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ACC PM 19/02/18
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(ACC Mentioned) West Virginia Candidate Ousted from Hearing for Reading Industry Donors. But Bill She Opposed Just Passed In House.
Feb 19, 2018 | Desmog (In Nation of Change)
By Steve Horn
On Friday, February 9, Lissa Lucas – a Democratic Party candidate for West Virginia’s House of Delegates – was forcibly removed from a Senate hearing for calling out how many thousands of dollars legislators backing a pro-oil and gas industry bill have received from that very industry. -
(ACC Mentioned) States Sue Over PFOA
Feb 19, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Marc S. Reisch
The state of Ohio filed a lawsuit charging that DuPont released the fluorosurfactant perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) into the Ohio River for decades even though it knew it could cause harm. -
OSHA Regulations Aren’t Changing Much Under Trump, But Manufacturers May Have a Different Kind of Relationship With the Agency
Feb 19, 2018 | Greater Baton Rouge Business Report
By David Jacobs
The Trump administration has promised to roll back regulations that it says are handcuffing businesses and stifling the economy, and it has shown particular interest in bolstering the manufacturing industry. -
LyondellBasell Doubles Plastics Business With $2.24 Billion Schulman Deal
Feb 19, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Ahmed Farhatha
Chemicals maker LyondellBasell Industries NV said it will buy smaller rival A. Schulman Inc for $2.24 billion (1.60 billion pounds), doubling the size of its business that supplies plastic compounds to the packaging, electronics and building markets. -
'Unique Identifier' Plan Floated by US EPA for CBI Data
Feb 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A. Miller
The US EPA is seeking comments on a new alternative for applying a 'unique identifier' to substances whose identity is protected as confidential business information (CBI). -
Trump Proposes Slashing EPA Budget Again
Feb 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A. Miller
The Trump Administration has proposed slashing the EPA's budget for the second year in a row, releasing a fiscal 2019 budget that proposes a 24% cut from current funding levels. -
EPA Flouted Law by Delaying Formaldehyde Rule — Judge
Feb 19, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
Greens notched a court victory Friday as a California judge ruled that U.S. EPA unlawfully delayed an Obama-era rule aiming at limiting formaldehyde emissions from wood products. -
U.S. Crude Exports Hit Big Time as Supertanker Heads for China
Feb 19, 2018 | Bloomberg (In Houston Chronicle)
By Javier Blas and David Marino
The flood of U.S. oil exports stepped up a gear on Monday after the first fully laden supertanker sailed from an American port, alleviating a bottleneck that's limited overseas shipments. -
High Energy Costs Put Northeastern U.S. Economy at Risk
Feb 19, 2018 | The Hill - Opinion
By Bernard L. Weinstein
The winter of 2017-2018 has been one of the coldest in recent memory, especially in the Northeast. -
US NTSB Issues Recommendations for Safe Railway Operations
Feb 19, 2018 | Railway Technology
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the US has issued three new urgent safety recommendations based on the findings of two ongoing railroad accident investigations. -
Household Chemicals Contribute as Much as Vehicles to Urban Emissions
Feb 19, 2018 | Chemistry World
By Rebecca Trager
The use of everyday chemical products like cosmetics and cleaning agents contribute to half of all fossil fuel-derived volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted in urban areas, according to a new analysis. -
Pact's Future Uncertain as White House Champion Exits
Feb 19, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Zach Colman
A global climate pact to reduce potent greenhouse gases set to skyrocket in the developing world is on ice following the exit of a key White House aide.
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Feb 19, 2018 | Desmog (In Nation of Change)
By Steve Horn
On Friday, February 9, Lissa Lucas – a Democratic Party candidate for West Virginia’s House of Delegates – was forcibly removed from a Senate hearing for calling out how many thousands of dollars legislators backing a pro-oil and gas industry bill have received from that very industry.
The video of Lucas’s public comment and removal has gone viral and served as a launching pad for her campaign, which has raised more than $46,000 since the incident. Previously, she had raised just over $4,000. Coincidentally, Lucas supportsa publicly funded campaign finance system.
The bill (HB 4268) she opposed, however, has passed in the West Virginia House of Delegates.
That law, “forced pooling” legislation which makes it easier for the oil and gas industry to obtain mineral rights from private landowners as a precursor to drilling, has the support of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association. It enables oil and gas companies to perform more hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) on private land in the state by mandating that, rather than securing land lease contracts from all landowners, companies only need 75 percent of those living in an area to sign leases and are granted the remaining 25 percent by default.
Appalachian storage hub advances
Beyond HB 4268, in the days surrounding Lucas’s removal from the hearing, both the West Virginia legislature and congressional delegation took steps to advance a proposal that would create a petrochemical storage and refining hub in the state, which would be fueld by fracked oil and gas development in the region’s Marcellus and Utica shale basins.
