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ACC PM 06/04/18

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) Will Trade Tussle Take a Bite Out of US Petrochemical Boom?
Apr 6, 2018 | Zacks.com
By Anindya Barman

The shale gas revolution in the United States has been a huge driving force behind chemical investments in plants and equipment in the country.
(ACC Mentioned) Global Markets are Bouncing Back as Concern Over Trump's Trade War Eases
Apr 6, 2018 | GkMen

China, by contrast, has unique tools to counteract US tariffs, according to analysts. Along with increasing regulations and bans from Google, the trade war threats have also been eroding crypto investor's sentiment.
EPA Chief’s Job Status | Trump’s New Trade Threat | Trump’s Beef With Amazon
Apr 6, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal
By Joshua Jamerson

Here’s your daily briefing on politics and power from Jerry Seib and the rest of the WSJ Washington bureau.
Ewire: Deepening Ethics Scandal, Report Says Pruitt Critics Demoted
Apr 6, 2018 | Inside EPA

At least five EPA officials who raised doubts over Administrator Scott Pruitt's travel and security spending were demoted, transferred or “told” to find other jobs, according to the New York Times, which also reports that EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson is considering quitting over those concerns – further deepening the ethics scandal engulfing Pruitt.
Trump Denies He is Considering Replacing Sessions With Pruitt
Apr 6, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Jordan Fabian, Timothy Cama, and Miranda Green

President Trump on Friday denied reports that he is considering replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt, whom he said is “doing a great job” leading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but "TOTALLY under siege."
'It Has Been a Breathtaking Week'
Apr 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus

Allegations of ethical missteps have piled up for U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt as he campaigned to keep his job this week.

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

Chemical Management News

A Bad Nudge From California
Apr 6, 2018 | Bloomberg View
By Cass R. Sunstein

Should coffee come with a cancer warning?
Heavy Metals in Food: Carrageenan as An Example of the Need to Improve Ingredient Quality
Apr 6, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Tom Neltner

In the fall of 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bought 10 samples of carrageenan from 5 companies sold through internet-only retailers to test for three heavy metals – lead, arsenic (total and inorganic), and cadmium.
Michigan Approves Ban on Antidepressant Tianeptine Sodium
Apr 6, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times, The Washington Post)

Michigan's governor has signed what's been described by state police as the nation's first statewide ban on the antidepressant tianeptine sodium.
Proposal to End REACH 'Phase-In Substances' Sparks Controversy
Apr 6, 2018 | Chemical Watch

A European Commission proposal for an implementing Regulation to set a 'cut-off date' for REACH phase-in substances could prompt legal challenges, according to a prominent Brussels-based lawyer.

Energy News

Apple Says Repeal of EPA Carbon Plan Would Threaten Investments
Apr 6, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York TImes)
By Timothy Gardner

Apple Inc said on Friday it opposes any repeal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the Clean Power Plan, which is a priority of the agency's Administrator Scott Pruitt and would reverse an Obama-era program to curb greenhouse gases.
California’s Hunt for Cleaner Air Smells Like Opportunity
Apr 6, 2018 | Bloomberg (In The Washington Post)
By Laura Blewitt

California’s push for cleaner air means extra cost for giant oil refiners and an opportunity for small companies using new technologies to help them pollute less.
USGS Records 2 Small Earthquakes in Northwest Oklahoma
Apr 6, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)

The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded two earthquakes in northwestern Oklahoma, the largest with a preliminary magnitude of 3.7.
LNG Shipments to U.K. Increase as U.S. Ramps Up
Apr 6, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Anna Shiryaevskaya

The start of spring has heralded the return of liquefied natural gas to the U.K.

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

Transportation and Infrastructure News

South Shore to Test New Safety System
Apr 6, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
By Tim Zorn

The South Shore Line announced that it will begin field testing a new safety system on April 9.
Surface Transportation Board Nominees Should Rebuff Rent Seekers
Apr 6, 2018 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Steve Pociask

The Senate Commerce Committee will vet Trump administration nominees for the Surface Transportation Board (STB) next Wednesday, beginning the process of filling three vacancies at the independent agency tasked with oversight of the railroads.

Environment News

EPA Seeks Minor Changes to Fiberglass Regs
Apr 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly

Following a court-ordered review, U.S. EPA is proposing only to tweak 2002 air toxics regulations for manufacturers of fiberglass matting.
EPA Faults 3 States Over 2012 Soot Standard
Apr 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly

U.S. EPA is officially rapping three states for failing to submit complete cleanup plans for areas out of compliance with the latest federal air quality standard for fine particulates.
Governor Reinstates Enviro Rules Suspended During Harvey
Apr 6, 2018 | Houston Chronicle (In E&E Greenwire)
By Alex Stuckey

The office of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday lifted a suspension of environmental regulations after nearly seven months.
Former Pentagon Official Will Lead Climate Group
Apr 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Nick Sobczyk

The Center for Climate and Security is getting a new leader with years of experience in the Pentagon's environment and energy wing.

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) Will Trade Tussle Take a Bite Out of US Petrochemical Boom?

Apr 6, 2018 | Zacks.com

By Anindya Barman

The shale gas revolution in the United States has been a huge driving force behind chemical investments in plants and equipment in the country. And currently, the U.S. petrochemical industry is in the middle of a shale-induced investment boom leveraging access to abundant and cheaper feedstocks. However, the escalating trade tensions between Washington and Beijing is expected to play spoilsport.
President Donald Trump, who has a record of attacking China for unfair trade practices, recently proposed sweeping tariffs on $50 billion of imports from China. The President’s decision to levy tariffs on some 1,300 Chinese goods came after a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports slapped by the Trump administration that went into effect on Mar 23.
President Trump’s protectionist actions enraged the Red Dragon with Beijing retaliating with plans of imposing tariffs on more than 100 American products with shipment values worth as much as $50 billion, bringing the world’s two largest economies close toward a full-blown trade war.
China on Wednesday declared that it would levy additional tariffs of 25% on an array of U.S. products including soybeans, cars, planes, beef, corn, whiskies and chemicals. Notably, chemicals comprise roughly 40% of the products targeted by the planned tariffs. China had earlier slapped tariffs on about $3 billion worth of U.S. imports.
The Trump administration responded with a proposed $100 billion in additional tariffs on China yesterday, further intensifying the trade tussle between the two countries.
China’s proposed countermeasures, if enforced, are likely to harm the U.S. chemical industry which is currently on an upswing.
Shale Bounty Fueling U.S. Chemical Investment
The U.S. Chemical Industry has clawed its way back from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey and is set to ride the growth wave this year. According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC), a leading industry trade group, expects chemical production (excluding pharmaceuticals) to rise 3.7% in 2018 with capital investments on chemical projects are expected to play a key role in the growth.
A recovery in manufacturing, rising business investment and a rebound in domestic oil and gas production has set the stage for significant expansion and capital investment, per the ACC.
Major export markets such as Latin America and Asia are also expected to play a significant role in basic chemical production growth in 2018 and 2019. Strengthening export markets and increasing capital spending are also driving chemical demand across key end-use markets such as light vehicles and housing.
The United States remains an attractive investment destination for chemical investment and domestic chemical makers continue to enjoy the advantage of cheap ethane feedstock extracted from shale. This is driving investment in chemical production projects. Petrochemical makers are significantly expanding capacity in the country leveraging new supplies of natural gas.
New methods of extraction such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) are boosting shale production, bringing down prices of ethane (derived from shale gas) in the process.
The shale boom has incentivized a number of chemical companies to pump in billions of dollars for setting up facilities (crackers) in the United States to produce ethylene and propylene in a cost-effective way. Chemical makers including DowDuPont Inc. (DWDP - Free Report) , BASF SE (BASFY - Free Report) and LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LYB - Free Report) , Eastman Chemical Company (EMN - Free Report) , Celanese Corp. (CE - Free Report) and Westlake Chemical Corp. (WLK - Free Report) are investing on shale gas-linked projects to take advantage of abundant natural gas supplies.
LyondellBasell currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). While both BASF and Eastman Chemical carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), DowDuPont, Celanese and Westlake Chemical each have a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
According to the ACC, 320 new chemical projects have been already announced by chemical makers worth more than $185 billion, 62% of which is foreign direct investment. Such investments — many backed by Federal government support — are expected to boost capacity and export over the next several years. New capacity is expected to provide a boost to chemical production as these investments come on stream.
Chemical industry capital spending continues to go up, clocking $38 billion in 2017, per the ACC. This also accounts for one-half of overall construction spending by the manufacturing sector. The trade group expects capital spending to rise 6.3% in 2018 and 6.8% in 2019 and eventually reach $48 billion by 2022.
But Trade War Could Dampen U.S. Investments & Exports
The Trump administration’s actions to impose heavy tariffs on steel imports and the threats of tariffs on U.S. chemical exports by China are detrimental to the U.S. chemical industry. These moves are expected to dampen new chemical investment in the United States, hurt U.S. chemical exports and harm the domestic chemical industry’s competitiveness. All these may eventually lead to a slowdown in growth in the American chemical industry.
The steel tariffs would discourage chemical makers spending billions of dollars on new projects. These hefty tariffs will lead to a spurt in steel prices, which in turn, are likely to push up the costs of building petrochemical plants in the United States that use a significant amount of steel, thereby eroding the economic benefits of these projects. As steel costs constitute a significant portion of the costs of constructing these plants, this may discourage many companies from continuing their projects.
Notably, DowDuPont, which completed construction spending worth $6 billion in petrochemical projects along the U.S. Gulf Coast last year, had raised concerns that the tariffs on U.S. steel imports could add hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to its planned chemical project on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Chemical industry groups have also expressed their discontent about the brewing trade war. The ACC recently said that China is among the most important trading partners of the U.S. chemical industry, importing 11% (or $3.2 billion) of all U.S. plastic resins last year. The trade group is worried that 40% of the products to which Beijing has assigned new tariffs are chemicals including polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polycarbonates.
The ACC said that “engaging in a trade war with one of our country’s most significant trading partners is not the answer. We strongly urge both the U.S. and Chinese governments to work together to come to a satisfactory and mutually beneficial decision before this situation escalates further.”
According to the ACC, out of the announced investments by the chemical industry in new factories, expansions and restarts of plants across the United States, more than half of the projects are currently in the planning stage. The trade group is worried that the trade tariffs may force investors to consider doing business elsewhere.
China is one of the biggest export markets for U.S. chemicals and thus, leaves the American chemical industry heavily exposed to Beijing’s planned retaliatory trade actions. The prospects of tariffs have created an uncertain demand environment for U.S. chemical products in this major market. This is worrisome as export markets are expected to significantly contribute to the growth of the U.S. chemical industry this year and the next.
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(ACC Mentioned) Global Markets are Bouncing Back as Concern Over Trump's Trade War Eases

