Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 4/12/18
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(ACC Mentioned) US Should Revoke Tariffs to Protect Chemicals, Plastics Trade with China - ACC
Apr 12, 2018 | ICIS
By David Haydon
US President Donald Trump’s administration should revoke its proposed tariffs on China steel and aluminum because of potential chemical business at risk from the ongoing trade dispute, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said on Thursday. -
(ACC Mentioned) America's Chemicals Industry Is Booming. But Politics May Get in Its Way
Apr 12, 2018 | The Economist
“This is what $3bn looks like.” So beams a manager at Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPC), a petrochemical company jointly owned by Chevron and Phillips 66, both American oil firms. -
(ACC Mentioned) Organizations Call for Recycling to be Addressed in Infrastructure Package
Apr 12, 2018 | Waste 360
The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), along with 11 partner associations, delivered a letter to Capitol Hill yesterday calling on the House majority and minority leaders to develop and advance an infrastructure investment package to address the United States’ need for better recycling efforts and innovation. -
Senate moves toward confirming deputy EPA head
Apr 12, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Senate passed a procedural action Thursday that moves lawmakers toward confirming President Trump’s pick to be deputy head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). -
Here's Whom Trump Could Tap as Acting Chief If Pruitt Leaves
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
President Trump has broad authority to pick a temporary successor to Scott Pruitt if he decides to replace his EPA administrator. -
(ACC Mentioned) Report Finds 'Substantial Progress' in IRIS Programme
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US EPA has made "substantial progress" incorporating National Academies of Sciences (NAS) recommendations into its long-embattledIRIS programme, according to a recent report from the independent body. -
Monitoring Our Chemical Exposures: Five Lessons Learned and What's on the Horizon
Apr 12, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Lindsay McCormick
Last October, a groundbreaking report concluded that diseases caused by pollution were responsible for 1 in 6 premature deaths in 2015 worldwide. -
Study Casts Doubt on Paraben Hormone Effects in Humans
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
Hormone-disrupting effects of parabens that have been observed in animals have not confirmed in humans, according to a study by Polish researchers. -
Echa to Send 2017 Substance Evaluation Drafts in June
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Echa will send draft decisions on information requests for 15 substances to registrants for comment in June rather than April. -
Echa Recommends Restriction on Flame Retardants in Polyurethane Foams
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
Echa has recommended that a restriction proposal is prepared on the flame retardants TCEP, TCPP and TDCP in flexible polyurethane (PUR) foams in childcare articles and residential upholstered furniture. -
Echa Round-Up
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Echa is consulting on a harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) proposals for 1,4-dioxane a solvent with many applications, including in lacquers, varnishes, adhesives and cosmetics. -
Aise, UKCPI Urge EU Brexit Negotiator to Avoid Regulatory Divergence
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Trade associations representing the cleaning products sector have written to the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier to call for any Brexit outcome that creates regulatory divergence between the trade bloc and the UK to be avoided. -
Pruitt's Overseas Travel Pulls Icahn LNG Money into Focus
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel and Jean Chemnick
A December trip to Morocco by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt could benefit Carl Icahn, an activist investor who holds a controlling stake in the largest U.S. natural gas exporter and who helped Pruitt secure his position in President Trump's Cabinet. -
Appropriators Corner Perry on DOE Research Spending
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Peter Behr
Officially, Energy Secretary Rick Perry was called before members of the Senate Energy Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday to explain the Trump administration's proposed cuts in energy research in its fiscal 2019 budget. -
Trump Hasn't Torn up This Obama Energy Policy
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Hulac
President Trump has used his executive authority to buoy offshore drilling nationwide, approve the Keystone XL pipeline, declare the United States will leave the Paris climate agreement and hobble efforts to cut greenhouse gases. -
Oil and Gas Cybersecurity Projects Went "To the Bottom of the Pile" in Energy Slump
Apr 12, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Collin Eaton
Oil companies put cybersecurity initiatives on hold while crude prices languished at multi-year lows in 2015 and 2016, falling behind in hardening their systems while state-sponsored hacking groups only got more proficient at probing U.S. energy networks, security experts say. -
Pompeo Defends Trump Withdrawal from Paris Accord
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Arianna Skibell
CIA Director Mike Pompeo said he stands by President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. -
An Eye in the Sky Could Detect Planet-Warming Plumes on the Ground
Apr 11, 2018 | The New York Times
By John Schwartz
Tom Ingersoll, a longtime satellite entrepreneur, admits being startled by a call he received last year: A nonprofit foundation wanted to build a satellite and launch it into orbit to help fight climate change. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s kind of crazy.’” -
Environmental Group to Launch Methane-Tracking Satellite
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Scott Waldman
An environmental group is launching its own climate satellite to monitor methane emissions around the globe.
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(ACC Mentioned) US Should Revoke Tariffs to Protect Chemicals, Plastics Trade with China - ACC
Apr 12, 2018 | ICIS
By David Haydon
US President Donald Trump’s administration should revoke its proposed tariffs on China steel and aluminum because of potential chemical business at risk from the ongoing trade dispute, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said on Thursday.
“We support efforts by the Administration to resolve concerns with China, but strongly believe that these long-standing problems should be addressed through constructive negotiation,” ACC CEO Cal Dooley said during a testimony in front of the US House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.
Dooley suggested the most positive step for the US would be to immediately revoke the proposed steel and aluminum tariffs. Failing that, he said the Trump Administration should do the following:
- Modify the tariffs to make country exemptions permanent;
- Allow associations to request exclusions on behalf of their members;
- Allow product exclusions to all companies rather than on a company by company basis; and
- Exempt key US allies without conditions.The ACC estimates that $5bn in US chemicals and plastics trade to China would be exposed under the tariffs that China has proposed.
“Approximately $194bn in new chemicals and plastics production capacity has been announced in the US in the past eight years,” Dooley said. “Much of the new capacity is intended for export.”
Dooley noted that about 40% of the products on China’s initial Section 301 list relate to chemicals and cover polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polycarbonates (PC), acrylates, and many other chemicals.
“China knows how competitive the US chemicals industry is and has very likely targeted US chemicals exports because it is an area where the US is poised to grow the most,” Dooley said. “That China has included these products on its tariff list is a recognition of the competitiveness of the US chemicals industry and the challenge it poses to China’s own fast growing chemicals industry.”
China imported 11%, or $3.2bn, of all US plastic resins in 2017.
“The effect on the American economy of the Chinese government’s proposed tariffs on chemicals and plastics goes well beyond chemical manufacturers,” Dooley said. “Dozens of other sectors that rely on chemical and plastic products including the automotive, health care, building and construction and consumer goods industries could shoulder higher related costs.”
China announced plans on Tuesday to reduce import tariffs on automobiles and other products, a potential first step towards de-escalation.
https://www.icis.com/resources/news/2018/04/12/10211420/us-should-revoke-tariffs-to-protect-chemicals-plastics-trade-with-china-acc/
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(ACC Mentioned) America's Chemicals Industry Is Booming. But Politics May Get in Its Way
Apr 12, 2018 | The Economist
“This is what $3bn looks like.” So beams a manager at Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPC), a petrochemical company jointly owned by Chevron and Phillips 66, both American oil firms. She throws open her arms in a figurative embrace of a giant cracker (pictured) built by the firm in Baytown, a gritty part of Houston. The new plant turns vast quantities of ethane, which is derived from natural gas, into ethylene, an important building block in plastic. Another nearby facility, which the firm has recently expanded, converts the ethylene into plastic resin that is sold worldwide. All told, CPC has spent some $6bn expanding its chemicals-production infrastructure around Houston.
A decade ago, this would have been unimaginable. Chemicals firms in America, beaten down by rivals from the Middle East that enjoyed cheap feedstocks and others from China feasting on subsidised capital, had not invested in new local plants in years. Growth in global demand for chemicals, once roaring, had slowed thanks to the global financial crisis. America had costly workers, ageing capital stock, pricey feedstocks and sluggish demand. Some crackers were shut down.
