Preview Newsletter
PM ACC 6/11/17
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(ACC Mentioned) Trump's EPA Director to Have Private Meeting With Chemical Execs at SC Island Resort
Nov 6, 2017 | The State
By Bristow Marchant
The director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will make a trip to South Carolina this week for a closed-door meeting with industry leaders at a coastal resort. -
(ACC Mentioned) Week Ahead: Controversial EPA Air Nominee to Get Senate Vote
Nov 6, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The Senate is scheduled to vote in the coming week to confirm President Trump's controversial nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation. -
McConnell Tees up Action on EPA Air Nominee Wehrum
Nov 6, 2017 | Inside EPA
The Trump administration's pick to lead EPA's air office could soon be considered on the Senate floor, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) began a process to end debate on his confirmation. -
(ACC Mentioned) New Limits Threaten EPA’s Asbestos Review
Nov 6, 2017 | Mesothelioma.com
By Matt Mauney
After pushback from the chemical industry, President Donald Trump’s administration is scaling back a congressionally mandated review of asbestos and other deadly chemicals. -
US Institute Publishes Four Reports on Airborne Contaminants
Nov 6, 2017 | Chemical Watch
US health and safety institute Niosh has published four new profile documents on dangerous airborne contaminants. -
Law Society Issues Warning on Brexit Chemicals Policy
Nov 6, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Law Society, an association that represents and governs the legal profession in England and Wales, has warned a ‘no deal’ Brexit scenario would bring an end to reciprocal arrangements in areas such as chemicals regulation. -
Sweden's Kemi Publishes Updated Guidance
Nov 6, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Swedish Chemical Agency, Kemi, has published updated guidance as part of its three-year plan on the enforcement of chemicals regulation in the country. -
The Company Linking Wilbur Ross to Putin Cronies Has a Key Role in Trump's Energy Plan
Nov 6, 2017 | Quartz
By Heather Timmons
The news that Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, owns a stake in a company with links to the Kremlin has raised questions about whether Ross may have a personal conflict of interest. But there’s another reason the company is interesting: It’s involved in a key part of Trump’s energy policy, which is to increase US gas and chemical exports. -
Shell Looks Beyond Road Fuels to Secure Future of Refining
Nov 6, 2017 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
While the world braces for the electric-vehicle revolution, Royal Dutch Shell is betting on growing appetite for asphalt and plastics to sustain its century-old oil refining business for the coming decades. -
Renewable NatGas, Storage Expanded by NW Natural
Nov 6, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Expanded use of renewable natural gas (RNG) and underground gas storage will characterize 2018 for Portland, OR-based NW Natural, as its utility rates decrease to levels not seen in more than a decade, according to CEO David Anderson. -
States Make Legal Plea as Fracking Rule Revival Looms
Nov 6, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A group of Western states is urging a federal court to rethink a ruling that could revive an Obama-era hydraulic fracturing rule. -
Should Coal And Oil Continue To Move Through Spokane? Voters To Decide
Nov 6, 2017 | Northwest Public Radio
By Emily Schwing
Coal and oil trains pass through Spokane daily, but it’s up to voters to decide if that will continue. An initiative on the local ballot would prohibit coal and oil shipments by rail through specific areas of the city. -
Trump Didn't Mess With Climate Study. But He Might Ignore It
Nov 6, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Zack Colman
President Trump might not like the findings of a major federal climate science report released last week, but he would have had trouble suppressing it these days — even if he wanted to. -
House Dems Press Pruitt to Dump Policy on Adviser Grants
Nov 6, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
House Democrats are urging U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to withdraw a policy barring members of agency advisory boards from receiving EPA grants. -
Science Adviser Defends Comment on Dirty Air Helping Kids
Nov 6, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Robert Phalen, an air pollution researcher just named to a key U.S. EPA advisory committee, is defending earlier comments that the air can be "a little too clean" for children's health as grounded in the broader field of pulmonary medicine.
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(ACC Mentioned) Trump's EPA Director to Have Private Meeting With Chemical Execs at SC Island Resort
Nov 6, 2017 | The State
By Bristow Marchant
The director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will make a trip to South Carolina this week for a closed-door meeting with industry leaders at a coastal resort.
President Donald Trump’s EPA director, Scott Pruitt, will speak to a meeting of the American Chemistry Council on Thursday at a golf resort on Kiawah Island.
This will be Pruitt’s second trip to South Carolina for a private meeting with business leaders. Back in July, Pruitt was in Orangeburg to discuss rolling back federal wetland protectionswith energy, construction and agribusiness leaders along with S.C. officials – but not conservation groups.
Pruitt’s latest hosts are a trade association for chemical manufacturers holding their meeting on the South Carolina coast.
The former Oklahoma attorney general has taken several actions favorable to the chemical industry since joining the administration, the Washington Post reports. The EPA has delayed a chemical safety rule formulated during the Obama administration by two years.
