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ACC PM 31/5
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(ACC Mentioend) EPA's Science Advisers Turn Eyes On Pruitt’s Rollbacks
May 31, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Alex Guillén
EPA's influential Science Advisory Board will meet on Thursday for its first time since Administrator Scott Pruitt filled it with a slate of industry representatives — and it's got a long list of controversial rule rollbacks to review. -
(ACC Mentioned) PP Prices Continue 2018 Rocket Ride in May, With PET Also Up And PS Down
May 31, 2018 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American prices for polypropylene resin continued their wandering ways in May, jumping 7 cents per pound after falling by that same amount in the previous two months combined. -
(ACC Mentioned) Plastic Compounding Market Current Trends and Future Aspects by 2024
May 31, 2018 | Business Services-
Thriving in an era where plastic utilization has upscaled almost twentyfold in the last half-century and is expected to double its value in the coming twenty years, overall plastic compounding Market is set to amass remarkable proceeds from diversified domains, the automotive sector in particular. -
(ACC Mentioned) US Io Impose Steel, Aluminium Tariffs on EU, Canada, Mexico
May 31, 2018 | ICIS
By David Haydon
US President Donald Trump signed two proclamations on Thursday adjusting steel and aluminium tariffs to include Canada, Mexico and the European Union. -
White House Slaps Steel, Aluminum Tariffs on Canada, Mexico, EU
May 31, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
The Trump administration plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU) at midnight Friday, after a month-long extension of trade negotiations appear to have fallen short of a last-minute deal. -
Trump Hits U.S. Allies With Steel, Aluminum Tariffs
May 31, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Doug Palmer
The Trump administration will impose new duties on steel and aluminum imports from three key trading partners — the European Union, Canada and Mexico — after failing to reach deals with them to address national security concerns related to the imports, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said today. -
Specter of Trade War After US Tariffs on EU, Mexico, Canada
May 31, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
The Trump administration said Thursday it will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe, Mexico and Canada after failing to win concessions from the American allies. Europe and Mexico pledged to retaliate quickly, exacerbating trans-Atlantic and North American trade tensions. Financial markets fell amid fears of a trade war. -
(ACC Mentioned) Industry Accused Of Stalling US EPA Formaldehyde Assessment
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Three Senate Democrats are questioning whether industry interests have slowed the release of the US EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) programme’s revised formaldehyde assessment. -
(ACC Mentioned) BPA Linked To Heart Function Changes In Young
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Andrew Turley
Bisphenol A could adversely affect juvenile heart function, according to research conducted on heart cells from newborn rats. -
(ACC Mentioned) Battle in the Bakken State?
May 30, 2018 | Politico
By Kelsey Tamborrino
DEJA VU? Already under fire for their handling of a controversial assessment of nonstick chemicals in drinking water, a newly uncovered EPA email suggests that public relations strategy was also front-of-mind for EPA staffers as the agency contemplated reevaluating the risks of formaldehyde. -
US Industry Defends Use Of Oxybenzone In Sunscreens
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
US trade associations, representing the personal care and health product industries, have railed against an NGO campaign, which calls for the phasing out of oxybenzone in sunscreens by 2020. -
Canada Provisionally Concludes Cyclohexanone Is Safe
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Andrew Turley
A Canadian government assessment has provisionally concluded that cyclohexanone, plus ten other fragrance substances, are not harmful to humans or the environment. -
REACH Directors’ Contact Group Publishes Post-2018 Sief Recommendations
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The REACH Directors’ Contact Group has published recommendations urging members of substance information exchange fora (Siefs) to continue to cooperate after today's final registration deadline. -
European Researchers Create Database For Chemicals In Plastic Packaging
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
A group of NGOs and scientists have developed a database containing more than 4,000 chemicals potentially found in plastic packaging. -
Final REACH Deadline Beckons New Beginning For EU, Says Echa Head
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Today’s final REACH registration deadline ushers in the beginning of one uniform regulatory system for all chemicals on the EU/EEA market, says Björn Hansen, head of Echa. -
EU Science Committee Further Considers Safety Of Climbazole
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety is further considering the preservative climbazole's safety, in a follow-up to the addendum to its Opinion, issued in October last year. -
Enzyme Helps Photoredox Get Enantioselective
May 31, 2018 | Chemistry World
By Geri Kitley
Enantioenriched amine synthesis is inaugural example of photoredox and enzyme collaboration -
In Colorado, Fracking Is Back, and So Are the Battle Lines
May 31, 2018 | The New York Times
By Julie Turkewitz
A new oil rig will rise behind a middle school in this sprawling county in the coming months, its slender tower bearing an announcement: fracking is back. -
U.S. Gas to China: Positive Energy For Bilateral Relations
May 31, 2018 | Brookings Institute
By Jiaqi Lu and Ye Qi
With the Shale Gas Revolution, the United States has increased its natural gas production by 35% over the last decade. -
(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Info Could Be Slow to Reach States, EMTs Under EPA Plan
May 31, 2018 | Bloomberg BNA
By Sam Pearson
Industry and health advocacy organizations are watching closely as the EPA adds new tools so that, during emergencies, local authorities and first responders can access chemical trade secrets previously kept in-house. -
Harvard Teaming With Google to Reduce Harmful Chemical Use
May 30, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
Harvard University is teaming up with Google to reduce the use of harmful chemicals in building products and materials.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
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Transportation and Infrastructure News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News
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(ACC Mentioend) EPA's Science Advisers Turn Eyes On Pruitt’s Rollbacks
May 31, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Alex Guillén
EPA's influential Science Advisory Board will meet on Thursday for its first time since Administrator Scott Pruitt filled it with a slate of industry representatives — and it's got a long list of controversial rule rollbacks to review.
The SAB plans to pore over the science EPA is using to justify rollbacks on emissions regulators for cars, trucks, power plants and oil and gas wells — as well as Pruitt’s proposed “transparency” rule for scientific studies.
Several current and former SAB members told POLITICO that it was unprecedented for the board to consider diving into so many regulatory actions, but the heightened scrutiny from the outside experts came about because the agency stonewalled the scientists’ questions about Pruitt’s deregulatory decisions. That echoes the complaints from environmentalists and public advocacy groups who say EPA has declined to share information about how it was justifying easing the regulations put in place during the Obama administration.
“The agency has not been forthcoming about how they’re developing the relevant science work products,” said Chris Frey, a professor of environmental engineering at North Carolina State University and a SAB member since 2012.
In a move critics derided as an attempt to stack the 44-member board with industry-friendly voices, Pruitt last year broke with the tradition of reappointing first-term SAB members for second three-year stints by removing several advisers who received grants from the agency. In their places, he installed scientists from the fossil fuel and chemicals sectors and several Republican environmental officials. Among the new members are representatives from Phillips 66, Total, Southern Co., the American Chemistry Council and NERA Economic Consulting.
In addition to studying Pruitt's proposal to bar EPA from using studies that don't make public all their data, the SAB's working groups suggested the full group take a closer look at the repeal of the Clean Power Plan and EPA’s reconsideration of its related rule limiting carbon emissions from future power plants. Also up for review are Pruitt’s decision to relax 2022-2025 auto emissions standards, changes to the 2016 methane rule for new oil and gas wells, and EPA’s effort to repeal a rule regulating emissions from “glider” trucks.
The working groups also deferred decisions on two other rulemakings: the Waters of the U.S. rewrite and rules on a special class of “persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals” under the Toxic Substances Control Act. SAB can decide whether to conduct a deeper review into those once EPA has reviewable regulatory language available, the groups said.
Frey, who has been a SAB member for six years, said having multiple rules up for review was very unusual for the board.
“It’s very rare that we’ve recommended to the full Science Advisory Board that there should be an SAB action,” he said.
SAB has been conducting twice-yearly reviews of EPA’s planned regulatory actions since 2012, members said, an effort designed to enable the advisory board to help guide EPA before its rules are finalized.
In the early days, getting information from EPA was “like pulling teeth,” said Kimberly Jones, a SAB member from 2011 through 2017 and the chair of environmental engineering at Howard University. But that quickly improved once EPA knew the scope of SAB inquiries, she added.
The SAB's working groups review how EPA uses scientific studies in its rulemakings, including whether and how a study was peer-reviewed and if EPA has properly accounted for uncertainties in the scientific findings. The groups typically find that further reviews aren't needed.
But this time around, the working groups said EPA didn't respond to their questions about many of Pruitt’s highest-profile rollbacks.
