Preview Newsletter
PM ACC 10/11/17
-
(ACC Mentioned) $300 Billion War Beneath the Street: Fighting to Replace America's Water Pipes
Nov 10, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Hiroko Tabuchi
Two powerful industries, plastic and iron, are locked a lobbying war over the estimated $300 billion that local governments will spend on water and sewer pipes over the next decade. -
(ACC Mentioned) Senate Confirms Industry Lawyer Wherum to Lead EPA's Air Quality Office
Nov 10, 2017 | Utility Dive
By Robert Walton
The U.S. Senate yesterday voted 49-47 to confirm William Wehrum as assistant administrator for Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Air and Radiation, over the objections of environmentalists who point to a career spent suing the agency he will now join. -
(ACC Mentioned) Comprehensive Study Shows No Glyphosate/Cancer Connection
Nov 10, 2017 | Freedstuffs
By Jacqui Fatka
The National Institute of Health finally published the missing "Agricultural Health Study" and its findings on glyphosate in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), and they exonerated any correlation of glyphosate with cancer. -
Sen. Inhofe Urges EPA to Complete Glyphosate Review
Nov 10, 2017 | Inside EPA
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is reiterating calls for the Trump EPA to speed its registration review of glyphosate after a new study finding the world's most commonly-used herbicide does not cause certain human cancers, arguing that the Obama administration withheld release of the study and stalled EPA's re-approval of the herbicide. -
Swedish Centre to Boost SME Chemicals Substitution
Nov 10, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Swedish government has announced plans to open a substitution centre to help SMEs identify safer alternatives to hazardous substances. -
Alaska Advances Pipeline Deal With China, but Hurdles Remain
Nov 10, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) joined President Trump in Beijing yesterday to sign a deal advancing a decades-long effort to ship part of the state's massive stores of natural gas to China and the rest of Asia. -
EPA Asks to Keep Lawsuits Over Refinery Regs on Hold
Nov 10, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Twenty months after winning a pause on litigation surrounding refinery emissions regulations, U.S. EPA is still grappling with possible changes, according to a new court filing. -
Dana Young to Push for Statewide Fracking Ban Again
Nov 10, 2017 | Tampa Bay Times
By William March
State Sen. Dana Young, R-Tampa, has introduced another fracking ban bill for the coming legislative session. -
FTA, FRA Award PTC Grant Funds to 17 Projects
Nov 10, 2017 | American Shipper
By Elizabeth Landrum
The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) have selected 17 projects to receive funding under the FY2017 Positive Train Control (PTC) Grant Program. -
Insuring the Backbone of the Freight Transport System
Nov 10, 2017 | Insurance Business Magazine
By Sam Boyer
The railroad industry is one of the oldest forms of transport in the country, and has formed the backbone of US freight transportation since the early 1800s. -
Mr. Trump, Alone With His Lies in a Warming World
Nov 10, 2017 | The New York Times
By The Editorial Board
Earlier this week, Syria announced during an international conference in Bonn, Germany, that it would add its name to the historic 2015 Paris climate agreement, in which nearly 200 countries pledged their best efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This would leave the United States as the only country to have rejected the Paris deal, which Mr. Trump did in a Rose Garden rant on June 1 that was notable, even by Trumpian standards, for its dishonesty. -
After Northam Win, Virginia Set to Unveil Cap-And-Trade Plan
Nov 10, 2017 | The Washington Times
By Ben Wolfgang
With the certainty that a Democrat will run the state for the next four years, Virginia next week is expected to unveil its own ambitious plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions with a cap-and-trade proposal similar to the ones already in place across the Northeast. -
D.C. Circuit Extends Stay of CPP Suit for 60 Days
Nov 10, 2017 | Inside EPA
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is extending its stay of litigation over the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP) greenhouse gas limits for existing power plants, given the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to repeal the regulation.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Transportation and Infrastructure News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News
-
(ACC Mentioned) $300 Billion War Beneath the Street: Fighting to Replace America's Water Pipes
Nov 10, 2017 | Inside EPA
By Hiroko Tabuchi
Bursting pipes. Leaks. Public health scares.
America is facing a crisis over its crumbling water infrastructure, and fixing it will be a monumental and expensive task.
Two powerful industries, plastic and iron, are locked a lobbying war over the estimated $300 billion that local governments will spend on water and sewer pipes over the next decade.
It is a battle of titans, raging just inches beneath our feet.
“Things are moving so fast,” said Reese Tisdale, president of the water advisory firm Bluefield Research. And it’s a good thing, he says: “There are some pipes in the ground that are 150 years old.”
How the pipe wars play out — in city and town councils, in state capitals, in Washington — will determine how drinking water is delivered to homes across America for generations to come.
