Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 3/7/2017
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(ACC Mentioned) Mixed Results: Film Recycling Volume Increases, Non-Bottle Rigids Dip
Mar 7, 2017 | Plastics News
By Jim Johnson
Plastics film recycling grew another 3 percent in 2015, according to new study, but non-bottle rigids recycling fell slightly. -
(ACC Mentioned) US Plastic Film Recycling Rate Increases in 2015
Mar 7, 2017 | Recycling Today
By Staff
Thirty-four million more pounds of plastic wraps, bags and other film packaging were recycled in 2015, a 3 percent increase relative to 2014, according to “2015 National Post-Consumer Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Report,” which the American Chemistry Council (ACC) released during the Plastics Recycling Conference, organized by Resource Recycling, March 6-8 in New Orleans. -
(ACC Mentioned) Former EPA Toxics Chief Points to Precedent to Assuage TSCA Concerns
Mar 7, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad
A former EPA toxics chief is reminding chemical industry representatives concerned about the agency's implementation of the overhauled Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that the agency has previously worked through a major environmental statutory change and a presidential transition simultaneously. -
Walgreens Criticised for Stalling on Chemicals Programme
Mar 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
NGO Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF) has criticised Walgreens for failing to publish its long-delayed chemicals programme. -
House Republicans Introduce EPA Science Bills
Mar 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Republicans in the US House of Representatives have introduced two bills that seek to promote an “open and honest” EPA, while ensuring the integrity of the agency’s scientific review processes. -
(ACC Mentioned) ExxonMobil to Invest $20bn in US to Expand Manufacturing Capacity
Mar 7, 2017 | Hydrocarbons Technology
ExxonMobil Corporation has plans to invest $20bn over a ten-year period to expand its production capacity along the US Gulf Coast. -
(ACC Mentioned) Exxon's $20 Billion Spending Plan Points to U.S. Energy Surge
Mar 7, 2017 | Fox Business
By Dow Jones
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) plans to spend about $20 billion on refineries, petrochemical plants and other projects in and around the Gulf of Mexico, Chief Executive Darren Woods said Monday, underscoring how the giants of the global energy industry are turning to America. -
(ACC Mentioned) Stock to Watch: Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM)
Mar 7, 2017 | FX Daily Report
By Swapna Meka
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) stock surged over 0.3% in today’s pre market session. Exxon Mobil plans to spend $20 billion over ten years on 11 plants along the Gulf Coast, which would lead in the creation of 45,000 jobs. -
Do Republicans Have the Votes to Kill Obama's Methane Regs?
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Brittany Patterson
After a week confirming President Trump's Cabinet nominees, the Senate yesterday returned to choking off Obama-era regulations using the wide-reaching Congressional Review Act. -
Methane CRA on Hold for Now, Cornyn Says
Mar 7, 2017 | Politico Pro - Whiteboard
By Nick Juliano
The Senate is "not ready" to take up legislation to block an Interior Department rule aimed at limiting methane emissions from oil and gas operations, Republican Whip John Cornyn told reporters today. -
Regulators Set to Wrestle with State Generation Policies
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro
Federal electricity regulators will host a two-day conference in May to tackle the tangled relationships between the Eastern regional transmission organizations and states that are pursuing policies that favor certain generating resources over others. -
Pipeline in Final Phases of Construction
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The Dakota Access pipeline could begin moving oil as soon as next week. -
Court Rejects Tribe's Religious Bid to Halt Pipeline
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A federal court has denied another bid to block construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. -
Ex-Official Says Fracking Study Valuable as it Faces Demise
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Soraghan
A former U.S. EPA official says that while the agency's study of hydraulic fracturing will likely wind up in the Trump administration's "round file," it still has value for academic researchers. -
Alaskan Gas Leak Should Be Shut Down — Feds
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
A pipeline leaking natural gas in Alaska's Cook Inlet should be shut down if it is not repaired by May, federal regulators said. -
(ACC Mentioned) Report: Transit Bottlenecks Could Hurt Plastics Growth
Mar 7, 2017 | Plastics News
By Steve Toloken
The shale-gas fueled expansion of the North American plastics industry could be hurt by capacity problems in the U.S. transportation system, including within ports, rails and roads, according to a new report from the American Chemistry Council. -
Utility ELG Data Suit Spurs Competing Claims on Adverse FOIA Precedent
Mar 7, 2017 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss
A federal appeals court is weighing final briefs in environmentalists' suit testing whether data for EPA's power plant effluent rule is “confidential” under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), spurring competing claims between EPA and environmentalists over the adverse FOIA precedent the case could set.
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(ACC Mentioned) Mixed Results: Film Recycling Volume Increases, Non-Bottle Rigids Dip
Mar 7, 2017 | Plastics News
By Jim Johnson
Plastics film recycling grew another 3 percent in 2015, according to new study, but non-bottle rigids recycling fell slightly.
New statistics released March 7 by the American Chemistry Council saw recycling of bags, wraps and other film packaging increase by 34 million pounds in 2015. That’s up 3 percent compared to the year before, to reach a total of nearly 1.2 billion pounds.
“America’s plastic makers are strong supporters of plastic film recycling, and due to expanding participation in our Wrap Recycling Action Program, or WRAP, we expect to see film recycling continue to rise,” said Steve Russell, vice president of ACC’s Plastics division, in a release.
Non-bottle rigids — think tubs and lids, cups and buckets, drums and crates — fell by almost 4 percent, or 45 million pounds, to 1.24 billion pounds in 2015, the trade group reported.
