Preview Newsletter
PM ACC Clips Report 3/30/2018
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(ACC Mentioned) 2 Greens Reject Invitations for Seats on EPA Advisory Panel
Mar 30, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
At least two environmentalists say they've turned down U.S. EPA's invitation to join its Scientific Advisory Committee on Chemicals, raising questions about the panel's balance. -
Environmentalists See 'Conflict Of Interest' In Trump's EPA Waste Nominee
Mar 30, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Suzanne Yohannan
Environmental and community advocates are criticizing President Donald Trump's nomination of long-time in-house Dow Chemical Company counsel Peter Wright to head EPA's waste office, warning the nominee has a "tremendous conflict of interest." -
Clean Energy Boom Played Key Role in Recent US Carbon Emissions Drop, Study Shows
Mar 30, 2018 | EDF Blog
By Kristina Mohlin
After rising for nearly two decades, carbon dioxide emissions from United States energy use began to fall sharply and unexpectedly in 2007. -
National Academy of Sciences Urges Collective Research Improvements to Track U.S. Methane Emissions
Mar 30, 2018 | EDF Blog
By David Lyon
This week the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS), the nation’s most prestigious scientific organization, issued a report calling for a stepped-up nationwide research effort to develop a gridded and verifiable inventory of U.S. methane emissions. -
Oil and Gas Drilling Blamed for Sinkholes Threatening to Swallow Parts of Texas
Mar 30, 2018 | The Independent
By Josh Gabbatiss
Oil and gas extraction in west Texas is causing the formation of massive sinkholes, according to a new study. -
U.S. Electricity: Natural Gas and Coal Fall as Renewables Continue to Rise
Mar 25, 2018 | Scientific American (via Real Clear Energy)
By Melissa C. Lott
While natural gas and coal continued to lead U.S. electricity generation, both declined in 2017. This marks the first time since 2008 that generation from both of these fossil fuels dropped in the same year. -
Invisible Leaks: Where “Clean” Natural Gas Falls Short
Mar 26, 2018 | Inside Energy (via Real Clear Energy)
By Dan Boyce
New technologies, including fracking, have transformed the natural gas industry over the last decade, bringing down utility bills and creating countless jobs and other opportunities in shale fields around the country. -
Judge Tosses Exxon Case, Cites 'Thin Allegations'
Mar 30, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Benjamin Hulac
A federal judge yesterday threw out a lawsuit Exxon Mobil Corp. had filed against state attorneys general investigating the company's climate change statements. -
Emergency Training Discloses New Regulations
Mar 30, 2018 | The Square
By Ian Shalapata
Chemicals permeate every walk of life and human endeavour. The number of chemicals and their uses are almost endless. -
Biggest Threat to Humanity? Climate Change, U.N. Chief Says
Mar 29, 2018 | The New York Times
By Somini Sengupta
Nuclear weapons? Famine? Civil war? Nope. The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, on Thursday called climate change “the most systemic threat to humankind” and urged world leaders to curb their countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. -
AP FACT CHECK: Science Contradicts EPA Warming Memo
Mar 30, 2018 | Washington Post
By Seth Borenstein and Michael Biesecker
Climate scientists say an internal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency memo on how officials should talk to the public about global warming doesn’t reflect reality. -
EPA Inspector General Probes Air Monitoring Of Large Industrial Sources
Mar 30, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
EPA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is launching a discretionary investigation into the quality of air emissions monitoring data gathered at large stationary sources, such as power plants, in order to verify the accuracy of emissions information underpinning major Clean Air Act regulatory programs.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
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Energy News
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Transportation and Infrastructure News
Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) 2 Greens Reject Invitations for Seats on EPA Advisory Panel
Mar 30, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
At least two environmentalists say they've turned down U.S. EPA's invitation to join its Scientific Advisory Committee on Chemicals, raising questions about the panel's balance.
Jennifer McPartland, a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, and Mike Wilson, the director of occupational and environmental health at the BlueGreen Alliance, are declining to join the advisory panel, which is tasked with providing independent advice to EPA on science and technical issues related to implementing the Toxic Substances Control Act reform law.
