Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 3/15/18
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(ACC Mentioned) Global Plastics Alliance Releases Progress Report
Mar 15, 2018 | Recycling Today
By DeAnne Toto
The Global Plastics Alliance (GPA), a collaboration among plastics industry associations and allied industry associations, has released its “4th Progress Report,” summarizing the status of commitments made under The Declaration of the Global Plastics Associations for Solutions on Marine Litter, also known as the "Global Declaration.” -
(ACC Mentioned) Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: DowDuPont, Albemarle and Monsanto
Mar 15, 2018 | Zacks (In Nasdaq)
The chemical industry has gotten its mojo back on strength across major end-markets and a resurgent world economy. The industry's upturn is expected to continue in 2018 as the fundamental driving factors remain in place. -
(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Growth Fuels Innovations in Hybrid Cut and Chemical PPE
Mar 14, 2018 | Occupational Health and Safety
By Steve Genzer
The chemical industry is currently in the midst of expansive growth. According to the American Chemistry Council, as many of the world’s major economies experience an upturn, the chemical industry stands poised to prosper, with U.S. chemistry production volume expected to increase by 3.7 percent in 2018. -
What Happens If Pruitt Leaves?
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Robin Bravender
Rumors swirled yesterday that President Trump might oust Attorney General Jeff Sessions and replace him with U.S. EPA boss Scott Pruitt. -
This AG Is a Climate Champ. It's a Wild Race to Replace Her
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Josh Kurtz
Lisa Madigan was elected Illinois attorney general in 2002 at the age of 36, breaking out of the state Senate even faster than a colleague named Barack Obama. -
EPA Releases Strategy to Reduce Animal Testing on Vertebrates
Mar 15, 2018 | Futurism
By Chelsea Gohd
Animal testing has become a questionably effective thorn in the side of scientific progress. -
(ACC Mentioned) NGOs Seek 'Comprehensive' Approach to FCMs in California
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A coalition of NGOs has called on California to comprehensively assess chemicals used in food packaging under its Safer Consumer Products programme. -
'Consumer and Retailer Demands as Potent as Regulation,' Food Packagers Say
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A Miller
Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration is less important than state regulation and consumer demands for companies that market food items and manufacture food packaging, presenters agreed at Chemical Watch's recent Food Contact Regulations US conference. -
Court Sets 1 June Compliance Date for US Formaldehyde Rule
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A US federal court has set a 1 June compliance date for new formaldehyde emission standards in manufactured wood products, moving up by six months a delayed deadline challenged by NGOs. -
Echa's Rac Discusses Restriction Proposal for Tattoo Substances
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
Echa's Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) has begun discussing a restriction proposal for substances in tattoo inks and permanent make-up. -
EU Commission to Replace Scoel with Echa's Rac
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission intends to reassign the responsibilities of DG Employment's Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (Scoel) to Echa's risk assessment committee (Rac), according to a staff working document (SWD) accompanying the second REACH review. -
Echa Offers Faster REACH Dossier Processing before April
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Companies submitting REACH registration dossiers by the end of March will receive a decision on their completeness within 21 days of their submission date, Echa has said. -
No Classification for DINP, Echa Committee Decides
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Echa's Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) has rejected Denmark's proposal to classify the plasticiser diisononyl phthalate (DINP) as a category 1B reproductive toxicant. Instead, Rac agreed on "no classification" for the reproductive hazard endpoint. -
Echa Round-Up
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
From 16 March onwards, Echa's dossier submission and communication tool REACH-IT will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. -
European Toy Industry Seeks Exclusions from PAH Guideline
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Rubber and plastic components of some toys and children's articles such as bikes, scooters and baby walkers should be excluded from an EU guideline on the restriction on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, an industry association has said. -
LNG Exporters Seek Exemption from Steel Tariffs
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Geof Koss
The natural gas industry is asking the Trump administration to immediately exempt all imported steel used in liquefied natural gas export facilities from the president's 25 percent tariff, saying additional costs will harm the prospects for U.S. projects amid intense global competition. -
The Shale Boom Could Prove a Two-Edged Sword for America
Mar 15, 2018 | The Economist
When Ryan Zinke, America’s secretary of the interior, turned up for his first day in office a year ago, the ex-Navy Seal arrived on a horse called Tonto, wearing a cowboy hat. -
US Energy Transfer Reveals Details on New Gulf Coast Ethane Terminal
Mar 15, 2018 | ICIS
By Steven McGinn
Energy Transfer Partners revealed on Thursday more details of an ethane terminal that it will build on the US Gulf Coast under a joint venture with Satellite Petrochemical USA. -
FERC Splits on Climate Review, Reapproves Sabal Trail
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Federal regulators last night reinstated permits for a major Southeast natural gas network at the center of an unprecedented climate battle that almost shut the project down. -
BLM Pushes Back on Methane Rule Revival
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The Trump administration is urging a federal court to put Obama-era methane standards back on ice after another court recently revived them. -
DHS, FBI: Russian Hackers Targeted U.S. Energy Grid
Mar 15, 2018 | Politico Pro
By Tim Starks
The Trump administration on Thursday accused Russian government hackers of carrying out a deliberate, ongoing operation to penetrate vital U.S. industries, including the energy grid — a major ratcheting up of tensions between the two countries over cybersecurity. -
Russia-Linked Hackers Target U.S. Energy Sector in New Cyberattacks, Feds Say
Mar 15, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Collin Eaton
Russian government-linked hackers have targeted the U.S. energy industry and other sectors critical to running the economy in a new surge of online attacks since at least March 2016, federal agencies said on Thursday. -
Ewire: Pruitt Weighs Taking Comment on GHG Risk Petitions
Mar 15, 2018 | Inside EPA
Amid reports that the White House has killed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's plan to conduct a “red team, blue team” review of climate change science, a new report says that the agency is mulling a backup plan: soliciting public comment on conservative groups' petition for the agency to reverse its greenhouse gas endangerment finding. -
Groups Sue for Information about Heartland Institute’s Involvement in EPA Climate Science Decisions
Mar 15, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to release information about the Heartland Institute’s efforts to attack climate science. -
US Officials Battling Global Climate Change despite Trump Rhetoric: Report
Mar 15, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Julia Manchester
Administration officials are working to combat global climate change despite President Trump's skeptical rhetoric on the issue, according to a Reuters report. -
'Irritated Residents' Sue EPA over Calif. Ozone Plan
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
A California advocacy group is suing U.S. EPA to prod action on a ground-level ozone cleanup plan for the San Joaquin Valley.
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(ACC Mentioned) Global Plastics Alliance Releases Progress Report
Mar 15, 2018 | Recycling Today
By DeAnne Toto
The Global Plastics Alliance (GPA), a collaboration among plastics industry associations and allied industry associations, has released its “4th Progress Report,” summarizing the status of commitments made under The Declaration of the Global Plastics Associations for Solutions on Marine Litter, also known as the "Global Declaration.” As of December 2017, approximately 355 projects have been planned, underway or completed. This represents an increase of more than three and a half times the number of projects since 2011, when the Global Declaration was announced. The projects vary widely, from beach cleanups to expanding waste management capacities to global research to awareness and education campaigns. These projects have been undertaken by 74 associations in 40 countries from virtually every corner of the globe, the alliance says.
“Our industry associations are actively engaged in solutions to address marine debris,” says Callum Chen, secretary general, Asia Plastics Forum. “Particularly in Asia the plastics value chain is making strides to educate consumers and governments on the ways to keep plastic out of our environment. There is a pressing need for improving waste management infrastructure as a solution to this global challenge.”
“This latest report shows the progress made by the global plastics industry to help provide solutions to the ocean plastic problem, in every region of the world,” says Steve Russell, vice president of plastics, American Chemistry Council, Washington. “Since the 5th International Marine Debris Conference when we first announced the Declaration, we’ve more than tripled the number of projects.”
Thursday, March 15, 2018, Russell participates in the panel Global Plastics Alliance Efforts to Address Marine Debris at the Sixth International Marine Debris Conference in San Diego. The panelists discuss work underway as part of the declaration, including many of the newly reported projects. Other speakers will include Crispian Lao, Philippines Plastics Industry Association; Douw Steyn, Plastics South Africa; Karl-H. Foerster, PlasticsEurope; Steve Sikra, Procter & Gamble; and Alexander Turra, University of Sao Paulo.
“An important pillar of Plastics 2030 (PlasticsEurope’s Voluntary Commitment) is to end the leakage of plastics in the environment,” says Karl-H. Foerster, executive director, PlasticsEurope. “We need to focus on long-term sustainable solutions to tackle marine litter. For this to happen, it is essential that the collaboration of all stakeholders continues by developing and implementing programs that address the problem at source.”
The six focus areas of the Global Declaration are education, research, public policy, sharing best practices, plastics recycling/recovery and plastic pellet containment.
http://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/global-plastics-alliance-4th-progress-report-marine-litter/
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(ACC Mentioned) Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: DowDuPont, Albemarle and Monsanto
Mar 15, 2018 | Zacks (In Nasdaq)
The chemical industry has gotten its mojo back on strength across major end-markets and a resurgent world economy. The industry's upturn is expected to continue in 2018 as the fundamental driving factors remain in place.
Despite a few industry-related and macroeconomic headwinds, there are a number of reasons to be optimistic about the broader chemical industry for both the short and long haul. Let's find out what's supporting the bullish case for chemical stocks.
Shale Bounty - Driving Force for Chemical Investment
The shale gas revolution in the United States has been a huge driving force behind chemical investment on plants and equipment in the country. According to the American Chemistry Council ("ACC"), the United States has emerged as an attractive investment location and petrochemical makers are now significantly expanding capacity in the country leveraging new supplies of natural gas. New methods of extraction such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) are boosting shale production, bringing down prices of ethane (derived from shale gas) in the process.
The shale boom has incentivized a number of chemical companies to pump in billions of dollars for setting up facilities (crackers) in the United States to produce ethylene and propylene in a cost-effective way. Per the ACC, 320 new chemical projects have been already announced by chemical makers worth more than $185 billion that are under construction or complete. Such investments - many backed by Federal government support - are expected to boost capacity and export over the next several years.
Chemical industry capital spending also continues to go up, clocking $38 billion in 2017, according to the ACC. This also accounts for one-half of overall construction spending by the manufacturing sector. The trade group expects capital spending to rise 6.3% in 2018 and 6.8% in 2019 and eventually reach $48 billion by 2022.
Strong Momentum in Construction
A rebound across housing and commercial construction - major chemical end-markets - has been another supporting factor for the chemical industry recovery. After being hit hard in the recession, the construction sector has bounced back on the back of strong housing fundamentals.
