Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 7/28/17
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(ACC Mentioned) No June Swoon for Commodity Resin Prices
Jul 28, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
PET was the only major North American commodity resin to show any movement in June, and that material recorded only a half-cent-per-pound increase for bottle resin. -
(ACC Mentioned) Wallace: Marine Debris Can, for the Most Part, Be Prevented
Jul 28, 2017 | The Cordova Timse
By Nancy Wallace
The MDP, guided by the Marine Debris Act, is focused around five program pillars: research, removal, prevention, emergency response and regional coordination. -
WHO Report Calls for Monitoring and Modelling of Chemical Mixtures in Water
Jul 28, 2017 | Chemical Watch
There is a lack of systematic data on human exposure to chemical mixtures in water systems, according to a WHO report. -
From Idaho to Massachusetts, Consumers Ask Albertsons to Turn up the Heat on Toxic Chemicals This Summer
Jul 27, 2017 | Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families
By Beth Kemler and Cindy Luppi
Last week consumers across the country came together to call on Albertsons and its subsidiaries, such as Safeway, Acme, Jewel-Osco and Shaw’s, to go toxic-free. -
House Committee Pushes US FDA to Review Feminine Wash Petition
Jul 28, 2017 | Chemical Watch
A US House of Representatives committee has urged the Food and Drug Administration to respond to an NGO petition on the appropriate use of colourants in feminine washes. -
Dow, DuPont Try to Lure Millennials with Green Tech
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont are looking for new avenues of growth and ways to build a stronger connection with millennials, and they may have found one in building sustainable "green" products. -
(ACC Mentioned) New Report Shows Potential for Major Appalachian Petrochemical Industry
Jul 28, 2017 | The Lane Report
An economic report released by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) shows that the Appalachian region could become a second center of U.S. petrochemical and plastic resin manufacturing, similar to the Gulf Coast. -
Court to Decide Fate of Federal Fracking Authority — or Not
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Energywatch
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A panel of judges spent yesterday morning grappling with a major legal issue affecting federal oversight of oil and gas development: Does the government have authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing? -
Gas Production Tax Approved but Faces Strong Opposition
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Pennsylvania state senators narrowly approved a budget plan yesterday that would impose a tax on natural gas production, while reducing some environmental regulations, as part of a compromise intended to break a three-week-old stalemate. -
FERC Faces Constitutional Challenge over Mountain Valley Project
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A controversial Appalachian natural gas project is facing a new legal assault that takes aim at the standard federal process for pipeline approvals. -
Dems Want FERC to Take a Closer Look at Rover Developer
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Sam Mintz
Two Democratic lawmakers want the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to expand its investigation of the company behind the beleaguered Rover pipeline. -
(ACC Mentioned) Delay of U.S. Chemical Safety Rule Challenged
Jul 28, 2017 | Chemical and Engineering News
By Jeff Johnson
Eleven state attorneys general say they will file suit to block the Trump Administration’s delay of a final regulation intended to protect communities and workers from chemical accidents. -
Hacking for Real Damage Still Takes 'Boutique' Touch
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
To hack a power grid, you may need a doctorate. At the very least, you should be pursuing one. -
Trump Admin Will Still Report U.S. Emissions to World Body
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Zack Colman and Jean Chemnick
The Trump administration will honor its treaty obligation to provide U.S. greenhouse emissions data to the United Nations despite the president's decision to leave the Paris Agreement, administration officials said.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News
Transportation and Infrastructure News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) No June Swoon for Commodity Resin Prices
Jul 28, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
As the George Gershwin classic almost said, it's summertime and the resin pricin' is easy.
PET was the only major North American commodity resin to show any movement in June, and that material recorded only a half-cent-per-pound increase for bottle resin. Prices for all other grades of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and PVC were flat for the month.
The PET hike was tied into higher demand for the material and slightly higher feedstock costs. It came after prices had slipped a penny per pound in May. The June hike ends a streak of three straight monthly declines totaling 3.5 cents per pound for the material.
Prior to those declines, regional PET prices had increased for six consecutive months, with those increases totaling 9.5 cents per pound.Recent PE prices
Regional PE prices had dropped 3 cents per pound in May. That move wiped out a 3-cent hike that had taken hold in March. U.S./Canadian PE sales were mixed through May, according to the American Chemistry Council.
Sales of high density PE in the region were down almost 4 percent in the first five months of the year, as a domestic sales gain of almost 3 percent was wiped out by a drop of 25 percent in export sales. Low density PE sales in the region ticked up 0.5 percent in that period, with a domestic sales drop of 1 percent negated by an export sales gain of more than 5 percent.
In linear LDPE, regional sales grew almost 2 percent, as domestic growth of 4.5 percent was lowered by an almost 7 percent drop in export sales.
Domestic HDPE growth was fueled by a five-month surge of almost 24 percent in non-corrugated pipe and conduit. That wave included growth of 27 percent in water pipe and of almost 20 percent in gas distribution pipe.
LDPE found domestic sales growth in non-packaging film, where five-month sales were up 6 percent. For LLDPE, domestic sales into food packaging film soared 7 percent through May.
In PE feedstocks, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices began June at $48.50 per barrel and ended the month around $47, for a drop of 3 percent. Regional prices for natural gas — used as a feedstock in most North American PE and PVC — started the month at $3.05 per million BTUs but were at $2.95 by the end of the month, for a decline of just over 3 percent.PP decline stopped
A 7.5-cent PP decline in May came after prices for the material had dropped 6 cents in April. This two-month, 13.5-cent downturn comes after prices rose an average of 20.5 cents in the first three months of the year.
North American PP sales haven't been strong in the first five months of 2017, essentially coming in flat vs. the same period in 2016. Domestic PP sales fell almost 0.5 percent in that period, while export sales jumped 7 percent.PS sales off to a rough start
For PS, a 2-cent May decline was the second consecutive such move. Some buyers reported seeing a 3-cent drop, but most saw the 2-cent decrease, which had been announced by PS maker Americas Styrenics. AmSty now has announced a 2-cent increase effective Aug. 1.
PS prices had fallen by 5 cents in April after increasing by 6 cents in March. These moves have been driven by price volatility for benzene feedstock, which is used to make styrene monomer.
North American PS sales are off to a rough start in 2017, falling more than 2 percent through May. Sales of PS into consumer and institutional uses were down almost 9 percent in that period. PS sales into the electrical/electronic sector provided a bright spot, increasing more than 3 percent in those five months.PVC remains flat
Regional PVC prices in June were flat for the third consecutive month. This flat spell has followed a two-month stretch in which prices increased a total of 6 cents per pound.
