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ACC PM 9/28
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‘No Deal’ Brexit Guidance Fails to Reassure UK Chemical Industry
Sep 28, 2018 | Chemistry World
By Angeli Mehta
The chemical industry is warning that leaving the EU without a deal will be both costly and weaken its international competitiveness. -
Chemical Firms Back Depolymerization
Sep 27, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Alexander H. Tullo
As they tackle the problem of plastics recycling, chemical companies are exploring what depolymerization has to offer. -
EPA Does the Science Shuffle
Sep 28, 2018 | Politico (Morning Energy)
By Annie Snider
EPA leaders floated a reorganization plan to staff this week that would merge the agency’s science adviser with another unit under the Office of Research and Development — a move that drew alarm from some agency staffers and outside observers who called it a major demotion for the position. -
Ewire: Epa Reorganization Efforts Leave Staff 'Anxious'
Sep 28, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA is planning at least two reorganization efforts -- merging its science adviser's office with its larger Office of Research and Development (ORD) and combining its human resources and information technology divisions -- moves that are making staff “anxious” after an earlier plan to realign the structure of its regional offices. -
Pruitt's Gone with Investigators on His Trail
Sep 28, 2018 | E&E - Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus and Robin Bravender
Scott Pruitt left EPA, but his problems remain. -
EPA Issues TSCA User Fees Final Rule
Sep 27, 2018 | Lexology
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Margaret R. Graham
On September 27, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the user fees final rule for the administration of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the fourth and remaining framework rule to be issued in final under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg). -
U.S. Senators Seek Regulation of PFASs as a Class in Drinking Water
Sep 28, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Cheryl Hogue
To address contamination of drinking water with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) across the country, U.S. lawmakers are urging EPA to regulate the chemicals as a class rather than controlling each individually. -
Legislation Introduced to Address Health Care Needs of Veterans Exposed to PFAS Chemicals
Sep 28, 2018 | UPMatters
Congressmen Dan Kildee (MI-05) and Brendan Boyle (PA-13), along with U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), today introduced two bills to ensure that veterans and their families exposed to toxic chemicals at military installations get the health care services and benefits they need through the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA). -
Canadian Tire to Phase out NMP, Methylene Chloride Paint Strippers
Sep 28, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Caroline Byrne
Retailer Canadian Tire is voluntarily phasing out paint strippers that contain methylene chloride and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) by the end of the year. -
New Report Highlights Toxic Chemicals in Consumer Products
Sep 27, 2018 | EcoWatch
By Anna Reade
A new report by the Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP) details findings from product testing they performed on beauty, personal care and cleaning products, with an emphasis on products often marketed to vulnerable populations, such as children and women of color. -
Our View: NJ Shows Nation How to Get Toxic Chemical out of Drinking Water
Sep 28, 2018 | Press of Atlantic City
By The Editorial Board
Usually it’s not a bad idea to let the federal government set the allowable standards for toxic substances in the nation’s water and food -
Cancer-Causing Chemicals Found in Cocoa Beach Groundwater a Day Before Erin Brockovich Visit
Sep 28, 2018 | Florida Today
By Jim Waymer
A day before environmental activist Erin Brockovichvisits the Space Coast, the city of Cocoa Beach released a new round of water samples Friday that show yet more evidence that cancer-causing chemicals linked with firefighting foams once used at Patrick Air Force Base are widespread in the city's groundwater and sewage. -
Killer Whales Face Dire PCBs Threat
Sep 27, 2018 | The New York Times
By Karen Weintraub
Most people thought the problem of polychlorinated biphenyls — known as PCBs — had been solved. Some countries began banning the toxic chemicals in the 1970s and 1980s, and worldwide production was ended with the 2001 Stockholm Convention. -
PCBs Threaten Orca Populations, Study Says
Sep 28, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Cheryl Hogue
A class of synthetic commercial compounds no longer manufactured continues to pose an existential threat to many killer whales, researchers report. Harmful effects from high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the bodies of these marine mammals threaten to crash some populations (Science2018, DOI: 10.1126/science.aat1953). -
Washington Rolls Back Safety Rules Inspired by Deepwater Horizon Disaster
Sep 27, 2018 | The New York Times
By Coral Davenport
The Trump administration has completed its plan to roll back major offshore-drilling safety regulations that were put in place after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in 2010 that killed 11 people and caused the worst oil spill in American history. -
The Energy 202: Lawmakers Approve More Money for Energy Department Than Trump Wanted -- Again
Sep 28, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Dino Gradoni
Lawmakers and President Trump only recently settled on a package to fund most of the government through December, which the president is expected to sign this morning. -
Oil Sector Groups Urge Trump to Drop E15 Approval
Sep 27, 2018 | Inside EPA
Oil sector groups are urging President Donald Trump to drop plans for EPA to approve year-round sales of 15 percent ethanol blend (E15) fuel, amid reports that the agency is close to granting the year-round approval. -
After Weeks of Public Outrage About Sterigenics, Trump EPA to Test Air in Surrounding Neighborhoods
Sep 28, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
By Michael Hawthorne
Faced with a public outcry weeks before statewide, congressional and legislative elections, the Trump administration vowed Thursday to conduct more extensive monitoring of cancer-causing air pollution in neighborhoods surrounding a Willowbrook facility connected to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. -
Trump Administration Sees a 7-Degree Rise in Global Temperatures by 2100
Sep 28, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Juliet Eilperin , Brady Dennis and Chris Mooney
Last month, deep in a 500-page environmental impact statement, the Trump administration made a startling assumption: On its current course, the planet will warm a disastrous 7 degrees by the end of this century.
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‘No Deal’ Brexit Guidance Fails to Reassure UK Chemical Industry
Sep 28, 2018 | Chemistry World
By Angeli Mehta
The chemical industry is warning that leaving the EU without a deal will be both costly and weaken its international competitiveness. The consequences ‘from an industry perspective, don’t bear thinking about’, says Peter Newport, chief executive of the Chemical Business Association.
In its newly published guidance on a ‘no deal’ Brexit, the government says it will establish a UK regulatory framework and build domestic capacity to take over the functions of the European Chemicals Agency (Echa), which handles registrations of all chemicals placed on the EU market. New UK legislation, it said would ‘preserve Reach as far as possible’.
As the UK would be a third country, UK companies with Reach registrations would be unable to sell into the European Economic Area without transferring their registrations to an EEA-based organisation. Registering a new chemical with Echa would have to be done via one of their EU customers or other entity. To place chemicals on both UK and EEA markets would require two separate registrations.
Existing Reach registrations held by UK-based companies would be brought into the UK’s replacement system for Reach, but those companies would have to register with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) – which would become the lead UK regulatory authority – within 60 days of the UK leaving the EU. The necessary IT system is now being tested with users, with the aim of having it ready to support registrations from March next year. However, even before the guidance was issued the Chemical Industries Association said time was ‘desperately short’ to undertake the necessary registrations to allow the UK to keep trading with EU member states. Data duplication costs
The CIA points out that business has already spent over £550 million investing in registrations under EU-Reach: ‘Requiring companies to duplicate pre-existing registration duties for a UK-Reach will not only weaken our international competitiveness but more importantly, offers nothing more to strengthen health and safety.’
According to the guidance, companies will ultimately have to provide the UK regulator with the full data package that supported their original Reach registration with Echa: this is may not be practical says Newport, because ‘the data package is explicitly limited in use to EU Reach – we don’t have the right to use it.’ However, he is aware that a couple of companies have been able to amend contracts, although this only adds to potential costs.
The government has also issued guidance in relation to patent protection, but says that only a few areas of UK patent law come from EU legislation and that even without a deal there will be ‘no significant change to the legal requirements or the application processes’ for UK, EU or third country business. One continuing area of uncertainty is the Unified Patent Court, which had been intended to give business a process for enforcing patents through a single court rather than having to go through multiple courts in different counties. The court – part of which, was intended to be based in London – has not yet come into force, and the government acknowledges that if it does, it may not be possible for the UK to remain within it.
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/no-deal-brexit-guidance-fails-to-reassure-uk-chemical-industry/3009562.article
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Chemical Firms Back Depolymerization
Sep 27, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Alexander H. Tullo
As they tackle the problem of plastics recycling, chemical companies are exploring what depolymerization has to offer.
Ineos Styrolution has formed a partnership with two Canadian firms, Pyrowave and ReVital Polymers, to depolymerize polystyrene. Separately, Indorama will create a joint venture with another Canadian firm, Loop Industries, to commercialize technology that turns polyethylene terephthalate into the monomers dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol.
The Styrolution partnership will use technology Pyrowave developed to break down polymers using microwave radiation. The start-up plans to roll out the technology in on-site units that process 400 to 1,200 metric tons of plastic per year. It already operates one such machine in Montreal.
ReVital, a plastics recycler, plans to install the technology at its site in Sarnia, Ontario. The firm will process waste from local residents and institutions. ReVital Chief Commercial Officer Keith Bechard says the technology can pave the way for more recycling of polystyrene “regardless of color, food residue, or odors.”
This isn’t Styrolution’s first such partnership. In April, the firm said it might deploy depolymerization technology from Agilyx at one of its plants. Agilyx operates a facility in Tigard, Ore., that makes styrene via pyrolysis.
Indorama and Loop, meanwhile, plan to build a plant based on Loop’s depolymerization process by early 2020. Loop won’t say much about the plant other than that it will be in the eastern U.S.
Loop also has agreements with L’Oréal, Evian, and Gatorade.
