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ACC PM 10/01/18
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Pruitt Seeks to Halve EPA Workforce Despite Obama Administration Warning
Jan 10, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Anthony Lacey
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is pushing ahead with plans to reduce EPA's workforce by up to 50 percent at the end of President Donald Trump's first term, despite warnings from the Obama administration that retaining “top talent” at EPA is a “key challenge,” according to a transition briefing paper obtained by Inside EPA. -
Trump CPSC Nominees Must Restart Congress Approval Process
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
President Trump has re-nominated acting chair Ann Marie Buerkle to be the permanent chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and to serve a second term. He has also re-nominated Dana Baiocco to sit on the commission. -
U.S. Chamber Hopes to Help Slash Regulations
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Maxine Joselow
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said today the business behemoth will prioritize working with the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Congress on regulatory reform this year. -
Canada Proposes Regulations Banning Most Uses of Asbestos
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A. Miller
The Canadian government has published proposed regulations that will ban the import, use and sale of asbestos and asbestos-containing products under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa). -
In Reversal, EPA Limits Information on Safety Reviews
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
U.S. EPA appears to no longer be releasing preliminary assessments of potentially hazardous new chemicals or new uses of existing chemicals, according to documents reviewed by E&E News. -
GHS Committee Asks for More Work on Global Classifications List
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The UN Sub-Committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) has failed to decide on a 'global list' of classifications, despite being warned that it was time to make its mind up about the project. -
MEPs to Vote on Proposal to Restrict BPA in Food Packaging
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
The European Parliament's environment committee (Envi) will vote tomorrow on a draft EU Commission proposal to lower migration limits of bisphenol A (BPA) in plastic food packaging, as well as varnishes and coatings used in other food contact materials. -
Germany Starts RMOA on Suspected PBTs
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Germany has begun risk management option analyses (RMOAs) of three new substances under Echa’s public activities coordination tool (PACT), which also assesses hazards. -
Colorado Regulators to Issue Oil, NatGas Flowline Rulemaking in February
Jan 10, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) has postponed until Feb. 13 action on the final rules for oil and natural gas flowlines after hearing testimony from stakeholders this week. -
Eminent Domain Challenge Heads to Appeals Court
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A high-stakes dispute over how natural gas pipelines are built across private property is heading to a federal appeals court. -
Oil Lobby Aims to Defend NAFTA in 2018
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King and Jenny Mandel
Retaining trade protections through the North American Free Trade Agreement and enhancing regulatory "certainty and predictability" top the American Petroleum Institute's wish list for 2018 as the oil and gas industry sets priorities for a second year of Republican control in Washington. -
New York City Sues Oil Companies Over Climate Change
Jan 10, 2018 | Wall Street Journal
By Corinne Ramey
New York City filed a lawsuit against five major oil companies, asking for billions of dollars to protect the city from climate change. -
The Energy 202: The Oil Industry Reminds Washington: Pipelines are Infrastructure Too.
Jan 10, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Dino Grandoni
Since President Trump took office, Congress has yet to consider major legislation directly affecting the natural gas and oil operations. -
DOE Rule Defines Perry's Grid Emergency Authority
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak and Peter Behr
Following years of debate, the Department of Energy has finished its blueprint for handling a blackout brought on by a cyberattack, electromagnetic pulse or other potential disruptions. -
Fiery Semitrailer Crash Shuts Down I-65 in Southern Indiana
Jan 10, 2018 | AP (In U.S. News and World Report)
Authorities have shut down both lanes of Interstate 65 in southern Indiana after a fiery crash involving three semitrailers spilled a hazardous chemical and prompted evacuations. -
Group Details 'Systematic' Removal of Climate Content from Federal Websites
Jan 10, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Trump administration has undertaken a “systematic reduction” in presenting information and content about climate change on federal government websites, a new report concludes. -
States Say EPA Must Recuse Pruitt from CPP Repeal Due to 'Closed Mind'
Jan 10, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Curt Barry
Twelve states and a handful of municipalities are charging that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt should recuse himself from participating in the agency's proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP), because his longstanding opposition to the rule compromises his ability to conduct a fair and open proceeding and be an impartial decision-maker.
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Pruitt Seeks to Halve EPA Workforce Despite Obama Administration Warning
Jan 10, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Anthony Lacey
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is pushing ahead with plans to reduce EPA's workforce by up to 50 percent at the end of President Donald Trump's first term, despite warnings from the Obama administration that retaining “top talent” at EPA is a “key challenge,” according to a transition briefing paper obtained by Inside EPA.
“A key challenge for the new Administration will be to: Recruit and retain top talent with the necessary skills to protect human health and the environment,” says the document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Another key challenge facing the Trump EPA is to “Manage knowledge transfer from experienced employees before they retire,” the document adds.
Despite such warnings, Pruitt and the administration are defending their efforts to cut the agency's workforce by 50 percent, a goal that would reduce the agency's personnel to levels last seen in the Reagan administration.
EPA did not respond to a request for comment from Inside EPA on how the staffing reduction plan might possibly conflict with the “key challenge” warning in the Obama administration's transition document.
But Pruitt told the Washington Examiner in a statement earlier this week that, “We're proud to report that we're reducing the size of government, protecting taxpayer dollars and staying true to our core mission of protecting the environment.”
Pruitt's effort to slash the agency's workforce underscores President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign commitment, when he said of EPA: “We are going to have little tidbits left . . . but we are going to take a tremendous amount out.”
But it raises doubts about the agency's future and its ability to address complex environmental challenges despite Trump and Pruitt's commitments to continue to protect the environment.
Pruitt has pursued buyouts of agency staff as part of his push to reduce EPA's size in his stated goal of focusing the agency on its core mission of environmental protection.
His effort to reduce the size of EPA's workforce could be aided by the fact that numerous senior employees are in a position to retire in the next few years. “EPA is an aging agency,” Kyla Bennett, the New England director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and a former EPA staffer, told Inside EPA last year. “Just by attrition, without being able to back fill, they will effectively reduce the force of the agency substantially.”
Trump's fiscal year 2018 budget request proposed cutting more than 30 percent of the agency's existing roughly $8.05 billion budget, including major cuts to staffing levels -- though lawmakers are yet to reach a final agreement on an FY18 funding package.
Congress faces a looming Jan. 19 deadline to approve a spending deal when a continuing resolution funding the government at existing levels expires. Debates over immigration and other issues are raising questions over whether House and Senate lawmakers will be able to reach a funding consensus by that date.
FY19 Budget
Regardless of what happens with FY18 funding, Trump by next month could also propose his FY19 budget that is expected to again seek large cuts in EPA's resources -- including staffing reductions.
Pruitt is also said to have submitted a plan for White House Office of Management & Budget review that would shutter the agency's 10 regional offices that each represent several states. In their place, EPA would create much smaller offices for each state, likely with reduced staffing levels, sources have told Inside EPA.
