Preview Newsletter
AM ACC 4/2/2018
-
(ACC Mentioned) Positive News on the Recycling Rate for Rigid Plastics and Film in the U.S.
Mar 31, 2018 | Packaging World
By Anne Marie Mohan
Two new reports from the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council indicate that U.S. recycling of rigid plastics and film each jumped 10% in 2016. -
(ACC Mentioned) Volume Resin Prices Mostly Up
Mar 30, 2018 | Plastics Technology
By Lilli Manolis Sherman
Tight monomer and/or resin supplies and, in some cases, higher feedstock costs, resulted in higher prices by the end of the first quarter for PE, PS, PVC, ABS, PET, PC, and nylon 66. -
Pruitt Holding On, So Far
Mar 30, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Alex Guillen
The White House is not washing its hands of Scott Pruitt, even as the slow drip of damaging headlines about the EPA chief continues. The White House is not washing its hands of Scott Pruitt, even as the slow drip of damaging headlines about the EPA chief continues. -
The EPA's Scott Pruitt Has to Go
Mar 30, 2018 | Los Angeles Times
By Editorial Board
As long as President Trump is firing Cabinet members, may we make a nomination? Scott Pruitt, and not just because of the allegations by Bloomberg and ABC News that he took a sweetheart deal for himself and a daughter for living space in a Washington townhouse... -
(ACC Mentioned) Wisconsin Legislation Exempting Pyrolysis/Gasification from Solid Waste Management Facility Requirements: Assembly Bill 789
Mar 30, 2018 | JD Supra
By Walter Wright
The State of Wisconsin legislative bodies (House and Senate) enacted Assembly Bill 789 (“Bill”) which is described as generally exempting pyrolysis and gasification facilities from certain laws relating to solid waste storage and treatment facilities. -
(ACC Mentioned) Vermont Bill to Ban Chemicals in Toys Heads to Governor
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adrianne Appel
Toys containing certain chemicals would be banned in Vermont under a bill lawmakers passed March 30. -
Attack of the Killer Cappuccino
Mar 31, 2018 | Wall Street Journal
By Editorial Board
Californians will soon get something besides milk and cinnamon with their coffee—a mandated warning that their morning pick-me-up may kill them. -
Buzzkill? Coffee Cancer Warnings Could Go Beyond California
Mar 30, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
It's fair to say that a lot of people awoke Friday to a headline that might have jolted them more awake than a morning cup of joe: A California judge had ruled that coffee sold in the state should carry a cancer warning. -
EPA Withdraws Lead Paint Dust Rule from OMB
Apr 2, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA has withdrawn a draft proposed rule strengthening its lead paint dust renovation and repair rules from review by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a step the agency says it is taking because a federal appellate court earlier this week extended... -
Zinke Seeks to Still Waves of Worry About Offshore Oil Leasing
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has signaled to one lawmaker after another that their coastal states may not see any exploration for oil and natural gas, despite the extraordinarily broad scope of his proposed five-year leasing plan. -
Gas Poised for Spring Rally as U.S. Exports Help Drain Supplies
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Naureen S. Malik
Even as the weather gets warmer and natural gas supplies from shale fields abound, traders are confident prices for the heating fuel will rise in the coming weeks. -
Will U.S. Natural Gas Production Outpace Demand?
Apr 1, 2018 | Forbes
By Jude Clemente
Although oil has caught up, it was originally natural gas that ignited the U.S. shale revolution that began about a decade ago. -
EQT Corp. Fracking Leak Ruling Unlikely to Blunt Water Enforcement
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Leslie A. Pappas
A Pennsylvania court's decision to reject the way environmental regulators calculated fines against EQT Corp. for a fracking fluid leak likely won't substantially impact the state's future enforcement efforts against polluters, a former agency official told Bloomberg Environment. -
Washington Oil Refinery Safety Regulation Faces Meticulous Vetting
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Paul Shukovsky
The oil refinery industry is slogging section by section, sometimes word by word, through an early version of proposed Washington state refinery safety rules that could end up at least as strong as a similar set of rules in California. -
Dumont Administrator Thomas Richards on a Mission to Safeguard CSX Rails
Apr 2, 2018 | NorthJersey.com
By Philip DeVencentis
Thomas Richards used to sit on his engineer father's lap and make believe he was steering locomotives that pulled trains of passenger cars on the Pennsylvania Railroad. -
D.C. Circuit Poised to Hear Suit on EPA Regional 'Consistency' Air Policy
Apr 2, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument April 2 in litigation filed by industry groups over an Obama-era “regional consistency” policy that allows EPA regions to not adhere to appellate rulings affecting agency policy... -
Exxon Can't Dodge State Climate Change Probes, Judge Says
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Erik Larson and Pamela Maclean
ExxonMobil Corp.’s attempt to derail a multi-state fraud investigation into the company's public comments about climate change flamed out in a New York court.
Congressional Hearings - There are no hearings to report at this time.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News
Transportation and Infrastructure News
Environment News
-
(ACC Mentioned) Positive News on the Recycling Rate for Rigid Plastics and Film in the U.S.
Mar 31, 2018 | Packaging World
By Anne Marie Mohan
Two new reports from the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council indicate that U.S. recycling of rigid plastics and film each jumped 10% in 2016.
Two major categories of plastics recycling—non-bottle rigid plastics and plastic wraps, bags, and flexible film packaging (collectively “film”)—each jumped 10% in 2016. Rigids reached a minimum of 1.46 billion pounds, and film climbed to 1.3 billion pounds collected for recycling. That’s according to two recycling reports released in February: The “2016 National Post-Consumer Non-Bottle Rigid Plastic Recycling Report” and the “2016 National Post-Consumer Plastic Bag and Film Recycling Report,” both from the American Chemistry Council’s Plastics Division.
The reports also indicated dramatic long-term growth in both plastics recycling categories. The volume of rigid plastics collected for recycling in 2016 is nearly 4.5-times greater than the volume collected in the 2007 inaugural report. Additionally, plastic film recycling has grown for 12 consecutive years and has more than doubled since 2005 when the first report was compiled.
“We are pleased to see the increase in plastic film and rigid plastics recycling in 2016 and the dramatic growth over the last decade,” says Steve Russell, Vice President of ACC’s Plastics Division. “America’s plastic makers are committed to supporting plastics recycling growth through improved infrastructure and education, and believe that these efforts will continue to support the industry in future years.”
Both reports attribute the increase in material collected for recycling partly to demand from export markets. As a result of China’s 2017 policy restricting imports of scrap materials, including plastics, the plastics recycling value chain is working to develop stronger domestic end markets to continue the increase in plastics recovered for recycling.
“From investments in recycling facilities and advanced technologies, to public commitments to use more recycled plastics in products and packaging, we see real dedication from the recyclers and end users to grow end-market opportunities for plastics recycling here in the U.S.,” says Russell.
Currently, recycled plastic film is used in composite lumber, new film and sheet, agricultural products, crates, buckets, and pallets. Typical end markets for non-bottle rigids include automotive parts, crates, buckets, pipe, lawn and garden products, and thick-walled injection-molded products.
Plastic film includes flexible product wraps, bags, and commercial stretch film made primarily from polyethylene.
The rigid plastics category contains food containers, caps, lids, tubs, clamshells, cups, and bulky items, such as buckets, carts, and lawn furniture, along with used commercial scrap, such as crates, battery casings, and drums. As in prior years, high-density PE and polypropylene comprised the two largest resins in this category, representing 40% and 36%, respectively, of total rigid plastics collected.
Both the film and rigids reports were based on an annual survey of reclaimers conducted by More Recycling.
https://www.packworld.com/article/sustainability/recycling/positive-news-recycling-rate-rigid-plastics-and-film-us
-
(ACC Mentioned) Volume Resin Prices Mostly Up
Mar 30, 2018 | Plastics Technology
By Lilli Manolis Sherman
Tight monomer and/or resin supplies and, in some cases, higher feedstock costs, resulted in higher prices by the end of the first quarter for PE, PS, PVC, ABS, PET, PC, and nylon 66. The exceptions were PP and nylon 6; the former’s prices moved up a whopping 11¢/lb between December and January, though they are anticipated to drop by the same amount or more by this month; while nylon 6 prices remained flat through the first quarter, following a December 5¢/lb increase.
These are the views of purchasing consultants from Resin Technology, Inc. (RTi), Fort Worth, Texas, CEO Michael Greenberg of the Plastics Exchange in Chicago, and Houston-based PetroChemWire (PCW).
