Preview Newsletter
PM ACC Clips Report - July 30, 2018
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(ACC Mentioned) U.S. Specialty Chemical Markets End Q2 on a Solid Note, ACC Says
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Engineering Online
By Scott Jenkins
The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) reported that U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes ended the second quarter on a solid note, increasing 0.4 percent in June after a slightly revised 0.4 percent gain in May, and a 1.0 percent gain in April. -
(ACC Mentioned) Rethinking Plastic Litter: Improve Your LCAs and Reduce Your Personal Impacts
Jul 30, 2018 | Sustainable Brands
By Lise Laurin
Litter. It seems like such a ‘60s word, but it’s time to dust it off and rethink it — especially in the context of plastics and Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs). -
(ACC Mentioned) Industry Groups Defend FCMs Following American Paediatrics Report
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The plastics industry has defended the rigour of existing regulatory processes and reiterated the safety of food packaging in response to a just-released policy statement and technical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). -
Update: The PFAS Contamination Crisis is Still Spreading
Jul 30, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Bill Walker
The known extent of contamination of American communities with toxic fluorinated compounds, known as PFAS chemicals, continues to grow at an alarming rate. -
Michigan Declares Emergency over City’s Water Contamination
Jul 30, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Michigan officials have declared a state of emergency after a city’s drinking water supply was found to be tainted with a harmful non-stick chemical. -
PFAS Might Pollute More Than 11,300 Mich. Sites — Agency
Jul 30, 2018 | Detroit Free Press (In E&E Greenwire)
Industrial contaminants may pollute more than 11,300 sites in Michigan, according to a state analysis by the Department of Environmental Quality. -
Forest Service Doubled Use of Retardants in 2016
Jul 30, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Marc Heller
The Forest Service said it dumped more than twice as much chemical retardant on wildfires in 2016 as it did two years earlier, as the agency continues a study on the method's effectiveness. -
National Academies Flame Retardant Group to Convene
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The National Academies’ ad hoc committee on organohalogen flame retardants is set to have its first meeting on 9 August. -
Member States Urge EU to Accelerate Chemicals Policy Measures
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Environment and health ministers from ten countries have expressed "serious" concerns over potential delays in the implementation of EU chemicals policy initiatives, as the current Commission nears the end of its term in 2019. -
Sweden Investigates Measures for Toxin-Free Sewage Sludge Recycling
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Watch
An inquiry by the Swedish environment ministry (MOE) is expected to propose banning spreading sewage sludge on agricultural land due its hazardous chemicals content. -
With FERC Split, LaFleur's Profile Set to Rise
Jul 30, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Darius Dixon
Cheryl LaFleur won’t be wielding the gavel at FERC anytime soon, but she is about to become the commission's most powerful member. -
BP Makes $10.5 Billion Shale Deal, Its Biggest Since Deepwater Horizon
Jul 27, 2018 | The New York Times
By Stanley Reed
BP has effectively declared that it has recovered from the Gulf of Mexico disaster. -
Wisconsin Frac Sand Producers Seek Relief from Rail Costs, Service Issues
Jul 30, 2018 | LaCrosse Tribune
By Chris Hubbuch
In a clash of old and new industries, Wisconsin frac sand producers say their business is threatened by a handful of railroads operating under outdated regulations. -
10th Circuit Backs States, EPA on 'Exceptional' Air Law Waivers
Jul 30, 2018 | Inside EPA
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in a new ruling is bolstering EPA's discretion to approve states' applications for Clean Air Act regulatory exemptions for “exceptional events,” such as dust storms or wildfires, backing the agency's approval of dozens of requests from Colorado over environmentalists' objections. -
EPA Keeps Status Quo for Cement Plant Standards
Jul 30, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
EPA is leaving air toxics emissions standards for portland cement manufacturers unchanged following a review required by the Clean Air Act.
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(ACC Mentioned) U.S. Specialty Chemical Markets End Q2 on a Solid Note, ACC Says
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Engineering Online
By Scott Jenkins
The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) reported that U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes ended the second quarter on a solid note, increasing 0.4 percent in June after a slightly revised 0.4 percent gain in May, and a 1.0 percent gain in April. All changes in the data are reported on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. Of the twenty-eight specialty chemical segments monitored by ACC, eighteen expanded in June, nine experienced decline and one featured no change. During June, large market volume gains (1.0 percent and over) occurred in electronic chemicals and oilfield chemicals, ACC said.
The overall specialty chemicals volume index was up 4.8 percent on a year-over-year (Y/Y) 3MMA basis. The index stood at 112.9 percent of its average 2012 levels in June. This is equivalent to 7.69 billion pounds (3.49 million metric tons). On a Y/Y basis, there were gains among twenty-one market and functional specialty chemical segments. Compared to last year, volumes were down in seven segments.
Specialty chemicals are materials manufactured on the basis of the unique performance or function and provide a wide variety of effects on which many other sectors and end-use products rely. They can be individual molecules or mixtures of molecules, known as formulations. The physical and chemical characteristics of the single molecule or mixtures along with the composition of the mixtures influence the performance end product. Individual market sectors that rely on such products include automobile, aerospace, agriculture, cosmetics and food, among others.
http://www.chemengonline.com/u-s-specialty-chemical-markets-end-q2-on-a-solid-note-acc-says/?printmode=1
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(ACC Mentioned) Rethinking Plastic Litter: Improve Your LCAs and Reduce Your Personal Impacts
Jul 30, 2018 | Sustainable Brands
By Lise Laurin
Litter. It seems like such a ‘60s word, but it’s time to dust it off and rethink it — especially in the context of plastics and Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs).
Start with the fact that more than 8 million tonnes of plastic enters the environment annually, much of it into our oceans. That’s almost 3 percent (and perhaps more) of all plastic produced annually.
