Preview Newsletter
AM ACC Clips Report - September 20, 2018
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(ACC Mentioned) America and China Are In A Proper Trade War
Sep 19, 2018 | THe Economist
ANOTHER week, a further ratcheting up of trade tensions between America and China. -
(ACC Mentioned) Study Finds Plastics Packaging Helps Reduce Solid Waste
Sep 20, 2018 | Recycling Today
A new study by the Earth Engineering Center at City College of New York (EEC|CCNY) finds that plastics play a role in creating an environment where municipal solid waste (MSW) generation rates decline, even when income and consumption rises. -
(ACC Mentioned) US EPA Meets Resistance On TSCA Snurs Proposal
Sep 20, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Nearly a dozen industry groups, businesses and NGOs have submitted adverse comments to the US EPA’s proposal to issue a batch of 145 TSCA significant new use rules (Snurs). -
EPA Issues TSCA 'Not Likely To Present Unreasonable Risk' Finding
Sep 20, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has published TSCA section 5(a)(3)(C) determination for an imported fertiliser manufacturing intermediate that was the subject of a pre-manufacture notice (PMN). -
U.S. Chemical Makers’ Sharing of Use Data Stirs Debate
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Only a limited number of U.S. manufacturers have shared chemical use information with the EPA since the primary U.S. industrial chemicals law was amended in 2016, and one attorney says they need to do a better job. -
ALL ABOUT: Drones Hunting Chemical Contamination
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alex Ebert
Environmental regulators across America are looking for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—or PFAS—in drinking water, but Michigan is taking its search to new heights. -
California Considers Regulating Solvent Linked to Birth Defects
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
A paint and graffiti remover already off store shelves at Walmart Inc., Home Depot Inc., and Lowe’s Cos. Inc. is getting more scrutiny in California because of the harms it may pose. -
Canada Clears Antimony Flame Retardants In Draft Assessment
Sep 20, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Andrew Turley
The Canadian government has provisionally concluded that 11 antimony-containing substances, including two used in flame retardants, are not harmful at current levels of exposure. -
Anses Urges Broader Analysis Of ‘Low-Risk’ Rubber Crumb
Sep 20, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Rubber crumb used on synthetic turf poses a negligible risk to athletes and children but may potentially harm the environment, the French Agency for Food, Environment and Occupational Health and Safety (Anses) has said. -
Bayer Steps Up Legal Fight Over Weed Killer Blamed for Cancer
Sep 20, 2018 | The Wallstreet Journal
By Jacob Bunge and Ruth Bender
Bayer AG is stepping up the legal defense of its flagship weedkiller, after a recent verdict in a case alleging the chemical causes cancer sent shares down sharply and raised the prospect of costly plaintiff payouts. -
Battered Oil-Sands Servicers Pin Hopes on Shell’s LNG Project
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kevin Orland
After years of suffering through plunging energy prices and declining spending by oil-sands behemoths, Canada’s oilfield-service industry is finally seeing a light on the horizon. -
EAB Rejects Bid For Stricter Seismic Controls On Oil & Gas Fracking Well
Sep 20, 2018 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss
EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) has rejected a Pennsylvania borough's petition aimed at imposing more stringent conditions on underground injections of hydraulic fracturing wastewater in order to prevent earthquakes and other seismic activity, holding that the agency adequately addressed those concerns in its permitting process. -
U.S. to Export ‘Tremendous’ Amount of LNG to Poland as Countries Seek to Expand Energy Security
Sep 19, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Leticia Gonzales
Emphasizing the United States’ commitment to energy diversity across Europe, President Trump on Tuesday said a “tremendous” amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) would be exported to Poland at “a really good price.” -
Access To Gas Supply Could Be A Challenge For New US LNG Exporters
Sep 19, 2018 | S&P Global Platts
By Harry Weber and Abache Abreu
North American shale gas is cheap and abundant, factors that have fixed the world's attention on the continent to fuel the bulk of future LNG export growth. -
Oil Giants Use Size to Overcome Fracking Challenges
Sep 20, 2018 | The Wallsreet Journal
By Bradley Olson
Fracking is entering a new expansion phase in this Canadian town more than 2,000 miles from the center of the U.S. oil boom—one that heavily favors the world’s energy giants. -
California, New Mexico Sue Trump for Axing Methane-Waste Rules
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kartikay Mehrotra
California and New Mexico are suing the Trump administration to block it from rolling back Obama-era regulations aimed at reducing waste from natural gas exploration on public lands. -
States Renew Fight Over Social Costs Of GHGs In BLM Methane Rollback Suit
Sep 19, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Doug Obey
California and New Mexico are renewing their efforts to challenge the Trump administration's use of drastically lower climate damage estimates to justify climate rule rollbacks, citing the issue as one of numerous flaws in litigation over the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) rule largely rescinding Obama-era methane controls on federal lands. -
NRDC Hopes State HFC Rules Stop 'Backsliding' As Courts Stymie EPA
Sep 20, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
Environmentalists are hoping that the spate of recently announced state rules to limit the use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants will ensure industry stays on track to transition away from the potent greenhouse gases despite the fact that EPA's standards for the chemicals have largely been gutted in court. -
In Bid To Sway States, Industry, NRDC Pitch HFC Ban Dates To California
Sep 20, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Curt Barry
Industry groups and environmentalists are jointly recommending dates by which companies must phase out the use of greenhouse gas chemicals in air conditioning equipment under pending California rules that generally would codify vacated EPA limits, though they are also urging a new deadline to limit the chemicals in residential air conditioners.
Industry and Association News
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Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) America and China Are In A Proper Trade War
Sep 19, 2018 | THe Economist
Donald Trump announces another wave of tariffs. China retaliates
ANOTHER week, a further ratcheting up of trade tensions between America and China. On September 17th President Donald Trump announced that he had approved another wave of tariffs on Chinese imports. From September 24th, imports of products which in 2017 were worth as much as $189bn, including furniture, computers and car parts, will be hit with duties of 10%. The Chinese have promised to retaliate on the same day with duties on $60bn of American exports. Unless peace breaks out before the new year, the American rate will increase to 25% on January 1st.
Mr Trump regularly rants about how the Chinese have taken advantage of Americans for too long. But American bureaucrats stress that these duties come after careful deliberation. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) took seven months to write a report detailing China’s unfair trade practices. Each tranche of tariffs has been consulted on and then revised. The latest set came after the USTR’s office received 6,000 written submissions and held six days of hearings.
Compared with an earlier proposal, the latest tariff list excludes products worth up to $30bn. Child-safety seats and safety headgear were exempted. Antiques more than a century old were spared, too. (Some had pointed out that the Chinese government restricted their export anyway.) Despite Mr Trump’s warning on September 8th that prices of products made by Apple may increase as a result of his tariffs, smartwatches and bluetooth devices were removed from the list.
