Preview Newsletter
AM ACC 3/14/2017
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(ACC Mentioned) OOCL Parent Records $219m Loss for 2016
Mar 13, 2017 | American Shipper
By Chris Dupin
...The chemical industry is projected to see increased costs due to excess inventories, larger capital expenditures, and higher operating costs, according to a study performed for the American Chemistry Council by PricewaterhouseCoopers.... -
(ACC Mentioned) INTTRA Acquires Container Repositioning Platform
Mar 14, 2017 | American Shippers
By Eric Johnson
Neutral ocean freight marketplace INTTRA said Tuesday it has acquired Avantida, a European provider of empty container management solutions, for an undisclosed sum... -
Trump Orders Agencies to Assess Their Relevance
Mar 13, 2017 | E&E News PM
By Robin Bravender
President Trump wants agencies across government to prove their worth. -
Top White House Officials Said to Hold 'Vigorous' Debate over EPA Deputy
Mar 13, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Dawn Reeves
Debate over who should serve as deputy EPA administrator -- and what role any nominee should play -- has reached nearly the highest level in the White House, a Trump administration source says, explaining why Administrator Scott Pruitt has yet to... -
Sources: White House Considering Natural Gas Official to Lead CEQ
Mar 14, 2017 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Andrew Restuccia
The Trump administration is considering Bill Cooper, the long-time president of a natural gas industry trade association, to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, two people familiar with the matter told POLITICO. -
(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Makers Back Idea of Research Center to Predict Toxicity
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
A research center to develop and validate tests that predict harmful effects of chemicals and pesticides better than animal tests could benefit chemical manufacturers and regulators, industry scientists say. -
(ACC Mentioned) Industry Scrambles to Save Green Labels From Chopping Block
Mar 13, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tiffany Stecker
The federal green stamp of approval for nontoxic household products could be squeezed as the EPA trims its budget, and supporters of the programs are fighting to keep it alive. -
(ACC Mentioned) U.S. Ratification of POPs Treaty Could Aid Implementation Risk Analysis
Mar 13, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad
American experts on the international treaty on persistent and organic environmental pollutants are pointing to the role the United States could play in advancing risk-based analyses in the treaty's implementation if the Senate ratifies the treaty... -
EU Chemicals Agency Asks for Comments on Plastics Chemical
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Chemicals Agency is calling for input through April 24 on a proposal to formally designate the widely used substance bisphenol A as an endocrine disruptor, a label that could make it harder for its continued use in the European Union. -
EU Committee Seeks Comments on Cosmetic Substances
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Union's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety called for comments on four draft opinions on substances used in cosmetic products. -
Monsanto Loses Bid to Keep Glyphosate Off List of Carcinogens
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joel Rosenblatt
Monsanto Co. lost a court bid to keep a key chemical in its Roundup herbicide off California's public list of cancer-causing chemicals. -
Dakota Oil Pipeline Delay Sought Amid Tribe's 11th Hour Appeal
Mar 13, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Harris
The Dakota Access oil pipeline faces another legal hurdle as a Native American tribe seeks to put the Energy Transfer Partners LP-led project on hold while it pursues a last-ditch appeal in court. -
EPA Sides with Carbon Rule Challengers in New Lawsuit Dispute
Mar 13, 2017 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
EPA today suggested that a federal court should take an action that might delay a ruling on the Clean Power Plan — the first time the Trump administration has spoken in court about the controversial rule. -
Methane Cuts Coming to California Despite Federal Rollback
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
California's oil and gas facilities and storage sites would have to tighten up their operations to meet tough requirements proposed to control methane emissions even as federal rules are expected to be rolled back. -
Ohio NatGas Output Climbed, While Oil Production Fell Last Year
Mar 13, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Combined year/year conventional and unconventional oil production in Ohio slid 19% in 2016, reflecting the shift to dry gas production, which increased by 44% during the same time, according to estimates compiled by members of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association... -
(ACC Mentioned) EPA Delays RMP Rule to Weigh Industry Push to Rescind Regulation
Mar 13, 2017 | Inside EPA
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has stayed for three months the Obama EPA's final rule overhauling its industrial facility accident prevention program to consider an industry petition that asked the agency to reconsider or rescind the regulation... -
Tax Reform, Energy Grid Protection Among Top Policy Concerns for Electric Company CEOs, Executives
Mar 13, 2017 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Tom Kuhn
Each March, electric company CEOs and executives from across the country descend upon the nation’s capital to advocate for the industry's most pressing federal policy priorities. -
Wireless Networks Provide Hackers Avenue of Attack
Mar 13, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Collin Eaton
Four years ago, Coast Guard officers boarded a rust-colored oil tanker while it was moored in Wisconsin’s Fox River. -
Pruitt's Oil Industry Ties Spark Dem Request for Probe
Mar 14, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Kevin Bogardus
House Democrats are requesting U.S. EPA's internal watchdog to delve deep into how the agency handles conflicts of interest due to Administrator Scott Pruitt's ties to the oil and gas industry. -
Utah Lawmakers Use CRA as Weapon Against Haze Rule
Mar 14, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Sean Reilly
Utah lawmakers are seeking to deploy the Congressional Review Act against U.S. EPA's regional haze rule for the state.
Industry and Association News
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Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) OOCL Parent Records $219m Loss for 2016
Mar 13, 2017 | American Shipper
By Chris Dupin
Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. recorded revenues of $5.3 billion and a loss attributable to equity holders of $219 million in 2016. Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. (OOIL), the parent company of ocean carrier Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), recorded a loss attributable to equity holders of $219 million in 2016 compared to a profit of $284 million a year prior. OOIL's operating loss totaled $138 million in 2016 compared to an operating profit of $353 million. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) from the company’s container transport and logistics business stood at a negative $185 million in 2016 compared with...
...The chemical industry is projected to see increased costs due to excess inventories, larger capital expenditures, and higher operating costs, according to a study performed for the American Chemistry Council by PricewaterhouseCoopers....
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Story can be found here: http://www.americanshipper.com/main/news/oocl-parent-records-219m-loss-for-2016-66947.aspx
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(ACC Mentioned) INTTRA Acquires Container Repositioning Platform
Mar 14, 2017 | American Shippers
By Eric Johnson
Neutral ocean freight marketplace INTTRA said Tuesday it has acquired Avantida, a European provider of empty container management solutions, for an undisclosed sum. Avantida currently provides a cloud-based platform in seven European countries for parties to request empty container equipment availability from carriers. The platform also facilitates the billing, invoicing, and settlement of the transactions. INTTRA CEO John Fay said in an interview with American Shipper that INTTRA was interested in the acquisition due to customer demand for reach into inland services. INTTRA customers typically use the marketplace for ocean freight booking, conveyance of shipping instructions, and...
...larger capital expenditures, and higher operating costs, according to a study performed for the American Chemistry Council by PricewaterhouseCoopers...
§ Access to full text unavailable – subscription required.
Story can be found here: http://www.americanshipper.com/main/news/09964f33-b31b-4808-af18-95a470fa4cba.aspx
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Trump Orders Agencies to Assess Their Relevance
Mar 13, 2017 | E&E News PM
By Robin Bravender
President Trump wants agencies across government to prove their worth.
Trump is scheduled to sign an executive order this afternoon to require a "thorough examination of every executive department and agency," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters today. The president will sign the order, titled "Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch," at 4:30 p.m. in the Oval Office, according to his schedule.
