Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 4/13/2017
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(ACC Mentioned) Industry Official Lands at EPA Chemical Office
Apr 13, 2017 | Politico Pro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
A top chemical industry official has been tapped for the deputy position in EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, a post that doesn’t require Senate confirmation. -
Trump Administration Provides Guidance on '2-for-1' Regulatory Order
Apr 13, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Trump administration has outlined the policies and procedures for implementing its executive order requiring the elimination of two regulations for each new one issued. -
Pruitt's Friend Joins Agency as Senior Adviser
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus and Mike Soraghan
A longtime colleague from U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's baseball and legal career is now a top official at the agency. -
RFA Plans 4 Ethanol Safety Seminars in South Dakota
Apr 13, 2017 | Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Renewable Fuels Assoc.
The Renewable Fuels Association, in partnership with BNSF, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and Transcaer, will host four ethanol safety seminars in South Dakota later this month. -
(ACC Mentioned) NRDC and Scientists Urge CPSC to Finalize Phthalate Bans
Apr 13, 2017 | National Resource Defense Council
By Jennifer Sass
Eventually, toxic chemicals are no longer tolerated by an increasingly informed public, retailers and product manufacturers, and regulators. In the meantime, however, they manage to do a lot of damage while those with vested interests muddy the scientific waters and defend the indefensible. -
NGOs Urge EU Ombudsman to Resolve Echa Animal Testing Case
Apr 13, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Animal welfare NGOs have called on the European ombudsman to reiterate her September 2015 ruling that Echa is required to reject a testing proposal where a REACH registrant has not adequately considered alternatives to animal testing. -
Echa Round-Up
Apr 13, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Echa has added three testing proposals for two substances to its list of substances and hazard endpoints for which it is currently inviting third parties to submit scientifically valid information and studies. -
EPA Warns Against 'Advisory Opinion' from Court
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Issuing a ruling now on the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan could threaten the "integrity of the administrative process" as President Trump's U.S. EPA reviews the rule, government lawyers told a federal court last night. -
Methane Detection Jobs Booming
Apr 13, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By David Hunn
A new industry is emerging out of the fight to stop gas leaks in the nation’s oil wells, pipelines and storage tanks. -
EPA Will Rethink 2015 Toxics Rule for Power Plants
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Ariel Wittenberg
U.S. EPA will indefinitely postpone deadlines for a regulation aimed at reducing toxic metals in power plants' wastewater while the agency reconsiders the rule. -
EPA to Halt, Reconsider Utility ELG but Environmentalists Persist with Suit
Apr 13, 2017 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss
EPA is preparing to halt implementation of the Obama-era Clean Water Act (CWA) power plant effluent rule while the Trump administration weighs revising the policy in response to industry petitions, though environmentalists are pledging to continue litigation where they hope to defend the rule and force EPA to make it stricter. -
Perry Hails Texas Carbon Capture Project as Benefiting Energy and Environment
Apr 13, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Ryan Handy
The Trump administration remains committed to reducing greenhouse gases while promoting the energy industry, said Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Thursday. -
Poor Labeling Led to Chlorine Cloud Over Kan. — Safety Board
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
The chlorine gas bubble that formed over Kansas and sent over 140 people to the hospital last year was due to inadequate loading station labels at a processing plant, among other things, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board has found. -
Chemical Spill Near Lake Michigan Sparks Concern
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
A spill of hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing metal, into a northwest Indiana tributary of Lake Michigan has prompted nearby areas to shut off their drinking water intake and close beaches. -
EPA Seeks Public Input on Trump's Regulatory Reform Agenda
Apr 13, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Tim Devaney
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is searching for Obama-era regulations to repeal. -
Pruitt Calls for Ditching Paris Deal, Says EPA Won’t Obstruct Border Wall
Apr 13, 2017 | Politico Pro
By Alex Guillen
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt called for pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, despite continued hesitation about the matter at the White House, and he promised his agency would not interfere with construction of a border wall. -
Employee Rebellion? Pruitt Opts Not to 'Prejudge' Staffers
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said today that his agency's "change of direction" has sparked stories about career employees' resistance to President Trump's agenda.
Industry and Association News
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(ACC Mentioned) Industry Official Lands at EPA Chemical Office
Apr 13, 2017 | Politico Pro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
A top chemical industry official has been tapped for the deputy position in EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, a post that doesn’t require Senate confirmation.
Nancy Beck, the senior director for regulatory science policy for the American Chemistry Council, will become deputy associate administrator in the EPA chemical office, a source familiar with the move confirmed.
EPA’s chemical office faces a series of statutory deadlines to issue several regulations implementing last year’s reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act, including how to prioritize the reviews and how to conduct risk studies. It is also in the midst of reviewing and potentially banning the use of several chemicals, including trichloroethylene and asbestos.
During Senate testimony last month, Beck argued that EPA has failed to incorporate the TSCA reform's scientific standards, which added the "weight" of scientific evidence as a consideration. She recommended increasing oversight from the White House and making sure federally funded studies "are designed in a manner that will make them useable for regulatory decision making."
Beck has been at ACC since 2012. Prior to that she spent a decade as a toxicologist and policy analyst at the Office of Management and Budget, and spent two years before that as a policy fellow at EPA. She received her doctorate in environmental health from the University of Washington.