The U.S. homebuilding industry performed remarkably well in 2017 and the momentum is expected to continue this year. Strong employment, rising income, increasing interest from first-time homebuyers, tight inventory of new and existing homes and high homebuilder confidence are among the factors that should support continued growth in housing demand in 2018.
Moreover, 2018 has started on a positive note for the commercial construction sector. The U.S. Architecture Billings Index (ABI), an economic indicator that provides a roughly nine to 12 - month glimpse into the future of non-residential construction spending activity, hit the highest level in January 2018 since 2007.
Per the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the ABI score was 54.7 (a reading above 50 indicates an increase in billings) for January, an increase from 52.8 a month ago, indicating an upturn in architectural activity. The AIA also expects non-residential construction spending to go up 4% in 2018 and 3.9% in 2019.
Positives such as an improving economy, an impressive job market, rising consumer confidence and a tight supply situation raise optimism about the construction sector's performance. Moreover, President Donald Trump's plan to double economic growth through an ambitious stimulus program featuring higher infrastructure spending, tax cuts and deregulation augur well for the sector.
Demand Strength in Automotive Sector
Chemical makers continue to see healthy demand from the automotive sector - a major end-use market. 2017 has been another record-setting year for global light vehicle sales. IHS Markit expects another strong year for the automotive industry on a global level in 2018 and envisions global light vehicle sales to increase 1.5% year over year to 95.9 million units this year.
Moreover, demand is expected to remain healthy in the United States this year. Rising demand for crossovers, sports utility vehicles and light trucks are aiding the U.S. auto industry. The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) foresees a stable, healthy market for new vehicles in 2018 and expects new cars and light trucks sales to reach 16.7 million units.
The auto industry in Asian countries, especially China, is also expected to thrive over the next several years. China is the biggest and fastest growing auto market in the world in terms of number of vehicles sold. This augurs well for chemical demand in this important end-market.
Upturn in the Eurozone Economy
Eurozone's economic recovery continues apace, as evident from recent upbeat economic data. The region's recovery is backed by a pickup in the global economy, declining unemployment, strengthening business and consumer confidence and monetary stimulus from the European Central Bank. The European chemical industry has also swung back to life on the back of a rebounding Eurozone economy.
Eurozone wrapped up 2017 on a strong note with GDP rising 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2017 (according to Eurostat data) on a quarter-over-quarter basis, driven by strong growth across Germany and France. The bloc's economy also expanded 2.3% in 2017, the fastest rate in more than a decade.
While geopolitical risks may still remain a drag, the Eurozone economy is poised for a strong 2018. The European Commission, in its winter 2018 forecast, said that it expects the Eurozone to grow 2.3% in 2018 (up from previous estimate of 2.1%), followed by 2% in 2019.
Resurgent Energy Sector
A rebound in crude oil prices has led to a recovery in demand for chemicals in the energy space, an important end-use market. Oil prices have been steadily recovering from their nadir of below $30 a barrel in early 2016, currently trading above the important psychological level of $60 a barrel. Oil prices recently soared to their highest level in more than three years at $66 a barrel.
The uptrend in oil prices has been supported by a decline in U.S. oil stockpiles, upbeat demand outlook and extension of oil production cuts by OPEC and other major world producers until the end of 2018.
Improving fundamentals in the energy space is expected to support chemical demand moving ahead. The rebound in oil prices has also led to a favorable pricing environment for chemical products.
Chemical M&A Wave Continues
Chemical makers remain actively focused on mergers and acquisitions to diversify their business, enhance operational scale and shore up growth. The $130 billion mega-merger of The Dow Chemical Company and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (DuPont) to create DowDuPont Inc. - the biggest chemical deal ever - is a huge testimony to these strategic moves.
Other major deals that have taken place in the chemical space in the recent past include China National Chemical Corporation's $43 billion acquisition of Syngenta AG, Albemarle Corporation's $6.2 billion buyout of Rockwood Holdings, Inc., Merck KGaA's $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, and the $66 billion proposed mega-merger between Monsanto Company and Bayer AG.
Strategic Actions to Reap Margin Benefits
Chemical companies continue to switch their focus on attractive, growth markets in an effort to cut their exposure on other businesses that are grappling with weak demand. Moreover, cost-cutting measures and productivity improvement actions by chemical companies are expected to deliver industry-wide margin benefits in 2018. Some chemical makers are also disposing non-core assets as they shift their focus on high-margin businesses.
Moreover, a number of chemical makers are taking pricing actions (reflected by hikes in chemical prices in the recent past) in the wake of a sharp rise in raw materials costs. This is also expected to reap margin benefits moving ahead.
https://www.nasdaq.com/article/zacks-industry-outlook-highlights-dowdupont-albemarle-and-monsanto-cm935224
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(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Growth Fuels Innovations in Hybrid Cut and Chemical PPE
Mar 14, 2018 | Occupational Health and Safety
By Steve Genzer
The chemical industry is currently in the midst of expansive growth. According to the American Chemistry Council, as many of the world’s major economies experience an upturn, the chemical industry stands poised to prosper, with U.S. chemistry production volume expected to increase by 3.7 percent in 2018. This momentum and expansion translates into a powerful workforce; the chemical industry alone employs 811,000 people in the United States, and for every one job created from the business of chemistry, 6.8 jobs are created in other sectors.1 Talk about a true chemical reaction.
As with any growth comes evolution, and the chemical industry is no exception. To meet growing industry demands for innovations and efficiencies, automated machinery and technology are becoming more common in the workplace than ever before. With workspaces outfitted with advanced technologies and businesses challenged to forge paths of accelerated growth, the need to multitask and quickly change from a chemical setting to a mechanical setting is the new norm. Workers are being challenged to move more quickly and efficiently from task to task for better productivity and performance.
As chemical work becomes increasingly more complex, so does outfitting workers with proper personal protective equipment (PPE). Chemical workers regularly dealing with automated machinery or advanced equipment are routinely exposed to cut hazards in chemical applications, putting themselves at an increased risk of injury, poor comfort, and loss of productivity.
So a new challenge arises for safety managers and workers alike: finding safety solutions that provide comfort and performance without compromising chemical or cut protection. Thanks to innovations in PPE, such options exist, but they do so in a sea of gloves that settle for cut or chemical protection at the expense of grip, comfort, or dexterity. Safety managers must wade through a wide array of cut and chemical safety products to find the right balance of protection.
With more than 60 million chemicals registered in the Chemical Abstract Service registry, finding the right chemical protective glove is not an easy task. Many different chemicals and chemical mixes are used in a typical product process or production facility, and every unique set of chemicals requires specific safety precautions. To match the expansive set of chemicals that can be present in any given work space, chemical-resistant gloves come in a wide variety of barrier materials, thickness, and designs.
However, the glove game becomes even more complicated when cut risks come in the mix. Not only does the glove need to protect against permeation breakthroughs of chemicals, its fabrication also must stand up to cuts and abrasion to ensure workers are protected against other possible risks.
According to the current chemical workforce, this is where current gloves aren’t standing up to the task at hand. A 2017 Ansell market research shows 86 percent of chemical glove wearers indicated they would like cut protection in their current chemical gloves, and cut protection was the number one desired improvement to the design of chemical gloves. Workers are speaking loud and clear—with increased cut risks abundant in today's machinery-heavy work spaces, cut protection can be as critical a factor as chemical protection.
Breaking Bad Habits
Identifying worker PPE needs is the first step; breaking bad habits is the next hurdle when it comes to protecting against both chemicals and cuts. Faced with inadequate protection, workers have developed inefficient and dangerous work-arounds to fit their glove needs or get the job done.Without multipurpose gloves that protect against all possible risks, some workers don gloves that offer only chemical or cut protection—not both, leaving them only partially protected. Those who choose to wear mechanical gloves only are at a risk of exposure to hazardous chemicals if the glove barrier is compromised. Those who choose to only wear chemical gloves run the risk of harmful lacerations if the barrier material can’t stand up to sharp objects.
Others choose to double up on protection, either wearing a mechanical glove under a chemical glove or a disposable glove under a mechanical glove in an attempt to achieve both chemical and cut protection. Unfortunately, the process of double gloving to achieve additional protection comes at a cost: comfort and performance. Two gloves can prove uncomfortable and stiff, while also decreasing the dexterity and tactility needed to complete daily tasks.
Finally—and perhaps the worst scenario—some workers choose to remove their gloves altogether, opting for the grip and comfort a bare hand provides while putting themselves at a massive safety risk. Any safety advocate can see we simply can’t stand to make the compromise between safety and performance any longer.
Compliance Over Compromise: PPE That Protects Against Cuts and Chemicals
Innovations in PPE are finally bridging the gap between chemical and cut protection, offering workers an all-encompassing safety solution. Advancements in nitrile, yarns, and fabrics allow for gloves that protect workers from many frequently used chemicals while still providing long-lasting snag, puncture, and abrasion resistance. Cut-resistant technologies and materials provide lightweight liners that can be added to chemical gloves, providing exceptional levels of cut protection in a chemical glove without losing comfort or ease of donning and doffing.Advancements in glove designs are also keeping worker safety and health top of mind. New hi-viz liners can act as an indicator when the outer coating is cut or compromised, prompting workers to replace their gloves before any harm is done. Optimized fit techniques mold cut liners to nitrile shells for a second-skin feel and increased worker comfort leads to better PPE compliance.
Chemical workers are continually faced with greater demands and challenges that come with larger safety risks. It's time for PPE to match the industry's accelerated growth to ensure workers feel equipped to handle their unique set of tasks at hand.
https://ohsonline.com/Articles/2018/04/01/Chemical-Growth-Fuels-Innovations.aspx?Page=1
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What Happens If Pruitt Leaves?
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Robin Bravender
Rumors swirled yesterday that President Trump might oust Attorney General Jeff Sessions and replace him with U.S. EPA boss Scott Pruitt.
If it happens, it stands to be among the president's most consequential moves on environmental policy.
Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general, is reviled by environmentalists and Democrats for moving swiftly to pare down EPA and roll back major rules dealing with everything from climate change and water to toxic chemicals. His tenure at EPA so far — just over one year — has also won him plaudits from conservatives and industry representatives who accused the Obama administration of vast overreach.
Pruitt's possible jump to the Justice Department would leave a vacant slot at the helm of the nation's top environmental agency at a time when other top administration jobs are in flux. Trump's broad deregulatory push would likely continue at EPA and elsewhere, but the agency's leadership and priorities could see big shifts if a new leader is confirmed or if Pruitt's position goes unfilled amid opposition in the Senate.
After Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday, accounts surfaced that he is considering broader shake-ups in his Cabinet. Vanity Fair reported yesterday that Trump could replace Sessions with Pruitt. Sessions has recused himself from the DOJ probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but Pruitt presumably wouldn't do so.
