Preview Newsletter
ACC AM 19/12/18
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(ACC Mentioned) API's Durbin Leaving in January
Dec 18, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
The American Petroleum Institute (API) said Tuesday Executive Vice President Marty Durbin will step down on Jan. 31 after nearly a decade of representing the oil and natural gas industry. -
(ACC Mentioned) Plastic Bottle Recycling Has Another ‘Difficult Year’
Dec 19, 2018 | Resource Recycling
By Colin Staub
The amount of plastic bottles collected for recycling continued to decrease in the U.S. in 2017, contributing to the third straight year of a declining recycling rate. -
Plastics Group Calls for Support for EU Circular Economy Initiatives
Dec 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
A group of 13 organisations from the plastics value chain has called on member states and other stakeholders to help them meet their EU circular economy goals. -
Deal Would Clear 'A Whole Bunch' of Judicial, Admin Picks
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Jeremy Dillon and Geof Koss
It's not just Yuletide traditions driving the final days of the congressional calendar: Senate leaders are gearing up for a massive year-end nominations package as lawmakers look for the holiday exits. -
Democrats Launch Inquiry Into EPA Approval Of 'New' PFAS Under TSCA
Dec 18, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad
Even as EPA grapples with how to manage past and ongoing releases of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), House Democrats are pressing the agency to explain its actions in approving hundreds of “new” PFAS under its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) authorities before they enter commerce. -
Amount of Fluorinated Toxics Allowed in Food Too High, EU Warns
Dec 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Union should consider lowering the safety limits for the amount of two fluorinated substances allowed in food, according to the European Food Safety Agency. -
New York Adopts Strictest Fluorinated Chemical Drinking Water Rules
Dec 19, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Gerald B. Silverman
New York state will have the strictest standards in the country for two drinking water contaminants under limits approved by a state panel Dec. 18. -
Echoing MTBE, Panel Merges Scores Of PFAS Claims On Firefighting Foam
Dec 18, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Suzanne Yohannan
A federal panel on multidistrict litigation (MDL) has consolidated scores of personal injury, groundwater contamination and other suits against companies involved in producing firefighting foam that contained perfluorinated compounds, echoing the path courts took when they consolidated cases over groundwater contamination from the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). -
Could Soaps, Shampoos be Pushing Girls into Early Puberty?
Dec 18, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
By Alan Mozes
Exposure to chemicals found in a wide array of personal care products has been linked to early puberty among girls, a new investigation warns. -
EU Agency: 7EAP May Not Meet Hazardous Chemicals Objectives
Dec 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Caterina Tani
Poor information on hazardous chemicals is one of several issues putting EU 2020 goals in doubt, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) has said. -
Examining the EU’s Contradictory Treatment of Glyphosate and Copper Sulfate Herbicides
Dec 19, 2018 | Genetic Literacy Project
By Andrew Porterfield
The politics of the European Union have often left observers baffled. But the decisions—and lack thereof—over how to regulate two popular pesticides have culminated in a series of contortions as member countries, courts and the European Parliament try to combine a strict precautionary principle, support of organic agriculture, and science. -
EU Commission Adopts Phthalates Restriction Decision
Dec 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission has adopted a Decision to amend the REACH Regulation and restrict the use of the phthalates, DEHP, BBP, DBP and DIBP in consumer products on the EU market. -
Shell’s Look at Endeavor Shows Big Oil’s Growing Sway in Permian
Dec 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kiel Porter, Dinesh Nair and Kelly Gilblom
Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s negotiations to buy Endeavor Energy Resources LP underscore the growing clout of Big Oil in the Permian Basin after BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. ramped up investments in the prolific U.S. shale play. -
Exxon Becomes Top Driller to Combat Lower Oil Output
Dec 19, 2018 | Bloomberg (In E&E Energywire)
By Kevin Crowley
Exxon Mobil Corp. has overtaken rivals to become the most active driller in the Permian Basin, showing the urgency with which the world's biggest oil company by market value is pursuing U.S. shale. -
Colorado Hikes Distance Between Oil, Gas Wells and Schoolchildren
Dec 19, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The distance Colorado requires between new oil and gas facilities and schools must be calculated from the outside areas where children play, not just the buildings where they learn, Colorado drilling regulators said. -
Oil Companies, Railroads Clash Over Tank Car Reforms
Dec 18, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By James Osborne
Three years ago, following a series of catastrophic spills, Congress ordered rail tank cars built heavier and stronger while allowing older cars to be retrofitted to improve their safety. -
Wind and Solar Are Revitalizing Rural America
Dec 18, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Grant Smith
In 2016, Illinois passed the Future Energy Jobs Act to spur renewable energy investments. -
North America Seen Leading 2019 FID Wave for Global LNG
Dec 18, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Carolyn Davis
With final investment decisions (FID) imminent for three Gulf Coast developments, North America should lead the next wave of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) project sanctions in 2019, Wood Mackenzie analysts said. -
Sources: White House, Zinke Met on Offshore Oil and Gas Expansion
Dec 18, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Zack Colman
The Trump administration is putting the finishing touches on a plan to open up parts of the Atlantic Coast and potentially portions of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil and gas exploration, according to industry sources with knowledge of the discussions. -
America’s Amazing Gas Business Makes Less Than It Did in 2000
Dec 18, 2018 | Bloomberg (In The Washington Post)
By Liam Denning
After a November to remember, America’s natural gas producers are settling back into more-familiar feelings of wistfulness at what might have been. -
Industry Voices Largely Quiet in Methane Rule Fight
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
Major oil and gas companies have largely kept silent over a rule change that would ease leak detection requirements for methane, leaving industry groups to carry their position on the controversial subject. -
Setbacks Around Schools are Widened, But Fight Isn't Over
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Colorado's oil regulators imposed a wider safety zone between schools and nearby oil wells, the latest in the state's ongoing fight over the balance between the state's booming population growth and its energy industry. -
Kinder Morgan Faces Proposed Class Action Lawsuit on Pipeline
Dec 18, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Arundhati Sarkar and John Benny
Kinder Morgan is facing a proposed class action lawsuit, claiming that a division of the pipeline operator has emitted chemicals and toxic gas that caused damage to property and killed animals. -
Oil and Gas Death Count Crept Up Again Last Year
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
The number of workers who lost their lives in the oil field slowly ticked up again last year. -
A Year After Deadly Amtrak Crash, State Says It’s on Track for Train-Safety Deadline
Dec 18, 2018 | The Seattle Times
By Alex Bruell
Amtrak and state transportation officials say they’ve completed installation of a new train-control system that could have prevented a fatal accident a year ago Tuesday near Tacoma. -
(ACC Mentioned) DC Circ. Probes EPA Rationale For Obama Ozone Rule
Dec 19, 2018 | Law360
By Christopher Cole
A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday examined whether a 2015 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule aimed at reducing ozone emissions can realistically be complied with and what criteria the agency relied on when determining whether permitted emission levels are safe. -
EPA’s Wheeler Steers Clear of Scandals as He Rewrites Rulebook
Dec 19, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Eric Wolff and Alex Guillen
Andrew Wheeler is speeding ahead with a slew of deregulatory actions in his first few months as head of EPA, digging into the fine print to rewrite the agency’s rulebook while skirting the type of tawdry scandals that brought down Scott Pruitt. -
DC Passes Bill to Make City Run on 100-Percent Clean Energy by 2032
Dec 18, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Miranda Green
Washington, D.C., will soon be running on 100-percent electric energy. -
Judges Appear To Back Stricter Ozone NAAQS, Doubt 'Background' Factor
Dec 19, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
Appellate judges at Dec. 18 oral argument appeared to back the Obama EPA's 2015 decision to tighten its primary health-based ozone air standard and to doubt claims that the agency should have assessed “background” ozone levels to set a weaker limit, but they also faulted EPA for making the secondary environment-based standard the same. -
Pennsylvania's Wolf Weighs GHG Petition, Opening Door To Joining RGGI
Dec 18, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
Pennsylvania's recently re-elected Democratic governor says he is weighing the merits of a petition urging the state to create a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions, a step that if approved could allow the Keystone State to join -- and significantly expand -- the Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) utility carbon market. -
Exxon Mobil Opposes Weakening Obama-Era Emissions Rules: Letter to EPA
Dec 19, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Jennifer Hiller
Exxon Mobil Corp sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in support of methane gas emission rules put in place under the Obama administration, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters. -
Brussels Agrees Single-Use Plastic Ban
Dec 19, 2018 | Financial Times
By Rochelle Toplensky
Brussels has agreed to ban a range of plastic items, including single-use cutlery, straws and food containers, by 2021 as part of a set of ambitious new EU rules. -
Cap and Trade for Cars Arrives in the Northeast
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Storrow and Maxine Joselow
Nine Northeastern states and the District of Columbia committed yesterday to forming a cap-and-trade system for the transportation sector, embarking on one of the most ambitious regional programs ever undertaken to cut carbon dioxide.
Industry and Association News
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(ACC Mentioned) API's Durbin Leaving in January
Dec 18, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
The American Petroleum Institute (API) said Tuesday Executive Vice President Marty Durbin will step down on Jan. 31 after nearly a decade of representing the oil and natural gas industry.
"It was a thrill to have worked with the natural gas and oil industry during a period of such incredible innovation -- even the dual challenges of an economic recession followed by an industry downturn couldn't dampen the U.S. shale energy revolution," Durbin said. "I'm excited about where API is headed and glad I could play a role in this important leadership transition."
CEO Mike Sommers called Durbin "an extraordinary leader for API during extraordinary times for our industry. He has helped guide our association through challenges, expanded our industry's reach, and heightened our effectiveness in Washington and across the country.
"We will miss Marty both as a friend and colleague, and we are confident he will bring the same level of commitment and success to his next endeavor."
Durbin said he plans to "step away, catch my breath, and determine how I will pursue my passions in the policy and political world." He signaled that he plans to continue working with A Wider Circle, a Bethesda, MD-based nonprofit dedicated to ending poverty, which he chairs.
Durbin returned to API after serving for nearly three years as CEO of America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), which merged with API in 2015. Prior to joining ANGA, Durbin served as API's executive vice president for government affairs.
Before his career representing the oil and gas industry, Durbin served as vice president of federal relations at the American Chemistry Council and held a variety of government affairs positions with the American Plastics Council. He previously served on Capitol Hill in the offices of Sen. Alan J. Dixon (D-IL) and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA).
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/116828-apis-durbin-leaving-in-january
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(ACC Mentioned) Plastic Bottle Recycling Has Another ‘Difficult Year’
Dec 19, 2018 | Resource Recycling
By Colin Staub
The amount of plastic bottles collected for recycling continued to decrease in the U.S. in 2017, contributing to the third straight year of a declining recycling rate.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) on Monday released figures indicating 2.8 billion pounds of plastic bottles were collected for recycling in 2017. That’s down from more than 2.9 billion pounds a year earlier, a decrease of 3.6 percent.
The overall plastic bottle collection rate, which calculates the percentage of plastic bottles collected out of the total weight of plastic used to produce new bottles, was 29.3 percent in 2017. In 2016, it was 29.7 percent. Last year, the report acknowledged, marked “an exceedingly difficult year for plastic bottle recycling.”
The latest figures indicate the continuance of a recent downward trend. After more than two decades of solid growth, the plastic bottle recycling rate fell slightly for the first time in 2015. Since then, it has declined each year.
Collection figures varied by resin last year. For example, natural HDPE bottle collection increased from 462.1 million pounds to 473.8 million pounds, and collection of No. 7 plastic bottles increased from 4.9 million pounds to 5.3 million pounds in 2017.
But major collection declines among other resins were more than enough to offset the slight increases. PET collection fell by 27 million pounds, or 1.5 percent. Overall HDPE collection, including color HDPE, fell by more than 70 million pounds. Polypropylene collection fell by 5.5 million pounds.
Despite the overall downward movement in collection and recycling rate, there were some positive indications in 2017. Notably, although collection of the material dropped, the weight of PET bottles processed increased by 59 million pounds compared with the 2016 figure.
The PET bottle recycling rate also increased slightly – even though collection fell, the total volume of virgin and recycled PET resin used to make new bottles declined significantly in 2017. This volume fell by more than 4 percent, or about 259 million pounds. The report attributes this in part to the bankruptcy of M&G Polymers USA, which was a major supplier of virgin resin.
The report identifies numerous plastics recycling market challenges, including fluctuating crude oil and natural gas prices, export disruptions and the limited availability of quality post-consumer bottle material to domestic reclaimers.
https://resource-recycling.com/recycling/2018/12/18/plastic-bottle-recycling-has-another-difficult-year/
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Plastics Group Calls for Support for EU Circular Economy Initiatives
Dec 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
A group of 13 organisations from the plastics value chain has called on member states and other stakeholders to help them meet their EU circular economy goals.
The entities, including PlasticsEurope, European Plastics Converters and Plastics Recyclers Europe, gave a status update on their voluntary commitments at their first annual event 'the EU Plastics Industries – towards circularity' on 11 December.
"The achievement of the ambitious sustainability targets depends not only on the industry but requires the support of national authorities, European legislators and consumers alike. More collection and better sorting are needed to increase recycling and incorporate more recyclate into new products," they said.
They told delegates that the European plastics industry and value chain are "embracing the circular economy" and have developed an "extensive and ambitious set of voluntary measures to close the loop for plastics".
They will monitor all commitments, they said. "Industry is ready to work closely together with authorities and other stakeholders to ensure the goals are reached."
The event will be organised on an annual basis to "guarantee an open and public reporting and transparent dialogue" with stakeholders on the industry’s progress, they said in a press release.
In December, the European Commission confirmed that the trade bloc’s non-toxic environment strategy, due by the end of the year, will be postponed until the new European Commission takes office in 2019.
Under the 7th Environment Action Programme, which steers the bloc's policies until 2020, the Commission is legally obliged to release its strategy this year on how it will eliminate toxic substances from the environment.
