Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 3/21/18
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(ACC Mentioned) Wisconsin Legislature Passes Bill That Could Stimulate Pyrolysis and Gasification of Nonrecyclable Plastics
Mar 21, 2018 | Recycling Today
By DeAnne Toto
The Wisconsin legislature passed AB 789, a bill that exempts pyrolysis and gasification facilities from certain laws relating to solid waste facilities, March 20, 2018. -
(ACC Mentioned) Scott Pruitt Makes Strong Late Play For Most Shameless White House Grifter
Mar 21, 2018 | Vanity Fair
By Bess Levin
Back in February, we learned that Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt had racked up thousands of dollars in business and first-class airfare because flying coach posed too much of a security risk. -
Environmentalists Denounce Pruitt's Planned Science Policy
Mar 21, 2018 | Inside EPA
Environmentalists are denouncing Administrator Scott Pruitt's proposal to set a new policy barring EPA from using as the basis for any rule any data that is not publicly available on the internet, an approach that would undercut a host of agency regulations, including those governing air quality standards, pesticides and others. -
US Food Safety Body Issues 'Best Practice' on Chemicals in Packaging
Mar 21, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
A US-based food safety alliance has published a list of chemicals of concern it says packaging suppliers should either eliminate from materials or minimise their use. -
Industry Moots 'Turcha' Turkish Chemicals Agency
Mar 21, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
A Turkish consultancy has called on the country's environment ministry to establish a chemicals agency, modelled on Europe's Echa. Its purpose would be to support the implementation of KKDIK, the country's new REACH-like regulation. -
(ACC Mentioned) Tri-State Shale Coalition Agreement extended
Mar 21, 2018 | WV News
By Michael Lemley
The Tri-State Shale Coalition Agreement, which aims to enhance cooperation and job growth by developing shale gas in the Appalachian Basin, has been extended, Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday. -
Tellurian Gauging Support to Move Natural Gas from Permian to Southwest Louisiana
Mar 21, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Carolyn Davis
Tellurian Inc. on Tuesday began testing support for its third natural gas system, one that would move up to 2 Bcf/d from the Permian Basin to southwestern Louisiana, where it has an export project underway. -
Marcellus-Utica Region Looks to Costs to Attract Producers
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Petrochemical companies could more than quadruple their returns by building plants in the shale gas region of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to a report by an economic development consortium. -
How Russian Gas Ended up on U.S. Shores
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Saqib Rahim
On Jan. 28, a ship pulled into a port near Boston with a most unusual cargo. -
How Two Wells in Wyoming Explain the Natural-Gas Glut
Mar 21, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal
By Ryan Dezember and Stephanie Yang
Natural-gas producers should be delighted: A cold winter has furnaces blazing into late March, domestic demand is up, and record volumes are being sold abroad. -
Pipeline Regulators Open Sabine Pass Safety Hearing
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Edward Klump, Jenny Mandel and Mike Soraghan
Federal pipeline regulators today opened to the public a hearing on safety at the country's first modern liquefied natural gas export facility after a request from E&E News. -
The Bayou Bridge Pipeline and the Global Energy Picture
Mar 21, 2018 | Real Clear Energy
By Guy Caruso
According to a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United States is poised to play a major role in supplying oil demand growth around the globe. U.S. oil production growth is projected to meet more than half of global oil demand growth during the next five years. -
NIST Shares Guide for 'Highly Dangerous' Cyberthreats
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
Last week, U.S. homeland security officials warned of an ongoing Russian hacking campaign aimed at nuclear power plants and electric utilities. -
Dingell Asks FCC to Reconsider NEPA Rollback
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Nick Sobczyk
Rep. Debbie Dingell wants the Federal Communications Commission to halt a proposal to scale back environmental regulations for wireless infrastructure. -
Welcome to the Fourth Wave: A New Era of Environmental Progress
Mar 21, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Fred Krupp
Since November, the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite has been in orbit 500 miles above Earth, capturing and measuring bright red and orange air pollution “hot spots” on the continents below. -
D.C. Circuit Slated to Hear Suit over EPA's 'Exceptional Events' Air Policy
Mar 21, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument March 22 in a suit filed by environmentalists over EPA's rule allowing Clean Air Act regulatory exemptions for air pollution associated with “exceptional events” such as wildfires, a policy critics claim allows for unlawful increases in emissions. -
Oil Company Accused of Climate Damage Won't Dispute Science
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Anne C. Mulkern
Oil companies accused of raising ocean levels might not question the existence of climate change in federal court today.
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Mar 21, 2018 | Recycling Today
By DeAnne Toto
The Wisconsin legislature passed AB 789, a bill that exempts pyrolysis and gasification facilities from certain laws relating to solid waste facilities, March 20, 2018. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Paul Tittl and by Sen. Robert Cowles. It awaits the signature of Gov. Scott Walker.
Solid waste facilities in the state must obtain an operating license from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Most of these facilities also must undergo a preconstruction or pre-expansion site inspection, obtain DNR approval of a plan of operation, comply with certain performance standards and provide proof of financial responsibility for the closure of the facility and the postclosure, long-term care of the facility.
This bill defines a pyrolysis facility as “a facility where postuse plastics are heated until decomposed and then converted into other materials such as liquid fuel,” while a gasification facility is defined as “a facility where postuse plastics and certain other materials are heated and ultimately converted only into fuel or other chemical feedstock.”
“With yesterday’s passage, Wisconsin becomes the second state (after Florida) to unanimously adopt legislation that removes regulatory barriers to implementing these innovative technologies in their states," says Craig Cookson, senior director of recycling and energy recovery for the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), Washington, in a written statement.
“This new legislation will make Wisconsin a welcoming environment for innovative new manufacturing that converts postuse nonrecycled plastics into fuels, chemicals or feedstocks for new plastics,” he says.
Cookson continues, “We’re pleased to see legislation that attracts new innovative businesses and supports the creation of new jobs by treating postuse plastics as valuable raw materials for ‘manufacturing’ and not as ‘waste.’ In addition, AB 789 ensures that facilities which convert postuse plastics into liquid fuels, chemicals, waxes and lubricants are correctly regulated as manufacturing and not mischaracterized as solid waste management facilities."
He says converting Wisconsin’s nonrecycled plastics into energy could provide enough fuel to power more than 151,000 cars annually, according to estimates. "Experts also determined that converting nonrecycled plastics in Wisconsin and northern Illinois into petrochemical feedstocks and fuels could support 17 facilities and generate $163 million in economic output each year," Cookson adds.
http://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/wisconsin-ab-789-passes-legislature/
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(ACC Mentioned) Scott Pruitt Makes Strong Late Play For Most Shameless White House Grifter
Mar 21, 2018 | Vanity Fair
By Bess Levin
Back in February, we learned that Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt had racked up thousands of dollars in business and first-class airfare because flying coach posed too much of a security risk. “We live in a very toxic environment politically, particularly around issues of the environment,” Pruitt explained, and thanks to an “incident” wherein someone reportedly approached him at the airport and yelled “Scott Pruitt, you’re fucking up the environment” (a completely factual statement), his security team decided that, for his safety, it would be much better for him to sit in the section of the plane where the beds lay flat. Now that Representative Trey Gowdy has gotten his hands on the E.P.A.’s travel records, we’ve been treated to a closer look at exactly what sort of business Pruitt was conducting that cost taxpayers over $105,000, a figure that reportedly does not include the $58,000 he spent on charter flights and military jets.
