Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 19/01/18
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(ACC Mentioned) Coca-Cola Aims to Recycle 100% of Its Packaging by 2030
Jan 19, 2018 | Waste Dive
Coca-Cola, as a part of its "World Without Waste" initiative, aims to recycle the equivalent of 100% of its packaging by 2030, the company announced. -
(ACC Mentioned) Niacet Commissions ULSI-Grade Anhydrous HCL Plant
Jan 19, 2018 | Semiconductor Today
After producing and supplying technical-grade AHCl (anhydrous hydrogen chloride) since 2013, Niacet Corp of Niagara Falls, NY, USA (a member of the American Chemistry Council with ISO 9001 and GMP Safe certifications that produces organic salts for the food, pharmaceutical, electronics and technical industries) has announced the completion, commissioning and startup of its ULSI-grade AHCL plant. -
Trump Extols Rule Rollbacks. But do Voters Care?
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Josh Kurtz
As President Trump and congressional Republicans make the case to voters this fall that the GOP deserves to retain its majorities in the House and Senate, they will point to the dramatic reduction in federal regulations as a major selling point. -
E.P.A. Delays Bans on Uses of Hazardous Chemicals
Jan 19, 2018 | The New York Times
By Sheila Kaplan
The Environmental Protection Agency will indefinitely postpone bans on certain uses of three toxic chemicals found in consumer products, according to an update of the Trump administration’s regulatory plans. -
House Republicans Target NIEHS Chief
Jan 19, 2018 | Inside EPA
House science committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) is raising concerns that a recent editorial by the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, about the failure of the original Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to protect Americans and the environment from chemicals, violates the Anti-Lobbying Act. -
FERC's McIntyre Says Tax Cut Issues on the Table
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro and Blake Sobczak
Chairman Kevin McIntyre said yesterday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is looking into what the agency could do to ensure that rates paid by consumers reflect the large decline in the federal corporate tax rate enacted late last year. -
E&C Democrats: GOP LNG Bill Smacks of ‘Earmark’
Jan 19, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Darius Dixon
A Republican bill to accelerate the approvals for exporting small volumes of liquefied natural gas amounted to a “legislative earmark,” the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said today. -
Report: 'No Silver Bullet' to Replace Calif.'s Underground Storage
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Debra Kahn
California will still likely need to store huge amounts of natural gas underground for the long term, despite a catastrophic leak in 2015 that drew attention to risks, according to a new state-commissioned report. -
DRBC Proposes Rule to Ban Hydraulic Fracturing and Restrict Wastewater Operations
Jan 18, 2018 | Lexology
By Todd D. Kantorczyk
At the beginning of December 2017, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Public Hearing that if adopted would prohibit hydraulic fracturing activities within the Delaware River basin. -
Daily on Energy: GOP Wants to Give FERC the Keys to Trump's Energy Dominance
Jan 19, 2018 | Washington Examiner
By John Siciliano and Josh Siegel
Republicans and Democrats sparred Friday morning over legislation to make the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the gatekeeper for approving natural gas exports. -
New England Winters Expose Fuel Security Risk
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Saqib Rahim
By many accounts, New England's power grid took a heavy punch from the recent cold snap and stayed standing, for the most part. -
The Offshore U.S. Oil And Natural Gas Treasure Trove
Jan 19, 2018 | Forbes
By Jude Clemente
U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently announced a leasing plan for 2019-2024 that would put more than 90% of the total Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) acreage and over 98% of "undiscovered, technically recoverable" oil/gas resources in federal offshore areas in play for future exploration and development. -
U.S. Crude Production Nears Two-Year High: Energy Department
Jan 19, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Collin Eaton
U.S. shale drillers are expected to hike crude production by the most since August this month as crude prices hover near a two-year high, the Energy Department said. -
Pruitt Jetting to Japan, Israel on Latest Energy Tour
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Jean Chemnick
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is preparing for another turn as ambassador for U.S. energy interests abroad — this time to Japan and Israel. -
Energy Department will Initially Stay Open in Shutdown
Jan 19, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to stay open initially if government funding lapses and leads to a federal shutdown. -
D.C. Circuit Sets Oral Argument in RMP Delay Case
Jan 19, 2018 | Inside EPA
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has set oral argument for March 16 in litigation challenging EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's almost two-year delay of an Obama-era rule tightening the agency's Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety program. -
Extreme Cold Prompts Flaring at OxyVinyls Plant in La Porte, Texas
Jan 18, 2018 | Platts
By Kristen Hays
A chemical division of Occidental Petroleum reported intermittent flaring over an 11-hour span because of hard freeze conditions in the Houston area this week, according to a filing made public Thursday by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. -
Lawmakers Seek Update on Amtrak Safety Enhancements, PTC Implementation
Jan 19, 2018 | Transportation Today
By Aaron Martin
Democratic leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee sought an update on Wednesday on Amtrak’s efforts to modernize its safety culture and implement Positive Train Control (PTC) on its routes. -
New Climate Censorship Tracker Comes Online
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Adam Aton
Columbia University and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund today launched an online tracker of the Trump administration's crackdown on climate science.
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(ACC Mentioned) Coca-Cola Aims to Recycle 100% of Its Packaging by 2030
Jan 19, 2018 | Waste Dive
Dive Brief:
Coca-Cola, as a part of its "World Without Waste" initiative, aims to recycle the equivalent of 100% of its packaging by 2030, the company announced. By 2030, for every bottle or can the company sells globally, it wants to take one back for recycling — including packaging from other companies.The company also announced a goal to manufacture bottles with an average 50% recycled content by 2030.Coca-Cola is partnering with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy, The Ocean Conservancy, the Trash Free Seas Alliance and World Wildlife Fund to achieve its new recycling goals. The company also announced it would partner with groups at regional and local levels to encourage packaging recycling.
Dive Insight:
January has been a big month for plastics and packaging recycling goals. British Prime Minister Theresa May said she wants to eliminate avoidable plastic within 25 years; the European Union is looking at bag and plastic packaging fees; Dow announced a new round of funding for its plastics-to-fuel program; Evian aims to make its bottles out of 100% recycled material by 2025; and McDonald's goal is for all of its packaging to come from recycled or certified sources by 2025. Coca-Cola's announcement is just the latest in a growing field.
And the beverage company can already boast significant progress on its packaging goal. In 2016, the company recycled 59.3% of its total packaging (although a slight drop from 2014's 61% recycling rate), with its next goal of recycling 75% of its packaging by 2020.
Coca-Cola's 100% packaging recycling goal isn't new, but it doesn't make its key partnerships any less meaningful — the company has joined with groups that are already taking meaningful action in developing a more circular economy.
The New Plastics Economy, for example, recently awarded $1 million in prize money to groups or individuals working to revolutionize grocery shopping and coffee cups. World Wildlife Fund's Cascading Materials Visionhas joined with The Recycling Partnership, Target, The American Chemistry Council and others to promote reusing material rather than constantly going after virgin supply.
https://www.wastedive.com/news/coca-cola-recycle-100-percent-packaging-2030/515137/
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(ACC Mentioned) Niacet Commissions ULSI-Grade Anhydrous HCL Plant
Jan 19, 2018 | Semiconductor Today
After producing and supplying technical-grade AHCl (anhydrous hydrogen chloride) since 2013, Niacet Corp of Niagara Falls, NY, USA (a member of the American Chemistry Council with ISO 9001 and GMP Safe certifications that produces organic salts for the food, pharmaceutical, electronics and technical industries) has announced the completion, commissioning and startup of its ULSI-grade AHCL plant. Over 99.999% pure, the ULSI product is available immediately for high-purity markets including semiconductors.
To ensure the highest levels of reliability and customer service, Niacet has also acquired the AHCL packaging and distribution assets of Alexander Chemical Company. The firm is now able to offer a full range of packaging options from tube trailers to cylinders.
http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2018/jan/niacet_190118.shtml
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Trump Extols Rule Rollbacks. But do Voters Care?
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Josh Kurtz
As President Trump and congressional Republicans make the case to voters this fall that the GOP deserves to retain its majorities in the House and Senate, they will point to the dramatic reduction in federal regulations as a major selling point.
At a White House ceremony last month during which he theatrically cut an oversized piece of red tape, Trump boasted that his administration has already achieved the "most far-reaching regulatory reform" in American history. And, he vowed, "we are just getting started."
Like his fellow Republicans, Trump cast executive orders and legislation that overturn rules and regulations enacted during the Obama administration as a way to unleash the U.S. economy.
"We will get rid of the redundancy and duplication that wastes your time and your money," he said.
Business leaders have celebrated. At his annual "State of American Business" address last week, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said the "second major pro-growth achievement" of 2017, after the sweeping federal tax cuts Trump signed into law, "was reining in the regulatory state after eight long years of regulation run amok."
