Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 8/9/17
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Trump Picks Air Chief, and Boxer Not Around to Block Him
Sep 8, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Sean Reilly
In tapping attorney William Wehrum to head U.S. EPA's air office, President Trump hewed to a now-familiar profile: an alumnus of George W. Bush's administration closely tied to industries that he would oversee. -
US Chemical Assessment Programme Under Fire
Sep 8, 2017 | Chemistry World
By Rebecca Trager
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programme that identifies and characterises the health hazards of chemicals in the environment proved to be a political football at a hearing of the House of Representatives’ science committee on 6 September. -
220 Million Americans Could Have Chloroform in Their Tap Water
Sep 8, 2017 | Environmental Working Group
By Alex Formuzis
When you think of chloroform, your thoughts may drift to faint memories of 1970s television shows in which a villain knocks out their victim with chloroform-soaked cloth. Doctors in the 1850s also used it as an anesthetic on patients before surgery. -
Gulf Coast Facilities Recovering From Harvey, But Impact Far-Reaching
Sep 8, 2017 | Carolyn Davis
By Natural Gas Intelligence
The hurricane that was Harvey clearly impacted U.S. natural gas, liquids and oil operations, with production and consumption falling as refineries and processors were forced to shutter, analysts said Friday. -
Senators Seek Answers From Pruitt on Methane Rule Enforcement
Sep 8, 2017 | Inside EPA
Eight Senate Democrats are pressing EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to explain his plans for enforcing the agency's rule governing methane emissions from new oil and gas facilities, raising concerns that EPA in a statement indicated plans for case-by-case enforcement after a federal court rejected their effort to delay the rule's implementation. -
More Than 40 Sites Released Hazardous Pollutants Because of Hurricane Harvey
Sep 8, 2017 | The New York Times
By Troy Griggs, Andrew W. Lehren, Nadja Popovich, Anjali Singhvi, and Hiroko Tabuchi
Houston’s sprawling network of petrochemical plants and refineries released millions of pounds of pollutants in the days after Hurricane Harvey began barreling toward Texas. -
First Responders Sue Chemical Company Over Sickening Fumes
Sep 8, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
A group of sheriff's deputies and firefighters sued Arkema Inc., the chemical company whose plant exploded and burned in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, saying the company was unprepared for the storm and misled the public about the danger the plant posed. -
Residents Cough, Rub Eyes in Harvey Pollution Spike
Sep 8, 2017 | AP (In The New York Times)
Cindy Sanchez began to feel ill while barbecuing just before Harvey's torrents started pelting this city just east of Houston, along a corridor with the nation's highest concentration of petrochemical plants. -
(ACC Mentioned) CEI Tells Senate Committee That Railroad Reciprocal Switching Is Not the Track to Take
Sep 8, 2017 | Logistics Management
By Jeff Berman
The case against freight railroad reciprocal switching is alive and well based on a letter from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit libertarian think tank, to U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune and Ranking Members Bill Nelson and Corey Booker sent earlier this week. -
Freight Rail Reform Will Grow the Economy
Sep 8, 2017 | RealClearPolicy
By Herman Haksteen & Barbara Cataneo
Despite today’s contentious political landscape, many Americans still agree that leaders in Washington should adopt reforms that will grow the U.S. economy. Business as usual is simply not cutting it. -
Former EPA Director: Trump Administration Plan Sets 'Deeply Troubling Precedent'
Sep 8, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Blog
By John Bowden
Christine Whitman, the former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief under President George W. Bush, says current EPA head Scott Pruitt's plan for the agency is a "shameful" attempt to bury evidence on climate change. -
Air Nominee Doesn't Think Agency Should Regulate GHGs
Sep 8, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
President Trump's pick to lead U.S. EPA's air office doesn't believe the agency should be regulating carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.
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Trump Picks Air Chief, and Boxer Not Around to Block Him
Sep 8, 2017 | E&E Daily
By Sean Reilly
In tapping attorney William Wehrum to head U.S. EPA's air office, President Trump hewed to a now-familiar profile: an alumnus of George W. Bush's administration closely tied to industries that he would oversee.
The White House sent his nomination to the Senate last night. A decade ago, questions about his ties helped sink Wehrum's first bid for the job. This round, courtesy of an ensuing change in Senate rules, he's likely to win confirmation.
That would be welcome news to past and present colleagues. They laud Wehrum as an exceptional lawyer whose mastery of the Clean Air Act is leavened with technical expertise gleaned from his prior work as an environmental engineer. He also has the respect of EPA's career staff, they said.
"Bill is someone who understands the act, who just wants these regulations to work more effectively," said Jeff Holmstead, a partner at Bracewell LLP who headed the air office from 2001 to 2005 and hired Wehrum early on as his counsel. "Hopefully, he will be able to clean out some of the unnecessary underbrush that's grown up over time."
But David Baron, managing attorney at the Washington, D.C., office of Earthjustice, disputed the presumption that an engineering background helps qualify Wehrum for a top post at an agency charged with protecting people's health.
"I don't think he can objectively play that role," Baron said during an interview.
Wehrum, who now heads the administrative law group at Hunton and Williams LLP, did not reply to phone and email interview requests made before his nomination was announced. The firm's site says he has represented companies and trade groups "on a wide range of regulatory matters and related litigation."
In recent years, his client roster has included heavyweights, like the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute, that regularly challenge EPA actions.
The issues in play in those cases ranged from boiler air pollution standards to methane regulations on new oil and gas operations, according to court records.
'Value of clean air'
An avid runner who has raced in the Boston Marathon, Wehrum told members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at a 2006 hearing that the miles logged along D.C. roads had impressed on him "the need for and value of clean air."
The occasional "smoking truck" and "smoking stack" are "stark reminders to me of the progress we have made and the challenges that remain," Wehrum added, according to an official transcript.