Apr 6, 2018 | GkMen

China, by contrast, has unique tools to counteract US tariffs, according to analysts. Along with increasing regulations and bans from Google, the trade war threats have also been eroding crypto investor's sentiment.
Their reluctance is partly a matter of semantics.
But far from the U.S. and China coming to the table and forging an agreement to open up trade, morerounds of trade barriers could be announced with growing economic damage and no resolution in sight.
"In itself it's a nebulous word", said Jagdish Bhagwati, a professor of economics at Columbia University. I'll nearly certainly never have a trade surplus with them, but it doesn't bother me.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has stressed that USA tariffs on Chinese goods are only proposals, and Beijing is still only offering up a tentative menu of tariffs in response.
For example, in its planned retaliatory tariffs, the Chinese government included narrow-body aircraft but not wide-body aircraft.
"Even shooting wars end with negotiations", he said.
This news site is officially out of the business of defending Donald Trump. A trade war remains a tail risk and they might back themselves into a corner where all-out war is the only option, but we're a long way from that.
In 2017, China was the third-largest buyer of US LNG behind Mexico and South Korea, bringing in around 15% of total exports.
But those tariffs alone don't constitute a trade war, experts say.
Scott Lincicome, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and an worldwide trade attorney, said Trump's implemented tariffs are already causing real pain for USA companies and farmers forced to cope with sudden and unexpected high prices and new tariffs as well as chaos in various markets.
"But buying remained limited as investors are still concerned about several uncertain elements, including a US-led trade war", Sato told AFP.
For their part, Chinese officials said they won't capitulate to USA demands. -China trade war anything more than sabre rattling?
The head of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) on Wednesday urged the US and Chinese governments to resolve their differences on trade, cautioning that an escalation could weaken the economic case for USA chemical projects.
Washington on Tuesday proposed $50 billion in duties on Chinese goods aimed at forcing Beijing to address what the United States says is deeply entrenched theft of US intellectual property and forced technology transfer from USA companies.
NEGOTIATING STRATEGYThe threat to impose additional 25 percent tariffs on imports from China worth up to $50 billion fits with the Trump administration's typical negotiating pattern. The company said it "will continue to engage both governments" as the sides note that "productive talks are ongoing".
Trump, while less predictable than Xi, is likely factoring the anxious stock market and the upcoming midterm elections into his trade decisions, Baumohl said.
Republicans already are confronting signs that Democrats have a solid chance to seize control of the majority in the House of Representatives, with Democratic voter disdain for Mr Trump driving up turnout.
And Englund said that Trump might be more amenable to compromise because, as he puts it, "Trump doesn't need much of a victory to declare victory". Republican lawmakers from Western and Midwestern states have voiced worries about a big hit to US farming exporters.
Obviously this news site has never had an issue calling Trump out when we disagreed with him, but until this spring it's safe to say we classified ourselves as supporters of the president. "I would anticipate that if there are no changes to the behavior of China. then we would move forward".
http://gkmen.com/2018/04/06/global-markets-are-bouncing-back-as-concern-over-trumps/

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EPA Chief’s Job Status | Trump’s New Trade Threat | Trump’s Beef With Amazon