The order directs agencies to "identify where money is being wasted and how services can be improved and whether or not programs are truly serving the American people," Spicer said. He called the order "the beginning of a long-overdue reorganization of the federal government and another significant step towards the president's often-stated goal of making it more efficient, effective and accountable to the American people."
Trump's plans to root out ineffective or irrelevant programs and offices come as the administration is proposing significant budget cuts to domestic spending — including cash for energy and environmental agencies. The White House is expected to send its broad budget proposal for fiscal 2018 to Congress on Thursday.
Many programs at agencies including U.S. EPA and the Energy and Interior departments are expected to be on the chopping block in that budget request, and the new White House review effort could identify additional areas for cuts within those agencies.
Asked today whether the White House had specific goals for reducing the size of government or saving a certain amount of money, Spicer said, "There's no set number that we're driving down to as we review government."
He added, "You go through each one of these and you evaluate them on the merit of what they do or don't do or whether or not they become bloated or duplicative or frankly just outdated or in need of technological advances. ... Sometimes you just walk into an agency and you realize that agency's mission is no longer relevant or that it's duplicative in three other agencies, or that there are too many people performing a function that no longer exists for a variety of reasons."
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney "was given the mandate to go out and get all of these different agencies and departments to review themselves and to provide feedback for him as to where we could go," Spicer said.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2017/03/13/stories/1060051379
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Top White House Officials Said to Hold 'Vigorous' Debate over EPA Deputy
Mar 13, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Dawn Reeves
Debate over who should serve as deputy EPA administrator -- and what role any nominee should play -- has reached nearly the highest level in the White House, a Trump administration source says, explaining why Administrator Scott Pruitt has yet to have any supporting political staff nominated to serve with him.
There are “vigorous differences of opinion about the nominee” for second-in-command at EPA that “goes to the very top -- not to the president but immediately below,” the source says.
Some former officials say the delay in tapping nominees is likely to prevent the administration from advancing its deregulatory agenda, an issue at EPA where Pruitt lacks experience and understanding of the agency he is now leading.
“It will be impossible for them to carry out that [deregulatory] agenda unless they can get people in place,” Jeff Holmstead, EPA air chief during the Bush administration, told the New York Times in a March 12 report.
The ultimate decision of who will be nominated to serve as Pruitt's deputy will come from what the administration source calls a “gang of three” that includes Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law who is also senior adviser to the president, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Stephen Bannon. “And if they can't agree, then it goes up to the vice president” Mike Pence, the source says, adding it is “not normal” for these kinds of decisions to be made at such a high level.
Also, Domestic Policy Council Director Andrew Bromberg “has very different views” from Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, on the matter, the source says.
While it is not clear what positions the top officials are taking, in the past Kushner and his wife have succeeded in urging the president to soften potential stances on environmental issues, such as his criticism of the Paris climate agreement. By contrast, Bannon has said that Cabinet officials have been selected to ensure “the deconstruction of the administrative state.”
White House and EPA officials did not respond to requests for comment.
EPA is not alone among major agencies lacking key nominees. Most notably, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had his deputy choice, GOP foreign policy expert Elliott Abrams, explicitly rejected under a “loyalty test” because Abrams was critical of Trump during the election.
While two names have long been floated for the No. 2 EPA slot -- former Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee Staff Director Andrew Wheeler and former North Carolina environment chief Don van der Vaart -- one source close to the administration suggests there is opposition to both of them or one would have won nomination by now.
This source has also suggested an aversion to bringing in too many officials with ties to Oklahoma, especially since Pruitt served as the state's attorney general and he has already brought in a plethora of staff from the Sooner State including Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson who has long worked for Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and George Sugiyama, another Inhofe alum who is on the Trump “beachhead” team.
Pruitt has also recently tapped another former Inhofe staffer, Mandy Gunasekera, to serve as a senior adviser, beginning March 20. According to Bloomberg/BNA, which first reported the news, she recently became majority counsel for new EPW Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) but worked for Inhofe on the committee since 2015 where she served as Clean Air Act and climate change counsel.
Not 'Terribly Surprising'
One industry source says the high level of debate over a deputy EPA administrator is not “terribly surprising” given that there is often “vigorous debate over several sub-Cabinet officials where people in the White House really cared.”
This source recalls a similar debate over the EPA general counsel position during the George H. W. Bush administration as well as over who would lead the Food & Drug Administration. At the time, there were “meetings and discussions with the counsel to the president and the director” of the Office of Management & Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers, the source recalls.
“And ultimately, the chief of staff made the call,” the source says. “I do think it's fair to say this White House seems to work differently than other examples, but I am not terribly surprised” to hear the sub-Cabinet discussion has been elevated.
This source shared another example of how normal vetting works, from the early days of the George W. Bush administration, when EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman wanted Linda Fisher as her deputy. She won that debate but had to accept Holmstead, whom she did not know, as her air chief.
However, in addition to strong disagreements among top White House staff, another reason for the delay in naming top posts at EPA could also simply reflect an agonizing slow pace of agency picks administration-wide that is prompting frustration from Republican members of Congress. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) told Politico last week that he was “frustrated at the pace of how this is moving. They need to get on with this so they can start dealing with policy issues.”
Other former top officials say other factors may also be contributing to the delay. Nicholas Burns, a former top official in the State Department, told the Times that several factors contributed to the “slowest transition in decades,” including the dysfunctional transition effort that left Trump without a pool of pre-screened nominees; the loyalty test along with a five-year lobbying ban that has eliminated some of the most qualified and desired appointees; and a general sense of upheaval that has repelled others from being willing to come on board.
One industry lawyer who held a Senate-confirmed position in the George W. Bush EPA told Inside EPA recently that he would not pursue a position in the Trump administration over concerns that the dysfunction would be overwhelming and make it impossible to accomplish anything.
Also, Trump himself suggested he might not fill all of the 600 political appointments in federal agencies that need Senate confirmation, telling Fox News Feb. 28 that: “When I see a story about Donald Trump didn't fill hundreds and hundreds of jobs, that's because in many case we don't want to fill those jobs. A lot of those jobs, I don't want to appoint someone because they're unnecessary to have. In government, we have too many people.”
However, White House spokeswoman Lindsay E. Walters told the Times that Trump has not proposed a plan for trimming crucial senior positions and plans to eventually fill them.
So far, Trump has won confirmation of 18 Cabinet members but has yet to nominate anyone for second- and third-tier posts. As of March 12, the Times says he had sent 36 nominations to the Senate, just over half of the 70 that President Barack Obama had at the same point in 2009. Obama was also criticized for early delays.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/top-white-house-officials-said-hold-vigorous-debate-over-epa-deputy
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Sources: White House Considering Natural Gas Official to Lead CEQ
Mar 14, 2017 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Andrew Restuccia
The Trump administration is considering Bill Cooper, the long-time president of a natural gas industry trade association, to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, two people familiar with the matter told POLITICO.
Cooper served as president of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas for nearly a decade, according to his LinkedIn profile. The group advocates for expanded use of liquefied natural gas and counts a number of major fossil fuel companies among its members, including BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Shell.
Since 2015, Cooper has been the staff director on the House Natural Resources Committee's Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee.
