Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 11/9/2017
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EPA Asks to Again Delay HFC Handling Rule Suit
Sep 11, 2017 | Inside EPA
EPA is again asking an appellate court to delay litigation challenging its rule updating refrigerant management guidelines to include “substitute” chemicals that are potent greenhouse gases, continuing to signal a possible agreement with industry and other litigants to reduce or eliminate the need for litigation. -
EU Notifies WTO of Change to Chromium VI Limit in Toys
Sep 11, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission has notified the WTO of a draft Directive amending the migration limit for chromium VI in scraped-off toy materials. -
Tellurian’s New Haynesville Assets Bringing Supply Closer to LNG Export Project
Sep 11, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Caroyln Davis
Houston-based Tellurian Inc. last week veered into the upstream sector, making a deal to buy gassy Haynesville Shale acreage near its planned natural gas export facility in Louisiana. -
Pa. Debates Gas Tax, Environmental Protection as Deadline Looms
Sep 11, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Pennsylvania legislators will return to the state capital today with a deadline looming to solve a budget deadlock that's lasted most of the summer. -
Regulators Consider Permanent Del. Watershed Drilling Ban
Sep 11, 2017 | E&E Energywire
Gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing could be put permanently off-limits in the Delaware River watershed, as regulators in the region prepare to vote as early as this week on whether to lock in a temporary moratorium on drilling. -
Personal Losses Slow Some Oil and Gas Cleanup
Sep 11, 2017 | E&E Chemicalwire
By Nathanial Gronewold
More than two weeks after its landfall in Texas, Hurricane Harvey continues to disrupt this city's keystone oil and gas industry. The disruption onshore has arguably been worse than for offshore operations. -
Trump Team Gutting EPA When We Need It Most
Sep 11, 2017 | The Hill - Pundits Blog
By Fred Krupp
As the U.S. Gulf Coast reels from impact of Hurricane Harvey, and Florida suffers through Hurricane Irma, everyone is pitching in. Americans are sending donations of food, clothing, household goods and money. -
Houston’s Post-Harvey Toxic Mess
Sep 11, 2017 | The Huffington Post
By Steven Cohen
With overflowing sewage, under-regulated exploding chemical plants and leaking household cleaning and gardening chemicals, some of the air and water in Texas was a toxic mess in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. -
Chemical Company Agrees to Reveal More About Discharges
Sep 11, 2017 | AP (In The Washington Post)
North Carolina environmental officials and a chemical company that for years has discharged compounds with unknown health risks into a major drinking-water supply have a legal agreement that could increase what is known about the little-studied products. -
EPA Finds No Volatile Chemicals in Water Near Arkema Plant
Sep 11, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
U.S. EPA found no volatile chemicals in water samples taken near the Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby, Texas, where power outages from Hurricane Harvey flooding caused fires and explosions. -
(ACC Mentioned) Trump Nominates Energy Industry Lawyer to Oversee the EPA's Air Pollution Office
Sep 11, 2017 | Splinter
By Eleanor Sheehan
For the second time in his career as an energy industry attorney, William Wehrum has been nominated to the Environmental Protection Agency’s number two spot. -
EPA Staffer: We're Still Working on Climate Adaptation
Sep 11, 2017 | Politico Pro
By Emily Holden
Staff from the EPA’s disbanded climate adaptation office are still doing the same work despite moving to different offices a few months ago, the head of the team told POLITICO.
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Environment News
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EPA Asks to Again Delay HFC Handling Rule Suit
Sep 11, 2017 | Inside EPA
EPA is again asking an appellate court to delay litigation challenging its rule updating refrigerant management guidelines to include “substitute” chemicals that are potent greenhouse gases, continuing to signal a possible agreement with industry and other litigants to reduce or eliminate the need for litigation.
The agency in an unopposed Sept. 8 motion asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to hold proceedings in National Environmental Development Association's Clean Air Project v. EPA for another 30 days. If granted, it would be the seventh such delay of the suit.
