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ACC PM 20/04/18

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) PVC, Solid PS Up While PP Down Big in March
Apr 20, 2018 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito

Solid polystyrene and PVC resins both saw price hikes in North America in March, while regional polypropylene prices took another big tumble.
(ACC Mentioned) Politics-Driven ‘Secret Science’ Initiative Isn’t Going Over Well with EPA Staff
Apr 20, 2018 | Think Progress
By E. A. Crunden

Internal efforts to introduce a “secret science” initiative requiring all data used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be made public has been met with concern not only from scientists and environmentalists but from members of EPA head Scott Pruitt’s own staff.
EPA Sent Scientific Transparency Policy to OMB
Apr 20, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Annie Snider

EPA has sent the White House a proposal that appears to be its controversial policy to limit the type of research the agency can rely on when setting new regulations.
G.O.P. Support Shows Cracks as Scott Pruitt’s Ethics Inquiries Widen
Apr 20, 2018 | The New York Times
By Coral Davenport

Some of the most reliable conservatives in Congress are starting to speak out against Scott Pruitt, the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency who is now facing a barrage of ethics and spending questions.
Is It Finally Scott Pruitt’s Time to Go?
Apr 20, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Jennifer Rubin

Even casual political-watchers know that Friday is the customary day for dropping bad news and dumping senior officials.
‘A Factory of Bad Ideas’: How Scott Pruitt Undermined His Mission at EPA
Apr 20, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis and Josh Dawsey

The gathering in the Oval Office was supposed to be about ethanol policy. But the meeting had barely gotten underway earlier this month when President Trump turned his attention to Scott Pruitt’s “rough week.”
Wheeler Sworn In
Apr 20, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus

Andrew Wheeler has officially joined EPA as its new No. 2.

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

Chemical Management News

NOW is the Time to Modernize the OTC Monograph System
Apr 20, 2018 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Scott Melville

Some wines get better with age, but regulatory systems typically do not.

Energy News

It’s All About Ethane in the Petrochemical Industry
Apr 20, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By Katherine Blunt

The trend has been swift and surprising: The U.S., once a laggard in petrochemical production, is quickly outpacing the Middle East in capacity thanks to a surge in natural gas from shale fields in West Texas and elsewhere.
Analysis: Global Ethylene Balance Skewed on New US Capacity, Asian Outages
Apr 20, 2018 | Platts
By Maria Tsay, Nida Qureshi, and Fumiko Dobashi

Global ethylene prices have seen a stark divergence recently, with the Atlantic Basin coming under increased pressure amid capacity additions in the US while the Asia-Pacific region has been strong on the back of outages.
Trump Slams OPEC for Pushing Oil Prices Higher
Apr 20, 2018 | Bloomberg (In Houston Chronicle)
By Grant Smith, Angelina Rascouet and Wael Mahdi

President Donald Trump slammed OPEC for inflating oil prices after the cartel showed a willingness to further tighten crude markets.
Oil Prices Drop After Trump Tweet Criticizing OPEC
Apr 20, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama

Domestic oil prices dropped Friday morning after President Trump slammed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for allegedly inflating prices.
More Than 100 in Congress Opposed to Revising Natural Gas Venting/Flaring Rule
Apr 20, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut

More than 100 members of Congress, all but two Democrats, have sent Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke a letter stating their "strong opposition" over plans to revise or rescind an Obama-era rule governing associated natural gas flaring and venting on public and tribal lands.
Compliance Costs Create Dilemma For Wehrum's Bid To Kill Utility MACT
Apr 20, 2018 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss

EPA air chief William Wehrum is acknowledging that he faces a dilemma over whether to grant calls from utilities and others to scrap the regulatory justification for the Obama-era utility air toxics rule as a “satisfying” move, or retain it as even some of its staunchest industry critics have spent millions in compliance costs.
NJ Governor Signs Bill to Block Offshore Drilling
Apr 20, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed into law Friday a bill meant to block offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in state-controlled waters.
New Partnership to Launch North American CHP Product
Apr 20, 2018 | Decentralized Energy
By Tildy Bayar

European residential and commercial combined heat and power (CHP) firm EC Power is to partner with US-based boiler and water heater manufacturer Lochinvar to launch a cogeneration product for the North American market.
HEI Study Shows Effectiveness of Air Pollution Controls
Apr 20, 2018 | Inside EPA

A new study by the Health Effects Institute (HEI), which is funded jointly by EPA and the auto industry, claims to show the effectiveness of air pollution reductions in boosting public health, using long-term research on reductions in emergency room visits in Atlanta due to power plant and vehicle pollution control measures.
Cantwell Wants to Protect Coasts from Spills
Apr 20, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Rob Hotakainen

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, which killed 11 crew members and injured 17 others.
Valero Plant Explodes; No Injuries Reported
Apr 20, 2018 | Houston Chronicle (In E&E Greenwire)

An explosion caused a large fire yesterday afternoon at a Texas City, Texas, plant, according to officials.

Chemical Security News

Contaminated Soil Leads to Tense Dispute with Army Corps
Apr 20, 2018 | Fort Worth Star-Telegram (In E&E Greenwire)

A Fort Worth, Texas, contractor says he was fleeced by the Army Corps of Engineers after about 30 of his workers were unwittingly exposed to toxic fumes and contaminated soil.

Transportation and Infrastructure News - There are no clips to report at this time.

Environment News

Orion Installing Emissions Equipment to Comply With EPA
Apr 20, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Alex Tullo

Carbon black maker Orion Engineered Carbons will install Haldor Topsoe’s SNOX emissions control technology at its facility in Ivanhoe, La.
100% Renewables — Gimmick or Game Changer?
Apr 20, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Christa Marshall

Are company claims about 100 percent renewables wrong?

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) PVC, Solid PS Up While PP Down Big in March

Apr 20, 2018 | Plastics News

By Frank Esposito

Solid polystyrene and PVC resins both saw price hikes in North America in March, while regional polypropylene prices took another big tumble.
Meanwhile, prices in the region for polyethylene were flat for the month and PET bottle resin prices slipped by a penny, ending a lengthy streak of increases.
Regional suspension PVC prices moved up an average of 2 cents per pound for March after moving up 3 cents in February. Prior to those increases, PVC prices had been flat in January and down a penny in December.
These February-March increases have taken hold as a result of a stronger export market and because of limited production at some PVC plants in the region, market sources said.
U.S./Canadian PVC sales grew just over 1 percent in January, according to the American Chemistry Council, with export growth of almost 6 percent making up for a decline of almost 1 percent in domestic sales. Two-month PVC sales into its flagship rigid pipe and tubing end market were down almost 3 percent, as winter weather slowed construction activity.
In other major PVC end markets, sales of the material into film and sheet slumped almost 7 percent through February, while PVC sales into extruded windows and doors are off to a scorching start in 2018, surging almost 20 percent.
Regional PS prices moved up an average of 4 cents per pound for March after rising 2 cents in February. The hike surprisingly occurred even though benzene feedstock prices declined slightly. The upward push was a result of production outages down the chain, according to Phil Karig, managing director of the Mathelin Bay Associates consulting firm in St. Louis.
Prices for PS had been flat in January after climbing 5 cents in December, placing the total increase for the last four months at 11 cents.
North American PS sales slumped almost 7 percent in the first two months of 2018. A domestic sales loss of just over 7 percent was softened somewhat by an increase of almost 5 percent in export sales.
One bright spot for regional PS sales in the first two months of the year came in sales to distributors and resellers, which grew just over 6 percent. That category accounted for more than 10 percent of domestic PS sales during that period.EspositoPolypropylene down
PP prices declined by an average of 6 cents per pound in March. Prices had fallen by a similar amount in February after jumping up 9 cents in January. Some 21 cents of combined price movement in three months is a lot for a commodity material, even one as volatile as PP.
The 6-cent March drop matched a similar price decline for polymer-grade propylene (PGP) feedstock. Supplies of both PP resin and propylene monomer have improved after a winter cold snap affected production in the Houston area. That cold snap led to the 9-cent January jump.
Scott Newell, a PP market analyst with Resin Technology Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, thinks the 6-cent March price drop will be the last big decline seen for a while. A major PP buyer in the Midwest told Plastics News that an April price reduction could be around 2 cents.
Newell also said North American PP demand has had seven straight months of below average demand, so March demand numbers "will show a decent pop." The weak PP demand that Newell was referring to was seen in sales data for the first two months of 2018 from ACC.
North American PP sales for that two-month period were down almost 4 percent vs. the same period in 2017. A domestic sales decline of almost 3 percent was worsened by a plunge of almost 28 percent for sales into the export market.
PP posted positive domestic sales results for those two months in film — up almost 5 percent — and injection molded caps and closures, where sales grew almost 1 percent.
Prior to the February slide, North American PP prices had increased for seven consecutive months, with those increases totaling 19.5 cents per pound. Higher domestic demand combined with supply outages had played a role in these price hikes.
The 1-cent price PET decline ended a streak of nine consecutive months in which prices had increased. Those nine increases totaled 13 cents per pound. Lower feedstock prices were cited as a reason for the price drop. Demand for PET could be increasing as warmer weather drives demand for bottled water and carbonated soft drinks, two of the material's major end markets.
PET bottle resin prices in the region had remained tight in the wake of M&G Polymers' bankruptcy-related shutdown of its 800 million-pound-capacity plant in Apple Grove, W.Va. That plant now has been purchased by Far East New Century Corp. of Taiwan and is expected to restart, which would improve supplies for the regional market.
Regional PE prices were flat in March after climbing 4 cents in February. That move had followed a 3-cent January decline.
U.S./Canadian PE sales got off to a mixed start through February, according to ACC. Regional sales of high density PE were up more than 3 percent, with linear low density PE sales rising almost 8 percent. But sales of low density PE had a rough start to the year, slipping more than 7 percent.
For HDPE, domestic sales growth of almost 4 percent was dampened slightly by export growth of less than 2 percent. Domestic HDPE sales growth in that period was boosted by a gain of almost 14 percent for sales into pipe and conduit, including a gain of almost 21 percent in water pipe.
In LLDPE, exports boomed almost 38 percent in the two months — fueled by new capacity added in 2017 — boosting flat domestic sales. Domestic LLDPE sales into injection molding grew 17 percent in the two-month period.
LDPE's 6 percent domestic sales drop in those 60 days was worsened by an 11.5 percent plunge in export sales. In spite of the overall sales drop, sales of LDPE into food packaging film jumped more than 2 percent for the two months.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20180420/NEWS/180429988/pvc-solid-ps-up-while-pp-down-big-in-march

