Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 3/27/2017
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(ACC Mentioned) Quaker Chemical Bags ACC's RC14001:2015 Certification
Mar 27, 2017 | Fibre 2 Fashion
By Quaker Chemical
Specialty chemicals producer Quaker Chemical has bagged the RC14001:2015 standard certification from the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care initiative. Quaker is only the second ACC member company in the US to be awarded a 2015 version of the certification and has been awarded the certificate for its five production facilities in the US. -
US SME Agency Raises Concerns With TSCA Proposals
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy has criticised the EPA's recent TSCA proposed rules. It says the agency has not adequately engaged with SMEs and considered their concerns. -
Expect Citizen Lawsuits Over US Environmental Breaches
Mar 27, 2017 | Environmental Analyst
Civil legal battles over environmental compliance could become more frequent in Trump’s America as EPA budget cuts take hold, according to chemical litigation specialist Lynn Bergerson. -
(ACC Mentioned) California Targets Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Cheryl Hogue
California wants makers of spray polyurethane foam insulation containing unreacted methylene diphenyl diisocyanates (MDI) to determine how to reduce human health risks from their products. -
Executive Reveals How Amgen Shifted to Greener Chemistry
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Prachi Patel
Green chemistry aims to minimize impact on the environment, but it can also save manufacturers time and money, making the approach good for the bottom line. -
Businesses Benefit from US Conflict Minerals Reporting Rule, Say NGOs
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
NGOs have urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) not to weaken or repeal the US conflict minerals reporting rule, as doing so would have detrimental effects on businesses and human security. -
NGOs Grill Echa on Gaps in REACH Registration Compliance
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
A group of NGOs has demanded answers from Echa on its approach to an "apparently considerable compliance gap" in registration dossiers and its failure to take enforcement action by "refusing" inadequate applications. -
Efficiency Group's Callahan Talks White House Push to Eliminate Energy Savings Programs
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E TV
By OnPoint
The usually bipartisan and noncontroversial efficiency sector has faced new pressure this month following the release of President Trump's proposed budget and the freezing of several efficiency rules and procedures by the administration. During today's OnPoint, Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, explains how her industry is responding to these moves and discusses the new political climate for energy and environment issues. -
Trump to Roll Back Clean Power Plan Tomorrow
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
The White House will release its executive order on the Clean Power Plan tomorrow, triggering President Trump's promises to dismantle the climate policies of his predecessor. -
Oil and Gas Groups Cheer Valuation Rule Repeal
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
Oil and gas groups celebrated the Interior Department's move last week to strike down an Obama-era rule altering royalty calculations for fossil fuels produced on federal land. -
Industry Prepares for Changes and New Fights
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Nathanial Gronewold and Mike Lee
The Keystone XL pipeline may finally be built. -
Total Forms Joint Venture to Build Texas Chemicals and Plastics Plants
Mar 27, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Jordan Blum
Paris-based Total energy giant said it will form a joint venture to build major chemical and plastic plant expansions in Port Arthur and Bayport, just outside of Houston. -
Texas Coastal Community Affirms Case for ExxonMobil Cracker
Mar 27, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Carolyn Davis
Following months of debate, leaders of a rural Coastal Bend community near Corpus Christi, TX, are making it clear they would welcome the world's largest ethane steam cracker, a $9 billion-plus project proposed by ExxonMobil Corp. and Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC). -
Hilcorp Halts Production Until Leak Fixed
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Hilcorp Alaska will temporarily shut down oil production at two Cook Inlet platforms to combat a leaking natural gas pipeline. -
PG&E Quietly Buys, Cleans Up Contaminated Calif. Homes
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
For years, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has been buying houses, now totaling eight homes, in San Francisco's Marina District to remove chemical contamination lurking in the backyards. -
EPA Resets Timetable for Feedback in Interstate Ozone Dispute
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA has rescheduled a public hearing and again extended the deadline for comments on its proposed denial of a bid by nine Northeastern states to dramatically expand the size of the Ozone Transport Region. -
Brick Sector Defends Against Push for Tougher 'Health-Based' Air Rule
Mar 27, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
Brick manufacturers are defending EPA's air toxics rule for the sector against environmentalists' claims that EPA failed to follow Clean Air Act mandates and set unlawfully weak "health-based" air standards for the sector, saying nothing in the air law specifies harder limits and that EPA has discretion on how to set alternative air toxics standards.
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(ACC Mentioned) Quaker Chemical Bags ACC's RC14001:2015 Certification
Mar 27, 2017 | Fibre 2 Fashion
By Quaker Chemical
Specialty chemicals producer Quaker Chemical has bagged the RC14001:2015 standard certification from the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care initiative. Quaker is only the second ACC member company in the US to be awarded a 2015 version of the certification and has been awarded the certificate for its five production facilities in the US.
The RC14001:2015 standard certification challenges companies to demonstrate a commitment to improving their safety, health and environmental (SH&E) and security performance.
"Responsible Care certification reinforces the high value that Quaker places on the safety, health, and well-being of our associates, protection of the environment, and security of our facilities," CEO Michael Barry said. "By embracing a culture built around safety and environmental responsibility, we ask every single associate to be proactive and apply these elements to the way we actually work."
According to Quaker, all its main manufacturing facilities around the world are ISO14001 certified, and many of its main manufacturing sites outside of North America are OHSAS18001 certified.
"The addition of the RC14001 certification enhances Quaker's current efforts to enhance safety, and is a significant step in achieving its corporate social responsibility goals," the company said. (AR)
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/sustainability-news/quaker-chemical-bags-acc-s-rc14001-2015-certification-204888-newsdetails.htm
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US SME Agency Raises Concerns With TSCA Proposals
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy has criticised the EPA's recent TSCA proposed rules. It says the agency has not adequately engaged with SMEs and considered their concerns.
Congress established Advocacy as an arm of the SBA to represent the views of small businesses before federal agencies and lawmakers. Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), federal agencies are required to assess the impact on SMEs of proposed rules expected to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of those entities, and to consider less burdensome activities.
But in comments on the EPA's proposal to ban trichloroethylene (TCE) in certain uses and its draft 'framework rules' for prioritisation and risk evaluation under TSCA, Advocacy urged the agency to reassess its approaches in order to better address small business considerations.
TCE proposal
Advocacy called on the agency to withdraw its proposed rule banning TCE in aerosol degreasing and for spot cleaning in dry cleaning operations.
It says the EPA has inaccurately certified that the rule will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of SMEs. It says the agency's factual basis for this – that alternatives are available with similar costs and performance – is incorrect. It is asking the agency to reevaluate its compliance with the RFA in this regard.