The EU executive is due to publish a communication in January on the interface between chemical, product and waste legislation.
https://chemicalwatch.com/72895/plastics-group-calls-for-support-for-eu-circular-economy-initiatives
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Deal Would Clear 'A Whole Bunch' of Judicial, Admin Picks
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Daily
By Jeremy Dillon and Geof Koss
It's not just Yuletide traditions driving the final days of the congressional calendar: Senate leaders are gearing up for a massive year-end nominations package as lawmakers look for the holiday exits.
That could be welcomed news for a host of Department of Energy, EPA and Department of the Interior nominees pending floor confirmation votes.
"As is customary at the end of a session or before recess, the Democratic leader and I will be talking about nominations," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters yesterday during his weekly leadership news conference. "We have a lot of them stacked up, and we'll be talking about trying to put together some kind of package on both executive branch nominations and judicial nominations."
DOE has a total of seven nominees that have moved out of committee, including general counsel nominee William Cooper and assistant secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy nominee Daniel Simmons.
Those two names have received increased scrutiny as the department at large has come under a closer of eye of Democrats and environmental groups upset with the lack of enthusiasm for renewable technology.
The other five include: Teri Donaldson for inspector general, Rita Baranwal for assistant secretary for nuclear energy, Lane Genatowski for director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Christopher Fall for director of the Office of Science and William Bookless for principal deputy administrator at the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Should all seven nominees move forward, DOE would have its full complement of positions requiring Senate confirmation. That would mark the first department or agency to accomplish that feat in the Trump administration, which has earned headlines for the amount of Cabinet and staff turnover in its first two years.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said there is "a whole bunch of nominees" under discussion for the year-end package, including nominations outside of her panel's purview.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said the package would include executive and judicial branch nominees, as well as ambassadors awaiting confirmation.
"The goal is to get a package together and get them approved and in place before the end of the year," he told E&E News yesterday.
Pending nominees that have moved through EPW include Peter Wright, President Trump's pick to lead EPA's solid waste office, and Chad McIntosh, the nominee for the agency's international affairs office.
While Trump's pick to lead EPA's chemicals office, Alexandra Dunn, has not yet had a committee vote, Barrasso said EPW members have signaled they'll let the nomination bypass the panel.
"There was no objection to her coming out of committee, so we're working on getting her approved," he said.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) confirmed that committee Democrats are OK with the three nominations moving toward confirmation but said decisions on who will be in the package will be made by Senate leaders. "It's part of a larger negotiation," he said.
At least two of those nominees are being blocked by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who will leave the Senate this month after losing his re-election bid last month.
Nelson has objected to allowing votes on Susan Combs, who Trump picked in July 2017 to be Interior's assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, as well as the nomination of AccuWeather CEO Barry Myers to lead NOAA.
Asked yesterday about the holds, Nelson said there are numerous colleagues who share his concerns about both nominees. "There are plenty of other holds besides mine," he told E&E News.
One Interior nominee may move forward, though: National Park Service director nominee Raymond David Vela.
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2018/12/19/stories/1060110075
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Democrats Launch Inquiry Into EPA Approval Of 'New' PFAS Under TSCA
Dec 18, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Maria Hegstad
Even as EPA grapples with how to manage past and ongoing releases of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), House Democrats are pressing the agency to explain its actions in approving hundreds of “new” PFAS under its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) authorities before they enter commerce.
Their recent oversight request to Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler underscores promises incoming Democratic leaders have made to oversee the agency's implementation of the revised TSCA law, as well as bipartisan concerns about widespread contamination stemming from PFAS releases.
Reps. Paul Tonko (D-NY), the top Democrat on the Energy & Commerce Committee's environment subcommittee, Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Peter Welch (D-VT) sent a Dec. 7 letter urging the agency to quickly provide affected communities with contamination studies and other information about the chemicals that EPA's toxics office has received as it has reviewed new PFAS chemicals that the industry has brought to market in the wake of a 2010 agreement between EPA and eight companies to phase out an early PFAS chemical known as PFOA by 2015.
“EPA has allowed many new perfluorinated chemicals onto the market since the launch of the PFOA Stewardship Initiative, many subject to consent orders requiring the development of test data,” the Democrats write.
Referencing information EPA presented at its national summit on PFAS last May, the representatives say that EPA has “approved nearly 900 perfluorinated compounds into commerce since 2006, including GenX,” a chemical that manufacturers have touted as a safer alternative to PFOA but which a recently-released draft EPA risk assessment indicated poses significant risks.
The Democrats ask Wheeler to tell them by Dec. 21 how many new PFAS EPA has allowed into commerce “since the launch of the PFOA Stewardship Initiative” and how many since Congress reformed TSCA in 2016.
They also ask how many of these were “subject to consent orders requiring the development of test data” and they request EPA to “[p]rovide all studies and test results submitted to EPA pursuant to consent orders on perfluorinated chemicals, as well as the anticipated completion date for any ongoing studies."
They also ask EPA “how many of the newly introduced perfluorinated compounds were subject to limits on environmental releases? What monitoring or enforcement has been done to ensure those limits are followed?”
They also ask the agency for the locations where restricted compounds are produced.
New Chemicals
The members of Congress are also seeking information on how many new PFAS EPA's new chemicals program has blocked from entering the market, if any.
The letter comes as Wheeler has announced that EPA is preparing to release its PFAS strategy document early next year. The agency's toxics office is also readying its announcement of the next group of chemicals that it will undertake TSCA chemical evaluations of -- an announcement that is also expected early next year.
The Democrats' concerns about the toxics office's approval of new PFAS chemicals also follows ongoing concerns about the new chemicals approval process since TSCA reform, with trade groups concerned by the slowed chemicals approval process, and environmentalists and others concerned that the process is too lax and does not meet the revised statute's criteria.
Tonko indicated shortly after the November election that he plans to conduct oversight of how the agency is implementing TSCA, an effort that many anticipate will review the agency's approval of new chemicals.
But agency officials have sought to justify their approval of newer, substitute PFAS in the face of concerns that they may still be harmful.
Peter Grevatt, EPA's point person on PFAS issues, told the agency's children's health advisors last October that “when a phaseout occurs, industry is moved to other compounds. Industry believed and EPA agreed [the alternates] were lower risk, but that doesn't mean that they are without risk. They continue to be in use in many, many products.”
Grevatt announced last month that he is retiring from the agency after 30 years of service. Grevatt will assume the duties of the chief executive officer of the Water Research Foundation (WRF) in February.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/democrats-launch-inquiry-epa-approval-new-pfas-under-tsca
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Amount of Fluorinated Toxics Allowed in Food Too High, EU Warns
Dec 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Gardner
The European Union should consider lowering the safety limits for the amount of two fluorinated substances allowed in food, according to the European Food Safety Agency.
Those two substances—perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)—have largely been phased out of use in the EU but they persist in the environment.
But the recommendation from the Food Safety Agency, if adopted, could lead to new requirements to ensure the two chemicals stay out of the food chain. The substances, which are linked to a variety of health effects including cancer, can be found in fish, meat, eggs, and dairy products as well as in drinking water.
In a Dec. 13 opinion, EFSA said tolerable weekly intake values for the substances should be set at 13 billionths of a gram per kilogram of body weight for PFOS and 6 billionths of a gram per kilogram for PFOA. That’s more protective than the Food Safety Agency’s 2008 recommendations of 150 billionths of a gram per kilogram per day for PFOS and 1.5 micrograms per kilogram per day for PFOA.Segment of Public Above Current Limits
For both PFOA and PFOS, “a considerable proportion of the population” is exposed at concentrations above the new recommended tolerable intake values, the opinion said.
The new recommended levels could be revised as part of work on a broader range of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which is scheduled for completion in December 2019, EFSA told Bloomberg Environment in a Dec. 18 statement.
Eleni Giannakaki, spokeswoman for FoodDrinkEurope, which represents food and drinks companies, told Bloomberg Environment Dec. 18 the group is still reviewing the opinion.
Fluorinated substances have attracted attention because they have spread widely into the environment and organisms. PFOA and PFOS were previously widely used in the production of plastics and synthetic rubber, and many consumer and industrial products, including carpets, textiles, leather, and firefighting foams.Regulated Compounds
Under the EU’s REACH law (Regulation No. 1907/2006 on the registration, evaluation, and authorization of chemicals), PFOA is considered a substance of very high concern because of its reproductive toxicity, and its production or use will be banned, with some exceptions, in the EU beginning July 4, 2020.
PFOS, meanwhile, is listed in Annex B of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, meaning parties to the convention should take measures to restrict its production and use.
In practice, production and use of the substances in the EU has been largely phased out and other, related substitutes are available. There are no REACH registrations for PFOA or PFOS, the European Chemicals Agency said in a Dec. 18 statement to Bloomberg Environment.
Registration under REACH is a requirement for a chemical to be marketed and sold in the EU.
https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/amount-of-fluorinated-toxics-allowed-in-food-too-high-eu-warns
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New York Adopts Strictest Fluorinated Chemical Drinking Water Rules
Dec 19, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Gerald B. Silverman
New York state will have the strictest standards in the country for two drinking water contaminants under limits approved by a state panel Dec. 18.
The long-awaited standards set maximum contaminant levels for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), two persistent chemical contaminants found in drinking water, consumer products, and at waste sites.
The maximum contaminant levels will be 10 parts per trillion for PFOA and 10 parts per trillion for PFOS. Nonstick Coatings
PFOA and PFOS were once widely used in making nonstick cookware, fire-retardant upholstery coatings, and other consumer and industrial products.
The chemicals have been linked to problems with liver and immune system function, increased blood cholesterol levels, developmental delays, and increased cancer risk.
While several states have taken action to regulate the chemicals, New York’s limits are the strictest by far. The next toughest would be New Jersey’s proposed limits of 14 parts per trillion for PFOA and 13 parts per trillion for PFOS.Rolling Out Rules
Approval by the Drinking Water Quality Council was a major first step in the regulatory process before the limits take full effect sometime in 2019.
They are now expected to be approved by the state health commissioner and subject to a 60-day public comment period. They also are expected to be approved by the Public Health and Health Planning Council.
When fully effective, all public drinking water systems in New York will have to test for the contaminants and report concentrations that exceed the standard. The frequency of the testing requirements will be set in the final regulations.
The state Department of Health estimates that it will cost drinking water systems $855 million in capital costs and $45 million in annual operation and maintenance costs to comply with the MCL levels of 10 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS.
The EPA set a nonenforceable health advisory in 2016 for PFOA and PFOS levels in drinking water at a combined 70 parts per trillion, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in June that exposure to even lower concentrations may pose health risks.
https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/new-york-adopts-strictest-fluorinated-chemical-drinking-water-rules
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Echoing MTBE, Panel Merges Scores Of PFAS Claims On Firefighting Foam
Dec 18, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Suzanne Yohannan
A federal panel on multidistrict litigation (MDL) has consolidated scores of personal injury, groundwater contamination and other suits against companies involved in producing firefighting foam that contained perfluorinated compounds, echoing the path courts took when they consolidated cases over groundwater contamination from the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).
In a Dec. 7 transfer order, the U.S. Judicial Panel on MDL consolidated 75 separate suits from eight federal courts brought by thousands of local governments, individuals and others against a range of defendants over contamination stemming from the use of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which is used to extinguish liquid fuel fires at military bases, airports and other sites.
The defendants include Tyco Fire Products and Chemguard, Inc., which produce fire suppression foams; 3M, a supplier of PFAS-related materials to manufacturers; and the United States, which has used the foam at military bases.
The panel has chosen Judge Richard M. Gergel, with the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, to oversee the consolidated case, noting in the order that he is an experienced transferee judge and that the district has few MDLs and the capacity to oversee the litigation.
But the panel rejected a request by some foam manufacturers to include in the consolidated litigation additional suits that relate to the sale of PFAS products and its manufacture, management or disposal in connection with manufacturing facilities.
As a result, these suits will remain in the district courts where they were filed. They include a variety of cases such as suits over industrial discharges into rivers, contamination stemming from industrial waste and airborne releases from factories, the ruling says. Expanding the MDL to include these additional cases “could quickly become unwieldy,” the panel said.
And even without the non-AFFF actions being included in the consolidated case, the panel says “this MDL undoubtedly will be a complex litigation from a judicial management perspective."
The 75 AFFF actions being consolidated have been pending in eight district courts -- and the panel notes that number will likely grow. They involve allegations that AFFF contaminated groundwater near airports, military bases or other industrial sites with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and/or perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) -- components of AFFF and two of the most commonly found PFAS.
PFAS make up a class of chemicals that are toxic, persistent, and bioaccumulative and that have triggered growing concern around the country due to their presence in drinking water systems and links to adverse health impacts at low levels.
“Given the large numbers of involved actions and districts, alternatives to centralization (such as informal coordination and cooperation among counsel and the courts) are impracticable,” the order says.
MTBE Litigation
The panel references similar circumstances with MTBE, the oxygenate that refiners added to petroleum under orders from EPA but which later led to widespread groundwater contamination.
In the case of MTBE, the MDL “centralized groundwater contamination cases despite the presence of multiple contamination sites,” the panel says in its PFAS ruling.
The similarities extend beyond how courts dealt with civil litigation over widespread contamination.
Much as EPA has approved uses of PFAS under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for its nonstick and other beneficial properties, the agency similarly approved the use of MTBE as a gasoline additive to curtail harmful emissions from petroleum.
In both cases, the substances' uses led to widespread contamination and harmful exposures.
EPA also struggled to address the contamination that resulted. In the case of MTBE, EPA was unable to use its Superfund authority to remediate the contamination because the agency determined that the law's petroleum exemption barred use of the authority for such challenges.
Similarly, EPA is grappling with how or whether to regulate thousands of chemicals in the PFAS class, creating significant uncertainty about how widespread contamination will be addressed.
The uncertainty in both cases ultimately led -- or is leading -- thousands of local government and other plaintiffs to pursue a variety of common law claims against manufacturers or others involved in the chemicals' use.
In the case of the MTBE litigation, much of the liability -- estimated to run as high as $30 billion -- was ultimately resolved. For example, in 2008, a host of major oil companies, including BP America Inc., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., Marathon Petroleum Company LLC, and CITGO Petroleum Corp, agreed to pay more than $422 million for cleanup and other costs to address 59 separate cases filed under the laws of 17 different states on behalf of more than 550 plaintiffs.
