Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 6/6/2018
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(ACC Mentioned) American Chemistry Council Ad Praises Heller in Nevada
Jun 6, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By James Arkin
The American Chemistry Council is running an ad praising Nevada GOP Sen. Dean Heller ahead of his reelection this November, according to data from Advertising Analytics. -
(ACC Mentioned) EPA Staff Say the Trump Administration Is Changing Their Mission from Protecting Human Health and the Environment to Protecting Industry
Jun 6, 2018 | The Conversation US
By Chris Sellers, Lindsey Dillon and Phil Brown
The Environmental Protection Agency made news recently for excluding reporters from a “summit” meeting on chemical contamination in drinking water. Episodes like this are symptoms of a larger problem: an ongoing, broad-scale takeover of the agency by industries it regulates. -
(ACC Mentioned) Recycle BC Launches Flexible Packaging Collection
Jun 6, 2018 | Waste Dive
By Jake Thomas
Residents of British Columbia, Canada can now drop off their chip bags, zipper-lock pouches for frozen food, cellophane wrap, packaging for deli meats and other materials at 116 depots across the province as part of a research and development project aimed at recycling these increasingly common packaging types. -
(ACC Mentioned) Less of Canada’s scrap plastic leaves North America
Jun 6, 2018 | Plastics Recycling Update
By Jared Paben
Canadians recycled slightly more plastic in 2016 than they did the previous year. That’s according to a report released shortly before a Canadian plastics group unveiled its recyclability and recycling goals. -
(ACC Mentioned) Schneider’s Bulk Intermodal Container Service Celebrates 6-Year Milestone
Jun 6, 2018 | Modern Bulk Transporter
Schneider has reached a new milestone within its Bulk division, which is responsible for the transportation of liquid products. -
‘We Got Lazy’: U.S. Recyclers Try Cleaning Up Their Scrap
Jun 6, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal
By Bob Tita
American trash haulers and recyclers are becoming more prudent about how they collect and sort scrap after China stopped accepting most U.S. scrap exports earlier this year. -
Trump Critics Seek Rulings on Standing in '2-1' Order Suit
Jun 6, 2018 | Inside EPA
Environmentalists and other Trump administration critics are urging a federal court to quickly decide whether they have standing to challenge the president's order requiring repeal of two existing rules for every new measure, even as two states renew their effort to join the suit due to concerns that officials may roll back climate change rules. -
Trump CPSC Nomination Would Swing Majority to Republicans
Jun 6, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie Miller
President Trump has nominated congressional staffer Peter Feldman to final leadership spot on the the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. -
Does IARC's Proposed Revision Of Its Preamble Signal A Real Change In The Agency's Behavior?
Jun 6, 2018 | Forbes
By Geoffrey Kabat
In May, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced its plan to solicit comments from interested parties prior to holding an Advisory Group meeting in November to propose revisions to its Preamble, which articulates the mission and methods of the IARC Monographs program. -
Senator to Pope Francis: Oil Companies Are 'Duplicitous'
Jun 6, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Hulac
Major oil companies meeting in the Vatican this week are not serious about tackling climate change and are plotting behind the scenes to hamper efforts to address it, a Democratic senator is warning Pope Francis. -
Major Oil Group Launches New Coalition to Promote Offshore Drilling
Jun 6, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Miranda Green
A top U.S. oil and gas industry leader is setting its sights on expanding offshore drilling in the eastern gulf and off the coast of mid-Atlantic states. -
EPA Sides with Greens Against Largest U.S. Refinery
Jun 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
EPA is partially siding with environmental groups in their administrative challenge to the operating permit for the nation's largest oil refinery. -
Agency Promotes Energy Exports as Climate Shop Shrinks
Jun 6, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Hulac
The Treasury Department is working to expand the export market for U.S. energy companies and their products while simultaneously letting its climate office languish. -
Agency Targets Conservation Co-Ops to Avoid Climate Rules
Jun 6, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Adam Aton
The Interior Department wants to eliminate a science-based conservation program that dates back to the George W. Bush administration, after being prodded by conservative opponents of climate policy. -
House GOP Targets NRDC over Work in China
Jun 6, 2018 | Inside EPA
Top Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee are targeting a major environmental group for its work in China, alleging that the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) may be illegally promoting that country's environmental record to the “detriment” of the United States.
Industry and Association News
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Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) American Chemistry Council Ad Praises Heller in Nevada
Jun 6, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By James Arkin
The American Chemistry Council is running an ad praising Nevada GOP Sen. Dean Heller ahead of his reelection this November, according to data from Advertising Analytics.
"Sen. Dean Heller puts Nevada families first," a narrator says in the ad. "He fought for middle class tax relief that has thousands of Nevadans seeing larger paychecks and bonuses. He's worked to help small businesses by cutting regulations so they can grow and hire more worker. And Sen. Heller has dedicated himself to ensuring the 300,000 veterans in Nevada receive the benefits they earned. Call Dean Heller. Thank him for standing up for Nevada."
American Chemistry Council is spending at least $330,700 on the ad on cable, broadcast and satellite.
