Preview Newsletter
ACC AM 3/1/2017
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Trump Budget Would Reduce Staff By 3,000
Mar 1, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Robin Bravender
Ex-U.S. EPA boss Gina McCarthy assailed President Trump's plans to slash her former agency's budget as details continued to emerge about plans to cut the workforce and climate programs. -
GOP Appropriators Raise Doubts Over Trump Plans For Massive EPA Cuts
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Doug Obey & Dawn Reeves
Even before the Trump administration formally proposes its fiscal year 2018 budget, House Republican appropriators are raising concerns over reports that officials will seek to cut as much as 25 percent from EPA spending, warning that such approaches would cut core funding from an agency that has already had its resources scaled back by prior congresses. -
Forced Testimony From Former EPA Official Likely in Monsanto Case
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
A former EPA official probably will be ordered to talk to plaintiffs’ lawyers suing Monsanto Co. alleging the chemical company's Roundup herbicide causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (In re Roundup Prod. Liab. Litig., N.D. Cal., No. 3:16-md-02741, motion hearing 2/28/17). -
Upstate Village Tables Pollution Deal With Saint-Gobain and Honeywell
Feb 28, 2017 | The New York Times
By Jesse McKinley
It has been decades since the plastics companies first arrived and silently started polluting this small village in northeastern New York, and four years since the death of a local man prompted his son to search for answers. -
Get the Lead Out: FDA Asked to Ban Compound in Hair Dye
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tiffany Stecker
Banning a lead compound from certain hair dyes would be a small step toward protecting consumers and the environment from the toxin, the Food and Drug Administration was told in a petition currently under review. -
EU Can't Agree on Hormone-Interfering Substances’ Regulation
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Union remains deadlocked on the issue of endocrine disruptors. -
No Concern From Tire Material In Sports Fields: EU Agency
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
Rubber artificial-turf granules used in athletic fields contain hazardous substances, but at levels too low to present a concern to field users, the European Chemicals Agency said Feb. 28. -
Trump Takes Victory Lap In Speech Scant On Energy Plans
Mar 1, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Robin Bravender
Anyone hoping to hear fresh details last night about President Trump's energy agenda was left sorely disappointed. -
Energy Regulator Needs to Tackle Market Battles: Utilities
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
Jurisdictional battles between state and federal control in the energy markets will be one of the biggest challenges for a new panel of commissioners expected to be appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, utility groups say. -
Eversource May Bypass Mass. to Jumpstart New England Pipeline
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adrianne Appel
Eversource Energy could bypass the states and ask federal regulators to jumpstart a stalled New England pipeline project if the company's bid to woo Massachusetts lawmakers fails. -
U.S. Looks Set to Export First LNG on Canada's Behalf
Feb 28, 2017 | Bloomberg
By Naureen Malik and Stephen Cunningham
Cheniere set to receive supplies from Montney shale playGas imports to U.S. from Canada have fallen since shale boom -
As LNG Exports Increase, Cheniere Becomes A Leading NatGas Buyer, Pipeline Capacity Holder
Feb 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Joe Fisher
Last year was a transitional one for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export pioneer Cheniere Energy Inc. as exports from its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana ramped up. The company has become a leading buyer of U.S. natural gas and recently a buyer of gas from Western Canada, too. -
US Petchems Consumed Record Amounts Of NGLs In 2016
Feb 28, 2017 | ICIS
By Al Greenwood
The US petrochemical industry consumed 1.6m bbl/day of natural gas liquids (NGLs) in 2016, hitting a new record, midstream company Enterprise Products said on Tuesday. -
Community Groups Resist House Push To Reverse EPA's RMP Rule
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
A coalition of community and environmental justice groups is urging congressional leaders to preserve EPA's risk management plan (RMP) facility safety management rule that the Obama administration finalized shortly before leaving office, an attempt to counter a pending House resolution that aims to eliminate the regulation. -
Ex-Deputy Attorney General to Monitor PG&E After Deadly Blast
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
Former Acting Attorney General Mark Filip is the new compliance and ethics monitor for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. as part of the utility's criminal sentencing in a deadly natural gas pipeline explosion (U.S. v. PG&E Co., N.D. Cal., No. 3:14-cr-00175, 1/26/17). -
(ACC Mentioned) Flake Reintroduces Bills To Address Air, Climate Concerns
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
With support from major industry groups, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has reintroduced three bills aimed at limiting the burdens of EPA's air and climate rules, part of a suite of measures aimed at alleviating local problems in the Southwest that would also have wide national implications, notably for the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) program. -
Flake Bills Would Limit EPA Regulatory Power
Mar 1, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Sean Reilly and Hannah Hess
Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake has revived a trio of bills targeting U.S. EPA's greenhouse gas rules, enforcement of the agency's latest air quality standard for ozone and its policy for dealing with air quality violations caused by "exceptional events" outside local control. -
Utility MACT Critics List Costs They Claim EPA Ignored
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
States and industry groups opposed to the Obama EPA's power plant maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule are listing multiple ways in which the agency failed to consider the rule's costs as required by the Supreme Court, though it is not clear how the Trump administration will proceed on the issue. -
States, Utilities Defend Use Of Air Trading To Satisfy Regional Haze Rule
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
Several states and utilities are defending what they say is their legal right to cite participation in EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) emissions trading program to satisfy pollution control mandates in the agency's regional haze rule, rejecting environmentalists' claims that trading does not guarantee necessary emissions cuts.
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Trump Budget Would Reduce Staff By 3,000
Mar 1, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Robin Bravender
Ex-U.S. EPA boss Gina McCarthy assailed President Trump's plans to slash her former agency's budget as details continued to emerge about plans to cut the workforce and climate programs.
The White House is pushing for EPA's budget to be cut by about a quarter, several sources informed about the plans have told E&E News. That would reduce the agency's current budget of about $8 billion to roughly $6 billion, a prospect that has outraged current and former EPA employees.
The plan would also cut spending for major EPA climate change programs and slash the workforce by 20 percent, according to Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies.
"This budget is a fantasy if the administration believes it will preserve EPA's mission to protect public health," McCarthy said yesterday in a statement. "It shows the Trump administration doesn't hold the same American values for clean air, clean water and healthy land as the vast majority of its citizens."
Her comments came as specific plans from the administration trickled out. The White House sent its proposals to agencies this week and plans to send its final budget blueprints to Congress in mid-March after getting feedback from specific departments.
In addition to the overall budget limits proposed by the White House, Trump's fiscal 2018 budget calls for cutting agency staff by 20 percent, Becker said.
Becker said he sent specifics of the proposed cuts out to his members — including state and local air pollution control agencies — yesterday after receiving details from EPA.
EPA's workforce has hovered around 15,000 in recent years, so a 20 percent reduction would mean scaling back to a staff of about 12,000. The reductions would come in part through buyouts and layoffs, Becker said.
Among the EPA programs and grants recommended to get the ax: Clean Power Plan implementation, climate voluntary partnership programs, environmental justice, environmental education and diesel emissions reduction grants.
Grants to states — including some air pollution cleanup grants — would be cut by 30 percent under Trump's plan.
"These cuts, if enacted by Congress, will rip the heart and soul out of the national air pollution control program," Becker said yesterday.
EPA didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about the planned cuts.
Agency spokesman Doug Ericksen told E&E News earlier this week, "On the budget front, we are committed to investments on the capital side, clean water projects, water treatment facilities and cleaning up Superfund sites and brownfields sites."
He added, "Any cut that did come would be on the non-capital side. It would be strategic and in line with the president's agenda and Congress"
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2017/03/01/stories/1060050726
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GOP Appropriators Raise Doubts Over Trump Plans For Massive EPA Cuts
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Doug Obey & Dawn Reeves
Even before the Trump administration formally proposes its fiscal year 2018 budget, House Republican appropriators are raising concerns over reports that officials will seek to cut as much as 25 percent from EPA spending, warning that such approaches would cut core funding from an agency that has already had its resources scaled back by prior congresses.
“In the EPA's case their funding has been reduced by over 20 percent since 2011 anyway. They are operating at 1989 staffing levels. So you really want to be sure you are not cutting the meat and muscle with the fat,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), a veteran lawmaker who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, told Inside EPA Feb. 28.