His front-runner status for the air job — officially known as assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation — had been rumored for months. But he had competition from Donald van der Vaart, a former head of North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality backed by some members of Trump's transition team for EPA (Greenwire, March 24).
Van der Vaart, who said earlier this summer that he had heard nothing from the administration since March, has since referred questions about staffing decisions to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Why would Wehrum want to give up a lucrative law firm position?
"He is interested in public service and he's also interested in having a direct and positive impact on important issues of the day," said Chuck Knauss, another partner at Hunton and Williams who has known Wehrum for more than two decades.
In a news release last night, EPA also trumpeted praise from John Cruden, a career Justice Department attorney who headed the agency's environmental division during part of President Obama's tenure.
"I believe he [Wehrum] is committed to achieving clean air for all citizens and carefully following sound and current science," Cruden, now retired from DOJ, said in the release.'There will always be divided minds'
A Memphis native, Wehrum, 53, graduated from Purdue University with a degree in chemical engineering and later attended law school at night while working at a Delaware plant.
After spending much of the 1990s in private practice, he took the counsel's job at EPA in 2001 and then became acting air chief in mid-2005 when Holmstead stepped down. Bush tapped him to get the job permanently in early 2006.
Wehrum had been closely involved in contentious rulemakings over power plant mercury emissions and other issues; at the EPW Committee confirmation hearing soon after, his record came under biting attack from Democrats.
To Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, for example, it showed "a pattern of discounting health impacts and ignoring scientific findings, and substituting industry positions for the clear intent of Congress."
Wehrum staunchly defended his record. He voiced pride in the mercury rule — which was later struck down by an appellate court — saying it was the world's first to regulate releases of the toxic metal from coal-fired power plants and would lead to significant reductions.
"There will always be divided minds on the issues we deal with, but that is part of what makes this country strong and this country great, because we can have these debates," he said.
With Republicans in control, the committee advanced Wehrum's nomination on a 10-8 party-line vote. But it died after Boxer blocked final floor action. And the November 2006 midterm elections swept Democrats back into control of the House and Senate.
Early the next year, Bush gamely renominated him for the air office job, only to withdraw the pick in April 2007 after Boxer, now chairwoman of the EPW panel, refused to schedule a committee vote (E&E Daily, April 12, 2007).
The next month, Wehrum resigned, telling staff that he wanted to "relax for a while and enjoy the summer" (Greenwire, May 23, 2007).
He praised EPA employees for making "great strides in reducing air pollution and improving health and the environment" and predicted "further significant progress over the next couple of years."
Under a rules change since that time, put in place by Democrats, the minority party no longer wields such power to bottle up administration appointments. Instead, the Senate, now controlled again by Republicans, can confirm nominees with a simple majority. Boxer recently retired.
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060060073
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US Chemical Assessment Programme Under Fire
Sep 8, 2017 | Chemistry World
By Rebecca Trager
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programme that identifies and characterises the health hazards of chemicals in the environment proved to be a political football at a hearing of the House of Representatives’ science committee on 6 September.
The committee’s Republican leadership questioned whether the programme – known as the integrated risk information system (Iris) – should continue at all. They accused Iris of having a weak scientific foundation, as well as providing duplicative and conflicting chemical safety information. The Republicans cited previous criticisms of the programme by the congressional Government Accountability Office and others, arguing that the EPA has failed to address these vulnerabilities of the programme.
Democrats argued that their Republican counterparts are trying to undermine public health assessments and disempower the EPA. They accused the committee’s Republican leadership of inviting only industry representatives as witnesses at the hearing but nobody from the EPA.
Thomas Burke, who served as the EPA’s science adviser under President Obama, did testify. He said that Iris assessments provide essential science guidance for agency decisions about chemical safety, but warned that they are a political target. ‘Don’t like the regulatory decision – attack the science,’ Burke added.
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/us-chemical-assessment-programme-under-fire/3007965.article
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220 Million Americans Could Have Chloroform in Their Tap Water
Sep 8, 2017 | Environmental Working Group
By Alex Formuzis
When you think of chloroform, your thoughts may drift to faint memories of 1970s television shows in which a villain knocks out their victim with chloroform-soaked cloth. Doctors in the 1850s also used it as an anesthetic on patients before surgery.
So, it might come as a surprise – it did for me – to learn it’s a common contaminant in the drinking water that serves roughly 220 million people in 46 states, even though it harms the nervous system and increases the risk of cancer.
Like many other water pollutants, chloroform does not have a maximum federal legal limit by which utilities must abide. California has published a health guideline of 1 part per billion in order to keep the risk of cancer as low as possible.
The chloroform found in tap water is one of the trihalomethanes, a class of contaminants that form as byproducts when chlorine or other disinfectants are added to drinking water. Chlorine is essentially a biocide – a powerful, poisonous substance that kills or inactivates bacteria and other disease-causing pathogens.
Water utilities add chlorine because bacteria get into tap water from rivers and lakes contaminated with wastewater and animal farm runoff. Bacteria can also get into the water distribution system from groundwater through cracks and micro-leaks common in our aging infrastructure. There are even bacterial colonies living in old pipes themselves that can only be removed when pipes are replaced.
When water is treated with disinfectants to reduce the risk of water-borne disease, chloroform and a slew of other toxic disinfection byproducts can be formed. These byproducts can increase the risk of cancer, cause problems during pregnancy, and trigger damage to the liver, kidneys and central nervous system.
More than 660 water utilities in California that serve over 29 million people have chloroform in their water. Same is true for over 22 million Texans, nearly 18 million New Yorkers, 12 million residents of Illinois, 9.5 million in Pennsylvania and 9 million in Ohio.
Some utilities have detected chloroform, as part of the federally regulated trihalomethanes class, at levels that exceed the federal maximum legal limit of 80 parts per billion for the entire group of chemicals. The limit allows levels of trihalomethanes 100 times greater than what scientists say cause a negligible cancer risk.