The Trump administration claims that these deliberations have helped to minimise the impact on the American consumer. The staggered tariff rate is supposed to give importers time to change their suppliers. Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, was mocked online for claiming that, because the tariffs are spread over thousands of products, “nobody’s going to actually notice it at the end of the day”. But in support of his claim economists at Goldman Sachs, a bank, estimate that the 10% tariff rate will boost inflation by only around 0.03 percentage points, and the increase to 25% by a further 0.05 next year.
Still, this diligence was not welcomed by all. More than three-quarters of the products that will be affected on September 24th are intermediate and capital goods, which means the most immediate impact will be to push up American businesses’ costs. Mr Trump’s announcement triggered complaints from industry representatives including the US Chamber of Commerce, the American Chemistry Council and the American Apparel and Footwear Association, all of which warned that Americans would end up footing the tariff bill, and pleaded for a different approach.
Although it claims to be following due process, the Trump administration’s actions are far removed from the procedures of the rules-based global trading system. Ordinarily, members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would take their complaints to the body’s judges. If such accusation are upheld, then those judges allow limited retaliation.
In 2012, for example, the American government complained to the WTO that the Chinese government was breaking the rules by restricting the export of rare-earth elements. China’s dominance in their global supply meant that this hurt American manufacturers by pushing up prices for their inputs. After the WTO’s judges sided with the Americans, the Chinese government dropped the measures.
The Trump administration claims that the WTO’s incomplete rule book makes it incapable of addressing China’s alleged misdemeanours, which include the practice of forcing foreign companies to hand over their technology. But America is simultaneously weakening the system by which the WTO’s rules are enforced, by blocking the appointment of judges to the body’s court of appeals. From October only three will be left—the minimum needed to rule on a case.
On September 18th Cecilia Malmström, the European Union’s trade commissioner, unveiled a “concept paper” outlining reforms that could plug some of the gaps in the WTO’s rules, as well as ways to reform dispute settlement. But it is far from clear whether either Mr Trump or the Chinese government will take the bait.
And without the multilateral rules-based system to contain the conflict, the trade war between China and America could get much bloodier. In his announcement on September 17th Mr Trump threatened to hit another $267bn-worth of Chinese imports if China retaliated against his latest tranche of tariffs. For their part the Chinese show little sign of backing down, and have promised to use fiscal policy to soften any domestic blow.Although they are running out of American exports to target, they have other ways to fight. On September 17th, for example, reports emerged of a Chinese official musing about China repeating its trick of imposing export restrictions on raw materials which American manufacturers depend on. The next day, Craig Allen, chairman of the US-China Business Council, warned that the WTO had made clear its opinion that such restrictions were illegal. But why, when America is acting outside the rule book, should others stick to it?
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2018/09/19/america-and-china-are-in-a-proper-trade-war
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(ACC Mentioned) Study Finds Plastics Packaging Helps Reduce Solid Waste
Sep 20, 2018 | Recycling Today
A new study by the Earth Engineering Center at City College of New York (EEC|CCNY) finds that plastics play a role in creating an environment where municipal solid waste (MSW) generation rates decline, even when income and consumption rises.
Historically, the amount of MSW produced by a country or region rises with the economy or personal consumption expenditures (PCE). In the mid-1990s, the rate of MSW generation stopped tracking along with PCE in the United States and began to slow. This phenomenon is known as decoupling, EEC says. In 2010, the amount of waste produced in the U.S. declined despite a rise in consumer spending. The study’s authors attribute the decoupling to the increased use of plastic in packaging.
“We knew that the overall amount of plastics in the waste stream increased substantially over time due to increased consumer use. We extensively studied the potential for energy recovery and have quantified the impact there,” says Marco Castaldi, director of the EEC|CCNY. “We were surprised to learn in this study just how much of an impact plastics had on solid waste weight and volume reduction over the years."
EEC|CCNY also looked at scenarios where other types of packaging was used in place of plastic packaging to understand plastics’ potential impact on the total MSW generation in the U.S. On average, products made with alternatives require 3.2 times more material than plastics. For packaging specifically, the combined weight of alternative materials is about 4.5 times more than the weight of plastic packaging.
"Plastics have an important role to play in delivering sustainable outcomes," says Keith Christman, managing director of plastics markets for the American Chemistry Council. "By using less material, plastics help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation, as well as save energy. And our industry is working to further realize plastics’ sustainability benefits through our commitment to recycle or recover all plastic packaging by 2040."
To accompany the study’s release, ACC has developed a new interactive packaging substitution calculator for packaging professionals to estimate the weight and volume savings, as well as the potential to reduce municipal solid waste.
http://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/role-of-plastics-in-municipal-solid-waste/
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(ACC Mentioned) US EPA Meets Resistance On TSCA Snurs Proposal
Sep 20, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Nearly a dozen industry groups, businesses and NGOs have submitted adverse comments to the US EPA’s proposal to issue a batch of 145 TSCA significant new use rules (Snurs).
Issued in August through both a direct final rule and a proposed rule, the Snurs address a variety of new substances that were approved for introduction into commerce with some restrictions. The new rules aim to extend the same requirements outlined in those substances’ consent orders – which are only binding to the original pre-manufacture notice (PMN) submitters – to others who may use the chemicals in the future.
But while issuing these ‘5(e)-Snurs’ has been standard practice, even prior to TSCA's amendment in 2016, a variety of groups are taking issue with the EPA’s approach.Process concerns
Many of the comments focus on issues specific to certain Snurs, such as concerns that the requirements they contain do not accurately mirror the consent order on which they are based.
But commenters also questioned the EPA’s overall approach of proposing a direct final rule in conjunction with a proposed rule, because this effectively cuts short the time for companies to compose substantive comments (see box).
Chemical manufacturer BASF said affected parties "should only be required to notify EPA of their intent to file one or more adverse comments on a specific Snur/use combination, not provide comprehensive, detailed comments" following publication of the direct final rule.
The "EPA appears to be trying to compensate for internal delays in issuing these Snurs by proceeding with two significant new use rulemakings that effectively reduce the public comment period by 30 days," BASF wrote. But this "makes it more likely that potential submitters of adverse comments will fail to submit all of [these]".
The American Chemistry Council, electronics company Panasonic, and the law firm Bergeson & Campbell were among groups also to criticise the approach or request more time to respond to the proposed rule.‘Potentially useful information’
The NGO Environmental Defense Fund also filed lengthy comments in opposition to all 145 Snurs.
Chief among its concerns is that the Snurs do not include "recommended testing", as has traditionally been the case, but rather that testing requirements are outlined under a "potentially useful information" heading.
EDF calls this "a significant departure from past policy and practice".
The group also questioned whether the EPA is hinting at the implementation of a new policy, along the lines of one called for under section 26 of the reformed law, that lays out how and when exposure level of a substance would factor into the decision to require testing.
