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(ACC Mentioned) Moore Buried Under TV Ad Barrage
Nov 28, 2017 | Politico - Morning Score
By Maggie Severns
...American Chemistry Council’s new spot backs Barrasso: The American Chemistry Council’s new ad praises Sen. John Barrasso as “Wyoming’s conservative force.” -
Powelson: New FERC Commissioner To Be Sworn In Wednesday
Nov 28, 2017 | PoltiicoPro - Whiteboard
By Darius Dixon
FERC Commissioner Rob Powelson told an audience in Philadelphia today that a fourth FERC commissioner will be sworn in Wednesday, a member of his staff said. -
Glick To Be Sworn In at FERC Wednesday
Nov 28, 2017 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Darius Dixon
Democrat Rich Glick is slated to be sworn in as a FERC commissioner on Wednesday, FERC spokeswoman Mary O’Driscoll said today. -
No Conspiracy in Incoming Chairman's Absence — Chatterjee
Nov 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Mintz
Democrat Richard Glick is scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow as a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but there's still no sign of Republican Kevin McIntyre, who's been tapped to take the commission gavel and was confirmed by the Senate nearly a month ago. -
(ACC Mentioned) 9th Circuit Claims Jurisdiction in Legal Row Over EPA Rule
Nov 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
Litigation over a U.S. EPA rule will continue in a California-based federal appeals court after judges rebuffed an attempt by the Trump administration to transfer the lawsuit. -
EPA Curb on Nonstick Chemical May Have Reduced Number of Babies With Low Birth Weight
Nov 28, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin
Efforts to phase out a chemical used in nonstick coatings have resulted in fewer U.S. babies being born underweight in recent years, according to findings published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. -
EU Notifies WTO of Amended O-Phenylphenol Restriction
Nov 28, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission has notified the World Trade Organization of a draft Regulation that aims to restrict the maximum concentration of o-phenylphenol as a preservative in leave-on cosmetic products to 0.15%, lowered from the currently authorised concentration of 0.2%. -
In Contentious Vote, E.U. Approves Weedkiller for 5 Years
Nov 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Glyphosate, the best-selling herbicide in the world, was approved yesterday for five more years of use in the European Union after an unusually long and testy review. -
OPEC Could Face Challenge From Shale If US Producers Abandon Discipline Mantra
Nov 28, 2017 | Chron
By Collin Eaton
A coalition of major oil-producing nations on Thursday is expected to extend a pact to keep some crude off the market to support oil prices and curb a worldwide glut created three years ago by U.S. drillers. -
Keystone Deliveries Resume as Leak Investigation Continues
Nov 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Gordon Jaremko
Flows resume Monday into the United States from Alberta on the Keystone oil pipeline after an 11-day interruption to repair a leak and start cleaning up a 5,000 bbl oil spill in northeastern South Dakota. -
Activist Group Again Sues EPA Over Encrypted App Documents
Nov 28, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Joe Uchill
A limited government advocacy group claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to respond to open records requests for documents related to employee use of encrypted messaging. -
Watchdog Sues Again Over Encrypted Messages
Nov 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
A conservative watchdog group today filed another lawsuit seeking records related to U.S. EPA career employees' use of encrypted messaging apps. -
Climate Action Today: Where We're Going and How We Reach Results – Despite Current Roadblocks
Nov 28, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Fred Krupp
Not long ago, I attended a briefing about some of the ways innovation is driving environmental progress. -
Tax Reform Plan Is Also Wrong for the Environment
Nov 28, 2017 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Rep. Niki Tsongas
Count polar bears and caribou among the long list of those opposed to the Republican tax reform plan. -
Study Finds Updated Carbon 'Cost' Doubles Agriculture Effect
Nov 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
A new study by University of California (UC) and Purdue University researchers finds that updating the Obama-era "social cost of carbon" (SCC) climate damage tool with the latest science would roughly double the estimated costs global warming has on agricultural activities, a step that would help justify stricter mitigation efforts.
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(ACC Mentioned) Moore Buried Under TV Ad Barrage
Nov 28, 2017 | Politico - Morning Score
By Maggie Severns
MOORE PROBLEMS — “Moore buried under TV ad barrage,” by POLITICO’s Scott Bland and Daniel Strauss: “Doug Jones and Roy Moore both released new television ads on Monday. But many Alabama voters will see only one of them. That’s because of the massive disparity in TV ad spending between the two candidates in the Alabama special election to a Senate seat, where Jones, the Democratic candidate, is outspending Moore roughly 7-to-1. … Fueled by millions of online dollars pouring in to defeat Moore, Jones’ campaign has flooded the airwaves with over $5.6 million of TV ads overall in the general election campaign. Moore has answered with about $800,000 in ad spending, according to Advertising Analytics."
“Jones’ campaign built a big financial advantage even before women came forward accusing Moore of sexual misconduct in early November. ... A new campaign finance report from ActBlue, the widely used Democratic digital fundraising platform, shows Jones raised nearly $2.9 million online in October alone. But the firestorm that ensued after numerous allegations surfaced against Moore galvanized even more financial support for Jones, giving him the resources to relentlessly pound Moore on-air as a child predator.” Full story here.