Through May, U.S./Canadian PVC sales were down almost 1 percent. Domestic sales grew almost 3 percent but were eclipsed by an export sales drop of more than 8 percent.
Domestic PVC growth in those five months came primarily from its dominant rigid pipe and tubing sector, where sales increased almost 5 percent.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20170728/NEWS/170729891/no-june-swoon-for-commodity-resin-prices
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(ACC Mentioned) Wallace: Marine Debris Can, for the Most Part, Be Prevented
Jul 28, 2017 | The Cordova Timse
By Nancy Wallace
The MDP, guided by the Marine Debris Act, is focused around five program pillars: research, removal, prevention, emergency response and regional coordination.
Research
A key tenet of the MDP is research. Congress recognized the need for research that determines the sources and helps us understand the adverse impacts of debris on the marine environment and navigation safety. 33 U.S.C. § 1952(b)(1). The field of marine debris research is relatively young with many questions that need to be answered in order to advance our understanding of the relationship between marine debris and the environment. Over the past 10 years, NOAA has funded research projects focusing on the effects of microplastics on marine species, development of standardized methods for marine debris monitoring, and assessment of the economic and environmental impacts of derelict fishing gear and consumer debris. For example, the program funded a 2014 study that evaluated the economic costs of marine debris on beaches in southern California. Authors found that a twenty-five percent decrease in marine debris could result in ~$32 million in beach recreation benefits to local residents during the summer months (Leggett et al. 2014).
Currently, NOAA is collaborating with several academic partners to quantify and characterize microplastic debris in the Mississippi River and how it may eventually affect the Gulf of Mexico. This study and others are working to fill critical knowledge gaps about microplastics and other debris types in terms of where it is coming from, where it ends up, and how it is impacting the environment. In continuing to fill such gaps, the program plans to fund new research projects in FY17.
Removal
Since its inception, the MDP has been actively involved in marine debris removal across the United States. A portion of the program’s budget goes toward supporting removal projects annually, including locally driven, community-based marine debris prevention and removal projects that benefit coastal habitat, waterways, and wildlife including migratory fish.
Removal of marine debris can be logistically challenging, particularly in remote locations such as Alaska. NOAA is currently supporting a derelict crab pot removal and recycling effort by the Douglas Indian Association in Gastineau Channel, outside of Juneau, Alaska, aimed at reducing loss of commercial species to ghost-fishing. In the last few months, tribal members have worked with other partners such as the Alaska State Troopers to identify, quantify, remove, and recycle or return derelict pots as well as discussed data applications and steps forward. The program is also partnering with the Sitka Sound Science Center to remove marine debris from remote, marine debris “hotspot” communities in the Bering Sea, such as Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island and St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands.
Prevention
One of the most effective ways to reduce marine debris is through prevention, which requires that boaters, fishermen, industry, and the general public have the knowledge and training to change the behaviors that create marine debris. NOAA’s robust outreach and education activities focus on improving awareness and changing behavior through developing and disseminating public information, and by partnering with and providing funding support to external groups including academic partners, local governments, and nonprofit groups.
One of the greatest challenges of prevention is finding effective ways to reach diverse audiences and help them discover how they can participate in local solutions to marine debris. The National Aquarium in Maryland, in partnership with NOAA, is working with underserved communities in Baltimore to create a network of leaders to spearhead prevention efforts such as community cleanup events and communication trainings. In Mississippi, Ship Island Excursions is using their ferry service as a platform to educate passengers, many of which are students from underserved schools, on the impacts of marine debris on the Gulf of Mexico, and how they can prevent the issue.
The materials and products from our other partnerships, such as marine debris curricula, are all free and downloadable from the MDP website, and the program’s regional coordinators do extensive boots-on-the ground outreach year-round to promote and share these products.
Regional Coordination
Working with non-governmental, regional, and international organizations, academia, and local, state, and federal governments will enhance marine debris efforts across the country. The program’s regional coordinators extensively cover marine debris issues in the Pacific Islands, West Coast, Alaska, Great Lakes, East Coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean. While these coordinators focus on the local, state, and regional issues as a part of the national program, they also bring in lessons learned and make connections across the country and the world.
NOAA is leading an effort with states to develop marine debris action plans, which outline major goals for preventing and reducing marine debris. Marine debris action plans are complete for Virginia, Florida, the Great Lakes, Oregon, and Hawaii, with plans in progress for the Gulf of Maine, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, California, and Alaska. NOAA also continues to work with partners throughout the country to develop and test innovative and cost-effective methods of detection and removal of marine debris, and to engage the public and industry, including shippers and fishermen, and the recreational community on marine debris.
Emergency Response
Coastal storms and natural disasters are another source of marine debris that create hazards in our inland and coastal waters. NOAA has responded to emergency events including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the American Samoa and Japan tsunamis, and Superstorm Sandy. Following the Japan Tsunami, the program spearheaded detection, modeling, monitoring, planning, and removal efforts for debris from Japan that made its way to U.S. shores. NOAA also contributed initial funding to the states of Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California for removal and response efforts, and was responsible for administering the monetary gift from Japan of $5 million under the Gift Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1522, to assist with debris removal in these states. Similarly, following Superstorm Sandy, NOAA worked with the affected states (Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware) on debris modeling, surveying, and removal using funds from the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013.
NOAA also works with federal, state, and local partners to develop Emergency Response Plans that outline the processes and roles of each partner for responding to and recovering from a severe marine debris event, such as a hurricane. To date, plans have been completed for North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, and plans for Louisiana and Virginia are currently in progress.
National Coordination
As mandated in the Marine Debris Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1954, NOAA is the chair of the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee (IMDCC), a multi-agency body that is responsible for streamlining the federal government’s efforts to address marine debris. Representative agencies coordinate a comprehensive program of marine debris activities and report to Congress every two years on research priorities, monitoring techniques, educational programs, and regulatory action. Members include: Departments of State, Interior, Justice, and Homeland Security; U.S. Navy; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission.
This IMDCC Progress Report provides an update on the activities of federal agencies to address marine debris, as mandated by the Marine Debris Act. In 2008, the IMDCC delivered the “Interagency Report on Marine Debris Sources, Impacts, Strategies, and Recommendations.” Subsequent biennial progress reports have evaluated progress in meeting the purposes of the Act and these recommendations.