But the push to shutter regional offices would likely be costly and could undercut a key Pruitt priority -- speeding Superfund cleanups -- since the vast majority of EPA Superfund employees are already in regional offices. Shuttering them would would create major administrative problems that would likely significantly complicate and delay cleanup projects, say former officials and other sources.
Nevertheless, the administration faces political pressure from the coal sector to cut the agency as a way to bolster the struggling sector.
Robert Murray, chairman, president and CEO of coal company Murray Energy, in a March “action plan” submitted to Trump claimed cutting EPA's staff “in at least half” would boost coal mining. “Tens of thousands of government bureaucrats have issued over 82,000 pages of regulations under Obama, many of them regarding coal mining and utilization. The Obama EPA, alone, wrote over 25,000 pages of rules, thirty-eight (38) times the words in our Holy Bible,” said the action plan, which the New York Times obtained and published Jan. 9.
However, the Obama administration's document for Trump's transition team after the 2016 presidential election warned that a “key challenge” facing the agency is recruiting and retaining employees.
The document, obtained by Inside EPA under a FOIA request, gave an overview of the agency's workforce. It said that in FY00 there were 18,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, dropping to 15,400 in FY16. “The number of FTE at EPA experienced a 15% decrease from 2000 with a 9% decrease from 2012-2014. The decrease is in line with coinciding budget reductions and hiring restrictions.”
It said, “In general terms, the EPA is a programmatically and geographically dispersed organization, with nearly half of the workforce outside of the Washington, DC headquarters. The workforce is highly educated with a firm commitment to the agency, resulting in a low attrition rate and a slightly higher average age.”
But it warned that the agency faces a key challenge retaining staff and managing “knowledge transfer” before experienced employees retire.
Reagan-Era Levels
But the Washington Examiner reports that Pruitt is focused on significantly cutting staffing levels.
The administrator is looking to reduce staffing to below 8,000 FTEs, or 47 percent from current levels, which is 14,162 employees as of Jan. 3, according to the Examiner. It notes that the last time EPA had an employment level of 14,440 was in FY88 under President Ronald Reagan.
A total of 23 percent of employees can retire with full benefits and another 4 percent can retire at the end of 2018,” says the Examiner. “Additionally, another 20 percent of EPA employees will be eligible for retirement in the next five years. Taken together, 47 percent of the EPA will be eligible to retire with full benefits in the next 5 years.”
An agency official separately told the newspaper that the Reagan-level employment numbers and future retirements “shows a of a preview of how low we could get during this administration. It would be fair to say anywhere from 25 to 47 percent of EPA could retire during this administration.”
In response to the Examiner article, the non-profit Environmental Working Group issued a statement criticizing Pruitt's efforts to reduce the agency's workforce.
“There are certain people who should never hold any position where public health protection is a priority, and Scott Pruitt is one of them,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “After Pruitt saps EPA of its talented workforce, rebuilding the required expertise to protect air, water and human health from pollution could take decades.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/pruitt-seeks-halve-epa-workforce-despite-obama-administration-warning
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Trump CPSC Nominees Must Restart Congress Approval Process
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
President Trump has re-nominated acting chair Ann Marie Buerkle to be the permanent chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and to serve a second term. He has also re-nominated Dana Baiocco to sit on the commission.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved both nominations last year, but they were not voted on by the full Senate before it adjourned.
Senate rules say that nominations that remain pending prior to a 30-day recess are returned to the president and must be resubmitted. The rule is often waived, but requires unanimous consent of all 100 senators. This was not forthcoming for 100 nominations that were pending in December.
The Democrats are thus assured of a majority on the CPSC for a while longer.
Should the Senate confirm Ms Baiocco, she will replace Democrat Marietta Robinson, whose term expired in October.
By law, the five-member CPSC cannot have more than three commissioners of the same party. The importance of who holds the majority was made clear last autumn, when the commission voted 3-2 to ban the use of organohalogen flame retardants in furniture and several other household product categories, as well as to ban five phthalates in children's products.
Ms Baiocco's nomination was announced in September, but Ms Robinson can continue to serve until the full Senate confirms her successor. On top of this, former Republican Commissioner Joseph Mohorovic left the CPSC in October, in the middle of his term.
This means the commission currently has a 3-1 Democrat majority. The administration needs to secure confirmation of a second new commissioner to give Republicans control of the panel and the agency it leads.
Ms Baiocco, a Boston-based attorney specialising in defending companies against product liability claims, faced questioning at her 1 November confirmation hearing. She was asked whether she would recuse herself from participating, when the CPSC considers issues of importance to her former corporate clients. She declined to make a pledge on the issue.
https://chemicalwatch.com/62978/trump-cpsc-nominees-must-restart-congress-approval-process
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U.S. Chamber Hopes to Help Slash Regulations
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Maxine Joselow
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said today the business behemoth will prioritize working with the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Congress on regulatory reform this year.
"Continuing to reverse unworkable or unnecessary regulations will remain a major priority for the chamber this year and going forward," Donohue said.
"Last year, we saw regulatory actions fall to a 17-year low, down 40 percent from their peak in 2011," he said. "And building on years of work, we helped unravel a slew of major Obama-era regulations, including sweeping rules that shackled our nation's energy resources."
But there is much to be done, the business leader said. In particular, there are still several "onerous" financial and labor regulations on the books, he said.
On the Hill, Donahue said the Chamber will continue pushing for the passage of the "Regulatory Accountability Act," arguably the highest-profile regulatory reform measure before Congress.
The RAA, S. 951, from Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), would tweak the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 with the aim of producing "smart" rules that reduce burdens on businesses while protecting public health and the environment. Companion legislation passed the House early last year, 238-183 (E&E Daily, Jan. 12, 2017).
"We will get it through the Senate," Donahue said. "If we don't do that, as soon as there is a change in political authority in this town, bye-bye to the advantages that we've already gotten. This is critical to preventing an onslaught of new rules without consideration of their effects."
The Chamber spent more than $13.1 million in the third quarter of 2017, including on the RAA, according to lobbying disclosure forms released by the Senate. But the measure has inspired fierce opposition from greens and consumer advocates, who say it would sacrifice environmental and public health protections.
The bill has only two Democratic supporters so far — Heitkamp and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Chamber officials, however, are not concerned.
"I think we can get a few Democrats on that," said Neil Bradley, the Chamber's senior vice president and chief policy officer, during a news conference with reporters after the speech.The Chamber and climate change
Donohue was vague about whether humans are driving warmer temperatures — something more than 97 percent of actively publishing climate scientists agree on, according to NASA.
"To suggest that climate change — which, by the way, we can follow for 3 billion years — is predominantly caused by humans is an overstatement," Donohue said during the press availability after the speech.
"Obviously, there are things that humans now do that they didn't do for 3 billion years that may and probably do have an effect on climate," he said. "What we're looking for are ways to deal with those challenges without causing significant limitations on economic opportunities and jobs here in the United States."
Donohue echoed some of President Trump's rationale for withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord.
"In the Paris Agreement, you know that both India and China are not participating in the efforts until 2030," he said. "And at that point, we have to pay them to do it."