Sources said Cooper is among several candidates who are being considered to lead CEQ, the White House's in-house environmental policy shop. CEQ will play a central role in coordinating environmental policy across federal agencies.
Kathleen Hartnett White, a former Texas environmental regulator who now works at the conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation, is also under consideration to lead CEQ. White is a vocal skeptic of mainstream climate science.
Rebecca Rosen, an executive at oil and natural gas producer Devon Energy, had been seen as a leading contender for the job. But she withdrew from consideration for the post last week, citing family obligations.
A White House spokeswoman did not comment, saying she had no staffing news to announce. Cooper did not respond to a request for comment.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Makers Back Idea of Research Center to Predict Toxicity
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
A research center to develop and validate tests that predict harmful effects of chemicals and pesticides better than animal tests could benefit chemical manufacturers and regulators, industry scientists say.
Such a public-private center could, in principle, spur shared learning between manufacturers and regulators into the uses and limitations of new types of toxicity tests—automated cellular and genetic tests for example—that can better predict human and environmental toxicity than animal tests, said Reza Rasoulpour, a reproductive and developmental toxicologist at Dow AgroSciences LLC.
Cellular, genetic, computer-based and other predictive toxicity tests are being used by chemical manufacturers already to help decide what molecules they'll develop. Companies also use such tests to understand when toxicity, environmental fate or other information about one chemical may apply to another similar one. That can save money by reducing duplicative testing.
Early Stages
Michael Dourson, a professor with Cincinnati University's Risk Science Center, told Bloomberg BNA the idea of a public-private center—or multiple centers—is in its very early stage.
Issues including how to fund such a center remain to be addressed, Warren Casey, director of the National Institutes of Health's National Toxicology Program center that evaluates new types of toxicity tests and which manages an interagency committee charged with that same task, told Bloomberg BNA March 12 during a forum on the sidelines of the Society of Toxicology's annual meeting in Baltimore.
Regulatory Wall
The Dow Chemical Co. is among the chemical and pesticide manufacturers that has made significant investments in new types of toxicity prediction tests, Rasoulpour said at the forum.
The parent company of Dow AgroSciences uses the information to identify molecules that might be worth developing because they would be unlikely to cause cancer or other harm, and to predict a chemical's propensity to persist in people or the environment and to build up in the food chain, he said.
The information also helps the company conduct and interpret data from subsequent animal tests required, for example, to get a new pesticide approved, he said.
Convincing Regulators
But despite extensive research by Dow showing the tests generate data that can better predict human health or environmental effects than animal tests, regulators aren't convinced, Rasoulpour said.
Chemical, pesticide and pharmaceutical manufacturers need to be able to share among themselves and with regulators data from emerging types of tests so all parties can understand how it can be used, Rasoulpour said.
“Until we start to share, there won't be confidence,” he said.
Dow AgroSciences recently announced a collaboration with Eli Lilly and Co. and the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute to develop ways to detect potential effects molecules may have on human health and the environment, Rasoulpour said.
Small Manufacturers
Pam Spencer, director of regulatory and product stewardship at the Angus Chemical Co., which makes specialty chemicals for paints, water treatment, metalworking and other purposes, told Bloomberg BNA a public-private research center could benefit small manufacturers such as Angus.
Small manufacturers can't afford to buy the equipment needed to participate in the development of emerging types of toxicity tests. Yet they need to be part of the conversation to know how such tests can be used, she said.
Nancy Beck, senior director for regulatory science policy for the American Chemistry Council, said the timing is good to discuss such a public-private center.
TSCA Changes
Changes Congress made last year to the Toxic Substances Control Act allow the Environmental Protection Agency to require chemical manufacturers to generate a lot of toxicity and other chemical data, Beck said at the forum.
Those data requirements “create a lot of opportunities for solutions, and I think the center you're talking about can have some of the solutions that are going to be needed,” Beck said.
The TSCA amendments require the EPA and chemical manufacturers to consider animal welfare concerns. The EPA must submit to Congress in about 15 months a strategic plan describing how it will implement the animal welfare provisions of the law, Beck said.
Under the amended law, before the EPA orders companies to carry out new tests using vertebrate animals—laboratory rats or mice for example—it must determine whether “to the extent practicable and scientifically justified” the needed data could be generated using alternative types of tests.
Similarly, before chemical manufacturers carry out any new vertebrate tests to generate data they plan to submit to the agency, they need to consider whether the data could be generated without the animals.
The University of Cincinnati's Risk Science Center; NSF International, a product testing, inspection and certification organization; and the PETA International Science Consortium LTD, organized the forum.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=107156906&vname=dennotallissues&fn=107156906&jd=107156906
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(ACC Mentioned) Industry Scrambles to Save Green Labels From Chopping Block
Mar 13, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tiffany Stecker
The federal green stamp of approval for nontoxic household products could be squeezed as the EPA trims its budget, and supporters of the programs are fighting to keep it alive.
The Environmental Protection Agency's Safer Choice program, created in the 1990s as “Design for the Environment” and rebranded in 2015, certifies paints, disinfectants, cleaners and other products as safer to use than the chemicals they replace. The green and blue label is approved for more than 2,000 products used in homes and businesses.
Companies, including the Clorox Co., BASF and Staples, view the label as a marketing advantage to attract the growing pool of environmentally-conscious consumers and provides a financial incentive to go green, rather than a regulatory prod. For smaller businesses, it offers a leg up on the competition.
“It's opened up a whole world for me,” Mary Anne Auer, CEO of Wexford Labs, a Missouri-based company that makes hospital disinfectants using citric acid, told Bloomberg BNA.
Without the program, Auer said she would no longer be able to compete with larger companies.
“If they take that away, I'm just going to go back into the bushes,” she said.
The program gives businesses an advantage in competing for government contracts. The General Services Administration, the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy have implemented green purchasing guidelines, and at least 10 states have recommendations or requirements for contracting from environmentally-friendly sources.
Companies to Vouch Support
But the program has its detractors. Some fault the system's hazard-based approach, which looks at a chemical's inherent toxicity. These critics, which include the American Chemistry Council and the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, want a risk-based assessment that takes dose and exposure into account to decide a chemical's risk to health and the environment. Even water is toxic, they say, if one drinks enough of it.
“Is it the appropriate goal of government to put a label on a product it decides is more environmentally safe?” asked Cal Dooley, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council in 2014. ACC declined to answer questions on the issue for this story.
The program did not make the list of potential cuts in a “pass-back” memo between the White House Office of Management and Budget and the EPA that was leaked to the media two weeks ago. The EPA declined to comment on whether any changes would be made to the program under the new administration.
But groups and companies in support of the program fear it may vanish with other voluntary, non-mandatory efforts as the incoming administration trims down the agency's budget. Proponents have penned a letter to urge the new administration to keep the program intact.
“Frankly, I think a Trump administration that wants to see less regulation should want this voluntary program,” Phil Klein, executive vice president of legislative and public affairs for the Consumer Specialty Products Association, told Bloomberg BNA. CSPA, the American Sustainable Business Council, biotechnology trade association BIO, and the cleaning industry association's ISSA, are planning to send the letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
The program has found itself in the crosshairs in past appropriations cycles. Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) tried to attach a rider in the fiscal year 2017 Department of Defense spending bill that would have prevented DOD from using funds on several federal sustainability programs, including Safer Choice. The provision did not make it into the final version of the bill.