You can watch the full ad here.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard/2018/06/american-chemistry-council-ad-praises-heller-in-nevada-1358733
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Jun 6, 2018 | The Conversation US
By Chris Sellers, Lindsey Dillon and Phil Brown
The Environmental Protection Agency made news recently for excluding reporters from a “summit” meeting on chemical contamination in drinking water. Episodes like this are symptoms of a larger problem: an ongoing, broad-scale takeover of the agency by industries it regulates.
We are social scientists with interests in environmental health, environmental justice and inequality and democracy. We recently published a study, conducted under the auspices of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative and based on interviews with 45 current and retired EPA employees, which concludes that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the Trump administration have steered the agency to the verge of what scholars call “regulatory capture.”
By this we mean that they are aggressively reorganizing the EPA to promote interests of regulated industries, at the expense of its official mission to “protect human health and the environment.”How close is too close?
The notion of “regulatory capture” has a long record in U.S. social science research. It helps explain the 2008 financial crisis and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In both cases, lax federal oversight and the government’s over-reliance on key industries were widely viewed as contributing to the disasters.
How can you tell whether an agency has been captured? According to Harvard’s David Moss and Daniel Carpenter, it occurs when an agency’s actions are “directed away from the public interest and toward the interest of the regulated industry” by “intent and action of industries and their allies.” In other words, the farmer doesn’t just tolerate foxes lurking around the hen house – he recruits them to guard it.Serving industry
From the start of his tenure at EPA, Pruitt has championed interests of regulated industries such as petrochemicals and coal mining, while rarely discussing the value of environmental and health protections. “Regulators exist,” he asserts, “to give certainty to those that they regulate,” and should be committed to “enhanc(ing) economic growth.”
In our view, Pruitt’s efforts to undo, delay or otherwise block at least 30 existing rules reorient EPA rule-making “away from the public interest and toward the interest of the regulated industry.” Our interviewees overwhelmingly agreed that these rollbacks undermine their own “pretty strong sense of mission … protecting the health of the environment,” as one current EPA staffer told us.
Many of these targeted rules have well-documented public benefits, which Pruitt’s proposals – assuming they withstand legal challenges – would erode. For example, rejecting a proposed ban on the insecticide chlorpyrifos would leave farm workers and children at risk of developmental delays and autism spectrum disorders. Revoking the Clean Power Plan for coal-fired power plants, and weakening proposed fuel efficiency standards, would sacrifice health benefits associated with cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
A key question is whether regulated industries had an active hand in these initiatives. Here, again, the answer is yes.Nuzzling up to industry
Pruitt’s EPA is staffed with senior officials who have close industry ties. For example, Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler is a former coal industry lobbyist. Nancy Beck, deputy assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, was formerly an executive at the American Chemistry Council. And Senior Deputy General Counsel Erik Baptist was previously senior counsel at the American Petroleum Institute.
Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show Pruitt has met with representatives of regulated industries 25 times more often than with environmental advocates. His staff carefully shields himfrom encounters with groups that they consider “unfriendly.”
The former head of EPA’s Office of Policy, Samantha Dravis, who left the agency in April 2018, had 90 scheduled meetings with energy, manufacturing and other industrial interests between March 2017 and January 2018. During the same period she met with one public interest organization.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that corporate lobbying is directly influencing major policy decisions. For example, just before rejecting the chlorpyrifos ban, Pruitt met with the CEO of Dow Chemical, which manufactures the pesticide.
Overturning Obama’s Clean Power Plan and withdrawing from the Paris climate accord were recommended by coal magnate Robert Murray in his “Action Plan for the Administration.” Emails released under the Freedom of Information Act show detailed correspondence between Pruitt and industry lobbyists about EPA talking points. They also document Pruitt’s many visits with corporate officials as he formulated his attack on the Clean Power Plan.Muting other voices
Pruitt and his staff also have sought to sideline potentially countervailing interests and influences, starting with EPA career staff. In one of our interviews, an EPA employee described a meeting between Pruitt, the home-building industry and agency career staff. Pruitt showed up late, led the industry representatives into another room for a group photo, then trooped back into the meeting room to scold his own EPA employees for not listening to them.
Threatened by proposed budget cuts, buyouts and retribution against disloyal staff and leakers, career EPA employees have been made “afraid … so nobody pushes back, nobody says anything,” according to one of our sources.
As a result, enforcement has fallen dramatically. During Trump’s first 6 months in office, the EPA collected 60 percent less money in civil penalties from polluters than it had under Presidents Obama or George W. Bush in the same period. The agency has also opened fewer civil and criminal cases.
Early in his tenure Pruitt replaced many members of EPA’s Science Advisory Board and Board of Scientific Counselors in a move intended to give representatives from industry and state governments more influence. He also established a new policy that prevents EPA-funded scientists from serving on these boards, but allows industry-funded scientists to serve.
And on April 24, 2018, Pruitt issued a new rule that limits what kind of scientific research the agency can rely on in writing environmental regulation. This step was advocated by the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute.What can be done?
This is not the first time that a strongly anti-regulatory administration has tried to redirect EPA. In our interviews, longtime EPA staffers recalled similar pressure under President Reagan, led by his first administrator, Anne Gorsuch.
