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AM ACC 1/18/2018
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(ACC Mentioned) API's Gerard to Exit on an Oil Industry Winning Streak
Jan 18, 2018 | PoliticalPro
By Ben Lefebvre
American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard's plan to exit the powerful trade association could signal the end an era for oil industry lobbying. -
(ACC Mentioned) Head of Oil Lobbying Powerhouse to Step Down
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy
The leader of the American Petroleum Institute will leave the industry's top Washington lobbying group in August, after helping win new places to drill, expand markets for U.S. oil and defeat a Trump administration plan to subsidize coal-fired power plants. -
(ACC Mentioned) API President and CEO to Depart in August
Jan 18, 2018 | World Pipelines
By Stephanie Roker
After 10 years running one of Washington’s most influential associations covering all aspects of the oil and natural gas sector, API President and CEO Jack Gerard announced he will not make another long-term commitment to API and will step down... -
(ACC Mentioned) Jack Gerard to Step Down as Head of API
Jan 17, 2018 | Maritime Executive
The longtime president and CEO of the powerful American Petroleum Institute, Jack Gerard, has announced that he will step down when his current contract ends this August. -
(ACC Mentioned) People -- API CEO Jack Gerard
Jan 17, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
Jack Gerard, who has been CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API) since 2008, will step down when his current contract ends in August, the trade association said. -
Chemicals Pose Challenge for Any Bilateral U.S.-U.K. Deal
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ali Qassim
The odds for including a chemicals chapter in any future bilateral trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K. are low, witnesses told a British parliamentary trade committee. -
Bayer, Syngenta, Others May Get Tariff Cut in House-Passed Bill
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sarah Babbage
Costs to import chemicals used by Bayer AG and Syngenta AG, as well as golf club heads, coconut water, cheerleader shoes, cat toys and hundreds of other specialty products imported by a variety of companies, would be reduced or eliminated under a bill the House passed 402-0. -
Environment, Energy Agencies Prepare as Shutdown Threat Hovers
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott, Abby Smith, Rebecca Kern, Alan Kovski, Bruce Rolfsen, and Sylvia Carignan
The EPA and other federal regulators are dusting off contingency plans for a government shutdown, amid signs that both parties might fall short of deal before funding runs out at midnight Jan. 19. -
Plastics Industry Opposes Patchwork of Rules as Bag Bans Expand
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sara Merken
The plastics manufacturing industry and environmental activists don't want plastic bags to go to waste, but they disagree on the steps necessary to ensure that the material doesn't end up in landfills or the ocean after one use. -
Republicans Probe Editorial on Toxics Oversight
Jan 18, 2018 | E&E News PM
By Corbin Hiar
Leaders of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee today ratcheted up their scrutiny of a nearly 50-year-old environmental research institute that is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. -
These 4 Environmental Wins Just Proved That Fighting Back Works
Jan 17, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
It’s been almost a year of fighting President Donald Trump’s reckless environmental agenda. For those feeling exhausted by the idea of spending three more years facing these serious threats, it’s good to remember that we can win. -
(ACC Mentioned) Citizens Petitions, Lawsuits on Chemical Rules Likely to Grow
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Chemical manufacturers should expect to see more petitions from citizen groups asking the EPA to regulate substances now that the nation's primary chemicals law has been amended, attorneys tell Bloomberg Environment. -
Global Committee Moves Forward on Major Chemicals Report
Jan 18, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
Development of the second Global Chemicals Outlook (GCO-II) report is moving forward this week, as members of the UN's steering committee meet to discuss the outline, structure and topics of this major piece of work. -
Why ‘Raw Water’ is a Raw Deal
Jan 18, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Tasha Stoiber
Americans have good reasons to question the quality of their drinking water. EWG’s Tap Water Database shows that water from most public utilities nationwide contains industrial or agricultural contaminants with known health effects. -
New Report: 9 out of 10 Receipts Contain Toxic BPA or BPS
Jan 18, 2018 | Safer Chemical, Healthy Families
By Beth Kemler
A new report by our partners at HealthyStuff.org out today exposes a danger at many checkout counters—toxic receipts. They found toxic bisphenol A (BPA) or its chemical cousin bisphenol S (BPS) in 93% of the receipts tested. -
Trader Joe's to Remove Bisphenol A from Its Receipts
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Lauren Coleman-Lochner
Cleanup in the checkout aisle...Trader Joe's, the grocer known for its eclectic products (and Hawaiian-shirt-clad workers), will remove two controversial substances from its register receipts, according to the company's website. -
Echa, Industry Consider Future of Siefs After REACH Deadline
Jan 18, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Echa is looking to clarify how members of substance information exchange fora (Siefs) can continue to collaborate beyond the last REACH registration deadline at the end of May. -
Echa Says It Cannot Verify If Nanomaterials Are Being Used Safely
Jan 18, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Six years after the European Commission declared that the REACH Regulation set "the best possible framework" for checking if nanomaterials were being used safely, Echa says failure to update the text has left it unable to confirm safe use. -
Furniture Flame Retardants Increase Smoke Toxicity, Study Finds
Jan 18, 2018 | Chemical Watch
A UK study has found that flame retardant chemicals in furniture increase the toxicity of smoke when burning more than they reduce fire growth rate. -
Oil and Gas Drilling Puts Oklahoma's Survival at Risk by Causing Massive Earthquakes
Jan 18, 2018 | Newsweek
By Sydney Pereira
Injecting saltwater back underground in Oklahoma, a disposal method used after fracking, has been linked to a surge in earthquakes since the oil and gas boom reached the state in 2009. -
Positive Train Control Prevents Derailments — We Must Fund It
Jan 18, 2018 | The Hill - Finance Blog
By Jim Mathews
Details are the lifeblood of policymaking. Especially in an era of “alternative facts,” command of the details is crucial to ensuring that we make good decisions, uncolored by emotion or partisanship. -
(ACC Mentioned) EPA Chief Scott Pruitt: Industry is Necessary Partner
Jan 17, 2018 | CBS News
By Jacqueline Alemany
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt told CBS News that a partnership with "industry" is necessary in order for the agency to protect the environment. -
New York, Connecticut Sue EPA over Out-Of-State Pollution
Jan 17, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Josh Delk
The attorney generals for New York and Connecticut are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over out-of-state air pollution that affects their constituents. -
Environmentalists Shed Their Doubts About Carper's Green Cred
Jan 18, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Anthony Adragna
Environmentalists once skeptical about Sen. Tom Carper’s commitment to their green agenda have moved solidly behind the Delaware Democrat, who they say has emerged to lead the resistance to the Trump administration's attacks on climate change policies. -
One Year In, Trump's Environmental Agenda Is Already Taking a Measurable Toll
Jan 18, 2018 | Los Angeles Times
By Evan Halper
A massive coal ash spill near Knoxville, Tenn., in 2008 forever changed life for Janie Clark’s family and left her husband with crippling health problems. So Clark was astounded late last year when she heard what the Environmental Protection Agency had done.
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(ACC Mentioned) API's Gerard to Exit on an Oil Industry Winning Streak
Jan 18, 2018 | PoliticalPro
By Ben Lefebvre
American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard's plan to exit the powerful trade association could signal the end an era for oil industry lobbying.
Gerard notched up a long list of achievements during his 10-year tenure, which coincided with the oil and gas boom that turned the U.S. into the world's largest energy producer. He will step down in August after deciding not to renew his contract, API announced.
Gerard took the helm at the API after leading the American Chemistry Council and the National Mining Association. And he was well compensated, receiving $6 million in salary and other compensation as of 2015, according to the API’s latest tax forms.
During his time atop API, flagging U.S. production rebounded with the advent of fracking and horizontal drilling, allowing energy producers to tap new resources in North Dakota, Appalachia and West Texas. And as overall oil output doubled to nearly 10 million barrels a day, API's membership swelled by 50 percent, to more than 600 companies.
That helped API to expand its reach, and it doled out $9.4 million on lobbying Washington lawmakers in 2017, quadruple the amount it spent in the year Gerard took the helm.
API helped overturn the decades-old ban on oil exports, open new areas to drilling — including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — and win federal approval for the Keystone XL pipeline. And under Gerard, API also introduced the term that would eventually be taken up by President Donald Trump, when in 2012 it called for a “new era of American world energy dominance.”
“We’ve taken the nation from energy scarcity to energy abundance,” Gerard said of the industry at the API’s annual State of American Energy address in Washington earlier this month.
But he warned at that event that it wasn’t time for API to take “a victory lap,” as he cited a to-do list that contained little more than continuing a yearslong fight to repeal a biofuels mandate the industry finds burdensome and streamlining the federal permitting process.
“It’s hard to say API wasn’t successful under his tenure,” said John Northington, a former Clinton-era Interior Department official who works as an energy consultant for many API member companies, adding that it delivered much of what the industry wanted to accomplish.
Not all energy industry insiders agreed, however. Some pointed that for an organization with annual revenue of around $250 million — much of which it spent on advertisements, including one that ran during last year's Super Bowl, or donations to Republicans — the API's influence was limited. Despite a string of recent wins, it hadn't managed to record any progress in altering the decade-old Renewable Fuel Standard for biofuels or ending restrictions under the Jones Act against foreign-flagged ships transporting fuel between U.S. ports.
"They have this ridiculous amount of money, but they don't get a lot of results," said one refining industry source who requested anonymity to discuss the association. "They don’t do bad work, but for that kind of money, you expect more."
The API's ranks have also become divided over how to handle growing public concern about the oil and gas industry's role in climate change. The group in 2016 created a task force to massage the industry’s environmental image and work Democrats on a potential carbon tax, a policy that drives a wedge between companies like Exxon Mobil, which has supported such a tax, and Chevron, which has opposed it.
An API spokeswoman said it was unknown whether Gerard was retiring or would join another organization. Gerard will help lead the search for a new president and CEO, the spokeswoman added.
One possible replacement for Gerard is API’s current executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Marty Durbin. Durbin had been in charge of API’s government affairs before departing to become head of the lobby group America’s Natural Gas Alliance, which subsequently merged with API.
Other names floated by industry insiders as potential candidates included Mike Sommers, a former chief of staff for former House Speaker John Boehner, now CEO of the American Investment Council; Karen Harbert, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute; and former Sen. Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat.
An API spokeswoman did not comment on possible candidates.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/01/apis-gerard-to-exit-on-an-oil-industry-winning-streak-291863
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(ACC Mentioned) Head of Oil Lobbying Powerhouse to Step Down
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy
The leader of the American Petroleum Institute will leave the industry's top Washington lobbying group in August, after helping win new places to drill, expand markets for U.S. oil and defeat a Trump administration plan to subsidize coal-fired power plants.
Jack Gerard's exit will come at the end of two five-year contracts with the trade group. API's executive committee now will lead the search for a successor, with the expectation of having a new CEO in place by Sept. 1, Gerard said in a message to staff Jan. 17.