In addition to the IMDCC, the program also partners with other agencies on funded projects, such as a recently completed collaboration with the National Park Service and Clemson University that collected and analyzed beach sediments to assess the abundance and distribution of microplastics and microfibers on U.S. National Park beaches. NOAA has also been contributing to a multi-year, multi-partner effort between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others to remove debris from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. In April 2017, ~100,000 pounds of derelict fishing gear and plastics were transported from Midway and Kure Atolls to Honolulu, and incorporated into the Hawaii Nets-to-Energy program, a highly successful strategic partnership between agencies, industry, and local partners. NOAA, the City and County of Honolulu, the State of Hawaii, Covanta Energy Corporation/H-Power, and Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. work together to convert derelict fishing gear and plastics into energy. Since its initiation in 2002, this program has created enough electricity to power over 350 homes for a year in O’ahu. NOAA plans to foster similar collaborations with other agencies and industry partners moving forward.
NOAA has also worked extensively with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) on contingency and emergency response planning on the West coast and in the Southeast and Gulf of Mexico, respectively. Additionally, the USCG provided valuable sighting reports of marine debris from the Japan tsunami to NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R), which houses the MDP. From these data, OR&R was able to generate trajectories for locating and removing debris items that landed on U.S. shorelines.
International Engagement
Marine debris is a global problem that has local solutions. In many countries, population size and consumption of plastic and other consumer debris are increasing more quickly than the capacity to manage waste, and thus solutions must be shaped to address country-specific challenges. To help others move forward in finding their own unique solutions, NOAA works closely with the Department of State and participates in other international efforts including: the U.N. Environment Global Partnership on Marine Litter (chair), the G7 and G20 Marine Litter Cooperation, the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) (co-chair), the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (co-chair), the African Marine Waste Network, and implementation of Indonesia’s National Action Plan on Marine Plastic Debris. As the APEC co-chair, NOAA is working to increase collaboration with industry and non- government organizations, such as the American Chemistry Council, Ocean Conservancy, and other international partners that will help address the diverse waste management challenges around the world to minimize the amount of marine debris.
NOAA is also working with the U.N. Environment Programme to help organize and facilitate the 6th International Marine Debris Conference in San Diego, California, March 12-16, 2018. The conference will bring together more than
Conclusion
All marine debris comes from humans, and thus it is a problem we can, for the most part, prevent. NOAA will continue to pursue on-the-ground research, prevention, and reduction of marine debris nationwide and work with international and other partners to find solutions that fit the unique challenges posed by marine debris, particularly with respect to waste management. While the problem of marine debris has existed for decades and has received considerable attention from NOAA and other partners, there is still much to learn as we work to address the impacts of marine debris on the environment, marine species, and human health and safety. NOAA is committed to investigating and preventing the adverse impacts of marine debris, and looks forward to working with the Committee to achieve our vision of seeing the global ocean and coasts free of debris.
http://www.thecordovatimes.com/2017/07/28/wallace-marine-debris-can-part-prevented/
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WHO Report Calls for Monitoring and Modelling of Chemical Mixtures in Water
Jul 28, 2017 | Chemical Watch
There is a lack of systematic data on human exposure to chemical mixtures in water systems, according to a WHO report.
The expert report on Chemical mixtures in source water and drinking water calls for investigative monitoring and modelling to improve understanding of human and environmental exposures.
The report points out there is currently no "regulatory-applicable" accepted risk assessment methodology for conducting risk assessments of chemical mixtures in water.
A significant gap in exposure data is made worse by a lack of standardised sampling and analytical methods for many substances, particularly contaminants of emerging concern, write the experts.
Interactions within chemical mixtures are difficult to predict, particularly for long-term effects at very low exposure levels. Research is therefore needed to define criteria for predicting whether chemicals may act together in synergistic or antagonistic ways, the report says.Challenges
The authors acknowledge that assessing combined risks to human health from exposure to chemical mixtures is much more complex than for single substances.
Regulators, they say, face the challenge of determining the degree to which humans are co-exposed to chemicals, which interactions may occur, and which specific human health impacts are associated with chemical mixtures, says the report.
Grouping chemicals for risk assessment and management can help, the authors say. This is already done, for example, for disinfection byproducts trihalomethane and haloacetic acids.
The report uses perfluorinated substances in water systems as a possible grouping example. These substances often occur together, and now that more data on potential toxicity are emerging, it may be possible to consider them as mixtures. Such consideration would be based on PFOS being the most toxic substance in the group and using a toxicity equivalent approach, it says.
The report provides a set of questions that can help to decide whether to treat a group of substances as a mixture and which management approaches to consider. These include:
· how frequently do the chemicals occur together?
· are the substances of similar water solubility? and
· how stable is the mixture?
"In assessing the possible risks of exposure to combinations of chemicals a number of frameworks are currently in place, but significant knowledge gaps, complexity, limited practical experience and resource intensity, precludes this type of approach being systematically introduced into drinking-water standards at the present time," the report concludes.
https://chemicalwatch.com/57935/who-report-calls-for-monitoring-and-modelling-of-chemical-mixtures-in-water
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Jul 27, 2017 | Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families
By Beth Kemler and Cindy Luppi
Last week consumers across the country came together to call on Albertsons and its subsidiaries, such as Safeway, Acme, Jewel-Osco and Shaw’s, to go toxic-free. From Anchorage, AK to Greenburgh, NY to Albertsons’ hometown of Boise, ID, shoppers urged the company to turn up the heat on toxic chemicals this summer.
For the week of action:
· Consumers visited stores in: Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington, DC. Many held signs outside of stores, distributed leaflets to customers, spoke to their store managers about their concerns and spread the word on social media.
· Dozens of customers called the Albertsons customer service line encouraging the company to take action on chemicals in products.
· Over 2,500 Story of Stuff supporters signed a petition to the company, adding to the 130,000 consumers who’ve signed petitions since 2016.
· We released new research uncovering that Albertsons sells products containing toxic chemicals like lead, formaldehyde and parabens. We even found chemicals of concern in store brand products, such as sensitive skin body wash and kids’ bubble bath, sold by Albertsons.
More store visits are planned for this week in Maryland, Vermont and Washington.Albertsons Lagging Behind Other Top Retailers
Albertsons is the second largest grocery chain in the US with subsidiaries like Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw’s and Randalls and a total of 2,200 stores across the country. As one of the nation’s largest retailers, Albertsons has a responsibility to keep toxic chemicals off its shelves!