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(ACC Mentioned) Politics-Driven ‘Secret Science’ Initiative Isn’t Going Over Well with EPA Staff

Apr 20, 2018 | Think Progress

By E. A. Crunden

Internal efforts to introduce a “secret science” initiative requiring all data used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be made public has been met with concern not only from scientists and environmentalists but from members of EPA head Scott Pruitt’s own staff.
Plans to adopt anti-science rules pushed by longtime climate denier and House Science, Space, and Technology Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) have seen resistance from employees within the EPA, Politico first reported Friday. Smith has pushed for restricting the EPA’s use of scientific evidence, arguing the agency should only use scientific studies based on public data.Advertisement
As critics have pointed out in the past, the impact would be to impose a dramatic burden on EPA officials effectively limiting their ability to introduce new protections for health and the environment.
And now, according to internal emails obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and shared with ThinkProgress, even members of the EPA with deep industry ties are concerned about the initiative’s implications.
In the emails, Nancy Beck, deputy assistant administrator at the EPA chemicals office, expressed worry over that approach. Prior to working at the EPA, Beck worked at the American Chemistry Council, a powerful lobby group whose members include Dow Chemical, DuPont, Monsanto, ExxonMobil Chemical, and Chevron Phillips Chemical.
Writing to Richard Yamada, who works for the EPA’s Office of Research and Development and previously had a role working with Rep. Smith in drafting legislation restricting scientific studies to public data, Beck highlighted the staggering costs associated with requiring data be published, as well as concern over the restrictions on using chemical industry data.Advertisement
“Making data available is very different than requiring a publication requirement. Such a requirement would be incredibly burdensome, not practical, and you would need to create a whole new arm of the publishing industry to publish these types of studies that nobody is interested in,” she wrote in one January email.
Beck’s criticisms echo a previous report by the Congressional Budget Office that found it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and a lot of time by administrators, to create such a database.
“These data will be extremely valuable, extremely high quality, and NOT published,” Beck continued, nodding to the fact that the new rule would not just impact climate science but industry information pesticide companies do not want to make public. “The directive needs to be revised.”
Beck also noted in a later March email that courts have determined underlying raw data is not necessary for the EPA to make policy decisions.
EPA planning to adopt climate denier Lamar Smith’s unpopular anti-science rules
While they come from an industry perspective, Beck’s emails reflect the wider sentiments shared by scientists and environmental experts. Creating a database of scientific data used by the EPA would be a costly, overwhelming endeavor, one further hindered by the need to redact confidential information such as patient information included in health-related data or sensitive corporate information. More broadly, making such data public could put scientists at risk, to say nothing of breaching confidentiality rules.Advertisement
Smith has long advocated for such measures regardless and sponsored the Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment (HONEST) Act, essentially a congressional version of the approach currently under consideration by the EPA. The HONEST Act passed the House in March 2017 but it has stalled ever since, with slim chances of proceeding.
Additional emails obtained by UCS confirm that Smith met with Pruitt in early January to discuss implementing the HONEST Act administratively in order to bypass Congress. The documents indicate the current initiative is driven largely by politics, the UCS says, rather than concern for data integrity and the work the EPA does more broadly.
“The biggest takeaway was the policy to restrict the use of science that has been floated around, but not officially confirmed — hatched by political appointees doing their best to make sure independent scientific analysis does not get in their way,” said Yogin Kothari, senior representative at UCS, told The Hill.
Under Pruitt’s leadership, the agency has repeatedly touted work authored by deniers of climate science, in addition to elevating writing from conservative publications like the Daily Caller. A review of Pruitt’s public calendar by ThinkProgress indicates the EPA administrator also prioritized giving speeches to right-wing think tanks funded by the Kochs and Mercers during his first year with the agency, in addition to meeting frequently with industry groups (and none with environmental or public health groups).
Pruitt is under fire for more than partisan politics. The EPA head’s spending habits have drawn the ire of Congress, including the installation of a $43,000 sound-proof privacy booth. Questions over Pruitt’s alleged misuse of funds led 170 lawmakers to sign a resolution calling for his resignation on Wednesday. The internal watchdog at the EPA has launched half a dozen investigations into the issue.
https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/

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EPA Sent Scientific Transparency Policy to OMB

Apr 20, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard

By Annie Snider

EPA has sent the White House a proposal that appears to be its controversial policy to limit the type of research the agency can rely on when setting new regulations.
The agency submitted a proposed rule entitled "Strengthening Transparency and Validity in Regulatory Science" to the White House Office of Management and Budget Thursday for interagency review. The listing includes no description of the regulation, but EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt last month announced plans for a new scientific transparency policy that would essentially enact administratively legislation from House Science Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) that would require all studies EPA relies on for setting regulations to be peer-reviewed and make their raw data publicly available.
Scientists and public health advocates argue the policy is really an effort to hamstring environmental regulation. They say it would exclude many studies on how air pollution, toxic chemicals and other contaminants affect human health because of laws protecting personal medical information.
But internal emails obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists show that EPA political staffers had their own concerns that slowed the policy, namely that it could restrict the agency's use of industry data when evaluating the safety of pesticides and toxic chemicals.
"We will need to thread this one real tight!” Richard Yamada, the Office of Research and Development official leading development of the new policy wrote after the top political official in the agency's chemicals office raised concerns. That official, Nancy Beck, was a lead expert for the chemical industry's main lobbying group prior to joining EPA last year.
WHAT'S NEXT: The White House will review the proposed new policy and other federal agencies will weigh in.
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard

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G.O.P. Support Shows Cracks as Scott Pruitt’s Ethics Inquiries Widen