“Basically, they just didn’t provide us with any answers,” Frey said. “That kind of put us in a position where all we can really do is say EPA has not identified the science or any plan to review it, and clearly there are science issues that are in the proposed rule.”
Frey pointed to lengthy memos from the working groups that included multiple pages of questions that had been posed to EPA for each rulemaking. EPA responded with short statements promising to keep the issues in mind as it develops the final rules.
“The response from the agency was basically a non-response,” Frey said.
An agency spokesman said in a statement that SAB “plays an important role” advising EPA.
“We value the Board’s expertise, and we welcome feedback from the chartered panel on areas in which they are interested in getting additional scientific information that is relevant to the rulemaking process,” the spokesman said.
It was not clear whether the full SAB will vote on Thursday to advance the reviews.
Frey noted that some of the members appointed by Pruitt had been on the working groups, giving him hope that the full board will back the recommendations to look deeper into the regulatory rollbacks.
Should SAB adopt them, it likely would mean setting up special subcommittees that include current members plus outside experts to question EPA further.
The board can advise EPA only on scientific matters, not policy or legal issues. In several cases, like with the repeals of the Clean Power Plan and the glider rule, EPA says it has a legal argument about statutory authority that does not rely on scientific issues.
But even then, Frey said, EPA must keep the science in mind.
“It’s in the best interest of the agency to make sure that it’s using appropriately developed and reviewed science in its rules,” Frey said. “And the flip side of that is if the agency’s not doing that, it could open itself up to legal challenges for not following appropriate procedures to develop the science.”
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/05/epas-science-advisers-turn-eyes-on-pruitts-rollbacks-578610
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(ACC Mentioned) PP Prices Continue 2018 Rocket Ride in May, With PET Also Up And PS Down
May 31, 2018 | Plastics News
By Frank Esposito
North American prices for polypropylene resin continued their wandering ways in May, jumping 7 cents per pound after falling by that same amount in the previous two months combined.
Regional prices for PET bottle resin also ticked up an average of 2 cents per pound in May, with solid PS prices declining an average of 4 cents, according to market sources contacted recently by Plastics News.
The 7-cent upward shock for PP included 5 cents of matching price increases for polymer-grade propylene feedstock and 2 cents in profit margin improvement that was won by PP makers, according to Scott Newell, a market analyst with Resin Technology Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas.
Regional PP prices had slid a penny per pound in April and 6 cents in March. The market had started the year with a 9-cent hike in January and a 6-cent dip in February, meaning total price volatility for PP in the first five months of 2018 has been a vertigo-inducing 29 cents.
North American PP sales through April were up just over 2 percent vs. the same period in 2017, according to the American Chemistry Council. A domestic sales increase of 2.3 percent was dampened somewhat by a reduction of almost 6 percent for sales into the export market.
PP posted positive domestic sales results for those four months in film — up almost 11 percent — and injection molded caps and closures, where sales grew more than 7 percent.
North American PET bottle resin prices bumped up an average of 2 cents per pound in May after being flat in April. Prices for the material had declined by a penny in March after nine consecutive months of increases totaling 13 cents per pound.
PET market analyst Mark Kallman of RTI said that the May increase was the result of shortened supplies from the paraxylene and purified terephthalic acid feedstock stream, as well as "seasonal PET demand in an overall tight market."
Demand for PET is increasing as warmer weather drives demand for bottled water and carbonated soft drinks, two of the material's major end markets. Also in the current market, paraxylene supplies "are returning to more normal levels, and [monoethylene glycol] should start easing, so we could see some stability in the near term," Kallman added.
Solid PS prices in the region fell an average of 4 cents per pound in May after being flat in April and rising 4 cents in March. Prices for benzene feedstock also were down in both April and May, but the May PS decline "reflects general loosening in the supply chain rather than anything such as a one-to-one movement with benzene," according to Phil Karig, managing director of the Mathelin Bay Associates consulting firm in St. Louis.
North American PS sales slumped 5.5 percent in the first four months of 2018. A domestic sales loss of 6 percent was softened somewhat by an increase of more than 12 percent in export sales.
One bright spot for regional PS sales in the first four months of the year came in sales to distributors and resellers, which grew more than 10 percent. That category accounted for more than 10 percent of domestic PS sales during that period.
Plastics News this week also is showing historical corrections to reflect net price changes for expanded PS and amorphous and crystalline PET. EPS prices are being moved downward 3 cents per pound to show net price changes that have affected that material since early 2017.
Prices for APET and CPET are being increased 2 cents per pound to show net price changes that have taken effect since early 2016.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20180531/NEWS/180539978/pp-pet-prices-rise-solid-ps-drops
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(ACC Mentioned) Plastic Compounding Market Current Trends and Future Aspects by 2024
May 31, 2018 | Business Services-
Thriving in an era where plastic utilization has upscaled almost twentyfold in the last half-century and is expected to double its value in the coming twenty years, overall plastic compounding Market is set to amass remarkable proceeds from diversified domains, the automotive sector in particular. In fact, automotive applications alone have pegged a valuation of USD 10 billion in 2016, claims Global Market Insights, Inc. While aviation sector presently procures a lion’s share of lightweight material consumption, it has been forecast that automotive domain would increase the share to 70% by 2030, an estimation shedding a positive light on the plastic compounding market share from automotive sector in the years ahead.
The latest scoop that is grabbing the headlines in plastic compounding market is the acquisition plan of Omni Plastics LLC by Celanese Corporations, a deal that is reported to include Omni’s subsidiaries which comprises Mexican distributor, Resinal de Mexico. Somewhat toward the end of last year, the Dallas-based company has put forth its proposition of purchasing Omni’s engineered materials business, in a bid to stronghold its position in plastic compounding industry.
Speaking of the fact, in the past few years, Celanese has been making hefty investments in compounding via internal projects and several acquisition activities in the U.S. and offshore. As far as the latest deal is concerned, although it is anticipated to get finalized by the first quarter of this year, neither of the concerned parties have yet disclosed anything about the terms of the deal. However, as per experts’ affirmation, the deal, in all likeliness, would help Celanese streamline its product portfolio in the transformative plastic compounding market, that is slated to cross USD 50 billion by 2024.
The burgeoning automotive domain, as it is observed lately, has been making constant efforts to reduce the vehicle weight by replacing metal components with plastic parts. According to the latest report brought forth by Economics & Statistics Department of American Chemistry Council- in the year 2016, approximately over 14 million lightweight vehicles of U.S. and Canada required more than 4.9 billion pounds of polymer composites and plastics worth of USD 5.7 billion.
It has been further reported that deployment of plastics in US and Canadian light weight vehicles increased by almost 75 million pounds in 2016. Endorsed with a plethora of benefits with regards to fuel consumption, safety, and performance, plastic consumption in automotive sector is bound to overflow in the coming timeframe, which in consequence, would proliferate plastic compounding industry size.
In tandem, governments of both developing as well as developed nations have been increasingly taking encouraging initiatives to reduce harmful vehicular emission, a factor that has further favored plastic compounding market growth from automotive applications. Perhaps marred by the fact that vehicle weight and fuel consumption are inextricably related, light weight vehicles hold a greater chance of meeting these regulations than normal vehicle.
Experts claim, every saving of 100 kg weight in vehicle can lead to a reduction of fuel consumption of almost 0.4L/100km from cars and 0.5L/ 100 km in case of light weight trucks. Being in line with the government’s regulations, car manufacturers have been striving hard to replace metal parts with plastics, which is sure to reflect in the overall plastic compounding industry size.
Competitive Scenario
The strategic landscape of plastic compounding industry boasts of a portfolio of renowned biggies like LyondellBasell Industries, A. Schulman, BASF, Dow Chemical, and Solvay. Amidst the backdrop of sheer competition, production capacity expansion has emerged as a most adopted strategy determining the sustainability quotient for the industry participants. The aforementioned plastic compounding market giants have been increasingly investing in research activities to enhance their production capacity.
Say for instance, A. Schulman, in the year before last, made it to the headlines with the launch of its new Kerpen plant situated in Germany. Reportedly, in addition to introducing two new production lines, the U.S. based company had integrated a fully automatic packaging line in the plant. As recent as in June 2017, BASF, one of the acclaimed player in plastic compounding market has expanded its Schwarzheide site plant capacity to 70000 tons. With leading giants paving the way for more investments in plastic compounding industry, the competitive landscape of this fraternity is undoubtedly going to be one of the most dynamic platforms in the ensuing years.