The hazard-based approach is “kind of an incomplete,” Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Angela Logomasini, said. “It's kind of a way around employing full scientific standards.”
Tiny Budget, Big Benefits
Most green labeling schemes— the best known is GreenSeal—employ the same hazard-based approach. But Logomasini thinks the standard is inappropriate for a government-run program. Design for the Environment allowed the EPA to pressure flame retardant makers to quickly reformulate their products, risking the effectiveness of the chemical, she told Bloomberg BNA.
“It sends out a message to the regulated community: you better watch out, your product is being targeted by this,” she said. Myron Ebell, who led the Trump EPA transition team, also works at CEI.
Benjamin Dunham, a senior policy adviser at Holland & Knight LLP, is skeptical that the incoming administration will scrap Safer Choice. Many companies have invested significantly to affix the label to their product,. There's no line-item for the program in the EPA's budget, but Safer Choice is only a sliver of the EPA's Pollution Prevention program's $18 million spending, said Dunham.
“Safer Choice's budget is basically a rounding error,” Dunham, a former staff member for the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), told Bloomberg BNA.
A risk-based approach would make it easier for producers to match their Safer Choice certification with regulatory programs, like California's Proposition 65 program to assess carcinogenic substances, said Hal Ambuter, director of regulatory and government affairs for Reckitt Benckiser, owner of Lysol, Woolite and Calgon, among other brands.
But “short of that, the benefits of a government-based program outweigh the risks,” said Ambuter, a supporter of Safer Choice who would prefer to work with the EPA to improve the program than to end it altogether.
The program remains relevant after last year's overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act, which sets up a process to evaluate the safety of chemicals in commerce. Klein of CSPA estimates that 15 to 20 chemicals will pass through the new TSCA screening process. For the thousands of chemicals that won't be reviewed for decades, a program like Safer Choice creates an incentive for companies to use less toxic alternatives.
There are around 80 private sustainability labels, but Safer Choice is often the preferred choice because of the program's congressional oversight, controlled pricing and rules to protect confidential business information, said Klein.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=107156896&vname=dennotallissues&fn=107156896&jd=107156896
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(ACC Mentioned) U.S. Ratification of POPs Treaty Could Aid Implementation Risk Analysis
Mar 13, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad
American experts on the international treaty on persistent and organic environmental pollutants are pointing to the role the United States could play in advancing risk-based analyses in the treaty's implementation if the Senate ratifies the treaty -- a nascent goal for the chemical industry as European precautionary views have grown in influence.
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Inorganic Pollutants (POPs) has risen from obscurity to become a key concern of the industrial chemical industry.
The American Chemistry Council last December identified ratification of the treaty as one of its two main goals for 2017 -- along with smooth implementation of the overhaul to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
During a panel discussion at the chemical industry's annual GlobalChem conference, Stockholm Convention experts highlighted industry's concerns and described how the United States could better engage other countries participating in the treaty.
The treaty went into effect in 2004 and covered a dozen chemicals, mainly pesticides. These chemicals were largely controlled in the United States and presented legacy cleanup issues. But in more recent years, European and Nordic countries have pressed for active industrial chemicals to be considered for addition to the treaty's restrictions. The United States, which has never ratified the treaty, has limited ability to negotiate in these decisions, speakers on the Feb. 24 panel said.
Russ LaMotte, an attorney with Beveridge & Diamond and a former State Department attorney, and EPA's Karissa Kovner told attendees at the conference that the best way for industry to influence the international diplomats who implement the treaty and its decisions on chemicals is to encourage the Senate to ratify the treaty. If the United States is a full member, its representatives could bring EPA's technical expertise to bear, and move decision-making back to a risk basis, they suggested.
"I think from our perspective, in the U.S. government, obviously, the most impactful way to get your message heard is to have the U.S. at the table," Kovner said. "I would encourage you all to think about the roles your companies have and the opportunities you have to help move that forward. I'll leave that hanging out there, because I have yet to know what my eventual boss will do on that . . . While we might not always love the way that EPA regulates, when we don't have a seat at the table, this is the downside of that."
LaMotte backed Kovner's response, saying that strong individuals can dominate a meeting of roughly 35 chemical experts who serve on the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC), a subsidiary body to the Stockholm Convention established for reviewing chemicals proposed for listing. "It's amazing how individually driven these meetings are," he said. "If you can get a strong U.S. voice in the process it would definitely move. Just having the U.S. as an observer changes the tenor" of meetings.
LaMotte, in his remarks, explained that upsides of the Stockholm Convention for industry are its basis in risk assessment, rather than hazard assessment, and the transparency by which its assessment and listing processes operate. The downside is that as implemented, "the convention has really turned into a highly precautionary instrument," he said, driven in large part by European and Nordic countries' expertise and focus on controlling hazards, rather than risks.
'One-Way Ratchet'
"Listing is a one-way ratchet," LaMotte said, noting that if a nominated chemical meets the borderline framing of a persistent pollutant, "it is highly likely it will ultimately be listed."
Further, the Convention's decisions have "a global impact up and down the value chain, particularly as chemicals that are still in active use are added. It affects chemicals in products and articles in use around the world," he said.
Kovner pointed out that what she has seen since the treaty took affect with 50 ratifying countries in 2004, is that added chemicals are of greater interest to the chemical industry but "we're less and less able" to engage in the process because the U.S. has not ratified the treaty.
Some in the audience seemed skeptical, with one attendee pointing to the presentation of the third panelist in the group, Kathy Plotzke of Dow Corning Corporation. She spoke of efforts on the parts of members of the POPRC to add a Dow chemical to the treaty. The attendee said that the presentations indicated to him "a highjacking of the goals and missions of the convention to start with . . . but also the process has been hijacked as well. Which of those two are you going to be most effective with changing if we are actually a party?"
During negotiations on drafting the treaty, "I think the biggest and loudest voice is the U.S. because we brought the science, a history of regulation, because it was going . . . to be a risk-based approach," Kovner replied. She said that when the Stockholm Convention was written, "There were not a lot of regulatory systems at the time with the strength and history of risk-based approach" that the United States has.
As a result, she said, America has "a lot of technical experience because [it has] a risk-based approach, not everyone had a strength in that. . . . If we were to be a party, if we can get a process right, the rest should fall into place. We would be most effective starting at the macro level and working with our colleagues to say, 'This isn't the intention' [of the treaty] and the legal language would support that."
Kovner acknowledged that the treaty's language is unclear "in certain places and [has] very strong language in other places . . . that has been ignored and there isn't a check to stop that." She said that the original design of the Convention's operating structure created a chair on the POPRC that would be occupied alternately by a representative of the United States and Canada. But because the United States has not ratified the treaty, "Canada sits in it all the time. That's an awkward position to put yourself in all the time."
But Kovner also addressed the difficulties and reasons why the Senate has yet to ratify the treaty. While EPA has addressed all of the original 12 chemicals, there were concerns about how EPA would handle regulation of future chemicals added to the treaty, Kovner said.
"There's basically been historical disagreement of what happens when you have a chemical that's been listed internationally, the process the U.S. government, in particular EPA, my office, would go through to review, consider and decide what steps domestically [to take] to regulate that chemical in such a way that we could participate" in the convention, Kovner said. "Achieving congressional, administrative and stakeholder agreement on this has been the sticking point."