Apr 20, 2018 | The New York Times

By Coral Davenport

Some of the most reliable conservatives in Congress are starting to speak out against Scott Pruitt, the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency who is now facing a barrage of ethics and spending questions.
Previously, conservative Republicans had shown a reluctance to question the actions of top Trump administration officials. Their new outspokenness against a prominent architect of President Trump’s regulatory rollback represents a major break from the past.
In an interview this week, Senator John Boozman of Arkansas said of Mr. Pruitt, “I think there are legitimate concerns about him.” He applauded Mr. Pruitt’s industry-friendly environmental policies, but said, “I think the president at some point is going to weigh in.” Mr. Boozman serves on the Senate environment panel as well as the powerful Appropriations Committee, which controls the E.P.A.’s spending.
On Thursday, John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 ranking member of the Senate, said that Mr. Pruitt was “just fine” on policy, “but obviously this controversy continues to swirl and it needs to be resolved, one way or the other.” Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy Committee, said she intended to summon Mr. Pruitt to her committee for questioning.
“The administration has a decision to make” on Mr. Pruitt’s future, she said.
Also on Thursday, the E.P.A.’s inspector general opened a new investigation into Mr. Pruitt’s use of the agency’s security team for personal travel. [Expenses, Emails and a Phone Booth: The Investigations Faced by Scott Pruitt.]
Mr. Pruitt is expected to face a grilling next week when he is scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the environment. Representative Greg Walden of Oregon, chairman of the House Energy panel, said that Mr. Pruitt would have to answer the “many questions” that Mr. Walden and other Representatives have about his performance.
It’s a far cry from a year ago, when the Senate confirmed Mr. Pruitt as head of the E.P.A. and Republicans rhapsodized about the man who had built a career by suing the agency he would now lead. They celebrated Mr. Pruitt’s zeal to roll back Obama-era regulations on water and air pollution.
Now, however, Mr. Pruitt is caught in a barrage of questions surrounding his illegal purchase of an office phone booth, his expenditures on first-class travel and the ethics of his rental of a condominium linked to an energy lobbyist.
Mr. Pruitt’s fate ultimately depends on Mr. Trump, who has publicly supported him. But Republicans are not only calling for him to face further Congressional inquiry — Mr. Boozman in the interview also urged Mr. Pruitt to explain himself before his two powerful committees — but are also opening investigations into his spending.
On Wednesday, the White House budget director, Mick Mulvaney, said he was opening an investigation into Mr. Pruitt’s decision to spend $43,000 on a secure phone booth for his office, after a Monday report by a congressional watchdog agency concluded that the expenditure was illegal.
Last week, Representative Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican who is chairman of the House Oversight Committee, opened an investigation into Mr. Pruitt’s expenditures on first-class travel, which the E.P.A. has said were necessary because passengers have made threatening remarks to Mr. Pruitt during flights. Mr. Gowdy, who gained prominence for his investigations into Hillary Clinton over the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead, on Sunday had pointed words for Mr. Pruitt.
"I would be shocked if that many people knew who Scott Pruitt was,” Mr. Gowdy said on Fox News. “So the notion that I have to fly first class because I don’t want people to be mean to me, you need to go into another line of work if you don’t want people to be mean to you, like maybe a monk where you don’t come in contact with anyone.”
Privately, a number of Republican staffers and strategists say that last week’s Senate confirmation of Mr. Pruitt’s deputy, Andrew Wheeler — a former coal lobbyist who worked for years on Capitol Hill — would make Mr. Pruitt’s departure easier because Mr. Wheeler would be in place as acting E.P.A. chief and could be relied upon to implement an agenda of rolling back environmental regulations.
Some Republican lawmakers have also pointed out the similarities between Mr. Pruitt’s case and that of Tom Price, Mr. Trump’s former secretary of health and human services. Mr. Price was forced to resign after racking up at least $400,000 in travel bills for chartered flights.
“The ethical lapses associated with Scott Pruitt are troublesome,” Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said. “It will be the President’s call,” Mr. Cassidy added, noting:
“He let Price go.”
Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist, suggested that, at a moment when Mr. Trump’s troubles include news conferences by a pornographic film actress, the raiding of his lawyer’s office and hotel room, and questions about his ties to Russia, the ethical questions surrounding Mr. Pruitt’s spending may have slid under the radar. But if they continue, he said, Republicans are unlikely to be sympathetic.
“Maybe when Pruitt’s 30-person Secret Service detail carries him through Disney World in a sedan chair like a mandarin, people will have had enough,” Mr. Castellanos wrote in an email. “That’s Pruitt’s real problem. Pruitt represents the opposite of Donald Trump’s populism: He thinks he is more worthy than the little people he represents.”
Senator John Barrasso, who leads the Senate Environment Committee, has long been a cheerleader for and defender of Mr. Pruitt. His home state of Wyoming is the nation’s largest producer of coal, and Mr. Barrasso has, in particular, celebrated Mr. Pruitt’s efforts to loosen rules on coal pollution.
But his tone changed markedly after the release of Monday’s report on Mr. Pruitt’s phone booth spending.
“The Government Accountability Office has found that E.P.A. failed to notify Congress before installing this privacy booth,” said Mr. Barrasso in a statement. “It is critical that E.P.A. and all federal agencies comply with notification requirements to Congress before spending taxpayer dollars. E.P.A. must give a full public accounting of this expenditure and explain why the agency thinks it was complying with the law.”
Many of Mr. Pruitt’s critics from the right have zeroed in on the question of his use of taxpayer dollars. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, a favorite of the Tea Party movement, said: “He needs to watch his expenditures. It’s important that we protect our American taxpayers.”
Of course Mr. Pruitt still has his champions in Congress — advocates who say that the attacks on his spending are manufactured by environmental activists who dislike his policies. “I think he’s doing a great job,” said Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, the chairman of the House Science Committee who has worked closely with Mr. Pruitt on efforts to change the E.P.A.’s use of scientific research. “I don’t think we ought to be distracted by the agenda of his liberal opponents.”
“I think he’s the best E.P.A. director we’ve ever had,” said Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi. “I think he is being criticized because he’s changing the agency in a very positive way.”
Last week a group of 21 conservative groups wrote a letter to Mr. Trumpmaking the same point. “Precisely because of Pruitt’s record of leadership, radical environmentalists and the biased media are trying to force him out of office,” they wrote.
Nevertheless, G.O.P. strategists see an important shift. “There are times when the legislative branch gets really sick and tired of the executive branch — and says so. I don’t think you’ve seen that in a while, ” said John Feehery, a Republican strategist who worked for the former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and the former House Majority Leader Tom Delay. “Pruitt has made a lot of people very angry.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/climate/pruitt-ethics-republicans.html

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Is It Finally Scott Pruitt’s Time to Go?

Apr 20, 2018 | The Washington Post

By Jennifer Rubin

Even casual political-watchers know that Friday is the customary day for dropping bad news and dumping senior officials. No senior official is more deserving of being dumped than Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.
The New York Times reports:
The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general plans to investigate whether Scott Pruitt, the agency’s embattled chief, acted improperly when he used an E.P.A. security detail for personal trips to the Rose Bowl, Disneyland and basketball games, among other places.
The latest probe brings the number of investigations into Mr. Pruitt’s use of taxpayer money and possible ethics violations to 10.
Ten? There are scandals concerning first-class travel, a $43,000 soundproof booth, an apartment leased from the wife of a lobbyist, outsize pay increases for top aides (one of whom allegedly spent time on Pruitt’s housing search, a violation of law if true), $10,200 to lease a super-duper upgraded SUV, retaliation against aides who objected to his spending sprees and “$45,000 in government money to fly five people to Australia to prepare for a planned trip that was later canceled” (according to a new Reuters report).
With the exception of the president himself, there is no Cabinet secretary or senior official who has so unabashedly wasted the taxpayers’ money on his own creature comforts.
Until now, right-wing activists and GOP lawmakers who are enraptured by his climate-change denial and attacks on Obama administration-era regulations have largely given Pruitt a pass. I suppose if you’ve blown a hole in the budget to the tune of $804 billion this year ($139 billion more than 2017) and $2.7 trillion (over 10 years) more than previously calculated, a few hundred thousand dollars is pocket change. Really, who among us would begrudge the EPA chief a security detail bigger than the attorney general’s, or more than $100,000 in European travel (even though, thanks to Pruitt, we’ve exited from the Paris climate accord)?
Well, the tide may be turning, according to the Times:
Previously, conservative Republicans had shown a reluctance to question the actions of top Trump administration officials. Their new outspokenness against a prominent architect of President Trump’s regulatory rollback represents a major break from the past.
In an interview this week, Senator John Boozman of Arkansas said of Mr. Pruitt, “I think there are legitimate concerns about him.” He applauded Mr. Pruitt’s industry-friendly environmental policies, but said, “I think the president at some point is going to weigh in.” Mr. Boozman serves on the Senate environment panel as well as the powerful Appropriations Committee, which controls the E.P.A.’s spending. . . .
“The ethical lapses associated with Scott Pruitt are troublesome,” Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said. “It will be the President’s call,” Mr. Cassidy added, noting: “He let [former Health and Human Services secretary Tom] Price go.”
Even Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has gotten perturbed about the privacy booth. “It is critical that E.P.A. and all federal agencies comply with notification requirements to Congress before spending taxpayer dollars,” he said. “E.P.A. must give a full public accounting of this expenditure and explain why the agency thinks it was complying with the law.” And over in the House, Oversight and Government Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) bestirred himself to demand a slew of documents and transcribed interviews with key Pruitt associates.
Trump’s nonexistent ethical standards for himself and his family give his top advisers a green light to treat the Treasury as their own piggy bank. Pruitt’s mistake may have been in being so openly and comically piggish. Let’s hope he goes, if not today, on a Friday soon to come.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/04/20/is-it-finally-scott-pruitts-time-to-go/?utm_term=.286b531328ae

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‘A Factory of Bad Ideas’: How Scott Pruitt Undermined His Mission at EPA