Traditional materials like iron or steel currently make up almost two-thirds of existing municipal water pipe infrastructure. But over the next decade, as much as much as 80 percent of new municipal investment in water pipes could be spent on plastic pipes, Bluefield predicts.
The outcome of the rivalry will also determine the country’s response to an infrastructure challenge of epic proportions.
By 2020, the average age of the 1.6 million miles of water and sewer pipes in the United States will hit 45 years. Cast iron pipes in at least 600 towns and countries are more than a century old, according to industry estimates. And though Congress banned lead water pipes three decades ago, more than 10 million older ones remain, ready to leach lead and other contaminants into drinking water from something as simple as a change in water source.
As many as 8,000 children were exposed to unsafe levels of lead in Flint, Mich., after the city switched to a new water supply but failed to properly treat the water with chemicals to prevent its lead pipes from disintegrating. Corroding iron pipes, meanwhile, have been linked to two outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease in Flint that added to the public health emergency.
The plastics industry has seized on the post-Flint fears.
The American Chemistry Council, a deep-pocketed trade association that lobbies for the plastics industry, has backed bills in at least five states — Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Indiana and Arkansas — that would require local governments to open up bids for municipal water projects to all suitable materials, including plastic. A council spokesman, Scott Openshaw, criticized the current bidding process in many localities as “virtual monopolies which waste taxpayer money, drive up costs and ultimately make it harder for states and municipalities to complete critical water infrastructure upgrades.”
Opponents of the industry-backed bills, including many municipal engineers, say they are a thinly-veiled effort by the plastics industry to muscle aside traditional pipe suppliers.
“It’s simply catering to an industry that is trying to use legislation to gain market share,” Stephen Pangori of the American Council of Engineering Companies testified this year before a Michigan Senate committee.
To more directly reach towns and counties across the country, the plastics industry is also leaning on the American City County Exchange, a new group that gives corporations extraordinary capacity to influence public policy at the city and county levels. The group operates under the auspices of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a wider effort funded by the petrochemicals billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch that has drawn scrutiny for helping corporations and local politicians write legislation behind closed doors.
Corporations pay membership fees as high as $25,000 to gain access to some 1,500 mayors and local council members who have signed up for the initiative. At a July convention in Denver that brought together about three dozen local legislators, Bruce Hollands, executive director of the plastic pipe industry group Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association, discussed what had gone wrong in Flint, and explained what needed to be done to open up local bidding for plastic water pipes. To spur local decision-making, the A.C.C.E. has also adopted model legislationpushing for more open bidding for water pipes.
“We’re just trying to take up policies that limit the size of government, that keep it from growing exponentially,” said Jon Russell, national director of the A.C.C.E. and a councilman from the town of Culpeper, Va.
Plastics are obvious replacement for the country’s aging pipes. Lightweight, easy to install, corrosion-free and up to 50 percent cheaper than iron, plastic pipes have already taken the place of copper as the preferred material for service lines that connect homes to municipal mains, as well as water pipes inside the home.
Still, some scientists warn that the rapid replacement of America’s water infrastructure with plastic could bring its own health concerns.
Scientists are just starting to understand the effect of plastic on the quality and safety of drinking water, including what sort of chemicals can leach into the water from the pipes themselves, or from surrounding groundwater contamination. Studies have shown that toxic pollutants like benzene and toluene from spills and contaminated soil can permeate certain types of plastic pipes as they age. A 2013 review of research on leaching from plastic pipe identified more than 150 contaminants migrating from plastic pipes into drinking water.
“Plastics are being installed without any real understanding of what they’re doing to our drinking water,” said Andrew J. Whelton, assistant professor of civil engineering at Purdue University, and an author of the 2013 study. “We don’t know what chemicals we’re being exposed to.”
Sensing an opening, the iron pipe industry has started a public relations push of its own, voicing concerns over plastic, wooing President Trumpwith accolades for his infrastructure drive, and setting up a war between the two industries.
“Iron is just more durable. It’s a more proven material,” said Patrick Hogan, president of the Ductile Iron Pipe Research Association, the industry’s main lobby group. “Iron’s been in the ground for 100 years.”
Plastic groups have criticized the studies, saying they focus on older generations of plastic piping and conflate different types of plastics. They also stress that their pipes are independently tested by the third-party organization.
“It’s not a new material. It’s a safe material. It’s independently tested,” said Mr. Hollands, executive director of the Uni-Bell plastic pipes group.
The industry outreach, at times, has been more overt.
At the height of Flint’s water crisis, the chief executive of one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of plastic pipes, JM Eagle, traveled to the beleaguered city and offered to replace the city’s lead pipes for free.
