Preview Newsletter
AM ACC 12/11/2018
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(ACC Mentioned) Recyclable Plastic Is Ending up in Landfills
Dec 10, 2018 | KGO-TV (ABC News 7)
By Jennifer Olney and Dan Ashley
Recycling plastic can be confusing. Lots of plastics are marked with the familiar triangle, known as the "chasing arrows", so you might think you can just dump the items in your recycling bin. But that's not always true. Sometimes even the pros are stumped. -
(ACC Mentioned) Sustainability: Bold Goals Reshape Strategies
Dec 10, 2018 | Chemical Week
By Rebecca Coons
The role of sustainability has shifted from initiatives aimed at increasing goodwill and reducing costs to a business imperative shaping future-proof portfolio and driving strategic decision making... -
U.S. Chamber Backs USMCA, but Warns Against NAFTA Withdrawal
Dec 10, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Megan Cassella
The influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce has formally endorsed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and will help the Trump administration win support for the deal in Congress — but warned against a withdrawal from NAFTA. -
Commission Asks For Time to Consider Chinese Refrigerant Duties
Dec 11, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Flood
The International Trade Commission needs more time to determine if hydrofluorocarbon component imports from China should face U.S. antidumping duties, the commission said Dec. 7. -
Industry Calls for Calm Amidst Brexit Deal Uncertainty
Dec 11, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
The Chemical Industries Association (CIA) has urged industry to remain calm and called for "collective leadership" to help deliver an "orderly" Brexit following the postponement of a crucial UK parliament vote. -
NRDC Formally Joins Threat to Sue EPA on Methylene Chloride
Dec 10, 2018 | Inside EPA
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is joining other environmentalists who have threatened to sue EPA over the agency's failure to finalize an Obama-era proposed rule banning the use of methylene chloride (MC) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) -
Gaps in EPA Mercury Rule Leave Public at Risk, Lawsuit Claims
Dec 11, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The EPA excluded so many companies from a requirement to report their use of mercury that states won’t have information they need to protect their residents, Vermont said in a lawsuit challenging the rule. -
Kellogg Bars, Oat Cereal Have Weedkiller Residue, Suit Says (1)
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Julie Steinberg
Kellogg Co.'s strawberry Nutrigrain bars and Cracklin’ Oat Bran Cereal are deceptively marketed as healthy when they contain traces of the weed-killer glyphosate, a new proposed class suit alleges. -
Cancer-Causing Chemicals Lead to More Testing of Drinking Water
Dec 10, 2018 | UPI
By Ray Downs
Public water supplies around the country are increasing efforts to test for chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases after studies revealed millions of Americans may now be exposed to the toxins. -
Tools in Place for 2019 Antimony Data Gathering Initiative
Dec 11, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
The International Antimony Association (i2a) says guidance, monitoring equipment and reporting templates have been developed ready for its data gathering initiative for antimony compounds. -
Lab Capacity Could Halt EU Endocrine Disruptor Assessments
Dec 11, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The pesticide industry has voiced concerns that substance evaluations against the new criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors (EDCs) could grind to a halt because of capacity issues at testing laboratories. -
EU Survey Finds Article Suppliers Lack Information on SVHCs
Dec 11, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Nearly half of article manufacturers taking part in an EU-wide survey said they were not sufficiently informed about the presence of SVHCs in their products, to be able respond to consumer enquiries in accordance with REACH. -
The Weedkiller in Our Food Is Killing Us
Dec 6, 2018 | The Guardian
By Erin Brockovich
On a recent Saturday afternoon, in an estuary near Tampa Bay, Florida, I watched airboats move up and down the river banks, spraying massive plumes of weedkiller on to the vegetation. -
Air Permit Flexibility Not Going Beyond Power Sector: EPA’s Wehrum
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
The EPA doesn’t have any plans to extend the proposed air permitting flexibility for power plants to other industrial sectors, the agency’s air chief says. -
Report: U.S. LNG Export Capacity to More Than Double by End of 2019
Dec 11, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
The United States will be able to export more than double the amount of liquefied natural gas by the end of next year, a new report from the Energy Information Administration shows. -
Fight Brews as Interior Eyes Drilling in Wetlands Area
Dec 11, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Margaret Kriz Hobson
The Interior Department tomorrow is due to auction off the last available oil and gas leases at the eastern edge of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a 22.1-million-acre block of federal property on Alaska's North Slope. -
Shut Down Illinois Medical Equipment Sterilizer, House Member Says
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Joyce
Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) wants a Willowbrook, Ill., facility emitting ethylene oxide, a suspected carcinogen, to shut down unless data can show the facility isn’t a threat to human health. -
'Seedworm' Hackers Probe Oil and Gas Sector — Report
Dec 11, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
A Russian oil firm is among the victims of a hacking campaign aimed at energy, telecom and IT providers, according to research from Symantec Corp. -
D.C. Circuit Weighs Public Comment Rules for State Monitoring
Dec 11, 2018 | E&E News PM
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Environmental attorneys went to court today to fight an EPA regulatory change to public comment requirements for state-level air monitoring plans. -
Former CASAC Members, Scientists Urge Broader EPA PM NAAQS Review
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stuart Parker
Former members of a terminated specialized EPA particulate matter (PM) advisory panel and hundreds of scientists are urging the agency to reinstate the panel for the ongoing review of the PM national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS)... -
Greens Win 'New Deal' Backer as Dozens Arrested in Capitol Protest
Dec 10, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Zack Colman and Anthony Adragna
More than a thousand youth climate change demonstrators poured onto Capitol Hill this morning to press top Democrats to support an aggressive Green New Deal policy, and they won backing from a powerful party leader for a key plank of their strategy in the next Congress. -
White House Takes America First Approach at COP24 Summit
Dec 11, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Paola Tamma and Kalina Oroschakoff
There’s no surer way to anger climate negotiators than to expound on the glories of fossil fuels, which is why the White House on Monday held a side event at the COP24 climate conference on fossil fuels and nuclear energy. -
The Year Ahead: Dems Under Pressure to Deliver on Green Agenda
Dec 10, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Miranda Green and Timothy Cama
Democrats have big plans on energy and environmental policy in the year ahead when they take control of the House. -
Asset Managers Team Up to Pressure Governments on Climate Change
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kelly Gilblom
Institutional investors increasingly concerned about climate change have teamed up to ask governments to set tougher policies. -
BP, Shell to Face New Shareholder Challenge Over Climate in 2019
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kelly Gilblom
The activists who rankled Royal Dutch Shell Plc by filing climate change resolutions for three straight years now are targeting other oil majors. -
Inslee Invokes Churchill as He Rolls out Climate Legislation
Dec 11, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Storrow
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) unveiled an ambitious package of climate legislation yesterday, aiming to revive efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Evergreen State after a series of major policy defeats earlier this year.
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(ACC Mentioned) Recyclable Plastic Is Ending up in Landfills
Dec 10, 2018 | KGO-TV (ABC News 7)
By Jennifer Olney and Dan Ashley
Recycling plastic can be confusing. Lots of plastics are marked with the familiar triangle, known as the "chasing arrows", so you might think you can just dump the items in your recycling bin. But that's not always true. Sometimes even the pros are stumped.
Martin Borque of the Ecology Center in Berkeley showed us a piece of plastic someone thought could be recycled. "It's got a chasing arrow number seven, so you might think it is recyclable" he said. But the number seven actually stands for "other" plastic. So Borque said "I couldn't tell you exactly what this is or what to do with it."The Ecology Center in Berkeley is one of many Bay Area businesses that pick up your recycling, then sort it and try to find people who will buy the material to make into something else.
Finding buyers for some types of plastic is especially tough. A lot of it use to go to China, but earlier this year China cut off the market for most plastic recycling.
At the same time the production of plastic is soaring. Statistics from the trade organization PlasticsEurope show worldwide consumers are using more than 335-million tons of plastic a year. Those kind of numbers spurred San Francisco's recycling contractor, Recology, to spend $14-million to upgrade to a new state of the art sorter-- and it still won't be enough.
Robert Reed of Recology said, "There's literally more than a thousand types of plastic that have been manufactured in the last 50 years. It's too much. No one can recycle all of that."Some plastics do have ready markets, especially water and juice type bottles, labeled number one.
Number one bottles are typically made into fiberfill, clothing, fleece, carpet according to Borque.
Number two bottles, like the ones for milk and detergent also have a solid market. But the rest of the plastic-- not so much.
"The berry containers, the takeout food container, the disposable cup, that stuff we are having much more difficulty processing and selling," said Borque.
Even though it's hard to find buyers most recyclers still do accept those items if they are clean-- because their contracts require it. They're bundled into massive bales of mixed plastic.
Right now, the Ecology Center is paying $75 a ton to send that mixed plastic to a processor in Southern California.
Borque said, "What they are telling us is about 60 percent is being recycled and about 40 percent is going to landfill right now."Mark Murray of Californians Against Waste said, "We are absolutely in a recycling crisis here in California."
Murray points to widespread evidence of environmental problems caused by plastic all over the world.
"By perceiving that we can put all this stuff into the recycling bin, we are continuing to go and buy all this stuff, and we are giving the manufacturers a free ride. They have no responsibility for the environmental impacts of the products and packaging."
We reached out to the American Chemistry Council which often speaks for plastics manufacturers. The council would not do an interview, but referred us to "The Recycling Partnership"-- a non-profit funded by some of the world's largest manufacturers and brands that use plastic. The partnership has spent millions of dollars working to improve recycling around the country.
"What we are is a voluntary producer responsibility organization. We don't have laws here that are governing this, but these companies recognize a responsibility for the materials they are producing," said Dylan De Thomas of the Recycling Partnership.
That's a start, but the California Product Stewardship Council says manufacturers need to do a lot more to make products that are bio-degradable or more easily recycled. Also to pay for problems created by so much plastic in the environment.
The council urges you to think before you buy.
"Vote with your dollars, buy from companies that use recycled content, that don't use plastic if you can avoid it and that reduce their packaging," said Heidi Sanborn of the California Product Stewardship Council.Sanborn urges consumers to let companies know what they think. Even if you like a product, you can tell the manufacturer or retailer you want them to ship it with less plastic wrapping.
"Get online, tell that company, I don't want this over packaged. I will not buy form you again if you continue to over package. That is a very strong market signal. Companies don't make things if they can't sell them," said Sanborn.https://abc7news.com/society/recyclable-plastic-is-ending-up-in-landfills/4850024/
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(ACC Mentioned) Sustainability: Bold Goals Reshape Strategies
Dec 10, 2018 | Chemical Week
By Rebecca Coons
The role of sustainability has shifted from initiatives aimed at increasing goodwill and reducing costs to a business imperative shaping future-proof portfolio and driving strategic decision making...
§ Access to full text unavailable – subscription required.