Other big retailers like Walmart, Target and CVS, are making meaningful progress in tackling toxic chemicals in products. But in the first-ever report card grading the largest retailers on toxic chemicals, released last November, Albertsons earned a grade of Fwith just 12.5 out of 130 possible points. The company has no public safer chemicals policy in place and has yet to give any public indication that it’s developing one.
Last November advocates delivered 125,000 petition signatures to the company’s headquarters in Boise. Petition signers called on Albertsons to remove toxic BPA from its canned food liners and develop a comprehensive safer chemicals policy. This followed a report in 2016 that found BPA in the lining of 50% of Albertsons store brand cans tested. More recently, this May we co-released a report that found BPA in the liners of 36% of Albertsons store brand food cans that were tested. That demonstrates progress since last year but clearly more work is still needed.Will Albertsons Mind the Store?
It’s our hope that Albertson will stop treading water and start making progress this summer and fall as we update the grades in the second annual retailer report card. We hope to see Albertsons develop a best-in-class safer chemicals policy and program to meet the rising consumer demand for safe and healthy products.
http://saferchemicals.org/2017/07/27/from-idaho-to-massachusetts-consumers-ask-albertsons-to-turn-up-the-heat-on-toxic-chemicals-this-summer/
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House Committee Pushes US FDA to Review Feminine Wash Petition
Jul 28, 2017 | Chemical Watch
A US House of Representatives committee has urged the Food and Drug Administration to respond to an NGO petition on the appropriate use of colourants in feminine washes.
In a report on its fiscal year 2018 agricultural appropriations bill, the House Appropriations Committee expresses concerns at "the use of unsafe colourants by manufacturers of feminine hygiene cosmetics products". And it strongly encourages the agency to issue "appropriate guidance" on the use of such substances, as called for in the 2015 petition.
The Women’s Voices for the Earth citizen's petition cited concern at the use of substances such as D&C red no 33 and ext D&C violet no 2 in feminine washes.
According to WVE, these colourants are only approved for "externally applied cosmetics". And while the labels of feminine washes typically state that the products are for 'external use only', the NGO claims they "are undoubtedly used on the vaginal area – an area of the body 'covered by mucous membrane,' which the definition of 'externally applied cosmetics' prohibits".
It therefore requested that the FDA develop "clear guidance to direct which kinds of ingredients are appropriate for use in these types of products, given that internal contact is inevitable".
The FDA acknowledged receipt of the petition and opened a public docket for it on 18 August 2015, but has not acted on the request.
Reference to the petition was adopted as an amendment to the bill's report at the request of member Grace Meng (D–New York). Ms Meng introduced the Menstrual Products Right to Know Act (HR 2416)earlier this year.
The agricultural bill has been approved by the appropriations committee and may now head to the House floor for a vote.
https://chemicalwatch.com/57959/house-committee-pushes-us-fda-to-review-feminine-wash-petition
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Dow, DuPont Try to Lure Millennials with Green Tech
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont are looking for new avenues of growth and ways to build a stronger connection with millennials, and they may have found one in building sustainable "green" products.
A growing demand for health food and environmentally friendly detergents contributed to DuPont's better-than-expected second-quarter results this week.
"In the traditional chemicals [business], there is not a lot of innovation happening. They have to find new innovation drivers for competitive edge, and biology is in that space," Bernstein analyst James Oxgaard said.
"It's the millennials who are driving this demand," he continued.
The consumer shift to healthier products should result in higher sales of products like probiotics, DuPont said on a call with analysts.
The companies are working to build detergents that don't require water to clean and paints that remove formaldehyde from the air (Bhattacharjee/Swamynathan, Reuters, July 27). — CS
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/07/28/stories/1060058083
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(ACC Mentioned) New Report Shows Potential for Major Appalachian Petrochemical Industry
Jul 28, 2017 | The Lane Report
An economic report released by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) shows that the Appalachian region could become a second center of U.S. petrochemical and plastic resin manufacturing, similar to the Gulf Coast. ACC President and CEO Cal Dooley presented the findings at a Capitol Hill press event with lawmakers including Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.)
“The Appalachian region has distinct benefits that could make it a major petrochemical and plastic resin-producing zone,” said Dooley. “Proximity to a world-class supply of raw materials from the Marcellus/Utica and Rogersville shale formations and to the manufacturing markets of the Midwest and East Coast has already led several companies to announce investment projects, and there is potential for a great deal more.”
ACC’s report presents a hypothetical scenario that includes the development of a storage hub for natural gas liquids (NGLs) and chemicals (e.g., ethylene, propylene), a 500-mile pipeline distribution network and associated petrochemical, plastics and potentially other energy infrastructure and manufacturing in a quad-state area consisting of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. It uses the IMPLAN model, an economic impact assessment software system, to estimate direct, indirect and payroll-induced job impacts, as well as tax revenue impacts.
According to the report, the economic benefits could be substantial. By 2025, the quad-state region could see 100,000 permanent new jobs, including 25,700 new chemical and plastic products manufacturing jobs; 43,000 jobs in supplier industries; and 32,000 “payroll-induced” jobs in communities where workers spend their wages, according the report. The new investment could also lead to $2.9 billion in new federal, state and local tax revenue annually.
“The right policies are critical to realizing this opportunity,” Dooley said. “The Appalachian Ethane Storage Hub Study Act of 2017 (S. 1075) is an important step forward. It will help inform efforts to maximize America’s domestic energy and manufacturing potential.” The bipartisan bill is sponsored by Sen. Capito and co-sponsored by Sen. Manchin and Sen. Portman.
“Uncertainty around financing is a key barrier to the development of energy infrastructure in the Appalachian region,” Dooley continued. “Policymakers can help by affirming that NGL storage and distribution projects are eligible for existing private-public financing programs. As Congress and the administration consider infrastructure modernization legislation, the Appalachian Hub should be a priority. And a timely and efficient regulatory permitting process is essential.”
ACC’s analysis projects a $32.4 investment in petrochemicals and derivatives and a $3.4 billion investment in plastic products, put toward the construction of five ethane crackers and two propane dehydrogenation (PDH) facilities. Three of the crackers would produce polyethylene and two would supply downstream petrochemical derivatives. Each PDH facility would contain a polypropylene resin plant. These capital investments are underway and will likely continue through the mid-2020s.