Pipes fromJM Eagle would last 100 years and were a long-lasting and safe solution, the company’s chief executive, Walter Wang, told the city council last February. “This water crisis, this contamination issue,” he said, “it’s hurting children and making them sick.”
JM Eagle, however, has faced recent legal problems. In 2013, a federal jury in California found that the Los Angeles-based company defrauded states and municipalities for more than a decade by knowingly selling defective water pipes. In some places, PVC pipes that were supposed to last 50 years exploded in their first year, causing injuries and flooding.
JM Eagle declined to comment but has previously said the litigation was based on “scurrilous allegations” by a disgruntled former employee. Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese industrial conglomerate that was its parent company at the time, agreed to pay $22.5 million in a settlement with municipalities and other government agencies in California.
The uncertainty over potable water pipes of all kinds is exacerbated by a lack of regulation over their safety. There is no federal oversight of the materials or processes used to manufacture plastic water pipes; instead, water pipes are certified and tested by an organization paid for by industry.
That organization, NSF International, displays a picture of the Capitol building on its regulatory resources web page and runs a hotline for questions on regulations and product safety. Yet it has never received regulatory authority from the federal government. Nor does it disclose test results for the pipes it certifies.
NSF International called its testing robust. “If a product does not meet the requirements of a standard, it will not pass,” said Dave Purkiss, the organization’s general manager of water systems.
For now, Flint is fitting the city with service lines made with another material: copper, at an expected cost of more than $140 million. Officials discussed creating a pilot area using plastic to replace the service lines to houses on several city blocks, according to Plastics News, though a Flint spokeswoman, Kristin Moore, said plastic pipes were not currently under consideration.
“When you take that inherent issue that we needed to rebuild trust of the citizens in the water system, we felt that copper was the way to go,” Michael McDaniel, a retired Michigan National Guard brigadier general put in charge of replacing Flint’s water pipes, said at a conference this year.
In Burton, just next door to Flint, budget realities have made plastics the realistic choice.
The small city of 29,000 saved $2.2 million by using plastic to replace its own 1930s-era water system after state regulators alerted the city to critically needed fixes. For a municipality struggling with a dwindling tax base, those savings were huge.
“We needed safe water, and we needed it fast. We needed to replace the system and PVC was a good choice for us,” said Burton mayor Paula Zelenko. “I’ve got to get the best bang for the buck, because bucks are hard to come by these days.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/climate/water-pipes-plastic-lead.html?_r=0
-
(ACC Mentioned) Senate Confirms Industry Lawyer Wherum to Lead EPA's Air Quality Office
Nov 10, 2017 | Utility Dive
By Robert Walton
Dive Brief:
The U.S. Senate yesterday voted 49-47 to confirm William Wehrum as assistant administrator for Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Air and Radiation, over the objections of environmentalists who point to a career spent suing the agency he will now join.
Wehrum has sued the EPA 31 times while representing industry groups including the American Petroleum Institute. He will now serve as the nation's top air regulator, overseeing an office with authority over pollution rules, energy efficiency standards, climate change regulation and more.
Wehrum previously worked in the OAR under President George W. Bush, but Democrats opposed to his nomination point out that more than two dozen regulations he worked on while previously at the agency were ultimately overturned in federal courts.
Dive Insight:
The Trump Administration is continuing a pattern of tapping industry insiders to lead federal agencies. Environmentalists seized Wherum's his past as a defender of the industries he will now regulate, but some Democrats have taken a different tack: Arguing he has shown an inability to write effective regulation.
According to The Hill, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) pointed out that 27 regulations he worked on while previously at the agency were overturned.
Wehrum is "essentially applying for the job he already had at EPA, and you would think that would be easy," said Carper. "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."
Environmental groups focused on his past work with industry. According to Environmental Defense Fund, in 31 lawsuits aimed at the EPA he represented clients including the American Petroleum Institute, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, American Chemistry Council, and Utility Air Regulatory Group.
“Wehrum has sued EPA to tear down clear air and climate protections," said EDF Director of Regulatory Policy and Senior Attorney Tomás Carbonell. "And Wehrum’s record as both a private attorney and an official in President George W. Bush’s EPA demonstrates a repeated tendency to undermine vital protections for public health, clean air, and climate security.”
Wherum's confirmation drew praise from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, head of the agency and also with his own past of suing the agency while Attorney General of Oklahoma.
Wehrum "has a long history of public service, including over 30 years working in the environmental field," said Pruitt, adding that he will "help us implement our positive environmental agenda and administer programs that ensure that Americans have access to clean air."
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/senate-confirms-industry-lawyer-wherum-to-lead-epas-air-quality-office/510562/
-
(ACC Mentioned) Comprehensive Study Shows No Glyphosate/Cancer Connection
Nov 10, 2017 | Freedstuffs
By Jacqui Fatka
The National Institute of Health finally published the missing "Agricultural Health Study" and its findings on glyphosate in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), and they exonerated any correlation of glyphosate with cancer.
Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide worldwide, with both residential and agricultural uses. In 2015, the U.N.'s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” noting strong mechanistic evidence and positive associations for non-Hodgkin lymphoma in some epidemiologic studies.
The "Agricultural Health Study" has been one of the missing pieces in the worldwide glyphosate debate after it came to light that a National Institute of Health employee with access to the study withheld relevant data from the 2015 IARC Working Group on glyphosate.
In a statement, the American Chemistry Council said, “The powerful study that has been monitoring agricultural workers since 1993 found that there is no association between glyphosate and cancer and, specifically, no association between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The study is highly-regarded throughout the scientific community as the most comprehensive study on glyphosate exposure in humans to date.”
American Chemistry Council president Cal Dooley said, “It is unfathomable that IARC would ignore clearly relevant and critical data when evaluating the carcinogenicity of a substance. It demonstrates a high degree of negligence, misconduct and misuse of American taxpayer dollars. The omission of a JNCI-published study is yet another example of deeply rooted, systemic flaws in the IARC Monograph’s process and adds to the mounting evidence of blatant data manipulation, transparency issues and widespread conflicts of interest. IARC’s classifications have repeatedly misinformed and misguided both the public and policy-makers; they’ve lost all public trust and credibility, and a complete overhaul of the Monographs Program is overdue.”
Scott Partridge, vice president of global strategy for Monsanto, which makes products containing glyphosate, noted: “The largest study on agricultural workers and health conclusively shows there is no link between glyphosate and cancer. This study has looked at 89,000 agricultural workers and spouses over 20 years, and the conclusion is crystal clear: Glyphosate does not cause cancer."
http://www.feedstuffs.com/news/comprehensive-study-shows-no-glyphosatecancer-connection
-
Sen. Inhofe Urges EPA to Complete Glyphosate Review
Nov 10, 2017 | Inside EPA
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is reiterating calls for the Trump EPA to speed its registration review of glyphosate after a new study finding the world's most commonly-used herbicide does not cause certain human cancers, arguing that the Obama administration withheld release of the study and stalled EPA's re-approval of the herbicide.
“The Agricultural Health Study [(AHS)] confirms what we already knew -- there is no link between glyphosate exposure and cancer,” Inhofe says in Nov. 9 statement. “I hope that with this report being made public, and with the new leadership at the EPA, glyphosate’s long overdue registration review will be completed."
Inhofe argues that the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) study, which news reports have said European regulators did not consider prior to deeming glyphosate probably carcinogenic to humans, backs findings of EPA and others that the substance is not likely to cause cancer.
The AHS released Nov. 9 found no association between glyphosate and multiple types of cancer, including non-hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), though the study found an increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia (AHL) in the highest exposed applicators, an association the study says is not statistically significant.
“In this large, prospective cohort study, no association was apparent between glyphosate and any solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies overall, including NHL and its subtypes,” the study says. “There was some evidence of increased risk of AML among the highest exposed group that requires confirmation.”
Long-standing disagreement over glyphosate's potential cancer risk has been a driving concern in EPA's ongoing registration review of glyphosate. While the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in a 2015 monograph concluded that glyphosate probably causes cancer, EPA in a September 2016 paper concluded that the substance is not likely to cause cancer.
And in March, an agency advisory panel split on whether to back EPA's conclusion.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, in June 15 testimony before the House Appropriations Committee, said EPA would consider the AHS as part of EPA's ongoing Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act registration review of glyphosate, and report back to Congress on its analysis.
The assurance to Congress came after documents released in litigation over the potential risks of products containing glyphosate prompted questions over how the studies that have yielded competing risk findings were conducted.
EPA's Office of Inspector General in May announced it is investigating whether a former EPA official colluded with pesticide producer Monsanto to downplay glyphosate's potential risks or promised to deter a HHS review.
And in June, Reuters reported that the chairman of the IARC review knew that data in the AHS showed no link between glyphosate and cancer but did not share that information with the rest of the committee. The news report said that IARC only considers published data, and that the information from the AHS study was unpublished.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/sen-inhofe-urges-epa-complete-glyphosate-review
-
Swedish Centre to Boost SME Chemicals Substitution
Nov 10, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The Swedish government has announced plans to open a substitution centre to help SMEs identify safer alternatives to hazardous substances.
The centre, to be located at the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) in Borås, will facilitate knowledge sharing between small and larger companies, industry associations, authorities and academia.
The centre will improve ways to "systematically and strategically" replace hazardous substances in goods, the government says. It will build a database of information on alternative substances and non-chemical methods and techniques, as well as identify further areas of research and innovation.
