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ACC AM 21/11/18

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) VIDEO: New Business Model Needed to Combat Marine Litter
Nov 21, 2018 | Packaging News
By Tony Corbin

With growing awareness of the scale and urgency needed to address marine litter, plastics industry leaders asked leading academic, sustainability and finance experts to provide their thoughts on effective solutions.
EPA Officials Wrestle With Enforcement Decline Spurred By Trump Policies
Nov 20, 2018 | Inside EPA
By David LaRoss

EPA enforcement officials are privately blaming Trump administration policies for a sharp drop in new criminal and civil cases, settlements and other actions despite the agency's public defense of its enforcement record, according to an environmental group's new report that says the officials are weighing options for reversing the decline.
IG Alleges Improper Handling of Competitive Bids
Nov 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Kelsey Brugger

The Interior Department's inspector general has found that a manager at the agency's independent safety and environmental regulator improperly influenced a competitive bidding process and inflated government cost estimates.
Government Can Do More to Support Science and Innovation
Nov 20, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal - Opinion
By Paul Romer

The U.S. government is divided and so are the people. But perhaps we can all agree that the economic growth of the 20th century, driven by robust markets and technological innovation, was good for everyone.
EPA’s Top Drinking Water Official to Retire This Year (1)
Nov 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Schultz

Peter Grevatt, the country’s top drinking water regulator, will step down from the EPA next month after 30 years the agency.

LCSA News

EPA Requests Input on Draft Risk Evaluation for TSCA Chemical After Finding No ‘Unreasonable Risk’
Nov 20, 2018 | Safety + Health Magazine

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment on a draft risk evaluation that states the chemical substance Pigment Violet 29 “does not present an unreasonable risk of injury to human health or the environment,” according to a notice published in the Nov. 15 Federal Register.

Chemical Management News

Georgia Fabric Plant Settles Suit Over Wastewater Spray Field
Nov 21, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Chris Marr

A fiber and fabric manufacturer agreed to upgrade the wastewater spray-field system at a Georgia factory and pay for water quality monitoring as part of its settlement to end a conservation group’s lawsuit.
Lawmakers Seek Alternatives to Medical-Sterilization Chemical
Nov 21, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Joyce

Congressional Democrats from Illinois want a federal task force to look at alternatives to using ethylene oxide in the wake of continued lawsuits alleging the chemical is a factor in cancer among people living near a Chicago-area medical sterilizing facility.
Grevatt's Retirement Creates Uncertainty Over Fate Of EPA's PFAS Policy
Nov 20, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Suzanne Yohannan

Peter Grevatt, EPA's top official overseeing cross-agency policy on high-profile perfluorinated chemicals, is retiring from the agency after 30 years, creating uncertainty about who will take over the major task of responding to calls from lawmakers, states and communities to develop a comprehensive plan to address the contaminants.
U.S. Judge Selects First Case in Federal Monsanto Weed-Killer Litigation
Nov 20, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Tina Bellon

A U.S. judge overseeing the federal litigation against Bayer AG's Monsanto unit over glyphosate-based weed-killers allegedly causing cancer on Tuesday selected the first case to be tried in federal court in February 2019.
Waterkeeper Renews Threat to Sue EPA Over SDWA Delays
Nov 20, 2018 | Inside EPA

The Waterkeeper Alliance is renewing its threat to sue EPA for failing to perform several nondiscretionary duties under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), saying that while the agency has taken some actions since receiving a similar 2016 threat, environmentalists have identified additional violations.
Treatment for Lead in Drinking Water is Evolving. Will The U.S. EPA Catch Up?
Nov 21, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Janet Pelley

Tap water from Green Bay, Wis., never exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s lead action level until 2011, when concentrations of the brain-damaging metal suddenly spiked to over 25 ppb.
UK Government Updates Brexit Chemicals Webpage
Nov 21, 2018 | Chemical Watch

The UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has updated its Brexit webpages containing advice for Britain's chemicals industry.

Energy News

(ACC Mentioned) API: US Petroleum Demand Rebounded to 20.8 Million b/d in October
Nov 20, 2018 | Oil & Gas Journal

US petroleum demand, as measured by total domestic petroleum deliveries, was 20.8 million b/d in October, which was up by 3.3% from September and 3.9% compared with October 2017.
Oil, Gas Companies See Holes in NAFTA Replacement
Nov 21, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Eric Wolff

Oil and gas industry groups are worried the Trump administration's new trade deal with Mexico and Canada could leave many U.S. companies at the mercy of Mexico's courts in legal disputes rather than granting them access to the international arbitration system.
Report Outlines 'Suite' of Changes for Regulators
Nov 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Edward Klump

Anyone hoping for a dramatic reboot of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission may be underwhelmed by a new study, but state leaders say change isn't off the table.
North Dakota Gives Oil Industry More Flexibility on Flaring
Nov 20, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)

North Dakota regulators have decided not to change targets for capturing the natural gas produced from oil drilling.
Fracking Trespass Case to Go to Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Nov 21, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Leslie A. Pappas

Hydraulic fracturing operations could be vulnerable to a wave of trespassing lawsuits for extracting gas from neighboring properties as Pennsylvania’s highest court takes up a dispute between an energy company and Susquehanna County property owners.
Gas Pipe Work Would Need Engineers’ Approval Under Massachusetts Plan
Nov 21, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Adrianne Appel

Any potentially dangerous natural gas projects or pipe maintenance work in Massachusetts would need to be approved by an engineer, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) proposed in a draft bill he submitted to the state Legislature.
Video May Complicate FERC Nominee's Path to Confirmation
Nov 20, 2018 | E&E News PM
By Rod Kuckro and Hannah Northey

Less than a week after leaving the Department of Energy, Bernard McNamee delivered provocative comments dismissing renewable energy and emphasizing the need to push and campaign for fossil fuels.
Dakota Access Protester Injured in Blast Files Civil Lawsuit
Nov 20, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)

A New York woman who suffered a serious arm injury while protesting the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota has filed a civil lawsuit against Morton County and several law enforcement officers.

Chemical Security News

Cal Water Jury Win on Asbestos Claims Upheld
Nov 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Peter Hayes

A jury verdict absolving California Water Service Co. of asbestos liability to a contract worker will stand, a California appeals court ruled.
Monitors Check for Radiation Release After Waste Site Blast
Nov 20, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)

Air monitoring systems were set up Tuesday to check for low-level nuclear radiation and other harmful contaminants following a powerful weekend blast at a hazardous waste site in Idaho that killed a worker, destroyed a building and damaged other structures, an official said.

Transportation and Infrastructure News

Positive Train Control: Asset Management for Safety-Critical Systems.
Nov 21, 2018 | Smart Rail World
By Brett Koenig and Marcelo Bravo

Safety. It’s more than a word.

Environment News

'It's Not a Happy Place'
Nov 21, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Maxine Joselow

President Trump has failed to stop climate change work at EPA.
Dead Whale Had 115 Plastic Cups, 2 Flip-Flops In Its Stomach
Nov 20, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)

A dead whale that washed ashore in eastern Indonesia had a large lump of plastic waste in its stomach, including drinking cups, bottles and flip-flops, a park official said Tuesday, causing concern among environmentalists and government officials in one of the world’s largest plastic-polluting countries.
Japan Making Mild Moves to Remove Microbeads, Plastics Pollution
Nov 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Yap

Japan is updating its microplastics and water pollution policies after declining earlier this year to sign a pledge by major industrialized nations to reduce plastics in the oceans.

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) VIDEO: New Business Model Needed to Combat Marine Litter

Nov 21, 2018 | Packaging News

By Tony Corbin

With growing awareness of the scale and urgency needed to address marine litter, plastics industry leaders asked leading academic, sustainability and finance experts to provide their thoughts on effective solutions.
Those voices and perspectives are highlighted in a video unveiled at the Chemical Industries Association’s (CIA) annual conference on 15 November in London.
The solution to marine litter will be multi-faceted, including prevention, innovation, and basic waste collection, sorting and treatment where they are most needed, as well as engaging with public and private sector stakeholders to provide education.
Experts agree that stemming the tide will require new circular business models, as well as significant investment in waste management, particularly in countries that have yet to invest in systems and infrastructure to manage and repurpose waste.
Philip Law, director-general, British Plastics Federation (BPF) said: “The public is now more aware than ever of the damage that irresponsibly discarded plastic waste can have on the environment. We all want to leave the environment in a better place for future generations – and we all have a part to play. This video provides an excellent summary of why we need plastics and some of the innovative solutions being developed by industry.”
The video, produced in partnership with ITN Productions and introduced by national newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky, features world renowned professionals in the plastics sector who bring global perspectives, namely Richard Thompson OBE – professor of marine biology, University of Plymouth, Patrick Thomas – founder of the World Plastics Council, Robert Kaplan – founder/chief executive, Circulate Capital, Nina Goodrich – director, Sustainable Packaging Coalition and Anton de Vries – director, Enerkem.
Jim Seward, chairman, World Plastics Council, said: “The problem of plastic waste in our environment is solvable. It requires innovation, investment and changing the way we all think about plastics and plastic waste.”
Steven Russell, vice president, Plastics Division, American Chemistry Council (ACC) said: “Plastic makers understand the urgent need to eliminate plastic waste from entering the environment and we are working with our value chains to deliver more recyclable products, innovative new formats, and optimised waste treatment systems.”
“Finding the right balance so that society can continue to benefit from the added value brought by plastics and negative aspects arising from their end of use (waste) are effectively managed is vital. Plastic litter is a global issue and therefore all stakeholders need to find effective ways for sharing learning from initiatives, so that as a collective society we realise the benefits for taking positive action towards achieving a more sustainable use of plastics. CIA believes this to be achievable if we all work together,” said Steve Elliott, chief executive, Chemical Industries Association (CIA).
“As a society, we need to take advantage of the opportunities that the new plastics economy offers,” said Karl Foerster, executive director of PlasticsEurope. “Delivering on our ambitious targets for re-use, recycling and/or recovery of all plastics packaging together with the full value chain is key. Nevertheless, these efforts need to be complemented by the strong commitment of policy makers and public authorities to ensure investments in waste management infrastructure. Only together we can solve the waste challenge as a whole.”
https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/environment/marine-litter-environment/video-experts-weigh-raise-awareness-marine-litter-solutions-21-11-2018

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EPA Officials Wrestle With Enforcement Decline Spurred By Trump Policies

