Preview Newsletter
AM ACC 3/15/2018
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(ACC Mentioned) Recycling Markets Driven by Prime Prices and China
Mar 14, 2018 | Plastics Recycling Update
By Colin Staub
Last year presented an upheaval in the global recovered plastics market, and the impacts continue to roll in. Three experts recently shared their thoughts on the specific causes of the volatility. -
Helium Supplies Are Tightening up Again
Mar 14, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Marc S. Reisch
Hiccups in global helium supply lines, along with improving demand in a growing economy, are leading to shortages of the noble gas. As a result, some helium distributors are allocating supplies to operators of scientific instruments and other customers in the U.S. -
EPA Releases Guides for Expanded CBI Categories Under TSCA
Mar 14, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA has released for public comment guidance documents the agency had promised to provide following changes Congress made to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), expanding the universe of parties that could access trade secret information about chemicals that EPA maintains. -
EPA Releases Draft Guidance on TSCA CBI Disclosures; Requests Comments
Mar 14, 2018 | National Law Review
By Lynn L. Bergeson, Charles M. Auer, Margaret R. Graham
On March 13, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released three draft guidance documents for public comment clarifying the circumstances under which EPA may disclose Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) confidential business information (CBI)... -
EPA Faces Public Pressure to Gauge Toxicity of Fluorochemicals
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
Trying to determine the extent of harm that some fluorinated chemicals pose is a tricky goal the EPA set for itself as communities grow increasingly alarmed about possible risks. -
Monsanto Judge Says Expert Testimony Against Roundup Is ‘Shaky’
Mar 14, 2018 | Bloomberg
By Joel Rosenblatt
A lawsuit claiming Monsanto Co.’s popular weed killer Roundup causes cancer was dealt a blow by a judge’s conclusions that the opinions of the experts testifying against it are "shaky," a potentially devastating development for the case getting to trial. -
NGOs Say REACH Authorisation 'Rewards Laggards'
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
The granting of an application to use an SVHC, even where a suitable alternative exists, not only "violates REACH", but also "rewards the laggards and frustrates the frontrunners", according to a joint report from two NGOs. -
Texas, New Mexico Drillers to Get Boost from Interior Permit Changes
Mar 7, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Ben LeFebvre
New Interior Department instructions would exempt “a significant share” of oil and gas wells being drilled in west Texas and New Mexico from National Environmental Policy Act reviews, Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash told POLITICO on Wednesday. -
ANWR Oil Lease Sale Could Start Early Next Year
Mar 14, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Ben LeFebvre
The Interior Department could begin leasing land for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as early as next year, a department official said today. -
Florida Remains in Federal Offshore Oil, Gas Plan: US Interior Chief
Mar 14, 2018 | Platts
By Brian Scheid
US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Tuesday that federal waters offshore Florida remain in the Trump administration's proposed 2019-2024 offshore oil and gas leasing plan. -
Oil Majors Mulling Price on Carbon — Whitehouse
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Hannah Northey
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse yesterday said he's heard through intermediaries that the nation's Big Four oil majors are considering supporting a $40-per-ton cost on carbon. -
Agency Looks to Sell Lawmakers on Cyber Office
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Sam Mintz
The Department of Energy continued pitching its plan to create a new cybersecurity office to lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday, as a House panel considered four new bills on the issue. -
Trump to Promote Infrastructure Plan as Lawmakers Seek Funding
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mark Niquette
The White House says President Donald Trump will campaign to pass legislation this year to upgrade roads, bridges and other public works, as members of Congress from both parties say it will only happen with a push from the president. -
Trump Needs Pay-Fors to Get ‘Robust’ Infrastructure Bill: Thune
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Shaun Courtney
Five Cabinet secretaries and three hours of testimony yielded few answers to the biggest question legislators have about President Donald Trump's infrastructure plan—how to pay for it. -
‘No Money Behind’ Trump Infrastructure Plan, GOP Panel Chair Says
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
Congress and the Trump administration have yet to come to grips with how to fund significant infrastructure upgrades, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman said March 14. -
Air Pollution Permit Memo Will Speed Expansion, Industry Says
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jennifer Lu
Easing air pollution permitting reviews will jump start industrial expansion projects that would have been stalled or dropped previously, the EPA and industry groups said. -
Dems Want Answers on EPA Axing of Industrial Standards
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E News PM
By Sean Reilly
More than a dozen Senate Democrats, voicing alarm over U.S. EPA's recent decision to scrap a Clinton-era industrial pollution policy, today sought a host of details on the possible consequences.
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(ACC Mentioned) Recycling Markets Driven by Prime Prices and China
Mar 14, 2018 | Plastics Recycling Update
By Colin Staub
Last year presented an upheaval in the global recovered plastics market, and the impacts continue to roll in. Three experts recently shared their thoughts on the specific causes of the volatility.
China permeated the discussion, which took place at last month’s Plastics Recycling 2018 event in Nashville, Tenn., but the analysts made it clear a number of factors in the prime resin market also shaped the global recycling landscape.
Kailin Fu, Tison Keel and Joel Morales, all staffers at research firm IHS Markit, took the stage to present details on a chaotic 2017. The session, titled “Pinning Down Shifting Markets,” was moderated by Craig Cookson, director of sustainability and recycling for the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council.
Chinese changes dominate
Unsurprisingly, market trends were shaped in large part by forces in China.
Fu, associate director of IHS’s chemicals and plastics group, said analysts had forecast in mid-2017 that China’s virgin PE demand would grow about 6 percent year over year. By the end of the year, the market ended up growing more than 10 percent.
“The reason behind this drastic shift was policy change,” Fu said. Those policies came on a range of fronts, not just import restrictions. For example, a major policy change will gradually phase out burning coal for residential heating in Northern China and replace it with natural gas. For the plastics industry, that led to a spike in HDPE pipe demand, and therefore higher overall virgin PE growth.
Morales, executive director of polyolefins Americas for IHS Markit, noted that “almost overnight we saw high-density polyethylene, which is probably the weakest, most competitive resin in the world, flip, to now it’s selling at a premium in Asia, versus low-density.”
But import restrictions had the most significant impacts on plastics demand. They reduced supply of recycled content and led to unexpected growth on the prime resin market, Fu explained.
“A year later, the National Sword has become a major event, and its impact on the global market turned out to be significant,” Fu said.