The letter also raised several concerns with the TSCA work plan risk evaluations supporting the proposal. These include:
their reliance on "a single study that is unreproducible" for estimating non-cancer risk;
assumptions and hypothetical models used by the agency; and
the absence of a peer-review on the EPA's supplemental analyses.
Small business representatives also contended that the EPA added the use of TCE as a spotting agent to the final risk assessment "at the last minute". This, they said, did not give the dry cleaning industry opportunity for participation.
The organisation added that the the agency should convene an additional panel with SME representatives in order to ensure compliance with RFA requirements.
SME outreach
Advocacy also expressed concern that neither the prioritisation nor risk evaluation rules include small business outreach plans.
The EPA has certified that there is no significant economic impact on SMEs from either proposal, as they primarily address internal procedures.
But Advocacy said that small businesses often have "limited resources and employees that may or may not have the expertise or the time to dedicate to tracking a scientific and complicated risk evaluation". And it says that both rules carry the potential for regulating existing chemicals that will impact downstream users who are "often not readily aware of the presence of a chemical use in their process or product".
It asked the agency to "engage small businesses early and throughout the process of prioritisation and risk evaluation by planning specific targeted outreach". This should include making "concerted efforts" to contact SMEs that may be affected by a substance evaluation.
The group echoed other industry groups in calling for increased transparency in the pre-prioritsation process, as well.
https://chemicalwatch.com/54697/us-sme-agency-raises-concerns-with-tsca-proposals
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Expect Citizen Lawsuits Over US Environmental Breaches
Mar 27, 2017 | Environmental Analyst
Civil legal battles over environmental compliance could become more frequent in Trump’s America as EPA budget cuts take hold, according to chemical litigation specialist Lynn Bergerson. With environmental NGO coiffers bolstered by a spike in contributions following the US election, they may well be ready for the fight.
Speaking at a recent webinar hosted by Compliance & Risks, Bergerson said she believes the increased emphasis on state-level enforcement will not be a silver bullet. With states “not exactly flush with cash”, she says there may be “diminished enforcement leading NGOs such as National Resource Defence Fund, Environmental Defence Fund and the Sierra Club to increase citizen enforcement action”.
In fact the Sierra Club, NRDC and EDF have wasted no time in pushing donation campaigns based on the threat posed by Trump and the likely need for legal action. In November, the Financial Times reported on how the Sierra Club recieved “record” donation rates - quadrupling its month donation record in the days following the election with an extra 4,000 donors worth around $2 million.
The sharp fall in funding for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance - representing a 23.5% reduction year-on-year for fiscal 2018 - announced in Trump’s blueprint budget two weeks ago means states will be expected to shoulder more responsibility (EA 20-Mar-17). Despite plans to remove Obama’s Waters of the US Rule and the Clean Power Plan and devolve more power to the states, Bergerson remains unconvinced an EPA impacted by in excess of 3,000 redundancies as a result of the budget cuts will be able to deliver key responsibilities.
And with new rules surrounding the Toxic Substances Control Act due in June, Bergerson believes the dramatic drop in funding will be “crippling” to TSCA. “Many believed the EPA was underfunded last year, so next year will be very challenging,” she said.
https://environment-analyst.com/54701/expect-citizen-lawsuits-over-us-environmental-breaches
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(ACC Mentioned) California Targets Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Cheryl Hogue
California wants makers of spray polyurethane foam insulation containing unreacted methylene diphenyl diisocyanates (MDI) to determine how to reduce human health risks from their products. The state says workers and consumers can be exposed to unreacted MDI from these products and are at risk for respiratory problems and allergic reactions. California on March 22 proposed classifying such foam insulation as a “priority product” under the state’s . . . The American Chemistry Council, an industry trade group, says the spray polyurethane foam with MDI “is well studied and well controlled.” ACC adds that industry has provided extensive data and science to the state showing that the insulation does not meet California’s criteria for listing as a priority product. . .
Full Article Found Here: http://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i13/California-targets-spray-polyurethane-foam.html?type=paidArticleContent
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Executive Reveals How Amgen Shifted to Greener Chemistry
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Prachi Patel
Green chemistry aims to minimize impact on the environment, but it can also save manufacturers time and money, making the approach good for the bottom line. Recognizing this, many pharmaceutical companies have shifted toward green processes for drug discovery and development in the past decade. Margaret Faul, a synthetic organic chemist by training, led this move at Amgen, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies. The process involved not only developing greener and more sustainable chemical processes but also embedding this approach in the organization’s work culture. The efforts paid off: Amgen went from 106th in 2014 to 34th in 2015 in the Global Green Rankings. The company has also earned a spot on the selective Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. Faul talked with Prachi Patel about how Amgen made the shift to greener synthetic chemistry.
Why are green chemistry practices important for Amgen and the pharmaceutical industry in general?
The synthetic processes we use to make active pharmaceutical ingredients can generate substantial waste. There’s generally more waste in early drug development because the processes are less optimized, but as we develop long-term commercial processes, we focus on making the syntheses greener.
That focus is valuable for several reasons. Greener processes lead to an overall reduction in waste, minimizing public health or environmental risks. They are also important because they reduce the costs of goods for manufacture, are more efficient and robust, and give higher quality drug substances.
How do you get a better quality product using green chemistry?
Here’s an example: During early drug development, we had a synthesis process for an active pharmaceutical ingredient for oncology that involved a metal-catalyzed oxidation reaction requiring multiple purifications to meet desired quality. We also had to test for residual trace metals in the final intermediate compound to ensure the levels were below required regulatory limits. To eliminate this issue, we invested in new technology and developed a continuous-flow ozonolysis process to perform the oxidation and carried out the reaction in an aqueous mixture of an environmentally benign solvent. So we eliminated any potential of heavy-metal contamination and came out with a cleaner product.
How do you approach making an existing chemical process green?
Our goal is to develop green, efficient, and economical routes that avoid toxic substances, reduce or reuse solvents or reagents, and replace hazardous solvents and reagents. I’ll give you two examples.
One relates to an early clinical candidate where one of the fragments was made using chiral synthesis, which involved transition-metal catalysts. The process had 12 steps, six chromatographic purifications, and an overall yield of 10%. To produce 1 kg of product, we needed 23 kg of starting material that cost $5,000 a kilo, and the cycle took approximately six months.
So we developed a greener, enzymatic catalysis process to make the same compound. The number of steps went down to 10. We eliminated all the chromatographic purifications, which significantly reduced solvent usage, and we doubled overall yield. Now, to make 1 kg of the product, we use 4.6 kg of a new starting material that costs $10 per kilo, and we reduced the cycle time to one month.