Apr 20, 2018 | The Washington Post

By Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis and Josh Dawsey

The gathering in the Oval Office was supposed to be about ethanol policy. But the meeting had barely gotten underway earlier this month when President Trump turned his attention to Scott Pruitt’s “rough week.”
The Environmental Protection Agency administrator had suffered a barrage of negative headlines about spending on first-class travel, his large security detail and steep raises for two favored aides, as well as a Capitol Hill condo Pruitt had leased from a Washington lobbyist for $50 a night.
As Pruitt, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and White House counsel Donald McGahn listened, Trump mused about the size of the raises and whether the lease was indeed market rate, according to two senior administration officials familiar with the discussion. Then he switched to a happier subject, noting that Pruitt had shed “a lot of bureaucrats” from the agency.
Yes, Pruitt assured him. EPA staffing was “down to Reagan-era levels.”
“All right, Scott,” the president said, approvingly. But of the bad publicity, he added: “Cool it.”
Since then, Pruitt has adopted a determined strategy to placate the president and lay low. On his frequent travels, including a Midwest trip Thursday, he has given up first class for coach when possible, according to aides. And he made a point of honoring a White House request for Cabinet officials to stop by a memorial to opioid victims installed on the Ellipse.
But while Trump has tweeted that Pruitt is “doing a great job,” the EPA chief is hardly out of the woods, yet.
This week, the Government Accountability Office found that his installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in EPA headquarters had violated federal spending laws. The EPA’s inspector general announced that it will probe his decision to have his security detail accompany him on personal trips. And more than half a dozen other inquiries are underway within the EPA, at the White House and on Capitol Hill, where Pruitt is slated to testify twice next week about his spending and management practices.
Meanwhile, the Senate has finally approved former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to be Pruitt’s deputy, a development that has been closely monitored inside the West Wing. The day Trump signed Wheeler’s paperwork, a White House official said, aides in the West Wing called the agency to ask how soon the new deputy administrator would start.
The low-key Wheeler — a former staffer in EPA and the Senate — was sworn in Friday, and his arrival could make Pruitt expendable should more embarrassing revelations surface, according to people inside and outside the administration. While Pruitt has long been a Trump favorite, he also has acquired a reputation as unresponsive and unwilling to take advice or instruction, according to three current and former White House aides, defiantly insisting that he has done nothing wrong and that Trump supports him.
“He believes in the audience of one,” said a senior White House official.
EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox declined to discuss Pruitt’s management practices, saying in a statement that the EPA chief remains focused on policy results.
“Administrator Pruitt has visited over 30 states. We will continue to visit those ignored by the Obama administration and implement President Trump’s agenda of regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship,” Wilcox said.
This story is based on interviews with 16 current and former officials in Washington and Oklahoma, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. They described Pruitt’s predicament as largely self-inflicted, the result of poor decisions by the EPA chief and a small cadre of trusted aides.
Though Pruitt continues to win high marks within the administration on policy, one EPA staffer said his management of the agency has become “a factory of bad ideas.”
Before coming to Washington last year, Pruitt was a rising star in Republican circles. Twice elected Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt had gained national prominence by challenging Obama environmental policies. He once described himself as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda.”
As attorney general, Pruitt displayed hints of his taste for VIP treatment and high-end travel. He ditched his predecessor’s aging 2006 Lincoln sedan and spent $88,500 to buy two Chevy SUVs — a 2014 Tahoe and a 2015 Suburban — according to the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. Pruitt also had an armed agent serve as his driver, shuttling him the 100 miles from his home in Tulsa to his headquarters in Oklahoma City, according to a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.
Pruitt’s two political action committees also raised and spent nearly $1 million over a two-year period starting in 2015, much of it on organizational expenses such as consultant fees and rooms at high-end hotels in Dallas, New York, New Orleans and Washington.
Pruitt, known as hard working and aggressive, largely avoided the sort of controversy that has defined his time at EPA, an $8-billion-a-year operation that dwarfs the Oklahoma attorney general’s roughly $13 million annual appropriation.
In Oklahoma, “there were very few opportunities for an executive officer to engage in profligate or excessive spending,” said University of Oklahoma political science professor Keith Gaddie.
Pruitt’s arrival in Washington, however, seemed to bring a fixation on symbols of status, according to current and former administration officials. He demanded to travel on private or military jets, like the president and higher-ranking Cabinet secretaries. Aides even investigated a charter plane contract, but rejected the $100,000 monthly cost as too expensive.
More high-profile and polarizing than many of his predecessors, Pruitt immediately became the subject of threats on social media and elsewhere, EPA officials said, causing him to embrace a broad range of security recommendations. Agency officials installed the private phone booth and biometric locks in his new office and, on the advice of his security chief, Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta, spent $3,000 to have the place swept for listening devices (The agency hired one of Perrotta’s outside business partners to perform the task.)
Pruitt also accepted a round-the-clock protective detail, an unusual move for an EPA secretary, which so far has cost taxpayers at least $3 million in salaries and travel costs.
Other ideas were rejected: A plan to install a key card swipe system on the double doors leading to the waiting area outside Pruitt’s office. A request for a staffer to hand-deliver news clips about Pruitt to his home before he left for the office each day. A proposal to rent a second unit for Pruitt’s security detail in the luxury U Street apartment building where Pruitt was living last fall.
In “the current location security/special agents are not the norm, and as a result, we are now rather conspicuous” parked on the street overnight, Henry Barnet, the head of EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training, wrote in a Sept. 22 email to senior EPA officials.
The questionable spending quickly alienated many staffers at EPA, including some Trump administration loyalists hired by Pruitt. At least half a dozen political appointees have left the agency, including Pruitt’s longtime associate and head of the Office of Policy, Samantha Dravis.
Another departed Trump appointee, Kevin Chmielewski, accused Pruitt of excessive spending and ethical missteps in conversations with congressional investigators.
“When [Chmielewski] refused to support your unethical and inappropriate spending, he was marginalized, removed from his senior position and placed on administrative leave,” several Democratic lawmakers wrote to Pruitt in an April 12 letter. Others were “punished, demoted, and retaliated against when they tried to resist inappropriate directions that came from you or through your favored staff,” the letter said.
For example, after Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, raised questions about a plan for Pruitt to travel to Morocco in December, Pruitt texted Jackson and disinvited him from future scheduling meetings, according to Chmielewski.
Meanwhile, Pruitt’s favorite aides were rewarded. This spring, EPA senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt was approved for a 52 percent raise, from $107,435 to $164,200, while scheduling and advance director Millan Hupp had her salary boosted by 33 percent to $114,590. Both women had worked for Pruitt in Oklahoma.
The agency later reversed the raises after a public outcry, and Pruitt told Trump and disapproving White House aides that he had not known about them in advance.
But a Feb. 27 email obtained by The Washington Post suggests Pruitt was aware they were in the works. In it, Greenwalt asks an EPA human resources official whether she will receive “an increase in salary as previously discussed with the Administrator.”
Asked about the emails, Wilcox said, “Salary determinations for appointees are made by EPA’s chief of staff, White House liaison, and career human resources officials. Salaries are based on work history; and, any increases are due to either new and additional responsibilities or promotions.”
Through it all, Pruitt has soldiered on in his campaign to roll back environmental regulations and prioritize traditional EPA roles such as cleaning up toxic waste sites and upgrading aging water infrastructure around the country.
But Pruitt’s personal controversies threaten to overshadow his professional pursuits. Earlier this month, the White House canceled a joint appearance with Trump where Pruitt planned to announce changes to how states must comply with federal air-quality standards. Trump later signed the order without fanfare.
Pruitt has tried to tamp down the bad publicity. Since The Post first reported on his routine purchase of first-class airline tickets in February, he has continued domestic trips but also has postponed trips to Israel, Mexico and China.
But Pruitt has fumed privately about the constraints on his travels and his ambitions. Two agency employees said they recently heard him liken his cloistered, wood-paneled office at EPA headquarters to “a prison.”
Aaron C. Davis contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-factory-of-bad-ideas-how-scott-pruitt-undermined-his-mission-at-epa/2018/04/20/695fa2c0-42ac-11e8-bba2-0976a82b05a2_story.html?utm_term=.ebec804b2b6a

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Wheeler Sworn In

Apr 20, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

By Kevin Bogardus

Andrew Wheeler has officially joined EPA as its new No. 2.
Wheeler was sworn in this morning as the agency's deputy administrator.
"Glad to give a warm welcome to Andy Wheeler this morning," Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a tweet today.
Pruitt added the two looked forward to working together to advance President Trump's "agenda of regulatory certainty & environmental stewardship" at EPA.
Wheeler's swearing-in came a little over a week after he was confirmed by the Senate on a 53-45 vote.
Wheeler is well-known to several lawmakers, having been a longtime aide for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, as well as Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). But his nomination lingered for months after Democrats questioned his lobbying work on behalf of coal giant Murray Energy Corp.
Democrats also used debate time for Wheeler's confirmation not only to scrutinize the new deputy administrator but pan Pruitt's tenure at EPA, as well.
Several have pushed for Pruitt to leave the agency since he has been swamped with ethics allegations. If Pruitt were to resign or get fired by Trump, Wheeler would step in to helm the agency as acting administrator.
EPA has been without a deputy administrator for much of this month. Mike Flynn, the acting No. 2, retired from the agency on April 3.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/20/stories/1060079705