That hub is set to receive $83.7 billion in capital from China, an agreement finalized in a ceremony overseen by President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping and which took place during a U.S. Department of Commerce trade mission to China in November.
On February 7, one day after DeSmog published an investigation on the proposed Appalachian Storage Hub, which would also cover Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, the West Virginia House of Delegates introduced a resolution (H.R.7) calling on Congress to pass various pieces of legislation which would create favorable regulatory conditions for the hub. This was also one day before Lucas was ousted from the hearing on the forced pooling bill.
The same day as the Lucas incident, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a major backer of the federal bills, co-wrote a letter asking the Senate Appropriations Committee to support and continue funding the Department of Energy’s Title XVIIloan guarantee program, which came under scrutiny after providing a $535 million loan to the ill-fated solar company, Solyndra. The Energy Department, as DeSmog previously reported, is considering offering a $1.9 billion loan guarantee to develop the petrochemical hub in West Virginia, a move lauded by Manchin, who is up for re-election in November.
In his office’s press release about the letter supporting the loan guarantee program, Manchin explicitly linked the funding request with the prospective creation of the petrochemical hub in his state.
“The Title XVII Innovative Loan Guarantee has a successful track record of helping finance innovative American energy technologies,” reads the press release. “In 2017, Senator Manchin introduced the Capitalizing American Storage Potential (CASP) Act to ensure a regional storage hub, like the proposed Appalachian Storage Hub, is eligible for the Department of Energy’s successful Title XVII loan guarantee program.”
The proposed state bill, H.R. 7, requests that Congress “renew its support for and fully fund the Department of Energy’s highly successful Loan Programs Office.”
The day after introducing the Appalachian Ethane Storage Hub Study Act, Manchin received a $10,000 campaign contribution from the American Chemistry Council – a major lobbying force behind the prospective hub whose membersinclude ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, Chevron, Dow Chemical, and Monsanto. The Storage Hub Study Act is among those supported by the West Virginia House of Delegates resolution.
The American Chemistry Council recently announced that the Chinese state-owned petrochemical company Wanhua Chemical had joined as a dues-paying member, giving it new powers to influence the U.S. political and electoral systems via the trade group.
‘About human decency’
The West Virginia law on forced pooling, which Lucas was protesting, will now proceed to a Senate vote. Republican Governor Jim Justice, a former coal mining executive, is expected to sign it should it reach his desk. Opponents of the bill, above and beyond Lucas, have strong words explaining why they believe it should get the ax.
“We need to reject this bill. Let’s start valuing our people and stop making it quicker and easier for multi-million dollar companies to take advantage of people in our state,” Delegate Joe Canestraro said of his reasons for coming out against the bill on the House of Delegates floor. “It’s about human decency, ladies and gentleman.”
https://www.nationofchange.org/2018/02/19/west-virginia-candidate-ousted-hearing-reading-industry-donors-bill-opposed-just-passed-house/
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(ACC Mentioned) States Sue Over PFOA
Feb 19, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Marc S. Reisch
The state of Ohio filed a lawsuit charging that DuPont released the fluorosurfactant perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) into the Ohio River for decades even though it knew it could cause harm. The suit, filed in Ohio state court on Feb. 8, also names Chemours, which now operates the Parkersburg, W.Va., plant where PFOA was used. Ohio seeks investigation and cleanup costs. Meanwhile, the State of Minnesota plans to press its suit against 3M for polluting drinking . . .
Access to full text unavailable – subscription required.
Story can be found here:
https://cen.acs.org/articles/96/i8/States-sue-over-PFOA.html?type=paidArticleContent
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Feb 19, 2018 | Greater Baton Rouge Business Report
By David Jacobs
The Trump administration has promised to roll back regulations that it says are handcuffing businesses and stifling the economy, and it has shown particular interest in bolstering the manufacturing industry.
When it comes to Occupational Safety and Health Administration oversight, however, you may see changes in tone more than substance, observers say.
During the early months of the new administration, officials signaled they would take a more relaxed approach to worker safety regulation and enforcement.
But Ed Flynn, vice president for health, safety and security with the Louisiana Chemical Association, doesn’t expect Trump officials to try to roll back rules that were legally promulgated by the previous administration.
“Going forward, are they going to be as aggressive in launching new rules?” he asks. “I think the jury’s out on that.” But after a year in office, he says, it appears OSHA has a “more light-handed approach” now.
“Under Obama, OSHA was really trying to make a name for themselves and make new rules,” adds Jane Heidingsfelder, a labor and employment attorney with Jones Walker. “They were very aggressive from that standpoint. Under Trump, I think that will all but go away.”
The federal rulemaking process is long and arduous. Once properly enacted, new rules can’t simply be eliminated by a new administration. Even tweaks to established rules can face a court challenge.
For example, work on new rules to protect workers from breathing in too much crystalline silica dust began in 2003. But OSHA didn’t begin enforcing the rules in the construction industry until last year, and most provisions of the standard for general industry won’t be in force until June 23, says Kathy Trahan, president and CEO of the Baton Rouge-based Alliance Safety Council.
