Preview Newsletter
ACC AM 8/3/17
-
(ACC Blog) On The Road With #ACCaugust 3.0
Aug 3, 2017 | American Chemistry Matters
ACC’s Political Mobilization is back on the road for #ACCaugust! During the Congressional summer recess we will be hosting numerous events with elected officials throughout the U.S. We’ll be fanning out across the country to further our industry’s advocacy goals through our grassroots initiative #ACCaugust. -
(ACC Mentioned) Bonding Mixed Materials Is At Hand
Aug 2, 2017 | Automotive News
By Rhoda Miel
Steel, aluminum and plastics suppliers to the auto industry typically compete for real estate on future cars. But even the most ardent backers of individual materials admit the future lies in multimaterial vehicles. -
Chemical Risk Review Details Expected From EPA by Fall
Aug 3, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Chemical manufacturers this fall should have a better idea of the processes, models, and reasoning the EPA will use to determine whether new chemicals can be manufactured and sold in the U.S. -
Monsanto Pushed EPA to Fast-Track Pesticide Report in 2015
Aug 3, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tiffany Stecker
Monsanto Co. pressed the EPA in 2015 to publicize a report that would show its Roundup herbicide doesn't cause cancer, but the agency appeared reluctant to do so on the company's timeline, newly released documents show. -
Chemicals Are the New Carbon as Corporate America Rethinks Risks
Aug 3, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
Chemicals are the new carbon, according to a group of investors, retailers and others that's come up with a way to gauge corporate progress toward safer alternatives to toxic ingredients. -
Wal-Mart Puts Chemicals in Spotlight by Joining New Program
Aug 2, 2017 | Bloomberg
By Lauren Coleman-Lochner and Taylor Cromwell
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has joined a new program that rates companies on their use of chemicals, a move that puts fresh pressure on the consumer-products industry to police its ingredients. -
Researchers Report Rapid Removal Of BPA From Water Using Green Chemistry
Aug 2, 2017 | Environmental Health News
By Brian Bienkowski
As water treatment plants struggle to keep up with the chemical cocktail heading into our pipes, researchers say they’ve come up with a solution to remove one of the most ubiquitous contaminants—BPA. -
EU Commission Amends Ecolabel Criteria For Textiles
Aug 3, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission has published an amending Decision that tweaks parts of the criteria for awarding the EU Ecolabel to textile products. -
EPA Retains Reliance On Audits In RMP Pacts Despite Doubts Over Rule
Aug 2, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Dave Reynolds
EPA's latest proposed settlement with a company for alleged violations of the Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety program includes strict mandates for independent audits to prevent future violations, suggesting the agency will retain reliance on audits in such pacts despite delaying an Obama-era rule to mandate audits as part of RMP. -
Freight Train Cars Burning After Derailment In Pennsylvania; Residents Flee
Aug 3, 2017 | Reuters
By Maranie Staab
Rail cars carrying gas and sulfur on a CSX Corp freight train skidded off the tracks and burst into flames on Wednesday in a small Pennsylvania town, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes as firefighters fought the blaze. -
(ACC Mentioned) 16 Attorneys General Sue Scott Pruitt For Blocking Implementation Of EPA Smog Rule
Aug 2, 2017 | ThinkProgress
By Mark Hand
A coalition of 16 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday for delaying a rule intended to reduce emissions of smog-causing air pollutants. -
(ACC Mentioned) 15 States Want EPA To Enforce Stricter Ozone Limits
Aug 2, 2017 | Kallanish Energy
Fifteen states on Tuesday filed a legal challenge over the Trump administration’s delay of Obama-era rules reducing emissions of smog-producing air pollutants. Kallanish Energy reports. -
EPA Walks Back Delay Of Obama Air Pollution Rule
Aug 3, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Trump administration is reversing course on its plan to delay by one year enforcement of the Obama administration’s ozone pollution regulation. -
EPA Won't Delay Implementing Newest Federal Air Pollution Standards
Aug 3, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The EPA reversed course on its plan to postpone for one-year the implementation of the newest federal air pollution standards for ozone, possibly in an attempt to forestall lawsuits challenging the delay as illegal. -
In Sudden Reversal, EPA Withdraws Plan To Delay Ozone Designations
Aug 3, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Anthony Lacey
In a sudden reversal, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has withdrawn his decision to delay by one year agency designations for whether areas are attaining strict Obama-era ozone air quality standards, saying that “information gaps” justifying the delay no longer appear to be as extensive as initially believed and that EPA might be able to issue the designations this year.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News
Chemical Management News
Energy News- There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Security News
Transportation and Infrastructure News
Environment News
-
(ACC Blog) On The Road With #ACCaugust 3.0
Aug 3, 2017 | American Chemistry Matters
ACC’s Political Mobilization is back on the road for #ACCaugust! During the Congressional summer recess we will be hosting numerous events with elected officials throughout the U.S. We’ll be fanning out across the country to further our industry’s advocacy goals through our grassroots initiative #ACCaugust. Through plant tours, in-district meetings, and industry roundtable discussions, we will meet with Members of Congress to raise awareness of issues important to our industry and employees and showcase the economic benefits of the business of chemistry where it matters the most—in their respective districts.
You can keep track of our progress here on the ACC blog, on our @AmChemMatters twitter account, or our Facebook page. Participate in the experience by joining the conversation using the hashtags #ACCaugust and #ChemistryMatters.
Take our virtual #ACCaugust tour with us! Zoom in and out and pan around to see where we’ve been and where we’re going!
here we’ve been
Rep. Larry Bucshon visiting ORG Chem Group in Troy, IN | August 2, 2017
Rep. David Young visiting Monsanto in Ankeny, IA | August 1, 2017https://blog.americanchemistry.com/2017/08/on-the-road-with-accaugust-3-0/
-
(ACC Mentioned) Bonding Mixed Materials Is At Hand
Aug 2, 2017 | Automotive News
By Rhoda Miel
Steel, aluminum and plastics suppliers to the auto industry typically compete for real estate on future cars. But even the most ardent backers of individual materials admit the future lies in multimaterial vehicles.
The problem is how to join those materials.