In addition to various trips to announce rollbacks of Obama-era rules preventing the environment from being treated like a urinal, Pruitt apparently spared no expense meeting with industry executives, who were presumably giddy about coming face-to-face with the guy who’s made their wildest dreams come true. To address the Texas Oil & Gas Association in October before making media stops in Nebraska, Pruitt spent $3,610 on first-class flights. That same month, he invoiced taxpayers $2,265 for a first-class trip to New Orleans to speak to the Louisiana Chemical Association. In November, a trip to Chicago to chat with the Society of Industrial Gasoline Marketers cost $1,172. The following day, a jaunt to Charleston, South Carolina, for a meet-and-greet with the American Chemistry Council weighed in at $3,155. There was also, naturally, a four-day trip to Morocco in December to promote U.S. natural-gas exports that set taxpayers back $17,631. (Incidentally, The New York Times notes that “the E.P.A. does not oversee natural-gas exports.” But hey, who would pass up a trip to Morocco, all-expenses paid?)
In a statement, E.P.A. spokesman Jahan Wilcox reiterated that Pruitt absolutely must fly in the part of the plane where the booze is on the house because “E.P.A.’s Protective Service Detail identified specific ongoing threats associated with Administrator Pruitt’s travel and shifted his class based on certain security protocols that require him to be near the front of the plane.”
For the most part, though, it seems that Pruitt is taking a con artist’s approach to his tenure at the E.P.A.: get in, do as much damage (and rack up as many first-class flights) as possible, and get out before it all comes crashing down. In a New York Times piece published earlier this month regarding Pruitt’s political ambitions, Christine Todd Whitman, who led the E.P.A. under George W. Bush,opined: “The policies he’s pushing play very well in his home state and with the base—but you can’t do them overnight. They’re getting rushed out. I don’t think the homework is being done. It makes for good sound bites, but they might not stand up legally.” With Pruitt’s eye on a Senate seat, governorship, and, god forbid, the presidency, however, he “could be gone from E.P.A. by the time that happens.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/scott-pruitt-most-shameless-white-house-grifter
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Environmentalists Denounce Pruitt's Planned Science Policy
Mar 21, 2018 | Inside EPA
Environmentalists are denouncing Administrator Scott Pruitt's proposal to set a new policy barring EPA from using as the basis for any rule any data that is not publicly available on the internet, an approach that would undercut a host of agency regulations, including those governing air quality standards, pesticides and others.
The policy, which Pruitt detailed in a March 19 interview, echoes legislation pushed by House Science Committee Republicans that seeks to bar the agency from relying on “secret science.”
But environmentalists strongly criticized the approach, saying it will undercut EPA's air quality standards, such as those governing particulate matter, that rely on medical data that is protected for privacy reasons.
“This canard about `secret science’ began as an attempt by industry to undermine the landmark research -- from more than two decades ago -- that determined air pollution is bad for your health. As a result of those findings, EPA forced polluters to clean up their act, saving or improving tens of thousands of lives,” the Natural Resources Defense Council's John Walke says in a March 20 statement.
EPA's press office released a March 20 statement announcing that “Pruitt will soon end his agency’s use of 'secret science' to craft regulations,” linking to an exclusive interview that Pruitt gave the conservative website Daily Caller.
The website explains that under Pruitt's pending policy, “EPA regulators would only be allowed to consider scientific studies that make their data available for public scrutiny under Pruitt’s new policy. Also, EPA-funded studies would need to make all their data public.”
Such ideas have been popular with House Republicans in the past, but had previously failed to advance in the Senate. Critics argue that doing so strips EPA of its ability to use valuable information underpinning many EPA rules, ranging from data protected by copyright to human data requiring the release of medical information to trade secret data that companies share with EPA as required by certain statutes.
“Obviously we are concerned by these reports and are determining how best to respond once Administrator Pruitt reveals the specifics of this policy,” a House staffer tells Inside EPA.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), meanwhile, has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with EPA, asking for any emails among a series of EPA appointees and top research office staff discussing “secret science” or legislation long championed by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the retiring chairman of the House Science Committee.
“Scott Pruitt needs to tell the American public -- not just his political allies at the Heritage Foundation -- why he’s trying to undermine science at EPA,” EDF's Martha Roberts says in a March 20 statement. “Pruitt’s plans would limit EPA’s ability to use strong science in ways that Congress has refused to endorse. By limiting what studies can be used to help keep us safe, this reported policy would make it harder for EPA to protect American families from pollution, toxic chemicals, and other threats.”
The Daily Caller describes the pending policy as “mirroring” Smith's bill, H.R. 1430, which passed the House last year on a party-line vote. Companion legislation has yet to move in the Senate.
The bills proved controversial, as critics including Democrats, environmentalists and academic groups argued that the policies will bar EPA from using the best available science in its rulemaking, or stall some rules altogether. Critics pointed in particular to human health data on particulate matter and ozone underlying those national air quality standards as examples of data that EPA would not be able to rely on under such a policy.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/environmentalists-denounce-pruitts-planned-science-policy
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US Food Safety Body Issues 'Best Practice' on Chemicals in Packaging
Mar 21, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
A US-based food safety alliance has published a list of chemicals of concern it says packaging suppliers should either eliminate from materials or minimise their use.
The Food Safety Alliance for Packaging (FSAP) says its proposal goes beyond regulatory requirements and suppliers could use it as a best practice to formulate food packaging products for consumers.
The document lists 15 different packaging parts and components, with the names of chemicals or groups of chemicals contained in them. For each one, there is a description, details of existing international controls and a recommendation to either replace with an alternative or minimise use.
The substances it recommends not using intentionally, where suitable alternatives exist, include:
phthalates – used in any packaging component;
REACH substances of very high concern (SVHCs) – used in any packaging component;
bisphenol A (BPA) – used in can coatings and plastic resins;
perfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFASs), such as PFOA and related substances – used in grease-proof coated paper and board; and
styrene – used in polystyrene films and rigid structures.
On others, such as polystyrene and residual printing solvents, the guideline recommends packagers minimise use.
FSAP selected the substances using criteria based on national and international regulations. There were other considerations, such as consumer safety, environmental protection as well as "negative impact on product quality and consumer and retailer interest".
Several major food and packaging brands also contributed to the list, which it will review and update "periodically", it says.
FSAP is the technical committee of the US Institute of Packaging Professionals (IOPP). It includes representatives from food companies and the food packaging supply chain.
https://chemicalwatch.com/65259/us-food-safety-body-issues-best-practice-on-chemicals-in-packaging
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Industry Moots 'Turcha' Turkish Chemicals Agency
Mar 21, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
A Turkish consultancy has called on the country's environment ministry to establish a chemicals agency, modelled on Europe's Echa. Its purpose would be to support the implementation of KKDIK, the country's new REACH-like regulation.
The 'Turcha' proposal, led by DorukSistem consultancy, has been endorsed by a leading Turkish scientific research organisation, academic institutions, free trade zones and civil society organisations, according to managing partner Selçuk Bilgin.
Mr Bilgin says that due to the size of the industry and potentially large number of registrations, "we need an organisation that can work closely with Cefic, Echa and the OECD."
Stakeholders have expressed concerns over the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation’s (MoEU) ability to process a high volume of KKDIK registrations with its current team of five to six people.
The law came into effect in December last year and sets a registration deadline of 2023. Pre-registrations are due by the end of 2020 and already some 4,000 substances are in the system, most of them carried over from the previous chemicals legislation.
Around 10,000 companies are expected to submit pre-registrations, industry observers say.
Mr Bilgin plans to take the proposal to the MoEU and other ministries to secure formal approval. He told Chemical Watch that during informal conversations MoEU officials have been "keen" on the idea.
However, he added, the proposal is still in the "early stages" and it may be a while before it can get off the ground – mostly because of political hurdles.
Some industry representatives doubt an Echa-style agency can be established in Turkey. Mustafa Bagan, KKDIK training executive at industry association TKSD and formerly its general secretary, called the Turcha proposal "politically difficult".
