Preview Newsletter
ACC AM 6/18/18
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Hearing on Tariffs
Jun 20, 2018 | Senate Finance Committee
Location: 215 Dirksen / 9:00 AM. -
Hearing on Tax Reform and the Energy Sector
Jun 20, 2018 | nergy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy
Location: 2123 Rayburn / 10:00 AM. -
Hearing on Pipeline Safety
Jun 21, 2018 | Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials
Location: 2167 Rayburn / 10:00 AM. -
Hearing on Regulating Ozone Standards
Jun 21, 2018 | Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Environment
Location: 2318 Rayburn / 10:00 AM. -
(ACC Mentioned) How Trump-China Trade Spat Is Rippling Through Corporate America
Jun 16, 2018 | The Straits Times
Washington's action against Chinese imports Friday (June 15), and the response from Beijing, are hurting some US industries more than others. Here's a round-up of Bloomberg's coverage of how the dispute is playing out in corporate America. -
(ACC Mentioned) New Us Tariffs on China Include More Resins
Jun 15, 2018 | Plastics News
By Steve Toloken
Plastics seems to be taking a larger place in the U.S.-China trade conflict, with the Trump administration announcing new tariffs June 15 that are heavy on resins, as it moves ahead with previously planned tariffs on plastics machinery and molds. -
(ACC Mentioned) 'Holding Their Breath': Trump's Trade War Puts Texas Jobs over a Barrel
Jun 17, 2018 | Dallas News
By Tom Benning
A trade war between the U.S. and its closest allies may scotch Robert Likarish’s growing whiskey business. -
(ACC Mentioned) Good Times, Bad Times for Chemical Industry
Jun 17, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Michael McCoy
The opening lines of Charles Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities” have become a cliché; still, sometimes the words ring true. -
(ACC Mentioned) An Industry Analyst Says Ohio's In for a Chemical and Plastics Boon
Jun 18, 2018 | WKSU News
By Tim Rudell
In its latest global outlook, the American Chemical Council says the upper Ohio valley has an advantage over other parts of the world in attracting plastics industry investment. -
(ACC Mentioned) Recycling Needs a Revamp
Jun 15, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Sam Lemonick
What could be easier than recycling? Almost everywhere you go these days, there’s a convenient bin for your empty water bottle. -
(ACC Mentioned) Business digest: Sunday, June 17, 2018
Jun 17, 2018 | Longview News-Journal
...This year, she was recognized by the American Chemistry Council as the 2018 Responsible Care Employee of the Year. -
Commerce Secretary out as Flood Money Scandal Continues
Jun 15, 2018 | Charleston Gazette-Mail (In E&E Greenwire)
By Jake Zuckerman
West Virginia's Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher has been ousted after his department was accused of mishandling a $150 million flood recovery program. -
Pruitt’s New Problem with the GOP: Ethanol
Jun 16, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Miranda Green
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt is facing harsh criticism from two Republican senators who say he is failing to follow through on President Trump’s pro-ethanol agenda. -
Ethics Office Weighs Unprecedented ‘Corrective Action’ for Pruitt
Jun 15, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Alex Guillen
The federal government's top ethics official suggested Friday he is considering a "formal corrective action proceeding" regarding alleged improper behavior by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a perhaps unprecedented step against a sitting member of the president's Cabinet. -
Crude Oil-To-Chemicals Technology Could Be Game Changer for Chemicals Industry
Jun 15, 2018 | Plastics Today
By Clare Goldsberry
Siluria Technologies (San Francisco and Menlo Park, CA) and Saudi Aramco Technologies Co. (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) announced this week that they would join forces to revolutionize the petrochemicals industry through crude oil-to-chemicals (COTC) and oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) technologies. -
Senate Faces Test as Energy-Water, Rescission Bills Hit Floor
Jun 18, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Geof Koss and George Cahlink
Competing Senate proposals to increase energy and water dollars and cut billions in unspent Energy Department funding will test this week whether Congress can expect to move bipartisan spending legislation this year. -
(ACC Mentioned) Farm Bureau Supports Science-Based Labeling Bill
Jun 16, 2018 | Augusta Free Press
The nation’s largest agricultural organization has voiced support for legislation that would require science-based consumer product labeling. -
New York Chemical Disclosure Rule Vexes Companies, May Fail Public
Jun 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
New York state’s regulation requiring cleaning product manufacturers to publicly disclose the chemicals in their products could fail to achieve its goals, said a senior director at Seventh Generation Inc. -
Sherwin-Williams Latest to Remove Methylene Chloride
Jun 16, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adam Allington
Sherwin-Williams is phasing out the use of paint-removal products containing methylene chloride by the end of this year. -
Cancer Research Ban Called ‘Monsanto Rider’ by Democrat
Jun 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Reporter
The debate over the weed killer glyphosate is the reason for a House spending bill provision that would cut federal funding for World Health Organization cancer research, a Democratic lawmaker said during a June 15 hearing. -
Judge Says California Can’t Put Cancer Labels on Glyphosate Yet
Jun 16, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ayanna Alexander
California can’t place glyphosate—the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller—on its list of risky chemicals until the court issues a final decision, according to a June 12 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge William Shubb. -
Senate Appropriators Order PFAS Review's Release
Jun 15, 2018 | Inside EPA
Senate appropriators are ordering the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to release its analyses of four perfluorinated chemicals that the Trump administration blocked because it recommended risk values stricter than EPA's, though the requirement only takes effect 15 days after EPA's spending bill is enacted. -
NRDC Touts Michigan Lead Rule as National Model
Jun 15, 2018 | Inside EPA
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is touting a new Michigan lead-in-drinking-water rule that went into effect June 14 as a model for EPA and other states, praising the Michigan rule for being more stringent than federal requirements but warning that some provisions fall short of full protection. -
(ACC Mentioned) Threat of Trade War Could Wallop U.S. Petrochemical Industry
Jun 16, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adam Allington
A potential second round of tariffs targeting Chinese chemical exports could be terrible news for the U.S. petrochemical industry, potentially costing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs, according to a chemical industry analyst and a major trade group. -
China Threatens Tariffs on U.S. Oil, Energy Products
Jun 15, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Ben Lefebvre
China is threatening to put 25 percent tariffs on shipments of U.S. oil, coal, petrochemicals and other energy products if President Donald Trump carries out a second round of duties on Chinese goods, according to a target list the Beijing government released. -
Trump’s 25% Tariff on Chinese Imports Includes Offshore Drilling Parts
Jun 15, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
In another sign of a developing international trade war, the Trump administration has enacted a 25% tariff on a host of products imported from China, including parts used for offshore oil and natural gas drilling and production platforms. -
Exxon Doubles Down on Oil
Jun 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kevin Crowley
In the late 19th century, inventors including Thomas Edison created electric lighting that all but ended demand for kerosene, then the biggest product made from petroleum. -
Split FERC Rejects Challenges to Mountain Valley Project
Jun 15, 2018 | E&E News PM
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Federal regulators will not reconsider their approval of a contentious natural gas pipeline across Appalachia. -
Oil Play Ditched in '90s Gets Revival from EOG, Conoco
Jun 15, 2018 | Bloomberg
By Alex Nussbaum
The next frontier for U.S. oil’s resurgence may come on familiar terrain. -
Lyondellbasell Looking to Control Braskem; Could Help W.Va. Cracker
Jun 18, 2018 | Kallanish Energy
Chemical giant LyondellBasell Industries and Odebrecht SA, the controlling owner of petrochemicals producer Braskem, said Friday they have entered into exclusive talks for Lyondell to acquire control of Braskem, numerous media reported. -
Vote Set on Bills to Boost Onshore Energy Production
Jun 18, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Kellie Lunney and Jennifer Yachnin
Legislation that aims to boost onshore energy independence and streamline the permitting process is on the schedule for Wednesday's House Natural Resources Committee markup. -
(ACC Mentioned) Fear And Frustration Over EPA Move To Kill Chemical-Disaster Protections
Jun 15, 2018 | KACU
By Rebecca Hersher
The Environmental Protection Agency intends to block an Obama-era proposal and effectively shield companies from scrutiny about how they prevent and respond to chemical disasters. -
(ACC Mentioned) Houston’s Fire Chief Says EPA Is ‘Going In The Wrong Direction’ On Chemical Safety Rules
Jun 15, 2018 | Houston Public Media
By Travis Bubenik
Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña said the EPA’s move to roll back chemical safety reforms that were proposed after the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas would make it harder for his department to respond to such incidents. -
BLM Must Set Aside New Mexico Leases, Repeat Environmental Review, Says Court
Jun 15, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
A federal district court judge in New Mexico has ruled that until an environmental review is redone, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) must set aside 13 oil and natural gas leases in the San Juan Basin that cover nearly 20,000 acres of the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF). -
House Democrats criticize Pruitt's NAAQS reform effort
Jun 15, 2018 | Inside EPA
A group of 71 House Democrats is criticizing EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's May 9 memo making sweeping changes to the process of setting national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), saying the reforms will undermine public health protections by requiring consideration of non-health issues in NAAQS reviews. -
Harvard Scientists: Trump Environmental Policies Could Result in 80,000 More Deaths per Decade
Jun 16, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Avery Anapol
A new essay from two Harvard University scientists concluded that the Trump administration’s environmental policies could result in an additional 80,000 deaths per decade. -
Hearing Seeks to Put 'Background' Ozone at Forefront
Jun 18, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Sean Reilly
As EPA nears completion of a regulatory milestone for its 2015 ground-level ozone standard, a Thursday hearing could furnish a glimpse into how the agency has factored "background" levels of the toxic gas into its enforcement regimen.
Congressional Hearings
Industry and Association News
LCSA News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Energy News
Chemical Security News
Transportation and Infrastructure News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News
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Jun 20, 2018 | Senate Finance Committee
Witness: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
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Hearing on Tax Reform and the Energy Sector
Jun 20, 2018 | nergy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy
Witnesses: TBA.
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Jun 21, 2018 | Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials
Witnesses: TBA.
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Hearing on Regulating Ozone Standards
Jun 21, 2018 | Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Environment
Witnesses: Elena Craft, senior health scientist, Environmental Defense Fund; Timothy Franquist, air quality division director, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality; Diana Rath, executive director, Alamo Area Council of Governments; and Gregory Stella, senior scientist, Alpine Geophysics.
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(ACC Mentioned) How Trump-China Trade Spat Is Rippling Through Corporate America
Jun 16, 2018 | The Straits Times
Washington's action against Chinese imports Friday (June 15), and the response from Beijing, are hurting some US industries more than others. Here's a round-up of Bloomberg's coverage of how the dispute is playing out in corporate America.
APPAREL
The clothing and footwear industry was largely spared by Trump administration tariffs on Chinese goods, but a looming trade war could still do damage to an apparel sector that's more global than ever.
The actual shirts and shoes imported from China won't get new tariffs, according to the full list of 1,102 product lines released Friday. Only some of the equipment used to make them, like textile rolling-machine parts and injection molders for shoes, were included in the final list.
A host of other Chinese machinery used by American apparel companies that had been on a preliminary tariff list - like textile printing equipment, sewing machines and looms - made it through unscathed.
AUTOS
The US imported only 58,437 passenger vehicles from China last year, a sliver of the 8.27 million shipped to America from the rest of the world, according to the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration.
General Motors Co.'s Buick Envision sport utility vehicle, which starts at US$31,995, is among the handful of autos imported into the US from China. With the Trump administration planning to impose 25 per cent duties on products including motor vehicles, each of the SUVs could be subject to levies of about US$8,000.
Other cars potentially subject to US tariff include Volvo S60 sedans, which the Chinese-owned Swedish automaker started importing to the US in 2015.
While US automakers import few vehicles into China, the tariffs pose a significant threat to BMW AG and Daimler AG's US factories that make vehicles both for domestic buyers and export markets.
BMW builds X3 through X6 sport utility vehicles in Spartanburg, South Carolina, its largest assembly plant in the world, while Daimler produces Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedans and GLS and GLE crossovers near Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Tesla Inc. also builds all of its vehicles in Fremont, California, and the tariffs could compromise the affordability of Model S sedans and Model X SUVs in its second-biggest market in the world. Revenue from deliveries to China surged 90 per cent last year to US$2.03 billion.
AEROSPACE
US aerospace exports to China totalled US$16.3 billion last year, while imports came to only US$956 million in parts, according to Teal Group analysis of International Trade Commission data.
That favourable balance could shrink if China expands its levies on the 737 jetliner, the biggest source of profit for Boeing Co., which is the largest US exporter. Boeing shares slid as much as 2.5 per cent Friday on the trade war concerns, but they recovered some ground later in the trading day. A list of tariffs published by the Chinese government Friday appeared not to target aircraft.
Boeing said in an emailed statement that it's assessing the impacts of the US tariffs and "any reciprocal action" from China. "We will continue to engage with leaders in both countries to urge a productive dialogue to resolve trade differences," the company said.
CHEMICALS
The Chinese tariffs target US$2.2 billion in annual imports of plastics, lubricating oils, and other chemicals, according to the American Chemistry Council, an industry advocate.
"The administration has now pit US chemical manufacturing directly against China at the front lines of this conflict," the chemistry council said in a statement Friday.
The Chinese are targeting chemicals because shale fracking has unleashed a torrent of low-cost gas-based feedstocks that make the US the world's low cost producer. Chemicals are now one of the top US exports, accounting for 14 per cent of the nation's total, the ACC said.
The tariffs will disrupt supply chains and shift production outside the US, jeopardising as much as US$100 billion in planned chemical factory investments, the ACC said. As many as 24,000 jobs could be lost due to lower chemical demand from China, the council said. Big US plastics makers including DowDuPont Inc. have said they'll supply China from plants outside the US to avoid the tariffs.
"Enabling a retaliatory trade war will only advantage China's growing industry at the expense of American production," the ACC said in the statement.
RENEWABLES
President Donald Trump's tariffs on US$50 billion in Chinese imports include duties on components for wind turbines, nuclear reactors and batteries - but they are unlikely to cripple any of those industries.
Less than 2 per cent of wind turbines installed in the US since 2010 were imported from China, Stephen Munro, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in an email Friday.
"It may prove to be a glancing blow as there are non-Chinese alternatives available," he said.
The list of targeted products includes components used in most lithium-ion batteries, Ravi Manghani, an analyst at GTM Research, said in an email. But China supplies the US with just 3 per cent of those products, he said. Plus, he added, American manufacturers have multiple alternatives from Japan and South Korea.
When it comes to nukes, there are only two reactors under construction in the US, and it's unlikely ground will be broken on any more large ones in the next decade, Chris Gadomski, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst, said in an email.