— Pro-Moore super PAC backed by Uihlein: A pop-up super PAC that has spent six figures supporting Moore in recent months received the majority of its funds from Wisconsin-based conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein, according to a new FEC filing. The PAC, called Proven Conservative PAC, has spent $147,649 since being formed in August and received $100,000 from Uihlein. One of Uihlein’s donations came on Nov. 22, more than a week after the first allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore surfaced, according to the new disclosure.
RETIREMENT ALERT — Gutierrez won't seek reelection, via POLITICO Illinois' Natasha Korecki: "Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) a leading national voice on immigration reform, will not seek reelection and is expected to announce his decision [this] morning, three Democratic sources with knowledge of the decision told POLITICO. Gutierrez is expected to announce he's withdrawing his nominating petitions [today]."
"The sources say that former Chicago mayoral candidate Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia will begin circulating petitions for Gutierrez's post. Gutierrez's spokesman, Douglas Rivlin, said he couldn't comment." Full story here.
AIR WAR — Tax reform ads fly ahead of votes this week: A slew of liberal and conservative groups are out with television ads pressuring senators ahead of this week’s Senate votes on tax reform. The DSCC is airing an ad featuring families receiving notices saying their tax bill is going up. “How much will the Republican tax scam cost you?” the ad’s narrator asks after the spot notes the elimination of the state and local tax, student loan and medical deductions. Watch it here.
— The Chamber of Commerce airs holiday-themed spots in three states: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is up with holiday-themed radio ads pressuring three GOP senators to support the bill: Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Montana Sen. Steve Daines and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson. “What’s the best gift [the senator] can give this holiday season?” the narrator of the 60-second spots asks. “The gift of tax relief.” Listen to the ads here, here and here.
— Business for Responsible Tax Reform pressures Corker: Business for Responsible Tax Reform is up with a 30-second ad targeting Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker that notes the tax reform bill increases the deficit. Watch the ad here.
— Not One Penny targets Trump: Not One Penny, a coalition of Democratic groups, is out with a television ad set to air during “Fox and Friends.” The ad notes President Donald Trump’s frequent Twitter messages and challenges him to tweet about tax breaks for golf course owners. Watch the spot here.
— AAN adds $2.5 million in TV, digital ads on tax reform: American Action Network is out with a $2.5 million TV and digital ad effort, thanking GOP House members in 29 House districts who voted for the Republican tax bill. The ad will air in largely battleground seats. Check out the full list of districts here. Watch the ad here.
— National Immigration Forum launches DACA ad: The National Immigration Forum is spending five figures to run digital ads in five states and D.C. criticizing Republicans on DACA. The ads focus on a young, undocumented immigrant named Bernardo Castro. More here.
Days until the 2018 election: 343
Playbook Interview with Marco Rubio — Join POLITICO Playbook Co-authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman for a Playbook Interview with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on end-of-year Senate priorities, policy, politics and the news of the day.Nov. 29 — Doors open 8:00 a.m. — The Liaison Capitol Hill. RSVP: here.
LONG-SHOT BID — "Former Kelly aide to mount last-minute Alabama Senate bid against Moore," by POLITICO's Cristiano Lima: "A former top aide to White House chief of staff John Kelly intends to launch a last-minute write-in campaign in the race for Alabama's open Senate seat. Retired Marine Col. Lee Busby, 60, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., said Monday he plans to challenge Democratic candidate Doug Jones and embattled Republican Roy Moore for the state's open seat. He also launched a bare-bones website counting down to the Dec. 12 special election." Full story here.
MOORE ON THOSE ADS — Moore denies allegations in new TV ad: “A new ad announced by Alabama Republican Roy Moore's campaign says the accusations that he pursued multiple women when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s are ‘false allegations,’” Strauss reports. Full story here. And read about Jones’ latest ad here.
— Pro-Jones super PAC dropped $1 million over last weekend: “Highway 31, the super PAC supporting Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate race, has disclosed spending another $1.1 million on ads boosting the candidate and hitting Republican Roy Moore,” reports Strauss. Full story here.
NEW ON THE AIRWAVES — Pittenger talks ‘War on Christmas’ in TV ad: North Carolina Rep. Robert Pittenger is out with a new TV and digital ad, which started airing over Thanksgiving weekend, about Christmas. “Christmas — a time we honor the birth of Jesus Christ, yet some choose political correctness, attacking our faith and values, refusing to say ‘Merry Christmas,’” the ad’s narrator says. “Let’s join together to honor the birth of Jesus Christ and Christmas traditions.” Pittenger, directly addressing the camera, concludes: “I’ve dedicated my life to sharing God’s love through Jesus Christ. Let’s end political correctness and put the true meaning of Christ back into Christmas.” Pittenger is up against a well-funded primary and general election opponent, both of whom outraised him last quarter. Mark Harris, a pastor who nearly beat him in a primary in 2016, is challenging him again. Watch the ad here.
— American Chemistry Council’s new spot backs Barrasso: The American Chemistry Council’s new ad praises Sen. John Barrasso as “Wyoming’s conservative force.” Watch it here.