“We have accomplished what few would have imagined: important public policy victories at all levels of government and a revitalized association that has expanded globally and added significant strength to its advocacy capabilities,” Gerard, 60, said in a news release.
Since joining the group in 2008, Gerard helped broaden API's reach and visibility in the nation's capital, sometimes by doing rhetorical battle with the Obama administration. Among his targets: a permitting slow down in the wake of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, policies designed to throttle greenhouse gas emissions and new mandates for drilling on public land.
In the past decade, the group has expanded its membership by 50 percent, built a grassroots network of 45 million Americans to advocate on energy policy and tripled global operations.
API also notched many policy successes, Gerard said in an interview, including the end of a ban on most crude exports, and a law opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain to drilling. The Trump administration also is moving to roll back or rewrite a host of regulations governing the industry.
“He has unified our industry, expanded our global reach, heightened our effectiveness and navigated a number of significant public policy challenges to a successful conclusion,” Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said in a news release.
Not Without Controversy
Gerard's tenure at API has not been without controversy. Even Gerard's supporters dubbed him “Voldemort,” a reference to the villain in the Harry Potter series of books and movies, for the lobbyist's willingness to do battle.
With a salary of more than $5 million and $1.3 million in other compensation in 2015, according to the latest API tax filing available online, Gerard is among the highest paid trade association leaders in Washington, alongside the leaders of other energy, pharmaceutical and business groups. Before joining the American Petroleum Institute, he led the National Mining Association and the American Chemistry Council.
API's decision to fight state and federal proposals to subsidize coal-fired power also has drawn controversy. Although some states have enacted policies meant to help keep coal power plants online amid competition from cheaper, cleaner burning natural gas, federal regulators rejectedEnergy Secretary Rick Perry's plan to subsidize struggling coal and nuclear plants earlier this month.
Gerard defended API's approach Jan. 17.
“While some would seek to ask for government assistance, if you will, to reshape markets, we operate on the fundamental premise that the free market brings the most efficient, fair market to the American consumer,” Gerard said. “We support all forms of energy. What we don't support is government intervention and efforts to skew marketplaces favoring one energy over the other.”
Gerard, a father of eight children, said he's not sure what will come after he leaves API, but intends “to stay active in the public policy debate.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=127112210&vname=dennotallissues&fn=127112210&jd=127112210
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(ACC Mentioned) API President and CEO to Depart in August
Jan 18, 2018 | World Pipelines
By Stephanie Roker
After 10 years running one of Washington’s most influential associations covering all aspects of the oil and natural gas sector, API President and CEO Jack Gerard announced he will not make another long-term commitment to API and will step down when his current contract ends in August 2018. Until then, he will continue to direct the association’s work and assist in the search for a new CEO.
“Serving the oil and natural gas industry during this historic time, when an American energy renaissance has made the US the world’s leading producer and refiner of oil and natural gas, has been among the most fulfilling professional experiences of my career,” said Gerard. “We have accomplished what few would have imagined: important public policy victories at all levels of government, and a revitalised association that has expanded globally and added significant strength to its advocacy capabilities. I have served for 10 years at API, which is the longest tenure of my career. I’m ready for my next challenge and want to ensure that API will have time for an orderly transition to plan for its next decade.”
Since Gerard joined API in 2008, association membership grew by almost 50% and added members from every sector of the industry. The organisation tripled its growth in global markets where it promotes safety through standard setting and best practices, including expansions to Singapore, Dubai and Rio de Janeiro, and the industry’s public policy influence improved dramatically at the local, state and federal level. During his tenure, Gerard built an effective grassroots network comprised of 45 million voters with representation in every congressional district who communicate with their elected officials on energy issues.
“Jack has been an extraordinary leader for the oil and natural gas industry during a time of challenge and opportunity,” said API Chairman and ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods. “He has unified our industry, expanded our global reach, heightened our effectiveness, and navigated a number of significant public policy challenges to a successful conclusion, including: the end of the crude oil export ban; the preservation of a pro-development and refining tax and regulatory framework; and the creation of a Center for Offshore Safety, dedicated to safety in offshore operations. Jack has built a solid foundation from which we will continue to grow. We will miss Jack tremendously because of his significant accomplishments over the years. Our focus will now be on the search for a successor who will build on Jack’s achievements.”
Gerard joined API after serving as President and CEO of two large trade associations – the National Mining Association and the American Chemistry Council. He worked for almost a decade in the US Senate and House. He is active in several civic organisations, including as an Advisory Board member and past chairman of the National Area Council of the Boys Scouts of America, a board member and former co-chair of The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, and chairman of the board of directors for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/18012018/api-president-and-ceo-to-depart-in-august/
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(ACC Mentioned) Jack Gerard to Step Down as Head of API
Jan 17, 2018 | Maritime Executive
The longtime president and CEO of the powerful American Petroleum Institute, Jack Gerard, has announced that he will step down when his current contract ends this August.
“Serving the oil and natural gas industry during this historic time, when an American energy renaissance has made the U.S. the world’s leading producer and refiner of oil and natural gas, has been among the most fulfilling professional experiences of my career,” said Gerard. “I have served for 10 years at API . . . I’m ready for my next challenge and want to ensure that API will have time for an orderly transition to plan for its next decade.”
Gerard did not immediately announce plans for his next endeavor, but he leaves the United States' biggest oil and gas association in a position of strength. The group's membership has grown by 50 percent, and it now represents over 600 firms from across the spectrum of oil and gas activity. In addition, after years of battling the previous administration's regulatory efforts, API can work with a pro-energy White House that is acting quickly on oil industry regulatory priorities from natural gas extraction to OCS leasing.
"Jack has been an extraordinary leader for the oil and natural gas industry during a time of challenge and opportunity,” said ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods in a statement. “He has unified our industry, expanded our global reach, heightened our effectiveness, and navigated a number of significant public policy challenges to a successful conclusion, [including] the end of the crude oil export ban [and] the preservation of a pro-development and refining tax and regulatory framework.”
Gerard joined API after serving in a similar capacity at the American Chemistry Council and the National Mining Association. He also co-founded the lobbying company McClure, Gerard & Neuenschwander (or MGN) with mentor Senator James A. McClure, and he worked in the U.S. Senate and House for nearly a decade. He holds a law degree from George Washington University.
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/jack-gerard-to-step-down-as-head-of-api#gs.UvtlUhs
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(ACC Mentioned) People -- API CEO Jack Gerard
Jan 17, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
Jack Gerard, who has been CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API) since 2008, will step down when his current contract ends in August, the trade association said. "Until then, he will continue to direct the association's work and assist in the search for a new CEO," API said. Prior to his time at API, Gerard served as president and CEO of the National Mining Association and the American Chemistry Council. He also worked for almost a decade in the U.S. Senate and House. During his tenure, API membership grew by almost 50%, and the organization tripled its growth in global markets. Two years ago, Gerard oversaw the merger of API and America's Natural Gas Alliance.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/113075-people----api-ceo-jack-gerard
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Chemicals Pose Challenge for Any Bilateral U.S.-U.K. Deal
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ali Qassim
The odds for including a chemicals chapter in any future bilateral trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K. are low, witnesses told a British parliamentary trade committee.
Ian Cranshaw, the head of business development and international trade at the Chemical Industries Association in London, said “before you can start thinking of our future relationship with the U.S.,” it was “critical” for the U.K. to secure access to the European Union, which it plans to leave at the end of March 2019.
That means U.K.-based chemical and pharmaceutical firms “must comply” with EU chemical safety rules post-Brexit, according to Howard Chase, director of government affairs at Dow Chemical Co.
But that would block any chances of reaching any agreement over chemicals in any future trade deal with the U.S.
As U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross highlighted during a visit to the U.K. last November, any future bilateral trade deal with the U.S. would require Britain to dismantle much of its regulatory alignment with the EU.
The trans-Atlantic bilateral trade in chemicals and pharmaceuticals in 2016 reached 14.3 billion pounds ($19.8) with the U.K. exporting 10.3 billion pounds ($14.3 billion) to the U.S. and the U.K. importing 4.3 billion pounds ($5.9 billion) from the U.S., Cranshaw said. In contrast, 60 percent-of the U.K.’s annual total chemical exports of 50 billion pounds ($69.5 billion) goes to the EU.
The witnesses spoke Jan. 17 in front of 11 members of the International Trade Committee in the latest oral hearing being held as part of a wider inquiry into future U.K.-US trade relations. The committee wants to publish a report by this spring with formal recommendations to the government on how to approach trade relations with the U.S.
No Harmonizing Regs
Cranshaw stressed that “not a single company” within the chemical association—which speaks for a mix of chemical and pharmaceutical firms including multinational corporations—is calling for the U.K. to diverge from EU rules on the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemicals (REACH).
The main difference between REACH and the U.S.'s equivalent Toxic Substances Control Act is that under EU rules, suppliers of chemicals are required to prove that the uses of its chemicals are safe.
That's why Chase said he believed any chances of harmonizing the two regimes “were very far fetched” and that any progress on chemicals would instead come through closer cooperation between regulators.
Speaking at an earlier session of the same hearing, economist Dr. Peter Holmes from the University of Sussex, said the EU “is very strict on conditions under which it allows goods to come from third countries inspection free.”
As a result, if any sector in the U.K. such as chemicals wanted to continue with access to EU markets, the British government “would have to agree to adhere to test certification,” which means “we wouldn't be able to have an equivalent agreement with the U.S.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=127112222&vname=dennotallissues&fn=127112222&jd=127112222
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Bayer, Syngenta, Others May Get Tariff Cut in House-Passed Bill
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sarah Babbage
Costs to import chemicals used by Bayer AG and Syngenta AG, as well as golf club heads, coconut water, cheerleader shoes, cat toys and hundreds of other specialty products imported by a variety of companies, would be reduced or eliminated under a bill the House passed 402-0.
The “Miscellaneous Tariff Bill” (MTB) would lower or strike duties on almost 1,700 products for as long as three years, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. The measure (H.R. 4318) would reduce tariff-generated revenue by $823 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The bill received bipartisan support, even though President Donald Trump has shown interest in beefing up tariffs to protect jobs. Sponsors say the measure would “empower American manufacturers to compete effectively around the world, create new jobs at home, and grow our economy.”
The legislation is a compilation of petitions from companies that were vetted and recommended by the U.S. International Trade Commission. Included petitions wouldn't reduce revenue by more than $500,000 each.
The recommendation list provides a random snapshot of U.S. consumption, with products including camera parts, fiberglass fishing rods, vertical waffle makers, athletic mouth guards, eyelash curlers, inflatable tetherballs, bluetooth-enabled dumbbells, stand-up bicycles, cordless steam irons, electric knives, “mouse in a pouch” electro-mechanical cat toys and fire escape ladders, among many other products in line for lower tariffs.
Industrial Goods
Many of the petitions included in the legislation are for chemical imports, requested by companies including Bayer's Bayer CropScience LP and Syngenta's Syngenta Crop Protection LLC. Both companies support the bill. China National Chemical Corp. agreed to buy Syngenta for more than $43 billion in 2016.
