Preview Newsletter
PM ACC 6/1/2017
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(ACC Mentioned) Former EEI Media Rep Moves to Chemicals Trade Group
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
A former media relations representative at the Edison Electric Institute has moved to the American Chemistry Council to act as director of advocacy communications. -
(ACC Mentioned) Waivers Let 16 White House Officials Work on Issues They Handled in Private Sector
May 31, 2017 | Wall Street Journal
By Rebecca Ballhaus
President Donald Trump has granted waivers to at least 16 White House officials to allow them to work on issues they handled in their private-sector jobs, according to disclosures released by the White House late Wednesday. -
(ACC Mentioned) Trump Releases Ethics Waivers for Senior Officials
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus and Hannah Northey
President Trump has released a list of ethics waivers that were granted to his top aides — and several went to former lobbyists. -
(ACC Mentioned) White House Waiver Lets Former Lobbyist Help Shape Energy Policy
May 31, 2017 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Anthony Adragna
The White House disclosed tonight it has granted energy aide Mike Catanzaro an ethics waiver to allow him to participate in policy matters he once lobbied on. -
(ACC Mentioned) Skylight/Sloped Glazing Council Talks NAFS, New White Paper, Documents at Annual Conference
Jun 1, 2017 | Glass on Web
During the AAMA 80th Annual Conference in February, the Skylight/Sloped Glazing Council met to go over some upcoming changes to the North American Fenestration Standard, the development of a white paper on skylight loading and other skylight and sloped glazing-related documents. -
US EPA Releases Initial CDR Data
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US EPA has released initial data collected under the 2016 Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. -
US EPA Round-Up
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has published section 5(a)(3)(C) determinations for four polymers subject to pre-manufacture notices (PMNs). -
NGOs Signal Intent to Sue over Alleged Asbestos Reporting Violation
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Three NGOs have filed a notice of intent to sue Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem) for an alleged failure to inform the US EPA that it had imported nearly 900,000lbs of asbestos. -
(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Manufacturers Cite Analysis Questioning Link Between Formaldehyde Exposure and Leukemia
Jun 1, 2017 | Safety+Health Magazine
The American Chemistry Council is calling attention to a reanalysis of data linking formaldehyde exposure to leukemia, saying the new findings “call into question the validity” of recent assessments used by regulatory agencies to determine occupational exposure limits. -
(ACC Mentioned) Monsanto Investigative — the Pesticide Giant’s War Against Science
Jun 1, 2017 | WorldCrunch
France’s leading newspaper Le Monde launched an investigative series this morning on Monsanto, depicting the company’s total disregard for anything that stands in the way of its business: independent and critical science, regulations... -
US National Toxicology Program's Database to Feature IVIVE
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
In vivo to in vitro extrapolation (IVIVE) could soon be a feature of the US National Toxicology Program's (NTP) Integrated Chemical Environment (ICE), according to the team behind the web-based tool. -
The Womb Is No Protection From Toxic Chemicals
Jun 1, 2017 | New York Times
By Frederica Perera
Until a few decades ago, the popular but falsely reassuring belief was that babies in the womb were perfectly protected by the placenta and that children were just “little adults,” requiring no special protections from environmental threats. -
Human Health Impact and Cost Estimates Attributed to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Not Evidence-Based
Jun 1, 2017 | Science Codex
Economic papers released in 2015 and 2016 estimated the burden of diseases attributable to exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), also known as environmental estrogens, and experts suspected right away that these calculations were flawed. -
Which Toxic Chemicals Are in Our Daily Life? These 5 People Found Out.
Jun 1, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Lindsay McCormick
Every day, we’re surrounded by potentially hazardous chemicals we can’t see. They’re in the clothes we wear, the lotions we use, the couch we sit on. -
REACH Authorisation Applications 'Peak' in 2016
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Echa says the number of applications for authorisation for uses of SVHCs "peaked" last year. And now an NGO says the agency must put its resources into improving the process. -
Echa: 'Positive Trend' for REACH Alternatives to Animal Testing
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Andrew Turley
An Echa report shows that REACH registrants used alternatives to animal testing in the registration of almost nine out of every ten surveyed substances, but an animal welfare NGO says results are "not nearly so positive" as the agency's presentation suggests. -
Nanoform Information Requests Still Possible, Says Echa Expert Group
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
The Echa Board of Appeal (BoA) ruling on titanium dioxide does not rule out future requests from the agency for information on nanoform properties, according to its nanomaterials expert group (NMEG). -
With New Actions, Zinke Says Alaska is 'Open for Business'
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Margaret Kriz Hobson
The Trump administration announced a series of steps yesterday designed to kick-start oil drilling on federal lands in Alaska and to reject the land preservation policies adopted under former President Obama. -
Bakken Pipeline System a Reality with 570,000 b/d Capacity to Gulf, ETP Says
Jun 1, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Although they won't say when full capacity will be reached next year, backers of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) made clear this week that the vision of creating a pipeline route for Bakken sweet crude production in North Dakota to the Gulf Coast is now a reality. -
One Dead, Two Missing, Others Hurt in Wisconsin Corn Plant Explosion
Jun 1, 2017 | Reuters
By Gina Cherelus and Laila Kearney
At least one person was killed, several were injured and two others left missing after a late Wednesday explosion and fire destroyed a Wisconsin corn milling plant, according to county officials and police. -
FERC Conference to Weigh Reliability Priorities
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro
Federal electricity regulators plan a daylong conference later this month to garner industry guidance on near-term steps to boost grid reliability and confront man-made or natural disruptions. -
FRA, FTC to Award $197 Million in PTC Grants
Jun 1, 2017 | Progressive Railroading
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday announced the recipients of $197 million in grants to help commuter and intercity passenger railroads meet the Dec. 31, 2018, deadline to implement positive train control (PTC). -
'Nothing Is Decided Until It's Announced' — At 3 p.m.
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Evan Lehmann and Emily Holden
President Trump will seek to end months of disunity in the White House this afternoon by announcing his decision on the Paris climate agreement, an issue that has sown discord among Cabinet members and senior advisers. -
Tech Firms Push Trump to Not Withdraw from Paris Climate Agreement
Jun 1, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Ali Breland
Following reports that President Trump is expected to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, major technology firms moved swiftly on Thursday to urge the president to reconsider. -
The World Built a Climate Deal for the U.S. Trump May Be About to Leave It
Jun 1, 2017 | Washington Post
By Sophie Yeo
The Paris Agreement is the product of more than two decades of work by the United Nations and agreed to by more than 190 countries — but it was built specifically with the United States in mind. -
Governors, Faced with Paris Withdrawal, Pledge Climate Action
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Storrow, Debra Kahn and Scott Waldman
A host of governors pledged yesterday to intensify their efforts to address climate change regardless of President Trump's ultimate decision over the Paris Agreement.
Industry and Association News
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(ACC Mentioned) Former EEI Media Rep Moves to Chemicals Trade Group
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
A former media relations representative at the Edison Electric Institute has moved to the American Chemistry Council to act as director of advocacy communications.
ACC issued a statement saying Jon Corley "brings with him a solid public affairs and communications background and we're pleased he's joined the team."
Corley most recently worked as a press secretary for House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas).
Thornberry's office declined to comment on Corley's move, saying that the congressman was traveling abroad.
Corley studied public relations and political science at Lipscomb University and received a master's degree in communications from Johns Hopkins University in 2016.
EEI did not respond to a request for comment.
Corley started the new position in May, according to his LinkedIn profile.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/06/01/stories/1060055410
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(ACC Mentioned) Waivers Let 16 White House Officials Work on Issues They Handled in Private Sector
May 31, 2017 | Wall Street Journal
By Rebecca Ballhaus
President Donald Trump has granted waivers to at least 16 White House officials to allow them to work on issues they handled in their private-sector jobs, according to disclosures released by the White House late Wednesday.
The number of waivers granted to White House staff in the first four months of the Trump administration—the same number former President Barack Obama gave out during his eight years in office—calls further into question Mr. Trump’s campaign pledge to rid Washington of special interests and “drain the swamp.” The waivers allow officials who spent recent years lobbying the government on behalf of corporate clients to now weigh in on those same issues.
The White House posted the waivers late Wednesday after a tense back-and-forth with the Office of Government Ethics, which had requested information about the waivers in an effort to determine if the Trump administration was following federal ethics rules. Among those rules: an executive order Mr. Trump signed in January requiring former lobbyists to recuse themselves from matters on which they had lobbied for two years after their appointment.
Yet Mr. Trump has so far granted waivers to four former registered lobbyists, including Michael Catanzaro, who has spent years representing oil-and-gas companies such asDevon Energy Corp. , Koch Industries Inc., Halliburton Co. and Hess Corp. He also lobbied the Environmental Protection Agency over its greenhouse gas regulations and regulatory reform, representing industry trade groups such as the American Chemistry Council and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
Under the terms of his waiver, Mr. Catanzaro—who serves as special assistant to the president for domestic energy and environmental policy—can work on some of those same issues, including the Clean Power Plan and methane regulations.
Andrew Olmem, a former registered lobbyist at Venable LLP who represented MetLife Inc., American Express Co. and other financial companies, now serves as a special assistant to the president for financial policy. Under the terms of his waiver, he can interact with his former clients on policy matters including Puerto Rico’s fiscal issues, amending the Flood Disaster Protection Act and overhauling the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s treatment of insurers.
Shahira Knight, a former lobbyist for Fidelity Investments on tax and retirement policy issues, can participate in policy discussions on that subject, her waiver says.
Two top White House advisers—chief of staff Reince Priebus and senior counselor Kellyanne Conway—were granted waivers related to their past work for the Republican National Committee and other political organizations. The waivers state that they can continue to interact with those groups in their official roles.
One waiver, which applies to all executive office of the president officials, allows them to “participate in communications and meetings with news organizations regarding broad policy matters.” Chief strategist Steve Bannon earlier this year faced a complaint from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington over his ongoing interactions with Breitbart News, his former employer.
The administration on Wednesday only released waivers for White House staff, not for officials at federal agencies. Agencies are required to disclose their waivers to the Office of Government Ethics by Thursday.
The White House earlier this month sought to block the Office of Government Ethics’s effort to obtain its waivers, eliciting an unusually forceful response from Walter Shaub, the agency’s director.
In his letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, Mr. Shaub declined his request that the agency suspend its effort to obtain the waivers and included hundreds of pages of material backing up his right to request them.