Richard Denison, lead senior scientist at the EDF, told Chemical Watch that the latest Snurs "allude to the possibility that exposure would be a factor, but have not indicated in any way, shape or form how and when the exposure consideration would be factored in".
Therefore, he said, the EPA might be implementing an approach to testing "piecemail, in the context of an individual Snun [significant new use notice] review, behind closed doors, where the only parties to the discussion are EPA and the company".
The ability of the public to know what policy is being evoked and how it's being applied is all up for grabs as the EPA has not articulated a policy, he added.
The agency is likely to recognise the bulk of these comments as significant, which will result in its pulling the direct final rule and addressing the substances through the proposed rulemaking. It remains unclear if the agency will offer additional time for submission of comments in view of the concerns raised.
Subsequent to this batch of 145 Snurs, the agency issued several others: 28 on 17 September, 29 on 27 August and 27 others on 17 August. Because the agency also proposed these through the two simultaneous rulemakings approach, and with similar language on testing, it is plausible that similar adverse comments might follow.Rulemaking process
Agencies typically use direct final rules to move forward non-controversial regulations on an expedited timeline. But if such a rule receives a notice of intent to submit a ‘significant adverse’ comment, the agency must withdraw it and proceed with a formal rulemaking.
With these Snurs, the EPA issued a proposed rule in conjunction with the direct final rule, noting that it would address through the formal rulemaking process any provisions for which it receives adverse comment.
But in so doing, the agency started the clock on the proposed rule’s 30-day comment period, so it ended on 31 August – the same timeline under which commenters were required to notify of their intent to submit adverse comments to the direct final rule.
https://chemicalwatch.com/70436/us-epa-meets-resistance-on-tsca-snurs-proposal
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EPA Issues TSCA 'Not Likely To Present Unreasonable Risk' Finding
Sep 20, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA has published TSCA section 5(a)(3)(C) determination for an imported fertiliser manufacturing intermediate that was the subject of a pre-manufacture notice (PMN).
The substance’s "not likely to present an unreasonable risk" finding – which was based on its low human health and low environmental hazard – will allow it to come to market without restriction.
The EPA’s review of the new confidential substance, generically identified as a substituted heteromonocycle, began on 25 August, according to the agency’s website. The EPA issued its decision on 6 September.
https://chemicalwatch.com/70418/epa-issues-tsca-not-likely-to-present-unreasonable-risk-finding
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U.S. Chemical Makers’ Sharing of Use Data Stirs Debate
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
Attorney urges U.S. chemical makers to submit more exposure data to EPA
Other chemical specialists say data will come with time, too soon to compare to EU
Only a limited number of U.S. manufacturers have shared chemical use information with the EPA since the primary U.S. industrial chemicals law was amended in 2016, and one attorney says they need to do a better job.
But other chemical specialists and attorneys say the U.S. isn’t there yet in the chemical regulatory process, in contrast with the European Union, which has been implementing its most recent chemicals regulation for more than 10 years.
The Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of reviewing 10 chemicals to possibly control their risks under the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act.
The reviews could result in new restrictions on the chemicals, which include asbestos fibers and the solvents methylene chloride and trichlorotheylene.
“EPA needs more real world data than it got” about the extent to which people might breathe, touch, or ingest 10 chemicals, Herbert Estreicher, a chemist and attorney in the Washington office of Keller and Heckman LLP, said Sept. 13.
Without actual data about chemical exposures, the EPA uses overly protective assumptions that will result in more severe restrictions of some of the 10 chemicals, Estreicher said.
European ApproachEuropean manufacturers have provided the European Chemicals Agency with extensive and costly chemical exposure information, Estreicher said.
The result is that the European Commission has granted authorizations that allow some European manufacturers to continue using hazardous chemicals, he said. Estreicher also works out of Keller and Heckman’s Brussels office.
For example, the commission allowed Rolls-Royce Plc to continue using a chemical that softens plastics—bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, also known as DEHP—to produce airplane fan blades. The chemical is classified as a substance of very high concern in the EU, because it may damage fertility or the unborn child and is toxic to aquatic life.
But other chemical specialists and attorneys disagree, saying the U.S. EPA is still in the early days of implementing amendments to the nation’s primary industrial chemicals law compared to the EU.
U.S. chemical manufacturers and their customers already provide regulators with information about both the hazards and potential exposures to their chemicals to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s hazard communication standard, said Peter Hsiao, head of Morrison & Foerster LLP’s environment and energy group in Los Angeles.
Top Ten ListEstreicher contrasted data documenting human and environmental exposures to chemicals that U.S. companies have provided the EPA for 10 risk evaluations it is conducting under TSCA with exposure data EU-based firms have provided the European Chemicals Agency, which is implementing the EU’s registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals (REACH) law.
The amount of information that U.S. manufacturers have provided the EPA pales in comparison to what manufacturers up and down the chemicals supply chain provided the European agency, he said.
TSCA and REACH also are different laws in different stages of implementation, which explains some of the divergent responses of U.S. and European manufacturers, said Kathleen M. Roberts, a senior regulatory consultant in Bergeson & Campbell, PC’s Washington office.
For example, REACH required chemical manufacturers and their corporate customers to provide specific exposure data for chemicals, whereas TSCA does not, Hsiao and Roberts agreed.
Evolving ImplementationThe REACH law required specific exposure data be included in Chemical Safety Reports that had to be submitted for chemicals produced in the European Economic Area or imported into it in volumes of 10 metric tons (11.02 U.S. tons) or more a year.
Additional exposure data is likely to be submitted under REACH when chemical manufacturers or their corporate customers seek authorized uses of hazardous chemicals that are restricted, Hsiao said.
Companies up and down the chemical supply chain will likely provide the EPA more exposure information as the agency continues to implement the 2016 TSCA amendments and it becomes clearer what regulatory plans the agency is considering, he and Roberts said.
A few companies such as CRC Industries, Inc., and Enviro Tech International, Inc.—both of which make the solvent 1-bromopropane—provided the EPA information about how they use that chemical to aid the agency’s analysis. So did Kemiraregarding a solvent it makes called n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP).
The Semiconductor Industry Association provided information about how its members use NMP—a solvent for which, it told the EPA, “there are no known substitutes that meet our stringent performance requirements.”https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/us-chemical-makers-sharing-of-use-data-stirs-debate
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ALL ABOUT: Drones Hunting Chemical Contamination
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alex Ebert
Environmental regulators across America are looking for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—or PFAS—in drinking water, but Michigan is taking its search to new heights.
The state’s Department of Environmental Quality announced Sept. 18 it will fly a drone outfitted with an infrared camera across Lake Margrethe in the northern part of the state’s lower peninsula. The agency hopes to identify cold springs entering the lake that experts can then test for possible PFAS contamination from runoff fire-retardant chemicals at a nearby military base.
For years, government and private companies have used infrared cameras on drones in environmental and industrial applications, such as checking the health of crops, inspecting commercial sites, fighting fires, and rescue missions.
