Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 4/25/2017
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(ACC Mentioned) BDP International Named Responsible Care® Partner of the Year by the American Chemistry Council for
Apr 25, 2017 | AJOT
BDP International (BDP), a leading privately owned global logistics and transportation solutions company, received the 2017 Responsible Care® Partner of the Year Award from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) today at the Annual Responsible Care Conference. -
Greens Pressure Companies to Abandon Chamber of Commerce
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
Activist groups are pressuring Disney, the Gap and Pepsi to leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. -
2020 SVHC Candidate List Target on Track, Echa Says
Apr 25, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Echa says work to achieve its goal to have all relevant, currently known SVHCs on the candidate list by 2020 is progressing well, and believes the target will be met. -
Agencies to Review 2 Less-Controversial Drilling Rules
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
The Trump administration is reconsidering a pair of relatively uncontroversial Interior Department oil and gas rules the Obama administration put into effect during its final days in office. -
DOE Allows Texas Company Exports to Non-Trade-Pact Nations
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Mintz
The Department of Energy authorized a Texas company to export liquefied natural gas to countries that lack free-trade agreements with the United States, the first official sign of the Trump administration taking on LNG. -
White House Official Slams 'Unacceptable' Cyber Status Quo
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
The U.S. government needs to slash the time it takes to boot hackers off critical computer networks, President Trump's top cybersecurity adviser said yesterday in his first public remarks since taking office. -
Train Carrying Batteries Explodes in Houston
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
A train carrying lithium-ion batteries to San Antonio for recycling exploded in Houston on Sunday evening. -
Agency Asks for Comments, Gets an Earful on Climate
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
Green groups yesterday swamped U.S. EPA phone lines urging the agency to keep climate and pollution protections on the books. -
Court Cancels Arguments Over EPA's Plant Startup Rule
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
A federal appellate court, acting in response to a Trump administration request, has canceled oral arguments in a legal fight over U.S. EPA regulations intended to reduce air pollution releases from industrial plant startups, shutdowns and malfunctions. -
Cap and Trade Faces Protests from the Left
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Debra Kahn
California's climate policy architects are beginning to reckon with the demands of social justice groups that fundamentally disagree with the state's approach.
Industry and Association News
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Apr 25, 2017 | AJOT
BDP International (BDP), a leading privately owned global logistics and transportation solutions company, received the 2017 Responsible Care® Partner of the Year Award from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) today at the Annual Responsible Care Conference.
The Responsible Care Partner of the Year Award recognizes the superb performance and safety record of companies involved in the distribution, transportation, storage, use, treatment-disposal, and/or sales and marketing of chemicals. It also recognizes companies and their commitment to go above and beyond the standard course of business to ensure safety and compliance in all practices.
“Responsible Care is at the forefront of our daily business practices at BDP,” said BDP Chairman and CEO Richard J. Bolte, Jr. “The guiding principles of the ACC’s Responsible Care program directly align with BDP’s commitment to implementing the safest and strictest handling of chemical shipments so that we can provide our customers with peace of mind while overseeing their intricate supply chains. To be honored for the second consecutive year is a true testament to BDP’s ongoing pledge to discipline and ethical behavior, and holding ourselves to the highest standards set forth in the chemical sector.”
Responsible Care is the chemical industry’s health, safety and environmental performance improvement initiative. Since its launch in 1988, Responsible Care has been recognized as one of the most successful environmental, health and safety initiatives advanced by industry. Responsible Care is a commitment to continuous improvement in all aspects of chemical industry operations — from employee safety to facility security to protection of the health of the communities in which its members operate and the environment as a whole.
“I am pleased to once again recognize BDP International for its outstanding performance in the areas of health, safety, the environment and security,” said ACC President and CEO Cal Dooley. “The efforts undertaken by BDP leadership and employees to integrate the practices of Responsible Care throughout company operations are exemplary. I commend BDP for its leadership in the safe and responsible transport, management and storage of chemical products.”
BDP’s 2017 entry highlighted the company’s newly developed Education Path; more specifically, the recent Dangerous Goods Pro (DGPro) and Dangerous Goods Smart (DGSmart) training modules for employees. It also focused on BDP’s global Environment Health Safety (EHS) network, which was established to provide a timelier and more robust communication channel for delivering core messages and actions required by BDP global offices. With this network, global colleagues are more informed and have a greater awareness of the value and purpose of EHS and Responsible Care.