But how popular are the regulatory rollbacks, really? Do voters want protections to air and water and public health scaled back? Do the Republicans' attacks on high-profile climate regulations like the Clean Power Plan penetrate as a political issue at all?
"I think running against regulations can still resonate with the [Republican] base," said Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher of Inside Elections, a political tip sheet. "I don't know if those phrases mean a lot to voters in the middle anymore."
Republicans have been using the phrase "job-killing regulations" for several election cycles now. A coalition of 26 states this week submitted comments supporting U.S. EPA's plans to rescind the Clean Power Plan, the signature greenhouse gas-reduction initiative of the Obama administration.
"I am pleased to work with President Trump's EPA in reviewing the devastating effects of this job-killing rule," said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R), who led a state coalition in a federal lawsuit challenging the rule and is using ongoing battles against Obama-era regulations to propel his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. "Permanently abolishing the Power Plan will provide a much anticipated feeling of relief among West Virginia coal miners and their families."Gauging anger toward rules
There's some historic evidence that the "job-killing" argument can be effective, as voter attitudes on the environment and regulations become as polarized as they are on just about every other major political and policy debate of the last two decades.
Gallup has been surveying American opinion on government regulations since 1994; in its most recent poll released last October, 45 percent of U.S. adults said there is too much government regulation of business and industry, compared with 23 percent who said there is too little and 29 percent who believe the amount is about right.
But when the electorate was divided along partisan lines, the differences were stark: 68 percent of Republicans believe there is too much regulation, compared with just 20 percent of Democrats.
Americans' antipathy toward government regulation was at its highest — 50 percent — in 2011, according to the Gallup survey. And that may be no coincidence.
2010 was a Republican wave election, and many GOP candidates were swept into office inveighing against the cap-and-trade bill that passed the House in 2009 and President Obama's push for health care reform, which he signed into law in 2010.
In the 2011 survey, the disparity between Republicans and Democrats on regulations was also at its highest: That year, 84 percent of Republicans said there was too much government regulation, compared with 22 percent of Democrats.
In a memo accompanying its most recent survey, Gallup suggested it was too soon to gauge Americans' attitudes toward Trump's regulatory rollback — and noted that "Americans are not highly familiar with Trump's actions on regulations."
Republicans and their allies in the business community are hoping to change that.
Jim Burton, a North Carolina-based GOP strategist and pollster, conceded that the issue of regulatory reform plays best with the Republican base. But he also said that coupled with the tax cut legislation and the surging stock market, the regulatory rollback is part of a potent argument to persuadable voters that Republicans are focused on boosting the economy and creating jobs.
"Is it going to be the No. 1 or No. 2 topic that Republicans are going to be talking about in their campaigns? Probably not," Burton said. "But they can say they're changing government. They're getting government back to the way it's supposed to be. We're relaxing business regulations to help the economy."'We tend to talk too much'
Paul Billings, the senior vice president for advocacy at the American Lung Association, said it's easy to see why Republicans and business groups rage against regulations but argued that their rhetoric is simplistic and ignores the importance Americans place on government protections.
"Everybody's opposed to burdensome, needless, useless regulations," Billings said. "But when the conversation shifts to clean air, clean water, tobacco-free kids, the perception shifts. They don't favor rollbacks. They don't favor relaxing enforcement on power plants. They don't favor concessions to the tobacco industry."
Billings acknowledged that environmentalists and public health advocates don't have a snappy phrase to counter the "job-killing" argument. Instead, he said, they explain.
"You don't fight on that turf," Billings said. "You talk about the specifics of what they're trying to roll back, and that can be effective. I have yet to [meet] somebody who thinks the air is too clean."
But there's an old adage in politics: If you're explaining, you're losing.
"One of the problems on our side is we tend to talk too much, we tend to explain too much," Billings conceded.
Yet even if public health advocates occasionally cede the rhetorical advantage to business groups and Republicans, the counterargument that Republicans are not concerned about the environment rankles GOP officeholders and strategists.
"These Republicans — they all have children," said Burton, the GOP pollster. "They all drink water and breathe air. Nobody's going to do anything to make it harder for their sons and daughters to drink clean water or breathe clean air."On the campaign trail
Several political professionals believe Republican attacks on regulations play best among people who feel they have been negatively affected by government rules — like those aggrieved voters in coal country. This is why Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — whom Morrisey, Rep. Evan Jenkins (R) and former coal executive Don Blankenship are attempting to oust this year — sounds as hostile to EPA regulations as any Republican.
Gonzales, the political handicapper, said congressional Republicans, who are already in a very difficult election cycle, are facing the reality that they do not have a lot of legislative achievements to tout on the campaign trail. And that could explain their desire to elevate the issue of regulatory rollbacks this year.
"When Republicans can't point to a lot of big-ticket legislative items, I think they can point to what the administration has done on regulations as victories, even though the Congress doesn't have a lot to do with the movement," Gonzales said.
But even some business leaders fret that this issue — and business groups' agendas more broadly — don't always translate into votes. Donohue, the Chamber of Commerce president, told reporters last week that businesses are going to have to work hard to spread their message and make sure it is digestible in a way that motivates people to go to the polls.
"If you have a lot of people that support your views but stay home," Donohue said, "you're in trouble."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/01/19/stories/1060071357
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E.P.A. Delays Bans on Uses of Hazardous Chemicals
Jan 19, 2018 | The New York Times
By Sheila Kaplan
The Environmental Protection Agency will indefinitely postpone bans on certain uses of three toxic chemicals found in consumer products, according to an update of the Trump administration’s regulatory plans.
Critics said the reversal demonstrated the agency’s increasing reluctance to use enforcement powers granted to it last year by Congress under the Toxic Substances Control Act.
E.P.A. Administrator Scott Pruitt is “blatantly ignoring Congress’s clear directive to the agency to better protect the health and safety of millions of Americans by more effectively regulating some of the most dangerous chemicals known to man,” said Senator Tom Carper, Democrat of Delaware and the ranking minority member on the Senate Environment and Public Works committee.
The E.P.A. declined to comment. In a news release earlier this month, the agency wrote that its “commonsense, balanced approach carefully protects both public health and the environment while curbing unnecessary regulatory burdens that stifle economic growth for communities across the country.”
Agency officials dropped prohibitions against certain uses of two chemicals from the administration’s Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, which details short- and long-term plans of the federal agencies. The third ban was dropped in the spring edition of that report.
The proposed bans targeted methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP), ingredients in paint strippers, and trichloroethylene (TCE), used as a spot cleaner in dry-cleaning and as a degreasing agent.
Under an overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act last year, the E.P.A. initially is reviewing the risks of ten chemicals, including other uses of these three. The updated law is known as the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, named after the late New Jersey senator who had long championed an overhaul of the loophole-ridden toxic substances law.
The revised law had strong bipartisan support. The Senate passed the measure on a voice vote; the House approved it 403 to 12. The intention was to give the E.P.A. the authority necessary to require new testing and regulation of thousands of chemicals used in everyday products, from laundry detergents to hardware supplies.
In a compromise that disappointed some environmental advocates, the law required the E.P.A. to examine about 20 chemicals at a time, for no longer than seven years per chemical. But the law expressly allowed for faster action on high-risk uses of methylene chloride, NMP and TCE.
Public health experts had been pushing for faster review of methylene chloride-based paint strippers after several deaths from inhalation, among them a 21-year-old who died recently after stripping a bathtub.
It has been several years since the E.P.A. first declared these applications of the three chemicals to be dangerous. The agency itself has found TCE “carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure” and has reported that it causes developmental and reproductive damage.
“Potential health concerns from exposure to trichloroethylene, based on limited epidemiological data and evidence from animal studies, include decreased fetal growth and birth defects, particularly cardiac birth defects,” agency officials noted in 2013.
Methylene chloride is toxic to the brain and liver, and NMP can harm the reproductive system.
Michael Dourson, President Trump’s nominee to oversee the E.P.A.’s chemical safety branch, in 2010 represented the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance before the E.P.A., which was considering restrictions on TCE.
Mr. Dourson, who withdrew his name from consideration last week, had been working as an E.P.A. adviser while awaiting confirmation. The agency did not respond to a query about whether Mr. Dourson had been involved in the evaluation of TCE.
The E.P.A. now describes the enforcement actions regarding TCE, methylene chloride and NMP as “long-term actions’’ without a set deadline.
“The delays are very disturbing,” said Dr. Richard Denison, lead senior scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund. “This latest agenda shows that instead of using their expanded authorities under this new law, the E.P.A. is shoving health protections from highly toxic chemicals to the very back of the back burner.”
Representative Frank Pallone, Democrat of New Jersey and the ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce committee, agreed, saying, “These indefinite delays are unnecessary and dangerous.”