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

Chemical Management News

NOW is the Time to Modernize the OTC Monograph System

Apr 20, 2018 | The Hill - Congress Blog

By Scott Melville

Some wines get better with age, but regulatory systems typically do not. In general, a process that worked in 1972 doesn’t necessarily work as well in 2018. Such is the case with the regulatory system that oversees the vast majority of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, known as the OTC Monograph system.
OTC medicines comprise approximately 60 percent of medicines sold in the U.S. but they are regulated under a system which hasn’t been updated since gas cost 55 cents per gallon. This needs to change.
Why? In today’s health care environment, consumers are increasingly taking their health into their own hands and rely on OTC medicines to self-treat their minor ailments. The availability of safe, affordable, and trusted OTC medicines provides symptomatic relief for millions of Americans each year. These consumers of self-care options are the reason OTC Monograph modernization efforts are so important.
The good news is that we don’t have to start from scratch. The OTC Monograph system is a smart, balanced framework for regulating OTC medicines containing ingredients with a proven history of safe use and efficacy. But, largely due to a slowing of notice and comment rulemaking processes across the entirety of government, the Monograph system has become cumbersome and essentially ground to a halt. Today, when FDA needs to make updates to an existing monograph based on new science and data, the process can take years to complete. As a result, the current system doesn’t allow for responsiveness to an emerging safety concern or a pathway for the development of innovative products to meet consumer needs. That’s no way to regulate medicines that consumers depend on.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers along with the administration, industry, consumer groups, and public health stakeholders recognize that OTC Monograph reform is long overdue. We’ve seen bipartisan momentum in both the House and Senate around legislation that would result in a more nimble and efficient system that allows the FDA to take prompt action when advances in science necessitate the updating or expanding of an OTC monograph.
Critically important, the bipartisan legislation under consideration would provide FDA with the vital resources it needs to conduct its OTC-related work through a combination of appropriations and industry user fees. Today, there are approximately 30 full time equivalents at FDA overseeing OTC medicines – slightly more than the number required to review and approve one novel prescription drug application. Reform would provide the funding necessary to hire and train many more FDA staff and develop an electronic infrastructure – both of which will help improve speed and transparency as well as communication with industry and public health stakeholders.
The legislation would also create a pathway for innovation in the marketplace, meaning the possibility of new ingredients, combinations, dosage forms, among other things – offering greater variety and choice for consumers to better manage their self-care.
Over the past 46 years, the federal government has changed the process of many regulatory guidelines in our country including health care, taxes, insurance, information technology, trade, government oversight and more. The system that regulates OTC medicines – the medicines that hundreds of millions of Americans use – deserves the same.
OTC Monograph reform legislation, if enacted, will have an impact on the health of nearly every American for decades to come. It’s the product of more than two years of consideration and compromise between many stakeholders. I am heartened and encouraged by the progress that’s been made in Congress to date, including the Senate HELP Committee’s upcoming markup of the legislation. Thank you to Sens. Johnny Isakson(R-Ga.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and the HELP Committee for their leadership in moving Monograph reform closer to the finish line.
Scott Melville is the president and CEO of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), the 137-year-old national trade association representing the leading manufacturers and marketers of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and dietary supplements.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/384150-now-is-the-time-to-modernize-the-otc-monograph-system

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Energy News

It’s All About Ethane in the Petrochemical Industry

Apr 20, 2018 | Houston Chronicle

By Katherine Blunt

The trend has been swift and surprising: The U.S., once a laggard in petrochemical production, is quickly outpacing the Middle East in capacity thanks to a surge in natural gas from shale fields in West Texas and elsewhere.
This year, research firm IHS Markit expects the United States to add 5.2 million tons of production capacity of natural gas-derived chemicals including ethylene, propylene and methanol, all used to make a wide range of plastics, building materials and consumer goods. That’s more than triple the production capacity slated to come online in the Middle East,
The dramatic shift in regional production is centered on the need for ethane, the natural gas liquid that is the feedstock of choice for petrochemicals. Ethane has become scarce in the Middle East, but plentiful in the U.S. as a result of the shale drilling boom. Domestic ethane production is projected to increase nearly 60 percent to 2 million barrels a day by 2021, up from 1.26 million barrels a day in 2016, according to IHS Markit.
Producers on the U.S. Gulf Coast have responded by investing billions of dollars in new ethane crackers, which process ethane into ethylene, the building block of most plastics. By 2019, the U.S. Energy Department expects crackers now under construction to boost ethane consumption to 1.6 million barrels a day, up more than 30 percent from 1.2 million barrels.
As a result, petrochemical production capacity will grow quickly here. In 2019 and 2020, the U.S. is projected to add a total of 8.7 million tons of production capacity, mostly on the Gulf Coast,, compared to 5.1 million tons in the Middle East during the same period.
More than two-thirds of the new U.S. capacity will be devoted to producing ethylene, which is used to make polyethylene, world’s most common plastic. In 2019 and 2020, the U.S. is expected to add nearly 6.1 million tons of new ethylene capacity, compared to just 304,000 tons in the Middle East.
That means that the U.S. Gulf Coast, already awash in plastics, could continue to dominate the export market as producers look overseas to mitigate a massive U.S. supply glut. Already, the Port of Houston and other Gulf Coast ports handle more than 80 percent of the nation’s polyethylene exports, according to research firm S&P Global Platts, and that percentage could grow as new plants come online.
LyondellBasell, for example, is now constructing a $700 million plastics plant at its La Porte complex that's expected to produce more than 1 billion pounds of polyethylene annually when it opens next year. And Exxon Mobil has nearly completed a new ethane cracker at its Baytown complex that will soon produce 1.5 million tons of ethylene a year.
Welcome to the new global hub for petrochemical production.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/It-s-all-about-ethane-in-the-petrochemical-12849315.php

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Analysis: Global Ethylene Balance Skewed on New US Capacity, Asian Outages

Apr 20, 2018 | Platts

By Maria Tsay, Nida Qureshi, and Fumiko Dobashi

Global ethylene prices have seen a stark divergence recently, with the Atlantic Basin coming under increased pressure amid capacity additions in the US while the Asia-Pacific region has been strong on the back of outages.

US ethylene prices at record lows50,000-60,000 mt fixed out of EuropeAsia tight amid heavy outages

Also in the US, only one 365,000 mt/year ethylene export terminal was operating, on the Houston Ship Channel, which was insufficient to ship all the US surplus to the deficit region of Asia and rebalance the global market. The terminal is contracted by Mitsubishi Chemical.

US ETHYLENE AT LOWS AMID SUPPLY GLUT

US ethane cracker margins have been hovering near long-term lows as US spot ethylene slipped amid an abundance of supply.

US ethane cracker margins were estimated at 7.14 cents/lb ($157/mt) Thursday, 0.33 cent above the level seen on April 9 which was the lowest since S&P Global Platts began publishing cracker margins in January 2011.

Spot ethylene traded Thursday at 14 cents/lb as the cornucopia of supply continued to pressure the price lower.

Fueled by the shale gas boom in North America, the US ethylene market stands to see a more than 35% increase in production capacity by 2019.

More than 3.5 million mt/year of new capacity has been added in the past 12 months, with players including Ingleside -- a joint venture between Mexichem and Occidental Chemicals -- DowDupont, and Chevron Phillips Chemical starting new crackers in Texas.
Another 4 million mt/year of ethylene capacity was slated to come online this year, with more expansions expected in 2019 and beyond.

North America's ethylene production during the next decade was expected to climb from approximately 33.7 million mt in 2017 to nearly 49 million mt in 2026, according to estimates from S&P Global Platts Analytics.

US LENGTH SENDS JITTERS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

Meanwhile in Europe, crackers were bracing for a choppy rest of the year, with expectations of margins setting on a downward spiral sooner or later.

Following a sudden drop in crude prices from mid-2014, European producers have been enjoying healthy margins. But things are about to change with new capacity coming on stream around the world, in particular in the US.

"The anticipation of the new US capacities is weighing on the demand [in Europe]. They keep on being delayed. Now they say it will be second half of the year. But nevertheless the pressure is there," a producer said.

The turnaround season this spring has been lighter than initially planned, with some producers said to be choosing to delay maintenance to take advantage of the last opportunity to make good margins for the next few years.

"It is not sustainable to have negative margins in the US and positive ones in Europe. There will be more pressure from the US, with exports of polyethylene to Europe. Over the past 3-4 years, the market was tight but the new cycle has started now," the trader said.

European producers were said to be ready to fight for their market share in the face of rising imports and, hence, crackers' operating rates were still high. As a result, stock levels of both ethylene and polyethylene have been swelling, putting further pressure on spot prices.

In order to clear the surplus of the material, traders have fixed around 50,000-60,000 mt of ethylene to ship out of the region, mainly to Asia, where prices remained at a healthy premium.

Spot ethylene prices in Europe were assessed at $1,261.50/mt CIF ARA Thursday.

"There is no more space to store [polyethylene] as all storage is full. They need to do something on the production side," a source said. "There is brand new capacity in Emirates, in India and other places. It is not only the US."

As a result of increased arbitrage interest, freight rates to Asia from Europe have risen around 10% to above $300/mt, according to shipping reports.

ASIAN ETHYLENE SUPPORTED BY TURNAROUNDS, SM MARGIN

The Asian ethylene market came under some pressure this week, dragged down by an influx of European cargoes.

The CFR Northeast Asia ethylene price slid $20/mt day on day to $1,340/mt Friday.

At the same time, Asian ethylene remained stronger than Europe or the US, supported by healthy demand during a heavy steam cracker turnaround season as well as positive styrenemonomer production margins.

Japan will shut seven steam crackers out of a total 12 in 2018, which accounts for 53% of its total ethylene production capacity.

According to customs data, Japan's ethylene exports in February fell 29% month on month earlier to 39,902 mt.

"An influx from Europe is quite a big negative factor in Asia but such supplies are offset by production shortfall amid steam cracker turnarounds here," a market source in Asia said.