Brian Riise, president of Sustainable Materials Recovery Group, a consulting firm, says chemical recycling’s ability to deal with contamination is its main advantage over mechanical methods that sort plastics and melt them down. “If you have a lot of contamination, there are ways to remove that contamination in a chemical process,” he says.
For polystyrene, the result is a pure monomer that can be polymerized into polystyrene for food-contact applications. For polyester, chemical recycling can treat complex materials such as carpeting, which has pigments and other contaminants.
The drawback of chemical recycling, Riise says, is that it requires more energy than mechanical methods.
https://cen.acs.org/environment/sustainability/Chemical-firms-back-depolymerization/96/i39
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Sep 28, 2018 | Politico (Morning Energy)
By Annie Snider
SHUFFLING SCIENCE AT EPA: EPA leaders floated a reorganization plan to staff this week that would merge the agency’s science adviser with another unit under the Office of Research and Development — a move that drew alarm from some agency staffers and outside observers who called it a major demotion for the position. The science adviser has historically had a direct line to the EPA administrator, with the charge of ensuring that the highest quality science is implemented consistently across the agency and in its regulatory decisions, and critics argue the new move would put layers of bureaucracy between the adviser and the agency’s top decision maker. “There is a significant loss of independence here,” said Michael Halpern, deputy director of the Center for Science and Democracy and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
But the agency’s acting science adviser, Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, said in a statement that the plan was developed by career leaders and was aimed at “reducing redundancies.” She also pointed out that, in recent years, the science adviser post has actually been filled by the head of the office of research and development, under which it would now be housed — a dual role she herself plays — meaning the adviser could still have direct access to the administrator.
It’s all in the messenger: Some career EPA staffers told ME they thought the organizational shuffle made some sense, and likely wouldn’t have drawn scrutiny if it hadn't come after other controversial moves by the Trump administration on science, like seeking to limit the agency’s ability to use research on the effects of pollution on human health, adding industry representatives to EPA’s influential science advisory board, and just this week putting the head of the agency’s Office of Children’s Health Protection on administrative leave.
FINALLY FRIDAY! I'm your fill-in host, Annie Snider. Kip Knudson at Andeavor was the first to correctly answer that Prudhoe Bay is the active oil and gas production site due north of Hilo, Hawaii. Today’s question: Who was the first Mormon to serve in the U.S. Senate? Hint: This person also sponsored legislation creating the National Park Service. Send your guesses, along with your tips and quips, to blefebvre@politico.com, asnider@politico.com and ddixon@politico.com. And remember to follow us on Twitter @Morning_Energy and @POLITICOPro.
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MUSK HIT WITH SECURITIES FRAUD SUIT: The SEC filed a suit against Elon Musk Thursday alleging that the Tesla CEO committed securities fraud by making a "series of false and misleading statements" on Twitter that he had secured funding to take the company private. Tesla shares spiked on Aug. 7 when Musk tweeted, "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." The suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges that Musk made the claim even though he “had not even discussed, much less confirmed, key deal terms, including price, with any potential funding source." The suit seeks to force Musk to return “any ill-gotten gains” he received as a result of the remarks and pay a civil fine, and it asks the court to bar him from serving as an officer or director in any publicly traded company — effectively requiring his removal as Tesla CEO.
Musk called the SEC move an “unjustified action” in a statement, saying, “Integrity is the most important value in my life and the facts will show I never compromised this in any way.”
The suit is a stunning blow to one of Silicon Valley's most prominent figures, who has been mired in controversy in recent weeks over erratic public statements and behavior, Pro Tech’s Christiano Lima reports. Those include Twitter posts calling a Thai cave rescue volunteer a pedophile and child rapist — comments that resulted in a defamation suit against Musk — and a podcast interview in which the Tesla CEO brandished whiskey and puffed on a joint of marijuana.
DOJ SETTLES FOR LESS IN BIOFUELS FRAUD CASE: The Justice Department reached a settlement with an Oklahoma energy company on Thursday for biofuels fraud. NGL Crude Logistics agreed to pay a $25 million fine and $10 million in other penalties — even though the company appears to have reaped a total of about $43.6 million in sales from fraudulently double-counting biofuel credits in 2011.
DOJ spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said the company incurred costs in the process of committing the fraud, and the consent decree released by DOJ said NGL Crude Logistics "does not have an ability to pay a penalty greater than that required by this Consent Decree." Eric Wolff has more for Pros.
ZEC CRITICS CALL FOR A SECOND CHANCE: Shortly after suffering a lossbefore a different federal appeals court Thursday, critics of state-enacted nuclear power subsidies have asked the three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled against them earlier this month for a rehearing. The panel “overlooked or misapprehended three key legal arguments” when it reaffirmed the legitimacy of Illinois’ zero-emissions credit two weeks ago, said Donald Verrilli, a former solicitor general who is representing Electric Power Supply Association and other critics of these state programs. Given that the ruling Verrilli’s clients are trying to fighting was unanimous, the rehearing bid is likely a long shot.
** A message from National Clean Energy Week, A Clean Energy Future, Together: National Clean Energy Week is taking place across the nation September 24-28, 2018. Learn more about how clean energy addresses America’s economic and energy needs in the 21st century. **
FLORENCE AID AS SOON AS TODAY: Disaster aid to hurricane-hit North and South Carolina could be approved as soon as today as part of the Senate’s FAA extension, H.R. 302 (115). The House cleared its version of the measure Wednesday containing nearly $1.7 billion in emergency aid to be doled out through the Community Development Block Grant program that President Donald Trump hadproposed eliminating in his most recent budget request. House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) has said the aid is just the "first round of assistance" for people rebuilding in the region, Sarah Ferris reports for Pros.
Also tucked in the FAA extension is a PFAS provision that would to remove federal requirements that airports use firefighting foam containing the chemicals, which are linked with kidney and testicular cancer, preeclampsia and a host of other ailments.
DRILLING COMPANY UNDERPAID ROYALTIES: The Interior Department’s inspector general has found that the Great Western Drilling Corp. cheated the federal government out of mineral royalties it owed for natural gas it pumped from federal land. The OIG found that the company violated federal rules by deducting its transportation and processing costs from what it owed the government. The company agreed to pay $600,000 under a settlement with the Justice Department.
And that’s not all: Interior’s IG also released reports clearing several department staffers of wrongdoing. The office found no evidence that a Bureau of Reclamation manager influenced the awarding of a $21 million environmental consulting contract to a firm that he later went to work for, nor that the contract specialist who managed the award should have recused herself due to a romantic relationship with the manager. And in a separate review, the IG cleared a senior official in the Bureau of Land Management of allegations that he directed employees to overlook regulations in an effort to speed up the processing of drilling permit applications.
EPA BEGINS AIR TESTING AT PLANT LINKED TO ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: EPA notified lawmakers Thursday that it has begun testing air quality at the Sterigenics International plant in the western Chicago suburb of Willowbrook. The community has one of the highest rates of cancer in the country, according to EPA data, and local outrage has focused on emissions of the carcinogenethylene oxide from Sterigenics, a company that sterilizes medical instruments and other equipment, in which Gov. Bruce Rauner (R), a former private equity executive, still has a financial stake, according to the Chicago Tribune.
A CPP PREBUTTAL: Ahead of EPA’s lone public hearing on its replacement for the Clean Power Plan, to be held in Chicago on Monday, the head of the union representing EPA workers across the Midwest is coming out swinging. Mike Mikulka, president of AFGE Local 704 and spokesman for the Save the EPA Campaign, defended the CPP regulations as rules that protect health rather than “onerous penalties on industry.” He also argued in a statement that the replacement proposal, called Affordable Clean Energy, “gives big polluters license to release increased levels of air pollution and water contamination.”
SUNSHINE STATE SHOVE ON LWCF: Eleven Florida lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo, sent a letter to House leaders urging the permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund before it expires Sept. 30. “We ask for your help to protect critical outdoor recreational infrastructure and fulfill the promise that all generations of Americans will be able to enjoy our public lands by immediately taking up and passing legislation to permanently reauthorize LWCF before it expires on Sept. 30,” the bipartisan group wrote in a letter. Lawmakers expect the fund’s authorization will lapse, but remain optimistic about making a deal to reauthorize it during the lame duck.
API COMES OUT SWINGING AGAINST E15: The American Petroleum Institute is making clear it will fight hard against any expansion of sales of 15 percent ethanol sales. The organization will follow up its Wednesday letter to President Donald Trump with a call to reporters laying out how it will “step up” its campaign to block the change. Ethanol producers have long wanted the expansion as a means to grow the market for their fuel, and oil producers have opposed it for much the same reason. API has for years called for the program to be repealed, or at least sunset in 2022.https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-energy/2018/09/28/epa-does-the-science-shuffle-355213
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Ewire: Epa Reorganization Efforts Leave Staff 'Anxious'
Sep 28, 2018 | Inside EPA
EPA is planning at least two reorganization efforts -- merging its science adviser's office with its larger Office of Research and Development (ORD) and combining its human resources and information technology divisions -- moves that are making staff “anxious” after an earlier plan to realign the structure of its regional offices.
E&E News brings us the news about the staff shuffling, quoting a top union official as saying staff are concerned how the moves would affect their jobs.
“The union has been notified that there are a tremendous number of reorgs going on right now,” Joe Edgell, president of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 280, which represents employees at EPA headquarters, told the report.
“With reorgs come uncertainty about one's job, about one's job assignments, about the work that people do in terms of protecting the environment, so people are very anxious with that change,” he added.
One change would fold the agency's science adviser's office, which includes about two dozen employees, into ORD's Office of Science Policy.