He added, "So I think what we're saying is nobody denies climate change. And nobody thinks it's all caused by humans. But clearly, we're going to have to deal with it in a way that does not have a serious economic effect on this country or others, because that's the quickest way to cause many of our citizens to suffer."
Bradley noted the group also supports another key move made by the Trump administration: replacing the Clean Power Plan (Climatewire, Dec. 19, 2017).
"We do support a rewrite," Bradley said. "We'll be working with the EPA to get that done."Infrastructure, tax reform
Donahue also used the high-profile speech to make a pitch for modernizing the country's infrastructure, and he singled out energy infrastructure as especially in need of revamping.
"Don't forget, we're also living in the midst of an energy renaissance, and yet we don't have the infrastructure to support it. So we must revamp our power grid and build the pipelines necessary to transport our abundant resources to market."
The business leader also didn't miss the opportunity to take a victory lap on tax reform.
"The Chamber worked vigorously to help pass the first major tax overhaul in 31 years," he said. "The final package wasn't perfect, but it was pretty darn good. ... It will usher in a new era of growth for the American economy."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/01/10/stories/1060070661
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Canada Proposes Regulations Banning Most Uses of Asbestos
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A. Miller
The Canadian government has published proposed regulations that will ban the import, use and sale of asbestos and asbestos-containing products under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa).
It would also bar the export of these products through amendments to the existing Export of Substances on the Export Control List Regulations (ESECLR).
Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada published the proposed regulations in the 6 January Canada Gazette.
Consistent with the regulatory approach announced last April, the proposal would ban six minerals commonly known by the umbrella term "asbestos". These are:actinolite;amosite;anthophyllite;chrysotile;crocidolite; andtremolite.
Asbestos was historically used for insulating buildings and homes and for fireproofing. It can be found in heating systems, insulation, floor tiles, house siding and some motor vehicle components.
The regulations do not require removal of existing asbestos products, because the government determined this poses a greater health risk than leaving them in place.
The use or sale of any asbestos-containing products on inventories but not yet installed, would be prohibited under the new regulations. Any stockpiled asbestos-related materials would need to be disposed of or destroyed.Limited exemptions
The regulations contain an exemption for the use of some asbestos-containing mining residues, to allow for the redevelopment and rehabilitation of former mine sites.
They also exempt until 2025 the use of asbestos in the chlor-alkali industry, where it is used in the manufacturing of chlorine and caustic soda. The time-limited exception will allow industry time to adopt alternatives and "Canada to position itself as a global partner in phasing out trade of asbestos", the regulations say.
The only other exemptions apply to items intended for museum display or for some kinds of scientific research.
Canada will accept comments on the proposed regulations until 22 March, and expects to publish final regulations in the autumn of 2018.
The Canadian Environmental Law Association praised the initiative but argued that the chlor-alkali exception should be shorter, and affected industries required to undertake alternatives assessment. The group also urged the government to establish acceptable limits for asbestos residue and ensure public reporting of requests for use permits.
"The proposed regulation should require industry to find safe alternatives now," said Joseph Castrilli, counsel at the association. "The focus on alternatives will facilitate reduced asbestos exposure over time." Asbestos outside Canada
The EU has banned asbestos, except for a time-limited exemption for the use of diaphragms containing chrysotile asbestos in electrolysis installations.
Australia has banned it in a number of different cases.
The US is currently evaluating asbestos as one of the first ten chemicals subject to review under the new TSCA. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in December that the agency may reconsider its decision not to include "legacy" uses in the evaluation.
https://chemicalwatch.com/62941/canada-proposes-regulations-banning-most-uses-of-asbestos
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In Reversal, EPA Limits Information on Safety Reviews
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
U.S. EPA appears to no longer be releasing preliminary assessments of potentially hazardous new chemicals or new uses of existing chemicals, according to documents reviewed by E&E News.
The development means the public has no way to know whether the agency has initial concerns or has granted companies preliminary authorization to begin manufacturing new chemicals or using them in novel ways.
During the Obama administration, EPA would note whether new chemicals or new chemical uses were "not likely to present an unreasonable risk" to human health or the environment.
That meant companies "may commence manufacture upon notification by EPA's Chemical Control Division by letter, notwithstanding any remaining portion of the applicable review period," an archived page on the agency's website says.
Other interim status designations the Obama EPA assigned to new chemicals or uses indicated they were set either for "standard review," as unable to be reviewed because of "insufficient information available" or as possibly presenting "unreasonable risk of injury."
The agency would then render a final verdict within 90 days of receiving relevant documents from companies behind the substances.
Public health advocates paid particularly close attention to chemicals EPA flagged as potential concerns but later approved for manufacturing or new uses.
Under Administrator Scott Pruitt, however, EPA seems to have moved to curtail public access to information about chemical reviews.
A December 2017 presentation on EPA's website shows the agency felt "previous terminology used for interim status created confusion," so it stopped updating the online database where the public could track the status of new chemical or new use reviews.
"EPA is developing revised terminology for interim status and intends to resume updating that column once the effort is complete," said the document.
It was authored by Tanya Hodge Mottley, acting deputy director of programs in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
On Jan. 5, EPA quietly rolled out its changes to the chemical review tracking website. Now the interim status for more than 120 reviews that began since September 2017 is simply "focus meeting occurred," which only indicates EPA has met with the company proposing to manufacture a new chemical or use an existing one in a different way.
There were few derivations from that boilerplate designation. One chemical during that period had no interim status because it was withdrawn from consideration and a handful of others were labelled "invalid," which could mean the chemical may not be subject to EPA review or the agency has already reviewed it.
The agency did not respond to specific questions about the rationale for the apparent change. But spokesman Jahan Wilcox said "EPA is committed to an open and transparent review of new chemicals, in accordance with the bipartisan Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act."
The Environmental Defense Fund first spotted the new pattern and is unhappy with it. "All the public knows is that a 'Focus Meeting Occurred,'" EDF Senior Scientist Richard Denison said in a sarcastic blog post. "Gosh, that's helpful."
Denison wrote, "This change dramatically limits the agency's accountability to the public, not to mention transparency."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/01/10/stories/1060070649
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GHS Committee Asks for More Work on Global Classifications List
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The UN Sub-Committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) has failed to decide on a 'global list' of classifications, despite being warned that it was time to make its mind up about the project.
Instead, the sub-committee's December meeting in Geneva invited the working group responsible to propose what its next steps should be.
The development of such a list has been under discussion at the UN for several years. Its aim would be to aggregate and – wherever possible – harmonise GHS classifications from different regions in order to simplify compliance.
In a discussion paper for the meeting, the working group said that the project was at a crossroads. And the time had come for the sub-committee "to make the fundamental decision about whether to move forward with the development of a global list".
But despite support from many countries and NGOs, there were others who questioned whether the body had the capacity, expertise and resources to create and maintain it. As a result the project remains under consideration only.
A Chemical Risk Manager survey run in November last year showed strong support for the idea. Forty five of 47 responders said it would simplify classification and labelling systems and management across countries.