In 2015, these utilities served over 10,000 residents water especially high in chloroform:
· Claremore, Okla., with nearly 16,000 residents had an average level of chloroform of 82.9 parts per billion.
· Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority, which provides water to communities and townships in Northwest Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma and Southwest Missouri, reported an average chloroform level of 72.5 ppb.
· Bloomfield, N.J., with 47,000 residents, buys water from Newark Water Department and had a chloroform average level of 68 ppb; Newark itself had an average level of 60 ppb.
Search EWG’s national drinking water database to learn if chloroform has been found in your tap water.
There is one piece of good news: Chloroform and many other disinfection byproducts can be readily removed by home water filters. Search EWG’s online water filter guide to find a filter that will remove the specific contaminants in your tap water.
http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2017/09/220-million-americans-could-have-chloroform-their-tap-water#.WbLA7D4jHIU
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Gulf Coast Facilities Recovering From Harvey, But Impact Far-Reaching
Sep 8, 2017 | Carolyn Davis
By Natural Gas Intelligence
The hurricane that was Harvey clearly impacted U.S. natural gas, liquids and oil operations, with production and consumption falling as refineries and processors were forced to shutter, analysts said Friday.
A lingering impact from Harvey, the loss of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capability, is nearly over as Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass liquefaction facility is loading shipments again. LNG exports as recorded by OPIS/PointLogic Energy rebounded to above 1.0 Bcf/d on Thursday, from less than 0.2 Bcf/d on Tuesday.
“With ships lined up, continued growth in exports to 2.0 Bcf/d and above can be expected over the coming week,” IHS Markit analysts said.
A force majeure on the Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America system, declared on Aug. 28 because of limited access, was expected to be lifted on Friday, so “feed gas should not pose a challenge to these exports.”
However, gas demand has continued to decline with the broad cooling trend in the eastern United States, “with the result that natural gas prices have barely budged over the course of the hurricane and its aftermath.
“Henry Hub cash prices have remained within a 7-cent range, from $2.86-2.93 over the past week. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irma remains on a path to potentially threaten the significant Florida natural gas market for a number of days. Florida natural gas demand for September under normal weather would be expected to average approximately 4.1 Bcf/d, or approximately 6.6% of the U.S. total.”
Harvey’s Crude ImpactAccording to this week’s U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) crude oil report, the impact of Harvey was evident. Production fell fell from a week ago by 750,000 b/d, while consumption plummeted by almost 3.3 million b/d as refineries were forced to shutter.
Crude oil exports also fell sharply to only 150,000 b/d after averaging about 900,000 b/d year-to-date. In turn, oil inventories jumped by 4.6 million bbl.
The next EIA report may show another inventory build “as imported cargos, whose unloading was delayed by the storm, begin streaming in while refining capacity takes a bit longer to recover,” analysts said.
Harvey will no doubt dent U.S. oil output for August and September from July, “although we believe the impact will be shallower compared to previous hurricanes in the Gulf that shut down upstream operations, since offshore and onshore output appears to be recovering quickly.”
Based partly on data and guidance from U.S. onshore operators, which are guiding most of the domestic crude oil growth, IHS Markit’s team said domestic oil output should increase more by the end of the year following the Harvey disruption.
“The volumetric production impact from Hurricane Harvey is so far similar to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, or Hurricane Ike in 2008,” analysts said. “However, in the case of Harvey, it appears that production is returning much quicker, which is unsurprising given Harvey was less of a wind-event than Katrina, Rita or Ike. Moreover, overall U.S. crude production is now well above the levels of 2008 or 2005, thanks to the immense growth from the onshore shale sector.”
As of Friday morning, eight of the 20 Gulf Coast refineries impacted by Harvey’s onslaught were operating at close to “normal” rates, and the other 12 were beginning to restart procedures or actively ramping up.
In its first weekly propane/propylene inventory post-Harvey, EIA reported a sharp increase in inventory because of curtailed exports and chemical demand. U.S. propane and propylene supplies built by 6.3 million bbl over the week ending Sept. 1, according to the “Weekly Petroleum Status Report” issued Thursday.
“The build, measured over the course of a reporting week during which Hurricane Harvey decimated large swaths of the U.S. Gulf Coast, far surpassed the average 3.5 million bbl projected by respondents polled in OPIS' survey...and even bested a 4-5 million bbl guess, the highest prediction among them,” according to IHS Markit.
First Hurricane to Affect Global LPG Pricing
Harvey is the first hurricane to impact the Gulf Coast since its transformation as the largest global source of waterborne exports, IHS Markit noted.
“The U.S. is now responsible for 33% of global waterborne NGL exports and is a major source for Asian residential, commercial and chemical demand,” analysts said. “Thus, it was the first hurricane which affected global liquefied petroleum gas prices with the differential between Mont Belvieu and Japanese propane increasing from $65/ton prior to the storm to $90/ton after.”
Meanwhile,Petrochemical Update recently surveyed its Gulf Coast-based subscribers for a perspective about how they and their companies are faring. According to the results released on Friday, 72% are “back at work and operational,” while 12% were unaffected, 6% have not returned to work and 3% are working remotely. Seven percent answered “other.”
Asked how long it may take for the business to return to normal operations, 60% said “one to two weeks or less,” while 33% said “several weeks” and 7% said “several months.”
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/111676-gulf-coast-facilities-recovering-from-harvey-but-impact-far-reaching
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Senators Seek Answers From Pruitt on Methane Rule Enforcement
Sep 8, 2017 | Inside EPA
Eight Senate Democrats are pressing EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to explain his plans for enforcing the agency's rule governing methane emissions from new oil and gas facilities, raising concerns that EPA in a statement indicated plans for case-by-case enforcement after a federal court rejected their effort to delay the rule's implementation.
