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ACC PM 29/10/18
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Trump Interviews Regs Chief for D.C. Circuit — Report
Oct 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
President Trump interviewed his White House regulations chief for a lifetime appointment on a federal appeals court, the news outlet Axios reported. -
Why Europe is Ascendant in the Pharmaceutical Chemical Business
Oct 28, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Rick Mullin
Reflecting on Europe’s current status in custom pharmaceutical chemical manufacturing during a C&EN reception at the CPhI Worldwide conference in Madrid earlier this month, Rudolf Hanko, CEO of Siegfried, evoked the godfather of the sector. -
EDF Backs TSCA CBI Notice, But Maintains Suit Over Broader Policy
Oct 29, 2018 | Inside EPA
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is welcoming EPA’s limited revisions to its policy for assigning identifying codes to chemicals whose identity is considered “confidential” under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), but says the changes do not go far enough to remedy its claims that the broader rule is unlawful. -
Senator Criticises TSCA Implementation As a 'Remarkable Disaster'
Oct 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
The implementation of the amended TSCA under the Trump administration has seen a "remarkable disaster" according to one of the architects of the 2016 legislation that updated the law. -
Agency Chiefs Tiptoe Around Ethics Laws on Campaign Trail
Oct 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
When former Texas Gov. Rick Perry took the stage to campaign for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas earlier this month, he did so walking a fine ethical line. -
Cheniere Ready to Begin Construction of Anadarko-to-Gulf Coast Natural Gas Pipeline
Oct 29, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By David Bradley
Cheniere Energy Inc.-backed Midship Pipeline Co. LLC is seeking authorization from FERC to begin construction of portions of its Midcontinent Supply Header Interstate Pipeline Project, a 1.44 Bcf/d natural gas pipeline that would move supply from the prolific Anadarko Basin to the Gulf Coast for potential export. -
EPA Proposal Would Delay State Plans to Slash Emissions
Oct 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Niina Heikkinen
EPA wants to give states more time to control methane emissions from landfills. -
Ewire: Washington State Wades Into Carbon Tax Debate
Oct 29, 2018 | Inside EPA
A high-profile ballot initiative in Washington state would impose a carbon tax on most of the state's economy, and making it the state the first to impose a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gases after several failed attempts to enact a major climate program. -
EU Lists Air Pollution Hotspots as UN Warns on Child Health
Oct 29, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
Air quality across Europe is slowly improving, but harmful emissions remain stubbornly high in some countries, according to a study released Monday by the European Environment Agency. -
WHO: 600,000 Children Died From Air Pollution in 2016
Oct 29, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Michael Burke
An estimated 600,000 children died in 2016 from infections caused by air pollution, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday.
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Trump Interviews Regs Chief for D.C. Circuit — Report
Oct 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
President Trump interviewed his White House regulations chief for a lifetime appointment on a federal appeals court, the news outlet Axios reported.
Neomi Rao, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is considered a short-lister for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's former seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Axios reported yesterday that Trump interviewed the OIRA chief for the job.
The White House did not respond to questions from E&E News about the reported interview or about its target timeline for filling the vacant seat.
As OIRA chief, Rao is responsible for implementing the president's regulatory reform efforts. That mandate has won her praise from proponents of deregulation and criticism from environmentalists and others who say the Trump administration is trying to dismantle important safeguards.
Rao previously served as a law professor at George Mason University and is an expert in administrative law.
"What she does offer that's, I think, valuable, and presidents tend to overlook, is she really is steeped in administrative law, regulatory action, all of that, which presidents have neglected," said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias, an expert on judicial nominations. "And that's really half the caseload, and it is valuable to have that expertise."
Other prominent lawyers considered potential contenders for the D.C. Circuit opening: Kate Todd, a former senior vice president and chief counsel for the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Kannon Shanmugam, a partner at Williams & Connolly LLP; Kristin Hickman, a law professor at the University of Minnesota; and several others (Greenwire, Oct. 10).
Several judicial nominees are already pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Unless Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) agrees to leapfrog the D.C. Circuit pick ahead of other nominees, it could be spring before Kavanaugh's seat is filled, Tobias said.