Gorsuch also slashed budgets, cut back on enforcement and “treated a lot of people in the agency as the enemy,” in the words of her successor, William Ruckelshaus. She was forced to resign in 1983 amid congressional investigations into EPA misbehavior, including corruptive favoritism and its cover-up at the Superfund program.
EPA veterans of those years emphasized the importance of Democratic majorities in Congress, which initiated the investigations, and sustained media coverage of EPA’s unfolding scandals. They remembered this phase as an oppressive time, but noted that pro-industry actions by political appointees failed to suffuse the entire bureaucracy. Instead, career staffers resisted by developing subtle, “underground” ways of supporting each other and sharing information internally and with Congress and the media.
Similarly, the media are spotlighting Pruitt’s policy actions and ethical scandals today. EPA staffers who have left the agency are speaking out against Pruitt’s policies. State attorneys general and the court system have also thwarted some of Pruitt’s efforts. And EPA’s Science Advisory Board – including members appointed by Pruitt – recently voted almost unanimously to do a full review of the scientific justification for many of Pruitt’s most controversial proposals.
Still, with the Trump administration tilted hard against regulation and Republicans controlling Congress, the greatest challenge to regulatory capture at the EPA will be the 2018 and 2020 elections.
https://theconversation.com/epa-staff-say-the-trump-administration-is-changing-their-mission-from-protecting-human-health-and-the-environment-to-protecting-industry-96256
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(ACC Mentioned) Recycle BC Launches Flexible Packaging Collection
Jun 6, 2018 | Waste Dive
By Jake Thomas
Dive Brief:
Residents of British Columbia, Canada can now drop off their chip bags, zipper-lock pouches for frozen food, cellophane wrap, packaging for deli meats and other materials at 116 depots across the province as part of a research and development project aimed at recycling these increasingly common packaging types.
The project will be led by Recycle BC, a nonprofit that handles the province’s residential recycling, in partnership with Merlin Plastics. According to Recycle BC, these products, deemed “other flexible packaging,” are particularly challenging to recycle because of the combined materials used to manufacture them. The packaging will now be one of the largest categories of material not previously included in the nonprofit’s residential recycling program.
The program will be implemented in three phases. After the initial depots are established, more will be added in September. By next year, all Recycle BC depots in the province are expected to collect this type of packaging. Any packaging collected through the project that can’t be recycled will be recovered and converted into engineered fuel.Dive Insight:
Snack bags and some plastic films have long been a source of confusion for consumers. They’ve also been a source of frustration for recycling companies that have struggled with the packaging being misplaced in recycling bins.
There have been some limited efforts to recycle this packaging. TerraCycle has partnered with other companies to recycle these materials for charitable causes. A few years ago, SunChips introduced a compostable version of its bag that was pulled after complaints that it was extremely loud when crumpled.
According to Recycle BC's managing director, this type of pilot project is unique within North America. There are similar programs underway elsewhere, but those are industry led. Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics and Keep America Beautiful operate the Hefty EnergyBag program that also seeks to recycle chip bags, juice pouches and other previously unrecyclable materials. The American Chemistry Council’s Plastics Division also announced last month that it plans to ensure all plastic packaging is recyclable or recoverable by 2030.
However, the EnergyBag program has drawn detractors. Omaha-based sustainability firm Verdis Group criticized the program for its reliance on incineration. Environmental group Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives called it a “false” path to zero waste that would create confusion among consumers. At the same time, this type of program has also been billed as a solution for municipalities struggling with China's ban on other mixed plastics.
While British Columbia does have "zero waste" goals that encourage product redesign, the launch of this new program may be a sign that area recycling professionals expect these types of plastic products will be a part of the waste stream for the foreseeable future.
https://www.wastedive.com/news/recycle-bc-take-other-flexible-packaging/525031/
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(ACC Mentioned) Less of Canada’s scrap plastic leaves North America
Jun 6, 2018 | Plastics Recycling Update
By Jared Paben
Canadians recycled slightly more plastic in 2016 than they did the previous year. That’s according to a report released shortly before a Canadian plastics group unveiled its recyclability and recycling goals.
The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) released its annual report on the amount of plastic recycled in the country of 35 million people. The study, conducted by More Recycling, showed Canadians recycled at least 325,000 metric tons of post-consumer plastic in 2016, up nearly 1 percent over the year before.
“While the net increase is good news, we’re urging Canadians to take on a new dedication to recycling plastic packaging,” Joe Hruska, CPIA’s vice president of sustainability, stated in a May 28 press release. “Plastics recyclers want and need more supply; they have underutilized capacity creating ample opportunity for consumers and businesses to supply our recyclers with more plastics that can be manufactured into plastic products and packaging with recycled content.”
The report examines material from residential sources, including bottles, non-bottle rigid packaging, film and foam. It also looks at post-commercial material, which includes drums, buckets, crates, battery casings and agricultural film.
Volume increases were not uniform across all categories. The following saw increases in total weight recycled year over year: Bottles (up 5 percent) and film (up 7 percent). The following experienced decreases: non-bottle rigids (down 11 percent) and foam (down 83 percent). Because foam numbers are substantially lower than other categories, relatively small weight shifts result in large percentage changes.
More Recycling estimated 84 percent of Canada’s recovered plastic in 2016 was processed in the U.S. or Canada, up from 79 percent in 2015 and 78 percent in 2014.
