Preview Newsletter
ACC AM 29/09/17
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(ACC Mentioned) Resin Supply Challenges Send Prices Up For PE, PP And PS
Sep 28, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
Supply pressures related to Hurricane Harvey have sent North American prices for polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene resin up since Sept. 1. -
Consumer Group Warns Against Common Flame Retardant
Sep 28, 2017 | CNN
By Susan Scutti
The Consumer Product Safety Commission published guidance in the Federal Registry Thursday that serves as a warning for consumers not to buy products containing a commonly-used class of toxic flame retardants, called organohalogen chemicals. -
Walmart Pledges 10% Reduction In Chemicals Of Concern By 2022
Sep 29, 2017 | Chemical Watcg
By Tammy Lovell
By 2022, Walmart aims to reduce chemicals of concern in the products it sells by 10%, becoming the first US retailer to set a time bound reduction goal. -
Echa's Risk Committee Focuses On Occupational Exposure For Carcinogens
Sep 28, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Dr Emma Davies
Echa's Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) is evaluating dossiers on worker exposure for three genotoxic carcinogens, as part of the European Commission's efforts to set binding occupational exposure limits (OELs). -
MEPs Vote Down Endocrine Disruptor Criteria, Back Acrylamide Regulation
Sep 28, 2017 | EURACTIV
By Samuel White
The European Parliament’s environment (ENVI) committee objected to the Commission’s proposed criteria for endocrine disruptors on Thursday (28 September), and threw out another objection to the executive’s proposal to regulate levels of cancer-causing acrylamide in food. -
Shell's Pennsylvania Ethane Cracker to Take Shape Over Next Year
Sep 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Major equipment and structures will start being erected over the next year for Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC’s multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant in western Pennsylvania, company officials said Thursday at the Shale Insight conference in Pittsburgh. -
Innovation, Refracks Predicted to Drive Future Bakken Growth in North Dakota
Sep 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
A bullish picture of Bakken Shale development driven by technology advances and innovation was laid out this month at the annual meeting of the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC) in Grand Forks. -
Practitioner Insights: Hurricanes and the Need for Safer Chemical Facilities
Sep 29, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Michele Roberts
Across the nation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates over 134 million Americans live in imminent risk of being impacted by a catastrophic explosion or the release of poisonous gas from a nearby industrial or commercial facility. -
PHMSA Nominee Tells Senate Panel He Will Focus on Safety, Outstanding Mandates from 2011 Law
Sep 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
Howard "Skip" Elliott, President Trump's nominee to serve as administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), told a Senate panel Wednesday that if confirmed, he would focus on pipeline safety and getting a dozen outstanding mandates from a 2011 pipeline safety law finally implemented. -
Crude-by-Rail Adds Costs -- But Flexibility -- Over Pipes, Says Study
Sep 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Crude-by-rail as a transportation option could reduce the regulatory and political push back to building pipelines for U.S.-produced oil, according to a study by University of Chicago (UC) researchers. -
Despite Rollbacks, Administration's Climate Stance Seen As 'Moving Target'
Sep 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Dawn Reeves
Even as the Trump administration works to roll back EPA and other Obama administration rules addressing greenhouse gases and publicly renews its pledge to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, observers say the administration's climate policy so far is too malleable to conclude where it will end up. -
Calif. AG: Trump Backs Down On Greenhouse Gas Rule
Sep 28, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Mallory Shelbourne
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) on Thursday declared victory in a fight with the Trump administration over a greenhouse gas emission regulation. -
New Head of State Air Pollution Group Seeks Common Ground
Sep 29, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jennifer Lu
The newest advocate for state air pollution officials wants to mend fences with a splinter group that objected to his association's often cozy relationship with the Obama-era EPA. -
Maryland Sues EPA Over Ozone Transport
Sep 29, 2017 | Inside EPA
Maryland is suing EPA over the agency's failure to respond to the state's Clean Air Act petition seeking direct federal pollution controls on numerous power plants in five states that Maryland officials say are compromising its air quality, joining Connecticut and Delaware that have filed similar cases against the agency. -
State Air Plans’ Conflict of Interest Rules Draw Lawsuit
Sep 29, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Chris Marr
Alabama and Mississippi have taken too long to file proper plans to ensure air pollutant regulators don't have financial conflicts of interest, and the EPA has failed to force the issue, environmental groups state in a lawsuit filed Sept. 28. -
Maria Response Awaits New EPA Regional Office Head
Sep 29, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Abby Smith
Pete Lopez, the EPA's newly appointed Region 2 administrator, has experience dealing with hurricane recovery, but he will still face a steep learning curve when he joins the agency Oct. 1.
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(ACC Mentioned) Resin Supply Challenges Send Prices Up For PE, PP And PS
Sep 28, 2017 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
Supply pressures related to Hurricane Harvey have sent North American prices for polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene resin up since Sept. 1.
PE prices in the region have moved up an average of 4 cents per pound, with PP prices increasing 7 cents and PS prices ticking up 3 cents, according to market sources contacted recently by Plastics News.
Most resin production on the Texas coast has restarted or is in the process of doing so after Harvey brought heavy rains and flooding to the region beginning on Aug. 25. But many plants are having difficulty sourcing feedstock needed to make resin and in dealing with backlogs on train and truck freight needed to make shipments.
The PE pricing situation has been complicated by a series of increases released for different dates by different suppliers. DowDuPont Inc. and LyondellBasell Industries had a Sept. 1 enforcement date for the 4 cents, while several others had Sept. 15 and a few opted for Oct. 1, with no announced date in September.
Most market sources contacted by Plastics News indicated that PE buyers who didn't see the 4-cent increase in September likely would see it by Oct. 15. As a result, Plastics News is showing the 4-cent increase on this week's resin pricing chart.
Nova Chemicals and several other PE makers now have announced additional 3-cent increases for Oct. 15. Market sources said that move has a good chance of being successful, since some suppliers continue to operate under force majeure sales limits. Spot prices for PE had jumped 10 cents or more in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
One PE buyer in the U.S. Midwest said sourcing material has been difficult, but he still was able to joke about the situation.
"I guess that's what I get for buying resin from plants [whose names] ... end in 'bayou,'" he said.
The most impacted regional PE production site still appears to be Chevron Phillips Chemical's Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas, which makes high, low and linear low density PE. The PetroChem Wire consulting firm said that site experienced damaging floods as the nearby bayou crested several feet above what is considered a 500-year flood event.
PCW added that the plant, which makes numerous blow molding and rotational molding grades, is not expected to restart until at least November. Market sources also told Plastics News that the Cedar Bayou plant had been impacted. Officials with CP Chem in The Woodlands, Texas, have declined to comment.
One resin supplier said Harvey and Hurricane Irma, which hit Florida on Sept. 8, has caused "a nationwide shortage of available truck-load and bulk-truck capacity." Road freight demand is returning to Houston, according to the IHS Markit consulting firm, as immediate emergency relief gives way to longer-term rebuilding needs.
Storm-related PE supply issues also had helped a 3-cent August increase take hold, after it initially was thought to be unsuccessful. Prior to that August hike, regional PE prices had been flat for two consecutive months.
U.S./Canadian PE sales were mixed in the first eight months of 2017, according to the American Chemistry Council. Sales of HDPE were down more than 4 percent, as a domestic sales gain of almost 3 percent was wiped out by a drop of 27 percent in exports.
LDPE sales ticked up almost 2 percent in those eight months, with a domestic sales drop of more than 1 percent negated by an export sales gain of more than 12 percent. In LLDPE, regional sales grew almost 1 percent, as domestic growth of 3 percent was lowered by an almost 8 percent drop in exports.Feedstock issues hit PP, PS
The 7-cent PP increase for September mainly was the result of higher prices for polymer-grade propylene feedstock, which has been in short supply because of storm-related production issues. Prices had gone up 0.5 cents in both July and August after being flat in June.
At a recent meeting of the Western Plastics Association, PCW market manager Samantha Hartke said that additional PP price hikes could be on the way. The storm and other factors created a "more acute shortage" on the PP side than the PE side. The factors include a lack of pending PP capacity expansions.
