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ACC PM 25/07/18
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(ACC Mentioned) San Francisco Approves Plastic Straw Ban
Jul 25, 2018 | AP (In E&E Greenwire)
By Janie Har
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to ban plastic straws, after a similar ban went into effect in Seattle this month. -
(ACC Mentioned) GOP to Bus in Counter-Protesters to Thursday’s Debate, Says Roskam “In the Fight of His Life”
Jul 24, 2018 | CapitolFax.com
By Rich Miller
Democrats are now a little better than 50-50 to win the House. -
(ACC Mentioned) Juncker Packs Some Trade ‘Suggestions’ in His Suitcase
Jul 25, 2018 | Politico
By Adam Behsudi
JUNCKER PACKS SOME TRADE ‘SUGGESTIONS’ IN HIS SUITCASE: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will come to Washington today bearing two “suggestions” on how the United States and European Union can smooth out trade relations and avoid a massive escalation with potential U.S. tariffs on automobiles. -
Report: ‘Law and order’ Trump Soft on Corporate Offenders
Jul 25, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Tami Abdollah
While Donald Trump has positioned himself as a tough, “law and order” president, he has mostly excluded one group of offenders from his sights: those of the corporate class, according to a report released Wednesday by Washington-based watchdog Public Citizen. -
TSCA 'Problem Formulations' Consultation Extended
Jul 25, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has extended by three weeks its consultation on the ‘problem formulations’ for the first ten substances subject to risk evaluation under the recently amended TSCA. -
(ACC Mentioned) Academy of Pediatrics: Reduce Kids Exposure to Food Additives
Jul 25, 2018 | MassLive
By Anne-Gerard Flynn
Concerned about what is added to food during processing as well as how packaging may contaminate food, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy statement on how pediatricians can help families reduce exposure and lobby for more regulation. -
House Committee Advances Bill to Abolish IRIS
Jul 25, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, Space and Technology has approved a bill to eliminate the EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). -
Life Comes At You PFAS
Jul 25, 2018 | Politico
By Kelsey Tamborrino
LIFE COMES AT YOU PFAS: EPA will hear today from Pennsylvania residents affected by toxic nonstick chemicals, known as PFAS, at the agency’s second public meeting on the topic. -
The Energy 202: Chemicals dumped Decades Ago Still Haunt This West Virginia Town
Jul 25, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Dino Grandoni
In Washington, so much of the focus on the Environmental Protection Agency has concerned the spending and managing habits of its former administrator, Scott Pruitt. -
Commission's EDC Roadmap Must Cover Cosmetics, says SCCS
Jul 25, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
The European Commission's roadmap for endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) needs to address the compliance "impasse" created by the EU's ban on animal testing for cosmetics ingredients, a top Commission expert has said. -
EU Tattoo Ink Restriction Proposal ‘Not Fit for Purpose’
Jul 25, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
An EU proposal to restrict certain chemicals in tattoo inks and permanent make-up (PMU) under REACH is "not fit for purpose", Anec, the European consumer voice in standardisation, has said. -
Trump Accomplished American Energy Dominance — Then Gambled It On a Trade War
Jul 25, 2018 | The Hill - Opinion
By Merrill Matthews
China and the United States launched the opening salvos in a trade war July 6 that had been brewing for months. America imposed a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion of Chinese goods. -
Big Oil Supports Curbelo Bill — Kind Of
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Nick Sobczyk
Several oil companies have offered praise — but not an explicit endorsement — for the carbon tax bill introduced Monday by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.). -
EPA to Send Revamped Power Plant Rule to OMB Next Month
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
EPA is wrapping up a proposed rulemaking package that targets the Obama-era rule for reducing carbon dioxide emissions at new power plants, according to a court filing late yesterday. -
Groups Allege EPA Oil & Gas Enforcement Favored Pruitt's Home State
Jul 25, 2018 | Inside EPA
The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) is urging EPA enforcement officials to target three Oklahoma-based oil and gas companies for future penalties, alleging that the companies escaped penalties under former Administrator Scott Pruitt, while companies based in other states have paid millions in fines and cleanups for similar violations. -
(ACC Mentioned) Senate Finance Proposes 'Clean' Tax Title for FAA
Jul 25, 2018 | Politico
By Stephanie Beasley
SIGHS OF RELIEF: After months of anxious speculation that extraneous tax riders could sink the FAA bill, Finance Committee Republicans have circulated a “clean” tax title that does nothing but change the dates from the last FAA bill. -
Lawmakers Want Safety Provisions in Shuster Bill
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Maxine Joselow
Nearly 50 members of Congress are urging House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) to include safety provisions in any upcoming infrastructure legislation. -
Kavanaugh's Answers To Senators Detail Criticism Of Obama EPA Policies
Jul 25, 2018 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's is highlighting rulings he authored as an an appellate judge that faulted the merits of the Obama EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) emissions trading program and its failure to consider costs in setting power plants mercury and air toxics standards (MATS), according to his responses to senators' questions. -
Boost for Industry as BLM Shuns Environmental Offsets
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Michael Doyle
Energy companies will save money, regulators will lose leverage and some federal agencies will march to different drummers under the Bureau of Land Management's newly announced end to compensatory mitigation. -
Md. Lawmakers Urge EPA to Reverse 'Good Neighbor' Rejection
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Maxine Joselow
Maryland's congressional delegation is urging acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to reconsider the agency's planned rejection of "good neighbor" petitions seeking a federal crackdown on ozone-forming pollution.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News
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Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Transportation and Infrastructure News
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(ACC Mentioned) San Francisco Approves Plastic Straw Ban
Jul 25, 2018 | AP (In E&E Greenwire)
By Janie Har
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to ban plastic straws, after a similar ban went into effect in Seattle this month.
The San Francisco measure would also ban carryout containers and wrappers that were treated with fluorinated chemicals. Supporters of the ban say the chemicals can be dangerous and don't leave the product once it's thrown away.
"It's become so habitual for places to utilize these, it's adding significantly to our environmental degradation," said supervisor Ahsha Safaí.
The measure requires one more approval, which is expected to come next week.
A spokesman for the American Chemistry Council said the measure for the chemicals is unnecessary. He said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deemed them safe.
"This potential ban is unnecessary, contrary to sound science and will provide no further benefits to public health or the environment," Jonathan Corley said.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060091085/search?keyword=%22american+chemistry+council%22
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Jul 24, 2018 | CapitolFax.com
By Rich Miller
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball today…
— Democrats are now a little better than 50-50 to win the House. This is the first time this cycle we’ve gone beyond 50-50 odds on a House turnover.
— We’re making 17 House ratings changes this week, all in favor of the Democrats.
US Rep. Peter Roskam’s district was moved from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up.”
* From the Chicago Republican Party…
Counter-protest for Peter Roskam, this Thursday
Peter Roskam is in the fight of his life and he needs our help this Thursday. His race was just changed from “Likely Republican” to “Toss-up”. If we hope to keep this district from turning Blue in November, we need to match the other side’s intensity right now.
We just got wind that the Democrats are planning to protest at the sold-out debate between Peter and his opponent this Thursday evening in Chicago. They’re planning on having over 100 people there. This is a perfect opportunity for us to show we are ready to fight. Can you come show your support for Peter outside the event this Thursday?
We are gathering with our signs at the north east corner of Jackson and Clark (courtyard of the Federal Building) across from the Union League Club (65 Jackson Blvd, Chicago) where the debate is taking place starting at 4:30 PM and going until the debate starts at 6 PM.
We’re also having a bus take supporters from the suburbs to downtown and back! We’re meeting in Wheaton at 3:15 PM and plan on having everyone back by 7:15. If you’d like to take the bus, let us know and we’ll send you more details!
We can’t let the Democrats’ protest go unanswered, especially on such an important debate night!
* Speaking of the debate, here’s Shia Kapos…
Thursday’s Lincoln Forum debate between Republican Rep. Peter Roskam and Democratic challenger Sean Casten is sold out. The event was only supposed to have 100 audience guests, ideally supporters evenly split between the two candidates. But when tickets went on sale, Casten’s supporters gobbled them up. Lincoln Forum co-founders Pat Brady, the former state GOP chairman, and Eric Adelstein, a Dem strategist, decided out of fairness to sell an additional 70 tickets to Roskam supporters. “The Lincoln Forum is nonpartisan and we have a duty to have a balanced room,” Brady said.
I’m told that Casten’s campaign manager bought a big block of tickets, so this reaction seems reasonable to me.
* But check out Casten’s response via press release…
Organizers of Thursday’s debate originally proposed 100 tickets sales, the parties agreed, and both candidates were informed simultaneously of the procedures for online sale. Those 100 seats sold quickly. Thereafter, Peter Roskam expressed concern that more tickets had been purchased by Casten supporters, and insisted upon an additional ticket allotment exclusively for his campaign as a condition to participate. The debate organizers complied, providing Roskam’s campaign with access to a secret stash of 70 additional tickets to the sold-out debate.
“Sixth District residents are clamoring to hear Peter Roskam defend his actions in Washington D.C. When given an opportunity — at $33 per ticket versus free of charge — they jumped. Our campaigns agreed to rules for this debate, but now Peter Roskam wants to change them after the fact in his favor.”
“We still eagerly look forward to the debate on Thursday, but Peter Roskam should agree right now to more debates at home in larger, free venues so all Sixth District residents have a fair and open opportunity to hear about our campaigns. If Peter Roskam is afraid of his own constituents, how can we expect him to stand up to Donald Trump?”
Sigh.
* On to another topic…
Anyone watching their TV recently may have been startled to see—months earlier than most political spots usually arrive—a TV ad promoting the accomplishments of U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Wheaton.
The ad now has disappeared from the airwaves. But consider it an omen of what’s to come. […]
The [$209K American Chemistry Council] ad hails Roskam’s work on behalf of the tax bill that Congress approved under strong pleadings by President Donald Trump. The congressman “fought to reform our nation’s tax code to lower taxes for middle class families so they can keep more of their hard earned money,” said ACC President and CEO Cal Dooley in a statement. “His leadership on tax reform has also benefited businesses by allowing them to reinvest in their employees in Illinois and across America.”
Casten’s campaign sees it a lot differently.
It emphasizes that the chemistry council’s members include units of major petroleum companies including BP, Chevron, Occidental and Total, all of which received big benefits from the tax bill. Roskam further voted to open oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and restrict federal limits on methane emissions in oil drilling on federal land, it says. More generally, says Casten, “As a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, Peter Roskam has done a lot of favors for big corporations—not the least of which was giving them billions of dollars in tax cuts in the tax bill he authored. Now these corporate PACs are repaying him for those favors—and hoping for more.”
https://capitolfax.com/category/illinois/pundit-rankings/
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(ACC Mentioned) Juncker Packs Some Trade ‘Suggestions’ in His Suitcase
Jul 25, 2018 | Politico
By Adam Behsudi
JUNCKER PACKS SOME TRADE ‘SUGGESTIONS’ IN HIS SUITCASE: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will come to Washington today bearing two “suggestions” on how the United States and European Union can smooth out trade relations and avoid a massive escalation with potential U.S. tariffs on automobiles.