In March, Pruitt withdrew a petition to ban the pesticide clorpyrifos, which the EPA determined posed potential health risks to fetal neurological development. Agency officials are now re-evaluating the science behind that determination.
Council spokeswoman Anne Kolton told the Associated Press that Pruitt's speech will not be open to the public or the news media. Admission to the members-only event where Pruitt is speaking ranges between $7,500 and $2,500, depending on sponsorship level.
Rooms at the resort are being offered to conference attendees at a discounted rate of $389 a night, not including taxes and fees. Travel and lodging expenses for Pruitt, four aides and his security team will be borne by taxpayers.
http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article183014151.html
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(ACC Mentioned) Week Ahead: Controversial EPA Air Nominee to Get Senate Vote
Nov 6, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The Senate is scheduled to vote in the coming week to confirm President Trump's controversial nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation.
Trump in September nominated William Wehrum to lead the office, which oversees a portfolio of regulations related to air pollution and climate change.
The nomination has angered environmentalists, given Wehrum's history as a lawyer for industries he would soon be charged with regulating.
He was most recently at the Hunton & Williams law firm, whose client list includes the American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council and the National Association of Manufacturers. He argued in court against an Obama administration worker safety rule in September, after Trump nominated him to the EPA post.
Wehrum led the EPA's air office on an interim basis late in the George W. Bush administration, but Democrats said at his confirmation hearing last month that they think he's a bad choice to take it over full-time under Trump.
Most recently, Wehrum was at the center of a fight over the federal ethanol mandate, with senators attempting to hold his nomination up until the EPA withdrew plans to water down the mandate. The agency backed down and a Senate committee sent his nomination to the floor two weeks ago.
If confirmed, Wehrum will be only the second EPA nominee put in place at the agency, after Administrator Scott Pruitt. Several others, including Trump's picks to lead the agency's chemical safety and enforcement offices, are awaiting floor consideration.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearingon two more Trump nominees next week: Andrew Wheeler to be the EPA's Deputy Administrator and Kathleen Hartnett White to lead the White House's Council on Environmental Quality.
Both nominees are expected to be controversial. Wheeler is a former coal industry lobbyist, having worked for Murray Energy Corp. and uranium mining firm Energy Fuels Resources Inc. Hartnett White is a prominent and outspoken skeptic of climate change who once wrote that Barack Obamahad waged a "deluded and illegitimate battle against climate change" while president.
In other confirmation news, the Senate installed the final two members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday, meaning new commissioners Kevin McIntyre and Richard Glick could be sworn in as early as next week. When they take office, it will be the first time FERC has been at full strength since 2015.
Concerns over the recovery in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria will be back on the congressional agenda in the coming week.
The House Natural Resources Committee will hold an oversight hearingTuesday on the "challenges in Puerto Rico's recovery and the role of the Financial Oversight and Management Board."
The oversight board appointed an emergency manager for the island's state-run electricity utility in the wake of the controversial Whitefish Energy contract, a topic that seems likely to come up during the hearing. A witness list was unavailable Friday.
On Tuesday, in the first post-Maria congressional hearing, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told Congress the Trump administration will likely have to request more funding to tackle disaster recovery efforts following a severe hurricane season and wildfires in the West.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/358701-week-ahead-controversial-epa-air-nominee-to-get-senate-vote
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McConnell Tees up Action on EPA Air Nominee Wehrum
Nov 6, 2017 | Inside EPA
The Trump administration's pick to lead EPA's air office could soon be considered on the Senate floor, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) began a process to end debate on his confirmation.
The nominee, former Bush EPA acting air chief William Wehrum, cleared the Senate environment committee Oct. 25, along with three other agency picks -- Michael Dourson to be toxics chief, former Florida environment official Matthew Leopold to be the agency's general counsel, and David Ross, a former Wisconsin regulator tapped to lead EPA's water office.
McConnell late Nov. 2 filed for cloture on Wehrum's nomination, as well as on several Trump administration picks at other agencies. That begins a process to limit debate on Wehrum, though a final Senate floor vote could still be days away.
The Senate is separately scheduled this afternoon to vote on whether to invoke cloture on an administration pick to be assistant attorney general. That would then lead to up to 30 hours of debate before a confirmation vote.
Under the schedule, a similar series of votes would be teed up for Trump's selection to be general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, followed by a similar process for Wehrum.
Relatively quick action on Wehrum could underscore that rolling back major Obama-era climate and air rules is a top priority at EPA, with the agency currently developing its rule to roll back the Clean Power Plan greenhouse gas standards for power plants and mulling how to implement or review the 2015 national air quality standard for ozone.
In addition, the agency is reconsidering the Obama EPA's January determination to retain its aggressive GHG standards for light-duty vehicles, and it faces a host of implementation decisions on the renewable fuel standard.
However, the Senate has not announced plans for when it will move forward with the other pending EPA nominees, including the controversial selection of Dourson to be toxics chief. Democrats have vowed vigorous opposition to his confirmation, arguing he is too close with industry.