“Once a new standard is passed, it is rarely reversed,” she notes.
Melissa Bailey, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney with Ogletree Deakins whose practice focuses on occupational safety and health issues, has seen “very little change” in federal safety enforcement. She says OSHA is on track to do just as many inspections this fiscal year as last year.
One thing that has changed, she says, is the press releases. While the Obama administration “called out employers or bad actors who didn’t care about safety,” the new folks take a softer tone.
“Other than that, it’s been business as usual,” she says. “Even if the Trump administration wanted to pull back on enforcement, that’s a tall order. It’s like turning an aircraft carrier.”
Scott Mugno, President Trump’s nominee to lead OSHA as assistant secretary of labor, had not been confirmed when this story was written.
Mugno is the vice president of safety, sustainability and vehicle maintenance at FedEx Ground, and has served as OSHA subcommittee chairman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has opposed a number of the agency’s regulation proposals.
ONLINE CHALLENGES
The next OSHA chief will have to figure out how to interpret and enforce the agency’s new rules regarding electronic recordkeeping. While companies have long been required to keep incident logs on site, large employers now will have to submit those records electronically.
“For the first time, a compliance officer can push a few buttons and can see the corporate history of injuries and illnesses,” Bailey says. A history of, say, forklift accidents at one company facility might cause OSHA to judge similar accidents at other sites run by that company more harshly, she suggests.
OSHA planned to develop an online portal that would allow users to review and compare companies’ safety records. Flynn, the Louisiana Chemical Association official, says employers were ready to comply, but OSHA had to delay the deadlines because it had failed to set up the website.
Once the portal was live, it was hacked within two weeks, he says.
“I’m sympathetic to OSHA, because they have an incredibly difficult job,” Flynn says.
Industry representatives hope the next OSHA head reviews the electronic record-keeping rule’s anti-retaliation provisions. Flynn says those provisions could hinder accident investigations that include post-incident drug testing.
MORE COOPERATION
Trump has proposed eliminating the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which doesn’t have regulatory or enforcement power but plays an important role in investigating incidents at plants and refineries and developing recommendations for agencies like OSHA and the EPA, Flynn says. However, Congress has moved to continue funding the board’s operations, which LCA supports.
Tim Scott, a labor and employment attorney with Fisher Phillips, expects OSHA under Trump to focus more on compliance through cooperation and less on enforcement and “calling people out.”
Under the previous administration, industry representatives say, OSHA was eager to “call out” and “shame” rule breakers. More recent agency announcements adopt a softer tone.
As the new administration gets its people in place, Scott expects fewer violations will be classified as serious offenses worthy of the highest fines.
Still, Scott says managers of facilities that fall under the new electronic recordkeeping rules will want to make sure they’re in compliance. Otherwise, his main advice is to “keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
Any rules that do change won’t change quickly, and OSHA still wants to make sure employees are protected.
When OSHA comes to your jobsite, they can review anything and everything, Scott warns, not just whatever may have caused a specific incident.
“It’s just as important now as it was under the previous administration to really be ready for an OSHA inspection,” Bailey adds.
Safety enforcement under the Trump administration: A sampling of what is—and isn’t—changing
Electronic recordkeeping
Deadlines for this new requirement have been pushed back more than once. Barring another reprieve, companies with 250 or more employees now are required to submit to OSHA electronic records of workplace injuries and illnesses. But in response to privacy concerns, the agency has proposed tweaking the rules so that only Form 300A, which does not include personally identifiable information, must be submitted. The next agency head will have to decide how to interpret the rule’s anti-retaliation provisions, which industry officials say discourage post-incident drug testing.Crystalline silica
Industry representatives lost their most recent court challenge to these standards, which OSHA already has begun enforcing for the construction industry. Most provisions for general industry are scheduled to be in force by June 23, says Kathy Trahan, president and CEO of the Alliance Safety Council.‘Blacklisting’ rule
Companies vying for federal contracts no longer have to disclose labor violations, such as workplace safety penalties.Risk management plans
Obama-era rules changes meant to require deeper collaboration among facility managers and local first responders have been delayed by EPA for reevaluation until at least 2019.Beryllium exposure
New, lower exposure limits will remain in place.Future rules
A significant amount of rulemaking activity that appeared on OSHA’s 2016 regulatory agenda, including standards for blood borne pathogens and combustible dust, disappeared from the 2017 agenda.Information compiled in December 2017 from interviews and publicly available sources.
https://www.businessreport.com/business/osha-regulations-arent-changing-much-trump-manufacturers-may-different-kind-relationship-agency
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LyondellBasell Doubles Plastics Business With $2.24 Billion Schulman Deal
Feb 19, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Ahmed Farhatha
Chemicals maker LyondellBasell Industries NV said it will buy smaller rival A. Schulman Inc for $2.24 billion (1.60 billion pounds), doubling the size of its business that supplies plastic compounds to the packaging, electronics and building markets.