The motion reiterates that EPA has held listening sessions with parties challenging the regulation and those that have intervened to support it. It also notes an Aug. 10 letter to petitioners and intervenors that says it intends to propose a rule to “revisit aspects” of the regulation at issue in the suit.
At issue in the litigation is a Nov. 18 final rule updating provisions limiting leaks of ozone-depleting substances used for refrigeration, issued under Clean Air Act section 608. The rule expanded the section 608 provisions to “substitute” refrigerants, including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that do not deplete the ozone but have a high global warming potential (GWP), as well as their lower-GWP replacements.
The rule has split industry groups, with parties in the litigation charging that expanding the guidelines to cover non-ozone-depleting substances is unlawful. Others, including appliance manufacturers and chemical companies, intervened to defend the rule. The Natural Resources Defense Council is also backing the refrigerant guidelines.
The ongoing talks could be colored by a recent D.C. Circuit panel ruling in a separate case that vacated an EPA rule limiting the use of HFCs, finding that the agency lacks authority to address the substances' climate risks under another section of the air act intended to address ozone-depleting substances.
Groups that support the latter HFC rule have said they intend to seek en banc review of the split panel ruling, though it is not clear if EPA will pursue an appeal.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/epa-asks-again-delay-hfc-handling-rule-suit
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EU Notifies WTO of Change to Chromium VI Limit in Toys
Sep 11, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission has notified the WTO of a draft Directive amending the migration limit for chromium VI in scraped-off toy materials.
The final date for comments on the revision to the toy safety Directive is 60 days from the notification.
The proposed date of adoption is the first quarter of next year, with entry into force slated for the third quarter of 2019.
In its final Opinion on chromium VI in toys, published in February 2015, the Commission's Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks concluded the limit should be lowered to 0.0094mg/kg.
https://chemicalwatch.com/58565/eu-notifies-wto-of-change-to-chromium-vi-limit-in-toys
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Tellurian’s New Haynesville Assets Bringing Supply Closer to LNG Export Project
Sep 11, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Caroyln Davis
Houston-based Tellurian Inc. last week veered into the upstream sector, making a deal to buy gassy Haynesville Shale acreage near its planned natural gas export facility in Louisiana.
A subsidiary of Tellurian last Thursday made an $85.1 million pact with a private, undisclosed seller for some producing assets and undeveloped acreage in northern Louisiana.
“Acquisition of natural gas producing assets is integral to our growing business,” said CEO Meg Gentle. She formerly was a top executive at LNG developer Cheniere Energy Inc., co-founded by Tellurian cofounder Charif Souki.
“We expect our full-cycle cost of production and transport to markets will be approximately $2.25/MMBtu, which represents a significant savings to natural gas we will purchase at Henry Hub and other regional liquidity points,” Gentle said.
Included in the transaction, set to close by the end of November, are 9,200 net acres in Red River, DeSoto and Natchitoches parishes, with 138 operated Haynesville and Bossier sand drilling locations. Tellurian estimated the total resource potential at 1.3 Tcf.
The properties now have 19 producing wells with net output of 4 MMcf/d, along with associated midstream facilities that have additional capacity available.
The acreage is 100% held by production and 92% operated, which would allow Tellurian to control the pace of development for its multi-year drilling inventory.
Tellurian is developing the Driftwood LNG export terminal in Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish south of Lake Charles, which would be able to export up to 26 million metric tons/year, requiring up to 4 Bcf/d of feed gas. The design for the project, now set to go online in 2022, includes five plants, each composed of one gas pretreatment unit and four liquefaction units.
A 96-mile pipeline would deliver feed gas to the facility from the interstate pipeline grid, according to the filing with FERC [PF16-6]. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved Driftwood’s pre-filing request in June 2016.
In August 2016, Tellurian merged with privately held Magellan Petroleum Corp.to advance the Driftwood project and other ventures. By late 2016, other takers were coming aboard. In November 2016, GE Oil & Gas made a $25 million preferred equity investment in Tellurian. Last December Paris-based oil major Total SA,which works in the Barnett Shale in North Texas, bought a 23% stake in Tellurian for $207 million.