Inside EPA reported Beck’s move on Wednesday.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Trump Administration Provides Guidance on '2-for-1' Regulatory Order
Apr 13, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Trump administration has outlined the policies and procedures for implementing its executive order requiring the elimination of two regulations for each new one issued.
A 5 April memorandum to federal agencies from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), defines specific terms used in the executive order. It also provides a scope of deregulatory activities that can count toward the offset requirement. And it outlines how agencies should account for the cost of new and eliminated regulations to implement the portion of the executive order requiring that new regulations not add any net costs.
The memorandum says agencies can "bank" deregulatory actions and their associated cost savings for use in the same, or subsequent, fiscal years. Agencies can also transfer savings within that same agency, including across different components. They cannot, however, transfer savings to separate federal bodies without approval from the OMB.
The memorandum also says the executive order will be retroactive from the beginning of Mr Trump’s presidency, at noon on 20 January. It supersedes all previous guidance, including interim guidance published on 2 February.
Mr Trump issued the 'two-for-one' executive order in February as part of an effort to reduce the regulatory power of government agencies. He issued a second executive order two weeks later calling for agencies to repeal, replace or modify current regulations deemed to be unnecessary, inhibit job creation or impose costs that exceed benefits.
Non-profit groups Public Citizen, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Communications Workers of America filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration following issuance of the 'two-for-one' order, claiming it directs federal agencies to engage in unlawful actions.
The Trump administration filed a motion on 11 April for a judge to dismiss the case.
https://chemicalwatch.com/55201/trump-administration-provides-guidance-on-2-for-1-regulatory-order
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Pruitt's Friend Joins Agency as Senior Adviser
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus and Mike Soraghan
A longtime colleague from U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's baseball and legal career is now a top official at the agency.
Kenneth Wagner joined EPA last month as a senior adviser for regional and state affairs. Pruitt has sought to put his mark on EPA's leadership ranks since his Senate confirmation in February, with Wagner just the latest agency hire from the EPA chief's home state of Oklahoma.
"Ken is understood inside the agency as a longtime adviser and friend to Administrator Pruitt who knows how he thinks about these issues and can put his ideas in motion," an EPA official told E&E News. "It's part of [Pruitt's] effort to have someone who has his back and understanding of his approach to these issues."
The two have a relationship that stretches years and took shape in Oklahoma.
Pruitt worked at the same Oklahoma law firm, Latham, Wagner, Steele & Lehman, where Wagner was a partner. Pruitt was affiliated with the firm in an "of counsel" capacity for several years.
They also share an alma mater, the University of Tulsa College of Law, where they both graduated in 1993.
The two partnered together when it came to sports, as well.
In 2003, The Oklahoman reported that Wagner was a member of Pruitt's ownership group that took over the Oklahoma City RedHawks, a minor league baseball team. Pruitt was a co-owner and managing general partner of that team.
In addition, Wagner has had political ties to Pruitt. He was treasurer of Pruitt's Oklahoma Strong Leadership political action committee, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Pruitt shut down that group as well as his super PAC, Liberty 2.0, after facing questions over whether he planned to keep those political entities active while he ran EPA, which could have led him to raise funds from industries that he would regulate as agency head (Climatewire, Jan. 19).
Wagner joins other former Pruitt political aides from Oklahoma who have come to EPA (Greenwire, March 20). Other associates of the EPA chief have joined K Street, registering as federal lobbyists for the first time last month (Greenwire, March 10).
Pruitt kept up his ties to Latham, Wagner, Steele & Lehman when he was Oklahoma's attorney general.
Wagner's firm had a contract with the attorney general's office before Pruitt took office, but its contracts continued with Pruitt as attorney general and grew in size, according to state records. The records show the firm has been paid at least $300,000 for its legal work for the attorney general's office.
The firm had a contract for $35,000 for work on the state's Multiple Injury Trust Fund as Pruitt took office. That grew to $50,000 by 2011 in Pruitt's first year as Oklahoma attorney general.
In 2015, the last year for which records are available, the contract was for $115,000, though the firm was actually paid more that year at about $165,000.
According to the state's website, the Multiple Injury Trust Fund "protects employers from liability for the combination of old and new disabilities."
The Oklahoma attorney general office's records of outside law firms are vague on some accounts. For some years, they list only the maximum contract amount, rather than the specific amount paid under the contract as well.
The state office posted the records online after E&E News and other media outlets made public record requests for them during Pruitt's Senate confirmation process.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/13/stories/1060053058
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RFA Plans 4 Ethanol Safety Seminars in South Dakota
Apr 13, 2017 | Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Renewable Fuels Assoc.
The Renewable Fuels Association, in partnership with BNSF, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and Transcaer, will host four ethanol safety seminars in South Dakota later this month.
All of the seminars are funded by an Assistance for Local Emergency Response Training grant. The seminars are free to attend and lunch or dinner will be provided. Registration is limited and certificates of completion will be awarded to attendees at the completion of the course. The seminars are designed for individuals who respond to ethanol-related emergencies, as well as those who work at fixed-facilities and transport fuel.