SOMETHING TO WATCH — “Puerto Ricans could transform Florida politics, and parties are taking notice,” by NBC News’ Carmen Sesin: “So far, over 189,000 Puerto Ricans have migrated to the state after the hurricane left unimaginable destruction throughout the island. Planes arriving from Puerto Rico remain full and some estimate as many as half a million people will eventually make their way to Florida. Although some, particularly the older generations, will eventually return to the island, experts believe most will remain here. Central Florida is their preferred destination, but areas like South Florida and Tampa are also seeing an influx of Puerto Ricans.” Full story.
GETTING THE NOD — Club for Growth PAC backs Fulcher in ID-01 primary: “The Club for Growth PAC is endorsing former state Sen. Russ Fulcher in the crowded Republican primary to replace Idaho Rep. Raúl Labrador, who's running for governor. ... Fulcher initially launched a gubernatorial bid but dropped out in June and endorsed Labrador. Fulcher, who also ran for governor in 2014, led the pack of GOP candidates in fundraising last quarter, bringing in more than $100,000.” Full story.
2018 WATCH — “Virginia Republicans anticipating state Del. Nick Freitas to announce run for U.S. Senate,” by the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Patrick Wilson: “Virginia Republicans are anticipating that a state lawmaker will join the GOP primary race for a chance to challenge U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., next year, according to GOP insiders. The new contender would be Del. Nicholas J. Freitas, R-Culpeper, an Iraq combat veteran first elected to the General Assembly in 2015 and easily reelected this year. Freitas would join Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, in seeking the GOP nomination.” Full story.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “This so-called off-the-record conversation was the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us,” Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron said, explaining why the newspaper published an off-the-record exchange with a woman who appears to have tried to scam the paper with a false Roy Moore allegation while acting on behalf of the conservative group Project Veritas.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-score/2017/11/28/moore-buried-under-tv-ad-barrage-033970
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Powelson: New FERC Commissioner To Be Sworn In Wednesday
Nov 28, 2017 | PoltiicoPro - Whiteboard
By Darius Dixon
FERC Commissioner Rob Powelson told an audience in Philadelphia today that a fourth FERC commissioner will be sworn in Wednesday, a member of his staff said.
Both Kevin McIntyre, President Donald Trump’s pick to be FERC chairman, and Rich Glick were confirmed by the Senate early this month. Their paperwork cleared the White House shortly before Thanksgiving though neither have officially joined the agency. Powelson’s office said that the commissioner did not specify which of the two men would be sworn in.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Glick To Be Sworn In at FERC Wednesday
Nov 28, 2017 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Darius Dixon
Democrat Rich Glick is slated to be sworn in as a FERC commissioner on Wednesday, FERC spokeswoman Mary O’Driscoll said today.
There were no updates on when Kevin McIntyre, President Donald Trump's pick to be FERC chairman, would do the same.
Both McIntyre and Glick were confirmed by the Senate early this month, and though their paperwork cleared the White House shortly before Thanksgiving, neither have officially joined the agency. That delay had fueled speculation among FERC watchers that there was a dispute over staffing decisions or Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s controversial grid proposal.
Current FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee sought to tamp down the rumors today.
“There is no conspiracy here. There is no intentional delay or dragging things out to some nefarious end," he told reporters after a Consumer Energy Alliance event. "It’s simply a matter of timing, prioritization, getting documents signed and once the documents were signed ... people have to unwind their own professional obligations in their current jobs.”
Chatterjee also said it was unfair to compare the slow pace in bringing McIntyre and Glick aboard to the quicker process that put him and Commissioner Rob Powelson on the commission in August, when the agency had gone months without a quorum.
“There was considerable pressure to get the paperwork signed and moved as quickly as possible,” he said. “The circumstances here are different because we have a functioning quorum.”
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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No Conspiracy in Incoming Chairman's Absence — Chatterjee
Nov 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Sam Mintz
Democrat Richard Glick is scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow as a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but there's still no sign of Republican Kevin McIntyre, who's been tapped to take the commission gavel and was confirmed by the Senate nearly a month ago.
When he joins FERC, McIntyre will take over the chairmanship from Neil Chatterjee, who has been at the commission's helm since early August.
Chatterjee has been shepherding the agency through a rulemaking initiated by the Department of Energy that aims to bolster coal and nuclear power plants. He has suggested steps FERC might take by DOE's Dec. 11 deadline, including an "interim solution" to provide immediate help to coal and nuclear plants threatened with early retirement (Greenwire, Nov. 16).
The delay in swearing in McIntyre has spurred questions about whether it's related to the DOE deadline. McIntyre hasn't commented on the proposal, and it is not clear whether he will push for it.
Chatterjee told reporters today that people should not buy "conspiracy theories" about McIntyre.
"It's simply a matter of timing, prioritization, getting documents signed," he said. "People have to unwind their own professional obligations and their current jobs before they can transition over."
He added, "There are no Machiavellian games being played here."
Chatterjee said that it is not his "intention or expectation" to be chairman when FERC announces its decision on Dec. 11.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/28/stories/1060067463
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(ACC Mentioned) 9th Circuit Claims Jurisdiction in Legal Row Over EPA Rule
Nov 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
Litigation over a U.S. EPA rule will continue in a California-based federal appeals court after judges rebuffed an attempt by the Trump administration to transfer the lawsuit.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday issued an order denying the administration's request to move the suit to the Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court also granted the American Chemistry Council's motion to intervene in defense of the rule and set a briefing schedule for the coming months.