"Any new reactors that may be built would be US developed advanced reactors absent Chinese components," Gadomski said in an email.
AGRICULTURE
Soybean futures fell to the lowest in 10 months in anticipation of retaliation from China. Prices for November delivery dropped 0.7 per cent to US$9.4375 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade after touching US$9.2725, the lowest for the most active contract since August 17, 2017. This week, the oilseed tumbled 5.8 per cent, poised for a record decline.
Duties against US shipments may mean that China imports more from South America at a premium, Rabobank said in a report. Prices in Brazil, the world's top exporter, are rising after a national trucker strike stalled freight and a drought in Argentina cut global global supplies.
Cotton for December delivery tumbled as much as 3.7 per cent to 89.52 cents per pound on ICE Futures US in New York.
"Fears that US cotton may be involved in the China retaliatory response helped to drive the market sharply lower," David Hightower, founder of Chicago-based Hightower Report, said in a note.METALS/MINING
Metals & mining was the worst-performing sector on the S&P 500 Index.
While iconic US metal stocks Alcoa Corp. and US Steel Corp. had previously benefited from the Trump administration's initial crackdown on cheap imports, the shares were trading down Friday.
It's part of a mining and metal selloff fueled by concern that Trump's announcement will end up curtailing demand in the world's biggest consumer of raw materials. Shares in Alcoa fell as much as 5.7 per cent Friday, while US Steel lost 6.3 per cent.
A fall in other metals, from aluminum to zinc, spurred declines for Teck Resources Ltd., Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and other miners. China is the biggest consumer of industrial metals.
The tariffs mean China "won't be importing as much of the base metals," said Peter Thomas, a senior vice president at Chicago-based metals broker Zaner Group. "As these tariffs take effect, we'll see less consumption from each side until it gets settled. It started with base metals and it's pulling on gold."
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/how-trump-china-trade-spat-is-rippling-through-corporate-america
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(ACC Mentioned) New Us Tariffs on China Include More Resins
Jun 15, 2018 | Plastics News
By Steve Toloken
Plastics seems to be taking a larger place in the U.S.-China trade conflict, with the Trump administration announcing new tariffs June 15 that are heavy on resins, as it moves ahead with previously planned tariffs on plastics machinery and molds.
The American Chemistry Council criticized the U.S. decision, saying it was “disappointed” that the U.S. government added “large amounts of plastics” to the list and “has now put U.S. chemical manufacturing directly against China at the front lines of this conflict.”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer unveiled a new round of $16 billion in tariffs, with a detailed 10-page list that includes five pages of plastics materials, including polypropylene, polyethylene, vinyl, fluoropolymers, acrylic, polycarbonate and PET.
The new round also includes plastic tubes, pipe and hose, along with sheet and film.
The U.S. statement also said it was moving ahead with $34 billion in tariffs on Chinese products first announced in April, a list that includes many types of plastics machinery and molds. It said the U.S. government would begin collecting those duties July 6.
“We must take strong defensive actions to protect America’s leadership in technology and innovation against the unprecedented threat posed by China’s theft of our intellectual property, the forced transfer of American technology, and its cyberattacks on our computer networks,” Lighthizer said.
ACC, however, focused its June 15 statement on what it sees as risks to chemical and plastics makers in the escalating tariffs. It said as much as half of the planned $194 billion in shale-gas led chemical investments in the United States could be at risk of being abandoned.
“Recognizing the importance of U.S. chemicals to our economy, China will continue to retaliate against U.S. chemical manufacturers with tariffs on exports of raw, building-block chemicals and on the numerous products that are made with chemicals,” ACC said. “We anticipate significant disruptions to supply chain operations, offshoring of production, and termination of production altogether due [to] the sudden, uneven playing field that duties would create in the global marketplace.”
ACC said China imported $3.2 billion in U.S. resin in 2017.
“Enabling a retaliatory trade war will only advantage China’s growing industry at the expense of American production,” ACC said.
The resin tariffs still must undergo public comment, including a public hearing.
The United States in recent years has had a resin trade surplus with China. In 2016, the last year figures are available from the Plastics Industry Association, the U.S. had a surplus of $2.7 billion in plastics materials with China.
The inclusion of many resins on the newest Trump administration list may be part of the tit-for-tat tariffs between the two governments. China’s retaliatory tariffs to the first April list of U.S. tariffs included many categories of U.S. plastics resin exports.
Lighthizer said in a statement that the products in the latest list were identified “as benefiting from Chinese industrial policies, including the ‘Made in China 2025’ industrial policy.”
The U.S. has had a trade deficit with China in machinery, molds and plastics products in recent years. In 2016, the deficit for plastics machinery was $212 million, for molds it was $375 million and for products it was $12.3 billion.
The National Association of Manufacturers said it had concerns with Chinese trade practices but argued against tariffs. Instead, it urged the Trump administration to negotiate a trade agreement with China.
“Manufacturers certainly have concerns that tariffs will cause more problems than they solve, but we also recognize that the administration may intend to use them as a negotiating tactic to bring China to the table and achieve larger goals,” said NAM CEO Jay Timmons.
A spokeswoman for the Plastics Industry Association said it was still assessing this latest announcement and referred back to an April statement that said the deficit with China stems from structural issues and urged the two countries to find solutions other than tariffs.
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20180615/NEWS/180619932/new-us-tariffs-on-china-include-more-resins
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(ACC Mentioned) 'Holding Their Breath': Trump's Trade War Puts Texas Jobs over a Barrel
Jun 17, 2018 | Dallas News
By Tom Benning
A trade war between the U.S. and its closest allies may scotch Robert Likarish’s growing whiskey business.
The co-owner of Ironroot Republic Distilling in Denison fears the loss of a vital export deal after the European Union, just like Mexico and Canada, included American whiskey on its long list of tariffs announced in response to President Donald Trump’s metal levies.
If that business dries up, it would wipe out the savings the distillery received from the sweeping tax overhaul signed into law last year by Trump — and with it, Likarish’s ability to open a second location and hire more staff.
“Everybody is kind of holding their breath,” he said.
Such uncertainty has taken hold among many businesses across the Lone Star State and beyond since Trump invited an expanding tit-for-tat reaction from America's top trading partners.
Texas alone would see the retaliation by Mexico, Canada and the EU hit hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of exports in industries that range from agriculture to energy to, yes, even booze, according to a Dallas Morning News review of state-level export data.
The tally is poised to only grow now that the White House has pledged to follow through with $50 billion more in tariffs on Chinese goods — and Beijing vowing to respond in kind.
Each ante back and forth brings a wider slate of items, companies and supply chains into play, with America’s foreign counterparts knowing full well the kind of political pressure they can bring by exacting economic pain on just the right targets.
Texas, and its many jobs dependent on trade, can’t help but be part of the bullseye.
“We trade so much in Texas that there’s nothing you can hit that’s not going to somehow nick us,” said Antonio Garza, the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico who's now counsel at White & Case in Mexico City. “Even if it’s produced somewhere else in the U.S., it probably comes through Texas in some way, shape or form."New stage for Trump and trade
Trump’s trade tussle, while long at the policy forefront, has reached a new stage.
The president launched the endeavor earlier this year by imposing steep new tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, fulfilling one of his signature campaign promises to rescue the beleaguered metal-making industries that are important to Trump’s base in the Rust Belt.
That move by itself has been a lightning rod.
Lawmakers, including many of Trump’s Republican backers, have bemoaned a retreat from the U.S.’s general support for free trade. Businesses that use those metals — and in Texas, there are many — have complained about increased costs that could get passed along to consumers.
While some stakeholders are egging on the fight, particularly against China, the broader concern centers on swamping a humming economy.
“Uncertainties about trade policy are a growing weight on economic progress,” said Joshua Bolten, president of the Business Roundtable, an industry group for CEOs of top companies like Dallas-based AT&T and Fort Worth-based American Airlines.
Then came Trump’s recent decision to slap those tariffs on Mexico, Canada and the EU, all of which had initially been exempt.
More than just seethe, those countries acted. The close U.S. allies pledged retaliatory tariffs on a wide-ranging list of goods that collectively total some $20 billion, building upon China’s decision earlier this year to impose $3 billion in tariffs in response to the metal levies.
Those figures would be dwarfed by the planned Chinese reaction to Trump’s latest $50 billion gambit, especially when looking at the potential hit to agriculture in Texas and across the U.S.
But the backlash from Mexico, Canada and the EU is instructive, highlighting how other countries can make sure certain industries — either directly or indirectly — feel the hurt of American-made goods no longer being as competitive in the global marketplace.
“This is a diplomatic and political endeavor, even more than an economic one,” said Josh Zive, a Bracewell trade attorney who cautioned that the economic harm still often ends up being “severe.” “There is a reason behind everything on that list.”Texas impact not obvious
The impact in Texas, the No. 1 exporting state in the U.S., is substantial, if not always obvious.
The state isn’t the main target of pork tariffs, which slam Iowa. Or motorcycle levies, which are meant to give House Speaker Paul Ryan unease over the effect on Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee. Or those whiskey duties, which take aim at Kentucky and Tennessee.
Texas’ biggest exports, such as oil and cotton, also aren’t listed, likely because Mexico and other countries don’t want to inflict too much self-harm by taxing essential products.
But the state would nevertheless feel the pain on well over $1 billion worth of exports — about 8 percent of the total retaliation by Canada, Mexico and the EU — according to a rough estimate derived from state-level export data collected last year by the U.S. Census Bureau.
That measurement is far from perfect.
The tariffs listed by America’s trading partners sometimes go into greater specificity than what’s tracked by the Census Bureau. Texas’ border location also means it sometimes gets credit for exporting goods, particularly of the agricultural variety, that are produced in other states.
Still, there’s no doubt that “for a state uniquely positioned like Texas ... this is going to have a negative impact,” said Ron Kirk, the former Dallas mayor who was President Barack Obama’s trade ambassador.
Levies on pipes used in oil and gas projects mark another blow for some Texas businesses already reeling from surcharges on their inputs. Tariffs on fungicides, plastic bags and other items from Texas’ vast chemical industry “will be very costly,” the American Chemistry Council said.
And duties on everything from rice to soup to industrial fans lean into the hundreds of thousands of jobs that have developed in Texas over the years to support cross-border trade.
Chuck Scianna is president of Waller-based Sim-Tex, an oil and gas pipe company that’s among those being squeezed by tariffs on both ends. He pointed out that his business touches thousands of Houston-area jobs, from stevedores to truckers to warehouse workers.
“The idea that this is not going to hit everybody’s pockets is absolutely ridiculous,” he said.Collateral damage keeps showing up
What’s more is that the collateral damage from the retaliatory tariffs is still being assessed. Just ask Likarish, the co-owner of Ironroot Republic in Denison.
Foreign officials surely did not consider the small distillery — started after Likarish graduated from law school and decided he didn’t want to be a lawyer — when they launched liquor duties aimed at getting the attention of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
But Ironroot Republic is affected all the same because of the most Texas of twists.
Back when Texas was a republic, it set up a diplomatic outpost in London that’s within stumbling distance of St. James's Palace. The building also housed Berry Bros. & Rudd, which is still in business there and claims to be Britain’s oldest wine and spirits merchant.
To honor that history, Berry Bros. & Rudd desired specialty Texas whiskey to sell in the United Kingdom. It picked Ironroot Republic for the task.
Likarish and his team whipped up “Texas Legation,” a bourbon whiskey that is described as “deep and enticing” with an “assertive, uplifting nose.” Ironroot Republic this spring sent over 29 barrels, accounting for about 30 percent of its annual whiskey production.
How much were tariffs on Likarish’s mind at that time?
“Not at all,” he said.
They are now.
Ironroot Republic could ride out the duties for a while. But Likarish is a realist. American whiskies are already fairly expensive in the U.K. So a long-term 25 percent import tax could well spike the partnership, along with other export deals in the works.
While such a development wouldn’t put Ironroot Republic out of business, more than just prestige is at risk.
The company would be forced to abandon its ambitious plans to open a second location in downtown Denison and hire more staff as a result. That project came about after the GOP tax revamp last year broadly cut taxes, including a deep slash on alcohol excise taxes.
A small drip, but perhaps a costly one, in a global trade war.
“It would be a shock to our bottom line,” Likarish said. “All the investment we are making would have to be halted.”
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/trade/2018/06/17/holding-breath-trumps-trade-war-puts-texas-jobs-barrel
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(ACC Mentioned) Good Times, Bad Times for Chemical Industry
Jun 17, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Michael McCoy
The opening lines of Charles Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities” have become a cliché; still, sometimes the words ring true.
Many in the audience at the American Chemistry Council’s recent annual meeting could nod in agreement when Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at the consulting firm IHS Markit, began a keynote talk by explaining the current economic situation with Dickens’s words: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
Behravesh was describing a world with a bright economic outlook but also a high dose of uncertainty; much of that uncertainty, he said, is being created by the Trump administration.
That dichotomy is especially sharp for the chemical companies that were at the meeting, held from June 4 to 6 in Colorado Springs. Thanks to the strong economy and low-cost raw materials, the U.S. chemical industry is doing great. Demand is strong and investment is booming. But Trump’s actions on trade and tariffs are giving executives agita at a time when they should be feeling good. Public dismay over the impact of plastics on the environment isn’t helping either.
In his talk, Behravesh criticized Trump administration actions on immigration and trade. For starters, he bemoaned the impact of U.S. restrictions on H-1A and H-2B visas for foreign workers, given that IHS expects U.S. unemployment to soon reach 3.5%, the lowest rate in 50 years. “We’re scraping the bottom of the barrel,” he said about U.S. employers. “We need skilled workers; we need unskilled workers.”
Behravesh also slammed what he sees as the Trump administration’s misguided actions on trade. Playing on Trump’s contention in a March 2 tweet that “trade wars are good, and easy to win,” Behravesh quipped that “trade wars are very bad, and unwinnable.”
The administration’s planned 25% tariff on $150 billion worth of Chinese imports is basically a $40 billion tax on the American public, he said. That’s almost one-third of the impact of Trump’s tax cut.
And Behravesh questioned the administration’s efforts to protect the U.S. steel and aluminum industries with tariffs, including ones against allies in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. “What’s unfathomable to me is why we are protecting old industries and not doing enough to protect new ones,” he said.
IHS forecasts that the tariffs, if allowed to go into full effect, will shave a few tenths of a percent from U.S. economic growth, which it forecasts will be 2.8% this year. More insidious is the effect they could have on industry supply chains and on business sentiment in general.
Frustration over trade policy also pervaded a press conference held by Cal Dooley, the trade association’s CEO, and three of its top officers: Bhavesh V. Patel, CEO of LyondellBasell Industries; Mark P. Vergnano, CEO of Chemours; and Jerry MacCleary, the North American CEO of the German firm Covestro.
