Preview Newsletter
PM ACC 9/11/17
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(ACC Mentioned) EPA Names Advisory Panels With Greater Industry Representation
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A Miller
US EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has released rosters for three science advisory committees that significantly increase industry representation. -
(ACC Mentioned) Senate Confirms Top Air Regulator at EPA
Nov 9, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The Senate on Thursday confirmed William Wehrum to head the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation, making him one of the most powerful officials in the agency. -
(ACC Mentioned) Senate Approves Bill Wehrum to Lead EPA's Air Office Dealing With Climate Change Regulations
Nov 9, 2017 | The Washington Examiner
By Josh Siegel
The Senate on Thursday morning approved the nomination of Bill Wehrum to lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air and Radiation. -
(ACC Mentioned) US EPA has first public input on alternative test methods for TSCA
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Dr. Emma Davies
The US EPA has outlined a set of goals and objectives for its strategic plan to promote the development and implementation of alternative tests methods, as part of the amended toxic substances control act (TSCA). -
Senate Attempts to Ban Mesothelioma-Causing Asbestos for the Sixth Time
Nov 9, 2017 | Mesothelioma.net
By Terri Oppenheimer
Many Americans mistakenly believe that the use of asbestos has been banned in the United States since the 1970s, ever since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revealed the dangers of the mineral that causes asbestosis, mesothelioma and other serious diseases. -
US Team Calls for Biomonitoring Studies of Fracking Chemicals
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
More research is needed to understand how possible pollution from chemicals used in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development, including fracking, may harm human health, according to US researchers. -
US NGO Calls for 'Fundamental Transformation' of the Carpet Industry
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
A report from the US NGO, Healthy Building Network, calls for "the fundamental transformation of the carpet industry" by eliminating the use of 44 chemicals. -
Study: Rocket Fuel Chemical Harms the Developing Fetus
Nov 9, 2017 | Environmental Working Group
By Olga Naldenko
Pregnant women’s exposure to a rocket fuel chemical, which contaminates drinking water for millions of Americans, could harm the development of fetuses' brains, a new British study found. -
From Brussels to Arkansas, a Tough Week for Monsanto
Nov 9, 2017 | The New York Times
By Danny Hakim
Opposition from France and Italy doomed a European Union vote on Thursday to reauthorize the world’s most popular weedkiller, glyphosate, a decision that came hours after Arkansas regulators moved to ban an alternative weedkiller for much of 2018. -
EU Nano Definition 'Too Broad', Industry Says
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
The European Commission's definition of a nanomaterial is "too broad" and may result in all coatings, paints and printing inks on the market being incorrectly classified, two trade associations have said. -
NGO Decries 'Secret' EU Commission Work on FCMs
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
CHEM Trust has accused the European Commission of shrouding its work on the EU's regulation of chemicals in food contact materials (FCMs) in secrecy. -
Efforts to Ban PFHxS Globally Move Forward
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
A UN expert panel has agreed to progress the evaluation of the fluorinated substance perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and related compounds, for action under the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs). -
Intellectual Property Rights Blocking Access to OECD Test Methods
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Users of validated OECD methods can sometimes find they are unable to access key parts – typically cell lines or reagents, because of intellectual property (IP) rights preventing use without a licence – the organisation has said. -
Deadline Extended on UN Sustainable Chemistry Project
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The deadline on a United Nations Environment project to gather examples of best practices in sustainable chemistry has been extended to 30 November. -
Study Reveals 'Massive Weaknesses' in Conflict Minerals Policies
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
Independent research has found that 95% of company conflict mineral policies are not aligned with the OECD's Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains. -
(ACC Mentioned) China Deal Is Key to Developing Long-Sought Natural Gas Hub in WV
Nov 9, 2017 | Metronews of West Virginia
By Brad McElhinny
Leaders familiar with West Virginia’s freshly-announced $83 billion deal with China Energy say the agreement is a key to developing a long-sought natural gas storage hub. -
West Virginia Signs Investment Pact With China Energy
Nov 9, 2017 | AP (In The New York Times)
West Virginia officials announced an agreement on Thursday with China Energy Investment Corp. Ltd. for the company to invest $83.7 billion in shale gas development and chemical manufacturing in West Virginia over 20 years. -
Shell Starts Construction on $6B PA Ethane Cracker Plant
Nov 9, 2017 | Construction Dive
By Kim Slowey
Shell Chemicals has started construction on its new $6 billion ethane cracker plant in Potter Township, PA, which, when complete, will produce 1.6 million metric tons of polyethylene each year, according to The Times. -
Total Buys Engie's LNG Business, Including Cameron LNG Stake
Nov 9, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Jordan Blum
Total said it will pay $1.5 billion to buy Engie's liquefied natural gas assets in a deal between French energy giants with U.S. Gulf Coast implications. -
On-Target NatGas Storage Figure Triggers Some Profit-Taking
Nov 9, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jeremiah Shelor
An on-the-nose natural gas storage figure from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Thursday triggered some selling in the December contract, with the market showing some disappointment that the actual number didn’t come in lower than consensus. -
Court Greenlights Atlantic Sunrise After 2-Day Freeze
Nov 9, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gillmer
After a brief interruption, the Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline is again good to go. -
Law Could Trigger 'Biblical Changing of the Guard'
Nov 9, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey and Kevin Bogardus
A little-known law soon could restrict top acting officials across the federal government and possibly leave the Trump administration's coming environmental and energy policy decisions legally vulnerable.
Industry and Association News
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(ACC Mentioned) EPA Names Advisory Panels With Greater Industry Representation
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A Miller
US EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has released rosters for three science advisory committees that significantly increase industry representation.
The 3 November announcement came three days after Mr Pruitt announced a controversial new policy barring anyone receiving grant money from the agency from serving on its scientific advisory panels. Some members have been kicked off committees because they declined to relinquish their grants.
EPA advisory committees have been dominated by academics. That will continue to be the case, although by lesser margins.
The Science Advisory Board (SAB) will have 44 members, including 14 who work directly for industry or for consulting firms. One of the new additions is Kimberly W White, director of the chemical products and technology division at the American Chemistry Council (ACC). The SAB previously had 47 members, six of which represented industry.
The SAB will have four representatives from state agencies, twice as many as before, including its new chairman. Michael Honeycutt, chief toxicologist at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, is a controversial figure who has argued for lower federal air quality standards and told a congressional committee in 2011 that the EPA "continues to overstate the health risks of lower IQ and heart disease from mercury".
Of more than 20 members who could have served an additional term, the EPA reappointed four, including Steven Hamburg, chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
The SAB, the largest of the EPA's advisory panels, reviews scientific information being used as the basis for regulations and the agency's research agenda.
The Board of Scientific Counsellors (BOSC), which advises EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), will have eight new appointees among its 18 members. Six will represent industry, up from only one on the previous roster. Paul Gilman, an executive at Covanta, a waste-to-energy company, will serve as chairman.
In May, the EPA said it would not follow traditional practice by keeping BOSC members for a second three-year term, but four of 10 eligible members were actually reappointed.
BOSC's 18-member chemical safety for sustainability subcommittee will have seven members representing industry, including Richard Becker, a toxicologist at the ACC. It had two industry representatives previously.
Four of seven subcommittee members eligible to serve another term were reappointed, including Jennifer McPartland of the EDF and Katrina Waters, director of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who will chair the panel.Grantees depart
It is not clear how many advisors may have left under the new policy regarding EPA grantees. Six SAB members, one BOSC member and two members of the chemical subcommittee with terms which were not due to expire until 2018 or 2019 were excluded from the new rosters. Two have spoken out publicly about being forced to leave the committees. Two more confirmed in emails that they had also decided to step down rather than give up their grants, but declined to discuss it.
The reasoning behind the new policy is that researchers dependent on agency funding could favour regulatory policies they think will lead to more funded research.
The ACC and Republicans applauded the move, while Democrats and environmental advocates argued that the real conflict of interest lies with board members employed by the industries the EPA regulates.
More changes could come next year. Ten SAB members’ terms expire in September 2018, while the terms of two BOSC members are up in March.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60998/epa-names-advisory-panels-with-greater-industry-representation
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(ACC Mentioned) Senate Confirms Top Air Regulator at EPA
Nov 9, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
The Senate on Thursday confirmed William Wehrum to head the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation, making him one of the most powerful officials in the agency.
Wehrum became only the second of President Trump’s EPA nominees to secure Senate confirmation. Senators approved his nomination on a 49-47 vote.