Some of that comes from improperly managed waste in countries where sanitation facilities are not ubiquitous (see this UN Environment infographic to get an idea where the trash is coming from). But the sheer volume of plastic used in more-developed countries means that even a small fraction ending up as litter can have a devastating effect on local wildlife.
Moreover, these totals don’t include the contamination coming from our washing machines as our nylon, polyester and spandex clothing degrades over time. This pollution, mostly unseen and unmeasured, comes from all parts of the globe and we’re all contributing to it.
But our LCAs generally ignore most of these effects. We typically assume that all of the plastic packaging and other widgets we’re assessing are dutifully recycled, safely tucked into sanitary landfills, or incinerated for power generation. As a result, plastic packaging has almost no apparent impact on the life cycle of most products.
To be sure, plastics can and do play valuable roles in packaging and other applications. A 2016 Trucost study commissioned by the American Chemistry Council, Plastics and Sustainability, found that the environmental costs of using plastics were dramatically less than alternatives such as glass, aluminum, tin and paper in most applications.
So, how do we deal with this problem? A number of ideas have come to us, and we’d love to hear yours as well — please use the comments section!1. Just say no.
Thankfully, our addiction to plastic is nowhere near as strong as an addiction to opioids or nicotine so this isn’t as laughable as it seems. Bringing a reusable shopping bag with you, so that you can say “no bag, thank you,” is a simple way to cut back on individual plastic consumption. Look around at other places you use plastic — do you really need a travel cover for that coffee? Could you reuse one from yesterday? Or even a reusable travel mug? Can you join the growing number of companies, cities, and individuals who are going without plastic drinking straws? Do those old toys really need to go into the dump or could they go to Goodwill and help someone else’s child? And don’t forget the importance of positive interpersonal messages — every time someone asks me if I want a bag, I thank them for asking. Maybe it will help someone else say “no.”2. Encourage better sanitation in places that don’t have it.
EarthShift Global has been working on some exciting projects with CompiteMAS, a program of the Catholic University of Valparaiso in Chile. Their platform and coaching get small businesses to recycle as much as possible and send non-recyclables to managed-waste locations. The companies in turn encourage their municipalities to also do better. Our Sustainability Return on Investment (S-ROI) analysis of the project found that employees were bringing the knowledge home, expanding the philosophy of waste management throughout the communities where they work. CompiteMAS and programs like it have the potential to reduce plastic leakage while also reducing diseases associated with informal waste dumps.3. Pay attention to your own wastes.
Making sure the plastic you do use doesn’t end up blown around by the wind is a small thing to do but might have a bigger impact than you think. Another suggestion that I haven’t tried myself yet is to carry all of your waste around with you for a day. It will give you a better idea of your own impacts and may influence others who see you lugging it around.4. Include leakage in your LCA.
Even if we don’t know all the impacts of plastics leakage, we do know that 2-3 percent ends up somewhere it shouldn’t. Calling this out for your commissioner as “kg plastic improperly disposed” is both an acknowledgement of real-world conditions and a first step toward controlling them. Sustainability veterans will recall how we started out simply referencing liters of water consumption until we had better methods to assess the relevant impacts.5. Develop ocean-degradable plastics.
This is a longer-term potential solution to the large and growing problem of oceanic contamination. It might be possible to preserve the low cradle-to-gate impacts of plastic while also protecting ocean life, but the tradeoffs involved would have to be considered — there most likely will be some.
As the recent push to ban drinking straws shows, the movement to eliminate single-use plastics is taking hold all over. But maintaining a broad perspective is essential for everyone, and especially sustainability professionals. It’s easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so let’s educate folks on how plastics work over their life cycle and develop sound solutions that bring genuine progress.
http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/waste_not/lise_laurin/rethinking_plastic_litter_improve_your_lcas_reduce_your_persona
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(ACC Mentioned) Industry Groups Defend FCMs Following American Paediatrics Report
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The plastics industry has defended the rigour of existing regulatory processes and reiterated the safety of food packaging in response to a just-released policy statement and technical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
In its statement, the medical professionals group called for "urgently needed reforms" to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) regulation of chemicals used in food and packaging. And, at the same time, they cautioned families to avoid certain "additives of most concern".
A variety of NGOs praised the statement and backed the call for federal reforms. But now industry groups have hit back saying that food contact materials "must meet stringent FDA safety requirements".
One of these, the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTCIS), told Chemical Watch there are "misconceptions" about how the FDA evaluates products. When conducting safety assessments for FCMs, the trade group said, FDA models consumer exposure using low body weight and high rates of food consumption to ensure estimates are "protective of the entire population".
The FDA does, in fact, have the authority to request additional information on authorised FCMs, it said. And, if this suggests a substance in use may be unsafe, or if consumption levels have changed such that it could affect safety, it can, conduct further studies, work to reduce consumption or prohibit that substance.
PLASTICS added that the policy statement is not based on any newly-released data, and that many of its referenced studies show correlation, but not causation. For example, it said, the AAP links BPA to obesity among low-income and minority children, "without acknowledging other well-documented and plausible risk factors such as living in food deserts without access to fruits and vegetables."
And the American Chemistry Council said the AAP report "oddly ignores" the recent CLARITY-BPA study.
"This study, unprecedented in scope and magnitude and conducted by FDA senior scientists for the express purpose of resolving remaining uncertainties about the safety of BPA, prompted the agency to confirm BPA safety once again," the ACC told Chemical Watch. It urged the AAP to "correct this oversight" and update its position on BPA's safety.Praise
Nevertheless the report received praise among NGOs. Muhannad Malas of Canadian NGO Environmental Defence said that it makes evident that "in order to help in addressing the rising rates of reproductive and brain health issues ... we must ban the use of toxics like BPA, phthalates and grease-proofing PFAS from all food contact materials".