The other example is our recent development of a commercial process to make a treatment for hyperparathyroidism called etelcalcetide, which just got approved in the European Union. It was made using a five-step, solid-state peptide synthesis. Producing 1 kg of peptide required tons of solvent. We got a 30% reduction in solvent use by improving the intermediate isolation and developing a new conjugation process for one of the amino acids. These improvements led to a 40% reduction in operating time to make the final drug substance.
Those are impressive numbers.
It’s night and day! It really shows you the power of making processes greener. The first time you develop a synthetic route, you’re on a critical path and need to accelerate the drug into the clinic, so you develop a scalable but unoptimized process. But later, when you have more time, you turn around and ask yourself, “How do I change that? I really don’t want to use all this material and time and money.”
Did you make any simple changes at Amgen that had a big impact?
There’s a metric that measures the greenness of a synthesis process called the environmental (E) factor, and it relates to kilograms of waste produced per kilogram of product. Instead of writing in paper lab notebooks, scientists in the pharmaceutical industry now use electronic notebooks on their computers. So one thing we did that had a pretty big impact is we built an E-factor metric into our scientists’ e-notebooks. Now, as staff develop a commercial synthesis process, they also get the E-factor metric data in real time. It really made people think about introducing green chemistry principles from the beginning of process development. It’s a win-win for everybody.
What other green technologies did Amgen adopt?
Using supercritical carbon dioxide as a purification technology led to massive reduction in solvent waste and significant improvement in our E factor. Also, a switch to ultraperformance liquid chromatography technology as an analytical tool led to shorter run times, which we estimate gave us about a 75% reduction in yearly solvent usage.
Do you see your investments in green chemistry paying off?
Yes, without a doubt. We haven’t had to make big investments, but we’ve changed where we make our investments. We’ve invested in increasing the efficiency, safety, and robustness of our processes. We’ve seen a big financial impact on our manufacturing and operating cost, as well as a societal impact because we’re significantly reducing waste, which obviously has long-term benefit. And we’ve gotten recognition as a company for our effort, which makes all of this very rewarding.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i13/Executive-reveals-Amgen-shifted-greener.html
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Businesses Benefit from US Conflict Minerals Reporting Rule, Say NGOs
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
NGOs have urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) not to weaken or repeal the US conflict minerals reporting rule, as doing so would have detrimental effects on businesses and human security.
Thousands responded to the SEC's call for comments to 'reconsider' Section 1502 of Dodd-Frank. The rule requires publicly traded companies to conduct due diligence and report to the SEC on whether their sourcing of tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG) is supporting armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), or neighbouring countries.
NGO the Enough Project wrote that many US businesses, particularly in the electronics industry, benefit from the rule. "They have seen decreased supply chain risks – especially for tin and tungsten – increased transparency in the minerals trade and their supply chains, and new investment opportunities in Congo and the surrounding region."
Global Witness pointed out that there are now public expectations around responsible sourcing. Efforts to weaken or repeal the law, it said, will only make it more difficult for companies to meet these investor, shareholder and customer demands.
Amnesty International added that the rule helps companies reduce exposure to legal liability and sanctions, including being put on the UN Sanctions List. The UN Security Council, it said, "continues to make clear that companies in the minerals supply chain must do their part to avoid financing armed groups or criminal networks by undertaking supply chain due diligence."
A group of 127 investors and investor groups with $4.8tn in assets under management also voiced support for the rule. Conflict minerals disclosure, they said, is "material to investors", and has improved their ability to assess social and reputational risks in a company's supply chain.
Rule's effectiveness
Several industry groups voiced criticism that the rule has not served its effect on the ground, despite huge compliance costs. But Amnesty International countered that it is a "vital regulation, which is working and is still needed."
Global Witness said that unintended consequences of the rule – such as its leading to a de facto embargo of DRC-sourced materials – do not support its being repealed, especially when no viable alternatives have been set forth.
Rather, it said, "we must build on its hard-fought foundations and seek to improve implementation by supporting robust enforcement and the development of complementary development, governance, and accountability measures."
Amnesty International agreed that suspending the rule would do more to contribute to instability in the region and threaten the US's national security interests than the ongoing implementation of the current rule.
But despite benefits to businesses and in the DRC, Amnesty said many companies in the 3TG supply chain are only exercising due diligence and disclosing their efforts because they are legally required to do so. Keeping the rule in place, it says, ensures fair competition and a level playing-field for US companies.
The Enough Project added that the EU's recently adopted Regulation is "significantly weaker" than the Dodd-Frank reporting rule. Its suspension would, therefore, "leave a major gap in global corporate due diligence".
It also pointed out that several US states have passed local legislation requiring the sourcing of conflict-free materials, and that these jurisdictions rely on robust federal standards to support their efforts.
Increased enforcement
The Enough Project said it would be "premature" to suggest a need for reconsidering the rule, given that the SEC has taken no enforcement action to date. Without records of enforcement activity, it said, it is "impossible to determine whether 'any additional relief is needed,' as [SEC] Commissioner Piwowar suggests."
Amnesty International added that while it is unclear what 'relief' is being sought, the rule was developed by notice-and-comment rulemaking. The SEC, it said, cannot weaken or repeal it "by using guidance or other mechanisms that fall short of new rulemaking in compliance with the SEC's legal obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)."
Global Witness called on the SEC to "uphold its obligation to enforce the rule ... [while] holding companies accountable for incomplete reporting and not meeting basic requirements". It also urged the US Department of Commerce to release its overdue report assessing the accuracy of Independent Private Sector Audits (Ipsas), as well as a list of best practices.
"Without these, the law is not being effectively implemented, which limits its ability to change supply chain behaviour."
https://chemicalwatch.com/54698/businesses-benefit-from-us-conflict-minerals-reporting-rule-say-ngos
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NGOs Grill Echa on Gaps in REACH Registration Compliance
Mar 27, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
A group of NGOs has demanded answers from Echa on its approach to an "apparently considerable compliance gap" in registration dossiers and its failure to take enforcement action by "refusing" inadequate applications.
The group is piling pressure on Echa head Geert Dancet to answer questions on the agency's track record during its ten years of implementing REACH.
In a November letter to Mr Dancet it asked if the Regulation is achieving its objectives of helping to protect people and the environment from harmful chemicals in seven specific areas.
Mr Dancet's response in December left many questions "yet to be answered", the NGOs said in a second letter dated 21 March. This was co-signed by 16 organisations, including:
the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel);
CHEM Trust;
ClientEarth;
the European Environmental Bureau (EEB); and
the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL).
If Echa does not take a more active role in ensuring the quality of registration dossiers, it is "impossible to know" if information provided by registrants is reliable, the letter said. The NGOs also copied into Bjørn Hansen, head of DG Environment's chemicals unit, and Klaus Berend, head of the REACH unit for DG Grow.
