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PM ACC 7/11/17
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(ACC Mentioned) EPA Bans Grantees From Providing Science Advice
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemistry World
By Rebecca Trager
The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has banned scientists whose work is being funded by the agency from serving on its science advisory board. -
(ACC Mentioned) Post-Consumer Bottle Recycling Drops for Nearly All Materials in US
Nov 7, 2017 | Plastics News
By Jim Johnson
For the second consecutive week, a new postconsumer plastic bottle recycling report shows falling numbers in the United States. -
(ACC Mentioned) Bottle Recycling Rate Falls for Second Consecutive Year
Nov 7, 2017 | Resource Recycling
By Colin Staub
The U.S. plastic bottle recycling rate declined to 29.7 percent in 2016, continuing a downward turn that began a year earlier after more than two decades of solid growth. -
(ACC Mentioned) Plastic Bottle Recycling Rate Declines by 2.4 Percent in 2016
Nov 7, 2017 | Recycling Today
Plastic bottle recycling in the U.S. declined by 2.4 percent to slightly more than 2.9 billion pounds, according to figures released by the Washington-based Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC), also based in Washington. -
(ACC Mentioned) Groups Call on EPA's Beck to Sit out Chemical Rulemaking
Nov 7, 2017 | Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families
By CJ Frogozo
Today, five environmental health groups called on the EPA Office of General Counsel to require Dr. Nancy Beck, Deputy Assistant Administrator (DAA) for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, to recuse herself from ongoing rulemaking on proposed bans of unsafe uses of three dangerous toxic chemicals. -
(ACC Mentioned) California Lists TBBPA as Carcinogen Under Prop 65
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A Miller
California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has listed the flame retardant tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), and two other chemicals, as carcinogens under Proposition 65. -
National Academy Will Review EPA's Risk Assessment Program
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
The National Academy of Sciences has agreed to review U.S. EPA's beleaguered chemical assessment program, the Integrated Risk Information System. -
A New Analysis of 4-Year-Old Data Shows the EPA Is Ignoring a Lot of Toxins in US Drinking Water
Nov 7, 2017 | Quartz
By Zoe Schlanger
It takes a lot to convince the US Environmental Protection Agency to limit how much of a toxin can legally show up in America’s drinking water. -
REACH Annex Nano Revision 'Not Future Proof'
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
The European Commission’s proposal to revise REACH annexes to address nanomaterials is not ‘future proof’, a group of NGOs has said. -
UK Government Office Publishes 'Note' on Nanomaterials Risk Assessment
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The UK's Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) has published a 'note' on the risk assessment of nanomaterials. -
European Commission to Evaluate FCM Legislation in 2018
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The European Commission will begin an evaluation of EU legislation on food contact materials (FCMs) next year, it told the European Parliament's environment committee (Envi) at a meeting on Monday. -
Retailer FatFace Awarded Cruelty Free Certification for Cosmetics Range
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
NGO Cruelty Free International has awarded the clothing and accessories retailer FatFace cruelty-free certification for its cosmetics. The company's products will now display CFI's Leaping Bunny logo. This guarantees no animal testing has been used to produce the cosmetics. -
(ACC Mentioned) Pipeline Approvals to Boost Northeast Breakbulk
Nov 7, 2017 | Break Bulk
The approval of five major U.S. pipeline projects in the last month has boosted the outlook for breakbulk demand in the Northeast. -
Fairbanks LNG-Delivery Plan Crawls Forward
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
A $331.2 million financing plan approved by an Alaskan development authority could lay the groundwork for an expansion of natural gas deliveries to the state's interior. -
Industry Fights to Keep Obama Fracking Rule at Bay
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The oil and gas industry will avoid federal hydraulic fracturing restrictions for at least a bit longer. -
Oil and Gas Is Adding Jobs in Texas
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Nathanial Gronewold
Texas' oil and gas industry has seen a solid hiring spree as business recovery gains steam. -
DHS Cyberthreat Sharing Needs Work, Watchdog Says
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
The Department of Homeland Security still has trouble getting the word out about the latest hacking threats to critical U.S. systems, according to the agency's internal watchdog. -
New Administrator Appointed for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
Nov 7, 2017 | Transportation Today News
By Chris Galford
Howard Elliott, a recent retiree of CSX Transportation of Florida, was sworn in last week as administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. -
(ACC Mentioned) Suits Likely as Pruitt Acts Selectively on Ozone Designations
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is again signaling his determination to slow-walk key compliance decisions for the agency's 2015 ground-level ozone standard, raising the odds that only a prolonged court battle will settle the issue. -
As Syria Embraces Paris Climate Deal, It's the United States Against the World
Nov 7, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Brady Dennis
President Trump has put America at odds with the rest of the world, literally, when it comes to the goal of combating climate change. -
France: Trump Not Invited to Climate Change Summit 'for the Time Being'
Nov 7, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Rebecca Savransky
President Trump is reportedly not invited to the climate change summit that will be held later this year in France.
Industry and Association News
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(ACC Mentioned) EPA Bans Grantees From Providing Science Advice
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemistry World
By Rebecca Trager
The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has banned scientists whose work is being funded by the agency from serving on its science advisory boards. The move has been criticised by the scientific community, as well as by politicians, and accusations have been made that these committees have been stacked with industry insiders.
The new directive, which applies to just three of the EPA’s 22 advisory committees – the Science Advisory Board (SAB), Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and Board of Scientific Counselors (BoSC), came on 31 October – two weeks after agency administrator Scott Pruitt previewed the policy.
‘Whatever science comes out of EPA, shouldn’t be political science,’ Pruitt stated in his 31 October announcement. According to the EPA, members of the SAB, CASAC and BOSC received upwards of $77 million (£58 million) in direct EPA grant funding in the last three years while serving on these committees.
Pruitt has also appointed new leadership and new members to all three advisory panels. Lead toxicologist at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Michael Honeycutt, has been made chairman of the SAB, which provides scientific advice and peer review to the agency on broad scientific matters. Honeycutt has repeatedly pushed to loosen limits on the release of substances such as ozone, arsenic, mercury and benzene.
In addition, Tony Cox, the president of a Colorado-based consultancy, is the new chair of the CASAC. Cox’s consultancy has over the years received funding from the American Chemistry Council, the American Petroleum Institute and other industry sources, and has published research describingthe EPA’s methods for calculating optimal air quality standards for ozone as ‘unreliable, logically unsound and inappropriate for drawing causal inferences’.
Finally, Paul Gilman, a senior vice president at waste management firm Covanta, will now chair the BOSC. He replaces Deborah Swackhamer, an air pollution expert with the University of Minnesota who has expressed concern for months about the turmoil her committee has faced under the Trump administration. She plans to continue to serve as a regular member of the BOSC, at least until her term ends in March 2018. ‘Scientific censorship’
‘I continue to be concerned with the new appointments, especially the SAB and CASAC, where we see a significant increase in industry affiliated people,’ Swackhamer tells Chemistry World. ‘It is unprecedented to have people as chairs of these two committees that are not active researchers in the academic sector, as they tend to have the most objective perspectives and present less conflict of interest.’
Pruitt’s policy change represents ‘scientific censorship of the committees that are supposed to provide independent advice’ to the EPA, Swackhamer says. However, she acknowledges that Gilman served as assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Research and Development and this experience will be valuable to BOSC.
Environmental groups like the Environmental Defense Fund and various scientists’ organisations echoed similar concerns about Pruitt’s latest actions. Opposition was also expressed by Democratic leaders.
The top Democrats on the House of Representatives science, space and technology committee joined their counterparts on the energy and commerce committee and sent a letter to Pruitt on describing his new directive as being ‘less about independent science and more about stacking these boards with representatives from regulated industries’.
Adding more industry-friendly voices to these advisory boards while simultaneously attempting to remove independent scientists would diminish the quality and integrity of the EPA’s science, the lawmakers warned. They pointed out that these committees already have representation from various key stakeholder industries, including the chemicals, oil and gas sectors, and urged Pruitt to withdraw his new policy. The deadline for Pruitt’s response to these congressional concerns is 17 November.
