Preview Newsletter
ACC AM 5/29/18
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US EPA to Hold Meeting on TSCA ‘Fast-Tracked’ PBTs
May 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA will hold a meeting on 25 June as part of the peer review of exposure and hazard assessments on five persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) substances subject to risk management action under the new TSCA. -
California lists TRIM® VX as Prop 65 carcinogen
May 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has listed TRIM® VX as a substance known to the state to cause cancer under Proposition 65. -
A Potential Home for U.S. LNG Ramps up for Imports
May 29, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Nathanial Gronewold
Another export opportunity for U.S. liquefied natural gas is emerging as future demand growth in Taiwan comes into sharper focus. -
2017: A Year of Firsts for Global LNG
May 29, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
The world market for liquefied natural gas is evolving at a fast clip. -
Halliburton and Saudi Aramco Reach Deal to Increase Gas Output
May 28, 2018 | The New York Times
By Clifford Krauss
In a sign that the American shale gas revolution is spreading to the Middle East, Saudi Aramco reached a deal with Halliburton over the weekend to lift its production program in three Saudi Arabian shale fields. -
4 Gubernatorial Races Where Offshore Drilling Matters
May 29, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King and Kristi E. Swartz
Gubernatorial candidates in four key East Coast primaries are asking the Trump administration to let go of its dreams of drilling for oil and gas off their states' coasts. -
FERC Commissioner Sounds 'Call for Action' on Pipelines
May 29, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
Lawmakers should "take a serious look" at mandatory security requirements for natural gas pipeline operators amid recent hacking threats, according to Commissioner Richard Glick of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. -
States, Vowing to Resist Trump, Find Pitfalls on Climate
May 29, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Storrow
Climate-conscious states pledged to pick up the slack when President Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord. Twelve months later, they're at a crossroads. -
Straws. Bottle Caps. Polyester. These Are the New Targets of California's Environmental Movement
May 29, 2018 | Los Angeles Times
By Rosanna Xia
It took years of activist campaigns to turn the plastic bag into a villain, and hard-fought legislation to reduce its presence in oceans and waterways.
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US EPA to Hold Meeting on TSCA ‘Fast-Tracked’ PBTs
May 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA will hold a meeting on 25 June as part of the peer review of exposure and hazard assessments on five persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) substances subject to risk management action under the new TSCA.
The EPA must take "expedited" action on PBTs meeting certain criteria, in keeping with the 2016 Lautenberg Act, which amended TSCA. For these substances, the agency will skip their risk evaluation and proceed directly to imposing rule that will reduce their exposure "to the extent practicable".
The agency announced in October 2016 that it would take action on:
decaBDE, a brominated flame retardant used in textiles, plastics, wiring insulation, and building and construction materials;
hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD), used as a solvent in the manufacture of rubber compounds and as hydraulic, heat transfer or transformer fluid;
pentachlorothiophenol (PCTP), used as a sulfur cross-linking agent to make rubber more pliable in industrial uses;
tris(4-isopropylphenyl) phosphate (IPTPP), used as a flame retardant in consumer products and as a lubricant, hydraulic fluid, and in other industrial uses; and
2,4,6-tris(tert-butyl) phenol, an antioxidant that can be used as a fuel, oil, gasoline or lubricant additive.
As part of this process, the EPA is conducting a peer review of preliminary exposure and hazard assessments on the substances.
The 25 June meeting is for the reviewers to comment on draft ‘charge questions’. Once finalised, these will guide the individual peer reviews of the exposure and hazard documents.
The public may submit oral or written comments for consideration. The meeting is by webcast and telephone only.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67215/us-epa-to-hold-meeting-on-tsca-fast-tracked-pbts
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California lists TRIM® VX as Prop 65 carcinogen
May 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has listed TRIM® VX as a substance known to the state to cause cancer under Proposition 65.
TRIM® VX is a metalworking fluid used as a lubricant and coolant liquid for cleaning tools and parts during cutting, drilling, milling and grinding.
Oehha based the listing on the substance’s formal identification by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) as causing cancer, using the "authoritative bodies" listing mechanism. Under Proposition 65, businesses must warn workers and consumers about their exposure to listed substances.
The formal designation follows a February notice of intent to list the substance.
The Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association submitted comments in opposition to the proposal. The trade group cited "concerns with the manner in which the NTP study was conducted and the conclusions reached", and objected to Oehha predicating the lubricant’s listing on it.
Master Fluid Solutions, the former manufacturer of the product, added that the listing was "not necessary" because the substance has been out of production for more than two years.
"The product is not produced anywhere in the world," it wrote in February comments. It "simply cannot be ordered or obtained from any source worldwide".
Oehha acknowledged the comment, but said that consideration of the production and availability of a chemical is not part of its listing criteria under the law.
The listing took effect on 25 May.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67216/california-lists-trim-vx-as-prop-65-carcinogen
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A Potential Home for U.S. LNG Ramps up for Imports
May 29, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Nathanial Gronewold
Another export opportunity for U.S. liquefied natural gas is emerging as future demand growth in Taiwan comes into sharper focus.
Taiwan, currently the world's sixth-largest LNG market, according to research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, has largely been put in the same category as Japan and South Korea in the minds of global LNG industry watchers — an important market, but one with limited growth opportunity. Demographic trends do not bode well for future energy demand growth on the island.