The seminars will be held on the following dates and locations:
-- Sunday, April 23, Worthing Elementary School, Worthing, S.D.
-- Monday, April 24, 5:30-10:00 p.m. CT, Redfield Fire Deptartment, Redfield, S.D.
-- Tuesday, April 25, 5:30-10:00 p.m. CT, Brookings Fire Department, Brookings, S.D.
-- Wednesday, April 26, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. CT, Watertown Fire Rescue, Watertown, S.D.The goal of these seminars is for attendees to gain ethanol emergency response training experience that can be put to use in the field, as well as passed along to other first response teams. A majority of the training is based on the "Training Guide to Ethanol Emergency Response."
"BNSF is pleased to partner with RFA on these important ethanol safety seminars," said Derek Lampkin, manager of hazardous materials, field operations and emergency response for BNSF. "Safety is always our top priority and we want to make sure attendees have the tools they need in case of an emergency."
Attendees will receive in-depth information on proper training techniques that first responders and hazmat personnel need to effectively respond to an ethanol-related emergency. While primarily targeting first responders, hazmat teams, safety managers and local emergency planning committees, it is also open to the general public.
The ethanol safety seminar focuses on numerous important areas of ethanol safety including an introduction to ethanol and ethanol-blended fuels, chemical and physical characteristics of ethanol and hydrocarbon fuels, transportation and transfer, storage and dispensing locations, firefighting foam principles, general health and safety considerations and storage and pre-planning considerations.
For more information or to register for these seminars, go to www.rfa.traincaster.com. For more information on RFA’s ethanol emergency response, visit www.EthanolResponse.com.
http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/14253/rfa-plans-4-ethanol-safety-seminars-in-south-dakota
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(ACC Mentioned) NRDC and Scientists Urge CPSC to Finalize Phthalate Bans
Apr 13, 2017 | National Resource Defense Council
By Jennifer Sass
Eventually, toxic chemicals are no longer tolerated by an increasingly informed public, retailers and product manufacturers, and regulators. In the meantime, however, they manage to do a lot of damage while those with vested interests muddy the scientific waters and defend the indefensible.
A case in point is ‘phthalates’ (the first two letters are silent), a family of toxic, synthetic, high production volume industrial chemicals used mostly to make plastics softer and more flexible. Due to the evidence of widespread human exposure and concerns about public safety, especially for pre-natal and early life exposures, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) proposed bans on some uses on toys and other children’s products in 2015, but has so far failed to finalize its proposal. That’s why NRDC, scientists, and health professionals recently wrote comments pushing CPSC to do the right thing for public health protection by finalizing the bans.
Phthalates are in a large number of consumer products like vinyl flooring, vinyl blinds, personal care products, plastic food wrap and plastic packaging as well as toys and child care products like vinyl bathtub toys and teething rings. They are also in house dust, our food (especially fatty and highly processed foods), and our bodies.
Many phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)—i.e. they disrupt hormone signaling pathways--and are especially harmful if exposures occur during fetal or early life since they disrupt development, including reproductive organs, the brain, and the nervous system. Phthalate exposures in adult men have been linked to DNA damage in sperm and poor sperm quality. Exposure for pregnant women has been linked to altered genital development in male children, and in both boys and girls to learning deficits, poor memory, and behavioral problems (see summary here and here). Many of the phthalates are also toxic to the liver and kidneys.
Effective 2009, Congress banned six phthalates from use in toys and child care products. Three were banned permanently, and three were subject to an interim ban and flagged for further study:
Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) permanently prohibits the sale of any “children's toy or child care article” containing more than 0.1 percent of three specified phthalates (di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP)).
Section 108 of the CPSIA also prohibits, on an interim basis, “toys that can be placed in a child's mouth” or “child care article” containing more than 0.1 percent of three additional phthalates (diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), and di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP)).
CPSC finds unsafe phthalate exposures continue
Important annual biomonitoring evidence from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals (CDC, 2017) provides critical real-world evidence about what chemicals Americans are exposed to, from all sources, and shows changing trends over time. This informative biomonitoring program randomly samples the urine and blood of the American population every two years for evidence of exposure to over two hundred industrial chemicals, including phthalates.
The good news is that those data are showing that levels of some phthalates in people’s bodies – the ones that Congress banned permanently from use in toys and child care products (DEHP, BBP, DBP) in 2009 - have come down considerably. However, the levels in non-Caucasian groups are still much higher than Caucasians, and levels in young children and reproductive-aged teen-agers are almost 2-fold higher than adults.
Unfortunately, a 2014 analysis by University of California San Francisco experts reported that human exposures have risen for the three phthalates that Congress subjected to an interim ban pending further study (DnOP, DIDP, DINP) (Zota et al 2014). The phthalate DINP has risen dramatically as manufacturers use it to replace DEHP and other phthalates.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently reported that the cumulative levels of DEHP and DINP together are high enough to pose health risks, particularly during pregnancy. The CPSC’s expert CHAP panel report recommended that both of these phthalates be banned, due to their potential for health harms. In particular, the expert panel noted that, “DINP had the maximum potential of exposure for infants, toddlers, and older children. DINP exposures were primarily from food but also from mouthing teethers and toys, and from dermal contact with child care articles and home furnishings” indicating that CPSC regulatory actions will be important for protecting these vulnerable age groups.