Exxon, which declined to join the settlement and twice failed to get the U.S. Supreme Court to block suits, was ultimately found liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup costs.
Adam Baas, an attorney with DLA Piper, said recently that as EPA continues to grapple with whether to craft an enforceable cleanup standard for PFAS, private litigation and regulatory enforcement related to contamination from the substances increases due in part to a lack of such standards.
“We have an uncertain regulatory backdrop,” but there is an uptick in litigation and enforcement, he said. Baas added that since EPA's issuance of non-binding health advisories for PFOA and PFOS, litigation against manufacturers and users of the chemicals has increased because regulators and plaintiffs are using EPA or state health advisories or screening levels -- non-enforceable guidance -- to say PFAS could cause harm to humans or ecological systems.
PFAS Litigation
So far, the consolidated PFAS suit is limited to 75 suits though dozens of others are pending, some of which could later be added even as the MDL precluded others.
For example, 3M -- a supplier of PFAS-related materials to manufacturers -- moved to expand the consolidated case to include nine additional non-AFFF lawsuits.
But DuPont, a supplier and a defendant in three of the nine non-AFFF cases but which is not involved in the AFFF litigation, opposed adding the non-AFFF cases into the MDL. DuPont took no position on whether the AFFF cases should be consolidated.
However, several groups of plaintiffs opposed consolidation of the AFFF claims, including Colorado plaintiffs in the already consolidated Bell, et al. v. The 3M Co., et al. class actions, as well as the plaintiff and six groups of non-manufacturer defendants, including the United States government, in the City of Newburgh action now pending in the Southern District of New York.
The Colorado plaintiffs contended their class actions, which relate to drinking water contamination allegedly from AFFF used at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, are too procedurally advanced to be included in the 75-case consolidation.
And parties in the Newburgh action contended that their case “involves unique environmental claims against non-manufacturer plaintiffs."
But the court rejected their concerns, finding that all the consolidated cases involve personal injury litigation by individuals who allegedly consumed contaminated groundwater, class actions seeking medical monitoring and property damage claims and cases being brought by water authorities and other government agencies pursuing costs for cleanup or upgrades to water treatment systems.
Still, the court says, all of the AFFF actions include the same mode of groundwater pollution caused by the same product. “Therefore, these actions will involve significant and overlapping discovery of the AFFF manufacturers and their products,” it says. And to the extent they have unique factual or legal matters, the transferee court can use its discretion to address them “through the use of appropriate pretrial devices, such as separate tracks for discovery and motion practice."
The court also notes that the manufacturers of AFFF are “likely to assert identical government contractor defenses in many of the actions.” The court concludes it “will not exclude any of the AFFF actions from the MDL."
The court, however, says it will refrain from adding the non-AFFF cases to the consolidated AFFF litigation. “These nine actions are quite different from the AFFF actions and, indeed, from each other,” the order says. “They include discharges directly into the Tennessee River by various industrial concerns in Decatur, Alabama; contamination originating from a shoe manufacturer's industrial waste; and airborne PFAS discharges from factories in Hoosick Falls, New York."
It also notes that these include a wider variety of defendants. And it says 3M's suggestion of the MDL scope “is unworkable,” noting that at least 21 additional actions involving Hoosick Falls contamination do not name 3M, but two other companies -- Saint-Gobain and Honeywell. “While a non-AFFF MDL would allow for common discovery and motion practice with respect to 3M -- the main producer of PFOA and PFOS -- it also would include far more site-specific issues, different modes of PFAS contamination, and different PFAS chemicals (whereas the AFFF actions are limited to PFOA and PFOS contamination).”
It finds, “As there are relatively few non-AFFF actions, which are being managed effectively in their current districts, expansion of this MDL to include non-AFFF actions is not warranted.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/echoing-mtbe-panel-merges-scores-pfas-claims-firefighting-foam
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Could Soaps, Shampoos be Pushing Girls into Early Puberty?
Dec 18, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
By Alan Mozes
Exposure to chemicals found in a wide array of personal care products has been linked to early puberty among girls, a new investigation warns.
The issue centers on specific chemicals including phthalates, parabens and phenols. They're found in an array of products, including perfumes, soaps, shampoos, nail polish, cosmetics, toothpaste, lipstick, hairsprays and skin lotions — to name just a few.
These chemicals "get into our bodies either by absorption through the skin, by being inhaled, or being ingested (like lipstick)," explained study author Kim Harley. "Once they are in the body, they are quite quickly metabolized and (then) excreted in urine."
Harley is associate director of the Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health at the University of California, Berkeley.
As to how routine exposure to the chemicals might affect puberty, she said they've "been shown to mimic estrogen in certain laboratory conditions."
In fact, prior animal studies have suggested that exposure can throw puberty timing out of whack, Harley said.
Now, her team found that "the higher the levels of the chemicals in mothers' or daughters' bodies, the earlier the puberty" among girls. No such link was found for the timing of male puberty, however.
"We were a little surprised that the associations were only with girls and we didn't see much with boys," Harley said. "But since these tend to be estrogenic chemicals, it makes sense that they might impact girls."
To explore the issue, investigators analyzed data collected in a study that enrolled pregnant women between 1999 and 2000. The women had blood tests twice throughout their pregnancy, and interviews were also conducted to gauge exposure to the chemicals in question.
Nine in 10 of all the urine samples taken from the expectant moms tested positive for chemicals that fall into one of the three chemical classes of concern, with slightly lower percentages (about seven in 10) with respect to a chemical called triclosan. An antimicrobial, triclosan was banned for use in soap by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2017, but it can still be found in some toothpastes, the researchers noted.
In the study, the scientists tracked 338 of the women's offspring through adolescence, with urine samples analyzed at the age of 9. Onset of puberty was then checked regularly between the ages of 9 and 13.
The researchers determined that for every doubling of a woman's blood level of phthalates, the development of her daughter's pubic hair started 1.3 months earlier than usual.
A doubling of a mother's triclosan levels was also linked to a one-month earlier start of her daughter's first period, the study found.
Blood tests were also taken of the children themselves. Harley's group found that a doubling of paraben levels in girls was linked to the one-month earlier onset of both breast and pubic hair development.
Harley stressed that the findings are "definitely not" absolute proof that such chemical exposure actually causes early puberty among girls. "There is always the possibility that there were confounding factors that we were not able to control, or that our findings were due to chance," she explained.
"That said, our findings are consistent with what we know about the endocrine-disrupting properties of these chemicals," said Harley. "So, although we are not ready to say that early life exposure to these chemicals causes earlier puberty in girls, we have enough evidence to be concerned."
The findings were published in early December in the journal Human Reproduction.
An industry group said the study had limitations.
"Levels were determined in the mothers' urine by measurement of a single sample at each of two time points during pregnancy. In the children, levels were determined in a single sample taken at age 9," noted Linda Loretz, chief toxicologist at the Personal Care Products Council.
"Patterns of exposure may have varied greatly over the course of pregnancy in the mothers, and between the ages of 9 and 13 in the boys and girls, so the representativeness of the exposure levels is unknown," she added.
"Furthermore, as phthalates, parabens and phenols are all rapidly excreted from the body, measured levels will change not just over months and years, but over the course of a single day, so that any given measurement reflects only a specific moment in time," she added.
Last but not least, "the researchers also acknowledge exposure to other environmental chemicals, such as pesticides encountered during farm working, might also affect the results," Loretz concluded.
Another expert said the findings aren't so surprising.
Dr. Margaret Cuomo is a board-certified radiologist who formerly served as an attending physician in diagnostic radiology at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. She said "many previous studies have reported the association between the chemicals that are called 'endocrine disruptors' and human health."
As to what consumers can do, Cuomo suggested checking out the website of the watchdog organization Environmental Working Group. There you can "find a list of those products that are relatively safe to use," meaning products that are free of parabens, phthalates, triclosan and similar chemicals.
Cuomo also advised picking household cleaners and detergents are that "environmentally safe," and opting for organic foods when possible.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/sc-hlth-soap-shampoo-early-puberty-1205-story.html
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EU Agency: 7EAP May Not Meet Hazardous Chemicals Objectives
Dec 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
By Caterina Tani
Poor information on hazardous chemicals is one of several issues putting EU 2020 goals in doubt, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) has said.
In a November report that scrutinises the 7th Environmental Action Programme (7EAP) with a view towards a post-2020 programme, the agency said the outlook concerning chemicals is "unclear".
The 7EAP, which entered into force in 2014, is driving EU environmental policy until 2020. Minimising risks associated with the use of hazardous substances, including those in products, is one of its objectives.
According to the EEA document, increasing population exposure and industrial production are further obstacles to achieving this. The information on risks posed by hazardous chemicals, exposure levels and relationships between them is "incomplete".
SVHCs, for which hazards and exposure have not yet been characterised, pose a particular risk, the agency added.
With the production of chemicals forecast only to increase, risks are even higher, it said. Exposure will also be magnified by legacy chemicals in recycled products and deposited chemicals remobilised by increased flooding caused by global warming.
The European Commission is currently evaluating 7EAP. In a recent consultation, NGOs criticised the "unsatisfactory" progress in implementing chemicals policies under the programme.
On 5 December, DG Grow’s Daniel Calleja Crespo said the evaluation results will be ready "at the beginning of next year" and will serve as a basis for discussion on the 8EAP with the next Commission. He spoke during an event about the future of the European environment policy, organised by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and NGO group Green10.
The EU executive released a working document on 8EAP in June.Missing elements
Various things are missing from the 7EAP, the EEA report said. These include:information on the types, potency and mixture toxicity of chemical hazards – for instance EDCs and nanomaterials are not addressed by CLP criteria;hazards from the least consumed chemicals (by tonnes) are not as rigorously assessed as the most consumed; andchanges in the hazard level of a substance after ‘chemical ingredients’ react are not evaluated.
In particular, the 7EAP does not take into account a number of types and routes to humans and the environment that add to exposure.
According to Génon Jensen, director of HEAL, the lack of resources is the main problem which does not allow looking "urgently and quickly" at all chemicals on the market.
Furthermore, she said, despite all the scientific reports and knowledge on the impact of long-term exposure to chemicals "we did not go fast enough to regulate and reduce [this]".Non–toxic environment
According to the EEA, the best way to achieve high human and environmental protection is through a non-toxic environment strategy that addresses very persistent chemicals, EDCs and exposure to chemicals in products.
The strategy, part of the 7EAP, was expected by the end of this year, but will now be for the next Commission to deal with.
EEA executive director Hans Bruyninckx, who presented the report at the HEAL event, said: "There are 130,000 chemicals in the economy today, and 62% of those are estimated to be toxic either for humans or for ecosystems."
For the future, he added, "aligning policies" to new scientific knowledge and "recognising that even in the best system there are gaps that can probably not be addressed" will be necessary.
And Ms Jensen said it is an "incredible disappointment and shame" the strategy has not materialised because "we are advancing on the circular economy and we are not getting chemicals that are most toxic out from the start."
https://chemicalwatch.com/72894/eu-agency-7eap-may-not-meet-hazardous-chemicals-objectives
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Examining the EU’s Contradictory Treatment of Glyphosate and Copper Sulfate Herbicides
Dec 19, 2018 | Genetic Literacy Project
By Andrew Porterfield
The politics of the European Union have often left observers baffled. But the decisions—and lack thereof—over how to regulate two popular pesticides have culminated in a series of contortions as member countries, courts and the European Parliament try to combine a strict precautionary principle, support of organic agriculture, and science.
The last category usually has received the shortest shrift.
For both the herbicide glyphosate and the fungicide copper sulfate, the EU granted a five-year license. But there the similarity of how Europe handled them ends.Glyphosate wars
In August, the EU took up the reauthorization for farmers and homeowners to use glyphosate, an herbicide that was better known in its patented days as part of Roundup. The pesticide has served as an effective eradicator of weeds (or any almost other plant it touches), but has been equally effective as a target for anti-GMO, “Green” political activists who point to its popularity in removing weeds around crops like corn and soy that were genetically engineered to resist it.
The EU came to its decision after years of wrangling going back to 2002, with member countries, green members of the European Parliament, and activist groups, many of which called for an outright ban on the herbicide.
So far, only the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer research arm of WHO that has come under criticism for bias on certain chemicals, has connected glyphosate to cancer in humans. In 2015, IARC declared glyphosate a Class 2a hazard, putting it in the “probably carcinogenic to humans” category. However, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the European Commission and other health and environmental agencies have declared it safe as used, and it’s licensed in 130 countries.
Copper sulfate tack
Later, the authorization for copper sulfate, a fungicide that is probably the only realistic antifungal tool that organic farmers are permitted to use, appeared at first to have a far easier pathway from the EU and member countries.
The European Union executive proposed renewing the license for copper sulfate and other copper compounds for five years. This proposal came after a one-year extension approved in December 2017 that allowed food regulators to analyze the latest science. Now, the proposal has been delayed again, with no clear deadline but a promise by the EU to make a decision by year-end 2018.
Unlike glyphosate, the European Food Safety Authority declared copper compounds to be “of particular concern to public health and the environment.” Research has shownit can be toxic to humans. It is not as targeted as many biological pesticides are, so whatever it does to fungus cells, it can do to you. It has been associated with skin and eye irritation, and swallowing large volumes of it can cause nausea, vomiting and tissue damage. In addition, and unlike glyphosate, the European Chemicals Agencydeclared it a carcinogen—research has associated it with kidney cancer, in particular. As a carcinogen, copper sulfate would be subject to EU regulations restricting its useamong workers, if not banned altogether.Related article: Kevin Folta sets example on how to have civil conversation on GMOs
Also unlike glyphosate, which is still the target of a possible outright ban, copper compounds are slated to be phased out over time (even with EU approval), and possibly replaced with less toxic fungicides.