But public policy there does, as Taiwan shies away from nuclear energy. And a recent announcement by a major regional LNG player suggests the business case for marketing expanding volumes of U.S. LNG exports to Taiwan exists, at least in the near term.
Last week, Osaka Gas Engineering Co. Ltd. (OGE), a subsidiary of parent corp. Osaka Gas Co. Ltd., announced that it was hired to assist Taiwan with the development of two new LNG receiving terminals on the island. One is for the Taiwan Power Co., (TPC) and the other for CPC Corp., Taiwan's dominant LNG importer and distributor.
The announcement details plans for additional LNG import receiving capacity going up along the northwest coast for CPC's third import terminal near Taipei's airport and at another location farther south.
Taiwan's LNG import expansion plans have been in the works for a few years. Construction of the third CPC terminal was cast into doubt earlier this year, but the recent news suggests renewed confidence that the additional LNG import capacity will be built and affirms Taiwan's commitment to expand its LNG imports for use in power generation.
Osaka Gas is a partner on the U.S. LNG export project Freeport LNG in Texas. Some of that supply may eventually make its way to one of Taiwan's newest gas-fired power plants.
"Taiwan Power Company is seeking 1.8 [million] - 2.4 million tonnes [metric tons] per year of LNG over 15 years from 2023," notes Hiroshi Hashimoto, an analyst for the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, in a market update. "The terminal and the first unit of the power plant are due to be completed in the second half of 2023. Taipower aims to identify potential long-term LNG suppliers by the end of the third quarter 2018."Current status: Minor player
Taiwan is already a customer for U.S. LNG exports, but a relatively minor one.
From February 2016 to March 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy counted five cargoes of U.S. LNG delivered to Taiwan, carrying a cumulative 15.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas. By comparison, 58 cargoes were shipped to South Korea over the same period, delivering an estimated 200 billion cubic feet. Taiwan represented just 1.4 percent of the U.S. LNG export market during that time frame.
The business deal between Taiwanese power authorities and the Japanese engineering firm is a direct consequence of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in Japan.
Osaka Gas Engineering explained in a release that the deal was necessitated by Taiwan's rapidly rising demand for LNG following a decision by Taiwan's government to phase out operations at all nuclear power facilities by 2025 in response to the Fukushima incident. The government has ordered CPC to import more LNG instead and has been moving to free TPC's access to direct foreign LNG supplies. Taiwan also plans to supplement shuttered nuclear generating capacity with renewable energy sources.
In keeping with the government's directives, "volumes of LNG imports are increasing significantly, and as a consequence construction of the terminals continues," OGE representatives said in a release.
The third coastal CPC LNG import terminal in Taiwan will have the capacity to receive some 6 million metric tons of LNG per year. The Japanese consultancy said it will assist with first-phase construction of 3 million tons per year of import capacity. The TPC facility will have import capacity of about 4.1 million tons per year. Planning envisions both new import operations to be up and running sometime during 2023.
Despite the promise of rising LNG demand from Taiwan, the real prize for exporters remains mainland China. Last year, a cold snap and scramble to replace coal with gas for heating in China created a spike in demand for LNG, leading to China becoming the world's second-largest importer. Japan remains the largest market for LNG exports.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/05/29/stories/1060082835
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2017: A Year of Firsts for Global LNG
May 29, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
The world market for liquefied natural gas is evolving at a fast clip.
A surge in natural gas production in the United States and Australia and shifting trade patterns for the fuel around the world have propelled technological changes that are further reshaping the industry. Here are a few of the major firsts that took place last year:First floating liquefaction plant comes online
Onshore LNG plants have long been extremely expensive, custom-built facilities tailored for their particular site. But engineering advances have recently enabled the construction of floating LNG plants that house the equipment to supercool and liquefy natural gas within the confines of a massive ship.
The development means FLNG vessels can tap into the cost savings of more standardized production at a shipyard and could potentially be moved from site to site if the underlying natural gas resource is removed from development.
In April of last year, the PFLNG Satu, a vessel built by Malaysia's national oil and gas company Petronas, became the first floating liquefaction facility to load a cargo when it filled its tanks from an offshore natural gas field off the island of Borneo.
Other FLNG vessels are slated to follow it: Shell's floating Prelude project is expected to come online this year, and a few LNG tanker ships that have been extensively rebuilt to add liquefaction capacity are also entering the market. The first one, the Hilli Episeyo, was rebuilt by a Singaporean shipyard from an LNG carrier constructed in 1975 and was put into production in March off the shores of Cameroon.First LNG project in East Africa reaches financial commitment
LNG has been produced in the sub-Saharan African countries of Nigeria, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea for many years. But when large reserves were discovered off the coast of Mozambique on the continent's Pacific coast in the early 2000s, the find sparked a frenzy around a potential new market opening that would be well-placed to reach Asian buyers.