And another industry consultant with close links to the ministry said such a proposal would need to originate from them to have any chance of success. An independently conceived Turcha "does not fit" the definition of Echa, the consultant said.Taking shape
Turcha would mirror Echa's management structure, with similar risk assessment and socio-economic analysis committees and composition of the management board, Mr Bilgin said.
He has asked Cefic – the European chemicals industry council – to help set up a meeting with the agency to discuss the proposal.
Cooperation with Echa, he said, would "speed things up" and could attract more financial support for the idea.
It could also lead to possible mutual recognition of registrations between the two agencies, he added. This might allay the fears of the many Turkish and European companies, concerned about the duplicate cost of data-sharing arrangements under REACH and KKDIK.
Cefic said discussions about the topic are "still in the very early stages", while an Echa spokesperson said it has not had "any "formal cooperation" with Turkey on the subject.
The spokesperson added: "Any potential mutual recognition system cannot be initiated by Echa, but should first be based on formal agreement at political level."
MoEU officials did not respond to Chemical Watch requests for comment.
Meanwhile, another initiative in Turkey seeks to set up an only representative organisation, similar to the European ORO, to advise on reputable service providers for KKDIK.
Mr Bilgin said foreign companies were having difficulties appointing ORs in Turkey and an ORO platform would provide a secure environment for European companies trading in the country.
https://chemicalwatch.com/65220/industry-moots-turcha-turkish-chemicals-agency
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(ACC Mentioned) Tri-State Shale Coalition Agreement extended
Mar 21, 2018 | WV News
By Michael Lemley
The Tri-State Shale Coalition Agreement, which aims to enhance cooperation and job growth by developing shale gas in the Appalachian Basin, has been extended, Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday.
The agreement includes Justice, Ohio Governor John Kasich and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. In the agreement, the three states work together on issues in infrastructure systems, workforce development and marketing activities to enable the region to harness the potential of the Appalachian region's natural gas.
The coalition holds summits at which government, educational and industry leaders from throughout the region gather to share information and best practices.
“Instead of competing, our three states are working together to promote the region as a center for shale-related manufacturing,” said Justice. “Shale gas presents an opportunity to spur economic growth beyond the wellhead. We are working to attract investors and downstream partners.
"We are encouraging chemicals and plastics manufacturers to come here, stay here and grow here with us in the Appalachian region.”
The American Chemistry Council reports that an upsurge of investment in the U.S. chemical industry can be attributed in part to a plentiful supply of natural gas. This domestic supply gives chemical manufacturers a competitive edge, resulting in increased investment, industry growth and jobs.
The Memorandum of Understanding that created the Tri-State Shale Coalition was signed in 2015, and the agreement is renewed automatically each year. The new extension continues the agreement through Dec. 31, 2021.
https://www.wvnews.com/news/wvnews/tri-state-shale-coalition-agreement-extended/article_c94606db-d465-5d34-9491-67fd7ad0ed2f.html
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Tellurian Gauging Support to Move Natural Gas from Permian to Southwest Louisiana
Mar 21, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Carolyn Davis
Tellurian Inc. on Tuesday began testing support for its third natural gas system, one that would move up to 2 Bcf/d from the Permian Basin to southwestern Louisiana, where it has an export project underway.
The nonbinding open season through May 25 is gauging shipper interest for the pipeline project by subsidiary Permian Global Access Pipeline LLC (PGAP), which is proposing to build a 42-inch diameter interstate pipeline that would cost $3.7 billion.
“Natural gas production from the Permian is expected to exceed 12 Bcf/d by 2023 and continue to grow through the middle of the decade,” said Tellurian CEO Meg Gentle. “New pipeline infrastructure will be needed to reach growing export and industrial demand in Southwest Louisiana and to establish crude production flow assurance.
“We hope to attract interest in PGAP from both producer and consumer shippers and look forward to securing commitments to begin the regulatory permitting process in the next few months.”
With enough shipper support, construction could begin as early as 2021 with service as soon as 2022.
The proposed pipeline would stretch about 625 miles from West Texas, connecting supply sources originating at or near the Waha Hub in Pecos County to Gillis, LA, in Jefferson Davis Parish. The pipeline system is expected to have multiple receipt and delivery locations connecting multiple common gathering points and third-party pipelines.
PGAP is one of three proposed pipelines in the planned Tellurian Pipeline Networkannounced in late 2017.
Tellurian’s estimated $7 billion investment to expand U.S. gas infrastructure also includes the 48-inch diameter Driftwood Pipeline to transport 4 Bcf/d from near Gillis to its proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project, Driftwood LNG.
The export terminal in Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish south of Lake Charles would be able to export up to 26 million metric tons/year, requiring up to 4 Bcf/d of feed gas. The Driftwood pipeline as designed would deliver feed gas to the facility from the interstate pipeline grid, according to a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [PF16-6].
The third proposed pipeline by Tellurian, the 42-inch diameter Haynesville Global Access Pipeline, could carry up to 2 Bcf/d. The 200-mile-long system, also proposing to terminate near Gillis, began testing support in February with an open season.
The three pipeline projects together represent a $7 billion investment and would create an estimated 15,000 jobs in Texas and Louisiana, according to Tellurian. The investments would be incremental to the $15.2 billion poured into Driftwood LNG.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/113768-tellurian-gauging-support-to-move-natural-gas-from-permian-to-southwest-louisiana
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Marcellus-Utica Region Looks to Costs to Attract Producers
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Petrochemical companies could more than quadruple their returns by building plants in the shale gas region of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to a report by an economic development consortium.
More than a third of the natural gas in the United States soon will come from the Marcellus and Utica shale fields, which underlie the three-state region, and production of gas liquids such as ethane is expected to more than double by 2040, according to the report by consulting firm IHS Markit, which was commissioned by Shale Crescent USA, a consortium of trade groups.
Ethane can be processed into ethylene, a key raw material in polyethylene and other plastics. An ethane "cracker" plant is already under construction by Royal Dutch Shell PLC in Pennsylvania, and at least two others could be built nearby.
The report says that a $3 billion plant built close to the shale fields could earn $930 million in cash flow over a 20-year life span, compared with $217 million on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The Shale Crescent region not only offers access to a low-cost supply of ethane but also is close to two-thirds of the end-users of polyethylene, the report says.
The Shale Crescent group was formed in 2016 to help promote the gas industry in the three states and attract value-added investment like petrochemical plants. The region is, to some extent, competing for new investments against Texas and Louisiana, the historical home of the U.S. chemical industry.
"This report challenges conventional wisdom and corroborates the decision by several international energy companies that have already selected our region as the location for major, multi-billion-dollar projects," Shale Crescent spokesman Jerry James, who runs an oil company in Marietta, Ohio, said in a news release.
Other researchers have reached conclusions similar to those in the IHS report. And earlier this month, Energy Secretary Rick Perry endorsed the idea of building petrochemical plants in the Appalachian region as a way to provide jobs and to shelter the industry from hurricanes on the Gulf Coast (Energywire, March 16).
The competition isn't likely to end anytime soon. The chemical industry has a huge footprint along the Gulf Coast, dating back almost a century, and companies have praised the region's skilled workforce and light-handed environmental regulations. The Gulf also offers easy access to Asian markets through the Panama Canal.
James said the Northeastern states have a long history of manufacturing, and the region has access to Asia from East Coast ports. One big challenge is the fact that so many domestic companies already have plants on the Gulf Coast and can add incremental capacity without having to risk building a new plant, he said.
"They're going to be a harder sell," he said.
Even before Shell announced plans for its cracker plant, pipeline companies were opening routes to ship ethane and other liquids from Pennsylvania and its neighboring states to Texas and Louisiana (Energywire, June 16, 2014).