A year ago at the same event, executives avoided direct criticism of Trump’s economic policies; this year they took off the gloves.
Dooley did point out a number of ways the industry is happy with the Trump administration. For example, last year’s corporate tax cut helped level the playing field for U.S. companies in the global marketplace. And a “rebalancing” of certain regulations that were enacted during the Obama administration has removed onerous provisions without compromising environmental protections, he said.
But on the subject of trade, Dooley and the company executives were as unsparing as Behravesh. Dooley pointed out that tariffs like the ones Trump wants to impose beget retaliatory tariffs. In fact, he added, 40% of the tariffs that China said it will impose in response to the U.S. action target chemicals. “That wasn’t an accident,” Dooley said. “Retaliation will always be targeted at sectors of the economy that have a global competitive advantage.”
The U.S. chemical industry had a $33 billion trade surplus with the rest of the world last year; in normal circumstances, the surplus would reach $71 billion by 2023, according to ACC. Aiding chemical exports should be 325 investments valued at more than $194 billion that firms have announced in the U.S. to take advantage of low-cost raw materials extracted from shale oil and gas.
But those projects were predicated on free access to international markets. “We’re building enormous capacity in the U.S.,” Patel said of the industry, “and to the extent that tariffs impede our ability to do that, then that’s an issue.”
Industry executives acknowledged that Trump has some legitimate gripes about the trade practices of China and other countries. But they want the administration to seek a negotiated resolution in collaboration with its international allies. “This is ultimately about job creation in America,” Patel said.
The consulting firms trying to drum up business at the ACC meeting took the opportunity to advise attendees about how to succeed in today’s high-growth, high-anxiety environment.
Chris Cardinal, a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, talked about the challenge of deglobalization—the retrenchment of open borders and free trade as economic nationalism rises. In this new environment, companies that once freely set up international operations may now have to cooperate more with local suppliers to get their products to market, Cardinal said.
Likewise, sending technology developed in a central R&D center straight to far-away countries doesn’t always work in a deglobalizing world. “You need the research center out in the market,” Cardinal said. “You need to be local.”
Paul Bjacek, research lead for Accenture’s chemical practice, talked about localization as a third phase of Western industrial evolution after deindustrialization and, more recently, reindustrialization. Although trade barriers are a reason to localize, so is providing local customers with customized products. Bjacek pointed to the Speedfactories that Adidas has set up in Germany and Atlanta to build personalized athletic shoes.
In addition to potential trade wars, ACC executives were on high alert about plastic waste, particularly waste in the marine environment. More than one attendee pointed to the sad images appearing in magazines and on social media of sea animals that died after ingesting or becoming entangled in plastic waste.
At an otherwise festive closing dinner, Dooley acknowledged that the issue of plastic waste is “of concern to every man, woman, and child.” And he called solving the problem “an imperative for our industry, a condition of our license to operate.”
Some potential solutions are market based. Bucking the traditional reluctance of polymer producers to invest in recycling, LyondellBasell recently acquired the Dutch recycler Quality Circular Polymers in partnership with the waste management firm Suez. Patel said the new owners are looking to expand QCP to new locations across Europe.
But other initiatives are necessary as well, executives said. Steve Russell, ACC’s vice president for plastics, pointed to the association’s recently announced goal to make all plastic packaging used in the U.S. recyclable or recoverable by 2030 and all of it actually reused, recycled, or recovered by 2040. Soon after the meeting, leaders at the G7 summit in Canada signed a pledge to reduce plastic waste. Two days later, ACC announced that Dooley would stay on past his planned retirement to work on the plastic waste issue (see page 13).
Between trade issues and plastics woes, it was easy to forget that attendees were enjoying some of their best economic times in decades. In a briefing for C&EN, Accenture’s Bjacek noted that profits for the 57 firms he tracks are their highest in more than 10 years. And at the closing dinner, Dooley pointed out that almost half of all U.S. manufacturing investment last year was made by the chemical industry.
In this spirit, meeting organizers eschewed the usual pundit or political veteran as dinner entertainment and instead hired Martina McBride, a country music singer. The goal, one official said, was to forget politics for a while. By the end of the dinner, many normally staid executives were dancing between the tables.
https://cen.acs.org/business/investment/times-bad-times-chemical-industry/96/i25
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(ACC Mentioned) An Industry Analyst Says Ohio's In for a Chemical and Plastics Boon
Jun 18, 2018 | WKSU News
By Tim Rudell
In its latest global outlook, the American Chemical Council says the upper Ohio valley has an advantage over other parts of the world in attracting plastics industry investment.
The trade association’s chief economist, Kevin Swift, says that has to do with Ohio, already the top state in plastics production, now also sitting atop massive shale deposits.
“The Utica and Marcellus shale gas basins are very rich in natural gas liquids, the feedstock, the raw material, for plastics and petrochemical manufacturing. And, the end-use markets are there as well, you know, you’re customer base for industry and manufacturing.”
Swift projects $36 billion in plastics investments in and around Ohio from now through 2023.
http://wksu.org/post/industry-analyst-says-ohios-chemical-and-plastics-boon#stream/0
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(ACC Mentioned) Recycling Needs a Revamp
Jun 15, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Sam Lemonick
What could be easier than recycling? Almost everywhere you go these days, there’s a convenient bin for your empty water bottle.
Yet plastic trash continues to accumulate in the environment. A 2015 study in Science estimated that the oceans may hold 155 million metric tons of plastic by 2025, double the current amount (DOI: 10.1126/science.1260352). Turns out those convenient recycling bins aren’t always being used. Americans are doing better than ever but still submit only about one-third of their plastic waste for recycling.
An even more fundamental problem with plastics becomes apparent if you look past the recycling bin. Only about 10% of plastic packaging worldwide—as well as in the U.S.—ends up getting remade into a new product, according to a 2016 World Economic Forum report. Another 14% from around the globe is burned, sometimes to generate energy. And the rest ends up in a landfill or the environment.
And it stays there, preserved. Plastic’s durability is one reason it has become so widely used. When it becomes trash, however, that durability is a curse. Most plastics are made from fossil-fuel-derived polymers, made of molecular chains that can reach thousands of covalently bonded repeating units.
Of the plastic that does get recycled and reborn, a majority of it ends up in a lower-quality product because the most widespread, popular recycling technology involves mechanically shredding, melting, and re-forming plastics. “Polymers tend to degrade at high temperature,” says Megan Robertson, a chemical engineer at the University of Houston. “So we’re essentially downgrading the material as it’s recycled.” A mere 2% of the plastic that starts out in a drinking water bottle will be recycled into a new plastic bottle. The rest of the plastic that gets recycled typically ends up as carpet fibers or outdoor furniture.
Other factors are exacerbating the plastic pollution problem, particularly in the U.S. China, which has for decades collected and processed recyclable waste from around the world, announced in 2017 that it would limit imports of foreign trash. Now some U.S. waste management facilities have to send recyclable plastic straight to the landfill because there’s not enough domestic recycling capacity. Reflecting a growing awareness of the plastic trash problem, in May the American Chemistry Council announced its goal that by 2040 all plastic packaging used in the U.S. will be recycled or made into other products.
As the mountains of discarded plastic continue to grow, science has begun to offer some solutions. Chemists, including Robertson, are working on new chemical methods to break down current plastics to their building blocks for reuse, and they’re designing new plastics that could be easier to recycle. Researchers are also working slowly toward biocatalyzed plastics recycling, using microbes or enzymes to degrade polymers. In the excitement about Mother Nature playing a possible role in solving the plastics problem, however, some news reports about plastic-munching critters have oversold progress.
Read on for a few visions of what the future of plastics recycling might—or might not—look like.
https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/Recycling-needs-revamp/96/i25
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(ACC Mentioned) Business digest: Sunday, June 17, 2018
Jun 17, 2018 | Longview News-Journal
Gary Claxton, president and chief operating officer of Panola National Bank in Carthage, has been elected chairman of the Texas Bankers Association for 2018-2019 term. His term runs through May 31, 2019.
Claxton has been active in the Texas Bankers Association, serving on the board of directors and executive committee. He has also served as vice chairman and treasurer for the association. He is also a past chairman of the Community Bankers Council and the Government Relations Council.
Born and raised in Bonham, Claxton earned both his BBA and MBA degrees from Texas A&M Commerce. He is also a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking.
Claxton has been employed as a community banker in East Texas for the past 36 years and has been with Panola National Bank of Carthage since 1988. He was hired as an executive vice-president and promoted to president and chief operating officer in 2005.
Claxton has been active in the banking industry for the past 39 years, beginning with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 1979. He was a member of the American Bankers Association’s Community Bankers Council and served on the first Community Depository Institution Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Claxton and his wife of 44 years, Susan, have two daughters and six grandchildren.
12 are welcomed at Good Shepherd
Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center-Longview welcomed 12 new residents in its three-year internal medicine program during its annual breakfast and white coat reception.
The new residents, their degrees and hometowns are: Morgan Cauglin , O.D., Carrollton; Elise Edoka, M.D., Chattanooga, Tennessee; Bruno Elias Massare , M.D., Ascuncion, Paraguay; Daniela Hagenasr, D.O., Dallas; Paul Jones, M.D., Jackson, Michigan; Bradley Kapten, M.D., Wichita, Kansas; Arti Khatri , M.D., Tharparkar , Pakistan; Peter McNeil, M.D., Royal Oak, Michigan; John Odneal , M.D., Tyler; Madhuri Patil , M.D., Jamner, India; Phuong Trinh , M.D., Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Anh Vu, D.O., Hung Yen. Vietnam.
In addition to welcoming the newest residents, Good Shepherd presented the white coats and 2018 intern of the year.
The program is affiliated with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler. Residents train primarily at Good Shepherd in a variety of health care settings including inpatient, outpatient and emergency care.
Champion, of Martin, gets national honor
Cynthia Champion, safety coordinator for Martin Transport of Kilgore, has received national recognition for outstanding contributions to the field of transportation safety for the second year in a row.
Champion, a member of the Martin Environmental, Health and Safety Transportation Safety Team, was recognized in 2017 as a National Safety Council “Rising Star” (one of only 42 in the nation).
This year, she was recognized by the American Chemistry Council as the 2018 Responsible Care Employee of the Year. The award is presented to only one recipient per year.
Champion also serves as the Responsible Care coordinator for Martin Transport. The Responsible Care program is an accreditation bestowed by the American Chemistry Council upon companies that maintain extremely high standards of best practices in safety while handling hazardous materials. The accreditation is granted after a rigorous on-site audit conducted by an independent third party.
Martin Transport is one of only 42 carriers in the U.S. to have earned the accreditation. It has been a Responsible Care certified carrier since 2013. Champion has served as Responsible Care coordinator since 2014.
Day promoted at Curtis Blakely
Rachel Day, CPA, has been promoted to senior tax manager at Curtis Blakely & Co., P.C., CPAs.
Day joined the firm in 2008 after graduating from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor of business administration in accounting, bachelors of arts in Spanish, and a master of science in accounting. She is active in the firm’s consulting, tax, and valuation services. Her responsibilities include tax preparation and planning, accounting and numerous other business consulting services for individuals, partnerships, corporations, estates, and trusts.
She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Texas Society of CPAs.
She and her husband, Garrett, will celebrate their 10th anniversary this year. Rachel is also active in her community. She volunteers with East Texas CASA and Fellowship Bible Church’s ESL program for adults as an ESL teacher.
Curtis Blakely & Co., P.C., CPAs began in 1977 in Longview and currently has six shareholders and a staff of 24 CPAs, accountants, support staff, and a network administrator.
Colonial Village earns workplace honor
Holiday Retirement’s Colonial Village in Longview recently earned certification as a great workplace by the Great Place to Work Institute.
The designation was based on extensive ratings of Colonial Village staff provided through the Culture Audit and Trust Index Survey. The institute says it is a global authority on “high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures,” and produces the annual Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For” list and a series of other lists, Holiday Retirement said.
“We’ve emphasized associate engagement for more than a year, striving to be as passionate about our associates as they are about serving older adults,” Lilly Donohue, Holiday Retirement’s CEO, said in a statement. “I am very proud of the results from our first-time participation in this survey with Great Place to Work and I am delighted to celebrate alongside the dedicated team members at Holiday Retirement’s Colonial Village.”
Located at 2910 N. Eastman Road, Colonial Village has 131 unit and opened in 1984, said Brian Fawkes, vice president of communications for Holiday Retirement.
Good Shepherd gets wound therapy help
Christus Good Shepherd Byron Cook Center for Advanced Wound Healing has received its third hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber.
The chamber delivers 100 percent oxygen at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure (sea level) to promote faster, better healing.
“With this new equipment, we seek to better serve patients and the community by providing truly excellent care in a comfortable environment, designed to maximize healing,” said Tiffany Phillips, program director at the center.
Every year, chronic, nonhealing wounds caused by diabetes, infection, poor circulation or other health conditions affect the lives of from 3 million to 5 million Americans.
HBOT is used to treat more than a dozen medical conditions, including diabetic foot ulcers, radiation injuries to tissue and bone, necrotizing infections, compromised skin grafts and skin flaps, some types of arterial insufficiency and ischemia. Specialized Wound Care and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy are often necessary for optimal treatment of chronic, non-healing wounds.
For more information, contact the Wound Healing Center at 705 E. Marshall Avenue, Suite 1004 or (903)315-3880.
2 East Texans grad ag leadership program
Two East Texans were among 23 agriculture industry leaders statewide to complete a two-year commitment as part of the Governor Dolph Briscoe Jr. Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership Cohort XV graduation ceremonies in College Station.
Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership, or TALL, is a program of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
East Texas TALL XV graduates are:
Cody Harris, Palestine.
Kyle Watts, Tyler.
https://www.news-journal.com/news/business/local/business-digest-sunday-june/article_0c91f9d4-6391-11e8-b2d3-4f0f1ddf4106.html
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Commerce Secretary out as Flood Money Scandal Continues
Jun 15, 2018 | Charleston Gazette-Mail (In E&E Greenwire)
By Jake Zuckerman
West Virginia's Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher has been ousted after his department was accused of mishandling a $150 million flood recovery program.
Gov. Jim Justice (R) said he asked for and got Thrasher's resignation.
"I consider [Thrasher] a friend, and he's done a solid job in the area of economic development," Justice said in a news release. "Thrasher expressed to me that recent media attention had distracted from what he believed was his core mission, economic development, and business opportunities for West Virginia.
"I hope this allows us to turn our attention to the full recovery of all of the victims of the 2016 flood," the governor said.