And that’s where another similarity between glyphosate and copper arises: alternatives exist for both glyphosate and copper in conventional farming, but glyphosate isn’t allowable in organic farming, and copper sulfate is the only fungicide approved for organic farming. And no other reliable replacement for copper exists for organic agriculture. In fact, IFOAM, the Germany-based international organic lobbying organization, has been encouraging the EU to continue authorization for copper sulfate, while allowing for some flexibility on how many kilograms per year farmers can use.Want to follow the latest news and policy debates over agricultural biotechnology and biomedicine? Subscribe to our free newsletter.Name *Email *SIGN UPCopper matching less with wine
That is one reason why several companies in the wine industry, a heavy user of copper sulfate for at least a century, have backed out of organic farming.
This fall, the vice president of the professional association of Bordeaux wines predicted that his region and others in France would started converting from organic growing to conventional. The organization cited a number of economic, weather, as well as chemical factors, including hail storms, blight, and a freeze in 2017. Wineries, VP Bernard Farges said, decided that the added risks of continuing with organic farming and copper was too much.
Previously, Domaine de Fondrèche in Mazan, under the French appellation of Côtes de Ventoux, announced that it was withdrawing its organic certification, which it had been growing wines under since 2009. The winery cited copper buildup in its fields, the result of using copper sulfate
Other winemakers have argued that the problem may not lie as much in regulations as in overly simplistic definitions that separate organic from conventional farming. “Natural is good, synthetic is bad? It’s too basic to reason that way,” Charles Philipponnat, CEO of Philipponnat Champagne, told Wine Spectator magazine. “The objective is to make fine wine in a way that doesn’t leave a negative impact for our children.”
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/12/19/examining-the-eus-contradictory-treatment-of-glyphosate-and-copper-sulfate-herbicides/
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EU Commission Adopts Phthalates Restriction Decision
Dec 19, 2018 | Chemical Watch
The European Commission has adopted a Decision to amend the REACH Regulation and restrict the use of the phthalates, DEHP, BBP, DBP and DIBP in consumer products on the EU market.
The restriction, which will take effect from June 2020, was unanimously agreed by member states back in July and has been undergoing scrutiny from the European Parliament and Council of Ministers.
Under the restriction, which follows Echa's scientific and technical recommendations, the four substances will be restricted to a concentration equal to or below 0.1% by weight individually or in any combination in any plasticised material in articles used by consumers or in indoor areas.The substances are on the REACH candidate list of SVHCs for their reprotoxic as well as endocrine disrupting properties. The Commission's adoption will complement the existing restriction on three other phthalates – DINP, DIDP and DNOP – in toys and childcare articles.
Plasticised materials containing the substances are used in a wide variety of everyday products, from cables to coated fabrics and sports equipment.
Echa has recently begun consulting on a draft recommendation to amend the REACH authorisation list (Annex XIV) entries for the following four phthalates to include their endocrine-disrupting properties.https://chemicalwatch.com/72885/eu-commission-adopts-phthalates-restriction-decision
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Shell’s Look at Endeavor Shows Big Oil’s Growing Sway in Permian
Dec 18, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kiel Porter, Dinesh Nair and Kelly Gilblom
Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s negotiations to buy Endeavor Energy Resources LP underscore the growing clout of Big Oil in the Permian Basin after BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. ramped up investments in the prolific U.S. shale play.
Shell is in talks to acquire Endeavor for about $8 billion, people familiar with the matter said Dec. 17. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant has every reason to push ahead since it has lagged behind other operators in the Texas shale fields, and was outbid this year on $10.5 billion of assets that would’ve helped it compete.
Endeavor controls drilling rights on more than 300,000 acres of mostly undeveloped land in the Permian, making it one of the largest closely held companies in the most productive U.S. oil field. Its asset base is concentrated next door to land owned or operated by Shell.
“Shell’s reported interest in Endeavor fits the bill,” said Will Hares, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in London. “The potential deal would also likely form a counterweight to Shell’s longer-cycle capital exposure” in its liquefied natural gas business, he said.
It has its work cut out, as competitors race ahead. Exxon this month became the most active driller in the Permian, which yields low-cost oil in months rather than the years required for megaprojects to start production. Chevron said it will spend the highest portion of its capital budget in the U.S. in at least a decade. BP is buying a package of U.S. shale assets from BHP Billiton Ltd.
“Relative to our other building blocks of our upstream portfolio, you could argue we are underweight in shales,” Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden told analysts on a call in July. “We have a positive disposition to looking at bolt-on opportunities.”
A deal for Endeavor would be Shell’s first major acquisition since snapping up BG Group Plc in 2016, a $50 billion purchase which prompted $30 billion of asset sales to pay down debt. The company declined to comment this week on a potential Endeavor purchase.
Exxon, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips also weighed bids for Endeavor but their interest has waned, said the people familiar with the issue, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Discussions with Shell haven’t reached an advanced stage, one person said.
The deal has been complicated by founder Autry Stephens’s desire to retain the rights to receive royalties from some of its untapped oil, one person said. That’s made the Midland, Texas-based company less valuable than the $15 billion it was initially expected to fetch in a sale, the people said, adding that no deal has been reached and Endeavor could opt to remain independent.
Representatives for Endeavor, Exxon, Chevron, and Conoco declined to comment.Family-Owned
Stephens, a billionaire who starred in a reality show, founded the entity that became Endeavor in 1979 after stints with Humble Oil, now part of Exxon, and the Army Corps of Engineers, according to Endeavor’s website. He and his family own the company.
Shell has about 260,000 acres in the Permian through a joint venture with Anadarko Petroleum Corp., according to its website.
The company intends to triple production from its “liquids-rich shale areas” to 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2020 from 2017 levels. Its shale operations will be “cash-positive” in 2019, according to Van Beurden, who said in July he’s hoping the business will soon be “a contributor to our overall dividend cover.”
https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/shells-look-at-endeavor-shows-big-oils-growing-sway-in-permian
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Exxon Becomes Top Driller to Combat Lower Oil Output
Dec 19, 2018 | Bloomberg (In E&E Energywire)
By Kevin Crowley
Exxon Mobil Corp. has overtaken rivals to become the most active driller in the Permian Basin, showing the urgency with which the world's biggest oil company by market value is pursuing U.S. shale.
After a slow start in the West Texas and New Mexico basin, Exxon is now operating more drilling rigs than Concho Resources Inc., which merged with RSP Permian Inc. earlier this year to create one of the biggest Permian-focused explorers, according to statistics from RigData Inc. supplied to Bloomberg Intelligence.
It's not hard to see why the Permian has become so important to Exxon. A series of strategic mistakes sent the oil giant's overall production careening to a 10-year low by the middle of this year. Drilling wells in the Permian, the world's premier shale field, yields low-cost oil in months rather than the years required for megaprojects to begin producing crude.
"They need to get the production and returns back up, and the Permian is where you can ramp up the fastest," said Fernando Valle, a New York-based analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
Exxon isn't alone in tapping U.S. shale after years of pursuing overseas resources. Chevron Corp. will spend the highest portion of its capital budget at home in at least a decade. The Permian now accounts for about 10 percent of Chevron's overall production.
BP PLC this year agreed to spend $10.5 billion on BHP Billiton Ltd.'s shale assets to gain access to the Permian while Royal Dutch Shell PLC is mulling a bid for one of the basin's largest private companies, people familiar with the matter said Monday.Growth engine
For Exxon, the Permian is still small when placed in the context of its global reach. In the third quarter of this year it produced just a fraction of the oil titan's total production. But CEO Darren Woods expects strong growth each year through 2025. By then, he's targeting as much as 800,000 barrels a day from the Permian and the Bakken in North Dakota, which would be about 20 percent of today's overall production.
Exxon's escalation in the Permian is essentially a bet that Exxon can drill wells so cheaply that they'll be profitable despite crude's 37 percent decline since early October. The company says its shale wells can make double-digit returns with oil at just $35 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate traded at $48.55 a barrel at 9:54 a.m. yesterday.
"The business we build in the Permian, we're building for the long term," Woods said in a Bloomberg TV interview last month. "It needs to be efficient, low cost and effective."
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/12/19/stories/1060110015
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Colorado Hikes Distance Between Oil, Gas Wells and Schoolchildren
Dec 19, 2018 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The distance Colorado requires between new oil and gas facilities and schools must be calculated from the outside areas where children play, not just the buildings where they learn, Colorado drilling regulators said.
The 1,000-foot required minimum distance from schools will be measured from areas such as playgrounds, sports fields, and temporary classrooms under a rule change approved by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Dec. 17.
Nearby residents say they are concerned about possible air pollution, contamination of drinking water, and the risk of explosions from methane gas leaking from production facilities and pipelines. Hydraulic fracturing involves the high-pressure injection of water, sand, and chemicals deep underground to release oil and natural gas trapped in tight shale formations.
The revisions are set to take effect Jan. 30, 2019. Under the current rule, the setback is 1,000 feet from permanent school buildings.
The change was sought by the League of Oil and Gas Impacted Coloradans (LOGIC), a coalition of community groups, environmentalists, and residents that said the spacing between oil and gas activity and schoolchildren should consider where they play, exercise, and recreate, not just the buildings where they go to school. Compromise Reached
The rule change, which was amended after a compromise was reached between LOGIC, oil and gas industry representatives, school districts, and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the largest producer in Colorado, also applies to certain child care centers.
“We want to know our kids are healthy and safe at school,” Evie Hudak, public policy director of the Colorado PTA, said at a Dec. 18 rulemaking hearing before the commission. “We want kids to be outdoors. We need greater setbacks from school property to ensure they’re safe and healthy when they go outside for recess.”
The current state setback in Colorado is 500 feet for homes and 1,000 feet for high-occupancy buildings such as hospitals and schools. Initially the Colorado Petroleum Council, a division of the American Petroleum Institute, said they were concerned that many schools in Colorado sit on substantial acreage where the closest fields and playgrounds may be “miles from the property line.” ‘Constructive’ Solution
After the unanimous vote by the commission, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, the state’s leading industry group, said it was pleased with what it called a constructive solution with schools and environmental groups.
During the commission’s monthly meeting, which began Dec. 17, some members of the public demanded a complete overhaul of the commission, saying it was failing to adequately protect the health and safety of residents. State Sen.-elect Mike Foote (D) called for a six-month moratorium on oil and gas permitting.
Outgoing state Sen. Matt Jones (D) questioned the decision to allow for exceptions to the new setback requirements.
The rule changes provide for exceptions if potential locations within the setback range are “technically unfeasible” or “economically impracticable.”
“Why in the heck is economic in this?” Jones said. “This is a health issue for children. This is a very small ask ... if it takes this much to change it, it just shows how much this system is broken.”
Colorado voters in November rejected a proposed ballot measure that would have increased the statewide oil and gas setback to 2,500 feet.
https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/colorado-hikes-distance-between-oil-gas-wells-and-schoolchildren
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Oil Companies, Railroads Clash Over Tank Car Reforms
Dec 18, 2018 | Houston Chronicle
By James Osborne
Three years ago, following a series of catastrophic spills, Congress ordered rail tank cars built heavier and stronger while allowing older cars to be retrofitted to improve their safety.
But after a train transporting oil in the retrofitted cars crashed in Iowa this summer and spilled more than 230,000 gallons of crude, railroads have questioned the safety of the retrofitted cars moving on their track. Burlington Northern Santa Fe, one of the nations’ largest railroads, is now charging oil companies and refineries a significant premium to run those refurbished cars on its tracks across the western United States, aimed to push them toward a new and costlier model of tank car known as the DOT117J, which railroads argue is significantly safer.
The rates for retrofitted cars were as much as 30 percent above the standard rate for oil trains, petroleum industry officials said.
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The jump in rates is part of a fight between railroads and the oil industry that comes as pipeline shortages force oil companies to turn to other means of transport to move record crude production to market. In less than 16 months, the latest in a series of older models of tank car that Congress deemed not safe enough to run on the nation’s rail network must be phased out of service.
“The bottom line is in order to meet these deadlines we have to have both new and retrofitted cars,” said Mike O’Malley, president of the Railway Supply Institute, a trade group representing rail car builders. “If you just rely on new cars, it’ll be extremely difficult to meet these deadlines.”
Ultimately, the railroads’ resistance to retrofitted cars could cost energy companies more to ship their crude across the nation’s railways and force them to scrap relatively new tank cars that otherwise might have decades more of service.
A BNSF spokesman said that as contracts with shippers expire, the railroad would seek agreements requiring the exclusive uses of the new DOT117J tank cars. Railroads don’t own the cars themselves; they are owned by shipping firms or the oil companies themselves.
“We believe the DOT117J is the appropriate tank car to safely move crude oil in unit trains,” the spokesman said in an email. “Tank car lessors and builders are getting this message and will bring more DOT117J online.”
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Oil train use has declined from the boom year of 2014, but places such as the Permian Basin in West Texas, Bakken shale in North Dakota and Alberta oil sands in Canada remain reliant on rail as they wait for the completion of new pipelines. After years of decline, oil train traffic is starting to tick up again, according to the Energy Department. In September, more than 16.3 million barrels of crude were moved by rail, almost double that of the same month the previous year.
Those in the oil sector argue that Congress approved the retrofitted cars on the understanding that replacing tens of thousands of tank cars, many relatively new, was not feasible.
“Congress deemed these cars safe. (The Transportation Department), after extensive economic and risk analysis, did too, and based on its decision, over 16,000 tank cars have been retrofitted to meet the robust safety standards,” Rob Benedict, a senior director at refining trade group American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, said in a statement.
BNSF’s position has sent shudders not just through the oil sector but other industries, such as chemicals and ethanol, which use those same tank cars to move their products.
For now, it’s just one railroad company and the oil sector, concerns are growing that other railroads might follow BNSF’s lead and apply the higher tariffs to other industries moving volatile and toxic liquids, said Jeff Sloan, senior director of regulatory and technical affairs at the American Chemistry Council.
RELATED: Thousands of defects found on oil train routes
“These things have a way of catching on,” he said. “Rail customers tend not to have a choice. There’s usually just one railroad (available), so they can dictate terms on the rates and service and ancillary services. There’s not a lot of recourse.”