'[T]he statement suggests to both the industry and the public that EPA will not take a comprehensive approach to enforcing the requirements of the rule,” the lawmakers write in a Sept. 7 letter, raising concerns that the agency stance “may signal at attempt to circumvent” the court's ruling and mandate which reinstated a June 2017 compliance date for the regulation.
The letter was signed by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ) , Al Franken (D-MN), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Tom Udall (NM).
EPA was forced to resume implementing its methane new source performance standards (NSPS) late last month after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a mandate vacating the agency's 90-day pause of key requirements in its methane rule for new oil and gas sources, putting the rule back into effect.
The court's requirement created considerable uncertainty for industry officials, who have said the agency has not explained how it will enforce major aspects of the rule after the court forced its implementation.
But an EPA press official told E&E News in an Aug. 21 statement that the agency would enforce at least part of its rule related to fugitive emissions monitoring requirements “on a case-by-case basis.”
In their letter to Pruitt, the lawmakers question the statement, expressing concern that the agency is flouting a longstanding “No Action Assurance” policy, in effect since the 1980s, which they note requires EPA's enforcement office to establish “well reasoned justifications” for choosing not to enforce rules.
“With EPA's efforts to immediately hold enforcement of the Methane Rule rebuffed by the courts, it's announcement that enforcement will now proceed on a 'case-by-case basis' suggests that EPA will attempt to accomplish by an ad hoc enforcement approach what it could not accomplish through its unlawful stay,” the letter states.
The lawmakers write that while EPA has some enforcement discretion, EPA policy against No Action Assurances” requires that enforcement exceptions be granted only with concurrence of EPA's enforcement office and written documentation of the justification for such relief in each case file.
The lawmakers express concern that granting enforcement exceptions could erode the credibility of EPA's enforcement program; argue EPA appears to be retreating from its carefully crafted methane at the “behest of a few regulated industries”; and seek responses to several queries to determine whether their concerns are valid.
The letter then seeks responses by Sept. 28 on the following: what standards are being used to determine “case-by-case” enforcement of the methane rule, including all written guidance related to enforcement of the rule; whether EPA's 1984 “No Action Assurances” policy remains in effect and if so how does it comport with EPA's methane rule enforcement; and whether EPA has issued a No Action Assurance for the methane rule and if so what documentation exists.
The lawmakers also seek responses by the same deadline on which states have delegated enforcement authority under the methane rule and what oversight or assistance the agency plans for those states; and what EPA will require in the way of reports and notifications from states with delegated enforcement authority to ensure states are enforcing the regulation.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/senators-seek-answers-pruitt-methane-rule-enforcement
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More Than 40 Sites Released Hazardous Pollutants Because of Hurricane Harvey
Sep 8, 2017 | The New York Times
By Troy Griggs, Andrew W. Lehren, Nadja Popovich, Anjali Singhvi, and Hiroko Tabuchi
Houston’s sprawling network of petrochemical plants and refineries released millions of pounds of pollutants in the days after Hurricane Harvey began barreling toward Texas.
Even under normal operations, the hundreds of industrial facilities in the area can emit harmful chemicals. But from Aug. 23 to Aug. 30, 46 facilities in 13 counties reported an estimated 4.6 million pounds of airborne emissions that exceeded state limits, an analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund, Air Alliance Houston and Public Citizen shows.
Federal and state regulators say their air monitoring shows no cause for alarm. But the extra air pollution is just the latest concern for residents and environmental groups in the days after the storm. At least 14 toxic waste sites were flooded or damaged, raising fears of waterborne contamination. And nearly 100 spills of hazardous substances have been reported.
Many plants in the hurricane’s path released extra pollutants into the air when they shut down in preparation for the storm, and again when they resumed operations.
When a giant plastics plant in Point Comfort, about 100 miles southwest of Houston, started back up after the storm, it released about 1.3 million pounds of excess emissions, including toxic gases like benzene. The plant is operated by Formosa Plastics, an affiliate of a Taiwanese petrochemicals conglomerate, and has a checkered safety record. Steve Rice, a Formosa spokesman, declined to comment on the emissions.
Other facilities were damaged by wind or water and involuntarily released hazardous gases.
On Tuesday, Houston officials said they had detected high levels of benzene in a neighborhood in the city that is close to a damaged Valero Energy refinery. Loren Raun, the chief environmental science officer for the Houston Health Department, said that the readings varied depending on which way the wind was blowing but that officials were seeing “high numbers.”
And in a dramatic case, a series of explosions at a flooded chemical plant in Crosby, Tex., filled the air with smoke, triggering an evacuation of nearby residents and sending 21 emergency workers to hospitals for smoke inhalation.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state environmental regulator, said that most of its air monitors — which had been shut down during the storm — were back in service, and were not detecting emissions at levels that would be harmful to human health. The Environmental Protection Agency said that its own monitors showed that residents “should not be concerned about air quality issues related to the effects of the storm.”
Still, environmental advocates said that pollutants could pose long-term risks, even if they were not immediately toxic.
“These are cancer-causing compounds, like benzene and butadiene,” said Elena Craft, an Environmental Defense Fund senior health scientist based in Austin. “We’re very concerned about people’s long-term health in the area.”
Houston’s large petrochemical industry also makes floodwater contamination a major concern. Harris County, home to Houston, hosts more than two dozen current and former toxic waste sites designated under the federal Superfund program. At least 14 of these sites — whose grounds are contaminated with dioxins, lead, arsenic, benzene or other compounds from industrial activities — were flooded or damaged by Hurricane Harvey.
The E.P.A. said that it had assessed 13 Superfund sites and that two would require “additional assessment efforts.”
The sites pose serious health risks, said Luke Metzger, the founding director of Environment Texas, an environmental advocacy group.