But with concerns that a legislative overhaul will take too long, many urged more immediate action.
Patrick MacRoy, deputy director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center and coordinator of the Coalition for Safer Food Processing and Packaging, called on food manufacturers to "take notice of this warning" and to eliminate all sources of phthalates in food.
And Safer States urged states to follow Washington state's lead in banning PFAS substances from food packaging, while asking retailers to use their purchasing power to insist that alternatives be used.
The FDA told Chemical Watch that while it is reviewing the findings of the paper, it does not comment on specific studies. Instead it "evaluates them as part of the body of evidence to further our understanding about a particular issue and assist in our mission to protect public health".
https://chemicalwatch.com/69041/industry-groups-defend-fcms-following-american-paediatrics-report
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Update: The PFAS Contamination Crisis is Still Spreading
Jul 30, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Bill Walker
The known extent of contamination of American communities with toxic fluorinated compounds, known as PFAS chemicals, continues to grow at an alarming rate.
The latest update of an interactive map by EWG and the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute at Northeastern University documents publicly known PFAS pollution from 172 sites in 40 states, including military bases, civilian airports, industrial plants and dumps, and fire training sites.
PFAS chemicals, used in a wide range of consumer products and industrial applications, have been linked to kidney and testicular cancer, liver and thyroid damage, and other serious health problems.
When the map was first published in June 2017, it showed 52 known PFAS contamination sites in 19 states. By April 2018, the list had grown to 94 sites in 22 states. A recently released Pentagon report added 78 military sites, including bases in 12 states where contamination was not publicly known before: Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The map is the most comprehensive resource available to track PFAS pollution in the U.S.
It also shows PFAS pollution of tap water supplies for 16 million people in 33 states and Puerto Rico. That figure comes from an EWG analysis of tests of public water systems under an Environmental Protection Agency program that ended in 2016. But since then, evidence has emerged that the number of Americans with PFAS-contaminated tap water is much higher.
In May, an EWG analysis of unreleased data estimated that more than 1,500 drinking water systems, serving up to 110 million Americans, may be contaminated with PFAS chemicals. The EPA previously said about 200 systems were contaminated, but that number did not include systems with contamination below the agency’s reporting threshold, which is too high to protect public health.
In June, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry released a report on PFAS safety that the White House and the EPA had tried to keep from publication. The report said the safe level for PFAS chemicals in drinking water should be at least seven to 10 times lower than the threshold recommended by the EPA. Academic researchers say a safe level of exposure is even lower than that recommended by ATSDR.
https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/07/update-pfas-contamination-crisis-still-spreading#.W185PdUzbX4
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Michigan Declares Emergency over City’s Water Contamination
Jul 30, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
Michigan officials have declared a state of emergency after a city’s drinking water supply was found to be tainted with a harmful non-stick chemical.
Lt. Gov. Brian Calley (R) made the declaration Sunday, days after the discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the water supply for Parchment and Cooper Township, near Kalamazoo.
“This declaration will allow the state to supply additional resources to help with response efforts and ensure the health and safety of residents in Parchment and Cooper Township,” Calley said in a statement. He is acting as governor while Gov. Rick Snyder (R) is out of state.
“This helps make sure that every resource that is possible is on the table and that we can work as expeditiously together as we possibly can,” Calley told radio host Paul W. Smith of WJR. That includes water deliveries and other health assistance while the city and county work to switch their water supply.
Test results released last week as part of a statewide effort to test water for PFAS found 1,587 parts per trillion of the substances in Parchment’s water, according to MLive. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has an advisory health standard of a maximum of 70 parts per billion, though recent research by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Control found health problems at single-digit levels.
PFAS has been linked to health problems like cancer and liver damage. It has been used for decades to manufacture non-stick, stain-resistant, fire-retardant and other types products.
The EPA and state regulators have only recently begun grappling with PFAS. The EPA has promised an aggressive effort related to the substances, including examining whether to regulate their presence in drinking water on the federal level.
Parchment is just the latest area to have a PFAS problem. Communities in New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and elsewhere have in recent years found high PFAS levels in water sources.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/399511-michigan-declares-emergency-over-citys-water-contamination
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PFAS Might Pollute More Than 11,300 Mich. Sites — Agency
Jul 30, 2018 | Detroit Free Press (In E&E Greenwire)
Industrial contaminants may pollute more than 11,300 sites in Michigan, according to a state analysis by the Department of Environmental Quality.
The study comes as the state is grappling with a swiftly expanding drinking water problem centered on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a group of industrial chemicals.
The sites include fire stations, airports, waste treatment plants and more. A spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder (R) called the list of sites "conservative." The state started a PFAS response team last year to confront the issue.
"The number is staggering," said Anthony Spaniola, an attorney with a house near an Air Force base that used firefighting foam containing PFAS for decades.
The chemicals are found in many commercial and industrial applications. They remain in the environment for decades, and studies have indicated they could increase cancer risk, stunt youth development and contribute to a list of other health concerns.
Last week, bottled water distribution started in two communities after high levels of PFAS were discovered (Greenwire, July 27). The city of Parchment and Cooper Township were told to stop using tap water for drinking or cooking (Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press, July 30). — NB
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/07/30/stories/1060091581
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Forest Service Doubled Use of Retardants in 2016
Jul 30, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Marc Heller
The Forest Service said it dumped more than twice as much chemical retardant on wildfires in 2016 as it did two years earlier, as the agency continues a study on the method's effectiveness.
The agency reported using 19 million gallons of aerial retardant in 2016, a jump from 8.9 million gallons in 2014 and 11 million gallons in 2015.
That's a reflection of longer and more intense wildfire seasons as well as the Forest Service's approach to fighting the fires. But officials face pressure from critics, including environmental groups, to reduce their use, citing threats to fish and other wildlife as well as questions about retardants' usefulness.