Congress passed tank car reforms in 2015 after a series of high-profile crashes beginning in 2013, when a runaway oil train plowed into the center of the small Canadian town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, creating a fireball that burned much of the town to the ground and killed 47 people.
As the oil shale boom took off in areas such as West Texas and North Dakota where pipeline capacity was limited, producers increasingly turned to rail. By 2014, almost 32 million barrels of crude were being moved by rail each month, a more than eight-fold increase from 2011. With that increase came more crashes and explosions, from North Dakota to Alabama, Oregon to Virginia.
Oil tank cars are sold to last up to five decades, and oil companies balked at the prospect of having to replace tank cars that might have been only a couple years old. Congress, working in conjunction with Canadian regulators, decided on a compromise plan: Either buy new cars or upgrade existing cars to meet the new specifications, a significantly cheaper option.
The walls of the retrofitted cars measure between .44 inches and .5 inches thick, depending on the type of tank car that was retrofitted, according to the Railway Supply Institute, a trade group representing rail car manufacturers. The new cars have a wall thickness of .56 inches.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Oil-companies-railroads-clash-over-tank-car-13468372.php
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Wind and Solar Are Revitalizing Rural America
Dec 18, 2018 | Environmental Working Group
By Grant Smith
In 2016, Illinois passed the Future Energy Jobs Act to spur renewable energy investments. It seems to be working: The St Louis Post-Dispatch reports that solar companies are streaming into Illinois and partnering with farmers to lease some of their land for solar projects.
But this is not happening only in Illinois. Across the nation, wind and solar investments are revitalizing rural economies, providing a boost to the ups and downs of farm income.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, or AWEA, almost all wind farm development is in rural areas – enough, in 2016, to power 20 million homes. AWEA estimates that wind developers pay around $250 million a year in lease payments to farmers and ranchers.
On the solar front, rural electric cooperatives plan to add increasing amounts of solar, according to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, or NRECA, which says some 900 rural cooperatives are operating in 47 states.
A recent report by NRECA shows solar capacity has increased nearly eight-fold since 2014 and will soon reach a level capable of powering 200,000 homes. The primary reason for rural cooperative solar support is that polls show nearly 60 percent of customers want cooperatives to add solar capacity. This is an important development, because a large share of poor counties are served by rural electric cooperatives.
As we reported in August, clean energy jobs outnumber fossil fuel jobs by four to one in the Midwest. A recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, analyzed the rural economic benefits of renewables, energy efficiency and other clean energy jobs. The NRDC found:As of 2017, an estimated 160,000 clean energy jobs had been created in the rural Midwest. That includes 17,000 wind and solar jobs and 116,000 energy efficiency jobs.Clean energy investments are critical to and a growing portion of rural economic development. Although there are far more clean energy jobs in urban areas, in most states, rural clean energy jobs make up a larger share of the job market than in cities.Rural county tax revenue increases from clean energy investments range from 10 percent to 60 percent.
Wind development is also attracting major investments in data centers in the Midwest.
Iowa is first in the U.S. for wind power generation. In August 2017, Apple announced a $1.3 billion data center in Dallas County, Iowa, that will create more than 500 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs. It will run on 100 percent renewable energy.
In April 2017, the Omaha World-Herald reported that Facebook would construct an enormous complex of buildings adding to existing data centers in Sarpy County, Neb. The project is expected to create 1,000 construction and 100 permanent jobs, and be powered solely by wind.
The transition to clean energy is here to stay. Government policies, corporate purchases, consumer demand, investor pressure and falling prices are driving renewable and energy efficiency investments. And rural America is recognizing and embracing the economic benefits inherent in those investments.
https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/12/wind-and-solar-are-revitalizing-rural-america
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North America Seen Leading 2019 FID Wave for Global LNG
Dec 18, 2018 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Carolyn Davis
With final investment decisions (FID) imminent for three Gulf Coast developments, North America should lead the next wave of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) project sanctions in 2019, Wood Mackenzie analysts said.
In a quarterly update issued Tuesday, the Wood Mackenzie team predicted three U.S. projects would reach FID before the end of June: Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass Train 6, Golden Pass sited in Sabine Pass, TX, and Calcasieu Pass under development in Cameron Parish, LA.
"With FID imminent on three US Gulf Coast LNG projects, North America is set to lead an expected record year for LNG project sanctions,” said Wood Mackenzie’s Alex Munton, principal analyst, Americas LNG. “With at least two other Gulf Coast projects -- Freeport Train 4 and possibly Driftwood LNG -- also not far behind, the first half of 2019 will be an especially busy one for the U.S."
Earlier this month Wood Mackenzie said uncontracted demand by the world’s seven largest LNG buyers -- all based in the Asia Pacific -- may quadruple to 80 mmty by 2030. The seven buyers, which together account for more than half of the global gas export market, are China National Offshore Oil Corp., aka CNOOC, Taiwan’s CPC Corp., Japan’s JERA Corp. Inc., Korea Gas Corp., PetroChina Co. Ltd., China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., aka Sinopec, and Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd.
Investments in LNG projects overall stalled this year, but North America’s market is springing back to life, analysts said.
Since September, Cheniere Marketing LLC (CMI), Venture Global LNG Inc., Sempra Energy, Tellurian Inc., Freeport LNG Development LP and Woodfibre LNG each have announced long-term agreements with offtakers, they noted. Woodfibre is to be sited on the coast of British Columbia and would be the only project not in the Lower 48 set for sanctioning in North America next year.
"2018 was a stellar year for sales of North America LNG, and U.S. LNG in particular," Munton said. "Renewed confidence in the outlook for LNG, combined with the choice, flexibility and competitiveness the U.S. market offers facilitated this surge in interest."
Constructing and expanding three Gulf Coast LNG facilities, totaling up to 30 mmty of capacity, also would inject billions of investment dollars into the region. According to Wood Mackenzie,$20 billion could be invested in the three projects over the next four years.
"While the Gulf Coast remains the key growth region for North America LNG, projects in Canada and Mexico are also progressing and attracting interest," Munton said. "Additional West Canadian capacity could help further open Canadian supply to global markets, and we are now seeing momentum around Mexico as an alternative export route for U.S. production."
According to the analysis, Woodfibre LNG could reach FID in 2019, contingent on executing an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.
Mexico's Costa Azul Phase 1 LNG export terminal underway by Sempra still needs to finalize an EPC contract, binding offtake agreements, permitting and financing arrangements. However, progress is being made, and it too could reach FID in 2019, researchers said.
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/116833-north-america-seen-leading-2019-fid-wave-for-global-lng
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Sources: White House, Zinke Met on Offshore Oil and Gas Expansion
Dec 18, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Zack Colman
The Trump administration is putting the finishing touches on a plan to open up parts of the Atlantic Coast and potentially portions of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil and gas exploration, according to industry sources with knowledge of the discussions.
President Donald Trump met with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday to discuss some of the more contentious topics that will be part of the five-year offshore leasing plan, which the sources expect the Interior Department to announce in January. The plan, which would run through 2024, is considered a significant component of Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda to develop federal energy resources.
One remaining point of deliberation is how much, if any, of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico should be opened to drilling after a moratorium prohibiting activity within 200 miles of Florida's western coast expires in 2022. The administration is debating how far the drilling must be off the coast of Florida, whose politicians have been vocally opposed to offshore drilling.
“Can they do a 125-mile buffer off Florida and keep Florida happy-ish?" an oil industry source said.
Zinke, who will depart the administration in the coming weeks, previously suggested Florida's waters would be kept out of Interior’s plans to expand offshore drilling. Some critics viewed that as a political favor for Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who later defeated Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson for his Senate seat.
In addition to the 2022 moratorium on drilling in the Eastern Gulf, the Defense Department has training zones there that put other parts off limits.
Administration officials also are evaluating how far oil and gas activity must sit off the Atlantic coast, the sources said.
Political opposition to offshore drilling in the Atlantic has grown in recent months, and several governors, including Republicans Larry Hogan of Maryland and Henry McMaster of South Carolina, have criticized the administration’s draft plan released in January for a massive expansion of drilling on fears that a spill would kill tourism and aquaculture. Zinke has told several of the governors they were not likely to see waters off their coasts opened to the oil and gas companies, but the industry sources said those governors had limited sway with the administration over the waters under federal jurisdiction.
"The only governor I understand who gets real responses is McMaster in South Carolina. He’s the one that talks straight to the White House and Zinke asking to give cover," the oil industry source said. "What that’s going to be, I don't know."
Maryland is expected to take the lead suing the Trump administration if it issues permits to conduct seismic testing, a process where sonar blasts from ships are used to locate oil and gas deposits below the sea floor, a technology environmental groups contend harms wildlife.
The opposition from Republican governors to drilling off their coasts stands in contrast to the GOP support for opening new federal areas for drilling, including the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, which Republicans cleared for oil and gas development last year.
“You have seen a very significant increase in opposition from Republicans in the mid-Atlantic. That has changed,” an energy industry source said. “I don’t think that necessarily changes the overall calculus," the source added, referring to the Trump administration's decision-making process.
It's not clear whether opening the Atlantic waters to drilling would draw much interest from oil and gas producers, especially with crude oil prices weak and industry activity focused on on-shore acreage, which can be developed more quickly and at much lower cost.
“We’re all waiting for the list of areas that they’re going to still continue to expose or make avail for lease,” said Tom Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research. “They opened it up for seismic, which is the first step. If they can’t get any actual leases on the East Coast this go round, at least if the seismic goes through, we’ll at least know what’s out there.”
Development in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico would be more likely to attract bidders because of the strong likelihood of large reservoirs as well as the major industry presence already in the area.
Whether the administration keeps the waters off the coast of Southern California and the straits of Florida in play is also under discussion, the sources said.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a champion of offshore drilling, said she was aware the meeting between Zinke and Trump covered the topic but she had “nothing new to report.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Interior spokesperson Heather Swift declined to provide details about the meeting.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/12/sources-white-house-zinke-met-on-offshore-oil-and-gas-expansion-1038815
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America’s Amazing Gas Business Makes Less Than It Did in 2000
Dec 18, 2018 | Bloomberg (In The Washington Post)
By Liam Denning
After a November to remember, America’s natural gas producers are settling back into more-familiar feelings of wistfulness at what might have been. Benchmark gas prices are down 21 percent so far this month as winter has taken less of a bite out of our collective hide than anticipated (so far anyway).
Leaving aside the vagaries of the weather, there is some cheery news. With production at a record and benchmark Henry Hub prices up versus last year, producers’ implied revenue looks set to top $100 billion for the first time since 2008. But there’s a more sobering calculation lurking underneath: They’ll make less revenue this year than they did in 2000 in real terms:
(Before going any further: This is a very rough calculation that doesn’t take account of things like gas pricing at different hubs around the U.S. or hedging effects. Purely illustrative, folks.)
That shrinkage in real revenue is even more striking when you consider that, one shale boom later, U.S. gas production has expanded by 62 percent since W won the presidency:
Of course, the shale boom is the whole story here. By moving the U.S. from apparent shortages of natural gas to having more than it knows what to do with, prices collapsed. Real revenue this year is less than half what it was in 2008, when Chesapeake Energy was worth more than $35 billion and its co-founder Aubrey McClendon, who died in 2016, was one of the highest-paid CEOs in America. That there are still dedicated gas producers like Chesapeake out there — it’s worth only about $2 billion now, however — and production continues to surge is a testament to innovation and efficiency, but also sunk costs and cheap capital.
It’s also a function of not really caring that much about gas.
Another effect of the shale boom is that a rising proportion of gas comes as a by-product of fracking for oil. Just five years ago, such gas was less than 15 percent of supply; now it’s more than a quarter and accounts for the majority of growth for the foreseeable future. If I do the same back-of-the-envelope math for oil (using West Texas Intermediate crude prices, with all the same caveats), the picture is just as volatile but far happier for producers:
Oil, with its far stronger links to higher global pricing and relative lack of competition in its core transportation market, has helped fill much of the gap in upstream natural gas revenue. There’s a reason Chesapeake’s oil production went from 8 percent of its output in 2008 to 17 percent in 2017. Remarkably, while the implied gas revenue outweighed that of oil up until 2009, the latter now accounts for 72 percent of the total:
This is an epic tale of industry renewal, but also an epic example of deflation on the gas side (part of a wider phenomenon in energy). Oil has compensated as fracking has migrated to that part of the business. Yet, as any member of OPEC will tell you, fracking’s deflationary tendency is also being felt in this market, too.
It is possible that the recent outbreak of discipline in E&P strategy-setting will work to lift prices as production output increases moderate. On the other hand, the impulse to chase growth is strong in this industry (see: natural gas). And any discipline would tend to limit cost inflation as oilfield services firms struggle to regain pricing power. One thing is clear, though: The shrunken gas market’s fortunes rest to a large degree on the oil market — which, just like the weather, is largely beyond its control.
To contact the author of this story: Liam Denning at ldenning1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy, mining and commodities. He previously was editor of the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote for the Financial Times’ Lex column. He was also an investment banker.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/americas-amazing-gas-business-makes-less-than-it-did-in-2000/2018/12/18/34ac3ad8-02c9-11e9-958c-0a601226ff6b_story.html?utm_term=.b003c8f6a640
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Industry Voices Largely Quiet in Methane Rule Fight
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Jenny Mandel
Major oil and gas companies have largely kept silent over a rule change that would ease leak detection requirements for methane, leaving industry groups to carry their position on the controversial subject.
Chevron Corp. is one of the few big oil and gas companies that filed comments to EPA on the rule covering new oil and gas production, calling on regulators to cooperate with industry (Climatewire, Oct. 12). The comment period on the rule ended Monday.
"We believe it is crucial that the EPA and other interested agencies work closely and collaboratively with industry stakeholders who bring real world expertise and experience to these very complex issues," Chevron said in its comments.
The EPA comment process relates to industry-requested "reconsideration" of a 2016 Obama administration rule on new source performance standards for oil and gas operations. In 2017, the Trump administration granted reconsideration on three particular points of the rule — related to methane leak detection and repair, certain well site pumps, and the role of professional engineers in certain project points.
