Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 02/08/18
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EPA’s Wheeler Hears Warm Words, Tough Questions on Hill Return
Aug 1, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Schultz and Dean Scott
New acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler got a warm bipartisan welcome in his first appearance before Congress since taking over for Scott Pruitt, but also fielded a variety of tough questions from Democrats. -
Carper Compares Kavanaugh to Pruitt in Bid to Block Nomination
Aug 2, 2018 | Inside EPA
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the ranking Democrat on the Senate environment committee, is comparing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to ousted EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, in a bid to block the appellate judge's Senate confirmation to the high court. -
Ewire: Trump's Science Adviser Pick Earns Bipartisan Praise
Aug 2, 2018 | Inside EPA
President Donald Trump's long-awaited nominee to head the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), meteorologist Kevlin Droegemeier, is earning rare bipartisan praise -- though many critics of the administration are questioning how influential he will be on Trump policy plans such as rolling back EPA's climate rules. -
Ignore the Facts — Only Way to Justify Rollback of EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Standards
Aug 2, 2018 | The Hill - Opinion
By Jeff Alson
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to massively roll back its undeniably successful car greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards while totally ignoring the technical and scientific facts, as well as its world-renowned federal, career staff. -
EPA Issues 145 TSCA Significant New Use Rules
Aug 2, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US EPA has issued TSCA significant new use rules for 145 substances subject to section 5(e) consent orders. -
Families Speak Out on Trichloroethylene Exposure: It’s Time for EPA to Act on TCE
Aug 1, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Samantha Lovell
Today, families from across the country came to Washington, DC to tell lawmakers how the toxic chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) has impacted their lives. -
Senators Press Wheeler on 'Blatant Disregard' of TSCA Law
Aug 2, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Senate Democrats have grilled Andrew Wheeler about the US EPA’s implementation of the new TSCA law and demanded that the acting administrator move forward stalled bans on two solvents. -
Senators, Families Urge EPA to Take Stronger Action on Toxic Chemicals
Aug 2, 2018 | ABC News
By Stephanie Ebbs
Senators from both sides of the aisle and families personally affected by exposure to toxic chemicals had a message for the acting Environmental Protection Agency chief Wednesday: Take a more aggressive approach to regulating chemicals that could cause cancer. -
Massachusetts Holds Hearing on Changes to Mercury Law
Aug 2, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is holding a hearing on 3 August regarding proposed changes to the state’s legislation on mercury-added products. -
U.S. Utilities Balk at Expanded Carbon-Capture Subsidy
Aug 2, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Timothy Gardner
Few U.S. energy policies can bring together coal miners, oil drillers, environmentalists, Republicans and Democrats. -
US Agency Cites 3 Companies in Oklahoma Rig Explosion
Aug 2, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations to three companies involved in a natural gas rig explosion in Oklahoma that killed five workers. -
Explosions Injure 7 in West Texas
Aug 2, 2018 | Reuters (In E&E Greenwire)
By Gary McWilliams
Authorities today were investigating what caused a fire and a series of natural gas pipeline explosions in Midland County, Texas, that sent seven people to the hospital yesterday and shut down five lines before being extinguished late in the evening. -
Out of Spotlight, Tribes Keep Fighting Dakota Pipeline
Aug 2, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Stephanie Keith
Native American tribes that tried to block the Dakota Access oil pipeline during a months-long standoff with authorities in North Dakota more than a year ago are carrying on their fight in federal court, in what they contend is a symbol of their ongoing struggle for tribal sovereignty. -
Agency: Refinery Fire Caused by Blast Debris Hitting Tank
Aug 2, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
A federal agency says a massive refinery fire that forced the temporary evacuation of homes in the coastal Wisconsin city of Superior in April was caused by an explosion that sent debris hurtling into an asphalt storage tank. -
EPA to Leave 2015 Ozone Standard Alone — For Now
Aug 2, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
The Trump administration, ending 16 months of legal uncertainty, signaled yesterday that it will not seek to revise or repeal the 2015 ground-level ozone standard "at this time," while simultaneously floating the possibility of later raising the 70-parts-per-billion limit through a newly launched review -
Budget Document Silent on Climate, Clean Energy
Aug 2, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Christa Marshall
The White House is no longer including "climate change" and "clean energy" in a budget document that steers spending decisions at federal agencies.
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EPA’s Wheeler Hears Warm Words, Tough Questions on Hill Return
Aug 1, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Schultz and Dean Scott
New acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler got a warm bipartisan welcome in his first appearance before Congress since taking over for Scott Pruitt, but also fielded a variety of tough questions from Democrats.
Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee pointedly asked Wheeler Aug. 1 about such subjects as the implementation of a landmark toxic chemicals law Congress passed in 2016 and releasing a study on the health impacts of formaldehyde.
Wheeler also faced queries from several lawmakers on the issue of renewable fuels and whether the Environmental Protection Agency is too lenient—or too harsh—on fuel refineries that don’t want to blend ethanol or other biofuels into their petroleum-based products.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) came down in the “too lenient” camp. He said that when the agency gives refiners a so-called “hardship exemption” that lets them not meet blending standards, it depresses demand for corn and other crops that get turned into biofuels.
The EPA has “taken care of the small refineries, but you haven’t taken care of the small farmers,” Rounds told Wheeler at the Aug. 1 hearing. Wheeler responded that his agency would look into the effects of the agency’s biofuels policies.
Booker, Markey Raise Questions
Wheeler also faced questions from Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) about the new toxic chemicals law. Booker said the agency was moving too slowly on taking action on chemicals like the paint stripper methylene chloride or the solvent trichloroethylene, orTCE, and noted that several people whose family members were injured or killed by these chemicals were in attendance at the hearing.
Wheeler didn’t provide firm answers to Booker’s questions and, specifically on methylene chloride, wouldn’t give him a timeline for when his agency would send a ban on that chemical to the White House for review.
“We are moving forward ask quickly as we can on that,” Wheeler said.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) also sought unsuccessfully to get Wheeler to commit to swiftly releasing a study on the health effects of formaldehyde, one of the most commonly used chemicals in the country.
Markey later tweeted that he found Wheeler’s response to the issue “unacceptable.”
Placid Compared to Pruitt
But compared to the few times Pruitt came to Capitol Hill, Wheeler’s session before Environment and Public Works was relatively subdued. Wheeler was a staffer on this committee in the 1990s and 2000s before departing to become a lobbyist.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the committee’s chairman, said he hopes the Trump administration removes the “acting” title from Wheeler’s job and nominates him to lead the agency permanently—a sentiment echoed by other Republicans who spoke to Bloomberg Environment.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the top Democrat on the committee, was also collegial with Wheeler and said the EPA chief “shares my goal” of reaching a deal to avoid a conflict with California and other states on regulating automotive emissions.
