Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 05/01/18
-
(ACC Mentioned) Opinion: In Athens, Use Plastic Products Instead of Paper
Jan 5, 2018 | The Red and Black
By Mariah Manoylov
With environmental consciousness among young people on the rise, it sounds ridiculous to suggest that plastic, a known pollutant in oceans and other ecosystems, may be better for the environment. -
EPA Chief Pruitt is Said to be Eyeing Attorney General Job
Jan 5, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia
Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has told friends and associates that he’s interested in becoming attorney general, according to three people familiar with the internal discussions. -
(ACC Mentioned) Major Manufacturing Infrastructure Project in Appalachia Just Cleared First Critical Hurdle
Jan 5, 2018 | Shopfloor
By Rachel Jones
2018 is off to a great start. -
Trump Proposal Would Allow Oil and Gas Drilling Along Most of U.S. Coastline
Jan 5, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By James Osborne
Nearly the entire U.S. coastline - from Alaska to Florida to New England - would be opened to offshore drilling under a proposal by the Trump administration, a dramatic shift from previous administrations that limited offshore oil and gas production primarily to the Gulf of Mexico. -
Trump Opens Vast Waters to Oil Firms. But Will They Come?
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Brittany Patterson and Zack Colman
In a striking about-face, the Interior Department announced yesterday that it wants to allow drilling in nearly all U.S. waters, the single largest expansion of offshore oil and gas leasing ever proposed by the federal government. -
Without Fanfare, Oil Companies Just Received a Tax Break on New Year’s Day
Jan 5, 2018 | Washington Post
By Juliet Eilperin and Dino Grandoni
Congressional Republicans allowed a tax on oil companies that generated hundreds of millions of dollars annually for federal oil-spill response efforts to expire this week — a move that amounts to another corporate break in the wake of lawmakers’ sweeping tax overhaul late last month. -
Oil to the Rescue in New England's Blizzard
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Peter Behr and Rod Kuckro
At 2:09 p.m. yesterday, as New England's grid operators strained to cope with a blizzard and wind blasts resulting from the "bomb cyclone," one of the region's major power plants, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., suddenly shut down. -
Colo. Regulators Ready to Weigh in on Firestone Explosion
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Colorado oil and gas regulators could vote as early as next week to finalize Gov. John Hickenlooper's (D) proposal for tighter safety regulations on the type of pipelines linked a deadly home explosion last year. -
5 Battles to Watch in 2018
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Christa Marshall, Hannah Northey and Sam Mintz
2017 was an active year for Energy Secretary Rick Perry. -
Department Rescinds Obama-Era Mitigation and Climate Docs
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Michael Doyle
The Interior Department is dialing back more environmental goals set in the Obama administration, this time through a secretarial order. -
California Accelerating Efforts to Reduce GHG Emissions
Jan 5, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
The Trump administration may plan to withdraw the United States from the United Nations global climate accord, but California is going its own way, with government, industry and environmental leaders entering 2018 with the shared understanding that they have accelerated efforts to mitigate climate change and reduce overall carbon emissions in the nation's most populous state.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Energy News
Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Transportation and Infrastructure News
Environment News
-
(ACC Mentioned) Opinion: In Athens, Use Plastic Products Instead of Paper
Jan 5, 2018 | The Red and Black
By Mariah Manoylov
With environmental consciousness among young people on the rise, it sounds ridiculous to suggest that plastic, a known pollutant in oceans and other ecosystems, may be better for the environment. Many instead opt for the seemingly sustainable paper bag, the heralded solution to mitigating plastic waste.
However, with all factors of production, manufacturing and use taken into account, there is scientific support suggesting plastic is better for the environment than paper.
Paper, the supposed king of biodegradability and sustainability, requires water, energy and trees to turn wood pulp into the brown bag you see in stores. And when all taken into consideration, paper uses more than 125 times the water that a recyclable plastic bag consumes, according to the American Chemistry Council. Not only that, but the paper bag uses four times as much electricity and produces 20 percent more CO2 than plastic, in addition to destroying carbon-consuming trees.
This is counter-intuitive to the narrative that slanders plastic and supports paper. This is true to some extent, since plastic is at an all time high in the oceans and other aquatic ecosystems and is stifling wildlife. According to National Geographic, the abuse of plastic leads to more than 8 million tons of plastic in the ocean, which chokes marine life and leeches petrochemicals into the water we ultimately consume in one way or another.
But this much pollution comes from plastic being improperly disposed of. If a majority of plastic bags are recycled, there would be no need to produce more plastic, nor their paper alternative.
So the next time you’re given the choice of using a plastic or paper bag at a grocery store, opt for plastic and recycle it properly. Bag the Bag at UGAoffers plastic bag drop off sites around campus where students can properly dispose of their plastic bags. Of course, it would be ultimately preferable if neither plastic nor paper was used, and instead a reusable bag could be used for life. But when given the choice, the plastic bags lifecycle can be the consumer’s solution to lowering their environmental footprint.
With systematic dismantling of environmental protection, the consumer now more than ever has more responsibility in regulating their unsustainable practices. By educating yourself on the true wastefulness of paper bags and subsequent products, you can make better choices as you consume throughout your life, and do the environmental a little bit of good.
https://www.redandblack.com/opinion/opinion-in-athens-use-plastic-products-instead-of-paper/article_45a8f08c-f0bf-11e7-8df1-438ccff66311.html
-
EPA Chief Pruitt is Said to be Eyeing Attorney General Job
Jan 5, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Andrew Restuccia
Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has told friends and associates that he’s interested in becoming attorney general, according to three people familiar with the internal discussions.
With rumors swirling that Jeff Sessions could depart the administration and two members of the House Freedom Caucus calling on the former Alabama senator to resign, Pruitt is quietly positioning himself as a possible candidate for the job.
“Pruitt is very interested,” a person close to him said. “He has expressed that on a number of occasions.”
It’s unclear whether Pruitt would be on the shortlist for the position, but people close to the president said Trump has grown to like him. Pruitt has emerged as the face of Trump’s deregulatory agenda, taking steps to overturn former President Barack Obama’s climate change regulations. He was also a leading advocate for pulling out of the Paris agreement on climate change.
Pruitt has developed a reputation in Washington as one of the most ambitious members of Trump’s Cabinet, and people close to him have long suspected that he harbors bigger aspirations in politics, perhaps as governor or senator. Two people close to him also said he has toyed with the possibility of running for president someday.