Such warnings come amid reports that the Trump administration is planning to seek a cut of as much as $2 billion -- or almost 25 percent -- from EPA's current budget of $8.1 billion when it proposes its FY18 budget request later this year.
While it is not clear which programs would face cuts, former Trump transition officials and others have suggested the administration could preserve funding the agency provides to the states while slashing spending for the agency.
But environmentalists and one former agency official warn that such a steep reduction could have a far steeper impact on core programs, especially if Congress moves to protect popular grant programs.
“That number becomes huge in terms of what is left to cut -- 40 percent or more [from core programs],” a former EPA official says. The source says an overall 25 percent cut is “not likely to gain Congressional approval but [is] still an ambitious opening bid.”
Another top appropriator, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) echoed this concern. “There's "not that much in the EPA [budget], for crying out loud," Simpson told E&E News, noting that more than a quarter of EPA's budget goes toward popular drinking water and air grants to states and local communities.
For now though, Cole and other top appropriators were uncertain about what the Trump administration is considering, given the president has not yet submitted his budget request.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over EPA funding, reserved judgment on what the administration may propose. “We haven't talked to the [Office of Management & Budget], haven't talked to [Director] Mick Mulvaney,” he said in a Feb. 28 interview. “Soon we will have a better idea.”
While he had not seen numbers from the administration, he also suggested that Congress could wind up differentiating between regulatory programs and efforts “not regulatory in nature” -- suggesting that exceptions to rumored cuts for the latter category is “something we will have to look at.”
While Calvert did not elaborate on what he meant, he appeared to be open to discussing Superfund money in that latter category, making the distinction in response to a query on whether a non-climate change related program like Superfund is the kind of program that Hill lawmakers might be more inclined to protect.
'A Fantasy'
Nevertheless, skepticism from the appropriators over the administration's plans offers some hope to Democrats and environmentalists who are pledging to resist the cuts but have limited leverage given Democrats' status as the minority party in both chambers.
Sierra Club, for example, Feb. 28 distributed statements from other GOP lawmakers who also suggested the administration's plans are not likely to fly. The statement also noted Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) had failed to advance an amendment in 2016 that would have cut 17 percent from EPA's FY17 budget. The amendment failed on a 188-239 vote, with 56 GOP lawmakers opposing it.
“Obviously that’s a lot less than the 24 [percent] Trump reportedly wants to cut from EPA, and indicates both how extreme Trump’s position is and how much of an uphill battle he faces with his own members,” the group said.
And former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy warned in a statement that proposing such a deep cut would be disastrous. “This budget is a fantasy if the administration believes it will preserve EPA's mission to protect public health. It ignores the need to invest in science and to implement the law. It ignores the lessons of history that led to EPA's creation 46 years ago. And it ignores the American people calling for its continued support,” she said.
One environmentalist also warned that a 25 percent cut to EPA's overall budget which also protected grants -- as Administrator Scott Pruitt has suggested -- would have a significantly larger effect on core programs. “Don't understate the seriousness of the budget proposal,” the source says. The grants are “40 percent of EPA's budget. So what that means is a 25 percent cut, with the state grants protected, translates to a 40 percent cut to core program budget.”
By this source's calculations the rumored roughly $2 billion funding cut more than consumes all of the budgets for the agency's health and environmental programs,” including air, climate, water, pesticides, toxics and Superfund.
“Now the agency could fire thousands of people. The agency could close all of its regional offices. But all of those agency employees and regional offices also enforce federal environmental laws. So we're back to where we started, which is starving the agency of funds to enforce health and environmental laws."
The environmentalist believes there is “no way” Congress would approve the budget request, which the source says appears to be an attempt by administration officials to fulfill a “ludicrous campaign statement” by the president that 75 percent of regulations should be eliminated. “This EPA budget is even more radical and would deny the agency the resources to enforce 100 percent of its regulations,” the source says.
House Democrats used a Feb. 28 “Members' Day” hearing in Calvert's EPA spending panel to push back against the administration's proposed budget cuts. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-FL), the subcommittee's ranking member, called such cuts, “foolhardy and completely unacceptable.”
And suggestions of the budget cuts drew an even harsher reaction from Senate Democrats. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the ranking member on the Senate Environment & Public Works, told reporters Feb. 28 that talk of steep EPA cuts should be no surprise given statements by Trump ever since he was a candidate pledging to, in Carper's words, “degrade and destroy the EPA.”
But he added, “Presidents don't get to write the budget,” noting that Hill lawmakers have the opportunity to debate them, vote on them, [in] committees, on the floor, [in] conference.”
Carper disputed the notion that Americans voted to gut EPA in the last election, saying, “I think most Americans agree that we have made great progress in terms of cleaning up the air, but there's more to do. It is not time to pat yourselves on the back and head for the locker room.”
Carper called the purported budget cuts inconsistent with remedying water problems like those in Flint, MI, as well as with passage in the last Congress of an updated Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). “There is a lot of implementation to do with that law and EPA is very much involved.”
Carper, a Navy veteran, also took a swipe at the notion of paying for boosts in defense spending with massive cuts to EPA and other domestic programs,” “The United States of America spends more money on defense than the next 10 nations combined,” he said, saying such steep domestic cuts affect not just EPA but food inspections and homeland security and law enforcement “Does that make sense, I don't think so,” he said, predicting a fierce debate on the issue. “We will have a chance to make that decision,” he said. “A lot of debate. Miles to go before we sleep.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/gop-appropriators-raise-doubts-over-trump-plans-massive-epa-cuts
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Forced Testimony From Former EPA Official Likely in Monsanto Case
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
A former EPA official probably will be ordered to talk to plaintiffs’ lawyers suing Monsanto Co. alleging the chemical company's Roundup herbicide causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (In re Roundup Prod. Liab. Litig., N.D. Cal., No. 3:16-md-02741, motion hearing 2/28/17).
Judge Vince Chhabria said he will issue a written order for Jess Rowland, the former deputy division director for the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs Health Effects Division, to be deposed by plaintiffs.
Chhabria also made clear he was unhappy with the many Monsanto motions to seal documents preventing disclosure to the public and increasing the court's workload to determine which filings should be sealed.
“And I will start issuing sanctions if stuff is oversealed,” Chhabbria said during the 90-minute hearing Feb. 27.
Some 34 documents are sealed in the multidistrict litigation consolidated before Chhabbria in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuits claim Monsanto failed to warn consumers and regulators about the risks of Roundup, a widely used glyphosate-based herbicide.
Retirement After Disclosure
Rowland retired after the Environmental Protection Agency released a report finding that glyphosate didn't cause cancer. The agency then removed the report three days later. Plaintiffs’ lawyers hope to show Rowland was involved in minimizing concerns over glyphosate.
The EPA has reviewed glyphosate “probably a half dozen to 10 times over the years from the early 1980s forward and they have consistently found the same thing,” that the chemical is safe, Monsanto co-counsel Eric G. Lasker, Hollingsworth LLP in Washington, told the court.
Order Expected Shortly
Chhabria did not state when his order would be filed.
“The judge is going to issue an order shortly that will lay out what documents he believes are appropriately filed under seal and what documents he does not believe Monsanto should be filing under seal. And we look forward to getting that so that we can follow the procedures for filing briefs like this and have to attach documents,” Robin Greenwald at Weitz & Luxenberg PC in New York, told Bloomberg BNA following the hearing.
Lasker declined to make a comment to Bloomberg BNA.
EPA Opposes Deposition
The EPA opposes allowing Rowland to testify because it is “not clearly ... in the interests of EPA,” the agency said in a formal letter.
“The agency has legitimate concerns about being pulled into private litigation,” said Raven M. Norris, assistant U.S. attorney representing the EPA. “EPA is uniquely situated. There's massive amounts of environmental litigation and they want to maintain their impartiality.”
It's premature to grant the motion to compel, Norris said.
Looking at the procedural issues, Chhabria said, “my reaction is when you consider the relevance of the EPA's reports and you consider their relevance to this litigation, then it seems appropriate to take Jess Rowland's deposition.” What doesn't seem appropriate is if allowing the deposition will “open the door to discovery of EPA's operations.”
The EPA has until March 28 to respond to the Rowland subpoena.
