Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 16/03/18
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(ACC Mentioned) Projects to Reduce Marine Litter Grow Significantly
Mar 16, 2018 | Packaging World
By Anne Marie Mohan
The Global Plastics Alliance (GPA), a collaboration among plastics industry associations and allied industry associations around the world, released the 4thProgress 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) Global Plastics Alliance Activities To Prevent Marine Litter Continues To Grow
Mar 16, 2018 | Packaging Europe
The Global Plastics Alliance (GPA), a collaboration among plastics industry associations and allied industry associations around the world, released the 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: PPG Industries, Celanese and Eastman Chemical
Mar 16, 2018 | Zacks (In Nasdaq)
The chemical industry is finding traction again after staying down for a while. -
DOE Supports Petrochemical Hub in Appalachia
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Peter Behr
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said yesterday his department is preparing a plan to support development of a major petrochemical expansion in the Appalachian region, to take advantage of expansive shale gas deposits in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. -
Health Professionals: Fracking Can’t Be Done Without Threatening Public Health
Mar 16, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Grant Smith and Tasha Stolber
Fracking for oil and gas poses an impending health crisis in the U.S., two leading groups of health professionals warn in a new report. -
API, LNG Allies Reach Out to Trump Administration Over Policies
Mar 16, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
The executive board of the American Petroleum Institute (API) met with President Trump and Vice President Pence at the White House on Thursday to discuss a range of issues that affect the oil and natural gas industry. -
E&E News Seeks Open PHMSA Hearing on Cheniere Leaks
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Soraghan
Federal pipeline regulators are keeping the doors closed on a hearing next week into leaks at the country's first modern liquefied natural gas export facility. -
Federal Regulators End Key Tax Benefit for Certain Pipeline Companies
Mar 16, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal
By Alison Sider and Christopher M. Matthews
A federal tax ruling dealt a new blow to a group of pipeline firms that had helped finance a massive build-out of energy infrastructure, intensifying questions on Wall Street about the sector’s survival. -
Money Flows Out of Pipelines After Unfavorable Tax Ruling
Mar 16, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Yakob Peterseil
The largest exchange-traded fund tracking America's energy pipelines incurred its third-largest outflow on record after regulators put a stop to a key tax credit for master limited partnerships. -
Energy Transfer, Chinese Partner Unveil Plans for Ethane Export Terminal on Gulf Coast
Mar 16, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Carolyn Davis
Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) said Thursday it is taking a Chinese petrochemical partner to build a natural gas liquids (NGL) export facility on the Gulf Coast. -
FERC Split on Sabal Trail Renews Debate on Climate Review
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer and Rod Kuckro
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approach to weighing climate impacts from natural gas pipelines is under the microscope again as critics from outside and inside the agency push for change. -
Judges Mull EPA Delay of Chemical Safety Rule
Mar 16, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
Three federal judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals spent more than two hours today grappling with the Trump administration’s 20-month delay of an EPA chemical safety rule issued in the final days of the Obama administration. -
Search Resumes for Missing Worker After Chemical Plant Blast
Mar 16, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times, The Washington Post)
Hazardous materials crews have resumed the search for a worker who is missing and presumed dead following an explosion at a Texas chemical plant that injured two co-workers. -
U.S. Ties Russia to Energy-Sector Hacks
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
U.S. officials yesterday blamed Russia for a series of cyberattacks aimed at a South Dakota-based energy company and multiple nuclear power plants. -
Pruitt is Expected to Restrict Science. Here's What it Means
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Scott Waldman and Robin Bravender
U.S. EPA chief Scott Pruitt is expected to roll out plans soon to restrict the agency's use of science in rulemakings, pitting him against critics who say it would threaten public health and environmental protections. -
FEMA Eliminates Mentions of Climate Change from Strategic Planning Document
Mar 16, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Rebecca Savransky
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) strategic planning document for the next four years makes no mention of climate change.
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(ACC Mentioned) Projects to Reduce Marine Litter Grow Significantly
Mar 16, 2018 | Packaging World
By Anne Marie Mohan
The Global Plastics Alliance (GPA), a collaboration among plastics industry associations and allied industry associations around the world, released the 4thProgress 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 clean-ups to expanding waste management capacities, and from 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 six focus areas of the Global Declaration are education, research, public policy, sharing best practices, plastics recycling/recovery, and plastic pellet containment.
“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,” said Steve Russell, Vice President of Plastics, American Chemistry Council. “Since the 5thInternational Marine Debris Conference when we first announced the Declaration, we’ve more than tripled the number of projects.”
“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.”
https://www.packworld.com/article/sustainability/corporate-social-responsibility/projects-reduce-marine-litter-grow
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(ACC Mentioned) Global Plastics Alliance Activities To Prevent Marine Litter Continues To Grow
Mar 16, 2018 | Packaging Europe
The Global Plastics Alliance (GPA), a collaboration among plastics industry associations and allied industry associations around the world, released the 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 clean-ups to expanding waste management capacities, and from 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.
“Our industry associations are actively engaged in solutions to address marine debris,” said 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,” said Steve Russell, Vice President of Plastics, American Chemistry Council. “Since the 5th International Marine Debris Conference when we first announced the Declaration, we’ve more than tripled the number of projects.”
Thursday March 15th, Russell will participate in the panel Global Plastics Alliance Efforts to Address Marine Debris, which will 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 and 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, said 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”, Mr Foerster concluded.
The six focus areas of the Global Declaration are education, research, public policy, sharing best practices, plastics recycling/recovery, and plastic pellet containment.
https://packagingeurope.com/global-plastics-alliance-activities-to-prevent-marine-litter/
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(ACC Mentioned) Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: PPG Industries, Celanese and Eastman Chemical
Mar 16, 2018 | Zacks (In Nasdaq)
The chemical industry is finding traction again after staying down for a while. Chemical makers should benefit from continued strong demand in major markets and strategic measures including expansion into high-growth markets, aggressive cost management, acquisitions and investment on capacity expansion. However, the industry is still exposed to certain headwinds. There are a few reasons to be mindful about the chemical industry in the near term, which we have outlined below:
China Worries Persist
Fears of an economic slowdown in China -- a major market for chemicals -- is a deterrent over the short haul. The world's second-biggest economy remains hampered by persistent industrial overcapacity, weak property investment and rising corporate debt. In particular, ballooning debt levels (manifested by rising debt-to-GDP ratios) and rapid credit expansion have raised a red flag on the Chinese economy.
China's GDP expanded 6.9% in 2017, better than the Chinese government's growth target of roughly 6.5%, aided by a recovery in export. However, the country's economy is expected to lose momentum this year and faces headwinds from tighter regulations, trade tensions with the United States and a weaker consumer sector.
The Chinese government expects a slowdown in economic growth this year and sees a GDP growth of 6.5%. The expected slowdown, in part, is due to Beijing's efforts to curb risks in the financial system, reduce poverty and clean up the environment (partly through reduction in steel and coal production).
Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), its annual report on the Chinese economy, had issued a warning about the country's surging debt level that has raised risks for a potential sharp decline in growth in the medium term. The IMF projects China's growth to moderate gradually and sees GDP to grow 6.6% in 2018, further slowing to a 6.4% growth in 2019.
Capital outflow pressures, rapid credit expansion, continued reliance on stimulus measures and geopolitical uncertainties are among the key risks to the country's economic growth. As such, a sluggish Chinese economy may weigh on demand for chemicals in this significant market.
Still-Difficult Fertilizer/Agrichemical Space
Agriculture market fundamentals remain weak, and there is continuous negative sentiment among agriculture investors that can create uncertainty in the near term. Moreover, the prevailing softness in agricultural commodity pricing remains a concern for fertilizer and agricultural chemicals companies. Prices of major crops (such as corn and soybeans) remain at their multi-year lows as markets remain awash with grains.
Adding to the concerns is the expected decline in U.S. farm income in 2018. U.S. farm profits are expected to hit 12-year low this year, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) outlook. The USDA envisions net U.S. farm income to tumble 6.7% year over year to $59.5 billion in 2018, the lowest level since 2006.
The projected decline in profits is due to lower expected cash receipts from the sale of crop inventories as well as low crop prices. The USDA expects cash receipts for all commodities to go down 0.5% year over year to $363.1 billion in 2018. Cash receipts for crops have been forecast to dip 0.8% to $188.2 billion. The USDA also sees prices of corn and soybean to drop this year.
As such, lower anticipated farm income is likely to negatively influence farmers' nutrient-purchasing decisions this year. Lower profit is expected to lead to tightened spending by growers.
Raw Material Cost Pressure
Commodity pricing remain a concern for many U.S. chemical producers. Their ability to pass these costs on to end consumers is not always easy, given the competitive pressures in play.
A number of chemical companies including PPG Industries, Inc., Celanese Corp. and Eastman Chemical Co. are witnessing a spike in raw material prices, exacerbated by short supply due to hurricanes. As a result, margins of these producers may be under pressure moving ahead amid an inflationary environment. A number of chemical makers, in their December quarter earnings calls, have warned of continued headwinds from elevated input costs through first-half 2018.
Trump Trade Tariffs Pose Headwinds
While President Trump's actions to impose heavy tariffs on steel and aluminum imports would provide more protection to the domestic producers of these metals, it poses a headwind for the U.S. chemical industry. The move is expected to hurt new chemical investment in the United States and may lead to a slowdown in growth in the domestic chemical industry. These costly tariffs are likely to push up the costs of building chemical plants that use a significant amount of steel.
According to the American Chemistry Council ("ACC"), the chemical industry has invested $185 billion in new factories, expansions and restarts of plants across the United States with more than half of these projects presently in the planning stage. The trade group has raised concerns that the hefty trade tariffs may force investors to consider doing business elsewhere.
https://www.nasdaq.com/article/zacks-industry-outlook-highlights-ppg-industries-celanese-and-eastman-chemical-cm935918
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DOE Supports Petrochemical Hub in Appalachia
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Peter Behr
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said yesterday his department is preparing a plan to support development of a major petrochemical expansion in the Appalachian region, to take advantage of expansive shale gas deposits in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee, Perry said the department wants to help create a petrochemical center outside the Gulf Coast, where major hurricanes threaten oil and gas processing. Perry said that the department is still working on the details, but part of the goal is to provide jobs in Appalachia.
DOE has already shown support for a major expansion of the region's natural gas infrastructure, providing the first of several required approvals for a $1.9 billion federal loan guarantee for the proposed underground Appalachia Storage & Trading Hub at a still-unannounced site in West Virginia. The project would include pipeline infrastructure and a cracker facility where ethylene would be produced from natural gas liquids.
Asked yesterday by a committee member how DOE could help workers whose jobs were being lost as coal-fired power plants and coal mining operations close or cut back in the region, Perry said, "We're laying out a plan."
"The region we're looking at is one you very appropriately identified as having some real economic challenges and that is in the Appalachian region," he said, "to help transition it to be an area where petrochemical refining would be the basis of it."
Perry said that when he was Texas' governor, he worried about the damage a Category 5 hurricane would cause if it came up the Houston Ship Channel and hit the vast petrochemical installations there. "This is a national security issue," he said.
"To develop that in another region of this country, the Appalachian, makes sense because you're sitting on top of Marcellus and Utica, which are prolific gas fields, and helping transition the workers who are either out of work or not working in jobs that are satisfactory from their perspective into higher-paying refining and petrochemical type jobs," Perry said. "That is a something we're working on actively today at DOE."
Fracking development in the Marcellus and Utica shale deposits has vaulted Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to the top ranks of U.S. natural gas producers. Pennsylvania production increased fivefold since 2011, putting it just ahead of Texas last year. Ohio ranks third and West Virginia fourth, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC is investing $6 billion to build an ethane cracker in western Pennsylvania. And PTT Global Chemical America, a subsidiary of a Thai petrochemical company, said it has purchased land in southeastern Ohio from FirstEnergy Corp. as the future site of an ethane cracker plant. The region has seen a rapid expansion of pipeline connections east and west and is supplying Dominion Energy Inc.'s $4 billion Cove Point liquefied natural gas export terminal on the Chesapeake Bay. The terminal shipped its first cargo this month (Energywire, March 5).
Denise Brinley, energy adviser at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, said her state is excited about investments made by Shell to tap the gas-rich Marcellus for petrochemical manufacturing. The state expects to enjoy an economic boost from the plant (Energywire, Jan. 2).
"Shell Pennsylvania Chemicals' announcement to locate in Beaver County is a game-changer for our commonwealth," Brinley said in January.
"Shell's investment has been the catalyst for additional petrochemical prospects in the Marcellus-Utica shale play, including PTT Global Chemical in Belmont County, Ohio. Pennsylvania and our neighboring states of Ohio and West Virginia faced stiff competition from the investments in the Gulf Coast over the last several years," she said. "We are making every effort to ensure that additional ethane produced in the region, enough to support up to four additional ethane crackers, is not simply exported to other regions for petrochemical manufacturing."
The Shell project faces opposition from environmentalists who warn it will become one of the area's largest emitters of volatile organic compounds that create smog. The company says the environment impact will not be significant.
"In the case of the cracker plant, it's clear to us policymakers were not fulfilling their trustee obligations and have moved beyond any consideration of citizen concerns," Larry Schweiger, president and chief executive of PennFuture, said in an interview with StateImpact, a reporting project by National Public Radio affiliates.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/03/16/stories/1060076553
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Health Professionals: Fracking Can’t Be Done Without Threatening Public Health
Mar 16, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Grant Smith and Tasha Stolber
Fracking for oil and gas poses an impending health crisis in the U.S., two leading groups of health professionals warn in a new report. Not only do existing fracking regulations fail to protect Americans from increased risk of cancer, asthma and birth defects, but there is no evidence fracking can ever be done without threatening public health, according to the authors.