This is the eighth year CPIA has conducted the study, which is based on voluntary surveys sent to hundreds of companies.Industry goals
On June 4, CPIA and the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) announced their goals of 100 percent plastic packaging reuse, recycling or recovery by 2040. They also want to ensure 100 percent of plastic packaging is recyclable or recoverable by 2030.
The announcements were made in advance of World Environment Day, June 5.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) recently unveiled the same recycling/reuse/recovery and recyclability/recoverability goals.
https://resource-recycling.com/plastics/2018/06/06/less-of-canadas-scrap-plastic-leaves-north-america/
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(ACC Mentioned) Schneider’s Bulk Intermodal Container Service Celebrates 6-Year Milestone
Jun 6, 2018 | Modern Bulk Transporter
Schneider has reached a new milestone within its Bulk division, which is responsible for the transportation of liquid products. A premier provider of transportation and logistics, Schneider is celebrating the sixth anniversary of its--and one of the shipping industry’s--first domestic bulk intermodal container movements.
During the initial years of operating domestic Bulk Intermodal containers, Schneider focused on building out its service and growing relationships with the rails. Then, in the first six months of 2014, capacity-crunched chemical shippers latched onto Schneider’s Bulk Intermodal offering, increasing the company’s volume by 75%. First-quarter 2018 results show that Bulk Intermodal volume continues to grow, increasing 13.5% year-over-year.
The growth of the chemical industry also contributes to the demand. According to the American Chemistry Council, there are plans for 294 new production units for chemicals in the United States--representing $179 billion in new capital investment in the industry. As one of the only carriers to offer domestic Bulk Intermodal services, Schneider looks forward to supporting this growing industry.
“With an improving economy and growing driver shortage, bulk shippers are experiencing extremely tight capacity conditions,” says Jason Howe, senior vice-president and general manager of Schneider’s Bulk division. “Schneider has increased its number of Bulk Intermodal containers from 100 in 2012 to more than 400 today to better serve shippers struggling to move their product.”
Unique to the 40-foot Schneider Bulk Intermodal containers is the ability to haul up to 45,600 pounds of specialty chemical and liquid payloads. Also, unlike the typical ISO 20-foot tank containers, Schneider’s Bulk Intermodal containers:
• Have standard fittings for easy offloading
• Fit standard loading racks for safe service
• Give shippers the feel of a regular tank trailer for ease of use and consistency
Shippers are actively adapting Schneider’s Bulk Intermodal service to complement its over-the-road service, according to Schneider Bulk officials. The company started offering this service in 2012 with two customers and by late 2017 it had grown to 68 customers.
“Customers are realizing the many benefits of shipping Bulk Intermodal, including that it produces more capacity by freeing up additional drivers to move over-the-road loads,” said Howe. “With Intermodal using less fuel than truckload, shippers also get a competitive rate per mile, lower per-pound transportation cost and a smaller carbon footprint.”
To provide as much capacity and flexibility to its customers as possible, Schneider is hiring dray drivers dedicated to Bulk Intermodal at major ramps in all major Bulk markets.
http://www.bulktransporter.com/cargo-tankstrailers/schneider-s-bulk-intermodal-container-service-celebrates-6-year-milestone
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‘We Got Lazy’: U.S. Recyclers Try Cleaning Up Their Scrap
Jun 6, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal
By Bob Tita
American trash haulers and recyclers are becoming more prudent about how they collect and sort scrap after China stopped accepting most U.S. scrap exports earlier this year.
The move has upended the U.S. recycling industry: Prices for recyclables are plunging, a glut of paper and plastic is accumulating in warehouses and some material is being sent to landfills.
As a result, some recyclers have focused on producing cleaner loads of paper, plastic and corrugated cardboard, which can fetch higher prices. And cities and trash haulers are seeking alternative ways to manage such waste, while an abundance of hard-to-recycle plastics has revived some companies’ use of the stuff to produce fuel.
“We got lazy,” said Robert Render, commercial manager for Orlando, Fla.-based Ravago Recycling Group. “That mentality has to change.”
Residential recyclables are typically harvested in single pick-ups and separated at processing centers. The practice can lead to contamination during collection and sorting, especially for paper—something recyclers are trying to reduce.
Oakland, N.J., in February began collecting paper and cardboard one week and plastic, cans and other materials the next. Now the town is earning $10 a ton for its cleaner loads of paper and paying $3.50 a ton to have other mixed recyclables sorted. The strategy reduced Oakland’s recycling costs from the $30 a ton it had been paying to a processing company before changing its collection system.
“It took a little while for people to get used to it,” Oakland’s recycling coordinator Eugene MacMahon said of the dual-sort system. “The garbage men had to leave a lot of stuff on the curb.”
China, the biggest customer of U.S. scrap material, for years accepted loads of recyclables with as much as a fifth spoiled or trash. China’s willingness to buy low-quality scrap provided little incentive for U.S. processors and collectors to weed out trash and other contaminants from the recyclable paper, plastic and cans.
Now, China is rejecting shipments with contaminants above 0.5%, a level that most U.S. recyclers have difficulty meeting with conventional recycling and sorting methods. A month-long moratorium has been lifted, but other issues with inspections are effectively keeping U.S. recyclable shipments from leaving for Chinese shores.