Researchers at Michigan State University, supported by the American Chemistry Council's automotive group, believe they are on the path to a new kind of adhesive that will join multiple materials, Sandra McClelland, a chair for the council's automotive team and business development for Solvay SA, said at the seminars Monday.
Just as important, McClelland said, the group believes the mixed materials can be cleanly separated at the end of vehicle life.
The joining method also would allow a component to be repaired in a way that will make that joint stronger, she said.
"The vehicles of today and tomorrow will be manufactured with a combination of energy-saving materials," McClelland said. "Multimaterial solutions are and will provide OEMs and consumers with the best possible choices for performance, safety, aesthetics and value. All materials are in play."
The industry is keenly interested in not being locked into all-or-nothing uses of materials for vehicles and components. The wish is to be able to join high-strength steel to aluminum alloys, aluminum to composite or composite to steel without adding weight or using adhesives that make it hard to separate the parts at the end of vehicle life.
The adhesive that has researchers enthusiastic is a thermoplastic enhanced with nanomagnetic particles. It would bond different kinds of plastic, different types of metals or metals and plastic without the need for additional rivets or connectors.
Since the bond can be reversed, it will allow for easier recycling at the end of the product's life.
The research is in the laboratory testing phase now, she said. But signs are strong for its potential in real-world situations.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20170802/OEM01/170809871/bonding-mixed-materials-is-at-hand
-
Chemical Risk Review Details Expected From EPA by Fall
Aug 3, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Chemical manufacturers this fall should have a better idea of the processes, models, and reasoning the EPA will use to determine whether new chemicals can be manufactured and sold in the U.S.
By September the Environmental Protection Agency plans to release documents detailing its new review process under the recently updated toxic substances law. Those would include its computer-based modeling and the assumptions it makes when it lacks sufficient information to evaluate a chemical's environmental and health effects, Jeffery Morris, director of the EPA Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), said Aug. 2.
The documents are expected to aid companies as they prepare premanufacture notices (PMNs) they must submit when asking the agency to approve a new chemical, Charlie Auer, senior regulatory and policy adviser with Bergeson & Campbell, said. As a result, companies may be able to bring their products to market sooner.
For example the documents would explain how the EPA distinguishes between chemicals that “may pose an unreasonable risk” and could be subject to use restrictions or labeling requirements and those that are deemed “not likely to pose an unreasonable risk” and can be manufactured and sold, Morris said during a webinar hosted by Bloomberg BNA and Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.
The EPA also is preparing materials to clarify the amount and types of information about a new chemical that manufacturers should submit to avoid the agency deciding it has “insufficient information” to reach a conclusion about its health and environmental effects, Morris said.The agency will discuss those documents during meetings it expects to hold in October or November, he said.
Chemical Categories Need Updates
Auer said it would be helpful if the EPA also updated the Chemical Categories Document it uses. The document groups together chemicals that—based on their solubility, volatility, or other properties—act in similar ways in the environment or in people's bodies. The agency lists concerns it may have about each chemical category and toxicity data that could help it address those concerns. The EPA published its most recent Chemical Categories Document in 2010.
“Times have changed,” said Auer, who worked at the EPA for more than 30 years, including as a former OPPT director. Much of the information that's in the 2010 document is actually decades old, he said.
The EPA could update its chemical categories with new information it has gathered over the years and describe new types of toxicity and exposure tests companies could conduct that would provide valuable information, he said.
Bergeson & Campbell recently released comments on four new chemical categories the agency has shared with companies submitting the premanufacture notices and mentioned at public meetings. The agency's categories focus on potential respiratory problems that workers or other exposed people might experience if they inhaled chemicals with certain structures or chemicals that perturb lung cells in certain ways.
The EPA declined to release information about these four categories to Bloomberg BNA or to be interviewed concerning them. “These draft documents were sent to a subset of PMN submitters for their input, and EPA is still awaiting individual comments from them,” the agency said by email.
One-Sided Sharing?
Richard Denison, lead senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, told Bloomberg BNA his organization is “very concerned that documents that effectively represent EPA policy proposals or decisions have only been shared with the industry, and that other stakeholders have neither been provided with the documents or given an opportunity to comment on them.”
Workers, environmental health groups, scientists, and other individuals and organizations “cannot judge the extent to which such comments are influencing the evolution of these documents,” he said. Given the amended Toxic Substances Control Act's intent to have the EPA be more transparent and accountable in its decision making “this is not a good sign,” Denison said.
Morris said the agency is evaluating its existing and new categories, information it has on hand, and data it needs. The EPA also is discussing how to request toxicity or other data using the tiered approach described in the amended chemicals law, he said.
As it pulls together that information, it plans to make it public, Morris said.
Getting to Market Sooner
The documents the EPA plans to release by September combined with updated categories could help companies understand what they need to give the agency to get their chemicals to market sooner, Auer said.
But, the EPA needs to commit to finishing its new chemical reviews faster, he said. The agency has made significant progress since TSCA was amended in 2016 to make decisions concerning a backlog of new chemical requests that had built up immediately following passage of the new law, he said.
But once the EPA makes its decision, it's taking too long for companies to negotiate the types of controls that could be required for new chemicals, Auer said.
The agency should consider developing a clear process to address “adversarial” determinations when it and a manufacturer cannot agree on whether some type of control is needed, he said.
Morris said he agreed it's not useful for new chemical control negotiations to continue for months or years. The agency is continuing to work on ways to improve its new chemicals program, he said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=118069315&vname=dennotallissues&fn=118069315&jd=118069315
-
Monsanto Pushed EPA to Fast-Track Pesticide Report in 2015
Aug 3, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tiffany Stecker
Monsanto Co. pressed the EPA in 2015 to publicize a report that would show its Roundup herbicide doesn't cause cancer, but the agency appeared reluctant to do so on the company's timeline, newly released documents show.
The correspondence, part of a cache of documentsposted Aug. 1 by attorneys representing cancer patients in multidistrict litigation against Monsanto, is an attempt to showcase what the attorneys claim is an inappropriately close relationship between the Environmental Protection Agency and Monsanto. But it also shows an agency whose leaders under President Barack Obama were in no hurry to put out a key report that would have helped the company's reputation.As part of their case, the attorneys have portrayed the EPA as improperly friendly to industry, meeting frequently with officials and seeking to silence other federal agencies whose studies on glyphosate could cripple the chemical's clean bill of health (In re Roundup Products Liability Litigation, N.D. Cal., No. 3:16-md-02741, motion filed 8/1/17).The documents are “a brief but elaborate snapshot” into the way that public health is hurt by Monsanto's conduct, Pedram Esfandiary, an attorney with Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman PC in Los Angeles, the firm that is representing the plaintiffs, told Bloomberg BNA.
