ACC PM 04/04/18

Industry and Association News

1. Shares of U.S. Exporters Fall as China Retaliates on Tariffs

   Apr 4, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)

   Shares in U.S. exporters of everything from planes to tractors fell on Wednesday after China retaliated against the Trump administration's tariff plans by proposing duties on key U.S. imports including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals.
2. Chinese Petrochemicals Tariffs Expected to Have Little Impact

   Apr 4, 2018 | Houston Chronicle

   By Katherine Blunt
   
   
   China's proposed tariffs on certain U.S. petrochemicals are expected to have a limited impact on Gulf Coast exports even as new production capacity comes online to serve growing Asian markets.
3. Judge Gives EPA Until 2021 to Complete Past-Due Reviews

   Apr 4, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

   By Sean Reilly
   
   
   A federal judge is giving U.S. EPA until October 2021 to complete past-due reviews of air toxics standards for nine industrial sectors — more time than environmental groups had wanted but considerably less than the agency said it needed.
4. Ewire: Pruitt Blames Deregulatory Agenda for Scrutiny

   Apr 4, 2018 | Inside EPA

   Scott Pruitt is pushing back on a raft of news reports about his alleged ethical lapses, telling a conservative news outlet that he is being unfairly scrutinized because he is trying to carry out President Donald Trump's conservative agenda by rolling back EPA rules.
5. Pruitt Spread Special Hires Throughout Agency

   Apr 4, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

   By Kevin Bogardus and Ariel Wittenberg
   
   
   U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt used a unique hiring authority to bring on several political staffers, including top deputies in programs across the agency.
6. Greens' Silence, Industry Ties Seen Aiding Waste-Office Pick

   Apr 4, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

   By Corbin Hiar
   
   
   When President Trump picked a scientist with deep ties to industry for a top public health post at U.S. EPA, fast and furious backlash from environmentalists helped sink Michael Dourson's bid for chemical safety chief.

LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.

Chemical Management News

7. (ACC Mentioned) South America Sees Chemical Regulations Moving Forward

   Apr 4, 2018 | Chemical Watch

   By Julie A. Miller
   
   
   Brazil, Colombia and Chile are on their way to adopting chemical regulation regimes, according to Daniel Rios of the Brazilian chemical industry association, Abiquim.
8. Scott Pruitt Has Literally Made Washington – and America – More Toxic

   Apr 4, 2018 | Environmental Working Group

   By Scott Faber
   
   
   Mired in multiple scandals of his own making, Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt attempted to shift the blame to “toxic” Washington yesterday.
9. Blood Levels of Toxic Fire Retardants Declining in Kids

   Apr 4, 2018 | HealthDay

   By Robert Preidt
   
   
   Blood levels of a flame retardant have fallen in American children since use of the chemicals was banned in consumer products, a new study finds.
10. 1st Circuit Scraps Order For Settlement Talks In CWA Nutrient Permit Case

    Apr 4, 2018 | Inside EPA

    By David LaRoss
    
    
    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit has scrapped its order for new settlement talks in a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit challenge that tests EPA's authority to set stringent nutrient limits in wastewater discharge permits, holding that the order for a fresh round of negotiations was “improvidently granted” a day before oral argument.
11. EU Notifies WTO of Proposed Phthalates Restriction in Toys

    Apr 4, 2018 | Chemical Watch

    The European Commission has notified the WTO of a draft Regulation, amending REACH Annex XVII to restrict the use of four phthalates in toys.

Energy News

12. (ACC Mentioned) The Energy 202: Environmentalists, Ethics Experts Question Scott Pruitt's Unusual Hiring Practice

    Apr 4, 2018 | The Washington Post

    By Dino Grandoni
    
    
    Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt hired at least two ex-lobbyists and several other aides for noncritical positions through an obscure provision in a water-safety law.
13. Oil Falls as China Retaliates Against U.S. With Plans for Tariffs on American Goods—Energy Journal

    Apr 4, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal

    By Neandra Salvaterra
    
    
    In an escalating tit-for-tat, China responded to the Trump administration’s latest proposed penalties on Chinese goods by announcing 25% tariffs on several major American exports.
14. Colorado Lawmakers Pass Bill to Support Orphan Well Cleanup

    Apr 4, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence

    By Richard Nemec
    
    
    A bill to save and direct excess environmental-related state funds for the long-term mitigation of abandoned oil and natural gas wells has passed the Colorado legislature and is awaiting action by Gov. John Hickenlooper.
15. Dem Scrutinizes Pruitt’s Morocco Trip, Gas Industry Ties

    Apr 4, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire

    By Timothy Cama
    
    
    A Senate Democrat is probing a December trip that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt took to Morocco and the degree to which it was meant to benefit the natural gas industry.
16. New Law Could Mean Lots of Unreported Oil Spills

    Apr 4, 2018 | Forum of Fargo-Moorhead (In E&E Greenwire)

    By Patrick Springer
    
    
    A new law in North Dakota could mean that the majority of oil spills go unreported, according to an analysis by The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.

Chemical Security News

17. Melted Pipes Tainted Calif. City's Taps After Wildfires

    Apr 4, 2018 | News Deeply (In E&E Greenwire)

    By Matt Weiser
    
    
    Wildfires last fall destroyed more than 5,600 structures and killed 23 people in Santa Rosa, Calif.
18. Coolant from Power Cables Leaks Into Straits of Mackinac

    Apr 4, 2018 | AP (In E&E Greenwire)

    By John Flesher
    
    
    Underwater electricity cables leaked about 550 gallons of synthetic coolant into Michigan's Straits of Mackinac, officials said yesterday.

Transportation and Infrastructure News

19. NS Multi-State Safety Train Tour Under Way

    Apr 4, 2018 | Railway Age

    By William C. Vantuono
    
    
    First responders in 23 cities from 15 states will benefit from free training with Norfolk Southern’s safety train during 2018, part of the railroad’s Operation Awareness & Response program, which provides first responders with training on how to safely respond to a potential rail incident.

Environment News

20. Meet the Climate Guy Working for Trump

    Apr 4, 2018 | E&E Climatewire

    By Robin Bravender and Niina Heikkinen
    
    
    The Trump administration is proudly axing U.S. EPA's high-profile climate rules, but climate adaptation work is quietly chugging along at the agency.

Industry and Association News

1. Shares of U.S. Exporters Fall as China Retaliates on Tariffs

   Apr 4, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)

   Shares in U.S. exporters of everything from planes to tractors fell on Wednesday after China retaliated against the Trump administration's tariff plans by proposing duties on key U.S. imports including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals.

   China was hitting back against U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods with similar tariffs on U.S. goods even as Trump said the country is "not in a trade war with China."

   Industrial stocks appeared to be the hardest hit. Shares in U.S. aerospace giant Boeing Co were last down 3.3 percent making it the biggest drag on the Dow though it was not immediately clear how much the tariffs would affect Boeing's newer products. The United States exported $15 billion of aircraft to China in 2016, ranking it equally with agricultural products like soybeans, according U.S. trade data.

   Agricultural machinery maker Deere & Co was down 4.0 percent and DowDuPont Inc was down1.3 percent.

   "Everybody knew they were going to retaliate. The question was how strong of a retaliation. Today's move clearly shows that they mean business," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York.

   Investors in the S&P 500's technology sector were also rattled since it has the biggest revenue exposure to China out of the benchmark's 11 major sectors. Chipmakers such as Nvidia Corp, with a 3.0 percent drop, and Intel Corp, with a 2.1 percent decline, were among the biggest percentage losers in that sector.

   "These are some of the companies most exposed to potential tariffs. They would affect their business directly, immediately.” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer of Commonwealth Financial Network in Waltham, Massachusetts.

   Shares of Caterpillar, also a big exporter to China, fell 2.4 percent. Chemical provider Chemours Co pared premarket losses but was still down 0.4 percent in the regular session.

   Soybean exporter Archer Daniels Midland Co and another agribusiness Bunge Ltd reversed their premarket losses and were last up slightly.

   With the three major U.S. indexes well off their January records after taking a massive tumble on Feb. 9, at least some investors were hoping that U.S. stocks will bounce back if earnings growth meets strong Wall Street forecasts in the first-quarter reporting season, which starts this month.

   "Obviously we need kind of a quiet period on these headlines and we need to focus on what is ultimately important and that is earnings. So I am hopeful over the next couple of weeks that earnings will be that shiny object that everyone can focus on,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth in Chicago.

   https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/04/04/business/04reuters-usa-trade-china-stocks.html
   

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2. Chinese Petrochemicals Tariffs Expected to Have Little Impact

   Apr 4, 2018 | Houston Chronicle

   By Katherine Blunt

   China's proposed tariffs on certain U.S. petrochemicals are expected to have a limited impact on Gulf Coast exports even as new production capacity comes online to serve growing Asian markets.

   The proposed tariffs, announced Wednesday, would include low-density polyethylene used in films and shopping bags, as well as PVC, polycarbonates, acrylates and some other chemicals. But they do not cover styrene or ethylene glycol, major U.S. chemicals exports to China used to make plastics, foams and polyester.

   Jonas Oxgaard, a chemicals analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., a New York investment management and research firm, said most of the chemicals on the list are exported in small volumes to China. Only about 6 percent of low-density polyethylene manufactured in the U.S. is shipped to there, and he noted that much of that volume could be exported to other markets.