BDP also has a Responsible Care Committee comprised of operational leadership and executive management; the committee meets quarterly to advance Responsible Care initiatives. The committee’s mission is to continuously improve operational processes and systems to ensure employee safety and act on BDP’s Responsible Care pledge in every market in which the company does business.
With Responsible Care accreditations around the world, BDP supports the initiative by participating in Responsible Care events, achieving Responsible Care accreditations and serving on various ACC boards. BDP has been a certified Responsible Care Partner signatory since 2002.
Other related BDP programs include chemical security code and C-TPAT, incident reporting and first-call program, hazardous shipment reporting tools, risk mitigation for continuous improvement and BDP University courses. BDP’s dedication is also evidenced by recognition in a variety of awards and publications (e.g., Inbound Logistics’ Annual 75 Green Supply Chain Partners; Governor’s Award for Safety Excellence and The Ethisphere® Institute World’s Most Ethical Company Award for 2017).
Sustainability is also included in every function and process to the fullest extent, and BDP is committed to being an industry leader in corporate sustainability through education, reporting and compliance. In March 2017, BDP received the EcoVadis silver-level rating for the second consecutive year for its commitment to corporate social responsibility. BDP scored among the top 14 percent of companies evaluated, further demonstrating its priority to advance sustainability practices in the supply chain industry.
As chemical logistics specialists (more than 65 percent of BDP’s business), internal operating practices and information systems have been built to handle the unique logistics requirements of chemical-related shipments. BDP provides training and information about the ever-changing hazardous materials safety, environment and security compliance regulations for clients and employees. Since its founding, there have been no fatalities throughout BDP’s global workforce.
https://www.ajot.com/news/bdp-international-named-responsible-care-partner-of-the-year-by-the-america
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Greens Pressure Companies to Abandon Chamber of Commerce
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
Activist groups are pressuring Disney, the Gap and Pepsi to leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The coalition of groups, including Action on Smoking and Health, Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club, want the companies to leave the country's largest lobby group because of its policies against climate change legislation and in favor of tobacco products.
The groups penned a letter to Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, reminding him of the company's commitment to halving its carbon footprint by the end of the decade. The Chamber of Commerce, they write, is instead opposing climate change regulations, the Paris Agreement and the Clean Power Plan.
"[It] consistently lobbies against legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and spends millions of dollars in money on elections ads urging voters to back candidates who support the fossil fuel industry and oppose efforts to combat climate change," the letter states.
Around 13 large companies, including Starbucks, Unilever and Hewlett-Packard, have left the chamber in the last few years, according to advocacy group Public Citizen.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/04/25/stories/1060053506
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2020 SVHC Candidate List Target on Track, Echa Says
Apr 25, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Echa says work to achieve its goal to have all relevant, currently known SVHCs on the candidate list by 2020 is progressing well, and believes the target will be met.
In its third progress report on the implementation of the SVHC roadmap, the agency says its main focus is on getting more data on other substances of potential concern. It will do this by grouping of structurally similar substances – a move which should speed up the process.
The agency started reviewing implementation in 2016. This work will continue in 2017 and be published in the annual report in 2018. The review evaluates progress with the work on the different substance groups (or types of hazard properties) and the functioning of the tools used.
The third report on the SVHC roadmap evaluates activities around screening and assessment of substances, as well as risk assessment option analysis (RMOA) measures, carried out in 2016 and planned for this year.
Screening
In the third round of screening in 2016, 288 substances were added to the shortlist as a result of IT-screening and a further 17 were added by member states as a result of their own national prioritisation.
Of these 305 substances, 184 were manually screened – about 72% of which required follow-up action, undergoing the following allocation of procedures:
38 compliance check;
36 Community Rolling Action Plan (Corap);
18 harmonised classification and labelling (CLH);
14 RMOA;
seven further assessment, and four other.
For 51 substances, pending action on a structurally-related substance is ongoing.
During 2017, over 150 substances have been selected for manual screening.
Assessment
Over 500 substances are under generation of data or assessment either in substance evaluation (Corap), compliance check or one of the expert groups – persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) or endocrine disruptor (ED). They may also be subject to more than one activity (for example, both Corap and the expert groups).