Many tariffs would be suspended entirely, but others would only be reduced. Women's open-toed sheepskin shoes would be subject to a 35.4 percent duty, down from 37.5 percent. The change was requested by Deckers Outdoor Corp., owner of the UGG brand.
The legislation would also cut tariffs for manufacturing inputs, such as grandfather clock chimes or lantern globes, and for consumer goods, such as diaper bags for dolls and automatic pet waterers.
ITC's final report to Congress included 2,525 petitions, totaling $3.4 billion in tariff relief from 2018 through 2020. Not all petitions were recommended.
Sherwin-Williams Co.’s request to reduce tariffs on fabric paint roller covers was the most expensive. It could have potentially reduced federal revenue by more than $600 million over three years and wasn't included in the bill. The ITC noted that the product is available domestically.
Asking for Relief
While Congress has regularly authorized temporary tariff relief, this year's bill was put together under a new process designed to comply with bans on earmarks and other perceived congressional favoritism.
Previously, members of Congress submitted bills proposing tariff changes, which were then reviewed by the ITC. Under the new process, companies make their case to the commission, which passes on recommendations to Congress.
The ITC began accepting petitions on Oct. 14, 2016. It evaluated them to determine if products are domestically available, if estimated revenue loss would exceed $500,000, and if Customs and Border Protection could administer the change in tariff.
Members of Congress didn't have to include all recommended petitions in the final bill.
To offset the revenue loss from the bill, the expiration date for certain customs user fees for merchandise imports would be extended by three months.
The ITC will begin accepting petitions in 2019 for the next MTB.
Bipartisan Support
House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) introduced H.R. 4318 on Nov. 9. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced a companion measure (S. 2108) the same day. Neither committee has acted on the bills, which are cosponsored by the panels’ ranking Democrats.
The MTB is supported by a coalition of more than 190 businesses and trade groups, including 3M Co., the Aerospace Industries Association, Cargill Inc., Dow Chemical Co., Intel Corp., Mattel Inc., the National Association of Manufacturers, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=127112206&vname=dennotallissues&fn=127112206&jd=127112206
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Environment, Energy Agencies Prepare as Shutdown Threat Hovers
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott, Abby Smith, Rebecca Kern, Alan Kovski, Bruce Rolfsen, and Sylvia Carignan
The EPA and other federal regulators are dusting off contingency plans for a government shutdown, amid signs that both parties might fall short of deal before funding runs out at midnight Jan. 19.
Some agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Interior Department, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, would at least be looking at recently revised agency shutdown plans that were updated last December.
Congressional aides still said the week will most likely end with at least a short-term extension that funds agencies for at least a few more weeks.
The GOP spending plan unveiled Jan. 16, for example, would extend funding until Feb. 16. But Democrats and Republicans remain divided on a host of issues, including immigration, suggesting at least the possibility that leaders are engaging in brinkmanship, even readying what sound like talking points that would put the blame for a shutdown squarely on the other party.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Jan. 17 that Democrats have been given “a rather attractive package” and he planned to take up what the Republican-controlled House sends over to the Senate in the coming days.
A Republican aide with the Senate Appropriations Committee told Bloomberg Environment talks are underway on both the “duration and scope” of the next continuing resolution.
Basically, they are debating how long to extend funding past Jan. 19—Democrats haven't signed on yet to the GOP-proposed extension to Feb. 16—and also whether to attach disaster supplemental spending for Puerto Rico and possibly a multiyear renewal of the Children's Health Insurance Program.
EPA's Day-to-Day Work Stops
Much of the EPA's day-to-day policy work would grind to a halt during a government shutdown—but the agency's ability to respond quickly to environmental emergencies would get first priority under its contingency plan. The EPA emergency response program “serves as a safety net” for state, local, and private first responders, according to the agency's December shutdown plan.
The agency also will maintain essential staff at Superfund sites that pose an imminent threat to human health.
In addition, EPA personnel would take steps to secure research property in the agency's 29 program and regional labs. Law enforcement and legal personnel required for critical activities would work as necessary, but the EPA would consult the Justice Department regarding ongoing litigation.
In total, the EPA estimates that around 800 employees—413 from the agency headquarters and 386 staffers from the 10 regional offices—would have to stay on board during a shutdown to perform activities “necessary to protect life and property.” In addition, three presidentially appointed officials would continue work.
The EPA's enforcement office would see nearly 30 percent of its staffers continue working during a shutdown. The agency's program offices—such as the air, water, and chemicals offices—would be much more thinly staffed, however. Just six staffers in the chemicals office, seven in the water office, and 20 in the air office would continue work.
Energy: Furloughs If Prolonged Lapse
The Energy Department said in most cases it will require all federal employees to continue to report to work, according to its latest contingency plan from September 2015. A prolonged lapse in appropriations could require employee furloughs, but if an “imminent threat to human life or protection of property” arises, the a limited number of employees would be called back from furlough, it said.
The department didn't provide any updated contingency plan at Bloomberg Environment's request.
Also, the Energy Department said all government-funded contracts and financial assistance would continue. Depending on the length of the shutdown, however, the funding would stop for contracts unless their suspension would imminently threaten the safety of human life or the protection of property.
While the extent of an Energy Department shutdown would be be determined by “the availability of funds, they have already informed employees that they should expect to report to work because there is sufficient funding,” Jeff Eagan of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 213, which represents Energy Department career employees, told Bloomberg Environment.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in the event of a shutdown the executive director for operations will develop a shutdown plan and provide more guidance, according to its contingency plan updated in December 2017. The commission will continue to use prior-year funding to fund its necessary activities in the event of lapsed appropriations.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in the case of a government shutdown, it will retain 49 employees and 18 contractors, or 4.6 percent of the total of 1,465 employees, according to its contingency plan updated in December 2017.
Interior to Keep Law Enforcement Active
The Interior Department, responsible for most federal lands and regulation of energy development in federal offshore waters, would keep much personnel active for law enforcement and other aspects of safety in the event of a shutdown.
That means essentially all activities of Interior's Bureau of Land Management, the federal government's primary land manager, would be halted with the exception of law enforcement, emergency response functions, and other activities to deal with safety risks.
Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, primary regulator for oil and gas activities in federal offshore waters, would keep approximately half its employees active, their jobs considered essential for life and safety. They also would get on-call support from 66 staff members of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Federal wildlife officers of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, another Interior agency, would remain active for law enforcement and protection of life and property in the National Wildlife Refuge System. Interior would close all national parks.
OSHA Plans
During the 2013 shutdown, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration furloughed about 90 percent of its 2,235 staff members.
At each of OSHA's 92 area offices, only two staffers remained on the job: one senior inspector each for safety and health. At the Washington headquarters, only about 20 people stayed, primarily senior administrators and a handful of support personnel.
With few exceptions, planned inspections were shelved. The agency opened new investigations only in response to fatalities or accidents hospitalizing multiple workers.
The budget impasse also led to temporary cuts at some state safety and health agencies, where the federal government funds about half the agencies’ budget and states didn't step in to makeup the blocked federal dollars.
Democrats Remain Noncommittal
Back on Capitol Hill, many Democrats aren't ready to commit to voting on a funding extension they haven't seen.
“I don't know yet,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told reporters Jan. 17 when asked if he'd vote for it. “I'm thrilled that there's a six-year extension of [Children's Health Insurance Program, but] there are a number of things—I want to know more,” Brown said.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) echoed a common talking point this week for Democrats, who are putting the blame squarely on Republicans for not moving a longer term spending bill even though they control all the levers of government.
“This would be the first time we're in a threatened government shutdown where one party has control of both the House and Senate and the White House and they can't pass a budget,” Cardin told reporters Jan. 17. “It's ridiculous.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=127112197&vname=dennotallissues&fn=127112197&jd=127112197
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Plastics Industry Opposes Patchwork of Rules as Bag Bans Expand
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Sara Merken
The plastics manufacturing industry and environmental activists don't want plastic bags to go to waste, but they disagree on the steps necessary to ensure that the material doesn't end up in landfills or the ocean after one use.
California is the only state with a single-use plastic bag ban, but others are likely to introduce or discuss legislation this year. In December, Boston became the 60th municipality in Massachusetts to impose a plastic bag ban, and lawmakers are pushing a bill in the state Legislature for a statewide ban.
The U.K. recently unveiled a 25-year plan to eliminate avoidable waste, including proposals for taxes and funding for sustainable alternatives, Prime Minister Theresa May said in a speech Jan. 11. The European Union plans to propose a tax on plastic bags and packaging, and as of Jan. 1, China stopped accepting imported plastic waste for reprocessing.
Plastic pollution is a risk to the marine environment and to human health. Plastic, which is made with petroleum and isn't biodegradable, often ends up in oceans and bodies of water, and could have health implications for humans who eat fish that ingest small pieces of the material.
“We are turning our water bodies into unpermitted landfills,” Judith Enck, a former Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator, told Bloomberg Environment.
Bag legislation supporters say that local and state bag laws are the first step in a comprehensive plan to eliminate plastic pollution, while plastic manufacturers say a patchwork of policies across the country is harmful to customers and manufacturers.
Scalable Effort
Solid waste and recycling policy has historically been left to the states. Grass-roots initiatives for plastic bag laws began because people didn't like seeing trashed plastic bags in trees, rivers, and oceans, in addition to the public-health implications, Mark Murray, executive director of the environmental advocacy organization Californians Against Waste, told Bloomberg Environment.
California's model, which bans grocery stores, pharmacies, and convenience stores from supplying single-use plastic bags and charges customers 10 cents for reusable or recycled paper bags, is “certainly scalable,” Murray said.
Other states—including Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Washington—will likely introduce some form of legislation this year, he said. Hundreds of communities have already adopted bag bans and fees. The Hawaiian Islands have a combination of bans and fees, but no statewide legislation.
In California, 150 jurisdictions adopted almost identical ordinances ahead of the statewide ban going into effect in 2016. Murray's organization played a role in drafting the local ordinances, which served as the basis for the state legislation.
Hybrid Models
A model that combines a ban and fee for bags is the most likely approach to withstand industry's legal challenges, Jennie Romer, an attorney and sustainability consultant, told Bloomberg Environment. Romer consulted on the plastic bag legislation in San Francisco and New York.
The hybrid ban-and-fee plan usually eliminates thin plastic bags and charges customers for reusable bags, she said. Another viable model, like the one used in Washington, D.C., charges a few cents per bag.
“Even 5 cents makes a difference,” Romer said. Fees, however small, usually force people to think at the register if they want to pay for the bag, she said.
Immediately after San Francisco and nearby communities implemented a paper bag charge, about 40 percent of people walked out of the store with no bag at all if only carrying a few items compared to fewer than 15 percent leaving without a bag before the charge went into effect, Murray said.
The reusable bag charge component also helped raise grocer support, because revenue from bag sales reduced overhead costs for bags that stores weren't being compensated for, he said.