For PP, the market expects monomer contract prices to increase significantly in September and October, she said, adding that she wouldn't be surprised by another price increase in November and another in December.
North American PP sales were not robust in the first eight months of 2017, increasing less than 1 percent vs. the same period in 2016. Domestic sales grew almost 2 percent, while exports slipped 27 percent.
Regional PS prices moved up 3 cents in September after being flat in August and tumbling 4 cents in July. Some production of benzene, which is used to make styrene monomer, has been affected by Harvey. PS maker Americas Styrenics has announced a 3-cent increase attempt for Oct. 1.
North American PS sales fell almost 1 percent in the first seven months of 2017. A domestic sales loss of more than 1 percent was softened a bit by a boost of 17 percent in exports.
The food packaging/food service category saw a seven-month PS sales gain of almost 1 percent. Sales into the electrical/electronic category surged 3.5 percent.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20170928/NEWS/170929892/resin-supply-challenges-send-prices-up-for-pe-pp-and-ps
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Consumer Group Warns Against Common Flame Retardant
Sep 28, 2017 | CNN
By Susan Scutti
(CNN)The Consumer Product Safety Commission published guidance in the Federal Registry Thursday that serves as a warning for consumers not to buy products containing a commonly-used class of toxic flame retardants, called organohalogen chemicals.
They have been linked to cancer, hormone disruption, infertility, and neurological deficits in children, according to the commission's guidance document. Some studies, cited in this commission report, substantiate these claims.
The chemicals are especially hazardous to pregnant women and young children, studies find.
The commission, a government agency charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of consumer products, also recommended manufacturers stop using these chemicals in products where they are currently found. These include upholstered furniture, mattresses, electronic cases, and children's toys.
Commissioner Bob Adler said there's a "whole host of dangers" these organohalogen flame retardants carry.
"These chemicals are added to products to keep them from catching fire in smolder or open flame situations," said Adler.
He acknowledged, though, that the commission has not yet done careful and exhaustive studies of every single chemical within this class, but "every (chemical) that we've done careful and exhaustive study of has proven to be toxic -- and hazardously toxic -- to consumers."
The commission had a "big debate" about this, he said, the evidence of which is contained in a May briefing document.
Essentially, the commission's technical staff said the organohalogens should not be treated as a single class under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act due to their differing physicochemical properties and toxicological profiles, and recommended against advancing a rule.
Ultimately, though, the commission voted to publish the guidance and begin the process of developing a new regulation with regard to the chemicals.
Bryan Goodman, a spokesperson for the North American Flame Retardant Alliance, said because these regulations help promote public safety "there is a need for international, national and regional code consistency." He said it is fortunate the guidance is non-binding and the new action merely constitutes "a recommendation." He added that the association will communicate to members that this is guidance and does not need to be followed.
"The guidance needs to be evaluated based on the state of the science and the need to fully consider all aspects of product safety, including fire safety," wrote Goodman. He added businesses should feel confident in continued use of these chemicals in certain applications "consistent with existing national and international regulations," while the commission conducts further analysis.
Adler acknowledged the limits of the guidance, and said binding regulation is "going to take years, by almost all accounts," because of the various rules that must be followed.
Possible challenges
As part of the "long and drawn out process," he said, the commission needs to "convene a body of outside experts that are recommended to us by the National Academy of Sciences to look into the exact scope of the hazards and to help us fill in the data gaps through an accepted protocol."
"In the meantime, consumers need to be alerted and the market itself needs to be alerted to the commission's concerns about these products," said Adler.
And, while that's happening, the commission could face both legal and political challenges, he said.
"We could be sued by the industry, they could go to the hill and have prohibitions on commission actions being passed," said Adler. "We could have a group of commissioners appointed to the agency that don't want to proceed along those lines."
No matter what may come in the days ahead, issuing the guidance is worth it if it protects consumers, said Adler.
"Dangerous chemicals present a much more serious concern than fire in the home," said Adler. It's not that there isn't great concern about home fires, he added. "The issue is: Do these chemicals give us the answer to this risk? And my answer is they do not."
Others agree that organohalogens are too dangerous for home use. The groups that petitioned the commission to begin developing regulations for organohalogens include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Women's Association, and the International Association of Fire Fighters.
"What our staff has told us -- and what a number of academic experts and a number of health experts said -- is that the concentration of these flame retardants in things like furniture and children's products are not great enough to do very much to protect us from fire or smoldering hazards," said Adler.
Too small maybe to prevent fires, but still large enough to cause health hazards, he said.
Fire safety, though, is not just about chemistry, said Goodman. Product designers typically take a multi-layered approach, he said. "There is no one, single fire safety tool."
And not all products are the same, said Goodman. Some pose a greater fire risk than others.
"It is critical that manufacturers have access to safe and effective flame retardants in the future and the flexibility to utilize the fire safety tools that best meet their needs," said Goodman.
Dollars and sense?
Adler said the commission has been told "there are a host of other flame retardants" that work but don't have issues of toxicity.
"They're more expensive," he said.
Goodman acknowledged that "flame retardants include a broad range of substances."
That said, flame retardants "are not readily interchangeable," said Goodman. Different materials have very different physical and chemical properties. "Similarly, end-use performance requirements, including certification to national standards, must be considered when choosing a flame retardant," said Goodman. A manufacturer cannot simply swap one chemical for another without "significant time and cost devoted to formulation, performance testing, certification," and other factors.
Adler said the proposed rule will level the playing field and "everybody will have the same cost if they feel the need to add flame retardants."
No one will be able to put a dangerous but cheap flame retardant in a product to save costs while "those who are being more conscientious are penalized in the marketplace," said Adler.
Consumers -- and the government -- have always had to weigh the need for fire safety against chemical safety, said Adler. "In this situation it's not even a close call as far as I'm concerned."
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/28/health/cpsc-flame-retardant-chemical-recommendation/index.html
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Walmart Pledges 10% Reduction In Chemicals Of Concern By 2022
Sep 29, 2017 | Chemical Watcg
By Tammy Lovell
By 2022, Walmart aims to reduce chemicals of concern in the products it sells by 10%, becoming the first US retailer to set a time bound reduction goal.
The goal applies to "consumables", meaning products that are used recurrently, such as household cleaners and cosmetics.
Substances covered are those on the company’s high priority chemicals (HPCs) and priority chemicals (PCs) lists. Walmart revealedthe eight substances on its HPCs list in July last year, and has since reduced by 96% their volume in weight – some 23m lbs.
Priority chemicals, meanwhile, are taken from a range of authoritative and regulatory lists, including those on the REACH authorisation list (Annex XIV), and so cover a much broader range of substances.
A Walmart spokesperson told Chemical Watch, the store believed suppliers should be working to reduce, remove and restrict the use of PCs and its goal would allow suppliers to "come to the company with unique plans to reformulate and innovate".
Walmart’s updated sustainable chemistry commitment recommends suppliers use the third party certifications - Cradle to Cradle (silver level and above) and EWG Verified. It says these "lend credibility to green chemistry and safer substitutions".
Boma Brown-West of the NGO Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) called the commitment "a historic move" which "signals to 700 global suppliers of 90,000 consumable products that reducing the company’s chemical footprint is a priority".
Based on their 2016 chemical footprint, she said, a 10% reduction translates to over 55m lbs.
Earlier this year, Walmart became the first retailer to participate in the Chemical Footprint Project, an initiative from the NGO Clean Production Action, which benchmarks how effectively companies are managing chemicals in their products and supply chains.Transparency efforts
In addition, Walmart will also ask suppliers to verify the purity of ingredients, where contaminants of concern may exist. These can arise as impurities present in intentionally added ingredients, byproducts formed through the interaction of product ingredients, or through other processes along the manufacturing path to a finished product.
Required since the launch of its policy, suppliers must provide full online public ingredient disclosure for formulated consumable items, sold at Walmart US and Sam’s Club US stores. It also requires them to disclose PCs, or all ingredients, on packs from 2018. But Walmart is now extending this to encourage suppliers to expand online and on-pack ingredient disclosure to international markets.