Millions Used, Hundreds Sued
Some 275 million pounds of glyphosate were sprayed in the U.S. in 2014, plaintiffs said in a Feb. 20 motion. Glyphosate is now the most widely used agricultural pesticide in the world. Monsanto is defending hundreds of cases in state and federal courts and thousands more likely to be filed claiming Roundup causes cancer.
“The damages suffered by these Plaintiffs would likely exceed several billion dollars,” plaintiffs said.
Previous studies have led to conflicting findings about whether glyphosate is carcinogenic. The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer said in 2015 that glyphosate probably was, but the European Food Safety Authority, also in 2015, said it probably wasn't.
Robin Greenwald, Weitz & Luxenberg PC, New York; Michael Miller, the Miller Firm LLC, Orange, Va.; and Aimee Wagstaff, Andrus Wagstaff PC, Lakewood, Colo., are plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel and lead the executive committee.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106421010&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106421010&jd=106421010
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Upstate Village Tables Pollution Deal With Saint-Gobain and Honeywell
Feb 28, 2017 | The New York Times
By Jesse McKinley
HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. — It has been decades since the plastics companies first arrived and silently started polluting this small village in northeastern New York, and four years since the death of a local man prompted his son to search for answers.
Given that timetable, it is not completely surprising that the story of Hoosick Falls, where the local water was contaminated with high levels of a toxic chemical, has not come to a quick conclusion.
Even now, with a new filtration system cleaning the water, the longing for some sort of closure — as represented by a $1 million proposed legal settlement being mulled by the village trustees — remains inextricably mixed with the continuing anger expressed by local residents.
“I don’t want to be mad at you anymore,” said Desiray Rice, a resident who pleaded with the village mayor, David Borge, to reject the deal at a community meeting on Monday night. “I want to be mad at Saint-Gobain. I want to be mad at Honeywell.”
Those two companies are the current and former owners of a factory that produced Teflon products here on the banks of the Hoosic River, about 30 miles northeast of Albany.Continue reading the main storyRELATED COVERAGELawmakers Skeptical of State’s Explanation for Hoosick Falls Water Crisis SEPT. 7, 2016After Months of Anger in Hoosick Falls, Hearings on Tainted Water BeginAUG. 30, 2016New York Senate to Hold Hearings on Hoosick Falls’s Tainted Water JULY 8, 2016Hoosick Falls Residents Take Anger Over Tainted Water to New York’s CapitolJUNE 15, 2016Pollutant Is Removed From Water in Hoosick Falls, N.Y., Cuomo SaysMARCH 13, 2016
In late 2015, state and local officials announced that tests of the water of Hoosick Falls confirmed the presence of high levels of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, which is associated with the making of Teflon and has been linked a range of ailments, including cancer.
Since then, the village has received filtration systems; tests on residents’ blood, water and wells; and — after a delay — hearings both here and in Albany.
The Department of Environmental Conservation said the state had spent more than $25 million on Hoosick Falls, money it hopes to claw back from the polluter. And on Tuesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — who has been stung by criticism of his response to the crisis — once again defended his administration’s work in the village and pledged more help if needed.
“We have made extraordinary efforts in Hoosick Falls,” the governor said during a question-and-answer session with reporters in the State Capitol.
That opinion does not seem to be universally shared by Hoosick Falls residents, who have repeatedly faulted the pace and extent of governmental efforts, including the fact that federal officials had raised the alarm about the water before state and local officials finally warned residents to stop using it. And little may have been done at all if not for the advocacy of Michael Hickey, an insurance underwriter from Hoosick Falls, who started to research PFOA after his father, a former factory worker, died of kidney cancer in 2013.
In 2014, Mr. Hickey tested the water and later brought results showing the contamination to the attention of village officials, though it took more than a year for a warning about drinking water to be issued.
On Monday night, Mr. Hickey was just one of a progression of residents who expressed disappointment and occasional fury at a proposed agreement with the two companies to cover costs to the village as a result of PFOA in the water supply. The residents were also troubled that the proposal included promises by both sides not to sue the other in relation to three tainted municipal wells.
“It’s really unfortunate,” Mr. Hickey said, adding that the deal had been opposed by Senator Kirsten Gillenbrand, who had drafted a letter to Mr. Borge expressing “very serious concerns” about the settlement.
The Hoosick vote comes even as residents in nearby towns — across the border in Vermont and in Petersburgh, N.Y. — have also discovered PFOA contamination. It also comes amid heightened concern about water quality nationally and in other parts of the state, including Long Island, where alarms have been raised about the presence of 1,4-dioxane, classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”
Dina Silver Pokedoff, a spokeswoman for Saint-Gobain, the building materials company that runs the riverside factory, which has been identified by the state as the polluter and a Superfund site, said that $1 million was meant to cover “the unbudgeted expenses” the village had incurred.
“We are ready to work with them,” Ms. Pokedoff said.
That said, the several hundred residents who filed into a local armory on Monday seemed unified in their opposition to the settlement, carrying signs reading “Our Future Isn’t Cheap,” and “Dirty Water Dirty Deal!” (hung around a skeleton’s neck). They pleaded with village officials to reject the settlement.
“This agreement is horrible,” said Rob Allen, a father of four who described the village as scared. “This community feels backed into a corner, betrayed, ignored, hurt and taken advantage of.”
That testimony, lasting two hours, apparently persuaded the village board to table the settlement pending further review.
Late Tuesday, the governor’s office said that it had “committed to provide financial assistance to the community while settlement negotiations continue between the village and the company.”
Mr. Borge, a retired state employee and a Hoosick Falls resident of more than 30 years, had favored the deal to avoid the village’s having to take a loan to cover costs.
“It’s not going to go away,” he said, adding that the village owed $850,000 to its debtors.
But, he added, his term ends at the end of March. “Then,” he said, “it will be up to someone else.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/nyregion/upstate-village-tables-pollution-deal-with-saint-gobain-and-honeywell.html
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Get the Lead Out: FDA Asked to Ban Compound in Hair Dye
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tiffany Stecker
Banning a lead compound from certain hair dyes would be a small step toward protecting consumers and the environment from the toxin, the Food and Drug Administration was told in a petition currently under review.
The agency, which oversees the safety of chemicals in food and consumer products, accepted a petition from environmental groups Feb. 24 to ban lead acetate from dyes. FDA is set to publish a notice in the Federal Register by March 27 seeking public comment on the move, and must make a final decision on whether and how to restrict the chemical by Aug. 23.
“This is a no-brainer way to reduce exposure to lead,” Eve Gartner, an attorney with the environmental legal group Earthjustice, one of the organizations behind the petition, told Bloomberg BNA. The petition is also supported by the Environmental Defense Fund, the Environmental Working Group, Center for Environmental Health and the Healthy Homes Collaborative, among others.
The coalition has asked the agency to remove lead acetate from FDA's list of approved chemicals for color additives as part of a broader initiative to lower lead exposure from paint, drinking water, food and other sources.
Lead acetate was first approved as an ingredient in hair dye in 1980. The chemical is used primarily for “progressive” hair dye, in which a consumer applies the dye over time to gradually darken hair. The lead acetate reacts with sulfur in the hair to create a black pigment coating the hair shaft.
Blood Lead Levels Not Affected
One of the best known examples of progressive hair dyes is Grecian Formula, a brand targeted to men that is owned by personal care company Combe.
The review of the petition does not mean that FDA is on track to ban the chemical said Pushpa Rao, senior director of global regulatory affairs for Combe, adding that lead acetate has been used safely as a color additive in progressive hair dye for decades.
FDA scientists found no significant increase in lead levels in blood samples of people who used the dye, said Rao.
“It's important to note that lead is not lead acetate,” Rao said in an e-mail.
Lead acetate is not in itself a major source of lead poisoning, said Gartner. But the hair dye can easily spread from a dyer's hands to others in the household. Lead exposure can cause significant mental delays in children.
The coalition sent a letter in October to the President's Task Force on Environmental Health and Safety Risks to Children with 26 recommendations on actions federal agencies can take to reduce lead contact via drinking water, air, soil, household products, cosmetics and imported food.The FDA issued guidance in December 2016 on the acceptable amounts of lead in lipstick and lip balms, which can be ingested.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106421017&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106421017&jd=106421017
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EU Can't Agree on Hormone-Interfering Substances’ Regulation
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Union remains deadlocked on the issue of endocrine disruptors.
