Preview Newsletter
AM ACC 5/26/2017
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(ACC Mentioned) Prices Down for Solid PS Resins, Recycled HDPE and PET; Up for PC and Nylon 6/6
May 26, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American prices for solid polystyrene resin fell for the second straight month in May. -
(ACC Mentioned) Plastics Group Extends Grocery Recycling Program to Pharmacies
May 26, 2017 | Associations Now
By Ernie Smith
The Association of Plastic Recyclers says it’s seeing significant success with its rigid-plastics recycling program targeted at grocery stores. -
Senate Committee Welcomes Trump's FERC, DOE Nominees
May 26, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By David Bradley
There was little controversy and plenty of goodwill for a trio of Trump administration nominees to FERC and the Department of Energy (DOE) Thursday when they appeared at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. -
What’s Driving The Billion-Dollar Natural Beauty Movement?
May 26, 2017 | Fast Company
By Rina Raphael
When Tata Harper’s stepfather was diagnosed with cancer, his doctors told him to remove all products containing synthetic materials, such as body washes and shampoos, from his home. In solidarity, Harper got rid of hers too. But she found the switch surprisingly difficult. -
SC Johnson to Expand Skin Allergen Disclosures in Products
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Joyce
A leading U.S. manufacturer of household cleaning products announced it will voluntarily disclose the presence of 368 potential skin allergens in its goods, illustrating an ongoing industry trend. -
White House Reviewing Plan to Pause Methane Rule
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Schultz
The White House is reviewing an EPA plan to further pause implementing an Obama administration rule designed to limit methane emissions from oil and gas wells, according to the Office of Management and Budget website. -
Bills Would Shore Up Permitting, Safety
May 26, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Sam Mintz
Democratic lawmakers in both chambers unleashed a flurry of legislation this week aimed at oil and gas pipelines in their regions. -
US FERC Rejects Rover Gas Pipeline Horizontal Drilling Request
May 25, 2017 | Platts
By Harry Weber and John McManus
US regulators have rejected a request by Energy Transfer Partners' Rover Pipeline to resume horizontal directional drilling at two key sites, putting further pressure on the operator's efforts to meet its in-service target of July 1 for the first phase of a 3.25 Bcf/d natural gas project... -
Permian Drilling Productivity Will See First-Ever Decline in June, EIA Says
May 26, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Collin Eaton
Oil fields in West Texas are teeming with drilling rigs after crude prices shot up to $50 a barrel this year. -
Colorado May Shut Down Wells If Oil, Gas Companies Miss Deadlines
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission could order the shutdown of any oil and gas wells if those wells’ operators fail to meet upcoming deadlines to check certain pipelines. -
Chemical Tank Explosion Kills Two in West Virginia
May 25, 2017 | HazardEx
Two workers were killed and a third was seriously injured on May 24 in an explosion at an industrial facility in Moatsville, West Virginia. -
(ACC Mentioned) Anatomy of a Deep State
May 25, 2017 | Wall Street Journal
By Editorial Board
On May 8 a woman few Americans have heard of, working in a federal post that even fewer know exists, summoned a select group of 45 people to a June meeting in Washington. -
House Dems Detail Impact of Trump's Proposed EPA Cuts on States
May 25, 2017 | E&E News PM
By George Cahlink
House Democrats are warning in a report that the Trump administration's proposed fiscal 2018 budget cuts would decimate federal assistance to states for environmental protection and cleanup programs. -
Senators Push Bipartisan Bill to Revive Ozone Early Action Plans
May 25, 2017 | Inside EPA
Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) have introduced a bill to revive the George W. Bush EPA Early Action Compact (EAC) program that would allow states to avoid classification as out of attainment with federal ozone national ambient air quality... -
As Trump Weighs Deal, Both Sides Make Economic Case
May 26, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Hannah Hess
As President Trump wraps up his tour of Europe and the Middle East, advocates for and against the Paris climate accord — including on Capitol Hill — are deploying economic arguments to persuade him. -
State Lawmakers Slow to Debate Carbon Taxes
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adrianne Appel
State carbon tax proposals introduced early in 2017 are moving slowly as legislatures prioritize other issues, particularly their budgets. -
EPA Opposes Supreme Court Review of Malfunctions Emissions Rule
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The EPA's attempt to quash U.S. Supreme Court review on whether industrial facilities must meet federal air pollution standards when equipment malfunctions could be a bid to preserve time and flexibility as the agency looks to give states more leeway... -
Court Grants EPA Request to Further Stay Refrigerant Handling Suit
May 26, 2017 | Inside EPA
A federal appellate court has granted EPA's request to further pause litigation over a final rule updating its refrigerant management and handling guidelines to include heat-trapping hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and their alternative...
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Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) Prices Down for Solid PS Resins, Recycled HDPE and PET; Up for PC and Nylon 6/6
May 26, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American prices for solid polystyrene resin fell for the second straight month in May.
Regional prices for recycled high density polyethylene and PET bottle resin also are down in recent months, while selling prices for polycarbonate and nylon 6/6 resins have increased.
Solid PS prices in the region dipped by an average of 2 cents per pound in May. Some buyers reported seeing a 3 cent drop, but most saw the 2, which had been pre-announced by PS maker Americas Styrenics.
PS prices had fallen by 5 cents in April after increasing by 6 cents in March. These moves have been driven by price volatility for benzene feedstock, which is used to make styrene monomer.
North American PS sales are off to a rough start in 2017, falling almost 4 percent through April, according to the American Chemistry Council in Washington. Sales of PS into consumer and institutional uses were down almost 10 percent in that period. PS sales into the electrical/electronic sector provided a bright spot, increasing almost 5 percent in those four months.
Regional prices for all grades of PC resin are up an average of 14 cents per pound since Jan. 1, as a result of higher prices for benzene and other feedstocks.
Prices for nylon 6/6 resin in the region have increased an average of 6 cents per pound since March 1, also resulting from higher feedstock costs. Prices for that material already had increased a total of 12 cents per pound on average in January and February.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20170525/NEWS/170529936/prices-down-for-solid-ps-resins-recycled-hdpe-and-pet-up-for-pc-and
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(ACC Mentioned) Plastics Group Extends Grocery Recycling Program to Pharmacies
May 26, 2017 | Associations Now
By Ernie Smith
The Association of Plastic Recyclers says it’s seeing significant success with its rigid-plastics recycling program targeted at grocery stores. Now, APR is helping grocery-store pharmacies take part in the program.The pharmacies of the world might find recycling their plastics a little bit easier going forward.
That’s thanks to a new resource by the Association of Plastic Recyclers designed to educate specific facilities on how to recycle their waste plastics. In collaboration with the American Chemistry Council, APR is working to help educate pharmacies on how to best sustainably reuse “behind-the-counter” plastics—used to store stock—without requiring extra work from pharmacists. The program is being targeted at pharmacies in grocery stores.
The guidebook [PDF] is an extension of APR’s plastics recycling program targeted at grocery stores. Liz Bedard, APR’s rigid-plastics recycling director, noted that the move was somewhat natural.
“Pharmacies offer a unique grocery store waste reduction opportunity,” Bedard said in a news release. “Many pharmacies are making the switch from disposing of large volumes of stock bottles to setting up dedicated pharmacy stock bottle recycling collection bins.”
