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ACC PM 20/06
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38 Science Advisers Get Pink Slips — Internal Email
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt continues to clean house at a key advisory committee, signaling plans to drop several dozen current members of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC), according to an email yesterday from a senior agency official. -
Sources: White House Weighing 3 Names for EPA Deputy
Jun 20, 2017 | Politico Pro
By Alex Guillen & Andrew Restuccia
Coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler is no longer the leading single candidate for EPA’s No. 2 job, but the White House has not yet settled on a new front-runner, according to multiple sources. -
200+ Scientists Urge Limits on Antimicrobial Products
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
Over 200 scientists and medical professionals are pushing to curb the use of antimicrobial chemicals in a wide variety of personal care products. -
Triclosan: Not Safe, Not Effective
Jun 20, 2017 | Environmental Working Group
By David Andrews & Samara Geller
The time has come to wash our hands of triclosan and other unnecessary antimicrobial chemicals for good. -
Duke Pulls Request to Use Chemical to Curb Air Pollution
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Joe Marusak
Environmentalists in North Carolina claimed a victory this week after Duke Energy Corp. withdrew a request to add a chemical compound at several of its coal-fired power plants that curbs air pollution, but the power company may have caused a spike in drinking water pollution two years ago. -
Upstate N.Y. Supplies Contain More PFOA than Thought
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Residents of Hoosick Falls, N.Y., learned yesterday that local groundwater contained much higher levels of a toxic manufacturing chemical than previously reported. -
Mistrial Declared in Latest Johnson & Johnson Talc Case
Jun 20, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A St Louis judge has declared a mistrial in the latest talc trial against Johnson & Johnson, in light of a US Supreme Court decision on where injury claims can be filed. -
EU Moves to Restrict Hormone-Disrupting Chemical Found in Plastics
Jun 20, 2017 | Green Business
By Arthur Neslen
Green groups welcome 'historic' ruling recognising that bisphenol A (BPA), found in TVs, plastic water bottles and kettles, poses a threat to human heath -
(ACC Mentioned) Appalachian Business Council Working to Bolster Infrastructure to Advance Petrochemical Projects
Jun 20, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Another group with varying business interests in the Appalachian Basin has been working quietly since late last year to identify weaknesses in regional infrastructure so that it's ready to support the growth expected from petrochemical and other shale-related development in the region. -
OMB Mulls Fracking Rollback as Dems Slam Methane Freeze
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The Obama administration's primary effort to address impacts from hydraulic fracturing on public lands is officially on track to be scrapped. -
Texas Urged to Bolster Fracking Research
Jun 20, 2017 | Inside EPA
As energy companies step up their oil production in the Southwest's Permian Basin, a Texas-based scientific consortium is recommending additional research on the potential negative impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water and wastewater treatment and disposal supplies. -
EQT Promises Efficiencies in Creating U.S.'s Largest Producer
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
EQT Corp. yesterday announced plans to buy Rice Energy Inc. for $8.2 billion, in a deal that highlights the transformation of the Marcellus Shale's industry as a company that once focused on local natural gas distribution cements its role as a dominant player in exploration and production. -
Meet the Potential Deputy. 'Moderate' or a Hand of 'Evil'?
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Climatwire
By Emily Holden, Robin Bravender & Niina Heikkinen
An air chief from the George W. Bush administration could become second in command at U.S. EPA, raising objections from conservatives who find him too moderate and worrying environmentalists about the presence of a skilled navigator who could advance a weak climate agenda. -
Truck Crashes Among the Shale Boom's Worst Impacts — Report
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Texas needs to increase its funding for rural roads to offset the deaths and damage caused by the shale-drilling boom, and needs to do more research on the environmental and social effects of the drilling industry, according to a report from the state's top scientists -
PHMSA Will Delay Enforcement of Some Gas-Storage Rules
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Federal pipeline regulators won't enforce parts of their newly written regulations on natural gas storage facilities while they consider a petition to change the rules. -
Sharing Data Protects Our Nation’s Critical Infrastructure
Jun 19, 2017 | The Hill
By Dave McCurdy
When WannaCry cyber-attacks struck corporations throughout Europe and Asia, America’s natural gas utilities maximized information sharing systems for near real-time communication of threat information and mitigation techniques. -
Creative Combatants Take on Fearsome Utility Foe 'Industroyer'
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
A splashy new hacking tool tailor-made to disrupt electricity can hijack old, insecure communications paths used in power grids worldwide. If the "Industroyer" gets in, it's "game over," experts say. -
Why it'd be Dangerous to Overlook Mike Pence's Record on the Environment
Jun 20, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
The investigation into Russia’s interference in our elections is critically important, but some have noted that it could be squeezing out media attention for other serious issues – including the Trump administration’s damaging environmental policies. -
E.U. to Trump: No Renegotiating Accord
Jun 20, 2017 | Reuters (in E&E Climatewire)
By Robin Emmott
The European Union plans to deepen ties with other signatories of the Paris Agreement to ensure it's executed even without the United States.
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38 Science Advisers Get Pink Slips — Internal Email
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt continues to clean house at a key advisory committee, signaling plans to drop several dozen current members of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC), according to an email yesterday from a senior agency official.
All board members whose three-year appointments expire in August will not get renewals, Robert Kavlock, acting head of EPA's Office of Research and Development, said in the email, which was obtained by E&E News.
Because of the need to reconstitute the board, EPA is also canceling all subcommittee meetings planned for late summer and fall, Kavlock said.
"We are hopeful that an updated BOSC Executive Committee and the five subcommittees can resume their work in 2018 and continue providing ORD with thoughtful recommendations and comments," he wrote in urging departing members to reapply.
The board, whose members are chosen by Pruitt, advises EPA on technical and management issues related to its research programs. First-term board members typically receive a second three-year reappointment. Last month, however, Pruitt broke with that tradition in opting not to renew the appointments of nine BOSC members. The new round of non-renewals will bite much deeper, BOSC Executive Committee Chairwoman Deborah Swackhamer, professor emerita at the University of Minnesota, indicated in an email today to E&E News.
Of 49 remaining subcommittee members, 38 will not be renewed at the end of August, leaving a total of 11, she said. None of the subcommittees will have a chair or vice chair, Swackhamer said, while the executive committee will have three members. While EPA is already seeking nominations to fill out the board, the deadline is the end of next week, she noted.
When the first round of non-renewals became public last month, an EPA spokesman noted that reappointments were not guaranteed and that the agency wanted to ensure fair consideration of all nominees for advisory board posts.
In a statement today, spokeswoman Amy Graham said the agency is grateful for the service of BOSC members and is encouraging those with expiring terms to reapply.
"We are taking an inclusive approach to filling future BOSC appointments and welcome all applicants from all relevant scientific and technical fields," Graham said.
But the first round sparked backlash from congressional Democrats and accusations that Pruitt is seeking to make room for industry representatives who will undercut the integrity of the board's work.
"This says to me that they do not want objective science," Peter Meyer, an economist who resigned in protest last month, said in an interview this morning.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056308
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Sources: White House Weighing 3 Names for EPA Deputy
Jun 20, 2017 | Politico Pro
By Alex Guillen & Andrew Restuccia
Coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler is no longer the leading single candidate for EPA’s No. 2 job, but the White House has not yet settled on a new front-runner, according to multiple sources.