Some processors are trying to win back Chinese buyers or attract new customers with cleaner, segregated loads of paper and plastic that can fetch higher prices.
Cal-Waste Recovery Systems, near Sacramento, is processing 30% less scrap each hour to give its machinery and workers more time to separate paper and catch contaminants. At the lower speed, the company can separate newsprint and office paper that is fetching $70 a ton overseas from less-valuable paper such as magazines and catalogs. But about 35% of the paper the company collects is being diverted to residual piles that have no value in the current market for recycled paper. The company is paying paper processors as much as $16 a ton to have it hauled away.
“We’re not necessarily finding homes for everything like we did before,” Cal-Waste President Dave Vaccarezza said.
Allan Co., a trash hauler and recycler near Los Angeles, slowed its sorting equipment by 20% and hired more people to manually pick waste from conveyor lines. Chief Executive Jason Young said the process produces cleaner loads of cardboard that can be sold to China, albeit at a greater expense. Mixed paper isn’t profitable to sort meticulously, he said.
Processors also are looking for new buyers for mixed plastic, an amalgam of discarded packaging of different plastic grades that is difficult to recycle and often contaminated with food waste. China ended up disposing of much of the mixed plastic it used to accept, prompting officials there to ban its import.
Some companies see an opportunity in converting mixed plastics, which they can buy cheaply or get at no cost, into diesel, gasoline and industrial chemicals in airless reactors. Nina Bellucci Butler, chief executive of recycling consultancy More Recycling in North Carolina, said converting plastic to oil is profitable again, with oil prices around $70 a barrel.
The market glut is providing a windfall of mixed plastic for Renewlogy, a Salt Lake City company that converts scrap plastic to diesel and petrochemicals by melting it in reactors without air, said founder Priyanka Bakaya. Lower production costs from continuous operations, coupled with growing production volumes, mean that a $5-million Renewlogy reactor can make money even if oil prices fall as low as $30 a barrel, Ms. Bakaya said. She wants to build dozens of reactors in coming years near recyclable-processing centers with abundant supplies of low-value mixed plastic.
Ohio-based RES Polyflow LLC expects to convert 100,000 tons of mixed plastic annually into 16 million gallons of diesel and naphtha—a petrochemical used to make new plastic—at a plant opening next year in Ashley, Ind. Oil company BP PLC in March agreed to buy products from the plant.
“We see ourselves as a new market for the recycling industry,” said Michael Dungan, RES Polyflow’s director of sales and marketing.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-got-lazy-u-s-recyclers-try-cleaning-up-their-scrap-1528286401
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Trump Critics Seek Rulings on Standing in '2-1' Order Suit
Jun 6, 2018 | Inside EPA
Environmentalists and other Trump administration critics are urging a federal court to quickly decide whether they have standing to challenge the president's order requiring repeal of two existing rules for every new measure, even as two states renew their effort to join the suit due to concerns that officials may roll back climate change rules.
In a June 4 summary judgment motion, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, plaintiffs in Public Citizen, et al., v. Donald Trump, et al. seek a ruling on their standing to bring the case, arguing that their recent amended complaint shows they have standing and that the court should reject a federal motion to dismiss.
The plaintiffs say that their April 2 amended complaint demonstrated that executive order (EO) 13771 delays and prevents rules that would benefit them and their members and that the summary judgment motion should be granted because the EO conflicts with plaintiffs’ missions and injures their advocacy activities and the issue is a live controversy.
The groups also request that the federal district court reject DOJ's May 15 motion to dismiss the suit, where DOJ argued that the plaintiffs had again failed to raise any valid legal “harms” caused by the EO, which requires EPA and other agencies to target two existing rules for repeal for every new rule they issue.
At the same time, California and Oregon filed a separate June 4 motion to join the case, arguing their interests are not adequately addressed by the current plaintiffs.
They are seeking to join the suit because they fear the Trump administration will cite the order in part to justify a rollback of climate rules, such as vehicle rules, that limit greenhouse emissions that cause climate change and will adversely effect their interests and that their “unique” interests as states cannot be adequately represented by others.
“No other plaintiff in this lawsuit relies on or engages with the federal regulatory system as the States do. The States have unique interests in the health and well-being of their citizens, natural resources, infrastructure, institutions, and economies, among other things, and these interests cannot be adequately represented by the . . . Plaintiffs,” the motion states. “Allowing this matter to advance without the States as party plaintiffs would significantly impede their ability to protect their interests. For these reasons, the States should be permitted to intervene as a matter of right."
As an alternative, the states argue that they should at least be granted permissible intervention in the case, arguing that “States have an important interest in ensuring that the federal executive branch” abides by federal rules.
“Once again, President Trump is trying to operate outside the rule of law. ‘Two-for-one’ may be a good slogan, but it’s not a rational way to determine what rules we need to protect or guide our families, our health or our finances. It is illegal to scrap regulations without closely considering the benefits and protections they provide Americans or by blatantly ignoring Congressional intent,” said California Attorney Xavier Becerra in a press statement.
“Our coalition is therefore asking the court for permission to intervene. We believe that our case is strong, and we are ready to hold the Trump Administration accountable."