But Michigan officials think this is the first time infrared-equipped drones are specifically looking for water to test for PFAS, which have been linked to problems with liver and immune system function, increased blood cholesterol levels, developmental delays, and increased cancer risk.
“It is an interesting approach,” says Seth Kellogg, a National Groundwater Association board member and senior geologist at New Jersey-based Geosyntec Consultants.
Similar technology has been used to find seeps from landfills and groundwater upwelling in wetlands, but Kellogg says she hadn’t “heard of it being done specifically for PFAS and it certainly isn’t a commonly used technique.”
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/all-about-drones-hunting-chemical-contamination
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California Considers Regulating Solvent Linked to Birth Defects
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joyce E. Cutler
Walmart, Lowe’s, Home Depot have halted sales of chemical
California priority product list program weighs whether to add chemical
A paint and graffiti remover already off store shelves at Walmart Inc., Home Depot Inc., and Lowe’s Cos. Inc. is getting more scrutiny in California because of the harms it may pose.
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control is considering adding N-methylpyrrolidone, or NMP, to its list of products that can harm people or the environment—in this case, the developing child. The agency is taking comment through Oct. 1 on the draft product profile under the Safer Consumer Products program.
The stakes are high for makers and users, because if a product is identified as a program priority, manufacturers could be required to reformulate it to make it safer or stop selling it in California.
Outstanding QuestionsWho manufactures the strippers—and how much is sold in California—are among the questions the state wants to answer as it refines the profile which is a first step to regulation.
“A large variety of products may fall into our proposed definition,” Robert Brushia, a DTSC research scientist with the Safer Products and Workplaces Program, told participants in a Sept. 18 agency workshop on NMP.
The proposed definition is any product “that may be marketed, sold, or described as a chemical substance or formulation designed to break down paint or varnish to facilitate its complete removal from a surface, or, in the case of graffiti removers, to remove any unwanted markings or vandalism-related markings from any surface without damaging the underlying finished surface.”
Industry ActionWalmart, the world’s largest retailer, in August said it will stop selling paint strippers containing either NMP or methylene chloride.
It joined Lowe’s, which announced in May that it was phasing out products with either solvent. Home Depot in June also announced its phase-out of the solvents.
Methylene chloride was linked to more than a dozen deaths among bathtub refinishers, largely when inadequate ventilation led to them breathe in high concentrations of the chemical.
The American Coatings Association—with members including paint and coatings manufacturers, raw materials suppliers, and distributors—is “evaluating how NMP is used with our members,” Riaz Zaman, government affairs counsel, told Bloomberg Environment Sept. 18. “It sounds like they’re in a more informational gathering phase and if we can provide information to them we will do that.”
EPA, CA PathsThe Environmental Protection Agency said NMP could harm babies’ development when a pregnant woman is exposed to high concentrations.
More than 184 million pounds of the chemical is annually produced and imported into the U.S., according to the EPA. In 2017, the agency proposed a rule on the compound but has yet to complete it.
“We’re not going to be establishing a new benchmark or looking at a numeric threshold,” Karl Palmer, chief of the state’s Safer Consumer Products Branch, told the workshop. “We’re not entirely sure what EPA’s path is or when that might be. We’re moving forward.”
Written comments will be accepted until Oct. 1.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/california-considers-regulating-solvent-linked-to-birth-defects
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Canada Clears Antimony Flame Retardants In Draft Assessment
Sep 20, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Andrew Turley
The Canadian government has provisionally concluded that 11 antimony-containing substances, including two used in flame retardants, are not harmful at current levels of exposure.
If confirmed, the finding would rule out regulatory action against the substances. The group comprises:the pentoxide, oxide, sulfide and trichloride of antimony;sodium antimonate;antimony diamyldithiocarbamate;antimony potassium tartrate (APT);tetrapotassium antimonate;sodium hexahydroxoantimonate; andtwo substances in which the antimony is complexed with organic ligands.
The substances are used in products such as textiles, plastics, lubricants and greases, and in processes such as metal refining.
The draft screening assessment identifies developmental toxicity as the critical endpoint for human health and determines risk on the basis of oral and dermal exposure for consumers via use of textiles, toys, lubricants and greases.
The assessment finds that the risk to human health from the 11 substances is low. It also finds that the risk to the environment — as determined using the government’s "ecological risk classification of inorganic substances" (ERC-I) approach — is low.
These findings lead to the conclusion that the substances do not meet any of the criteria of paragraph 64 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa).US and EU developments
In February, a US peer review panel unanimously accepted the conclusion of the National Toxicology Program’s draft assessment of antimony trioxide that the substance is "reasonably anticipated" to be a human carcinogen. This conclusion is contested by the International Antimony Association on the basis that the carcinogenicity observed in animals is not likely to manifest itself in humans.
Meanwhile in the EU, Germany is conducting REACH substance evaluations of five antimony-containing substances, including the sulfide and trichloride. The initial grounds for concern for included suspected carcinogenicity and suspected reproductive toxicity.Nitro musks
A separate draft screening assessment finds that two man-made fragrance substances, musk ketone and musk xylene, also are not harmful at current levels of exposure. The substances are used in cosmetics, air fresheners and cleaning products available to consumers and can be released to the environment via wastewater.
Musk ketone and musk xylene are persistent in the environment, have moderate to high bioaccumulation potential and have potential to cause adverse effects in aquatic organisms at low concentrations.
Nevertheless, the assessment concludes that the substances do not meet any of the criteria of paragraph 64 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa).
The Canadian government has started 60-day public consultations on the assessments. Interested parties have until 14 November to submit comments.
https://chemicalwatch.com/70438/canada-clears-antimony-flame-retardants-in-draft-assessment
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Anses Urges Broader Analysis Of ‘Low-Risk’ Rubber Crumb
Sep 20, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Rubber crumb used on synthetic turf poses a negligible risk to athletes and children but may potentially harm the environment, the French Agency for Food, Environment and Occupational Health and Safety (Anses) has said.
It reached the conclusion after analysing an inventory of more than 50 international studies on the subject, including from Echa and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).
Anses said it supports a proposal by Echa and the Netherlands in August to restrict concentration limits of polycyclic-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in rubber crumb used for play and sporting applications.
However, it said more research is needed. Anses identified "some methodological limitations" in the available data – specifically that they "do not sufficiently" take into account the variability of the composition of synthetic soils.
Therefore, it argued, "uncertainties remain as to the potential health risks associated with these materials, particularly in relation to emissions of volatile compounds".
The agency recommended carrying out a broader analysis of the pollutants contained and emitted by these aggregates – in particular concerning the dust that may be emitted – to specify occupational exposures.
It also urged priority be given to obtaining more data on the specific uses of tyre aggregates in playgrounds. "Very little researched to date, these uses involve sensitive populations and concern other products such as glues, dyes, binders [and] smoothing agents."
More knowledge is also needed, it added, about levels of exposure to synthetic terrain inside buildings and investigate the thermal risk of these coatings.