Several sources familiar with the selection process said that two more names are now under consideration for the deputy administrator job, which traditionally oversees day-to-day operations at EPA: Jeff Holmstead, who ran EPA’s air office from 2001 to 2005, and Paul Noe, a Bush-era White House official now at the American Forest & Paper Association.
Axios reported on Monday that Holmstead is expected to win the job, but sources told POLITICO no decision has been made, and that Wheeler remained in contention.
Two people familiar with the behind-the-scenes debate disputed that Holmstead is the pick. One source said that "at most, at this point, he’s in the mix," adding that no decision has been made. The person said Noe is also under consideration.
Holmstead was unavailable for comment, and is on a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon until June 25. Neither Wheeler nor Noe immediately returned requests for comment.
Since serving as assistant administrator in the EPA air office during George W. Bush’s first term, Holmstead has worked at the Bracewell law firm. He represented the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry group, in lawsuits challenging EPA’s Clean Power Plan and its sister rule for future power plants.
Scott Segal, another Bracewell lawyer and director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a coalition of energy and utility companies, said in a statement that he cannot confirm whether Holmstead is under consideration but called Axios' report "highly premature."
Holmstead was also registered as a lobbyist until November, when he delisted himself from a number of accounts, although he told POLITICO at the time that he had not participated in lobbying activities for years before that.
Noe was counselor to the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within OMB from 2001 to 2006. Before that he was a senior counsel for the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.
Since 2008 Noe has been with AFPA, where he is currently vice president for public policy and a registered lobbyist. So far this year, Noe has lobbied Congress on air permitting, biomass carbon emissions neutrality, and various regulatory reform bills, according to a Senate disclosure. Noe's name was floated as a possible OIRA administrator before that job went to George Mason law professor Neomi Rao.
It was not immediately clear why the White House has not moved forward with Wheeler. In March, he emerged as the leading candidate for the deputy position. He even joked last month during an appearance with Administrator Scott Pruitt about the delay in naming a deputy.
Wheeler is a former aide to Sen. Jim Inhofe and now an attorney and lobbyist representing coal producer Murray Energy and other clients at Faegre Baker Daniels.
One industry source familiar with the search process said the White House has not yet offered a particular reason for moving away from Wheeler.
“The most consistent answer I get back is that the White House doesn’t seem to want him for that job. I guess that’s become obvious,” the source said.
The administration was “hung up about this lobbying thing,” the source added — although the White House has granted waivers to other a number of other former lobbyists now serving in government positions, and Noe is similarly a current lobbyist.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2017/06/sources-white-house-weighing-three-names-for-epa-deputy-158488
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200+ Scientists Urge Limits on Antimicrobial Products
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
Over 200 scientists and medical professionals are pushing to curb the use of antimicrobial chemicals in a wide variety of personal care products.
There is no evidence products with two of the most-used chemicals have benefits, and they in fact cause health and environmental harm, the coalition said in a consensus statement published today in Environmental Health Perspectives.
The statement said the chemicals — triclosan and triclocarban — are environmentally persistent endocrine disruptors that are toxic to aquatic and other organisms.
In personal care products, there is "no evidence that use of triclosan or triclocarban improves consumer or patient health or prevents disease," the statement said, citing peer-reviewed research.
The Food and Drug Administration has restricted the use of these chemicals in certain types of soaps, but they are still allowed in a variety of other products, including toothpastes, detergents, clothing, toys, carpets, plastics and paints.
The group called on "the international community" to limit the production and use of the chemicals and question the use of other antimicrobials. The statement also suggested using safer alternatives to the chemicals, labelling products containing antimicrobials even in cases where no health claims have been made and evaluating the long-term safety of antimicrobials through the entire product life cycle.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056300
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Triclosan: Not Safe, Not Effective
Jun 20, 2017 | Environmental Working Group
By David Andrews & Samara Geller
The time has come to wash our hands of triclosan and other unnecessary antimicrobial chemicals for good.
Triclosan and other antimicrobials, added to many soaps and other everyday products – and found in the bodies of more than three-fourths of Americans – likely harm people's health and the environment, while providing no benefit to consumers, said more than 200 scientists and medical professionals in a consensus statement published today.
The statement in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives, coauthored by EWG, recommends an end to the indiscriminate and widespread use of triclosan, triclocarban and other antimicrobial chemicals in cosmetics and consumer products.
Triclosan in people
Triclosan, a powerful pesticide registered with the Environmental Protection Agency, may cause changes in the human hormone system, harming reproduction and development. Recent studies also show that higher triclosan levels in people are linked to increased sensitivity to allergens.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has detected triclosan in the bodies of more than 75 percent of Americans tested. In a study of teenage girls, EWG found triclosan in urine samples collected from all 20 subjects. This widespread exposure is likely due to the chemical’s ubiquitous use in cosmetics and consumer products.
EWG and the scientists who signed the statement believe antimicrobials should only be used if adequate testing shows that they are safe and they have been proven effective for particular uses. Scientists are concerned that widespread use of antimicrobials in consumer products could contribute to growing antibiotic resistance and make the vital medical uses of antimicrobials ineffective.
Where is triclosan found?
A 2008 EWG investigation found that the EPA had approved 20 triclosan mixtures from 11 manufacturers for use in products as diverse as undergarments and building materials. Encouragingly, our review last month of current EPA files found that many triclosan registrations have either been voluntarily cancelled, cancelled for certain applications or have pending cancellation requests from the manufacturers themselves. Although the market has shifted, EWG identified numerous manufacturers and EPA-approved uses that allow triclosan to remain in a staggering assortment of products.
EWG’s Skin Deep® Cosmetics Database shows that triclosan can be found in:SoapsShampoosConditionersLotionsToothpastesDeodorantsShaving products
In September, as a result of many years of efforts by EWG and other public health and consumer interest organizations, a Food and Drug Administration ban will go into effect, prohibiting the use of triclosan, triclocarbon and 16 other antimicrobial chemicals in soap products. This action comes four decades after the FDA said it did not have data to show triclosan was safe or effective, and raised concern about human health and the amount absorbed through the skin. However, the agency will allow continued use of the chemicals in other personal care items.
Triclosan in personal care products is just one part of the story. While the antimicrobials market changes all the time, triclosan is still approved for use in building materials, housewares, cleaning supplies, textiles and apparel, and outdoor and sports gear. It is also permitted in phones, toothbrushes and razors, and in children’s items, such as bibs, toys and playground equipment.
Check out our interactive guide for a comprehensive look at where triclosan could be hiding in your life.
Triclosan in the environment
Use and disposal of products containing triclosan result in significant discharges of this toxic chemical into wastewater treatment plants and the environment. Triclosan is found in streams and waterways all across the country. In 2007, EWG partnered with researchers from East Bay Municipal Utility District, the wastewater utility serving the San Francisco Bay Area, and found more than 40 percent of the wastewater samples collected from residential, commercial and industrial sites contained triclosan.