The NGOs met Mr Dancet in early March to discuss the issue because he said in December that he had agreed with staff not to divert resources to write a detailed response.
He also said that many of the answers to the NGOs' questions can be found in Echa's "various reports". In particular he pointed them to the report on five years of operations of REACH and CLP.
The precise degree of compliance cannot be revealed, Mr Dancet said, but new measures will tackle dossiers' problems at the registration phase. Echa has also started to review existing registrations. This may lead to "a revocation of the registration decision" should the dossier not be updated by the set deadline.
In their March letter, the NGOs said "extremely poor information" provided by industry shifts the burden of proof to member state authorities and to Echa committees to prepare the documents for subsequent REACH processes.
Precautionary principle
The NGOs have invited Echa to a roundtable discussion to see how it can better contribute to the application of the precautionary principle in making decisions on individual substances.
This requires a comprehensive description of all potentially adverse effects, as well as highlighting the extent of the scientific uncertainty.
Echa's practice is to request "undeniable evidence on hazards as a prerequisite to recommend action," the NGOs said. Examples of this are Echa's Risk Assessment Committee's (Rac) "refusal" to consider scientific evidence on immunotoxicity of PFOA or the endocrine effects of phthalates.
In several cases the Committee establishes thresholds based on the highest values, "giving preference" to data from industry-funded studies, the NGOs said.
The NGOs have asked for discussions with Echa on which measures, such as grouping and extended scope of restrictions, could be taken to make the processes more effective.
In its letter, Echa said it welcomed continued dialogue and collaboration on the "particularly challenging" area of 'upstream' applications.
https://chemicalwatch.com/54704/ngos-grill-echa-on-gaps-in-reach-registration-compliance
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Efficiency Group's Callahan Talks White House Push to Eliminate Energy Savings Programs
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E TV
By OnPoint
The usually bipartisan and noncontroversial efficiency sector has faced new pressure this month following the release of President Trump's proposed budget and the freezing of several efficiency rules and procedures by the administration. During today's OnPoint, Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, explains how her industry is responding to these moves and discusses the new political climate for energy and environment issues.
Transcript
Monica Trauzzi: Hello and welcome to OnPoint. I'm Monica Trauzzi. With me today is Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy. Kateri, it's great to have you back on the show.
Kateri Callahan: It's so nice to be here again, Monica.
Monica Trauzzi: Nice to see you. So, Kateri, the efficiency space has long been bipartisan and relatively uncontroversial. Yet this year, we are seeing movement by the Trump administration to do away with some long-standing programs and rules that relate to efficiency, innovation, and climate change more broadly. So, let's start with Energy Star. President Trump, according to his budget proposal, would like to see the program eliminated. Do you believe that Energy Star has enough support in Congress to not move forward with the president's plan?
Kateri Callahan: I believe it does, Monica, and it's not just that there's support in the Congress, though there has been bipartisan support since it was created in 1992. Remember, this was a George H.W. Bush program, and it's been around now for 25 years, a body of information on what it's delivered to our economy, to consumers, to businesses, to innovation. And people up on the Hill get that, and they've been steady state funding it for as long as I've been in the efficiency business, for about 14 years.
But we are not going to take anything for granted, so we have mounted a very, very significant advocacy campaign, and fortunately, there's so much groundswell of support out in the public for this, that I think we will definitely win the day. We did a callout to our E Advocates, which are our online grass-roots advocacy network, last week. And within a couple of days, we generated 5,500 — oh no, excuse me, it's up to 6,300 — letters to the Congress. We have sent an appeal out to the Energy Star partners — there are over 18,000 companies, utilities, schools, retailers that participate in the program, asking them to sign letters of support for funding and keeping the program going. We're still collecting those signatures, but we've already got almost 700 of those partners signed on to letters to go up to the Hill and to the administration, saying, "This is a program we should keep."
So, I think we're going to be able to keep that program rolling forward as we should, but again, we're not — we can't take anything for granted at this moment in time. And you asked about support on the Hill. We do have several members of Congress who are circulating letters, trying to get other members of Congress to sign letters of support to the president and to Administrator Pruitt.
Monica Trauzzi: So, another big cut in the budget outline is that DOE targeting offices that focus on efficiency and renewables. What could scaling back on the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy mean for innovation in this space? And could you argue that a lot of the hard work has already been done, so that it's not necessary to continue pouring all of this money into that office?
Kateri Callahan: Right. Well, I think not putting money in there is really what I've been calling "penny-wise and pound-foolish." We have again, a long-standing history of those programs that are over at DOE. Some of them — the Weatherization Assistance Program, that provides funding to do energy efficiency upgrades to low-income families' homes, that's been in place since 1976, since Gerald Ford. We've weatherized 7 million homes. People who are fortunate enough to have benefited from that program are saving about $450 a year on their energy bills. That may not be a lot to high-income or even middle-income people, but low-income people, it's a significant part of their budget.
So, I think that that's — I'm just mentioning one of the programs. The Appliance and Equipment Standards Program — yeah, we've done a lot of work there. Under the Obama administration, we caught up and in some instances, even went ahead of court orders and mandates to move forward on updating appliance standards. That program is delivering significant value to consumers in terms — and businesses — in terms of reduced energy bills. But if you don't continue to keep those standards updated on a regular basis, you're not going to be able to continue to get the efficiency benefits.
So yes, we've come a long, long way. Ninety percent of the products in our homes are covered by Appliance and Equipment Standards — 60 percent in businesses, 30 percent in manufacturing. But if we stop now, there's no more forward progress. There's no drive of innovation and investment by the private sector in making those products better. I think the saddest part of it, frankly, is that there's the collateral damage to not just the efficiency of the products, Monica, but the performance of the products and the available of type.
So, one of the knocks against Appliance and Equipment Standards, for example, has been that you will limit consumers' choice, and you won't get as good a product. Well, that's just patently wrong. Think about a refrigerator — they use 75 percent less energy today than they did 20 years ago. They last longer and they're better, and they perform better. So, it's — I don't see a good rationale for saying, "OK, we've done enough. We shouldn't do more." We'll fall behind the rest of the world, and that is not what I think this administration, and certainly this Congress, wants to see happen.
Monica Trauzzi: You've been working on these issues for a long time — you said 14 years. Did you ever think there was a possibility that on some of these topics, we would be revisiting conversations on things like energy and climate?
Kateri Callahan: Well, I think yes. So, we're always going to be revisiting those or continuing that conversation, because the world's not static. I think that the — for me, the difference here is that it appears — and we don't know this — that energy efficiency is caught up in this notion of, "Well, we have to end all of the work we're doing on climate." We don't do energy efficiency for climate alone. Some people, that's the motivating factor for more. It's the economic development. It's the global competitiveness. It's the saving on energy bills, doing more with less, so we put money more productively back into our economy.