Since then, Exxon Mobil Corp., DowDuPont Inc. and Chevron Phillips Chemical have all announced expansions or construction of petrochemical plants in Texas.
Exxon CEO Darren Woods said last year that the company would spend $20 billion on refining and chemical plants on the Gulf Coast, although some of those projects were in the works prior to the announcement. Just yesterday, the company said it's considering a plan to expand its polypropylene business in the area.
The Texas oil and gas industry sees the competition as healthy.
"We appreciate each region touting its benefits," Texas Oil and Gas Association President Todd Staples said in an email. "The good news is, the United States is big enough and oil and natural gas is plentiful enough to create jobs across the nation."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/03/21/stories/1060076919
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How Russian Gas Ended up on U.S. Shores
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Saqib Rahim
On Jan. 28, a ship pulled into a port near Boston with a most unusual cargo.
It was the natural gas tanker Gaselys, which had just topped off at a port in the United Kingdom. It had come to New England because a series of cold snaps had momentarily made gas prices there the highest in the world.
But this wasn't just any payload. It included gas from a brand-new plant in Russia. This plant, Yamal LNG, was majority-owned by a private Russian company currently under U.S. sanctions. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a keynote address there.
And New Englanders, who live in a gas-rich nation, bought energy from it.
Twice, in fact. Another partly Russian cargo came to Massachusetts this month.
"Sanctions? What sanctions?" teased a tweet by RT.com, a Russian state-funded outlet.
The shipments were legal, according to Engie, the company chartering the Gaselys and whose subsidiary owns the terminal in Everett, Mass., where it landed. The company said U.S. sanctions covered financing for Yamal's construction, but there are no prohibitions on buying oil or gas from Yamal's operation.
And energy experts said it's unlikely the U.S. will become a frequent consumer of Russian gas. They said the shipments were a freakish concurrence of prices, weather and a Russian project coming online.
Nevertheless, the cargoes are a startling reminder of the choices New England policymakers have made in regard to their energy security. The region is increasingly gas-dependent, today getting nearly half of its power from gas. Yet many policymakers in the deep-blue region are dead-set against any new gas pipelines, saying that the priority needs to be scaling up renewable energy and phasing out fossil fuels.
Buying occasional shipments of LNG in the winter, they argue, is the better way to go.
"LNG is a more efficient and economical way to meet energy needs during instances of high winter demand than building high-risk and costly pipelines that are not needed to maintain reliability," Chloe Gotsis, a spokeswoman for Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (D), said by email. "Continuing to rely on pipelines is too risky for ratepayers and our climate."
But in a scathing January editorial, The Boston Globe said that by fighting off gas infrastructure, environmentalists had effectively built a "Russian pipeline" into the Arctic wild instead.
The Russian gas arrives at a period of transition — or inertia, depending on your point of view — for the New England energy system.
All six states in New England have goals to reduce greenhouse gases by 2050, and some, such as Connecticut and Massachusetts, want renewable energy to scale up to a dominant role.
In the present, though, the region's energy supply is tight and getting tighter, a situation that is highlighted with every winter chill.
In January, ISO New England Inc., which operates the regional grid, warned that old plants are retiring, natural gas use is increasing and natural gas supply is not. New England is increasingly dependent on importing power from neighbors and gas by sea, it said.
"Current trends are pushing the New England power system on a path toward greater fuel-security risks," ISO NE said in a report (Energywire, Jan. 19).
One risk that's already apparent: buying gas from an American adversary.How did we get here?
Striking into U.S. gas markets was never Yamal's purpose. From the beginning, its gaze was eastward, toward lucrative and growing Asian markets.
Russian regulators approved development of the Yamal project in 2010. For decades, Russia had enjoyed influence over energy supplies in Europe and the former Soviet states; in 2006, it famously cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in midwinter. The pipeline network operated by state-owned OAO Gazprom secured that advantage.
But despite several tries, Gazprom hadn't succeeded at extending that advantage to the seas through LNG. In 2013, Putin, now in his third term as president, changed the law to end Gazprom's export monopoly and invite new players, such as Novatek, to participate.
"From a Russian perspective, it kind of breaks a little bit of what has so far been a Gazprom export monopoly on Russian gas," said Ed Chow, a senior fellow in the energy and national security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Having competition, more than one Russian company having the ability to exploit Russia's natural gas resources as well as by exporting it, maybe is a good public policy matter."
Novatek wasn't just a new face. It had an entirely new idea: a $27 billion gas terminal above the Arctic Circle. There on the Yamal Peninsula, it could exploit cheap conventional gas reservoirs. It would liquefy this gas — the Arctic air actually made that easier — and load it onto a tanker. Depending on the time of year, that ship could sail toward Europe, or it could sail east, slicing through the Arctic ice, wheeling past Alaska and approaching Asian ports.
That was the pitch. Delivering it was an entirely separate matter.
Yamal, as the second-ever LNG facility in the Arctic Circle, was a megaproject of new proportions. It would require drilling tens of thousands of piles into Arctic permafrost; over 100 equipment modules had to be shipped in from Asia.
"The area is isolated — located in a remote wilderness on the banks of the Ob, a river that is ice-bound for eight months of the year — and far from any town or any oil industry infrastructure," says a website operated by Total SA, the French oil major that's a partner on the project. "It is pitch black for two months of the year. In winter, the temperature can drop to -50°C."
Yamal gained credibility in financial markets in 2011, when Novatek announced that Total had agreed to buy a one-fifth stake in the project. Construction began that year.
But in 2014, after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, the U.S. and E.U. imposed sanctions. The Treasury Department named 16 Russian officials and Gennady Timchenko, a Russian billionaire and Novatek board member. "Timchenko's activities in the energy sector have been directly linked to Putin," the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions impeded Yamal's access to American or European banks. Novatek pivoted, arranging a new financial package with the sponsorship of Chinese banks.
Analysts said that pivot, plus heavy state support, combined to make Yamal financially viable. Russia gave the project a 12-year holiday from the mineral extraction tax; LNG exports face no export tax; Russia also helped pay for the associated port infrastructure.
"They had to basically reroute the financing," said Kateryna Filippenko, a Russia analyst with Wood Mackenzie, a consultancy. "In the end, the state stepped in and provided financial assistance from the National Welfare Fund. The funds were used to purchase Yamal LNG bonds for the amount of $2.4 billion."
Today, Novatek holds a 50.1 percent stake in Yamal; the rest is held by China National Petroleum Corp. (20 percent), Total (20 percent) and the Silk Road Fund, an infrastructure purse set up by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"More than 90 percent of the output from Yamal LNG is contracted long-term primarily to markets in Asia," a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration says. The remaining 9 percent is uncontracted, EIA said.
By land and by sea
Charlie Baker, a Republican, took the Massachusetts governor's office in 2015 ready to take on one of the touchiest issues in regional politics: natural gas pipelines.
As Baker and everyone knew, gas demand was accelerating in the region. With nuclear, coal and oil plants retiring, about half of the proposed replacement plants ran on gas, and in some places gas was replacing oil as a heat source.
Supplies of gas, though, hadn't kept up. The region had five pipelines, three from the U.S. and two from Canada. When those didn't meet demand, the balance had to come by sea, which costs more.
The debate in Massachusetts was whether to change this status quo. Baker's view was yes — that the state could cut carbon emissions, scale up renewable energy and expand natural gas supplies all at the same time. He called his strategy a "combo platter."
State lawmakers began to pick over that platter in 2016, as Baker promulgated an omnibus energy bill. State law required Massachusetts to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. Baker's plan had two elements that delighted environmentalists: an immediate solicitation for 1,200 megawatts of renewable energy and a mandated procurement of 1,600 MW of offshore wind.