ACC cited what the group calls “challenging market conditions for commodities in general, increased competition from virgin plastic materials, and weakened demand in Asia” as factors for the dip in non-bottle rigid recycling.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20170307/NEWS/170309927/mixed-results-film-recycling-volume-increases-non-bottle-rigids-dip
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(ACC Mentioned) US Plastic Film Recycling Rate Increases in 2015
Mar 7, 2017 | Recycling Today
By Staff
Thirty-four million more pounds of plastic wraps, bags and other film packaging were recycled in 2015, a 3 percent increase relative to 2014, according to “2015 National Post-Consumer Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Report,” which the American Chemistry Council (ACC) released during the Plastics Recycling Conference, organized by Resource Recycling, March 6-8 in New Orleans. Nearly 1.2 billion pounds of these materials were recycled in 2015. This marks the 11th consecutive year of increases and the highest annual collection of plastic film since the survey began. Plastic film recycling—a category that includes flexible product wraps, bags and commercial stretch film made primarily from polyethylene (PE)—has increased nearly 84 percent since the first report was issued in 2005, the ACC says.
The “2015 National Post-Consumer Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Report” also found that film processing in the United States and Canada increased 11 percent for the year, while exports declined by almost 4 percent.
“We are very pleased that plastic film recycling continues to grow,” says Steve Russell, vice president of ACC’s Plastics Division. “America’s plastic makers are strong supporters of plastic film recycling and, due to expanding participation in our Wrap Recycling Action Program, or WRAP, we expect to see film recycling continue to rise.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2014 Advancing Sustainable Materials Management report, the plastic film recycling rate is 15 percent.
A separate report the ACC released during the conference found that the postconsumer recycling of nonbottle rigid plastics (rigids) has grown 280 percent since tracking began in 2007. Rigids recycling generally held strong but dipped by 45 million pounds, or not quite 4 percent, to a minimum of 1.24 billion pounds in 2015, the ACC says.
The "2015 National Post-Consumer Non-Bottle Rigid Recycling Report" also found that about 67 percent of the rigid plastics collected were recycled in the United States or Canada, with the remaining exported overseas.
Factors that contributed to the decline include challenging market conditions for commodities in general, increased competition from virgin plastic materials and weakened demand in Asia. Higher-quality bales (clean, single resin) fared better than mixed materials as they are less costly to reclaim, the ACC says.
“America’s plastics makers are committed to supporting continued long-term gains in plastics recycling through public policy, infrastructure improvements and education,” Russell says. “We believe states’ recycling goals and brand-owners’ commitments to use more recycled plastics are helping to create greater stability and demand in the industry.”
The rigid plastics category includes food containers, caps, lids, tubs and cups; bulky items, such as buckets, carts and lawn furniture; and used commercial scrap, such as crates, battery casings and drums.
As in prior years, polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) comprised the two largest resins in this category, representing 41 percent and 33 percent, respectively, of total rigid plastics collected.
Both the film and rigids reports were based on an annual survey of reclaimers conducted by More Recycling, formerly Moore Recycling Associates Inc., Sonoma, California.
ACC’s Plastics Division tracks recycling collection annually in three categories: film, rigids and bottles. Statistics on plastic bottle recycling were reported previously in the “2015 United States National Postconsumer Plastic Bottle Recycling Report” (November 2016).
http://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/2015-film-rigids-recycling-rates/
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(ACC Mentioned) Former EPA Toxics Chief Points to Precedent to Assuage TSCA Concerns
Mar 7, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad
A former EPA toxics chief is reminding chemical industry representatives concerned about the agency's implementation of the overhauled Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that the agency has previously worked through a major environmental statutory change and a presidential transition simultaneously.
"All I can say to be reassuring is that past experience does suggest that we will get through this . . . Despite the fact that right now for a lot of you this is very painful," Lynn Goldman said during recent remarks at the annual GlobalChem conference in Washington, D.C. Goldman served as EPA's toxics chief during the Clinton administration and is now dean of George Washington University's public health school.
Industry representatives have raised concerns about EPA's lengthy delays in processing new chemical reviews since the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century, which overhauled TSCA, was signed into law last June.
Goldman acknowledged the change in TSCA requirements without any grace period has slowed down EPA's process for approving new chemicals under the premanufacture notice (PMN) program, but she also predicted the agency will get caught up, referencing EPA's past experience in implementing changes to pesticides law in the late 1980s and early 1990s that coincided with the beginning of President Bill Clinton's first term.
"The PMN process is a process that is going on all the time, continuously. The day that the president signed this into law, EPA had to do that process using different procedures and criteria no matter where other things were," Goldman said. "So there was going to be a traffic jam, and there certainly has been one. It certainly is not something unfamiliar to me having been in a similar position after the [Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA)] was enacted very similarly. There was no time built in for transition, no kind of cushion that this provision be triggered in six months -- but Congress never does that."
Goldman reminded the audience of 1988 amendments made to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) that required EPA to re-evaluate all pesticides on the market using modern methods and standards. Prior to the amendments, pesticides were generally not reviewed once they passed their initial registration requirements. As a result of the amendments, EPA has set a 15-year cycle on which it plans to review each pesticide, with a view to incorporating any existing newer research or scientific approaches available in that cycle.
But, Goldman said, when the Clinton administration took over in 1993, five years after the amendments were enacted, "the agency was still way behind in the schedule, and many people thought we would never complete it, much less on schedule. And then a couple of years later another piece of legislation was enacted, and some said now we'll never get it done, and that was the [FQPA]. And yet, once EPA . . . was able to hire the staff that it needed, once it was able to set the processes it needed, it did make the deadlines. All the deadlines, in both of those statutes, the FIFRA '88 and the FQPA."
Goldman added that "there were people from industry who stood in front of Congress and said, 'This is impossible, it will never happen.' You'll hear that. You're going to see the agency moving forward in fits and starts."
Goldman, however, did not point out how long it took EPA's pesticides office to complete its FIFRA '88 review of all pesticides -- a process that ended in 2006. Since then, the agency has been working on the 15-year cycle for registration reviews.
Transition Challenge
In her Feb. 23 remarks, Goldman acknowledged the challenge that the presidential transition adds to the situation of standing up a new program directed by short statutory deadlines. "Aggressive but feasible timelines are especially daunting in a context of a presidential transition. . . . I don't care who the new president is . . . A presidential transition is a very difficult time to keep a complex regulatory and decisionmaking process going."