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/trump-critics-seek-rulings-standing-2-1-order-suit
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Trump CPSC Nomination Would Swing Majority to Republicans
Jun 6, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Julie Miller
President Trump has nominated congressional staffer Peter Feldman to final leadership spot on the the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
If approved by the Senate, the nomination would give the Republicans a 3-2 majority on the panel that manages the agency. By law, it cannot have more than three commissioners from the same party.
Mr Feldman would succeed Joseph Mohorovic, who left the CPSC in October. The term ends in October 2019, but President Trump will probably nominate Mr Feldman for a new, seven-year term at that time.
As senior counsel on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Mr Feldman "is responsible for consumer protection, product safety and insurance issues". Before joining the committee in 2011, he worked at the National Republican Congressional Committee and in media relations for Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.
According to Kathleen McGuigan, senior vice president and deputy general counsel for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), he "has been an advocate for science and risk-based regulations; agency engagement with all stakeholders, including retailers; finding solutions to reduce third-party testing burdens; and increased transparency into agency decision making."
The importance of who holds the majority was made clear last autumn, when the Commission voted 3-2 to initiate a rulemaking to ban the use of organohalogen flame retardants in furniture and several other household product categories, as well as to ban five phthalates in children's products.
https://chemicalwatch.com/67440/trump-cpsc-nomination-would-swing-majority-to-republicans
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Does IARC's Proposed Revision Of Its Preamble Signal A Real Change In The Agency's Behavior?
Jun 6, 2018 | Forbes
By Geoffrey Kabat
In May, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced its plan to solicit comments from interested parties prior to holding an Advisory Group meeting in November to propose revisions to its Preamble, which articulates the mission and methods of the IARC Monographs program.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffreykabat/2018/06/06/does-iarcs-proposed-revision-of-its-preamble-signal-a-real-change-in-the-agencys-behavior/#5b2461e3c37d
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Senator to Pope Francis: Oil Companies Are 'Duplicitous'
Jun 6, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Hulac
Major oil companies meeting in the Vatican this week are not serious about tackling climate change and are plotting behind the scenes to hamper efforts to address it, a Democratic senator is warning Pope Francis.
Executives from BP PLC, Equinor ASA and Exxon Mobil Corp. are expected to meet with Francis on Friday and Saturday, and former Obama administration Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is also scheduled to attend.
But in a letter to the pope, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) called the oil industry "duplicitous," writing that major oil companies publicly support carbon taxes and other solutions, but in private, they "remorselessly" scheme "through proxies and agents to obstruct" those efforts.
"Many of the oil companies with which you will be meeting are fond of saying, in essence, 'We know climate change is real; we know our product causes it; and we support a price on carbon as a solution,'" Whitehouse wrote, adding that he would have heard about industry support because he's the main architect of the Senate's carbon-pricing bill.
"If they supported my bill or one like it, or were even engaged to amend or improve such a bill, I would likely know," he said.
Climate change and the economic inequalities it exacerbates are pillars of the papacy of Francis, who has often cited the Paris climate accord as an example of how international leaders can work in conjunction to lower emissions.
In the wake of hurricanes that ravaged much of the Western Hemisphere last year, Francis said "history will judge" people who dispute basic scientific facts of climate change.
"Those who deny this must go to the scientists and ask them," he said. "Then each person can decide, and history will judge the decisions."
Whitehouse, who has leveled plenty of sharp criticisms of his own toward those he perceives to be muddying scientific facts, thanked Francis for his "moral leadership" to protect the Earth.
"I wish I could tell you that all was sunshine and daffodils in the United States Congress," he said.
Representatives from BP, Equinor and Exxon Mobil did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/06/06/stories/1060083621
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Major Oil Group Launches New Coalition to Promote Offshore Drilling
Jun 6, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Miranda Green
A top U.S. oil and gas industry leader is setting its sights on expanding offshore drilling in the eastern gulf and off the coast of mid-Atlantic states.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced a new coalition Wednesday that aims to spread acceptance of drilling off the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
The Explore Offshore initiative comes at a key time for American energy, as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is exploring options to expand drilling off coastal U.S. states.
The coalition is led by former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson and Jim Webb, the former Navy secretary and Virginia Democratic senator.
The main goal of the initiative is to educate states on the benefits that offshore drilling could bring — including more jobs, more state revenue and national economic and security stability.
“In order to responsibly plan for tomorrow we must continue to explore safely and develop oil and natural gas resources today to ensure America’s economic future,” Nicholson said in a phone call with reporters Wednesday.
The coalition is made up of community organizations such as the African American Chamber of Commerce, local leaders, administrations and others who support increased access to oil and natural gas resources.
Its focus on the South East is intentional due to the area’s existing infrastructure and proven track record with high oil reserves.
“We are certainly interested in looking throughout the continental shelf — but we made a real priority to expand development in the Eastern Gulf where we have infrastructure in place,” said an API spokesperson. “The mid-Atlantic has been a focus — there’s been success the industry has seen all throughout the Atlantic — there always has been a high level support from Virginia down to Florida.”
Representatives of the group additionally pushed the need for more offshore geological surveys to show just how high the potential is of finding reserves. They say the potential to benefit is high.