Government lawyers and environmental groups have been sparring over which court should hear lawsuits over two rules that EPA issued earlier this year under the nation's new toxics law (Greenwire, Sept. 27).
One of the rules established the process and criteria for identifying high-priority chemicals for risk evaluations, while the other established the system for determining whether the chemicals present an unreasonable risk to health or the environment.
Environmentalists filed several suits challenging the rules as being too weak. In September, a special judicial panel on multidistrict litigation randomly assigned the litigation over the prioritizations rule to the 9th Circuit and the evaluations rule to the 4th Circuit (Greenwire, Sept. 5).
The move prompted a flurry of briefing by attorneys. The Trump administration argued that both lawsuits should be heard by the 4th Circuit in Richmond, largely because it would be "more convenient" for parties "because all counsel of record are located in Washington, D.C., or New York."
But environmentalists said that attorneys would have to travel regardless of where the case is heard. They instead argued that the 9th Circuit should hear the cases because more parties initially filed suit in that court.
The 4th Circuit deferred action on the motion to transfer the litigation over the evaluations rule to the 9th Circuit pending a decision by the San Francisco-based court.
The 9th Circuit panel hearing the prioritizations rule consists of Senior Judge A. Wallace Tashima, Judge William Fletcher and Judge Richard Tallman, all of whom are Clinton appointees.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/28/stories/1060067445
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EPA Curb on Nonstick Chemical May Have Reduced Number of Babies With Low Birth Weight
Nov 28, 2017 | The Washington Post
By Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin
Efforts to phase out a chemical used in nonstick coatings have resulted in fewer U.S. babies being born underweight in recent years, according to findings published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health.
Researchers at New York University based their findings on an analysis of blood samples of new mothers that were gathered between 2003 and 2014 as part of a national health study to examine levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Exposure to the synthetic chemical, long used in a variety of consumer products, from stain-resistant carpets to nonstick pans, pizza boxes and outdoor apparel, has been associated with a range of potential health problems, including cancer.
Researchers suggest developing fetuses are particularly at risk for birth defects and lower-than-normal birth weights. Such concerns were a driving force behind a 2006 agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. manufacturers to decrease and eventually halt the production of PFOA by 2015.
For years, PFOA had been nearly ubiquitous in the United States, with much of it traveling unregulated through water supplies. According to the EPA, blood serum tests in the U.S. general population between 1999 and 2012 detected PFOA 99 percent of the time. However, those figures have begun to fall as companies have phased out the chemical.
The NYU researchers found that PFOA levels in women ages 18 to 49 continued to rise from 2003 to 2008, when median levels peaked at 3.5 nanograms per milliliter. But by 2009, not long after the government compelled companies to begin phasing out the chemical, the trend began to reverse. Blood levels of PFOA began dropping from a median 2.8 nanograms per milliliter to 1.6 nanograms per milliliter by 2014.
Researchers used computer modeling to estimate the number of low-weight births that may have been caused by specific levels of PFOA chemical exposure. They compared the estimated impact of PFOA when blood levels were highest with the impact after blood levels dropped. That allowed them to estimate that the voluntary phaseout of PFOA and similar chemicals has prevented between 10,000 and 17,000 low-weight births in the United States annually in recent years.
“All too often we talk about the failure of EPA or other agencies to regulate chemicals,” the study’s lead investigator, NYU School of Medicine associate professor Leonardo Trasande, said in an interview. “But we don’t give enough credit when an agency does the right thing, and works with industry proactively to phase a chemical of concern.”
A number of factors contribute to low-weight babies, who weigh 5.5 pounds (2.5 kilograms) or less. But Trasande said he and his colleagues at NYU isolated the number that could be attributed to exposure to PFOA.
“What we found was this very striking pattern,” said Trasande, a pediatrician and health epidemiologist. He added that preventing so many low-weight births translated into billions of avoided societal costs on everything from infant hospital stays to lower earning potential for those children who faced significant health and developmental problems. “We know that more low-weight babies means extra medical care.”
The EPA’s scientific advisory panel identified PFOA as a “likely carcinogen” in June 2005. Six months later it reached a $16.5 million settlement with the DuPont Co., which used to produce the chemical compound in Parkersburg, W.Va., over the company’s failure to report possible health and environmental risks associated with its product for more than two decades. That evidence, which dated as far back as 1981, included the fact that the chemical could be transferred from a pregnant woman to her baby via the placenta.
In January 2006 eight companies — including DuPont, 3M, Ciba and Clariant — agreed to stop making PFOA.
Even as companies have eliminated the chemical from use, that doesn’t mean Americans are no longer exposed. Millions of products that contain PFOA and a similar compound known as PFOS remain in people’s homes and in commercial settings.
Last year, researchers at Harvard University found that drinking water supplies serving more than 6 million Americans contain unsafe levels of the chemicals. That data came from more than 36,000 samples collected by the EPA between 2013 and 2015.