   "India could take every single ton of (polyethylene) that we're currently shipping to China," he said.

   He anticipates the proposed measures would have little impact on DowDupont, the nation's biggest chemical company, and Houston-based petrochemicals maker LyondellBasell.

   https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Chinese-petrochemicals-tariffs-expected-to-have-12804914.php
   

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3. Judge Gives EPA Until 2021 to Complete Past-Due Reviews

   Apr 4, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

   By Sean Reilly

   A federal judge is giving U.S. EPA until October 2021 to complete past-due reviews of air toxics standards for nine industrial sectors — more time than environmental groups had wanted but considerably less than the agency said it needed.

   EPA must "comply with its statutory obligations as expeditiously as possible," U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the District of Columbia wrote in an opinion issued this weekend.

   But while EPA officials had sought as much as seven years to finish all nine "risk and technology reviews," the two-year maximum deadline sought by the Sierra Club and other plaintiffs was "extremely compressed," Jackson added in splitting the difference between the two sides.

   Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

   The ruling applies to the air toxics standards for spandex manufacturers, carbon black producers and seven other sectors.

   Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is supposed to relook at — and, if needed, update — the emissions thresholds for specific industries every eight years to take account of technical advances in pollution controls and new evidence of the health effects of mercury and other hazardous pollutants.

   In practice, the agency is grossly behind. The reviews in question were statutorily supposed to have all been wrapped up in 2010 or 2011.

   The Sierra Club, along with the Texas-based Community In-Power and Development Association Inc. and three other groups, brought the suit in June 2016 with the goal of setting a legally enforceable schedule.

   In court filings, EPA officials didn't dispute the tardiness allegations. But because the agency already has to complete several dozen risk and technology reviews for other industries under other court-ordered timetables, they argued that work on the batch targeted in this suit could not even begin until 2020.

   The environmental plaintiffs, by contrast, wanted the agency to complete five reviews within a year and the other four within two years.

   EPA could "redirect resources from other regulatory initiatives to ensure the full use of resources to fulfill its obligations," they wrote in a passage cited in Jackson's ruling.

   In opting for a schedule somewhere in between, she wrote that EPA could hire contractors to help out and suggested that the agency's proposed schedule for each review was padded with "hypothetical, contingent time that may never be needed."

   But while EPA's proposed schedule was too lax, Jackson said, the Sierra Club and other plaintiffs provided no evidence "to support their contention that the EPA can possibly complete" the reviews and associated rulemakings within two years.

   The remaining seven sectors covered by her October 2021 deadline are: primary copper smelting, cyanide chemicals manufacturing, flexible polyurethane foam fabrication operations, refractory products manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, primary magnesium refining and mercury-cell chloralkali plants.

   https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/04/stories/1060078153
   

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4. Ewire: Pruitt Blames Deregulatory Agenda for Scrutiny

   Apr 4, 2018 | Inside EPA

   Scott Pruitt is pushing back on a raft of news reports about his alleged ethical lapses, telling a conservative news outlet that he is being unfairly scrutinized because he is trying to carry out President Donald Trump's conservative agenda by rolling back EPA rules.

   “There are people that have long in this town done business a different way and this agency has been the poster child of it. And so do I think that because we are leading on this agenda that there are some who want to keep that from happening? Absolutely. And do I think that they will resort to anything to achieve that? Yes,” the embattled EPA administrator told the Washington Examiner in an interview published April 3.

   Most prominent among the recent scandals is Pruitt's decision to rent a Capitol Hill condo linked to a top energy lobbyist for what news reports have described as below-market rates.

   Pruitt questioned why this is a story. “I'm dumbfounded that that's controversial,” he said, adding that the $50-per-day rent for one room in the condo is “very clear it's market value.” He added that he was “living out of a suitcase” for several months when he first arrived to Washington, and that he shared common areas in the condo.

   Reports have noted that Pruitt's lease allowed him to only pay for days in which he occupied the residence, and that he ultimately paid around $6,000 over six months.

   However, Pruitt also faces growing scrutiny over several other issues, including his use of a Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) provision to hire several political appointees and even give two staffers big raises that had been rejected by the White House.

   The Washington Post looked into the hiring issue, reporting that Pruitt used the SDWA authority to hire former lobbyists, schedulers and spokespeople, even though the law had traditionally been used to hire “seasoned” experts.

   An EPA spokesman defended the use of the “broad” legal authority, and also claimed that Pruitt “was not aware” of the SDWA-enabled pay raises for two staffers, and has since submitted the moves to the White House personnel office for review.

   https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-pruitt-blames-deregulatory-agenda-scrutiny
   

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5. Pruitt Spread Special Hires Throughout Agency

   Apr 4, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

   By Kevin Bogardus and Ariel Wittenberg

   U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt used a unique hiring authority to bring on several political staffers, including top deputies in programs across the agency.

   Documents obtained by E&E News under the Freedom of Information Act detail "administratively determined" hires under the Safe Drinking Water Act, showing that at one point last year, at least 20 officials were brought on under the hiring provision.

   Several deputy assistant administrators — top political officials for EPA programs — like Nancy Beck, Patrick Davis, Dennis Lee Forsgren and Richard Yamada were listed once as administratively determined hires. Other close advisers to Pruitt were also in that category, including several associates and former aides of his when Pruitt was Oklahoma attorney general like Lincoln Ferguson, Millan Hupp, Sarah Greenwalt and Kenneth Wagner, according to records.

   The hiring authority has been used at EPA by prior administrations. It can help an EPA chief fill out his or her staff quickly since administratively determined (AD) hires do not undergo the usual civil service hiring process. The agency can hire up to 30 employees in AD positions under the authority.

   "The Safe Drinking Water Act provides the EPA with broad authority to appoint scientific, engineering, professional, legal and administrative positions within EPA without regard to the civil service laws," EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said. "This is clear authority that has been relied on by previous administrations."

   Stan Meiburg, who spent 39 years at EPA, including as acting deputy administrator in the Obama administration, said, "It has been done by both parties, so it has been ratified over time. ... These are highly prized positions because you can bring people in without having to go through the usual competition process."

   Meiburg remembered both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations having AD hires. He recalled some of those hires landing as political aides to EPA regional chiefs during those administrations. Meiburg said it made sense that the Trump administration would use the hiring authority for political aides like press officials and schedulers to assist Pruitt.

   "Those are pretty specialized skills, and there are folks in the political field who have those skills," said Meiburg, who now teaches at Wake Forest University. "That's not to say you don't need a good solid career staff in public affairs, as well."

   But Meiburg found it noteworthy that Pruitt had used the hiring authority to bring on deputy assistant administrators.

   "The use of the AD authority to bring on a political deputy is a little unusual," Meiburg said. "Most of the AD appointments are at a lower level. You usually have a non-career SES be a political deputy."

   Like lower-level political aides, the deputy assistant administrators don't require Senate confirmation. But assistant administrators, just above the deputies in rank, run EPA program offices and do need Senate approval.

   The administratively determined hires have grabbed attention recently after The Atlanticreported yesterday that Pruitt used the hiring authority to give substantial pay raises to two officials against White House wishes. EPA has since alerted the White House.

   EPA's Wilcox said in a statement, "The Administrator was not aware that these personnel actions had not been submitted to the Presidential Personnel Office. So, the Administrator has directed that they be submitted to the Presidential Personnel Office for review."

   That move sparked scorn from Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who represents Flint, still struggling with the aftermath of a drinking water crisis.

   "EPA Administrator Pruitt's actions are shameful and an insult to the people of my hometown of Flint. Rather than hiring scientists, engineers and experts to work to solve drinking water contamination issues, Scott Pruitt is using public money to instead give huge pay raises to his political friends," Kildee said.

   Pruitt's aides brought in as ADs also raised eyebrows last year.

   Since AD hires are not technically political appointees, they don't have to sign President Trump's ethics pledge, leaving them free to talk to prior lobbying clients and employers. Beck and Byron Brown, EPA's deputy chief of staff for policy, both have ethics documents saying they didn't have to sign the pledge (Greenwire, March 20).

   The ethics controversy attracted scrutiny from Democrats on Capitol Hill. The EPA inspector general soon initiated an audit of the AD hires, which is ongoing. The Government Accountability Office also launched a similar probe but put that on hold in order not to duplicate the IG's efforts.

   The records, dated March 2017 and later July that year, also indicate some of Pruitt's top aides converted into more standard political appointees.

   Forsgren, deputy assistant administrator in the water office, became a political appointee after being brought on first as an AD. He also signed Trump's ethics pledge.

   Tate Bennett, head of EPA's public engagement office, was also listed as "administratively hired" at one point. She, too, signed the ethics pledge.

   Others have moved elsewhere. Davis, another AD hire, is no longer a deputy assistant administrator but a senior adviser to the Region 8 administrator in Denver.

   EPA press officials did not provide E&E News with the current number of AD hires at the agency.At issue: 1977 amendments

   After passing the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974, lawmakers soon realized that local utilities needed more training and expertise in order to enforce the drinking water standards the law had required EPA to promulgate.

   The 1977 amendments were the first of what would be numerous changes to the law, but are generally considered relatively minor because they did not mandate any major changes to drinking water contaminant regulations.