“The harmful impacts of these chemicals are avoidable, and E.P.A. should finalize the proposed rules as soon as possible,’’ he added.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/health/epa-toxic-chemicals.html
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House Republicans Target NIEHS Chief
Jan 19, 2018 | Inside EPA
House science committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) is raising concerns that a recent editorial by the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, about the failure of the original Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to protect Americans and the environment from chemicals, violates the Anti-Lobbying Act.
Smith and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), chairman of the committee's environment subcommittee, asked the acting Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) and the HHS Inspector General (IG) to review Linda Birnbaum's work on a recent editorial in the journal PLOS Biology, charging that it constitutes unlawful lobbying.
“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,” Birnbaum concludes the editorial.
But the lawmakers, in Jan. 17 letters, say that “Birnbaum encourages citizens to petition government officials to support certain policies over others,” in violation of the Anti-Lobbying Act and HHS ethics policy.
Birnbaum's editorial argues that the original 1976 TSCA failed to protect Americans and the environment from chemicals, noting that all chemicals in commerce were grandfathered and that “EPA faced numerous hurdles, including pushback from the chemical industry, that undermined its ability to implement the law.”
Between 1976 and Congress' 2016 reform of the law, Birnbaum writes, “US policy on chemicals stagnated . . . evidence has emerged that chemicals in widespread use can cause cancer and other chronic diseases, damage reproductive systems, and harm developing brains at low levels of exposure once believed to be harmless. Such exposures pose unique risks to children at critical windows of development -- risks that existing regulations fail to consider.”
Birnbaum's editorial introduces a special collection of seven articles published in the same issue titled “'Challenges in Environmental Health: Closing the Gap between Evidence and Regulations,' that focus on US chemical policy. In commissioning the collection, we aimed to reveal barriers to developing health-protective policies not only when the scientific evidence of harm is clear but also when it is uncertain.”
Smith and Biggs acknowledge that federal employees may undertake such activities on their own time, but they note that Birnbaum does not include any statement in the editorial that it contains her personal opinions, and she uses her NIEHS email as a contact point.
Smith and Biggs ask the acting secretary to help them “understand the extent of Birnbaum's lobbying activity while working on the PLOS editorial, please provide all documents and communications regarding the PLOS collection of articles” by Jan. 31.
Smith and Biggs ask the IG to “analyze these concerns to determine whether it is appropriate to launch a full scale review of the situation,” and update the committee staff by Jan. 31.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/house-republicans-target-niehs-chief
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FERC's McIntyre Says Tax Cut Issues on the Table
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Rod Kuckro and Blake Sobczak
Chairman Kevin McIntyre said yesterday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is looking into what the agency could do to ensure that rates paid by consumers reflect the large decline in the federal corporate tax rate enacted late last year.
Speaking with reporters after FERC's monthly meeting, McIntyre said, "We'll begin with figuring out specifically what the law requires and/or permits, and go from there to what's the appropriate policy decision."
The tax bill, approved along party lines by Congress in December, reduces the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, effective Jan. 1.
A group of state attorneys general and utility advocates are pushing FERC to act much as the agency did in 1987 in the aftermath of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which cut the corporate tax rate from 46 percent to 34 percent (Energywire, Jan. 16).
"Not surprisingly, the states have not been bashful about reaching out to us," McIntyre said.
He acknowledged the correspondence from the attorneys general and other state agencies requesting that FERC examine whether there should be cost savings in regulated rates.
"We are looking at it; it is something for which there is commission precedent," McIntyre said. "Although it's been quite some time, the commission has taken action in a similar situation some years ago. So we're looking both at what we did before and our current situation now to ensure that we take some appropriate steps. It's just that it hasn't yet been identified."
FERC could conduct a generic proceeding or look at utilities on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Commissioner Robert Powelson used his personal time at the opening of the meeting — and later his Twitter account — to speak about the importance of the tax reform bill as it relates to providing consumers sizable rate reductions.
He applauded the "numerous state commissions who are actively regulating utilities to address the historic tax reform measure that was signed into law on Dec. 22."
Powelson said the tax reform could provide utility customers "with sizable rate reductions."
"In some cases, customers are looking at between $80 and $90 per year in potential rate reductions," he said.
"My colleagues and I need to remain diligent in making sure our formula rates on natural gas pipelines and electric transmission provide immediate reductions. So I strongly encourage regulated utilities to expedite their plans with the states and here at the FERC," Powelson said.
"Mr. Chairman, I hope that we'll do our part that these tax benefits accrue to the energy consumers here in America," he said.
"I certainly agree with the sentiment expressed by Commissioner Powelson," McIntyre said, "that where there's an opportunity to flow savings through to consumers, we should look for opportunities to do that."
McIntyre did not offer a timeline for action by the commission.New cybersecurity rules
FERC commissioners yesterday also unanimously voted to approve new cybersecurity rules aimed at safeguarding the supply chain for devices used in the bulk power grid.
Several recent cyberattacks have highlighted weak spots in the global market for grid components, from circuit breakers to security software (Energywire, Oct. 6, 2017). In mid-2016, FERC directed the North American Electric Reliability Corp. to draft new critical infrastructure protection standards for protecting those pressure points from hackers or counterfeiters.
The resulting draft rules, which landed at FERC last September, would require major utilities to write plans for securing their supply chains to include assessing vendors' cybersecurity practices. The rules also required grid operators to be able to cut off remote access that third-party suppliers often use for monitoring equipment performance and diagnosing problems.
FERC approved these steps yesterday but requested a few tweaks from NERC in its notice of proposed rulemaking. FERC cited "a significant cyber security risk" associated with a "gap" in NERC's requirements — namely, the fact that they don't apply to electronic and physical access control systems at major grid facilities.
NERC said in a statement yesterday that it "will continue the work with FERC and stakeholders toward assuring the reliability of the North American bulk power system" while modifying the standards.
Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, who served as acting FERC chairwoman when the agency first weighed the pros and cons of supply chain security rules four years ago, welcomed the new rules but urged her colleagues to improve them over time.
"Even though the standards are quite general that we're approving — just more of a general framework today — I do agree they're an improvement, however modest, over the status quo," she said.
Commissioner Richard Glick asked why the standards only apply to medium- and high-impact facilities in the bulk power system, leaving out hundreds of electric substations smaller than 200 kilovolts.
Glick pointed to one of the only real-world cases of a cyberattack against a power grid: a coordinated strike on three Ukrainian utilities that knocked out power to several hundred thousand people in December 2015.
"As I understand it, the Ukrainian grid attack ... was a result of simultaneous attacks on a variety of low-impact facilities," he said.
Patricia Eke of FERC's Office of Electric Reliability said that lower-impact systems pose less of a risk to reliability if they fail, and that focusing on them "could divert resources from protecting more medium- and high-impact systems."
Commissioner Neil Chatterjee called FERC's rulemaking "an important step forward to tackle a tough problem."
He noted that FERC does not have direct jurisdiction over the manufacturing companies and vendors that are best-positioned to secure grid devices from the outset.
"While we face a number of varied and complex cybersecurity challenges, the issue of supply chain is among the most daunting," he said.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/01/19/stories/1060071401
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E&C Democrats: GOP LNG Bill Smacks of ‘Earmark’
Jan 19, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Darius Dixon
A Republican bill to accelerate the approvals for exporting small volumes of liquefied natural gas amounted to a “legislative earmark,” the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said today.
The Energy Department is already pursuing a new regulation that would speed the application process for “small-scale” LNG exports to countries that lack free trade agreements with the U.S. Ohio Rep. Bill Johnson's bill, H.R. 4606 (115), would largely codify those changes into law while also removing a DOE requirement that the streamlined process only applies to projects that don’t require an environmental review.
But E&C ranking member Frank Pallone said that Congressional Research Service found that only one application would be affected by Johnson’s bill: Eagle LNG Partners Jacksonville’s Maxville project.
“That sounds suspiciously like the kind of legislative earmark I thought my Republican colleagues opposed,” the New Jersey Democrat said at a hearing. Johnson’s bill made DOE’s proposed rule look like “a model of restraint” in comparison, Pallone said.
Rep. Jerry McNerney later echoed Pallone.
“Basically, we’re considering a bill that’s essentially an earmark, which are currently prohibited by House rules,” the California Democrat said.
“There’s only one right now, but that’s not to say that there won’t be more applications,” said Steven Winberg, DOE’s top fossil energy official.
Several Republicans defended the bill as a benefit for consumers and U.S. foreign policy. “We literally have more gas production capability in the U.S. than we know what to do with,” said Texas Rep. Joe Barton.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Report: 'No Silver Bullet' to Replace Calif.'s Underground Storage
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Debra Kahn
California will still likely need to store huge amounts of natural gas underground for the long term, despite a catastrophic leak in 2015 that drew attention to risks, according to a new state-commissioned report.