“Actually owning a stake in production, and doing it much closer to the LNG facility, both secures supply and should minimize transportation costs,” said NGI’s Patrick Rau, director of strategy and research. “Tellurian could take that vertical integration one step further by owning a stake in the production.”
Several local distribution companies have tried to vertically integrate in similar ways via a regulated cost-of-service model, but not all public utility commissions are amenable, Rau said. “There’s no such worry with Tellurian.”
Total’s stake in Telluride is not a new concept. BG Group plc, formerly one of the largest global LNG players now owned by Royal Dutch Shell plc, once had a 50-50 joint venture with Exco Resources Inc.in the Haynesville, and BG also held export capacity at Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility in Texas.
“Having supply close to the export facility was part of the concept there,” Rau said.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/111689-tellurians-new-haynesville-assets-bringing-supply-closer-to-lng-export-project
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Pa. Debates Gas Tax, Environmental Protection as Deadline Looms
Sep 11, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Pennsylvania legislators will return to the state capital today with a deadline looming to solve a budget deadlock that's lasted most of the summer.
The outcome of the budget debate could have long-term impacts on the state's natural gas industry and environmental protection programs.
Both the state House and Senate agreed to spend $32 billion in the 2017-18 fiscal year. But the state only brings in about $30.2 billion annually, and the two chambers are still far apart on how to pay for the increased spending.
The state Senate passed a bill in July that would borrow $1.2 billion and impose new taxes, including a levy on Pennsylvania's natural gas industry. The House hasn't passed a bill of its own, and there doesn't appear to be enough support to pass any of the plans that are currently pending in the lower chamber, said Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.
"They're literally back to ground zero," Madonna said Friday.
The Senate's proposed gas tax would raise about $80 million in its first year, but the gas industry is vehemently opposed to it (Energywire, July 28).
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf (D) supported the Senate plan; he's proposed a tax on the gas industry every year since he was elected in 2014.
At the same time, the Senate bill would also require the state Department of Environmental Protection to speed up permitting for gas wells, allow third-party contractors to review some permits and set up a committee that could roll back DEP's regulations on methane emissions from gas production. Environmental groups have threatened to block those provisions in court (Energywire, Aug. 9).
On the House side, a group of conservative lawmakers has floated a plan to fund the current fiscal year by scraping money from dozens of single-purpose funds that are supported by fees on different industries. The "Taxpayers' Budget" would stave off any tax increases and eliminate the need for borrowing, said state Rep. Dan Moul (R), one of its sponsors.
Some of the money, though, would come from funds dedicated to environmental cleanup at abandoned mines, underground storage sites and other locations. Diverting those funds would slow the cleanup efforts and threaten the state's ability to obtain matching funds from the federal government, DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in a letter to lawmakers that was released Friday.
"The assumption that the money in these funds is somehow extra or uncommitted is not only foolish but possibly unlawful," McDonnell wrote.
Moul said he and other legislators did extensive research and believe they can legally divert the money. He predicted that the Legislature would use the maneuver only once, because lawmakers won't approve a spending plan next year until they're sure they have the revenue to pay for it.
"We're not doing this again," he said.
The plan is unlikely to pass, though, since at least some House Republicans are opposed to it, Madonna said.
Meanwhile, state Treasurer Joe Torsella has warned lawmakers that Pennsylvania's general fund will likely run out of cash by Friday, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Since the fiscal year began, Torsella has loaned more than $700 million from other state funds to the state's general fund to keep the government running.
It's an open question if both chambers can agree on a plan by then, given the time it takes to pass legislation, Madonna said.
"I don't know how they do it," he said.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/09/11/stories/1060060239
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Regulators Consider Permanent Del. Watershed Drilling Ban
Sep 11, 2017 | E&E Energywire
Gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing could be put permanently off-limits in the Delaware River watershed, as regulators in the region prepare to vote as early as this week on whether to lock in a temporary moratorium on drilling.
The proposed ban would affect two Pennsylvania counties in the Marcellus Shale. The overall watershed is an important source of drinking water for Philadelphia and New York City. The basin is already subject to a seven-year ban on drilling, enacted in 2010 by the Delaware River Basin Commission as it drew up regulations for the area.
