Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 05/06/18
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(ACC Blog) Chemistry: The Science Behind Sustainability
Jun 5, 2018 | American Chemistry Matters
Through the science of chemistry, earth’s basic building blocks – like carbon, hydrogen and oxygen – are transformed into materials that have helped revolutionize society. -
(ACC Mentioned) Canadian Plastic Makers Set Target For Plastic-Free Landfills
Jun 5, 2018 | Digital Journal
By Karen Graham
Canada's plastics makers have set their own targets for keeping all plastic out of Canadian landfills by 2030. -
(ACC Mentioned) ‘A Tremendous Future’ Lies Ahead of Plastics Recyclers
Jun 5, 2018 | Recycling International
By Martijn Reintjes
China’s ‘unprecedented’ move to stop plastics scrap imports has ‘surprised the whole world’, according to Dr Steve Wong of Fukutomi Co. Ltd and the China Scrap Plastics Association. -
GAO Reviewing Legality of 'Taunting' Tweet From EPA
Jun 5, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times, The Washington Post)
The Government Accountability Office will examine the legality of a politically-tinged tweet from the Environmental Protection Agency. -
Judge to EPA: Show Your Science
Jun 5, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Scott Waldman
EPA must produce the opposing body of science Administrator Scott Pruitt has relied upon to claim that humans are not the primary drivers of global warming, a federal judge has ruled. -
Ewire: The PFAS Elections
Jun 5, 2018 | Inside EPA
It's not often that environmental issues drive congressional elections, but according to new reporting from Sharon Lerner at The Intercept, local concerns about contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the ubiquitous class of chemicals contaminating many communities' drinking water supplies, is a key factor in several states. -
Echa to Probe ‘Abandoned’ REACH Lead Dossiers
Jun 5, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Echa is to look into lead dossiers in its REACH joint submissions list that it says "will probably be abandoned". -
U.S. To Ask OPEC for 1 Million Barrel a Day Output Hike
Jun 5, 2018 | Bloomberg (In Houston Chronicle)
By Fiona MacDonald, Grant Smith and Jennifer Jacobs
The U.S. government has quietly asked Saudi Arabia and some other OPEC producers to increase oil production by about 1 million barrels a day, according to people familiar with the matter. -
Watchdog: Government Isn’t Sufficiently Tracking Costs From ‘Orphaned’ Oil, Gas Wells
Jun 5, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Costs to the government from dealing with “orphaned” oil and natural gas wells on federal land are likely increasing, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said. -
FERC and Climate Change: Where Are We Now?
Jun 5, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Federal regulators' recent move to set limits on climate analysis for natural gas pipelines raises new questions about the government's environmental obligations and how courts might get involved. -
IG Faults Limits On CSB Chair's Power As Current Chief Steps Down
Jun 5, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in a critical new report is detailing challenges facing the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), including that leadership lacks authority to address board members' policy violations, and that Trump administration's proposals to eliminate CSB are harming efforts to attract and retain employees. -
Agency Needs Strong Leadership, Budget Certainty — IG
Jun 5, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
The agency created to investigate industrial accidents is dogged by a weak leadership structure and budget woes, according to its internal watchdog. -
Greens Sue EPA Over New Source Review Change
Jun 5, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Three environmental groups are suing EPA over a recent change to the New Source Review air permitting program. -
Green Loan Growth Could Outstrip Green Bonds in Near Term-ING
Jun 5, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Nina Chestney
Global green loan growth could outpace the green bond market over the next few years as loans are accessible to a wider range of borrowers and can carry some clear financial incentives, ING's global head of sustainable finance said. -
Sharks, Cold Water and ‘Plastic Smog’: Swimmer Crosses Pacific to Fight Pollution
Jun 5, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Rick Noack
Before French marathon swimmer Benoit Lecomte began his six-month-long attempt Tuesday to become the first to swim across the Pacific Ocean, he prepared for a number of possible challenges such as sharks, extremely cold water — and “plastic smog.”
Industry and Association News
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Environment News
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(ACC Blog) Chemistry: The Science Behind Sustainability
Jun 5, 2018 | American Chemistry Matters
Through the science of chemistry, earth’s basic building blocks – like carbon, hydrogen and oxygen – are transformed into materials that have helped revolutionize society.
Innovations in chemistry are helping to improve lives and protect the environment in a number of ways – by enabling clean drinking water, a safe and adequate food supply, medical breakthroughs like vaccines and pasteurization, clean energy technologies, materials to build a resilient infrastructure, fuel-efficient transportation options and more.
Chemistry has improved the lives of millions around the world – but we know we have more that we need to do.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) recently unveiled a set of industry-wide Sustainability Principles, which articulate our contributions to sustainability and our commitment to advancing safe, innovative, effective chemical products, materials and technologies that are essential to a sustainable future.
These principles illuminate our industry’s commitment to:Develop new ways to measure and promote the safe and sustainable use of chemicals.Provide information on the impacts of chemicals based on best available science.Address the environmental impacts of our products and processes and achieve measurable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants in the manufacture and distribution of our products.Protect our environment by supporting efforts to reduce and manage waste so oceans and water sources are not polluted with mishandled plastic or other materials.Promote innovations in product design, product re-use, repurposing and recycling to extend the useful life and value of all products.Go beyond regulatory requirements to manage, measure and report our progress through Responsible Care®, our mandatory environmental, health, safety and security performance initiative.Achieve ambitious goals so that 100 percent of all plastics packaging is reused, recycled or recovered by 2040.These principles are more than just words on paper. They reflect the real-world technology developments and molecular discoveries that scientists at our member companies are advancing every day. Developments that will transform carbon dioxide into a raw material for flexible foam, or turn algae into a source of clean, renewable, low-carbon energy, or that create flexible, strong orthopedic implants to help seniors stay active, longer – all made possible by chemistry.