The company sought, starting in September 2015 and continuing for seven months, release of a preliminary EPA risk assessment that would conclude that glyphosate was not carcinogenic, according to the documents.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an agency under the World Health Organization, in March 2015 found glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, to be a “probable” carcinogen.
Scott Partridge, Monsanto's vice president of global strategy, told Bloomberg BNA that pesticide manufacturers regularly meet with the Office of Pesticide Programs to provide information to allow the EPA to assess a product's risk to health and the environment.
“We have a responsibility to be in routine contact with the EPA,” he said. “There is nothing improper about this.”
EPA ‘Failing Their Duty to the Public’The company was battling a tide of questions over the safety of its signature weedkiller in 2015 when the IARC classification came as the EPA was reviewing glyphosate.
A solution was coming soon, company officials hoped: The EPA was set to publish a preliminary risk assessment that would conclude that glyphosate was not carcinogenic, countering IARC's finding and concurring with results from regulatory agencies around the world. This would smooth the path to re-registering the chemical, a process that began in 2009 as part of the agency's periodic review of the herbicide.
Getting the EPA to release that report was easier said than done, according to the correspondence. The risk assessment was expected to come out “in the first or second week of October” 2015, Monsanto regulatory lead Dan Jenkins told his colleagues via text message on Sept. 23, 2015.
“Spoke to EPA: is going to conclude that IARC is wrong. So is [the European Food Safety Authority],” Jenkins typed. But the EPA didn't publish the assessment right away, and Monsanto began intensifying its push for a report. The company set up a meeting between CEO Hugh Grant and then-Administrator Gina McCarthy.
By December 2015, top lobbyists and communications executives at the company appeared angry that the agency was lagging on releasing the assessment.
“We need to share with EPA political and career staff they need to get glyphosate PRA [preliminary risk assessment] out now they are losing credibility,” Philip Miller, at the time vice president of global regulatory and government affairs, told colleagues in a text message. “[CBS News] asked Hugh today if glyphosate causes cancer. Let them know they are failing their duty to the public.”
Two months later, optimism within the company seemed to wane. The EPA was going to invite academic scientists and industry consultants to partake in a scientific advisory panel (SAP), a move that would slow down the release of a report. The panel of independent scientists assesses the EPA's more contentious decisions.
“If their current thought process holds, then it is unlikely that the [preliminary risk assessment] will come out in 2016,” Jeremy Stump, vice president of North America government affairs for the company, told colleagues in a Feb. 12, 2016, email.
Accidental Leak of ReportA tête-a-tête between the Monsanto and EPA chiefs on March 3, 2016, didn't move the needle, according to an email from David Heering, the lead for strategy and compliance for the company's technology division.
EPA's McCarthy “did not understand why glyphosate reregistration/classification was such a big issue,” according to the talking points prepared for another meeting between Grant and McCarthy that Heering sent to colleagues. “Hugh needs to question her as to why they then considered IARC's flawed classification and again, why are you convening an SAP when your own internal scientists have confirmed the safety of glyphosate.” A spokesman for Monsanto confirmed that the meeting took place.
The Cancer Assessment Review Committee (CARC) report was completed in October 2015, but wasn't made public until six months later. The publication of the risk assessment was an accident, according to the EPA. The agency posted the report in April 2016, then quickly took it offline, claiming it was only a draft and not intended to be final. Nevertheless, Monsanto cited it in a legal case in federal court.
The EPA eventually rewrote the cancer review under a new committee, which reached the same conclusion of the CARC report: glyphosate is non-carcinogenic. The agency also convened a scientific advisory panel in December 2016 that was split on the EPA's conclusion, with some scientists unable to support the “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans” finding.
‘They Smell Blood’Even in the months before IARC released its glyphosate finding, Monsanto was already gearing up to fight against anti-glyphosate sentiment, and hoping to enlist growers in a scientific and ideological battle. Glyphosate is the most popular herbicide in the world, and is an essential crop management tool for many farmers.
“We'II need their strong voices to combat the activists that are already well organized for this and have been meeting with EPA,” Jenkins wrote in a Nov. 6, 2014, text message. “They smell blood and their [sic] circling.”The attorneys also sought to highlight the extent to which Monsanto tried to delay a study on glyphosate from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a division of the Centers for Disease Control. The company feared that agency's findings would draw a link between carcinogenicity and glyphosate.“[Former EPA scientist] Mary Manibusan told me yesterday that EPA has had several issues in the past with ATSDR coming to different conclusions. She said they tried to execute several [memoranda of understanding] but were unsuccessful. She describes ATSDR as being VERY conservative and IARC like in this regard,” Jenkins wrote in a June 24, 2015, email.
Jack Housenger, then-director of the Office of Pesticide Programs, sent Jenkins an email in October 2015 to say that the ATSDR director agreed to postpone its review until the EPA released the CARC report.Housenger said this was not done to placate Monsanto, but rather to coordinate federal work and save money.“We didn't want conflicting U.S. reviews,” he told Bloomberg BNA.
Jess Rowland, the author of the CARC report and a former deputy division director in the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs, was mentioned several times in the correspondence, although the attorneys did not unveil any emails or text messages from Rowland himself. Plaintiffs’ attorneys have painted Rowland as Monsanto's “friend” within the agency who tried to stop the ATSDR review. His attorneys declined to comment.http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=118069307&vname=dennotallissues&fn=118069307&jd=118069307
-
Chemicals Are the New Carbon as Corporate America Rethinks Risks
Aug 3, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
Chemicals are the new carbon, according to a group of investors, retailers and others that's come up with a way to gauge corporate progress toward safer alternatives to toxic ingredients.
Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co., and 22 more sellers of products from household cleaners to clothing responded to the first-of-its-kind survey from the Chemical Footprint Project.