A longer version of this article is available on Chemical Risk Manager.
https://chemicalwatch.com/62998/ghs-committee-asks-for-more-work-on-global-classifications-list
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MEPs to Vote on Proposal to Restrict BPA in Food Packaging
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
The European Parliament's environment committee (Envi) will vote tomorrow on a draft EU Commission proposal to lower migration limits of bisphenol A (BPA) in plastic food packaging, as well as varnishes and coatings used in other food contact materials.
MEPs will also consider a separate motion asking the Commission to withdraw its proposal and support a new one that includes an outright ban "without delay" on BPA in all FCMs.
Last year, MEPs backed an Envi report calling for such a prohibition.
The motion, tabled by three MEPs across the political parties in December, says the Commission should "urgently assess" whether the endocrine disruptor is present in other FCM groups "and if so, to put measures in place to also ban these uses".'Limited' limits
The Commission's draft amending Regulation proposes a tighter limit on the amount allowed to migrate from plastic FCMs, and varnishes and coatings used for other groups. For the latter, this is set at 0.05mg of BPA/kg of food, instead of the existing 0.6mg.
NGOs have slammed the draft Regulation, saying it does not go far enough to protect consumers. On Wednesday, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) urged Envi committee members to reject the proposal and support the motion for an outright ban instead.
The concerns around BPA justify a full ban of the substance at the European level in all consumer products, HEAL says – particularly in "sensitive products such as materials coming into contact with the food that European citizens eat".
The motion tabled by MEPs also urges the Commission to assess whether any other bisphenols have similar endocrine disrupting properties, and "if this cannot be excluded, they should also be subject to a ban in FCMs".
It asks the Commission to follow Echa Risk Assessment Committee's analysis of BPA and bisphenol S (BPS) – a close analogue of BPA – and "to advise the industry not to substitute BPA with BPS". Echa is currently carrying out a survey of BPS in thermal paper.
The Commission is also considering a ban on FCM intended for infants and babies, and in October last year extended the proposed ban to plastic drinking 'sippy cups' - widely used spill-proof cups designed for one to three-year-olds.
In December, Echa's Member State Committee (MSC) agreed with Germany's proposal to identify BPA as an SVHC because of its endocrine disrupting properties causing probable serious effects in the environment.
The substance is already on the REACH candidate list of SVHCs on two counts: toxic to reproduction, and having endocrine-disrupting properties that cause probable serious effects to human health.
https://chemicalwatch.com/63011/meps-to-vote-on-proposal-to-restrict-bpa-in-food-packaging
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Germany Starts RMOA on Suspected PBTs
Jan 10, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Germany has begun risk management option analyses (RMOAs) of three new substances under Echa’s public activities coordination tool (PACT), which also assesses hazards.
The member state is assessing undecafluorohexanoic acid, octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5), which it suspects of having persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) properties.
Undecafluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) is not registered under REACH or used in the EU, Germany says, but PFHxA-related substances (precursors), which can be degraded to PFHxA, are registered and used within the single market.
Two precursors – fluorotelomer acrylate and fluorotelomer methacrylate – were listed on the the Community Rolling Action Plan (Corap) for 2016, due to potential endocrine disrupting properties, suspected PBT properties and concerns regarding exposure. The substance evaluation process is not yet finished.
D4 and D5 are used in personal care products in wide dispersive uses with emissions to the environment via sewage treatment plants. They are present as an impurity in silicone polymers above 0.1% during manufacture and formulation.
In April, Echa submitted an intention to restrict D4 and D5 in personal care products and other consumer/professional products (for example, dry cleaning, waxes and polishes, washing and cleaning products) in concentrations > 0.1%.
Sweden has also started an RMOA of disodium octaborate, which it believes to have carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic (CMR) qualities. The substance is used in products including anti-freeze, heat transfer fluids, lubricants, coating products, inks and toners, greases and washing and cleaning items.
And the UK is developing an RMOA on the suspected PBT dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6).Hazard assessments
Germany is also developing hazard assessments on potential PBTs. They are:aqueous solution of MV31 potassium salt;ammonium difluoro[1,1,2,2-tetrafluoro-2-(pentafluoroethoxy)ethoxy]acetate;ammonium 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-2-(heptafluoropropoxy) propanoate;ammonium 2,2,3 trifluor-3-(1,1,2,2,3,3-hexafluoro-3-trifluormethoxypropoxy), propionate; and1,1'-(isopropylidene)bis[3,5-dibromo-4-(2,3-dibromopropoxy)benzene].
The Netherlands is assessing the sepisol fast blue 85219, and France is investigating the reaction mass of iso e super, a synthetic ketone fragrance and two almost structurally identical substances that differ in the position of one double bond. They are:1-(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octahydro-2,3,8,8-tetramethyl-2-naphthyl)ethan-1-one1-(1,2,3,4,6,7,8,8a-octahydro-2,3,8,8-tetramethyl-2-naphthyl)ethan-1-one; and1-(1,2,3,5,6,7,8,8a-octahydro-2,3,8,8-tetramethyl-2-naphthyl)ethan-1-one.
They are all thought to be PBTs.
Meanwhile, hazard assessments for the following suspected endocrine disruptors are being developed: 1,1'-(isopropylidene)bis[3,5-dibromo-4-(2,3-dibromopropoxy)benzene] (Germany); 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol (France); and 2-(4-tert-butylbenzyl)propionaldehyde (Sweden).
https://chemicalwatch.com/62999/germany-starts-rmoa-on-suspected-pbts
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Colorado Regulators to Issue Oil, NatGas Flowline Rulemaking in February
Jan 10, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) has postponed until Feb. 13 action on the final rules for oil and natural gas flowlines after hearing testimony from stakeholders this week.
The regulatory overhaul has been ongoing since a tragic explosion last April in a Firestone neighborhood, which killed two men and severely injured a woman. Gov. John Hickenlooper called for new rules, which were outlined last summer.
The nine-member COGCC convened two days of public hearings and staff presentations on Monday and Tuesday regarding three policy initiatives regarding flowlines.
"This added regulatory oversight and burden is something our industry must bear because it is the right thing to do, and it is in the best interest of Coloradans across the state," said CEO Dan Haley of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.
The revamped requirements under consideration would be beneficial to residents who live near oil and gas operations, Haley said.
The rulemaking may result in the 13th covering the oil and gas industry in nine years. Haley said it was important for citizens to "not only feel safe,” but to also “see the proactive steps we are taking to ensure that safety."
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/113008-colorado-regulators-to-issue-oil-natgas-flowline-rulemaking-in-february
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Eminent Domain Challenge Heads to Appeals Court
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
A high-stakes dispute over how natural gas pipelines are built across private property is heading to a federal appeals court.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear a case involving the constitutionality of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's practice of granting eminent domain authority to pipeline developers.Mountain Valley pipeline route
[+] The Mountain Valley pipeline, which would stretch from Virginia to West Virginia, is facing new legal challenges. Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC
A group of Virginia and West Virginia landowners last night gave notice of their appeal of a recent district court decision scrapping their challenge to FERC's eminent domain system.