The Recycle Grocery Rigid Plastics program, which APR launched in 2013 as the Grocery Store Recycling Program, attempts to make an economic case for recycling. In a 2015 study released by the group, it claimed that recycling post-consumer plastics could prove a revenue source for grocers, raising between $100 and $200 from a 1,000-pound bale of recycled rigid plastic. Additionally, APR noted the supply in stores was significant—as much as 350 million pounds nationally.
In the case of pharmacy containers, the association says a small pharmacy could make $100 in revenue per year from plastics recycling—a cost savings that is more significant when considered at scale, throughout a chain of hundreds of stores, in addition to other plastics recycling endeavors.
APR has seen success making its case nationally with Recycle Grocery Rigid Plastics, with 4,500 stores and 10 national chains in 32 states taking part in the initiative, according to its news release.
http://associationsnow.com/2017/05/plastics-group-extends-grocery-recycling-program-pharmacies/
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Senate Committee Welcomes Trump's FERC, DOE Nominees
May 26, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By David Bradley
There was little controversy and plenty of goodwill for a trio of Trump administration nominees to FERC and the Department of Energy (DOE) Thursday when they appeared at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Senators' questions to the nominees -- Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson to be members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Dan Brouillette to be deputy secretary of DOE -- were wide-ranging, with an emphasis on electricity and renewables, but did not drill down into fine detail. There were no objections to any of the nominees from committee members. Their nominations will need the approval of the committee and the full Senate before they can take their seats at FERC and DOE.
"I am pleased to have these nominees before our committee this morning," said Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). "This hearing is an important step in our efforts to restore a quorum at FERC, and to ensure that Secretary [Rick] Perry has a good team in place at his department. I believe Mr. Brouillette, Mr. Chatterjee and Mr. Powelson are well-qualified and deserve to move quickly through the process of confirmation."
Trump nominated Chatterjee, a longtime energy policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), for the term expiring June 30, 2021, that was previously held by Tony Clark, who left FERC last September.
"As my colleagues in the Senate on both sides of the aisle can attest, I have always endeavored to be pragmatic, fair and transparent in my interactions," Chatterjee told the committee. "In an effort to gain majority support on key legislative priorities, I have proven my commitment to hearing all sides of an issue and looking for common ground...I hope to be able to bring the same equitable, level-headed approach that I've taken here in the Senate with me to the Commission so that we can move our country forward on the numerous big issues before us."
Powelson, a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, was nominated for a term expiring June 30, 2020, that was previously held by Philip Moeller, who left FERC in October 2015. He serves as the president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and on the Electric Power Research Institute Advisory Board.
"In working with state commissions across the country, I have gained an appreciation of the diversity in utility regulation that exists across the 50-state compact," Powelson said. "What works in Pennsylvania does not necessarily work in other markets, and, should I be confirmed, I will continue to value the variety of perspectives that the states bring to an issue."
There are currently three empty seats at FERC and the expected exit of Colette Honorable at the end of June will leave the ostensibly five-member panel with a single member -- Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur. There is some question about the likelihood of LaFleur remaining at the helm at FERC, since she is a Democrat and Trump and his nominees are Republicans. By law, no more than three members of FERC may be from the same political party.
There have been reports that Trump plans to nominate Kevin McIntyre, an attorney with law firm Jones Day, to FERC and install him as the new chairman. McIntyre currently serves as co-head of the firm's global energy practice.
Brouillette is head of public policy for USAA, a former vice president of Ford Motor Company and previously served as chief of staff to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He also served as assistant secretary of energy for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs from 2001 to 2003 and was a member of the Louisiana State Mineral and Energy Board from 2013 to 2016.
The hearing was interrupted several times by protesters, some shouting "shut FERC down." They were quickly removed from the room. At least one environmental organization was unhappy with the tenor of the hearing.
"Neither nominee expressed any serious concern for the climate of our communities being harmed by FERC's virtually indiscriminate approval of dangerous gas pipelines," said Oil Change International's David Turnbull. "Both Powelson and Chatterjee have track records that are antithetical to the reform that's urgently needed at FERC to stop pro-gas bias and square permitting processes with scientific and economic reality. Ultimately, Senators should reject these nominees."
Committee members had until the end of the day to submit further questions for the nominees, and Murkowski seemed eager to move on a full Senate vote.
"My hope is to be able to advance your names quickly...so that we can process these nominees for the FERC and DOE...and allow for business to proceed," Murkowski said.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/110592-senate-committee-welcomes-trumps-ferc-doe-nominees
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What’s Driving The Billion-Dollar Natural Beauty Movement?
May 26, 2017 | Fast Company
By Rina Raphael
When Tata Harper’s stepfather was diagnosed with cancer, his doctors told him to remove all products containing synthetic materials, such as body washes and shampoos, from his home. In solidarity, Harper got rid of hers too. But she found the switch surprisingly difficult.
“I have always been a serious skin care customer, using the most effective, high-end, high-tech skin care available,” says Harper, who is originally from Colombia and studied industrial engineering in Mexico. “So when it came time to switch to natural skin care, I was really disappointed with the existing offerings. There wasn’t anything out there for women like me, who wanted serious skin care but didn’t want to use industrial chemicals on their skin.”
The most common chemicals in skin care products are parabens, synthetic colors, and phthalates. Harper spent the next few years researching alternatives with scientists in Europe who believed that effective, chemical-free skin care products were possible. In 2007, she founded Tata Harper, an all-natural luxury skin care line that uses multiple high-performance ingredients including Spanish lavender extract to help reduce wrinkle formation and retinoic acid from rosehip seed oil (instead of Retinol) to reduce the appearance of fine lines. Headquartered at Harper’s 1,200-acre farm in Vermont, the brand is now a best-seller at Sephora and hailed as a pioneer in the land-to-face movement. The famously chemical-averse Gwyneth Paltrow is among the company’s robust celebrity clientele.
Tata Harper is just one of many success stories in the booming organic and natural beauty market, whose value is expected to reach $13.2 billion by 2018. Brands with a natural and/or botanically derived clinical orientation now represent the largest combined share of prestige skin care sales. Last year, they accounted for all gains in the category. “The space for cleaner, safer, better beauty has grown and is only continuing to grow,” says Gregg Renfrew, founder of Beautycounter, a cosmetics and skin care e-retailer that tries to educate consumers about the potential toxicity of some makeup. “In fact, natural and safer brands are outselling their traditional competitors by two to threefold.” Late last year, the research firm Kline & Company reached a similar conclusion, predicting that the synthetic cosmetics sector will decline in the next two years, while the natural skin care segment will grow. Already, the firm found, naturals have grown by 7% in the U.S., compared to a 2% rise in the overall beauty market in 2015.
And now that these products have become so mainstream, you don’t have to go rummaging through your local health food store to find your organic jasmine-infused eyeshadow. Sephora has sold botanical, chemical-free cosmetics for years and now offers a “Naturals” landing page showcasing hundreds of items. Nordstrom is opening dedicated natural beauty sections in 46 of its locations. Target announced plans to expands its natural beauty selection, thanks to a double-digit percentage lift in sales last year. And, reacting to customer feedback, CVS recently promised to remove chemical ingredients such as parabens and phthalates from approximately 600 of its in-house brands’ personal care products. Natural is available everywhere.