The EPA denied that Pruitt is eyeing the attorney general position.
“No, this is not true,” agency spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement. “From creating regulatory certainty to cleaning up toxic superfund sites, Administrator Pruitt is solely focused on implementing President Trump’s agenda to protect the environment.”
Pruitt’s allies stressed that he is happy at the EPA and, in the words of one person who has talked to him, “feels he’s doing nation-changing work.”
Before joining the Trump administration in February, Pruitt served as Oklahoma’s attorney general, and he was a state senator before that.
A prominent Washington attorney advising one member of the administration said choosing Pruitt to replace Sessions would make sense because, as a member of the Cabinet who has already been confirmed by the Senate, Pruitt could serve in an acting capacity until he is formally nominated.
But a Pruitt nomination for attorney general would face fierce resistance from Democrats, who have criticized his tenure at the EPA, arguing that he is too closely tied to the oil industry and has weakened crucial environmental protections.
Sessions’ relationship with Trump has ebbed and flowed in recent months. It reached a low point over the summer, when Trump called Sessions out on Twitter, publicly wondering why the attorney general wasn’t investigating Hillary Clinton — and people close to the president said his relationship with Sessions has never fully recovered.
The president has also complained about Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
“Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Trump said in a July interview with The New York Times.
The Times published an article on Thursday that said a top White House lawyer tried to persuade Sessions not to recuse himself. The Times also reported that a Sessions aide asked a congressional staffer whether he had damaging information about the director of the FBI at the time, James Comey.
Trump fired Comey in May, a move that is under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller as he investigates whether the president obstructed justice.
It’s unclear how the Times article will influence Sessions’ status in the White House. A White House spokeswoman and several senior administration officials did not respond to requests for comment on the issue.
In an op-ed published on Thursday, Republican Reps. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, the chairman and former chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, appeared to channel Trump’s frustrations. The lawmakers called on Sessions to step down, railing against intelligence leaks to the press.
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from the Russia investigation, but it would appear he has no control at all of the premier law enforcement agency in the world,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is time for Sessions to start managing in a spirit of transparency to bring all of this improper behavior to light and stop further violations.
“If Sessions can’t address this issue immediately, then we have one final question needing an answer: When is it time for a new attorney general? Sadly, it seems the answer is now.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/05/scott-pruitt-us-attorney-general-position-326373
-
Jan 5, 2018 | Shopfloor
By Rachel Jones
2018 is off to a great start. We’re only four days into the new year, and President Trump is already delivering on his promise to prioritize infrastructure projects.
On Wednesday, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced its approval of the first of two application phases for a $1.9 billion loan to jump-start a transformational energy infrastructure project in Appalachia. And the Appalachia Development Group spearheading the project is working to secure $1.4 billion through other financing.
The infrastructure project is a proposed transport and storage hub for ethane, a chemical building block derived from natural gas that is used to manufacture thousands of consumer products across many sectors, including automotive, agriculture, buildings and construction, pharmaceutical, transport, and textiles.
The American Chemistry Council estimates that an Appalachian Storage Hub could generate over 100,000 jobs and $36 billion in capital investment from the petrochemical industry.
This fall, the NAM sent a letter to Secretary Rick Perry supporting the potential Appalachian Storage Hub and asking the DOE to support this project. The state manufacturing associations in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia also urged DOE to support the project that could energize their local economies in a transformational way.
Manufacturers have called for bold support of energy infrastructure projects and today’s announcement is a huge step toward promises kept.
Ethane’s only commercial application is as a chemical feedstock, and a lack of adequate storage infrastructure for it in the Marcellus and Utica shale regions means that as much as 40 percent of the ethane goes unused and is returned to the natural gas stream. If there were a way to free up these stranded assets, more manufacturing could be attracted to the region.
The U.S. is now the world’s largest natural gas producer. We have truly become energy dominant, and the addition of a storage hub for ethane and other NGLs in the Appalachian region would add to this dominance by attracting manufacturers and their deep supply chains. Since many other manufacturing sectors also rely on NGLs, these impressive numbers may turn out to be conservative.
For too long, our nation has relied on the infrastructure we inherited from previous generations. But targeted, substantial investments in modernizing our nation’s infrastructure will create jobs, boost economic growth, save lives and help secure America’s mantle of economic leadership in the world. As manufacturing evolves and becomes even more productive, manufacturers rely on complex supply chains and just-in-time principles where parts are ordered, made and delivered, sometimes within hours. Manufacturers’ ability to compete and grow depends on a superior infrastructure system that is second to none.
The abundance of U.S. natural gas has lowered energy and production costs for manufacturing. And it’s our nation’s energy infrastructure network that connects this domestic resource to people around the country. According to NAM’s Energizing Manufacturing study conducted by IHS:
“The combination of increased access to shale gas and the transmission lines that move that affordable energy to manufacturers across America meant 1.9 million jobs in 2015 alone.”
Ensuring fair access to energy is a critical piece to solving America’s infrastructure challenge.
Our nation’s manufacturing sector is undeniably linked to the growth and modernization of our nation’s transportation and energy infrastructure. Manufacturers appreciate President Trump’s commitment to advance an aggressive infrastructure agenda that addresses chronic underfunding and persistent delays that have plagued key segments of infrastructure. It’s time to build.
http://www.shopfloor.org/2018/01/appalachia-development-storage-hub-hurdle/
-
Trump Proposal Would Allow Oil and Gas Drilling Along Most of U.S. Coastline
Jan 5, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By James Osborne
Nearly the entire U.S. coastline - from Alaska to Florida to New England - would be opened to offshore drilling under a proposal by the Trump administration, a dramatic shift from previous administrations that limited offshore oil and gas production primarily to the Gulf of Mexico.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Thursday that up to 90 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf, which begins roughly three miles off the U.S. mainland, is under consideration for oil and gas lease sales beginning next year and extending through 2024. That includes almost the entire Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, as well as the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
"This is the largest number of lease sales ever proposed," Zinke said. "If you look at the last eight years the opportunity to generate revenue through responsible energy development took a backseat to, in many cases, special interest groups."
The move marks a victory for the offshore oil and gas industry, largely centered in Houston, which has lobbied for years to drill in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.
Most of the world's biggest oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell, have a major presence in Houston, as do firms specializing in offshore drilling and services, including TechnipFMC, National Oilwell Varco, McDermott International and Transocean.