Democrats and environmentalists lined up against Wehrum’s nomination, noting both his legal career and a controversial tenure at the EPA under President George W. Bush.
Wehrum was the acting director of the Air and Radiation Office during the Bush administration. But Senate Democrats blocked his nomination to hold the position full-time, questioning his ability to write strong environmental rules.
During his confirmation process earlier this year, Democrats noted the 27 times federal courts had overturned regulations Wehrum worked on while at the agency.
“Mr. Wehrum is essentially applying for the job he already had at EPA, and you would think that would be easy, but Mr. Wehrum's resume shows that a great deal of the work he did in his last job as Acting Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation was not up to par,” Sen. Tom Carper(D-Del.) said.
“In this job, subpar work impacts millions of Americans, especially children and the most vulnerable among us.”
Wehrum’s post-government career has also kicked up opposition. As a lawyer, he has worked for firms that represent fossil fuel groups he will soon be regulating, including the American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council and the National Association of Manufacturers.
“While he worked at the EPA during the George W. Bush administration, Mr. Wehrum attempted to direct the agency's air requirements to favor markets, earning praise from industry groups he would later represent in private practice,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said. “How can we ask Mr. Wehrum to objectively administer the Clean Air Act after a career spent on one side?”
Republicans, however, have hailed Wehrum as a strong lieutenant for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in the Trump administration’s deregulatory push.
“Under the Obama administration, the air office was also one of the biggest regulatory abusers,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said on Wednesday. “Now Mr. Wehrum is going to play a key role in undoing this red tape. The American people need a qualified leader in the EPA Air office. Bill Wehrum is the right man for the job.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), meantime, said Wehrum “will put his experience to good use for our nation.”
“Nominees like Mr. Wehrum will continue to work with this EPA to undo the damage of the Obama administration’s overreach in a reasonable manner,” he said.
The Office of Air and Radiation has a large regulatory portfolio covering air pollution, climate change, auto emissions and other issues. Several of the Obama administration’s key — and most controversial — environmental rules came out of that office, including restrictions on methane, ozone and carbon dioxide and the Clean Power Plan climate rule for power plants.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/359593-senate-confirms-top-air-regulator-at-epa
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Nov 9, 2017 | The Washington Examiner
By Josh Siegel
The Senate on Thursday morning approved the nomination of Bill Wehrum to lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air and Radiation.
The party-line vote was 49-47, with only Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine switching over with Democrats to reject Wehrum. Four senators did not vote.
Democrats uniformly opposed his nomination, saying his ties to business prevent him from being an effective and faithful environmental enforcer.
"Wehrum has spent much of his career fighting to dismantle federal environmental protections upon which states depend to clean toxic air pollution," said Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, in a lengthy floor speech Thursday before the vote. "He continues to believe the EPA never intended to address climate change under the Clean Air Act. Suffice to say, his views are not just curious, they are dangerous."
One Democrat, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, had placed a hold on Wehrum’s confirmation last month to block him from being considered on the floor.
Wehrum, an energy industry lawyer and former acting administrator of the EPA's air office, will oversee a portfolio dealing with climate change regulations.
The post is widely considered the EPA's second most important job, and Democrats say Wehrum's industry ties would complicate his ability to re-evaluate carbon emissions regulations that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has tapped for review, such as the Clean Power Plan.
Republicans, meanwhile, say Wehrum's credentials make him well suited to undo Obama administration regulations they view as overly burdensome and costly.
“Under the Obama administration, the air office was one of the biggest regulatory abusers,” said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. “Mr. Wehrum is going to play a key role in undoing this red tape. [His] expertise and experience will be tremendously helpful as he pursues policies that will protect America’s air, undo regulatory overreach, and allow our economy to grow.”
Concerns over his industry connections led to Wehrum being rejected by Congress to serve in the same position in the George W. Bush administration.
In his private law practice, Wehrum's clients have included the American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council, and the National Association of Manufacturers.
Wehrum during his confirmation hearing in October suggested he would be faithful to Trump's deregulatory agenda, which at the EPA is being carried out by Pruitt, who had close ties to the energy industry in his previous job as Oklahoma's attorney general.
"President Trump and Administrator Pruitt have set a clear agenda that I intend to implement if confirmed to this position," Wehrum said. "The president has issued executive orders that will eliminate needless and burdensome regulations, simplify and streamline compliance obligations, and strike a better balance between the twin goals of protecting human health and the environment and promoting the economic vitality of the nation."
That perspective mirrors how Pruitt talks about his job, Democrats noted, complaining that phrases such as "balance" downplay many scientists' belief that humans are a major contributor to climate change by burning fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases.
Wehrum acknowledged in his confirmation hearing that humans are contributing to climate change. But he said "it's an open question" if humans are the predominant cause of global warming, a position held by other Trump administration officials.
The Environment and Public Works Committee advanced Wehrum’s nomination last month, but only after delaying a vote after Republicans threatened to oppose him because of the Trump administration's proposal to weaken the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires a certain amount of biofuels to be blended into the nation's fuel supply.
Sen. Joni Ernst, from the corn-producing state of Iowa and a major supporter of the Renewable Fuel Standard, had criticized Wehrum for being insufficiently supportive of the biofuel industry.
Ernst and other Midwestern senators changed course after Pruitt backtracked and assured he would maintain the Renewable Fuel Standard.
The EPA is awaiting a full Senate confirmation vote for Michael Dourson to run the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
Dourson advanced out of committee with Wehrum, but the former is particularly contentious and his confirmation by the Senate is not promised.
Dourson, a toxicologist and University of Cincinnati professor, has been criticized for his ties to the chemical industry, which he would be expected to regulate. He founded a consulting group that represented companies that produced chemicals now under EPA review for their public health risks.
Democrats have expressed concern that Dourson is already working at the EPA as a top adviser to Pruitt despite being unconfirmed.
A coalition of 10 senators wrote in an Oct. 24 letter to the EPA that Dourson's advisory role at the agency may violate the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
The federal law prohibits most people who have been nominated to fill a vacant government position from doing that office's duties in an acting capacity.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senate-approves-bill-wehrum-to-lead-epas-air-office-dealing-with-climate-change-regulations/article/2640164
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(ACC Mentioned) US EPA has first public input on alternative test methods for TSCA
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Dr. Emma Davies
The US EPA has outlined a set of goals and objectives for its strategic plan to promote the development and implementation of alternative tests methods, as part of the amended toxic substances control act (TSCA).
Its focus is on risk-based decision making, said Gino Scarano from the EPA, at a public meeting co-organised by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (Iccvam). He described the opportunities for using new approach methodologies (NAMs) as "huge".
Testing goals
The EPA has been tasked with developing a plan for using alternative methods for TSCA testing by June 2018. The agency has outlined six goals, which match statutory requirements set out in TSCA legislation. They are to:
· promote the development and implementation of alternative test methods and strategies;
· ensure that the strategic plan is reflected in the development of requirements for testing;
· list particular alternative test methods or strategies;
· develop criteria for scientific reliability and relevance of test methods and strategies;
· submit a progress report to Congress every five years; and
· prioritise and carry out performance assessment, validation and translational studies to accelerate the development of alternative methods/strategies.
For each goal, the EPA is also developing different sets of near, mid- and long-term objectives for new and existing chemicals. For example, the agency plans to use NAMs as a first-tier screen for new chemicals by 2022. From that date, it also hopes to use alternative test methods for quantitative or qualitative risk evaluation.
"For existing chemicals, there is a very large effort to prioritise the 80,000-odd chemicals on the inventory, to determine which ones to focus on for risk evaluation," said Dr Scarano.
"Prioritisation is where we see the key point of using existing NAMS," he said. "On the road, as we do the risk evaluation, find data gaps or have some concerns, we will be asking for NAMs to fill those gaps."
Dr Scarano also described a need to collate data on the most requested current alternative test methods. "We think that it will be important to know what we have so that we can build a better way in future of figuring out what we need the most," he said.
He highlighted Iccvam's new approach to alternative testing, as outlined in its draft roadmap. This takes a "top-down" approach to testing, with regulators guiding new test development based on their needs.
It is vital to understand which information regulators require and its "context of use", said Warren Casey, director of the US National Toxicology Program's Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM), which provides scientific and operational support for Iccvam.
Top-down approach
"We have methods on the books that are technically validated but have never once been used," said Dr Casey. "When they were validated, people didn't understand what agencies or industry needed… We can't just focus on a set of regulations. We actually have to figure out how the agencies and industry are using that information," he told the public meeting.