National Sword has come to be used as an encompassing term for the various import restrictions enacted in 2017. At its core, it’s a crackdown on importing and handling contaminated loads of waste and scrap materials.
The campaign has included three main aspects, Fu said. First, authorities began conducting extra inspections at China’s 26 main ports, which has caused three to six months of delays on imports. Second, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection began visiting domestic factories and has shut down many that were not meeting environmental standards. Third, factories cited for environmental violations within the past two years have had their import licenses suspended or canceled.
“This doesn’t mean no recycling; it means a cleaner, more efficient industry and higher domestic recycling rates,” Fu said. “Large-scale, up-to-environmental-standard recycling facilities will be needed, and they are encouraged to be built in the industrial parks. This can be the new trend for the future recycling market.”
This year, National Sword continues with a focus on targeting illegal foreign waste and recyclables imports, Fu said. On top of that, China enacted an imports ban on post-consumer PE, PP, PS, PVC and PET. Import permits issued during 2018 show a sharp reduction in plastic tonnages approved to enter the country.
Before 2017, imports of recycled PET supplied almost half of China’s total supply of the recovered resin. Most plastics facilities are concentrated in Southeast and Northeast China along coastal areas, where they have easy access to imported materials, Fu said.
“Import is a crucial element of the China recycled market,” Fu said. “This new policy is going to reshape the landscape of this market.”
Demand for recyclables collapses
In 2013, the Green Fence campaign led to a reduction in Chinese imports of scrap plastics. Two years later, pricing was the main driver of a 1.2-million-metric-ton decline in recycled plastic imports, as low crude oil and prime resin prices led to virgin substitution.
In 2017, PE imports fell another 23 percent, or 1.1 million metric tons, due to the range of Chinese policy changes, Fu explained.
This year, analysts expect a further decline of 2 million metric tons in demand, due to the full implementation of the import ban.
China’s recycled resin demand as a percentage of total demand grew from less than 10 percent before 2001 to as high as 22 percent in 2007 and 2012, Fu said. But after crude oil prices plummeted around 2015, recycled demand dropped to between 10 and 15 percent.
“With the new policy in 2017, we expect this percentage to continue to fall to between 6 to 7 percent and stabilize for the next couple years,” Fu said.
Fu said that after Green Fence, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and Vietnam took extra volume, partially absorbing the Chinese reduction. That trend has shown itself again following the 2017 turmoil, as those and other countries substantially boosted their imports of scrap materials.
“Some of these materials will have to either find a home in another country, or to be processed domestically, or they will have to end up in a landfill,” Fu said.
Prime market examination
Keel, senior director of PET, PTA, EO and derivatives at IHS Chemical, laid out how prime resins impacted recovered plastics markets in 2017.
“The world has too much prime PET capacity,” Keel said, noting there is 15 to 20 percent more capacity than demand can consume, and the market is not growing at the same rate it used to.
The U.S. PET industry has faced competition from China and India in the past, and the Department of Commerce has implemented antidumping measures. More recently, Taiwan, Korea, Brazil and others have begun selling large quantities of PET into the U.S. market as well, Keel said, prompting a new Commerce investigation. The department is expected to issue its decision in March, Keel added.
“Most people expect we’re going to get some significant preliminary duties put on to these polymers which will block out most of the rest of Asia,” Keel said. “Now, this is relatively positive news for the recycle industries, because anything that holds up or supports higher prices for virgin, prime PET counteracts the trend of the last few years which has been competition that drove people away from recycle for the lower price offered by prime PET.”
On the prime side, the main trend of 2017 was low profits and high construction costs, leading to a number of reductions in operating rate, Keel said. Operating rate refers to the total percentage of production capacity that’s in use. M&G, the virgin PET giant, declared bankruptcy during the fall and put on hold some of its new capacity.
“All of this has created a much tighter market condition for PET, and the producers that are left have taken advantage of that, and they’ve jacked their prices up,” he said, estimating that producers have raised prime PET resin prices by 8 to 12 cents this year.
Those higher prices have remained firm, Fu said, even during the Chinese New Year period, when they usually decline.
Morales said the situation on the recycled polyolefin side is positive. Prices for recycled PE and PP are higher than analysts had expected, he said, due to the higher prime prices.
“It’s almost like every break you could have to keep the price up, since August, has happened,” Morales said. “Typically, it doesn’t work that way, but everything has happened: Demand’s been stronger and production’s been terrible, and it’s all helped to support a higher price.”
China’s import ban spurred a lot more demand than the prime industry was expecting.
“Literally, reactors’ worth of resin sucked up in 2017, because China used a lot more than we thought,” Morales said.
Also, new capacity did not necessarily translate to increased production, Morales said. He pointed to a number of plants that opened in the U.S.during the fall but have not hit full output because of various delays, including those caused by hurricanes.
https://resource-recycling.com/plastics/2018/03/14/recycling-markets-driven-by-prime-prices-and-china/
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Helium Supplies Are Tightening up Again
Mar 14, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Marc S. Reisch
Hiccups in global helium supply lines, along with improving demand in a growing economy, are leading to shortages of the noble gas. As a result, some helium distributors are allocating supplies to operators of scientific instruments and other customers in the U.S.
According to the industrial gas firm Praxair, supply interruptions in the Middle East and allocations of helium from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Texas helium reserves have restricted the company’s ability to supply customers. Praxair says it is now allocating helium in “a fair and reasonable way.”
Some scientists who use the element to chill the magnets in nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers say they can only get 75% of their normal allocation. Helium is also used as a sample carrier gas in mass spectrometers.
Samuel Burton, BLM’s field manager, tells C&EN that the bureau is “seeing increased demand by federal agencies, including the National Aeronautics & Space Administration,” for the element.
Federal agencies take precedence over private companies, which “will not get as much as they might want,” Burton says.
Supplies from BLM will be further restricted when the facility shuts down from March 18–25 for scheduled maintenance. On the bright side, when the facility returns online, it will be able to slightly increase output, points out Phil Kornbluth, a consultant who previously ran BOC’s and Matheson Tri-Gas’s helium operations.
Allocation of the gas by major helium suppliers continues a period of uncertainty that goes back to disruptions of supply from Qatar in June 2017, when Saudi Arabia blocked shipments out of the country, Kornbluth adds. Though the interruption was short lived, more recent upsets in supply from Qatar as well as from other U.S. and international producers have tightened supplies during a period of increasing demand, he says.