PE PRICES UP
Polyethylene prices moved up 4¢/lb in February, and film processors increased prices to cover the latest increase, noted Mike Burns, RTi’s v.p. of client services for PE. Meanwhile, suppliers were still posting a March 3¢/lb increase. Since July 2017, prior to Hurricane Harvey, PE contract prices have increased by 11¢/lb, according to Burns. He anticipates that higher oil prices, which have firmed up global PE prices, will continue to be a significant factor behind the sustained PE price hikes.
With regard to the March increase, The Plastic Exchange’s Greenberg reported that processors remained optimistic that as new PE production becomes more visible, it will help put a cap on pricing. Similarly, Burns ventured that PE prices may have peaked with a rollover in both March and April. PCW reported the PE spot market as tight for most grades, with firm prices, and projected that domestic prime material direct sales would slow in March as suppliers aimed to implement another 3¢/lb.
RTI’s Burns characterized demand as good and noted that while the American Chemistry Council’s data showed supplier inventories to be high, resin availability did not appear to match the data. He expected PE prices generally to remain firm through the second quarter due to higher global PE prices
PP PRICES DROP
Polypropylene prices dropped in February by 6¢/lb in step with propylene monomer. Further decreases were expected for March, according to RTi’s v.p. of PP markets, Scott Newell. He predicted a potential drop in the neighborhood of 5-7¢/lb, based on anticipated lower March monomer contract settlements, and noted that U.S. spot monomer prices are now the lowest in the world.
The reversal in the pricing trajectory followed increases of 11¢/lb in December and January, which resulted in demand destruction. Newell expected a significant rebound in demand across the PP polymer chain as early as last month. He expected PP imports to drop back to limited volumes, noting that domestic supplier inventories were in good shape, and he anticipated that PP production rates would ramp up. At the same time, both Newell and PCW ventured that monomer prices could bottom out this month. Newell projected April PP prices to be flat, despite Braskem’s announcement of a 5¢/lb increase for April 1. “This is a margin-expansion increase that will be tough to implement it. I don’t see it as a slam dunk. In suppliers’ best-case scenario, they might get a couple of cents.”
PCW characterized PP spot activity as limited, with lower prices as the market looked for better clarity on March monomer values. The Plastic Exchange’s Greenberg reported that as a result of the February collapse in monomer prices, buyers and sellers of PP had developed widely varying price expectations. “Processors have clearly backed away from the market, seeking minimal supply to fill in gaps, while they wait for prices to fall further.”
PS PRICES HIGHER
Polystyrene’s price moved up 2¢/lb in February, and suppliers issued increases of 4¢/lb for March 1. The key drivers behind the latter, according to both PCW and Mark Kallman, RTi’s v.p. of client services for engineering resins, PS and PVC, were tight styrene monomer supplies and higher butadiene costs. Both observers also expected this upward pricing trend would last through March and into at least part of April.
They expected most of the new increase to be implemented. Kallman noted that while March benzene contracts settled down 5¢/gal and could drop farther, February styrene monomer contracts settled 5¢/lb higher and were expected to move up again in March due to planned and unplanned production outages. There were also reports that the tightness was leading to monomer imports from Europe. Depending on the recovery of the monomer market, Kallman said prices may peak this month, with some potential for further upward movement.
PVC PRICES UP
The February 3¢/lb PVC increase was fully implemented, according to both RTI’s Kallman and PCW, and suppliers were intent on pushing through a March 4¢/lb price hike. Moreover, there was talk from at least two suppliers that they would likely come out with an April increase.
PCW cited an industry source that projected that the March increase would get split in half between March and April. Kallman noted that it was unlikely that even half would be implemented in March. He cited a 2.75¢.lb reduction in February ethylene contract prices, which translated to a 1.4¢/lb cost reduction for PVC. He ventured that April PVC prices would be flat to higher, depending on domestic demand if the construction season has a strong start, as well as export demand and whether all planned PVC production shutdowns are completed. PCW noted that after years of using ethylene pricing to justify PVC price increases, suppliers are now aiming to shift buyers’ attention to supply and demand, plant downtime, high export pricing, and rising freight costs.
PET PRICES MOVING UP
PCW reported that domestic bottle-grade PET resin on March 7 was at 71-73¢/lb for railcars, bulk trucks and truckloads delivered to the Midwest, flat or a couple of cents higher than in January and February at 71¢/lb. Imported PET with an IV of 78 or higher was at 67-69¢/lb delivered duty-paid (DDP) to the West Coast, and 69-70¢/lb DDP to the East Coast, up 2-4¢/lb from February. Some offers were as low as 61-63¢/lb FAS (Free Alongside Ship) to New York-area ports with transit time of 6-8 weeks from locations in Asia.
For April, PCW expected domestic PET prices to rise 1-3¢/lb from March, due to a drop in imports from five countries that accounted for about 42% of all imports in 2017. This drop is the result of anti-dumping duties expected to be imposed on these countries at the end of March. The countries are South Korea, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Taiwan—which was the number-two source of PET imports after Mexico last year. Antidumping duties were imposed on PET imports from China, India, Oman and Canada in 2014.
Supply has been limited due to M&G Chemicals idling PET plants in Apple Grove, W. Va., and Altamira, Mexico, in October when M&G subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy protection. On March 6, it was announced that the bankruptcy court auction of M&G Polymers’ unfinished Project Jumbo PET plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, and other assets was scheduled for March 19. The plant is about 80% finished and has a design capacity of about 2.4 billion lb/yr. Expected to be the world’s largest PET plant, the earliest it is expected the come online is the second quarter of 2019.
ABS PRICES CLIMBING
Prices of ABS moved up 5¢/lb in January, and suppliers issued price hikes of 6-7¢/lb for March 1. RTi’s Kallman expected suppliers to be successful in pushing through the latest increases by this month. Despite a drop in benzene contract prices, resin increases were driven by a 5¢/lb hike in styrene monomer in February, with more expected in March, along with a 13¢/lb increase in butadiene and higher global ABS prices. Demand is expected to be steady throughout the year.
PC PRICES UP, THEN FLAT
Suppliers of PC resin were forceful in implementing increases of up to 14¢/lb in January. Independent compounders, meanwhile, were passing through similar double-digit increases on their PC compounds in February and March, according to RTi’s Kallman. The move was driven by a tightened market due to production issues for intermediaries.
Still, prices of PC resin and compounds were expected to be flat this month, given lower benzene and propylene prices. Kallman characterized the global PC supply/demand situation as tight due to both planned and unplanned outages, including major capacity expansions in Asia being slowed. He expected demand to continue to be good, driven by automotive, electronics and construction.
NYLON 6 FLAT; NYLON 66 UP
Following a 5¢lb increase in December, nylon 6 prices were flat in January and February and were expected to remain flat in March and April, according to RTi’s Kallman. One supplier issued a 10¢/lb increase for April 1. Noting that there did not appear to be industry support for this initiative, Kallman also said, “We have improved domestic production following two force majeure actions. I don’t much expect further upward price movement.” He foresees generally flat prices with possible downward movement in the middle of the second quarter.
Nylon 66 prices moved up 5-10¢/lb in January and again in February. March was expected to be flat for base resin, with some carryover of the increases for compounds, according to Kallman. Driving the price spikes is a market that went from a “bit tight to quite tight” due to unplanned outages in production of intermediates, one domestic force majeure and three in Europe. Kallman said PC prices this month would be flat to higher. He anticipated upward pricing pressure if the market remains tight and cited strong demand expected from automotive as well as construction, electronics and appliances, along with generally strong global GDP growth expected this year.
https://www.ptonline.com/articles/volume-resin-prices-mostly-up
-
Mar 30, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Alex Guillen
The White House is not washing its hands of Scott Pruitt, even as the slow drip of damaging headlines about the EPA chief continues.
One senior administration official told POLITICO on Friday that the White House still stands behind the Environmental Protection Agency leader despite newsreports that he spent months renting a room last year in a condo connected to an energy lobbyist — paying just $50 per night to lodge a block from the Capitol. The news followed months of negative headlines about Pruitt’s first-class travel, security costs and political ambitions that are one of Washington’s worst-kept open secrets.
Pruitt's daughter McKenna also lived in a second room in the condo when she was a White House intern, ABC News reported Friday, raising further questions about whether the rent deal was an unethical favor.
But Pruitt has also been one of the most effective members of President Donald Trump’s administration — moving to reverse a huge swath of Obama-era regulations, persuading the president to exit the Paris climate deal and promoting Trump’s efforts to produce more coal, oil and natural gas.
And unlike other Cabinet members who have gotten the ax from Trump, such as ousted Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Pruitt has not obstructed the president’s conservative agenda or actively criticized his leadership. Instead, he praises Trump on Fox News and elsewhere every chance he gets.