Story can be found here: https://chemweek.com/CW/Document/100258/Sustainability-Bold-goals-reshape-strategies
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U.S. Chamber Backs USMCA, but Warns Against NAFTA Withdrawal
Dec 10, 2018 | PoliticoPro - Whiteboard
By Megan Cassella
The influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce has formally endorsed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and will help the Trump administration win support for the deal in Congress — but warned against a withdrawal from NAFTA.
"After carefully assessing the new deal and its impact on our members, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has thrown its support behind the USMCA, which is critical to maintaining strong economic growth in the U.S.," Tom Donohue, the chamber's president and CEO, wrote in an online post today.
"We will work with the administration and other stakeholders to address a handful of outstanding issues and secure approval of the USMCA in Congress," he wrote.
When the three-way deal was unveiled in October, the Chamber highlighted "numerous wins" in the agreement but stopped short of offering a full endorsement.
The Chamber's decision to put its lobbying power behind the effort to ratify the deal could prove crucial to winning support from business-friendly lawmakers, mainly Republicans, who had expressed concern over provisions that they felt ran counter to their interests, like the sunset clause.
Donohue warned President Donald Trump not to follow through on his threat to withdraw from the existing NAFTA in order to force a vote on the USMCA, arguing that the administration should focus instead on building support in Congress on the deal's merits.
"Issuing this threat against a co-equal branch of government is neither necessary nor productive and could actually cost votes," he wrote.
Donohue added that the Chamber is also keeping pressure on the administration to lift tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from Canada and Mexico "without delay." Those penalties have invited $15 billion in counter-tariffs and are affecting $500 million in U.S. imports and exports daily, he noted.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Commission Asks For Time to Consider Chinese Refrigerant Duties
Dec 11, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Flood
The International Trade Commission needs more time to determine if hydrofluorocarbon component imports from China should face U.S. antidumping duties, the commission said Dec. 7.
It asked the Court of International Trade for an additional two months, until March 11, to make its decision.
The ITC determined in 2016 that imports of HFC blends hurt domestic U.S. industry, but that imports of HFC components did not. As a result, the U.S. hit the former, but not the latter, with antidumping duties, even though the Commerce Department found that both were being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
HFCs are used in air conditioning and refrigeration. The U.S. imported an estimated $165.1 million worth of HFC blends and components from China in 2015, accordingto Commerce.
U.S. chemicals companies Arkema Inc., The Chemours Co., and Honeywell International Inc. sued to challenge the ITC’s negative injury determination on the components. They took issue with Commerce’s conclusion that the blends and the components were separate products for purposes of its investigation. The “overwhelming majority” of component imports were used to produce blends, the companies said.
The Court of International Trade agreed that Commerce’s explanation for its decision wasn’t adequate. It remanded for the department to either change course or provide a better explanation.
Commerce’s redetermination was due Jan. 8, but it requested the extension in order to reopen the administrative record and collect new evidence. The plaintiffs consented to this extension.
Several Chinese chemical companies have joined the case, including Shandong Dongyue Chemical Co. and Zhejiang Sanmei Chemical Ind. Co.
The case is Arkema, Inc. v. United States, Ct. Int’l Trade, No. 16-00179, motion for extension of time filed 12/7/18.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/commission-asks-for-time-to-consider-chinese-refrigerant-duties
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Industry Calls for Calm Amidst Brexit Deal Uncertainty
Dec 11, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
The Chemical Industries Association (CIA) has urged industry to remain calm and called for "collective leadership" to help deliver an "orderly" Brexit following the postponement of a crucial UK parliament vote.
On 10 December, prime minister Theresa May called off a House of Commons vote on Britain’s withdrawal deal from the EU, saying it would be rejected by a significant number of MPs. She is now seeking negotiation of changes with the trade bloc and no date has been set for the parliamentary vote.
"This deal is not perfect but, in the absence of any other agreement, it represents a good opportunity for the sector we represent," Steve Elliott, CIA chief executive, said.
He said the CIA will support any changes that "keep alive" the three points the association has called for since the referendum in June 2016 – frictionless free trade, regulatory consistency and access to skilled people.
The trade body has been pressing for clarity and certainty, it said, "but if it takes another short period of time to secure a pragmatic outcome then that is time well spent.
"At critical moments in negotiation you don’t panic but stay calm to deliver the best outcome. We have said from day one the best negotiations often go down to the wire. If that happens here then we can move on from what feels like political gridlock."
No deal
Meanwhile, Peter Newport, chief executive of the Chemical Business Association, said delaying the vote has "added to the uncertainties" confronting the chemical supply chain.
"We now face a further destabilising period of indecision, during which the industry’s contingency plans will be taken forward as the only prudent response protecting continued growth and jobs."
The "worst of all" possible outcomes – a no-deal Brexit – is becoming increasingly likely, he added.
The CBA said it has already made it clear to the government that its plans for this eventuality are "unworkable and unsustainable".
And NGO CHEM Trust’s executive director Michael Warhurst said it is "very clear" a no-deal Brexit is "a very bad option for the protection of the UK population and environment from hazardous chemicals".
The UK would immediately lose access to the REACH database and there are also "major concerns" about Britain’s no-deal plans for a new chemical regulator, he added.
"It is essential that the UK remains in REACH and related EU chemicals legislation – this can be achieved by remaining in the EU (in which case the UK would still have a vote in decision making) or by agreeing the transition arrangement, followed by negotiating a trade deal which includes REACH."
https://chemicalwatch.com/72728/industry-calls-for-calm-amidst-brexit-deal-uncertainty
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NRDC Formally Joins Threat to Sue EPA on Methylene Chloride
Dec 10, 2018 | Inside EPA
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is joining other environmentalists who have threatened to sue EPA over the agency's failure to finalize an Obama-era proposed rule banning the use of methylene chloride (MC) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), highlighting retailers' growing refusal to sell paint strippers containing MC.
NRDC Dec. 6 issued a notice of intent to sue (NOI) EPA saying that the agency has a non-discretionary duty to regulate MC in paint strippers after finding that the use poses risks to human health.
“The Administrator has failed to perform his non-discretionary duties under TSCA sections 6 and 7 by delaying final action to ban MC notwithstanding the Agency’s recognition that TSCA requirements for this ban have been satisfied,” the NOI says.
“Further delay will unnecessarily leave users of paint removal products at serious risk and could result in additional deaths,” the NOI adds.
NRDC's NOI comes after groups including Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Earthjustice, and Safer Chemicals Healthy Families issued an Oct. 31 NOI also seeking to compel the Trump administration to finalize an Obama-era proposed rule banning use of MC in paint stripping.
In a Dec. 10 blog post announcing the threat, the group sought to highlight a growing number of major retailers -- including, most recently, online retail giant Amazon -- that are voluntarily phasing out paint strippers containing methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) by 2019.
“Amazon is the 11th company to make this move, and its announcement further highlights the failure of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to protect public health from these toxic products,” NRDC's Sujatha Jahagirdar writes in the blog, “Amazon Acts to Protect Public Health.”
He notes that Lowes, Walmart and Home Depot are all taking similar steps.
“But other retailers are continuing to sell MC paint removers, and expeditious action is needed to assure that they are removed immediately from the stream of commerce."
The Obama EPA in January 2017 proposed the rule under TSCA section 6(a) authority, little used since EPA's attempt to ban most uses of asbestos in the 1980s. That rule was struck down by a federal court decision in 1991 in a decision that effectively shut down EPA's regulatory program of existing chemicals and prompted critics of TSCA to seek reform of the statute, eventually enacted in June 2016.
In December 2017, the Trump administration formalized indications that it would delay the ban and similar proposed rules on two other industrial chemicals. But in May Pruitt reversed course on shelving the MC ban after meeting with mothers of workers who died from exposure when using the substance as a paint stripper.
Despite Pruitt's reversal, EPA has not finalized the ban, nor sent a draft final rule for White House review.
“More than four years after the publication of its MC Risk Assessment, 20 months after its proposed ban, and 5 months after its public commitment to finalize that ban, there is no legal or scientific basis for further delay,” NRDC says.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/nrdc-formally-joins-threat-sue-epa-methylene-chloride
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Gaps in EPA Mercury Rule Leave Public at Risk, Lawsuit Claims
Dec 11, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The EPA excluded so many companies from a requirement to report their use of mercury that states won’t have information they need to protect their residents, Vermont said in a lawsuit challenging the rule.
“Vermont necessarily needs to rely on federal reporting and labeling of mercury-added products to help prevent irresponsible disposal,” the state told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a brief filed Dec. 10.
An Environmental Protection Agency rule from June to collect information about mercury used in U.S. commerce won’t generate the data needed to prevent disposal, the state said in a brief challenging the agency’s rule (RIN:2070-AK22).
Car headlights, streetlights, and products that contain mercury could also end up at recyclers’ facilities without the facilities’ knowledge because of the gaps in the EPA’s reporting rule, the state said, echoing concerns U.S. steelmakers have raised.
Vermont has joined the Natural Resources Defense Council in the challenge to an EPA rule mandated by the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act amendments.
Vermont is one of 13 states that formed the Interstate Mercury Education and Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC) in 2001 to aid their ongoing efforts to reduce mercury in products and waste.
The EPA declined to comment on an ongoing lawsuit.
ExemptionsThe EPA’s regulation required some manufacturers and importers of mercury—along with companies that use the metal to make such products as dental fillings and fluorescent lights—to report the volume they make, import, or use to the agency.
The EPA would use the the information to develop an inventory of mercury in commerce and to decide whether regulatory controls to reduce mercury use are warranted.
The rule, however, excluded many companies. Automobiles could contain a switch or other component that contains mercury, for example, yet the manufacturers wouldn’t have to report it because they might not know that the component contained mercury, the EPA’s rule said.
The agency so minimized the burden on industries that the agency won’t collect basic information that could provide states information to keep toys with mercury-containing batteries from ending up in landfills, Vermont said.
Too Many Off-Ramps?The EPA’s regulation excluded a sufficient number of manufacturers and importers from reporting that the agency won’t fulfill Congress’ mandate to prepare an inventory of mercury in commerce, the NRDC said in its brief filed Dec. 7.
“A mercury inventory that ignores major categories of component uses and trade is no inventory at all,” the environmental organization said.
The rule also exempted from reporting companies that make or import 2,500 pounds of mercury or more, along with companies making or importing 25,000 pounds or more of mercury compounds—if they already provide that information under a different TSCA regulation called the Chemical Data Reporting rule. The goal was to avoid duplicative reporting, the agency said at the time.
Fundamental differences between the two rules mean the data that the agency gets from the Chemical Data Reporting regulation won’t provide the information needed for the mercury inventory, the NRDC said.
The case is Nat. Res. Def. Council v. EPA, 2d Cir., No. 18-2121, 12/7/18.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/gaps-in-epa-mercury-rule-leave-public-at-risk-lawsuit-claims
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Kellogg Bars, Oat Cereal Have Weedkiller Residue, Suit Says (1)
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Julie Steinberg
Kellogg Co.'s strawberry Nutrigrain bars and Cracklin’ Oat Bran Cereal are deceptively marketed as healthy when they contain traces of the weed-killer glyphosate, a new proposed class suit alleges.
The suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California is the latest to challenge the presence of glyphosate and other pesticides in foods.
Glyphosate is sprayed on oats and other grains as a drying agent before harvesting. It’s the active ingredient in Roundup, exposure to which caused a groundskeeper’s non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a blood cancer, a jury found earlier this year.
Kellogg’s told Bloomberg Law it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
The company did say, however, that the Environmental Protection Agency “sets strict standards for safe levels of agricultural residues and the ingredients we purchase from suppliers for our foods fall under these limits.”
But Mason Kien, the plaintiff, alleges Kellogg’s violates California and other law when it touts the products’ desirable attributes. It says, for example, the bars provide “8g Whole Grains,” are “made with real fruit,” and contain “No artificial flavors,” plaintiff Mason Kien says.
These statements deceive consumers by making them think the breakfast products will foster health, the suit says. And Kellogg had a duty to disclose that the products contain glyphosate or at least that they couldn’t be guaranteed glyphosate-free, the suit says.
The suit cites a reportand update from the Environmental Working Group that found glyphosate residue in breakfast cereals.
Regulators, including the EPA, say the glyphosate found in food isn’t a problem because it’s at low levels. But some scientists contend not enough is known about the effects of eating small amounts of it, especially over long periods of time.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, has determined that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans,” the suit says. Glyphosate is even more dangerous for children, who are more susceptible to carcinogens, according to the suit.
Because it is a probable carcinogen with no nutritional value, the presence of any amount of glyphosate in the products is important to consumers, the suit says.
Kien seeks money damages and marketing changes on behalf of a California class and a multistate class of consumers from California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Washington.
Bonnett, Fairbourn, Friedman & Balint, P.C., represents the plaintiffs.
The case is Kien v. Kellogg Co., S.D. Cal., No. 18-2759, complaint 12/7/18.
(Updated with company response)
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/kellogg-bars-oat-cereal-have-weedkiller-residue-suit-says-1
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Cancer-Causing Chemicals Lead to More Testing of Drinking Water
Dec 10, 2018 | UPI
By Ray Downs
Public water supplies around the country are increasing efforts to test for chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases after studies revealed millions of Americans may now be exposed to the toxins.
In Brevard County, Fla., groundwater testing this year near Patrick Air Force Base show high levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid, two water-resistant chemicals that used to be found in firefighting foam, as well as a variety of household products, ranging from no-stick frying pans to carpet-cleaning agents, and even the film inside microwave popcorn bags. And according to reports, several young women have been diagnosed with different types of cancer in the immediate area within just a few years of each other.
The chemicals have been phased out since 2015 by major chemical companies like Dupont and 3M at the suggestion of the Environmental Protection Agency. But they were in common use since the 1950s and have since been found in water supplies across the country.
In March, the Department of Defense released a report that found several military installations around the country showed unsafe levels of PFOS and PFOA in local water supplies. The EPA currently marks the unsafe level to be above 70 parts per trillion, although some researchers believe that benchmark is too high and lower levels are still unsafe.
Nonetheless, the DoD found PFOS and PFOA levels around the Patrick Air Force Base up to 4.3 million parts per trillion -- well above the EPA's warning levels.
Nick Van Der Linden, the interim communications director for the Florida Department of Health, said further testing has been done and an analysis is being performed by researchers at the Florida Cancer Registry.
"It is the goal of the department to conduct as thorough an investigation as possible, and no shortcuts will be taken in the data collection or verification process," Van Der Linden said in a statement. "The health and safety of Floridians is our top priority. Once the analysis is complete, it will be shared with the public."
But the PFOS and PFOA contamination issue is hardly unique to Florida or military installations. The chemical -- which cannot be destroyed by boiling water, is considered "bio-permanent," meaning it doesn't break down naturally and, once in the human body, remains there forever, building up over time the more an individual ingests it -- is being investigated by local water treatment utilities around the country.
"This is a very substantial public health risk," said Philippe Grandjean, a professor of environmental health at Harvard University who has conducted research on PFOS and PFOA. "It's a national problem. This contamination has been found in most, if not every single state. It's not a local problem."
How much PFOS and PFOA is in U.S. drinking water is not known because the EPA only has data on about half of the water supply. But with known data, an estimated 5 to 6 million people are known to be exposed to unsafe levels of PFOS and PFOA, though the number could be much higher.
Other estimates indicate the chemicals have contaminated more than 1,500 water systems, affecting up to 110 million Americans.
"If you go out looking for it, if you go sample for it, you're gonna find it," said Peter Schneider, the water quality supervisor for the city of Greensboro, N.C., where officials recently announced it would test private water wells after the chemical was found in the surface water supply. "It's a very prevalent and persistent man-made chemical."
A 2017 analysis conducted by the Environmental Working Group and researchers at Northeastern University showed contamination in nearly every state, with the highest levels in California and the eastern part of the country.
In June, a study by the from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reported that PFOS and PFOA contamination has been found in just about every aspect of the environment, including air, water, soil and food in various parts of the world.
"Based on environmental measurements and theoretical models, one study has proposed that the major exposure pathways for PFOS for the general population in Europe and North America are food and water ingestion, dust ingestion and hand-to-mouth transfer from mill-treated carpets," the report states. "For PFOA, major exposure pathways were proposed to be oral exposure resulting from migration from paper packaging and wrapping into food, general food and water ingestion, inhalation from impregnated clothes and dust ingestion."
The chemicals have also been found in human breast milk and umbilical cord blood.
Studies suggest that exposure to the chemicals may lead to cancer. The ATSDR report states that "increases in testicular and kidney cancer have been observed in highly exposed humans."
Other health effects may include increased risk of thyroid disease, increased risk of asthma, increased cholesterol levels, decreased fertility and lower birth weights, according to the report.
Although chemical manufacturers in the United States have stopped using PFOS and PFOA, the 50-plus years they were in use allowed for substantial amounts to get into the country's water supply. In addition, they are still being manufactured overseas in countries like China and products containing PFOS and PFOA are still entering the country.
Federal agencies have not taken any major steps to combating the contamination. In 2016, the EPA advised local governments to test for the compounds, but has not taken any additional efforts to eliminate the contaminants from water supplies.
Rob Bilott, a Cincinnati attorney who has been litigating PFOA and PFOS contamination lawsuits for 18 years and filed a class action lawsuit against chemical giants 3M, Dupont and Chemours on behalf of all people who have been affected by PFOS and PFOA, said the federal government is moving too slowly to deal with a major public health concern.
"As we sit here today, there is still no enforceable federal standard. It's time to set appropriate guidelines that are protective for human health," he said. "It would be important to see increased testing at additional water supplies. Some states are taking that on now, going out and actually doing comprehensive testing of the various supplies."
Bilott said the EPA's standard of 70 parts per trillion is too high. Grandjean agrees. He published a study that found levels as low as 1 part per trillion may be enough to pose health risks.
"The water safety guidelines ought to be coming down. They're still too high, especially for having several of these different chemicals in the water at the same time," Billot said.
Testing got late start
In Greensboro, N.C., officials implemented in October an active carbon filtration system to the city's water treatment program to remove PFOS and PFOA compounds. According to WFDD-TV, the city is leasing the system for $9,000 a month, in addition to $800 per day for treatment costs.
Like other municipalities around the country, Greensboro officials began testing for PFOS and PFOA only after the EPA sent out an advisory to do so in 2016.
"It's very recent issue in the sense that people have started looking and testing for it, but it's been out there," Schneider said.
That EPA's 2016 advisory was sent out almost 10 years after the EPA encouraged -- but did not require -- chemical companies to stop manufacturing PFOA and PFOS. And that 2006 invitation came only after controversies that chemical companies were hiding reports that showed the harmful effects of the chemicals.
'We discovered later on that we have been kept from key information the companies had," Grandjean said. "We were not able to access the information and evaluate for ourselves whether this is something we should pursue or perhaps report to the EPA so that they could get their regulations started. We were kept in the dark."
He added: "As a researcher in public health, I would have done a lot of things differently had I known before 2000 that there were all these red flags that I just didn't see because the evidence was kept away from my eyes."
But with the effects known and the prevalence of the contaminant better understood, lawsuits have been filed against chemical manufacturers leading to multimillion-dollar settlements.
In February, 3M agreed to pay $850 million to Minnesota for polluting the state's local waterways.
In 2017, Dupont and Chemours agreed to pay $670 million in a similar lawsuit involving residents in Ohio and West Virginia along the Ohio River.
And there are several more lawsuits in the works.
Bilott says the settlements reached in these lawsuits should be used for the costs of testing and water treatment.
"Local water suppliers and taxpayers should not be the ones footing the bill for this," he said.
https://www.upi.com/Cancer-causing-chemicals-lead-to-more-drinking-water-testing/5611544460878/
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Tools in Place for 2019 Antimony Data Gathering Initiative
Dec 11, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
The International Antimony Association (i2a) says guidance, monitoring equipment and reporting templates have been developed ready for its data gathering initiative for antimony compounds.
The trade body announced its plans last year for a campaign in 2019 to generate exposure information on all REACH registered antimony substances, including those under evaluation by German authorities.
Other countries, including Japan and the US, are also evaluating workplace exposure of some of the compounds.
The association has produced a guidance document for participants in the project. This will be finalised and released in January, following feedback.
In addition, there will be a dedicated campaign website and a workshop on 21 February to set it in motion.
Participating companies can "get acquainted" with the monitoring equipment, guidance and the templates for submitting information, said i2a's secretary general Caroline Braibant.
The monitoring campaign will run for two years. And data will be submitted to the European authorities as part of the substance evaluation of antimony compounds.
The association is calling on downstream users of antimony to be involved.
Last month, the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) confirmed its provisional conclusion that antimony trioxide is "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen".https://chemicalwatch.com/72708/tools-in-place-for-2019-antimony-data-gathering-initiative
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Lab Capacity Could Halt EU Endocrine Disruptor Assessments
Dec 11, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The pesticide industry has voiced concerns that substance evaluations against the new criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors (EDCs) could grind to a halt because of capacity issues at testing laboratories.
Discussing the issue at the Fresenius International EDC conference in November, stakeholders warned that a large number of active substances will need to be evaluated at the same time.
The criteria became applicable under the biocidal products Regulation (BPR) on 7 June. For pesticides, this was from 10 November.
These dates introduced a 'stop the clock' mechanism for ongoing substance evaluations under the two laws. Assessments will be put on hold until the applicants and evaluating authorities have obtained and assessed the additional data needed to conclude on the EDC criteria.
Under the BPR, approval decisions for more than 30 active substance and product-type combinations are already on hold awaiting assessment. Echa has, however, assured industry that it will only be asked to generate additional data if "absolutely necessary".
And under the plant protection products (PPP) Regulation, 'stop the clock' will apply to any pending application for the renewal of a substance that was submitted before 10 November.
Backlog expected
At the conference in Cologne, several industry stakeholders voiced concerns that hundreds of PPP substances will be held back for testing.