Apr 6, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal

By Joshua Jamerson

Here’s your daily briefing on politics and power from Jerry Seib and the rest of the WSJ Washington bureau. Here’s what to watch for today:
–The unemployment rate could reach a new low, but the pace of hiring is expected to cool. The March jobs report is out at 8:30 a.m.
–EPA head Scott Pruitt’s future at the agency is uncertain. Speculation about his job status has grown amid a steady drip of revelations about his travel and spending.
–Wall Street, farmers and businesses will be reacting this morning to the prospect of an escalation in trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
Here’s analysis from Joshua Jamerson (@joshjame) on EPA head Scott Pruitt’s job status:
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt appears to be in an increasingly precarious position. President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed confidence in Mr. Pruitt, saying he has done “a fantastic job. ” Still, White House aides, who have seen officials depart the administration at a clip that outpaces other modern presidencies, have been cautious when describing Mr. Pruitt’s status.
Part of Mr. Pruitt’s challenge is that he has never had a deep well of support on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers can back an administration official up if they want to — or make things worse with congressional investigations and oversight hearings. In February 2017, Mr. Pruitt was confirmed by a 52-46 vote, one of the slimmest margins of Mr. Trump’s nominees. Some lawmakers from both parties are now calling for his resignation.
Election-year politics may come into play. Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign pledged to “drain the swamp” in Washington by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, one of the House’s most vulnerable Republicans this year, has called for Mr. Pruitt to go, saying that his “corruption scandals are an embarrassment to the administration.” Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, who is not running for re-election, also called for Mr. Pruitt to step aside.
The White House is conducting a review of Mr. Pruitt’s activities after news reports that he had rented accommodations in Washington at below-market rates from the family of an energy lobbyist. Mr. Pruitt also has faced questions over his travel expenses and had a testy interview with Fox News when he was pressed over large pay raises reportedly given to two EPA employees.
One odd story line playing out in the background is the revelation of a March 29, 2017, incident in which Mr. Pruitt’s security detail broke down a wooden and glass door to access his unit after he apparently did not respond to agents in his detail. An unexpected twist: Rep. Betty McCollum (D., Minn.) owns the condo below the one Mr. Pruitt was renting. In a letter, dated April 2 and obtained by The Journal, Ms. McCollum wrote to Mr. Pruitt that she is concerned that taxpayer money was used to pay for the door’s replacement after Mr. Pruitt’s security detail broke it down — an event she says she witnessed. ABC News first reported on Ms. McCollum’s letter.
An EPA spokesman said, “We will respond to Congresswoman McCollum through the proper channel.”
Ms. McCollum — the top Democrat on the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which writes spending bills for the EPA — has not called for Mr. Pruitt to resign. A person familiar with her thinking told me that back in March 2017, she mentioned the condo door incident to her staff the next day but did not think much of it at the time. “I don’t know why she would’ve been expected to bring it up at the time. It was just kind of an odd incident,” this person said. “She didn’t have a personal relationship with him…It wasn’t like they were having a beer after work.”
Trump’s Trade Offensive
The president is considering imposing tariffs on an additional $100 billion in imports from China, a fresh threat that raised the possibility of further retaliation from Beijing. The announcement from Mr. Trump was almost certain to cause fears of a full-scale trade war among investors, farmers and businesses with ties to Chinese trade. The news came after the close of stock trading, but recent trade tensions with Beijing have already fueled wide price swings in recent trading sessions, Bob Davis writes.
Why would President Trump threaten steep tariffs on Chinese imports, rattling stock markets? It’s partly because this is a negotiation, and a negotiator must show a tolerance for pain if his demands aren’t met. For Mr. Trump to succeed, China must believe its pain will exceed that of the U.S. in a trade war and settle on his terms. Whether he’s right depends heavily on who has the most leverage, writes Greg Ip.
More from Washington:
President Trump’s attacks on Amazon.com Inc. stem from its CEO’s ownership of the Washington Post, which the American leader says writes unfair stories about him, say people close to the White House. Mr. Trump sees Mr. Bezos’s hand in newspaper coverage he dislikes and is lashing out at Amazon as a proxy, these people said. A Post spokeswoman, asked for a response, referred to quotes from the paper’s leadership in a story published Thursday. In that piece, publisher Frederick J. Ryan Jr. said that Mr. Bezos has “never proposed a story.”
The Trump administration anticipates sending 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard troops to the border with Mexico. “We’ll probably keep them or a large portion of them” until a border wall is built, Mr. Trump said. Earlier Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said she is working with the governors of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California on the deployment plan to “start the negotiations.”
Elkhart, Ind., the capital of RV manufacturing, which once had the worst unemployment rate in the U.S., is now facing labor shortages and rising home prices and wages. Bob Davis reports on how Joblessville, USA, became Jobsville, USA.
Mr. Trump is set to sanction some of Russia’s ruling elite on Friday, delivering on long-promised punitive actions mandated by Congress after Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. The new measures are likely to fuel rising diplomatic tensions between the West and Moscow.
The president denies knowing about a $130,000 payment his lawyer made to Stephanie Clifford, a former adult film star, in the month before the 2016 presidential election. The remarks mark the first time Mr. Trump has discussed the payment to Ms. Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels.
Democrats are fielding challengers for nearly every Republican House incumbent this year, including some of the reddest territory in the country, in radical change from the last midterm electionin 2014. The goal is to maximize their opportunities if there is a surge in Democratic turnout, as has happened in some special elections. Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats to retake control of the House.
President Trump weighed in Thursday on the U.S. Senate Republican primary in West Virginia, inviting two of the GOP candidates to an event to discuss tax policy, but shunning a third, the former coal executive Don Blankenship.
News & Notes: Mr. Trump intends to nominate Heidi King to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration … The U.S. Surgeon General said individuals and families at risk of opioid abuse should keep a medication on hand that reverses the effects of an overdose.
From across the WSJ:
South Korea’s former President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison for her involvement in a corruption scandal that also ensnared other top officials and business leaders.
The Cboe Volatility Index, known as the VIX, is up 72% since the start of the year and stock-market swings in the past week have many investors scrambling to profit from the return of turbulence. Many investors view continued volatility as one of the year’s most dependable bets.
The U.S. income tax remains steeply progressive: Even after the tax overhaul, top earners will pay a higher share of income taxes. Households in the top 20% will pay about 87% of income taxes in 2018, up from about 84% last year.
More than a dozen small colleges have joined together to yank the management of their employee retirement accounts from TIAA, the largest provider of retirement-plan services to nonprofit organizations, after it raised fees on some of its most popular funds.
BlackRock is stripping retailers that sell guns out of some current and planned exchange-traded funds. The retailers include Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Kroger.
Delta Air Lines said hundreds of thousands of customers could have had their credit-card information compromised in a cyberattack on a vendor that ran a chat function on Delta’s website.
Calendar
Trump administration: President Donald Trump receives the intelligence briefing at 11 a.m.
Jobs report: The Labor Department releases its broadest look at the U.S. job market for March at 8:30 a.m. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect employers added 178,000 jobs during the month and see the unemployment rate ticking down to 4.0%. Here are five things to watch for in the report.
Federal Reserve: Fed Chairman Jerome Powell delivers a speech on the economic outlook at the Economic Club of Chicago at 1:30 p.m. ET.
What Else We’re Reading
At a meeting this week at which the president declared his desire to withdraw American troops from Syria, “the intensity of Trump’s tone and demeanor raised eyebrows and unease among the top brass gathered to hash out a Syria plan with Trump, officials said: Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Defense Secretary James Mattis, CIA chief Mike Pompeo and acting Secretary of State John Sullivan,” write Matthew Lee and Josh Lederman of the Associated Press.
“Despite the heated rhetoric of the past few days, a trade war between the U.S. and China does not seem imminent. But it may be inevitable,” writes Reihan Salam of The Atlantic.
After presidential declarations have driven the stock market into gyrations in recent days, Julian Zelizer of CNN writes: “Without any advisers in the Oval Office who are willing or capable to say ‘Stop!’ to the President, the situation is likely to deteriorate if there are more tweets about major American companies or trade battles overseas.”
Milestone
$57.6 billion: The trade deficit in goods and services rose to $57.6 billion in February, the sixth straight monthly increase and the widest the gap has been since October 2008.
Tweet of the Day
@realDonaldTrump: Despite the Aluminum Tariffs, Aluminum prices are DOWN 4%. People are surprised, I’m not! Lots of money coming into U.S. coffers and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!
https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2018/04/06/capital-journal-trade-tensions-escalate/

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Ewire: Deepening Ethics Scandal, Report Says Pruitt Critics Demoted

Apr 6, 2018 | Inside EPA

At least five EPA officials who raised doubts over Administrator Scott Pruitt's travel and security spending were demoted, transferred or “told” to find other jobs, according to the New York Times, which also reports that EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson is considering quitting over those concerns – further deepening the ethics scandal engulfing Pruitt.
The April 5 Times article identifies four career officials and one political appointee whose careers allegedly suffered after they questioned the administrator's use of first-class travel and security measures that include his controversial 24-hour security detail and requests – ultimately denied – for the agency to purchase bulletproof cars and desks.
“Mr. Pruitt bristled when the officials -- four career EPA employees and one Trump administration political appointee -- confronted him,” the article says.
The story represents the latest in a litany of damaging reports targeting Pruitt over ethical issues, including his use of agency funds for travel and security, and renting a $50-a-day room in a Capitol Hill condo co-owned by an energy lobbyist.
Late last night, the Washington Post also quoted three sources saying Pruitt gave an “at-best-misleading denial” of his role in granting two close aides hefty pay raises. That denial came during a Fox News interview in which Pruitt claimed he “did not know about the pay raises until April 3, and that he stepped in to correct it.
The raises are controversial because the White House had previously denied Pruitt's request to issue them. Several news reports say that Pruitt “ordered” the raises after that, and Pruitt's explanation to Fox sharply contradicts that reporting.
The Post report breaks down Pruitt's explanation – arguing he could potentially argue that he did not approve of the method of granting the raises – but says that still does not align with his statement that he knew nothing about the raises at all.
Earlier yesterday, Inside EPA broke news that one original source of the damaging information about Pruitt is reportedly Rob Porter, a top former aide to President Donald Trump who was fired earlier this year over domestic abuse allegations – which were brought to the White House's attention by his former girlfriend Samantha Dravis, who was EPA's policy chief until her sudden resignation last week.
Administration officials, including Trump, have offered mixed messages on Pruitt's fate. For instance, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at an April 4 press briefing that “The president is not” OK with reports about Pruitt's controversial condo lease, but also praised his deregulatory successes at EPA.
According to the Times, the political appointee who questioned Pruitt's spending is Kevin Chmielewski, part of the original campaign team for Trump who served as Pruitt's deputy chief of staff for a time. The other officials named in the story include two additional former deputy chiefs of staff, John E. Reeder and Reginald E. Allen, as well as Eric Weese, a former head of Pruitt's security detail, and John C. Martin, identified as part of the security team.
The Times says Allen and Weese “were moved to jobs where they had less say in spending decisions and less interaction” with Pruitt, while Reeder left government for academia “after being told by the EPA to find a new job.” According to the story, Martin “was also removed from the team and had his gun and badge taken away after raising concerns about how Mr. Pruitt’s security was being handled.”
And it says Jackson, who has been a close aide to Pruitt since his arrival at the agency, “is considering resigning” after “raising questions” about the spending issues.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-deepening-ethics-scandal-report-says-pruitt-critics-demoted