And another long-pending EPA nominee, Susan Bodine for to be enforcement chief, has been stalled for weeks as Democrats raise concerns that the administration is not fully responding to oversight requests from minority party senators.
The environment committee has announced plans for a Nov. 8 confirmation hearing for Trump's nominees for deputy EPA administrator as well as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, picks that would further fill out the administration's environment team.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/mcconnell-tees-action-epa-air-nominee-wehrum
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(ACC Mentioned) New Limits Threaten EPA’s Asbestos Review
Nov 6, 2017 | Mesothelioma.com
By Matt Mauney
After pushback from the chemical industry, President Donald Trump’s administration is scaling back a congressionally mandated review of asbestos and other deadly chemicals.
Toxic minerals in widespread use will be excluded from the revamped Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which last December included asbestos among the top 10 dangerous chemicals the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must review.
Reducing the scope of the review will potentially leave millions of tons of asbestos and other toxic substances in homes and businesses. The Trump administration reportedly wants to limit risk evaluations of the top 10 toxic threats to new products being imported, sold or manufactured in the U.S.
For asbestos, this means only a few hundred tons of the toxic mineral imported each year will be up for review, excluding nearly all of the estimated 8.1 million metric tons of asbestos-containing products currently in American infrastructure.
Asbestos has not been manufactured in the U.S. since 2002, but imports nearly doubled from 2015 to 2016, according to a recent study by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) and the Environmental Working Group.
The U.S. imported an estimated 705 metric tons of raw asbestos last year. The overwhelming majority of raw asbestos is used by chlorine manufacturers, but the toxic mineral is still used in certain vehicle braking systems, asphalt roof coatings and gaskets.
Under the narrowed scope of the review, the EPA will only evaluate risks associated with annual imports of asbestos. The agency will no longer consider if new handling and disposal rules are needed for previously existing materials.
“There’s still a lot of asbestos out there,” Michael Harbut, an internal medicine professor at Detroit’s Wayne State University, told The Associated Press. “It’s still legal, it’s still deadly, and it’s going to be a problem for decades to come.”Firefighters, Construction Workers Remain at Risk
Firefighters and construction workers are two groups that could be heavily affected by the weakened EPA review.
Both professions are considered high-risk occupations for asbestos exposure.
Construction workers regularly come in contact with asbestos-containing building materials during renovations and other projects, while firefighters and other first responders are at risk when fires disturb the materials, releasing toxic asbestos fibers into the air.
Breathing in or ingesting these fibers can lead to serious health conditions decades later, including mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused almost exclusively by exposure to asbestos.
A 2013 study from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health concluded firefighters develop mesothelioma at twice the rate of the U.S. population as a whole.
“Hundreds of thousands of firefighters are going to be affected by this. It is by far the biggest hazard we have out there,” Patrick Morrison, assistant general president for health and safety at the International Association of Fire Fighters, told The Associated Press. “My God, these are not just firefighters at risk. There are people that live in these structures and don’t know the danger of asbestos.”
Asbestos-containing building materials remain in many homes, schools and office buildings built before the 1980s.
Deaths related to mesothelioma are on the rise, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The cancer caused or contributed to more than 45,000 U.S. deaths between 1999 and 2015. Annual deaths increased by 5 percent in that span.
Environmental and public health activists fear the new limits on the EPA’s review will leave many workers at risk for asbestos exposure in the future. Under current law, products must contain at least 1 percent of asbestos to qualify for regulations, but health experts say that threshold is arbitrary.Industry Groups Influencing Decision
The reformed TSCA passed in late 2016 under the previous administration. Instead of following former President Barack Obama’s proposal to review chemicals already in widespread use, the Trump administration has pushed to limit evaluations to products still being manufactured and imported.
Critics of the change claim ignoring products already in use ignores the goal of the TSCA.
Many point to the strong influence the chemical industry has on the Trump administration. Two top EPA officials — Nancy Beck and Liz Bowman — previously worked for the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the chemical industry’s leading lobbying group.
Beck, the EPA’s deputy assistant administrator for chemical safety, came to the agency after serving as the senior director for regulatory science policy for the ACC’s Division of Regulatory and Technical Affairs.
Michael Dourson, the Trump administration’s pick to lead the EPA’s chemical safety program, also has deep ties to the industry. As a toxicologist, much of Dourson’s research was funded by chemical interest groups such as the American Petroleum Institute, the American Cleaning Institute and the ACC.
Anti-asbestos activists and workers’ rights groups have criticized EPA administrator Scott Pruittsince his appointment in February. As the Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt led or participated in 14 lawsuits aimed at blocking EPA regulations.
More political influence is believed to be coming from the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB), one of the largest trade associations in the nation. NAHB represents more than 800 state and local housing industry associations, and its more than 140,000 members build approximately 80 percent of new homes constructed in the U.S.
According to The Associated Press, the organization believes current asbestos disposal rules are adequate and broadening the EPA’s review would lead to burdensome and unnecessary regulations.