Efforts by multinational energy companies to develop the resource have been uneven and sometimes controversial, but in June of last year, Italy's Eni SpA committed to construction of Coral South FLNG, a floating facility to export gas from production in the Rovuma Basin. The project's location offshore is intended to simplify challenges surrounding a lack of local infrastructure.First LNG exported from the Arctic
When Russia's Novatek OAO announced that it intended to build an LNG plant on the country's Arctic coast, the project appeared almost laughably improbable. The site suffers severe temperature and weather conditions; for much of the year, its shortest path to market would be blocked by thick sea ice. Russia also already had cheap pipeline access to the extensive European market, where it yielded monopoly power. Later, sanctions on the company's leadership would add to the project's difficulties.
But just four years after a final investment decision was announced, Yamal LNG shipped its first cargo in December of last year. Since then, deliveries have reached the United Kingdom, France, Spain and even the United States. (Energywire, March 21). Novatek says that come Arctic summer, deliveries to Asia-Pacific markets will commence.China becomes world's second-biggest LNG market
Japan and South Korea have long been the two biggest markets for LNG, as the two highly developed, underresourced countries turned to natural gas to fuel their economies. China's initial industrialization was largely powered by coal, but as the air quality impacts of that fuel became problematic, the national government set aggressive policies to drive natural gas growth. For several years, those policies have put China and India in their own category as future mega-markets for LNG.
But China's LNG imports grew 37 percent in 2016 and 42 percent last year, according to data from the International Group of LNG Importers, a global industry association. And by the end of last year, China had jumped past South Korea to claim the second-largest share of LNG imports, well ahead of previous forecasts. One U.S. company, Cheniere Energy Inc., inked a long-term contract with China National Petroleum Corp. (Energywire, Feb. 22).
As Trump jousts with the Chinese government over trade balances, the White House has said it would like to see LNG sales used to boost the U.S. export ledger.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/05/29/stories/1060082825
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Halliburton and Saudi Aramco Reach Deal to Increase Gas Output
May 28, 2018 | The New York Times
By Clifford Krauss
In a sign that the American shale gas revolution is spreading to the Middle East, Saudi Aramco reached a deal with Halliburton over the weekend to lift its production program in three Saudi Arabian shale fields.
The companies did not reveal many details of their three-year contract, but it represented an expansion of Saudi Aramco’s efforts to produce more natural gas to support its growing chemical industry. Aramco, the Saudi national oil company, also hopes to reduce the practice of burning oil for domestic power to increase its crude exports.
Over the last year, Saudi Aramco has awarded $4.5 billion in contracts to international oil service companies to increase its gas production. But a number of European companies have failed in their efforts to recover gas at an economical price.
Halliburton probably has more experience in drilling and completing oil and gas shale wells than any other company, having been a central player in the past decade’s shale drilling frenzy across Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
The company has since expanded its efforts to shale fields in Argentina, Canada, Mexico and Poland. Now, its executives say it can play a major role in Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify its oil-based economy.
“This is a great opportunity to provide a tailored application of Halliburton technology, logistics management and operational excellence to maximize Saudi Arabia’s asset value,” Jeff Miller, Halliburton’s chief executive, said in a statement at Sunday’s signing ceremony in Saudi Arabia.
“We welcome their expertise,” said Amin H. Nasser, Saudi Aramco’s chief executive, speaking of Halliburton.
Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia is trying to spur economic modernization and foreign investment under its Vision 2030 economic plan, which has as its cornerstone the initial public offering of Saudi Aramco.
The public offering has made slow and uncertain progress, but the company is trying to increase its value by investing heavily in refineries and chemical plants in Saudi Arabia and around the world. Greater production of shale gas neatly fits that model, because gas is a vital feedstock for refineries and chemical production.
Shale drilling has roughly doubled American oil and gas production, and made the country a major hydrocarbon exporter for the first time in decades, but the shale revolution has been slow to spread beyond a handful of countries.
The practice of hydraulic fracturing — blasting through hard shale rock with high pressure mixtures of water, sand and chemicals — has proved to be highly controversial in many countries, especially in Europe. Shale formations in China appear to be more complex to drill than in the United States. Western sanctions have limited shale exploration and production in Russia.
But interest in shale exploration and production is growing in the Middle East and North Africa. Last month, Bahrain announced that it had found a major shale oil and gas field in waters off its coast. Halliburton is drilling appraisal wells to evaluate how much oil can be recovered.
A senior executive at Algeria’s state oil company Sonatrach said last week that the company was seeking cooperation with Exxon Mobil to develop the country’s shale gas.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/business/saudi-aramco-haliburton-shale.html
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4 Gubernatorial Races Where Offshore Drilling Matters
May 29, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King and Kristi E. Swartz
Gubernatorial candidates in four key East Coast primaries are asking the Trump administration to let go of its dreams of drilling for oil and gas off their states' coasts.
After the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released its proposal to hold lease sales in more than 90 percent of the U.S. outer continental shelf between 2019 and 2024, all but two East and West coast governors called on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to exempt their states from the plan (Energywire, Jan. 18). Zinke controversially excused Florida from the five-year leasing program — although it's unclear which Sunshine State waters will actually remain "off the table" for new drilling — but has so far avoided excluding other states.
Some candidates in the races to lead Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Maine have indicated that they would take up the bipartisan battle against expanding U.S. offshore drilling beyond the Gulf of Mexico.
"President Trump and his actions in office will cast a shadow over most of the races in this election cycle," said Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher of Inside Elections, which offers nonpartisan campaign analysis.