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/epa-bans-grantees-from-providing-science-advice/3008244.article
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(ACC Mentioned) Post-Consumer Bottle Recycling Drops for Nearly All Materials in US
Nov 7, 2017 | Plastics News
By Jim Johnson
For the second consecutive week, a new postconsumer plastic bottle recycling report shows falling numbers in the United States.
The latest report, jointly released by the American Chemistry Council and the Association of Plastic Recyclers, shows recycling fell by 2.4 percent in 2016 to about 2.9 billion pounds.
This includes PET, high density polyethylene, polypropylene, low density polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride bottles.
Both PET and HDPE make up the vast majority of plastic bottles used in the United States, and combined they make up 97.1 percent of the total, according to the 27th annual National Postconsumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Rate Report issued Nov. 7.
The larger report follows a PET-specific postconsumer recycling report issued last week by APR and the National Association for PET Container Resources.
Overall postconsumer plastic bottle recycling rate was 29.7 percent in 2016, down from 31.1 percent in 2015.
HDPE bottle recycling fell by 31.7 million pounds, or 2.8 percent, to "just over 1.1 billion pounds" in 2016, the trade groups reported. The overall recycling rate for these types of bottles — think milk jugs and laundry detergent bottles, for example — fell from 34.4 to 33.4 percent.
PET bottles, as outlined in the earlier report, fell by 44 million pounds to 1.753 billion pounds in 2016. That's down from 1.797 billion pounds in 2015 and an all-time high of 1.812 billion pounds in 2014.
A bright spot in the report is that postconsumer PP bottle recycling continues to increase. While still a small portion of the overall postconsumer bottle market, PP recycling spiked by 15.3 percent in 2016 to 36.6 million pounds. Overall PP collection rate is now over 20 percent.
The PP bottle increase could not blunt the overall decline, however, because that segment only represents 1.8 percent of the postconsumer plastic bottle market in the United States. PET and HDPE account for 97.1 percent, and LDPE checks in at 0.7 percent. PVC is at 0.3 percent, the report states.
"The key to continued growth lies in improving our sorting and collection technologies to deliver consistent, high quality yields that strengthen our global competitiveness," said APR Executive Director Steve Alexander in a statement.
Steve Russell, vice president of plastics at ACC, said in an email interview that there are some actions that can be taken to reverse the lowering recycling rate.
"Demand for high quality post-use plastics remains strong across a number of market sectors, and there remains a lot of untapped potential to grow demand by increasing the availability of quality material. A lot of investment and innovation at present is focused on improving sortation, consistency and yield. We believe improving quantity and quality of outputs will unlock a lot of previously untapped demand," Russell said through email.
Russell also pointed to the big picture of plastic recycling growth over time in addressing this year's report.
"Plastics recycling has a track record of long-term growth spanning 25 years. Post-use plastics are valuable materials that have weathered many cycles and different growth factors," Russell said in a separate statement.
Lower oil prices have driven down virgin resin prices. And that's a problem for recyclers, who typically peg their prices at a discount to those virgin prices. While lower oil and gas feedstocks help virgin resin companies make money while still charging less, the cost for processing recycled resin does not ebb and flow in the same way. And that puts a squeeze on margins for recyclers.
The ACC said the five-year annual growth rate for plastic bottle recycling is still at 2.1 percent despite the recent downturn.
"Following more than 20 consecutive years of growth, factors contributed to the recent decline included a slight drop in material collected for recycling, changing export markets, and increased contamination of recyclables. In addition, growth in the use of plastic bottles in packaging was offset by continuing progress in lightweighting and increased use of concentrates in small, lighter bottles," the trade groups said.
Russell, in the email interview, indicated recycling goes in cycles.
"Like all commodities, plastics recycling has undergone multiple cycles in the last quarter century and has always come out stronger," Russell said. "One of the keys to long-term growth is to optimize our collection systems — including providing greater clarity about what does and does not go in the bin in communities across the United States."
APR is scheduled to conduct a webinar to discuss the latest recycling report from 1 to 2 p.m. eastern time Nov. 7. More information about the webinar, including registration, is available at https://www.plasticsrecycling.org/markets/web-seminars.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20171107/NEWS/171109928/post-consumer-bottle-recycling-drops-for-nearly-all-materials-in-us
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(ACC Mentioned) Bottle Recycling Rate Falls for Second Consecutive Year
Nov 7, 2017 | Resource Recycling
By Colin Staub
The U.S. plastic bottle recycling rate declined to 29.7 percent in 2016, continuing a downward turn that began a year earlier after more than two decades of solid growth.
The 2016 recycling rate for plastic bottles of all resins was down from 31.1 percent a year earlier, according to a report released Nov. 7 by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR). The 2015 figure was down slightly from 2014, ending a 20 plus years of growth.
The report on all resins comes shortly after findings that PET container recycling fell in 2016 as well.
The groups point to declining collection volumes for the top recyclable plastic bottles, rising contamination and shifting export markets as factors contributing to the lower recycling rate.
Collection figures decreased for both PET and HDPE bottles, which together make up 97.1 percent of the domestic plastic recycling market. PET collection dropped by 44 million pounds, while HDPE collection dropped by 31.7 million pounds. Polypropylene collection, however, rose from 17.9 percent in 2015 to more than 20 percent last year.
The report also points to lightweighting as a challenge in driving up the plastic bottle recycling rate.
Despite the negative trend, a press release from ACC and APR points to a compound annual growth rate of 2.1 percent over the past five years, meaning the decline has not been enough to offset the recycling growth in recent years.
The report’s sponsors also cite a few potential positives coming out of the current struggle.
“Some U.S. recyclers are seeing these short-term challenges as opportunities to innovate and invest in our plastics recycling infrastructure,” Steve Alexander, president of APR, said in the release. “The key to continued growth lies in improving our sorting and collection technologies to deliver consistent, high-quality yields that strengthen our global competitiveness.”
https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2017/11/07/bottle-recycling-rate-falls-second-consecutive-year/
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(ACC Mentioned) Plastic Bottle Recycling Rate Declines by 2.4 Percent in 2016
Nov 7, 2017 | Recycling Today
Plastic bottle recycling in the U.S. declined by 2.4 percent to slightly more than 2.9 billion pounds, according to figures released by the Washington-based Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC), also based in Washington. The “27th Annual National Postconsumer Plastic Bottle Recycling Report, ” conducted for the organizations by More Recycling, formerly Moore Recycling Associates Inc., Sonoma, California, indicates the 2016 overall recycling rate for plastic bottles was 29.7 percent, down from 31.1 percent in 2015.
The five-year compounded annual growth rate for plastic bottle recycling was 2.1 percent, according to the report, which also notes that the total for all bottles in the marketplace increased by 202 million pounds, or 2.1 percent. The study notes that PET bottles accounted for almost all the growth in bottles on store shelves and that 2016 was a positive year for total bottle usage, with a small per capita increase.
Following more than 20 consecutive years of growth, factors that contributed to the recent decline in plastic bottle recycling included a slight drop in material collected for recycling, changing export markets and increased contamination, according to the survey. Additionally, growth in the use of plastic bottles in packaging was offset by continuing progress in lightweighting and increased use of concentrates with smaller, lighter bottles.
In 2016, polyethylene terephthalate (PET, No. 1) recycling decreased by 44 million pounds. The collection of high density polyethylene (HDPE, No. 2) bottles, which includes bottles for milk, household cleaners and detergents, fell by 31.7 million pounds (2.8 percent) to slightly more than 1.1 billion pounds for the year, the study notes. The recycling rate for HDPE bottles slipped from 34.4 percent to 33.4 percent.
According to the study, exports of HDPE bottles rose nearly 5 percent from 184 million pounds in 2015 to 193 pounds (or 16.4 percent of total HDPE bottles collected) in 2016, while the amount of HDPE processed in the U.S. fell by 37 million pounds (or nearly 4 percent) to slightly less than 993 million pounds.