"Anybody that is in this business knows that we need to change the standard approach to validation that we have used in the past. We need to make it more efficient, we need to make it faster, cheaper and we need to end up with a method that people are going to use," he concluded.
Speaking at the meeting, Rick Becker from the American Chemistry Council pointed out that the risk-based approach means that it will be necessary to work out how to integrate exposure into alternative testing approaches.
"At each node, there is an opportunity to consider exposure as part of your decision context. That is going to be a challenge but also an opportunity to bring exposure science and approaches into the programme," he said.
New chemicals have specific testing needs, he added. "We just say: here's a new assessment method. Without the specifics of how it can fit within a particular regulatory decision context, it is going to be really hard for people to use those and we will run into challenges with acceptance and use."
The EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), the Office of Research and Development (ORD), the Office of Science Coordination and Policy (OSCP), and the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) are all involved in developing the strategic plan.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60985/us-epa-has-first-public-input-on-alternative-test-methods-for-tsca
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Senate Attempts to Ban Mesothelioma-Causing Asbestos for the Sixth Time
Nov 9, 2017 | Mesothelioma.net
By Terri Oppenheimer
Many Americans mistakenly believe that the use of asbestos has been banned in the United States since the 1970s, ever since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revealed the dangers of the mineral that causes asbestosis, mesothelioma and other serious diseases. Unfortunately, this is not true: every time that the Congress has tried to ban the carcinogen, powerful forces working on behalf of the chemical industry have backed their efforts. Despite the frustration, a group of several Senators has joined with Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley to co-sponsor a bill, the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2017, which would ban the toxic material’s use.
It has been decades since science has proven that asbestos causes mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer, as well as asbestosis and other deadly and life-altering diseases. The material is one of the ten being reviewed by the Environmental Protection Agency under the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act, and health advocates had hoped that would lead to its ban. But the Trump administration under EPA Director Scott Pruitt has indicated that it will soften the anticipated approach to asbestos, so the senators have decided to take a different approach that would bypass the EPA and eliminate asbestos use without the agency’s assistance. The bill would: Place restrictions on the use of asbestos within 18 months, with the intention of cutting human and environmental exposure to the material. Force the Environmental Protection Agency to provide details regarding all known uses of asbestos in the country, assessing the impact of each example. Stop commercial asbestos from being manufactured, processed, used or distributed outside of the uses currently included in the EPA’s exception rule.
The action has support of health advocates throughout the country, who are concerned about the continued risk of mesothelioma to the American public. Speaking to the Montana Standard, a newspaper published in the state that has been among the most damaged by mesothelioma, thoracic surgeon Dr. Raja Flores of the Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York said, “Don’t get me started. Asbestos is a killer. The evidence is clear. This bill is a life-saving bill. It can save more lives than I can with my knife. Any politician who doesn’t get that is protecting some group that would lose money if asbestos were banned.”
If you or someone you love has been affected by asbestos and you’d like to learn ore about the resources available to mesothelioma victims, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net. You can reach us at 1-800-692-8608.
https://mesothelioma.net/mesothelioma-news/senate-attempts-ban-mesothelioma-causing-asbestos-sixth-time/
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US Team Calls for Biomonitoring Studies of Fracking Chemicals
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
More research is needed to understand how possible pollution from chemicals used in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development, including fracking, may harm human health, according to US researchers.
Chemicals used in fracking may cause adverse neurological and developmental effects in babies and children, they said in a review article.
A team led by Ellen Web from the Center for Environmental Health in Oakland, California, analysed existing UOG studies.
They focused on five pollutant categories: heavy metals; particulate matter; polycyclic hydrocarbons; benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX); and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).
Of over 750 chemicals used for fracking, over 100 are known or suspected EDCs, the researchers said.
Scientific literature examining a direct impact of UOG development on children is just "starting to emerge", they said. However, chemicals associated with UOG operations have been linked to neurodevelopmental health problems in infants, children and young adults, they added.
The researchers recommend that authorities adopt a precautionary approach to UOG development and production. They also said that biomonitoring studies should be carried out to measure exposure to chemicals associated with UOG.
"Currently, only a small number of studies document a causal relationship between pollution created by UOG operations and undesirable health outcomes," they said. "The most accurate way to obtain information about human exposures from environmental pollution is through well-designed biomonitoring studies."
With the rapid expansion of OUG development, there is a need for well-designed studies into possible health effects, they concluded in Reviews on Environmental Health.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60990/us-team-calls-for-biomonitoring-studies-of-fracking-chemicals
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US NGO Calls for 'Fundamental Transformation' of the Carpet Industry
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
A report from the US NGO, Healthy Building Network, calls for "the fundamental transformation of the carpet industry" by eliminating the use of 44 chemicals.
Eliminating Toxic in Carpets: Lessons for the Future of Recycling examines the make up of carpet waste, and innovations in carpet composition, to determine the potential health and environmental impacts of recycling and using these materials in new carpet.
The report identifies 44 toxic substances frequently used in fibre, backing, adhesives and carpet pad, which should be replaced by alternatives.
Sources included trade association documents; Health Product Declarations (HPDs); Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs); Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs); patents; safety data sheets (SDSs); technical product documents; manufacturers; and government, academic, and other authoritative institutions.
The authors cross-referenced the ingredients found in these sources with HBN's Pharos Chemical and Materials Library (CML). This is an online catalogue of over 50,000 chemicals, polymers, metals, and other substances, that is "continuously updated to provide accurate health hazard data".
It uses 45 "authoritative scientific lists" for specific human and environmental health hazards and 29 restricted substance lists, including the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC)’s Candidate Chemicals list.
From this cross-referencing, HBN says it identified the most common substances with the highest health and environmental hazards, associated with carpet.
It makes the following recommendations:
· banning the substances identified in the report and replacing them with other readily available, less toxic chemicals;
· incentivising the design of fully recyclable carpets and removing substances that impede that process;
· ensuring that toxic substances in carpet waste are identified and removed, before they are recycled into new consumer products including carpet;
· increasing and enforcing protections for workers in the recycling industry; and
· requiring that manufacturers and retailers fully and publicly disclose all material contents in new carpet.
Design for recyclability
The report recommends that manufacturers design carpets for recyclability, as current industry efforts to recycle are thwarted by the complicated structure of carpet. This includes plastics, toxic additives and the adhesives used in carpet installations.
It recommends the following chemicals classes are the first to be eliminated from carpet design:
· PFAS stain repellants;
· certain antimicrobials (especially triclosan and formaldehyde-based);
· isocyanates;
· phthalates;
· organotins;
· fly ash;
· halogenated and other toxic flame retardants (including carpet pad); and
· other endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as bisphenols and nonylphenol ethoxylates (especially in adhesives).
It also calls for full independent assessments of alternatives on the market to be completed "with haste".
"When safer, fully recyclable, fully assessed alternatives are on the market, there is no reason for carpet manufacturers to use toxic substances, or for anyone (from individuals to developers to retailers, cities and states), to buy, third parties to certify, or regulators to allow, carpets that contain them on the market," it says.
Ingredient disclosure
The report found that manufacturers consistently failed to fully disclose carpet ingredients, and that green certifications did not address some of the key substances of concern.
It says: "These gaps frustrate consumers' right to know if the carpet they're purchasing poses a threat to their health, and the health of their family."
HBN calls upon regulators to mandate the full disclosure of carpet ingredients as well as their risks to human health.
Although product certifiers have helped to reduce the carpet industry’s use of certain chemicals and increase its use of recycled content, the report says, many certifications are missing most of the toxic substances found in carpet and carpet adhesives.
"The vast majority of carpets on the market today are in some way certified ‘green’ or otherwise publicly rewarded, even though most of these contain toxic substances that the manufacturers have not disclosed to the consumer," it says.
The report recommends that carpet containing any of the 44 chemicals it identifies, should not qualify for the highest level of product certifications.
California bill (AB 1158, Chu) was signed into law on 15 October, which mandates recycling 24% of post-consumer carpet waste by 2020, a doubling of the state's current carpet recycling rate. It also ends the consumer subsidisation of carpet incineration.