Ruthann Rudel, the director of research at the Silent Spring Institute, is also reconsidering her involvement with the panel, a spokeswoman for the environmental group said.
It is unclear how the loss of at least two environmentalists would affect the panel, which EPA last week sought to expand from 18 to 24 members in order to "increase the balance of scientific perspectives and add experts with experience in labor, public interest, animal protection, and chemical manufacturing and processing to the committee" (Greenwire, March 23).
Meanwhile, five of the 11 people invited to join the panel were either specifically recommendedby the American Chemistry Council, the industry's top lobby group, or have deep ties to industry.
ACC backed the selections of Sheri Blystone, director of regulatory affairs and product safety at SNF Holding Co., and Steven Bennett, vice president for scientific affairs at the Household and Commercial Products Association.
Three other appointees either currently or previously worked for industry: Charles Barton, global manager of toxicology and risk assessment at Valspar Corp.; Sidney Marlborough, senior environmental toxicologist at Noble Energy; and Michael Holsapple, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University who previously worked for Dow Chemical Co.
EPA didn't respond to a request for comment on the committee's makeup.
McPartland said "a number of factors informed my decision, including the bandwidth to comment on issues in front of the committee as a member of the SACC and also in my capacity as a scientist at EDF."
But moves by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to ban the agency from considering so-called secret science, or peer-reviewed publications that rely on confidential patient health information, and to bar scientists who receive EPA grants from its advisory panels also weighed into her call, the EDF scientist said in an email.
Pruitt's actions will "undoubtedly cast a shadow over the work of SACC," she wrote. "Committee members will need to remain vigilant in ensuring that all scientific evidence is considered in assessing the potential risks of chemicals."
A BlueGreen Alliance spokesman told the publication Chemical Watch yesterday that Wilson "notified EPA that he was unable to accept the appointment." He confirmed his decision to E&E News today and directed further questions to the spokesman, who didn't immediately respond.
A Silent Spring Institute spokeswoman said Rudel hasn't yet decided whether to join the panel. "Ruthann is waiting to hear back from EPA re a couple of questions she had related to the appointment," she wrote in an email.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/03/30/stories/1060077847
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Environmentalists See 'Conflict Of Interest' In Trump's EPA Waste Nominee
Mar 30, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Suzanne Yohannan
Environmental and community advocates are criticizing President Donald Trump's nomination of long-time in-house Dow Chemical Company counsel Peter Wright to head EPA's waste office, warning the nominee has a "tremendous conflict of interest."
And former EPA officials predict that if the Senate confirms Wright, then adjustments may need to occur in the leadership of the Office of Land & Emergency Management (OLEM) to allow him control over Superfund cleanup decisions.
The nomination of Wright to become OLEM's assistant administrator has prompted praise from industry sources who say he is practical-minded and brings long-time environmental experience. As OLEM chief, Wright would oversee the agency's cleanup programs as well as national emergency responses.
But the appointment is nonetheless drawing criticism from environmental and community proponents.
Wright's nomination is "inordinately a tremendous conflict of interest," one advocate for citizens says. The source points out that during Wright's time at Dow, the company allegedly lobbied hard for a weak Michigan dioxin standard in a state where Dow has a significant dioxin cleanup. Past waste disposal practices at the company's Midland, MI, facility have resulted in elevated dioxin levels in the Tittabawassee River and contamination extending 50 miles downstream into the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay, EPA says on its website.
This source assumes Wright would have been responsible for negotiating the current cleanup there, and calls the cleanup levels and strategy there inadequate.
Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club chapter, called the selection of Wright "one of the worst nominations ever made, by even this president," according to a New Jersey Sierra Club press release cited by the NJ Advance Media on NJ.com. "Wright spent his career fighting to prevent cleanup of toxic sites as a corporate lawyer for Dow Chemical Company. His nomination is a risk to public health and the environment," Tittel said.
The citizens advocate doubts that Wright will advocate for environmental protection at EPA, believing that he will bring industry views to the role. This source claims "a person who toes the line for decades is not going to change."
The concern from environmentalists and community groups is that Wright will bring a pro-industry focus to OLEM decisions at the expense of focusing on protecting human health and the environment.