“There’s just dozens of varieties of chemicals, all of which are hazardous to human health,” Mr. Metzger said. “Some of these sites were just protected by a tarp covered with rocks,” he said, explaining that that was inadequate for keeping toxic substances contained.
“With the floodwaters spreading these poisons to broader communities,” Mr. Metzger added, “there’s fear that more people could get sick, either from direct exposure to the water, or even down the road from eating contaminated seafood.”
The United States Coast Guard’s National Response Centertracks reports of oil spills and other chemical releases. Those reports can be filed both by companies and by members of the public. From Aug. 24 to Sept. 3, callers made 96 reports of oil, chemical or sewage spills across southeast Texas.
Though incomplete, such data provides a preliminary snapshot of the chemical pollutants released in the area, said Ilan Levin, the Texas-based associate director of the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit advocacy group.
“This is really just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/08/us/houston-hurricane-harvey-harzardous-chemicals.html
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First Responders Sue Chemical Company Over Sickening Fumes
Sep 8, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
A group of sheriff's deputies and firefighters sued Arkema Inc., the chemical company whose plant exploded and burned in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, saying the company was unprepared for the storm and misled the public about the danger the plant posed.
The seven first responders were among 15 who were hospitalized after the explosion and fire. They said in state district court the fumes left them sick and gasping for breath, and are asking for medical expenses and other damages. Their suit claims Arkema was grossly negligent in the way it prepared for and responded to the disaster.
Arkema's plant in Crosby, about 25 miles east of Houston, produces chemicals that have to be refrigerated to prevent them from igniting. The storm flooded the facility 6 feet deep, knocking out power and backup systems, and the company said it had no option but to move the chemicals to trailers and let them catch fire.
The plaintiffs were helping to maintain a 1.5-mile perimeter around the plant when the chemicals exploded and caught fire early on Aug. 29, and they were overcome by the smoke, the suit says.
"The scene was nothing less than chaos," according to the suit. "Police officers were doubled over vomiting, unable to breathe. Medical personnel, in their attempts to provide assistance to the officers, became overwhelmed and they too began to vomit and gasp for air."
Some of the officers drove themselves to hospitals; others were taken by ambulance.
The company said in a statement it regrets that anyone was injured but said it'll fight the lawsuit.
"Our employees acted in the same honorable and heroic way that thousands of other citizens in Harris County did when confronted with an unprecedented tragedy. They did everything they could to protect the public, while fighting fast-rising flood waters that were 5 to 7 feet high at our plant," the statement says.
"We reject any suggestion that we failed to warn of the danger of breathing the smoke from the fires at our site, or that we ever misled anyone. To the contrary, we pleaded with the public, for their own safety, to respect the 1.5 mile evacuation zone imposed by the unified command well prior to any fire."
The suit says Arkema officials repeatedly downplayed the danger from the smoke. And, it says, the company overlooked the risk of flooding (Greenwire, Sept. 1).
"This is not the first time Houston has had massive amounts of rain," the suit says. "As a matter of fact, this has happened so many times before that most industries, private businesses and even governmental agencies have put in place physical structures and written procedures to prevent harm and damage to their properties and the people in their communities."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/09/08/stories/1060060055
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Residents Cough, Rub Eyes in Harvey Pollution Spike
Sep 8, 2017 | AP (In The New York Times)
Cindy Sanchez began to feel ill while barbecuing just before Harvey's torrents started pelting this city just east of Houston, along a corridor with the nation's highest concentration of petrochemical plants.
"I started getting really, really bad headaches," said Sanchez, a 32-year-old housewife. "I never get headaches."
"My husband's eyes were burning," she said. "He actually had a napkin that was wet over his eyes." The sewage-like stench chased the couple indoors and Sanchez, sick to her stomach, lay down.
People complained of headaches, nausea, itchy skin and throats — classic symptoms of industrial chemical exposure — as plants and refineries raced to burn off compounds that could combust in extreme weather or power loss.
Petrochemical corridor residents say air that is bad enough on normal days got worse as Harvey crashed into the nation's fourth-largest city and then yielded the highest ozone pollution so far this year anywhere in Texas. The Houston metro area was ranked 12th in the nation for worst ozone pollution by The American Lung Association this year, although its air was better than the Los Angeles and New York regions.
Plants owned by Shell, Chevron, Exxon-Mobil and other industry giants reported more than 1.5 million pounds (680 metric tons) of extraordinary emissions over eight days beginning Aug. 23 to the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality in Harris County, which encompasses Houston. That amounted to 61 percent of this year's largely unpermitted emissions for the county and five times the amount released in the same period in 2016. Of the known carcinogens released during Harvey, more than 13 tons were benzene. Inhaling it can cause dizziness and even unconsciousness and long-term exposure can trigger leukemia.
Asked about the health effects of the dramatic emissions spike, state environmental commission spokeswoman Andrea Morrow said "all measured concentrations were well below levels of health concern" and "local residents should not be concerned about air quality issues related to the effects of the storm." The federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a similar statement.
Yet most air monitors were knocked out or offline during Harvey's wrath, making measurement difficult.
Texas sets fines low for industrial polluters— at $25,000 per day for federal clean air violations. Big plants tend to delay shutdowns for as long as possible when a hurricane is coming — then restart quickly afterward — triggering another spike in unhealthy emissions, said Daniel Cohan, a Rice University environmental scientist.
"These (plants) are three and four decades old, beasts that are meant to operate all the time."
Asked if emissions could have been reduced by winding down plant operations sooner, American Petroleum Institute spokesman Reid Porter said: "We are still gathering information and making assessments."
Some emissions were triggered by the sheer volume of Harvey's deluge.
At an Arkema Inc. plant about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of downtown Houston, organic peroxides rendered unstable by lost refrigeration exploded in flames and cast an acrid plume. At least 18 tons burned after people within a 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) radius were evacuated. On Thursday, seven sheriff's deputies and emergency medical responders sued Arkema in state court for gross negligence, claiming fumes from the incident made them vomit and gasp for air.