Kornbluth predicts that shortages may get worse before conditions improve in 2019, when new capacity comes online in Qatar.
Other new sources are on the way. Linde and other industrial gases firms recently reached deals to distribute helium from a Gazprom plant in eastern Russia set to come online in 2021.
https://cen.acs.org/articles/96/i12/Helium-supplies-tightening-again.html
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EPA Releases Guides for Expanded CBI Categories Under TSCA
Mar 14, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA has released for public comment guidance documents the agency had promised to provide following changes Congress made to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), expanding the universe of parties that could access trade secret information about chemicals that EPA maintains.
The guidance documents, released March 13, are intended to assist states, tribes, local governments, emergency responders and other health and environmental professionals who are now able to access the confidential business information (CBI) as a result of language Congress inserted into the new TSCA law.
The language, which amended section 14 of the original 1976 TSCA, allow these entities to gain access to the data as long as they can provide the same level of security as EPA does.
In all, EPA has crafted three separate guides, one for state and local governments, one for medical professionalsand one for first responders in cases of emergency.
The agency will accept public comments on the documents for 30 days after they are published in the Federal Register.
The documents generally outline the requirements for parties with whom it will share CBI, and provides model agreement forms.
Inside EPA readers learned of the local government guidance's development last spring, when Alex Dunn, then the executive director and general counsel of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), discussed the need for such a guidance.
“To obtain access to CBI under the new law, because this is new authority, states will have to set up an agreement with EPA,” said Dunn, who is now the regional administrator of EPA's Region 1, covering six New England states. “EPA will have to agree [that states] have the same level of security as EPA,” she added.
Dunn noted in an interview that one outstanding issue for some states may be the need to make changes to their state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws, ensuring that CBI could be withheld from such requests.
EPA's draft guidance for local governments includes among its requirements the statement that “[y]our government should have legal authority to protect TSCA CBI. For example, a requesting government should have a law similar to Exemption 4 of the federal FOIA (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)), which protects 'trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person [that is] privileged or confidential.'”
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/epa-releases-guides-expanded-cbi-categories-under-tsca
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EPA Releases Draft Guidance on TSCA CBI Disclosures; Requests Comments
Mar 14, 2018 | National Law Review
By Lynn L. Bergeson, Charles M. Auer, Margaret R. Graham
On March 13, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released three draft guidance documents for public comment clarifying the circumstances under which EPA may disclose Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) confidential business information (CBI) with an expanded set of people. Amended TSCA Section 14(d) expanded the categories of people to whom EPA may disclose TSCA CBI by specifically authorizing EPA to disclose TSCA CBI to state, tribal, and local governments; environmental, health, and medical professionals; and emergency responders, under certain conditions, including consistency with guidance that EPA is required to develop. The draft guidance documents are:
· Draft Guide for Access to TSCA CBI for State, Local, and Tribal Governments, TSCA Section 14(d)(4);
· Draft Guide for Access to TSCA CBI for Medical and Environmental Professionals in Non-Emergency Situations, TSCA Section 14(d)(5); and
· Draft Guide for Access to TSCA CBI in Emergency Situations, TSCA Section 14(d)(6).
EPA’s prepublication version of the notice of availability of the draft guidance states the conditions for access vary under each of the new provisions, but generally include the following: requesters must show that they have a need for the information related to their employment, professional, or legal duties; recipients of TSCA CBI are prohibited from disclosing or permitting further disclosure of the information to individuals not authorized to receive it (physicians/nurses may disclose the information to their patient); and, except in emergency situations, EPA must notify the entity that made the CBI claim at least 15 days prior to disclosing the CBI. In addition, under these new provisions, requesters (except in some emergency situations) are required to sign an agreement and may be required to submit a statement of need to EPA. In accordance with the requirements of TSCA section 14(c)(4)(B), each guidance document covers the content and form of the agreements and statements required under each provision and include information on where and how to submit requests to EPA. A 30-day comment period for the draft guidance documents will open upon the notice’s publication in the Federal Register; comments can be submitted to docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2017-0652 via www.regulations.gov.
On March 12, 2018, EPA also announced that it collecting comments on burden and other information required by the Paperwork Reduction Act related to these documents in the form of an Information Collection Request (ICR), as detailed in a separate notice. 83 Fed. Reg. 10719. Comments on the ICR are due May 11, 2018. EPA states that it anticipates using comments received in response to the guidance document notice and the ICR notice to inform the development of final guidance documents, which it anticipates to be released in June 2018.
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/epa-releases-draft-guidance-tsca-cbi-disclosures-requests-comments
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EPA Faces Public Pressure to Gauge Toxicity of Fluorochemicals
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
Trying to determine the extent of harm that some fluorinated chemicals pose is a tricky goal the EPA set for itself as communities grow increasingly alarmed about possible risks.
Several thousand chemical compounds that are classified as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been widely used for in fighting fires and in everyday products like anti-grease cookware and fire-resistant mattresses, but are not used as much anymore.
Two of these chemicals—perfluoroocataonic acid (PFOA) and perflurooctane sulfonate (PFOS)—have been detected in drinking water and ground water above the Environmental Protection Agency's unenforceable safety guideline of 70 parts per trillion.
The agency is under growing pressure from the public to accelerate its efforts to determine federal safe levels for this class of chemicals as various states are already starting to issue their own standards.
While there is a method to detect about 14 of this class of 3,000 chemicals, the agency doesn't yet know whether these chemicals harm the public, and if so, at what concentrations, according to Peter Grevatt, director of the EPA's Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water.
Grevatt spoke March 12 at the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators’ annual gathering in Alexandria, Va.
No Action Yet
Toxicity is traditionally defined as the exposure levels over a lifetime at which a person can safely ingest or inhale a chemical without causing harm. Now that the EPA is beginning to test the toxicity of these chemicals, it can start developing maximum contaminant levels and other limits for the public to know what concentrations are safe for them.
The last time the EPA regulated a health-based drinking water standard was for uranium in 2000. It also issued revisions to existing regulations as recently as 2013, but has not moved forward on PFAS even though it's been aware of its potential harm since 2005.
The agency's process for rulemaking is a drawn-out process that begins with identifying contaminants for monitoring to evaluating the health risks contaminants pose, their occurrences, and approaches to reducing those risk. This process can often take years, as is the case with perchlorate and lead.