The landowners have argued that the conferral of condemnation authority to pipeline companies violates property rights protected under the Fifth Amendment. In particular, they're challenging the use of eminent domain in relation to the 303-mile Mountain Valley pipeline, which would stretch from West Virginia to Virginia.
The argument against FERC's eminent domain practice is gaining traction among pipeline critics and property rights advocates, with other cases pending in district courts in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. (Energywire, Sept. 13, 2017).
If any case is successful, it would likely dramatically change the way pipelines are approved and constructed, making it much more difficult for developers to acquire land from holdout property owners along a proposed route.
Attorneys pushing the argument had hoped district courts would agree to weigh the claims. So far, however, district courts in Ohio and Virginia have refused, ruling that the lawsuits essentially challenge FERC pipeline certificates and the Natural Gas Act directs all certificate challenges to appellate courts.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia dismissed the eminent domain arguments in the Mountain Valley case last month, prompting yesterday's appeal to the 4th Circuit (Energywire, Dec. 12, 2017). The Richmond-based appellate court will be the first circuit court to weigh in on the recent spate of similar cases.
An attorney for the landowners did not respond to a request for comment last night.
Separate environmental challenges to the Mountain Valley pipeline are pending in other courts (see related story).
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/01/10/stories/1060070587
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Oil Lobby Aims to Defend NAFTA in 2018
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King and Jenny Mandel
Retaining trade protections through the North American Free Trade Agreement and enhancing regulatory "certainty and predictability" top the American Petroleum Institute's wish list for 2018 as the oil and gas industry sets priorities for a second year of Republican control in Washington.
Speaking at an annual "state of the industry" event, API President and CEO Jack Gerard said yesterday that North American energy companies have prospered under the liberal trade structure provided by NAFTA, and holding onto that framework is the lobbying group's top policy goal.
"NAFTA makes energy more affordable and improves opportunities for U.S. companies in Canada and Mexico," Gerard told an audience of industry executives. "If we can modernize NAFTA, we should, and if not, we should leave it alone."
Gerard pointed to an integrated supply chain for petroleum products as an example of NAFTA's effectiveness. Oil might be produced in Mexico, shipped to Houston for refining and then shipped back south of the border to Mexican markets. Oil sands crude from Canada is similarly shipped to the Lower 48 for refining in Gulf Coast facilities before sale. Ensuring that those cross-border flows continue without new regulation is important to the North American energy marketplace, he said.
The policy worry comes as the White House continues trade talks on the future of the North American pact. Gerard said API has engaged extensively with Congress and the administration on the issue, with a message that NAFTA has served the energy industry well and should not be abandoned (Energywire, Nov. 17, 2017).
The existing NAFTA, established in 1992, makes little mention of energy, in part because at the time Mexico's energy industry was under government control and not open to free trade. Reforms of the past few years have led to an opening of the industry to private players throughout the oil and gas value chain, and a surge of new investment by U.S. energy companies in projects south of the border. Gerard suggested that development of new oil and gas leases and other planned projects could stall out without a free-trade agreement in place.
A key concern for API is President Trump's antagonism toward "investor-state dispute settlement," an element of the trade deal under which trade disputes can be resolved through private tribunals that set companies on the same footing as sovereign governments. Trump has said he views the process as unfair to the United States.
Ironically, environmental groups have long fought the inclusion of investor-state dispute settlements in trade deals on the grounds that they give companies grounds to fight off new environmental and labor protections.
Gerard yesterday said the dispute settlement is "a must-have" for API because it provides protection for capital-intensive cross-border projects, and that other pro-business groups, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, share that stance.Offshore drilling
The Trump administration last week checked a major box for the oil industry when it opened nearly all federal waters to offshore drilling.
Gerard compared the release of the draft proposed five-year plan to broadening the brim of a funnel. Trump's Interior Department is expanding the pool of available offshore tracts on offer and letting industry whittle down which areas are most conducive to development, he said.
"What it means is we're going to take a better assessment in areas where we haven't been for many, many years and look at our potential energy opportunity," Gerard said. "From our standpoint, that's a very significant, positive development on the part of the [outer continental shelf] plan."
He agreed with analyst expectations that it could take as long as 15 years for some of this administration's offshore plans to come to fruition (Energywire, Jan. 5).
But API is taking the long view, Gerard said.
"We're driven by broader principles. Ours is not what suits today, etc.," he said. "It's about fundamentals of free market conditions, what's in the best interest of the American consumer, the American people, the people we employ every day."
In its policy priorities, API listed expanded access to offshore and onshore reserves as critical to strengthening the nation's economy and security. Gerard said he has been pleased to see the Trump administration take steps toward creating "initial opportunity."
"That's all we can ask for," he said.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/01/10/stories/1060070595
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New York City Sues Oil Companies Over Climate Change
Jan 10, 2018 | Wall Street Journal
By Corinne Ramey
New York City filed a lawsuit against five major oil companies, asking for billions of dollars to protect the city from climate change.
“In this litigation, the City seeks to shift the costs of protecting the City from climate change impacts back onto the companies that have done nearly all they could to create this existential threat,” said the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The complaint said that “the very climate disruption and injuries that Defendants’ scientists and consultants warned them about decades ago have now arrived.”
The city filed the suit against oil companies BP PLC, Chevron Corp. , ConocoPhillips , Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
A Shell spokesman said the company believes “climate change is a complex societal challenge that should be addressed through sound government policy and cultural change to drive low-carbon choices for businesses and consumers, not by the courts.”
The other four companies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
San Francisco and Oakland filed similar suits in September against the same five companies.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/city-sues-oil-companies-over-climate-change-1515607107
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The Energy 202: The Oil Industry Reminds Washington: Pipelines are Infrastructure Too.
Jan 10, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Dino Grandoni
Since President Trump took office, Congress has yet to consider major legislation directly affecting the natural gas and oil operations. (Executive regulations, of course, are another matter entirely).
Still, when it could, the oil lobby scored wins with Republican lawmakers. When the GOP turned to overhauling the tax code, for example, oil and gas companies succeeded in expanding tax breaks and securing the long-sought right to explore the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil.
Now that the legislative conversation has turned to an infrastructure bill, the American Petroleum Institute (API) — the largest oil and gas lobbying group, which represents all corners of the industry — issued a reminder to lawmakers who attended its annual luncheon on Tuesday. They included Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.).
The message: Pipelines count as infrastructure, too.
“We’re all for the highway bills. We’re all for bridges and roads,” Jack Gerard, API’s president and chief executive, said at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, just blocks from the White House. “But when you look at the two together, I like to remind people this private-sector investment in the energy arena is literally twice as large as what they’re talking about in terms of the highway bill. This is a big deal. It’s a big opportunity. We’re trying to remind people: Keep us part of the broader infrastructure plan.”
The oil lobby does not want much in terms of money, per se. “We’re not looking for a government program,” Gerard said. “We’re not looking for funding.”