Benzene and other toxins spilled into the air outside the Valero Partners refinery on Houston's east side, as heavy rains damaged a tank's floating roof and invaded a dike.
A city health department air monitor downwind of the refinery on Friday registered an alarming level of up to 14,000 parts per billion of volatile organic compounds, some carcinogenic, said department chief scientist Loren Raun, and aerial monitoring continued to detect benzene on Monday.
On Sept. 1, Houston registered Texas' worst ozone pollution this year — an average of 95 parts per billion (ppb) over eight hours. It was Harris County's first of four straight days of unhealthy ozone levels, exceeding the EPA standard of 70 ppb.
By volume, most of Harris County's emissions were sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, which break down to fine particles and ozone that all can cause respiratory problems, especially for people with asthma and emphysema, said Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, a health scientist for environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council.
Of the dozen plants in Harris County reporting storm-related emissions, Exxon Mobil, Chevron Phillips and Shell Oil have been fined or ordered to pay settlements totaling $27.8 million since 2010 for violating federal environmental laws after suits by The Sierra Club and Environment Texas. A federal judge ordered Exxon Mobil in May to pay most of it — $19.9 million — for illegal emissions from its Baytown refinery. Exxon Mobil is appealing. The other two companies paid, said Philip Hilder, attorney for the environmental groups.
In heavily Latino lower middle-income communities like Pasadena and Galena Park, which sit along the plant and refinery corridor near Houston's seaport, some residents complained of feeling sick during Harvey.
Ruben Basurto, who lives two blocks from a petrochemical shipping terminal and refinery, described major flaring as Harvey hit — the burning off of volatile byproducts of petrochemical manufacture that sends flames soaring from plant stacks. The air reeked of natural gas, he said, driving him and his friends inside.
"It still smelled at midweek, more during the night," said the 33-year-old construction worker.
As the storm closed in, Gov. Greg Abbott decreed the temporary suspension of emissions regulations. The state environmental agency's director said Texas law could exempt refineries and chemical plants from state fines and liability for extraordinary releases resulting from "an act of God, war, strike, riot, or other catastrophe. "
In Galena Park, mothers in a private Facebook group described sickening odors like "sweet gasoline," raw sewage and thick air.
Some in the city of 11,000 with a median household income of $43,000 called 911 but police were too busy to respond, said local environmental activist Juan Flores.
"A lot of people are afraid to talk because their husbands work in the plants," said Flores.
People in the petrochemical corridor should be provided health screening as a next step in Harvey recovery, said Rotkin-Ellman of the environmental group NRDC.
A Harris County pollution control services toxicologist, Latrice Babin, said she was not aware of any special screening.
Sanchez's headaches still hadn't gone away on Wednesday. Nor had the sickening smell, she said.
She wants to see a doctor, but like many in her neighborhood, she said, Sanchez currently has no health insurance.
"I don't even know where I would start."
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/09/08/us/ap-us-harvey-emissions-spike.html
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Sep 8, 2017 | Logistics Management
By Jeff Berman
The case against freight railroad reciprocal switching is alive and well based on a letter from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit libertarian think tank, to U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune and Ranking Members Bill Nelson and Corey Booker sent earlier this week.
“Unfortunately, some powerful industrial shipping interests have succeeded in opening a proceeding before the STB framed in the language of promoting ‘competition,’” CEI wrote The proposed rule regarding revised reciprocal switching rules that was opened by the STB would reverse three decades of precedent. The STB shockingly argues that its inability—and the inability of the Interstate Commerce Commission before it—to uncover any evidence of anticompetitive conduct on the part of the railroad industry justifies its call for eliminating the post-deregulation requirement that anticompetitive conduct be found before mandatory reciprocal switching could be imposed. The STB is in essence proposing to convict freight railroads for crimes the STB itself concedes they did not commit.”
The letter added that many industry observers have expressed concern that imposing forced reciprocal switching and reducing rate flexibility will come at the expense of network investment.
“This unprecedented action threatens railroads, shippers, and consumers with degraded service quality and higher prices on goods, which would naturally follow the resulting reduction in operational efficiencies and private railroad investment,” it stated. “Over the last 20 years, Congress has repeatedly rejected railroad re-regulation, regardless of political control. On numerous occasions, it has explicitly rejected attempts to eliminate the anticompetitive conduct requirement, recognizing that reducing private railroad investment is not in the public interest. We strongly urge the Committee and Subcommittee to put the re-regulation of freight railroads to bed for the foreseeable future by empowering new Board members who understand this basic economic reality.”
CEI also called on the Senators to move forward on the process to appoint and confirm two new STB members and preferably vet nominees to ensure they have a sound understanding of the economic principles surrounding the freight railroad sector and who will reject what it called “misguided” efforts to re-regulate the United States freight rail sector.
As previously reported, the impetus for the proposed reciprocal switching regulations stems from a petition for rulemaking submitted by the National Industrial Transportation League in July 2011. The STB said the proposed regulations would augment the availability of reciprocal switching, allowing a rail shipper to gain access to another railroad if the shipper makes certain showings. And it added that these proposed regulations create an avenue for the STB to impose a reciprocal switching arrangement.
As defined by the STB, reciprocal switching is a situation in which a railroad that has physical access to a specific shipper facility switches rail traffic to the facility for another railroad that does not have physical access. And the second railroad compensates that railroad that has physical access in the form of a per car switching charge, with the shipper facility gaining access to an additional railroad.
In order for the proposed reciprocal switching to come to fruition, the STB said that a shipper must show that the arrangement is “practicable and in the public interest” or “necessary to provide competitive rail service.” STB’s findings would be based on evidence presented by the shipper and the railroad, while the existing standard that was adopted by the STB’s predecessor, the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1985 requires a showing that reciprocal switching is necessary to prevent an uncompetitive act. STB added that going back to 1985 nearly no requests for reciprocal switching have been filed and none have been granted. Reciprocal switching has been viewed as a hot button topic by freight railroad industry stakeholders since its inception.