The report by the nonprofit California Council on Science and Technology is aimed at examining the safety of and continued need for storing natural gas in underground facilities in California, in the wake of the leak at Southern California Gas Co.'s Aliso Canyon facility that released 100,000 metric tons of methane near a neighborhood north of Los Angeles in 2015 and 2016.
It finds that while underground storage of natural gas at high pressures is inherently risky, state regulators should be able to manage it. The state's 12 underground gas storage facilities have varied levels of risk depending on their type of construction, location near seismic activity or proximity to large populations.
"There's nothing systemically still problematic about the practice of underground gas storage that it couldn't be addressed with sensible regulation," said Jens Birkholzer, a co-author of the report and a hydrogeologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
California relies on natural gas storage particularly heavily during the winter, when it uses more gas than it has the capacity to import. Peak winter demand is 11.8 billion cubic feet per day, far above the maximum import capacity of 7.5 billion cubic feet per day. California could build more pipelines or peaker power plants to reduce reliance on storage, but that would cost $10 billion to $15 billion and expose people to new risks.
"Replacing it means coming up with 4.3 billion cubic feet per day of capacity if we close these underground facilities," said co-author Jane Long, a former director at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "There is no silver bullet to do that within the 2020 timeframe."
The report also examines the future of gas storage in the long term, in line with California's goals of increasing renewable generation and reducing greenhouse gases. Replacing winter heat-driven demand could be done via electricity storage, demand response, energy efficiency and new transmission, the report finds. But large amounts of wind and solar will still likely require "some sort of gas generation and storage function" to deal with intermittency in the winter, it finds, unless seasonal energy storage technologies emerge.
The report also pointed to emergency and permanent regulations enacted in the wake of the leak "that should make underground gas storage much, much safer than before," Birkholzer said. The new rules require at least two barriers between high-pressure fluids and the surrounding environment, which could have forestalled the Aliso Canyon leak, the report says. It also recommends that the state set up an independent review of its new regulations and that it undertake comprehensive energy planning to figure out how the role of natural gas might change in response to greenhouse gas and reliability constraints.
A state lawmaker who represents the Porter Ranch neighborhood north of Los Angeles that was affected by the leak and has advocated for closing the storage facility was not satisfied by the 900-page report.
"We still don't know why Aliso Canyon blew, and unfortunately this report does not answer those questions," state Sen. Henry Stern (D) said in a statement.
"But it does show that the public and state regulators are in the dark about the risks of wildfires, earthquakes, and corporate malfeasance at gas storage facilities throughout California," he added. "I look forward to working with the Administration to expand upon their efforts to close loopholes and understand the risks of our reliance on fossil fuel."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/01/19/stories/1060071403
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DRBC Proposes Rule to Ban Hydraulic Fracturing and Restrict Wastewater Operations
Jan 18, 2018 | Lexology
By Todd D. Kantorczyk
At the beginning of December 2017, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Public Hearing that if adopted would prohibit hydraulic fracturing activities within the Delaware River basin. The rule would also strictly regulate and require DRBC approval for both the withdrawal of water from within the basin for hydraulic fracturing activities outside the basin and the treatment of oil and gas wastewaters within the basin.
Hydraulic fracturing activities have been effectively prohibited in the basin since May of 2010, when the Commissioners voted to postpone any decisions on dockets related to hydraulic fracturing until the DRBC adopted corresponding regulations. The DRBC released a draft of regulations at the end of 2010, revised them in 2011, but eventually cancelled the meeting scheduled to vote on the rules. The DRBC had not revisited this issue until Fall 2017, when the Commissioners passed a resolution directing the DRBC staff to draft a rule prohibiting hydraulic fracturing activities within the region.
Citing reports authored by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2016, the DRBC notice states that the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica formations presents risks, vulnerabilities and impacts to the quality and quantity of surface and groundwater resources in the basin at each step of the “hydraulic fracturing water cycle.” Based on these risks, the DRBC not only prohibited hydraulic fracturing activities within the basin, but also required DRBC approval for the export of any water from the basin for use in hydraulic fracturing outside the basin, even if the withdrawal volume falls below the 100,000-gallon daily average that the DRBC has deemed to have no substantial effect under other circumstances. Furthermore, wastewater from oil and gas operations, called “produced water,” may not be treated within the basin unless the water meets certain standards applicable to produced water and the treatment receives prior approval from the DRBC.
Public hearings on the proposed rule are scheduled for January 23 in Waymart, Pennsylvania, January 25 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and February 22 in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. The DRBC is also hosting a public hearing via phone on March 6. All public comments are due by March 30, 2018. Both industry representatives and landowner groups with pending lawsuits designed to force the DRBC to allow natural gas development have objected to the proposed rule as inconsistent with decades of experience with and studies concerning hydraulic fracturing. At the same time, environmental groups opposed to natural gas activities have expressed concern that the proposed rule raises the possibility of produced water treatment within the basin. As a result, even publication of a final rule after eight years of a de factomoratorium will probably not be the last word in 2018 on the future of natural gas activity in the basin.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=351e03fb-993d-4bc7-a095-4f02b8ca5f75
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Daily on Energy: GOP Wants to Give FERC the Keys to Trump's Energy Dominance
Jan 19, 2018 | Washington Examiner
By John Siciliano and Josh Siegel
HOUSE GOP LOOKS TO GIVE FERC THE KEYS TO ENERGY DOMINANCE:
Republicans and Democrats sparred Friday morning over legislation to make the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the gatekeeper for approving natural gas exports.
The current process provides for a two-step process in which FERC’s primary siting approval must be evaluated and approved by the Department of Energy, which has typically dragged its feet in issuing final decisions on export decisions.
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee wants to make FERC approval the final say on exports, foregoing the drawn-out Energy Department public interest finding.
GOP say changes long overdue: The Republicans on the committee at a hearing Friday morning said changes to the natural gas export approval process are long overdue, especially with the shale revolution and fracking boom that has made the U.S. a net natural gas exporter.
Minority pushes back: Democrats on the committee said the legislation “is not in the public interest” and would undermine environmental safeguards, according to Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the panel.
Trump still reviewing bill: The Trump administration “has not taken a position” on the legislation, said a senior Energy Department official at the hearing.
“The administration has not taken a position,” said Steven Winberg, assistant secretary for fossil energy. “Congress gave authority to the Department of Energy to perform the public interest. We certainly look forward to working with this committee to review the bills in more detail and understand the implications that they have.”
Winberg acknowledged that the the legislation would amend the Natural Gas Act and “remove DOE’s authority in regulating natural gas trade for the United States.” Under the bill, FERC’s authority it unchanged.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, compiled by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers John Siciliano (@JohnDSiciliano) and Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe). Email dailyonenergy@washingtonexaminer.com for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list.
U.S. OIL PRODUCTION EXPECTED TO SURPASS SAUDI ARABIA: The U.S. this year is expected this year to pass Saudi Arabia in crude oil output and challenge Russia as the world’s top producer, the International Energy Agency said Friday.
The agency projects U.S. crude production, bolstered by “explosive” growth in shale output, will reach more than 10 million barrels per day in 2018, higher than any year since 1970.
The head of the international agency said as much earlier this week before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Fatih Birol recalled that the only time in history that such growth occurred was when Saudi Arabia opened its Ghawar oil field nearly 50 years ago. The oil field is the largest known reserve in the world.
ROB BISHOP TO CONVENE WORKING GROUP ON EASTERN GULF DRILLING BAN:Rep. Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, will convene a working group to discuss the impact of the ban on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, his office told the Washington Examiner Friday.
No go zone: The government has a moratorium on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf until June 30, 2022, imposed partly because the Pentagon worries oil development would interfere with military testing and training in the area.
The working group, made up Florida lawmakers and Natural Resources Committee members, will convene its first meeting Friday at 1 p.m.
Proactive dialogue: “This is the beginning of a proactive dialogue to build consensus on addressing the expiration of the eastern Gulf moratorium,” said Katie Schoettler, a spokeswoman for the committee. “We want input and for members and stakeholders to be aware of potential avenues forward.”
Full-court press: Florida lawmakers have been pressing to extend the moratorium on leasing in the eastern Gulf, to possibly permanently ban drilling, after the Trump administration indicated it would seek to begin drilling there in 2023.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., agreed to work with Florida lawmakers to extend the moratorium, his office has said.
Flip flop: The Trump administration this month released a draft five-year leasing plan that would open almost all federal waters to oil and gas drilling.
But Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke later changed course and said he would not allow drilling off the coast of Florida, and potentially, the entire eastern Gulf, after he met with Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who strongly opposed the potential move.