Triclosan persists in the environment, is toxic to aquatic organisms and can transform into cancer-causing chemicals such as dioxins, chloroform and 4-chloroaniline. And just as in residential and medical settings, triclosan's buildup in the environment could lead to the development of bacterial resistance.
From the wastewater plants, triclosan is transferred to farm fields where the wastewater residues are applied as fertilizer, which can result in triclosan contamination of produce grown on those fields. Experts warn that triclosan-contaminated food and water could present additional routes of exposure for people.
To see where triclosan may be found in your home, see EWG’s tipsheet.
http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2017/06/triclosan-not-safe-not-effective
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Duke Pulls Request to Use Chemical to Curb Air Pollution
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Joe Marusak
Environmentalists in North Carolina claimed a victory this week after Duke Energy Corp. withdrew a request to add a chemical compound at several of its coal-fired power plants that curbs air pollution, but the power company may have caused a spike in drinking water pollution two years ago.
Duke Energy notified state regulators that it would not ask to add halides in its plant permits.
"We'd had that step reserved as an option to help enhance air quality from our plants if needed, and we've been able to successfully meet air quality requirements without it," said company spokeswoman Erin Culbert.
The Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation and Clean Air Carolina had filed a lawsuit earlier yesterday challenging the company's permit request "to put more cancer-causing bromide in North Carolina's rivers and drinking water supplies."
Elevated levels of trihalomethanes, which are formed by bromides, came close to state and federal limits in 2015, shortly after Duke Energy began using calcium bromide to wash coal at its Marshall and Allen power plants. The company later agreed to set up a claims process for water utilities that felt harmed by bromide released by power plant scrubbers.
"It is incredible how extensive the impact of Duke Energy's coal plants is on our communities and the air and water that we rely on," said June Blotnick, executive director of Clean Air Carolina. "We cannot allow the addition of more poisonous chemicals by Duke Energy, like bromides, into the process. We all live downstream or downwind of these types of facilities, and we must be diligent in preventing any more harm to come"
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056291
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Upstate N.Y. Supplies Contain More PFOA than Thought
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Residents of Hoosick Falls, N.Y., learned yesterday that local groundwater contained much higher levels of a toxic manufacturing chemical than previously reported.
Local officials announced the test results at a local school to a packed room.
"I'm nervous, and I'm saddened," resident Michele Baker said. "We learned how high the chemical contamination is."
The Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant found at least one groundwater sample with PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, with levels seven times higher than previous studies.
At least two local sites could be placed on federal Superfund lists.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation said the manufacturing plant is the source of the PFOA.
The state investigation is ongoing.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056293
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Mistrial Declared in Latest Johnson & Johnson Talc Case
Jun 20, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A St Louis judge has declared a mistrial in the latest talc trial against Johnson & Johnson, in light of a US Supreme Court decision on where injury claims can be filed.
The decision marks the second legal victory in the Missouri court for the international conglomerate and its co-defendant Imerys Talc America. The companies face thousands of complaints alleging that use of talc-containing feminine products has caused women to develop ovarian cancer.
Juries have sided with plaintiffs in four of five previous cases in St Louis, awarding more than $300m in damages. Johnson & Johnson has filed appeals to each of these decisions.
The mistrial in the latest case follows the Supreme Court’s 8-1 ruling Monday in the matter of Bristol-Myers Squibb v Superior Court of California, which found that state courts have limited authority to hear claims against companies that aren’t based within the jurisdiction, when the injuries did not occur there.
Businesses have long decried the practice of plaintiffs ‘venue shopping’ for courts more favourable to injury claims.
Two of the three plaintiffs in the latest Missouri talc trial are out-of-state. Writing in its motion for a mistrial, the defendants said: "The US Supreme Court’s ruling makes it clear that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the Johnson & Johnson defendants ... because these claims arise from alleged conduct and activity entirely outside the state of Missouri, a defect that is not remedied by the joinder of these plaintiffs’ claims with those of a Missouri plaintiff."
The judge granted defendants’ motion the same day.
A spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson said the company is "pleased our request for a mistrial was granted". She declined to speculate about the decision’s potential impact on future cases set to be heard in St Louis.
But Beasley Allen lawyer Ted Meadows, one of the co-representatives of defendants, said that after reviewing the Supreme Court’s ruling, he believes the litigation can go on in Missouri courts. "We plan to conduct additional discovery and depositions to confirm this position, and look forward to that opportunity," he said.
"We’re prepared to file these cases in courts across the nation should that be necessary, and believe that jurors will continue to carefully consider the clear link between talcum powder use and ovarian cancer," he added.
https://chemicalwatch.com/57044/mistrial-declared-in-latest-johnson-johnson-talc-case
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EU Moves to Restrict Hormone-Disrupting Chemical Found in Plastics
Jun 20, 2017 | Green Business
By Arthur Neslen
Green groups welcome 'historic' ruling recognising that bisphenol A (BPA), found in TVs, plastic water bottles and kettles, poses a threat to human heath
A chemical found in CDs, DVDs, kettles and water bottles could soon be restricted after the EU authorities ruled that it posed a threat to human health because of its effects on hormones.
The European chemicals agency (Echa) voted unanimously that bisphenol A (BPA) was an 'endocrine disruptor', linking it to a range of hormone-twisting health effects including cancer, learning difficulties and diabetes. The substance has already been singled out for its toxicity to the human reproduction system.
The Green law group ClientEarth, which contributed to a 20-year battle against BPA, said the decision was "historic" and called for rapid action by the authorities.
"Now BPA is finally recognised as an endocrine disruptor, the EU and national governments must act fast to limit the irreversible damage this chemical does to people and the environment," said ClientEarth's lawyer Alice Bernard.
BPA is one of the world's best-selling chemicals, with 3.8m tonnes of the substance produced in 2006, around a third of which was sold in Europe.
Originally developed as a synthetic mimic of the female sex hormone oestrogen, it was marketed as an industrial chemical and, in 1957, kickstarted the plastics revolution when it was polymerised with phosgene to produce what is today known as polycarbonate.
More than 90 per cent of the world's population are thought to have BPA in their urine according to epidemiological studies with one report by the German Federal Environment Agency finding traces in the urine of 591 out of 599 children tested.
But unease among health professionals grew as a growing body of studies linked the chemical to an increased risk of cancer, cell tumours, miscarriages and birth defects.
Natacha Cingotti, a spokeswoman for the Health and Environment Alliance, said that the Echa vote was "long overdue and of crucial importance so that measures to reduce people's exposure to the substance can be introduced in the future".
"Endocrine disrupting chemicals that are omnipresent, such as bisphenol A, are one of the defining human health challenges of our times," she added.
NGOs fear that industry groups are likely to challenge the Echa judgement, with the Plastics Europe trade association already opposing Echa's earlier finding that BPA is toxic to human reproduction.
Jasmin Bird, a spokeswoman for Plastics Europe told the Guardian: "We are highly concerned about this development. We believe that it weakens the strong principle of science-based regulatory decisions in the EU, and will result in further uncertainty without providing benefit to the safety of consumers."
Bird cited a previous assessment by the European food safety authority which that BPA was not an endocrine disruptor.