It is astonishing, then, that the CPC plant is just one of six new megaprojects in America. According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC), an industry umbrella group, over $185bn in new chemical investments has been announced since 2010, with half of those plants already built or currently under construction (see chart). The industry now accounts for roughly half of all investment in American manufacturing. With annual shipments of over $500bn, it is one of America’s largest export sectors.
This remarkable turnaround in the American chemicals industry’s fortunes raises two questions. Why did it happen, and how sustainable is the boom? The answers point to how clever new ideas are reshaping the “old economy”. They also offer clues about the viability of the industrial renaissance that President Donald Trump wants for America and highlight the risks of his recent trade initiatives.
Behind the rejuvenation lie two things. One is a recent wave of what Jason McLinn of Bain, a consultancy, calls “portfolio reshaping”. Commodity chemicals, which are produced in bulk, and specialty chemicals, such as those used as additives and ingredients, do not have much to do with each other, he says, but chemicals firms seeking growth in sluggish markets like America typically developed both. Now, under pressure from activist investors, bosses are spinning off non-core businesses and bulking up in core areas. This is producing firms with the gargantuan scale needed to take on their giant state-sponsored international rivals. This week, for example, news surfaced that American regulators will approve the $60bn takeover of Monsanto, an American agrochemicals firm, by Germany’s Bayer.
Dow, whose long-standing boss, Andrew Liveris, stepped down as chairman this month, is a case in point. By acquiring DuPont, a local rival, for $130bn last year, he turned Dow into the world’s biggest chemicals firm by sales. The next step in the master plan is to combine the specialty and agricultural-chemicals arms of the two firms, and spin each of them out separately. What remains will focus on the automotive, packaging and construction industries. David Witte of IHS Markit, a research firm, believes it will create a pure-play rival to the biggest firms in the sector.
“I’d rather own a small, subscale, poorly-run cracker in America than any in Europe right now,” chuckles Jonas Oxgaard of Bernstein, an equity-research firm. That quip alludes to the other enormous edge that the American chemicals business has at the moment. The shale revolution is unleashing a tidal wave of cheap natural gas and related liquids that can be used instead of pricier, petroleum-derived naphtha (the feedstock typically used outside America) to make chemicals.
The cost advantage is most evident in the “shale crescent”, a gas-rich swathe of land the size of Germany that includes parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Not only is the ethylene produced there much cheaper than naphtha abroad, but making more sophisticated chemicals and plastics in this region also saves on transport costs since much of American manufacturing is close by. Royal Dutch Shell, a European oil giant, is building a $10bn chemicals complex in Pennsylvania.
Exciting stuff, but there are potential snags. One is inadequate infrastructure. Mark Lashier, boss of CPC, is worried about congestion at Houston’s busy port and so has invested in alternative routes involving both rail and sea. Shell’s Graham van’t Hoff observes that in Texas and Louisiana, “you just connect to a gas pipeline and off you go.” In contrast, the shale crescent requires a massive buildout of pipelines, ports and logistics facilities.
Another potential obstacle to expansion is rising costs. The capital cost of a new petrochemical plant is at least 50% higher in America than in China today, estimates IHS Markit. Because of its many fallow years, the American chemicals industry has lost a generation of talented field managers, welders and other workers. Labour shortages are a big headache and expense.
The darkest cloud, though, is politics. Consider Mr Trump’s tariffs on imports of Chinese steel and aluminium. Dow says that the steel tariffs alone will add $300m to the cost of its new plants in Texas, and threatens to build its next facilities in shale-rich Argentina or in Canada instead. The ACC observes that China imports 11% of all American plastic resins, noting with alarm that 40% of the American products to which China has assigned retaliatory tariffs are chemicals. This tit-for-tat may, in the end, prove mostly bluster. However, it would be rum indeed if Mr Trump’s efforts to support local heavy industry ended up derailing the ongoing revival of America’s once-moribund chemicals sector.
https://www.economist.com/news/business/21740433-it-americas-largest-export-sector-it-will-suffer-trade-war-americas-chemicals
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(ACC Mentioned) Organizations Call for Recycling to be Addressed in Infrastructure Package
Apr 12, 2018 | Waste 360
The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), along with 11 partner associations, delivered a letter to Capitol Hill yesterday calling on the House majority and minority leaders to develop and advance an infrastructure investment package to address the United States’ need for better recycling efforts and innovation. The letter cites recent decisions—and ultimately, disruptors to U.S. recycling programs—by China to reduce or end the import of scrap material from other nations, coupled with the loss of valuable feedstock for American manufacturing when material that isn’t recycled ends up in landfills.
“Recycled materials are a national resource that are underutilized in our economy,” said PLASTICS Vice President of Government Affairs Scott DeFife in a statement. “The facilities that are needed to process recycled materials require modernization. Our letter to lawmakers invites the start of a national dialogue on improving our recycling infrastructure, and jumpstarting the nation's ability to collect, process and recycle more of these valuable commodities. The nation faces a critical juncture in waste management policies, and the federal government can work with state and local entities to make significant inroads with greater investments in recycling education and infrastructure.”
The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), along with 11 partner associations, delivered a letter to Capitol Hill yesterday calling on the House majority and minority leaders to develop and advance an infrastructure investment package to address the United States’ need for better recycling efforts and innovation. The letter cites recent decisions—and ultimately, disruptors to U.S. recycling programs—by China to reduce or end the import of scrap material from other nations, coupled with the loss of valuable feedstock for American manufacturing when material that isn’t recycled ends up in landfills.
“Recycled materials are a national resource that are underutilized in our economy,” said PLASTICS Vice President of Government Affairs Scott DeFife in a statement. “The facilities that are needed to process recycled materials require modernization. Our letter to lawmakers invites the start of a national dialogue on improving our recycling infrastructure, and jumpstarting the nation's ability to collect, process and recycle more of these valuable commodities. The nation faces a critical juncture in waste management policies, and the federal government can work with state and local entities to make significant inroads with greater investments in recycling education and infrastructure.”ADVERTISING
According to the 2016 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Recycling Economic Information Report, in one year recycling and reuse in the United States accounted for 757,000 jobs, $36.6 billion in wages and $6.7 billion in tax revenue.
“The U.S. recycling industry is in a transformative time, and through investment in our recycling infrastructure, we can ensure the industry changes and grows in a way that will meet our domestic manufacturing needs for years to come,” said PLASTICS Vice President of Sustainability Kim Holmes in a statement.
The letter outlines the following priorities:
Retrofitting materials recovery facilities (MRFs) with advanced sorting equipment that can identify and properly handle a wider range of packaging forms, including flexible film and smaller items made of otherwise recyclable material.
Quicker permitting of MRFs, plastics recycling facilities and conversion technology facilities that create valuable chemicals and energy products.
Increased use of recycled material in infrastructure products where appropriate.
Broadened use of private activity bonds for recycling projects.
Incentive grants for state and local governments to expand curbside recycling options and the range of materials collected.
Education and training to improve understanding of what is recyclable and to promote the manufacturing jobs aspect of the recycling process that supports American jobs, the U.S. economy and the environment.
The signatories represent public and private sector associations and organizations, including the American Chemistry Council, Association of Plastics Recyclers, Carpet America Recovery Effort, Flexible Packaging Association, Foodservice Packaging Institute, GreenBlue, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, National Waste & Recycling Association, PAC Packaging Consortium, Solid Waste Association of North America and The Recycling Partnership.
http://www.waste360.com/legislation-regulation/organizations-call-recycling-be-addressed-infrastructure-package
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Senate moves toward confirming deputy EPA head
Apr 12, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Senate passed a procedural action Thursday that moves lawmakers toward confirming President Trump’s pick to be deputy head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The cloture vote for Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, passed 53 to 45. All Republicans present voted for Wheeler, as did three Democrats: Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.). Each of those Democrats is running for reelection this year in a heavily Republican state.
Usually, the Senate would vote on final confirmation for an administration nominee within hours of the cloture vote. But if Democrats wanted to, they could force the Senate to debate Wheeler’s nomination for up to 30 hours, pushing the vote to Friday at the earliest.
Senate Democrats have said in recent days that they want to delay the Wheeler vote as long as possible, arguing that he has not been thoroughly vetted.