   Instead, the changes focused on ensuring EPA and local water utilities had the resources they needed to write and uphold new standards.

   "In this age of sophisticated technology, manned flights to the moon and instrument landings on Mars, it is astounding that our drinking water is plagued by contamination," Rep. Paul Rogers (D-Fla.) explained on the House floor in July 1977. The amendments, he said, "are designed to help remedy the ills faced by our drinking water systems."

   The law empowered EPA to provide technical assistance to states and localities, and gave the agency funding to train personnel.

   The law also allowed EPA to hire "not more than 30 scientific, engineering, professional, legal and administrative positions within the EPA without regard to the civil service laws." The personnel would help not just with administering the Safe Drinking Water Act but also with "other provisions of law."

   That language resulted from a compromise between the House and Senate, which initially sought to add 150 such positions.

   Sen. Jennings Randolph (D-W.Va.) said on the floor in November 1977 that 150 appointees would "augment the agency's cadre of senior management and scientific personnel," which he said were "substantially smaller in proportion to Agency size than that of other federal agencies which carry out similar regulatory functions."

   But after consulting with the House, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Civil Service Commission, Congress decided to allow just 30 appointees without regard to civil service regulations, but agreed to add 80 personnel to EPA under normal regulations.

   That compromise, Rogers said, was the result of "extensive discussions and negotiations ... to determine the most critical needs for additional personnel and the most effective way of providing appointment authorities to meet those needs."

   Pruitt is not the first EPA administrator to take advantage of the provision. Ken Kopocis, who led EPA's Office of Water during the first half of the Obama administration, said the provision was well known within EPA and has been used through the years.

   "We used it to hire people who were well-experienced experts in their fields so that it could help augment, at the more senior levels of management, our ability to carry out our job," Kopocis said.

   Those hired using the provision, Kopocis said, were experts in a variety of subjects, not just drinking water. He could not remember how many personnel were appointed under the position, and would not name those who had been hired as a result of it.

   But, he said, the Obama administration's use of the provision differed from the Trump administration's.

   "Our people worked in their field for a long time. Nobody would question their substance expertise on these issues," he said. "These were true professionals that fit more in the mold of what the provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act was designed to do, which is bring in people on an as-needed basis to help implement the Safe Drinking Water Act and other laws as well as you could."

   Kopocis also said, to his knowledge, the Obama EPA never "recategorized someone" under the Safe Drinking Water Act provision "simply so we could give them a raise."

   "If anyone got moved," he said, "it was to move into a new position where they had new responsibilities."

   https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/04/stories/1060078167
   

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6. Greens' Silence, Industry Ties Seen Aiding Waste-Office Pick

   Apr 4, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

   By Corbin Hiar

   When President Trump picked a scientist with deep ties to industry for a top public health post at U.S. EPA, fast and furious backlash from environmentalists helped sink Michael Dourson's bid for chemical safety chief.

   But in the month since Trump selected a DowDuPont Inc. lawyer for another key public health post at EPA, the same environmental groups that led the fight against Dourson have been curiously quiet on Peter Wright's nomination.

   Veterans of Capitol Hill and EPA say environmentalists' virtual silence on Wright — and the extensive political contributions DowDuPont has made to key senators — could make it easier for him to win confirmation as assistant administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.

   "He'll probably go through," predicted Rena Steinzor, a University of Maryland Carey School of Law professor, former congressional staffer and activist on regulatory issues.

   With the president's party also in control of the Senate, it will be difficult for Democrats and their environmentalist allies to block Wright — or any other nominee, according to Mathy Stanislaus, who led the solid waste program during the Obama administration.

   Peter Wright. Wright/LinkedIn

   "Clearly, if there is a unified position, you can slow things down or, in rare cases, stop a nomination," said Stanislaus, who is now a senior adviser to the World Economic Forum and a fellow at the World Resources Institute. "But out of all the nominations, you only have a few bullets."

   Environmentalists have already used a lot of ammunition against other potentially conflicted nominees, especially Dourson.

   The same evening the White House announced its doomed pick to lead the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, the Natural Resources Defense Council released a blog posthighlighting Dourson's work for chemical and tobacco companies.

   "God help us," NRDC concluded last July 17.

   The Environmental Defense Fund and Environmental Working Group came out against the former University of Cincinnati professor the following day. Between then and Sept. 13, 2017, EDF and EWG together put out more than a dozen blog posts, reports and press releases attacking Dourson's record.

   That was when in a USA Today story that Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, appears to have first publicly expressed concerns about the nominee. He spoke to the newspaper the day before a planned meeting with Dourson, after his confirmation hearing was set, and went on to lead the congressional opposition to him.

   But of the three green groups that opposed Dourson the earliest and loudest, only NRDC's website currently includes any specific mentions of Wright. And even then, the DowDuPont executive's nomination is only noted as part of a long "case for firing" EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

   That's despite the fact that Wright has worked to downplay the risk of certain chemicals and has many potential conflicts of interest — two common complaints that environmentalists had about Dourson.

   As recently as 2005, Wright argued that "there is meager evidence that exposure to dioxin at trace levels encountered in the environment has caused any observable harm."

   EPA disagrees about the risks posed by such combustion or production byproducts. The agency's website says "dioxins are highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones."

   If confirmed to lead EPA's solid waste office, he would also oversee nearly 200 toxic waste sites DowDuPont is responsible for cleaning up, including a heavily contaminated New Jersey Superfund site flagged by Pruitt for a quick cleanup (Greenwire, March 7).

   Former Capitol Hill staffers and EPA officials see two main reasons for green groups' differing responses to the similar nominees.

   "There is a kind of outrage fatigue that has been setting in," Steinzor said. "Pruitt is so terrible that it's hard to imagine that it could get any worse."

   Environmental groups are currently reacting to news that the EPA administrator lived in a lobbyist-owned Capitol Hill condo and gearing up to fight a floor vote planned for as soon as next week on Andrew Wheeler, the fossil fuel industry lobbyist picked to be his deputy.

   "The other thing is that Superfund has become an orphaned program, and that is a shame," added Steinzor, who worked for former Rep. James Florio, the New Jersey Democrat responsible for creating the toxic waste cleanup effort. "In general, there is not a significant cadre of national environmentalists who have the time to pay attention to it."

   The Sierra Club, which began publicly opposing Dourson shortly before his confirmation hearing was set, appears to be the only major environmental organization to have already come out strongly against Wright. The group specifically cited his work on Superfund sites.

   "Like so many of Trump's nominees and appointees, Wright is not fit to serve in any capacity other than as a hired hand for polluting industries," Liz Perera, Sierra Club's public health policy director, said in a March 5 press release. "The Senate should oppose this toxic nomination so that the health of the American people is not sacrificed to the Trump Administration's shameless pandering to the most dangerous industries in the country."

   Stanislaus said Democrats and environmentalists will try to use Wright's appearance before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to get "specific commitments" from him instead of trying to marshal votes against the nominee. For example, Obama's solid waste chief expects senators to ask Wright to weigh in on EPA's move to delay a chemical plant safety rule from taking effect (Greenwire, Aug. 31, 2017).

   Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Carper haven't yet settled on a date for Wright's vetting.

   The environmental groups didn't respond to questions about why they have been so quiet on Wright. But NRDC and EDF told E&E News they were both still reviewing his nomination.

   EWG, on the other hand, indicated that it plans to oppose him.

   "If Peter Wright is confirmed, he'll join Administrator Pruitt and the other polluter apologists now in charge at EPA," Alex Formuzis, EWG's senior vice president for communications, said in a statement. "In Wright's nomination, President Trump once again shows he is incapable of choosing candidates who have demonstrated even a drop of commitment to public health and environmental protection in their careers."DowDuPont's contributions

   Wright's opponents will have to counter years of goodwill that DowDuPont and its predecessor companies have worked to build up with senators.

   The chemical-producing giant, formed last year by the merger of Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co., has already contributed over $156,000 to 60 senators in the 2018 election cycle.

   The top recipients are Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who has gotten nearly $48,000 from the company's political action committees, its employees or their immediate family members, and Carper, who has raked in almost $10,000. Their states are home to the dual headquarters of DowDuPont.

   Barrasso, who will lead Wright's confirmation hearing, has received at least $7,000 from PACs or people associated with DowDuPont. That's more than any other Senate Republican, according to campaign finance disclosures analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group.

   In the decade before the November 2016 elections, affiliates of Dow and DuPont gave a combined total of more than $6.8 million to congressional candidates, the center found.

   That record of DowDuPont support is unlikely to secure any senator's vote on Wright, "but it can't hurt," said Sarah Byner, the watchdog's research director.

   "Members of Congress get money from hundreds and hundreds of different private industries, PACs and wealthy donors," she said. "If they were to be 100 percent responsive to all of those donations, we'd never have anything pass because they'd all be countering each other. So I think that it is one factor among many."

   At the same time, Wright's decades of work for the chemical industry are still cause for concern to Byner. Wright also spent seven years as an environmental attorney at pesticide maker Monsanto Co.

   "The nomination process is a place where money could be corrupting," she said. "But the much bigger issue to me is the fact that DowDuPont is involved in a lot of Superfund activities and he works for them and would be regulating them."

   A Carper spokeswoman said the senator has already helped prevent the confirmation of several "extreme and industry-backed" Trump picks and claimed that the Delaware Democrat's connections to DowDuPont won't affect his evaluation of Wright.