Mr. Trump during the campaign repeatedly criticized lobbyists and special interests in Washington and pledged to impose tighter ethics rules as president. But the executive order he signed in January was looser than his predecessor’s, notably eliminating the ban on hiring lobbyists who had recently left their posts. It also dropped a clause requiring the Office of Government Ethics to publicly release an annual report evaluating the implementation of the order and ethics pledges signed by presidential appointees.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/waivers-let-16-white-house-officials-work-on-issues-they-handled-in-private-sector-1496287600
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(ACC Mentioned) Trump Releases Ethics Waivers for Senior Officials
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus and Hannah Northey
President Trump has released a list of ethics waivers that were granted to his top aides — and several went to former lobbyists.
Last night, the White House posted online waivers given to 17 different senior officials, absolving them of specific obligations under the president's ethics pledge or federal employee ethics rules.
Four of those waivers went to former lobbyists so they could work on issues for the Trump administration they once lobbied on for clients. While all are seasoned policy experts, those K Street advocates that Trump has brought into his White House undermine his pledge to "drain the swamp" in Washington of influence-peddling and political money.
The waivers were disclosed after a dispute between the White House and Office of Government Ethics, which sought to collect and release the documents to the public. The independent agency gave the Trump administration a deadline of today to do so.
A White House spokesman said the waivers were "voluntarily released" as "part of the president's commitment to the American people to be transparent."
"The White House Counsel's Office worked closely with all White House officials to avoid conflicts arising from their former places of employment or investment holdings. To the furthest extent possible, counsel worked with each staffer to recuse them from conflicting conduct rather than being granted waivers, which has led to the limited number of waivers being issued," the spokesman said.
Mike Catanzaro — once with K Street shop CGCN Group but now working in the White House — was one of the former lobbyists granted a waiver.
Catanzaro, a top energy policy aide to Trump, has been allowed to participate in "broad policy matters," such as the Clean Power Plan, the Waters of the U.S. rule, methane regulations, air quality standards and the renewable fuel standard, according to the document.
"It is important that you participate in covered matters, and disqualification from such matters would limit the ability of the White House Office to effectively carry out its duties," the waiver said.
At CGCN, Catanzaro lobbied on many of those issues for several clients, including the American Chemistry Council, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, Devon Energy Corp. and Talen Energy Corp.
Other former lobbyists now on the White House staff that were given waivers include Joshua Pitcock, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence; and Shahira Knight and Andrew Olmem, members of the National Economic Council.
High-profile officials in Trump's White House were also granted waivers to talk with and receive compensation from former clients and employers.
Kellyanne Conway, a top aide to Trump and his former campaign manager, was given a waiver to communicate and meet with her former clients, including political organizations and trade associations, to discuss "broad policy matters."
Reince Priebus, Trump's chief of staff, was given a waiver so he could pick up a $100,000 bonus from his former employer, the Republican National Committee.
All political appointees to the White House were also granted a waiver to speak with news organizations, including those that are former clients and employers. That would free up Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist, to speak with the conservative Breitbart News Network, which he used to run.
Ethics watchdogs were not impressed with the White House granting the waivers to some of its staff, including ex-lobbyists.
"The ethics waivers the White House finally released reveal what we already suspected: that this administration is chock full of senior officials working on issues on which they lobbied, meeting with companies in which they have a financial interest, or working closely with former employers," said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of liberal-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, in a statement yesterday.
"No one has believed for months that this president or his administration had any interest in ethics, but these waivers make clear the remarkable extent to which they are comfortable mixing their own personal interests with the country's," Bookbinder said. "It's no wonder they waited for the cover of night to release them."
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, called the waivers a "joke."
"Why have ethics rules that regularly require waivers," Fitton said in a tweet last night. "Were a joke under Obama and @realDonaldTrump should have dropped them."
Jones Day
The White House last night also released a limited waiver allowing former employees of the Washington-based Jones Day law firm, which represented Trump during the presidential campaign, to meet with former colleagues and discuss issues tied to the president.
Named in the document were Don McGahn, counsel to the president; Gregory Katsas, deputy counsel to the president; Ann Donaldson, special counsel and chief of staff to the White House counsel; James Burnham, senior associate counsel to the president; David Morrell, associate counsel to the president; and Blake Delaplane, special assistant to the White House Counsel.
Under the waiver, the former Jones Day employees are allowed to communicate and meet with their former colleagues on "transactions, counseling, litigation or other legal matters" related to Trump's campaign committee, the Republican National Committee, Trump for America Inc., Trump Victory Committee and the Make America Great Again Committee.
According to the waiver, the Trump administration has an "interest in interacting with Jones Day in those limited instances" to ensure its interests and those of the president are protected. The White House also explained that the need for Trump's advisers and counselors to speak with their former colleagues and protect the president outweighed any concern that "a reasonable person may question the integrity of the White House Office's programs and operations."
While the limited waiver specifies six former firm employees working within Trump's inner circle, the disclosure has already sparked concerns about another member of the law firm — Kevin McIntyre, who is under consideration to lead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Sources familiar with the Trump administration's decisions have said it's only a matter of time and paperwork before McIntyre, who co-leads the firm's energy practice with Jeff Schlegel, is nominated to chair the commission, which oversees the approval of interstate natural gas pipelines, export terminals, hydropower projects and transmission issues (Greenwire, May 9).
Tyson Slocum, energy program director for Public Citizen, said he'll be closely watching McIntyre's financial disclosure forms to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee should McIntyre be nominated to FERC. Slocum said he'll also be pushing senators to ensure McIntyre wasn't asked to take a pledge of loyalty to the Trump administration should he be tapped to lead the agency.
Slocum pointed to a contentious grid study the Department of Energy is conducting to review the effects of tax incentives and subsidies on the closure of coal and nuclear power plants. DOE officials have said the study will result in recommendations for FERC, which oversees the wholesale power markets.
"I'm concerned about the waiver for Jones Day and what that means for McIntyre, he's kind of a little bit unknown in terms of where his positions are and what's taking so long [to confirm]," Slocum said. "I have real concerns about whether or not McIntyre is going to be really independent [or] whether there's going to be central control from the White House."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/06/01/stories/1060055418
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(ACC Mentioned) White House Waiver Lets Former Lobbyist Help Shape Energy Policy
May 31, 2017 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Anthony Adragna
The White House disclosed tonight it has granted energy aide Mike Catanzaro an ethics waiver to allow him to participate in policy matters he once lobbied on.
Catanzaro, a former partner with CGCN Group LLC, has been cleared to specifically participate in matters related to EPA's Clean Power Plan, the waters of the U.S. rule and methane regulations. The waiver also covers unspecified "broad policy matters."
At CGCN, Catanzaro's clients included the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council and Noble Energy. He also worked on behalf of Devon Energy, an Oklahoma-based oil and gas company close to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Catanzaro's waiver was one of 14 disclosed by the White House. Their release capped a battle between the Office of Government Ethics and Trump's administration, which initially refused to release them.
Trump's January executive order on ethics barred lobbyists entering the administration from working on anything they specifically lobbied on for two years, but allowed waivers.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Jun 1, 2017 | Glass on Web
During the AAMA 80th Annual Conference in February, the Skylight/Sloped Glazing Council met to go over some upcoming changes to the North American Fenestration Standard, the development of a white paper on skylight loading and other skylight and sloped glazing-related documents.These topics and more will continue to undergo work during the AAMA Summer Conference in Newport, RI June 18-21.
Possible NAFS Simplification Draws Widespread Member Interest
The impact of proposed NAFS simplification on skylight products was the focus of recent discussions by the Skylight NAFS Task Group (chair: Roger LeBrun [VELUX]) at the recent annual conference.
The proposed revisions, expected to be published in 2019, were the subject of a webinar on May 5, expected at the time of this writing to draw upwards of 100 participants.
Once the changes are resolved, the new document would be balloted to the Joint Document Management Group and thence to the AAMA membership at large.
Group Mulls White Paper on Skylight Loading
The Skylight/Sloped Glazing Codes and Regulatory Affairs Committee (chair: Tom Niziolek [Covestro]) is planning the development of a white paper to assist home builders, designers and code officials on the application of ASCE/SEI 7 in the 2018 IBC and IRC.
An integral part of building codes in the United States, ASCE/SEI 7-16, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures, describes the means for determining dead, live, soil, flood, tsunami, snow, rain, atmospheric ice, earthquake, and wind loads, and their combinations for general structural design. The white paper would focus on implications for skylights and sloped glazing installations.
Next Step for Skylight Simulation Proposal: Detailed Project Planning
The NFRC Domed Skylights Task Group (chair: Paul Simony [Skyco]) continues to evaluate a proposal from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) to develop a procedure by which the NFRC could institute simulation of loading on plastic skylight glazing.
The need for having the process available has been recognized but the long time-frame and significant expense involved are daunting. The Task Group will continue to pursue the concept but must first develop clear definitive steps on where to take the project and the options for joint funding from other organizations.
Documents Await Balloting
Some documents are in final stages of development leading to planned balloting. These include:
· Glass Design for Sloped Glazing (GDSG-1), an update of the current 1989 issue, will soon be balloted to the task group (chair: Paul Bush [PPG]) now that all comments from the previous ballot have been resolved.
· The Skylight Selection and Daylighting Design Guide is at the second draft stage and has expanded to 40 pages in length. Once all sections are reviewed, the task group (chair: Randy Heather [WASCO]) plans to send the document out for concurrent ballots to the Skylight/Sloped Glazing Document Management Committee and the Skylight/Sloped Glazing Council. In the last sequence of editing, the group addressed the inclusion of multiwall acrylic glazing, impact modified acrylic (IMA) and the effects of ultraviolet radiation. In a related move, AAMA TIR A7-11, Sloped Glazing Guidelines, will be reviewed under the Skylight/Sloped Glazing Document Coordination (SSGDC) Task Group to evaluate the necessity for this document, as much of the content was used for the development of the Skylight Selection and Daylighting Design Guide. This consideration is one of four instances in which documents have been created in parallel but are “out of synch,” and the SSGDC Task Group works to eliminate unnecessary duplication.
· The task group managing the SDGS-1, Structural Design Guidelines for Aluminum Framed Skylights, document (chair: Bob Sampson [RCS Consulting]) is still working to update the guidelines to coincide with newer codes than the 2007 editions on which the last draft was based.
Get involved with the Skylight/Sloped Glazing Council’s efforts to make sure your voice is heard.
https://www.glassonweb.com/news/skylightsloped-glazing-council-talks-nafs-new-white-paper-documents-annual-conference
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US EPA Releases Initial CDR Data
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US EPA has released initial data collected under the 2016 Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule.
It received reports from 2,247 companies at 4,917 sites, up from 1,987 companies in 2012. These entities reported more than 8,700 substances manufactured or imported in the 2012-2015 reporting years.
The release includes national productions and certain manufacturing, process and use information. Information claimed by the submitter as confidential business information (CBI), or that is being withheld to protect CBI, is not included.
The agency anticipates releasing additional data next year after it completes CBI substantiation requirements put in place by the Lautenberg Act.
