Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 29/11/18
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(ACC Mentioned) Trump's Pick for Chemical Office Breezes Through Hearing
Nov 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
President Trump's second choice to lead EPA's chemicals office appears headed for swift Senate confirmation after enjoying bipartisan praise today at a committee hearing. -
Democrats Give Warm Welcome to New EPA Chemical Office Nominee
Nov 29, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Annie Snider
Senate Democrats signaled that President Donald Trump's nominee to lead EPA's chemical safety office, Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, could be swiftly confirmed if the agency's political leaders commit to giving her free rein over the office's work. -
Career Staffer Returns for Leadership Job
Nov 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Robin Bravender
A career staffer who served as EPA's top science official during the Obama administration has returned from a stint at the World Bank. -
US NGOs Urge Congress to Help Protect Science at Federal Agencies
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
US NGOs have compiled a report advising how Congress can help to protect science at federal agencies, and warning that political interference in science programmes and communication can harm public health. -
Target Signs Up to Chemical Footprint Project
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
Target has become the most recent major retailer to join the Chemical Footprint Project (CFP), a programme managed by the NGO Clean Production Action that helps signatories measure their chemical management work. -
(ACC Mentioned) Solvents Industry Submits TCE Data to US EPA
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance (HSIA) has submitted the draft results of an industry-sponsored study on tricholoroethylene (TCE) to the US EPA to inform the agency’s ongoing risk evaluation of the solvent. -
TSCA Advisory Committee Sets Dates for PV29 Evaluation Review
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA’s TSCA Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) will convene in January to discuss the draft risk evaluation of pigment violet 29 – the first of ten assessments being completed under the reformed law. -
US EPA Round-Up
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The EPA is seeking additional comments on a new information collection request (ICR) concerning expanded access to TSCA confidential business information. -
Washington State Considers Flame Retardant Restrictions Among Policy Options
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
Restrictions or bans of flame retardants in building insulation, furniture and children’s products are among the policy options Washington state is considering for addressing the class of substances, a recent stakeholder meeting has heard. -
Breathe Easy: Healthier Indoor Air In Cold Weather, Part 1
Nov 29, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Ketura Persellin
In much of the country, winter means you can’t let fresh air into your house. -
Experts List 30 Questions to Assess Read-Across Uncertainty
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Computational toxicologists have devised a list of 30 questions to assess the level of uncertainty in read-across cases, which predict toxicity based on a chemical's similarity to other data-rich compounds. -
MEPs Approve Blocking of Chromate Authorisation Draft Decision
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
The European Parliament has voted by large majority in favour of a resolution seeking to block the European Commission's draft decision to authorise a use of the SVHC sodium dichromate, a chromium VI compound. -
Echa Round-Up
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Echa says the deadline for submitting substance in articles notifications for ten SVHCs is 27 December. -
RWE to Buy More U.S. LNG as Trump Promotes Gas Riches in Europe
Nov 29, 2018 | Bloomberg Quint
By Vanessa Dezem and William Wilkes
RWE AG plans to buy more U.S. liquefied natural gas after signing two contracts this year in a strategy to bulk up the utility’s sources of the super-chilled fuel. -
EU Outlines Petrochemical Routes to Climate Neutrality
Nov 29, 2018 | Platts
By Simon Price
The European Commission has outlined key challenges and pathways for the European petrochemical industry to achieve carbon neutrality as part of a wider initiative.Not registered? -
New Documents Reveal How Sterigenics, Other Companies Were Allowed to Vent Cancer-Causing Gas Into Communities
Nov 29, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
By Michael Hawthorne
After a series of explosions at medical sterilization plants during the late 1990s, federal safety officials urged Sterigenics International and other companies to overhaul the way they handled highly volatile and extremely dangerous ethylene oxide gas. -
Report: Chemours Plant, Others Pollute N.C. Water Source
Nov 29, 2018 | AP (In E&E Greenwire)
A study performed for a chemical maker accused of polluting North Carolina's longest river finds the entire waterway used by thousands for drinking water is laced with industrial compounds. -
Perry Calls for Energy Infrastructure Buildout
Nov 29, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By James Osborne
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Thursday the United States needed to expand its energy infrastructure to meet the increasingly diverse sources of energy powering the nation. -
Climate Change Is More Extensive and Worse Than Once Thought
Nov 29, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
Climate scientists missed a lot about a quarter century ago when they predicted how bad global warming would be. -
Climate Studies Say Warming May Cost US $500 Billion a Year — It Will Cost Much More
Nov 29, 2018 | The Hill - Opinion
By Paul Bledsoe and Durwood Zaelke
Three stunningly dire climate change reports have emerged in the last month, including the UN “Emissions Gap” report released this week and the U.S. National Climate Assessment released last Friday. -
Poll: Nearly Two-Thirds of Republicans Now Acknowledge Climate Change
Nov 29, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By John Bowden
Nearly two-thirds of Republicans and a majority of all Americans now acknowledge climate change, according to a Monmouth University Poll released Thursday. -
Ewire: California AG Pledges to 'Use Every Bit' of Climate Study
Nov 29, 2018 | Inside EPA
California's top litigator is sending a message to Trump administration officials: Anything they say can and will be used against them in a court of law when it comes to their climate rule rollbacks, particularly when those statements come in the form of an authoritative inter-agency report outlining the increasingly severe risks from global warming. -
Petition Argues Pa. Has Duty to Enact Cap and Trade
Nov 29, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Hulac
Pennsylvania is under pressure to establish and manage a cap-and-trade program, an effort that, if enacted, would limit greenhouse gas emissions throughout the state's economy. -
Bloc Proposes to Go Climate Neutral by 2050
Nov 29, 2018 | AP (In E&E Climatewire)
The European Union's executive branch proposed yesterday that the bloc should cut its emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050, a measure scientists say needs to be adopted worldwide in order to avoid catastrophic global warming.
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(ACC Mentioned) Trump's Pick for Chemical Office Breezes Through Hearing
Nov 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
President Trump's second choice to lead EPA's chemicals office appears headed for swift Senate confirmation after enjoying bipartisan praise today at a committee hearing.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said he hopes to move Alexandra Dunn's nomination directly to the Senate floor as early as next week.
While cautioning that a final decision on that option will hinge on whether committee members raise any flags in written follow-up questions to Dunn, Barrasso said he thought "the questions that needed to be asked were asked today."
Dunn, a lawyer, has headed EPA's New England regional office since January. Trump tapped her in August to head what is formally known as the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention after his first choice, toxicologist Michael Dourson, dropped out when it became clear that he could not win confirmation.
This morning's hearing lasted little more than an hour.
In his opening statement, Barrasso hailed Dunn as a well-qualified nominee who "will bring a wealth of experience and expertise to this critically important position."
Also praising Dunn was Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who lauded her "passion" for communities, environmental justice and leveraging the expertise of outside groups.
After contrasting Dunn favorably with Dourson, ranking member Tom Carper (D-Del.) asked whether she would have the administration's backing to implement the landmark 2016 overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act in a spirit of compromise and "bipartisan cooperation."
"If the answer is yes, I think there is a real possibility that you could be confirmed in short order," Carper told Dunn at the hearing's outset. "If the answer is no, then your nomination could be pending for some time, which is not what any of us want."
Dunn later voiced confidence she could deliver on Congress' vision for an "impactful and effective implementation" of the law.
If confirmed, Dunn added, her door would be open to EPA career employees, and she would work closely with Congress and strive to prioritize the chemical office's heavy workload.
The committee also released letters of support for her nomination from the American Chemistry Council, the National Wildlife Federation and numerous other groups.