Some states and retailers moving ahead to protect our health, despite lax regulations
As voters and consumers, we have powerful means to speak directly to law-makers, product manufacturers, and retailers. And, we’ve had some successes!
There is a range of state-level efforts to try to increase public knowledge about whether products contain phthalates. In Maine companies must report to the state specific phthalate ingredients intentionally added to certain children’s products. In Washington, manufacturers are required to report to the state if their children’s products contain phthalates. In California, legislation introduced in early 2017 by Senator Lara, if passed, would require manufacturers to disclose ingredients in cleaning products including fragrance chemicals like phthalates (see blog by NRDC expert Avi Kar).
There have also been successful initiatives by retailers and product brands to reduce phthalates, particularly where pregnant women and young children may be exposed. For example, in 2015, as a result of campaign work by Mind the Store, the Home Depot, Lowe’s Lumber Liquidators, Menards and other home improvement retailers banned phthalates in flooring. Major electronics brands such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell have reduced or eliminated phthalate-laden PVC in new electronic devices. Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed health care provider in the US, has been successfully moving away from phthalate-containing equipment and building materials since 2012.
These voluntary and local initiatives are very valuable, but cannot supplant the need for mandatory regulations to bring up the rear – that is, the recalcitrant bad-actor chemical producers and users.
Product defense firms hired to thwart CPSC proposed ban on phthalates
Exxon Mobil is a member of the chemical industry trade group, American Chemistry Council (ACC), or as NY Times reporter Nicholas Kristof once called them, The Cancer Lobby. Kristof wrote, “The chemical industry is represented in Washington by the American Chemistry Council, which is the lobbying front for chemical giants like Exxon Mobil, Dow, BASF and DuPont. Those companies should understand that they risk their reputations when they toy with human lives.” (NY Times October 6, 2012)
The industry and the ACC, continue to tout the safety of phthalates. As part of its phthalate defense, Exxon Mobil and the ACC contracted with science-for-hire group ToxStrategies to generate a report that is intended to convince the CPSC to drop its proposal to ban the use of additional phthalates from toys and child care articles. (ToxStrategies is the same firm that defended hexavalent chromium, the chemical in the Erin Brokovich story, to avoid workplace and environmental regulations). David Michaels, the longest-lasting head of OSHA in its history, described this kind of business model in his book, "Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health." Michaels wrote, “They profit by helping corporations minimize public health and environmental protection and fight claims of injury and illness.”
Health experts urge CPSC to finalize its proposed ban on the most toxic phthalates, based on biomonitoring evidence of continuing unsafe human exposures
Unfortunately, over the years, the industry has become increasingly aggressive – and usually successful - in its calls for excessive rounds of input, peer review, and consideration of new studies, slowing agency efforts and delaying health and environmental protection. Authoritative bodies including the National Academy of Sciences (NAS 2009) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO 2008) have identified the problem of assessments being delayed, hindering regulatory agencies and preventing necessary safeguards from being adopted.
The CPSC’s attempts to regulate and ban some phthalates are a tragic case in point, with CPSC staff expending tremendous resources re-explaining, re-justifying, and even re-doing its work in response to pushback by the regulated industry. Protections delayed are protections denied.
That’s why NRDC, scientists, and health professionals wrote to CPSC, urging it to follow through and finalize its proposed protective actions.
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/jennifer-sass/nrdc-and-scientists-urge-cpsc-finalize-phthalate-bans
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NGOs Urge EU Ombudsman to Resolve Echa Animal Testing Case
Apr 13, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Animal welfare NGOs have called on the European ombudsman to reiterate her September 2015 ruling that Echa is required to reject a testing proposal where a REACH registrant has not adequately considered alternatives to animal testing.
In a 28 March letter to ombudsman Emily O'Reilly, the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE) said Echa is claiming to abide by the ruling while "systematically and openly ignoring it" in practice.
In September 2015 the agency agreed to the ombudsman’s recommendation that it would systematically require registrants to show that:
they have considered alternative testing methods to generate the missing information; and
they have found that the information gap cannot reasonably be filled through such methods.
But, at the time, Echa warned that it was not able to assess whether a registrant has adequately considered all viable alternative methods. Nor was it able to reject a testing proposal for a standard REACH information requirement on the grounds that the registrant had not considered these.
In May 2016, the ECEAE said the agency was failing to implement the ombudsman's ruling by "wrongly" continuing to claim it did not have the power to reject such testing proposals, even though the ombudsman had already said it did.
Data gaps
After initially declining to open a new inquiry, the ombudsman agreed to reinvestigate and in early 2017 sent a request to Echa for further information. On 20 March, the agency said rejecting an application would result in the dossier having data gaps. And, it said, the refusal of a testing proposal is legally only possible in the event that Echa has end-point compliant data showing the test is not needed for the end-point concerned.
The ECEAE says Echa is wrong is saying there will be a data gap, because the registrant would be required to fill the gap with alternatives as required under REACH.
Echa said that so far it has not seen an example where the considerations of alternatives have been inadequate. However, the coalition says this is "not credible". The agency's letter also says that in the past eight months, 33 of 168 dossiers had failed the initial submission due to incomplete consideration of the alternatives.