NITL Executive Director Jennifer Hedrick said that her organization appreciates the groundwork the STB has laid out toward the development of a competitive rail marketplace, which will benefit all who utilize rail transportation.
And heads of myriad industry associations representing rail shippers were in lockstep with Hedrick, including Cal Dooley, president and CEO of The American Chemistry Council.
“Competitive switching is a commonsense reform that will finally put an end to an archaic system that has helped shield railroads from having to compete with one another and has allowed freight rail rates to nearly double in the past ten years,” Dooley noted. We urge the Board to adopt a workable policy that will at long last provide shippers with greater access to competitive rail service.”
Other factors cited by those in favor of reciprocal switching included: competition being one of the fairest and most efficient ways to promote increased service, having a rail system that is more accountable to the U.S. marketplace and lead to a more dependable, efficient, and economical rail service for retailers and distributors of agricultural commodities and the rural communities they serve, and being able to provide more consistent delivery of raw materials, among others.
Conversely, those against reciprocal switching, maintain it is a step backwards on various fronts.
Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ed Hamberger said that forced access is an ill-conceived approach that compromises the efficiency of the entire network by gumming up the system through added interchange movements, more time and increased operational complexity.
“The freight rail industry acknowledges the complexities the STB had to take into consideration in arriving at this proposed rule, but, at the end of the day, the Board should have dismissed the petition without further proceedings, as imposing new regulations like this are a step backward from the deregulatory path that has allowed railroads to make the capacity investments required to meet customer demand and further modernize a nationwide rail network that benefits shippers and consumers. The freight rail industry’s position remains unchanged: forced access is an ill-conceived approach that compromises the efficiency of the entire network by gumming up the system through added interchange movements, more time and increased operational complexity.”
Citing 2010 data from the STB, AAR officials explained that an annual revenue loss of up to $7.8 billion could result from rate reductions stemming from these proposed regulations for the benefit of a select group of shippers. And without this income, they said the freight rail industry could no longer invest the billions of private dollars needed to maintain and expand the nation’s 140,000-mile rail network. As LM has reported, since 2000, freight railroads have invested more than $110 billion in privately financed capital improvements to their networks.
http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/cei_tells_senate_committee_that_railroad_reciprocal_switching_is_not_the_tr
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Freight Rail Reform Will Grow the Economy
Sep 8, 2017 | RealClearPolicy
By Herman Haksteen & Barbara Cataneo
Despite today’s contentious political landscape, many Americans still agree that leaders in Washington should adopt reforms that will grow the U.S. economy. Business as usual is simply not cutting it.
One straightforward action that the administration and Congress can make to boost our nation’s businesses and help consumers is to improve how products are shipped by rail. Today, manufacturers are being stifled by antiquated regulations that have unnecessarily driven up the costs of shipping everything from food and beverages to steel, timber, chemicals, and other essential products by rail.
Dramatic consolidationwithin the rail industry coupled with regulatory barriers that shield railroads from competition in many parts of the country are hindering American commerce. Companies have seen their freight rail rates doubled — more than three times the rate of inflation over the past decade — even though the volume of freight carried by the railroads has barely increased. To make matters worse, service has declined to the point that some manufacturing plants have been shut down because inbound products have not arrived as promised.
This isn’t just bad for business, it’s bad for consumers too, resulting in higher prices at stores and restaurants.
To help address this growing problem, more than a dozen global food and beverage producers headquartered in North America have banded together to create the Private Railcar Food and Beverage Association, Inc. These companies are household names that deliver products found in almost every store in America, from your morning cereal to your preferred wine. The group’s mission is simple: create a better environment for transporting food and beverages by rail in which free-market competition can flourish so that our members — and, by extension, consumers — can benefit.
Part of the solution is to remove an outdated regulatory barrier that protects railroads from competing with one another. This would allow shippers served by a single railroad to request that their cargo be transferred to another major railroad at a nearby interchange. Another sensible reform would help streamline the process for handling rate disputes by using real-world data from the marketplace to create benchmarks for competitive rates.
At the heart of these reforms sits the federal Surface Transportation Board, which is responsible for oversight of the nation’s freight rail network. Unfortunately, two of the seats on this five-member panel have been vacant for almost 2 years.
America’s shippers need a fully functioning Surface Transportation Board that is committed to completing meaningful freight rail reform. President Trump must act soon to appoint reform-minded members, and the U.S. Senate should promptly confirm them.
Helping this little-known yet important government agency carry out these reform will benefit U.S. industry and keep consumers happy.
http://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2017/09/08/freight_rail_reform_will_grow_the_economy__110349.html
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Former EPA Director: Trump Administration Plan Sets 'Deeply Troubling Precedent'
Sep 8, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Blog
By John Bowden
Christine Whitman, the former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief under President George W. Bush, says current EPA head Scott Pruitt's plan for the agency is a "shameful" attempt to bury evidence on climate change.
"The evidence is abundant of the dangerous political turn of an agency that is supposed to be guided by science," Whitman wrote Friday in The New York Times. "[The red team] will serve only to confuse the public and sets a deeply troubling precedent for policy-making at the EPA"
The EPA announced the creation of "red teams" in June, with one senior official telling reporters that it would create a "back-and-forth-critique" of climate science.
"Climate science like other fields of science is constantly changing," EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said in June. "A new, fresh, and transparent evaluation is something everyone should support doing."
Whitman blasted Pruitt for this approach, which she calls anti-science, and accused Pruitt of attempting to silence evidence that points to climate change being a man-made issue.