But in a joint letter released just before the hearing, Earthjustice and almost 30 other advocacy organizations urged lawmakers to consider her nomination in light of Dunn's stance on a number of issues, including whether she would implement the TSCA overhaul "with a focus on protecting public health and the environment."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/11/29/stories/1060108207
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Democrats Give Warm Welcome to New EPA Chemical Office Nominee
Nov 29, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Annie Snider
Senate Democrats signaled that President Donald Trump's nominee to lead EPA's chemical safety office, Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, could be swiftly confirmed if the agency's political leaders commit to giving her free rein over the office's work.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), one of the Senate's top environmental champions, introduced Dunn, and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said he was encouraged by her plans for the office. It was a sharp contrast to the fierce opposition to Trump's first nominee for the post, industry consultant Michael Dourson, whose nomination was pulled earlier this year.
"Ms. Dunn has a deep passion for working with communities, for environmental justice and for leveraging the expertise of nongovernmental organizations," Whitehouse said at the start of today's Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on her nomination.
The office Dunn is nominated to lead, EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, has taken a controversial tack to implementing the bipartisan overhaul of the Toxic Substances Act passed by Congress in 2016. For instance, under the Trump administration EPA has limited the types of uses that it looks at when it considers the safety of a chemical.
Carper, the top Democrat on the panel, told Dunn that, "I know from our meeting that you want to change it. The question is will you have the authority."
"If the answer is yes," he said, "then I think your nomination could be approved in short order."
Dunn assured lawmakers that, "If confirmed, I commit to implementing the law, following the law, and bringing all the provisions of the law to full effect."
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Career Staffer Returns for Leadership Job
Nov 29, 2018 | E&E Greenwire
By Robin Bravender
A career staffer who served as EPA's top science official during the Obama administration has returned from a stint at the World Bank.
Lek Kadeli rejoined the agency this week in a career post in EPA's chemicals office, according to an email obtained by E&E News.
He'll be the acting deputy assistant administrator for management in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, according to the email. "Lek has extensive experience managing and supporting a wide range of environment and human health related programs," said the internal EPA email from Charlotte Bertrand, the acting leader of the chemicals office.
Kadeli was previously the principal deputy assistant administrator in EPA's Office of Research and Development — the agency's principal science arm — during the Obama administration. He served as ORD's acting leader for years while Obama's nominee for the job languished without Senate confirmation.
Between his EPA stints, Kadeli was on a two-year detail working on pollution management and environmental health at the World Bank. The detail was announced at a January 2017 meeting of EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors.
The hire comes as Trump's pick to lead the EPA chemicals office, Alexandra Dunn, is awaiting Senate confirmation. She testified today before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (see related story).
Kadeli has a long history at EPA. Prior to leading the science shop, he held several other positions in ORD and elsewhere in the agency.
He has a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in national security studies.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/11/29/stories/1060108203
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US NGOs Urge Congress to Help Protect Science at Federal Agencies
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
US NGOs have compiled a report advising how Congress can help to protect science at federal agencies, and warning that political interference in science programmes and communication can harm public health.
"Scientific integrity at federal agencies has eroded recently, with serious consequences for public trust and our government's ability to respond to problems," it states.
The report, Protecting Science at Federal Agencies: How Congress Can Help, describes "new and ongoing threats" to science in public health and environmental decisions and recommends steps Congress can take in response.
For example, Congress should conduct hearings on issues of political interference in science. When considering confirmation of an administration's nominees, senators should consider their records of either supporting or undermining science, the report adds.
"If the sidelining of science described in this report persists, federal agencies' reputations as respected sources of information will suffer long-term damage," it says.
"Congress has the power to halt and repair damage from federal agencies' current disregard for scientific evidence."
NGOs involved in compiling the report include the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, the Environmental Integrity Project, the Environmental Protection Network and Greenpeace.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72445/us-ngos-urge-congress-to-help-protect-science-at-federal-agencies
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Target Signs Up to Chemical Footprint Project
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
Target has become the most recent major retailer to join the Chemical Footprint Project (CFP), a programme managed by the NGO Clean Production Action that helps signatories measure their chemical management work.
According to its website, the CFP tracks, disseminates and benchmarks corporate progress to safer chemicals in products, manufacturing and supply chains. It has more than 70 signatories, including investors with more than $2.78tn in assets under management, as well as healthcare systems, group purchasing organisations and retailers with over $700bn in purchasing power.
Mark Rossi, executive director of Clean Production Action, counts Target as an important addition because "retailers play a critical role in translating and communicating the sustainability preferences of consumers."
"It signals to its private label suppliers and brands that they need to report their chemical management policies, practices, and procedures to an independent third-party organisation that will benchmark their performance to peers," Mr Rossi told Chemical Watch.
For Target, its participation in the CFP and its survey is another step forward in its focus on chemical management.
Jennifer Silberman, vice president of corporate responsibility for the retailer, told Chemical Watch: "Our work with the Chemical Footprint Project is an extension of our chemicals strategy and policy created in 2017 – a retail first in the industry – that addresses our entire value chain."
Target’s chemicals strategy is multi-pronged, and includes using hazard profiles, restricted substances lists (RSLs) and manufacturing restricted substances lists (MRSLs) to better control potentially harmful substances.
The company also has set goals to:achieve transparency of all ingredients, including generics such as ‘fragrance’, in beauty, baby care, personal care and household cleaning formulated products by 2020;remove from textile products added perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) and flame retardants that are potentially harmful or carcinogenic by 2022;improve beauty, baby care, personal care and household cleaning product categories by formulating without phthalates, propyl-paraben, butyl-paraben, formaldehyde, formaldehyde-donors, or NPEs by 2020; andinvest up to $5m in green chemistry innovation by 2022.
Walmart and Staples are already signatories to the CFP. Mr Rossi said he is encouraged that major retailers seem to be setting an example.
"We see the combination of Target and Walmart's leadership, the Mind the Store campaign retailer report card [from NGO Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families], and investor concerns all acting symbiotically to drive increased retailer engagement in the Chemical Footprint Project Survey," he said.
Other recent CFP signatories include:business collaborative the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC);healthcare organisation Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts;investment firms Figure 8 Investment Strategies; JLens Investor Network; and Signity Financial;the nonprofit Safety and Health Technology Center (Sahtech).
https://chemicalwatch.com/72462/target-signs-up-to-chemical-footprint-project
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(ACC Mentioned) Solvents Industry Submits TCE Data to US EPA
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance (HSIA) has submitted the draft results of an industry-sponsored study on tricholoroethylene (TCE) to the US EPA to inform the agency’s ongoing risk evaluation of the solvent.
And with the latest findings, presented in the draft report "An oral (drinking water) study of the effects of trichloroethylene (TCE) on foetal heart development in sprague dawley rats," the HSIA says that the weight of scientific evidence does not support in utero TCE exposure as a cause of cardiac malformations.
Submission of the data follows industry criticism of a study relied on during the TSCA work plan risk assessment of TCE, which linked the solvent to foetal heart malformations. The American ChemistryCouncil joined the HSIA in 2017 raising concern with the Johnson et al study, in the context of a proposed TSCA section 6 rule to ban the solvent in certain applications.
At the time, the HSIA had urged the EPA to withdraw the rulemaking, on the grounds that it is based on a "very deficient risk assessment". And it submitted multiple requests to delay the process to replicate its own version of the study.
The EPA quietly signalled it would do so, by moving the TCE rulemakings to its ‘long-term action’ list and by modifying the scope of its ongoing risk evaluation to re-address those uses. NGOs, meanwhile, blastedthe "last-ditch effort" to discredit evidence of the substance’s toxicity.Data ‘invaluable’
In a cover letter for the recent study, submitted to the public docket for the TCE risk evaluation, the HSIA said it believes the new data "will be invaluable for addressing criticisms raised in the published literature, by other regulatory agencies, and in comments concerning the use of the Johnson et al cardiac malformation data as a basis for establishing a non-cancer toxicity value".