One factor contributing to the challenge is waiting for the president to appoint someone to head EPA's toxics and pesticides offices, and then getting them confirmed by the Senate and in place at the agency. Goldman said the process generally takes 150 to 180 days. "You can't expect that person will be in place, but yet there are deadlines this summer for rulemaking. And so decisionmaking needs to proceed without having certain key decisionmakers in place," she said.
Additionally, other political appointees, such as those in the White House Office of Management and Budget that review proposed regulations, will likely not be in place for some time either. "I just remember when I arrived at EPA the number of decisions that piled up on my desk that the acting assistant administrator was unwilling or unable to make without my engagement, and that is just part of the normal process with governmental transition," she said.
Goldman did offer some warnings of potential stumbling blocks toward new TSCA implementation, such as a long-term hiring freeze, or EPA missing deadlines and becoming involved in related lawsuits. While it is not unusual for there to be a short-term hiring freeze during a presidential transition, "if contracting and hiring are frozen month after month after month, that would be abnormal," she said. And even short-term hiring freezes can be a concern for programs like those under the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) that have a lot of deadlines and need to move forward very rapidly, she said.
Litigation over missed deadlines is "a major concern," Goldman said, since it "can lead to to courts taking over the agenda, and that would not be good for anybody involved in the process." She encouraged "doing everything that can be done to allow EPA to meet the deadlines to keep EPA in charge rather than putting it under the supervision of the courts."
Goldman added that "other threats are a little less existential than that," and she pointed to industry efforts to influence or delay rulemakings under the new TSCA program, such as those for the first three section 6(a) rules that EPA has proposed in decades, or anticipated rulemakings that will follow the first 10 evaluations as part of the new program, for which EPA announced chemicals last December. Goldman acknowledged that such efforts by impacted industries are normal, but warned about impeding the program overall.
Industry 'Support'
"I think it's also important that there be support generally, just as there was for the statute, by the industry that EPA is able to be able to move forward in a timely fashion with these actions," she said. "Not only from the standpoint of the credibility of the industry and the things that you market, but also the standpoint within the EPA and the credibility of the programs and the fact this is not going to work unless EPA itself is supporting [OPPT] to get its job done. And they will not if they feel it doesn't produce anything, you can trust me on that."
Goldman's last warning echoed a similar warning from the president and CEO of the chemical industry association American Chemistry Council, Cal Dooley. During his remarks Feb. 23, Dooley noted that having a Republican-controlled congress and a Republican administration "creates some opportunities for us as well," but added that it is "absolutely essential that we maintain an intellectual consistency" and that industry continues to be a "constructive partner" with EPA and other stakeholders during TSCA implementation.
"While we have a political landscape that gives us more opportunities than we have had in the past we have to do it in a judicious and responsible and scientific way," Dooley said.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/former-epa-toxics-chief-points-precedent-assuage-tsca-concerns
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Walgreens Criticised for Stalling on Chemicals Programme
Mar 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
NGO Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF) has criticised Walgreens for failing to publish its long-delayed chemicals programme.
The US pharmacy chain announced in 2014 that its chemical sustainability report would be published the following spring.
But nearly three years later, it has not appeared and there is no mention of it in parent company, the Walgreens Boots Alliance's (WBA) 2016 corporate social responsibility (CSR) report.
Mike Schade of SCHF said he had hoped the CSR report would include “ambitious new goals to drive harmful chemicals out of products as part of the company’s chemical sustainability programme they first announced in late 2014.”
A WBA spokesperson told Chemical Watch they were unable to confirm when the report would be published.
They said that Walgreens was “working closely with SCHF to understand issues around ingredients used in the products it sells and produces, as well as to help ensure alignment with best sustainability practices in our industry.”
Ingredients transparency
SCHF has also called on Walgreens to disclose fully all ingredients to consumers, including fragrance ingredients "to meet the rising consumer demand for radical transparency”.
It also recommended that the company reduce and eliminate all restricted substance list chemicals in personal care and household cleaning products that its sister retailer Boots has acted on in the UK. Boots has phased out triclosan and some azo dyes from its cosmetics and phthalates from all products.
WBA has owned Boots since December 2014, when it purchased the remaining 55% stake in the company. It already owned 45%.
“They only need to look to Boots for examples of initiatives to eliminate chemicals of high concern," Mr Schade said.
He also recommended that Walgreens certify its private label cleaning products to a third party programme such as EPA Safer Choice, Made Safe, or Green Seal, and become a signatory to the Chemical Footprint Project, which measures and discloses business progress towards safer chemicals.
Responding, the WBA spokesperson said: “We are aware of SCHF’s recommendations and are exploring a variety of potential solutions. Walgreens is also working to align its efforts in this regard with the strong work of our European businesses.”
'Long way to go'
Mr Schade praised the company for the launch of its Well Beginnings range for infants, which is free of parabens, phthalates, quaternium 15 and similar formaldehyde donor preservatives.
But he added: “While Walgreens has made some limited progress in recent years, they still have a long way to go to join other retailers like CVS, Target and Walmart in flexing their market power to drive harmful chemicals out of products.”
In SCHF's Mind the Store report card, which ranked US retailers’ actions to eliminate toxic chemicals, Walgreens scored a D grade with 29.5 points. The top store was Walmart with a B grade and a score of 78.5.
The WBA CSR report announced plans for Boots to stop selling products containing plastic microbeads from next December.
https://chemicalwatch.com/54007/walgreens-criticised-for-stalling-on-chemicals-programme
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House Republicans Introduce EPA Science Bills
Mar 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Republicans in the US House of Representatives have introduced two bills that seek to promote an “open and honest” EPA, while ensuring the integrity of the agency’s scientific review processes.