A regulatory committee of representatives from the bloc's 28 member countries held back Feb. 28 from voting on criteria to identify the substances for the purposes of biocides and pesticides legislation. Endocrine disruptors, or substances that can interfere with the hormone system, are found in a wide range of products, including plastics, toys, cosmetics and cleaning products.
It was the fifth time the criteria were featured on the agenda of the EU Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed. So far however, the committee has declined to vote because there is no majority of EU countries in favor of the criteria.
Enrico Brivio, spokesman for the European Commission, the EU's executive arm which proposed the criteria, said the commission would “now reflect on how to proceed further.” There was “no scheduled date for further discussions” of the regulatory committee on the criteria, Brivio said.
Criteria to identify endocrine-disrupting substances are needed for the EU Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR, (EU) No. 528/2012) and the EU Plant Protection Products Regulation ((EC) No. 1107/2009), which ban proven endocrine disruptors from biocides and pesticides respectively.
The laws required the commission to publish the criteria by December 2013. After delays and a case at the Court of Justice of the European Union, which found the commission in breach of EU law for missing the deadline, proposed criteria were published in June 2016.
Under EU procedural rules, the commission can finalize the criteria for pesticides if the regulatory committee votes in favor, and can finalize the criteria for biocides after the committee has given a nonbinding opinion.
Little Consensus
The commission's draft criteria are being held up because some EU countries believe they would make it too difficult to label substances as endocrine disruptors, while others believe greater leeway should be given to allow the authorization of endocrine disrupting substances that pose a low risk.
According to the draft criteria, substances would be considered endocrine disruptors if they have endocrine-disrupting properties that can be causally linked to harmful health effects.
Denmark, France and Sweden have said that the criteria should take into account the endocrine-disrupting properties of substances only and that it should not be necessary to prove a link to harmful effects. Other countries, including Ireland, Poland and the U.K., want the criteria to include a derogation so that endocrine disruptors that present negligible risk can be approved.
Hans Muilerman, chemicals coordinator for advocacy group the Pesticides Action Network Europe, said the draft criteria currently under consideration by the regulatory committee would require an “unbelievable high level of proof to identify an endocrine disruptor,” and would “likely lead to few if any pesticides identified as an endocrine disruptors.”
The European Crop Protection Association, which represents pesticides companies, said Feb. 28 that overly restrictive criteria and the outlawing of substances could lead to reduced crop yields and could undermine “the EU's self-sufficiency in certain staple crops, such as wheat.”
The criteria are considered significant not only for biocides and pesticides, but because, once adopted, they could have an impact on identification of endocrine disruptors for the purposes of other EU legislation, such as the REACH chemicals regulation.
Brivio said the EU would be the first jurisdiction “worldwide to define such scientific criteria in legislation.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106421033&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106421033&jd=106421033
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No Concern From Tire Material In Sports Fields: EU Agency
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
Rubber artificial-turf granules used in athletic fields contain hazardous substances, but at levels too low to present a concern to field users, the European Chemicals Agency said Feb. 28.
However, some precautionary steps should be taken, including the production of guidance by rubber recyclers to aid testing of the material, provision of information on substances in rubber granules to “interested parties in an understandable manner,” and adequate ventilation for indoor fields, the agency said.
The European Commission, the EU's executive, asked the agency in mid-2016 to make a preliminary evaluation of the health risks associated with rubber granules in sports fields, in preparation for a possible restriction under the EU's REACH chemicals regulation. Concerns in the U.S. about tire crumb have triggered a similar investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The European Chemicals Agency said that recycled rubber granules used as infill in sports fields are largely derived from car tires and can contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals, phthalates, volatile organic hydrocarbons and semi-volatile organic hydrocarbons.
But in most cases, the presence of the substances is below legal limits and presents a “negligible” concern, though emissions of volatile organic hydrocarbons from indoor fields could cause eye and skin irritation in poorly-ventilated halls, the agency said.
It is estimated that by 2020 the EU will have 21,000 full-size fields and about 72,000 mini-fields containing tire crumb, the agency's report summarizing the findings said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106421034&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106421034&jd=106421034
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Trump Takes Victory Lap In Speech Scant On Energy Plans
Mar 1, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Robin Bravender
Anyone hoping to hear fresh details last night about President Trump's energy agenda was left sorely disappointed.
In his roughly hourlong speech to Congress, Trump touted his early moves to cut government regulations and to advance the construction of oil pipelines. He reiterated a call for Congress to approve a massive infrastructure package (see related story) and repeated his promises to aid struggling coal miners.
But Trump offered scant specifics on his plans to roll back some major Obama-era regulations, which he has repeatedly promised to do. The speech was void of details on issues like the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, the Paris climate agreement and the executive order Trump signed just yesterday aimed at repealing a major Obama-era water rule (E&E News PM, Feb. 28).
He didn't even mention energy or climate change directly, although he said he wants to work with Democrats and Republicans alike to "promote clean air and clean water."
Trump's first formal address to Congress took a markedly different tone from some of his early public speeches since taking office. He struck an optimistic note about the country's future while calling for political parties to find common ground.
"Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved," Trump said.
"Democrats and Republicans should get together and unite for the good of our country and for the good of the American people," he said.
Much of Trump's speech involved heralding his early executive actions, including orders on regulations that will likely have major consequences for federal environmental policies.
"We have undertaken a historic effort to massively reduce job-crushing regulations, creating a deregulation task force inside of every government agency, imposing a new rule which mandates that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated," he said.
He reiterated his campaign-trail promises about revitalizing the coal industry. "We're going to stop the regulations that threaten the future and livelihoods of our great coal miners."
And Trump touted his executive orders to advance the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
On infrastructure, Trump renewed his call for "a new program of national rebuilding." He intends to ask Congress for legislation "that produces a $1 trillion investment in the infrastructure of the United States — financed through both public and private capital — creating millions of new jobs."
Trump offered few details for tax reform but echoed past calls for lower corporate rates and "massive" tax cuts for the middle class.
"We must create a level playing field for American companies and workers," he said, using language that appeared in line with the border adjustment tax proposal that lies at the heart of the House's tax reform blueprint. However, Trump stopped short of endorsing such a plan, which would tax imported products at 20 percent while exempting exports.Dems, greens not impressed
Trump's broad themes were welcome to his Republican allies in Congress, but his softer tone did little to win over his critics.
House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said the president's "commitment to growing our economy and reforming federal bureaucracy to empower people are welcome words."
Bishop added, "From infrastructure and regulatory reform to outdated environmental statutes and bureaucratic mission creep, I look forward to working in partnership with this administration and our states on a better way forward for the country."
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said Trump delivered a message of "optimism and of great things to come for this country. And for good reason — this is a president of action and it is clear that he will deliver on the promises he made to the American people on the campaign trail."
But Democrats and greens weren't pleased.
Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D), who delivered Democrats' official response last night, accused Trump of "eroding our democracy" through attacks on intelligence agencies, the courts and the press. "Real leaders don't spread derision and division. Real leaders strengthen," Beshear said.
Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune called Trump's speech "shockingly, but unsurprisingly, divorced from the reality of what he has done and what he plans to do."
Brune added, "Less than eight hours after gutting the Clean Water Rule and jeopardizing the drinking water for one in every three Americans, Trump claimed he cares about protecting our clean water while failing to even mention the greatest global threat we face: climate change."
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said: "The White House tried to bill tonight's address as the president turning the page on the swerving, disorganized first month of the Trump administration. But all I heard was big talk and proposals that many in his own party would have a hard time supporting."
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2017/03/01/stories/1060050727
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Energy Regulator Needs to Tackle Market Battles: Utilities
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rebecca Kern
Jurisdictional battles between state and federal control in the energy markets will be one of the biggest challenges for a new panel of commissioners expected to be appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, utility groups say.
Once the Trump administration nominates commissioners and FERC again has a quorum, the independent economic regulator will be able to tackle the pending jurisdictional issues.
The American Public Power Association, which represents community-owned utilities serving 14 percent of the country's electricity customers, said it wants the new commissioners to be able to handle these issues.