The department also fired its deputy secretary last month (Greenwire, May 24). A $17 million contract involving the RISE West Virginia flood recovery program was bungled, and flood victims have said they never received the help they were promised.
At a luncheon earlier this week, Thrasher refused to answer questions about the project.
The $17 million at issue was for a contract that was not approved or put up for a bid by the state attorney general's office, according to Justice's office (Jake Zuckerman, Charleston [W.Va.]Gazette-Mail, June 14).
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/06/15/stories/1060084681
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Pruitt’s New Problem with the GOP: Ethanol
Jun 16, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Miranda Green
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt is facing harsh criticism from two Republican senators who say he is failing to follow through on President Trump’s pro-ethanol agenda.
The two senators, Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley from corn-heavy Iowa, are specifically displeased with Pruitt for granting a number of exemptions to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to refineries that allow them to use less ethanol in their fuel mixes.
The senators say this is a disappointment given Trump’s promises in Iowa and are quick to point out the string of controversies following Pruitt in voicing their displeasure.
“He’s been such a bad actor in so many areas. He’s promised to hold up the letter of the law when it came to the RFS. He has not done that,” Ernst said “And then we see other examples related to taxpayer dollars, his personal staff. I don’t think it’s appropriate.”
Grassley had equally harsh things to say about Pruitt, calling the various reports on his scandals “pretty condemning.”
“From the standpoint of what Scott Pruitt has done on ethanol, I would say he's not serving the president right,” Grassley said. “And if the president wants to keep the respect that farmers and ethanol ... he better do one of two things: either get rid of Scott Pruitt or get Scott Pruitt to deliver on the president's promises.”
He also took a shot at Pruitt over a story that the EPA chief had sought to use his power to get his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise, saying: “I didn't want to say about the Chick-fil-A thing, but I believe that's pretty condemning.”
Pruitt has survived as EPA administrator despite a steady drip of controversies in part because Trump and conservatives see him as a strong foot soldier in drawing down Obama-era environmental policies.
This latest criticism from Republican senators on a policy issue is therefore notable.
During the 2016 Iowa primary, Trump expressed support for bolstering the ethanol industry, embracing the RFS.
And in April the president signaled support for the ethanol industry, saying he would change the biofuels policy that limits higher blends of 15 percent ethanol in gas during summer months. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said, “We’re going to raise it up to 15 percent and raise it to a 12-month period.”
But since then, no firm policy decisions have come to light and players close to the issue are growing testy over the final outcome.
In the Senate, there are divisions over the RFS and Ernst and Grassley have been embroiled in at times heated conversations with Sens. Ted Cruz(R-Texas) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).
The two Iowa senators want to increase the percentage of ethanol blended into gasoline. Cruz and Toomey, who represent heavy oil and gas regions, oppose the current RFS standard mandating that oil and gas companies mix their fuel with ethanol or buy credits on the market to offset their emissions.
Additionally, a number of smaller companies have recently gotten around the rule through applying for small refinery exemptions.
In early April, the Trump administration came under fire by the ethanol industry and environmental groups for granting 25 small refinery exemptions. Previous administrations had granted between six to eight waivers under the 10-year-old program.
The RFS defines a small refinery as creating no more than an average of 75,000 barrels of crude oil per day. However, much larger oil and gas companies have sought to get in on the small refinery exemption, with giants Chevron and Exxon both seeking waivers under the program in early April, according to Reuters.
Some senators are happy with the administration’s actions on refineries and are offering support for Pruitt.
Cruz called him an active part of discussions and said he had an optimistic outlook for negotiations.
“Administrator Pruitt has been an active part of those discussions along with the president and senators across the spectrum and I remain hopeful that we will arrive upon a win-win solution that benefits farmers and refinery workers,” he said.
He said the criticism aimed at Pruitt from senators over the issue simply reflects the politics of the ethanol debate.
“The ethanol lobbyists are used to wielding significant power and unfortunately they have personalized their attacks on Administrator Pruitt as an effort to stop policy decisions they disagree with,” Cruz told The Hill.
Corn farmers and ethanol groups say many of the exemptions granted to EPA are unwarranted, as some of the refineries were offshoots of major companies.
Last Tuesday, Pruitt sat down at a roundtable with representatives from the corn industry during a trip to Kansas.
Ken McCauley, president of the Kansas Corn Growers Association, said farmers were candid about their concerns.
“We took it as a good way to get our information straight to the administration. We took advantage of that and we told him just how we felt, that we were mad as hell,” McCauley, who attended the meeting, told the Hill.
Corn farmers in South Dakota held a tractor rally in Sioux Falls this week to protest the EPA chief as he paid a visit to the state.
“The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, continues to bail out multi-billion-dollar oil refiners at the expense of South Dakota farmers. It’s time to get Administrator Pruitt on board with President Trump’s agenda,” South Dakota Corn wrote in its event description.
When asked about Pruitt’s lackluster welcome to corn country, Ernst said: “What goes around comes around.”
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/392570-pruitts-new-problem-with-the-gop-ethanol
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Ethics Office Weighs Unprecedented ‘Corrective Action’ for Pruitt
Jun 15, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Alex Guillen
The federal government's top ethics official suggested Friday he is considering a "formal corrective action proceeding" regarding alleged improper behavior by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a perhaps unprecedented step against a sitting member of the president's Cabinet.
The head of the independent Office of Government Ethics urged EPA's in-house watchdog to expand its ongoing investigations to review the latest allegations about Pruitt, including that he used EPA resources to find a job for his wife. OGE will look into the findings of that probe to decide how to proceed, acting OGE Director David Apol wrote in a letter to EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins on Friday.
"We ask you to complete your report, as soon as possible, so that we can decide whether to begin a formal corrective action proceeding in order to make a formal recommendation to the President," Apol wrote.
President Donald Trump said earlier Friday that he was "not happy about certain things" with his embattled administrator, although he praised the "fantastic job" Pruitt is doing at EPA. Trump did not elaborate on what made him unhappy.
If Apol eventually launches such a proceeding and OGE investigators determine Pruitt probably violated ethics rules, OGE would send the matter to the president for his decision, with nonbinding recommendations for disciplinary action.
An OGE spokesperson told POLITICO the office is unaware of the agency ever before initiating a formal corrective action proceeding against any federal official, let alone a Cabinet member.
Walter Shaub, the former OGE chief who resigned last year after blasting the Trump administration for alleged ethical violations, said a formal investigation may have been launched once or twice several decades ago but that informal procedures have allowed OGE to address its concerns since then. Shaub praised Apol’s letter.
"This latest move by OGE is a very good thing and, given the turning tide against Pruitt, may help produce a result," Shaub told POLITICO in an email. "Way to go, OGE!"
Shaub also wrote on Twitter: “That’s my old agency coming down on you, @EPAScottPruitt. (Way to go OGE!) It’s time for you to go. You‘re literally going to be THE case study in training for future cabinet officials. In case you don’t know, your name is already a verb in govt ethics circles in and out of govt.”
Before launching its own probe, OGE must first outline its concerns to ethics officials within an agency. Apol did that in April, when he asked EPA's top ethics official, Kevin Minoli, to scrutinize Pruitt’s decision to rent a Capitol Hill condo from the wife of a lobbyist representing clients before EPA. (Minoli subsequently referred the issues to Elkins' office, which traditionally handles ethics matters that require investigative authority.)
Apol's Friday letter specifically cites reports about Pruitt using EPA aides and resources to seek employment for his wife from Chick-fil-A executives and elsewhere, as well as emails and former aides' testimony that he used EPA staff to run personal errands.
The OIG is already reviewing earlier related allegations, Apol noted. "OGE now requests that you also investigate and analyze the newly alleged conduct."
"The American public needs to have confidence that ethics violations, as well as the appearance of ethics violations, are investigated and properly addressed," Apol wrote. "The efficacy of, and public trust in, our Government demands it."
If the inspector general's investigation does not satisfy Apol, the ethics office is empowered to conduct its own investigation into possible non-criminal ethics violations. Alleged criminal ethics violations must be investigated by the FBI or other law enforcement agencies.
Several House Democrats have referred Pruitt to the FBI and Justice Department for potential criminal charges. Pruitt’s actions “may have crossed a line into criminal conduct punishable by fines or even by time in prison,” they wrote. It is unclear whether the FBI will investigate Pruitt; the bureau rarely comments on whether an investigation even exists.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/06/ethics-office-weighs-corrective-action-for-pruitt-1425413
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Crude Oil-To-Chemicals Technology Could Be Game Changer for Chemicals Industry
Jun 15, 2018 | Plastics Today
By Clare Goldsberry
Siluria Technologies (San Francisco and Menlo Park, CA) and Saudi Aramco Technologies Co. (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) announced this week that they would join forces to revolutionize the petrochemicals industry through crude oil-to-chemicals (COTC) and oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) technologies. According to analysis by IHS Markit’s Don Bari, Vice President of Chemical Technology, this will “have a very significant impact on the chemical industry.”
One of the most significantly disruptive technologies or categories of technologies being developed, based on sheer volume, is crude oil-to-chemicals, according to analysis from IHS Markit (London). “These projects, in effect, merge a refinery and petrochemical plant into one, and, thus, go well beyond the state-of-the-art refinery petrochemical integration by the implementation of new/reconfiguring unit operations into a refinery.”
The objective of this technology is to shift product derived from a barrel of oil from the traditional 15% to 25% to 40% to 80% range of chemical feedstocks and non-fuel products. In a joint press release issued by Siluria and Saudi Aramco, Ahmad Al Khowaiter, CTO of Saudi Aramco, said, “Maximizing the output of high-value chemicals products from our future crude-oil processing projects is one of the key objectives in our downstream technology strategy.”
The Siluria Technologies process, which produces olefins directly from natural gas through oxidative coupling (chemistry) of methane (OCM), is expected to further allow Saudi Aramco’s future crude oil-to-chemicals facilities to create more value by converting the very low-value off-gasses (largely methane) into higher-value olefins products, which improves carbon efficiency and increases the volume of the barrel of oil directed to valuable fundamental petrochemicals, IHS Markit explained in its analysis.
In addition to those benefits, the Siluria OCM process also delivers significant reduction in carbon emissions over traditional ethylene production processes. An IHS Markit evaluation of total carbon dioxide emissions for the production of ethylene by various feedstock types shows that “the Siluria OCM technology is expected to be a net-negative CO2 producer per ton of ethylene/olefins produced because of the heat generation for the OCM exotherm, and methane production (partly) from CO2 is considered in our methodology as an offset to CO2 emissions.”
IHS Markit estimates that the Siluria OCM process generates negative one ton of carbon dioxide emissions per ton of ethylene produced as compared to the more conventional naphtha-cracking process for converting crude to olefins, which is estimated at greater than 1.4 tons of CO2 produced per ton of ethylene produces. “This is a significant improvement in carbon emission reduction, while at the same time capturing greater value from the molecules,” said IHS Markit’s analysis.
The disruption to conventional petrochemical producers would likely be the loss of market position due to COTC’s immense petrochemical volume, explained IHS Markit. “The global demand for ethylene and propylene are 160 million metric tons (MMT) and 111 MMT per year, respectively, and at approximately 4% annual growth rate, the required global annual capacity additions would be 6.4 and 4.4 MMT of ethylene and propylene, respectively. These volumes could nearly be supplied from two large-scale 200,000 barrel-per-day COTC complexes, instead of four conventional state-of-the-art naphtha-cracking light olefins plants.”
Siluria Technologies, headed by former Royal Dutch Shell plc executive Robert Trout, notes that the oxidative coupling of methane to ethylene (and propylene) process converts methane to olefins in the presence of a catalyst in an oxygen-rich environment. “The catalyst reaction diverts roughly half of the carbon to the undesirable co-products of carbon monoxide (CO) or carbon dioxide (CO2),” said IHS Markit. “In this highly exothermic (heat-generating) reaction, Siluria exploits this exotherm by injecting ethane or propane into a second reaction chamber, where the light alkane is thermally cracked to the olefin.”
IHS Markit’s analysis notes that there has been considerable interest in this technology since the early 1980s, but efforts by major petrochemical companies at that time were unsuccessful and produced “undesirable products (CO, CO2 and coke).”
Siluria has developed and “scaled-up a proprietary commercial, low-temperature OCM catalyst that can operate adiabatically with fewer stages at several hundred degrees centigrade lower inlet temperatures and at higher pressures. This catalyst produces a favorable yield and has a standard lifetime for a commercialized process.”
IHS Markit concludes that the teaming of “a global hydrocarbon resource powerhouse such as Saudi Aramco with Siluria Technologies, a small, but innovative, process technology company, is expected to yield significant returns for both entities, but also drive the industry forward in process improvements and greater carbon efficiency, capital efficiency and value creation. While these technologies are capital-intensive, the commercial application of these two revolutionary technologies not only imparts greater carbon efficiency, flexibility and value to petrochemicals producers, but is also a significant route to greater carbon emission reduction, which has an untold value to chemical producers and to the sustainability of the industry. This sustainability value will likely only continue to increase as more consumers, investors and regulators seek greater environmental stewardship from petrochemicals producers.”
https://www.plasticstoday.com/materials/crude-oil-chemicals-technology-could-be-game-changer-chemicals-industry/197011326958938
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Senate Faces Test as Energy-Water, Rescission Bills Hit Floor
Jun 18, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Geof Koss and George Cahlink
Competing Senate proposals to increase energy and water dollars and cut billions in unspent Energy Department funding will test this week whether Congress can expect to move bipartisan spending legislation this year.
The Senate will have a vote early this evening to take up a three-bill package, dubbed a minibus, that contains the $43.7 billion fiscal 2019 energy and water spending. The House passed its $44.7 billion version of the legislation two weeks ago.
Later in the week, the Senate is likely to turn to a more contentious bill that would rescind $14.7 billion in unspent funding from previous years, including $4 billion in cuts from DOE technology loan programs, an effort created by an Obama-era economic recovery package.
Members from both parties are eyeing this week's floor debate on the minibus to set the tone for the remainder of the appropriations process, which in the Senate has advanced with bipartisan support over a truce to avoid "poison pill" amendments, at least in committee (E&E Daily, June 15).
"I think we'll see the path develop in the first couple of bills," Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, said last week.
There's plenty of appetite for an open-amendment process on the floor, although as Udall noted during the markup of the Interior-EPA bill, "One senator's poison pill is another senator's antidote."
While appropriators stuck to the détente blessed by Senate leaders, it's unclear whether the rest of the chamber will do so. Republicans struggled to process amendments to the fiscal 2019 defense authorization act because of at times bitter infighting over amendments.