EPA's comment docketing systems show the agency received more than 145,000 comments, the vast majority of which appeared to oppose changing the Obama rule.
Among those that called for change, Chevron took issue with aspects of the inspection frequency and record-keeping burdens in the 2016 rule.
Tallgrass Energy LP and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. also filed comments to EPA, calling for tailored changes to the rule's language.
All three companies endorsed comments by the American Petroleum Institute. API's remarks on the rule did not appear in the EPA database at publication time, but in comments presented in November at the sole public hearing on the rule change, the group pointed to historical improvements in oil and gas operations as evidence that tighter regulation was not needed and that companies should be given latitude to respond to the challenge of leak detection as they see fit.
"The proposed rule is a missed opportunity to promote the development and use of new, innovative, detection technologies, reduce the burden of overlapping regulatory requirements that have little environmental benefit, and make sensible revisions based on real world field data," API said in its November comments.Sound policy advocates?
Over the past few months, several big oil and gas companies have made announcements about their plans to reduce leaks of methane from their oil and gas operations, and in some cases their support for methane leak regulations.
Chevron, Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell are among the 13 companies that have joined the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative and adopted a voluntary methane emission leakage limit of 0.25 percent of the gas they manage.
Eight companies, including BP, Exxon Mobil and Shell, have signed onto the Climate & Clean Air Coalition's guiding principles, including to advocate for "sound policies and regulations on methane emissions."
The environmental group Earthworks, in a statement Monday, called out the energy companies for failing to meet the standards of their voluntary pledges by putting their weight behind API and its push to rewrite the methane rule.
"It is essential to recognize the failure of the world's largest oil and gas companies to oppose Trump's efforts to roll back critical methane safeguards. These companies have committed to cut methane yet seem to reject laws that would require that they fulfill their promise," said Lauren Pagel, Earthworks' policy director.
EPA has said changing the rule would save industry $380 million and $484 million under different cost projections. The agency estimates the lost climate benefits of the new rule at $13.5 million to $54 million between 2019 and 2025. That accounting only addresses the domestic impacts of rising global temperatures, an approach that scholars say underestimates the risks of climate change (Climatewire, Nov. 20, 2017).
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/12/19/stories/1060110081
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Setbacks Around Schools are Widened, But Fight Isn't Over
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Lee
Colorado's oil regulators imposed a wider safety zone between schools and nearby oil wells, the latest in the state's ongoing fight over the balance between the state's booming population growth and its energy industry.
The move came after the state's school boards and environmental groups forged a rare consensus with the energy industry over how to apply the rules. But it's been just six weeks since a more aggressive setback proposal failed in a statewide vote, and some activists said they expect the fight to continue.
Jared Polis, the Democratic congressman who was elected to replace outgoing Gov. John Hickenlooper, is widely seen as less supportive of the oil and gas industry.
"We're glad to see increased protections for the health and safety of children across Colorado," Sophia Mayott-Guerrero, energy and transportation advocate at the nonprofit Conservation Colorado, said in a news release. "But, it is important to note that this is just one small step forward; we look forward to working with Governor-elect Polis and the legislature to ensure that health and safety of all Coloradans is prioritized when it comes to oil and gas development."
Colorado already requires a 1,000-foot buffer between school buildings and nearby oil and gas facilities. The state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission unanimously voted yesterday to measure the setback from the edge of school playgrounds and stadiums, and to sites where schools are planned three years in the future.
The setback will also be applied to preschools and day care centers, along with their play areas. The new rules will go into effect next year.
"If we take the time to work on important and complex issues together, we can find constructive solutions," Dan Haley, president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said in a news release. "That is the Colorado way, and we are grateful for all who negotiated in good faith, enabling us to reach a successful outcome that will serve this state for years to come."
Fracking and other drilling advances have revived Colorado's oil and gas production in the past 10 years. But much of the production has come from areas north and east of Denver that are home to rapidly growing suburbs.
Starting in about 2013, a half-dozen cities and counties have tried to restrict oil development in their jurisdictions, only to lose in court. State law says the oil and gas commission has primary regulatory authority over energy production (Energywire, April 26).
The issue took on new urgency in 2017, when a pipeline connected to an aging gas well sparked an explosion at a home in Firestone, about 35 miles north of Denver. Two people died, and the home was leveled (Energywire, Jan. 10).
The explosion helped prompt support for Proposition 112, which would have imposed a 2,500-foot setback between well sites and most occupied buildings, along with "sensitive areas" like parks, waterways and recreational areas. It failed, 55 to 45 percent, but only after a $40 million campaign by the state's oil industry (Energywire, Nov. 7).
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/12/19/stories/1060110061
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Kinder Morgan Faces Proposed Class Action Lawsuit on Pipeline
Dec 18, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Arundhati Sarkar and John Benny
Kinder Morgan is facing a proposed class action lawsuit, claiming that a division of the pipeline operator has emitted chemicals and toxic gas that caused damage to property and killed animals.
A Texas-based resident filed a petition and requested class certification against the company and its Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company unit, and petitioned other landowners.
According to the petition filed on Dec. 17 at a Harris County court, plaintiffs claim that the pipeline, which transports natural gas from Louisiana to the northeast section of the United States, has released at least 565,000 cubic feet of toxic gases and other chemicals.
Kinder Morgan said the petition contained numerous misstatements and is working with nearby landowners to remediate any impacts to their property.
In an emailed statement, the company said its unit was aware of seven landowners in close proximity who have been affected by the "mist", not "thousands of people" as alleged in the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are seeking monetary compensation of at least $5 million, according to the petition filed by Potts Law Firm LLP and the law offices of Patrick Zummo.
Micah Dortch, who is representing the plaintiffs, said Kinder Morgan refused to provide a sample of the released chemical.
However, the company said it had provided safety data sheets to the landowners and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/12/18/business/18reuters-kinder-morgan-lawsuit.html
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Oil and Gas Death Count Crept Up Again Last Year
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Energywire
By Pamela King
The number of workers who lost their lives in the oil field slowly ticked up again last year.
Eighty-one oil and gas workers died on the job in 2017, a 29 percent increase from 63 industry fatalities in 2016, according to data released yesterday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last year, BLS noted a record low death toll among oil and gas workers as the labor force dwindled (Energywire, Dec. 21, 2017).
The industry notched its highest fatality count — 144 — in 2014.
[+] Bureau of Labor Statistics
While some oil field safety initiatives by operators and federal regulators have been successful, many workers continue to perish in transportation accidents that occur away from the well site (Energywire, Aug. 20).
More than half of last year's deaths were attributable to roadway collisions.
BLS does not calculate an oil and gas industry fatality rate, which compares the number of worker deaths against the total number of workers in an industry. Across all industries, the rate of workforce fatalities last year was 2.8 per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, according to BLS.
Other federal agencies that track oil field safety have calculated the industry's fatality rate in years past. In 2016, the rate for oil and gas was 14.9 cases per 100 FTE workers, four times higher than the all-industry rate of 3.6.
At the height of the oil and gas boom, the industry's fatality rate was seven times higher than average.
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2018/12/19/stories/1060110051
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A Year After Deadly Amtrak Crash, State Says It’s on Track for Train-Safety Deadline
Dec 18, 2018 | The Seattle Times
By Alex Bruell
Amtrak and state transportation officials say they’ve completed installation of a new train-control system that could have prevented a fatal accident a year ago Tuesday near Tacoma.
“All of the passenger trains in the Pacific Northwest are currently operating under (PTC),” said Janet Matkin, communications manager at the state Department of Transportation’s Rail Division.
Amtrak PR manager Olivia Irvin confirmed that “100 percent” of the 432-mile U.S. section of the Amtrak Cascades route is now equipped and operating with positive train control, a technology that uses computers and satellites to stop errant or excessively moving trains.
Amtrak and BNSF Railway are “working out minor glitches” between the servers they use to communicate with the trains, Matkin said.Featured VideoA leaf of remembrance for Sabrina Tate (2:15)Most Read Local StoriesTornado touches down on Kitsap Peninsula, rips roofs off homes WATCHJesuits sent abusive priests to retire on Gonzaga's campusChanges to dams on Columbia, Snake rivers to benefit salmon, hydropower and orcasMayor Jenny Durkan chooses Sam Zimbabwe, a D.C. transportation official, as new SDOT directorSecond woman sues former Federal Way basketball star Jalen McDaniels over exploitative videosUnlimited Digital Access. $1 for 4 weeks.
Passenger service through the Point Defiance Bypass is still slated to return in the spring after a safety evaluation from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Irvin said. Before that, Amtrak will be requalifying all of its engineers and crews with three months of training.
PTC likely would have prevented the fatal accident last Dec. 17 on the newly inaugurated Point Defiance Bypass track just north of the Nisqually River. The derailment and crash killed three train passengers and injured 70 people either in the train or in vehicles on Interstate 5 below.
No official cause of the wreck has been established, but reports indicate the southbound Amtrak Cascades train entered a sharp curve where the tracks overpass Interstate 5 at 78 mph, more than twice the 30 mph speed limit.
The accident occurred on the first use of the $180 million bypass, and WSDOT and Amtrak have been criticized for inadequately training the engineers using the route. The train engineer said he knew he was approaching a sharp curve and had to slow down, but he missed a warning sign.
PTC is meant to safeguard against human error, and uses a combination of satellite, radio and computer technology to stop a train if it misses a signal or fails to slow down as required.
The NTSB is about two-thirds through investigating the wreck, according to a Dec. 13 update. It plans to deliver a final report in 2019.
WSDOT built the bypass to add two daily Amtrak Cascades trains to the Portland-Seattle route, improve on-time performance and shave 10 minutes off the route. The old route along Puget Sound often is crowded and includes single-track only tunnels. Amtrak currently operates four daily round trips between Portland and Seattle, but the Dec. 18 accident put off plans to add two new daily trips, Matkin said.
In 2008, after a collision between a freight and commuter train in California killed 25 and injured 125 people, Congress required Class I railroad mainlines handling dangerous materials or intercity passenger trains to fully implement PTC by Dec. 31, 2015. In late 2015, Congress extended the deadline by at least three years to Dec. 31, 2018.Sign up for Morning Brief
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A 2019 fiscal appropriations bill, passed in August, set aside $50 million for Amtrak to implement safety technology (including PTC) on state-supported routes like the Cascades, in addition to the $50 million set aside in 2018. A total of $505 million has been set aside for safety grants emphasizing PTC implementation in 2018 and 2019.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/a-year-after-deadly-amtrak-crash-state-says-its-on-track-for-train-safety-deadline/
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(ACC Mentioned) DC Circ. Probes EPA Rationale For Obama Ozone Rule
Dec 19, 2018 | Law360
By Christopher Cole
A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday examined whether a 2015 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule aimed at reducing ozone emissions can realistically be complied with and what criteria the agency relied on when determining whether permitted emission levels are safe.
Both environmental and industry groups have challenged the EPA’s basis for ozone limits imposed by the Obama-era rules, which the Trump administration has maintained.
Circuit Judge Robert L. Wilkins asked whether the EPA had to devise a standard that never allows an air pollution source to exceed the limit. “Are you saying that the statute requires them to set the standard such that … to be in compliance, an area cannot exceed that standard on any given day?” the judge asked.
Seth Johnson of Earthjustice, representing health and environmental groups fighting the rule, said the agency had “illegally and arbitrarily” set the ozone caps to levels that are harmful to human health. The EPA had found in crafting the rule that exposure beyond 72 parts per billion over an eight-hour period could be harmful to the health of young, active adults, a level that health groups say is too high.
“What the act requires, and under this court’s case law, is a standard that ensures the absence of adverse effects on sensitive subpopulations,” Johnson replied. “EPA hasn’t done that here. EPA has set a standard that it knows allows adverse health effects.”
Johnson said the EPA had allowed “multiple days with harmful levels of ozone” that can create “breathing problems so severe they send people to the hospital.”
Circuit Judge Cornelia T.L. Pillard also questioned Johnson on how much harm the EPA was permitting, asking whether the standard for human health accounts for cumulative effects of ozone exposure.
U.S. Department of Justice attorney Justin D. Heminger, representing the EPA, said the agency had made “forward progress” by reducing the ambient ozone limit from 75 to 70 parts per billion.
The EPA is backing the rule in the D.C. Circuit after conducting a review of EPA policies under President Donald Trump and deciding to defend ozone caps set by the previous administration, which lowered the pollutant’s National Ambient Air Quality Standard from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion.
Environmental and industry advocates have attacked the rule from different sides, saying the caps are either too high or too low based on the EPA’s statutory authority under the Clean Air Act. Several states also joined industry in challenging the rule, saying compliance with the levels is too costly, unnecessary and not achievable.
But with various groups airing their own concerns about the ozone caps — and with the EPA insisting it had properly weighed the scientific evidence — judges in oral arguments Tuesday appeared interested in what evidence the EPA used when setting the standard.
Judge Thomas B. Griffith questioned how the EPA came up with the contentious waiver clause that the environmental groups argue lets some polluters off the hook on the ozone standards. “What is the source of the EPA’s grandfathering authority?” he asked.
Johnson argued that the EPA had exceeded its authority and was allowing levels that are “inconsistent with the Clean Air Act.”
Environmental groups have challenged the rule on three fronts: as a health standard for ozone exposure, as a secondary EPA standard, and its grandfather waiver they say allows new air pollution sources in some cases to skirt ozone standards.
Oral arguments were originally set for April 2017 in the case, but the EPA sought a delay because the Trump administration wanted to review the standards. This August the agency signaled that it planned to defend the rule and not revisit it.
Circuit Judges Thomas B. Griffith, Cornelia T.L. Pillard and Robert L. Wilkins sat for the D.C. Circuit panel.
The environmental and public health groups, which include Sierra Club, Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Natural Resources Defense Council, are represented by Seth L. Johnson and David S. Baron of Earthjustice.
The EPA is represented in-house by David Orlin and Melina Williams, and by Justin D. Heminger, Jeffrey D. Wood, Jonathan D. Brightbill and Jon M. Lipshultz of the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
The states are represented by their attorneys general.