As the world’s challenges continue to grow more complex, as we seek to sustain the health and well-being of Earth’s growing population and our natural environment, the men and women of the chemistry industry are continuing to work today to meet the needs of tomorrow.
Learn more: www.ScienceBehindSustainability.org
https://blog.americanchemistry.com/2018/06/chemistry-the-science-behind-sustainability/
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(ACC Mentioned) Canadian Plastic Makers Set Target For Plastic-Free Landfills
Jun 5, 2018 | Digital Journal
By Karen Graham
Canada's plastics makers have set their own targets for keeping all plastic out of Canadian landfills by 2030. The announcement comes just days before the federal government asks other G7 member states to push for international zero-plastics-waste. 1 of 2 It is appropriate that the announcement by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) and the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) came out on Monday, one day ahead of World Environment Day., and just a few days before Canada hosts the G7 meeting.Plastic pollution has taken over the planet, and the plastic and chemical industry can play a significant role in designing materials and applications for greater recovery, reuse, and recyclability of plastic products."But addressing the issue of plastic waste will require actions from society as a whole and from all of us as individuals,” Bob Masterson, president, and CEO of CIAC says.Recycling Today reports that Carol Hochu, president, and CEO of CPIA says, “Plastics innovations are essential to increase living standards and improve overall sustainability via new products that design out waste, reduce food waste, support resource efficiency, conserve water and natural resources and reduce emissions. But it is a waste of precious resources for plastics to be used once and then landfilled.”An employee is seen working at a plastics factory in Valenzuela City, north of Manila, on June 7, 2013Noel Celis, AFP/FileTwo goals to be metRepresenting the plastics value chain including resin and raw material suppliers, processors/converters, equipment suppliers, recyclers and brand owners, as well as leaders in the chemistry sector, the CPIA and CIAC and their members announced the following waste reduction targets:1. A new aspirational goal of 100 percent of plastics packaging being reused, recycled or recovered by 2040.2. An aggressive interim goal of 100 percent of plastics packaging being recyclable or recoverable by 2030.These targets put Canada's plastics industry in line with PlasticsEurope and the American Chemistry Council, who recently announced similar ambitions.Ashley Wallis, plastics program manager for Environmental Defence said Canada will use its G7 presidency to push an international zero-plastics-waste charter. But it is also expected to commit to a national plastics strategy. "While there's no doubt we need co-ordinated international efforts to eliminate the flow of plastics into our ocean, we need to make sure we do our part at home," she added.LandfillWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesAccording to Environment and Climate Change Canada, less than 11 percent of plastics are currently recycled in Canada. This is only slightly better than the international average of nine percent. And the biggest culprit is single-use plastics. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says plastic waste Canadians discard each year is worth over $100 million each year that just ends up in the garbage dump, according to CTV News Canada.World Environment Day statementPrime Minister Justin Trudeau issued the following statement on World Environment Day:"Today, on World Environment Day, we join the international community to celebrate the natural world around us and reflect on our shared responsibility to safeguard the environment for generations to come. The theme for this year's World Environment Day – Beat Plastic Pollution – calls on all of us to make changes in our lives that help eliminate plastic waste and pollution, and protect our planet.""Today, we announced the appointment of Patricia Fuller as Canada's new Ambassador for Climate Change to help advance Canada's clean growth and climate change priorities on the world stage. Later this week at the G7 Summit, we will bring world leaders together to discuss how we can reduce plastic pollution, tackle climate change, and improve the health of the world's oceans."While some people may think any goals to reduce or eliminate plastics from our environment are "overly ambitious," if governments at all levels provide enabling policies and funding supports, then new technologies and more innovative products can make a difference.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/canadian-plastic-makers-set-target-for-plastic-free-landfills/article/523918 -
(ACC Mentioned) ‘A Tremendous Future’ Lies Ahead of Plastics Recyclers
Jun 5, 2018 | Recycling International
By Martijn Reintjes
China’s ‘unprecedented’ move to stop plastics scrap imports has ‘surprised the whole world’, according to Dr Steve Wong of Fukutomi Co. Ltd and the China Scrap Plastics Association. And in response, many recyclers have shifted their operations mainly to the South East Asian countries of Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, he told the BIR Plastics Committee meeting during the world recycling organisation’s latest convention, held in Barcelona.
However, the Malaysian government has stopped accepting applications for approval permits while the authorities in Vietnam and Thailand are clamping down on factories failing to comply with environmental regulations, leading to some closures. Other potential outlets in Asia – such as Taiwan and the Philippines – are unable to take substantial volumes.
Wong reiterated his support for greater recycling at source, noting an increasing number of examples of businesses going down this route in Europe and the USA.
More investment needed
The general public has ‘woken up to the urgent need for action on recycling’, enthused Committee Chairman Surendra Patawari Borad of Gemini Corporation. Major names in the business world have been taking steps to improve their recycling performance ‘under pressure from consumers, customers and governments’. The plastics recycling industry could look forward to ‘a tremendous future’ but requires ‘substantial investment’, he maintained.
India ‘to boom’
Plastics scrap imports into India are running at around 400 000 tonnes per year and are therefore eclipsed by the annual 7 million tonnes that had entered China in the past, noted Patawari Borad ‘The plastics scrap industry in India is going to boom,’ he added. ‘I only hope it is soon.’