About Global Market Insights:
Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.
https://businessservices24.com/1132476/plastic-compounding-market-3/
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(ACC Mentioned) US Io Impose Steel, Aluminium Tariffs on EU, Canada, Mexico
May 31, 2018 | ICIS
By David Haydon
HOUSTON (ICIS)--US President Donald Trump signed two proclamations on Thursday adjusting steel and aluminium tariffs to include Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
The 25% steel tariff and the 10% aluminium tariff are effective at midnight Eastern time (04:00 GMT on Friday).
Trump first signed tariff proclamations in March, initially excluding Canada and Mexico, two of the largest sources of imported steel to the US.
The chemical industry has criticised the move, stating repeatedly that steel and aluminium tariffs would increase costs for infrastructure projects, ultimately making US chemical products less competitive globally.
Retaliatory tariffs have also been cited as a concern by the American Chemistry Council (ACC).
Industry groups including the ACC, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) have requested exemptions from the tariffs.
https://www.icis.com/resources/news/2018/05/31/10226731/us-to-impose-steel-aluminium-tariffs-on-eu-canada-mexico/
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White House Slaps Steel, Aluminum Tariffs on Canada, Mexico, EU
May 31, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
The Trump administration plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU) at midnight Friday, after a month-long extension of trade negotiations appear to have fallen short of a last-minute deal.
According to reports, Mexico and the EU vowed to retaliate by imposing reciprocal tariffs on American-made products.
President Trump first proposed levying a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports on March 1. Three weeks later, he issued a proclamation calling for suspending the tariffs until May 1 while negotiations were ongoing. Although the White House extended trade negotiations with Canada, Mexico and the EU on April 30 for another 30 days, Chinese imports were hit with the tariff on May 1.
Several trade associations, including many representing the oil and gas industry, have submitted comments on an interim final rule outlining a procedure for requesting an exemption to the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The interim final rule, conceived by the Commerce Department, was published last March in the Federal Register.
At issue are specialty steel products, which are used in oil and gas pipelines and at liquefied natural gas export facilities. The energy industry and its allies argue that such products meet the criteria for an exemption from the 25% tariff on steel imports because there is an insufficient supply of comparable products from domestic steel manufacturers.
On May 18, the trade groups, which include the American Petroleum Institute; the American Gas Association; the Association of Oil Pipe Lines; the GPA Midstream Association; the Independent Petroleum Association of America; and the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, recommended a list of 11 changes to the interim final rule.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/114556-white-house-slaps-steel-aluminum-tariffs-on-canada-mexico-eu
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Trump Hits U.S. Allies With Steel, Aluminum Tariffs
May 31, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Doug Palmer
The Trump administration will impose new duties on steel and aluminum imports from three key trading partners — the European Union, Canada and Mexico — after failing to reach deals with them to address national security concerns related to the imports, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said today.
The decision, which comes just days after President Donald Trump broke a cease-fire in an escalating trade dispute with China, is certain to inflame relations with the three trading partners and invite retaliation.
The three allies were previously given temporary exemptions from the duties — 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum. In the case of Canada and Mexico, the U.S. had hoped to address its national security concerns in the context of ongoing efforts to renegotiate NAFTA, but those talks have taken longer than expected and there is now no precise end date in sight, Ross said. Talks with the European Union made some progress, but not enough to warrant a permanent exemption or another temporary exemption, he said.
The European Union has already notified the World Trade Organization of plans to levy duties on $7.1 billion worth of U.S. exports in response, with the aim of collecting $1.6 billion in tariff revenue. Canada and Mexico have also threatened retaliation, but have not publicly indicated which U.S. products they would hit.
The Trump administration imposed the duties on imports from most other U.S. trading partners earlier this year to stem a flood of cheap steel and aluminum into the country. The administration had determined that imports of the metals threatened national security by undermining domestic production in those sectors. A handful of other U.S. trading partners, including South Korea, Australia, Argentina and Brazil, previously won permanent exemptions by agreeing to quotas on their exports.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Specter of Trade War After US Tariffs on EU, Mexico, Canada
May 31, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Thursday it will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe, Mexico and Canada after failing to win concessions from the American allies. Europe and Mexico pledged to retaliate quickly, exacerbating trans-Atlantic and North American trade tensions. Financial markets fell amid fears of a trade war.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the tariffs would be 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, and go into effect on Friday, as the administration followed through on the penalties after earlier granting exemptions to buy time for negotiations. President Donald Trump had announced the tariffs in March, citing national security concerns.
The European Commission's president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said Trump's decision amounted to trade protectionism and that Europe would respond with countermeasures. "This is protectionism, pure and simple," Juncker said. Mexico said it would penalize U.S. imports including pork bellies, apples, grapes, cheeses and flat steel.
"Donald Trump is a bully. And the only way to do deal with a bully is to stand up and push back," said Kathleen Wynne, Ontario's premier.
The U.S. action widens a rift with America's closest allies, threatens to drive up prices for companies and consumers that buy steel and aluminum, heightens uncertainty for businesses and is already alarming investors in global financial markets.
Financial markets dipped amid concerns about the disputes among trading partners, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 200 points.
The tariffs directed at some of the U.S.'s most ardent allies represented the latest move in Trump's "America First" agenda that has roiled financial markets and raised the specter of a trade war involving the U.S., China and some of the globe's most dominant economies.
The trade actions have opened the U.S. to criticism that it's burning bridges at a time when Trump is seeking to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons and help stabilize the Middle East.
"We are alienating all of our friends and partners at a time when we could really use their support," said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator who is now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Ross told reporters that talks with Canada and Mexico over revising the North American Free Trade Agreement were "taking longer than we had hoped." Talks with Europe had "made some progress" but not enough for additional exemptions, he said in a conference call from Paris.
"We continue to be quite willing and indeed eager to have further discussions," Ross said. He said he planned to travel to China on Friday for trade talks between the world's two biggest economies.
European officials, bracing for the tariffs, have threatened to retaliate against U.S. orange juice, peanut butter, kitchenware, clothing and footwear, washing machines, textiles, whiskey, motorcycles, boats and batteries. The EU will decide exact countermeasures in the coming weeks, according to the French officials.
The EU said it would take legal action Friday through the World Trade Organization, setting in motion a process aimed at settling the dispute over the penalties. The EU move could increase pressure on Washington, but the process traditionally takes many months — and in some cases, years.
In terms of the NAFTA talks, the tariffs could hinder the negotiations among the North American neighbors. Ross said there was "no longer a very precise date when they may be concluded and therefore (Canada and Mexico) were added into the list of those who will bear tariffs."
Brazil, Argentina and Australia have agreed to limit steel shipments to the U.S. in exchange for being spared the tariffs, the Commerce Department said. Tariffs will remain on imports from Japan.
Fears of a global trade war are already weighing on investor confidence and could hinder the global economic upturn. European officials argue that tit-for-tat tariffs will hurt growth on both sides of the Atlantic and Canada said before the announcement that it would respond in kind.
"Canada considers it frankly absurd that we would in any way be considered to be a national security threat to the United States," Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said before the tariffs were announced. "The government is absolutely prepared to and will defend Canadian industries and Canadian jobs. We will respond appropriately."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed her opposition even before the U.S. announcement, saying the looming tariffs were incompatible with World Trade Organization rules. She said if there were no exemptions, "We will respond in an intelligent, decisive and joint way."
France's finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, called the U.S. tariffs "unjustified, unjustifiable and dangerous."
"This will only lead to the victory of those who want less growth, those who don't think we can develop our economies across the world. We think on the contrary that global trade must have rules in a context of multilateralism. We are ready to rebuild this multilateralism with our American friends," he said.
The EU trade commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, said the EU "did everything to avoid this outcome." Noting her discussions with U.S. officials, she said. "I have argued for the EU and the US to engage in a positive trans-Atlantic trade agenda, and for the EU to be fully, permanently and unconditionally exempted from these tariffs."
Even some Trump allies in Congress said the trade moves were misguided. "Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are a tax hike on Americans and will have damaging consequences for consumers, manufacturers and workers," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The conservative Koch brothers network' also said it opposed the tariffs.
White House spokesman Raj Shah told Fox News: "The president's actions are about protecting American steel, American aluminum. They're critical for national security."
Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. can help local producers of the metals by making foreign products more expensive. But they can increase costs more broadly for U.S. manufacturers that cannot source all their needs locally and have to import the materials. That hurts the companies and can lead to more expensive consumer prices, economists say.
"Unilateral responses and threats over trade war will solve nothing of the serious imbalances in world trade. Nothing," French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday.
In a clear reference to Trump, Macron added: "These solutions might bring symbolic satisfaction in the short term. ... One can think about making voters happy by saying, 'I have a victory, I'll change the rules, you'll see.'"
But Macron said those "who waged bilateral trade wars ... saw an increase in prices and an increase in unemployment."
Besides the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, the U.S. is also investigating possible limits on foreign cars in the name of national security.
Ross criticized the EU for its tough negotiating position. But German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier insisted the Europeans were ready to negotiate special trade arrangements, notably for liquefied natural gas and industrial goods, including cars.
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Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writers Angela Charlton and Alex Turnbull in Paris, Paul Wiseman, Jill Colvin and Kevin Freking in Washington, Raf Casert in Brussels, Christopher Sherman in Mexico City, Rob Gillies in Toronto and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/05/31/us/politics/ap-us-trump-tariffs.html
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(ACC Mentioned) Industry Accused Of Stalling US EPA Formaldehyde Assessment
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Revised IRIS evaluation reportedly links substance to leukaemia
Three Senate Democrats are questioning whether industry interests have slowed the release of the US EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) programme’s revised formaldehyde assessment.
According to a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt – co-signed by senators Ed Markey (D – Massachusetts), Sheldon Whitehouse (D – Rhode Island) and Tom Carper (D – Delaware) – the agency apparently completed its revised draft assessment of formaldehyde last autumn. This found formaldehyde to be carcinogenic and presenting evidence for nasopharyngeal cancer and leukaemia, among other human health risks.
But the Senators say they have learned that the American Chemistry Council, as well as "interested corporations such as ExxonMobil", have been "pressuring EPA not to release the assessment for public comment as drafted".
The letter also reports that "multiple political appointees within EPA have expressed reluctance to move the assessment through the agency review process, have repeatedly set up briefings on the assessment only to later cancel them, and/or have insisted that IRIS first set up briefings for industry stakeholders before completing agency review".
Nancy Beck, deputy assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), and a former ACC employee, is specifically mentioned as one such appointee "delaying" the assessment’s progress.
The senators cite publicly available documents, internal documents and conversations with former EPA employees with knowledge of the assessment’s progress to support these findings.
They have requested more details from the agency as to why the assessment’s release has been delayed and copies of all communications between the EPA and industry groups regarding the assessment.
An EPA spokesperson told Chemical Watch: "We continue to discuss this assessment with our agency programme partners and have no further updates to provide at this time."Leukaemia, cancer risks
According to the senators’ letter, ACC and ExxonMobil "particularly object to findings related to leukaemia" in the as-yet-to-be released IRIS reevaluation.
The 2010 IRIS draft assessment of formaldehyde – which concluded the substance was carcinogenic when inhaled and linked to leukaemia – received sharp criticism from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and industry groups. Following this, EPA has worked to reform the programme based on NAS peer review recommendations and has been reevaluating its formaldehyde assessment.
In the intervening years, partisan debate over the non-regulatory risk assessment programme has raged on. And the ACC and other interested industry parties have continued to challenge IRIS’s conclusions related to formaldehyde’s carcinogenicity.
"Any draft assessment that attempts to associate formaldehyde exposure with leukaemia is scientifically indefensible," Sarah Scruggs, spokesperson for the ACC’s formaldehyde panel, told Chemical Watch.
The ACC has helped publicise an analysis, funded by formaldehyde supplier Hexion, which concluded that currently available evidence does not imply a causal link between formaldehyde and leukaemia.
Ms Scruggs said that ACC learned at a meeting with EPA earlier this year that the revised IRIS assessment does not revisit the science that has been published since the 2010 draft. It has urged the agency to consider the "best available formaldehyde science" before releasing the updated assessment for intra-agency review.
"Premature release of a draft assessment that has not followed the full IRIS review process or benefited from the sound scientific advice received during that process will cause irreparable harm" to companies, wrote the ACC in a January letter to the agency.
"Our hope is that if there is any delay in initiating the intra-agency review process, it is a result of EPA fully implementing and resolving all of the NAS recommendations," Ms Scruggs told Chemical Watch.
ExxonMobil did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67314/industry-accused-of-stalling-us-epa-formaldehyde-assessment
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(ACC Mentioned) BPA Linked To Heart Function Changes In Young
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Andrew Turley
Bisphenol A could adversely affect juvenile heart function, according to research conducted on heart cells from newborn rats.
The results support a growing body of evidence that BPA exposure can affect cardiac function, electrically and mechanically, the research team says. Furthermore, they highlight the importance of addressing the vulnerability of the child hearts to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).
The research was conducted by scientists at the Children’s National Health System, a specialist children’s hospital in Washington, with US federal funding. It was led by Nikki Posnack at George Washington University, who in previous rat studies has shown that BPA can adversely affect adult heart function.
The team administered BPA at a range of doses chosen to mimic environmental, maximum clinical and 'supraphysiological' exposure levels. The heart cells - neonatal ventricular myocytes - normally exhibit spontaneous synchronised beating, a useful heart health metric.
BPA exposure led to reduced spontaneous beating rate and increased beat rate variability. It also affected how the cells handled calcium, which is key to the regulation of various aspects of heart function. But the effects on calcium handling were, at least partially, reversible.
Dr Posnack said that the heart effects could be linked to endocrine disruption but more research would be needed to confirm this. The effects were rapid, meaning they could be attributed to changes in ion channel functioning or post-translational modification of proteins, she said.
The study provides interesting mechanistic information but is limited in its implications for human health, said Steve Hentges at the American Chemistry Council. "For example, the range of concentrations tested in general are well above serum concentrations that are expected, or even possible, in humans."
BPA is under scrutiny via the US CLARITY-BPA programme, which brings together academics and federal agencies. The aim of the programme is to generate risk data that covers the full range of potential health effects and is useful, specifically, for regulatory decision making.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67336/bpa-linked-to-heart-function-changes-in-young
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(ACC Mentioned) Battle in the Bakken State?
May 30, 2018 | Politico
By Kelsey Tamborrino
... DEJA VU? Already under fire for their handling of a controversial assessment of nonstick chemicals in drinking water, a newly uncovered EPA email suggests that public relations strategy was also front-of-mind for EPA staffers as the agency contemplated reevaluating the risks of formaldehyde. Reuters reported last week that EPA delayed release of a new assessment of the chemical that is expected to for the first time link formaldehyde with leukemia after meeting with the American Chemistry Council in January.
“They reiterated the concern you have raised about information leaking before it’s been vetted and asked that the Agency have appropriate communication materials ready to use if needed,” Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, who heads EPA’s Office of Research and Development, wrote in a Jan. 24 email to EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson and Richard Yamada, deputy assistant administrator for research and development. The email was released to the Union of Concerned Scientists under the Freedom of Information Act.
Yogin Kothari, a lobbyist of UCS, said the email “sounds eerily similar” to concerns that EPA and White House officials expressed about a HHS assessment of the chemicals PFOA and PFOS. "It’s not surprising that the ACC is attempting to wield its influence over EPA when its former staff are basically running the place,” Kothari said by email
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-energy/2018/05/30/battle-in-the-bakken-state-236539
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US Industry Defends Use Of Oxybenzone In Sunscreens
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
NGO campaign calls for ingredient to be phased out by 2020
US trade associations, representing the personal care and health product industries, have railed against an NGO campaign, which calls for the phasing out of oxybenzone in sunscreens by 2020.
The Environmental Working Group launched the campaign this month, along with with the release of its 12th annual guide to sunscreens. It says oxybenzone is added to nearly 65% of the non-mineral sunscreens featured in its guide.
According to the EWG, it is linked to allergic reactions, endocrine disruption and damage to coral reefs.
An online petition calling on manufacturers to eliminate the chemical, has received more than 15,000 signatures so far.
Nneka Leiba, director of EWG’s healthy living science programme, told Chemical Watch it was a good time to campaign on this issue, given Hawaii’s recent measure to ban sunscreens containing oxybenzone or octinoxate. If the Governor of Hawaii signs the bill (SB 2571) into law it will go into effect in 2021.‘Unjust criticism’
But a statement from Alexandra Kowcz, chief scientist at the Personal Care Products Council, says oxybenzone has been "unjustly criticised".