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Trump Denies He is Considering Replacing Sessions With Pruitt

Apr 6, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire

By Jordan Fabian, Timothy Cama, and Miranda Green

President Trump on Friday denied reports that he is considering replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt, whom he said is “doing a great job” leading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but "TOTALLY under siege."
In a tweet, the president lashed out at the media for "pushing hard on a story" that he had considered replacing his attorney general with his embattled EPA chief.
“Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!” the president tweeted.
Minutes before the president’s tweet, CNN aired a report stating that Trump has privately discussed the Cabinet move as recently as this week, even as Pruitt facing mounting ethics scrutiny.
Rumors first circulated in January that Pruitt was gunning for the Attorney General role, following multiple reports that Trump was looking to replace Sessions. Pruitt nor the EPA ever disputed the reports.
The president’s relationship with Sessions has been publicly strained, partially stemming from Session’s decision last year to recuse himself from the Justice Department's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Following the decision, Trump in July told the New York Times, “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else.”
But Republican members of Congress up until late March were firmly against the idea of Pruitt taking over the AG’s office.
“I’d be very upset, I’m upset that he’s even interested,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
“He would not be able to have the freedom to do what his mission is, what he thinks he should. You know anyone could be an Attorney General.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee — the committee tasked with confirming an AG — wouldn't consider a change.
“Jeff Sessions is a friend and he is the Attorney General and I’m grateful that he is the Attorney General,” Cruz said. “I believe we need a strong and effective Attorney General and I believe that Scott Pruitt is doing an excellent job at EPA.”
Pruitt and his allies in conservative circles have undertaken a comprehensive effort in the past week to defend him and keep him in Trump’s good graces. Criticism of the media has been central to their strategy.
“Among members of the White House Cabinet, no agency head has done more to follow the president’s lead in draining the swamp than Scott Pruitt, who leads the Environmental Protection Agency. Make no mistake, that’s why the left and its allies in the media are working overtime to smear him,” Jenny Beth Martin, chairwoman of Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, wrote in The Hill.
Trump has publicly defended Pruitt, even though his job as EPA administration is said to be in jeopardy.
“I think he’s done a fantastic job. I think he’s done an incredible job. He’s been very courageous,” the president told reporters Thursday while flying back from West Virginia. “It hasn’t been easy, but I think he’s done a fantastic job.”
“You know, I just left coal and energy country. They love Scott Pruitt,” he said, referring to Pruitt’s pro-coal policies and efforts to repeal environmental rules. “They feel very strongly about Scott Pruitt. And they love Scott Pruitt.”
The president and his top aides have quietly stewed over negative headlines about Pruitt’s condo-rental agreement with the wife of an energy lobbyist and his spending on foreign travel.
Sessions has long been in Trump's doghouse over his decision last year to recuse himself from the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The move helped lead to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel leading the probe, which ramped up legal pressure on Trump.
The reports of a potential Cabinet change-up came amid a number of recent executive cabinet rearrangements — the latest being Trump’s firing of David Shulkin, Department of Veterans Affairs chief, last week. Trump ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/381952-trump-denies-he-is-considering-replacing-sessions-with-pruitt

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'It Has Been a Breathtaking Week'

Apr 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

By Kevin Bogardus

Allegations of ethical missteps have piled up for U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt as he campaigned to keep his job this week.
Questions have swirled about whether Pruitt will resign or be fired by President Trump after fresh charges of exorbitant spending and misuse of his Cabinet-level position have mounted almost by the hour. The New York Times reported yesterday a litany of Pruitt spending proposals — $70,000 to replace two desks, a $100,000-per-month charter jet agreement, a bulletproof sport utility vehicle, first-class travel and expanded security — that ran into objections from top EPA officials, who were then reassigned or demoted.
Asked for a response, EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox noted that some of the proposals never came to fruition. He also said the agency disputed the allegations' truthfulness and cast doubt on the senior employees who raised questions about Pruitt's spending requests.
"This is a group of disgruntled employees who have either been dismissed or reassigned," Wilcox said.
The EPA chief has had his own missteps with the media this week.
In a Fox News interview, he pushed back on reports that he authorized pay raises for two aides under a unique hiring provision under the Safe Drinking Water Act despite White House wishes that he not do so. The Washington Post later reported that Pruitt had in fact endorsed the pay raise idea, although he hadn't implemented it himself.
Wilcox said Pruitt doesn't know the details of staff salary nor does he make those kinds of personnel actions.
"It was entirely true what he said. He was not aware the raises had transpired nor the means by which they transpired," Wilcox said.
Policy chief Samantha Dravis, a longtime associate of Pruitt's who was one of his closest aides at EPA, has already resigned. His chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, has debated leaving the agency, too.
Wilcox said Jackson is committed to advancing Trump's agenda of "regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship" and continues to do so under Pruitt.'We're shaking our heads'
Signs mocking U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's rental of a condo from the wife of a lobbyist whose firm's clients have lobbied the agency were seen in neighborhoods across Washington, D.C., this morning. Camille von Kaenel/E&E News
Asked what the mood was like in EPA headquarters, one employee laughed.
"We're shaking our heads," the employee said. "I was staying up late last night watching the news. ... It has been a breathtaking week."
The employee — who served under Anne Gorsuch Burford, who resigned in disgrace — said the time under President Reagan's first EPA administrator was still tougher for EPA workers compared to the Pruitt era.
"It was worse under that, but this is the worst since then," said the employee.
Bob Sussman, a former deputy EPA administrator during the Clinton administration, drew comparisons to Gorsuch Burford when asked about Pruitt's tenure so far.
"We have a chaotic and extremely alarming situation at EPA. I think the institutional process at the agency is in meltdown," said Sussman, also a former senior policy adviser to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
"I think EPA is struggling to keep employees on board and maintain public confidence," he said.
Pruitt's ethical troubles went into high gear beginning last week after there were reports of him leasing a Capitol Hill condo linked to a lobbyist whose firm reported lobbying EPA.
Posters of Pruitt popped up in Washington this morning, spotted by pedestrians and making their way onto social media. "Live luxuriously for cheap — just like Scott!" the posters say, with a picture of Pruitt. Also included are tear-off slips with the EPA press office's phone number.
The lobbyist tied to the condo — Steven Hart, chairman and CEO of Williams & Jensen PLLC — issued a new statement today. He rejected suggestions that his firm's clients had greater influence with EPA, and he also apologized to his wife, Vicki Hart, who co-owns the condo.
"As I have stated previously, the condominium is not owned by Williams & Jensen, its partners, or any other employees of the firm, and any suggestion that Administrator Pruitt's short-term rental of one of its bedrooms in 2017 resulted in undue influence for the firm or its clients with business before the EPA is simply false," Hart said.
"Finally, I apologize to my wife, Vicki, whose fantastic career is being maligned unnecessarily," he said.
Pruitt has pointed to a March 30 ethics memo, issued by career ethics officials, as clearance for his condo lease. But those same officials have now said they didn't have all of the relevant information when deciding the issue, resulting in a new clarifying memo stating that Pruitt's actions outside the lease were never considered, but rather just the lease itself.
Justina Fugh, EPA's senior counsel for ethics, was the first official to issue a statement on Pruitt's lease last week, calling it "a routine business transaction," followed later by the March 30 memo signed by her superior, Kevin Minoli, the agency's designated ethics official. In a statement to E&E News, Fugh said she was called in a movie theater the night the condo news broke.
"The federal ethics regulations provide that employees, in seeking ethics advice, make 'full disclosure of all relevant circumstances,'" Fugh said.
"The advice I gave on Thursday at the movie theater was based on specific facts provided to me," she said. "I am troubled to learn that those facts were not accurate. I was too credulous at the time."
Requests from Democratic lawmakers to investigate Pruitt's condo lease and other ethics allegations have stacked up at the EPA Office of Inspector General, which already has open audits of Pruitt's travel and security spending. A spokesman for the agency's internal watchdog confirmed to E&E News that it had received two new letters from Democrats yesterday.
"Both congressional requests are currently under review by the OIG," said EPA IG spokesman Jeff Lagda.Trump offers support
President Trump took an unusual trip back to the press cabin of Air Force One yesterday. Asked for his thoughts on Pruitt's troubles, Trump offered support for the EPA chief.
"He's been very courageous. Hasn't been easy, but I think he's done an absolutely fantastic job. I think he'll be fine," Trump said.
Pruitt's condo lease has already come under White House review. The president added that he would look at the reports about Pruitt closely and said, "I'll make that determination." He also called Pruitt's Fox News appearance "an interesting interview."
Pruitt's conservative supporters have mounted a public campaign to keep Pruitt in office. They have argued that the EPA chief is Trump's most effective member of his Cabinet, leading to attacks from liberals who want to see him gone (see related story).
Groups like FreedomWorks and Tea Party Patriots have issued op-eds and press statements backing Pruitt and his deregulatory work at EPA.
Pruitt's allies have also circulated a set of talking points, obtained by E&E News, that champion the EPA chief. They list a number of actions the administrator has taken to roll back Obama-era environmental regulations.
EPA press aides have gone on social media to keep up a drumbeat of support for Pruitt. They have tweeted out backing from conservative talk radio star Rush Limbaugh and columnists like Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Pruitt was in Kentucky yesterday for a meeting with state air regulators, as the press was notified that evening after the fact in an agency press release. The administrator was touting his agenda of "regulatory reform" at EPA — an agenda that Pruitt's supporters are telling Trump is why the president needs to keep his EPA chief.
EPA press officials didn't respond to a question from E&E News on where Pruitt was today.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/06/stories/1060078391