Industry Backs Consistent Policy
“Policies pertaining to auxiliary containers should be consistent within a state,” Matt Seaholm, executive director of the American Progressive Bag Alliance, told Bloomberg Environment. “It's harmful to customers, manufacturers, broader economic health, and American jobs to have a patchwork of rules and regulations.”
The alliance represents plastic bag manufacturers, and lobbies against bag bans and fees. Auxiliary containers are used to carry merchandise, food, and beverages, and aren't limited to bags.
About 24,600 people are employed by the plastic bag manufacturing and recycling industry in 344 plants across the country, according to Bag the Ban, a project created by plastic manufacturing company Novolex in response to proposed bag legislation.
The Plastics Industry Association, which represents the entire plastics industry supply chain, referred requests for comment to APBA.
The alliance raised $6.1 million to defeat Proposition 67, the measure on California's 2016 ballot about the single-use plastic bag ban.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a measure last February to preempt a New York City law that would have imposed a 5-cent fee on plastic bags. Other states—including Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin—also have passed preemption laws.
Comprehensive Legislation
The U.S. needs “a more comprehensive approach for phasing out the huge volume of single-use plastic products and packaging that we use every day,” Murray said. “The Europeans are trying to tackle this in a big, comprehensive way, and so far, we failed to do that in the United States. We failed to do that even in California,” he said.
Plastic reduction strategies will likely be left up to the states, because even if there were a receptive federal administration, the issue is “too politically dicey for the federal government to handle,” Enck said.
Without a comprehensive strategy including all plastic products, it will only be possible to pick off the “low hanging plastic fruit,” she said.
Industry-Backed Recycling
Members of the plastic manufacturing industry have supported plastic-bag recycling programs instead of legislation to ban or charge for the products.
Novolex, the plastic packaging manufacturer, calls for more recycling and reuse “without banning products or taxing families,” according to Bag the Ban. “Misguided bans and taxes on plastic bags could weigh down the economy, increase costs for consumers and small business, and leave a larger carbon footprint on the environment than alternatives,” the project's website says.
The company didn't respond to Bloomberg Environment's request for comment.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=127112200&vname=dennotallissues&fn=127112200&jd=127112200
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Republicans Probe Editorial on Toxics Oversight
Jan 18, 2018 | E&E News PM
By Corbin Hiar
Leaders of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee today ratcheted up their scrutiny of a nearly 50-year-old environmental research institute that is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
At issue is a December 2017 editorial on the regulation of toxic chemicals from Linda Birnbaum, the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
The piece — which ran in PLOS Biology and was co-authored by Liza Gross, one of the editors at the journal — provided an overview of seven peer-reviewed articles that detailed how federal officials had failed to regulate toxics.
"As the contributors to this special collection make clear, existing US regulations have not kept pace with scientific advances showing that widely used chemicals cause serious health problems at levels previously assumed to be safe," Gross and Birnbaum wrote.
"Closing the gap between evidence and policy will require that engaged citizens, both scientists and nonscientists, work to ensure our government officials pass health-protective policies based on the best available scientific evidence," they wrote.
To Republican Reps. Lamar Smith of Texas, the chairman of the full committee, and Andy Biggs of Arizona, who heads the Environment Subcommittee, that sounds a lot like lobbying — an activity that is largely off-limits to federal officials.
As a result, they've asked Eric Hargan, the acting secretary of HHS, and Daniel Levinson, the department's inspector general, to help them investigate the matter.
After detailing their concerns to Hargan, the two lawmakers said "the Committee has a responsibility to ensure that executive branch employees are not participating in dissemination of science that is undermined by violations of the Anti-Lobbying Act and its corresponding guidelines."
Their letter went on to ask the acting head of HHS to "provide all documents and communications regarding the PLOS collection of articles" to the committee by the end of January.
In a separate letter to Levinson, they requested "that your office analyze these concerns to determine whether it is appropriate to launch a full scale review of the situation."
Birnbaum told E&E News in an email, "The editorial reminds us that health policy needs to be updated as research provides us with new information, and it simply acknowledges the fact that public opinion plays a role in the policy making process."
This isn't the first time the science committee leaders have scrutinized Birnbaum and NIEHS, which was founded in 1969.
Last year, for instance, they asked HHS for information on millions of dollars in environmental health contracts to the Ramazzini Institute, an Italian academy focused on occupational and environmental health where Birnbaum was once a fellow (E&E Daily, March 27, 2017).
https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2018/01/17/stories/1060071215
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These 4 Environmental Wins Just Proved That Fighting Back Works
Jan 17, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Keith Gaby
It’s been almost a year of fighting President Donald Trump’s reckless environmental agenda. For those feeling exhausted by the idea of spending three more years facing these serious threats, it’s good to remember that we can win. In fact, in the last few weeks we’ve scored four significant victories for public health and smart energy policy.
1. A backwards energy plan is rejected
On January 8, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission unanimously rejected a plan from Energy Secretary Rick Perry to waste money and pollute the air by protecting coal and nuclear plants from competition. Perry had claimed — without evidence — that his bloated plan was needed to provide energy resilience.
FERC made it clear that the proposal fell far short of unbiased, evidence-driven analysis. It was about politics, rather than resilience.
Indeed, the fact that our grid survived the January “bomb cyclone” shows that we don’t need more coal to withstand the most extreme weather event.
2. Supreme Court rejects challenge to Endangered Species Act
Also last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling supporting protections for the Utah prairie dog, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Petitioners had challenged the powers of Congress to regulate intra-state species.
The high court’s dismissal of the case affirms the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s authority to extend ESA protections to imperiled species that live entirely within one state. About 70 percent of all species protected under the act fall into that category.
The timing and outcome of this particular case is a noteworthy win for wildlife as a similar case is pending in a district court in Texas, and because the Trump administration and some members of Congress are seeking to undermine the ESA.
3. A dangerous EPA nominee withdraws
Trump nominated Michael Dourson to oversee the office that determines which chemicals are safe for our kids and families. Problem was, Dourson has a long history of working with the chemical and tobacco industries to minimize the risks of toxic chemicals.
He was likely to set weak standards for protecting human health and to undermine the strong chemical safety law passed in 2016.
A bipartisan outcry from across the country, including from victims of chemicals endorsed by Dourson, forced him to withdraw from consideration by the Senate on December 13, 2017.
4. New Jersey says no to a nuclear bailout
Public Service Enterprise Group, parent company of the state’s largest utility, tried to rush through a bailout for itself in the final days of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. It would have asked New Jersey residents to pay $300 million dollars for an unlimited number of years, without providing the information needed to determine if the plan was justified.
It was the worst kind of corporate welfare, with no openness and nothing in return for the people of the state, such as more clean energy. But public pressure made them back down.
Now, a new pro-environment governor and newly elected legislature will give the issue careful consideration and, hopefully, demand that any plan, if needed, works for people of the state.
There will be fights we lose, but it’s important to know we can still win if we keep working. To prevail, we’ll need to continue to show the real-world impacts of the Trump administration’s plans – from the asthma attacks that would be caused by weak smog standards to the economic harm from hobbling clean energy.
This is not only about fighting bad policy, but also about keeping up our energy in the months ahead. Sustained activism is our only path.
https://www.edf.org/blog/2018/01/17/these-4-environmental-wins-just-proved-fighting-back-works
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(ACC Mentioned) Citizens Petitions, Lawsuits on Chemical Rules Likely to Grow
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Chemical manufacturers should expect to see more petitions from citizen groups asking the EPA to regulate substances now that the nation's primary chemicals law has been amended, attorneys tell Bloomberg Environment.
Environmental, animal welfare, and other organizations will likely use every provision allowed under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act to compel stricter Environmental Protection Agency regulation of chemicals, said Lynn Bergeson, managing partner with Bergeson & Campbell P.C.
Those TSCA amendments required the EPA for the first time to review the risks of chemicals in commerce and made it easier for the agency to obtain the information it needs to evaluate health and environmental concerns.
The provisions increase the likelihood that citizens groups will push the EPA to take various actions, such as collecting information companies have about their chemicals, Herbert Estreicher, a partner with Keller and Heckman LLP, told Bloomberg Environment.
During a recent webinar hosted by that law firm, Estreicher urged chemical manufacturers and their trade associations to track such petitions and “think hard about engaging,” for example, by providing the EPA information relevant to whatever decision the petition seeks.
Karyn Schmidt, an attorney with the American Chemistry Council, told Bloomberg Environment it's too soon to know whether citizens’ petitions will increase due to the amended TSCA, but paying attention to them “is sound legal advice.”
New Avenues
Court decisions on citizens’ rulemaking petitions are among the many types of litigation likely to increase as the EPA issues rules and other decisions to carry out its interpretations of TSCA.
“Like it or not, the courts will be playing a central role in deciding how the EPA implements the new TSCA,” Estreicher said during the webinar.
Environmental organizations are showing an “unprecedented” interest in TSCA and therefore more likely to bring lawsuits, he said.
Court rulings in these cases and others cannot be rolled back easily by the executive branch, said Eric Gotting, also a partner at Keller and Heckman, referring to the regulatory rollbacks that occur when a new administration takes office.
No Deference Required
If the EPA denies a petition, the groups can challenge that decision in court. Such lawsuits could be particularly interesting because of the role of deference, Gotting told Bloomberg Environment.
Courts are not required to give the agency's decision any deference in these types of cases, he said. Section 21, the provision of TSCA that authorizes citizens petitions states that the court should give a lawsuit challenging the EPA's denial a new, or “de novo,” hearing.
That means the petitioner gets a chance to demonstrate to the court that a chemical may present an unreasonable risk to health or the environment or meets other TSCA criteria warranting stricter regulation, he said.
Typically, courts review challenges to agencies’ rules under the arbitrary and capricious standard, which means they often affirm agency decisions unless they find them totally irrational, Gotting said.
Under the TSCA standard for citizens’ petitions, however, “you have a judge not asking if EPA's decision was rational, but making its own decision on very complex scientific issues,” Gotting said. That increases the uncertainty for the EPA and plaintiffs regarding how the court will rule, he added.
Fluoride Petition
Bergeson, Estreicher, and Gotting all cited a lawsuit that attracted attention this year after a federal district court ruled late December that the EPA erred in its interpretation of amended TSCA's requirements for citizens’ petitions.
The case, Food & Water Watch v. EPA, involves a coalition of health advocates that petitioned the agency soon after TSCA was amended seeking a ban on fluoride in drinking water. The groups argued drinking the chemical does not prevent tooth decay, but can be neurotoxic, especially to children's developing brains.
The EPA denied the petition saying the agency's interpretation of the amended TSCA as requiring citizens petitions “to address the full set of conditions of use for a chemical substance.”
Not true, ruled the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. “A citizen petition need not evaluate all conditions of use,” the court said, allowing the case to proceed.
Before the court takes up the merits of the citizens’ petition, it must rule on the scope of the information it will consider, but this initial decision allowing the case to proceed is important, Gotting said.
It means petitioners do not have to address every use of a chemical when they ask the EPA to regulate a substance, and that makes it harder for the EPA to easily dismiss such petitions, he said.