The EPA last year issued a health advisory about PFOS and PFOA, warning about potential long-term exposures to the compounds and urging state and local officials to take action or at least notify residents about contaminants when they are detected in drinking water. Ultimately, though, the advisories are unenforceable.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/11/28/epa-curb-on-nonstick-chemical-may-have-reduced-number-of-babies-with-low-birth-weight/?utm_term=.9b8f0fff9d1e
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EU Notifies WTO of Amended O-Phenylphenol Restriction
Nov 28, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission has notified the World Trade Organization of a draft Regulation that aims to restrict the maximum concentration of o-phenylphenol as a preservative in leave-on cosmetic products to 0.15%, lowered from the currently authorised concentration of 0.2%.
The proposed date of adoption is the third quarter of 2018. And the proposed entry into force is 20 days from publication in the EU Official Journal.
The final date for comments is 60 days from notification.
The Commission had consulted on the proposed restriction, and amendment to the cosmetics Regulation, earlier in the year.
In June 2015, the Commission's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) said the maximum concentration limit for o-phenylphenol in leave-on cosmetic products should be reduced.
https://chemicalwatch.com/62037/eu-notifies-wto-of-amended-o-phenylphenol-restriction?layout=modal
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In Contentious Vote, E.U. Approves Weedkiller for 5 Years
Nov 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
Glyphosate, the best-selling herbicide in the world, was approved yesterday for five more years of use in the European Union after an unusually long and testy review.
E.U. member nations voted 18-9 to extend authorization of the herbicide, the main ingredient in Monsanto Co.'s Roundup, with one abstention.
French President Emmanuel Macron led the opposition to reauthorizing glyphosate, saying he had hoped to ban the herbicide in his country for the next three years. He tweeted about the issue using the hashtag #MakeOurPlanetGreatAgain.
But Germany provided the deciding vote of support, despite Chancellor Angela Merkel's continued struggle to form a coalition government.
Agribusiness interests derided the decision, saying it was driven by politics and fell below the standard 10- or 15-year approval for such chemicals.
The Glyphosate Task Force, an industry group whose members include Monsanto and Syngenta AG, said in a statement that it was "profoundly disappointed at the outcome of today's meeting whereby member states categorically ignored scientific advice."
The International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015 decided that glyphosate was a likely carcinogen, but later research by government agencies has disputed that conclusion (Danny Hakim, New York Times, Nov. 27). — MJ
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/28/stories/1060067435
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OPEC Could Face Challenge From Shale If US Producers Abandon Discipline Mantra
Nov 28, 2017 | Chron
By Collin Eaton
A coalition of major oil-producing nations on Thursday is expected to extend a pact to keep some crude off the market to support oil prices and curb a worldwide glut created three years ago by U.S. drillers.
At a closely watched gathering in Vienna, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will consider a nine-month extension for a deal with Russia and other nations to trim output by 1.8 million barrels a day through the end of next year.
So far the effort appears on track, analysts say, but even if all goes to plan, OPEC still faces a dilemma: its rivals in West Texas and Oklahoma may still impede the group's efforts and stall the long-anticipated rebalancing of the oil market again if prices rise high enough to tempt U.S. shale producers to abandon their recently adopted mantra of financial discipline.
Even though several major U.S. oil companies have promised investors they plan to throttle back operational growth and focus more on returning profits to shareholders next year – with some going so far as to make financial discipline part of executive compensation – high oil prices have historically led to land rushes and drilling surges by companies guided not by national fiat, but profits.
This time last year, when OPEC and its partners first announced an agreement to curb supplies, crude prices soared, U.S. oil companies dispatched hundreds of drilling rigs and economic activity surged in Houston for months. But market and industry enthusiasm waned in mid-2017 amid fears a second shale boom would offset OPEC's output reductions and undercut prices.
The latest wrinkle is that U.S. oil companies have said they will only drill as long as they can make returns on the crude they pump. Whether they do could determine if Houston's recovery gains momentum or stalls.
"It's hard to believe they can keep their fingers off the levers," said Bill Gilmer, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston. "Someone is going to be tempted, and as soon as one goes for it, they're all going to."
OPEC's production-cut agreement, reached last fall between two dozen countries and renewed over the summer to run through March, has cut deep into bulging crude stockpiles around the world, reducing inventory levels from 338 million barrels above historical norms in January to 138 million barrels in September.
But in the United States, at $54 a barrel oil, crude production growth in 2018 could double this year's gains, growing at an annual average of 700,000 barrels a day, compared with 365,000 barrels a day this year, said Mike Wittner, an oil-market analyst at French bank Société Générale. In the first half of next year, the bank believes global oil inventories could rise by 300,000 barrels a day.
U.S. oil prices slid 22 cents in early trading on Tuesday to $57.89 a barrel amid market jitters over whether Russia will play ball with OPEC. But if a deal goes through, as analysts expect, higher crude prices could provide financial cover for U.S. oil companies to drill more.