It all makes perfect sense to Harper. “People often think that natural means simple or untested, but natural ingredients are actually [some of] the most powerful ingredients in the world,” she says via email. “Synthetic ingredients are, in many cases, cheaper, more predictable versions of natural ingredients created in labs to simplify the manufacturing process.”
THE SAFER INGREDIENTS BOOM
The organic beauty boom is part of the larger shift in consumer awareness about health and wellness. Thanks to a growing number of beauty blogs and social media accounts dedicated to the benefits of going chemical-free, consumers have access to more information than ever before. Late last year, Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic senator from California, introduced the Personal Care Products Safety Act, a bill to strengthen regulation of ingredients in personal care products. “Our skin is our largest organ, and many ingredients contained in these products–whether it be lotion, shampoo, or deodorant–are quickly absorbed by the skin,” Feinstein said in her testimony to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “There is increasing evidence that certain ingredients in personal care products are linked to a range of health concerns, ranging from reproductive issues, such as fertility problems and miscarriage, to cancer.”
Parabens and phthalates, for instance, have been found to be endocrine disruptors linked to increased risk of breast cancer. A recent study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, revealed how a short break from certain shampoos and lotions made with chemical ingredients can result in a significant drop in levels of people’s hormone-disrupting chemicals.
Startling findings like these are what inspired Beautycounter’s Renfrew to start his own company. Launched in 2013, the California-based startup aims to increase awareness about the predominantly unregulated U.S. beauty market through blog and social media campaigns. Beautycounter’s own line of products range from makeup basics like lipstick and blush to sunscreen and body scrubs. Last March, Renfrew’s company raised a $13 million round from 33 undisclosed investors, bringing its total funds raised to nearly $42 million.
So what constitutes “clean beauty”? Is it organic? Paraben- and sulfate-free? Goop-endorsed? What does “all-natural” even mean? Renfrew points out that “natural” and “organic” have no legal definition in this category, and even a non-synthetic ingredient found in nature can be harmful. Lead, for example, should not exist in any beauty products.
“We focus on the safety profile of an ingredient, rather than the source,” Renfrew says. “In other words, just because something is naturally derived doesn’t mean it’s automatically safe.” To that end, Beautycounter developed a rigorous ingredient selection process, listing 1,500 questionable or harmful ingredients it vows never to include in its formulations. Roughly 1,400 of those chemical ingredients are already banned or restricted in personal care products by the European Union.
Educating consumers is a key piece of this movement, and one in which the e-commerce beauty site and subscription service Birchbox is heavily investing. The New York-based startup debuted an “Ingredient Conscious” shop category in 2014 as a way to differentiate between “natural” (i.e., using primarily ingredients found in nature) and “clean beauty” products (entirely free of parabens, phthalates, sulfates, and petrochemicals).
“We’ve noticed that our subscribers have a real desire to learn about ingredients,” says Jamie Johns, the senior merchant manager of Birchbox’s skin care division, via email. “Our approach at Birchbox is to demystify ingredients and provide an approachable way to try and learn about them.”
The company offers natural beauty products both online and in subscription boxes, with prices ranging from $7 to $105. Birchbox saw between 10%-50% growth in the overall category over the last year, driven by more customers trying and sticking with the natural brands.
“It’s definitely something that will become more mainstream,” says Artemis Patrick, Sephora’s SVP of merchandising. Sephora currently offers a wide range of natural products–coconut cleansing oil, kale and spinach age prevention cream, and oat milk dry shampoo among them–and is pursuing more brands to expand the category even further. One of its latest additions is the biotechnology-backed Biossance, a 100% plant-based skin care line that relies on squalane, a mega-moisture molecule that helps hydrate skin.
“Natural skin care is growing fast, almost eight times as much as compared to last year in terms of searches,” Patrick reports, adding that popular keywords include “organic,” “paraben-free,” and “vegan.” Sephora has also witnessed established brands like Estée Lauder go back and add natural ingredients or remove certain potentially harmful ones. “Big brands are becoming more conscious,” Patrick says.
Or at least keenly aware of what sells. Last year, after witnessing consumer interest in natural ingredients soar, Ulta, the largest beauty retailer in the U.S. with 950 stores, launched its own line of natural products that includes a top-selling lip oil infused with green tea and avocado extracts. According to Ulta SVP of merchandising Julie Tomasi, it’s good business: Ulta natural buyers spend 80% more in total beauty than the average customer. “We anticipate additional growth from this category,” she says.
Romain Gaillard has experienced the rise of organic beauty firsthand. The Detox Market, the green beauty e-commerce shop that he founded in 2010, didn’t take off until 2012, when a rush of new brands hit the scene and brought attention to the niche sector. Now his company has four brick-and-mortar retail locations and an online store that has been doubling in size for the last four years. In the coming year, Gaillard wants to open more shops, partner with restaurants and lifestyle brands, and launch an ambassador program.
aillaird’s approach is to make natural cosmetics carefree and fun, versus focusing on why chemical alternatives are dangerous. Natural products, he is known to repeat to sell the concept, “feel better.”
Drunk Elephant founder Tiffany Masterson, meanwhile, wants to simplify what constitutes “clean.” Her company uses a mix of natural and “low-hazard” synthetic ingredients, and each product comes with a simply worded explanation of how and why ingredients were sourced. Customers, Masterson believes, are growing weary of healthy living buzzwords like “non-toxic” and “organic.”
“It is so overwhelming out there,” she says. “Consumers are fed up with marketing, gimmicky phrases that have been diluted over time. They want transparency. The future of skin care is going to be more straightforward.”
IS A PRICEY PRIVILEGE SUSTAINABLE?
Going “clean” is costly. Sourcing fresh botanical ingredients, like exotic marula oil from overseas, does not come cheap. Organic farms tend to produce smaller batches because they don’t rely on growth hormones, so each ingredient is at a premium. Goods made without chemical preservatives also have a shorter shelf life. Tata Harper, for example, recommends using its products within six months. Compare that to conventional drugstore brands, which give a window of two to three years. The longer shelf life allows big box retailers to buy in bulk without worrying about expiration dates.
“Our ingredients are perishable and delicate, so our manufacturing processes are more like food production than an industrial factory,” Harper says. Synthetic ingredients can be made much faster and more cheaply than natural sourcing. “The fact that the industry has spent the last 20 to 30 years focused on synthetic ingredients also keeps their costs low, as large companies often use the most cost-effective ingredients available to be able to produce as much as possible,” she says.
But with naturals’ shorter shelf lives, how realistic is it that mass market companies will adopt them in greater numbers? Most consumers still rely on drugstore brands, such as Maybelline and Revlon, which keep their costs and ingredient prices low—sometimes one-third the price of premium organic brands. A Revlon lipstick sells for as little as $4.99, while an Honest Beauty alternative, an antioxidant blend of coconut oil, murumuru butter, and shea butter, goes for $18. A similar lipstick by Hemp Organics uses 95% certified organic ingredients and is priced at $15.80.
Karen Grant, global beauty industry analyst for the market research firm the NPD Group, isn’t sure the natural movement will catch on with the majority of Americans who don’t have the means to spend $40 on blush. Still, she isn’t ready to say it’s a passing fad. “It’s still early, still a bit niche,” she says. “But I don’t think this is something that will disappear. It’s a way of life.”