Nov 20, 2018 | Inside EPA

By David LaRoss

EPA enforcement officials are privately blaming Trump administration policies for a sharp drop in new criminal and civil cases, settlements and other actions despite the agency's public defense of its enforcement record, according to an environmental group's new report that says the officials are weighing options for reversing the decline.
The Nov. 19 report from the group, known as the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI), is titled “A Sheep in the Closet: The Erosion of Enforcement at the EPA” and quotes from internal OECA communications that show officials grappling with their office's downturn since 2017. The contents of the report suggest that political leadership at the agency and the White House could be responsible for the shift.
EDGI, which has members from academic institutions and non-profit organizations, cites internal Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance (OECA) communications that suggest some staff are looking at options for boosting enforcement in response to the drop under the Trump administration.
For example, the report cites a June 18 email from OECA Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator Lawrence Starfield to regional enforcement directors -- -- which it says is “in EDGI’s possession” but is not included with the report -- where Starfield wrote that “there are significant decreases in enforcement and compliance activity across almost all programs and in almost every region."
According to EDGI's summary of the document, Starfield “asked the regional enforcement directors for explanations for the decrease in any program that showed a 10 percent decline from the previous year,” and warned them that Assistant Administrator for OECA Susan Bodine “would be reaching out to regional administrators to discuss the declines."
It also cites a separate “EPA internal document from June 14, 2018, titled 'Possible Reasons for Decline in Inspection/Enforcement and Ideas for Reversing,'” where, EDGI says, “OECA leadership considered various reasons for the abrupt decreases in enforcement action” and floated seven possible reasons for the shift -- most of which are rooted in the Trump administration's industry-friendly posture or its efforts to rein in EPA's enforcement processes.
If accurate, EDGI's accounting of OECA's internal discussions is a marked departure from officials' public posture, where Bodine and others have largely rejected accusations from environmentalists and Democrats that the Trump administration has slashed EPA's enforcement program both through resource constraints and by limiting officials' discretion on when to enforce.
For instance, at a Nov. 13 American Bar Association “forum” on environmental enforcement in Washington, D.C., Bodine described the concept that the Trump EPA is weakening enforcement as a false impression that OECA has moved to “correct."
“There were some companies that wanted to test EPA's resolve, and did -- to their detriment,” she said.
However, EDGI in the report says a downward trend in enforcement statistics seen in EPA's own report covering fiscal year 2017 has continued in the years since, based on statistics pulled from the agency's Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) website, and predicts that the FY18 report will be far below even FY17 levels in most respects.
However, EPA in a statement provided to Inside EPA pushed back against EDGI's figures, on the grounds the ECHO data “does not tell the whole story.”
“It appears that the EDGI report on EPA Enforcement relied on preliminary, unverified, 2018 mid-year data. EPA monitors and reviews this information as a management tool to ensure the strength of the enforcement and compliance assurance program. We are compiling and verifying our FY 2018 results. We expect to release those results next month and anticipate they will show a significant improvement from mid-year,” the statement says.
It continues that the ECHO database is a poor measure of EPA's overall enforcement activity because “Regions are not required to report 'informal actions,' and only a few do so. ECHO also does not capture all state actions.”
Internal Discussions
In the June 14 document summarized by EDGI, OECA officials describe “a 'consistent message' from the administration 'to slow enforcement'” in the first months after President Donald Trump took office and lament a lack of “resources” for the enforcement office, including failure to replace retiring staff.
The officials also say the agency's push for greater state discretion under the umbrella of “cooperative federalism” is leading to less enforcement in areas where EPA would ordinarily supplement state regulators' work.
And they cite the Trump administration's public industry-friendly messaging as detrimental to enforcement. EDGI quotes the memo as saying that a general impression that EPA “would reduce enforcement or become friendlier . . . led some companies to believe that they have more leverage to push back on EPA settlement demands” which was “amplified by [the] willingness of some senior political leaders to meet directly with defendants,” likely a reference to former Administrator Scott Pruitt's frequent meetings with industry.
As a result of that resistance to EPA action, “some settlements are taking longer to conclude,” EDGI quotes the memo as saying.
According to EDGI, OECA leaders in the memo wrote that Bodine's Jan. 22 guidance for deferring to states on enforcement matters has led some officials to “incorrectly interpret” the policy as an order to “do no inspections and enforcement in authorized states.” But even after correcting those errors, it quotes the memo as saying, the new procedure still requires a more elaborate process for EPA-state coordination that “takes effort, and slows the work.”
Also cited as having an impact is Bodine's separate March 23 memo ordering staff to provide her office with “early notice” of civil cases that they plan to refer to the Justice Department.
Bodine has said the shift is intended to accelerate corrective actions, but critics have charged that it could hinder aggressive enforcement, and EDGI's account of the memo has OECA officials raising that same concern -- saying it “may have sent an 'unintentional signal that certain types of cases are not appropriate.'”
Finally, it says, the agency's overall focus on deregulation as opposed to environmental protection has fueled an impression that enforcement is a low priority.
EDGI summarizes the memo as saying that “headquarters had not shown much interest in enforcement 'measures and regional performance' over the past few years,” and quotes a passage that says “anticipated changes in program direction,” namely deregulation in areas like air standards and Clean Water Act jurisdiction, “may result in less enforcement now.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-officials-wrestle-enforcement-decline-spurred-trump-policies

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IG Alleges Improper Handling of Competitive Bids

Nov 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire

By Kelsey Brugger

The Interior Department's inspector general has found that a manager at the agency's independent safety and environmental regulator improperly influenced a competitive bidding process and inflated government cost estimates.
The manager at the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) allegedly inflated an "independent government cost estimate." The process determines the costs of particular items and services, which could run the gamut from office supplies to inspector equipment. BSEE regulates offshore activities.
In addition, the report found that the manager, who wasn't named, directed staff to increase the cost estimates in order to meet preset budgets, "which contradicts the objective and independent nature of an IGCE."
"We found that the BSEE manager and her supervisor mishandled source selection information by altering source selection reports, which are used to prioritize vendor ratings, and by influencing source selection committee members to change their vendor recommendations," the IG summary report reads.
Further details were not made public. It is unclear if the transgressions are illegal, or if the Oct. 19 report (released yesterday) was referred to the Department of Justice.
A BSEE spokesperson said in an email that the department "takes all allegations seriously and is cooperating with the OIG on the investigation findings."
The IG's office added that the manager in question released confidential information given to government buyers that was not supposed to be widely shared. And the IG cast blame on the manager's supervisor, who was also not supposed to see the confidential information.
In a separate summary report, the IG looked into allegations that an employee regularly made negative comments about colleagues and managers to the point where others found the conduct hostile. It is unclear what the conduct was or if the employee is still employed at the agency.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/11/21/stories/1060107173

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Government Can Do More to Support Science and Innovation

Nov 20, 2018 | The Wall Street Journal - Opinion

By Paul Romer

The U.S. government is divided and so are the people. But perhaps we can all agree that the economic growth of the 20th century, driven by robust markets and technological innovation, was good for everyone. The government can do more than most policy makers realize to sustain this long-term, broadly shared growth through investment in science.
I have three recommendations for the 116th Congress to support the sciences and foster innovation:
First, government needs to take a more active role in creating scientific infrastructure. The U.S. has done it in the past, showing that investments in science today can result in critical economic infrastructure tomorrow. For example, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency laid the foundation for the internet, which now powers the modern economy. Now this infrastructure needs to be maintained and improved to facilitate new innovations.
Congress can help without any additional spending by letting recipients of research grants use those funds to support open-source projects, which make their blueprints publicly available. Recipients can already use grant funds to buy commercial software; freeing them up to help open-source initiatives would even the playing field.
Take Python, the open-source programming language that has become the language of choice for software developers in the fields of artificial intelligence and data science. Programmers have used Python to power innovation in everything from the detection of gravity waves (resulting in last year’s Nobel Prize in Physics) to reducing the cost of developing new drugs. Letting researchers allocate even a fraction of their federal grant funding to support open-source projects like Python would encourage the development and maintenance of scientific infrastructure open to everyone.
Second, Congress should look for opportunities to extend scientific transparency to the private sector. It could draw on the principles that guided the design of our patent system; the law protects a private right to charge for the use of a discovery, but mandates public disclosure of its details so others can learn from it.
To see how this could work, consider hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for oil and gas. Regulators in North Dakota forced firms to disclose how much water and sand they used to frack each well and how much oil it produced. This let a different firm drilling a well nearby select a better mixture for its well. Over time, the entire industry optimized the mix used in various geological conditions and substantially reduced costs.
Congress could apply this insight to industries accumulating vast quantities of data about daily life. At an artificial-intelligence conference in September, an Uber representative suggested that anyone looking to do cutting-edge research on autonomous-vehicles would have to come work for the ride-sharing company in order to access Uber’s massive—and proprietary—dataset of vehicle trips. Opening access to that data would speed up innovation and spur growth.
Third, Congress can protect the independence of the federal government’s scientific advisers, who must be uncompromising in their pursuit of the facts. The key is to set them apart from regulators, who rely on facts but must compromise to balance competing interests when they write regulations.
The National Transportation Safety Board is a model for this. After a transportation accident, the NTSB’s only job is to establish what happened. It can make recommendations, but has no power to implement them. Flight-safety regulations are the Federal Aviation Administration’s responsibility. This layer of separation protects both scientists and regulators.
The same model should be applied to other areas, such as diagnosing the cause of a financial crisis. After the last crisis, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was not able to reach consensus about the facts of what happened because some members jumped ahead to possible regulatory changes. Keep the two separate: Congress should create fact-finding authorities that are independent from all regulatory agencies. This would give regulators and firms the facts they need to evaluate any changes to existing regulations.
By focusing on science, the 116th Congress can help create growth and prosperity. As a citizen, I remain optimistic. As a scientist, I’m convinced that the U.S. can repeat what it did so well in the last century: foster innovation that benefits all Americans.
Mr. Romer, a co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics, is a University Professor at New York University.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/government-can-do-more-to-support-science-and-innovation-1542758326?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1

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EPA’s Top Drinking Water Official to Retire This Year (1)

Nov 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By David Schultz

Peter Grevatt, the country’s top drinking water regulator, will step down from the EPA next month after 30 years the agency.
Grevatt has been the leader of the agency’s Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water since 2012. He told Bloomberg Environment he is stepping down because he has been offered another position outside of the agency, which he declined to identify.
He leads the Environmental Protection Agency’s office that polices lead, copper, arsenic, E. coli, and other tap water contaminants.
Grevatt is also the point person marshaling an agency-wide response to perfluorinated chemical contamination.
Tests of air, water, and soil across the country in recent years have revealed alarming amounts of these chemicals. They are long-lasting in the environment and have been linked to immune, developmental, and cancer-related health problems when people are exposed to enough of them.Emerging Contaminants Response
Grevatt said the agency is still working on a plan that will determine whether the EPA sets legally binding limits on water utilities that would require them to filter out perfluorinated chemicals.
The agency had expected it would release a draft version of this plan by the end of this year. Grevatt said he couldn’t confirm that timetable will still hold, adding that other departments within the EPA need to be able to add their input.
“There’s still a little bit of work to do on that,” he said. “This is a good time to transition this to leadership that isn’t in the Office of Water.”
Grevatt emphasized that he is leaving on his own terms.
“I’m not motivated to leave EPA so much as I see other opportunities that I would like to pursue,” Grevatt said. “I love EPA. It’s a great organization. This is not in any way anything other than something that I’m choosing to do.”Putting Issues on Radar
In addition to his unfinished work on the perfluorinated chemicals plan, Grevatt will leave before the update of the EPA’s lead standards for drinking water.
That effort predates both Grevatt’s tenure in the water office and the contamination crisis in Flint, Mich., where polluted water corroded lead pipes and caused levels of the toxic metal to spike in the city’s tap water.
As the agency struggled with how to feasibly address the millions of homes and businesses connected to lead pipes, it pushed back its timetable for updating its lead rules seven times in as many years.
Despite this, water industry insiders praised Grevatt and said he oversaw tangible progress on this and other issues, even if he won’t be the one to bring them across the finish line. Diane VanDe Hei, CEO of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, said Grevatt should be commended for taking on enormous, multifaceted problems instead of simply searching for easy wins.
“It’s the courage to take them on knowing you weren’t going to finish them,” she told Bloomberg Environment.
Lauren Schapker, head of government affairs with the National Ground Water Association, said Grevatt was unwilling to ignore difficult problems like perfluorinated chemicals, even though it would have been politically convenient to do so.
“I have a lot of things to worry about, but I don’t have to worry about them forgetting this issue,” she told Bloomberg Environment. “The level of attention they’ve given is really encouraging.”
(Updates with reaction from water utility groups beginning in the 11th paragraph.)

https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/epas-top-drinking-water-official-to-retire-this-year-1