This number includes ongoing and concluded assessments. Three hundred and eleven of these substances are either under evaluation and/or one of the expert groups. The remaining 229 substances are under compliance check and considered as ongoing assessment, Echa says.
Of the Corap substances under evaluation in 2016, all those with ED as an initial concern were scheduled for discussion in the ED expert group, but a lack of resources from the evaluating member meant discussions only took place for around 60% of them, the agency says.
The first results of the follow-up evaluations of data received, after the compliance checks of high priority substances, will not be available before the end of the year.
Between 2012 and 2016 so far:
the potential PBT/very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB) properties of 173 substances have been assessed;
73 substances with potential ED properties have been looked at; and
116 carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances (CMRs) and 50 sensitisers are (or have been) under assessment.
RMOA
The number of RMOAs under development, or concluded, increased slightly in 2016, with 159 substances listed since 2013, the report says. Conclusions on 67 RMOAs have been published, with around half identified as SVHCs.
In 2016, the number of new RMOAs was lower than in previous years, at 16, partly due to new information needed. However, four RMOAs were developed for large groups of substances, thereby covering a large number of individual substances.
The groups were:
C9-C14 perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCA) including their salts and precursors;
perchloric acid and its salts;
skin sensitising substances in textile articles; and
phenol, dodecyl-, sulphurised, carbonates, calcium salts.
https://chemicalwatch.com/55423/2020-svhc-candidate-list-target-on-track-echa-says
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Agencies to Review 2 Less-Controversial Drilling Rules
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
The Trump administration is reconsidering a pair of relatively uncontroversial Interior Department oil and gas rules the Obama administration put into effect during its final days in office.
The regulations — each years in the making — mainly increased oversight of new oil and gas drilling in national wildlife refuges and of existing operations in national parks. After they were proposed, both received far more comments in favor than in opposition, and neither was the subject of a congressional oversight hearing.
But the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service rules were specifically targeted last month in President Trump's executive order on energy, along with two hotly debated Bureau of Land Management regulations on hydraulically fractured wells and methane waste emissions. The Trump administration is already moving to rescind BLM's fracking rule, and a House-passed resolution to overturn the methane regulation is only a few votes short of clearing the Senate.
By contrast, the FWS and NPS rules were opposed mainly by the oil and gas industry, which generally objects to efforts to increase regulations on drilling. And although a pair of oil-friendly House lawmakers introduced resolutions that would roll back the regulations, those have failed to attract much support in either chamber.
Nevertheless, in response to the Trump's decree, an order from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke gave the directors of FWS and NPS until last week to review the rules and inform the deputy secretary whether they promote energy independence and economic growth. Then by May 9, Zinke's No. 2 is supposed to provide him with a plan detailing how to comply with the energy executive order (E&E News PM, March 29).
The Democratic leaders of the GOP-controlled House Natural Resources Committee last week raised concerns in a letter to Zinke about "the wide-ranging and vague directives in both orders."
Ranking member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and the top Democrats on all five of the Natural Resources subcommittees warned that the orders "have the potential to completely upend the way the Department of the Interior manages energy development on public lands, leading to a situation where the desires of fossil fuel developers to use our public lands to mine for coal or drill for oil and gas could dictate Departmental policy."
They requested by Thursday the reports that the FWS and NPS directors provided to the deputy secretary as well as other interim documents called for in the secretarial order. A Democratic spokesman said that, as of this morning, the committee hadn't received any response to the letter.
But a source familiar with the FWS report said it argued that the refuge rule is "in full compliance" with the orders. There is nothing in the rule that could be "construed as being an impediment to energy development and to business."
What the deputy secretary and Zinke do with that information remains to be seen.
Refuge rule
FWS refuge managers have been concerned about the threat that oil and gas operations pose to natural resources since at least 1984, according to the General Accounting Office, a watchdog agency now known as the Government Accountability Office. Drilling can destroy the habitat and contaminate the groundwater that refuges were formed to protect for migratory birds, endangered species and other wildlife (Greenwire, June 12, 2015).
The draft rule FWS put forward sought to reduce those threats while also minimizing its impact on energy companies. It required companies that want to modify their wells or drill new ones to obtain permits from FWS and set new standards for all operations covering everything from waste management to unused infrastructure.