Environmentalists welcomed the idea of a permanent ban. PennEnvironment Deputy Director Adam Garber hailed it as a "historic protection for the Delaware River basin and the drinking water of 15 million."
Industry groups urged the commission not to adopt the proposal, pointing to studies by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, another area regulator, determining that drilling would not degrade the watershed (Michael Rubinkam, AP/Washington Post, Sept. 8).
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/09/11/stories/1060060169
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Personal Losses Slow Some Oil and Gas Cleanup
Sep 11, 2017 | E&E Chemicalwire
By Nathanial Gronewold
More than two weeks after its landfall in Texas, Hurricane Harvey continues to disrupt this city's keystone oil and gas industry. The disruption onshore has arguably been worse than for offshore operations.
Though many companies said they expected to be back to normal business after Labor Day, the extent of the flooding has forced office closures to linger. And oil and gas companies are coming to acknowledge that thousands in their workforce have been personally affected. Some analysts report delays with restarting the Houston Ship Channel because of the personal property losses suffered by workers there, leading to a personnel deficit and overtime hours for port employees who are available.
Representatives at BP PLC, the largest operator in the Gulf of Mexico, report that much of their Energy Corridor complex remains shuttered due to flood damage, even as its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico reopened. Employees there are telecommuting until repairs can be made, and the company estimates about 650 of some 5,000 area BP workers have seen property damage or losses.
In its most recent statement, BP acknowledged that portions of its Westlake office complex "sustained significant flooding during Harvey, including our Westlake One office tower and nearby childcare center." Both are close to Buffalo Bayou, where major flooding occurred as the Army Corps of Engineers released water from two major urban reservoirs to keep the dams from failing.
ConocoPhillips Co. believes it can reopen its Houston campus today, but not all of it.
"Energy Center 3 (EC 3) will remain closed due to high water," the company reported. "Employees who utilize EC 3 will have alternative options, including temporary use of the main campus." Energy Center 3 is close to BP's North American headquarters complex.
Companies are also still struggling to bring refineries back online.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC continues mobilizing workers to restart its Deer Park refining complex. The company reports good progress on that front "despite the devastating personal impacts of the hurricane."
Exxon Mobil Corp. has consolidated all its Houston operations into a new campus in this region's north end. The opening coincided with the beginning of Houston's three-year string of annual flood disasters — the Memorial Day weekend flooding of 2015, the Tax Day floods of 2016 and now Hurricane Harvey.
Suann Guthrie, a spokeswoman at Exxon Mobil, said the new campus escaped the worst effects of Harvey. "We don't have any issues at our Spring campus," she said.
But a large number of Exxon Mobil workers weren't as lucky, particularly those employed at its operations in Beaumont and Baytown. Guthrie said about 1,000 workers in those communities east of Houston have made use of a company hotline set up to assist workers hurt by the storm.
Oil and gas employees who are able to make it to the office must contend with traffic snarls that are adding up to an extra hour to their commutes.
A portion of Beltway 8, the main ring artery for the city's freeway traffic, is still closed south of Interstate 10 and Memorial Drive due to high water. Another major thoroughfare, Highway 6, is closed in all areas where it crosses the waterlogged Addicks Reservoir. Both Beltway 8 and Highway 6 are key conduits for traffic into and out of the Energy Corridor.
The Army Corps believes it could take up to a month for Highway 6 to reopen.
Various reports put the number of homes damaged or destroyed by Harvey at around 100,000 in the Houston area. Homeowners will likely not be returning to some of these properties, as city leaders are contemplating buying property owners out of flooded homes to clear the land as a floodplain instead.
Legal changes will also be in order. Houston's laissez faire approach to development currently permits building in floodplains and requires only minimal storm runoff mitigation.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/09/11/stories/1060060191
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Trump Team Gutting EPA When We Need It Most
Sep 11, 2017 | The Hill - Pundits Blog
By Fred Krupp
As the U.S. Gulf Coast reels from impact of Hurricane Harvey, and Florida suffers through Hurricane Irma, everyone is pitching in. Americans are sending donations of food, clothing, household goods and money.