Jean-Pierre Busnardo from Corteva Agriscience – the agricultural division of DowDuPont – said that this, combined with the complexity of testing for endocrine disrupting properties according to the relevant guidance, will cause significant delays.
Performing the relevant testing will typically take six to nine months if contracted out to an independent laboratory, he said. But with most companies lacking the expertise to test against the EDC criteria in-house, "we will all be competing for the laboratories' time and expertise".
While this is not likely to be a problem for performing the simpler in vitro tests, Mr Busnardo expected "serious capacity problems" for completing the in vivo tests.
In addition, the testing is new ground even for experts. Some of the tests "are not necessarily sufficiently validated at this stage" and will be a challenge for the laboratories, he said.
Mr Busnardo also said that a lot of data will need to be generated in the coming years that will rely on lab animals. This, he said, does not fit with highly established EU principles on the subject.
Deadlines
Applicants will also have deadlines to comply with. For pesticides, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) will set applicants a deadline for the submission of extra data, which may not exceed 30 months, the European Commission’s head of sector pesticides, Karin Nienstedt said in Cologne.
Once submitted, the evaluating member state will be allowed 60 days to assess the information.
"What happens if I can't deliver on the Efsa specified deadlines?" Mr Busnardo asked. "Will my substance go off the market? The European Commission needs to take [testing] shortages into account. If they're not, a number of substance will miss their deadlines."
When asked whether the Commission is worried about lab capacity issues, Ms Nienstedt said Brussels is "aware that this will mean a lot of additional work for everybody". She added that there could be "pragmatic strategies to reduce the workload and reduce animal testing" for substances that are of low concern.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72706/lab-capacity-could-halt-eu-endocrine-disruptor-assessments
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EU Survey Finds Article Suppliers Lack Information on SVHCs
Dec 11, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Clelia Oziel
Nearly half of article manufacturers taking part in an EU-wide survey said they were not sufficiently informed about the presence of SVHCs in their products, to be able respond to consumer enquiries in accordance with REACH.
Article 33 of the Regulation stipulates that suppliers will provide recipients of articles containing SVHCs with information to allow their safe use. This includes every article incorporated as a component of a complex product.
They are also obliged to give the same information, free of charge, to consumers within 45 days of receiving a request.
An online survey, carried out between June and September this year by pan-European project AskREACH, received responses from 174 EU article manufacturers. The results showed that only 47% of the participating companies from 12 countries felt "well-informed or quite well-informed" about the presence of SVHCs in their articles.
A report accompanying the results says this may be linked to another finding that 43% of the companies did not have an IT-solution to collect and manage information on SVHCs.
Of the companies participating, 43% also said they had received information requests from consumers, with French companies reporting an average of 84 requests a month. But nearly half of them did not have the information to provide an immediate response, it said.
The findings confirm that "a large proportion of companies are not well-prepared to respond to consumers' ‘right to know’ requests".
In addition, more than half of the companies (57%) agreed it is "technically complicated" to comply with Article 33.
One major reason for this may be the lack of supply chain communication, the report said. This could be tackled with an approach "heading towards full material declaration (FMD)", it added. AskREACH is developing a supply chain tool with pilot companies to support steps in this direction.
FMD provides the percentage weight of each individual material in a part and the weight of each substance intentionally added to each material. Project
The AskREACH project aims to improve the way companies handle SVHCs in their supply chains and respond to consumer information requests.
The five-year project, which started in September 2017, is coordinated by the German Environment Agency and consists of 20 partner organisations from 13 countries, including government and research institutes and NGOs.
It came in response to findings that consumers experience severe difficulties in accessing information on SVHCs in articles because companies themselves rarely have sufficient knowledge of their obligations under Article 33.
Of the companies returning the survey questionnaire, most came from France (67), Germany (50), Sweden (15) and the Czech Republic (12). Almost 60% described themselves as small or medium-sized enterprises. The sectors most represented in the survey were:
· textiles, clothes, shoes and accessories (other than outdoor);
· electronics (computers, televisions, washing machines, blenders, smartphones, etc); and
· domestic articles including kitchen utensils, decorative products.Smartphone app
AskREACH is also developing an EU-wide smartphone app for consumers to launch information requests in accordance with Article 33. The app is due to launch in April.
It will be connected to a European database with information on SVHCs in articles. Suppliers and retailers will be able to upload information via a barcode.
If the desired data is not available, a request will be sent automatically to the supplier, who will be helped with another IT tool to facilitate communication in the supply chain.
Echa is developing its own database on SVHCs in articles as part of an amendment to Article 9 of the waste framework Directive. Companies will have until the end of 2020 to submit the information if they produce, import or sell articles that contain REACH candidate list substances.
European consumer group, Beuc, has recommended that the agency collaborate with AskREACH to ensure the two databases share information.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72702/eu-survey-finds-article-suppliers-lack-information-on-svhcs
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The Weedkiller in Our Food Is Killing Us
Dec 6, 2018 | The Guardian
By Erin Brockovich
On a recent Saturday afternoon, in an estuary near Tampa Bay, Florida, I watched airboats move up and down the river banks, spraying massive plumes of weedkiller on to the vegetation. The state of Florida was trying to control and kill off scores of plant species. Nearby, children were lying out in the sun, though they knew better than to swim in the water, which has recently been blooming with toxic algae. Mists of weedkiller drifted downwind toward them.
The main active ingredient in that mist, and in the weedkiller being sprayed throughout Tampa Bay, is glyphosate, one of the most widely used herbicides in the US. First registered for use here in 1974, it is now an ingredient in more than 750 products, including the most widely deployed herbicide in the world, Monsanto’s Roundup. For more than a generation, Americans have been using Roundup and other glyphosate-based chemicals to improve agricultural yields, manage forests, ripen fruit and kill the dandelions sprouting from our front lawns.
This August, the jury in a civil trial found Monsanto, which was acquired earlier this year by the German chemical behemoth Bayer, guilty of causing the cancer of Dewayne Johnson, a school groundskeeper. The jury awarded Johnson $289m (a judge later reduced the award to $78m, citing statutory limits). Roughly 8,700 similar cases against Monsanto are also before the courts.
Growing research suggests that glyphosate causes a form of cancer called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, with which Johnson was diagnosed in 2014. At least three studies, in the US, Canada and Sweden, have linked glyphosate exposure to the disease, and, in 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer found glyphosate to be a “probable” cause of cancer in humans. California’s state environmental protection agency has also declared it a probable carcinogen.
Almonds, carrots, quinoa, soy products, vegetable oil, corn and corn oil, canola seeds used in canola oil, beets and beet sugar, sweet potatoes – these are just some of the foodstuffs which typically contain high levels of glyphosate. Research released in August by the non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that Cheerios, Quaker Old Fashioned Oats and at least 29 other popular breakfast foods contained what the EWG considers unsafe quantities of the herbicide. The environmental group has been urging public action to get the EPA to revise its outdated standards, which currently fail to protect the public from glyphosate in foods. Levels of glyphosate in the bodies of people in some areas appear to have jumped over 1,300% in the past 20 years, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
There is also evidence that glyphosate is an important driver of Florida’s toxic algae bloom and of similar algal efflorescences across the country. According to research conducted on Lake Erie, the algae thrive off the phosphorus released when the compound is sprayed on certain soils. In turn, human exposure to the toxic algae, which regularly kills pets and wildlife, has been linked to neurodegenerati.ve disorders such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and ALS.
Glyphosate is only one of more than 80,000 registered commercially produced chemicals in the US. Some of these compounds, such as PFOA and the one I made my name investigating, hexavalent chromium, have also been convincingly linked to health crises – testicular cancer in the case of PFOA, and lung cancer in the case of chromium-6.
Unlike pharmaceuticals, which have to go through relatively rigorous (if imperfect) testing before being released on the marketplace, the vast majority of chemicals like glyphosate will never be adequately tested for their effects on ecosystems or human beings. Governments don’t have the resources, and companies don’t have the incentive. Even when safety guidelines and regulations are in place, the rate of chemicals acceptable by law may be far higher than what is genuinely safe.
The fact is we simply have no idea the extent of the harm most chemicals are doing to our bodies or our planet. And as the Trump administration undermines the Environmental Protection Agency and Republicans seek to gut the meagre safeguards that are in place, our exposure to glyphosate and other such chemicals is only likely to increase.
Many people are looking for a simple answer or new insight into the issue, but the answer has always been the same. We need to petition our legislators, exercise our right to vote, rally our communities, lobby for what we believe in, and most importantly, understand that it’s the health and welfare of our families that is at stake.
Erin Brockovich is an American legal clerk and environmental activist
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/06/the-weedkiller-in-our-food-is-killing-us
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Air Permit Flexibility Not Going Beyond Power Sector: EPA’s Wehrum
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
The EPA doesn’t have any plans to extend the proposed air permitting flexibility for power plants to other industrial sectors, the agency’s air chief says.
“The answer is no, It doesn’t mean forever, but for now, the answer is no,” Bill Wehrum, the Environmental Protection Agency’s assistant administrator for air and radiation, told Bloomberg Environment in a Dec. 7 interview when asked about extending the proposal.
For now, Wehrum wants to limit the changes the EPA is proposing to the “new source review” permitting program, as part of a broader rewrite of the Obama-era’s Clean Power Plan, to the power sector. California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota, and Virginia are among states that have opposed revising the new source review program and adding it to the redo of the Obama rule.
Oil and gas refiners and producers are backing this EPA-proposed change to air pollution permitting—now aimed only at power plants—in hopes it will eventually extend to their sectors.
The Clean Power Plan was the first time that the U.S. government set first-ever limits on carbon dioxide from existing power plants. The Trump administration is seeking to replace the 2015 rule with its own Affordable Clean Energy proposal (RIN:2060–AT67), which relies on improving efficiency of power plant operations and equipment to reduce greenhouse gases—specifically carbon dioxide emissions.
‘Out of Play’
Increasing the efficiency of power plant operations and equipment to reduce carbon dioxide has the unintended effect of increasing power plant releases of sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, Wehrum said.
Such an increase, in turn, triggers the new source review program that requires power plants, refineries, and other industrial plants to install costly pollution controls to curb these emissions if they expand or construct new plants.
“The effect of that is to take efficiency projects out of play,” Wehrum said,
“Unless you square up those two programs, they fight each other,” Wehrum said. ”We see [new source review] as blocking the ability of power plant operators to do some really, really efficient projects.”
The specific changes that the EPA wants to make to the new source review permit program under the proposal would allow states to determine whether industrial facilities trigger the requirement to install new pollution controls by calculating the nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide increases on an hourly basis rather than annually, as is done now.
That would allow coal-fired power plants to operate for longer hours, generate more power, and release more air pollution on an annual basis even if the hourly pollution rates aren’t as high.
‘No Sense’ to Wehrum’s Logic
Wehrum’s logic on the EPA’s changes makes “no sense” because “it flouts the Clean Air Act,” David Baron, managing attorney of nonprofit Earthjustice, told Bloomberg Environment.