“It’s my goal and the administration’s goal to come up with a 50-state solution that doesn’t preempt California” and other states, Wheeler said.
Carper also drew a contrast on ethics between Wheeler and Pruitt, saying “I don’t plan to hear a peep from Mr. Wheeler on used mattresses, Chick-fil-A, or fancy moisturizer.”
Wheeler was able to defuse some of the pointed questions from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) about delays in agency enforcement actions. Whitehouse said he was concerned that a draft memo from 2017 that leaked to the press that indicates the EPA considered having its regional enforcement staff clear all actions with the administrator’s office.
Wheeler said he wasn’t sure if that policy was in effect at the agency, but also said it may have been considered because the EPA’s enforcement office was without a leader for nearly all of 2017 as the Senate debated the Trump administration’s nominee.
The EPA chief also seemed to side with Democrats at one point in the hearing when the issue of the Chesapeake Bay came up.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) asked Wheeler about a measure that was attached to this year’s annual EPA funding bill, H.R. 6147. The measure, backed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and other Republicans, would block the EPA from taking backstop measures if Mid-Atlantic states miss their targets for reducing nitrogen, phosphorous, and other pollutants into the Chesapeake.
Wheeler indicated he doesn’t support this measure. “We would certainly like to keep all the enforcement authorities we can on that,” he told Van Hollen.
‘More Knowledgeable’ Than Pruitt
Republicans praised Wheeler’s performance before the committee, and he even received mixed-to-positive reviews from several Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a member of the environment committee.
“I do think he is there to deregulate and weaken many of the EPA regulations that protect our environment, but I do appreciate his professionalism,” she told Bloomberg Environment. “He’s much more knowledgeable” than Pruitt.
Duckworth added that she thinks Wheeler is “someone we can work with.”
https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/epas-wheeler-hears-warm-words-tough-questions-on-hill-return
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Carper Compares Kavanaugh to Pruitt in Bid to Block Nomination
Aug 2, 2018 | Inside EPA
Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the ranking Democrat on the Senate environment committee, is comparing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to ousted EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, in a bid to block the appellate judge's Senate confirmation to the high court.
“It is hard to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness if you don't have clean air,” Carper said during an Aug. 1 rally at the Capitol alongside several advocacy groups opposed to Kavanaugh's nomination. “We just got rid of a guy named Scott Pruitt,” who “thought it didn't matter” if methane and mercury were in the air. “Who agreed with him? A guy name Kavanaugh. Judge Kavanaugh, Pruitt was wrong, so are you.”
Carper referenced the outgoing EPA chief's efforts to weaken vehicle greenhouse gas rules as well as the agency's denial of a Delaware petition to reduce conventional air pollutants from upwind states. He noted that, if confirmed, Kavanaugh would have a say in the outcome of these disputes, should lawsuits over the rules end up at the high court.
In a statement, Carper charged that during 12 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Kavanaugh “has demonstrated that he will put the interests of polluters ahead of the right of the public to breathe clean [air] and drink clean water.”
Carper was joined at the rally -- which addressed a broad range of issues beyond the environment -- by several Democratic colleagues, including Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), who warned that Kavanaugh could also overturn the landmark 2007 high court ruling that held GHGs are regulated pollutants under the Clean Air Act, issued in a 5-4 decision.
Markey said that holding in Massachusetts v. EPA “is now in jeopardy. . . . There is an anti-environmental record which Brett Kavanaugh is bringing to his confirmation hearing. It is going to be critical that each and every one of you raise your voices so each and every American understand that clean air and clean water [are] going to be in jeopardy because big polluters know if Judge Kavanaugh becomes Justice Kavanaugh . . . he will be the ultimate trump card on the Supreme Court.”
He added that voters must persuade the Senate, which can confirm justices with a simple majority vote, “to say no to big oil, no to king coal, no to the Koch brothers and no to Brett Kavanaugh. Let's go out there and fight. Let's give it everything we've got.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) also vowed that the Senate would reject Kavanaugh, telling “all of the naysayers who say this is a done deal, 'You ain't seen nothing yet.'”
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) called Kavanaugh “a clear and present danger.”
Also speaking at the event was Kristin Mink, the Washington, D.C., schoolteacher who confronted Pruitt in a restaurant two days before he was forced to resign July 5. She sought to transfer that success to blocking Kavanaugh, and quoted Pruitt's resignation letter, which cited “unrelenting attacks on me personally.”
“I think 'attacks' is a little overblown, because all we did for months was read his own resume back to him,” she said, adding that she is focusing on Pruitt's use of “unrelenting.”
“From now until Nov. 6 and beyond, we will be unrelenting,” Mink vowed, referencing the date of the midterm elections, which could decide the balance of power in both the House and Senate.
Republican leaders, who hold a slim 51-49 majority in the upper chamber, have vowed to confirm Kavanaugh before the midterms.
A similar comparison between Pruitt and Kavanaugh was drawn in a July 31 article in The Nation, which says, “Just as corporate attorney Scott Pruitt has been ousted from the helm of the [EPA], President Trump has nominated a potentially more dangerous right-winger to the Supreme Court. And with Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the highest court in the land seeming more and more likely, environmental advocates fear he may enshrine Pruitt's scorched-earth policies for generations to come.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/carper-compares-kavanaugh-pruitt-bid-block-nomination
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Ewire: Trump's Science Adviser Pick Earns Bipartisan Praise
Aug 2, 2018 | Inside EPA
President Donald Trump's long-awaited nominee to head the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), meteorologist Kevlin Droegemeier, is earning rare bipartisan praise -- though many critics of the administration are questioning how influential he will be on Trump policy plans such as rolling back EPA's climate rules.
Trump formally announced his pick of Droegemeier late on July 31. The nominee has specialized in studying extreme weather, currently works as an administrator at Oklahoma University, and formerly served as the Oklahoma state government's secretary of science and technology in addition to time spent on the National Science Board and as director of at least two separate meteorology research centers at the National Science Foundation.
If confirmed, Droegemeier will be the first OSTP head since Obama-era science adviser John Holdren departed at the end of the prior administration -- meaning the position has been open for more than 18 months.