But two former EPA officials believe Wright knows the waste programs well and "has a solid reputation."
Nonetheless, they see potential adjustments over who will now be making the call on Superfund decisions. One former EPA official believes Wright "should bring some stability and hopefully restore some of the traditional lines of authority to the program."
This source doubts Wright is an "insider" so his influence may be limited, although he knows EPA enforcement chief Susan Bodine well -- which this source calls a "first among equals" among the assistant administrators. Bodine was the head of the waste office at EPA during the George W. Bush administration.
'Political Decision Maker'
Nonetheless, the former official says Wrights' challenge will be Administrator Scott Pruitt's efforts to take so much Superfund oversight on himself "it will be difficult for him to let [Wright] do his job."
And the second former EPA official believes Wright will work well with career staff and "better adhere to the requirements of the [National Contingency Plan] in Superfund decision making."
This source believes Albert Kelly, the former banker who has been leading the high-profile Superfund reforms effort under Pruitt, will leave once Wright is confirmed. This source doubts Kelly and Wright can work together, noting that "[y]ou can only have one political decision maker."
Pruitt during his tenure has closely overseen high-profile Superfund cleanups as well as ushered in a slew of reforms to the Superfund program. In a few cases, Pruitt has chosen strict cleanup remedies in line with communities' wishes and out of step with industry parties -- decisions that have drawn concern among potentially responsible parties (PRPs).
Several PRPs have been concerned that Pruitt is moving toward more excavation and costlier cleanups at some sites where cleanup remedies will be signed this year, the second former EPA official has said. This source believes Pruitt is skirting Superfund remedy selection criteria with such moves.
Wright's nomination has won praise from some industry officials who hope that he may blunt the sometimes adversarial approach to industrial parties that Pruitt has taken in some of these recent Superfund cleanup decisions. Wright will "help rebuild some of the bridges that Pruitt has totally burned" among PRPs, one industry source has said.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/environmentalists-see-conflict-interest-trumps-epa-waste-nominee
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Clean Energy Boom Played Key Role in Recent US Carbon Emissions Drop, Study Shows
Mar 30, 2018 | EDF Blog
By Kristina Mohlin
After rising for nearly two decades, carbon dioxide emissions from United States energy use began to fall sharply and unexpectedly in 2007.
For years now, experts attributed this decrease to the drop in energy demand during the economic recession that began late that year, and to the huge surge in cheap natural gas that displaced coal in our energy mix during this period. But they overlooked another key change that drove the drop in emissions just as much: the rapid rise in renewable energy production.
By 2013, our country’s annual carbon dioxide emissions had decreased by 11 percent – a decline not witnessed since the 1979 oil crisis. Our research shows that the growth of renewable energy sources accounted for 31 percent of that 640-million metric ton carbon drop.
The impact from renewables is just below the 34-percent contribution the switch from petroleum and coal to natural gas made to the emissions decline – a fact that, until now, has previously gone largely unrecognized.
Between 2007 and 2013, wind-generated electricity grew almost five-fold to 168 terawatt hours, enough to power 15 million average American homes. Utility-scale solar grew to 8.7 TWh. At the same time, bioenergy production grew an equivalent of 39 percent to 1,400 TWh, which includes biofuels in the transportation sector.
These positive trends have since continued, in particular for solar and wind energy.
Renewables are the bigger story here
The switch from coal to natural gas certainly contributed to the drop in emissions, but there’s an important caveat here. The climate benefits from this trend are undermined by the presence of methane leakagealong the natural gas supply chain, the extent of which is likely underestimated in national greenhouse gas emission inventories.
It’s become clear that incentives to support the expansion of renewable capacity successfully helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions between 2007 and 2013 – and that decreasing costs for renewable energy offer some hope for continued progress under this administration.
https://www.edf.org/blog/2018/03/30/clean-energy-boom-played-key-role-recent-us-carbon-emissions-drop-study-shows
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National Academy of Sciences Urges Collective Research Improvements to Track U.S. Methane Emissions
Mar 30, 2018 | EDF Blog
By David Lyon
This week the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS), the nation’s most prestigious scientific organization, issued a report calling for a stepped-up nationwide research effort to develop a gridded and verifiable inventory of U.S. methane emissions.