DEMOCRATS BLAST ZINKE’S ‘DRILL EVERYWHERE’ PLAN: Democrats criticized Zinke’s “drill everywhere” offshore plan during a Friday Natural Resources Committee hearing.
Corporate favoritism: “This is the latest example of Republicans governing for the benefit of corporations, not citizens,” said Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif. “Republicans wants to satisfy Big Oil’s insatiable appetite, all while rolling back safety actions in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.”
‘Political ploy’: Coastal governors who oppose offshore drilling are pressing Zinke for exemptions from his proposal, after he granted one to Florida.
Lowenthal said Zinke’s exemption to Florida was “nothing more than a political ploy” that shows the Interior secretary “couldn’t care less about California’s history or local voices opposed to his drill everywhere plan.”
Ongoing analysis: Walter Cruickshank, acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said at the hearing that Zinke has spoken with eight governors who have expressed their concerns about potential drilling off their coasts, and that Interior plans to undertake a rigorous public review process before finalizing its plans.
“We are following the process conducting a full analysis of all areas included in the draft proposed program,” Cruickshank said.
He added that Zinke’s commitment to withdraw Florida from offshore drilling is not a “formal action” and the state remains subject to the government’s official analysis.
GOP push for seismic research: The comments came at a Republican-led hearing on the “deficiencies” of the permitting process for offshore seismic research, to determine the oil and gas potential in federal waters.
“Seismic research is the most effective and least intrusive way to study our oceans,” said Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., noting current data is old.
FEARS RISE FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES AS SPENDING BILL COUNTS DOWN:Environmentalists are raising alarms that a renewed Republican campaign to gut the Endangered Species Act is afoot on Capitol Hill as the clock ticks down toward the midnight deadline for a government spending bill or shutdown.
Resistance: The Center for Biological Diversity and other national groups started a campaign this week to get voters and others to call on lawmakers not to reverse species protection rules under the law.
Their fears stem from a push last year in the Senate to attach a rider to the Interior Department spending bill.
Goodbye, prairie chicken: The previous riders sought to weaken the Forest Service’s obligations to consider how to minimize harm to newly listed species and their habitats. The legislation would stop the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service from taking action to protect the lesser prairie chicken, as well derail protections for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes, according to the groups.
‘What the hell is going on?’: When asked if the provisions could make it into the short-term spending bill, Brett Hartl of the Center for Biological Diversity put it this way: “No one knows what the hell is going on right now, anything is possible.”
TRUMP WAITING OUT THE CLOCK TO ACT ON SOLAR TARIFFS: There is no rush at the White House to decide on whether to impose stringent new tariffs on solar panel imports. President Trump has until Jan. 26 to make a decision on recommendations from the International Trade Commission that voted to impose new protectionist barriers on foreign imports of solar panels into the United States.
The decision has been met by a last-ditch campaign by the solar industry and its supporters to convince the president that doing so would be devastating for manufacturers that support the solar industry and its 250,000-plus workforce.
ENVIRONMENT GROUPS SUE WILBUR ROSS FOR LETTING WHALES DROWN:Environmental groups sued Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday for not protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales from being entangled in lobster traps and drowning off the U.S. coast.
Whales vs. extinction: “The law is clear: The federal government must act, and act immediately, to save the right whale from extinction,” said Jane Davenport, a senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife, one of the groups filing Thursday's lawsuit.
Commerce ignores own evidence: The lawsuit argues that that the National Marine Fisheries Service, one of the agencies that Ross oversees, has determined that lobster traps are leading to the deaths of North Atlantic right whales, but has refused to act under the standards of the Endangered Species Act.
Court action wanted: The groups want the federal district court in the District of Columbia to order the fisheries service to take action to protect the whales by declaring that the administration is violating the endangered species law and that continued operation without assessing the harm to the whales, or requiring lobster fishermen to obtain take permits that allow for accidental kills, "is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion."
ZINKE VS. NORTH CAROLINA SALAMANDER AND CATFISH: One of the groups suing Ross is also threatening to sue Zinke if the agency doesn't take action to protect several species in North Carolina.
Countdown to sue: The Center for Biological Diversity said Thursday it was giving Zinke 60 days notice of its intent to sue him under the Endangered Species Act for failing to make decision on whether the Neuse River Waterdog, a type of aquatic salamander, and the Carolina Madtom catfish that lives in North Carolina are threatened.
A long time coming: The group had petitioned the agency for protections for both species nearly eight years ago to be listed as threatened or endangered. The endangered species law gives environmental groups the right to file civil suits to hold the agency accountable if a determination has not been issued.
MOVING FORWARD ON KEYSTONE XL: The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline said Thursday that it will move ahead on the project after gaining enough customers to make the oil pipeline viable for the next two decades.
The 500,000-barrel question: TransCanada announced that it has enough customer interest to ship 500,000 barrels of oil per day over the next 20 years, the company said a week ahead of the one-year anniversary of President Trump's signing an executive order to expedite the project's approval after nearly a decade of delays.
Season of opportunity: The company made the announcement after concluding its "open season" process for the pipeline, which is the period when proposed pipelines attract customers. The success of the open season in attracting customers is used to determine whether the pipeline gets built.
"Interest in the project remains strong and TransCanada will look to continue to secure additional long-term contracted volumes," the company said.
TransCanada did not commit to building the pipeline, however.
CLIMATE ACTIVISTS SAY DON’T BELIEVE THE ‘BLUSTER’: Climate change activists blasted TransCanada’s announcement as nothing more than unsubstantiated "bluster."
"TransCanada's statement shows that the company has still not secured the customers it needs for its Keystone XL pipeline," said Patrick McCully, the Rainforest Action Network's climate and energy director. The group has been a staunch opponent of the project for years.
All ‘bluster:’ "It’s just bluster from TransCanada to pretend that this unnecessary and unwanted pipeline is close to proceeding," McCully said. "It still faces enormous regulatory and legal hurdles and continued fierce opposition from landowners, farmers, indigenous peoples, and activists alike."
Massive protests planned: Other groups vowed to block the project if TransCanada decides to construct it.
The resistance: The Promise to Protect coalition said it has received commitments from almost 14,000 people to join in “peaceful resistance along the Keystone XL route when called upon.”
‘Bad’ is the bottom line: “The bottom line remains that all fossil fuel pipelines are bad for people and the planet,” said May Boeve, executive director of the fervently anti-fossil fuel group 350.org.
NASA SAYS 2017 WAS SECOND HOTTEST YEAR EVER: Last year was among the hottest on record, government scientists said Thursday.
NASA said 2017 was the second warmest ever by global average surface temperature, ranking only behind 2016.
Hot, by any measure: Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in a separate study, reported last year as the third-warmest, following 2016 and 2015.
The two agencies keep independent records of the Earth’s temperature, but traditionally release their findings together.
Their analyses differ because they evaluate the Arctic differently. NASA more heavily incorporates Arctic temperatures in the overall average.
‘Warming uniformly’: “The planet is warming remarkably uniformly,” Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told reporters Thursday. “We are in a long-term warming trend, despite the ups and downs that we sometimes get on an annual basis.”
TRUMP NAVY NOMINEE SAYS CLIMATE CHANGE TOP PRIORITY: Trump’s nominee to oversee Navy facilities said Thursday she would make handling threats from climate change and rising sea levels a top priority for the service if confirmed.
Phyllis Bayer testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee that climate change is already causing issues for the Navy and she would delve even deeper into the issue than required by Congress, which has ordered a report on the 10 military facilities most threatened by changing climates.
Committed to study: “I commit to you, senator, that in the effort that the Department of the Navy will be contributing to that study for the Department of Defense I will look even further into those issues,” Bayer told Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, a committee member.
The report was part of Congress’ annual National Defense Authorization Act, which also deems climate change a “direct threat” to U.S. national security that is endangering 128 military bases.
Trump signed the NDAA but the law is at odds with his new National Security Strategy, which dropped the past administration’s references to climate change in favor of focuses on the U.S. business and economic climate.
RUNDOWN
Reuters Most U.S. states lost coal mining jobs in 2017, government data shows
New York Times Warming, water crisis, then unrest: how Iran fits an alarming pattern
Wall Street Journal Former hub of Venezuela’s oil wealth turns to hunger and rust
Bloomberg Big Oil is hiring women. Keeping them is the challenge, CEO says
Reuters Mexico's energy opening faces test in deepwater oil auction
New York Times Rising oil prices buoy Russia’s economy, despite sanctions
Yale Environment 360 How one lawmaker is breaking the bipartisan barrier on climate change
Bloomberg Nigeria moves closer to energy overhaul with new oil bill
CalendarFRIDAY, JAN. 19
Deadline for government spending bill.
