Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 13/10/17
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(ACC Mentioned) Drain the Swamp: Trump Puts Assorted Foxes in Charge of Government Henhouse (What Could Go Wrong?)
Oct 13, 2017 | Red Green and Blue
By Andrew Rosenberg
The Trump administration is slowly filling positions below the cabinet officer level in the “mission agencies” of the federal government (e.g., EPA, NOAA , Interior, DOE, etc. whose job it is to implement a specific set of statutory mandates). -
(ACC Mentioned) Ocean Conservancy Campaign Targets 5 Worst Ocean Plastic Polluters
Oct 13, 2017 | Clean Technica
By Steve Hanley
Nearly half of the estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic that flow into the world’s ocean every year originate in just five rapidly developing economies in Asia — Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and China. -
Danfoss Symposium Features Updates on Refrigerants and Energy Management
Oct 13, 2017 | Contracting Business
By Terry McIver
The 30th Annual DanfossSymposium— "Refrigerants2Sustainability" — convened on September 27 in Orlando, Fla., to explore topics relevant to the present and not-to-distant future of supermarket refrigeration and energy management. -
EPA Strikes Deal With Manufacturers of Popular Weedkiller
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
U.S. EPA today announced a deal with manufacturers of dicamba that aims to reduce crop damage associated with the popular weedkiller. -
EU Council Calls on Unea to Increase Hazardous Chemicals Knowledge
Oct 13, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The EU Council of Ministers has called on UN member states to help increase knowledge of hazardous substances, encourage the exchange of information on chemicals in products, and replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives. -
Cheniere Mulls Smaller LNG Trains at Corpus Christi
Oct 13, 2017 | Natural Gas World
By Dale Lunan
Cheniere Energy says it has proposed replacing Trains 4 and 5 at its Corpus Christi LNG project inTexas with seven lighter, mid-scale trains. -
Developers Push Back on Eminent Domain Litigation
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The backer of a contentious natural gas pipeline is pushing back on a sweeping lawsuit that targets how gas infrastructure is typically approved and developed. -
Locals Cheer EPA Cleanup, Saying It Will 'Liberate' Houston
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Local residents, officials and environmental advocates popped sparkling wine and cider outside the San Jacinto Waste Pits yesterday, celebrating a "victory" after U.S. EPA's decision to permanently remove contaminants from the toxic Superfund site. -
Refinery Storage Tanks Face Environmental Scrutiny After Storm
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Energywire
Failures on more than a dozen floating-roof storage tanks at Houston-area oil refineries during Hurricane Harvey are raising questions about their use. -
(ACC Mentioned) Commerce Dept. Says EPA Air Rules Hamstring Manufacturers
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Maxine Joselow
The Commerce Department is targeting several U.S. EPA rules on air quality in a new report about streamlining permitting and regulations for manufacturing. -
Trump Names Former Texas Regulator as White House Environmental Adviser
Oct 13, 2017 | The New York Times
By Lisa Friedman
President Trump has nominated a former top Texas environmental regulator, who has argued that carbon dioxide is a harmless gas that should not be regulated, to be the White House senior adviser on environmental policy. -
Trump Taps Climate Skeptic to Lead White House Environment Office
Oct 13, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The White House late Thursday announced that Trump picked Kathleen Hartnett White to serve as a member, and eventually chairwoman, of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). -
Perry Aide-Turned-Lobbyist Helped Recruit for Agency Post
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
Energy Secretary Rick Perry's former campaign manager who now represents clients with business before the agency has been in touch with top DOE officials to fill at least one vacancy, according to documents obtained by E&E News. -
Proposed Carbon Rule Repeal to Be Published Monday
Oct 13, 2017 | Politico Pro Energy Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
EPA’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan will run in Monday’s Federal Register, launching a 60-day comment period.
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Oct 13, 2017 | Red Green and Blue
By Andrew Rosenberg
The Trump administration is slowly filling positions below the cabinet officer level in the “mission agencies” of the federal government (e.g., EPA, NOAA , Interior, DOE, etc. whose job it is to implement a specific set of statutory mandates). The appointed individuals are leading day-to-day decision-making on policies from public health and safety to environmental protection to critical applied science programs. In other words, the decisions these appointees make will affect everyone in the country.
The job of the agencies and their political leadership is to represent the public interest. It is not to serve the private interests of particular industries and companies, or even to push political viewpoints, but to implement legislative mandates in the interest of the American public.
After all, who else but government can do this?
Our laws call for the water and air to be clean, our workers and communities to be safe, our environment to be healthy and our science to be robust and fundamental to better policy and decision-making. That is what mission agencies are tasked to do.
So, what have we seen so far? To be sure, the Administration has nominated and appointed some qualified individuals with good experience and little apparent conflicts of interest. But unfortunately, that is not the norm. In my mind, most of the key appointments with responsibility for science-based policymaking fall into three categories:
· The conflicted: Individuals who have spent a significant part of their careers lobbying the agencies they are now appointed to lead to obtain more favorable policies to benefit specific industries or companies—and who will likely do so again once they leave the government. These individuals have a conflict of interest because of these connections. Despite President Trump’s call to “drain the swamp,” these appointees are well-adapted and key species in that very swamp (sorry, my ecologist background showing through).
· The opposed: Individuals who have spent much of their careers arguing against the very mission of the agencies they now lead. This group is not entirely separate from the first, because often they made those arguments on behalf of corporate clients pushing for less accountability to or oversight from the American public. But further, they have opposed the very role played by the federal agencies they are appointed to serve. While they may have conflicts of interest as in (1), they also have an expressed anti-agency agenda that strongly suggests they will work to undermine the agency’s mission.
· The unqualified: Individuals who are wholly unqualified because they haven’t the experience or training or credentials that are requisite for the job. Again, these appointees may also have conflicts of interest, and opposite political agendas to the missions of the agencies, but they also have no real place leading a complex organization that requires specific expertise.