The rule was developed in coordination with NPS so that oil and gas operators would encounter similar standards in both refuges and parks. Unlike the Park Service, however, FWS didn't require operating permits for existing wells because it concluded that new drilling produces the greatest incremental impacts.
Otherwise, the FWS rule could have resulted "in significant administrative and operational costs ... on both the service and the operator," Fish and Wildlife said at the time. "These costs could be disproportional to the environmental benefits gained" (Greenwire, Dec. 10, 2015).
The proposal prompted over 119,000 comments, most of which were form responses in favor of the regulation.
Nevertheless, the oil and gas industry opposed the draft rule, which was finalized the day after Trump's election victory with few substantive changes (Greenwire, Nov. 10, 2016).
In jointly filed comments nine months earlier, the American Petroleum Institute and Independent Petroleum Association of America claimed that the "stringent regulations ... are duplicative of, and inconsistent with, other federal and state laws."
Those arguments were echoed by Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who introduced a resolution mainly supported by fellow Congressional Western Caucus members that would roll back the refuge rule. H.J. Res. 45 is necessary, the caucus argued in an information sheet, because "the new regulations are duplicative and inconsistent with existing regulations that protect the environment."
But that resolution, introduced Jan. 30 with five Republican co-sponsors, has so far failed to gather additional support in the Senate or House. And lawmakers in the upper chamber only have until mid-May to reverse Obama-era rules under the Congressional Review Act (Greenwire, March 31).
Meanwhile, FWS officials have reported few complaints about the oil and gas rule from operators on the ground, where there are already more than 5,000 wells in over 100 refuges.
"The practical effect would be if we get new development," said Mary Maddux, a regional oil and gas specialist based out of Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Texas. "Then a permit and bonding is required. Those operators with existing operations are grandfathered in."
The lack of new development isn't due to the regulation, she added.
"It's mostly because of the price of oil," Maddux said. "Since the slump of last year, the price hasn't come up enough" to make additional drilling worthwhile.
Conservationists believe that, on the merits, the refuge rule should survive the scrutiny of the Trump administration and Congress.
The rule "doesn't unduly burden energy development, and it is necessary to protect and comply with laws passed by Congress to conserve refuge lands and resources," said Mark Salvo, the vice president of landscape conservation at Defenders of Wildlife.
Parks rule
The NPS oil and gas regulation was issued to close a loophole that allowed 60 percent of operators to produce fuels inside the park system with limited agency oversight.
Under the prior standards, the Park Service couldn't regulate wells on the edges of parks or ones that predated its 1978 oil and gas rule. The agency was also limited in how much it could require producers to set aside in bonds to pay for the cleanup of spills.
As a result, pump jack engines in Tennessee's Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area "have caused notable noise at visitor overlooks that are 2 to 3 miles away," NPS said in the proposed rule. "Simple mitigation such as a corrugated steel fence would abate this impact, however, due to the well's grandfathered status; the NPS is unable to require this mitigation and forced to accept this unnecessary impact."
Furthermore, the park system had a bonding gap of over $12 million, NPS concluded in a cost-benefit analysis that accompanied the draft rule (Greenwire, Oct. 26, 2015).
While the proposal was broadly supported by the public, the fossil fuel industry objected to it for some of the same reasons it fought the FWS proposal.
"The imposition of additional regulations on non-federal oil and gas development within the National Park System is unnecessary, and will only result in duplicative layers of regulatory oversight," the American Petroleum Institute, Independent Petroleum Association of America and two other trade groups said in a comment letter. "Overly burdensome restrictions on the rights of leaseholders to access or otherwise develop mineral rights could also constitute an unconstitutional taking of private property rights."
But the NPS rule was finalized and has since been targeted in the House by the Western caucus.
A resolution from caucus Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) seeks to overturn it because "these wells are already subject to existing environmental regulations" and further regulation of them "could result in unconstitutional takings," the group said in an information sheet. But H.J. Res. 46 hasn't moved or picked up any additional co-sponsors since it was unveiled Jan. 30 with the support of six Republicans.
Although the congressional challenge to the update to NPS oil and gas regulations appears stalled, national park advocates are alarmed that the Trump administration is reconsidering it. There are currently fewer than 540 operations in a dozen parks, but 30 additional parks could see drilling if the price of oil increases.