Walmart's PC list has also been updated to include SCCS fragrance allergens to better address these ingredients.
Zach Freeze, senior director of strategic initiatives for sustainability at Walmart, said the store was advocating for its customers by providing innovation and transparency about what goes into products.
"Our strengthened commitment provides more clarity on our expectations for suppliers in working towards enhanced product formulations and setting concrete benchmarks to check progress along the way," he said.
Mike Schade of the NGO Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF), which runs the Mind the Store campaign to benchmark major US retailers, said the commitment would "increase transparency about chemicals in products and drive the elimination of dangerous chemicals that will send ripple effects throughout global supply chains", and called on other retailers to follow suit.
Walmart launched its sustainable chemistry policy in 2013, directing suppliers to reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals of concern in personal care, paper, cleaning, pet and baby products.
https://chemicalwatch.com/59593/walmart-pledges-10-reduction-in-chemicals-of-concern-by-2022
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Echa's Risk Committee Focuses On Occupational Exposure For Carcinogens
Sep 28, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Dr Emma Davies
Echa's Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) is evaluating dossiers on worker exposure for three genotoxic carcinogens, as part of the European Commission's efforts to set binding occupational exposure limits (OELs).
The Commission is modernising occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation and amending the carcinogens and mutagens directive (CMD), which includes setting binding OELs for tens of additional carcinogens.
The Commission's Directorate-Genderal for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion has a Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (Scoel) that is working with Rac on the binding OELs.
Rac's work is purely to discuss the science of potential OELs its chair, Tim Bowmer, said.
At the European Commission's request, Echa has compiled dossiers on:nickel and its compounds;benzene; andacrylonitrile.
The dossiers include fresh risk assessments for carcinogenicity, focusing on the workplace, as well as information on uses. Rac is examining whether these chemicals fit with group C genotoxic carcinogens with 'practical thresholds', according to Scoel methodology. Group A substances are non-threshold genotoxic carcinogens, while group D covers non-genotoxic carcinogens with a 'perfect' threshold.
Nickel and benzene are particularly complex cases Dr Bowmer says. "Not only is genotoxic and carcinogenic mode of action complicated but the usage and exposure of the substances are also very extensive," he said.
Rac will advise the Commission on any risks that would remain if particular OELs are recommended. It is due to report to the Commission by 26 March 2018.
In June, Rac adopted scientific opinions on occupational exposure for two other carcinogens: MOCA, and arsenic and its inorganic salts. Diisocyanates restriction
At its September meeting, Rac also discussed a German REACH restriction dossier for diisocyanates. The proposed restriction is unusual because it mainly involves training in appropriate risk management measures to ensure that workers are not exposed to the respiratory sensitisers, which cause asthma.
The high volume chemicals are widely used by companies of all sizes, from SMEs to industrial giants, in applications including spray paints and polyurethane foams
"The diisocyanates are difficult to measure in the workplace and the range of usage is very big," said Dr Bowmer.
Rac members are looking for certainty on who will take responsibility for implementation and how enforcement can best be achieved, he said.
Rac is due to adopt the dossier at its next meeting.Lead in shot
Rac also began to discuss another unusual REACH restriction: lead in gun shot. Between 400,000 and 1,500,000 birds are thought to die each year from swallowing lead shot, according to the Annex XV restriction report. The annual consumption of shot cartridges in Europe is estimated to be between 600 and 700 million units, corresponding to up to 21,000 tonnes of lead dispersed in the environment.
The proposed restriction would forbid hunters from using lead shot in wetland areas.
Although lead shot is already regulated in many member states, not all of them have not taken action. The committee agreed that "there is a risk that needs to be addressed", said Dr Bowmer.Classification and labelling
Finally, Rac adopted 10 opinions for harmonised classification and labelling (CLH), including cobalt metal and titanium dioxide (by written procedure).
In two CLH cases, Rac agreed on classification for reproductive toxicity, despite the fact this was not in the original proposals.
First, the committee decided that a herbicide called halosulfuron-methyl should be classified as Repro 1B for development, although the Italian proposal had only listed aquatic toxicity. "We felt that there was enough evidence that it should be fully classified," Dr Bowmer said.
Secondly, in a case proposed by Austria, Rac opted for Repro 2 for fertility for metaldehyde, which is used to kill slugs and snails.
https://chemicalwatch.com/59568/echas-risk-committee-focuses-on-occupational-exposure-for-carcinogens
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MEPs Vote Down Endocrine Disruptor Criteria, Back Acrylamide Regulation
Sep 28, 2017 | EURACTIV
By Samuel White
The European Parliament’s environment (ENVI) committee objected to the Commission’s proposed criteria for endocrine disruptors on Thursday (28 September), and threw out another objection to the executive’s proposal to regulate levels of cancer-causing acrylamide in food.
“The danger posed by acrylamide in Europe today is certainly bigger than that posed by glyphosate or fipronil,” German MEP Peter Leise (EPP group), a doctor, said during the ENVI committee debate. “And if we remember the discussion we had about these substances then we must take this seriously.”
The European Commission released in July a draft regulation containing binding measures to limit citizens’ exposure to the known carcinogen, which forms when certain foods, particularly, potatoes, cereals and coffee, are processed at high temperatures.
Broadly welcomed by both the food industry and consumer organisations, the draft regulation was seized upon by some MEPs as an example of bureaucratic interference where it was not needed.
Austrian MEP Elisabeth Köstinger (EPP group) filed an objection to the Commission’s proposal on the grounds that it was “excessively prescriptive” and would create an unnecessary burden for small businesses, such as chip ships, which may be obliged to check the colour of their chips against an EU-approved chart before serving them.
The Commission said that mandatory mitigation measures were needed to bring down concentrations of acrylamide in food because the voluntary measures of the past had been ineffective. But it insisted that bureaucracy had been limited and that “small restaurants and chip shops have been specifically taken into account”.
The ENVI committee threw out Köstinger’s objection by 44 votes to ten, with seven abstentions.
The UK’s Julie Girling (ECR group), who is a vocal supporter of other contentious issues such as glyphosate and GMOs, accepted that despite her pro-business outlook, she had to “respect the scientific consensus” that acrylamide posed a threat to human health and advised her group to vote against the objection.
Industry organisation FoodDrinkEurope also welcomed the vote, saying: “We believe that the Commission proposal represents the most practical, pragmatic and proportionate manner to achieve this.”
Endocrine disruptor criteria
In the same session, ENVI committee MEPs also examined an objection to the European Commission’s criteria for the scientific identification of endocrine disrupting chemicals.
“The proposal is not all bad but it’s not good enough and above all, it is not legally sound,” said Jytte Guteland, the Swedish MEP (S&D group) who filed the objection.
The first of their kind, the criteria would apply only to biocidal products, after the EU executive’s proposal for the criteria was adopted by member state experts on 4 September.
But the Commission hopes the criteria will form the basis of a comprehensive strategy to protect citizens from endocrine disrupting chemicals in toys, cosmetics and food packaging, it explained.
The list “will provide a stepping stone for further actions to protect health and the environment by enabling the Commission to start working on a new strategy to minimise exposure of EU citizens to endocrine disruptors, beyond pesticides and biocides”, the Commission said in a statement when EU experts first backed the criteria on 4 July.
“It’s about the rule of law”
However, “The Parliament’s legal service found that the Commission had exceeded its mandate with the introduction of a derogation for so-called non-target organisms,” Guteland said, explaining her objection to the draft criteria.
Guteland and Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout argued that this derogation, which they say effectively alters the 2009 rules on plant protection products, should have been made by co-decision, and that the Commission has no power to introduce it as part of the endocrine disruptor criteria.
“The key question is this: is the Commission exceeding its mandate?” asked Eickhout. “This objection is about the rule of law.”
The Commission rejected the accusation that it was acting beyond its mandate, saying its own legal service had found no problem with the derogation, and supporters of the draft criteria, including Jens Gieseke (Germany, EPP group), warned that any setbacks would stall progress for years.
If the criteria are sent back to the Commission, “nothing more will happen in this legislature,” he said.
The objection passed by 36 votes to 26.