Grant identifies two demographics that make up the strongest part of the clean beauty base: younger millennials (18-25) who are concerned primarily with environmental impact (and are already familiar with the principles of natural ingredients, thanks to the ongoing Korean beauty phenomenon), and an older generation (40 and up) focused on health benefits.
Gaillard predicts this group of conscious consumers will remain faithful to the cause, like newly health-conscious eaters who never return to McDonald’s. “Once the curtain is pulled away and consumers know the truth, they won’t revert back to ‘unhealthy’ behavior,” he says.
Tata Harper agrees that consumers aren’t likely to revert to slathering unknown chemicals on their face. They want to know what’s in their moisturizer, just as they want to know what’s in their snack crackers.
“It’s a movement happening around the world,” Harper says. “A movement toward better health, an evolution in consumer products where we’re realizing that a lot of things we thought were good are not.”
https://www.fastcompany.com/3068710/whats-driving-the-billion-dollar-natural-beauty-movement
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SC Johnson to Expand Skin Allergen Disclosures in Products
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Joyce
A leading U.S. manufacturer of household cleaning products announced it will voluntarily disclose the presence of 368 potential skin allergens in its goods, illustrating an ongoing industry trend.
SC Johnson & Son Inc., a privately held company based in Racine, Wis., previously had decided to disclose 26 possible allergenic substances as required by a 1999 European Union opinion, but its May 25 decision expands the company's disclosure regime to include hundreds of skin allergens present in its products. The disclosures will appear on a company website but not on any of its product labeling.
The announcement is part of an industry trend to enhance disclosure regimes despite no regulatory or statutory obligation to do so. No federal agency and only a few states have contemplated requiring such disclosures, but Kelly Semrau, SC Johnson's senior vice president of corporate affairs, and others said companies manufacturing personal-care and household-cleaning products will continue to expand disclosure regimes to build trust and brand loyalty with consumers.
Other companies, including Unilever NV, have announced their own disclosure targets. Some, such as Unilever subsidiary Seventh Generation Inc., that tout products as containing natural ingredients may feel increasing pressure to increase their disclosures voluntarily.
Earning Consumer Trust
SC Johnson will disclose the presence of potential natural and synthetic allergens in its products when their concentration levels are at or above 0.01 percent, the same standard required by the European Union opinion. While that concentration likely won't cause an allergic reaction in most rinse-off products, the company decided to adopt the standard as it tries to boost its transparency efforts, Semrau said.
“Ultimately, this is about earning the trust of all the people who buy our products,” Fisk Johnson, SC Johnson chairman and chief executive officer, told Bloomberg BNA. “Transparency is something we've been working on for quite some time, and we think being transparent about the ingredients that go into our products, the allergens that are in them, I think helps earn the trust of people.”
The company is planning to list the ingredients by individual product beginning in 2018, Semrau said.
Chemicals on the EU list of 26 allergens include benzyl alcohol, citronellol, farnesol, hydroxycitronellal, linalool, and oakmoss extract.
Government Action
Few state laws or regulations requiring the chemical disclosures in household consumer products have been enacted at the state level. In California, however, state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D) introduced a bill (SB-258) Feb. 8 that would require manufacturers of cleaning products produced or sold in California to disclose on its label each ingredient contained in the product. The state Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the legislation May 25.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) April 25 proposed regulations requiring manufacturers of cleaning products sold in New York to disclose the ingredients of their products. Comments on the proposal's disclosure certification form are due June 14.
At the federal level, lawmakers considered adding chemical disclosure requirements to the Toxic Substances Control Act amendments of 2016 (Pub. L. No: 114-182), but ultimately they were not included in the final version.
Voluntary Push
The absence of state or federal mandates, however, will not slow down the push by companies to enhance their disclosure regimes, several people who follow the issue said.
“There is movement across different industries to increase transparency, not as much as cleaning products as we've seen in personal care perhaps,” Nneka Leiba, deputy director of research at the Environmental Working Group, told Bloomberg BNA.
Johnson said any resulting state or federal regulation probably won't affect his company because it plans to continue pushing for voluntarily disclosures that will be well ahead of any regulatory or statutory development.
Leiba said the Environmental working Group's “ultimate goal” is for the federal government to impose ingredient disclosure requirements on manufacturers, but until that happens some companies will likely continue to voluntarily disclose the ingredients.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=112674189&vname=dennotallissues&fn=112674189&jd=112674189
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White House Reviewing Plan to Pause Methane Rule
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Schultz
The White House is reviewing an EPA plan to further pause implementing an Obama administration rule designed to limit methane emissions from oil and gas wells, according to the Office of Management and Budget website.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced last month that a 90-day stay on the regulation pushing back a new set of compliance deadlines on the oil and gas industry would have taken effect June 3. The regulation, one of the centerpieces of the Obama administration's climate policy, requires operators of new or modified wells to significantly boost their monitoring for leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Now the agency is seeking OMB approval to extend that stay beyond 90 days, according to EPA spokeswoman Amy Graham. Unlike the initial 90-day stay, this latest proposal would undergo a public comment period, pending its approval by OMB, she told Bloomberg BNA.
Graham said this stay would give the agency time to reconsider the issues surrounding the methane regulations.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=112674205&vname=dennotallissues&fn=112674205&jd=112674205
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Bills Would Shore Up Permitting, Safety
May 26, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Sam Mintz
Democratic lawmakers in both chambers unleashed a flurry of legislation this week aimed at oil and gas pipelines in their regions.
In the House, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) reintroduced legislation that takes aim at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's reputation for "rubber-stamping" pipeline applications.
In the past 10 years, FERC has approved more than 250 natural gas pipelines while denying only three, and 90 percent of applications are approved within a year, said Watson Coleman.
H.R. 2649, the "SAFER Pipelines Act," would require FERC to hold hearings on challenges to projects' public necessity.
It would also direct FERC to monitor the environmental impacts of approved and constructed projects for five years after they are completed.
At a news conference earlier this month in her home state, Watson Coleman singled out the PennEast Pipeline, a proposed natural gas line that would run from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. FERC is set to make a final decision on PennEast once it regains a quorum (E&E News PM, April 7).
"This PennEast proposal continues to be an example of FERC's lack of diligence and narrow review process: 110 miles of this proposed pipeline would slice through land, green spaces and even the backyards of New Jersey taxpayers," Watson Coleman said May 10, according to prepared remarks provided to E&E News by her staff.
"Moreover, the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel and independent energy experts have found no evidence of public need for the project."
She went on to add that FERC staff has also yet to show any recommendations, data or analysis on the need for the pipeline.
In the Senate, Michigan Democrats Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow introduced a package of bills they say would increase pipeline safety in the Great Lakes region.
The three pieces of legislation would increase liability caps for pipelines in and near the lakes, which are currently classified as "onshore" despite crossing miles of open water.
The legislation would also expand Department of Transportation authority to suspend or shut down pipelines and strengthen oil spill response and cleanup plans.
"The Great Lakes ecosystem is unlike any other in the world, and many existing pipeline safety rules and regulations do not adequately protect this precious resource from a disastrous oil spill," said Peters in a statement.