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LCSA News

EPA Requests Input on Draft Risk Evaluation for TSCA Chemical After Finding No ‘Unreasonable Risk’

Nov 20, 2018 | Safety + Health Magazine

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment on a draft risk evaluation that states the chemical substance Pigment Violet 29 “does not present an unreasonable risk of injury to human health or the environment,” according to a notice published in the Nov. 15 Federal Register.
One of the first 10 chemicals slated for evaluation for potential health and environmental risks under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, Pigment Violet 29 primarily is used as a colorant in consumer products such as paints, coatings, plastics and rubber products. The draft risk evaluation is the first released by EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act amended by the Lautenberg Act, a Nov. 14 press release states.
During its evaluation, EPA found that Pigment Violet 29 possesses “low solubility, low vapor pressure, low bioaccumulation potential, low absorption, limited environmental releases and low potential for resulting exposures,” translating to “a low hazard to human health and environmental receptors.”
As required by the TCSA, the draft risk evaluation will undergo peer review by the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals, the release states.
“EPA has made tremendous progress fulfilling our new responsibilities for existing chemicals under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act,” Andrew Wheeler, EPA acting administrator, said in the release. “Releasing the first draft risk evaluation conducted under this new authority shows that the agency is delivering on its promise to meet the statutory deadlines and ensure the safety of chemicals currently on the market.”
Comments must be submitted by Jan. 14.
According to the release, EPA intends to issue final risk evaluations for each of the first 10 chemicals by December 2019. In June, the agency took a step toward meeting the deadline, releasing problem formulation documents for the chemicals.
https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/print/17755-epa-requests-input-on-draft-risk-evaluation-for-tsca-chemical-after-finding-no-unreasonable-risk

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Chemical Management News

Georgia Fabric Plant Settles Suit Over Wastewater Spray Field

Nov 21, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Chris Marr

A fiber and fabric manufacturer agreed to upgrade the wastewater spray-field system at a Georgia factory and pay for water quality monitoring as part of its settlement to end a conservation group’s lawsuit.
TenCate Protective Fabrics, operating locally as Southern Mills Inc., will pay $170,000 to Flint Riverkeeper for water monitoring and sampling under the consent orderentered Nov. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. The settlement also calls for TenCate to pay $80,000 to the conservation group American Rivers, which said it will use the money on projects aimed at improving low flow levels in Georgia’s Flint River, according to a court filing.
Flint Riverkeeper accused the company in a 2016 Clean Water Act lawsuit of discharging untreated industrial wastewater into nearby streams and neighboring private property.
The group had said in 2016 it hoped to force TenCate to replace the spray-field system with a direct discharge under a more typical federal wastewater permit. It ultimately settled for TenCate improving the operations and monitoring of its spray field, or land application system.
A land application system is designed to let the wastewater seep into the soil, where contaminants are filtered out as it percolates into groundwater. But Flint Riverkeeper contended that improperly designed or poorly operated spray fields such as TenCate’s can lead to untreated wastewater reaching nearby streams or groundwater.
Discharge from TenCate’s plant in Molena, Ga., contained high levels of sodium, calcium, potassium, nitrates, and conductivity, as well as elevated levels of total nitrogen, ammonia, total phosphorus, and arsenic, according to Flint Riverkeeper’s 2016 lawsuit.
TenCate didn’t admit any legal liability as part of the settlement. The company is a part of the Dutch business Royal Ten Cate.
The case is Flint Riverkeeper Inc. v. Southern Mills Inc., M.D. Ga., No. 5:16-cv-00435, consent judgment 11/20/18.

https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/georgia-fabric-plant-settles-suit-over-wastewater-spray-field

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Lawmakers Seek Alternatives to Medical-Sterilization Chemical

Nov 21, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Stephen Joyce

Congressional Democrats from Illinois want a federal task force to look at alternatives to using ethylene oxide in the wake of continued lawsuits alleging the chemical is a factor in cancer among people living near a Chicago-area medical sterilizing facility.
In a Nov. 20 letter, Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), as well as Reps. William Foster (D-Ill.) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), asked Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to convene an interagency task force to examine sterilization alternatives to ethylene oxide.
Sterigenics U.S. LLC uses the chemical to sterilize medical equipment at its plant in Willowbrook, west of Chicago. The lawmakers’ letter followed by one day the transfer of a lawsuit from state district court to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The lawsuit was launched by plaintiff Shawn Fornek, who lives within two miles of the facility and was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome—an immune system disorder—in 2004 and lobular carcinoma breast cancer in 2006.
Sterigenics has been emitting ethylene oxide—a known carcinogen—since the 1980s. Sterigenics has repeatedly asserted it is in compliance with all state and federal ethylene oxide emissions standards.
Critics of the facility’s emissions record, however, say the Environmental Protection Agency’s ethylene oxide emissions standards need to be updated to adequately protect human health and the environment, and that continued emissions create an ongoing health crisis.
Sterigenics spokeswoman Kristin Gibbs didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg Environment’s request for comment on the litigation transfer or letter.
Lawmakers Cite Risks
In their letter, the federal legislators said public hazards due to ethylene oxide emissions are real and that the EPA has failed to protect the public heath by not adequately updating its ethylene oxide permitting regulations.
“That is why it is critical that FDA begin investigating alternatives to the [ethylene oxide] sterilization process and prioritize swift adoption of safer methods and substances. Americans should not be forced to choose between sterile medical equipment and increased cancer risks,” the letter said.
The FDA didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg Environment’s request for comment on the letter.
Bill Wehrum, EPA assistant administrator for air, said in a Sept, 27 letter that the Willowbrook site was identified this year as potentially having an elevated chronic risk from ethylene oxide as much as 60 times more potent than levels contained in a 2014 National Air Toxics Assessment. Local officials expessed concern that existing EPA standards don’t adequately protect individuals living near the Willowbrook facility.
The federal lawsuit contained 17 allegations against Sterigenics, including negligence, not providing workers with adequate hazardous-substance training, and wanton conduct.
The lawsuit is at least the second filed against Sterigenics over its ethylene oxide emissions. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) and DuPage County (Ill.) State’s Attorney Robert Berlin (R) filed a lawsuit in Illinois Circuit Court on Oct. 30 against Sterigenics, alleging air-pollution violations due to the release of ethylene oxide.
The case is Fornek v. Sterigenics U.S. LLC, N.D. Ill., No. 18-cv-07688, notice of removal from Cook County (Ill.) circuit court 11/19/18.
https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/lawmakers-seek-alternatives-to-medical-sterilization-chemical

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Grevatt's Retirement Creates Uncertainty Over Fate Of EPA's PFAS Policy

Nov 20, 2018 | Inside EPA

By Suzanne Yohannan

Peter Grevatt, EPA's top official overseeing cross-agency policy on high-profile perfluorinated chemicals, is retiring from the agency after 30 years, creating uncertainty about who will take over the major task of responding to calls from lawmakers, states and communities to develop a comprehensive plan to address the contaminants.
Grevatt, who both is director of the agency's Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water and leads EPA's policy efforts on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), is departing just as the agency is slated to release a national management plan for PFAS -- a broad class of non-stick chemicals that have been linked to a host of adverse effects.
That plan, which EPA officials have said they hope to have completed by the end of 2018, is expected to reveal EPA decisions on whether or how it will proceed on designating PFAS as hazardous substances under Superfund or other laws, and on developing an enforceable drinking water standard for two of the chemicals -- two significant regulatory actions the agency has been weighing.
Earlier this week, in response to an EPA charge last May, the Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC) submitted an advisory report to the agency calling for EPA leadership and a host of actions, some of which the agency has been weighing, including designating PFAS as hazardous under the Superfund law.
At press time, it was also unclear who will take up Grevatt's duties as chief on PFAS issues. EPA released to Inside EPA statements about Grevatt's retirement, but declined to comment at this time on any successor to his position.
The Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA) Nov. 19 first reported Grevatt's decision to retire in its weekly drinking water news update. ASDWA says Grevatt will leave his post Dec. 14 and plans to head up a national water association. An ASDWA official says it is unclear which association he will lead.
In a statement released to Inside EPA, Grevatt announced he is retiring after 30 years of public service, saying he is “very grateful to EPA staff and management for a wonderful career.” He said that he is “proud of the great work that I have been able to participate in throughout my federal service,” adding that he planned to continue his career protecting human health and the environment.
And in a statement, EPA Office of Water Assistant Administrator David Ross thanked Grevatt for his service, saying his “dedication to the agency's mission of protecting public health and the environment has been unparalleled.”
While PFAS is a high priority item at the agency under Wheeler, EPA faces urgent calls from communities, states and lawmakers to provide leadership and guidance on addressing the chemicals even as EPA concedes it will take years for any regulations. Grevatt testified to a Senate subcommittee in September that if EPA decides to regulate PFAS under various environmental laws, it would take years to complete.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/grevatts-retirement-creates-uncertainty-over-fate-epas-pfas-policy

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U.S. Judge Selects First Case in Federal Monsanto Weed-Killer Litigation

Nov 20, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)

By Tina Bellon

A U.S. judge overseeing the federal litigation against Bayer AG's Monsanto unit over glyphosate-based weed-killers allegedly causing cancer on Tuesday selected the first case to be tried in federal court in February 2019.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chaabria in San Francisco in an order said the case of California resident Edwin Hardeman will be the first out of more than 620 cases pending in the federal litigation to go to a jury.
Hardeman's case will mark the second trial in the U.S. litigation over glyphosate, after a California state court jury in August awarded $289 million to a school groundskeeper, finding Monsanto liable for the man's cancer.
Damages were later reduced to $78 million, and Bayer, which denies the allegations, said it would appeal the decision.
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Its share price, however, has dropped more than 30 percent since the Aug. 10 jury verdict and the company faces some 9,300 U.S. glyphosate lawsuits.
Bayer, which acquired Monsanto earlier this year for $63 billion, says its glyphosate-based products do not cause cancer, pointing to decades of scientific studies and regulatory approvals that have shown the chemical to be safe for human use.
Hardeman's case was picked as a so-called bellwether, or test trial, frequently used in U.S. product liability mass litigation to help both sides gauge the range of damages and define settlement options.
Hardeman began using the Roundup brand herbicide with glyphosate in the 1980s to control poison oak and weeds on his property and sprayed "large volumes" of the chemical for many years on a regular basis, according to court documents. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system, in February 2015 and filed his lawsuit a year later.
Glyphosate jury trials will ramp up next year. The company is scheduled to face jurors in another California state court trial in March, after a judge last week granted a couple's request for an expedited trial.
Another trial in St. Louis, Missouri, state court is expected to start later in 2019.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September 2017 concluded a decades-long assessment of glyphosate risks and found the chemical not likely carcinogenic to humans. But the World Health Organization's cancer arm in 2015 classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans."
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/11/20/business/20reuters-bayer-glyphosate-lawsuit.html

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Waterkeeper Renews Threat to Sue EPA Over SDWA Delays