The Washington Post writes that Holdren is among a slate of Democrats and scientists offering praise for Trump's nomination. The former OSTP head is quoted calling Droegemeier “a very solid choice . . . He’s been a serious climate scientist, and he’s been a serious science adviser to people in positions of influence.”
Similarly, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) praised Droegemeier's nomination, but also raised concerns over whether he will be able to sway Trump administration rollbacks of climate regulations at EPA and elsewhere.
Johnson, ranking member on the House Science, Space & Technology Committee, said in an Aug. 1 statement, “I hope that the Administration will heed his advice. Dr. Droegemeier knows how important our commitment to robust [research and development] and innovation funding is and he knows well the value of the scientific community. I believe when he is confirmed, he will work to advance the scientific interests of the United States.”
And The New York Times quotes former Obama space adviser Phillip Larson as saying, “The real question is, will he be listened to?”
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-trumps-science-adviser-pick-earns-bipartisan-praise
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Ignore the Facts — Only Way to Justify Rollback of EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Standards
Aug 2, 2018 | The Hill - Opinion
By Jeff Alson
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to massively roll back its undeniably successful car greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards while totally ignoring the technical and scientific facts, as well as its world-renowned federal, career staff. This is unprecedented and will go down as one of the most anti-science and anti-transparency actions in agency history.
Over the previous decade, EPA’s technical staff published nearly 10,000 pages of analysis strongly supporting the car GHG standards. The comprehensive and sophisticated federal automotive technology analysis was developed using new tools recommended by the National Academy of Sciences, which had never been used by any regulatory agency.
Now, instead of building on this historic work, EPA political leadership rubber-stamped a biased analysis of both the GHG and fuel economy standards cobbled together by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to provide a political rationale for what is essentially an eight-year freeze of the GHG standards.
In doing so, EPA effectively endorsed DOT’s refusal to have a single technical working meeting with EPA staff since the 2016 election. DOT has no laboratory and has never performed a single vehicle fuel economy or GHG test. EPA, on the other hand, operates a state-of-the-art vehicle pollution laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has performed every federal fuel economy and GHG test for the last 40 years. It’s disappointing that the Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler would agree to rubber stamp the shoddy DOT analysis.
The extreme rollback proposal is consistent with the view of both former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and President Trump that facts simply do not matter. By March 2017, less than two months after his inauguration, Trump and Pruitt had already concluded that the car GHG and fuel economy standards were “job killers.” This claim is absurd on its face.
The standards began in 2012 and U.S. auto sales have risen in five of the six years since then to a record in 2016, with only a tiny decrease in 2017. The years from 2015 through 2017 are three of the four highest auto sales years in history, and 2018 is on track to remain near the record. Profits and jobs have increased and remain at high levels. Ironically, even the seriously flawed DOT analysis projects that the standards increase jobs.
The GHG and fuel economy standards have not only been great for automakers, but for consumers as well. The standards have sparked cost-effective technology innovation such as more efficient engines and transmissions, stop-start systems, and lightweight materials. For every dollar that consumers invest in better technology, they save $2 to $3 in lower gasoline costs. The standards require automakers to achieve average real-world fuel economy of about 36 mpg in 2025, or an improvement of about 1 mpg per-year. This is not rocket science.
Some experts have called these standards the single most important action taken by any country to address climate change, given that transportation has now overtaken utilities as the largest source of U.S. GHG emissions. And reducing oil consumption lowers our trade deficit and increases national security.
While the current standards get a little tougher each year, the DOT proposal authorized by EPA proposes to freeze the GHG standards at today’s levels through 2026. Allowing automakers to do absolutely nothing for eight years will increase GHG emissions by nearly 900 million metric tons over the lifetimes of the vehicles sold in those years and worsen climate change.
Rolling back the standards will force consumers to pay more for gasoline, thereby taking money from consumers’ pockets and giving it to the oil companies and OPEC. Low-income Americans will be hurt the most, as they pay a higher percentage of their income for gasoline. And good-paying technology jobs at the automakers and suppliers will decline.
The good news is that the recent proposal is not legally binding and must go through a full public rulemaking process. Accordingly, this is the time for the American people to demand that successful car GHG and fuel economy standards not only be maintained at their current levels through 2025 but strengthened for the future.
Jeff Alson worked for 40 years at the EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/400051-ignore-the-facts-only-way-to-justify-rollback-of-epas-greenhouse
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EPA Issues 145 TSCA Significant New Use Rules
Aug 2, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US EPA has issued TSCA significant new use rules for 145 substances subject to section 5(e) consent orders.
The Snurs relate to a variety of substances, though the majority deal with various benzoic acid substances used for monitoring oil and gas well performance.
During review of each substance's pre-manufacture notice (PMN), the EPA determined that restrictions were warranted to mitigate potential unreasonable risk. The agency therefore negotiated the consent orders with the PMN submitters requiring them to implement certain risk management and exposure controls.
Each took effect between March and August 2017.
Consent orders, however, are only binding on the original PMN submitter. Consequently the EPA is issuing Snurs consistent with their provisions to hold subsequent users to the same requirements.Rulemaking process
In line with a practice the EPA has used in recent years, the agency simultaneously issued the 145 Snurs as both a direct final rule and a proposed rule.
Unless it receives adverse comment on the former before the end of the month, they will take effect 1 October.
But for substances that attract significant adverse comment, the EPA will withdraw those Snurs from the direct final rule and address them through the standard rulemaking process.Snurs in the spotlight
The latest issuing of Snurs comes as their use – or non-use – by the agency in the new chemicals review comes under scrutiny.
Snurs like those at issue here – that bind subsequent users to the original PMN submitter's consent order ("5(e)-Snurs") – have been standard practice since before the 2016 Lautenberg Act updated TSCA.
But in a 2017 document, New Chemicals Decision-Making Framework, the EPA indicated it would also use a 'Snur-only' approach in situations where the intended use of a substance presents no concerns. In these cases, it would issue a "not likely to present an unreasonable risk" finding for the PMN, and subsequently issue a Snur to safeguard against potentially concerning future uses.
NGOs have objected to this, saying it allows lapses between when a substance enters the market and when restrictions are imposed on it. But the EPA says it can be "more efficient" to issue a Snur that applies to all parties, including the submitter, than to issue an order followed by a Snur.
Recent weeks, however, have seen renewed focus on this approach amid reports that the agency is quietly planning to further ease back on its use of Snurs. And last week, Senate Democrats pressed the EPA about whether it is "weakening" the new chemicals programme, and questioned whether that was in keeping with the statute.
The agency has yet to respond to repeated requests from Chemical Watch for additional information.