“By permitting seismic survey in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico — the Trump administration can build a long term path to hundreds of thousands of new jobs in a high paying industry, more revenue for the government and more energy security for all us ,” said Nicholson.
He added: “Drilling can now be done in a safe manner due to new technology in drilling procedures.”
Zinke first announced the administration was exploring new offshore drilling options in January, but the announcement was largely met with criticism by the leaders of coastal states who feared environmental repercussions and a dent in their tourism industries.
Zinke initially discussed a possible waiver for Florida from the drilling, but has since said that an exemption for that state had not been finalized.
In addition to pushback from state leaders, Interior faces other hurdles in expanding oil and gas production offshore — namely barriers to drilling like a moratorium in the Gulf Coast that stems from the 2010 BP oil spill, and apprehension from oil and gas companies.
It is a much harder endeavor for companies to drill for oil in the ocean than on land — something Zinke said has come up in his meetings with industry groups.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/390974-major-oil-group-launches-new-coalition-to-promote-offshore-drilling
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EPA Sides with Greens Against Largest U.S. Refinery
Jun 6, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
EPA is partially siding with environmental groups in their administrative challenge to the operating permit for the nation's largest oil refinery.
In a newly issued order, the agency agreed that the Texas-issued Title V permit for Motiva Enterprises LLC's Port Arthur Refinery lacked the "monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements" needed to ensure compliance with various emissions limits and operating conditions.
Among other points of agreement, EPA officials also concurred with the Environmental Integrity Project and two other groups that the operating permit did not clearly spell out emissions limits for some refinery units.
However, they rejected environmentalists' claims that compliance requirements for flaring-related releases of volatile organic compounds were inadequate.
The 34-page order, signed late last week by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, says Motiva and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are already working to address most of the problem areas.
The Port Arthur refinery, located on the Gulf Coast and capable of processing up to 603,000 barrels of crude oil daily, is a major source of air toxics, sulfur dioxide and other pollutants. It is owned by Saudi Aramco.
The Environmental Integrity Project, joined by the Sierra Club and Air Alliance Houston, petitioned EPA in November 2016 to require changes to the complex's Title V permit. That petition was part of a broader campaign to challenge allegedly weak state permits for large industrial operations in Texas.
When EPA repeatedly failed to respond by a 60-day statutory deadline, the three groups sued last year to force decisions (Greenwire, July 20, 2107). Under the resulting court-ordered schedule, the agency is in the course of addressing the petitions at the pace of one per month.
A decision on the fifth and final petition, which faults some features of the operating permit for the J. Robert Welsh power plant in northeast Texas, is due by July 2. The Welsh plant is owed by Southwestern Electric Power Co., a subsidiary of American Electric Power Co. Inc.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/06/06/stories/1060083675
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Agency Promotes Energy Exports as Climate Shop Shrinks
Jun 6, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Hulac
The Treasury Department is working to expand the export market for U.S. energy companies and their products while simultaneously letting its climate office languish.
Through the department, the Trump administration is in talks with nations across Central and South America to develop energy projects and the infrastructure to get those products to market, officials said.
"We are formulating a number of energy and infrastructure frameworks," Mitchell Silk, head of Treasury's investment, energy and infrastructure office, said in April, referring to ongoing talks in Latin America.
"We're working with Brazil, we're working with Colombia, we're working with Peru, Chile, Panama," Silk said. Treasury officials are drafting plans to attract outside investment from the private sector, "specifically to achieve energy reform goals in these countries," he said.
As David Malpass, an undersecretary at the department, put it, according to the text of a recent speech, Treasury is planning to "promote increased sales of energy commodities from the United States."
While the Treasury Department seeks to promote the American energy industry, the department has sidelined its office that traditionally focused on climate change and environmental matters.
That unit, established as the Office of Environment and Energy in 2008, has seen its staff cut in half, according to a recent Treasury memo.
The office traditionally had 12 to 13 staffers, but had seven when the memo was published — including a presidential management fellow who was scheduled to leave in March.
It is unclear when precisely the document, obtained through a public records request, was created. But it was written after November and before March.
The department did not respond to a list of questions from E&E News.
The small Treasury office has served for years as a clearinghouse for information on climate change and environmental topics, as well as energy policy. Staffers oversee U.S. funding of environmental projects abroad, interact with development banks and Group of 20 officials, and study the ripples of domestic and international climate policy.
But the Trump administration has watered down the office's climate role, transferring environmental work to a separate office that focuses on international development.
"The environmental trust funds and other environmental policy work will shift to the International Development deputate, along with the staff for those activities," says an email sent on Malpass' behalf on Jan. 8 this year.
Citing demand on investment and trade, Malpass said he was bringing in Silk, who, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in April, summed up his resume as a lawyer succinctly.
"I spent over 30 years running a global energy and infrastructure practice," said Silk, who as an attorney at the law firm Allen & Overy LLP orchestrated multimillion-dollar energy contracts between Asian nations and oil companies (Climatewire, April 6).
Before joining the government, Silk touted President Trump's executive order to speed up environmental reviews of infrastructure projects.
Separately, he challenged the economic prospects of so-called clean coal, writing, "'Clean coal' technologies are not competitive with natural-gas fired generation."