With more than 4,000 possible political appointments to federal agencies, I of course cannot cover them all. In fact, scanning through the list of those 600 appointments requiring Senate confirmation, less than one-third have even been nominated for Senate action. But here is a disturbing set of nominees or appointments that undermine science-based policymaking.
The conflicted
William Wehrum is a lawyer and lobbyist nominated to lead the EPA Office of Air and Radiation (OAR). He previously worked at EPA during the G.W. Bush Administration. UCS opposed his nomination then. Mr. Wehrum’s corporate clients include Koch Industries, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, and others in the auto and petrochemical industries. He has been a vocal spokesperson against addressing climate change under the Clean Air Act, which would be part of his responsibility as OAR director. While he has advocated for devolving more authority to the states for addressing air pollution generally, he also opposed granting California a waiver under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. Mr. Wehrum has also been directly involved, both as a lobbyist for industry and during his previous stint at EPA, in efforts to subvert the science concerning mercury pollution from power plants, restrictions on industrial emissions, as well as lead, soot and regional haze regulations. (More: Drain the swamp: Trump and Pruitt want to fill the EPA with oil and coal lobbyists.)
Dr. Michael Dourson has been nominated to be EPA Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. He is well known by the chemical industry, having spent years working as a toxicologist for hire for industries from tobacco to pesticides and other chemicals. Dr. Dourson has argued that the pesticide chlorpyrifos is safe despite a large body of science to the contrary. He has advocated for the continued use of a toxic industrial chemical called TCE, which the EPA determined was carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure. [TCE was the chemical linked to leukemia in children in the 1998 film “A Civil Action.”] When asked about his controversial chemical risk assessment company, TERA, receiving funding from chemical companies, Dourson responded: “Jesus hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors. He had dinner with them.”
Dr. Nancy Beck, appointed to the position of EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator, now leads the agency’s effort to implement the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, which was signed into law last year. Dr. Beck was previously senior staff with the American Chemistry Council, the trade organization that worked very hard for years to weaken the rules protecting the public from toxic chemicals. The result? The new rules from the EPA are far weaker than those developed by the professional staff at the agency and remarkably similar to the position the industry favored, while dismissing the positions of other members of the public and other organizations including UCS. Previously, Dr. Beck worked in the G.W. Bush Administration at the Office of Management and Budget. During that part of her career Dr. Beck was called out by the U.S. House Science and Technology Committee for attempting to undermine EPA’s assessment of toxic chemicals and her draft guidance on chemical safety evaluations was called “fundamentally flawed” by the National Academy of Sciences.
Lest you think that the conflicted are all at EPA, consider David Zatezalo, nominated to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Health and Safety. He was formerly the chairman of Rhino Resources, a Kentucky coal company that was recipient of two letters from the Mine Safety and Health Administration for patterns of violations. Subsequently a miner was killed when a wall collapsed. The company was fined.
David Bernhardt has been confirmed as the Deputy Secretary of Interior. He was DOI Solicitor under the George W. Bush administration. In 2008, weeks before leaving office, Bernhardt shifted controversial political appointees who had ignored or suppressed science into senior civil service posts. While at his law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, he represented energy and mining interests and lobbied for California’s Westlands Water District. His position in the firm—he was a partner—and the firm’s financial relationship with Cadiz Inc. (which is involved in a controversial plan to pump groundwater in the Mojave desert and sell it in southern California) has led to one group calling him a “walking conflict of interest.” Bernhardt also represented Alaska in its failed 2014 suit to force the Interior department to allow exploratory drilling at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (More: Trump picks lobbyist who funnelled cash to big ag as Deputy Sec of Interior. (What could go wrong?)
UPDATE: Andrew Wheeler, Trump’s nominee as deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, lobbied for the biggest U.S. coal mining company, whose employees were the president’s biggest source of campaign contributions. (More: Drain the swamp! Trump puts big lump of coal (lobbyist) in EPA’s stocking.)
The opposed
Susan Combs has been nominated to be the Assistant Secretary of Interior for Policy, Management, and Budget. She was previously Texas’s agricultural commissioner and then the state’s Comptroller where she often fought with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over Endangered Species Act issues. Notably she has a history of meddling in science-based policy issues like species protections. She has been deeply engaged in battling for property rights and against public interest protections; she once called proposed Endangered Species Act listings as “incoming Scud missiles” against the Texas economy. Of course, protecting endangered species, biodiversity and public lands is a major responsibility of the Department of Interior.
Daniel Simmons has been nominated to be the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency to foster development of renewable and energy-efficient technologies. He was previously Vice President at the Institute for Energy Research, a conservative organization that promotes fossil fuel use, opposed the Paris Climate Accord, and opposes support for renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. He also worked for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as director for their natural resources task force. ALEC is widely known for advocating against energy efficiency measures. (More: Is Rick Perry’s Energy Department pushing back against Trump’s war on renewables?)
UPDATE: Add one more, Barry Myers to be the Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, the Administrator of NOAA. Myers, the CEO of AccuWeather, has been active in efforts to undercut the role of NOAA. Basically, their business model is to take NOAA data and products on weather, developed with taxpayer dollars, and deliver them to the public in a proprietary form that customers pay for. He has been a strong advocate against NOAA having the capability to provide such products directly to the public, hence the rather boring form of NOAA forecasts which is interpreted and commoditized by companies like AccuWeather and many others. (More: Trump puts rival CEO who wants to muzzle NOAA in charge of the agency.)