The NAS report, sponsored by the U.S. EPA, Department of Energy (DOE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and NASA, noted atmospheric methane has risen dramatically in the 20th century, hitting a spike in 2016 that has tripled since pre-industrial times. Methane is a potent greenhouse gasresponsible for about 25% of current global warming.
The report discusses all the major U.S. sources of anthropogenic methane emissions, including petroleum and natural gas systems, agriculture, landfills, and coal mines. Researchers acknowledged the rapid increase in natural gas production in the U.S. during the past decade has triggered the need for a better understanding of the energy industry’s methane footprint. The NAS report classified oil and gas as one of three primary research priorities for the future, along rice farming, and livestock.
As EDF has demonstrated, addressing oil and gas production is one of the quickest and most efficient ways to curtail methane emissions. Technology exists to fix methane leaks across the sector’s supply chain, and the International Energy Agency concluded oil and gas operators could reduce 75% of emissions at zero net cost. The NAS report also noted petroleum and natural gas operators could benefit from improved methane inventories and monitoring — improving operational efficiencies to keep natural gas within their system, allowing the gas to be sold and put to useful purposes.
Currently, the U.S. estimates methane emissions annually in EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report (GHGI) which is submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as part of the U.S.’s climate treaty obligations. The GHGI has improved in recent years with EPA incorporating new findings from data collected through EDF’s extensive methane research project. Yet, there is much more to be done in order to improve the inventory, such as using multiple measurement approaches to better understand emission sources, such as the high emissions resulting from sites with abnormal process conditions, as seen in our work in the Barnett Shale region of Texas, the original site for large scale natural gas development using fracking.
From ground to space
The NAS makes four recommendations to improve our understanding of methane emissions: expand and refine top-down data; develop and maintain a gridded inventory; develop a consistent process for EPA to regularly update inventory; and establish and maintain a nationwide research effort.
Researchers typically measure methane emissions using two approaches – bottom-up and/or top-down. In the bottom-up approach, which includes traditional inventories like the EPA GHGI, emissions are estimated by multiplying activity data (e.g., number of wells) by emission factors (e.g., average emissions per well); these emission factors typically are based on measurements of equipment- or site-level emissions. In contrast, top-down approaches estimate regional emissions based on methane concentrations and atmospheric transport modeling, using tall towers or satellite monitoring from space, or continuous monitoring sensor-based technology placed on planes, drones, helicopters or automobiles.
Each approach has benefits and drawbacks, and, if done correctly, supports the other’s findings. For example, EDF’s previous research in the Barnett Shale found agreement between top-down and bottom-up estimates when inventories accounted for super-emitting facilities. In that work we ensured accurate gathering facility activity data by proactively confirming the correct number of facilities. A key recommendation of the NAS report is that emission inventories should be verifiable, which is difficult to do with national scale inventories. Therefore, NAS recommends the development of a gridded inventory accounting for variations in emissions across space and time. The accuracy of the inventory would be tested and improved upon by comparing the gridded version of bottom-up estimates to top-down estimates, which could be increased in frequency by a combination of ground, air, and satellite-based approaches.
Uniting resources for actionable science
Many of the NAS recommendations, such as establishing a multi-disciplinary advisory board, reflect a more progressive and collaborative approach to research using the latest technology combined with multiple teams of researchers and organizations to derive the most accurate results possible.
EDF has been doing exactly that since we launched our methane research series six years ago, tapping both industry and academic organizations to provide input and support for various parts of the aggressive research effort. The initiative is the largest scientific study effort EDF has tackled in our 50-year history, leveraging partnerships with more than 40 universities and research institutions to undertake the research and the cooperation of dozens of companies. We also helped catalyze the development of a wide range of sophisticated scientific techniques and methodologies, such as top-down, bottom-up, and mobile measuring technology.
Together, EDF’s and NAS’s approach to understanding industry’s methane emissions underscore important considerations that companies, researchers and regulators should take in order to address the challenge of slowing climate change.
http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2018/03/30/national-academy-of-sciences-urges-collective-research-improvements-to-track-u-s-methane-emissions/
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Oil and Gas Drilling Blamed for Sinkholes Threatening to Swallow Parts of Texas
Mar 30, 2018 | The Independent
By Josh Gabbatiss
Oil and gas extraction in west Texas is causing the formation of massive sinkholes, according to a new study.