Those factors increase the likelihood that the agency's rejections of citizens rulemaking petitions may get a full hearing in court, Gotting said.
The Food & Water Watch case attracted friend-of-the-court briefs supporting citizen suits from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Safer Chemicals Healthy Families.
A Food & Water Watch attorney says they have no immediate plans to file further citizen suits. However, if the court rules favorably and broadens the scope of information that it can consider as it reviews the fluoride petition, that “will certainly make Section 21 petitions a more promising avenue for future legal actions by environmental health organizations such as ours,” according to the attorney, Michael Connett.
Other Citizens’ Suits
Bergeson added that “even before the dust-up occasioned by Food & Water Watch, stakeholders were widely expected to avail themselves of every tool under TSCA, including Section 21 citizens’ petitions and Section 20 civil actions, to influence the interpretation of new TSCA.”
Section 21 allows citizens to petition the EPA to initiate a rule. Section 21 authorizes citizens to file lawsuits against any person or agency alleged to be violating:
• the statute,
• rules promulgated under multiple sections of the law, or
• orders, for example those the EPA can issue requiring manufacturers of new chemicals to not release the chemical to water.
“Companies and other regulated entities would be well advised to step up their monitoring efforts to ensure Section 21 citizen petitions and other forms of citizen advocacy (Section 20 litigation) are promptly identified, considered, and addressed,” Bergeson said by email.http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=127112202&vname=dennotallissues&fn=127112202&jd=127112202
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Global Committee Moves Forward on Major Chemicals Report
Jan 18, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
Development of the second Global Chemicals Outlook (GCO-II) report is moving forward this week, as members of the UN's steering committee meet to discuss the outline, structure and topics of this major piece of work.
The report, scheduled for publication by the end of the year, will cover a wide set of topics, including:
· global trends;
· risk management strategies;
· the environmental and health effects of chemicals; and
· options on integrating actions relevant to the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
This global analysis will then conclude with policy options.
GCO-II was mandated by United Nations Environment Assembly (Unea-2) in 2015, with a particular emphasis on areas where data was found to be lacking or inadequate from the first report, and to assess progress towards the UN's goal of sound chemicals management globally by 2020.
The first report, published in 2013, examined trends in worldwide chemicals production, use, disposal, and also provided policy options.
Some members of the committee stressed that it would be preferable if the GCO-II report could be prepared well in advance of next year's global environment meeting (Unea-4) in Nairobi in March. This, it was said, could encourage the organisers to consider chemicals as a focus of the meeting. The theme of last year's meeting (Unea-3) was pollution, with some commitments made on chemicals.
Chemical Watch is a member of the GCO steering committee and has created a webpage dedicated to providing an overview of this significant piece of work, as well as relevant news and information on many of the topics to be covered.
https://chemicalwatch.com/63189/global-committee-moves-forward-on-major-chemicals-report
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Jan 18, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Tasha Stoiber
Americans have good reasons to question the quality of their drinking water. EWG’s Tap Water Database shows that water from most public utilities nationwide contains industrial or agricultural contaminants with known health effects. “Safe” legal limits for many contaminants are based on outdated science, and scores of contaminants aren’t regulated at all.
But buying expensive bottled water isn’t the answer – particularly if it’s unfiltered, untreated, and marketed with misleading and unscientific claims.
The New York Times recently reported on the “off-grid water movement” that is attracting followers “with sophisticated marketing, cultural cachet, millions of dollars in funding and influential supporters from Silicon Valley.” One Los Angeles company called Live Water charges almost $15 a gallon for “living spring water” in glittering glass “orbs” with “probiotic bacteria” that allegedly has “vast healing abilities.”
As backcountry hikers know well, drinking raw spring water can cause serious illness from harmful bacteria and parasites. And news reports have revealed that the water hyped by Live Water is the same water a small Oregon utility delivers to its customers’ taps.
Last week EWG sent a letter to Live Water seeking answers about whether the company tests for the contaminants the Oregon utility has detected. We also asked Live Water to remove a link to our database that could falsely imply we support its unfounded claims.
Consumers should have the same questions about any water sold in plastic bottles. Most popular brands are just bottled tap water, which are sometimes filtered before bottling. Utilities have to tell their customers what regulated contaminants were found in their tap water, but bottled water companies don’t have to disclose test results. Despite costing up to 2,000 times as much as tap water, last year bottled water became the most popular beverage sold in the U.S.
Bottled water companies are reaping huge profits by exploiting legitimate concerns. The Environmental Protection Agency has not set a new standard for any unregulated contaminants in tap water since the Safe Drinking Water Act was updated in 1996. Here are just some of the tap water contaminants the EPA doesn’t regulate or for which the agency hasn’t updated legal limits in decades:
· Radium, a naturally occurring and radioactive element, which has been detected in drinking water systems serving over 170 million people. The EPA classifies all ionizing radiation as carcinogenic.
· Chromium-6, or hexavalent chromium – the “Erin Brockovich” chemical, which can be naturally occurring or result from industrial activity. It has been detected by utilities serving 250 million Americans.
· 1,4-Dioxane, an industrial solvent classified as a likely carcinogen, which has been detected in drinking water supplies for 90 million people. More than 7 million people are exposed to levels of the chemical that can marginally increase cancer risk.
· Poly- and perfluorinated chemicals, which are used in countless consumer products for their nonstick properties, contaminate drinking water for at least 15 million Americans – and probably many more.
Federal regulations for water quality testing and standards do not apply to private well owners. Some states have limited testing requirements, but many private wells go untested for common contaminants such as arsenic, a naturally occurring carcinogenic metal; or nitrate, a fertilizer chemical that can cause cancer and harm developing babies.
What’s the real solution to safer water?
First find out what’s in your water. Type your zip code into EWG’s Tap Water Databaseto find information on contaminants in your drinking water and their health effects. If you have a private well, get it tested at least once a year, and consult your state or local health department about your results.
Once you’ve learned what’s in your water, take these steps to protect your health:
· Buy a water filter certified to remove the contaminants found in your tap water.
· Urge your local utility, your state and the federal government to address pollutants of concern in your tap water.
· Skip the trendy and expensive bottled water. Instead, use a refillable stainless steel water bottle to transport filtered tap water.
https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/01/why-raw-water-raw-deal#.WmCnd3aWbIU
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New Report: 9 out of 10 Receipts Contain Toxic BPA or BPS
Jan 18, 2018 | Safer Chemical, Healthy Families
By Beth Kemler
A new report by our partners at HealthyStuff.org out today exposes a danger at many checkout counters—toxic receipts. They found toxic bisphenol A (BPA) or its chemical cousin bisphenol S (BPS) in 93% of the receipts tested.
You’ve probably heard about BPA in hard plastic water bottles and we’ve told you about BPA in the linings of food cans. It’s been banned from some children’s products like baby bottles and sippy cups in the US. But did you know that after touching a single receipt, these chemicals can enter your bloodstream within minutes?
What’s the problem with BPA and BPS?
These chemicals are endocrine disruptors that mimic hormones like estrogen and thyroid hormone, disrupting the body’s normal functioning. Studies have found links between BPA exposure and numerous health problems like breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes and obesity.
Unlike some chemicals that are only toxic at certain doses, scientists have found that even low doses of these chemicals can impact fetal development and may contribute to reproductive impairment, ADHD, autism and other health problems. The most common replacement chemical for BPA in receipt paper, BPS, and emerging science suggests it may be just as bad as BPA. It’s a classic case of a “regrettable substitute.”
What happens when you handle a toxic receipt?
In receipt paper known as “thermal paper” because of the way the ink develops, BPA and BPS are added in their free form without being bound to the paper or polymerized. So the chemicals can easily transfer to anything a receipt touches—your hand, the money in your wallet or even the groceries in your shopping bag. Several studies have found that handling receipts, even briefly, leads to significant BPA or BPS absorption into the body.
And this type of “thermal paper” isn’t limited to receipts—it’s also used for movie and concert tickets, boarding passes and deli meat and cheese labels. It’s pretty hard to avoid. And studies have found that the body absorbs more BPA when thermal paper is handled with moist or greasy fingers. Using hand sanitizer and hand creams can make the body absorb BPA much more rapidly.
While virtually every person who has been tested has had BPA and BPS in their bodies, cashiers and other workers who handle thermal paper have more of these chemicals in their body than the rest of us. The fetuses of pregnant workers who handle toxic receipts may be the most vulnerable to exposure.
Are there alternatives?
Yes! The easiest alternative is for retailers to offer digital receipts. When that’s not an option, retailers can use a replacement paper with a phenol-free developer. Best Buy has been doing this for a few years now.
Trader Joe’s agrees to ditch toxic receipts
More and more retailers are listening! Less than two months after Trader Joe’s received one of the lowest scores in our annual report card, the company has just committed to phasing out the use of these bisphenol chemicals in receipts! The company made this commitment knowing that the Ecology Center’s HealthyStuff.org project was releasing the report. Bloomberg broke the story today:
“We are now pursuing receipt paper that is free of phenol chemicals (including BPA and BPS), which we will be rolling out to all stores as soon as possible,” the company said in a statement.
The Ecology Center sent a letter to Trader Joe’s informing them of its findings before the report’s release.
This shows the power our movement has to make change!
We congratulate Trader Joe’s for taking these steps and hope the company won’t stop there. We’d like to see Trader Joes take the next step and adopt a robust safer chemicals policy!
So what can you do?
1. Tell retailers that you want them to switch to phenol-free receipt paper and release a comprehensive safer chemicals policy if they haven’t already. Change happens when we ask for it! So check to see if your favorite stores were covered in the study and whether they were graded in our report card, then send them a message or give them a call. Here’s a sample:
I’ve learned that the receipt paper used at some stores is coated with BPA or BPS, known hormone-disrupting chemicals. They can be absorbed through the skin, disproportionately affecting cashiers. You should use BPS- and BPA-free paper and offer electronic receipts. This change should be a part of a comprehensive chemical policy to protect employees and customers from toxic chemicals.
Here’s an easy action to call on TJX Companies and Meijer to eliminate these chemicals.
2. Ask for digital receipts. Many retailers, including Whole Foods and CVS, offer digital receipt programs. By opting out of a paper receipt, you can reduce your exposure, your cashier’s exposure and the amount of BPA and BPS that are manufactured. If you have to take a receipt, fold it printed side in—the back of the paper is usually not coated.
3. Don’t throw receipts in the recycle bin! While the HealthyStuff.org study found that a handful of retailers are using uncoated paper, chances are that most receipts you receive are coated with BPA or BPS. While I would normally encourage you to recycle paper, recycling receipts can contaminate other products downstream like toilet paper and paper towels made from recycled content. Yuck!
http://saferchemicals.org/2018/01/17/new-report-9-out-of-10-receipts-contain-toxic-bpa-or-bps/
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Trader Joe's to Remove Bisphenol A from Its Receipts
Jan 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Lauren Coleman-Lochner
Cleanup in the checkout aisle.