The unqualified
Sam Clovis, the nominee for Undersecretary of Agriculture for Research, Education and Economics, effectively the department’s chief scientists, is not a scientist or an economist nor does he have expertise in any scientific discipline relevant to his proposed position at USDA—like food science, nutrition, weed science, agronomy, entomology. Despite this lack of qualifications, he does deny the evidence of a changing climate. He was a talk radio host with a horrendous record of racist, homophobic and other bigoted views which should be disqualifying in themselves. (More: Drain the Swamp: Dems say No Way to Sam Clovis, Trump’s anti-science appointee as top USDA scientist.)
Albert Kelly has been appointed a senior advisor to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the Chair of the Superfund Task Force. He is an Oklahoma banker with no experience with Superfund or environmental issues, but he was a major donor to Mr. Pruitt’s political campaigns. So far the task force has focused on “increasing efficiencies” in the Superfund program.
Over at NASA, the nominee for Administrator is Rep. James Bridenstine, (R. OK). While he certainly has government and public policy experience (a plus), he does not have a science background, a management background or experience with the space program. He has called aggressively for NASA to focus on space exploration and returning to the moon, rather than its earth science mission. In addition, he has been a strong advocate for privatization of some of the work of the agency. He has questioned the science on climate change and accused the Obama Administration of “gross misallocation of funds” for spending on climate research.
Michael Kratsios is the Deputy Chief Technology Officer and de facto head of Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. He is a former aide to Silicon Valley executive Peter Thiel and holds a BA in politics from Princeton with a focus on Hellenic Studies. He previously worked in investment banking and with a hedge fund. How this experience qualifies him to be deputy chief technology officer is beyond me.
Can we have science-based policies?
This is by no means a full list of egregious nominees for positions that will have a big impact on our daily lives. So, the question remains, is science-based policy making a thing of the past? Will the conflicted, the opposed, and the unqualified be the pattern for the future?
Fortunately, we can and should fight back. We as scientists, concerned members of the public, and activists can call on our elected officials to oppose these nominees. If they are in place, then they can be held to account by Congress, the courts, and yes, in the court of public opinion. Handing over the fundamental job of protecting the public to champions for regulated industries and political ideologues is wrong for all of us. After all, if industry did protect the public from public health or environmental impacts, then regulatory controls would be superfluous.
We can’t just wring our hands and wish things didn’t go this way. Conflicted, opposed and unqualified they may be, but they are now in public service. Let’s hold them to account.
http://redgreenandblue.org/2017/10/13/drain-swamp-trump-puts-assorted-foxes-charge-government-henhouse-go-wrong/
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(ACC Mentioned) Ocean Conservancy Campaign Targets 5 Worst Ocean Plastic Polluters
Oct 13, 2017 | Clean Technica
By Steve Hanley
Nearly half of the estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic that flow into the world’s ocean every year originate in just five rapidly developing economies in Asia — Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and China. At its recent Our Ocean 2017 conference, the Ocean Conservancy announced it is seeking to raise over $150 million in new funding to prevent plastic waste from leaking in to our ocean. The money will be used to design and build waste management and recycling systems in Southeast Asia. The focus will be on investments to improve collection, sorting and recycling markets.
“This is a major breakthrough in the fight for trash-free seas,” said Susan Ruffo, managing director of international initiatives at Ocean Conservancy. “Our research has found that by improving waste management in Southeast Asian countries, we can cut the flow of plastic going in the ocean by half by 2025. A funding mechanism will take this goal from dream to reality, and support efforts by governments and local groups on the ground to improve their livelihoods and well-being while also improving ocean health.”
The new funding mechanism will be operated by Closed Loop Partners, an investment firm that focuses on companies, technology and recycling facilities that turn waste products into valuable resources. Demonstrating that such waste management systems can be successful in developing countries will attract other private and public actors to support other recycling efforts.
“Through this initiative, we will invest in and support the municipalities, entrepreneurs, investors and NGOs working to reduce ocean plastics and improve waste management in Southeast Asia,” said Rob Kaplan of Closed Loop Partners. “Our investments across North America — from recycling collection in Tennessee to developing new end markets for waste plastics in Louisiana — have resulted in tangible improvements to waste collection and recycling.
Our model is to take the best practices in waste management investment, leverage the world’s largest consumer goods supply chains, and marry them with on-the-ground partner expertise and work.”
The new Ocean Conservancy initiative addressed the root causes of plastics in the ocean by investing in the systems and emerging technologies needed to capture and transform waste into valuable commodities before it reaches marine environments. The goal is to make waste collection and recycling profitable so there is a positive incentive not to discard plastic refuse in the rivers that flow through Southeast Asia and carry the floating detritus out to sea.
The initiative is supported by several partners, including the Trash Free Seas Alliance, Closed Loop Partners, PepsiCo, 3M, Procter & Gamble, the American Chemistry Council, and the World Plastics Council.
“P&G is proud to be a part of this initiative,” said Jack McAneny, director of sustainability at Procter & Gamble. “Plastics play an important role in commerce, but they clearly don’t belong in our waterways and oceans. Thanks to the vision of Ocean Conservancy, we now have a multi-stakeholder collaborative effort that can drive the kind of innovation and scale that we need to stop the flow of plastics to the environment and ideally give these materials a second life.”
The Ocean Conservancy and its partners expect to share the results of the initial phase of work within the next year. It expects the results will help increase the number of people and organizations interested in investing in plastic recycling systems and technology.
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/10/13/ocean-conservancy-campaign-targets-5-worst-ocean-plastic-polluters/
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Danfoss Symposium Features Updates on Refrigerants and Energy Management
Oct 13, 2017 | Contracting Business
By Terry McIver
The 30th Annual DanfossSymposium— "Refrigerants2Sustainability" — convened on September 27 in Orlando, Fla., to explore topics relevant to the present and not-to-distant future of supermarket refrigeration and energy management.
Symposium participants — each one a respective leader in a refrigeration or energy specialty — gathered at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, the same location as the FMI Energy & Store Development Conference, which had concluded the day before. That was appropriate, not only for the convenience of participants, but because refrigeration is the common thread that runs through all topics that were discussed by eight presenters and 35 select participants.