Reporter Niina Heikkinen contributed.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/10/29/stories/1060104609
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Why Europe is Ascendant in the Pharmaceutical Chemical Business
Oct 28, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Rick Mullin
Reflecting on Europe’s current status in custom pharmaceutical chemical manufacturing during a C&EN reception at the CPhI Worldwide conference in Madrid earlier this month, Rudolf Hanko, CEO of Siegfried, evoked the godfather of the sector. “As Peter Pollak once said,” Hanko recounted, “if you want to succeed in this business, you have to be on the Rhine.”
Pollak, who built the custom active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) business at the Swiss firm Lonza, watched the sector grow from primarily European in the mid-20th century into a global industry in the 21st. Later, as a consultant, he saw the industry’s swing to low-cost producers in Asia and the beginning of its shift back to higher-quality, more secure suppliers in the West.
Hanko, whose company is headquartered near the Rhine, may be right that Pollak, who died in 2016, would have felt vindicated by recent trends.
The pharmaceutical service sector remains a global industry. But managers of contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) who convened in Madrid gave credence to the notion that the business of making custom APIs for new drugs has largely resettled with European firms.
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Recent deals in which the U.S. firms Ricerca, PCI Synthesis, and Kalexsyn were acquired by the European companies Olon, Novacap, and Dipharma Francis, respectively, mark a shift away from the U.S. that largely favors Europe, according to Lee Newton, vice president of API development and manufacturing at Lonza. “But I’m not sure it’s a trend driven by the geography itself,” he said. “It’s more about the nature of the companies.”
Companies are pushing to expand services and build global networks through acquisition, and larger firms are better able to make and digest acquisitions, Newton said. Most of the larger firms are in Europe, and most of these companies have in recent years attempted to place research and manufacturing assets in the biggest market, the U.S.
“Clearly, some of the business returning from the East has helped us,” Newton added. He was referring to a shift in custom chemical production away from China due in part to a recent environmental crackdown in which the government has been closing facilities and whole industrial parks, crimping supplies of key chemicals and intermediates.
In fact, Lonza is trying to capitalize on the trend with a new program to offer intermediates made at its facility in Visp, Switzerland, to customers that in the past might have acquired them from farther afield. The company has been quietly providing the service for about a year and is now going public with it.
Lonza has a history of major acquisitions—most recently the drug delivery technology firm Capsugel—and is not ruling out further deals, but its focus now is on targeted organic growth, Newton said. “We aren’t interested in putting assets on the ground at risk and running around trying to sell them. We are looking for customer-supported investments that fill specific needs.”
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After the recent spate of acquisitions, larger, more established firms are beginning to assert themselves as global suppliers, said Mark Griffiths, CEO of Carbogen Amcis, another Swiss company. But he agreed with Pollak’s view of Switzerland’s strength in pharmaceutical chemicals. “It’s been Switzerland and Germany in Europe since almost time immemorial,” he said. “It’s just always been that way.”
Of course, in today’s multinational industry, few firms are purely European. Carbogen Amcis, for example, has a large-scale manufacturing facility in Shanghai and is owned by an Indian company, Dishman, which purchased it in 2006. Griffiths notes, however, that Carbogen Amcis operates independently.
Similarly, the largest pharmaceutical chemical facility operated by Germany’s Evonik Industries is its Tippecanoe factory in Lafayette, Ind., acquired from Eli Lilly & Co. in 2010.
“I don’t know if it’s Europe versus the rest of the world,” said Jean-Luc Herbeaux, head of Evonik’s health care business, pointing to the U.S. management team in Indiana. “We don’t see it as a European site in the USA.”
Evonik just announced a $42 million expansion of its API and advanced intermediates business that includes a modular, continuous-processing pilot plant in Germany, highly potent API capacity in Germany and the U.S., and a pilot plant for custom synthesis of PEGylated APIs in Germany.