Trader Joe's, the grocer known for its eclectic products (and Hawaiian-shirt-clad workers), will remove two controversial substances from its register receipts, according to the company's website.
The chemicals -- BPA and BPS -- are widespread in register and ATM receipts, according to findings by the Ecology Center, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based organization that works with consumers and companies to promote greener products and practices. A studybeing released Wednesday in partnership with Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, a coalition of environmental and health groups, showed BPA and BPS were found in 93 percent of 208 register receipts tested. They came from a variety of businesses, including major retailers, banks, and gas stations.
“We are now pursuing receipt paper that is free of phenol chemicals (including BPA and BPS), which we will be rolling out to all stores as soon as possible,” the company said in a statement. The Ecology Center sent a letter to Trader Joe's informing them of its findings before the report's release.
The U.S. has banned BPA in sippy cups, baby bottles and formula packaging, following similar measures in Canada and the European Union. Some studies have shown the substance disrupts normal hormone functioning, particularly in younger people, while others have traced links to diabetes and obesity. The substance is also found in food can linings and various plastic items. The Ecology Center calls BPS a “common and regrettable substitute” with similar effects.
Best Buy Co. is among retailers using receipts free of the substances, the report said.
Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families ranked Trader Joe's 25th of 30 in a ranking of retailers’ chemicals policies released in November, one of nine that earned a failing grade. Best Buy ranked seventh with a “B.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=127112209&vname=dennotallissues&fn=127112209&jd=127112209
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Echa, Industry Consider Future of Siefs After REACH Deadline
Jan 18, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Echa is looking to clarify how members of substance information exchange fora (Siefs) can continue to collaborate beyond the last REACH registration deadline at the end of May.
The REACH Regulation says that Siefs will cease to exist on 1 June, the day after the last registration of substances. Yet it is not clear how registrants will team up for post-deadline activities such as dossier updates, new information requests by Echa and cost sharing.
The agency says it has already expressed its wish to the European Commission for a "continuation of a collaboration platform to take care of the post-registration duties", and hopes to clarify the situation before the deadline. It is in talks with the Commission's legal services over the issue.
"Whether [the new platforms] will be called Sief in the future or something else, that’s still to be decided," said an Echa spokesperson.
The Siefs have been in use since the start of REACH registration ten years ago. Their purpose is to help information exchange to avoid duplication of tests, prepare joint registration dossiers and decide the classification and labelling of substances.
As registration is based on the principle of ‘one substance, one registration’. Each substance has one Sief, with members producing or importing at different tonnages. The fora have expanded with the three different REACH registration phases – the previous deadlines were in 2010 and 2013 – and some Siefs now comprise hundreds or even thousands of members.
Echa has estimated that 25,000 new substances could be registered under the 2018 deadline. Data-sharing disputes on these chemicals are expected to rise sharply after the cut off, especially with the 2016 implementing Regulation imposing higher transparency demands on lead registrants.
Echa is also likely to push registrants harder for dossier improvements and regular information updates – a top priority for the agency's new head Bjorn Hansen. Industry on board
The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) says continuing with Siefs would be "beneficial" for the companies for many practical reasons, including for example, the consolidation of single submissions into joint registrations.
REACH does not stop registrants acting under a Sief after 2018, Cefic says, and existing forum members may decide to extend the Sief agreement for specific REACH compliance after the registration deadline.
However, it says, "careful considerations" should be given to antitrust issues and "provisions need to be made" to ensure that only information relevant to a specific regulatory task is shared in this potential new forum.
Echa says many industry arrangements are already in place, such as consortia or other contracts between registrants, while its own submission tool REACH-IT includes pages that all co-registrants can access to communicate with one another.
"We believe these existing structures should be maintained regardless of their name," said the spokesperson.
https://chemicalwatch.com/63203/echa-industry-consider-future-of-siefs-after-reach-deadline
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Echa Says It Cannot Verify If Nanomaterials Are Being Used Safely
Jan 18, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Six years after the European Commission declared that the REACH Regulation set "the best possible framework" for checking if nanomaterials were being used safely, Echa says failure to update the text has left it unable to confirm safe use.
In a paper discussed by Echa's Management Board last month, the agency says that after years of significant efforts by itself and member states, it is clear that the Regulation doesn't allow regulators to verify that registrants have demonstrated this, or whether actions to counter health or environmental risks are needed.
This failure, Echa says, may also have consequences for market trust of nanomaterials.Concern
Echa had hoped that changes to the REACH data requirements – which are set out in a number of the Regulation’s annexes – would be introduced in time to affect substance registration for the 2018 deadline. But as the years have gone by, the agency has become increasingly concerned that this wasn't going to happen and became more vocal in urging the Commission to act.
It also became uneasy that some companies claimed REACH didn't cover nanomaterials at all.
By late 2015, it was clear that the changes would not be made for Echa to revise its guidance on registering nanomaterials for 2018.
Another problem, the Echa paper says, has been two decisions on nanomaterials last year by its Board of Appeal (BoA) – one related to dossier evaluation and the other to substance evaluation. These defined the agency's legal powers in requesting information under REACH more narrowly and made verifying the scope of registrations "very challenging and complex".
This means the agency is reliant on information being offered voluntarily, including transparency on test materials used to generate submitted data, it says, because of this significantly limited ability to request additional information.
As a result, the paper says, Echa's efforts are focused on working with member states to evaluate and change several OECD test guidelines to ensure they are applicable to nanomaterials. Updated inhalation toxicity guidelines and a new test guideline on the dispersion stability of nanomaterials in simulated environmental media have just been published. But the agency says further work on test guidelines is needed and its nanomaterials expert group will continue to work in this area this year.
Read more on OECD inhalation toxicity guidelines on Chemical Risk Manager
https://chemicalwatch.com/63212/echa-says-it-cannot-verify-if-nanomaterials-are-being-used-safely
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Furniture Flame Retardants Increase Smoke Toxicity, Study Finds
Jan 18, 2018 | Chemical Watch
A UK study has found that flame retardant chemicals in furniture increase the toxicity of smoke when burning more than they reduce fire growth rate.
The aim of the study, led by Richard Hull, professor of fire science at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK, was to compare fire hazards (fire growth and toxicity) using different upholstery materials.
Four types of sofa beds were compared: three meeting UK furniture flammability Regulations (FFR), and one using materials without flame retardants and intended for the European market. Two of the UK sofa beds relied on chemical flame retardants to meet the FFR and the third used natural materials and a technical weave to pass the test.
The sofa beds containing flame retardants burnt more slowly than the non-flame retarded EU sofa bed, but in doing so produced significantly greater quantities of the main fire toxicants carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, the study says.
An assessment of the effluents' potential to incapacitate and kill showed the UK flame retardant bed to be most dangerous, followed by the sofa bed made with materials for the European market.
The UK sofa bed made only from natural materials burnt very slowly and produced very low concentrations of toxic gases.
The study concludes that including fire toxicity in the FFR would reduce chemical flame retardants and improve fire safety.
The study is a manuscript accepted for publication in the journal Chemosphere.
https://chemicalwatch.com/63197/furniture-flame-retardants-increase-smoke-toxicity-study-finds
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Oil and Gas Drilling Puts Oklahoma's Survival at Risk by Causing Massive Earthquakes
Jan 18, 2018 | Newsweek
By Sydney Pereira
Injecting saltwater back underground in Oklahoma, a disposal method used after fracking, has been linked to a surge in earthquakes since the oil and gas boom reached the state in 2009. But a study published earlier in January in Geologyreveals that efforts to reduce these dangerous injections have not reduced the most damaging earthquakes. The persistence of high-magnitude earthquakes raises further concerns about fracking and the saltwater injections that have increased because of the surge in oil production.
Toxic Ancient Saltwater
Nearly all oil wells release saltwater from underground as another product of the recovery process. This water is the "salty brine from ancient oceans that was entrapped in the rocks when sediments were deposited," according to a 2015 paperon induced-earthquakes, fracking, and saltwater injections. The water is trapped in the same porous areas of the rock as oil and gas. As oil and gas are extracted, so is the saltwater.
Although nearly all oil wells produce this briny wastewater, the rise of fracking increased the amount dramatically. Fracking, technically known as hydraulic fracturing, draws oil and gas from underground by breaking rocks from high-pressure fluid injection. And as it does, ancient, salty wastewater accompanies the more valuable resources.
This brackish water is toxic for wildlife on land. To address that problem, companies pump it back underground into deep and porous geologic formations. These injections are the most cost-effective way to dispose of the water, according to Ryan Pollyea, geosciences professor at Virginia Institute of Technology and lead author of the new study.
An Earth-Shattering Solution
But these injections create a new problem. When it’s pumped back underground for disposal, the excess liquid “lubricates existing faults,” Pollyea said in a statement. The excess saltwater results in induced earthquakes, where any earthquake at all was once a rarity.
In Oklahoma, which has had an increase in fracking wells since 2009, earthquakes have surged in recent years. Magnitude three or higher earthquakes were once a rarity in the state, with one per year before 2011. In 2015, there were over 900. "It is a phenomenal thing that has occurred," Pollyea told Newsweek. The state is now the most seismically active in the lower 48, which is concerning, considering the state doesn't have extensive infrastructure that can handle the shakes.
Fracking isn’t directly causing these earthquakes, said Pollyea. But recent technological advances are allowing companies to grab oil and gas from previously inaccessible reservoirs—resulting in even more wastewater that needs somewhere to go. And in Oklahoma, saltwater injection “is causing nearly all of these earthquakes,” said Justin Rubinstein, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who was not involved in the study.
In an effort to stop this disturbing trend, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed a law in April 2016 that gave the Oklahoma Corporation Commission the authority to reduce the amount of saltwater being injected back into the ground—a direct effort to curb the earthquakes.
The Problem Persists
Pollyea and colleagues wanted to better understand the connections between earthquakes and saltwater disposal. To do so, they focused on the Arbuckle group, a porous geologic formation where saltwater disposal is common. They compared the locations of earthquake centers with saltwater disposal wells.
The study found a correlation between saltwater disposal and earthquakes that quickly dropped off in 2016, around when saltwater injection was reduced by 40 percent, as reported by the Associated Press. But this connection was not reduced for the more dangerous earthquakes, those registering as magnitude three or higher. In fact, two earthquakes greater than magnitude five shook Oklahoma in September and November of 2016. The study concluded that reducing these dangerous earthquakes requires that industries inject even less saltwater back underground.
The study has its critics, including the director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey, Jeremy Boak. He says that reducing how much saltwater is injected will take a longer time period to result in substantial reductions in earthquakes. The 40 percent reduction of the volume of saltwater injections, according to Boak, resulted in further declines in earthquakes in 2017.
“Once these things get started, they turn off very slowly,” Boak, who’s also the state’s geologist, told Newsweek. “What we’re seeing is the tailing off of earthquakes through time. … I anticipate a continued reduction in the rate of seismicity.”