MONDAY, JAN. 22
10 a.m., 1225 I St. St. NW. Bipartisan Policy Center holds the first conference in the Infrastructure Lab and “3I” Series — Infrastructure Ideas and Innovations. The effort is aimed at providing policymakers with fact-based evidence that can shape strategies for restoring America’s infrastructure. The first lab will focus on sustainability efforts in Detroit, which includes taking into account energy and environmental concerns.
Bipartisanpolicy.org
TUESDAY, JAN. 23
9 a.m., 11555 Rockville Pike. Nuclear Regulatory Commission holds a hearing on a construction permit for a northwest medical isotopes production facility.
nrc.gov/
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing to examine the performance of the electric power system in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic during recent winter weather events.
energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings-and-business-meetings?ID=9AEFC551-DFEC-450F-B0A9-15D23C90CA5F
1 p.m., EPA holds a meeting by teleconference of the Human Studies Review Board to advise the agency on the ethical and scientific review of research involving human subjects, Jan. 23-24.
epa.gov/osa/human-studies-review-board
1 p.m., 11545 Rockville Pike. Nuclear Regulatory Commission holds a meeting of the NuScale Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to review draft proposed acceptance criteria for reviewing an exemption request from GDC 27 as part of the NuScale design certification application, Jan. 23-24.
1 p.m., EPA holds a meeting by teleconference of the Human Studies Review Board to advise the agency on the ethical and scientific review of research involving human subjects, Jan. 23-24.
epa.gov/osa/human-studies-review-board
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 24
8 a.m., 2121 P St. NW. Energy Department holds the Wind Industry Partnership Summit to share innovative technologies that may be beneficial to your firm and engage industry leaders in a dialogue about the future of public research and development laboratory R&D investments, Jan. 24-25.
EE.doe.gov
THURSDAY, JAN. 25
10 a.m., 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a field hearing, called “The Road to Tomorrow: Energy Innovation in Automotive Technologies,” to examine the opportunities and challenges facing vehicle technologies, especially energy-relevant technologies.
energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings-and-business-meetings?ID=E5016BE7-AD1F-4659-8916-C75426A96888
TUESDAY, JAN. 30
All day, Altoona, Iowa. Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit kicks off at the Meadows Conference Center.
iowarfa.org/summit/
2 p.m., 1324 Longworth. House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Lands holds a legislative hearing on a bill to create the first tribally managed national monument — the Shash Jáa National Monument and Indian Creek National Monument, formerly part of Bears Ears National Monument.
naturalresources.house.gov
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/daily-on-energy-gop-wants-to-give-ferc-the-keys-to-trumps-energy-dominance/article/2177119
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New England Winters Expose Fuel Security Risk
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Saqib Rahim
By many accounts, New England's power grid took a heavy punch from the recent cold snap and stayed standing, for the most part.
But ISO New England, the region's grid operator, warned this week that getting through future winters is going to get harder over the next decade, simply because there may not be enough fuel.
Some of the redoubts of previous winters — oil, coal and nuclear generators — are phasing out, the ISO-NE warned in a new fuel security analysis, the first it's ever done. Natural gas supplies remain constrained, and renewable energy has its own reliability issues, it said.
And the ISO wants to start discussing that with the region's power players right away.
"Current trends are pushing the New England power system on a path toward greater fuel-security risks," the report said. "On balance the analysis revealed that fuel-security risks are present in the vast majority of cases, even in scenarios with higher [liquefied natural gas], renewables, and imports."
The analysis brings a new focal point to what was already a subject of passionate debate in New England: What's going to keep the lights on, and heaters running, in winters to come?
In recent years, as coal and nuclear units have retired, natural gas generation has carried much of the reliability load. Today, gas fuels about 45 percent of the region's generation capacity; it comes by pipeline, tanker and truck.
Many policymakers hope renewable sources like solar, offshore wind and hydropower can assume increasing responsibility. But the gas industry has fired back that the region needs to expand its pipeline capacity so there's enough for power plants, factories, businesses and home consumers. Environmental groups have rejected that contention, saying the gas infrastructure is sufficient and that the region needs to start giving clean energy a larger role.
As the grid operator, ISO-NE focuses on power reliability — and mostly aims to let the market decide which fuels are most cost-efficient. But it has repeatedly pointed out the region's vulnerabilities: Large power plants are closing, gas power is largely taking their place, and it's possible there won't be any major new gas pipelines for the region.
Events like the recent "bomb cyclone" have only heightened the ISO's concern. The storm never seriously threatened system reliability, even though natural gas prices soared and a major nuclear station went offline. Marginal generators, such as oil-fired plants, came online to save the day (Energywire, Jan. 5).
But it did remind the ISO of previous cold spells. "The ISO conducted the study because we've been concerned about fuel security since the January 2004 cold snap, when a number of natural-gas-fired generators couldn't get fuel," Marcia Blomberg, an ISO-NE spokeswoman, said by email. "Non-gas power plants have played a critical role in maintaining reliability during those cold winters, as well as during the recent cold snap earlier this month — but these non-gas generators are retiring."
The study models the merits and drawbacks of 23 different fuel mixes for the winters running through 2024-25. For example, it examines two key pillars of the current power system: The region imports gas by pipeline and vehicle, and it imports electricity from Canada and New York.
Chip away at those pillars, ISO-NE said, and the region is not so fuel secure, after all. What if the LNG tankers aren't available? What if Canada needs the power and can't export it? Some of the what-ifs lead to rolling blackouts in the dead of winter.
"All but one of the 23 scenarios show that the regional power system could frequently experience some degree of system stress, requiring system operators to employ emergency procedures," the report said. "All but four scenarios show that some level of load shedding would be needed to maintain system balance."
The ISO said it hopes to kick off a discussion about which way the fuel trends are going in New England, and what amount of fuel risk the region is willing to accept.
Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association, said the ISO used very conservative assumptions to reach its conclusion that there's a fuel security risk. And he took solace in how the grid stood up to the bomb cyclone. But he said he's open to discussing the issue.
"I think what they're saying is, just as there are major contingencies on the electric side, there's major contingencies on the fuel side, as well," he said. "The next discussion is, how likely are any of these situations to occur, and balancing all of that, are there market mechanisms and market designs that we need to put in place to try and deal with this?"
As for gas supplies, "nobody's counting on more pipelines," he said.
Bruce Ho, a senior energy advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the ISO was also conservative in modeling what renewables and energy efficiency resources will be able to handle in the future.
"Historically, the ISO's energy efficiency and solar forecasts have underestimated the growth of these clean resources in the region," he said by email. "Without looking at higher levels of clean energy, it's hard to come to any clear conclusions about clean resources' role in ensuring New England's future grid reliability."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/01/19/stories/1060071407
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The Offshore U.S. Oil And Natural Gas Treasure Trove
Jan 19, 2018 | Forbes
By Jude Clemente
U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently announced a leasing plan for 2019-2024 that would put more than 90% of the total Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) acreage and over 98% of "undiscovered, technically recoverable" oil/gas resources in federal offshore areas in play for future exploration and development. The plan proposes 47 lease sales, versus the 11 made under the Obama Administration, when 94% of our OCS was off limits to oil/gas leasing and exploration. The benefits of the new offshore energy plan for the U.S. are huge and multi-faceted.
U.S. Oil/Gas Demand Very High Or Rising
Oil/gas will remain an essential component of the U.S. energy portfolio for decades to come, here. For example, the notion that electric vehicles are going to soon take significant market share from oil is obviously premature: the U.S. has over 250 oil-based cars for every 1 that runs on electricity. As for more efficiency, typically installed as the first choice to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, I've already documented historical evidence that shows how efficiency gains can actually increase, not decrease, fuel consumption because they lower prices. Cutting oil/gas intensity is not the same as cutting oil/gas demand absolutely.
Importantly, the push for more wind and solar will not displace our oil demand because they are strictly sources of electricity, and electricity accounts for just 1% of our oil usage. This is why the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Modeling System projects that U.S. oil demand will actually rise in the years ahead, here. As for natural gas, more demand stems from its lower emissions, and gas' ability to backup wind and solar power. DOE says our own natural gas usage will increase 14-16% by 2040, not to mention our surging exports.
Global Oil/Gas Demand Is Non-Stop
What has played out in the U.S. over the past many decades with ongoing development meaning increasing oil/gas usage is materializing globally. Remember, that 6 in every 7 humans live in developing nations today, using a fraction of the energy that we use. So, as poor nations develop, and their economies grow, oil/gas becomes more important. This explains why global oil demand is rising by 1-2% per year. I note here: more oil demand is a steady drumbeat.