The consent orders that the 145 Snurs correspond to are almost all more than a year old – and consequently largely predate the shifts in how the agency’s approaches new chemicals.
https://chemicalwatch.com/69193/epa-issues-145-tsca-significant-new-use-rules
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Families Speak Out on Trichloroethylene Exposure: It’s Time for EPA to Act on TCE
Aug 1, 2018 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Samantha Lovell
Today, families from across the country came to Washington, DC to tell lawmakers how the toxic chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) has impacted their lives.
TCE is a known human carcinogen that is toxic to the immune system and kidney, and can cause fetal heart damage – among other harmful health effects. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed bans on high-risk uses of TCE under the newly reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) back in December 2016 and January 2017, but under this Administration, the agency has abandoned these bans.
TCE is also one of the first 10 chemicals slated for a broad risk review by EPA under TSCA. Unfortunately, EPA plans to ignore the major exposures Americans face from TCE and other toxic chemicals released to our air, water and land – yet another sign that EPA is giving in to the chemical industry to the detriment of the public’s health.
In a moving press conference today led by Sen. Tom Udall, several families shared their stories in an effort to pressure EPA to finalize the bans and take other necessary steps to protect communities across the country from TCE.Kari Rhinehart spoke about her daughter, who passed away from a brain tumor four years ago, and noted the high rate of pediatric cancer in Johnson County, Indiana – where TCE has been detected in water, soil, and even in the air of homes in their community.Jerry Ensminger, a retired Marine Master Sergeant who was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, spoke about his daughter who died of leukemia following exposure to TCE and other toxic chemicals.Linda and Oscar Robles discussed the lasting, harmful health effects of TCE contamination of the drinking water in their community of Tucson, Arizona.Jan Peterson shared the story of her husband, who in his job regularly used a TCE solution to clean copiers and typewriters, and who passed away after battling non-Hodgkin lymphoma.Loreen Hackett from Hoosick Falls, New York, spoke about her experience living across the street from a former plant that is now designated a Superfund site because of TCE contamination.
These families’ experiences reveal the stark consequences of the decisions made every day in Washington, DC – and the deadly impacts of delaying critical action on toxic chemicals.
Also today, the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing featuring Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. At the hearing, Sen. Cory Booker pressed Wheeler on EPA’s recent retreats from health-protective implementation of TSCA and its inaction on TCE.
Booker shared the stories of the families from Johnson County, Indiana – who were in the audience – and urged Wheeler both to finalize the proposed bans on TCE and to consider all sources of exposure to the chemical when assessing the risks of its other many uses. Booker asked Wheeler, “would you commit to comprehensively reviewing the risks of chemicals by including known releases into our air, land, and water?”
Wheeler’s response? “It is my understanding that we are looking at those pathways … I will need to double-check with our chemical office on that.”
Unfortunately, when Wheeler does his double-checking, he will learn that the Agency will ignore known exposures to TCE in our air, land, and water – an estimated 12 million pounds released annually – as well as such exposures to other toxic chemicals. These are the very exposures that families across the country – like those who came to Washington, DC today – are directly facing.
EDF urges lawmakers and EPA to listen to the voices of these families. EPA must get the proposed TCE bans over the finish line and comprehensively evaluate all other uses and exposures to the chemical – including exposures through air, water, and land.
You can raise your voice too! Email your elected officials today, and tell them Americans need to be protected from this dangerous chemical.
http://blogs.edf.org/health/2018/08/01/families-speak-out-on-trichloroethylene-exposure-its-time-for-epa-to-act-on-tce/
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Senators Press Wheeler on 'Blatant Disregard' of TSCA Law
Aug 2, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Senate Democrats have grilled Andrew Wheeler about the US EPA’s implementation of the new TSCA law and demanded that the acting administrator move forward stalled bans on two solvents.
The comments came at a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works committee regarding the EPA’s agenda, during which Mr Wheeler faced several questions on the agency’s chemicals policies.
Tom Carper (D–Delaware) said that under former administrator Scott Pruitt’s oversight, the EPA "chose to blatantly disregard the clear and unambiguous [TSCA] law". And he expressed disappointment that "there’s probably no aspect of EPA’s implementation of [TSCA] that will not be litigated".
"This kind of blatant disregard for the rule of law needs to end," he said.
Cory Booker (D–New Jersey) raised particular issue with the EPA’s "failure to consider all the sources of exposure" in its reviews of the first ten substances subject to risk evaluation.
"EPA was told by Congress to examine the safety of all known, intended and reasonably foreseeable uses of a chemical, and the combined impacts of all exposures ... when making a determination about whether a chemicals presents an unreasonable risk of harm."
But Mr Booker said that recently issued problem formulations "dramatically narrowed" the conditions of use EPA will evaluate, and instead indicate the agency will "ignore" certain known exposures.
In response to Mr Booker’s request for a commitment to more comprehensively review risk by including known releases to the environment, Mr Wheeler said it was his understanding that those pathways are being taken into account.
And more broadly, he testified he is "excited" to be part of the implementation of the Lautenberg Act.
"We want to make sure that we’re implementing it in the same manner in which Congress intended it when they passed it", Mr Wheeler added.Pressure mounts on TCE
Even while the hearing was going on, Senator Tom Udall (D–New Mexico) held a press conference together with several consumer advocacy groups urging EPA to act on its delayed bans on certain uses of trichloroethylene (TCE).
Groups like Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and the Environmental Working Group joined with families of individuals who have been harmed by TCE exposures at the press conference, in a campaign not dissimilar to one earlier this year on methylene chloride.
Inside the hearing, Mr Booker also pressed Mr Wheeler on whether action on TCE would move forward. The acting administrator said he would look into the issue.
The senator also asked about the proposed ban on methylene chloride paint strippers, which has also stalled under the new administration. In May, after meeting with campaigners, Mr Pruitt confirmed that the EPA would finalise the rule "shortly", but no action has yet been seen.
Mr Wheeler declined to commit to Mr Booker’s suggested two-week deadline for sending the methylene chloride rule out for interagency review, but said the EPA is "trying to move that forward as quickly as we can".Science policy in view
Recent changes to how the agency has been managing science policy also came to the fore.
Mr Carper noted his disappointment with Mr Pruitt’s move to block grant recipients from serving on science advisory committees. And he raised concern that the proposed ‘science transparency’ rule would have EPA "ignore or not consider" high quality studies.
He expressed a "sincere hope" that Mr Wheeler will "end EPA’s war on science".