Committees' Jurisdiction
Further complicating ratification is the number of congressional committees with jurisdiction, Kovner said. She identified five: the House and Senate agriculture committees, because of the treaty's inclusion of pesticides; the House Energy and Commerce Committee, because of its jurisdiction over industrial chemicals; the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Since the convention's signing in 2001, at least two committees have drafted or passed out of committee ratification legislation, and all five committees have signaled interest in doing so, "but just never at the same time," she said.
Most recently, the issue was included in some early drafts of Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century, which overhauled the Toxic Substances Control Act, along with ratification of two other international treaties on chemicals, Kovner said. But the language was left out of the final bill that President Barack Obama signed last June "not because there was disagreement, but . . . there simply wasn't space to do all the things that we wanted TSCA to do," Kovner said.
One attendee asked panelists which other countries, like the United States, had yet to ratify the treaty. Kovner said that the United States is one of 28 countries that have yet to ratify. LaMotte noted that Russia recently became a party to the treaty.
"Our new friends," he called the Russians. "It's a good illustration of what a change one party can make. They're a party for protecting their own chemical industry, but they do it in a frame of respecting the risk-based provisions" of the Convention.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/us-ratification-pops-treaty-could-aid-implementation-risk-analysis
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EU Chemicals Agency Asks for Comments on Plastics Chemical
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Chemicals Agency is calling for input through April 24 on a proposal to formally designate the widely used substance bisphenol A as an endocrine disruptor, a label that could make it harder for its continued use in the European Union.
Bisphenol A (4,4’-isopropylidenediphenol) is used in the manufacture of plastics and resins that go into a variety of products, including electronics, appliances, food containers and sports equipment. The substance has come under greater regulatory scrutiny in the EU and elsewhere because of concerns over its effects on the human endocrine, or hormone, system.
Bisphenol A also is used in a number of more specialized applications, such as in brake fluids, tires and adhesives and in the manufacture of PVC. Such uses would require authorizations under the EU's REACH chemicals law (Regulation No. 1907/2006 on the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals).
In January ECHA declared bisphenol A to be a “substance of very high concern” (SVHC) under REACH. The high-concern designation means bisphenol A could be prioritized for phaseout from use in the EU, and companies could be barred from using it unless they obtain specific continued-use authorizations.
The January SVHC listing was done on the basis that bisphenol A is considered toxic for reproduction. If bisphenol A also is considered to be an endocrine disruptor, it would become harder for companies to secure authorizations to continue to use the substance.
Bisphenol A is manufactured in, or imported into, the EU in annual volumes of up to 10 million metric tons, according to ECHA.
Most of that tonnage is used to produce polycarbonate plastics. Most polycarbonate manufacturing would not be affected by the REACH authorization requirement because it leaves only traces of bisphenol A that are too low to trigger any EU regulatory obligations.
Persistent Substance
The European Chemicals Agency also called for comments through April 24 on a potential SVHC designation for perfluorohexane-1-sulfonic acid and its salts (PFHxS).
There is limited information on uses of PFHxS and the substance has so far not been registered under REACH as being produced in or imported into the EU, according to the chemicals agency.
Nevertheless, the substance should be considered an SVHC because it has the potential to persist and accumulate in organisms, and is similar to some chemicals that are listed as being of high concern, ECHA said.
So far, 173 chemicals have been designated substances of very high concern in the EU, and 31 of the substances have been made subject to the authorization requirement.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=107156916&vname=dennotallissues&fn=107156916&jd=107156916
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EU Committee Seeks Comments on Cosmetic Substances
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Union's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety called for comments on four draft opinions on substances used in cosmetic products.
The draft opinions, open for comment through May 14, are on the use of the nano-form of titanium dioxide as a UV-filter in spray-on sunscreens, the use of the colorant Basic Blue 99 in hair dyes, the use of water-soluble zinc salts in mouthwashes and toothpastes, and the use of methoxypropylamino cyclohexenylidene ethoxyethylcyanoacetate as a UV-filter in all cosmetic products.
The draft opinions are inconclusive on the nano-form of titanium dioxide, Basic Blue 99 and methoxypropylamino cyclohexenylidene ethoxyethylcyanoacetate, saying that more evidence is needed in each case. On zinc salt, the committee said concentrations in toothpastes and mouthwashes should be set at 1 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.
The committee, which includes experts from agencies and institutes in the EU's member countries, draws up opinions in response to requests from the European Commission, the EU's executive. The commission takes the opinions into account when deciding whether to regulate substances in cosmetics, toys, clothing and other nonfood consumer items.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=107156904&vname=dennotallissues&fn=107156904&jd=107156904
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Monsanto Loses Bid to Keep Glyphosate Off List of Carcinogens
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joel Rosenblatt
Monsanto Co. lost a court bid to keep a key chemical in its Roundup herbicide off California's public list of cancer-causing chemicals.
A Fresno judge rejected Monsanto's arguments that glyphosate shouldn't be added to a list created by a voter-approved ballot initiative that requires explicit warnings for consumer products containing substances that may cause cancer or birth defects.
Monsanto is fighting dozens of lawsuits alleging that it failed to warn that exposure to glyphosate can cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Plaintiffs in San Francisco federal court claim the company had a “ highly suspicious” relationship with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official who oversaw a committee that found insufficient evidence to conclude glyphosate is carcinogenic.
The company said it will continue to challenge the California disclosure requirement, which it called flawed and baseless.
“Regulators around the world, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the state of California itself, have determined that glyphosate does not cause cancer,” Scott Partridge, Monsanto vice president of global strategy, said in a statement.
World Health Organization
Monsanto contended California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment relied improperly on findings by the International Agency for the Research on Cancer, an agency of the World Health Organization, to determine glyphosate's risk listing.
In a ruling made final on March 10, Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan rejected that argument, writing that reliance on an outside agency is permissible. She also addressed the company's claim that forcing it to issue a warning label about possible cancerous effects of glyphosate violates its right to free speech.
Kapetan said that argument is premature because the state's decision to add glyphosate to the toxic-chemicals list “does not necessarily require Monsanto to add a warning label to its products.”
The ruling “is a very welcome result for the public good, particularly California consumers,” Tim Litzenburg, a lawyer suing Monsanto over glyphosate in San Francisco, said in an email. “Monsanto was audacious enough to sue California to prevent it from warning people that the chemical might cause cancer, claiming such a warning was unconstitutional.”
Bayer AG has signaled that it may face delays in its effort to buy St. Louis-based Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, for about $66 billion.
The California disclosure case is Monsanto Co. v. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, 16CECGOOTB3, California Superior Court, Fresno County (Fresno). The federal case is In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2741, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=107156917&vname=dennotallissues&fn=107156917&jd=107156917
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Dakota Oil Pipeline Delay Sought Amid Tribe's 11th Hour Appeal
Mar 13, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Harris
The Dakota Access oil pipeline faces another legal hurdle as a Native American tribe seeks to put the Energy Transfer Partners LP-led project on hold while it pursues a last-ditch appeal in court.
Members of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, who lost a bid to block the project on religious grounds, filed notice of their intent to appeal March 10. The tribe also asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington to halt the flow of oil through the pipeline. He has declined to pause work on the project on at least three separate occasions.