Another -- first reported by Inside EPA's Maria Hegstad earlier this year -- would combine the agency's human resources and IT functions into a new “Office of Mission Support.”
Some staff told E&E that they suspect the realignments -- and the resulting uncertainty for individual employees -- could be part of an effort to reduce staff even though Congress has largely resisted the Trump administration's requests to drastically slash EPA's budget.
“Do I see this as another subtle way to force more people out? Yeah, I think so," one career EPA employee told the article. "I think there will be some people who are not going to be happy about these changes."
The latest reorganization plan adds to a recent EPA proposal to align the 10 regional offices so they more closely mirror headquarters' structure and improve coordination.
However, one agency source told our reporters that such a uniform structure contrasts with regions' differing responsibilities, noting vast discrepancies in the number of tribes states work with as one example. For example, Region 9, which includes California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii, collaborates with nearly 150 tribes, while Eastern regions have far fewer.
That source said the regional office reorganization will likely prove a “mega-disruption and a mega-distraction,” arguing the change will divert employees from the agency's core work.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-epa-reorganization-efforts-leave-staff-anxious
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Pruitt's Gone with Investigators on His Trail
Sep 28, 2018 | E&E - Greenwire
By Kevin Bogardus and Robin Bravender
Scott Pruitt left EPA, but his problems remain.
Multiple investigations are still pending against the former administrator, involving everything from his pricey travel back home in Oklahoma to his $50-a-night Capitol Hill condo rental tied to a lobbyist with business before EPA. Those inquiries will continue to plague Pruitt and the Trump administration as their results come out in the coming months.
And if Democrats take the House in November, Pruitt's problems could grow. His foes on Capitol Hill would then hold subpoena power, which they might use to haul him in to testify about his raft of ethics allegations.
It all comes as Pruitt looks to move on and his successor tries to move past the scandals that swamped the agency.
The extent to which the investigations dog Pruitt "depends on what they come up with," said Larry Noble, a government ethics expert and former senior director of the Campaign Legal Center. "Just because you resigned doesn't mean you shouldn't be pursued."
Said Earl Devaney, a former inspector general for the Department of the Interior, "If the question is it normal to indict someone after they leave government if they committed a crime while they were in government, the answer is yes."
Devaney added, "It happens all the time."
The EPA IG still has pending audits related to Pruitt, including his travel, preservation of agency email and text messages, as well as pay raises granted to Pruitt's close aides under a special hiring authority. The Government Accountability Office also has its own ongoing reviews tied to Pruitt, including looking into his policy barring EPA grant recipients from serving on the agency's science advisory committees.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee also opened an investigation of EPA during Pruitt's tenure earlier this year. A Republican committee aide told E&E News the probe is ongoing.
In addition, the Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that investigates whistleblower retaliation and other workplace misconduct in the federal government, is reportedly looking into claims that EPA staff was demoted or reassigned after raising concerns about Pruitt's spending and management. OSC spokesman Zachary Kurz could not comment or confirm any such investigation.
Other reviews related to Pruitt have been closed or never began.
GAO found EPA violated appropriations law when the agency failed to notify Congress before installing a secure phone booth in Pruitt's office. The congressional watchdog, however, cleared EPA after reviewing an industry trade group video that starred Pruitt.
The EPA IG said the agency failed to justify increased spending for Pruitt's 24/7 security detail. But the IG has decided not to investigate how Albert "Kell" Kelly, a former Oklahoma banker and friend of Pruitt's, was hired at EPA.
Pruitt could face jail time if he falls under criminal investigation and is indicted. It's not likely but not impossible.
"In theory it's possible. I doubt it," Noble said. "You don't know what they're going to come up with, but the stuff that's come up so far that's been reported doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd go to prison for."
Some lawmakers have pushed for a criminal investigation of Pruitt.
Six House Democrats sent a letter this June to the Justice Department and the FBI saying that the former EPA chief's alleged use of public resources for private gain — including using agency staff to try to secure Pruitt's wife, Marlyn, employment — warranted such a probe. Sean Gogolin, a spokesman for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who signed onto the letter, said the congressman's office had not yet received a response from DOJ or the FBI.
The EPA IG's office could spark a criminal investigation of Pruitt if its investigators uncovered nefarious activity by the former administrator. The watchdog office can conduct criminal investigations or pass on such matters to other federal investigators. EPA IG spokeswoman Tia Elbaum wouldn't say whether such an investigation had begun or if the IG had referred a criminal matter involving Pruitt to Justice or the FBI.
"It is the policy of the OIG to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation," Elbaum said.
The existence of administrative reviews of Pruitt's tenure at EPA by the IG, GAO and others has gone public either in those offices' own notices or in letters to lawmakers.
Criminal investigations are different. Their subjects typically don't even know they're under investigation until they're contacted by federal agents. Federal authorities don't disclose who they are investigating and why, and their probes often aren't public until an indictment is filed or a grand jury is called.
Pruitt took steps to deal with the investigations related to his EPA tenure as they began to pile up over the past year.
Pruitt acknowledged earlier this year that he had set up a legal defense fund. His legal expenses surged during his first year at the agency — he paid $115,000 to $300,000 in fees to two law firms, according to his 2017 financial disclosure report.
Cleta Mitchell, the Republican election law attorney who helped Pruitt set up his legal defense fund, didn't respond to questions from E&E News for this story.
Pruitt's resignation from EPA this July would not end a criminal investigation, if one did exist. Elbaum said soon after his departure that although she again couldn't confirm or deny any such investigation, she did note, "We can say that any criminal investigations that may have existed at the time of Mr. Pruitt's resignation will continue."
Pruitt leaving EPA, however, could help him avoid being confronted with criminal action. Stan Brand, senior counsel for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, said the former administrator resigning "lowered the temperature."
"He is not being called to testify before Congress anymore. He is not acting as the administrator. He is not as visible," said Brand, who has represented several federal officials and lawmakers in ethics and public corruption investigations but is not advising Pruitt.
"There are former people who have been charged, but in my experience, the likelihood is less because they have taken themselves out of public view and further exposure to questioning."
Pruitt's Democratic critics have made other allegations that the former EPA chief broke the law, such as altering federal records to remove certain meetings from his calendar or not reporting EPA subordinates doing his personal errands as gifts. But Brand noted the difficulty of making a case against Pruitt.
"These guys on Capitol Hill, whether they're Republicans or Democrats, wave criminal code around like they wave the flag," Brand said.
"The hurdle for the government is finding that each and every element of the offense is proven without a reasonable doubt to satisfy a jury."Take the Fifth
If the House flips, Pruitt's prospects could get worse.
Democrats who accused EPA of stonewalling them while Pruitt's ethics problems were exploding would get the power to subpoena documents and testimony. Several lawmakers poised to get powerful positions in a Democrat-led House have said they're eager to delve into the controversies.
"We're going to have to look at what Pruitt did, the many things he did, from the standpoint of, 'How did it happen?'" Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told E&E News in a recent interview. Cummings, poised to be chairman of the House Oversight panel if the chamber flips, said he hadn't decided whether he would call Pruitt to testify (E&E Daily, Sept. 6).
The committee has requested EPA records related to Pruitt's housing, travel and security. Its staff has interviewed six former and current EPA officials, including Kevin Chmielewski, the ex-senior official who left the agency after clashing with Pruitt, according to committee aides. It's unclear what's next for the investigation — it remains open under Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), but it may take on new urgency if Cummings wins the gavel after the midterm elections.
The looming investigations could complicate Pruitt's career plans.
The ex-EPA boss has been in talks with his longtime friend, coal magnate Joseph Craft, about consulting for his Tulsa, Okla.-based mining firm Alliance Resource Partners LP, The New York Times reported earlier this month. That has fueled speculation that Pruitt is likely to set up a consulting shop in Tulsa, where his family has long resided and still has a home. An alliance spokesman stressed that the talks were preliminary (Climatewire, Sept. 13).
But a stream of continuing negative headlines might make it tough for him to line up additional clients. One headhunter who recruits for law and lobby firms recently said of Pruitt's job prospects, "There doesn't seem anybody willing to take a chance on having the negative publicity bleed onto them by hiring Pruitt."
If called by lawmakers, Pruitt could try to seize the public forum on Capitol Hill to clear his name. But some experts would advise Pruitt to invoke his right to avoid self-incrimination if he's hauled before Congress — or just avoid the hearing altogether.
Brand said, "No good can come of that." Officials may not be indicted for their alleged misdeeds but rather for lying about them to Congress.
"I would advise anybody in that position, as I have in some of these other cases, to not testify," Brand said.
Brand recommended the same if Pruitt was called by the EPA IG, who could no longer compel the former administrator to talk because he is not an agency employee.
"You deal with IGs the same way you deal with any law enforcement agency when you are out of government. You politely decline to talk to them," Brand said. "Because they are federal law enforcement agents and speaking to them exposes you to the same false statements and obstruction statutes used when talking to FBI agents or congressional committees or staff."
Noble, too, saw reasoning behind avoiding testimony.
"When you get somebody to testify more than once about something, people naturally change their stories slightly," Noble said. "That's why you generally don't want somebody to make numerous statements."
Taking the Fifth could help Pruitt stay out of legal trouble, but it might also hurt his prospects.
"He's out of office now. The political problem is it doesn't look good for your future political career if you take the Fifth Amendment," Noble said.
It also may cause investigators to dig even deeper if they are pursuing such a high-level official.
"Someone comes in and pleads the Fifth. You are essentially saying, 'What I might say can incriminate me.' That perks the ears up of any prosecutor," Devaney said.