Even so, Echa is now expected to recommend constraints on BPA's use under the EU's Reach regulation, possibly as soon as next year.
"We can't predict when it will happen," an Echa spokesman said. "Most probably it will happen, but not very quickly."
This article first appeared at the Guardian
BusinessGreen is part of the Guardian Environment Network
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Jun 20, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Another group with varying business interests in the Appalachian Basin has been working quietly since late last year to identify weaknesses in regional infrastructure so that it's ready to support the growth expected from petrochemical and other shale-related development in the region.
The TriState Infrastructure Council (TSIC) brought together 21 members, including FirstEnergy Corp., Nova Chemicals Corp. and JPMorgan Chase. The group has been meeting monthly since last year with public and private sector leaders to identify gaps in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia's electric transmission, barge loading facilities, rail networks, bridges and roads, among other infrastructure.
Members have been thinking about how the region should "prioritize what is going to stand between us and getting full realization of the new potential opportunities from the petrochemical industry," said Kathryn Klaber, managing director of the Klaber Group. She is leading the council's work.
Klaber said TSIC has identified five priorities that require more attention from both the private and public sectors: development-ready sites, more funding for locks and dams, more natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines and storage, housing for more workers and the region's regulatory climate.
"This is really a benchmark against what the Gulf Coast has," Klaber said of the desperate need for more NGL storage in the region. "It's the biggest, most daunting task for us here. It's a little bit of the chicken and egg. We need to have a reliable ethane and propane supply in order to have the reliable operation of major petrochemical facilities, but you're not going to build all that storage until you have the use for it."
Klaber made her comments on Monday before about 400 people at the Northeast U.S. Petrochemical Construction conference in Pittsburgh. About 30 miles northwest of the city, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc is nearly finished with the two-year process of preparing a 400-acre site in Western Pennsylvania, where it plans to move forward later this year with constructing a multi-billion dollar ethylene cracker. The facility would consume about 100,000 b/d of ethane and produce 3.5 million pounds/year of polyethylene.
Shell's Anca Rusa, project director of Pennsylvania Chemicals, said the company has removed two hills; 7 million cubic feet of dirt; installed utilities; relocated power lines and moved more than a mile of state highway to make room for the cracker on what was formerly the site of a zinc smelting plant. Primary construction is expected to take five years, with service expected sometime in the early 2020s.
TSIC's work is part of a broader effort to capitalize on Shell's investment. Pennsylvania commissioned a study released earlier this year that found the Marcellus and Utica shales hold enough ethane to accommodate up to four additional ethylene crackers.
Antero Resources Corp., Chevron Corp., XTO Energy Inc. and several other companies matched a $100,000 grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation to investigate the basin's NGL storage potential. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers from the region have introduced legislation to study the feasibility of a storage hub, provide funding and expedite the permitting process.
The American Chemistry Council also released a study last month that found if five ethane crackers and two propane dehydrogenation facilities were built in the region, it could attract $36 billion in capital investment. Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have signed a cooperative agreement aimed at creating policies to promote the region's shale resources to boost the regional economy. Other groups, like Shale Crescent USA, have formed to brand the region as a low-cost business destination.
TSIC developed a geographic information systems database of an 82-county region spanning all three states. While geographic information system, or GIS, data for infrastructure already exists at the state level, the council's tool identifies gaps and prioritizes needs on a regional level.
In the coming months, the council plans to present its priorities to stakeholders that include public officials, business groups, investors and the general public. It also wants to create funding mechanisms such as public/private partnerships to match project needs.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/110836-appalachian-business-council-working-to-bolster-infrastructure-to-advance-petrochemical-projects
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OMB Mulls Fracking Rollback as Dems Slam Methane Freeze
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The Obama administration's primary effort to address impacts from hydraulic fracturing on public lands is officially on track to be scrapped.
The White House Office of Management and Budget is reviewing a plan to rescind the previous administration's fracking rule. OMB's website indicates that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs received the proposal from the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management on Friday.
The fracking rule rollback has been in the works for months, since Trump administration lawyers notified a federal court in March that it would seek revision or elimination.
The rule — which was designed to govern well construction, wastewater management and chemical disclosure for fracked wells on public and tribal lands — has been mired in litigation since its March 2015 unveiling and has never taken effect.
A Wyoming district court struck it down in a sweeping decision last summer that found the federal government has no authority to regulate fracking.
The Obama administration promptly appealed, and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was due to consider the case this year.
The Trump administration has maintained that the federal government does have authority over fracking but has backed away from the appeal, citing plans to rethink the rule (Energywire, May 8).
Interior has already fallen behind a rulemaking timeline it outlined in court filings last month. Justice Department lawyers representing the agency said a proposed rulemaking would appear in the Federal Register by June 13. No such notice has been published (Energywire, June 15).
Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma, whose group challenged the rule in court, said the proposal's arrival at OMB is "an important step," and her group is "glad to see that rulemaking progressing."
Earthjustice attorney Mike Freeman, who has been defending the rule, said the latest move is "just another case of the Trump administration sacrificing our public health and the environment to pad the industry's bottom line."
While the OMB entry is classified as a proposed "rescission" of the fracking rule, agency lawyers have noted in court filings that BLM will consider revisions as part of that process.
BLM did not immediately respond to requests today for more information about the rollback plans. A spokeswoman said last week she did not know a time frame for the rulemaking process.
The administration is due to file a brief with the 10th Circuit today to argue for freezing litigation over the rule while the reconsideration process moves forward.Methane rule
Democrats on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, are setting their sights on another Interior rule sidelined by the new administration.
In a letter this week to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Tom Udall of New Mexico criticized the agency's decision to freeze major provisions of an Obama-era rule to cut methane emissions from oil and gas development on public and tribal lands.
The delay applies to parts of the Methane And Waste Prevention Rule that takes effect in January 2018 and comes at the urging of several industry groups that consider the rule costly and duplicative. Separate efforts to kill the standards using the Congressional Review Act failed last month.
In last week's announcement, Interior cited Administrative Procedure Act authority that allows agencies to postpone challenged rules pending judicial review. But critics say the agency is stretching that authority far beyond the APA's intent.
Cantwell and Udall noted that the APA provision, Section 705, allows agencies to postpone the effective date of regulations being litigated. They say that does not extend to rules that are already in effect. The first phase of Interior's methane rule kicked in five months ago, and the next phase begins next year.
"This claim equates the 'effective date' of a rule as a whole with a 'compliance date' by which an industry must comply with individual requirements established by the rule," the letter says.
"The effect of this claim is to allow the Department, according to its whim, to suspend properly promulgated regulations with no public notice and comment nor any legal reasoning beyond an unsubstantiated claim that 'justice requires' suspension of a rule that has already gone into effect."
Cantwell sent a similar letter to Zinke in March challenging Interior's use of the APA provision to stall compliance requirements for the agency's valuation rule for calculating royalties on fossil fuels produced on federal lands.
Environmental groups are already suing over the delay of the valuation rule and have signaled plans to sue over the methane rule freeze (Energywire, June 15).