The industry groups, which include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Petroleum Institute, American Chemistry Council and National Association of Manufacturers, are represented by James R. Bieke and C. Frederick Beckner III of Sidley Austin LLP, Lucinda Minton Langworthy and Aaron M. Flynn of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, Thomas A. Lorenzen and Robert J. Meyers of Crowell & Moring LLP, and Scott C. Oostdyk, E. Duncan Getchell Jr. and Michael H. Brady of McGuireWoods LLP, among others.
The case is Murray Energy Corp. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, case number 15-1385, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.https://www.law360.com/articles/1112870/dc-circ-probes-epa-rationale-for-obama-ozone-rule
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EPA’s Wheeler Steers Clear of Scandals as He Rewrites Rulebook
Dec 19, 2018 | PoliticoPro
By Eric Wolff and Alex Guillen
Andrew Wheeler is speeding ahead with a slew of deregulatory actions in his first few months as head of EPA, digging into the fine print to rewrite the agency’s rulebook while skirting the type of tawdry scandals that brought down Scott Pruitt.
Since being named acting administrator in July, Wheeler has upended the agency's approach to smog-forming pollution from power plants and trucks, questioned health studies used to set safety rules for chemicals, stymied greenhouse gas pollution regulations and moved to freeze aggressive fuel efficiency standards for vehicles.
It's a contrast to his politically ambitious predecessor, Pruitt, who saw his efforts to roll back environmental regulations derailed by distractions from a string of ethical scandals, including his below-market condo rental from a lobbyist, investigations into travel expenses and efforts to procure work for his wife.
Instead, Wheeler, who spent four years at EPA early in his career and later helped conduct oversight of the agency as a congressional staffer, has harnessed EPA's machinery to delve into the legal nuances involved in unwinding pollution regulations opposed by conservatives and fossil fuel industries. President Donald Trump has indicated he intends to nominate Wheeler as the permanent EPA chief.
For Trump administration critics like former New Jersey Gov. and George W. Bush EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, Wheeler is simply better at navigating to the same destination than Pruitt.
"[Pruitt] liked headlines. He liked to make grand announcements because I think he was thinking about his political future,” Whitman said.
“I just know that [Wheeler] knows the process better,” she said, and that makes him more effective at carrying out Trump’s agenda.
Wheeler's accomplishments so far show he understands the agency's authorities and limits. And while Pruitt kept EPA's career staff at arm's length, preventing them even from entering the part of the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters that houses the administrator's office, Wheeler often taps into the expertise in his 14,000-strong career staff.
"Wheeler appears to trust the super-smart career staff, and is making sure they have a seat at the table. That's helping him accomplish his policy goals," said one EPA career employee. "Pruitt didn’t trust career staff. You can’t do this alone.”
While EPA civil servants tell POLITICO they may not always agree with Wheeler's policy direction, following the directives of political leaders is part of a career in government service.
EPA did not return several requests for comment.
One example of Wheeler's and Pruitt’s differing approaches involves national smog standards. Pruitt had planned an outright rollback of the Obama administration’s tightening of the standards, only to be stymied by a court order telling him to implement former President Barack Obama's rule. Under Wheeler, EPA decided to defend the Obama regulation.
Though environmentalists initially cheered EPA's decision, the agency quietly said in an August court filing it would move quickly to complete its upcoming ozone review — with a "new approach" that could justify later raising the nationwide pollution limit during Trump's first term.
Wheeler has also abandoned the standard agency procedure for the ozone review, declining to establish a scientific panel of ozone experts that past administrators would turn to for advice. That's drawn complaints from members of the panel of outside experts who advise him on air quality issues. (Wheeler also disbanded a separate panel of experts on soot pollution that had already started work on that pollutant.)
EPA-watchers like Paul Billings, national senior vice president for advocacy at the American Lung Association, are unhappy about the changes coming in the Clean Air Act regulation procedures.
"There’s a fear the process is politicized, a fear that politics trumps science," he said.
Wheeler is using similar strategies to effect lasting change on other EPA rules.
EPA’s proposal earlier this month that would make it easier to build new coal-fired power plants left environmentalists steaming, even though the agency still doesn’t expect any new coal plants to be built.
But tucked inside that proposal was a footnote that raised complex, novel legal questions about whether EPA can or should regulate greenhouse gases from chemical plants, cement-makers and other industries.
Those questions don’t make it clear what exactly EPA is seeking, but such a policy change might justify doing “little, or maybe nothing” for a major portion of the nation’s climate-changing pollution, said Bob Perciasepe, a former Obama EPA deputy administrator.
And where a federal court rebuked Pruitt for trying to freeze Obama-era limits on methane pollution from new oil and gas wells, Wheeler took a more subtle approach, proposing to ease only some leak inspection requirements rather than outright repealing the rule. That move would mean major savings for oil and gas producers, and administration critics say it could be the first step in ending any significant regulation of well emissions.
Wheeler also vowed last month to follow up on an Obama EPA priority and consider tightening emission limits for smog-causing nitrogen oxide for 18-wheelers and other big trucks — in a move that surprised both critics and supporters of Trump's deregulatory agenda. However, the timeline is still years behind what the Obama administration had considered, and Wheeler did not commit to tightening the standard or promise to move as quickly as many smog-choked states had asked.
Another subtle move came buried in EPA’s proposal last week to vastly reduce the number of streams and wetlands that fall under the Clean Water Act’s protections. Language in the proposed rule's preamble could lay the groundwork for rolling those protections back even further in a final version of the rule, for instance by changing the definitions of "traditionally navigable waters."
Critics of the newly proposed Waters of the U.S. rule say Wheeler relied on legal interpretations to weaken the federal role rather than looking at the scientific data they contend was the basis for the Obama administration’s 2015 rule that cemented Clean Water Act protections.
“The lack of public input, the lack of peer-reviewed studies — it's all of the elements you would expect for a document that's to serve a political purpose,” said National Wildlife Federation CEO Collin O’Mara.
For administration allies, Wheeler's steady and quiet rollback of EPA regulations was a welcome change from the damaging headlines in the spring that helped drive out Pruitt. Still, some Pruitt supporters say he and Wheeler could have had an effective partnership had the White House been quicker to install Wheeler to the deputy slot.
Wheeler was nominated to the deputy administrator post in October 2017, but he wasn't confirmed until April as he waited his turn behind a slew of federal judges.
"I think a lot more could have been done a lot more quickly with that team in place," said Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a critic of EPA's regulations. "Pruitt was a really good advocate for the Trump agenda, but less good at accomplishing or implementing the Trump agenda. Andy is now charged with being the implementer and advocate. I think he’s great at implementing."
Environmentalists, many of whom made removing Pruitt a top goal, say they have no regrets about helping push him out and leaving the job to a more effective Wheeler.
"I don’t think it’s helpful to the country or EPA to have bumbling corruption at the helm of the agency," said John Walke, clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "I don’t buy this binary narrative that Wheeler is fundamentally more effective or knowledgeable about deregulation because his background differed from Pruitt. The infrastructure of an administration with industry serving as ventriloquist is far more influential in carrying out EPA’s agenda than personalities of Scott Pruitt or Andrew Wheeler."
Ultimately, Wheeler may be a more effective administrator than Pruitt, but he is pushing the deregulatory priorities of the Trump White House, Whitman said.
“With Wheeler, you’re not getting the nasty headlines about ethical behavior breaches. But the policy is still the president’s policy. It’s what he wants to see. He sets the tone,” she said. “If he wants to starve the agency fiscally, which is happening, he can do that with the budget. If he wants to disregard the science, he can do that.”
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/article/2018/12/epas-wheeler-steers-clear-of-scandals-as-he-rewrites-rulebook-1029099
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DC Passes Bill to Make City Run on 100-Percent Clean Energy by 2032
Dec 18, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Miranda Green
Washington, D.C., will soon be running on 100-percent electric energy.
The D.C. City Council on Tuesday passed a landmark bill to transition the city’s electric grid to run on 100-percent electric energy by 2032.
In November, local lawmakers unanimously voted "yes" in a preliminary vote for the “Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018.”
The policy will also include electric car incentives, create new efficiency standards and expand carbon fees on natural gas and certain oils. That carbon revenue would then be used to fund a "Green Bank" for developing clean energy for those who would otherwise struggle to afford it.
The bill also authorizes the D.C. mayor to enter regional emissions reduction agreements with Maryland and Virginia.
The capital is following dozens of other U.S. cities that have made similar commitments to transition to renewable energy use in the near future. But D.C.'s timeline is by far the shortest. Burlington, Vt., and Aspen, Colo., already run on clean energy.
Hawaii in 2015 was the first state to make the commitment to transition to renewable energy use, with California this fall also announcing it will transition its electric grids. Both states have a 2045 goal.
The commitments to renewable energy come as a number of recently released national and international studies warn of the dire, and irreversible effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Reducing emissions is one step that could limit the impacts of climate change.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/421949-dc-passes-bill-to-make-city-run-on-100-percent-clean-energy-by-2032
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Judges Appear To Back Stricter Ozone NAAQS, Doubt 'Background' Factor
Dec 19, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
Appellate judges at Dec. 18 oral argument appeared to back the Obama EPA's 2015 decision to tighten its primary health-based ozone air standard and to doubt claims that the agency should have assessed “background” ozone levels to set a weaker limit, but they also faulted EPA for making the secondary environment-based standard the same.
If the three U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit judges rule in line with their questioning at argument, it could potentially echo litigation over the less-stringent 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) in which the court upheld the primary limit of 75 parts per billion (ppb) but remanded the identical second standard to EPA because of its failure to adequately explain why this was appropriate.
The present case, Murray Energy Corp. v. EPA, consolidates a host of challenges to the Obama EPA's October 2015 rule tightening the primary and secondary ozone NAAQS to 70 ppb.
Some states and groups representing major industries filed suit claiming the agency lacked the scientific justification to tighten the standard. Critics claim that the agency violated the Clean Air Act by not considering the role of naturally occurring or international background ozone in setting the standard. Background ozone cannot be controlled by air regulators, and opponents of the 70 ppb limit argue that it could make the NAAQS impossible for some areas to meet.
Environmentalists and other states, however, argue that data on the health risks from ozone pollution justify an even-stricter standard, while also intervening in the case to defend the 70 ppb limit.
Oral argument in the Murray Energy suit against the new NAAQS was delayed while the Trump EPA decided whether to reconsider the standard. EPA opted not to reconsider the standard, but to instead proceed with an accelerated review of the NAAQS, which it aims to conclude in October 2020.
Judges Nina Pillard, Thomas Griffith and Robert Wilkins at argument appeared to reject as irrelevant the push for consideration of background ozone, suggesting there is no air law mandate to do so. Pillard and Wilkins are Obama appointees, while Griffith is a George W. Bush appointee.
EPA argues that under Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit precedent, the agency does not have to consider background ozone when setting NAAQS, such as the ozone standards. The agency has provided several means for states to cope with high background level when implementing NAAQS, although some of these do not allow states to avoid NAAQS “nonattainment” designations that require industry to comply with tougher air permitting conditions.
Attorney Dominic Draye, on behalf of Arizona and other states opposed to the tougher NAAQS, argued that EPA had failed to address a central aspect of the ozone issue by not taking background into account when setting the NAAQS.
EPA did discuss background levels in the rulemaking, but considered background legally irrelevant and in any case generally below levels where it would present states with problems attaining the NAAQS. EPA's “exceptional events” rule further allows states to exclude from calculations of NAAQS compliance air pollution readings gathered during events such as wildfires or stratospheric intrusions, allowing them to avoid a nonattainment designation.
Draye pointed to several instances of what he said was EPA's arbitrary treatment of background in its NAAQS rule, such as its decision to consider annual average background ozone rather than the peak ozone levels that are actually considered for NAAQS compliance, or to only consider whether background ozone exclusively could result in NAAQS nonattainment.
Background Ozone
Challenged by Griffith on whether the Clean Air Act in fact provides for EPA to deal with background in implementation measures, Draye said “I read those enforcement stage measures the opposite,” and that “states are not required to be on the hook” for background ozone they cannot control.
States must “achieve and maintain” the NAAQS under the air law, and high background levels, especially in the intermountain West, can render this impossible -- an irrational result, Draye said. He added that the air law is supposed to allow for “some level of human activity,” and because there is no safe threshold for ozone pollution, there must be some “limiting principle” to limit the tightening of NAAQS.
Attorney for industry petitioners James Bieke said that “EPA did not take into account an important aspect of the problem,” failing an important principle of administrative law.
But Pillard retorted that the “dominant goal of the statute is to set levels that protect the public health."
Meanwhile, attorney Seth Johnson, for environmental petitioners, argued that the primary NAAQS is too weak because EPA wrongly set the standard too high based on its own estimation of exposures to various groups.
Johnson noted that the agency in its 2015 rulemaking acknowledged that at its benchmark ozone level of 72 ppb -- slightly higher than the NAAQS -- “hundreds of thousands” of vulnerable people are exposed to ozone levels known to be harmful. Because of the “form” of the standard, which considers the annual fourth-highest ozone reading measured over eight hours, averaged over three years, the 70 ppb limit is in fact not protective, Johnson said.
Department of Justice Attorney (DOJ) attorney Justin Heminger, representing EPA, said that the agency looked at “real world” exposures to “real lives.” A key question the court will face is not just whether, as industry claims, EPA must consider background ozone when setting NAAQS, but whether it may do so if it wishes.
DOJ attorney Simi Bhat, representing EPA, said the “Clean Air Act does not require EPA to raise a NAAQS because of background pollution.”
Questioned by Pillard on whether EPA is allowed to consider the background ozone in setting NAAQS, Bhat said the issue is not before the court and “unripe” for decision, but that EPA will address this issue in its forthcoming review of the ozone standards in 2020.
Environmentalists and states supporting the NAAQS were emphatic that EPA may not consider background in setting the standards. Attorney Jonathan Wiener, representing those states, said that Congress has already spoken to the issue, and that “is not what the statute allows.” Industry and state petitioners opposed to tougher standards are “saying the NAAQS should be weaker nationwide,” and this would result in health damages to states such as California, he said.