Monique Goyens, the director-general of the European consumer organisation BEUC welcomed the vote. “We applaud the MEPs who have demanded that the Commission comes up with a stricter definition on endocrine disruptors,” she said. “MEPs have today said that the health of current and future generations requires an ambitious response from the EU.”
https://www.euractiv.com/section/endocrine-disruptors/news/meps-back-acrylamide-regulation-vote-down-endocrine-disruptor-criteria/
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Shell's Pennsylvania Ethane Cracker to Take Shape Over Next Year
Sep 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Major equipment and structures will start being erected over the next year for Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC’s multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant in western Pennsylvania, company officials said Thursday at the Shale Insight conference in Pittsburgh.
For years, the company has been focused on site preparation, clearing 400 acres of land where a zinc smelting plant once stood. After Shell decided to move forward with the project last year, crews have focused more recently on underground work for sewage, electricity and foundations. But that’s about to change as the company is close to starting construction on the 200 structures that will make up the plant and change “the whole skyline dramatically,” with the tallest at more than 300 feet, said Todd Whittemore, Shell’s polyethylene global technology manager.
Whittemore told the audience that the facility, under construction in Beaver County about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, would be “self contained,” with its own natural gas-fired power plant, water treatment facility and a fully-staffed emergency response team. It is Shell’s first completely new site in the United States since the late 1960s, when it last built in Louisiana, he added.
The ethane cracker is just one part of a much larger complex that would also include polyethylene units to help make the pellets Shell plans to sell for plastics conversion, a cooling tower, a control building, offices and transloading facilities, among other things.
About 70% of the North American marketplace for polyethylene is within a 700-mile radius of the site along the Ohio River, said Shell Appalachia’s Business Integration Lead Michael Marr. Most of the market is primarily served by the Gulf Coast.
“I know that sounds like a very long distance, but when it comes to the way chemicals are sold and transported in North America, it’s actually quite close,” he said. “We’re definitely location-advantaged both from a supply standpoint to the Marcellus and Utica formations, as well as from the customer standpoint. That double location advantage is really what led us to the decision to invest here.”
Chemical, mechanical and civil engineers are expected to comprise about a quarter of the facility’s 600 full-time workers. Health, safety and environmental personnel positions are also expected to be a major part of the workforce to support Shell’s air, waste, water and compliance programs at the site, Environmental Manager Jim Sewell said. Pipefitters, electricians, boilermakers and technicians to operate the facility are expected to round out the full-time staff.
Pittsburgh Regional Alliance President David Ruppersberger said he expects indirect jobs to be created throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For example, Ruppersberger expects a large industrial gas company to create a facility to supply the plant with nitrogen. Continuing maintenance at the facility for turnarounds to take plant parts out of operation, replace them and repair other components is also expected to create indirect jobs.
The region is already home to some of the world’s largest plastics companies, but more plastics converters are expected to come to the area by the time the cracker enters service in the early 2020s. Ruppersberger said those facilities, however, only take about 18 months to build and enter service. They also require a smaller footprint and would make smaller regional investments.
“We do expect to see some of that located here, although there’s not really incentive for them to do that because we’re not going to see pellets for awhile,” he said. “The expectation is that sometime in the next two to three years, we’ll start to see more plastics manufacturing.”
Sewell said the facility has all its major permits for air quality, water discharge and wetlands. The only other major permit the company needs is one for its water treatment facility when it enters service. The company is still working to secure other minor permits for things like parking.
The cracker is designed to consume a little more than 100,000 b/d of ethane to produce 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene and 1.6 million metric tons of polyethylene per year. Shell has signed 10-20 year supply agreements with 10 Appalachian natural gas producers. The company is currently purchasing rights-of-way for a pipeline system it plans to construct to feed the facility, a process Whittemore said remains on track.
About 1,035 people attended the annual Shale Insight conference, which culminated in the Shell team's presentation on the final day of the event. The company played a video to describe the facility in detail, which stopped activity on the exhibit floor and had the audience’s full attention as all eyes seemed trained on the display screen. Shell’s decision to build the facility marks the first time in more than 20 years that such a plant has been built in the United States outside of the Gulf Coast.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/111899-shells-pennsylvania-ethane-cracker-to-take-shape-over-next-year
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Innovation, Refracks Predicted to Drive Future Bakken Growth in North Dakota
Sep 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
A bullish picture of Bakken Shale development driven by technology advances and innovation was laid out this month at the annual meeting of the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC) in Grand Forks.
Advances in hydraulic fracturing (fracking), enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and resource assessment technologies were among a list of the prospects outlined during presentations by experts and state officials about advancing production in the nation's second biggest oil producing state after Texas.
"The Bakken doesn't just contribute oil, it provides the drive to innovate," said Charlie Gorecki, director of subsurface research/development at the North Dakota Energy and Environmental Resource Center.
Gorecki said growth of the Bakken has been driven by improvements in oilfield/well characterization, more efficient production and safer operations.
While only a small percentage of the overall Bakken resource base is recoverable today, many producers have begun recompleting older wells, also known as refracks, using updated drilling techniques.
Refracking wells in the Bakken, considered a prime location for the reworked completions, should unlock more production, particularly for EOR. This week QEP Resources Inc. joined the move to refracking in the Bakken using a program that has yielded success in the Haynesville Shale.
Department of Minerals Director Lynn Helms also outlined various oilfield services technologies that are improving output and reducing costs, including through refracking wells. One technology he highlighted as improving production is through dual fracks, where two fracks are performed in each stage of the completions process.
Geologist and Neset Consulting’s President Kathleen Neset noted that laterals drilled into Bakken formations two miles long also have become common, and they offer high returns.
"Three-mile laterals are still drilled in areas that are less accessible because of topography or lake beds," she said. "Shale plays outside of the Bakken still drill one-mile laterals until economics are proven for longer laterals."
Drilling in the Bakken is as safe as it is in other parts of the country, Neset said, noting there had been "no confirmed cases of groundwater contamination from fracking itself in one million wells fracked during the past 60 years."
A North Dakota business-led energy coalition group, Bakken Backers, said per-capita personal income of energy workers in North Dakota is now second highest in the nation after Texas at more than $57,000. Nearly 20% of the state's private sector jobs are in oil and gas.
Shale-impacted employment climbed to 50,000 jobs from 5,000 between 2005 and 2015, according to Bakken Backers Director Rob Lindberg. Before the oil price crash in 2014, he said, “production jobs comprised more than 50% of all jobs for the first time since the start of the Bakken."
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/111898-innovation-refracks-predicted-to-drive-future-bakken-growth-in-north-dakota
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Practitioner Insights: Hurricanes and the Need for Safer Chemical Facilities
Sep 29, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Michele Roberts
Across the nation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates over 134 million Americans live in imminent risk of being impacted by a catastrophic explosion or the release of poisonous gas from a nearby industrial or commercial facility. In fact, the Associated Press has reported that up to 1.5 million people were evacuated in Texas because of the threat of a chemical plant explosion after Hurricane Harvey.
This catastrophic event leaves many people now questioning if they live in an area where hazardous facilities may threaten their families. Others do know—often because they've discovered this danger under the worst circumstances. Hundreds of thousands have been warned to seek ‘shelter-in-place’ or evacuate their homes because of a chemical release from a nearby facility. Yet some firefighters, emergency medical technicians, hospitals, and local governments have no idea which chemical facilities in their communities may threaten them or the residents they are working to protect—which leaves them unprepared, putting both first-responders and innocent people in unnecessary danger.
Risk Management Plans
Last year, the Obama administration's EPA took long-overdue action to strengthen America's failed chemical facility safety and security program, known as the Risk Management Plan (RMP) Program, which seeks to reduce risks for communities living within the blast zone or disaster path of over 12,500 hazardous chemical facilities in the United States. Then-Oklahoma Attorney General, and now EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt vigorously opposed these additional safeguards on behalf of the chemical and manufacturing industries. In his current capacity, Administrator Pruitt appears to have flouted his agency's legal obligations and mission to act in the interest of public health and safety by seeking to delay and roll back these modest safety measures—even after they have been codified. This move puts first-responders and our most vulnerable and disproportionately impacted communities in harm's way. The stakes of this situation are gravely important, and it is urgent that EPA act now to follow through on these carefully considered protections for those living in danger.