“It doesn’t matter whether the dangerous substance is no longer being manufactured; if people are still being exposed, then there is still a risk,” Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., told The Associated Press. “Ignoring these circumstances would openly violate the letter and the underlying purpose of the law.”
https://www.asbestos.com/news/2017/11/06/epa-asbestos-review/
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US Institute Publishes Four Reports on Airborne Contaminants
Nov 6, 2017 | Chemical Watch
US health and safety institute Niosh has published four new profile documents on dangerous airborne contaminants.
The documents rate the danger of the following chemicals:
· acetonitrile;
· chloroacetonitrile;
· methacrylonitrile; and
· nitrogen dioxide.
The agency has given each chemical an "IDLH value" which rates a substance's immediate danger to life and health.
Full details are available on Niosh's website.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60885/us-institute-publishes-four-reports-on-airborne-contaminants
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Law Society Issues Warning on Brexit Chemicals Policy
Nov 6, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Law Society, an association that represents and governs the legal profession in England and Wales, has warned a ‘no deal’ Brexit scenario would bring an end to reciprocal arrangements in areas such as chemicals regulation.
Its statement comes as the House of Lords EU Select Committee considers the impact of such an outcome.
"We can expect a tremendous volume of litigation as companies challenge government and other agencies in the courts to obtain clarity on their legal rights," Law Society vice president Christina Blacklaws said. "Companies operating in the UK and EU will also face the challenge of dual regulation, a burden which will fall hardest on small and medium-sized businesses."
The chemical industry has long said it wants the UK to stay in REACH and avoid the burden of duplicating registration dossiers. During an evidence session on 18 October with the UK Parliament’s Committee on Exiting the European Union, the head of the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) Steve Elliott said: "God forbid we end up duplicating every existing structure that we currently respond to in Europe."
National trade bodies have called for mutual agreement on REACH authorisation. While, in July, the country’s lead minister on chemicals policy said the UK intends to secure an early ‘mutual recognition’ agreement with the EU before it exits the Union.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60886/law-society-issues-warning-on-brexit-chemicals-policy
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Sweden's Kemi Publishes Updated Guidance
Nov 6, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Swedish Chemical Agency, Kemi, has published updated guidance as part of its three-year plan on the enforcement of chemicals regulation in the country.
It will clarify for municipalities and county administrative boards which supervisory guidance Kemi will offer and how it will be provided. The plan runs from 2016-2018.
The meeting of Echa's enforcement forum is taking place from 7-10 November.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60887/swedens-kemi-publishes-updated-guidance
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The Company Linking Wilbur Ross to Putin Cronies Has a Key Role in Trump's Energy Plan
Nov 6, 2017 | Quartz
By Heather Timmons
The news that Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, owns a stake in a company with links to the Kremlin has raised questions about whether Ross may have a personal conflict of interest. But there’s another reason the company is interesting: It’s involved in a key part of Trump’s energy policy, which is to increase US gas and chemical exports.
Ross, through an offshore entity, owns a stake in shipping company Navigator Holdings, journalist consortium ICIJ reported on Nov. 5. One of Navigator’s customers, Sibur, is a company partly owned by the son-in-law of Russian president Vladimir Putin and another businessman who is under US sanctions, ICIJ said.
Navigator calls itself the world’s “largest fleet of natural gas carriers”; it owns 38 ships that transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other chemicals. On July 12, Navigator announced an agreement to develop an ethylene marine export terminal in Houston. Ethylene is used to make everything from plastics to antifreeze.
“A strategically located ethylene export terminal is the key to unlocking growing petrochemical production capacity in the US,” CEO David Butters said at the time. The US plans to increase ethylene production capacity by 45% between 2016 and 2020, the company noted. Navigator’s stock price rose more than 35% after the announcement.
Exporting LNG and industrial chemicals from the US has been describedas the “centerpiece” of Trump’s energy plan, despite resistance from US manufacturers who fear their LNG bills will go up, and a market glut(paywall) that threatens profitability. Speaking about the exports, former Texas governor Rick Perry, who is now the US energy secretary, told officials in Beijing in June, “My role is to make sure that the facilities are as operational and open for business as quickly as they can be.”
Ross’s 57-page financial disclosure form, released in January, indicates he was director/chairman of Navigator Holdings from January 2012 until November 2014. It lists the company twice under his many “employment assets and income and retirement accounts,” but doesn’t say how much his stake was worth.
In July, Wendy Teramoto, a long-time associate of Ross’s who now works with him at the Department of Commerce, retired from the boardof Navigator. She was replaced by an appointee from WL Ross, Ross’s investment company, which he pledged to divest from when he was appointed to the cabinet.
Ross “was not involved with Navigator’s negotiations to engage in business with Sibur,” a commerce department spokesman said Monday, and had “never met the Sibur shareholders referenced in this story and, until now, did not know of their relationship.”