Vast stores of oil and gas are believed to lie beneath the ocean floors of the Arctic and Atlantic. And while test wells have turned up little hard proof as of yet, the areas represent potential new frontiers for an industry eager to expand its reserves.
"The plan announced today is a long-term commitment to securing our energy future, and would help cement America's role as an energy superpower, creating jobs and contributing to our economy," said Karen Harbert, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Energy Institute.
RELATED: Arctic oil and gas development dealt blow by Obama
President Donald Trump's effort to advance his plan for U.S. "energy dominance" by expanding offshore drilling faces a number of challenges, particularly low oil prices that have significantly curtailed offshore exploration.
Many oil companies are focusing investments in lower-cost and higher-margin shale projects in West Texas and other onshore fields.
Crude settled Thursday at $62.01 a barrel, well below prices in 2008, when oil companies spent tens of billions of dollars competing for drilling rights in the Arctic Ocean. Earlier this year, a federal lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico drew what Trump officials conceded Thursday was less than stellar interest from oil companies.
"We do not control the price of oil," said Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Kate MacGregor. "The price of oil is very hard to predict."
The proposal released Thursday was only a draft, beginning a monthslong process in which Trump is expected to face strong opposition from environmentalists as well as residents and political leaders in coastal states.
Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, said Thursday he had already reached out to Zinke to get his state removed from the drilling plan.
When former President Barack Obama considered expanding offshore drilling into the Atlantic Ocean in 2015, protests erupted up and down the Eastern Seaboard as environmentalists clashed with pro-business politicians - including some Democrats - eager to attract the economic boost of oil and gas drilling.
Obama ultimately used his presidential authority to ban drilling in the Atlantic.
Trump's plan would open a much more extensive stretch of coastline to drilling, unlike anything that has ever been proposed by a U.S. president, Republican or Democrat, said Niel Lawrence, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group.
"This is an out-and-out declaration of war on America's coasts and the people who use and depend upon them," Lawrence said.
Already environmental lawyers are fighting the Trump administration in Alaska federal court, where they filed suit earlier this year to block Trump's move to reverse Obama's protections against drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.
At stake are some of the world's most pristine marine environments in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas, both of which are slated to be opened up for auction next year under Trump's drilling plan.
The offshore industry, meanwhile, is still trying to clean up its image after the 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which left eleven people dead and spilled over 3 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
"We are continuously developing and improving safety standards, programs, new technologies and best practices to protect our workers, the environment and marine life," said Erik Milito, upstream director at the American Petroleum Institute, the industry trade group.
Under Trump's proposal, the Interior Department would hold 47 lease sales between 2019 and 2024, including 19 off the coast of Alaska, seven in the Pacific region, 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, and nine in the Atlantic region.
http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Trump-opens-up-drilling-across-Atlantic-Pacific-12473489.php
-
Trump Opens Vast Waters to Oil Firms. But Will They Come?
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Brittany Patterson and Zack Colman
In a striking about-face, the Interior Department announced yesterday that it wants to allow drilling in nearly all U.S. waters, the single largest expansion of offshore oil and gas leasing ever proposed by the federal government.
The agency said it will hold 47 lease sales in every region of the outer continental shelf but one between 2019 and 2024. The updated five-year plan, required by President Trump in an executive order in April, puts regions that were long off-limits to oil and gas development back in play.
Planning areas in the Pacific Ocean and the eastern Gulf of Mexico are included in the new plan, as well as more than 100 million acres in the Arctic and along much of the Eastern Seaboard. Former President Obama placed the latter two regions under a drilling moratorium in the last weeks of his presidency.
"This is a start on looking at American energy dominance and looking at our offshore assets and beginning a dialogue of when, how, where and how fast those offshore assets should be or could be developed," Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a call with reporters.
Industry groups applauded the vast expansion and said the plan, which opens 90 percent of the outer continental shelf to drilling, places America on its way to achieving Trump's desired "energy dominance."
"This is going to be an amazing plan. This really is a statement to the entire world," said Tim Charters, senior director of governmental and political affairs with the National Ocean Industries Association.
While the oil and gas industry cheered, analysts and even some industry representatives cautioned that the plan's signal may not immediately boost offshore development.
Low oil prices and plentiful supply from onshore plays in Texas' Permian Basin and in North Dakota remain a quicker and cheaper bet for oil companies, experts said. While the new drilling plan provides a plethora of options for development, investing in regions like the Atlantic Ocean — where little drilling has occurred — could cost billions of dollars in new infrastructure. Additional costs could also come from litigation initiated by state attorneys general and environmental groups, which fiercly oppose the expansion.
"If you do think you have a discovery there, how are you going to get it to shore? Are you going to tanker it in? Are you going to build a subsea pipeline?" an oil and gas industry source said. "You're looking at potentially billions and billions of dollars in some of these frontier areas that don't have any existing infrastructure."
That also raises a fundamental question for oil and gas companies: Are they willing to invest in expensive projects with long timelines as some analysts project constrained global oil demand and an emergence of climate policies?
In the draft proposed plan, Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) noted that major industry players, including Chevron Corp., Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Statoil ASA and BP PLC, have expressed interest in unexplored areas. But it could take years to tap those regions for oil.
"You want to be able to get the resources to the market," the oil and gas industry source said. "The demand is going to be there, for sure — maybe 15 to 20 years down the road; it's hard to say. It will be interesting to see how that all plays out given the long timelines you need for these projects."
Some shareholders have pushed major oil and gas companies to disclose the risks their assets face due to climate policies. The idea is that as governments become increasingly concerned about rising temperatures, policies to restrict carbon emissions may follow. Reserves that companies had been banking on for future revenue could potentially be devalued, becoming so-called stranded assets.
Charters said he thinks the projections of a downward trend in oil demand are overblown. He pointed to a Wood Mackenzie study released last month that showed the emergence of electric vehicles would displace 1.8 million barrels per day of oil demand in 2035. Combined with instability in oil-producing countries like Iran and Venezuela, Charters said, there's plenty of reason to believe new investments will be needed.
"I think everybody has been dealing with that stuff differently," Charters said of stranded assets.
For now, oil and gas companies are putting the issue of stranded assets on the back burner. They would rather have the option of bidding on leases and deciding whether to explore and produce at a later date. After all, the understanding of oil markets and the policy picture could change significantly between now and 2024, the final year covered in the draft plan floated yesterday.