The French Ministry of Sport estimates the number of large-scale synthetic sports fields in the country at around 3,000.
https://chemicalwatch.com/70447/anses-urges-broader-analysis-of-low-risk-rubber-crumb
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Bayer Steps Up Legal Fight Over Weed Killer Blamed for Cancer
Sep 20, 2018 | The Wallstreet Journal
By Jacob Bunge and Ruth Bender
Bayer AG is stepping up the legal defense of its flagship weedkiller, after a recent verdict in a case alleging the chemical causes cancer sent shares down sharply and raised the prospect of costly plaintiff payouts.
The German company on Tuesday said it wants a California state court judge to overturn the jury’s verdict, order a new trial or reduce damages, according to a court filing. The $289 million award granted in August came in one of the first of thousands of cases filed by gardeners, farmers and others claiming Bayer’s...
Access to full text unavailable – subscription required. For full story: https://www.wsj.com/articles/bayer-steps-up-legal-fight-over-weed-killer-blamed-for-cancer-1537322047?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2
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Battered Oil-Sands Servicers Pin Hopes on Shell’s LNG Project
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kevin Orland
Canadian industry hit hardest by downturn in energy prices
Shell-led group due to decide on $30 billion project this year
After years of suffering through plunging energy prices and declining spending by oil-sands behemoths, Canada’s oilfield-service industry is finally seeing a light on the horizon.
Companies that do everything from drilling wells to building work camps are pinning their hopes on a potential C$40 billion ($30 billion) liquefied natural gas facility on British Columbia’s Pacific Coast. LNG Canada, the Royal Dutch Shell Plc-led group behind the plant, may decide whether to build the project in the coming weeks.
The export complex would be a boon for an industry that was hit hardest by the 2014-2016 downturn in oil and gas prices, and one that still hasn’t recovered. The project would need new pipelines built and fresh gas wells drilled, bringing scores of workers and tons of equipment off the sidelines.
“To see some sort of major infrastructure investment go forward would be pretty positive, both from an investment and an economics and an employment perspective,” said Scott Matson, chief financial officer of Horizon North Logistics Inc.
Matson’s company, a Calgary-based provider of work camps and temporary housing, suffered as the oil crash derailed an investment boom that required accommodations for thousands of workers near northern Alberta’s remote bitumen deposits. The company has weathered the downturn by cutting costs, trimming its workforce and diversifying into modular building.
The LNG Canada facility would provide work similar to big oil-sands projects before the crash. Horizon North owns 57 acres of land near the site in the coastal town of Kitimat. The land can be used for residential development, hotels and restaurants, as well as for a work camp with up to 1,000 beds. The company declined to provide financial forecasts of what the LNG project could mean.
Another opportunity for service firms is that once the facility is built, the project partners—which also include Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd, PetroChina Co., Mitsubishi Corp., and Korea Gas Corp.—will need to increase natural gas production to fill it.
Precision Drilling Corp. expects to win some of that work, which would call for putting up to six more drilling rigs into operation, Kevin Neveu, the chief executive, said. Each running rig creates about 40 direct jobs for Precision and 100 other indirect industry jobs, he said.
Canada’s oilfield-services industry could use a boost. A lack of pipeline space for crude and natural gas has weighed on prices and kept producers from expanding, leaving tons of equipment idled. There were about 74 active rigs targeting gas in Alberta and British Columbia at the end of August, less than half of the 180 running at the start of 2015, according to data compiled by RS Energy Group. By comparison, the number of rigs running in the U.S.’s Marcellus and Utica shale plays has dropped only about 30 percent from the start of 2015 through June.
To be sure, LNG Canada has yet to decide on the project, and the services industry has had its hopes for major facilities dashed before. Last year, Petronas abandoned plans for a $27 billion LNG project in British Columbia. And yet it was Petronas’s decision in May to buy a 25 percent stake in the LNG Canada project that has made the industry confident the new project will go ahead—and spur other projects to follow.
“The first project is really important because it builds up a project-management team, builds up a construction team, builds up pipeline-construction teams,” Precision Drilling’s Neveu said. “It then makes the second project much easier.”
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/battered-oil-sands-servicers-pin-hopes-on-shells-lng-project
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EAB Rejects Bid For Stricter Seismic Controls On Oil & Gas Fracking Well
Sep 20, 2018 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss
EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) has rejected a Pennsylvania borough's petition aimed at imposing more stringent conditions on underground injections of hydraulic fracturing wastewater in order to prevent earthquakes and other seismic activity, holding that the agency adequately addressed those concerns in its permitting process.
The Sept. 13 decision in In re: Penneco Environmental Solutions, LLC denies Plum Borough, PA's bid to tighten the underground injection control (UIC) permit for Penneco's planned disposal well in the area.
A unanimous panel of three EAB judges said EPA accounted for seismic effects from the well in its response to comments on the draft version of the permit. The judges said that holding the permit to an even higher standard would set a precedent that might be too strict for any disposal well to overcome.
“The Borough's argument about induced seismic activity is so general that, when combined with the level of certainty that the Borough appears to expect from a permitting authority in order to conclude that there are no known fault lines or fractures, the Borough's argument seems to be that no permit could ever issue, which would seemingly render the Class II UIC permitting program a regulatory nullity,” reads the decision, which is signed by EAB Judges Aaron P. Avila, Mary Kay Lynch and Mary Beth Ward.
Class II UIC permits govern disposal of fracking waste, and such wells in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and other states have in recent years been linked to increases in earthquake activity.
Based on that link, Plum Borough argued to EAB that EPA Region 3's finding that the Penneco well would not create a higher risk of earthquakes was “inherently suspect” because of the difficulty in predicting whether and where injected wastewater will break through previously stable terrain. Region 3 covers Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia.
The borough asked EAB to either remand the Penneco permit to EPA for a “more thorough evaluations” of potential seismic risks from the injections, or to mandate seismic monitoring at the site, with quarterly reporting to regulators and the public on its results.
But the EAB panel disagrees, holding that the region's response to public comments on the subject was enough to justify its decision to move forward with the permit -- and that Plum Borough's petition raises no credible objections to the agency's response.
“The Borough fails to demonstrate whether, or how, the general concerns raised in its petition regarding the movement of fluids into [underground drinking water sources] and the potential for injection wells to cause an increase in seismic activity that may also harm public drinking water sources generally apply to, or are not addressed by, the permit, the Region's response to comments, and the administrative record,” the decision says.
Procedural Hurdles
In addition to rejecting Plum Borough's primary request to hold EPA's consideration of seismic issues in the permit to be unlawful, EAB also rejected its arguments that Penneco should be required to install seismic monitoring equipment at the well site.
If the court had approved the monitoring and data requests, it would have set a precedent for more-stringent monitoring at UIC sites across the country.