“What I would be looking for in new FERC commissioners are ones that are frankly sensitive and well-versed in the jurisdictional proper boundaries and localities on one side, and the federal government on the other,” Sue Kelly, APPA's president and CEO, told reporters at a Feb. 28 briefing in Washington.
“There's been a lot of jurisdictional push into areas that have traditionally been the purview of state and federal government,” Kelly said.
For example, New York and Illinois last year passed zero emission credits to subsidize certain nuclear power plants to keep them running in the energy markets. Energy companies and generators filed legal challenges in federal courts and at FERC, claiming the hundreds of millions of dollars in annual subsidies could artificially suppress wholesale energy capacity prices.
Philip Moeller, a senior vice president at the investor-owned utility trade group Edison Electric Institute, also said that FERC will be faced with a “blurring line between wholesale and retail markets.” FERC controls wholesale energy markets, and retail energy markets are controlled by the states.
Moeller also said he believes FERC needs to make price formation reforms a priority once the commission has a quorum. These changes would make it possible to improve the way generators are compensated for certain attributes of their power supply, such as the carbon-free emissions from nuclear power plants.
“I think the next commission is going to have to address the fact that in order to keep a reliable mix of generation, the markets have to be tweaked in a way to compensate some of these services, whether it's voltage support, inertia, fuel security. Those are valuable attributes that markets need to find a way to measure, assign and compensate that value,” Moeller, a former FERC commissioner, said at an American Council for Capital Foundation Feb. 28 event on Capitol Hill.
FERC is down to two commissioners—Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur and Commissioner Colette Honorable—following the resignation of former Chairman Norman Bay on Feb. 3. Without a quorum of three, it can't vote out any orders on cases, including pending state cases. The Trump administration can nominate up to three Republican commissioners for a five-person commission.
Technical Conference on State Actions
LaFleur has said FERC staff will hold a technical conference to gather testimony on how the wholesale energy markets can adapt to out-of-market state regulatory and legislative activities. The date of the conference hasn't been announced.
Kelly said she supported the two-member commission pursuing the conference without a quorum.
LaFleur said earlier in Feburary that while the two sitting commissioners can't issue orders on these pending state cases without a quorum, they can organize this staff-led technical conference “to bring people before us, build a record, hear from the states, environmental communities, generators and [independent system operators] to try to discuss those issues.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106421027&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106421027&jd=106421027
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Eversource May Bypass Mass. to Jumpstart New England Pipeline
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adrianne Appel
Eversource Energy could bypass the states and ask federal regulators to jumpstart a stalled New England pipeline project if the company's bid to woo Massachusetts lawmakers fails.
The company hopes it can convince the Massachusetts legislature to take up a bill approving a plan to bill electric ratepayers to help fund the $3 billion natural gas Access Northeast Pipeline project, but lawmakers called that plan a very long shot. A similar bill in New Hampshire has a rosier outlook, Eversource said.
“In Massachusetts, there is a, really kind of an outreach campaign with key business leaders and legislators for them to understand the impact that not having additional gas pipeline capacity will have to the region, to reliability, to cost,” Lee Olivier, an Eversource executive vice president, said in a Feb. 22 call with investors.
The pipeline upgrade, which Eversource, Spectra Energy and National Grid want to deliver more natural gas from New York to Connecticut, Massachusetts and New England, came to a screeching halt after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in August 2016 that the companies’ plan to charge electric ratepayers for the cost of the project was not legal under existing utility laws.
Barring state legislation, Eversource could petition the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to charge electric ratepayers for the costs of the pipeline. However, federal regulators advised the company a few years ago that going through the states would be “cleaner,” Olivier said.
The company declined to comment further to Bloomberg BNA on its plans.
No Bill, No Way
Massachusetts lawmakers downplayed the likelihood of getting a bill through.
“Good luck to them. They won't have my support,” Sen. Anne Gobi (D), co-chair of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 24 in an interview.
Gobi believes her Senate colleagues remain opposed to the Access Northeast project as well. “I can't imagine that anything has happened in the last several months that would change their opinion,” Gobi said.
“There's no way Eversource is going to get a bill through the Massachusetts legislature to allow them to charge electric ratepayers for a pipeline,” Katy Eiseman, director of the Pipe Line Awareness Network for the Northeast, told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 23 in an e-mail. “Frankly, I think they know that,” said Eiseman, whose group opposes the construction of natural gas pipelines.
Massachusetts uses about 42 percent of the natural gas in the region, Olivier said. “So you really have to have Massachusetts play. And it's obviously in their best interest to do that,” Olivier said.
The project's financing plan is legal in Connecticut, Maine and Rhode Island, Olivier said. The company is also working with New Hampshire legislators on a bill to make the financing plan legal in that state after the state Public Utilities Commission refused to approve the project because it would charge electric ratepayers. The companies appealed that decision to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, which recently agreed to hear the case Olivier said.
More Gas or More Conservation?
The region needs more gas, especially Massachusetts, Olivier said. Pipelines today can carry at most 3 billion cubic feet of gas per day, but on a cold winter day New England needs 4 billion cubic feet of gas a day to keep gas-fired electric plants operating, he said.
Right now, liquid natural gas makes up the difference, and that is one reason why gas prices in New England are the highest in the nation, Olivier said.
“We're using less and less electricity,” and so the region's need for natural gas is declining, not increasing, David Ismay, at attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 23 in an interview.
“The lights have stayed on through cold winters,” Ismay said.
Despite fierce public opposition in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to new natural gas pipelines, Spectra Energy's new Algonquin Incremental Market pipeline quietly went into service in December. It is now delivering 342 million cubic feet of gas per day into Massachusetts and the region.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106421031&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106421031&jd=106421031
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U.S. Looks Set to Export First LNG on Canada's Behalf
Feb 28, 2017 | Bloomberg
By Naureen Malik and Stephen Cunningham
Cheniere set to receive supplies from Montney shale playGas imports to U.S. from Canada have fallen since shale boomCanada’s first exports of liquefied natural gas may soon be heading overseas -- from a port in Louisiana.
A year ago, Cheniere Energy Inc. built an LNG export terminal along Louisiana’s coast and became the only company shipping U.S. shale gas by tanker. Now it’s looking for supplies to send abroad from as far off as the Montney shale play, straddling Canada’s Alberta and British Columbia provinces.
“We’re able to build a portfolio of supply from domestic gas producers and take full advantage of the cost-competitive basins across the U.S.,” Cheniere’s chief commercial officer, Anatol Feygin, said in a call with investors on Tuesday. “In fact, it doesn’t stop at the U.S., as we recently entered into our first supply deal to receive Montney gas.”
The deal underscores the great lengths Canada’s gas explorers are having to go to get their fuel to market as they face escalating competition from U.S. shale drillers at home. While several LNG export terminals have been proposed along Canada’s West Coast, it’ll be years before any are up and running. In some ways, Cheniere is doing what environmentalists feared the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline would do: Bring Canada’s energy resources into the U.S. only to export them from the Gulf Coast.
“This is a great potential outlet” for Canada, Madeline Jowdy, senior director of global gas and LNG at Pira Energy Group in New York, said of the deal with Cheniere. Export projects planned for Canada’s coast “look like they are going to be a long time coming, if ever, in my opinion.”
The U.S. shale boom has cut the volume of gas being imported from Canada. Pipeline flows into the lower 48 states fell 39 percent to 7.38 billion cubic feet a day in November from the record high reached in 2007, U.S. Energy Information Administration data show.
No Canadian gas has ever been exported as LNG, according to Victoria Zaretskaya, an analyst with the Energy Information Administration.
The pipelines feeding Cheniere’s landmark export terminal at Sabine Pass, Louisiana, have gathered gas from Texas’s Eagle Ford shale play and other parts of the state, she said. It doesn’t appear as if they’re bringing in gas from Canada, she said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-28/america-looks-set-to-export-first-lng-on-canada-s-behalf
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As LNG Exports Increase, Cheniere Becomes A Leading NatGas Buyer, Pipeline Capacity Holder
Feb 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Joe Fisher
Last year was a transitional one for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export pioneer Cheniere Energy Inc. as exports from its Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana ramped up. The company has become a leading buyer of U.S. natural gas and recently a buyer of gas from Western Canada, too.