Pollyea's study also found that saltwater injections and earthquakes were correlated with each other as far as 77 miles apart. Boak took issue with that conclusion, noting that the study lumps together geologic formations that are quite different. He said if the study had taken into consideration geological differences of three different areas, the wide range of 77 miles would have likely been moot.
Unexplained Earthquakes
Individual injection wells aren't causing earthquakes, a common misconception. Rather, the collection of wells are working together deep underground in geologic formations to cause earthquakes in an area that can stretch 77 miles wide, according to the study. The processes that specifically cause the earthquakes that aren't quite understood.
"We don't know exactly how that is triggering earthquakes in different places," Pollyea said. But geologists are certain that the earthquakes and saltwater injections are connected.
Earthquakes in Oklahoma decreased again in 2017 down to around 300 magnitude three-plus earthquakes. But the current rate of earthquakes still swamps the historic averages.
The situation is improving, said Pollyea, but that improvement is like moving from gargantuan to massive. "It's beyond comprehension," Pollyea said. "There's still a long way to go."
http://www.newsweek.com/oil-gas-drilling-oklahoma-survival-risk-massive-earthquakes-774354
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Positive Train Control Prevents Derailments — We Must Fund It
Jan 18, 2018 | The Hill - Finance Blog
By Jim Mathews
Details are the lifeblood of policymaking. Especially in an era of “alternative facts,” command of the details is crucial to ensuring that we make good decisions, uncolored by emotion or partisanship.
Sometimes submerging in details is a way to avoid uncomfortable facts. In the case of implementing Positive Train Control, U.S. policy is so diffuse, the details so mind-numbing and contradictory, and the funding so vaporous, that we’ve erected barriers to common-sense policy.
With the latest incident near Tacoma, Washington, since 2008 at least 40 Americans have paid for this unnecessarily complex state of affairs with their lives. Some 250 others have endured broken limbs and spilled blood, a death and injury toll that was largely preventable.
In the immediate aftermath of the December Amtrak derailment that claimed three lives — two of who were active members of this association and one, Jim Hamre, who was on our board — I talked to a lot of experts whose opinions I respect. I went on to read the work of others whose insights I use every day in my job. But I found no consistency and little agreement, and that, I believe, is where much of the real problem lies.
As a former volunteer firefighter/paramedic, I’ve worked crash scenes and mass-casualty incidents, and I’m familiar with the very human need to affix blame, to know why there is tragedy, to understand how ordinary life can become carnage in the blink of an eye.My brother and sister firefighters were still on-scene on Interstate 5 that Monday morning when the finger-pointing began: it’s Amtrak’s fault, because it was their train; it’s the state’s fault, because trains shouldn’t have been rolling through there at all; it’s SoundTransit’s fault, it’s Washington’s Department of Transportation, it’s Sen. Chuck Schumer (for holding up the confirmation of Federal Railroad Administration nominee Ron Batory); it’s the engineer; it’s terrorists.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigators will pick through this wreckage and decide how best to apportion responsibility in its wake. But let’s just cut to the chase: we are looking at the fourth incident since 2008 where Americans have died in a derailment that PTC could have prevented.As a nation, we’ve decided that the $12 billion project to implement PTC — what the FRA has described as the “most important” change in railroad safety technology in a century — just isn’t important enough.
So far we’ve allocated only $1.2 billion to PTC, mostly to help smaller operators like SoundTransit pay for the implementation. And we’ve set legislative deadlines, only to blow through them because operators can’t meet the mandate due to real challenges in technology, funding and jurisdictional responsibilities. We’ve developed no single, uniform standard to help make implementation more efficient. We’ve found the single most complicated and confusing way to make this “most important” change, and, unsurprisingly, implementation is uneven as a result.
We spend $1 billion each and every year in research, development and testing to implement the new, and badly needed, NextGen air traffic control system in the U.S., and we’ll do so for a few more years yet. As capability becomes available, it rolls out to everyone and is already partly in operation today.Our air traffic system, already the safest in the world, will become safer still. Private industry joined forces to develop systems that operate seamlessly with one another, under the direction and guidance of professionals at the Federal Aviation Administration who developed the architecture and requirements and are overseeing this national safety and efficiency project.
The predictable, dedicated funding provided by the Airports and Airways Trust Fund (AATF) covers between 87 percent and 92 percent of FAA’s operating costs — including the 30,000 federal employees who operate the air traffic control system on behalf of the flying public. The rest comes from the general fund.
Compare this to PTC, in which Congress has created an unfunded mandate, to be carried out independently by a variety of actors of varying resources and capabilities. We’re years behind schedule, some systems can’t afford to move forward and we’re all squabbling about whose responsibility it is to make rail travel safer.The answer is to set a deadline and stick to it, set a standard and meet it, and set a budget and fund it. It is our responsibility. The traveling public deserves no less.
Jim Mathews is president of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, the oldest and largest national membership organization fighting for more and better trains in America.
http://thehill.com/opinion/finance/369407-positive-train-control-prevents-derailments-we-must-fund-it
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(ACC Mentioned) EPA Chief Scott Pruitt: Industry is Necessary Partner
Jan 17, 2018 | CBS News
By Jacqueline Alemany
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt told CBS News that a partnership with "industry" is necessary in order for the agency to protect the environment.
"This paradigm that says we have to choose industry over the environment or the environment over industry is the old way of thinking," Pruitt told CBS News' chief White House correspondent Major Garrett in an interview Wednesday.
"Now that serves political ends but it doesn't serve the environment because I will tell you this: to achieve what we want to achieve in environmental protection, environmental stewardship, we need the partnership of industry," he added.
Pruitt, who has been accused by critics of being too cozy with special interest groups and executives and advocates of the fossil fuel industry, defended these relationships as necessary for environmental stewardship. The former Oklahoma Attorney General, cited his experience as a prosecutor, and called it "wrong-headed" to assume that all industries are bad actors.
"We should be about stewardship and we should be about partnership," Pruitt said. "Now, I will tell you as a former attorney general, I've led a grand jury. I've prosecuted bad actors. And I will tell you, if we have companies, industries, citizens who violate the law, we are going to prosecute them and we are going to hold them accountable. But we should not start from the premise that all people are that way or that all industries are that way. That is just simply wrong-headed. And it doesn't achieve good outcomes."
Pruitt has also come under fire for appointing executives from the coal, gas and chemical industries to senior staff positions at the EPA. He has swiftly sought to reverse, delay and block more regulations than any other administrator in the history of the agency, including the Obama-era Clean Power Plan and Clean Water Rule.
"We had many regulations that this agency had adopted historical that had created confusion, and did not serve advancing protection of the environment," Pruitt argued.
Pruitt confirmed reports that he has eased the EPA's safety review process for assessing the risk of new chemicals being produced by manufacturers to the environmental and humans under the Toxic Substances Control Act. He told CBS News that the agency will no longer require manufacturers to sign consent orders that restrict the use of potentially hazardous chemicals in the future. Pruitt claimed that the EPA's new approach is "absolutely" safer than the old approach.
"What I've said about consent orders and consent decrees is that we shouldn't regulate through litigation," Pruitt argued. "If there are industries or companies out there that don't do what the law requires, we're going to issue consent orders and enforcement actions against them, and already have, to hold them accountable."
"From our perspective, when I speak to clarity in regulations, I believe most companies, most states, most citizens want to comply with the law," Pruitt added.
In December, a federal appeals court ordered the EPA to revise the antiquated lead paint hazard standards after the Trump administration had requested a six year delay to review the rule. Pruitt would not say whether or not the EPA planned to appeal the ruling or take it to the Supreme Court, and deferred the decision to the Justice Department. The rule has not been updated in nearly 17 years.
"The legal process is something that Justice will be the decider upon the procedural approach to that," Pruitt said. "But I can tell you this: it's important for this agency to get that rule and get it done."
"Indeed the EPA itself has acknowledge that 'lead poisoning is the number one environmental health threat to children ages 6 and younger, and that the current standards are insufficient," the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reads.
Pruitt added that he wanted to "declare a war on lead" and also eradicate lead from drinking water within 10 years, primarily through an infrastructure package.
Addressing some controversial staff appointments that have presented a conflict of interest, like Nancy Beck -- a former senior director in the American Chemistry Council who is now deputy assistant administrator in the office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Protection at the EPA -- Pruitt said he rejected the premise that "we can't be both about stewardship and also economic development and growth."
Pruitt has also appointed other staffers who have publicly questioned sound scientific data, like Michael Honeycutt, chairman of the EPA's Science Advisory Board who once said in an interview that lowering the ozone "might have a negative health benefit." Pruitt dismissed his comments.
"Ozone is something that we most definitely have to regulate," he said. "It's a very important thing to regulate."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scott-pruitt-says-industry-is-necessary-partner-for-environmental-protection/
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New York, Connecticut Sue EPA over Out-Of-State Pollution
Jan 17, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Josh Delk
The attorney generals for New York and Connecticut are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over out-of-state air pollution that affects their constituents.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Wednesday that he is partnering with Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen on a lawsuit aimed at forcing the EPA to implement tougher regulatory standards on interstate smog pollution.
“Millions of New Yorkers breathe unhealthy air due to smog pollution, much of which blows into New York from upwind states,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “Yet the Trump EPA continues to ignore its responsibilities under the Clean Air Act to reduce interstate smog pollution. Since the Trump EPA refuses to follow the law, we’re suing to protect the health of New Yorkers.”
Schneiderman, a vocal critic of President Trump who has filed several other lawsuits against the administration, and Jepsen want the EPA to implement the "Good Neighbor" clause of the Clean Air Act.
The clause would force the federal government to put tougher air quality standards in place to protect "downwind" states when "upwind" states fail to mitigate pollution spillover.
Schneiderman previously gave an official notice to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in October that he would bring litigation against the agency if it did not fulfill its obligations under the act.http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/369373-ny-conn-sue-epa-over-out-of-state-pollution
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Environmentalists Shed Their Doubts About Carper's Green Cred
Jan 18, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Anthony Adragna
Environmentalists once skeptical about Sen. Tom Carper’s commitment to their green agenda have moved solidly behind the Delaware Democrat, who they say has emerged to lead the resistance to the Trump administration's attacks on climate change policies.
For activist groups like 350.org, Carper's green credibility was bolstered when the ranking Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee changed his stance and announced his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline last year. Since then, they say the congenial ex-governor has led fights against some of President Donald Trump's most controversial nominees and pushed back as the administration dismantled many of the Obama-era environmental policies.
“We’ve been quite happy with how he’s led the resistance to Scott Pruitt and Scott Pruitt’s attacks on EPA,” said Ben Schreiber, senior political strategist for Friends of the Earth. “I think and hope there will be a time when something is so explosive that ranking member Carper does, in fact, break protocol and not play nice.”
After his selection in 2016 to lead committee Democrats, some greens worried Carper was too business-friendly and lacked the rhetorical fire of his predecessor, former Sen. Barbara Boxer, on climate issues. They also bashed his support for legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline. "By 2016 standards, Tom Carper is not a climate champion," 350.org said at the time.