Electric vehicles are more expensive, which makes them less practical for the world's poor. Producing more oil/gas will power our rapidly growing oil and gas export business, which supplies the world modern energy and reverses our trade deficit. I've shown how gas is the main source of energy to meet climate change change goals, and we must supply: "COP21 Means More Natural Gas and the U.S. Must Help." The International Energy Agency has global gas demand rising 3-4% per year. Simply put, given that oil/gas constitute 65% of all global energy demand, more economic growth inevitably means more oil/gas.
National Security Benefits
Opening up offshore oil/gas in the U.S. is a long-term strategy to enhance our own national security by increasing our own self-sufficiency and making us a bigger global supplier. Continuously high domestic demand and rising global demand could easily oblige a global supply chain dominated by unfriendly, unstable, and/or undemocratic producers. For example, nearly 75% of the world's proven oil reserves are controlled by a single cartel, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Russia already controls 20-25% of global gas exports, and is looking to supply more even more because gas is becoming the world's go to source of energy to reduce emissions. You need just two recent headlines to see why producing as much of our own oil/gas is so fundamental to national security:"Russia to build pipeline to supply Iranian natural gas to India," RT, November 1, 2017, here“Russia and China continue to boost oil ties,” U.S. Today, October 11, 2017, here
Safety Record Impresses
Despite heavy increases in transport, spill volumes and incidents have significantly diminished in recent decades. In large part because of advancing technologies, the U.S. oil industry now spills about 1 to 1.5 million gallons per year, down from 17 to 20 million back in the early-1970s. To put this in perspective, 1.5 million gallons is 35,714 barrels of oil. Therefore, in an entire year, we spill less than 0.18% of what the country consumes in a single day. I'll make it simple: given the never-ending complexities of getting oil from thousands of feet under the ground, transporting it, refining it, and then getting it to cars to use it, our oil industry might be the safest of all industries. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has stated the offshore case bluntly:
“The Nation’s record for safe and clean offshore natural gas and oil operations is excellent."
As with all leasing plans, this new plan from the Trump administration requires a lengthy process of environmental review and public comment from stakeholders, including local communities. Clearly, the oil/gas industry has a vested interest in being as safe as possible. In addition to lost product, it costs about $220 to clean up a single gallon of crude oil. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill has cost BP some $60-70 billion, explaining why companies have a zero tolerance policy for accidents and spills.
Economic Boom
The economic boom of the onshore shale oil/gas revolution that started around a decade ago shows how quickly the industry can add literally trillions of dollars to the U.S. economy. Dr. Joseph Mason, a professor at LSU and a Senior Fellow at Penn's Wharton School, concludes here that opening the offshore areas to energy exploration and development could:Provide the U.S. government with $36 billion annually for the next 7 years, and $139 billion annually in the long-run....generate almost 2.7 million jobs.....generate $3.9 trillion in Federal tax revenues and $1.9 trillion in State and Local tax revenues
BOEM estimates 90 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and 330 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered technically recoverable natural gas in the Federal OCS, here. This is nearly triple the proven oil we have and almost equal to all our proven gas. But to be sure, nobody really knows how much offshore oil/gas we have. Advancing technologies will always open up more opportunities tomorrow than we could ever envision today. For example, almost nobody a decade ago could ever have imagined how dramatically our shale oil/gas revolution would transform the world's energy markets. More seismic surveying will be vital in OCS energy development. The latest ones were done 30 years ago, and constant technological evolution has made them obsolete.
And we already know that the more our producers are able to explore, the more energy they realize they can produce. To illustrate, North Dakota's Bakken shale play is now yielding 400-440 million barrels of oil per year, when 20 years ago, our best geologists (the U.S. Geological Survey) thought that the play had only 150 million barrels available to produce...in total!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2018/01/19/the-offshore-u-s-oil-and-natural-gas-treasure-trove/2/#53f731d21f20
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U.S. Crude Production Nears Two-Year High: Energy Department
Jan 19, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Collin Eaton
U.S. shale drillers are expected to hike crude production by the most since August this month as crude prices hover near a two-year high, the Energy Department said.
The Energy Information Administration this week projected daily output from seven major U.S. shale plays to rise by 111,000 barrels to 6.5 million barrels in February, led by a swift rise in the Permian Basin in West Texas.
Related: OPEC sees shale drillers making returns, raising output as costs climb
Producers in the Permian are forecast to lift production by 76,000 barrels a day to 2.87 million barrels a day. In the Eagle Ford Shale in West Texas, output should rise by 15,000 barrels a day to 1.26 million barrels a day.
The EIA's projections come as the International Energy Agency predicts "explosive growth" in U.S. shale plays, a threat to OPEC's efforts to tamp down global production and support prices.
The IEA said on Friday it believes global oil production will rise by 1.7 million barrels a day this year based on rapid increases in the United States and gains in Canada and Brazil. Last year, it said, output rose 700,000 barrels a day.
"Explosive growth in the US and substantial gains in Canada and Brazil will far outweigh potentially steep declines in Venezuela and Mexico," the IEA said in its monthly oil-market report.
http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/U-S-crude-production-nears-two-year-high-Energy-12510313.php
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Pruitt Jetting to Japan, Israel on Latest Energy Tour
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Jean Chemnick
U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is preparing for another turn as ambassador for U.S. energy interests abroad — this time to Japan and Israel.
President Trump's environmental chief will discuss "general environment cooperation" on next week's trip to Japan, Politico reported yesterday. He'll then end the week in Israel.
While the agency refused to offer details of an agenda, Pruitt is widely expected to tout U.S. energy again as he did during a December trip to Morocco focused on expanding the export of U.S. natural gas to the North African country.
That's somewhat unusual.
While EPA chiefs often travel internationally, those trips are usually confined to the agency's purview of environmental monitoring and protection. But Pruitt's Rabat trip doesn't seem to have touched directly on either.
"To have an EPA administrator carrying water on non-environmental issues, or even on issues like oil and gas production that might have negative environmental implications, is pretty unprecedented," said Bob Sussman, a senior policy counsel at EPA under Administrator Lisa Jackson.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) made the same point, arguing in a letter to the agency's inspector general last month that the $40,000 spent on the Morocco foray was misspent because it didn't advance EPA's mission (Greenwire, Dec. 19, 2017).
"Specifically, I request that you review the purpose of Administrator Pruitt's travels to determine whether his activities during each trip are in line with EPA's mission 'to protect human health and the environment,'" said Carper, who is ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The IG is looking at the trip to the North African country as part of an audit of Pruitt's travel.
Sarah Ladislaw, director of energy and natural resource security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed that Pruitt's focus on liquefied natural gas in Morocco was unusual, though it could be framed in an environmental light if it displaces more-emitting fuels, bringing down emissions.
But she said the pro-energy message espoused by the Trump administration overall showed the same kind of united front demonstrated by the Obama administration — including Obama's two EPA administrators, Jackson and Gina McCarthy. They touted greener energy as part of a response to climate change on visits to foreign capitals and the Paris climate talks.
"When I talk to folks in this administration, the idea for everybody who's dealing with regulation and energy is make an economic opportunity out of energy, in much the same way that the bottom line of the Obama administration was make an economic opportunity and show leadership on climate change," she said. "So if that's kind of what they think they're doing, he may very well think that it is within his purview to do that."
Ladislaw said that because Pruitt lacks federal government experience, he may not understand the usual division of responsibilities between federal agencies.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry has racked up the most frequent flyer miles touting fossil fuels, nuclear power and other U.S. energy interests. The greatest surprise might be that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been largely quiet on the issue, despite being a former CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. He has recused himself from dealing with issues directly related to the oil giant until his first anniversary in office, which is Feb. 1. But he could have been more active in energy and climate issues writ large throughout his first year at State, Ladislaw said, including the president's decision to leave the Paris Agreement.
Pruitt, who was credited with helping persuade Trump to leave the compact, has shown little appetite otherwise for engaging the world on climate issues. He ultimately did not attend climate talks in Bonn, Germany, in November. In June, he met with the Group of Seven's environment ministers in the immediate wake of the president's Paris decision, making pasta with the Italian environment minister and meeting with U.S. companies in Italy but ultimately leaving the two-day meeting more than a day early to attend Trump's first Cabinet meeting.
Pruitt's visits follow a 2015 McCarthy visit to Japan to discuss mercury abatement and a 2012 Jackson visit to Israel to discuss environmental sustainability and innovation.
American energy interests have long eyed the Asian market. EPA will have a role in permitting the Jordan Cove LNG export project in Oregon, which would ship gas to Asia. And Cloud Peak Energy Inc. this week reached a deal to supply coal for two integrated coal gasification combined-cycle power plants being built near Japan's shuttered Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility (Greenwire, Jan. 17). Pruitt's Japan trip could touch on either of those projects, Japan's financing of coal plants abroad or any number of other issues.