So, I think that it's a shame if we only look at efficiency through a climate or a greenhouse gas lens. The savings there — and you know this as well as I do — have been enormous. But if we look at it through an economic lens and look at what it's delivered to our country, yeah, we're in a golden day with energy use in our nation right now. We've decoupled the growth in energy from growth in our economy.
Last year, in 2015, we actually reduced overall energy consumption while we still improved our economic output by 1.6 percent. You and I, and all the homeowners around the world — or, excuse me, around the United States — have the lowest percentage of our budget — monthly budget — going to energy bills that we've ever recorded in the history of this country. You have to go back to 1959 to see a smaller percentage of our overall budget going towards energy bills. So, we have this wonderful era that we've helped to create by making ourselves more energy efficient, and I don't know why we'd want to stop that track of progress.
Monica Trauzzi: So, where do you think Republicans are right now? I know that you're in constant contact with folks on the Hill. What are the conversations like when you talk to members broadly on these issues and what they might do this year?
Kateri Callahan: So, we brought in a lot of our companies — we have over 125 companies that participate in the alliance — and a month ago, we had a congressional education day, and we focused on Republican offices, and we focused on appropriators and the authorizing committee folks. We visited with 32 offices in representing 26 different states and some of the key appropriations committee folks. And I don't see an erosion in the support at all for energy efficiency programs that are being done by the federal government.
They get it. Support for work that the national lab is doing. Support for the state energy programs where the federal government provides funding and technical assistance to states to help them drive energy efficiency and clean energy forward. It's there. What we hear is that there may be haircuts. Those, from what I'm hearing, may be more a broad brush like we've seen with sequestration in the past, trying to find the funding that the president wants to beef up the military side. And I just don't — I don't see support, or haven't seen it yet, real strong support, for doing away with these programs. Again, most of the programs that are being targeted were started under Republican presidents. They have long-standing histories of 20, 25, 40 years, and there's a track record there of success that people just can't ignore.
Monica Trauzzi: Are your member organizations worried?
Kateri Callahan: I don't know if "worried" is the correct word at this point in time. I would say it's more they are paying attention, and they are putting forward and working with us to mount a defense and an education program that'll keep us from being worried, that'll keep us knowing that — having confidence that the government is going to stand with the private sector in these important public-private partnerships and this action to make us more energy productive, so therefore, more globally competitive.
Monica Trauzzi: All right. We're going to end it right there. Thank you so much for coming up on the show.
Kateri Callahan: Thank you.
Monica Trauzzi: Nice to see you.
Kateri Callahan: I appreciate it.
Monica Trauzzi: And thanks for watching. We'll see you back here tomorrow. That was great. Thank you.
http://www.eenews.net/tv/videos/2213/transcript
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Trump to Roll Back Clean Power Plan Tomorrow
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
The White House will release its executive order on the Clean Power Plan tomorrow, triggering President Trump's promises to dismantle the climate policies of his predecessor.
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced the timing yesterday on ABC's "This Week." The move comes as the White House seeks safe footing after its stunning legislative loss on health care Friday.
The twin announcements about signing the executive order and permitting the Keystone XL pipeline, made before the weekend, stand to ease the turbulence of last week by fulfilling two of Trump's oaths to rural constituents.
"We've made tremendous progress on our environment, and we can be both pro-jobs and pro-environment, and the executive order's going to address the [past] administration's effort to kill jobs across the country through the Clean Power Plan," Pruitt said.
Vice President Mike Pence set the stage Saturday by telling a crowd in West Virginia, "The war on coal is over."
His remarks sought to reorient the White House toward an issue that served Trump well on the campaign trail, where he at one point wore a coal miner's hard hat and exulted in the devotion of workers in reflective stripes and coveralls.
"We're going to bring back jobs," Pence said. "We're going to get Washington out of the way of energy producers and coal miners — because energy means growth for America, and President Trump digs coal."
Still hurdles ahead before repeal
The White House confirmed yesterday that Trump will visit EPA, an agency for which he expressed disdain before the election, to formally announce the order with Pruitt at his side.
"On Tuesday, President Trump will sign an Energy Independence Executive Order at the EPA to strengthen the nation's energy security by reducing unnecessary regulatory obstacles that restrict the responsible use of domestic energy resources," White House spokeswoman Kelly Love said in a statement.
"This order will help keep energy and electricity affordable, reliable, and clean in order to boost economic growth and job creation," she said.
Sources have told E&E News that the order would begin the long process of unwinding the Clean Power Plan by requiring Pruitt to review the program, which cuts carbon emissions from existing power plants 32 percent by 2030. It also orders the Department of Justice to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to abruptly freeze the legal challenge against the Clean Power Plan, effectively ending the government's defense of the carbon program.
The order is also expected to cancel the Climate Action Plan, while instructing federal agencies to review actions that restrict energy production (Climatewire, Feb. 21).
The order itself does not have legal force to repeal the Clean Power Plan, but it does send a signal to EPA to begin the process of rulemaking and public comment necessary to rescind it. The administration would then have to prove that the repeal was evidence-based and not arbitrary, said Steve Silverman, a former EPA attorney in the Office of General Counsel.
"The most immediate practical effect would be on pending litigation," he said, referring to challenges to the Clean Power Plan in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Climatewire, March 9).
"What they would ask the court to do is to put the litigation on ice while the administration takes action," said Silverman.
While the court doesn't have to agree, it likely will side with the administration on pausing the litigation, he said.
'States can make a difference,' but how much?
Agency efforts to terminate the Clean Power Plan could also be hindered if Congress follows through with Trump's proposed 31 percent cut to EPA's budget.
"If EPA is going to continue budget cuts, they aren't going to be able to do a new rulemaking process," said Kenneth Gillingham, an assistant economics professor at Yale University and a former senior economist on the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama.
The "bare minimum" the administration could do to address the Clean Power Plan would be to simply repeal it, without replacing the climate rule with something else. In this case, the administration could take away funding for Clean Power Plan implementation in states but would still have to have funds to address court challenges to the rule's repeal, he said.
Taking away the Clean Power Plan would put the initiative back in the hands of states that want to address climate change, Gillingham added.
"States can make a difference, but not the kind of difference the federal government can make," he said.
The executive order has been expected for several weeks, since Pruitt first took the helm at EPA. Last week, White House spokesman Sean Spicer denied that it had been delayed and declined to comment on any details it might include (E&E News PM, March 22).
While environmental groups have challenged a repeal as an assault on climate action, Pruitt told "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos that the executive order would help bring back coal and manufacturing jobs to the United States and would also help the country reduce the need for energy sources from abroad.