If EPA chief Scott Pruitt were to resign or be fired, the deputy administrator would take his spot immediately. Pruitt has been under fire in recent weeks over a serious of spending and ethics controversies, though President Trump has repeatedly expressed his support for the embattled EPA head.
“The circumstances regarding Mr. Wheeler have changed since we had our nomination hearing and vote with the cloud over Administrator Pruitt,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said Wednesday. “I think it would be best advised to hold off on this vote to see if we are voting on the acting administrator or the deputy administrator.”
Sen. Tom Carper (Del.), the top Democrat on the Environment Committee, said he “wouldn’t expect” that the minority would demand the full 30 hours of debate, “but we’ll see.”
Cardin said before the procedural vote that Democrats have few options available to push off Wheeler’s vote.
“The floor action is moving,” he said. “We have very few options that are remaining if the majority doesn’t recognize that this is a different circumstance.”
Republicans said they expect Wheeler to be confirmed, and they won’t leave for the weekend until Wheeler and two judges are confirmed. The Senate usually leaves for the weekend on Thursday afternoon.
“I’m assuming he’s going to get the votes,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.).
“If they want to talk until midnight tonight, they can talk until midnight tonight. We’re going to be here until we’re done,” said Sen. Mike Rounds(R-S.D.).
Wheeler is currently co-head of the energy practice at Faegre Baker Daniels, a law and consulting firm. He was previously registered as a lobbyist for energy companies including coal-mining giant Murray Energy Corp., but undid his registration last year before Trump tapped him for the EPA job.
Wheeler worked in the past for Inhofe when he was chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and worked at the EPA prior to that.
The deputy administrator at the EPA acts as its chief operating officer and oversees employees, among other responsibilities. The agency has been without a politically nominated deputy administration since Trump took office, and its acting deputy administrator, a career official, retired earlier this month.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/382829-senate-moves-toward-confirming-deputy-epa-head
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Here's Whom Trump Could Tap as Acting Chief If Pruitt Leaves
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Niina Heikkinen
President Trump has broad authority to pick a temporary successor to Scott Pruitt if he decides to replace his EPA administrator.
A growing chorus of critics is calling for Pruitt's ouster. So far, it's unclear who would lead the agency if the president heeds their advice, but EPA's plan for succession offers some hints.
Under normal circumstances, a Senate-confirmed deputy administrator would take over as acting EPA chief. But there isn't one — at least for now. The deputy nominee, Andrew Wheeler, is still waiting for Senate confirmation. While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had previously said Wheeler and five other pending nominees would get a vote this week, Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and others are mounting a campaign to prevent the vote (Greenwire, April 11).
All the uncertainty is disrupting predictions of who might lead the agency as acting administrator in the event that Pruitt departs. But one thing seems clear: Trump could pick just about anyone. An acting chief would wield full decisionmaking authority, said Steven Silverman, a former attorney in the EPA general counsel's office.
Trump could follow the path of his predecessor. Right before leaving office, President Obama signed an executive order outlining EPA's order of succession, and it remains the agency's plan in the event of a change, according to an EPA official.
Eligible replacements include assistant administrators, regional administrators and deputy regional administrators, as well as top officials in the general counsel's office and the agency's chief operating officer. Of the pool of 16 people, Pruitt is yet to permanently fill at least six of those positions. The Obama-era order gives Trump some guidelines for naming a successor, but he can essentially tap whomever he wants "to the extent permitted by law."
First in line after the deputy would be EPA's general counsel, Matt Leopold.
Before he became the agency's top lawyer, Leopold sued to repeal the Clean Power Plan and is a strong supporter of giving regulatory authority to states (Climatewire, Sept. 18, 2017).
Next is assistant administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management (previously the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response). However, Peter Wright, who was nominated to lead the office, hasn't been confirmed by the Senate. Anyone who's serving in an acting capacity is also not eligible to become acting administrator, under the order.
Then comes the assistant administrator. The post is currently vacant.
That leaves EPA air chief Bill Wehrum next in line. Wehrum is a veteran of the agency and former acting head of the Office of Air and Radiation during the George W. Bush administration. In recent weeks, he has played a high-profile role in talks with California about revising automobile emissions standards. Wehrum has been rumored as a possible permanent replacement for the administrator (Climatewire, March 15).
Other eligible contenders are: EPA's water chief, Dave Ross; Head of Enforcement Susan Bodine and her principal deputy assistant administrator, Lawrence Starfield; the newly minted chief financial officer, Holly Greaves; and Kevin Minoli, principal deputy general counsel.
Trump could also follow Obama's lead and look to his regional offices for assistance. The most recent acting administrator, Catherine McCabe, who filled in after then-Administrator Gina McCarthy left the agency, had previously been working as acting regional administrator for EPA's Region 2 office in New York.
Whomever the president chooses, if he does, would have to be confirmed by the Senate to be in place permanently.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/04/12/stories/1060078803
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(ACC Mentioned) Report Finds 'Substantial Progress' in IRIS Programme
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US EPA has made "substantial progress" incorporating National Academies of Sciences (NAS) recommendations into its long-embattledIRIS programme, according to a recent report from the independent body.
The NAS report evaluates the "transformation" of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) following its 2011 review, which called for significant reforms to the programme.
The IRIS programme – which assesses the hazards posed by environmental contaminants to allow for estimating the risks posed by exposures to them – remains "a work in progress", according to the report. But the evaluating committee was "impressed with the changes" since its generally favourable assessment of the programme in 2014.
"We see a substantial commitment at EPA to use systematic-review methods in conducting assessments," said Jonathan Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health and chair of the committee that wrote the report. And the report praises the "substantial strides" the IRIS process has made regarding the synthesis and integration of evidence.
In view of the EPA's shrinking staff in this space, the committee said it is encouraged by efforts to collaborate with other agency staff, outside government agencies,and academics to "have the right mix of expertise to develop new approaches and best practices for conducting assessments".
But the committee recommended that the EPA prioritises completing its draft handbook so that it provides better guidance on how IRIS assessments are developed.Industry demurs
Despite the report's rosy outlook, the American Chemistry Council continues to raise concerns about both the IRIS programme and the committee's approach, in line with views voiced at a hearing earlier this year. Industry groups have long questioned the scientific validity of the programme's findings and its lack of transparency.
The ACC told Chemical Watch that it is still reviewing the latest report, but has "serious concerns with the limited scope of the review and the way the workshop was conducted".
The organisation issued a statement following the February hearing questioning the extent to which the EPA had addressed the National Academies recommendations.
"If those recommendations had been fully implemented in the last eight years, the programme would be operating in a more functional manner and would be able produce chemical assessments in a way that is transparent to the public, timely and reflective of the best current scientific methodologies," it said.
It wrote to the NAS later that month criticising the "interim, limited-scope review" of the programme. This includes that the evaluation took place before a finalised IRIS handbook was released, and without substantive examples of how the programme was implementing changes.
It also took issue with the short timelines for the review and for providing public comments.
"In our view, a flawed workshop will likely lead to a flawed report," it wrote.
https://chemicalwatch.com/65939/report-finds-substantial-progress-in-iris-programme
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Monitoring Our Chemical Exposures: Five Lessons Learned and What's on the Horizon
Apr 12, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Lindsay McCormick
Last October, a groundbreaking report concluded that diseases caused by pollution were responsible for 1 in 6 premature deaths in 2015 worldwide. That’s 9 million deaths caused by environmental pollution – three times more than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined.
That may seem startling at first, but health outcomes are largely defined by a person’s genes and their environment. In fact, environmental factors – like ambient and household air pollution, industrial chemicals, and common consumer products – are implicated in health impacts ranging from cancer and asthma to infertility.
Unfortunately, our ability to track an individual’s chemical exposures – also called the “chemical exposome” – lags way behind what we can measure genetically. And without this information, it is virtually impossible to develop sound policies and evidence-based interventions to reduce harmful exposures and protect health.
But what if everyone could monitor hazardous chemical exposures? What if school children, soldiers, pregnant women, flight attendants, nail salon workers, gas attendants, and those living within just a few miles of industrial sites – or just about anyone – could understand chemical exposures in their personal environment?