"For most of these guys, $60 oil means they have cash flow for the first time in many years, after cutting and cutting, when most were planning for oil prices around $50," said R.T. Dukes, an analyst at energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. "Does extra cash flow mean they're going to blow out their balance sheets again? Some will. Growth rates will probably grow higher, but I'm not sure they'll spend at all costs."
http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/OPEC-could-face-challenge-from-shale-if-US-12388794.php
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Keystone Deliveries Resume as Leak Investigation Continues
Nov 28, 2017 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Gordon Jaremko
Flows resume Monday into the United States from Alberta on the Keystone oil pipeline after an 11-day interruption to repair a leak and start cleaning up a 5,000 bbl oil spill in northeastern South Dakota.
Deliveries were beginning through a “controlled return” at reduced pressure and gradually pumping back up to the seven-year-old line’s capacity for 530,000 b/d, operator TransCanada Corp. said Monday.
The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) reviewed the restart plan and made no objections, TransCanada noted. No air or water pollution concerns have been raised in the spill area by state authorities or landowners.
Neither TransCanada nor the PHMSA disclosed a suspected cause for the leak. The rupture was under pancake-flat and thinly populated South Dakota farmland near Amherst, a region not noted for threats to pipelines such as frequent floods, high flows in river or stream crossings, earth tremors or slope erosion. A brief flash flood damaged a cattle feedlot in 2009, before Keystone began operating.
As of last weekend about 170 cleanup and remediation personnel recovered 44,730 gallons of oil, or one-fifth of the spill of 210,000 U.S. gallons (reported more dramatically in Canada as 795,000 liters, using the national metric system).
TransCanada did not disclose cleanup cost or completion date estimates. Officials of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission said Keystone’s performance is watched closely and its operating liable is liable to be suspended or cancelled if violations are discovered.
Canadian industry analysts rated the high-volume traffic disruption as a contributor to recent oil price increases, along with optimism that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will extend restricted production quotas at a meeting this week.
TransCanada, meanwhile, gave no further hint at the fate of the proposed Keystone XL 830,000 b/d addition to the oil export network.
As part of a cost and shipper lineup review the company requested clarification of a route approval order granted by the Nebraska Public Service Commission on Nov. 20, four days after the leak in the completed first Keystone line revived environmental and native protest against a system that primarily carries Alberta oilsands production.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/112557-keystone-deliveries-resume-as-leak-investigation-continues
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Activist Group Again Sues EPA Over Encrypted App Documents
Nov 28, 2017 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Joe Uchill
A limited government advocacy group claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to respond to open records requests for documents related to employee use of encrypted messaging.
Politico first reported in early February that EPA employees were using the encrypted messaging app Signal to determine how to respond to a feared purge of climate science from the then-new Trump administration. Depending on the content of the conversations, those chats may run afoul of record-keeping laws.
The Cause of Action Institute — a group aligned with GOP mega-donors Charles and David Koch — filed several Freedom of Information Act requests for documents relating to the Signal messages, including ones in August and September, for records from software that could detect the Signal app on phones. According to the group, the EPA has not responded either of those requests.
The institute, which already filed a lawsuit over the documents requested in August, submitted another suit on Tuesday in the Washington, D.C. federal court to compel the release of documents from both requests.
Technically, the EPA has 20 days to respond to a request or say it needs a deadline extension.
According to the group's filings, the EPA asked for a series of extensions to the August request before settling on a final deadline on or around Oct. 27. The institute claims it has never heard from the agency since.
The EPA also asked for a clarification on the other request, issued on Sept. 11, which the institute says it provided on Sept. 20. The institute says it has not heard back from the agency on that request either.
The EPA is not the only executive branch agency accused of flouting records laws by using encrypted chat apps. White House staffers reportedly used the Confide secure messaging app to keep their communications secret until former press secretary Sean Spicer explicitly banned its use.
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/362110-activist-group-again-sues-epa-over-encrypted-app-documents
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Watchdog Sues Again Over Encrypted Messages
Nov 28, 2017 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
A conservative watchdog group today filed another lawsuit seeking records related to U.S. EPA career employees' use of encrypted messaging apps.
The Cause of Action Institute said in its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that EPA failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests for the records.
Career EPA employees have reportedly used the encrypted messaging app Signal to communicate with each other about work-related issues out of sight of political appointees at the agency.
The group says EPA has refused to produce documents showing how pervasive the use of the app was and how it intended to meet the FOIA obligation to preserve agency records.
"We now know that a small group of career EPA employees used Signal to avoid transparency," Cause of Action Institute counsel Ryan Mulvey said in a statement. "These employees' work-related communications — including their messages concerning any proposed efforts to thwart the new Administration's political appointees from carrying out the President's policy agenda — should have been preserved for disclosure to the public."
This is the conservative watchdog's second FOIA lawsuit over employees' use of encrypted messaging. The group also uncovered a potential investigation over EPA employees sending each other encrypted messages (E&E News PM, March 23).
Judicial Watch, another conservative-leaning group, filed a separate lawsuit in March on the issue (E&E News PM, April 12).
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/11/28/stories/1060067433
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Climate Action Today: Where We're Going and How We Reach Results – Despite Current Roadblocks
Nov 28, 2017 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Fred Krupp
Not long ago, I attended a briefing about some of the ways innovation is driving environmental progress. It came during a visit to Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, where I heard from scientists who are developing fast-charging electric vehicle batteries that will help overcome range anxiety.