Mr Booker, however, said he was "pleased" with the agency’s strategic plan to reduce animal testing under TSCA.
https://chemicalwatch.com/69204/senators-press-wheeler-on-blatant-disregard-of-tsca-law
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Senators, Families Urge EPA to Take Stronger Action on Toxic Chemicals
Aug 2, 2018 | ABC News
By Stephanie Ebbs
Senators from both sides of the aisle and families personally affected by exposure to toxic chemicals had a message for the acting Environmental Protection Agency chief Wednesday: Take a more aggressive approach to regulating chemicals that could cause cancer.
Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee asked Wheeler, in his first appearance on Capitol Hill since taking over at the agency, to commit to stricter rules on chemicals connected to health problems or cancer that have been found in communities across the country or ones connected to accidental deaths or illnesses.
The lawmakers said that the EPA has not followed through on a bipartisan reform bill passed in 2016 intended to strengthen regulation of potentially dangerous chemicals.
(MORE: Florida community raises alarm about potential cancer link to water contamination)
(MORE: Threshold for harmful chemicals in drinking water lower than thought: Study)
Loreen Hackett is from Hoosick Falls, New York, which is federally listed as a site contaminated with a type of chemical used in nonstick products and linked to health problems. Hackett started using social media to highlight the contamination in her family's blood from PFOA, a chemical previously used in manufacturing non-stick and waterproof products.
View image on Twitterpfoaprojectny@pfoaprojectny1
Hey @EPAScottPruitt @EPA - Thanks SO much for choosing precious time in the whopping 56 minute public portion of #ToxicPFASSummit for subjecting me to the ACC attempt at defending themselves. Yeah, exactly what I wanted to hear. #PFAS #SeatAtTheTable #PFASedOff #releasethestudy6:58 PM - May 22, 201813See pfoaprojectny's other TweetsTwitter Ads info and privacy
Hackett said her community is dealing with contamination from other chemicals in addition to PFOA, including something called Trichloroethylene, or TCE, that is used to degrease metals and causes cancer in humans, according to the EPA.
The EPA, CDC, and international agencies list TCE as a "known human carcinogen" and the EPA has been studying TCE as far back as 2011.
"We don't know the chemical cocktail of what our children are now being exposed to and have been exposed to. We don't know what's going to happen and as we watch our kids get sick and get cancer, you can't grasp in your head all the chemicals in their little bodies," Hackett told ABC News. "And we shouldn't have to be, especially something TCE, a human carcinogen, it should have been banned a while ago. It makes no sense."
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who is not on the committee that met with Wheeler, held a press conference with Hackett and other families and activists calling for the EPA to ban the use of TCE.
Under the Obama administration, the @EPA proposed banning #TCE because it causes cancer & liver, kidney, and neurological damage. But when @POTUS took over, the Trump administration listened to its friends in the chemical industry & decided not to move forward with the bans.Tom Udall✔@SenatorTomUdall
The Trump @EPA has never met a toxic chemical it doesn’t like. The EPA’s job is to protect public health. Our request is simple: take #TCE off the shelves before more Americans are hurt.6:38 PM - Aug 1, 20185629 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy
In the hearing Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. said the EPA under Pruitt announced that it would not consider all the possible ways that people are exposed to chemicals like TCE and postponed an effort to ban the chemical.
"The scaling back of our bipartisan chemical safety law, one of the prouder moments that I've had as a senator, was set in motion by Scott Pruitt and I'm really hopeful that you're going to reverse course on what I think is a bad decision," Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said.
Win McNamee/Getty ImagesSen. Cory Booker questions acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler during a hearing held by the the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Aug. 1, 2018, in Washington, DC.more +
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., also asked Wheeler to make chemicals used in nonstick products and firefighting foams that have been found in drinking water and groundwater across the country a priority. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., also asked that a report into the health effects of exposure to formaldehyde be released.
Wheeler said the EPA is looking at exposure to chemicals like TCE through the water or air and that the agency is working to move on a ban for a paint stripping chemical called methylene chloride and to release the formaldehyde report.
"It is tragic for any chemical to cause the death of a child and my heart goes out to those families impacted by that. Absolutely we need to be moving forward to do something on TCE and these other chemicals," Wheeler said.
Pruitt previously met with families of people who died from inhaling methylene chloride fumes and told the same committee in May that he would be moving "shortly" to regulate or ban the chemical.
"There's a lot of families from the paint stripping chemicals to those that are sitting behind you right now that are really relying on you to save lives. There are extraordinary injustices going on with this kind of inaction by your agency and I hope you'll move with all deliberate speed to address these concerns," Booker said.
(MORE: EPA to move 'shortly' on chemical in paint stripper blamed for accidental deaths)
The EPA is currently holding public meetings and working to declare PFOA and a related chemical PFOS as "hazardous." The agency says it expects to have a plan this fall.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senators-families-urge-epa-stronger-action-toxic-chemicals/story?id=56974123
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Massachusetts Holds Hearing on Changes to Mercury Law
Aug 2, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is holding a hearing on 3 August regarding proposed changes to the state’s legislation on mercury-added products.
The changes would give manufacturers of mercury-added lamps the option to pay an annual fee to cover the cost of having the "end-of-life" lamps properly recycled or disposed of.
Manufacturers are currently required to take care of collecting, storing, transporting and recycling end-of-life products themselves, under scrutiny from the MassDEP. This will remain an option.
Those who chose the fee option will normally pay up to $10,000 a year, the MassDEP says. But this charge could be higher if the Department falls short of the $300,000 aggregate total it expects to collect in fees annually.
Fee payments would sunset on 30 June 2024 and be collected in a Commonwealth trust fund.
The MassDEP will hold its hearing on the proposed amendments at its offices in Boston. After that, it will accept written comments on the proposal until 13 August.
https://chemicalwatch.com/69207/massachusetts-holds-hearing-on-changes-to-mercury-law
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U.S. Utilities Balk at Expanded Carbon-Capture Subsidy
Aug 2, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Timothy Gardner
Few U.S. energy policies can bring together coal miners, oil drillers, environmentalists, Republicans and Democrats.
But tax credits for capturing and storing carbon dioxide emissions have appeased all these camps, and Congress this year tripled the subsidy’s value with broad bipartisan support.
If only they could convince utilities - the biggest industrial polluters - to get on board.
A Reuters survey of the top 10 U.S. power companies showed eight have no plans to purchase and install carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment, citing high costs and uncertain demand, while the other two declined to comment. Another three utilities that are well-placed to adopt the technology - because of their proximity to existing carbon pipelines and coal reserves - also said they have no plans to tap the newly enriched subsidy.