Spot ethylene demand was also healthy, especially in China due to positive margins for styrene monomer. According to Platts data, styrene monomer margin has been hovering at around $130-$150/mt.

"I do not think the ethylene market will go up because of deepsea supplies. But at the same time, it would unlikely plunge either because of healthy demand," a market source said.
https://www.platts.com/latest-news/petrochemicals/london/analysis-global-ethylene-balance-skewed-on-new-26945065

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Trump Slams OPEC for Pushing Oil Prices Higher

Apr 20, 2018 | Bloomberg (In Houston Chronicle)

By Grant Smith, Angelina Rascouet and Wael Mahdi

President Donald Trump slammed OPEC for inflating oil prices after the cartel showed a willingness to further tighten crude markets.
"Looks like OPEC is at it again," Trump said on Twitter, not long after energy ministers finished their meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. "Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted!"
The president's ire followed a stream of bullish signals from a meeting of oil producers in Saudi Arabia, chiefly from the kingdom's Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih. The crude glut that's weighed on prices for three years has almost been wiped out by OPEC's production cuts, but instead of celebrating victory the group is finding reasons to keep going and drive fuel inventories even lower.
The purpose of the shift in OPEC's target was clear: There's capacity for prices to rise even further beyond their current three-year high, Al-Falih said.
"We have seen prices significantly higher in the past, twice as much as where we are today" and the global economy has the ability to absorb costlier crude, the Saudi minister said.
International oil prices have surged to almost $75 a barrel and U.S. gasoline is the highest in almost three years. Yet OPEC's choke-hold on its own production is only getting tighter. Saudi Arabia is said to desire crude closer to $80.
Accusation Denied
The closest U.S. allies within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rejected Trump's accusation. Prices aren't artificially high, said United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei. Saudi Arabia's Al-Falih echoed that view.
"We are doing our role to correct the market," Al Mazrouei said. "There are many things affecting the market, not just supply and demand," including geopolitics that are beyond OPEC's control, he said.
Russia, Saudi Arabia's most important ally in the production cuts, gave its backing to continuing the cuts until their end-2018 expiry. There's no obligation to stop just because the pact's initial goal -- stockpiles in industrialized nations back in line with the five-year average -- is at hand, said Energy Minister Alexander Novak.
Helping Texas
Novak also rejected Trump's accusation, while also arguing the group's production cuts have helped U.S. producers to boost output. "The deal helped to restore the industry of Texas," he said in an interview with Bloomberg television.
Soaring U.S. shale production has been a nagging concern for OPEC and its allies, but the group's key players appear to be more fixated on the immediate benefits of high crude prices. Saudi Arabia needs to cover weighty domestic spending and attract investors to a partial sale of its state oil company, Aramco. Russia is relishing its new role as a major Middle East power broker, while also enjoying bigger financial gains than anyone from the accord.
"Russia is keeping all options open and Saudi Arabia is talking about a 2019 extension," UBS Group AG analyst Giovanni Staunovo said by email.
Going Deeper
Novak wouldn't rule out some easing of the production cuts this year, but said it would depend entirely on the situation in the market. For now, the group is cutting ever deeper, and Saudi Arabia's Al-Falih chided nations that haven't been implementing their fair share of the curbs at the opening session of the Jeddah talks. Iraq and Kazakhstan have pledged to improve their compliance, according to the closing statement from the meeting.
Overall, OPEC and its allies cut 49 percent deeper than the agreed 1.8 million barrels a day in March, according to the statement. That's the biggest reduction ever and the seventh month the group has surpassed its target, Novak said.
Much of those additional reductions weren't intentional, according to the International Energy Agency. An economic crisis and " chronic mismanagement" dragged Venezuela's output to a multi-decade low, while Angola lost production from aging fields. Others were temporary, such as field maintenance in Algeria. The involuntary cuts may keep getting deeper if Trump reimposes sanctions on Iran next month.
Ministers seemed to embrace the notion of a significantly tighter oil market. Saudi Arabia in particular gave a strong indication that higher prices wouldn't be a bad thing. Every year the world needs to develop new daily production capacity of about 4 million to 5 million barrels and invest hundreds of billions of dollars, but that's not happening right now, Al-Falih said.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Trump-slams-OPEC-for-pushing-oil-prices-higher-12850632.php

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Oil Prices Drop After Trump Tweet Criticizing OPEC

Apr 20, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire

By Timothy Cama

Domestic oil prices dropped Friday morning after President Trump slammed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for allegedly inflating prices.
“Looks like OPEC is at it again,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted!”
Trump went on to say that there are “record amounts of oil all over the place, including the fully loaded ships at sea.”
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for June delivery, the main domestic benchmark price, fell as much as 1 percent, or 71 cents from the end of trading Thursday, to $67.62 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following Trump’s tweet.
Brent crude, the main international benchmark, fell about 0.7 percent, to $73.29 per barrel.
Prices are still far below 2014 levels, which were above $100 per barrel.
The tweet came as OPEC and Russia are showing signs of cooperation toward restricting supplies of oil, which would send prices up, Bloomberg News reported.
Energy ministers in OPEC countries pushed back on Trump’s tweet, saying prices are not artificially high.
“We are doing our role to correct the market,” United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said, according to Reuters.
“There are many things affecting the market, not just supply and demand,” he continued, a sentiment echoed by Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/384113-oil-prices-drop-after-trump-tweet-criticizing-opec

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More Than 100 in Congress Opposed to Revising Natural Gas Venting/Flaring Rule

Apr 20, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence

By Charlie Passut

More than 100 members of Congress, all but two Democrats, have sent Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke a letter stating their "strong opposition" over plans to revise or rescind an Obama-era rule governing associated natural gas flaring and venting on public and tribal lands. They also urged Zinke to extend the public comment period and hold public hearings over the matter.
In a letter dated Thursday, the lawmakers, led by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), asked Zinke to extend the public comment period over changes to the Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation Rule, aka the venting and flaring rule, for 90 days. The comment period is currently scheduled to expire on Monday (April 23).
"Every year an estimated $2 billion dollars' worth of natural gas is wasted by the oil and gas industry nationwide, with $330 million of that being drawn from public or tribal lands," the legislators wrote. "Weakening the rule or returning to the status quo ante would be a giveaway to the oil and gas extraction industry at the expense of the American taxpayer."
The lawmakers pointed to a Government Accountability Office report from 2010 that found flaring was costing states, tribes and federal taxpayers as much as $23 million in annual royalty revenue, as well as an analysis by Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that rescinding the rule outright would add 1.8 million tons of methane, 2.67 million tons of other volatile organic compounds and 20,030 tons of hazardous air pollutants into the environment over a 10-year period.
They also seized upon a February ruling in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, rejecting a proposal by the BLM to delay enforcement of parts of the venting and flaring rule until January 2019. But a federal judge in Wyoming issued a stay of the rule on April 5, prompting the State of California and a coalition of environmental groups to appeal to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver the very next day.
The letter was signed by 105 lawmakers, including 66 Democratic members of the House. Thirty-nine senators also signed the letter, including Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, two independents who caucus with the Democrats.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/114101-more-than-100-in-congress-opposed-to-revising-natural-gas-ventingflaring-rule

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Compliance Costs Create Dilemma For Wehrum's Bid To Kill Utility MACT