“The tribe seeks to preserve its and its members’ right to free exercise of religion, which is being threatened by the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ easement that allows the placement of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the flow of oil under the sacred waters of Lake Oahe,” attorneys for the Sioux said in court papers.
Native Americans and other protesters camped out in North Dakota for months in an effort to halt the construction of the $3.8 billion 1,172-mile pipeline, designed to carry crude from shale oil-rich North Dakota to Illinois, crossing under a lake that environmentalists warned may be contaminated. Their protests became the focal point of a broader dispute over new oil and gas pipelines that led the Obama administration to stall a federal permit for the pipeline last year. President Donald Trump ordered that it be expedited soon after he took office.
In January, Trump reversed an Obama administration-led Army Corps of Engineers decision to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the pipeline route under the lake earlier that month. That plan was scrapped and final permissions were granted in February.
Attorneys for the Dakota Access LLC consortium told Boasberg in a March 6 filing that the conduit could carry its first oil as soon as the week of March 13. Vicki Granado, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, didn't immediately respond after regular business hours to an emailed request for comment on the tribe's court filing.
Standing Rock
Another Sioux Tribe—the Standing Rock—whose reservation abuts that of the Cheyenne River band, sued to block the project in July, claiming it traversed lands they held sacred. While Boasberg rejected their bid for an order putting the project on hold, the Army Corps did so voluntarily pending further review.
The Cheyenne River Sioux, which had intervened in the case, made their religious freedom argument only after the Trump administration reversed its predecessor's policy. That was too late, Boasberg concluded. He is a 2011 appointee of President Barack Obama.
Returning to him with another stay request, the Sioux said if he is unwilling to stop the project while they appeal his ruling, he should at least pause it long enough for them to petition the federal appeals court for a longer-lasting stay.
The Standing Rock band maintain the Army's abandonment of its environmental impact review violated federal laws and is pursuing a ruling from Boasberg on that basis.
The case is Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 16-cv-1534, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
—With assistance from Lynn Doan.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=107156898&vname=dennotallissues&fn=107156898&jd=107156898
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EPA Sides with Carbon Rule Challengers in New Lawsuit Dispute
Mar 13, 2017 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
EPA today suggested that a federal court should take an action that might delay a ruling on the Clean Power Plan — the first time the Trump administration has spoken in court about the controversial rule.
This new legal fight involves two of 14 lawsuits over EPA’s denial of various petitions to reconsider all or parts of the carbon rule. Those two challengers, the Utility Air Regulatory Group and a Louisville-based utility, have asked to have their lawsuits peeled away and combined with the primary CPP lawsuit, a request critics say is a tactic to stall the court’s decision on the rule.
The Trump administration said it does not object to the request — but that “as a matter of judicial economy” all 14 such suits should be consolidated “so as to avoid having overlapping claims challenging the same Denial Action pursued within separate proceedings.”
Coalitions of friendly states and utilities that support the Clean Power Plan today urged the court to rule against consolidation. Environmental groups took a similar position earlier this month.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order as early as Tuesday directing EPA to stop defending the rule in court and begin the process of repealing it. Environmentalists and others supportive of the regulation have vowed to continue defending the rule.
It is unclear when the court will settle the matter. It ordered final filings on the consolidation matter be submitted by March 20, but could issue its Clean Power Plan ruling at any time.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Methane Cuts Coming to California Despite Federal Rollback
Mar 14, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Carolyn Whetzel
California's oil and gas facilities and storage sites would have to tighten up their operations to meet tough requirements proposed to control methane emissions even as federal rules are expected to be rolled back.
The California Air Resources Board will vote at the end of the month on whether to approve proposed rules that would slash methane releases at crude oil and natural gas facilities by as much 45 percent, or 2.5 million tons, over the next nine years.
In the works for over a year, the rulemaking comes as the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers work to unravel Obama-era measures to control emissions of the potent climate pollutant at oil and gas production sites nationwide.
The state's proposal is its first attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at its onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities and natural gas storage sites and is part of broader effort, now mandated under state law, to curb emissions of short-lived climate pollutants like methane.
Methane is 72 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20 year period, according to CARB.
In California, oil and gas operations account for about 15 percent of the statewide methane emissions. CARB has estimated the regulation will cost about $22 million a year, but said the costs would be offset through the recovery of natural gas.
Rule Revised Since July
The proposal has been slightly revised since it was introduced, largely to clarify some issues.
“CARB has made slight improvements, but there are some issues that need to be addressed,” Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for the California Independent Petroleum Association (CIPA), told Bloomberg BNA in an email. “CIPA continues to have concerns regarding local implementation, unnecessary testing requirements and burdensome costs.”
The oil and gas industry is unhappy with the elimination of a provision to ease monitoring and reporting requirements for companies maintaining a full year of compliance and the potential costs of the regulation.
New research has found that a recent increase in methane emissions over the last two years is likely not due to fossil fuels, Lockhart said.
Intentional, Unintentional Releases Targeted
Targeted in the rules are the intentional and unintentional releases of methane and other gases from valves, flanges and connections. The requirements apply to oil production sites, gathering and boosting stations and processing facilities and natural gas storage and transmission stations.
The rules would cover equipment components not currently regulated by the state's local air districts, which have authority over stationary sources of air pollution. Current district rules to curb emissions of volatile organic compounds also reduce some methane emissions, but more cuts are needed to help California meet its climate goals.
California's regulation is more rigorous than the Environmental Protection Agency rule that took effect last August, Tim O'Connor, senior attorney and director of Environmental Defense Fund's oil and gas program in California, told Bloomberg BNA.
“It would establish the most strict and comprehensive standards for oil and gas sites,” O'Connor said. Also, it applies to new and existing facilities where the EPA rule applies only applies to new facilities, he said.
Expected federal rollbacks of national methane rules and policies “shouldn't have a significant impact on the California regulation,” O'Connor said. California's rule would apply to oil and gas operations on federal lands in the state, he said.
But because California imports 90 percent of its natural gas, the carbon footprint of that gas would be larger if the federal rules are rolled back, O'Connor said.
Leak Detection, Methane Collection
Methane would have to be collected or destroyed, according to the rules. Companies would have to install leak detection controls, maintain and repair systems and comply with new monitoring and reporting requirements. The regulation would require vapor collection systems on certain uncontrolled oil and water separators and storage tanks and well stimulation circulation tanks. Vented gas from reciprocating compressors and centrifugal compressors also would also need to be collected, unless the equipment is repaired or maintained to prevent leaks. Also, “no bleed” pneumatic devices and pumps would be required.
Emission standards will apply to active and idle equipment and components at underground storage facilities. Vapor recovery, leak detection and maintenance programs also would be required. Underground natural gas storage facilities would have to monitor for large leaks and well failures.
CARB's governing board will consider “Proposed Regulation for Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards for Crude Oil and Natural Gas Facilities,” at its March 23-24, meeting in Riverside.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=107156897&vname=dennotallissues&fn=107156897&jd=107156897
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Ohio NatGas Output Climbed, While Oil Production Fell Last Year
Mar 13, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Combined year/year conventional and unconventional oil production in Ohio slid 19% in 2016, reflecting the shift to dry gas production, which increased by 44% during the same time, according to estimates compiled by members of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA) for the annual Debrosse Memorial Report.
The report -- unveiled last week at OOGA's winter meeting in Columbus -- offers a comprehensive analysis of the industry's operations in the state each year. It's compiled using public information. With only three quarters of 2016 data released by the state, the final production figures are estimates.
