democracy, which supports the rule, told Bloomberg BNA.
Chemical safety groups are also working without the help of former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who held a hearing on the issue in December 2014 and used to speak out in favor of the regulation.
Still, advocates expect Democratic Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Cory Booker (N.J.) to weigh in against the CRA action, Kothari said, though none of the lawmakers’ offices responded to requests for comment on the issue.
GOP, Industry Gear Up
Meanwhile, opponents of the regulation have been more vocal, expressing optimism the rule will be reversed even though it must compete with dozens of others for House and Senate floor time. Pruitt has also remained one of the rule’s toughest critics.
In a speech on the Senate floor Feb. 9, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) assailed the EPA rule as harmful to security because it would require chemical companies to share information on plant operations.
Mullin’s proposed CRA would further prevent the agency from reissuing the rule in a “substantially similar” form, potentially blocking meaningful action for years in favor of an existing set of procedures dating back to the Clean Air Act amendments in 1990.
Inhofe told Bloomberg BNA he was confident the joint resolution would be taken up at some point when lawmakers return Feb. 27 after a weeklong recess, allowing lawmakers to meet the CRA’s deadline to take action within 60 legislative days of the rule’s publication.
The final risk management program rule (RIN:2050-AG82), released Dec. 21, stems from Executive Order 13650 that President Barack Obama issued in 2013 following an explosion that killed 15 people at fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The order called for coordination between federal agencies to identify gaps in chemical facility regulation.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives later determined the West explosion was intentional. Although the EPA was already preparing the final rule by then, Inhofe said in his floor speech it showed the Obama administration used West as “as an excuse to make these facilities and the surrounding communities less safe.”
The EPA also declined to add ammonium nitrate—the chemical that exploded at West—to the risk management program. Boxer and others had urged the chemical be included.
More broadly, the EPA said the rule was in response not only to the West explosion, but to around 1,500 accidents reported by facilities in the risk management program in the past decade.
Short of blocking the rule through the CRA, industry groups could sue over it or Pruitt, a staunch opponent of the regulation, could slow-walk implementation, Hind said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/lpages/lpages.adp?pg=breaking_news&bn_product=deln#urn:bna:0000015a4ce6d5aeabdbfcff75930000
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CEOs Want to Slash Clean Power Plan, WOTUS, Ozone Curbs
Feb 23, 2017 | E&E News PM
By Arianna Skibell
An association of top U.S. executives is calling on President Trump to slash or tweak three key Obama environmental regulations.
The Business Roundtable yesterday sent a letter to National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn listing the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, Clean Power Plan and Waters of the U.S. rules as their top priorities for review.
The Business Roundtable conducted a survey of its members and identified "top regulations of concern" along with recommendations to mitigate the rules' impacts.
"The majority of these regulations directly and negatively impact economic growth," wrote Chairman and CEO Mark Costa.
"While some of the listed regulations in isolation may not appear significant to growth," Costa said, "their cumulative effect has drained resources from innovation and job creation and directed them to non-value adding administrative and bureaucratic activities."
Business Roundtable CEO members have significant involvement in the economy. Members head companies with a collective $6 trillion in annual revenues and with close to 15 million employees. The combined market capitalization of Business Roundtable companies is equal to nearly one-quarter of total U.S. stock market capitalization, according to the organization's website.
Roundtable members concluded that when U.S. EPA lowered the NAAQS for ground-level ozone in 2015, the agency stalled economic growth without adding health benefits.
EPA is required under the Clean Air Act to set NAAQS for pollutants considered hazardous to health and the environment.
The business group is calling on the administration to delay the final implementation of the rule to allow for further study.
"It should also consider how such a standard would affect the ability of industry to expand production in the United States," leaders wrote.
The Clean Power Plan, the roundtable said, should be recrafted to address concerns about EPA overreach and infringement on states' authority. It should provide maximum flexibility for compliance, they said.
The CPP, Obama's legacy climate regulation, sets performance standards for utilities to prevent new coal-fired units from being built without carbon capture technology, among other requirements.
The group also said the WOTUS rule vastly expanded federal jurisdiction over state waters, negatively affecting local economic development.
"Currently under review by the federal judiciary, this rule should be pulled back by the EPA," the roundtable wrote.
EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers wrote the rule in an effort to clarify the reach of the Clean Water Act, which regulates "the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States."
The group is also advocating for process changes including mandatory cost-benefit analysis for independent agencies, encouraging greater use of advance notice, downscaling the courts' deference to agencies' interpretation of the law, improved retrospective review and more rigorous standards for guidance documents.
President Trump today addressed a group of manufacturing CEOs where he promised to help industry by scaling back regulations.
"My administration's policies and regulatory reforms, tax reforms, trade policies will return significant manufacturing jobs to our country. Everything is going to be based on bringing our jobs back," he said.
"The good jobs, the real jobs. They've left. And they're coming back," he said. "They have to come back."
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2017/02/23/stories/1060050485
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EPA Extends Comment Deadline on POTW Air Toxics Rule
Feb 23, 2017 | Inside EPA
EPA is extending by 30 days -- from Feb. 27 to March 29 -- the comment period on its proposed rule to tighten air toxics limits on publicly-owned wastewater treatment works (POTWs), following a request from facility operators for more time to weigh in on the Obama-era proposal that the Trump EPA could potentially soften.
The agency in its proposal published Dec. 27 said it intends to tighten emissions standards for the facilities, despite finding that the existing limits are adequate to protect public health. The proposal would tighten the existing national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for the sector following a risk-and-technology (RTR) review, required eight years after the issuance of a NESHAP under the Clean Air Act.
The agency last updated its POTW NESHAP in 2002, and the proposed update was required under a consent decree with environmentalists that also sets an Oct. 16 deadline for a final rule.
In a Feb. 22 Federal Register notice, EPA extends the comment period on the proposed rule that was scheduled to close on Feb. 27 by 30 days -- until March 29. The move responds to a request from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, which represents POTW operators, for a deadline extension.
“Although we are proposing to find that the 2002 standards provide an ample margin of safety to protect public health, we are proposing additional standards . . . that address HAP emissions from collection systems and all treatment units located at the POTW treatment plant,” EPA said in its proposal.
The deadline extension gives EPA, under new Administrator Scott Pruitt, more opportunity to review and possibly weaken the rule, in line with the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda.
However, very few POTW are subject to the rule, because of approximately 16,000 POTW in the country, only six emit above air law “major source” thresholds and are hence subject to the NESHAP. The air law defines a major source as one emitting 10 tons per year (tpy) of one HAP, or 25 tpy of a combination of HAPs.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/epa-extends-comment-deadline-potw-air-toxics-rule
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California Senate Leader Unveils Bills To Retain Pre-Trump Air, Water Rules
Feb 23, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
A top California lawmaker is floating legislation that would require state air and water regulators to maintain state standards that are at least as stringent as federal law prior to President Donald Trump taking office, with the measure aimed at countering expected federal efforts to weaken federal climate and other regulations.
One bill, SB 49, sponsored by state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D), would also require state-level protections for species currently listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
“California can't afford to go back to the days of unregulated pollution,” de León said during a Feb. 23 press conference announcing the legislation. “Washington may choose to double down on dirty energy, but California will not follow. These measures will ensure that California will continue to have strong protections in place.”
De Leon added that while California has made strides on air quality, “parts of state still suffer from some of the worst air quality in the nation. Those that suffer the most are poor, they're working class and they're communities of color.”
The bill updates an earlier state law that was enacted during a 2003 effort, dubbed the “Clear Skies” bill, by the Bush administration to weaken some federal air standards. That law prohibits state air officials from issuing rules that are less stringent than federal rules as they existed on Dec. 30, 2002.
The new legislation would require air and water officials to retain standards that are at least as stringent as federal standards “as of Jan. 1, 2016, or Jan. 1, 2017, whichever is more stringent, regardless of actions taken at the federal level.”
Another bill announced Feb. 23, SB 50, sponsored by Sen. Benjamin Allen (D), would “discourage conveyances of federal lands to private developers for resource extraction.” It would also give the state “a right of first refusal” of any federal lands proposed for sale or conveyance to other parties.
And a third measure, SB 51, sponsored by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D), would protect federal employees from losing state licenses if they reveal “violations of law, unethical actions or dangers to public health and safety.” It would also order state environmental and health officials to “protect any information or data under state law, even if parties in Washington, D.C., order their censorship or destruction.”