The CDR data is of particular importance in view of the upcoming 'inventory reset' – the exercise to designate substances as active or inactive on the TSCA inventory.
As laid out in a proposed rule earlier this year, the non-confidential substances reported under the 2012 and 2016 CDR will serve as an 'interim substances list’. These will be exempt from the requirement under the inventory reset that companies report the substances they have manufactured, imported and processed within the past ten years
Industry has lauded this approach as improving efficiency and reducing redundant reports.
But the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is among NGOs that have protested that the new law does not support using the interim list as the basis for inventory notification exemptions. CDR-based reporting exemptions, it says, should only be extended to those companies that reported under the scheme, not to all manufacturers of a substance.
The Lautenberg Act requires this rule to be finalised by 22 June. Once in place, manufacturers will have six months to report substances used during the ten year 'lookback period', dating from June 2016.
The draft rule calls for a further six months for processors to voluntarily report any substances not filed by upstream suppliers.
CDR collection
CDR data is reported from manufacturers and importers every four years, pursuant to section 8 of TSCA.
The most recent submission period ended 31 October 2016. It covered substances produced in volumes of 25,000lbs or more at a site during any of the calendar years 2012, 2013, 2014, or 2015.
The agency collects basic exposure-related information on the types, quantities and uses of chemical substances produced domestically and imported into the US. This includes:
· production volume, separated as domestically manufactured and imported volumes;
· manufacturing information, including the number of workers reasonably likely to be exposed and the physical form of the chemical substance;
· industrial processing and use data; and
· consumer and commercial use information, including chemical-specific product categories and whether the chemical was used in products intended for children.
It uses this data to help assess potential health or environmental effects of chemicals in commerce.
A significant change since the 2012 CDR is the introduction of a new lower reporting threshold of 2,500lbs per year for substances subject to regulatory action under TSCA.
https://chemicalwatch.com/56216/us-epa-releases-initial-cdr-data
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Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
TSCA section 5(a)(3)(C) determinationsThe US EPA has published section 5(a)(3)(C) determinations for four polymers subject to pre-manufacture notices (PMNs).
The agency ruled that the substances are not likely to present an unreasonable risk based on low human health concern and low environmental hazard. In the case of each, it found that although potentially exposed, given their low hazard, the substances are not likely to present workers with an unreasonable risk.
For two of these – intended for use in paint and as a support resin, respectively – the determinations include a polymer exemption flag. This says the substance must be manufactured so that it meets these exemption criteria.
The remaining two polymers were not subject to the same. They are intended for use in UV cured systems, as a plasticiser in UV cure formulations and export overseas for use in polyurethanes.
The determinations for all four were made on 18 and 19 May for reviews that began between 23 January and 14 March.
Final prioritisation rule submitted to OMB
The EPA has submitted its final rulemaking on the procedures for prioritisation of chemicals for risk evaluation under TSCA to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval.
The submission comes in response to the revised TSCA section 6(b)(1), which required the agency to promulgate a final rule establishing a risk-based screening process. The rule includes setting criteria for designating chemical substances as high-priority or low-priority substances for risk evaluations.
The EPA was tasked with publishing a final rule in the Federal Register within a year of the revised TSCA's enactment on 22 June 2016.
A consultation on the rulemaking finished on 20 March having attracted 70 comments.
https://chemicalwatch.com/56151/us-epa-round-up
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NGOs Signal Intent to Sue over Alleged Asbestos Reporting Violation
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Three NGOs have filed a notice of intent to sue Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem) for an alleged failure to inform the US EPA that it had imported nearly 900,000lbs of asbestos.
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, and the Environmental Health Strategy Center say that data sourced from US Customs and Border Protection records shows the company imported the substance in shipments from late 2013 through to 2015. They say the materials were destined for use in the chlor-alkali manufacturing process at the company's eight plants producing chlorine.
But information they obtained from the EPA under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request shows that the company failed to report these imports under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule.
They say this is in violation of TSCA section 8 reporting requirements, as the substances exceed both the 25,000lb general reporting threshold and the 2,500lb reduced threshold applicable to asbestos.
Asbestos is one of the first ten substances subject to risk evaluation under the new TSCA. Its accurate reporting under the CDR is therefore of the "utmost importance", write the NGOs in letters to the EPA and company.
"EPA is currently wrestling with whether to include the chemical industry's use of asbestos in its pending risk evaluation and how to assess the risks," said Andy Igrejas, national campaign director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. "If a company fails to disclose its substantial use, the agency will not have the data necessary to inform its actions."
A spokesperson for the company, however, told Chemical Watch that the claim has "no merit".
Eric Moses, director of communication and public affairs, said OxyChem complied with environmental regulations that allow reporting exemptions for some naturally occurring chemical substances (NOCS).
The US code, under 40 CFR 711.6(a)(3), provides an exemption from CDR reporting for NOCS, provided the substance meets the criteria of 40 CFR 710.4(b). This defines NOCS as:
"any chemical substance which is naturally occurring and: (1) which is (i) unprocessed or (ii) processed only by manual, mechanical, or gravitational means; by dissolution in water; by flotation; or by heating solely to remove water; or (2) which is extracted from air by any means […] examples of such substances are: raw agricultural commodities; water, air, natural gas, and crude oil; and rocks, ores, and minerals."
The applicability of the CDR exemption "is determined in each case by the specific activities of the person who manufactures the chemical substance in question," says the code.
The notice represents the first step in a citizen enforcement action under TSCA. If it proceeds to court, the NGOs will seek a judicial order for OxyChem to comply with reporting requirements. There is no provision in the law for recovery of damages for a failure to report, but the groups say that the EPA has the ability to impose fines, which they have urged it to do.
https://chemicalwatch.com/56246/ngos-signal-intent-to-sue-over-alleged-asbestos-reporting-violation
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Jun 1, 2017 | Safety+Health Magazine
The American Chemistry Council is calling attention to a reanalysis of data linking formaldehyde exposure to leukemia, saying the new findings “call into question the validity” of recent assessments used by regulatory agencies to determine occupational exposure limits.
The Department of Health and Human Services added formaldehyde to its “Report on Carcinogens” in June 2011.
The reanalysis, conducted by researchers from the environmental consulting company Ramboll Environ, questions a 2010 paper that examined occupational exposure to formaldehyde among Chinese workers.
The researchers analyzed the 2010 data in addition to previously unavailable data on worker exposure to formaldehyde released by the National Cancer Institute. They found that the data used in the original paper showed that blood cell counts and chromosomal abnormalities in formaldehyde-exposed workers had a stronger correlation to gender and cigarette smoking than leukemia. They also took issue with the lack of a follow-up study to investigate whether any of the formaldehyde-exposed workers developed leukemia.
“Taken as a whole, the epidemiological evidence from the most recent analyses and follow-up of available cohorts provides little if any evidence of a causal association between formaldehyde exposure and AML (acute myelogenous leukemia),” the reanalysis states.
“The original paper failed to meet its own data quality standards and the scientific standard of reproducibility,” American Chemistry Council Formaldehyde Panel Senior Director Kimberly White said in a May 2 press release. “Relying on it consequently led to unsubstantiated regulatory decisions and unwarranted outcomes. The EPA and other agencies evaluating chemical risk from exposures must consider the entire weight of evidence on formaldehyde when setting exposure limits.”
The reanalysis study was published online May 2 in the Journal of Critical Reviews in Toxicology.
http://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/15766-chemical-manufacturers-cite-analysis-questioning-link-between-formaldehyde-exposure-and-leukemia
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(ACC Mentioned) Monsanto Investigative — the Pesticide Giant’s War Against Science
Jun 1, 2017 | WorldCrunch
France’s leading newspaper Le Monde launched an investigative series this morning on Monsanto, depicting the company’s total disregard for anything that stands in the way of its business: independent and critical science, regulations and — most important of all — health and the environment. The investigation is based on the “Monsanto Papers,” a batch of internal documents released by a federal court more than two months ago.
The story published today by Le Monde shows with extensive detail how the company has systematically been trying to discredit, intimidate and silence any organization determined to blow the whistle, including the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. It depicts the various methods one of the world’s biggest corporations is willing to use to keep the lid on uncomfortable information: extensive use of legal filings, massive lobbying campaigns, and even fake journalists (whom Le Monde describes as “characters who could almost be from a John Le Carré novel) to try and dig up dirt to intimidate its opponents. It’s been, to quote the French daily, “a judicial, bureaucratic, intrusive guerrilla warfare.”
The most intriguing part of the investigation deals with the indirect but real connections between Monsanto and … Donald Trump. These connections include — but are not limited to — David Schnare, an outspoken climate change denier who was part of Trump’s transition team at the Environmental Protection Agency. They also include Nancy Beck, from the American Chemistry Council, who was recently appointed to be the EPA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. And the list goes on.
Worldcrunch is a Paris-based digital news magazine, delivering the best international journalism in English for the first time. Working with the world’s top media sources (Die Welt, Le Figaro, Folha de S. Paulo,Kommersant, and 25+ others) and a team of multilingual journalists and translators, Worldcrunch publishes exclusive reportage and provides a uniquely global view of events.
For the original article: http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2017/06/01/monsanto-operation-intoxication_5136915_3244.html
https://www.slowfood.com/monsanto-investigative/
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US National Toxicology Program's Database to Feature IVIVE
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
In vivo to in vitro extrapolation (IVIVE) could soon be a feature of the US National Toxicology Program's (NTP) Integrated Chemical Environment (ICE), according to the team behind the web-based tool.
IVIVE predicts how chemical concentrations that cause effects in assays correspond to exposure levels and outcomes in whole animals. The ICE extrapolation tool would link to biological pathways.
Also in ICE's 'development queue' are machine-learning models for physico-chemical properties.
ICE's current release features in vivo and in vitro datasets covering regulatory test end points such as acute oral and dermal toxicity, including high-throughput screening data from US programmes Tox21 and ToxCast. It also contains in silico predictions.
ICE was developed to address needs expressed frequently by NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (Niceatm) stakeholders. These include test method developers, chemical producers and risk assessors, according to a communication piece in Environmental Health Perspectives.
https://chemicalwatch.com/56217/us-national-toxicology-programs-database-to-feature-ivive
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The Womb Is No Protection From Toxic Chemicals
Jun 1, 2017 | New York Times
By Frederica Perera
Until a few decades ago, the popular but falsely reassuring belief was that babies in the womb were perfectly protected by the placenta and that children were just “little adults,” requiring no special protections from environmental threats. We now know that a host of chemicals, pollutants and viruses readily travel across the placenta from mother to fetus, pre-polluting or pre-infecting a baby even before birth.