Late in the evening of April 17, 2013, a relatively small fire erupted into a catastrophic explosion—rocking the entire town of West, TX. The blast was so powerful that over 150 nearby homes and schools were damaged—many completely destroyed. Sadly, fifteen people were killed and more than 160 injured. It was mostly firefighters who were sacrificed in this disaster, and they simply weren't aware the building they were fighting to save also stored enough explosive fertilizer to send debris flying over 2.5 miles away when it ignited. Had these first-responders (and the surrounding community) known that fires at this facility could result in catastrophic explosions, this needless loss of life may have been avoided.
In the wake of this tragedy, the Obama Administration launched an effort to prevent similar disasters in the future by reducing the threat hazardous chemical facilities pose to first-responders and nearby communities. One focus of this effort was to update safety measures established by EPA's RMP Program under the Clean Air Act.
Extensive Public Input
This exhaustive effort, spanning nearly four years of deliberations, involved substantial input from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Labor, and consideration from several peer review and advocacy panels to ensure these safety measures would appropriately balance security, worker, small business, industry, and community safety concerns. This effort to gather input also included a virtual mountain of public comments—that overwhelmingly called for stronger protections. Over 140,000 comments from the public were submitted asking for more protective standards, eight public listening sessions and two webinars were held, and following the draft rule, the public submitted an additional 40,000+ comments calling for even stronger protections than what had been proposed.
Administrator Pruitt has attempted to justify the delay of these important safety measures by saying EPA had not received enough input from the public—which leaves one to wonder if any process could be more exhaustive, or if the Administrator isn't simply grasping at an excuse to delay these measures.
This exhaustive process resulted in modest—but important—improvements to EPA's RMP program. The new safety rules will:
• Improve the safety of workers, first-responders, and fence-line communities by strengthening emergency preparedness and coordination with emergency response services.
• Seek to prevent future disasters by requiring more thorough, prevention-focused investigations after accidents occur.
• Require the facilities with the worst safety records to consider implementing possible improvements to limit risks to workers and the public.
However, what's often lost in this discussion is that the urgency of these safety measures is real: While EPA considered additional protections after the West, TX disaster (until August 2016), data shows that 431 chemical releases or explosions occurred, causing 82 deaths and 1,600 injuries. The example made by Hurricane Harvey in Texas now adds to the many reasons we must demand that safer chemicals and processes are incorporated into our chemical management systems.
Sense of Urgency
Between 2004 and 2013, nearly 60 people died, 17,000 people were injured or sought medical attention, and almost 500,000 people were forced to evacuate or shelter-in-place because of an accidental release at a chemical facility. More than 1,500 incidents were reported over this time, and they totaled over $2 billion in property damages.
We see today that the scale of this problem is also enormous. Right now, over 12,000 schools are located within a mile of a hazardous chemical facility, putting at least one in three schoolchildren in America in danger. EPA itself has identified 466 domestic facilities that each put 100,000 or more people at risk of a chemical disaster.
If Administrator Pruitt is successful in delaying or repealing these safety improvements, current rates allow us to reasonably estimate the United States will experience 300 more preventable chemical accidents or disasters during this delay (until February 2019).
For many of the 134 million Americans who live within a chemical facility blast zone or close enough to be impacted by the release of poisonous gas, these accidents aren't merely statistics. Eboni Cochran, who lives in the ‘Rubbertown’ area of Louisville, KY, worries daily about the impact hazardous chemical facilities are having on her family's health—both through routine exposure and the risk of a catastrophic accident. She was recently quoted, saying:
“My family, along with other families living in the pathway of hazardous chemicals, have been directly impacted by them and in danger for decades. We should not have to bear the burden of wondering daily if our government is going to be courageous enough to stand up to corporations who only look at their bottom line—while viewing us as expendable. Unfortunately, we now have an EPA administrator who appears to be putting the welfare of major corporations ahead of the health and safety of the people he's supposed to be working for. Every day that EPA's Scott Pruitt delays these important safety updates is another day that puts my family in unnecessary danger, and his actions to withhold critical information from firefighters and local emergency planning committees makes it more likely we'll experience a disaster similar to West, Texas, where first-responders were put in harm's way because they didn't have the information they needed to protect themselves.”
Living on the Fence Line
Dr. Henry Clark also knows what it's like to live on the fence-line of a hazardous facility, and he's lived through more than one of these disasters. Dr. Clark is a long-time resident of Richmond, CA, which is a predominantly Black and Asian town. Richmond is also, unfortunately, a model “Environmental Justice Community.” Public health in the city is under assault from five nearby oil refineries, eight Superfund sites, three chemical plants, several rail yards and terminals transporting hazardous cargo, and other toxic waste sites. Its beleaguered residents experience disproportionately high rates of asthma or other diseases related to environmental health conditions.
Adding insult to injury, the Richmond community not only faces high levels of environmental contamination—they also must worry about an accident at any one of these sites which could poison their air or practically blow them off the map. Dr. Clark was there in 2012, when a Chevron refinery in Richmond, CA, experienced a fire and explosion that sent 15,000 people in nearby communities to seek medical treatment. This wasn't the first time this community had been dramatically disturbed by an incident even related to this very refinery. Accidents which may threaten their lives can and have happened at any time, any day—which at its best is foreboding, and at its worst fatal. Dr. Clark has said:
“The foul odors [emanating from industry in Richmond] would be so foul that sometimes you'd have to literally grab your nose and go back into the house and wait until the air cleared up. Or you'd be waking up in the morning and finding the leaves on the trees burned to a crisp from chemical exposure. I have family members that have died from cancer, and members of our organization that we've buried over the years with respiratory problems that they believe were associated with exposure. We just hoped that nothing happened that would blow everybody up. People still wonder when the next big accident is going to happen.”
People in the Gulf Coast impacted by Hurricane Harvey, with many also being survivors of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike and the BP Disaster, want to know how long will it take and how many lives must perish before the U.S. demonstrates the moral courage to implement safer chemicals and safer processes.
Demographics of Affected Communities
One disturbing feature of the people who live closest to RMP facilities is that they are far more likely to be people of color and poor when compared to other communities. Demographic analysis of people living near RMP facilities by the Environmental Justice Health Alliance, titled “Who's in Danger”, found that the percentage of Blacks living near an RMP facility is 75 percent higher and the concentration of Latinos 60 percent higher than the background average for the rest of the nation. The rate of poverty is 50 percent higher in these areas as well.
In light of the economic and political disadvantage these communities are often facing, and coupled with President Trump's move to relax President Obama's flood standards, Pruitt's move to delay these safety measures (and his stated opposition to them) takes on a particularly dark tone. In effect, EPA inaction on preventing chemical disasters kicks these communities when they are already down. It puts the responsibility to keep families safe squarely on some of the most disenfranchised Americans in our society.
Without action from the EPA, it is left to individual families to understand what facilities are doing, and if their operations are dangerous (facts frequently concealed as trade-secrets or rationalized as protection from terrorists looking for a target). Emergency-responders also are left guessing about the threat and unable to prepare or respond with full knowledge, as are hospitals that serve these populations—sometimes within the vulnerability zones themselves. If a family suspects they live near a dangerous facility, their only recourse is to move to a community they hope is safer, and there may be no way of knowing. This is an abdication of EPA's duty to protect the health and safety of communities under its watch—and adds unnecessary additional hardships to those among us who are already disproportionately impacted by social problems.
After four years of effort, it is time for EPA to fulfill its obligation to the victims of the West, Texas and Crosby, Texas disasters, and to Americans across the nation who have suffered through chemical accidents—or may yet—to implement these common-sense safety measures. These safety improvements to EPA's RMP program are fiscally responsible, timely, appropriate, and move us closer to a just distribution of the costs associated with these facilities. EPA Administrator Pruitt has both a moral and legal responsibility to enact these protections without delay, and I look forward to him acting on the belief that every American is worth protecting—and not just those who directly benefit from industry profits. And if EPA continues to ignore its responsibilities and the pleas of first responders, fence-line communities, businesses, and medical professionals, then states, counties, and cities must step up to provide common sense protections—especially now, as tens of thousands of people seek a just recovery from Hurricane Harvey.