Baron said the whole idea of the new source review permitting program is to ensure that growth doesn’t inhibit progress areas are making toward maintaining federal air quality standards or endanger public health in those areas that are falling short.
“No provision of the Clean Air Act allows tradeoff from other goals,” Baron said.
The EPA’s own analysis shows the added pollution from this proposed rollback would lead to thousands more deaths, “but the Trump EPA is still trying to weaken these vital standards so that dirty plants don’t have to use modern pollution controls,” Tomas Carbonell, the Environmental Defense Fund’s regulatory policy director, told Bloomberg Environment Dec. 10.
Wehrum’s approach has the backing of businesses that have long complained that the new source review permitting program is overly complicated and stands in the way of making efficiency upgrades and installing updated pollution controls.
Shortening reviews under this permitting program has been a priority for President Donald Trump’s EPA, which announced in a Dec. 10 news release the changes it has made to date.
The EPA cited David Friedman, regulatory affairs president for American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, who said the program changes have allowed its members to properly maintain and upgrade their facilities, without sacrificing the environment.
In contrast, states such as Virginia have questioned why the EPA has chosen for permitting purposes to treat the electricity generating sector differently than the other manufacturing sectors.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/air-permit-flexibility-not-going-beyond-power-sector-epas-wehrum
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Report: U.S. LNG Export Capacity to More Than Double by End of 2019
Dec 11, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
The United States will be able to export more than double the amount of liquefied natural gas by the end of next year, a new report from the Energy Information Administration shows.
LNG producers currently have the ability to export 3.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. But with at least 18 LNG production units coming expected to come into service.
At that level, the United States will be the third largest LNG exporter in the world behind Australia and Qatar.
The United States began exporting LNG from the Lower 48 states in Feb. 2016 when Houston-based Cheniere Energy shipped its first cargo from the company's Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana. Virginia-based Dominion Resources the the second company to do so after shipping its first cargo from the company's Cove Point LNG export terminal in Maryland in March.
Four companies are expected to bring at least 18 LNG production units known as trains into service over the next 12 months.
Cheniere accounts for three of them. The first train at the company's Corpus Christi LNG facility and the fifth train at its Sabine Pass facility are expected to make their first shipments by the end of this month. The second train at the company's Corpus Christi facility is expected to come into service during the second quarter of 2019.
Meanwhile, all three trains at Spectra Energy's Cameron LNG in Louisiana are expected to be in service by the end of next year.
Houston-based Kinder Morgan is expected to bring 10 small and modular production units at its Elba Island LNG facility near Savannah, Georgia into service over the next 12 months.
The first two trains at the Freeport LNG facility near Houston are expected to be in service by the end of next year.
Looking even further ahead, there are still more projects in the pipeline. Freeport LNG and Corpus Christi LNG are expected to have their third trains in production by 2020 and 2021 respectively. There are also several LNG export terminal projects moving through the federal approval process.
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Report-U-S-LNG-export-capacity-to-more-than-13454501.php
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Fight Brews as Interior Eyes Drilling in Wetlands Area
Dec 11, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Margaret Kriz Hobson
The Interior Department tomorrow is due to auction off the last available oil and gas leases at the eastern edge of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a 22.1-million-acre block of federal property on Alaska's North Slope.
Most of the leases up for sale are located in the neighborhood of ConocoPhillips Alaska's celebrated Willow oil discovery, which is estimated to hold between 400 million and 750 million barrels of recoverable oil.
Oil companies and Alaska officials have been urging federal regulators to expand the amount of NPR-A lands open for exploration. They are especially eager to get access to leases in an area just west of the Willow property, which the U.S. Geological Survey has suggested might also contain significant amounts of oil.
But that property is part of a little-known wildlife region called the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area. In 2013, the Obama administration released an integrated activity plan barring oil and gas leasing on 3.1 million acres of land within the special area.
The Teshekpuk Lake wetlands complex includes a 320-square-mile lake surrounded by hundreds of acres of marsh and ponds. Each summer, the region comes alive with hundreds of thousands of birds migrating from all seven continents. The lands also provide calving grounds for roughly 400,000 caribou in the Teshekpuk Lake and Western Arctic caribou herds. Some Teshekpuk caribou are year-round residents of the region.
Conservation groups insist that the 2013 management plan went a long way toward balancing wildlife protection while giving the oil industry access to roughly half of the reserve lands.
"The current plan allows for development in some areas, while also protecting ecological hot spots like Teshekpuk Lake," noted Susan Culliney, policy director of Audubon Alaska.
"We have significant data that shows how important this area is for molting geese, half a million shorebirds, all four species of eider, tens of thousands of caribou, and denning polar bears," Culliney said. "Any new plan must protect this vital wildlife habitat."
Culliney said conservation groups "see no good reason to open more acreage and we see a lot of good reasons to keep the area protected as it is."
But the Trump administration is determined to open some of these protected lands for development. Regulators are drafting a new integrated activity plan (IAP) and an environmental impact statement that would rewrite the ground rules for the reserve (Energywire, Nov. 20).
Interior Department Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash recently observed that the time has come "to re-evaluate some of the areas that were previously left unavailable for leasing, as well as open up avenues for infrastructure to be installed, both pipelines and potentially roads."
"Some of the acreage that is probably most prospective is currently not available for leasing under the current plan," he said. "We want to take a look at some of those areas."
Interior is specifically targeting the Teshekpuk Lake region, although Balash acknowledged that the area provides "a home for an enormous collection of waterfowl that migrate through there. It is one of the key sensitivities that we will be working to identify in any associated stipulations that might be attached" to oil development in the region.
On a recent Voice of Alaska radio show, ConocoPhillips Alaska President Joe Marushack also agreed that some of the Teshekpuk Lake region should be protected. But, he added, "not as much as is sectioned off right now. We think that you can still do very responsible development in the areas around that" special area.
Marleanna Hall, executive director of the Resource Development Council for Alaska, noted that regulators are likely to restrict leasing to "limit any impact on wildlife [so] that development can coexist with wildlife."
"Technology is constantly improving and advancing and reducing the footprint of development, while the need for responsible development of American oil and gas is still strong and demand continues to increase."
'An incredible amount of science'
The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which is about the size of the state of Indiana, was created in 1923 as an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy.
In 1976, Congress transferred control of the region to the Interior Department, and a year later, the Carter administration created the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area to protect migratory waterfowl and shorebirds.
BLM did not sell its first oil and gas leases in the NPR-A until 1999, and the controversy over how to manage the Teshekpuk Lake region has been going on ever since.
In 2006, Interior announced plans to sell leases close to the lake. But environmental groups challenged the lease sale in court, and an Alaska federal district court judge blocked the sale, ruling that regulators had not adequately considered the cumulative effects of drilling on the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd.
This litigation led Interior to begin work on an integrated activity plan for the entire reserve, which is the nation's largest contiguous block of federal lands.
"It was an ambitious undertaking," recalled former Deputy Secretary of Interior David Hayes.
"We had an incredible amount of science developed around the Teshekpuk Lake, in particular," he said. "We looked at wildlife concentrations in different blocks in the area, and we concluded that we couldn't scalpel off additional acreage rationally, because of the area's importance to three classes of interests — migratory birds and shorebirds, the caribou for calving and also for insect relief, and third as a subsistence area for Alaska Natives."
"It was the most thorough and scientifically based environmental impact statement exercise I've ever been associated with, and it shouldn't be reopened without new science," said Hayes, now executive director of New York University School of Law's State Energy & Environmental Impact Center.
Regulators spent nearly three years drafting the 2013 integrated activity plan for the petroleum reserve. But the Trump administration is now pushing regulators to complete work on a new integrated activity plan and EIS in one year.
On Nov. 21, BLM announced plans to develop those reports and set a Jan. 7 deadline for submitting comments. Regulators also scheduled a series of public meetings on plans to rewrite the activity plan. But last week, four of the sessions in northern Alaska villages were canceled due to the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Alaska in late November.
How much oil is in NPR-A?
The 2013 management plan was based in part on the U.S. Geological Survey's 2010 assessment of the undiscovered oil and gas reserves available in the NPR-A. At the time, scientists concluded that the region held a mean volume of only 896 million barrels of oil and 53 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
But in recent years, ConocoPhillips, Armstrong Energy Corp. and Caelus Energy LLC have discovered prolific oil fields in two types of North Slope rock structures that had been long overlooked by the petroleum industry — the Nanushuk and Torok formations.
Based on those discoveries, USGS last year issued an updated report concluding that the petroleum reserve holds 10 times more oil than its earlier estimates — a mean average of 8.7 billion barrels of oil. The report also lowered its estimate of available natural gas to 25 trillion cubic feet.
Those promising Nanushuk and Torok rock structures are most prevalent in the northeastern corner of the petroleum reserve, where the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area is located. As a result, the Teshekpuk region is the only one of the NPR-A's five special areas that's being targeted for new oil development.
In addition, Interior is also considering whether to create special corridors for roads and pipelines. That infrastructure could affect the entire NPR-A.
The state of Alaska and the North Slope Borough are lobbying for an Arctic road network that could connect eight remote Native communities to the state's limited highway system. The proposed road network would also give industry access to promising new oil, gas and mining reserves on the North Slope (Energywire, Sept. 12, 2017).
Environmentalists warn that new oil development and road construction is being considered at a time when the Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world. David Krause, Arctic lands conservation specialist at the Wilderness Society, noted that the Teshekpuk Lake region consists of "incredibly vulnerable and fragile ecosystems."
"For these ecosystems to have a chance to adapt, they need to be whole and healthy and intact," he argued. "There needs to be free movement of animals and migration patterns so that these birds and wildlife have the conditions to effectively adapt to a very altered Arctic."
Some scientists are already predicting that global warming could increase erosion along Alaska's northern coastline, eventually causing Arctic Ocean seawater to seep into the Teshekpuk Lake area.
Audubon's Culliney said that saltwater intrusion could shift the types of vegetation available around the lake, making it more attractive to waterfowl but less valuable for caribou. If that happens, the unaffected areas around the lake would be far more critical for caribou forage.
"So you've got a changing climate and more and more pressure from development," she observed. "From a broader context, we already have [oil] development in the NPR-A. We have the Prudhoe Bay oil field right next door, as well as possible leasing in the Arctic Ocean."
"From a bigger picture, some areas should remain protected for birds and wildlife," Culliney said. "And Teshekpuk Lake area is a wise choice from a conservation standpoint."
Former Interior Deputy Secretary Hayes also strongly opposes proposals to allow oil development in part of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area.
"Why would we be thinking about a frontier development in one of the most sensitive areas on this Earth?" he asked. "It seems almost like a willful poke in the eye of oil trumping environmental interests to be even thinking about opening up the Teshekpuk Lake area or its environs to oil and gas and development."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/12/11/stories/1060109221
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Shut Down Illinois Medical Equipment Sterilizer, House Member Says
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Joyce
Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) wants a Willowbrook, Ill., facility emitting ethylene oxide, a suspected carcinogen, to shut down unless data can show the facility isn’t a threat to human health.