In a 2005 draft assessment, the EPA observed that public exposure to PFOA was high, but failed to issue that assessment as final. In 2014, it released draft reports on the health effects for both PFOA and PFOS, but those have yet to be finalized as well.
High Priority
But now, addressing the risks posed by this class of chemicals is a high priority for the agency, Grevatt said.
“It is a very frightening thing if the public hears that there is a concentration of a compound in their drinking water that is above the level the EPA has defined as safe. That is a very troubling thing,” he said.
Some people exposed to high concentrations of PFOA and PFOS have experienced high cholesterol, colon and thyroid problems, testicular and kidney cancers, or elevated blood pressure during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The EPA is now facing the challenge of determining toxicity levels for the thousands of chemicals in this class and finding the appropriate methods to detect and to treat them when they are in groundwater, drinking water, or at the end of industrial discharge pipes, Alan Roberson, executive director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, told Bloomberg Environment March 13.
DowDupont Inc. and 3M Co.are among the companies that used or manufactured these chemicals. Neither DowDupont nor 3M responded to calls from Bloomberg Environment seeking comment on the EPA's plans to assess toxicity values for these chemicals.
Minnesota-based 3M, however, announced in 2000 a phaseout of PFOA and PFOS—chemicals commonly used in making nonstick applications such as Teflon—around the same time when reports emerged that the substances were being found in most humans—including children—and remotely located wildlife like polar bears.
Analyzing Results
The EPA's toxicologists are working with the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program to generate studies of the toxicity of 75 of these chemicals. The partnership expects to complete a round of testing by the end of 2018.
The agency will then analyze the results and exposure information, including how these chemicals affect an organism from the time they are absorbed, distributed, digested, and eliminated. Knowing this data will help the EPA to determine the degree of their toxicity on particular organ systems or target tissues.
The EPA expects to complete in vitro testing for fluorinated chemicals by the end of 2018. The agency will then analyze those results and exposure information, EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones told Bloomberg Environment.
State drinking water officials are concerned that the EPA is not moving fast enough to allay the public's concerns. At least one state water official, Lori Mathieu, who is Connecticut's public health section chief, wondered aloud whether the EPA's traditional method of rulemaking is keeping up with the pace at which public alarm is growing over PFAS compounds.
States Acting Independently
Public uncertainty is being fueled by states that are acting independently to set levels for PFOS that are stricter than the EPA's unenforceable health advisory, Lisa Daniels, incoming president of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, said at the group's March 12 gathering.
Vermont has set a joint drinking water level for PFOA and PFOS at 20 parts per trillion, while New Jersey is proposing a PFOS level of 14 parts per trillion and a PFOA limit of 13 parts per trillion.
Addressing this class of compounds “is a big challenge” because they are widely dispersed owing to their multiple uses, the EPA's Grevatt said.
Because many members of this class of chemicals are resistant to heat, water, and oil, PFAS compounds have found widespread use in nonstick cookware, grease-resistant paper, fast food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, stain-resistant carpets and fabrics, water-resistant clothing, cleaning products, and personal-care products in addition to a slew of industrial uses.
“If you are sampling for it, you can find it,” Grevatt said. Understanding the toxicity of these chemicals and sharing that information with states is a priority for the EPA, which has formed a cross-coordinating committee to pool all its research on the subject, he said.
‘Flailing’ Public
“There is a lot of flailing around and frustration among the public about this,” Association of State Drinking Water Administrators’ Roberson said.
For instance, Eric Oswald, who heads the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's drinking water division, said it's “troubling” that public trust in government is low after the Flint lead-in-drinking-water debacle.
The state government is now advising the use of whole-house filters if any amount of PFAS is detected, which brings up the question of what's really an effective method to deal with this class of contaminants.
Their biggest challenge is communicating the risk to the public, which doesn't understand the difference between a health advisory and a maximum contaminant level at which enforcement can proceed, according to Oswald.
“Talk about reactionary. We already are behind the power curve on this, trying to communicate what these chemicals do, the health effects,” he said.
Grevatt said he understands that communicating the risk that these chemicals pose is a key part of the challenges facing the agency.
—With assistance from Sylvia Carignan, Pat Rizzuto, and David Schultz
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=129819747&vname=dennotallissues&fn=129819747&jd=129819747
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Monsanto Judge Says Expert Testimony Against Roundup Is ‘Shaky’
Mar 14, 2018 | Bloomberg
By Joel Rosenblatt
A lawsuit claiming Monsanto Co.’s popular weed killer Roundup causes cancer was dealt a blow by a judge’s conclusions that the opinions of the experts testifying against it are "shaky," a potentially devastating development for the case getting to trial.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria is the first judge to weigh in on the toxicity of the world’s most popular herbicide, the subject of a heated debate among scientists and regulators worldwide for more than 30 years. Any key witnesses who are cut from the lineup may profoundly shape the outcome of more than 300 lawsuits collected before the judge -- all the cases in federal courts that seek to hold Monsanto liable for its failure to warn about the risks of using Roundup.
The San Francisco judge heard from about a dozen witnesses including toxicologists, statisticians and an oncologist. But he took an especially keen interest in a couple of epidemiologists who study how humans contract disease.
“I do have a difficult time understanding how an epidemiologist in the face of all the evidence that we saw and heard last week” can conclude that glyphosate “is in fact causing” non-Hodgkin lymphoma in human beings, he said Wednesday. “The evidence that glyphosate is currently causing NHL in human beings” at current exposure levels is “pretty sparse,” he said.
It remains to be seen which witnesses will be allowed to testify at trial on behalf of more than 700 farmers, landscapers and gardeners claiming that exposure to glyphosate -- through skin contact or inhalation -- caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The judge didn’t say when he’d arrive at a final decision.‘Dubious’ Conclusion
Chhabria gave some credit to Beate Ritz, a public health professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, for having conducted independent analysis. Still, Chhabria described her conclusion that glyphosate is currently causing NHL in humans “dubious.” He gave a strong indication that Ritz may be the only witness he allows to testify for the plaintiffs, and that even she is at risk of being eliminated.