But the Baker administration also wanted to include measures to expand natural gas capacity, seeing gas as a way to support renewables and keep overall energy costs down.
"When you look at the overall dynamic, the overwhelming majority opinion that states [sic] we are in desperate need of more natural gas capacity on some level, to address our baseline needs," Matthew Beaton, Baker's energy and environmental affairs secretary, said in a May 2016 hearing. He warned against reliance on LNG. "To become reliant on that international market to balance our energy needs is an economically irresponsible approach to do it solely in that regard."
Healey's office pushed back, saying it had done research to show that the region could run the grid reliably and economically without any new pipelines (Energywire, Nov. 19, 2015).
Then Baker's plans took a hit in court. Three companies, led by Spectra Energy Corp., had proposed to build a $3 billion gas pipeline called Access Northeast. They had asked state regulators for help recovering their costs through Massachusetts residents' bills — what would become known as the "pipeline tax." Regulators approved.
Pipeline opponents sued. The plaintiffs — the Conservation Law Foundation and Engie Gas & LNG — said this charge violated the state's 1997 law on electrical restructuring. The case rose to the state's Supreme Judicial Court, which found in favor of the plaintiffs.
Then New York sent its own message. In 2016 and 2017, officials under Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) applied a rarely used state power to block three natural gas pipelines. Two of them would have connected to the pipeline network that serves New England. (The legality of New York's maneuver has been challenged in federal court; in one case it's been upheld, and in another it was recently overturned.)
In August 2016, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a version of Baker's energy bill. But the combo platter had been changed: It included the renewable energy parts but had nothing on natural gas. Since 2016, two major pipeline proposals, including Access Northeast, have been pulled.
That leaves Massachusetts, and the rest of New England, roughly where it stood when Baker took office in 2015.
For most of the year, the region can get by on the generation it has, plus imports from Canada and the rest of the United States. Renewables have grown to about 10 percent of New England's fuel mix.
But when winter strikes, the entire energy system has to go into a desperate sprint. This winter, ISO-NE said, cold snaps have occasionally been so intense that it had to call on old oil generators, increasing air pollution.
Natural gas prices have repeatedly spiked. And LNG shipments, following the money, have arrived to balance out regional supplies.
Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said they still see expanding natural gas infrastructure as part of the combo platter.
"The Baker-Polito Administration is working to bring more renewable sources online, such as hydroelectric and wind, and to expand natural gas capacity along existing right of ways so the Commonwealth can provide Massachusetts residents and business with reliable, cost-effective clean energy while reducing carbon emissions and avoiding reliance on wildly expensive foreign LNG shipments," Peter Lorenz, a spokesman for the governor's Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said in an emailed statement.
Proof of concept
In December, Putin visited the Siberian port of Sabetta to celebrate a national milestone.
Yamal was finally complete, and Putin had come to oversee the loading of its first cargo.
"This is not just an important event in our country's energy sector, or gas production and liquefaction," he said in the December speech, according to a transcript of his remarks. "This is a more ambitious project. What I mean is that we are faced with the enormous task of developing the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route."
To Putin, Yamal was more than an LNG plant. It was proof of concept.
Skeptics and investors had questioned whether Novatek and Total could deliver this $27 billion megaproject on time, on budget, in the Arctic conditions. They had.
Now, Putin wanted to frame bigger goals: expanding Yamal, building more LNG terminals in its likeness.
In addition, Putin said he wanted Russia to continue its development of nuclear-powered icebreaking ships. By building a fleet of these ships, which he said "can break ice of any thickness, absolutely any," Russia would never be frozen out of the eastbound path. It could ship gas to Asia year-round.
"All this is interconnected and secures Russia's future, the future of its economy," he said.
As for the present, Yamal is in the process of ramping up. At full tilt, almost all of its output will go to Asian buyers under long-term contracts. But that service isn't expected to begin until next month.
In the meantime, Yamal is occasionally sending cargoes onto global spot markets of LNG. Its tankers leave Sabetta and motor west, releasing their cargoes at major LNG hubs in Europe.
That's how the Christophe de Margerie, an icebreaking tanker named after the deceased former CEO of Total, motored into the United Kingdom's Isle of Grain on Dec. 28, according to market information provider ICIS.
When the Gaselys arrived at Grain, it took on a cargo of commingled gas, including from the Christophe de Margerie. It left the port on Jan. 7, ICIS said. It arrived in Everett, Mass., three weeks later and delivered its payload.
According to Engie, that release did not violate U.S. sanctions. Carol Churchill, an Engie spokeswoman, said the sanctions applied only to financing for the Yamal project; gas from the project is not under sanction. Multiple energy experts seconded that view, although U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has asked the Treasury Department to investigate.
For now, sources said, it remains possible that Russian gas will be back in the U.S.
"If Russian gas is competitive and in demand, it may well end [up] in the U.S. again," Morena Skalamera, a researcher at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said by email. "I don't know whether and when that might happen again — but letting markets work, I think, is the right way to go, especially given the U.S.' traditional role as a defender of principles such as consumer choice, open markets and vigorous competition.
"Excessive energy politicization should not be the U.S. answer to these unintended developments," she said.
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060076897
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How Two Wells in Wyoming Explain the Natural-Gas Glut
Mar 21, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal
By Ryan Dezember and Stephanie Yang
Natural-gas producers should be delighted: A cold winter has furnaces blazing into late March, domestic demand is up, and record volumes are being sold abroad.
Yet fuel prices are depressed. A pair of wells in southwest Wyoming helps explain why.
This winter, Ultra Petroleum Corp. UPL -0.23% , just months after emerging from bankruptcy, completed two huge wells in the state, drilling down more than 2 miles and then sideways for another two. Each have produced enough gas to fuel every household in Wyoming.
Ultra’s wells—whose initial flows have been among the largest ever in the U.S.—show how prospectors continue to unearth huge troves of gas. That output is offsetting increases in the fuel’s use and keeping a lid on prices.
On Tuesday, natural gas futures for April delivery closed at $2.675 a million British thermal units, down 26% from a winter-heating season high reached in January and below break even for many drilling prospects. Many banks and analysts predict average prices will remain below $3 for years.
That is good for the homeowners, chemical makers and power plants that buy gas. But cheap gas has bedeviled drillers, many of whom are battling low prices by drilling bigger wells in search of efficiencies.
U.S. gas production has averaged 79.63 billion cubic feet a day this year, up nearly 10% from 2017’s record output, according to S&P Global Platts, which compiles pipeline data.
“Supply is casting a pall over what’s going on on the demand side of the ledger,” said Richard Redash, who leads the firm’s North American gas and power research.
Snow days in Houston and nor’easters in March have reduced gas in storage to its lowest level in three years. Chemical makers and other manufacturers are consuming record volumes. Mexico is importing more than ever. AndDominion Energy Inc.’s Cove Point export terminal in Maryland began filling tankers with liquefied natural gas this month, pushing overseas LNG shipments to new highs.
Yet this unprecedented demand growth has barely absorbed the gas flooding the market. Gas is surging out of West Texas, a byproduct of frenzied oil drilling in the Permian Basin. Appalachian output is on the upswing as new pipelines connect swaths of the Marcellus and Utica shales to market. In Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale, and now Wyoming, producers have super-sized wells in attempts to lower their cost per unit and better compete with cheaper-to-drill areas.
Ultra has been one of the main producers in Wyoming’s Green River Basin, typically drilling vertical wells into a gas-bearing rock.
In April 2016 Ultra filed for bankruptcy protection after low gas prices pushed its earnings relative to debt below thresholds spelled out in agreements with creditors. When the Houston company emerged from bankruptcy protection a year later, it embarked on a plan to drill horizontal wells.
A horizontal well in 2016 was a flop. But this time, Ultra drilled a gusher, which maxed out at the equivalent of 51 million cubic feet a day. A third well was far less prolific.