This is where EDF comes in. EDF is exploring ways to catalyze development and scaling of breakthrough technologies capable of detecting an individual’s exposure to a broad spectrum of chemicals—making the invisible, visible.
Our efforts began three years ago, with a series of pilot projects in which people wore a simple silicone wristband capable of detecting over 1,400 chemicals in the environment. Today, we’re collaborating with diverse stakeholders to identify needs and opportunities for accelerating broad uptake of chemical exposure monitoring technologies. Below are five important lessons to jump-start this opportunity.
1. There’s huge demand for chemical exposure data.
Interest in understanding personal chemical exposures comes from a variety of sources, from military personnel and private sector companies to healthcare providers and consumers – each with their unique technology, performance, and cost preferences. To drive innovation, there is a need to translate this demand into increased investment in and uptake of novel technologies.
2. Funding is not well-designed for the innovation needed.
Traditional public research funding for environmental health studies often does not explicitly support the development of exposure monitoring tools. Moreover, when such funding is made available, it is generally targeted towards the development of tools that address a narrow research question focused on a small subset of chemicals – creating little incentive for the development of technologies designed to measure a wider spectrum of chemical substances.
Diverse funding sources – such as crowd-funding, pre-buying agreements, lending libraries, challenge programs, and venture capital – are needed to spur technology development and uptake.
3. It’s a long game – that will require incremental progress and taking risks.
A single technology that fulfills the demands of all users does not currently exist (and may never). Seeking incremental advancements is likely to be more successful than attempting to develop the perfect device from the get go. At the same time, intelligence programs like IARPA – which invests in high risk/high payoff research programs – teach us the importance of investors tolerating a high failure rate in technology development in order to achieve success.
To that end, identifying and funding a specific use-case of a near-market ready technology, and showing movement towards solving an important problem in 6-24 months, may be the best balance between feasibility and risk-taking.
4. Validation is critical and will support uptake.
Studies designed to validate – or prove the efficacy of – new exposure monitoring technologies are critical to build confidence in these tools among the research community. Unfortunately, the pace of such studies has been slow, largely due to lack of funding. This dynamic can present a catch-22 – as low uptake of technologies due to performance concerns can stymie further development and improvement of promising new technologies.
One way to accelerate the market is through “test beds” – or a standardized set of performance tests – to allow users to compare results across different technologies. A recent technology challenge organized by NIST, the NFL, GE and Under Armour to create a football helmet to mitigate concussions provides an example of such an approach. NIST led the development of the “test bed” to evaluate and compare prototype helmet submission.
5. Communicating chemical exposure results is crucial.
Effective exposure monitoring tools must be coupled with meaningful communication of exposure information so that it is accessible. Without this step, individuals may become overwhelmed by the information and fail to take meaningful action – such as personal behavior change or advocacy efforts – to reduce exposure to hazardous chemicals. EDF is exploring new opportunities to ensure that chemical information is meaningful and useful to individuals.
We believe that with the right incentives, public health researchers, technology developers, and investors can work together to catalyze innovation – in technologies, processes, and business models – to unlock breakthrough solutions and reach the vision of a world where we can readily track our exposure to hazardous chemicals.
http://blogs.edf.org/health/2018/04/12/monitoring-our-chemical-exposures-five-lessons-learned-and-whats-on-the-horizon/
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Study Casts Doubt on Paraben Hormone Effects in Humans
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
Hormone-disrupting effects of parabens that have been observed in animals have not confirmed in humans, according to a study by Polish researchers.
Parabens are popular preservatives used in personal care products, food and medicines. But their effects on the hormone system are still unclear.
The authors, from the Medical University of Bialystok, reviewed research findings related to parabens and human health, and the chemicals' properties, occurrence, and metabolism.
In animal models, parabens have been found to interfere with the functioning of multiple organs and processes in the body, including both male and female reproduction, as well as the thyroid system. Some experimental evidence also suggests a link between parabens and obesity, and hormone-related cancers.
But the study authors say that these effects observed in animals did not concur with human studies. In addition, the parabens' tested doses in animal models were "very often extremely high", making the results incomparable with what humans are exposed to in real life, they say.
The authors say further studies are necessary to find out how parabens affect human health. They also note that research into the impact of parabens on the immune and nervous systems are sparse.
The paper was published in Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology.
Last month the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) published an analysissuggesting that a conclusion on the possible hormone-disrupting effects of the three most commonly used parabens cannot be drawn.
https://chemicalwatch.com/65965/study-casts-doubt-on-paraben-hormone-effects-in-humans
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Echa to Send 2017 Substance Evaluation Drafts in June
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Echa will send draft decisions on information requests for 15 substances to registrants for comment in June rather than April. This is to allow them to finalise preparations for the REACH 2018 submission deadline of 31 May, the agency says. It expects to liaise with up to 200 registrants.
Meanwhile, registrants of ammonium 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-2-(heptafluoropropoxy)propanoate, will receive a draft decision for commenting this month. Echa says it has informed those affected in advance and specified reasons.
It recommends one representative sends consolidated comments on behalf of all addressed registrants of a substance. The agency says its new practical guide on how to act in substance evaluation can provide registrants with further advice for commenting on the draft decisions.
It will send draft decisions for comments to all registrants of the substance, including those who have by that date submitted a registration that is not yet complete in the submission pipeline. Registrants of transported isolated intermediates are also included, but those registrants of on-site isolated intermediates will not receive draft decisions for commenting, it adds.
In 2017, EU member states evaluated 22 substances listed in the Community rolling action plan (Corap). In six cases, the assessor concluded that no further data was needed.
Conclusion documents with possible indications for further regulatory action will be published on Echa’s website "in due course", the agency says.
Registrants will have 30 days to submit their comments.
https://chemicalwatch.com/65962/echa-to-send-2017-substance-evaluation-drafts-in-june
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Echa Recommends Restriction on Flame Retardants in Polyurethane Foams
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
Echa has recommended that a restriction proposal is prepared on the flame retardants TCEP, TCPP and TDCP in flexible polyurethane (PUR) foams in childcare articles and residential upholstered furniture.
The agency published a screening report on its website that identified a carcinogenicity risk for infants from exposure to the substances.
A call for evidence in support of a possible restriction proposal took place between 13 December and 8 February, and received 17 responses.
TCPP and TDCP are used as flame retardants in flexible PUR foams in products such as baby mattresses, car safety seats, baby slings and residential upholstered furniture.
Although TCEP is not in use in the EU, Echa says it may be present as an impurity in other commercial flame retardants or in imported articles.
The three substances are being treated as a group because they have similar uses and are structurally and toxicologically similar.
Baby mattresses were identified as posing the highest carcinogenicity risk to infants, due to the large contact surface area and long duration of contact. A risk of reproductive effects from TCEP and TCPP in mattresses was also identified.
The report says that mattresses for adults may need to be included as well since infants often sleep in their parents’ bed.
Echa now requires a request from the European Commission to initiate preparation of a formal proposal for the REACH Annex XV restriction.Call for wider scope
The European Furniture Industries Confederation, Efic, submitted a position paper in response to Echa’s call for evidence.
In the paper, Efic president Markus Wiesner says that the restriction proposal should have a wider scope than foam in residential furniture because flame retardants are principally used in public contract furniture throughout the EU.
He says: "In these segments of the furniture market, open flame tests leading to the use of flame retardant chemicals are often requested by regulation, buyers or public authorities."
Efic also says a restriction should be applied to textiles, as well as PUR foam.EU-wide restriction
Although Echa recommends an EU-wide restriction, the report says that the UK and Ireland may be exempted or given the choice to opt-out of the ban under certain conditions.
In the UK and Ireland, flammability standards for residential upholstered furniture and some childcare articles require the use of fire retardants.
Other member states only require flame retardants to meet flammability standards for certain products on the office furniture, contract and public markets.
Mr Wiesner says: "A national-based approach would jeopardise consumers’ protection across the EU. It would also set different levels of competitions and barriers to trade in the single market for companies."
Efic is a member of the Alliance for Flame Retardant-Free Furniture, a coalition of 10 organisations which campaigns for fire safety regulations that are harmonised across the EU, but do not require the use of flame retardants.