Scientists from my organization, the Environmental Defense Fund, are on the scene helping Houston monitor a hazardous plume of carcinogenic benzene released this week from a damaged oil refinery.
Career professionals from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are working around the clock as well. These men and women are risking their own health to do what only EPA can do, tapping world-class expertise to protect lives and public health.
For Congress, their heroic work creates a moment of truth: Will Congress give EPA the funding it needs to do its job?
Weakened by declining real budgets for years, the beleaguered agency is not just scrambling to deal with environmental threats unleashed by recent natural disasters; it’s also facing radical budget cuts that would move us backward into a more dangerous and dirtier era.
President Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt have been pressing for months for historic budget cuts that include slashing key EPA assistance to communities who have suffered disasters.
The EPA plays a critical role during natural disasters by helping communities deal with life-threatening emergencies like chemical spills, fires and explosions. It helps inspect and secure Superfund sites to make sure toxic waste does not contaminate neighborhoods nearby.
EPA specialists assess water systems and deal with sewage spills and help homeowners deal with damage threats like exposed asbestos and leaking basement oil tanks.
When there’s a disaster, state and local officials cry out for EPA assistance, which makes it so jarring when political leaders pat the EPA on the back and take credit for its hard work — even as they support budget cuts that will cripple its ability to help Americans when disaster strikes.
Even worse, these cuts hollow out the EPA by reducing it to its lowest funding levels since the 1970s. They would cripple the EPA’s ability to respond to catastrophes and help Americans everywhere, every day.
For example, the Trump budget would cut efforts to respond to chemical spills and eliminate the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency that investigates industrial chemical accidents (including in Houston right now).
The president’s budget would also impose a 40-percent cut to EPA’s Community Right-to-Know programs that affect neighborhoods near approximately 20,000 industrial and federal facilities. It would even scale back training and support for local emergency responders.
Wait, there’s more: The administration’s budget calls for a 30-percent cut to Superfund and Brownfield programs that identify toxic and hazardous waste threats. Even EPA’s Superfund Emergency Response & Removal program, designed to help communities with imminent threats, is singled out for an 18-percent cut.
EPA’s support for air quality monitoring would also face cuts of nearly 30 percent. Communities rely on monitoring to warn parents to keep children inside during "Code Red" days and to learn when disasters and fires release hazardous chemicals.
Under the Trump budget, EPA water programs would also face 30-percent cuts, a blow to communities dealing with fecal contamination and toxin-releasing algae blooms that have shut down water systems around the country.
EPA efforts to monitor the injection of chemicals and wastewater from oil and gas operations into the ground would face similar cuts.
The Trump cuts would also ease up on other underground dangers. The budget calls for a 48-percent cut in support for monitoring of thousands of underground storage tanks leaking petroleum and other hazardous liquids. It would eliminate a program that helps states control pollutants that seep into drinking water from rainfall runoff.
There’s even a 40-percent cut to EPA homeland security efforts that assess risks at major infrastructure facilities. In addition, the Trump budget would eliminate the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, which helps low-income and minority communities who often suffer disproportionately during natural disasters.
Of course, behind it all, is the failure by this administration to fulfill its responsibility to limit climate pollution. Climate change makes these storms more powerful, more damaging and more expensive.
For every family, especially their vulnerable children and seniors, these cuts will mean more poisons in the soil and more toxic substances in the water. They will mean more smog, mercury, arsenic and lead in our bodies.
This is a crossroads moment for our country. Congress needs to support a strong EPA to protect our health and help our economy — both when disasters strike and year-round.
As the U.S. Gulf Coast reels from impact of Hurricane Harvey, and Florida suffers through Hurricane Irma, everyone is pitching in. Americans are sending donations of food, clothing, household goods and money.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/energy-environment/350049-trump-team-gutting-epa-when-we-need-it-most
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Houston’s Post-Harvey Toxic Mess
Sep 11, 2017 | The Huffington Post
By Steven Cohen
With overflowing sewage, under-regulated exploding chemical plants and leaking household cleaning and gardening chemicals, some of the air and water in Texas was a toxic mess in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.