EAB denied that portion of the petition not on its merits, but because neither Plum Borough nor any other stakeholder raised the issue in public comments on the draft version of the permit.
“Here, the Borough's petition fails to identify anywhere during the public comment period where anyone commented that the Region should include in the permit the seismometer installation requirements that the Borough now faults the Region for failing to include. The Board has not otherwise been able to locate where this issue was raised during the public comment period,” the decision says.
It continues, “Where an issue was not raised during the public comment period . . . the permitting authority is not given the opportunity to address the issue prior to permit issuance. If, in such a situation, the Board were then to exercise its authority, the Board would become the first-level decisionmaker as to the newly-raised issue. contrary to the expectation that 'most permit conditions should be finally determined at the [permitting authority] level.'”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/eab-rejects-bid-stricter-seismic-controls-oil-gas-fracking-well
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U.S. to Export ‘Tremendous’ Amount of LNG to Poland as Countries Seek to Expand Energy Security
Sep 19, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Leticia Gonzales
Emphasizing the United States’ commitment to energy diversity across Europe, President Trump on Tuesday said a “tremendous” amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) would be exported to Poland at “a really good price.”
Access to full text unavailable – subscription required. For full story: http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/115832-us-to-export-tremendous-amount-of-lng-to-poland-as-countries-seek-to-expand-energy-security
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Access To Gas Supply Could Be A Challenge For New US LNG Exporters
Sep 19, 2018 | S&P Global Platts
By Harry Weber and Abache Abreu
Barcelona — North American shale gas is cheap and abundant, factors that have fixed the world's attention on the continent to fuel the bulk of future LNG export growth.
From pressure to consider new pricing mechanisms and more flexible terms to the potential of greater difficulty accessing feedgas supplies, the dozen or so US projects that are expected to make up the second wave of export capacity have a lot to consider, analysts, developers and market observers said Wednesday as the Gastech conference in Spain wrapped up its third day.
"LNG buyers could have to be chasing gas around the United States," Kristy Kramer, Wood Mackenzie's head of Americas gas research, told a group of several hundred global market leaders.
Kramer said the US Gulf Coast is expected to get more crowded after 2020, and the pipeline capacity needed to reach supply will be harder to come by.
However, US producers' strategies were also changing, with an increasing willingness to take US pipeline capacity and gain exposure to the international LNG markets. As inter-basin pricing spreads are starting to widen out, producers are also keener on exploring the business opportunities of participating in the global LNG markets.
While Henry Hub is expected to remain under pressure in the years to come, as high oil forward price curves keep associated gas production growing, international LNG prices are rising, largely driven by growing consumption from China and emerging Asian markets.
The Platts JKM has averaged around $9.50/MMBtu in 2018 to date, up by more than 50% year on year, on more balanced fundamentals in the key Asia Pacific region.
Terminal developers, meanwhile, have sought to address the feedgas access issue by proposing to build new pipelines. Others are seeking to tap into increasing associated gas production in the Permian Basin that spans parts of Texas and New Mexico.
Tellurian, the owner of the proposed Driftwood LNG export terminal in Louisiana, went beyond its plans to build three new pipelines in the region. It bought its own acreage in the nearby Haynesville shale and plans to drill for its own feedgas for Driftwood, in the hopes of ensuring steady access to supply.
In an interview with S&P Global Platts on the sidelines of the conference, CEO Meg Gentle said Tellurian plans to acquire additional acreage in the Haynesville to support its project after it commercializes Driftwood in the next few months.
"Love the Permian, but for us not as an asset acquisition," Gentle said.
Gas that it sources from that play would be bought and delivered via the Permian Global Access Pipeline that it has proposed to build.
In a traditional tolling model that a number of LNG export developers have chosen, the buyer of the capacity is responsible for procuring the feedgas and having it delivered to the liquefaction facility.
In Cheniere Energy's case, it runs a full-service operation at its Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana and plans the same when its Corpus Christi, Texas, facility starts up later this year.
"We feel very comfortable with the commodity risk because of the abundance of supply in the United States," Cheniere's senior vice president of gas supply and trading, Corey Grindal, said at the conference.COMMERCIAL EFFORTS
While Wood Mackenzie estimates US LNG exports to rise to 120 million mt/year by 2030, the sector's global competitiveness could help offset the supply challenges. That will require success on the commercial side, something developers were aggressively pursuing with prospective buyers as the conference neared its conclusion Thursday.
Tellurian, for instance, has had some "important meetings" at the conference with potential partners, Gentle said.
"The No. 1 question we get is on timeline," she said.
Tellurian has pitched a business model under which offtakers would pay $1.5 billion for an equity interest in Driftwood Holdings, which will consist of entities including the terminal, that will give them the right to lift 1 million mt/year of capacity from Driftwood for the life of the terminal. They would pay the lifting cost and use the regasified LNG themselves, or they could pocket the difference between the lifting cost and what the cargoes will fetch in the market.
While Tellurian has been firm on the amount of capital it is seeking from its partners, which it will use to fund construction and its drilling acreage purchases, it is trying to be flexible on when it taps the funds.
"The partners have asked if we can reduce the draws, how can we stretch that out," Gentle said. "We're working on several ideas to help them in that fashion."
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/podcasts/spotlight/091318-gastech
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Oil Giants Use Size to Overcome Fracking Challenges
Sep 20, 2018 | The Wallsreet Journal
By Bradley Olson
FOX CREEK, Alberta—Fracking is entering a new expansion phase in this Canadian town more than 2,000 miles from the center of the U.S. oil boom—one that heavily favors the world’s energy giants.
Chevron Corp. is laying the groundwork here for what it calls a “factory model” for shale drilling, master planning an entire region of small shale wells by locking up labor, building infrastructure and securing sand and other needed materials, all at once.
...
Access to full text unavailable – subscription required. For full story: https://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-giants-use-size-to-overcome-fracking-challenges-1537444801?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1
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California, New Mexico Sue Trump for Axing Methane-Waste Rules
Sep 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kartikay Mehrotra
Obama-era methane rule repeal draws legal challenge
Would have prevented 3 million passenger miles worth of emissions
California and New Mexico are suing the Trump administration to block it from rolling back Obama-era regulations aimed at reducing waste from natural gas exploration on public lands.
The suit comes just hours after the Bureau of Land Management repealed key sections of the 2016 Waste Prevention Rule, which assesses royalties on operators that allow natural gas and its waste to escape into the atmosphere.
The regulation would have eliminated the equivalent of 3 million passenger vehicles worth of emissions in one year, according to a statement issued by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
“With this attempt to axe the Waste Prevention Rule, the Trump administration risks the air our children breathe and at taxpayers’ expense,” Becerra said in the statement. “We’ve sued the administration before over the illegal delay and suspension of this rule and will continue doing everything in our power to hold them accountable for the sake of our people and planet.”