“I confess the optics aren’t ideal, and it probably does not show the best judgment,” the senior administration official said of Pruitt’s former living arrangement. “But Scott Pruitt is always going to receive extra scrutiny since he’s so focused on enacting the Trump agenda.”
Pruitt’s outside defenders note that he’s different from the other Cabinet officials who have gotten the boot.
“What Pruitt has going for him that Shulkin and a couple of the others did not is he is at one of the key positions for achieving Trump’s agenda, and so far he’s doing a great job,” said Myron Ebell, the energy director at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the head of Trump’s EPA transition team.
Of course, such decisions are ultimately up to Trump, who is known to shift his feelings about his personnel rapidly even after publicly supporting them.
Some observers held their breath after Democrats in January released audio from early 2016, when Pruitt worked for Jeb Bush’s campaign, in which Pruitt said Trump would be “more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama.” But it’s not clear Trump ever heard about the comments, and Pruitt quickly issued a statement praising Trump as “the most consequential leader of our time.”
Pruitt is also pushing back on the reports about his luxe travel spending and other controversies, telling a St. Louis radio station last week that he is “a little bit dumbfounded by the kind of media narratives.” And outlets including Fox Newshave recently reported on EPA-provided details about travel spending by Pruitt’s Democratic predecessors.
The damaging leaks have come at the same time that Pruitt has told friends and associates that he’s interested in replacing another embattled Cabinet member, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, should Trump desire to make a change.
Nonetheless, anti-Pruitt activists are sensing a possible turning point with the latest revelations about Pruitt’s $50-a-night lease in a condo part-owned by health care lobbyist Vicki Hart, the wife of J. Steven Hart, an energy lobbyist who also served as head of Trump’s Labor Department transition team. Hart said he is a “casual friend“ of Pruitt, to whose campaigns for attorney general he gave a total of $1,750 between 2010 and 2012.
ABC News, which first reported the living arrangements Thursday, followed up Friday with new revelations that Pruitt’s daughter had for a time lived in another room of the condo with him and that Pruitt’s round-the-clock security detail had to break into the building at one point when it feared the administrator may have been unconscious.
In a statement to POLITICO, Hart denied that his relationship with Pruitt was untoward.
"I am an Oklahoman. Pruitt is a casual friend but I have had no contact with him for many months except for a brief pass by at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2018," Hart said Thursday. He added: "I have no ownership interest in the property despite suggestions to the contrary in the ABC News report. Pruitt paid all rent owed as agreed to in the lease."
Justina Fugh, a career ethics official at EPA, told POLITICO that the arrangement did not violate any gift or lobbying laws because of a prior friendship between Pruitt and Hart that would fall under an exception for transactions with friends.She also cited Pruitt’s boarding payments, which Fugh said seemed reasonable.
“Just because a person gave money in the past does not mean that somehow that relationship is tainted going forward," she said Friday morning.
Asked if she had inquired about where Pruitt is living now, Fugh laughed.
“I don’t go around looking at where people are living or how they’re living,” she said. "I'm not even curious to know. I'm really flabbergasted you'd even say that. … That just isn't what we do."
EPA on Friday evening released a memo from Kevin Minoli, a career official who serves as EPA’s top ethics expert, clearing Pruitt's lease of any ethical concerns.
Minoli wrote that the lease was a "reasonable market value," and said it authorized Pruitt's immediate family to stay there was well, which they did on unspecified occasions.
Vicki Hart told ABC on Friday that the agreement was with the administrator only. “If other people were using the bedroom or the living quarters, I was never told, and I never gave him permission to do that,” she said.
Outside watchdogs are much more concerned about Pruitt's use of the lobbyist-owned condo.
“This was not Airbnb. This was not listed on Airbnb. You and I could not have stayed there,” said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. “It was set aside specifically for Pruitt — at a rent that is about half mine, and I suspect a considerably nicer place than mine.”
Public Citizen on Thursday night formally asked EPA’s inspector general to review the matter.
EPA’s IG — who warned the White House last year that his current budget will limit the number of investigations his office can carry out — is already reviewing Pruitt’s 2017 travel, as well as the installation of a pricey, secure phone booth in his office. A spokesman for the IG’s office said it was aware of Pruitt’s living arrangement but declined to comment further.
The rental arrangement has also come to the attention of local authorities. The District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs said on Twitter that it will "conduct an investigation" into whether the condo owners were licensed for such night-by-night operations.
Pruitt ultimately spent $6,100 on those accommodations, according to Bloomberg, which was shown Pruitt’s canceled checks by EPA.
Environmentalists declared outright war on Pruitt earlier this week, launching a “#BootPruitt” campaign to have him fired. The campaign is aimed both at the president and at Pruitt’s home state of Oklahoma, where he is widely expected to run in 2020 to replace Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, who will be 85 on election day in 2020.
"By now, it is clear that Pruitt is unfit for public office and needs to go," John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.
That was before the allegations about avocado-omelet breakfasts cooked by his daughter in a condo where they rented rooms from the wife of an energy lobbyist. His critics’ rhetoric has only grown since.
“It looks like Scott Pruitt worked all day to benefit major energy companies, then went to be bed courtesy of a sweetheart real estate deal from lobbyists,” said Jeremy Symons of the Environmental Defense Fund. “This is the kind of behavior — grabbing personal benefits from lobbyists and taxpayers — that President Trump promised to fight. Scott Pruitt is demonstrating just how brazen a lie that has become.
And on Friday, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) called on Pruitt to resign.
Such left-wing attacks are only strengthening Pruitt’s credibility among the most important voters in Oklahoma, said Oklahoma GOP political strategist Pat McFerron.
“Every time he’s attacked by the Washington Post or The New York Times, that helps him in a Republican primary in Oklahoma,” he said.
The condo isn’t the first time Pruitt has seen his official business as administrator coincide with politically connected individuals.
Last spring, for example, Pruitt met with executives from an Israeli company at the request of Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. EPA subsequently entered into a research partnership with the company over its water generation technology.
Pruitt also sat down last year with Steven Chancellor, a coal executive who is also a well-connected Indiana Republican and powerhouse GOP fundraiser.
Meanwhile, an introductory tour last year had Pruitt crisscross the nation — mostly to states won by Trump. His schedule reflects appearances before the Federalist Society, an influential group for conservative legal and judicial officials, as well as groups that traditionally have little to do with environmental policy, like the Family Research Council. Meeting with those groups helps boost Pruitt’s conservative profile and lets him network with activists who could help a future campaign.
Nancy Cook contributed to this report.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/03/pruitt-holding-on-so-far-452116
-
The EPA's Scott Pruitt Has to Go
Mar 30, 2018 | Los Angeles Times
By Editorial Board
As long as President Trump is firing Cabinet members, may we make a nomination? Scott Pruitt, and not just because of the allegations by Bloomberg and ABC News that he took a sweetheart deal for himself and a daughter for living space in a Washington townhouse co-owned by the wife of an oil lobbyist. The deeper problem is that he is a danger to the planet.
Pruitt, of course, is the director of the Environment Protection Agency, whose mission is supposed to be enforcing environmental laws. But lately he's been accused of a variety of seamy acts of self-dealing. Not only did he allegedly accept the cheap rent deal from the lobbyist's family, but he has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on travel, flying first class apparently because he doesn't like getting yelled at by passengers in coach who recognize him. He spent $120,000 of government money on one trip to Italy that included using a military jet and a $7,000 premium commercial ticket for a transatlantic flight, according to the Washington Post and Bloomberg.
n a normal administration, these would probably be sufficient reasons to kick the guy out of his job. In fact, similar actionscost Tom Price his job running Health and Human Services, even though his shaky ethics were known when he was hired. But in Trumpworld, this is everyday stuff. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spent more than $12,000 in tax money on a chartered flight to his home in Montana, and Housing and Urban Development chief Ben Carson plunked down $31,000 for a kitchen set for his office (and then blamed his wife). In an administration led by a president to whom self-dealing is second nature, financial sins seem to come with pre-absolution.
So why are we singling out Pruitt? Because in these dire times, Pruitt's a danger. It's not so much that he's a small-time abuser of the public trust living the high life with taxpayer dollars. The bigger issue is that when he's not flying luxuriously around the world, he's single-handedly imperiling the Earth by dismantling the EPA, undoing long-standing, bipartisan-supported rules and regulations and arguing the wrong side of every environmental issue at a moment when the fate of the planet is up for grabs. (Reportedly, Pruitt is going to roll back fuel economy standards for motor vehicles in the next few days.) That's why we said in February 2017 that he shouldn't be confirmed, and that's why we would be happy if his penny-ante misbehavior brought him down now.