The president's party typically suffers in midterm elections when voters are displeased with the chief executive's policies, he said. Republican candidates will be looking for opportunities to differentiate themselves from the White House.
"Trump isn't on the ballot, but his actions are," Gonzales said.
Here's how the offshore debate is playing out in four East Coast gubernatorial races:Georgia
Current governor: Nathan Deal (R)
Reason to watch: Unlike other governors on the West and East coasts, Deal has kept quiet about his views on the Trump administration's offshore plan.
Environmental groups largely stayed away from pressing candidates about their position on offshore drilling before Georgia's primary, held last week. The issue will be included in an upcoming questionnaire, however.
"I think the bottom line is, for our coast, we need a governor who is not going to avoid this question," said Jennette Gayer, state director of Environment Georgia. "We need someone who is not afraid of standing up and saying, 'We do not want this for our coast.'"
They may have an uphill battle in getting the candidates to talk about the issue. The governor's race right now is focused squarely on taxes, jobs, education, and law and order. And Georgia is in the national news for other reasons: State House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams won the Democratic Party's nomination, putting her on track to be the first black female governor in the United States.
Abrams' campaign website talks about energy in the form of creating advanced energy jobs, making the debate about improving the state's economy instead of about climate change, a polarizing term in what is still a very red state.
On the GOP side, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp are headed for a runoff. Cagle mentions the Port of Savannah — a contributor to the state's economic development — on his website, but neither he nor Kemp has widely discussed their opinions on drilling issues.
Savannah and other coastal communities are vulnerable to sea-level rise and other environmental changes.
A January forum in Savannah showed most of the then-GOP candidates echoing Deal's noncommittal stance on the proposed offshore leasing strategy. Just one contender, state Sen. Michael Williams, definitively answered a question about whether Georgia should be exempt from any federal offshore drilling plans.
"I absolutely support offshore drilling," Williams said, according to a Jan. 20 report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's politics newsletter. "For over 30 years, Republicans have fought for offshore drilling. We now have a president, in President Trump, who is willing to fight for that. We have the opportunity to become a world leader in energy."Florida
Current governor: Rick Scott (R)
Reason to watch: A January meeting between Scott and Zinke resulted in Florida's waters being taken "off the table" for new oil and gas drilling.
Scott last month announced his bid to unseat Sen. Bill Nelson (D), adding fuel to suspicions that Zinke's removal of the state from the five-year plan was actually an effort to stoke Scott's Senate run.
The exemption puzzled many energy experts, who saw the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which is under a drilling moratorium until 2022, as an obvious launch pad for the offshore chapter of Trump's "energy dominance" agenda. Zinke has declined to specify whether that section of ocean, which is located off Florida's western coast, would remain off-limits to oil and gas developers after the moratorium expires.
Between Florida's beaches, pristine coast and the Everglades, protecting the state's environment is almost always a chief campaign issue for both parties. The debate lies in sea-level rise and other climate change issues, especially as intense hurricanes are starting to come more frequently.
The Democrats who are lining up to replace Scott as governor come from all areas of Florida. They include Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, who has made a name for himself and the city by making an issue of sea-level rise and actively taking steps to make the coastal city more resilient.
All of the candidates mention climate change on their campaign websites, with some using it to attack Trump, Scott or both.
"For spending so much time in Florida, Donald Trump sure does like to ruin the Sunshine State," said Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.
Gillum and Levine also face former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham and businessman Chris King in the state's August primary.
"Offshore drilling is an extraordinary danger to our environment & economy, and Gov. Scott should never have played politics with our coastlines and offshore drilling. I'll put a stop to both the drilling and the games when I'm governor," Gillum said in a statement.
Florida's energy office is a part of the state's agriculture commission, but Republican Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam's "Florida Families First" agenda and other campaign issues are tied to gun rights, immigration reform, religious freedom and education. Putnam backs an "all of the above" energy strategy but vowed to keep Florida out of any offshore drilling proposals, he said in a statement to E&E News.
"I'm committed to protecting Florida's sensitive shorelines, supporting our record-breaking tourism industry and not putting our military training missions in the eastern Gulf at risk," Putnam said, also touting the millions of jobs tied to the state's beaches. A recent Pentagon report determined that new drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico could "severely" affect military operations (Greenwire, May 11).
Putnam's chief GOP rival, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, discussed drilling during a January interview, DeSantis' spokesman said in a statement to E&E News. DeSantis said he agreed with the current governor's position.
"In Florida, our coastline is so important to our economy, it's important to property values, it's important to tourism, and we need to protect our coastline," DeSantis said. "I'm for energy exploration, I was for [drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]. If there's other states that have different calculations and they want to do offshore, that's fine, but I'm going to be fighting with Gov. Scott to protect Florida's coastline."South Carolina
Current governor: Henry McMaster (R)
Reason to watch: South Carolina is among the states touched by a section of ocean that Zinke has identified as a potential gas play.
McMaster, who is vying to keep his post, has opposed drilling off his state's 187-mile coastline out of concern for how a burgeoning energy industry would clash with local tourism and fishing operations.
"Simply put: our coastline is not an industrial working coastline as in some other states," McMaster wrote in a Jan. 16 letter to Zinke. "It is just the opposite."
His fellow Republicans, however, have expressed limited support for the Trump administration's offshore proposal. The GOP is expected to maintain its hold on the South Carolina governor's mansion, according to analysis from The Cook Political Report and other election watchers.