LyondellBasell's plastic compounding business - blending molten plastic with additives - now largely caters to the automobile parts market.
"What we like about this transaction is that it diversifies our compounding business and gives us access to the full range of markets rather than just automotive where we had a very strong position," LyondellBasell's Chief Executive Bhavesh Patel said on a call with analysts.
Auto-end markets currently account for about 90 percent of LyondellBasell's plastic compounding revenue and that will drop to just over 50 percent after the deal closes.
The deal, worth $2.24 billion including debt, is expected to close in the second half of 2018, the companies said.Continue reading the main story
ADVERTISEMENTContinue reading the main story
Shares of A. Schulman were up 10.3 percent at $42.65 in afternoon trading, above the offer price of $42. LyondellBasell's shares dipped 1.7 percent at $110.42
The deal will also marginally boost LyondellBasell's exposure to the agricultural sector, which has been the focus of mega-deals among chemicals makers.
Dow Chemical and DuPont completed their $130 billion merger last year to form DowDuPont, while ChemChina [CNCC.UL] bought Swiss seeds group Syngenta for $43 billion.
A combined LyondellBasell-A. Schulman had $4.6 billion in revenue and EBITDA margins of 9.5 percent over the last 12 months, the companies said.
The combined company is expected to hit $150 million in run-rate cost savings in two years.
After closing, the deal will add to earnings within the first full year, the companies said.
A. Schulman shareholders will also get one contingent value right per share that will give them net proceeds, if any, from the ongoing litigation and government probes related to Schulman's Citadel and Lucent acquisitions.
J.P. Morgan and Dyal Co are LyondellBasell's financial advisers and Citigroup is A. Schulman's adviser. Shearman & Sterling LLP is LyondellBasell's legal counsel, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is advising A. Schulman.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/02/19/business/19reuters-a-schulman-us-m-a-lyondell.html
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'Unique Identifier' Plan Floated by US EPA for CBI Data
Feb 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A. Miller
The US EPA is seeking comments on a new alternative for applying a 'unique identifier' to substances whose identity is protected as confidential business information (CBI). It would assign one identifying number to a substance, but use the chemical's name in some instances.
If the EPA grants a petition to keep a substance's identity confidential, it is listed in the public portion of the TSCA inventory by an accession number and a generic chemical name. However, amendments made to TSCA in 2016 require the EPA to develop a system that assigns a unique identifier (UID) to each chemical entity and apply it consistently to documentation involving the chemical.
As the agency said in a May 2017 notice, the mandates for confidentiality and consistent identification "do not appear to be completely reconciled in the statute".
In an 8 February Federal Register notice, the agency acknowledged significant "drawbacks" to each of two potential approaches it floated last May. One option would label a substance only with the UID even in documents that include only non-confidential information.
The second approach, favoured by industry, would assign a unique identifier for all information on a protected chemical submitted by the same person or company. It would apply different identifiers to submissions on that same substance from other entities. Such an approach would allow the public to "link some submissions on the same chemical, but not necessarily all", the EPA said.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) argued that this approach "directly violates" the TSCA mandate to use a single identifier, and both approaches would impermissibly infringe on the public's right to information, also mandated by the law.Single unique identifier
Under the EPA's new alternative, the agency would ascribe a single UID to each chemical substance and use that most of the time even in non-confidential material.
However, the agency would be allowed to forego use of the identifier and identify the substance by name in cases where using the UID would allow readers to connect public data with a confidential chemical and learn the identity of the CBI substance.
The basic criterion for using a UID on documentation from multiple submitters is that the agency's act of applying it must not disclose to the public the confidential specific chemical identity that it was assigned to protect, the notice says.
"All of the documents would be available to the public, and the specific chemical identity would be revealed in the document where it was not claimed as CBI – the document revealing the specific chemical identity would simply not be connected by the UID to the other document(s) where the specific chemical identity is CBI."
The EPA says it expects cases where a UID would not be used to be "fairly rare," noting that a lot of data can already be tracked and matched through accession numbers. In addition, one company reporting publicly on the manufacture of a chemical substance means the fact that this substance is being manufactured is no longer eligible for CBI protection. Companies wishing to protect related information, such as volume or specific uses, would then have to claim that specific information as confidential, not the chemical identity.
The EPA is seeking comments until 12 March.
https://chemicalwatch.com/63968/unique-identifier-plan-floated-by-us-epa-for-cbi-data
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Trump Proposes Slashing EPA Budget Again
Feb 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A. Miller
The Trump Administration has proposed slashing the EPA's budget for the second year in a row, releasing a fiscal 2019 budget that proposes a 24% cut from current funding levels.
The budget would, however, increase funding for chemical assessment activities, recognising the EPA's increased responsibilities in implementing the 2016 TSCA amendments.