In order to meet this target, without reintroducing toxic substances into the workplace and consumer products, the HBN report says that industry will need to "implement far more quality controls, and soon".
https://chemicalwatch.com/60989/us-ngo-calls-for-fundamental-transformation-of-the-carpet-industry
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Study: Rocket Fuel Chemical Harms the Developing Fetus
Nov 9, 2017 | Environmental Working Group
By Olga Naldenko
Pregnant women’s exposure to a rocket fuel chemical, which contaminates drinking water for millions of Americans, could harm the development of fetuses' brains, a new British study found.
The study, published in Endocrine Abstractsand reported by Time magazine, examined the perchlorate exposure of 308 women from southwest England in their third trimester of pregnancy. Higher levels of perchlorate in their urine were associated with lower levels of the thyroid hormone T4, which is essential for fetal brain development.
In 2001, a groundbreaking EWG investigation found that perchlorate contaminated drinking water for almost 7 million Californians and unknown millions of other Americans. Perchlorate is the explosive component in rocket fuel and an ingredient in some fertilizers. It can contaminate food crops and milk produced with perchlorate-tainted water, and also baby formula and breast milk. Yet it remains unregulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Here are five things you should know about perchlorate.
1. Why is perchlorate dangerous?
Perchlorate interferes with the normal functioning of the thyroid hormonal system, blocking the thyroid gland's ability to utilize iodine, an essential nutrient. Harm to the thyroid during pregnancy and early infancy can impair the cognitive development of a young child.
2. How many people have perchlorate in their water?
EPA-mandated testing between 2001 and 2003 found perchlorate in drinking water systems serving over 16.6 million people. This testing underestimated the extent of perchlorate pollution because it didn’t include smaller water systems or well water.
3. Why hasn’t the EPA regulated perchlorate?
Perchlorate is the only unregulated contaminant for which the EPA has attempted to set a federal drinking water standard since 1996. However, the agency has yet to propose a draft limit, let alone a final one. The Department of Defense and military contractors who have used and released large quantities of perchlorate have actively lobbied against regulation.
4. President Trump’s EPA nominee defends perchlorate.
As EWG reported in September, Michael Dourson, President Trump’s pick to run the EPA's chemical safety office, has been paid by perchlorate makers and users to argue for a weak drinking water standard for the chemical. Dourson has advocated for a legal limit on perchlorate up to eight times weaker than the level proposed by the EPA and up to 16 times weaker than the public health goal set by California state scientists.
5. What can I do to protect my child from perchlorate?
First of all, getting enough iodine is critical during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, even if perchlorate isn’t detected in your drinking water. Women should select a prenatal vitamin that contains at least 150 micrograms of potassium iodine. Iodine, which remains essential throughout childhood, is found in fortified salt and occurs naturally in some foods.
If perchlorate is detected in your water, you can use a reverse osmosis home water filter to reduce the level. Only drink filtered water if you have perchlorate in your drinking water and are pregnant, breastfeeding or have a young child at home, as these are critical periods of sensitivity.
https://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2017/11/study-rocket-fuel-chemical-harms-developing-fetus#.WgSPO1uCzIU
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From Brussels to Arkansas, a Tough Week for Monsanto
Nov 9, 2017 | The New York Times
By Danny Hakim
Opposition from France and Italy doomed a European Union vote on Thursday to reauthorize the world’s most popular weedkiller, glyphosate, a decision that came hours after Arkansas regulators moved to ban an alternative weedkiller for much of 2018.
The decisions are a double blow to the agrochemical industry and particularly to the chemicals giant Monsanto. An appeals committee of European officials will convene later this month, though, to weigh again whether to continue to allow glyphosate just weeks before its registration expires. The chemical is the main ingredient in Roundup, one of Monsanto’s flagships, but its patent has ended and it is now made by much of the industry.
The effort to reauthorize the weedkiller failed to receive a majority even though regulators were seeking only a five-year reauthorization instead of the typical 15, amid controversy and disputes about cancer risk that have made glyphosate’s future in Europe uncertain. Its approval in the region expires in mid-December.
The vote on Thursday, which was weighted based on the population of the various European Union member states, was nearly 37 percent in favor of renewing the chemical and a little over 32 percent against, with nearly 31 percent abstaining. France and Italy opposed the renewal; Spain was in favor, along with Britain, which is due to leave the union; Germany and Poland abstained.
In Arkansas, regulators voted on Wednesday to ban the use of another major weedkiller, dicamba, for more than six months of next year, including the summer, amid widespread reports of crop damage. Dicamba has been around for decades, but new versions have been developed by Monsanto, BASF and DuPont as an alternative to Roundup. The regulatory recommendation is now being sent to a state legislative panel.
Taken together, the decisions reflect an increasing political resistance to pesticides in Europe and parts of the United States, as well as the specific shortcomings of dicamba, whose tendency to drift has given pause even to the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency, which has otherwise largely acceded to the wishes of the chemical industry. Dicamba has damaged more than 3.6 million acres of soybean crops in 25 states, roughly 4 percent of all soybeans planted this year in the United States.
In a statement, an industry trade group known as the Glyphosate Task Force, which includes Monsanto and Syngenta, called the European decision “discriminatory and unacceptable,” adding that “delays of this nature which are evident during the final stages of the process simply expose acute politicization of the regulatory procedure.”
But Nicolas Hulot, the French environment minister, tweeted after the vote: “Thanks to our opposition glyphosate is not reauthorized for 10 years, nor 5 years. The effort to get out of pesticides continues!”
Regarding the decision in Arkansas, Scott Partridge, vice president of global strategy for Monsanto, said in a statement on Wednesday that the company was disappointed that state regulators “voted to put Arkansas farmers at a disadvantage, but we’ll continue to follow the process to help those growers have greater choice next season.”
The European Union’s decision came after years of haggling and delay. Policymakers largely brushed aside the opinions of two of the bloc’s science agencies, which had found that glyphosate was not a carcinogen.
But glyphosate, which accounts for about a quarter of the global market, has been plunged into controversy since the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, declared it a probable carcinogen in 2015. The finding, which has been disputed by a number of other government agencies, has made the weedkiller a magnet for controversy.
Glyphosate is also at the center of a federal case in the United States over claims that it causes cancer, and California has declared it a carcinogen, following in the footsteps of the international cancer agency.
Use of glyphosate has soared in the United States and other parts of the world over the last two decades, after Monsanto introduced crops that were genetically engineered to be resistant to the chemical. That meant key crops like corn, soybeans and cotton could be sprayed with the herbicide after they emerged from the ground. During that time, the presence of glyphosate in human urine increased 500 percent, according to a recent study by the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Europe, by contrast, has largely shunned genetically modified crops, but glyphosate is still the Continent’s biggest seller. In Britain and Germany, it is used on as much as 40 percent of agricultural land, according to an industry trade group.
But political sentiment in Europe has been turning against Monsanto, the American company that has become the face of the agrochemical industry, even though it is in the process of being acquired by Bayer, a German chemicals giant. The European Parliament voted last month to ban glyphosate, a step that was nonbinding. And in September, the Parliament made Monsanto the first company to be banned from lobbying the chamber.
The science around glyphosate has become a muddle of allegations and counterallegations. Environmental activists have accused national regulators of hewing too closely to Monsanto’s wishes, while the industry has been exasperated that European politicians are overruling their science agencies. The litigation in the United States has only muddied the waters further, with evidence emerging that Monsanto ghostwrote both journalism and academic work, eroding trust in a company that had long been a lightning rod.
With dicamba, the industry received warnings years ago that the weedkiller was prone to drifting on crops and vegetation it was not intended to treat. Dicamba is supposed to be used with soybeans that are genetically modified to resist its effects.
Steve Smith, a member of an advisory panel set up by Monsanto, warned as far back as 2010 that “widespread use of dicamba is incompatible with Midwestern agriculture,” according to congressional testimony he gave that year. “Even the best, the most conscientious farmers cannot control where this weedkiller will end up.”
Monsanto has argued that drift is occurring when dicamba is sprayed improperly or when unapproved versions are used. Many farmers and weed scientists say it can also turn into a gas and drift in certain weather conditions.
Environmentalists called for federal action by the Environmental Protection Agency on dicamba.
“It’s long past time the agency heed independent science and protect farmers by prohibiting the use of this hazardous weedkiller,” said Bill Freese, a science policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/business/eu-arkansas-monsanto-weedkiller.html?_r=0
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EU Nano Definition 'Too Broad', Industry Says
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
The European Commission's definition of a nanomaterial is "too broad" and may result in all coatings, paints and printing inks on the market being incorrectly classified, two trade associations have said.