The explosions of chemical tanks at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas was no surprise. It was the predictable impact of a complex industry that EPA has been too weak to effectively regulate for years. In January 2017, when the Obama Administration was practically out the door, EPA finally published the Chemical Disaster Rule. This regulation was designed to toughen up the relatively weak 1996 requirement that chemical plants and other high-risk facilities issue risk management plans to reduce the probability of industrial accidents.
One might wonder why it took Obama eight years to revise this weak requirement. A 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in West Texas killed 15 people, and that seemed to stimulate action. A bit late, but at least Obama’s EPA did something. That was too much for Scott Pruitt, the anti-regulatory zealot commanding the Trump EPA. This past June, he decided to delay implementation of the rule for 20 months.
Industry pressure to resist regulation is nothing new and certainly not limited to America. The nuclear industry in Japan weakened plant protection, resulting in the disaster at Fukushima. The auto industry’s opposition to regulation goes back to opposing seat belts over a half century ago. For years, the chemical industry has been effective in its efforts to block rules designed to protect the environment. In Texas, plants that violate rules are subject to relatively small fines. In the long run, industries that are under-regulated make mistakes that cost more to fix than compliance with reasonable regulations would have cost. But that is of little relevance in a world of frequent financial reporting and low cost, endless information. Long run sustainability is driven out by the need for short-term financial results.
Some businesses look to locate in places where government will leave them alone and they won’t be troubled by rules and regulations that cost money to comply with. The problem with this logic is that it assumes that regulations are both unreasonable, which is usually not the case, and unnecessary, which is rarely the case. I view the anti-regulatory impulse the same way I look at deferred maintenance or disinvestment in infrastructure. It is a short term, myopic perspective that is a prime indicator of poor management. Effective regulation, like the rule of law itself, provides a civilized base from which competition can take place. It facilitates rather than impedes commerce.
In the small, visible, networked world we live in, bad management can come back to cost the company more than money saved by cutting corners. Think BP and the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, or Volkswagen and the fraud in its emissions monitoring process. In the case of Arkema Inc., this French owned company is already being sued by first responders who were patrolling near the plant and not told about the toxicity of the explosion. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Quint Forgey:
"The first responders were manning the perimeter of a 1.5-mile evacuation zone imposed two days before the explosions, but after the blasts occurred, the lawsuit alleges no one from Arkema alerted the first responders. “One by one, the police officers and first responders began to fall ill in the middle of the road,” according to the lawsuit. “The scene was nothing less than chaos. 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.”"
The company responded by saying they did everything they could to protect the public in a dangerous, unpredictable situation. Releasing toxic emissions into the air in Houston seems to be a way of life, as companies often vent chemicals when storms are approaching and plants are shut down, or when plants reopen after a storm. On Sept. 8, Michelle Minkoff of the Associated Press reported that:
"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…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."
But it is not only industry that can be careless with toxics; our modern way of life is infused with toxic materials that can find their way into the environment due to disasters, careless management, or simple ignorance. Sometimes we truly do not understand the toxicity of household items. Printer toner, cleaning fluids, and the electronic gizmos we rely on all contain toxic chemicals. When they stay where they belong and aren’t subject to flood or fire they present little danger. But when disaster strikes, they can compound the damage. We learned painful lessons about toxicity after 9/11 at the “pile” that remained where the twin towers used to be. Decades later first responders are still experiencing the health impacts of that toxic site.
It is important to acknowledge that the danger and complexity of the modern economy is not limited to Texas, but is a global phenomenon. And on this anniversary of the horror visited on New York City in 2001, we need to understand that our vulnerability is not only to natural disaster, but to deliberate acts of terror by humans. When we built the original World Trade Center we still used asbestos as a flame retardant. Eventually scientists learned about the unanticipated impacts of that chemical and we developed regulations that prevent its use. The rule came too late to help those that worked the pile, but was a reasonable action taken in the public interest.