The states allege that efforts to dismantle the 2016 Waste Prevention Rule by the U.S Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to “provide any reasoned basis for its action,” according to the complaint filed Sept. 18 in a San Francisco federal court. They seek to prevent the Trump administration from enforcing its Waste Rule Repeal and to reinstate the 2016 policy.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/california-new-mexico-sue-trump-for-axing-methane-waste-rules
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States Renew Fight Over Social Costs Of GHGs In BLM Methane Rollback Suit
Sep 19, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Doug Obey
California and New Mexico are renewing their efforts to challenge the Trump administration's use of drastically lower climate damage estimates to justify climate rule rollbacks, citing the issue as one of numerous flaws in litigation over the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) rule largely rescinding Obama-era methane controls on federal lands.
One environmentalist says the pitch is part of a case that would also be a first-of-its-kind legal test over the Trump administration's cost-based threshold for determining when methane emissions constitute improper “waste” of a natural resource.
A prior district court ruling, however, may complicate the states' argument on climate damages, says another source tracking the litigation. That ruling is not binding, however, and the just-launched BLM case will be closely watched because the BLM rule is among the first substantive Trump-era climate rollbacks to be finalized and ready for a court challenge.
“BLM failed to offer a reasoned explanation for repealing requirements that, just two years ago, the agency determined were necessary to fulfill its statutory mandates,” California Attorney General (AG) Xavier Becerra (D) and New Mexico AG Hector Balderas (D) write in their Sept. 18 suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, State of California, et al. v. Zinke.
The complaint was filed the same day as BLM announced its final rule to largely eliminate methane controls for oil and gas equipment on public lands, including requirements related to waste minimization plans, gas-capture percentages, well drilling, well completion and related operations, pneumatic controllers, pneumatic diaphragm pumps, storage vessels, and leak detection and repair.
The proposal, which has yet to appear in the Federal Register, is one of several steps the Trump administration is expected to take or has taken to ease oil and gas methane controls.
But California and New Mexico charge that the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Among their claims is that the Trump BLM rule relies on “an interim domestic social cost of methane metric that is arbitrary and not supported by the best available science,” to conclude that the cost of the Obama-era regulation exceeded the benefits.
Trump officials have used similar “interim” social cost of carbon (SCC) values in several other proposed greenhouse gas rule rollbacks, with the figures significantly lower than Obama-era estimates because they focus only on domestic climate damages rather than global risks.
President Donald Trump early in his term issued an executive order (EO) withdrawing the Obama SCC estimates that were developed by an interagency working group, and directing agencies to use domestic values. That change results in far fewer monetized benefits of curtailing GHGs in rules' cost-benefit analysis.
The issue has received scant attention in the courts to date, however, because most of those rulemakings have not yet been finalized, including high-profile EPA rollbacks of power plant and vehicle GHG standards.
Prior Ruling
However, California and New Mexico previously raised the issue in still-pending litigation against BLM's suspension of the Obama-era methane rule.
In that suit, Judge William Orrick -- who also sits on the Northern District of California court -- granted a preliminary injunction against BLM's suspension. Parties are slated to file their motions for summary judgement by Oct. 26, but some expect the suit to be held in abeyance while new litigation over the rollback rule plays out.
Even though he issued the injunction, Orrick rejected the states' argument that BLM improperly failed to consider the global cost of increased methane emissions, saying BLM cited the Trump EO and other policies as a “factual basis” for its change in position and that the revised climate damages approach was within BLM's discretion.
The source tracking the litigation says Orrick's move could signal an “uphill battle” for California and New Mexico as they continue to challenge the administration's narrow approach to climate damages.
However, the source says it is also premature to conclude that Orrick's move is the final word on the issue. His reasoning is not legally binding on other courts or judges, the source notes, adding that the climate damages issue was not “integral” to his decision to grant the injunction.
“While the statement certainly does not help states and others seeking to challenge the adoption of new rules on the basis [of domestic-only climate damages], it does not create insurmountable challenges either,” the source says.
There is also separate litigation that originated in the Wyoming district court that was brought by industry and states that oppose the Obama standards. Observers are not ruling out that industry may seek to have challenges to the newly final BLM rule heard in that court.
'Waste' Definition
Meanwhile, the environmentalist says the California and New Mexico suit is the first legal test of the Trump administration's effort to codify a cost-based threshold for determining if methane leaks are uneconomic to control and therefore not classifiable as “waste” that must be regulated under the MLA.
The new BLM rule says waste can occur only when “compliance costs are not greater than the monetary value” of resources that would otherwise be conserved.
BLM argues that such an economic test was longstanding policy before the Obama-era rule, but the environmentalist says this specific definition was not included in the prior standard, known as NTL-4a, that governed venting and flaring prior to the Obama regulations.
As part of the court fight, BLM will also have to convince courts that it is not arbitrarily reversing Obama-era conclusions that its pre-existing 1979 regulations were inadequate to address natural gas waste. BLM has cited as justification for its latest move other state programs, but critics say many of those state programs are spotty at best.
The states also argue that BLM's claim that the Obama regulation unnecessarily thwarted energy production “lacks merit and is directly contradicted by the record,” and that BLM's conclusion there would be no significant environmental impact from the rollback violates NEPA.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/states-renew-fight-over-social-costs-ghgs-blm-methane-rollback-suit
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NRDC Hopes State HFC Rules Stop 'Backsliding' As Courts Stymie EPA
Sep 20, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
Environmentalists are hoping that the spate of recently announced state rules to limit the use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants will ensure industry stays on track to transition away from the potent greenhouse gases despite the fact that EPA's standards for the chemicals have largely been gutted in court.
The refrigeration sector, on the other hand, says the specter of a confusing patchwork of state rules should prompt the Trump administration to ratify an international deal to phase out HFCs, creating a uniform national policy on the issue and lessening the motivation for states to act on their own.
The industry and environmentalists are broadly working together to influence state HFC rules, starting with pending regulations in California that aim to codify into state law EPA's significant new alternatives policy (SNAP) rules adopted in 2015 and 2016.
Those rules were largely vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2017 ruling that is the subject of a pending cert petition to the Supreme Court. EPA recently reversed its stance on its Clean Air Act authority and urged the justices not to take up the case.
While Golden State air regulators are already starting to issue HFC limits, officials in New York, Maryland and Connecticut in recent days announced plans to craft rules based on the vacated SNAP standards.
David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) writes in a Sept. 15 blog post that more states that are part of the U.S. Climate Alliance “are likely to join the wave on HFCs this fall.”
Doniger tells Inside EPA that the state rules do not necessarily create a “tipping point” at which industry would consider their rules a de facto national standard because “in one sense the industry has already tipped.”
He argues the EPA regulations spurred refrigeration companies to accelerate their HFC transition plans. “The task for states is to keep them tipped, to keep them on the path they are on, and to avoid backsliding.” Each new state that issues HFC rules “provides greater insurance that the transition will stay on track.”