In a report on the US market, Patawari Borad drew attention to new targets established by the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council, including 100% of plastics packaging to be recyclable or recovered by 2030 and 100% of plastics packaging to be reused, recycled or recovered by 2040. These are ‘very ambitious’ goals, he said, given that the plastic bottle recycling rate in the USA is currently around 30%.Strong prices
Veolia Propreté France Recycling has seen increased demand from Eastern Europe for PET and HDPE bottles, leading to ‘quite strong’ prices. Plastics recycling opportunities in the Middle East, meanwhile, would be improved if the region could offer ‘a long-term, predictable regulatory legal framework’, according to Mahmoud Al Sharif of the UAE-based Sharif Group of Companies.
https://recyclinginternational.com/business/a-tremendous-future-lies-ahead-of-the-plastics-recycling-industry/
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GAO Reviewing Legality of 'Taunting' Tweet From EPA
Jun 5, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times, The Washington Post)
The Government Accountability Office will examine the legality of a politically-tinged tweet from the Environmental Protection Agency.
GAO spokesman Charles Young says his agency had agreed to review the April 13 tweet. After the Senate approved the nomination of EPA Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler, the agency tweeted from its official account, "The Democrats couldn't block the confirmation."
Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico asked for the GAO review. He calls the tweet "partisan-taunting" and an illegal use of EPA resources.
The review is the latest federal investigation of EPA under Scott Pruitt.
The EPA chief has told lawmakers he didn't know about the tweet and that it should not have been sent. The EPA says a separate review found the tweet did not violate a different law on electioneering.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/06/05/us/politics/ap-us-epa-pruitt.html
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Judge to EPA: Show Your Science
Jun 5, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Scott Waldman
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/06/05/stories/1060083483
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Jun 5, 2018 | Inside EPA
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-pfas-elections
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Echa to Probe ‘Abandoned’ REACH Lead Dossiers
Jun 5, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Echa is to look into lead dossiers in its REACH joint submissions list that it says "will probably be abandoned".
The list still contains a large number of missing lead dossiers for substances logged several years ago under past deadlines, following the final REACH registration deadline of 31 May.
As of 1 June it showed that 16,008 joint registrations have been made so far under the 2010, 2013 and 2018 deadlines, but 855 lead dossiers are still missing.
In a joint submission, the lead registrant first enters an intention to register a substance. They are then expected to submit a lead dossier on behalf of the consortium of manufacturers. The lead dossier is checked for completeness and once the fees are paid, the substance is formally registered.
Echa says it expects a significant portion of the 855 dossiers to be submitted at some point, while others – most of them dating back to the 2010 and 2013 deadlines – are unlikely to come in.
This happens when a substance information exchange forum (Sief) has been created, Echa says, but the lead registrant has subsequently changed the substance identity and created another joint submission, or companies have lowered the production volumes or ceased production altogether.
Echa says that in June 2016 it removed some of the "empty" joint registrations when it introduced the current version of the REACH-IT registration platform. But it left those that showed signs of activity in the system to allow more time for submissions.
The agency does not say how many of the missing lead dossiers from before June 2016, were eventually submitted, but according to Chemical Watch calculations, there are currently 78 entries from that period still with no lead documents. Echa says these are most likely to have been abandoned, since the registration "did not materialise".
The final tally, including those from more recent registrations, is likely to exceed 78 as more of the 855 currently missing lead dossiers may turn out to be "abandoned". Echa, however, does not have an estimate on the final number.
It says the number is rapidly falling: in the middle of May there were more than 2,000 joint submissions without a lead dossier.Final deadline focus
Echa says it intends to clean up the joint submissions list by contacting lead registrants and asking them if they still plan to register.
However, it will wait for dossier checks for 2018 registrations to be completed. This is likely to take until September.
The number of missing dossiers is likely to change daily until then, but for now Echa says it has no plans to remove them from the list, even if they are considered "abandoned".
"At the moment the focus is on helping those companies who proactively contact us with registration intentions," said the spokesperson.
Meanwhile, "should someone else – for example a downstream user – want to register the substance and be blocked by this empty joint submission, we will remove it to enable registration if the original lead registrant will not register," they added.
By the 31 May deadline, Echa received 33,363 registration dossiers for 11,114 substances manufactured or imported in quantities of between one and 100 tonnes/year.
For all three registration deadlines combined, the agency has received 88,319 dossiers for 21,551 chemicals.
The numbers were significantly short of initial estimates and SMEs trade body Ueapme has questioned why "thousands" of expected substance registrations did not appear.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67410/echa-to-probe-abandoned-reach-lead-dossiers
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U.S. To Ask OPEC for 1 Million Barrel a Day Output Hike
Jun 5, 2018 | Bloomberg (In Houston Chronicle)
By Fiona MacDonald, Grant Smith and Jennifer Jacobs
The U.S. government has quietly asked Saudi Arabia and some other OPEC producers to increase oil production by about 1 million barrels a day, according to people familiar with the matter.
The rare request came after U.S. retail gasoline prices surged to their highest in more than three years and President Donald Trump publicly complained about OPEC policy and rising oil prices on Twitter. It also follows Washington’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran’s crude exports that had previously displaced about 1 million barrels a day, or just over 1 percent of global production.
While U.S. lawmakers have habitually criticized the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at times of high oil prices, and the government has on occasion encouraged the cartel to pump more, it’s unusual for Washington to ask for a specific output hike, the same people said, asking not to be named discussing private conversations. It’s not clear precisely how the request was communicated.