The EU's "overly wide approach" does not differentiate between process-related and intentionally engineered nanomaterials, according to the British Coatings Federation (BCF) and European paints and inks trade body Cepe. They submitted their comments to the Commission's recent consultation on the revision of its Recommendation on the definition of a nanomaterial.
As a result, "incidental" materials such as standard common pigments and nano-scale emulsion polymers could be included in the classification, they said. "The revised definition should therefore be more concrete and limited to issues of concern in order to be practical."
Agreed in 2011, the definition refers to substances with 50% of particles or more between 1nm and 100nm. The Commission decided to focus the definition on size instead of nano-specific properties, as "size is the only universally applicable, clear and measurable criterion".
However, several industry players said a definition on size alone is "fundamentally flawed" and "ineffective". The Commission should consider the mass fraction as an additional criterion to the number fraction to avoid unintended inclusion of materials in the definition, BCF and Cepe said.
In its submission, Cefic also said a mass-based threshold would be a better base for the definition. "This is not only because measurement techniques usually give the results in mass and subsequent conversion results in higher uncertainty, but also because the results of toxicological and ecotoxicological tests continue to be mainly reported using also a mass metric."
If size is used, the Commission should limit exceptions as "they could entail many more materials being considered as nanomaterials", Cefic said. Exceptions to the size-based definition were originally introduced to include carbon nanotubes, graphene and fullerenes, but the final report from the Commission's Joint Research Centre recommended amending or removing them.EU vs other regions
Industry comments also point at definitions of a nanomaterial used in other regions, and Cefic said aiming for greater harmonisation "would be helpful for all parties involved".
Manufacturer AkzoNobel said the EU definition is the only one that includes natural or accidentally occurring nanoparticles, "whereas all other definitions are restricted to intentionally produced, manufactured or engineered nanomaterials".
Meanwhile, producer Dane Color UK said that both Australia’s Nicnas and the US EPA "capture the tenet that nanomaterials need to be considered as materials offering different properties to the bulk".
Following the consultation, the draft changes to the Recommendation will be subject to another public consultation lasting 12 weeks.
The Commission is also considering responses to a recent consultation on the revision of REACH annexes for the registration of nanomaterials.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60993/eu-nano-definition-too-broad-industry-says
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NGO Decries 'Secret' EU Commission Work on FCMs
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
CHEM Trust has accused the European Commission of shrouding its work on the EU's regulation of chemicals in food contact materials (FCMs) in secrecy.
The NGO says the Commission's DG Sante is holding its meetings on FCMs behind closed doors. While it has involved a technical expert group, this is only open to industry representatives. Environmental and consumer groups are not permitted access to any other formal stakeholder processes, CHEM Trust said.
NGO the Food Packaging Forum was allowed to participate in the group's meetings until May 2015, but it was barred from future congregations when membership criteria were changed to "experts from industry trade associations only". The Forum says its request to regain membership has been declined.
In addition, the Commission does not publicise when the expert group is due to meet or what it is consulting on, CHEM Trust said.
And the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) has reported fruitless attempts to use the Commission's access to documents process to find out who attends DG Sante's member state working group on FCMs.
In October CHEM Trust, Client Earth and HEAL discussed their concerns about the secrecy of these processes with the director general of DG Sante Xavier Prats Monné.
CHEM Trust executive director Michael Warhurst says Mr Prats Monné made no specific commitments at that meeting, and a letter sent by the NGOs shortly afterwards has not yet received a response.
The Commission told Chemical Watch that it will respond shortly to address the NGOs' concerns. "During the meeting it was made clear that the Commission is looking to engage with them fully in the future," a spokesperson for DG Sante said.
"The Commission is committed to transparency and consulting with all stakeholders and has previously participated in NGO workshops and bilateral meetings with them on food contact materials."
DG Sante added that it follows the better regulation guidelines and undertakes a feedback mechanism, for example, on the recent draft amending Regulation that proposes additional restrictions on bisphenol A (BPA) in some FCMs.Parliament discussion
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) criticised this lack of transparency at a meeting of Parliament's environment committee (Envi) on Monday.
The Commission's director for Food and feed safety, innovation, Sabine Jülicher, said it had been unclear whether NGOs wanted to be involved in the technical expert group on FCMs. Ms Jülicher said Brussels would reach out to NGOs once again "when there are new developments".
Ms Jülicher told Envi the Commission would begin an evaluation of EU legislation on FCMs next year and publish a roadmap outlining this work soon. Both of these, she said, would be subject to extensive stakeholder consultations.
But Dr Warhurst says "seeing will be believing", and added that it would not increase transparency on the Commission's work on a measure on printed FCMs. This is being discussed separately, again with an industry-only stakeholder group.
Documents released by the Commission in September show that it is considering an option modelled on industry-based assurance schemes, Dr Warhurst said. "This is an example of something that should be widely discussed, not just left to a closed industry stakeholder group and an untransparent working group process."
https://chemicalwatch.com/60971/ngo-decries-secret-eu-commission-work-on-fcms
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Efforts to Ban PFHxS Globally Move Forward
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
A UN expert panel has agreed to progress the evaluation of the fluorinated substance perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and related compounds, for action under the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
At its meeting in Rome last month, the UN’s POP review committee concluded that the substance – which was nominated by Norway in June – meets the treaty’s screening criteria for persistence, bioaccumulation, long-range transport and adverse effects.
The committee will now invite parties of the convention and observers to submit information on production, use and releases of the substance, as well as information on socio-economic considerations, including available alternatives and the efficacy of possible control measures in meeting risk reduction goals. This stage, known as the risk management evaluation phase, is where exemptions are proposed.
If agreed, the POPRC will then recommend whether the chemical should be considered by the Conference of the Parties for listing in Annexes A (elimination), B (restriction) and/or C (unintentional production).
The substance is used in textiles, carpet protectors, leather, papermaking, pesticides, electroplating, firefighting foams, photosensitive material and some synthetic materials. It has also been found in printing inks, sealants and in non-stick cookware.
However, Ms Pamela Miller, co-chair of NGO Ipen, said the industry had replaced one bad chemical, PFOS, with another: PFHxS. "This entire class of fluorinated chemicals is too dangerous to address one at a time and countries should take action to remove all of them," she said. PFOS was added to the treaty's list of substances to be restricted (Annex B) in 2009.
PFOA exemptions
The POPRC also recommended the phase out of five uses of fellow fluorinated chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). This was nominated for action under the Stockholm Convention by the EU in 2015. These uses include:
· manufacture of semiconductors or related electronic devices;
· photographic coatings applied to films;
· textiles for oil and water repellency, specifically for the protection of workers from dangerous liquids;
· refurbishment parts needed to make semi-conductors; and
· use of PFOA-related substances to make pharmaceutical products.
However, it postponed, until its next meeting in September 2018, decisions on a list of proposed exemptions, including use in medical devices, photo-imaging sector paper and printing, automotive industry spare parts and firefighting foams.
"Unfortunately, the POPRC opened the door to time-unlimited exemptions for PFOA production and use, through a possible listing in Annex B of the treaty," says Joe Digangi, senior scientific adviser at Ipen. The focus of Annex B is restriction rather than the goal of Annex A, which is elimination. "The loopholes in Annex B, known as 'acceptable purposes', have no time limit," says Mr Digangi.
"At the urging of China, Netherlands and Poland, the committee recommend a listing in Annex A or B. This happened previously with PFOS and the Conference of the Parties ended up listing the substance in Annex B with numerous time-unlimited loopholes," he added.
Conflict of interest?
The meeting also addressed recent NGO claims that the EU inappropriately used the Munich-based consultancy BiPRO to help draft its risk management evaluation (RME). By doing so, they said in a letter to the EU executive, it "created a conflict of interest cloud over the proceedings" because the consultancy’s client list "contains companies that make fluorinated compounds and/or use PFOA in their manufacturing processes".
The EU refuted the claims before and during the meeting, saying that the draft RME was a "fact-based, scientific assessment" and that various views were reflected in the document.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60986/efforts-to-ban-pfhxs-globally-move-forward
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Intellectual Property Rights Blocking Access to OECD Test Methods
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Users of validated OECD methods can sometimes find they are unable to access key parts – typically cell lines or reagents, because of intellectual property (IP) rights preventing use without a licence – the organisation has said.
In some cases, the licence is unreasonably expensive; in others, no licence is available.
Consequently, the secretariat for the OECD's Test Guidelines (TGs) programme will propose a project to tackle the growing problem of IP rights being used to restrict access to validated methods.