Regulations are needed because the world can be a dangerous place, and we need to take reasonable steps to ensure safety. All human and economic activity involve risk, but some risks should be avoided. Rules should always be subject to an assessment of costs and benefits, and an organization’s good faith compliance with rules should always be considered when enforcing rules. But the effort to delegitimize environmental rules has gone on for far too long. Unfortunately, it often takes a disaster to convince people that protection is inadequate.
The late Tip O’Neil famously maintained that all politics is local, and the reaction to Harvey by Ted Cruz and most of the Texas congressional delegation is further proof of Speaker O’Neil’s wisdom. Suddenly these conservative ideologues favor an activist federal government. Their ideology of smaller government has been overwhelmed by the immense, immediate and desperate need of people all over Texas. We may see a similar development in Florida once the cost of Irma’s destructive force is totaled.
Will the impact of these hurricanes convince people in Florida and Texas of the need to rethink regulation, climate change and the need to better manage toxic substances? Many people in these places reflexively accept the idea that federal regulations over-reach, kill jobs, and are not needed. Perhaps a small dent has been made in the anti-regulatory armor. Toxic chemicals can be well managed and carefully handled. The risk of their use can be contained. But it takes political will from elected officials, management competence from unelected administrators and a willingness to cooperate from chemical companies to improve performance.
Disasters can change the way people look at the world and their role in it. But people also want to return to normalcy and resume their old way of doing business. We won’t know how these hurricanes will change Texas and Florida, but we know that some change is inevitable. If we are to maintain the way of life we enjoy while maintaining a safe and healthy environment, we need to require more careful management of toxic substances.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/houstons-post-harvey-toxic-mess_us_59b68215e4b0bef3378ce1df
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Chemical Company Agrees to Reveal More About Discharges
Sep 11, 2017 | AP (In The Washington Post)
North Carolina environmental officials and a chemical company that for years has discharged compounds with unknown health risks into a major drinking-water supply have a legal agreement that could increase what is known about the little-studied products.
The Chemours Co. did not respond Monday to questions about the deal it reached in court late Friday with the state Department of Environmental Quality. The agreement commits the Wilmington, Delaware-based company to cooperating with the state investigation of chemical runoffs into the Cape Fear River.
The river is a key water supply for more than 200,000 people downstream from the Chemours plant in Bladen County.
Chemours agrees it will turn over confidential business information to state and federal environmental officials once the company and North Carolina reach a confidentiality agreement.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/chemical-company-agrees-to-reveal-more-about-discharges/2017/09/11/a3b12fa8-9707-11e7-af6a-6555caaeb8dc_story.html?utm_term=.e68fc3977e80
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EPA Finds No Volatile Chemicals in Water Near Arkema Plant
Sep 11, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
U.S. EPA found no volatile chemicals in water samples taken near the Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby, Texas, where power outages from Hurricane Harvey flooding caused fires and explosions.
Homes were evacuated around the northwest Houston facility as officials realized organic peroxides used in plastics were likely to combust.
According to EPA, no "volatile organic chemicals or semi-volatile organic chemicals were detected in the surface water runoff samples."
The explosions occurred Aug. 31, several days after the storm struck. An investigation involving local and federal agencies continues (Reuters, Sept. 9).
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/09/11/stories/1060060257
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(ACC Mentioned) Trump Nominates Energy Industry Lawyer to Oversee the EPA's Air Pollution Office
Sep 11, 2017 | Splinter
By Eleanor Sheehan
For the second time in his career as an energy industry attorney, William Wehrum has been nominated to the Environmental Protection Agency’s number two spot. President Trump, who prefers coal over the world’s livable future, officially nominated Wehrum to be the EPA’s assistant administrator for air and radiation on Thursday.
If confirmed, Wehrum would oversee anything and everything related to air pollution. Most distressingly, Wehrum would supervise enforcement of the Clean Air Act, which could potentially be catastrophic for Americans who enjoy breathing the country’s mildly unpolluted air.