Instead, its wish list includes something seemingly more mundane: faster permitting for pipelines and other projects.
For that, API wants changes at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to streamline the review of proposals to build liquefied natural gas terminals and interstate natural gas pipelines.
FERC’s critics say the independent five-member panel, which gained four Trump-chosen members during the president’s first year in office, has a cozy relationship with the oil and gas sector.
This week, the oil industry notched a win, for example, when FERC unanimously rejected a Trump administration proposal to prop up nuclear and coal power plants — a decision renewable advocates also supported. Even before Trump took office, over the past three decades, FERC approved all but two of hundreds natural gas pipeline proposals, according to a recent investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and StateImpact Pennsylvania.
“There are definitely needed reforms” said Kelly Martin, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, “but streamlining and making it easier and quicker to approve pipelines is not one of them.”
Martin endorses some ideas floated by FERC’s longest-serving commissioner, Cheryl LaFleur, an Obama nominee. Currently, FERC considers whether a gas pipeline has secured contracts to sell fuel as a sign of whether there is an economic need for it — even when the company is selling gas to itself. LaFleur has written, FERC should consider the “specific end use of the delivered gas within the context of regional needs” — that is, whether consumers really demand more energy — as evidence of economic need.
The fiercest pressure, though, to stop major fossil fuel infrastructure, such as the oil pipelines Keystone XL and Dakota Access, has come not from federal officials but from local protesters. Environmental activists successfully lobbied the Obama administration to halt construction of the two projects, only to be reversed in one of Trump’s first executive orders. That decision was the first in a series of long-sought policy wins for API and other oil interests in 2017.
On Tuesday, Gerard singled out New York, where activists and the administration of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo have sought to stop pipelines that would deliver gas from the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania to New England, a region with frigid winters but no substantial fossil fuel resources of its own.
When temperatures fall during cold New England winters, energy officials there blame soaring heating bills on the lack of gas pipelines.
“During this past winter,” Gordon van Welie, chief executive of ISO New England, which oversees operation of the electric grid in the region, said in 2014, “New England faced severe natural gas pipeline constraints that drove gas and electricity prices to record levels.”
Gerard made an appeal not just to Washington officials, but to New York’s governor, a possible contender against Trump in 2020.
“FERC has an appropriate role; the states have an appropriate role,” Gerard said. “But if the systems are used, if you will, to obstruct the development of much-needed infrastructure, then we will push, as I know others will, to make sure there’s certainty and predictability in the process.”
He added, “Our hope and expectation is Governor Cuomo and others will look at the impact of their decisions on many Americans well beyond their borders.”
— Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Tuesday Florida would be “off the table” when it comes to the administration's new plan to open most U.S. ocean waters to possible oil and gas drilling: “I support the governor’s position that Florida is unique and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver,” Zinke said in a statement. “As a result of a discussion with Governor Scott’s and his leadership, I am removing Florida from consideration for any new oil and gas platforms.”
Zinke cited conversations with Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), who is not-so-coincidentally a possible GOP challenger to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) in November. As Politico's Marc Caputo, Ben Lefebvre, Mark Dixon and Bruce Ritschie succintly put it: "Donald Trump delivered a big political contribution to Rick Scott on Tuesday as the Florida governor contemplates a bid for U.S. Senate: a pledge to spare Florida from administration plans to expand offshore oil drilling nationwide ... Zinke made sure that the term-limited governor got all the credit."
Nelson called Zinke's announcement "a political stunt orchestrated by the Trump administration to help Rick Scott, who has wanted to drill off Florida's coast his entire career."
The news sparked a reaction from other elected Democrats besides Nelson who oppose drilling.
— EPA staff size slashed: The Environmental Protection Agency is set to slash its staff nearly in half by the end of Trump’s first term, bringing it to Reagan-era lows. The Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard reports the decrease will come mostly through retirements rather than cuts: “And if just those slated to retire by early 2021 leave, Administrator Scott Pruitt and his team will have reduced a staff of nearly 15,000,to below 8,000, or a reduction of 47 percent."
— Meanwhile, Pruitt's own hires are probed: The EPA’s internal watchdog announced it will review its chief's hiring practices. E&E News’s Kevin Bogardus reports the agency’s inspector general “will begin ‘preliminary research’ on the administrator office's use of its authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act to fill ‘administratively determined’ positions.” The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, last year began its own probe into the hiring at the request of Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
The two Democrats aren't stopping in pressing the EPA on its hiring practices: This week, they asked the agency to hand over records on two appointments to an advisory panel.
Robert E. Murray poses for a portrait in St. Clairsville, Ohio, in November. (Reuters/Joshua Roberts)
— Murray's fury: Murray Energy chief executive Robert E. Murray, who had urged the Trump administration to prop up coal-fired power plants in electricity markets, blasted FERC on Tuesday after the commission rejected the administration’s plan, calling the decision a "bureaucratic cop-out," The Post's Steven Mufson reports.
Meanwhile, Lisa Friedman at the New York Times obtained a much-discussed memo laying out Murray's wishlist for regulatory rollbacks, presented to the Trump administration. Her takeaway: "Nearly a year later, the White House and federal agencies have completed or are on track to fulfill most of the 14 detailed requests, even with Monday’s decision" by FERC.
— House Climate Caucus gets new members: Four lawmakers, two Democrats and two Republicans, joined the House Climate Solutions Caucus on Tuesday. Reps. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.), Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.), Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) and Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) joined the group, which now has 66 members split evenly between both parties, according to a news release.
— The latest on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands: Puerto Rico's governor, Ricardo Rosselló, wants to limit the role of the territory’s energy regulator by combining it with the other regulators. E&E’s David Ferris reports the proposed consolidation would save the island’s government $14.5 million in the first year and another $74 million over five years:
"Reducing government expenses are key to reducing the territory's $70 billion debt. However, the plan was immediately opposed by one of the Energy Commission's creators, who said a robust, energy-specific regulator is key to reforming Puerto Rico's electricity sector so it can draw private investment and recover from the ravages of Hurricane Maria.”
Worth a read: In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rican political leaders are moving forward with a push to become the 51st state. The New York Times’s Carl Hulse reports: “The route to statehood seems as impassable as some of the island roads in the aftermath of the unimaginably fierce hurricane last September. But those behind the statehood movement say they will not be deterred and acknowledge it will take dedication and perseverance to overcome the resistance and inertia standing in the way of statehood for Puerto Rico.
The debilitating storm that has left some parts of the island still without power has had the benefit of raising American awareness about the island. The statehood push was planned before the hurricane, but the storm has given it new impetus.”