In the United States, chemical companies use ethane and propane, NGLs derived from shale gas, as key feedstocks. Plentiful and affordable supplies of natural gas and NGLs are enabling companies from around the world to build new U.S. facilities or expand production capacity. Since 2010, 301 projects cumulatively valued at $181 billion have been announced, with nearly half completed or under construction.
http://www.lanereport.com/79860/2017/07/new-report-shows-potential-for-major-appalachian-petrochemical-industry/
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Court to Decide Fate of Federal Fracking Authority — or Not
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Energywatch
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A panel of judges spent yesterday morning grappling with a major legal issue affecting federal oversight of oil and gas development: Does the government have authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing?
But whether the court will ever issue an opinion on the matter remains an open question.
In an unusual twist of legal procedure, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in litigation that it may decide to put on ice.
At issue is the Obama administration's rule for fracking on public and tribal lands. A lower court found that the federal government lacks authority to regulate fracking, and the question has been on appeal at the 10th Circuit since last year. Now, the Trump administration is rolling back the rule and wants to freeze the case in the meantime.
The judges yesterday heard arguments on both the fundamental authority question and the procedural issue of whether the case should be paused.
All three judges on the panel expressed skepticism about freezing the case indefinitely while BLM goes through a new rulemaking process to roll back the regulation (E&E News PM, July 27).
"What's the incentive to move quickly?" asked Judge Harris Hartz, a George W. Bush appointee. He noted that if the case is paused, it could be years before the question of BLM's fracking authority is answered.
Government lawyers stressed that unwinding the fracking rule is a Trump administration priority, so BLM will work "expeditiously" to complete its rollback. BLM maintains that the lower court's ruling was incorrect but says any merits decision at this time would be judicially inefficient and would interfere with the new rulemaking process.
Greenberg Traurig LLP attorney Paul Seby, representing North Dakota, agreed, arguing that a merits decision would function as an advisory opinion.
Judge Mary Beck Briscoe, a Clinton appointee, repeatedly pushed back on that claim and appeared to be strongly in favor of resolving the question now.
"Isn't that issue ripe, and don't we have the duty to decide?" she asked, answering herself later: "We have an underlying decision that is on the books that is ripe for review."
At this point, the 10th Circuit may opt to put the case on hold, issue a merits decision or — less likely — dismiss the case and vacate the lower court's ruling that the government has no fracking authority.
Judge Jerome Holmes, a George W. Bush appointee, noted that the last option could allow the 10th Circuit to address concerns about the impacts of the lower court's ruling without inserting itself into BLM's ongoing regulatory process.Whose authority is it, anyway?
The judges appeared eager to delve into the merits of the case yesterday, extending argument time for several parties to allow for more discussion of the government's jurisdiction.
The winning argument in last year's district court decision was put forth by states challenging the rule. Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota and Utah say the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) gave U.S. EPA exclusive authority over fracking, and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 then removed that power and left it to state regulators.
Hartz questioned the breadth of the so-called fracking exemption. Noting that he was still grappling with the issue, he put forth a narrower potential reading of the statutes, musing that the SDWA may prevent agencies other than EPA from regulating fracking for water protection purposes, but may not necessarily preclude other agencies from regulating fracking to address, say, seismicity or wildlife concerns.
Wyoming Deputy Attorney General James Kaste responded that the SDWA unambiguously delegated all fracking authority to EPA. BakerHostetler attorney Mark Barron, representing the Independent Petroleum Association of America and Western Energy Alliance against the rule, noted that BLM has routinely deferred to other EPA authorities under the SDWA.
"They cannot now escape the same conclusion when it comes to non-diesel hydraulic fracturing," he said.
Justice Department attorney Andrew Mergen and Earthjustice attorney Mike Freeman maintained that the fracking rule was promulgated under distinct BLM authority to manage public lands under the Mineral Leasing Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act.
They argued that EPA's SDWA authority over injection is not exclusive. Congress would have been explicit if it intended to remove the issue from BLM's purview, they said. Mergen noted that EPA itself supported BLM's efforts to regulate fracking when it began promulgating the rule during the Obama administration several years ago.'There's no case law on this'
Tribal issues that have been largely overshadowed by the broader fracking authority question throughout the case also gained traction in court yesterday.
The Ute Indian Tribe and several others have taken issue with the fracking rule since its inception, complaining that it treats tribal lands the same as public lands. They argue that BLM lacks rulemaking authority on tribal trust lands (Energywire, July 11, 2016).
Hartz slammed government and environmental lawyers for failing to address the tribal law questions in their most recent briefs, suggesting they may have conceded the argument. Freeman argued that because the district court never issued a final decision on the tribal law issues, the 10th Circuit should avoid weighing in on them and should instead remand those issues to the lower court.
Fredericks Peebles & Morgan LLP attorney Jeffrey Rasmussen, who argued for the Utes, said he thinks the 10th Circuit is poised to decide the matter.
An answer from the appeals court would be a major development in federal Indian law. While tribes have long raised the argument that BLM lacks rulemaking authority tribal trust land, courts have not yet issued clear direction on the issue, Rasmussen said.
"There's no case law on this, so this would be a very good one for us," he said after arguments.What's next
A decision from the court could come down in a matter of weeks or months, depending on what issues the judges decide to tackle.
Barron, the BakerHostetler lawyer, argued that "there's no urgency to decide" because there's no likelihood BLM will attempt to exercise any authority over fracking in the near future.
"One thing that's abundantly clear from today's hearing is elections have consequences," Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma said after arguments.
Supporters of the fracking rule stressed that a court decision reaffirming federal authority over fracking is critical to ensuring public safety and environmental protection.
"Communities living near oil and gas facilities on public lands, both now and in the future, stand to lose if the Trump administration gets its way in the 10th Circuit," Earthworks policy advocate Aaron Mintzes said in a statement. Earthworks is one of several environmental intervenors in the case.
Florida State University law professor Hannah Wiseman, whose 2008 law review article discussing the limits of federal authority over fracking was used by opponents of the rule, said a 10th Circuit decision will help guide BLM's ongoing regulatory process.
"No matter what new rule BLM crafts to replace the Obama administration's rule that it proposes to rescind, the process must start from a clear baseline understanding as to what the BLM has the authority to regulate — that question will permeate any rulemaking process," said Wiseman, who has argued that her article was taken out of context by fracking rule opponents and the lower court.
"Further," she added, "the district court opinion sets erroneous precedent that could block the BLM's duties in many areas — not just the fracking area — and already is being cited in other cases."
For now, supporters and critics of the fracking rule will be busy dealing with the next stage in the process: submitting comments on BLM's proposal to rescind the regulation.