Even Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) was unsure last week as to how the appropriations debate would play out on the floor.
"There seems to be this era of good will and cooperation, which we all hope allows us to proceed on a normal amendment process," Cornyn told E&E News. "But everyone's waiting to see because that would be a break from recent practice."
Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he hoped the internal GOP skirmishing isn't "contagious," threatening the "good will" shown in his committee.
"I think we're going to take it to the floor, and I hope there will not be obstructionists in the way," he said after last week's markup of three spending bills.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who will manage debate on the Energy-Water section of the package, said he is OK with difficult votes as long as the amendments are relevant. He acknowledged pent-up frustration among senators over the limited opportunities to vote on amendments.
"You know it's hard to get elected to the Senate," he told E&E News last week. "It's hard to get here, it's hard to stay here, and while you're here, you may as well accomplish something, and if you can't vote, you can't accomplish much. It's like being in the Grand Ole Opry and not being allowed to sing. So I think most senators are ready to sing."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who leads the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee and is trying to bring that particularly contentious bill to the floor for the first time since assuming the top GOP spot on that panel, said she too believes senators should be able to seek votes on tough issues within the scope of the measure.
"I'm starting to feel pretty old around here, but when I started here, that's what we did," she told E&E News. "And you won on some votes if you were able to round up the support, and you lost on others. But there was a process for advancing the bills. And I think that's what so many of us are trying to get back to is a process for advancing the bills in a fair way that allows for full participation by the body."
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), a senior appropriator, signaled last week he was leaning toward backing the minibus, assuming it does not undergo major floor revisions.
"If it's basically the same bill that came out of Approps, I intend to" support it, said Tester, noting he has yet to decide what, if any, amendments he might propose to the legislation.Rescissions package
While there are hopes for advancing the spending package, it's not clear whether the White House rescissions proposal will move forward.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney met with GOP senators last week to make the case for the cuts, which target unspent funds from past years and would not impact current or future spending. The administration sees the move as a way to exercise fiscal restraint.
The House already narrowly backed the rescissions earlier this month. Under budget rules, the measure must be acted on by Friday, 30 days after it was first proposed, and cannot be filibustered.
Republicans have been split over the plan.
Conservatives have touted it, while more moderate senators, including many appropriators, have questioned whether Congress should essentially cede authority to the White House by agreeing to its proposed cuts.
Democrats are likely to be united against the plan, which they say is an election-year gambit that won't have a major impact on the budget bottom line because much of the funding was never expected to be spent.
Still, a partisan fight over rescissions could imperil the fragile comity party leaders hope to achieve on fiscal 2019 spending.Markups
Both the House and Senate appropriations committees are set to move other fiscal 2019 spending bills this week.
The Senate Appropriations subcommittees on Homeland Security, State and Foreign Operations, and Financial Services and General Government will advance drafts of their spending bills tomorrow. The full Appropriations Committee will consider them Thursday.
The House Appropriations Committee is due to advance its Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill as well as its State and Foreign Operations bill on Wednesday.
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2018/06/18/stories/1060084745
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(ACC Mentioned) Farm Bureau Supports Science-Based Labeling Bill
Jun 16, 2018 | Augusta Free Press
The nation’s largest agricultural organization has voiced support for legislation that would require science-based consumer product labeling.
“To fulfil their purpose of helping consumers make informed choices based on facts, food labels must be science-based,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said June 7 in reference to S. 3019, the recently introduced Accurate Labels Act. “Congress should ensure that food labels are consistent, clear and credible. We support new legislation to make ‘smart labels’ the standard, uniform vehicle to accomplish that.”
The bipartisan bill was introduced by Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Kurt Schrader of Oregon. It is intended to provide U.S. consumers with clear, accurate, meaningful nutrition information and would amend the Fair Packing and Labeling Act.
“Our labeling requirements on the federal, state and local levels must be based on credible science so we can provide consumers with accurate, relevant and critical information pertaining to nutritional facts,” Moran asserted. “Not only do inaccurate labels confuse consumers, they increase prices at the point of sale and create unnecessary new regulatory burdens placed on farmers and small businesses.”
The Accurate Labels Act would establish science-based criteria for all additional state and local labeling requirements; allow state-mandated product information to be provided through smartphone-enabled “smart labels” and on websites; and ensure that covered product information is risk-based.
In addition to Farm Bureau’s support, the bill has received support from the American Chemistry Council, the Coalition for Accurate Product Labels, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.
https://augustafreepress.com/farm-bureau-supports-science-based-labeling-bill/
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New York Chemical Disclosure Rule Vexes Companies, May Fail Public
Jun 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
New York state’s regulation requiring cleaning product manufacturers to publicly disclose the chemicals in their products could fail to achieve its goals, said a senior director at Seventh Generation Inc.
“We strongly support disclosure of ingredients,” said Martin Wolf, director of sustainability and authenticity at Seventh Generation, which voluntarily listed chemicals in its products on package labels years before any state required the disclosures.
Seventh Generation will disclose all intentionally added ingredients, including fragrances, and report reasonable thresholds of any chemical of concern, even if it’s an unintentional compound that results from water used during manufacturing or some other aspect of the production process, Wolf told Bloomberg Environment June 15.
But the regulation that New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation released June 6—and which goes into effect July 1, 2019—covers the online disclosure of thousands of intentionally added and unintentional chemicals that could be in a final product, he said.
It also requires the disclosure of those chemicals if they’re known to be present at or above limits set for them in federal drinking water standards, according to Wolf.
Testing to determine the presence of all those chemicals at drinking water limits could cost thousands or millions of dollars for each product tested, and the drinking water standards provision seems excessive, he said.
Other OptionsThe financial cost—and other problematic details in the final rule—means Seventh Generation could choose another regulatory option New York allows, he said.
Instead of full disclosure, companies can publicly acknowledge that their disclosure is not complete, according to Wolf. “We will likely check that box,” he said.
Consumers won’t be able to differentiate a company that doesn’t disclose chemicals because it doesn’t want to from a company that wants to but can’t due to the complexities of the state’s regulation, Wolf said.
Seventh Generation “strongly believes consumers have the right to know what is in the products they bring into their homes,” Wolf said.
But California’s approach to chemical disclosure more effectively informs the public, he said.
California’s ApproachThe Clorox Co., S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., and Unilever Plc either declined to comment or didn’t reply to requests seeking their views, but the Household & Commercial Products Association in Washington agreed that California’s approach is a better model for states considering product chemical disclosure mandates.
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed California’s Cleaning Product Right to Know Act in 2017. Companies have until Jan. 1, 2020, to post ingredients and other product information on their websites.
Its intent and the types of chemicals it covers are similar to New York’s regulation, Pete Vujovich, director of state government relations and public policy at the Household & Commercial Products Association told Bloomberg Environment.
But the thresholds that trigger reporting and other provisions of the law make it a much more successful model, he said.
‘Complicated and Increasingly Contradictory’California’s legislators met with environmental and consumer organizations along with cleaning product manufacturers to develop a workable approach that will provide meaningful and understandable information to consumers and workers, he said.
Instead, New York’s department “deliberately cultivated a complicated and increasingly contradictory set of disclosure rules at the behest of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo [D], prompted by his desire to outdo California,” the Household & Commercial Products Association said in a June 11 statement.
The association is considering all options including litigation challenging New York’s regulation or working with Congress on some type of federal law that would address ingredient disclosure requirements, Vujovich said. “At this point we’re considering every option,” he said.
Seventh Generation “would not be party to any such lawsuit,” Wolf said.
As a company headquartered in Vermont, Seventh Generation also is concerned about federal efforts to pass laws constraining states, he said.
“I believe states are more protective of their citizens than is our federal government,” Wolf said.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/new-york-chemical-disclosure-rule-vexes-companies-may-fail-public
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Sherwin-Williams Latest to Remove Methylene Chloride
Jun 16, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adam Allington
Sherwin-Williams is phasing out the use of paint-removal products containing methylene chloride by the end of this year.
The news was made public through a company document released on June 15 and confirmed by Bloomberg News.
Methylene chloride is a toxic chemical known to cause cancer and has been linked to dozens of deaths, including three since last October. All three cases involved men who died after being overcome by fumes while working with methylene-chloride-based paint strippers in enclosed spaces.
“This is huge, Sherwin-Williams is the nation’s largest dedicated retailer of paint and painting supplies,” said Mike Schade, a campaign director for Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, a Washington-based advocacy group.
The move comes after a similar announcement from Lowe’s on May 29.
Growing Pressure on OthersPressure now grows on other home improvement retailers that still stock the toxic chemicals on their shelves.
“The lack of decisive action by the federal government to protect consumers from this deadly chemical underscores need for others to step up,” Schade said.
“We have reached out to Home Depot, Menards, and Ace Hardware, and remain hopeful they will also act soon.”
Schade says the fact that Sherwin-Williams is discontinuing the product line is significant because the company is a primary supplier for painting contractors.
In an emailed response to Bloomberg Environment May 29, Home Depot said it is closely following the situation but has no plans at this point to stop selling methylene-chloride-based paint stripper.
“We continue to follow EPA regulations,” said Yang Yang, a spokeswoman for Home Depot. “The primary demand for these products is from our professional contractors, but we urge anyone to closely follow safety precautions, as with any product.”
EPA Ban Moving ForwardOn May 10, the EPA announced it would finalize an Obama-era rule to limit commercial sales of methylene chloride.
The precise nature of that what an EPA ban might look like or when it will move forward remains unclear.
“EPA is working to send the finalized rulemaking to the Office of Management and Budget shortly,” an EPA spokesman said.
The Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance, a lobbying group that includes makers of methylene chloride, have said in the past they would support a partial ban that mandates training and safety precautions but stops short of eliminating the chemical’s use outright.
“These pain strippers have been safely used by customers for more than 60 years,” the Alliance said in a statement.
“HSIA believes there is a need for the continued use of methylene-chloride-based paint strippers. When used as directed, they are the best products for efficient and effective paint removal.”
The group also notes that commercial alternatives to methylene chloride stripper don’t work as well.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/sherwin-williams-latest-to-remove-methylene-chloride
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Cancer Research Ban Called ‘Monsanto Rider’ by Democrat
Jun 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Reporter
The debate over the weed killer glyphosate is the reason for a House spending bill provision that would cut federal funding for World Health Organization cancer research, a Democratic lawmaker said during a June 15 hearing.
Glyphosate is a primary ingredient in the weed killer Roundup, manufactured by Monsanto Co. In 2015, a WHO agency concluded that glyphosate, an off-patent substance used in products including Roundup and Syngenta AG’s Touchdown Quattro, is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
At issue is an Appropriations Committee bill rider that bars federal funding of the international health organization’s cancer research unless the National Institutes of Health imposes new transparency requirements for WHO cancer research. While the prohibition doesn’t appear in the draft bill, the provision is part of an unreleased report accompanying it.
Democrats at the hearing objected to the rider.
“I guess we could call it the Monsanto rider,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), ranking member of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing health spending.
“By blocking NIH funding, it appears [Republicans are] acting on behalf of Monsanto,” DeLauro said. “I hope this is not the case because the Monsanto rider is unacceptable.”
Republicans at the hearing didn’t respond to DeLauro’s comments and didn’t respond or declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg Environment later in the day.
House Republicans Dispute WHO FindingsThe Republican leadership of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee is in an ongoing dispute with the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer for its work linking glyphosate to cancer.
Science committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) in a June 7 letter to the research agency’s new director said the cancer study looking at glyphosate had “serious flaws,” including ignoring research finding no link between glyphosate and cancer.
The House Appropriations Committee is expected to consider the health funding bill June 20.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/cancer-research-ban-called-monsanto-rider-by-democrat
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Judge Says California Can’t Put Cancer Labels on Glyphosate Yet
Jun 16, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ayanna Alexander
California can’t place glyphosate—the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller—on its list of risky chemicals until the court issues a final decision, according to a June 12 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge William Shubb.
The judge denied a February request by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) to lift an injunction barring the state from adding the widely used herbicide to its Proposition 65 list of risky chemicals.
In March 2017, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment issued a website notification that it planned to add glyphosate to its list of cancer-causing chemicals. It was slated to be added to the list July 7, 2017, until the judge blocked the measure.
Becerra had argued that new evidence warranted a reconsideration.
The judge disputed Becerra’s claim, saying that the new evidence didn’t change “the fact that the overwhelming majority of agencies that have examined glyphosate have determined it is not a cancer risk.”
The ruling blocked California from adding its Proposition 65 warning label for the chemical.
Monsanto, farm groups, and other pesticide companies tried to block the addition in November 2017 but failed in a state court, leading them to take their case to the federal tribunal.
Their lawsuit claimed the listing violated their First Amendment rights and would require that they make false and misleading statements that glyphosate causes cancer.
The federal court case is Nat’l Ass’n of Wheat Growers v. Zeise, E.D. Cal., No. 2:17-2401, 6/12/18.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/judge-says-california-cant-put-cancer-labels-on-glyphosate-yet
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Senate Appropriators Order PFAS Review's Release
Jun 15, 2018 | Inside EPA
Senate appropriators are ordering the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to release its analyses of four perfluorinated chemicals that the Trump administration blocked because it recommended risk values stricter than EPA's, though the requirement only takes effect 15 days after EPA's spending bill is enacted.
“The Committee recognizes the importance of making information available on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to understand and address the needs of communities exposed to these chemicals, and is disappointed that the [ATSDR] toxicological profile for four PFAS substances … has not been released,” according to report language attached to EPA's fiscal year 2019 spending bill that was offered by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), with support from Sens. Tom Udall (D-CO), Rob Portman (R-OH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).
“This information is critically important to Federal and State efforts to respond and strengthen the effectiveness of drinking water advisories or standards for these materials. Therefore, ATSDR is directed to publish to the Federal Register, within 15 days of enactment, the proposed toxicological profile,” the language says.
And it also requires the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees ATSDR, to report to Congress on any changes made to the profile after Jan. 30 when the report was completed.
Shaheen and other lawmakers have been seeking release of the ATSDR study since Inside EPA and other outlets reported that the Trump administration had blocked its release after top EPA and DOD officials raised concerns that it recommended stricter minimum risk levels (MRLs) for intermediate duration oral exposures that are more conservative than similar values adopted by EPA.
The details of the action were contained in internal EPA emails obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists under the Freedom of Information Act, which related to ATSDR's draft May 2017 profile containing intermediate MRLs for four PFAS chemicals.
These include the two most commonly found chemicals: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), as well as perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS). Intermediate duration MRLs are derived to protect against exposures lasting between 15 and 364 days.