The technology employs sophisticated equipment to pull carbon dioxide from industrial plants and then inject it underground so it never pollutes the atmosphere.
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That could help fight climate change while giving coal and natural gas plants a new commodity they can sell to oil drillers. When carbon dioxide is injected into aging oil fields, it helps drillers increase pressure and push more oil to the surface.
The potential of CCS is on display in Texas, where the utility NRG and joint venture partner JX Nippon, a Japanese energy firm, built a $1 billion operation called Petra Nova at the state’s largest coal-fired power plant.
In the 19 months since NRG installed the shiny steel pipes and towers, the project has kept nearly 1.7 million tons of heat-trapping gas from the atmosphere and multiplied oil output at the nearby West Ranch oil field by 15-fold.
BIG UPFRONT COSTS
Petra Nova had key financial advantages that are difficult for other utilities to duplicate.
The Japanese government provided a $250 million loan to the project in hopes of finding better ways to use coal as an alternative to nuclear energy after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.EDITORS’ PICKSThe Fast and Furious Michael AvenattiHer Husband Was a Princeton Graduate Student. Then He Was Taken Prisoner in Iran.Parents Behaving Badly: A Youth Sports Crisis Caught on Video
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The effort also won a $190 million grant in 2010 from the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Coal Power Initiative, which supports innovations that produce "clean, reliable, and affordable" electricity from coal.
David Knox, an NRG spokesman, said operating Petra Nova is showing the firm ways to cut costs for the next generation of the technology, such as using smaller towers with less steel.
"We feel you can build a second one for maybe up to 20 percent cheaper," Knox said, although his company is focused on perfecting Petra Nova rather than building a new CCS operation.
Other utilities that do not have access to the same government and private funding worry that big-ticket investments on CCS would not pay off - even with tax credits now worth $35 per tonne of carbon dioxide captured and reused, compared to $10 previously.
Any new industrial facility that injects carbon dioxide into an oil field before 2024 is eligible for the expanded tax credit, but the program's success relies heavily on power plants, which produce nearly 30 percent of U.S. carbon emissions.
"Although increased credits for CCS are positive, the amount still does not address the significant capital and operating costs," said Melissa McHenry, a spokeswoman for American Electric Power, in a comment typical of responses from other utilities.
Duke Energy, Southern, Dominion, Exelon, Xcel, PG&E, and Edison International also said they had no such plans, while NextEra Energy Inc and PSEG did not comment. Three small utilities that industry watchers say are among the best-suited to adopt CCS technology - Rocky Mountain Power, Black Hills and OG&E - also told Reuters they had no plans to do so.
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"Carbon capture is definitely interesting, it just hasn't made economic sense just yet," said Spencer Hall, a spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power.
POLITICAL RISKS
Utilities say that it is unclear when or if revenues from CCS would cover the required investment.
Another concern is that President Donald Trump's successor could reverse efforts to support the coal industry, accelerating plant closures and making long-term CCS investments pointless.
The hesitancy of utilities represents a setback for the coal industry which had hoped carbon capture would help extend the lives of coal-fired power plants. It also means that oil companies that want access to greater supplies of carbon dioxide may need to look beyond coal and gas plants.
Texas drillers have been revitalizing aging fields for 40 years using carbon dioxide from naturally occurring deposits and from natural gas processing. But those supplies are not enough to sustain the industry’s ambitions.
Occidental Petroleum Corp, the top user of the technique in the Permian Basin, wants to expand its use of carbon injection from traditional oil fields to shale wells, said Jody Elliott, the president of Occidental’s American operations.
The company believes the technique could boost oil output in the largest U.S. oil field by 180,000 barrels per day from 3.2 million now.
The Permian "has a large inventory of future CO2 projects which could be developed over the next 20 years," Elliott said.
But that would require carbon captured from power stations, and plants that make ethanol, fertilizer and cement, along with billions of dollars in new pipelines to take carbon to the fields.
Julio Friedmann, who worked in the Energy Department under President Barack Obama and earlier as a scientist for Exxon Mobil, said he sees interest from ethanol plants and other industrial facilities to add carbon capture to plants, but urged utilities to join them.
"I don't know what they imagine they are looking for," he said. "But if they are just waiting for better policy treatment, they may be disappointed."
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/08/02/business/02reuters-usa-carbon-storage-analysis.html
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US Agency Cites 3 Companies in Oklahoma Rig Explosion
Aug 2, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations to three companies involved in a natural gas rig explosion in Oklahoma that killed five workers.
OSHA announced Monday that it’s fined Patterson-UTI Drilling, Crescent Consulting LLC and Skyline Directional Drilling LLC a total of $118,000 for “exposing employees to fire and explosion hazards” in the Jan. 22 explosion near Quinton, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa.
An initial state regulator incident report indicates the blast happened when an uncontrolled release of gas caught fire.
Patterson-UTI officials say they disagree with the findings and have filed a notice of contest.
A Crescent Consulting representative declined to comment. SkyLine officials didn’t return requests for comment.
The families of the five men who were killed have filed wrongful-death lawsuits.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/us-agency-cites-3-companies-in-oklahoma-rig-explosion/2018/08/02/baf3a564-966c-11e8-818b-e9b7348cd87d_story.html?utm_term=.85c4a2269a14
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Explosions Injure 7 in West Texas
Aug 2, 2018 | Reuters (In E&E Greenwire)
By Gary McWilliams
Authorities today were investigating what caused a fire and a series of natural gas pipeline explosions in Midland County, Texas, that sent seven people to the hospital yesterday and shut down five lines before being extinguished late in the evening.
Workers and firefighters were responding to a leak when the blast occurred, Midland County Fire Marshal Dale Little said today. The cause of the original explosions has not been determined, he said.
Five workers with critical injuries were airlifted to University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, and were being treated at the center's burn unit.
One man remained in critical condition and three others were upgraded to serious condition, all with burn injuries, medical center spokesman Eric Finley said. The status of the fifth worker was not immediately known, he said.
Two firefighters responding to the blaze also were taken to the hospital yesterday for treatment of burn injuries, said Elana Ladd, public information officer for the city of Midland.
Ladd said the pipeline explosions occurred just outside Midland on a rural road about 5 miles south of Highway 158.
Kinder Morgan Inc.'s El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG) line was damaged by the blaze. It looked as if the problem started with a nearby third-party pipeline, and Kinder Morgan is evaluating damage to its pipeline, company spokeswoman Sara Hughes said in an email.