The hot reality is that global warming is real, and that it has already begun to affect the climate. Over the last four winters, the expanse of Arctic sea ice has been the lowest on record, which has endangered native settlements that rely on an iced-up coast to keep winter storms from eroding land. Rising seas and related erosion also have forced the relocation of a village in the Louisiana bayou, and low-lying cities are trying to figure out how to cope with coastal flooding. As many as 20 million Americans could become climate refugees by the end of the decade, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Climate scientists warn that droughts and flooding will worsen and that hurricaneslikely will become bigger, stronger and more frequent. But that is all mythology to the likes of Pruitt.
The EPA came into being four decades ago for a reason. States were doing a lousy job of regulating pollution, which left skies smoggy, rain contaminated with acids and rivers and lakes laced with industrial toxins. The EPA hasn't always done a good job, but it has played a vital role in trying to keep our communities healthy and habitable. Pruitt has sought to undo that by ignoring science, distrusting the advice and professional conclusions of his staff and vigorously attacking regulations that evolved through years of deliberation. It's to the Senate's shame that it approved Pruitt's nomination despite knowing that as Oklahoma's attorney general, he had filed more than a dozen lawsuits challenging regulations and the legal authority of the EPA.
And now we hear he may also be ethically compromised. He does not belong in public service. He's an embarrassment even to this administration. Which is saying something.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-pruitt-epa-ethics-20180330-story.html
-
Mar 30, 2018 | JD Supra
By Walter Wright
The State of Wisconsin legislative bodies (House and Senate) enacted Assembly Bill 789 (“Bill”) which is described as generally exempting pyrolysis and gasification facilities from certain laws relating to solid waste storage and treatment facilities.
The American Chemistry Council described the purpose of the bill as ensuring the treatment of post-use plastics as raw materials for “manufacturing” as opposed to “waste.”
The Bill defines a gasification facility as a facility that processes nonrecycled feedstock, which includes one or more of the following materials, derived from nonrecycled waste, that has been processed so that it may be used as feedstock in a gasification facility.
A pyrolysis facility is defined to mean a facility at which post-use plastics are heated, in an oxygen-free environment, until melted and thermally decomposed, then cooled, condensed, and converted into oil, diesel, gasoline, home heating oil, or other liquid fuel; gasoline or diesel blendstock; chemicals or chemical feedstock; waxes or lubricants; or other similar raw material or intermediate or final product.
Post-use plastics are defined to include plastics derived from any source that are not being used for their originally intended purpose and that might otherwise become solid waste if not processed at a pyrolysis or gasification facility or recycled. Post-use plastics include plastics that may contain incidental contaminants or impurities such as paper labels or metal rings.
The American Chemistry Council’s support for the Bill is stated to include the fact that plastics can contain as much energy as coal. The previously referenced facilities are stated to be capable of utilizing plastics as transportation fuels along with lubricants and chemical feedstocks.
A copy of the Bill and testimony from Craig Cookson, Senior Director, Recycling & Energy Recovery, American Chemistry Council, to Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Environment and Forestry can be downloaded here.
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/wisconsin-legislation-exempting-54728/
-
(ACC Mentioned) Vermont Bill to Ban Chemicals in Toys Heads to Governor
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adrianne Appel
Toys containing certain chemicals would be banned in Vermont under a bill lawmakers passed March 30.
The measure is headed to Gov. Phil Scott (R), but it is uncertain whether he will sign or veto it. A Scott spokeswoman declined to comment March 30 about the governor's position on the bill.
The bill (S. 103) would regulate chemicals deemed harmful to residents, including toxic substances in children's products. The House passed the bill in a final vote March 30 after Senate passage in February.
“With federal efforts on toxic chemicals being led by Trump administration officials more interested in protecting corporate polluters than public health, Vermont must step up efforts to protect our citizens,” House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D), said in a March 30 statement.
The legislation was introduced in 2017 and moved slowly through the Senate. To help it pass, a section on liability, which would hold businesses liable for any releases of toxic substances, was removed from the bill and is being considered in separate legislation.
Governor Created Panel
S. 103 includes language to create a committee of state agency heads to decide which chemicals should be regulated and how, even though Scott has already created a committee and an expert panel to advise it.
Lawmakers and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group say Scott's efforts do not go far enough and that their language would give more power to the committee and expert panel.
The American Chemistry Council and the Associated Industries of Vermont supported Scott's creation of the panel and have said they hope it will reduce requirements that industry views as burdensome. The groups oppose the bill.
Associated Industries of Vermont did not respond March 30 to Bloomberg Environment's request for comment.
The bill would direct the advisory group to closely monitor chemicals in children's products that may harm children. Chemicals of concern include those that may harm a growing fetus or child; cause cancer or genetic damage; disrupt the endocrine system, immune system or harms organs; or persist in the environment and accumulate over time in a person's body.
Groundwater Testing
The bill also would require that new private wells be tested by the owner of the groundwater source, for a broader range of heavy metals, radiation, and any other chemicals considered necessary by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.
The well-water testing language was included in response to the discovery in 2016 that private drinking water wells in southern Vermont were contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid allegedly from a shuttered factory now owned by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics.
The groundwater testing requirments would take effect July 1, 2019. The other sections of the bill would take effect July 1, 2018.
Scott created the Vermont Interagency Committee on Chemical Management in August 2017, through executive order. The committee and expert panel began their work in September 2017 and their recommendations about how Vermont should regulate chemicals is due to lawmakers in July.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=130836955&vname=dennotallissues&fn=130836955&jd=130836955
-
Attack of the Killer Cappuccino
Mar 31, 2018 | Wall Street Journal
By Editorial Board
Californians will soon get something besides milk and cinnamon with their coffee—a mandated warning that their morning pick-me-up may kill them. A Los Angeles Superior Court ruled Thursday against Starbucks and other cafes and gas stations, penalizing them because they couldn’t definitively prove that coffee doesn’t cause cancer. In addition to slapping a cancer warning on each cup of joe, the companies may have to pay millions in civil penalties and lawsuit settlements.
At issue is a chemical called acrylamide, which is created when coffee beans are roasted. It’s also common in other foods, including bread, cookies, cereals, potato chips and French fries. But under California’s 1986 Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, better known as Proposition 65, acrylamide is listed as a likely human carcinogen.
California’s cancer list relies heavily on junk science, and with acrylamide the evidence is questionable at best. Some government agencies want more research into its carcinogenic potential, and the American Cancer Society does, too.
But the group also notes that even those tentative concerns derive mainly from studies that examined its effects on lab animals, not people. The doses of acrylamide given to rats and mice “have been as much as 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the levels people might be exposed to in foods,” the American Cancer Society says. The group adds that for humans “there are currently no cancer types for which there is a clearly increased risk related to acrylamide.”
The evidence is so scant that even the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer admitted in 2016 that there was “no conclusive evidence for a carcinogenic effect of drinking coffee.” Its review of more than 1,000 studies turned up evidence that coffee may reduce the risk of some types of cancer. This is the same alarmist outfit that thinks everything from red meat to working the night shift causes cancer.
But however feeble the evidence, Prop. 65 encourages trial lawyers and their front groups to sue on behalf of the state by offering them a cut of the civil penalties. Last year Prop. 65 cases yielded $25.6 million in settlements, and more than three-fourths of that sum went to the lawyers. Trial lawyer Raphael Metzger brought the case against Starbucks and 90 other cafes and gas stations, working on behalf of something called the Council for Education and Research on Toxics. The same “nonprofit” and attorney also sued McDonald’s and Burger King over acrylamide in 2002.
The Starbucks shakedown was easy in part because under Prop. 65 the co-defendants bore the burden of proof. The 7-Eleven chain decided to settle, paying $900,000. For the remaining defendants, Mr. Metzger is now seeking civil penalties as high as $2,500 per person for each “exposure" since 2002. That adds up in a state with roughly 40 million residents.
The case is further proof that Prop. 65 is a lot like a cup of coffee: Even if it doesn’t kill you, it can keep you up at night. Or maybe it’s further proof that California progressives are nuts.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/attack-of-the-killer-cappuccino-1522451282?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2
-
Buzzkill? Coffee Cancer Warnings Could Go Beyond California
Mar 30, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
It's fair to say that a lot of people awoke Friday to a headline that might have jolted them more awake than a morning cup of joe: A California judge had ruled that coffee sold in the state should carry a cancer warning.
Here are some things to know about the ruling and how it might affect you:
WHAT'S THE BEEF WITH COFFEE?