Monsanto isn’t completely off the hook, based on what Chhabria said Wednesday. At this stage of the case the judge is acting as a gatekeeper to exclude evidence not backed by scientific rigor, and evaluating whether the witnesses are qualified as experts to present their conclusions to a jury. He said his role is to decide whether the testimony is “in the range of reasonableness,” not whether glyphosate causes cancer.
Chhabria said he’s concluded after the hearings that epidemiology is a “loosey-goosey” and “highly subjective field.” Because of constraints with regard to eliminating witnesses, that may leave room for Ritz to testify, he said. Maybe Ritz “is operating within the mainstream of the field,” he said. “Maybe that means it’s up for the jury to decide if they buy her presentation.”
All the plaintiffs’ experts except Ritz relied on a 2015 determination that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, Chhabria said. That’s “not enough” to argue exposure to glyphosate is more likely than not the cause of the plaintiffs’ cancer, he said.
Brent Wisner, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, urged the judge not to reject witnesses based on their reliance on the IARC report alone and to instead “dissect” and consider the “subset of opinions” within their reports and findings.
Michael Baum, a lead lawyer for the group suing Monsanto, said “the weight of the epidemiology, toxicology and mechanistic science strongly supports” the conclusion that Roundup causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. “Our experts used valid methodologies to arrive at their conclusions,” he said in an emailed statement. “Ultimately, we think courts will agree.”
The case is In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2741, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-14/monsanto-judge-says-expert-testimony-against-roundup-is-shaky
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NGOs Say REACH Authorisation 'Rewards Laggards'
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
The granting of an application to use an SVHC, even where a suitable alternative exists, not only "violates REACH", but also "rewards the laggards and frustrates the frontrunners", according to a joint report from two NGOs.
ChemSec and ClientEarth have also called on Echa, its Socio-economic Analysis Committee (Seac) and the European Commission to make "urgent" changes to improve the process.
Their report makes several recommendations, they say, that have the "potential to put the authorisation process back on track, and in full compliance with REACH's objectives".
REACH Review
The NGO report was published a few days after the release of the Commission's second REACH Review, in which it proposed 16 measures to improve implementation of the Regulation, including greater promotion of substitution.
The Review fell short, however, of recommending legislative changes, and said rather that the legal requirements of REACH are "well tuned" to achieving its goals.
During last year's consultation on the Review, several NGOs said the authorisation process was "ineffective". And, following the announcement of the Commission's measures this month, they said those actions to improve REACH are "too vague" and do not offer any meaningful commitments to ensure effective substitution of SVHCs.
Proposed changes
In their report, ChemSec and ClientEarth identify two problems in the way Seac operates that, they say, prevent the authorisation process being able to "fully deliver".
First, they say, applicants do not always comply with their obligation to provide Echa with accurate and comprehensive information on alternatives. "The way to find existing alternatives has to be re-thought," they add.
Secondly, they say, Seac "does not use clear and appropriate criteria" to assess the feasibility of suitable alternatives, and the way it assesses the feasibility of alternatives "needs to be improved".
They make several recommendations:
· keep the burden of proof on the applicant;
· improve the outreach of the public consultation;
· obtain relevant information from third parties;
· supplement the public consultation by proactive contact with relevant third parties;
· give third parties the information they need to contribute meaningfully;
· withdraw authorisations when new information about available alternatives is discovered – in particular when it is later revealed the applicant was aware of alternatives but did not disclose them; and
· clarify methodology on how to assess available alternatives.
If these recommendations are applied, "the decision-makers will have the means to sort out the cases where an authorisation is really needed from those where it is not".
Cefic and Commission reaction
In comments to Chemical Watch, Cefic said the authorisation process "appears to be functioning well" in terms of promoting substitution. However, it added that it "understands the frustration" that there are cases when authorisations were granted when alternatives were available.
Cefic said that the relevant committees try to make their evaluations on applications "as good as possible with inclusion of additional information from public consultations". But, it added, "improvements can be made" when it comes to the analysis of alternatives and that "industry is open to engage in a discussion".
Am EU official told Chemical Watch that the REACH Review report concludes that the objectives of authorisation "are being achieved through progressive substitution of hazardous substances by suitable alternatives, as well as through better control of the risks".
However, the official added, the report "recognises there is room for improvement" in the authorisation process. The report lays out the Commission's intention to "closely monitor and address difficulties related to applications for authorisation covering multiple operators".
In this respect, the official said, "ideas on how to improve this aspect of the assessment of applications for authorisation are welcome and the Commission, together with Echa, will examine the report [...] in more detail".
https://chemicalwatch.com/64937/ngos-say-reach-authorisation-rewards-laggards
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Texas, New Mexico Drillers to Get Boost from Interior Permit Changes
Mar 7, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Ben LeFebvre
New Interior Department instructions would exempt “a significant share” of oil and gas wells being drilled in west Texas and New Mexico from National Environmental Policy Act reviews, Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash told POLITICO on Wednesday.
The Interior Department instructions are designed to speed up the processing of drilling permits by offering "categorical exclusions" for similar drilling operations on federal land. Balash said he expected to review the draft of the language that will be included in the Bureau of Land Management employee manuals next week, and they would be distributed to BLM offices in April.
“There are certain classes of activities that are really kind of routine in nature,” Balash told an audience at the Faegre Baker Daniels energy symposium. “If you’re doing it the same way every time, you can do a larger-scale review and say for this activity, this does not need to be considered in a review. If that’s the only thing that needed to be reviewed, now you don’t need to do a NEPA review.”
The Washington Post had previously reported that Interior was considering the change.
The Government Accountability Office determined in a 2011 report that the such batch exclusions “often did not comply with either the law or BLM's guidance.” Environmental groups sued over the practice, blaming it in part for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.
Balash made his remarks after an audience member complained that energy producers had not seen faster processing of their drilling permit applications than in years past, despite the Trump administration’s promise that its rollback of Obama-era rules would speed things.
“It is probably accurate that those impacts have not been felt yet on the ground,” Balash said. “There were things that we were able to get done in 2017 that I would describe as ‘the great undoing.’ We are now beginning to take steps that impact on-the-ground actions.”
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/03/texas-new-mexico-drillers-to-get-boost-from-interior-permit-changes-415599
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ANWR Oil Lease Sale Could Start Early Next Year
Mar 14, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Ben LeFebvre
The Interior Department could begin leasing land for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as early as next year, a department official said today.
Interior plans to launch the environmental impact statement review after publishing in the Federal Register its intent to auction acreage in the ANWR 1002 area, said Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash.