Lamar Smith (R–Texas), chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, introduced the Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act of 2017 (HONEST Act). It aims to bar the agency from enacting regulations or issuing assessments, based upon science that is “not transparent or reproducible”.
He also cosponsored the EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act of 2017 with Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma), vice-chair of the committee. The bill addresses conflicts of interest, increasing public participation and ensuring the representation of a range of opinions on the independent scientific oversight body.
“An open and honest scientific process is long overdue at EPA,” said Mr Smith. “As both of these bills move forward, our committee is working hard to preserve EPA’s scientific integrity and to help strengthen its internal review process.”
Introduction of the measures comes just a few weeks after the committee hosted its “Making EPA great again” hearing, in which members raised concern that politics, rather than science, have been driving the agency’s decision making.
https://chemicalwatch.com/54053/house-republicans-introduce-epa-science-bills
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(ACC Mentioned) ExxonMobil to Invest $20bn in US to Expand Manufacturing Capacity
Mar 7, 2017 | Hydrocarbons Technology
ExxonMobil Corporation has plans to invest $20bn over a ten-year period to expand its production capacity along the US Gulf Coast.
The investment will be pumped into 11 proposed and existing sites, which will create thousands of new jobs.
ExxonMobil Corporation chairman and chief executive officer Darren Woods said: “The United States is a leading producer of oil and natural gas, which is incentivising US manufacturing to invest and grow.
“We are using new, abundant domestic energy supplies to provide products to the world at a competitive advantage resulting from lower costs and abundant raw materials. In this way, an upstream technology breakthrough has led to a downstream manufacturing renaissance.”
ExxonMobil plans to invest in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects located in the Gulf Coast region.
The firm’s Growing the Gulf expansion programme covers 11 chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
Woods stated: “Importantly, Growing the Gulf also creates jobs and lasting economic benefits for the communities where they’re located.
“All told, we expect these 11 projects to create more than 45,000 jobs. Many of these are high-skilled, high-paying jobs averaging about $100,000 a year. And these jobs will have a multiplier effect, creating many more jobs in the communities that service these new investments.”
The American Chemistry Council estimated that exports of specific chemicals associated with shale gas will reach $123bn by 2030.
http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/news/newsexxonmobil-to-invest-20bn-in-us-to-expand-manufacturing-capacity-5756557
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(ACC Mentioned) Exxon's $20 Billion Spending Plan Points to U.S. Energy Surge
Mar 7, 2017 | Fox Business
By Dow Jones
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) plans to spend about $20 billion on refineries, petrochemical plants and other projects in and around the Gulf of Mexico, Chief Executive Darren Woods said Monday, underscoring how the giants of the global energy industry are turning to America.
Mr. Woods outlined the 11-project spending plan, largely aimed at creating new outlets for U.S. natural gas, in a speech at the annual CERAWeek conference. It came after a meeting with analysts last week in which he said Exxon is poised to nearly double its production from U.S. shale basins in the next decade.
The spending plans were cheered by President Donald Trump, who released a statement Monday calling Exxon's projects "exactly the kind of investment, economic development and job creation that will help put Americans back to work."
Exxon's $20 billion in Gulf Coast spending began in 2013 and will continue through at least 2022, according to the company.
Chevron Corp. (CVX) is expected to unveil similar plans this week, ramping up its operations in the already booming Permian basin in West Texas and New Mexico. The company's output from the region could reach 900,000 barrels a day by 2020 if oil prices continue to rise, according to energy investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. That would mean production from one company in just one area would rival output from major world producers such as Azerbaijan.
Exxon's announcement underscored the extent to which new technology has unlocked vast new resources in the U.S., upending the balance of power in global oil. Even as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other nations moved late last year to put a floor under the oil price by cutting production, U.S. operators have vowed to return to the oil fields almost en masse to make up the difference.
"Hydraulic fracturing has opened up a whole new energy future for the United States, and potentially for many other countries," Mr. Woods said Monday. "We have managed, in the United States, to accomplish what was practically unthinkable only a decade ago."
The conference is expected to be defined by similar bravado as energy titans from companies and governments gather, eager to show off their resilience after prices fell from more than $100 in mid-2014 to below $30 in February of last year before beginning a partial recovery. Prices have been hovering steadily above $50 for weeks.
In his remarks, Mr. Woods also praised industry efforts to respond to the threat of climate change, spending much of his high-profile address discussing what Exxon is doing to reduce emissions. The remarks, as well as others he has made since taking over as chief executive, such as expressing support for the 2015 Paris climate deal, have signaled the company's plan to stay the course in its environmental stance.
That comes even as some in Mr. Trump's inner circle have pushed to walk away from the deal, while others have urged the president to keep the country's part in the agreement.
"We have an opportunity to contribute and help mitigate that risk through technology," Mr. Woods said.
He also extolled the virtues of free trade as having an elemental role in the U.S. energy renaissance.
Global energy executives have shown mixed responses to plans by U.S. Republicans to change tax policy in a way that would favor exports and burden imports into the country.
"It's hard to be in our business and not support open markets and free trade," he said.
The U.S. will be the greatest contributor to new global supply through 2022, with production from shale rising to 1.4 million barrels a day if prices remain around $60 a barrel, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. If prices rise to $80, output from shale fields alone could reach 3 million barrels a day, about the same as Kuwait, the IEA said Monday.