"The red team begins with his politically preferred conclusion that climate change isn’t a problem, and it will seek evidence to justify that position. That’s the opposite of how science works," Whitman writes.
"That Mr. Pruitt seeks to use the power of the EPA to elevate those who have already lost the argument is shameful, and the only outcome will be that the public will know less about the science of climate change than before," she adds.
Whitman says Pruitt's approach at the EPA is meant to allow Energy Secretary Rick Perry and President Trump to avoid acting on climate change.
"Sending scientists on a wild-goose chase so that Mr. Pruitt, Rick Perry, the energy secretary, who has endorsed this approach, and President Trump can avoid acknowledging and acting on the reality of climate change is simply unjustifiable," Whitman writes.
"If this project goes forward, it should be treated for what it is: a shameful attempt to confuse the public into accepting the false premise that there is no need to regulate fossil fuels."
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/349798-former-epa-director-trump-administration-plan-sets-deeply-troubling
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Air Nominee Doesn't Think Agency Should Regulate GHGs
Sep 8, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
President Trump's pick to lead U.S. EPA's air office doesn't believe the agency should be regulating carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Bill Wehrum, the nominee to be assistant administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation, thinks Congress hasn't given EPA the authority to control carbon dioxide emissions. His views put him in line with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and place him at odds with those who would like to see EPA pursue aggressive climate change rules.
The White House formally announced Wehrum's nomination to lead the air office late yesterday. His selection had been widely anticipated, and he's now one of just a handful of people to be named to positions within the agency that require Senate confirmation.
Wehrum, now an attorney at Hunton & Williams LLP, will be returning to EPA if he's confirmed.
He worked as the top legal counsel for then-air chief Jeff Holmstead during the George W. Bush administration. He was nominated to become air chief but was never confirmed due to Democratic opposition to that administration's air policies.
If confirmed, Wehrum will play a key role in rolling back the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan and determining the future of regulations controlling greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas industry and automobiles.
He believes "that Congress never intended the EPA to address an issue such as climate change under the Clean Air Act," Wehrum told Law360 in a 2013 interview. "The act clearly is designed to deal with very different kinds of pollution and very different kinds of health and environmental effects."
Pruitt made similar remarks in July. He told Reuters that "the Clean Air Act was truly set up to address local and regional air pollutants."
Industry ties
Wehrum has decades of experience as an attorney specializing in the Clean Air Act. During his stint in the Bush EPA, he helped shape policy on issues ranging from emissions from diesel engines and automobiles to air pollution from power plants.
"Bill is one of the most substantively capable clean air policy lawyers out there. He is an analytical workhorse," said James Connaughton, the environment adviser for President George W. Bush while Wehrum was at EPA.
Connaughton described Wehrum as a "lawyer's lawyer" who is deeply familiar with the Clean Air Act and programs at EPA and seeks to understand all sides of a given issue.
"He's not dogmatic in any particular way," Connaughton said.
Like other Trump administration picks, Wehrum has strong ties to industries he could soon be tasked with regulating.
He currently leads the administrative law group at Hunton & Williams, where he represents utility clients as well as companies and trade associations in the oil and gas sector, chemical manufacturing and minerals processing. The law firm has a reputation for combating environmental regulations.
Wehrum started his career as a chemical engineer, and the experience helped frame his focus in environmental law. During his confirmation hearing to become assistant administrator of the air office in 2006, he explained that the regulations he saw on the job appeared to have been written without a clear understanding of how the rules would function in practice.
"I became acutely aware of the need for clear and concise rules," he told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Wehrum began attending night classes at the Widener University School of Law while still working as a chemical engineer by day, so that he could eventually begin practicing environmental law.
He added that his interest in clean air was also personal: As a runner who frequently ran alongside roads in Washington, D.C., he appreciated firsthand the progress made to limit air pollution and the work that still needed to be done.Manner shouldn't 'be mistaken for moderation'
A former EPA official described Wehrum as "a very thoughtful person" who reacts "more to logic than emotion."
"He's going into it for all the right reasons, I think. This is not a resume builder for Bill; he's basically going back to the job he had before," the official said. "I think he is going into it because he wants the agency to work."
Another former EPA official said Wehrum is more conservative than Holmstead, who brought him into the agency initially as his counsel.
"He's a smart and tough guy. He has a quiet manner that should not be mistaken for moderation," the official said. "He will probably get along well with Pruitt."
Some sources critical of Wehrum's work pointed out that he and Holmstead have had a poor record when their efforts to control pollution have been challenged in court.
They also broadly criticized the Bush administration for its failure to address greenhouse gas emissions. Regulations addressing climate change were largely absent during Wehrum's tenure at the agency. The Trump administration so far seems to be following a similar path through its exit from the Paris Agreement, rollback of the Clean Power Plan and stay of methane regulations for the oil and gas industry and landfills.
Wehrum was at EPA long enough to see the Bush administration's interpretation that the Clean Air Act didn't cover greenhouse gases overturned in the Massachusetts v. EPA 2007 Supreme Court decision. He was involved with initial agency discussions about the decision, which continued after he left.
One former official said that Wehrum would follow the data in his response to climate change.
"He has an analytical mind. It's a matter of proof and evidence, and I think he would tend to go where that led him," the former official said.
Wehrum may have to face some of the same objections to his tenure at EPA that he faced during his failed confirmation process to lead the air office. Senate Democrats sharply opposed his nomination, and the president eventually withdrew his nomination.
"Mr. Wehrum's record at EPA has demonstrated to me a pattern of discounting health impacts and ignoring scientific findings, and substituting industry positions for the clear intent of Congress," then-Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said at an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing in 2006.
Wehrum's supporters expect he'll be well-received at an agency where the new political team is largely composed of appointees with little or no previous experience at EPA.
"I think the staff will welcome him; in fact, I'm sure of it," said a former EPA official.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/09/08/stories/1060060091
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