Earlier this year, Zinke indicated that he saw potential for natural gas development in the Mid-Atlantic region (Energywire, April 16). He appeared to be referring to a stretch of ocean between Florida's northern border and Maryland's southern limit, where the Obama administration had previously proposed lease sales in an early draft of its 2017-2022 program.
After fielding opposition from stakeholders in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell decided to scrap those sales from the final program.
Zinke's five-year plan would replace Jewell's leasing strategy.
McMaster's Republican opponents have expressed interest in exploring South Carolina's offshore gas potential.
"Let's find out what we have," Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant (R) said in a televised interview with C-SPAN's "Washington Journal." "At this point, experts think that we probably have a significant amount of natural gas off of our coast, yet there are some that oppose the exploration.
"I would like to explore what we have and find out where it is, and then we can make a fully informed decision on whether we are to drill or not."
McMaster's Democratic challengers are united in their opposition of the federal offshore plan.
Attorney Marguerite Willis and state Rep. James Smith said drilling is inconsistent with the way the state has developed its coastline and pledged to wield their respective expertise against Trump's plan. Willis said she would be party to any lawsuit to block drilling in South Carolina's waters, and Smith said he would work with the state's delegation on the issue.
Phil Noble, a business and technology consultant who will also compete in the June 12 primary, has also opposed the offshore proposal.Maine
Current governor: Paul LePage (R)
Reason to watch: LePage was the only non-Gulf state coastal governor to support the proposed five-year plan.
In April, Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) invited Zinke to sit down with her state's next governor to discuss offshore drilling.
LePage was the only coastal governor outside the Gulf states to explicitly support the Trump administration's offshore leasing proposal. Due to term limits, LePage is not eligible to run again.
"If we're all on the same page, maybe you can meet with us," Pingree said in an exchange with Zinke on Capitol Hill, noting that Maine's entire congressional delegation opposes the proposed five-year plan (Energywire, April 12). "We'll have everyone aligned, and you can say, 'Oh, Maine shouldn't have this either.'"
LePage will almost certainly be replaced by a governor who opposes the plan.
All of the Democratic candidates spoke out early against the leasing proposal and prodded the Republican roster to do the same.
"What Maine needs right now is a governor who's willing to stand up to this backwards plan by telling the Trump Administration to stay away from our coastal waters," Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett said in a statement. "But instead of doing that, the Republicans are either shying away from speaking up or suggesting it's worth thinking about. Both of those are wrong, they're dangerous, and they put allegiance to President Trump and Governor LePage ahead of the best interests of Maine people."
During an early April primary debate, three of the four Republican candidates said they did not support or were not sure that the state should allow offshore drilling.
Just one candidate, former Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew, appeared to favor the federal proposal.
"Worth exploring," she said in response to the lightning-round question.
But Maine's next governor may not have to worry about drilling rigs off the Pine Tree State's coast.
"I'm sure Maine's going to be very happy with the draft proposal," Zinke told Pingree last month.
The next draft of the plan is expected this fall.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/05/29/stories/1060082823
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FERC Commissioner Sounds 'Call for Action' on Pipelines
May 29, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
Lawmakers should "take a serious look" at mandatory security requirements for natural gas pipeline operators amid recent hacking threats, according to Commissioner Richard Glick of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
"If you just have one weak link — one entity that doesn't follow voluntary standards — it can cause significant damage," said Glick, one of two Democrats on FERC's five-member commission and former general counsel to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Glick called the security of the U.S. gas grid a "growing concern" as electric utilities increasingly rely on natural gas as a fuel source for power generation. In an interview at FERC's headquarters Friday, he questioned the efficacy of current rules that put the Transportation Security Administration in charge of pipeline cybersecurity, as reports of attempted cyber intrusions pile up.
"I'm not entirely certain that the TSA is the right agency for the job," Glick said, suggesting the Department of Energy might be a better fit. "This is not to impugn the people at TSA, they obviously perform a very important job ... but I don't think they have the personnel to keep up with everything, nor necessarily the technical understanding."
An Energywire investigation last year found that TSA had just six employees charged with monitoring the cyber and physical security of more than 300,000 miles of interstate gas pipelines (Energywire, May 25, 2017).
Since then, TSA has revamped cybersecurity guidance for oil and gas pipeline operators, issuing a new set of baseline standards in March. TSA has also defended its voluntary approach to the issue, noting that it "continues to achieve desired results in protecting pipeline infrastructure" (Energywire, Dec. 22, 2017).
Glick said that gas pipelines' growing significance to the U.S. grid demands a fresh look at that approach. "It makes some sense to seriously consider imposing mandatory standards on natural gas pipelines," he said, noting that the electric sector already faces binding critical infrastructure protection standards that include cybersecurity. "You don't want to wait until [hackers] actually pull the plug, so to speak — you want to be prepared."
FERC does not have direct jurisdiction over pipeline cybersecurity. However, the independent agency does have a say in certain siting, market and environmental aspects of interstate gas pipelines, among other responsibilities. FERC also gets the final word on security standards for bulk power utilities and hydroelectric plants.