It is "one of the few Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ingredients that provides safe and effective broad-spectrum protection from UV radiation, and has been approved for use since 1978," Ms Kowcz says.
Also, studies showed "no link between oxybenzone in sunscreen and hormonal alterations or any other significant health issues in humans," she adds.
The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) also released a statement in response to the guide, calling the ingredient "an important aide to help decrease the risk of developing skin cancer".
The association also calls studies which show it causes a decline in the health of coral "flawed" because they were conducted in lab settings under artificial conditions and not in actual marine environments.Safer alternatives
The EWG recommends consumers choose sunscreens that use zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as active ingredients. It is also calling on the FDA to approve more ingredients for use in sunscreens.
But Ms Leiba said there are many other active ingredients used in the EU which are "more effective and safer" than those available in the US.
Between 2003 and 2010, sunscreen makers applied for FDA permission to use eight sun-filtering chemicals developed by European companies.
In 2014, Congress passed the Sunscreen Innovation Act, which requires the FDA to review new applications for sunscreen active ingredients within 300 days.
But the FDA responded in 2015 that the companies concerned had not submitted enough information to prove the new chemicals were safe and effective for use.
"We’ve emailed the FDA about their delay in improving more active ingredients," said Ms Leiba.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67338/us-industry-defends-use-of-oxybenzone-in-sunscreens
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Canada Provisionally Concludes Cyclohexanone Is Safe
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Andrew Turley
A Canadian government assessment has provisionally concluded that cyclohexanone, plus ten other fragrance substances, are not harmful to humans or the environment.
The ten substances are:exaltolide;hexadecanolide;exaltone;muskone or muscone;civetone;hexadecenlactone or ambrettolide;isoambrettolide;musk amberol or ambrettone;irone; and1-methyl-α-ionone.
The substances are used in some consumer products, including body lotions and eau de toilette formulations, sunscreens and paint.
The assessment team identified critical human health effects for only three of the substances: irone; 1-methyl-α-ionone; and cyclohexanone.
There was little available hazard information on irone and 1-methyl-α-ionone, the assessment says. The team, therefore, used read-across from several rat studies of analogues - four of the substances that were structurally very similar- to characterise their hazards.
The studies suggest that oral exposure via food, can lead to a range of adverse effects on, in particular, the kidneys. The team identified daily inhalation exposure to body lotion as the critical exposure scenario for the risk calculation.
The team based its risk calculations for cyclohexanone on a 2002 OECD review, sponsored by Canada. Rat and mouse studies suggest that inhalation exposure can lead to adverse effects on the lungs and oral exposure to decreased body-weight gain, clinical signs of toxicity, increased mortality and decreased pup weights.
The team identified dermal exposure while painting walls as the exposure scenario for the risk calculation.
The assessment concludes that the associated risk to human health is low for all 11 substances. For the risk to the environment, the team used a method that the government published in 2016 on the "ecological risk classification of organic substances". Several previous government assessments have used the method.
The assessment concludes that the risk is moderate for irone and 1-methyl-α-ionone, owing to adverse effects in the aquatic food webs and bioaccumulation potential. For the other nine substances, it concludes that the risk is low.
Overall, the assessment concludes that none of the substances meet any of the criteria set out in section 64 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa). This means that the government is not likely to add the substances to schedule 1, the toxic substances list, for substances that may require regulatory risk management measures.
Poland evaluated cyclohexanone under REACH in 2016 for its carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic potential. The evaluation concluded that the substance should be classified under EU CLP as a category 2 mutagen.Next steps
The government assessed the substances as part of its Chemicals Management Plan (CMP). The plan does not normally require occupational exposure to be considered.
The government has initiated a 60-day public consultation on the draft screening assessment. Interested parties have until May to submit comments.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67319/canada-provisionally-concludes-cyclohexanone-is-safe
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REACH Directors’ Contact Group Publishes Post-2018 Sief Recommendations
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The REACH Directors’ Contact Group has published recommendations urging members of substance information exchange fora (Siefs) to continue to cooperate after today's final registration deadline.
From 1 June Siefs will cease to exist in a legal context. Decisions are still pending on the format and name of new fora, in which registrants will discuss post-deadline activities such as dossier updates, joint submissions, new information requests by Echa and cost sharing.
But in a statement issued hours before the deadline, the DCG – an informal group of directors from the European Commission, Echa and industry associations – made the following recommendations for future collaboration platforms:co-registrants of phase-in (or existing) substances should continue to cooperate after 31 May;the cooperation should cover, among other things, the process for managing dossier updates, coordinated responses to regulatory requests related to dossier and substance evaluation, and processes related to changes in the composition or status of co-registrants;co-registrants are free to agree on the form of their cooperation and should put in place adequate, jointly agreed contractual measures for managing the work;the cooperation contract should take into account the special nature of the work as ‘cooperation among competitors’, and ensure that only information that is necessary to complete the regulatory task is shared among the co-registrants;the Sief agreements should form a good basis for designing the cooperation contracts; andco-registrants of non-phase-in substances and of NONs (substances notified under Directive 67/548/EEC which preceded REACH) may also consider establishing a form of cooperation as outlined for phase-in substances.
The DCG also urged Sief members to "make every effort" to reach mutual agreement in their discussion. It added that the new framework, as well as any decisions taken within such cooperation, should aim to be "fair, non-discriminatory and transparent to all involved actors".
Administrative costs for managing the platform must be fairly distributed among the co-registrants, the group said.
Despite the looming deadline and increasing industry concerns over the issue, the Commission has yet to give its verdict on the future of Siefs. Last week, a spokesperson only said Sief members were "strongly recommended" to form new discussion platforms "that will not be called a Sief and for which Sief rules do not apply".
Echa has said it supports a new "collaboration platform" and told registrants to "continue their current structures as they will be crucial for newcomers as well as for the work on updates".
But the European industry council Cefic has warned about potential antitrust issues arising from new platforms. It said members should share only information specific to certain agreed tasks.
It told Chemical Watch recently that its members have agreed to maintain the Siefs platform "as is" after the deadline.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67342/reach-directors-contact-group-publishes-post-2018-sief-recommendations
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European Researchers Create Database For Chemicals In Plastic Packaging
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
https://chemicalwatch.com/67321/european-researchers-create-database-for-chemicals-in-plastic-packaging
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Final REACH Deadline Beckons New Beginning For EU, Says Echa Head
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Today’s final REACH registration deadline ushers in the beginning of one uniform regulatory system for all chemicals on the EU/EEA market, says Björn Hansen, head of Echa.
In a statement to Chemical Watch today, Mr Hansen said that completing the REACH registration phase "forms the basis to protect our environment and citizens from the risks of chemicals, marks the start of a transparent and fair internal market and gives a predictable frame for innovation in the future, helping the EU’s competitive position in the global economy".
Companies which manufacture substances, or import them from outside the EU, in quantities above one tonne must register them by midnight tonight (CEST) if they want to continue to legally do so.
Those companies which have pre-registered chemicals in the 1-100 tonnage band, but have not registered them, must also do so by today.
In the run up to the deadline – the third under REACH, with previous obligations to register chemicals above 1,000 tonnes in 2010 and between 100 and 1,000 tonnes in 2013 – questions have been raised about the number of substances that were expected to be registered by 31 May.
Yesterday, European SMEs trade body Ueapme criticised Echa and industry associations for failing to explain why "thousands" of anticipated substance registrations under today’s final REACH deadline have not yet materialised.
Echa had previously predicted that by 1 June up to 25,000 chemicals would be registered for the first time. But in a press release from 30 May, Ueapme said its calculations based on the latest data from Echa [see box] show that "not even half of that number have been attained".
The agency and Cefic have told businesses not to be alarmed about the shortfall because there may not be as many unregistered low volume substances on the European market as initially thought.
The agency has also previously told registrants that the deadline does not mean the end of company obligations under REACH. They still must update their dossiers with any new information and respond to possible Echa or member state requests for such.Echa support
Echa staff, national helpdesks and industry associations have said they are there to help companies submit their registration dossiers on time.
The agency said it will assist "right up until the last minute" and reminded prospective registrants that:REACH-IT is open every day, 24 hours a day;REACH 2018 support live chat is open until midnight CEST on 31 May to address "last-minute issues". And the live chat is extended until 8 June to help companies with outstanding registration-related questions; andthey can always contact the agency through its contact form.