Lipinski’s comment came after the Environmental Protection Agency’s results from three rounds of air testing for ethylene oxide emissions near a Sterigenics U.S. LLC facility which uses the chemical to sterilize medical equipment.
The tests, taken in November and released Dec. 7, showed emissions exceeded 6 micrograms per cubic meter of air at two of eight monitoring sites. Ethylene oxide levels at the six other sites, including schools and parks near the facility, either found it was not present or it was there below detection limits.
“This initial data does not allay concerns about Sterigenics’ threat to community health but only amplifies those concerns,” Lipinski said in a Dec. 10 statement to Bloomberg Environment. “These results appear to leave the EPA with only once choice and that is to shut the plant.”
Chemical Poses RisksThe testing confirmed ethylene oxide emissions from the facility are entering the air at concentrations that could have negative human health consequences. Many of Willowbrook’s residents as well as state and federal legislators want the facility shut down, at least temporarily, until more is known about the emissions’ effect on human health.
The EPA will hold a meeting discussing the test results during the week of Dec. 17, a congressional staff member briefed by EPA on the results told Bloomberg Environment.
In a statement, Sterigenics said its facility “has operated, and continues to operate, well within the limits of its permit and the regulations,” and further said the facility’s sterilization work helps prevent medical infection and thus safeguards human health every day.
Before EPA released the data it provided a telephone briefing on the testing to Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), as well as Reps. William Foster (D-Ill.), Lipinski, and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) on the testing results. In addition to Lipinski, Illinois state Sen. John Curran (R) has called for the facility to shut down.
A 2016 EPA study concluded ethylene oxide is carcinogenic to humans through inhalation based on the total weight of scientific evidence.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/shut-down-illinois-medical-equipment-sterilizer-house-member-says
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'Seedworm' Hackers Probe Oil and Gas Sector — Report
Dec 11, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Blake Sobczak
A Russian oil firm is among the victims of a hacking campaign aimed at energy, telecom and IT providers, according to research from Symantec Corp.
The cybersecurity company uncovered the "Seedworm" threat lurking on a computer "within the Brazil-based embassy of an oil-producing nation" this September, according to a report released yesterday. That discovery led to a deeper investigation of a "highly active" hacking group that Symantec says compromised more than 130 targets in 30 organizations over the past three months.
All 11 victims in the oil and gas sector bore links to a Russian firm with operations in the Middle East, Symantec claimed, though American oil producers might want to take notice.
"We did not see U.S. companies directly impacted, but we did see U.S.-based personnel of the oil and gas firm compromised," said Jonathan Wrolstad, principal cyber intelligence analyst at Symantec, in an emailed response to questions. "Also, U.S. firms do business directly with some of the victim organizations and should be aware that their communications with these entities may not remain confidential."
Symantec did not identify the specific company hit by the hacking campaign but shared details about the custom "Powermud" tool the hackers used to crack open a digital backdoor into infected computers. From there, the Seedworm actors relied on a range of methods to steal passwords saved in users' web browsers and compress data to smuggle over to attacker-controlled networks. Symantec traced the group back to "multiple online accounts," including a Twitter persona who follows prominent security researchers, and a public repository on the code-sharing site Github that included troves of Seedworm-linked malware.
More than half of the 131 victims Symantec identified were based in Pakistan and Turkey, though Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and Russia also registered infections.
"U.S. companies that do business in the Middle East would be the most at risk from this group due to the Seedworm group's focus on Middle East countries," Wrolstad said.
He added that the group did not appear to show any specific interest in the industrial control or operational networks in the oil sector.
Instead, Symantec concluded that Seedworm "likely functions as a cyber espionage group to secure actionable intelligence that could benefit their sponsor's interests," rather than disrupt or destroy data.
Cyber/physical threats
Kunal Agarwal, an internet-of-things security expert at Symantec, said in a recent interview to expect an uptick in disruptive cyberthreats.
Symantec recently rolled out a scanning station for USB thumb drives, aimed at heading off a new and alarming category of cyberattacks on oil and gas companies, electric utilities and manufacturing plants, "where infections are not just afflicting cyber, but the cyber/physical," he said.
"Our execration is that's going to grow and continue in the future," Agarwal said.
The cybersecurity company's Industrial Control System Protection Neural marks one of the antivirus provider's first major efforts to "expand our reach into very critical infrastructure," as Agarwal put it.
Thumb drives have long been a necessary thorn in the side of industrial control system operators, who may rely on USBs to apply updates in "airgapped" industrial environments or otherwise transfer data out (Energywire, Aug. 13, 2015). Some of the most destructive attacks in the history of cybersecurity, including the Stuxnet worm's takedown of Iranian nuclear centrifuges in the late 2000s, hitched a ride into victim computers via USB ports.
"When we started to work with these customers, it became very clear that this is the one problem that is undeniably difficult to fix," Agarwal said. "We're focusing on where the attacks manifest."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/12/11/stories/1060109265
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D.C. Circuit Weighs Public Comment Rules for State Monitoring
Dec 11, 2018 | E&E News PM
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Environmental attorneys went to court today to fight an EPA regulatory change to public comment requirements for state-level air monitoring plans.
In oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today, the Sierra Club argued that EPA in 2016 violated the Clean Air Act when it revised a rule setting out requirements for state-level ambient air quality monitoring.
At issue is EPA's decision to waive certain public comment opportunities for changes to how states monitor ambient air quality. Monitors help signal whether states are meeting their Clean Air Act requirements.
"These are problems for real people. There are people out there who rely on these monitors," Earthjustice attorney Tosh Sagar argued, noting that people with health issues depend on state monitors to determine when to take their medicine or whether to go outside on days with bad air quality.
States' outlines for meeting monitoring standards were previously considered part of a broader state implementation plan under the environmental law. EPA's 2016 regulation declared that the monitoring plan is separate and therefore not subject to the same public comment requirements.
EPA previously provided notice and comment at the agency level if a state didn't already offer the opportunity; now states are required to provide a public comment period. The Sierra Club opposes the change, saying EPA-level notice and comment is required in some circumstances.
"They've weakened the rule in some respects, and they've changed it in others," Sagar said, "and our contention is ... this new rule is less than what the statute requires."
Justice Department attorney Phillip Dupre pushed back on the Sierra Club's characterization, arguing that the 2016 rule represented a "relatively modest change."
"Despite what they've put in their briefs, this is not a change in position by EPA," Dupre said.
Senior Judge Stephen Williams, a Reagan appointee, appeared skeptical of the Sierra Club's claims during today's oral arguments, questioning whether the court even had jurisdiction over the issue. He argued that the alleged regulatory change doesn't appear to be an actual change because public comment is still required at some level.
Judge Thomas Griffith, a George W. Bush appointee, and Judge Robert Wilkins, an Obama appointee, also sat on the panel.
A decision is expected in the next few months.
https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2018/12/10/stories/1060109223
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Former CASAC Members, Scientists Urge Broader EPA PM NAAQS Review
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stuart Parker
Former members of a terminated specialized EPA particulate matter (PM) advisory panel and hundreds of scientists are urging the agency to reinstate the panel for the ongoing review of the PM national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), or risk producing an inadequate review that could be vulnerable to potential legal challenges.
“The myriad of changes to the [NAAQS] review process are collectively harmful to the quality, credibility, and integrity of the scientific review process,” says a Dec. 10 letter to the agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) from the former members of the specialized CASAC PM panel and others.
“The current 7-member CASAC does not have the depth or breadth of expertise needed for the particulate matter review, nor could any group of this size cover the needed scientific disciplines,” according to the letter, which also warns that the existing review timetable does not allow for a “thorough” assessment of the standards.
Although CASAC's PM panel was disbanded, the full seven-member committee is slated to meet Dec. 12-13 in Arlington, VA, to discuss EPA's draft integrated science assessment (ISA) that supports the agency's accelerated review of the NAAQS for fine PM (PM2.5) and the larger “coarse” PM (PM10). Controversial industry consultant Louis “Tony” Cox now chairs CASAC, which has seen all its members replaced by the Trump administration.
The committee will assess the quality and adequacy of EPA's science assessment without the insight of the specialized PM panel that it previously relied on to assist the seven-member chartered CASAC.
Further, it must help EPA to complete the NAAQS review on a condensed schedule by an EPA self-imposed deadline of December 2020. EPA air policy chief Bill Wehrum has outlined a “streamlined” NAAQS review process to facilitate this goal, involving fewer drafts of key documents such as ISAs and less consultation of CASAC.
EPA set its current “primary,” or health-based NAAQS for PM2.5 at 12 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3) in 2012. PM2.5 is blamed for most serious health effects stemming from PM exposure, and several new scientific studies suggest the limit should be even tougher, although Trump EPA officials have warned a NAAQS in the single digits may not be achievable because it would be technically impossible to attain.
Other written comments submitted to EPA ahead of a Dec. 11 deadline for input on the ISA also raise concerns about the scrapping of CASAC's PM panel and the adequacy of the NAAQS review.
A coalition of 202 scientists and engineers “with expertise in air quality, environmental sciences, and public health” sent a letter to the agency saying, “we strongly object to sidelining science in this decisionmaking process. We strongly urge you to reinstate the Particulate Matter Review Panel to provide the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, as well as your agency, with the best-possible scientific understanding."
Separately, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), a regional air regulators' group, says in Dec. 10 comments to CASAC, “NESCAUM requests that the EPA reconstitute the disbanded particulate matter NAAQS panel and restart the discontinued ozone NAAQS panel formation process. Without this needed expertise, the EPA risks undermining the scientific integrity of any future NAAQS decision, and threatens the credibility of CASAC as an informed venue capable of performing its tasks under the Clean Air Act.”
NESCAUM also seeks “more time in the review schedule to allow CASAC to request a revised draft of a review document, and that the review documents are appropriately sequenced so that the CASAC (and the public) have the full benefit of reviewed scientific information that will inform recommendations on subsequent policy choices."
Former decades- long EPA air official John Bachmann on behalf of the Environmental Protection Network (EPN), a group comprising former EPA employees, in a Dec. 9 written statement says, “EPN strongly supports the recommendations of former CASAC and PM panel members, as well as concerns expressed by several current CASAC members, that the committee should recommend the reinstatement of a PM panel for this review.”
Bachmann also objects to the compressed review timetable, but defends EPA's “causal framework” for linking PM exposure to specific adverse health effects.
Industry Comments
Associations representing various industries, meanwhile, are largely ignoring questions about the capability of the committee to conduct its oversight function, and focusing instead on alleged flaws in the science that EPA has relied on to set progressively tougher PM standards.
The various industry groups in their comments to CASAC and EPA, meanwhile, criticize the causal framework as biased to finding causation of health effects where there is none. They fault the agency's prior handling of scientific evidence on PM in past NAAQS reviews, and take issue with the methodological approach of the draft ISA, which they say is not sufficiently prescriptive or structured to yield reliable results.