The rollbacks are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to prioritize domestic energy production and unwind Obama-era environmental regulations.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056305
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Texas Urged to Bolster Fracking Research
Jun 20, 2017 | Inside EPA
As energy companies step up their oil production in the Southwest's Permian Basin, a Texas-based scientific consortium is recommending additional research on the potential negative impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water and wastewater treatment and disposal supplies.
The study, “Environmental and Community Impacts of Shale Development in Texas,” conducted by the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST), concludes that “some of the most significant public concerns surrounding the application of hydraulic fracturing operations regards possible effects on both the available supply of water and possible effects on water quality.”
Among those concerns: although water used in fracking represents less than 1 percent of total water use statewide in Texas, “in some regions and locales, water used in hydraulic fracturing represents a significantly larger proportion of local water sources”; brackish groundwater and produced water for fracking can reduce freshwater use but that can lead to an increase in impacts to land and water due to spills and leaks; surface spills and well casing leaks near the surface are the most likely pathways for oil and gas activities to lead to contamination of drinking water sources; and that “information on spills and leaks from oil and gas activities in Texas is less accessible and detailed than in some states, potentially limiting the ability to identify sources and root causes.”
The researchers recommended “additional research to evaluate potential negative impacts” of treating produced water “for uses that have minimal quality requirements, such as for hydraulic fracturing.”
And the researchers make a host of recommendations for additional research areas in water availability and supply -- suggesting that research on “life-cycle risks related to water management decisions” should be conducted, that data “relevant to communication between water-bearing and producing strata -- including non-commercial flow zones” should be shared, and that statewide leak and spill reporting requirements for produced water “should be considered.”
The study was spurred in part by the projection that production from Texas' portion of Permian basin will be over 10 million barrels per day at some point in 2018.
Although the study was conducted by Texas researchers on shale resources and their effects in the state, the researchers say they hope “that other U.S. States and nations around the world that are in the midst of debate and discussion about shale resources likewise will find it informative and useful,” writes Task Force Chair Christine Ehlig-Economides, a professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/texas-urged-bolster-fracking-research
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EQT Promises Efficiencies in Creating U.S.'s Largest Producer
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
EQT Corp. yesterday announced plans to buy Rice Energy Inc. for $8.2 billion, in a deal that highlights the transformation of the Marcellus Shale's industry as a company that once focused on local natural gas distribution cements its role as a dominant player in exploration and production.
Pittsburgh-based EQT said the deal, in which it will pay $6.7 billion in cash and $1.5 billion to cover Canonsburg, Pa.-based Rice's debt, will make it the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The combined company would have a total sales volume of 3.6 billion cubic feet equivalent per day.
"This transaction brings together two of the top Marcellus and Utica producers to form a natural gas operating position that will be unmatched in the industry," EQT President and CEO Steve Schlotterbeck said in a statement on the deal.
Schlotterbeck stressed the synergy between the two companies' assets in describing how it would add value to EQT. "Rice has built an outstanding company with an acreage footprint that is largely contiguous to our existing acreage," he said, noting that the combination would allow EQT to drill longer underground wells and put more wells on a single drilling pad, providing higher production per site. The company expects to be able to drill wells that reach 50 percent farther laterally from the well pad in certain Pennsylvania counties once the deal closes.
Those kinds of efficiency improvements are important for producers as the Mid-Atlantic industry faces intense competition and prices that have stayed low, largely below $3 per million British thermal units, over the past few years.
EQT describes itself as an industry leader in "environmental conscientiousness" and said the combination of two companies that are among the country's "largest, lowest-cost, and most responsible natural gas producers creates an unparalleled leader in shale gas development that will benefit the environment and our shareholders for many decades to come."
The transfer of Rice's pipeline assets also holds promise for EQT as the Appalachian region's takeaway infrastructure gradually catches up with potential production and prepares to serve new natural gas export facilities being built in Maryland, Georgia and along the Gulf Coast.
Several new pipelines being proposed to boost regional takeaway capacity have attracted strong opposition from environmentalists and local groups
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056261
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Meet the Potential Deputy. 'Moderate' or a Hand of 'Evil'?
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Climatwire
By Emily Holden, Robin Bravender & Niina Heikkinen
An air chief from the George W. Bush administration could become second in command at U.S. EPA, raising objections from conservatives who find him too moderate and worrying environmentalists about the presence of a skilled navigator who could advance a weak climate agenda.
Jeff Holmstead, a partner at the firm Bracewell LLP, has represented the coal industry and fought the Obama administration's power-sector climate standards.
If chosen as deputy administrator, Holmstead could help EPA rescind the Clean Power Plan, and he may have a say in whether the agency replaces it with a far less stringent rule.
In the past, he has said EPA would be on safer legal ground if it had focused the rule on coal plant efficiency, rather than trying to achieve much more ambitious shifts away from coal to natural gas and renewable power. Holmstead has also suggested that he accepts the endangerment finding requiring the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. That has drawn sharp rebukes from conservative groups.
While Holmstead was viewed as a pariah by many on the left during the Bush administration, some conservatives now see him as too moderate and have mounted an effort to keep him out of any job at EPA.
Republicans on the far right have called him "part of the swamp" and too centrist on environmental issues to fulfill the Trump agenda. One source called Holmstead a "very unpopular choice among hardcore conservatives."
That's in part because of his stance that remaining in the Paris climate agreement is "important as a political statement." In an interview with the Washington Examiner last year, he advised against a Republican president pulling out of the accord, because "you would be using up a lot of political capital on something that doesn't matter very much."
He has expressed support for a Republican pathway toward climate action that focuses on technology, innovation and basic research, "instead of spending billions and billions of dollars on subsidizing things that aren't competitive yet."
Green groups disagree with the idea that Holmstead is a centrist.
Frank O'Donnell, president of environmental advocacy group Clean Air Watch, said, "It is a sign of how far to the extreme right the Trump administration has gone on environment that Jeff Holmstead would be considered a moderating force.
"Jeff is not somebody I would characterize as a crazy," O'Donnell added. "I think if he would come in here, his job is going to be to execute what the policies of the administration are. It's not like he's a white knight by any means."
Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, said of Holmstead, "I think there are people who think having somebody who actually knows the law is not the worst thing in the world.
"He's worked at EPA; he understands how to get done what the administration wants to get done," Becker added. "What the administration wants to do is evil, and he will help them do evil more effectively than the people who are crackpots and crazy people."
Others on the left say a potential return by Holmstead to EPA is troubling because the former air chief understands the law and the agency so well.
Joanne Spalding, a lawyer for the Sierra Club, said Holmstead is "pretty knowledgeable about the Clean Air Act and how to manipulate the statute in ways that can minimize the obligations of polluters to reduce their pollution."
John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council said there's "no reason" to think Holmstead would be a moderating force.
"In the Bush EPA, Mr. Holmstead loyally executed that administration's anti-environmental agenda — and was overturned in court more than any prior or subsequent head of EPA's air program," Walke said.
Another longtime environmental lawyer said Holmstead would be "the most effective person to implement the Trump regulatory rollback. The Trump people could not hope for a better person to effectuate their dreams of massive regulatory rollbacks on industry."