Michele Roberts is Co-Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance.
The opinions expressed here do not represent those of Bloomberg BNA, which welcomes other points of view.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=121486950&vname=dennotallissues&fn=121486950&jd=121486950
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PHMSA Nominee Tells Senate Panel He Will Focus on Safety, Outstanding Mandates from 2011 Law
Sep 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
Howard "Skip" Elliott, President Trump's nominee to serve as administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), told a Senate panel Wednesday that if confirmed, he would focus on pipeline safety and getting a dozen outstanding mandates from a 2011 pipeline safety law finally implemented.
Elliott, a 40-year veteran of the U.S. freight rail industry, told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that he was "interested in exploring how technology can be deployed in other ways to enhance safety on pipelines and other forms of transportation.
"If confirmed, I would seek to encourage research and development efforts that will create and apply new and cutting-edge technology and automation to safety solutions."
During a Q&A period with the panel, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) told Elliott that PHMSA has to date only implemented 30 of 42 total mandates contained in the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Job Creation Act of 2011. She then asked Elliott how he would address the issue.
"I fully understand the importance of all of these Congressional mandates, and in the discussions I've had early on with the PHMSA staff, I know they understand the importance of those mandates as well," Elliott said. He added that if he was confirmed, he would work with PHMSA staff and the committee "to fully understand which of those mandates are the most critical, so perhaps we can identify those and move those forward off the table to ensure that those that have the greatest impact to safety can be completed."
He added that he wanted to "go in and see how each one of those mandates is being handled, [and see] whether or not there was an attempt to try and compress or bundle mandates together. Should we separate the important ones out and move those forward? I really need to get in and understand more of how each one of those uncompleted mandates is being handled."
According to Fischer, another federal law, the SAFE PIPES Act of 2016, required more inspectors at PHMSA, but that the agency has had trouble retaining them. Elliott promised to "figure out how we can aggressively recruit and fill any openings that we might have for these important jobs."
Fischer then pressed Elliott over concerns by stakeholders over the rulemaking process at PHMSA.
"They argue that PHMSA has attempted to merge what could be several different rulemakings into one 'mega-rule.' The result has been that rules are delayed by years and stakeholders are being left out of the process," Fischer said. In response, Elliott said "we have to basically peel back each individual regulation and find those that deliver the greatest safety measures to the public and to the transporting folks in the United States, and work hard to get those regulations in place."
Elliott currently serves as vice president of public safety, health, environment and security for Jacksonville, FL-based CSX Transportation.
Earlier this month, three trade associations that represent the oil and gas industry -- the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) -- said they support Elliott's nomination.
PHMSA, an agency within the Department of Transportation (DOT), is responsible for enacting and enforcing regulations governing the transport of energy resources -- including oil and natural gas pipelines -- as well as other hazardous materials. It oversees 2.6 million miles of pipeline across the United States.
Congress has been critical of PHMSA for years. In 2015, House lawmakers blasted the agency for failing to implement all 42 mandates contained in the 2011 law.
PHMSA has also attracted the ire of the DOT's Office of Inspector General (IG), which said in 2014 that the agency has done a lackluster job to ensure state regulators enforced operators' compliance with federal pipeline safety regulations. The IG probe was prompted by the September 2010 natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion in San Bruno, CA, which killed eight people and injured dozens more.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/111896-phmsa-nominee-tells-senate-panel-he-will-focus-on-safety-outstanding-mandates-from-2011-law
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Crude-by-Rail Adds Costs -- But Flexibility -- Over Pipes, Says Study
Sep 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Crude-by-rail as a transportation option could reduce the regulatory and political push back to building pipelines for U.S.-produced oil, according to a study by University of Chicago (UC) researchers.
The study, published in the National Bureau of Economic Research, was done by UC Energy Policy Institute Chicago (EPIC) researchers, who used the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) as a hypothetical to compare rail's price impact on the 1,200-mile system’s maximum capacity.
EPIC researchers Ryan Kellogg and Thomas Covert analyzed the large upfront pipeline costs versus the flexibility in rail oil transportation to question whether the railroads ultimately could be more attractive.
Had rail in recent years been required to address various environmental impacts, a project like DAPL would have been at least larger by 59,000 b/d of capacity, according to the study. The authors applied work done at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh that showed reducing rail air pollution would have added $2/bbl to the cost of crude-by-rail transport.
However, rail offers some things that pipelines may not.
"Beyond shedding light on the economics driving one of the most significant developments in the U.S. crude oil industry in decades, our study also shows how a costly but flexible transportation option can impact incentives to invest in durable infrastructure that is cheaper but requires large upfront commitments," Covert said.
With pipelines' higher upfront costs, shippers must sign long-term contracts that require payments even when volumes are not being shipped. Conversely, rail allows oil to be shipped to and from various locations along various tracks, and shippers may change volumes shipped in response to price changes. This flexibility could reduce shippers' incentive to commit to pipelines, the authors noted.
Three years ago in North Dakota, most of the state's 1 million b/d-plus of production from the Bakken Shale was moving via rail, and state officials were gearing up for new safety and environmental checks for rail.
At about the same time three years ago, a study predicted that rail crude oil shipments would peak in 2015-2016 at about 1.5 million b/d but remain an important transportation option for years to come.
The UC researchers said U.S. crude rail transport grew from almost nothing in 2010 to 750,000 b/d by the end of 2014
Rather than assuming that crude-by-rail is only useful in accommodating unexpected surges in new production as happened in North Dakota, researchers said the flexibility inherent in rail oil transport "makes it a more attractive option despite the higher-per-bbl cost."
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/111897-crude-by-rail-adds-costs----but-flexibility----over-pipes-says-study
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Despite Rollbacks, Administration's Climate Stance Seen As 'Moving Target'
Sep 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Dawn Reeves
Even as the Trump administration works to roll back EPA and other Obama administration rules addressing greenhouse gases and publicly renews its pledge to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, observers say the administration's climate policy so far is too malleable to conclude where it will end up.
“Other than, 'We're not going to do what the Obama administration did,' the alternative, I don't think, has been established,” says Kyle Danish, a lawyer at Van Ness Feldman and a non-resident associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
In a Sept. 21 article, Danish and two CSIS colleagues cite as evidence recent comments from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt that the agency is considering a replacement for the agency's Clean Power Plan (CPP) instead of just repealing it, coupled with high-level White House officials suggesting a potential route to stay in the Paris Agreement on climate change.
“Though not necessarily coordinated, these two events suggest that the Trump administration's positions on climate policy remain a moving target; the positions could be more malleable than it first appeared,” says the article, “The Future of the Clean Power Plan and Trump Administration Climate Policy.”
The paper is co-authored by Sarah Ladislaw, director of the CSIS energy and national security program; and John Larsen, a CSIS senior associate in energy and natural security.
Danish says the reason for the uncertainty is the administration's “internal debate between some officials with a pretty rigid ideological view about climate change and about government regulation versus officials who have a possibly more pragmatic view that feels responsive to industry concerns. They'd like some durability and predictability about policy.”
This debate will play out in a number of areas, with Danish citing the most high-profile example as President Donald Trump's June announcement (/node/202349) that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. He notes that the announcement still tried to “make clear that the U.S. will remain engaged with international partners. . . . It essentially kicks down the road any sort of major, final decision about whether and how the U.S. will have some international climate commitment.
He sees a similar winding path for the CPP, which is closely related to any effort by the Trump EPA to rescind the agency's landmark 2009 finding that GHGs endanger public health and welfare.
“In the beginning, there were noises about reversing the endangerment finding and simply repealing [the CPP]. Now there are more noises about opening the door to take input on possible replacements. So I think it's just sort of a moving target,” he says. Where the administration ends up is “unquestionably not where Obama was and not where the environmental advocates want. But it will be a multi-year process to find out where the Trump administration ends up.”