“Some U.S. recyclers are seeing these short-term challenges as opportunities to innovate and invest in our plastics recycling infrastructure,” says Steve Alexander, APR president. “The key to continued growth lies in improving our sorting and collection technologies to deliver consistent, high-quality yields that strengthen our global competitiveness.”
“Plastics recycling has a track record of long-term growth spanning 25 years,” says Steve Russell, ACC vice president of plastics. “Postuse plastics are valuable materials that have weathered many cycles and different growth factors. From resin suppliers to recyclers to brand owners, the plastics value chain is working together to continue to create new opportunities and long-term solutions.”
The survey found the collection of polypropylene (PP, No. 5) bottles rose nearly 15.3 percent to reach 36.6 million pounds in 2016, with the PP collection rate increasing to more than 20 percent. (PP caps, closures and nonbottle containers are widely collected for recycling in the United States, and these data are presented in a separate report on recycling nonbottle rigid plastics, which will be released in the coming months.)
Together, PET and HDPE bottles make up 97.1 percent of the U.S. market for plastic bottles, with PP comprising 1.8 percent, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) 0.7 percent and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) 0.3 percent, the study notes.
Data on PET bottle recycling referenced in the report were separately funded and published by APR and the National Association for PET Container Resources(NAPCOR), Florence, Kentucky. A separate report, “Report on PET Container Recycling Activity in 2016,” is available at www.plasticsrecycling.org/images/pdf/resources/reports/NAPCOR-APR_2016RateReport_FINAL.pdf.
http://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/2016-plastic-bottle-recycling-study-apr-acc/
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(ACC Mentioned) Groups Call on EPA's Beck to Sit out Chemical Rulemaking
Nov 7, 2017 | Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families
By CJ Frogozo
Today, five environmental health groups called on the EPA Office of General Counsel to require Dr. Nancy Beck, Deputy Assistant Administrator (DAA) for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, to recuse herself from ongoing rulemaking on proposed bans of unsafe uses of three dangerous toxic chemicals.
In a letter to EPA Acting General Counsel and Ethics Officer Kevin Minoli, the groups — Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, NRDC, Earthjustice, Environmental Health Strategy Center and Toxic Free Future — maintain that Beck’s involvement could violate federal conflict of interest and impartiality requirements, due to her history as an advocate for chemical companies opposed to the proposed bans and the author of industry comments criticizing the EPA risk assessments on which the bans are based. For five years Dr. Beck was the American Chemistry Council’s Senior Director for Regulatory Science Policy.
Recent media reports have documented how Dr. Beck, just days into her position, rewrote other proposed chemical safety regulations to match, in some cases word for word, the ACC’s preferred, weaker language. The groups are asking the EPA ethics office to take action to prevent this from happening with the three chemical rules.
EPA proposed rules for trichloroethylene (TCE), methylene chloride (MC) and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) under section 6(a) of the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in December 2016 and January 2017 after years of review and risk assessment. The proposed rules call for a ban on certain industrial and consumer uses of the chemicals that have been linked to serious health effects including cancer, birth defects and damage to the nervous system. Last week, Safer Chemicals Healthy Families sent a letter signed by dozens of public health groups to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt urging him to finalize the rules as proposed.
The health effects of the three chemicals have been well documented. TCE has been linked to cancer, risks of cardiac malformations to fetuses and infants, liver and kidney damage and damage to the nervous system. MC is known to cause asphyxiation from acute exposure and is responsible for at least 50 reported deaths as well as incapacitation, loss of consciousness, and coma. Like TCE, MC is likely to be carcinogenic in humans. And NMP exposure is associated with developmental harm, including increased fetal and postnatal mortality, fetal body weight reductions and other effects on the mother and fetus.
Congress overhauled the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) last year in direct response to EPA’s poor record in addressing unsafe chemicals under section 6. The Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act removes many of the roadblocks to effective regulation that had stymied the Agency under the old law, which allowed it to issue just a handful of rules under section 6 in more than 40 years. Under TSCA as amended in 2016, EPA now has at least some of the tools it needs for forceful action to eliminate unacceptable chemical risks.
“If these rules are delayed or weakened, more than two million workers and consumers will be needlessly exposed to serious, well-documented health risks. We call on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to finish the job, protect our families’ health and finalize all three rules as proposed as soon as possible,” said Safer Chemicals Healthy Families Government Affairs Director Liz Hitchcock.
“Americans should be able to trust that officials making decisions on the safety of chemicals that impact our health and the health of our children are free from conflicts of interest. Dr. Beck has already demonstrated she is unable to separate herself from her former role of industry lobbyist while working at EPA. It’s our hope that internal ethics office checks and balances will be applied to prevent her from acting on behalf of industry to squash the common sense regulations on these solvents, drafted after years of evaluation and discussion, including ample industry involvement,’ said Patrick MacRoy, Deputy Director of Environmental Health Strategy Center.
“As a first use of EPA’s expanded authority to reduce chemical risks, these rulemakings are precedent-setting and vital to the success of the amended toxics law,” “said NRDC Senior Attorney Daniel Rosenberg. “Unfortunately, as long as the current chemical industry takeover of EPA persists, the TSCA program will not have any credibility, or any inclination to protect the public from toxic solvents or anything else,” added Rosenberg.
“Nancy Beck has already undermined several health-protective rules proposed by the Obama Administration by modifying them to conform to industry’s wishes. It would be unacceptable to allow Beck to work on – and potentially derail — the proposed bans of three dangerous chemicals to which millions of people are exposed,” said Eve Gartner, an attorney for Earthjustice.
http://saferchemicals.org/newsroom/groups-call-on-epas-beck-to-sit-out-chemical-rulemaking/
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(ACC Mentioned) California Lists TBBPA as Carcinogen Under Prop 65
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A Miller
California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has listed the flame retardant tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), and two other chemicals, as carcinogens under Proposition 65.
Oehha acted despite a protest from the American Chemistry Council that there is no evidence that TBBPA is hazardous as currently used and at current exposure levels.
The California law requires manufacturers and retailers to warn workers and consumers, exposed to chemicals on the list. It requires substances to be listed under Prop 65 if they appear on other specified hazard lists, including that maintained by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an agency of the WHO.
Iarc lists TBBPA as "probably carcinogenic to humans". It was this that triggered the action under Prop 65.
The other chemicals covered in the 25 October notice, are:
· n,n-dimethylformamide; and
· 2-mercaptobenzothiazole.
In comments on the proposed listing, the ACC's North American Flame Retardant Alliance (Nafra) said that "Iarc monographs are designed to identify a cancer hazard, but not the potential risk expected from exposure."
And, it added: "Assessments of TBBPA conducted in both Canada and the European Union that have considered real-world exposure scenarios, have found that consumer exposures are not likely to cause adverse human health effects."
The Canadian government concluded in 2013 that current uses and exposure levels did not warrant regulatory action.
In its response to the comments, Oehha said Prop 65 does not allow the agency "to consider the potential levels of human exposure to the chemical at the listing stage of the process". But, it said, it will consider exposure data "in the event Oehha proposes a no significant risk level (NSRL) for the chemical".
NSRLs present a safe harbour level, below which warnings are not required. The agency sometimes proposes them when a substance is listed. It said it "makes an effort to propose NSRLs for carcinogens within the year following their listing if sufficient resources and scientific information is available". It added it will take ACC's request under advisement.
Even without an NSRL, Oehha noted, if "a chemical is merely present in a product, but there is no exposure to the chemical from its use, no warning is required". TBBPA is most commonly used in electronic devices.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60917/california-lists-tbbpa-as-carcinogen-under-prop-65
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National Academy Will Review EPA's Risk Assessment Program
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
The National Academy of Sciences has agreed to review U.S. EPA's beleaguered chemical assessment program, the Integrated Risk Information System.
The prestigious, congressionally chartered academy "will convene a committee in 2018, and issue a consensus report" on IRIS within six months, according to Tina Bahadori, who oversees IRIS as director of EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment.