The lack of access conflicts with the aims of the programme, said Anne Gourmelon, TGs administrator. All parts of a validated TG should be "freely available". This does not mean that they should be free, she said. She said that it is right and proper that test method developers are able to profit from their innovations through their intellectual property rights, but fees should be fair and reasonable.
A longer version of this story is available on Chemical Risk Manager.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60979/intellectual-property-rights-blocking-access-to-oecd-test-methods
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Deadline Extended on UN Sustainable Chemistry Project
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The deadline on a United Nations Environment project to gather examples of best practices in sustainable chemistry has been extended to 30 November.
In 2016 the United Nations Environment Assembly (Unea) invited countries, international organisations and other stakeholders interested in the topic to submit examples demonstrating how they might enhance the sound management of chemicals.
To date, more than 30 submissions have been received from all regions and from a mix of governments, and private sector and civil society organisations.
UN Environment has now extended the deadline for submissions from 30 June, in order to "encourage and accommodate the submission of further best practices in the field of sustainable chemistry".
The organisation is looking for examples in areas that include:
· safe chemical alternatives;
· non-chemical alternatives;
· research and development;
· technology transfer;
· innovations in business models;
· economic incentives;
· innovative financing/investment schemes;
· educational/curriculum reform; and
· broader initiatives (for example: sustainable chemistry policies and action plans).
Examples of submissions received so far include: a new technology to replace per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in paper used for food containers; the use of CO2 as raw material for polyol synthesis; the introduction of innovative business models such as chemical leasing; and a sustainability hotspot scan to assess the social and environmental impact of chemical products during their lifecycle.
To complement the project UN Environment has set up a survey on the topic. The organisation is going to award three respondents with scholarships for a Unitar e-learning course.
https://chemicalwatch.com/60978/deadline-extended-on-un-sustainable-chemistry-project
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Study Reveals 'Massive Weaknesses' in Conflict Minerals Policies
Nov 9, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
Independent research has found that 95% of company conflict mineral policies are not aligned with the OECD's Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains.
A recent study by London-based sustainability consultancy Kumi Consulting, examined the public policies of 314 downstream companies belonging to industry group the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI).
Kumi says if industry does not improve its policies, the European Commission may decide to make due diligence mandatory when the effectiveness of the Regulation is reviewed in 2023.
Speaking earlier this month at engineering consultancy Rina Consulting’s Electrical and Electronic Equipment and the Environment conference in London, Kumi's Andrew Britton said the study revealed "massive weaknesses" in conflict mineral policies.
The EU Regulation on conflict minerals, which comes into force in January 2021, encourages downstream companies to carry out voluntary due diligence, but does not make this a mandatory requirement.
Downstream firms with more than 500 employees, which are subject to EU law on non-financial reporting, will be able to join an EU registry and report voluntarily on their practices.
A Commission spokesperson confirmed the review will include an assessment of the proportion of total downstream EU economic operators with tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG) in their supply chain which have due diligence schemes in place, and will also assess the need for additional mandatory measures.
Narrow focus
Kumi's research checked that RMI members’ policies provide information on the following criteria from the OECD guidance:
· conflict and severe human rights abuses;
· the standards of the OECD guidance;
· requirements for suppliers to comply with the policy; and
· does not limit its applicability to the Democratic Republic of Congo and surrounding areas.
The most common reason for companies' policies not being aligned with the OECD guidance, was that their policies applied only to conflict minerals from the DRC region.
Mr Britton said that companies currently gear their policies to meeting reporting requirements under section 1502 of the US Dodd-Frank Act.
He said: "The US defines conflict minerals as deriving from the DRC and surrounding regions, while OECD guidelines recognise that conflict could occur anywhere. The country of origin is only one risk factor in determining whether mineral production has lead to the financing of armed groups and human rights abuses."
Although the EU Regulation is focused on tungsten, tantalum and gold, Mr Britton said industry was taking voluntary action on the sourcing of other minerals such as cobalt.
NGOs such as Amnesty International have been lobbying for other minerals to be covered under the EU Regulation when it is assessed in 2023.
The second most common reason for companies’ policies failing to meet OECD guidance tests was that companies did not specify what the impacts were that suppliers were to avoid contributing to through their mineral sourcing.
In order to align with OECD guidance, industry needed to "change its mindset," Mr Britton said.
"Standard industry thinking is that if I want to make sure the minerals in my products aren’t associated with conflict, all I need to do is avoid sourcing from the DRC, but there’s more to it than that," he said.
RMI vice president Leah Butler told Chemical Watch that the intiative works within the framework of the OECD guidelines.
She added that its programmes "continue to evolve from the initiative’s original scope, to cover a broader set of risks beyond conflict and security issues, 3TG and geographies beyond the African Great Lakes region."
Alignment assessment project
In addition to Kumi's independent study, the consultancy is working with the OECD on a project to assess the alignment of industry initiatives with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains.
This examines how the implementation of the OECD guidance has advanced since 2011 and to what extent industry initiatives are following the guidance. Results of the project will be available early next year.
Part of the project involves developing an assessment methodology to judge to what extent companies are following OECD guidelines.
This methodology will be used by the Commission to assess the equivalence of industry initiatives with the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation.
OECD policy advisor, Hannah Koep-Andrieu, told Chemical Watch: "The idea is to avoid duplication of checks and audits for those companies that are already members of assurance programmes that are found to be aligned with the OECD guidance and EU Regulation".
She added that the OECD guidance is the international recognised standard and industry aligning with it "avoids confusion among companies across the supply chain and ensures a level playing field in terms of due diligence expectations."
https://chemicalwatch.com/60967/study-reveals-massive-weaknesses-in-conflict-minerals-policies
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(ACC Mentioned) China Deal Is Key to Developing Long-Sought Natural Gas Hub in WV
Nov 9, 2017 | Metronews of West Virginia
By Brad McElhinny
Leaders familiar with West Virginia’s freshly-announced $83 billion deal with China Energy say the agreement is a key to developing a long-sought natural gas storage hub.
One of the focuses of West Virginia’s energy sector has been storing high-value natural gas liquids underground.
“Most important to me, this is going to get our storage hub project that we’ve been working on, make it a reality,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said this morning on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
She added, “I would say the storage hub — nothing’s a done deal until it’s a done deal — but the American Chemistry Council estimates that alone would bring 100,000 new jobs to the region. So that is obviously high on the priority list for this deal.”
The state Department of Commerce announced overnight an agreement with China Energy to invest $83.7 billion in shale gas development and chemical manufacturing projects in West Virginia.
The agreement was the biggest among several deals signed during President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing. The total value of the deals done during Trump’s trip could be as much as $250 billion, Reuters reported.
Woody Thrasher, West Virginia’s Commerce secretary, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Energy President Ling Wen Thursday as President Trump looked on.
Some national energy analysts cautioned that agreements such as a memorandum of understanding would represent a less firm commitment than a contract and the actual amount being invested could wind up being less than originally described.
The state Department of Commerce sent out a news release about the announcement just after midnight. China Energy officials had made several trips to West Virginia and the memorandum represents the first of several expected commitments by the company, the Commerce Department said.
Planning for the projects is underway and will proceed in phases over the course of 20 years, according to the release from the Commerce Department.
The projects will focus on power generation, chemical manufacturing and underground storage of natural gas liquids and derivatives.
The natural gas storage hub has been a focal point of West Virginia’s economic development efforts.
A West Virginia University research team has been studying geological formations to pinpoint the best sites for natural gas storage. But state leaders also have been focused on how the private sector might invest millions of dollars in developing the hub.
Developers have estimated the startup cost for the storage hub is at least $1 billion, although the total buildout cost is probably more around $10 billion.
The storage hub is one of the projects that developers are working on under the memorandum of understanding with China Energy, said Brian Anderson, director of the WVU Energy Institute.
“China Energy is extremely interested in it for the same reasons we are in the sense that the Appalachian storage and trade hub, storing all these raw material precursors is a necessary piece of the infrastructure to build out a robust chemical industry in our region,” Anderson said.
“So if they’re investing in that robust chemical industry, they also are extremely interested in investing in the necessary infrastructure in the storage hub. We have the potential in our region to become the second major petrochemical hub in the United States.”
One of the most appealing aspects of the agreement is its focus on turning raw materials into end products in West Virginia, said Anne Blankenship, director of the West Virginia Oil & Natural Gas Association.