Apr 20, 2018 | Inside EPA

By David LaRoss

EPA air chief William Wehrum is acknowledging that he faces a dilemma over whether to grant calls from utilities and others to scrap the regulatory justification for the Obama-era utility air toxics rule as a “satisfying” move, or retain it as even some of its staunchest industry critics have spent millions in compliance costs.
At the core of the debate is Wehrum's stated belief that there are “good reasons” to find that the power plant maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule fell short of the Clean Air Act requirement that the standards be “appropriate and necessary,” and whether to undo that finding.
Removing the finding would undo the justification for the rule itself.
After the Trump administration took office, it convinced a federal appeals court to stall litigation over the rule and the finding that the MACT was appropriate and necessary while it reconsidered both.
“If we decide it's not appropriate and necessary to regulate, maybe that provides grounds to eliminate this regulation,” Wehrum said in April 19 remarks to the American Bar Association's Section of Energy, Environment and Resources spring conference here.
But Wehrum acknowledged that eliminating the requirement now after many plants have spent million on compliance costs would create inequities.
“On the other hand, this rule became effective several years ago now, and it was stringent, it was costly, and a number of coal-fired power plants were shut down in part, if not in large part, due to this rule. A lot of money was spent at the power plants that operators decided to continue running, so they installed scrubbers, they installed mercury control equipment -- they did a lot of things that cost a lot of money,” Wehrum added.
Those concerns appear to have driven warnings against any quick reversal of the MACT from the same industry groups that opposed the rule during the Obama administration.
“What we hear from the industry is, 'however satisfying it may be to go back and decide that this rule really isn't necessary after all, the reality is the bell has been rung and if you make the regulation go away you can't make the costs we've incurred go away at this point,'” Wehrum said.
“So we're in an interesting situation where under the law, there are good reasons to believe this standard shouldn't exist because it's not appropriate and necessary, but on the other hand we cannot turn a blind eye to the practical implications of the possibility of rescinding the rule, and the uncertainty that would cause with the regulatory community,” he added.
“[W]e're still thinking about it. Haven't quite figured out what we're going to do,” Wehrum said.
Wehrum has previously spoken about the dilemma between wanting to undo a rule that he sees as based on an inadequate appropriate and necessary finding, and acknowledging the steps utilities have taken to comply.
The Supreme Court faulted EPA for issuing a prerequisite finding that it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate the power sector without regard to costs, prompting the Obama EPA to reissue the finding with a cost analysis that said the rule, also known as the mercury and air toxics standards (MATS), was justified under the air law.
For example, at a Dec. 12 EPA Clean Air Act Advisory Committee meeting, Wehrum asked, “Can you unring that bell? Should you unring that bell?” He also noted that although much has already been spent on implementing MATS, “there is a lot of money left to be spent in this program” by utilities to comply and said EPA cannot ignore Supreme Court decisions critical of the agency's statutory interpretations on such matters.
RTR Option
Shortly after his confirmation as the Trump EPA's Office of Air & Radiation assistant administrator, Wehrum told Inside EPA in an exclusive interview that the agency could amend the rule in the future.
“What do we do on the appropriate and necessary determination? And to the degree we decide to stay the course with the rule, then there are things we need to do there, fixes. I mean with any big and complex rule there are fixes that need to be made,” he said in the Jan. 11 interview.
“If we keep the rule in place, I'd like to think about doing RTR, residual risk and technology review, for that rule,” he added. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is required to reassess its air toxics rules eight years after their implementation to determine whether emissions from a sector regulated by a MACT still pose health risks despite the rule's implementation, or whether new technology exists to further reduce a sector's toxic air pollution. If EPA answers either question in the affirmative, it can revise and tighten the standard -- but it can also use RTRs to soften its rules.
However, EPA is already years behind schedule in issuing RTRs for a slew of other sectors' MACT rules, so it is unclear how many years away the agency is from pursuing a MATS RTR.
“And there's some more narrow but important things like the coal refuse industry has had an outstanding concern about how it applies to them. So there's a cluster of issues in MATS and exactly where we go, there's the threshold question about where we want to go,” Wehrum said in the interview.
Wehrum's remarks in Orlando indicate that EPA is still struggling with its hostility to the appropriate and necessary finding and its desire to acknowledge the significant investments power companies have made in MATS compliance, and that the outcome of the reconsideration process remains uncertain.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/compliance-costs-create-dilemma-wehrums-bid-kill-utility-mact

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NJ Governor Signs Bill to Block Offshore Drilling

Apr 20, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire

By Timothy Cama

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed into law Friday a bill meant to block offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in state-controlled waters.
The bill, which also bans permitting of any infrastructure to serve drilling farther offshore in federally controlled waters, is meant as a direct rebuke to the Trump administration’s proposal to allow drilling off of nearly all of the nation’s coasts, including off of New Jersey.
Murphy signed the bipartisan bill on the eighth anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed 11 workers and set off an 87-day oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Offshore drilling would be a disaster for our environment, our economy, and our coastal communities,” Murphy said in a statement.
“We simply cannot allow the danger of drilling off our coast. The societal, economic and environmental costs would be detrimental to the overall quality of life for our residents.”
New Jersey has 130 miles of shoreline. Its coastal tourism industry — highlighted in the reality television show "Jersey Shore" — is worth $44 billion annually.
The bill passed the state Senate unanimously and received only one vote against it in the Assembly.
Under the new law, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection is also instructed to analyze any proposed drilling along the entirety of the Atlantic Coast for potential impacts to New Jersey.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said earlier this month at a New Jersey event that expanded offshore drilling faces strong opposition and questionable industry demand in many areas.
“There is a lot of opposition, particularly off the East Coast and the West Coast, on oil and gas,” he said.”
“Most of the companies out there realize that you have to have infrastructure to tie your rigs together, that infrastructure's expensive, that also offshore oil and gas is a greater risk environmentally than producing offshore wind, for instance, as well as onshore oil and gas,” Zinke continued. “It seems like offshore oil and gas in this country is moving to Latin America, where some of the environmental regulations are not as strict.”
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/384143-nj-governor-signs-bill-aiming-to-block-offshore-drilling

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New Partnership to Launch North American CHP Product

Apr 20, 2018 | Decentralized Energy

By Tildy Bayar

European residential and commercial combined heat and power (CHP) firm EC Power is to partner with US-based boiler and water heater manufacturer Lochinvar to launch a cogeneration product for the North American market.
The firms have agreed to launch their new product at the beginning of 2019.
According to Denmark-based EC Power, its CHP plants have up to 96 per cent efficiency and can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 50 per cent.
“Cogeneration is a huge step in sustainability and energy efficiency,” said Christian Neve, EC Power’s chief sales officer. “The concept has proven to be incredibly successful in the European market and it continues to grow in popularity.
“Lochinvar has been leading the North American industry for more than 70 years, so their level of expertise was the perfect match for this project as we work together to create new opportunities for enhanced efficiency.”
And Mike Lahti, Tennessee-based Lochinvar’s vice-president of sales, marketing and business development, said cogeneration “is a game changer for the North American market as commercial facilities such as in-patient care, universities, hotels and multi-family complexes have an increasing desire for products that provide reliable hot water and reduced energy costs.”
Lahti said the new partnership would “expand the availability of cogeneration technology [and] reduce operating costs for businesses”.
http://www.decentralized-energy.com/articles/2018/04/new-partnership-to-launch-north-american-chp-product.html

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HEI Study Shows Effectiveness of Air Pollution Controls

Apr 20, 2018 | Inside EPA

A new study by the Health Effects Institute (HEI), which is funded jointly by EPA and the auto industry, claims to show the effectiveness of air pollution reductions in boosting public health, using long-term research on reductions in emergency room visits in Atlanta due to power plant and vehicle pollution control measures.
The Boston-based HEI on April 19 published the study, that it financed, calling it a successful example of “accountability research” designed to test the effectiveness of pollution control measures. An emerging field, this research can help to build the case for air regulations.
Dr. Armistead (Ted) Russell and colleagues from Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in their study Impacts of Regulations on Air Quality and Emergency Department Visits in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 1999--2013, find that “air quality actually improved substantially -- and fewer people visited hospital emergency departments as a result,” according to an April 19 HEI statement.
“Although it is assumed that air quality actions, once adopted, will improve air quality and health, there are few studies that actually test that,” HEI says.
The researchers compared emissions over the course of their study period with emergency room visits, but also estimated what the emissions would have been without key regulatory programs in place over that period.
“The investigators found that air pollutant emissions and ambient concentrations decreased over the study period for most pollutants and estimated that the pollutant levels were lower than what would have been expected without regulatory actions,” testing the “counterfactual” scenario, the study says.
“Their analysis also found that the observed improvements in air quality were associated with fewer emergency department visits for asthma and other respiratory disease compared with what would have been expected without the regulations. And their data suggested that the benefits increased over time as the air pollution control measures were fully implemented and emissions went down,” HEI says.
In a separate HEI research report, HEI says that, “The investigators also reported that regulations targeting power plants had a greater impact than those targeting mobile sources in improving air quality and health.”
HEI's review panel did find some weaknesses and limitations to the study, however. “The Review Committee noted some limitations in the linkages between air quality and health effects (and therefore also in the estimates of changes in the numbers of emergency department visits). One of the strengths of the study is that it was conducted over a long period of time (i.e., 15 years); however, this leads to the possibility that potentially important factors that also changed over time were not fully captured, such as changes in healthcare access and practice.”
The panel said the finding that power plant regulations were more effective in improving health than vehicle regulations “needs further study,” noting that the panel “had more confidence in the results attributed to all regulations combined than to individual regulatory programs.” The HEI panel finds the study can provide a blueprint for how to conduct similar studies elsewhere, “although it would be recommended to more thoroughly account for changes in medical practice and healthcare access, where possible.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/hei-study-shows-effectiveness-air-pollution-controls

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Cantwell Wants to Protect Coasts from Spills

Apr 20, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

By Rob Hotakainen

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, which killed 11 crew members and injured 17 others.
Saying she never wants to see a similar tragedy, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) yesterday introduced a bill aimed at protecting U.S. coasts from catastrophic oil spills.
Cantwell said her bill, which has 17 co-sponsors, would codify rules that were finalized by the Interior Department in 2016 to address safety recommendations made after the BP PLC disaster, the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). Senate/Wikipedia
"President Trump has ordered the rollback of commonsense solutions to improve safety and prevent oil spills," said Cantwell, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
"Friday marks the eighth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and today I have introduced legislation to prevent tragedies like that from happening again."
The bill, called the "Clean Coast Act," is an attempt to counter an executive order signed by Trump in April 2017 that implemented his new "America-First Offshore Energy Strategy."
The order directed the Interior Department to reconsider two key rules: the blowout preventer systems and well control rule, and the Arctic drilling rule.
Those rules include safeguards such as new requirements for blowout preventers, better monitoring of high-risk drilling, and improved access to containment and response equipment, among other things.
When the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced the finalized plan in late December, Director Scott Angelle said the administration wanted to encourage "increased domestic oil and gas production while maintaining a high bar for safety and environmental sustainability."
The following week, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said it was time for the public to start "registering some complaints."
"Almost 5 million barrels of oil spilled as a result of a defective device called a blowout preventer," Nelson said in a speech on the Senate floor.
"Now, what the Interior Department and this administration is trying to do is undo the updated standards for shear rams and blowout preventers and is trying to get rid of a required third party to certify the safety mechanisms."
Cantwell's bill is co-sponsored by Nelson, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and 15 other Democrats: Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Bob Menendez and Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein of California, Patty Murray of Washington, Tom Carper of Delaware, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/20/stories/1060079697