"While general assumptions about declining future oil demand are consistent with our long-term view of the energy transition that is underway, declining oil demand is not a condition we are experiencing today," Royal Dutch Shell PLC spokesman Curtis Smith said in an email. "In fact, it's quite challenging to keep up with current demand while production from offshore fields naturally declines year over year. Even if global demand were to remain flat, continuous investment — including robust lease sales and new exploration — will be required to keep pace."
That said, some of the lease sales and new exploration considered in the draft plan come with sizable challenges. The Atlantic Seaboard is one of them. There is strong opposition to opening the coastline to oil and gas development, with more than 1,200 local, state and federal officials having raised concerns that it could jeopardize fishing and tourism.
Opponents include the governors of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Oregon and Washington; more than 150 coastal municipalities; and an alliance of more than 41,000 businesses and 500,000 fishing families.
Pavel Molchanov, an energy analyst at financial firm Raymond James, said those are just some of the factors that could deter most oil companies from investing in "frontier exploration" or places like the Atlantic where development has been limited.
"Companies are not going to drill just because the government said those areas are available to drill," he said. "There has to be an economic justification for companies to invest capital, particularly when it comes to high-risk opportunities."
Smith said Shell pursues "economically resilient projects that are scoped, designed and safely operated to withstand the unpredictable ups and downs of the oil market" and added that "deep water is a growth priority."
The main point of the draft plan is that it's important to maintain an opportunity to bid on leases and explore untapped areas, said Christopher Guith, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Energy Institute.
"This isn't about January 4th, 2018," Guith said. "I think it's pointless to look at today's prices and think they have any material impact on industry interest 15 or 20 years from now. But as a matter of policy, that's not the government's job. ... The federal government's job is to provide a more energy-secure future, and making more federal energy sources available does that."
Guith said some areas are likely to be more attractive than others.
The Arctic already has drawn suitors, as the Trump administration gave Eni US, a subsidiary of the Italian energy firm, permission to explore for oil in the Beaufort Sea. The Atlantic might be a tougher sell, though. Drilling has been off-limits there for nearly four decades, so there's a dearth of information on what's actually beneath the ocean floor.
Interior has taken additional steps to reduce the financial burdens facing offshore developers in the hope of boosting investment. Last month, the agency announced it intends to rescind key safety regulations enacted by the Obama administration in 2016 to prevent another Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. Earlier this year, BOEM slashed royalty rates from 18.5 percent to 12.5 percent for leases in water less than 200 meters deep in the Gulf of Mexico. It was an attempt to "reflect recent market conditions," according to a press release.
Molchanov is unconvinced that deregulatory measures could increase interest in offshore oil and gas development.
"It's simply the fact that the economics of drilling shale resources in places like the Permian Basin and in North Dakota, those areas offer better geology and therefore better economics than exploring in areas no one has explored before," he said. "When companies drill in these shale areas, those wells begin to generate cash flow almost instantaneously within weeks, whereas if companies were to drill hypothetically off the coast of Florida, let's say, there is no infrastructure, and all of the equipment would have to be brought in from scratch."
It will take at least a year before any final decisions about leasing areas are finalized, the agency said. It noted that areas can be removed from the five-year plan, but not added. The release of the draft yesterday kicks off a 60-day public comment period. BOEM has scheduled 23 public meetings to gather in-person comment and will have to conduct a full environmental assessment.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/01/05/stories/1060070197
-
Without Fanfare, Oil Companies Just Received a Tax Break on New Year’s Day
Jan 5, 2018 | Washington Post
By Juliet Eilperin and Dino Grandoni
Congressional Republicans allowed a tax on oil companies that generated hundreds of millions of dollars annually for federal oil-spill response efforts to expire this week — a move that amounts to another corporate break in the wake of lawmakers’ sweeping tax overhaul late last month.
The tax on companies selling oil in the United States generated an average of $500 million in federal revenue per year, according to the Government Accountability Office. The money, collected through a 9 cents-per-barrel tax on domestic crude oil and imported crude oil and petroleum products, constituted the main source of revenue for the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.
The fund has at least $5.75 billion in reserve. Intended to help the government respond quickly to accidents on land or offshore, it was established in 1986 but only got a stable source of funding in the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill.
The tax, which expired Sunday, had lapsed before but was renewed under the bipartisan 2005 Energy Policy Act. Federal officials recently had debated whether it should be expanded to apply to oil sands products.
Although GOP leaders opted not to renew the tax in December, they are considering reinstating it retroactively in an “extenders” bill that would revive several recently expired taxes. Industry officials noted that the U.S. Coast Guard or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could always ask Congress to reimpose it if either felt it was needed.
A White House official did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Environmentalists called the tax lapse another industry victory under President Trump at the expense of people and wildlife located near sites susceptible to spills.
“We see it as illustrative of the way in which Trump and the GOP continue to push giveaways for corporate polluters at any cost,” said Lukas Ross, a climate and energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “They had a tax bill that disproportionately benefited the fossil fuel industry, and then they allowed a $500 million-a-year tax on that same industry to expire.”
But Randall Luthi, who represents offshore operators as president of the National Ocean Industries Association, suggested in an email that the tax was not critical at the moment. The cleanup trust fund “has never run out of money, nor will it in the near future,” he said.
Congressional Democrats, none of whom were at the negotiating table when Republicans hashed out the tax overhaul, are vowing to try to reinstate the oil tax.
“The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund ensures that when there is a spill, American taxpayers are not left holding the bag to clean up Big Oil’s mess,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who as a House member chaired hearings on the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, said in a statement. “We should have a robust trust fund — not just trust that oil companies will do nothing wrong — in case a disaster like the BP spill happens again.”
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Maria Cantwell (Wash.), respectively the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, have put forward a bill updating the 2005 energy law. Their proposal does not contain any tax provisions, however.
An extender package that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) introduced just before Christmas would reinstate the per-barrel tax as of Jan. 1 and push its expiration date to the end of 2018. “Discussions on how tax extenders should be addressed are ongoing,” committee spokeswoman Julia Lawless said in an email.
Oil and gas industry representatives have indicated that they would welcome changes to how revenue is collected for the trust fund. The American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s largest lobbying group, opposes renewal of the per-barrel tax. The National Ocean Industries Association has proposed altering the way the fund is replenished.