The 2019 Trump budget requests $6.15bn for the EPA, as compared with $5.65bn in the administration's proposal for fiscal 2018. Congress has not finalised 2018 spending and the agency is currently operating on the equivalent of an $8bn budget.
The 2019 proposal allocates $58.6m for "chemical safety" activities under TSCA, slightly more than the $58.4m spent in fiscal 2017 and slightly less than provided under current temporary measures, needed because Congress has not finalised 2018 spending. However, the 2019 budget includes an assumption that the EPA will collect an additional $20m in fees under recently proposed regulations, so it actually foresees increasing total spending on chemical evaluation by 35%.
At the same time, the administration has again proposed huge cuts in the agency's budget for chemical research, which supports TSCA implementation and its other programmes. The 2019 budget would cut chemical safety and sustainability research to $84m. This is 33% below current funding levels and a 35% cut compared with fiscal 2017.
Within that broad category, research on endocrine disrupting substances and computational toxicology, which have specific line items in the budget, would be cut by about 35% and 20%, respectively, a plan Congress has rejected in pending 2018 spending bills.
The EPA budget documents released on 12 February make no effort to explain proposed cuts, except in cases where the plan proposes eliminating programmes entirely. The documents reiterate deadlines for action under TSCA without offering any new details. Similarly, sections discussing chemical research list assessments released in the past year without offering previews of the upcoming agenda.
IRIS
However, that section does indicate that the administration is not supporting proposals to eliminate the embattled Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) programme, as it refers to ongoing and future IRIS activities. It notes that the EPA "is currently reviewing IRIS to ensure it supports the agency's highest public health decision-making, and its role in supporting the TSCA programme, while continuing to support all of EPA's programmes".
The Senate Appropriations Committee's 2018 budget plan, released in November, proposedeliminating IRIS and moving some of its functions to the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), the office that oversees TSCA implementation. Such a move would potentially give control of chemical research directly to political appointees who run the agency's regulatory agenda.
Industry has been arguing for many years about the scientific validity of IRIS assessments and the transparency with which they are conducted. A National Academy of Sciences meeting, called to review IRIS's efforts to implement reforms, became the most recent battleground in the ongoing war over how the EPA conducts chemical research and who will control it.
The EPA, and the rest of the federal government, are now operating under a continuing resolution (CR) that provides slightly less for most programmes than the 2017 budget. This is because Congress has not finalised appropriations for the current fiscal year. The spending plans approved by the House and proposed by the Senate appropriations committee would each cut the EPA budget below 2017 levels. But both are far more generous than President Trump's 2018 budget.
https://chemicalwatch.com/63955/trump-proposes-slashing-epa-budget-again
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EPA Flouted Law by Delaying Formaldehyde Rule — Judge
Feb 19, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
Greens notched a court victory Friday as a California judge ruled that U.S. EPA unlawfully delayed an Obama-era rule aiming at limiting formaldehyde emissions from wood products.
Judge Jeffrey White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found that the agency exceeded its authority when it issued the delay.
The court "cannot endorse an interpretation that permits the EPA to exercise its authority 'in a manner that is inconsistent with the administrative structure that Congress enacted into law,'" White wrote.
Formaldehyde is used in the production of composite wood products such as plywood and particle board. It's a known carcinogen that can cause myeloid leukemia and respiratory issues and can reduce fertility.
In 2010, Congress passed a law requiring emissions limits after victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita suffered adverse health impacts, including nosebleeds, headaches and eye and skin irritation, linked to Federal Emergency Management Agency-supplied trailers tainted with high levels of the chemical.
The Formaldehyde Emission Standards for Composite Wood Products Act set a July 1, 2013, deadline for the regulations, but the Obama EPA didn't finalize the rules to comply with the law until December 2016.
The rules both established emissions standards and included provisions for testing and compliance. It set a compliance deadline of Dec. 12, 2017.
Existing inventories of composite wood products made with formaldehyde made before that deadline could continue to be sold until the stocks were depleted.
The rule was supposed to have taken effect in February 2016. But when the Trump administration took office, EPA delayed the effective dates of a number of regulations, including the formaldehyde standards.
EPA later delayed the initial compliance deadline until Dec. 12, 2018, more than three years after Congress directed EPA to require compliance.
The Trump administration also pushed back other deadlines in the rule. Producers of laminated products, for example, wouldn't have to comply until March 22, 2024 (Greenwire, Sept. 27, 2017).
The Sierra Club and A Community Voice-Louisiana filed suit, challenging the delay as unlawful under the 2010 formaldehyde law (E&E News PM, Oct. 31, 2017).
In his opinion Friday, White wrote that it was clear that Congress was "concerned with the expeditious implementation of emissions standards."
EPA's interpretation "creates inconsistency" and renders the compliance deadline in the law "superfluous," White wrote.
He added that EPA's delay rule "leads to the absurd result of permitting the perpetual delay of the effectiveness of the Formaldehyde Rule."