Combined oil production dropped to 20.6 million bbl in 2016 from a record of 25.5 million bbl in 2015. Unconventional production -- primarily from the Utica Shale -- accounted for 17.5 million bbl of 2016 oil production. Combined natural gas production, however, went from about 1 Tcf in 2015 to more than 1.4 Tcf last year, according to the report. The Utica Shale accounted for nearly all natural gas production in the state last year, producing 1.397 Tcf.
The rest of the report showed the mixed bag that 2016 was for the state's natural gas producers. They dealt with the commodities downturn for most of the year before prices started to inch upward and the outlook improved. Drilling permits continued to fall from a peak of 1,659 in 2014 to 561 last year, according to the report, which said 997 permits were issued in 2015. Completions increased 16% year/year, however, reaching 620 last year -- 77% of which were horizontal completions.
Producers finished 466 Utica wells, seven Marcellus Shale wells and two horizontal Clinton Sandstone wells. Belmont, Harrison and Monroe counties were the top three respectively for completions, accounting for 309 of them. Operators reported completions in 36 of 88 counties. The top 12 counties accounted for 90% of all the wells in the state, according to the report.
The state's shale producers continued to drive up footage drilled. The report said operators drilled eight million feet in 2016 compared to 6.6 million in 2015 and 2.2 million in 2010, one year before the state reported its first commercial Utica Shale production.
There were 71 companies producing oil and gas in Ohio last year, compared to 87 in 2015. The report shows that more than 275,000 oil and gas wells have been dril
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/109744-ohio-natgas-output-climbed-while-oil-production-fell-last-year
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(ACC Mentioned) EPA Delays RMP Rule to Weigh Industry Push to Rescind Regulation
Mar 13, 2017 | Inside EPA
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has stayed for three months the Obama EPA's final rule overhauling its industrial facility accident prevention program to consider an industry petition that asked the agency to reconsider or rescind the regulation that industry groups say is unjustified, adds significant burdens and raises security concerns.
In a March 13 announcement, the agency said it may also grant additional administrative extensions of the Risk Management Plan (RMP) update rule as it weighs a formal rulemaking to rescind or overhaul the regulation.
“The [initial] 90-day extension will allow time for EPA to consider whether to further extend the effective date of the rule through a rulemaking action while the Agency reconsiders the rule in response to a petition the agency received in February 2017 from the RMP Coalition,” the agency said in a statement.
“As an agency, we need to be responsive to concerns raised by stakeholders regarding regulations so facility owners and operators know what is expected of them,” Pruitt added in the March 13 statement.
The process the agency has laid out is consistent with calls from White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. In a memo issued shortly after taking office, he required agencies to extend the effective date of regulations issued in the waning days of the Obama administration while encouraging them, in some cases, to consider “further notice-and-comment rulemaking” to further delay the rules' implementation, revise their terms or begin the process of repeal.
EPA has already extended the effective date of the RMP rule -- from March 13 to March 21. But the latest action extends it by another 90 days, from March 21 to June 19 to reconsider the policy and weigh whether a longer extension is needed. The agency also says it will take public input on its reconsideration, but did not detail issues for comment or provide a deadline for input.
EPA's Jan. 13 final rule overhauls its RMP facility accident prevention program with new requirements for auditing, hazard analysis and disclosure of facility data. EPA issued the rule under former President Barack Obama's August 2013 executive order (EO) on improving the safety and security of industrial plants.
Obama issued the order in response to an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, TX, that killed 15 people, including first responders. While the explosion and subsequent EO triggered EPA's overhaul of its RMP accident prevention program, authorized under the Clean Air Act, investigators later blamed arson for the fire that led to the explosion.
Industry groups have long faulted the rule's requirements for independent audits, analysis of safer alternatives and disclosure of facility data. Pruitt, in his previous position as Oklahoma's attorney general, led a coalition of state officials in opposing aspects of the proposed rule, arguing requirements for disclosing facility data would worsen terror threats.
In a Feb. 28 petition, groups including the American Chemistry Council, American Petroleum Institute, National Association of Manufacturers and Utility Air Regulatory Group filed a “Petition for Reconsideration and Stay” arguing the rule contains numerous flaws and deficiencies.
The industry groups said that they intend to file a petition for review of the regulation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and are likely to prevail given the rule's “numerous procedural and substantive flaws.”
“[T]he final rule undermines safety, creates significant security risks, and does nothing to further prevent criminal acts that threaten facilities, such as the sabotage that led to the tragedy in West, TX,” the groups say. “An administrative stay is appropriate and necessary while the Agency considers and addresses the numerous flaws in the Final Rule.”
Pruitt's decision to postpone the rule comes as opponents of the RMP rule were backing a pair of Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions pending in the House and Senate, though observers have said the measures face uncertain prospects given competing priorities and that industry would pursue other avenues for pushing back against the rule.
CRA resolutions of disapproval allow Congress, with the president's approval, to rescind recently issued regulations.
But Pruitt's action will likely end congressional efforts to kill the rule.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/epa-delays-rmp-rule-weigh-industry-push-rescind-regulation
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Tax Reform, Energy Grid Protection Among Top Policy Concerns for Electric Company CEOs, Executives
Mar 13, 2017 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Tom Kuhn
Each March, electric company CEOs and executives from across the country descend upon the nation’s capital to advocate for the industry's most pressing federal policy priorities. At the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), we expect a very busy policy agenda in 2017, with a new Administration and new Congress in Washington, as well as many new governors, legislators, and regulators in the states. These changes bring tremendous challenges and also extraordinary opportunities.
One major opportunity that has emerged quickly this year is comprehensive tax reform. EEI’s member companies support comprehensive tax reform because we believe that a simpler tax code, broader tax base, and lower tax rates will grow the economy and increase U.S. competitiveness, support job creation, and benefit our customers. Tax reform legislation must preserve interest deductibility to support investments in America’s critical energy infrastructure and to keep energy bills as affordable and predictable as possible for all Americans.
The current deduction for interest expense on corporate debt is essential to help minimize increases in electricity rates, especially during this time of major infrastructure enhancement. By utilizing the deduction, in concert with our other tax reform priorities, electric companies can continue to efficiently invest in the infrastructure necessary to provide American homes and businesses with reliable and affordable electricity.
We are working with Congress and the administration to find tax reform solutions that help to keep our cost of capital as low as possible. This, in turn, will benefit customers and encourage much-needed investment in critical energy infrastructure.
In addition to tax reform, there is a great deal of discussion under way about our nation’s infrastructure. From a policy standpoint, we fully support streamlining and expediting the process for permitting and siting energy infrastructure—including transmission lines, natural gas facilities and pipelines, and other energy facilities—to ensure that energy can get where it is needed, when it is needed.
EEI’s member companies plan to invest more than $100 billion this year to build smarter energy infrastructure and to transition to even cleaner generation sources. These investments create jobs and make the energy grid more robust, more dynamic, and more secure for all customers.
As part of their efforts to build smarter energy infrastructure, electric companies are deploying advanced digital technologies, improving power lines and substations, hardening the system against severe weather, and enhancing cyber and physical security. It is critical that state and federal policymakers adopt policies that recognize the value of the energy grid and support its ongoing transformation through increased investment and cost recovery.