As the fossil fuel industry has expanded its operations in the region, an increase in seismic activity and other “alarming” geological hazards have been recorded.
Two giant sinkholes near the Texan town of Wink have previously been linked with such operations, but they may just be the tip of the iceberg.
The geophysicists who first alerted the world to the threat posed by the expansion of Wink’s sinkholes undertook further research and found unusual land movement throughout the wider west Texas region.
“The ground movement we’re seeing is not normal,” said Professor Zhong Lu, an expert in satellite radar imagery analysis at Southern Methodist University.
“The ground doesn’t typically do this without some cause.”
Having previously used satellite radar images to study the Wink sinkholes, Professor Lu and his collaborator, Dr Jin-Woo Kim, used similar methods to explore the link between such phenomena and human activities.
“This region of Texas has been punctured like a pin cushion with oil wells and injection wells since the 1940s and our findings associate that activity with ground movement,” said Dr Kim.
In their study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers demonstrated significant ground movement across a 4000-square-mile area of Texas.
Combining their imagery with oil well data for the region allowed the scientists to conclude that this unstable ground was associated with decades of fossil fuel extraction.
Oil and gas extraction techniques such as fracking – in which pressurised water is injected into underground rock formations – are known to be associated with geological hazards.
Fracking operations have been linked with seismic activity from Canada to the UK. Water injection increases pressure in the rocks, and the release of this stress results in ground movement.
Ground movement resulting from a combination of these extraction techniques and unstable rock formations in west Texas can lead to sinkhole formation and earthquakes.
“These hazards represent a danger to residents, roads, railroads, levees, dams, and oil and gas pipelines, as well as potential pollution of ground water,” Professor Lu said.
“Proactive, continuous detailed monitoring from space is critical to secure the safety of people and property.”
Though their study was restricted to a specific region, the scientists think this phenomenon is taking place across Texas.
“We’re fairly certain that when we look further, and we are, that we’ll find there’s ground movement even beyond that,” Dr Kim said.
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/fracking-oil-gas-drilling-blamed-sinkholes-threatening-swallow-texas-earthquakes-a8281281.html
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U.S. Electricity: Natural Gas and Coal Fall as Renewables Continue to Rise
Mar 25, 2018 | Scientific American (via Real Clear Energy)
By Melissa C. Lott
While natural gas and coal continued to lead U.S. electricity generation, both declined in 2017. This marks the first time since 2008 that generation from both of these fossil fuels dropped in the same year.
At the same time, renewables – especially hydropower, wind, and solar – continued to rise according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Natural gas has been the leading fuel that is used for electricity generation in the United States since 2015 when it surpassed coal in the generation mix. According to data from the EIA, coal power has been on the decline in the US for the last decade, while low-cost natural gas has risen to become the largest source of electricity generating capacity nationwide.
But, in 2017, natural gas joined coal in an overall declining trend as electricity generation from natural gas and coal both fell (by 7.7% and 2.5%, respectively) from the previous year.
At the same time, renewables continued to boom. In 2017, wind supplied 6.3% of U.S. electricity generation and utility-scale solar made up 1.3%. These are record shares for both wind and solar. Hydro also supplied 7.5% of total net electricity generation, maintaining its lead as the top renewable source in U.S. power generation.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/u-s-electricity-natural-gas-and-coal-fall-as-renewables-continue-to-rise/
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Invisible Leaks: Where “Clean” Natural Gas Falls Short
Mar 26, 2018 | Inside Energy (via Real Clear Energy)
By Dan Boyce
New technologies, including fracking, have transformed the natural gas industry over the last decade, bringing down utility bills and creating countless jobs and other opportunities in shale fields around the country. Plus, the federal Energy Information Administration reports our natural gas boom is bringing down carbon emissions in the United States more than any other factor.