"The fourth quarter of 2016 was another milestone quarter for Cheniere, as today we report financial results driven by nearly a full quarter of LNG production from the first two trains at Sabine Pass," said CEO Jack Fusco. "Transition and execution will remain central themes for Cheniere in 2017, as we expect Trains 3 and 4 at Sabine Pass to begin commercial operations, with Train 3 having produced its first commissioning cargo in January.
A demand increase in LNG seen last year was to be expected because of new supply coming online from projects in Australia as well as Cheniere’s Sabine Pass, said Chief Commercial Officer Anatol Feygin, during a conference call Tuesday. What was not expected, though, was the size and speed of the demand response, he said.
“Global demand last year was up 6% year-on-year, a 15 million tonne net increase, but more than 28 million tonnes of demand growth outweigh the 13 million tonne decline, which came mostly from a slowdown in Latin America and Japan.”
China and India led the demand charge. China increased LNG imports by more than 7 million tonnes compared with 2015, Feygin said, adding that the amount is equivalent to the production coming from nearly two conventional-size liquefaction trains. Demand from India increased by 4 million tonnes year over year, he said, with the bulk of the increase coming during the third quarter.
Also supporting the demand for LNG were Egypt and Pakistan, which are new entrants into the global LNG marketplace, Feygin said. Spain and France increased their imports as well.
“LNG supply grew more in 2016 than it has on an annual basis since 2011,” Feygin said. “In addition to our own plant starting up, four projects in Australia were either beginning operations are ramping up during the year, adding the majority of the 17.5 million tonnes of incremental supply.
“Declines at legacy producers helped to keep the year-over-year increase from being even bigger, despite the increase in Pacific Basin supply, the region still had to draw on LNG produced in the Atlantic Basin, especially during the second half of the year when the demand response from Asia was strengthened considerably.”
The fourth quarter saw a particular uptick in demand, Feygin said, while prices increased. Asian spot prices during the quarter reached two-year highs, nearing $10/MMBtu, he said. “The demand pull from Asia was headlined by China, which increased imports by more than 60%, about 3.5 million tonnes, in Q4.
“South Korea and Spain both imported 16% more LNG in Q4, while Taiwan was up by double digits at 13%,” Feygin said. “A cold snap in Asia helped to underpin the increased demand, and LNG was able to quickly fill in for nuclear outages, domestic gas shortages, and compete effectively with coal and liquid fuels. The first two trains were operating at Sabine Pass for most of Q4, and the profile of delivery destinations from the plant showed the ability of U.S. LNG to be reactive to market conditions.”
Asia grew as a destination for LNG volumes from Sabine Pass during the fourth quarter as the spread between Henry Hub and Asian prices drew U.S. supply into the Pacific Basin, he said.
Cheniere’s business model includes natural gas supply procurement and transportation as well as liquefaction. During the fourth quarter the company emerged as one of the largest physical buyers of natural gas in the U.S. market, acquiring more than 1.5 Bcf/d, Feygin said.
“We've quickly increased our intake at the [Sabine Pass] plant to more than 2 Bcf/d to feed liquefaction on the third train, which...is deep into the commissioning process and has started LNG production.”
Being a major buyer of gas means being a major pipeline capacity holder, too.
“Together, our two [liquefaction] projects [Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi] are one of the largest pipeline capacity holders in the country with more than 5 Bcf/d of firm capacity on eight pipeline systems,” Feygin said. “This capacity represents an annual expenditure of approximately $400 million in capacity payments between our two project companies but will ensure our ability to effectively manage intraday volume variances, price volatility and effectively operate as one of the largest gas buyers in the U.S.”
The Cheniere supply portfolio taps supply basins from around the United States. Recently, Feygin said, Cheniere struck its first supply deal to receive Montney Shale gas from a Canadian producer at a Henry Hub index price.
Cheniere has cargos available to sell into the short-term market now and soon will have more when the third train comes online at Sabine Pass, Feygin said.
By the end of Q4, the [marketing] group had sold and delivered 28 cargoes from the Sabine Pass terminal. The group also manages an LNG shipping portfolio needed to handle the volume coming from Sabine Pass and has chartered more than 20 tankers. Cheniere is one of the top five holders of LNG shipping capacity.
The company has uncontracted capacity at both Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi available under either FOB (free on board) or DES (delivered ex ship) terms, “...which allows us to be more flexible and creative with what we can offer buyers,” Feygin said. “Our global origination team continues to target customers with contracts on a range of terms, quantities and lengths, including LNG to power projects that are facilitated by floating regasification.”
Through Cheniere Partners the company is developing up to six trains at Sabine Pass. Each train is expected to have a nominal production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). Commissioning on Sabine’s third train began in September. “Based on the current construction schedule, Cheniere Partners expects to reach substantial completion for Train 3 in the first quarter of 2017 and Train 4 in the second half of 2017,” the company said. Construction of Train 5 began in June 2015.
At Corpus Christi Cheniere is developing up to three trains, with each expected to have a nominal production capacity of 4.5 mtpa of LNG. Construction on Trains 1 and 2 began in May 2015, and as of Dec. 31, the overall project completion percentage was 49.2%. Train 3 is under development, with all necessary regulatory approvals in place.
Cheniere Energy Inc. reported net income of $109.7 million (48 cents/share), for the fourth quarter compared to a net loss of $291.1 million (minus $1.28), for the comparable 2015 period. For the year Cheniere reported a net loss of $610 million (minus $2.67) compared to a net loss of $975.1 million (minus $4.30), for the comparable 2015 period.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/109571-as-lng-exports-increase-cheniere-becomes-leading-natgas-buyer-pipeline-capacity-holder
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US Petchems Consumed Record Amounts Of NGLs In 2016
Feb 28, 2017 | ICIS
By Al Greenwood
HOUSTON (ICIS)--The US petrochemical industry consumed 1.6m bbl/day of natural gas liquids (NGLs) in 2016, hitting a new record, midstream company Enterprise Products said on Tuesday.
The US relies predominantly on gas-based feedstock like ethane and propane. Demand should increase further this year as companies start up new crackers.
Enterprise expects US ethylene cracking capacity will increase by 40% by the end of the decade, according to slides it presented at the Barclays MLP Corporate Access Days event.
Already, Occidental Chemical (OxyChem) and Mexichem started up their new joint-venture cracker in Ingleside, Texas. The cracker has a capacity of 1.2bn lb/year (544,000 tonnes/year).
Demand for US NGLs will also extend beyond the country's borders. Enterprise and other companies have started exporting ethane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The US is now the world's largest exporter of LPG, and shipments reached a record 877,000 bbl/day in 2016, Enterprise said.
Looking ahead, Enterprise still expects the US Gulf Coast will be short of NGLs because of increased demand from new plants. As a result, Enterprise expects prices to rise before NGL suppliers begin shipping the material from farther away.
The map below from Enterprise summarises its outlook for future NGL demand.
Enterprise itself could expand its ethane pipeline that connects NGL supplies from the northeastern US to its fractionation hub in Mont Belvieu, Texas. That pipeline is called the Appalachia to Texas Express (ATEX).
Enterprise can expand the capacity to 265,000 bbl/day from its current 125,000 bbl/day, but that would require additional long-term agreements, the company said. Moreover, the project would take 18 months.
Enterprise could also convert the idled Centennial pipeline from refined products to NGLs, it said. Centennial connects Beaumont, Texas, to Bourbon, Illinois. It is owned equally by Marathon Petroleum and Enterprise.
If the companies decide to convert the pipeline, the project would also require some new pipelines, Enterprise said. It would take 18-24 months, and it would connect fractionators in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays to Centennial.
The repurposed Centennial could carry up to 230,000 bbl/day of NGLs, Enterprise said. The project is currently under negotiation.
Meanwhile, the company's ethane header system along the Gulf Coast is currently moving 135,000 bbl/day. The system is expandable beyond 400,000 bbl/day with additional pipeline looping.
So far, Enterprise has received commitments for 360,000 bbl/day, it said.
https://www.icis.com/resources/news/2017/02/28/10083449/us-petchems-consumed-record-amounts-of-ngls-in-2016/
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Community Groups Resist House Push To Reverse EPA's RMP Rule
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
A coalition of community and environmental justice groups is urging congressional leaders to preserve EPA's risk management plan (RMP) facility safety management rule that the Obama administration finalized shortly before leaving office, an attempt to counter a pending House resolution that aims to eliminate the regulation.