The independent review of IRIS was requested by EPA "to further allay" the House Science, Space and Technology Committee's concerns about the program, Bahadori wrote in an Oct. 31 letter obtained by E&E News.
The letter was a response to Karl Brooks, a top EPA official during the Obama administration who's now doing consulting for LaPlace, La., residents suing Denka Performance Elastomer LLC for allegedly polluting their town with emissions of chloroprene, a component of the synthetic rubber neoprene.
The neoprene manufacturer, meanwhile, is urging EPA to reconsider IRIS's assessment of chloroprene, which found that it is "likely to be carcinogenic" at levels below those already pumped out by Denka's LaPlace factory.
Bahadori was replying to correspondence Brooks had sent to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and House lawmakers accusing the company of coordinating with the science committee to attack EPA's scientific integrity (Greenwire, Oct. 23).
News of the IRIS review came as a surprise to Rena Steinzor, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, who told the Science panel in 2011 that IRIS was one of EPA's "most important and foundational programs."
"This is not supposed to be the way to run a railroad, to have the National Academy of Sciences opine," she said in an interview. "It's sickening. It really is."
Steinzor's concerns are based on the blowback caused six years ago by a critical review of IRIS's formaldehyde assessment conducted by the national academies' National Research Council (Greenwire, April 8, 2011).
The research council panel criticized IRIS's assessment of the homebuilding products chemical for a lack of clarity and transparency, but said the program has made "substantial improvements" to its process since then (Greenwire, May 6, 2014).
But under a barrage of congressional criticism, IRIS has failed to finalize many of the often-controversial assessments, which are used by EPA and state and international regulators to set safe limits for exposure to chemicals. The program has a goal of completing 50 assessments per year but in 2014 completed just one (Greenwire, Jan. 23, 2015).
The last NAS review "just about did IRIS in," Steinzor said. "This is beating a horse that is 6 feet underground."
Other IRIS supporters are less concerned by the 154-year-old academy's pending review.
"The National Academy was established by President Lincoln to take on the big scientific challenges for the nation, and the assessment of the toxicity of hazardous chemicals is one," said Thomas Burke, the former deputy assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Research and Development, which includes IRIS. He has served two terms on NAS boards and is currently a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
"This could be a very positive step because it could indicate good, sound recommendations from the scientific community rather than politically motivated congressional intervention to defund or take away the budget," Burke said.
After a recent House science hearing where Republican lawmakers and industry-funded scientists attacked the program, Burke told E&E News he was "very concerned" about the fate of IRIS (E&E Daily, Sept. 7).
Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the NAS review is not without risks for EPA's chemical risk assessment shop.
"There is a pitfall to any review if it puts a halt on decisionmaking," Burke said. "So I think it's important that the conduct of the review, the timing of the review and its impact on decisions be understood and transparent."
NAS plans to release the initial scope of its IRIS study "later this week," spokeswoman Riya Anandwala said.
After that, the academy will put out a call to nominate experts for the study. Once NAS has selected panelists from that pool, the group will hold its first meeting, likely sometime in February, she said.Denka dispute
Brooks, who provided the letter to E&E News, was troubled by the access Pruitt's office had granted to Denka, the neoprene manufacturer his clients are suing.
Bahadori told Brooks that "at the request of the administrator's staff we recently had a listening session with [Denka Performance Elastomer] representatives and the EPA Office of Environmental Information and EPA Office of General Counsel, that provided an opportunity for DPE to present highlights of the [request for correction] and for EPA staff to ask clarifying questions about the RFC."
Such a meeting poses "some transparency questions," said Brooks, who was the Obama-era deputy assistant administrator for administration and resources management and is now a program director at the University of Texas, Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs.
"If the manufacturer, during a pending proceeding like a request for correction, gets to have a sit-down session with the agency and can bring their people, it seems to me that the agency under the guidelines that it uses for requests for corrections probably needed to notify either the public or other interested parties about that."
EPA didn't immediately respond to questions about the meeting.
But Jorge Lavastida, an executive officer at Denka Performance Elastomer, said in a statement that the company "was pleased to meet with professional staff at EPA to provide information."
"Our hope is that EPA will review their previous findings to come to a more scientifically sound conclusion," Lavastida said.
Last month, CNN reported that the company maintains chloroprene doesn't cause cancer and that it has been increasing emissions of the chemical this year.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/07/stories/1060065889
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A New Analysis of 4-Year-Old Data Shows the EPA Is Ignoring a Lot of Toxins in US Drinking Water
Nov 7, 2017 | Quartz
By Zoe Schlanger
It takes a lot to convince the US Environmental Protection Agency to limit how much of a toxin can legally show up in America’s drinking water. The threshold for determining probable human harm is very high, and even if harm is detected, the toxin has to show up in enough public water sources with enough frequency, and at levels sufficiently high, before the EPA considers it significant enough to regulate. And even after all the exhaustive studies are done, the decision ultimately comes down to “the sole judgment of the Administrator,” the head of the agency, who may or may not be swayed by the data.
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA is responsible for determining when a chemical needs to be regulated in the US water supply, but it hasn’t added a new toxin to its list since 1996. (Even the Government Office of Accountability thinks that’s a sign of a broken system.) In the past two decades, tens of thousands of new chemicals have come onto the market, and plenty of others that pre-date 1996 have been discovered to harm human health.
For example, newly released lab results show perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA (an ingredient in Teflon, the chemical used to make non-stick cookware) is far more prevalent in American drinking water than previously thought. Exposure to PFOA has been linked to a range of health risks including cancer, immune system issues, and developmental problems in fetuses.
The EPA’s official estimate is that PFOA is in about 1% of US water supplies. A reanalysis by the same lab that helped the EPA reach that number did a reanalysis of the underlying data and found the real number is more likely in the 20% range. And about 28% of water supplies are contaminated with some member of the perfluorinated compound family.
In 2013, as part of the effort to decide whether to regulate six perfluorochemicals, including PFOA (and perfluorooctane sulfonate or PFOS, a widely used flame retardant), the EPA required every water authority nationwide serving more than 10,000 people to test for the compounds. The EPA hired three labs to perform the tests, including California-based Eurofins Eaton Analytical, which was responsible for about a third of the 36,000 total tests done at the time. Eaton Analytical’s results showed some contamination, but it didn’t look particularly widespread.
But it turns out that was because of the threshold the EPA was using; Back then, the EPA decided only samples that tested positive for 20 parts per trillion (ppt) or higher of PFOA should be counted and only 40 ppt or higher of PFOS, after deciding that was the lowest amount of the chemicals the labs could reliably detect in samples. But Eaton Analytical told the EPA it was able to test for the chemicals at much lower levels—as low as 2.5 ppt.
According to Andrew Eaton, the technical director of Eaton Analytical, the EPA’s PFOA and PFOS thresholds were set so high because the other two labs hired to do the testing in 2013 couldn’t reliably detect the chemicals at as low levels as his lab could. Eaton says those dramatic differences should have made the agency look harder for capable labs. “That should have given the EPA pause to say ‘Hmm, why were there such big differences here?’” Eaton told the Bucks County Courier Timesearlier this month. “If you’re not seeing something because you looked too high, you’re not really doing your due diligence,” he said.
The lab recently went back and re-mined its 2013 data, using lower thresholds than the EPA previously said they wanted to hear about. That’s when they found that 20% of the samples contained the toxin, which means the EPA may be vastly underestimating how widespread contamination from this class of toxins really is.
Research also suggests that the toxins harm human health at much lower levels than the EPA threshold. According to David Andrews, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, there is debate in the toxicology community as to whether, like lead, there is actually no safe level of exposure, particularly in children who can accumulate more of it than adults and where some studies have suggested an association with behavioral and developmental problems.
PFOA is not currently regulated by the EPA, so state or local governments aren’t required to test for them. The EPA does set a recommended maximum exposure level for PFOA at 70 parts per trillion. But it’s nonbinding: states can choose to comply or not. In New Jersey, the local environment department has set the “acceptable” level at 14 ppt, the most stringent in the country (there is a lot of PFOA in New Jersey’s drinking water—the Environmental Working Group calculated the EPA’s testing method would have missed 75% of the contamination in that state).