Pruitt would need to be confirmed to lead the Justice Department. So would a possible successor at EPA. Both of those confirmation battles promise to be epic. Senate Democrats have expressed frequent frustration with Pruitt for his environmental policies, transparency, and his use of taxpayer money for things like pricey travel and a soundproof phone booth. Any EPA nominee would be immediately at the center of a bitter partisan battle in a midterm election year.
EPA referred questions to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Environmentalists who have excoriated Pruitt for his rule rollbacks, expensive travel and efforts to downsize EPA would be thrilled to see him go.
"Pruitt would certainly improve EPA by leaving it," said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign. "But justice would pay a terrible price for his extremism and arrogance" if he were to move to DOJ.
Pruitt's supporters, meanwhile, have been happy with his moves toward repealing the Clean Power Plan and reviewing or cutting other major Obama-era environmental regulations. Pruitt recently issued a report summarizing his first year in office and lauding his often-stated efforts to focus on EPA's "core mission."
It's unclear who might take the helm at EPA if Pruitt goes to a different agency.
Trump's pick to become Pruitt's deputy, former coal industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, was nominated last October but hasn't yet cleared the Senate.
Names circulating as possible replacements for Pruitt include EPA air chief Bill Wehrum; Donald van der Vaart, the former top environmental regulator in North Carolina; Bryan Shaw, chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; and Craig Butler, head of the Ohio EPA.
There's a chance that West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who's running in the Republican primary in the race against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), could be a contender for the EPA slot if he loses the May 8 primary. He's in a competitive race against Rep. Evan Jenkins and coal magnate Don Blankenship. Morrisey and Pruitt were among the state attorneys general who led the charge against the Clean Power Plan in court.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060076377
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This AG Is a Climate Champ. It's a Wild Race to Replace Her
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Josh Kurtz
Lisa Madigan was elected Illinois attorney general in 2002 at the age of 36, breaking out of the state Senate even faster than a colleague named Barack Obama.
Environmentalists at the time weren't quite sure what to make of Madigan, a product of the fabled Cook County Democratic machine, whose father, Mike Madigan, was the long-serving and very powerful speaker of the Illinois House.
Sixteen years later, Mike Madigan is still the speaker, Lisa Madigan is stepping down as attorney general, and Illinois greens are sad that she's leaving. And the wild but largely unheralded race to replace her includes a former governor, a former Miss America and the man who replaced Obama in the state Senate.
During her four terms as attorney general, Madigan has been a climate champion who has frequently done battle with the state's powerful utilities, fought against hydraulic fracturing and taken legal aim against water pollution. Since President Trump took office, her national profile has been elevated, and she's become part of the "blue wall" of Democratic state attorneys general who are fighting the administration's regulatory rollbacks.
Illinois greens credit Madigan for listening to them and considering their views in all her negotiations and legal proceedings with polluters.
"She's been in the position to bring environmental organizations to the table, and that was really important for us to make our case," said Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council.
Madigan's retirement announcement last September surprised everyone in Illinois politics. For years, she was considered a potential contender for governor or U.S. Senate, though she always said she was hesitant to run for governor while her father was still House speaker and state Democratic chairman. A fun fact: She is married to New Yorker cartoonist Pat Byrnes.
In a statement announcing her retirement, Madigan said she was proud of "enforcing the environmental laws, fighting for strong regulations to combat global climate change, and advocating for environmental justice for communities impacted by pollution." She calculated that she had saved utility ratepayers $2.1 billion during her tenure.'Several qualified candidates'
Madigan's decision to retire came fairly late in the election cycle, and candidates for governor have spent tens of millions of dollars ahead of next Tuesday's primaries. As a result, the race for attorney general hasn't gotten much publicity.
A poll taken in late February found that almost two-thirds of Republican voters were undecided about the two candidates in their race, while 39 percent of Democrats were undecided on their eight-way primary.
Leading the pack in the Democratic race, according to the poll, with 22 percent and 18 percent, respectively, were state Sen. Kwame Raoul — the man who replaced Obama in late 2004 — and former Gov. Pat Quinn. The other six contenders — state Rep. Scott Drury; Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering; Chicago Park District Board President Jesse Ruiz; and attorneys Sharon Fairley, Aaron Goldstein and Renato Mariotti — finished in single digits.
The poll of 472 Democrats, taken Feb. 19-25 by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, had a 4.5-percentage-point margin of error.
Environmentalists find themselves equally perplexed about this race. Leaders at the Sierra Club of Illinois chose not to endorse anyone in the Democratic primary for attorney general, even though they did in other races.
"We saw several qualified candidates and bold statements from all the candidates, who had a mix of related accomplishments," said Jack Darin, the group's executive director. "I think we're excited that the Democratic nominee is someone who the people are going to be able to rally behind."
Each of the candidates has promised aggressive action on environmental justice and enforcement — "testament," Darin said, "to the legacy of Lisa Madigan."
But some are talking about the environment more than others. Many of the candidates are emphasizing public safety, civil rights and consumer protections on the campaign trail. Drury and Quinn seem to be talking about green issues more consistently than their opponents.
Drury — who has had a perfect score from the Illinois Environmental Council on its last three scorecards — said he will be a tough environmental watchdog who will compensate for the lax enforcement record of the Illinois EPA under Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
"I firmly believe that people/companies change their conduct when they know or believe someone is watching over them," he said in the Sierra Club's voter guide on the attorney general race, which was released earlier this week.
"When I am Attorney General, those who seek to harm our environment will know that I am watching over them and will change their behavior accordingly," he said. "This message will be reinforced through litigation against those who continue to do harm to our planet."
In a state where the Democratic establishment often holds sway, Drury has tried to make his long-standing and singular opposition to Mike Madigan as House speaker a virtue in this campaign. But that may not be enough to catapult him to top-tier status.The mighty Quinn?
In fact, nobody quite enjoys the outsider status that Quinn does — and this is a guy who spent six years as governor.
Quinn, who is 69, has had one of the most peripatetic careers in contemporary politics, and has lost more political races than he has won. He started in the 1970s as an aide to then-Gov. Dan Walker (D). His first elected office was as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Tax Appeals, serving from 1982 to 1986. After losing a race for state treasurer, he briefly served as revenue director for the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.
Along the way, Quinn helped create the Illinois Citizens Utility Board, which works to keep electricity rates low and make investor-owned utilities more accountable to the public.
He was elected state treasurer in 1990, then lost bids for secretary of state, U.S. Senate and lieutenant governor, and was finally elected lieutenant governor in 2002, on a ticket headed by Rod Blagojevich — though the two later had a falling out. When Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office in 2009 for attempting to sell Obama's U.S. Senate seat, Quinn became governor. He won a full term in 2010 and then narrowly lost to Rauner in 2014.
But Quinn compiled a strong environmental record during his six years in the Illinois Executive Mansion. He convened annual statewide conferences on green building, created a state day to celebrate and defend rivers, and promoted rain gardens for water conservation. He also passed measures to promote solar and wind energy — including providing for the state Capitol to be powered by renewables.
"When he was governor, he was very green," said Walling of the Illinois Environmental Council.
Today, Quinn calls environmental sustainability "the challenge of our time."
But Raoul is criticizing Quinn's overall record. He blames Quinn for losing to Rauner — and, indirectly, for the state's current economic woes and environmental rollbacks.
"Quinn failed as governor, why would we make him attorney general?" a narrator asks in a TV adRaoul started airing last week. More recently, he is airing a spot featuring a 30-year-old film clipof Washington, the late Chicago mayor, criticizing Quinn.
"I must have been blind or staggering," Washington says in the ad. "I would never appoint Pat Quinn to do anything. Pat Quinn is a totally and completely undisciplined individual. He was dismissed. My only regret is that we hired him and kept him too long."
The Quinn camp has hit back — tagging Raoul as a puppet of special interests.
"Kwame Raoul's desperate attacks are to cover up the fact that he doesn't want voters to know who's funding his campaign — big tobacco, big utilities, big banks and even red-light camera operators," said David Roeder, a Quinn spokesman. "With all those conflicts of interest, Raoul can't be trusted to be on our side for attorney general."
Campaign finance data compiled by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform found that Raoul has accepted far more money from the state's electric and gas utilities than any of the other candidates for attorney general — almost $65,000.
"That's always the question — can the candidate take those contributions and remain independent?" said Sarah Brune, the watchdog group's executive director.
But Brune said those large utilities throw campaign cash around aggressively in Illinois, to candidates from both political parties, and that Raoul's contributions from the tobacco industry are more concerning, because the industry is directly regulated by the attorney general.
Madigan, Brune said, refused to take contributions from regulated industries except in election years.
But Raoul has gotten kudos from environmental groups for his role as chief sponsor of legislation that would change the state's standing laws, making it easier for citizens to challenge permits for large infrastructure projects. He scored 93 percent on the latest Illinois Environmental Council report card and had perfect scores in the previous two.
With endorsements from key labor unions, minority group leaders and the Cook County Democratic organization, Raoul may be the man to beat in next Tuesday's primary. But Quinn, if nothing else, is well-known.GOP race
The Republican race, meanwhile, is a lot less crowded. It features Erika Harold, who won the Miss America pageant in 2002 but lost a bid for Congress in 2014, and Gary Grasso, a member of the DuPage County Board.
Both are social conservatives who have talked about law and order and political corruption on the campaign trail. But neither has said much about environmental policy.
Harold has taken at least $33,000 in contributions from electric and gas utilities, according to the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.
The recent Southern Illinois University poll on the GOP primary found Harold with 18 percent, Grasso with 14 percent and 65 percent undecided. The poll of 259 registered Republicans had a 6-point error margin.
Harold has been endorsed by Rauner, the wealthy governor — who has contributed $300,000 to her campaign. But she has been on the defensive in recent days amid media reports that during a 2000 beauty pageant, she suggested that adoption by same-sex parents was less desirable than children being adopted by heterosexual parents who are known child abusers.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/03/15/stories/1060076375
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EPA Releases Strategy to Reduce Animal Testing on Vertebrates
Mar 15, 2018 | Futurism
By Chelsea Gohd
Animal testing has become a questionably effective thorn in the side of scientific progress. While it was once our best method, alternative methods are beginning to surpass animal testing in both accuracy and reliability. Fortunately, the EPA recently released a draft strategy to reduce the use of vertebrate animals in chemical testing.
This public stand against animal testing is a part of the EPA’s commitment to the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
“This draft strategy is a first step toward reducing the use of animals and increasing the use of cutting-edge science to ensure chemicals are reviewed for safety with the highest scientific standards,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in a statement. The EPA’s draft strategy is currently available for public comment, and will be for 45 days as of March 7.