One of the ideas he’ll present today calls for the U.S., EU, Japan, South Korea and other nations that are significant makers of autos and auto parts to negotiate a "plurilateral" agreement aimed at reducing tariffs on those products to zero. Such a setup would pressure other major auto-producing countries to lower tariffs. It would also avoid a situation where only the EU and U.S. lower tariffs, allowing other countries to “free ride” and reap the benefits under World Trade Organization “most-favored nation” rules, a senior European official told reporters on Tuesday.
The other idea would involve negotiating a limited U.S.-EU free trade agreement focused on industrial tariffs. Under such a pact, the U.S. and the EU could eliminate tariffs on each other's auto exports, but they wouldn't be obliged to provide duty-free treatment for other countries. That's because the agreement would be large enough to fit the WTO requirement of covering substantially all trade between the U.S. and the EU, the official said.
Give and take: Whatever the option, Juncker will be firm about making any negotiation dependent on President Donald Trump withdrawing steel and aluminum tariffs and not proceeding with new ones on autos.
"We've been very clear. We think these are illegal tariffs. If we're going to find a way forward, if we're going to have some kind of discussion or negotiation, then obviously we think in those circumstances in order to build confidence it would be necessary to suspend the measures," the official said.
Doug has more on today’s visit here.
Will it be a success? It will definitely be tense. Juncker has been one of Europe’s most vocal critics of Trump’s trade policies. In March, he called the president’s aluminum and steel tariffs “stupid.” Warning that Europe would retaliate with tariffs on U.S. products, he added, “We can also do stupid.”
“The negotiating view of Donald Trump is unconditional surrender of the other side,” said Ivo Daalder, who served as the U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration. “If you’re a betting person, it’s not going to be a great meeting.” Read the full story from Doug and POLITICO’s Andrew Restuccia here.
IT’S WEDNESDAY, JULY 25! Welcome to Morning Trade, where your host wonders if Luxembourg’s hopping heritage will come up when Juncker meets Trump. Got any news to share? Let me know: abehsudi@politico.com or @abehsudi.
TRUMP SETS THE TONE: Trump tweeted his own expectations for today’s meeting, saying the EU is coming to Washington “to negotiate a deal on trade.”
“I have an idea for them. Both the U.S. and the E.U. drop all Tariffs, Barriers and Subsidies! That would finally be called Free Market and Fair Trade! Hope they do it, we are ready - but they won’t!” he wrote.
MALMSTRÖM WARM-UP AT USTR: EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström is also in town for the talks and spent part of Tuesday on Capitol Hill, meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan and other lawmakers.
Her schedule today includes meetings with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, who has been pushing for legislation to rein in Trump’s ability to impose tariffs to protect national security by giving lawmakers a chance to review the actions.
U.K. Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox met Tuesday with Lighthizer and is expected to outline his latest thinking on the prospects for U.S.-U.K. trade negotiations in a speech this morning at The Heritage Foundation.
DETAILS OF FARM AID PROGRAM STILL WEEKS AWAY: The Trump administration unveiled a $12 billion plan on Tuesday to help farmers and ranchers hit by trade retaliation, but agricultural producers will have to wait until Labor Day to find out just how much they might benefit from direct payments.
The Agriculture Department rolled out a three-part plan that includes payments, government purchases of excess supply and trade promotion efforts. Officials made clear that the program is temporary.
“We don’t expect this to persist into another year at all,” USDA Chief Economist Robert Johansson told reporters on a call. “This is a one-time program. That being said, some of these programs we mentioned on here, for example the food purchases as well as the trade promotion program, will take some time to develop and roll out.”
Details on the level of assistance per crop won’t be ready until early September, when USDA is expected to release the estimated rates at which it will base its payments. Additionally, farmers won’t know exactly how much assistance they are eligible for until they actually harvest their crops.
A note for all those WTO watchers: A USDA official provided some reassurance that the payments won’t push the U.S. beyond its dreaded “amber box” subsidy limits at the World Trade Organization. The U.S. agreed to a $19.1 billion cap on trade-distorting subsidies when it joined the WTO.
USDA trade counsel Jason Hafemeister said the U.S. currently reports to the WTO about $5 billion worth of domestic support that could potentially skew world trade.
“I think you can be confident that as we’ve looked at these programs, looked at our numbers, we should be below our ceiling for trade-distorting domestic support,” he said.
FARM SUBSIDIES FURTHER EXPOSE TRADE DIVIDE: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) called the trade aid plan symptomatic of a “Soviet type of economy.” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said “there isn’t anything about this that anybody should like.” And Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said the bailout “compounds bad policy with more bad policy.”
That sampling of GOP reaction further highlighted the rift between Trump and Republican lawmakers who view the president’s tariff policies as misguided and reckless.
Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch said Trump needs to find a better approach. “Rather than giving handouts, I want the president to negotiate strong deals that help our farmers, ranchers and businesses compete around the world,” the Utah Republican said on Twitter.
Buying time: Whether Trump’s actions on Tuesday will truly turn the tide for Republican free-traders to take back some of Congress’ trade authority likely depends on how farm-state Republicans react to the president’s initiative. Republican senators such as Joni Ernst of Iowa, for example, have said they are willing to give the president some leeway but worry about how much longer farmers can hold out; Trump's new payment plan could help them weather the rest of the year and get the GOP through the midterm elections. POLITICO’s Burgess Everett has the story from Capitol Hill.
PASCRELL PUSHES FOR CLARITY ON TRUMP’S TARIFF STRATEGY: New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell is searching for answers as to why and how Trump and his administration came up with its current tariffs policy — so he is introducing a formal Resolution of Inquiry this morning that, if adopted, would require the White House to hand over any documents shedding light on that process.
The resolution asks the White House to hand over to the House any draft or final documents — including reports, memos, spreadsheets and slide presentations — in the president’s possession that relate to three areas: the steel and aluminum tariffs, the tariffs stemming from China’s intellectual property violations, and any potential steps the administration is considering to mitigate the effects of the tariffs for exporters and others.
The goal is to shed light on “what, if any” strategy the Trump administration is pursuing as it relates to the tariffs, said Pascrell, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee.
“Everyone knows that the Trump administration’s tariff policy has been chaotic,” he said. “Particularly troubling to me is that congressional Republicans have shown little interest in finding out whether there is a coherent strategy.”
The resolution, a copy of which was seen by POLITICO and which will be released this morning, will be introduced in Ways and Means. The panel will then have 14 legislative days to consider it, and if no action is taken — favorable or unfavorable — it will move to the House floor.
NAFTA TALKS BACK ON THE BRAIN: NAFTA negotiations are being pushed back into motion this week, with Mexican chief NAFTA negotiator Kenneth Smith Ramos and Foreign Trade Undersecretary Juan Carlos Baker set to arrive in Washington this morning.
Mexico’s principal on the negotiations, Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo, will sit down with Lighthizer for at least one but potentially two meetings on Thursday. A source familiar with the plans said Guajardo will meet with Lighthizer in the early afternoon before taking off to meet with representatives of Mexico’s private sector. The two ministers might meet again later in the afternoon or early evening, likely depending on how the earlier meeting went, the source said.
Trump warns AMLO of a ‘different route’ on NAFTA: In a July 20 letter, Trump told incoming Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that he wanted a quick renegotiation of NAFTA, warning that otherwise he would have to “go a much different route.”
“It would not be my preference, but would be far more profitable for the United States and its taxpayers,” he said.
CHEMICAL COMPANIES PRESS TRUMP ON TARIFFS: The American Chemistry Council gets its chance today to persuade the Trump administration not to impose a 25 percent duty on an additional $2.2 billion worth of chemicals and plastics from China, after dozens of industry representatives testified Tuesday on their particular concerns.
Ed Brzytwa, director of international trade for the ACC, will argue that hitting the goods with duties will “put at risk nearly half of the $194 billion in announced investments in chemicals manufacturing that have been announced over the past decade,” according to an advance copy of his testimony. “Costs in the U.S. will go up, not just for our member companies, but also the downstream industries that buy U.S.-made chemicals, including farmers and manufacturers. These tariffs will weaken the competitiveness of the U.S. chemicals industry and the U.S. as a whole.”
Take that selfie now: Dozens of witnesses on Tuesday asked to be spared from the impending duties, which are part of Trump’s effort to pressure China over its alleged theft of intellectual property and forced technology transfers.
Those included Mark Kinzie, on behalf of electronics company Logitech, who said proposed tariffs on a “catchall” category of electronics would hit the company’s television remote controls, as well as other products like amplifiers, guitar pedals, hair removal devices and selfie sticks.
Bird, a ride-sharing company based in Venice, Calif., said the proposed 25 percent duty on the electric scooters it imports from China would put its fast-growing business at risk. “We need time to build up domestic and other supply options, and currently this action would severely hamper U.S. business and consumers without any appreciable impact on the Chinese economy,” Matthew Kopko, the company’s director of public policy, testified.
E-cigarettes and cannabis: The panel also heard from a number of vaping industry groups worried that a 25 percent tariff on e-cigarettes would discourage consumers from using their product to switch from tobacco cigarettes.
Cannabis vaping products comprise 25 percent of cannabis sales in adult- or medical-use states, said Arnaud Dumas de Rauly, co-CEO of the Blinc Group, whose customers include retailers in states where marijuana use has been legalized or approved for medical use. “Access to these products will be made virtually impossible given the current 10 to 15 percent (profit) margins. Dispensaries and retailers will stop carrying the the products, inherently forcing patients and customers who use vaporizers to use more aggressive consumption methods.” For more on that issue, click here.
INTERNATIONAL OVERNIGHT
— Mexico’s incoming administration suggested flexibility in renegotiating NAFTA, the Wall Street Journal reports.
— iPhones are growing more vulnerable in an escalating trade war with China, the Wall Street Journal reports.
— U.S. airlines will change how they refer to Taiwan, bowing to pressure from China, POLITICO reports.
— China speeds up $199 billion in domestic spending to bolster economy against trade war, the South China Morning Post reports.
— The CEO of a major Brazilian meatpacking plant says a U.S.-China trade war will benefit Brazil, Reuters reports.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-trade/2018/07/25/juncker-packs-some-trade-suggestions-in-his-suitcase-296389
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Report: ‘Law and order’ Trump Soft on Corporate Offenders
Jul 25, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Tami Abdollah
While Donald Trump has positioned himself as a tough, “law and order” president, he has mostly excluded one group of offenders from his sights: those of the corporate class, according to a report released Wednesday by Washington-based watchdog Public Citizen.
The report found that in 11 of the 12 federal agencies led by a Trump-appointed official during the president’s first year, penalties imposed on corporate violators dropped, in the majority of cases by more than 50 percent.
Penalties dropped at the Justice Department by 90 percent, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by 80 percent and the Securities and Exchange Commission by 68 percent.
The largest drop was at the Environmental Protection Agency, formerly led by Scott Pruitt, where overall penalties dropped by 94 percent, from nearly $24 billion in President Barack Obama’s last year in office to $1.5 billion. Penalties at the Federal Communications Commission dropped overall by 85 percent.