For at least two of these chemicals -- PFOS and PFOA -- the levels ATSDR suggested are significantly more conservative than reference dose levels EPA used in its 2016 health advisories for those chemicals. The emails show they feared a “potential public relations nightmare” should the draft MRLs be released unchanged.
ATSDR told Inside EPA last month that it is “preparing to release” the draft toxicological profile “again for public comment," but so far it has not released the document.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the bill in a unanimous 31-0 vote June 14, which also included report language admonishing Administrator Scott Pruitt for numerous reported ethical lapses.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/senate-appropriators-order-pfas-reviews-release
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NRDC Touts Michigan Lead Rule as National Model
Jun 15, 2018 | Inside EPA
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is touting a new Michigan lead-in-drinking-water rule that went into effect June 14 as a model for EPA and other states, praising the Michigan rule for being more stringent than federal requirements but warning that some provisions fall short of full protection.
The Michigan rule, developed in the wake of the lead in drinking water crisis in Flint, mandates full lead service line (LSL) replacement paid for by water utilities; reduces the lead action level from 15 parts per billion (ppb) to 12 ppb in 2025; and requires a second sample collection at sites served by LSLs, among other things.
In a June 14 blog post, NRDC's Erik Olson and Mae Wu urge Michigan's neighbors to update their safe drinking water regulations similarly and say it is “imperative” for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to “look closely at Michigan's action.”
Olson and Wu note that Pruitt has said the nation needs to “declare war on lead” but no federal plans have been drafted or new money allocated.
“Michigan’s new lead and copper rule gives the federal EPA a glimpse of where to start. While the Michigan rules are imperfect and some shortcomings in it need to be addressed, every American deserves at a minimum the more protective standards that come with the state’s effort. EPA should follow suit and ensure we start to pull out the lead pipes nationally with a stronger rule,” Olson and Wu say.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) also says in a June 14 statement that the state will serve as a role model for other states looking to improve their public health protections.
“The federal Lead and Copper Rule simply does not do enough to protect public health,” Snyder said. “As a state, we could no longer afford to wait on needed changes at the federal level, so Michigan has stepped up to give our residents a smarter, safer rule -- one that better safeguards water systems in all communities.”
Although NRDC welcomes Michigan's rule as a model, the group nevertheless sees some shortcomings.
NRDC's Cyndi Roper, in a separate June 14 blog post, explains that while Michigan is the first state to ban partial LSL replacement, the ban includes a loophole for emergency repairs in situations where the utility cannot get permission from the homeowner to replace the full LSL.
“It’s unclear when residents are making the decision whether to do the full replacement that they will be fully informed of the dangers of partial lead service line replacements or how to protect themselves from the lead releases associated with partials,” Roper says. “Further, utilities are only required to conduct one lead test 72 hours after the partial replacement is completed, which is quite inadequate given the ongoing release of lead from partials.”
Additionally, the rule does not include the steps water utilities must take to document that a household has declined to have its LSL fully replaced, which could result in water utilities making half-hearted attempts to inform residents about the opportunity to replace the lines thus skirting their responsibility to do the replacements, she says.
NRDC is also critical of Michigan's decision to continue using a lead action level rather than establish a health-based standards for lead in drinking water.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/nrdc-touts-michigan-lead-rule-national-model
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(ACC Mentioned) Threat of Trade War Could Wallop U.S. Petrochemical Industry
Jun 16, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adam Allington
A potential second round of tariffs targeting Chinese chemical exports could be terrible news for the U.S. petrochemical industry, potentially costing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs, according to a chemical industry analyst and a major trade group.
Following President Donald Trump’s June 15 announcement of $50 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it’s also considering a second round of tariffs that would target 284 types of Chinese chemical products, plastics, resins, and industrial goods.
“If those tariffs move forward, and China retaliates by raising countertariffs on U.S. exports of things like polyethylene, the result could be bad for U.S. petrochemical industry,” said Jason Miner, a chemical industry analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents and advocates for many U.S. chemical makers, said as many as 24,000 U.S. jobs in the chemicals and downstream sectors could be lost if China retaliates—as well as half of the $194 billion in chemical industry investment that had been planned in the coming years.
“We anticipate significant disruptions to supply chain operations, offshoring of production, and termination of production altogether due the sudden, uneven playing field that duties would create in the global marketplace,” if China retaliates, said the council, an advocate for U.S. chemical companies.
The U.S. polyethylene market is expanding quickly, and had been forecast to be grow by a third from 2016 to 2019. Any barriers to the Chinese market would be a serious concern for U.S. refineries, Miner told Bloomberg Environment.
Awash in Shale GasThe shale gas boom in the U.S. has led to a surge in ethane production, the basic petrochemical feedstock chemical used to make polyethylene, one of the most common types of plastic.
Given the U.S. position as the dominant supplier of polyethylene for the global market, Miner said the U.S. would have more to lose than China if China decides to start taxing U.S. exports of shale-based resins and polymers.
China imports around 18 million tons of ethylene equivalent, which is about 12 percent of world’s ethylene production, Miner told Bloomberg Environment. Ethylene is refined from ethane and becomes polyethylene after further refinement.
“We are rapidly heading toward an oversupply of petrochemicals, so imports are a pretty small concern, but exports are really the key story in this market,” he said.
In response to Trump’s move, China’s Ministry of Commerce June 15 announced its own retaliatory tariffs on 545 U.S goods including agricultural products, cars, and seafood.
Chemical Makers in CrosshairsThe American Chemistry Council said it was disappointed the administration hadn’t listened to its request to keep the chemical sector out of the crosshairs of a trade war.
“Recognizing the importance of U.S. chemicals to our economy, China will continue to retaliate against U.S. chemical manufacturers with tariffs on exports of raw, building-block chemicals and on the numerous products that are made with chemicals, such as agricultural goods and autos,” the council said in a June 15 statement.
If China does put retaliatory tariffs on imports of U.S. chemicals, that could quickly tip a growing domestic oversupply situation into an outright glut. As the export market contracts, that would put downward pressure on the price of plastics and resin feedstocks.
But prices can only fall so far, so U.S. chemical companies could be operating at a loss, Miner said. As much as 60 percent of the price of plastic is tied to the price of oil and gas, so companies don’t have a lot of wiggle room to lower prices, he said.
“You can only go down that road so far before you quickly run up against fixed costs of production,” Miner said.
Tensions between the U.S. and China could escalate further in the coming weeks. The Treasury Department is expected to deliver a plan for restricting new Chinese investments in the U.S. by June 30.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/threat-of-trade-war-could-wallop-us-petrochemical-industry
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China Threatens Tariffs on U.S. Oil, Energy Products
Jun 15, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Ben Lefebvre
China is threatening to put 25 percent tariffs on shipments of U.S. oil, coal, petrochemicals and other energy products if President Donald Trump carries out a second round of duties on Chinese goods, according to a target list the Beijing government released.
The threatened tariffs are the latest tit-for-tat in an escalating trade dispute that started when Trump announced penalties on $50 billion of Chinese imports.
China's proposed target list includes crude oil, would be at least a short-term blow to U.S. energy companies who's sales to China have been approaching half a million barrels per day. China is the third-largest customer for U.S. oil behind Mexico and Canada.
U.S. oil exporters Exxon, Chevron and others would have to search for new customers, said Andy Lipow, president of consulting service Lipow Oil Associates.
“China would have to buy additional quantities of oil from someone else, and the U.S. would have to look for new customers, presumably someone who lost sales from the Chinese,” Lipow said. “But the imposition of tariffs can lead to a wider trade war, which ultimately slows economic growth around the world and reduces demand for fuel.”
China’s list also includes anthracite and bituminous coal, butane and propane, and major petrochemicals. The list did not include LNG, a fuel the Trump administration has marketed to China.
WHAT'S NEXT: The White House is still deciding whether to move forward on the second set of U.S duties
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Trump’s 25% Tariff on Chinese Imports Includes Offshore Drilling Parts
Jun 15, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
In another sign of a developing international trade war, the Trump administration has enacted a 25% tariff on a host of products imported from China, including parts used for offshore oil and natural gas drilling and production platforms.
On Friday, the office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer issued two lists of tariff lines covering Chinese products collectively valued at about $50 billion in 2018 trade values. The first list, containing 818 tariff lines that cover about $34 billion worth of Chinese imports, includes the parts for offshore drilling as well as check valves, pressure-reducing valves, and safety or release valves used for pipes and tanks, among other things.
Meanwhile, a second list contains 284 proposed tariff lines identified by a USTR committee "as benefiting from Chinese industrial policies, including the 'Made in China 2025' industrial policy," that will be subject to further review. The second list covers about $16 billion worth of Chinese imports, including "gas supply or production meters," which could impact oil and gas producers.
"We must take strong defensive actions to protect America's leadership in technology and innovation against the unprecedented threat posed by China's theft of our intellectual property, the forced transfer of American technology, and its cyber attacks on our computer networks," Lighthizer said. "China's government is aggressively working to undermine America's high-tech industries and our economic leadership through unfair trade practices and industrial policies like 'Made in China 2025.'"
USTR said it would provide the public with an opportunity to request an exemption from the new tariffs for various products, adding that it would issue a notice in the Federal Register"with details regarding this process within the next few weeks."
China Strikes Back
Beijing immediately vowed to retaliate. In a translated statement, China's Commerce Ministry said that despite several rounds of trade negotiations, the United States "has disregarded the consensus it has formed and is fickle, provoking a trade war." The ministry added that China "does not want to fight a trade war...
"We will immediately introduce taxation measures of the same scale and the same strength. All the economic and trade achievements previously reached by the two parties will be invalid at the same time."
For his part, Trump warned that the United States "will pursue additional tariffs if China engages in retaliatory measures, such as imposing new tariffs on United States goods, services, or agricultural products; raising non-tariff barriers; or taking punitive actions against American exporters or American companies operating in China."
Late last month, the European Union (EU), Canada and Mexico each took retaliatory stepsagainst the United States after the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports. Both Brussels and Mexico City have since filed complaints with the World Trade Organization over the tariffs. Steel and aluminum imported from China have been subject to the tariffs since May 1.
White House Making 'Serious Missteps,’ Says API
The American Petroleum Institute (API) said it was concerned by the Trump administration's "lack of transparency" leading up to its decision to levy the tariffs on China, adding that the move could have a "detrimental effect" on domestic oil and gas producers.
"The lack of transparency in the process, as well as the absence of consultation with the U.S. natural gas and oil industry to determine the potential impact on U.S. investments, jobs, and consumers, is especially troubling," said API CEO Jack Gerard. He added that the tariffs "will have a real impact on current and future U.S. energy projects, and could ultimately harm our energy renaissance which provides high-paying jobs and affordable and reliable energy to Americans.
"Instead of utilizing a transparent decision-making process that provided room for input from key stakeholders, the administration continues to take serious missteps in the trade arena that could undermine American jobs and America's role on the global energy stage. Trade wars with key trading partners will be detrimental to the U.S. economy and consumers."
According to a report released last year by ICF, the United States imported a maximum quantity of 16,622 metric tons of steel line pipe -- measuring greater than 24 inches in diameter -- from China between 2010 and 2016, a nearly identical figure to Canadian imports (16,543 metric tons) but far below imports from the EU (404,436). The report was commissioned by API, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, the American Gas Association, and the GPA Midstream Association.
ICF said steel prices experienced "a China-led 'boom'" in 2007 and 2008, when demand for energy, metals and other commodities surged, and "a large number of pipelines were under construction in the U.S. and around the world." But prices cooled after the 2008 worldwide financial crisis.
"The slow economic recovery after the financial crisis and the increase in U.S. gas shale and tight oil production led to increasing investment in pipeline and another peak in line pipe imports in 2012," ICF said. But the report added that "the collapse in oil prices in late 2014 led to reduction in oil and gas drilling and investment in new flow lines, gathering system and pipelines leading to a significant drop in line pipe imports in 2016."
In a related move, the Trump administration slapped a four-year tariff on imported solar cells and modules last January -- starting at 30% for the first year, but declining 5% annually to a final rate of 15% in the fourth and final year. Lighthizer's office said China dominates the global supply chain for solar cells and modules, accounting for nearly 70% of total planned global capacity expansions announced in the first half of 2017. China currently produces 60% of the world's solar cells and 71% of solar modules.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/114738-trumps-25-tariff-on-chinese-imports-includes-offshore-drilling-parts
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Jun 15, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kevin Crowley
In the late 19th century, inventors including Thomas Edison created electric lighting that all but ended demand for kerosene, then the biggest product made from petroleum. Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, the forefather of Exxon Mobil Corp., was unmoved, seeing any price dip as a chance to buy up competitors.
“We must try and not lose our nerve when the market gets to the bottom as some people almost always do,” the founder of Standard Oil instructed his senior management in 1884. “We will surely make a mistake if we do not buy.”
More than 130 years later, with renewable energy growing and electric vehicles threatening the future of gasoline-powered cars, the strategy of Exxon, Standard Oil’s biggest successor, is largely the same: double down on oil.
Speaking at his second Exxon annual meeting as chief executive officer in late May, Darren Woods used the kerosene story as an example of how the company adapts over time. “Society’s needs evolve, and so do we,” he said, as he positioned Exxon as part of the solution to what he calls the “risk of climate change.” But Woods in an interview says the company’s investment dollars will follow Rockefeller’s bet-on-what-you-know mantra.
At a time when most of Big Oil is restraining spending, in part because of uncertainty over the future of energy markets, Exxon plans to boost expenditures every year from now until 2025. It wants to invest a total of more than $200 billion, almost all on traditional oil and gas megaprojects around the world, from Brazil to Papua New Guinea. The company has no plans to follow global rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell, Total, and BP into wind, solar, or battery storage.
“It’s about finding the advantaged barrels, the profitable barrels, the barrels that we’d be happy with, irrespective of where we’re at in the price cycle,” Woods says.
The way the Exxon chief sees it, the world’s energy consumption is growing at such a fast rate that even in the unlikely scenario that all cars are electric in 2040, oil demand would be the same then as it was in 2013. So investing when others are pulling back should pay off, he says.
The risk, of course, is that Exxon gets caught on the wrong side of history, producing fossil fuels that consumers don’t need, that governments don’t want, and that are a major cause of climate change. Those prospects have made many investors wary. “If you look back historically there have been a lot of industries that have disappeared because change has swallowed them up,” says Brian Rice, a portfolio manager at California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which manages $225 billion including Exxon shares. “I can’t imagine oil and gas going away completely, but it’s evolving.”