"With these results, there are now EPA guideline studies by all three exposure routes that have found no relationship between in-utero TCE exposure and cardiac malformations," the HSIA added.
A draft risk evaluation for TCE is expected in the coming weeks, ahead of its December 2019 deadline to be finalised.
With no active comment period for the evaluation underway, it is unlikely the new data will have a bearing on the upcoming draft. However, the EPA made clear in the release of its first draft evaluation under the new TSCA that it will be considering additional comments, and allow for the resubmission of information the submitter feels has not been addressed, before the assessments are finalised.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72451/solvents-industry-submits-tce-data-to-us-epa?q=%22american+chemistry+council%22
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TSCA Advisory Committee Sets Dates for PV29 Evaluation Review
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The US EPA’s TSCA Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) will convene in January to discuss the draft risk evaluation of pigment violet 29 – the first of ten assessments being completed under the reformed law.
The peer review will take place during a 4-day, in-person public meeting. It will include a "general orientation for the TSCA SACC", and a portion closed to the public for discussion of information claimed as confidential business information (CBI), according to a pre-publication Federal Register notice.
The SACC was established per the 2016 amendments to TSCA to provide scientific advice and recommendations to EPA. It currently comprises 26 members, representing academia, NGOs, industry and government organisations.
The group will be reviewing each of the first ten draft risk evaluations issued under the reformed TSCA. In the case of PV 29, it will be charged with reviewing the 15 November draft evaluation which preliminarily determined that the substance does not present an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment.
The EPA says it will consider the reviewer comments and recommendations, as well as submitted public comments, to finalise each of the risk evaluations ahead of the December 2019 deadline.
The in-person SACC meeting on PV29 is taking place 28 January to 1 February, with a location to be announced by mid-December. The meeting may also be webcast, according to the notice.
There will be an opportunity for public comments, and the SACC will also be reviewing written comments on the draft risk evaluation submitted by 14 January.
Ahead of the meeting, the agency will hold a virtual preparatory meeting on 8 January to "consider the scope and clarity of the draft charge questions for this peer review." Written comments for this 2-hour discussion should be submitted by 7 January.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72457/tsca-advisory-committee-sets-dates-for-pv29-evaluation-review
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Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
TSCA CBI information collection requestThe EPA is seeking additional comments on a new information collection request (ICR) concerning expanded access to TSCA confidential business information.
Back in March the agency consulted on three draft guidance documents outlining the process by which it will disclose such CBI. The 2016 Lautenberg Act expanded the categories of people who may access information claimed as confidential. These are:state, tribal and local governments;environmental, health and medical professionals; andemergency responders.
The consultation follows a previous 30-day comment period, launched in March, which did not receive any comments.
The Federal Register notice says those most affected by the ICR would be government employees (federal, state, local, tribal), as well as medical professionals, such as doctors and nurses.
Comments can be submitted until 26 December.ICR extensions
Meanwhile, the EPA has asked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 30-day extensions on two ICRs that were due to close on 30 November.
One concerns the consolidated reporting and record keeping requirements for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). It covers statutory mandates in section 6(e) of TSCA and directs the EPA to regulate the marking and disposal of PCBs. The previous ICR did not receive any comments.
The other concerns the new chemicals programme, under section 5 of TSCA. Namely:premanufacture review reporting and exemption requirements for new chemical substances; andsignificant new use reporting requirements for chemical substances.
Both have a comment submission period that runs until 27 December.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72339/us-epa-round-up
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Washington State Considers Flame Retardant Restrictions Among Policy Options
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
Restrictions or bans of flame retardants in building insulation, furniture and children’s products are among the policy options Washington state is considering for addressing the class of substances, a recent stakeholder meeting has heard.
Throughout the year, the state’s departments of ecology (ECY) and health (DOH) have been coordinating discussions on how to take a more preventative approach to the substances. The work comes at the direction of a 2016 state law that banned five flame retardants in children’s products, and required it to develop action plans on six others.
Draft notes from the most recent (9 November) stakeholder meeting reflect a focus on building insulation, as well as furniture and children’s products, with a discussion of policy options for those sectors.Building insulation
Ideas floated for addressing flame retardants in building insulation include:creating a policy to restrict halogenated flame retardants – or all flame retardants – in insulation;changing building codes, such as by implementing a policy that restricts halogenated FRs in insulation while still allowing builders to meet current fire codes;modifying building codes at the state and local level, such as by pushing for adoption of international green building standards.
Discussion of these options followed a presentation from Rebecca Stamm, senior researcher with the Healthy Building Network (HBN), who discussed the organisation’s guide to healthier building alternatives. This included a focus on commonly used flame retardants, preferable alternatives, and the feasibility and potential trade-offs of their use.
Jellen Frey, of Puget Sound, Washington State's Sellen Construction, followed up Ms Stamm’s presentation with a discussion of the practical use of alternative building insulation materials in commercial buildings.
The stakeholders identified several areas where more research is needed, such as around alternative materials in residential construction, and highway insulation materials.Children’s products and furniture
Substance restrictions were also among the options explored during a discussion of children’s products and furniture. According to the draft notes of the discussion, the market is already moving in the direction of restricting the substances’ use in consumer products, and "a ban in Washington would help move the last of the market in this direction."
The meeting also heard discussion of such options are:adopting approaches that target FRs in products sold to places where children live and learn, such as childcare and healthcare centres and school;implementing a governor’s directive for state preferred purchasing around furniture;reducing exposure from legacy furniture and juvenile products.Next steps
The final meeting – which will discuss electronics and further policy options – is set for 4 January.
A draft report with findings, policy options and recommendations for stakeholder review and comment is expected by April 2019, with a final report to follow in July.
Comments on the 9 November draft meeting notes are due by 17 December.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72429/washington-state-considers-flame-retardant-restrictions-among-policy-options
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Breathe Easy: Healthier Indoor Air In Cold Weather, Part 1
Nov 29, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Ketura Persellin
In much of the country, winter means you can’t let fresh air into your house. But without it, the quality of the air inside your home goes down.
Weatherproofing your house doesn’t solve the problem. It just means the pollutants have nowhere to go. In fact, the air indoors can be two to five times more toxic than the air outdoors. Worse, most people spend much of their time indoors in winter.
It’s no wonder respiratory health problems may spike during cooler weather. Children suffer the most, because their developing lungs are particularly vulnerable to exposure to toxic chemicals.
Poor indoor air quality has a variety of causes: chemical off-gassing from furniture and appliances, plus odors, pet dander, mold, smoke and the chemicals in household products. The result can be colds, coughs, skin irritation, rashes and even asthma, which afflicts one in 10 kids. Lead from old paint can also be an issue. Lead exposure in children can result in learning and memory impairment, and behavior problems.
The good news: Small but significant changes can improve the quality of the air in your home. In this series, we’ll go room to room, looking for ways you can make indoor air healthier.
Let’s start with the entryways.
You may think of dust as a nuisance or cleaning issue, but it’s a pollutant. It can be especially harmful to children because they spend more time on or near the floor.
House dust is a mixture of dirt, dust mites, dander, pollen and other particles. Chances are lead dust has gathered, too, especially in homes built before the 1970s. To make matters worse, dust may also contain chemicals emitted by furniture, electronics, plastics and fabric.
Dust gets into a house the way people do – through the foyer or mudroom. Your first line of defense against it is to use doormats that are regularly cleaned, plus extra-long mats inside to capture the worst of it before it gets inside completely. You can also institute a no-shoes policy to cut down on the pollutants tracked in.
In addition, at least twice a week, vacuum using a machine with a high-efficiency particulate air, or HEPA, filter, making sure to clean the filter regularly. Follow with a damp mop and plain water to pick up any excess. You can also dust with a damp cotton or microfiber cloth. (For more ways to contain dust, visit our Healthy Living Home Guide.)
Now let’s move to the living room or den.