Wehrum was acting air administrator from 2005 until 2007 during President George W. Bush’s administration—his confirmation was eventually blocked by incensed Senate Democrats. When he was first nominated, Senator Barbara Boxer described Wehrum as an “extremely troubling” candidate with a history of “discounting health impacts, ignoring scientific findings and substituting industry positions for the clear intent of Congress.”
Despite his brief stint at the EPA, Wehrum was able to implement policies that transparently favored the industries he was supposed to regulate, and his record in 2006 provides a preview of what’s to come: loosened emission caps for toxic chemicals, relaxed mercury guidelines, and a push to allow more air pollution.
Wehrum actually possess a degree in chemical engineering, which is an atypical requirement for Trump considering he nominated a political scientist to the Agricultural Department’s top science post. So when he’s tasked with dismantling and deregulating air quality rules, Wehrum will know how to do it effectively and with the influence of his former clients at the American Petroleum Institute. Or American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufactures. Or the American Chemistry Council. Et cetera.
While Democrats have already vowed to fight Wehrum’s nomination, it’s unlikely that there will be enough political pushback to force him to withdraw his nomination again. Let’s just hope our government-issued air filtration masks are flattering.
http://splinternews.com/trump-nominates-energy-industry-lawyer-to-oversee-the-e-1803124168
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EPA Staffer: We're Still Working on Climate Adaptation
Sep 11, 2017 | Politico Pro
By Emily Holden
Staff from the EPA’s disbanded climate adaptation office are still doing the same work despite moving to different offices a few months ago, the head of the team told POLITICO.
An EPA reorganization finalized last week revealed that the agency followed through with a plan set in in the spring to reassign four climate change adaptation employees to two different sections of the Office of Policy, which is run by Samantha Dravis, a longtime political strategist and top aide to Administrator Scott Pruitt.
“Unequivocally, the Office of Policy continues to support work on climate adaptation,” said Joel Scheraga, a veteran EPA employee and the agency’s senior adviser for climate adaptation. “Samantha Dravis has asked me to continue working on climate adaptation issues. The bottom line is that climate adaptation work continues.”
Pruitt has eliminated EPA’s initiatives aimed at reducing man-made carbon dioxide emissions in order to curb climate change. He has questioned CO2’s role in rising temperatures, proposing the agency should host public debates on the science. He is working to rescind the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s key proposal to start decreasing U.S. greenhouse gas levels, and he was a core proponent of exiting the Paris climate agreement.
But Scheraga said EPA is still available to work with state and local leaders who want to prepare for the effects of climate change, including heavy rains, more intense hurricanes and sea-level rise. The news is one of the first signs that Pruitt would allow some climate change efforts to continue.
EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said the changes "occurred in the spring and allowed these four employees to continue their work on climate change adaptation within the office of policy." The staffers will work within the Office of Regulatory Planning and Management and the National Center of Environmental Economics.
Scheraga said the agency wants to help make sure that as communities “invest literally billions of dollars in new [water] systems that they in fact are better prepared for these extreme weather events so that they don’t overflow so that they don’t spill raw sewage into our lakes and streams,” for example.
“We work with the communities to provide them with the information and the tools that they have told us they need to address their needs,” Scheraga said. “They have told us they need to deal with these more intense precipitation events, these storm surges, so that in fact they can continue to protect public health and the environment, again consistent with EPA’s mission to ensure that they continue to protect water quality and can provide safe drinking water.”
That kind of work will be important as Texas and Florida rebuild following two of the most damaging hurricanes in U.S. history.
Congress is moving ahead with an initial $15 billion aid package for Texas and Louisiana, and scientists say addressing the role of a changing climate is crucial to spending that money effectively.
Fred Wagner, a lawyer who counseled the city of New Orleans in rebuilding its downtown medical center after Hurricane Katrina, said communities that want to spend more to rebuild smarter, with bigger and more frequent flooding in mind, will need to be able to point to climate change, even if they just call it “resiliency.”
“It makes justifying the investment in those features much more acceptable, much more palatable,” he said.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/story/2017/09/epa-staffer-were-still-working-on-climate-adaptation-161705
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