But since then, Carper has tapped into rhetoric of the environmental community, bashing EPA's moves to erase the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan as "not just irresponsible — it’s irrational." He's slammed the administration's plans to open the Atlantic Coast to offshore oil drilling as "completely unnecessary" and "simply not worth the risk."
Environmental activists credit Carper with the defeat of Michael Dourson’s nomination to run EPA’s chemicals office and galvanizing opposition against Kathleen Hartnett White’s selection to run the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Carper has also led the charge behind the scenes against a number of harmful riders in government spending packages and has stepped forward at public events, like the People’s Climate March in April 2017, to loudly call for policymakers to embrace science and push for climate action.
“We have working with Sen. Carper — and many other allies — really seen a green firewall in the Senate that’s stood strong,” said Sara Chieffo, vice president of government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, which supported his selection. “He is definitely bringing the fight to the Trump administration in a meaningful way.”
In a statement, Carper called the energy behind the resistance to Trump's rollback of Obama environmental policies "inspiring" and vowed "we won’t go silently into the night" as the administration tries to ease environmental regulations.
"Sometimes success is defined by the bad things you keep from happening, and there has certainly been no shortage of bad things that have been thrown our way from the Trump Administration over the past year," he said. "Now we need to keep up the fight in the new year and continue working together to get to the truth and hold this administration accountable.”
Carper’s climate hawk colleagues also give him high marks for his work on the environment panel.
“He’s been splendid, energetic, passionate and thoughtful at working with the chairman,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told POLITICO.
Republican lawmakers said Carper's bolder greener stances since taking the EPW ranking member spot weren't surprising, even if it represented a change in the collegial style he'd been known for.
“I think he’s being a little more partisan than I thought he would be,” Sen. Jim Inhofe said. "He is forced to be a little more partisan than he would otherwise be [to maintain his position]."
Other conservative activists said Carper had simply evolved into a new version of Boxer.
"The party is far to the left of center on energy and environment issues and Carper has positioned himself right out there with his party’s consensus," said Kenny Stein, director of policy for the Institute for Energy Research. "Whether these are his true beliefs, or if the old Keystone-pipeline-supporting, oil-refinery-protecting Carper was the real him, we don’t know."
Still, many greens say they hope Carper will play an even more vocal role on the hill, using more aggressive tactics to get answers from federal agencies they say aren't getting the needed oversight from the Republican-led Congress. And they’ll look for him to speak out against new fossil fuel infrastructure, since his April about-face on the Keystone pipeline appeared to be a sign of broader evolution in the Democratic caucus.
“We see from Carper’s Keystone position that opposition to fossil fuel projects is becoming the default position for Democrats,” Jason Kowalski, policy director at 350.org, said. “The challenge for members of Congress is often they want to appear reasonable and the bind they’re in is there’s nothing reasonable about building a single piece of fossil fuel infrastructure. We hope Trump’s die-hard pro fossil stance opens space for Democrats to side with the science and oppose all new fossil fuel infrastructure.”
Some in the environmental movement aren’t sold that Carper deserves the mantle of leading the resistance to Trump’s environmental agenda.
“He’s done some good things but hasn’t really emerged as a voice of the resistance,” RL Miller, president of Climate Hawks Vote, said. “In the public eye, [Hawaii Sen.] Brian Schatz’s Twitter account is doing more than his letters are. The Democratic base wants fire and brimstone, not sternly worded letters.”
But Schatz himself applauded Carper’s “great” leadership in his first year leading Democrats on the environmental panel.
“I think he would describe himself as a moderate, pro-business Democrat and I think he’s demonstrating that the mainstream of the Democratic Party and the mainstream of the business community is pro-climate action,” Schatz told POLITICO. “I wasn’t surprised but I think a lot of the environmental community has been made to realize that he’s a real ally in this fight.”
Darius Dixon contributed to this report.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/01/environmentalists-shed-their-doubts-about-carpers-green-cred-284176
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One Year In, Trump's Environmental Agenda Is Already Taking a Measurable Toll
Jan 18, 2018 | Los Angeles Times
By Evan Halper
A massive coal ash spill near Knoxville, Tenn., in 2008 forever changed life for Janie Clark’s family and left her husband with crippling health problems. So Clark was astounded late last year when she heard what the Environmental Protection Agency had done.
In September, at the behest of power companies, the agency shelved a requirement that coal plants remove some of the most toxic chemicals from their wastewater. The infamous Kingston power plant that released millions of cubic yards of toxic coal ash into area rivers was among some 50 plants given a reprieve.
After the EPA’s action, the plant’s owners delayed new wastewater treatment technology for at least two years.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Clark said. “It is like a slap in the face. It is like everything that has happened is just being ignored.”
One year into the Trump administration’s unrelenting push to dilute and disable clean air and water policies, the impact is being felt in communities across the country. Power plants have been given expanded license to pollute, the dirtiest trucks are being allowed to remain on the roads and punishment of the biggest environmental scofflaws is on the decline.
The real-time impact of the most industry-friendly regulatory regime in decades is at times overshadowed by policy battles that are years from resolution. President Trump’s moves to shrink national monuments, return drilling to the waters off the West Coast and allow natural gas companies to release more methane into the air are destined to be tied up in court for the foreseeable future. The contentious Keystone XL pipeline may never get built as volatile oil prices threaten its profitability.
Yet the air and the water are already being affected as the administration tinkers with programs obscure to most Americans, with names like “Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for Steam Electric Power Plants” and “Air Quality Designations for Ozone.”
The numbers emerging from the federal government’s database of enforcement actions against polluters show that from the time EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt took the helm early last year through November, the dollar amount of pollution-control equipment and cleanup activity the EPA demanded environmental scofflaws install dropped by more than 85%. Even compared with the dollar amount required during the same period of the George W. Bush administration, there is a dropoff of more than 50%.
“It is one thing to say we have a change of administration and a different level of emphasis and focus,” said Cynthia Giles, who led the EPA’s enforcement office during the Obama administration and has analyzed the recent data. “But this kind of drop is not a change of emphasis. That is abandonment. That is a very, very big deal.”
The EPA strenuously objects to the characterization. The agency says holding polluters accountable remains a priority, that a nine-month snapshot of the data does not tell a complete story and that in many cases the EPA has shifted enforcement of environmental violations to state agencies.
Yet those state agencies often lack the resources and sophistication to handle them.
Even in California, where state leaders defiantly assert that their agencies will hold polluters accountable where the EPA retreats, a case involving large amounts of toxic material at the former Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance highlights how ill-equipped the state can be for enforcement responsibilities.
When EPA inspectors arrived at the refinery in December 2016, they found 265 tons of toxic material had sat illegally at the site, in unsuitable tanks, for 26 years, according to a copy of their report provided to The Times by the Washington-based Environmental Integrity Project. Such material is supposed to be moved to a hazardous waste facility within a year, according to Kandice Bellamy, a retired EPA inspector in California who was part of the team.
State inspectors had earlier been to the site while the many tons of toxic material sat there, Bellamy said, but apparently had not done anything about it.
State officials refused to comment, saying the refinery remained subject to investigation.
“One of the alarming things with this facility is that not too far in the past there had been an explosion there, and they had to evacuate a sizable chunk of the area,” Bellamy said, referring to an incident in 2015 which the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which investigates accidents at plants, called a “serious near miss” that could have resulted in a “potentially catastrophic release” into surrounding communities.
“And we still found things that were of concern.”
Bellamy said the federal team was dismayed EPA higher-ups did not pursue the long list of potential violations they drew up, many of them serious. Instead, the case was turned back over to the state.
“We had the sense that they [EPA] had decided not to take on any of these challenging type cases because any refinery operator and their attorney could just appeal directly to the administrator in Washington,” Bellamy said. “And their pleas would most likely be seen favorably by this administration.”
An EPA spokeswoman in Southern California declined to discuss the case, writing in an email that “EPA’s policy is not to comment on investigations nor potential investigations.”
In another case, in southwestern Michigan, the Trump administration abandoned a years-long push to require a coal-fired electrical plant operated by DTE Energy to update its pollution controls.
A federal appeals court had twice upheld the EPA’s position. But the administration changed direction and put the company in the clear. That decision relaxed restrictions on harmful emissions that owners of other coal-fired power plants will be subject to when they expand facilities.
Pruitt announced the new policy in a December memo, writing that it is not the EPA’s place to investigate whether plant operators are lowballing the emissions that renovated facilities will generate.
The move is expected to slow the pace at which plants install state of the art pollution controls, just as the EPA decision that so upset Janie Clark in Knoxville is moving utilities to slow down plans to remove some of the most toxic materials from coal plant wastewater.
The EPA delay of the wastewater rule, made after power companies protested it would cost jobs and undermine Trump’s energy agenda, is having ripple effects across the country.
Coal plants that were poised to start installing the new technology as soon as this year are now balking.
“We were working with a good number of utilities who immediately said we are putting this on hold,” said Jamie Peterson, CEO of San Diego-based Frontier Water Systems, a company that installs the treatment technology.
“If this rule had not been changed, there would be a significant amount of work being done right now,” said Peterson. “The market has dropped by 80 or 90%.” Regulatory documents obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center confirm that plants are changing their plans.
As the market for high-tech equipment meant to keep some of the most harmful toxins from migrating into drinking water craters during the Trump administration, the market for the highest-polluting trucks is looking up.
The attorneys general of California and 11 other states call the trucks a “pollution menace” that produce 20 to 40 times the harmful emissions of new trucks their size, but the industry that makes “gliders” — trucks built using a new chassis and an old, refurbished diesel engine — has been given a big gift by the administration.
Federal officials are racing to block a rule taking effect this month that aims to keep gliders off the road. The regulation limits the number of new gliders not meeting emission standards to roughly 1,500 each year, nationwide, and eventually bans them altogether. The EPA is moving to change the rule to allow unlimited gliders.
Pruitt pilloried the cap as an attempt by the Obama administration to “bend the rule of law and expand the reach of the federal government in a way that threatened to put an entire industry of specialized truck manufacturers out of business.”
The California Air Resources Board warns the about-face threatens to completely offset all the clean-air gains it has made through the state’s aggressive regulation of heavy diesel trucks and “have a profoundly harmful impact on public health.”
The trucks would continue to roll onto the roads at the same time California and many other states are scrambling to deal with another blow the EPA delivered to their efforts to clean the air. The agency has delayed for at least six months its deadline for declaring which parts of the country are plagued with smog levels that violate new, stricter limits guided by the Clean Air Act.
The EPA’s delay inhibits state and regional air regulators from taking actions to confront the pollution. In California alone, the ozone standards are projected to save as many as 218 lives and prevent 120,000 missed days of school each year.
The EPA says it will have new rules ready by April, but Janet McCabe, who headed the agency’s clean air efforts during the Obama administration, said even so, the delay has consequences.
“If you are an asthmatic exposed to high levels of air pollution, it can mean a lot of missed school days in that six months,” McCabe said.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-environment-20180118-story.html
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