"The industry continues to look over the horizon of how we reach low GWP and energy efficiency in our systems. These changes will impact supermarkets and marketers of refrigeration equipment: how they’re designed, installed and maintained," said co-moderator Lisa Tryson, director of communications for Danfoss. "We will look at some technology solutions, including CO2, and other technologies that can help to improve efficiency while also utilizing low Global Warming Potential technologies," Tryson said. "Finally we will look beyond regulations, at some utility incentive options, storage options and a systems approach to energy efficiency and power that can drive more sustainable options for the industry. The heart of this program is a dialogue, with the speakers, and among ourselves."
Robert Cavey of Praxis served as lead moderator for the discussion, which each year offers important insights into the state of energy efficiency and refrigerant developments in the US and globally.
This year's Symposium presenters were:
· Mark Menzer, director, public affairs, Danfoss
· Glenn Gallagher, staff lead for the California Air Resources Board (CARB)
· Xudong Wang, Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute
· Peter Dee, sales and services director, food retail, Danfoss.
· KC Kolstad, lead refrigeration engineer for Target
· Brad Morris, senior manager, engineering and energy, Giant Eagle
· Aaron Daly, Whole Foods
· Dr. Marcel Christians, Ice Energy.
The day began with Mark Menzer providing a look at the impact of the recent DC District Court decision that said the EPA did not have statutory authority to mandate the phasedown of non-ODP substances, including hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants.
"So where does that leave us? I submit that it will cause confusion in the marketplace, as people ask questions: 'Are HFCs in or out? What about our investments made in moving to low GWP refrigerants, and its impact on new listings, what is EPA's authority now to list low-GWP refrigerants, and the impact on the Clean Air Act Sec. 608, related to refrigerant management?'"
In response to the ruling, Menzer said, the EPA could pursue a "retroactive disapproval," which would allow EPA to change its mind on HFC substitutes, but would be very difficult to enact. Or, he added, the Toxic Substances Control Act, could be used to ban certain refrigerants. It would allow for a drawdown of the substances without a ban, and would keep the point of regulation at the chemical manufacturer and not at the equipment manufacturer.
If Congress ratifies the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, Congress would have to give EPA the authority to implement it in a SNAP-like program, a refrigeration allocation scheme, or some other method. However, Menzer said, that ratification is not likely to occur anytime soon.
"Danfoss supports a planned and orderly phasedown of high-GWP HFC refrigerants," Menzer concluded. "During this time of uncertainty, Danfoss, as a global leader, is continuing its work to develop and qualify refrigeration and air-conditioning components that will be used in efficient, environmentally-friendly equipment for our global markets," Menzer said.
Glenn Gallagher of CARB —speaking to the group by phone due to travel delays — described California's response to the ruling against EPA as pretty much business as usual. He said California legislators continue to take action to reduce HFC emissions, which he said are rising, even as the use of ozone-depleting substances is reduced. California Senate Bill 1383, which became law in 2016, requires a 40 percent reduction in HFC emissions below 2013 levels, by 2030. However, he added that preliminary analysis indicates significant reductions, but they will not reach the 40 percent HFC reductions through the phasedown alone, so other measures will be enacted, including prohibitions on high-GWP refrigerants in new stationary refrigeration equipment and stationary air conditioning equipment.
Peter Dee, sales and services director, Danfoss food retail, addressed the panel on the growing diversity of technology, and the many technological improvements that are involved in moving produce "from farm to fork." He said the Internet of Things phenomenon is also a part of this picture, as software programs exist to track food products' journey from point A to point B and all points in between.
"There are more and more technologies coming into the store, and Danfoss is engineering smart store technology. Consequently, we need to train our technicians around these technologies," Dee said, "and we need to implement these technologies and maintain them after they’ve been installed. By training our technicians on these new technologies, they will be optimized for energy efficiency. Not just one application but across the entire store: LED lighting, rooftop units, refrigeration and demand response.That’s where manufacturers need to work together, to help customers increase energy efficiency."
By training our technicians on these new technologies, they will be optimized for energy efficiency. Not just one application but across the entire store: LED lighting, rooftop units, refrigeration and demand response.That’s where manufacturers need to work together, to help customers increase energy efficiency. — Peter Dee, Danfoss
Xudong Wang of AHRI provided an update on the AHRTI Flammable Refrigerant Research Program, which is supported with $5.6 million by AHRI, ASHRAE, the California Air Resource Board and U.S. Department of Energy. The AHRTI's objective is to produce publicly available technical results to support code and standard activities related to the use of flammable refrigerants. Seven projects will be undertaken to assess A2L and A3 refrigerants in HVAC equipment, walk-in coolers and reach-in coolers, and leak and ignition testing.
Wang said the plan is to complete testing and gain adoption of flammable refrigerants by model building codes by 2021, and state and local codes by 2022.
A discussion ensued as to why the timeline for adoption of flammable refrigerants (A2L and A3) must extend to 2022.
Panelist Keilly Witman, president of KW Refrigerant Management Strategy and former head of the EPA’s GreenChill Partnership for Advanced Refrigeration, said that the supermarket industry cannot wait until 2022 for standards for the use of flammable refrigerants.
"There are companies that are piloting equipment that use large amounts of these refrigerants, and without standards on how to move forward with these technologies, you’ve got a situation that is like the wild west," Witman said.
Witman continued: “Organizations like ASHRAE and UL have to realize that these long timelines were fine a decade ago when very little changed in this industry. But we now have a market where manufacturers are developing new technologies on a yearly basis. And it’s these standards organizations that are holding up progress for the environment, progress for supermarkets, and progress for our equipment manufacturers."