The report, by Concerned Health Professionals of New York and Physicians for Social Responsibility, pulls together studies, data and news reports on the health and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing of natural gas and oil wells. In fracking, a slurry of water, chemicals and sand is injected deep underground at drilling sites. The chemicals and chemical-laced wastewater can contaminate drinking water and send hazardous emissions into the air, endangering people who live nearby, as well as workers at drilling sites.
One of the report’s authors, Dr. Sandra Steingraber, told Rolling Stone that in her long career as a biologist, environmental writer and advocate, “Fracking is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” She continued:
Those of us in the public health sector started to realize years ago that there were potential risks, then the industry rolled out faster than we could do our science. Now we see those risks have turned into human harms and people are getting sick. And we in this field have a moral imperative to raise the alarm.
The report is the fifth edition of a yearly compendium that details extensive studies on increased risks of cancer, asthma and birth defects for people who live near fracking sites. For example:In 2017, researchers from Princeton University, the University of Chicago and the University of California, Los Angeles found that children born within half a mile of fracked wells have a one-in-four probability of low birth weight and significant declines in average birth weight.In 2014, a study by researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health examined data on more than 100,000 births in rural Colorado between 1996 and 2009. They found an association between the the proximity of the mother’s residence to natural gas production sites and an elevated risk of birth defects, such as heart and neural tube defects.
In all, the new report surveyed 1,300 peer-reviewed studies from 2012 through 2017, and found:69 percent of the water quality studies found potential for or actual water contamination.87 percent of air quality studies found significant air pollutant emissions.84 percent of human health studies found signs of harm or indication of potential harm.
FracTracker, a nonprofit that studies and maps fracking nationwide, estimates that there are 1.3 million facilities tied to the fracking industry, including wells, compressor stations and processing plants in the U.S. A peer-reviewed 2017 study by researchers from the nonprofit PSE Healthy Energy, Harvey Mudd College and the University of California, Berkeley estimated that 17.6 million people live within one mile of at least one active oil or gas well, including 1.4 million young children.
The new report says fracking poses significant threats not just to air, water and people’s health, but also to “public safety, climate stability, seismic stability, community cohesion, and long-term economic vitality.” The threat could get worse, it says, because “the current [Trump] administration has announced a new era of ‘energy dominance’ based on surging domestic production—and export—of oil and natural gas, much of it extracted via fracking.”
The report singles out California, saying the risks posed by fracking there are unique. Much less water is used and is not injected as deeply underground as in other areas. But the fracking fluid is more chemically concentrated and more likely to reach groundwater aquifers. California is also the only state that allows oil and gas wastewater disposal in open, unlined pits.
EWG has been at the forefront of work to bring transparency to fracking and oil and gas regulation in California:EWG reports and advocacy were instrumental in passing landmark legislation in 2013, making California the only state to require comprehensive chemical testing of drilling waste and public disclosure of results.Using the state’s data, in 2015 two EWG investigations revealed just how toxic fracking chemicals and chemical-laced wastewater are, identifying substances linked to cancer, reproductive harm, hormone disruption and other health impacts.
The report’s most disturbing finding is that no amount of regulation can prevent air and water pollution, or the subsequent health impacts, from fracking and other oil and gas infrastructure. To eliminate the public health threat fracking poses, we need not better regulation, but to switch from dirty, dangerous oil and gas to clean, safe renewable energy.
https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/03/health-professionals-fracking-can-t-be-done-without-threatening-public#.Wqvo3oNubIU
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API, LNG Allies Reach Out to Trump Administration Over Policies
Mar 16, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
The executive board of the American Petroleum Institute (API) met with President Trump and Vice President Pence at the White House on Thursday to discuss a range of issues that affect the oil and natural gas industry.
Meanwhile, a nonprofit organization that supports U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Wednesday, urging him to issue an exemption for all steel imports used in export facilities.
API disclosed that it discussed tax reform and "smarter regulations" at its White House meeting and only hinted that tariffs on steel and aluminum imports were discussed. The tariffs were enacted earlier this month by the Trump administration, much to the consternation of API, other trade groups and many Republicans.
"As the world's largest producer and refiner of natural gas and oil, the administration's policies are enabling the natural gas and oil industry to create American jobs, reduce the U.S. trade deficit, build world class infrastructure and support innovation in clean energy technology," an API spokesperson told NGI on Thursday. "API executives highlighted a host of the industry's priority issues, including the importance of trade policies that recognize the integrated nature of North American and global markets.
"In particular, they discussed the industry's desire to continue working with the administration on necessary investment protections that advance the industry's contributions to the U.S. economy, national security and reliable energy for American consumers."
Earlier this month Trump followed through with his proposal to levy a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum. Canada and Mexico would be excluded, at least for now. Most of the steel imported into the United States is from Canada.
Complete Exemption Sought
The proclamation signed by Trump that created the tariffs also authorized Ross to issue exemptions for specialty steel products, such as those used in oil and gas pipelines, whenever there is insufficient capacity of comparable products from domestic steel manufacturers. It also gave the Commerce secretary 10 days to come up with a procedure for requesting exemptions.
The nonprofit group LNG Allies wasted no time in reaching out.
"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 CEO Fred Hutchison. "The U.S. LNG export industry is at a crucial stage of early development. Global competition is fierce and when it comes to the next generation of liquefaction projects, only the lowest-cost facilities will be built."
Hutchison added that in a previous letter to Trump, LNG Allies had noted that "much of the steel used to build LNG export projects is either not produced at all in the United States or not made here in sufficient quantity. Thus, American LNG projects will surely become more expensive as a result of the new tariffs."
Other trade groups, including API, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, the Natural Gas Supply Association and the GPA Midstream Association have urged the Trump administration to consider exemptions for specialty steel products, especially when there isn't a sufficient domestic supply.
During a press briefing on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president is "making sure that we're protecting American industry and American workers.
"He specifically thinks that it's important that we protect the steel and aluminum industry, due to the fact of making sure that we have the ability to still manufacture those goods for the purpose of national security."
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/113715-api-lng-allies-reach-out-to-trump-administration-over-policies
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E&E News Seeks Open PHMSA Hearing on Cheniere Leaks
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Soraghan
Federal pipeline regulators are keeping the doors closed on a hearing next week into leaks at the country's first modern liquefied natural gas export facility.
But E&E News, with the assistance of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, has requested that the hearing be opened to the public and reporters.
Cheniere Energy Inc. requested the hearing to challenge an order from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The agency ordered two tanks shut down at the company's Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana after inspectors investigated leaks from the tanks.
The hearing is set for Wednesday in Houston. When E&E News asked PHMSA to provide the time and specific location so a reporter could attend, an agency spokesman refused.