Toxic chemicals like lead, certain air pollutants, pesticides, synthetic chemicals and infectious agents like Zika can derail the intricate molecular processes involved in a fetus’s healthy brain development. So can physical and social stress experienced by the mother.
At a time when we should be spending more on research and prevention of those threats, President Trump would do the opposite. He would cut the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency by 31 percent, including cuts to scientific work on chemical safety. He would slash money for biomedical research and programs to fight outbreaks of infectious disease. We need more spending in those areas, not less. We need more testing of chemicals before they are marketed, not less.
Toxic exposures are shockingly prevalent. Analysis of biomonitoring data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds dozens of toxic chemicals, pollutants and metals in pregnant women, many of which are also found in cord blood of newborns. These include pesticides sprayed in inner-city buildings and on crops, flame retardants used in furniture, combustion-related air pollutants from fossil-fuel-burning power plants and vehicles, lead, mercury and plasticizers. All have been shown in epidemiologic studies in the United States and elsewhere to be capable of damaging developing brains, especially while babies are exposed in utero or in their early life.Continue reading the main story
This is why it was particularly distressing that the new head of the E.P.A., Scott Pruitt, recently rejected the scientific conclusion of the agency’s own experts, who had recommended banning one of the nation’s most widely used insecticides, chlorpyrifos. The experts made their judgment on the basis of many years of research indicating that chlorpyrifos was linked to significant harm to children, including diminished cognitive ability.
Research has also conclusively shown that climate change, caused in large part by carbon dioxide emitted by burning coal and other fossil fuels, is linked to more heat-related disease, malnutrition, infectious disease, trauma and mental health problems from extreme natural disasters like flooding. Those consequences can directly or indirectly affect early brain development, the cognitive and behavioral functioning of children and their ability to learn.
And yet Mr. Trump, as of Wednesday, was considering pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord and also wants to abandon his predecessor’s Clean Power Plan to cut carbon emissions from power plants.
So uniquely vulnerable are the young that the World Health Organization estimates that children younger than 5 bear more than 40 percent of the global burden of disease caused by environmental risk factors and 88 percent of the disease burden caused by climate change. A notable increase in developmental problems in children worldwide has paralleled the proliferation of synthetic chemicals in our air, water, food and consumer products and the mounting impacts of climate change. About one in six children in the United States is affected by a developmental disability. These are complex disorders with multiple causes — genetic, social and environmental — often interacting with one another to increase risk.
All the world’s children are potentially exposed and at risk, at a great price to society. The estimated medical and/or economic costs of I.Q. loss and behavioral disorders attributable to just a few environmental toxicants indicate the enormous benefits of prevention: approximately $56 billion in 2008 for lead poisoning and prenatal mercury exposure in the United States; 146 billion euros (about $164 billion) each year attributed to prenatal organophosphate pesticide exposure in the European Union. The economic costs of toxic air pollutants and climate change from combustion of coal, oil and other fossil fuels amount to many billions of dollars a year in the United States.
Worldwide, according to the W.H.O., about three million deaths a year are linked to ambient air pollution; by 2030 the global health cost of a few climate-related diseases that disproportionately affect children (diarrhea, malnutrition, malaria and heat stress) will be as high as $4 billion a year.
Such tragic and costly consequences are preventable. The benefits of policies to reduce toxic exposures have been clearly demonstrated. Lead levels in children’s blood dropped in the late 1970s following legislation aimed at reducing or eliminating lead in house paint and gasoline. Concentrations of a neurotoxic residential-use pesticide dropped sharply in cord blood after the E.P.A. prohibited its use in 2001. In California, levels of various toxic flame retardants in the blood of pregnant woman and in breast milk fell since the state ban on those chemicals took effect in 2006. And in New York City, we saw a decline in harmful pollutants measured in air samples from personal monitors worn by pregnant women as clean air policies were enacted beginning two decades ago.
But as we saw with the tragic lead poisonings of children in Flint, Mich., much more needs to be done.
The problem is deep and systemic, resulting from lack of adequate government regulation requiring testing of chemicals before they are marketed, and from the failure to take prompt action once there is scientific evidence of harm. The E.P.A. must be able to act promptly to eliminate known brain-damaging chemicals and ensure that new chemicals or chemicals proposed for a new use undergo thorough testing before manufacturing.
With respect to climate change, federal policies and rules that promote clean energy, restrict climate-altering emissions from power plants, vehicles, industrial processes, and natural gas production and support the Paris Climate Accord are essential. They must not be weakened.
Our children’s health and future depend on it.
Frederica Perera is a professor at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/toxic-chemicals-pregnancy-fetus.html
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Jun 1, 2017 | Science Codex
Economic papers released in 2015 and 2016 estimated the burden of diseases attributable to exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), also known as environmental estrogens, and experts suspected right away that these calculations were flawed.
Nonetheless, regulatory bodies on both sides of the Atlantic are moving forward with two relatively distinct approaches to identifying and regulating EDCs.
A critique of the underlying methodology used to generate the cost estimates has been published.
Michigan-based epidemiologist Gregory G. Bond, Ph.D., Michigan, and toxicologist Professor Daniel R. Dietrich, Ph.D., University of Konstanz, uncovered substantial flaws in the underlying methodology of the economic papers, including a failure to use good systematic review methodology, a lack of transparency in reporting how the literature was searched and which studies were selected for review, as well as a failure to achieve a balance of perspectives through a selection of certain members for the review panel.
"We saw a disturbing disconnect between what the media was reporting about the cost estimates, and what scientific experts were saying about their potential flaws and limitations." said Bond. "Given the perceived relevance of the estimates to the ongoing debate in both the U.S. and EU on how best to screen, identify and regulate EDCs, we felt a more thorough scrutiny of the analysis and underlying assumptions was in order."
Dietrich says, "Frankly, we were surprised that the astronomical cost estimates contained in these reports didn't give more people pause. In the past, media and scientific journals might have questioned incomprehensibly inflated data and refused to report it. Today, the new norm has become, quite alarmingly, to support it or, worse, to accept manuscripts that report unproven findings of presumed effects one would like to see. The sensational response that ensues might be a win for the authors and news outlets, but it is hardly a victory for public health or credible science as a whole.
Citation:
Bond, G.G. & Dietrich, D.R. Human cost burden of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. A critical review. Arch Toxicol (2017)
doi:10.1007/s00204-017-1985-yhttp://www.sciencecodex.com/node/190383
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Which Toxic Chemicals Are in Our Daily Life? These 5 People Found Out.
Jun 1, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Lindsay McCormick
Every day, we’re surrounded by potentially hazardous chemicals we can’t see. They’re in the clothes we wear, the lotions we use, the couch we sit on.
While chemicals are a critical part of modern life, they are also released into the environment and can end up in our food, water, air and homes. Most of us never learn about these chemicals even though they can affect our health.
So we selected 10 individuals across the country who wanted to know more. For one week, they wore a novel wristband technology designed to detect chemicals in their environment. These wristbands are increasingly being used in research to better understand how chemical exposures may affect our health.
Here are the results from five of our participants:
1. This toxic pesticide was banned 30 years ago. So where did his wristband pick it up?
Gordon, a lieutenant at the Memphis Fire Department in Tennessee, was puzzled over just how his wristband came to detect 16 chemicals including gamma-chlordane, a highly toxic pesticide banned 30 years ago.
There were no fires to fight the week he wore the wristband. So Gordon wondered if he came into contact with these chemicals from a site visit to a location that once housed chemical stockpiles. Or maybe from his local auto repair shop, the nearby highway, or even his fire suit?
2. Were hazardous chemicals lurking in her shower?
Averi, a student at The College of Wooster in Ohio, never thought much about the specific chemicals that make up her personal care products.
She was surprised to learn that her wristband detected the fragrance enhancer diethyl phthalate, the preservative benzyl benzoate, and the synthetic fragrance galaxolide. Such chemicals are typically found in lotions, shampoos and other personal care products and have been linked to health effects ranging from skin sensitization to endocrine disruption.
Indeed, the presence of such chemicals seemed to defy the whole purpose of personal care. “It struck me that I may be interacting with the most toxic chemicals when I am showering – in the place where I am trying to get clean,” Averi said, incredulously.
3. She tried her best to avoid harmful chemicals while pregnant, and yet some were detected
Kim, a dispatcher living in a big-sky country Montana, was eight months pregnant when her wristband picked up phthalates such as DEHP and DBP.
These toxicants, which are linked to reproductive toxicity, have been banned in the United States for use in pacifiers, toys and other children’s products – but continue to be legal for many other uses. Kim was surprised to even see a synthetic fragrance detected. “With the baby, everything we use is fragrance-free,” she said with a frown. “I’ve done what I can to avoid them.”
4. “Wait – I can come in contact with toxic chemicals just sitting on my couch?”
As a pharmacy student, Arsany has taken his share of chemistry classes. He just didn’t expect to run into toxic chemicals while relaxing in his living room.
Arsany’s wristband detected the flame retardants TPP and TCPP, chemicals often added to furniture and other everyday foam products, along with an assortment of other chemicals. The Rutgers University graduate student was baffled.
“I hadn’t realized that I could come into contact with harmful chemicals from simply sitting on a couch, or on a chair in class,” he said.
5. She spent years fighting toxic chemicals, but learned it’s hard to protect yourself
A chemical safety specialist at the University of Georgia, Star has dedicated her career to reducing Americans’ exposure to toxic chemicals.
She was alarmed to learn what her wristband picked up: several pesticides and an alphabet soup of phthalate plasticizing chemicals including DEHP, BBP, DEP, DIBP, DBP, DHEXP and di-n-nonyl phthalate. How could this be?
“I’m vigilant about reading labels, buying organic and avoiding chemicals,” Star said. “I was shocked by these results.”
The experiences of Gordon, Averi, Kim, Arsany, Star and the other participants in our wristband project tell us that we need to know more about the chemicals that surround us, not less.
Unfortunately, such public health information is in jeopardy if President Trump has his way and is allowed to cut the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 31 percent. The proposed reduction includes drastic cuts to chemical research.
The EPA has, and should continue, to play a critical role when it comes to advancing scientific understanding about the health risks chemicals pose to the environment and our homes.
https://www.edf.org/blog/2017/06/01/which-toxic-chemicals-are-our-daily-life-these-5-people-found-out
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REACH Authorisation Applications 'Peak' in 2016
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Echa says the number of applications for authorisation for uses of SVHCs "peaked" last year. And now an NGO says the agency must put its resources into improving the process.
In Echa’s general report for 2016, which was published on 31 May, the agency says it received 77 applications for 112 uses of SVHCs, almost double its estimated number of 60. Its committees also provided 63 opinions.
But Frida Hök, of NGO ChemSec, says that when the peak passes it "hopes and expects Echa will work more to fine tune the application process and reallocate resources to further consider alternative providers".