The draft strategy has three relatively simple components: “identifying, developing and integrating” new approaches for Toxic Substances Control Act decisions; building confidence that these new methods are scientifically reliable, and relevant to toxic substance decisions; and implementing the new methods that are a best fit. Of course, that’s much easier said than done, and the plan notes that this “necessarily describes a multi-year process with incremental steps for adoption and integration” of new testing methods.
“We welcome the draft strategy as a progressive step to reduce and ultimately replace the use of animals to regulate chemicals in the U.S. through the implementation of TSCA reform,” said Catherine Willett, director of science policy at The Humane Society of the United States, in the EPA statement. “We have every indication that EPA intends to make good on this unprecedented opportunity to not only reduce animal use, but improve the science used to evaluate chemical safety.”
Reducing and eliminating animal testing is no longer just an animal rights’ issue. Unfortunately, animal testing has been shown to produce some misleading, unreliable results, given that animals’ bodies respond to drugs and medical conditions in some significantly different ways from humans’.
Fortunately, as the EPA continues to reduce animal use in testing, alternative methods continue to develop and improve. It is possible that one day soon testing will be both animal-free and more accurate than ever before.
https://futurism.com/animal-testing-new-epa-strategy/
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(ACC Mentioned) NGOs Seek 'Comprehensive' Approach to FCMs in California
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A coalition of NGOs has called on California to comprehensively assess chemicals used in food packaging under its Safer Consumer Products programme.
At the same time, however, industry groups have protested against the product category even being under consideration.
In comments to the Department of Toxic Substances Control’s (DTSC) consultation, five NGOs – including the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Clean Water Action (CWA) – applauded the addition of food contact materials to the SCP draft 2018-2020 priority product work plan. "Given the universality of packaged food in the American diet and the waste stream, chemicals leaching from wrappings and containers pose a widespread threat," the groups said.
Published last month, the draft work plan names seven broad product categories from which the DTSC may select 'priority products' for which a manufacturer must undertake an alternatives analysis. Five of these were carried over from the inaugural 2015-17 document; food packaging and lead-acid batteries have been added.
One complaint about the plan voiced by industry groups concerned the breadth of product categories and the inclusion of full classes of chemicals in the list of "candidate chemicals".
But at the opposite extreme, the NGO coalition said that chemicals in food packaging "must be seen as a single problem, whether individual candidate chemicals are used as linings, coatings, or integral components of the packaging itself".
It therefore advocated a plan for "comprehensively addressing chemicals of concern in food packaging … [that] prioritises exposure and requires addressing multiple types of substances and chemical classes that may harm human and/or environmental health, regardless of specific product function".Regulatory authority
In its comments to the consultation, industry coalition the Green Chemistry Alliance (GCA) argued the work plan "exceeds DTSC’s legal authority". It said the statute does not permit the department to "supersede the authority of other agencies", and instructs it not to "duplicate or adopt conflicting regulations for products and chemicals already regulated or subject to pending regulation".
In the case of food packaging, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates these products.
"Food packaging must meet stringent, risk-based safety standards at the federal level," said the American Chemistry Council. "A subsequent attempt for DTSC to regulate food packaging with respect to the health and safety of chemicals would not only be unnecessary; it would certainly either duplicate or conflict with FDA regulations".
The ACC also said that DTSC action would "undermine FDA’s educational efforts to reassure consumers about the safety of food packaging". Substances used in these products, it said, have "been deemed to have met FDA’s safety standard and be safe for use in food contact applications, taking migration and exposure into account".
But in separate comments, coalition member The Breast Cancer Prevention Partners said that food packaging "meets all of the attributes outlined by the SCP Program to select priority product categories".
Namely, according to the NGO:
a clear pathway for exposure;
found in biomonitoring studies and observed in indoor air quality studies; and
impacts on sensitive populations and on aquatic resources or water quality.
https://chemicalwatch.com/64950/ngos-seek-comprehensive-approach-to-fcms-in-california
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'Consumer and Retailer Demands as Potent as Regulation,' Food Packagers Say
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A Miller
Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration is less important than state regulation and consumer demands for companies that market food items and manufacture food packaging, presenters agreed at Chemical Watch's recent Food Contact Regulations US conference.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a good example, the conference in Arlington, Virginia, heard. Industry groups have touted the FDA's recent announcement of early research results supporting the agency's position that current uses of BPA are safe. But that won't matter, speakers said, if states – notably California – regulate it, and consumers seek out "BPA free" products.
BPA is listed as a reproductive toxicant under California’s Proposition 65, which means products containing it above 'safe harbour' threshold levels must carry a warning label.
"Our position is that BPA is safe as used in can coatings," said Phil Berrier, senior manager for packaging safety and compliance at the Coca-Cola Company. Nevertheless, the company "converted its west coast operations" to avoid a Prop 65 label.
Coca-Cola is not alone, said Sarah Roller, a partner at Kelley Drye & Warren. She said Prop 65 is "contributing to efforts by food processors to develop data that their packaging is not a source of BPA exposure to justify the absence of warnings."
Just as important, Ms Roller said, are the demands of retailers such as Walmart, Costco and Whole Foods that packaged food products they sell meet a list of requirements.
"I am finding their requirements are more stringent than the requirements of regulators," agreed Weldon Williams, senior director of global quality assurance at Havi, a company providing logistics and supply chain support across multiple industries, notably food service.
Retailers’ concerns are "global", Mr Williams said, taking into consideration regulations from multiple countries where they do business. In addition, he said, retailers are "dealing with perceptions" of consumers.
"The minute I have to rely on science to explain it is safe, I have lost the consumer," he said.
This leads manufacturers to compete by claiming to be "free" of substances perceived as harmful.
"It is not just the NGOs and consumers who are pushing this message," Mr Williams said. "When packages say ‘I am BPA free’ and ‘I am GMO free’ it communicates to consumers that these things are dangerous."
"We do ourselves a disservice when we create that fear," agreed Jim Flannery, senior executive vice president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association.FDA failings?
Tom Neltner, chemicals policy director at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), said NGOs resort to public awareness campaigns because the FDA has failed to regulate substances such as perchlorateand perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in food packaging.
State action is "a symptom of the FDA not having the resources to do the analysis or the authority to get the information," he said.
And, he added, the "evolving consumer" wants not only to be assured food is "safe" but also more information on what it contains. "The line between safety and nutrition is getting blurry," he said.
Mr Neltner and Emily Griffith, a law fellow at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), said consumers are concerned about the overall impact of the multiple products they use, which is hard for the FDA or an individual manufacturer to address.
"It’s the lifecycle of the products and not just what this one product is going to do to personal cancer risk or the watershed," said Ms Griffith, speaking from the audience.
"We don’t have a lot of tools to demand that data from industry," said Dennis Keefe, director of the Office of Food Additives at the FDA.
https://chemicalwatch.com/64952/consumer-and-retailer-demands-as-potent-as-regulation-food-packagers-say
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Court Sets 1 June Compliance Date for US Formaldehyde Rule
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A US federal court has set a 1 June compliance date for new formaldehyde emission standards in manufactured wood products, moving up by six months a delayed deadline challenged by NGOs.
Last year, the Trump administration issued a final rule pressing pause on the effective dates of a formaldehyde emissions rule that extends nationwide the California Air Resources Board (CARB) standards for plywood, fibreboard, particleboard and finished goods. The move delayed by a year the 12 December 2017 deadline for the new emission standards, record-keeping and labelling provisions.
But two NGOs filed suit last October, arguing that the EPA has no authority to delay implementation. And last month, the federal court made a decision in their favour.
In an order issued this week, the court imposed a 1 June compliance deadline. This seeks to "avoid the substantial disruption that would result" from retroactively imposing the original deadline, which has passed.
Earthjustice – who represented the petitioning organisations Sierra Club and the New Orleans-based group A Community Voice – welcomed the court’s decision.
The order "levels the competitive playing field for many US-based manufacturers", said Earthjustice, since domestic companies have already reduced formaldehyde levels. American manufacturers "have been undercut by foreign products that don’t meet the same safety standards".
Formaldehyde, a carcinogen, is used to bind plywood, particleboard and other wood products used in a wide array of consumer products, such as panelling, flooring, cabinets and furniture.
The 2010 Formaldehyde Act required the US EPA to issue the regulations by January 2013, to go into effect 180 days after publication. An initial proposal was published in 2013, but the agency did not publish a final regulation until 2016.
The agency set the first compliance deadlines for December 2017, but these were delayed by the Trump administration’s September 2017 rule.
https://chemicalwatch.com/64956/court-sets-1-june-compliance-date-for-us-formaldehyde-rule
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Echa's Rac Discusses Restriction Proposal for Tattoo Substances
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
Echa's Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) has begun discussing a restriction proposal for substances in tattoo inks and permanent make-up.
In July 2016, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre published a policy report, calling for a full risk assessment of ingredients.
Echa has been working on a proposal with Denmark, Germany, Italy and Norway, at the request of the European Commission. It submitted the proposal last October and a public consultation will run until 20 June.
The proposal suggests restricting around 4,000 substances contained in tattoo inks. Its "qualitative" approach to risk assessment initially involves harvesting chemical lists and data from the cosmetics products Regulation and harmonised classification and labelling (CLP), with a focus on chemicals classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic, as well as sensitisers and irritants.
"Rac was fairly convinced by the exposure scenario," said committee chair Tim Bowmer. Applying permanent make-up or tattoos gives immediate exposure to ink chemicals, he said. However, there will be future discussion about how the chemicals can travel in the body and where they may eventually end up, he added.
The restriction proposal adopts a "generic approach" to groups of chemicals, said Dr Bowmer.PFCs and lead
At its meeting, which ran from 27 February to 9 March, the Rac also discussed a German proposal to restrict C9-C14 perfluorinated carboxylic acids. In the EU, the chemicals occur mainly as impurities in some other perfluorinated products, but the restriction aims to prevent their import. The restriction case is very similar to that for PFOA, said Dr Bowmer.
The Rac also agreed on a restriction of lead and lead compounds in shot in wetland areas. Between 400,000 and 1.5m birds are thought to die each year from swallowing lead shot, according to the REACH Annex XV restriction report. The annual consumption of shot cartridges in Europe is estimated to be between 600-700m units, corresponding to up to 21,000 tonnes of lead dispersed in the environment.
Meanwhile, the committee discussed 16 harmonised classification and labelling (CLP) dossiers. These include two triazole fungicides: ipconazole and mefentrifluconazole, for which the Rac agreed on reprotoxic 1B for development, and no classification, respectively.