"These commonsense rules do not prohibit development but simply ensure that national parks continue to receive the highest possible level of protection," Nicholas Lund, the National Parks Conservation Association's senior manager for landscape conservation, said in a statement. "We hope Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who is now tasked with reviewing the [NPS] rules, recognizes how important they are to the health of our national parks and their visitors and leaves these important measures in place."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/25/stories/1060053540
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DOE Allows Texas Company Exports to Non-Trade-Pact Nations
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Mintz
The Department of Energy authorized a Texas company to export liquefied natural gas to countries that lack free-trade agreements with the United States, the first official sign of the Trump administration taking on LNG.
Golden Pass had its plan to add export capabilities to its East Texas terminal approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in December (Energywire, Dec. 22, 2016).
The company has also obtained a permit to export LNG to U.S. free-trade partner countries. Today's announcement, which allows for the export of up to 2.21 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, will expand the company's ability to sell to important gas markets like Japan, China and India.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry called the approval an example of President Trump's "leadership in making the United States an energy dominant force."
"This is not only good for our economy and American jobs but also assists other countries with their energy security," Perry said in a statement.
The terminal is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum, which owns 70 percent, and Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips Co., which each control smaller stakes. The export expansion is being operated by Qatar Petroleum and Exxon.
The announcement comes a week after top Trump adviser Gary Cohn suggested that the administration will look to approve the contentious Jordan Cove LNG export project in Oregon, which was rejected by FERC in March 2016 (E&E News PM, April 21).
LNG industry representatives celebrated today's announcement.
"After years of effort to secure the necessary regulatory permits, this milestone is the latest example of how the LNG industry can flourish in the United States when government regulators work with industry to process permits quickly and efficiently," said Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, in a statement.
DOE and industry backers say increased LNG exports will have significant economic benefits for the country. There are currently seven export terminals under construction, with another four approved, according to FERC.
Golden Pass estimates that construction on its terminal will generate 45,000 jobs over five years, while terminal operations will provide 3,800 jobs over 25 years.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/25/stories/1060053550
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White House Official Slams 'Unacceptable' Cyber Status Quo
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
The U.S. government needs to slash the time it takes to boot hackers off critical computer networks, President Trump's top cybersecurity adviser said yesterday in his first public remarks since taking office.
"It's unacceptable that somebody can rattle around inside our networks for weeks, months or even years," said Robert Joyce, a former National Security Agency official who now works in the White House as special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator (Energywire, March 16).
In several high-profile hacking incidents, including a massive 2015 breach of employee records held by the Office of Personnel Management and last year's cyber intrusions at the Democratic National Committee, hackers reportedly lingered on sensitive networks for months without being detected.
Joyce said the Trump administration will seek to hold agency heads, not just cybersecurity specialists, accountable for bolstering their digital defenses. He compared the vast cybersecurity resources at the Department of Defense to those at the Bureau of Reclamation, the office responsible for overseeing more than 50 hydroelectric power plants.
"There's a lot of technology in that important critical infrastructure mission," Joyce said at a cybersecurity conference hosted by Georgetown University. "So how do we ensure the Bureau of Reclamation has the same focus on cybersecurity in their critical infrastructure that the DOD does in their weapons systems? That's a real challenge."
A spokeswoman for the Department of the Interior said that the agency, which houses Reclamation, "takes protecting our assets and systems very seriously, and we are working to continually improve our cybersecurity posture."
Joyce pointed out that it wasn't his intention to "pick on the Bureau of Reclamation," but he rather wanted to illustrate how "we clearly don't have the same focus and resources across all 200 departments and agencies in the U.S."
The new White House cyber "czar" also said the government would seek to "listen and learn" from the private sector while offering incentives for companies to improve their cybersecurity.
He cited a recent meeting with seven CEOs from an unspecified "critical infrastructure sector."
"They consider cybersecurity an existential threat to their companies and their industry — if they had a failure, they understand that their companies would cease to exist," Joyce said, adding that the unnamed executives "really, really get it" when it comes to the threat posed by hackers.
"They put this emphasis from the top on making sure they are not at risk, or at least that they understand those risks and they drive them down to the best possible acceptable level," he said.
Joyce's praise for a risk management approach puts him squarely in line with his predecessor, Michael Daniel.