Charlie Hon of True Manufacturing, said manufacturers and builders are still operating under federal, state and local codes. "Building codes are localized, and not UL-driven. Unless [codes] they're changed, we can't do anything," Hon said. "UL recently allowed for 150 grams of propane to be used in residential refrigerators, under 60335-2. But that only triggers the next step. EPA SNAP now has to do its duty in allowing those larger charges, then Standard 15 and 34, and then local codes. No matter how you do it, it’s sequential."
Brad Morris, senior manager of engineering and energy for Giant Eagle, provided a look at the challenges of food retailers, from regulatory compliance with efficiency and food safety, competition, retail trends, and incorporating new technologies, such as floating head pressure, floating suction pressure, anti-sweat systems, adaptive defrost, lighting and evaporator fans.
He also reported on Giant Eagle's promising research into using individual case controls rather than central control systems. He said the benefits to individual controls include tighter temperature control; visibility at case level operations; improved food safety and quality energy savings; contractor remote troubleshooting; and enterprise management.
KC Kolstad, lead refrigeration engineer for Target, provided an overview of the Target organization's refrigerant research and goals for refrigerant changeovers. He said Target has been evaluating alternative refrigerants for several years and has determined that R290 (propane) is the preferred self-contained refrigeration solution for the following reasons:
· Lowest energy consumption of all HFC and natural refrigerants
· Carbon equivalent GWP of 3 (as opposed to 1300 -3900 for traditional HFCs)
· Manufacturing supply chain readiness
· Contractor service capability and readiness
· Field reliability and serviceability.
Kolstad cited a Target beverage cooler test that shows a 53 percent energy savings by using R290, compared to a 25 percent energy savings with carbon dioxide.
http://www.contractingbusiness.com/refrigeration/danfoss-symposium-features-updates-refrigerants-and-energy-management
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EPA Strikes Deal With Manufacturers of Popular Weedkiller
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
U.S. EPA today announced a deal with manufacturers of dicamba that aims to reduce crop damage associated with the popular weedkiller.
Monsanto Co., BASF Corp. and DuPont are voluntarily moving to change the labeling of the herbicide and impose additional requirements for farmers who plan to spray their fields of genetically modified cotton and soybeans with dicamba in the 2018 growing season.
"Today's actions are the result of intensive, collaborative efforts, working side by side with the states and university scientists from across the nation who have first-hand knowledge of the problem and workable solutions," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement. "Our collective efforts with our state partners ensure we are relying on the best, on-the-ground, information."
Specifically, the manufacturers will reclassify their dicamba herbicides as "restricted use," which will only allow spraying by certified applicators with special training. The chemical companies will also increase record-keeping requirements for farmers, include tank clean-out language on the products to prevent cross contamination, and reduce the times of day and wind speeds at which dicamba spraying can occur.
Dicamba is generally applied to crops specifically engineered to tolerate it. But when the herbicide drifts into neighboring fields, it can cause extensive damage to traditional plants. That came as a surprise to regulators, who reportedly allowed some formulations of the herbicide to go to market without independent testing (Greenwire, Aug. 9).
Going forward, EPA plans to monitor the impact of the voluntary changes to inform the agency's decision on whether to continue allowing sales of dicamba-based products beyond next year, the administrator's statement said. Several states, however, have already acted to ban or sharply restrict the use of the herbicide (Greenwire, July 14).
Meanwhile, environmental groups are suing EPA for allegedly violating federal pesticide law as well as the Endangered Species Act in approving a Monsanto-produced dicamba formulation (Greenwire, Jan. 24).
The Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that is a party to that lawsuit, slammed the compromise EPA struck with chemical companies.
"This bow to pesticide-makers virtually assures ongoing dicamba drift will continue to damage millions of acres planted by farmers who choose not to plant Monsanto's crops," Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the center, said in an email. "Dicamba drift is unbelievably difficult to predict and control yet the EPA has bought the industry line that the user, not the product, is at fault."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/10/13/stories/1060063611
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EU Council Calls on Unea to Increase Hazardous Chemicals Knowledge
Oct 13, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The EU Council of Ministers has called on UN member states to help increase knowledge of hazardous substances, encourage the exchange of information on chemicals in products, and replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives.
At its meeting on Friday, and with less than two months to go to the third meeting of the UN environment assembly (Unea-3), the Council reaffirmed its commitment to the 2030 agenda and its sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Among a number of conclusions, the Council emphasised the importance of the sound management of chemicals and waste to achieving the goals of the 2030 agenda, as well as in moving to a circular economy.
It called upon the assembly meeting – in Nairobi on 4-6 December – to decide upon concrete measures to deal with specific issues such as:
· endocrine disruptors;
· heavy metals;
· antimicrobial resistance; and
· the growing use of hazardous pesticides and fertilisers.
At the same time it acknowledged the growing global production, use and trade in chemicals is "placing an increasing burden on all countries, especially on developing countries".Sustainable chemistry
The meeting also highlighted the possible role of sustainable chemistry and other approaches such as safe non-chemical alternatives, in addressing these challenges. It also called on all UN member states to ratify the Minamata Convention on mercury.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60094/eu-council-calls-on-unea-to-increase-hazardous-chemicals-knowledge
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Cheniere Mulls Smaller LNG Trains at Corpus Christi
Oct 13, 2017 | Natural Gas World
By Dale Lunan
Cheniere Energy says it has proposed replacing Trains 4 and 5 at its Corpus Christi LNG project inTexas with seven lighter, mid-scale trains.
The two originally planned trains together would have had 9mn metric tons/yr capacity, whereas theseven smaller ones will add up to 9.5mn mt/yr.
The announcement comes as Train 4 at Cheniere's existing Sabine Pass export complex in Louisiana this week was declared largely complete.