“We’ll have the EIS complete within a year,” Balash told an audience at the National Press Club. ”Assuming we do things the right away and the lawyers don’t make too much money in litigation, we should be able to see a sale after the conclusion of the EIS early next year.”
In the GOP tax reform bill, Congress directed Interior to hold at least two leases sales in ANWR within the next decade, with each to include at least 4,000 acres of land. The prospect of a sale has drawn criticism from environmental groups that warn drilling in ANWR could disrupt wildlife in the region and lead to oil spills that would be hard to fix in such a remote area.
WHAT'S NEXT: Interior will post a notice of intent for an environmental impact review later this month.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Florida Remains in Federal Offshore Oil, Gas Plan: US Interior Chief
Mar 14, 2018 | Platts
By Brian Scheid
US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Tuesday that federal waters offshore Florida remain in the Trump administration's proposed 2019-2024 offshore oil and gas leasing plan.
"Florida is still in the process," Zinke said during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing.
Following a meeting with Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, on January 9, Zinke announced he was "removing Florida from consideration for any new oil and gas platforms," in regards to the draft proposed program his agency released the week before. That proposed plan calls for 47 sales in federal waters, including 12 sales in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, three in the South Atlantic and one in the Straits of Florida, over a five-year period.
Zinke has offered no details on exactly what federal waters he plans to remove from the plan. Walter Cruickshank, the head of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, has said no formal decision has been made on the proposed five-year program.
In a statement Tuesday, Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said Zinke's comments show that his January announcement that he was "removing" Florida was a "political stunt," not a policy pronouncement.
"Today's comments beg more questions than answers, further confusing the Interior's plans for offshore drilling off the coast of Florida," Nelson said.https://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/washington/florida-remains-in-federal-offshore-oil-gas-plan-21568086
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Oil Majors Mulling Price on Carbon — Whitehouse
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Hannah Northey
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse yesterday said he's heard through intermediaries that the nation's Big Four oil majors are considering supporting a $40-per-ton cost on carbon.
Such a move, the Rhode Island Democrat told attendees at the American Council on Renewable Energy's conference yesterday, would closely align with a measure he's introduced with bicameral lawmakers to impose $50 per metric ton of emissions in 2019.
"That's only 10 bucks away from where my bill is, that's within negotiating range, now I'm ready to talk," said Whitehouse. "I think we can start to get something done, but they have to be serious about it."
Whitehouse said he'll want to see the American Petroleum Institute and Chamber of Commerce back any such measure, and then something "really significant" could happen, as early as next month.
The Big Four oil companies are Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP PLC.
Whitehouse reintroduced a bill earlier this year with Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and David Cicilline of Rhode Island, the "American Opportunity Carbon Fee Act," to impose a fee of $50 per metric ton of emissions in 2019. The fee would increase 2 percent annually above inflation (Greenwire, Feb. 6).
When asked whether the Big Four or their surrogates would trade a price on carbon for immunity from lawsuits, the senator replied, "Absolutely." Oil companies would be most interested in deregulation and liability and protection in exchange for a carbon price, he said.
But Whitehouse added that analysis would be needed to determine which regulations could be mooted in exchange for a carbon price. "It can't just be trophy hunting," he said.
Support from oil companies, while notable, has failed to lead to climate legislation in the past, especially with opposition from sectors like coal and conservative groups.
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2018/03/15/stories/1060076385
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Agency Looks to Sell Lawmakers on Cyber Office
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Sam Mintz
The Department of Energy continued pitching its plan to create a new cybersecurity office to lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday, as a House panel considered four new bills on the issue.
Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes testified before the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy on the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER), which will work on energy-sector cybersecurity planning, communication and responses.
CESER, for which DOE requested $96 million in funding for fiscal 2019, generally has backing from lawmakers and advocates, but there remains some streaks of skepticism in Congress.
Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), for example, said that while he is "not necessarily opposed" to the change, he had some questions about how staffing and funding would work.
DOE created CESER from the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE), and Tonko said he thinks OE's work on grid modernization remains important, despite what seems to be a diminished role.
"I hope that these offices will be working together and not having to compete for resources," he told Menezes.
The DOE official said he would commit to that and gave more details about the process of starting up the office, which he said is an "initial step."
Menezes said DOE is still in the process of identifying what employees would report to or be part of in the new office, and that appropriations will continue for OE.
"The office electricity will help in the transition ... and it has other critical functions, too," he said.
DOE's plan is to create an assistant secretary position to lead the office, who would have to be White House-appointed and Senate-confirmed.
"The key part about being a Senate-confirmed appointee is the accountability you have to maintain with two branches of government," Menezes said. "It forces you to work with Congress and to fully explain yourself to the executive branch."
The White House has not yet named a nominee for the position.
Outside Congress, industry representatives and advocates have been supportive of the new office.
"We believe the elevation of CESER will deepen the relationship between our industry and DOE on issues of cybersecurity and energy grid response initiatives," Scott Aaronson, vice president for security and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute, said in his written testimony.
Lawmakers also yesterday briefly touched on four new bills related to cybersecurity programs at DOE, all of which have bipartisan support on the committee.
DOE has not taken an official position on any of them, but Menezes said the agency supports the effort and collaboration and will work with the committee as it moves legislation.
"The expectations that DOE has and the technologies and abilities that we have to mobilize and act are sometimes exceeded by the authorities we have," he said. "It's important for the department for your bills to be clear on our authorities."
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2018/03/15/stories/1060076393
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Trump to Promote Infrastructure Plan as Lawmakers Seek Funding
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Mark Niquette
The White House says President Donald Trump will campaign to pass legislation this year to upgrade roads, bridges and other public works, as members of Congress from both parties say it will only happen with a push from the president.
The president plans to travel around the country to promote his proposal ahead of the congressional election in November, White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short said in an interview March 13. An event to roll out Trump's plan was canceled last month after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“We still believe there's time in this year to get it done, and you will see the president pushing for it,” Short said.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and three other cabinet secretaries will go before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee March 14 to discuss the plan to provide at least $200 billion in federal funds over 10 years, mostly to spur at least $1.5 trillion in spending by states, localities and the private sector. The plan also would cut the process of issuing permits for projects to two years.