It lodged a legal complaint with the European Commission against the UK and Irish Fire Safety Regulations in 2016, on the grounds that they pose a barrier to trade in the single market. The Commission told Chemical Watch it is still considering the complaint.US action
More than a dozen US states have restricted some categories of flame retardants.
Maine has banned all flame retardants in upholstered furniture and Rhode Island has banned the sale of bedding and furniture treated with organohalogen flame retardants.
Washington state's Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act, restricts the use of five flame retardants in children's products and residential upholstered furniture.
On a national level, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted in September to grant an NGO's petition to prohibit the use of organohalogen flame retardants in furniture and several other household product categories.
https://chemicalwatch.com/65953/echa-recommends-restriction-on-flame-retardants-in-polyurethane-foams
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Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
CLH proposal
Echa is consulting on a harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) proposals for 1,4-dioxane a solvent with many applications, including in lacquers, varnishes, adhesives and cosmetics.
The Netherlands, which submitted the dossier, is proposing a future entry in Annex VI of the CLP Regulation of:
flammable liquid 2 – highly flammable liquid and vapour
eye irritation 2 – causes serious eye irritation;
mutageniciy 2 – suspected of causing genetic defects;
carcinogenicity 1B, 350 – may cause cancer; and
specific target organ toxicity (single exposure) 3 – may cause respiratory irritation.
Comments are invited on the germ cell mutagenicity and carcinogenicity hazard classes, with a deadline of 8 June.
Avoiding blocked IT accounts
The agency says companies using its IT tools should register two legal entity managers. This will ensure that there is a somebody available as a back up to modify or add accounts in the event of a reorganisation or change of personnel.
Microplastics document
Echa has published a new 'hot topics' document detailing its work on microplastics. Its call for evidence on intentionally added microplastics is still ongoing until 11 May. A recording of last month's webinar on the call has been posted on the agency website.
Video help for firms planning to market a new substance
The agency has released a video for companies planning to place a new substance on the European market. Before registering a new substance, companies must prepare and submit and inquiry to see if there is data already available, or if someone else has already registered the same substance.
The animated two-minute video explains what steps need to be taken to prepare an inquiry and where companies can find more information.
Iuclid videos released
And two new video tutorials for Iuclid have been made available online. One is on how to report read-across using the analogue approach in Iuclid, and the other is on how to report read-across using the category approach in Iuclid.
Webinar on successful REACH 2018 registration
Echa is holding a webinar on 19 April to answer questions about registering successfully for the 31 May REACH deadline. An expert panel will be available to help all on all aspects of registration, from knowing your portfolio and finding co-registrants to preparing and submitting a dossier.
https://chemicalwatch.com/65839/echa-round-up
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Aise, UKCPI Urge EU Brexit Negotiator to Avoid Regulatory Divergence
Apr 12, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Trade associations representing the cleaning products sector have written to the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier to call for any Brexit outcome that creates regulatory divergence between the trade bloc and the UK to be avoided.
In a letter dated 30 March, international soap and detergents trade body Aise and the UK Cleaning Products Industry Association (UKCPI) say any changes that lead to a different regulatory framework between Britain and the EU will "add complexity in monitoring and implementing new regulations".
Regulatory divergence, or the UK’s inability to access regulatory resources from the appropriate EU agencies, "will delay the harmonised implementation of measures that aim to protect consumers’ safety and the environment", they say.
In addition, they call for negotiators to avoid any agreement that requires duplication of regulations, including REACH and the detergents Regulation.
They add that any duplication of costs associated with testing, letters of access and administration would create an "unnecessary burden on manufacturers".
They call for an outcome whereby:
EU27 and UK manufacturers of cleaning and hygiene products continue to have access to each other’s markets at no additional cost or burden;
there is recognition of existing registrations and authorisations, including re-import of already approved products or ingredients, as well as certainty over the future status of UK manufactured substances and products; and
that continuity of access is guaranteed for UK officials to EU agencies such as Echa, for example through associate membership.
Long-term solution
The trade bodies are also calling for a long-term solution that safeguards companies’ licenses to operate, provides business certainty for the future and enables unimpeded trade flows between both parties.
They say the supply and value chains for detergents are "highly complex" and involve cross border exchanges and the free movement of ingredients, raw materials, packaging and final products produced at a price acceptable to consumers across the EU.
They are urging both parties to avoid setting tariff barriers and customs hurdles "as this could negatively impact export volumes between the UK and the rest of the EU" – and thereby impact competitiveness and growth. It is important, they add, to ensure that businesses and public services have the right customs capacities in place.
Need for clarity
Mr Barnier and his UK counterpart David Davis recently signed a conditional agreement between Britain and the EU on the Brexit transition period. Dependent on both sides agreeing a final withdrawal treaty, it sets the transitional period from 29 March 2019 to 31 December 2020.
In their letter, Aise and UKCPI welcome the agreement, but call for clarity on what will happen beyond that date on the issues highlighted.
And, they say questions remain around a "pragmatic and workable" solution to ensure existing goods lawfully placed on the market and held in stocks in the UK and EU27 before 31 December 2020 can still be sold by distributors until used up.
https://chemicalwatch.com/65960/aise-ukcpi-urge-eu-brexit-negotiator-to-avoid-regulatory-divergence
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Pruitt's Overseas Travel Pulls Icahn LNG Money into Focus
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel and Jean Chemnick
A December trip to Morocco by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt could benefit Carl Icahn, an activist investor who holds a controlling stake in the largest U.S. natural gas exporter and who helped Pruitt secure his position in President Trump's Cabinet.
Icahn, made famous as a corporate raider in the 1980s, captured Houston-based Cheniere Energy Inc. through aggressive stock buys in 2015, using his holdings to force out Cheniere's founder and CEO, Charif Souki. He quickly remade the company's management, which he had accused of taking outsized risks, and directed Cheniere to get its Gulf Coast liquefied natural gas export terminals up and running.
Cheniere is the first company to ship LNG from the continental U.S. to global markets.
As Pruitt faces intense scrutiny for his expensive travel and close ties to corporate lobbyists, the EPA administrator's trip to Morocco is attracting more questions. At the time, EPA said Pruitt's agenda for the overseas trip included exploring "new and ongoing areas of collaboration" under a U.S.-Morocco free-trade agreement and Morocco's "interest in importing LNG."
Pruitt's advocacy for LNG during the brief trip surprised many at the time because EPA plays no major role in LNG exports. The Department of Energy has authority over exports of the commodity, while the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission oversees the facilities that ship the gas (Greenwire, Dec. 13, 2017).
Congressional Democrats have demanded more information from EPA on the trip, including on why Pruitt chose not to be briefed by career staff in the agency's Office of International and Tribal Affairs. Instead, Pruitt relied on EPA political advisers.
Pruitt's trip seems in line with the Trump administration's "energy dominance" doctrine, which calls for increased U.S. energy production and a focus on energy exports to bolster U.S. influence abroad.
Yet the role of promoting the interests of American oil and gas companies has fallen to other Cabinet offices in past administrations. Under Trump, an energy-focused trip to a strategic ally in North Africa could have fallen to then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross or Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who has said his main function is to tout U.S. energy interests.
Some observers point to Pruitt's loyalty to natural gas producers in his home state of Oklahoma as a possible explanation for his eagerness to proselytize for LNG exports.
But the Icahn connection to both Pruitt and Cheniere may better explain the Morocco trip, since Cheniere would be the most likely beneficiary of a Moroccan LNG import deal in the near term. Cheniere, with direction from Icahn, has pursued LNG buyers in emerging markets including Morocco.
After Trump won the presidential election, Icahn joined his team of informal advisers at Trump Tower, weighing in on potential Cabinet selections, including for EPA chief. He told CNBC in December 2016 that he interviewed "four or five very good candidates" to lead EPA before concluding that Pruitt should get the job.
Then Icahn got his own job in the administration as Trump's unpaid special adviser on regulatory reform. The New York mogul held the role until August 2017, after coming under fire for pushing for changes to federal renewable fuel standards, administered by EPA, that would benefit a refinery he owns. Advocacy group Public Citizen called for an investigation into whether Icahn's work on RFS reform violated lobbying disclosure laws (E&E Daily, March 8, 2017).
Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesman for Cheniere, said he could not comment on issues related to the company board. He confirmed that the company has worked with the departments of Energy and Commerce on LNG exports.Selling gas abroad
Paul Bledsoe, an Obama-era Energy Department consultant, said Pruitt's Morocco trip and others planned for Japan and Israel, which did not happen, were about burnishing Pruitt's credentials as a political partner to the oil and gas industry.
"Perry is a far more logical face for U.S. energy abroad," said Bledsoe, now with the Progressive Policy Institute.
Sarah Ladislaw, director of the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said playing the role of energy diplomat is "only slightly strange" for an EPA administrator, whom Congress charges with protecting the environment and public health.
"I can't speak to the validity of Pruitt's travel and agendas, but the idea that he thought promoting natural gas is good for the global environment and part of his job is not totally outlandish," she said.
Ladislaw noted that his predecessor, Gina McCarthy, often praised renewables at appearances when she was in the job. The former administrator's international travel included conferences, like the 2015 Paris climate summit, and trips like her 2013 foray to China to discuss bilateral engagement on air quality and climate issues.
"If anything, it is by Pruitt's own measures that I would find his activities strange, as an administrator of legislative prerogatives and [as] a conservative talking about shrinking the size, role and reach of government," Ladislaw said. "Those trips seem like an extension of his mandate rather than within his core mandate."
The four-day excursion cost taxpayers a reported $40,000, including a $17,000 plane ticket for Pruitt.
All the while, Trump has fewer diplomats focused on global energy issues than past presidents. Perry disbanded DOE's international office, for example, and his senior deputy for international affairs, Ted Garrish, was just confirmed by the Senate. The new assistant secretary of Energy for international affairs spent last year advising Perry on nuclear issues.
The State Department's Bureau of Energy Resources is the natural ambassador for U.S. energy interests abroad, especially when they collide with geopolitics, but acting special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs John McCarrick has yet to be confirmed and Frank Fannon, the pick for assistant secretary of State for energy resources, hadn't been nominated when Pruitt headed for North Africa.
Prolific U.S. gas production has made finding new markets abroad an industry priority, but Asia is higher on the list of potential buyers. Morocco has been working to line up financing and support for an LNG import terminal, which would reduce the country's current reliance on Algeria for natural gas pipeline supplies. Morocco is also connected to European gas markets as the Algerian pipeline continues on to Spain, making connecting the North African country to LNG supplies a potentially appealing policy goal for other countries in southern Europe.
Morocco relies heavily on coal for power, and while it is building its solar sector with ambitions to become a significant green energy exporter to Europe, it has called for greater gas use in both the power and industrial sectors. Morocco's nationally determined contribution to the Paris climate accord calls for 3,500 megawatts of combined-cycle gas-fired power by 2025, sourced from LNG.
It's unclear whether Pruitt addressed Morocco's Paris Agreement obligations directly during his meeting with Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development Aziz Rabbah; Minister of Foreign Affairs Mounia Boucetta; and top staff from those agencies.
But a source familiar with the meeting said he touted natural gas as a highly efficient fuel source.
It's an important selling point overseas, said Leslie Palti-Guzman, senior adviser to Rapidan Energy Group and its former global gas director.
"Right now the U.S. is a superpower in terms of gas production, gas exports," she said. "And right now gas is very challenged because of greener renewables or more competitive, cheaper coal, depending on the country. So you need to make the case that gas is a valuable fuel when you're trying to catch your carbon emissions."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/04/12/stories/1060078837
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Appropriators Corner Perry on DOE Research Spending
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Peter Behr
Officially, Energy Secretary Rick Perry was called before members of the Senate Energy Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday to explain the Trump administration's proposed cuts in energy research in its fiscal 2019 budget.
As a practical matter, he found himself in a defensive crouch before Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Patty Murray (D-Pacific Northwest National Lab), Tom Udall (D-Los Alamos and Sandia national labs), Dianne Feinstein (D-Lawrence Livermore and three other Energy Department labs) and Jeff Merkley (D-Bonneville Power Administration, with PNNL as a neighbor). Absent was Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Argonne National Lab and Fermi National Accelerator Lab), but not Sen. John Hoeven (R-Energy and Environmental Research Center).
Murray, the Washington state Democrat, singled out the potential impact of the budget proposal on DOE's 17 national laboratories, saying, "We would be forced to let go thousands of scientists and engineers under your budget, and that loss of knowledge and expertise would be just staggering."
Perry's exchange with Oregon's Merkley was the sharpest, as he picked up on Perry's comment that achieving affordable energy battery storage was the "holy grail" of DOE's research and development efforts.
"If it's the holy grail, why are we going from $41 million to $8 million" in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability account, Merkley asked, adding that the reduced amount would not all be dedicated to research.
Perry countered by saying there is more money for battery R&D elsewhere in the budget. "Sir, I think your line item, pulling out one line item and saying this is all the dollars that we're going to be focusing on a particular effort might be a little bit narrow in scope," he said.
"Show us where else in the budget it is," Merkley cut in. Perry suggested that more battery research is in the portfolio of DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, which invests in early-stage research projects in a search for breakthrough technologies.
Merkley jumped in again, saying Perry couldn't offer that response because DOE's budget proposal would zero out ARPA-E.
Perry reiterated the rationale DOE offered when the proposed fiscal 2019 budget was released, saying DOE is shifting research support to early-stage technologies. The argument is that DOE no longer needs to provide the same level of support to wind and solar energy, building energy systems and fuel cells because these technologies have achieved commercial competitiveness.
Perry has visited a half-dozen of the DOE labs in his first year and needed no reminder of how treasured they are to legislators like Alexander of Tennessee, California's Feinstein, New Mexico's Udall and Illinois' Durbin.
"I disagree with that analysis that we don't support the scientists," Perry said.
"Once technology gets to mature, they'll either make it or they won't out in the marketplace," he said. "We believe our role is more in the early-stage side, and so we transitioned over to the early-stage side of this."
That didn't satisfy Merkley and other Democrats, who said ARPA-E's mission is precisely aimed at early-stage technologies. "Why are you cutting ARPA-E to zero?" Merkley asked.
"That's the budget that we're here to defend," Perry replied.
"Yeah, well, defend it," the senator continued. "I must say, your responsibility to come here is to lay out a vision for us and explain that vision to us. I just asked what your vision is that ARPA-E should be zeroed, and you haven't explained it."
"I've given you the best answer I can give you," Perry said.
Even Alexander, who greeted Perry solicitously and praised DOE's plans to boost spending for next-generation computing, criticized the proposed cuts in DOE's research budget. Alexander cited $870 million in proposed reductions for the Office of Science, $1.6 billion for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, $448 million in nuclear energy and $91 million for the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.
R&D spending at DOE's labs has fostered new technologies for shale gas development, supercomputing, 3-D printing, nuclear and magnetic resonance imaging, optical digital recording, pharmaceuticals, and electricity storage for vehicles and utilities. Continued support is crucial to competitiveness of the U.S. economy, he said.
Alexander noted his support for ARPA-E. "It's off to a good start, so we've funded it," he said.
"The federal debt is not the result of Congress overspending on science and energy research each year," Alexander added.
As he did before the House Energy Appropriations Subcommittee previously, Perry didn't try to punch far out of his corner, acknowledging the inevitability of Congress having the final word.
Although Perry's fiscal 2018 budget proposal also called for terminating ARPA-E, the 2018 omnibus bill that passed Congress and was signed by President Trump this spring included $353 million for the agency, and DOE included that item in its statement hailing the bill's enactment.
"I know what my role is here, and if this committee decides that they're going to fund ARPA-E at a certain level, I'm going to implement it and run it as efficiently and effectively as we can," Perry said.
"I hope you know we respect your right to write that budget. ... We're going to follow the lead of this committee," he added.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/04/12/stories/1060078841
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Trump Hasn't Torn up This Obama Energy Policy
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Hulac
President Trump has used his executive authority to buoy offshore drilling nationwide, approve the Keystone XL pipeline, declare the United States will leave the Paris climate agreement and hobble efforts to cut greenhouse gases.