None of the majors detail their spending on renewable energy, but the difference in their strategic positioning is marked. Royal Dutch Shell Plc has pledged to invest in wind projects in the Netherlands. It plans to offer hydrogen refueling and electric car charging stations and will supply power to retail customers in the U.K. BP Plc is investing in solar, and Total SA in battery manufacturing. Norway’s state-controlled oil company recently changed its name to Equinor ASA from Statoil to indicate its post-petroleum future.
Exxon has no expertise in renewables, Woods says, so despite the role they have in the world’s energy mix, the company won’t be investing in them. Its renewable efforts are largely focused on developing proprietary technology in-house, including an algae-based fuel that could power heavy-duty vehicles.
“Society has aspirations for economic growth, reliable and affordable energy, and environment protection,” Woods said at the annual meeting. “We see our role as helping close the gap between what people want and what can be responsibly done.”
Higher long-term spending on traditional projects isn’t what investors want now, and it’s evident in Exxon’s stock market performance. Shares are down 2 percent over the past three years even as Brent crude, the international benchmark, has climbed 19 percent. And now the company is close to the once unthinkable—losing its position as the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company. Its market value lead over Shell has narrowed to about $55 billion, from $128 billion a year ago.
“The market wants disciplined spending, they want return of cash flow, and, effectively, Exxon is off-cycle,” says Mark Stoeckle, who manages $2.4 billion including Exxon shares at Adams Funds in Boston. “Exxon is spending. It’s spending more than the other integrated Big Oil companies.”
Exxon’s capital expenditures will rise roughly 40 percent by the early 2020s, to about $33 billion a year. By contrast, Shell’s spending is remaining at about $27 billion annually, while Chevron’s will top out at about $20 billion. Shell and Chevron have been open about their intentions to return money to investors through share buybacks. Woods says Exxon will only do so if there’s enough cash left after its investment in new oil and gas production.
The key areas of focus are offshore oil drilling in Brazil and Guyana, producing and processing liquefied natural gas in Mozambique and Papua New Guinea, and shale oil and gas production in the U.S. Permian Basin. “Everyone, if they had the investment opportunities that we have, they would be progressing those investment opportunities,” Woods says.
His plan is in part born out of necessity, because major investments in Canada, Russia, and the U.S. over the past decade have sputtered. Exxon spent $35 billion on U.S. gas producer XTO Energy Inc. in 2010 just as prices peaked and has invested $16 billion in Canada’s Kearl oil sands project since 2009—only to write off much of the oil reserves.
The landmark exploration deal the company signed with Russia in 2013 was supposed to take up the slack, but it was caught behind a wall of sanctions and later abandoned. As a result, Exxon’s production has dropped five of the last six years.
Woods’s new projects should reverse that trend, increasing production by about 25 percent, to 5 million barrels a day, by 2025, he says. That would be Exxon’s highest-ever production since its 1999 merger with Mobil—just in time for the peak in global oil demand many analysts are predicting sometime after 2030.
“Other companies’ returns will go up faster than theirs because they’re weighed down by this” capital expenditure, says Kevin Holt, who helps manage $934 billion at Invesco Ltd. in Houston. “They’re having to invest to make up for errors of the past.”
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/exxon-doubles-down-on-oil
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Split FERC Rejects Challenges to Mountain Valley Project
Jun 15, 2018 | E&E News PM
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Federal regulators will not reconsider their approval of a contentious natural gas pipeline across Appalachia.
In a split decision, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this afternoon denied requests for a rehearing of its October approval of the Mountain Valley pipeline, which will ship gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia.
The commission's Republican majority reaffirmed its previous determination that the 300-mile EQT Corp. project is in the public interest. FERC's two Democratic commissioners dissented, raising concerns about due process, project need and climate review. The commission has become increasingly fractured in its decisions on natural gas permits as critics call on FERC to revamp its approval process.
In her dissent, Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur argued that FERC didn't adequately assess whether the project's route makes sense. Mountain Valley follows a similar path to that of the Atlantic Coast pipeline. LaFleur says the agency should have considered an alternative to merge the two to minimize impacts. She dissented from the original approval of the projects on the same grounds (Energywire, Oct. 16, 2017).
She also raised what has become a recurring complaint about FERC's climate analyses. She argued that the agency should have done more to assess the impacts of downstream greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project.
"As I have said before, much of the majority's criticism simply reflects the fact that consideration of climate change in our pipeline reviews is difficult," she wrote today. "I agree that consideration of climate change is difficult. However, I do not believe that the difficulty of considering climate change relieve us of the obligation to consider climate change impacts as part of our environmental review."
Commissioner Richard Glick voiced similar frustrations, slamming the majority for its assessment of project need and its treatment of climate issues.
The commission's approval of Mountain Valley is already subject to a slew of litigation. Today's final rehearing decision is expected to trigger more.
https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2018/06/15/stories/1060084719
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Oil Play Ditched in '90s Gets Revival from EOG, Conoco
Jun 15, 2018 | Bloomberg
By Alex Nussbaum
The next frontier for U.S. oil’s resurgence may come on familiar terrain.
The Austin Chalk, a vast underground ribbon of rock along the Gulf Coast, is garnering new attention this year, with drillers including ConocoPhillips and EOG Resources Inc. trumpeting efforts in an area the industry largely wrote off 20 years ago. Just last week, private-equity giant Blackstone Group LP sold royalty rights in the region for more than $400 million.
The revival is the latest testament to the oil industry’s improved health, with crude prices near $70 a barrel after a painful three-year slump. Explorers are betting the kind of drilling techniques that led to a boom in U.S. shale plays can also work on the harder, more unpredictable rock in the Austin Chalk.
“It is a play that I think is going to have a lot of legs," said Bernadette Johnson, a vice-president for researcher DrillingInfo Inc.
Blackstone’s sale followed a $2.7 billion deal in March by TPG Pace Energy Holdings Corp. to buy drilling rights on 360,000 acres in the Austin Chalk and the neighboring Eagle Ford shale basin. Conoco later announced it had grabbed 211,000 more acres while Marathon Oil Corp. said in May that it had acquired a “material position" in the Louisiana portion of the play.
The Austin Chalk’s now home to “some of the most prolific and highest return wells in the company," EOG Executive Vice President Ezra Yacob told analysts on a call May 4, though he warned it’s “still pretty early" in the area’s development.
Here’s a closer look at what’s generating all the furor:What is the Austin Chalk?
It’s a 650-mile long geological formation, stretching underground from the Mexico-Texas border, through central Louisiana and into Mississippi. As the name suggests, it’s a river of underground chalk -- soaked with oil and natural gas. That differentiates it from shale plays like the Eagle Ford or Permian that have been the target of U.S. drilling in recent years.
Explorers have been tapping “The Chalk" since the 1930s, and some of the hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques that powered the U.S. oil resurgence were pioneered here. The most recent boom came in the 1990s, but since then, the region’s been eclipsed by more profitable shale plays.How much oil and gas does it hold?
In a word: Plenty.
The U.S. Energy Department estimated in April that the Austin Chalk holds about 4.1 billion barrels of crude, 18 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1 billion barrels of natural-gas liquids that are “technically recoverable" (a measure that doesn’t account for economic viability.) That’s about a third of the nearby Eagle Ford and on par with the Niobrara shale play in eastern Colorado.
But the Austin Chalk has a history of wells that start strong and decline quickly, industry consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. said in an April report. That’s particularly true in the less-explored Louisiana side, where much of the new activity is targeted. The area has a naturally fractured geology that’s more varied than shale, said Jud Walker, president at EnerVest Operating Co. The Houston driller announced a new venture with TPG Pace in March.
“It is much different than a shale play," Walker said in an interview. “The Chalk changes pretty rapidly over small distances, so you have to do a lot of geology to understand where it’s going to produce. "Why was it initially abandoned?
The Austin Chalk’s past surges came long before the heyday of "unconventional drilling," which uses fracking and other techniques to crack open underground rock and free up oil and gas.
Conventional drilling produced big gushers in the ’90s, but wells quickly petered out and the industry moved on. Experiments with unconventional drilling in the 2000s were underwhelming -- the jumbled mix of fractures and reservoirs in the chalk made underground reserves too hard to pinpoint, said DrillingInfo’s Johnson.So why are they back now?
Because drillers can, once again, afford to gamble a bit.
With West Texas Intermediate crude prices rising, explorers are more willing to bet that they can crack the Austin Chalk code. Innovations including more powerful fracturing of underground rock. longer horizontal wells and computer-guided drill bits have boosted results fivefold in some cases, Wood Mackenzie said in April.
The play overlaps the Eagle Ford in parts of Texas, and the proximity to pipelines and other infrastructure serving that shale play should also lower costs, explorers say. That’s a big attraction at a time when drillers in the Permian have been forced to sell their barrels at steep discounts to account for a lack of shipping capacity.
EOG caught the industry’s attention last year when its Eagles Ranch 14H well in Louisiana’s Avoyelles Parish produced a robust 80,000 barrels over 110 days, Wood Mackezie said.Do the economics work?
The average Austin Chalk well in Karnes County, Texas, breaks even at about $37 a barrel, Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst Tai Liu estimated in an April report.
In Louisiana, EOG’s initial experience suggests wells may cost about $10 million a piece, Wood Mackenzie said. That’s more than double the cost of some Eagle Ford projects, a hurdle drillers will have to overcome.
Louisiana chalk is about five times less permeable than rock in Texas, meaning, “you’ve got to frack it really hard to get access to that reservoir," WoodMac analyst Brandon Myers said in a phone interview. “It’s a question of ‘is there a point where you can do that huge frack and still be economical?’ That’s what they are trying to answer."What’s the industry saying?
Conoco won’t have results from pilot projects until next year. EOG, meanwhile, plans to complete 25 more Austin Chalk wells this year and sees further growth ahead, Yacob said on the May call. He declined to estimate the ultimate size of the opportunity.
Developing this play is “not quite as straightforward" as others, Yacob said. “It is different and it’s unique."
Marathon, meanwhile, is still in the appraisal stage of its Louisiana push, CEO Tillman told analysts in May. “Until we are able to get out in the field, do the necessary technical work and get some wells down, we don’t really know what we have here," he said. “But it’s exciting."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-14/next-big-thing-for-u-s-drillers-is-a-play-jilted-20-years-ago
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Lyondellbasell Looking to Control Braskem; Could Help W.Va. Cracker
Jun 18, 2018 | Kallanish Energy
Chemical giant LyondellBasell Industries and Odebrecht SA, the controlling owner of petrochemicals producer Braskem, said Friday they have entered into exclusive talks for Lyondell to acquire control of Braskem, numerous media reported.
Sources tell Kallanish Energy, a takeover could be good news for West Virginia and the Appalachian Basin.
A deal could breathe life into the ethane cracker Braskem proposed for a site near Parkersburg, W.Va., roughly five years ago.
“LyondellBasell is running out of land in Texas, and this deal could give them land they need to expand,” one source told Kallanish Energy. “It will be a while (for a deal to be consummated), but everything is pointing to the (West Virginia) cracker.”
Two people familiar with the LyondellBasell-Odebrecht matter told Reuters the companies are planning a cash and stock deal that could top $9 billion.
LyondellBasell and Odebrecht expect to reach a final deal in two months, but there is no deadline yet for LyondellBasell to deliver a binding proposal, the sources told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The sources said Odebrecht expects a premium over Braskem’s market capitalization, which was $8.93 billion at last Thursday’s market close.
Once LyondellBasell and Odebrecht reach an agreement on price, the acquirer will extend the same terms for the stake owned by state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, known as Petrobras, Braskem’s No. 2 shareholder, the sources told Reuters.
According to Braskem, Odebrecht controls 50.1% of the voting shares in the company, while Petrobras controls 47%.
Petrobras previously said it planned to divest fully from its stake in Braskem, as the company continues to whittle away at its massive corporate debt, once the largest in the upstream industry.
LyondellBasell and privately held Odebrecht declined to comment on details of the deal. Petrobras said in a filing it had been informed of talks.
Most of LyondellBasell’s 55 plants are in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including 14 of 22 in the U.S. in Texas — a footprint complementary to that of Braskem, which has 29 plants in Brazil, five in the U.S., four in Mexico and two in Germany.
“The discussions are preliminary and no agreements have been reached,” the two companies said, in a statement. “There can be no assurance the discussions will result in a transaction or on what terms any transaction may occur.”
https://www.kallanishenergy.com/2018/06/18/lyondellbasell-looking-to-control-braskem-could-help-w-va-cracker/
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Vote Set on Bills to Boost Onshore Energy Production
Jun 18, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Kellie Lunney and Jennifer Yachnin
Legislation that aims to boost onshore energy independence and streamline the permitting process is on the schedule for Wednesday's House Natural Resources Committee markup.
The panel will vote on four bills introduced just last week from a trio of Western Republican lawmakers: Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, John Curtis of Utah and Steve Pearce of New Mexico.
Cheney's bill, the "Removing Barriers to Energy Independence Act," would allow the Interior secretary to levy fees to recoup the cost of processing administrative protests for oil and gas lease sales as well as drilling permit and right-of-way applications.
"The energy industry, the lifeblood of our economy in Wyoming, has been severely burdened by lengthy and often frivolous protests on energy projects," Cheney said.
The Wyoming Republican said her H.R. 6087 would "level the playing field" by helping "relieve this burden by requiring a small fee in order to file a protest."
During a recent congressional hearing, Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Katharine MacGregor testified that protests were on the rise: In fiscal 2012, 17 percent of lease sale parcels faced administrative protests, she said, compared with 88 percent of those leases in fiscal 2017.
The "Streamlining Permitting Efficiencies in Energy Development Act" would amend the Mineral Leasing Act to address projects with a small environmental footprint. H.R. 6088, sponsored by Curtis, seeks to expedite the permit process to "create new economic development opportunities in rural communities across the district," the Utah Republican said.
Pearce last Thursday introduced two bills — the "Common Sense Permitting Act" and the "Ending Duplicative Permitting Act" — H.R. 6106 and 6107, respectively (E&E News PM, June 15).
H.R. 6106 would attempt to streamline oil and gas permitting by amending the 2005 Energy Policy Act to clarify "the authorized categorical exclusions and authorize additional categorical exclusions" within the process.
Pearce's other bill would reduce regulations for drilling federally owned subsurface minerals on nonfederal surface land. It would stipulate that the Bureau of Land Management not require drilling permits for such activities conducted on "non-federal surface estate to access subsurface mineral estate that is less than 50 percent federally owned."
Pearce said that "the Bureau of Land Management's inability to timely permit energy activities is costing New Mexico thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue."
The Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a legislative hearing earlier this month on the four bills, featuring testimony from New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) (E&E Daily, June 7).
Martinez said her state loses about $2 million a day, or $713 million annually, in potential oil and gas revenue because of permitting periods that last an average of 250 days.