Pruitt added that technological innovations in the coal and natural gas sectors were largely responsible for recent reductions in the United States' CO2 emissions. He cited horizontal drilling for extracting natural gas as an example but did not cite any coal-related technologies.
Pruitt: Paris was a 'bad deal'
Government studies have shown that canceling the Clean Power Plan would have minimal benefits to mining jobs in some regions. Meanwhile, natural gas production in the United States has surged following advances in hydraulic fracturing. Power companies have lowered their carbon footprints by switching away from coal and toward natural gas and renewable power. Technologies to cut carbon output for coal plants, however, are not widely in use.
Pruitt called the Obama administration "anti-fossil fuel" and said rolling back the Clean Power Plan would help to reduce electricity rates for consumers.
When questioned whether the move would affect the United States' ability to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement, Pruitt said the Clean Power Plan was not "tethered" to the accords. He called the 2015 negotiations on climate change a "bad deal" since major polluters China and India do not have to take steps to reduce pollution until 2030. Instead, he said the United States should act within the framework of the Clean Air Act.
The EPA administrator did not answer repeated questions from Stephanopoulos on whether he would continue to allow California to maintain its waiver under the Clean Air Act to enact stricter fuel efficiency standards on automobiles than the rest of the country. Pruitt said the president would re-evaluate the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards in 2018. He said that the public did not want to buy the cars that meet the higher efficiency standards and that continuing to manufacture them is "counter-helpful" to the environment.
"What this CAFE standards combined with the Clean Power Plan and the executive order sends a message to the American people that we're going to do what we can to make sure we produce jobs and growth while also being sensitive to the environment, and making sure that we introduce common sense back into the discussion," he said.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/03/27/stories/1060052111
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Oil and Gas Groups Cheer Valuation Rule Repeal
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
Oil and gas groups celebrated the Interior Department's move last week to strike down an Obama-era rule altering royalty calculations for fossil fuels produced on federal land.
In a legal filing Thursday, Interior requested a stay on litigation related to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue rule and indicated that it is developing a rulemaking to repeal the regulation (Greenwire, March 24).
The rule, which had not yet gone into effect, requires extraction firms to pay royalties based on the value of their product at the first "arm's length" sale. According to officials at former President Obama's Interior, the rule was designed to close a loophole allowing producers to sell to their subsidiaries at an artificially low rate.
"We're pleased with the actions to rescind the rule," Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma said Friday. "The rule was making royalty reporting extremely complex without increasing return."
The American Petroleum Institute last year filed a lawsuit challenging the ONRR rule.
"Certainty and fairness in the leasing process is a critical part of ensuring consumers and businesses can benefit from domestic energy production, which is why we are pleased that ONRR recognizes the substantial burdens and potential legal flaws associated with this rule," API Upstream and Industry Operations Group Director Erik Milito said in a Friday statement. "Its lack of clarity and certainty would stifle energy production on federal lands instead of fostering oil and natural gas production, which benefits American consumers and strengthens our national security."
Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) had previously introduced legislation to undo the regulation (Greenwire, Feb. 14).
"The ONRR's mineral valuation rule added more red-tape, complexity and confusion to an already overly complicated mineral valuation process, creating a disincentive for responsible development of our natural resources on federal land and ultimately hurting hardworking Americans and their families the most," Tipton said in a Friday statement.
"I am glad to see that Secretary Zinke joins us in recognizing the harmful impact this rule would have on energy producers and consumers alike."
Conservation groups said the repeal effort is a clear effort to swing the pendulum back to energy interests above other users of public lands.
President Trump and Congress are "trying to undermine a fundamental premise of energy development on public land, which is that it should pay its fair share and pay a fair market value," said Pam Eaton, a senior adviser for the Wilderness Society's Energy and Climate Program.
"Industry is seeing an opportunity," she said. "They're using the tools they have, and the Trump administration is being responsive."
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/03/27/stories/1060052101
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Industry Prepares for Changes and New Fights
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Nathanial Gronewold and Mike Lee
The Keystone XL pipeline may finally be built.
After years of wrangling over this symbol of Big Oil vs. environmentalists, the Department of State said Friday it will grant the final permit needed to build the pipeline, though approval from a Nebraska agency is still needed. Refiners along the Gulf of Mexico coastline rejoiced. Environmental activists vowed to fight on, in the trenches where the pipe will be laid if necessary.
Meanwhile, industry is now grappling with the implications of TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL coming online in a few years, adding around 590,000 barrels a day of carrying capacity to deliver oil sands crude from Alberta to U.S. refineries. The line would almost certainly deal a blow to railroads shipping that crude south now. The added flow is also expected to further push out imports from the Middle East and Venezuela as the oil sands continue adding production, despite the fallen oil price.
What it will not do, TransCanada vows, is kill the Energy East pipeline proposal. That line, seen by analysts as an alternative to Keystone XL, sees sending oil across eastern Canada to refineries and export terminals in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. The company wants to build both lines, TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said in an email.
"We, along with our customers, remain committed to Energy East," Cunha said. "It is a separate project serving different markets, including refineries in Quebec and New Brunswick, which currently depend on hundreds of thousands of barrels of imported crude oil every day. That demand has not changed, nor has our commitment."
Researchers at Wood Mackenzie earlier speculated that either project would get completed, but not both. In additional to other forthcoming Canadian oil pipeline projects, adding both Keystone XL and Energy East will see pipeline capacity reach almost double what the oil sands projects are expected to need, though other grades of oil would likely share the lines (Energywire, Jan. 25). Energy East is being reviewed by Canada's National Energy Board (NEB).
Refining interests are pleased with the decision. Many of the Gulf Coast's refineries are tooled to handle heavy sour Venezuelan crude. As output fell in that country and Venezuela's crude exports sought out other markets, U.S. refineries embraced Canadian bitumen instead, and can make better margins by processing the heavier stuff into fuels.
The State Department's decision "is a critical step towards building the necessary infrastructure that will enhance our national security, create jobs, and grow our economy," said Chet Thompson, president of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, in a release.
Railroad operators on both sides of the border must be sweating. Higher costs and derailment risks put train shipments out of favor with oil suppliers if a pipeline option exists. The Dakota Access pipeline project is also expected to put some rail shipments out of business. Rail imports from Canada shot up from under 10,000 barrels a day in 2012 to nearly 180,000 barrels a day by mid-2014, according to NEB data, but fell again as the oil price fell. Shipments south recovered somewhat, but the growth appears to have lost momentum.
A flexible supply of oil from multiple sources improves the refining business, but the cost of sending oil by rail can be two to five times as much as deliveries via pipeline "depending on the route and distance," said John Stoody, vice president at the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL).