Asked whether he expects FERC to adopt a more assertive oversight role vis-à-vis the gas industry, Glick said "it's worth looking at." He pointed out that his colleagues have also expressed interest in securing U.S. energy networks from new threats (Energywire, April 18).
"The downside of that is: We don't have jurisdiction over intrastate pipelines, and we don't have jurisdiction over oil pipelines," he said. "Therefore, [ours] would be somewhat of a limited approach, as we wouldn't be as comprehensive as the Department of Energy."
Glick said it would ultimately be up to Congress to determine the most effective approach to gas oversight and noted he was open to exploring a range of ideas.
He also clarified that he is not in favor of using security as a pretext for swaying markets and cutting out gas infrastructure in favor of other sources.
"I think that the solution is making our pipeline system and grid system more cyber secure," he said. "It's not just saying, 'Oh, we're going to have a cyberattack against natural gas — so let's go away from natural gas and get to another technology.'"
Glick acknowledged that any push to switch out TSA in favor of another regulator would likely encounter pushback from the gas industry. Pipeline trade group executives have bristled at the notion of cutting out TSA in recent congressional testimony, pointing to recent industry-led efforts to lock down their most crucial networks.
"Industry's not going to want government regulation, but at the end of the day, it might be better both for the public interest, but also for the utilities," Glick said. "If I was a gas pipeline company and something went wrong, I'd rather tell my insurance company or tell a court that I followed government mandatory standards than, 'I just did something on my own.'"
Glick's position echoes that of several senior grid officials who have voiced reservations about the current extent of oversight for the gas industry.
Last year, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation keyed in on two dozen areas in the U.S. where power utilities leaned heavily on a single source of natural gas — whether a storage facility or pipeline artery (Energywire, Nov. 15, 2017). Three-quarters of those sites carried risks of "extreme" outages if gas infrastructure failed, the grid overseer found.
In the wake of that report, Thomas Coleman, NERC's director of reliability assessments, spoke in favor of applying critical infrastructure protection standards not just to power utilities but also to the gas infrastructure that feeds them.
Several lawmakers have also turned their attention to gas security in recent months. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, joined Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) last year to request the Government Accountability Office report on the adequacy of industry defensive efforts and federal policies. That review is due to be published later this year.
Glick worked with Cantwell on the ENR Committee before Trump appointed him to his current post at FERC. He's also been a policy adviser at DOE and government affairs director for the renewables division of Spanish utility giant Iberdrola. Glick was officially sworn in as a FERC commissioner last November.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/05/29/stories/1060082831
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States, Vowing to Resist Trump, Find Pitfalls on Climate
May 29, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Storrow
Climate-conscious states pledged to pick up the slack when President Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord. Twelve months later, they're at a crossroads.
The greenest among them can point to major victories. California extended its carbon cap-and-trade program (Climatewire, July 18, 2017). The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, as the cap-and-trade program covering the power sector in nine Northeastern states is known, agreed to reduce its carbon cap by 30 percent over the next decade (Climatewire, Aug. 24, 2017). New Jersey and Virginia are in the process of joining RGGI after Democrats won gubernatorial races in both states last year.
And the governors of purple states like Colorado and North Carolina joined the U.S. Climate Alliance, a group of 16 states and Puerto Rico seeking to meet the United States' previous proposed greenhouse gas emissions cut under the Paris accord of 26 to 28 percent of 2005 levels by 2025.
Those developments have been accompanied by major clean energy announcements. Just last week, New Jersey signed off on a bill to double the purchase of renewable generation in the state, while Massachusetts approved an 800-megawatt offshore wind project.
"At a time when both countries and states and business could have used the Trump announcement as an excuse to step back on greenhouse gas reduction efforts, they've actually been stepping up this year," said Vicki Arroyo, who leads the Georgetown Climate Center.
But those victories have coincided with stinging losses in other states and significant setbacks at the federal level.
Washington and Oregon failed to pass a carbon tax and cap-and-trade program, respectively. Leaders in both states have pledged to take another bite at the apple. Oregon, in particular, is widely expected to pass its cap-and-trade proposal when lawmakers reconvene in Salem, the state capital, next year.
The outlook is murkier in Washington state, where voters will have their say on a proposed carbon fee referendum this fall. Last time they went to the ballot box with a carbon tax on the ballot, in 2016, they overwhelmingly rejected it. Should it fail again, prospects in the state Legislature are just as uncertain. Democrats have one-seat margins in both the House and Senate heading into November.
Greens nevertheless remain upbeat about sending Trump a message one year after he stunned the world by setting the United States on a path out of the Paris accord.
Reed Schuler, climate adviser to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), reckons the effort to price carbon in Washington state has only just begun. An Inslee proposal to price carbon was passed out of two legislative committees this year before ultimately failing to make it to the Senate floor for a vote.
A year, he noted, isn't a long time in the world of policymaking.
"Progress is happening," Schuler said. "The infrastructure is being built, the leadership is there, and you're going to see more and more of this successfully happening in the next few years."
Even as states confront federal opposition to climate policy, more threats loom. EPA's attempts to roll back vehicle emission standards could slow market growth of cleaner cars. California and other states have pledged to fight the rollback, but looser emissions standards could undercut the progress states have made in areas like the power sector.