PFOA and PFOS keep turning up in drinking water supplies in US towns and cities. Both are cancer-causing toxins, and in some cases, residents may have been drinking one or the other in their water supply for decades—like in Hoosick Falls, New York, where Teflon was long manufactured, and where a resident found high levels of PFOA in the drinking water. The EPA named the area New York’s newest Superfund site last year. Before that, PFOA was found to be heavily contaminating the groundwater in a cancer-riddled town in West Virginia, home to a large factory where Dupont made Teflon.
Contamination has been so widespread in the past, Andrews says, that “everyone in the US already has these chemicals in our blood. You really don’t want to add more to that.”
After years of debate and a major scientific report connecting PFOA to two cancers and several other serious diseases, the EPA was rumored to start regulating it this year. That hasn’t happened, and the policies of the people currently running the agency don’t bode well for a rule in the future. As the New York Times reports, a scientist who worked for the chemical industry now shapes policy on hazardous chemicals at the EPA. She has moved to change how risks from chemicals are evaluated, requiring the agency to look only at hazards associated with specific “conditions of use” of a chemical, rather than at all hazards posed by all routes of exposure to the chemical regardless of what it was used for. The change makes it harder to evaluate risk—and therefore to regulate—toxins like PFOA.
Eaton told Quartz he gave a presentation about his new conclusions to EPA employees this year. He says they agreed with him that their agency might have missed something. “EPA has seen the presentations—their initial reaction was, ‘Gosh, we set the reporting limits based on what the science told us at the time, and you’re right, we probably should have looked more closely at what the science told us about reporting limits.’”
EPA spokesperson Enesta Jones defended the EPA’s approach to the study, telling the Courier Times this month that the “EPA is aware that some laboratories are able to achieve [lower] reporting limits,” but that the limits were “established so that a national array of laboratories could meet them and were based on looking at the capability of multiple commercial laboratories.”
Jones said the EPA is expected to reach a decision about the toxin in 2021.
https://qz.com/1122633/pfoa-is-in-20-of-us-water-supplies-a-reanalysis-of-2013-data-finds/
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REACH Annex Nano Revision 'Not Future Proof'
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
The European Commission’s proposal to revise REACH annexes to address nanomaterials is not ‘future proof’, a group of NGOs has said.
In its comments to the recent consultation on the long-delayed text, the group says some of the wording appears to put the official proposal "back several years", when considering the developments in nanotechnology since work began on it in 2011.
In addition to the multiplication of nanoforms with no bulk counterpart, it says, there are still likely to be those of phase-in substances – as mentioned in the text – "but with new properties and functionalities requiring clear data requirements".
Work delivered by consultants for the Commission’s potential third regulatory review of nanomaterials, it adds, addressed ‘advanced materials’. These can include active materials capable of modifying particular properties, depending on external stimuli.
"Given the long gestation period for this official proposal, the lack of future proofing for new materials is misguided, in that it almost guarantees that the revision proposed will become obsolete in the short term," the group says.
The group includes:
· the European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standardisation (Ecos);
· the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel);
· the European Environmental Bureau (EEB); and
· the Oeko-Institut.
The publication of the revision is "unacceptably late" and specific nano requirements will not be available for the 2018 REACH registration deadline, the NGOs say. Nanomaterials will subsequently continue to reach the market, without Echa "having adequate data" to assess their safety.
The group says it "deplores" the Commission’s "maladministration of governance". The fact that the delay was not explained or justified "beyond mere mentions of the technical complexity" of the issue, it says, "demonstrates contempt" for citizens and member state concerns. And its handling of the dossier has "consistently undermined" co-regulators’ and other stakeholders’ contributions.
At the Competent Authorities Sub-Group on Nanomaterials (CASG-Nano) meeting on 14-15 March, NGOs, member states and Echa expressed "outrage" at the way the Commission has proceeded with its latest 'non-paper'.
In their recent comments on the proposal, the NGOs also say that given ongoing gaps in scientific knowledge on various aspects and impacts of nanomaterials, the various justifications that are required throughout the legal text and annexes should "clearly be science-based and therefore all should require scientific justification".
NIA comments
Meanwhile, the Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA) says it welcomes the revision, but is seeking clarification on whether it will require "retrospective updates" of existing registration dossiers – based on the REACH requirement for all registrants to update their dossier as and when new information is available.
The NIA also raises a concern about information requirements for downstream users. The use of a nanoform, as well as a conventional substance, may result in its modification, it says. Their ability to detect this "may be very limited as science is not fully developed to detect all possible modifications". The obligation, it adds, is "too far reaching and should be limited" to relating information on its use scenarios.
And it needs to be clear, the NIA says, that a nanoform produced in quantities of less than one tonne a year does not require registration. The current wording, it adds, can be interpreted otherwise; that it would still need to be registered. Providing all information requirements for small volumes of nanoforms "might quickly become prohibitively resource-intensive and hamper innovation", it says.
It also adds that the usefulness of grouping and read-across of nanoforms "should be encouraged" and considered for inclusion in the proposal.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60918/reach-annex-nano-revision-not-future-proof
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UK Government Office Publishes 'Note' on Nanomaterials Risk Assessment
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The UK's Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) has published a 'note' on the risk assessment of nanomaterials.
The note summarises the current regulation and highlights potential future directions for regulatory testing approaches.
The note's key points include:
· nanomaterial uses and benefits are diverse and increasing, such as in cosmetics, textiles, electronics and medicine;
· current regulatory frameworks applicable to nanomaterials in the UK are mainly set at the EU level;
· there are some indications of potential health and environmental risks, but conclusions are limited by insufficient long-term evidence and difficulties in translating results from the laboratory to the real world;
· after Brexit, the UK will need to establish regulatory frameworks for nanomaterials; and
· the wide range of forms and uses cause many regulatory challenges. These include ensuring consistency in testing and finding valid ways of grouping so that risks may be assessed more efficiently.
The European Commission has just launched a public consultation on a draft Regulation amending REACH annexes for the registration of nanomaterials.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60895/uk-government-office-publishes-note-on-nanomaterials-risk-assessment
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European Commission to Evaluate FCM Legislation in 2018
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The European Commission will begin an evaluation of EU legislation on food contact materials (FCMs) next year, it told the European Parliament's environment committee (Envi) at a meeting on Monday.
An initial roadmap outlining this work will be published shortly, Envi heard. And the Commission is planning an extensive stakeholder consultation, first on the roadmap and then on the evaluation work.
These plans are the Commission's answer to pressure from MEPs, who last year criticised major gaps in current EU legislation and called for harmonised regulation for all FCMs.
Next year's evaluation will build on a study by the Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), released earlier this year. It criticised severe shortcomings in how FCMs are currently regulated.
Praising the study, the Commission said it details the complex industry supply chains involved in the sector and the patchwork of member state measures they have to navigate.
"We recognise the complexity of the FCM supply chain and the importance of information being passed down it," it told Envi. "We hope our work will improve coherence, reduce burdens on industry and keep consumer safety at the forefront."
The Commission says it needs to reflect carefully before deciding the best way forward.Ongoing work
At the same time the Commission is getting more involved at the member state level, with a "series of missions" to understand the issues member states face enforcing FCM rules. This work will feed into its evaluation exercise.
And, having introduced two possible approaches over the summer, the Commission is still considering how to move forward with an EU measure on printed FCMs.
One of them could take the form of an unusual system, where the responsibilities for compliance are shifted from the regulatory authorities, to designated laboratories and consultants. These would identify migrating substances in an FCM and carry out toxicology testing. They would then evaluate their risk and propose how they should be regulated.
The Commission could not give Envi a timeline on the next steps in this project, but said it is focusing on preparatory work.MEP criticism
Although MEPs welcomed the Commission's plans, they criticised it for not working fast enough to address FCMs. Danish MEP Christel Schaldemose called for a clear deadline by which the EU executive will present a specific proposal on broadening the existing legislation to materials such as paper, coatings and ink.