When serving as President Obama's top cyber policymaker, Daniel urged critical infrastructure operators to examine their own risks and run them through a voluntary Cybersecurity Framework (Energywire, Feb. 12, 2016). Trump administration officials so far have suggested they will continue to support use of that document, which was developed under the National Institute of Standards and Technology to help organizations shore up their online security.
But critical infrastructure companies, such as electric utilities and internet service providers, should do more than just boost their protection, according to Joyce. "We must improve resilience," he said. "When we do get hit — and make no bones about it, at some point we are going to see critical infrastructure attacks — we have to contain that damage and be able to rapidly restore capabilities."
Executive order 'close'
Joyce demurred when asked about the timing of Trump's long-delayed executive order on cybersecurity, noting that it was important not to "distract from other important messages" coming from the administration during Trump's first 100 days.
"It is close and nearby, but I can't give you an exact rollout," he said of the order, which is expected to kick off a government push for new tools to locate and weed out hackers from control rooms and federal networks (Energywire, April 24).
"I think the important focus on this is: We want to make sure that the cybersecurity EO emerges with the time and attention it needs on that important topic," Joyce said.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/04/25/stories/1060053516
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Train Carrying Batteries Explodes in Houston
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
A train carrying lithium-ion batteries to San Antonio for recycling exploded in Houston on Sunday evening.
The explosion blew out windows and sent a chemical smell through the downtown area. The blast could be felt 1 ½ miles away.
Union Pacific spokesman Jeff DeGraff said that the batteries are not toxic and that air monitoring found nothing toxic.
But safety data on lithium fumes indicate it can be irritating to lungs, eyes and throats.
"We didn't let my nieces and nephews play basketball outside afterward," said Diana Dávila, a Houston Independent School District board member. "Not until we knew what it was, and the smell was gone."
A Texas lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require push notification to phones during chemical accidents like this one (Greenwire, Feb. 21).
The cause of the explosion is under investigation.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/25/stories/1060053526
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Agency Asks for Comments, Gets an Earful on Climate
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
Green groups yesterday swamped U.S. EPA phone lines urging the agency to keep climate and pollution protections on the books.
The comments were solicited as part of a three-hour call-in session hosted by EPA's Office of Air and Radiation aimed at airing public views about whether the agency should reform or review regulations.
Many urged EPA to preserve the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan rule to rein in power plant emissions and methane regulations on the oil and gas industry. The comments echoed those posted on the federal government's regulations.gov website, which so far have overwhelmingly called for the agency to maintain or strengthen rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants (Climatewire, April 24).
EPA officials did not answer questions on the call.
Anne Gobin, head of the Bureau of Air Management at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said EPA should maintain funding to states to help limit air pollution and continue on a path toward cleaner air. Gobin also said EPA is not adequately enforcing the "good neighbor" provision of the Clean Air Act, which requires both the agency and states to curtail pollution that affects downwind states like Connecticut.
"Although we've made great progress, our air is not clean," she said.
Nadia Steinzor of Earthworks' Oil and Gas Accountability Project called methane pollution a "grave threat to the globe" and called on EPA to keep its methane regulations of the oil and gas industry on the books.
"Any attempted rollbacks would be nothing less than a payoff to oil and gas companies for their support," she said.
A few callers requested that EPA consider the costs to public health and climate change when considering whether to rescind its previous rulemaking.
"The EPA administrator has publicly and with impunity contradicted the basic understanding of the Clean Power Plan. This is unacceptable; EPA cannot make policy based on fiction," one caller said.
Industry members, meanwhile, critiqued Obama-era climate regulations and encouraged EPA to review regulations.
Howard Feldman, senior director of regulatory and scientific affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, said API was "encouraged" by EPA's decision to review the New Source Performance Standards on the oil and gas industry, aimed at controlling methane emissions. He credited the oil and gas industry with burning cleaner transportation fuels.
"We agree there are a number of regulations that offer little or no consumer protection; specifically, we believe several fuel regulations are ripe for significant modification," said Geoff Cooper, senior vice president of the Renewable Fuels Association.
He encouraged the agency to embrace higher ethanol blends, like E15, which he said has unnecessary regulatory restrictions that have limited its sale nationwide.