The transportation sector continues to flummox state climate planners. Cars and trucks are now the largest source of U.S. carbon emissions, a dynamic that threatens to slow progress in climate-conscious states that have spent years greening their power sectors (Climatewire, April 18).
With the exception of California, no state has taken steps to price carbon from cars and trucks. A recent paper from the Rhodium Group, a consultancy, underlines the dynamic. A mere 6 percent of U.S. carbon emissions is subjected to some sort of carbon price.
"No one is busting the envelope of new policy ideas," said John Larsen, a Rhodium analyst who served in the Department of Energy in the Obama administration. "Most of that has been focused on the power sector. It's re-upping the renewable portfolio standard. In some instances, it is propping up nuclear plants. New Jersey is the most recent example of this."
Yet there are signs that might change. Larsen likens the current moment to one more than a decade ago when state leaders, frustrated with the George W. Bush administration's climate inaction, banded together to create RGGI and California's cap-and-trade program. It took four years between the time that former New York Gov. George Pataki, a Republican, sent a letter to his Northeastern counterparts and the launch of RGGI in 2009.
Similar momentum can now be seen in transportation.
After years of talk, the Transportation and Climate Initiative, which comprises 11 states and the District of Columbia, has begun holding listening sessions this spring. Regional leaders are increasingly bullish that TCI will begin taking steps toward establishing a RGGI-style cap-and-trade program for the region's transportation sector.
Arroyo, who has helped coordinate the effort, notes that TCI's work has coincided with increased state collaboration on reducing barriers for electric vehicles.
"People are really engaging," she said.
Oddly, some of the greatest strides are being made in states where climate change remains a taboo subject.
America's overall carbon emissions were down in 2017, in large part thanks to the continued retirement of coal plants in conservative and purple states (Climatewire, March 23). Those states have turned to natural gas and a growing amount of renewables to fill the void.
Wind now accounts for 14 percent of Texas' power, or enough to supply more than 6 million homes. Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma generate at least a third of their electricity from wind.
Still, states will be hard-pressed to deliver on America's Paris commitment without help from the federal government. When Rhodium totaled up the most recent emissions trends in March, it found that the United States was on track to cut emissions 17 percent by 2025 — far below the goal of 26 to 28 percent.
Progress in greening the power sector was offset by rising emissions from the transportation and industrial sectors.
If states are to pick up the slack for the federal government, they will have to cut carbon in parts of the economy where no state has before.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/05/29/stories/1060082805
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Straws. Bottle Caps. Polyester. These Are the New Targets of California's Environmental Movement
May 29, 2018 | Los Angeles Times
By Rosanna Xia
It took years of activist campaigns to turn the plastic bag into a villain, and hard-fought legislation to reduce its presence in oceans and waterways. Now, environmentalists and lawmakers are deploying similar tactics against a new generation of plastic pollutants.
There are drinking straws, which as a viral video shows can get stuck in a sea turtle's nose. The hundreds of thousands of bottle caps that wind up on beaches. And the microfibers that wash off polyester clothes, making their way into the ocean, the stomachs of marine life and ultimately our seafood.
Each is the subject of statewide legislation under debate in Sacramento, as California again considers new environmental law that's at once pioneering and controversial.
Their action comes as plastic takes center stage as the environmental concern du jour.
There could be more plastic by weight than fish in the world's oceans by 2050, according to a widely cited World Economic Forum report. A recent UC Davis study sampled seafood sold at local markets in Half Moon Bay and found that one-quarter of fish and one-third of shellfish contained plastic debris.
A survey comparing 150 tap-water samples from five continents found synthetic microfibers in almost every sample — 94% in the United States. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is at 1.8 trillion pieces of trash, most of it plastic, and counting. The European Commission on Monday proposed new across-the-board rules, including a ban on single-use plastic products "where alternatives are readily available and affordable."
The call to break the world's disposable-plastic habit is resonating, especially in California. More than half a dozen bills aimed at plastic pollution were introduced in Sacramento this year alone — by both coastal legislators and more moderate inland colleagues who see the potential damage not just in oceans but also rivers, lakes and the state's water supply. No one, they said, wants to drink a glass of water and wonder if they're also downing a glass of plastic.
As the White House pulls back on environmental issues, California leaders say it's on them to push forward. The state, after all, was the first in the nation to ban single-use plastic bags, setting the stage for others to follow. When a state law barred exfoliating beauty products with plastic microbeads, the industry impact was so large the ban was adopted at the national level in President Obama's final year.
"What we do has not just national, but international implications. We're the fifth-largest economy in the world," said Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon (D-Whittier), who introduced a bill this year that bars sit-down restaurants from providing plastic straws unless a customer requests one. "You better believe that if we do something and it works here, everyone's going to adopt it."
Read more: Plastic trash could top 13 billion tons by 2050. And recycling doesn't help much »
Calderon has also teamed up with Assemblyman Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley), a longtime environmental leader, on a law that would prohibit retailers from selling single-use plastic bottles with caps that do not remain tethered to the container after opening.
A bill by Assemblyman Richard Hershel Bloom (D-Santa Monica), who had authored the microbeads bill and is a co-author on the straws and caps bills, requires all new clothing made with more than 50% synthetic material have a label that warns of microfiber shedding during washing.
All three have passed committee and are expected to go to the Assembly floor this week.