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Chemical Management News

A Bad Nudge From California

Apr 6, 2018 | Bloomberg View

By Cass R. Sunstein

Should coffee come with a cancer warning?
As a matter of policy, the answer seems obvious: Of course not. As a matter of law, it’s much more complicated, at least in California. A tentative judicial ruling in Los Angeles County last week suggests that when people go to the local coffee place, their morning ritual is going to be accompanied by a jolt of fear.
It could potentially turn into a fiasco, I think, and it tells us something important about how well-intentioned laws can go badly wrong.
The background comes from California’s Proposition 65, a state ballot referendum designed to reduce health risks associated with certain chemicals. Its key provision states, “No person in the course of doing business shall knowingly and intentionally expose any individual to a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without first giving clear and reasonable warning to such individual.”
For carcinogens, here is some acceptable wording: “WARNING: THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS CHEMICALS KNOWN TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO CAUSE CANCER.”
That’s pretty scary. It also raises an immediate question: What does it mean to “cause cancer”? Under the law, which was adopted in 1986, a chemical can be exempted if it poses “no significant risk.”
A risk is not significant if it results in one or fewer excess cancer cases in an exposed population of 100,000, “assuming lifetime exposure at the level in question, except where sound considerations of public health support an alternative level.” To claim the benefit of the exemption, those who seek an exemption have to offer a “quantitative risk assessment,” or so the law seems to say.
That brings us to the neighborhood coffee shop.
When coffee beans are roasted, a chemical reaction occurs, producing a chemical, called acrylamide, which California has long listed as causing cancer. Acrylamide dissolves in water, which means that it can be found in brewed coffee.
With these simple facts in mind, the Council for Education and Research on Toxics brought suit against a large number of companies, including Starbucks, arguing that they were obliged to give the appropriate warning to their customers.
The central question in the case was whether the companies could claim an exemption. Among other things, they argued that for coffee, “sound considerations of public health support an alternative level.” They contended that the risks associated with acrylamide were low -- and that current levels of acrylamide in coffee cannot be reduced without adversely affecting safety and taste.
In a “proposed statement of decision,” the judge found these arguments unpersuasive. In particular, he objected that the companies had not provided a quantitative risk assessment, specifying the risk of acrylamide in coffee.
Given Proposition 65 and the evidence provided at trial, the judge’s conclusions were not unreasonable, though he could have gone the other way. The defendants have a few weeks to respond. Perhaps they will prevail.
But let’s step back a bit. There are good reasons to object to cancer warnings for coffee.
For one thing, such warnings would mislead and frighten a lot of people. When we see a cancer warning, many of us greatly exaggerate the size of the risk. It’s not in the public interest to produce unjustified fear.
True, some people will ignore the warning. And true, some warnings are valuable, even if it isn’t fun to read them.
But a lifetime risk in the vicinity of 1 in 100,000 is very low. According to some recent estimates, a mortality risk of that magnitude is about the same as that of being killed by a dog; 17 times lower than the risk of drowning in a swimming pool; 60 times lower than the risk of being killed from a fall on stairs or steps; and 90 times lower than the risk of being killed in a motor vehicle accident.
The cancer risk of smoking is over 10,000 times higher. And because people inevitably face a wide range of risks, the idea of a one in 100,000 mortality risk is deceptive: In all likelihood, you’ll end up dying from something else.
Another consideration is that with respect to acrylamide, we probably shouldn’t worry a whole lot. The American Cancer Society notes that when rats and mice are given very high amounts -- 1,000 to 10,000 higher than the levels to which human beings might be exposed in foods -- the incidence of cancer does increase.
But with respect to human beings, the evidence is mixed. Indeed, “there are currently no cancer types for which there is clearly an increased risk related to acrylamide intake,” which means that the evidence from human studies is “somewhat reassuring.”
Proposition 65 does have laudable goals. Across a population of tens of millions, a risk of one in 100,000 is not exactly trivial. One of the law’s evident aims is to change corporate behavior: Because companies will lose business if they inform customers that their products contain carcinogens, they will have an incentive to adopt safer substitutes.
Fair enough. But cancer warnings on coffee? That’s silly.
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-04-06/cancer-warnings-on-coffee-are-just-silly

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Heavy Metals in Food: Carrageenan as An Example of the Need to Improve Ingredient Quality