AOPL's sister organization in Canada celebrated in equal measure to industry groups in the United States.
"The project will also offer significant economic benefits to both American and Canadian businesses creating over 6,600 construction jobs in Canada alone," said the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, touting the economic benefits.
Battlegrounds old and new
Thousands of construction jobs are expected for the United States, as well, though they may be late in arriving.
In Nebraska, pipeline opponents are planning to use an upcoming proceeding at the state Public Service Commission as leverage to delay the project, said Jane Kleeb, an organizer of the grass-roots group Bold Nebraska. The PSC's approval is still needed.
About 90 individuals and organizations, including landowners and Native American tribes, have filed as intervenors in the case. If the commission refuses to grant them standing to participate, they can go to court to appeal, Kleeb said.
"They won't be able to start laying pipe in Nebraska, minimum, two years, I would think," she said. "We're in it for the long haul. My hope is that, through legal and other proceedings, that we'll be able to slow it down for a good three years, so that this becomes a presidential campaign issue. ... That's the only way this might end up get this resolved, is that a new president gets elected and ensures that our water's not at risk."
South Dakota may be destined to become a heated battleground, as well.
The planned Keystone XL route may take the line very close to the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe had already joined with the Standing Rock Sioux in its battle against the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota. The Standing Rock Sioux now say they're ready to return the favor for South Dakota tribes.
In a statement posted Friday, Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II said the tribe will join the on-the-ground battle that's to come. "We opposed Keystone before, and we'll oppose it again," he said. "We've seen how the sentiment and worldwide support grew with the ongoing Dakota Access Pipeline battle. While we continue to fight DAPL in court, we will oppose Keystone on all fronts as well."
Activist group FracTracker Alliance says this opposition base is only expanding with time.
"Based on available data and the current direction that Keystone XL is going, it is likely that many more groups in addition to the Cheyenne River Sioux may soon be brought into the legal fight regarding the pipeline's construction," said Brook Lenker, FracTracker Alliance's director. "These include: Crow Creek, Lower Brule and potentially Rosebud in South Dakota; Yankton and Santee Sioux along the South Dakota/Nebraska border; Osage directly in the path in Oklahoma; and Alabama-Coushatta in Texas."
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/03/27/stories/1060052102
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Total Forms Joint Venture to Build Texas Chemicals and Plastics Plants
Mar 27, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Jordan Blum
Paris-based Total energy giant said it will form a joint venture to build major chemical and plastic plant expansions in Port Arthur and Bayport, just outside of Houston.
The multibillion-dollar partnership will be 50 percent owned by Total and the other half split between Calgary-based Nova Chemicals Corp. and Vienna’s Borealis petrochemical company. Total had long planned on the Port Arthur expansion, but was seeking investment partners.
The goal is to build a $1.7 billion ethane cracker at Total’s existing Port Arthur complex to churn out up to 1 million metric tons of ethylene a year, or 2.2 billion pounds, after it opens in 2020. Ethylene is the primary building block of most plastics. The joint venture also includes construction of a polyethylene plastics plant to produce 1.35 billion pounds of year at Total’s Bayport plant east of Houston. Total isn’t yet revealing cost estimates on the plastics facility.
“This almost $2 billion investment signals our determination to strengthen our presence in the United States, where we have operated for 60 years and have more than 6,000 employees,” added Total Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné.
Total’s existing polyethylene plant in Bayport will be included in the joint venture as well.
These projects are designed to capitalize off of the cheap and ample natural gas supplies being produced in the U.S., including Texas, from shale rock formations. They’re producing chemicals and plastics to export to much of the developing world with growing middle classes, especially Asia.
Occidental Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, Chevron Phillips Chemical and Dow Chemical all are completing major ethane cracker projects this year along the Texas Gulf Coast, including the Houston area, for the same purposes.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/03/27/total-forms-joint-venture-to-build-texas-chemicals-and-plastics-plants/
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Texas Coastal Community Affirms Case for ExxonMobil Cracker
Mar 27, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Carolyn Davis
Following months of debate, leaders of a rural Coastal Bend community near Corpus Christi, TX, are making it clear they would welcome the world's largest ethane steam cracker, a $9 billion-plus project proposed by ExxonMobil Corp. and Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC).
A final investment decision could be made about whether to move forward on the cracker as soon as May, an ExxonMobil spokesman said. ExxonMobil has about $20 billion worth of petrochemical investments lined up for the Gulf Coast region.
The Gregory-Portland Independent School District Board in San Patricio County last Tuesday voted 6-0 to provide tax abatements for more than 15 years. The vote followed a tax break also agreed to last week by the San Patricio County Commission.
The joint venture (JV) partners are considering a plan to build a cracker on one of four sites, with San Patricio's the only one under advanced study, according to the partners. Another site under consideration is in Victoria County, north of San Patricio, as well as Louisiana's St. James and Ascension parishes.
The San Patricio approvals cleared major hurdles, with representatives of the JV umbrella company Gulf Coast Growth Ventures Plastics Project at the school board and commission meetings to make their cases for tax breaks.
The affirmative votes came following months of contentious debate and citizen protests, including a petition signed by about 1,500 people opposed to the plant. Around 2,000 people live in Gregory and 19,500 live in Portland.
As initially designed, the facility could be online by 2021. The project, which would include a plastics manufacturing plant, could create 600 permanent jobs, along with 11,000 temporary construction jobs.
Gulf Coast Growth Ventures has proposed building roads and upgrading others to accommodate increased traffic. Buffer zones would be provided to reduce environmental and aesthetic issues. Industrial water would be provided by Corpus Christi, while drinking water would be provided by Portland and Gregory.
ExxonMobil and SABIC have worked together for more than 35 years in major chemical joint ventures in Saudi Arabia.
In related news, affiliate ExxonMobil Chemical Co. said it plans to expand its global hydrocarbon fluid asset capacity by more than 250,000 tons/year at its world-scale petrochemical sites east of Houston in Baytown, as well as at its Belgium and Singapore facilities. The capacity expansions would increase volumes for the Exxsolseries of differentiated fluids and a broader portfolio of hydrocarbon fluids including Isopar and Solvesso.
Demand for hydrocarbon fluids is increasing globally because of strong growth in the industrial sector, coupled with the need to comply with health, safety and environmental regulations, ExxonMobil noted. ExxonMobil Chemical offers hydrocarbon fluids for a wide range of applications including drilling mud oil, mining, agricultural chemicals, metal working, polymerization process, water treatment, adhesives, coatings and reprographics.
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil advised stockholders late Friday not to respond to TRC Capital Corp.'s unsolicited mini-tender to purchase up to two million shares, or about 0.05% of shares outstanding. TRC offered $78/share, which was about 4.42% lower than the $81.62 closing price on March 10, the business day before the date of the offer.