The survey, now in its second year, asked them to quantify chemicals in their products and supply chains, much like they would calculate a carbon footprint. Those that did reduced their use of hazardous chemicals by a collective 416 million pounds over the past two years—enough to fill over 3,600 swimming pools, an Aug. 2 report found.
The project has gotten backing from investors managing $2.3 trillion in assets. One of its supporters, Trillium Asset Management, considers it a proxy for good governance.
“We, as investors, will be pushing them to disclose more information because if they're silent, then we just think they're not managing the risks,” Susan Baker, a vice president and member of the shareholder advocacy team at Trillium, told Bloomberg BNA. Mismanaging chemicals-related risks in an area of fast-growing regulations can have financial implications for companies, the report said.
Reluctance to Report
So can marketing safer products to increasingly health-conscious consumers. “We think it's a great initiative for our customer, first and foremost,” said Zach Freeze, senior director for sustainability at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which became the first retailer to answer the survey this year.
The retail giant has been using its purchasing power to make items on its shelves safer. So far, Wal-Mart's suppliers say they've removed from products sold in U.S. stores more than 96 percent of certain chemicals by volume weight that were deemed high-priority, according to the company's most recent sustainability report.
“It's something that we see as value to our business and we hope our suppliers feel the same way,” Freeze told Bloomberg BNA.
Only five of the companies participating in the Chemical Footprint Project agreed to reveal their survey responses or how they scored in a benchmarking of their chemicals policies and practices. Mark Rossi, who co-founded the project, said that may be because companies are reluctant to report beyond regulatory compliance. He said it may also be due to a lack of chemicals awareness, which can vary depending on what kind of product companies sell.
For companies with liquid products like cleaners or paints, chemical ingredients are core to their business. So they scored higher on average than companies with hard products like clothing and furniture, who tend to think more about materials and less about the chemical content of those materials.
“So there's this whole learning curve that you see companies going through,” Rossi, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Clean Production Action, told Bloomberg BNA.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=118069312&vname=dennotallissues&fn=118069312&jd=118069312
-
Wal-Mart Puts Chemicals in Spotlight by Joining New Program
Aug 2, 2017 | Bloomberg
By Lauren Coleman-Lochner and Taylor Cromwell
· Companies like J&J also partaking in Chemical Footprint group
· Program provides third-party standard to gauge chemical risk
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has joined a new program that rates companies on their use of chemicals, a move that puts fresh pressure on the consumer-products industry to police its ingredients.
The world’s largest retailer is participating in the Chemical Footprint Project, which seeks to help companies root out dangerous substances from the products they sell. Two dozen companies have joined the effort, including Johnson & Johnson, HP Inc. and Staples Inc., according to a report on Wednesday. The idea was to create a standard modeled on carbon-footprint scores.
Wal-Mart’s involvement gives a big boost to the three-year-old program and underscores the growing movement by corporate America to regulate itself. Consumers are increasingly checking ingredient labels of the products they buy -- and pushing companies to rid products of controversial chemicals, such as formaldehyde or phthalates.
“We ultimately want to build trust in Wal-Mart’s brand,” said Zach Freeze, head of the retailer’s strategic initiatives around sustainability. The program provides a “more holistic approach” and guidance for companies looking to manage their use of chemicals.
As part of the project, companies take a 20-question survey that examines their policies, goals and actions aimed at reducing toxic substances -- along with how much information they disclose. The top score is 100 points.
Three of the companies that took the assessment disclosed their scores. Medical-device maker Becton Dickinson had a 53, and equipment company Case Medical scored 62. The cosmetics maker Beautycounter, which advertises that it doesn’t use more than 1,500 suspect chemicals in its products, posted a 92.
The Chemical Footprint Project was created by an organization called Clean Production Action in 2014. The move was a response to demand from both consumers and investors, who are increasingly concerned about the hazardous chemicals that companies use, said Mark Rossi, the group’s executive director.
Financial Risks
“There are literally chemical risks from a financial perspective, and investors generally don’t have a window into that,” Rossi said.
Costs related to exposure to bisphenol A, a substance common in products like the linings of canned foods, are estimated to be 163 billion euros ($193 billion) a year in the European Union alone, according to the report.
Before the Chemical Footprint Project was started, companies lacked a third-party standard to evaluate supply chains and risks posed by hazardous products, Rossi said.
Boston Common Asset Management, an investment firm that focuses on social and eco-friendly causes, is one of the 65 signatories to the project. More consumers are starting to question how things are made and where their products are coming from, said Brian Chiappinelli, head of the firm’s business development. Wall Street, too, is focusing more on sustainability issues, he said.
“It’s about the evaluation of risk,” Chiappinelli said. “Regulation agencies try to do their best, but it’s not always the case that they do everything.”
Supplier Pressure
Three-quarters of the companies that participated in the assessment said they have a policy to find hazardous substances and substitute safer alternatives, while 92 percent said they’ve developed a list of so-called chemicals of high concern.
Wal-Mart announced in 2013 that it would ask suppliers to find safer alternatives for chemicals in personal care, cleaning and beauty products. Last year, it named the first group of chemicals it’s asked vendors to remove. Freeze said the company is still targeting next year for suppliers to list those substances on packaging.
Other large retailers have issued or expanded policies in the past year to reduce suspect chemicals in the products they sell, including Target Corp. and Costco Wholesale Corp.
“Now they’ve got a metric to measure progress,” Rossi said. “You just haven’t had this in the chemical space.”
Wal-Mart and HP are among those that signed on since the first report was issued last year. Freeze said Wal-Mart had been following the launch of the program closely since it began. It doesn’t plan to publicize its results this year, but that may change.
“We want to be more transparent,” Freeze said. “We do want to lead.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-02/wal-mart-puts-new-scrutiny-on-suppliers-with-chemicals-project
-
Researchers Report Rapid Removal Of BPA From Water Using Green Chemistry
Aug 2, 2017 | Environmental Health News
By Brian Bienkowski
As water treatment plants struggle to keep up with the chemical cocktail heading into our pipes, researchers say they’ve come up with a solution to remove one of the most ubiquitous contaminants—BPA.
Chemists were able to remove about 99 percent of bisphenol A (BPA) from water using a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and engineered catalysts, according to a study released today in the journal Green Chemistry.