Nov 20, 2018 | Inside EPA

The Waterkeeper Alliance is renewing its threat to sue EPA for failing to perform several nondiscretionary duties under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), saying that while the agency has taken some actions since receiving a similar 2016 threat, environmentalists have identified additional violations.
The alleged violations include failing to revise existing drinking water standards and delays in identifying new contaminants for possible regulation.
“By failing to properly regulate those contaminants in a timely manner, EPA puts public health and safety at risk. As a result of EPA’s delays, millions of Americans are being needlessly exposed to dangerously high levels of cancer-causing or otherwise harmful contaminants in their tap water,” the Nov. 15 notice of intent to sue says.
Additionally, EPA exposes the public to “unnecessary, unwarranted and unlawful health risks by not identifying other harmful unregulated contaminants that should be regulated and/or monitored and by not reviewing and revising existing drinking water regulations in the timely manner required by Congress,” the notice says.
In the November 2016 notice, Waterkeeper said EPA had missed statutory deadlines for regulating strontium, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), acrylamide, epichlorohydrin, and chromium, and had missed statutory deadlines for identifying other contaminants that may require monitoring and/or regulation, determining whether to regulate such contaminants; and reviewing and strengthening existing drinking water regulations.
EPA in 2010 had identified the contaminants as possible candidates for revised drinking water standards. But in December 2016, the agency said acrylamide and epichlorohydrin are not candidates for review due to the contaminates being a lower priority and there being no meaningful opportunity to improve public health through revision.
The new Waterkeeper notice reiterates the charge that EPA has missed a statutory deadline to revise the PCE and TCE standards, as well as chromium.
And it says the agency has missed the deadline to make decisions about several other contaminants EPA identified in December 2016 as candidates for revisions due to new information on health effects, treatment technologies, analytical methods, occurrence and exposure and/or other factors that could improve public health protection.
These are chlorite, cryptosporidium,haloacetic acids, heterotrophic bacteria, Giardia lamblia, Legionella, total trihalomethanes, and viruses.
Furthermore, Waterkeeper says the agency has missed statutory deadlines to make a fourth regulatory determination about which currently unregulated contaminants should be regulated and publish a fifth contaminant candidate list (CCL).
SDWA requires EPA to publish a CCL every five years and then determine whether or not to regulate at least five contaminants from the CCL in a separate process called regulatory determinations. Waterkeeper says that if EPA was meeting the every-five-years timeline in SDWA, the fifth CCL should have been published by Feb. 6, 2018. EPA announced Oct. 5 that it was requesting nominations of chemicals, microbes, or other materials for consideration on the CCL5, with a deadline of Dec. 4, meaning it would be 2019 before the agency even proposed the CCL5
Similarly, Waterkeeper says the agency should have made four regulatory determinations by now but has only made three, with the most recent occurring in December 2016, violating the timeline laid out in SDWA.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/waterkeeper-renews-threat-sue-epa-over-sdwa-delays

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Treatment for Lead in Drinking Water is Evolving. Will The U.S. EPA Catch Up?

Nov 21, 2018 | Chemical & Engineering News

By Janet Pelley

Tap water from Green Bay, Wis., never exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s lead action level until 2011, when concentrations of the brain-damaging metal suddenly spiked to over 25 ppb. EPA requires drinking water utilities to take steps to cut lead when amounts rise above 15 ppb.Credit: Courtesy of John Phillips, O’Brien & GereThe interior of a corroded cast-iron water pipe is layered with chemical scales and microbial biofilms, all of which influence water quality at the faucet.
The standard solution for Green Bay, according to EPA’s 27-year old Lead & Copper Rule, should have been simple: Adjust the water’s pH and buffering capacity and maybe add a corrosion inhibitor, such as orthophosphate, to inhibit lead’s leaching from lead-containing pipes, solder, and fixtures.
“However, as an engineer, I wanted to know what went wrong with our system and made it release excess lead after many years of stability,” says Nancy Quirk, general manager of the Green Bay Water Utility.
So she called in Abigail F. Cantor, a chemical engineer with consulting firm Process Research Solutions. Cantor recommended flushing the pipes with a high-velocity stream of water to scour off a crumbly iron-and-manganese scale on pipe walls that was sending lead-laden particles throughout the water system.
The scouring also removed slimy films of microbes that line pipes and affect lead chemistry. Green Bay traced the source of a microbial hot spot in the system to the addition in 2005 of a second supply pipeline bringing Lake Michigan water to the treatment plant, says Andrew Jacque, founder of another consulting firm, Water Quality Investigations. Water sat for longer times in the new pipe than in the old one, boosting the population of microorganisms that coat and corrode water pipes.The impact of organic material on lead release is grossly underestimated.”
Flushing the water mains and supply lines thinned out the microbes while knocking off the scale and helped pull Green Bay’s system back into compliance with EPA’s rule. To institute a more permanent fix, the city is on track to replace all its lead service lines by 2020.
Green Bay’s experience exemplifies a new understanding of the complexity of lead behavior. How best to tame lead releases from water-supply pipes has become a hot topic for cities across the nation making headlines because of their lead problems. It’s also a top concern for EPA, which has signaled that it will revise the Lead & Copper Rule in 2019.
Experts have urged EPA to require complete replacement of lead service lines, as Michigan did this year when it revised its state regulation after the drinking water crisis in Flint. But replacing the nation’s 7 million lead service lines could take decades. Meanwhile, drinking water utilities will still have to control lead corrosion. Accomplishing that will require adaptations in light of new information.
When lead pipes corrode, they release positively charged lead ions into the water. If these ions remain dissolved, they get carried along with water and emerge from taps in homes, schools, and businesses.
Yet some of the lead ions will form new insoluble compounds with oxygen, carbonates, chlorides, sulfates, and other chemicals in the water. If the insoluble compounds form a dense layer on the pipe wall, corrosion will slow or even stop.
Therefore, EPA’s Lead & Copper Rule encourages water systems to tune the pH and buffering capacity of the water to maximize production of insoluble lead carbonates. The rule also endorses the addition of orthophosphate, which forms highly insoluble lead phosphates that coat pipe walls.
But the chemistry of water pipes is not that simple, says Graham Gagnon, an environmental engineer at Dalhousie University. The water also contains disinfectant; inorganic carbon; iron, manganese, and aluminum compounds; and naturally occurring microorganisms and their nutrients—organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The inorganic components create complex mineral scales that can trap lead on pipe surfaces or promote its release in particles that travel to the tap, depending on scale composition. The microbes form a slimy biofilm on pipe walls that interacts with the pipe and the water.
How microbes affect lead levels in drinking water is an emerging area of research. A lead pipe seems like an inhospitable place for a microbe. But many bacterial species, particularly those found in metal-contaminated soils, tolerate metals, Gagnon says. While some scientists question the role that microbes play in lead release, new research suggests they could be important. For example, some microbes secrete acids that can affect metal corrosion.
And then there’s the organic matter, which naturally occurs in drinking water supplies and is produced by pipe-dwelling microbes.
“The impact of organic material on lead release is grossly underestimated,” Gagnon says. He and his team have examined how lead release is impacted by humic acid, a form of organic matter naturally found in drinking water. In lab experiments, the researchers found that humic acid complexes with and sequesters dissolved lead. That sequestration prevents lead-corrosion reactions from reaching equilibrium, promoting more lead leaching.
Microbial biofilms, meanwhile, incorporate a protective matrix of proteins and polysaccharides that cloaks the microbes. Gagnon and colleagues have also found that polysaccharides and proteins similar to those found in biofilms have a strong ability to bind with soluble lead. “At a mechanistic level, the findings reinforce what Cantor and her colleagues have found in the field,” he says.
Another example of lead behavior deviating from the Lead & Copper Rule paradigm occurred in 1992, when lead levels exceeded the action level in the drinking water of Madison, Wis. Lead concentrations in Madison were highly erratic from home to home, Cantor says. She collected sections of supply pipes and sent them to EPA scientists, who examined the scales. Their analysis revealed that iron from cast-iron water mains and manganese from well water had accumulated onto pipe walls and served as an efficient trap for lead. But the crumbly scale was prone to disintegrate into particles, some of which contained more than 70% lead by weight. The city dropped its lead levels to 3.6 ppb by controlling manganese in its source water, cleaning off aged scales with high-velocity flushing, and removing all its lead service lines—similar to the approach Green Bay is now taking two decades later.
Other water systems are under pressure to add orthophosphate to control lead, to make an extradurable lead-phosphate scale. Water utilities are reluctant to do this, in part because excess phosphate can affect wastewater treatment and drive algal blooms downstream of sewage plants. Research is also starting to show that the orthophosphate approach may also not work to control lead as well as advertised.
In one study, EPA researchers analyzed pipes from a drinking water system using blended-phosphate corrosion inhibitors. Instead of solid lead phosphate on pipe walls, however, the scientists discovered a porous, amorphous layer rich in aluminum and calcium as well as lead and phosphorus. Amorphous scales may be vulnerable to breaking away from the pipe because of physical or chemical disturbances.
Orthophosphate may also fail to block lead’s leaching caused by galvanic corrosion, other studies suggest. Galvanic corrosion occurs when two dissimilar metals come in contact with each other, such as when lead pipes or solder contact copper pipes. Scientists in Canada and the U.S. have found that orthophosphate does not reduce lead release related to galvanic corrosion and may instead accelerate it.
Other research has shown that when some utilities start dosing with orthophosphate to cut lead levels, dissolved lead levels drop almost immediately—while it can take six months or more for particulate lead levels to decline. Yet other studies suggest that higher doses of phosphate can actually increase water contamination with particulate lead.
These results prompted engineers Daniel Giammar of Washington University in St. Louis and Yandi Hu of the University of Houston to investigate what makes lead phosphate particles stick together and adhere to pipe walls or break apart. Hu’s lab has found that the addition of excess phosphate causes lead phosphate particles to become negatively charged, so they repel each other and resist aggregation.
“Although the addition of excess amounts of phosphates can lower dissolved lead concentration, it could result in higher particulate lead levels in tap water,” Giammar says.
The growing consensus is that water utilities need to study their particular system to determine optimal treatments rather than counting on simple solubility equations.
EPA’s guidance on the current Lead & Copper Rule “contains nice flow diagrams that you follow like a cookbook, but I tell my clients that they have to stop doing this because there is no one-size-fits-all solution,” says David A. Cornwell, president of consulting firm Cornwell Engineering Group. “Don’t just switch to orthophosphate without doing sufficient studies beforehand because you don’t know what’s going to happen, and you could disturb the chemistry of your pipe scales and make things worse,” he says.ADVERTISEMENT
The recent lead crisis in Flint, Mich., is the poster child for what happens when regulators don’t look at the big picture, Cantor says. When the city switched water sources to the Flint River, the water chemistry changed. The river water destabilized old scales and introduced more nutrients and microbes into the distribution system.
But the lure of an ostensibly simple solution remains strong. When Michigan updated its state regulations in June, it addressed shortcomings in water sampling and mandated removal of lead pipes but left corrosion-control guidelines largely alone.
And EPA might not do much better at the federal level. As it looked ahead to updating its Lead & Copper Rule, last year the agency floated a proposal that would require all water systems to use the same corrosion-control treatment. That approach could risk unintended consequences, such as increased lead release from destabilized pipes or phosphorus nutrient loading to rivers, Quirk says.
A better way forward to protect public health, she says, is to use new research that takes a more holistic perspective of pipe systems and their complex chemistry.
Janet Pelley is a freelance writer based in Victoria, British Columbia..
https://cen.acs.org/environment/water/Treatment-lead-drinking-water-evolving/96/i47

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UK Government Updates Brexit Chemicals Webpage

Nov 21, 2018 | Chemical Watch

The UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has updated its Brexit webpages containing advice for Britain's chemicals industry.
The update comes after a draft text on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union was agreed by both parties and published on 14 November. The 585-page document sets out clauses of Britain’s exit, but does not include finer detail around chemicals legislation.
The agreement is still subject to ratification by the UK and European Parliaments and EU27.
HSE’s webpages have guidance on a possible implementation period, as well as what stakeholders need to know if a final deal is not agreed.
The executive has also made available a video of its no-deal Brexit workshop on 10 October in London.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72212/uk-government-updates-brexit-chemicals-webpage