“Congress should reject self-interested calls from industries that use extremely hazardous chemicals to overturn the modest changes to the RMP rule, and instead stand with the first responders, at-risk communities, safety experts, workers, small businesses, and others who live at daily risk of a catastrophic chemical release or explosion and supported updates to the rule throughout an extensive and open three-year public process,” the Environmental Justice Health Alliance, a coalition of 25 environmental justice community groups, said in a just-released letter to top lawmakers.
The letter comes in response to Rep. Markwayne Mullin's (R-OK) Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to disapprove the RMP rule.
The measure is being strongly supported by industry groups and has won support from 39 co-sponsors. But it is not clear whether the disapproval resolution will advance as it is not listed on the House GOP leadership's list of priority CRA resolutions. Should the CRA approach fail, they plan to press EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to pursue a rulemaking repealing controversial RMP revisions.
The RMP was the result of President Barack Obama's executive order following the 2013 explosion at a fertilizer facility in West, TX, that killed 15 people and injured more than 160 more. The rule sought to strengthen EPA's earlier RMP rule with new requirements for auditing, hazard analysis and disclosure of facility data.
Industry officials have criticized the RMP rule as imposing unnecessary new requirements without clear benefit. They have especially faulted as costly and unnecessary new requirements that certain facilities analyze whether safer technologies would improve safety, conduct independent audits, and release data to first responders and the public.
But the coalition argues that accidents like the West, TX explosion “are frighteningly common. In just ten years from 2004-2013, there were over 1,500 reported chemical releases or explosions at RMP facilities that caused: Over $2 billion in property damage; Evacuation or 'shelter in place' of half a million people; 17,099 injuries and 58 deaths.”
Further, they argue that the Obama EPA's rule went through an extensive three-year process and that it has widespread support.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/community-groups-resist-house-push-reverse-epas-rmp-rule
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Ex-Deputy Attorney General to Monitor PG&E After Deadly Blast
Mar 1, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
Former Acting Attorney General Mark Filip is the new compliance and ethics monitor for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. as part of the utility's criminal sentencing in a deadly natural gas pipeline explosion (U.S. v. PG&E Co., N.D. Cal., No. 3:14-cr-00175, 1/26/17).
Filip, a former U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois judge and an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois, was named as monitor during PG&E's five-year probation for felony obstruction and Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act violations related to the September 2010 explosion that left eight dead.
The National Transportation Safety Board specifically cited PG&E's shoddy recordkeeping as a probable cause of the disaster in which faulty pipeline welds and overpressure allowed the 54-mile-long pipeline to explode. About 108 homes were also destroyed or damaged in the explosion of a neighborhood near San Francisco International Airport.
Senior Judge Thelton Henderson ordered a monitor as a condition of the judgment that also requires high-level executives perform 2,000 hours of community service, take out television and newspaper ads and pay a $3 million fine.
PG&E and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California selected Filip from applications received after the Jan. 26 sentencing.
Filip, who leads Kirkland & Ellis LLP's government enforcement defense and internal investigations group, declined Feb. 28 to make a comment to Bloomberg BNA. Filip was second-in-command of the Justice Department and oversaw criminal and civil enforcement, according to his profile on the Kirkland website. He was acting AG from Jan. 20, 2009, until Eric Holder was confirmed a month later.
PG&E Support Provided
PG&E executives told employees their “full cooperation with the monitorship is paramount, so please be candid and open with the monitor at all times. We also want every member of the PG&E organization to be fully, completely and quickly compliant with both the letter and spirit of any requirements or requests from the monitor and his team.”
“Second, everyone at PG&E should view this in the spirit of another learning opportunity,” PG&E Corp. Board Executive Chairman Tony Earley, incoming CEO Geisha Williams and PG&E Co. President and CEO Nick Stavropoulos said in a Feb. 27 memo to employees, which Bloomberg BNA obtained.
“We have no doubt that we can learn lessons from the monitor that will improve our performance, and that is exactly what we intend to do. We ask the same from each and every one of you,” they said.
PG&E will pay the monitor and staff. The company may offer suggestions on qualified professionals to assist the monitor, and the monitor can interview those suggested workers.
Monitor Duty, Terms
The monitor's goal is to help ensure PG&E “takes reasonable and appropriate steps to maintain the safety of the gas transmission pipeline system, performs appropriate assessment testing on gas transmission pipelines, and maintains an effective ethics and compliance program and safety related incentive program.”
PG&E since the explosion and rupture of the natural gas pipeline through the suburban San Francisco neighborhood has implemented numerous initiatives designed to improve safety and effectiveness, Henderson's order said.
The monitor will focus on PG&E's implementing policies and procedures to comply with the California Public Utilities Commission orders following safety citations; confirm satisfactory strength testing of at least 500 miles of gas transmission pipelines in 2017 and 2018; and complete pipeline historical leak data into a single database.
PG&E by July 31 must develop and submit to the court an effective compliance and ethics program, including an implementation schedule.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=106421019&vname=dennotallissues&fn=106421019&jd=106421019
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(ACC Mentioned) Flake Reintroduces Bills To Address Air, Climate Concerns
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
With support from major industry groups, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has reintroduced three bills aimed at limiting the burdens of EPA's air and climate rules, part of a suite of measures aimed at alleviating local problems in the Southwest that would also have wide national implications, notably for the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) program.
Flake introduced the bills Feb. 27 as part of a series of seven land, air and forestry measures he intends to introduce “that will ease burdensome regulations and provide for more economic development and infrastructure investment in rural Arizona.”
One bill, S. 453, prohibits EPA from imposing the costs of GHG rules on other federal agencies without first providing an “offset” from EPA's own budget. “It would also prohibit EPA from passing the federal costs of a GHG rule onto consumers of federal power generating agencies, such as the Western Area Power Authority,” Flake's said in a statement.
“This will prevent EPA from circumventing Congress and shifting the burden of costly regulations onto Arizona ratepayers,” the statement adds. Flake appears to be referencing the Western Area Power Administration, which is a power marketing body within the Department of Energy that markets and transmits wholesale electricity from “multi-use water projects” such as the Hoover Dam, according to the administration's website.
S. 452, meanwhile, echoes legislation already introduced in the House and Senate this Congress, and would extend from five years to 10 years the statutory review cycle for all six NAAQS for Clean Air Act “criteria” pollutants, such as ozone and particulate matter.
It would further delay until 2025 implementation of EPA's strict 2015 ozone NAAQS of 70 parts per billion, which the Obama EPA tightened down from a prior level of 75 ppb set by the Bush EPA in 2008. The bill would prohibit any new ozone NAAQS review before 2025, even though the air act requires the agency to review current standards every five years.
The third bill, S. 454, would “streamline” the process allowing states to win regulatory exemptions from air law pollution limits under EPA's rule on “exceptional events,” such as dust storms and wildfires that are common in the Southwest. The bill sets a 90-day deadline for EPA to reply to states' requests to exempt from regulatory determinations air pollution data gathered during such events, seeks to limit the discretion of the EPA Administrator in granting such exemptions, and establishes explicit deference to state's determinations on such questions.
So far, the GHG and exceptional events bills are co-sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Cotton (R-AR), who are joined by Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) in co-sponsoring the NAAQS bill.
The measures have won support from a host of industry groups, including the American Chemistry Council and the American Petroleum Institute (API).
“We support the direction of the legislation introduced by Senator Flake to modify the implementation of air quality requirements, while still protecting public health and the environment,” API said in response to the ozone bill.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/flake-reintroduces-bills-address-air-climate-concerns
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Flake Bills Would Limit EPA Regulatory Power
Mar 1, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Sean Reilly and Hannah Hess
Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake has revived a trio of bills targeting U.S. EPA's greenhouse gas rules, enforcement of the agency's latest air quality standard for ozone and its policy for dealing with air quality violations caused by "exceptional events" outside local control.
"Arizona ratepayers and businesses shouldn't be forced to shoulder the burden of EPA's costly, convoluted regulations," Flake said in a news release this week noting the bills' reintroduction and listing the business and agriculture lobbies that support them.
"By holding EPA accountable for its actions, we can keep our air clean without creating job-killing regulatory uncertainty," said Flake.