A fire-study on wildfire retardants should be completed next year, interim Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in June. A draft report will be ready in the coming months, she said.
"This is a major investment," Christiansen told the committee, chaired by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). In addition to lessons the final study will yield for future strategies, she said, "we're doing some real-time learning."
The Forest Services uses water, foaming agents, gels and powders to fight fire. Long-term chemical retardants are formulations of fertilizer salts, typically containing 85 percent water, 10 percent fertilizer and 5 percent minor ingredients such as thickeners and colorants, according to the agency.
One company, Phos-Chek of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., provides the retardant.
The Forest Service's Region 5, covering the Pacific Southwest, is the faraway leader in use of retardant. The service said it dropped 12.6 million gallons there in 2017. More than half of that amount, 6.6 million gallons, went to Los Padres National Forest.
Proponents say retardant protects firefighters by making conditions safer for on-the-ground fire suppression. It's also useful in rugged terrain that firefighters can't easily reach. Some retardants continue to work after the water in them has evaporated.
Retardant reduces the intensity and rate of spread of fires and helps firefighters on the ground construct containment lines, a Forest Service spokeswoman said. While it's not designed to extinguish fires, retardant is effective longer than water because its additives remain active after water evaporates, the Forest Service said.
On the other hand, aerial operations over wildfires carry risks of their own to pilots, the method's critics say.
Fire retardant, which the Forest Service is using to fight the ongoing Carr and Ferguson fires in California, is often used in the wrong places at the wrong times, when it's least effective, said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, based in Eugene, Ore.
Retardant is best suited to locations that are relatively flat, where firefighters on the ground can quickly follow up, and at cooler times of the day, he said. Instead, it's often applied on rugged landscapes at hotter times of the day.
"The bottom line is, it's being dropped in the wrong places, where it's least effective," Ingalsbee said.
The Forest Service finalized a plan in 2011 to limit its use of chemical retardants in places where wildlife might be threatened in response to a 2008 lawsuit by Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. But the agency said it wouldn't cut back overall on their use (Land Letter, May 19, 2011).
The agency's policy is not to apply retardant within 300 feet of waterways, for instance.
At the June hearing, Murkowski said lawmakers haven't heard from the Forest Service about the study's findings, despite directing the agency to undertake it in 2012. She and others — especially Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) — have advocated for a wide range of firefighting methods, including use of air tankers that can be deployed more quickly.
The lack of information "doesn't make any sense. That's not acceptable," Murkowski said. "Hurry it up."
While Congress wants to provide all the tools the Forest Service needs to fight wildfires, Murkowski said, that's easier if lawmakers have an idea what the study is showing. "We want to be guided by some things that are going to make some sense," she said.
Christiansen said that technology has allowed the Forest Service to create better maps, within 12 hours, showing how effective retardants are in specific areas. And while preparing a five-year study takes time — including field studies that didn't begin until 2013 — she said, "I get frustrated, as well."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/07/30/stories/1060091611
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National Academies Flame Retardant Group to Convene
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The National Academies’ ad hoc committee on organohalogen flame retardants is set to have its first meeting on 9 August.
The committee is tasked with developing a scoping plan for assessing the hazards posed by additive, nonpolymeric organohalogen flame retardants. Its findings will ultimately inform a Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) assessment of the risk the substances pose when used in children's products, upholstered residential furniture, mattresses and the external casings of electronics devices.
The meeting, which will be held at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, DC, will include an overview of the process and an introduction of committee members. It includes an opportunity for public comment.
Action on the class of substances comes following the CPSC’s September decision to grant an NGO petition to begin a rulemaking process under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA). It could see OFRs banned from the four evaluated consumer product categories.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is tasked with producing a hazard assessment plan that the CPSC-convened Chronic Advisory Panel (CHAP) will use when completing its risk assessment.
https://chemicalwatch.com/69110/national-academies-flame-retardant-group-to-convene
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Member States Urge EU to Accelerate Chemicals Policy Measures
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Environment and health ministers from ten countries have expressed "serious" concerns over potential delays in the implementation of EU chemicals policy initiatives, as the current Commission nears the end of its term in 2019.
The Commission is composed of a college of 28 commissioners, who comprise the political leadership team during a five-year term.
In its first four years, the ministers say, the current college has enabled EU and EEA states to "make progress on EU environmental policy, especially focusing on climate change and circular economy, which we intend to take forward ambitiously".
However, in a 27 July letter to the EU executive – obtained by Politico – the ten signees remind the Commission that the Council of Ministers has reiterated a number of times the need for specific initiatives and requested that it follow up on them.
In the letter, ministers from Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia and Sweden say they are "seriously concerned" about the potential delay to measures "foreseen to advance EU chemicals policy and that are also necessary to achieve a circular economy".
The initiatives are:the strategy for a non-toxic environment (announced this year). This includes horizontal measures announced in the 2015 Environment Action Programme (EAP) to ensure safety of manufactured nanomaterials; minimise exposure to EDCs; address combination effects of chemicals; and reduce exposure to hazardous chemicals in imported products;the strategy on EDCs, which, they say, should minimise exposure beyond biocides and pesticides and include cosmetics, toys and food packaging;the integrated product policy framework (announced this year as part of the circular economy action plan); andthe strategic approach to pharmaceuticals in the environment (announced in 2015).
These are set against the backdrop of the 7th EAP. Adopted in 2013, this saw the EU agree to the safeguarding of health and the wellbeing of citizens – by strengthening EU chemicals policy –as one of its three main priorities.
"The sound management of chemicals is not only vital to protect our citizens and environment but also to strengthen EU competitiveness and innovation," the letter says.