A carpet is a nice surface for your kids to play on and feels cushy under your feet. But it’s not the best flooring option when it comes to indoor air quality.
Wall-to-wall carpets are nearly impossible to keep clean, trapping dust and other pollutants like dander and mold. You can mitigate the problem by vacuuming at least three times a week.
But even if you can remove all the dust, carpets can also contain an array of harmful chemicals – in the fiber, backing, padding and glue, and in flame-retardant and stain-resistant, waterproofing treatments. Some give off harmful emissions of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. Anti-stain and water treatments can cause cancer, reproductive problems and other health problems. Your best bet is to remove the carpet altogether and replace it with wood or tile flooring.
Furniture can also worsen air quality. Like carpet, upholstery is often treated with chemicals that are similarly harmful to people and the environment. Foam cushions can also be a problem because they’re made with petroleum chemicals that can emit VOCs. Natural latex foam cushions are the best alternative. As with your carpets, make sure to vacuum regularly to control dust.
And with furniture, it’s not just the upholstery that can be a source of contaminants. Plywood, particle board and composite wood frames can also emit toxic chemicals. Your best choice is solid wood, but if you do need to select a different option, our Healthy Living: Home Guide lists ome Home Guidestandards to look for.
In Part 2, we’ll look at how you can clean up the air in your kitchen and bathrooms.
https://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth/22342/breathe-easy-healthier-indoor-air-cold-weather-part-1
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Experts List 30 Questions to Assess Read-Across Uncertainty
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Computational toxicologists have devised a list of 30 questions to assess the level of uncertainty in read-across cases, which predict toxicity based on a chemical's similarity to other data-rich compounds.
Although read-across is often used to fill data gaps, it is widely agreed that boosting confidence in predictions would improve regulatory acceptance. Different levels of uncertainty fit different regulatory needs. For example, acceptable levels are lower for risk assessment purposes than for prioritisation and screening chemicals.
Terry Schultz from the University of Tennessee, US, Andrea-Nicole Richarz from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) and Mark Cronin from Liverpool John Moores University, UK, set out to review uncertainty issues for repeated dose toxicity.
They assessed six case studies for alkanols, esters, and alcohols, all of which related to reading across a 'no observed adverse effect' level. "This is considered to be one of the most challenging applications of read-across," the researchers wrote in the journal Computational Toxicology.
The team defined four main categories of uncertainty for read-acoss. These link to:regulatory use of the read-across prediction;quality and relevance of the data being read across;arguments for read-across; andsimilarity justification.
The 30 questions spread across each of the categories. Trying out the questions on the six case studies showed that uncertainty is often associated with data quality. Understanding the chemical and biological mechanisms that result in toxicity in also key to assessing uncertainty.
Meanwhile, confidence can also be enhanced by using appropriate toxicokinetic properties such as absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) information, they suggest.
Overall, the team reports that analysing read-across predictions using the questions is a "rapid and efficient" way to determine and analyse uncertainties.
"Greater understanding of uncertainty through schemes such as this will assist regulatory acceptance," Professor Cronin said.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72442/experts-list-30-questions-to-assess-read-across-uncertainty
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MEPs Approve Blocking of Chromate Authorisation Draft Decision
Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
The European Parliament has voted by large majority in favour of a resolution seeking to block the European Commission's draft decision to authorise a use of the SVHC sodium dichromate, a chromium VI compound.
The resolution – a rare move by MEPs to influence the REACH process – follows an environment committee (Envi) motion on 20 November to overturn the proposal to grant Italian firm Ilario Ormezzano permission to use the carcinogen in wool dyeing.
At a plenary session on Thursday, MEPs adopted the resolution by raising hands, meaning an accurate count is not available, a European Parliament spokesperson said.
Their objection has no legal power, but it is set to pile pressure on the Commission and EU member states when they make a final decision on the authorisation, possibly at the REACH Committee meeting on 11-12 December.
The MEPs' resolution says that granting authorisation "for which alternatives are clearly known to be available […] would unduly reward laggards and set a dangerous precedent for future authorisation decisions under REACH".
The Commission has "exceeded the implementing powers" provided in REACH, it says and calls on the EU executive to withdraw its draft implementing decision and submit a new one rejecting the application.
The case is based on an Echa Risk Assessment Committee (Rac) Opinion that "a theoretical safe-level of exposure to this substance cannot be set".
The resolution also questions the Echa Socio-economic Analysis Committee (Seac) conclusion that no suitable alternative to the substance is available. An authorisation decision, it says, "cannot be reconciled" with the fact that alternatives have been available "for many years".Commission slammed
Tatiana Santos, policy manager at NGO the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), said she was "grateful" for parliament's stance against the authorisation "of a very harmful carcinogen".
By backing the resolution by a large majority, parliament has "slammed the Commission for its awful track record of approving the use of supposedly banned chemicals in Europe," Ms Santos said.
Parliament's move "sends a signal", she said, that toxic products should not be allowed if safer alternatives exist. The resolution could open the door to legal action if the Commission sticks to its draft decision to grant the authorisation, she added.
A rejection of the authorisation by the REACH committee would be unprecedented as it has so far rubber stamped all applications for uses of SVHCs on the authorisation list.
MEPs have only once before tried to block an authorisation proposal, for the use of DEHP in recycled PVC in 2015. That attempt was unsuccessful, however, as the Commission proceeded with its decision to grant authorisation.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72456/meps-approve-blocking-of-chromate-authorisation-draft-decision
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Nov 29, 2018 | Chemical Watch
Substance in articles notification deadlineEcha says the deadline for submitting substance in articles notifications for ten SVHCs is 27 December. These were added to the candidate list in June. The substances, and where they can be found (not exhaustive), are:octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4): in flooring, furniture, toys, construction materials, curtains, footwear, leather products and electronic equipment, and in products with paper-based material (for example, tissues, feminine hygiene products, nappies, books, magazines, wallpaper);decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5): in tyres, treated wooden products, treated textile and fabric, and brake pads in trucks or cars;dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6): in articles produced from polysiloxane polymers and resins (used, for example, in construction, aerospace and automotive sectors);ethylenediamine: in adhesives and sealants, coating products, fillers, putties, plasters and modelling clay;terphenyl hydrogenated: in coatings and inks, adhesives and sealants, and plastic articles;lead: in batteries, lead sheets, hot-dip galvanised steel, lead solder, lead ammunition (non-military), cable sheathing and metal articles;disodium octaborate: in frits, cellulose insulation, and construction materials, flux mixtures and refractory mixtures (including stone, plaster, cement, glass and ceramic articles, and wood articles);benzo[ghi]perylene: in vulcanising agents, adhesives, binding agents and conductive agents. It is not registered under REACH;benzene-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid 1,2 anhydride (trimellitic anhydride) (TMA); anddicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP): in plastisol, PVC, rubber and plastic articles.
Importers and EU producers are encouraged to check if these substances in their articles meet the conditions for notification.Report on Pic Regulation
The agency's 2016/17 report on chemicals exported under the prior informed consent (Pic) Regulation is now available on the website. The document gives details of the number of export notifications submitted to third countries, during the reporting period, for each chemical.
The European Commission called the implementation of the regulation a success in October. This was due to the "low number" of infringements reported in the first three years of operation.Echa closed on 6 December
Echa will be closed on 6 December, Finland's Independence Day. REACH-IT will remain open.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72426/echa-round-up
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RWE to Buy More U.S. LNG as Trump Promotes Gas Riches in Europe
Nov 29, 2018 | Bloomberg Quint
By Vanessa Dezem and William Wilkes
RWE AG plans to buy more U.S. liquefied natural gas after signing two contracts this year in a strategy to bulk up the utility’s sources of the super-chilled fuel.
Germany’s biggest power producer agreed on supplies of U.S.-produced LNG for the next couple of years and is negotiating longer-term agreements, according to Andree Stracke, the chief commercial officer at the company’s trading unit.