The agency published its proposal earlier this week, kicking off 60 days of public comment.
"IPAA is eager to turn our attention to the regulatory process as we engage with the new Administration on this issue," Dan Naatz, senior vice president for government relations and political affairs at the industry group, said in a statement.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/07/28/stories/1060058064
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Gas Production Tax Approved but Faces Strong Opposition
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Pennsylvania state senators narrowly approved a budget plan yesterday that would impose a tax on natural gas production, while reducing some environmental regulations, as part of a compromise intended to break a three-week-old stalemate.
The state Legislature approved the spending portion of Pennsylvania's $32 billion 2017-18 budget in June but has yet to come up with a revenue plan to pay for it. The Senate approved a tax plan 26-24 yesterday that would raise an additional $1.8 billion over current projections and balance the budget (Energywire, July 12).
The proposal immediately drew fire from both the gas industry and an environmental group. It now goes to the state House of Representatives, where Speaker Mike Turzai (R) has consistently opposed any new taxes on the gas industry.
State Sen. Jake Corman (R), the majority leader, defended the plan yesterday, saying it's time for the state to stop relying on one-time revenue sources to pay for its annual operations.
"It's not our job to sit at home and do nothing," Corman said. "Our job is to govern."
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has asked for a so-called severance tax since he was elected in 2014. The Legislature has rejected the idea twice (Energywire, Feb. 8).
Pennsylvania has become the second-biggest gas-producing state in the country in the last 10 years, thanks to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the Marcellus Shale formation.
Most other oil-and-gas-producing states impose a direct tax on energy production, but Pennsylvania has relied since 2012 on a flat impact fee that is imposed on each shale well. The revenue is largely used to pay for road damage and other side effects of drilling.
The Senate plan would impose a variable tax on Marcellus Shale wells, equal to about 2 cents per thousand cubic feet in 2017-18. Some of the revenue would be sent to local communities to augment the impact fee; the rest would go to general state spending.
In exchange, the state Department of Environmental Protection would be required to speed up permitting for gas drilling projects and allow third-party contractors to review some permits. The bill would also establish a seven-person committee, with four members appointed by Republicans in the Legislature, to review the DEP's proposed methane regulations.
The severance tax would produce about $80 million for the general fund in its first year, according to state figures. Most of the budget gap would be closed by borrowing $1.2 billion against future income from a tobacco litigation settlement.
The Marcellus Shale Coalition said it was still opposed to the severance tax and implied that it would work to block the idea.
"As the budget process moves forward, we remain committed and focused on fostering a meaningful dialogue with lawmakers and others about common sense policies and solutions that can help create good-paying jobs for Pennsylvanians," MSC President David Spigelmyer said in an emailed statement.
The Environmental Defense Fund savaged the regulatory proposals, saying the plan trades important air and water protections for a tax that won't cover the state's budget needs.
"Gov. Wolf was elected after promising to get serious about protecting Pennsylvanians from the impacts of natural gas drilling," Dan Grossman, EDF's state programs director, said in a statement. "Instead of fulfilling that promise, he continues to bargain away clean air and water protections in exchange for pitiful concessions from industry."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/07/28/stories/1060058059
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FERC Faces Constitutional Challenge over Mountain Valley Project
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A controversial Appalachian natural gas project is facing a new legal assault that takes aim at the standard federal process for pipeline approvals.
A group of Virginia landowners yesterday asked a district court to block the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from allowing the Mountain Valley pipeline to use eminent domain for the 300-mile line to cross from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia.
Their lawsuit, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, is a sweeping challenge to FERC's standard process for granting pipeline operators the power of eminent domain for projects that receive a "public convenience and necessity" stamp of approval.
Gentry Locke attorney Justin Lugar, representing the landowners, says FERC's eminent domain process is unconstitutional and overdue for judicial review.
"Today marks an important day not only for landowners in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline but for all Americans, for every citizen in Virginia, West Virginia, and across the United States that values our constitutional right to be secure in our property," the Roanoke, Va.-based lawyer said in a statement.
The plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction from the district court that would block FERC from granting any eminent domain powers to Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC and would block the company from attempting to use any such power.
"Without boundaries from Congress, FERC has run wild in the years since, and has unconstitutionally subdelegated the power of eminent domain to private parties seeking private profits," the complaint says.
Lugar argues that FERC's "public convenience and necessity" standard to determine whether to greenlight a pipeline and give the builder eminent domain power falls short of the constitutional standard for using eminent domain because it doesn't actually analyze whether a pipeline serves a public use or purpose.
"FERC doesn't have lawful power of eminent domain," he told E&E News. "Congress never gave it an intelligible set of principles."
A similar lawsuit is moving forward involving the 255-mile Nexus pipeline in Ohio, where landowners have argued that the pipeline will transport natural gas destined for export and therefore does not serve a public use or purpose.
"What's unusual is that you have these two challenges to a door that everybody thought was closed after Kelo," said Southern Methodist University energy law professor James Coleman, referring to the 2005 Kelo v. City of New London decision, in which the Supreme Court upheld the use of eminent domain for a private redevelopment project in Connecticut.
Coleman also noted that if the eminent domain arguments gain traction in the courtroom, the outcome could have big implications for other infrastructure, including electric transmission.
Pipeline backer EQT Corp. said it was reviewing the complaint.
"We are aware of the complaint and will, of course, review," spokeswoman Natalie Cox said in an email. "As this is pending litigation; however, we are unable to provide additional information at this time."
FERC does not comment on pending litigation.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/07/28/stories/1060058062
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Dems Want FERC to Take a Closer Look at Rover Developer
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Sam Mintz
Two Democratic lawmakers want the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to expand its investigation of the company behind the beleaguered Rover pipeline.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the top Democrats on the energy committees in their respective chambers, wrote a letter to FERC Chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur yesterday to request that her agency investigate all of Energy Transfer Partners LP's projects, citing recent "troubling reports" about construction of the Rover pipeline.
Rover, a $4.2 billion, 713-mile natural gas pipeline that would run through West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, has been penalized by regulators in two of those states for environmental violations and is under investigation by FERC for allegedly making false statements in its permit application.
Most recently, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection ordered the company to temporarily cease construction last week after regulators found sediment deposits in bodies of water and alleged that the developer failed to use the proper erosion controls (Greenwire, July 24).
FERC also stopped construction at certain points in Ohio after drilling fluids spilled, and Rover has been fined and sued by that state's EPA.