"We believe this could be fixed with a simple administrative action," Cooper said.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/04/25/stories/1060053519
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Court Cancels Arguments Over EPA's Plant Startup Rule
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
A federal appellate court, acting in response to a Trump administration request, has canceled oral arguments in a legal fight over U.S. EPA regulations intended to reduce air pollution releases from industrial plant startups, shutdowns and malfunctions.
In an order issued late yesterday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit called off arguments in the case that had been scheduled for May 8.
The panel, which included Chief Judge Merrick Garland, appointed by President Clinton, and two appointees of former President Obama, also put the combined litigation brought by various companies and state governments into abeyance, with EPA required to file status reports every 90 days while rethinking the regulations.
The Trump administration had sought the delay last week, saying it intended to "closely review" the 2015 rule, and left open the possibility of changing its position. The regulations require states to end automatic exemptions for excess emissions that occur during startups, shutdowns and malfunctions. EPA's bid was strenuously opposed by environmental groups (Greenwire, April 20).
But the appeals court had previously agreed to a similar administration request for an open-ended hold on litigation over EPA's 2015 ground-level ozone standard. As of this morning, it had not ruled on separate EPA motions for a delay in oral arguments set for May 18 on two other packages of lawsuits related to the agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for power plants.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/04/25/stories/1060053555
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Cap and Trade Faces Protests from the Left
Apr 25, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Debra Kahn
California's climate policy architects are beginning to reckon with the demands of social justice groups that fundamentally disagree with the state's approach.
Organizations that advocate for poor communities across California have long argued that emissions trading does not reduce pollution or even guarantee emissions reductions, and advocate instead for direct greenhouse gas cuts. As regulators debate the future of the state's economywide carbon market, those concerns are again working their way into the discussion.
The latest incursion came Friday at a conference devoted to North American carbon markets. About 100 protesters marched past the downtown conference in the early afternoon to inveigh against carbon trading and urge an end to oil extraction. They had come from a protest at U.S. EPA's regional headquarters, where they spoke against the Trump administration's climate policies.
"We want emissions reductions at the source," said David Braun, director of the group Rootskeeper and co-founder of Americans Against Fracking. "Let's not be distracted by our quote-unquote 'allies.'" The protest was organized by some 65 groups, including the California Environmental Justice Coalition, Asian Pacific Environmental Network and Center for Biological Diversity.
The protest sparked a discussion among attendees of the Navigating the American Carbon World conference. Reactions among conferencegoers ranged from incredulous to supportive to acknowledging the environmental justice movement's success in tying conventional air pollution to California's aggressive climate policies.
"Nobody said the environmental justice people couldn't come to this conference," said one industry representative. "Where are they? It's not clear that they are trying to engage."
'The challenges are real'
One environmentalist acknowledged the tension. "When you have four white men up here, dealing with the elephant in the room being a program this conference is largely organized around, we're in a bit of an existential moment," said Alex Jackson, legal director of the California climate project at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"I think we can nitpick it from a policy perspective, but the challenges are real, and I haven't heard anyone contest that," Jackson said. "We're going to lose the message California should rightfully be able to promote on being a leader."
The market's susceptibility to legal challenges has opened the door for environmental justice groups to gain leverage as Gov. Jerry Brown (D) seeks legislative approval to continue the program after 2020.
Brown is working on getting supermajority approval to extend the market, but he held it at arm's length Thursday, telling the audience that he had looked up cap and trade on Wikipedia and found it an "esoteric topic." "It is an effective pathway if combined with a lot of other things," he said.
While it hasn't been established that greenhouse gas trading actually encourages an increase in conventional pollutants, groups representing poor neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color that want direct improvements in their communities have found traction among elected representatives, passing a bill last year to require the state to prioritize direct emissions reductions as it pursues its 2030 target of 40 percent below 1990 emissions levels. A current proposal in the Assembly would deny businesses free carbon allowances if they fall short of standards for toxic pollutants.
That proposal has raised industry's hackles, as has the general argument that "criteria" pollutants and greenhouse gases should be covered by the same policies. The relationship between the two types of emissions is not perfectly correlated. Putting devices on a power plant to reduce its conventional pollutants, for example, can also reduce its efficiency, resulting in more greenhouse gas emissions for the same amount of power.
"Some people think that criteria air pollutants and greenhouse gases go up and down together," said Tim Tutt, who handles state regulatory affairs for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. "It's more complicated."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/04/25/stories/1060053522
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