Echa told Chemical Watch on 12 April that these registrants then had one further opportunity to correct their considerations, and that subsequently all provided the required considerations. "At the registration (or registration update) step, Echa systematically requires the consideration of alternative methods for vertebrate testing proposals," it said.
The agency added that it considers its approach is "fully in line" with the ombudsman's recommendations and that it trusts the further clarifications provided will be sufficient to close the matter.
Next steps
Echa can legally decide not to follow the ombudsman recommendations – something no institution has done to date – but this would be "bad PR for the agency if it has been found guilty of maladministration and misleading the public", ECEAE legal consultant David Thomas told Chemical Watch.
By claiming it is abiding by a ruling, but "ignoring" it in practice, Echa brings "the whole ombudsman process, and the rule of law, into dispute," he said.
The coalition has therefore asked the ombudsman to resolve this long-running issue in the "very near future" by reiterating that Echa can and should reject the testing proposals as described. The ECEAE says it will make a complaint to the EU's General Court if the ombudsman's actions are not satisfactory.
https://chemicalwatch.com/55191/ngos-urge-eu-ombudsman-to-resolve-echa-animal-testing-case
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Apr 13, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Testing proposals
Echa has added three testing proposals for two substances to its list of substances and hazard endpoints for which it is currently inviting third parties to submit scientifically valid information and studies. They are:
2-butenoic acid, 4-oxo-4-(tridecylamino)-, (Z)-, branched; and
trimethoxy(methyl)silane.
The deadline for submitting information is 29 May.
Committees’ opinions on authorisation applications
The agency has placed the consolidated opinions of the Risk Assessment and Socio-economic Analysis committees (Rac and Seac) on its website for:
bis(2-methoxyethyl) ether (Diglyme) by Bracco Imaging;
chromium trioxide by Circuit Foil Luxembourg; and
arsenic acid by Circuit Foil Luxembourg.
Each opinion concerns one use of the substance in question.
Stakeholder day video
A video of Echa's Stakeholders' Day held on 4-5 April is now available. Two hundred people attended the two-day event in Helsinki. The main focus was on the 2018 REACH registration deadline and improving supply chain communications. There were also training sessions on the agency's IT tools and one-to-one sessions with Echa experts.
Evaluation report translations
The agency has translated its annual evaluation report for 2016. It is now available in 23 languages.
Guidance
And it has sent its draft update to the Guidance on requirements for substances in articles to the Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP (Caracal) for consultation.
https://chemicalwatch.com/55181/echa-round-up
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EPA Warns Against 'Advisory Opinion' from Court
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Issuing a ruling now on the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan could threaten the "integrity of the administrative process" as President Trump's U.S. EPA reviews the rule, government lawyers told a federal court last night.
In a filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Justice Department lawyers again made their case for freezing litigation over the landmark climate regulation, which aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.
Last month's "energy independence" executive order directed EPA to consider scrapping the Clean Power Plan, and the agency promptly asked the D.C. Circuit to pause the high-stakes litigation challenging the rule while that review plays out (Energywire, March 29).
The D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments in the case last September and was expected to rule any day. Now, the Trump administration says a ruling would interfere with the administrative process and waste judicial resources.
"It is not the proper role of this Court to try to shape a potential forthcoming rulemaking through an advisory opinion, particularly where doing so would intrude upon EPA's authority to interpret and implement a statute it administers and upon a new Administration's authority to change legal and policy positions," DOJ lawyers told the court.
Supporters of the Clean Power Plan last week urged the D.C. Circuit to reject EPA's request to freeze the case. They say the legal questions at issue — particularly the scope of EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act — must be answered regardless of the administration's position on the regulation.
In filings last week, states and advocacy groups argued that freezing the case after extensive briefing and oral arguments would be unprecedented.
EPA pushed back on that claim last night, citing a previous D.C. Circuit decision to indefinitely put on hold litigation over a Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing decision. That case had been fully briefed but had not been argued.
Environmental and public health groups have also argued that sidelining the case would actually run afoul of the Supreme Court's 2016 decision to stay the Clean Power Plan because the stay was issued under an Administrative Procedure Act provision that gives courts authority to pause regulations "pending judicial review."
"The requested abeyance perverts the purpose of the Supreme Court's stay, which imposed only a temporary halt in the enforcement of the Clean Power Plan pending judicial review," rule supporters told the court last week. "The Supreme Court explicitly contemplated that the stay would last only until this Court's decision on the merits of the Rule and an opportunity for Supreme Court review" (Energywire, April 7).
EPA slammed that argument in last night's filing, arguing that the Administrative Procedure Act provision "contains no restrictions on the Court's docket management power, nor preclude the ability of this Court to hold in abeyance challenges to an agency rule previously stayed by the Supreme Court."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/04/13/stories/1060053034
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Methane Detection Jobs Booming
Apr 13, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By David Hunn
A new industry is emerging out of the fight to stop gas leaks in the nation’s oil wells, pipelines and storage tanks.
At least 75 firms across the country now work to detect, stop and prevent methane leaks, according to a new study. More than one-third are located in Texas. Ten have opened in the state since 2010.