Apr 6, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund

By Tom Neltner

In the fall of 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bought 10 samples of carrageenan from 5 companies sold through internet-only retailers to test for three heavy metals – lead, arsenic (total and inorganic), and cadmium. The agency published the results on its combination metals testing webpage in September 2016.
Each of these metals are carcinogens. In addition, lead and inorganic arsenicare widely acknowledged as harming children’s brain development even at low levels of exposure. EDF found that more than one million children consume lead in amounts that exceeds the maximum exposure level set by FDA in 1993, a level that subsequent research shows is of great risk to children’s health. Further, recent research has strengthened evidence of the relationship between low levels of lead exposure in adults and cardiovascular deaths. In 2011, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) took the extraordinary step of withdrawing its previous tolerable intake level for lead because it could not determine a safe level of exposure for children.
In light of these risks, we must make every effort to reduce the levels of these heavy metals in food to the greatest extent possible – without undermining other food safety measures or compromising quality. A key step to success is examining the levels of heavy metals in all ingredients used to make a food since the risk is based on the cumulative exposure – even if the amounts in individual additives are small. With this in mind, we revisited FDA’s analysis of carrageenan.
FDA’s testing for heavy metals in carrageenan
Derived from red seaweed, carrageenan is widely used in the food industry as a thickener and stabilizer, especially in dairy and meat products. It is also advertised as a food ingredient for home and restaurant use, especially in the so-called molecular gastronomy or to make vegan gelatin.
FDA does not usually test individual food ingredients, so we asked the agency why they performed this analysis. They told us that because carrageenan is manufactured from species of red seaweed that may grow in environments (e.g., soil or water) where some contaminants may occur naturally and, thereby, be absorbed, the agency tested it as part of its Toxic Elements Program.
From its testing data, FDA concluded the levels of the three metals were below the limits established by the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) and the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives(JECFA). While within FCC and JECFA specifications, FDA’s analysis showed some wide variations in heavy metal levels; there was a 20- to 37-fold difference between the highest and the lowest levels. Specifically:Arsenic: Levels ranged from 97 to 2,011 ppb (FCC and JECFA limits are 3,000 ppb);Cadmium: Levels ranged from 35 to 1,292 ppb (FCC and JECFA limits are 2,000 ppb); andLead: Levels ranged from 38 to 1,065 ppb (FCC and JECFA[1] limits are 5,000 ppb).
After securing the brand information through a Freedom of Information Act request, we examined whether certain brands or forms of the ingredient had lower levels than others. As shown in the figure below, each of the brands with multiple samples had one with relatively high levels of each heavy metal and one with much lower levels. We saw the same variation in the three forms of carrageenan – iota, kappa, and lambda – that are extracted from the different stages in the lifecycle of the seaweed.
Carrageenan[2] is used at relatively low levels in food, so at even the higher levels of heavy metal contamination seen in some of these samples, it is unlikely to force any recalls on its own due to an immediate health risk. But widely-used ingredients like carrageenan that have heavy metal tolerances in the thousands parts per billion can contribute to a significant cumulative dietary exposure for children.
Conclusion
FDA’s testing of carrageenan offers a glimpse at the importance of quality control of food ingredients in general and their potential to be meaningful sources of heavy metals in children’s diets. From what we have learned, we conclude that:JECFA and FCC specifications for the heavy metals are inadequate. The limits are not based on the health risks posed by these chemicals. Rather they are based on the ability to measure the chemicals using the standard analytical method available in 2002. In 2014, FDA adopted a much more sensitive analytical method called ICP-MS that can reliably quantify these heavy metals at levels below 10 parts per billion (ppb). In light of JECFA’s conclusion in 2011 that there is no level of lead that is sufficient to protect children’s health and with better analytical methods available, JECFA and FCC specifications need to be revised. Since carrageenan is unlikely to be unique, the revision should address other additives as well.Food manufacturers can and should set tighter limits to better protect their customers. The variation shown in heavy metals in carrageenan indicate that individual producers can significantly reduce the levels in their products by determining what is causing the variation, setting tighter standards, and better managing their testing and quality control programs. Food manufacturers should demand that ingredient producers take the necessary steps to strengthen their quality controls and drive down levels of heavy metals.Consumers, especially those buying from internet-only retailers, need to ask the company how much of the heavy metals is acceptable in the ingredient. Consumers may not be aware of the limitations of current standards or deficiencies in quality control. And when they use additives like carrageenan in their food, they may not use the ingredients at the low amounts on which those standards may have been set, based on industrial food manufacturing. This could put consumers and their families at risk of greater exposures to heavy metals.
[1] In 2007, JECFA increased the limit for lead from 2,000 to 5,000 ppb claiming it had made a typographical error in 2002.
[2] Carrageenan has been controversial in some uses. We don’t have an opinion on the concerns at this time.
http://blogs.edf.org/health/2018/04/06/heavy-metals-in-food-carrageenan/

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Michigan Approves Ban on Antidepressant Tianeptine Sodium

Apr 6, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times, The Washington Post)

Michigan's governor has signed what's been described by state police as the nation's first statewide ban on the antidepressant tianeptine sodium.
The office of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder announced Thursday that he signed the measure to classify the drug as a Schedule II controlled substance, placing it in the same highly restrictive category that cocaine, marijuana and opiates fall under.
State police flagged the drug to a state lawmaker after a spate of gruesome overdoses in the Midland and Saginaw area in 2017.
Tianeptine sodium is an atypical antidepressant that is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It is marketed as a supplement or research chemical through unregulated vendors but is often abused in high doses to simulate opioid-like highs.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/04/06/us/ap-us-xgr-tianeptine-sodium-ban-michigan.html

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Proposal to End REACH 'Phase-In Substances' Sparks Controversy

Apr 6, 2018 | Chemical Watch

A European Commission proposal for an implementing Regulation to set a 'cut-off date' for REACH phase-in substances could prompt legal challenges, according to a prominent Brussels-based lawyer.
Phase-in substances are those which already exist on the European market and are listed in the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (Einecs).
When REACH came into law the rules for these substances were established as part of a transitional period, designed to reduce the administrative burden of the new Regulation for "an appropriate period of time".
But, with the final REACH deadline of 31 May approaching, the Commission says it no longer considers the concept of 'phase-in' substances can be justified.
And in a paper for the March meeting of the competent authorities for REACH and CLP (Caracal) the EU executive says applying the category phase-in substances to certain chemicals from 1 June would give them an unintended and unreasonable advantage over non phase-in substances and "would be without purpose or justification".
Furthermore the Commission said, since there is no explicit provision in REACH that says phase-in substances should continue to apply indefinitely or otherwise, "an issue of legal certainty arises as to when the transitional period must be considered to have elapsed".Legality
However, Jean-Philippe Montfort, partner at law firm Mayer Brown, says he does not see the legal basis for the cut-off date.
"The legal rationale presented in the paper is very weak and not supported by the REACH legal text," he told Chemical Watch.
If there is a cut-off date that applies, he adds, it could "only be that of 1 June 2018" – but the implementing Regulation would not be ready by this date, he says.
Not only that, Mr Montfort said, the Commission's proposal contradicts an example in the Echa Guidance on Registration dealing with interpreting the so-called three-year rule.
Under this the registration deadline and testing programme for phase-in substances is determined on the basis of the average manufacture or import volumes for the three preceding calendar years.
Ending phase-in substances on 1 June would conflict with Echa's advice.
"Companies have relied in good faith on such interpretations and are now being told, a few months before the deadline, that such an interpretation does not hold," Mr Montfort said.
"Where is the legal certainty? I suspect this will create a lot of last-minute headaches, questions and eventually legal challenges."German stance
The Commission paper came in response to an earlier one submitted by Germany. This said there was "an urgent need for clarification and harmonisation" regarding the phase-in status after 31 May.
The German paper argued there should be no difference between the status of phase-in substances and non phase-in substances after the 2018 registration deadline. Phase-in substances are "privileged" in that they have transition periods for their registration, it argued.
Germany questioned how to interpret the 'three-year average' rule for phase-in substances in Article 3(30) while it still remains in effect.
The Commission said that since this rule constitutes a derogation from a more general rule, it must be interpreted strictly and should only be applicable if the conditions of a chemical being "imported or manufactured for at least three consecutive years" and "average production or import volume for the three preceding calendar years" have been satisfied.
https://chemicalwatch.com/65743/proposal-to-end-reach-phase-in-substances-sparks-controversy

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Energy News

Apple Says Repeal of EPA Carbon Plan Would Threaten Investments

Apr 6, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York TImes)

By Timothy Gardner

Apple Inc said on Friday it opposes any repeal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the Clean Power Plan, which is a priority of the agency's Administrator Scott Pruitt and would reverse an Obama-era program to curb greenhouse gases.
Repealing the plan would jeopardize the country's position in the race for investments in clean energy, particularly its competition with China, Apple said. It was the first public comment by a company on the proposed repeal of the plan, which has never been implemented because of legal challenges.
"Repealing the Clean Power Plan will subject consumers like Apple and our large manufacturing partners to increased investment uncertainty," the California-based company said in a filing to the agency.
Apple, which says it runs its U.S. operations fully on renewable energy such as wind and solar power, added that repeal of the plan would also threaten development and investments that have already been made in renewable power.
Lisa Jackson, who was the EPA's chief from 2009 to 2013 under former President Barack Obama, runs Apple's program to address climate change through renewable energy and energy efficiency.Continue reading the main story
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The opposition from one of America's biggest and best known companies to Pruitt's planned repeal comes as the EPA head is battling allegations about his ethics, including that he leased a room in a Washington townhouse co-owned by the wife of energy industry lobbyist.Newsletter Sign UpContinue reading the main storyInterested in All Things Tech?
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Pruitt proposed last October to repeal the Clean Power Plan, a set of standards for U.S. states intended to cut pollution from power plants, the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. In December, the EPA launched a comment period for a possible replacement of the plan.
Under Pruitt, the EPA has said the Clean Power Plan was illegal and exceeded the agency's statutory authority. The plan never went into effect after it was suspended by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. The EPA has not indicated whether or when it would propose a new rule to regulate the emissions.
The proposed repeal is part of Trump's broader effort to support the coal, oil and natural gas industries and to boost exports of the resources to cut trade deficits.
EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a response to Apple's filing that the agency appreciates all public feedback and will be considering the comments as part of the rulemaking process.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/04/06/technology/06reuters-usa-epa-apple.html