   "The idea that anything other than a nominee's qualifications would influence his stance is completely absurd," the spokeswoman said in an email. "Senator Carper has also been clear that every nominee is entitled to a full and fair hearing, and he looks forward to meeting with and learning more about Mr. Wright once Chairman Barrasso schedules a hearing on his nomination."

   Barrasso's office confirmed the nominee's confirmation hearing date is still up in the air but didn't respond to questions about the potential influence of DowDuPont on the chairman's support for Wright. Stabenow's office and EPA also didn't respond to requests for comment on the solid waste nominee.

   When Wright's pick was announced, Pruitt said "he has the expertise and experience necessary to implement our ambitious goals for cleaning up the nation's contaminated lands quickly and thoroughly."

   https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/04/stories/1060078111
   

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LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.

Chemical Management News

7. (ACC Mentioned) South America Sees Chemical Regulations Moving Forward

   Apr 4, 2018 | Chemical Watch

   By Julie A. Miller

   Brazil, Colombia and Chile are on their way to adopting chemical regulation regimes, according to Daniel Rios of the Brazilian chemical industry association, Abiquim.

   And, speaking at the recent American Chemistry Council (ACC) GlobalChem conference, Mr Rios, who is co-chair of Abiquim's Latin America Regulatory Cooperation Forum, added that Argentina and Ecuador are also beginning the process.

   Growing interest in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has spurred consideration of chemical management in South America, Jay West, senior director of chemical products and technology at the ACC, told the conference in Washington, DC.

   Chile joined in 2010 and Colombia started the process of acceptance in 2013. Brazil and Argentina have "expressed interest", Mr West said, and Argentina is likely to be asked to join soon. OECD members are required to adhere to the organisation's policies, including some that affect chemical management.

   "Strong interest of multiple South American countries in OECD membership will significantly alter chemicals policy on the continent," Mr West said.GHS

   Several South American countries – including Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay – have implemented the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of classification and labelling of chemicals, based on the UN Purple Book, Mr Rios said.

   Colombia completed a public consultation on its draft GHS implementation regulation in February. However, Chile is in the process of implementing a labelling standard that will probably be based on the EU's Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation, Mr Rios said.  Brazil

   Brazil has made the most progress on chemical regulation, he said. The Brazilian environment ministry published proposed regulations and conducted a consultation in 2016. The National Chemical Safety Commission (Conasq) has held meetings to discuss stakeholder comments and will propose a final draft to be sent to the country's Congress. The proposed regulations will address prioritisation and risk assessment and establish a national chemicals inventory.

   Mr Rios said Brazil's plan is substantially modelled on concepts from Canada's Environmental Protection Act (Cepa) and Chemical Management Plan (CMP). Brazilian officials are, he said, consulting with their Canadian counterparts to make use of data and allow joint submissions for new chemicals. One of the hottest topics, Mr Rios added, is which sectors will be exempt from registration.Colombia

   Colombia proposed chemical framework regulations last year and plans to launch a chemical inventory in 2019. According to Mr Rios, the country anticipates requiring industry to conduct risk assessment only for new substances. It is not yet clear what imported chemicals will be subject to reporting requirements. Key issues currently under debate include the minimum production/importation threshold for inventory reporting and criteria for prioritisation of chemicals for risk assessment.Chile

   Chile published draft regulations last November that would establish classification criteria and procedures as well as labelling and notification requirements. Mr Rios said this draft was inconsistent with an industrial chemical management programme and national policy on chemical safety, published earlier in 2017. He expects the draft to undergo significant revision as the government considers stakeholder comments from the public consultation that ended in January.

   Chile intends to launch a chemical inventory in 2019. "I think it's very ambitious and I am not sure that they can make it," Mr Rios said.Other countries

   Mr Rios said Argentina's environment ministry will hold its first consultation workshop on chemical management this month. He said the country had adopted the GHS without aligning it with pre-existing local standards for safety data sheets and labelling.

   And Ecuador started work last year on a new national environmental code that is to include a chemicals management plan.

   https://chemicalwatch.com//65600/south-america-sees-chemical-regulations-moving-forward?q=%22american+chemistry+council%22
   

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8. Scott Pruitt Has Literally Made Washington – and America – More Toxic

   Apr 4, 2018 | Environmental Working Group

   By Scott Faber

   Mired in multiple scandals of his own making, Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt attempted to shift the blame to “toxic” Washington yesterday.

   Irony, thy name is Scott Pruitt.

   The fact is, no EPA administrator in history has done as much to weaken public health protections from toxic chemicals.

   While Pruitt’s sweetheart lease and corrupt use of taxpayer funds are reason enough to demand his resignation, it’s his pay-to-play efforts on behalf of chemical and pesticide companies that should alarm every American.

   Chemical and pesticide companies who donated to President Trump’s campaign and Republicans in Congress have certainly gotten their money’s worth. Pruitt has reversed or indefinitely postponed chemical bans, rubber-stamped new chemicals, cooked the books when assessing older chemicals, postponed chemical safety rules to protect farm and factory workers, and appointed chemical safety officials who have spent decades defending chemicals for polluters.

   Under Pruitt’s leadership, the EPA has:Reversed chemical bans. Pruitt reversed a proposed ban of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that can permanently harm kids’ brains, not long after receiving a $1 million donation from the CEO of Dow Chemical, its manufacturer. Pruitt also indefinitely delayed proposed bans on methylene chloride, a toxic chemical in paint strippers that has killed at least 50 people in recent decades, and TCE, a known carcinogen that poses special risks to pregnant women. He also postponed a decision on whether to ban NMP, a developmental toxin used in paint and coating strippers.Rubber-stamped new, untested chemicals. At the request of chemical companies, Pruitt has allowed dozens of new chemicals into commerce without adequate safety reviews, violating the nation’s new chemical safety law. What’s more, he has decided to hide any concerns EPA scientists might have with new chemicals from the public.Cooked the books. Under pressure from the chemical industry, Pruitt violated the new chemical safety law by using junk science to review old chemicals that have been linked to cancer and reproductive problems. For example, Pruitt’s EPA has excluded many uses from the agency’s review of cancer-causing substances like asbestos and 1,4-dioxane, and changed agency rules to give less weight to the unique impacts of toxic chemicals on children and other vulnerable groups.Undermined worker safety. Pruitt delayed a rule designed to prevent catastrophic accidents at chemical manufacturing plants until at least 2019. Just months after Pruitt’s decision, flooding from Hurricane Harvey caused an explosion at a Texas chemical plant. Pruitt also delayed implementation of new protections from toxic pesticides for farmworkers, and recently announced plans to revise – read: weaken – farmworker safety standards in 2018.Put industry lobbyists and lawyers in charge. Pruitt’s nominees and appointees to oversee chemical safety include a long-time chemical industry lobbyist. He’s also purged the EPA’s science advisory panels of contrary voices, and put his personal banker – who has been banned from banking for life – in charge of Superfund cleanups.Cut funding for the EPA. Pruitt’s budgets have proposed deep cuts to the EPA, undermining the agency’s efforts to review the safety of chemicals in consumer products.Hidden chemical risks. As EWG has documented again and again, the chemical industry has abused so-called trade secret claims to keep safety information from the public. Now, in violation of the new chemical safety law, Pruitt is again proposing to let industry hide risks about chemicals and their uses.Ignored pesticide risks. Contradicting international experts, Pruitt’s EPA has claimed the pesticide glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer, granted "emergency” approvals of toxic pesticides and delayed a review of the impacts of three organophosphate pesticides on endangered species.

   https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/04/scott-pruitt-has-literally-made-washington-and-america-more-toxic#.WsT51YNubIU
   

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9. Blood Levels of Toxic Fire Retardants Declining in Kids

   Apr 4, 2018 | HealthDay

   By Robert Preidt

   Blood levels of a flame retardant have fallen in American children since use of the chemicals was banned in consumer products, a new study finds.

   Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were once widely used in household items, such as couches, mattresses, carpet padding and other upholstered items.

   In 2004, pentaBDE -- a specific mixture of PBDEs -- began to be phased out from these items due to concerns about possible health effects.

   In this study, researchers took blood samples from 334 children in New York City at birth and at ages 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 years, to check for BDE-47, the most-often detected component of pentaBDE in humans.

   Levels of BDE-47 in the children fell about 5 percent a year between 1998 and 2013. When blood samples collected at birth weren't included, the researchers found that levels of BDE-47 fell 13 percent a year between 2000 and 2013.

   Children who were 2 or 3 years old before the phase-out in 2004-2005 had significantly higher levels of BDE-47 in their blood than did children at those ages after the phase-out, according to the study authors.

   Before and after the phase-out, children had higher blood levels of BDE-47 at ages 2 and 3 than at any other age. That's possibly because they spend more time on the floor and have more contact with PBDE-containing dust at this age, the study authors suggested.

   But even though blood levels of these chemicals in children are falling, they were found in every child tested, the findings showed.

   "These findings suggest that while pentaBDE levels have been decreasing since the phase-out, they continue to be detected in the blood of young children nearly 10 years following their removal from U.S. commerce," said study first author Whitney Cowell.

   Cowell is a pediatric environmental health research fellow at Mount Sinai in New York City. She is a former doctoral student at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, where the study was done.