Ross was only asked about Russia briefly during his confirmation hearing (pdf) with the Senate in January. On the possibility of a cyber-attack by Russia, North Korea or another hostile power, Ross said “the danger is both large and imminent,” (p. 91) but wouldn’t agree specifically that economic sanctions were necessary. On Russia’s embargo of US seafood imports, in response to US sanctions, Ross said “We need to find a way to deal with it” (p. 104), and he agreed that the US should compete with Russia in Arctic exploration (p. 105).
Maria Cantwell, the Democratic senator from Washington state, was much more pointed, asking (p. 108) specifically “How will you shift your focus to represent the interest of the American people rather than your Russian partners?”
In his answer, Ross focused only on the Bank of Cyprus, where he and Russians close to Putin had invested and served on the board. “I have only met once, for one hour, the principal Russian investor, and then only after he had invested in the Bank,” he said. There was no mention of Navigator.
https://qz.com/1120762/wilbur-rosss-putin-connections-navigator-holdings-nvgs-plays-a-key-role-in-trumps-energy-plan/
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Shell Looks Beyond Road Fuels to Secure Future of Refining
Nov 6, 2017 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
While the world braces for the electric-vehicle revolution, Royal Dutch Shell is betting on growing appetite for asphalt and plastics to sustain its century-old oil refining business for the coming decades.
Converting crude oil into products ranging from gasoline to industrial chemicals has long faced obstacles due to volatile profits, high costs, safety issues and pollution and more recently, forecasts of peaking demand for oil.
But refining, together with trading, marketing and chemicals - known together as downstream - has proved its importance during the oil industry's downturn since 2014, providing the bulk of Shell's profits as the price of crude collapsed. (http://bit.ly/2zgyKaj)
Shell has in recent years transformed its downstream business by selling some plants and upgrading others to have them better resist oil price fluctuations and shifts in demand, delivering double-digit returns on capital employed.
"Refining will continue to be part of our portfolio for decades to come," said Shell's head of manufacturing Lori Ryerkerk, who is in charge of refining.
Shell is perhaps the most aggressive in its sector in forecasting that the demand for gasoline could reach an apex by the 2030s as drivers shift to electric vehicles and traditional engines become more efficient.
But still, Shell says, the continued expansion of the world's economy, particularly in Asia, means consumption of other refined oil products and petrochemicals is likely to grow.
For instance, there are no economically viable substitutes for asphalt, needed to build roads, or for the polymers and chemicals used to produce plastics for cars, toys and clothes, Ryerkerk said.
"While the peak demand for our products will come, it won't come in decades. There are still many products that we make for which there is no other alternative at the moment – heavy transport, industrial applications that require high heat."
The Anglo-Dutch company plans to double the size of its chemicals business by the middle of the next decade with several new plants including in Louisiana and Pennsylvania that benefit from access to cheap shale gas, said Shell's head of chemicals, Graham van't Hoff.
It also wants 20 percent of sales from its fuel stations worldwide to come from recharging electric vehicles and low-carbon fuels by 2025.
The oil sector's outlook for growth in demand for oil and plastics could prove wrong if governments around the world introduce regulations to reduce fossil fuel consumption in their fight against pollution and global warming. A study published last week said a quarter of the world's oil refineries risk closure by 2035 if those targets are met.
Just as some countries such as China and India contemplate banning gasoline and diesel vehicles, rules to limit consumption of plastics such as bottles and bags could dampen demand, analysts said.
"Regulation is one of the biggest risks to the business," said Jason Kenney, head of European oil and gas equity research at Banco Santander.
Overcapacity is another danger as other companies including Exxon Mobil and France's Total also expand into petrochemicals.
"Shell currently offers double-digit returns on capital employed from downstream and chemicals. But then you could have a flood of capacity and it will be a difficult sector to remain competitive for decades," Kenney said.
RESILIENCE
Even when demand starts to fall, Shell says its refining arm will have an edge over many competitors thanks to the company's access to its own, cheaper crude and complex trading operations that curb its vulnerability to fluctuating oil prices.
It has 43,000 petrol stations in 70 countries, making Shell the world's largest fuel retailer. Shell recently introduced battery charging spots at a number of stations in Britain and plans to develop hydrogen fuelling stations in Germany.
Shell also supplies 11 percent of the world's lubricants needed in cars, trucks and heavy industrial machinery. It has one of the world's largest aviation fuel businesses, fuelling a plane every 40 seconds.
"Downstream is a highly resilient business. It is pretty independent to changes in crude price," said John Abbott, head of Shell's downstream business.
"We have a competitive edge going into the energy transition," Abbott said.
Shell has interests in more than 20 refineries and processed around 2.6 million barrels of oil per day in 2016, while its 15 petrochemical plants processed 6.2 million tonnes last year.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/11/06/business/06reuters-shell-refining.html?_r=0
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Renewable NatGas, Storage Expanded by NW Natural
Nov 6, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Expanded use of renewable natural gas (RNG) and underground gas storage will characterize 2018 for Portland, OR-based NW Natural, as its utility rates decrease to levels not seen in more than a decade, according to CEO David Anderson.