With 55 dossiers in the pipeline 2018 is "very much a classification and labelling year" for the Rac, Dr Bowmer said.
https://chemicalwatch.com/64953/echas-rac-discusses-restriction-proposal-for-tattoo-substances
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EU Commission to Replace Scoel with Echa's Rac
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission intends to reassign the responsibilities of DG Employment's Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (Scoel) to Echa's risk assessment committee (Rac), according to a staff working document (SWD) accompanying the second REACH review.
For the past few years, the Commission has been looking into the "interplay" of REACH with EU cccupational safety and health (OSH) legislation. In particular, this work focuses on the "overlap" between OSH occupational exposure levels (OELs) and REACH's derived no-effect levels (Dnels). OELs are used in the workplace to limit exposure, while worker Dnels are mainly used to assess whether there is adequate control of risk.
After detailed discussions and reports from a joint Scoel-Rac task force, the Commission has "questioned the need to have at EU level two different committees dealing with the evaluation of the same chemicals", according to the SWD's annex 6; a review of Echa.
"Therefore, it was considered necessary to build within Rac the necessary expertise to cover the areas covered by Scoel in a very short time period and over a long time period to replace Scoel with Rac."
Echa's Rac should "reconsider its own expertise", the SWD annex recommends. Meanwhile, the agency "should allocate the necessary resources to deal with these relatively new tasks," it adds.
Industry bodies are now keen to see that Scoel's expertise is carried over into Rac. "Scoel has a longstanding and recognised expertise in recommending OEL for workers. It would be a pity if that expertise is lost," said Tony Musu, senior researcher at the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).
"If the decision to transfer that task to Rac is confirmed, it would make sense to integrate Scoel members in Rac," he added.
A spokesperson for Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, said that the committee should have the right expertise in this field, "Not only chemistry, toxicology, epidemiology, and occupational medicine but also an understanding of company occupational hygiene strategies and techniques."REACH and OSH
Differences in Rac and Scoel methodologies for deriving OELs and Dnels have "sometimes led to significant divergences, leaving downstream users confused", according to the SWD. "Stakeholders have repeatedly expressed concerns about a lack of coherence in the implementation of REACH and OSH," it adds.
One particular case illustrates this divergence. During a restriction proposal for a reprotoxic solvent N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), Rac agreed a Dnel of 10 milligrams (mg) per cubic metre (m3) while Scoel recommended an OEL of 40 mg/m3.
In 2015, the Commission asked Rac and Scoel to form a joint task force on scientific aspects and methodologies related to chemical exposure in the workplace. In February 2017, the task force published a report on OELs and Dnels, highlighting technical differences in the methodologies used by Scoel and in the Echa guidance that Rac uses to derive exposure limits.
The report described Scoel members as having a "general preference" for good quality human data, while Rac members tend to be more wary of such data. For less data-rich substances, Rac generally uses animal data as a starting point, together with assessment factors.
The task force also compared Echa and Scoel methodologies for dermal route exposure, skin notations and dermal Dnels, and delivered its final report in December 2017.
To "avoid discrepancies", the Commission considers that Rac and Scoel methodologies need to be aligned. It had said that it would seek scientific advice from Scoel or Rac on a case-by-case basis "while a more permanent solution was being sought".
It now proposes "concrete" steps to remove overlaps between REACH and OSH legislation:looking into how to use REACH tools – such as exposure scenarios and safety data sheets – to enhance the effectiveness of OSH legislation;improving the coordination of national enforcement authorities of REACH and OSH;aligning methodologies to establish safe levels of exposure to chemicals in the workplace; andenhancing the role of Rac, to provide scientific opinions under OSH, with "social partners" also involved.
In March 2017, the Commission asked Rac to evaluate dossiers on worker exposure for carcinogens, as part of its work to set binding OELs, linked to an update of the Directive on the protection of workers from risks related to carcinogens and mutagens (CMD).
https://chemicalwatch.com/64949/eu-commission-to-replace-scoel-with-echas-rac
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Echa Offers Faster REACH Dossier Processing before April
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Companies submitting REACH registration dossiers by the end of March will receive a decision on their completeness within 21 days of their submission date, Echa has said.
However, dossiers received after this may not have a decision until the end of August. This is because of the high number expected as the deadline approaches and the time required to deal with them.
From 16 March, the agency plans to keep the online dossier submission and communication tool REACH-IT open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Earlier this year, it set a new deadline for registrants expecting to miss the 31 May cut-off date and who wished to be treated as "exceptional cases".
https://chemicalwatch.com/64945/echa-offers-faster-reach-dossier-processing-before-april
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No Classification for DINP, Echa Committee Decides
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Echa's Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) has rejected Denmark's proposal to classify the plasticiser diisononyl phthalate (DINP) as a category 1B reproductive toxicant. Instead, Rac agreed on "no classification" for the reproductive hazard endpoint.
The news will be a relief to industry, which had strongly disagreed with Denmark's harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) proposal during the public consultation.
Denmark's CLP dossier suggests that DINP has a similar mode of action to some other pthalates already classified as category 1B reproductive toxicants, including DEHP, DBP and DIBP.
DINP is added to PVC to make it flexible, as well as having other polymer applications. The chemical has largely replaced smaller molecules such as DEHP. Higher molecular weight plasticisers, including DINP, account for around 60% of the market in Europe, according to trade body European Plasticisers.
DINP is already restricted under REACH in toys and childcare articles that children may put in their mouths.
During its meeting from 27 February until 9 March, Rac gave the dossier submitter and industry an opportunity to address rapporteurs directly.
https://chemicalwatch.com/64951/no-classification-for-dinp-echa-committee-decides
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Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
From 16 March onwards, Echa's dossier submission and communication tool REACH-IT will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is to help registrants with meeting the 31 May deadline.
However, the tool may be closed on Monday mornings from 7-10EET (Helsinki time) for scheduled maintenance, the agency says.
There is also the usual support available during normal business hours from its helpdesk.Advice for late REACH registration test results
Companies are urged to contact Echa as soon as possible – and before submitting their dossier – if tests results for substances to be registered will not be available before 31 May.
These registrants can benefit from solution 10.3 of the Directors’ Contact Group (DCG) – provided that the tests related to data required in Annexes VII and VIII to REACH have been ordered by 31 March. Contact the agency and it will send instructions on what to do next.
Echa also recommends checking if other DCG solutions may be of help with problems meeting the deadline. However, they require prompt registration ahead of 31 May, it advises.REACH 2018 webinars
The agency has run two REACH 2018 webinars in March. Presentations and video recordings from the first – covering last-minute advice to registrants – are now available. The second took place this week and focused on manual completeness checks performed by Echa and the most common failures.Advice on new non-animal test methods
The agency has published advice to registrants on how to use new in vitro methods forskin irritation and corrosion;serious eye damage;skin sensitisation; andgenotoxicity.
These are all endpoints relevant for the REACH 2018 deadline. It reminds registrants of their obligations to use in vitro methods to reduce the need to test chemicals on animals. Consumer website launched
Echa has launched a new 'Chemicals in our Life' website aimed at informing consumers about chemicals in their everyday lives. It provides useful information on the benefits and risks of using chemicals and explains how EU legislation on chemicals protects us.
The site also includes content where users can explore parts of the European Observatory for Nanomaterials. And there are several articles related to health, the workplace and consumer products. Readers can navigate through a 360-degree interactive apartment, which shows where and why nanomaterials are used in our lives.
It was released to mark World Consumer Rights day, and is available in 23 EU languages. CLH proposal
Echa is consulting on a harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) proposals for m-bis(2,3-epoxypropoxy)benzene, an industrial chemical used in the production of resins and rubbers. It has an existing harmonised classification and labelling in Annex VI to CLP. Comments are invited on the acute toxicity and carcinogenicity hazard classes, deadline 11 May. The Netherlands is submitting the dossier.Webinar on poison centres: using UFIs for products
The agency is running a webinar on 26 April to explain what the unique formula identifier (UFI) is and how it can be used. It will also describe available tools and support for generating and using them for hazardous and non-hazardous mixtures. There will be practical examples and the opportunity to pose questions to the agency's experts. The webinar runs from 11:00–12:00 Helsinki time on 26 April.
https://chemicalwatch.com/64941/echa-round-up
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European Toy Industry Seeks Exclusions from PAH Guideline
Mar 15, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Rubber and plastic components of some toys and children's articles such as bikes, scooters and baby walkers should be excluded from an EU guideline on the restriction on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, an industry association has said.
In comments circulated at a meeting of the Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP (Caracal) last week, Toy Industries Europe (TIE) also said the definition of synthetic textiles as rubber and plastic was "overly broad" and would lead to "unnecessary additional testing costs for SMEs".
Echa published the draft guideline on the scope of the Annex XVII restriction on PAHs in January last year. It then updated it following a stakeholder consultation. A final guideline is expected in the near future, an Echa spokesperson said.
The restriction applies to articles intended for general public use, if any of the rubber or plastic components that come into "direct as well as prolonged contact or short-term repetitive contact" with the skin or the mouth contain more than 1 mg/kg of any of eight identified PAHs.
Toys and childcare articles fall within the scope of the restriction, but the concentration limit is lower at 0.5 mg/kg.
However, TIE says that some components of children's articles such as the wheels of bikes "should be clearly excluded" as children do not have "prolonged or short-term repetitive contact" with them.
Articles with components that TIE says should be excluded are:
run bikes, children's bikes, toy mower and toy scooters; and
high chairs, baby walkers, walking frames, and stationary walkers for indoor and terrace use.
An official at TIE later clarified to Chemical Watch that it was not asking for an exemption, "but rather the appropriate interpretation of the legislative text through clarification".
On textiles, TIE says that major European testing laboratories do not consider synthetic textiles under the scope of the restriction and including them via the guideline "would mean that compliance is immediately required".
Draft guideline
The European Commission in 2014 asked Echa to develop a practical guideline for PAH restriction, which kicked off in December 2015. PAHs are suspected carcinogens.
Echa published the first draft last year, and then revised it after the consultation. It submitted the updated version to the March Caracal meeting for agreement following a discussion at the November meeting.
The updated guideline has not been published, but TIE said the text had "improved significantly."
The first draft of the guideline says that it is not possible to develop an exhaustive list of all the articles that may fulfil the criterion of "direct" contact, however examples include masks, balloons, bracelets, handles, grips, hand tools, gloves and diving suits.
Regarding "prolonged" contact, Echa says there is not enough scientific evidence for a definition, but that it is understood as an "extended duration of contact", for example from "carrying an article, sitting on it, leaning towards it, holding on to it, wearing it or keeping in the mouth for an extended and uninterrupted length of time."