The firm’s recent acquisitions have focused on specialized technologies, regardless of geography, Herbeaux said. He pointed to Transferra Nanosciences, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based liposome nanoparticle firm that Evonik acquired in 2016. Evonik, he said, is not interested in providing an end-to-end or one-stop shop to customers; instead, it prefers a menu of best-in-class services.
“A lot of consultants and financial investors have made a living out of trying to convince the industry that an end-to-end approach is the best strategy,” Herbeaux acknowledged. But he argued that the drug industry generally resists an all-things-to-all-customers strategy.
While the opportunities for acquisition have thinned considerably, one pending purchase of a U.S. asset by a European firm could be found at CPhI. The British firm Sterling Pharma Solutions hopes to close on a deal by the end of the year, CEO Kevin Cook told C&EN.
The plan is to set up an arm close to North American innovators for preclinical custom synthesis that can be transferred to larger assets in England—a strategy pioneered by the Portuguese firm Hovione in 2003 and emulated in several recent acquisitions of U.S. companies by European as well as Indian, South Korean, and Chinese firms.
“We want a relatively small but perfectly formed laboratory and kilo lab to handle preclinical to Phase I on the basis that the more projects you work on, the more chance you have for graduation,” Cook said.
He attributed Sterling’s annual sales growth of 35% on average over the past three years in large part to the shift in projects back to Europe from China.
That trend has prompted other investment in Europe as well. “When you look back over the years since the financial crisis of 2008, we have invested heavily in process development,” said Markus Blocher, CEO of the Swiss firm Dottikon Exclusive Synthesis. “Customers have to make the molecule.”
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Dottikon will spend about $100 million on expansion of process development, quality control, and multipurpose manufacturing at its site in Dottikon, Switzerland, this year, more than twice the amount it invested last year. And the company plans to add a pilot plant and another multipurpose plant in the next few years.
The incentive is largely the movement of the custom pharmaceutical chemical business back from China. Dottikon made a direct appeal for repatriated work in an ad in the daily publication distributed at CPhI that featured a rhymed couplet: “China goodbye / in your supply?”
Italy’s Fabbrica Italiana Sintetici (F.I.S.) has also bulked up its multipurpose manufacturing in recent years and sees itself in a good position to pick up business coming back from China, said Giuliano Perfetti, senior director of marketing and business development.Credit: Rick Mullin/C&ENSwitzerland's Lonza says its recently acquired finished-dosage business, Capsugel, has gained traction with pharmaceutical innovators in China.
“We have invested $220 million in the last four years to increase capacity of highly potent APIs,” Perfetti said. In addition to adding spray drying, sterile manufacturing, and crystallization services, F.I.S. has invested in fluorination that is compliant with current Good Manufacturing Practices; it expects this service to be in demand as supplies from China dwindle.
Much of the new investment in Europe reflects a push on the part of CDMOs into high-tech chemistry and biotechnology to meet the changing demands of drugmakers. Novasep, a French firm with 13 sites in Europe, the U.S., and Asia, recently opened a commercial-scale viral vector facility in Seneffe, Belgium, and plans to open a biologics finished-dosage operation in Chasse-sur-Rhône, France, focused on small-volume drugs, according to Jean Bléhaut, president of manufacturing.
The firm spent $45 million on these projects and another $5 million expanding its cryogenic manufacturing capacity. Last year, it spent $13 million boosting capacity for antibody-drug conjugates.
Almac, based in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, has focused on organic growth after acquiring Arran Chemical in 2015, according to Denis Geffroy, vice president of business development. It has been frustrated in a two-year effort to acquire large-scale API manufacturing.
“At the end, we concluded there was no perfect fit for us,” he said. “So the decision was taken three months ago to build a larger-scale API facility in Northern Ireland next door to our current activity.” The $20 million plant will be fully operational in 2020, he said.
Almac had looked at two sites in the U.S., Geffroy said, but determined they were too small. The plant that came closest to meeting Almac’s specifications was affordable but had prohibitively high operating costs. “In the U.S., we decided it would be difficult to remain competitive,” he said.
Despite overall concerns about the quality and reliability of Chinese supply, a handful of well-established CDMOs in China are widely recognized as operating at U.S. standards. Business for these companies is growing at a pace comparable to that of Western firms.