"They are more apt to ask the question, 'What is he is trying to hide?' and they might direct an investigative agency like the FBI to go find out."
Agency ex-cons
Plenty of other government officials have been hounded by legal problems after exiting the executive branch. Some have even gone to jail after leaving office.
Take J. Steven Griles, a former deputy Interior Department secretary who went to prison more than two years after he left the George W. Bush administration.
Griles stepped down from Interior in 2005 but was asked to testify later that year before the Senate during its investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In 2007, Griles was sentenced to 10 months in prison and a $30,000 fine after pleading guilty to obstructing the congressional investigation by lying about his relationship with Abramoff.
Devaney, the former Interior IG who investigated Griles, said he believes the former deputy secretary got off light with prosecutors.
"He got a deal, quite frankly," Devaney said. "The deputy secretary was put in jail. That was an accomplishment. It wasn't easy."
Brand worked on the defense team for Griles.
"Anyone who faces the congressional whiplash needs to be careful and needs to assert their rights, I believe," Brand said.
EPA Superfund official Rita Lavelle was convicted of perjury in December 1983, nearly a year after she was fired by President Reagan for her role in a scandal dubbed "Sewergate."
Lavelle was found guilty of lying to Congress about when she found out that her former employer was among the companies dumping toxic waste into acid pits in Southern California. In 1985, she started a six-month prison sentence. Separately, Lavelle was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison again in 2005 for wire fraud and making false statements to the FBI.
President Clinton's Agriculture secretary, former Mississippi Democratic Rep. Mike Espy, left office under pressure in 1994 amid allegations that he improperly accepted sports tickets and other gifts from lobbyists. He was indicted by an independent counsel (whom Espy dubbed a "schoolyard bully") in 1995 and acquitted by a jury in 1998. Espy is now running to replace retiring Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran.
Other top officials can fall under criminal investigation long after they leave government, even if they are never charged.
The Justice Department declined in March 2017 to prosecute Rafael Moure-Eraso, nearly two years after he resigned as chairman of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Lawmakers as well as EPA IG agents had pushed for him to be charged after he allegedly lied to Congress in 2014 (Greenwire, Feb. 8).
Brand warned, "You can never have enough investigations.
"Every agency has an IG with a full staff and lawyers. That's what they do. They look for cases," he said. "People are investigated. People are charged. This is de rigueur."Problems for Wheeler?
The Pruitt investigations could also pose problems for EPA's acting chief, Andrew Wheeler, who could also face scrutiny from Congress and the public about his former boss.
"I think it does complicate their agenda because it highlights this issue of corruption within the administration," said Noble.
But Wheeler is expected to point to changes he's made as the head of the agency.
"Andy Wheeler will say, 'I'm not him,'" Noble said.
Since taking EPA's helm in July, Wheeler has largely followed Pruitt's regulatory agenda but has sought to distance himself from some of the behavior that got Pruitt in trouble. He doesn't have around-the-clock security and has been more open with the press and career staff.
Bill Reilly, who led EPA during the George H.W. Bush administration, said he doesn't expect Wheeler to be "pilloried excessively," even if Democrats take the gavels in the House.
"He clearly will be on the defensive and very often will be defending initiatives that are not welcome by the new majority in the House, but a lot of us have had that experience, and everybody knows how to deal with that," Reilly said.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/09/28/stories/1060100065
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EPA Issues TSCA User Fees Final Rule
Sep 27, 2018 | Lexology
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Margaret R. Graham
On September 27, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the user fees final rule for the administration of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the fourth and remaining framework rule to be issued in final under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg).
This final rule, that amends 40 C.F.R. Parts 700, 720, 723, 725, 790, and 791 “describes the final TSCA fees and fee categories for fiscal years 2019, 2020, and 2021”; “explains the methodology by which the final TSCA fees were determined”; “identifies some factors and considerations for determining fees for subsequent fiscal years”; and “includes amendments to existing fee regulations governing the review of premanufacture notices, exemption applications and notices, and significant new use notices.” The final rule has not been published yet in the Federal Register so an effective date is not yet available; a pre-publication version is available here.
Specifically, EPA is establishing fees applicable to any person required to submit information to EPA under TSCA Section 4; or a notice, including an exemption or other information, to be reviewed by EPA under TSCA Section 5; or who manufactures (including imports) a chemical substance that is the subject of a risk evaluation under TSCA Section 6(b). EPA is also establishing standards for determining which persons qualify as "small business concerns" and thus would be subject to lower fee payments.
In the press release announcing the rule, EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler states that this rule will “provide resources needed to support the valuable work EPA does to review chemicals for safety, manage risk as required, and make chemical information available as appropriate.” During fiscal years 2019-2021, EPA states it will “work to track costs and will use that information to adjust future fees, if appropriate.”
EPA also announced that it will be hosting a series of webinars focusing on making TSCA submissions and paying fees under the final rule. The webinars are scheduled for October 10, 2018, from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (EST); October 24, 2018, from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (EST); and November 7, 2018, from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (EST).
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=1048b942-3be5-4ee1-8032-86bc2d0c0f19
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U.S. Senators Seek Regulation of PFASs as a Class in Drinking Water
Sep 28, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Cheryl Hogue
To address contamination of drinking water with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) across the country, U.S. lawmakers are urging EPA to regulate the chemicals as a class rather than controlling each individually.
EPA has a precedent for controlling drinking water contaminants as a class, Peter C. Grevatt, director of the agency’s Office of Ground Water & Drinking Water, said at a Sept. 26 Senate hearing. EPA regulates the by-products of disinfecting public drinking water as a group, he said.
“We look forward to having that broader approach taken by EPA” for PFAS contamination, responded Sen. Gary C. Peters (D-Mich.). He and other Democrats who represent states facing PFAS contamination of some communities’ drinking water want federal help to address these pollutants.
PFASs are environmentally persistent synthetic compounds. Some are linked to health effects including cancer, developmental problems, endocrine disruption, and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
EPA hasn’t yet determined whether it will pursue regulation of PFASs in drinking water, Grevatt said. The agency’s decision will be part of a plan, expected later this year, to address PFAS contamination. If EPA decides to regulate these compounds, a rule would not be implemented for a few years, Grevatt said, given the legal procedures the agency must follow.
Also at the hearing, Linda S. Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, recommended that biomonitoring for PFASs account for the large suite of compounds to which people can be exposed.
She said more than 4,700 PFASs are registered by CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society.
Additional compounds likely exist, formed when intentionally produced PFASs, especially polymers, break down in the environment, said Birnbaum, who also heads the National Toxicology Program. Birnbaum suggested that biomonitoring for the presence of PFASs in blood or tissue measure for total organic fluorine rather than individual compounds. Carbon-fluorine compounds are rarely found in nature, so virtually all organic fluorine in humans stems from exposure to PFASs, she said.
People are exposed to PFASs primarily by drinking tainted water, Birnbaum said. Recent studies show that people can also take in these chemicals through inhalation and via the skin, she added. Grevatt said people living near industrial sites that manufacture or use PFASs have higher exposure than the U.S. general population, as do those living in locales where PFAS-containing firefighting foams have been used, such as commercial airports or military bases.
https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/US-senators-seek-regulation-PFASs/96/i39
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Legislation Introduced to Address Health Care Needs of Veterans Exposed to PFAS Chemicals
Sep 28, 2018 | UPMatters
Congressmen Dan Kildee (MI-05) and Brendan Boyle (PA-13), along with U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), today introduced two bills to ensure that veterans and their families exposed to toxic chemicals at military installations get the health care services and benefits they need through the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA).
The Veterans Exposed to Toxic PFAS Act (VET PFAS Act) would require the VA to cover treatment of certain health conditions related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure. Under this bill, illnesses associated with PFAS exposure will be considered a service-connected disability, making veterans and their families exposed to PFAS eligible for disability payments and medical treatment from the VA.
The Care for Veterans Act ensures that veterans exposed to volatile organic compounds including trichloroethylene (TCE) at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base will also receive related health and disability benefits.
“We made a promise to our veterans who signed up to serve this country that we’d take care of them and their families. These bills make good on that promise by ensuring that all service members exposed to toxic chemicals as a part of their military service get the health care they need,” said Congressman Kildee. “Toxic PFAS and TCE chemicals are increasingly being found across the country and we know exposure is harmful. I am proud to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate as we fight to clean up chemical contamination at military bases and get veterans and their families the resources they have earned.”
“Michigan veterans and their loved ones who were exposed to PFAS, TCE, and other toxic chemicals during their military service are living with incredible uncertainty,” said Senator Stabenow. “Our legislation will ensure that service members and their families get the health care services and benefits they need from the VA.”
“Veterans and their families exposed to these chemicals as a consequence of their public service deserve the full support and attention of the federal government," said Congressman Boyle. “I am proud to work with my colleagues to confront this issue through a multipronged approach. This legislation ensures our service members and their families receive the healthcare they need and deserve. Just as the military leaves no one behind on the battlefield, we must leave no veteran behind at home.”
The military historically used PFAS in firefighting foam on military bases. According to health experts, these chemicals are dangerous to human health and many veterans have been exposed as part of their military service. Moreover, around many military bases, PFAS chemicals have leached into the groundwater making the surrounding drinking water unsafe for nearby residents.
The VET PFAS Act is possible because of a nationwide health study included in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act and Fiscal Year 2018 Appropriations bill secured by Congressmen Kildee and Boyle, and Senator Stabenow. Once completed, the health conditions the study shows are linked to PFAS will be required to be covered by the VA.