The EPA and FCC data doesn’t break out actions against corporations as well as municipalities and individuals. The FCC’s data was mostly made up of corporate offenders while the EPA’s data was mostly a mix of municipalities and corporate offenders, according to Public Citizen.
Reducing regulations on business, in general, was one of Trump’s earliest campaign promises. And the Public Citizen report found that it was indeed a promise kept.
“Despite all his various tics and tantrums, he’s a corporate CEO,” said Rick Claypool, who co-wrote the report. “So he’s coming into it with that corporate mindset, and his sympathies are going to be with the companies on the receiving end of that enforcement action.”
Claypool said he found it striking that federal agency heads are willing to work with companies to bring them into compliance and avoid harsh penalties while their attitude toward low-level drug offenses and first-time border crossings has been zero tolerance.
One example given in the report was the case of Minnesota-based Syngenta Seeds LLC. In the last full month of the Obama administration, the EPA announced it would be seeking nearly $4.9 million in penalties against the company for violating pesticide regulations meant to protect agricultural workers at its farm in Hawaii.
Two months later, in the first full month of the Trump administration, the EPA agreed to have the company’s penalty lowered to $150,000 and have it spend $400,000 on a worker safety curriculum and training program.
Of the agencies on the list, one did have a sizable increase in penalty sums. The amount of penalties issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control increased its penalty sums by 465 percent, from $22 million to $124.2 million. The increase is representative of a more overtly robust stance on the issue.
Trump has used the threat of sanctions in his diplomacy efforts, including against Chinese institutions in its dealings with telecom giant ZTE — which ultimately became a bargaining chip for Trump’s own business operations. The president also allowed the threat of sanctions to loom in a recent tweet about “consequences” against Iran for its behavior. The agency under Trump has added more than 100 people and entities connected to North Korea to its blocked persons.
And yet, enforcement actions otherwise have dropped in 10 of 12 agencies under the Trump administration in 2017, according to the Public Citizen report.
There was a 48 percent drop in enforcement actions — from 27 to 14 — during Trump’s first year in office. Enforcement dropped by 44 percent for the SEC and 39 percent for the FCC.
Since enforcement actions span years, the report credited the administration in power with the action. The researchers also noted that because these are ongoing processes that aren’t susceptible to abrupt changes, given typically unchanged career staffs, the findings are more notable.
The report was released with Violation Tracker, a corporate enforcement database produced by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First, and only included agencies with reliable public data and where a Trump-appointed leader or commission chair was in charge for at least half of 2017.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/report-law-and-order-trump-soft-on-corporate-offenders/2018/07/25/a927b060-8fcc-11e8-ae59-01880eac5f1d_story.html?utm_term=.7961482c9a12
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TSCA 'Problem Formulations' Consultation Extended
Jul 25, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has extended by three weeks its consultation on the ‘problem formulations’ for the first ten substances subject to risk evaluation under the recently amended TSCA.
The move comes after requests from four NGOs and an industry coalition for additional time to review the documents, which further refine the scope of the substances’ upcoming assessments.
The comment period now ends on 16 August.
The agency says it will "try to consider" comments received after this date, but that they may not be included in the peer-review process.
Further comments will be accepted following publication of draft risk evaluations. These must be finalised by December 2019.
https://chemicalwatch.com/68986/tsca-problem-formulations-consultation-extended
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(ACC Mentioned) Academy of Pediatrics: Reduce Kids Exposure to Food Additives
Jul 25, 2018 | MassLive
By Anne-Gerard Flynn
Concerned about what is added to food during processing as well as how packaging may contaminate food, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy statement on how pediatricians can help families reduce exposure and lobby for more regulation.
These include avoiding processed meats with nitrates, not microwaving food or beverages in plastic and avoiding the use of certain plastics.
It also calls for improved government oversight, stating that the Food and Drug Administration "does not have adequate authority to acquire data on chemicals on the market or reassess their safety for human health."
The statement, which is accompanied by a technical report, says concern over food additives has grown in recent years as studies have shown "adverse health effects."
It says some 10,000 chemicals are "allowed to be added to food and food contact materials" in the U.S. under regulations that predate scientific studies that show "chemicals used in food and food contact materials may contribute to disease and disability."
Children, it says, are particularly vulnerable because of dietary needs and hormonal development issues.
"Substantial improvements to the food additives regulatory system are urgently needed, including greatly strengthening or replacing the 'generally recognized as safe' determination process," the statement says in part.
It says previously approved chemicals need to be retested, direct additives with "limited or no toxicity data" should be labeled and the scientific basis of the FDA's safety review program updated.
In a statement to the New York Times, a spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council said chemicals are needed to "protect the quality and integrity of food" and said in "typical uses and a typical levels of exposure" did not intervene with development.
Indirect food additives cited of concern to the AAP include bisphenols used in the lining of some metal cans to prevent corrosion, phthalates that can be used during the manufacturing of such products as plastic wrap and perfluoroalkyl chemicals said to be used in grease-proof paper and packaging.
Direct food additives - meaning added during the processing of food - cited include nitrates and nitrites used for preservation and color enhancement, particularly in meats.
The statement notes that it may be particularly difficult for "low-income families to reduce their exposure to food additives of concern" because of cost and access.
It makes the following recommendations as ways to reduce exposure to its cited "food additives of concern":
Prioritize consumption of fresh or frozen fruits.
Avoid processed meats, especially maternal consumption during pregnancy.
Avoid microwaving food or beverages (including infant formula and pumped human milk) in plastic, if possible.
Avoid placing plastics in the dishwasher
Use alternatives to plastic, such as glass or stainless steel, when possible.
Look at the recycling code on the bottom of products to find the plastic type and avoid plastics with recycling codes 3 (phthalates), 6 (styrene), and 7 (bisphenols) unless plastics are labeled as biobased" or "greenware,' indicating that they are made from corn and do not contain bisphenols.
Wash hands before handling foods and/or drinks and wash all fruits and vegetables that cannot be peeled.https://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/reduce_kids_exposure_to_food_additives_says_academy_of_pediatrics.html
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House Committee Advances Bill to Abolish IRIS
Jul 25, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, Space and Technology has approved a bill to eliminate the EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).
The Improving Science in Chemical Assessments Act (HR 6468), in line with a similar bill introduced last week under a different name, seeks to reassign risk evaluations being conducted by IRIS to the relevant EPA programme office. This approach would "[ensure] that any future chemical assessments being performed are tailored to the regulatory need", according to bill sponsor Andy Biggs (R–Arizona).
The measure also aims to ensure that decisions are made using "best available science" and are based on the "weight of scientific evidence".
In an opening statement to the committee’s markup of the measure, Mr Biggs said that IRIS has "evolved into a programme plagued by inefficiencies and a lack of transparency, resulting in questionable science".
And while the programme lacks regulatory authority, its assignment of toxicity values can impact decisions made by federal, state and local authorities and have a "negative impact on the economy".
"My bill ensures that future chemical assessments will be carried out only when necessary, will be subject to proper oversight, and will rely on the best available scientific methods," said Mr Biggs.
The bill cleared the committee by a 17-13 vote. It remains under consideration by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
https://chemicalwatch.com/68989/house-committee-advances-bill-to-abolish-iris
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Jul 25, 2018 | Politico
By Kelsey Tamborrino
LIFE COMES AT YOU PFAS: EPA will hear today from Pennsylvania residents affected by toxic nonstick chemicals, known as PFAS, at the agency’s second public meeting on the topic. EPA has faced considerable backlash following a POLITICO report detailing how top Trump administration officials sought to block an HHS report that found some PFAS chemicals can pose a danger to sensitive populations at far lower levels than EPA had set as the safety threshold. The report was ultimately made public.
— Today’s “community engagement” meeting in Horsham, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, will feature remarks from Region 3 Administrator Cosmo Servidio and will update residents on ongoing PFAS research, as well as allow local government township officials and water authorities to provide insight, according to the draft agenda. The public is slated to speak beginning at 3:45 p.m. and will likely keep going into the late night. Ahead of the meeting, Servidio wrote an op-ed for PennLive, where he stressed that “PFAS is a national priority.” But if today’s meeting is anything like last month’s in New Hampshire, EPA officials can expect to hear from residents who want the agency to do more to crack down on the chemicals. Horsham has struggled with PFAS contamination suspected to be linked to firefighting foam used at nearby military installations.
Sticking point: Vulnerable Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who faces one of the most closely watched races come November, has been particularly critical of the Trump administration’s handling of the toxic chemicals. In June, Fitzpatrick — alongside Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle — called for former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to resign because of the study his administration sought to block. Both Fitzgerald and Boyle, whose districts border each other, have also called for a national PFAS water standard.
Boyle — who represents Horsham — will criticize the federal government for continuing to “study the issue and play whack-a-mole to remediate instances of contamination on a piecemeal basis after the damage has already been done,” in a video to be aired at today’s meeting, according to a copy shared with ME. Boyle himself will be in D.C. today for House votes.
WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY! I'm your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. Bracewell’s Frank Maisano was the first to correctly guess that there are nine women represented in the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection. For today: What is the largest transcontinental city? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to ktamborrino@politico.com, or follow us on Twitter @kelseytam, @Morning_Energy and @POLITICOPro.
WHEELER READY TO WHEEL AND DEAL ON RFS: Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler thinks he can bring together the warring factions on the Renewable Fuel Standard and forge a new deal. He told reporters Tuesday that the components of the old deal — a waiver to allow year-round sales of 15 percent ethanol fuel, compliance credits for exported biofuel — would not be implemented without a new package. But he thinks he can bring everyone together and if not make them all happy, then at least “make them all upset in equal amounts.” He continued, “I’ve worked on the RFS program for 20 years, I’ve worked with all the groups before. I’m talking to everybody, I’m trying to get everyone to tell me what they really need to bring them stability and to make sure we’re implementing the RFS program according to the statute.”
SORGHUM GETS RFS PATHWAY: Wheeler’s remarks follow a move Tuesday to clear a path for biodiesel and other fuels made from distilled sorghum oil to qualify for credits under the RFS, Pro’s Eric Wolff reports. Wheeler said in a statement that the “approval sets the state for more homegrown fuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard and adds diversity to our mix of biofuels in the U.S.” It will add 21 million Renewable Identification Numbers to the program, all of which can be used to comply with the advanced biofuel mandate.
— RIN focus: The House Energy and Commerce Environment Subcommittee will hold a hearing this morning on RINs under the RFS that will discuss EPA’s involvement and factors influencing the marketplace.
WHEELER ON WOTUS: SOON: That’s really it. Wheeler told reporters on Tuesday: “That is going through interagency review, hopefully coming for notice and comment soon.”
INTERIOR WON’T MAKE YOU PAY: The Interior Department will no longer require companies that have damaged public lands during development to pay to replace or maintain other natural areas, a spokeswoman confirmed to Pro’s Ben Lefebvre. Spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort said the department isn’t revoking existing plans, but instead said the practice known as “compensatory mitigation” will now be voluntary. The change follows widespread changes announced by Interior on how it enforces the Endangered Species Act, Ben reports. The Fish and Wildlife Service will officially post the proposed changes to ESA in the Federal Register today.