Meanwhile, officials said Tuesday most of the power has been restored to customers in the U.S. Virgin Islands months after Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the islands. The New York Times's Patricia Mazzei reports:“Getting to 92 percent power required the work of more than 1,000 linemen — all but a handful of them from the mainland — to install 8,851 poles, 5,142 transformers and 5.6 million feet of wire… More than 600 bucket, utility and trailer trucks, and derricks to dig holes in the islands’ rocky terrain were shipped in by barge. Many of the linemen were housed aboard two cruise ships. The Virgin Islands had to compete for contract workers and equipment with Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.”OIL CHECK
— Coal decline forecast: The U.S. Energy Information Administration's monthly short-energy outlook Tuesday predicted declines in the nation’s coal production and in the use of coal for electricity through next year, The Post’s Chris Mooney reports. The culprit? Cheap natural gas and coal plant retirements.
Mooney writes: “By 2019, the report forecasts, natural gas will provide 34 percent of U.S. electricity and coal 28 percent — leaving gas as the top fuel for U.S. electricity generation, a role held by coal as recently as 2015. In 2003, coal provided 51 percent of U.S. electricity and natural gas just 17 percent, which gives some sense of the magnitude and the rapidity of the change.”
Even with Trump's focus on coal, the report suggests the administration will be able to do little to alter coal’s trajectory given the glut of natural gas.
As one MIT economics professor, Christopher R. Knittel, simply put it: “I think what the administration is not realizing is it’s not really regulation that’s killing coal; it’s cheap natural gas.”
— Meanwhile, the EIA's near-term forecast for the oil and gas sector is sunny. Per CNBC: "American drillers will pump enough oil in 2019 to potentially surpass Saudi Arabia's output and rival the world's current top producer, Russia."
— Exxon tries to turn the tables: ExxonMobil has threatened a counter-lawsuit against multiple local governments in California that themselves have sued the oil giant. Reporting on a Monday court filing in Texas, CNNMoney writes: “Exxon argued that these California cities and counties have contradicted themselves by admitting in bond sales that climate change risks are unpredictable … Exxon (XOM) said that while these cities and towns warned that 'imminent sea level rise presented a substantial threat to its jurisdiction ... none of the municipalities disclosed to investors such risks.' "
Failing to disclose climate risk is a charge activist shareholders have leveled against Exxon — and also a subject of current investigation by the attorneys general in New York and Massachusetts. In California, Exxon wants to depose 16 individuals, including city officials from Oakland and San Francisco who are leading the lawsuit.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/01/10/the-energy-202-the-oil-industry-reminds-washington-pipelines-are-infrastructure-too/5a553c3630fb0469e8840039/?utm_term=.f29c67bd1e23
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DOE Rule Defines Perry's Grid Emergency Authority
Jan 10, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak and Peter Behr
Following years of debate, the Department of Energy has finished its blueprint for handling a blackout brought on by a cyberattack, electromagnetic pulse or other potential disruptions.
A final rule published yesterday lays out Energy Secretary Rick Perry's sweeping authorities during a presidentially declared grid security emergency, from issuing operational commands to declassifying information on the threat.
DOE said it expects Perry to "rarely" invoke such powers, while requiring he and his successors take "all reasonable efforts" to warn utilities, other regulators, and the governments of Mexico and Canada before making orders.
Still, the Energy secretary is under no obligation to consult key players like the North American Electric Reliability Corp., which sets and enforces security standards on the bulk power grid, or even DOE's own Emergency and Incident Management Council, led by the deputy secretary of Energy.
"Because the nature of a grid security emergency is uncertain, the procedures allow for flexibility in response measures," the department said in its policy blueprint.
U.S. lawmakers gave DOE carte blanche to quickly and decisively respond to a grid emergency as part of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act of 2015. Although the law was enacted to give DOE a hot-button response, if needed, to the most dire, imminent threats to the U.S. power supply, the agency's approval processes stretched over the final year of the Obama administration and the first of President Trump's.
When the proposed rule was issued a year ago, industry pushed back, saying the proposal should be revised to emphasize the need for DOE to consult with companies before issuing emergency orders, to prevent unintended disruption to power flows.
"[DOE] should exercise its authority with the goal of 'first, doing no harm,'" the Edison Electric Institute, which represents major investor-owned utilities, said in a comment to DOE last February.
EEI official Scott Aaronson said in an email yesterday that the issue had been resolved.
"We are supportive of the final rule and appreciate the department's commitment to working with the electricity sector on emergency orders," said Aaronson, EEI's executive director for security and secretary of the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC), the top-level grid industry-government group dealing with grid threats.
"Of course, as is the nature of emergencies, we also understand that consultation and coordination with industry may not be practicable in all circumstances," Aaronson said. "For this reason, the ESCC is working with grid engineers and DOE to develop contingency plans ahead of time so that the first time they are used is not during a grid security emergency."GridEx
Aaronson noted the DOE emergency authority was incorporated into last year's GridEx IV industrywide cyberattack training exercise.
Patricia Hoffman, principal deputy assistant secretary for DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, said during GridEx in November that a key goal of the exercise was to "walk through that authority and the capabilities that it can provide" to the power industry and emergency responders.
The final rule endorses the need for close coordination between DOE and high-voltage grid operators to prepare emergency responses to threats on and over the horizon and to align response with existing industry disaster plans.
The new regulations offer an outlet for power companies to request clarification or changes in an emergency order — and even "encouraged" such feedback — but DOE added that "such a request would not stay an emergency order unless the Secretary so determined."
The rule does not address what information a president would need or have in making the crucial decision that an emergency exists.
President Obama's Energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, issued a report in that administration's final month saying DOE should be authorized to collect industry data relating to potential catastrophic "black sky" events in order to advise the president if a national emergency should be declared, triggering the DOE orders.
That policy paper, the Quadrennial Energy Review 1.2, also urged that Congress amend the Federal Power Act to give DOE explicit authority to prepare emergency action responses and to give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the right to issue new security rules on its own in the face of "fast developing new threats." FERC lacks that authority now.
But those recommendations were not part of the proposed rule and aren't in the final version.Breaking the glass
The roots of the emergency order go back to legislation called the Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act that was passed by the House in 2010 but never made it through the Senate. That measure would also have expanded federal authority to enact grid security regulations to cope with vulnerabilities, not just imminent emergencies, earning industry opposition.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee between 2010 and 2016, was instrumental in getting the emergency authority inserted into the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act at the end of 2015. He said in a statement yesterday that he's "pleased that the Department of Energy is finalizing regulations to implement these important provisions. The secretary will now be able to act to protect or restore the reliability of crucial electric infrastructure during an emergency."
Congress and industry generally understood that the FAST Act provisions were limited to "break the glass" emergencies, said Eric Hutchins of the Hunton and Williams LLP law firm and a former Energy and Commerce Committee attorney.
"If you were to ask Congress what its intent was [in passing the FAST Act], the most common answer would be, 'Do something.' Even if there was broad agreement on 'doing something,' it is fair for industry to say, 'Be careful what that something is,'" Hutchins said in an interview with E&E News last year.
Jim Cunningham, executive director of Protect Our Power, a group that advocates for stronger physical and cyber defenses on the power grid, said yesterday that the situation would have to be "pretty dire" for the president to declare an emergency and rope in the Energy secretary.