Support material is available on Echa’s REACH 2018 webpages in 23 EU languages, the agency added.
Chemical Watch will provide further coverage on the REACH 2018 deadline, once Echa official figures are released tomorrow afternoon.REACH registration in numbers (as of 09:00 CEST, 31 May)
2018 latest figures
32,486 registration submitted for 10,954 substances
27,782 registrations completed (checked by Echa and fee paid), corresponding to 9,856 substances
6,753 substances registered for the first time in 2018 dossiers
Overall figures (all tonnages) since 2008
87,359 registration submitted for 21,412 substances
82,268 registrations completed, corresponding to 20,535 substances
https://chemicalwatch.com/67341/final-reach-deadline-beckons-new-beginning-for-eu-says-echa-head
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EU Science Committee Further Considers Safety Of Climbazole
May 31, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety is further considering the preservative climbazole's safety, in a follow-up to the addendum to its Opinion, issued in October last year.
Member states had raised concerns about its use in rinse-off shampoos. In order to evaluate aggregate exposure, it is deemed necessary to reevaluate its use in the following category of product and concentrations.
These are as a cosmetic preservative in:face cream up to a concentration of 0.2%;hair lotion up to a concentration of 0.2%;foot care up to a concentration of 0.2%;rinse-off shampoo up to a concentration of 0.5%; andas an anti-dandruff agent in rinse-off shampoo up to a concentration of 2.0%.
If found not to be safe, the committee will then determine the maximum concentration for:facecream;hair lotion;foot care; andrinse-off shampoo, as well as anti-dandruff agent in rinse-off shampoo, under an aggregate exposure scenario for cosmetics.
The deadline for the Opinion is June.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67297/eu-science-committee-further-considers-safety-of-climbazole
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Enzyme Helps Photoredox Get Enantioselective
May 31, 2018 | Chemistry World
By Geri Kitley
Enantioenriched amine synthesis is inaugural example of photoredox and enzyme collaboration
Researchers in Switzerland have successfully introduced cyclic enzymatic chemistry into a photochemical reaction to perform an enantioselective imine-to-amine reduction. The concept could act as a springboard for introducing more control into light-induced transformations.
A purely photochemical imine reduction would result in a racemic mixture of amines. Now, a team led by Oliver Wenger and Thomas Ward at the University of Basel, has incorporated the enzyme monoamine oxidase into such a reaction so that it only produces the R-enantiomer. The enzyme makes the reaction enantioselective by converting any S-enantiomers in the mixture back into the imine, ready for the reaction to proceed again.
Combining photoredox catalysts and enzymes can be difficult because the two tend to require completely different solvents. The fact that monoamine oxidase works best in water pushed the team to develop a water-soluble iridium photosensitiser, contributing to the green chemistry credentials of the research.
‘Normally you rely on aggressive chemicals to encourage reactions like this,’ comments Wenger. Here they use a mild chemical, ascorbic acid, to induce the reaction, ‘and part of the energy that this transformation requires is light, which is a very green way of doing this reaction’.
Another ‘challenge was the cross-talk between the enzyme and the photoredox catalyst, which can result in mutual deactivation,’ explains Wenger. ‘The enzyme doesn’t really like the catalyst and vice versa so we had to design a strategy to keep the two parts away from each other.’ Ward’s research group provided the solution by suggesting they use Escherichia Coli cells to encapsulate the monoamine oxidase enzyme to keep it apart from the iridium catalyst.
Miquel Costas, whose research at the University of Girona, Spain, includes catalysis and bioinorganic chemistry, comments that several aspects of this work are particularly remarkable because they represent remarkable solutions to methodological and conceptual challenges, and may find use in other transformations. ‘Fundamental aspects of the reaction design; the direct photoredox reduction of imines to amines is a two electron process, difficult per se because after the initial electron-injection, the resulting highly reactive carbon-centred radical must be trapped in a rapid hydrogen atom transfer process. Identifying the proper hydrogen atom transfer agent is not trivial because the rate of this reaction not only depends on thermodynamics but also on polarity matching between the two reagents.’
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/enzyme-helps-photoredox-get-enantioselective/3009093.article
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In Colorado, Fracking Is Back, and So Are the Battle Lines
May 31, 2018 | The New York Times
By Julie Turkewitz
WELD COUNTY, Colo. — A new oil rig will rise behind a middle school in this sprawling county in the coming months, its slender tower bearing an announcement: fracking is back.
After a downturn that began in 2015, oil and gas production is booming again, and new projects are sprouting along American freeways and padding government budgets, cheered by state legislatures, the fossil fuel industry and the Trump administration.
But this growth is also spurring a return of the turmoil that accompanied the last boom, pitting neighbor against neighbor and communities against companies in a fight over which projects should be allowed to pierce the land.
In few places is that tension more evident than along Colorado’s Front Range, where a fracking boom is colliding with a population explosion. Drilling applications in the state have risen 70 percent in just a year, while the area north of Denver is expected to double in population by 2050.
In Weld County — the center of the state’s oil and gas activity and home to more than 23,000 active wells — that tension has converged at a school called Bella Romero Academy. Just behind the school, workers are laying the foundation for a 24-well project that will pull oil and gas from the earth as students race across the playground.
The project has the support of state regulators and the county commission. But it is opposed by the school board, the superintendent and many parents, some of whom say they support fossil fuel development but are alarmed by such a large operation so close to their school.
Well heads will sit 828 feet from the edge of Bella Romero property.
Exacerbating the conflict is a spate of deadly fires at industry sites in the county, as well as the company’s decision to place the wells near a school that is overwhelmingly black and Latino, after nixing a proposal near a mostly white school that drew protests from parents.
“It’s like they said, ‘Put it where the Mexicans live, over there it’s O.K.’” said Yveth Haro, 42, whose son Elian, 10, is a student at Bella Romero. “Well I don’t think it’s O.K.”EDITORS’ PICKSFor ‘Columbiners,’ School Shootings Have a Deadly AllureHow Trump Uses Conspiracy Theories Like ‘Spygate’The Evangelical Fight to Win Back California
Brian Cain, a representative from Extraction Oil and Gas, the company developing the site, called this allegation “absurd.” He said that the company chose the location because its particular geography offers access to mitigating technologies — including a newly engineered “quiet fleet” of fracking engines — that would reduce the impact on the neighborhood.
Other sites, he said, “did not have all those critical characteristics.”
While oil and gas companies have long operated in Colorado, they flooded the region in the 2000s as increased use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, unlocked possibilities. By 2013, communities along the Front Range were pushing for control of their own backyards, enacting laws that tried to curb fracking near homes and playgrounds.
This culminated in 2016, when the Colorado Supreme Court shot downmunicipal fracking bans, saying that state power to regulate the industry trumped local measures.
The ruling emboldened producers, and today fights are raging between residents and operators over large-scale projects planned for Boulder County and the city of Broomfield, while companies are inundating regulators with applications to drill in some of the region’s most populous areas.
Unable to ban its way out fracking, the city of Longmont, north of Denver, recently agreed to pay $3 million to two companies so they would pack up and go away.
The conflicts come amid a population surge driven in part by outdoors-oriented millennials fleeing high-cost cities, and by industries like aerospace and finance. Much of that growth is in Denver, Boulder and the area to the north that happens to sit above fuel-rich shale.
At the same time, state oil and gas production is hitting record levels, with more on the way.
The uptick in production, however, comes at a time of political uncertainty. Gov. John Hickenlooper — a Democrat thought of as friendly to the industry — is term-limited this year, and liberal candidates are lining up to replace him. A leading contender is Jared Polis, a congressman well-known for his attempts to rein in drilling.
Already, oil and gas representatives are pouring millions into the race to defend a business they calculate contributes $32 billion a year to the state’s economy.
Just as important could be an upcoming Colorado Supreme Court ruling in which justices will decide whether state regulators must prioritize public health and the environment when approving permits, rather than balancing those factors with the benefits of production.
If the court decides the state must consider health first, said Sharon Jacobs, a law professor at the University of Colorado, it could have sweeping effects, raising the bar for new permits.
Or, depending on how regulators interpret the ruling, they could continue issuing permits as usual.
Weld County, with its patchwork of rolling green pastures and suburban clusters, is increasingly considered a Denver commuter shed, and it is now the fourth-fastest growing community in the nation.
It is also increasingly diverse, and school parking lots are jammed with deep-rooted farming families, Mexican immigrants and refugees from places like Burma and Somalia.