In a Feb. 17 statement criticizing the confirmation of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, de Leon vowed to continue the Golden State's efforts to protect the environment and public health.
“California will not follow Trump’s destructive path,” he said. “We’ve proven that you can protect the environment and grow jobs. We’ve delinked economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions and helped turn clean energy into a pillar of our economy that now supports over half a million jobs in our state.”
He called Pruitt's confirmation a “dark and ominous day for America's commitment to clean air, clear water, children's health, states' rights, science-based solutions -- and the national economy that depends on them.”
Vehicle GHG Waiver
The announcement of the legislative package, which lawmakers dubbed “Preserve California,” comes as several California officials are vowing to protect the state's special Clean Air Act waiver authority to enforce its vehicle GHG standards.
The Trump administration is weighing whether and how hard to target California's vehicle authority, amid increasing calls from outside groups to do so, though it is far from clear whether automakers would welcome such an aggressive attack.
“Nothing in the law has changed to justify the EPA withholding our waiver,” de León said during a Feb. 22 hearing in the Senate environment committee in Sacramento. “The only thing that has changed is the balance of political power in Washington, D.C.”
At that hearing, a top official with the California Air Resources Board noted that the state “may not receive the same level of cooperation” on waivers under Trump, “but we anticipate that our existing waivers . . . will not be significantly compromised.”
And during the Feb. 23 press conference, de Leon added that he hopes the state does not have to use the outside counsel the state Legislature retained -- former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder -- to file suit over a potential Trump EPA move to rescind California's existing vehicle GHG waiver.
“The less that we use Eric Holder, the better. The more that we use Eric Holder, the more bad things are happening to California,” he said. “It's our hope we don't get into that battle.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/california-senate-leader-unveils-bills-retain-pre-trump-air-water-rules
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UN Climate Chief Seeks Tillerson to Keep Paris Deal Alive
Feb 24, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jessica Shankleman
The United Nations’ climate change chief is not taking no for an answer as she travels next week to Washington in the hope of meeting top diplomat Rex Tillerson. So far, no response.
“The process has been difficult for them to get started, so I don't know if I will be able to see the Secretary of State this time,” Patricia Espinosa told reporters in London. She flies out Feb. 26.
A State Department spokesman, Noel Clay, said he had nothing to confirm at this time.
The veteran Mexican diplomat is relatively new to the job of implementing a climate agreement that was approved by 195 countries in Paris last December. The problem is that President Donald Trump, sworn in last month, has threatened to pull out of it and without the world's second-biggest producer of carbon dioxide on board, the accord will be left on life support.
Trump has sent mixed signals about global warning, which he once tweeted was a Chinese hoax. He pledged during his campaign to withdraw the U.S. from the UN accord and to support burning coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. Since then, he told the New York Times that he was keeping an “open mind” about the deal.
Tillerson, a former oil executive, has made encouraging statements about climate discussions during his confirmation hearings and the U.S. plans to send a normal-sized delegation to the next round of climate talks in May.
“I hope this means they won't pull out,” said Espinosa.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106168429&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106168429&jd=106168429
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Ivanka, Kushner Pushed to Strike Climate Deal Criticism from Executive Order: Report
Feb 23, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Nikita Vladimirov
President Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser, pushed to exclude criticism of a global climate deal from a forthcoming executive order, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday evening.
Several people familiar with the move told the newspaper that the language was axed from an earlier draft of the order after Ivanka and Kushner intervened.
Trump is expected to sign at least two orders within days aimed at unraveling former President Barack Obama's environmental and climate regulations, according to the newspaper.
One White House official told the Journal that Kushner and Ivanka Trump are considered to be a moderating influence on the president's views on environmental issues and climate change.
Trump, who previously called climate change a hoax created by the Chinese, was highly critical of his predecessor's environmental policy on the campaign trail and pledged to backtrack on the climate deal reached by the Obama administration and nearly 200 countries in Paris in late 2015.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Thursday declined to say whether Trump plans to withdraw from the accord, deferring to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who the Journal noted backed the Paris deal while serving as CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp.
http://www.thehill.com/homenews/administration/320943-report-kushner-ivanka-pushed-to-strike-climate-deal-criticism-from
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