Companies such as Exxon are making immense investments in their refining, chemicals and export operations to take advantage of the new opportunity. From 2010 to 2020, such investments are expected to reach almost $180 billion, according to the American Chemistry Council, about 70% of which will go to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
In addition to Exxon's plans to build new plants or expand facilities to turn natural gas into the building blocks of common plastics, companies including Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), Chevron Phillips Chemical and others plan similar investments or will expand production of fertilizer, polymers used to make lubricants, and even tennis racket strings.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/03/07/exxons-20-billion-spending-plan-points-to-u-s-energy-surge.html
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(ACC Mentioned) Stock to Watch: Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM)
Mar 7, 2017 | FX Daily Report
By Swapna Meka
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) stock surged over 0.3% in today’s pre market session. Exxon Mobil plans to spend $20 billion over ten years on 11 plants along the Gulf Coast, which would lead in the creation of 45,000 jobs. This initiative as per the White House said illustrates his “promise to bring back jobs to America”. Most of the permanent jobs are expected to pay more than $100,000 per year as 45,000 jobs will be created by the 11 projects. These jobs will have a multiplier effect, as they will create many more jobs in the communities that service these new investments. The investments across Texas and Louisiana will take advantage of cheap shale gas to make plastics and other chemicals for export. The strategy is build on the prior steps Exxon and peers, including Dow Chemical Co, have taken in the wake of the American shale expansion, that sharply cut production costs
Trump has praised XOM considering this kind of investment, economic development and job creation that will help put Americans back to work. Further, many of the products that will be manufactured here in the United States by American workers will be exported to other countries, which will improve the balance of trade. This investment is considered to be a true American success story.
As per the American Chemistry Council, chemical manufacturing is considered as one of America’s top exporting industries, accounting for 14 percent of overall U.S. exports in 2015, and exports of specific chemicals linked to shale gas are projected to reach $123 billion by 2030. Most of XOM’s planned new chemical capacity investment in the Gulf region is targeted toward export markets in Asia and elsewhere.
When the analysts inquired whether Trump is taking credit for an investment program that began under former President Barack Obama in 2013, the White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that Exxon made it clear to the president it was investing more in the United States because of his push for fewer regulations and tax relief.
Moreover, Growing the Gulf” expansion program consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
Trump’s secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, had previously served as the CEO of Exxon Mobil from 2006 to 2016. Tillerson got retired from his position with the company before going through the Senate confirmation process for the Cabinet post.
As per tipranks.com, 13 analysts has covered the stock while recommend a “Hold”. XOM has an average price target of $86.82, which is a further upside of 4.82%.
http://fxdailyreport.com/stock-watch-exxon-mobil-corporation-nyse-xom/
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Do Republicans Have the Votes to Kill Obama's Methane Regs?
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Brittany Patterson
After a week confirming President Trump's Cabinet nominees, the Senate yesterday returned to choking off Obama-era regulations using the wide-reaching Congressional Review Act.
Lawmakers passed a resolution of disapproval to strike down a rule affecting federal contractors. Next on the docket is a resolution to repeal the Bureau of Land Management's so-called Planning 2.0 rule, which updates a 34-year-old agency planning rule to create a more efficient process to modernize and revise the agency's roughly 160 resource management plans encompassing millions of acres of federal lands.
Conspicuously missing from the calendar so far is a vote on a resolution that would kill BLM's Methane and Waste Prevention Rule, finalized by the Interior Department in November.
S.J. Res. 11, introduced by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), would strike down the rule designed to limit the venting, flaring and leaking of methane emissions from more than 100,000 oil and natural gas wells on federal and tribal lands. The House passed its version, H.J. Res. 36, last month, largely along party lines.
Aides from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said there has been no official word from leadership on if and when the resolution would be brought to the floor for debate and a vote.
That may be because Republicans don't have the votes, said Alan Rowsome, senior director of government relations for lands with the Wilderness Society.
"It is becoming increasingly hard to get senators comfortable with using such a blunt tool as the CRA, but we know that many entrenched special interests are asking for it," he said. "That makes this a very high-stakes test of whether Congress will support an out-of-touch industry agenda, or act in the public's interest by getting on with the business of governing."
Under the CRA, a resolution of disapproval needs just a simple majority to pass. Four senators, three Republicans and Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of South Dakota, have publicly expressed uncertainty regarding their support of a CRA effort to kill the methane rule (Greenwire, Feb. 24).
If the BLM methane regulation is overturned through the use of the CRA, not only will the methane regulation be invalidated, but the agency will be barred from crafting a similar replacement rule.
A spokeswoman from Heitkamp's office said the senator was still reviewing the issue. In a tweet posted Feb. 21, the senator noted she was hearing from her constituents "on all sides" of the venting and flaring rule.
"Haven't made a decision or told anyone I have," she wrote. "Will be what best serves ND."
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) have also expressed uncertainty. Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Republican Rob Portman of Ohio, said the senator is still reviewing the proposal.
The BLM methane rule, five years in the making, replaces regulations three decades old. Interior says the rule would reduce methane emissions by as much as 35 percent. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
It would also boost federal coffers. The agency estimates that between 2009-2014, about 375 billion cubic feet of natural gas was lost off public lands, enough to supply more than 5 million households for a year. Annually, the Government Accountability Office estimates taxpayers lose $23 million in royalties when methane is intentionally released, burned off or leaked from wells on federal and tribal lands.
The oil and gas industry and congressional Republicans strongly oppose the rule, calling it a "bad rule." Minutes after it was finalized, the Western Energy Alliance and the Independent Petroleum Association of America filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming calling the regulation "a vast overreach" of Interior's regulatory authority.
A wide-ranging coalition has mounted a campaign to save BLM's methane rule. Last week, a group of more than 60 local officials from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada and the Ute Tribe sent a letter to senators asking they vote against the rule (Greenwire, Feb. 28).
Public health groups have also strongly opposed the repeal of the rule, saying it reduces deadly air pollution.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/03/07/stories/1060051026
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Methane CRA on Hold for Now, Cornyn Says
Mar 7, 2017 | Politico Pro - Whiteboard
By Nick Juliano
The Senate is "not ready" to take up legislation to block an Interior Department rule aimed at limiting methane emissions from oil and gas operations, Republican Whip John Cornyn told reporters today.
Cornyn's tacit acknowledgment that the Congressional Review Act resolution lacks the votes to pass comes amid growing pressure from environmentalists who want to protect the Bureau of Land Management's methane rule and oil and gas interests who want to eliminate it.