The American request was debated at a meeting of some Arab oil ministers over the weekend in Kuwait City, the people said. A statement published after the talks pledged to “ensure stable oil supplies are made available in a timely manner to meet growing demand and offset declines in some parts of the world.” Saudi Arabia and Russia last month proposed a gradual production increase, although other members of the group have yet to agree.
Oil continued its rally on Thursday, approaching $70 for the first time in more than three years. West Texas Intermediate rose about 1% to $69.56 at session highs around 7 a.m. On Wednesday, the US Energy Information Administration released a report showing oil inventories in the US fell by 1.1 million barrels last week to about 428 million barrels. Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia has been hinting the OPEC could extend production caps into next year. The country — OPEC's biggest producer — is targeting a crude price of $80 or even $100, Reuters reported.
Benchmark Brent oil futures dropped as much as 1.5 percent to $74.16 a barrel in London trading after the U.S. request was reported.
"Looks like OPEC is at it again," Trump wrote in mid-April in a post on Twitter. "Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted!"
The White House declined to comment on specific conversations, but a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council said access to affordable and reliable energy underpins global economic growth and the nation’s security.
"We welcome any market-based action that increases energy access and fosters a healthy global economy," the spokesperson said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last month disclosed Washington had "various conversations with various parties about different parties that would be willing to increase oil supply to offset" the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil output.
Although Mnuchin declined to provide specifics, only four countries among OPEC and its allies hold enough spare production capacity to offset that impact: Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
OPEC and a group of non-OPEC countries including Russia, Mexico and Kazakhstan agreed in late 2016 to cut oil output by a combined 1.8 million barrels a day in an effort to boost oil prices. Brent crude, the global benchmark, has risen from less than $45 a barrel before the deal was signed to more than $80 a barrel last month.
Consumer Anxiety
The OPEC deal removed more crude than originally intended from the market because of the collapse of the Venezuelan energy industry. With oil inventories in developed countries back to their five-year average and fuel prices approaching painful levels for consumers, Saudi Arabia and Russia have started talking about boosting output again, prompting Brent to slide back toward $75.
OPEC and its allies will discuss their production policy for the second half of the year in meetings scheduled on June 22 and 23 in Vienna. Saudi Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih last month said the kingdom shared the "anxiety" of consuming nations about high oil prices and added that OPEC and its allies were "likely" to boost output.
The most recent comments by Trump and the request for extra oil are among the most forceful U.S. intervention in OPEC affairs since Bill Richardson, the energy secretary during the second administration of Bill Clinton, phoned the Saudi minister in the middle of an OPEC meeting in 2000 asking for a production increase. The intervention enraged other members of the cartel, exacerbating a schism between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/U-S-Said-to-Ask-OPEC-for-1-Million-Barrel-a-Day-12968163.php
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Watchdog: Government Isn’t Sufficiently Tracking Costs From ‘Orphaned’ Oil, Gas Wells
Jun 5, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Costs to the government from dealing with “orphaned” oil and natural gas wells on federal land are likely increasing, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said.
But the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) doesn’t track the costs of dealing with such in an effective, agency-wide way, the GAO concluded in a Tuesday report.
“Precisely how the agency’s actual reclamation costs and potential liabilities have changed is unclear because BLM does not systematically track them at an agency-wide level,” GAO auditors wrote in their report.
“BLM headquarters officials we interviewed told us that they did not have any information on actual costs incurred to reclaim orphaned wells and stated that BLM’s data systems were not designed to track incurred reclamation costs.”
Orphaned wells are old oil and gas wells whose driller is unable to pay to reclaim them, usually due to bankruptcy.
Auditors gathered data from 13 of the BLM’s 33 field offices to try to get their own estimate of orphaned well costs.
That exercise found that those offices spent about $2.1 million between 2010 and 2017 on orphaned wells. The average cost were well was $267,600, compared with a $171,500 per well cost when GAO examined the issue in 2010.
The total cost of reclamation for orphaned wells those offices know about is $46.2 million.
GAO also found that the number of known orphaned wells across BLM lands has increased to 219 in 2017, from 144 in 2010.
Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (Ariz.), who requested the report in his role as the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said it shows the need for better regulation of industry and for the BLM to better track wells.
“Oil and gas drillers shouldn't be able to pass their cleanup costs on to the public,” he said in a statement.
“Despite what Republicans keep telling us, the fossil fuel industry isn't being regulated into the ground. Too often, it's freeloading off the American people, and this report tells us we don't even know how much it's costing us.”
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/390739-watchdog-government-isnt-sufficiently-tracking-costs-from-orphaned
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FERC and Climate Change: Where Are We Now?
Jun 5, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Federal regulators' recent move to set limits on climate analysis for natural gas pipelines raises new questions about the government's environmental obligations and how courts might get involved.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last month announced its intention to trim climate reviews for some pipeline applications — analyzing the greenhouse gas emissions from production and consumption of natural gas only when specific information about the source or end use of gas is available.
The move represents a change of direction for FERC, which has gradually increased its attention to climate change in recent years. Now the Republican-majority commission is seeking to clarify the boundaries of its climate obligations.
That's what industry advocates have pushed for in recent years: tighter limits on what they consider to be ever-expanding National Environmental Policy Act reviews of interstate pipeline projects.
Around 2016, FERC began including additional greenhouse gas estimates in pipeline reviews. Prodded by environmentalists and the Obama administration's EPA, the agency started tallying approximate emissions associated with burning the gas that would be transported by some proposed pipelines.