Protecting the energy grid is our top priority, and every day America’s electric companies are working to improve grid security, reliability, and resiliency. National security and cybersecurity also are priorities for President Trump and the administration, and we believe public policies should help to strengthen the energy grid’s resilience against cyber and physical security attacks and natural disasters.
Smarter energy infrastructure also is the enabling platform for a clean and affordable energy future. In just 10 years, the mix of sources used to generate electricity has changed dramatically and is increasingly clean. In 2016, natural gas use surpassed coal as a main source of electricity in the U.S.—the first time that a fuel other than coal has supplied the bulk of the nation’s power.
Electric companies also are the largest investors in renewable energy in the U.S. Virtually all of the wind, geothermal, and hydropower in the country—and the majority of installed solar capacity—is provided by electric companies.
From a policy perspective, EEI will continue to advocate for policies that support and maintain a balanced and diverse energy mix. We also will remain focused on increasing awareness of the vital role that 24/7 power (or baseload) sources, including coal and nuclear energy, play in sustaining a diverse, reliable, and resilient energy mix.
EEI’s member companies are committed to providing reliable, affordable, secure, and increasingly clean energy to drive our nation’s economy and power our everyday lives. We will advocate for policies that support pro-growth tax reform, infrastructure investment, grid security, and a balanced energy mix. And, we remain focused on delivering America’s energy future.
Tom Kuhn is president of the Edison Electric Institute, the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies, which serve nearly 70 percent of America’s industries, businesses, and consumers.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/323687-tax-reform-energy-grid-protection-among-top-policy
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Wireless Networks Provide Hackers Avenue of Attack
Mar 13, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Collin Eaton
Four years ago, Coast Guard officers boarded a rust-colored oil tanker while it was moored in Wisconsin’s Fox River.
The officers found antennas and computer devices running an automated attack against a local wireless network as it was docked near an oil terminal in the Port of Green Bay, according to a Coast Guard report reviewed by the Houston Chronicle and first obtained by the publication IHS Jane’s. The attack on the unknown target failed, but it was set to restart automatically, the report said.
“You think you’ve seen it all until something like this comes along,” said Brian Calkin, vice president of operations at the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a non-profit group that collects and distributes information about cyber security threats, based in New York and Virginia. Hackers have “changed the game yet again.”
Wireless networks represent another avenue of attack for hackers and another potential vulnerability for oil and gas production facilities, refineries, pipelines and other industrial plants, government and private cyber security specialists said.
Homeland Security said network scanning and probing accounted for 79 cyber incidents involving industrial controls in 2014 and 2015, but would not disclose additional details.
Many companies have adopted advanced encryptions, but Kevin Dunn, senior vice president at the Austin security firm NCC Group, said the most common security setting for wireless networks in energy and other industrial facilities remains the password-protected WPA-2 protocol, used for household wireless networks.
Skilled hackers, with a modest equipment that costs a few hundred dollars, could break into these in about two hours.
“If this were a targeted attack,” Dunn said, “whether it be ‘hactivism’ or a nation-state, all they have is time and money and opportunity.”
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/03/13/wireless-networks-provide-hackers-avenue-of-attack/
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Pruitt's Oil Industry Ties Spark Dem Request for Probe
Mar 14, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Kevin Bogardus
House Democrats are requesting U.S. EPA's internal watchdog to delve deep into how the agency handles conflicts of interest due to Administrator Scott Pruitt's ties to the oil and gas industry.
In a letter sent yesterday to EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins, six Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked for "an investigation into policies and procedures regarding conflicts of interest" at EPA.
They noted press reports of Pruitt's links to fossil fuel companies during his time as Oklahoma attorney general, during which he often sued EPA over several of its major regulations. The lawmakers also said that Pruitt had used personal email for official business as Oklahoma attorney general despite saying during his confirmation hearing that he had not.
The letter asked the IG a number of questions, including what policies EPA has to ensure that Pruitt and any other political appointees do not have conflicts of interest with the agency's enforcement actions; what ethics training and certifications are required of Pruitt and other political appointees to join EPA; and how EPA's conflict of interest policies restrict Pruitt's ability to fundraise for organizations like the Republican Attorneys General Association, which he once led.
"It is critical that EPA and all federal agencies maintain effective conflict of interest policies and ethics requirements in order to ensure government operates in an honest and transparent manner," the lawmakers wrote.
"Your investigation will help us better understand the role your office will play in ensuring strict adherence to such rules and guidelines, and how EPA and its new management will address these concerns."
Democratic Reps. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the committee's ranking member; Bobby Rush of Illinois; Paul Tonko of New York; Diana DeGette of Colorado; Kathy Castor of Florida; and John Sarbanes of Maryland signed the letter.
Jennifer Kaplan, an EPA IG spokeswoman, declined to comment on the letter.
During his confirmation hearing, Pruitt said he would seek guidance from career ethics counsel at E
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2017/03/14/stories/1060051395
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Utah Lawmakers Use CRA as Weapon Against Haze Rule
Mar 14, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Sean Reilly
Utah lawmakers are seeking to deploy the Congressional Review Act against U.S. EPA's regional haze rule for the state.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee introduced a CRA resolution of disapproval yesterday, following up on H.J. Res. 87, a similar House measure dropped in Friday by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, another Republican.
The EPA plan, published last July over state objections, would require two coal-fired plants owned by PacifiCorp to slash emissions of nitrogen oxides, with the goal of improving visibility at nine national parks and wilderness areas, including Canyonlands National Park in Utah and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
PacifiCorp estimates the cost of new pollution controls at $700 million. The Oregon-based company and state elected officials are contesting the EPA plan in lawsuits filed with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In a news release yesterday, Chaffetz echoed their opposition, saying EPA had assumed unwarranted authority "in order to impose significant costs without any discernible benefit."
"Such actions are typical of Obama-era federal overreach and must be repealed," Chaffetz said.
The Congressional Review Act, dating to 1996 but rarely used until this year, allows simple majorities in the House and Senate to overturn relatively recent regulations. Anything put in place on or after June 13, 2016, is fair game, according to the Congressional Research Service.
At Heal Utah, an advocacy group that backs the EPA plan, Executive Director Matt Pacenza called the repeal effort distressing, given that EPA has put years of study into developing its plan.
Utah lawmakers are "choosing politics" over the health of state residents and clearer park vistas, Pacenza said.
The haze program, authorized by the Clean Air Act, aims to restore natural visibility conditions to 156 national parks and wilderness areas by 2064.
Under the Obama administration, EPA's willingness to use the program to force cleanups of older coal-fired plants has spawned a string of lawsuits.
Among the challengers was Scott Pruitt, EPA's new administrator. As Oklahoma's Republican attorney general, he spent three years in an unsuccessful fight against EPA's regional haze plan for his state.
Last week, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to EPA's request to launch settlement talks in litigation over federal haze regulations for Arkansas (Greenwire, March 8).
In the Utah case, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R) filed a brief Friday seeking to void the haze plan. PacifiCorp is already seeking a stay; EPA's latest response to that bid is due March 23.
Co-sponsoring the bills introduced by Lee and Chaffetz are the remaining members of Utah's congressional delegation, all of whom are also Republicans: Sen. Orrin Hatch and Reps. Rob Bishop, Chris Stewart and Mia Love.
http://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2017/03/14/stories/1060051405
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