The findings are a potential game-changer. Water treatment plants were not designed to deal with chemicals such as BPA, which is used to produce polycarbonate, epoxy and phenolic resins and largely used to make plastic hard and shatterproof, but also used in thermal receipt paper and food packaging.
The chemical gets into waterways from leaching out of landfills and industrial emissions. In a study of 19 U.S. landfills the U.S. Geological Survey found BPA in 95 percent of the tested leachate, which is the water that passes through landfills.
It’s not totally clear how much people are exposed to BPA from water, said Chris Kassotis, a postdoctoral research scholar at Duke University who studies endocrine disrupting chemicals.
“But it’s [BPA] widely occurring in water—it’s been found in everything from effluent, surface water, ground water, and drinking water,” added Kassotis, who was not involved in the new study.
Researchers combined small molecules that act as oxidizing catalysts with hydrogen peroxide and found that the mixture breaks down chemicals in water. When the mix was added to water contaminated with a high amount of BPA, 99 percent of the contaminant was gone within a half hour.
“If what we found in lab water transfers to these much messier solutions at landfills, we’d have a really great, cost effective solution,” said senior author of the study, Terrence Collins, a chemist from Carnegie Mellon University.
The mixture works by binding BPA together into larger clumps, which then precipitate out of the water and could be filtered out at a treatment facility. “When we add the catalyst (molecules) and the hydrogen peroxide, it’s almost immediate— a white cloud forms,” Collins said.
This cloud of clumps also won’t revert to BPA, making it harmless. When the researchers put zebrafish embyros in the water with the clumps, there wasn't any hormone activity, as you would see with regular BPA exposure.
BPA is a popular chemical—about 15 billion pounds are produced annually and people are consistently exposed. Scientists have expressed alarm for years over this exposure, as BPA is a known endocrine disruptor, meaning it alters the functioning of hormones.
Properly functioning hormones are crucial to reproduction, as well as development, brain function and immune systems. BPA exposure has been linked to certain cancers, obesity, behavior issues in children, fertility problems, low birth weights and birth defects and other health problems.
In the new study Collins and colleagues outline the ubiquity and toxicity, saying that the removal of BPA should be a health priority. “There isn’t a living thing on this planet that can escape BPA,” Collins said.
Landfills are especially a concern as they are full of products with BPA, which can escape over time.
“Think of your DVDs, or CDs, for examples, those are polycarbonate, so if they’re sent to the landfill, they break down in water over time, leaching out BPA,” Collins said.
Studies of Japan landfills found untreated leachate had about 17,200 parts per billion of BPA, and even treated leachate had about 5.1 parts per billion.
Kassotis said waters that receive industrial discharge have higher levels as well.
A review of US studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that BPA was found in about 80 percent of 1,068 surface water samples. The concentrations, however, are usually very low, averaging less than 1 part per billion.
BPA has also been found in some drinking water, however, those levels have been small concentrations too, Kassotis said.
“Researchers are still working out exactly which are the most significant pathways for exposure,” he said.
Collins said his team has been working on this process for about 15 years. While this method targets BPA he said it could work on other similar endocrine disrupting pollutants. “We can get most of the active pharmaceuticals and many, if not all, pesticides,” he said.
The next step is getting the technology out of the lab.
“I expect this will happen,” Collins said, “I’m quite optimistic this will work in real world scenarios.”
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2017/august/bpa-breakthrough-new-treatment-takes-controversial-chemical-out-of-water
-
EU Commission Amends Ecolabel Criteria For Textiles
Aug 3, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission has published an amending Decision that tweaks parts of the criteria for awarding the EU Ecolabel to textile products.
The Commission set EU Ecolabel criteria for textiles in 2014. To be awarded the label, manufacturers must ensure that products and production recipes do not contain hazardous substances listed in the restricted substance list (RSL) at, or above, the specified concentration limits, or according to the specified restrictions.
The amending Decision further specifies to which textile fibres, and which intermediate textile products, the criteria apply. It also clarifies the exceptions applying when recycled fibres or organic cotton fibres are used.
And it prolongs the validity of the 2014 Decision to "maintain a stable set of criteria over a longer period of time". The criteria and their related assessment requirements will be valid for 78 months from the adoption of the amending Decision.
https://chemicalwatch.com/58022/eu-commission-amends-ecolabel-criteria-for-textiles
-
EPA Retains Reliance On Audits In RMP Pacts Despite Doubts Over Rule
Aug 2, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Dave Reynolds
EPA's latest proposed settlement with a company for alleged violations of the Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety program includes strict mandates for independent audits to prevent future violations, suggesting the agency will retain reliance on audits in such pacts despite delaying an Obama-era rule to mandate audits as part of RMP.
On July 31, the Justice Department (DOJ) and EPA announced a proposed settlement with Harcros Chemicals Inc. based in Kansas City, KS, resolving RMP violations the company reported to EPA in 2015. The settlement requires the company to conduct third-party audits to ensure its facilities comply with the RMP rule.
“Today’s action shows that DOJ and EPA are serious about enforcing compliance with the Clean Air Act and protecting American workers and their communities from risks associated with accidental releases of hazardous substances,” DOJ says in a statement. “Harcros will correct any violations identified in the audits according to a schedule set forth in the agreement.”
Enforcement officials will seek comment on the proposed consent decree for 30 days following its publication in the Federal Register. The agreement also would requires the company, which operates 31 chemical facilities in 19 states, to pay a $950,000 penalty.
EPA's mandate of third party audits in the enforcement action is part of a long-running approach where the agency has for years required such audits in other settlements over alleged RMP violations, sources say.
However, agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has delayed by nearly two years an Obama-era update to the RMP program to allow for significant revisions to the rule.
The Obama EPA's Jan. 13 final rule added new requirements for certain facilities to conduct third-party audits and hazard analysis, and also included provisions for disclosure of facility data.
The rule's requirement for facilities to conduct third-party audits after incidents, such as accidental releases or near misses, drew significant pushback from industry groups, which argued the audits are costly and unnecessary, and that there is an insufficient supply of independent experts to conduct the reviews.
It remains unclear whether the Trump EPA would retain any of the audit mandates in a possible future RMP roll-back, but the Harcros settlement suggests that for settlements in enforcement cases the administration will continue to include third party audits as a condition of such pacts.