But the lawmakers zeroed in on FERC's charge that the company made false promises in its initial application, in relation to a historic Ohio farmhouse that was demolished during construction, despite claims that it would be protected (Greenwire, July 14).
"In light of these troubling reports, we request that FERC expand its investigation to include a review of all ETP projects and assets subject to the Commission's jurisdiction, including projects by ETP subsidiaries, in order to fully determine whether ETP has falsified information for other projects," Cantwell and Pallone wrote.
They noted that the certificate of public convenience and necessity given to Rover by FERC allows the developers to take land by eminent domain.
"It is unacceptable that people's land could be taken by a for-profit company like Rover through a certificate gained, at least in part, on the basis of potentially false information," the Democrats wrote. They said that the company directly owns 12,300 miles of natural gas pipelines in addition to holding part ownership of several other major projects.
The legislators drew a parallel to the construction of the Iroquois pipeline in New York in the 1990s, when a handful of company officials were criminally charged with violating federal environmental laws after they reportedly told workers to ignore environmental requirements.
"We do not wish to see these failures repeated," Cantwell and Pallone wrote.
Vicki Granado, an ETP spokeswoman, said the company has fully cooperated with state and federal regulators and will continue to do so.
"We have maintained an unwavering commitment to the safe construction and operation of our pipelines to ensure the safety of our employees, the safety of the environment, and the safety of those who live and work in the communities in which we do business," she said.
Granado said the company has been communicating and will continue to communicate with regulators and move forward with remediation activities.
"The sort of investigation suggested in this letter is both unnecessary and unprecedented. Cooperative dialogue is a far more effective approach," she said.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/07/28/stories/1060058046
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(ACC Mentioned) Delay of U.S. Chemical Safety Rule Challenged
Jul 28, 2017 | Chemical and Engineering News
By Jeff Johnson
Eleven state attorneys general say they will file suit to block the Trump Administration’s delay of a final regulation intended to protect communities and workers from chemical accidents.
Their suit will join similar legal challenges by community groups and labor unions that also oppose the Trump Environmental Protection Agency’s postponement of the rule, which was issued during the last days of the Obama Administration.
The delay’s backers are acting too. Twelve states filed legal arguments with a federal court earlier this month supporting EPA’s action.
Pressure from industry groups, including the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry trade association, led EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in June to delay the effective date of the rule until February 2019.
“We are seeking additional time to review the program so that we can fully evaluate the public comments raised by multiple petitioners and consider other issues that may benefit from additional public input,” Pruitt said when he pushed back the effective date.
The new regulation calls for better coordination among emergency responders; independent, third-party audits of companies after an accident or near-accident; and consideration of inherently safer manufacturing approaches. However, the rule specifies that implementation of safer approaches need only occur when “practical.”
In their challenge, the community groups and unions say Pruitt’s lengthy delay of the regulation is not allowed under the Clean Air Act, in which Congress established the chemical safety provisions 25 years ago. The challengers, mostly local organizations, say they hope to make legal arguments similar to those against the Trump Administration’s delay of regulations limiting methane leaks from oil and gas drilling and production.
In the methane case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said EPA could change those Clean Air Act regulations but not delay their implementation while the agency develops an alternative. The case about the postponed chemical risk management rule is before the same court.
The industrial safety regulation grew from concerns over an accident in West, Texas, when ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded at a retail farm warehouse in 2013, killing 15, mostly firefighters. With fanfare, then-president Barack Obama ordered agencies to assess and possibly overhaul U.S. chemical-related regulations. After three years of review, the RMP regulation was the only change to become final.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/95/web/2017/07/Delay-US-chemical-safety-rule.html
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Hacking for Real Damage Still Takes 'Boutique' Touch
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
To hack a power grid, you may need a doctorate. At the very least, you should be pursuing one.
Tasos Keliris and Harrys Konstantinou, both Ph.D. candidates in electrical engineering at New York University Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, recently mapped out the U.S. power grid, bought popular equipment and searched for bugs they could exploit to cut off electricity.
A flaw they found in one protective relay — the GE 750 — earned a 9.8 on a 10-point cyber severity scale set by U.S. government officials.
"When we first saw [the score], we were like, 'Whoa,'" said Keliris, who noted that it was the first time he had coordinated disclosing a digital vulnerability with U.S. authorities and the affected company. He, Konstantinou and NYU Abu Dhabi assistant professor Michail Maniatakos waited over a year before publicly discussing their findings to give GE and grid defenders a chance to take action.
The team of academics laid out their findings yesterday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference here, intending to jump-start a conversation about electric sector security. But despite posing a provocative question — "Are cyber-attacks on the power grid limited to nation-state actors?" — the three researchers emphasized that their methodical approach to attacking the grid isn't suited for the faint of heart.
For starters, the piece of GE equipment they targeted is "mostly used at the distribution level," Keliris observed, so "you wouldn't have a city going down, just a neighborhood."
Secondly, while they were able to unearth troves of maps, equipment contracts and other sensitive grid-related data online, such intelligence would be largely out of reach to less experienced hackers.
"You'd have to know what you wanted to get in order to get it," Keliris explained on the sidelines of the conference, "so you need to have a pretty good understanding of the grid's structure, how it operates."
The GE 750 is a type of protective relay, which instructs circuit breakers along the grid to open or close in certain conditions, cutting off or restoring the flow of electricity. Keliris and company uncovered a weakness that allowed them to coax an encrypted password out from the device using a communication protocol known as Modbus. They were then able to crack the password and use it to access the device itself.
From that vantage point, they could lock out actual operators, or command the device to constantly trip circuit breakers, flicking the lights on and off.
The researchers demonstrated this on a real GE 750 connected to a simulated grid.
The only real-world examples of hackers bringing down parts of a power grid took a team of at least 20 people, experts say. Those attacks, in 2015 and 2016, briefly brought down power to a few hundred thousand people total in Ukraine — no small feat, but hardly a cascading blackout.
Other examples of digital attacks wreaking physical havoc, such as the Stuxnet worm, which damaged Iranian nuclear centrifuges in the late 2000s, are rare. Experts say that shows hackers' capability and intent are still more important than the underlying vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.
It's less clear how long that will hold true.
"We all want to know what to expect in the future: Is this an immediate threat?" said Marina Krotofil, lead cybersecurity researcher at industrial automation giant Honeywell.
Krotofil had just disclosed an elaborate cyberthreat to pump systems that involved lowering pressure along the pipes to produce bubbles, which are harmful to the system's mechanics.