"Our hearings are not open to the public," said spokesman Darius Kirkwood.
Attorneys for the Reporters Committee sent a letter on E&E News' behalf that was to be received yesterday by PHMSA officials requesting that the hearing be open. It also provided legal reasons for opening the hearing.
"Open judicial proceedings serve a critical function in our democracy," said the letter, submitted over the names of Reporters Committee attorneys Katie Townsend and Sarah Matthews. "Courts have long recognized that the First Amendment and federal common law require legal proceedings to be conducted in public view."
The PHMSA order to shut down two tanks that leaked at Cheniere's Sabine Pass facility came at a crucial juncture for the industry. In 2016, Sabine was the first of several U.S. LNG export projects under development to start shipping gas. Around the time the order was issued, Cheniere announced a long-term LNG supply agreement with the China National Petroleum Corp.
This month, Maryland's Cove Point became the second major terminal for LNG exports. And several other U.S. LNG export facilities are expected to come online either this year or next, including another Cheniere facility in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Natural gas is highly flammable and under certain conditions explosive. PHMSA describes LNG spills as "low-frequency, high-consequence events." The Jan. 22 incident did not result in any reported injuries, fires or explosions.
LNG is natural gas that is cooled to a liquid at minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit. Its volume is then reduced six-hundredfold. When supercooled LNG encounters ambient air temperatures, it quickly expands and turns back into a gas. Each of the tanks can store up to 3.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
PHMSA issued the order more than two weeks after the leak incident, giving the first public notice that there had been a problem. Agency inspectors discovered that LNG had been leaking into a containment ditch around a storage tank. Further inspection revealed that natural gas vapors were leaking from 14 points around the base of a second LNG storage tank (Energywire, Feb. 12).
There also were indications that Sabine Pass personnel had been grappling with a series of storage tank issues dating back to 2008.
PHMSA allowed the company to continue importing and exporting gas and use three other LNG storage tanks at the site.
Cheniere requested the hearing in mid-February, challenging PHMSA's assertion that continued operation of the two tanks without fixing the problems would "be hazardous to life, property and the environment." The company said the order isn't supported by the evidence or the state of the tanks.
Cheniere has said it hopes to address its differences with PHMSA "informally" before the hearing.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/03/16/stories/1060076549
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Federal Regulators End Key Tax Benefit for Certain Pipeline Companies
Mar 16, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal
By Alison Sider and Christopher M. Matthews
A federal tax ruling dealt a new blow to a group of pipeline firms that had helped finance a massive build-out of energy infrastructure, intensifying questions on Wall Street about the sector’s survival.
The decision Thursday by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to disallow certain income-tax allowances could hasten the demise of many so-called master limited partnerships, which were already on a lengthy losing streak.
The stocks of several pipeline-partnership companies plummeted after the announcement. Shares of Enbridge Energy Partners EEP -5.03% LP fell 17%, Spectra Energy PartnersSEP +4.20% LP shares dropped 10%, while Williams Co WMB +2.66% s. and Energy Transfer Equity ETE +2.96% shares were down more than 10% before rebounding.
Once the darlings of the energy sector because they essentially pay no corporate tax, such pipeline companies, or MLPs, have lost their luster in recent years as they have struggled to keep up with demand for growing payouts to investors and their parent companies. In response, some pipeline companies have begun converting older partnerships into traditional corporate structures.
The regulator’s decision will chip away at some of the tax benefits that made these partnerships attractive in the first place. FERC voted to reverse a longstanding policy that allowed interstate natural gas and oil pipelines configured as pass-through companies to collect corporate income-tax expenses from customers.
The FERC policy has been litigated for years because customers claim it allowed pipeline owners to essentially recover income-tax costs twice because regulators already allow partnerships to structure rates to ensure a sufficient after-tax return. A federal appeals court agreed with customers in 2016 and told FERC to examine the policy.
Some analysts said the reaction by investors was overblown. Many newer pipelines have negotiated rates with customers that won’t be affected by the change and a handful companies that own pipelines but aren’t structured as partnerships also will be unaffected. The majority of pipeline companies are MLPs, with a total market capitalization of about $350 billion.
Several big partnerships, including Enterprise Products Partners EPD +2.29% LP, Energy Transfer Partners ETP +2.23% LP, and Magellan Midstream Partners MMP +3.36% LP, said the change won’t impact their bottom lines or the rates they charge. Analysts expect companies to appeal the decision.
Still, FERC’s decision was the latest blow for a group of companies that investors had started to sour on.
“The sentiment in the group is terrible and this does not help,” said Ethan Bellamy, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co.
The firms’ tax-advantaged structure and promises of large and ever-increasing payouts helped draw billions of dollars of investment in pipelines and other energy infrastructure that was sorely needed at the height of the shale boom, when companies were racing to bring the output from newly discovered oil and gas fields to market.
But the tide has started to shift.
The partnerships were marketed as the toll roads of the energy industry, and investors expected that their payouts would be insulated from volatile commodity prices.
It didn’t work out that way. Partnerships slashed their dividend-like payouts during the oil rout that began in 2014. Investors who owned a portfolio of MLPs in 2014 would have had their distributions cut by a third since then, said Mr. Bellamy.
Retail investors who bought MLPs in the boom times are “fed up,” said Tyler Rosenlicht, who manages a portfolio of MLPs and infrastructure investments at Cohen & Steers, an investment firm.
Oil prices have stabilized at above $60 a barrel and companies are getting back to work drilling new wells, creating a need for more pipes. But the partnerships have languished. The Alerian MLP Index was one of the worst-performing assets last year—losing 6.5% on a total return basis compared with the nearly 22% that the S&P 500 returned.
Investors have pulled more than $500 million from mutual funds and exchange-traded products that specialize in energy partnerships in recent weeks, in contrast to the heady days of the shale boom.
“It’s hard for me to remember an environment when sentiment was this lousy despite the fundamental outlook improving,” said Adam Karpf, managing director at CIBC Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management.
Thursday’s decision by FERC is likely to force many older natural gas and oil pipelines to lower their rates, say analysts, potentially making it even more difficult to fund the hundreds of billions in planned infrastructure projects.
Some companies, including Kinder Morgan Inc. and Oneok Inc. have done away with their partnerships converting them to traditional corporations, hoping the simplified structure will please investors and make it easier to raise cash.
In 2014, partnerships accounted for 63% of the market value of “midstream” energy infrastructure companies, according to Hinds Howard, a portfolio manager at CBRE Clarion. Now that’s 54%, after some large companies converted into regular corporations.
The FERC decision will accelerate the conversion of older partnerships into traditional corporations, according to Height Securities analyst Katie Bays. “No question about it, for older MLPs you’re going to see a more fast-paced transition,” she said.