In granting applications, none of which have been rejected, Echa gives "mixed messages" especially when the candidate and authorisation lists are seen as "drivers for substitution", Ms Hök says.
"Industry is getting very confused. Some companies have worked hard to phase out substances and use alternatives, while others get authorisation to continue using those substances for another 12 years.
"Echa is taking a risk with its reputation in its handling of the authorisation process," she adds
Dolores Romano from NGO the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) says REACH’s potential for enhancing substitution has "not been fully developed" due to Echa and the Commission’s policy of recommending and granting authorisation "by default" to all applications, even if alternatives are available.
She says this "undermines" the aims of the regulation and "hampers" innovation.
Echa’s improvements
In the general report, Echa head Geert Dancet says that in 2016 the authorisation process "matured and become clearer". This was, in part, achieved by the efforts of Echa’s taskforce on the workability of applications for authorisation to simplify and streamline the process.
The "increasingly efficient" authorisation system has encouraged more companies to take "innovative approaches" to finding safer alternatives, the agency says.
In its comments to Chemical Watch, Echa says that by June 2017 its scientific committees will have concluded opinions on all of the current wave of authorisations. During the latter part of the year, it will review how the opinion formats, including justifications for the opinions, have performed and what information applicants could have included in their applications.
It will also seek ways to improve the public consultation process on opinion making.
The improvements are likely to result in updates to specific documents, such as opinion and applications formats, as well as instructions to applicants on how to apply for authorisation, Echa says.
The improvements will be presented and discussed at the joint Echa and European Commission conference on applications for authorisation on 13-14 November in Helsinki.
And the results of the Commission’s study to assess the costs and benefits of the process are expected to be made public in August.
https://chemicalwatch.com/56576/reach-authorisation-applications-peak-in-2016
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Echa: 'Positive Trend' for REACH Alternatives to Animal Testing
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Andrew Turley
An Echa report shows that REACH registrants used alternatives to animal testing in the registration of almost nine out of every ten surveyed substances, but an animal welfare NGO says results are "not nearly so positive" as the agency's presentation suggests.
Echa analysed registrations submitted between 2008 and 2016 for 6,290 substances. For 89% of these, the registrant had used alternatives to generate data corresponding to at least one hazard endpoint.
The most common alternative method was read-across, used for 63% of substances. Weight of evidence was used for 43% and Qsars for 34%.
In the foreword to the report on 'the use of alternatives to testing on animals for the REACH Regulation', Echa executive director Geert Dancet describes the results as a "positive trend".
But Katy Taylor at the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE) says the report provides "a bit of a mixed picture".
The total number of new animal tests is 9,287 for the new report, up from 4,887 for Echa's 2014 report on the same topic, says Dr Taylor.And the use of in vitro tests remains "relatively, very low".
Despite accepted alternatives, only 11% of registration dossiers used in vitro tests exclusively for skin irritation, and 7% for eye irritation. Registrants conducted 502 new skin irritation tests and 734 new eye irritation tests on live rabbits.
Dr Taylor says that the European Commission had not helped to avoid these issues by being slow to update the REACH annexes and the test methods Regulation.
But Echa says that direct comparisons between the 2014 report and the 2017 report "might be difficult" because of the inclusion of Annex VII and VIII registrations in the latter.
And the ratio of in vivo to in vitro studies is very similar – these can be calculated as 0.625 for the 2014 report (3,052 in vitro and 4,887 in vivo) versus 0.624 for the 2017 report (5,795 and 9,287).The authors of the 2017 report attribute the overall rise in the volume of in vivo studies primarily to prenatal developmental and repeated dose toxicity testing. These represent 627 in vivo studies in the 2017 report compared with 161 in the earlier report.
The authors also say they expect data from recent extended one generation reproductive toxicity study (Eogrts) requests to become significant only after 2020.
Echa says progress in this area could not be be expressed only in terms of the proportion of animal studies or the number of animals."The purpose of doing any study or any adaptation is to ensure and demonstrate the safe use of chemicals," the agency says. "This parameter is crucial in terms of measuring progress. In the report we have tried to express this in a qualitative manner."Data quality
Despite the trend toward alternative methods, the authors say that registrants must do more to ensure the quality of its data. Many of those analysed had quality deficiencies relating to:
· poor documentation;
· insufficient substance identification information;
· low quality of the source studies;
· a lack of or low quality of supporting data;
· a lack of qualitative and quantitative data to support predictions based on toxicokinetics; and
· shortcomings in toxicological hypotheses.
The deficiencies relating to supporting evidence were particularly relevant for higher tier endpoints, they add.
To increase the robustness and regulatory acceptance, additional data is needed, particularly related to toxicological mechanisms and absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) properties.
https://chemicalwatch.com/56577/echa-positive-trend-for-reach-alternatives-to-animal-testing
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Nanoform Information Requests Still Possible, Says Echa Expert Group
Jun 1, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
The Echa Board of Appeal (BoA) ruling on titanium dioxide does not rule out future requests from the agency for information on nanoform properties, according to its nanomaterials expert group (NMEG).
In March 2017, a group of producers successfully appealed an Echa request for detailed information on titanium dioxide's phases and nanoforms. The agency had made the request following a dossier evaluation compliance check. It claimed it needed the information for substance identitification purposes.
The BoA said in its decision that a registrant providing a broad substance definition, without covering details of (nano)forms, is required to submit toxicological and ecotoxicological information "covering every endpoint for every composition covered".
NMEG says that this means Echa can consider whether all the relevant substance identity information has been submitted during a compliance check of the toxicological and ecotoxicological information.
"According to the decision, identification of the substance may be implied if Echa requests information on human health or environmental hazard," said NMEG chair, Frank Le Curieux.
To generate data on the substance's human health hazard or environmental hazard, the registrant will need to select one tested material. "If there are no detailed data available in the dossier on the identity of a registered substance, I think it will be difficult for the registrant to justify or explain why a tested material is representative of the registered substance," he told Chemical Watch.
His comments reflect those made to accredited stakeholder organisations at NMEG's meeting on 16 May.
NMEG awaits two further BoA decisions on synthetic amorphous silica (SAS). "We hope these SAS decisions will clarify further what the implications are for evaluation in general [substance evaluation and dossier evaluation]," said Professor Le Curieux.
The awaited revision of REACH annexes to take account of nanomaterials is "even more crucial" for improving the situation in terms of dossier evaluation for substances containing nanoforms, he added.
The expert group meeting included a series of presentations, including one from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) on a project called Nanocomput. This is evaluating the availability and applicability of computational approaches for assessing nanomaterial safety. Currently, only a few available Qsar or QSPR models are directly relevant to REACH, said David Asturiol from the JRC. Public availability of results, models and tools is fragmented and "scarce", he said. It should be mandatory for EU projects to publish results, tools and data, ideally in a 'one-stop hub'.
Echa has published an advisory best practice document to help registrants preparing dossiers covering nanoforms ahead of the 2018 registration deadline.
https://chemicalwatch.com/56218/nanoform-information-requests-still-possible-says-echa-expert-group
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With New Actions, Zinke Says Alaska is 'Open for Business'
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Margaret Kriz Hobson
The Trump administration announced a series of steps yesterday designed to kick-start oil drilling on federal lands in Alaska and to reject the land preservation policies adopted under former President Obama.
Speaking at an Alaska Oil and Gas Association conference here, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke unveiled plans to update the government's resource assessment for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to open new sections of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil and gas leasing.
Zinke also said that in the coming days, he will begin the long regulatory process of rewriting the five-year plan for oil and gas leasing along U.S. coasts, including in the Arctic Ocean.
That action comes in response to President Trump's April 28 executive order directing the Interior Department to review offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Pacific outer continental shelf regions.
"The president has tasked me to prepare our country to be energy dominant," Zinke told a crowd of cheering Alaska oil industry supporters. "The only path for energy dominance is a path through the great state of Alaska."
At the conference, Zinke signed a new secretarial order, 3352, giving his staff three weeks to develop a schedule for revising the land management plan for the NPR-A, a 23.6-million-acre federal property in northwestern Alaska.
The order also lays the groundwork for a new assessment of the technically recoverable oil and gas in the petroleum reserve, as well as on ANWR's 1.5-million-acre coastal plain.
"This order in effect makes Alaska open for business," Zinke declared.
The Interior secretary said he'll allow oil companies to conduct new seismic surveys in the northern plain of the Arctic refuge, also known as the 1002 area. "I don't expect the U.S. government and the state to do all the seismic evaluation," he told reporters after his speech. "I want to invite industry to take a look at it, too."
No seismic studies have been permitted on the coastal plain since a group of companies ran 2-D surveys in the 1980s. Based on those reports, the U.S. Geological Survey's 1998 assessment estimated that the region contains a mean volume of 10.4 billion barrels of oil.
But USGS scientists recently noted that the coastal plain contains rock formations that are nearly identical to the oil-rich geological structures that have been discovered at three promising new oil finds in northern Alaska. Based on those findings, ANWR could contain more petroleum than early studies suggested (Energywire, May 30).
No matter what those geological surveys find, however, leasing cannot begin in the 1002 area without congressional approval. Over the last 30 years, national conservation groups and Senate Democrats have repeatedly thwarted Republican efforts to allow drilling on the coastal plain.
The Trump administration's recent budget proposal called for the government to sell oil and gas leases in ANWR and predicted that those leases could raise $1.8 billion by 2027.
Meanwhile, Zinke said, he is ordering a new management plan for the NPR-A, with an eye toward opening oil and gas leasing in parts of the reserve that are now off-limits.
The Interior secretary criticized the Obama administration's 2013 land management plan for barring oil development on large swaths of hydrocarbon-rich lands in the preserve, particularly a large piece of land around the 22-mile-wide Teshekpuk Lake. "Why would you put the most productive tracts off-limit?" Zinke asked.
The 2013 integrated activity plan for the petroleum reserve reasoned that those lands should be protected as critical habitat for migratory birds, caribou and other wildlife populations.
'This is not Sally Jewell we're talking about' — Murkowski
Zinke's announcement marked the end of the Interior secretary's six-day trip to the Arctic with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) and four other U.S. senators. The journey began Friday with visits to Norway and Greenland. The group also made stops at Alaska's North Slope oil facilities and the Denali National Park and Preserve (E&ENews PM, May 30).
Murkowski, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, noted that throughout the trip, Zinke repeatedly called for new North Slope oil production to stop the declining oil flow in Alaska's Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. The pipeline is currently operating at about one-quarter capacity.
"That's the kind of guy we're talking about; this is not Sally Jewell we're talking about," Murkowski asserted, referring to the Obama administration's Interior secretary, who staunchly advocated land preservation.