“It would make sense for Congress to debate on whether the amount in the fund is currently enough to cover future spill removal and cleanup costs,” Luthi said, adding that lawmakers also could consider whether to establish a cap for the fund or a floor that would trigger the tax’s return.
The U.S. Coast Guard, which administers the fund, has a poor record of getting companies involved in a spill to repay money spent as part of the cleanup. In 2015, the GAO found that responsible parties were billed $272 million between 2011 and 2013 but that only $39 million was recovered.
The trust fund was heavily tapped after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which released more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. A fifth of the $5.5 billion in fines BP paid after the accident for violations of the Clean Water Act went to the fund.
Collin O’Mara, president and chief executive of the National Wildlife Federation, said he is optimistic that bipartisan support in the House and Senate will be strong enough to renew the tax. But he questioned why the administration would curtail response funds and alter safety rules at a time when it is pushing to expand oil and gas exploration on land and offshore.
“It’s indicative of a mind-set that safety’s a secondary concern,” O’Mara said Thursday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/01/05/republicans-allowed-a-tax-on-oil-companies-to-expire-and-almost-nobody-noticed/?utm_term=.7d15fa13f0ca
-
Oil to the Rescue in New England's Blizzard
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Peter Behr and Rod Kuckro
At 2:09 p.m. yesterday, as New England's grid operators strained to cope with a blizzard and wind blasts resulting from the "bomb cyclone," one of the region's major power plants, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., suddenly shut down.
One of two power lines connecting it to the electric grid was lost in the storm, plant owner Entergy Corp. said.
In Massachusetts, power outages had hit 15,879 customers, concentrated on the coast, and the region's hourly demand still topped 18,000 megawatts. Pilgrim's loss took out 680 megawatts in an instant.
But the region rode through the loss, according to ISO New England, the grid operator. The key to its escape — 3.9 million barrels of fuel oil held in reserve by dual-fuel gas and oil generators, emergency stocks that state grid planners were counting on if polar weather pushed the grid to the edge.
After the bitter polar vortex in 2014, ISO New England created a winter reliability program offering incentives for natural gas plants able to also burn oil to stock up on oil supplies before the winter and keep them replenished until March. "Oil is taking the place of gas," said Paul Peterson, principal with Synapse Energy Economics, in Cambridge, Mass.
"That's the good news element to this. The concern about unavailability or scarcity of natural gas that would lead to giant price spikes and reliability problems hasn't materialized," he said.
The extra additional costs for stockpiling oil came to about $35 million to $40 million this year, Peterson said, a fraction of the region's electricity bill. "That is a pretty small insurance price to keep things humming."
As yesterday ended, the ISO operators let out a frosty, guarded sigh of relief, coupled with the warning that stress on the power grid would continue growing until the polar weather eased next week, as forecasters are currently predicting.
The storm's impact put a spotlight on New England's unique winter emergency program that is structured to keep the lights on in bitter weather, when the region's crucial supplies of natural gas are stretched to the breaking point.
And the region's success so far becomes another data point in Washington's debate about grid reliability, and the contrasting dependability of coal, nuclear, natural gas, renewable power and the other electricity sources in emergency situations.
As things played out yesterday, oil filled in for natural gas, not coal — an almost nonexistent source in the New England power mix. Nuclear also wasn't a factor in filling in for lost generation. Coal and nuclear are the two "baseload" sources that Energy Secretary Rick Perry has elevated in DOE's strategic power blueprint. Ironically, New England, whose plans for adding carbon-free renewable energy are among the nation's most ambitious, had to turn to one of the dirtiest of fossil fuels in the pinch.
On an unseasonably mild Nov. 2 in 2017, when daytime temperatures hit 70 degrees in Boston, New England used no oil at all to make electricity, according to ISO New England. Gas contributed 59 percent, nuclear 20 percent, with smaller fractions for renewable energy and hydropower. Yesterday, before Pilgrim's loss, oil delivered 23 percent of New England's generation, just ahead of gas and nuclear. When the reactor shut down, oil was the biggest responder.
Running short
The ISO warned yesterday in a statement, "The sustained cold is requiring round-the-clock usage of some of these oil-fired generators and some are already running short on fuel. Further, some are experiencing air emissions limitations. Based on current weather forecasts and economic trends, the ISO expects a continued need to rely heavily on oil-fired generators through the end of this cold weather, which will stretch into next week.
"Environmental limitations on how much, or whether, some oil-fired power plants will be able to generate electricity could become a concern this week, and for the remainder of the winter," the grid operator added.
The Pilgrim outage "does further challenge the region on fuel availability because we need to rely on other generating resources to meet consumer demand and meet overall grid reliability," said ISO New England spokesperson Marcia Blomberg.
Eversource, the power utility tied into Pilgrim, said it was sending crews in tracked vehicles along the power line to see if the problem was on their end. Entergy said the line break happened outside their site.
An Entergy spokesman said the company had no immediate word on when the Pilgrim plant would come back up. Early yesterday, ISO New England invoked what it calls an "abnormal conditions alert," notifying power companies to take no actions that could pressure the grid. "If a maintenance, construction or test activity could jeopardize the reliability of the power system, such activity shall be stopped and/or postponed," it warned.
Entergy said, however, "We will take this opportunity to conduct preventive maintenance that we could not otherwise perform with the plant operating at full power. When Pilgrim will return to 100 percent power is considered business sensitive, and we do not disclose that information."
The New England Winter Reliability Program is coming to a close. It has been a success, notes energy columnist Housley Carr, writing in the RBN Energy blog, with owners of 86 duel-fired generating units participating in the stockpiling program.
After this summer, the region will switch to a "pay-for-performance" system in which generators receive a base payment for providing generating capacity and either a bonus if they exceed that during high demand periods, noted Carr, or a financial penalty if they deliver less than promised.
"This new approach will put the onus on gas-fired generators to either arrange for firm gas pipeline capacity or, more likely, stockpile fuel oil if they are dual-fueled, or LNG (liquefied natural gas) if they are not," Carr wrote. "Some generators may simply take their chances — that is, rake in those base payments for generating capacity, bet that it will be a mild winter and risk having to pay a big penalty if a major cold snap happens and leaves them unable to meet their power-supply commitments."