Yet, there’s a hitch. Natural gas — it’s a gas. It leaks. That leaking, which happens where natural gas is drilled, where it’s stored and where it’s piped, threatens to undermine the climate benefits of this “cleaner” fossil fuel if not taken seriously.
This audio special from Inside Energy takes a look at the threat leaks pose for the natural gas industry — how serious it really is, what anti-leak technologies have been developed and how effective landmark regulations developed in the state of Colorado have been in addressing the problem.
Audio Available Here: http://insideenergy.org/2018/03/26/invisible-leaks-where-clean-natural-gas-falls-short/
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Judge Tosses Exxon Case, Cites 'Thin Allegations'
Mar 30, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Benjamin Hulac
A federal judge yesterday threw out a lawsuit Exxon Mobil Corp. had filed against state attorneys general investigating the company's climate change statements.
In her ruling, Judge Valerie Caproni of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said the oil giant had asked for "extraordinary" relief by calling upon two federal courts — her own and another in Texas — to shut down the inquiries from New York and Massachusetts.
"It has done so on the basis of extremely thin allegations and speculative inferences," said Caproni, an Obama appointee.
By dismissing the case with prejudice, Caproni barred it from being filed again.
Exxon spokesman Scott Silvestri declined to say if the company would appeal. "We are reviewing the judge's decision and are evaluating our next steps," he said in a statement.
The court ruling marks a significant victory for the attorneys general, who for years have been conducting parallel but separate investigations into Exxon, the company's climate research and allegations that it committed fraud by deceiving investors and the public about the dangers of climate change.
In June 2016, Exxon sued to head off Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey's (D) investigation of the firm, filing court papers in Dallas and landing in the courtroom of Judge Ed Kinkeade of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, a George W. Bush appointee.
At times, Kinkeade appeared at times to side with Exxon, which argued that the attorneys general were trampling its free-speech rights on the topic of climate change and were fueled by political vendettas (Climatewire, Oct. 14, 2016).
After the case shifted to New York, Caproni said, "I have a different view of this case than Judge Kinkeade."
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) launched his Exxon probe in November of 2015, when he subpoenaed Exxon for records dating back to 1977.
While Schneiderman and Healey have won decisions in state courts, permitting them to continue gathering documents from Exxon, the federal case had stalled recently.
"Massachusetts customers and investors deserve answers from Exxon about what it has known about the impact of burning fossil fuels on its business and the planet, and whether it hid this information from the public," Healey said in a statement, calling the ruling a "turning point in our investigation and a victory for the people."
In a statement of his own yesterday, Schneiderman thanked Healey, the only other attorney general with a publicly acknowledged probe into Exxon, and said his case is about financial deception.
"At every turn in our investigation, Exxon has tried to distract and deflect from the facts at hand," he said. "But we will not be deterred: our securities fraud investigation into Exxon continues."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/03/30/stories/1060077839
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Emergency Training Discloses New Regulations
Mar 30, 2018 | The Square
By Ian Shalapata
Chemicals permeate every walk of life and human endeavour. The number of chemicals and their uses are almost endless.
The transportation of the substances, many of which are toxic and considered dangerous goods, is met with risk to both humans and the environment. To mitigate that risk, much effort and expense is put into the safe handling and conveyance of chemicals, whether by truck, ship, pipeline, or rail.
To that end, the County of Essex yesterday hosted TRANSCAER, a voluntary national outreach effort focused on assisting communities prepare for, and respond to, a possible hazardous material transportation incident.
In the wake of the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, which killed 42 confirmed and an additional five persons missing and presumed dead, Transport Canada initiated a number of changes to how hazardous materials may be transported and the procedures for reacting to spills and other emergencies.
The event yesterday, held at the Essex Terminal Railway facilities on Lincoln Road, drove home the need for the safe handling and immediate action response in this area. Three major rail yards are located within the Windsor limits, two of which are located in the heart of the city. Almost 13% of homes, over 11,000 residences, are situated within 300 m of a rail line, and 62 of the rail crossings are at grade.
Since Lac-Mégantic, new federal regulations have employed real-time apps to disclose what is being carried in each rail car and its location. Additionally, shippers, like Nova Chemical in Sarnia, must provide a 24-hour point of contact in the event of emergencies.