Others say that even if retail investors maintain their chilly stance, the MLP structure isn’t going anywhere. More MLPs can now live within their means without infusions of cash from equity markets. Institutional investors and private equity backers have funneled money into the space.
“I don’t think the model is going away. I still think it’s an effective way to build critical infrastructure,” said Rob Thummel, who manages a portfolio of MLPs and other energy investments at Tortoise Capital Advisors. “If you have more production, you need more pipelines.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-regulators-end-key-tax-benefit-for-certain-pipeline-companies-1521140209?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1
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Money Flows Out of Pipelines After Unfavorable Tax Ruling
Mar 16, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Yakob Peterseil
The largest exchange-traded fund tracking America's energy pipelines incurred its third-largest outflow on record after regulators put a stop to a key tax credit for master limited partnerships.
More than $118 million left the Alerian MLP ETF yesterday, the biggest one-day withdrawal since July 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The $8.6 billion ETF, ticker AMLP, fell as much as 11 percent intraday after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission signaled a big shift in how MLPs are allowed to account for income taxes.
AMLP holds U.S.-listed large and mid-cap energy stocks that earn the majority of their cash flow from the transportation and storage of commodities.
MLPs, most of which are energy companies, pass through almost all of their profit in the form of income. Because such entities get favorable fiscal treatment, investors can get a better after-tax return than by investing in conventional corporations.
Analysts said the ruling was actually narrower than Thursday's tumultuous trading session suggested, and that the majority of pipelines in the U.S. are not FERC-regulated. The fund closed 5 percent lower.
Nevertheless, midstream companies still face what Morgan Stanley calls a "quagmire" of near-term issues, including rising rates, slow fund flows and "persistent funding needs." Investors have pulled $700 million from the fund so far this year.
On Thursday, pipeline stocks plunged after federal regulators ruled that master-limited partnerships can no longer receive a credit for income taxes they don't pay. Williams Cos. was the biggest decliner in the S&P 500 Index, dropping as much as 12 percent, while the Alerian MLP Index, which tracks 40 partnerships, had its worst day in more than two years.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decision on Thursday came in response to an earlier court ruling that found the agency's longstanding tax policy could result in double recovery of costs for master-limited partnerships, or MLPs. Because MLPs are pass-through entities that pay no federal taxes, investors in them can get a better after-tax return than by investing in conventional corporations.
"The court did not mince its words," FERC Chairman Kevin McIntyre said during a commission meeting. "Granting an income tax allowance to master-limited partnerships results in 'inequitable returns.' This very clear language amounts to very clear marching orders for us."
Wells Fargo & Co. analyst Michael Blum said the broad selling was an overreaction, because the effects would be felt only on partnerships with a large amount of interstate pipelines.
"It's definitely a negative, but it's not Armageddon for MLPs," Jay Hatfield, a New York-based portfolio manager at the InfraCap MLP exchange-traded fund, said by telephone. "And it's not as if it affects every asset in every single MLP."https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Money-flows-out-of-pipelines-after-unfavorable-12758609.php
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Energy Transfer, Chinese Partner Unveil Plans for Ethane Export Terminal on Gulf Coast
Mar 16, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Carolyn Davis
Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) said Thursday it is taking a Chinese petrochemical partner to build a natural gas liquids (NGL) export facility on the Gulf Coast.
With Satellite Petrochemical USA Corp., ETP is jointly partnering in Orbit Gulf Coast NGL Exports LLC, which would have a 800,000 bbl refrigerated ethane storage tank and a 175,000 b/d ethane refrigeration facility. The ETP-operated project would provide ethane for Satellite’s cracking facilities in Jiangsu province.
No financial details were disclosed, nor did the partners offer information about where the terminal would be sited.
ETP agreed to build a 20-inch diameter ethane pipeline that originates at its Mont Belvieu fractionation facility near Houston for deliveries to Orbit and to domestic markets. Under the agreement, Satellite would receive 150,000 b/d of ethane under a long-term, demand-based contract, as well as storage and marketing services.
Dallas-based ETP also agreed to construct and own the infrastructure to supply ethane to the pipeline, as well as load it on Very Large Ethane Carriers, i.e. VLECs, destined for Satellite’s crackers.
Pending Chinese government approval, Orbit could be ready for commercial service by late 2020, ETP said.
ETP has pipeline and NGL projects across the country, with growing liquids volumes from the Permian Basin moving to Mont Belvieu, which in turn could help supply the Orbit project.
During conference call to discuss 3Q2017 earnings, ETP COO Marshall McCrea said basis differentials at the Waha Hub in the Permian could "blow out materially" over the next year or two, and the midstreamer sees opportunities to capture value.
ETP management is “extremely optimistic over the next 12-14 months that the basis will blow out, probably blow out materially...We're actually going to be feeding that with a lot of these projects that we're bringing on and ramping up with our processing plants and with our Red Bluff upstream intrastate."
McCrea said the company was evaluating other ways “to more efficiently and inexpensively move volumes out by expanding systems that we have or using systems that we have in different manners.”
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/113716-energy-transfer-chinese-partner-unveil-plans-for-ethane-export-terminal-on-gulf-coast
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FERC Split on Sabal Trail Renews Debate on Climate Review
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer and Rod Kuckro
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approach to weighing climate impacts from natural gas pipelines is under the microscope again as critics from outside and inside the agency push for change.
The renewed focus on how FERC analyzes greenhouse gas emissions stems from the commission's 3-2 decision Wednesday night to reauthorize the Sabal Trail pipeline under a fresh climate analysis.
The review, a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS), was ordered by a federal court last year after it found FERC failed to adequately consider the greenhouse gas emissions from burning natural gas delivered by Sabal Trail and the broader Southeast Market Pipelines Project. The network stretches through Alabama and Georgia to send gas to Florida power plants.
Two FERC commissioners dissented from the agency's order reissuing the project certificate. Commissioner Richard Glick, a Democrat, argued that the reauthorization decision and climate review fall short of what the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had in mind when it ordered FERC to take a closer look.
"In my opinion, yesterday's order fails to sufficiently comply with the D.C. Circuit's order," he said during a FERC meeting yesterday.
He added that he's concerned the D.C. Circuit will again scrap the agency's decision and force it to go back to the drawing board. Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, a Democrat, agreed.
"I didn't think we fully implemented the court's instructions because I think that balancing the downstream GHG effects has to be considered as part of our public interest determination," she said yesterday.
LaFleur argued in her partial dissent on Wednesday that FERC should have taken its analysis a step further by determining the significance of increases in greenhouse gas emissions.
Both commissioners also criticized the SEIS and final order for refusing to apply the "social cost of carbon" tool, which calculates the cost of increased emissions (Greenwire, March 15).
"I appreciate that the Commission has tried to be responsive to increasing comments in our pipeline dockets on GHG emissions and climate change by disclosing progressively more information in our NEPA documents and orders on GHG upstream and downstream emissions," LaFleur wrote. "I have strongly supported our doing so. However, we have now had a pipeline certificate vacated for failure to fully consider GHG emissions and Social Cost of Carbon, so we must more squarely address them."