For example, the American Petroleum Institute (API) in its testimony submitted for the forthcoming CASAC meeting says, the “draft ISA lacks a sufficiently detailed systematic review protocol. The lack of a protocol which sufficiently details literature search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, methods for evaluating study quality, evidence integration and causality determinations, and so on, has led to an evaluation that was not conducted in a systematic, unbiased, or transparent manner."
Also, the “causal framework is not adequate. The causal framework is structured in such a way that biases towards a causal conclusion. It should be revised to be more balanced."
The consultancy Air Improvement Resource Inc. on behalf of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in Dec. 7 comments to CASAC cites high uncertainty in the evidence linking PM to health outcomes.
“The ISA fails to present evidence that the low doses of PM2.5 deposited in the human airways is capable of causing the health effects implied by the epidemiological associations. In addition, toxicological studies have not identified any component in the PM2.5 mixture that could be causing mortality at the concentrations typically observed in ambient US air,” according to the comments.
Consultant Sonja Sax in testimony to CASAC on behalf of the American Wood Council, the Aluminum Association, and the American Iron and Steel Institute says, “The establishment of a systematic review process that includes pre-defined, objective criteria to reach judgements of causality would improve the scientific rigor of the ISA. The lack of objective criteria or well-defined criteria to reach conclusions of causality impairs the reliability of the scientific judgements.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/former-casac-members-scientists-urge-broader-epa-pm-naaqs-review
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Greens Win 'New Deal' Backer as Dozens Arrested in Capitol Protest
Dec 10, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Zack Colman and Anthony Adragna
More than a thousand youth climate change demonstrators poured onto Capitol Hill this morning to press top Democrats to support an aggressive Green New Deal policy, and they won backing from a powerful party leader for a key plank of their strategy in the next Congress.
Incoming House Rules Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) told a group of demonstrators at his office he supported the creation of a select House committee empowered to draft legislation on the Green New Deal, a broad progressive plan pushed by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that aims to shift the U.S. economy off fossil fuels.
“I am committed to the House Select Committee on a Green New Deal to deal with the issue of climate change and so many other things,” McGovern told activists. “The reason why we’re all talking about this is because you’re here ... Now is the time to have this discussion.”
Organizers said 61 protesters were arrested outside Speaker-designee Nancy Pelosi's office and that more were expected at Majority Leader-designee Steny Hoyer's office. Activists wore shirts saying “No more fossil fuel money” held signs reading “Back the Deal,” and “Do Your Job,” and sang “They try to stop us but we keep coming back,” before police officers took them into custody.
The protest caps a month of burgeoning momentum for the young demonstrators who have already successfully pushed Democratic leaders to make climate change a core component of their 2019 legislative agenda that had largely been focused on health care and minimum wage increases.
Organizers are pressing Democrats to set up a select committee that is empowered to craft ambitious Green New Deal legislation spearheaded by Ocasio-Cortez by 2020 that aims to rapidly decarbonize the U.S. economy, offer a jobs guarantee program for everyone who wants one and upgrade the energy efficiency of every building.
Taylor Griffin, spokesperson for Pelosi, said addressing climate change is a "top priority" going into the next Congress.
"She has proposed reinstating a select committee on climate and looks forward to caucus-wide discussions with the committees of jurisdiction to determine the appropriate path forward," Griffin said in a statement.
Winning the backing from McGovern shows the traction activists have garnered in a few short weeks since the midterm elections. Their first demand focuses on getting the Rules Committee to make operational the select committee on a Green New Deal. Organizers said McGovern backed the specific wording of that resolution floated by Ocasio-Cortez, which would prevent lawmakers who have received campaign contributions from fossil fuel interests from sitting on the select committee.
Insisting on a panel comprised of lawmakers without fossil fuel backing would deliver a victory to progressives who say Democrats are being influenced by corporations who have a financial stake in supporting fossil fuels.
But it also would likely divide the caucus. Several demonstrators have already criticized incoming House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) for taking campaign money from fossil fuel interests such as electric utilities. Centrist Democrats who represent swing districts distanced themselves from Pelosi during the midterm cycle, seen as being reluctant to push a message that could fall flat with their more moderate constituents.
Organizers say they plan to expand their campaign around the country next year.
“We did not even imagine that the Green New Deal would become such a main conversation right alongside things like a Medicare for All,” said Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, which organized the protests. “We’re going to take the momentum that we have built in D.C. and take it to every community, context in the country. We’re going to unveil a grassroots campaign for a Green New Deal that’s going to target federal policymakers in every part of the country.”
While the organizers’ most immediate goal is convincing House Democrats to greenlight a select committee to draft a plan outlining a Green New Deal, they’re cognizant that they must maintain long-term pressure to avoid merely being placated.
“It’s not that there’s one policy,” Waleed Shahid, a spokesperson for the activist group Justice Democrats, told reporters on Capitol Hill, referring to the specifics of a Green New Deal. “The idea is exactly the same as what happened in the 1930s and 1940s in this country, except this time not to the exclusion of everyone who’s not a white male.”
A Pelosi aide said she has reached out to Sunrise for a meeting but hasn't received a response to date.
Hoyer welcomed the protests in a tweet, but stopped short of endorsing a Green New Deal.
“I'm happy to hear from them about one of the most pressing issues of our time,” he wrote. “Speaking out is exactly what our democracy is all about, and I appreciate their passion. The new Dem Majority will #ActonClimate.”
Activists targeted 46 congressional offices in today's demonstration, including progressive caucus co-chairs Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), demanding the two lawmakers join 22 colleagues in backing the Green New Deal. The group plans to hold satellite protests at congressional offices around the country today.
While demonstrators have trained their sights on the soon-to-be Democratic-controlled House, their efforts have spilled over to the Senate. Sen. Brian Schatz(D-Hawaii), a leading climate advocate in the chamber, publicly backed the Green New Deal on Sunday. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer embraced major tenets of the push in a letter to President Trump that insisted any infrastructure legislation — should it emerge — must also address climate change. Pelosi also backed that call.
Several hundred demonstrators, including Ocasio-Cortez, stormed Pelosi’s office in mid-November energizing activists. They later flooded Pallone’s office as well after he clashed with Ocasio-Cortez on the need for the special committee.
Sunrise Movement spokesperson Stephen O’Hanlon said organizers plan to expand their work in the Senate in 2019.
“In the weeks before the election and right after the election, top Democrats including Nancy Pelosi were saying that climate change was going to be an ancillary issue, was going to be something that could fit in around the edges,” he said. “Now with Sen. Schumer’s op-ed, what Nancy Pelosi is saying today, has shown that thousands of people taking action and a number of courageous politicians joining us has changed the political weather in this country and made climate change a top issue in the 2019 Congress and for the 2020 presidential primary and put the Green New Deal on the map.”
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/12/greens-win-new-deal-backer-as-dozens-arrested-in-capitol-protest-1018343
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White House Takes America First Approach at COP24 Summit
Dec 11, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Paola Tamma and Kalina Oroschakoff
There’s no surer way to anger climate negotiators than to expound on the glories of fossil fuels, which is why the White House on Monday held a side event at the COP24 climate conference on fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
“No countries should have to sacrifice economic prosperity and energy security in pursuit of environmental sustainability. We can achieve all of these goals and they are complementary,” said Preston Wells Griffith, special White House adviser on energy and environment.
But outside of the designed-to-annoy event, U.S. diplomacy is remarkably consistent with past practice, despite President Donald Trump's promise 18 months ago to extricate his country from the Paris Agreement.
Traditionally, Washington has battled fiercely to ensure that there is no separate treatment for developed and developing countries — a position that dates back decades. As with past Republican administrations, it's also opposed to accepting financial responsibility for any damage caused by climate change, and is skeptical of lavish financial schemes for developing countries.
Some of those positions are also being quietly backed by other industrial powers like the EU.
The slimmed-down U.S. negotiating team in Katowice are still full participants in the process, as Trump's pullout from the Paris deal only takes effect in 2020.
“They’re appreciated as being serious and knowledgeable and effective and cordial," said Todd Stern, the chief U.S. negotiator during the 2015 Paris climate summit.
In contrast, White House officials have gone bare-knuckles in defending American interests.
“This administration does not see the benefit of being part of an agreement that impedes our economic growth and harms the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing while allowing those same players to operate in China at greater levels of emissions,” said Griffith.
Over the weekend, the U.S. together with fellow oil exporters Russia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia blocked an initiative to "welcome" a recent U.N. science reportwarning of the dire consequences of allowing global temperatures to warm by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
That enraged developing countries and blocs such as the EU, but so far the report hasn't been accepted by the summit.
Although the Americans are present, it's clear that they carry much less weight than they did in Paris, when negotiators had the full backing of the Obama administration and were key in building an alliance with China that helped forge the final deal.
“In Paris there were a lot of countries who took a deep breath and went beyond their comfort zone,” Stern said, adding that no country was perceived as having pushed more than the U.S.
Trump's stance has fractured the U.S. position. While the official White House delegation is deeply skeptical of the climate negotiation process, U.S. cities, states and other actors have set up a separate presence in Katowice to reassure that rest of the world that there are parts of America still keen to tackle climate change — housed in the temporary (and rather modest) home of the "We Are Still In" coalition.
The Trump administration is also giving cover to other climate skeptics. Ricardo de Aquino Salles, the new environment minister of Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, has raised the possibility of Brazil withdrawing from the Paris deal. Another waverer, Australia, was a big presence at the U.S. event in Katowice.
“Australia also has a technology-neutral approach to emissions reduction,” said Patrick Suckling, Australia's ambassador for the environment.
A more unilateral U.S. is also less interested in building coalitions to reach a deal at the COP24.
Stern said the smaller U.S. presence means "at political level, there’s no U.S. leverage" and there is no replay of the U.S.-China alliance of 2015.
“The absence of the U.S. hurts for sure,” he said. But “I think there are plenty of grownups who can get us there ... It would be a different deal if the U.S. were here."
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/12/white-house-takes-america-first-approach-at-cop24-summit-1018487
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The Year Ahead: Dems Under Pressure to Deliver on Green Agenda
Dec 10, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Miranda Green and Timothy Cama
Democrats have big plans on energy and environmental policy in the year ahead when they take control of the House.
After eight years in the minority, House Democrats aim to push back on Trump administration efforts to roll back regulations and to put officials under greater oversight. They are also facing intense pressure from progressive groups to embrace an ambitious green agenda.
But Republicans still control the Senate, and Trump administration officials are also working on a new round of deregulation at federal agencies, setting the stage for a number of high profile clashes.
Here's what to watch in the year ahead on energy and environmental issues.
Climate action
Lawmakers will be under a microscope regarding climate change in 2019 after a slew of recent reports that forecast dire effects from rising temperatures.
House Democrats will face the most pressure to act as new members demand leaders take more decisive action to correct the effects of climate change.
A group of nearly two-dozen House members and incoming lawmakers led by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are already backing the idea of a new select committee charged with promoting what they’ve dubbed a Green New Deal.
The committee they hope to establish would aim to get the country running on a 100 percent renewable energy electric grid, among other goals.