But during the same June 6 hearing, Democrats disparaged the bills as ways to reduce public input on federal land-use policies.
"My biggest concern is a common theme that runs through all of them and through this administration's approach to oil and gas on public lands. Simply put, that theme is: Let the industry do whatever it wants and keep the public in the dark," said subcommittee ranking member Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.). "It appears to be a guiding principle."
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2018/06/18/stories/1060084775
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(ACC Mentioned) Fear And Frustration Over EPA Move To Kill Chemical-Disaster Protections
Jun 15, 2018 | KACU
By Rebecca Hersher
The Environmental Protection Agency intends to block an Obama-era proposal and effectively shield companies from scrutiny about how they prevent and respond to chemical disasters. At a hearing Thursday, agency officials got an earful from dozens of people who live and work near refineries and chemical facilities across the country.
Grandmothers, teachers, firefighters and community activists traveled to Washington, D.C., to urge the agency to block the proposal. Representatives from industry groups countered that they're already doing enough to keep people safe and that companies don't need more oversight.
Obama-era rules require companies to routinely disclose which hazardous chemicals they use, share information with emergency planners, submit to outside audits and publish reports on the root causes of explosions and leaks. The regulations were supposed to take effect in March 2017, but earlier that year, groups representing the chemical and petroleum industries petitionedthe EPA to reconsider.
Last month, after delaying the rules, the agency announced that it intends to block most of them from ever taking effect. But that decision isn't final pending public comment.
At the time, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the plan would "reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, address the concerns of stakeholders and emergency responders on the ground, and save Americans roughly $88 million a year."
The reaction from many people who live or work near chemical facilities was immediate.
"With all due respect to Scott Pruitt, he's never lost 15 firefighter friends," Tommy Muska, the mayor of West, Texas, told the Austin American-Statesman. "I'm as pro-business as anyone, but some things are way, way, way more important than too much regulation, and that includes the safety of these chemical plants."
In 2013, an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West killed 15 firefighters, injured at least 200 people and destroyed much of the town.
The Insurance Council of Texas estimated that the blast caused upward of $100 million in property damage. The cost of federal FEMA assistance alone to rebuild topped $16 million.
At Thursday's hearing at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., representatives from the American Petroleum Institute and American Chemistry Council, both industry groups, argued that rolling back the new regulations is the right thing to do. They said this is partly because companies that use dangerous chemicals already have profit and regulatory incentives to prevent disasters.
Requiring companies to, for example, submit to third-party audits or routinely analyze whether there are new and safer technologies available "would have imposed a vague and significant burden" said Ron Chittim, a spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute. Bill Erny of the American Chemistry Council added that an analysis by his industry group found that only a small percentage of facilities were responsible for the majority of accidents, and argued that sites that haven't reported problems shouldn't face tighter regulations.
But this "bad apple" idea ignores the importance of preparing for leaks and other disasters, local emergency planners say.
"The entire community is responsible for preparedness. That means the entire community needs to understand the risks to the community," Timothy Gablehouse, who leads a local emergency planning committee outside Denver, told the EPA panel. "The response does not begin at the 911 call."
He and others cited the deaths of first responders in West, Texas as well as Hurricane Harvey-caused fires at the Arkema chemical plant outside Houston last year. Police and other first responders involved in the Arkema incident said they were exposed to toxic fumes partly because local officials didn't have enough information about what was stored at the plant, and how to handle an emergency like the one that unfolded during the storm.
The rules the EPA wants to rescind would require companies to disclose information to local emergency planners about the types and amounts of hazardous chemicals at their facilities. In their petition to the EPA, industry groups say disclosing such information "could expose vulnerabilities to terrorists and others who may target refineries, chemical plants and other facilities."
The chemical and oil industries have a long history of opposing anti-terror regulations that require them to switch to safer technologies.
Many workers at refineries and chemical facilities also oppose the EPA's proposal.
"The regulations need to be reformed," says Mike Smith, a longtime operator at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, Calif., and a current local representative of the United Steelworkers Union. In 2012, the refinery he worked at caught fire, injuring six employees and sending thousands of nearby residents to the hospital with breathing problems.
California subsequently updated state safety regulations with many of the same requirements now being rescinded at the federal level, including requirements that companies conduct investigations into the root cause of disasters and routinely update their facilities with new, safer technologies.
"Shutting down the plant to fix something is better than a catastrophic event that can cost not only the company money and put us in danger ... put the community in danger," Smith says.
"If industries were authentic in their pursuit of justice for the communities, they would listen to the voices of the residents. The residents are also the workers, a lot of the time," says Mildred McClain, a community organizer who traveled to D.C. to represent families living near industrial sites around Savannah, Ga. She says it's the EPA's responsibility to push companies to protect workers and residents, because the companies are driven by profit.
"We're just trying to protect ourselves. We're just asking for information about the chemicals in our neighborhoods," McClain says. If the EPA goes ahead with its proposal, she predicts, "The companies will just keep saying 'I'm meeting the EPA standard' while the community members are saying, 'But we're sick, we still smell stuff and we still don't have a concrete plan as to what we'd do if there was a major disaster.' "
The EPA is taking public comments on the new chemical disaster regulations until July 30, and expects to make a final decision later this year.
http://kacu.org/post/fear-and-frustration-over-epa-move-kill-chemical-disaster-protections
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Jun 15, 2018 | Houston Public Media
By Travis Bubenik
Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña said the EPA’s move to roll back chemical safety reforms that were proposed after the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas would make it harder for his department to respond to such incidents.
“It’s counter-intuitive and it’s really unreasonable,” Peña said.
After the 2013 explosion, the Obama Administration announced tougher safety rules on facilities that store chemicals. The changes required companies to be more transparent about potential hazards and how chemicals are stored.
The updated rules never went into effect: the EPA under Administrator Scott Pruitt delayed the changes until 2019. Then in May, the EPA released a new version of the proposal that did away with some of the transparency requirements, after industry groups argued those requirements would lead to “significant” security risks.
The new rule keeps a requirement for companies to share emergency plans with local authorities, but allows flexibility on details that could pose security risks.
Still, Peña argues that communities near chemical facilities have a “right to know” about nearby hazards, and that the EPA’s new proposal could make it harder to deal with fires or explosions at chemical plants.
“We have to make operational decisions based on the risk factors that exist in communities,” he said, “and if we’re not privy to the information, it makes it very difficult to assess the risk in a community, it makes it very difficult to pre-plan a response.”
The EPA didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The trade group American Chemistry Council has said it supports the new chemical safety rules. In a statement in May, the group’s policy advocate Mike Walls said the update “fixes the serious problems created by misguided changes that were hastily adopted during the final days of the Obama Administration.”
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/06/15/291244/houstons-fire-chief-says-epa-is-going-in-the-wrong-direction-on-chemical-safety-rules/
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BLM Must Set Aside New Mexico Leases, Repeat Environmental Review, Says Court
Jun 15, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
A federal district court judge in New Mexico has ruled that until an environmental review is redone, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) must set aside 13 oil and natural gas leases in the San Juan Basin that cover nearly 20,000 acres of the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF).
According to court records, 13 parcels of federal minerals covering 19,788 acres were reviewed by Interior’s U.S. Forest Service before they were auctioned by BLM in October 2015. By comparison, SFNF totals more than 1.56 million acres.
In U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, Judge M. Christina Armijo on Thursday agreed with some of the arguments set forth by a coalition of environmental groups in the case San Juan Citizens Alliance et al v. BLM et al, No. 16-cv-376.
Specifically, Armijo said BLM had failed to adequately consider the impacts the leases would have on downstream greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change, and had also not taken a "hard look" at the leases' cumulative impact on water quantity.
"The court concludes that BLM's failure to estimate the amount of GHG emissions, which will result from consumption of the oil and gas produced as a result of development of wells on the leased areas, was arbitrary," Armijo wrote. "This error also requires that BLM reanalyze the potential impact of such GHG on climate change in light of the recalculated amount of emissions in order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act."
However, Armijo disagreed with plaintiffs' assertion that BLM had failed to adequately consider mitigation measures related to the leases, or that it improperly relied on an Air Resources Technical Report when it issued them. She also rejected claims that BLM failed to analyze the cumulative impacts to air, groundwater and surface water quality. Armijo did not address the cumulative impacts of lease development on specific resources.
The coalition of environmental groups that sued over the leases in May 2016 includes the San Juan Citizens Alliance, WildEarth Guardians, Amigos Bravos, Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment and the Sierra Club.
http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/114743-blm-must-set-aside-new-mexico-leases-repeat-environmental-review-says-court
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House Democrats criticize Pruitt's NAAQS reform effort
Jun 15, 2018 | Inside EPA
A group of 71 House Democrats is criticizing EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's May 9 memo making sweeping changes to the process of setting national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), saying the reforms will undermine public health protections by requiring consideration of non-health issues in NAAQS reviews.
The group, led by Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), in a June 14 letter to Pruitt expresses “deep concern” with the memo's requirement that the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), which advises EPA on setting NAAQS, consider “adverse social, economic, or energy effects related to NAAQS” during the standard-setting process.
Although CASAC has a statutory duty to offer advice on these issues -- which it has never discharged -- EPA has previously held that this is a separate responsibility from setting NAAQS themselves, according to Supreme Court precedent. The high court held in its 2001 unanimous decision in Whitman v. American Trucking Associations that EPA cannot consider implementation issues like cost and feasibility when setting NAAQS.
At least two former CASAC chairmen, in interviews with Inside EPA, have raised concerns about the memo and its effects, including the potential consideration of costs.
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set NAAQS at a level requisite to protect public health with an “adequate margin of safety.” But the lawmakers say, “Allowing the consideration of factors other than health in setting future NAAQS would not only result in inadequate standards that would cause undue harm to the health of millions of Americans, it would also set a dangerous precedent for setting EPA standards.”
“Using the CASAC as the vehicle to make this change is also very concerning given your decision to bar scientists that receive agency funding from acting on advisory boards. This action diminishes the input from the world’s best scientists and we fear it will advantage the economic arguments of industry to the detriment of public health,” the lawmakers say.
They further accuse Pruitt of a “stratagem” to intentionally confuse the NAAQS-setting process and the need to consider non-health factors. They say, “formally directing CASAC to consider non-health factors during the standard-setting process, before final standards are adopted -- is highly objectionable."
The lawmakers call on Pruitt to withdraw the “improper charge” to CASAC contained in the memo “at once,” and “make clear that CASAC -- and EPA -- will remain focused exclusively on the adverse public health effects” when setting NAAQS.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/house-democrats-criticize-pruitts-naaqs-reform-effort
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Harvard Scientists: Trump Environmental Policies Could Result in 80,000 More Deaths per Decade
Jun 16, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Avery Anapol
A new essay from two Harvard University scientists concluded that the Trump administration’s environmental policies could result in an additional 80,000 deaths per decade.
The research, from public health economist David Cutler and biostatistician Francesca Dominici, pointed specifically to the health impacts of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) policies on air pollutants and toxic chemicals.
“This sobering statistic captures only a small fraction of the cumulative public health damages associated with the full range of rollbacks and systemic actions proposed by the Trump administration,” the scientists said.
The essay was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association as a commentary, not a formal peer-reviewed paper, but it uses the EPA’s own data to make its argument. The EPA pushed back on the findings, saying they were “not scientific.”
“This is not a scientific article, it’s a political article. The science is clear, under President Trump greenhouse gas emissions are down, Superfund sites are being cleaned up at a higher rate than under President Obama, and the federal government is investing more money to improve water infrastructure than ever before,” an EPA spokesperson told Bloomberg.
The essay accuses President Trump of working to make the air "dirtier" in order to benefit industry.
"A central feature of his agenda is environmental damage: making the air dirtier and exposing people to more toxic chemicals," the scientists claim. "The beneficiaries, in contrast, will be a relatively few well-connected companies."
The EPA, under scandal-ridden Administrator Scott Pruitt, has moved to roll back numerous environmental policies, including former President Obama’s landmark Clean Power Plan and multiple regulations intended to curb fuel emissions and maintain water quality. The rollbacks are part of Trump's push to deregulate industry.
This week, the EPA took a step toward rewriting the Obama-era Clean Water Rule to make it more industry-friendly.
Trump has also pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement and praised Pruitt for the EPA’s regulatory rollbacks, which were a major part of his campaign promises.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/392597-harvard-scientists-trump-environmental-policies-could-result-in
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Hearing Seeks to Put 'Background' Ozone at Forefront
Jun 18, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Sean Reilly
As EPA nears completion of a regulatory milestone for its 2015 ground-level ozone standard, a Thursday hearing could furnish a glimpse into how the agency has factored "background" levels of the toxic gas into its enforcement regimen.
The issue was a major rallying point for critics of the agency's decision three years ago to tighten that standard to 70 parts per billion. They questioned whether Western states in particular would be penalized for ozone concentrations outside of their control.
The hearing by the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Environment — billed as offering "state perspectives on regulating background ozone" — could yield a range of views on how the agency has accounted for the phenomenon in making nonattainment designations for the 2015 standard.
Witnesses include Arizona's air quality chief, scientists from a national environmental group and a Colorado-based consulting firm, and the executive director of the regional governmental council for the San Antonio area, which is anxiously awaiting EPA's decision on its attainment status.
Background ozone can result from stratospheric intrusions or emissions wafting into the United States from other countries. Its potential impact has been acknowledged by EPA.
While most "modeled exceedances" of federal ozone standards stem from local and regional emissions, there are cases where background sources are largely responsible for pushing concentrations over the line, agency officials wrote in the final 2015 rule setting the 70 ppb standard.
They outlined several options for relief, including provisions that effectively give a break for exceedances related to foreign sources and those caused by "exceptional events" outside the control of state and local regulators.
Ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, is spawned by the reaction of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides in sunlight. It's linked to asthma attacks in children and worsened breathing problems in adults with emphysema and other chronic respiratory diseases.
In tightening the standard from 75 ppb to 70 ppb, EPA officials cited their legal obligation to protect public health in light of growing research on ozone's health effects.
The area attainment designations, which were statutorily all supposed to be completed by last October, are important because they start the clock for states to come up with cleanup plans for areas that out of compliance.
With prodding from the courts, EPA has belatedly finished the designations for all of the U.S. except for an eight-county area in and around San Antonio. Under a court order, that decision is due by July 17.
State and local officials, eager to avoid a nonattainment designation for heavily populated Bexar County at the area's center, blame some of their ozone problems on pollution from Mexico. EPA has so far rejected their argument that those emissions are having a major effect on compliance efforts.
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2018/06/18/stories/1060084769
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