"There was a third-party pipeline involved that also experienced a failure, and preliminary indications are that the third-party line failure occurred before the EPNG line failure," Hughes said.
Authorities this morning said they were not able to identify the operators of the other pipelines affected by the blast.
Oil and gas pipelines crisscross Midland County, which is located in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. oil field. The explosions affected five pipelines that share a transit channel and that were all shut in by operators, a Midland city official said yesterday.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/08/02/stories/1060091969
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Out of Spotlight, Tribes Keep Fighting Dakota Pipeline
Aug 2, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Stephanie Keith
Native American tribes that tried to block the Dakota Access oil pipeline during a months-long standoff with authorities in North Dakota more than a year ago are carrying on their fight in federal court, in what they contend is a symbol of their ongoing struggle for tribal sovereignty.
"People think Standing Rock has come and gone," said Danielle Ta’Sheena Finn, a spokeswoman for the Standing Rock Sioux, referring to the sight of the protests. "But we will continue this fight until we are heard and the world knows what happened to us."
The pipeline, owned by Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP), has been operational since June 2017, after President Donald Trump granted its permit over the objections of tribes and environmentalists fearful that it would pollute a waterway sacred to the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux.
The pipeline approval, part of Trump’s desire to increase domestic energy production, distressed Native people in the United States and Canada who were concerned that it discounted indigenous rights.
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The Standing Rock and Cheyenne Sioux sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers soon after Trump ordered it to approve the pipeline, arguing that the tribes had not been properly consulted.
The Army Corps of Engineers is involved with U.S. military construction projects around the world and also advises civil engineering activities, such as dredging America's waterways and cleaning up hazardous or toxic sites.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., is weighing whether the Corps adequately considered effects on the tribes before approving the pipeline. He is expected to rule by Aug. 10.
The Army Corps did not respond to a request for comment, but it has previously said that it worked diligently to meet obligations to tribes.
The tribes have expressed hope that Boasberg will suspend operations on the pipeline. They have said that they are prepared to appeal if he does not.EDITORS’ PICKSBillionaire Yogi Behind Indian Prime Minister’s RiseInside China’s Dystopian Dreams: A.I., Shame and Lots of CamerasThe Fast and Furious Michael Avenatti
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ETP declined to comment, but it has repeatedly said the pipeline would be safely operated.
The 1,172-mile (1,886-km) pipeline was built to move crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken shale fields to a refining and transport hub in Patoka, Illinois.
"We know we are going to fight this to the very end,” said Standing Rock's Finn.
LARAMIE AND A TREATY
Opposition to the pipeline played a central role in last spring's gathering of tribes at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to mark the 150th anniversary of a peace treaty between the Sioux Nation and the United States.
Under the treaty, the federal government recognised the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory as part of the Great Sioux Reservation and hostilities ended between the Sioux and white settlers.
The Sioux contend the pipeline was built on land they never agreed to give up.
In 1868, their land included most of South Dakota and parts of Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. It has shrunken to several smaller reservations in the region.
The April meeting in Laramie was the first time since the Standing Rock protests of 2016 and 2017 that all seven bands of the Great Sioux Nation were together. Many veterans of the Standing Rock protests were there.
Members of the tribes rode hundreds of miles on horseback to get to Laramie, passing through tiny communities like Green Grass, South Dakota, the spiritual centre of the Lakota People on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation.
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Tribal leaders expressed disappointment that no senior members of the Trump administration were at Fort Laramie to commemorate the milestone for Indian country.
Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux, said the convocation was a reminder for Native Americans that the federal government had fallen short of its agreements under the Laramie Treaty including by approving the Dakota Access pipeline.
"They (the United States government) ought to be ashamed of themselves," Frazier said. "They have a moral obligation to uphold the honour of the Great Sioux Nation."
Ivan Lookinghorse, a medicine man from the Cheyenne River Reservation and an organizer of the ride to Laramie, said the tribes intended to use the momentum from that gathering to stay unified as they gear up to fight other projects that they maintain threaten their wellbeing.
"We are going to keep it going, keep organising meetings and find a way to be able to take care of the health and welfare of our people, and preserve land and water," he said.
Related photo essay at https://reut.rs/2ABSaIH
Related graphics package at https://tmsnrt.rs/2M81SU5
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/08/02/us/02reuters-south-dakota-native-americans-widerimage.html
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Agency: Refinery Fire Caused by Blast Debris Hitting Tank
Aug 2, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
A federal agency says a massive refinery fire that forced the temporary evacuation of homes in the coastal Wisconsin city of Superior in April was caused by an explosion that sent debris hurtling into an asphalt storage tank.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board released an update Thursday on the explosion and fire at the Husky Energy refinery in Superior in late April.
According to the report, the explosion sent a piece of debris about 200 feet (61 meters) into an aboveground storage tank of asphalt. The tank was punctured and spilled hot asphalt, which ignited about two hours later.
The report says 36 people sought medical attention after the explosion, including 11 refinery and contract workers. A large part of Superior was evacuated.
Canada-based Husky Energy said in its second-quarter earnings statement last week that the refinery is not expected to restart until 2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/08/02/us/ap-us-refinery-explosion-wisconsin.html
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EPA to Leave 2015 Ozone Standard Alone — For Now
Aug 2, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
The Trump administration, ending 16 months of legal uncertainty, signaled yesterday that it will not seek to revise or repeal the 2015 ground-level ozone standard "at this time," while simultaneously floating the possibility of later raising the 70-parts-per-billion limit through a newly launched review
In a court filing late yesterday, agency lawyers cited an array of factors in opting against reconsideration of the Obama-era standard, including the importance of regulatory certainty and the need to focus on the new review.
While "EPA officials in the current administration may have supported making different judgements about the significance of background concentrations of ozone and how to judge what standards are requisite to protect public health and welfare, the agency at this time does not intend to revisit the 2015 rule," the attorneys wrote in the status report with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
But in the course of the new review, set to end in late 2020, the agency could explore whether raising the standard to accommodate background levels of ozone would be permissible under the Clean Air Act, the report added.
At EPA's request, the court had frozen action in a sprawling tangle of lawsuit challenging the standard in April 2017, barely a week before oral arguments were scheduled to take place. In a recent order, the court lifted that abeyance, effective yesterday. EPA and a long list of plaintiffs must now file motions by Aug. 22 to govern future proceedings.