Multiple information sessions were hosted over a two-day period and attended by emergency responders from as far away as Lambton County. The lectures and hands-on opportunities were conducted by Ivan Pratt of ERT, Andy Ash with Railway Association of Canada, Dan Olech of Transport Canada, and Carrie Maxim with Nova. The event was coordinated by the Emergency Management Coordinator for Essex County, Dan Metcalfe.
http://www.windsorsquare.ca/archives/2018/emergency-training-discloses-new-regulations/112095
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Biggest Threat to Humanity? Climate Change, U.N. Chief Says
Mar 29, 2018 | The New York Times
By Somini Sengupta
Nuclear weapons? Famine? Civil war? Nope.
The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, on Thursday called climate change “the most systemic threat to humankind” and urged world leaders to curb their countries’ greenhouse gas emissions.
He didn’t say much, though, about the one world leader who had pulled out of the landmark United Nations climate change agreement: President Trump.
Instead, Mr. Guterres suggested that Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris accord nearly a year ago didn’t matter much. The American people, he said, were doing plenty.
“Independently of the position of the administration, the U.S. might be able to meet the commitments made in Paris as a country,” the secretary general said. “And, as you know, all around the world, the role of governments is less and less relevant.”
That may be overly optimistic. Sixteen American states and Puerto Ricohave pledged to stick to the commitment that the United States made in the Paris agreement to reduce emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025. Those states are on track to keep their promise.
But they represent less than a half of the country’s population, and the United States as a country will most likely fall short of its Paris pledge as Mr. Trump dismantles environmental regulations, according to a 2017 study by the Rhodium Group, a private economic research company. And a group led by Michael R. Bloomberg, the United Nations special envoy on climate change, and Gov. Jerry Brown of California, came to the same conclusion in a report that relied on the same data.
The Paris accord is written in such a way that the United States, in fact, remains in the pact even though it announced its intent to pull out. The actual withdrawal does not happen until 2020.
Mr. Guterres is planning a summit meeting next year to goad world leaders to raise their emissions reductions targets. But few countries are even close to meeting the targets they set under the Paris agreement, which was drafted in November and December in 2015, according to independent analyses.
His warnings came a week after the World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency, reported that a barrage of extreme weather events had made 2017 the costliest year on record for such disasters, with an estimated $320 billion in losses.
Speaking at the United Nations headquarters on Thursday, Mr. Guterres said floods in South Asia had affected 41 million people and that drought had driven 900,000 people from their homes in Africa.
“I am beginning to wonder how many more alarm bells must go off before the world rises to the challenge,” he said. “We know it can be hard to address problems perceived to be years or decades away. But climate impacts are already upon us.”
Asked about the looming danger of floods and landslides facing hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, Mr. Guterres said he had urged Bangladesh’s government to relocate them to higher ground. Bangladesh’s government has said it is preparing to relocate the most vulnerable refugees to an island in the Bay of Bengal, itself vulnerable to the rising sea.
Mr. Guterres would not comment on those specific efforts except to say that “we believe higher ground is the best place.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/climate/united-nations-climate-change.html
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AP FACT CHECK: Science Contradicts EPA Warming Memo
Mar 30, 2018 | Washington Post
By Seth Borenstein and Michael Biesecker
Climate scientists say an internal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency memo on how officials should talk to the public about global warming doesn’t reflect reality.
EPA’s public affairs office put out “a set of talking points about climate change” to help the agency have a consistent message, the Huffington Post reported this week.
The Associated Press, which also obtained the memo, contacted 15 climate scientists. They all said EPA wasn’t accurately portraying the degree of knowledge that researchers know about climate change and humanity’s role. For decades, scientists have being saying that the burning of fossil fuels increases greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, which trap heat and change the planet’s climate in many ways.
EPA defended the memo.
THE MEMO
“Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner. The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue.”
THE SCIENCE
“To say that ‘human activity impacts our changing climate ‘in some manner’, is analogous to saying the Germans were involved in WW II ‘in some manner’,” David Titley, a professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University and retired U.S. Navy admiral, said in an email.