Customers have every reason to be backing off most Chinese suppliers, said Elut Hsu, president of Asymchem. But Asymchem’s clientele of large U.S. and European drug companies recognizes that the firm, with business offices in North Carolina, has built its own facilities, now numbering seven, all up to Western standards. At the same time, Asymchem still offers the cost advantage of Chinese supply.ADVERTISEMENT
“China is still much lower cost than Europe and the U.S. This is a no-brainer,” she said.
For STA Pharmaceutical, a unit of WuXi AppTec that is one of China’s largest producers of pharmaceutical chemicals, concern about China’s viability as a supplier has generated a lot of noise but hasn’t noticeably affected business with leading Western firms, according to Yu Lu, vice president of business operations.
This year, Lu noted, STA is involved in the production of 13 commercial drugs, 39 drugs in Phase III clinical trials, and 90 in Phase II clinical trials—the majority for U.S. and European companies. Overall, more than 1,000 scientists at STA are at work developing new chemical entities, she said. “For several large pharma firms we handle close to 90% of their early-stage manufacturing,” Lu said.
STA does get inquiries from U.S. customers about the effects of the new U.S. tariffs on the molecules it is producing for them. For the most part, Lu said, customers are not affected. As to difficulties obtaining starting materials in China because of environmental crackdowns, Lu said STA faces the same concerns as Western firms do. Often, she added, the firm’s solution is to shift to in-house production at its plants in China.
Porton Pharma Solutions (formerly Porton Fine Chemicals), another Chinese CDMO, recently acquired J-Star Research in South Plainfield, N.J., giving the firm a footprint in the main market for new molecules plus early-stage manufacturing assets for projects that can be transferred to China, according to CEO Oliver Ju. But Ju sees a lot of interesting action outside North America.
“From the Chinese CDMO point of view, we see that Europeans are playing a bigger role,” he said. “But Chinese contract firms are looking at new opportunities in China.”
Ju was among a handful of CDMO executives at CPhI expressing concern that the political tension between China and the U.S. could further exacerbate problems with supply from China. “There are some uncertainties,” he said. “If we invest in something in the West, Europe would probably be the good option for us.”
Still, Ju is excited about the potential for Porton’s New Jersey operation, extolling the expertise of its process chemists. Porton is investing in a second site in the state that it conceived before the J-Star acquisition. “We have gone from 50 to 75 people, and we are still hiring,” he said.
CPhI attendees remained optimistic regarding growth, seeing few near-term signs of a downturn. Many predicted further consolidation in a business where the largest players hold less than 5% market share and where trends seem to continue favoring European firms—especially those nearest the Rhine.
“We are a European company in a European business,” Carbogen’s Griffiths said. “We have a culture. Being European helps.”
Lonza’s Newton agreed. “It is not a great source of wonderment why we should have a number of successful CMOs in Switzerland, despite the cost base,” he said, pointing to chemistry heritage and an education system that fosters technical training.
“Increasingly, the conversation is about value now and not as much about price,” Newton said. “I don’t have a lot of purely price discussions anymore. It might be different the next time a downturn comes around.”
https://cen.acs.org/pharmaceuticals/pharmaceutical-chemicals/Europe-ascendant-pharmaceutical-chemical-business/96/i43
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EDF Backs TSCA CBI Notice, But Maintains Suit Over Broader Policy
Oct 29, 2018 | Inside EPA
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is welcoming EPA’s limited revisions to its policy for assigning identifying codes to chemicals whose identity is considered “confidential” under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), but says the changes do not go far enough to remedy its claims that the broader rule is unlawful.
In an Oct. 25 filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, EDF calls EPA’s June 27 Federal Register notice detailing how it will enforce to the confidential business information (CBI) rule “a significant improvement,” but says it will maintain its pending suit over the CBI policy, known as EDF v. EPA.
“While the Notice announces a significant improvement in EPA’s approach to unique identifiers, the Notice does not fully resolve the issues raised here,” EDF says.