The Obama administration's State Department helped foster both renewables and gas development in Israel for geopolitical reasons related to regional security. The country may be curious about whether the Trump administration maintains those interests, which would do little to advance U.S. fossil fuel export ambitions.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/01/19/stories/1060071413
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Energy Department will Initially Stay Open in Shutdown
Jan 19, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to stay open initially if government funding lapses and leads to a federal shutdown.
DOE said Friday that it relies heavily on funds that are appropriated on a multi-year basis or not attached to a specific year, so it can afford to stay open and keep paying employees.
“Bottom line-the Department of Energy will be open for business on Monday,” DOE spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said.
“Federal employees to continue to report for work as scheduled,” DOE said in updated guidance on its website.
That differs from other agenciesemploying hundreds of thousands of workers. Many offices would close and workers would not be expected to come in, while “essential” employees would have to work and not get paid until the shutdown ends.
As of Friday afternoon, Congress remained at an impasse on funding the government past midnight.
If the funding lapse continues, however, DOE may run out of money and be in trouble.
“A prolonged lapse in appropriations may require subsequent employee furloughs,” it said. “If there is an imminent threat to human life or protection of property, a limited number of employees may be recalled from furlough status.”
Operations that would continue through a shutdown include DOE’s oversight of the secure transportation of nuclear weapons and workers who keep DOE sites secure, the department said.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/369740-energy-dept-will-stay-open-initially-if-government-shuts-down
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D.C. Circuit Sets Oral Argument in RMP Delay Case
Jan 19, 2018 | Inside EPA
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has set oral argument for March 16 in litigation challenging EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's almost two-year delay of an Obama-era rule tightening the agency's Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety program.
The court's Jan. 19 order scheduling argument says the three-judge panel that will hear the case, Air Alliance Houston, et al., v. EPA and E. Scott Pruitt, will be announced 30 days prior to the hearing. A subsequent order from the court will allocate times for argument.
In the suit, environmentalists are challenging EPA's delay from June 19, 2017, to Feb. 19, 2019, of the effective date of an Obama EPA rule updating the RMP. The delay is to allow the Trump administration time to revise the rule after it accepted an industry petition for reconsideration.
EPA issued the RMP update rule under former President Barack Obama’s August 2013 executive order on boosting the safety and security of industrial plants. The rule requires facilities to conduct independent audits and analysis of safer technologies, and also streamlines requirements for facilities to disclose data to first responders and the public.
In delaying the rule, the Trump EPA has claimed broad authority under section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act to set effective dates through notice-and-comment rulemaking.
EPA sought to dismiss the delay suit in a Dec. 8 filing, arguing that since the RMP update rule's “substantive provisions” are still scheduled to take effect in 2021 and 2022 as originally intended, environmentalists and labor intervenors have suffered no injury that would give them standing to bring the lawsuit.
The agency also has defended its delay as reasonable and reiterated a claim that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ finding that arson, rather than an accidental fire, caused the West, TX, chemical plant explosion that helped prompt the RMP update undermined the Obama administration's rulemaking process.
But environmentalists and some Democratic-led states contend that the lengthy delay violates the Clean Air Act and is “arbitrary and capricious” because such a change in course requires a thorough discussion of facts and rationale underlying the Obama-era rule.
Environmentalists also have argued that an Aug. 31 fire at a Texas chemical facility fire caused by flooding from Hurricane Harvey shows the need for provisions of the Obama-era update to EPA's RMP program.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/dc-circuit-sets-oral-argument-rmp-delay-case
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Extreme Cold Prompts Flaring at OxyVinyls Plant in La Porte, Texas
Jan 18, 2018 | Platts
By Kristen Hays
A chemical division of Occidental Petroleum reported intermittent flaring over an 11-hour span because of hard freeze conditions in the Houston area this week, according to a filing made public Thursday by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
OxyVinyls said in the filing that hard freeze conditions caused process upsets at the company's 1.7 million mt/year ethylene dichloride plant in La Porte, Texas, that increased pressure and prompted flaring from valves on storage tanks shortly after midnight through late morning on Wednesday.
EDC is used to make vinyl chloride monomer, which in makes polyvinyl chloride, used to manufacture plastic pipes, vinyl siding, window frames and other plastics.
Crews made operational adjustments to lower pressure and stop the releases, the filing said.
A severe cold snap hit the Houston area, as well as southeast Texas and and coastal Louisiana, early Tuesday through Thursday, bringing sleet, light snow and ice to roadways and infrastructure.
By early Wednesday precipitation had ceased, but the region had one more night of below-freezing temperatures before conditions improved Thursday.https://www.platts.com/latest-news/petrochemicals/houston/extreme-cold-prompts-flaring-at-oxyvinyls-plant-21096265
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Lawmakers Seek Update on Amtrak Safety Enhancements, PTC Implementation
Jan 19, 2018 | Transportation Today
By Aaron Martin
Democratic leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee sought an update on Wednesday on Amtrak’s efforts to modernize its safety culture and implement Positive Train Control (PTC) on its routes.
U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), ranking member of the committee, and Michael Capuano (D-MA), chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, sought the update in a letter to Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson.
“We would like to know what ‘safety culture’ weaknesses Amtrak has identified throughout the organization and what specific steps Amtrak is taking to resolve them immediately,” the letter stated. “If there are problems holding the organization back from advancing the best safety practices, we would like Amtrak to identify them. Amtrak’s labor unions have been copied on this letter and we welcome their views on safety at Amtrak as well. Acknowledging that Amtrak has a weak safety culture is the first step toward fixing it, but the traveling public should not have to wait for another incident to know whether Amtrak has sufficiently addressed these issues. Amtrak should be the safest passenger rail service provider in the world, and we hope to help you on that trajectory.”
Following the derailment of Amtrak Cascades Train 501 in DuPont, Washington, in December, Amtrak leaders acknowledged a “relaxed” safety culture that needs to be improved. The train was traveling 80 mph as it went into a 30 mph curve, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report.
DeFazio and Capuano also pointed to a separate derailment that took place in Chester, Pennsylvania, in April 2016. The accident killed two road workers and injured 39 others.
“As a result of this investigation, the NTSB made numerous recommendations to Amtrak and labor organizations to improve safety,” the letter stated. “These recommendations included a recommendation for Amtrak and labor organizations to work collaboratively to develop a comprehensive safety management system that bolsters safety goals and programs with executive management accountability; incorporates risk management controls for all operations affecting employees, contractors, and the traveling public; improves continually through safety data monitoring and feedback; and is promoted at all levels of the company.”
Concluding that Amtrak’s efforts to “strengthen safety practices did not go far enough” after the Chester accident, the lawmakers requested a thorough accounting of changes and PTC implementation.
“We want and need the full picture, regardless of whether Amtrak owns it,” the letter stated. “If you operate it or operate on it, we want to know the status of PTC implementation in detail, including information on locomotives that are equipped by route, installation of track segments and other infrastructure by route, and information on whether your back office servers are connected to the back office servers of other railroads by route.”
The lawmakers requested the information no later than Feb. 16.
https://transportationtodaynews.com/news/7693-lawmakers-seek-update-amtrak-safety-enhancements-ptc-implementation/
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New Climate Censorship Tracker Comes Online
Jan 19, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Adam Aton
Columbia University and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund today launched an online tracker of the Trump administration's crackdown on climate science.
The project, called the Silencing Science Tracker, has so far assembled 96 entries of federal restrictions or prohibitions on climate science since November 2016. The database is built from media reports, and it's searchable by agency, date and type of action.
More than half the entries are listed as censorship, either from government restriction or researchers who are self-censoring. Other instances include targeted personnel changes, budget cuts and other federal actions aimed at minimizing or hindering climate research. The project also links to resources for whistleblowers and legal help.
Plans are underway to expand the project to states.
"The Trump administration has sort of studied the playbook of some states," said Romany Webb, a fellow at Columbia's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. She pointed to Florida and Texas as examples.
The Silencing Science Tracker joins similar efforts by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which also monitors other fields like health science, and the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, which has closely tracked changes to government websites.
"An administration like this requires multiple points of oversight," said Michael Halpern of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Part of the challenge is that there are so many avenues by which to attack science, with a new attempt coming more than once a week on average, he said. That's an unprecedented pace, even under a Republican president.
"Under [the George W. Bush administration] it was more likely that inconvenient science would be suppressed, but this administration is disrupting the scientific process itself," Halpern said.
The silver lining, he added, is that the scientific community is getting better at building the infrastructure necessary to make research resilient against political interference.
The trackers are a prime example of that. Another is legislation sponsored by Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) to strengthen protections for government data.
"It took years under Bush to identify the threat and muster a sustained response," Halpern said. "I don't think those doors are going to close again."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/01/19/stories/1060071411
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