"Senator Stabenow and I are working together to hold Great Lakes pipeline operators to the highest standards and help protect against the catastrophic consequences of a worst-case spill that would endanger our environment and the multi-billion shipping, tourism and fishing industries supported by the Great Lakes."
The two lawmakers touted their bills as building on provisions that became law as part of the PIPES Act signed by President Obama last year.
None of the Democratic legislation is likely to pass the House or Senate without support from Republicans, who have focused legislative efforts on streamlining regulations and making it easier to develop infrastructure projects.
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2017/05/26/stories/1060055198
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US FERC Rejects Rover Gas Pipeline Horizontal Drilling Request
May 25, 2017 | Platts
By Harry Weber and John McManus
US regulators have rejected a request by Energy Transfer Partners' Rover Pipeline to resume horizontal directional drilling at two key sites, putting further pressure on the operator's efforts to meet its in-service target of July 1 for the first phase of a 3.25 Bcf/d natural gas project being closely watched by Northeast and downstream markets.
Following leaks of drilling fluids into Ohio wetlands in April, including one during horizontal directional drilling at the Tuscarawas River, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered Rover earlier in May not to conduct any more drilling of that type in some areas where it has not started work.
ETP then asked to be allowed to continue the drilling at two sites where the activity was already underway, one in Ohio and the other in West Virginia. It said halting excavation there could cause further environmental problems and expressed concerns about the project being delayed.FERC said in a letter to Rover on Thursday that the agency must complete its review before allowing the horizontal directional drilling activities to resume. For now, it granted the operator permission to remove the drill stem from the borehole at the West Virginia location and install a casing to prevent the hole from collapsing.
"Authorization to resume drilling activities in conjunction with the Rover Pipeline Project is contingent upon commission staff's consideration of the independent third-party contractor's analysis of all drilling activity at the Tuscarawas River HDD and the independent third-party contractor's recommended plan detailing the measures that Rover can put into place to ensure that the same level of impacts do not occur on the other HDDs during project construction," FERC said in the letter.
Two company representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The 500-mile Rover pipeline will impact upstream supply fundamentals in the Northeast and downstream gas markets in the Midwest and Southeast US, as well as the Dawn, Ontario, hub.
Producers have been eagerly awaiting new infrastructure, to give them extra capacity to move their output out of the pipeline constrained Marcellus and Utica shale basins.
With the possibility of a Rover delay, some producers have been hedging their production and considering alternative pipelines for moving some of their gas until Rover enters service.
Rover's most recent statements have stuck to the July in-service date for the first phase of the project and November for the second phase.
Environmental disputes and historic preservation concerns have dogged the project for months. A large coalition of environmentalists is pressing the commission to halt work entirely, saying the recent spills exposed flaws in FERC's oversight.https://www.platts.com/latest-news/natural-gas/houston/us-ferc-rejects-rover-gas-pipeline-horizontal-21844601?ito=771&itq=4b6d2b55-6d73-492c-90d5-eeededd42f02&itx%5bidio%5d=505090
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Permian Drilling Productivity Will See First-Ever Decline in June, EIA Says
May 26, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Collin Eaton
Oil fields in West Texas are teeming with drilling rigs after crude prices shot up to $50 a barrel this year.
But the Energy Department believes a key metric of drilling productivity is about to turn south in the Permian Basin for the first time since its analysts began tracking it in late 2013.
Next month, the daily oil production of a new Permian well drilled by an average rig will decline by 10 barrels to 630 barrels, the Energy Information Administration said in a recent report.
Of course, that doesn’t even amount to a dent in the stunning productivity gains that oil companies have made in the Permian Basin over the past few years, but it’s an ominous milestone for companies that have touted increasingly efficient and productive drilling as a way to offset the financial pain of low oil prices.
It also coincides with another trend: In recent months, oil companies have drilled a lot more wells than they’ve brought into production. The number of so-called drilled-but-uncompleted wells in the Permian Basin is expected to rise to 1,995 in June, up from 1,348 last August, when the EIA first began tracking these unstimulated wells.
Both of these recent developments, analysts said, are signs that drilling rigs are coming back to the Permian Basin so fast that they’re far outpacing the speed at which contractors can ready fleets of hydraulic fracturing equipment needed to blast open dense rock formations and bring the wells into production.
A big problem is that pressure pumping companies are spending between $5 million to $10 million rebuilding equipment they cannibalized for spare parts during the downturn in oil prices. Another challenge: getting people to come back to the oil patch after severe job cuts to staff up fracking fleets that require around 100 workers. Smaller, local West Texas oil companies have found it especially difficult to find enough skilled labor, analysts said.
“A lot of the older class of the generation is like, ‘you know what, I’ve been through the boom and bust cycle, I’m either retiring or I’m going to move on to something safer,’”said Taylor Cavey, an energy analyst at S&P Global Platts in Denver.
Still, overall production in the Permian isn’t expected to decline anytime soon, even with prices for oil field services set to increase some 15 percent over the next year. In the lucrative Delaware Basin in West Texas, service prices could double and operators could still break even on drilling new wells there, Cavey said.
The EIA said it expects daily oil production in the Permian Basin to rise by 71,000 barrels next month to 2.5 million. That’s up from 2 million barrels last June.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/05/25/permian-drilling-productivity-will-see-first-ever-decline-in-june-eia-says/
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Colorado May Shut Down Wells If Oil, Gas Companies Miss Deadlines
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission could order the shutdown of any oil and gas wells if those wells’ operators fail to meet upcoming deadlines to check certain pipelines.
Commission director Matt Lepore warned producers that shutdowns could apply to wells connected to underground flowlines covered by a notice to operators sent after a fatal home explosion last month in Firestone, Colo., Todd Hartman, spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources, told Bloomberg BNA May 25.
The notice directs operators to inspect flowlines by May 30 and pressure test them for leaks by June 30, Hartman said. Frederick-Firestone Fire Protection investigators identified odorless, colorless natural gas leaking from a severed 1-inch flowline that ran six feet from the destroyed home as the cause of the April 17 explosion and fire that killed two men and left a woman critically injured.
Inspect and Test
Following that determination, the commission, at the direction of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), ordered oil and gas companies to inspect any existing flowlines and pipelines located within 1,000 feet of an occupied building including homes, schools, and hospitals, by May 30. The order requires operators to ensure integrity of such pipelines by pressure testing them by June 30.
The flowline implicated in the Firestone explosion was technically “abandoned"—a term which means it had previously been taken out of service—but had not been properly disconnected from the wellhead and capped as required by a commission rule (Rule 1103). The line was not in use in 2016, but natural gas began flowing through it again in January 2017.
Anadarko Petroleum Co. was the owner and operator of the flowline at the time of the incident. The previous owner was Noble Energy Inc. It remains unknown how the line was severed.
Anadarko officials didn't immediate respond to Bloomberg BNA's request for comment.
Capped and Sealed
Two additional requirements are included in the notice to operators. Companies are required by May 30 to inspect all existing flowlines and pipelines, regardless of their distance from an occupied building, that have been abandoned under Rule 1103.
Flowline or pipeline risers—the portion of a line that juts out from the ground—must be clearly marked using fluorescent paint, have all operating valves removed, be sealed, and be capped so they are cut off below the ground.