RMP Uncertainty
While the Trump EPA June 14 issued a final rule significantly delaying the RMP update to allow for revisions, industry and environmentalist attorneys say that third-party audits are likely to remain a hallmark of enforcement cases, regardless of whether the requirement in the rulemaking survives Trump administration revision.
“DOJ/EPA had been requiring third-party audits in many settlements of 112(r) general duty clause/RMP cases for some time before they proposed it in the Obama Administration rulemaking -- since as far back as 2014,” an industry source says in an email to Inside EPA. “So this does not strike me as a change in policy or practice by the government."
Conversely, the source says EPA enforcement officials requirement of third-party audits does not suggest the Trump EPA will not scrap the audit requirement in a revised rule.
“Nor would I read it as an indication that, in the renewed RMP rulemaking, this administration may still want keep the 3rd-party audit requirement,” the source says. “There’s a big difference between requiring audits by violators and requiring them by all regulated facilities.”
A second industry source says that the auditing requirements in the Harcros case are far more extensive than in past consent decrees, but that enforcement officials may have required more detailed auditing because of circumstances of the Harcros case. The source says the company has numerous facilities, including warehouses that may appear similar to the fertilizer storage facility that exploded in 2013 and were a major driver behind the RMP revisions.
An attorney with an environmental group agrees that the enforcement action does not show Pruitt backing off major revisions to the Obama-era rule, including the requirement for independent audits. “Enforcement and rulemaking are traditionally pretty separate entities,” the source says, adding that Pruitt's 20-month delay of the entire RMP rule suggests plans for major revisions. “They've been pretty clear in their intention to repeal the rule.”
But the environmentalist attorney argues that federal officials' continued reliance on independent audits shows their value in preventing accidents and backs the Obama administration's inclusion in the rule of a requirement for certain facilities to conduct the reviews. The source says EPA lacks resources to enforce against most violators, and that the update rule's requirement for independent audits targeted a subset of facilities that reported some problem.
“They continue to view third-party audits as a good idea in these enforcement actions, and clearly the thinking when [the Obama EPA] updated the chemical disaster rule was that they make sense in all cases where [the agency] doesn't have the resources to enforce” against facilities with near misses, the source says.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-retains-reliance-audits-rmp-pacts-despite-doubts-over-rule
-
Freight Train Cars Burning After Derailment In Pennsylvania; Residents Flee
Aug 3, 2017 | Reuters
By Maranie Staab
Hyndman, Pa. (Reuters) - Rail cars carrying gas and sulfur on a CSX Corp freight train skidded off the tracks and burst into flames on Wednesday in a small Pennsylvania town, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes as firefighters fought the blaze.
No injuries were reported after the crash in Hyndman, about 100 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. CSX warned customers service disruptions would last for a week over a nearly 80-mile stretch between Connellsville, Pennsylvania, and Cumberland, Maryland.
CSX said 32 cars derailed as the train moved through the town just before 5 a.m. There was no word on what caused the crash.
A freight car skidded into a garage that caught fire, and at least two train cars were still ablaze almost 12 hours later, said Bedford County emergency dispatcher Mike Steele.
CSX said one rail car containing liquefied petroleum gas and one car containing molten sulfur leaked and were on fire.
Authorities ordered the evacuation of residents in a one-mile radius, which encompasses most of the town, as emergency crews worried about the risk of an explosion, Steele said.
Among the residents driving out of town was 53-year-old Shannon Shoemaker, who said his whole family lives within 100 yards of the derailment site.
"They all got out safely, thank God for that," Shoemaker said.
This was the third derailment for a CSX train since last November. It came two days after CSX Corp CEO Hunter Harrison apologized to customers for service disruptions and said some railroad employees were resisting planned cost-cutting measures.
The train of five locomotives and 178 rail cars was traveling from Chicago to Selkirk, New York, CSX said. It said 128 cars carried mixed freight, including construction materials, paper and wood pulp.
John Risch, spokesman for the transportation division of the SMART Union, which represents CSX conductors, said it is incredibly difficult for a small crew to handle a train with 178 cars.
"It's hard to keep track of where the train is, especially as it snakes behind you for more than two miles," Risch said by phone. "I am not suggesting the length of the train caused the accident but it could have been a contributing factor."
On Monday, Harrison, the CSX chief executive officer, told customers in a memo that some employees were resisting aggressive cost-cutting measures at the No. 3 U.S. railroad.
Authorities closed roads and issued temporary restrictions on low-flying aircraft, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf's office said, adding that Wolf was on scene in Hyndman. No public water supplies or waterways were affected, his office said.
The governor's office said about 1,000 people had to leave their homes. An emergency shelter was assembled at a local school, staffed by aid workers from the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, authorities said.
CSX said company hazardous substance experts were working with firefighters at the scene to contain leaks and minimize environmental damage.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration were in Hyndman, the agencies said.
In March, a CSX freight train containing sulfuric acid and other dangerous materials partially derailed near Newburgh, New York, though the dangerous substances did not leak. Last November, two CSX trains collided and derailed in central Florida, injuring two crew members.
The probes into those incidents were still under way, said Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Warren Flatau.
After the New York incident, the Times Herald-Record newspaper cited officials and witnesses as saying the train derailed after striking a forklift being driven across the tracks.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-csx-derailment-idUSKBN1AI23T
-
(ACC Mentioned) 16 Attorneys General Sue Scott Pruitt For Blocking Implementation Of EPA Smog Rule
Aug 2, 2017 | ThinkProgress
By Mark Hand
A coalition of 16 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday for delaying a rule intended to reduce emissions of smog-causing air pollutants.
The states contend that Administrator Scott Pruitt’s proposed one-year delay in compliance deadlines for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards violate the requirements of the Clean Air Act. The Obama-era regulation lowered the allowable concentration of ozone to 70 parts per billion, from the previous 75.
“By illegally blocking these vital clean air protections, Administrator Pruitt is endangering the health and safety of millions — but attorneys general have made clear: we won’t hesitate to fight back to protect our residents and our states,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is leading the lawsuit, said in a statement.
Pruitt’s EPA counters that the one-year extension will provide the agency an opportunity to look at ways to make it easier for states to meet the ozone standards. States are required to come up with plans and deadlines to reduce ground-level ozone, or smog, in the designated areas.