A federal court decision bolstered the approach last year, when judges tossed an earlier FERC review that didn't include those estimates, even though the commission had enough information to crunch the numbers.
FERC critics and environmental groups say last month's policy shift disregards that court order and undermines an ongoing agency review of how it considers pipeline proposals. They're looking to challenge the move as soon as they can get into court.Drawing a line on climate reviews
Before the lawsuits fly, it's helpful to understand exactly what FERC is doing here. Experts disagree about the significance of the revised approach.
That's in part because the change came about in an order related to a relatively minor natural gas project in New York. FERC on May 18 denied a rehearing request for its approval of a Dominion Energy Transmission Inc. compressor station upgrade and used that document to set out its broader plan (E&E News PM, May 18).
The regional environmental group Otsego 2000 had pushed the agency to consider the impacts of the natural gas production feeding Dominion's project. In a 3-2 decision, the majority of commissioners found that such "upstream" production impacts were too attenuated to inform the NEPA analysis: Gas flowing into upstate New York compressor stations could come from anywhere in the sprawling Marcellus or Utica shale formations, the order said.
The gas would not even originate in New York, as the state has a ban on hydraulic fracturing used to extract shale gas. Moreover, the order said, there is no evidence to suggest that the project would result in increased production activity.
On the "downstream" side, FERC made a similar argument: The exact end use of the natural gas that runs through Dominion's stations is unknown, so impacts on consumption are unpredictable.
But the order presented an approach that goes beyond the New York project.
"Accordingly, to avoid confusion as to the scope of our obligations ... we will no longer prepare upper-bound estimates ... where, as here, the upstream production and downstream use of natural gas are not cumulative or indirect impacts of the proposed pipeline project, and consequently are outside the scope of our NEPA analysis," it said.
That doesn't mean FERC is skipping climate analysis altogether. The majority acknowledged the commission's duty to weigh the direct greenhouse gas impacts of construction and operation of individual pipelines. And it noted that FERC will do the upstream or downstream estimates when it has clear and detailed information about where relevant gas is produced or how it is ultimately used.
What does that mean? Former Commissioner Tony Clark, now at Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, said added downstream analysis would likely occur when a gas pipeline directly feeds a power plant, as was the case in the 2017 court opinion dealing with the Sabal Trail pipeline.
"For any project that begins to look like Sabal where there's a pretty defined end use, they are probably already sharpening their pencils and figuring that they're going to have to do that GHG analysis," he said, adding that NEPA still doesn't control the outcome of the application.
Steptoe & Johnson LLP attorney Monique Watson, a former FERC lawyer, said that cases in which the agency would perform upstream climate analysis — estimating greenhouse gas emissions from gas production — might be less common. For a clear causal connection between production and a pipeline, a project would need to transport gas from a discrete field with limited transportation options, she said.
The two dissenting commissioners, Richard Glick and Cheryl LaFleur, criticized FERC's logic as circular: The agency won't have that level of detail about production or use unless it asks developers to provide it, they wrote.'The line is much blurrier than they'd like it to be'
FERC's critics were surprised and frustrated by the news last month, calling it a step backward on environmental review.
"NEPA is always about making reasonable forecasts, and it's never the case that some uncertainty is an excuse for an agency to throw their hands in the air or treat significant effects as being worthless," said Jason Schwartz, legal director for New York University's Institute for Policy Integrity.
"So it is still somewhat unclear — the line they're trying to draw, the line is much blurrier than they'd like it to be," he said. "In all cases, there are models that exist and that the agency can use to try to figure out what the market consequences are going to be."
Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Gillian Giannetti noted in a blog post last month that in addition to NEPA obligations, FERC is required to weigh environmental impacts in its analysis of whether pipeline applications are in the public interest under the Natural Gas Act.
Environmental groups have several options for fighting FERC's approach: a direct challenge to the Dominion order, a challenge to a future pipeline project and participation in the agency's ongoing review of how it handles pipelines.
The first option is the toughest. Challenging a FERC order requires previous participation in the relevant proceedings. Most environmental groups pushing FERC on climate action were not involved in the Dominion case, so they can't sue over the decision. Otsego 2000, the New York group that is party to the case, has said it's not sure it has the resources to keep fighting (Energywire, June 1).
The next option is simpler but requires patience: Environmental groups can simply wait for FERC to apply the new approach to one of the cases in which they are involved. Then they'll be able to challenge the result.
In the meantime, they can raise their concerns directly to FERC via the agency's separate review process for its general pipeline policy. The review — not tied to any particular project — began earlier this year and is aimed at determining whether FERC needs to update how it weighs developers' permit applications.
Many agency watchers assumed FERC would hold off on policy changes until that review concludes. In fact, the dissenting commissioners raised that issue in their Dominion statements: Why not wait until the broader review is complete?
"I find it particularly disappointing that the Commission is adopting this new policy just as it embarks on a broad review of the Commission's process for certificating new natural gas pipelines, which will include how greenhouse gas emissions are assessed," Glick wrote in his dissent.
The commission recently extended the public comment period for the broad policy review. Steptoe & Johnson's Watson said the groups can use the Dominion order to further inform their comments on that process.Sabal Trail
Critics of FERC's policy shift also argue that the move is out of step with an important decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court last summer ordered FERC to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions from power plants linked to the Sabal Trail pipeline and related projects in Florida, Georgia and Alabama (Energywire, Aug. 23, 2017).
The decision was seen as a game-changer, bolstering environmentalists' climate arguments against numerous other projects.