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California’s Hunt for Cleaner Air Smells Like Opportunity

Apr 6, 2018 | Bloomberg (In The Washington Post)

By Laura Blewitt

California’s push for cleaner air means extra cost for giant oil refiners and an opportunity for small companies using new technologies to help them pollute less.
In 2017, the state’s Governor Jerry Brown signed a law that expands refinery emissions monitoring rules and seeks to improve the air quality for neighboring communities. For Anoosheh Oskouian, it’s a chance to grow her 18-year-old Long Beach-based company Ship & Shore Environmental, Inc., which employs about 100 people.
“Refiners as a whole have always managed to lobby against tighter rules as something not being achievable,” she said in a telephone interview.
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That’s getting harder to do in Southern California, where local regulator SCAQMD oversees emissions from seven refineries. Oskouian, a 20-year industry veteran, works closely with the watchdogs and refiners as she serves on the board of SCAQMD advising on best available control technologies and helping rulemakers determine what’s achievable.
One example: out-of-sight flaring, which uses a mesh cover to distribute flames across the top of refinery stacks, concealing the candlesticks of fire that neighbors are accustomed to seeing.
“As a whole, refiners do not like having to go back in and retrofit a lot of existing equipment,” she said. But as advancements take hold, refining companies forced to make changes are running out of options. “I don’t think they can prolong it much longer, because the technology is here now.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/californias-hunt-for-cleaner-air-smells-like-opportunity/2018/04/06/48862b0c-39b3-11e8-af3c-2123715f78df_story.html?utm_term=.59d10511b832

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USGS Records 2 Small Earthquakes in Northwest Oklahoma

Apr 6, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)

The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded two earthquakes in northwestern Oklahoma, the largest with a preliminary magnitude of 3.7.
The USGS reports the larger quake struck at 10:07 a.m. Friday near Covington, two minutes after a magnitude 3.1 quake was recorded in the same area about 56 miles (90 kilometers) northwest of Oklahoma City.
An emergency management official has not returned a phone call seeking comment, but geologists say damage is not likely in quakes below magnitude 4.0.
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Thousands of earthquakes have been recorded in Oklahoma in recent years, with many linked to the underground injection of wastewater from oil and natural gas production.
Oklahoma regulators have directed several oil and gas producers in the state to close injection wells or reduce volumes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/755d0e52-39b3-11e8-af3c-2123715f78df_story.html?utm_term=.6822d1b55506

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LNG Shipments to U.K. Increase as U.S. Ramps Up

Apr 6, 2018 | Houston Chronicle

By Anna Shiryaevskaya

The start of spring has heralded the return of liquefied natural gas to the U.K.
As seasonal demand wanes in Asia, the key buying region for the fuel, cargoes from countries including Qatar and Russia have started arriving on British shores. In total 11 ships will unload from March 7 through Sunday, versus just seven in the four months through February.
Recent imports included the inaugural cargo from the second U.S. facility to export shale gas. The Cove Point facility in Maryland, developed by Dominion Energy of Richmond, Va., is almost a third closer to Britain than Sabine Pass on the Gulf Coast, where Cheniere Energy of Houston launched the first LNG exports about two years ago.
RELATED: Are pipeline land takings in public interest if gas is exported?Recommended Video: Now Playing: Liquefied Natural Gas Produced in Siberia Arrives in Boston
A tanker carrying Russian liquefied natural gas, or LNG, finally landed in Boston on Sunday, despite US-imposed sanctions against the company operating the Russian facility. The French LNG tanker Gaselys landed after sitting outside Boston Harbour for several days. This shipment of Russian LNG to the US is unprecedented and is considered to be the first Russian LNG imported into the United States.Media: Ruptly TV
"We see Asia as still marginally more attractive for U.S. volumes from the Gulf Coast, but the economics change if the supply point is nearer," said John Twomey, a Bloomberg analyst for European power and gas in London. "With the shorter journey distance, I guess Europe could make sense as a destination."
Asian LNG purchases boomed over the past winter as China imported record volumes in a drive to make its air cleaner by reducing coal use. That made Britain more reliant on gas imports from Norway and from mainland Europe, most of which is supplied by Russia.
The LNG supplies to the U.K. are certainly varied, including a rare cargo from Egypt, which is gradually resuming exports as domestic production increases. The Maran Gas Apollonia tanker is due to arrive with LNG from Egypt's Idku plant on Sunday.
The recent boom is the most obvious in the smallest of Britain's three LNG terminals, Dragon in Wales. It is set to receive three LNG cargoes by the end of this week alone. The last time it got three in a month was back in May 2011.
That is helping meet gas demand as cool weather lingered in Britain at the tail-end of winter. Shipments from Dragon to the U.K. grid reached the highest level since March 21 on Thursday, according to National Grid Plc data.
"It remains unclear whether all vessels will fully discharge or deliver partial cargoes," Kpler SAS, a Paris-based cargo-tracking company, said in an emailed note. "At the current rate, the terminal will be forced to maintain high send-outs in order to avoid reaching the maximum storage capacity."
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/LNG-shipments-to-U-K-increase-as-U-S-ramps-up-12812070.php

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

Transportation and Infrastructure News

South Shore to Test New Safety System

Apr 6, 2018 | Chicago Tribune

By Tim Zorn

The South Shore Line announced that it will begin field testing a new safety system on April 9.
As a result, some trains might have fewer cars.
The field testing is part of the process of installing Positive Train Control (PTC), a computerized system designed to automatically slow and stop a train if the engineer fails to take appropriate action.
PTC is designed to prevent derailments and train-to-train collisions caused by speeding, unauthorized movement onto certain track sections, or running a train through a switch left in the wrong position.
It is intended to prevent accidents like the Dec. 18, 2017, crash in Washington state that killed three Amtrak riders when a train entered a curve almost 50 mph over the speed limit.
Michael Noland, South Shore president, said PTC is being installed on all 72 of the railroad's motorized cars and on all 75 miles of track it owns in Indiana.
"Safety is at the forefront of everything we do," Noland said in a news release, "so we are looking forward to implementing this new technology."
Metra is installing PTC on its tracks in Chicago that the South Shore uses and on all the lines it operates in the Chicago metropolitan area.
During field testing, the South Shore will try out PTC on empty trains of two to eight cars outside of rush hour.
PTC is mandated by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The Federal Railroad Administration has said railroads must install it by the end of this year — at their own cost. South Shore estimates the cost at $100 million is seeking a fare increase to help pay for installation and continued operation.
Noland said the South Shore intends to meet that deadline, but is authorized to seek an extension.
Public hearings on the proposed fare increase are scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, April 9, at the NICTD office in Chesterton; 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, at the Hammond Public Library; 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, at Michigan City's City Hall; 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 16, at the Gary Public Library's branch in Miller; and 7 p.m. Eastern time at the South Bend airport.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-train-control-testing-st-0407-20180406-story.html

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Surface Transportation Board Nominees Should Rebuff Rent Seekers