In addition, the VET PFAS Act covers the following conditions pursuant to a previously conducted study of 68,000 people in West Virginia: high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, testicular cancer, kidney cancer and pregnancy-induced hypertension.
https://www.upmatters.com/news/local-news/legislation-introduced-to-address-health-care-needs-of-veterans-exposed-to-pfas-chemicals/1481523509
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Canadian Tire to Phase out NMP, Methylene Chloride Paint Strippers
Sep 28, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Caroline Byrne
Retailer Canadian Tire is voluntarily phasing out paint strippers that contain methylene chloride and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) by the end of the year. The move follows in the footsteps of US chains including Walmart and Home Depot.
The company, a 95-year-old Canadian institution with just over 1,700 stores, sells a wide range of products from automotive parts to interior paint and home products.
Its announcement follows an NGO campaign, backed by Environmental Defence in partnership with US groups Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which urged leading Canadian retailers to remove the paint strippers from their shelves.
The use of the substances in paint removal has been heavily criticised in recent months, with reports that exposure to methylene chloride from paint strippers is linked to more than 60 deaths in the US. NMP, a replacement solvent, presents its own toxicity concerns.
A US-based campaign was launched earlier this year, after the EPA signalled that it would not be moving forward proposed bans or restrictions under TSCA on the two substances’ use in paint removal products.
The effort helped secure a voluntary pledge from major home improvement retailer Lowe's to halt the products' sales. It was soon followed by similar ones from retailers Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot and Walmart.
Canadian Tire's commitment represents the first major Canadian player to follow suit.Regulatory state of play
Canada's federal government named methylene chloride a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa) more than a decade ago. But it has not taken steps to regulate its use in paint strippers, nor required that such products be labelled to inform consumers about the risk they pose.
A 2017 draft screening assessment of NMP provisionally found that the general public's exposure to the substance was not a concern at current levels, and that NMP was not toxic, as defined by section 64 of Cepa.
This conclusion contrasts with determinations made by other regulators. The US, for example, found in a 2015 TSCA work plan assessments that the substance poses a risk to pregnant woman and in paint stripping applications.
Canada has not yet published a final version of its 2017 draft assessment, despite having indicated plans to do so by last January.
"Governments in Canada and the US must step up to ban these chemicals from paint strippers and other consumer products that pose a risk to people’s health," says Sujatha Bergen, policy specialist with the NRDC.
Environment and Climate Change Canada, the agency responsible for for coordinating environmental policies and programmes, did not respond to Chemical Watch's questions about NMP by the time of publishing.Time to step up?
Muhannad Malas, toxics programme manager with campaigning organisation Environmental Defence, welcomed the decision "at a time when consumers are increasingly frustrated by weak regulations on toxics in consumer products".
"It is great to see Canadian Tire taking steps to protect its customers from products that the federal government should have banned years ago," Mr Malas added.
Sujatha Bergen added that the companies' actions "are leaving no excuse for government inaction."
"Governments in Canada and the US must step up to ban these chemicals from paint strippers and other consumer products that pose a risk to people's health," she said.
Mike Schade, Mind the Store campaign director with SCHF, encouraged other Canadian retailers – including Home Hardware and Timber Mart – to follow suit.
Neither retailer replied to emailed questions about whether they planned to follow Canadian Tire's lead.
https://chemicalwatch.com/70581/canadian-tire-to-phase-out-nmp-methylene-chloride-paint-strippers
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New Report Highlights Toxic Chemicals in Consumer Products
Sep 27, 2018 | EcoWatch
By Anna Reade
A new report by the Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP) details findings from product testing they performed on beauty, personal care and cleaning products, with an emphasis on products often marketed to vulnerable populations, such as children and women of color. The report focuses on the identification of chemicals used for fragrance in these products because, currently, chemicals used for fragrance do not have to be disclosed. The simple term "fragrance" on your shampoo or lotion label could represent several (if not many unknown, and potentially harmful, chemicals.
Although BCPP was only able to test a small fraction of the market (32 products), BCPP's main findings raise concern and confirm the need for transparency of ingredients in products used in our homes. Almost 100 of the over 300 fragrance chemicals identified were linked to adverse health effects. Of the products tested by BCPP, the product that contained the most fragrance chemicals linked to health concerns was Just for Me Shampoo, a shampoo aimed at children of color, with popular perfumes following closely behind.
And it's not just fragrance ingredients. BCPP found a total of 24 chemicals of concern, 14 of which were fragrance chemicals, in Just for Me Shampoo—including four carcinogens, 19 hormone disruptors, six developmental toxicants and three chemicals that can trigger, or worsen, respiratory problems, like asthma.
Due to a loophole, fragrance ingredients are not required to be disclosed in personal care products or cleaning products; and until recently, there were no requirements for disclosure of ingredients in cosmetics used in professional setting or in cleaning products in general. This year California became the first state in the U.S. to extend retail cosmetic ingredient disclosure requirements to products used by salon workers. And last year, with the passage of the NRDC co-sponsored Cleaning Products Right to Know Act of 2017 n California, manufacturers of cleaning products will have to disclose the majority of the ingredients in their products on labels and online. The Act's disclosure requirements include fragrance ingredients, the first and only product category with fragrance disclosure requirements.
The BCPP report confirms the importance of California's ground-breaking legislation, and the need for expanded transparency and ingredient disclosure for all consumer product categories. The "right-to-know" what is in the products we use and what is being released into our environment is essential to protecting public health and the environment.
The lack of fragrance ingredient disclosure, in combination with a largely unregulated fragrance industry, leaves consumers, health agencies and advocates in the dark about what chemicals people are being exposed to. The research and testing that has been done suggests that many of the chemicals used in fragrance are associated with health hazards such as reproductive and developmental harm, hormone disruption, cancer, neurotoxicity, and respiratory and skin irritation and sensitization.BCPP Product Testing Report
To shed some light on the "fragrance" black box, BCPP tested 25 personal care and 7 cleaning products and compared chemicals identified to the International Fragrance Association ingredient transparency list. BCPP then used the Chemical Hazards Data Commons developed by the Healthy Building Network to determine which identified chemicals were linked to adverse effects such as cancer, asthma, reproductive harm, hormone disruption and aquatic toxicity.
BCPP concluded that more than a quarter of the 338 fragrance ingredients they identified were linked to adverse health effects; and of the total chemicals linked to adverse health effects in each product, a high percentage of them were fragrance chemicals. And it's not just fragrance ingredients; cosmetics and cleaning products also contain other chemicals that can be really harmful as well.
Examples of chemicals of concern found in tested products include:Toluene – used as a solvent in industry and in consumer products such as paint thinners and nail polish; linked to endocrine disruption, reproductive and developmental harm, neurotoxicity, and skin irritationParabens – antimicrobials used in food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics; associated with hormone disruption, cancer, and reproductive harmPhthalates – used to in fragrances and to soften plastics; associated with neurotoxicity, reproductive harm, hormone disruption and obesityBenzophenones – prevent damage from light to scents and colors in fragrances and personal care products; linked to cancer and hormone disruption
While this report does not quantify the concentration of each chemical, the presence of unlabeled chemicals linked to such a broad array of health effects should raise concerns for consumers and the public health community, especially given how often an average person is exposed to personal care and cleaning products in their daily lives. For example, a NGO-led survey found that the average woman uses 12 personal care products a day.The Most Vulnerable
Some populations are more sensitive and/or vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals that are often found in personal care and cleaning products. Children and adolescents are still developing and are especially vulnerable to the effects of hormone disruptors and developmental toxicants. Additionally, research suggests that when pregnant women are exposed to environmental toxicants, even at extremely low levels, fetal development can be disrupted. Advertising that promotes mainstream beauty norms may influence and increase the use by women of color of products such as skin lighteners and hair straighteners, many of which contain chemicals of concern. Finally, workers such as custodians, cleaners and cosmetologist are disproportionally exposed to these products and any toxic ingredients they contain.
While BCPP's testing represents a limited sample, it is worth noting that many of the products BCPP tested are often marketed to and used by vulnerable populations.Conclusion
This report illustrates the need for full ingredient disclosure in all consumer products, because:Consumers need this information to make safer, more informed purchases for themselves and their families;Workers need this information take the necessary steps to protect themselves from unsafe chemical exposures in the workplace;Regulators need this information to effectively regulate consumer products to better protect public health and the environment; and Companies could also benefit from lower reputational risk.
https://www.ecowatch.com/toxic-chemicals-in-consumer-products-2608380147.html
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Our View: NJ Shows Nation How to Get Toxic Chemical out of Drinking Water
Sep 28, 2018 | Press of Atlantic City
By The Editorial Board
Usually it’s not a bad idea to let the federal government set the allowable standards for toxic substances in the nation’s water and food. Federal agencies have the size and expertise to handle the challenging science.
But regarding a family of chemicals used to make very tough plastics — the kind used in nonstick cookware, fabric protectors and firefighting foams — New Jersey couldn’t wait. Its history of manufacturing made protecting the public more urgent.
So this month the state became the first in the nation to limit one of the chemicals, PFNA (for perfluorononanoic acid). Beginning next year, water providers must monitor supplies and reduce PFNA as needed to less than 13 parts per trillion in drinking water. That’s far stricter than the federal government’s current health advisory.
Exposure to the chemical at higher levels over time can cause liver and kidney problems, reproductive problems in men, and delays in development of fetuses and infants.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said PFNA contamination has been largely an issue for the Delaware River in South Jersey, due to past discharges from a particular chemical plant. High levels of it have been found in 11 public water systems and private wells in Salem and Gloucester counties near the river. Bottlenose dolphins from Delaware Bay have been found to have the chemical in their blood at concentrations well over 100 parts per billion.