However, Doniger also says the dynamic does not nullify the effect of the D.C. Circuit's ruling in Mexichem Fluor, et al. v. EPA, et al. that largely vacated the SNAP rules.
“We still need a robust federal program to keep moving forward, so the Mexichem case is still a big deal,” he says.
NRDC and the Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) recently offered joint recommendations for how California air regulators can implement a new state law to codify the SNAP rules and potentially issue stronger requirements.
A recent letter from the groups voiced support for a rule prohibiting refrigerants with a global warming potential (GWP) above 750 in home air conditioners and other equipment by 2023. It also pledged to support other state HFC rules that track EPA's standards and California's limits.
Not 'Cheerleading'
AHRI spokesman Francis Dietz tells Inside EPA that industry is not “out there cheerleading” for states to issue HFC rules. “We prefer not to have to deal with a patchwork of regulations,” he says.
At the same time, he adds that the sector has long supported transitioning away from HFCs and is seeking to persuade state officials to impose reasonable phaseout deadlines to ensure there are suitable replacements available. “This can't happen overnight,” he says.
To that end, AHRI is arguing that the state announcements underscore the importance of the Trump administration submitting an international HFC phaseout deal known as the Kigali Amendment to the Senate for ratification.
The pact is widely backed by industry, environmentalists and several key GOP lawmakers, though some conservative groups oppose it because it seeks to address climate change. After voicing initial support for the Kigali deal in November 2017, the administration has remained largely mum on whether it will seek ratification of the pact.
The state rules “sort of bring [the Kigali issue] into a little clearer focus,” Dietz says. “We would consider that more urgent now.”
Dietz notes that EPA's SNAP rules did not preempt states from setting their own HFC limits, and many expect Kigali implementation would also not involve state preemption.
Even so, he argues that “the states are acting because they don't see action at the federal level. If they saw action at the federal level, they might be less inclined to go on their own.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/nrdc-hopes-state-hfc-rules-stop-backsliding-courts-stymie-epa
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In Bid To Sway States, Industry, NRDC Pitch HFC Ban Dates To California
Sep 20, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Curt Barry
Industry groups and environmentalists are jointly recommending dates by which companies must phase out the use of greenhouse gas chemicals in air conditioning equipment under pending California rules that generally would codify vacated EPA limits, though they are also urging a new deadline to limit the chemicals in residential air conditioners.
The chemical and appliance manufacturers, along with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), are hoping the state's pending rules governing the use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) chemicals will influence similar bans in other states, and are pledging to “support” those efforts if they track California's standards.
“We believe these measures balance environmental benefit with minimizing the cost impact on consumers, all while providing adequate time for manufacturers, distributors, and contractors to prepare for a safe and efficient transition to” lower-global warming potential (GWP) technologies, states a Sept. 14 letter to California Air Resources Board (CARB) Chairwoman Mary Nichols from NRDC and the industry groups.
“We believe that our recommendations will help continue the tradition of California’s leadership in technology and environmental regulations while providing market certainty which will benefit consumers and the industries that serve them,” the letter adds.
The letter comes a day after Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed SB 1013, which codifies into state law recently overturned EPA rules limiting HFCs. Specifically, the “California Cooling Act” codifies into state law EPA's 2015 regulations to phase out HFCs, known as the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Rules 20 and 21.
The bill primarily responds to a 2017 U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling in Mexichem Fluor, et al. v. EPA, et al. that essentially vacated the rules.
NRDC and some chemical firms have urged the Supreme Court to reverse that ruling, though EPA recently reversed its prior stance on its Clean Air Act authority and urged the justices to reject the appeal.
SB 1013 also authorizes CARB to adopt regulations more stringent than the SNAP rules and set up new economic incentive programs to accelerate reductions of the potent greenhouse gases.
CARB in March adopted some portions of the SNAP rules as state regulations, but it is taking more time to consider adopting the additional federal requirements. The March rules cover limits for end uses whose compliance dates have passed or are coming up shortly. These include supermarket and convenience store refrigeration systems, refrigerated food processing and dispensing equipment, vending machines, and foams used in construction, furniture, and take-out containers.
CARB officials will consider adopting the remainder of the SNAP 20 and 21 provisions in a second rulemaking potentially later this year for other end uses, including household refrigerators, blown foams, vehicle air conditioning, cold storage warehouses, and chillers for specific applications. These compliance dates start in 2021.
The Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and NRDC in their new letter to CARB ask Nichols to implement the provisions of SB 1013, including “bans on certain refrigerants in building chillers in 2024.” This date appears to track a deadline in EPA's SNAP standards for that category of equipment.
New Commitment
However, the groups also backed a new commitment that would go beyond the EPA rules and SB 1013. Specifically, they say CARB should also adopt “an additional regulation prohibiting refrigerants with a [GWP] in excess of 750 in all new air conditioners of all other types and capacities, excluding those covered by SB 1013, starting Jan. 1, 2023.” The board should implement this prohibition “based on the date of manufacture, with a sell-through period of six months.”
In addition, CARB should allow the distribution of products from California to other states in which they are legal for sale in cases in which California’s regulations differ from those of other states, the groups recommend.
An NRDC blog post notes that the 2023 date would cover “new home air conditioners” and a range of other equipment types.
The companies and NRDC are also committing to “supporting other U.S. states and municipalities wishing to adopt prohibitions on HFCs in all end uses in EPA SNAP Rules 20 and 21, additional measures substantially similar to those developed in California, and the additional stationary air conditioning measures described above.”
This likely refers to recent announcements by New York, Maryland and Connecticut that they will adopt HFC phaseouts based on EPA's SNAP rules, to counteract the adverse court ruling.
In addition to AHRI and NRDC, the Sept. 14 letter to Nichols was signed by Carrier Corp., Darkin Applied Americas, Inc., Goodman Manufacturing Co., L.P., Lennox International, Nortek Global HVAC LLC, Trane Inc., Chemours Co., and Honeywell International Inc.
A source close to the issue says the letter “underscores the need to move the Kigali Amendment,” referring to a 2016 international agreement to phase down HFCs. The deal is an amendment to the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances. The Trump administration remains mum on whether it will send the deal to the Senate for ratification.
“The industry has joined other stakeholders in advancing” the Kigali Amendment, the source says. “This letter is another example of that work.”
AHRI President and CEO Stephen Yurek says in a Sept. 14 press release that “we are proud that industry and NRDC have come together to jointly recommend an implementation date that will provide market certainty and environmental benefit. This agreement will provide an ideal balance between environmental benefits and reduced cost impacts for consumers, while providing industry adequate time to prepare for this major refrigerant transition."
While AHRI agreed to the Jan. 1, 2023, ban for non-chiller refrigerants, “there are still several implementing provisions that must be worked out among CARB and other entities, and the industry looks forward to continuing this spirit of cooperation and collaborating on the additional aspects of this issue,” Yurek added.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/bid-sway-states-industry-nrdc-pitch-hfc-ban-dates-california
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