The CSIS paper explores this issue as well, noting that the “flexibility” of the administration's positions “does not appear to be motivated by a new view that regulation of GHG is necessary . . . but instead by a desire to create legally durable, albeit more lenient environmental regulations.”
If successful, that effort could allow the administration “to take credit for environmental performance that is both in line with the climate agenda and with the administration's energy and economic strategy.”
Future Administrations
On the CPP in particular, the paper notes that Trump officials were expected to just repeal the rule or slow walk a replacement. But that drew strong concerns from the power industry, which noted a repeal-only approach was legally vulnerable and could leave the door wide open for a future administration to impose draconian cuts to offset years of inaction.
Should the administration move forward on a replacement rule as expected, that almost certainly means it will not seek to overturn the 2009 endangerment finding, leaving in place the need for GHG rules on a host of sectors.
Also important is the method by which the administration seeks to repeal the CPP, as it could offer insights into preferences for a replacement.
Recent remarks by Pruitt and industry advocacy suggest the replacement could include facility-specific standardsunder section 111 of the Clean Air Act, the same section under which the CPP was developed, with significant leeway granted to states. The paper outlines this legal argument -- which would conclude the original CPP's target-setting approach that includes fuel switching to natural gas and renewables is far beyond EPA's authority -- as one possible option.
Another option would be do determine that coal plants' GHGs cannot be regulated under section 111 of the Clean Air Act because their mercury emissions are already regulated under section 112 -- an argument known as the “112 exclusion.”
Because the administration is expected to seek comment on possible replacements, that “suggests it is hedging its bets on the viability” of that argument, even though it was not well received by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit when it heard oral arguments last Sept. 27 in litigation over the Obama-era CPP.
The court has held off issuing a ruling in that case because it has paused litigation while EPA develops its repeal rule.
But the CSIS paper finds risks to EPA's expected approach to craft “inside-the-fence” standards, including that it would result in far fewer GHG cuts and could allow a future administration to ratchet up the rule's ambition.
“Thus, a significant issue will be the extent to which the legal reasoning behind a Trump replacement rule, and subsequent court review of that rule, leaves a door open for a future administration to return to an outside-the fence approach,” it says. “Accordingly, it could be difficult for the power sector to obtain true long-term regulatory certainty from federal rulemaking actions by the Trump administration. And, in any event, states will continue to have authority to pursue more aggressive climate policies.”
An inside-the-fence approach could also be more costly, even if the targets are lenient, the paper says, because it could foreclose market-based flexibilties for compliance.
International Policy
On international climate policy, the paper says the administration's vague position “was once again laid bare in a series of reportedly contradictory administration statements” in recent weeks on possibly remaining in Paris after all, adding that because the formal withdrawal cannot occur until late 2020, “the entire topic is fraught with confusion.”
However, the authors note that “it is clear that the United States is not completely opposed to talking about or even voicing support for elements of the international climate agenda,” pointing to a May statement the U.S. joined from the Arctic Council calling climate change a “serious threat” to the Arctic and noting the need for action to reduce its impacts, as well as a July G20 communique that says the U.S. will “endeavor to work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently.”
The paper notes that, “This certainly does not mean the Trump administration is poised to take a leadership role. . . . It does suggest, however, that the Trump administration does not yet have a set climate policy and that there may be opportunities for it to choose policies or support agreements that are positive for the climate,” such as the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol which has vast industry support to phase down refrigerants that act as potent GHGs.
Danish in the interview says that regardless of Trump's moves on the CPP or in international arenas, “I think you'll see pretty much the same actions by major power companies for the next five years” because they are already locked into a transformation away from coal.
“The real question comes as you look further out, and they'll have to evaluate the risk that there will be something significantly more ambitious after the Trump administration, so it's really an issue of” longer-term planning, he said. --
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/despite-rollbacks-administrations-climate-stance-seen-moving-target
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Calif. AG: Trump Backs Down On Greenhouse Gas Rule
Sep 28, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Mallory Shelbourne
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) on Thursday declared victory in a fight with the Trump administration over a greenhouse gas emission regulation.
Becerra in a statement said that he and seven other attorneys general sued the Trump administration last week for delaying an Obama-era regulation that mandated local and state officials measure emissions for specific federally funded highways.
“Today, the Trump Administration backed down and will now implement the Measure as is legally required. This is a victory for the American people and will help us tackle climate change, the most important global environmental issue of our time,” Becerra said.
“Climate change is real. If President Trump is not prepared to admit it or to do his job of protecting our families by enforcing our environmental rules, then I'm prepared as Attorney General to call his bluff.”
The Department of Justice announced Monday that it would re-instate the regulation, known as the Greenhouse Gas Performance Measure, which became official Thursday.
The Trump administration in May delayed parts of the regulation’s enforcement.
Becerra filed the lawsuit along with the California Air Resources Board, in addition to seven states: Iowa, Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Vermont, Minnesota and Massachusetts.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/352895-calif-attorney-general-trump-backs-down-on-greenhouse-gas
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New Head of State Air Pollution Group Seeks Common Ground
Sep 29, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jennifer Lu
The newest advocate for state air pollution officials wants to mend fences with a splinter group that objected to his association's often cozy relationship with the Obama-era EPA.
As the new executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, Miles Keogh said he is “not pushing for the reintegration” with the Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies, a group that formed in 2013 and now includes 20 states. There are issues, however, that the two groups can work on together when talking to the Environmental Protection Agency and providing clean air technology training to states, he told Bloomberg BNA.
“My highest and most urgent priority is to serve the members of NACAA, but also I support all clean air agencies,” said Keogh, who started Aug. 7 at the association. “I think if there's leadership support for that collegiality, that gives the cover that states and locals need to be collegial. We both have to interface with EPA, so I don't want it to persist that there's competition between us, because there's not.”
Keogh replaces NACAA's longtime executive director Bill Becker, who retired after 37 years at the association.
Clint Woods, executive director of AAPCA, told Bloomberg BNA that he is also open to working with his new counterpart.
Keogh ‘The Right Person’
Virginia is a member of both organizations and Michael Dowd, director of air division in Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality and a member of the NACAA board, praised Keogh's “member-focused perspective.”
“He's the right person to navigate some very difficult shoals with the Trump administration's EPA,” Dowd said. “He knows a lot about how energy and environmental issues intersect.”
While Keogh said he has not discussed specific issues with the EPA in his first six weeks as executive director, he said he has met with agency employees including Sarah Dunham, acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, and members of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality and the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
“We're trying to suss each other out,” Keogh said. “Everybody is still new on their side; we have new leadership on our side.”
‘Bread-and-Butter’ Issues
Besides working with other state advocates, Keogh said he'll focus on “bread-and-butter” clean air issues such as dwindling funds from the EPA, possible revisions to the agency's greenhouse gas standards for passenger cars, and “stubborn and persistent” pollution from cars and other mobile sources.
Keogh comes to NACAA from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners where he directed the research lab, which has studied electrical transmission, natural gas supply, energy efficiency, and cybersecurity. Though Keogh understands the electricity sector, which is a primary source of air pollution, he said his training is like “accelerated K-12 and bootcamp” as he gets up to speed.
“I thought there would be tons of overlap,” Keogh said. “It's really unlike the work I was doing before.”
Becker, who was not involved with the final hiring decision, said he had worked with Keogh when NACAA and NARUC partnered with the National Association of State Energy Officials in an effort to address the overlap between environmental protection and a reliable and efficient energy grid.
Becker remembered an emissions trading activity Keogh had prepared for the group.
“It showed me he had imagination” and “knows how to engage and bring together various stakeholders,” Becker said. “It was a bit quirky, but it worked.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=121486929&vname=dennotallissues&fn=121486929&jd=121486929
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Maryland Sues EPA Over Ozone Transport
Sep 29, 2017 | Inside EPA
Maryland is suing EPA over the agency's failure to respond to the state's Clean Air Act petition seeking direct federal pollution controls on numerous power plants in five states that Maryland officials say are compromising its air quality, joining Connecticut and Delaware that have filed similar cases against the agency.