Breakthroughs like these will help scale the solutions we need to turn the corner toward a safer and more stable climate.
New technologies are empowering people to protect the environment in other ways. Cheap pollution sensors and data analytics can make hidden health threats visible – and actionable.Times are tough, but there’s still progress
In Oakland and Houston, we’re working with Google Earth Outreach to map air pollutionblock by block. No longer can governments or big businesses choose to conceal pollution from people; we can measure it ourselves, and use social media to make it public.
Transparent environmental data allow us to hold laggard companies accountable and celebrate the stewardship of corporate environmental leaders.
This wave of innovation is just one of the trends that makes me hopeful about our environmental future, even at a time when America’s bipartisan legacy of environmental safeguards is under assault. I also draw hope from the progress we’re making with states, corporations and other countries.
We worked with California this year as the state extended and deepened the ambition of its groundbreaking cap-and-trade program, which Environmental Defense Fund cosponsored.
We’re also helping Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, achieve an extraordinary commitment: removing 1 gigaton of climate pollution from its global supply chain. That’s more than Germany emits annually.
And in China, we are working with the government as it phases in what will become the world’s biggest emissions trading system for carbon.
As we approach the end of President Trump’s first year in office, it’s worth taking stock of how much has changed, and where leadership can still be found. My colleagues at EDF have been doing just that – adapting to a changing landscape by drafting a new strategic plan [PDF] called Pathways 2025.
Here are a few of the conclusions we’ve reached.Trump’s policies hurt his own voters
Among the many factors driving the 2016 election outcome was a profound sense of voter pessimism – a rejection of elites and mistrust of expertise driven by the sense that the rules of the game have been rigged.
There are valid reasons for people to feel this way, but the populist wave only succeeded in electing a president who is making the problem worse. With his administration’s attacks on clean air and public health standards, regular people are getting hit harder than ever.A price on carbon: Still a key priority
Fairer and more transparent rules of the road can help restore public trust. When it comes to climate change, for example, United States markets are badly broken. They let corporations pollute our common atmosphere for free.
The way to fix them is by putting in place a price and limit on carbon pollution – and this remains EDF’s No. 1 climate policy objective.
This may seem like a dark time to talk about climate progress in Washington. But the Trump administration has inspired a rebirth of environmental activism, with support for EDF and other groups at an all-time high. Hundreds of thousands marched on behalf of climate action and sound science this year.
Polls show Trump’s environmental agenda is deeply unpopular.Note to Congress: Citizen action soars
Together with our allies, we help amplify this upwelling of citizen action by giving voice to our two million members and activists, our Moms Clean Air Force affiliate with more than a million members; and Defend Our Future, a burgeoning initiative to engage millennials.
We want Congress and the administration to understand that attacking bedrock environmental standards carries the same political risk as cutting Social Security.
Even as the impacts of climate change become more damaging, we remain confident that our solutions, if scaled in time, can help turn the corner to a safer climate, cleaner air and healthier communities.A new focus: Resilience in a warming world
However, even with ambitious greenhouse gas reductions, considerable warming is inevitable. That’s why a new focus of our work is helping people and natural systems become more resilient in the face of the changes we cannot avoid.
Our Oceans, Ecosystems and Health programs are pursuing several climate resilience initiatives:Oceans: Well-managed fisheries are better able to withstand the stress of climate change, improving the fortunes of people everywhere.Health: Climate and human health will benefit from our work to reduce conventional air pollution.Ecosystems: The climate will benefit from work to reduce fertilizer overuse, curbing the amount of nitrous oxide entering the atmosphere. And building natural infrastructure, such as wetlands and barrier islands, helps make coastal communities more secure in the face of change.
EDF has also embraced an important new goal known as “net-zero emissions.”
It means not just reducing emissions, but eventually reaching a point of balance when the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases we’re putting into the atmosphere are matched by those we’re taking out through measures such as reforestation and agricultural practices that increase carbon in soils.
Technologies that pull carbon from the atmosphere are also promising and may become economically viable in years to come. A carbon recovery pilot project called Climeworks is up and running in Iceland, but remains too expensive to scale.
The net-zero point of balance is the place where we stop doing more harm to the climate, and begin to heal it. It’s a long way off, but it’s critical that we have a strategy for both where we’re going, and – despite the current politics – how we will get there.
https://www.edf.org/blog/2017/11/28/climate-action-today-where-were-going-and-how-we-reach-results-despite-current
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Tax Reform Plan Is Also Wrong for the Environment
Nov 28, 2017 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Rep. Niki Tsongas
Count polar bears and caribou among the long list of those opposed to the Republican tax reform plan.
In addition to eliminating tax cuts that benefit middle-class Americans and exploding the deficit by $1.5 trillion, the GOP tax bill, H.R. 1, which passed the House on Nov. 16, also undermines one of our nation’s most successful, bipartisan conservation efforts.
Nearly four decades ago, my late husband Sen. Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.) worked with then-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to pass the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). To this day that law remains one of America’s most significant conservation bills, balancing permanent environmental protections with responsible economic development, energy production, and recreation activities in Alaska.