The Interior secretary's plans drew praise from House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah), who said the action "further demonstrates the Trump administration's commitment to harnessing America's domestic energy resources to support economic growth, empower local communities and bolster security objectives abroad."
But conservation groups supported the Obama administration's action to protect the Arctic landscapes and attacked the Trump administration's proposals.
Nils Warnock, the National Audubon Society's executive director for Alaska, asserted that Zinke's effort to scrap the existing land-use policies "ignores the balance already achieved in the 2013 NPR-A plan, which came after lengthy consideration of many perspectives and the best available science."
The Wilderness Society's Alaska regional director, Nicole Whittington-Evans, argued that the Arctic refuge should be protected as a national treasure. "We need to continue to protect and preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has values far beyond whatever oil might lie beneath it," she said.
"Some places are so special that they should simply be off-limits," she said, "and the Arctic refuge really is ... too wild to drill."
This story also appears in Climatewire.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/06/01/stories/1060055396
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Bakken Pipeline System a Reality with 570,000 b/d Capacity to Gulf, ETP Says
Jun 1, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Although they won't say when full capacity will be reached next year, backers of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) made clear this week that the vision of creating a pipeline route for Bakken sweet crude production in North Dakota to the Gulf Coast is now a reality.
DAPL and the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Co. (ETCO) projects make up the Bakken Pipeline System, which has expanded its capacity based on a successful open season earlier this year, a Texas-based spokesperson for Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) told NGI's Shale Daily on Wednesday.
The $6.78 billion, nearly 1,200-mile DAPL runs from North Dakota through four states to a hub in south-central Illinois at Patoka. From there the 788-mile ETCO converted natural gas pipeline carries the crude oil to the Gulf Coast at Nederland, TX.
"The combined system has a total capacity of up to approximately 570,000 b/d, and it can be expanded to this," the spokesperson said.
Dakota Access and ETCO have commitments including "shipper flexibility and walk-up" for approximately 520,000 b/d, the spokesperson said. "This is up from 470,000 b/d due to the successful supplemental open season held earlier this year that committed an additional 50,000 b/d."
An analysis late last month indicated that DAPL likely will not reach the 470,000 b/d capacity until next year, according to ESAI Energy LLC, but the ETP spokesperson reiterated that the combined system (DAPL and ETCO) has a total capacity of approximately 570,000 b/d.
"I don’t know where the capacity build up information [from ESAI] came from as we don’t provide that," she said.
Flows began in March from the North Dakota-based DAPL, but they were not expected to reach amarket hub in south-central Illinois until mid-May.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/110643-bakken-pipeline-system-a-reality-with-570000-bd-capacity-to-gulf-etp-says
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One Dead, Two Missing, Others Hurt in Wisconsin Corn Plant Explosion
Jun 1, 2017 | Reuters
By Gina Cherelus and Laila Kearney
At least one person was killed, several were injured and two others left missing after a late Wednesday explosion and fire destroyed a Wisconsin corn milling plant, according to county officials and police.
Columbia County Sheriff Dennis Richards said at a news briefing on Thursday that 16 employees were working at the Didion Milling plant about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Milwaukee, when the explosion occurred at around 11 p.m. local time (12 a.m. Thursday EST).
Several people suffered injuries and were transported by helicopter or ambulance to hospitals, Richards said, while two escaped unharmed and two remained missing.
"This is very difficult for everybody that's been there, including the families that sat for hours waiting for some type of information," Richards said.
Richards declined to name the deceased victim, and said he did not know the details about the type of injuries sustained by those wounded.
The sheriff's department and fire department were working with Didion Milling to determine what caused the blast. The investigation is ongoing.
Riley Didion, president of the family-run business that was established some 40 years ago, appeared at the news briefing but offered few details. Didion said it was too early to determine a cause for the explosion.
Along with dry corn mill, the plant also makes ethanol. It was unclear on Thursday whether the blast occurred in that part of the facility.
(Reporting by Gina Cherelus and Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Bernadette Baum)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wisconsin-blast-idUSKBN18S57B
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FERC Conference to Weigh Reliability Priorities
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro
Federal electricity regulators plan a daylong conference later this month to garner industry guidance on near-term steps to boost grid reliability and confront man-made or natural disruptions.
In a recent notice, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission teed up the June 22 conference as a way to gather reaction to the North American Electric Reliability Corp.'s 2017 "State of Reliability" report. The report has yet be released, but NERC is aiming to make it public by then, a spokeswoman said.
Specifically, FERC asked which trends and risks identified in the NERC report warrant "the most attention and effort at this time."
The agency also wants panelists to focus on gaps that may exist in the industry's ability to measure system reliability as more and more analysis is data-driven.
FERC is soliciting suggestions on potential actions to improve reliability standards as well as accounting of how reliability may have improved from lessons learned after blackouts in 2003, 2008 and 2011.
But what may be the most interesting question posed by FERC has to do with the "implications of expanding distributed energy resources (DER) for the Bulk-Power System" as it pertains to reliability.
That is because the question mirrors concerns undergirding a study on the importance of baseload resources such as coal and nuclear plants to electric reliability ordered in April by Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
The study is being led by Texas energy consultant Alison Silverstein and will try to answer questions including whether federal tax and subsidy policies favoring renewable energy have put the baseload resources at risk (Energywire, May 31).
Perry ordered that the study be ready by June 19, just a few days before the FERC technical conference.
The morning will conclude with a panel of regulators from Canada, Mexico and the European Union who are expected to address how those countries are adapting to rapidly changing electric grids as well as managing the integration of DER.
The afternoon sessions will look at long-term, large-scale disruptions to the grid that "have the potential to cause significant human and economic harm."
An example FERC wants speakers to address is the loss of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in California, which began leaking in 2015.
Also on the menu of questions are hazards from man-made electromagnetic pulse episodes as well as steps FERC could take to improve grid resilience to recover from deliberate attacks, accidents or naturally occurring threats.
The conference will close with a panel of experts discussing securing the grid from cyberattacks.
There are 26 panelists presenting, including NERC CEO Gerry Cauley and Patricia Hoffman, principal deputy assistant secretary and acting assistant secretary of DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, as well as state regulators, utility executives, grid operators and scientists.
There is a possibility the conference could be joined by two new members, Robert Powelson, currently a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and Neil Chatterjee, energy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Both are Republicans nominated by President Trump in early May.
Their nomination hearing was May 25.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) plans to call a committee business meeting to vote on the nominations when the Senate returns from recess Monday.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/06/01/stories/1060055379
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FRA, FTC to Award $197 Million in PTC Grants
Jun 1, 2017 | Progressive Railroading
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday announced the recipients of $197 million in grants to help commuter and intercity passenger railroads meet the Dec. 31, 2018, deadline to implement positive train control (PTC).
The federal dollars will be awarded to 17 projects in 13 states. The FRA and FTA received 27 eligible applications requesting $455 million, more than double the funds authorized by Congress, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The FRA was responsible for selecting the grant recipients, and the FTA will award and administer the funds during fiscal-year 2017.
"This funding will get us closer to PTC implementation on some of the most significant railroads in the country that transport several million passengers to and from work every day," said FRA Executive Director Patrick Warren.
Authorized under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, the grants will be used to install PTC technology, including back office systems and wayside, communications, and onboard hardware equipment associated with railroads' PTC systems.
The grant recipients are:
• Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which will receive $21.68 million to dual equip seven Caltrain trains with the Incremental Train Control System (ITCS) and Interoperable Electronic Train Management System (I-ETMS) PTC systems for approximately 32 miles from south of San Jose to Gilroy, Calif., on Union Pacific Railroad territory by Dec. 31, 2018.
• Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), which will receive $3.2 million to develop, test, and deploy tools and processes to improve the reliability, efficiency, and security of SCRRA's I-ETMS PTC system, with an upgrade from a nonvital PTC system to a vital overlay system across 249 miles of rail line in the Los Angeles region.
• Florida Department of Transportation, which will receive $1.84 million to implement an I-ETMS PTC system along 110 miles of the Central Florida Rail Corridor in the Orlando area.
• South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA), which will receive $31.63 million to complete installing SFRTA's I‐ETMS PTC system on the South Florida Rail Corridor.
• Illinois Department of Transportation, which will receive $18.87 million to complete the design, delivery, installation and testing of a fully integrated I-ETMS PTC system on two routes for Amtrak's use on 14.7 route miles of Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis right-of-way in St. Louis on the Illinois and Missouri banks of the Mississippi River.
• Regional Transportation Authority (Metra), which will receive $20.2 million for three subprojects on Metra's Commuter Rail Division to implement wayside PTC signals, reconfigure signals, and upgrade an existing PTC automatic block signaling systems on the railroad's Milwaukee District West and North lines in Chicago.
• Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which will receive $7.82 million to install a back office system for the agency's PTC system consisting of an existing Cab Signaling System (CSS) with Automatic Train Control (ATC) supplemented by the MBTA's Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System II (ACSES II).
• Maryland Transit Administration, which will receive $9.44 million to install an I-ETMS PTC system along Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) tracks in the Northeast Corridor and equip 11 MARC 2A cab cars with I-ETMS onboard technology.
• Missouri Department of Transportation, which will receive $12.02 million to design, install, and test a fully integrated and functional I-ETMS PTC system over 8.5 route miles of Kansas City Terminal Railway right-of-way where Amtrak operates in the Kansas City area.
• New Jersey Transit, which will receive $10 million to implement the agency's PTC Phase III, which involves the purchase of onboard equipment kits and the installation, testing, and commissioning of the PTC equipment on a total of 440 locomotives, electric mobile units, and cab cars.
• Rio Metro Regional Transit District, which will receive $3.6 million for the New Mexico Rail Runner Express (Rail Runner) PTC project, including installation of I‑ETMS PTC onboard technology on nine Rail Runner locomotives.
• New York State Department of Transportation, which will receive $33.75 million to implement the Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) PTC system on the Amtrak-controlled section of the Empire Corridor Hudson Line.
• Oregon Department of Transportation, which will receive $1.2 million to install and test PTC equipment on two Talgo Series 8 trainsets owned by the department and operated by Amtrak for the regional Amtrak Cascades intercity passenger rail service connecting Eugene, Ore., to Vancouver, British Columbia.
• Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), which will receive $2.7 million to implement two Enhanced Automatic Train Control (E-ATC) PTC system safety modifications on the 15-mile-long Westside Express commuter rail corridor from Wilsonville to Beaverton, Ore.
• Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which will receive $5.8 million to install SEPTA's ACSES II PTC system along a 3-mile portion of restored Regional Rail service from Elwyn to Wawa, Pa., and deploy onboard survey map software that contains the physical characteristics of the railroad and dictates train-operating speeds throughout SEPTA’s rail network.
• Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) – Texas, which will receive $9.76 million to install the PTC fiber communications network for an E-ATC PTC system on 33 miles of Capital Metro's commuter-rail territory, which connects downtown Austin, Texas, with Austin’s northern suburbs and serves nine stations.
• Utah Transit Authority (UTA), which will receive $3.52 million to design and test a two-step No-Code Proceed system for UTA’s FrontRunner E-ATC PTC system on two mainline track segments from Provo to Ogden and Ogden to Pleasant View.http://www.progressiverailroading.com/ptc/news/FRA-FTC-to-award-197-million-in-PTC-grants--51756
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'Nothing Is Decided Until It's Announced' — At 3 p.m.
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Evan Lehmann and Emily Holden
President Trump will seek to end months of disunity in the White House this afternoon by announcing his decision on the Paris climate agreement, an issue that has sown discord among Cabinet members and senior advisers.
The decision comes after Trump has acknowledged facing immense pressure in the final hours before the planned announcement at 3 p.m. in the Rose Garden, where he will be joined by Vice President Mike Pence. The game-show-style drama of his repeated teases on Twitter of the announcement has underscored the controversy that's shadowing both of his options: staying in the accord or leaving it.
As news spread early yesterday that he had seemed to settle on withdrawing, some administration officials countered strongly that the final decision hadn't been made, even as others said it was sealed up.
"Not a done deal," one official said.
Another, when asked if Trump was pulling out, answered, "Yup."
Trump seemed to fuel that uncertainty. While meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the White House yesterday, a pool reporter asked the president whether he was close to making a decision.
"Very soon," Trump answered.
He was also asked if business CEOs were pressuring him on the Paris Agreement and if he thinks climate change is a hoax. The questions came as Elon Musk, founder of Tesla Inc., indicated on Twitter that he would quit the president's business advisory council and his manufacturing jobs initiative if Trump withdraws from Paris.
The inquiries also coincided with an announcement yesterday by General Electric Co. that it had signed a deal with Vietnam worth $5.6 billion for power generation and other equipment. Trump applauded the move because it makes "jobs for the United States."
Earlier this month, Jeff Immelt, chairman and chief executive of GE, promoted global trade in a speech at Georgetown University while urging Trump to have the United States remain a party to the Paris Agreement. "We are for staying in the treaty," Immelt said. "I think global engagement is a good thing."
Trump acknowledged that he had been hearing those views and their counterpoints.
"I'm hearing from a lot of people, both ways. Both ways," Trump said yesterday.
One pool reporter, referring to the Paris Agreement, asked, "Are you leaning in a direction, sir?"
Trump: "I'm hearing from a lot of people both ways."
Another reporter then asked, "Do you believe that climate change is a hoax still?"
Trump: "Thank you, everybody."
The president might not have answered, but the White House did. A joint statement between the United States and Vietnam pointed to rising temperatures as a real risk. "The United States also affirmed its assistance to Vietnam in combating climate change via concrete mitigation and adaptation measures," the statement said.
Earlier, in the White House briefing room, numerous reporters pushed press secretary Sean Spicer to explain if news reports were accurate that Trump was planning to pull out of the Paris Agreement. The off-camera gaggle marked perhaps the first time in Trump's presidency that Spicer fielded so many questions about climate change.
"I obviously don't know whether or not he's made it, but when he's ready to make an announcement, he'll make it clear," Spicer said when asked if Trump has made a final decision.
The mixed signals overwhelmed some observers.
"It's like a little soap opera or telenovela," said Alden Meyer, strategic director for the Union of Concerned Scientists. "I don't know what to expect anymore. Is it all smoke and mirrors? Or there really is give-and-take, and he hasn't made up his mind? I can't game it out."
Key industry and conservative sources were surprised by yesterday's early-morning news reports that Trump would exit the deal, having heard recently that he was leaning toward remaining.
Some suggested Trump advisers opposed to the Paris Agreement might have leaked the idea in the hope of pushing him into a decision.
By afternoon, one source had heard from the White House that a final call had not yet been made but would come later this week.
Another had been convinced Trump was set to leave.
Chrissy Harbin, director of federal affairs with Americans for Prosperity, said she was concerned early yesterday that people might be reading too much into Trump's meeting with U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who wants to pull out of the international deal.
But a few hours later, she had changed her mind after chatting with "a number of people in the know."
GOP strategist Mike McKenna said, "Nothing is decided until it's announced."
Frank Maisano, an industry lawyer, said exiting Paris would be a setback to how the United States is perceived by the international community. Stepping back from climate talks might also mean that other countries get better terms when they make their greenhouse gas reduction commitments, he said. He recalled a similar effect when the United States withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in 2001.
Maisano also noted that leaving the Paris deal could take some time and that White House advisers on both sides would continue to lobby Trump during that period.
Reporters Niina Heikkinen and Jean Chemnick contributed.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/06/01/stories/1060055394
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Tech Firms Push Trump to Not Withdraw from Paris Climate Agreement
Jun 1, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Ali Breland
Following reports that President Trump is expected to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, major technology firms moved swiftly on Thursday to urge the president to reconsider.
On Thursday morning, major firms, including Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft and Salesforce paid for a full page ad in both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal urging Trump to keep the U.S. in the Paris climate agreement.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Tesla CEO Elon Musk were among business leaders to personally call the White House in a last ditch effort to keep the U.S. in the agreement, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Musk took to Twitter to warn that if Trump elects to drop the U.S. from the climate deal, he will step down from his positions on White House advisory councils. Musk has earned significant criticism for his decision to stay on the councils in the past but has argued that it’s “important” to have a role in shaping discourse at the White House.
Musk's and Cook’s were only the initial wave in calls from the technology industry for Trump to keep the U.S. in the agreement.
IBM reaffirmed its support of the Paris climate deal on Thursday.
"This agreement requires all participating countries to put forward their best efforts on climate change as determined by each country," Wayne Balta, vice president of environmental affairs at IBM, wrote in a blogpost. "IBM believes that it is easier to lead outcomes by being at the table, as a participant in the agreement, rather than from outside it."
Dean Garfield, the president and CEO of the D.C. trade association Information Technology Industry Council called the Paris agreement a "critical component" and a "responsibility." The council represents major tech firms like Twitter, Samsung and Dell.
“The perception that we have to decide between creating jobs or tackling climate change is a false choice,” said Garfield. “It is not too late for the president to stay the course and work with the tech industry to ensure that more clean energy jobs continue to go to Americans and that U.S. leadership in innovation is second to none.”
During a segment of CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday morning, CEO of HP Enterprise Meg Whitman also pleaded with the president.
“Please do not withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. This is not in the best interest of Americans,” Whitman said. “We need to own the next generation of jobs and whether that’s clean energy or 3-D printing or immunotherapy. This is an arena that America should lead and must lead.”
Trump tweeted Wednesday that he would reveal his decision on the Paris accord at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday in a Rose Garden speech.
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/335918-tech-firms-push-trump-to-not-withdraw-from-paris-climate-agreement
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The World Built a Climate Deal for the U.S. Trump May Be About to Leave It
Jun 1, 2017 | Washington Post
By Sophie Yeo
The Paris Agreement is the product of more than two decades of work by the United Nations and agreed to by more than 190 countries — but it was built specifically with the United States in mind.
It is the first climate deal to include all countries, regardless of wealth or development.
Despite the inclusivity of the deal, its final form was negotiated with the United States’ particular legislative system in mind.
This is the reason that the deal is called an “agreement” rather than a “treaty,” for instance. The U.S. interprets a treaty as requiring Senate approval — something that would have been impossible for the Paris Agreement in the Republican-dominated chamber. But an agreement can be approved through an executive action by the president.
The legal shape of the Paris Agreement was also crafted with the U.S. in mind. The various elements of the deal carry diverse levels of legal weight. One particular quirk is that the deal legally obliges countries to prepare climate targets, but not to implement them — another requirement for avoiding Senate ratification.
How did the climate deal all get started?
The process of negotiating the deal began in 1992, when 197 parties signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The treaty contained no targets to reduce emissions, but it outlined the core principles of the international fight against climate change.
Finally, 23 years later, the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015, and came into force on Nov. 4, 2016.
Despite the years of tense negotiations leading up to the deal, the Paris Agreement now has the commitment of almost every country in the world. A total of 195 parties have signed the agreement, while 147 have ratified the deal, meaning they formally agree to abide by its rules.
What do countries have to do under the deal?
The deal is a wide-ranging package of actions to reduce emissions and deal with the impacts of climate change, including an overarching goal to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) rise above preindustrial levels, or a more stringent 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) temperature rise, if possible.
To this end, countries have had to submit “nationally determined contributions.” These are nationally designed pledges containing climate targets. The U.S., for example, agreed to cut greenhouse gases by 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
How does the U.S. exit the agreement?
Leaving the Paris Agreement itself is an easy, but lengthy, task.
The deal was specifically designed so that the U.S. could join without the need for congressional approval. On Aug. 29, 2016, President Barack Obama wrote a short letter, which was deposited at the United Nations, signaling that the United States would join the agreement.
A short letter from President Trump will suffice to reverse this action. According to the Paris Agreement, nations that want to withdraw only have to leave a written notice in a U.N. depository.
But Trump won’t be able to write this letter until three years after the Paris Agreement came into force — that is to say, not until Nov. 4, 2019 — thanks to a clause in the deal itself.
It then takes another year before the U.S. can leave the agreement — bringing it to Nov. 4, 2020 — which is also the day after the next presidential election.
With these rules in place, Trump will only see the fulfillment of his campaign promise to leave the Paris agreement either after he’s won a second term as president or been voted out of office.
How could Trump try to speed up the process, if he decides to exit?
Trump could always signal — for instance, by tweet — that the U.S. has no plans to meet its international commitments in the meantime, although such a move would be unprecedented. Trump is also within his rights to weaken the U.S. emissions reductions goals without having to abandon the deal — and the administration has already taken steps to do that by moving to dismantle Obama-era regulations.
Another option would be to declare that Obama overstepped his authority in unilaterally approving the Paris agreement and that it should have been put to a vote in the Senate. Sending it to the Republican-dominated chamber would be a death sentence for U.S. participation in the deal, which would require a two-thirds majority to pass.
But it would also mean opening the legal floodgates on the other agreements enacted in this way. A 2009 study by the University of Michigan found 94 percent of international agreements by modern U.S. presidents are enacted by executive action, rather than Senate approval.
As well as weakening his own executive powers, Trump could also open these other agreements up to legal challenge if he decides that the Paris Agreement requires a Senate majority.
Finally, Trump could pull out of the original Framework Convention treaty altogether. This was approved by the Senate in 1992 under George H.W. Bush, so Trump could find himself in legally murky waters if he decides to withdraw unilaterally. It would, however, be a shorter, one-year process.