HEY HEY ESA: Sen. Jim Inhofe said Republicans lost on the push to include into the NDAA conference report an ESA rider that would have limited endangered species protections for the greater sage grouse and lesser prairie chicken, even though he said he used “every bit of influence I had.” “I grant you it’s probably not the most appropriate place to have it on there,” he told reporters. “You can give an argument about training areas — there is a national defense aspect to it — but nobody buys it.” Inhofe said one of the four main negotiators strongly opposed the measure’s inclusion. He didn’t name the person, but House Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith put out a statement highlighting the rider’s exclusion from the final report.
LET’S TALK CAFE: Wheeler should expect many questions on the administration’s looming actions on fuel economy standards at his Senate EPW hearing next week, according to the panel’s top Democrat. “He and I’ve talked about it several times,” Tom Carper told reporters, adding he thought it “foolish” to go after California’s waiver to set stricter standards.
About that: Wheeler said Tuesday that the U.S. needs a single standard for vehicle fuel efficiency, The Associated Press reports. “What we don’t want to see is two different standards for the country,” Wheeler said, instead calling for a “50-state solution.”
EPA: CARBON NSPS REVISION GOING TO OMB IN AUGUST: EPA told a court last night that it plans to send a proposed revision of the carbon dioxide rule for future power plants to the Office of Management and Budget next month. EPA did not detail exactly when in August the proposal will go to OMB, but adding two to three months for interagency review, an August delivery puts the proposal’s publication in the Federal Register as early as this fall. Unlike the Clean Power Plan, the New Source Performance Standard was never stayed by the courts, and has been in effect since 2015.
Although the rule’s CO2 limits for new gas-fired power plants were generally seen as achievable with combined-cycle technology, the limit for coal plants required even the most efficient new designs to utilize some level of carbon capture. Republicans and the coal industry balked, arguing that CCS technology is not commercially viable and thus can’t be required. Essentially no new coal plants have been built in recent years, and market forces alone could be enough to prevent any utilities from building new ones even if the Trump administration weakens the standard.
STRAIGHT TO DEBATE: The Senate voted Tuesday to adopt an amendment to H.R. 6147 (115) — the “minibus” package that includes the Interior-Environment title — that would require a report on DOI facilities and infrastructure damaged by 2018 volcanic eruptions. The amendment from Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz was adopted 97-1 and follows an eruption last month that damaged the Volcanoes National Park and Volcano Observatory. GOP Sen. Mike Lee was the lone “no” vote. The Senate will continue considering amendments today.
WATCH THIS SPACE: Rep. Tom Reed hosted a roundtable Tuesday with fellow Ways and Means Committee Republicans Carlos Curbelo, Darin LaHood and Erik Philip Paulsen, as well as energy industry representatives, in pursuit of a “forward-thinking and tech-neutral energy tax policy,” according to his office. Among their goals is ensuring the phase-out of existing energy tax incentives while ensuring energy innovation regardless of fuel source. Reed’s office said the session comes on the heels of multiple meetings and conversations with Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden on the topic.
HATCH ACT REHASH? Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will make a trip to Montana today, but not without drawing scrutiny from critics who say the visit could violate the Hatch Act barring federal employees from participating in partisan events. Zinke tweeted that he will attend a rally in Billings, Mont., with Vice President Mike Pence. Montana Auditor Matt Rosendale, the GOP candidate running to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, also posted a tweet — now deleted — promoting his attendance today at an event in Billings also featuring Pence. The sponsoring organization, America First Policies, is a nonprofit created by former Trump campaign aides. Interior’s Heather Swift said the Zinke-Pence event in Billings isn’t the same as the Rosendale-Pence event in Billings, adding, “It’s not a political event and it was approved by the ethics office.” America First Policies did not respond to ME’s requests for comment. Still, color Rep. Don Beyer, among others, skeptical.
GETTING THE BANDWIDTH BACK TOGETHER: Board members of the Utilities Technology Council are swarming Capitol Hill today to press an energy issue flying far below the Beltway radar: the energy needs for radio frequency spectrum. That bandwidth is particularly crucial during grid outages when crews need to coordinate restoration, and is expected to become an increasingly stressful subject as more wireless smart meters and sensors are added to the electric grid. The FCC has primary jurisdiction on how portions of spectrum are doled out, and according to UTC CEO Joy Ditto, the agency hasn’t been sympathetic to the communication needs of utilities and other power generators.
“They don’t really differentiate between us and Joe’s pizza place down the street,” she told ME. “That’s not the way the rest of the government perceives us,” she said, given the emphasis the White House and the departments of Energy and Homeland Security have put on protecting critical infrastructure like the electric grid. “Yet, when it comes to this crucial component of our communications systems, we’re not treated any differently than anyone else.” Federal utilities like the Energy Department’s power marketing administrations and the Tennessee Valley Authority are given some priority.
One of the industry’s big concerns isn’t so much that wireless interference will trigger an emergency so much as it could make some of those fancy sensors designed to keep the system operating reliably from sending data at critical times. “You’re lacking situational awareness, so if you’re lacking something on your system you may not see it,” she said. So, during the 30-40 meetings the trade group has lined up with congressional offices, their critical request is that FERC and the FCC talk more often, pursue a memorandum of understanding between the two regulators, and perhaps set up joint technical conferences, Ditto said.
TEAMWORK! House Natural Resources Committee leaders Rob Bishop and Raúl Grijalva will unveil a bill this morning that would allot 50 percent of all federal energy revenue not already directed to other purposes toward addressing the national park deferred maintenance backlog, a committee aide told ME. Their legislation would allow up to $1.3 billion annually toward the National Park Service and Public Lands Restoration Fund for five years and funds would be deposited only after other programs, like the LWCF and GOMESA, receive their allocations. Congress would approve projects annually and private sector donations to the fund would be permitted. The press conference begins at 10:30 a.m. Watch it here.
GROUPS RALLY AROUND LWCF: The Hispanic Access Foundation hosts a congressional briefing tonight on the Land and Water Conservation Fund’s importance to Latino and urban communities. One of the nation’s oldest conservation programs, the LWCF is set to expire in September and has seen support from both sides of the aisle. Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner will attend the briefing.
ROADBLOCK AHEAD: Hopes for a short-term extension of the National Flood Insurance Program could be dashed by Lee, who is refusing to accept the extension, Pro’s Zachary Warmbrodt reports. “Sen. Lee believes that another reformless extension would only enable a failed federal program and is looking at options to force reform before the deadline,” said the senator’s spokesman, Conn Carroll. As Zachary points out, there is broad, bipartisan support in the Senate for extending the program, which is set to expire on July 31.
MAIL CALL! The entire Maryland congressional delegation wants EPA to reconsider its denial of a petition requesting relief from out-of-state air pollution. “This air pollution from out-of-state power plants reacts with other atmospheric pollutants to form ozone, and move on the prevailing winds into Maryland,” they write. Read it here.
MOVER, SHAKER: Former Interior press secretary Heather Swift has been given the title senior adviser to the secretary, department spokesperson Faith Vander Voort told ME. In the new role, Swift “will focus on strategic communications and will continue to participate in media operations,” Vander Voort said. Swift will continue to perform the press secretary role until her replacement has been identified, the spokesperson added.
— Jennifer Jenkins has joined the American Wind Energy Association to assist in its effort to expand the U.S. market for distributed wind power. Previously, Jenkins was founding executive director of the Distributed Wind Energy Association.
QUICK HITS
— “Democrats who backed chemical law’s reform question EPA pivot,” Bloomberg Environment.
— “NPS scraps plan to ban sports on National Mall,” E&E News.
— “Turkey vows to keep buying Iranian oil: ‘We will not obey,’” Washington Examiner.
— “Silicon Valley to Big Oil: We can manage your data better than you,” The Wall Street Journal.
— “The $3 billion plan to turn Hoover dam into a giant battery,” The New York Times.
— “Occidental Petroleum explores sale of pipeline assets, sources say,” Reuters.
THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-energy/2018/07/25/life-comes-at-you-pfas-296784
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The Energy 202: Chemicals dumped Decades Ago Still Haunt This West Virginia Town
Jul 25, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Dino Grandoni
In Washington, so much of the focus on the Environmental Protection Agency has concerned the spending and managing habits of its former administrator, Scott Pruitt. But outside the beltway, the agency faces long-term and serious crises — regardless of who is running it.
They include the famous example of Flint, Mich., where the exposure of thousands of local children to toxic lead in their drinking water engendered nationwide outrage.
But they also include lesser-known locations such as Minden, W.Va. Washington Post reporter Brady Dennis went there to talk to local activists who say that about a third of the town's residents have died of or been diagnosed with cancer in recent years.
The cause? As signs dotting front yards in Minden attest, residents there blame polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, dumped decades ago by a defunct manufacturer of coal equipment called Shaffer Equipment Co.
Among the people there is a doctor named Ayne Amjad. She, like her fellow physician and late father Hassan before her, is attempting to document cancer cases government officials have may missed after Minden residents moved out of the town.
The EPA banned that class of industrial chemicals in 1979 as a “probable human carcinogen.” Shaffer shuttered five years later, on its way out of town burying or dumping PCB-laced oil in drums and other containers. Over the decades, the federal government has alternatively dug out contaminated soil and placed new dirt over the old Shaffer site in an effort to clean up the town.
Last summer, the town pushed the EPA to test the area again and found continued contamination. But regulators determined there was no “immediate threat to human health.”
“I can understand why people are frustrated,” Amjad told The Post. “I would only feel good if I somehow got them out of there, and I really don’t know how.”
After her father's death last summer, Amjad decided to carry on his work documenting illness in the town to someday prove Minden is a “cancer cluster,” defined as a “greater-than-expected number of cancer cases that occurs within a group of people in a defined geographic area over a period of time.”
But cancer clusters “are notoriously difficult to prove,” Dennis writes. “Hundreds of suspected clusters get reported to health officials each year, though most turn out to be statistical flukes — a random collection of cases in the same area, with no underlying cause.”
“It’s hard, because I’m not as smart as my dad. I don’t know as much as he did,” Amjad said. “My dad was very boisterous, very likable. He was able to connect to all different kinds of people.” This year, Amjad ran for Congress as a Republican but lost her primary.
Read the entire story here:NationalA father, a daughter and the search for answers in a toxic townIndustrial chemicals dumped long ago still haunt Minden, W.Va., a community beset by cancer and fear. Like her father, physician Ayne Amjad is trying to track the links.Brady Dennis, Bonnie Jo Mount, Whitney Shefte, Karly Domb Sadof and Kazi AwalYou are reading The Energy 202, our must-read tipsheet on energy and the environment.Not a regular subscriber?