"TRC Capital has made many similar mini-tender offers for shares of other companies," ExxonMobil said. "Mini-tender offers seek to acquire less than 5% of a company's shares outstanding, thereby avoiding many disclosure and procedural requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that apply to offers for more than 5% of a company's shares outstanding. As a result, mini-tender offers do not provide investors with the same level of protections as provided by larger tender offers under U.S. securities laws."
The SEC "has cautioned investors" that some mini-tender offers are designed to "catch investors off guard if the investors do not compare the offer price to the current market price."
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/109897-texas-coastal-community-affirms-case-for-exxonmobil-cracker
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Hilcorp Halts Production Until Leak Fixed
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Hilcorp Alaska will temporarily shut down oil production at two Cook Inlet platforms to combat a leaking natural gas pipeline.
The fuel line delivers gas to four oil production platforms in the inlet. The leak has continued for weeks, sparking concerns over environmental damage and hazards to marine life.
Halting oil production began this weekend, according to Gov. Bill Walker's office. The independent governor met with Hilcorp officials to facilitate the deal.
The company cut pipeline pressure by more than half. The pressure cut will remain until the leak is fixed.
Methane will still leak with oil production stopped, but at a much slower rate, according to Kristin Ryan, a spill-response official at the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Hilcorp will also pump seawater into a separate crude oil pipeline to prevent cracking and oil leakage once oil production stops.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/03/27/stories/1060052123
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PG&E Quietly Buys, Cleans Up Contaminated Calif. Homes
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
For years, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has been buying houses, now totaling eight homes, in San Francisco's Marina District to remove chemical contamination lurking in the backyards.
"For a number of months, they would systematically shovel out 8 feet of soil and then bring in new soil," said Jeb Barrett, a homeowner in the area who noticed workers digging out the yard next to his house.
Two fuel manufacturing plants that produced a fuel similar to natural gas in the late 1800s caused the contamination years ago. Since the plants were torn down, PG&E has purchased eight homes and is in the process of buying a ninth. After swapping out the dirt, the company has resold two of the properties.
PG&E, California's largest utility, says it is trying to do right by the community. But homeowners accuse the company of downplaying the contamination.
The full extent of PG&E's work in the area is unknown because homeowners who sell their properties to the company must sign nondisclosure agreements.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/03/27/stories/1060052119
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EPA Resets Timetable for Feedback in Interstate Ozone Dispute
Mar 27, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA has rescheduled a public hearing and again extended the deadline for comments on its proposed denial of a bid by nine Northeastern states to dramatically expand the size of the Ozone Transport Region.
The hearing will now be held April 13 at the agency's headquarters in Washington after an earlier date was scrubbed because of bad weather, according to a notice scheduled for publication in tomorrow's Federal Register.
The comment period, already extended once before, will instead run until May 15 to allow for submission of additional feedback after the hearing, the notice said.
The OTR, created by Congress as part of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, currently encompasses the District of Columbia and all or part of a dozen states, including Maryland, New York and all of New England.
As members of the Ozone Transport Commission, based in Washington, they are supposed to work on reducing the movement of ozone and the chemicals that create it across state lines.
The 2013 petition asked EPA to add all or part of another nine states as far west as Illinois to the region on the grounds that their emissions were contributing to downwind violations of the 2008 ambient air quality standard for ozone of 75 parts per billion.
In proposing to reject the petition, former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy wrote in January that there were other, more efficient options for reducing downwind ozone drift (E&E News PM, Jan. 13).
Under a consent decree to a lawsuit brought last year by some of the petitioning states, EPA must make a final decision on their request by Oct. 27 (Greenwire, Dec. 15, 2016).
Ozone, the main ingredient in smog, is produced by the reaction of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in sunlight. It can help trigger asthma attacks and is also linked to worsened emphysema symptoms.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/03/27/stories/1060052133
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Brick Sector Defends Against Push for Tougher 'Health-Based' Air Rule
Mar 27, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
Brick manufacturers are defending EPA's air toxics rule for the sector against environmentalists' claims that EPA failed to follow Clean Air Act mandates and set unlawfully weak "health-based" air standards for the sector, saying nothing in the air law specifies harder limits and that EPA has discretion on how to set alternative air toxics standards.
Under the air law, EPA may substitute health-based limits as alternatives for maximum achievable control technology (MACT) air toxics limits where the agency has determined a safe threshold for the pollutant in question. EPA's air toxics rule for brick, clay and tile products manufacturing employs the method for the first time with respect to acid gases, drawing attacks from environmentalists litigating the rule in the consolidated case Sierra Club, et al. v. EPA, et al.
While environmental groups in the case are seeking a tougher rule, industry says the rule is too strict. In intervenor briefs filed March 17, defending EPA against their opposing parties' attacks, the two sides square off over health-based limits and other aspects of the rule.
Industry groups led by the Brick Industry Association say that environmentalists are wrongly insisting that EPA must demonstrate no cancer risk at its chosen safe health threshold.
Under the air law, such thresholds are necessary to substitute health-based emissions limits, sometimes known as risk-based standards, for the technology-based MACT standards.
"The Environmental Petitioners see directives in the Act where there are none," industry groups say. The air law's section 112(d)(4), governing MACT rules, "does not set out an unambiguous process or standard of proof EPA must use when determining that a health threshold for a pollutant has been established." In the light of this ambiguity, "EPA reasonably exercised its scientific judgment when it determined" that a health threshold exists for a given pollutant.
The air law requires EPA to set air toxics standards sufficient to protect public health with an "ample margin of safety." The industry groups say, "EPA built in multiple layers of conservatism. The resulting standards thus have an ample margin of safety baked throughout them."
Meanwhile, Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council in their brief defend several aspects of the rule from industry attacks. The groups say, for example, that EPA was correct to include "synthetic minor" sources of air pollution in the data set used to calculate MACT floors, or minimum emissions standards.
These are sources that have agreed under the terms of their air permits to limit emissions to below thresholds that would qualify them as "major" sources. Major sources are those emitting 10 tons per year (tpy) of one hazardous air pollutant (HAP) or 25 tpy of a combination of HAPs.
Also, environmentalists defend EPA's setting of MACT floors based on the best-performing plants for which it had data, rather than on plants using a control technology of the same type -- fabric filters -- as sought by industry. Some of the best-performing sources did not use fabric filters, environmentalists say. Adopting industry's preferred approach "would have led to far weaker standards that allow brick kilns to emit more than four times as much toxic pollution," an outcome the air law does not allow, environmentalists argue.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/brick-sector-defends-against-push-tougher-health-based-air-rule
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