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Energy News

(ACC Mentioned) API: US Petroleum Demand Rebounded to 20.8 Million b/d in October

Nov 20, 2018 | Oil & Gas Journal

US petroleum demand, as measured by total domestic petroleum deliveries, was 20.8 million b/d in October, which was up by 3.3% from September and 3.9% compared with October 2017. This is according to the American Petroleum Institute’s latest monthly statistical report.
Through the year’s first 10 months, petroleum demand remained at its strongest since 2007, averaging 20.4 million b/d and up nearly 600,000 b/d over the same period in 2017.
Consumer gasoline demand, measured by total motor gasoline deliveries, was 9.5 million b/d in October, the highest on record for the month of October. This represented an increase of 2.4% from September and 1.2% from October 2017.
Notably, this was the first time in the past 5 years demand rose between September and October.
In October, distillate deliveries of 4.2 million b/d increased by 6.5% from September and 5.6% compared with October 2017. Through the first 10 months of the year, distillate demand was at its highest since 2007.
Kerosene jet fuel deliveries of nearly 1.8 million b/d increased by 0.4% compared with October 2017. This was the second strongest October monthly demand on record. Through the first 10 months of the year, jet fuel demand averaged 1.7 million b/d, the highest on record.
In its latest report, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported US domestic air passenger kilometers increased by 6.2% in September compared with September 2017. As the pace of growth moderated from stronger levels in prior months, the IATA attributed slowing mainly to hurricane-related travel disruptions in September and less demand stimulation due to low airfares.SPONSORED CONTENT BY PK Companies ?
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Residual fuel oil demand was 297,000 b/d in October, A decrease of 14.7% from September and 8% below October 2017.
Marine shipping activity and residual fuel oil demand were supported by US importers’ inventory building in advance of the holiday season as well as efforts to beat tariffs with escalation of the China-US trade war. However, marine shipping appeared to slow in October, and the Baltic Dry Index declined by 5.5% between September and October.
Refining and petrochemical demand for liquid feedstocks, naphtha, and gas oil was 5.1 million b/d in October, an increase of 3.3% from September and 13.1% above October 2017. This reflected solid refining and petrochemical activity and generally was consistent solid activity suggested by American Chemistry Council’s Chemical Activity Barometer, which increased 3% year-over-year in October.
Supply
US crude oil production of 11.2 million b/d in October marked a record for the month of October and, with revision to past estimates, the third consecutive month of production over 11 million b/d.
The rise in production has been consistent with Baker Hughes’ reported increases in US oil drilling activity, which increased to an average of 863 oil-targeted rigs in 2018 third quarter from 843 in 2018 second quarter. As of the first week of November, US oil-targeted drilling accelerated to 874 rigs, which positioned for further supply gains.
Natural gas liquids production reached 4.5 million b/d in October, which was a record for the month. Through the first 10 months of the year, NGL production has averaged a record 4.2 million b/d and increased by nearly 600,000 b/d above the same period a year ago.
Trade
US petroleum exports continued to rebound for a second consecutive month in October.
Exports were 7.6 million b/d in October, which was an increase of 200,000 b/d from September and 500,000 b/d above October 2017. The increase was attributable to crude oil, as refined product exports remained flat between September and October.
Monitoring the latest data on country-specific shifts in international trade through September showed China and Hong Kong purchased no US crude oil for the second consecutive month. However, as US oil prices remained nearly $10/bbl below international ones, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, and Canada in total increased their purchases of US crude oil and refined products by more than $1 billion between August and September.
US petroleum imports have also risen. In October, US imported 10.2 million b/d of crude oil and refined products, which was an increase of 400,000 b/d or 4.5% year-over-year. Roughly 70% of the increased imports was refined products needed to meet US demand despite strong continued domestic refining throughput.
Refinery, inventories
US refineries set a record for the month of October with gross inputs of 16.6 million b/d and ran at their highest percentage of capacity operated (89.3%) for the month since 2004. Through the first 10 months of the year, refinery throughput of 17.3 million b/d is the highest on record.
In October, total petroleum inventories were 1.24 billion bbl, which was an increase of 0.1% from September but 2.8% below October 2017. The increase was attributable to that in US crude oil inventories, which rose 6.3% between September and October; this was the biggest monthly accumulation since March 2015.
https://www.ogj.com/articles/2018/11/api-us-petroleum-demand-rebounded-to-20-8-million-b-d-in-october.html

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Oil, Gas Companies See Holes in NAFTA Replacement

Nov 21, 2018 | PoliticoPro

By Eric Wolff

Oil and gas industry groups are worried the Trump administration's new trade deal with Mexico and Canada could leave many U.S. companies at the mercy of Mexico's courts in legal disputes rather than granting them access to the international arbitration system.
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which must be approved by Congress,preserves the right of U.S. companies that sign deals with the Mexican government to sort out disputes in international arbitration — the same system that was enshrined in the North American Free Trade Agreement that the new pact will replace. That includes companies like Chevron and Shell, which win concessions from the government to explore in the Gulf of Mexico.
But companies that do not work directly with the government — a list that includes gas pipeline operators, refiners, and fuel marketers — may have to rely on the Mexican courts to resolve the disputes.
"In practical terms, it sounds like some of the upstream activities would be covered because you have a contract with the government directly," said Geoff Moody, vice president for government relations for the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, an oil refiners trade association. "But if you’re building a pipeline under contract with [Mexico's state-owned oil company] PEMEX or another state-owned entity and it’s not clearly exercising some government authority, you might not have access to the provision."
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has long been known to oppose the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism, arguing that the U.S. shouldn’t provide protection to companies that choose to outsource.
“Our view tends to be that if you want to move a plant from the United States to Mexico, and the economics suggest that, then you should go with the economics,“ he told the House Ways and Means Committee in March. “But if you're going there because we are underwriting the investment, we are putting our finger on the scale, we're encouraging you to move your plant down there, that's not the job in my opinion at least of the United States government.“
While the USMCA would eliminate ISDS entirely for disputes in Canada, it would preserve them with Mexico, but only for the companies doing business with the Mexican government.
Trump's trade deal already faces rough waters with the new Democratic House and conservatives aren't entirely on board. A failure to unite the oil and gas industries behind the measure could keep them and their political influence on the sidelines when Congress takes up the measure.
Lawmakers are also confused over whether companies working with PEMEX would get access to the protections, and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told POLITICO he's been told both that it would and would not apply to them. Companies like oilfield service firms or gas pipeline owners that do business with subsidiaries of the oil majors would not get the international arbitration protections.
“The big guys can protect themselves,” Cassidy told POLITICO. “We’re protecting the people who can protect themselves. We’re not protecting the people who are more vulnerable.”
Cassidy has met with Lighthizer on the issue, and on Monday he and 16 other Senate Republicans sent the trade representative a letter asking that investor protection be explicitly included for subsidiaries working with state-owned entities.
“Without access to ISDS, U.S. companies could be less likely to necessary to compete globally,” they wrote.
The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, which represents pipeline owners, has not taken a stand yet, but its member companies are nervous.
"Several of our member companies are looking at this issue now and they share the concern about whether certain midstream entities would continue to qualify for ISDS protection in Mexico," Paul Mckay, an INGAA spokesperson, said in a statement.
Mexico has long been the largest importer of U.S. natural gas, buying 1,543 billion cubic feet last year, according to the Energy Information Administration, and the U.S. invested $110 billion in the country, according to the USTR.
But those investments could be in jeopardy if the ISDS rule favors only one kind of oil company, refiners say. Without ISDS protection, companies will be forced into the Mexican or Canadian courts when they have disputes, which they fear would give their opponents home-field advantage, or subject them to the risk of corruption in the Mexican court system.
"I regard Mexico as not having the same rule of law and certainty and objectiveness as you’d find in international courts," said Stephen Brown, formerly the head lobbyist for the refiner Andeavor and now a consultant with RBJ Strategies. “Without access to ISDS, investments are subject to a host of local actions, your underlying investments have some jeopardy attached to them. It would put an additional level of risk on your decisions to go or not go into that country."
The American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's largest trade association, declined to comment for this story. But it has praised the USMCA text, and called for it to be ratified.
"We urge Congress to approve the USMCA,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said in one release. “Retaining a trade agreement for North America will help ensure the U.S. energy revolution continues into the future.”
The USMCA already faces hostility from some U.S. lawmakers. If Trump seeks fast-track authority, he will need the approval of the House votes from the soon-to-be Democratic House. Rep. Bill Pascrell, who chairs a trade subcommittee, has already said he wants more environmental protections.
Environmentalists have long opposed the ISDS mechanism, which they say allows companies to bypass local environmental and public health protections.
"The deal makes progress curtailing the overreaching corporate rights in NAFTA’s ISDS but turns around and offers those same rights to history's largest polluters," said Ben Beachy, director of Sierra Club Living Economy Program. "It’s a shameless handout to oil and gas corporations that have or may at some point have government contracts for offshore drilling, fracking, and other activities in Mexico."
Refiners, gas pipeline owners and their allies like Cassidy hope the U.S. reaches a side agreement that would either clarify the language in the main text or explicitly increase access to ISDS. AFPM's Moody said a simple clarification of whether contracts with PEMEX and its subsidiaries are covered might be enough to satisfy refiners. But ultimately they hope the exclusive language is a mistake, and not a strategic decision.
"We’re hopeful this was a drafting error or oversight and needs clarification and not wholesale policy change," he said."We’re getting mixed signals on that.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/11/oil-gas-companies-see-holes-in-nafta-replacement-983484

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Report Outlines 'Suite' of Changes for Regulators