ANILCA also included an expansion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of our nation’s last remaining truly wild places and a crown jewel of our nation's public lands. The Arctic Refuge is home to caribou herds, polar bears, muskox, gray wolves, and numerous other nationally significant animal and plant species unique to the region. It also supports subsistence activities for Native Alaskan communities and is open to recreation such as hunting, hiking, fishing and wildlife viewing, all of which contribute to Alaska’s $9.5 billion outdoor recreation economy.
The GOP’s tax reform plan changes all that. Their tax bill calls for fossil fuel drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to pay for tax cuts for the top earners in this country. The Senate version of the bill, which will be considered in the coming weeks, includes similar language.
Specifically, H.R. 1 opens up the coastal section of the Arctic Refuge to fossil fuel development, a region that is critical to the biological diversity of the entire refuge and called “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins” by the native Gwich’in people.
Earlier this month, a group of scientists wrote to members of Congress opposing the expanded drilling, citing that “three-fourths of the refuge coastal plain is designated as critical habitat for polar bears,” and “New development on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge, one of the nation’s and planet’s premier protected areas, will only contribute to these harmful impacts on wildlife.”
Adding insult to injury, consistently low oil prices make it doubtful that drilling in this national wildlife refuge would even bring in the revenues that Republicans expect. They are gambling with long-valued conservation efforts, putting the Arctic Refuge’s wildlife, air, and water at risk of permanent degradation.
Our nation’s public lands protect some of the natural and historic places that have shaped and defined who we are as a people, and a country, and would not be protected without support from the federal government.
As stewards of these lands, we must work to find a balance between compelling, yet sometimes competing interests, and make sure that the federal government is a good neighbor to local communities.
There are some places in our country where the best use of public lands is conservation, and one of those places is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Instead of opening up the coastal plain of the Refuge to drilling, we should be designating the site as Wilderness, guaranteeing that this special area will remain as such for future generations of Americans and for the native people who depend on it to sustain their way of life.
Sen. Paul Tsongas and his colleagues enacted ANILCA forty years ago, but the vision behind that momentous legislation is equally critical and applicable today. Neither Paul nor Sen. Stevens got everything he wanted in that law, as my many dinner table conversations with Paul at the time made clear. But they both understood that it represented a unique opportunity to balance the economic needs of Alaska with long-term conservation on behalf of the American people.
What Paul said then still holds true today: “Nature made the wilderness and wildlife in Alaska majestic during hundreds of thousands of years. Man is challenged merely to respect and preserve the natural majesty.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/362031-tax-reform-plan-is-also-wrong-for-the-environment
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Study Finds Updated Carbon 'Cost' Doubles Agriculture Effect
Nov 28, 2017 | Inside EPA
A new study by University of California (UC) and Purdue University researchers finds that updating the Obama-era "social cost of carbon" (SCC) climate damage tool with the latest science would roughly double the estimated costs global warming has on agricultural activities, a step that would help justify stricter mitigation efforts.
"It means that a higher SCC would justify more ambitious mitigation policies across the board, not just in the agricultural sector," says Frances Moore, an assistant professor at UC-Davis and lead author of the study. "Our findings mean that the agriculture sector is being hurt much more than was previously realized by GHG emissions, so correspondingly [it] benefits through efforts to reduce emissions."
The Obama administration developed the SCC to represent the climate-related damage a ton of additional carbon dioxide will have on society and the economy, including agricultural productivity, human health, property damage due to flooding and energy costs. As such, the metric was used to estimate the benefits of limiting GHGs.
However, the Trump administration is scaling back key parts of the SCC by limiting consideration to domestic, rather than global, damages and by using a sharply higher discount rate to quantify future damages using present-day economic values.
The result is sharply lower cost savings estimates in several major pending regulations, including EPA's proposal to rescind the Clean Power Plan.
But as reported by Inside Cal/EPA's Curt Barry, the study, published in the Nov. 20 issue of Nature Communications, suggests the Obama-era values significantly underestimated the adverse impacts of warming on the agriculture sector.
The researchers analyzed more than a thousand published estimates of how crop yields from four global staples -- wheat, rice, corn and soybeans -- respond to changing climate conditions. The study found that higher temperatures have a negative effect on yields of all crops in almost all locations.
Ultimately, models used to develop the SCC "would improve their damage functions to be consistent with the most recent science," Moore says. "Our finding is that, at least in the agricultural sector, this would raise the SCC significantly.”
The study asserts that for every additional ton of CO2 emitted, the global economy loses between $3.50 and $8.50 due to agricultural sector effects, rather than gaining $2.70 as previously estimated. "This leads the overall social cost of carbon to increase from $8.60 per ton of CO2 to between $14.80 and $19.70, an increase of 72 to 129 percent," the authors say.
Previous estimates were based on data from the 1980s and 1990s that suggested the short-term benefits of increased CO2 emissions on plant growth would benefit agriculture, the researchers note. The updated estimates "show that climate change has an overall negative effect on agriculture."
The paper's other authors are Uris Baldos and Thomas Hertel of Purdue; and Delavane Diaz of Stanford University.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/study-finds-updated-carbon-cost-doubles-agriculture-effect
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