Like many foods that are cooked, coffee-roasting creates a chemical byproduct called acrylamide that is a carcinogen.
The Council for Education and Research on Toxics, a small nonprofit, took the coffee industry to court under a California law that requires warnings where chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects are present.
Coffee companies, led by Starbucks Corp., acknowledge the presence of the chemical, but said it's found in trace levels that are harmless. They argue any risks are outweighed by other health benefits from drinking the beverage.
While scientists have gone back and forth for years on benefits or risks from coffee, concerns have eased recently and some studies have found health benefits and even lower risks of getting certain cancer types.Continue reading the main story
But a Los Angeles Superior Court judge said coffee companies had failed to prove their case.
The National Coffee Association said the industry was considering all options, including appeals and further legal action.
HAVE I SEEN THIS MOVIE BEFORE?
The same group took potato-chip makers to court in California years ago because acrylamide is present in fried potatoes. Under a settlement, the industry agreed to remove the chemical from chips.
Attorney Raphael Metzger, who represents the nonprofit, said if chipmakers could do it, so can coffee roasters. That is his ultimate goal.
But coffee companies have said it's not feasible to remove acrylamide without ruining coffee's flavor.
In addition to posting warnings, coffee companies could face some civil penalties of up $2,500 for each person in California exposed daily over eight years.
"The judge could impose crippling penalties which is all the more reason why it would behoove these companies to settle the case," Metzger said Friday.
WHEN WILL I START SEEING SCARY CANCER WARNING LABELS?
Anyone living or visiting California may have noticed signs warning about cancer risks at gas stations, hardware stores, cafes and even Disneyland.
The law was passed by voters more than 30 years ago, and the signs are so ubiquitous and often vaguely worded that most people pay little heed. For example, parking garages caution: "This area contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm."
"The breadth of the statute requires a proliferation of warning that results in the public not being warned because there are so many without specificity that they're essentially broadly disregarded," said attorney Jim Colopy, who has defended manufacturers and distributors in similar lawsuits.
After the lawsuit emereged, many coffee shops began posting warnings that specifically say California has determined acrylamide is among chemicals that cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.
The signs also say that cancer risk is influenced by a variety of factors and that the Food and Drug Administration has not advised people to stop drinking coffee or eating baked goods that contain acrylamide.
Many of the signs that are posted, however, are in places not easily visible, such as below the counter where cream and sugar is available.
The ruling could result in signs being placed at counters where customers see them before making a purchase and will require warnings on packaging of ground coffee and bags of roasted beans.
IS SOME WACKY CALIFORNIA LAW GOING TO KILL MY MORNING BUZZ?
The law only applies to California, but the state is such a massive market that tailoring packaging with warnings specifically to stores in the state could be a tall order.
Colopy said it's not feasible for his clients who market products nationally and worldwide to create California-only packaging.
"Often industry has no choice but to provide a warning no matter where they are sold, whether inside or outside of California," he said.
So, the short answer is maybe.
Supporters of the law would argue broader awareness is not such a bad thing.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/03/30/us/ap-us-coffee-cancer-lawsuit-things-to-know.html
-
EPA Withdraws Lead Paint Dust Rule from OMB
Apr 2, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA has withdrawn a draft proposed rule strengthening its lead paint dust renovation and repair rules from review by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a step the agency says it is taking because a federal appellate court earlier this week extended by 90 days a looming deadline for releasing it.
EPA withdrew the draft proposed rule from OMB's consideration March 29, just three days after submitting the proposal, according to OMB's website.
The agency submitted the draft rule March 26 for review as it faced a possible March 27 deadline for issuing it. But Justice Department lawyers successfully urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to extend the deadline by 90 days -- until June 26 -- because of uncertainty about when the court's earlier order became final.
Asked why EPA withdrew the rule from OMB consideration, an agency spokesperson says the 9th Circuit “has provided an extension to EPA to issue a proposed rule regarding the Agency’s dust-lead hazard standards for floors and window sills, and the definition of lead-based paint. The court directed EPA to issue a proposed rule within 90 days of its [March 26] order.”
EPA's 2008 lead renovation, repair and painting rule (LRRP) covering maintenance work in residences and child care facilities built before 1978 addresses the hazard that disturbed lead dust could pose to human health, particularly to children, whose developing nervous systems are most susceptible to the potent neurotoxin. Before 1978, lead-based paint was commonly used, and lead dust can result when the old paint is disturbed.
The rule set a standard of 6,000 parts per million (ppm) lead in dust at which contractors must adopt safety practices to prevent additional exposures. But environmentalists in the 9th Circuit suit, A Community Voice, et al. v. EPA, successfully argued that the standard should be lowered by an order of magnitude to 600 ppm.
EPA's withdrawal of the rule from OMB comes a day after the agency's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) informed the leaders of EPA's toxics and enforcement offices that it “plans to begin preliminary research to evaluate the EPA’s implementation and enforcement of the [LRRP]. Our objective for this project is to determine whether the EPA has an effective strategy to implement and enforce the [LRRP].”
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/epa-withdraws-lead-paint-dust-rule-omb
-
Zinke Seeks to Still Waves of Worry About Offshore Oil Leasing
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has signaled to one lawmaker after another that their coastal states may not see any exploration for oil and natural gas, despite the extraordinarily broad scope of his proposed five-year leasing plan.
Members of Congress, governors, state legislators, and coastal communities have been saying Zinke dropped Florida out of the plan after the state's vocal opposition and should give them the same consideration. Zinke has gotten the message, apparently: He has been trying to calm the fears of lawmakers from California to Maine, although at the same time he may be shrinking the hopes of oil companies.
Zinke told lawmakers in mid-March he recognizes the deep opposition in their coastal states to offshore oil and gas drilling. He made a point of downplaying the resource potential of many areas, implying that lease sales for those areas made little sense.
“It's good to know that he hears loud and clear that Californians oppose offshore oil and gas drilling,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told Bloomberg Environment. But Californians should not rest easy, he said.
“Oh, I think all of it is still in play. This administration loves nothing more than to stick it to California,” Huffman said, calling the plan “political from the start.”
Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.), from another state strongly opposed to offshore oil drilling, also was wary.
“I think he registered that he clearly understands the commonwealth's position, and he understands it is bipartisan,” she said.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R)'s administration told Zinke last year it opposes opening areas of the North Atlantic adjacent to the state for exploration.
Getting the Debate Going
The Jan. 4 draft proposal called for lease sales in 98 percent of the federal offshore. It was a step to get the discussion going, Zinke told lawmakers during subsequent Senate and House committee hearings.
The proposal was exactly what was needed to start a national debate on an important subject, Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, told Bloomberg Environment March 29. The association, which represents more than 300 companies, advocate for offshore energy development.
Still, Zinke may have gotten more blowback than he anticipated. He made a point—without being asked—of telling Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) March 13 that there do not appear to be oil and gas resources “of any weight” off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and most of California.
He looked at Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) and added that the same was true for the Maine offshore.
Two days later, Zinke made the same point to Tsongas, again without being asked, concerning the hydrocarbon resource potential off Massachusetts. “There are really no resources off the coast of Massachusetts,” he said.
Petroleum geologists are not so sure no such resources are off Maine or Massachusetts. Luthi noted that oil and gas fields developed off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland suggest the potential also may exist off New England.
“It's really not clear how much resources are available off our coasts,” Tsongas also said.
But the determining factor for her is that the costs and risks to fishing and tourism far outweigh the potential benefits of oil and gas development off her state.
One State Off the Table?
Zinke took much criticism for his tweeted announcement, five days after the Jan. 4 release of the draft proposed plan, that he would not go ahead with leasing off Florida. He was accused of playing politics to help Gov. Rick Scott (R) prepare to challenge Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who is up for reelection in 2018.
Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) asked Zinke during the March 15 hearing if the assurance given to Scott about Florida was firm.
“My commitment is we will do no new oil and gas platforms off the coast of Florida. I can't make it any clearer than that,” Zinke said.
Despite Zinke's assurances, the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is obligated to follow the procedures set out by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act for leasing, which means leasing off Florida continues to be studied along with leasing off other states.
Luthi said the eastern Gulf of Mexico, currently off limits for leasing within 125 miles of Florida, would be the logical extension of oil and gas development in the central gulf.
Nothing in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act prohibits the Interior secretary from musing about what his final decisions will be, Luthi said, unwilling to treat Zinke's remarks as the final word on Florida.
Some Areas Uncertain
The Obama administration proposed allowing exploration in federal waters from Virginia to the southern edge of Georgia, only to drop that area out of the plan after much public outcry.