Nov 21, 2018 | E&E Energywire

By Edward Klump

Anyone hoping for a dramatic reboot of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission may be underwhelmed by a new study, but state leaders say change isn't off the table.
The report from a panel of the National Academy of Public Administration includes 23 recommendations even as it declines to call for changing the agency's current duties or the makeup of the three-person OCC, which regulates utilities and oil and gas operations in Oklahoma.
The document, which was released last week, follows a 2017 executive order from Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R), who will be replaced early next year. Gov.-elect Kevin Stitt (R), state legislators, three elected members of the OCC and others will determine how the discussion proceeds.
Michael Teague, Oklahoma's secretary of energy and environment, was chairman of a five-person task force that examined issues raised in Fallin's executive order. He said the report, which the task force requested, tees up possible changes for state leaders to consider.
"I think what they get out of this report is a whole suite of recommendations," Teague said, and "they get to pick and choose the things that apply,"
The report says the commission has work to do around strategic planning and performance management. Possible changes mentioned in the study could affect the transparency of the OCC and timeliness of the commission's work.
One recommendation says the commission should reassign staff to set up a pool of technical advisers to assist commissioners. An agencywide advisory group could have a professional expert in each OCC core program area.
Another recommendation says the Oklahoma Legislature should exempt the OCC from the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act "when commissioners engage in informational meetings with staff before deliberations begin or discuss internal management issues." It says the OCC should develop an open meetings policy manual to make sure there's consistent interpretation of the rules.
Another item recommends changing when regulated utilities may impose interim rates — subject to refund — from 180 days after a case filing to 250 days or more. A suggestion in the oil and gas realm involves tracking the time to issue a permit from submission to final decision as a path toward finding ways to be more efficient. Some recommendations touch on potential technology upgrades.
The report also says Oklahoma should consider doing an assessment of campaign finance restrictions for OCC candidates, including the pros and cons of strengthening current restrictions. And the report mentions potential post-employment restrictions for commissioners.Eyeing efficiency
E&E News' attempts to obtain comment from Stitt's team weren't successful this week. But Michael McNutt, communications director for Fallin, issued a statement saying the report "has many observations and findings that taken together will provide the basis for considerations and possible action by future leaders."
The study can be used to "continue our efforts to become more modern and more efficient," said Commissioner Todd Hiett (R), who served on the task force that examined the OCC.
Todd Hiett. Oklahoma Corporation Commission
The OCC could seek to make some changes itself, while others may require legislative action or perhaps a vote by the public. Teague said his time as energy and environment secretary is nearing an end, but he has briefed the incoming governor.
The report says there's "not a compelling need" to change the OCC's current three-member structure. But options could include a five-person body with elected or appointed members or a combination of both, according to the document.
The report also outlines "no compelling reasons" to move the petroleum storage tank division or the oil and gas conservation division to a different agency.
The divisions generally implement tasks in a satisfactory way, the document says, while there would be costs and service disruptions with a shift. The report also says a single-purpose agency could lead to "regulatory capture" in which a body advances the agenda of an industry it's intended to regulate.
Some ad hoc bodies can be created to tackle certain problems, according to the report, which notes a coordinating council on seismic activity. If moving some or all of a division into or out of the OCC is considered, the report suggests examining possible effects on customer service efficiencies and estimated costs.
Hiett said the report recommends changes that could improve the efficiency and functionality of the commission. He noted a potential change in utilities' allowed implementation of interim rates to 250 days after a case filing.
Hiett said he personally doesn't see a need for more commissioners or appointed members, nor does he see improvements from moving divisions out of the OCC. But he said he's willing to discuss a potential plan.
The commissioner said his priorities include making technology current and having more technical people in the oil and gas division and more administrative law judges. While advisory staff could be helpful, Hiett said he wants to make sure other items don't fall to the side.
Jim Roth, a former OCC commissioner and current dean of the Oklahoma City University School of Law, said the biggest lost opportunity was not having sufficient analysis about the funding necessary for the agency to be most efficient. The report on the OCC was "a cursory review" in that regard, he said.
Roth said the document has a positive view of the work done at the OCC, though he questioned the idea of changing open meetings law.
"I don't know that there's much to be gained by rolling back openness or transparency on this most important body," he said.Seeking 'pretty good reasons'
Roth said he thinks more could be accomplished by moving to a five-person board where two members could meet and make progress on an issue.
But Mark Thomas, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association, said going to five members could lead to a series of meetings between two commissioners.
Thomas said he's willing to consider how open-meetings law could work better for the public, and he said it needs to work for government too. Discussions on potential legislative changes might take time, he said, and specific wording would be needed.
"If they wanna have more secret talks at the Corporation Commission, they're gonna have to come up with pretty good reasons why," Thomas said.
Hiett said he'd like to work with the press association to see if there could be modifications to "enable us to be a little more streamlined in some of just our daily menial-type scheduling issues and things."
State Sen. Mark Allen (R), who has discussed removing certain functions related to motor carriers from the OCC, said the agency may need more appropriated money instead of higher fees on industries.
Allen was on the task force examining the OCC, and he would like to have seen more financial information about the agency. He said the new report should have gotten "into the weeds" to "find out why the data wasn't there to support the information they needed."
Hiett said the OCC did provide financial and other information for the report. He said he was surprised and disappointed that it wasn't able to be used for final determinations on the financial needs of the commission.
OGE Energy Corp., the parent of Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., has indicated it sees improving the workflow on regulatory proceedings as important.
"We will be happy to have conversations with commission and with staff, realizing that much of these recommendations will require additional funding, additional resources, and that will be an issue in and of itself as the Legislature convenes and they look at these things from a budget perspective," said Brian Alford, an OGE spokesman.
Chad Warmington, president of a merging Oklahoma oil and gas association called OIPA-OKOGA, said the commission does a good job with limited resources, though it could use a more dedicated source of funding. In light of the new report, he said the industry could help advocate for funding and perhaps legislative changes that would make things more efficient.
"It's a good document to work from," Warmington said. "My encouragement to the commission is let's take this and run with it."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/11/21/stories/1060107171

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North Dakota Gives Oil Industry More Flexibility on Flaring

Nov 20, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)

North Dakota regulators have decided not to change targets for capturing the natural gas produced from oil drilling.
The goal is set to increase in November from 85 percent to 88 percent. The Industrial Commission was to consider postponing that by two years but instead voted Tuesday to give the oil industry more flexibility to meet gas flaring regulations.
The three-member commission voted to change the gas capture policy goals to increase the volume of captured gas and reduce the percentage of flared gas.
Natural gas not captured at oil wells is burned off, a practice known as flaring that can degrade air quality. North Dakota has struggled to build enough infrastructure to capture the gas.
The problem is worse when production speeds up. Record production in September led to just 83 percent of gas being captured — the fifth straight month the 85 percent target was missed.
The commission said the gas capture policy must “be balanced with what infrastructure is in place and how the industry is evolving.”
___
This story corrects that Industrial Commission did not act on backing away from targets for capturing natural gas produced from oil drilling; an earlier news release issued by the commission incorrectly listed the proposed delay as one of the amendments approved by the commission.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/north-dakota-gives-oil-industry-more-flexibility-on-flaring/2018/11/20/227322a2-ed2d-11e8-8b47-bd0975fd6199_story.html?utm_term=.f2ade64724cf

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Fracking Trespass Case to Go to Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Nov 21, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Leslie A. Pappas

Hydraulic fracturing operations could be vulnerable to a wave of trespassing lawsuits for extracting gas from neighboring properties as Pennsylvania’s highest court takes up a dispute between an energy company and Susquehanna County property owners.
In an order Nov. 20, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Adam and Paula Briggs and their family of Susquehanna County who argue a natural gas developer carrying out hydraulic fracturing near their home trespassed by extracting gas from underneath their property.
A two judge panel of the Superior Court ruled in April that hydraulic fracturing companies could be liable when fluids released from the fracking process flow onto adjoining properties. The judges sent the case back to the trial court for further review.
The ruling holds potential for a significant economic impact for companies invested in gas development because it increases the possibility that energy companies could face new trespass claims in connection with their fracking operations.
The driller, Southwestern Energy Production Co., a subsidiary of Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co., appealed the case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after the full Superior Court refused to rehear the case.
If the Superior Court decision is upheld, it could have a chilling effect on oil and gas development because it overturns a long-standing legal principle known as “rule of capture,” which holds that a driller on one parcel of land may extract oil and gas from underneath adjoining properties as long as the driller doesn’t physically trespass over the property line.
The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, which filed an amicus brief in the case, said it was pleased the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would hear the dispute.
“We look forward to participating in the appeal to help try to convince the Court that the Superior Court erred in putting Pennsylvania law at odds with most other states,” Kevin Moody, vice president and general counsel of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, which filed an amicus brief in the case, said in a statement Nov. 20.
The case is Briggs v. Sw. Energy Prod. Co., Pa., No. 443 MAL 2018, Allowance of Appeal granted 11/20/18.

https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/fracking-trespass-case-to-go-to-pennsylvania-supreme-court

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Gas Pipe Work Would Need Engineers’ Approval Under Massachusetts Plan

Nov 21, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Adrianne Appel

Any potentially dangerous natural gas projects or pipe maintenance work in Massachusetts would need to be approved by an engineer, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) proposed in a draft bill he submitted to the state Legislature.
In September, natural gas explosions in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover, Mass., killed one person, injured 25, and destroyed 131 homes and businesses. Blame was placed on excessive pressure in pipeline networks maintained by Columbia Gas Company, a subsidiary of NiSource.
Baker filed his draft bill Nov. 20 in response to one of five safety recommendationsmade by the National Transportation Safety Board Nov. 15. The board referred to the recommendations as “urgent” and said it was still investigating the explosions.
A licensed, professional engineer would have to certify any plans for natural gas work that could pose a “material risk to public safety,” the measure said.
The state Department of Public Utilities would determine if the proposed work needs such approvals, the Baker administration said in announcing the bill Nov. 20.
The legislation was filed in the House and would “provide another critical check and balance” on natural gas work in Massachusetts, the governor’s office said. The state has more than 21,500 miles of natural gas pipelines, some of them nearly 100 years old and made of cast iron.
Columbia Gas and Eversource Energy—two of the major gas distributors in Massachusetts—did not immediately respond to Bloomberg Environment requests for comment Nov. 20.
The third—National Grid—has been “ramping up our engineering capabilities across the company,” Christine Milligan, a spokeswoman for the company,told Bloomberg Environment.
“National Grid recognizes the important role that professional engineers play in providing additional layers of control to pipeline safety,” Milligan said.

https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/gas-pipe-work-would-need-engineers-approval-under-massachusetts-plan

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Video May Complicate FERC Nominee's Path to Confirmation

Nov 20, 2018 | E&E News PM

By Rod Kuckro and Hannah Northey

Less than a week after leaving the Department of Energy, Bernard McNamee delivered provocative comments dismissing renewable energy and emphasizing the need to push and campaign for fossil fuels.
Those comments — which were captured on video — are roiling opposition to his nomination to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
McNamee, 51, is President Trump's pick to fill a Republican vacancy on the independent panel tasked with overseeing the grid, ensuring energy prices are reasonable, and weighing proposed pipelines and liquefied natural gas export projects.
The focus today was on McNamee's remarks last February at a Texas Public Policy Foundation event in Austin.
At the free-market group's event, McNamee emphasized the need for public awareness that "fossil fuels are not something dirty, something we need to get away from," but instead are the "key to our prosperity" and a "clean environment." He said that "renewables, when they come on and off, it screws up the whole physics of the grid."
He also decried the "tyranny" of environmental groups that back renewable power.
McNamee had just started a new role with the foundation leading an initiative called "Life: Powered." Just two days earlier, he had ended a 10-month stint as DOE's deputy general counsel for energy policy.
A Democratic Senate aide said those remarks could be problematic for any hopes McNamee had of securing bipartisan support in the upper chamber.
"The Bernie McNamee from this leaked video sounds a lot less like the independent arbiter he promised to be at his confirmation hearing last week and a lot more like the architect of the Trump coal bailout at DOE," the aide said. "That's a real problem for his prospects of getting bipartisan support."
McNamee's comments also stand in stark contrast to his sworn testimony at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week (Greenwire, Nov. 15).
He told the committee he supported renewables but said the government should let markets choose energy sources. His decisions on the commission, he said, would be based on "law and the facts, not politics."
At least four Democratic senators asked McNamee at the hearing whether he would recuse himself at FERC if confirmed concerning any proposal to provide financial support to struggling coal and nuclear power plants. McNamee refused to give a direct answer, saying he "would need to consult with ethics counsel."
While at the DOE general counsel's office in September, McNamee signed the department's proposal to FERC asking the commission to consider a rulemaking that would change electricity market rules to provide troubled plants a guaranteed cost-recovery mechanism. The commission ultimately rejected the request.
When asked today about the video footage, McNamee declined to comment, opting instead to provide a statement emphasizing his independence.
"I recognize the significant role that renewables play in our energy mix," McNamee said, "and I stand by my statement that if confirmed as a Commissioner, I would be an independent arbiter basing my decisions on the law and the facts, not politics."Battle lines
There are two versions of the video.
One is less than two minutes long and features his most controversial comments. A second, 15-minute video includes more context from him, as well as an introduction by Kevin Roberts, the Texas Public Policy Foundation's executive director.
The foundation has deleted the video from its website and didn't immediately respond when asked about the clip or McNamee's role within the organization.
Roberts characterized McNamee as a "movement conservative" as he introduced McNamee's comments on "How Fossil Fuels Impact Life Today."
Using slides, McNamee outlined what he called an "organized propaganda campaign against fossil fuels," saying, "Our side needs to tell the story better."
He touted his efforts while working for the Texas attorney general in opposing the Obama EPA's Clean Power Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule and said he was proud of being able to help Trump "see the Clean Power Plan put to death."
McNamee served as a political appointee in DOE's Office of the General Counsel from May 2017 until he left for the foundation in February. Between those times at DOE, McNamee was with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a position that Roberts said he hoped would last for the "next several years."
The video clip is already being seized by some as proof that McNamee isn't fuel-neutral.
The Natural Resources Defense Council — one of the environmental groups that McNamee criticized in the video — conceded that the clip may not stop his confirmation but emphasized it would shadow his decisions at FERC if he is confirmed.
"We want to believe that what Bernard McNamee told his Senate confirmation hearing is true," NRDC spokesman Pat Remick said in an email, noting McNamee's promise of impartiality last week.
"If he's confirmed, we will be among those closely watching whether the sentiments he expressed in the video translate into discrimination against renewables and new technology, or otherwise taint his decisions on issues supported by NRDC and the other environmental groups he called out by name."
Other groups — including Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, the Delaware Riverkeeper and the Union of Concerned Scientists — have likewise flagged the remarks and vowed to oppose the nomination.
Mark Brownstein, the Environmental Defense Fund's senior vice president for energy, took issue with McNamee singling his group out during the presentation. "The fact that Mr. McNamee singles us out says more about his mindset than ours," Brownstein said. "EDF has a long tradition of working constructively with FERC commissioners on both sides of the aisle."
But Republicans appear poised to approve his nomination.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said last week that she wasn't concerned by McNamee's past policy work and that his role at FERC would be different from what he had done in the past.
Murkowski also said she hopes to move the nominees to the full Senate after Thanksgiving.
Should a senator try to block a vote on McNamee, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would have to allow 30 hours to elapse before a hold could be lifted.
With a host of pending nominations and legislation ahead in the lame-duck session, the Senate may steer clear of taking that route.
Reporter Jeremy Dillon contributed.
https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2018/11/20/stories/1060107155