These bills have sparked intense pushback by conservatives and a coalition of manufacturers and industry groups. Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach), not shy to use Trumpian tactics in his campaign to be California's next governor, took to Twitter to lambaste the straw proposal.
"California Democrat Leader Ian Calderon wants to ban PLASTIC STRAWS. Is there any part of your life that Democrats don't want to control? As Governor, this is exactly the type of legislation that I will VETO."
The concerns from the Plastics Industry Assn., California Chamber of Commerce, International Bottled Water Assn. and dozens of others have been more measured. Most have backed off on the straws bill, acknowledging that giving customers the option to request one was a reasonable compromise.
Their opposition questions the limited existing research on microfiber pollution and the approach of the bottle cap bill, saying these changes "would negatively impact tens of thousands of manufacturers and retailers that do business with California."
"We understand the desire to reduce plastic waste, but feel that this will not solve the problem," they said in a joint statement on the connect-the-cap bill. "A more effective approach would be to educate consumers about recycling lids with the bottles."
And while the microfiber issue is important, another coalition said, a label doesn't solve the problem, which needs more study, and would just cause confusion for consumers and create potential liability for producers.
Nate Herman, senior vice president of supply chain for the American Apparel & Footwear Assn., said an additional label would also "add extensive cost" to product development and ultimately would force companies to "add labeling to all impacted products even if being sold in other states."
Supporters say this year's suite of bills present a range of actions that could be taken to address plastic pollution: Encouraging change in consumer habits, requesting a redesign by manufacturers and raising public awareness — especially with microfiber.
Synthetic fabrics such as polyester, nylon, acrylic and spandex are everywhere, and so are their sheddings. A Patagonia study found that a microfleece jacket could release more than 1,000 milligrams of microfibers per wash. Laundry machines today are not equipped to filter out microfibers, usually less than 5 millimeters long, and up to 40% of microfiberspass through wastewater treatment plants.
The study, conducted with UC Santa Barbara, found that a single treatment plant discharged 3.73 billion microfibers, estimated at 179 pounds, per day.
Some environmentalists were disappointed the bills — AB 1884, AB 2779 and AB 2379 — didn't go further. Others say any step toward a fundamental consumer or manufacturing change helps.
This is Stone's second year trying to get bottle manufacturers to redesign lids. In last-minute efforts to work with opposition before the bill went before Assembly, he scaled back the requirement to just plastic water bottles, not all beverage bottles. Smaller companies that sell bottled beverages will also be exempt.
"Californians are becoming more interested in being responsible toward the impacts that plastics have on our environment, but trying to push through policy in Sacramento is a very different calculation," Stone said. "It took more than 125 local jurisdictions doing the plastic bag ban for the Legislature to finally say 'OK, we're going to step in.'"
The state's plastic bag ban, which set off one of the fiercest lobbying battles in 2014, took eight years and has paved much of the way for today's bills. In 2016, plastic bag makers spent $6 million in an effort to convince voters to overturn the bag ban through two ballot measures. Californians upheld the ban, which went into effect at the end of that year.
Shoppers have adapted with little grumbling and the economic impacts so far have not been dramatic, advocates say. The decline in bags found on beaches has been substantial: The number of plastic bags collected on the most recent annual Coastal Cleanup Day dropped more than 60% compared to 2010.
Justin Malan of Ecoconsult, which works with the Clean Seas Lobbying Coalition, says California has come a long way from the days when it was a political "pitchfork battle against just about everybody except the coastal advocates."
"This issue has become much more mainstream," Malan said. "We don't have to fight some of those earlier environmental fights."
Helping the momentum are the many cities that have already banned plastic straws: Malibu, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach and San Luis Obispo.
Considering the magnitude of the plastic problem, however, this item-by-item, city-by-city approach isn't a long-term solution, Heal the Bay President Shelley Luce said.
"It's still cheaper for the manufacturer and the consumer to use single-use disposable plastic everything than it is to use a bamboo replacement or metal replacement or something that is more easily reused or recycled," Luce said. "We have to think about incentivizing new designs and helping manufacturers move toward new materials."
Sara Aminzadeh, a state coastal commissioner and executive director of California Coastkeeper Alliance, agrees that the more complete solution is part cultural, part market-driven.
"Companies will need to take responsibility for the amount of plastic that they're producing," she said, "and we need to proactively acknowledge that and include them as part of the solution."
In Malibu, where restaurants and coffee shops have been testing paper and bamboo straws before the city's ban begins this summer, owners said the new rules might be a little more costly but worth it in the long run.
Colette Richardson, manager of Le Cafe de la Plage by Point Dume, said she's also switching to wooden spoons to serve the cafe's handcrafted ice cream.
Her last 10 boxes of plastic straws will be donated to a local artist, who's collecting from businesses around town to create a public sculpture.
Sitting outside, Jimmy Summerall considered what it would be like using a paper straw for the smoothie and iced coffee he had just purchased from SunLife Organics. Wouldn't it get soggy?
He's good about recycling but admits straws are not the first item he thinks of when it comes to being environmentally friendly. Summerall is not one to ask for straws, he said, and only finds himself using them when a shop sticks one in his beverage.
"I'll definitely be thinking about straws more," he said. "You really can't unsee it."
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-california-plastic-pollution-20180528-story.html
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