Also appearing at the committee will be Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
Federal Gas Tax
Chao testified before a House panel last week, and Democratic and Republican members are questioning the administration's ability to deliver a bold program because there's no appetite among Republican leaders so far to increase the federal gas tax or find another way to generate the federal money.
“It takes presidential leadership to do this,” Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said at a March 7 hearing. Shuster, who backs a higher gas tax or another way to generate revenue, has said Trump needs to be “out there on a weekly basis, talking about it, going around the country.”
Trump released his infrastructure plan Feb. 12, and lawmakers who attended a private meeting two days later said he offered to support a 25-cent gas tax increase to help fund it. But the president has taken no public position, and advocates for infrastructure spending say delivering on his campaign promise for a major rebuilding project rests on Trump pushing it the way he did last year's tax-code overhaul.
“If he doesn't push it, it's not going to happen,” said Ray LaHood, a former Republican House member from Illinois and transportation secretary under President Barack Obama. “It's not going to happen because there's no leadership in Congress for this to happen.”
Second-ranking Senate Republican John Cornyn of Texas has said it would be “challenging” to enact a bill this year. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said last week he won't pursue one bill but five or six different pieces. That includes measures the House would consider anyway, such as reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration and appropriating additional funds for infrastructure approved as part of a budget deal in December. Shuster has suggested Congress may have to wait until after the November election to act on a broader program.
Several Bills
The administration's preference is for a bolder plan but is open to enacting several bills if Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky think that's the best way to accomplish the same goals, a senior White House official said.
Still, any infrastructure bill needs bipartisan support to pass, and Democrats largely reject Trump's plan as having too little federal investment and no funding. Senate Democrats released their own $1 trillion plan that would roll back tax cuts for the wealthy that Republicans enacted last year.
Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he has taken a “show me the money” position on the infrastructure initiative and that there won't be one without a tax increase.
“I think the president would like to do something real, but whether we can get him to focus on it and step out is a whole another issue,” DeFazio said at a Feb. 28 conference of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Washington.
Trump's Surprise
Lawmakers who attended the Feb. 14 meeting with Trump said he surprised them by backing an increase in the gas tax, which hasn't been raised since 1993. Trump repeatedly brought up the gas tax and said he would spend political capital for it, said Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
“He said, ‘I know it's difficult politically, difficult for you to do these things, but I will provide air cover, political cover, and I'll take the slings and arrows,’” Carper said at the highway and transportation officials’ conference.
McConnell and Ryan oppose raising the gas tax.
Chao has said “everything's on the table” when it comes to paying for a public works initiative. She also told reporters last month that increasing the gas tax would have “a very regressive impact on the most vulnerable within our society,” a position shared by opponents, including groups aligned with billionaires Charles and David Koch.
Grover Norquist, head of the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform, predicted that Trump won't go along with a higher levy because the tax would hit voters who backed him in 2016.
‘Guy Most Damaged’
“Trump's instincts are good,” Norquist said. “When he looks at it and says, ‘Who are the people I'm working for?’ he sees the guy most damaged by another gas tax.”
Supporters of a higher levy, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Trucking Associations, which both have proposals to increase fuel taxes, say it's the most efficient way to raise money needed for crumbling roads and bridges.
Trump needs to say specifically what he supports if he wants to get an infrastructure bill passed, said Chris Spear, president and chief executive of the trucking trade group.
“It's imperative that this president put the full power of his office behind this,” Spear said at a House subcommittee hearing March 7. “If he wants it done this year, he's going to have to lead up here.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=129819751&vname=dennotallissues&fn=129819751&jd=129819751
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Trump Needs Pay-Fors to Get ‘Robust’ Infrastructure Bill: Thune
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Shaun Courtney
Five Cabinet secretaries and three hours of testimony yielded few answers to the biggest question legislators have about President Donald Trump's infrastructure plan—how to pay for it.
Transportation, Commerce, Labor, Agriculture, and Energy secretaries Elaine Chao, Wilbur Ross, Alexander Acosta, Sonny Perdue and Rick Perry, respectively, appeared before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee March 14 where lawmakers expressed concerns about the infrastructure proposal's lack of pay-fors.
“To get the big, really robust package that the president is talking about, you have to come up with a significant source of revenue, and so far those haven't been identified,” Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) said.
The infrastructure proposal released by the White House last month seeks to spend $200 billion in federal funds to leverage state, local and private funds to reach $1.5. trillion in investments. Now, congressional transportation leaders are floating the possibility that the infrastructure proposal might instead take the form of a package of smaller bills, including must-pass authorizations like the one for the Federal Aviation Administration authorization.
Items like the FAA bill (S. 1405) and the Senate's AV START bill (S. 1885) could be packaged together this year with other committees’ bills to create a “down payment” on “more robust” infrastructure package at a later time, Thune told reporters after the hearing.
‘Agnostic’ on Pay-Fors
Prior to the hearing, the White House said the administration is “united behind the President's vision and stands ready to work with Congress to achieve it.”
Chao told senators that the administration is “agnostic” about how to pay for the bill and has offered options including tolling, expanded bond and loan programs, asset recycling, and incentives for private investment. But some lawmakers were skeptical.
“We can't toll our way out of this problem,” ranking member Ben Nelson (D-Fla.) said in his opening remarks.
“Until this administration comes forward with an actual concrete plan of how we pay for it, let's be honest with the American people: This is just smoke and mirrors,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said during the hearing.
Meanwhile Perry said that as a former governor he would have welcomed the administration's focus on permitting reform, referencing major port projects in his home state of Texas.
“They aren't coming up here and asking for more money,” he said. “They are asking for federal agencies to get out of the way to give them approval.”
Trump's Leadership Needed
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said he could see moving an FAA and a Water Resources Development Act bill as part of an infrastructure package, along with other items.
“[The president] put a big bold plan forward, but there's no funding in it,” Shuster said, when asked whether that would supplant a bigger push on infrastructure.
The Highway Trust Fund's impending insolvency requires an increase in the gas tax, which would then go to pay for infrastructure, Shuster told reporters. It will take the president's leadership to get a gas tax increase, he said.
“I think if the president is interested in getting infrastructure done, he needs to be out there every week and pound the message,” Shuster said.
That echoes the sentiment from Thune.