It remains to be seen whether the areas dropped from the Obama plan will stay in or drop out of the latest plan, which is expected to be narrowed as it goes along. Southern California, known to be rich in offshore oil—including some discovered fields that have not been developed—also remains an open question.
The Beaufort and Chukchi seas in the Arctic stand a better chance of being included in the final plan, given the support of many Alaskans—including the state's congressional delegation—for oil development.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced March 28 it is gathering information for a possible lease sale in the Beaufort in 2019, though the agency cautioned that the sale might not happen.
Arbitrary and Capricious?
Huffman, the California congressman, said the Trump administration's five-year plan could be overturned in court through a challenge alleging it is arbitrary and capricious, a standard written into the Administrative Procedure Act. He cited Zinke's tweeted decision on Florida as an example.
“I think everything is an exercise in improvisation with this administration,” Huffman said. “They're making it up as they go along.”
Luthi did not sound dismayed by the criticism of the plan from members of Congress, environmental groups, governors, and others.
“In Washington, D.C., anything worth reacting to is worth overreacting to,” he said.
The public needs this debate especially in light of the long-term energy needs not only of U.S. citizens but the world, Luthi said. The U.S. is flush with oil and gas now, but that does not mean the nation and the world will have what they need in the future as the global populations adds another 2 billion people by mid-century, he said.
The draft proposal in early January was the first of three stages for development of a leasing plan. The next stage for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, after review of public comments and its own analyses of various factors, will be the proposed plan, due in late fall, according to Zinke.
That would leave time for a final version sometime in the first half of 2019 so that the plan could go into effect July 1, the typical start date for a five-year plan.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=130836932&vname=dennotallissues&fn=130836932&jd=130836932
-
Gas Poised for Spring Rally as U.S. Exports Help Drain Supplies
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Naureen S. Malik
Even as the weather gets warmer and natural gas supplies from shale fields abound, traders are confident prices for the heating fuel will rise in the coming weeks.
They are reassured by surging exports and a supply deficit that's 20 percent larger than the five-year average, the most in four years. Eight of 13 traders and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News are bullish versus a lone bear. The rest see prices holding steady near current levels.
Earlier this month, Dominion Energy Inc. launched the first shipments out of its Cove Point terminal in Maryland, joining Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana in sending shale gas abroad.
The market has been so focused on the production surge coming—projected to be a record growth year for gas supplies by the U.S. Energy Information Administration— that it has largely overlooked the demand gains, said Stephen Schork, president of Schork Group Inc., a consulting group in Villanova, Pa.
“I get the supply story, there is a wall of supply, the shale basins are going crazy and we are producing all this gas. Where is it? It's not going into the ground. What we are seeing is demand growth, exports going into Mexico, through Cove Point, and through Sabine,” he said. “Until someone tells me otherwise, I'm a bull. ”
It has also taken less intense hot or cold weather to stoke demand than in the past. Gas demand rose to a new record in the U.S. earlier this year, but volatility for that demand—or swings from one day to the next—didn't hit the levels seen during the “polar vortex” winter of 2014.
“This is a very normal winter and we had a very abnormally large drawdown of supply,” Schork said.
Gas futures, which have whipped around the narrowest trading range for the month of March since 1998, ended the month 2.5 percent higher at $2.73 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Looking ahead, futures have posted second-quarter gains in six of the last 10 years, averaging 11 percent. And right now statistical models are showing bullish momentum, said Schork, who looks at five or six models.
“We are looking at two or three months of really no weather, it's the perfect time for the market to rally,’’ Schork said. “This market tends to rally in the shoulder months and sell into the heat of the summer. It's a contrarian play.”
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=130836949&vname=dennotallissues&fn=130836949&jd=130836949
-
Will U.S. Natural Gas Production Outpace Demand?
Apr 1, 2018 | Forbes
By Jude Clemente
Although oil has caught up, it was originally natural gas that ignited the U.S. shale revolution that began about a decade ago.
Looking forward now, the upside to gas prices seems as small as it has ever been: our Energy Information Administration's National Energy Modeling System projects that U.S. gas production will increasingly outpace demand.
That's mostly because the amount of gas that we have at our disposal is really without end. We probably have the largest lowest cost gas resource in the world, and our proven reserves alone were up 5% last year to 341 trillion cubic feet - a 60% leap since 2006.
More short-term, EIA has gas production outpacing domestic demand over each of the next two years by about 3 Bcf/d. Most of our new demand potential, however, is in the export market, which isn't factored into that. As the wildcard in our gas market, exports to Mexico and LNG will account for 70-80% of new demand for at least the next five years. According to EIA, LNG exports alone will increase by ~5.5 Bcf/d by the end of 2019 to nearly 9 Bcf/d. So, production will need to rise to the mid-80s Bcf/d level to support this structural increase in consumption.
But ultimately, I would be very careful about underestimating new gas domestic demand in the U.S. It's not commonly reported as such, but be sure to see the U.S. as a "still developing nation:" each year we add 3 million people and $300-400 billion in real GDP. Unlike most of our OECD partners, we face both a population and economic explosion in the years ahead.
Gas will continue to make headway in the power and industrial sectors, which respectively account for 34% and 30% of our total gas usage.
In fact, gas is now almost 45% of U.S. power generation capacity, and climbing toward 50%. From 2017-2020, we will be installing 80,000 megawatts of new gas capacity, or almost a 20% increase in just a few years with even more coming. The entire country is turning to gas, and new regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions favor natural gas. The ability of wind and solar power, augmented by battery storage, to displace, not supplement, natural gas, is typically overstated.
Additionally, the push for electric vehicles could be the primary factor that reserves our decade long trend of flat power demand. And don't forget that the more gas we produce, the more attractive it becomes to use to generate power.
In fact, more manufacturing itself could increase our gas demand via more power and obviously more industrial demand. "Manufacturing in U.S. Expands at Fastest Pace Since May 2004." At 21.7 Bcf/d, U.S. industrial gas demand in 2017 was the highest it has been since 2000, when consumption was assumed to have peaked.
Industrial growth could be 60% in the decades ahead. My Forbes colleague Ken Silverstein reports: "As of December 2017, the American Chemistry Council said that 317 projects are either in up-and-running, getting built or on the drawing board and collectively, they are valued at $185 billion."
The ongoing pipeline build-out will be strong enough to outweigh new demand and exports, and limit the price increase of rising gas-on-gas competition, particularly important at various hub price points across the country. This year, there are 3,000 miles of gas pipeline coming in the U.S, or about a quarter of the world’s total and more than four times what the U.S. laid in 2012.
Production wise, shale gas is now over 60% of all U.S. gas output and will be the source of essentially all new production.
Appalachia and Texas will remain the Ruth and Gehrig of our natural gas production complex.
Appalachia's Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania have some key advantages: a massive low cost resource, ample access to fresh water supplies for fracking, and proximate location to high demand metropolitan areas (e.g., Cleveland, Detroit, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, NYC, Chicago, Toronto, etc).
Over the next decade, Appalachia's production could surge 66% to over 45 Bcf/d.
Yet, the Lone Star State is never to be outdone: "Texas' Permian Basin: An Oil And Natural Gas Production Machine." The ongoing Texan energy boom will be enabled by a pipeline build-out (8 Bcf/d of takeaway capacity proposed) and higher oil prices that equal more associated gas production. In fact, even if gas prices fall to zero or negatives (i.e., producers pay companies to take the gas away), the Permian will still be producing loads of gas because it comes free with oil.
By 2025, Permian gas production will more than double to over 20 Bcf/d.
EIA tracks 5 or 6 other shale plays that will continue to also grow and remain important secondary sources of gas supply. See these as DiMaggio, Mantle, Jackson, Winfield, Henderson, and Jeter...pretty darn amazing in their own right.
Indeed: be careful listening to those telling you about "the end of shale." Remember that these are the very same people that never saw the revolution coming in the first place.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2018/04/01/will-u-s-natural-gas-production-outpace-demand/#7d07a0e2118d
-
EQT Corp. Fracking Leak Ruling Unlikely to Blunt Water Enforcement
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Leslie A. Pappas
A Pennsylvania court's decision to reject the way environmental regulators calculated fines against EQT Corp. for a fracking fluid leak likely won't substantially impact the state's future enforcement efforts against polluters, a former agency official told Bloomberg Environment.
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court rejected, in a 5-2 ruling March 28, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's “water-to-water” theory behind a proposed $4.5 million penalty that the Pittsburgh-based natural gas driller didn't want to pay.
Under that theory, contaminated water moving into new areas would trigger additional penalties each day. Environmental regulators had argued that assessing high penalties based on continuous pollution flows was essential in fighting water pollution, and weakening that ability would cripple efforts to hold egregious violators accountable.