FERC's order last month reads the Sabal Trail case narrowly: limited to a situation in which extensive information about downstream natural gas use was available. The record clearly showed that the project would feed certain Florida power plants. But it's often the case that pipelines feed into broader distribution systems, and the exact end use is harder to track.
Still, Schwartz said he was skeptical about how the new approach would square with the Sabal Trail ruling.
"In all major combustion applications of natural gas, the greenhouse gas consequences are the same," he said. "So you don't really need to know exactly where this is going to be burned. You can make a very reasonable, informed estimate based on models. You can apply the standard emissions factors, and you can get a very reasonable estimate of downstream emissions."
The Sierra Club, which led the Sabal Trail challenge, fired off a warning last month that FERC may end up in court again over its new take on analyzing climate impacts.
"The people demanded FERC do its job, and FERC refused," Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement. "Then, the courts ordered FERC to do its job, but instead, it just keeps trying to evade the court's order and shirk its responsibilities. FERC has broken the public's trust, and we are exploring our options in response to today's vote."
Or the Sierra Club could end up playing defense at the Supreme Court. FERC and Sabal Trail developers haven't yet committed to asking the justices to weigh in on the D.C. Circuit's decision, but they've both signaled interest — requesting and receiving extensions to file petitions later this summer.
If they do seek Supreme Court review, it would be months before the court even decides whether to accept the case.No more 'color commentary'
Longtime FERC watchers have waved off the notion that FERC's Dominion order represents a huge change for the agency.
Clark, the former commissioner, said the revised approach simply means the agency will include less "color commentary" in its pipeline orders.
Though former FERC Chairman Norman Bay, a Democratic appointee, memorably implored the agency in early 2017 to increase its climate disclosures in the interest of "good government," Clark noted that excess language in an agency order can start to look like an obligation. The Republican appointee said the commission is better off steering clear of such extras so it's not "tacitly approving the notion that it should be in there."
"If just in practice you start putting things in your order, even if you don't think they're specifically tied to a some statutory requirement, but you start speaking to it, it can raise questions in court," he said. "A judge might take a look at it and say, 'Well if you're not required to do it, then why are you doing it?'"
Watson, the Steptoe & Johnson lawyer, said the policy laid out last month clarifies the landscape for project developers.
"The commission was trying to put in goal posts to say, 'Yes, we understand what the Sabal court told us to do, that's something that we need to consider. However, words do matter. So what is reasonably foreseeable?'" she said.
Intervenors, including environmental groups, can use the approach to their advantage by anticipating the type of information FERC would need to do the expanded climate analysis, she added. If they have clear evidence tying specific production or end use to a proposed pipeline, they can submit it for the record.
"If this analysis in a subsequent case doesn't meet that test or doesn't meet the standard," she said, "then they still have the chance to argue in court or on rehearing, 'Commission, you got it wrong in this specific case.'"
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/06/05/stories/1060083465
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IG Faults Limits On CSB Chair's Power As Current Chief Steps Down
Jun 5, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in a critical new report is detailing challenges facing the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), including that leadership lacks authority to address board members' policy violations, and that Trump administration's proposals to eliminate CSB are harming efforts to attract and retain employees.
The report comes as Chairwoman Vanessa Allen Sutherland in May announced plans to resign this month as the CSB's top official. It is unclear whether President Donald Trump will appoint a replacement given his repeated proposals to scrap the CSB.
In the report, “Fiscal Year 2018 U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Management Challenges” released June 4, the IG argues that during Sutherland's leadership, CSB officials have reported “multiple instances when a board member acted inconsistently with established practices or inappropriately provided information to entities outside the CSB”
And IG notes that while the chairman is the CSB's top official, the agency's authorizing legislation fails to give the chairman a supervisory role over other board members. The IG recommends that CSB strengthen its internal policies and urge Congress to provide the chairman authority to correct board members' “inappropriate or destabilizing behaviors.”
“Without the authority for the Chairperson to take corrective actions against board members, an environment exists that may enable 'rogue' behaviors that can potentially impede the CSB’s mission and lower the morale among the CSB’s career staff,” the report says.
While the report says that the internal strife that has long plagued CSB has persisted under Sutherland's leadership, a CSB spokesman has said that Sutherland's departure is not related to management challenges described in the report, and that her “stepping down is related to personal and family issues.”
The IG also notes that Trump's budget proposals to eliminate CSB has created uncertainty among staff and made it “more challenging” to retain and recruit personnel.
“Although proposed long-term budget cuts have had an impact across the federal government, the CSB feels additional negative impact from the President’s continued proposal to eliminate the agency,” the report says. “The CSB Chairperson said that the budget uncertainty has made staff consider leaving the CSB to work elsewhere or retire before they otherwise would.”
House appropriators have dismissed the Trump administration's request to eliminate CSB's budget in May, proposing to provide $12 million in fiscal year 2019 -- $1 million more than the board received last year in their fiscal year 2018 spending plan.
CSB, created by the Clean Air Act amendments, is tasked with investigating industrial facility accidents that inform regulations at OSHA, EPA and other agencies. The board is typically comprised of five members but has been operating with just four after the March 2015 departure of former chair Rafael Moure-Eraso, who stepped down after charges of mismanagement.
In response to the report, CSB spokeswoman Shauna Lawhorne says CSB will work with lawmakers and she argues that the management challenges cited in the IG report stem, in part, from how Congress set up the board.
“While we are taking steps to address the concerns through internal controls, as the OIG report notes, the issues are fundamental to the statutory construction of the agency. We will continue to work with the appropriate leadership of the Congress to ensure that the agency fulfills its obligations to improve chemical safety for the industry, its employees and our communities.”