It is a "challenging area", it adds, which "urgently" requires the development and enhancement of policy frameworks. While there has been "some progress made" in certain areas such as EDCs, the REACH Review and the REACH Annex for nanomaterials, "important gaps" remain.
To achieve the 2020 goals and avoid any further delay, the ministers urge the Commission to "facilitate the swift development of EU policy and present these proposals" during the EU executive’s current term.
https://chemicalwatch.com/69108/member-states-urge-eu-to-accelerate-chemicals-policy-measures
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Sweden Investigates Measures for Toxin-Free Sewage Sludge Recycling
Jul 30, 2018 | Chemical Watch
An inquiry by the Swedish environment ministry (MOE) is expected to propose banning spreading sewage sludge on agricultural land due its hazardous chemicals content.
Sewage sludge is the residual, semi-solid material that is produced as a byproduct during wastewater treatment.
It is used as agricultural plant food as it contains large quantities of phosphorus, a vital plant nutrient. This also helps treatment plants to get rid of their waste.
However, the sludge also contains metals that are hazardous to human health and the environment, as well as pharmaceutical residues and microplastics, an MOE statement says.
And, as part of moves towards a circular economy, it now wants to ensure phosphorus is recycled from sewage sludge in a "non-toxic and safe" manner, it adds.
In January, a study found hazardous chemicals in wastewater and sewage in urban areas of Turku, a city in southwest Finland. Scientists found alkylphenols, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), metals and phthalates – notably bisphenol A – in sewage from industrial areas, residential areas or shopping centres around the city.
https://chemicalwatch.com/69107/sweden-investigates-measures-for-toxin-free-sewage-sludge-recycling
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With FERC Split, LaFleur's Profile Set to Rise
Jul 30, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Darius Dixon
Cheryl LaFleur won’t be wielding the gavel at FERC anytime soon, but she is about to become the commission's most powerful member.
The impending departure of Republican Robert Powelson will leave FERC evenly split along party lines, potentially throwing a wrench into an agenda for several months or longer until a fifth commissioner is confirmed.
“In my personal experience at the FERC, a four-person commission can be very difficult,” said former FERC Chairman Jim Hoecker. “Agencies like this are odd numbers for a reason. It’s always important for the chairman to develop a workable majority when opinions are divided.”
Tyson Slocum, a longtime FERC watcher who directs Public Citizen’s energy program, said LaFleur "has conditioned herself as sort of a swing vote" on the commission.
While LaFleur has split with Republicans on key issues like climate change, she is seen as the more moderate of FERC's pair of Democratic commissioners. That may give her an opportunity to shape new rules in the country's largest power market, and it could force greater consideration of greenhouse gas emissions before new pipelines are approved. But the split commission also may be less likely to undertake more contentious work such as any major overhaul of the agency's natural gas policy.
“We’ll have to work harder to come to consensus on things — some of these hotly debated items,” LaFleur said at the POLITICO Pro Summit in Washington earlier this month. “In order to get out orders, we’ll have to find three people who vote together, and I’m happy to be part of that majority and try to influence the orders.”
FERC Chairman Kevin McIntyre sets the agency's agenda, but he can't do much without a majority of commissioners on his side. When decision-making gets contentious, Hoecker said, the chairman may have to negotiate hard to get something voted out and, at the same time, avoid any resentments that might hold up the flow of routine business.
LaFleur laughed off a comparison to recently retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a perennial swing vote, but she didn’t dispute his influence.
“I’ve been at FERC so long that when I first got to FERC, someone told me I was the Sandra Day O’Connor,” she said. “Now, a whole new generation of Supreme Court justices has come and gone and I’m still there.”
While President Donald Trump will be able to pick a Republican to replace Powelson, a new commissioner may not be in place until sometime next year, after the Supreme Court fight and midterm elections expected to dominate the fall agenda in Washington. Formal vetting does not appear to have started, according to industry sources and other FERC watchers, but potential commissioners include Bruce Walker, the Energy Department's top electricity policy official; Sean Cunningham, a DOE official who used to direct the agency's policy office; and Doug Little, a former Arizona regulator who joined DOE's external affairs office last fall.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who recently boasted about having a fully stocked FERC, said she's eager to make sure there are enough commissioners to keep agency business flowing, particularly after last year's six-month stretch without a quorum and the project backlog that created.
“I’m going to kinda put a fire on this. We worked very aggressively to get the FERC filled out, and I guess we’ll just do it again," Murkowski told reporters earlier this month.
While FERC can still conduct business with four commissioners, its agenda will be more complicated for a while.
The divide will be felt within a few weeks on a controversial FERC order directing the PJM grid operator to write new rules for its capacity market aimed at protecting power markets from state-level support for nuclear and renewable power. PJM, the largest power market in the U.S., manages the grid spanning 13 states and the District of Columbia, from Illinois to New Jersey.
In June, Powelson delivered the tie-breaking vote on the order directing PJM to find a way to prevent subsidized power plants from undercutting competing sources such as coal.
LaFleur offered a more moderate dissent than her fellow Democratic Commissioner Richard Glick, who questioned the need for FERC to step in at all. While she acknowledged FERC may need to act, she was skeptical of the order's novel application of a mechanism known as a "Fixed Resource Requirement," a move that has sparked confusion across the industry.
"I do not share the majority’s confidence that this proposal is the obvious solution to the challenge before us, in no small part because it is not clear to me how this construct will actually work," LaFleur wrote in her dissent. The majority, she said, had signaled their intent to adopt "the most sweeping changes to the PJM capacity construct since the market’s inception more than a decade ago."
Now, it will be up to PJM to try to convince her.
The grid operator must submit a new plan by late August that meets the set of technical criteria laid out in FERC's order. PJM hopes to have the rules in place for its next capacity auction in the spring of 2019, and that will mean getting FERC's sign-off by January, before another commissioner is likely to be in place.