"We’re still working on it," the Texas Republican told reporters in the Capitol today. "We’re not where we need to be but we’re working on it.”
At least three Republicans have said they are undecided — Sens. Cory Gardner (Colo.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Susan Collins (Maine) — and several others are seen as potential swing votes. Meanwhile North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, who often sides with the GOP on oil and gas issues, has said she also has not made up her mind on the resolution.
The methane resolution passed the House last month on a 221-191 vote, the narrowest margin of the 14 CRA resolutions that have so far cleared the lower chamber.
Later today the Senate is expected to vote to block a BLM land-use planning rule with a separate CRA resolution that cleared the House last month.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Regulators Set to Wrestle with State Generation Policies
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro
Federal electricity regulators will host a two-day conference in May to tackle the tangled relationships between the Eastern regional transmission organizations and states that are pursuing policies that favor certain generating resources over others.
The confab on May 1-2 may be long overdue in the eyes of some stakeholders, who have expressed concerns about the blurring of lines between federal and state regulatory jurisdiction (Energywire, Oct. 25, 2016).
Cheryl LaFleur, acting chairwoman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, signaled her interest in such a conference on Feb. 13 when she spoke with E&E News of her concerns about "how the wholesale competitive markets that are FERC-regulated are affected by state energy policy choices, particularly states' desires to select certain resources" such as renewables.
Even as "the competitive markets have delivered considerable benefits to customers over the last 20-plus years," LaFleur said, "I think it would be quite good for customers if we were able to adapt those competitive markets to reconcile with the state policy choices" (Energywire, Feb. 13).
The two-day event will focus on issues in the New York Independent System Operator, the six-state ISO New England and the PJM Interconnection, the nation's largest grid operator whose region includes all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia.
The conference aims "to foster further discussion regarding the development of regional solutions in the Eastern RTOs/ISOs that reconcile the competitive market framework with the increasing interest by states to support particular resources or resource attributes," notably nuclear plants and renewables, the FERC notice said.
An end to 'whack-a-mole' regulation?
For FERC Commissioner Colette Honorable, the conference may help end an era of federal "whack-a-mole response" to state actions, where "some approaches have worked while others have encroached upon or interfered with the operation of wholesale markets," she said in a statement.
The onetime chairwoman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, Honorable said FERC's response so far to state actions "is inefficient and prolongs uncertainty" in markets.
"States have always pursued policies favorable to their interests, and as a former state regulator, I understand and respect the role states play," she said.
The extent of federal-state conflicts were laid out in a study, "State Actions in Organized Markets," published in September (Energywire, Sept. 7, 2016).
It addressed the growing number of states that are considering "around market" solutions to stem the closure of baseload nuclear and coal power plants or boost renewables, suggesting FERC step in and try to restore equilibrium in the electricity markets.
"It really is at least the beginning of [FERC] trying to scope out an answer as to which way they're going to go," said Raymond Gifford, former chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and partner in the Denver office of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP. He was an author of the study.
"They see the acute problems here. They're at least going to have to start addressing it and thinking through which direction they go — either toward allowing the federalist solutions or doubling down on the market consensus that FERC's had since the '90s," Gifford said.
"It's always good for the federal regulator to take stock of what's happening," said Ken Irvin, a co-leader of Sidley Austin LLP's global energy practice.
"It's a really tough time right now for the energy and capacity markets, and with the stuff states are doing, FERC's had to take stock in what's happening and figure out what they need to do," he said.
This is the second technical conference announced by FERC since the commission began operating without a quorum after the departure of Norman Bay on Feb. 3.
Commission members are not required to participate in such a conference, but both LaFleur and Honorable have said they are looking forward to it.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/03/07/stories/1060051017
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Pipeline in Final Phases of Construction
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The Dakota Access pipeline could begin moving oil as soon as next week.
In an update filed in federal court last night, lawyers for the embattled project said workers are completing a process to prepare to insert pipe for the Lake Oahe crossing in North Dakota.
Dakota Access LLC expects that work to be complete this week, making the pipeline ready for oil by next week or, less likely, the week of March 20.
The company previously estimated that it would need 60 days after a final easement was granted before handling oil. If oil flows Monday, 34 days will have passed since the Trump administration approved the easement.
The speedy construction effort comes as American Indian tribes attempt multiple legal maneuvers in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the pipeline crossing.
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is seeking a preliminary injunction — considered a long shot by many legal experts — that would halt construction on religious freedom grounds. Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, is expected to rule on the motion today.
Cheyenne River and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have also asked the court to rule on core legal issues in the case and invalidate federal approvals for the project.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/03/07/stories/1060051037
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Court Rejects Tribe's Religious Bid to Halt Pipeline
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A federal court has denied another bid to block construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.
In a decision issued this morning, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected arguments from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe that completion of the oil project would violate the tribe's religious freedom rights.
Following the Trump administration's February approval of an easement for the pipeline to cross Lake Oahe, lawyers for Cheyenne River argued that the very presence of an oil pipeline there would desecrate waters used in Lakota sacraments, fulfilling the tribe's "black snake" prophesy (Greenwire, Feb. 9).
They argued the government's approval amounted to a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction halting work on the pipeline, which is nearly complete.
Judge James Boasberg denied the request today, finding that the tribe had raised the religious freedom claims too late in the process and had not met the high legal bar for an injunction — which requires litigants to show, among other things, that they will suffer irreparable harm without it and that they're likely to succeed on the broader merits of the claims.
Boasberg, an Obama appointee, found Cheyenne River's latest claims are barred under the "laches" doctrine, which limits litigants' ability to raise new arguments late in an ongoing review process.
"Only once Dakota Access had built up to the water's edge and the Corps had granted the easement to proceed did Cheyenne River inform Defendants that the pipeline was the realization of a long-held prophecy about a Black Snake and that the mere presence of oil in the pipeline under the lakebed would interfere with the Tribe's members' ability to engage in important religious practices," he wrote.