By June 30 operators must complete abandonment of any flowline or pipeline not actively operated regardless of distance form an occupied building and regardless of when it was taken out of service, the commission said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=112674197&vname=dennotallissues&fn=112674197&jd=112674197
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Chemical Tank Explosion Kills Two in West Virginia
May 25, 2017 | HazardEx
Two workers were killed and a third was seriously injured on May 24 in an explosion at an industrial facility in Moatsville, West Virginia. The blast occurred when workers at Midland Resource Recovery were cleaning a tank used for storing the chemical mercaptan, according to local officials. Mercaptan, which has a distinctive smell, is added to odourless natural gas so that leaks can be detected.
Officials alerted OSHA to the incident and the federal agency had launched in an investigation. The OSHA spokeswoman said the agency had no record of having inspected the facility anytime in the past five years.
The US Chemical Safety Board said Midland Resource Recovery had been contacted to gather additional information before determining if the CSB would deploy a team of investigators to the site.http://www.hazardexonthenet.net/article/133630/Chemical-tank-explosion-kills-two-in-West-Virginia.aspx
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(ACC Mentioned) Anatomy of a Deep State
May 25, 2017 | Wall Street Journal
By Editorial Board
On May 8 a woman few Americans have heard of, working in a federal post that even fewer know exists, summoned a select group of 45 people to a June meeting in Washington. They were almost exclusively representatives of liberal activist groups. The invitation explained they were invited to develop “future plans for scientific integrity” at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Meet the deep state. That’s what conservatives call it now, though it goes by other names. The administrative state. The entrenched governing elite. Lois Lerner. The federal bureaucracy. Whatever the description, what’s pertinent to today’s Washington is that this cadre of federal employees, accountable to no one, is actively working from within to thwart Donald Trump’s agenda.
There are few better examples than the EPA post of Scientific Integrity Official. (Yes, that is an actual job title.) The position is a legacy of Barack Obama, who at his 2009 inaugural promised to “restore science to its rightful place”—his way of warning Republicans that there’d be no more debate on climate change or other liberal environmental priorities.
Team Obama directed federal agencies to implement “scientific integrity” policies. Most agencies tasked their senior leaders with overseeing these rules. But the EPA—always the overachiever—bragged that it alone had chosen to “hire a senior level employee” whose only job would be to “act as a champion for scientific integrity throughout the agency.”
In 2013 the EPA hired Francesca Grifo, longtime activist at the far-left Union of Concerned Scientists. Ms. Grifo had long complained that EPA scientists were “under siege”—according to a report she helped write—by Republican “political appointees” and “industry lobbyists” who had “manipulated” science on everything from “mercury pollution to groundwater contamination to climate science.”
As Scientific Integrity Official, Ms. Grifo would have the awesome power to root out all these meddlesome science deniers. A 2013 Science magazine story reported she would lead an entire Scientific Integrity Committee, write an annual report documenting science “incidents” at the agency, and even “investigate” science problems—alongside no less than the agency’s inspector general.
And get this: “Her job is not a political appointment,” the Science article continues, “so it comes with civil service protections.” Here was a bureaucrat with the authority to define science and shut down those who disagreed, and she could not be easily fired, even under a new administration.
Ms. Grifo perhaps wasn’t too busy in the Obama years, since EPA scientists were given carte blanche to take over the economy. She seems to have been uninterested when EPA scientists used secret meetings and private email to collude with environmental groups—a practice somewhat lacking in scientific integrity.
She has been busier these past few months. In March the Sierra Club demanded that the EPA’s inspector general investigate whether the agency’s newly installed administrator, Scott Pruitt, had violated policy by suggesting carbon dioxide might not be the prime driver of global warming. The inspector general referred the matter to . . . the Scientific Integrity Official. So now an unelected, unappointed activist could pass judgment on whether the Senate-confirmed EPA chief is too unscientific to run his own agency. So much for elections.
There’s also that “scientific integrity” event planned for June. Of the 45 invitations, only one went to an organization ostensibly representing industry, the American Chemistry Council. A couple of academics got one. The rest? Earthjustice. Public Citizen. The Natural Resources Defense Council. Center for Progressive Reform. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Environmental Defense Fund. Three invites alone for the Union of Concerned Scientists. Anyone want to guess how the meeting will go?
This is a government employee using taxpayer funds to gather political activists on government grounds to plot—let’s not kid ourselves—ways to sabotage the Trump administration. Ms. Grifo did not respond to a request for comment.
Messrs. Pruitt and Trump should take the story as a hint of the fight they face to reform government. It’s hard enough to overcome a vast bureaucracy that ideologically opposes their efforts. But add to the challenge the powerful, formalized resistance of posts, all across the government, like the Scientific Integrity Official. Mr. Obama worked hard to embed his agenda within government to ensure its survival. Today it is the source of leaks, bogus whistleblower complaints, internal sabotage.
Pitched battle with these folks is no way to govern. The better answer is dramatic agency staff cuts—maybe start with the post of Scientific Integrity Official?—as well as greater care in hiring true professionals for key bureaucratic posts. The sooner department heads recognize and take action against that deep state, the sooner this administration might begin to drain the swamp.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/anatomy-of-a-deep-state-1495753640
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House Dems Detail Impact of Trump's Proposed EPA Cuts on States
May 25, 2017 | E&E News PM
By George Cahlink
House Democrats are warning in a report that the Trump administration's proposed fiscal 2018 budget cuts would decimate federal assistance to states for environmental protection and cleanup programs.
The report, released earlier today by the House Democrats on the Appropriations Committee, is an attempt to show lawmakers the impact that the budget's proposed 31 percent cut to U.S. EPA would have on their states. It's the most detailed Capitol Hill review so far of the EPA reductions that were proposed in the Trump budget released Tuesday.
According to the report, the EPA budget would be cut by a third, $2.4 billion, for fiscal 2018, leading to the elimination of 3,784 jobs and cutting 46 programs. It does not detail all 46 programs but suggests sharp cuts for all climate-related work and regulatory efforts aimed at enforcing pollution.
Democrats say the budget would cut EPA grants to state environmental agencies by 44 percent to $597 million, with reductions for every state. The largest states would take the hardest hits, including California, proposed to be cut by $30 million, and Texas, expected to take a $20 million reduction.
The report also highlights a cut of $327 million, or 30 percent, for Superfund cleanup work. The report does not provide specific numbers by state, but it does break down how many of the 1,337 sites are in each state.
Topping the list are New Jersey (114 sites), California (98 sites) and Pennsylvania (95 sites). The most industrialized states tend to have the most Superfund sites.
Democrats believe they can use the data to argue that the cuts would jeopardize clean water and clean air — issues they believe have bipartisan appeal with voters.
"I am doubtful my Republican colleagues will do the dirty work for a White House in chaos by voting to gut clean air and water safeguards and put Americans' public health and safety at risk," said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), the ranking member on the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee.
Few Republicans, particularly appropriators, have been eager to embrace Trump's $4.1 trillion spending plan. Most say it's certain to be rewritten by Congress with many of the spending cuts either reversed or, at least, scaled back.