The U.S. is eager to sell more gas to Germany, with President Donald Trump repeatedly calling on Europe to buy American LNG. From exporting virtually no LNG three years ago, the U.S. is shipping more of its abundant domestic shale gas to become an emerging global gas power.
“We are building up a worldwide, significant portfolio of LNG,” Stracke said in an interview at the company’s Essen headquarters. “This year we have signed two contracts for U.S. LNG. One contract is for one year, the other one is for two or three years.”
Stracke declined to provide details of its transactions. “Will this LNG arrive in Germany? No, because we don’t have a terminal. Will it arrive in Europe? Maybe.”
RWE, with offices in the U.S. to Mumbai and Shanghai, traded about 6 million tons of LNG in 2017, which was about 2 percent of the global market. Imports to Europe are poised to rise almost 20 percent by 2040 from 2016 levels, according to the International Energy Agency.
One challenge in getting U.S. LNG is a lack of financing to export the fuel to Europe, Stracke said. To minimize price risk, lenders to U.S. projects typically require sales of future production to be based on Henry Hub, the U.S. gas benchmark. But European buyers want rates linked to their markets.
“Banks won’t lend against European gas prices,” he said. “There is not a single bank in the U.S. that gives credit. If Americans are interested in selling gas to Europe, they should accept European pricing. And they don’t.”
While U.S. prices are lower than in Europe, the difference is narrowed after liquefaction and transport costs. Henry Hub prices can be hedged 10 years forward, compared with a three-year horizon in Europe, Stracke said earlier this month.German Terminal
In Germany, Europe’s biggest gas consumer, the focus has been more on preparing for imports from Nord Stream 2, a controversial pipeline from Russia, than on importing U.S. fuel. An LNG import terminal has been proposed, but it won’t open until 2022 at the earliest.
RWE pledged earlier this year to buy LNG from the terminal on Germany’s northern coast, but the utility will only invest in capacity at the facility if it can get long-term purchasing contracts, such as the ones it’s seeking from the U.S., Stracke said.
“Your ducks need to line up and we’re still working on getting those ducks in a row,” he said. “We won’t book capacities just to have capacities.”
RWE signed a deal in September to buy a “considerable amount” of LNG imported into the new terminal if it becomes operational. A final investment decision on whether to build the facility, which would meet about 5 percent of Germany’s gas needs, won’t be taken until next year.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/rwe-to-buy-more-u-s-lng-as-trump-promotes-gas-riches-in-europe
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EU Outlines Petrochemical Routes to Climate Neutrality
Nov 29, 2018 | Platts
By Simon Price
The European Commission has outlined key challenges and pathways for the European petrochemical industry to achieve carbon neutrality as part of a wider initiative.Not registered?
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A report from the EU's executive arm, published Wednesday, targets a climate neutral Europe by 2050 across all industries.
Regarding the petrochemical industry, the EC highlighted its reliance on fossil fuel-based feedstocks, process emissions and a high share of the use of natural gas.
The report suggests several routes to tackle these issues, including greater involvement in the circular economy -- which stresses the reuse and regeneration of products and services, and the increased use of biomass as a feedstock, though this would be limited by access to sufficient biomass. Increased plastics recycling was also suggested as a key component of this strategy.
Feedstock replacement could also come through electrolysis of hydrogen and this would supply the greatest reduction of emissions, but this is marked as requiring very high investment levels in new infrastructure.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) was marked out as a less costly option and would enable current emissions from the petrochemical process to be used for further generation. The report recommends a combination of these three paths as the most promising approach.
In a statement, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) responded to the EU report with the message "keep us competitive and we will deliver."
"As clearly recognized, the chemical industry is and will be at the heart of the solution, but we need these solutions to be produced by European industry," the Cefic statement said.
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Adoption of the above methods would, Cefic said, require significant investment and "access to significant amounts of affordable low carbon electricity, access to a modern infrastructure and financial mechanisms to support the required innovation."
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/112918-eu-outlines-petrochemical-routes-to-climate-neutrality
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Nov 29, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
By Michael Hawthorne
After a series of explosions at medical sterilization plants during the late 1990s, federal safety officials urged Sterigenics International and other companies to overhaul the way they handled highly volatile and extremely dangerous ethylene oxide gas.
Instead of following through on some of the safety recommendations, the companies persuaded President George W. Bush’s administration in 2001 to relax clean air regulations so sterilization facilities could bypass pollution-control equipment and vent the cancer-causing gas directly into the air, according to memos and other documents compiled by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service at the behest of U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Chicago.
California and a handful of other states later adopted their own regulations requiring all sterilization plant emissions to be filtered. But Illinois failed to follow their lead, enabling a Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook and a Medline Industries facility in Waukegan to vent uncontrolled ethylene oxide into neighboring communities for nearly two decades.
The Bush administration’s industry-friendly decision garnered little attention at the time. It had been largely forgotten until earlier this year, when a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency analysis found that residential areas near Sterigenics and Medline are among only a few dozen nationwide where the long-term risks of cancer from breathing toxic air pollution exceed federal safety guidelines.
In Willowbrook, Sterigenics rushed to redirect its vents into pollution controls shortly before the EPA released its National Air Toxics Assessment to the public in August. Medline is following suit after the Tribune began asking questions about the facility’s emissions.
Trump and Rauner administrations knew about Sterigenics cancer risks months before telling public »
Yet lawmakers say those voluntary steps fall woefully short of what needs to be done to protect communities from a chemical that increases the long-term risks of breast cancer and lymphomas at extremely low levels.
“It’s long past time for the EPA to update its air emissions standards for ethylene oxide — a known carcinogen,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who along with Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Reps. Lipinski, Bill Foster and Brad Schneider cited an ongoing Tribune investigation while introducing new legislation Wednesday intended to address the pollution problems.
Their bills would require the agency to overhaul outdated regulations within 180 days to reflect a significantly more stringent safety limit in the EPA’s 2016 reassessment of the chemical’s health dangers.
The EPA relied on its new safety limit last year when it calculated cancer risks from the 5,566 pounds of ethylene oxide released in communities surrounding Sterigenics during 2014.
Even with its Willowbrook sterilization chamber vents hooked up to pollution controls again, Sterigenics can legally emit up to 36,400 pounds of ethylene oxide annually at the facility, located in a cluster of nondescript buildings within a mile of four schools and neighborhoods where more than 19,000 people live.
Company-supplied records show the plant released more than 254,000 pounds of ethylene oxide into the air between 1993 and 2017. After a Tribune investigation of Sterigenics emissions, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Robert Berlin, the state’s attorney of DuPage County, filed a bipartisan lawsuit last month accusing the company of violating state environmental laws.
Sterigenics, Medline and corporate lobbyists have responded with tactics that U.S. chemical industry executives have relied on for decades when confronted with research showing their products are harmful.
Durbin, Duckworth, Foster want probe of Trump EPA response to Sterigenics cancer risks »
Among other things, they have hired an industry-connected researcher to raise doubts about the EPA’s assessment of ethylene oxide. The companies also have said the chemical is naturally produced in the body at levels exceeding EPA safety guidelines, citing as proof a review published in an journal that frequently publishes industry-backed articles. And they have tried to pick apart a separate analysis of Willowbrook conducted by an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, claiming falsely that the agency “cherry-picked” samples to get the results federal researchers allegedly wanted.
When the EPA announced the day before Thanksgiving that it might have overestimated levels of ethylene oxide in air samples collected in May near Sterigenics, the company, business lobbyists and right-wing propagandists claimed falsely that the federal agency and local media had needlessly scared residents.
“Unfortunately, the flawed report has … stigmatized the community and caused good people to wrongly worry about a facility that operates safely and provides a vital service to our health care system,” Sterigenics said in a statement.