While White vacated the delay rule, he said that EPA would not have to comply with the court's order until the agency can work out a timeline for "effective implementation" with the environmental plaintiffs.
He gave EPA and the greens until March 9 to issue a joint proposed schedule.
The decision "is an important step in ensuring the health and safety of Americans recovering from disasters," said Leslie Fields, director of the Sierra Club's Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships Program.
"The EPA's own mission is to protect Americans from significant risks to human health, and these formaldehyde standards do just that," she said. "It's time for EPA to do its job."
Click here to read the opinion.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/02/19/stories/1060074179
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U.S. Crude Exports Hit Big Time as Supertanker Heads for China
Feb 19, 2018 | Bloomberg (In Houston Chronicle)
By Javier Blas and David Marino
The flood of U.S. oil exports stepped up a gear on Monday after the first fully laden supertanker sailed from an American port, alleviating a bottleneck that's limited overseas shipments.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, the only deep water port in the U.S. able to handle the industry's biggest tankers, said in a statement it had successfully completed the first loading of a very large crude carrier. Shipping data compiled by Bloomberg show the tanker is the Saudi Arabian-owned Shaden, now heading to the Chinese port of Rizhao.
"There could not be a better time to offer this service as domestic production surpasses 10 million barrels per day in the ever-dynamic global crude oil market," said LOOP LLC President Tom Shaw.
LOOP has been a vital piece of U.S. energy infrastructure for more than 30 years, handling oil imports from across the world as well as gathering crude pumped from deepwater deposits in the Gulf of Mexico. Since it started receiving oil in 1981, it has offloaded 10,200 tankers.
The Shaden, which is owned by the National Shipping Co. of Saudi Arabia and carries the flag of the kingdom, was the first VLCC to load oil at the port rather than discharge it.
Pipelines and ports have become the biggest bottleneck in U.S. oil exports, with traders at times engineering logistically complex chains combining railways, trucks, pipelines, barges, and ship-to-ship transfers to get crude out of the country. As U.S. output surpasses the record high of 10 million barrels a day set in 1970, trading houses, pipeline owners and ports are investing in new infrastructure to ship more American crude overseas.
While U.S. crude has already been exported using supertankers, other ports are too shallow to allow full loadings, meaning smaller ships must shuttle multiple cargoes to the giant vessels as they wait to load offshore. LOOP, because it stands in deeper water about 18 miles off of the Louisiana coast, allows the industry's largest tankers to load in one go.
Using very large crude carriers will significantly cut shipping costs. The new export capacity at LOOP will allow the supertankers to deliver foreign crude into the U.S. and depart laden, known as back-hauling in the industry's jargon, rather than returning empty.
LOOP said the "shipper of record" was the trading arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. However, data compiled by Bloomberg showed the Shaden was booked last month by Unipec, China's biggest oil trader. a unit of the country's refining giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec.
LOOP didn't disclose what kind of oil the Shaden loaded, but traders said it was unlikely U.S. shale oil. It's more likely to be a mix of crude pumped out of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
Washington lifted a 40-year ban on most oil exports in late 2015, reshaping the world's energy map as U.S. crude was shipped to countries including Switzerland, China, Israel and even the United Arab Emirates. The de facto export ban, which only allowed a few exceptions, was imposed in the aftermath of a 1973 to 1974 oil embargo led by Saudi Arabia.
Even though the country remains a net oil importer, U.S. crude exports have surged to a record high of 2.1 million barrels since the ban was lifted. China and other Asian nations have become big buyers.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/U-S-crude-exports-hit-big-time-as-supertanker-12624614.php
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High Energy Costs Put Northeastern U.S. Economy at Risk
Feb 19, 2018 | The Hill - Opinion
By Bernard L. Weinstein
The winter of 2017-2018 has been one of the coldest in recent memory, especially in the Northeast. Not surprisingly, homeowners and businesses are literally screaming about heating and electric bills that have gone through the roof. Making matters worse, New England and New York are using imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is much more expensive than domestic gas, to satisfy nearly 20 percent of their heating and electric power needs. Some of this imported gas has come from Russia, despite current international sanctions.
The great irony is that America has been the world’s largest producer of natural gas since 2009 and is slated to become a net exporter this year. We’re currently exporting 3.5 billion cubic of LNG per day, mainly from terminals in Louisiana, and this volume is projected to double by the end of 2018. So why does the Northeast import LNG to meet its energy needs when the country’s largest gas play, in the Marcellus shale formation, lies just next door in Pennsylvania and West Virginia?
There are two villains in this drama. The first is the Jones Act, a little known piece of legislation that Congress passed in 1920 as part of the Merchant Marine Act. This law requires that any ship carrying goods or commodities in U.S. waters between U.S. ports must be built, registered, owned and crewed by American citizens or permanent residents. Originally intended to improve the nation’s maritime security, today the Jones Act is simply a form of protectionism for America’s shipping industry and seafaring unions.