Ms Schaldemose last year drafted the report that called on the Commission to urgently tackle gaps in the EU legal framework for FCMs, and triggered pressure from MEPs.
Along with Green Party MEP Margrete Auken, Ms Schaldemose also urged more transparency in the Commission's work. NGOs in particular should be involved and help Brussels understand what is dangerous about some FCMs, Ms Auken said.
The Commission responded that its evaluation work will come with a "wide communication and consultation strategy" that will give stakeholders a chance to get involved in shaping the work.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60900/european-commission-to-evaluate-fcm-legislation-in-2018
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Retailer FatFace Awarded Cruelty Free Certification for Cosmetics Range
Nov 7, 2017 | Chemical Watch
NGO Cruelty Free International has awarded the clothing and accessories retailer FatFace cruelty-free certification for its cosmetics. The company's products will now display CFI's Leaping Bunny logo. This guarantees no animal testing has been used to produce the cosmetics.
"We are delighted FatFace has met our rigorous no animal testing criteria and achieved Leaping Bunny certification for its cosmetics range," said Michelle Thew, CFI chief executive.
"The certification of high profile companies like them shows growing public awareness about animal suffering and a rapidly expanding consumer market for ethical products."
More than 1,000 companies have obtained Leaping Bunny certification, including leading retailers such as the Body Shop, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, the Co-operative and Superdrug.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60906/retailer-fatface-awarded-cruelty-free-certification-for-cosmetics-range
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(ACC Mentioned) Pipeline Approvals to Boost Northeast Breakbulk
Nov 7, 2017 | Break Bulk
The approval of five major U.S. pipeline projects in the last month has boosted the outlook for breakbulk demand in the Northeast.
In October alone, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, approved the 2 billion-cubic-feet Mountain Valley Pipeline, the Equitrans Expansion Project, the Supply Header Pipeline, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Eastern Shore 2017 Expansion Project.
The projects will increase delivery capacity from the Northeast’s Utica and Marcellus shales, and mark the next phase for development, following US$10 billion in new investment approved last year. Construction and preparation for the pipelines is expected to drive demand for breakbulk transportation services throughout the region.
“We find that the public convenience and necessity requires approval of Mountain Valley’s proposal … natural gas capacity in the Southeast will reach 8.3 billion cubic feet per day by 2030. Much of the gas needed to meet this demand would be from the Marcellus and Utica shale regions,” a spokesperson for FERC said in approving the new Mountain Valley Pipeline.
The new pipelines are also expected to provide a boost for the development of plastics and chemicals facilities in the region, with Shell Chemical Appalachia already starting work on a new ethylene cracker unit, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
LyondellBasell/ Braskem Talks Stall
The plastics sector may be in need of some uplift after figures from the American Chemistry Council suggest that major plastic resin production decreased 9.3 percent in September due to shutdowns following Hurricane Harvey.
There was additional uncertainty in the U.S. plastics sector as multinational chemical company LyondellBasell’s talks to purchase rival Braskem have reportedly stalled.
Braskem issued a regulatory filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission stating that the firm was not for sale. The takeover was widely seen as a move by LyondellBasell to expand into Latin America, where Braskem has a strong footprint.
NAFTA fears create investment uncertainty
It is not only LyondellBasell that may face tougher negotiations with Latin America as fears grow about president Trump’s plans for NAFTA. The U.S. petrochemical industry has warned that changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement is creating uncertainty and may damage investment.
“Any proposals that would risk a crisis every five years on NAFTA wouldn’t provide the certainty our members need to bring these investments forward.. We are going to have a huge increase in domestic production, and there is no way we can consume that domestically,” said Greg Skelton, head of global affairs at the ACC.
http://www.breakbulk.com/news-pipeline-approvals-boost-northeast-breakbulk/
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Fairbanks LNG-Delivery Plan Crawls Forward
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
A $331.2 million financing plan approved by an Alaskan development authority could lay the groundwork for an expansion of natural gas deliveries to the state's interior.
The plan would hand the Fairbanks-area Interior Gas Utility (IGU) effective control over the execution of an infrastructure build-out designed to increase the supply of natural gas to the region.
Under the plan, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) would sell the IGU a local natural gas utility, a liquefied natural gas plant and the rights to a three-year supply contract.
AIDEA's board of directors voted unanimously to approve it, with the majority of the funding coming from a $332.5 million package greenlighted by the Alaska Legislature in 2013.
The fate of the deal, which has yet to be formally considered by the IGU, remains in doubt, with one key member of the IGU board voicing concerns including the prospect of increased costs for customers (Elwood Brehmer, Alaska Journal of Commerce/Alaska Dispatch News, Nov. 5). — DI
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/11/07/stories/1060065785
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Industry Fights to Keep Obama Fracking Rule at Bay
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The oil and gas industry will avoid federal hydraulic fracturing restrictions for at least a bit longer.
An appeals court yesterday set out a timetable for considering requests to rethink a recent ruling that could revive the long-sidelined Obama-era fracking rule.
The court is fielding rehearing requests from industry groups and four Western states to revisit a September decision that scrapped a lower court's conclusion that the federal government has no authority over fracking.
With that ruling off the books, the fracking rule was poised to take effect as soon as next week, when the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was expected to finalize its September decision. But the court yesterday ordered the government and environmental groups to file a response to the rehearing requests by Nov. 20.
Assuming the court waits until responses are submitted to issue a decision, the fracking rule will stay on ice at least until late November. By that time, the Trump administration may be able to finalize a fracking rule rescission that it has been working on for months.
Industry lawyers are urging the 10th Circuit to hold off on vacating the lower court's decision until the government finishes its rescission — ensuring that the Bureau of Land Management regulation never gets a second life.
"Coordinating vacatur with the ongoing administrative process is necessary not only to avoid prejudice to BLM and the regulated community but also to promote judicial economy and protect valuable judicial resources," lawyers for the Independent Petroleum Association of America and Western Energy Alliance wrote.
BakerHostetler attorneys representing the groups told the court that allowing the fracking rule to reactivate for a potentially brief period before the rescission is complete would create a regulatory mess.
"Once the district court's decision is vacated, BLM will be compelled to institute temporary procedures to implement and enforce a rule of dubious legal validity, diverting resources from the on-going rulemaking to rescind the 2015 Rule," they wrote. "And if BLM does not enforce the 2015 Rule for whatever reason, BLM may be subject to legal challenges seeking to compel enforcement."
Likewise, they said, oil and gas operators will face compliance costs and legal vulnerability if they don't comply.Who's harmed more?
Earthjustice attorney Mike Freeman, representing a coalition of environmental groups that support the rule, pushed back on industry's argument, saying drillers and BLM staff have had years to plan for the rule to take effect.
"What I'd like to see is instead of BLM spending so much energy trying to abandon reasonable, commonsense protections, they should be spending their resources trying to enforce the rule," he said.
He argued that if the 10th Circuit agrees to block the regulation from taking effect, the Trump administration will drag out the rulemaking process indefinitely. Industry's rehearing request is a blatant delay tactic, he said.
"This is ultimately another attempt to make an end run around the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act by manipulating the judicial process," he said.
Earthjustice and other groups will formally respond to the filings in two weeks.
The oil and gas industry, meanwhile, is continuing to push BLM — and lawmakers on Capitol Hill — for a quick rescission to avoid further legal wrangling and enforcement complications.
"The appellate court made this more complicated; it's not insurmountable," IPAA Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Political Affairs Dan Naatz said in an interview last month. "So our view is we would hope the agency would get on and issue that final rule as soon as possible."Complicated history
In a separate request on Friday, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota and Utah argued that the September decision was "severely inequitable" because it would allow the rule to take effect without appellate review (Energywire, Nov. 6).
The Ute Indian Tribe also asked the court to reconsider its decision. The tribe says the judges improperly dismissed American Indian issues — whether BLM can regulate on tribal lands — that were fit for review (Energywire, Oct. 2).