Speaking on a quarterly earnings conference call with analysts, Anderson focused on the first nine months of this year, citing growth in customers and margins. Higher earnings to date were partially offset by lower proceeds from the company's gas storage operations. Anderson downplayed 3Q2017 results, which traditionally include red ink due to the summer effect on the gas-only utility operations.
For the third consecutive annual accounting for purchased gas costs, NW Natural has lowered gas utility rates 15% in Oregon and 18% in Washington over the past three years. "Customers are paying less for their gas now than they did 15 years ago," he said.
Commodity cost reductions strengthened NW Natural's competitive advantages in the Northwest region over electricity and oil.
The price advantage also is helping a NW Natural initiative to support the regional move to a low-carbon renewable energy future. The use of gas in homes, businesses and industry accounts for about 8% of the state's greenhouse gas emissions, Anderson said. The utility has launched a voluntary de-carbonization program centered on the use of RNG and a focus on the City of Portland.
NW Natural participates in a project through which the City of Portland is building an RNG production facility to convert biogas into pipeline quality gas that will be used to fuel the city's heavy duty vehicles, with the rest distributed through the utility's distribution pipeline network. "Currently, we are installing a fueling station for the vehicles and expect it to be operational by the end of this year," Anderson said.
At an estimated cost of $128 million, NW Natural is also expanding a storage field under an exclusive agreement with fellow Portland-based utility, Portland General Electric. "We continue to expect the majority of the construction to be completed this year," said Anderson. Plans calls for first injections into the reservoir early next year. "So far, nearly all the segments of the 13-mile connecting pipeline are connected, and in the coming weeks we'll be completing multiple pipeline tests, including hydrostatic testing and inline inspection."
NW Natural reported a net 3Q2017 loss of $8.5 million (minus 30 cents/share), compared to a loss of $8 million (minus 29 cents) for the same period last year.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/112350-renewable-natgas-storage-expanded-by-nw-natural
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States Make Legal Plea as Fracking Rule Revival Looms
Nov 6, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A group of Western states is urging a federal court to rethink a ruling that could revive an Obama-era hydraulic fracturing rule.
In a late Friday filing, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and North Dakota asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a high-stakes September decision that puts the long-sidelined fracking rule back in play even as the Trump administration works to rescind it.
The states' request attempts to avoid that outcome by asking a panel of three judges to revisit their ruling or for the 10th Circuit's full slate of active judges to weigh in. The timing is urgent: The Obama administration's fracking rule could take effect as soon as next week if the court doesn't take action.
The regulation's status is highly unusual given its legal history. Finalized by the Bureau of Land Management in March 2015, the fracking rule has never taken effect. States, industry groups and American Indian tribes challenged it, and a district court in Wyoming froze it and in 2016 ruled that BLM has no authority over fracking.
Government lawyers and environmental groups challenged that decision last year, taking the case to the 10th Circuit. The newly installed Trump administration, meanwhile, announced plans to roll back the regulation and asked the court to hit pause on the litigation.
The court's decision two months ago spurred widespread confusion on all sides. A three-judge panel ruled that it should not address the underlying legal question in the case — whether the federal government can regulate fracking — in light of the ongoing effort to rescind the Obama rule.
But the majority opinion didn't stop there. It also threw out the Wyoming court's 2016 decision that struck down the rule. Without that district court decision on the books, there is nothing to prevent the fracking rule from taking effect once the 10th Circuit finalizes its ruling through a formal mandate — due next week (Energywire, Sept. 22).
The states' request may prompt the court to hold off on issuing that mandate and save the oil and gas industry from having to comply with the rule, which sets new requirements for fracked wells on public and tribal lands.
The Trump administration has already circulated its proposal for rescinding the regulation, but it hasn't yet finalized it.
State lawyers argue that the 10th Circuit's ruling essentially granted a victory to environmentalists by reviving the rule without reviewing its legality.
"That is not only contrary to long-established vacatur precedent, but also severely inequitable given the District Court's un-reviewed finding the HF Rule irreparably harms the States, and warrants prompt rehearing," they wrote in Friday's filing.
They noted that the September decision did not even address the fact that it would have the effect of reinstating the regulation.
Today is the deadline for challenging the 10th Circuit decision. Industry groups, the government and other parties have not yet indicated their plans.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/11/06/stories/1060065695
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Should Coal And Oil Continue To Move Through Spokane? Voters To Decide
Nov 6, 2017 | Northwest Public Radio
By Emily Schwing
Coal and oil trains pass through Spokane daily, but it’s up to voters to decide if that will continue. An initiative on the local ballot would prohibit coal and oil shipments by rail through specific areas of the city.
Proposition 2 would impose a $261 fine on every rail car carrying uncovered coal and some types of oil through Spokane.
Supporters believe safety is at the heart of the issue. Much of the crude oil that is shipped by rail and travels through Spokane is highly volatile. The Spokane Firefighter’s Union says if an oil train were to derail, that kind of accident could be devastating.
But Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich is against the initiative.
“I can tell you there some much more hazardous things that come across that rail,” Knezovich said. “If this were really about safety, it would be about everything. At least we can control a big fire. Chlorine, you can’t control where that’s going.”
Others contend the initiative is bad for business and would keep the city’s economy from growing. Some also question whether the initiative is legally defensible.
Spokane City Councilman Breean Beggs, an attorney, helped draft the language in the initiative and he says it is.
“Congress passed a law that says local jurisdictions can pass safety laws on trains if it’s a unique danger and not too burdensome,” Beggs said. “And the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that law.”
The Spokane City Council voted earlier this year to put the question to voters, rather than pass the law themselves.
http://nwpr.org/post/should-coal-and-oil-continue-move-through-spokane-voters-decide
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Trump Didn't Mess With Climate Study. But He Might Ignore It
Nov 6, 2017 | E&E Climatewire
By Zack Colman
President Trump might not like the findings of a major federal climate science report released last week, but he would have had trouble suppressing it these days — even if he wanted to.
Some scientists inside the federal government fear speaking out about their work under the Trump administration. Some experts have been blocked from speaking about climate change at public events. The president and many of his Cabinet members have been publicly skeptical about mainstream climate science and the role humans are playing, taking policy positions that contradict the findings of the government's own science.
So some were wary that the administration would try to edit or stifle the quadrennial National Climate Assessment, part of which was released Friday. Trump's critics said they watched such interference occur under the George W. Bush administration and they were worried it would happen again.
"There was a lot of monkey-wrenching with science in the Bush administration," said Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He said the situation is more dire today given the increased certainty of the science and rise in emissions since the Bush years.
But academic scientists working on the reports who spoke to E&E News said the Trump team didn't try to interfere with the process.
It may be in part due to changes in the scientific community's messaging, improved public understanding of climate change or scientific integrity protocols installed at agencies after accusations of interference by the Bush administration. The modes for disseminating information through social media and the internet also have also made government interference more traceable in recent years.
"It is important that this report has come out, and it's impressive, actually, that the administration has agreed to release it. So we're very hopeful that this means that this is a [conversation] people are allowed to have now," said Kathy Jacobs, a former White House Office of Science and Technology Policy official who worked on the three previous National Climate Assessments.
"My guess is they do not want to have that debate. [The administration] actually would like this report to come out and have there not be many ripples, and I think that's probably why there haven't been many changes to it."Scientists getting out of 'comfort zones'
Frumhoff said the administration's actions on climate have spurred a more vocal science community.
"For this administration, in this moment, with that window [to avert climate change] closing — withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, saying it's going to the climate conference to talk about coal, to muzzle scientists — I think people are now willing to step out of their comfort zones and speak out," he said.
Scientists, historically content to let their work and the facts do the talking, are speaking up more now that Trump and his team are questioning their work. And longer-term trends such as flatlining federal research spending — or cutting it, as the Trump administration wishes to do — have also fueled a stronger response.
Political action groups like 314 Action are encouraging scientists to run for political office. Organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists said scientists from red-leaning parts of the country who want to be more active in their communities are reaching out about how to best talk about their work. Professional science organizations have noticed the urgency from their members.
It's not easy to communicate that message.
Social media and the fractured news media environment have deepened polarization about climate science, in part sparking scientists' drive to engage with the public. That dynamic is reflected in public opinion as well: While half of Americans in nearly every congressional district say global warming is happening, just 53 percent of Americans say it's due mostly to human activities, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
"In the seven years I've been here, we've seen increasing requests about further education about how to communicate science," said Christine McEntee, executive director of the American Geophysical Union. "Certainly when there's a feeling where there could be an increase in pressure on future funding, they feel they need to be more active. But that's not a new thing, that's just accelerating."White House: Climate 'always changing'
Some of the findings released Friday underscore the sophistication of attribution science, which seeks to ascribe human fingerprints to events related to climate change. The final draft of the Climate Science Special Report, for example, said human activity is responsible for 80 percent of sea-level rise since the 1970s (E&E News PM, Nov. 3).
Attribution science is somewhat controversial, but it also tracks with people's perception of climate change and how it affects them. Increasingly frequent and severe wildfires, persistent flooding, and stronger storms that scientists say climate change makes more likely have elevated climate change in the public consciousness, said Jacobs, who is now director of the Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions at the University of Arizona. All that has reinforced the demand for the publication of climate science studies as people seek to understand the changing planet.
"The solidification of the evidence but also the pace of change has been increasing, and there is documentation now in every region and every sector," Jacobs said. "The evidence on the ground is much more visible."
Still, even with scientists being more vocal and public awareness on climate change deepening, the Trump White House will likely continue to pursue policies that run counter to the findings of the final draft of the Climate Science Special Report, two volumes of the National Climate Assessment and a draft of the State of the Carbon Cycle Report.