"Believe me, what comes out of the Budget Committee will be a lot more important than this" White House budget request, said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a senior member of both the House Budget and Appropriations committees.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt will appear before Congress next month to defend the agency's budget proposal, though so far specific dates have not been set, lawmakers in both chambers said.
https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2017/05/25/stories/1060055178
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Senators Push Bipartisan Bill to Revive Ozone Early Action Plans
May 25, 2017 | Inside EPA
Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) have introduced a bill to revive the George W. Bush EPA Early Action Compact (EAC) program that would allow states to avoid classification as out of attainment with federal ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) if they take early steps to meet the limits.
The bill, S. 1203 introduced May 23, follows the Obama administration's decision in 2009 to stop the EAC program due to doubts about whether it was lawful under the Clean Air Act.
The bill's introduction comes as the Senate environment committee appears poised to advance separate legislation that would reform EPA's process of setting and enforcing NAAQS.
The committee held a May 23 hearing on S. 263 and S. 452, which seek to ease implementation of the tougher ozone standard EPA set in 2015 while restricting the agency's authority to set similar targets in the future. However, Democrats are vowing to filibuster the bills.
Hatch and McCaskill have previously sought to reintroduce the EAC program to ease the burden of complying with ozone NAAQS, so far without success. The latest iteration would also provide special relief for high wintertime ozone, which is a problem in the mountain West.
Amid doubts over the legality of EACs, the Obama EPA abandoned the program and instead introduced another voluntary program, Ozone Advance. The program helps states with tools and methods to help them avoid nonattainment status, but does not defer formal EPA classifications of nonattainment. Being classified in nonattainment brings with it the obligation to impose expensive pollution controls.
In a May 23 statement, Hatch said “I'm concerned that the EPA simply set a one-size-fits-all air quality standard for ozone that is unattainable for many Western states,” referring to the Obama EPA's 2015 ozone NAAQS of 70 parts per billion (ppb), tougher than the prior limit of 75 ppb set by the Bush EPA in 2008.
“Under this program, our communities could actually improve air quality and altogether avoid the negative economic job-killing consequences that come with a non-attainment designation,” Hatch said.
McCaskill in the same statement praised the “commonsense, bipartisan plan,” as “too many Missouri communities are facing down economic penalties as they struggle to comply with environmental regulations.” She decried “standards that are often impossible to meet.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/senators-push-bipartisan-bill-revive-ozone-early-action-plans
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As Trump Weighs Deal, Both Sides Make Economic Case
May 26, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Hannah Hess
As President Trump wraps up his tour of Europe and the Middle East, advocates for and against the Paris climate accord — including on Capitol Hill — are deploying economic arguments to persuade him.
Nearly two-thirds of senators have joined letters for one side or another in the past 48 hours, with both citing business and the economy.
The sustainability group Ceres wanted to weigh in with some of its own data. It says businesses supporting the U.S. staying in represent at least $3.6 trillion in annual revenues and employ nearly 8.6 million workers around the globe. Of those companies, 69 are in the Fortune 500, 33 are in the Fortune 100 and 20 are in the Fortune 50.
Anne Kelly, Ceres' senior program director of policy, said in an interview that the analysis is evidence of the "economic heft" of those who want to stay in Paris.
The 40 Democrats who this week also advocated for staying in echoed that sentiment, warning a retreat would isolate the U.S. from the 196 nations working together within the Paris framework (Greenwire, May 24).
"Our economy and our small businesses will miss out on vital investment and job opportunities, while the rest of the world moves forward with trillions of dollars of investment in resilient infrastructure, low-carbon energy, sustainable agriculture, and new technologies," they wrote.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, brought a chart to the Senate floor Wednesday depicting the full-page advertisement that the CEOs of 30 major companies took out in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times this month.
Yesterday, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of the deal's loudest critics, delivered a speech arguing that even if Trump pulls out, the U.S. will still have a seat at the table by way of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
In an interview, he said U.S. influence — not the loss of markets — was the biggest concern for corporations that want to stay in the deal.
"The excuse they use is having a place at the table when in fact they've already got a place at the table, and they have since 1992," Inhofe told E&E News. "So I just don't think that's a valid objection or argument."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined Inhofe and other GOP heavy-hitters in writing Trump on the necessity of abandoning the agreement (Greenwire, May 25).
They praised the president for starting to unravel Obama-era climate regulations and said staying in Paris could threaten that deregulatory push.
The American Energy Alliance, an industry-backed group, launched an initiative to convince Trump that following through on his campaign promise to leave the deal is the best route.
"President Trump's energy vision is to give American companies more freedom to explore and develop our vast natural resources, deliver lower-cost electricity to American families, and remove the regulatory straitjacket that has hamstrung businesses both large and small," said AEA President Thomas Pyle, who led the Department of Energy transition team.
Pyle said Paris "would make that all more difficult by handing control of our energy destiny to foreign bureaucrats and their demands for increasingly stringent emissions limits and massive taxpayer handouts to pay for 'green energy' ventures in developing countries."
Paris backers, however, are keen to stress that the coalition of businesses on their side represents both large corporations and small enterprises.
Jupiter Aluminum Corp., a 300-person employer located in northern Indiana, Vice President Mike Pence's home state, has backed the clean energy vision of Paris, Kelly noted in an interview.
Corporate support, she added, has made the issue "very post-partisan."
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2017/05/26/stories/1060055192
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State Lawmakers Slow to Debate Carbon Taxes
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adrianne Appel
State carbon tax proposals introduced early in 2017 are moving slowly as legislatures prioritize other issues, particularly their budgets.
Bills to tax carbon are hailed by environmentalists as a way to curb harmful greenhouse gases. The bills generally tax wholesale sales of coal, gasoline, natural gas, and oil. Some of the bills, including in Connecticut, would impose the tax on electric generators and distributors, though the utilities would be able to deduct from their tax bill any fees they pay toward the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a carbon cap-and-trade program.
Carbon tax advocates view passage of a national measure as unlikely and have placed an emphasis on state-level bills.
They are heartened by the interest states have shown.
“We have been encouraged to see a record number of carbon pricing proposals in the states. With Washington turning away from addressing climate change, state legislators are stepping up to keep the U.S. focused on its commitments to reducing carbon emissions,” Richard Eidlin, co-founder and vice president of policy and campaigns for the American Sustainable Business Council, told Bloomberg BNA in a May 24 email.
Almost 40 nations, including Canada, already tax carbon, according to the council, which backs many of the state bills.
Legislatures in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington have considered carbon tax bills so far this year.
Rebates in Massachusetts
One Massachusetts carbon tax bill (S. 1021) has scores of sponsors, likely because it ultimately is “revenue neutral.” The bill would initially charge a fee of $10 per metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions. The fee would increase over seven years to $40.
At the end of the year, businesses and individuals who paid the tax would receive a rebate. Lawmakers estimate the bill would bring $1.6 billion in revenue to the state after seven years. The bill was modeled after a program in British Columbia, Canada.
The bill was drafted by Sen. Michael Barrett (D), co-chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, where the bill sits. Barrett plans to hold a hearing on the bill in June, before the Legislature recesses for the summer, a legislative aide told Bloomberg BNA.
Business Opposition in Connecticut
Similar bills in Connecticut and Rhode Island haven't yet seen votes.
The Connecticut bill (H. 7247) would charge a tax of $15 per ton of “carbon dioxide equivalent” produced by petroleum products beginning Jan. 1, 2019. The tax would go up by $5 per year until 2022.