Despite ruling in favor of the company, “the court made clear that the decision was not limiting the agency's other tools to protect the waters of the Commonwealth,” George Jugovic Jr., a former litigator and regional director for the agency, told Bloomberg Environment.
An EQT spokeswoman told Bloomberg Environment the company was pleased with the decision.
“The Supreme Court correctly captures much of the problem with the DEP's interpretation, which is that it creates uncertainty and leads to a never-ending and unquantifiable liability in cases of this nature,” the spokeswoman said.
Pollution Reached Springs, Tributaries
The dispute centered around a 2012 leak from an impoundment at one of the company's gas wells in Duncan Township, Tioga County.
Although the company notified environmental regulators about the leak and began remediation efforts 12 days later, the agency's assessment counted 878 days of continuous violations, since the pollution seeped into the groundwater and flowed into springs and tributaries.
Pennsylvania argued that the penalty, which it later reduced to $1.27 million, was reasonable under the Clean Streams Law, the state's version of the federal Clean Water Act, because the statute allows per-day fines for the continuing flow of pollution into any of the state's water.
The court disagreed, rejecting the theory and upholding the Commonwealth Court's opinion that such interpretation “would result in potentially limitless continuous violations for a single unpermitted release of industrial waste” and “would be tantamount to punishing a polluter indefinitely.”
The department's water-to-water theory “contemplates serial and continuing daily civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day, as well as potential criminal liability, for each pool of groundwater, finger of a lake, branch of a stream, crook of a rivulet, ditch among a series of ditches, or any other part of any of these that the agency may be able to identify, however the agency may construe the concept of a part of a water,” Chief Justice Thomas Saylor wrote in the majority opinion.
In a concurring and dissenting opinion, Justice Christine Donahue wrote that the majority went too far in its interpretation of section 301 of the Clean Streams Law.
Environmental Safeguards Still in Place: DEP
Environmental regulators said they will still be able to protect the state's water going forward.
“The Supreme Court's decision may impact future penalty calculations but leaves intact the broad remedial powers of the Clean Streams Law and DEP's enforcement authority,” DEP Press Secretary Neil Shader told Bloomberg Environment.
Jugovic, who now works as chief counsel and vice president of Legal Affairs for PennFuture, a statewide environmental advocacy organization, said the agency still has multiple tools at its disposal and could still impose multi-day penalities.
For example, the agency could issue an administrative order demanding that a violator immediately stop polluting. If the company's behavior is extreme, the agency could have the attorney general's office pursue criminal penalties.
The decision could have an impact on how the agency collects evidence to prove an ongoing release, Jugovic said.
Enforcement of most cases won't be impacted, Jugovic said, although the decision could have implications for “the rare big instantaneous releases that cause significant environmental harm.”
The case is EQT Prod. Co. v. Dep't of Envtl. Prot. of Pa., 2018 BL 107259, Pa., 6 MAP 2017, 3/28/18.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=130836940&vname=dennotallissues&fn=130836940&jd=130836940
-
Washington Oil Refinery Safety Regulation Faces Meticulous Vetting
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Paul Shukovsky
The oil refinery industry is slogging section by section, sometimes word by word, through an early version of proposed Washington state refinery safety rules that could end up at least as strong as a similar set of rules in California.
Released in January, the preliminary draft rules—called process safety management regulations—will update for the first time since 1992 how refineries can safely operate in the state.
The state's draft standard echoes California's regulations for process safety, or the types of engineering and management practices that companies are required to take to prevent accidents and near-miss situations.
California's rules, adopted last year, are the nation's toughest.
At stake is both the smooth operation of plants critical to Washington's economy and the lives of the workers at the state's five refineries, one of which—the Andeavor refinery in Anacortes, Wash.—experienced an accident eight years ago that left seven workers dead when a heat exchanger failed during a maintenance operation, according to a Chemical Safety Board report.
Jousting Over Words
Andeavor, BP Plc, Phillips 66 Co., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and US Oil representatives attended a March 28 meeting convened by the Washington Department of Labor & Industries. There, industry representatives jousted with organized labor and environmental groups over the use of individual words in the proposed regulation.
In one section, the proposal says an employer “must develop, implement, and maintain an effective training program to ensure that all affected employees are aware of and understand all [process safety management] elements.”
The word “effective” specifically raised industry concerns in the context of training workers in understanding required process safety measures.
“How do you measure the effectiveness of training?” a telephone participant in the meeting who identified himself as Jim Pickett, senior counsel at BP America in Houston, said. “Who's going to measure that and how is that going to be enforced?”
Pickett is listed as a company representative in the settlement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration over the explosion and fire at BP's Texas City Refinery plant in 2005 that killed 15 workers. That settlement required BP to retain outside process safety management experts to address a range of process safety problems including training.
State regulators have emphasized that the preliminary draft is just a jumping-off point for discussion.
Worker safety and environmental advocates have joined that conversation.
“For three months now, the industry has pushed back against us and against the state of Washington,” Mike Wilson, national director of the BlueGreen Alliance's occupational and environmental health program, told Bloomberg Environment. “They've argued against using the word ‘effective’ in the regulation, saying it's too vague. They've argued against using the word ‘clearly.’
“They're arguing against basic safety principles that the industry itself has called for, including the very companies that are in the room,” Wilson said. Wilson was a main author of the California regulation in his former role as chief scientist in the California Department of Industrial Relations director's office.
Borrowing From California
Federal process safety management regulations set out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration also haven't been updated since the 1990s.
California's regulation, which set out to update process safety, was vetted by many of the same companies and the Western States Petroleum Association for two years before its adoption.
“Nothing is more important to our members than the safety of our employees and the protection of the communities in which we operate,” WSPA northwest representative Jessica Spiegel told Bloomberg Environment.
The WSPA represents companies including BP, Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Tesoro.
“We always carefully evaluate and engage in the discussions about potential changes to safety regulations,” Spiegel said. “There are some distinct differences between California and Washington on this issue, including the structure of the regulatory agencies.”
In creating its process safety management regulation, California held several meetings with inspectors and refiners to go over the language, Spiegel said.
“All stakeholders need to be given ample time to review and comment on the substantial rule changes,” she said.
While the rulemaking process is still in its early stages, the Washington Department of Labor & Industries has scheduled public meetings to review the rule over the next several months. The proposed regulation will be published later this year, and the rule won't be adopted until public hearings are held in 2019.
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=130836953&vname=dennotallissues&fn=130836953&jd=130836953
-
Dumont Administrator Thomas Richards on a Mission to Safeguard CSX Rails
Apr 2, 2018 | NorthJersey.com
By Philip DeVencentis
Thomas Richards used to sit on his engineer father's lap and make believe he was steering locomotives that pulled trains of passenger cars on the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Nowadays, Richards is engineering the borough in a more serious role.
Richards, the borough's interim administrator, is on a mission to fix each and every defect in the railroad tracks that split the town in half.
He said he calls CSX Corp., which owns the tracks, at least twice a week to check on its maintenance of the rails. He also has made it part of his routine to slowly walk along the tracks, which are about 500 feet east of Borough Hall, to look for defects.
"The tracks must be perfect for the protection of the people," said Richards, a former mayor of Maywood. "There can't be any exceptions."Rail accidents
According to the Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis, about a quarter of rail accidents last year were caused by defects in tracks, such as detail fractures and missing bolts or cross-ties.
Cracks in a Virginia railroad caused a CSX oil train to derail and explode in 2014. A year later, a BNSF train spilled tens of thousands of gallons of oil in Montana, due to an accident blamed on missing fasteners used to hold rails in place.
And a federal inspection last year uncovered 13 defects in tracks on the same CSX route that Richards monitors, known as the River Subdivision.
Richards said he has found at least four cracks in the rails near the West Madison Avenue grade crossing, in addition to numerous rotted cross-ties and spikes partially pulled up.
CSX has since repaired the cracks and, says a company spokesman, workers regularly check the tracks for problems.
"Each week, CSX inspects the tracks that make up our rail network to ensure the safe, reliable movements of customer shipments," said Bryan Tucker, the spokesman.
Tucker said trains equipped with ultrasonic sensors travel the rail network to scan for defects.
"This process integrates seamlessly with our track maintenance program, so that issues can be resolved before a failure occurs," he said.Oil trains a concern
CSX maintains about 1,000 miles of tracks in New Jersey, transporting commodities that range from consumer goods in shipping containers to passenger cars.