But his pen has not touched an executive order former President Obama signed in 2015 that's meant to make federal agencies more energy efficient and slash their emissions. That's left some sustainability experts perplexed.
So why did this Obama-era energy policy survive?
An official at the Department of Energy said the Trump administration is aware of the significant costs saved by buying and using energy-efficient equipment.
"That's a factor in deciding what E.O.s stay and what go," that person said.
Still, the official added, cost savings have long factored into federal policies, no matter who sits in the White House.
The Obama order is officially called, "Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade." Among dozens of goals, the order requires agency heads to take steps to cut emissions from federal office buildings, prepare for the impacts of climate change in new construction, buy more zero-emission and electric cars, and make sure regional federal office are ready for disasters linked to climate change.
The order also required agencies, large and small, to track their progress in meeting their energy, climate and environmental goals by publicly releasing annual reports called "strategic sustainability performance plans" (Climatewire, April 11).
The Pentagon, for example, has cut its energy use 20 percent since 2003, it said in its latest report.White House hosted sustainability meeting
Trump administration officials have been gauging agencies' efforts to meet their sustainability goals.
About a month ago, officials at the White House's Office of Management and Budget and Council on Environmental Quality organized a meeting for chief sustainability officers from across the federal bureaucracy, said Nancy Bechtol, chief sustainability officer for the Smithsonian Institution.
At the meeting, staffers from those offices wanted to get a sense of agencies' sustainability goals, Bechtol said by phone.
OMB and CEQ oversee the sustainability reports and provide feedback on the agencies' progress.
While she expects OMB and CEQ to develop new rubrics for the reports and pass them down to the agencies to carry out, Bechtol said the staffers she met didn't say they wanted to get rid of the reports.
"There was no signal to stop, but there was no signal to continue," she said, adding that administrations often take a while to modify the reports, which draw their origins from the George W. Bush administration. "There's always a delay."
Of 24 agencies E&E News reviewed, only one — the Department of Homeland Security — has issued its sustainability report during the Trump administration.
At least some of the reports, including those from the State Department and the Army Corps of Engineers, have been submitted to the OMB, run by Director Mick Mulvaney. Under that 2015 order, he is required to approve the publication of the reports.
An official at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a small government agency, said it worked on its sustainability reports as usual.
"We haven't received guidance yet," the official said of OMB and CEQ.
Only sustainability reports from the Obama era are published on the Broadcasting Board of Governors' website.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/04/12/stories/1060078801
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Oil and Gas Cybersecurity Projects Went "To the Bottom of the Pile" in Energy Slump
Apr 12, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Collin Eaton
Oil companies put cybersecurity initiatives on hold while crude prices languished at multi-year lows in 2015 and 2016, falling behind in hardening their systems while state-sponsored hacking groups only got more proficient at probing U.S. energy networks, security experts say.
As oil companies cut thousands of jobs and pared back drilling operations in the downturn, cybersecurity teams faced funding shortfalls for projects to secure computer networks that run rigs, pipelines and other oil field assets, increasing pressure for a field already challenged by finite resources and competing priorities.
In an oil bust, "projects, capabilities and needs that aren't exactly on top of mind go to the bottom of the pile," said Paul Berger Jr., a cybersecurity professional at Houston oil field services firm Baker Hughes, a GE company.
But among federal agencies and security professionals called in to respond to online attacks, there's no longer any doubtforeign adversaries in Russia, Iran and North Korea have planned and executed attacks to plant themselves in U.S. critical infrastructure, which includes pipelines, refineries and petrochemical plants.
Still, these experts said, there's little evidence of a political push in Congress to address the problem; there are still no regulations governing cybersecurity standards in the U.S. oil and gas industry, as there are for power, nuclear and chemical sectors.
Homeland Security said has begun gathering information on the recent cyber intrusions that shut down the electronic data systems used by four U.S. natural gas pipeline operators. But the agency doesn't disclose information that companies share, said Scott McConnell, a DHS spokesman.
Though federal agencies have said little about the attacks, security experts said the agency's recent acknowledgement of Russia's role in attacks on U.S. energy and industrial networks is a sign Washington may put more resources into tackling the lack of defenses protecting vital networks.
"For way too long, the U.S. government did not want to talk about that," said Galina Antova, co-founder and chief business development officer at cybersecurity firm Claroty.
Still, though, most industrial security teams still lack the technology and personnel to monitor for cyberattacks affecting computer controls that run critical functions at energy and industrial plants, and many of these industrial control devices have been in operation for years or even decades, designed without security features.
"You'll be lucky if your windows machines are running on something better than Windows XP," Antova said.
Even companies that spent hundreds of millions of dollars on cybersecurity protections, she added, have become collateral damage of the accidental spillover of attacks on industrial networks, as was the case last summer when Merck & Co. and FedEx Corp. confirmed cyberattacks compromised their computer systems, intrusions that cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.
"We have to do better," Berger of Baker Hughes said. Hacking groups, he added, "could cause the United States a lot of grief, and a lot of grief in a hurry."
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Oil-and-gas-cybersecurity-projects-went-to-the-12827690.php
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Pompeo Defends Trump Withdrawal from Paris Accord
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Arianna Skibell
CIA Director Mike Pompeo said he stands by President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
At his confirmation hearing today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the prospective secretary of State said the international climate deal would put undue burdens on the United States.
If confirmed as secretary of State, the former Kansas Republican congressman would be tasked with representing the United States in international climate discussions.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) pressed Pompeo, saying "every nation in the world" has pledged to uphold the Paris Agreement.
"Your job is to work with the international community... and yet the United States would be the only country saying we don't want to talk to you about climate," Cardin said. "You don't see a conflict in that position?"
Pompeo responded that there are many times the United States works with its allies and there are many times when "we don't see it the same way," he said.
"There will be places where our allies come alongside us, and there [will be places they don't]," he said.
Cardin referenced statements Pompeo has made in the past questioning the science of climate change and slamming President Obama for "bowing down to the radical environmentalists" in Paris.
Pompeo continued to say he supports the president's position to withdraw from the Paris Agreement but did not go into his views surrounding the validity of climate science.
In 2013, Pompeo said on C-SPAN that "there are scientists that think lots of different things about climate change. There's some who think we're warming; there's some who think we're cooling; there's some who think that the last 16 years have shown a pretty stable climate environment."
At Pompeo's CIA confirmation hearing, he gave a more moderate response when Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) cited former CIA Director John Brennan's finding that the impacts of climate change are causing rising instability in the world. She asked Pompeo whether he had reason to doubt that analysis.
"Senator Harris, I haven't had a chance to — to read those materials with respect to climate change," Pompeo answered. "I do know the agency's role there. Its role is to collect foreign intelligence, to understand threats to the world — that would certainly include threats from poor governance, regional instability, threats from all sources — and deliver that information to policymakers."
He continued, "And to the extent that changes in climatic activity are part of that foreign intelligence collection task, we will deliver that information to you all and to the president."
Pompeo has also been criticized by environmentalists for being one of the top House recipients of cash from the pro-fossil-fuel Koch brothers.
Pompeo's confirmation prospects are unclear. Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, making confirmation uncertain, especially given that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is recovering from cancer treatment and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has made clear his opposition to the nomination over foreign policy disagreements. Democrats helped confirm Pompeo as CIA director, with 14 voting in his favor; if Pompeo fails to garner Democratic support this time around, his nomination could be in trouble.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/12/stories/1060078891
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An Eye in the Sky Could Detect Planet-Warming Plumes on the Ground
Apr 11, 2018 | The New York Times
By John Schwartz
Tom Ingersoll, a longtime satellite entrepreneur, admits being startled by a call he received last year: A nonprofit foundation wanted to build a satellite and launch it into orbit to help fight climate change. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s kind of crazy.’”
In February, he signed on as the project’s manager, after having taken a long look at the technologies required. “It’s hard, but we could probably pull it off,” he said.