"The good news for New England is that the build-out of new gas-fired generating capacity may be winding down and that additional gas pipeline capacity into the region is under development," Carr added.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/01/05/stories/1060070173
-
Colo. Regulators Ready to Weigh in on Firestone Explosion
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Colorado oil and gas regulators could vote as early as next week to finalize Gov. John Hickenlooper's (D) proposal for tighter safety regulations on the type of pipelines linked a deadly home explosion last year.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will hold a two-day hearing beginning Monday in Denver on the rules. The proposal applies to flow lines, which are typically low-pressure lines that connect oil and gas wells to tanks and other equipment.
A flow line at a gas well in Firestone, about 35 miles north of Denver, apparently caused an explosion in April that killed two people and destroyed a home. The line was connected to a 24-year-old gas well, and had been cut off and left unplugged near the basement of a newly built home, possibly when some of the surrounding gas field's equipment was moved to make way for a subdivision (Energywire, May 3, 2017).
Industry groups and the state's largest oil driller have pushed the commission to make the rules more flexible, while neighborhood groups and at least one local government are asking for broader restrictions on energy producers.
"A rulemaking solely about the issue of flowlines, while important, is not sufficient to address the issues raised by the tragic events of this past summer," Sara Loflin, executive director of the League of Oil and Gas Impacted Coloradans (LOGIC), which represents a coalition of neighborhood groups, said in a written comment about the rules.
Colorado is one of the few oil- and gas-producing states that regulate flow lines, but the explosion highlighted a weakness — state regulators don't have reliable information on the pipes' locations. That became a key concern for homeowners and local governments, since many of the suburbs north of Denver are built over aging oil fields and are interlaced with pipelines and well sites.
Hickenlooper issued an emergency order for companies to provide an inventory of flow lines within 1,000 feet of surrounding homes.
His follow-up proposal, if approved by the commission, would require companies to perform more frequent pressure tests and eliminate a provision that exempted some low-pressure lines from the testing requirement.
Companies would also have to remove any abandoned lines and report working lines' locations to Colorado's one-call, or 811, system, which is used to prevent construction from encroaching on pipelines and other infrastructure.
Trade groups including the Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the Colorado Petroleum Association asked the commission to tone down some of the rules.
For instance, the Colorado Petroleum Council questioned the commission's proposal to regulate flow lines that carry oil and gas wastewater. Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which owned the well involved in the Firestone explosion, said it was "working on options" to the requirement to abandon unused pipelines.
"Public safety must be ensured, but any changes to the current requirements must also be feasible and should avoid imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens," Kim Cooke, the company's regulatory manager, said in a written comment.
LOGIC and other environmental groups asked the commission to require broader setbacks around schools and other sensitive buildings, and to require more rigorous reporting of oil and gas accidents. Boulder County, which is northwest of Denver, pushed for a publicly available map of flow lines' location.
"Such a mapping requirement has been discussed repeatedly since Firestone but is glaringly absent" from the proposed regulations, Kim Sanchez, the county's chief planner, wrote.
The COGCC could vote on the new rules Tuesday, according to an agency spokesman. The commission has moved the hearing to a room at the University of Colorado, Denver, to accommodate the expected turnout.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/01/05/stories/1060070181
-
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Christa Marshall, Hannah Northey and Sam Mintz
2017 was an active year for Energy Secretary Rick Perry. He announced a plan to boost nuclear and coal plants by changing electricity markets. He split the Department of Energy's energy and science divisions. He was photographed handling a falcon in Saudi Arabia.
Yet 2018 could be the year Perry's vision for the department emerges, considering the number of critical budget and regulatory questions that have to be fleshed out. Among them: What will be in DOE's strategic plan set for release this year? Will Perry divert from President Trump's budget request? Will there be additional closures of DOE offices? How will the department funnel its grant money?
There are also more than a dozen top leadership positions that remain unfilled, including nominees to run the Office of Nuclear Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. The leaders of those offices and internal hires could shape the department's policy trajectory.
Here are five issues to watch:
To FERC or not to FERC?
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has a Jan. 10 deadline to take action on a rule that would order electric grid operators in certain parts of the country to subsidize coal and nuclear power plants. Ryan McKnight/Flickr
Perry set the energy world into frantic motion last year with his directive to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue a rule ordering electric grid operators in certain parts of the country to subsidize coal and nuclear plants. The move would save the plants from possible early retirements, in the name of protecting electric grid resilience.
It is an action that will continue to dominate headlines in 2018.
After a short comment period, in which all sorts of energy stakeholders bombarded FERC with feedback, the decision is firmly in the independent regulatory agency's hands, with a Wednesday deadline for action.
But the loudest consensus among analysts is that FERC will not adopt Perry's plan exactly and instead is likely to move forward with a new rulemaking or kick the question out to grid operators.
That leaves a major unknown for this year: What will — or can — Perry and DOE do to address a situation that they claim carries great urgency?
Perry seemed to suggest he might make a move of his own when he granted FERC's request for a deadline extension last month.
"The Department will continue to examine all options within my authority under the Department of Energy Organization Act, the Federal Power Act, and any other authorities to take remedial action as necessary to ensure the security of the nation's electric grid," Perry wrote.
To energy law experts, it's not really clear what the Energy secretary is referring to. Probably the most relevant authority, according to University of Richmond law professor Joel Eisen, is Section 202c of the Federal Power Act, which allows DOE to issue emergency orders directing particular power plants or transmission lines to operate.
But Eisen said that provision is fairly limited: It can only be used in a time of war or another comparable emergency like a sudden increase in demand or shortage in supply of energy. And when it has been used in the past, it has been directed at individual facilities.
"I believe that the 202c authority is extremely ill-fitting to a long-term plan to keep regionwide system of power plants in operation," Eisen said. "But it is the only authority that I could think of under which the DOE could unilaterally order FERC to keep these power plants operating.
"A courtroom brawl?
Environmentalists have threatened lawsuits after the Energy Department announced plans to delay multiple efficiency standards with congressional deadlines.
Environmentalists are threatening lawsuits over DOE's plans to delay multiple efficiency standards with congressional deadlines.
The delays, announced in the administration's regulatory plan in December, would affect mandatory efficiency standards on appliances such as gas furnaces and walk-in freezers (E&E News PM, Dec. 14, 2017). Previously, the administration was working on 20 or so standards in 2017 that now have been moved to long-term status with "to be determined" schedules. Nearly all have deadlines set by Congress.