"Personally, I am not surprised to see the announcement," Matt Kuryla, a partner in the Houston office of Baker Botts LLP, said in an interview this morning. EPA, bound by a Clean Air Act timetable, completed work on the initial round of nationwide attainment decisions for the 2015 standard last month. Already, Kuryla said, most states and areas are "very close" to meeting the 70-ppb limit.
But some state officials and industry groups challenging the standard as illegally stringent nonetheless reacted with disappointment.
"EPA made a series of procedural and technical errors when it generated the 2015 rule," Ross Eisenberg, vice president of energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement today. "These issues have not gone away and manufacturers must now grapple with them" as implementation proceeds.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R) is reviewing the EPA filing "and considering all options," spokeswoman Amanda Priest said in an email. Rutledge "continues to be concerned that the proposed levels are unnecessary and unachievable, and would bring great harm to Arkansas through significant job losses and a lack of economic development opportunities," Priest added.
Ozone, the main ingredient of smoggy air, is formed by the reaction of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in sunlight. It's linked to asthma attacks in children and worsened breathing problems for people with cystic fibrosis, emphysema and other chronic respiratory diseases.
In tightening the standard from 75 ppb to 70 ppb three years ago, EPA cited the need to protect the public in light of growing research on ozone's health effects.
Now, "it will be interesting to see what happens with the litigation and how actively they [Trump administration officials] defend it," Janet McCabe, an Obama appointee who headed EPA's air office when the 2015 threshold was adopted, said in an interview this morning.
But while McCabe, who now teaches law and works for an environmental advocacy group, welcomed the decision to leave the standard in place for now, she cautioned that the White House has a long-term agenda to revamp EPA's handling of assessments of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and other pollutants that encompasses other factors besides protection of public health.
"It's not like it signals any backing off of this administration's desire to look at NAAQS reviews," she said.
Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is supposed to carry out the assessments of the standards for ozone and five other common pollutants every five years, although the agency rarely meets that schedule.
Under ground rules recently laid out in response to a White House directive, EPA will now consider potential economic and energy effect of any changes to air quality standards. To meet the five-year deadline, the new review of the ozone standard must be completed by October 2020, a compressed timetable with no recent precedent.
Background ozone, which may result from stratospheric intrusions or other factors outside of regulators' direct control, was a focal point for the National Association of Manufacturers and other critics of the 2015 standard. They questioned whether Western states in particular would be penalized for ozone concentrations they could do nothing about.
But using background ozone compliance issues as a legally defensible basis for raising the national standard could be difficult.
Broaching that option is "crazy talk" intended to mollify industry, said John Walke, clean air director for the Natural Resource Defense Council.
The crux of EPA's air quality standards is protection of public health, McCabe said. "It's not about how easy or hard it's going to be get there."
In a Tuesday conference call with reporters on long-term quality trends, Bill Wehrum, EPA's current air chief, called the new assessment "a very high priority" but said no conclusion has been reached.
In yesterday's filing, EPA attorneys said the agency "cannot pre-judge the results of this review, but it will be thorough, transparent and consistent with the statutory requirements."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/08/02/stories/1060091993
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Budget Document Silent on Climate, Clean Energy
Aug 2, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Christa Marshall
The White House is no longer including "climate change" and "clean energy" in a budget document that steers spending decisions at federal agencies.
This week, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy released annual guidance for research "priorities" in the federal government.
While the administration has unveiled similar language before, it has never done so with so many science nominees under consideration, including one for OSTP.
On Tuesday, President Trump tapped Oklahoma extreme-weather expert Kelvin Droegemeier to lead the science office, which traditionally plays a coordinating role with agencies.
Several Department of Energy nominees who would have jurisdiction over research, including a pick for Office of Science director, are also awaiting action in the Senate.
The memorandum from OMB Director Mick Mulvaney and OSTP's deputy assistant to the president, Michael Kratsios, directs agency planning for fiscal 2020 and establishes a blueprint for Droegemeier, if he is confirmed.
Michael Kratsios. Kratsios/LinkedIn
It also highlights how much policy has changed since there last was an OSTP director during the Obama administration.
"Federal R&D dollars focused primarily on basic and early-stage applied research, paired with targeted deregulation, and investment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development, will strengthen the Nation's innovation base and position the United States for unparalleled job growth, continued prosperity, and national security," Mulvaney and Kratsios wrote.
The document mentions energy eight times, but does not mention climate change once.
The last Obama administration guidance, by contrast, contained distinct sections on global climate change, clean energy, the Arctic and Earth observations.
The guidance often is a precursor to what appears in later White House budget requests. Agencies typically use it to help determine which research programs to seek money for, and weigh support for one program over another.
Trump backers say every administration changes priorities, and it's important to emphasize issues that may be underrepresented. The administration's list also includes energy and environmental topics, they say, even if those priorities are not always mentioned specifically.
Mick Mulvaney. White House
OSTP, for example, has been pushing for more research on artificial intelligence to stay ahead of countries like China in technology development. In May, Kratsios held a summit with industry and government leaders on the issue to foster development of artificial intelligence, including for energy applications.
At a Chamber of Commerce event last month, Kratsios said he has directed OSTP according to top Trump priorities — economic growth, national security and deregulation.
That translated into an initial focus on emerging technologies, for energy and other sectors. He pointed to Trump's issuing a memorandum creating a pilot program to increase use of drones in places where they are currently banned.
"We want these technologies to be developed, tested and deployed here in the U.S.," he said.
OSTP is also currently conducting a review of nuclear power that is not cited in the document but incorporated in larger administration themes like energy dominance. Other listed priorities reflect a shift away from energy altogether, such as the emphasis on "American Space Exploration."
Last year, Trump revived the National Space Council — intended to be a hub for space policy — for the first time in two decades. Critics say his agenda has moved too far away from environmental issues.
"Not only is this administration hostile to proactive action on climate change, but they've been negative on investing in energy innovation overall. Their past few budgets have shown that," said Kumar Garg, a former OSTP staffer during the Obama administration who is now at the Society for Science & the Public.
Trump's previous budgets proposed cutting applied energy research and eliminating programs like the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, although Congress ignored those ideas.
The White House guidance is still important in telling agencies now to "keep an eye on these priorities if you ask for new money," said Garg.
Last year, OSTP cut its staff level to a third of the level it was at the height of the Obama administration, including elimination of jobs focused on climate change (Greenwire, Aug. 4, 2017). An administration official said some climate change work has been incorporated into other jobs.
A staff roster this summer obtained by E&E News shows staffing now is about half the Obama administration level, with new positions for artificial intelligence and nuclear energy.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/08/02/stories/1060091979
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