"All consumers should be able to feel confident that the products we buy for our children, the food we eat and the clothes we wear are not harmful to us or our environment," Sweden's environment minister Karolina Skog says. Most companies "want to do the right thing," she says, but chemical work is "difficult and complex".
Borås, in the southwest of Sweden, is a hub for textiles and hosts research centres and chemicals manufacturers. The government has launched an initiative to improve sustainability in the textiles sector, part of which involves the use of safer alternatives. The centre will provide have a particular focus on the sector, Ms Skog adds, and will "benefit greatly" from the knowledge already in Borås.
The government proposes to allocate SEK7m (€719,000) a year from 2018 to 2020. RISE will invest SEK5m annually. The long-term objective is for the centre to be self-financing through membership fees from participating companies.
Approximately 32,000 Swedish companies are affected by chemical legislation, the environment ministry says. About 13,000 are manufacturers, the other 19,000 are in the wholesale and retail trade.Textile tactics
Authorities in Europe and beyond are taking measures to control hazardous substances in textiles. Earlier this year, the European Commission began preparing the text of a proposed restriction of 286 carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) substances in consumer textiles and clothing.
A German research project has seen chemical suppliers and the sporting goods industry work together on finding marketing opportunities for safe chemicals.
And NGO ChemSec has launched Marketplace – an interactive online portal – which allows manufacturers to advertise safer alternatives to hazardous products. In October, clothing retailer H&M became the first downstream user to join.
Meanwhile, in the US NGO Clean Production Action (CPA) introduced a certification standard that aims to promote the use of safer chemicals in textiles.
https://chemicalwatch.com/61003/swedish-centre-to-boost-sme-chemicals-substitution
-
Alaska Advances Pipeline Deal With China, but Hurdles Remain
Nov 10, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) joined President Trump in Beijing yesterday to sign a deal advancing a decades-long effort to ship part of the state's massive stores of natural gas to China and the rest of Asia.
But the project, which would cost $43 billion, still has a long way to go.
The plan, which three Chinese companies signed onto, is to build a pipeline to transport gas to the coast of Alaska, where it could be liquefied and moved across the Pacific. Walker says he wants to break ground in 2019, a timeline some experts say is unrealistic.
What's more, similar efforts have died out in the past, and big oil companies — including BP PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp. — have backed away from the pipeline proposal.
"If companies don't think this is a good time to put their money into it, why should the state?" said Larry Persily, a former U.S. coordinator for Alaska natural gas projects. "As the governor has explained, the state has an overriding interest in getting this done — companies have other places they can invest their money."
There's no doubt that China is thirsty for the gas. The country is looking to reduce its reliance on coal, and experts say it has been hoping to strike a deal on a U.S. natural gas project for a long time.
While some U.S. environmental groups concede that the pipeline would be a safer option than drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, others could initiate legal action.
"It is just a massive investment in new fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when we should be rapidly transitioning to clean energy, and it's just the wrong decision," said Kristen Monsell, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity (Mark Thiessen, Associated Press, Nov. 10). — NS
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/10/stories/1060066221
-
EPA Asks to Keep Lawsuits Over Refinery Regs on Hold
Nov 10, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Twenty months after winning a pause on litigation surrounding refinery emissions regulations, U.S. EPA is still grappling with possible changes, according to a new court filing.
In a status report yesterday, EPA lawyers told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the agency is continuing to review comments received in response to an October 2016 proposal addressing issues in reconsideration petitions filed after the original regulations were published in December 2015.
As a result, "no action is required by the court at this time and these cases should continue to be held in abeyance," the report said.
The updated New Source Performance Standards and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants are facing competing lawsuits from a long lineup of environmental groups led by Air Alliance Houston on one side and two industry trade groups, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute, on the other.
At EPA's request, the combined litigation has been in abeyance since March of last year, and neither camp has so far sought to restart it. In the October 2016 proposed rule, EPA officials said they would re-examine work practice standards for emergency flaring and other parts of the original regulations following complaints that they had not allowed enough time for public input (Greenwire, Oct. 10, 2016).
The agency had already made a lengthy number of technical corrections and clarifications earlier last year (Greenwire, July 12, 2016). The regulations, which affect almost 150 refineries nationwide, stem from a 2014 consent decree reached after Air Alliance Houston and other environmental groups sued over EPA's failure to meet an eight-year deadline for review and revision of the new source standards. At the time of their publication, EPA predicted that would ultimately cut releases of toxic air pollutants by 5,200 tons annually, accompanied by 50,000 tons of reductions in emissions of volatile organic compounds (Greenwire, Dec. 1, 2015).