PJM would be smart to “to design a proposal that’s going to at least get LaFleur’s vote,” because Glick isn’t anywhere close to the Republicans on the issue, said Rob Gramlich, a consultant for renewable energy and storage companies who used to work for former FERC Chairman Pat Wood.
“All the RTOs and all the regulated utilities to some extent think about that. It’s true on rates, and return on equity as well,” Gramlich added. “Where the commissioners are is usually pretty well-known, and you don’t want to file something that’s going to be incompatible with commissioners’ past positions.”
LaFleur's position as FERC's swing vote will also be felt in the commission's reviews of pipelines and related natural gas infrastructure.
While LaFleur has generally voted to approve such applications, she has recently pushed her fellow commissioners to more seriously consider climate change in their reviews. She has cited as a motivation for that shift the August 2017 D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that directed FERC to estimate how much carbon would be generated by natural gas power plants because of deliveries expectedfrom the Sabal Trail pipeline and related projects in the Southeast.
But in the wake of the Sabal Trail ruling, LaFleur described doing a basic back-of-envelope emissions calculation she felt the agency should be doing — something McIntyre may have to consider if he wants LaFleur's vote. Even in some concurrences where she supported projects, LaFleur has pressed FERC to take climate change more seriously.
“I’m working to try to make a case-by-case public interest determine in each pipeline application or petition for rehearing based on the facts in the record and the governing law as I understand it,” LaFleur said at FERC's July open meeting, explaining what she looks for before supporting pipelines.
LaFleur's position changed quickly enough that Republican FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee jokingly jabbed at her when talking about how he first met Powelson in the early 2010s.
“That was a lifetime ago," Chatterjee said at the meeting this month. "Cheryl used to vote for pipelines back then with no regard whatsoever for emissions.”
Fewer than a half-dozen pipeline projects are slated to need leadership approval over the next several months, but sorting out how the policy divide is bridged in this four-member commission falls to McIntyre. Among them are Cheniere's Midcontinent Supply Header Interstate Pipeline, running 200 miles from central Oklahoma to the Texas border, that the developer had hoped to have in service by early 2019.
McIntyre has also launched an open-ended, loosely defined review to take a "fresh look" at the agency's gas infrastructure policy, which has not been updated since the Clinton administration. The policy outlines FERC's philosophy on how to assess the "need" for a project by weighing its environmental costs with market demand and other factors, and the ongoing review has turned into another front in the battle over climate change.
In comments submitted to FERC last week, environmental organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund say FERC needs to reassess how it prevents overbuilding the nation’s pipeline network, and a slew of other green groups also argue that more greenhouse gas emissions data need to be disclosed. The Harvard Electricity Law Initiative suggests that FERC “explicitly acknowledge” the economic risks and environmental effects of greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, industry groups like the American Gas Association are asking regulators to keep their hands off the policy.
Now it’s unclear how the initiative continues in Powelson’s absence, whether McIntyre tries to make concessions to LaFleur to win her support for a new policy, or if he waits until a new commissioner is in place before proceeding further.
Public Citizen’s Slocum said that while the commission may find a middle ground on some issues, he did not expect the agency to craft any notable new policies on gas infrastructure with its current makeup.
“FERC isn’t gripped with the kind of partisan atmosphere of distrust that you see in Congress," he said. "But that doesn’t mean that they’re going to be able to work out their differences."
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/07/with-ferc-split-lafleurs-profile-set-to-rise-713636
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BP Makes $10.5 Billion Shale Deal, Its Biggest Since Deepwater Horizon
Jul 27, 2018 | The New York Times
By Stanley Reed
BP has effectively declared that it has recovered from the Gulf of Mexico disaster.
The London-based energy giant said late Thursday that it would buy an enormous portfolio covering 470,000 acres of shale oil and gas properties in Texas and Louisiana from BHP Billiton of Australia.
The $10.5 billion deal — BP’s biggest in nearly 20 years — signals that the company’s management believes the financial costs of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which have totaled $66 billion, have mostly been paid, leaving it free to contemplate big-ticket acquisitions. The purchase also gives the company a significant foothold in the fast-growing shale industry in the United States, one in which BP had largely been left behind by its major rivals.
“BP was aware that they were late on this crucial global resource theme,” said Roy Martin, an analyst at the energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
The agreement with BHP Billiton is BP’s largest since 1999, when it bought Arco, a Los Angeles-based oil company, for $27 billion. Back then, BP was seen as a trendsetter in the global energy industry, snapping up other companies and making an early foray into renewables. It even adopted the slogan “Beyond Petroleum.”
The Gulf of Mexico spill changed all that, though, and the company has been considerably more cautious in making major investments since.
Beyond its symbolic value, analysts said, the BHP deal is a sign that BP is scrambling to catch up with an industry shift.
Shale exploration, which involves drilling long horizontal wells and then injecting fluids, or fracking, to break up rocks beneath the Earth’s surface, had long been carried out by smaller companies. But it has become increasingly attractive to international businesses as oil prices rise and the capacity of the American shale industry increases.
Behemoths like Chevron and Exxon Mobil have moved aggressively to extract oil from shale rock. Chevron is ramping up its spending on shale drilling by 50 percent, and it will soon account for almost a third of its overall expenditure on energy output, according to Wood Mackenzie. Exxon Mobil, which is rapidly developing a swath of acreage it bought last year, is also increasing its spending on shale drilling to a similar proportion.
By comparison, BP had been spending just 10 percent of its overall drilling expenditure on shale, until it reached the BHP deal. But the sheer size of the deal could catapult the British company to second among large companies when it comes to shale oil output in the United States, Wood Mackenzie said.
“Shale is becoming the realm of Big Oil,” said Rob West, a partner at Redburn, an independent financial analysis firm. Mr. West forecasts that the proportion of major oil companies’ output from shale will double by 2025, an increase from about 10 percent of their production now.