Axios first reported yesterday that Holmstead is at the top of the list to fill the No. 2 spot at EPA. Scott Segal, who works with Holmstead at Bracewell, has said the news seemed "highly premature." Holmstead is traveling and was not available to comment, although he frequently makes himself available to the media in his role at Bracewell.
Paul Noe, vice president for public policy at the American Forest & Paper Association, is also on the list of potential EPA deputy administrators, according to one source close to EPA.Legal arguments, not ideology
Holmstead has decades of experience working in the private sector and federal government.
He was executive counsel for President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993 and later worked under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, leading EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, where he helped write mercury standards for coal plants.
He has lobbied for coal and energy industry clients while at Latham & Watkins LLP and Bracewell.
Most recently, he has worked with opponents of the Clean Power Plan.
EPA is still figuring out how to move forward on the rule. The agency earlier this month sent a rulemaking to rescind the Clean Power Plan to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. But EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt yesterday met with power company CEOs to discuss "possible next steps for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act," according to utility trade group the Edison Electric Institute.
Holmstead has repeatedly argued that EPA stepped outside its authority in setting state carbon standards by looking at how much companies could rely on natural gas and renewables. Pruitt agrees, although it's unclear whether he wants to replace the regulation or just rescind it and await lawsuits from environmental groups.
"EPA is trying to change the statute," Holmstead said to Science in 2015. "But what the statute has meant, and the way EPA has interpreted it for 40 years, is as the best system for controlling emissions from an individual power plant."
In February, he told Reuters that EPA used a section of the Clean Air Act that is normally meant for pollution standards at individual sources and said, "We don't think we are limited to that. ... We can order that billions of dollars of business be taken away from coal plants.
"That's a pretty remarkable assertion of authority," he said.Killing time?
Holmstead's stance was a core argument in court for opponents of the rule in September, and other industry lawyers have said Trump's EPA should not just rescind but replace the regulation.
"I have said that I think a replacement rule is the smart way to go, for multiple reasons," said Bill Bumpers, an environmental partner who focuses on clean air law at Baker Botts LLP. He added that Holmstead is "a very smart guy with good experience at EPA."
Replacing the regulation might make it harder to fight in court. Judges typically give agencies leeway in setting standards.
Howard Fox, a lawyer with Earthjustice, argues that the emissions reductions in a replacement would have to be meaningful.
"They have to point to what this means for reducing emissions," Fox said.
Christi Tezak, an analyst with ClearView Energy Partners, noted that Holmstead "has firsthand experience managing a rulemaking based on a strict interpretation of the statute's wording in the past — a direction this administration seems to prefer — experience that may be very helpful to Administrator Pruitt in the deputy administrator's seat when working through this and other rulemakings under reconsideration."
She explained that while Holmstead was air administrator under George W. Bush, EPA delisted mercury under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act and then promulgated a trading program under Section 110 in 2005.
The D.C. Circuit vacated that approach, and a replacement program, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, wasn't finalized until December 2011. Compliance was delayed until 2015 and 2016, following more lawsuits.
Something similar could happen with the Clean Power Plan.
If EPA writes a limited rule and the courts disagree with it, the judicial review process might continue for years. In the meantime, the power sector could see a more lenient standard than the Clean Power Plan.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056276
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Truck Crashes Among the Shale Boom's Worst Impacts — Report
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Texas needs to increase its funding for rural roads to offset the deaths and damage caused by the shale-drilling boom, and needs to do more research on the environmental and social effects of the drilling industry, according to a report from the state's top scientists.
The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas spent more than a year reviewing the existing scientific literature on the impacts of the yearslong boom in shale drilling. While drilling has boosted the state's economy, its impact isn't widely understood, in part because of a lack of data, the report said.
The academy is made up of the Texas-based members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and all of the state's Nobel Prize laureates. The report was written by 19 researchers from universities, corporations and a nonprofit group. It was funded in part by the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, which was established by one of the pioneers of shale drilling.
The report also looked at the industry's impact on the number of earthquakes in the state, air quality, water quality, land issues such as fragmentation of wildlife habitat and social impacts such as the uneven distribution of wealth.
Shale drilling has helped revive the Texas oil and gas industry, and has led to drilling booms in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Colorado and other states. Unlike conventional oil formations, which can often be accessed with a handful of wells, shale fields require a constant cycle of drilling and hydraulic fracturing to maintain production.
Each shale well can require 988 to 1,708 loaded truck trips over its life cycle, making the wear on roads one of the broadest and most visible impacts of the boom (Energywire, Jan. 20, 2015).
"The traffic safety issue is one of the most pressing concerns we found," said John Barton, a researcher at Texas A&M University.
Between 2010 and 2013, there were 183 fatal crashes involving trucks or other commercial vehicles in West Texas' Permian Basin oil field. That's nearly double the number, 94 crashes, from the previous four-year period, the report said. There were similar, though smaller, increases in traffic deaths in South Texas' Eagle Ford Shale.
The truck traffic also causes between $1.5 billion and $2 billion a year in damage to rural and secondary roads, which in turn costs the trucking industry $1.5 billion to $3.5 billion a year in equipment damage and lost time, according to the report.
The report concluded that local communities need better information on future oil and gas development so they can plan for the increase in traffic. At the state level, Texas needs "reliable, stable funding" for transportation.
The Texas Legislature called elections in 2014 and 2015 that led to increases in road funding, but there's still a significant gap (Energywire, Nov. 4, 2015).
"For the most part, the unmet needs continue to exceed the availability of the existing funds," the report said.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056259
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PHMSA Will Delay Enforcement of Some Gas-Storage Rules
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Federal pipeline regulators won't enforce parts of their newly written regulations on natural gas storage facilities while they consider a petition to change the rules.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, was scheduled to announce the change today in the Federal Register.
Companies that operate storage facilities will have to comply with reporting requirements and other parts of the rules, but PHMSA won't enforce certain other aspects, according to the Federal Register notice and a related post on PHMSA's website.
PHMSA has been working since early 2016 to write the regulations in response to a massive gas leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility in Southern California. The agency adopted a set of interim final rules in January and planned to revise them within a year (Energywire, July 15, 2016).
The American Gas Association and other trade groups filed a petition asking the agency to reconsider the rules, saying some of the provisions created an "unnecessary burden" on the industry, the notice says, but PHMSA didn't have time to fully consider the petition. Instead, it will address both the petition to reconsider and the comments to the interim rules when it develops the final rules next year.
Aliso Canyon is an old oil field that was converted to hold natural gas for storage. An aging well at the site began leaking in late October 2015 and wasn't plugged until February 2016. It released 90,000 tons of methane, roughly equal to the greenhouse gas emissions of 500,000 cars in a year.
Congress ordered PHMSA to write regulations for the nation's roughly 400 natural gas storage facilities when it reauthorized the agency last year.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056273
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Sharing Data Protects Our Nation’s Critical Infrastructure
Jun 19, 2017 | The Hill
By Dave McCurdy
When WannaCry cyber-attacks struck corporations throughout Europe and Asia, America’s natural gas utilities maximized information sharing systems for near real-time communication of threat information and mitigation techniques. Through solid public-private partnerships with the Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the government intelligence community, symptoms, fixes and other relevant data were shared quickly and efficiently.