   Previously, researchers at the center linked PBDE exposure with attention deficits and lower scores on tests of mental and physical development in children, they noted in a Columbia University news release.

   According to study senior author Julie Herbstman, "These findings reinforce the decision to phase-out PBDEs from consumer products."

   However, Herbstman, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia, added that "it's important to remain vigilant. Since the phase-out of PBDEs, we have begun to detect other flame-retardant chemicals in children, which are likely being used as replacements."

   The study was published April 4 in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

   https://consumer.healthday.com/environmental-health-information-12/chemical-health-news-730/blood-levels-of-toxic-fire-retardants-declining-in-kids-732593.html
   

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10. 1st Circuit Scraps Order For Settlement Talks In CWA Nutrient Permit Case

    Apr 4, 2018 | Inside EPA

    By David LaRoss

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit has scrapped its order for new settlement talks in a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit challenge that tests EPA's authority to set stringent nutrient limits in wastewater discharge permits, holding that the order for a fresh round of negotiations was “improvidently granted” a day before oral argument.

    In an April 4 order, 1st Circuit Judge Juan R. Torruella -- the same judge who the previous evening agreed to the city of Taunton, MA's request to send City of Taunton v. EPA into a mediated settlement program following oral argument -- says that the possibility of mediated settlement talks will instead be part of the oral argument session that is taking place the morning of April 4.

    “The order of April 3, 2018, dealing with the motion filed by the City of Taunton, is hereby withdrawn as improvidently granted. The motion will be discussed at oral argument today,” Torruella's new order says.

    Taunton's suit is part of a long-running battle over EPA's discretion to set stringent nutrient limits in CWA National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. The city says federal regulators failed to show a need to reduce nitrogen releases from its wastewater treatment plant, and that in general EPA faces a high bar to prove when tightened permit limits are necessary to protect water quality.

    However, EPA has countered that Taunton's arguments are at odds with the text of the CWA and the agency's long-standing permit regulations that allow for restrictions on any discharge that “will cause, have the reasonable potential to cause, or contribute to an excursion above any State water quality standard.”

    A settlement in the case could avert any decision on the legal threshold for justifying NPDES permits, and instead focus on what Taunton described in its March 30 motion for a referral to the appellate mediation program as “new federally-funded data and studies demonstrating that key scientific, regulatory and factual conclusions underlying the Taunton NPDES permit action were misplaced.”

    But so far EPA has opposed new settlement talks; in a response to the city it argued that the data Taunton is touting is not novel and does not prove its claim that a more stringent NPDES permit for the city is unjustified. It also said that settlement talks early in the dispute proved unproductive and that it expects any further effort to be futile.

    “Rather than a genuine effort to seek a mediated solution of the parties’ substantive disagreements over the final permit -- something EPA already attempted when this action was first filed but realized after discussions with the City that settlement was not possible -- the City’s request seeks to forestall judicial review of a final permit decision that has already been subject to years of public process, comment and scrutiny,” EPA's response said.

    https://insideepa.com/daily-news/1st-circuit-scraps-order-settlement-talks-cwa-nutrient-permit-case
    

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11. EU Notifies WTO of Proposed Phthalates Restriction in Toys

    Apr 4, 2018 | Chemical Watch

    The European Commission has notified the WTO of a draft Regulation, amending REACH Annex XVII to restrict the use of four phthalates in toys.

    The amendment would specifically prohibit the use of diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), as a substance or in a mixture, in a concentration equal to or greater than 0.1% by weight of the plasticised material in toys and childcare articles.

    It will also prohibit the placing on the market of DEHP, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP) and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) in any plasticised material in an article, in a concentration equal to or greater than 0.1% by weight.

    Some derogations are provided.

    The objective is to reduce exposure of the phthalates present in articles via direct and prolonged dermal contact, direct contact with mucosa membranes, ingestion or inhalation.

    The proposed date of adoption is the second half of this year, while the proposed date of entry into force is 20 days from its publication in the EU’s Official Journal. The restriction would apply 18 months after its entry into force.

    The final date for comments to the WTO is 60 days from the notification.

    https://chemicalwatch.com/65673/eu-notifies-wto-of-proposed-phthalates-restriction-in-toys
    

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Energy News

12. (ACC Mentioned) The Energy 202: Environmentalists, Ethics Experts Question Scott Pruitt's Unusual Hiring Practice

    Apr 4, 2018 | The Washington Post

    By Dino Grandoni

    Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt hired at least two ex-lobbyists and several other aides for noncritical positions through an obscure provision in a water-safety law.

    The unusual hires are raising questions about whether the embattled Cabinet official is circumventing President Trump’s ethics directives or using his emergency hiring authority as intended.

    The 1977 provision to the Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes the EPA to hire up to 30 people without the approval of the Senate or the White House. The power, granted directly to the EPA administrator, was originally designed to let the agency quickly hire senior management and scientific personnel during times of critical need. 

    But Pruitt appears to have used his hiring power differently, as I reported on Tuesday. He relied on the provision to bring in former lobbyists along with young spokesmen and schedulers, including: Lee Forsgren, formerly an attorney for the lobbying firm HBW Resources, to be deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Water — an office that has jurisdiction over oil spills, among other things. In 2013, the Consumer Energy Alliance, an advocacy organization managed by HBW Resources, issued an economic analysis finding that the Keystone XL pipeline would generate $580.2 million in direct spending over two years in Nebraska.Nancy Beck, formerly an executive at the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry lobby shop. As a deputy at the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Beck has pushed for revising a number of chemical-safety rules, according to the New York Times.Michelle Hale and Lincoln Ferguson — two other people who worked for Pruitt when he was Oklahoma attorney general. Hale is one of Pruitt’s executive assistants while Ferguson is an EPA spokesman.At least two other agency press officers, James Hewitt and Jahan Wilcox.

    The 1977 law was originally designed to allow the EPA chief to quickly bring aboard staff to fill “the most critical needs for additional personnel,” as the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce put it in a report that year. Similarly, then-Sen. Jennings Randolph (D-W.Va.), once the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a 1977 floor speech that “the provision was intended to augment the Agency’s cadre of senior management and scientific personnel.”

    Pruitt’s use of the little-known provision to the main federal law protecting public drinking water is in the spotlight after he also used it to grant significant raises to two EPA young staffers despite the lack of a White House approval.

    After the White House refused to boost the two women’s pay, Pruitt reappointed both staff members, senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt and director of scheduling and advance Millan Hupp, under his authority in the act, the Atlantic and The Post reported on Tuesday. The maneuver allowed Pruitt to set salary levels himself. 

    Wilcox, the EPA spokesman, said that Pruitt “was not aware that these personnel actions had not been submitted to the [White House’s] Presidential Personnel Office. So, the Administrator has directed that they be submitted to the Presidential Personnel Office for review.”

    The EPA defended its hires and use of the law. “The Safe Drinking Water Act provides the EPA with broad authority to appoint scientific, engineering, professional, legal, and administrative positions within EPA without regard to the civil service laws,” Wilcox said. “This is clear authority that has been relied on by previous administrations.”

    However, the hires appear to get around some of Trump's own ethics rules. As part of his commitment to “drain the swamp” in Washington, one of the first things Trump signed after his inauguration was a far-reaching ethics directive to require those who join the government to sign an ethics pledge. Under the pledge, former lobbyists are banned for two years from working on any issue on which they lobbied.

    But EPA employees hired through the water-safety law do not have to sign the ethics pledge.

    Pruitt’s use of the law led environmentalists, ethics experts and one former Obama administration official to question whether Pruitt is using his authority properly: 

    — “I think it looks terrible, whether it’s legal or not,” said Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor and former chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush who has been critical of the Trump administration. What’s more, Painter said, “if he’s bringing in schedulers or spokespeople, it seems that he is not acting consistent with the intent of Congress.”

    — “The people I knew of in that category were well-seasoned, experienced professionals in their fields,” said Ken Kopocis, who headed the Office of Water from 2011 to 2015. “We did not use it as a way to get around the White House. … It’s not designed to fill up your political slots.” Kopocis added he was unaware of the drinking-water law being used to give any employee a raise.

    — "It's clearly not to give raises to current staff or skirt ethics rules," said Erik Olson, director of health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, who noted the provision was put in place to attract top scientific talent in times of need with higher salaries unbound by the regular hiring process. 

    In September, the Government Accountability Office opened a probe into whether the EPA was circumventing the Trump administration’s own ethics rules when hiring through the drinking-water law. In January, the EPA’s inspector general announced it would audit Pruitt’s hiring practices as well.

    Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis contributed to this report.You are reading The Energy 202, our must-read tipsheet on energy and the environment.Not a regular subscriber?
    SIGN UP NOWPOWER PLAYS 0:30Trump on Pruitt: 'I hope he's going to be great'

    When asked about embattled EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, President Trump reiterated his support for Pruitt on April 3. (The Washington Post)

    — Meanwhile, Pruitt's troubles in Washington are still gathering steam. Even as Trump signaled support for the EPA chief on Tuesday, there continues to be a drip, drip, drip of reports following the revelations surrounding the $50-a-night condo he rented last year.