Barring foreign-flagged vessels with lower operating expenses from domestic commerce means it can be cheaper to ship a cargo of LNG from the Gulf Coast to China than to Boston. So, European LNG exporters typically cover supply shortfalls in the Northeast.
The second villain responsible for the Northeast boasting the highest natural gas prices in the continental U.S. is the coterie of politicians and environmentalists who fight new gas pipelines because of their opposition to fossil fuels. Though the controversies involving the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines have gained the most media attention, battles are being waged over dozens of other proposed projects, especially in the Northeast.
For example, last year New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed the proposed Williams Constitution Pipeline that would have transported huge volumes of inexpensive natural gas from the Marcellus shale to consumers in New York and New England. (We Texans actually are buying gas from the Marcellus because it’s often cheaper than Texas gas.) In response to pushback from environmentalists and community activists, the energy giant Kinder Morgan has pulled the plug on a proposed natural gas pipeline through parts of Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire in 2016, though the company is now soliciting contracts for new natural gas pipeline capacity in New York and New England. And Eversource and National Grid, the two biggest utilities in Massachusetts, are shelving a $3.2 billion natural gas pipeline project known as Access Northeast because of a lack of political support.
Clearly, a dose of reality is in order. As the Northeast closes more of its coal and nuclear power plants, the region will need growing volumes of natural gas for electricity generation as well as home and industrial heating. But relying on expensive, imported LNG will further escalate household and business energy costs.
To avoid this outcome, the region’s business and political leaders must start making the case for building the requisite infrastructure to deliver clean, inexpensive and reliable domestic natural gas that’s available within shouting distance. They should put pressure on Congress and the White House to get rid of the Jones Act, since the Northeast has the most to gain from its repeal.
Otherwise, New York and New England run the risk of losing even more people and industry to sections of the country where the cost of living and the cost of doing business are lower, thanks in large part to cheaper energy.
Bernard L. Weinstein is associate director of the Maguire Energy Instituteand an adjunct professor of business economics in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/374290-high-energy-costs-put-northeastern-us-economy-at-risk
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US NTSB Issues Recommendations for Safe Railway Operations
Feb 19, 2018 | Railway Technology
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the US has issued three new urgent safety recommendations based on the findings of two ongoing railroad accident investigations.
NTSB’s first urgent safety recommendation to the US Federal Railroad Administration is based on the findings of an investigation regarding the collision of an Amtrak train with a CSX train, which took place earlier this month in South Carolina.
The accident resulted in two fatalities and injured several people.
The investigators found that CSX personnel had suspended the traffic control signal system on the day before the accident in order to install updated system components, which would facilitate the implementation of a positive train control (PTC) system.
A temporary lack of signals meant that the dispatchers used track warrants to move trains throughout the work territory without any technological supervision.
NTSB stated that additional measures will be required to ensure safe operations during signal suspension.
The board issued an urgent safety recommendation to restrict the speed of trains or locomotives when passing through such areas.
NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt said: “While the collision remains under investigation, we know that signal suspensions are an unusual operating condition, used for signal maintenance, repair and installation that have the potential to increase the risk of train collisions.
“That risk was not mitigated in the Cayce collision. Our recommendation, if implemented, works to mitigate that increased risk.”
NTSB previously issued two urgent safety recommendations to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) based on findings of Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) accident, which occurred in June last year near Queens Village, New York, and resulted in one fatality.
The agency found that LIRR roadway workers were using ‘train approach warning’ as their method of on-track safety but did not clear the track when trains approached, thereby not complying with the established procedures.
The two urgent safety recommendations call for MTA to audit LIRR’s use of ‘train approach warning’ to ensure worker protection, and carry out corrective actions for all identified deficiencies.
https://www.railway-technology.com/news/us-ntsb-issues-recommendations-safe-railway-operations/
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Household Chemicals Contribute as Much as Vehicles to Urban Emissions
Feb 19, 2018 | Chemistry World
By Rebecca Trager
The use of everyday chemical products like cosmetics and cleaning agents contribute to half of all fossil fuel-derived volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted in urban areas, according to a new analysis.
This contradicts current estimates from the US Environmental Protection Agency which say 75% of these emissions come from fuel-related sources such as vehicles, with only about 25% from chemical products.
‘We found that the use of these products emit VOCs in a magnitude that is comparable to what comes out of the tailpipe of your car,’ said Brian McDonald, an environmental scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder who presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas.
His team’s results suggest that VOC emissions from household and industrial chemicals are actually two or three times greater than current air pollution inventories estimate.
‘In some ways this is a good news story,’ McDonald stated, noting that the US air quality regulations in the US and Europe have been very successful in reducing motor vehicle controlling emissions. ‘As we control some of the biggest sources of air pollution in the past, other sources are emerging in relative importance, such as the use of these everyday chemical products.’