Among the attorneys of record for the American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers is Bill Wehrum, who won Senate confirmation yesterday to head EPA's Office of Air and Radiation (Greenwire, Nov. 9).
As of this morning, Wehrum's profile page was still posted on the website of his firm, Hunton & Williams LLP. Employees in the EPA press office did not immediately reply to an email sent late yesterday asking when he would take over as air chief. Today is a federal holiday.
Wehrum had previously told EPA that, if confirmed, he would not participate in matters involving former clients for a year after last providing them service (E&E News PM, Sept. 15).
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/10/stories/1060066249
-
Dana Young to Push for Statewide Fracking Ban Again
Nov 10, 2017 | Tampa Bay Times
By William March
State Sen. Dana Young, R-Tampa, has introduced another fracking ban bill for the coming legislative session.
But it’s unclear whether it will have any better chance than last session, when it appeared ready to pass in the Senate but never got a committee hearing in the House.
Last year’s House sponsors were Reps. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, and Mike Miller, R-Winter Park.
This year it’s Rep. Kathleen Peters, R-Treasure Island, who’s enthusiastic about the cause but has lost clout after conflicts with Speaker Richard Corcoran. Corcoran yanked Peters’ subcommittee chairmanship and some legislative perks, and Peters plans to run for a county commission seat instead of re-election next year.
Young said she chose Peters because "she’s very passionate about this issue and I believe she will put her full energy into getting the bill to move.
"This is very sweeping legislation and it often takes several years to pass something of this magnitude."
Peters said the bill’s prospects will be tough again this year: "I’m not going to sugarcoat it."
But, she said, "I’m not afraid to be aggressive, and I’m going to be aggressive."
Asked whether her standing with leadership hurts the bill’s chances, Peters said, "I’m hopeful it won’t. If it’s good for Florida it shouldn’t matter who carries the bill."
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/William-March-Dana-Young-to-push-for-statewide-fracking-ban-again_162512911
-
FTA, FRA Award PTC Grant Funds to 17 Projects
Nov 10, 2017 | American Shipper
By Elizabeth Landrum
The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) have selected 17 projects to receive funding under the FY2017 Positive Train Control (PTC) Grant Program.
A total of $197 million in the PTC grant funding will be awarded to 13 states, as authorized under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.
The FTA and FRA published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) in July 2016, announcing the availability of Federal funding for the PTC Grant Program. These funds will provide financial assistance to states, local governments, and public agencies for the implementation of positive train control systems to improve safety. PTC is a federally mandated wireless communication system that can override a conductor to slow or stop a train to prevent an accident.
The 17 projects are listed below, with several states receiving two awards, one for the state rail system and a second award for a regional rail system:
• California - Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board ($21.6 million); Southern California Regional Rail Authority ($3.2 million);
• Florida - South Florida Regional Transportation Authority ($31.6 million); Florida Department of Transportation ( $1.8 million);
• Illinois - Commuter Rail Division of the RTA ($20.1 million); Illinois Department of Transportation ($18.8 million);
• Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ($7.8 million);
• Maryland Transit Administration ($9.4 million);
• Missouri Department of Transportation ($12 million);
• New Jersey Transit Corporation ($10 million);
• New Mexico - Rio Metro Regional Transit District ($3.6 million);
• New York State Department of Transportation ($33.7 million);
• Oregon - Oregon Department of Transportation ($1.2 million); Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon ($2.7 million);
• Pennsylvania - Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority ($5.8 million);
• Texas - Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority ($9.7 million);
• And Utah Transit Authority ($3.5 million).
Originally, only $25 million was to be awarded to railroads, suppliers, and state and local governments for implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC). However, FTA and FRA received 27 proposals from 16 states requesting $455 million in federal funds, indicating significant demand for funding to expedite the implementation of PTC systems, the agenices said. The administration told applicants that they will give preference to projects that would provide the greatest level of public safety benefits. https://www.americanshipper.com/main/news/fta-fra-award-ptc-grant-funds-to-17-projects-69672.aspx?source=Little4 -
Insuring the Backbone of the Freight Transport System
Nov 10, 2017 | Insurance Business Magazine
By Sam Boyer
The railroad industry is one of the oldest forms of transport in the country, and has formed the backbone of US freight transportation since the early 1800s.
Though growth in railroads has largely stalled, there is still plenty of work repairing and maintaining tracks – and, of course, railroads are still being used to move large quantities of goods cross-country.
According to the Association of American Railroads (AAR), last week alone there were more than 530,000 carloads and shipping containers moved. Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than 22 million carloads and shipping containers freighted across America.
And where there is heavy machinery, big business, and the potential for human and mechanical error, there is also insurance.
Roy Scott, vice president and railroad underwriter at Arch Insurance Group, told Insurance Business about the railroad program he writes.