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Dakota Access Protester Injured in Blast Files Civil Lawsuit

Nov 20, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)

A New York woman who suffered a serious arm injury while protesting the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota has filed a civil lawsuit against Morton County and several law enforcement officers.
Sophia Wilansky accuses an unnamed officer of launching an explosive that nearly severed her hand. She is seeking “millions of dollars” in damages.
The suit also accuses Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier and North Dakota Highway Patrol Captain Tom Iverson of violating her constitutional rights and defamation, among other charges.
Wilansky suffered a left arm injury in the explosion and had several surgeries. Police maintain it was caused by a propane canister that protesters rigged to explode.
Randall Bakke, attorney for the defendants, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/dakota-access-protester-injured-in-blast-files-civil-lawsuit/2018/11/20/723d3ac0-ed19-11e8-8b47-bd0975fd6199_story.html?utm_term=.087bf3523e3a

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Chemical Security News

Cal Water Jury Win on Asbestos Claims Upheld

Nov 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Peter Hayes

A jury verdict absolving California Water Service Co. of asbestos liability to a contract worker will stand, a California appeals court ruled.
Cal Water and San Jose Water Co. aren’t liable to the estate of Thomas Hubbard for exposures occurring while he was employed by an independent contractor doing work for the water companies, the court said.
The jury reasonably found that contractor Fairly Constructors should have known that cutting asbestos pipes posed a health hazard by the late 1960s to early 1970s.
The water companies are in the clear because there was no showing that they knew of the danger before the contractors did.
The water companies contracted with Fairly to install water and sewer lines between 1959 and 1989.
Under the contracts, the water companies supplied all materials for the projects and Fairly supplied labor, tools, and equipment.
Hubbard developed mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos dust generated when power saws were used to cut the pipes for the projects, the estate alleged.
Judge Stuart R. Pollak wrote the opinion, joined by Judges Peter J. Siggins and Jeffrey Ross.
Levin Simes LLP represented the estate.
Carpenter, Rothans & Dumont represented Cal Water.
Low, Ball & Lynch represented San Jose Water.
The case is Hubbard v. Cal. Water Serv. Co., 2018 BL 426234, Cal. Ct. App., 1st Dist., No. A145804, unpublished 11/19/18.

https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/cal-water-jury-win-on-asbestos-claims-upheld

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Monitors Check for Radiation Release After Waste Site Blast

Nov 20, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)

Air monitoring systems were set up Tuesday to check for low-level nuclear radiation and other harmful contaminants following a powerful weekend blast at a hazardous waste site in Idaho that killed a worker, destroyed a building and damaged other structures, an official said.
Results were not yet available from the monitors installed at the US Ecology site about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Boise, said Albert Crawshaw of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
Monitors have also been installed outside the site.
Officials said it's not clear what caused the explosion. US Ecology takes in low-level radioactive waste, but none of the material was believed to be near the explosion on Saturday, Crawshaw said.
The facility also accepts contaminants such as arsenic, lead, zinc, cadmium and other metals. It's also unclear if containers holding any of that hazardous waste were damaged in the explosion.
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Some types of waste can emit dangerous gases or create the potential for explosions if they react with other hazardous waste.
The explosion occurred in a building where hazardous waste is treated. Images appear to show the blast blew out the roof and walls, Crawshaw said.
"The building was demolished," he said.
Other buildings at the 200-acre site also sustained damage, and an inspector was examining them to determine if it's safe to enter.
US Ecology converts contaminants to non-hazardous residues, minimizing the long-term risks of disposal. The company then buries the material at the site.
Crawshaw said the company reported that low-level radioactive waste at the site already had been buried at the time of the explosion.Sign Up for On Politics With Lisa Lerer
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Three workers with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are at the site, EPA spokesman Mark MacIntyre said, adding that the cleanup is being led by the company.
"We're there to provide oversight," he said. "If there's anything they need to affect a quick and safe cleanup, we will do that."
US Ecology spokeswoman Ysabel Bilbao said the company had no comment on specific efforts underway at the site.
"At this point, the investigation continues," she said.
The company previously identified Monte "Alex" Green of Grand View, Idaho, as the worker who died in the explosion.
Three other people received treatment for non-life threatening injuries. A total of 15 employees were working when the explosion occurred.
In 2012, US Ecology agreed to pay a $184,400 fine after the EPA said it failed to submit timely reports on toxic chemical releases at the site, according to the agency.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/11/20/us/ap-us-waste-site-explosion.html

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Transportation and Infrastructure News

Positive Train Control: Asset Management for Safety-Critical Systems.

Nov 21, 2018 | Smart Rail World

By Brett Koenig and Marcelo Bravo

Safety. It’s more than a word. It’s a foundation of a successful and reliable public transit agency. Unfortunately, incidents still occur, but, in North America, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has put rules in place to assist in lowering the number of incidents that occur due to speed or over-tired operators. The Rail Safety Improvement Act requires all railroads that are passenger intercity or commuter lines to implement positive train control (PTC).
PTC is a safety system to assure compliance with rail speed limits and signal adherence. It can take control of the train by slowing or stopping the train if needed to help avoid collisions, derailments, running through misaligned switches, or entering established work zones. Think of it as an automatic braking system for railroads. Many operators are already hard at work making sure that PTC is implemented and operational on their network by the FRA deadline of January 2019. And, as the deadline approaches, operators need to ask themselves a critical question: ‘Once PTC is live, then what?’
In this article, Brett Koenig and Marcelo Bravo ask: Is your agency prepared to manage these safety-critical assets throughout their lifecycle?
These PTC systems require a lot of new infrastructure. Many large railroads are installing tens of thousands of new assets, such as transponders, on vehicles and along the right of way. That’s a lot of new data to track – including PTC assets, attributes, part numbers, software revisions and document files – whether dealing with onboard systems or wayside infrastructure. A single PTC asset can have 40-50 different attributes that need to be tracked. Adding to this complexity is the messy reality of dealing with multiple equipment manufacturers and engineering firms, who are tracking this data in a variety of formats, such as paper and spreadsheets, which makes consolidating and standardising PTC data a significant challenge.
Once PTC has been successfully installed, validated, and ‘live’, your task effectively becomes managing the lifecycle of this critical infrastructure. This typically involves managing the following workflows:
1. Onboarding (installing, prepping for service, and testing)
2. Commission (asset in active service)
3. Inspection regime
4. Asset Configuration Management
5. Remove and replace defective assets
6. Decommission assets at the end of their lifecycle
[Enlarge image]

From the Gantt Chart below, you can see how to: carry out inspections according to manufacturer recommended intervals; manage engineering changes such as software/firmware updates (configuration management) and the eventual decline; fix and replace aspects that happen at the end of an asset’s life.
These steps are not optional. The FRA is very clear that asset configuration management is a must-have: “given the importance of proper configuration management in safety-critical systems, [the FRA] believes it is essential that railroads learn of and take appropriate configuration control of hardware and software… [and that the] railroads identify the associated configuration management process they will use to identify safety-critical failures and mitigations.”
What this means: Tracking safety-critical PTC assets (or any assets for that matter) via paper or spreadsheet just doesn’t cut it anymore. There are too many assets, too many sub-components and, simply, too much data. Surprisingly, some railroads still rely on paper forms and logs far too often. With the advent of mobile technology and enterprise asset management (EAM) solutions, however, there is no excuse for utilising those types of unreliable approaches.
Asset configuration management is a challenge that a rail-focused EAM system can help solve. Leading systems create campaigns that generate work orders automatically, enabling operators to follow the entire progression of updating their infrastructures’ new configuration – such as firmware/software – to make sure it is compliant with new standards, fixes, and patches. Using a campaign automates some of the administrative work so your team can focus on making sure all updates are complete.
Times are changing. The most important aspect of these PTC requirements is ensuring that these systems get successfully deployed, but also properly managed over time. These EAM systems can track assets, work orders, and materials management. But they are much more than that. EAM is the mission-critical tool that successful railroads are using to manage vital PTC workflows: what needs to be changed and updated, all while making sure it gets done correctly and on schedule.
If you want more information about your positive train control asset management next steps, check out this webinar. The webinar goes into more detail on the items addressed in this article – the data elements, key asset lifecycle workflows, and tools that will help.
Brett Koenig is Industry Solutions Manager, EAM, and
Marcelo Bravo is Industry Solutions Manager, Rail, at Trapeze.
https://www.smartrailworld.com/positive-train-control-asset-management-for-safety-critical-systems

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Environment News

'It's Not a Happy Place'