SIGN UP NOWPOWER PLAYSA woman walks on a bridge as heavy traffic moves along the 110 Freeway during rush hour in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
— Trump vs. California: The Trump administration is preparing to challenge California's ability to set its own emissions standards for vehicles. In their report, based on talking to four current and former federal officials, The Post's Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis and Michael Laris do not mince words: "The move would amount to one of the biggest regulatory rollbacks of the Trump presidency" — one that will almost certainly be challenge in court by the state. Two departments, the EPA and Transportation Department, are readying a proposal to freeze fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks for six years.
Also: The EPA said Tuesday it will implement a recently passed measure to exempt farmers from having to reporting emissions from animal waste. Lawmakers had added a provision to the FARM Act that changed what acting administrator Andrew Wheeler characterized on Tuesday as "an undue reporting burden on American agriculture."
— The oil route behind the escalating Trump-Iran threats: The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow stretch of water at mouth of the Persian Gulf, could be the reason behind the president’s latest Twitter threat against Iran. Although the president did not mention the strait in his all-caps Sunday tweet, The Post’s Rick Noack writes “Iran is often quick to remind the world of its key location along one of the world's main oil tanker routes… Earlier this month, Rouhani implied that Iran has the power to severely disrupt the oil trade in the Persian Gulf, which would likely mean an attempt to blockade the Strait of Hormuz.”Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!6:24 AM - Jul 23, 2018327K230K people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy
What makes the strait so critical? A third of the world’s oil tanker traffic goes through the narrow path, and Iran could block the route by deploying navy vessels or laying mines. “If that route were inaccessible, the world's supply in shipped daily global oil exports would suddenly drop by more than 30 percent, experts predict," Noackadds. "Overall oil supplies would drop by about 20 percent."
President Trump speaks with Harley Davidson CEO Matthew Levatich, left, as he greets Harley-Davidson executives and union representatives on the South Lawn of the White House. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
— Tariff woes: The Agriculture Department on Tuesday announced a $12 billion emergency aid plan for farmers caught in the middle of the president’s escalating trade war, The Post’s Damian Paletta and Caitlin Dewey report. “The aid package will target soybean farmers, dairy farmers, and pork producers, among others,” they write. “White House officials hope it will temporarily quiet some of the unease from farm groups, but the new plan could revive debates about taxpayer-funded bailouts and the degree to which Trump’s trade strategy is leading to unforeseen costs.
What the move says: The Post’s Aaron Blake writes the plan is “tacit acknowledgment that the trade war is hurting people in the United States, and it also would seem to provide leverage for the countries Trump says are anxious to come to the negotiating table and make concessions.”
Meanwhile: As President Trump tweeted praising tariffs as “the greatest,” The Post’s Rachel Siegel reportsHarley Davidson reported “stronger-than-expected earnings in its second quarter, offering a look at how the company could fare in the midst of an international trade war.” The Wisconsin-based motorcycle maker “expects its operating margin as a percent of revenue to come in at 9 to 10 percent because of the impact of the tariffs, down slightly from last year.”
A sign on a door of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
— The EPA is less popular than the IRS: A national survey of attitudes toward federal agencies found the Environmental Protection Agency has among the highest unfavorable rating of the bureaus included. The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center from July 11-15, found 37 percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of the agency and 54 percent reported a favorable rating. Only Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which a growing chorus of Democrats are calling to eliminate, had a higher unfavorable rating of 47 percent. The National Park Service, the Census Bureau, the FBI, the CIA, Department of Health and Human Services, the Justice Department and even the Internal Revenue Service all had lower unfavorability ratings than the EPA.
Why? Pew found the views of Democrats, usually more likely to back environmental regulators than their GOP counterparts, have become "far less positive" after Trump's inauguration. The survey found Democrats' favorability rating of the EPA is at its lowest level in the past eight years.
Here's a look one of the poll's results comparing all the surveyed agencies: View image on TwitterAlec Tyson@alec_h_tyson
New report on federal agencies includes views of Immigration and Customs Enforcement: 72% of Reps view ICE favorably vs. just 20% of Dems. Full report: https://pewrsr.ch/2LnGwG4 9:07 PM - Jul 24, 20183342 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy
— Small-scale exports, expedited: The Energy Department on Tuesday said it plans to speed up the approval of small-scale liquefied natural gas export applications, automatically approving projects at or below 51.75 billion cubic feet of exports per year, according to The Hill. “DOE has determined that small-scale natural gas exports are consistent with the public interest,” the department said, per the report.
— Senators call for more Russia sanctions: Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Tuesday said they are set to introduce a bill to increase sanctions on Russia’s debt as well as its energy and financial sectors, Bloomberg News reports, a move that follows Trump’s controversial news conference alongside Russian leader Vladimir Putin last week. “Just as Vladimir Putin has made clear his intention to challenge American power, influence, and security interests at home and abroad, the United States must make it abundantly clear that we will defend our nation and not waver in our rejection of his effort to erode western democracy as a strategic imperative for Russia’s future,” Menendez and Graham said in a joint statement.THERMOMETER 3:00The crane that fell for her keeper
— The crane who fell in love with a human: A zookeeper with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute is part of a curious “cross-species seduction” that ensures white-naped cranes continue to exist. The 42-year-old keeper seduces a crane named Walnut with a gentle caress of her back or with a gesture of throwing grass into the air — moves that sometimes follow an injection with a syringe of crane semen, The Post’s Sadie Dingfelder reports in a story worth reading in full. But here’s just a bit more detail about the crane who fell for her zookeeper: “When Walnut arrived at the Front Royal, Va., endangered species breeding center, back in 2004, she was the most genetically valuable white-naped crane in captivity. At 23, she had yet to produce a single chick, and she had a reputation for murdering her mates. Two male cranes that made amorous overtures toward Walnut had been found dead, with their bellies sliced open by her sharp claws. That, at least, was the rumor.”
Javelinas along the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border near the San Pedro River in Arizona. (Matt Clark/Defenders of Wildlife)
— Thousands of scientists object to Trump’s border wall: Scientists are sounding the alarm over how the Trump administration’s proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall would harm animals and plants in the region. The new report published in BioScience cites “bypassed environmental laws, habitat destruction, and losses to conservation and scientific research as the primary areas of concern” that could impact some of the more than 1,500 native plants and animals in the region, The Post’s Kate Furby reports. As of Tuesday, the 16-author report had more than 2,700 signatures from scientists in nearly 50 countries.
— Study warns fish could lose sense of smell as climate changes: New research in the journal Nature Climate Change found that when juvenile sea bass are exposed to elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide — levels expected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change by 2100 — "the fish had to be about 42 percent closer to an odor source to detect it," according to the New York Times. That may make finding food (or not becoming food themselves) more difficult.
OIL CHECK
— The last straw: San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance to ban plastic products, including straws, stirrers or toothpicks, from restaurants bars and retailers starting in July 2019. The measure still has to pass the board on a second reading next week, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, before heading to the mayor’s desk to be signed. If signed, retailers and cafes would also only be allowed to provide products such as napkins and condiment packets if they are specifically requested.
DAYBOOK
TodayThe House Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing on “Management Crisis at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and Implications for Recovery."
Coming Up
The Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum is hosts an event on “New Innovations for Green Financing in Urban China” on Thursday.The United States Energy Association holds a discussion on NET Power’s 50-MW demonstration emissions-free natural gas power plant on Thursday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/07/25/the-energy-202-chemicals-dumped-decades-ago-still-haunt-this-west-virginia-town/5b5793c31b326b1e6469550e/?utm_term=.d3bcc24b1678
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Commission's EDC Roadmap Must Cover Cosmetics, says SCCS
Jul 25, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Emma Davies
The European Commission's roadmap for endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) needs to address the compliance "impasse" created by the EU's ban on animal testing for cosmetics ingredients, a top Commission expert has said.
In comments submitted for the roadmap's public consultation, Qasim Chaudry, chair of its Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), said that the ban clashes with the EDC definition for use with EU regulations on pesticides and biocides.
In particular, it is not clear how substances used as ingredients in both cosmetics and either pesticides or biocides should be addressed.
The animal testing ban makes it "almost impossible to identify ingredients of cosmetics and personal care products as having endocrine disrupting activity," added Dr Chaudry.
With existing non-animal methods, it is only possible to indicate possible endocrine activity, not whether a substance would have an adverse effect in an organism. There are currently no validated non-animal alternative methods for systemic toxicity, he said.
Nevertheless, cosmetics ingredients could be identified as EDCs, using animal tests under the pesticides and biocides Regulations.
"The SCCS strongly insists that the difference in legislation with respect to cosmetics is taken seriously into consideration in the roadmap and that the necessary efforts are made to find a solution for this impasse," he concluded.
Other comments from NGOs, industry, and regulatory authorities also called for the framework to cover all relevant regulatory areas, including cosmetics, toys, and food contact materials, not just pesticides and biocides. For example, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority would like to see EDC identification coordinated across EU legislations.
"The Commission needs to fix both the acute gaps in some sectoral legislations (toys, cosmetics) and the lack of coherent and systematic approach to the risk management of EDCs," said environmental law organisation, ClientEarth. A first step would be to recognise EDCs as an independent regulatory class across EU legislations, it suggested.Over the threshold
In all, the European Commission received 44 comments on its roadmap for an initiative on a more comprehensive EU framework on endocrine disruptors. The current EDC strategy dates back to 1999.
In their comments, some health and environmental NGOs repeated eight "essential elements" for an EDC strategy, drawn up in May.
For example, NGO ChemTrust highlighted the importance of focusing on combination effects from exposure to mixtures of EDCs from various sources. It would also like to see a clear plan to speed up EDC identification in various legislations. This includes updating test requirements with new screens and tests with sensitive endpoints, it said.
The NGO considers that EDCs should be treated as non-threshold substances, equivalent to chemicals with persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) properties, largely because of uncertainties in risk assessment and the potential to lead to "serious and irreversible" effects.
But the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) regards biological thresholds as "scientifically based". "Assuming EDs to be non-threshold would be a policy decision, unless the body of evidence evolved to the extent that a revision of the long-standing principles of homeostasis and biological threshold is justified," it said.
Meanwhile, German speciality chemical company, Evonik, called for further EU research on "scientifically contentious" topics, such as the dose-response relationship for EDCs.
Cefic supports the Commission's roadmap pledge to work with the OECD on test method development and validation. "Method development for regulatory purposes should consider immediate relevancy and the utility of the test outcome to the regulatory question," it added.
Evonik suggests that methods investigating mode of action are "nice to have" but not necessary for safety assurance in first tier safety assessments. "By and large, the toxicology toolbox applied to assure safety of drugs, food and chemicals alike can be assumed to work well," it said.'Unprovable' effects
However, Daniel Dietrich, professor of human and environmental toxicology at the University of Konstanz, Germany, says the Commission roadmap is based on "untenable scientific grounds".
"While adverse effects of EDCs in animals can be proven (at high concentrations), all present data published regarding the putative effects of EDCs in humans are untenable and unprovable," he said.