To be sure, the 10th Circuit's ruling was complex. The three-judge panel declined to delve into the thorny legal question of federal authority over the oil and gas extraction process, citing BLM's ongoing effort to roll back the fracking rule.
But the majority also didn't want to leave intact a Wyoming court's 2016 ruling that had struck down the fracking rule, so it vacated that decision (Energywire, Sept. 22).
The result? The fracking rule would have new life as soon as the 10th Circuit finalized its decision with an official mandate. Now that mandate is delayed while the court weighs the rehearing requests.
If the 10th Circuit declines to revisit its ruling, the rescission isn't completed in time and the fracking rule takes effect, industry groups plan to ask the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming for a preliminary injunction blocking the regulation.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/11/07/stories/1060065821
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Oil and Gas Is Adding Jobs in Texas
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Nathanial Gronewold
Texas' oil and gas industry has seen a solid hiring spree as business recovery gains steam.
Yesterday, the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers announced another strong rise in its index that measures the health of the oil and gas economy. The index value for September pushed higher to 181.4, more than 21 percent greater than in September 2016.
Higher oil prices and brisk hiring led an uptick in business activity, with data showing that oil companies have added 30,900 employees to payrolls since workforce numbers bottomed out three years ago, TAEP says.
Texas' crude oil production is up by about 11 percent from a year earlier, while natural gas output has fallen by 2.7 percent.
"Another sign that upstream oil and gas companies in Texas have continued to regain economic vitality since the last downturn is the steady increase in numbers of employees producing oil and gas," TAEP said in its latest Texas Petro Index report. Total employment figures have nearly 223,000 people in Texas now employed at oil and gas companies, compared with 192,000 in September 2016.
Though the workforce has been expanding, industry employment has not fully recovered. Oil and gas in Texas once employed close to 300,000 workers until mass layoffs in the wake of the oil price plunge commenced in late 2014.
The active rig count in Texas has almost doubled from the bottom of the oil price bust, but the rush back to shale oil drilling has moderated. The latest numbers compiled by General Electric company Baker Hughes Inc. show that 11 rigs were pulled from the drilling fleet last week. With thousands of drilled but uncompleted wells in their portfolios, companies don't necessarily need to continue expanding drilling activity in order to increase oil output in the near term.
TAEP economist Karr Ingham, the author of the Petro Index, believes that if current trends hold then Texas will experience record oil output next year. Analysts are increasingly confident that the industry's recovery will continue on signs of increased oil demand and a drawdown in global stockpiles, which should be reinforced if OPEC agrees to extend its crude oil production cut agreement with Russia.
OPEC leader Saudi Arabia explicitly said that it wants to see the production cut agreement extended to the end of 2018 (Energywire, Oct. 30).
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/11/07/stories/1060065789
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DHS Cyberthreat Sharing Needs Work, Watchdog Says
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
The Department of Homeland Security still has trouble getting the word out about the latest hacking threats to critical U.S. systems, according to the agency's internal watchdog.
"DHS needs to ensure that cyber threat information sharing between federal and private partners is effective," the agency's inspector general John Roth said in a statement accompanying a report released yesterday. Roth added that his office's recommended improvements "should increase participation" from organizations that may have turned to other sources.
DHS's National Protection and Programs Directorate serves as the government's main conduit for sharing data on cyberthreats to other agencies, private utilities, manufacturers and key industries.
On paper, NPPD gets classified intelligence from other U.S. agencies such as the FBI or CIA, scrubs out sensitive information, and passes actionable points along to private companies to shore up U.S. cyberdefenses.
In practice, however, the IG noted that homeland security officials still face challenges in providing "the quality, contextual data needed to effectively defend against ever-evolving threats." Scrubbing classified information from cyber warnings can take time, leaving critical infrastructure operators in the dark or reliant on thin ranks of security-cleared individuals. The automated nature of some cyberthreat sharing tools, while faster, can leave out important details or context, the IG noted in its biennial report.
DHS's flagship "Automated Indicator Sharing" program "does not provide adequate information to effectively protect Federal and private networks," the IG concluded.
DHS rolled out that program in March 2016, according to the report, and has since shared more than a half million unclassified tidbits of cyberthreat data.
The goal is to send out alerts crafted in a machine-readable format, so that systems on the receiving end can take instantaneous defensive actions rather than wait for analysts to review the findings.
But many of those alerts don't provide enough detail to really help, according to the report.
"Given AIS' limitations, Federal and private sector entities rely on other systems or participate in other DHS information sharing programs to obtain quality cyber threat data," the IG noted.
Data shared through the AIS system must still be manually compiled by DHS analysts on the front end, taking potentially precious minutes away from response times, the report added.
The watchdog's review this year also found a few security gaps in the systems that house sensitive cyberthreat data, such as slow application of digital "patches."
Despite these shortcomings, the report credits DHS for developing "adequate" policies for spreading the word on hacking threats, noting that the agency has generally addressed information-sharing requirements called for by the Cybersecurity Act of 2015.
The IG called on DHS to mitigate known software vulnerabilities and promote the AIS program, among other steps. DHS concurred with the recommendations, and an official there pointed out that the agency plans to roll out the next version of its AIS program by the end of 2018.
In a separate report published by the Government Accountability Office last month, officials interviewed six leading private-sector recipients of DHS threat information. Three of the interviewees said that "delays in receiving threat information from DHS decreased the value" of the data.
"Each of these six representatives indicated that threat information must be distributed rapidly to owners and operators in order to maintain its value and utility," GAO found.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/11/07/stories/1060065825
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New Administrator Appointed for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
Nov 7, 2017 | Transportation Today News
By Chris Galford
Howard Elliott, a recent retiree of CSX Transportation of Florida, was sworn in last week as administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
At CSX Transportation of Florida, Elliott served as vice president of public safety, health, environment, and security. In that role, he oversaw many of the things he will be expected to tackle in his current role: hazardous materials, safety of transportation, crisis management, as well as occupational health and continuity concerns.
He had advocated for the development and implementation of computer-based tools to assist in emergency response, at all levels. He also has 40 years of boardroom experience, after graduating with dual majors in English and Forensic Studies at Indiana University, and a Master of Science from Columbia Southern University.
In those 40 years, Elliott has also earned a lifetime achievement award from the Association of American Railroads for his work on hazardous materials transportation study. He supplemented such efforts by working on both AAR’s Risk Management Working Committee and its Security Committee, as well as assisting the American Society of Industrial Security and the Domestic Security Alliance Council as run jointly by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
https://transportationtodaynews.com/news/6484-new-administrator-appointed-pipeline-hazardous-materials-safety-administration/
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(ACC Mentioned) Suits Likely as Pruitt Acts Selectively on Ozone Designations
Nov 7, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is again signaling his determination to slow-walk key compliance decisions for the agency's 2015 ground-level ozone standard, raising the odds that only a prolonged court battle will settle the issue.
In a final rule signed yesterday, Pruitt declared some 2,650 counties as effectively in attainment with the 70-parts-per-billion standard but avoided saying when the agency will make final decisions for several hundred others, including many that are likely failing to meet that threshold.
While states had turned in their attainment recommendations more than a year ago, "the ozone designation process is complex and requires ongoing and extensive conversations with state and local agencies," Pruitt said in a news release. "As we move forward, the agency will be able to prioritize, be more responsive to local needs, and move forward on a case-by-case basis."
Under the Clean Air Act, Pruitt was legally supposed to have made all attainment designations by Oct. 1. In response to a half-dozen written questions from E&E News sent last night, an EPA spokeswoman would only say this morning that the agency does not have a timetable for completing the process "at this time."
Various states and environmental groups have already formally threatened lawsuits over the delay in recent "notice of intent to sue" letters. Assuming Pruitt takes no further action, litigation could be launched by the middle of next month.
"What EPA did yesterday does nothing to change the legal bases" for those notice letters, Josh Berman, a Sierra Club senior attorney, said in an interview today.
Ozone, the prime ingredient in smog, is linked to asthma attacks in children and worsened breathing problems for people with emphysema and other chronic respiratory diseases.