Within hours, gas companies could confidently confirm that no compromise in connection with WannaCry had been identified by a domestic natural gas utility.
Natural gas utilities have a responsibility to their customers and communities for safe, reliable delivery. Natural gas provides essential energy for furnaces, water heaters and stoves and benefits nearly 68 million residential customers and 5.4 million commercial customers like restaurants, stores and schools. Nearly 200,000 U.S. industrial facilities make the products we use every day with natural gas, and it is increasingly used for generating electricity.
Natural gas has made energy more affordable, accessible, reliable and efficient — boosting the United States’ economy over that past decade and leading to the lowest carbon dioxide emissions in 25 years.
Pipelines transport natural gas from the site of production to the consumer. Statistics show that natural gas pipelines are one of the safest forms of energy transportation. Because of the engineered resilience of the pipeline system, natural gas delivery outages are extremely rare even under the most extreme circumstances.
Advanced natural gas systems such as combined heat and power (CHP) can generate electricity in a building with clean natural gas and create heat to warm the same facility. In the fall of 2012, Superstorm Sandy caused electric outages across much of the northeast, but at Princeton University and New York University, their CHP systems kept the lights on and the students remained warm. Hotels, hospitals and senior living communities are investing in these distributed generation systems because they can be assured they will not be left in the dark.
This advanced era in energy delivery is accompanied by emerging threats to our security. America and its institutions are under attack by enemies foreign and domestic who need only a computer to wreak havoc on our day-to-day lives. It is incumbent upon the private sector and our government to work together and remain on the cybersecurity offensive.
America’s investor-owned natural gas utilities are meeting the threat daily via skilled personnel, robust cybersecurity system protections, an industry commitment to security and a successful ongoing cybersecurity partnership with federal and state governments.
Just as with pipeline safety, natural gas utilities apply layers of resilience for cybersecurity by employing firewalls and other tools to improve the prevention, detection and mitigation of cyber penetration. Further, natural gas delivery systems are mechanical by nature and can still be run manually if necessary. We move natural gas using pressure to control the amount entering and leaving the system. Layered onto this control system architecture are devices that detect changes in pressure, which serve as a safeguard to prevent internal gas pressure from threatening pipeline integrity.
The proactive outreach of DHS and DOE to the natural gas industry regarding WannaCry situational awareness is a successful example of public-private partnerships at work. The information sharing system used by gas utilities provides all natural gas distribution and transmission companies in the U.S. and Canada unfettered access to real-time actionable information, security alerts and analysis to enable them to better secure their cyber and physical assets.
WannaCry is just one example of many where the natural gas industry has used the system to share information necessary to mitigate a coordinated attack. Natural gas utilities face these threats daily, and the industry grows ever stronger because of a combination of vigilance and coordination.
There are several areas where the federal government can help improve cybersecurity management by the private sector, which owns more than 80 percent of critical energy infrastructure. These include improvements to the process of getting security clearances for non-governmental personnel, the evaluation of security and products used by vendors and an accurate understanding of the intricate system of operations and regulations currently in place.
The CEOs of companies that own and operate America’s critical infrastructure welcome the White House’s engagement on furthering the public-private partnerships that enhance our cybersecurity protection capabilities. We are eager to work with the Trump administration and our industry allies on the shared goal of delivering essential energy at affordable prices and keeping our customers and communities safe.
Dave McCurdy is president and CEO of the American Gas Association, which represents more than 200 local energy utility companies delivering natural gas to 177 million Americans nationwide.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/338462-sharing-data-protects-our-nations-critical
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Creative Combatants Take on Fearsome Utility Foe 'Industroyer'
Jun 20, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
A splashy new hacking tool tailor-made to disrupt electricity can hijack old, insecure communications paths used in power grids worldwide. If the "Industroyer" gets in, it's "game over," experts say.
Adam Crain bets he can change that. The unassuming cybersecurity consultant is working with researchers at a major California utility to transform how far-flung pieces of grid equipment interact with their controllers, making attackers' lives much more difficult in the process.
"Protocols used in critical infrastructure lack any type of security," Crain said. "Once you're on a lot of utility networks, you can do anything you want."
Hackers are catching on.
At a very basic level, Industroyer is designed to flip switches and kill the flow of electricity. The attack tool can use four different control system languages, allowing it to command many pieces of grid equipment around the world.
Industroyer's fluency in grid-speak helped it cause a minor blackout in Ukraine last December, toggling circuit breakers to the "open" position at an electric substation.
"The malware was coded with advanced knowledge of grid operations and, when used in the cyber-attack in Kiev, was delivered to specifically impact the target location's control system equipment," the North American Electric Reliability Corp. said in a rare alert to grid operators last week.
NERC underscored the fact that Industroyer relies on "the inherent system-to-system trust typically found in grid operations."
In other words, the malware uses legitimate, trusted controls in harmful ways, like someone learning how to drive a stick-shift just to grind the gears. The protocols themselves, many of which were written before the internet era, often have no baked-in defenses against such misuse.
That's where Crain and company come in. The founder of the Raleigh, N.C.-based Automatak consultancy is forging ahead with a more secure communications protocol for the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that monitor and control the bulk power grid. The project, dubbed "Secure SCADA Protocol for the 21st Century," is backed by Sempra Energy subsidiary San Diego Gas & Electric as part of a broader grid modernization push in California, California Energy Systems for the 21st Century.
Program manager Corey McClelland said the idea for a secure SCADA protocol gained traction in 2014, after the utility identified a "key gap" in research there. In addition to contracting Crain, whom McClelland called "one of the top SCADA protocol guys in the country," SDG&E has assigned two of its own cybersecurity engineers to the project.
McClelland hopes to have the secure protocol project installed in actual grids by early 2018, an ambitious target for an industry that can have a lot of inertia.
Crain and McClelland are both pushing for their draft protocol, SSP-21, to be open source, meaning control system vendors and utilities around the world could freely (and quickly) adopt it.
"It would be known by our adversaries as well, but the whole idea behind it is that it's unique for each of the pieces of equipment that it would work with," McClelland explained. "So while some things should be secure and not talked about, this protocol is an outlier from that perspective. We're hoping people use it."Locks and wrappers
What goes into a secure protocol exactly?
It helps to consider one you're using right now: Transport Layer Security, or TLS, which works behind the scenes to protect exchanges between your computer (or phone) and "https" websites.
In TLS, a browser typically initiates a secret "handshake" with the server you'd like to securely communicate with, whether to view an article like this one or to log into your online bank account. Before any content from the site pops up in your browser, your computer has already exchanged the keys needed to encrypt all data sent back and forth during your visit. A successful connection requires a range of conditions to be met, including the presence of trusted certificates to verify each party's identity. These certificates are often furnished by authorities such as Symantec Corp. and Comodo Group Inc.
By contrast, many popular grid protocols, such as DNP3, don't make any effort to authenticate or encrypt communications. In other words, a hacker sitting on a control network could easily snoop on communications to learn about how the system works. An attacker could also pretend to be a control center and send a command to a remote piece of equipment, and there would be no built-in mechanism for determining if the signal is authentic.