“This is about producing our natural gas here, turning those into natural gas liquids here in West Virginia,” Blankenship said. “This would give us the opportunity through a storage hub and through bringing petrochemical facilities back into this area so that we can keep it here, create the job and create investment and revenue opportunities.”
http://wvmetronews.com/2017/11/09/china-deal-is-key-to-developing-long-sought-natural-gas-hub-in-wv/
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West Virginia Signs Investment Pact With China Energy
Nov 9, 2017 | AP (In The New York Times)
West Virginia officials announced an agreement on Thursday with China Energy Investment Corp. Ltd. for the company to invest $83.7 billion in shale gas development and chemical manufacturing in West Virginia over 20 years.
State Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher and China Energy President Ling Wen signed the memorandum in Beijing as part of the US-China trade mission and an overall $250 billion of planned Chinese investments in the U.S. It during President Trump's visit to Beijing.
West Virginia commerce officials said project planning is already underway and will focus on power generation, chemical manufacturing and underground storage of natural gas liquids and derivatives. The state was chosen for its position as an energy producer and its large underground shale gas reserves.
"West Virginia has actively sought direct foreign investment to strengthen and diversify our economy," Thrasher said. Toyota, Hino Motors, Gestamp, Sogefi and other corporations with international parent companies have created jobs and generated income in the state, and they expect China Energy to bring mutual benefits, he said.
West Virginia University since 2002 has been jointly researching coal liquefaction with mining company Shenhua Group, which merged with energy company Guodian Group to form China Energy.
The university said it will work closely with state officials to help coordinate the investment,with funding focused on developing the proposed Appalachia storage and trading hub.
In August, the university released a study by researchers from the geological surveys in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio of geologic formations that could be used by developers to build underground facilities to store natural gas liquids from natural gas wells.
Last year, the university and Shenhua signed a partnership agreement to establish West Virginia as the priority area the company's U.S. investments, natural gas power plant development, shale gas development and upstream and downstream businesses, technologies in clean coal and power and training.
Brian Anderson, director of WVU's Energy Institute, called Thursday's memorandum "a game changer for the state."
The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and other environmental groups oppose the storage hub, saying it would create a major petrochemical region with public health dangers and contribute to global warming.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/11/09/us/ap-us-chinese-investments.html
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Shell Starts Construction on $6B PA Ethane Cracker Plant
Nov 9, 2017 | Construction Dive
By Kim Slowey
Dive Brief:· Shell Chemicals has started construction on its new $6 billion ethane cracker plant in Potter Township, PA, which, when complete, will produce 1.6 million metric tons of polyethylene each year, according to The Times.
· The company has already prepared the site, laid the foundation for plant construction and built infrastructure like bridges and roads around the property. The cracker plant will be the biggest part of the project, but Shell is also building a 250-megawatt natural gas-fired plant to power the ethane facility, as well as a cooling tower, loading facilities, a water-treatment plant, a laboratory and an office building.
· The polyethylene the plant produces will be used to make a wide variety of items from furniture to food packaging. The project is also expected to employ 6,000 construction workers at the height of operations and provide 600 permanent positions once the plant is complete. Dive Insight:
The term "cracker" refers to any plant that breaks up, or "cracks," oil or gas into smaller molecules, according to Penn State Extension, in order to make ethylene, which is then converted to polyethylene using a process called polymerization.
These plants are big moneymakers as well. During its latest earnings call, The Times reported earlier this month, Royal Dutch Shell said it expected the fully operational Potter Township plant to help add $3.5 billion to $4 billion of earnings each year to the company's chemical division.
Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical is also considering building an ethane cracker plant, according to The Times Leader, this one on the site of a now-demolished coal-fired power plant along the Ohio River in Belmont County, OH, near the West Virginia border. PTT said it will come to a decision about building the plant there by the end of the year.
Back in 2015, PTT said JobsOhio, the private economic development arm in Ohio, offered it an "aggressive incentive package," according to Columbus Business First, if it would build its cracker plant there. PTT said the proposal included tax credits for job creation, workforce training and infrastructure improvement grants and local tax credits.
According to National Public Radio, Pennsylvania gave Shell a 25-year, $1.65 billion tax credit to build its cracker plant in the state. Officials agreed to a 15-year tax amnesty and will give Shell a $2.10 tax credit for every gallon of ethane it purchases from state natural gas drillers.
https://www.constructiondive.com/news/shell-starts-construction-on-6b-pa-ethane-cracker-plant/510471/
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Total Buys Engie's LNG Business, Including Cameron LNG Stake
Nov 9, 2017 | Fuel Fix
By Jordan Blum
Total said it will pay $1.5 billion to buy Engie's liquefied natural gas assets in a deal between French energy giants with U.S. Gulf Coast implications.
The deal includes the sale of Engie's 16.6 percent stake in the Cameron LNG project in Louisiana near the Texas border. San Diego-based Sempra Energy owns a majority of the much-delayed Cameron LNG export project, which now is slated to begin coming online in 2019.
The overall sale is intended to make Total the world's second-largest player in LNG market share after Royal Dutch Shell. Apart from Australia, much of the growth of LNG projects is occurring along the Gulf Coast where there's access to cheap and ample natural gas courtesy of the ongoing U.S. shale boom.
The deal also includes Engie's LNG tanker fleet, its existing LNG sales contracts and its LNG facilities in Europe.
"With the equity stake in the Cameron LNG project, Total will also become an integrated player in the US LNG market, where the Group is already a gas producer," said Patrick Pouyanné, Total chairman and CEO.
http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Total-buys-Engie-s-LNG-business-including-12342755.php
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On-Target NatGas Storage Figure Triggers Some Profit-Taking
Nov 9, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jeremiah Shelor
An on-the-nose natural gas storage figure from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Thursday triggered some selling in the December contract, with the market showing some disappointment that the actual number didn’t come in lower than consensus.
The EIA reported a 15 Bcf injection for the week ended Nov. 3, right in line with market expectations. In the minutes following EIA's 10:30 a.m. EDT publication, the December contract dipped into the $3.180 range after taking out technical resistance earlier in the morning and climbing as high as $3.216. By 11 a.m. EDT December was trading around $3.190.
"This print once again fell right within market expectations and has resulted in only gradual selling since its release. It was slightly larger than expected, which may put a temporary halt on the rally we have seen as of late and may encourage longs to take profits," said Bespoke Weather Services in a post-release note to clients.
"However, we do not think the number reflects any material week/week loosening, as it is about on par with last week. Accordingly, we have not adjusted our expected prints over the next three weeks, and see any profit-taking off this print as temporary in the face of broader bullish weather expectations."
Steve Blair, vice president of Rafferty Commodities Group, said the market seemed a little disappointed in the 15 Bcf figure given talk that the number could come in even lower than the consensus.
"That was a very wide range of estimates...and so sometimes you've got to take with a grain of salt the average. It could be that the market was actually looking for a little bit less than that, or it could be that the market got what it expected, is disappointed it wasn't a smaller injection, and now we're back to the whole weather scenario," Blair said.
This could be a case of "buy the rumor, sell the fact, with the market still not believing that we're heading into winter yet," he said.
Prior to the storage figure release, consensus was for a build in the teens. A Reuters survey of traders and analysts called for a build of 15 Bcf, with a range of -3 Bcf to +32 Bcf. Kyle Cooper of IAF Advisors predicted a 14 Bcf injection, and Stephen Smith of Stephen Smith Energy also estimated a build of 14 Bcf.
Last year 54 Bcf were injected, and the five-year average stands at +45 Bcf.
Total working gas in underground storage now stands at 3,790 Bcf. That's below the five-year average of 3,861 and well below year-ago inventories of 4,009 Bcf.
The East (-1 Bcf) and Mountain (-2 Bcf) regions saw net withdrawals for the week. The Midwest injected 5 Bcf, while the South Central region injected 13 Bcf.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/112395-on-target-natgas-storage-figure-triggers-some-profit-taking
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Court Greenlights Atlantic Sunrise After 2-Day Freeze
Nov 9, 2017 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gillmer
After a brief interruption, the Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline is again good to go.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last night dissolved a temporary stay it had issued on Monday and ruled against environmentalists seeking a longer work freeze.
According to the court, the Allegheny Defense Project and other groups had not reached the high legal bar for an emergency stay of the pipeline. Monday's administrative stay was intended to be in place only while the court considered that question (Energywire, Nov. 7).