"The final order is important because it brings clarity to who's in charge if something happens," he said. "But what we should be talking about is: How do we minimize the likelihood of something like this happening?"
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/01/10/stories/1060070585
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Fiery Semitrailer Crash Shuts Down I-65 in Southern Indiana
Jan 10, 2018 | AP (In U.S. News and World Report)
Authorities have shut down both lanes of Interstate 65 in southern Indiana after a fiery crash involving three semitrailers spilled a hazardous chemical and prompted evacuations.
Indiana State Police say the crash occurred about 4:30 a.m. about 40 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky, when one of the semitrailers struck the rear of two others that were stopped for a previous crash.
Sgt. Stephen Wheeles says the collision caused one of the trailers to leak a hazardous chemical, and eventually at least one of the rigs caught fire, sending black smoke billowing into the air.
The crash occurred along a rural stretch of the highway surrounded by farm fields and a horse farm, but authorities evacuated homes within a half mile as a precaution.
Wheeles says the crash injured one person.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/indiana/articles/2018-01-10/fiery-semitrailer-crash-shuts-down-i-65-in-southern-indiana
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Group Details 'Systematic' Removal of Climate Content from Federal Websites
Jan 10, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Trump administration has undertaken a “systematic reduction” in presenting information and content about climate change on federal government websites, a new report concludes.
The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) has been tracking changes across tens of thousands of government websites since President Trump’s inauguration nearly a year ago, and rolled out a one-year report Wednesday on its findings.
“Our examination of changes across many federal agencies over the first year of the Trump administration demonstrates a systematic reduction in access to climate information and content,” the group said in its report.
“Links have been cut from pages or rendered useless, language has been changed to alter emphasis and drop mentions of climate-change-related topics, and entire climate websites have been removed and made significantly less accessible.”
The changes have usually reflected different priorities by the administration and political officials. EDGI pointed out that no climate-related data has actually been removed, and the changes have been mostly editorial in nature.
Some of the most visible changes have included multiple agencies removing sections on international climate cooperation, the Bureau of Land Management removing a page on how it deals with climate change and the Environmental Protection Agency taking down an entire website section on climate change, some of which it has started to replace.
EDGI warned changes to the content, even if they are just editorial in nature, can hide important information from the public and from people who need it.
“These changes have made it harder for the public to gain access to years of well-researched and organized information paid for by their tax dollars, information that is crucial in helping inform the important discussions on how to best mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change,” the group concluded.
The changes have not always been politically motivated. For example, the National Park Service recently removed numerous reports on how individual parks deal with climate change, but the agency said it was merely working to make them accessible to people with disabilities.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/368270-group-documents-systematic-reduction-in-climate-content-on-trump
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States Say EPA Must Recuse Pruitt from CPP Repeal Due to 'Closed Mind'
Jan 10, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Curt Barry
Twelve states and a handful of municipalities are charging that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt should recuse himself from participating in the agency's proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP), because his longstanding opposition to the rule compromises his ability to conduct a fair and open proceeding and be an impartial decision-maker.
“Unless the decision maker with the closed mind is recused from participating, the agency violates due process by conducting the rulemaking,” states a Jan. 9 comment letter on EPA's proposal filed by Democratic attorneys general (AGs) of 12 states and officials with five municipalities.
The officials cite Pruitt's strident opposition to the Obama-era CPP during his time as Oklahoma AG, and say his inability to be impartial on the issue violates the Constitution’s Due Process Clause, the Clean Air Act and basic principles of administrative law. As a result, they charge that the proposed CPP repeal should be withdrawn.
Led by California AG Xavier Becerra (D), the comments were also signed by the AGs of Delaware, Maryland, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Mexico, Maine, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Washington D.C., as well as officials with New York City; Broward County, FL; Boulder, CO; and Chicago.
EPA is taking comment through Jan. 16 on its proposal to rescind the CPP utility greenhouse gas rule, and the administration has said it hopes to finalize the measure by October. Trump officials argue that the Obama-era rule was unlawful because it based GHG targets on actions taken “beyond the fenceline” of regulated coal plants.
In a separate process, the agency recently released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking floating ideas on how to replace the CPP, including options for a much narrower regulation that would focus largely on improving coal plants' efficiency.
The agency plans to complete the replacement rule this year, according to reports, a move that could give the Trump administration time to defend the regulation in court. The administration in its latest semi-annual regulatory plan also said it would publish a proposed replacement rule in June. That would give agency officials six months to take comment on the plan, hold a public hearing and conduct inter-agency review before finalizing the rule.
The state AGs' comments argue Pruitt should be disqualified from the rulemaking because he has “prejudged” the outcome, in violation of due process and fairness.
“A new presidential administration may seek to implement different policy preferences through changes in existing regulations,” the letter states. “But to maintain the integrity of the rulemaking process, any such changes must be made while adhering to standards intended to ensure that rulemaking processes are fair and rational. Because EPA’s CPP repeal rulemaking process violates these standards, EPA must withdraw the proposed repeal.”
Pruitt “decided years ago that the CPP is unlawful and must be eliminated,” the AGs continue. As Oklahoma AG, “he attacked the CPP with detailed legal and factual criticisms. He ceaselessly worked through courts, legislatures, and the media to stop EPA from promulgating and implementing that rule, and he made himself into a prominent leader of the effort to overturn it.”
'Mind Is Closed'
EPA’s proposed CPP repeal “would achieve through rulemaking what he failed to achieve through litigation,” the letter adds. “And it would adopt the specific interpretation of the Clean Air Act, previously rejected by EPA, that Administrator Pruitt has long advanced to restrict EPA’s ability to control power plant emissions. On both this interpretation and the legality of the CPP in general, Administrator Pruitt’s mind is closed.”
If an agency decision-maker “acts with an unalterably closed mind and prejudges the outcome of what is supposed to be an unbiased process,” the decision-maker must be “disqualified from participating in the rulemaking, or else any resulting administrative action will be invalid,” the AGs argue.
EPA’s failure to disqualify Pruitt “means that any resulting rule will be invalid as a failure of due process, fairness, and the rule of law and as an arbitrary and capricious agency action,” the letter adds.
The state and city officials acknowledge that “a violation of due process and fairness does not occur whenever a new agency decision maker, after an election, prefers a different outcome based on his alternative political philosophy, understanding of scientific principles, or favored constituency.” But they argue that Pruitt's planned CPP repeal “is the paradigm of the type of prejudging prohibited in the administrative rulemaking system.”
Specifically, the AGs claim that Pruitt has prejudged whether Clean Air Act section 111(d) standards can be based on actions outside of a power plant’s “fenceline,” and they say his statements since taking over EPA show he continues to “show a closed mind” on the issue.
They also say that Pruitt's “prejudging of issues is not excused because he is a lawyer,” he has made an irrevocable promise to repeal the CPP, and that EPA's failure to require Pruitt to undergo an ethics authorization process before participating in the rulemaking disregards required procedures under the air act.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/states-say-epa-must-recuse-pruitt-cpp-repeal-due-closed-mind
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