Professor Dietrich has long been critical of the Commission's regulatory approach to EDCs. In 2013, he spearheaded a joint editorial calling the Commission's proposals at the time "scientifically unfounded".
https://chemicalwatch.com/68907/commissions-edc-roadmap-must-cover-cosmetics-says-sccs
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EU Tattoo Ink Restriction Proposal ‘Not Fit for Purpose’
Jul 25, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
An EU proposal to restrict certain chemicals in tattoo inks and permanent make-up (PMU) under REACH is "not fit for purpose", Anec, the European consumer voice in standardisation, has said.
The proposal – jointly submitted by Echa, Denmark, Italy and Norway – suggests restricting around 4,000 substances.
In the EU's consultation on the process, which closed on 20 June, NGOs and member states posed questions about the scope and how concentration limits of certain substances compare with other European legislation.
The proposal comprises two restriction options, which take into account several points, including:reasonable assumptions about not placing under the skin chemicals that are deemed ‘unsafe’ in cosmetics products applied on the skin;carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) classified substances not permitted to be marketed or supplied to the public should not be used in tattoo inks and PMU; andchemicals with hazard profiles indicating potential sensitisation issues should not be applied under the skin or in the eye.
In its comments, Belgium said the proposal "lacks ambition" and called for "strict bans" on EDCs and classified carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) substances in tattoo inks and PMU.
While CMR categories 1A, 1B and 2 – which are banned from use in cosmetics – are included in the restriction proposal, those suspected of causing cancer via the inhalation route are excluded. But Belgium says classifications "based on all exposure routes should be taken into consideration, to exclude use of substances of concern".
And it said it has identified chemicals classified as CMRs that are not captured in the list of banned substances in the present restriction dossier.Worker protection
In its comments, Finland questioned why the proposal does not address the potential exposure of tattoo artists from the possible release of aerosols from tattoo guns or when preparing ink from the dry powder form.
NGOs the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) support the inclusion of workers in the scope. There is "so much overlap" between tattoo artists and recipients in evaluating substances that it would be "shortsighted" to exclude workers who use the same chemicals every day, they said.
Meanwhile, HEAL and the EEB raised concerns that the proposal includes many derogations for substances with no alternative and cited pigment green 7 and pigment blue.Concentration limits
Proposed concentration limits of certain chemicals have also raised concerns, especially in relation to controls arising from other legislation.
Belgium, HEAL and EEB said they do not agree with allowing CMR substances up to the generic concentration limit as defined under CLP, because the OECD test basis for deriving these is "not adequate for intradermal use of these substances".
In its comments, Anec suggested introducing practical enforcement limits of 10ppm (0.001%) for category 1A and 1B and 100ppm (0.01%) for category 2 CMRs.
Anec suggested introducing practical enforcement limits of 10ppm (0.001%) for category 1A and 1B and 100ppm (0.01%) for category 2 CMRs
Skin sensitisers are also in the scope of the proposed restriction. The Swedish Chemicals Agency, Kemi, said it is concerned that generic (and specific) concentration limits in the CLP Regulation for these "may not be relevant and that the intended level of protection of the restriction may not be reached".
And Belgium said it does not agree with permitting classified skin sensitisers in tattoo ink, and that allowing these at 0.1% w/w is "inconsistent with the current knowledge that induction and elicitation appear at extremely low" levels.
It is also inconsistent, it added, with current provisions under the cosmetics Regulation – with obligations for labelling above 0.001% for leave-on products – as well as in detergent products (obligation of labelling from 0.01%).
And colourants, listed in Annex IV of the cosmetics Regulation, have not been assessed for intradermal application and therefore "can be not considered as safe" for use in tattoo inks, it added.REACH
Meanwhile, Anec said REACH is not the best framework for regulating the substances because positive lists, which should be a "key long-term goal", cannot be established under the Regulation.
A "better choice", it added, would be to include them in the cosmetics Regulation or to establish a separate legal framework following similar principles.
It also noted that there are "many cases" of industry self-classifying substances. The proposed restriction should also cover these, "where 50% or more of the notifiers have self-classified the substances indicating these hazard classes".
https://chemicalwatch.com/68958/eu-tattoo-ink-restriction-proposal-not-fit-for-purpose
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Trump Accomplished American Energy Dominance — Then Gambled It On a Trade War
Jul 25, 2018 | The Hill - Opinion
By Merrill Matthews
China and the United States launched the opening salvos in a trade war July 6 that had been brewing for months. America imposed a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion of Chinese goods. In response, China slapped tariffs on U.S. products and agricultural goods such as soybeans and pork.
Then President Trump escalated things by suggesting imposing another $500 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods.
Chinese officials, who had previously proposed to increase natural gas purchases in an effort to reduce the U.S. trade deficit, have already vowed to retaliate with a similarly sized tariff on U.S. exports, including crude oil and natural gas.
If the two parties don’t defuse this conflict, China’s retaliatory tariffs could hammer America’s booming energy industry, wiping out thousands of current or future oil and gas jobs.
In the past decade, American energy production has soared. Thanks to drilling techniques like hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking,” natural gas production increased more than 50 percent from 2005 to 2017. Crude oil production has also surged, making America the world’s leading producer of oil and natural gas.
The increased supply of fuel has caused prices to plummet — though recent events have, probably temporarily, pushed oil prices back up. Natural gas prices dropped more than 60 percent from 2008 to 2017. And crude oil prices fell to lows not seen in years.
Lower energy prices have greatly benefited consumers, who are paying less to heat their homes and drive their cars.
America’s energy renaissance has made the United States less reliant on rivals such as Russia and Saudi Arabia. American imports of Russian crude oil in April 2018 was a third of what it was in April 2010. America is nearing complete energy independence — a feat thought impossible just a few years ago.
Indeed, today U.S. energy producers are exporting oil and natural gas to other markets. Last year, Trump praised these exports and called for America to achieve not just energy independence, but “energy dominance.” Already, U.S. natural gas exports to Europe have decreased our NATO allies’ dependence on Russian gas.
American firms have been spending heavily to build the infrastructure necessary to sustain these exports. Until recently, only one terminal to export liquefied natural gas existed in the United States, in Sabine Pass, Louisiana. But one in Maryland went online last March and several new terminals are currently under construction, which will create even more export opportunities. Just last year, Trump approved two major pipelines— the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL Pipeline — to transport oil to refineries, and many more are currently under construction.
This infrastructure spending — virtually all of it with private, not taxpayer, dollars — could come to a screeching halt if China shuns our energy exports. China is the largest net buyer of U.S. crude oil in the world — one fifth of all U.S. crude oil exports in 2017. China also imported more than $1 billion of American liquefied natural gas in 2017, and that figure could increase nine-fold by 2021, according to a Morgan Stanley estimate.
Yes, oil and natural gas are commodities. If China puts on the import brakes, we may find other buyers, but there’s no guarantee. And the potential slowdown in sales while new buyers are found would strain storage capacity.
A trade war could jeopardize American oil and gas jobs. U.S. tariffs imposed on steel are already having an impact on an energy industry heavily dependent on steel, especially in pipeline construction.
With less revenue from exports, many companies would have no choice but to scale back their production and lay off workers. Few firms would continue spending on new infrastructure, further wiping out construction jobs.
America’s oil and gas boom is boosting the economy, creating jobs and reducing prices for consumers.
But producers need stable and reliable markets if they are going to make the necessary investments to extract, transport and refine oil and natural gas.
There are longstanding trade issues with China that need to be addressed. But if escalating tariffs and tensions result in China shunning U.S. energy for, say, Russian oil and gas, the president’s chance of reducing trade deficits, growing the economy, and achieving global energy dominance will suffer.
Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @MerrillMatthews.
http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/398719-trump-accomplished-american-energy-dominance-then-gambled-it-on-a
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Big Oil Supports Curbelo Bill — Kind Of
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Nick Sobczyk
Several oil companies have offered praise — but not an explicit endorsement — for the carbon tax bill introduced Monday by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.).
In a letter to Curbelo sent today, BP PLC, Dutch Royal Shell PLC and DTE Energy Co. called the bill — H.R. 6463 — "an opportunity for both parties to engage in substantive dialogue on the risks and opportunities posed by climate change."
Equinor ASA, PG&E Corp., Dow Chemical Co., Schneider Electric SE and a list of other companies and trade groups have also signed onto the missive.
Some other energy companies have been calling for carbon pricing for years, but the letter is unlikely to assuage critics who say the oil giants do little to actually advance the policy.
The letter thanks Curbelo and bill co-sponsor Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) for starting the conversation, but it stops short of an explicit endorsement.
"While we are not endorsing H.R. 6463, we appreciate your thoughtfulness, as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, in introducing market-based legislation that will drive a robust, non-partisan dialogue on how valuing or pricing carbon and strengthening the economy are not mutually exclusive — something we, as businesses, have understood for many years," the letter says.
Still, BP, Shell and Schneider are members of the Climate Leadership Council, a group that pushes a $40 per ton carbon tax, with dividends distributed to households.
Curbelo's bill, by contrast, would tax carbon at $24 per ton and put most of the revenue toward infrastructure investment.
That difference could be part of the reason for the lack of explicit endorsement, said Steve Valk, spokesman for Citizens' Climate Lobby, the group behind the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus.
"Even though the Curbelo bill is not their proposal, I think what they're trying to do here is get the ball rolling in terms of discussing carbon pricing in Congress," Valk said.
That would put some thrust behind the idea heading into the next session of Congress, when there may be a more meaningful push for carbon pricing legislation if Democrats take control.
"I think this is a step up for them," Valk said.
But there are also some notable absences, and few American companies, on the list of signatories.
Exelon Corp. is not on the list, nor is Exxon Mobil Corp., which recently left the American Legislative Exchange Council after the group's repeated attacks on mainstream climate science.
"They're certainly not really putting their shoulder into it yet," said David Doniger, senior strategic director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's climate and clean energy program. "I would be more impressed if it were the big American oil companies speaking up."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/07/25/stories/1060091101
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EPA to Send Revamped Power Plant Rule to OMB Next Month
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Amanda Reilly
EPA is wrapping up a proposed rulemaking package that targets the Obama-era rule for reducing carbon dioxide emissions at new power plants, according to a court filing late yesterday.
The agency plans to send the proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget in August, EPA told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
"This interagency review is the last major step in the proposal development process before the proposed rule package can be signed by the EPA Administrator and sent to the Federal Register for publication and public comment," the court document said.
The 2015 new source rule required both new and modified coal-fired power plants to meet CO2 limits that cannot be met through efficiency improvements alone. Instead, utilities have to install carbon capture and utilization or sequestration technology.
Along with the Clean Power Plan, which covers existing power plants, the rule was at the center of the Obama administration's climate change agenda.
EPA says it's been reviewing the rule since President Trump's March 2017 order requiring agencies to take another look at a host of Obama-era climate rules.
In the meantime, the D.C. Circuit agreed to indefinitely halt litigation over the new source rule. But unlike the Clean Power Plan, which has been stayed since a February 2016 Supreme Court order, the standards remain in effect.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/07/25/stories/1060091099
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Groups Allege EPA Oil & Gas Enforcement Favored Pruitt's Home State
Jul 25, 2018 | Inside EPA
The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) is urging EPA enforcement officials to target three Oklahoma-based oil and gas companies for future penalties, alleging that the companies escaped penalties under former Administrator Scott Pruitt, while companies based in other states have paid millions in fines and cleanups for similar violations.