Introduced by Rep. Jonathan Steinberg (D), the measure proved divisive during a March 13 hearing before the Joint Committee on the Environment. The bill is opposed by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, whose board of directors includes executives of Webster Financial Corporation & Webster Bank, Eversource Energy, AT&T Inc., The Travelers Companies Inc., HSB Group. Inc., and others.
The Connecticut Legislature in 2017 has been almost completely focused on reaching a compromise with Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) over a budget that must close a large revenue gap.
The Rhode Island measure (H. 5369) won't move this session. It was referred to the House Finance Committee, which recommended May 17 that it be held for further study.
The Connecticut and Rhode Island bills would only take effect after Massachusetts enacts a carbon tax.
Long Haul
Vermont lawmakers have introduced four carbon tax bills (H. 531, H. 532, H. 533 and H. 394) plus a joint resolution calling on the governor to advocate for a regional carbon tax. Neither the resolution nor the bills had hearings before the Legislature recessed May 18 after a bruising budget battle. The carbon tax measures can be picked up again when lawmakers return in January.
A New Hampshire bill (S.123) requesting a study of the impact of a carbon tax on the state, was killed by lawmakers as “inexpedient to legislate.”
The fate of a carbon tax measure in Washington state is tied up with a grand budget package to which it has been added. The budget must be finalized by June 30.
Carbon tax advocates say they are in the fight for the long haul.
“Bipartisan economists and leaders agree that charging polluters for their emissions is an effective market-based solution to reduce pollution and grow local jobs. We expect to see states innovating on this type of framework more and more in the coming years, and we believe that cross-state and bipartisan collaboration will be the key to success on those efforts,” Jeff Mauk, executive director of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, told Bloomberg BNA in an email. The group is comprised of about 1,000 U.S. state lawmakers and legislators in Ontario, Canada, who advocate for environmental policies.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=112674213&vname=dennotallissues&fn=112674213&jd=112674213
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EPA Opposes Supreme Court Review of Malfunctions Emissions Rule
May 26, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The EPA's attempt to quash U.S. Supreme Court review on whether industrial facilities must meet federal air pollution standards when equipment malfunctions could be a bid to preserve time and flexibility as the agency looks to give states more leeway to police those incidents.
The Environmental Protection Agency argued, in a brief filed May 23, that an appellate court “correctly ruled” that requirements for industrial facilities to meet federal toxic pollution standards at all times comport with the Clean Air Act—and that further review by the Supreme Court is unnecessary (Am. Mun. Power Inc. v. EPA, U.S., No. 16-1168, brief filed 5/23/17).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's ruling was a win for the Obama administration, which had argued that applying the toxic pollutants standards at all times was in line with a prior court decision. Shutting down further review of the issue now could avoid a court-issued deadline to reconsider the toxic pollutant requirements or a Supreme Court decision that would hamper the Trump administration's ability to give states more flexibility to enforce those requirements, attorneys said.
“There's no doubt in my mind the EPA wants to re-look at this rule and give back the states discretion that was taken away by the Obama administration. That [startup, shutdown, and malfunction] rule is all about states’ rights,” Richard Alonso, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, D.C., who previously served in the EPA's air pollution enforcement office, told Bloomberg BNA.
American Municipal Power, a nonprofit corporation that provides electric power to its members in nine states east of the Mississippi River, had argued to the Supreme Court that the EPA's standards “require impossible perfect performance at all times.”
The petition to the Supreme Court comes after a federal appellate court rejected, in U.S. Sugar Corp. v. EPA, arguments from industry groups that the standards can't be achieved because the EPA failed to take into account unavoidable malfunctions that would result in toxic air pollution emissions in excess of the federal standards.
James Pew, an Earthjustice attorney involved in the case, told Bloomberg BNA that the EPA's arguments to the Supreme Court were a “pretty straightforward” response to the D.C. Circuit's decision.
EPA Plans to Review State Requirements
The opposition to the Supreme Court review comes after the D.C. Circuit, in Walter Coke Inc. v. EPA, granted the EPA's request to pause challenges to an Obama-era requirement that applied to 36 states.
The Obama EPA required those states to strip provisions from pollution control plans that the agency ruled to be violations of the Clean Air Act. Some of those provisions exempted power plants and other facilities from complying with emissions standards during startup and shutdown, while others shielded those facilities from civil penalties over violations resulting from unavoidable equipment malfunctions. The Trump administration said it plans to reconsider those requirements.
The U.S. Sugar Corp. ruling upheld the Obama administration's decision that federal toxic pollution standards apply when equipment malfunctions.
But Andrew Grossman, a partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP in Washington, D.C., who represents the Washington Legal Foundation before the Supreme Court, told Bloomberg BNA that the EPA's brief to the Supreme Court argues in favor of the agency's authority to interpret the Clean Air Act requirements. That organization has concerns about due process issues for industries that violate the emissions standards.
“It's trying to stake out some territory that it has discretion to adopt other approaches,” Grossman said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=112674210&vname=dennotallissues&fn=112674210&jd=112674210
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Court Grants EPA Request to Further Stay Refrigerant Handling Suit
May 26, 2017 | Inside EPA
A federal appellate court has granted EPA's request to further pause litigation over a final rule updating its refrigerant management and handling guidelines to include heat-trapping hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and their alternatives, after the agency hinted it would seek to reach an agreement among parties to resolve some or all issues.
In a May 23 order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit placed the litigation in abeyance “pending further order of the court.” The order also sets a number of procedural deadlines, including a June 30 deadline for any procedural motions and a July 20 deadline for any dispositive motions.
EPA in a May 16 filing requested an additional 45-day abeyance in the case, National Environmental Development Association's Clean Air Project (NEDA/CAP) v. EPA.
The agency noted in the filing it had held “listening sessions” with industry petitioners April 27 “to hear their views on issues related to the petitions for review in this case,” as well as a pending reconsideration petition from the Air Permitting Forum (APF), which represents auto and other industry groups and is also challenging the rule.
EPA also held a similar listening session with environmentalists and industry intervenors in the case May 2.
“EPA is taking the information and perspectives offered by Petitioners and Intervenors during these sessions under advisement,” the filing says. It adds that the pause in the litigation would allow the agency to “consider potential opportunities to resolve some or all of the issues presented without the need for judicial action, including the pending administrative petition for reconsideration.”
The D.C. Circuit had already granted, in an April 11 order, a request from petitioners' for a 90-day stay of the litigation to allow time for parties to discuss and potentially resolve any issues with EPA administratively.
At issue in the litigation is a November final rule updating provisions limiting leaks of ozone-depleting substances used for refrigeration, issued under Clean Air Act section 608. The rule expanded the section 608 provisions to “substitute” refrigerants, including high global warming potential (GWP) HFCs and their lower-GWP alternatives.
Industry groups are split over the rule. While NEDA/CAP and APF are raising a number of challenges -- both over technical provisions and EPA's underlying authority to expand the guidelines to non-ozone-depleting substances like HFCs -- others, including appliance manufacturers represented by the Alliance for Atmospheric Policy and chemical companies Honeywell and Chemours, intervened to defend the rule.
The Natural Resources Defense Council is also backing the refrigerant guidelines.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/court-grants-epa-request-further-stay-refrigerant-handling-suit
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