The group is claiming that EPA’s 2017 changes to criteria for substantiating businesses' CBI claims, compared to the proposed version issued late in the Obama administration, violated both the reformed TSCA law and rulemaking requirements in the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
A D.C. Circuit panel heard argument in EDF v. EPA on Oct. 12, with all three judges appearing critical of the 2017 rule -- including comments that the Trump-era changes are illogical, contrary to the law and raise procedural concerns.
Following argument, EPA filed an Oct. 17 letter with the court adding detail on its release of the June 27 notice, which sets out the policy for assigning unique identifiers to chemicals for which the agency approves a request for CBI protection and for consistently applying that identifier to all data submitted on the chemical.
EDF’s new filing says that while the group generally favors the methods outlined in EPA’s identifier notice, there are a host of reasons it does not remedy their broader legal claims.
“First, the Notice does not expressly commit to providing unique identifiers on the Inventory as required by TSCA,” EDF says, referring to the formal TSCA inventory of chemicals in commerce.
It also says that as a notice rather than a full rule the policy is not “a binding commitment,” that it “fails to address chemicals for which persons ‘seek[] to maintain an existing claim’” and it includes no procedures for identifying CBI related to a chemical designated as “inactive” that is being moved to the current inventory.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/edf-backs-tsca-cbi-notice-maintains-suit-over-broader-policy
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Senator Criticises TSCA Implementation As a 'Remarkable Disaster'
Oct 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
The implementation of the amended TSCA under the Trump administration has seen a "remarkable disaster" according to one of the architects of the 2016 legislation that updated the law.
Speaking at a 19 October forum hosted by Harvard's public health school, Senator Tom Udall (D–Arizona) said passage of the Frank R Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act put in place a law that began the process of fixing "a chemical safety law that was broken".
But despite the new law being strong, the Trump administration had been trying to "roll back what TSCA is trying to do". This, Mr Udall said, undermined its very purpose: to implement a system to protect science and public health.
What is important, he said, "isn't just the law, it's the implementation of the law, and it's the regulations that specifically focus in on the science and the public health – making sure we get all of it right."
And he added his constituents perceive that "the agency has been captured by the industry" and lobbyists.
The senator’s comments came during a discussion on conflicts between science and policy at the EPA, with former agency administrators Gina McCarthy and William Ruckelshaus and Harvard environmental law professor, Wendy Jacobs.
The hour long event also saw concerns raised over the administration's attitude to science and its recent controversial science 'transparency' proposal.
Mr Udall said that the subcommittee on which he sits – Commerce, Science and Transportation – is particularly focused on how the agency is "disregarding science in terms of coming up with regulations and protecting public health".
Commenting on the science 'transparency' proposal, Ms McCarthy said "changing the rules of the road" will impact the EPA's ability to make well-informed decisions.
"The courts give such deference to the EPA on their science and analytics, so it's extremely disconcerting to have [the transparency proposal] in the mix," she said.
But, she added, she has "a hard time believing that some of the fundamental changes on transparency are going to be successful".
https://chemicalwatch.com/71271/senator-criticises-tsca-implementation-as-a-remarkable-disaster
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Agency Chiefs Tiptoe Around Ethics Laws on Campaign Trail
Oct 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
When former Texas Gov. Rick Perry took the stage to campaign for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas earlier this month, he did so walking a fine ethical line.
Perry, now head of the Energy Department, rallied a crowd Oct. 20 in Houston for Cruz by blasting Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke and warning that a Democratic win could wind back the clock on burgeoning exports of domestic liquefied natural gas — a hot selling point in energy-rich Texas.
DOE said Perry's spirited appearance was off the clock and in his personal capacity. And the Republican didn't use his formal title of DOE secretary during the event.
And although Fox News host Sean Hannity can be heard introducing Perry by his formal DOE title, agency staff say they went through the proper procedures and protocols to ensure he was recognized as the "honorable" Rick Perry.
"The Department of Energy took no steps to promote the event in question, nor authorize the use of his official title," said Kelly Love, DOE's principal deputy press secretary. "Per standard DOE practice regarding unofficial events, the event organizers were instructed to refer to him as the 'The Honorable Rick Perry.' He attended the event in his personal capacity, and no lodging or additional travel costs were incurred by the American taxpayer."