Nov 21, 2018 | E&E Climatewire

By Maxine Joselow

President Trump has failed to stop climate change work at EPA.
The administration has repeatedly tried to slash the agency's climate funding, only to be rebuffed by Congress. That has left a small cadre of EPA climate experts in an awkward position, working in jobs they know their boss would prefer to ax.
Some EPA climate staffers have left the agency since Trump — who has called climate change a "hoax" — entered the White House. Others continue to show up for work every day despite staff cuts, flagging morale and a lack of support for their work from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
"It's not a happy place," said an EPA staffer familiar with the agency's climate work. That employee spoke to E&E News on the condition of anonymity.
Among EPA's climate workers: a small but dedicated team of career staffers in the Climate Change Division in EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. They work on initiatives aimed at protecting the ozone layer and improving regional air quality, among other things.
"We still have ongoing work that's basically a carryover from previous years," the EPA staffer said. "So it's good that we're still producing science."
But Trump's repeated requests that Congress zero out funding for climate work has taken a toll on employees.
"The morale is pretty low," the EPA staffer said. "We all joke about it. You kind of have to have a little bit of gallows humor to keep going every day. We say things like, 'Why don't we just ask Trump, because I hear he has a good intuition for science?' That kind of stuff."
In an interview with the Associated Press earlier this year, Trump addressed his stance on climate change, extolling his own "natural instinct for science" (Greenwire, Oct. 17).Climate work in crosshairs
Trump's fiscal 2019 budget request targeted hundreds of millions of dollars in climate science and climate mitigation efforts across federal agencies, including EPA and NASA (Climatewire, Feb. 13).
The phrase "climate change" only appeared once in the narrative summary of the budget request, and that was for the proposed elimination of EPA's Climate Change Research and Partnership Programs. Also on the chopping block was EPA's Atmospheric Protection Program.
The proposed cuts drew cheers from conservatives who take issue with mainstream climate science.
"I think that the EPA needs major budget cuts, and I would support including their climate change work in those budget cuts," said Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Energy and Environment, who led Trump's EPA transition team.
"In terms of the climate program in particular," he added, "it would be better to just get rid of it and start all over."
House and Senate appropriators ended up rejecting the president's calls for steep cuts, with programs at EPA and the Interior Department ultimately receiving a boost in funding (E&E Daily, May 25).
Budget request aside, though, Trump's hiring freeze has hollowed out staffing at EPA. That's trickled down to the climate division.
Shortly after his inauguration in January 2017, Trump signed a presidential memorandum implementing a hiring freeze for all federal agencies. The Office of Management and Budget lifted the hiring freeze that April, but EPA decided to temporarily keep it in place to meet Trump's long-term workforce reduction goals. Hundreds of EPA staffers took buyouts offered last year (Greenwire, Nov. 22, 2017).
Even before Trump took charge, the climate division was feeling the effects of hiring freezes. And more people have left under the current administration without being replaced.
"We haven't hired anyone in the last four or five years," the EPA staffer said. "After the election, we got three or four people in who were fellows or coming from other parts of the agency. I think those are the only people we've hired in the last seven years. There were hiring freezes before Trump."
The source added, "A lot of people have left [under Trump]. A lot of people are looking for other positions. And there's not a lot of effort by our management to keep people, which doesn't feel great."
Dina Kruger, who was director of EPA's Climate Change Division until 2011, said some of her former colleagues are still at the agency.
"There has definitely been staff attrition on the climate issues," said Kruger, who now leads the consulting firm Kruger Environmental Strategies LLC. "Many of the Climate Change Division staff that worked for me are still hanging in there, and I think it is probably the same for the Climate Protection Partnerships Division.
"But people have left, in the climate change area as well as in many other offices at EPA. In addition, some climate staff have found other jobs at EPA that make them feel better about their work."Censorship concerns
Career employees in the climate change division have experienced some censorship from political appointees higher up the chain, the EPA staffer said.
The division is responsible for managing EPA's webpage on climate change indicators. Under past administrations, the webpage was updated every six months as new data became available.
"When I was there, [EPA] regularly put out this climate change indicators report," said Janet McCabe, who served as acting EPA air chief under President Obama. "It was really great because it had an increasing number of indicators out in the real world, and it cataloged the impacts of climate year after year.
"It included things like snowfall, ice melt, sea-level rise or ticks," McCabe added. "There were a bunch of real-world indicators that provided this great timeline of how climate change was affecting these metrics."
Under Trump, however, the climate change indicators webpage has languished.
"It hasn't been updated since 2016," the EPA staffer said. "Every year, we get a new data point. The Arctic sea ice extent for that year, for example. Or a new number from [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] on Lyme disease cases. So usually we update that site every six months, but we haven't been allowed to."
The management team in the climate division is hesitant to ask political appointees in the Office of Air and Radiation — including Senior Policy Adviser Mandy Gunasekara — about updating the site, that person said.
"I've heard rumors that Mandy and team don't approve anything to do with climate change on the website," the source said.
The political appointees may be wary of news stories about federal climate change information disappearing under Trump. The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, which has been tracking changes to federal government webpages under the Trump administration, frequently points out such changes to reporters (Climatewire, Nov. 2).
"No one is willing to touch the website because everyone's afraid of the news stories that say, 'EPA changed this,'" the EPA staffer said.
Career EPA staff members are reluctant to talk to the press about climate work under Trump. "They have to be super, super careful," Kruger said.
EPA's press shop didn't respond to a request for comment for this story.'Hands-off-the-science attitude'
Still, under Trump, staffers in the climate division have continued their research on how climate change affects human health. They've also done work on air quality and vector-borne diseases.
And their economic modeling will inform the next National Climate Assessment, a report summarizing the impacts of climate change in the United States. The report is expected to be released next month.
"It's hopefully coming out in December. All signs point to it coming out then," the EPA staffer said. "It's been a surprising relief how little interference there has been from the administration politicals with that. They have mainly maintained a hands-off-the-science attitude. They don't want to be seen as manipulating the science."
In addition to the Climate Change Division, the air office's Office of Atmospheric Programs includes a Stratospheric Protection Division, which is responsible for implementing Title VI of the Clean Air Act on stratospheric ozone protection.
McCabe recalled that during the Obama administration, the Stratospheric Protection Division worked on the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which aimed to ratchet down the use of ozone-depleting chemicals.
The division also worked with the State Department on international climate efforts leading up to the Paris climate accord and the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, McCabe said.
It remains unclear what the division has accomplished under Trump.
The Kigali Amendment has not been ratified by the U.S. Senate, and the Trump administration has abandoned the Obama administration's 2015 rule aimed at phasing out the use of potent heat-trapping gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (Climatewire, Sept. 17).
Trump has also threatened to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, and the White House plans to send another fossil-fuel-touting panel to the next Conference of the Parties (Climatewire, Nov. 16).
Kruger said career staffers will adjust to the reality that they won't be working on the kinds of climate rules that came out of the Obama EPA.
"In my view, the majority of career staff at EPA are going to do what they can do," she said. "But they are not going to try that hard, and they are certainly not going to be burning the midnight oil doing the kinds of rules that we were doing during the Obama administration."
Reporter Robin Bravender contributed.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/11/21/stories/1060107165

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Dead Whale Had 115 Plastic Cups, 2 Flip-Flops In Its Stomach

Nov 20, 2018 | AP (In The Washington Post)

A dead whale that washed ashore in eastern Indonesia had a large lump of plastic waste in its stomach, including drinking cups, bottles and flip-flops, a park official said Tuesday, causing concern among environmentalists and government officials in one of the world’s largest plastic-polluting countries.
Rescuers from Wakatobi National Park found the rotting carcass of the 9.5-meter (31-foot) sperm whale late Monday near the park in Southeast Sulawesi province after hearing that villagers were beginning to butcher the rotting carcass, park chief Heri Santoso said.
Santoso said researchers from wildlife conservation group WWF and the park’s conservation academy found about 5.9 kilograms (13 pounds) of plastic waste in the animal’s stomach containing 115 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, 2 flip-flops, a nylon sack and more than 1,000 other assorted pieces of plastic.
“Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful,” said Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation coordinator at WWF Indonesia.
She said it was not possible to determine if the plastic had caused the whale’s death because of the animal’s advanced state of decay.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 260 million people, is the world’s second-largest plastic polluter after China, according to a study published in the journal Science in January. It produces 3.2 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste a year, of which 1.29 million tons ends up in the ocean, the study said.
Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister of maritime affairs, said the whale’s discovery should raise public awareness about the need to reduce plastic use, and had spurred the government to take tougher measures to protect the ocean.
“I’m so sad to hear this,” said Pandjaitan, who recently has campaigned for less use of plastic. “It is possible that many other marine animals are also contaminated with plastic waste and this is very dangerous for our lives.”
He said the government is making efforts to reduce the use of plastic, including urging shops not to provide plastic bags for customers and teaching about the problem in schools nationwide to meet a government target of reducing plastic use by 70 percent by 2025.
“This big ambition can be achieved if people learn to understand that plastic waste is a common enemy,” he told The Associated Press.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/dead-whale-had-115-plastic-cups-2-flip-flops-in-its-stomach/2018/11/20/079e9f3a-ed26-11e8-8b47-bd0975fd6199_story.html?utm_term=.1cf89c1608e2

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Japan Making Mild Moves to Remove Microbeads, Plastics Pollution

Nov 20, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Brian Yap

Japan is updating its microplastics and water pollution policies after declining earlier this year to sign a pledge by major industrialized nations to reduce plastics in the oceans.
A Central Environment Council subcommittee—set up by the Ministry of the Environment—is expected to call on manufacturers by the end of the year to reduce their use of plastic particles that are up to 5 millimeters in size. They are also expected to address chipped plastic waste from grocery bags and microbeads that absorb harmful chemicals.
Japan—as well as the U.S.—didn’t sign the Oceans Plastics Charter, a wide-ranging promise to reduce pollution and relieve battered marine ecosystems, at the Group of Seven meeting in Quebec in June. There has been strong opposition from Japanese businesses to tightening regulations on the use of plastics.
“We need to look at the implications of this document for how it will affect our lives and industry,” Japanese Minister Yasunari Morino said at the time.
Japan, however, is now stepping up efforts to curb microbead use in consumer products ahead of the Group of 20 summit it will be hosting next year.
The nation for the first time will be hosting the G-20 and is determined to put forth its best showing during the June 28-29, 2019, summit, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said in April. In a runup to the summit, ministerial meetings—including ones on energy transitions and global environment—will be held throughout Japan.
No Ban, No Penalties
Japanese companies aren’t prohibited from using microplastics, including microbeads, in consumer products like face wash, exfoliating creams, and toothpaste, but current legislation directs them to try to reduce discarding microplastics into the sea, rivers, and other public waters and to curb their use in products.
There are no penalties for not reducing the use of microbeads under this amendment.
Cosmetics giants Shiseido Co. Ltd. and SK-II told Bloomberg Environment that they have halted the use of microplastics and microbeads in their products.
“We already completed the replacement of microplastic beads in products such as cleansing foam, with alternative ingredients as of August 2018,” said Tatsuyoshi Endo, manager of Global Communications Department at Shiseido in Tokyo. “Therefore, we do not foresee any negative impact of Japanese government’s plan to ban the use of plastic microbeads in cosmetic products such as cleansing foam.”
A spokeswoman for SK-II said that company neither manufactures nor sells products using microplastics in Japan.
Toothpaste manufacturers Ishizawa Laboratories Inc., Sangi Co. Ltd. Japan, and Sanwatsusyo Co. Ltd. didn’t respond to Bloomberg Environment’s request for comments.
Smaller Companies
Smaller companies in the same fields may continue using microplastics, because complying with the upcoming amended basic policy could prove to be difficult for them due to a clash of existing regulations, environmental lawyers said.
Under Japan’s Waste Disposal and Public Cleansing law, “restrictions on the exportation of plastics would make it difficult for companies, especially those with a sizable amount of plastics, including microplastics, in stock, seeking to reduce, if not stop the use of plastics in their products,” said Maya Ito, natural resources and energy partner at Nishimura & Asahi in Tokyo.
Smaller companies would have to find large recycling firms to dispose of their plastics stockpiles, Ito added.
Companies still could be liable for the continued use of microplastics in certain types of products.
If microplastics prove harmful to consumers, it is possible the new guidelines or new legislation could be used as de facto standards by a judge in determining a company’s legal responsibilities in case of legal action, according to Osamu Inoue, environmental law partner at Ushijima & Partners in Tokyo.
Japan’s Cabinet will amend the basic policy by June 2019.

https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/japan-making-mild-moves-to-remove-microbeads-plastics-pollution

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