"DOE has provided a road map of their plans to break the law," said Andrew deLaski, executive director at the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. He noted an ASAP report last year concluding that the next round of efficiency updates at DOE could save consumers and businesses $43 billion dollars by 2035.
"With those kind of benefits at stake, it's a safe bet that someone's going to sue," deLaski said.
Similarly, Natural Resources Defense Council analyst Lauren Urbanek said, "Lawsuits are certainly on the table, and something that seems like a reasonable option given that these standards have clear legal deadlines."
NRDC, Earthjustice and other environmental groups have backed legal challenges when previous administrations lagged on efficiency standards.
But several environmentalists said they never have seen delays to this extent, involving so many different efficiency rules. That could prompt more pushback than ever before unless DOE reverses course, they said.
In a statement last month, DOE said it was "engaging in a number of deregulatory activities aimed at reducing regulatory costs and burdens." It noted that federal law requires the agency to review efficiency standards at least once every six years to determine whether a new standard is technologically feasible and economically justified.
"The Department continues to work to meet those obligations," the statement said. DOE did not respond to a request for comment about the possibility of lawsuits. Some industry groups and members of Congress have said the current pace of efficiency rulemaking is detrimental to businesses.
Separately, DOE is examining whether a market-based approach would improve the efficiency standards program, and its plan will be clearer in 2018 (Greenwire, Nov. 27, 2017).
Not every group is rushing to sue.
The Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, which has backed lawsuits against DOE in the past, said it isn't at that point yet.
"Having said that, however, our member companies are keenly interested in a predictable schedule, and we will continue to remind the administration of its importance while doing all we can to help get the schedule back on track and keep it on track," said Francis Dietz, a vice president for public affairs at AHRI.
The standards program is expected to be a focus Wednesday at a public meeting of the Appliance Standards and Rulemaking Federal Advisory Committee, a DOE panel.
However, it could be a while before the timeline issue is resolved, even if there is legal action. A lawsuit filed last spring by several environmental groups against DOE is still pending (Greenwire, April 3, 2017). It charged that DOE should have published several Obama-era efficiency rules in the Federal Register.Budget uncertainties
With congressional funding levels uncertain, it remains unclear how many Energy Department programs will be affected.
Department of Energy
With Congress still running on a continuing resolution, it remains unclear whether many DOE programs will be shells of their former selves or exist at all.
Appropriations language that made it through the House last year would eliminate DOE's loan program and ARPA-E. There are also major differences in House and Senate legislation about the level of funding for renewables, fossil energy and some science programs.
The Senate proposal, for example, would eliminate funding for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, a multinational project in France to demonstrate fusion at scale. The House plan would maintain funding. The U.S. contribution currently is around $50 million.
But more broadly, there are questions about how much Perry will steer the department's budget. He was sworn in last year after the Trump budget was already written, so 2018 could be his first opportunity to leave budget fingerprints.
Jeff Navin, a former DOE deputy chief of staff and co-founder and partner at Boundary Stone Partners, noted that former DOE secretaries pushed back against Office of Management and Budget proposals they didn't like. Perry is also on record as supporting programs like ARPA-E, which he publicly backed in tweets before becoming secretary.
"Perry publicly fawns praise over programs that OMB has proposed to eliminate. ... Is Perry willing to fight directly with [OMB Director Mick] Mulvaney? Is he willing to take it directly to the president?" Navin said.
Current funding for agencies is set to run out Jan. 19, and the fate of DOE programs could rest with the results of bipartisan meetings on a budget agreement (E&E Daily, Jan. 4).An agency face-lift?
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) will lead an effort to study a massive overhaul at the Energy Department.
Energy and Commerce Committee
Look for Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan to take the lead in probing a massive overhaul of DOE following the announced retirement of Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas).
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) tasked Barton last year with working on a reauthorization of the agency and has said the committee began the process of crafting legislation (E&E Daily, Nov. 9, 2017).
Barton, however, announced in November he would not be seeking re-election after a nude image of himself surfaced. The congressman will continue to assist Upton on DOE reauthorization as he moves toward retirement, according to the House committee.
Upton, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, has already scheduled a hearing on the topic for next week.
Exactly what that overhaul will look like and whether it will pull in portions of U.S. EPA — as Barton has suggested — remains unclear, as does the coordination across party lines on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
At a hearing in October, Perry said he was discussing restructuring ARPA-E with Barton. Some lawmakers also are pushing for moving chief jurisdiction of EPA's Energy Star program to DOE.
DOE is already undergoing extensive internal changes after Perry last month separated the responsibilities of the agency's science and energy components.
Those moves have rubbed former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz the wrong way while thrilling conservatives who would like to see the agency focus solely on science and "basic" research (Greenwire, Dec. 15, 2017).
Direction at the agency will also be tied to who Trump picks to fill a host of empty leadership posts.
A number of high-profile offices tasked with overseeing efficiency and renewables, nuclear power and other sectors still have no acting heads (Greenwire, Nov. 27, 2017).
Looking abroad
The Golden Pass LNG Terminal near Sabine Pass, Texas. Golden Pass LNG Terminal
Given Perry's jet-setting agenda of 2017, keep an eye on international efforts to bolster Trump's push for exports, new deals and catchphrases like "energy dominance."
"President Trump coined the phrase 'energy dominance' on the campaign trail in 2016. In 2017, as president, he charged the Department of Energy with making it happen. That may mean that Secretary Perry will be on point in 2018 to help send more American hydrocarbon molecules to overseas markets," said Kevin Book, managing director at Clearview Energy Partners LLC.
Last year, DOE licensed two new liquefied natural gas terminals and expedited small-scale natural gas exports. In addition, Perry emerged as a leading voice in the Trump administration pushing for greater international sales of domestic coal, gas, nuclear technology, and carbon capture and sequestration in countries like Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
Perry's aggressive sales pitch and push to create new markets for U.S. LNG and coal exports dovetails with the administration's deregulatory push, scrapping of climate goals, and a new effort to expand the use of domestic coal and gas abroad (Greenwire, Dec. 13, 2017).
But Perry and DOE may also face increasing pressure to take action as Puerto Rico continues to struggle with power outages months after being hit by Hurricane Maria.
The agency in recent months has been a key player in helping to coordinate the planning for massive upgrades, with Bruce Walker, assistant secretary for DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, at the helm.