About 25 freight trains rumble through Dumont and other Bergen County towns each day. Some trains are strung together with tank cars filled with crude oil or other volatile substances, leading to Richards' concern that damaged tracks could cause a cataclysmic disaster.
Tucker said CSX operates fewer than five oil trains per week in New Jersey. He also said the company meets or exceeds federal regulations for transportation of hazardous materials, including by operating oil trains at reduced speeds in designated urban zones.
Borough Council President Carl Manna said he knows CSX has an extensive rail network, but that does not relieve his angst.
"I know they have thousands of miles of tracks, all over the place," Manna said. "However, this is our town — this is our concern."
Elected leaders from towns south of Dumont say they, too, are concerned about the condition of the tracks, though they have not looked for defects.
Bergenfield Mayor Norman Schmelz said he is concerned about whether CSX is a "good neighbor" and that it takes care of its tracks, especially because so many people live near them. He said his 92-year-old mother still resides in his boyhood home on Ralph Street, which parallels the railroad.
"She literally lays her head less than 75 feet from the tracks," Schmelz said.
Teaneck Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin said news of damaged tracks in Dumont was "very concerning," adding that township officials have been in touch with CSX for the past two years about problems related to the condition of the railroad.
But, Hameeduddin said, "I'm not aware of any issues that came up lately."
Paula Rogovin, a Teaneck resident and founder of the Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains, said the condition of the tracks is important, but that stopping deregulation of the rail industry is more vital.
The U.S. Department of Transportation in December repealed an Obama-era rule to require trains carrying explosive liquids to install electronically controlled pneumatic brakes.
"It's a life-and-death battle right now," Rogovin said. "There have been explosions with crude oil all around the United States and Canada over the past several years, and we need regulations to protect us."
In the meantime, Richards said, he will continue pacing the railroad in Dumont to search for any nick, notch or missing bolt he can find.
"My father, to be qualified as a engineer, literally had to walk the line," Richards said. "He had to understand every turn, every tie, every spike and every signal, and he never had an accident. That's why I'm so passionate about rail safety."
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/dumont/2018/04/02/dumont-administrator-thomas-richards-mission-safeguard-csx-rails/416155002/
-
D.C. Circuit Poised to Hear Suit on EPA Regional 'Consistency' Air Policy
Apr 2, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument April 2 in litigation filed by industry groups over an Obama-era “regional consistency” policy that allows EPA regions to not adhere to appellate rulings affecting agency policy if the states within such regions are outside those impacted by the rulings.
In the case, National Environmental Development Association's Clean Air Project (NEDA/CAP), et al. v. EPA, et al., a broad industry coalition including NEDA/CAP, the American Petroleum Institute and Air Permitting Forum argues EPA's July 2016 rule risks creating a “wild, wild west” of differing policies across the country. The rule contradicts a Clean Air Act mandate for “fairness and uniformity” in agency actions, they argue.
The rule allows EPA regions to ignore adverse court rulings that occur in judicial circuits that do not have jurisdiction over those regions. Because regional appeals court rulings can vary widely in their judgments on EPA policy, the impact of the policy does not favor stricter regulation, or encourage deregulation.
Both the Obama and Trump administrations have defended the rule allowing agency regions' “nonacquiescence” to appellate rulings in other regions. The government argues that the policy is a rational approach that aims to reconcile differing court opinions on the same policies pending a future consistent national policy.
A three-judge panel consisting of D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick Garland and Senior Circuit Judges Harry Edwards and Laurence Silberman will hear the case at next week's argument.
EPA's Clean Air Act “regional consistency” policy requires agency air mandates to be consistent across the agency's 10 regions, but the 2016 rule provided a “narrow” exception to the policy. Under the waiver, regional EPA offices that face adverse court rulings on a national policy can continue applying the policy in states outside the court's jurisdiction, without needing to seek special permission from EPA headquarters.
In a Nov. 20 brief, the Department of Justice (DOJ) on EPA's behalf said, “Nothing in the Act required EPA to adopt what appears to be the Associations’ preferred approach, a requirement that all regions act with absolute uniformity even after a single, adverse regional court decision. That approach would have serious fairness implications and would not be feasible when different circuits issue different interpretations of the same national policy."
DOJ argued that rather than creating confusion, the regional consistency policy update fills a statutory gap and resolves ambiguity in the air law about whether an EPA region needs to adhere to a circuit court decision if that court is located in a state outside of that region.
Industry's Criticisms
But industry groups say the rule does not resolve confusion or ambiguity, and will promote what they have described as chaos in EPA's Clean Air Act implementation.
In a Dec. 18 brief, the groups argued that EPA's rule directly violates the air law's section 301(a)(2) mandate to "assure fairness and uniformity" in agency actions.
In their brief, the industry petitioners took aim at EPA's legal defense. EPA "relies heavily on the common law doctrine of intercircuit nonacquiescence and EPA's notions of practicality and 'reasonable' uniformity to defend its action here. EPA misses the mark. This case is not about common law doctrines or EPA's ideas on pragmatism and reasonableness," the groups wrote.
The rule "violates the plain language of the statute because it: (i) fails to assure fairness and uniformity; and (ii) omits the required mechanism for identifying and standardizing inconsistencies arising from adverse local court decisions," they argued.
They added that EPA's rule is "arbitrary and capricious" because even if the air law were ambiguous on the consistency issue -- which it is not -- EPA has failed to show the necessary "reasoned explanation" for the policy shift. Further, EPA "fails to explain why it could not create a narrower exemption for circumstances in which inconsistency might be unavoidable”
DOJ in briefing in the suit has countered, however, that EPA “permissibly interpreted the Act to accommodate intercircuit nonacquiescence,” because the law is “silent or ambiguous” on how the agency should instruct its 10 regions to address conflicts arising from circuit-specific court decisions.
“Like any federal agency, EPA may ordinarily decline to follow, in its administrative proceedings, the case law of a court of appeals other than the one that will review its final agency action,” DOJ argues.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/dc-circuit-poised-hear-suit-epa-regional-consistency-air-policy
-
Exxon Can't Dodge State Climate Change Probes, Judge Says
Apr 2, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Erik Larson and Pamela Maclean
ExxonMobil Corp.’s attempt to derail a multi-state fraud investigation into the company's public comments about climate change flamed out in a New York court.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan on March 29 dismissed Exxon's lawsuit claiming officials in New York and Massachusetts conspired with environmental groups in planning the securities-fraud probe and made up their minds about its outcome before it started.
In its tactic of suing in federal courts in New York and Texas to stop the state probes, Exxon was “running roughshod over the adage that the best defense is a good offense,” Caproni said in her ruling.
The win provides headway for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and his counterpart in Massachusetts, Maura Healey, to finish their investigations, which have been delayed by legal wrangling. They'll ultimately decide whether there's enough evidence of wrongdoing by ExxonMobil to sue the energy giant and seek damages.
ExxonMobil spokesman Scott Silvestri said the company is reviewing the judge's decision and evaluating next steps.
“We believe the risk of climate change is real and we want to be part of the solution,” Silvestri said. “We've invested about $8 billion on energy efficiency and low-emission technologies such as carbon capture and next generation biofuels.”
The attorneys general argued that Exxon was improperly attempting to use the federal court system to impinge their state investigatory powers.
States Investigating Since 2015
The states have been investigating since 2015 whether Exxon misled the public and investors about the reality of climate change, including the ways it could impact the company's finances. They're also examining whether Exxon properly valued its reserves based on what its scientists projected.
Exxon claimed the evidence of political motivation includes meetings the attorneys general had with environmental groups and Schneiderman's claim at a news conference that former President Barack Obama's environmental agenda was being opposed by “morally vacant” forces.
The judge said the company offered “extremely thin allegations and speculative inferences.”
“The factual allegations against the AGs boil down to statements made at a single press conference and a collection of meetings with climate-change activists,” she wrote. “Some statements made at the press conference were perhaps hyperbolic, but nothing that was said can fairly be read to constitute declaration of a political vendetta against Exxon.”
Healey said in a statement that the ruling is a turning point in an investigation that's been hindered by ExxonMobil's refusal to cooperate.
“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.
Schneiderman was also pleased with the ruling.
“As the court noted, Exxon's claims in this lawsuit were ‘implausible’ and unsupported, while its strategy amounted to a type of ‘legal jiu-jitsu’ that resulted in nothing more than a ‘huge waste’ of time and money,” he said in a statement.
The case is Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Healey, S.D.N.Y., 1:17-cv-2301, 3/29/18
http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=130836948&vname=dennotallissues&fn=130836948&jd=130836948
Congressional Hearings - There are no hearings to report at this time.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News
Transportation and Infrastructure News
Environment News
Add recipients
Suggested