The oil and gas industry is the largest single industrial source of U.S. methane emissions, according to the study by North Carolina consultants Datu Research, commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund. The natural gas product is a potent greenhouse gas — 80 times more damaging than carbon dioxide.
And oil and gas companies increasingly see the leaks as a financial problem. Such emissions, whether accidental or intended, represent lost product. A 2015 study found that the sector loses $30 billion globally each year from leaked or vented methane at oil and gas facilities. Such leaks also undercut the argument that natural gas is a cleaner fuel. And investors are getting more concerned about both.
But leak detection technology is improving, companies are growing and the industry is now providing “well-paying employment opportunities across the country that cannot be offshored,” according to the study.
Half the firms are small businesses, making less than $15 million a year in revenue. More than half have fewer than 50 employees.
But the companies are growing, the study says. More than one-third were founded within the last 6 years. And revenues are inching up; some reported up to 30 percent growth in states with methane regulations.
The study warns, however, that the growth depends some on regulation. Only five states have rules on the books: California, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wyoming. And federal regulation of methane emissions is unclear now as President Donald Trump rolls back the previous administration’s Clean Power Plan.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/04/13/methane-detection-jobs-booming/
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EPA Will Rethink 2015 Toxics Rule for Power Plants
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Ariel Wittenberg
U.S. EPA will indefinitely postpone deadlines for a regulation aimed at reducing toxic metals in power plants' wastewater while the agency reconsiders the rule.
Administrator Scott Pruitt wrote in a letter Tuesday to Environmental Council of the States President John Linc Stine that the agency will take a second look at the discharge guidelines, which were finalized in September 2015.
Those guidelines are the first federal standards in over 30 years to curb toxics and other pollutants in power plant discharges.
The regulation states that, beginning in 2018, power plants would have to certify they are in compliance with the regulation as their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits come up for renewal. The rule gives plants until 2023 to install and begin operating new wastewater treatment technology to remove heavy metals from discharges.
Now, Pruitt writes, EPA "intends to consider the petitioner's request for relief from the deadlines in the Final Rule for both direct and indirect discharges along with the request for reconsideration of certain substantive aspects of the Rule."
The agency has also filed a notice with the Federal Register saying "justice requires" it to stay the regulation's deadlines "in light of the capital expenditures that facilities incurring costs under the Rule will need to undertake in order to meet the compliance deadlines for the new, more stringent limitations and standards in the rule."
EPA's moves come the same day the Justice Department informed attorneys that it will ask the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay a lawsuit concerning the regulation in order to give EPA time to review the petition.
The lawsuit was filed by Union Electric Co., Southwestern Electric Power Co. and the Utility Water Act Group, a nonprofit representing electric companies.
Thomas Cmar, an attorney with Earthjustice representing the Sierra Club and other environmental groups in the lawsuit, said he fears that the Justice Department's attempts to delay the lawsuit signal EPA's intent to ultimately grant the industry petition.
"We are obviously concerned that they want this additional time to invent a record that doesn't exist now that would support changes to the rule," he said.
Cmar added that Earthjustice will oppose the request to stay the case, saying the scientific and technical record for the regulation supports the Obama administration's regulation.
"The political leadership of EPA has changed, but the record hasn't," he said. "We do intend to oppose any attempt by the EPA to weaken or delay these standards."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/13/stories/1060053062
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EPA to Halt, Reconsider Utility ELG but Environmentalists Persist with Suit
Apr 13, 2017 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss
EPA is preparing to halt implementation of the Obama-era Clean Water Act (CWA) power plant effluent rule while the Trump administration weighs revising the policy in response to industry petitions, though environmentalists are pledging to continue litigation where they hope to defend the rule and force EPA to make it stricter.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt wrote the Utility Water Act Group (UWAG) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy on April 12 to announce that he will reconsider the effluent limitation guideline (ELG) for the power sector, in response to the groups' separate petitions that charged the 2015 rule imposes unreasonable costs and lacks scientific support.
“After considering your petitions, I have decided that it is appropriate and in the public interest to reconsider the rule,” Pruitt says in the letter.
However, he stops short of pledging specific revisions to the rule, and also notes that, “This letter does not address the merits of, or suggest a concession of error on, any issue raised in the petitions.”
And in a yet-to-be-published Federal Register notice the agency says it will stay the rule's compliance deadlines, the first of which is scheduled for Nov. 1, 2018.
“[B]y this action, the EPA is administratively staying and delaying these compliance dates pending judicial review. During this reconsideration, EPA will conduct notice and comment rulemaking with respect to staying the effective dates and/or the compliance dates of the Rule,” the notice says.
Pruitt's April 12 letter also says the agency will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit for a 120-day stay of the ongoing litigation over the rule, known as Southwestern Electric Power Co., et al. v. EPA. An environmentalist attorney working on the case says the rule challengers, including industry and environmental groups, have been told to expect a formal request to that effect the afternoon of April 13.
Environmentalists' Opposition
However, the attorney says the environmentalists will oppose a stay, and urge the 5th Circuit to force EPA to either continue the Obama administration's defense of the rule or formally reverse its position before the 120-day timeline Pruitt has set for a formal petition response.