For the fourth well, begun in January, the company went back to the more successful well design, which involved pumping 281,000 barrels of water and 12.4 million pounds of sand beneath the surface. This attempt was even better than the preceding one, producing as much as the equivalent of 54.5 million cubic feet a day. It cost about $9 million.Severe weather this winter has helped fire up demand for natural gas.
On a daily basis, that is more than six times as much gas as Ultra’s typical vertical well, which cost $3 million to drill.
“Well performance like this is one of the reasons we aren’t optimistic for a natural gas price recovery,” said Ethan Bellamy, energy analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. “There’s simply too much supply available.”
Ultra says it has 700 locations on its land where it believes it can drill similarly designed wells.
This week, Jefferies analysts lowered their gas-price forecasts for this year and next to $2.80 from $3.25. Raymond James & Associates Inc. predicts an even lower $2.75 over that time.
“We often hear the question: Is there any hope for U.S. natural gas prices?” the firm’s analysts wrote in a note to clients. “The short answer: No, there isn’t.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-two-wells-in-wyoming-explain-the-natural-gas-glut-1521637200
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Pipeline Regulators Open Sabine Pass Safety Hearing
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Edward Klump, Jenny Mandel and Mike Soraghan
Federal pipeline regulators today opened to the public a hearing on safety at the country's first modern liquefied natural gas export facility after a request from E&E News.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) hearing is about leaks in January from tanks at Cheniere Energy Inc.'s Sabine Pass LNG export facility in Louisiana. The agency ordered two tanks to be shut down after the leaks were discovered.
In the hearing room this morning, PHMSA officials indicated that they issued an enforcement order while investigating the leaks because they had difficulty getting answers from Cheniere in a timely manner. They said they were also concerned when they learned about earlier problems with tanks at the site. Cheniere officials responded that there wasn't an imminent threat to public safety. They said their system was designed to handle the problems that occurred, and that their system worked.
After a little more than two hours, the hearing's presiding officer called a break and said the next portion of the hearing would be closed. It was not clear when, or if, the hearing would be reopened.
Sabine Pass is the first of a new wave of LNG export facilities resulting from the country's shale gas boom. The plant, which started shipping gas in 2016, has factored heavily in a reshaping of global gas markets around new market players. Last month, it announced a long-term LNG supply agreement with the China National Petroleum Corp.
Earlier this month, Maryland's Cove Point became the second major terminal for LNG exports. Four more U.S. export plants are under construction, and another three have been approved.
PHMSA's investigation into the January leaks revealed that Sabine Pass personnel had been grappling with a series of storage tank issues dating back to 2008, when it opened as an LNG import facility.
The agency's "corrective action order" said that Cheniere had been unable to determine the cause of the leaks. It called on Cheniere to complete a thorough assessment of the problems before it could ask to resume use of the tanks.
It described LNG spills as "low-frequency, high-consequence events" and noted that releases can "result in a serious hazard to people and property."'Not open to the public'
Cheniere challenged the order and asked for today's hearing. Such hearings have traditionally been closed, and when E&E News asked for information to attend, a PHMSA spokesman said, "Our hearings are not open to the public."
E&E News, with assistance from lawyers at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, made a formal request to attend in a letter last week to Alan Mayberry, PHMSA's associate administrator for pipeline safety (Energywire, March 16). There was no response, and on Monday, E&E News and the Reporters Committee threatened legal action. On Monday evening, PHMSA officials agreed to open the meeting.
"In response to a request from the media to attend the hearing, PHMSA has decided for purposes of this hearing to open the hearing to the press and to members of the public," Mayberry said in an email yesterday.
The meeting is taking place at PHMSA's Houston offices. About 30 people are in attendance.PHMSA action
Natural gas is highly flammable and, under certain conditions, explosive. LNG is natural gas that is cooled to a liquid at minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit. Its volume is then reduced six-hundredfold. When super-cooled 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.
The leak incident, which occurred Jan. 22, did not result in any reported injuries, fires or explosions.
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).
PHMSA allowed the company to continue importing and exporting gas and to use three other LNG storage tanks at the site.
Cheniere's appeal challenged 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 in regulatory filings that it doesn't expect the Sabine Pass leak matter to have a "material adverse impact" on its financial results or operations.
PHMSA also hit Cheniere's Corpus Christi pipeline subsidiary last month with a $207,800 fine for a "probable violation" of regulations on pipeline welding during construction of the pipeline.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/03/21/stories/1060076977
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The Bayou Bridge Pipeline and the Global Energy Picture
Mar 21, 2018 | Real Clear Energy
By Guy Caruso
According to a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United States is poised to play a major role in supplying oil demand growth around the globe. U.S. oil production growth is projected to meet more than half of global oil demand growth during the next five years. At a time of increasing international uncertainty, the United States’ growing energy production capabilities could not be more opportune. U.S. energy supplies, particularly oil and natural gas, can make a preeminent contribution to global energy security.
At the same time, steady investments in our nation’s energy infrastructure are required to ensure that those resources are able to reach end markets safely and efficiently. Projects of this scale and the companies undertaking them rely on a consistent regulatory review process to maintain timely construction and operation schedules. So when that process is upended, it harms not only U.S. companies but also their customers and consumers around the world.
Recent developments regarding the Bayou Bridge Pipeline provide a case in point.
In late 2017, Bayou Bridge received full approval from federal, state, and local officials — including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — following a comprehensive review process. The 163-mile pipeline will connect major crude oil hubs in Louisiana at Lake Charles and St. James, providing much-needed resources to Gulf Coast refineries.
The project received all required regulatory approvals and was deemed to result in no long-term environmental impacts. But environmental activists in Louisiana have sued to stop it anyway. They even succeeded in getting a U.S. District Court judge to order a temporary halt to construction in the Atchafalaya Basin. In the latest development in the case, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay on that work stoppage, allowing construction to continue while the case is heard at the appellate level.
As the media coverage of this saga has recently turned to the clash between activists and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the project’s larger regional and national impacts have been overlooked. Particularly ignored is the national importance of large-scale energy infrastructure projects.
The Bayou Bridge Pipeline will provide a crucial oil link between Texas and Louisiana. In Texas, large supplies of oil are produced from huge resources in the Permian Basin. Texas also contains distribution hubs where oil from other sources can be stored for transport to other markets.
The Nederland hub is one of the large storage centers where oil bottlenecks on its way to market. The pipeline will create a safe, efficient way to move that oil to the customers who need it.
The growing need for U.S. oil and gas infrastructure was recognized by many of the speakers recently during CERAWeek discussions. The steady success of technical innovation in the upstream sector, particularly in high-production areas such as the Permian basin region, has left the midstream lagging behind as pipelines such as Bayou Bridge fall behind schedule. The lack of take away capacity to transport energy resources to end markets could require throttling back wellhead output. The result? Reduced domestic energy production.
Meanwhile, the global need for U.S. oil supply is only intensifying, as important producers, such as Venezuela, slide further down the production curve or face continuing political uncertainty, as in Nigeria, Libya, and Iran. And that’s not all: With instability rising, demand for oil is increasing. So without more supply, prices can be expected to rise.
Presently, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that West Texas crude oil prices will be $4 per barrel lower than Brent crude spot prices for the next two years. Now is not the time to shrink or freeze domestic oil production and distribution networks. With demand and uncertainty on the rise, we should instead be developing domestic resources even further.
Among non-OPEC countries, the United States is generating by far the largest growth in oil and other liquid fuel production, according to EIA data. We have the opportunity to power additional economic expansion with this growth. To ignore it — or, worse, attempt to reduce it — would be to give up a global competitive advantage at the worst possible time.