However, the report notes that CSB implemented all but one of the IG's 2015 management recommendations.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ig-faults-limits-csb-chairs-power-current-chief-steps-down
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Agency Needs Strong Leadership, Budget Certainty — IG
Jun 5, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Corbin Hiar
The agency created to investigate industrial accidents is dogged by a weak leadership structure and budget woes, according to its internal watchdog.
EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins Jr., who also audits the independent Chemical Safety Board, urged CSB yesterday to ask Congress to strengthen its chairman's position and provide the funding certainty it needs to attract and retain talent.
Both issues have troubled CSB for years, but the inspector general included them for the first time in his annual report on management challenges.
In the case of the chairman's powers, Elkins noted them this time because "CSB board members and managers said there have been multiple instances when a board member acted inconsistently with established practices or inappropriately provided information to entities outside the CSB."
Elkins' report specifically cited correspondence between a board member, a labor union worker and a reporter. Those "inappropriate actions by the board member ... were counter to maintaining transparency and respecting CSB staff and their responsibilities," it said.
Elkins was also critical of a leak — believed to have come from a board member — that revealed the White House was planning to ask Congress to eliminate the agency for the second time in two years (Greenwire, Feb. 2).
CSB has already moved to issue regulations and training materials clarifying board members' roles and responsibilities. Elkins called on the agency to complete those efforts and "request that Congress assess these issues and make the necessary changes to provide the position of the CSB Chairperson with the authority to address inappropriate or destabilizing board member behaviors."
Created by the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, CSB has five members who are nominated by the president to five-year terms and confirmed by the Senate, one of whom serves as chairman. But by law, the president can only remove a board member for inefficiency, neglecting of duty or malfeasance in office.
CSB currently has four members, and Chairwoman Vanessa Allen Sutherland announced last month that she intends to resign two years before her term ends (Greenwire, May 22).
Sutherland told the IG that "budget uncertainty has made staff consider leaving the CSB to work elsewhere or retire before they otherwise would," the report said.
While congressional appropriators have told the outgoing chairwoman they have no current plans to eliminate CSB, they "may reduce its funding" again, according to the IG. Last year, Congress provided CSB with $11 million in funding, a cut of about $600,000.
The report suggested that the uncertainty was part of the reason the agency's career staffers voted to join the American Federation of Government Employees union last month.
The inspector general said, "CSB should continue to work with Congress toward achieving funding needs wherever possible."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/06/05/stories/1060083531
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Greens Sue EPA Over New Source Review Change
Jun 5, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Three environmental groups are suing EPA over a recent change to the New Source Review air permitting program.
The lawsuit asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review a March memo that compressed the process for predicting the potential rise in emissions expected from a plant expansion or other significant modification to a major industrial pollution source (Greenwire, March 13).
While industry groups welcomed the change as a needed piece of regulatory streamlining, environmentalists charged that it will effectively allow more air pollution.
The suit — filed last week by the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club — was slow to show up in the federal court's online records system. Under a court-ordered schedule, the groups have to name the specific issues they intend to raise in the litigation by July 2.
The New Source Review program (NSR), a cornerstone of the Clean Air Act, requires power producers, manufacturers and other industries to get preconstruction permits before building a new plant or embarking on a major modification of an existing facility that could result in added pollution.
Under the Trump administration, revamping NSR is again a priority, particularly after Bill Wehrum became EPA's air chief in November. The program "is very complex and can be time-consuming to implement," Wehrum said last month in prepared testimony at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment. Besides exploring ways to "simplify and improve" it, he said, EPA is looking at ways to "expedite the federal permitting process."
Months before issuing the March memo, for example, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt had declared that the agency would no longer challenge companies' estimates of the emissions increases that could result from a particular project; the issue had been at the heart of a long-running, albeit unsuccessful, legal challenge brought by Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. (Greenwire, Dec. 8, 2017).
Wehrum, whose career has included years as an industry lawyer in private practice, had also focused on NSR during his previous stint at EPA's Office of Air and Radiation from 2001 to 2007 under George W. Bush's administration. At last month's hearing, he informally endorsed draft legislation by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) that would change the agency's approach to gauging whether a specific project would trigger New Source Review permitting requirements (E&E Daily, May 17).
But while Pruitt said at a hearing in April that EPA might pursue a New Source Review overhaul through a formal rulemaking, Wehrum has so far sought to make changes to NSR and other air quality programs through guidance and memos. That approach irks critics who say it sidesteps the Administrative Procedure Act's requirement to give the public advance notice and the chance to comment.
Coupled with a coalition of Democratic-leaning states, environmental groups are also suing to block EPA's repeal of the "once in, always in" policy, created during the Clinton administration to keep a permanent lid on hazardous emissions from individual facilities (Greenwire, May 1). In a third suit brought in February, the Sierra Club is battling EPA's decision to tuck a national change to its interpretation of another key Clean Air Act program in the course of rejecting an administrative challenge to the "Title V" operating permit for a Utah power plant (Greenwire, Feb. 7). All that litigation is pending before the D.C. Circuit.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/06/05/stories/1060083539
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Green Loan Growth Could Outstrip Green Bonds in Near Term-ING
Jun 5, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Nina Chestney
Global green loan growth could outpace the green bond market over the next few years as loans are accessible to a wider range of borrowers and can carry some clear financial incentives, ING's global head of sustainable finance said.
As governments and companies seek to meet global targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, appetite among investors for so-called green loans and bonds has risen.
Both are used to fund projects which have clear environmental benefits, such as renewable energy, low-carbon transport or sustainable buildings.