Perry's appearance showcases the importance of President Trump's energy and environment chiefs as a potent political force on the campaign trail heading into the midterm elections.
It's also reflective of the challenging ethical guidelines Cabinet heads must adhere to under the Hatch Act.
Ethical watchdogs say DOE's response appears to steer clear of any violations under the Hatch Act, which states that federal employees may not "use their official title or authority when engaging in political activity."
And yet what raised some questions for Nick Schwellenbach, director of investigations at the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, was Perry's mention of LNG exports during the rally. DOE approves LNG exports to countries that don't have free-trade agreements with the United States.
"We are now exporting liquefied natural gas to 30 countries. Thirty countries on five continents," Perry boomed from the stage. "You want to turn the clock back on that? And neither do the people in this country. That's why I'm so excited about the next 16 days."
Schwellenbach said such language "walks up to the line" of the Hatch Act and could be fodder for the U.S. Office of Special Counsel's scrutiny. OSC would at least look to conduct training to ensure the secretary's office avoided a similar situation in the future, he said.
"Even if it's a violation, it may not be considered an egregious violation," said Schwellenbach.'It is above politics'
In recent weeks and months, the heads of various agencies have appeared with Republican incumbents — some facing heated races, others favored to win — while pitching new regulatory and climate policies and touring energy facilities.
It's a practice that requires careful ethical stepping but could pay off politically (Greenwire, Aug. 31).
In August, a White House official noted the agency heads' busy travel schedules when laying out the president's fall campaign plans, including campaign events in more than a dozen states to support House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates (E&E News PM, Aug. 21).
But agency officials have repeatedly said such events cross political boundaries and aren't meant to give incumbent Republicans a boost. The events and announcements, they say, are strictly business.
DOE, for example, has said it notifies state, local and federal officials when the secretary travels to their part of the country regardless of political party. Such notifications are standard, and sometimes members of the other party join Cabinet officials on trips, as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) did when then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visited the Last Frontier in 2011.
On Friday, Perry toured Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York with Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, who's locked in a heated re-election bid with Democratic opponent Perry Gershon. The day prior, Perry toured Holtec International's Krishna P. Singh Technology Campus in Camden, N.J., alongside incumbent Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross, who's seeking a third term against Republican Paul Dilks to represent the state's 1st District next month.
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler has also appeared with Republicans seeking re-election while sticking to policy.
On Oct. 15, Wheeler posted a photo on Twitter with Republican Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, who is running for re-election in the state's 6th District. Along with the photo was a link to an EPA press release tied to EPA's final rule relaxing a federal vapor pressure standard in Baton Rouge.
On Friday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke appeared in Kentucky to announce Trump's designation of Camp Nelson as a national monument. He did so alongside Republican Rep. Andy Barr, who's facing off with Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot, in a competitive district (Greenwire, Oct. 26).
When asked about the appearance, Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said every member of the Kentucky delegation was invited.
Zinke at the event told reporters the designation was not purposefully timed to give Barr a boost heading into the election, instead pointing out that he had worked on the issue with Barr back when he was in Congress.
"This is the right place, and it is above politics," Zinke said, according to the Associated Press. "This is red, white and blue."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/10/29/stories/1060104625
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Cheniere Ready to Begin Construction of Anadarko-to-Gulf Coast Natural Gas Pipeline
Oct 29, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By David Bradley
Cheniere Energy Inc.-backed Midship Pipeline Co. LLC is seeking authorization from FERC to begin construction of portions of its Midcontinent Supply Header Interstate Pipeline Project, a 1.44 Bcf/d natural gas pipeline that would move supply from the prolific Anadarko Basin to the Gulf Coast for potential export...
Access to full text unavailable – subscription required.
Story can be found here:
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/116275-cheniere-ready-to-begin-construction-of-anadarko-to-gulf-coast-natural-gas-pipeline
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EPA Proposal Would Delay State Plans to Slash Emissions
Oct 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Niina Heikkinen
EPA wants to give states more time to control methane emissions from landfills.