None of this negates local concerns. But it should give us reason to pursue solutions, rather than trying to shut down new energy infrastructure projects. Communities and states should work together to find mutually acceptable ways to make such projects happen.
The revolution in domestic energy production provides amazing economic and geopolitical opportunities, including U.S. energy self-sufficiency — long a bipartisan goal. Local concerns, however important, must be considered within this broader national context. The United States is on the verge of a new energy paradigm; we have to work together to get there.
Mr. Caruso is President of the United States Association of Energy Economics. He served as administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration from 2002 to 2008.
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2018/03/21/the_bayou_bridge_pipeline_and_the_global_energy_picture.html
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NIST Shares Guide for 'Highly Dangerous' Cyberthreats
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
Last week, U.S. homeland security officials warned of an ongoing Russian hacking campaign aimed at nuclear power plants and electric utilities.
Now the Commerce Department is unveiling a step-by-step survival guide for such threats to key networks.
The timing of the new guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology is coincidental, said NIST fellow Ron Ross, one of the report's authors. The document's lessons on building "resilient" systems in cyberspace can be applied not just to power grids but to voting machines, connected cars or even advanced weaponry, he explained.
Ross called reports of Russian intrusions into U.S. infrastructure "a huge concern," underscoring NIST's focus on "real world" issues.
"We do everything we can to protect our systems, and keep the bad guys out," he said. "But what happens when that fails, and they get in? That requires a different set of strategies that we're starting to try to articulate."
The NIST guide, "Cyber Resiliency Considerations for the Engineering of Trustworthy Secure Systems," builds on a 2016 technical document tailored for engineers. Today's update to that document takes aim at a broader audience, including cyber risk managers and other security professionals, Ross said. He added that he hopes the nearly 160-page volume will kick-start a conversation to help protect the nation's most sensitive cyber assets.
"Don't be too comforted because the lights are on today," he said. "That doesn't mean that malicious code hasn't penetrated some of these critical infrastructure sectors."
Cybersecurity experts representing the electric power and nuclear industries have pointed out that the most recent batch of Russia-linked cyber intrusions, dating back to last May, has not harmed grid operations or nuclear safety (Energywire, March 16).
NIST's guidance, which augments years of cybersecurity research from the MITRE Corp., asks utilities and other critical infrastructure operators to consider how they would root out or disrupt hackers who may already be lurking on their computers.
"With some of these advanced, persistent threats, once they get in and they take a foothold in the system, they can be there for months or years before you even discover they're there," said Ross.
The document introduces a concept he calls "limping across the goal line" — sacrificing some functionality during a cyberattack to save as much of the network as possible.
Next, organizations should weigh how they would recover and adapt from the incident, according to NIST.
The end goal is to boost "cyber resiliency," defined as the ability for a given system to bounce back from various worst-case scenarios or compromises.
NIST has shared an array of strategies for reaching that state of cyber readiness, from the mundane, such as minimizing connections between crucial and nonessential services, to the creative, like using "deception" techniques to misdirect hackers and cause them to waste resources.
All the publication's tips address one overarching concern: the advanced persistent threat, or APT.
"The focus of cyber resiliency is on the APT," the guide states. "The resources associated with the APT, its stealthy nature, its persistent focus on the target of interest, and its ability to adapt in the face of defender actions make it a highly dangerous threat."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/03/21/stories/1060076925
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Dingell Asks FCC to Reconsider NEPA Rollback
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Nick Sobczyk
Rep. Debbie Dingell wants the Federal Communications Commission to halt a proposal to scale back environmental regulations for wireless infrastructure.
The Michigan Democrat sent a letter today to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, claiming that the proposed order would "eviscerate the critical environmental and transparency protections created by the National Environmental Policy Act."
"The justification for your proposed order's attack on NEPA is lacking," Dingell wrote. "I am particularly puzzled by the dearth of serious discussion in the record regarding the impact of gutting NEPA on local communities, businesses, and the environment."
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai tapped Carr last year to head up a push to deploy more wireless infrastructure and streamline regulations, and the proposed order is the first result of his efforts.
The order would effectively exempt certain small wireless infrastructure projects from NEPA and National Historic Preservation Act permitting processes, with the goal of expediting deployment of 5G wireless networks. The FCC is set to vote on the proposal tomorrow.
The proposed order mirrors a provision tucked into President Trump's infrastructure plan released last month.
The White House plan, which puts a heavy emphasis on cutting down permitting time under NEPA, says "amending the law to expedite small cells and Wi-Fi attachments in NEPA and the NHPA would eliminate unnecessary reviews without adversely affecting the environment."
The FCC, in a similar vein, says its order will clarify that small wireless projects are not considered a "major federal action" under NEPA.
The commission proposes using state and local permitting as a backstop to a speedier federal process.
But Dingell said the FCC's proposal fundamentally misunderstands NEPA.
"As a Member of Congress, I am committed to pursuing high-speed, universal broadband access, but I believe it foolish to sacrifice public transparency and thoughtful environmental considerations to do so," she wrote. "Without much thought, your proposed order weakens NEPA's transparency framework in the name of efficiency, yet does not include a single enforceable commitment to ensure that broadband providers will actually build more infrastructure."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/03/21/stories/1060076971
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Welcome to the Fourth Wave: A New Era of Environmental Progress
Mar 21, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Fred Krupp
Since November, the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite has been in orbit 500 miles above Earth, capturing and measuring bright red and orange air pollution “hot spots” on the continents below.
Soon, the imaging spectrometer aboard this satellite will also visualize methane gas leaking from oil and gas production areas worldwide, helping our scientists and their international research partners pinpoint sources of this powerful greenhouse gas.
The satellite is just one example of how innovation is unleashing a new era of environmental progress, an emerging megatrend I just described in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. I call it the Fourth Wave of environmentalism – an era when people will have the power to scale solutions as never before.It will transform and supercharge our work
Environmental progress doesn’t just happen; it has been propelled by successive waves of human ingenuity: first, the land conservation movement led by President Teddy Roosevelt; second, the anti-pollution laws of the 1960s and 1970s; and finally, the rise of powerful market-based solutions and corporate partnerships in the 1990s, widely known as the Third Wave.
The Fourth Wave will fundamentally transform how we solve environmental problems, supercharging previous approaches. And at this moment of widespread frustration with our government’s inability to address those problems, it can provide momentum outside the political arena.Innovation, people and action
Fourth Wave solutions are driven by innovation – technological breakthroughs, new public policy ideas, and new ways to collaborate and communicate – that gives people the power to take action.
Fourth Wave tools are leveling the playing field by giving groups such as Environmental Defense Fund capabilities once reserved for governments. And in the world of business sustainability, these tools are making environmental partnerships more productive and measurable. Here are three recent examples:Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, is using precision agriculture tools to reduce fertilizer waste on the vast network of farms that supplies the company with corn. It’s part of Smithfield’s goal of cutting supply-chain greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2025.Sensors on Google Street View cars have mapped methane leaks in Boston, Chicago, Dallas and other cities. Google Earth Outreach has also mapped air pollution threats in West Oakland on a block-by-block basis, giving local citizens high-resolution data that bolsters their case for emissions cuts under the state’s new air quality law.Oil and gas facilities owned by Statoil, PG&E and Shell are piloting methane detection units after we challenged entrepreneurs to come up with affordable and effective solutions to help operators catch leaks.This disruptive change is bringing progress
Fourth Wave work is taking hold across the environmental community today.
World Resources Institute is using satellites to track Amazon deforestation on a website that can alert local authorities and the public to fires. Blockchain technology is being used to verify sustainability claims of tuna supply chains and manage energy tradingacross a solar-powered microgrid.