EIP, Sierra Club, and Environment Texas in a July 23 letter to Susan Bodine, EPA's assistant administrator for enforcement, allege that Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general (AG), took a pass on fining several companies in his home state, and urge Bodine to take steps to show that federal regulators punish similar violations equally.
“These are outrageous cases of EPA not enforcing the clean air laws in Oklahoma when Scott Pruitt was administrator -- although the agency is pursuing enforcement in other states against the same oil and gas industry,” the groups say in a July 24 statement.
The environmentalist report “Clean Air Act Violations at Six Oil & Gas Companies: EPA’s Enforcement Benefits Oklahoma-based Corporations” faults EPA for declining to penalize Devon Energy in a consent decree reached in February, and notes that the agency has taken no enforcement action against two other Oklahoma-based companies -- Chesapeake Energy and Gulfport Energy -- despite issuing notices of violations in 2016.
In contrast, advocates cite three other cases in the last three years where EPA fined companies based in other states -- Noble Energy of Texas, PDC Energy of Colorado, and Slawson Energy, of Kansas -- a combined $9.55 million for similar violations. In those cases, EPA also imposed more than $146 million in cleanup projects.
Those three consent decrees were reached between April 2015 and October 2017.
The advocates report says all six cases involved similar violations of rules aimed at limiting emissions from storage tanks and other equipment at natural gas production facilities.
“Environmental laws should be enforced equally for everyone in all states,” advocates say in the statement, noting that Pruitt collaborated with Devon Energy in challenging EPA rules when he was Oklahoma's AG. “It looks as though EPA, under Administrator Pruitt, may have been going easy on Oklahoma-based oil and gas companies.”
In the letter to Bodine, EIP notes that EPA's settlement with Devon Energy allows the agency to take further action in the future, and that EPA could still pursue enforcement action against the other two Oklahoma-based companies.
“In the past, EPA has resolved such cases by requiring violators to pay millions of dollars in penalties, and spend millions more for specific actions to upgrade pollution controls, improve leak detection and repair, and take other steps to protect air quality,” the letter says. “We respectfully request that you exercise your authority, and demonstrate that Oklahoma corporations are not subject to a more relaxed 'rule of law' than the one that applies to their competitors.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/groups-allege-epa-oil-gas-enforcement-favored-pruitts-home-state
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(ACC Mentioned) Senate Finance Proposes 'Clean' Tax Title for FAA
Jul 25, 2018 | Politico
By Stephanie Beasley
SIGHS OF RELIEF: After months of anxious speculation that extraneous tax riders could sink the FAA bill, Finance Committee Republicans have circulated a “clean” tax title that does nothing but change the dates from the last FAA bill. This is a relief to Democrats, who had refused to poll their members before seeing the tax section and who plan to open up a hotline as soon as today. The question of whether or not the driverless car bill will hitch a ride is still unsettled. Tanya has the scoop for Pros.
THE HITCHHIKER: House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said he’d like to see his counterdrone measure catch a ride on the FAA bill (H.R. 4 (115)), which he called “the perfect vehicle” for the proposal (H.R. 6401 (115)) to grant DHS and DOJ new authorities to track and intercept errant drones. The counterdrone bill has not yet gotten committee approval, but McCaul said he expects his panel to mark it up after the House returns from recess in September. The Judiciary and Transportation committees, which share jurisdiction, would also need to agree to move the bill forward. McCaul’s Senate counterpart, Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), also favored the idea of attaching a counterdrone bill to FAA. His panel recently approved its counterdrone measure (S. 2836 (115)). “I haven’t seen any difference between the House version and ours,” he told your MT host. “We’re going to try and move it on whatever vehicle we can.”
WE’RE HALFWAY THERE: It’s Wednesday. Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. Stephanie is back in the saddle after a brief stop at the waterhole, so send her your tips, scoops and song requests: @Steph_Beasley or sbeasley@politico.com.
I counted twenty gas buggies goin' by theirsel's / Almost every time I tuk a walk / N’ then I put my ear to a Bell Telephone and a strange women started in to talk! / (Whut next! Yeah whut!) / Whut next?
LISTEN HERE: Follow MT’s playlist on Spotify. What better way to start your day than with songs (picked by us and readers) about roads, rails, rivers and runways?
MORE, MORE, MORE: The House Homeland Security panel approved a slew of transportation-related bills by voice vote Tuesday, including a proposal (H.R. 6438 (115)) that would create a new drone coordinator post at DHS and another (H.R. 6265 (115)) that would mandate TSA only allow PreCheck enrollees in expedited screening lanes. Also in the batch was a bill (H.R. 6459 (115)) that would require TSA to work with more medium and small businesses to acquire new screening technology and a bill (H.R. 6461 (115)) that would establish an office for TSA’s National Deployment Force. A bill (H.R. 6400 (115)) that would direct DHS to conduct a threat analysis for ports of entry also was approved by voice vote.
DON’T FUND ANYTHING I WOULDN’T FUND: The Trump administration chastised Senate appropriators Tuesday for failing to follow its lead on pitching the responsibility for infrastructure spending to the private sector and states and for funding discretionary grant programs the administration would rather do away with. And yes, the administration called out Gateway in particular, saying it appreciates “that the bill includes no funding for the Gateway projects” but still dismayed that State of Good Repair funds could find their way to Gateway. And that’s not all. Pros get the rest here.
ICYMI: As a part of its minibus (H.R. 6147 (115)) debate Tuesday, the Senate adopted an amendment that would require a fresh review of Amtrak’s on-time performance.
YOUR FLYING UBER HAS (ALMOST) ARRIVED: Representatives from Bell and Uber said Tuesday at a House Science Committee hearing that they plan to start testing flying cars in Texas and California by 2020 and “commence certified commercial operations in 2023.” Though the expected price point for a vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft is estimated to be around $400,000, Uber's head of aviation programs, Eric Allison, was quick to point out that ridesharing would probably be more common than private ownership and that the company is targeting a price point similar to that of Uber Black: about $1.50 per passenger mile.
What does Washington need to do? NASA is working on a grand challenge to developers on flying cars, which it hopes to formally unroll by the end of 2019 after announcing its intent by early next year. The agency is also trying to figure out how the government can best enable private investment, as it’s expected that private entities, in cooperation with the FAA and municipalities, will take the lead on air traffic control for flying cars. Georgia Tech engineering professor John-Paul Clarke said he expects a “cabled” model of authority, saying it’s “not realistic to expect FAA to be expanded to actually deal with air traffic control in urban environments.” Clarke did say, however, that FAA would need to set regulations for how air traffic should be managed.
** A message from Delta Air Lines: At Delta Air Lines, we’re proud to help you stay connected in the air. With in-flight Wi-Fi you can enjoy free smartphone messaging on all Delta flights from D.C. for use with iMessage, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. For more information, visit delta.com/wifi. Legal: Varies by aircraft and route. Terms apply. **
EXCLUSIVE: Forty-seven House members signed on to a letter urging House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) to include in his infrastructure proposal a pilot to permit trucks weighing up to 91,000 pounds on interstate highways. “This pilot program would allow a state to permit vehicles equipped with six axles, which would have to be bridge formula compliant and meet weight per axle tests,” according to the letter. The proposal is backed by the Safer Hauling and Infrastructure Protection Coalition, which includes the American Chemistry Council and the Agriculture Transportation Coalition. Shuster released a draft laying out his infrastructure policy vision Monday.
SPEAKING OF SHUSTER: He spoke Tuesday at an Aero Club of Washington luncheon. Here are some highlights from his remarks:
On his retirement: “Playing sports throughout my life, when I was a starter and they put me on the bench, I didn’t like it too much. So I decided that this was the right time for me to leave Congress and focus my attention and energies elsewhere.” Shuster added that he wants to “stay in the transportation field.”
On his infrastructure proposal: “Not every idea is in there. It’s sort of an amalgamation also of the ideas of the members of the committee, both Democrats and Republicans. I wanted to put something out there that I felt that Democrats as well as Republicans could say, ‘There’s something in there that we like.’” After his speech, when asked when he thought lawmakers could act on his draft, Shuster said: “I certainly would like to see it sometime this year, but I doubt it’s gonna happen before the election. But you never know what’s gonna happen in a lame-duck session.”
On his air traffic control overhaul proposal: It was “one of my great disappointments that we were unable to move that bill,” Shuster told luncheon attendees. But he praised the FAA reauthorization bill that the House passed in the spring, and urged the Senate to pass its bill.
On his successor: “Well, there’s only two guys running — both solid,” Shuster told reporters after his remarks. Those two lawmakers are Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Jeff Denham (D-Calif.).
BUT IF THE HOUSE FLIPS? House Transportation Committee ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) told MT that he hasn’t yet dug into the details of Shuster’s discussion draft, but believes it's “good to put out a statement of principles.” He added: “I mean, I don’t agree with all of what’s in that bill, but I think it’s a good effort on his part, on his way out the door.” Meanwhile, DeFazio said he has met with Ways and Means ranking member Richard Neal (D-Mass.) to “talk about revenue options should we take over the House.”
SOME EDITS: U.S. airlines are expected to change how they refer to Taiwan on their websites ahead of a Wednesday deadline set by China, opting instead to just list the city of Taipei without referring to where it’s located. As our Lauren Gardner reports, the anticipated online tweaks come after China demanded that non-Chinese airlines alter how they refer to the island, which the country claims as part of its territory. The airlines also are expected to list U.S. destinations on their China-facing websites without referencing the U.S. as the arrival country.
FRESH OFF THE PRESS: The Competitive Enterprise Institute is out with a new report today that looks at how the deployment of automated platooning technology that allows freight trucks to travel closer together is being affected by state laws, which the group says should be updated. “Automated vehicle technology for freight trucks could reduce the cost of transporting consumer and manufacturing goods and lead to safety gains but only if state lawmakers first change driving laws to allow the new technology,” said Marc Scribner, a senior fellow at CEI and author of the report. Scribner provides a rundown of states that have and have not changed relevant traffic laws.
KICKING IT UP THE LADDER: Mobility Lab released a report on what it calls a “concerted effort by Uber and Lyft to limit local authority.” The group posits that ride-hailing services have lobbied state lawmakers to pass statewide regulation to preempt some cities and counties looking to impose stricter rules that resemble those used for taxi cabs. Currently, Oregon is the only state without a statewide law on ride-hailing services.
SHIFTING GEARS: Alan Hanson started earlier this week as Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s deputy chief of staff. He most recently worked at DOJ as acting assistant attorney general in the Office of Justice Programs, and before that served on the Hill for Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Mike Twinchek will step down as chief clerk for the House Homeland Security Committee later this month and transition to the House Transportation Committee, where he will serve in the same position. Imani Gunn will be leaving her post as a legislative assistant for the House Homeland Security Committee minority to attend Georgetown University Law in the fall. Jacob Carter is now government affairs manager for the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association. Mike Schagrin has joined McCain Inc., where he will direct the connected and automated vehicle program. Schagrin previously helped manage DOT’s ITS Joint Program Office.