Part of the attractiveness of investments in shale is the quick payoff. Drilling in shale rock leads to oil extraction much faster than traditional large, and complex, oil and gas investments. That helps reduce a project’s exposure to fluctuations in the price of oil.
Those rapid turnarounds are of greater interest to large energy companies, whose boards are increasingly hesitant to approve long-term oil and gas projects. Fearful of declining demand for their products as renewable energy sources like wind and solar become more prevalent, energy executives have been keen to lock in short-term returns on their investments.
“The short-term return, which is the story of shale, is building its way into the boardroom,” Andrew F. Gould, a former chief executive of Schlumberger, the oil services giant, said at a conference in Vienna last month.
On a call with reporters after the BHP deal was announced, BP executives said the acquisition offered the chance to scale up their shale investments with modest risk.
“These are discovered resources in the ground,” said Bernard Looney, BP’s upstream chief executive. “We know they are there.”
Uncertainty about the future, and a desire for quick returns on investment, have also driven companies like BP to make deals in areas like solar and wind power, and even for small electric utilities. Total, for instance, recently purchased a utility called Direct Energie for $1.7 billion, while BP struck a $200 million deal for a solar power developer called Lightsource at the end of last year.
While these investments remain relatively small in proportion to the companies’ overall spending, analysts say they also offer a quicker payback than oil and gas projects as well as a hedge against an uncertain future for fossil fuels.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/27/business/energy-environment/bp-bhp-shale-oil-gas.html
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Wisconsin Frac Sand Producers Seek Relief from Rail Costs, Service Issues
Jul 30, 2018 | LaCrosse Tribune
By Chris Hubbuch
In a clash of old and new industries, Wisconsin frac sand producers say their business is threatened by a handful of railroads operating under outdated regulations. Wisconsin produces about a third of the nation’s supply of sand used to extract natural gas and oil through a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The dozens of mines that have sprung up across western Wisconsin in the past decade rely on four major railroads to deliver more than 30 million tons a year of their “Northern White” product to wells in far-flung places like Texas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania.
“We don’t do hydraulic fracturing in Wisconsin,” said Marty Lehman, spokesman for the Wisconsin Industrial Sand Association. “You’ve got to get the sand to where the need is. Trucking is not a cost-effective option.”
But those mines, strategically located along rail lines, are “practically held hostage” to whatever prices and services are offered by their rail carriers, according to a national trade organization.
“Overall rail service is declining significantly over the last several years,” said Chris Greissing, executive vice president of the Industrial Minerals Association—North America. “The pricing has soared.”
Indeed, in recent years the oil industry in Texas has begun to turn to new “in basin” sources, using lower quality sand mined near the wells to avoid shipping, which can account for up to 70 percent of the delivered cost of Wisconsin sand, according to industry analysts.
And frac producers say service problems — especially on the Canadian National line — seriously affected their business in the first part of this year.
This comes as domestic crude oil production is at an all-time high, driven largely by shale extraction made possible by fracking. Domestic production of silica sand last year was about 105 million tons, just shy of the all-time record, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and analysts expect it will climb even higher in the next two years.
Hi-Crush Partners, which operates four mines in Wisconsin, resorted to trucking sand from some mines to be loaded on trains at other sites, costing the company about $1.3 million in the first three months of the year.
CEO Robert Rasmus told analysts that the reduction in unit train availability may have also reduced sales by up to 500,000 tons of sand during the first quarter.
“The rail is a huge, huge issue,” said Kent Syverson, an industry consultant and chair of the geology department at UW-Eau Claire.
Representatives of other companies are more reticent or declined to address the issue, which Greissing attributes to fear of being “blackballed” by their rail carriers.
“You have to have a very very strong negotiating position if you’re going to win with the railroads,” Syverson said. “I don’t think a company would want to go up there and say many things.”
“This is an issue for just about anybody who moves a significant volume of anything by rail,” said Scott Jensen, a spokesman for the Rail Customer Coalition, a group of industry and agricultural associations that is putting pressure on the president and lawmakers to address problems that they say have grown in the nearly 40 years since Congress took steps to deregulate railroads through the Staggers Act.
Railroads are increasing rates and coming up with new ways to charge customers even as service has declined, he said. “It’s like a reverse of the Walmart tagline: pay more, get less.”
Jensen points to data showing the nominal cost per car has almost doubled since the last railroad merger in 2001.
But that’s not the best measure of cost, according to the Association of American Railroads, which represents the nation’s largest rail carriers.
Adjusted for inflation, average revenue per ton-mile — the amount railroads charge for weight and distance — has increased by about a third over the same period and is actually 46 percent less than than in 1981.
AAR says the Staggers Act is working just fine and that the industry has invested more than $660 billion improving service and safety over the past four decades.
“The current balanced economic regulatory framework saved the rail industry from collapse nearly 40 years ago and continues to be a success,” said AAR spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek. “This regulatory structure protects railroad customers from unreasonable railroad actions while also allowing market forces and competition to determine rail rates.”
Tension between railroads and their customers is nothing new.
Frank Douma, a transportation researcher at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, said the current clash can be traced to Hunter Harrison, the late executive who turned around three railroads and established new benchmarks for lower operating costs.
“It really places a premium on being able to … have as lean an operation as possible,” Douma said. “That’s kind of become the darling measure of how railroads are performing. The customer groups have started to kind of say, now wait a minute, that tends to only look at one side of the equation.”
In addition to rates and service, the Rail Customer Coalition would like regulators to require railroads to allow “competitive switching,” in which customers with access to only one railroad would be able to have their cargo transferred to another railroad within a certain distance.
Jensen said that would provide flexibility for producers trying to reach different markets and encourage cost competition by the railroads.