S. 453 would require EPA to offset the costs of new greenhouse gas rules from its own budget. If it does not, the agency would be barred from finalizing any new greenhouse gas rule without approval from Congress.
Flake said the legislation would prevent EPA from circumventing Capitol Hill and shifting the burden of costly regulations onto ratepayers, such as Arizona residents who get their electricity from the Western Area Power Administration.
Similar to the Senate pay-as-you-go rule known as "PAYGO," the bill has been dubbed the "Agency PAYGO for Greenhouse Gases Act." Flake introduced similar legislation in the 114th Congress in response to EPA's Clean Power Plan.Fewer EPA reviews
S. 452 would delay until 2025 implementation and enforcement of the 70-parts-per-billion ozone standard that EPA adopted two years ago.
States have already turned in their recommended nonattainment areas, with EPA set to make the final decisions this fall. If enacted, the bill would presumably freeze that process for another eight years.
More broadly, the measure would also overhaul the review cycle for ozone, particulate matter and four other "criteria pollutants" named in the Clean Air Act.
The law currently requires EPA to revisit those standards every five years and revise them if the latest scientific research indicates changes are needed to protect public health.
Flake's bill would stretch that timetable to once every decade. The agency currently rarely, if ever, meets the five-year benchmark; by giving EPA more time, the bill would provide "a more certain regulatory environment" for businesses and state air regulators, the release said.
Ozone, the main ingredient in smog, is produced by the action of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in sunshine. It is linked to asthma attacks and worsened emphysema symptoms.Exceptional events
Particularly in Western states, however, regulators and businesses have voiced fears that the 70 ppb benchmark is so strict that some areas could fail to comply because of naturally occurring background ozone stemming from stratospheric intrusions and other forces outside direct human control.
While EPA already has a congressionally mandated policy on the books for dealing with those exceptional events, another Flake bill, S. 452, would address complaints about the approval process. Many companies call it a time-consuming hassle.
The bill would, for example, set a 90-day deadline for EPA to make a decision on an exceptional events waiver request or else request more information. The bill also seeks to limit the agency's discretion in deciding whether to approve or disapprove a specific application.
The legislation is virtually identical to S. 638, a bill Flake introduced two years ago, even though EPA has since revamped its exceptional events guidance in a bid to assuage critics' concerns.
The earlier bill died in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at the end of the 114th Congress. The same fate befell previous versions of the ozone measure and the PAYGO legislation.
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2017/03/01/stories/1060050728
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Utility MACT Critics List Costs They Claim EPA Ignored
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
States and industry groups opposed to the Obama EPA's power plant maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule are listing multiple ways in which the agency failed to consider the rule's costs as required by the Supreme Court, though it is not clear how the Trump administration will proceed on the issue.
In a reply brief filed Feb. 24 in Murray Energy Corp., et al., v. EPA, et al., states and industry groups opposed to the MACT standard list ways in which EPA's revision to the underlying finding that it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate the sector misses costs that should be considered.
The case, pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, challenges EPA's April 25 revision to the finding that the agency modified in response to the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in Michigan v. EPA that it failed to weigh costs.
Opponents say EPA's effort to consider costs under its preferred approach was cursory, and fell far short of a full cost-benefit analysis, while EPA has countered that under Michigan, it does not have to conduct such a full-blown analysis. The case will test the Trump administration's position on the issue, and it is not yet clear whether EPA and the Department of Justice intend to continue their defense.
Should the administration drop its defense of the finding, it is likely that states, environmentalists and some industry groups supportive of the MACT rule and cost finding will seek to continue the case, sources say.
The states and industry groups opposing EPA further fault EPA's alternative justification for the cost finding, which relies on the original cost-benefit analysis conducted for the MACT rule itself, saying that EPA cannot rely on “co-benefits” of regulating non-toxic pollutants regulated under other Clean Air Act programs.
In their new brief, states and industry groups reiterate these points, but also list specific ways in which they say EPA failed to consider cost at all. The Michigan ruling and “reasoned decisionmaking” demand that EPA consider “any disadvantage” of using air law section 112 to regulate power plants, and “all of the relevant costs,” the groups say.
“EPA does not deny it ignored many costs and disadvantages,” they claim. EPA fails to account for compliance costs in several ways, including potential layoffs at power plants; broader impacts on the coal mining industry; impact of price increases on low-income consumers and electricity-intensive manufacturers; and costs unique to ERCOT, the Texas-based power grid, the petitioners claim.
They further argue that EPA ignored the environmental benefits of Pennsylvania utility ARIPPA using coal waste as fuel, which reduces stockpiles of the waste that could otherwise foul the environment.
Final briefs in the case are due from all parties March 24, while the court has not yet set a date for oral argument.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/utility-mact-critics-list-costs-they-claim-epa-ignored
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States, Utilities Defend Use Of Air Trading To Satisfy Regional Haze Rule
Feb 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
Several states and utilities are defending what they say is their legal right to cite participation in EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) emissions trading program to satisfy pollution control mandates in the agency's regional haze rule, rejecting environmentalists' claims that trading does not guarantee necessary emissions cuts.
Environmentalists in new legal briefs filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit are countering that argument by citing a prior decision by the D.C. Circuit invalidating some parts of CSAPR. They say the decision means states and power companies cannot rely on the trading rule to meet requirements in the haze rule to impose best available retrofit technology (BART) on utilities to reduce haze-forming emissions.
The competing claims are detailed in briefs filed Feb. 27 with the D.C. Circuit in Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG), et al. v. EPA, et al., which consolidates suits over the Obama EPA's June 2012 rule that established participation in its CSAPR air trading program was “better than BART.”
EPA's regional haze program requires states to craft state implementation plans (SIPs) showing how they will curb haze, including requirements for BART to limit haze-forming emissions from major industrial sources, chiefly power plants. The program aims to restore visibility to natural conditions in 'Class I' areas -- national parks and wilderness areas -- by 2064 but has faced years of delays in SIPs, as well as several legal challenges.
The Obama EPA's rule allowed participation of power plants in CSAPR trading to qualify a substitute for source-specific BART, but also disallowed SIPs dependent on an earlier trading program, the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), which was implemented by George W. Bush's EPA but replaced by CSAPR.
EPA in the UARG suit has argued that states and industry cannot obtain meaningful relief through their litigation because CAIR has been rescinded, and therefore the case is moot.
However, several states including Texas in their Feb. 27 joint brief with the power industry argue that “CAIR’s real and lasting emission reductions still satisfy BART requirements,” and they point to states, such as Connecticut, whose CAIR-based SIPs were allowed to stand by EPA regardless of CSAPR.
Emissions Trading
Participating states in CAIR were generally the same as those in CSAPR, and the CSAPR trading caps, or “budgets,” were lower -- and hence tougher -- than those in CAIR, the states and industry groups say.
A “judicial order resulting in approval of CAIR-for-BART SIPs and reinstatement of a CAIR-for-BART provision would allow states to avoid the heavy burden of conducting new regional haze SIP proceedings and allow those states’ electric generating units to avoid the potentially expensive prospect of source-by-source BART requirements that are unnecessary to advance visibility improvement,” according to the brief.
Meanwhile, the National Parks Conservation Association and Sierra Club in their Feb. 27 brief in the UARG litigation argue that the D.C. Circuit's invalidation of some state emissions caps under CSAPR, and the revocation of CAIR under order by the court, mean that states cannot base their SIPs on CAIR.
The groups reprise long-standing arguments that EPA cannot allow trading to replace individual BART analysis and controls by allowing “presumptive” BART, because air trading does not guarantee pollution cuts.
Environmental groups in general oppose emissions trading under the haze program as some sources may choose to purchase emissions credits rather than reduce their emissions, eliminating any benefit to a specific Class I area from regulating that source. Oral arguments have not yet been scheduled in the case.
EPA “fails to lawfully or rationally justify its use of 'presumptive BART' instead of the five-factor, source-specific evaluation the Clean Air Act requires to determine BART levels of control. The statute does not give EPA discretion to waive that analysis or disregard the statutory factors in the interest of taking cheaper and hastier shortcuts,” the environmentalists argue in their brief.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/states-utilities-defend-use-air-trading-satisfy-regional-haze-rule
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