FERC's decision this week is subject to challenges from Sabal Trail opponents. Parties have 30 days to file a petition for rehearing, which the commission usually takes at least several months to answer.
The Sierra Club, which led the underlying lawsuit that sparked the SEIS, said it is still considering its next steps.'How could this not be significant?'
Other critics of FERC's approach to climate analysis pounced on the agency's order this week.
Jason Schwartz, legal director for the New York University School of Law's Institute for Policy Integrity, argued that FERC's review fails to sufficiently disclose Sabal Trail's impacts.
"FERC has once again left the public in the dark about the true climate consequences of its pipeline decisions," he said in an email. "The idea that they cannot quantify the climate damages because there is no bright-line test for how many tons of greenhouse gases are 'significant' is completely specious. As the dissenting Commissioners rightly point out, that is precisely the job of every agency under NEPA: to identify and assess significant environmental impacts."
Schwartz was referring to FERC's conclusion that it would be inappropriate for the agency to classify emissions increases as "significant" because there's no widely accepted definition for that label. The SEIS says Sabal Trail would spark an increase of 3.6 to 9.9 percent over Florida's 2015 levels (Energywire, Feb. 6).
He noted that the agency routinely assigns significance to other factors, including impacts on tax revenues for states along the project's route.
"The idea that FERC is uncertain whether hundreds of thousands of tons of [construction] emissions plus millions of tons of downstream emissions — constituting as much as a 10% increase in emissions for the state of Florida, representing hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars worth of climate damages — is somehow not significant is ludicrous and an egregious abdication of FERC's responsibilities under NEPA for transparent, informed decisionmaking."
Michael Burger, executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, noted that the Obama administration never set a "significance" threshold for greenhouse gas emissions but recommended 25,000 metric tons per year as a reference point for when it's appropriate to tally direct emissions. He added that many state agencies have also set thresholds for direct emissions in the range of 10,000 to 25,000 metric tons per year.
"The downstream emissions associated with this project — between 8 million and 14 millionmetric tons per year — are so far beyond those levels, it raises an obvious question: How could this not be significant?" he said.
"This case," he added, "is all teed up for an appeal back to the D.C. Circuit."
Sabin Center attorney Jessica Wentz added that FERC could gauge the significance using the social cost of carbon or other tools. U.S. EPA's Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, for example, puts Sabal Trail's estimated 8.36 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year roughly on par with 1.8 million passenger vehicles on the road for a year or 1.25 million homes' electricity use for a year.
Avi Zevin, an attorney for the Institute for Policy Integrity, noted that while the D.C. Circuit generally gives wide deference to federal agency decisionmaking, its deference may not extend to this issue.
"It's a question of whether the court thinks that disclaiming an ability to determine significance is persuasive," he said. "It's definitely plausible that the court will reject the argument that there's just no way to determine any sort of significance."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/03/16/stories/1060076557
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Judges Mull EPA Delay of Chemical Safety Rule
Mar 16, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Alex Guillen
Three federal judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals spent more than two hours today grappling with the Trump administration’s 20-month delay of an EPA chemical safety rule issued in the final days of the Obama administration.
EPA contends the delay was necessary because of security concerns raised by industry over requirements that facilities disclose information about chemicals on site to local responders.
Judge Judith Rogers, a Clinton appointee, peppered a government attorney with questions about whether EPA could justify the long-term stay because the agency based its delay on essentially the same information the chemical industry had submitted for the original regulation.
“People are injured. People are dying,” she said, referring to recent industrial accidents. “I don’t see anything in the delay rule that says, ‘We have evidence these things aren’t occurring.’”
Rogers also questioned whether EPA believed it had carte blanche to continue pushing compliance dates back if industry kept raising other concerns on a rolling basis. “This could go on forever,” she said.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a George W. Bush appointee, defended EPA’s ability to delay rules if it were to hold a public comment process. “It seems pretty basic that you can use notice-and-comment rulemaking to delay the effective date,” he said.
A new administration would understandably need more time to organize and decide what to do, he said.
The panel’s third judge, Obama appointee Robert Wilkins, questioned why EPA had first issued a three-month delay instead of immediately pursuing the 20-month delay.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Search Resumes for Missing Worker After Chemical Plant Blast
Mar 16, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times, The Washington Post)
Hazardous materials crews have resumed the search for a worker who is missing and presumed dead following an explosion at a Texas chemical plant that injured two co-workers.
Texas Department of Public Safety Staff Sgt. Earl Gillum says recovery crews are using heavy equipment Friday to clear burned debris at the Tri-Chem Industries plant in Cresson, 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Dallas.
Investigators believe a worker dragging his foot along the floor while chemicals were being mixed sparked Thursday's explosion. That worker is hospitalized with critical burns. Another worker was treated for lesser injuries.
The search resumed Friday for the third worker who Gillum has said is presumed dead.
Gillum says air quality experts have determined there's no danger of another blast after toxicity concerns stalled initial firefighting efforts.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/03/16/us/ap-us-chemical-plant-fire-texas.html
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U.S. Ties Russia to Energy-Sector Hacks
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
U.S. officials yesterday blamed Russia for a series of cyberattacks aimed at a South Dakota-based energy company and multiple nuclear power plants.
While the hackers stopped short of causing physical damage, they managed to steal data from deep within the control networks of several "energy generation facilities," according to a joint alert from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
The cyber intrusions date back to at least March 2016 and also targeted water, aviation and critical manufacturing firms, the agencies said.
In a related action, the Treasury Department unveiled sanctions against two dozen Russian individuals, agencies and businesses said to be linked to the "ongoing" hacking campaign and others like it, including attempts to sow discord in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr. pointed out in an email that the sanctions don't single out Russian President Vladimir Putin and that their effectiveness "depends on how much pain these sanctions actually cause" the individuals named.
Clapper said he did not expect to see the U.S. respond in-kind to the cyber intrusions, "unless we are confident in our ability to withstand and be resilient in the event of a counter-retaliation.
"We try to be precise, surgical, and legalistic; we can't depend on an adversary being similarly precise, surgical, legalistic," he said, citing concerns about the Russians leaving malware implanted in key targets "that they can activate at a time of their choosing."
Several cybersecurity experts said they found the U.S. government's case to be credible, noting that Russia is one of a few nations to have shown both the willingness and technical chops to hack specialized industrial control systems.
Russian hackers are widely thought to have been responsible for turning off the lights to several hundred thousand Ukrainians in December 2015 and again in 2016, marking the only known times cyberattacks have cut off electricity anywhere in the world.
The strikes against U.S. electricity companies appear to have had similarly disruptive goals, though the hackers have quieted down lately, according to Jon DiMaggio, senior threat intelligence analyst at cybersecurity firm Symantec Corp.