Now, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC, a Williams Cos. subsidiary, is free to continue work on the line, which stretches 200 miles across Pennsylvania before connecting with a broader network of East Coast infrastructure.
The environmental groups are likely to return to the courtroom once they've exhausted their options at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which approved the project. The agency is weighing a rehearing request from the groups and must answer it before the groups can challenge the pipeline's certificate.
The Atlantic Sunrise pipeline is at the center of several other legal disputes, including whether Pennsylvania regulators properly weighed environmental impacts, whether FERC acted improperly when it issued orders related to the pipeline without a quorum and whether FERC's grant of eminent domain to the developer infringes on the religious rights of a group of nuns.
The project is one of a slew of proposed gas pipelines caught in closely watched legal and regulatory battles. Separate active lawsuits challenge the Atlantic Coast, Mountain Valley, Valley Lateral, Constitution and Sabal Trail pipelines and many others.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/11/09/stories/1060066107
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Law Could Trigger 'Biblical Changing of the Guard'
Nov 9, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey and Kevin Bogardus
A little-known law soon could restrict top acting officials across the federal government and possibly leave the Trump administration's coming environmental and energy policy decisions legally vulnerable.
In the crosshairs are acting officials who have been serving in Senate-confirmed positions at agencies like U.S. EPA and the departments of Energy and the Interior that have no nominee waiting in the wings.
Those officials — including the acting heads of the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service — are allowed to serve only 300 days under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act if their positions have been vacant since Inauguration Day.
That clock runs out next Thursday.
"The Vacancies Act is going to come whole cloth across the federal government like a big biblical changing of the guard," said Terry Sullivan, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and executive director of the nonpartisan White House Transition Project.
So what happens after the deadline comes next week? It's complicated.
Under the law, Senate-confirmable offices without nominees will be able to perform the office's specific duties or functions assigned under statute or regulation, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report.
Acting officials who violate the act could see their decisions later challenged and possibly reversed in court, the CRS report warns. That could offer a valuable opening for foes eager to take a scalpel to Trump administration rulings.
But experts say it's not entirely clear whether or how the administration will carefully step around the issue.
"It's a peculiar set of circumstances," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. "If an official takes some kind of action that he or she is no longer authorized to do, it might take a lawsuit from an affected party, like someone who's being regulated, to block that action."
Violations may hinge on the exact mechanics of regulatory sausage-making at each agency — the formal chain of command and statutes governing specific rules — as well as the ability of regulated entities or nonprofits to sue, said Paul Light, a public policy professor at New York University.
But the legal threat, he emphasized, is real.
"You can tie up an administration forever by challenging illegal actions made by people who are performing the duties of an acting without actually being appointed as such," Light said. "I'm saying it's very serious. If they understood the law, they would be taking it seriously because the failure to pay attention to the statute would undermine their ability to 'undo' as well as 'do'."
The act appears poised to strain the decisionmaking ability of acting officials stationed in more than two dozen empty Senate-confirmable posts at EPA as well as the departments of Energy and the Interior.
EPA officials say they're not concerned about the change in responsibilities for the agency's acting officials affected by the Vacancies Act's deadline.
"I'm not worried about legal vulnerabilities about the fact that people cannot be acting AAs if there are no nominees. We know how to lead the agency and the programs, notwithstanding the limitations on who can be acting at a particular time," Kevin Minoli, EPA's acting general counsel, told E&E News.
"On the 16th, no one can be acting. That's consistent with our understanding."
According to the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan government research group, acting officials will be affected regardless of whether they began filling their roles directly after Trump moved into the White House in January or later this year.
That's because the 300-day clock starts ticking when a vacancy occurs following the first-term inauguration of a president — not when an acting official begins serving.
Kristine Simmons, vice president of government affairs at the Partnership for Public Service, said government work could be affected.
"The work of the federal government will go on, but big decisions may be put on hold. Senior career employees in acting roles are less empowered, and less comfortable, making major or long-term decisions," Simmons said.
Some agencies' Senate-confirmed officials, like chief financial officers and inspectors general, are exempt from certain provisions of the act to keep their functions independent from agency heads.
When the Vacancies Act's 300-day clock runs out during a transition year, no officials can act in the empty office without a nominee named. An official can perform the nonexclusive duties of a Senate-confirmed position but cannot do its exclusive functions, which are assigned to that specific office by law or regulation. Agency heads then may have to step in to perform those exclusive duties.
While acting officials may be shuffled out and the offices left empty, past experience shows that violations do occur. The Government Accountability Office, for example, has tracked 20 violations of the law by agencies since 2000.DOE, Interior
At Interior, at least three high-profile acting officials who have already had a hand in public lands issues could see change.
Mike Nedd, a former Army special operations officer, was named acting director of the Bureau of Land Management in mid-March, and President Trump has yet to name a nominee (E&E Daily, March 16).
And Greg Sheehan, a former Utah state official, has been acting Fish and Wildlife Service director since mid-June. There's no nominee to replace Sheehan at this time, either.
Career National Park Service worker Michael Reynolds has been identified as acting director since at least March. He is a non-political holdover, having been named deputy director of operations in August 2016. There is no nominee yet for his job.
When asked about Vacancies Act issues, Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said "we are aware of the deadline and we have taken sufficient administrative actions to ensure that the functions, duties, and responsibilities of the positions are performed."
But former Interior Solicitor Hilary Tompkins said today the agency could face potential challenges, noting some work cannot be delegated.
"There will need to be a legal determination as to what functions in the areas of offshore and onshore energy development, protection and management of park and refuge lands and species, and fulfillment of trust obligations to Indian tribes, are exclusive to those positions," she said.
A handful of acting officials could also see a shift at DOE, including Dan Simmons, who was tapped to serve as acting assistant secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the beginning of May.
The $2 billion office has been a hub for renewable energy research, facilitating declining costs for solar. The Trump administration in its fiscal 2018 budget proposal floated a 53 percent budget cut for the office.
Also potentially in flux is John Stephen Binkley, a career official who was tapped to serve as DOE's acting director of science. Trump has yet to name a nominee for the office.
Acting officials are also leading DOE's offices overseeing nuclear power, the cleanup of sprawling Cold War-era weapons production sites, international affairs and other posts.EPA
EPA also has several career employees serving in the agency's top political posts on an acting basis since Inauguration Day, as named in an internal memo before the changeover in administrations.
Administrator Scott Pruitt and Bill Wehrum, picked to lead EPA's air office, are Trump's only Senate-confirmed officials at the agency. Wehrum was confirmed just today by the Senate (see related story).
At least five of those acting officials could be fully impacted by the looming deadline under the Vacancies Act since Trump has not offered up nominees for their positions.
Donna Vizian has been serving as acting assistant administrator for administration and resources management at EPA since Jan. 20. Steven Fine has been acting chief information officer, and Jane Nishida has been acting assistant administrator for international and tribal affairs.
Since January, Barry Breen has been EPA's acting assistant administrator for land and emergency management, which oversees the toxic waste site cleanup program known as Superfund, a Pruitt priority.
Trump also has not nominated someone to lead EPA's Office of Research and Development. Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta replaced Robert Kavlock as acting research chief when he retired earlier this month.
There is also no nominee waiting to replace David Bloom, EPA's acting chief financial officer, but as the agency's top financial official, he is exempt from certain provisions of the Vacancies Act.
The president has nominated people to lead EPA's air, chemicals, enforcement, general counsel and water offices as well as for deputy administrator. Acting officials can then hold onto those jobs as long as those nominations are pending before the Senate.
Regarding its acting officials affected by the Vacancies Act, EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said, "The agency fully intends to operate in a manner that is consistent with the law."
"We hope the Senate will provide EPA with the necessary leadership to implement the president's environmental agenda to protect our nation's air, land, and water. In the meantime, existing career and political staff will continue to work together to lead the agency's programs consistent with the authority provided by the law," she said.
Bowman added that Pruitt may have to perform some functions at the agency past next week's deadline as acting officials return to their prior jobs.
"Unless the administrator chooses otherwise, the career officials currently acting will return to their normal deputy positions and continue to perform the non-exclusive duties of the position," Bowman said. "To the extent there are any duties that are exclusive to the [Senate-confirmed] position, the administrator would perform those duties. These are extremely limited and the need to exercise them happens rarely."
Minoli said EPA will be working with its program offices that have vacancies to ensure they're in accordance with the law.
"Each office is affected differently because some do and some do not have a nominee. So we will be working with each office for their specific situation," Minoli said.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/09/stories/1060066181
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