The EPA memo contradicts a November 2017 federal science report, signed off by 13 government agencies, including the EPA. That report says the world has warmed 1.2 degrees (0.65 Celsius) since 1950 and that the likely human contribution to this was between 92 and 123 percent.
It’s more than 100 percent on one end, because some natural forces — such as volcanoes and orbital cycle — are working to cool Earth, but are being overwhelmed by the effects of greenhouse gases, said study co-author Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech.
Hayhoe, one of the scientists who criticized the EPA memo, said the debate now is more about whether humanity’s role is merely close to 100 percent of the warming or if it is it much more and offsetting natural cooling.
THE MEMO
“While there has been extensive research and a host of published reports regarding climate change, clear gaps remain including our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it.”
THE SCIENCE
Two scientists, Jonathan Overpeck, dean of environmental science at the University of Michigan, and Michael Oppenheimer at Princeton University each described the idea of gaps in scientific knowledge as “flat out wrong.” Scientists said there are some details that aren’t completely known, but not gaps in knowledge about what is causing the problem and humanity’s role.
“Suggesting that there are gaps that remain in our understanding of the role of human activity and possible solutions to the problem is false equivalence at its finest,” said Kathie Dello, an Oregon State University climate scientist. “We know it’s us and we know what we have to do about it.”
Asked to provide any sources for the agency’s contention that the contribution of man-made carbon emissions in climate change is unsettled, EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones issued this statement:
“The talking points were developed by the Office of Public Affairs. The Agency’s work on climate adaptation continues under the leadership of Dr. (Joel) Scheraga.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ap-fact-check-science-contradicts-epa-warming-memo/2018/03/30/bb866718-33d0-11e8-b6bd-0084a1666987_story.html?utm_term=.95540bfcd329
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EPA Inspector General Probes Air Monitoring Of Large Industrial Sources
Mar 30, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
EPA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is launching a discretionary investigation into the quality of air emissions monitoring data gathered at large stationary sources, such as power plants, in order to verify the accuracy of emissions information underpinning major Clean Air Act regulatory programs.
James Hatfield, director of the OIG's air directorate, informed EPA air policy chief William Wehrum of the probe in a March 29 letter. “The OIG’s objective is to determine whether selected continuous emissions monitoring (CEM) data meet applicable quality assurance and quality control criteria,” Hatfield says. The project “is based on the OIG’s internal planning process,” Hatfield says.
The OIG requests access “to any EPA database(s) to which affected facilities report required CEM data, including quality assurance data, to the EPA. This includes data reported under the Acid Rain Program (ARP), Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP)."
ARP and CSAPR are both emissions trading programs for power plants controlling nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, NSPS regulate criteria pollutant emissions such as ozone or particulate matter from industrial sources, and NESHAP rules control toxic air emissions from industrial sources.
The OIG further requests “procedures, policies and guidance related to how the EPA verifies the quality of CEM data” under these programs.
“The anticipated benefits of this project are to improve any identified data quality weaknesses so that the EPA can better assess facility compliance and estimate air quality impacts based on facility-reported data,” OIG says.
CEM is often sought by environmentalists to monitor facilities' emissions because it is seen as more accurate than other, less expensive methods. In some instances, EPA rules require only monitoring of other “parameters,” such as indicators showing that emissions controls are functioning properly, or periodic testing of emissions from a smokestack.
Each year the OIG devises its agenda for audits, evaluations and investigations that include its work mandated by statute -- such as audits of EPA's systems required by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act -- and discretionary work. The latter includes responding to requests from Congress to investigate certain issues, and also projects that the OIG determines meet its criteria for review.
In a recent exclusive interview with Inside EPA, the agency's Inspector General Arthur Elkins, Jr. said the criteria for prioritizing work has remained consistent over the past couple of years. “We're always looking on the human health side or the environmental side: what are the biggest risks that [the] agency is facing that we can address through the work that we do,” he said.
That remains unchanged, but he said the scope of any investigations may be “diminishing” as a result of ongoing budget cuts. “Rather than taking on a piece that's maybe broader, where it may in the past may have had five or six different components to the question that we're trying to answer, now we may only have one or two components,” he said.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-inspector-general-probes-air-monitoring-large-industrial-sources
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