Bella Romero Academy, with its red-and-yellow brick walls and bilingual signs, teaches several hundred students in grades four to eight. The buffer zone between the school and the incoming oil project is the students’ soccer field and a drainage ditch.
The school is surrounded by homes. Longhorn cattle, llamas and goats live at its perimeter.
The fight over the project is complicated by the fact that the largely conservative county has benefited enormously from oil and gas, which has flooded the region with money and jobs and is embraced by much of the community.
While farming counties to the east are barely holding on, Weld is building roads, doling out scholarships and planning for a future beyond the fossil fuel rush. It has no debt and no sales tax and was recently deemed the nation’s “Taxpayer Friendliest Community” by the American City County Exchange.
Don Warden, the county’s finance director, called the shale below him “the gift that keeps on giving.”
Today, County Road 49 is so crowded with oil derricks and tanks that some residents call it the Frack Freeway. And while new wells may raise alarm elsewhere, they’ve become the norm in Weld, where fracking operations are tucked into neighborhoods and already border several schools.
“You’re talking to a person who lives within about 200 feet of a drilling operation,” said Barbara Kirkmeyer, a county commissioner. “If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t move in next to it.”
The project near Bella Romero, however, has exposed fissures, with even a few industry supporters saying that the combination of the operation’s size and proximity to students takes development too far.
Among the operation’s fiercest opponents is Patricia Nelson, 28, whose son Diego, 5, will attend Bella Romero when he reaches fourth grade.
“All I’m asking is that they keep it away from the schools, keep it away from the homes,” she said. “It’s getting to a point where the industry, I feel, is starting to cause more problems than what they’re worth.”
In response, the company has made “unprecedented accommodations,” said Mr. Cain, and will complete 80 percent of work outside school hours, employ a sound wall and a noise-minimizing drill rig, and pipe out oil and gas, rather than trucking it, reducing traffic and emissions.
But Extraction does not have a spotless record, and in December an explosion at one of its operations turned into a fire that raged for hours, badly burning a worker and requiring assistance from at least eight emergency agencies.
Mr. Cain called the episode an anomaly at a company with an otherwise admirable reputation for safety.
It capped a year of deadly industry incidents in the county, including an explosion that killed a homeowner and his brother-in-law in April 2017; an oil tank blaze that killed a worker last May; and a pipeline fire that killed an industry employee in November.
Together, the fires have heightened safety concerns, and activists have staged protests outside the school, sometimes carrying fliers to educate parents, many of whom do not speak English.
Environmental groups and the N.A.A.C.P. Colorado State Conference are suing the state over the project, alleging that regulators erred in approving the permit.
Still, while some neighbors oppose the project, others do not.
“It really doesn’t bother me a bit,” said Shawn Elliott, 50, who lives next to Bella Romero.
Bert West, 81, another resident, agreed. “I think it’s wonderful. Everyone is screaming. But it’s jobs, and it’s money.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/us/colorado-fracking-debates.html
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U.S. Gas to China: Positive Energy For Bilateral Relations
May 31, 2018 | Brookings Institute
By Jiaqi Lu and Ye Qi
With the Shale Gas Revolution, the United States has increased its natural gas production by 35% over the last decade. The technology has had huge impact. In 2015, the United States finally lifted its four-decade-old ban on oil and gas export. In 2016, the first cargo of LNG from the U.S. arrived at China. President Trump deems the U.S. “a big gas producer”, and plans to expand both domestic and overseas markets. In 2017, U.S. LNG export capacity reached
20 billion cubic meter(bcm),
2.9 bcm exported to China, accounting for 6% of China’s total LNG imports. By the end of
2019, the annual U.S. LNG export capacity is expected to reach 99 bcm, with additional projects totaling 53 bcm capacity being in the process of FERC approval. During the Unleashing American Energy Summit 2017, Trump announced that the Department of Energy would accelerate the process for approving more LNG export facilities in Louisiana. Many of these exporters are targeting the Asian market for its great growth-potential.
China is the fastest growing natural gas consumer in the world. The Chinese government has initiated projects and campaigns to promote natural gas in replacing coal for factories and residential heating for addressing the main sources of air pollution. In
2017, China’s natural gas consumption increased by 15%, and its import grew by 28%; import dependency raised from zero in 2005 to 39% in 2017. In spite of its high cost and seasonal shortages, natural gas creates tremendous social benefits. Air quality in metropolitan areas improved between
21%-42%during the first phase of the National Air Quality Action Plan (2014-2017), having yielded significant social and health gains. The Chinese government is expected to wage the second phase of the anti-air pollution campaign in 2018, expanding the effort of cleaner fuel replacement. In addition, the government has also acknowledged the crucial
role of natural gas in the climate and air quality battle as a “bridge fuel” to deepen renewable energy penetration. Disclosed in its
National Energy Strategy, China plans to increase the share of natural gas to 15% of the energy mix by 2030. If China’s primary energy consumption reaches
5.5 billion tons coal-equivalent by 2030, natural gas consumption would reach about 650 bcm accordingly, increasing by 2.7 times from the 2017 level.
However, the domestic supply has been less promising, especially due to unfortunate geology and poor institutional setting. While the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy estimates China to have the world’s largest shale gas deposit at up-to 361 trillion cubic meters (tcm), only 218 tcm is technologically extractable according to the Chinese National Energy Administration (NEA). The economical availability is even lower due to geological complexities, especially concerning depths of more than 3,500 meters below ground. As of 2017, shale gas production represents only 6% of the total domestic production. Although China has been implementing reforms in the sector, serious political and economic challenges lies ahead. The
National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) concludes that significant boost in domestic supply is unlikely in the near future because of low investment in exploration, technology barriers, regulatory constraints and inadequate infrastructure. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that China’s natural gas production would only reach 255 bcm by 2030, which means at least 395 bcm, or 61% of the total projected demand, will have to be met by imports. To continue expanding natural gas import is the only way to meet the demand under the policy goal.
Pipeline Imports
China has been actively ramping up natural gas imports via pipelines through bilateral and multilateral arrangements over the last decade. Today, the Central Asian Gas Pipeline (CAGP) and China-Myanmar Oil and Gas Pipeline are the only two entrances for international pipeline gas, representing
46% of overall imports in 2017, with more than three quarters of those coming from Turkmenistan.
Two more projects are scheduled to come online within the next two years: Power of Siberia in 2019 and Line D of CAGP in 2020. Line D will connect another gas field in Turkmenistan with China’s cross-country West-East Gas Pipelines, adding another 30 bcm capacity to the CAGP. Power of Siberia, a.k.a Eastern Line of China-Russia natural gas pipeline, with a designed capacity of 38 bcm per year, is set to be fully operational in 2020, after a significant delay. Although the
China-Russia Western Line is still within prospects, no meaningful steps have been made.
LNG
As of 2017, China imports 21% of its natural gas in the form of LNG. Australia has the greatest market share (47%), followed by Qatar (21%), Malaysia (11%), Indonesia (8%), New Guinea (6%) and the United States (6%).
Melanie Hart of Center for American Progress, who is a leading expert in the field of China’s energy issues, argues that LNG from the U.S. is more expensive than many other sources, lacking competitiveness against other suppliers, especially when compared to pipeline imports from Central Asia. Although the authors make very good points, a couple of other factors should also be taken into account.
First, existing cheap LNG suppliers do not have enough potential to fill the growing market. Hart points out that U.S. LNG are more expensive than those from Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia. However, these three countries cannot provide enough supply in the future. According to the Department of Industry of Australia, the projected LNG exports will reach
120 bcm in 2030, representing only roughly 40% of the projected LNG demand in China.
Malaysia will likely to experience progressive decline in LNG export in the 2020s due to the limits of its gas reserve. Similarly, for
Indonesia, in the absence of meaningful new gas reserve discovery, the IEA expects Indonesia will become a net-importer of LNG in 2023 because of strong increases in consumption, especially in the industrial sector. In addition, Malaysian and Indonesian sources will likely to grow in the next decade due to tightened demand and supply, making American LNG more competitive in the market.
Second, international pipeline supply is also not enough to fill the gap. Even if all the listed projects become operational in full-capacity by 2030, pipeline gas can only support 165 bcm at max, representing 42% of the projected import. In reality, pipelines are usually under-utilized due to various seasonal, economic, technological, and political constraints. In 2017, China imported
43 bcm of natural gas via four lines that had a combined designed-capacity of 78 bcm. In other words, only 55% of the existing pipelines were utilized; the utilization rate for China-Myanmar pipeline was only 33%. Although China’s Belt and Road Initiative places energy cooperation at the top of the list, considering these issues, we believe the feasible import through pipeline would be around 95 bcm/year by 2030, leaving a gap of 300 bcm, or 46% of the overall projected demand for LNG.