She acknowledged that her demonstration would require an extraordinarily knowledgeable, well-resourced and determined attacker to launch outside of a lab.
"This is a boutique attack, let's say at the governmental levels," she said in her presentation at Black Hat yesterday.
Even in her miniature example, the 610-pound pump system cost $50,000. It took weeks of work for the "evil bubbles" to flow.
"I cannot tell you how many people were involved in troubleshooting this — it's just insane," Krotofil said. "Yesterday, we were trying to troubleshoot it for three hours just to get it to work."
Real-world hackers would face similar hurdles.
"All of these attacks have high engineering complexity, which requires high coordination," Krotofil said.
Konstantinou said it would take a skilled adversary to replicate some of his own NYU Abu Dhabi team's research on soft spots in U.S. electric distribution.
"What you saw is quite elaborate," he said. "The grid is robust. It's not so simple."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/07/28/stories/1060058065
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Trump Admin Will Still Report U.S. Emissions to World Body
Jul 28, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Zack Colman and Jean Chemnick
The Trump administration will honor its treaty obligation to provide U.S. greenhouse emissions data to the United Nations despite the president's decision to leave the Paris Agreement, administration officials said.
The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change requires wealthy countries to report their emissions by April 15 each year, and the Trump administration met that deadline this spring. It has also asked Congress for $8.5 million to complete the task in fiscal 2018, and an administration official confirmed to E&E News that support for the inventory would continue.
Dina Kruger, who directed the Climate Change Division at U.S. EPA in the early Obama years, said some of her former colleagues wondered initially if the inventory would fall victim to the new administration's anti-climate action agenda, but they got outside help.
"The folks at EPA were nervous that [EPA Administration Scott] Pruitt and the people around him would not want the inventory, but what ended up happening was that environmental groups and a number of industries sent comments into EPA and said, 'We really want the inventory,'" she said. "Folks at EPA felt like that had been very helpful."
The American Gas Association was particularly persuasive, she said. The trade group's website touts the inventory to show that methane leakage from natural gas distribution systems declined 75 percent from 1990 to 2015.
The administration's continued commitment to the emissions report comes after President Trump announced on June 1 that the United States would depart the 2015 climate deal. And it comes amid plans to scrap emissions-reduction and financial commitments made by the previous administration. The Paris pullout could be complete by November 2020.
Experts said the United States wouldn't have trouble meeting the UNFCCC requirements, even amid a reorganization at the State Department and buyouts at EPA.
EPA, which is primarily responsible for the inventory, has been completing the task every year since the 1990s.
"They'll be able to deliver a pretty good greenhouse gas inventory because of that wealth of experience," said Kate Larsen, a former State Department official now at the Rhodium Group. "If key staffers leave, I think some of the institutional knowledge might go with them, and that might be a challenge."
Kruger estimated that fewer than 10 people at EPA's Office of Atmospheric Programs are primarily responsible for the report, which the State Department then sends on to the U.N. body. Staffers use well-established methodologies for gathering and reporting data on heat-trapping emissions from economic sectors, including energy, transportation and industrial processes.
But the full effect of the Trump White House's proposed one-third cuts for both EPA and foreign aid budgets is not known. The Office of Atmospheric Programs would endure a more severe cut of 70 percent, down to $33.7 million, under Trump's proposed budget. Larsen said a weaker budget could hamper EPA's efforts to improve the accuracy of the data it shares with the international community. That might happen if budget cuts limit outreach to industry and other stakeholders, particularly in areas like methane from oil and gas that are not fully studied.
The full effect of buyouts at EPA has not yet been seen. At State, a report outlining Secretary Rex Tillerson's plans to overhaul his department is due to be submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget by Sept. 15.
"It's certainly possible that they could put less effort into the program — we ran a really excellent program that got more and more accurate and more user-friendly every year, for example," former EPA air chief Janet McCabe said. She added that the EPA staff also gathers information on carbon sinks from other agencies, including the Department of Agriculture.Can CO2 data be used in court?
In addition to the annual reports, rich countries are also required to submit biennially on steps they're taking to limit emissions and provide finance and technology to poor countries. The United States submitted its last report in 2016, and the next would be due in 2018. Wealthy countries are also required to provide periodic information on other issues. It's unclear how the Trump team will respond to those requirements.
If Trump gets a second term and completes the Paris exit, he wouldn't need to conduct biennial reviews. That's because those are performed under the Cancun Agreements and run through 2020. Paris succeeds it, but the United States would no longer be a party to it.
Transparency of data that show the international community "we're moving in the right direction" would "be helpful" even if the United States recedes to the background on climate, said Elliot Diringer, executive vice president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
But he noted those annual reports are static, giving a retrospective marker of U.S. emissions. By leaving Paris, the United States wouldn't be obligated to give updates about its progress toward meeting its out-year emissions targets as it currently does through biennial reports, Diringer said.
All that said, the most significant damage may come from the ability to measure other nations' emissions. The potential decimation of climate science programs at NOAA and NASA, along with vacancies at the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, could hamstring valuable programs, said Andrew Light, a former State Department climate change adviser in the Obama administration.
"Other parties have to be able to scrutinize that and know that that's accurate," Light said. "I think it's even a bigger problem if we lose our understanding of what other countries are doing."
That the Trump administration will continue reporting its emissions, however, opens it to potential legal issues, international environmental law experts argued. That's because they'll still provide a breathing example of progress — or lack thereof — on emissions.
If emissions tick upward, the data submitted as part of the UNFCCC process could be used to show the administration is violating the Clean Air Act, Carroll Muffett, CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law, told E&E News. That's because the data would demonstrate a flouting of the endangerment finding, he said.
The data also could affect ongoing court cases, such as Juliana v. United States, in which children are suing the Trump administration for not pursuing carbon mitigation aggressively enough, noted David Hunter, a environmental law professor at the American University Washington College of Law. While that data might be gleaned in different ways, Hunter said in an email, "The U.S. likely wouldn't be able to challenge the reliability of this data in court because it is an official submission."
Others are less convinced emissions reporting would handcuff the Trump EPA because of the deference given to the agency to interpret statute.
"If an administration, like the current one, adopts a more straightforward interpretation of the statute in response to a petition demanding that it regulate utility emissions, a court would have little choice but to defer to that interpretation," Andrew Grossman, an attorney at BakerHostetler, said in an email.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/07/28/stories/1060058043
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