EPA says it may have overstated carcinogenic gas levels outside Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook »
But the announcement that the analysis of air samples collected in May might be flawed has no effect on the EPA’s estimates of cancer risks in the Willowbrook area, which were based on pollution legally emitted by Sterigenics in 2014.
Additional air samples are being collected by agency officials and by consultants hired by local governments, all of whom will analyze the results using a method that can clearly discern the differences between ethylene oxide and related chemicals.
Given the potency of ethylene oxide, questions remain about whether continued use of the chemical close to homes, schools and shopping centers is safe.
“EPA has been making questionable decisions about how to regulate ethylene oxide for many, many years, and the regulations have been out of sync with the latest science for years now,” Lipinski said. “It’s time for the agency to do its job and protect the health of the people of Illinois and the rest of the country.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-sterigenics-willowbrook-ethylene-oxide-pollution-20181128-story.html
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Report: Chemours Plant, Others Pollute N.C. Water Source
Nov 29, 2018 | AP (In E&E Greenwire)
A study performed for a chemical maker accused of polluting North Carolina's longest river finds the entire waterway used by thousands for drinking water is laced with industrial compounds.
The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority said yesterday the report shows last week's deal between Chemours Co. and the state environmental agency to cut chemical emissions of GenX does too little for its customers (Greenwire, Nov. 26).
The September report says Chemours is responsible for about half the chemicals detected near the river intake providing drinking water to about 200,000 customers around Wilmington. Consultants testing the Cape Fear River for 10 months found other industrial chemicals entered the river upstream of the Chemours chemical plant south of Fayetteville.
Chemours said the report, posted on its website, was provided previously to state environmental officials and academic researchers.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2018/11/29/stories/1060108171
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Perry Calls for Energy Infrastructure Buildout
Nov 29, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By James Osborne
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Thursday the United States needed to expand its energy infrastructure to meet the increasingly diverse sources of energy powering the nation.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Consumer Energy Alliance, Perry cataloged strides in oil and natural gas production, advances in solar and wind technology, as well as the importance of nuclear energy.Recommended Video
"Today's consumers have more choices, more information, more say on their energy sources than ever before," he said. "If we're to seize this amazing moment in American energy it is imperative we build more energy infrastructure."
The former Texas governor said that should include not only pipelines and power transmission lines but infrastructure in energy producing regions like West Texas, including roads and schools.
Perry also talked at length about cyber attacks, saying the threat level was now approaching those of the period leading up to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"Protecting our energy infrastructure against those attacks is our highest priority," he said. "We must rise to the occasion."
The speech was perhaps most notable for what Perry did not talk about, namely the coal and nuclear bailouts pushed by President Donald Trump.
The administration at one point considered using its emergency powers to stop coal and nuclear plants from closing, according to a memo leaked this summer, but so far no action has been announced.
Perry left the event without taking questions from reporters.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Perry-calls-for-energy-infrastructure-buildout-13431306.php
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Climate Change Is More Extensive and Worse Than Once Thought
Nov 29, 2018 | AP (In The New York Times)
Climate scientists missed a lot about a quarter century ago when they predicted how bad global warming would be.
They missed how bad wildfires, droughts, downpours and hurricanes would get. They missed how much ice sheets in West Antarctica and Greenland would melt and contribute to sea level rise. They missed much of the myriad public health problems and global security issues.
Global warming is faster, more extensive and just plain worse than they once thought it would be, scientists say now.
International negotiators meet next week in Poland to discuss how to ratchet up the fight against climate change in what's called the Conference of Parties . The world's understanding of global warming has changed dramatically since the first conference in March 1995. Since then the globe on average has warmed nearly three-quarters of a degree (0.41 degrees Celsius) but that's not even half the story.
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That global annual temperature increase is slightly lower than some early 1990s forecasts. Yet more than a dozen climate scientists told The Associated Press that without the data currently available and today's improved understanding of the climate, researchers decades ago were too conservative and couldn't come close to realizing how global warming would affect daily lives.
One scientific study this month counted up the ways — both direct and indirect — that warming has already changed Earth and society. The total was 467 .
"I don't think any of us imagined that it would be as bad as it's already gotten," said University of Illinois climate scientist Donald Wuebbles, a co-author of the recent U.S. National Climate Assessment . "For example, the intensity of severe weather. We didn't know any of that back then. And those things are pretty scary."
In the 1990s, when scientists talked about warming they focused on the average annual global temperature and sea level rise. The problem is that people don't live all over the globe and they don't feel average temperatures. They feel extremes — heat, rain and drought — that hit them at home on a given day or week, said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Richard Alley.
"The younger generations are growing up where there is no normal," University of Washington public health and climate scientist Kristie Ebi said, pointing out that there have been 406 consecutive months when the world was warmer than the 20th century average.Editors’ PicksHow China Took Over Your TVThis Library Has New Books by Major Authors, but They Can’t Be Read Until 2114The Lost Children of Tuam
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More recently economists have joined scientists in forecasting a costly future. Yale economist William Nordhaus, who won the 2018 Nobel prize for economics for his work on climate change and other environmental issues, told the Associated Press that his calculations show climate change would cost the United States $4 trillion a year at the end of the century with a reasonable projection of warming.
The way science has looked at global warming has changed over the last quarter century because of better knowledge, better computers, better observations, more data — and in large part because researchers are looking more closely at what affects people most. Add to that what many scientists see as an acceleration of climate change and the picture is much bleaker than in the 1990s.
Back then, Michael Mann was a graduate student exploring global warming.
"I honestly didn't think that in my mid-career we would be watching the impacts of climate change play out on my television" nor that they would be so strong, said Mann, now a prominent climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University. It is playing out with wildfires, rain-soaked hurricanes, flooding, drought, heat waves and other extreme weather, he said.
Scientists now better understand how changes in currents in the air — such as the Jetstream — and the rain cycle can cause more extreme weather. And recent research shows how climate change is altering those natural factors.
The biggest change in the science in the last quarter century is "we can now attribute changes in global temperatures and even some extreme events to human activity," said Sir Robert Watson, a former top NASA and British climate scientist who chaired the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change from 1997 to 2002.
With improved knowledge and tools, scientists can better understand extreme weather such as hurricanes and droughts, and they can run complex computer simulations that attribute extremes to human-caused warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, Watson said.
Scientists attribute extreme events to human-caused warming by comparing what happened in real life to simulations without heat-trapping gases from fossil fuels. They've concluded climate change has caused more rain in hurricanes Harvey , Maria , Katrina and others .Sign Up for On Politics With Lisa Lerer
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Studies have shown climate change has worsened droughts, downpours and heat waves, such as the Russian one in 2010, that have killed thousands of people. And they have linked climate change to the growing amount of land in the western United States burned by wildfire, which wasn't considered a big climate issue a couple decades ago, said University of Utah fire scientist Phil Dennison.
From air pollution triggered by wildfires that caused people in Northern California to don breathing masks to increased asthma attacks that send children to the hospital, medical experts said climate change is hurting people's bodies.
"We're seeing surprises," public health professor Ebi said. "We're projecting changes and we're seeing them sooner than we expected."
That includes once-tropical disease carrying mosquitoes in Canada and warm water shellfish bacteria showing up in Alaska , she said.
Massachusetts General Hospital emergency room physician Dr. Renee Salas, who wrote a chapter in the medical journal Lancet's annual climate health effects reports, said these aren't abstract statistics, but real patients.
"When I had to tell a tearful mother that I needed to admit her 4-year-old daughter for an asthma attack, her fourth visit in a week, climate change was truly top of my mind because I knew her disease was due to rising pollen levels," Salas said.
Massive ice sheets in western Antarctica and Greenland are melting much faster than scientists figured a quarter century ago.