Third, international pipeline gas supply depends as much on bilateral relations and geo-politics as on the market. As China’s largest supplier, Turkmenistan has been worrying about the export dependency with China and is seeking to reach out to the European market to hedge the political and economic risks. In the wave of shortages in last December, the CNPC sent its former head manager in Turkmenistan to
arrange for an increase of supply by around 30%. However, by the end of January 2018, supply from Central Asia was cut by more than 40%, causing an immediate shortage in Northern China. Instability and risk such as these urge China to seek supply diversification.
Unlike pipelines based on bi-lateral contracts, there is a more mature global LNG market with a set of market mechanisms in place to secure the stability of supply. With the proliferation of flexible-destination contracts and a growing number of players, shorter contracts and spot markets have become more popular in the natural gas business over the past decade. These mechanisms allow China to hedge against potential economic and political risks associated with long-term deals. A combination of short-term and long-term contracts can expand China’s accessibility to various sources of supply, contributing to its overall energy security.
In that sense, importing natural gas from the U.S. suits China’s economic interests and energy security. While most LNG and all pipeline gas contracting partners of China index to oil to determine the price for natural gas, the U.S. uses the Henry Hub price, which is consistently lower and less volatile. Adding Henry Hub supply to an oil-linked LNG portfolio brings about higher stability due to the inclusion of a large fixed component and the low correlation between Brent and Henry Hub. U.S. gas would be more competitive if oil price rebounds. The abundant and stabile natural gas supply from the U.S. can help to balance China’s import portfolio by avoiding potential disturbances from risky and conflict areas.
Moreover, LNG import terminals are closer to the demand centers along the east coast, therefore making more economic sense. China’s natural gas distribution system is constructed by the trunk pipelines and the provincial and local distribution networks. While the “Three Barrels” operate the cross-country pipelines, local transmission networks are operated by various local distribution companies. The fragmented structure charges transportation tolls at every level, reducing the economic competitiveness of pipeline imports. Transportation fee for pipeline imports from Xinjiang to Guangdong could be about seven times more expensive than fuel costs. Taking into account of the transportation cost, Turkmenistan supplies are much more expensive than U.S. LNGs, especially on the east coast. Therefore, pipeline supplies can only fill the demand in western parts of China. In addition, LNG is transportable using trucks. This is especially important for replacing coal combustion in rural areas, where the local storage and distribution networks are weak.
The LNG trade between the two countries is meaningful for rebalancing trade. Increasing the U.S. share to 20% of the future LNG demand at the price of $10/mmbtu, for instance, is equivalent to 21 billion U.S. dollars. At the Sino-U.S. Presidential Summit 2017, President Xi and President Trump found common ground in expanding bilateral natural gas trade. In fact, cooperation in natural gas between the two countries should not be limited merely to LNG trading. In the near future, China will have to improve domestic infrastructure, especially storage systems, to facilitate natural gas consumptions. However, Chinese SOEs lack the experience and technology for site selection, security management, and detail designs. This is where U.S. companies come in. Facility constructions, operation services for portal and distribution networks, as well as for storage systems can be important parts of the “meaningful increase”.
https://www.brookings.edu/2018/05/31/u-s-gas-to-china-positive-energy-for-bilateral-relations/
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(ACC Mentioned) Chemical Info Could Be Slow to Reach States, EMTs Under EPA Plan
May 31, 2018 | Bloomberg BNA
By Sam Pearson
Industry and health advocacy organizations are watching closely as the EPA adds new tools so that, during emergencies, local authorities and first responders can access chemical trade secrets previously kept in-house.
Their concerns are twofold, however. It could take too long for company data to reach authorities that need it during a factory accident or fire, and the files might not be kept secure when they arrive.
“I think it’s really incumbent upon EPA to sort of make this thing work,” Robert Sussman, a former EPA deputy administrator who is now a counsel for the advocacy group Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families in Washington, told Bloomberg Environment May 29.
The agency is acting after Congress amended the nation’s chemical oversight law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, in 2016. The changes came after reports that the identities of more than 17,000 chemicals were withheld as confidential business information, preventing regulators from sharing data with firefighters and emergency medical technicians facing spills and accidents.
The information could help communities better understand how to fight chemical fires, or in what manner a little-known substance spilled in a river is likely to harm the public.
Now companies, health organizations, and the Environmental Protection Agency are trying to figure out how to provide this access without harming businesses. The issue is “an ongoing topic in our industry,” Lisa Goldstone, a spokeswoman for chemical company Lanxess Corp. in Pittsburgh, said in an email to Bloomberg Environment.
But both health organizations and groups representing major chemical companies said the EPA’s draft guidance released in March is flawed.
Flawed GuidanceThe procedures could lead to local authorities calling federal offices after business hours during emergencies, or force them to send other requests by mail, where they may not receive a prompt response.
Meanwhile, industry organizations want tough requirements for authorities to protect the information, because disclosing sensitive data could help a company’s competitors.
The information sharing is distinct from an Obama administration regulation—delayed by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and under challenge in court—that would have required chemical companies to send more information on facility safety plans to local authorities.
In the draft guidance, the EPA sets procedures for how local authorities would obtain chemical information from companies during a crisis and for longer-term inquiries.
For nonemergencies, authorities would have to write to an EPA office that manages the information. In emergencies, they could call an existing EPA hotline or the director of information management at the division with oversight of the chemicals program.
But neither of these options is available outside regular business hours, when the emergencies can occur.
The setup is an issue because local responders will be less likely to use the information if accessing it is slow or complicated, Ken Zarker, an environmental manager at the Washington State Department of Ecology in Lacey, told Bloomberg Environment.
‘Black Hole’Companies are concerned about the limited hours of the EPA office that would receive the calls, Christina Franz, senior director of regulatory and technical affairs at the American Chemistry Council in Washington, told Bloomberg Environment. Constrained availability could delay access to the information. The trade group represents more than 150 major chemical producers, including BASF SE, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LLC, and DowDuPont Inc.
Advocacy organizations also have questions. In public comments filed April 16 with the EPA, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families; Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization; Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments; and Alaska Community Action on Toxics wrote that the agency must make employees reachable so that requests don’t “fall into a black hole and languish without response for weeks or even months.”
The American Chemistry Council has floated the idea of sending local authorities to its in-house emergency service, CHEMTREC, a safety hotline for chemical companies in operation since 1971, and is hoping to conduct a tour of the program’s offices in Fairfax, Va., for EPA employees, Franz said.
Others said using existing poison control hotlines or working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could solve the communications problem.
Integrating CHEMTREC into the program may not be able to provide sufficiently advanced safety information on chemicals, unless the program is changed, according to Sussman.
The EPA said in a statement to Bloomberg Environment that it will finish the guidance by June 22. The final guidance will address companies’ concerns, the EPA said.
Completion of the system will be welcome news for officials such as Ken Jock, environment director at the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in Akwesasne, N.Y.
The tribe, which is close to the Saint Lawrence Seaway, an Alcoa Corp. aluminum smelter, and a shuttered General Motors Co. parts factory that is now a Superfund site, hopes to be able to use chemical data to protect against environmental threats.
“We realize that accidents do occur,” Jock told Bloomberg Environment. “Rather than trying to cover up something, being able to take action to remedy or to mitigate it is going to go a long way towards protecting the community, and also improve relations between industry and the community.”
https://www.bna.com/chemical-info-slow-n57982093077/
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Harvard Teaming With Google to Reduce Harmful Chemical Use
May 30, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
BOSTON — Harvard University is teaming up with Google to reduce the use of harmful chemicals in building products and materials.
Organizers say the initiative announced Wednesday targets chemicals used in consumer products like furniture and carpets that science has shown have potential negative health effects.
The goal is to create a set of tools using the latest research to inform decisions by large institutions, purchasers and manufacturers with the hope of increasing demand for healthier alternatives. Organizers said there are more than 80,000 chemicals in use, some associated with long-term health and environmental problems.
The collaboration is an initiative of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment launched Wednesday at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The center is led by former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/05/30/us/ap-us-harvard-google-harmful-chemicals.html
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