Four years ago, Crain joined security researcher Chris Sistrunk to demonstrate how many popular protocols could be abused to crash control centers outright, effectively blinding grid operators in some cases.
"We wanted to test everything we could get our hands on to see how widespread the problems were," recalled Sistrunk, principal consultant at cybersecurity firm Mandiant.
Their discoveries implicated control system vendors like Rockwell Automation and Schneider Electric SE, and brought a series of alerts from the Department of Homeland Security. The problems were eventually fixed.
Still, Sistrunk pointed out that "many [industrial control system] vendors still use insecure ICS protocols." He credited SSP-21 as one potential solution, noting that it can act like a secure "wrapper" for existing, previously insecure connections.
But why don't utilities just use TLS, if that works for so many websites?
Crain explained that while that would be possible, it likely wouldn't be practical. A cryptographic protocol built for the web is enormously complex, making it clunky and time-consuming to use in comparatively bare-bones operational networks.
"We've taken a lot of the capability of TLS but created a much more stripped-down protocol," Crain explained.No silver bullet
The hackers behind Industroyer crafted it to use four types of industrial communications: IEC 101, IEC 104, IEC 61850 and OPC Data Access, according to Slovakian cybersecurity firm ESET.
"The protocols targeted by Industroyer are old and insecure by design," Robert Lipovsky, senior malware researcher at ESET, noted in an email. "Therefore, attackers didn't need to develop any exploits of vulnerabilities but merely 'teach' the malware how to 'speak' these protocols, and they're able to send commands."
SSP-21 "does appear more secure, which would make an attack more difficult and costly," Lipovsky said. "Chances of success boil down to the determination and resourcefulness of an attacker."
To Crain, the point of SSP-21 is not to find one-size-fits-all solution to grid security, but rather work toward raising the bar for hackers as more and more devices, from solar panels to remote terminal units, link up with the power grid.
"Back before the 'smart grid,' it was feasible [for utilities] to rely on perimeter security," he said. "You weren't connected to a whole lot of things, and you could just keep your control network segmented from your corporate network, and everyone was happy."
Now, he said, that approach is looking less viable in the face of threats like Industroyer (which is also called CrashOverride by cybersecurity firm Dragos Inc.).
"It's been an open issue in this area for a long time — that utilities really only have perimeter security when it comes to their control networks," Crain said.
He credited a few companies, including the investor-owned utilities backing SSP-21 and other projects under the California Energy Systems for the 21st Century program. "Having a consortium of utilities going out and getting a multimillion-dollar research budget for this sort of stuff was unheard of prior to 2010," Crain said.
That was the year cybersecurity researchers exposed the Stuxnet computer worm, which successfully damaged nuclear centrifuges in Iran. Never before had a piece of malware been designed to harm real-world devices.
Industroyer marks only the second such type of malware ever discovered, researchers say. It remains to be seen whether the Industroyer attack on Ukraine's grid late last year will accelerate Crain's push for control system cybersecurity.
"These attack tools do represent very real threats to power systems," said Mike Assante, head of industrial control system security at the SANS Institute cyber training organization and a former NERC official.
Assante noted that SSP-21 could potentially make grid attacks "more difficult for an adversary," though it could also introduce some challenges for grid operators, depending on its final design. For instance, the encryption used on the protocol could make troubleshooting more difficult in certain circumstances, and it could increase the lag time between control system and field device.
In any case, he said the research going into the protocol shows that "utilities are not just building walls the standards are calling for."
"Utilities are working on establishing more defensible systems," he said. "But that takes time."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056257
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Why it'd be Dangerous to Overlook Mike Pence's Record on the Environment
Jun 20, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
The investigation into Russia’s interference in our elections is critically important, but some have noted that it could be squeezing out media attention for other serious issues – including the Trump administration’s damaging environmental policies.
Case in point: Mike Pence, our usually unobtrusive vice president, who last week drew headlines for hiring a personal lawyer in wake of the Russia probe.
In reality, Pence has been an important figure in the Trump administration’s policymaking all along – not the least because his relative credibility with Republicans in Congress makes him a key lobbyist for the president’s policies.
All of which means his views on the environment worthy of our attention.His environmental score as congressman: Zero
Unlike his boss, Vice President Pence actually has a long and specific history on environmental issues.
As congressman, he voted for pro-environment positions just 4 percent of the time, according to the League of Conservation Voters scorecard.
That means he choose the path of stronger health and environmental protections, on average, once every 25 times he had the option. His annual score peaked in 2003 at lucky 13 percent.
During half his years in Congress, he earned a zero. In short, he spent his time in in the House representing the view that polluters should have few restrictions and clean energy should get less support.As governor, he sided with polluters
Pence continued on the same track as governor of Indiana.
He and the legislature canceled the Energizing Indiana program, which reportedly resulted in energy savings of about 11 million megawatt hours, significant cost savings and nearly 19,000 new jobs.
Energizing Indiana was established with support from the state’s previous Republican governor, Mitch Daniels, so it was far from a program pushed by wild-eyed environmentalists.He’s a foe of the EPA
In a 2014 opinion piece in the Indianapolis Star, Pence argued against two critical U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pollution limits.
He opposed the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard, which limits toxins that damage the brains of development of children before and after birth.
Pence also attacked the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which protects states from pollution that drifts across borders. His criticisms were based on traditional scare tactics about the economic impact of these safeguards – which have since been proven false.He rejects accepted climate science
Finally, Pence apparently disagrees with NASA, the National Academies of Science and all major American scientific organizations on climate change.
In 2009, for instance, he told MSNBC inaccurately, “I think the science is very mixed on the subject of global warming.”
Unsurprisingly, as governor of Indiana he sued the EPA to block the Clean Power Plan, the Obama-era landmark plan to reduce climate pollution from power plants.
The influence of vice presidents is often overlooked. But these days, the job involves far more than attending funerals and christening ships. The record suggests that Pence, the only member of the administration who can’t be fired, is likely to use his influence to re-enforce the Trump’s zeal for tearing down key clean air and water safeguards.
It’s time to take Mr. Pence seriously as a threat to our environment.
https://www.edf.org/blog/2017/06/20/why-itd-be-dangerous-overlook-mike-pences-record-environment
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E.U. to Trump: No Renegotiating Accord
Jun 20, 2017 | Reuters (in E&E Climatewire)
By Robin Emmott
The European Union plans to deepen ties with other signatories of the Paris Agreement to ensure it's executed even without the United States.
The 28-nation bloc yesterday rejected President Trump's overtures to renegotiate the global climate accord, with the foreign ministers of E.U. countries issuing a joint statement saying the Paris Agreement is "fit for purpose and cannot be renegotiated."
The European Union has already pledged closer cooperation with China — the world's largest greenhouse gas polluter — to limit global climate change to less than 2 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels.
Trump pulled the United States from the 195-member agreement on June 1, saying it would hurt the U.S. economy.
"We are building strong global alliances to make sure that the Paris Agreement will be upheld, even after Trump's decision to step back," said the European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/06/20/stories/1060056253
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