“Unless somebody is ready to bite bullet and come up with a new funding source, there are limitations to what we will be able to do,” Thune said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=129819741&vname=dennotallissues&fn=129819741&jd=129819741
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‘No Money Behind’ Trump Infrastructure Plan, GOP Panel Chair Says
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
Congress and the Trump administration have yet to come to grips with how to fund significant infrastructure upgrades, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman said March 14.
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), speaking at a symposium by the law firm Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, said some elements of President Donald Trump's infrastructure plan are very good, “but there's no money behind it.”
Trump has proposed shifting $200 billion from other areas, including mass transit, to fund new infrastructure plans, but Shuster called that idea “smoke and mirrors.”
The Republican leadership in Congress has announced its opposition to raising the federal fuel tax. Although 50 or 60 Republicans in the House might not go along with the idea, it is a practical option that rewards the public for its costs, Shuster said.
Many states have raised their own fuel taxes without paying a political price for it, but nevertheless Congress may need to wait until after the November elections are over before using a bipartisan strategy to raise the fuel tax, he said.
“A lame duck session, I think that's something we're going to push for,” Shuster said.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is working on numerous infrastructure bills. The committee will draft a Water Resources Development Act bill and mark it up sometime in the spring, and Shuster said he expects parallel work in the Senate.
But for a broad package of infrastructure legislation, Trump needs to lead and is not yet doing so, Shuster said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=129819738&vname=dennotallissues&fn=129819738&jd=129819738
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Air Pollution Permit Memo Will Speed Expansion, Industry Says
Mar 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jennifer Lu
Easing air pollution permitting reviews will jump start industrial expansion projects that would have been stalled or dropped previously, the EPA and industry groups said.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt's memo, released March 13, changes how industries calculate whether increases in air pollution resulting from their construction projects will trigger an EPA permitting program called new source review. The changes will let some businesses avoid installing new pollution controls that would have hindered their plans to build new facilities or expand existing operations.
“It's actually going to be a useful memo,” Eric Hiser, an environmental attorney at Jorden, Hiser & Joy PLC in Phoenix, told Bloomberg Environment. “It's a good flexibility measure.”
Industry groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, American Forest & Paper Association, and the American Wood Council, praised the EPA's new guidelines.
“Balanced, effective NSR regulations allow our industry to invest in new facilities and energy infrastructure in ways that improve environmental performance,” Howard Feldman, senior director of regulatory and scientific affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement.
Businesses Get Credit for Reducing Emissions
The memo allows industries to count decreases in emissions from construction projects, including from installing newer, more efficient equipment, when determining whether new source review permitting requirements apply.
Previously, regulators only considered project-specific emissions increases when deciding whether new pollution controls were required, Gary McCutchen, a former EPA new source review official, told Bloomberg Environment. McCutchen now works as a principal at RTP Environmental, a consulting firm.
For example, facilities that want to swap out an old boiler with a new one that emits at a similar level would no longer trigger new source review because there would be no significant net increase in emissions.
‘Accounting Tricks’
Environmental advocates accused the EPA of taking a “backdoor route” to revise the permitting requirements through guidance rather than a regulation.
“This is an action that will lead to more air pollution and allow companies to circumvent modern pollution controls by using accounting tricks,” Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, told Bloomberg Environment.
The memo will also let some industries avoid calculating whether the overall emissions increase over a period of time around the construction project would trigger permitting requirements, the next step in new source review if project-specific emissions will increase significantly.
By changing the way project-related emissions are calculated, a facility can avoid this second step, Lynn Hutchinson, who led new source review efforts at the EPA in 2002, told Bloomberg Environment. Hutchinson now works as general counsel and senior project manager at RTP Environmental.
“You don't have to look five years back now,” Hutchinson said. “You can look at the immediate effects,”
Latest Update
Pruitt's new memo is the EPA's latest update to the new source review permitting requirements.
In a December memo, the EPA said it will take industries at their word when they estimate how much air pollution will result from new or expanding operations. The EPA also has convened a task force to consider additional revisions to the permitting requirements.
The George W. Bush-era EPA attempted a similar change to new source review in 2006 through the rulemaking process, but that effort stalled.
Pruitt issued the changes this time around as a policy memo that can take effect immediately, McCutchen said.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=129819735&vname=dennotallissues&fn=129819735&jd=129819735
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Dems Want Answers on EPA Axing of Industrial Standards
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E News PM
By Sean Reilly
More than a dozen Senate Democrats, voicing alarm over U.S. EPA's recent decision to scrap a Clinton-era industrial pollution policy, today sought a host of details on the possible consequences.
"We believe that it is EPA's responsibility to provide clear, consistent regulations with the goal of protecting our communities," Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), 14 other Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote in a letter to agency chief Scott Pruitt. "Withdrawing the longstanding 'once in, always in' policy fails this responsibility."
The policy, which dated to 1995, had applied to factories and other "major" industrial pollution sources subject to maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards because they annually released 10 tons or more of a single air toxic or at least 25 tons of any combination of hazardous pollutants. Under that framework, the MACT requirements remained in place even if a facility's emissions dropped below the relevant thresholds on the grounds that a polluter could otherwise backslide.
In abolishing the policy two months ago, EPA air chief Bill Wehrum said it fell outside the "plain language" of the Clean Air Act. He predicted that revocation would lighten the regulatory burden on industries and states while continuing to ensure stringent controls on emissions of hazardous air pollutants (Greenwire, Jan. 26).
In today's letter, Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and the other lawmakers contested that reading. By Pruitt's own admission, they wrote, EPA failed to "closely review — or potentially consider at all — the health effects of this policy change."
Their letter also singled out Pruitt's statement at an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing in January that the decision to scrap the "once in, always in" policy came from EPA's policy office, as opposed to its air office. Based on that answer, the senators wrote, "we can only assume EPA made this decision without knowing if: More air toxic pollution will be emitted; where increased emissions might be located; and what the impacts of this policy change will be on human health, and state and local communities."
In almost a page and a half of questions, they asked EPA to turn over by April 9 all analyses and modeling of the potential effects, all documents from January 2017 to this past January with stakeholders related to the policy, and the maximum amount of increased hazardous air pollution that could result from the decision to end the policy.
The senators also asked whether EPA plans to pursue a formal rulemaking to withdraw the policy — as the agency unsuccessfully attempted to do more than a decade ago — and when it will begin soliciting public comments.
EPA will respond "through the proper channels," a spokeswoman said in an email this afternoon.
https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2018/03/14/stories/1060076359
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