Under the Obama administration, EPA tightened the standard two years ago after concluding that the previous 75 ppb benchmark — set in 2008 — was not tough enough to adequately protect public health.
From a practical standpoint, the attainment designations are important because they start the clock for states to come up with pollution reduction measures for nonattainment areas.
Industry groups that have been lobbying for legislation that would roll back the deadline until 2025 welcomed Pruitt's decision but said more needs to be done, particularly because significant chunks of the country are still struggling to meet the 2008 benchmark.
"This is a good step, but state and local regulators still need relief from the onerous dual ozone standards," Howard Feldman, the American Petroleum Institute's senior director for regulatory and scientific affairs, said in a statement today.
He added that states could otherwise be forced to place restrictions "on everything from manufacturing and energy development to infrastructure projects like roads and bridges."
For the American Chemistry Council, "modernizing and improving the implementation process for EPA ozone standards remains" a top priority, said Jennifer Scott, director of issue communications, in an email. "We look forward to reforms that will reduce the uncertainty that can make it more difficult for manufacturers to plan new projects."'Comically 1-sided laxity'
Environmental groups, which generally dismiss such forecasts as overblown, slammed Pruitt's decision as an illegal ploy.
"EPA's action is comically 1-sided laxity: follow law for states that need do no more, break law for states that should cut smog more," John Walke, head of the Natural Resources Defense Council's clean air program, said on Twitter late yesterday.
Because ozone is spawned by the reaction of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides in sunlight, it is closely connected to the production and burning of fossil fuels.
As Oklahoma's attorney general in 2015, Pruitt had joined other Republican-led states in suing to overturn the 70 ppb standard. Since April, that litigation has been on hold with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit while EPA officials weigh whether to keep defending it.
In that instance, as well, the agency has offered no schedule for a decision. Pruitt, who became EPA chief in February, has already once sought unsuccessfully to slow implementation of the 2015 standard.
In June, he announced a blanket one-year delay in all attainment designations under a Clean Air Act provision that allows for the extension when more information is needed. Pruitt retreated in August after environmental and public health groups challenged that move in court (Greenwire, Aug. 3).
Although EPA has missed attainment designation in the past, there appears to be no exact precedent for the two-tier approach adopted in this case.
While, for example, EPA delayed designating a few areas for its most recent particulate matter standards, that was a because of a "problem with the lab that was analyzing the monitoring data," Paul Billings, senior vice president for advocacy at the American Lung Association, said in an email.
Pruitt has also assembled a first-ever Ozone Cooperative Compliance Task Force to explore ways to ease implementation of the 2015 standard. The scope of the task force's activities is unclear. The group has held no public meetings, and EPA officials have not responded to repeated requests for a list of its members.'More sensible approach'
The task force was created in response to a congressional directive attached to a spending bill this spring by Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
In the final rule signed yesterday, Pruitt punted a final decision on the state's recommendation to declare the Uinta Basin, a hub of oil and gas production in northeast Utah, in nonattainment.
Hatch, like other critics of the 2015 standard, has argued that background ozone — produced by stratospheric intrusions and other forces outside of regulators' direct control — is responsible for much of the problem.
Hatch "is pleased that the EPA is taking a more sensible approach, giving time to communities out West and in Utah, where non-anthropomorphic — or naturally-occurring — ozone is significantly higher due to regional geography," spokesman Matt Whitlock said in an email this morning.
"Moving forward, the senator believes that we need to work on air quality solutions that do not unfairly punish communities where ozone levels are elevated through no fault of their own."
House and Senate sponsors of legislation to push back the attainment designations until 2025 also agree that a longer-term fix is needed.
"I believe that Congress has an important role to play in refining this process and giving EPA new direction" in the process of setting air quality standards for ozone and other pollutants, Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas), sponsor of H.R. 806, which passed the House in July, said in a statement.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) has introduced a companion bill, S. 263, that is awaiting action by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Capito will continue to push for a markup and passage of S. 263 "to ensure regulatory certainty for American businesses and state and local regulators, as well as to provide a realistic timeline for the EPA to set and implement the standards," spokeswoman Ashley Berrang said in an email.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/07/stories/1060065881
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As Syria Embraces Paris Climate Deal, It's the United States Against the World
Nov 7, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Brady Dennis
President Trump has put America at odds with the rest of the world, literally, when it comes to the goal of combating climate change.
At an international climate conference in Bonn on Tuesday, Syria announced its plans to join the Paris climate accord — an agreement forged in 2015 for nations to band together to slash global carbon emissions. That now leaves the United States as the only country to disavow the deal, after Trump this year announced intentions to withdraw from the agreement.
According to news reports and people who were present Tuesday, the Syrian delegation to the talks announced the war-torn country’s intention to ratify the Paris agreement. Separately, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency, lawmakers in Damascus last month “approved a draft law on ratifying Syria’s accession to the Paris Climate Agreement.”
The move comes after the only other holdout, Nicaragua, announced plans to join the Paris agreement in September. Nicaragua initially had refused to join the agreement in 2015 because its leaders felt the accord did not go far enough in compelling nations to reduce their carbon emissions. But in joining the deal this fall, the country’s president noted that it is the “only instrument we have” to unite the world around the goal of staving off the most catastrophic effects of global warming.
Syria’s decision to join the accord brought another round of rebukes for the Trump administration.
“As if it wasn’t already crystal clear, every single other country in the world is moving forward together to tackle the climate crisis, while Donald Trump’s has isolated the United States on the world stage in an embarrassing and dangerous position,” Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement.
Trump in June announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the climate agreement, an extraordinary move that baffled American allies and threatened to undermine global efforts to slow the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Trump’s decision drew swift, sharp condemnation from foreign leaders, environmental groups and corporate titans, who argued that the U.S. exit from the Paris accord would represent a failure of American leadership in the face of irrefutable scientific evidence.
Trump, who has labeled climate change a “hoax” and appointed climate change skeptics to top administration posts, argued the Paris agreement and Obama-era regulations to curb emissions were crippling businesses and killing jobs.
“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” Trump proclaimed at the time. He added that he would consider rejoining the deal if the United States could reenter on more favorable terms. Other countries rejected that notion, saying individual countries already have the freedom to alter their pledges to reduce emissions.
The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris agreement cannot actually be finalized until near the end of Trump’s term because of the legal structure and language of the accord.
But with the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases essentially walking away from the pact, scientists and policymakers have said it would be nearly impossible for the world to realize its goal of limiting global warming to below a 2-degree Celsius (3.6-degree Fahrenheit) rise above preindustrial temperatures.
The withdrawal also marked a staggering reversal from the previous administration. President Barack Obama considered the accord a signature and critical diplomatic achievement, and during his second term made it a top priority to persuade other world leaders to embrace the deal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/11/07/as-syria-embraces-paris-climate-deal-its-the-united-states-against-the-world/?utm_term=.93ca96ebfacb
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France: Trump Not Invited to Climate Change Summit 'for the Time Being'
Nov 7, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Rebecca Savransky
President Trump is reportedly not invited to the climate change summit that will be held later this year in France.
An official in French President Emmanuel Macron's Cabinet said Trump is "for the time being" not invited to the event in Paris, Reuters reported.
"The United States have a bit of a special status for that summit," the official said, according to Reuters.
The summit — scheduled for Dec. 12 — will include more than 100 countries and nongovernmental organizations.
The report comes after Trump announced in June he would be withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement, a pact he denounced as "unfair."
“The bottom line is that the Paris accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States,” Trump said at the time.
The Trump administration filed a formal notice with the United Nations in August that it would be leaving the agreement "as soon as it is eligible to do so." The earliest the U.S. can leave is Nov. 4, 2020.
Trump’s decision was met with widespread criticism. After his announcement, a dozen states and hundreds of cities announced they would uphold the tenants of the climate accord.
The French official said everyone at the December summit would be committed to carrying out the agreement.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/359091-france-trump-not-invited-to-climate-change-summit-for-the-time
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