DOE has also held workshops and sent a stream of officials to the recovering Caribbean island to strategize on upgrading the grid using solar arrays, microgrids and a possible import terminal for natural gas (Energywire, Dec. 22, 2017).
Whether the agency takes a larger role could become more clear when and if Congress takes up a proposed aid package for hurricane and wildfire victims in Texas, Florida, California and the island territories.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/01/05/stories/1060070241
-
Department Rescinds Obama-Era Mitigation and Climate Docs
Jan 5, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Michael Doyle
The Interior Department is dialing back more environmental goals set in the Obama administration, this time through a secretarial order.
In a three-page order issued without fanfare Dec. 22, Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt rescinded three Obama-era documents involving environmental mitigation and one involving climate change policy.
Secretarial Order 3360 also directs the Bureau of Land Management to re-evaluate the specific mitigation strategy previously proposed for the Northeast National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
"The department seeks to implement statutorily-based, effective and transparent compensatory mitigation principles and standards, across its bureaus and offices ... that provide a level of certainty to all involved parties," the order states.
The order and the documents it involves are bureaucratic and, to some extent, rather opaque in their references. The Interior Department did not issue a press release or otherwise comment on the order, quietly signed on the Friday before the Christmas holiday.
Their potential impact, though, could be meaningful to the energy industry and alarming to environmentalists and others supportive of the Obama administration approaches now being retracted.
"These smart mitigation policies accelerate responsible infrastructure permitting and protect our clean air and water and wildlife habitat," Alex Daue, the Wilderness Society's assistant director of energy and climate, said in a statement. "Eliminating them will decrease permitting efficiency, increase legal challenges, and damage our public lands."
The administration counters that the change comports with President Trump's goal of "promoting energy independence and economic growth," enunciated last March in an executive order.
The rubber meets the road, for instance, with BLM's 36-page draft mitigation strategy for the Alaska reserve published in September 2016. It clarified the real human and environmental stakes entangled with the drab-sounding term "mitigation."
"Future [energy] development could result in unavoidable impacts primarily to the Iñupiat people in the region, their subsistence activities, the ecosystems upon which they depend for subsistence, and their culture," the draft strategy stated.
In response, the draft strategy itemized a number of goals to "sustain and enhance" everything from the "health and safety of the residents" to the "land, water, and landscapes that allow for sustainable populations of fish and wildlife and their natural movement and distribution."
One form of compensatory mitigation cited in the strategy suggested a fee of between $100 and $200 per affected acre, such as lost habitat or harvest areas. The money raised would fund mitigation activities, such as protecting wetlands or reimbursing hunters.
Now, under the new secretarial order, the BLM director will "assess" this draft strategy and "begin the process to revise [it] ... including seeking public comment where necessary."
The Trump administration has not yet nominated anyone as BLM director. Former Alaska official Joe Balash was confirmed last month as Interior's assistant secretary for land and minerals management, and will play a role in how the department follows up on other parts of the order.
The order rescinds a BLM "mitigation handbook" and a section on mitigation in a BLM manual, both dating to December 2016.
More broadly, the order also rescinds the department's "landscape-wide mitigation policy" from 2015 and a chapter on "climate change policy" that was written into the department's manual in 2012.
The five-page chapter effectively erased by the new secretarial order stated that the department "will use the best available science to increase understanding of climate change impacts [and] inform decision-making."
"The department will integrate climate change adaptation strategies into its policies, planning, programs and operations," the eliminated chapter stated.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/01/05/stories/1060070247
-
California Accelerating Efforts to Reduce GHG Emissions
Jan 5, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
The Trump administration may plan to withdraw the United States from the United Nations global climate accord, but California is going its own way, with government, industry and environmental leaders entering 2018 with the shared understanding that they have accelerated efforts to mitigate climate change and reduce overall carbon emissions in the nation's most populous state.
A Democratic legislature supportive of Gov. Jerry Brown's aggressive approach, continued to pass energy laws last year bolstering a turn to decarbonize over the next three decades. Part of the continued push was focused on addressing disadvantaged communities, rekindling the so-called "environmental justice" movement.
Last month, the California Energy Commission (CEC) and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) created a joint advisory group focused on disadvantaged communities, responding to state legislation, SB 350, which requires the agencies to address the issue. The CEC and CPUC jointly plan to name 10 of the 11 members, with the governor's Native American tribal liaison selecting another person.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) last month launched a section on its website devoted to real-time data on air pollution and air toxic emission levels at major greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions sources in specific neighborhoods. CARB Chair Mary Nichols said the tool would provide "transparency and accountability" to neighborhoods.
"Air quality monitoring reports are public information, but they are often difficult for the public to access,” she said. Anyone “with access to a computer or smartphone” may access emissions data for any major industrial or energy facility in the state.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), which has a nationwide campaign to eliminate major sources of methane emissions in the natural gas supply chain, has promoted California's efforts as a model for cutting carbon and still growing the economy.
EDF called out California’s 2016 emissions data that showed a continued decline in GHG emissions. It also noted the integral role that the state's cap-and-trade emissions auction program is playing now that it is extended to 2030.
"With strong climate policies in place, California's GHG emissions have declined by more than 9% since 2006," EDF said. "The carbon intensity of California's economy has also decreased -- meaning while the state is reducing emissions -- it is also taking less carbon to continue growing the economy."
California's two major oil and gas associations, the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and the California Independent Petroleum Association (CIPA), support or remain neutral regarding the auction program and its extension.
While recognizing that California's GHG emission reduction goals for 2030 are the "world's most stringent " and therefore technologically challenging, WSPA President Catherine Reheis-Boyd expressed strong support for bipartisan approval of the extended emissions credit auction program. Reheis-Boyd said the pollution trading market is preferred to more draconian, command-and-control approaches the state could have imposed.
A CIPA spokesperson told NGI that the independents' group was neutral on the cap-and-trade extension and would remain so.
EDF also is an advocate of CARB's approach, which “places firm limits on carbon pollution while providing businesses flexibility to make the lowest cost reductions first,” a spokesperson said. “Emissions trading programs such as cap-and-trade are in place in over 50 locations covering more than a billion people, and more than 90 countries expressed interest in using markets to meet their Paris agreement commitments.”
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/112963-california-accelerating-efforts-to-reduce-ghg-emissions
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Energy News
Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Transportation and Infrastructure News
Environment News
Add recipients
Suggested