Examples include carrying handles of mobile devices, camera cases, cigarette lighters, headphones and whistles, it says.
For "short-term repetitive" contact, the guideline mentions items such as Frisbees, shuttlecocks, balloons and thermos bottles.
The guideline provides an indicative list of examples of articles that fall within the scope, including:
sport equipment: bicycles, kick scooters, boxing cloves, yoga mats, swimming aids, ski goggles, snorkelling/fishing equipment;
household utensils, trolleys, walking frames: cookware, handheld game consoles, PC mouse, remote controls, tablet computers, plastic drinking bottles;
tools for domestic use: hammers, measuring tapes, power drills;
clothing, footwear, gloves and sportswear: flip-flops, underwear, prints of T-shirts, wet suits, flippers, gloves, socks;
watch-straps, wrist-bands, masks, head-bands: sun glasses, head torches, sex articles, musical instruments, tooth brushes, stress balls;
miscellaneous: colouring/painting articles, tweezers, manicure/pedicure tools, shavers, textiles, tiles/mats used in playgrounds; and
toys and childcare articles: toy cars and trains, run bikes and toy scooters, baby walkers, loom bands, toy guns, balloons, teething rings.
https://chemicalwatch.com/64955/european-toy-industry-seeks-exclusions-from-pah-guideline
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LNG Exporters Seek Exemption from Steel Tariffs
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Geof Koss
The natural gas industry is asking the Trump administration to immediately exempt all imported steel used in liquefied natural gas export facilities from the president's 25 percent tariff, saying additional costs will harm the prospects for U.S. projects amid intense global competition.
The group LNG Allies outlined its request in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, saying the matter is so pressing it wouldn't wait until March 19, when that department is scheduled to detail the process for applying for exemptions.
"We believe that the U.S. LNG export industry is such an enormous 'engine' of jobs and economic growth to merit a full, complete, and immediate exemption from the proclamation," wrote LNG Allies President and CEO Fred Hutchison in the letter released today.
He noted that LNG projects include hundreds of billions of dollars of investment in export facilities, pipelines and related infrastructure, while exports reduce the U.S. trade deficit.
"Despite these substantial benefits, the U.S. LNG export industry is at a crucial stage of early development," wrote Hutchison. "Global competition is fierce and when it comes to the next generation of liquefaction projects, only the lowest-cost facilities will be built."
The lack of sufficient quantities of domestic steel used for export facilities means U.S. projects "will surely become more expensive as a result of the new tariffs."
The letter comes ahead of this afternoon's meeting between Trump and members of the American Petroleum Institute, which has echoed similar concerns since the tariffs were announced last week (Energywire, March 9).
Members of Congress, including Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), have raised similar concerns over the tariffs.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry was pressed on the matter yesterday in an appearance before a Senate committee, where he said he hadn't studied the issue (E&E Daily, March 15).
Despite deep misgivings over Trump's tariffs, top congressional Republicans signaled this week that they would not press legislation to block them, opting instead to try to convince the administration to narrow the tariffs' reach (E&E Daily, March 14).
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/03/15/stories/1060076451
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The Shale Boom Could Prove a Two-Edged Sword for America
Mar 15, 2018 | The Economist
When Ryan Zinke, America’s secretary of the interior, turned up for his first day in office a year ago, the ex-Navy Seal arrived on a horse called Tonto, wearing a cowboy hat. Since then, the man leading the Trump administration’s charge to unlock vast tracts of federal land for oil and gas drilling has brandished American oil like a gunslinger. Using a slogan favoured by President Donald Trump, he talks of “energy dominance”. Explaining the concept to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, last year, he said: “Our goal is an America that is the strongest energy superpower that the world has ever known…America’s strength relies on American energy. And I don’t want to see us ever held hostage to a foreign country to heat our homes or to power our nation.” He made it clear that by energy he meant chiefly oil, natural gas and coal.
As with many of the Trump administration’s favourite terms, the meaning of energy dominance is hazy and depends on the audience. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January the president struck a more conciliatory note than Mr Zinke, promising to use American oil and gas to provide energy security to its allies. “No country should be held hostage to a single provider of energy,” he said. But the point of energy dominance is that Mr Trump wants America to produce and export more oil, gas and coal and will try to undo years of environmental safeguards and regulations to achieve it.
He has picked a good moment. Not only has America’s oil and gas production soared; the shale revolution has greatly reduced the country’s dependence on imported crude oil and petroleum products, from 57% a decade ago to about 20%. The effect on the trade balance, the focus of Mr Trump’s “America First” policy, was already dramatic even before he took office. The energy-trade deficit has come down from $416bn at its peak in 2008, when it accounted for half the total trade deficit, to $53bn in the first ten months of 2017, less than a tenth of the total.
The decline in import dependence has already had geopolitical effects. In her book, “Windfall”, Meghan O’Sullivan shows that between 2011 and 2014 American oil replaced supplies disrupted by political developments in Sudan, Syria, Iran and Libya, “nearly one barrel for one barrel”. That helped keep oil markets stable. Plentiful oil at home has also made it easier for America to impose sanctions on oil producers it views as dangerous. It helped persuade other countries to pressure Iran to sign a deal putting its nuclear ambitions on hold in 2015, because they did not fear a resulting spike in global oil prices. As Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s energy envoy at the time, muses, “It was lucky timing that America became an energy superpower.”
Foot on the gas
Natural gas may have strengthened America’s hand abroad even more than oil. In 2017 the country became a net gas exporter for the first time in 60 years. This has helped establish a global market in natural gas, giving the world easier access to a fuel that produces only a quarter as much carbon dioxide as coal and half as much as oil.
For now, America’s biggest gas export market is via pipelines to Mexico, creating what is fast becoming an integrated North American energy powerhouse (as long as Mr Trump does not kill off the North American Free-Trade Agreement). But globally the change is being driven by exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The dome-like LNG tankers heading out from Louisiana and Texas are creating a market that can flexibly and cheaply deliver gas where it is needed. LNG exports took off only in 2016. By 2022 America is expected to vie with Australia and Qatar as one of the world’s biggest LNG exporters.
More LNG helps the transition towards cleaner energy, potentially slowing (though not stopping) the pace of global warming. A global LNG market also eases one of the thorniest problems in energy geopolitics: Russia’s use of gas pipelines to bully neighbours such as Ukraine. American LNG is still more expensive than Russian gas, so not much of it is sold to Europe. But its mere presence helps reassure the Europeans about their energy security. Partly in response, Gazprom, a Russian gas giant, has turned eastward, offering piped gas and LNG to China, where demand is also rising.
Mr Trump is pursuing China, too, offering LNG as a way to narrow the bilateral trade imbalance. Daniel Yergin, vice-chairman of IHS Markit, a consultancy, points to this as an example of how trade in energy might actually soothe global tensions. He says that China now sees America as part of the solution to its energy needs, rather than a competitor for scarce resources. Mr Trump has also discussed LNG exports with leaders from India and South Korea, Mr Yergin notes. “He has become the world’s number one LNG salesman.”
Unintended consequences
This windfall is likely to continue. America’s oil and gas output is still rising. According to the International Energy Agency, by 2025 the shale revolution will have unlocked more oil and gas in America more quickly than in any other country, including Saudi Arabia in its heyday from 1966 to 1981.
The Trump administration wants to build on this success by making life easier for fossil-fuel producers. In his first year Mr Zinke has sought to smash what he calls a “fortress of red tape”, open up offshore reserves to drilling (except in Florida, where it risked jeopardising the political ambitions of Rick Scott, the Republican governor), and ease restrictions on coal mining and natural-gas production imposed under President Barack Obama.
Whether all this deregulation will make much difference to domestic energy production is questionable. Jason Bordoff of Columbia University writes that markets play a much bigger role. Cheap natural gas, for example, hurts coal far more than the clean-power regulations that the Trump administration is now promising to remove. And Congress, state governments and the courts can block policies to stimulate fossil-fuel production and roll back environmental regulation, whatever the wishes of the federal government.
The geopolitical effects of the shale boom have been complex and have been compounded by other policy shifts such as sanctions and protectionist trade policies. Some experts feel that the idea of “energy dominance” sounds imperialistic. The mere idea of “weaponising” oil undermines years of American efforts to persuade countries like Russia not to use energy for political ends.
Some of America’s trade policies may also be counterproductive. The country’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement which includes some of America’s biggest potential LNG customers, such as Japan, was self-defeating, because it makes it harder for America’s allies to import its LNG.
Stephen Cheney and Andrew Holland of the American Security Project, a think-tank, argue that America’s greatest contribution to global energy security since the oil shocks of the 1970s has been to keep global energy markets fluid. Some analysts worry that this fluidity would be jeopardised if the Trump administration were to use oil and gas as a bargaining chip in bilateral relations, as China has done.
Although the shale revolution has been good for global consumers, it has not been a clearcut benefit to American influence abroad. The collapse of oil prices in 2014 nudged OPEC, Russia and other producers into an “OPEC-plus” alliance, raising Russia’s profile in the Middle East at a time when an inward-looking America was less engaged. Moreover, the use of sanctions against Iran, Russia and Venezuela has created a perception among some countries, including China, that America is playing a “dirty economic game”. This has brought its opponents closer together, says Sarah Ladislaw of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. China has offered financial support to all three of those countries. Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil company, is tapping Venezuelan oil in exchange for cash.
Matthew Bey of Stratfor, a risk consultancy, talks of a “mosaic of forces” threatening American energy diplomacy as China overtakes America as the world’s biggest energy consumer. He notes the alarm caused in Washington, DC, by the recent news that China might take a preferential stake in the planned initial public offering of Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company. “It’s not just Russia against the West,” he says. “It’s Russia, China, Iran and others looking at pragmatic opportunities to chip away at Western hegemony.”
Above all, Mr Trump’s tub-thumping for coal, oil and gas appears to run counter to a worldwide push to lessen dependence on fossil fuels, improve energy efficiency and combat global warming. So although, for now, Americans may feel relief at the shale boom, it could prove a double-edged sword. If their country continues to promote fossil fuels at the expense of cleaner energy sources, its dominance is unlikely to last.
https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21738581-extracting-more-oil-and-gas-shale-has-increased-americas-influence-abroad-not
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US Energy Transfer Reveals Details on New Gulf Coast Ethane Terminal
Mar 15, 2018 | ICIS
By Steven McGinn
Energy Transfer Partners revealed on Thursday more details of an ethane terminal that it will build on the US Gulf Coast under a joint venture with Satellite Petrochemical USA.
The joint venture will be called Orbit, and ethane from the terminal will feed Satellite’s cracking facilities in China.
Orbit will also construct a 20-inch (51 cm) ethane pipeline connecting the terminal to Energy Transfer’s fractionators in Mont Belvieu, Texas.