The proposed changes at Corpus Christi, advanced to the US regulator Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in a conference call on October 4, would address certain “geotechnical challenges” associated with installing two normal trains, each rated at 4.5mn mt/year, at the site.
Eben Burnham-Snyder, Cheniere’s vice-president, communications, told NGW that it would be more cost efficient to build the smaller almost 1.4mn mt/year mid-scale trains and eliminate the need for costly excavation and foundation work.
“There is no one-size-fits-all solution for customers in a competitive and diverse LNG market,” hewrote in an email: “Mid-scale provides Cheniere even more flexibility to expand our facilities, get LNG facilities to the market faster, all while continuing to fully-commercialize our larger scale LNG trains.”
Capital costs and full life-cycle costs are still being analysed, Cheniere says.
The seven smaller trains at Corpus Christi would increase the total capacity of the project, when completed, to 23mn mt/year. Trains 1 and 2 are currently under construction, with completion expected mid-2019. A third 4.5mn mt/year train is fully-permitted and is currently being commercialized, although a final investment decision has not yet been made on its construction.
Sabine T4 declared "substantially complete"
Cheniere Energy is currently exporting LNG from the first three trains at its Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana. The company said October 13 that train 4 there was declared "substantially complete" on October 9, and is expected to make its first commercial delivery to India's GAIL in March 2018. Cheniere said two months ago that commissioning of Train 4 at Sabine began March 2017 and that first LNG was produced in July 2017.
Sabine will have six liquefaction trains, each of 4.5mn mt/yr, for a total 27mn mt/yr capacity once complete.
Trains 1 to 3 opened between May 2016 and March 2017. The fifth is due to start up 2H 2019 while a final investment decision (FID) on train 6 has yet to be taken.
https://www.naturalgasworld.com/cheniere-considering-smaller-lng-trains-at-corpus-christi-55981
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Developers Push Back on Eminent Domain Litigation
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The backer of a contentious natural gas pipeline is pushing back on a sweeping lawsuit that targets how gas infrastructure is typically approved and developed.
Lawyers for the proposed Mountain Valley pipeline say environmentalists and landowners challenging the use of eminent domain for developers have no grounds to bring their lawsuit in federal district court.
More than 50 landowners and three advocacy groups, including the anti-pipeline Bold Alliance, sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and two developers in August, claiming that FERC's practice of granting eminent domain authority to private companies building pipelines violates the Constitution and the Natural Gas Act.
Their suit, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims that FERC's criteria for approving pipelines and granting eminent domain authority falls short of the constitutional "public use" standard for taking property. The filing targets both the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines.
If successful, the lawsuit would fundamentally change how land is acquired for interstate natural gas pipelines. Typically, companies negotiate with most landowners along a project's route and are then able to use eminent domain for any holdout properties once they get a green light from FERC. The issue has gained national attention as new infrastructure spreads across the country to move shale gas to markets (Energywire, Sept. 13).
But lawyers for Mountain Valley argue that the landowners and activists are raising their complaints in the wrong place. The company, whose EQT Corp.-backed pipeline would stretch from West Virginia to Virginia, argues that the plaintiffs failed to go through proper FERC procedures to raise their claims.
"Congress has declared that interstate gas pipelines serve a public purpose, and it is not the function of a district court — or any court — to second-guess that determination," they told the district court.
Under the Natural Gas Act, challenges to pipeline approvals must first be raised with the agency and then in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Bold Alliance and the landowners have countered that their lawsuit features constitutional claims that do not have to go through the standard FERC process for raising pipeline concerns. A similar lawsuit is moving forward in district court in Virginia.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/10/13/stories/1060063519
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Locals Cheer EPA Cleanup, Saying It Will 'Liberate' Houston
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Local residents, officials and environmental advocates popped sparkling wine and cider outside the San Jacinto Waste Pits yesterday, celebrating a "victory" after U.S. EPA's decision to permanently remove contaminants from the toxic Superfund site.
The agency Wednesday announced it would remove more than 200,000 cubic yards of material contaminated with cancer-causing dioxins from the site after it sprang leaks when it flooded during Hurricane Harvey (Greenwire, Oct. 12).
"This is the most important single decision the United States Environmental Protection Agency has ever made with respect to Houston-Harris County," said Terence O'Rourke, a special assistant at the Harris County Attorney's Office. "When the work is done, it will literally liberate the people here and in the Galveston Bay."
After the floods, EPA officials found dioxin levels at 2,300 times the agency's standard. EPA is looking to get the companies responsible for dumping paper mill sludge in the pits to foot the estimated $115 million bill for removal.
One responsible company, McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corp., has already said it would oppose the removal plan. EPA said it would take action itself and litigate later if a settlement cannot be reached with the companies.
Scott Jones, director of advocacy for the Galveston Bay Foundation, said that while cleanup likely won't start for another two years, he's optimistic that the plan will move forward.
"We don't need this threat anymore," he said. "Removal was the only option"
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/10/13/stories/1060063577
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Refinery Storage Tanks Face Environmental Scrutiny After Storm
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Energywire
Failures on more than a dozen floating-roof storage tanks at Houston-area oil refineries during Hurricane Harvey are raising questions about their use.
The roofs, designed to prevent the buildup of flammable, emissions-producing vapors by floating directly atop the surface of oil and gas liquids, proved among the least weather-resistant designs during the storm. Some 3.1 million pounds of chemicals was released into the air after damage to over 15 units, while almost half a million gallons of gasoline escaped.
An investigation by U.S. EPA into a collapse at the Valero refinery could extend into floating-roof weaknesses. And environmentalist and watchdog groups have highlighted the potential effects of the failures on local communities.
Over 50 inches of rain fell in some parts of the city; the roofs are generally equipped with drainage systems that can withstand up to 10 inches.
Neil Carman, clean air director at the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the oil and gas industry shouldn't assume that a Harvey-sized storm won't hit the area again soon, and called for state and federal investigations into possible shortcomings.