Apr 6, 2018 | The Hill - Congress Blog

By Steve Pociask

The Senate Commerce Committee will vet Trump administration nominees for the Surface Transportation Board (STB) next Wednesday, beginning the process of filling three vacancies at the independent agency tasked with oversight of the railroads. Make no mistake: while the STB may not garner the attention of Cabinet agencies such as the EPA or even other independent bodies like FERC or the FCC, it has significant power. Out of sight and out of mind to many, private freight railroads serve a critical role in U.S. commerce, thus making the outsized role of the STB critical to the health of the U.S. economy.
The nominees and Senate Committee members should understand that the rail industry is one of America’s greatest deregulatory stories; and they all should stand firm behind the strong economic evidence and oppose efforts to enact backdoor rate regulations at the expense of consumers. The evidence shows that consumers, shippers and the industry benefited from the deregulatory reforms that took place in the 1980s. Returning to burdensome and unnecessary rules would ultimately undo these gains.
Let’s look at the historical record.
In 1887, the Interstate Commerce Commission was created to prevent rail companies from setting abusive rates. But as regulations increased over time, that regulatory body became completely out of touch with the modern rail industry. Research shows that the return on investment for railroads averaged 2.4 percent during the period 1962 to 1978, far below the fair rate-of-return experienced by other regulated industries.
Many rail companies became insolvent and most teetered on bankruptcy, as regulations forced rail operators to travel on inefficient and unprofitable routes and laws prohibited the abandonment of tracks. While this resulted in spiking rail transportation costs and increasing prices for everyday products – all during a decade that produced the highest increase in consumer prices on record – the nation’s attention was quickly drawn away from rail toward the open interstate highway system.
The dilapidated state of the rail network and high prices became so dire that the government had to take drastic action. After considering the options of a federal bailout or nationalizing the industry, Congress opted in 1980 to deregulate railroads to revitalize the industry and improve consumer welfare as quickly as possible.
The economic evidence shows that these regulatory reforms brought the industry back from the brink of disaster: consumer prices fell dramatically, all while the industry experienced unparalleled improvements in financial strength and service quality. Railroad productivity tripled and resulted in falling transportation prices of 44 percent in just 10 years after deregulation. For shippers, lower rail costs yielded 65 percent lower prices; for consumers, this resulted in $10 billion in annual consumer welfare benefits. The empirical evidence is clear, the reduction in onerous price and routing controls was a big win for the industry, shippers and consumers.
Unfortunately, this historical record and the evidence was largely ignored the STB just a few years ago when several onerous regulations were proposed. In the ensuing months, the nominees who are likely to be approved to join the STB will be considering these proposed regulations. Among the regulations slated for consideration is allowing rail competitors to use another railroad’s assets and facilities. Essentially, it would force railroads to share their traffic and rail lines — even at below market prices. Another measure would even cap the revenues railroads can earn, which would reduce the cashflow operators need to make the private capital investments.
If private railroad transportation becomes costlier, there will be less private investment and fewer jobs. Higher costs and less investment in railroads will put more trucks on the public roadways, thereby increasing traffic, increasing congestion, leading to more wear and tear on the public infrastructure and increased pollution. It will reduce intermodal competition and cost consumers much, much more.
These regulations would never pass a cost-benefit test – which has been avoided to date. “Instead of demonstrating with evidence that anticompetitive abuse is widespread, the STB proposal simply claimed that proving anticompetitive abuse is too difficult,” says a new report from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
As the American Consumer Institute wrote last year alongside other organizations, “Congress has repeatedly rejected railroad re-regulation, regardless of political control.” Indeed, this nonpartisan issue is easy, and this trend should continue, starting today with this little-watched hearing.
Nearly 40 years ago, we learned how a smarter approach to regulation allowed the rail industry to operate in a more cost-effective and efficient manner, and how this produced major benefits for consumers. In the months ahead, as new STB board is staffed, regulators must be mindful of the past and avoid burdensome and unnecessary proposed rules. That mindful approach would put the well-being of American consumers first.
Steve Pociask is president of the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research, a nonprofit educational and research organization.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/381955-surface-transportation-board-nominees-should-rebuff-rent

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Environment News

EPA Seeks Minor Changes to Fiberglass Regs

Apr 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

By Sean Reilly

Following a court-ordered review, U.S. EPA is proposing only to tweak 2002 air toxics regulations for manufacturers of fiberglass matting.
The proposed rule would make no changes to the hazardous pollutant emission standards for the industry, but would require electronic reporting of performance test results while reducing the frequency of compliance reporting, according to a notice in today's Federal Register.
In what has now become a standard feature of "risk and technology reviews," the agency also intends to eliminate an exemption for emissions violations related to plant startups, shutdowns and malfunctions after a federal appeals court ruled it illegal.
The proposal, which carries a 45-day public comment period, would apply to seven facilities that produce what is technically known as "wet-formed" fiberglass matting used to back asphalt roof shingles.
Those facilities cumulatively release about 23 tons of hazardous pollutants each year, mainly formaldehyde and methanol.
EPA must issue the final rule by year's end under the terms of a consent decree to a lawsuit brought by environmental groups, according to an agency summary.
The risk and technology reviews, which are supposed to be conducted eight years after the original standards are set, are intended to take account of technical advances in pollution controls and fresh research into individual pollutants' health effects.
In this instance, EPA concluded the 2002 emission standards offer "an ample margin of safety to protect public health" and found no new cost-effective controls to further reduce pollution, the proposed rule says.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/06/stories/1060078387

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EPA Faults 3 States Over 2012 Soot Standard

Apr 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

By Sean Reilly

U.S. EPA is officially rapping three states for failing to submit complete cleanup plans for areas out of compliance with the latest federal air quality standard for fine particulates.
The "findings of failure" give Pennsylvania, California and Idaho another two years to update their state implementation plans for addressing a total of five areas now listed in "moderate nonattainment" for the 2012 threshold.
If the three states are still falling short after that point, EPA must step in and do the job for them, according to the Federal Register notice published today.
Fine particulates, often dubbed soot, are technically known as PM2.5 because they are no more than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, or one-thirtieth the width of a human hair. They are linked to a variety of heart and lung problems.
In late 2012, EPA cut its yearly fine particulate standard, which is intended to protect public health, from 15 micrograms to 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
States were then supposed to submit cleanup plans for moderate nonattainment areas by October 2016, according to today's notice.
The three states in question haven't submitted updated emissions inventories or met other requirements for a total of four counties in Pennsylvania and California, as well as the West Silver Valley region in northern Idaho, the notice said.
Today's publication in the Register opens a 60-day window for any lawsuit challenging the findings to be filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/06/stories/1060078357

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Governor Reinstates Enviro Rules Suspended During Harvey

Apr 6, 2018 | Houston Chronicle (In E&E Greenwire)

By Alex Stuckey

The office of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday lifted a suspension of environmental regulations after nearly seven months. The rules were paused as Hurricane Harvey approached.
Just days ago, environmental groups sent a letter to the state Commission on Environmental Quality demanding that the rules take force again.
The Houston Chronicle recently published a series on the state's neglect of more than 100 toxic spills following the storm (Greenwire, March 22).
Environmental reporting and record-keeping and liabilities for emissions violations had been suspended since the moratorium.
"The TCEQ now asserts that the suspension is no longer necessary," James Person, assistant general counsel, wrote yesterday. "Based on the TCEQ's assertion and our office's review, the Office of the Governor hereby grants TCEQ's request to terminate the temporary suspension of those rules."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/06/stories/1060078359

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Former Pentagon Official Will Lead Climate Group

Apr 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

By Nick Sobczyk

The Center for Climate and Security is getting a new leader with years of experience in the Pentagon's environment and energy wing.
John Conger will take over as director, replacing co-Presidents Caitlin Werrell and Francesco Femia, the nonpartisan group announced yesterday.
Conger had previously been on the group's advisory board, where he helped monitor action on climate and national security on Capitol Hill.
"John brings a wealth of experience on the intersection of climate change, national security and defense, having served in senior positions at the Department of Defense where he led the Pentagon's efforts in this area, and having worked closely with us over the past year," Femia said in a statement.
John Conger. Defense Department
Conger led the Pentagon's energy, installations and environment office from three different positions between 2009 and 2015, overseeing a sweeping portfolio of property and military infrastructure.
He also helped shape DOD policy on energy and climate change, which has emerged as a major issue for the military in recent decades.
Before DOD, Conger worked as legislative director for then-Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas), chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee.
He overlapped on the Hill with Lucian Niemeyer, the current assistant secretary of Defense for energy, installations and environment and a longtime staffer for the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Conger holds degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a master's degree from George Washington University.
Femia and Werrell will move on to lead the Council on Strategic Risks, an umbrella organization that will house the Center for Climate and Security and other groups advocating on a range of national security issues.
"John's experience and approach is illustrative of why climate change should be a nonpartisan issue in the United States," Femia said. "It's happening, it's threatening our security, and we need a response that's commensurate to that threat."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/06/stories/1060078371

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