At the terminal, Orbit will construct an 800,000 bbl refrigerated ethane storage tank and a 175,000 bbl/day ethane refrigeration facility.
Energy Transfer will be the operator of the Orbit assets.
Additionally, Energy Transfer will construct and wholly own the infrastructure that is required to both supply ethane to the pipeline and to load the ethane on to Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) for Satellite’s newly constructed ethane crackers in China’s Jiangsu province.
The terminal will be ready for commercial service by fourth-quarter 2020.
As part of the agreement, Energy will provide Satellite with approximately 150,000 bbl/day of ethane, and will also provide storage and marketing services for Satellite.
The terminal is the second US-based ethane export dock for Energy Transfer, with the other on the East Coast at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. Energy Transfer also exports ethane to Canada via the Mariner West pipeline.
Earlier this week, Satellite Petrochemical announced the plans for the joint venture. It will own a 53% stake in the joint venture.
Satellite in September last year announced that it will invest Chinese yuan (CNY) 30bn ($4.75bn) in the Lianyungang project, which includes an ethane cracker, a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant and other downstream units. It will rely on imported ethane and propane as feedstock.
https://www.icis.com/resources/news/2018/03/15/10202808/us-energy-transfer-reveals-details-on-new-gulf-coast-ethane-terminal/
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FERC Splits on Climate Review, Reapproves Sabal Trail
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Federal regulators last night reinstated permits for a major Southeast natural gas network at the center of an unprecedented climate battle that almost shut the project down.
In a late-night order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reinstated a certificate for the Sabal Trail pipeline and a broader network known as the Southeast Market Pipelines Project. The network delivers gas through Alabama and Georgia to Florida power plants.
The reauthorization comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year ruled that FERC failed to adequately consider climate impacts before approving the project. The court's August 2017 decision would have required the project to shut down until the agency supplemented its analysis, but government and industry lawyers successfully maneuvered for more time.
FERC completed the supplemental review last month, calculating greenhouse gas emissions that would result from burning natural gas delivered by Sabal Trail. The review estimates a 3.6 to 9.9 percent increase over Florida's 2015 emissions. But the agency has declined to determine whether that increase should be deemed "significant," arguing there's no widely accepted definition of what levels are considered significant.
Two FERC commissioners — Cheryl LaFleur and Richard Glick — say the agency's climate analysis is insufficient. In dissenting statements, the Democratic appointees argue that FERC's approach to analyzing downstream greenhouse gas emissions falls short of the National Environmental Policy Act.
Glick's dissent was particularly biting, slamming FERC for failing to "provide a reasoned answer" to the D.C. Circuit's order.
"The Sabal Trail Court leaves no room to question that 'greenhouse-gas emissions are an indirect effect of authorizing this project, which FERC could reasonably foresee, and which the agency has legal authority to mitigate,'" he wrote, quoting the court's ruling. "Nevertheless, the Commission, through today's order, is engaging in a collateral attack on the Court's decision by suggesting that it is not the Commission's 'job' to consider whether emissions from 'the end use of the gas would be too harmful to the environment.'"
He also criticized the commission for refusing the apply the "social cost of carbon" tool, which calculates the cost of added emissions.
"Willful ignorance of readily available analytical tools to support an enhanced qualitative assessment for the single largest environmental threat in our lifetime will undermine informed public comments and informed decisionmaking," he wrote.
Glick concluded that the agency's approach would heighten public cynicism about the pipeline approval process and increase the agency's litigation risk.
LaFleur dissented from the commission's order only in part, noting that she still believes the project is in the public interest. She wrote, however, that she was "troubled" by the agency's refusal to address the significance of the emissions.
"I reject the contention that the Commission is unable to discern the significance of GHG emissions," she wrote. "We are required by NEPA to reach a determination regarding the significance of all environmental impacts, including downstream GHG emissions. It is our responsibility to use the best information we have to make that determination."
She added that she finds the estimated 3.6 percent increase in Florida emissions from "a single pipeline project" to be significant. The project is still needed, she said, but the significance should be "disclosed and assessed."
LaFleur also took issue with the commission's treatment of the social cost of carbon in the review. FERC has for years declined to apply the metric, arguing it is too imprecise to inform a NEPA analysis.
But LaFleur said the tool is exactly what the agency needs to weigh the significance of increases. She compared the analysis to a person eating a doughnut.
"It would be convenient for a person to say 'I guess it is fine to eat this donut, because there is simply no way to assess if it will make me fat,'" she wrote. "But there is such a tool, in the form of calories, which have been scientifically derived to translate the consumption of a specific food item to impact on weight gain. Similarly, we are able to estimate what the long-term consequence of a ton of carbon dioxide emissions is likely to be, by use of the Social Cost of Carbon tool."
Asked about the dissents during a FERC meeting today, Chairman Kevin McIntyre said that Glick and LaFleur "expressed their views very ably" but that he supported the move to reauthorize Sabal Trail.
"I voted to support the order, and so the extent I have views on the matter they are reflected in the order," he said.
Environmentalists who pushed for the climate analysis in the first place were distraught about FERC's decision.
"Today's decision shows that the majority of the federal commission tasked with protecting Americans from the dangers of fracked gas pipelines is nothing but a rubber stamp for polluting corporations," Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Director Kelly Martin said in a statement.
"We agree with Commissioner Glick's dissent when he said, 'the void in evaluating indirect environmental impacts from GHG emission while simultaneously concluding there is no significant impact means the Commission remains in the unstable position of granting certificates of public convenience and necessity without fully considering the public interest,'" she continued. "These dirty, dangerous pipelines threaten our health, climate, and communities, and it's irresponsible to build them at a time when clean, renewable energy is abundant and affordable."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/03/15/stories/1060076481
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BLM Pushes Back on Methane Rule Revival
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The Trump administration is urging a federal court to put Obama-era methane standards back on ice after another court recently revived them.
In a brief filed last night at the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, lawyers for the Bureau of Land Management argued that oil and gas companies "cannot simply become compliant overnight" with the agency's Methane and Waste Prevention Rule.
"Operators are saddled with imminent, substantial, and unrecoverable costs to comply with a regulatory regime that may soon be replaced," the agency told the court. "Many are not poised to comply due to the flux and uncertainties over the past year caused by challenges to BLM's postponement and suspension of the [regulation]."
The Obama rule — which targets emissions from operations on public and tribal lands — is currently in full effect, as a federal district court in California last month rejected the Trump administration's attempt to suspend most provisions (Energywire, Feb. 23).
BLM is working on a broader rollback but says it doesn't expect to finish that process until August. The agency is also considering whether to appeal the California court decision.
States and industry groups responded to the rule's resurgence by heading back to the Wyoming court that fielded initial challenges after the Obama administration unveiled the standards in 2016.
They've asked the court to reopen the litigation and pause implementation of the methane rule. In last night's filing, BLM argued against reopening the case but supported another freeze of the rule.
"Because the Waste Prevention Rule has been postponed or suspended for nearly half of the past year, many operators are not prepared to immediately comply with the Rule, especially the provisions that were set to take effect in January 2018, but were suspended before they became operative," government lawyers wrote.
Oil and gas companies face legal risk if they are not complying with the methane rule right now. Environmental groups could craft challenges against the agency for not enforcing the rule, or a future administration could penalize operators for previous noncompliance (Energywire, March 8).Dismissing a separate appeal
Separately last night, government lawyers announced that they would voluntarily dismiss an appeal related to an earlier effort to sideline the Obama methane standards.
Last October, the same California court rejected the Trump administration's earliest efforts to freeze the regulation under a provision of the Administrative Procedure Act (Energywire, Oct. 5, 2017).
BLM went to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December to challenge the decision. The agency filed a motion to dismiss the appeal last night. It did not include any explanation of its decision.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/03/15/stories/1060076417
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DHS, FBI: Russian Hackers Targeted U.S. Energy Grid
Mar 15, 2018 | Politico Pro
By Tim Starks
The Trump administration on Thursday accused Russian government hackers of carrying out a deliberate, ongoing operation to penetrate vital U.S. industries, including the energy grid — a major ratcheting up of tensions between the two countries over cybersecurity.
It says the hackers penetrated the targeted companies to a surprising degree, including copying information that could be used to gain access to the computer systems that control power plants.
"Since at least March 2016, Russian government cyber actors ... targeted government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors," according to a joint alert issued by the Homeland Security Department and the FBI.
Shortly afterward, Energy Secretary Rick Perry told members of a House Appropriations subcommittee that he's "not confident" the federal government has an adequate strategy in place to address the "hundreds of thousands" of cybersecurity attacks directed at the U.S. every day.
The alert comes on the same day the Trump administration issued new sanctions against Russia for a range of activities, including its actions in cyberspace. Taken together, the steps amount to perhaps the most direct confrontation of Russian hackers by the U.S. government yet.
Russia has been widely accused of launching increasingly dangerous attacks on power grids around the world. Moscow’s most frequent target has been Ukraine, according to researchers. In recent years, Ukraine has twice blamed its neighbor for shutting down portions of its power grid using digital weapons that hackers had not previously successfully deployed on that scale.
The alert says Russian hackers attempted to access the grid and other industries primarily to spy and collect information. Their weapons included malware-laden Word documents — such as engineers' resumes — that appeared in legitimate-seeming emails, but which harvested login and password information from victims' computers.
The hackers used these exploits to target vendors and other companies on the periphery of their main targets, then leapfrog their way to gain access to higher-level networks and install malware.
Once inside, the hackers would move around and conduct reconnaissance, and appeared interested in industrial control systems that manage processes for critical infrastructure, the alert reads.
"The threat actors appear to have deliberately chosen the organizations they targeted, rather than pursuing them as targets of opportunity," the alert says.
It says the hackers also used other means to find their way in. In one case, they "downloaded a small photo from a publicly accessible human resources page. The image, when expanded, was a high-resolution photo that displayed control systems equipment models and status information in the background."
They also implanted malware in the websites of trade publications and other websites related to the targeted industries, the alert says.
Kevin McIntyre, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said the information contained in the alerts showed the need to remain vigilant on cybersecurity.
"Frankly, some of it is a little bit scary," he told reporters on Thursday. "But we keep our eye on the ball and focus on it so that we try our best as an agency.”
Perry, meanwhile, expressed misgivings about federal cybersecurity efforts.
"I’m not confident that the federal government has a broad strategy in place that is not duplicating, or is least duplicative as it can be," Perry said after House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) called cybersecurity attacks "our biggest threat."
“I’m as worried about cybersecurity as I am nuclear," Simpson said. "I think we’re attacking it department-wide, but I’m not sure we’re attacking it government-wide."