"There's been a few problems in the past," he said, "but this time it's a much bigger issue than the industry has experienced"
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/10/13/stories/1060063499
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(ACC Mentioned) Commerce Dept. Says EPA Air Rules Hamstring Manufacturers
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Maxine Joselow
The Commerce Department is targeting several U.S. EPA rules on air quality in a new report about streamlining permitting and regulations for manufacturing.
The report, submitted to President Trump, identifies 20 sets of regulations and permitting issues the domestic manufacturing industry views as duplicative or burdensome.
Chief among those issues is the New Source Review permitting program under the Clean Air Act. The report calls the NSR program "complex, onerous, inefficient and lengthy" and recommends instituting firm deadlines for EPA to approve NSR permits.
The program puts utilities on the hook for upgrading their pollution controls if they propose major modifications to power plants.
It specifically includes modifications that would create a "significant increase" of a regulated pollutant and excludes "routine scheduled maintenance."
Since the terms "significant increase" and "routine scheduled maintenance" have never been defined in legislation, they have been the subject of numerous lawsuits against EPA.
In particular, the George W. Bush administration drew on perceived loopholes to make several attempts to weaken NSR, which were ultimately struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
John Walke, director of the Climate and Clean Air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, was involved in much of the major Bush-era NSR litigation. He criticized the report as "echoing many of the oil industry complaints about NSR."
"The report urges that industry be allowed to increase emissions and not have that considered an increase under the law, thereby facilitating circumvention of the Clean Air Act," Walke said.
"The public health and environmental community opposed those unlawful notions in the Bush administration, and we'll oppose them just as fiercely in the Trump administration."
Greg Skelton, senior director of regulatory and technical affairs with the American Chemistry Council, hailed the paper as responsive to industry concerns about the NSR. While the ACC wasn't one of the report's 20 respondents, the group submitted comments on EPA's request for information.
"The U.S. chemical manufacturing industry is expanding as a result of the shale gas revolution," Skelton said. "As those new plants and modifications are put in place, permitting and other regulatory measures are critical. And getting this right is really important."
Ross Eisenberg, vice president of energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, which was one of the 20 respondents, said the recommendations are sure to please manufacturers across various sectors.
"No matter what area of manufacturing you're in, you've got a reason you want to improve the New Source Review," Eisenberg said. "It operates as a functional barrier to improving facilities for the better. Eliminating that barrier is something that I would say every single manufacturer wants."Other permitting requirements
The Commerce report targeted other Clean Air Act permitting requirements, along with the review cycle for updating air quality standards for ground-level ozone and various "criteria" pollutants named in the law. It calls for stretching that timetable from once every five years to once every decade.
The report also seeks an unspecified delay in implementation of the 2015 ozone standard of 70 parts per billion or else a return to the previous 75 ppb benchmark.
While some permitting proposals could likely be accomplished through in-house administrative action, bigger-ticket recommendations would require Congress to change the Clean Air Act, a feat last accomplished in 1990.
Last year, for example, the House passed H.R. 4775 to roll back enforcement of the ozone standard until 2025, only to watch it die in the Senate following an Obama administration veto threat.
A similar measure, H.R. 806, won House approval this July. Despite the change in administrations, the legislation has so far shown no sign of advancing in the Senate.
Brendan Mascarenhas, director of environmental regulatory and technical affairs with the American Chemistry Council, expressed hope that the report will provide some momentum for pushing through the legislation.
"We've supported legislation about the 'Ozone Standards Implementation Act,' which has been voted on and passed by the House and is awaiting Senate action," Mascarenhas said. "There's a provision in that legislation that would extend the implementation period to a 10-year review cycle. That's something that we support."
The agency has meanwhile missed a statutory Oct. 1 deadline for making the final attainment designations for the 2015 standard, which start the clock for states to develop cleanup plans for out-of-compliance areas.
A spokeswoman has attributed the delay to EPA's continued work with states on the designations but did not respond to questions about whether the agency has a revised timetable for making the final decisions.
Both Democratic-led states and a coalition of public health and environmental groups last week formally notified the agency of possible lawsuits if no action is taken within 60 days.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/10/13/stories/1060063609
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Trump Names Former Texas Regulator as White House Environmental Adviser
Oct 13, 2017 | The New York Times
By Lisa Friedman
President Trump has nominated a former top Texas environmental regulator, who has argued that carbon dioxide is a harmless gas that should not be regulated, to be the White House senior adviser on environmental policy.
The former regulator, Kathleen Hartnett White, will lead the Council on Environmental Quality if confirmed by the Senate. Currently she serves as a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a free-market think tank. She previously served as the chairwoman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality under Rick Perry, who was governor at the time and is now the Energy Secretary.
“Throughout her career Kathleen has served Texans as a strong leader, in particular by ensuring that Texans have the energy and natural resources they need to prosper,” Brooke Rollins, president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said in a statement.
The appointment is the latest in a series of disputed environmental nominations. This week, Mr. Trump nominated Barry Lee Myers, the chief executive of AccuWeather, a for-profit weather forecasting company, to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last week, the president nominated Andrew Wheeler, a coal lobbyist, to be deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Environmentalists say Mr. Trump is stacking agencies with those who either reject the scientific consensus that human-made emissions cause climate change or lack the scientific qualifications for their jobs.
“Now you have a full house for the fossil fuel industry,” said Christy Goldfuss, who served as managing director of the White House environmental council under former President Obama. She called Mrs. White’s appointment particularly troubling, citing a piece she wrote entitled, “Fossil Fuels: The Moral Case.” In it, Mrs. White argued that labeling carbon dioxide emissions as a pollutant is “absurd” and asserted that it should be considered the “gas of life.”