In a proposal slated for publication tomorrow, EPA would give states until Aug. 29, 2019, to submit plans to cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas from municipal solid waste landfills.
The proposal marks a delay from an Obama administration rule, which would have required states to submit their plans to EPA by May 30, 2017. Under the Obama plan, EPA would have had six months to develop a federal plan if states fail to submit an appropriate proposal. The Trump administration's proposal would extend that deadline to two years.
In the notice that will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow, EPA says the agency is making the change to "harmonize" timing requirements for state and federal plans.
The overhaul is part of EPA's broader updates to rules written under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, which sets performance standards for existing sources of air pollution.
EPA first introduced the broader timing changes in its proposed Affordable Clean Energy rule in August. These changes shift the timing for the submission of state plans, the agency's review of state plans and release of federal plans to "more closely align" with procedures under Section 110 of the Clean Air Act. EPA also wants to model its criteria for judging a plan's completeness after those used for state implementation plans submitted under Section 110, which deals with state plans for implementing national air quality standards for air pollutants.
"Because states have considerable flexibility in implementing CAA section 111(d), this change would allow states more time to interact and work with the EPA in the development of state plans and minimize the chance of unexpected issues arising that could slow down eventual approval of state plans," the agency stated.
The proposal extends the timeline to finalize state plans to three years from the rule's effective date, instead of nine months under the 2016 rule's timeline. EPA would then have six months to decide whether the rule is complete. EPA would have a year instead of four months to either approve or disapprove of the plan. If the agency decides the rule is not complete, it would have two years to develop a federal plan.
EPA suggested the timing changes could affect how early landfills choose to adopt methane controls and could therefore lead to changes in the total landfill gas captured, though it did not provide an estimate of the extent of the change.
Landfills are the third largest source of man-made methane emissions in the United States. Captured landfill methane can be used as an energy source that can reduce the smell of landfills and also prevent the release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, according to the agency.
EPA noted that in addition to its efforts to revise implementing standards, the agency was also responding to comments requesting more time to develop plans.
However, the agency's proposal far exceeded commenters' requests of between 12 and 24 months to submit a state plan.
The public will have 45 days to comment on the proposal, and five days to request a public hearing on the changes.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/10/29/stories/1060104619
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Ewire: Washington State Wades Into Carbon Tax Debate
Oct 29, 2018 | Inside EPA
A high-profile ballot initiative in Washington state would impose a carbon tax on most of the state's economy, and making it the state the first to impose a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gases after several failed attempts to enact a major climate program.
According to a Washington Post feature on the initiative, supporters say it stands a better chance of passage than a separate carbon tax measure in 2016.
That effort failed in 2016 amid divisions among the environmental community, with some groups opposing it because it was a “revenue neutral” effort that largely reduced other taxes. A legislative push spearheaded by Gov. Jay Inslee (D) also failed in early 2018.
The latest ballot measure would use about 70 percent of the revenue for renewable energy investment, with much of the rest for water and forest projects, the story says. The tax starts at $15 per ton of carbon emissions, and increase by $2 annually until 2035.
It has also attracted big campaign spending on both sides. The Post reports that supporters have raised $14.8 million, while oil industry opponents are pouring $26.2 million into an effort to defeat the measure.
Industry critics say the initiative unfairly exempts the state's largest GHG emissions source -- the lone coal plant in Washington that has agreed to retire in 2025.
Outside observers say that if the effort were to pass, it could encourage other Democratic-leaning states to consider similar measures.
But it is difficult to say how the state campaign might influence the push for a federal carbon tax. Key differences are that the state measure does not include provisions that many conservatives see as integral to any deal -- preempting many of EPA's GHG regulations.
At the federal level, a constellation of right-leaning groups continue to push the policy, despite long-held opposition to carbon controls from Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump.
Just a few weeks ago, one group circulated a report that holds out hope for a second round of tax cuts as one potential legislative vehicle to pass a carbon tax. The argument goes that the December 2017 GOP tax cuts will likely need to be revisited at some point.