"While we haven't seen recent heavy activity, we expect they are retooling and will be back," DiMaggio said in an email.
Last September, Symantec said it had caught the "Dragonfly 2.0" hackers red-handed taking screenshots of sensitive control systems from U.S. and European targets (Energywire, Sept. 12, 2017). Asked at the time whether the attackers could have actually brought down parts of the power grid, DiMaggio demurred but said they seemed determined to arm themselves with that capability.'I look forward to hearing back'
Yesterday's DHS and FBI alert laid out the hackers' attacking blueprint: They started at vulnerable, third-party suppliers before working their way up to their eventual target.
"[We] characterize this activity as a multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors who targeted small commercial facilities' networks where they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks," the agencies said.
At one point, the hackers tempted electricity workers with an emailed resume purporting to come from "Jon Patrick," a control systems engineer from a small construction firm in Michigan. Such "spear phishing" emails often convince victims to click, unwittingly granting hackers a foothold.
"Multi-skilled controls engineer with experience in hands-on project based work," part of the email reads. "Experience ranges from budget estimate and managing electric engineering projects to developing and commissioning software for PLC - SCADA control systems.
"I look forward to hearing back."
The attached file was laced with malware that enabled the attackers to steal usernames and passwords for later use.
"This is an actor that we've seen target engineers — specifically, folks working in the energy sector across multiple Middle Eastern, European and North American countries," said Ben Read, senior manager for cyber espionage analysis at the cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc.
He said much of the technical information in the latest alert "is not going to come as a surprise to a lot of power companies."
"Hopefully most places have already taken action," he said.
At least one South Dakota energy firm learned the hard way, according to nonpublic government and industry alerts reviewed by E&E News.
After more than two dozen phishing attempts on the unnamed company last year, "one user of an active account opened the e-mail and malicious attachment" on May 31, said a report from DHS's Office of Intelligence and Analysis. However, the phishing attack "failed" because the hackers hadn't activated a remote file location needed to launch the second phase of the intrusion, DHS noted.
Other tries broke through to their targets.
DHS and FBI shared a reconstructed screenshot of a control system computer that the hackers were able to access.
Though the screenshot is heavily redacted, several electricity-sector experts contacted by E&E News said it could have come from an oil- or gas-fired cogeneration power plant.No impacts
Representatives from the electric power and nuclear industries pointed out that the attackers never managed to affect the North American grid.
Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute, which represents major investor-owned utilities across the U.S., said the industry spread the word about the DHS report yesterday via a grid-focused information-sharing hub.
He called the two-way flow of intelligence between government and power utilities "vital to guarding the grid from all possible threats."
Bill Gross, director of incident preparedness at the Nuclear Energy Institute, pointed out that the technical details in the DHS bulletin were already available last year.
He said that while he appreciated the federal government's ongoing information-sharing efforts, the alert itself was unlikely to spur any major actions on the part of industry.
"Having an actor named; that doesn't really change what we do to protect our systems," he said.
E&E News first reported last year that multiple nuclear power generation sites had been hit by the hacking campaign, though nuclear safety was not affected (Energywire, June 27, 2017).
The New York Times later reported that Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp., based out of Kansas, fell into the hackers' crosshairs.
Gross declined to speculate on what, if anything, may have been stolen from nuclear power companies' corporate networks, but he pointed out that the highest-risk "safeguards" information would be kept isolated from administrative computers.
"Certainly, the protective measures that we have in place preclude the types of attacks that were described in the bulletin today," he said in an interview. "There's really no digital pathway into the [nuclear] plant."Congress reacts
Several U.S. lawmakers welcomed the Trump administration's efforts to clamp down on documented Russian aggression in cyberspace.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, commended the Trump administration for "sending a message that we will respond when attacked," noting that "we can no longer tolerate Russia's actions that harm the United States and its allies through cyberspace."
Democratic lawmakers were less effusive, questioning why it took so long to call out Russia's alleged behavior.
"A year ago yesterday, I called for a Russian cyber threat assessment to our grid," Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said in a statement yesterday, noting that she was long met with "deafening silence" from Trump (E&E News PM, March 15). "I hope today's belated response is the first step in a robust and aggressive strategy to protect our critical infrastructure."
In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state-owned Tass news agency that Russia plans to retaliate with its own set of sanctions. He called the U.S. accusations "groundless."
Russian officials toed a similar line after several nations, including the United Kingdom and the U.S., accused Moscow of orchestrating a devastating "ransomware" cyberattack on Ukraine last year (Energywire, Feb. 16). The "NotPetya" worm, which the White House called "the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history," spread quickly beyond its initial targets and locked up computers at major shipping and chemical firms, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called those findings "nothing more than the continuation of the Russophobic campaign lacking any evidence."DOE responds
The Department of Energy said yesterday that the DHS and FBI alert underscores the growing threat from hackers.
Last month, Energy Secretary Rick Perry outlined plans to restructure a key electric reliability office at DOE, spinning off a stand-alone agency devoted to cybersecurity issues.
"DOE has worked closely with government partners and energy sector asset owners to help ensure attempts failed or were stopped," Perry said in a statement following yesterday's alert. "This event demonstrates exactly why I am creating an Office of Cyber Security and Emergency Response. It is crucial for the DOE to consolidate and strengthen our efforts to combat the growing nefarious cyber threats we face."
Nevertheless, the Trump administration's governmentwide cybersecurity defenses may not be adequately coordinated to face growing cyberthreats, Perry and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), chairman of a House Appropriations subcommittee, agreed yesterday.
Perry was testifying on DOE's fiscal 2018 budget proposal when Simpson, who heads the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, turned the conversation to the cyberthreat.
A cyberattack "could attack and destroy your economy, and you may not know where it came from," Simpson said. "It is scary business. I think that is our biggest threat."
Simpson added, "I think we're attacking it department-wise," indicating DOE, "but I'm not sure if we're attacking it government-wise."
Simpson said he would like to be able to appropriate money for cyberdefense in one place and know that it was well-used.
Perry said the reorganization of DOE's cyber efforts, proposed in the 2018 budget plan, was an attempt to coordinate and centralize the department's efforts. The overall responsibility for cyberdefenses in the civilian sector belongs to the DHS, he noted.
"I will tell you that I'm not confident the federal government has a broad strategy in place that is not duplicating, or [the] least duplicative that it can be," Perry said.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/03/16/stories/1060076555
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Pruitt is Expected to Restrict Science. Here's What it Means
Mar 16, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Scott Waldman and Robin Bravender
U.S. EPA chief Scott Pruitt is expected to roll out plans soon to restrict the agency's use of science in rulemakings, pitting him against critics who say it would threaten public health and environmental protections.