“Our position on this is going to be that EPA should be forced to defend the rule based on the record it has now. If EPA wants to initiate a new rulemaking process to evaluate potential changes to the rule, they have the ability to do that,” the attorney says.
The same attorney also raised doubts that EPA will be able to prepare ELG revisions within the 120-day deadline, because of the difficulty of assembling a new scientific record to justify any changes.
“It's the same technical staff at EPA now who developed the rule we already have, and they're now being asked to, in just a few months, rip up all the work they did and rewrite it. That would be a tall order for anyone, and EPA is not exactly known for moving quickly on these types of things,” the attorney says.
Compliance Deadlines
EPA finalized the ELG in 2015, setting a “best available technology” standard for power plants to minimize pollutants in their wastewater discharges. However, rather than coming into effect immediately, its requirements are to be included in the facilities' future CWA discharge permits, beginning “as soon as possible” after Nov. 1, 2018 -- the deadline the agency is now preparing to extend.
Along with his letter to UWAG and the SBA advocacy office, Pruitt has also told the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), which represents many state environment agencies, that he plans to extend the ELG's compliance deadline for power plants' “indirect” discharges that reach wastewater treatment plants rather than being released directly into the environment.
That deadline is set separately from the targets that apply to other discharges, and does not include the “as soon as possible” language -- instead taking full effect on Nov. 1, 2018.
In an April 12 letter to ECOS president and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner John Linc Stine, Pruitt says “EPA intends to consider the petitioner's request for relief from the deadlines in the Final Rule for both direct and indirect dischargers along with the request for reconsideration of certain substantive aspects of the Rule.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-halt-reconsider-utility-elg-environmentalists-persist-suit
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Perry Hails Texas Carbon Capture Project as Benefiting Energy and Environment
Apr 13, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Ryan Handy
The Trump administration remains committed to reducing greenhouse gases while promoting the energy industry, said Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Thursday.
Perry joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at NRG Energy’s Petra Nova carbon capture plant in Fort Bend County, where the the two Texans heralded the plant’s official opening as a the dawn of a new energy era of innovation under President Donald Trump.
The plant, the world’s largest and the only one of its kind in the United States, started operating in late 2016. It captures carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant, runs it through a chemical process to extract carbon and sends it through a pipe 80 miles southwest to help with enhanced oil recovery, a process that injects carbon and water underground to force oil to the surface.
NRG has partnered with JX Nippon, a Japanese oil and gas company, and Houston-based Hilcorp Energy, which will use the carbon to help extract 60 million barrels of oil from the West Ranch oil field in Jackson County.
The system cost $1 billion to build, and its revenue is tied to selling the oil it helps recover–a plan that was conceived when oil prices hovered around $100 a barrel. While NRG has said it does expect to take on a project like this again, on Thursday energy executives and elected officials celebrated Petra Nova as a good example of cleaner production of fossil fuel energy.
The project epitomizes the goals of the Department of Energy, which will not pit environmental concerns against the economic needs of the energy industry, Perry said.
“We can and we will be stewards of both,” he said.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/04/13/perry-hails-texas-carbon-capture-project-as-benefiting-energy-and-environment/
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Poor Labeling Led to Chlorine Cloud Over Kan. — Safety Board
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
The chlorine gas bubble that formed over Kansas and sent over 140 people to the hospital last year was due to inadequate loading station labels at a processing plant, among other things, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board has found.
The investigation into the incident at the MGP Ingredients Inc. processing plant in Atchison, Kan., by the CSB is still ongoing, but its preliminary findings point out several flaws in station design, labeling and procedure.
A toxic green cloud was created when sulfuric acid was accidentally unloaded from a tanker truck in a fixed sodium hypochlorite tank at the plant, which produces distilled spirits like gin, vodka and rye whiskey, and speciality wheat proteins and starches.
The chemical reaction produced a chlorine gas that spurred shelter-in-place and evacuation orders for thousands of area residents (Greenwire, Oct. 24, 2016).
CSB Chairwoman Vanessa Sutherland called the accident preventable.
"Our investigation demonstrates all too clearly that complacency with routine practices and procedures can result in severe consequences," Sutherland said in a statement.
At around 7:35 a.m. on Oct. 21, a tanker truck arrived at the facility with sulfuric acid. A facility operator opened gates at the loading area, likely not realizing he had left the sodium hypochlorite fill line unlocked, the CSB found.
The driver then connected his truck to the wrong fill line, which was nearby and looked similar to the correct sodium hypochlorite line.
The CSB also found that emergency shutdown mechanisms were not in place or activated.
"Unloading activities occur at thousands of facilities across the country every day," CSB Investigator-in-Charge Lucy Tyler said. "This event should serve to remind industry to review their own chemical unloading operations and work with motor carriers to ensure chemicals are unloaded safely."
The CSB is not a regulatory agency, but it provides recommendations on industry standards and regulations.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/13/stories/1060053064
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Chemical Spill Near Lake Michigan Sparks Concern
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
A spill of hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing metal, into a northwest Indiana tributary of Lake Michigan has prompted nearby areas to shut off their drinking water intake and close beaches.
U.S. EPA has reported there is no immediate threat to Lake Michigan, but the spill comes as the Trump administration's proposed budget suggests cutting efforts to crack down on the pollutant.