The Nature Conservancy is even developing facial recognition technology for fish to help fishermen identify and track their catch. “The solutions are out there,” says the group’s chief executive, Mark Tercek. “And these innovative technologies are helping us find them, deploy them, and scale them up.”
The Fourth Wave of environmental innovation is unleashing the power of human ingenuity to help drive transparency, responsibility and problem-solving. This megatrend will help people and nature prosper – no matter who happens to be living in the White House.
https://www.edf.org/blog/2018/03/21/welcome-fourth-wave-new-era-environmental-progress
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D.C. Circuit Slated to Hear Suit over EPA's 'Exceptional Events' Air Policy
Mar 21, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument March 22 in a suit filed by environmentalists over EPA's rule allowing Clean Air Act regulatory exemptions for air pollution associated with “exceptional events” such as wildfires, a policy critics claim allows for unlawful increases in emissions.
A three-judge panel of Judges Thomas Griffith, Gregory Katsas and Harry Edwards will hear the suit, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), et al. v. EPA, et al., which tests the policy that will be key to Western states, in particular, attaining national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone.
Western states experience high levels of background ozone, which is either naturally-occurring or foreign in origin, along with ozone- and particulate-generating wildfires, and dust storms that also cause spikes in particulate. The Obama EPA sought to ease implementation of the existing exceptional events rule, to make the process easier and faster for states to exclude air monitoring data gathered during exceptional events.
This is important for states' attainment of the ozone NAAQS, which the Obama EPA in 2015 tightened down to 70 parts per billion (ppb) from a prior level of 75 ppb set in 2008. Further, the Trump EPA has since indicated it intends to revise the agency's policy to further ease states' use of the exemption.
But environmentalists charge that the exceptional events rule is already too lenient and will allow unlawful air pollution. Their case centers on EPA's definition of “natural events” that qualify for the exemption.
Exceptional events need not be exclusively natural in origin, but environmentalists assert that EPA has nonetheless defined “natural event” too broadly, to include phenomena that are caused by human activity.
EPA counters that its approach is logical and within the confines of the Clean Air Act. The agency in the rule defines a natural event as "an event and its resulting emissions, which may recur at the same location, in which human activity plays little or no direct causal role."
This definition would allow dust that is both naturally occurring and man-made to qualify for the exemption in the event of high wind that spreads the dust, for example, so long as reasonable efforts have been made to control the man-made component.
Supporting EPA in the NRDC suit are the American Petroleum Institute and Midwestern livestock producers, who say environmentalists' attacks on the rule misinterpret the agency's definition of "natural event" to include primarily human-caused pollution. That is not EPA's intent, and in any event the air law is ambiguous on the issue and EPA's approach warrants deference by the courts, the groups say.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/dc-circuit-slated-hear-suit-over-epas-exceptional-events-air-policy
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Oil Company Accused of Climate Damage Won't Dispute Science
Mar 21, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Anne C. Mulkern
Oil companies accused of raising ocean levels might not question the existence of climate change in federal court today.
Chevron Corp. is expected to take a lead role in a climate science "tutorial" at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The unusual hearing was required by Judge William Alsup, who is overseeing lawsuits filed by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland claiming that five oil giants are contributing to damages related to climate change.
In the hours before the tutorial, which Alsup is using to gather historical observations about climatic conditions that can go back thousands of years, Chevron said it wouldn't question the facts around rising temperatures.
"Chevron is not going to be engaging in a debate on climate change science," said Avi Garbow, co-chairman of the Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort Practice Group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and a Chevron lawyer. He's also a former official in the Obama administration who defended the Clean Power Plan as general counsel to then-U.S. EPA chief Gina McCarthy.
The company will "anchor its presentation" on the Fifth Assessment Report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), issued in 2014, he said on a call with reporters Monday.
"Chevron's neither going to overstate nor understate degrees of confidence. Chevron's simply going to present the conclusions of the IPCC because Chevron thinks that's the best and the most accurate way of responding to the court's tutorial request," Garbow said.
San Francisco and Oakland, along with several counties in California, are suing Chevron, BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC for allegedly downplaying the threat of climate change. The local governments claim that the oil majors knew years ago that the emissions related to their products could cause sea-level rise and contribute to other damages.
Earlier this month, Alsup asked the cities and oil companies to answer nine questions, including "What are the main sources of CO2 that account for the incremental buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere?" and "What are the main sources of heat that account for the incremental rise in temperature on Earth?"
He also asked the cities to produce documents referred to in their suits that deal with the extent to which the oil companies knew about the risks of climate change. Those documents have been submitted to the court.
Despite its open approach to the science hearing, Chevron yesterday filed a motion to dismiss the suits. So did ConocoPhillips, which claimed that the cases lack jurisdiction because it's a Delaware company headquartered in Houston.
Chevron said claims that are similar to those filed by San Francisco and Oakland have been dismissed by other courts. Its key argument is that U.S. EPA has oversight over greenhouse gas emissions.
"This is not the first (or even the second or third) time a plaintiff has tried to plead global warming-related tort claims," Chevron's motion said. "Similar claims have been considered, and dismissed, by the Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit, and district courts around the country."
Oil companies beyond Chevron declined to say if they would make presentations at today's hearing or defer to Chevron. A spokesman for Exxon Mobil criticized the lawsuits.
"Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global issue and requires global participation and actions," Scott Silvestri said in an email. "Lawsuits of this kind — filed by trial attorneys against an industry that provides products we all rely upon to power the economy and enable our domestic life — simply do not do that."
The cities' attorneys declined to reveal their strategies for the hearing. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said he "looks forward to providing the objective history of climate change science and the consensus science on future impacts. It's time for climate science to have its day in court."
"These companies knew their products were causing sea-level rise, and they deceived people about it," Herrera added. "Now, that bill has come due."On the record
The oil companies have no real choice but to acknowledge climate science, legal experts said.
"They realize that the science behind climate change is so well understood and accepted that it isn't in their interest to be seen as deniers," Ann Carlson, co-director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said in an email. "Moreover, their own internal documents and research accept the validity of climate change and for several of them they've made public statements acknowledging the human contribution to climate change."
She added, "They're really hedging their bets, instead, on the large number of contributors to climate change, the causation questions, the global nature of the problem, and the hope that they can get courts to find that federal common law (at least) displaces nuisance claims."
On the call with reporters, Chevron attorneys said it's not possible to pin the cause of warming on a handful of oil companies. The cities in their suits say that the consumption of fossil fuels has created harms, said Joshua Lipshutz, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and a Chevron lawyer.
"If that's the allegation, then really anyone in the world could be brought in in the case, including the plaintiffs themselves," he said. "San Francisco and Oakland are large consumers of fossil fuels and large emitters of greenhouse gas emissions."
The Chevron lawyers discounted research attempting to pinpoint sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Garbow said it's not emphasized in the IPCC report, which is considered scientific consensus.
"It is, as far as I'm aware, a line of, if you will, scientific study or inquiry that is not very developed, and certainly not at this juncture widely accepted by any stretch," Garbow said.
Daniel Farber, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an email that the oil companies may try to show that there was "more uncertainty until recently" in terms of climate science.
Garbow, the Chevron lawyer, noted "that it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century."
Farber said showing that uncertainty existed years ago might help the companies fight accusations that they knew the risks and "were simply lying in their public statements or were completely irresponsible to oppose regulation at earlier points in time — whether it helps them enough isn't clear to me."
Farber said it's noteworthy that the oil companies plan to acknowledge that climate science is accurate.
"Most or all of the major oil corporations have now acknowledged the reality of climate change and the need for government action (though who knows how serious they are about that)," he said. "So it would be hard for them to take a contrary view in this litigation. Getting them to say the same thing in court will be kind of a victory for the plaintiffs even if nothing else goes their way."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/03/21/stories/1060076929
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