The White House did not respond to questions from E&E News about whether it would speak publicly about the report, which directly contradicts many of the administration's comments and policy preferences. After all, it was NOAA and not the White House that released and held a press call announcing the report.
"The climate has changed and is always changing," White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said in a statement, later adding, "The Administration supports rigorous scientific analysis and debate and encourages public comment on the draft documents being released today."
That doesn't mean the reports are devoid of real-world implications, even if the Trump administration doesn't agree with their findings.
The studies, conducted by federal scientists across 13 agencies and some scientists in academia, now add to the body of evidence that could be used to push back against Trump climate policies. They also bolster the Obama administration's endangerment finding — a determination that humans are primary drivers of greenhouse gases that warm the planet and endanger human health. That finding underpins U.S. EPA's greenhouse gas regulations.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/11/06/stories/1060065639
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House Dems Press Pruitt to Dump Policy on Adviser Grants
Nov 6, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus
House Democrats are urging U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to withdraw a policy barring members of agency advisory boards from receiving EPA grants.
In a letter sent Friday, Democrats on the House Science, Space and Technology and Energy and Commerce committees questioned the legality of the EPA chief's directive, arguing it will lead to advisory panels stacked with industry representatives.
The lawmakers said Pruitt's order "inappropriately focuses on EPA grant recipients."
"This action appears to be a misguided and potentially unlawful attempt to favor industry and silence, if not remove, qualified scientific experts with no financial stake in EPA actions," the Democrats wrote.
Science, Space and Technology ranking member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), as well as Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), signed the letter.
An EPA spokesman told E&E News the agency would respond to the letter.
"We will respond to the ranking members of the House Science and Energy and Commerce Committee through the proper channel," spokesman Jahan Wilcox said.
Pruitt has argued EPA's science advisers must be free of financial relationships with the agency to present independent advice.
"There is a question that arises over independence," Pruitt said in announcing the directive last week. "They have to choose: either the grant or service. But not both" (E&E News PM, Oct. 31).
Also last week, EPA added several new members while banishing others from three of its science panels: the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, Science Advisory Board and Board of Scientific Counselors. Many of those new members hail from industry as well as state agencies (Greenwire, Nov. 3).
In their letter to Pruitt, the Democrats pointed out that industry officials already serve on many of EPA's advisory panels. In addition, they argue that the EPA chief's directive runs afoul of regulations that govern the committees.
"The policy you are prescribing appears to contradict government-wide practice and [Federal Advisory Committee Act] requirements, as well as conflict of interest regulations set by the General Services [Administration] and the Office of Government Ethics, respectively," they wrote.
The lawmakers ask Pruitt to withdraw his order and respond to their letter by Nov. 17.
"This biased, harmful policy must be withdrawn. We advise you to follow FACA regulations and policy in selecting qualified individuals to serve on EPA's science advisory committees just as previous administrations led by both parties have done. Anything less is a great disservice to the public interest," they said.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/06/stories/1060065757
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Science Adviser Defends Comment on Dirty Air Helping Kids
Nov 6, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Robert Phalen, an air pollution researcher just named to a key U.S. EPA advisory committee, is defending earlier comments that the air can be "a little too clean" for children's health as grounded in the broader field of pulmonary medicine.
"The children raised on farms and with pets have lower asthma rates due to the [setting] of lifelong respiratory tract defenses early in their lives," Phalen said an emailed statement to E&E News late yesterday in response to a request for comment sent Friday.
"Importantly," he said, "as particulate air pollution levels have declined in the US, asthma rates have increased."
Phalen, a professor of medicine who heads the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory Center at the University of California, Irvine, was named to EPA's Science Advisory Board last week by agency chief Scott Pruitt.
Phalen has come under fire from environmentalists for remarks in a 2012 profile by the American Association for the Advancement of Science suggesting children need exposure to air irritants to learn how to ward them off in later life.
"Modern air is a little too clean for optimum health," he said in the profile (Greenwire, Nov. 3).
In response to a follow-up interview request yesterday to further clarify his statement, Phalen said he is tied up on "time-critical projects" today.
He did not immediately reply to another email asking for elaboration on why children who grow up on farms or have pets would have lower asthma rates.
In the statement, Phalen added that one of his interests is "protecting the respiratory status of children, as they have developing lungs, and they spend more time outdoors than do adults; so safe levels of allergens, other particles" and sulfur dioxide, ground-level ozone and nitrogen oxides "are important to them."
"Fortunately, the levels of those pollutants, excepts for allergens (plant and insect derived) are currently low compared to past levels," Phalen wrote.
He also alluded to another author's statement that "'people who talk to the media are only as good as their worst quote'" and "'news is anything that shocks, titillates or angers readers or viewers.'"
He wrote, "As you might conclude, I often feel at the mercy of reporters."
In a short interview with E&E News last Monday before his appointment was officially announced, Phalen said he had been nominated to the Science Advisory Board by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A chamber spokeswoman did not respond this morning to a request for comment.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/06/stories/1060065769
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