Ozone is the main ingredient in smog and is created when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds — both of which can come from car exhaust and power plants — interact with sunlight. Breathing in ozone can contribute to a range of health impacts, including a decrease in lung function and an increase in respiratory symptoms.
Several industry groups are opposed to the stricter smog rules, including the American Petroleum Institute, the American Chemistry Council, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They argue that the stricter rules put an undue economic burden on industry.
The American Lung Association, on the other hand, estimates that more than 115 million Americans breathe harmful levels of ozone, which often travels far distances from other states with less stringent clean air regulations.
“The science linking smog to adverse health impacts is clear and definitive. The EPA should be assessing the bottom line of their actions by their effectiveness in protecting the public, not the joy of corporate shareholders,” Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said in a statement.
Schneiderman was joined in filing the lawsuit by the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
In 2015, the Obama administration’s EPA strengthened the national air quality standards for smog. The Clean Air Act requires the agency, within two years after issuance of new or revised standards, to designate areas of the county that are in attainment or non-attainment with these public health and welfare standards.
Thus, the Trump EPA was required to issue attainment or non-attainment designations by October 1, 2017. In late June, Pruitt published a notice pushing the deadline to October 1, 2018.
For areas designated as in non-attainment for the standards, states must adopt implementation plans — a collection of actions a state will undertake to reduce pollution in order to ensure standards will be met in those areas. The deadlines for submitting implementation plans are directly linked to the date of EPA designations.
The EPA estimates that meeting the new smog standards will result in net annual public health benefits of up to $4.5 billion starting in 2025, not including California, while also preventing approximately 316 to 660 premature deaths, 230,000 asthma attacks in children, 630 asthma-related emergency room visits, and 340 cases of acute bronchitis in children.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives passed a bill last month designed to delay implementation of the Obama administration’s ground-level ozone rule. Environmental groups say the bill will weaken the Clean Air Act, including switching the EPA’s mandated review of ozone from every five years to every 10. The measure has not yet been brought to a vote in the Senate.
Also, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday ruled that state officials who had filed a “friend of the court” brief will be allowed to defend the 2015 ozone standard in lawsuits challenging the rule. Last month, the states asked to be upgraded to intervenors from friend-of-the-court status, which will allow the states to actively defend the rule and file appeals if the EPA does not, Politico reported.
California, New York, Vermont, Washington, Massachusetts, Delaware, and the District of Columbia had filed the brief supporting the rule.
https://thinkprogress.org/attorneys-general-sue-epa-over-smog-rule-delay-3fe9bd515e5
-
(ACC Mentioned) 15 States Want EPA To Enforce Stricter Ozone Limits
Aug 2, 2017 | Kallanish Energy
Fifteen states on Tuesday filed a legal challenge over the Trump administration’s delay of Obama-era rules reducing emissions of smog-producing air pollutants. Kallanish Energy reports.
The states, unhappy with the ozone changes, petitioned the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s extension of deadlines to comply with the 2015 ozone standards.
In June, Pruitt said he was extending the deadlines by at least one year while the EPA reconsiders the ozone issue.
Several pro-business groups including the American Petroleum Institute and the American Chemistry Council are opposed to the stricter limits.
The 15 states said the EPA’s delay violates the federal Clean Air Act.
The ozone limit was lowered from 75 to 70 parts per billion to better protect human health in October 2015, by the Obama administration.
Ozone has been linked to heart and lung disease and asthma. It affects the elderly and young children. Ozone is formed when emissions of nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds combine in direct sunlight.
Power plants, vehicles and factories are the major sources of ozone-causing emissions.
About one-third of Americans live in 214 counties across the U.S. with ozone problems, the EPA says.
https://www.kallanishenergy.com/2017/08/03/15-states-want-epa-to-enforce-stricter-ozone-limits/
-
EPA Walks Back Delay Of Obama Air Pollution Rule
Aug 3, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Trump administration is reversing course on its plan to delay by one year enforcement of the Obama administration’s ozone pollution regulation.
The walk-back, announced late Wednesday, came a day after 15 states and the District of Columbia sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), saying the delay exceeded the agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act. Environmental groups filed a similar lawsuit last month.
In a statement announcing the decision, the EPA emphasized that it will continue to work with states on implementing the ozone rule, which could include more targeted enforcement delays.
“We believe in dialogue with, and being responsive to, our state partners,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in the statement. “Today’s action reinforces our commitment to working with the states through the complex designation process.”
Earthjustice, which sued the EPA last month over the delay, welcomed the action.
“The EPA’s hasty retreat shows that public health and environmental organizations and 16 states across the country were right: the agency had no legal basis for delaying implementation of the 2015 smog standard,” said Seth Johnson, an attorney with the group. “Implementing the safer 2015 smog standard will mean cleaner air and healthier people, particularly for those most vulnerable to ozone, like children, people with asthma and the elderly.”
Pruitt in June announced that EPA would push back by one year its planned October 2017 decisions on which areas to label as being in attainment with the 2015 ozone regulation.
That rule lowered the amount of ground-level ozone — a component of smog linked to respiratory ailments — to 70 parts per billion, from the previous 75.
Pruitt justified the delay by invoking a section of the Clean Air Act that allowed such delays if the EPA does not have sufficient information to make attainment decisions.
The agency said in a Federal Register notice due to be published in the coming days that it misunderstood how much information it had to make attainment decisions.
“The EPA has continued to discuss and work with states concerning designations, and now understands that the information gaps that formed the basis of the extension may not be as expansive as we previously believed,” officials wrote.
“The EPA now intends to reassess whether there are areas with underlying technical issues, whether there are state designation recommendations that the EPA intends to modify, and whether for any area there is insufficient information to promulgate the designation.”
Previous administrations have used the delay authority, but usually in more limited ways.
The EPA is still reviewing the 2015 ozone rule for potential changes or repeal. Pruitt had sued the EPA to get the rule overturned while in his previous job as Oklahoma’s attorney general.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/345079-epa-walks-back-delay-of-obama-air-pollution-rule
-
EPA Won't Delay Implementing Newest Federal Air Pollution Standards
Aug 3, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrew Childers
The EPA reversed course on its plan to postpone for one-year the implementation of the newest federal air pollution standards for ozone, possibly in an attempt to forestall lawsuits challenging the delay as illegal.