Now the rest of the world can decide for itself. On Wednesday, Fred Krupp, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund, announced plans for MethaneSAT, an orbital eye in the sky that could monitor industrial methane leaks all over the planet.
Methane remains one of the thorniest climate problems. It is the major component of natural gas, which produces half the carbon dioxide of coal when burned to run electric plants. But when methane leaks, it is a potent greenhouse gas that traps more than 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide in its first 20 years in the atmosphere. By some estimates, human-caused emissions of methane are thought to be responsible for about a quarter of the warming being experienced today.
But figuring out where methane emissions are coming from is a major challenge. The colorless, odorless gas has proved difficult to measure at the source of leaks without nearby access to the sites. Early attempts by the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the scope of the problem significantly underestimated emissions.
Methane leaks are relatively inexpensive to fix, and stopping leaks allows energy companies to sell more gas. The International Energy Agency has estimated that as much as 50 percent of the 84 million tons of methane emitted by the oil and gas industry every year — from leaky wells and pipes and other causes — “can be mitigated at no net cost, because the value of the captured methane could cover the abatement measures.”
The Environmental Defense Fund has worked for many years on methane issues; it organized a five-year, $20 million research effort into leaks in the United States across the production and supply network. That research, which helped the E.P.A. adjust its national emissions estimates, involved local measurements from ground instruments and airplane flyovers. But such methods are not always feasible — or welcomed — in other countries.
To address the problem of finding leaks around the world, a recent report from the National Academy of Sciences called for methane monitoring from space, where international access is not a problem. “Satellite measurements are critical,” said David T. Allen, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Texas who served on the committee that wrote the report. “Right now satellite measurements are one area in which we have very limited information.”
Some government-launched science satellites do monitor methane, but their instruments lack the resolution to pinpoint sources on the ground. Some commercial ventures also detect methane from space, but their data is proprietary.
MethaneSAT, by comparison, is designed to detect emissions across the planet with sufficiently high resolution to identify sources. The organization plans to make the data publicly available so that companies, policymakers and regulators can take action.
Identifying major sources of leaks could help governments and industry coalitions work together to address the problem, said Daniel J. Jacob, a professor of atmospheric chemistry and environmental engineering at Harvard. “How can you do climate policy for methane if you don’t know where the sources are?” he said.
Mr. Krupp, the Environmental Defense Fund president, is announcing the initiative at the TED2018 conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. His organization has already obtained most of the “tens of millions of dollars” that building the satellite and launching it should cost, Mr. Krupp said in an interview. Much of the early money came from the Robertson Foundation, which has environmental work as part of its focus. The launch is planned for late 2020 or early 2021.
Space is a tough neighborhood; timetables slip and challenges proliferate. But the “new space” movement has helped move orbital launches out of the realm of superpowers and put it within the reach of businesses and nonprofits.
“I think this is entirely feasible,” said Peter Platzer, the chief executive of Spire Global, a satellite company, who was not involved with the MethaneSAT project but has talked with members of the team extensively.
The environmental group is also working with Steven C. Wofsy, a professor of atmospheric and environmental science at Harvard, and his colleagues to address the daunting technology challenge of creating an infrared spectrometer that can detect methane plumes on the Earth’s surface.
Mr. Ingersoll, MethaneSAT’s project manager, said that some of the technologies to be incorporated into the satellite had been developed for defense purposes, so “it’s fun to see this technology broaden, and bring potentially very beneficial applications to society.”
Discussions and research on the project began in 2015, Mr. Krupp said, as a way to extend his group’s methane monitoring beyond North America. Since the 2016 election, the Trump administration and the E.P.A. administrator, Scott Pruitt, have tried to roll back Obama-era rulesintended to crack down on leaks.
“We now see an added urgency that this satellite will give us data from the United States — much of it won’t be available any other way, given the actions that Pruitt has taken,” Mr. Krupp said. “We can’t wait for Washington, especially not now.”
The lead scientist for a major methane-detecting satellite program applauded the idea. Ilse Aben, a senior scientist at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research, presented the first data this week from a European satellite launched in October with an instrument that can detect methane, but at lower spatial resolution. She said the Environmental Defense Fund’s plan was “really complementary to what we have now.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/climate/methane-monitoring-satellite.html
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Environmental Group to Launch Methane-Tracking Satellite
Apr 12, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Scott Waldman
An environmental group is launching its own climate satellite to monitor methane emissions around the globe.
The Environmental Defense Fund's MethaneSAT will have the ability to measure potent leaks at natural gas wellheads and other facilities. It's projected to launch in 2021 and will be the size of a dishwasher. The satellite will cost about $40 million.
Methane has much stronger warming potential than carbon dioxide in the short term and often leaks from the natural gas industry's network of wells, pipelines, processing facilities and storage tanks. The satellite will also track emissions from feedlots, landfills and other man-made methane sources, according to EDF.
It will monitor about 80 percent of the world's oil and gas production in weekly intervals, said Mark Brownstein, senior vice president of energy at EDF.
"What we're hoping to do is get better data to refine our understanding of the magnitude of the problem and where it is coming from, and then use that data to be able to track progress in making reductions over time," he said.
He said the satellite could become a tool for the energy industry. It could measure progress toward reducing emissions and reveal leaks. It could also be used to hold countries accountable for their emissions reduction goals as part of the Paris climate agreement.
The satellite will be placed in sun-synchronous orbit and be able to track methane levels of about 2 parts per billion, a much higher detection threshold than the 10 or 15 ppb tracked by other satellites. That will allow it to narrow in on leaks with unique precision, Brownstein said.
"We are simply taking advantage of the fact that technology is now making this kind of endeavor possible," he said. "That being said, with this project, we are pushing the known suite of technologies pretty far: the sensor that is necessary to read this data with the kind of granularity that we're looking for, the computing power that is necessary to take the ones and the zeroes that this satellites will produce and make sense of it."
EDF recently tapped Tom Ingersoll, a 30-year veteran of the commercial space industry who has worked to launch high-resolution imaging satellites, to head the project. EDF is partnering with Harvard University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to develop the mission. One of the biggest differences between the EDF satellite and those used by the energy industry is the wide field of vision and level of specificity it will offer, Ingersoll said.
"We're going after a very high degree of precision," he said. "We're really looking at large swaths, trying to detect sources that are largely unknown, whereas some of the commercial systems are looking almost through a soda straw, trying to detect known emission sources."
EDF has used its methane tracking efforts to push for regulations in the past. EDF used an airplane with an infrared camera to track methane leaking from a natural gas facility outside Los Angeles in 2015. The video went viral and contributed to public pressure, pushing state lawmakers to impose more stringent regulations on the industry.
EDF has also mapped methane plumes in more than a dozen major cities in the United States, revealing thousands of leaks, including some that had been unrepaired for months. Gas utilities in New Jersey, Illinois and New York are now using its map to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure.
EDF will initially focus its monitoring on parts of the world with significant methane emissions and where government officials have shown a willingness to act, including North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The group said it plans to collaborate with industry.
The industry has a vested interest in reducing methane emissions. Methane leaks cost the natural gas industry up to $10 billion annually, according to NASA.
Energy industry groups did not immediately embrace the project, though some have worked with EDF in the past. A spokesman for the American Gas Association, which has worked with EDF on other emissions reduction programs, said it would wait for additional details before weighing in on the satellite program.
The U.S. oil and natural gas industry is already employing new methods and technological innovations to reduce emissions, said Neal Kirby, a spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Association of America. Tracking emissions through satellites has limitations, he said.
"The limitation of tracking methane via satellite measurements is that it cannot attribute the source of emissions," he said in a statement. "IPAA supports efforts to improve methane emission estimates and attribution, as well as common sense, workable methods for the U.S. to further reduce emissions."
The American Petroleum Institute declined to comment on EDF's satellite, but it touted recent emissions reductions.
"The natural gas and oil industry is constantly leveraging advanced technologies — on the ground and in the air — and have for years in an effort to accelerate methane emission reductions from our operations, and to date, our innovations have led to a rapid decline in methane emissions during a period where U.S. natural gas production has grown exponentially," API spokesman Reid Porter said.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/04/12/stories/1060078847
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