While still a tiny fraction of the overall bond market, the global green bond market was worth around $160 billion last year and is expected to reach at least $200-250 billion this year.
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By contrast, the volume of green loan deals has been sporadic until last year and the amount is less easy to quantify due to varying standards for what constitutes a green loan.
However, green loan growth could be significant as it becomes possible to get more bespoke financing terms, said Leonie Schreve, ING's global head of sustainable finance.
"In general, the green loan market has the ability to grow significantly - significantly bigger than the green bonds market," Schreve said.
"More parties and clients are actively reaching out to us (for green loans). They are attractive and simple for the market," she added.
For example, ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance)-linked loans have interest rates which are linked to the company's sustainability performance and rating, providing an incentive for companies to take out green loans over normal ones.
If the company's ESG rating goes up, the interest rate on the loan goes down and vice versa, Schreve said.
"In general, discounts and penalties vary between 5 to 10 percent of the margin. In today's competitive and liquid financial markets, companies perceive this as meaningful," she added.
ING has been involved in green loan deals worth around 2.2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) in total over the past year. It has so far issued green bonds worth around 20 billion euros in total.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/06/05/business/05reuters-ing-groep-greenbonds.html
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Sharks, Cold Water and ‘Plastic Smog’: Swimmer Crosses Pacific to Fight Pollution
Jun 5, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Rick Noack
Before French marathon swimmer Benoit Lecomte began his six-month-long attempt Tuesday to become the first to swim across the Pacific Ocean, he prepared for a number of possible challenges such as sharks, extremely cold water — and “plastic smog.”
That’s the term scientists use to describe billions of pieces of microplastic in the sea.
On his way from eastern Japan to San Francisco — a distance of 5,600 miles — the 51-year-old swimmer will encounter a lot of those microplastic particles, most of which have broken down from larger plastic items or deliberately included by manufacturers in body wash or toothpaste. In the Pacific, the biggest accumulation of plastic smog is about the size of Germany, France and Britain combined and Lecomte will swim right through it.
He already swam across the Atlantic Ocean over two decades ago, but this latest attempt in the Pacific isn’t only focused on athleticism. While Lecomte will be busy swimming approximately eight hours a day, scientists on accompanying boats will take water quality probes and conduct further experiments focused on plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean.
A new U.N. study, which was also published Tuesday for World Environment Day, suggests that plastic pollution is an increasingly serious concern across the globe.
Some plastic “can take up to thousands of years to decompose, contaminating soil and water,” write the authors, who warn that plastic pollution is already manifesting itself in ways that few people are aware of.
“Plastic bags can block waterways and exacerbate natural disasters. By clogging sewers and providing breeding grounds for mosquitoes and pests, plastic bags can increase the transmission of vector-borne diseases like malaria,” they write. Hundreds of animal species are being harmed by the toxic chemicals that are often used to produce plastics and may enter the human food chain. Last week, for instance, a whale died in southern Thailand after eating plastic rubbish and vomiting out several plastic bags. Overall, the U.N. estimates the global damage to marine ecosystems amounts to at least $13 billion annually.
National responses have varied — with the United States still lagging behind, despite sharing a significant responsibility for the problem.
North America produced 21 percent of the world’s single-use plastics in 2014 and was outranked only by Northeast Asia, where 26 percent of the world’s plastic supplies were made.
“Much plastic may be single-use, but that does not mean it is easily disposable. When discarded in landfills or in the environment, plastic can take up to a thousand years to decompose,” wrote Erik Solheim, head of the U.N. Environment Program.
Most plastic packaging waste comes from China, but the United States is the world’s biggest per capita polluter, followed by Japan and the European Union.
In the study, the U.N. authors provide the first comprehensive analysis of policies in place worldwide to counter plastic pollution. Overall, they document efforts across 50 countries, mostly focusing on Africa and Europe. Whereas African nations appear to prefer total or partial bans over economic instruments, such as artificially raising prices on plastic bags, European lawmakers have mostly relied on the latter.
Notably absent from that statistic is North America, where national legislation to decrease plastic waste does not exist.
That doesn’t mean that Americans simply don’t care about the problem, though. In fact, there are more U.S. cities or states that have banned plastic bags and put restrictions on the use of the plastic foam material in takeout coffee cups than in Europe, Africa and South America combined.
The U.N. study indicates that some global progress has been made in recent years, even though major global powers such as the United States are lagging behind poorer nations. “Rwanda, a pioneer in banning single-use plastic bags, is now one of the cleanest nations on earth. Kenya has followed suit, helping clear its iconic national parks and save its cows from an unhealthy diet,” wrote Solheim, the U.N. Environment Program chief.
While many African nations were so directly affected by the impact of plastic pollution that they decided to take action, the impact of U.S. toothpaste on marine life in the Pacific Ocean appears harder to grasp for many Americans or Europeans.
Over the next six months, Lecomte, the French swimmer, wants to show people that there’s a link between their morning routines or their takeout coffee and the plastic smog polluting millions of square miles of the world’s oceans. His decision to risk the grueling adventure was partially motivated by a similarly eye-opening experience, he said in interviews before his departure.
“I remember my father, and he was the one who taught me how to swim in the Atlantic. I remember times when we would go to the beach and walk and never see any plastic,” Lecomte said.
“Now, everywhere I go, on the beach, I see plastic everywhere.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp/2018/06/05/sharks-cold-water-and-plastic-smog-swimmer-crosses-pacific-to-fight-pollution/?utm_term=.735ce9003cad
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