    There are mixed messages from the top: Trump called Pruitt on Monday to suggest his job was safe as the scrutiny piles up, telling the administrator to “keep your head up” and “keep fighting” because “we’ve got your back,” Bloomberg reported. White House Chief of staff John Kelly reiterated that message in a Tuesday morning call. That contrasts with an earlier report Monday from Politico that suggested Kelly has been considering firing Pruitt. 

    In public, Trump offered tepid support when asked about Pruitt during a meeting with leaders from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Tuesday.“I hope he’s going to be great,” Trump told reporters.

    Reminder: In December, Trump tweeted that the "media has been speculating that I fired Rex Tillerson or that he would be leaving soon - FAKE NEWS!" By March, Trump fired the secretary of state.Rep. Carlos Curbelo✔@RepCurbelo

    Major policy differences aside, @EPAScottPruitt‘s corruption scandals are an embarrassment to the Administration, and his conduct is grossly disrespectful to American taxpayers. It's time for him to resign or for @POTUS to dismiss him. https://twitter.com/jtsantucci/status/980963422534848512 …7:54 PM - Apr 3, 20185,0662,796 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy

    — At least two Republicans lawmakers are calling for the president to oust Pruitt: Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), who co-chairs the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, tweeted yesterday saying “it’s time” for Pruitt to resign or be fired. His colleague Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) echoed the call. "When scandals and distractions overtake a public servant’s ability to function effectively, another person should fill that role," she told CNN.

    Another lawmaker, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), also ripped into Pruitt. “This is just corrupt," she told The Post. "I have a salary. I pay for a place to stay. And it would be a sweetheart deal if I only had to pay my mortgage on the days I’m there." Not only is she the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, McCollum happened to live downstairs from Pruitt when he was renting his $50-per-night Capitol Hill condo.

    Another Democrat, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, also called for Pruitt’s firing or resignation. “Pruitt has embarrassed himself at the EPA and proven he is incapable of leading the agency," said Connolly, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, per CQ. 

    — Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday called for an investigation into Pruitt’s rental deal. Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) wrote a letter to the agency’s internal watchdog to look into Pruitt’s lease. "The unusual, short-term sweetheart deal that Administrator Pruitt received from Mr. and Mrs. Hart was not just far below market rate, the terms were so skewed in Pruitt's favor that such a lease doesn't even exist on the market for an ordinary citizen," they wrote.

    —The prominent fossil-fuel lobbyist and his wife, who is a health care lobbyist, had donated to Pruitt’s campaign for Oklahoma attorney general even before the EPA administrator rented their Capitol Hill condo. The Daily Beast reports Steven and Vicki Hart donated to Pruitt’s campaigns in 2010 and hosted a fundraiser for his reelection effort.

    Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, center, winks at National Automobile Dealers Association president and CEO Peter Welch, right, as he takes the podium to speak at a news conference at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington on Tuesday on his decision to scrap Obama administration fuel standards. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

    — As the reports swirled, Pruitt officially announced a rollback of Obama-era fuel efficiency rules for cars. "This is another step in the President's regulatory agenda, de-regulatory agenda ... a billion dollars in savings with respect to over 22 significant regulatory actions that we've been involved in here at the agency," he said at EPA headquarters. The New York Times’s Coral Davenport writes “it should have been Scott Pruitt’s finest moment... but instead of basking in glory, Mr. Pruitt is caught up in a swirl of allegations of impropriety."

    — At EPA HQ, Pruitt tried to avoid tough questions. “EPA had attempted to allow television camera access to Fox News without informing the other four networks: CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS. Fox alerted the networks and a pool was established allowing networks equal access to the event,” CNN reported.

    —The scene at the White House: Officials told CNN there is a “sense of déjà vu inside the West Wing as they grapple with a raft of new allegations against Pruitt…aides are scrambling to sort out what is real and what isn't; they are demanding answers from Pruitt and the EPA; and they're bracing for Trump's inevitable fury at the negative headlines.”THERMOMETER

    Susan Combs leaves a meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 30, 2016, at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

    — A fierce opponent of the Endangered Species Act is picked to oversee wildlife policy: The Post's Darryl Fears has the rundown on Susan Combs, who was selected by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke as acting secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. "Combs is a rancher and former Texas comptroller with strong ties to the oil industry whose politics align with efforts to weaken the law," Fears writes. "As comptroller, she fought the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service repeatedly over its attempts to enforce the Endangered Species Act in the state. In a 2015 report, the Austin American-Statesman showed how Combs worked to remove endangered protections for a native state songbird, the golden-cheeked warbler, claiming that its listing hurt military readiness. Following a successful bid to keep a tiny lizard off the endangered list in 2012, Combs hailed the decision as a victory for state jobs and the national energy economy."

    A docked boat is reflected in the algae-covered water of Lake Erie's Maumee Bay in Oregon, Ohio last year. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

    — A great amount of a greenhouse gas from the Great Lakes: New research has found that the harmful algal blooms that colonize the Great Lakes and on other lakes nationwide emit far more methane than previously thought. “All told, they found, methane from the world’s lakes emits methane equivalent in greenhouse effect to about 20 percent of all the carbon dioxide from fossil fuels burned globally—about twice the level of previous assumptions. And they directly tied these emissions to algae blooms,” Mother Jones reports.Martin Luther King said segregation harms us all. Environmental research shows he was right.Both minorities and whites who live in racially divided communities are exposed to higher levels of pollution than those who live in more integrated areas.The New York TimesOIL CHECK

    — “This is not something Russia wanted:” Trump suggested Russia is not happy with the nation's growth in energy exports as he declared that “nobody has been tougher on Russia" than him. “We're now exporting oil and gas. This is not something that Russia wanted,” he told reporters.

    This 2003 file photo shows the sun beginning to set behind FirstEnergy Corp. power plant in Eastlake, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jamie-Andrea Yanak, File)

    — A “test case” for Trump on coal: Critics are urging the Trump administration against bailing out bankrupt FirstEnergy after the company called on the Energy Department last week to use emergency powers to keep four nuclear reactors and several coal plants open, The Post’s Steven Mufson reports. But environmental organizations, former regulators, rival utility executives and consumer groups are urging against doing so, saying it would “undermine the free market competition that has helped consumers keep low rates.”

    Zooming out: Jack Tracy, head of legal analysis at New York research firm Debtwire, told The Post that Trump “seems to have a soft spot for coal and this will be a test case for whether Trump policies are having an effect on the coal industry and bringing it back.”

    — EPA grants waiver to major refiner: The EPA exempted Andeavor, one of the country’s largest oil refining companies, from complying with U.S. biofuel regulations. “The exemption, which applies to the three smallest of Andeavor’s ten refineries, marks the first evidence of the EPA freeing a highly profitable multi-billion dollar company from the costly mandates of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard,” Reuters reports. The decision raises the question of whether other oil firms with small refineries will get their own waivers.

    Topping off the tank seems to make people thirsty. (Ben Margot/AP)

    — How would an electric car boom harm the beverage industry? Think about all your impulse soda purchases at gas station convenience stores. If electric car drivers don’t need to stop to fill their tanks, Morgan Stanley analysts predict beverage sales could take a hit, The Post’s Rachel Siegel reports. “But experts on the convenience store industry say any substantial threat from electric cars is still decades away,” Siegel adds.

    A Tesla Model 3 is seen in a showroom in Los Angeles on Jan. 12. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

    — Tesla misses Model 3 production goal (again): "After what might have been the worst week in the automaker’s history, the company announced Tuesday that it had fallen far short of its first-quarter production goals for its mass-market Model 3 sedan," The Post's Peter Holley writes. "Tesla has produced nearly 10,000 of the mass-market sedans since the beginning of the year, “a fourfold increase over last quarter,” the company said. Chief executive Elon Musk had offered assurances that Tesla would be rolling out 2,500 Model 3s a week by the end of March."DAYBOOK

    TodayThe Global America Business Institute holds a forum on national security implications of U.S. commercial nuclear industry.Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy holds a discussion on digital technologies and energy.The Environmental and Energy Study Institute and Agricultural Energy Coalition holds a briefing on the farm bill’s energy title.

    Coming Up

    The Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment forum on women on energy and environment boards is on Thursday.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting with advisory committee on reactor safeguards will be on Thursday.The National Capital Region Water Resources Symposium will be held on Friday.The Stimson Center and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences holds a seminar on nuclear waste solutions on Friday.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/04/04/the-energy-202-environmentalists-ethics-experts-question-scott-pruitt-s-unusual-hiring-practice/5ac3e5d330fb0478f2925189/?utm_term=.824e70c7f2b3
    

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13. Oil Falls as China Retaliates Against U.S. With Plans for Tariffs on American Goods—Energy Journal

    Apr 4, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal

    By Neandra Salvaterra

    TRADE TENSIONS WEIGH ON CRUDE PRICES

    In an escalating tit-for-tat, China responded to the Trump administration’s latest proposed penalties on Chinese goods by announcing 25% tariffs on several major American exports.

    Beijing’s move yanked down oil prices along with other risk assets on Wednesday morning.

    Brent crude, the global benchmark, was down 1.67% at $66.98 a barrel on London’s Intercontinental Exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading down 1.81% at $62.36 a barrel.

    Chinese officials said their tariffs will cover 106 types of products and will affect $50 billion of Chinese imports of U.S. products. It is unclear when the proposed duties will take effect, if ever, as the countries could enter a period of negotiations.