But PFNA also was found in one well operated by the Atlantic County Municipal Utilities Authority, the state said. The well’s water treatment was upgraded to reduce it below the new state standard.
Work on the new regulation and the science behind it started last fall in the Christie administration and was completed under the Murphy administration, with substantial encouragement from the N.J. Drinking Water Quality Institute and environmental groups such as the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
The DEP is reviewing an institute recommendation to set strict limits on two others chemicals in the family, PFOA and PFOS. The federal Environmental Protection Agency may designate those two as hazardous substances under the Superfund law and recommend cleanups at contaminated sites.
The EPA may catch up with New Jersey soon. It expects to complete a national management plan for this family of chemicals by the end of the year that might include a recommendation for limits on PFOA and PFOS.
These chemicals cannot be effectively removed from drinking water by most in-home water filters. Setting standards that require water suppliers to remove them is leadership by New Jersey officials that benefits everyone.
https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/our-view-nj-shows-nation-how-to-get-toxic-chemical/article_d7ddecf1-3a7c-533a-908f-c84e4b6114e5.html
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Cancer-Causing Chemicals Found in Cocoa Beach Groundwater a Day Before Erin Brockovich Visit
Sep 28, 2018 | Florida Today
By Jim Waymer
A day before environmental activist Erin Brockovichvisits the Space Coast, the city of Cocoa Beach released a new round of water samples Friday that show yet more evidence that cancer-causing chemicals linked with firefighting foams once used at Patrick Air Force Base are widespread in the city's groundwater and sewage.
The latest tests for fluorinated chemicals in the city's groundwater and sewage found 11 of 19 samples taken in August exceeded the federal drinking water guideline for the chemicals.
While Cocoa Beach's drinking water comes from sources on the mainland, the latest corroborating evidence of the toxic chemicals increases concerns that the contamination of the barrier island's water table is more widespread than originally feared with bigger health implications.
The chemicals, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), were widely used in fire extinguishing foams. The chemicals were also used in pesticides, Teflon coatings and a litany of consumer and industrial products. Their use has been phased out but the compounds remain in the environment for decades and are not regulated.
On Aug. 14, SGS North America Inc. sampled 19 locations throughout Cocoa Beach to determine PFOS and PFOA concentrations in the collection system feeding the city's sewer treatment plant on Minutemen Causeway, the reuse water system downstream of the plant, and in groundwater near the sewage collection and distribution system. Six of the sampling locations involved groundwater, one was a surface water discharge of stormwater and reuse water runoff at the city golf course outfall. A dozen remaining samples were taken from the collection system that conveys sewage to the city's treatment plant and reuse water distribution system.
Mead & Hunt Inc. of Austin Texas, produced the report that summed up the results.
The results for PFOS/PFOA combined ranged from no detection of the compounds to 294 parts per trillion — the highest level measured — at a Patrick Air Force Base sewage lift Station. The second-highest level was 225.3 parts per trillion in a groundwater monitoring well at the city's golf course.
A previous round of sampling this past summer yielded similar results.
The federal Lifetime Health Advisory (LHA) level for drinking water are 70 parts per trillion PFOS or PFOA or their combined sum. That level is based on daily ingestion over a lifetime and doesn't apply "to less direct or frequent exposure such as swimming and bathing or similar contact," the report says.
But a recent report by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded levels of the compounds ought to be as much as 10 times lower in drinking water.
"We want to evaluate the latest test results," said Scott Barber, Cocoa Beach's water reclamation director. "We're going to be talking to our consultants, moving forward with that, then identifying potential sources of the compounds."
Barber said the city has spent less than $8,000 so far on the sampling effort.
Satellite Beach and Brevard County and Patrick Air Force Base also have found the same chemicals in the beachside groundwater. Tests at Patrick in recent years found as high as 4.3 million parts per trillion in one groundwater sample.
But military, state and local utility officials say cleaning up the chemicals is held up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has yet to set stricter cleanup target levels.
Rep. Thad Altman, R-Indialantic, wrote Gov. Rick Scott earlier this month asking him to direct the state health department to investigate the occurrence of cancers in the Satellite Beach area.
"To date, more than 400 cancer cases from the past and present have been reported from individuals who lived in the greater Satellite Beach, Cocoa Beach, and South Patrick Shores area," Altman wrote in the Sept. 12 letter. "Some of the reported cases are extremely rare, and it is troubling to see multiple diagnoses of these in a specific localized area. Although the Florida Department of Health has stated that the number of cases is not indicative of a cancer cluster, cases are continuously being reported, and there may still be possibility of an elevated risk."
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/28/cocoa-beach-cancer-erin-brockovich/1454754002/
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Killer Whales Face Dire PCBs Threat
Sep 27, 2018 | The New York Times
By Karen Weintraub
Most people thought the problem of polychlorinated biphenyls — known as PCBs — had been solved. Some countries began banning the toxic chemicals in the 1970s and 1980s, and worldwide production was ended with the 2001 Stockholm Convention.
But a new study based on modeling shows that they’re lingering in the blubber of killer whales — and they may end up wiping out half the world’s population of killer whales in coming decades.
“It certainly is alarming,” said Jean-Pierre Desforges, a post-doctoral researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark and the lead author on the new study published Thursday in the journal Science.
Whales sit at the top of their food chain. Chemicals like PCBs are taken up by plankton at the base of the food chain, then eaten by herring and other small fish, which are themselves eaten by larger fish, and so on. At each step in this chain, PCBs get more and more concentrated. The most at-risk killer whales are those that eat seals and other animals that are themselves fairly high on the food chain and quite contaminated, Dr. Desforges said.
Killer whale populations in Alaska, Norway, Antarctica and the Arctic among other places, where chemical levels are lower, will probably continue to grow and thrive, the study found. But animals living in more industrialized areas, off the coasts of the United Kingdom, Brazil, Hawaii and Japan, and in the Strait of Gibraltar are at high risk of population collapse from just the PCBs alone — not counting other threats.
Dave Duffus, who directs the whale research lab at the University of Victoria in Canada and was not involved in the new research, said its conclusions are “shocking, but I don’t doubt them.”
Whales near him in the Pacific Northwest are surrounded by contaminants, face changes in their food supply and are continually bombarded with noise. “You can see the downtrend in their population,” Dr. Duffus said.
Also known as orcas, killer whales are intelligent, social animals that pass survival information from grandmother to mother to daughter, Dr. Desforges said. Different populations have distinct dialects.
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The researchers used blubber samples to estimate the amount of PCB contamination in killer whales around the world. They also developed a model to forecast the amount of PCBs passed on to calves through the placenta and breast milk as well as from eating prey. Researchers then compared these concentrations to the known damage that can come from different amounts of PCBs.
According to their calculations, roughly half of the killer whale populations in the world will stop expanding and then will shrink in coming decades. Dr. Desforges said he could not be certain how long it would take for these populations to collapse, but his team estimated the impact of contamination over a century — and the clock started ticking about 40 years ago when PCB exposure levels were at their highest, he said. PCB exposures declined with the bans, but levels have stopped falling in long-lived marine predators like killer whales, he said. The whales only very slowly metabolize the PCBs during a life span of 50 to 80 years in the wild, Dr. Desforges said.
PCBs remain the highest chemical contaminant in the whales’ blubber, and are known to disrupt the whales’ reproductive, endocrine, thyroid and immune systems, harm their brains and trigger cancer. Other chemicals are also present, but in lower concentrations and with far less known about their potential hazards, he said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/science/killer-whales-pcbs.html
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PCBs Threaten Orca Populations, Study Says
Sep 28, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Cheryl Hogue
A class of synthetic commercial compounds no longer manufactured continues to pose an existential threat to many killer whales, researchers report. Harmful effects from high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the bodies of these marine mammals threaten to crash some populations (Science2018, DOI: 10.1126/science.aat1953).
Killer whales, also called orcas, absorb PCBs from their prey. The toxic chemicals then accumulate in their blubber. Mothers pass the compounds to their calves via the placenta and in milk. PCBs can impair reproduction and disrupt the endocrine and immune systems. These substances, which are persistent in the environment and bioaccumulate, were formerly used in electrical and other equipment, in dyes and pigments, and as plasticizers.
An international team led by Jean-Pierre Desforges, a postdoctoral researcher at Aarhus University, determined that several orca populations worldwide are at high risk of collapse in coming decades because of health effects from PCB exposure.
The most vulnerable killer whale groups live in oceans near Brazil, Japan, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the U.K., as well as orcas in the northeast Pacific that specialize in feeding on prey with high levels of PCBs: marine mammals, tuna, and sharks.
“In these areas, we rarely observe newborn killer whales,” says coauthor Ailsa Hall, a professor at the University of St Andrews.
More than 80% of the 1 million to 1.5 million metric tons of PCBs manufactured between 1930 and 1993 still exist, though governments have pledged to destroy these stocks by 2028. At current rates, not all countries will meet the deadlines, the researchers say. They call for swift action to eliminate PCB stocks and thus reduce the exposure of vulnerable wildlife to these toxic substances.
https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/PCBs-threaten-orca-populations-study/96/i39
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Washington Rolls Back Safety Rules Inspired by Deepwater Horizon Disaster
Sep 27, 2018 | The New York Times
By Coral Davenport
The Trump administration has completed its plan to roll back major offshore-drilling safety regulations that were put in place after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in 2010 that killed 11 people and caused the worst oil spill in American history.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which was established after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico and regulates offshore oil and gas drilling, has finalized a proposal for loosening the regulations as part of President Trump’s efforts to ease restrictions on fossil fuel companies and encourage domestic energy production.