U.S. authorities within Treasury are also working on "America Crece," a program to deepen trade and bring in outside investment in the Western Hemisphere.
Silk said America Crece is "designed to yield over $100 billion of actual investment opportunities."
He added, "We're very much at Treasury focused on growth."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/06/06/stories/1060083625
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Agency Targets Conservation Co-Ops to Avoid Climate Rules
Jun 6, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Adam Aton
The Interior Department wants to eliminate a science-based conservation program that dates back to the George W. Bush administration, after being prodded by conservative opponents of climate policy.
The department is asking Congress to end landscape conservation cooperatives. They aim to boost scientific and government collaboration on conservation strategies, like how to best manage wildfires. Appropriators have continued to fund the $13 million program, but people involved with it say the Trump administration's posture has slowed work on long-term projects.
"It makes it very difficult to carry on," said Lynn Scarlett, who serves on the program's central council after holding a top job in Interior during the Bush administration.
Landscape conservation cooperatives, or LCCs, do not have regulatory power. The program helped produce research that was used by Interior to sidestep listing the greater sage grouse as an endangered species. That designation could have blocked drilling and mining in huge swaths of the West.
Some conservatives worry about the program's ties to climate science.
The Obama administration in 2009 expanded LCCs across the country (and into some parts of Canada and Mexico) as part of a secretarial order aiming to bolster climate change research and policy planning at the Interior Department. The 22 cooperatives work in conjunction with federal climate science centers.
Critics fear that long-range climate scenarios could be used to designate large stretches of land as critical habitat. Such an action might involve massive new protected areas, along with the wildlife corridors necessary for species to migrate to the new areas.
"They don't want to talk about that yet," said Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, adding that the Endangered Species Act offers climate proponents a powerful tool. He says LCCs could be critical for incorporating future conditions into how the department uses that law.
Officials familiar with LCCs say that's not how the program operates. Most of the work focuses on immediate conservation demands, they say, because that's what its members need.
The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment. It said in its budget request that it wants to cut LCCs so the department can focus on "higher priority" programs.
Ebell also questioned wether LCCs follow federal laws on advisory committees, and he said local and county officials are underrepresented in the program.
Some observers suggested that cutting LCCs could actually lead to stricter restrictions on species. As climate change intensifies ecological pressures, it's going to take more research and more interagency collaboration to find alternatives to listing species as endangered, said Dan Ashe, the former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Others have pointed out that the LCCs — which follow ecological rather than political boundaries and rely on federal-state partnerships — actually echo the departmental redesign that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has been pushing.
"Critics may be insufficiently schooled in what these things are actually doing," Scarlett said, pointing to the program's bipartisan roots in the Bush administration.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/06/06/stories/1060083623
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House GOP Targets NRDC over Work in China
Jun 6, 2018 | Inside EPA
Top Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee are targeting a major environmental group for its work in China, alleging that the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) may be illegally promoting that country's environmental record to the “detriment” of the United States.
A June 5 letter from committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) and oversight panel Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) asks NRDC to provide a range of documents by June 12 regarding whether the group must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The lawmakers allege that NRDC has improperly promoted China's efforts to reduce air and greenhouse gas pollution, while declining to highlight problems in areas such as fisheries and the country's military installations on man-made islands.
“Chinese officials continually work to control environmental information and news stories in an effort to counter the country's status as the world's largest polluter,” the letter says.
It adds that China financially supports think tanks, non-profits and academic groups that “reward pro-China viewpoints.” And it alleges that NRDC “appears to practice self-censorship, issue selection bias, and generally refrains from criticizing Chinese officials.”
The lawmakers then cite the FARA's requirement that groups register with the Justice Department (DOJ) if they act at the “request” of a foreign principal or someone whose “activities are directly or indirectly supervised, directed, controlled, financed, or subsidized in whole or in major part by a foreign principal.”
They ask the group to provide a range of documents to the committee by June 12, including “explanations” for why FARA registration does not apply; communications with DOJ regarding FARA registration; documents regarding financial contributions to the group from Chinese interests; and documents showing the group policies to ensure FARA compliance.
In response to the lawmakers' letter, NRDC's director of strategic engagement, Bob Deans, says that the group works “on behalf of every American to protect our people against dangerous pollution and leave our children a livable world. Those are American values, American goals, and advancing them is manifestly in our national interest, as we have consistently demonstrated for nearly 50 years.”
Given that China is the world's most populous country, he adds, it “has much to do with the kind of world future generations inherit, in our country and around the world. We’re proud of our work, in China and elsewhere, helping to create a more sustainable future for everyone, and we look forward to discussing that work with Chairman Bishop and the committee.”
And Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), the committee's top Democrat, says in a statement that House GOP oversight investigations have “lost all credibility” due to the chamber's work on the 2016 Trump campaign's ties with Russia.
“We have multiple hearing requests pending in this Committee -- on the toxic climate of sexual harassment in the Interior and Agriculture departments, the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, and other pressing issues -- and this is what House Republicans choose to spend their time on. I encourage NRDC to be as cooperative as possible, and I encourage Republicans to stop covering for the Trump administration and start doing some actual work,” he said.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/house-gop-targets-nrdc-over-work-china
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