Following through on an earlier threat to sue, the state filed suit Sept. 27 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland under section 126 of the Clean Air Act, which allows states to petition EPA to directly regulate air emissions from pollution sources in other states that are interfering with attainment of federal air standards in the petitioning state.
EPA is facing similar suits from other East Coast states that are also struggling to comply with federal ozone standards. Delaware and Connecticut filed separate suits earlier this year seeking to require EPA to respond to their section 126 petitions that target coal-fired power plants in upwind states.
Maryland's Nov. 16 petition claims that 36 electric generating units at power plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are contributing significantly to the state's problems attaining national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone, including the 2008 NAAQS set at 75 parts per billion (ppb), and tougher 2015 NAAQS of 70 ppb.
Maryland says EPA missed a statutory deadline of July 15 to respond, which EPA had already extended by six months.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said in a statement that the state has made “significant progress in improving our air quality in recent years, and that progress is in jeopardy due to lack of action by the EPA that dates back to the previous administration. We strongly urge the EPA to approve the petition and enforce the air pollution controls, already in place in Maryland, at upwind out-of-state facilities that threaten the health of Maryland citizens and our economy.”
The state's environment secretary Ben Grumbles, a former Bush EPA official, said that Maryland's approach is based on out-of-state power plants running their already-installed pollution controls. East Coast states in the 12-state Ozone Transport Commission region, which includes Maryland, frequently complain that plants in upwind states are not running existing pollution controls enough to achieve required emissions reductions.
So far, however, EPA has not supported their push to force upwind sources to run controls. Under the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule emissions trading program, power plants can purchase nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions allowances rather than running controls, and even after the Obama EPA last year reduced state's NOx allowances, OTC officials say allowances are still cheaper than the cost of running controls.
Legal experts at the New York University School of Law's Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI) weighed in to support Maryland's lawsuit. IPI Regulatory Policy Director Jack Lienke said, “Maryland is not asking for much here. It doesn’t expect coal plants in surrounding states to install expensive new pollution controls. The plants already have the technology they need. Maryland just wants them to start using that equipment more often, especially during the summer, when ozone poses the biggest threat to public health.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/maryland-sues-epa-over-ozone-transport
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State Air Plans’ Conflict of Interest Rules Draw Lawsuit
Sep 29, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Chris Marr
Alabama and Mississippi have taken too long to file proper plans to ensure air pollutant regulators don't have financial conflicts of interest, and the EPA has failed to force the issue, environmental groups state in a lawsuit filed Sept. 28.
The Environmental Protection Agency in 2015 rejected the conflict-of-interest provisions in the states’ plans for implementing 2008 ozone standards, saying they lacked clear language restricting and requiring disclosure of decision makers’ conflicts —such as earning income from companies seeking air emission permits. But after two years, the states have not submitted a revised and the EPA must impose a federal implementation plan, as required by law, the lawsuit states (Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. Pruitt, D.D.C., No. 1:17-cv-02002, 9/28/17).
The Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Environmental Health, and the Sierra Club filed the complaint against EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. They're asking the court to force EPA to impose federal implementation plans, which would include conflict-of-interest provisions, on the states.
The plaintiffs plan to add Illinois to the states named in the case, as that state also has not filed proper conflict-of-interest provisions and EPA's deadline for imposing a federal plan there passed on Sept. 25, said Robert Ukeiley, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.
Once the conflict-of-interest provisions are included in an EPA-approved implementation plan, they can be enforced through citizen lawsuits under the Clean Air Act, Ukeiley told Bloomberg BNA on Sept. 28. And whether environmental regulators in the three states have conflicts of interest right now is an open question, he added.
“We don't know. That's the point of the lawsuit,” Ukeiley said. “We're entitled to the information. It should be a transparent process, and at this point there's no transparency.”
EPA Working with States
EPA spokesman Jason McDonald told Bloomberg BNA the agency is “working with Alabama and Mississippi as they develop their plans related to conflict of interest. Both states are far along in their processes and EPA expects both states to provide state implementation plans (SIPs) addressing conflict of interest.”
The state plans at issue are related to the EPA's 2008 ozone standards of 75 parts per billion. In 2015, the EPA issued an implementation rule (RIN:2060-AR34) setting requirements for state plans to come into compliance with the standard.
EPA should have enforced the conflict-of-interest provisions “40 years ago for all the states,” Ukeiley said. “But the EPA under the Obama administration did make significant progress in making sure states have these provisions.”
He said to the best of his knowledge Alabama, Mississippi, and Illinois are the last three that don't have the provisions included in their EPA-approved state implementation plans.
The plaintiffs cite a provision in the 1970 Clean Air Act that they say requires EPA to impose a federal plan on a state if it rejects that state's plan. The federal plan must require that “the majority of members of boards that approve permits or enforcement orders” in the states “do not derive a significant portion of income from persons subject to permits or enforcement orders” issued by those state boards, according to the complaint.
Alabama, Mississippi Revising Rules
Alabama's Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) has been working with EPA to rewrite its conflict of interest rules in a way that satisfies federal standards, Ron Gore, the state agency's air chief, said.
The governing board for ADEM is expected to finalize the rule changes at its October meeting. The new rules would take effect in December, after which the state would revise its implementation plan, Gore told Bloomberg BNA on Sept. 28.
“We're well on the way to correcting any real or perceived error in our conflict of interest rules for our staff and board,” he said.
The state has conflict of interest rules in place that were considered adequate up until about 10 years ago, Gore added.
Mississippi's legislature also recently made changes to address the issues raised by EPA, said Robbie Wilbur, spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
“We believe we are in compliance with the Clean Air Act,” Wilbur told Bloomberg BNA on Sept. 28.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=121486936&vname=dennotallissues&fn=121486936&jd=121486936
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Maria Response Awaits New EPA Regional Office Head
Sep 29, 2017 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Abby Smith
Pete Lopez, the EPA's newly appointed Region 2 administrator, has experience dealing with hurricane recovery, but he will still face a steep learning curve when he joins the agency Oct. 1.
A Republican New York state assemblyman since 2007, Lopez will now be responsible for the Environmental Protection Agency's region that includes his home state, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—the latter two recently devastated by powerful hurricanes. His appointment was announced Sept. 28.
The EPA will play a vital role in the islands’ recovery from Hurricane Maria and other recent storms—both the immediate response and longer-term rebuilding efforts. And for Puerto Rico, which was particularly ravaged by Maria, the EPA serves as a critical partner to the territory's environmental regulator, the Environmental Quality Board.
Judith Enck, who served as Region 2 head during the Obama administration, told Bloomberg BNA the agency needs to provide leadership on a multitude of issues, including drinking water quality, sewage treatment, assessment of toxic sites, and debris management. And Lopez will need to get up to speed quickly, she said via email.
Lopez, whose father is from Puerto Rico, has experience with hurricane recovery from his decade in the New York state assembly.
“That experience will prove helpful with the humanitarian and environmental crisis that is unfolding before our eyes in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, but it does not really compare to the crisis” in those places, Enck said.
She said Lopez should also visit Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands “as soon as he can to see the devastation first hand. This is a tall task, but he is up to it.”
First Steps
The EPA has approximately 137 personnel assisting with hurricane response in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to a Sept. 28 update from the agency.
Enck said Lopez should immediately be briefed by Region 2 career staff, including the 50 staffers based permanently in Puerto Rico, and the two staffers based in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Ramon Cruz, a member of the Sierra Club's national board of directors who served on Puerto Rico's Environmental Quality Board, said the EPA's Caribbean office will be a good resource for Lopez. The Sierra Club has received funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P., the global business, financial information and news leader. Bloomberg BNA is an affiliate of Bloomberg L.P.
Cruz said the EPA provides critical assistance in environmental monitoring as well, noting that right now there is “just a handful of staff” to evaluate the territory's rivers and beaches for contamination and damage.
“We know the local EPA office is working and functioning now, but they need all the support they can from the region and the federal government,” Cruz said. “The president mentioned that they have gotten good grades. Unfortunately, the population in Puerto Rico does not think that.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=121486928&vname=dennotallissues&fn=121486928&jd=121486928
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