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Antarctica has lost nearly 3 trillion tons of ice since 1992, enough to cover Texas nearly 13 feet (4 meters) deep, scientists reported in June. Greenland has lost more than 5 trillion tons in the same period.
Melting in Antarctica and Greenland in the last few years "literally doubled our projections of the sea level rise at the end of this century," said Mann of Penn State.
Non-experts who reject mainstream science often call scientists "alarmists," yet most researchers said they tend to shy away from worst case scenarios. By nature, scientists said they are overly conservative.
In nearly every case, when scientists were off the mark on something, it was by underestimating a problem not overestimating, said Watson, the British climate scientist.
But there are ultimate worst cases. These are called tipping points, after which change accelerates and you can't go back. Ice sheet collapses. Massive changes in ocean circulation. Extinctions around the world.
"In the early 1990s we only had hints that we could drive the climate system over tipping points," said Jonathan Overpeck, environment dean at University of Michigan. "We now know we might actually be witnessing the start of a mass extinction that could lead to our wiping out as much as half the species on Earth."
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/11/29/us/politics/ap-climate-just-plain-worse.html
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Climate Studies Say Warming May Cost US $500 Billion a Year — It Will Cost Much More
Nov 29, 2018 | The Hill - Opinion
By Paul Bledsoe and Durwood Zaelke
Three stunningly dire climate change reports have emerged in the last month, including the UN “Emissions Gap” report released this week and the U.S. National Climate Assessment released last Friday. Together, they ring an alarm bell of historic proportions, and must serve as an unprecedented wake-up call to the U.S. and global leaders meeting in Poland next week for key UN climate negotiations.
Yet, even as exigent as they are, these studies still underestimate the risks of runaway, catastrophic climate change, which other reports have found. Simply put, the sum of the science finds that achieving near-term and deep emissions reductions has become manifestly urgent for the safety of nations around the world.ADVERTISEMENT
The United Nation’s “Emissions Gap” report out this week finds that the current emissions reduction pledges from all countries within the Paris Agreement, including the U.S., are far too weak to keep temperatures from increasing less than 2 degrees Celsius pre-industrial levels and provide even a modicum of climate protection. The report notes that the “original [global] level of ambition needs to be roughly tripled for the 2°C scenario and increased around fivefold for the 1.5°C scenario.”
The urgency of action is underscored by the study’s related finding that “Global GHG emissions in 2030 need to be approximately 25 percent and 55 percent lower than in 2017 to put the world on a least-cost pathway to limiting global warming to 2oC and 1.5oC, respectively.”
The high costs to the United States of climate change inaction were compellingly detailed in the fourth U.S. National Climate Assessmentreleased in Washington last Friday. The study found that by the end of the century, warming on current trajectories would cost the U.S. economy more than $500 billion a year in crop damage, lost labor, and extreme weather damages alone, almost double the economic blow America suffered during the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Warming could cut up to a tenth of U.S. GDP by the end of the century, the study found, with over $1 trillion in coastal real estate threatened by rising sea levels and storms.
Heatwaves will cause thousands more deaths and worsen asthma and pulmonary disease through increased air pollution. The report notes that huge costs are already occurring in various ways, from extreme weather events made worse due to climate change, but also in everyday life: “High tide flooding is now posing daily risks to businesses, neighborhoods, infrastructure, transportation, and ecosystems” in the Southeastern U.S., for example. Crucially, the study notes that cutting emissions more quickly now can head off the worse of these impacts.
Last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°Celsius”, clearly presented the three strategies that must be undertaken to prevent catastrophic warming:peaking global CO2 emissions by 2020 and moving to zero carbon dioxide emissions before 2050 by expanding clean energy and energy efficiencydeeply cutting short-lived super climate pollutants (methane, black carbon soot, and HFCs)quickly learning how to remove a significant of the carbon dioxide that is already in the atmosphere
Like the Emissions Gap and U.S. National Assessment reports, the IPCC 1.5 study catalogs the huge climate impacts that are already occurring and the vastly more severe impacts that will be occur without urgent action.
Yet, startlingly, even these important studies and ominous warnings are underestimating the existential nature of runaway climate change by failing to consider the self-reinforcing feedbacks that may push the climate system into chaos before we have time to decarbonize the energy system.
This risk of a “hothouse earth” is outlined in another major scientific studypublished this summer in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finding that the period of time to prevent runaway, uncontrollable climate change is closing much faster than previously understood. ADVERTISEMENT
These cascading, self-reinforcing feedbacks include the loss of the Arctic's sea ice, which currently serves as a shield, reflecting heat back into the atmosphere, but is increasingly being melted into water that absorbs heat. The loss of this sea ice would add tremendous additional warming to the Arctic, which is already warming by at least twice the global average rate. This, in turn, would accelerate the collapse of permafrost and release methane, a super climate pollutant more than 30 times more potent in causing warming than carbon dioxide
Even the three recent reports described above all largely ignore such feedbacks, leaving populations and world leaders not appropriately warned about the cluster of similar climate tipping points anticipated to occur between today’s temperatures and an increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, let alone the many more feedbacks that will occur if warming reaches 2 degrees Celcius or above.
While President Trump alternates between denying climate science or blaming other nations for the problem, only new, deeper emissions reduction commitments in the U.S. and corresponding actions by all nations can prevent the most dire impacts from occurring. There is still time to prevent the worst, and this urgency must begin at the UN negotiations next week. But American citizens and those around the world must put our leaders on notice — act rapidly to prevent climate catastrophe, or we must find leaders who will.
Paul Bledsoe is strategic advisor at the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington, and was a White House climate adviser to President Clinton.
Durwood Zaelke heads the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development in Washington, Paris and Geneva.
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/418850-climate-studies-say-warming-may-cost-us-500-billion-a-year-it-will
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Poll: Nearly Two-Thirds of Republicans Now Acknowledge Climate Change
Nov 29, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By John Bowden
Nearly two-thirds of Republicans and a majority of all Americans now acknowledge climate change, according to a Monmouth University Poll released Thursday.
The poll found that 64 percent of Republican respondents said they believe that Earth's climate is changing, up from 49 percent in 2015.
According to the poll, 92 percent of Democrats and 78 percent of independents also said they acknowledge climate change. Eighty-five percent of Democrats and 74 percent of independents polled acknowledged climate change three years ago.ADVERTISEMENT
Just over half of Americans surveyed — 54 percent — said climate change is "very serious," while 17 percent say the problem is "somewhat" serious," according to the poll. In Monmouth's 2015 poll, 41 percent said climate change was "very serious."
One-quarter of Republicans surveyed said climate change is a "very serious problem," compared to 82 percent of Democrats and about 51 percent of independents who said the same.
The poll also found that 16 percent of Americans said climate change is not happening, while 5 percent of those surveyed said they are unsure if it is occurring.
Geography, according to the poll, also plays a role in Americans' views of the seriousness of climate change. Residents of coastal areas were 17 percent more likely to say that climate change was a "very serious" problem, compared to their inland neighbors.
Thirty-seven percent of Americans polled said the environment and human activity contribute equally to a changing climate, while 29 percent place greater blame on human activity and 10 percent blame natural environmental changes.
Majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents said they do not think it is likely that Congress will take action on climate change in the coming years.
The poll came days before the government released a report that warned that changing climate could have profound consequences on the U.S. economy if not acted on.
The Monmouth University poll surveyed 802 adults in the United States between Nov. 9-12. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/418887-poll-nearly-two-thirds-of-republicans-now-acknowledge-climate
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Ewire: California AG Pledges to 'Use Every Bit' of Climate Study
Nov 29, 2018 | Inside EPA
California's top litigator is sending a message to Trump administration officials: Anything they say can and will be used against them in a court of law when it comes to their climate rule rollbacks, particularly when those statements come in the form of an authoritative inter-agency report outlining the increasingly severe risks from global warming.