    MARITIME REGULATOR SEEKS TO OVERCOME DEEP DIVISIONS ON SHIPPING EMISSIONS

    Shipping emission targets are sowing divisions among operators, as the world’s top maritime regulator seeks to lay out a plan for cleaner fuel standards, writes The Wall Street Journal’s Costas Paris. The International Maritime Organization is holding meetings in London this week to cut carbon emissions across the shipping industry. Many developing countries are worried that strict emission standards will hurt their economies.

    BIG OIL FIRMS CONTINUE TEPID RESPONSE TO U.S. OFFSHORE ASSET SALE

    Energy firms have showed modest interest in the sale of U.S. offshore assets, despite an announcement by the Trump administration of a successful auction in the Gulf of Mexico last month, Reuters reports.

    WHY TRUMP WON’T TOUCH MOONSHINE

    The bankruptcy of the East Coast’s biggest oil refiner has raised questions about whether President Donald Trump will intervene in the politically charged market for ethanol, writes Spencer Jakab for Heard on the Street.

    Earlier in the year Philadelphia Energy Solutions filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and blamed the setback on the steep cost of complying with a federal environmental regulation.

    The firm was forced to file in large part because of the onerous payouts it had to make to comply with the Renewable Fuel Standard, the rules that mandate the use of ethanol in gasoline.

    Those rules, which took their current form in 2007 under the George W. Bush administration, act as a gigantic subsidy for the Farm Belt and agribusiness companies that turn crops into motor fuel.

    Refiners such as Philadelphia Energy that can’t meet the ethanol standards have to pay others who can create the desired blend.

    Mr. Trump, who is warmly disposed towards both corn farmers and oil refiners, had made noises as recently as early March about fixing the system that put Philadelphia Energy out of business.

    But any solution that adversely affects farmers could be political suicide for Mr. Trump or any politician interested in getting votes in Iowa, the first stop to the White House, Mr. Jakab writes.

    FUTURECURVE

    Today: The U.S. Energy Information Administration releases U.S. production figures

    April 18–19: IQPC hosts the Oil & Fuel Theft Summit in Geneva. Speakers include Mahmoud Al-Bayati, the director general for counter-terrorism for Iraq, William J. Waggoner, the chief executive officer for the Mexico Petroleum Company and Daniel Gianfalla, a member of the national maritime security advisory committee at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

     https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2018/04/04/energy-journal-oil-falls-as-china-retaliates-against-u-s-with-plans-for-tariffs-on-american-goods/

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14. Colorado Lawmakers Pass Bill to Support Orphan Well Cleanup

    Apr 4, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence

    By Richard Nemec

    A bill to save and direct excess environmental-related state funds for the long-term mitigation of abandoned oil and natural gas wells has passed the Colorado legislature and is awaiting action by Gov. John Hickenlooper. The measure becomes law immediately when signed by the governor, which he is expected to do.

    "We'll review the final version, but barring any unforeseen changes it's anticipated that he'll sign it," the governor's spokesperson told NGI’s Shale Daily on Tuesday.

    House Bill (HB) 18-1098 focuses on an ongoing account for addressing adverse impacts from oil and gas activities in the state that is administered by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC). HB 18-1098 mandates that any excess funds in the account at the end of each fiscal year be kept in place and not diverted to the broader fund.

    "In recent history, the orphan well line item within the Environmental Response Fund has been $445,000 annually, but there are larger projects that will require larger amounts," said a spokesperson for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA), which supported the legislation.

    The new law gives COGCC "the flexibility to roll over funds from one year to the next [in the specific account] and plan its budget to properly reclaim those sites for which it has responsibility."

    At the end of the last full fiscal year (2016-17), the environmental response account accumulated $1.3 million and the larger overriding Oil and Gas Conservation and Environmental Response Fund had an overall unspent balance of $6.9 million, according to a Colorado Legislative Council fiscal analysis.

    Under existing practice, the COGCC retains the balance of the resource account without transferring it to the larger overall fund, the council staff report noted. "Since this bill merely codifies current practice, the bill is assessed as having no fiscal impact."

    This bill could be the only measure related to oil and gas to make it through the state Assembly this session, which began Jan. 10 and is slated to conclude by May 9.

    Separately, COGCC most recently has dealt with flowline issues from inactive wells, and two years ago the agency ordered the closure of 40 troubled wells that changed hands during the start of the commodity price crash and went into a bankruptcy sale in western Colorado. They were declared a threat to public health. Taking a rarely used action, the COGCC determined that the wells were operating illegally in La Plata County, creating "an emergency situation.

    http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/113915-colorado-lawmakers-pass-bill-to-support-orphan-well-cleanup
    

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15. Dem Scrutinizes Pruitt’s Morocco Trip, Gas Industry Ties

    Apr 4, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire

    By Timothy Cama

    A Senate Democrat is probing a December trip that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt took to Morocco and the degree to which it was meant to benefit the natural gas industry.

    “Recent disclosures raise new questions about this trip, and potential future international trips, given your close ties to the oil and gas industry,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote.

    Citing calendars he obtained from the EPA, Whitehouse said in the letter he sent to Pruitt late Tuesday that he only had one briefing before the trip and it was conducted by political staff, not career staff in the agency’s international affairs office, which generally coordinates foreign trips.

    On the five-day trip that the EPA has said cost taxpayers around $40,000, Pruitt only worked one full day and had one-hour meetings the days before and after.

    The main purpose of Pruitt’s trip was to tout American liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, a purpose that Democrats say is not within the EPA’s mission.

    And in the time leading up to the Morocco trip, Pruitt met with numerous representatives of associations and companies with interests in LNG exports, including a Kinder Morgan meeting two days before the trip. That company is developing two LNG export terminals.

    “If these were the individuals who advised you about your trip before you departed, it would suggest the purpose had little to do with EPA's mission and more to do with interests from your time in Oklahoma,” wrote Whitehouse, a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

    Pruitt was Oklahoma's attorney general from 2011 until he joined the Trump administration, in February 2017. He frequently sued the Obama administration's EPA over its environmental policies.

    “We still do not know the full extent of your financial and political ties to the oil and gas industry, which would stand to benefit from the opening up of new markets for natural gas produced in the U.S.,” he said.

    Whitehouse asked for new details about the Morocco trip and whether Pruitt is planning trips to other countries to push LNG exports.

    The letter comes amid growing controversies involving Pruitt and pressure from Democrats and a pair of Republicans for him to step down or be fired. He rented a condo co-owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist for $50 for each day he slept there, frequently flew first class on the taxpayers’ dime and spent more than $43,000 on a soundproof booth for his office, among other controversies.

    Among Whitehouse's questions were whether his condo rental played any role in the trip. Pruitt’s landlord was Vicki Hart, whose husband, J. Steven Hart, leads the lobbying firm Williams and Jensen. That firm represents Cheniere Energy, which in December was the only company exporting LNG from the lower 48 states.

    Democrats and environmentalists have long argued that the Morocco trip was an unnecessary waste of taxpayer money, since LNG exports are not part of EPA’s responsibilities.

    “While your home state of Oklahoma is the third-largest producer of natural gas in the country, I don’t understand what the sale of natural gas has to do with the EPA’s mission,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) told Pruitt at a January hearing

    “Promotion of natural gas is the kind of thing that the secretary of Energy or perhaps someone running for governor of Oklahoma or some other elected office there, but not consistent with what the head of the EPA should be doing.”

    The EPA’s Office of Inspector General is investigating all of Pruitt’s official travel in 2017, including the Morocco trip.

    http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/381584-dem-scrutinizes-pruitts-morocco-trip-gas-industry-ties
    

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16. New Law Could Mean Lots of Unreported Oil Spills

    Apr 4, 2018 | Forum of Fargo-Moorhead (In E&E Greenwire)

    By Patrick Springer

    A new law in North Dakota could mean that the majority of oil spills go unreported, according to an analysis by The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.

    If the law had been implemented in 2013, 80 percent of oil spills and 68 percent of toxic saltwater spills in the five years that followed would have gone unreported, the analysis found.

    The law, which went into effect in August 2017, raises the threshold for reporting oil spills from 42 gallons to 420 gallons.

    Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said he's confident that the majority of spills are contained.

    "Industry's applying a lot of new technologies," Ness said. "I think you're seeing better construction, better analysis, better monitoring."

    But Nicole Donaghy, an organizer for the watchdog group Dakota Resource Council, expressed concern that not enough spills were being reported, heightening the risk of contamination. 

    https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/04/stories/1060078117
    

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Chemical Security News

17. Melted Pipes Tainted Calif. City's Taps After Wildfires

    Apr 4, 2018 | News Deeply (In E&E Greenwire)

    By Matt Weiser

    Wildfires last fall destroyed more than 5,600 structures and killed 23 people in Santa Rosa, Calif.

    Now chemicals have been detected in the city water supply, the result of plastic water pipes melting in the fire.

    The contaminant is the petrochemical benzene, which is found in plastic pipes.

    "We now know that the combustion, the burning, the melting of various plastic components in our distribution system gave off constituents that got into the water system," said Bennett Horenstein, Santa Rosa's director of water. "We're finding a very broad spectrum of chemicals that were released as the plastic burned, with benzene being the leading contaminant and the leading issue in terms of public health exposure."