“This is not going to be the last word on tax reform,” one fellow with the Brookings Institution said late last year, adding that a carbon tax will “always be right there on the shelf” waiting for the right moment.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-washington-state-wades-carbon-tax-debate
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EU Lists Air Pollution Hotspots as UN Warns on Child Health
Oct 29, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
Air quality across Europe is slowly improving, but harmful emissions remain stubbornly high in some countries, according to a study released Monday by the European Environment Agency.
The Copenhagen-based agency calculated that air pollution caused more than half a million premature deaths across Europe in 2015 — mostly from tiny airborne particles known as PM2.5.
However, improvements in air quality mean the number of premature deaths is about half the level it was in 1990, the European Union agency said.
"Air pollution is an invisible killer and we need to step up our efforts to address the causes," said the agency's head, Hans Bruyninckx. Europe must "redouble its efforts to reduce emissions caused by transport, energy and agriculture and invest in making them cleaner and more sustainable," he added.
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The European study was an updated overview and analysis of the air quality across 28 European Union countries and 11 non-EU countries from 2000 to 2016, the most recent year for which data was available.
The data, collected by over 2,500 monitoring stations across the continent, found that road traffic continues to be one of the main sources of Europe's air pollution, with nitrogen oxide from diesel cars particularly prevalent in major cities such as London and Paris and in large parts of Germany and Turkey.
Levels of nitrogen oxide, or NOx, have declined since the start of the century, due in part to better filtering of the harmful gas. European automakers are under pressure from governments and the EU to further reduce their NOx emissions in the wake of revelations that some manufacturers were cheating in tests.
The EEA study also revealed that the highest concentrations of PM2.5 are in northern Italy, Poland, the Balkans and Turkey.
The Mediterranean region, meanwhile, recorded particularly high levels of toxic ozone, which is formed from chemical reactions of NOx and sunlight.
The EEA's warning was echoed by a report also released Monday by the World Health Organization, which cited the particular danger to children from air pollution.
The U.N. health agency concluded that, worldwide, indoor and outdoor air pollution contributed to respiratory tract infections that resulted in 543,000 deaths in children under the age of 5 in 2016. Children were particularly at risk in poor countries, where indoor use of wood or coal-fired stoves is common, WHO said.
"The enormous toll of disease and death revealed by these new data should result in an urgent call to action for the global community," the Geneva-based organization said.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/10/29/world/europe/ap-eu-europe-air-pollution.html
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WHO: 600,000 Children Died From Air Pollution in 2016
Oct 29, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Michael Burke
An estimated 600,000 children died in 2016 from infections caused by air pollution, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday.
The organization also said in a statement that about 93 percent of the world's children under the age of 15 breathe air that is "so polluted it puts their health and development at serious risk." ADVERTISEMENT
Those estimates are part of a report published Monday by WHO on links between air pollution and the health of children. The release of the report comes on the eve of the organization's Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health.
Children in low- and middle-income countries are exposed to air pollution at especially high rates, the report found.
The report's other findings include that pregnant women exposed to polluted air are more likely to give birth prematurely and that air pollution impacts cognitive abilities in children and can lead to asthma and cancer in children.
The report also found that many children are exposed to household air pollution because of cooking with polluting technologies.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of WHO, said in a statement that polluted air "is poisoning millions of children and ruining their lives.”
“This is inexcusable. Every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfill their full potential," Ghebreyesus added.
WHO's Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health begins Tuesday in Geneva and will provide world leaders with potential solutions to the issues raised in the report.
Dr. Maria Neira, the director of WHO's Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants, said in a statement that "there are many straight-forward ways to reduce emissions of dangerous pollutants."
“WHO is supporting implementation of health-wise policy measures like accelerating the switch to clean cooking and heating fuels and technologies, promoting the use of cleaner transport, energy-efficient housing and urban planning," Neira said.
"We are preparing the ground for low emission power generation, cleaner, safer industrial technologies and better municipal waste management,” she added.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/413606-who-600000-children-died-from-air-pollution-in-2016
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