THE AUTOBAHN:
— "Senate confirms bipartisan pair to NTSB." POLITICO Pro.
— “When airline CEOs try the cheap seats.” The Wall Street Journal.
— "Court records show duck boat in Missouri disaster was designed by entrepreneur with no engineering training." Los Angeles Times.
— “Dockless bike-sharing company Ofo is the first to pull out of the District.” The Washington Post.
— “Fiat Chrysler is shaken without visionary CEO behind wheel.” The Associated Press.
— “Ford follows GM's Cruise move with self-driving spinoff.” Reuters.
THE COUNTDOWN: DOT appropriations run out in 68 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 68 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 799 days.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-transportation/2018/07/25/senate-finance-proposes-clean-tax-title-for-faa-296236
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Lawmakers Want Safety Provisions in Shuster Bill
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Maxine Joselow
Nearly 50 members of Congress are urging House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) to include safety provisions in any upcoming infrastructure legislation.
"As the Committee develops surface transportation infrastructure legislation, we write to express our support for inclusion of a pilot program that would further safety and infrastructure protection," the lawmakers wrote in a letter.
The pilot program would permit the operation of trucks weighing up to 91,000 pounds on federal highways, the lawmakers said. The initiative would be voluntary, and up to 10 states would be given the option to participate.
The Department of Transportation currently lacks data on truck weights at the time of crashes on highways, the letter says. The program would encourage states to collect data to address this gap.
Shuster on Monday released a draft infrastructure bill in an effort to reinvigorate momentum on the issue, which has stalled (E&E Daily, July 24).
The draft language contains a plethora of proposals for fixing the nation's infrastructure while ensuring the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.
One proposal involves phasing out the federal gas tax by 2028 and instead instituting a system of per-mile road fees.
The draft legislation would also codify President Trump's Aug. 15, 2017, executive order on streamlining the permitting process for large infrastructure projects. In particular, it would seek to limit the timetable for National Environmental Policy Act reviews to two years.
While Shuster hopes to push through a broad infrastructure bill before he leaves Congress at the end of the year, it would be a heavy political lift. Floor time is typically limited during the second half of an election year, as are congressional appetites for tackling major legislation.
A T&I Committee spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/07/25/stories/1060091039
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Kavanaugh's Answers To Senators Detail Criticism Of Obama EPA Policies
Jul 25, 2018 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's is highlighting rulings he authored as an an appellate judge that faulted the merits of the Obama EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) emissions trading program and its failure to consider costs in setting power plants mercury and air toxics standards (MATS), according to his responses to senators' questions.
The 110-page questionnaire posted online by the Senate Judiciary Committee as it begins to review Kavanaugh's nomination to succeed the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy is mostly a straightforward recounting of the nominee's career. The answers include his decisions in his current role as a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit judge, and his prior work as an attorney.
But the answers also feature a subjective list of his “10 most significant cases” as a judge, where he includes the MATS lawsuit.
Later in the responses, Kavanaugh also emphasizes his decisions to limit the Obama administration's CSAPR, both in a decision that was later overturned by the high court and later on remand -- highlighting his record as an EPA critic, especially during the prior administration's tenure.
Environmentalists have raised concerns that if the Senate confirms Kavanaugh to take Kennedy's seat then he will be a reliable vote upholding Trump administration roll-backs of Obama-era environmental rules, and be a routine vote against strict environmental rules that a future Democratic president might pursue.
On the MATS case, Kavanaugh notes in his responses to the Senate that he was the lone dissenting vote in the D.C. Circuit's 2014 ruling, known as White Stallion Energy Center v. EPA. In that case, a three-judge panel split 2-1 in EPA's favor on the question of whether the agency should have considered costs in its initial analysis that the MATS rule was “appropriate and necessary” under the Clean Air Act.
When the Supreme Court took up the case as Michigan v. EPA it unanimously held that EPA was in fact required to weigh costs as part of the rulemaking process, and only split over whether that requirement applied specifically to the threshold “appropriate and necessary” determination.
In a 5-4 vote the majority said that it did, adopting Kavanaugh's logic in the process, and EPA eventually pursued a cost analysis that determined the rule was still appropriate and necessary.
“All nine Justices agreed with my position that the statute requires consideration of costs. The Supreme Court's majority opinion agreed with and cited my dissent,” Kavanaugh writes in his written answers in explaining the MATS case's history.
Meanwhile, he addresses the CSAPR case in a later section asking him to summarize all of his decisions that were later overturned by a higher court. He says that case, known as EME Homer City Generation, L.P., v. EPA, is the only one where the Supreme Court even partially reversed him.
In that case, Kavanaugh authored a 2014 opinion for a 2-1 panel that would have vacated CSAPR, but the high court agreed to review the rule and then largely upheld it, overturning much of Kavanaugh's decision by a 6-2 vote. Rather than scrapping the policy entirely, the high court said states should challenge only EPA's emissions-reductions mandates that go beyond what is needed for downwind states to attain air quality standards.
That decision opened the door to a second round of litigation that Kavanaugh also presided over, and ended with a unanimous panel ruling that again left the regulatory structure intact but remanded some state emissions “budgets” to the agency.
However, Kavanaugh in his summary of the case emphasizes the parts of the rule that his panel struck down -- in line with Republicans who have praised him as an opponent of what they see as overly broad regulations at EPA and elsewhere.
“On remand, several States in fact brought as-applied challenges of that nature, and I wrote an opinion for a unanimous panel invalidating numerous aspects of EPA's rule,” Kavanaugh writes.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/kavanaughs-answers-senators-detail-criticism-obama-epa-policies
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Boost for Industry as BLM Shuns Environmental Offsets
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Michael Doyle
Energy companies will save money, regulators will lose leverage and some federal agencies will march to different drummers under the Bureau of Land Management's newly announced end to compensatory mitigation.
Outlined in a memo posted online late yesterday afternoon, BLM's new policy of forgoing compensatory mitigation sets the agency apart from the Army Corps of Engineers, for which mitigation remains a vital permitting tool (E&E News PM, July 24).
From 2010 through 2014, the Army Corps issued about 56,400 written authorizations nationally per year under its permit authorities, approximately 10 percent of which required compensatory mitigation.
Now, while the corps can continue seeking similar mitigation from permit applicants, BLM cannot.
"Mandatory compensatory mitigation is a practice that raises serious policy concerns, and has been viewed in some instances as little better than extortion," Interior Department spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort said today. "Going forward, the BLM will no longer require compensatory mitigation from project proponents. If they so choose, project proponents may still voluntarily complete compensatory mitigation."
Echoing the tenor of industry concerns, the BLM memo declares that "at times, the nexus between a proposed public land use and compensatory mitigation requirements is far from clear" and that "nevertheless, project proponents have [had] every economic incentive to go along with these compensatory mitigation plans, if forced upon them."
"In no circumstance may BLM agree to accept a monetary contribution for the implementation of compensatory mitigation," the memo states, adding that "BLM must not explicitly or implicitly suggest that project approval is contingent upon proposing a 'voluntary' compensatory mitigation component."
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called the shift "another step toward establishing a regulatory environment that will allow the responsible use of our public lands and produce better outcomes for fish and wildlife."
Conservation advocates decried the moves.
"Compensatory mitigation is an important tool in the toolbox for ensuring that companies that use our public lands make up for any damage they leave behind," Tracy Stone-Manning, the National Wildlife Federation's associate vice president for public lands, said in a statement. "It is a common sense practice that should not be tossed aside."
In an interview today, former Interior solicitor Hilary Tompkins likewise called compensatory mitigation a "tool" that BLM has repeatedly used.
Conservation groups have cited, as an example, the Jonah Energy Year-Round Development Project, approved by a BLM field office in Wyoming. The measures "addressed impacts to greater sage-grouse and big game" and allowed "waiver of lease stipulations that would have otherwise limited the times during which drilling could occur," the conservationists advised Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke last September.
Though published online at about 4 p.m. yesterday with only some tailored fanfare, the memo signed by BLM Deputy Director Brian Steed reflects a major policy shift that's been telegraphed for more than a year.
The legal case for the prior policy of BLM seeking compensatory mitigation was articulated in a December 2016 opinion by Tompkins, then Interior's solicitor, while other Obama administration officials have testified to the efficacy of mitigation.
"Developers in New Mexico also contribute to a cooperative fund for landscape restoration, an effort widely touted by industry, sportsmen and local governments," BLM official Ted Murphy noted at a joint Senate committee hearing in 2015.
Murphy also cited a BLM and Fish and Wildlife Service agreement with Barrick Gold of North America, which allowed the mining company to accumulate credits for projects that protect greater sage grouse habitat on private lands to offset impacts from mine expansion on public lands.
Trump administration officials, though, quickly suspended the Obama-era legal opinion on Feb. 6, 2017, and Zinke made clear his unhappiness with compensatory mitigation.
Zinke called the idea "un-American" last year and likened it in a talk to the Global Energy Institute to a program "where you have to pay $20 million, $90 million, $35 million here to get a permit across because you have to buy off some other" nonprofit.
On June 30, 2017, a Trump appointee withdrew Tompkins' opinion altogether.
"The BLM is reviewing whether and how to revise its Mitigation Manual and Handbook," Principal Deputy Solicitor Daniel Jorjani noted, adding that "BLM's authority to implement a particular type of mitigation is dependent on the factual circumstances and the legal and regulatory authority for a specific authorization."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/07/25/stories/1060091103
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Md. Lawmakers Urge EPA to Reverse 'Good Neighbor' Rejection
Jul 25, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Maxine Joselow
Maryland's congressional delegation is urging acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to reconsider the agency's planned rejection of "good neighbor" petitions seeking a federal crackdown on ozone-forming pollution.
At issue are petitions from Maryland and Delaware asking EPA to curb upwind emissions from coal-fired power plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
"The petition demonstrates that nitrogen oxides emitted by these power plants impede Maryland's efforts to attain and maintain federal health-based air quality standards," the Maryland lawmakers wrote in a letter.
"We urge you to immediately provide Maryland with relief by ... requiring the 36 upwind electric generating units in 5 states to use controls that are already in place to reduce harmful emissions that significantly contribute to Maryland's ozone burden," they said.
Ozone, the man ingredient in smog, is formed by the reaction of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in sunlight. It is linked to asthma attacks in children and worsened breathing problems for people with emphysema and other chronic respiratory diseases.
EPA previously faced bipartisan opposition to its planned rejection of the "good neighbor" bids at a public hearing last month (Greenwire, June 22).
The hearing came three weeks after EPA offered a consolidated thumbs-down to both Maryland's 2016 petition and another four filed by Delaware (Greenwire, June 4).
All the petitions allege that upwind emissions are undercutting their respective states' ability to comply with EPA's ozone standards.
EPA signaled its opposition to the "good neighbor" bids under former Administrator Scott Pruitt, who resigned on July 5. Wheeler could decide to reverse course.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/07/25/stories/1060091037
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