Mrs. White also has called renewable energy “unreliable and parasitic,” described global warming as “a creed, a faith, a dogma that has little to do with science,” and asserted that science does not dictate policy in democracies.
Conservatives, including those who accept the established science of climate change, said they believe Mrs. White is a good choice for the job.
“I don’t think that she’s right on climate science,” said Eli Lehrer, president of the R Street Institute, a conservative think tank that has argued in favor of a carbon tax. But Mr. Lehrer also said he hoped that Mrs. White will support the Trump administration’s moves to reverse the Obama administration’s effort to regulate power plant emissions under the Clean Power Plan.
He said he is also optimistic that Mrs. White will help roll back other rules, including one that governs how the Environmental Protection Agency protects waterways.
“Her instincts on working to remove burdensome regulation, I expect, are largely right,” Mr. Lehrer said.
Democrats, meanwhile, have begun to question the choice of Mr. Myers to lead NOAA. The administration, which is the country’s chef agency on atmospheric science, falls under the Department of Commerce and is responsible for weather forecasting, climate modeling and ocean services.
Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, said in a statement that as head of a for-profit weather forecasting service, Mr. Myers essentially viewed NOAA as a direct competitor, since the agency provides forecasts for free. He said Mr. Myers would likely face conflicts of interest as administrator and called the nomination a “questionable choice.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/climate/trump-environmental-advisor.html?_r=0
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Trump Taps Climate Skeptic to Lead White House Environment Office
Oct 13, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
President Trump has nominated a skeptic of climate change science to lead the White House’s environmental policy board.
The White House late Thursday announced that Trump picked Kathleen Hartnett White to serve as a member, and eventually chairwoman, of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).
White is a fellow for energy and environment issues at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) and the former chairwoman of the state’s Commission on Environmental Quality.
But her views on climate change do not align with the scientific consensus, which says greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity is the driving factor behind a dangerous warming trend around the globe.
At the TPPF — which has received fossil fuel funding — White led a project to “explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels,” and she has written that carbon dioxide is the gas “that makes life possible on the earth and naturally fertilizes plant growth.”
“Whether emitted from the human use of fossil fuels or as a natural (and necessary) gas in the atmosphere surrounding the earth, carbon dioxide has none of the attributes of a pollutant,” she wrote in a 2014 paper that argued “global warming alarmists are misleading the public about carbon dioxide emissions.”
She was also a critic of the Obama administration’s environmental initiatives, calling them a “deluded and illegitimate battle against climate change” in an op-ed for The Hill last year and arguing against regulations like the Clean Power Plan rule for power plants.
CEQ advises the president on environmental matters and ensures federal agencies comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires a thorough assessment of a project's impacts before the government can undertake a host of potential actions.
Trump briefly considered White to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last year but chose Scott Pruitt instead.
Her nomination to CEQ is certain to kick up opposition from environmentalists. If confirmed by the Senate, White would join a growing list of climate skeptics in the Trump administration.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/355281-trump-taps-climate-skeptic-to-lead-white-house-environment-office
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Perry Aide-Turned-Lobbyist Helped Recruit for Agency Post
Oct 13, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
Energy Secretary Rick Perry's former campaign manager who now represents clients with business before the agency has been in touch with top DOE officials to fill at least one vacancy, according to documents obtained by E&E News.
Jeff Miller, who managed Perry's 2016 presidential campaign and now runs Miller Strategies LLC, passed along a resume from an outside lobbyist to top agency officials as recently as March, according to an email chain obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
On March 27, Michael Moran, vice president and head of federal affairs for insurance provider Zurich North America, thanked Miller for "taking care of this" and included a resume for someone who works on "energy and 'western' issues." The name attached to the resume was redacted.
Miller then sent the resume on to Dan Wilmot, who worked on Perry's past presidential bids and is now DOE deputy chief of staff, before the document was passed on to DOE chief of staff Brian McCormack; Joseph Uddo, a White House liaison at DOE who worked for the presidential campaign of Trump; and Wells Griffith, the DOE's senior White House adviser.
A spokeswoman for Moran said the email was a personal request to Miller, who Moran has known for many years, long before he held his current position at Miller Strategies. The request was of a personal nature and related in no way to Zurich, which is primarily regulated at the state level and has little to no interaction with the DOE, she added.
DOE and Miller did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
In a second, separate email titled "Nice," Miller and Rob Johnson, a former strategist for Perry who now runs a consulting firm in Austin, Texas, are seen directly communicating with Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette before his Senate confirmation.
The body of the email contained a notice that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had called to move forward with a vote on Brouillette's nomination.
The emails shed light on how involved Miller has been with contacts within DOE while simultaneously representing clients before the agency.
Miller's clients include Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Dow Chemical Co., petroleum refiner Valero Energy Corp., Occidental Petroleum Corp., and the engineering and design company AECOM, which has a history of seeking nuclear-related contracts with DOE.
Miller is also lobbying for Ohio utility FirstEnergy Corp., Southern Co. and the Nuclear Energy Institute — all of which could benefit from Perry's recent request for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to develop rules that could boost struggling nuclear and coal-fired generation.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/10/13/stories/1060063601
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Proposed Carbon Rule Repeal to Be Published Monday
Oct 13, 2017 | Politico Pro Energy Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
EPA’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan will run in Monday’s Federal Register, launching a 60-day comment period.
The proposed repeal argues that the regulation overstepped EPA’s authority by requiring fuel shifting for compliance and must be revoked in full.
A separate advance notice for a possible replacement rule is currently under review at the Office of Management and Budget. It questions whether EPA has any authority to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants and suggests states may get the "primary role" in deciding future rules and limits, according to excerpts of a draft obtained by POLITICO. It is unclear when EPA will release that advance notice for comment.
WHAT’S NEXT: EPA will take comment on the proposed repeal through Dec. 15.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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