David Waskow, director of the World Resources Institute international climate initiative, calls this “the nuclear option.”
The U.S. wouldn’t be the first country to withdraw from an international climate change accord — Canada withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in 2011.
What leverage do other countries have to try to persuade the U.S. to stay in?
Apart from their efforts to persuade Trump that pulling out of the Paris agreement would be a diplomatic disaster for the U.S., other nations have little power over the U.S. decision.
As a piece of international law, the agreement has few teeth. This is despite the fact that it will hinder other nation’s efforts to achieve the Paris goals. The more ambitious 1.5 Celsius temperature goal, already difficult, begins to look impossible without the input of the U.S., which is the world’s second largest emitter after China.
“There’s no Supreme Court of the world, so there’s a limit to what you can do, and so the enforcement provisions of the Paris agreement are based upon reporting on progress toward their targets, scrutiny by an international body of experts, and peer pressure to play nice,” says Jake Schmidt, director of the international program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
There has been talk in some nations of a climate-related trade tariff on products coming from the U.S., but this would be outside the scope of the official agreement.
Nonetheless, this idea gained some traction in Mexico as well as France after Trump’s election.
Meanwhile, the chairman of steel giant ArcelorMittal has called for a border tax on carbon in Europe to prevent industry from leaking to less regulated countries.
A group of former Republican statesman argued earlier this year for such a tax as a method to prevent “free-riding.”
How much does this really matter?
While withdrawing from the Paris agreement would be a significant symbolic gesture on the world stage, in practical terms, it is just one more step along the road of unraveling the U.S. climate commitments.
What really matters for the planet is not whether the U.S. remains in the agreement, but whether its emissions rise or fall — and the U.S. was firmly on the path of breaking its commitments regardless.
Trump has already made it clear that he has little intention of hitting the 26 to 28 percent emissions reduction target set under Obama, having already ordered a review of the Clean Power Plan and of any regulations that “burden” domestic energy production, as set out in his Energy Independence Executive Order.
However, it is also worth bearing in mind that the majority of U.S. emissions reductions to date have not been as a result of climate regulations, but because of the switch from coal to natural gas in power plants, or because of the global financial crisis, as some academics have argued.
The U.S. energy mix is not determined by the Paris Agreement, nor solely by Trump’s energy regulations, but by economics and market forces outside the administration’s control.
On the other hand, the Paris agreement is not just about emissions reductions. The deal consists of many elements designed to keep climate change in check and ensure that poor countries are dealt a fair hand.
By shutting itself out of the Paris agreement, the U.S. does not just withdraw from its own emissions reduction commitments, but from global cooperation on a range of important climate issues.
This includes provisions on financial contributions of $100 billion a year by 2020 to developing nations, adaptation to the impacts of climate change, how to deal with losses and damage caused by such impacts, technology and carbon trading.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/06/01/the-world-built-a-climate-deal-for-the-u-s-trump-may-be-about-to-leave-it/?utm_term=.a96a8baa1e6a
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Governors, Faced with Paris Withdrawal, Pledge Climate Action
Jun 1, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Storrow, Debra Kahn and Scott Waldman
A host of governors pledged yesterday to intensify their efforts to address climate change regardless of President Trump's ultimate decision over the Paris Agreement.
The proclamations, made mostly by Democrats, were not a surprise in and of themselves. They nevertheless illustrated the evolution of U.S. climate efforts, as policymakers in green-tinged state capitals assume the responsibility for driving deep reductions in carbon emissions.
State leaders were unsparing in their criticism of Trump, who was widely reported to be on the verge of pulling out of the carbon-cutting agreement yesterday. Yet many framed their responses in terms of everyday decisionmaking.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said his efforts to promote a carbon tax were more dependent on budget negotiations than the president's decision on Paris. In Colorado, a purple state boasting coal mines, oil fields and a growing renewable industry, Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper pledged to continue working with utilities to lower emissions while reaching out to Republican colleagues in other states to find ways to green the economy. And in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is preparing for a trip to China next week to hold a series of high-level meetings on climate change and clean energy, the state Senate passed a bill yesterday to receive all its energy from renewable and zero-carbon sources by 2045.
"America's gone AWOL under Trump," Brown told E&E News yesterday. "Ironically, Trump, by his actions, is giving climate denial a very bad name, making it utterly implausible. And that is actually building the energy and strength of the contrary movement, which is climate activism and efforts by countries, states and provinces to do the right thing to get our economy aligned with a decarbonized future."
Hickenlooper likened Trump to a child playing baseball who, finding a call has gone against him, picks up the bat and ball and goes home. Still, the president's ultimate decision on Paris does little to alter Colorado's course, he said.
"We are going to continue to move for cleaner air at the same or less cost. In other words, the world is evolving so we can genuinely imagine transitioning so we have less coal plants, more wind, more solar, more natural gas," Hickenlooper said. "We have a number of utilities in Colorado, and they have to be part of this. I don't want to give an edict. We have talked to all of them about how do we get to cleaner air, less carbon emissions. The minimum is to be the same cost, but the goal is to get there and see if we can save money."
Inslee also lamented what he called a step back for the United States on the world stage. But he was quick to point to an executive order he signed last year aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent of 1990 levels by 2035.
"We've made it illegal to put pollution in the air," he said.
Can the markets 'deliver' what Trump won't?
Such pledges at once demonstrated the potential and limitations of state climate action.
Energy policy has long been the domain of the states, particularly as it relates to the power sector where regulators hold broad sway. New York, under Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), has committed to revamping the Empire State's electric grid with clean energy. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission recently directed Xcel Energy Inc., a utility, to calculate the environmental and health impacts of carbon in its long-term plans. And Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island all boast legally binding emission caps, calling for an 80 percent reduction in carbon levels by midcentury.
Even in Republican-dominated states, low natural gas prices and corporate procurements of renewable energy are driving coal out of the power sector, said Amy Myers Jaffe, executive director for energy and sustainability at the University of California, Davis. Trump's decision on Paris will do little to alter those trends, she said.
"I personally think the market itself will deliver what we committed to without much intervention," Myers Jaffe said. "There are very few states that aren't going in the direction of energy efficiency and renewables."
At the same time, states cannot be expected to marshal an international effort to tackle a global problem, said Jason Bordoff, a Columbia University professor and former climate adviser to President Obama.
"A ton of CO2 has the same impact no matter where it comes from," Bordoff said. "I think states can make a big dent in the carbon management problem. But eventually you don't succeed in decarbonizing the economy overall without national and international leadership that's up to the scale of the challenge."
Ultimately, the success of state action will likely hinge on local leaders' ability to bridge differences at home and with their neighbors. Greens face challenges even in climate-conscious states like Washington. Inslee's carbon cap has been challenged in court, and the governor has thus far had little success in enticing Senate Republicans who control the upper chamber in Olympia to support his carbon tax proposal. Washington voters last year widely rejected a carbon tax at the polls.
Inslee remains undaunted, arguing that Trump's decision on Paris only reinforces the need for state action. Even if the United States remains part of the climate pact, the agreement will be rendered meaningless by the president's decision to dismantle the policies, he said.
"Remember Martin Luther King: 'The arc of the moral universe is long and bends towards justice.' People forget the part about it's long. This is a long effort," Inslee said in an interview yesterday. "We have a temporary president. We have the ability to move forward every single day. Every state, every city, every county, every business. And if there's some silver lining to this, it's a wake-up call we're the game in town now. It's us. This is a starting pistol for us in the race."
'States have an obligation ... to step up'
Boosting collaboration among states is perhaps just as important.
While Northeastern states have succeeded at reducing carbon emissions by 37 percent since 2008 through the help of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade pact, finding consensus for similar programs in regions like the Rocky Mountains is harder, Hickenlooper said.
The Colorado governor nevertheless expressed optimism that agreement could be struck with his Republican counterparts from neighboring states, especially on issues like promoting renewable energy and clean air, which have broad bipartisan support.
He pointed to Colorado's partnership with Utah and Nevada as an example. The three states have agreed to an electric vehicle corridor, with charging stations installed every 50 miles along their interstates.
"When you begin to bring governors together, you can do almost anything," Hickenlooper said in a phone call. "I think we're going to see, mark my words, we're going to see an evolution to governors playing a stronger role in energy and governors working together at a level we have not seen before. When the federal government abandons its leadership on a specific issue, I think states have an obligation to their citizens to step up."
Democratic officeholders were not the only ones to criticize the president, though Republicans were far more muted in their barbs.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, among the most outspoken Republicans on climate, said in a statement that "a decision by the Trump-Pence Administration to not maintain the United States' commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement would be disappointing and counterproductive to the efforts and progress Massachusetts and other states have made to reduce carbon emissions."
A spokeswoman for Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R), who recently penned a letter with Baker calling on Trump to stay in the Paris accord, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Brown: We still need Washington
The leaders of America's largest states, by contrast, pledged action.
New York has already taken some of the most significant actions to address climate change. Through its Reforming the Energy Vision plan, the Cuomo administration has worked at transforming its energy grid for years, to increase its share of renewable energy and to make it more efficient.
The state has a $5 billion pot of money to incentivize solar, wind and other forms of clean energy and to make the grid more efficient. It is also using that money to support nuclear facilities on the verge of shutting down, because they are sources of carbon-free energy. The state is helping develop what could be one of the country's largest wind farms off Long Island and has given hundreds of millions of dollars to help Tesla Inc. build the largest solar panel factory in the Western Hemisphere near Buffalo.
Still, it's not clear whether New York will do anything differently when it comes to addressing climate change if the United States drops out of Paris. New York officials did not offer their reaction yesterday. However, Cuomo tweeted that the state had already experienced the ravages of climate change, largely through rising seas.
Cuomo's Twitter account did not attack Trump directly, something he routinely avoids, but criticized the "federal government" for failing to act on climate.
"If Washington won't act, New Yorkers will," he wrote on Twitter. "We've set bold renewable energy goals and will invest in a sustainable future.
"Climate change is real and won't be wished away by denial," he tweeted.
No state has gone further, however, than California. The Golden State has rushed to fill the climate vacuum created by Obama's departure in Washington. The state Senate passed S.B. 100 yesterday, which would increase the renewable portfolio standard to 100 percent by 2045. On Tuesday, it approved a separate bill that would preserve Obama-era versions of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act as the federal backstops to state enforcement authority. California also pioneered the country's vehicle emission standards and has joined a cap-and-trade pact with Quebec.
Still, California can only do so much, Brown said.
"The complexity and scope of climate issues calls out for federal leadership and federal rules and laws," the governor said. "It can't make up for it, but California and other states and other countries can hold the line and advance the ball while we suffer this interregnum of climate denial."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/06/01/stories/1060055391
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