But that committee could clash with others, such Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, and Science. Top Democrats set to take the gavels on those panels are already pushing back.
Talk of a carbon tax is also heating up. A bipartisan group of House lawmakers in November unveiled a historic carbon tax bill, a proposal that would gradually ramp up fees on carbon dioxide emissions. Expect more debate in the year to come.
EPA regulations
The Trump administration has been taking big steps over the last two years to undo major Obama administration regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and those efforts are on track to kick into high gear in 2019.
The EPA is planning to roll out final versions of three major deregulatory actions: replacing the Clean Power Plan with a weaker regulation on carbon emissions from power plants, replacing the Obama administration’s auto efficiency and emissions rule with a less stringent version, and rolling back major parts of the Obama administration’s methane pollution rule for oil and natural gas drillers.
Each of the rules was a major part of former President Obama’s climate change agenda, and each rollback is likely to be a big victory for the industries impacted.
And they’re coming amid major new reports from bodies like the United Nations and the federal government showing that aggressive action to cut greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to avoid catastrophic effects from climate change.
“At a time when our government should be strengthening those safeguards, Trump’s officials are dedicated to weakening them,” Ben Longstreth, a senior climate change attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Fund, wrote in October, when the public comment period for the power plant and auto rules closed.
Another major rollback of Obama’s Waters of the United States rule is expected as early as this week, and officials are planning to make it final in 2019.
The Interior Department is busy too. Officials are working on finalizing a trio of rules to overhaul how the Fish and Wildlife Service determines how to protect endangered and threatened species.
But once the rollbacks are made final, the fight won’t end. Green groups and Democratic states have promised to sue the administration in federal court and to try to stop the rollbacks from taking effect. Those suits will take months, if not years, to work through the court system, and could be appealed up to the Supreme Court.
Tougher oversight of the administration
After taking the House majority, Democrats believe they have a mandate from voters to conduct aggressive oversight of the Trump administration, with environmental policy being a critical part.
Incoming Democratic committee chairs will have the power to call hearings, set agendas and even compel administration officials to testify or produce records if they want.
That is likely to be most pronounced for the Interior Department and the EPA.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the likely next chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, has said he’ll be aggressive in his oversight of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. He intends to focus on the national monument rollbacks, Zinke’s ethics allegations and proposals to drill for oil and natural gas offshore.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), slated to chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is also vowing to scrutinize acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Expect Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), likely to lead the panel's Environment Subcommittee, to take a prominent role in that oversight.
Wheeler confirmation hearings
Trump announced in November that he intends to nominate Wheeler to formally take over the EPA.
But with time running out in December, Wheeler’s confirmation process is nearly certain to be pushed to 2019.
“It doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen in the next two weeks,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, told reporters last week about a confirmation hearing.
Trump still needs to formally nominate Wheeler by sending paperwork to the Senate.
Barrasso’s committee would then have to schedule a hearing with Wheeler and a committee vote before sending him to the full Senate for a vote.
The GOP will have 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats in 2019, and nominees only need 51, so Wheeler’s confirmation is almost guaranteed.
Wheeler, who was previously a lobbyist for coal mining company Murray Energy Corp. and other energy firms, has already gone through Senate confirmation once. In April, the upper chamber approved him nearly along party lines to be the deputy administrator at the EPA.ADVERTISEMENT
But when former Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned in July under a pile of ethics and spending scandals, Wheeler was automatically elevated to be acting administrator.
Democrats and environmentalists pulled out the stops against both Wheeler and Pruitt's confirmations and can be expected to voice their opposition again. Dems cited their ties to fossil fuels and other industries regulated by the EPA and their role easing regulations.
Science
House Democrats are looking to push the Trump administration and other institutions to embrace science and avoid what they see as skepticism of research on issues such as climate change.Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), the likely incoming chairwoman of the House Science Committee and a nurse, would be the first woman with a science degree to have the panel's gavel since 1990.
She's likely to herald a shift in the panel's work from its current chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas).
As chairman, Smith introduced controversial bills such as the Secret Science Reform Act, which supporters said would make agencies more transparent about how they use science. Critics said it would restrict the scientific studies the government could use.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/420615-the-year-ahead-dems-look-to-deliver-on-green-agenda
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Asset Managers Team Up to Pressure Governments on Climate Change
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kelly Gilblom
Institutional investors increasingly concerned about climate change have teamed up to ask governments to set tougher policies.
A group of 415 investors overseeing $32 trillion in assets has signed a letter asking governments to phase out thermal coal, set a price on carbon emissions and end fossil-fuel subsidies. The signatories, including Allianz SE, HSBC Global Asset Management and Schroders Plc, are presenting it in conjunction with the COP24 global-climate conference in Poland.
The fund managers said climate change could cause economic damage that threatens their holdings, and that government policy was key to reducing risk. Schroders estimated that if no action is taken and the world warms by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit), that could cause $23 trillion in global economic losses over the next 80 years.
‘Economic Damage’“This is permanent economic damage three or four times the scale of the impacts of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, while continuing to escalate,” the group said in a statement Dec. 10. “Much more needs to be done by governments to accelerate the low-carbon transition.”
While letters don’t usually lead to immediate change, the combined efforts of asset managers have already stirred the private sector. Last week, Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it would set new public goals around cutting carbon emissions after months of pressure from some of the same investors who signed the new letter.
The investor group also wrote a briefing paper for policy makers that says governments need to update and strengthen their commitments to the Paris climate accord. Among the recommendations are that nations put a price on carbon—in effect a tax on greenhouse gas emissions—between $38 and $100 a ton. Currently, three-quarters of emissions are covered by carbon prices of less than $10 a ton, the paper said.
The COP24 conference is in its second week and will end on Dec. 14.https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/asset-managers-team-up-to-pressure-governments-on-climate-change
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BP, Shell to Face New Shareholder Challenge Over Climate in 2019
Dec 10, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kelly Gilblom
The activists who rankled Royal Dutch Shell Plc by filing climate change resolutions for three straight years now are targeting other oil majors.
Follow This, a Dutch group that accumulates shares in oil companies in order to press them over greenhouse gas emissions, has filed another resolution against Shell for 2019. It also filed its first resolution against BP Plc and could target Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. in the same way.
The group, led by former journalist Mark van Baal, has been a source of frustration for Shell management, even though its resolutions have gone down to defeat. Van Baal stood up at the Anglo-Dutch supermajor’s May 2018 shareholder meeting and said Shell was misleading its investors by saying it was on track to meet global climate targets, prompting CEO Ben van Beurden to angrily retort that wasn’t the case.
Last week, seven months after the exchange, Van Beurden softened his tone. He said Shell should do more on climate change and that the company will set public, short-term targets on emissions reductions starting in 2020, which could impact how the company deploys capital.
Paris Agreement“We’ve seen how effective climate resolutions are in the case of Shell,” Van Baal said in a statement. “However, we need the entire oil and gas industry to go along.”
The resolutions will ask companies to align their investments with the 2016 Paris Agreement, in which countries agreed they would try to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Global carbon emissions need to fall 25 percent by 2030 to reach the goal, while some oil companies, mostly in the U.S., haven’t even indicated they’ll cut greenhouse gases to that extent within their own operations.
Along with customer usage, the energy sector accounts for about two-thirds of global emissions, according to the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change.
BP said in a statement that it received the resolution and was considering it carefully, while also pointing to near-term targets to cut emissions from its own operations and its energy transition report. Shell said the resolution was “unnecessary” given its announcement on short-term targets last week. Exxon spokesman Scott Silvestri declined to comment.
“Chevron is taking prudent, practical and cost-effective actions to address potential climate change risks, including managing emissions, testing new technologies and increasing efficiency,” Sean Comey, a Chevron spokesman, said in an email. “We actively engage with investors to encourage thoughtful dialogue that produces meaningful solutions to climate change.”
Competing GoalsShareholder pressure has already taken a toll on Big Oil. Last year, as pension funds in Shell’s home country of the Netherlands expanded their criticism of the company, it became the only supermajor to start seeking emissions cuts from customers. That is on top of the work Shell does to limit pollution from its operations. Follow This wants BP and others to do the same.
Companies have now acknowledged they should contribute to climate solutions. Oil bosses also said they’re worried about hindering economic growth or disrupting other goals, such as giving everyone in the world access to electricity. Additionally, when Big Oil has ventured into low-carbon businesses in the past, it lost money.
Shell and BP are both expected to have annual general meetings in May 2019. Follow This hasn’t yet filed resolutions against Exxon and Chevron and will do so only if it doesn’t duplicate the work of other activist shareholders, Van Baal said in a statement.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/bp-shell-to-face-new-shareholder-challenge-over-climate-in-2019
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Inslee Invokes Churchill as He Rolls out Climate Legislation
Dec 11, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Storrow
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) unveiled an ambitious package of climate legislation yesterday, aiming to revive efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Evergreen State after a series of major policy defeats earlier this year.
The legislation calls for eliminating fossil fuels from the state's power sector, boosting electric vehicles and adopting enhanced building codes, among other measures. Taken together, the moves would cut Washington's greenhouse gas emissions by 16 million tons, enough to satisfy a state law calling for a 25 percent emissions reduction by 2035.
"This will be the steepest and swiftest reduction of greenhouse gases that we have ever seen," Inslee said at a press conference announcing the plan. "These policies will work together to get us to the 2035 emission targets that are in law."
The proposal followed the defeat of a carbon tax in the Legislature and at the ballot box this year. Inslee championed the idea in both venues, only to see it fail.
It also comes as the governor positions himself for a potential presidential run in 2020. He's the current chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, a post often used to further the ambitions of states' chief executives, and he recently established a federal political action committee.
While Inslee has long advocated climate action, he has precious little to show for his advocacy. A plan to cap emissions from the state's largest polluters has been hung up in court, and Republican lawmakers blocked an attempt to impose a low-carbon fuel standard.
That would change if the governor succeeds in passing his package of environmental bills.
The proposal contains provisions aimed at addressing every sector of the state's economy, including a call for generating 100 percent of Washington's electricity from carbon-free resources by 2045; a proposal to eliminate hydrofluorocarbons, a class of powerful greenhouse gases used in air conditioning; plans to retrofit old buildings and establish enhanced energy efficiency standards for new ones; a proposal to implement a low-carbon fuel standard on transportation fuels; and an effort to boost electric vehicles.
Inslee will have expanded Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to work with come January, boosting the odds of the proposals' passage. In a question-and-answer session with journalists, the governor acknowledged that the plan was based on policies that have garnered public support elsewhere.
Responding to questions about the lack of a carbon tax, he said, "It wasn't the initiative or this package. This is a big leap for Washington."
Inslee mixed Winston Churchill into his remarks, saying the world's climate challenge is not unlike the predicament Allied forces found themselves facing during the darkest days of World War II.
"There is no other option than victory, because without victory, there is not survival," Inslee said. "If that sounds apocalyptic, then look at the science."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/12/11/stories/1060109277
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