He also found that Cheyenne River — which was joined by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in its injunction request — was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its claims under RFRA. When handling claims under the 1993 law, courts weigh whether government action represents a "substantial burden" on a person's religious exercise. Boasberg found the government's approval of the Lake Oahe easement likely did not amount to a substantial burden, especially in light of similar legal decisions addressing tribal religious rights.
"Here, although the Tribe's members may feel unable to use the water from Lake Oahe in their religious ceremonies once the pipeline is operational, there is no specific ban on their religious exercise, nor does performance of their sacraments trigger a sanction, loss of a government benefit, or other collateral harm," Boasberg wrote.
Without an injunction, pipeline construction can move forward. Dakota Access lawyers yesterday noted that work is moving quickly, and the pipeline could be ready to handle oil next week (Energywire, March 7).
Cheyenne River and Standing Rock, meanwhile, have other legal strategies in motion, including requests for the court to rule on core legal issues in the case and scrap various federal approvals for the project.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/03/07/stories/1060051072
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Ex-Official Says Fracking Study Valuable as it Faces Demise
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Soraghan
A former U.S. EPA official says that while the agency's study of hydraulic fracturing will likely wind up in the Trump administration's "round file," it still has value for academic researchers.
"Where I think this goes is to academia," said Bernadette Rappold, formerly director of the Special Litigation and Projects Division in EPA's enforcement branch, in an interview. "I don't see any regulations coming out on the federal level."
EPA late last year finished the six-year study on how oil and gas development affects drinking water, which Congress requested when it was controlled by Democrats.
The study found that "hydraulic fracturing activities can impact drinking water resources ... under some circumstances." A draft finding that fracking had not caused "widespread, systemic" contamination was dropped from the final report (Energywire, Dec. 14, 2016).
The effects studied were not limited to the specific practice of hydraulic fracturing, in which chemical-laced water and sand are forced underground at high pressure to break apart rock and release oil and gas.
Researchers looked at related activities that are a part of constructing an oil and gas well. EPA officials said they found impacts throughout what they call the "water cycle."
The study identified several stages at which water contamination "can be more frequent or severe." Those include withdrawing water from streams or groundwater, particularly during drought conditions; surface spills; and fracking into poorly constructed wells that lack mechanical integrity.
Other risky aspects include injecting fracking fluid directly into groundwater resources, which is most likely to occur during coalbed methane production rather than shale drilling.
The report did not make any policy recommendation on drilling or fracturing. Rappold said the report's primary value will be for those continuing to look for ways to avoid problems and minimize dangers.
"They've laid the groundwork for future researchers to build on," said Rappold, now in private practice at Greenberg Traurig.
Beyond academics, she said, state officials might also find the 666-page report useful.
"They have the ability to marry up that research more easily than EPA," she said.
The agency is now preparing another study on the effects of oil and gas drilling, which was ordered by a Republican Congress. The omnibus spending bill passed in December 2015 gave EPA $3 million to study drilling in the Appalachian Basin, which includes the Marcellus and Utica shale formations (Energywire, Feb. 15).
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/03/07/stories/1060051003
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Alaskan Gas Leak Should Be Shut Down — Feds
Mar 7, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
A pipeline leaking natural gas in Alaska's Cook Inlet should be shut down if it is not repaired by May, federal regulators said.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in an 11-page notice that the leak at the Hilcorp Alaska pipeline began in December 2016, but the company's inadequate inspections of the 8-inch steel pipeline meant it did not discover and disclose the problem until February.
There are a number of steps the company must take in the next month, including presenting a plan to monitor risks to wildlife and the environment, which is due tomorrow. In the next 30 days, Hilcorp must either challenge the order, comply with it, or work with PHMSA to address the problem.
The company is also required to submit plans for how it would shut down the pipeline, if necessary.
PHMSA noted in its filing that the same pipeline leaked twice in 2014, once in June and once in August, when the pipeline was owned by a different company, XTO Energy Inc.
Lois Epstein, Arctic program director for the Wilderness Society and a licensed engineer with experience on pipelines, said that Hilcorp could have done more to prevent the leak.
"People are going to remember this," she said.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/03/07/stories/1060051055
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(ACC Mentioned) Report: Transit Bottlenecks Could Hurt Plastics Growth
Mar 7, 2017 | Plastics News
By Steve Toloken
The shale-gas fueled expansion of the North American plastics industry could be hurt by capacity problems in the U.S. transportation system, including within ports, rails and roads, according to a new report from the American Chemistry Council.
The March 1 report said plastics could be among the most impacted sectors. It notes that polyolefin capacity is projected to grow by 68 percent through 2021, and that a lot of that investment will be in places like the Gulf Coast, where transit networks are already congested.
“The U.S. business of chemistry is growing like never before, but limitations across all modes of transportation are getting in the way of fully realizing this American manufacturing success story,” said Cal Dooley, president and CEO of Washington-based ACC.
At a March 1 briefing in Washington, Dooley, lobbyists for the trucking industry and Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) said they welcomed plans by the Trump administration and others in Washington to spend $1 trillion on new infrastructure.
“We’re very encouraged that President Trump did talk about the need for a major infrastructure funding bill,” Dooley said. “What we’re trying to do here with this study is help people connect the dots.”
The report, which surveyed 68 chemical manufacturers, reported significant worries in the industry about whether the Gulf Coast will be able to handle big increases in plastics shipments, particularly for export.
“The Gulf ports will be attractive for new exports, particularly for the polymer production coming online in that region,” the report said. “However, significant concerns persist over whether infrastructure in and around these ports (particularly in Houston), can support added volume.”
Dooley said half of the investment in manufacturing last year came in the chemical industry.
”We’re looking at more than a doubling in the net balance of trade in chemicals by 2025, but there are some major impediments to that if we don’t get the infrastructure in place,” he said.