The rules “created potentially unduly burdensome requirements for oil and natural gas production operators on the Outer Continental Shelf, without meaningfully increasing safety of the workers or protection of the environment,” says the new 176-page rule, which is scheduled in the coming days to be published in the Federal Register, before becoming the administration’s final policy.
“This rule supports the administration’s objective of facilitating energy dominance by encouraging increased domestic oil and gas production and reducing unnecessary burdens on stakeholders, while ensuring safety and environmental protection,” the new rule says.
A spokeswoman for the Interior Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Among the changes, the new rule removes a requirement for independent verification of safety measures and equipment used on offshore platforms.
It also removes a requirement that oil companies design their equipment to function in “most extreme” scenarios involving weather, high heat, strong winds or high pressure from within the undersea oil wells, which was a key factor in the deadly 2010 blowout.
And it removes a requirement that professional engineers certify the safety of the design of some pieces of offshore drilling equipment for new wells.
The new rule appears to reflect many of the requests made by the oil industry, including the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies on behalf of oil companies. In its public comments on the proposal, the group praised the plan, saying it would further the goal of seeing that “exploration and development is promoted and not unnecessarily delayed or inhibited.”
A spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, Ben Marter, declined to comment on the rule, which has not yet been made public, until the organization has had time to review it.
Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, praised the rule changes.
“The revisions develop a rule that reduces unnecessary burdens placed on industry, while still maintaining world-class safety and environmental protections,” he said in a statement. “We have a rule that is not a safety rollback, but instead incorporates modern technological advances.”
The earlier rules, written in 2016 during the administration of President Barack Obama, tightened controls on “blowout preventers,” devices that are intended to stop explosions in undersea oil and gas wells, and called for rig operators to have third parties certify that the safety devices worked under extreme conditions. In the Deepwater Horizon spill, a supposedly fail-safe blowout preventer ended up failing after a section of drill pipe buckled.
Nearly one million coastal and offshore seabirds are estimated to have died in the spill, which released 4.9 million barrels of oil into the sea. The accident led to the largest environmental settlement in the nation’s history, with the oil giant BP agreeing to pay $18.7 billion in civil penalties and damages to the federal government and affected states.
Environmentalists decried the final rule change.
“These rollbacks allow offshore oil companies to self-police and prioritize industry profits over safety,” said Diane Hoskins, the campaign director for offshore drilling at Oceana, an advocacy group. “This is a slap in the face to coastal communities and marine life that are most at risk from devastating oil spills.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/climate/offshore-drilling-safety-deepwater-horizon.html
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The Energy 202: Lawmakers Approve More Money for Energy Department Than Trump Wanted -- Again
Sep 28, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Dino Gradoni
Lawmakers and President Trump only recently settled on a package to fund most of the government through December, which the president is expected to sign this morning.
But funding for the Department of Energy for the next 12 months -- almost a record in Washington -- has already been agreed to by boosting funds for the agency. Earlier this month, Congress sent the White House a spending package that boosts funding for the Department of Energy by $974 million to a total of $35.5 billion.
That uptick for one of the federal government's biggest backers of scientific research amounts to another bipartisan rejection of deep budget cuts called for by President Trump around efforts to develop alternative energy production seen as central to addressing climate change. Despite the discrepancy, Trump signed the department’s budget into law late last week.
Since Trump took office, the head of the White House’s Office of Budget and Management, fiscal hawk Mick Mulvaney, sent budget proposals to Congress that attempted to shift responsibility for developing new energy technologies away from the federal government and toward the private sector.
“It's an ideologically based view that the marketplace will undertake whatever investments needed in innovation and that there there's no need for a large government role here,” said Joseph Hezir, former chief finance officer at the Energy Department under Barack Obama and now principal at the Energy Futures Initiative.
But as it has done in years past, both Republicans and Democrats rejected the Trump administration's suggestions for reining in spending on research across the country at national laboratories — often found in lawmakers in charge of doling out cash to states and districts.
Trump’s budget shop, for example, proposed slashing funding for the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy down to $696 million, a 66 percent cut from the 2017 budget. Congress instead increased funding for that office, known for research into solar and wind energy, to $2.38 billion.
Even more drastically, the White House wanted to eliminate the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Well liked by members of both parties in Congress, that technology incubator backs projects too risky for private investors. Congress bumped its budget up to $366 million.
Congress made its intentions clear with APRA-E in a report on the bill. The administration “shall not use any appropriated funds to plan or execute the termination of ARPA–E,” it read.
Even Energy Secretary Rick Perry praised ARPA-E as “a good return on investment for the American taxpayers’ dollars” during a hearing of a House Appropriations subcommittee in March.
Going forward, the worry among alternative energy advocates is not the whims of Congress but the vagaries of the economy. When economic growth slows and tax revenues fall, appropriators will look to tighten belts, and the Energy Department “is not going to be immune to that downward pressure that's going to affect pretty much everything across government,” Hezir said.
Despite its popularity, ARPA-E does not receive as much money as intended when it was originally conceived during the George W. Bush administration when the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recommended an eventual annual budget of $1 billion.
“It’s doing great work at $300 million,” said Ellen Williams, a University of Maryland professor who ran ARPA-E between 2014 and 2017. “It could work even better at $1 billion.”
But in the current political climate, Williams added she is “just grateful that it is continuing to get funding at a substantial level."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/09/28/the-energy-202-lawmakers-approve-more-money-for-energy-department-than-trump-wanted-again/5bad49ee1b326b7c8a8d16f8/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2eb88a215949
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Oil Sector Groups Urge Trump to Drop E15 Approval
Sep 27, 2018 | Inside EPA
Oil sector groups are urging President Donald Trump to drop plans for EPA to approve year-round sales of 15 percent ethanol blend (E15) fuel, amid reports that the agency is close to granting the year-round approval.
In a Sept. 25 letter to Trump, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) urge his administration not to grant a waiver for fuel volatility restrictions that currently block sales of E15 in the summer months, from June 1 to Sept. 15.
Ethanol advocates have long sought the waiver, which they say is warranted given that E15 is no more harmful to the environment than the E10 blend that is currently the dominant blend sold nationally. As such, they call for lifting the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) restrictions on E15, which they say would boost sales of biofuel in line with congressional intent under the renewable fuel standard (RFS).
But API and AFPM push back in their recent letter to Trump, citing reports that EPA will soon issue an RVP waiver for E15 along with “minor changes” to market trading for RFS compliance credits known as renewable information numbers (RINs).
“Such an approach is insufficient for refiners and inconsistent with your long-standing commitment to finding a solution that meets the needs of both the biofuels and refining industries. We urge you to not move forward,” the oil groups say.
Reports by Bloomberg last week indicate that the agency is close to issuing the waiver, possibly in combination with certain measures intended to improve the functioning of the RIN market. RINs are required by refiners to comply with RFS biofuel blending mandates, but refiners complain that the RIN market is notoriously opaque and subject to price volatility fueled by speculation.
“Meaningful reforms to the [RFS] are integral in any discussion about E15. Without corresponding reductions of mandated biofuel volumes, more E15 could be forced into the market, increasing the risk of consumer misfuelling. In fact, nearly three out of every four cars on the road today are not designed for E15,” API and AFPM write.
EPA recently added a new “dashboard” to its website aimed at boosting transparency in the RIN market. The site will now list the weekly average price of RINs traded and the weekly volume of RINs traded, in addition to some more information on RFS economic hardship waivers granted for small refiners.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/oil-sector-groups-urge-trump-drop-e15-approval
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After Weeks of Public Outrage About Sterigenics, Trump EPA to Test Air in Surrounding Neighborhoods
Sep 28, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
By Michael Hawthorne
Faced with a public outcry weeks before statewide, congressional and legislative elections, the Trump administration vowed Thursday to conduct more extensive monitoring of cancer-causing air pollution in neighborhoods surrounding a Willowbrook facility connected to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Local politicians, many of whom like Rauner are on the Nov. 6 ballot, have been flooded with angry complaints since the late August release of a federal report that revealed unusually high cancer risks in traditionally Republican communities near Sterigenics International, a global company that uses highly potent ethylene oxide gas to sterilize medical instruments in a pair of buildings tucked behind a Target store and the Willowbrook Village Hall.
Urged by Rauner and other officials to reassure the public, William L. Wehrum, a former industry lawyer appointed by Trump to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s air office, said federal inspectors will measure air quality in areas where people live, work and shop to help determine if new pollution-control equipment installed by Sterigenics has substantially reduced its ethylene oxide emissions.
“We are very serious about dealing with this issue,” Wehrum said in an interview with the Tribune.
Shortly after the EPA released a letter Thursday from Wehrum to Rauner committing the agency to a more concerted response, Sterigenics issued its own news release claiming that a controlled test of emissions, conducted last week by consultants hired by the company, “confirmed that there is not an immediate health threat or … an emergency situation in Willowbrook.”
READ MORE: Trump, Rauner have the power to shut down a toxic Willowbrook plant. Will they use it? »
“Unfortunately, the community has been exposed to a lot of inaccurate and misinterpreted information and we are committed to getting the real facts to residents who, based on what they have been hearing and reading, are understandably concerned,” said Kathleen Hoffman, a Sterigenics vice president.
The EPA said its preliminary review of the Sterigenics tests suggests the results are promising. But the agency is withholding a formal opinion until the data has been analyzed using computer models that estimate the concentration of toxic chemicals in areas beyond the smokestacks of industrial polluters.