The Environmental Protection Agency previously announced plans to postpone the Oct. 1 deadline for determining which regions of the country meet or violate the updated ozone standards, citing the lack of adequate data to make those determinations. But late Aug. 2, the EPA announced it would continue to work with states to meet that deadline, saying the “gaps” in the data on air pollution necessary to make those decisions “may not be as expansive as we previously believed.”
The reversal comes after environmental and public health groups sued the EPA, arguing the nationwide delay was illegal.
While the Clean Air Act does allow the agency to postpone for one year making those non-attainment designations when it lacks sufficient data, the health and environmental groups argued that the EPA cannot just delay the decisions nationwide (Am. Lung Ass'n v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 17-1172, 7/12/17).
“We're pleased the administration recognizes the law is clear and they have to do designations and that the data is available,” Paul Billings, national senior vice president at the American Lung Association, told Bloomberg BNA. “In fact, we have 2016 data that should be considered as well. They have more current data they can look at.”
The EPA set the updated national ambient air quality standards for ozone at 70 parts per billion in 2015. States in 2016 identified regions that were unlikely to meet the 70 ppb standards based on air quality data. Parts of at least 22 states were identified as likely to exceed the ozone limits at that time, according to a Bloomberg BNA survey of state environmental agencies.
“We believe in dialogue with, and being responsive to, our state partners,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement. “Today's action reinforces our commitment to working with the states through the complex designation process.”
State air pollution regulators could not be reached for comment, but the Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies previously said the one-year delay could be beneficial for states as they wait for the EPA to develop the tools necessary for local air pollution regulators to show they have met the standards.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=118069306&vname=dennotallissues&fn=118069306&jd=118069306
-
In Sudden Reversal, EPA Withdraws Plan To Delay Ozone Designations
Aug 3, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Anthony Lacey
In a sudden reversal, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has withdrawn his decision to delay by one year agency designations for whether areas are attaining strict Obama-era ozone air quality standards, saying that “information gaps” justifying the delay no longer appear to be as extensive as initially believed and that EPA might be able to issue the designations this year.
“Today’s announcement replaces our earlier action that delayed the Agency's designation deadline on a nationwide basis and clarifies our path forward, so that the Agency can be more responsive to local needs,” the agency said in a statement released late Aug. 2.
The move is a win for environmentalists and states that were challenging the delay and marks the second time in the past month that EPA has failed to delay an Obama-era rule. In July, a federal appellate court blocked the agency from delaying implementation of a rule governing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
A pre-publication Federal Register notice formally withdrawing the delay of the ozone designations, which Pruitt signed Aug. 2, comes as the agency faces legal challenges filed by environmentalists and a coalition of Democratic-led states over the one-year delay.
The Register notice -- which will likely moot the litigation -- does not reference the pending suits, but says that EPA has worked with states since it announced the one year delay and that the ozone data gaps “may not be as expansive as we previously believed.”
The notice formally rescinds June 6 letters Pruitt sent to governors on the one delay as well as a June 28 Register notice in which EPA published the delay.
The action puts the agency back on track to meet an Oct. 1 Clean Air Act deadline for issuing the designations, which in turn triggers a statutory timeline for states to craft emissions reduction plans to meet the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS).
The agency cautions in the notice that it could still at a later date attempt to delay designations even though “the administrator is not making such a determination at this time.”
If the agency pursues a delay in the future, EPA says that air law section 107(d)(1)(b)(i) gives the administrator authority to seek more time for designations -- but that Pruitt is not currently taking that step.
“Under previous Administrations, EPA would often fail to meet designation deadlines, and then wait to be sued by activist groups and others, agreeing in a settlement to set schedules for designation,” Pruitt said in EPA's statement.
“We do not believe in regulation through litigation, and we take deadlines seriously. We also take the statute and the authority it gives us seriously,” he added.
Despite Pruitt's threats that he may still be able to delay the designations in the future, environmentalists who were suing the agency welcomed the decision.
“As he has before, Administrator Pruitt took an action that presented a clear and present danger to public health, and he did it without public input and without consideration of the consequences,” Peter Zalzal, lead attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund said in a statement.
“While we welcome this corrective action, we are deeply concerned about the threat that Administrator Pruitt’s actions present to the fundamental right to clean, healthy air guaranteed by our nation’s bipartisan and time-tested clean air laws,” he added.
Ozone NAAQS
The fight over the designations stems from Pruitt's efforts to postpone implementation of the Obama-era decision to tighten the NAAQS to 70 parts per billion (ppb) down from the prior 2008 limit of 75 ppb.
Environmentalists and some states supported the move as necessary to protect public health, with some groups calling for an even-stricter limit. But GOP lawmakers, other states, and industry groups argued that EPA lacked scientific justification for the move and that it failed to account of naturally occurring “background” ozone and other factors.
Those competing positions were expected to be at the center of separate litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Murray Energy v. EPA, but the Trump EPA successfully asked the court to put that suit on hold while it reviewed the NAAQS for possible reconsideration.
Pruitt then announced in June that he would delay designations for the 2015 limit by one year -- until Oct. 1, 2018 -- to address what he said were gaps in information on background ozone and other data on the criteria pollutant.
But critics said the claim lacked credibility and that Pruitt lacked legal authority for the delay. For example, Delaware's air director Ali Mirzakhalili at the June 6 spring meeting of the Ozone Transport Commission in Saratoga Springs, NY, questioned which information EPA thinks it lacks in order to make the designations. Delaware and other states oppose the delay because it means at least a one-year delay before states start crafting ozone-reduction plans, which will exacerbate OTC states' long-running problems with ozone.
And an environmentalist called the delay a “cynical ploy,” rejecting Pruitt's initial claim that EPA needed more time to evaluate a host of factors affecting states' ozone NAAQS attainment including the role of naturally occurring “background” ozone pollution, viewing it as a precursor to trying to undo the 2015 standard.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/sudden-reversal-epa-withdraws-plan-delay-ozone-designations
Industry and Association News
LCSA News
Chemical Management News
Energy News- There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Security News
Transportation and Infrastructure News
Environment News
Add recipients
Suggested