According to the report, since 2010, 264 projects worth an estimated $161 billion have been announced in the chemical industry, which will create an estimated 426,000 new jobs.
Beyond polyolefins, that new investment includes a 43 percent increase in production capacity in other plastics by 2021.
But the report estimates significant extra costs for industry to handle the transportation bottlenecks.
It projects $29 billion in additional operating costs over 10 years for the chemical industry to cope with logistical inefficiencies, and another $23 billion in direct infrastructure investments that chemical companies will have to spend on their own transit infrastructure.
“That’s money that could be invested in profitable new projects,” said Mark Lustig, one of the authors of the report and a principal in the chemical advisory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which wrote the report for ACC.
Lustig also said chemical companies are projecting a doubling of the delays in rail shipments, from four to eight days.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20170307/NEWS/170309929/report-transit-bottlenecks-could-hurt-plastics-growth
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Utility ELG Data Suit Spurs Competing Claims on Adverse FOIA Precedent
Mar 7, 2017 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss
A federal appeals court is weighing final briefs in environmentalists' suit testing whether data for EPA's power plant effluent rule is “confidential” under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), spurring competing claims between EPA and environmentalists over the adverse FOIA precedent the case could set.
The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and other environmentalists that filed the suit claim that if the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit backs EPA's broad application of FOIA's “Exemption 4” for confidential material the groups are seeking, it will broadly undermine public access to pollution data.
But the Department of Justice (DOJ) on EPA's behalf counters that releasing data collected for the power plant water rule that businesses consider secret will lead to them withholding such materials in future rulemakings.
Environmental groups and DOJ filed their final briefs March 6, setting the stage for April 10 oral argument in Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), et al., v. EPA.
EIP, together with Sierra Club and Earthjustice, is asking the D.C. Circuit to overturn a district court judge's ruling and force EPA to release effluent treatment data it gathered on the power sector as part of crafting its effluent limitation guidelines (ELG) for the facilities.
EPA and DOJ -- arguing on the agency's behalf -- have maintained that the data is covered by a FOIA exemption for “trade secrets,” but the environmentalists say the CWA mandates its release.
The environmentalists are hoping to use effluent data to support their separate challenge to the ELG that is pending in the 5th Circuit, but the final briefs in the D.C. Circuit case elevate the importance of the FOIA dispute by staking out competing claims on how the court's decision could more broadly affect FOIA and data collection that EPA undertakes for all of its rulemakings.
The D.C. Circuit panel will have to decide whether FOIA's exemption 4, which protects “trade secrets and commercial or financial information [that are] obtained from a person and privileged or confidential,” applies even when the CWA otherwise requires disclosing the data. DOJ has argued that FOIA takes precedence over the water law's narrower disclosure exemptions.
Environmentalists' Arguments
However, EIP and its allies claim the two laws can be “harmonized” because FOIA exemptions only apply when no other law requires turning over the information in question, and CWA section 308(b) says effluent treatment records “shall be available to the public” unless releasing them “would divulge methods or processes entitled to protection as trade secrets” -- which the advocates say is a narrow test that does not cover the power plant's data.
“Accordingly, there is no conflict between [the CWA's] disclosure mandate, as applied to the information requested by Appellants, and either FOIA Exemption 4 or the Trade Secrets Act. If EPA had correctly interpreted Section 308(b) to require the release of the information here, the Agency would have released the information to Appellants pursuant to its own FOIA regulations,” the environmental groups say in their final reply brief.
EIP, Sierra Club and Earthjustice say the district court ruling under appeal wrongly found a “conflict” between Exemption 4 and the CWA's public-disclosure provisions, and should be reversed to cement the precedent that FOIA never gives agencies the power to withhold more information than their authorizing statutes would otherwise allow.
Beyond upholding citizen groups' right to seek such data through FOIA, the groups argue that such a ruling is needed because if EPA is allowed to withhold treatment information, then CWA disclosure of data on pollution releases “would likely be the next domino to fall,” and would provide justification to refuse to release data on air emissions and drinking water contamination.
“Such a holding from this Court would also threaten the legal validity of a number of other statutes that require agencies to disclose to the public more environmental and public health and safety information than the bare minimum that FOIA requires, including disclosure provisions in the Clean Air Act . . . and the Safe Drinking Water Act,” the reply brief says.
And it says that EPA has failed to rebut that claim in its own brief, despite claims that the agency lacks discretion on which materials are protected as confidential. That argument “fails to acknowledge that the Agency’s own FOIA regulations contain criteria that EPA is required to evaluate to determine whether commercial information should be withheld under Exemption 4,” the brief says.
Further, in their final opening brief, the advocates urge the appeals court to hold that FOIA and the water law “can and should be construed harmoniously” rather than finding one to override the other.
EPA's Arguments
DOJ, however, is arguing on EPA's behalf that the environmentalists' claims would undermine FOIA protections guaranteeing that agencies will not release private entities' confidential data, based only on what authority regulators used to gather that data instead of any consistent definition of what is “confidential.”
“Appellants’ purported 'harmony' interpretation of Section 308(b) and the FOIA would in fact repeal FOIA Exemption 4’s protection of confidential business information merely because it was obtained under the Clean Water Act,” DOJ says in its final brief.
It further says that since no statute defines “trade secrets,” courts should defer to EPA's own interpretation of the language, which it says was set in a 1975 rulemaking and is identical to the standard under FOIA, despite environmentalists' claim that the CWA language is narrower.
“Accordingly, because the Clean Water Act does not supersede the FOIA, and EPA’s interpretation of the term “trade secrets” in Section 308(b) is reasonable, the District Court correctly held that the information at issue is exempt from disclosure,” the brief says.
However, EIP and its allies are claiming that courts should give that argument no deference because EPA has never before invoked its 1975 definition of “trade secrets” in a similar context, and that it runs counter to the CWA's plain language.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/utility-elg-data-suit-spurs-competing-claims-adverse-foia-precedent
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