The spill was reported Tuesday by the U.S. Steel Midwest Plant in Portage, Ind. U.S. Steel said a broken pipe joint likely allowed an undetermined amount of wastewater to spill into a nearby ditch.
The toxic metal that spilled was made infamous by the movie "Erin Brockovich."
Hexavalent chromium was linked to stomach cancer nearly a decade ago, but plans to implement federal standards have been repeatedly delayed by objections from the chemical industry.
"This situation is exactly what the EPA was created to do: respond to environmental emergencies, regulate polluters to make them follow the law and protect us from nasty things that endanger public health," said Molly Flanagan, vice president for policy at Alliance for the Great Lakes.
President Trump's proposed budget would get rid of the Integrated Risk Information System, which is the office that works on hexavalent chromium standards in drinking water.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/13/stories/1060053048
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EPA Seeks Public Input on Trump's Regulatory Reform Agenda
Apr 13, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Tim Devaney
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is searching for Obama-era regulations to repeal.
The EPA’s regulatory reform task force, established by President Trump’s Feb. 24 executive order, is seeking public input on which rules to roll back, the agency said Wednesday in the Federal Register.
The task force is also working with program heads inside the agency to identify rules that they believe impede job growth and impose more costs than benefits.
The task force will take this information into consideration before it recommends to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt which rules to repeal.
Pruitt blamed the Obama administration for “abusing the regulatory process to advance an ideological agenda.”
“We are supporting the restoration of America’s economy through extensive reviews of the misaligned regulatory actions from the past administration,” Pruitt said in a statement.
“The previous administration abused the regulatory process to advance an ideological agenda that expanded the reach of the federal government, often dismissing the technological and economic concerns raised by the regulated community and duplicating long-standing regulations by states and localities.”
“Moving forward, EPA will be listening to those directly impacted by regulations, and learning ways we can work together with our state and local partners, to ensure that we can provide clean air, land, and water to Americans,” he added.
The public has 30 days to comment.
http://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/328521-epa-seeking-public-input-on-trumps-regulatory-reform-agenda
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Pruitt Calls for Ditching Paris Deal, Says EPA Won’t Obstruct Border Wall
Apr 13, 2017 | Politico Pro
By Alex Guillen
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt called for pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, despite continued hesitation about the matter at the White House, and he promised his agency would not interfere with construction of a border wall.
Pruitt's comments came during an appearance on “Fox and Friends” on Thursday, built on his previous criticism of the 2015 climate accord as a "bad deal" for the U.S.
“Paris is something that we really need to look at closely because it’s something we need to exit, in my opinion. It’s a bad deal for America. It’s an ‘America-second, -third, -fourth' kind of approach,” Pruitt said. He added that China and India, other major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, had fewer immediate obligations while the U.S. “front-loaded all our costs at the expense of jobs.”
President Donald Trump is expected to make a decision on the Paris accord before the G-7 summit starting May 26, but his administration is divided over how to proceed.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Ivanka Trump, among others, are pushing Trump to remain in the deal to protect the United States' international reputation and leverage over other nations, and top coal companies are pressing the White House to seek additional fossil fuel incentives in exchange for staying with the deal. But hardline conservatives would like to see Trump cancel it altogether.
In the Fox interview, Pruitt also dismissed concerns raised in a lawsuit brought this week by the Center for Biological Diversity and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) seeking a new environmental review of the planned border wall. EPA would have a role in any such review, which would be led by the Department of Homeland Security, but Pruitt promised not to stand in the wall's way.
“The wall is going to be built and we’ll make sure that we partner — look, we do a lot of things at the EPA. I can tell you we’re not doing that,” Pruitt said. "That’s not something we focus on at all."
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2017/04/pruitt-calls-for-ditching-paris-deal-says-epa-wont-obstruct-border-wall-155280
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Employee Rebellion? Pruitt Opts Not to 'Prejudge' Staffers
Apr 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said today that his agency's "change of direction" has sparked stories about career employees' resistance to President Trump's agenda.
Appearing on "Fox & Friends," Pruitt was asked about EPA employees' reported use of Signal, an encrypted messaging app that workers have allegedly used to communicate with each other while avoiding being snooped on by Trump's appointees.
"Let me say, there's been a change of direction, obviously, at EPA, and I think that's what's prompting these kinds of stories," Pruitt said.
Reports of EPA employees' use of encrypted messaging have sparked litigation against the agency — the latest being a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative-leaning watchdog. In addition, the matter has fallen under agency investigation (E&E News PM, April 12).
Federal employees sending encrypted messages for official business could violate the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Records Act, which require agencies to preserve their records.
Pruitt said he tries not to question the EPA career staff's motives.
"You see kind of a competitiveness, a concern about what's happened the last eight years by some of the employees, but we try not to prejudge that, give confidence to the folks that are there, give them the direction that we're going, and hopefully, they will respond properly," Pruitt said.
The EPA chief also dismissed concerns that career employees would slow down carrying out Trump's priorities, adding he has already moved ahead on that agenda.
"We're going to get it done, and we have already gotten it done the first 51 days," Pruitt said, noting that the agency has begun rolling back major regulations, such as the Clean Power Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/13/stories/1060053069
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