“Absolutely, we will use every bit of that report,” said California Attorney General (AG) Xavier Becerra (D) during a Nov. 28 event hosted by the Washington Post, according to a McClatchy article.
Becerra was referring to the fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA), a document the Trump administration quietly released the day after Thanksgiving but has nonetheless garnered major news coverage, both because of its eyebrow-raising warnings about climate damages and because it sharply contradicts the administration's policy stance.
“In this particular case, the facts speak dramatically, and it comes out of [President Donald Trump's] own shop,” he added. “For him to not read the report, to ignore what it says, it just confirms what disturbs so many people about the Oval Office.”
Trump has said he does not “believe” the report's projections of major economic damage from climate-related risks by the end of the century, and his chief spokesperson claimed it is not based on facts. Administration officials have also tried to undermine the report by saying it focuses on worst-case scenarios, even though the report examined a range of potential cases.
The Golden State's AG office has filed or joined a flurry of lawsuits against EPA and other agencies' environmental rollbacks, and it has signaled that it won't let up as the agencies finalize their deregulatory measures.
Becerra's comments align with prior expectations that the NCA will become another “arrow in the quiver” for opponents of the administration's rollbacks.
Sources earlier told Inside EPA that the study, at minimum, provides a strong rebuke of calls to scrap EPA's underlying endangerment finding that greenhouse gases pose a threat.
It could also help make the legal case that any rollback -- such as the administration's planned rule to freeze vehicle GHG standards at model year 2020 levels -- is at odds with the endangerment finding.
“Given that EPA has found that greenhouse gases from automobiles endanger public health and welfare, what is the rationale for freezing the standards at 2020 levels, causing an increase of 2.2 billion tons of emissions as a result?” wrote University of California-Los Angeles law professor Ann Carlson in a Nov. 26 blog post.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-california-ag-pledges-use-every-bit-climate-study
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Petition Argues Pa. Has Duty to Enact Cap and Trade
Nov 29, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Hulac
Pennsylvania is under pressure to establish and manage a cap-and-trade program, an effort that, if enacted, would limit greenhouse gas emissions throughout the state's economy.
The Clean Air Council, a Philadelphia-based environmental group, filed a formal petition urging state agencies to draw up such a market, arguing that "excessive" greenhouse gas levels pose an "existential threat" to the state's climate and natural resources.
Joined by the Environmental Law and Sustainability Center at Widener University Commonwealth Law School and local businesses, the green group argues that the state constitution protects citizens' rights to environmental protections.
"We all want our children and grandchildren to have a secure and happy life," Robert McKinstry Jr., a Pennsylvania lawyer and the lead petitioner, said in a statement.
"The disruption of our climate caused by greenhouse gas pollution poses an existential threat to that future," he said, adding that the program would include emission cuts that the "latest scientific reports conclude are necessary to avoid the very worst effects of climate disruption."
The Clean Air Council filed its petition to the state Department of Environmental Protection — which would be responsible for issuing permits in this market — and the Environmental Quality Board.
The submission is the latest effort to use state laws and the public trust doctrine, a maxim of environmental law that dates back centuries, to prod state governments to curb heat-trapping carbon emissions.
Since 2011, the legal group Our Children's Trust has made similar arguments in all 50 states. It is the same group locked in a landmark climate change lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, with the federal government (Climatewire, Nov. 20).
Under the public trust doctrine, governments are responsible for protecting natural resources as vital to the public, and Our Children's Trust has argued that state agencies that have failed to limit carbon emissions are breaking that obligation to their citizens.
Six youth plaintiffs in Pennsylvania, with help from Our Children's Trust, sued the state in 2015, arguing that the state constitution binds the government to regulate greenhouse gases.
They filed their lawsuit against six state agencies, including DEP. Although a state court felt they had legal standing to bring the case, that court dismissed the case in 2016. And the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld that decision the following year.
Yet also in 2017, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Pennsylvania government and its agencies are bound to protect natural resources in their jurisdiction. The Clean Air Council cites that case, Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation v. Pennsylvania, in support of its petition.
In its submission, the council leans often on public trust protections as justification to address climate change.
"A stable climate, not disrupted by the types of changes caused by human emissions of GHGs in the atmosphere, should be understood as a public natural resource to which the people have a right and which the Commonwealth has a trustee's duty to conserve and maintain," the petitioners write. "The climate is not a private resource."
In a phone interview, Joseph Minott, executive director and chief counsel of the Clean Air Council, said the latest U.N. and U.S. government reports on climate science show how dire the global problem has grown.
In particular, the latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that humans have about 12 years to address climate change systematically before irreversible damage.
"What is becoming increasingly clear is that we have underestimated how quickly it would affect us," Minott said of climate change. "We're running out of time."
Under the plan, permits would be issued in 2020 at $10, then rise 10 percent annually plus inflation. The market would apply to "anything that has carbon," Minott said.
The office of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) and the state DEP received various drafts of the plan from the council, Minott said. "We've had a very transparent process," he said.
If it were to adopt the proposal, Pennsylvania would become the 12th state to use a market-centered approach to reduce carbon emissions, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
Neil Shader, a spokesman for DEP, said the agency will review the petition and issue a recommendation to the Environmental Quality Board. That board is responsible for adopting environmental rules for the state.
J.J. Abbott, a Wolf spokesman, did not directly address the petition in an email but said it would be reviewed.
"The governor believes that climate change is real, and that we need to continue to take steps to address this issue, while at the same time preserving and creating good paying jobs in the energy sector and growing our economy," Abbott said.
Authors of the plan looked to cap-and-trade markets in California, Quebec and Ontario in drafting their proposal.
Asked why the council submitted a cap-and-trade plan, Minott said, "It's an approach that is well-understood," including by the industrial firms that would have to purchase permits.
He said with the Trump administration muddling climate science and failing to aggressively take action, the responsibility fell to the states now.
"It's now all of the above," he said.
"All of the things that were predicted," he continued, describing what climate scientists warned of decades ago, "they're happening harder and faster than were predicted."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/11/29/stories/1060108161
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Bloc Proposes to Go Climate Neutral by 2050
Nov 29, 2018 | AP (In E&E Climatewire)
The European Union's executive branch proposed yesterday that the bloc should cut its emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050, a measure scientists say needs to be adopted worldwide in order to avoid catastrophic global warming.
The European Union is the first major economy to set its sight on achieving climate neutrality in the next three decades. But the plan, which was announced days before a global climate summit, is far more ambitious than the national targets set so far by many of the E.U.'s 28 member states.
The E.U.'s climate chief, Miguel Arias Cañete, cited a recent scientific report that warned of deadly consequences for many species on Earth from rising temperatures.
"This has been a real wake-up call," Arias Cañete told reporters in Brussels. "And today we are responding to this call."
Experts say ending the use of fossil fuels — a process known as decarbonization — is one of the most important measures needed to achieve the 2015 Paris accord's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century.
Net zero emissions mean that any greenhouse gases emitted need to be soaked up by forest growth or new technologies that remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Arias Cañete said the tools to achieve this target already exist. "We are not inventing the wheel," he said.
Still, he noted that considerable investment will be needed to shift Europe's economy away from fossil fuels, and this needs to be done in a socially acceptable way.
The European Commission's proposal, which was welcomed by environmental groups, isn't binding. But it adds pressure on member states that have resisted setting tighter goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Germany, Europe's biggest economy, is expected to miss its goals for 2020, and Chancellor Angela Merkel has objected to raising its reduction target for 2030 from 40 percent to 45 percent.
Germany's development minister, Gerd Müller, sought yesterday to shift the attention onto his country's effort to help poor nations achieve their climate goals, noting that their potential future emissions could far outstrip reductions achieved in Europe.
Berlin is doubling its funding for the Green Climate Fund to €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) to boost environment-friendly measures in developing countries.
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/11/29/stories/1060107633
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