“Although railroading is not a high growth industry, there is substantial maintenance of both equipment and track that takes place continually,” Scott said.
“Rail ties are constantly being replaced, weather events cause damage to tracks, equipment is used 24/7 and must be maintained and replaced on a regular basis. Even railroad crossings (with roadways) must be inspected and repaired often.”
In addition, he said, a new federal ruling that railroads need to all have Positive Train Control (PTC) in place by December 31, 2018, “has created even more jobs and more spending on infrastructure during the past few years.”
According to the AAR, the PCT “is a set of highly advanced technologies designed to make freight rail transportation … even safer by automatically stopping a train before certain types of accidents occur.” The system is designed to prevent train-on-train collisions, derailments caused by excessive speed, and stop a train going through a track switch left in the wrong position, among other things.
The Arch program targets two sets of buyers, Scott said: railroads and railroad contractors.
“We write policies nationwide through both retailers and wholesale brokers,” he said.
The target for railroad liability coverage is the short line and regional railroad owner, and covers third party liability, Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) claims, damage to railcars and contents, and pollution clean-up costs.
The general liability coverage is for the railroad construction industry, including track builders, locomotive repairs, railcar repair and cleaning, and manufacturers of railroad equipment and products.
Arch also provides policies for scenic, tourist and excursion railroads, Scott said, as well as “contingent railroad leasing liability policies for the lessee of railcars to the railroad industry and to shippers using railcars.”
In terms of claims, he said most stem from accidents and injuries.
“Claims for railroad liability policies normally emanate from a railroad accident where a railroad worker is injured, the cargo is damaged, the railcars are damaged, or a member of the public is injured as a result of the accident,” he explained.
“Claims for general liability policies are similar to other contractor claims where the job was not performed properly, or other workers on the job site are injured by actions of the insured. Product liability claims can also arise from a manufacturer of railroad products.”http://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/construction/insuring-the-backbone-of-the-freight-transport-system-84549.aspx
-
Mr. Trump, Alone With His Lies in a Warming World
Nov 10, 2017 | The New York Times
By The Editorial Board
President Trump is about to be a party of one.
Earlier this week, Syria announced during an international conference in Bonn, Germany, that it would add its name to the historic 2015 Paris climate agreement, in which nearly 200 countries pledged their best efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This would leave the United States as the only country to have rejected the Paris deal, which Mr. Trump did in a Rose Garden rant on June 1 that was notable, even by Trumpian standards, for its dishonesty.
Our advice to the delegates in Bonn is this: Ignore Mr. Trump, who seems, on this issue anyway, to be beyond persuasion. Honor your pledges. Get on with the talks, which are supposed to build on the Paris agreement by establishing benchmarks to measure how well you’re doing now and to lay the groundwork for even more ambitious targets in 2020. And hope, as we do, that efforts now underway by state and local governments and by private businesses to control emissions and move the United States to a cleaner energy future will make up for Mr. Trump’s indifference.
That Mr. Trump wants out of Paris is only one measure of that indifference. A better measure is provided by policies that would move exactly in the wrong direction, policies aimed at overturning greenhouse gas regulations on power plants, repealing limits on methane emissions, weakening automobile efficiency standards, enlarging subsidies for coal plants and increasing oil drilling in the Arctic.
Meanwhile, the hacks, industry careerists and global warming deniers he has appointed to run agencies responsible for climate policy are mostly a joke, the latest howler being Kathleen Hartnett White, a former Texas regulator whom Mr. Trump has named to run the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Mrs. White, who, if approved, would coordinate the administration’s environmental policy, has dismissed carbon dioxide as a “harmless trace gas” (but a useful “plant food”) and described as “paganism” the belief that man-made pollutants are warming the atmosphere.
Outlandish though her views are, she’ll fit right in with the see-no-evil likes of Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, who has scrubbed references to climate change from the agency’s website and barred its scientists from presenting reports on the subject; Rick Perry, the energy secretary with various oddball schemes to prop up coal plants; and all the others in high office who seem impervious to the real-time evidence of climate change — the wildfires, hurricanes and rising seas — as well as one authoritative study after another, the latest being a congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment that directly contradicts the administration’s view that humans are not responsible.
We’ve been here before. In the George W. Bush administration, government officials doctored scientific reports, Vice President Dick Cheney stacked the top ranks of government with friends of the fossil fuel industry, and the president himself rejected a climate agreement adopted in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, as “fatally flawed” because, he said, it would damage the economy.
Mr. Bush made many of the same flawed arguments that Mr. Trump is making. He, too, fretted unnecessarily about federal overreach, while greatly underestimating the jobs and economic benefits a clean energy economy could bring. There was, however, one big difference. Amid all of Mr. Bush’s flimflam was a solid beef about the Kyoto agreement, namely, that while it committed the big industrial countries to making legally binding emissions reductions targets, it let developing countries — which then included China and India — off the hook.