In a closed-door meeting at the Heritage Foundation on Monday, Pruitt told a group of conservatives that he has plans for additional science reform at the agency, according to multiple attendees. EPA hasn't formally shared details of the plan, but it's widely expected to resemble an effort that Republican lawmakers and conservative groups have been pushing for years. It's been met with staunch resistance from Democrats and many scientists.
The plan could come "sooner rather than later," said Steve Milloy, who served on Trump's EPA transition team and attended the meeting at the Heritage Foundation.
EPA did not respond to a request for comment. And Milloy cautioned that he did not know the specifics of the plan and said he was not authorized to discuss the meeting.
The initiative is expected to require EPA — when issuing rules — to rely only on scientific studies where the underlying data are made public. It's an idea that House Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has been championing for years. He and others argue that EPA has been crafting regulations based on "secret science" to advance its regulatory agenda.
Smith, one of the leading opponents of mainstream climate science in Congress, has repeatedly accused federal climate scientists of engaging in a massive conspiracy to falsify climate data. And he has repeatedly introduced bills that would require EPA to publicize data it uses when crafting regulations.
Those efforts died when President Obama was in the White House, and Smith's newest legislative push doesn't appear to be moving even though Republicans control both chambers of Congress. The House passed a bill dubbed the "Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment (HONEST) Act" — requiring that EPA rules be based on science for which underlying data is publicly available and reproducible — last March. But the measure has gone nowhere since it was referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Smith has tried to push the idea elsewhere, too. In comments on the 2019 budget proposal, the GOP majority on the Science panel led by Smith suggested that EPA's funding should be contingent on the administrator's "requiring that all scientific and technical information and data relied on to support a risk, exposure, or hazard assessment; criteria document; standard; limitation; regulation; regulatory impact analysis; or guidance issued by the EPA is made publicly available."
Smith did not respond to a request for comment.
Critics on the left and in the scientific community see the effort as an attempt to hinder EPA from issuing rules.
"A lot of the data that EPA uses to protect public health and ensure that we have clean air and clean water relies on data that cannot be publicly released," said Yogin Kothari with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Many scientific studies rely on data that can't be made public for reasons like patient privacy concerns or industry confidentiality.
"If EPA doesn't have data to move forward with a public protection for a safeguard, it doesn't have to do that at all," said Kothari. "It really hamstrings the ability of the EPA to do anything, to fulfill its mission."
Publishing raw data also opens scientists up to attacks from industry, which can twist or distort data to shape a deregulatory agenda, said Betsy Southerland, a former senior EPA official in the Office of Water who worked on a staff analysis of the "HONEST Act."
Southerland, who left EPA last summer, said the effort is deceptive and is not about transparency, but about sidelining peer-reviewed science that supports regulation of pollution. She said there are numerous examples of groundbreaking studies that are not replicable, such as human health studies after the dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima or the ecological effects of the BP PLC Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In many of the older studies, there are a plethora of people, including some who are dead, who could no longer be tracked down.
"This is just done to paralyze rulemaking," she said. "It's another obstacle that would make it so hard and so difficult to go forward with rulemaking that in the end, the only thing that would happen — in the best case you would greatly delay rulemaking; in the worst case you would just prevent it. It would be such an obstacle you couldn't overcome it."
Publicizing the data in some EPA actions, which often come after years of research, could be extensive. For example, risk assessments for certain chemicals sometimes cite hundreds or even thousands of studies, all of which would have to be tracked down for data collection, according to the EPA analysis of the "HONEST Act."
Requiring data transparency would cost hundreds of millions of dollars because it would require EPA staff to track down data from study authors and create an online management system to store and present those data, the analysis found. In addition, EPA staff would have to spend time redacting personally identifiable information in the studies, and study authors would likely require payments for preparing and sending their data.
EPA career staff estimated that Smith's legislation would add $250 million in costs annually for the first few years after it was implemented, Southerland said. That estimate was dismissed by senior EPA officials who said those costs were inflated and that the agency would not use many studies to which the rule would apply, but they did not provide evidence, she said. EPA's analysis of Smith's bill was published by the radio program "Marketplace."
Milloy, who has long pushed for EPA to stop issuing regulations unless the underlying scientific data are made public, said the science reform effort could be done through a directive, in the same way that Pruitt reshaped EPA's science advisory panels.
The overhaul of those committees is another area where Pruitt came through on one of Smith's longtime priorities.
In October, Smith was seated front and center at an event where Pruitt announced that he would reform the advisory panels to bar researchers who take government funding. Critics said that move skewed the advice EPA is getting by making it tough for researchers who rely on public funding to participate, but keeping industry-funded scientists on board.
Pruitt then appointed as science advisers a number of researchers whose work is funded by industry, energy lobbying groups and conservative think tanks, while forcing out academics from major research institutions.
"Pruitt did a great job in cleaning up the science advisory boards, and if he does that kind of work on this, that's fantastic," Milloy said of the expected science data reform effort. "My goal is to make sure EPA does not rely on scientific studies unless the data is made available for replication by somebody."
Kothari of the Union of Concerned Scientists called it "alarming" that the Trump administration's science agenda "is being run by the chairman of the Science Committee, given that he has continued to not care about how science informs policymaking."
"This is the second thing now that this administrator will be implementing based on legislation that was never enacted," Kothari said. "It's just another excuse for Pruitt's EPA to really abrogate EPA's responsibility to protect human health and the environment."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/03/16/stories/1060076559
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FEMA Eliminates Mentions of Climate Change from Strategic Planning Document
Mar 16, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Rebecca Savransky
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) strategic planning document for the next four years makes no mention of climate change.
NPR reported that FEMA dropped references to topics including climate change, rising sea levels and global warming in a document it released Thursday.
The document says disaster costs are expected to go up because of the "rising natural hazard risk, decaying critical infrastructure, and economic pressures that limit investments in risk resilience."
"As good stewards of taxpayer dollars, FEMA must ensure that our programs are fiscally sound," the document says. "Additionally, we will consider new pathways to long-term disaster risk reduction, including increased investments in pre-disaster mitigation."
FEMA public affairs director William Booher said in an email to NPR "it is evident that this strategic plan fully incorporates future risks from all hazards regardless of cause."
"Building upon the foundation established by FEMA's previous two Strategic Plans, this plan commits the agency, and the nation, to taking proactive steps to increasing pre-disaster investments in preparedness and mitigation," Booher said in the email.
A report earlier this week said administration officials are working to combat global climate change despite President Trump's skeptical rhetoric on the issue.
Although Trump announced last year he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, the U.S. still helped write a rulebook on implementing it over the past, Reuters reported earlier this week.
The U.S. has also increased funding for overseas clean energy projects and has contributed to international research on the effects of global warming.
The White House said in a statement this week the administration supports debate and analysis on the issue.
Since taking office, Trump has pushed for increased use of fossil fuels in the U.S. and has rolled back various Obama-era energy and environmental policies.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/378747-fema-eliminates-mentions-of-climate-change-from-strategic-planning
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