    Plastic pipes have come under increased national scrutiny in recent years. As for Santa Rosa, the best-case scenario is a two-year, $40 million effort to replace the affected pipes. City officials hope federal funds could help the project. 

    https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/04/stories/1060078143
    

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18. Coolant from Power Cables Leaks Into Straits of Mackinac

    Apr 4, 2018 | AP (In E&E Greenwire)

    By John Flesher

    Underwater electricity cables leaked about 550 gallons of synthetic coolant into Michigan's Straits of Mackinac, officials said yesterday.

    American Transmission Co. LLC immediately shut down the cables and launched a cleanup effort, and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality urged nearby towns to monitor their drinking water.

    The mineral-based synthetic oil poses a "very low" risk to human health, said Lt. Rachel Wellman of the Coast Guard.

    But it can be highly toxic for at least one type of aquatic insect in the Great Lakes, said Joe Haas, district supervisor for the state DEQ.

    "This is obviously something we don't want in these public trust waters," Haas said.

    Crews with American Transmission and the Coast Guard tried to clean up the coolant using hoses and a vacuum after the leak was discovered Sunday.

    "We will continue to investigate the cause of the incident, determine any necessary remediation efforts and continue communicating with the appropriate regulatory agencies," said Mark Davis, chief operating officer with American Transmission.

    https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/04/stories/1060078141 

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Transportation and Infrastructure News

19. NS Multi-State Safety Train Tour Under Way

    Apr 4, 2018 | Railway Age

    By William C. Vantuono

    First responders in 23 cities from 15 states will benefit from free training with Norfolk Southern’s safety train during 2018, part of the railroad’s Operation Awareness & Response program, which provides first responders with training on how to safely respond to a potential rail incident.

    The safety train consists of a dedicated locomotive, two boxcars converted into classrooms, three tank cars used in transporting all types of chemicals, and two flat cars equipped with intermodal containers and multiple tank car valve arrangements that simulate leaks.

    The safety train tour kicked off April 3 in Hattiesburg, Miss., with three days of training at the NS rail yard. Additional stops on the 2018 tour include communities in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

    At each location, NS hazardous materials specialists lead a four-hour course that combines classroom instruction and hands-on training on a locomotive and railcars. Emergency personnel learn about railroad operations, basic safety precautions, initial-response procedures, types of rail equipment, and whom to contact in an emergency. Following completion of the course, qualified emergency responders can download AskRail™, a free mobile application that provides immediate information about railcars carrying hazardous materials should a rail incident occur.

    NS annually offers training to first responders in communities served by the railroad through programs such as TRANSCAER® (Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response), a national network that promotes the safe transportation and handling of hazardous materials. The OAR program builds on these efforts by providing additional training opportunities such as classroom seminars, web-based courses, on-line resources, table-top drills and full-scale exercises.

    “Our safety train is helping Norfolk Southern build and strengthen relationships with first responders across our network,” said System Manager Hazardous Materials David Schoendorfer. “We want them to be equipped with the tools and resources they need to safely do their jobs when responding to potential rail incidents. It’s all about helping our communities be prepared and safe.”

    The complete 2018 training schedule is available at the OAR website.

    https://www.railwayage.com/safety/ns-multi-state-safety-train-tour/
    

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Environment News

20. Meet the Climate Guy Working for Trump

    Apr 4, 2018 | E&E Climatewire

    By Robin Bravender and Niina Heikkinen

    The Trump administration is proudly axing U.S. EPA's high-profile climate rules, but climate adaptation work is quietly chugging along at the agency.

    The agency's adaptation work hasn't gotten much public attention since the Trump administration moved in. Administrator Scott Pruitt made it known that he wanted to steer the agency away from climate work, and the president himself has cast doubt on mainstream climate science.

    But EPA's climate adaptation efforts are continuing under Trump, even if they don't have the staffing and the prominence they had under the Obama administration. Some adaptation proponents are hopeful that the work can survive budget cuts, because it can appeal even to those who question humans' impact on climate change or costly policies to curb emissions.

    Leading the effort at EPA is Joel Scheraga, a career staffer for 31 years. He's a senior adviser for climate change adaptation in EPA's policy office and oversees a cross-agency working group on adaptation.

    "I think [adaptation] is an important middle ground, and I think that it's something that people all across the spectrum can understand and can support," Scheraga told E&E News yesterday in an interview.

    The fate of EPA's adaptation work appeared uncertain early last year.

    President Trump jettisoned an Obama-era governmentwide executive order on climate adaptation. At EPA, what had been a four-person climate adaptation team in the policy office was disbanded. Scheraga remained in the program, but his colleagues were reassigned (E&E News PM, April 7, 2017). The cross-EPA working group was on hold, waiting for a signal from leadership about its priorities.

    But the group — consisting of dozens of staffers from throughout agency programs — restarted early this year. "Once we got a clear signal that there was continuing and ongoing support for the work on adaptation, we immediately reconvened the work group," he said.

    Scheraga has the support of Samantha Dravis, who heads Pruitt's policy shop.

    "Samantha asked me explicitly, unequivocally to keep working on climate adaptation," he said.

    Dravis told E&E News in a statement: "Joel Scheraga's work on climate adaptation is an important component of the Office of Policy's work — in concert with our Office of Sustainable Communities and the Office of Environmental Justice. Dr. Scheraga has successfully led EPA's cross-agency work group on climate adaptation and I believe that it is important we consider adaptation as we proceed with a number of Administrator Pruitt's priorities."

    The administration also supports his top priority, the Climate Change Adaptation Resource Center (ARC-X), he said. The online tool is intended to help local governments find information about the risks posed by climate change, strategies to adapt and opportunities to get EPA funding.

    That tool is "a great example of how serious and supportive EPA is of our adaptation work," Scheraga said. "Samantha supported my budget request for the work that we want to do" — on ARC-X in particular, he said. The goal of ARC-X from the get-go was to help 40,000 communities across the country prepare for the impacts of climate change, he said. "The agency is continuing to support the enhancement of that system."

    Scheraga has remained largely behind the scenes under the current administration until last week, when an email he wrote to his colleagues was leaked to media outlets. In it, he highlighted talking points about climate adaptation that had been drafted by career employees in EPA's press office. His email was published by HuffPost.

    The talking points that had been drafted by the press shop made news because they emphasized uncertainties surrounding humans' role in climate change.

    But they also play up the importance of climate adaptation. The language was taken from responses submitted by Pruitt to questions from members of Congress, according to EPA.

    The talking points said that EPA would "continue to advance its climate adaptation efforts," that the agency "recognizes the challenges that communities face in adapting to a changing climate," and that EPA is working to help states and local governments prepare for and respond to extreme events (Climatewire, April 2).

    Because members of the work group had discussed how it would be helpful to have consistent messaging on climate adaptation, "we saw this as very helpful," Scheraga said.

    Scheraga received critical emails after he circulated the talking points. He said he had nothing to do with drafting the language.

    "I'm very passionate about environmental protection. I'm very passionate about the issue of climate adaptation in particular," he said. The blowback he's experienced after sending out an internal email "that was intended to be supportive of that mission ... has been very upsetting to me."'Important to be patient'

    Scheraga's own views appear to fall in line with mainstream climate science.

    "We now live in a world in which the Earth's climate is changing at an unprecedented rate, faster than anything society has had to adapt to in the past," Scheraga said in an April 2016 interviewwith Federal News Radio. "This changing climate is affecting the things we care about in our daily lives. My job, working with my colleagues at EPA, is to help people all across the country anticipate, prepare for and increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change."

    The longtime EPA staffer had not always planned for a career in public service. He received a doctorate in economics from Brown University and taught economics at Rutgers and Princeton universities before joining EPA. He once dreamed of becoming an astronaut. He credited his varying career path to his father's advice to pursue unexpected opportunities.

    Scheraga's former colleagues expect him to stay at the agency, at least for the time being.

    His past work on adaptation likely helped prepare him to work effectively within an administration that questions humans' role in climate change, said Joseph Goffman, a former senior EPA official who worked with Scheraga during the Obama administration. Goffman is now executive director of Harvard University's Environmental Law Program.

    "[Scheraga] had an uncanny ability to engage with a full spectrum of public officials," said Goffman. "He is honestly one of my favorite people."

    Scheraga has led agency climate adaptation efforts since 2010 and has been at EPA since 1987. He was on the team that produced President Obama's Climate Action Plan and was chairman of Obama's Cross-Agency Adaptation Workgroup for the Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience.

    He doesn't see adaptation as political.

    "It's very important to be patient, and communication is everything. It's not an 'us versus them,' it's really about working with people and sharing perspectives," he said.

    Adaptation advocates across the political spectrum agree.

    "What I think the folks that led the adaption program discovered is a great many people in local governments charged with investment were open to receiving information to the extent that environmental change was happening at a quicker pace than it happened in the past, so when they were planning in medium-term future, they had to take account of that," Goffman said.

    Oren Cass, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, said adaptation is an area "where there's an opportunity for the sides to work together and an area that just makes sense to pursue policies that are going to have a positive effect."

    "Even to the extent that if you have conservatives who are skeptical about some facets of climate science, one of the things about good adaptation policy is that it puts the incentives in place for people to figure these things out for themselves," Cass said.

    https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/04/04/stories/1060078093
    

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