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/03/dhs-fbi-russian-hackers-targeted-us-energy-grid-813745
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Russia-Linked Hackers Target U.S. Energy Sector in New Cyberattacks, Feds Say
Mar 15, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Collin Eaton
Russian government-linked hackers have targeted the U.S. energy industry and other sectors critical to running the economy in a new surge of online attacks since at least March 2016, federal agencies said on Thursday.
The hacking campaign, orchestrated by a seven-year-old group known as Dragonfly, has hit U.S. government entities and domestic companies in the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation and critical manufacturing sectors, according to an alert the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team put out on Thursday.
"In multiple instances, the threat actors accessed workstations and servers on a corporate network that contained data output from control systems within energy generation facilities," the U.S. CERT said.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigations have been studying the attacks, and found that the Russia-linked hackers are attacking some targets directly and penetrating the networks of others, such as third-party suppliers, to launch attacks on their intended victims.
The threat actors have dispatched spear-phishing emails, watering-hole domains and other attacks geared toward industrial control systems in the campaign. It was, the agencies said, a "multi-stage intrusion campaign" by Russian government hackers targeting "small commercial facilities' networks," where they "staged malware, conducted spear phishing and gained remote access into energy sector networks."
The spear-phishing emails used infected Microsoft Word documents "that appeared to be legitimate resumes" for industrial control system personnel, the agencies said. In one case, hackers were able to find images of a company's operational controls in the far background of a photo posted on its public website.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Russia-linked-hackers-target-U-S-energy-sector-12755704.php
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Ewire: Pruitt Weighs Taking Comment on GHG Risk Petitions
Mar 15, 2018 | Inside EPA
Amid reports that the White House has killed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's plan to conduct a “red team, blue team” review of climate change science, a new report says that the agency is mulling a backup plan: soliciting public comment on conservative groups' petition for the agency to reverse its greenhouse gas endangerment finding.
An article from E&E News says it's “possible that Pruitt and his aides see that as a way to meet the objectives of a climate 'red team,' even if it's not the high-profile exercise he touted publicly. Pruitt may also believe the president will support a broader effort despite dissent from his aides.”
That refers to recent reports that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly nixed Pruitt's initial plan to hold a red-team, blue-team review of climate science.
But the story also notes that while hard-line conservative groups would welcome such comments on several pending petitions at the agency, they want more -- concrete action to reverse the GHG risk finding that forms the basis for all of the agency's climate rules.
“Just opening it up for comments I don't think is enough," said H. Sterling Burnett, a research fellow at the Heartland Institute, which has pushed for the unraveling of the endangerment finding. Such a move might constitute an "opening salvo" in a process to roll back the finding, he said. "You start somewhere, and if the comments come in strong enough, you move forward with a bigger project.”
Pruitt has long hedged on whether he will target the endangerment finding, and he is also planning to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan utility GHG rule with a narrow version. Such a move would make it much more difficult to target the risk finding, because the rule would be predicated on that finding.
Environmentalists and even many industry groups oppose reversing the endangerment finding. Many experts warn such an effort would be filled with legal potholes, given the mountain of evidence supporting mainstream scientific findings that human-released GHGs are the dominant cause of climate change.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), one of Congress' most ardent supporters of carbon controls, recently told Politicothat Pruitt appears smart enough to avoid reopening the finding. “Pruitt is canny enough to realize that that's a fight that once when you start it all of science falls in on your head and you're left with Willie Soon and a couple of creeps. You just get crushed," he said.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-pruitt-weighs-taking-comment-ghg-risk-petitions
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Groups Sue for Information about Heartland Institute’s Involvement in EPA Climate Science Decisions
Mar 15, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to release information about the Heartland Institute’s efforts to attack climate science.
SELC and EDF had filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for correspondence between EPA and the Heartland Institute. Officials at the Heartland Institute, which has a long history of promoting climate denial, have publicly stated that EPA requested their assistance on Administrator Scott Pruitt’s possible “red team, blue team” review of climate science.
The groups filed suit today, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, after EPA failed to comply with those FOIA requests.
“EPA’s efforts to promote climate change deniers and undermine peer-reviewed science behind closed doors is not only a failure of its mission, it is illegal,” said Kym Hunter, Attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. “The public has a clear and protected right to know what the EPA is doing and with whom they are communicating, including those pushing a climate-denier agenda.”
“Even as Americans face growing risks from climate change, Scott Pruitt continues to stonewall common-sense solutions and deny decades of mounting scientific evidence that the problem is real and serious,” said Ben Levitan, Attorney for Environmental Defense Fund. “Americans have a right to know who is influencing Pruitt’s decisions, and who is shaping the agenda at the agency in charge of protecting our health and safety.”
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has repeatedly pushed for what he refers to as a “red team, blue team” review of climate science in which rival “teams” selected by EPA would debate the scientific consensus on climate change. Scientists have said such an exercise would circumvent the rigorous, time-tested process of peer review that is used to ensure the integrity of scientific information used by EPA and other federal agencies.
Pruitt’s proposal also ignores the voluminous, peer-reviewed climate science assessments by thousands of scientists from the U.S. and around the world – including two assessments prepared by the Trump Administration – showing that human-caused climate change is a real and urgent threat. EPA itself issued a science-based determination in 2009, following an extensive public comment process, that climate pollutants pose a clear threat to human health and welfare. That finding was upheld by a federal appeals court in 2012.
News reports indicate White House Chief of Staff John Kelly nixed Pruitt’s plan after deciding it was ill-conceived, but just this week Pruitt indicated that the idea remains under consideration.
After releasing an “Action Plan for President Trump,” the Heartland Institute confirmed in July of 2017 that officials at EPA had reached out for help identifying experts for a “red team” interrogation of climate science. In response, EDF and SELC filed FOIA requests for communications between EPA and the Heartland Institute in August and October of 2017, respectively.
After initially acknowledging and clarifying these requests, EPA has stopped communicating with SELC and only offered vague responses with little information on timing or progress to EDF.
Coincidentally, SELC and EDF have filed their lawsuit during Sunshine Week, an annual celebration of access to public information.
https://www.edf.org/media/groups-sue-information-about-heartland-institutes-involvement-epa-climate-science-decisions
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US Officials Battling Global Climate Change despite Trump Rhetoric: Report
Mar 15, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Julia Manchester
Administration officials are working to combat global climate change despite President Trump's skeptical rhetoric on the issue, according to a Reuters report.
U.S. and foreign officials told the outlet that government scientists, State Department envoys and federal agencies are still taking active roles in international efforts to learn more about and combat climate change.
While Trump announced last year he would pull the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, the U.S. still helped write a rulebook on implementing it over the past year, Reuters noted.
The U.S. has also increased funding for overseas clean energy projects and has contributed to international research on the effects of global warming, it added.
The White House said in a statement to The Hill the administration supports debate and analysis on the issue.
“The climate has changed and is always changing. The Trump Administration supports rigorous scientific analysis and debate. To address climate change as well as other risks, the United States will continue to promote access to the affordable and reliable energy needed to grow economically, and to support technology, innovation and the development of modern and efficient infrastructure that will reduce emissions and enable us to address future risks, including climate related risks," deputy White House press secretary Raj Shah said.
“We really don’t detect any change with the Americans,” Arctic Council chair Aleksi Härkönen told Reuters.
A State Department spokesman also told the news service that its employees are still working on a global warming policy.
“The State Department is working with the White House and the interagency to further develop our approach to international climate change diplomacy,” Ambrose Sayles said in a statement.
“In the meantime, we will continue to participate ... to ensure a level playing field that benefits and protects U.S. interests, and to keep all options open for the President,” he continued.
Trump's allies, meanwhile, expressed frustration that the president's rhetoric has not turned into more action.
“I am concerned that much of our climate policy remains on autopilot,” Trump's former energy adviser, Myron Ebell, told Reuters.
Trump has pushed for increased use of fossil fuels in the U.S. and has rolled back various Obama-era energy and environment policies since taking office.
A December report from The New York Times and ProPublica revealed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has lost more than 700 employees during the Trump administration, including scientists, specialists and department directors.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt also reportedly oversaw a series of efforts to remove references and information regarding climate change from the agency's website.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/378568-us-officials-continue-global-climate-change-battle-despite-trump
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'Irritated Residents' Sue EPA over Calif. Ozone Plan
Mar 15, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
A California advocacy group is suing U.S. EPA to prod action on a ground-level ozone cleanup plan for the San Joaquin Valley.
In the lawsuit, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the Association of Irritated Residents (AIR) alleged that EPA failed to make a decision on the plan — adopted in mid-2016 by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District — by last year's statutory deadline. It asked a judge to declare EPA in violation of the Clean Air Act and order the agency to "finalize action" on the document.
The valley, a largely rural region spanning some 25,000 square miles in central California, is one of only two parts of the country rated as in "extreme nonattainment" for EPA's 2008 ozone standard of 75 parts per billion. It faces a December 2031 timetable for meeting that threshold; the plan outlines a compliance strategy while acknowledging that the area may nonetheless fall short of achieving the needed emissions reductions.
Ozone, a lung irritant that is the main ingredient in smog, is produced by the reaction of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides in sunlight. After the California Air Resources Board approved the San Joaquin Valley plan in July 2016 as a revision to the state's implementation plan, EPA was supposed to take action on it by this past December but failed to do, according to the suit.
In the valley, "ozone pollution remains a public health crisis," Brent Newell, AIR's attorney, wrote in a January letter formally notifying EPA of the group's plans to sue. An agency spokeswoman declined to comment this morning on pending litigation.
While EPA chief Scott Pruitt has proclaimed fealty to "the rule of law" as a core principle — even incorporating it as a budget category into his fiscal 2019 spending request — his agency continues to have trouble meeting statutory deadlines.
In response to separate litigation brought by environmental groups and Democratic-led states, for example, a federal judge in California this week ordered EPA to finish making attainment designations for its more stringent 2015 ozone standard by mid-July (E&E News PM, March 12). Under the Clean Air Act, those designations were supposed to have been completed by the beginning of last October.
Following yet another suit, Senior U.S. District Judge Warren Eginton of Connecticut recently gave EPA two months to make a final decision on Connecticut's June 2016 petition for a crackdown on emissions from a Pennsylvania power plant blamed for contributing to downwind ozone problems (E&E News PM, Feb. 7).
Under the Clean Air Act, the agency was supposed to have acted on that petition within 60 days.
While the Obama administration missed that deadline, EPA under Pruitt had been in no rush either, saying it needed until the end of this year to render a final verdict. Under Eginton's ruling, that milestone will now arrive early next month.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/03/15/stories/1060076469
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