The AAR calls this “forced access” and says it would “significantly compromise” the efficiency of the nation’s rail network.
“Large corporations dissatisfied that they have to pay fair-market rates to ship products are driving this proposal,” according to AAR. “Under the proposal, they could petition the STB, which in turn would force the railroad to hand over traffic to a competitor who would charge less.”
While U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin has introduced a bill that would address some of the RCC’s concerns, the coalition thinks many of these issues could be addressed by the Surface Transportation Board, which regulates commercial rates and operations.
The five-member board has been hamstrung by three vacancies, though two Republican nominees are awaiting confirmation by the Senate.
The five-member board has been hamstrung by three vacancies, though two Republican nominees are awaiting confirmation by the Senate.
The committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Thursday approved a third, Martin Oberman, former chairman of Chicago’s Metra commuter rail system, and Jensen said he’s optimistic that the STB will soon be fully staffed and ready to tackle rail regulation.
Jensen said the issue isn’t just a problem for frac sand producers and other large companies who rely on rail; it’s trickling down to trucking rates and ultimately to consumer prices.
“It’s a headwind for people who are domestic producers,” he said. “It’s a real drag for people producing things here in the United States. … It favors things being imported in the country rather than being produced in the country.”
https://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/wisconsin-frac-sand-producers-seek-relief-from-rail-costs-service/article_5bcb464e-2dd9-5ecf-9824-09cc24b1c7e7.html
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10th Circuit Backs States, EPA on 'Exceptional' Air Law Waivers
Jul 30, 2018 | Inside EPA
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in a new ruling is bolstering EPA's discretion to approve states' applications for Clean Air Act regulatory exemptions for “exceptional events,” such as dust storms or wildfires, backing the agency's approval of dozens of requests from Colorado over environmentalists' objections.
In its unanimous July 24 ruling in Robert Ukeiley v. EPA, et al., a three-judge panel backs EPA's discretion to grant Colorado exemptions from compliance with “coarse” particulate matter (PM10) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) during high wind events that resulted in excessive levels of wind-born dust. EPA's exceptional events rule allows states to apply to the agency for the right to exclude from NAAQS attainment demonstrations air quality monitoring data gathered during such events.
But the court's opinion may have limited impact, because EPA in a 2016 reform to the rule removed key language, contested in the law suit, that required states to show pollution conditions during exceptional events are in excess of “normal historical fluctuations including background,” and replaced it with a broader requirement to simply compare “exceptional” conditions with historical ones.
The decision is the second appellate ruling recently that has backed EPA's exceptional events policy, with the D.C. Circuit in a July 20 ruling upholding the 2016 rule by rejecting environmentalists' claims that the rule would allow exemptions for routine human activities.
The exceptional events requests at issue in the 10th Circuit case cover 55 events from 2001 to 2015, of which EPA in 2016 approved 34 as “exceptional” under the rule as written in 2007. This allowed Colorado to show in a state implementation plan (SIP) for air law attainment that it was “maintaining” attainment of PM10 NAAQS.
Environmental lawyer Ukeiley in his suit argued that high wind events in Colorado's high plains are actually frequent, within historical norms and therefore not exceptional. EPA countered that Ukeiley's suit was in fact an untimely attack on the 2007 version of the exceptional events rule.
But Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich, writing the unanimous opinion on behalf of fellow panel Judges Stephanie Seymour and Carolyn McHugh, does not focus on the timeliness argument. Instead, he defers to EPA's interpretation of the Clean Air Act and exceptional events rule in the agency's decision to grant Colorado's requests.
Tymkovich finds the air law's language on exceptional events unambiguously allows for “natural” exceptional events, such as dust storms, to recur. There is no statutory requirement that these should be “rare,” he finds. “Congress did not exclude recurring natural variations from its definition of 'exceptional event,'” Tymkovich writes. In contrast, man-made exceptional events must be “unlikely to recur” under the air law.
Tymkovich then upholds EPA's application of the 2007 exceptional events rule and related guidance against Ukeiley's charge that the agency misapplied its own regulation in order to approve Colorado's requests. “EPA relied on considerable wind and meteorological data in reviewing Colorado’s application for exclusion. Colorado supported its request for an exclusion with reams of technical data, in accordance with the Rule and the EPA’s guidance.”
While the court's ruling backs EPA's statutory interpretation that “natural” exceptional events need not be “rare,” the agency's 2016 rule revision should already make it easier for states to make exceptional events demonstrations. The revision relieves states of the need to demonstrate what “normal historical fluctuations” are -- an onerous task -- and also lifts the requirement to determine “background."
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/10th-circuit-backs-states-epa-exceptional-air-law-waivers
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EPA Keeps Status Quo for Cement Plant Standards
Jul 30, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
EPA is leaving air toxics emissions standards for portland cement manufacturers unchanged following a review required by the Clean Air Act.
In a recently published final rule, agency officials stood by their initial conclusion released last September that existing standards protect public health with an ample margin of safety and "that it is not necessary to set a more stringent standard to prevent an adverse environmental effect." The rule also incorporates "corrections and clarifications" the agency predicts will lead to improved monitoring and compliance (Greenwire, Sept. 21, 2017).
The standards apply to some 95 plants nationwide. Under the Clean Air Act, any lawsuits challenging the rule must be filed by Sept. 24 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
While the portland cement industry backed EPA's decision to leave the current emission standards in place, environmental groups had argued that stricter limits were needed to fully incorporate developments such as the pollution control technology known as selective catalytic reduction.
The original hazardous air pollutants standards for portland cement manufacturers date back to 1999 and have since been amended several times. The "residual risk and technology review" is intended to consider technical innovations that could further curb emissions as well as new evidence of the health effects of individual pollutants.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/07/30/stories/1060091617
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