VOCs contribute to urban air quality challenges like the formation of ground-level ozone and fine particles, both of which pose significant human health and environmental concerns.
The discovery was somewhat accidental, as the researchers were originally compiling measurements of hydrocarbon emissions associated with gasoline and diesel fuel use. While doing this, they noticed that levels of other less commonly measured gases, like ethanol, were higher than expected and had increased in recent decades.
Although ethanol is commonly added to gasoline in the US, the researchers determined that gasoline-related sources could only account for about 20% of the ethanol that they measured in the air. ‘That suggested that we were missing an important source of this compound in the atmosphere,’ said Jessica Gilman, a chemist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who also worked on the study. Further work pointed to the use of everyday consumer products as a major source of these VOCs.
Responding to the announcement of these findings, the American Cleaning Institute(ACI) lobby group argued they ‘need to be put into the context’ of the changes manufacturers have made to these products over the years.
The organisation said laundry and dishwashing products, for example, have a minimal impact on VOC emissions overall because they use ingredients that biodegrade during wastewater treatment. ACI also pointed to the researchers’ acknowledgement in the published study that most organic compounds in soaps and detergents dissolve in water and end up in sewer systems, with negligible amounts emitted from wastewater treatment plants.
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/household-chemicals-contribute-as-much-as-vehicles-to-urban-emissions/3008672.article
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Pact's Future Uncertain as White House Champion Exits
Feb 19, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Zach Colman
A global climate pact to reduce potent greenhouse gases set to skyrocket in the developing world is on ice following the exit of a key White House aide.
The Kigali Amendment, which has split parts of the Trump administration, is likely to languish now that it lacks a champion in the White House, said George David Banks, the former climate and international energy adviser to President Trump who resigned last week.
A White House advocate is needed to push through the administration's departmental divisions, as Banks said U.S. EPA remains a significant stumbling block. But he also called on industry groups that support the amendment to conduct a long-needed economic analysis that Banks said is crucial to convincing Trump to send it to the Senate for ratification.
"You have to have the numbers, and for us to have carried it forward, that was the only way that we were going to be able to overcome EPA's opposition," Banks said in a wide-ranging interview Friday at E&E News' office in Washington (see related story).
The U.N. agreement is one of the world's most significant greenhouse gas reduction pledges. Finalized in October 2016, it would avert enough emissions from air-conditioning units and refrigerators to reduce warming by 0.5 degree Celsius (0.9 degree Fahrenheit) by 2100 by phasing out short-lived climate pollutants known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
While the State Department supports the amendment, U.S. EPA has pushed back.
EPA's role over the deal's fate grew last year when a federal court vacated an agency rule — devised under former President Obama and defended in court by the Trump administration — regulating HFCs. While there's disagreement over whether EPA still possesses the authority to regulate HFCs, that agency hasn't itself made the case for regulation (Greenwire, Aug. 8, 2017).
"The EPA has got concerns about the regulatory overreach; they've got concerns about implementation, is there existing regulatory authority, do you need legislation?" Banks said. "And on that front, the ball is in their court with the existing regulatory piece."
EPA didn't return an email requesting comment.
Some movement is building in Congress. On Friday, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced bipartisan legislation calling for EPA to ban HFCs.
But Kigali opponents contend that the amendment perverts the underlying treaty — the Montreal Protocol — by addressing greenhouse gas pollutants. The Montreal Protocol is concerned with the stratospheric ozone layer.
"We oppose ratification of Kigali just as we opposed turning a treaty dedicated to the ozone layer into a global warming treaty," said Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
But Banks said he thinks addressing HFCs under the Montreal Protocol process is well within the bounds of fair play. After all, the non-ozone-depleting substitutes used in refrigerants to reduce damage to the ozone layer created an unanticipated problem — belching heat-trapping gases into the air. Given economic gains in emerging economies like India and China, those emissions are expected to balloon as incomes grow and affording air conditioners becomes more possible.
The amendment's supporters contend that the United States stands to benefit from potentially booming global sales. They said domestic manufacturers already have a technological lead in producing the substitutes that will go into those new air-conditioning units. Absent ratification, though, they worry that the shift will come too slowly.
"I think the biggest thing is just understanding both the global impacts of the treaty and how that translates to benefits for American industry," said Kevin Fay, executive director for the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy. "Our view is the market for the technologies covered by the Kigali Amendment outside the U.S. is going to double over the next decade."
But that view hasn't yet been backed up by numbers, Banks argued. He said the industry "lost a year" by dallying on producing that economic analysis, which he said is now underway.
"If that gets in front of the president, he's not going to care if it's a GHG, if the Obama administration supported it because it's a greenhouse gas," Banks said.
"He's going to be like, 'How many jobs created? What's the impact on U.S. manufacturing, our competitiveness?' And then he'll support it," he said. "But if those numbers aren't persuasive, then it's not going to go anywhere. Including on the Hill."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/02/19/stories/1060074175
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