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Valero Plant Explodes; No Injuries Reported

Apr 20, 2018 | Houston Chronicle (In E&E Greenwire)

An explosion caused a large fire yesterday afternoon at a Texas City, Texas, plant, according to officials.
The fire was contained the same day at the Valero Energy Corp. plant, and no injuries were reported.
The city emergency alert system told residents that light hydrocarbons were burning.
"The whole building shook," said Michael Larsson, who was near the explosion working at a Marathon Oil Corp. plant. "I could feel the building vibrate. This office building I'm in is made for these type of events, so I knew it must be something pretty serious when the building shakes."
About 27,000 people live within 3 miles of the plant, which stores at least 280,000 pounds of hydrogen fluoride, a toxic chemical used in refining. Millions of pounds of flammables are used at the refinery, as well.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has penalized the plant at least 24 times since 1997 for air quality violations.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/20/stories/1060079661

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Chemical Security News

Contaminated Soil Leads to Tense Dispute with Army Corps

Apr 20, 2018 | Fort Worth Star-Telegram (In E&E Greenwire)

A Fort Worth, Texas, contractor says he was fleeced by the Army Corps of Engineers after about 30 of his workers were unwittingly exposed to toxic fumes and contaminated soil.
Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga and his company, Penna Group LLC, started work nearly a decade ago on the Army Corps' Panther Island project, a $1.16 billion flood control and economic development plan that includes a man-made island on the Trinity River.
Evangelista-Ysasaga was paid $4.5 million for a two-phase excavation project, first on the south side of the river and then on the north. When his workers moved to the work in a trench on the north side, about 30 reported temporary illnesses from cancer-causing benzine left over from a leaky oil tank that had inhabited the site until the 1990s.
The Army Corps originally denied the contamination, Evangelista-Ysasaga said. Then, when the agency eventually acknowledged it, it said the company would have to hire a subcontractor to remove the toxic soil, all while running out the clock on the original contract and charging Penna Group fines for failing to meet deadlines, he said.
In the end, Evangelista-Ysasaga said, the work cost about $7.5 million.
"This is what makes me so angry," Evangelista-Ysasaga said. "I sent my crews down in there relying on the government's word. They put us at risk. And now they're refusing to pay."
A local Army Corps spokesman said the Trinity River Vision Authority would have been responsible for telling the company about any soil contamination. The Army Corps would not comment on other aspects of the situation. "We are in litigation posture with the Penna Group," said Clay Church, a spokesman at its Fort Worth district.
Houston lawyer Bryant Banes, who specializes in government contracts and compliance, said documents of Evangelista-Ysasaga's interactions with the Army Corps show that the agency tried to "bankrupt him" when he complained about the contamination.
"He brought it to their attention about the hazardous waste out there," said Banes, whom Evangelista-Ysasaga hired in December. "They can't take the position they didn't know. They just took advantage of him."
The Army Corps eventually handed the company $460,000 last year and another $320,000 in December. It told Evangelista-Ysasaga earlier this month that's all he's getting, he said.
"I put my entire life's savings into this project to make it happen," Evangelista-Ysasaga said. "They've closed ranks and closed in and said, 'We're not going to pay you another dime.'"
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/20/stories/1060079691

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Transportation and Infrastructure News - There are no clips to report at this time.

Environment News

Orion Installing Emissions Equipment to Comply With EPA

Apr 20, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News

By Alex Tullo

Carbon black maker Orion Engineered Carbons will install Haldor Topsoe’s SNOX emissions control technology at its facility in Ivanhoe, La. This will be the first time that the technology—used to remove sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates—will be deployed in a carbon black plant. In December, Orion and competitors Sid Richardson Carbon & Energy and Columbian Chemicals signed consent decrees with EPA in which they agreed to collectively pay $2.5 million in fines for air pollution violations and install emission-fighting equipment in their plants. Orion also may install a cogeneration unit in Ivanhoe.
https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/Orion-installing-emissions-equipment-comply/96/i17

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100% Renewables — Gimmick or Game Changer?

Apr 20, 2018 | E&E Greenwire

By Christa Marshall

Are company claims about 100 percent renewables wrong?
The question surfaced this week after Apple Inc. recently announced its global facilities — including its stores and data centers — are powered completely by renewables. The claim prompted a slew of headlines about the company's "all-green" status.
The problem with that, according to some analysts, is that it's not fully true. It's not a situation unique to Apple either. Other companies, and some cities and regions, need to do a better job clarifying exactly what is meant by their "100 percent" statements, critics say.
"I would call the claim wrong. Others might call it misleading," said Alex Trembath, communications director at the Breakthrough Institute, a politically independent think tank that focuses on technological solutions to environmental problems.
Trembath wrote a blog post this week on the topic that sparked a Twitter debate stretching from Seattle to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
His comments echo earlier ones from Travis Fisher, who oversaw a grid study at Department of Energy before departing in February. In 2015, Fisher wrote a piece for the Institute for Energy Research titled "Busting the '100 Percent Renewable' Myth."
Apple, and any U.S. company or city, cannot really be directly powered by 100 percent renewables because of the nature of the grid, Trembath wrote. Inevitably, there are times when intermittent renewables aren't generating power and facilities have to rely on backup fossil fuel power.
To make a 100 percent claim, companies typically purchase credits from outside projects to counter times their operations must rely on fuels such as coal or gas, he said. That allows a company to buy enough renewable power to match its overall consumption, on paper.
"It's a little bit like carbon offsets. If I buy offsets to cancel out the carbon footprint of my flight, that doesn't mean my flight is carbon free," said MIT researcher Jesse Jenkins, who supported Trembath's position on social media.
It's not that Apple's efforts are not laudable — the company is doing much more on renewables than most businesses by purchasing credits from energy projects it built itself or has direct power purchase credits with, analysts say.
Many other companies try to meet all-renewable goals mainly by buying renewable energy credits, or RECs, rather than pushing new projects online the way Apple has.
The complaint is more about branding and lack of details, and the perception that cutting carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector is a solved problem.
It makes it seem "like a Mission Accomplished moment when there's still a lot of work for Apple to do in its facilities and in its supply chain," Trembath said.
The bulk of Apple's global carbon footprint, for example, is in their supply chain from sources the company doesn't directly control (Climatewire, Feb. 26, 2016). It's a similar dynamic in some cities touting 100 percent renewable status, even when they still rely on coal or gas directly.
Achieving deep decarbonization of the grid is going to require a mix of resources including carbon capture and nuclear, not just every company buying wind and solar like Apple, Jenkins said. Separately, there's a debate about whether "100 percent renewable" is even achievable technically in the near future (Climatewire, June 20, 2017).Apple hits back
In a statement, Apple said it was committed to being a part of the world's transition to cleaner sources of energy and working to spur use of renewable energy within the technology industry.
"We currently have 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world and 11 in construction. We work to create new local sources of energy whenever we can and will continue to do so," the company said.
Apple also released more details of its renewable practices yesterday in its annual environmental responsibility report, including the statistic that 66 percent of its procured renewable energy comes from projects it created itself. In some cases, it does buy RECs and "renewable energy from newer projects in nearby markets."
Apple also won many defenders on social media who said the public is savvy enough to know that 100 percent renewable claims do not literally mean that wind and solar panels are directly firing every company facility all the time.
Even if there is confusion about electricity markets, Apple is serving to inspire others, they say. What's more important is getting more companies to follow Apple's aggressive lead in bringing cleaner power online.
"Customers aren't stupid. They know the $$$ they put in the bank and take out of the ATM isn't the same currency," wrote Tom Matzzie, CEO at CleanChoice Energy, on Twitter. In an email, he said Apple goes far beyond minimum requirements to be legally compliant with carbon accounting practices.
Apple has ranked on many top 10 lists for being one of the most sustainable companies in the U.S. Yesterday, the Solar Energy Industries Association released a report ranking the tech company fourth in the country in terms of businesses installing the most solar.
"Apple's solar facilities produce enough electricity annually to fully charge more than 44 million iPhone's every day for an entire year," SEIA said.
Others questioned whether Trembath essentially intended to promote nuclear power, a focus of the Breakthrough Institute. Matzzie said that "nuclear folks need to stop whining."
"This is not about nuclear," Trembath said. "It's about setting the context right and being accurate."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/04/20/stories/1060079703

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