That complaint is no longer valid. One of the great achievements of the Paris accord, engineered in large part by President Barack Obama and his secretary of state, John Kerry, is that it ropes in everyone. Everyone, that is, except the one nation whose president bailed out.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/opinion/trump-climate-paris-syria.html
-
After Northam Win, Virginia Set to Unveil Cap-And-Trade Plan
Nov 10, 2017 | The Washington Times
By Ben Wolfgang
With the certainty that a Democrat will run the state for the next four years, Virginia next week is expected to unveil its own ambitious plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions with a cap-and-trade proposal similar to the ones already in place across the Northeast.
State officials next Thursday will present a new regulatory framework to Virginia’s pollution board. A publicly available draft shows that the state aims to cut its emissions threshold by at least 30 percent between 2020 and 2030, and that it plans to institute a cap-and-trade scheme under which polluters must buy credits for their emissions.
The proposal had long been in the works, but state officials held off releasing it until after Democrat Ralph Northam’s victory in this week’s gubernatorial election over Republican Ed Gillespie.
The draft lays out the priorities of the program, including to: “Develop a proposed regulation for the state Air Pollution Control Board’s consideration to abate, control, or limit CO2 from electric power facilities that … includes provisions to ensure that Virginia’s regulation is ‘trading-ready’ to allow for the use of market-based mechanisms and the trading of CO2 allowances through a multi-state trading program.”
The plan also will establish “abatement mechanisms providing for a corresponding level of stringency to limits on CO2 emissions imposed in other states with such limits,” the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality says in its draft.
If implemented as currently written, the program would be very similar to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a coalition of 10 Northeastern states, including Maryland. The system requires power plants to hold credits for each ton of greenhouse gas pollution, and each state sets its own limits.
In Virginia’s case, the limits would decline steadily between 2020 and 2030.
The credits are auctioned off on a regular basis. After the auctions, power plants are able to trade credits, meaning power facilities essentially must pay for their emissions. Plants that emit less pollution can recoup money by selling their credits.
Participating states say that the program has been a financial boon, in addition to an environmental step forward. Maine, for example, says it’s banked $51 million since 2008 from its quarterly credit auctions.
Most of the money raised by those auctions in RGGI states is funneled back into energy efficiency programs and investments in clean energy.
RGGI already has weighed in on Virginia’s plan, saying it follows in the footsteps of those already in place all along the East Coast.
“The RGGI states applaud Virginia’s progress towards establishing a market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation. As we evaluate Virginia’s proposed regulation, we are pleased to note that it appears consistent with the RGGI program in a number of key ways,” the group said in a statement. “The RGGI states have held productive and collaborative conversations with Virginia representatives as they crafted their regulation, and look forward to continuing those conversations as Virginia’s program design process advances.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/nov/10/after-northam-win-virginia-set-unveil-cap-and-trad/
-
D.C. Circuit Extends Stay of CPP Suit for 60 Days
Nov 10, 2017 | Inside EPA
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is extending its stay of litigation over the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP) greenhouse gas limits for existing power plants, given the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to repeal the regulation.
The full court in a brief per curiam opinion issued late Nov. 9 paused the case, West Virginia, et al. v. EPA, et al., for 60 days. It is also requiring the agency to issue status reports on its repeal proposal every 30 days.
The move is virtually identical to two prior orders by the court, including when it initially halted the case in April.
The decision is a loss for environmentalists and state supporters of the Obama-era rule, who in October asked the D.C. Circuit to issue a ruling in the case, charging that EPA's proposal to repeal the regulation without firm plans to issue a replacement would leave the agency's obligation to regulate power sector GHGs “unfulfilled.”
Despite the court's willingness in its latest order to give EPA more time to develop its policy, some sources have warned that the court's patience might not be unlimited.
One industry source earlier said that there could be a credible argument for floating an advance notice of proposed rulemaking -- EPA's plan in lieu of floating a proposed replacement rule -- but that strategy could tax the court's patience. “The agency has been saying . . . we are working on it. The danger point” is a situation where you are seen as “not working on it,” the source said.
In response to the Nov. 9 order, the Environmental Defense Fund sought to highlight the fact that the D.C. Circuit did not agree with a Trump administration request to “indefinitely” pause the case. Rather, the court halted the case for “only” 60 days, the group said, reiterating its claim that EPA has a “responsibility” under the Clean Air Act to address GHG emissions.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/dc-circuit-extends-stay-cpp-suit-60-days
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Transportation and Infrastructure News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News
Add recipients
Suggested