What happens next also depends on the results of longer-term air monitoring in surrounding communities, similar to tests the EPA conducted in May that found local cancer risks could be orders of magnitude higher than initially estimated.
More than 19,000 people live roughly a mile from the Willowbrook facility and within seven census tracts that are among just 109 nationwide with cancer risks exceeding EPA guidelines. Four schools and a day care center also are close by, including Hinsdale South High School in Darien and Gower Middle School in Burr Ridge.
Even if Sterigenics has managed to reduce its emissions in Willowbrook, federal records show the company has been releasing ethylene oxide into surrounding communities for more than three decades, potentially contributing to diseases that take years to develop.
“The community needs an explanation of what these results mean in terms of the long-term health impact for nearby residents,” said U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, a Naperville Democrat who, along with the state’s two senators, Democrats Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, had earlier this week sent their own letter urging the EPA to take more aggressive action. “We also need a plan to detect and monitor non-stack emissions of ethylene oxide to ensure safe levels in Willowbrook and the surrounding areas.”
READ MORE: Rauner EPA withholds Sterigenics records from attorney general until local Republicans intervene »
With Willowbrook and the rest of DuPage County shifting away from being a dependable base of power for Republicans in Illinois, the Sterigenics case poses an intriguing test for GOP politicians who typically denounce the EPA as a hotbed of overzealous regulators.
U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, a Wheaton Republican in a tight race with Democratic challenger Sean Casten, took credit for the EPA’s commitment to conduct more testing for ethylene oxide in part of the area he represents in Congress. Casten has criticized Roskam for having a 7 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters on public health and environment legislation, and for supporting Republican-authored bills that would strip the EPA of authority to address health risks from ethylene oxide and other toxic chemicals.
On Wednesday, the Twitter account for DuPage County government posted a picture of the EPA’s Wehrum meeting with Dan Cronin, the county board chairman and former chairman of the local Republican Party organization. “Cronin emphasized resident safety in the meeting, stressing the need for further air/water testing and improved communication with residents,” the caption read.
Cronin and another local Republican, state Sen. John Curran of Downers Grove, have urged Rauner to work on a new Sterigenics permit with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat and the daughter of Rauner’s chief political nemesis, state House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The state House Republican leader, Jim Durkin of Darien, went a step further Thursday, urging the EPA to shut down Sterigenics “until all testing is completed and the health and safety of our communities can be assured.”
Then there is Rauner, who retains a financial interest in Sterigenics from his days as a private equity executive. After initially downplaying the EPA cancer report in late August, and taking weeks to provide Lisa Madigan’s office with key records related to Sterigenics, the governor dispatched his administration’s top environmental official this week to demand the longer-term air monitoring that others have been clamoring for during the past month.
In response to the EPA letter, the Rauner administration issued a one-sentence statement: “We believe the actions specified ... will be a significant step towards providing answers and further analysis that the residents of Willowbrook and surrounding communities deserve.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-sterigenics-willowbrook-trump-epa-testing-20180927-story.html
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Trump Administration Sees a 7-Degree Rise in Global Temperatures by 2100
Sep 28, 2018 | The Washington Post
By Juliet Eilperin , Brady Dennis and Chris Mooney
Last month, deep in a 500-page environmental impact statement, the Trump administration made a startling assumption: On its current course, the planet will warm a disastrous 7 degrees by the end of this century.
A rise of 7 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 4 degrees Celsius, compared with preindustrial levels would be catastrophic, according to scientists. Many coral reefs would dissolve in increasingly acidic oceans. Parts of Manhattan and Miami would be underwater without costly coastal defenses. Extreme heat waves would routinely smother large parts of the globe.
But the administration did not offer this dire forecast as part of an argument to combat climate change. Just the opposite: The analysis assumes the planet’s fate is already sealed.
The draft statement, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), was written to justify President Trump’s decision to freeze federal fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks built after 2020. While the proposal would increase greenhouse gas emissions, the impact statement says, that policy would add just a very small drop to a very big, hot bucket.
“The amazing thing they’re saying is human activities are going to lead to this rise of carbon dioxide that is disastrous for the environment and society. And then they’re saying they’re not going to do anything about it,” said Michael MacCracken, who served as a senior scientist at the U.S. Global Change Research Program from 1993 to 2002.
The document projects that global temperature will rise by nearly 3.5 degrees Celsius above the average temperature between 1986 and 2005 regardless of whether Obama-era tailpipe standards take effect or are frozen for six years, as the Trump administration has proposed. The global average temperature rose more than 0.5 degrees Celsius between 1880, the start of industrialization, and 1986, so the analysis assumes a roughly 4 degree Celsius or 7 degree Fahrenheit increase from preindustrial levels.
The world would have to make deep cuts in carbon emissions to avoid this drastic warming,the analysis states. And that “would require substantial increases in technology innovation and adoption compared to today’s levels and would require the economy and the vehicle fleet to move away from the use of fossil fuels, which is not currently technologically feasible or economically feasible.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
World leaders have pledged to keep the world from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial levels, and agreed to try to keep the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But the current greenhouse gas cuts pledged under the 2015 Paris climate agreement are not steep enough to meet either goal. Scientists predict a 4 degree Celsius rise by the century’s end if countries take no meaningful actions to curb their carbon output.
Trump has vowed to exit the Paris accord and called climate change a hoax. In the past two months, the White House has pushed to dismantle nearly half a dozen major rules aimed at reducing greenhouse gases, deregulatory moves intended to save companies hundreds of millions of dollars.
If enacted, the administration’s proposals would give new life to aging coal plants; allow oil and gas operations to release more methane into the atmosphere; and prevent new curbs on greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air-conditioning units. The vehicle rule alone would put 8 billion additional tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere this century, more than a year’s worth of total U.S. emissions, according to the government’s own analysis.
Administration estimates acknowledge that the policies would release far more greenhouse gas emissions from America’s energy and transportation sectors than otherwise would have been allowed.
David Pettit, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council who testified against Trump’s freeze of fuel efficiency standards this week in Fresno, Calif., said his organization is prepared to use the administration’s own numbers to challenge their regulatory rollbacks. He noted that the NHTSA document projects that if the world takes no action to curb emissions, current atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide would rise from 410 parts per million to 789 ppm by 2100.
“I was shocked when I saw it,” Pettit said in a phone interview. “These are their numbers. They aren’t our numbers.”
Conservatives who condemned Obama’s climate initiatives as regulatory overreach have defended the Trump administration’s approach, calling it a more reasonable course.
Obama’s climate policies were costly to industry and yet “mostly symbolic,” because they would have made barely a dent in global carbon dioxide emissions, said Heritage Foundation research fellow Nick Loris, adding: “Frivolous is a good way to describe it.”
NHTSA commissioned ICF International Inc., a consulting firm based in Fairfax, Va., to help prepare the impact statement. An agency spokeswoman said the Environmental Protection Agency “and NHTSA welcome comments on all aspects of the environmental analysis” but declined to provide additional information about the agency’s long-term temperature forecast.
Federal agencies typically do not include century-long climate projections in their environmental impact statements. Instead, they tend to assess a regulation’s impact during the life of the program — the years a coal plant would run, for example, or the amount of time certain vehicles would be on the road.
Using the no-action scenario “is a textbook example of how to lie with statistics,” said MIT Sloan School of Management professor John Sterman. “First, the administration proposes vehicle efficiency policies that would do almost nothing [to fight climate change]. Then [the administration] makes their impact seem even smaller by comparing their proposals to what would happen if the entire world does nothing.”
This week, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned leaders gathered in New York, “If we do not change course in the next two years, we risk runaway climate change. . . . Our future is at stake.”
Federal and independent research — including projections included in last month’s analysis of the revised fuel-efficiency standards — echoes that theme. The environmental impact statement cites “evidence of climate-induced changes,” such as more frequent droughts, floods, severe storms and heat waves, and estimates that seas could rise nearly three feet globally by 2100 if the world does not decrease its carbon output.
Two articles published in the journal Science since late July — both co-authored by federal scientists — predicted that the global landscape could be transformed “without major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions” and declared that soaring temperatures worldwide bore humans’ “fingerprint.”
“With this administration, it’s almost as if this science is happening in another galaxy,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ climate and energy program. “That feedback isn’t informing the policy.”
Administration officials say they take federal scientific findings into account when crafting energy policy — along with their interpretation of the law and President Trump’s agenda. The EPA’s acting administrator, Andrew Wheeler, has been among the Trump officials who have noted that U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants have fallen over time.
But the debate comes after a troubling summer of devastating wildfires, record-breaking heat and a catastrophic hurricane — each of which, federal scientists say, signals a warming world.
Some Democratic elected officials, such as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, said Americans are starting to recognize these events as evidence of climate change. On Feb. 25, Inslee met privately with several Cabinet officials, including then-EPA chief Scott Pruitt, and Western state governors. Inslee accused them of engaging in “morally reprehensible” behavior that threatened his children and grandchildren, according to four meeting participants, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details of the private conversation.
In an interview, Inslee said that the ash from wildfires that covered Washington residents’ car hoods this summer, and the acrid smoke that filled their air, has made more voters of both parties grasp the real-world implications of climate change.
“There is anger in my state about the administration’s failure to protect us,” he said. “When you taste it on your tongue, it’s a reality.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-sees-a-7-degree-rise-in-global-temperatures-by-2100/2018/09/27/b9c6fada-bb45-11e8-bdc0-90f81cc58c5d_story.html?utm_term=.6b1f3e9a3895
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