Secondary NAAQS
Pillard and Griffith appeared much less supportive of EPA's decision to again set the secondary ozone NAAQS at the same level as the primary standard.
EPA staff in the rulemaking process considered a unique secondary standard that would use a different form to measure cumulative damage to plants, such as a three-year averaging time and a distinct methodology for measuring ecological damage known as W-126. The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) was broadly supportive of such a move.
Griffith and Pillard said that EPA appeared to have disregarded CASAC's advice on this. For some known adverse effects of ozone, such as “leaf injury,” EPA's rule “reads is if it has dropped off the table,” Pillard said. “Isn't it incumbent on the Administrator to figure out some standards” that account for such damage, she asked.
Griffith noted that CASAC advised EPA that if it opted for a three-year standard, then it should tighten the secondary NAAQS -- but that EPA did not do so. EPA's standard retains a three-year average, but Griffith alleged that EPA did not follow the committee's advice on the appropriate level of the standard.
DOJ's Heminger said that EPA is not obligated to set standards for all possible adverse effects, and was correct to focus only on “tree growth” because the science supporting other impacts was less certain. He said then-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy did consider CASAC's advice, but opted to in effect leave the secondary standard at the level of the primary NAAQS. “I disagree that she did not respond” to CASAC, he said.
Pillard and Griffith were further skeptical of EPA's decision to “grandfather” certain air permits that were near completion when EPA lowered the NAAQS. Griffith repeatedly questioned the legal basis for this decision, while Pillard argued it would unfairly disadvantage industrial facilities not grandfathered in this way. The grandfathered plants needed only to comply with the 2008 NAAQS of 75 ppb for permitting purposes.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/judges-appear-back-stricter-ozone-naaqs-doubt-background-factor
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Pennsylvania's Wolf Weighs GHG Petition, Opening Door To Joining RGGI
Dec 18, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
Pennsylvania's recently re-elected Democratic governor says he is weighing the merits of a petition urging the state to create a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions, a step that if approved could allow the Keystone State to join -- and significantly expand -- the Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) utility carbon market.
Just weeks after winning re-election with 57 percent of the vote, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) told Harrisburg's public radio station that he hasn't “come to a conclusion” on the petition, but that climate change is “one of the big issues we have to deal with.”
Citing the recent birth of his first grandchild, Wolf said, “It’s our responsibility to make sure that the world [he’s inheriting] is a good one, and we have a lot of work to do.”
While it is far from clear how or whether Wolf will act, his comments come as two other states are preparing to join -- or re-join -- RGGI.
Virginia regulators are crafting a rule that will allow the state to “link” with RGGI, while New Jersey is formally proposing to re-join the regional program.
However, Pennsylvania's possible shift toward carbon pricing arguably could be a more important move than the other two because the Keystone State's power sector is tied for third place among states in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, trailing only Texas and Florida. It ranks fourth in CO2 emissions from all sectors, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
In addition, Pennsylvania has long been an important swing state and political bellwether, while other states with more advanced climate policies such as California, New Jersey or New York are solidly controlled by Democrats.
Importantly, the Nov. 28 petition filed by environmentalists, academics and a retired attorney argues that the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has existing legal authority to create a cap-and-trade program, allowing it to bypass the Republican-controlled General Assembly.
That claim rests heavily on a novel provision in the state Constitution that guarantees a fundamental right to clean air and requires the state to act as a trustee of the state's natural resources for the benefit of all people.
Backers of the petition cite a June 2017 ruling by the state Supreme Court that broadly interpreted the Constitution's environmental rights amendment, holding that it prohibits the state from diverting oil and gas lease proceeds for any purpose other than environmental protection.
The petition specifically urges DEP to craft an economy-wide cap-and-trade system similar to California's, which includes power generation, transportation fuels and major industry. Even so, petition co-author Robert McKinstry tells Energy News Network that joining the power sector-specific RGGI could be an option.
“It says we will accept RGGI allowances for the first three to five years, and after that we'll accept their allowances if they'll accept ours,” he said. “We can accept those allowances and retire them, and that will force RGGI prices up somewhat.”
RGGI Credits
RGGI credits have recently been trading at a little over $5 per ton of emissions -- a modest level that observers say is too low to drive major shifts away from fossil fuels but which nonetheless generates a market signal and revenue for renewable and efficiency projects. California's carbon credits currently sell for around $15.
Pennsylvania's power sector emitted 82 million tons of CO2 in 2016, according to EIA, meaning it would significantly expand RGGI's coverage. The nine current members of the program recently set a collective emissions cap of 75.1 million tons in 2020, and Virginia and New Jersey are moving to join the market that year. Virginia regulators are floating a 28 million ton cap, while New Jersey's DEP recently proposed an 18-million ton limit.
Those emissions limits would each decline by 30 percent each year until 2030.
The Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), a group of 11 states that includes Pennsylvania and many RGGI members, was recently urged to craft a RGGI-like program for transportation fuels, and there are signs that governors in those states could soon announce a new policy. TCI announced Dec. 18 that nine states and the District of Columbia -- and including Pennsylvania -- endorsed a statement to craft a transportation GHG policy by the end of 2019.
But it is still uncertain how Wolf will proceed on the petition. In his recent remarks, the governor said cap-and-trade is tricky for power exporters such as Pennsylvania. “It's easier if you're an importer of energy and someone else is doing the heavy lifting. I need to figure out what Pennsylvania can do.”
Wolf has previously come under fire from environmentalists for saying he did not “remember” pledging in his first run for governor to join RGGI. “I don't remember making that promise,” he said in January. “In fact, I do remember I didn't make that promise.”
That promise was included on Wolf's 2014 campaign website. The state has long been a RGGI “observer.”
New Jersey
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's neighbors are in the process of expanding their climate policies.
The New Jersey DEP on Dec. 17 floated its RGGI proposal, which would formally reverse a 2012 move by former Gov. Chris Christie (R) to leave the program.
Leaving RGGI “was not only an abdication of leadership, but it also cost us millions of dollars that could have been used to increase energy efficiency and improve air quality in our communities,” Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said in a statement. “Today’s action is an important first step toward restoring our place as a leader in the green economy and keeping us on a path to 100 percent clean energy by 2050 for the benefit of all New Jerseyans.”
The proposed rule setting the state's GHG cap, as well as a separate proposal outlining how quarterly allowance revenue would be used, are open for public comment through Feb. 15.
In Virginia, regulators have proposed a rule that sets a “base budget” of 28 million tons for the state's power sector when the state starts trading with RGGI in 2020. That is stricter than an earlier plan, which RGGI states charged would have increased the region's overall emissions.
Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who was recently re-elected to a third term, told a Dec. 14 state Bar Association event that the state's electricity sector would be carbon neutral by 2040, embracing the concept of a “Green New Deal” that has been floated by progressives as Democrats prepare to re-take control of the House in January.
Even so, some environmental groups criticized Cuomo for not outlining details to back up the pledge and for his continued approval of natural gas infrastructure, according to a report in Crain's.
Cuomo last month won a third term as governor, and Democrats also took full control of the state legislature, leading many observers to expect additional climate and clean energy policies from the Empire State.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/pennsylvanias-wolf-weighs-ghg-petition-opening-door-joining-rggi
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Exxon Mobil Opposes Weakening Obama-Era Emissions Rules: Letter to EPA
Dec 19, 2018 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Jennifer Hiller
Exxon Mobil Corp sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in support of methane gas emission rules put in place under the Obama administration, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
The administration of President Donald Trump in September proposed weakening requirements for repairing leaks of the greenhouse gas in drilling operations in a step toward rolling back an Obama-era policy that was intended to combat climate change.
"We support maintaining the key elements of the underlying regulation, such as leak detection and repair programs," Exxon Vice President Gantt Walton said in the letter dated on Monday.
The company believes "reasonable regulations help reduce emissions" and support the use of cleaner-burning natural gas, the letter said.
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Methane, the primary component of natural gas, leaks from oil and gas wells during drilling. It accounts for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions but has more than 80 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it escapes into the atmosphere.
The oil and gas industry is the largest single source of U.S. methane emissions, according to EPA data.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/12/18/business/18reuters-exxon-mobil-epa-methane.html
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Brussels Agrees Single-Use Plastic Ban
Dec 19, 2018 | Financial Times
By Rochelle Toplensky
Brussels has agreed to ban a range of plastic items, including single-use cutlery, straws and food containers, by 2021 as part of a set of ambitious new EU rules. The initiative marks part of a push by the bloc to cut marine pollution and encourage development of other packaging options. Under rules finalised on Wednesday, throwaway plastic items — such as cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws and expanded polystyrene food containers — that the commission believes can be easily replaced using more sustainable materials will be banned. The new rules also outlaw products made from oxo-degradable plastic which break down into small pieces that contribute to microplastic pollution. “When we have a situation where one year you can bring your fish home in a plastic bag, and the next year you are bringing that bag home in a fish, we have to work hard and work fast,” said Karmenu Vella, EU commissioner for environment, maritime affairs and fisheries. “We have taken a big stride towards reducing the amount of single-use plastic items in our economy, our ocean and ultimately our bodies.” The EU move is the latest in a series of similar policies implemented by governments across the world as concerns have grown over plastics polluting oceans and damaging marine wildlife. Friends of the Earth Europe’s resource justice campaigner Meadhbh Bolger said the EU’s rules were a significant development. “The EU deserves praise for being the first region to introduce new laws to reduce single-use plastics and slash plastic pollution in our fields, rivers and oceans,” she said.
https://www.ft.com/content/3eaa7e42-037c-11e9-99df-6183d3002ee1
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Cap and Trade for Cars Arrives in the Northeast
Dec 19, 2018 | E&E Climatewire
By Benjamin Storrow and Maxine Joselow
Nine Northeastern states and the District of Columbia committed yesterday to forming a cap-and-trade system for the transportation sector, embarking on one of the most ambitious regional programs ever undertaken to cut carbon dioxide.
The move underlined liberal-state frustration with the Trump administration, which has committed to rolling back fuel economy standards. It also marked a new chapter in state climate action. Up to now, states have mostly focused their climate efforts on power plants. They've been helped by a wave of coal plant closures in recent years, which has produced a significant drop in power-sector emissions (Climatewire, April 17).
Yet many Northeastern states are still in danger of missing their carbon reduction targets, thanks to a rising tide of greenhouse gas pollution from cars, trucks and airplanes.
Yesterday's announcement represents the first major step toward curbing those emissions.
"As the transportation sector is the largest contributor to carbon emissions in the commonwealth, reducing transportation emissions is imperative to combating the causes of climate change and meeting Massachusetts' aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets," said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R), who has emerged as a leading champion of the program.
The new effort contained echoes of a previous era, when Northeastern states, exasperated by former President George W. Bush's opposition to climate action, launched a regional carbon cap-and-trade program for power plants.
That program, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, has helped cut emissions from power plants in nine states by roughly 40 percent since its 2009 implementation.
RGGI will also serve as the template for the states' new transportation initiative, which counts as its members Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The states said they will spend the next year designing a cap-and-trade program under the umbrella of the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), a program housed at the Georgetown Climate Center.
"This is a great step forward for a region that desperately needs a more modern transportation system," said Jordan Stutt, the director of carbon programs at the Acadia Center, a Boston-based environmental group. "I think this is a reflection of the kind of process we want to see more of when it comes to climate and economic policy."
Others pointed to the additional benefits associated with cutting carbon emissions from cars and trucks, including cuts to other pollutants that are harmful to public health.
"I think it's a really important and positive step," said Paul Billings, national senior vice president for advocacy with the American Lung Association. "Many states in the region have ozone nonattainment areas, and some have [particulate matter] nonattainment areas, as well. So anything that can be done to reduce emissions that are driving nonattainment is a positive thing."
Many of the details of TCI remain to be worked out, but the states committed yesterday to a series of broad principles. Most importantly, carbon emissions from transportation would be capped and the revenue raised by the sale of carbon allowances returned to the states to invest in areas like public transit, biking infrastructure and electric vehicle charging stations.
TCI would be many orders of magnitude larger than RGGI. The states that have committed to the new program reported transportation-sector carbon emissions of 251 million tons in 2015, according to the most recent U.S. Energy Information Administration figures.
Power-sector emissions in RGGI that year totaled roughly 75 million tons. That figure would rise to 125 million with the addition of New Jersey and Virginia, both of which are expected to join RGGI in the coming years.
"I think it's significant because it tackles transportation in a new way that goes beyond relying on federal authority and California's approach, which other states have replicated and relied on," said Kate Larsen, who tracks the transportation sector at the Rhodium Group, a consulting firm. California has special authority under the Clean Air Act to set vehicle emissions standards.
"This gives states a new set of tools in a very different region of the U.S. to test out," she said.Missing: N.Y.
But if transportation emissions are bigger, so, too, are the challenges in curbing them. Power plants are relatively limited in number compared to the millions of passenger vehicles on the road, and the prospect of raising fuel prices has scared many politicians off any suggestion of cutting emissions from the sector.
Notably absent from the list of states joining TCI yesterday was New York, which reported transportation-sector emissions of 71 million tons in 2015. The Empire State was a founding member of RGGI, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) recently committed to making the state's power sector carbon neutral by 2040 (Climatewire, Dec. 18).
It was not immediately clear why New York was not among the initial list of states. The state played host to two listening sessions in the lead-up to the announcement, and environmentalists expressed hope that New York would ultimately join.
The state's absence nevertheless appeared to highlight the political perils of tackling transportation emissions. New York officials did not provide a reason for the decision.
"Last year, Governor Cuomo called for developing a regional approach to tackle emissions in the transportation sector and we will continue to work with other states on this priority," Kate Muller, a spokeswoman for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, wrote in an email.
Oil and gas interests reacted coolly to the news. Kyle Isakower, vice president of regulatory and economic policy at the American Petroleum Institute, noted that U.S. carbon emissions have fallen in recent years and argued that a long-term response to climate change should be based on innovation and technological development.
He highlighted the industry's attempts to invest billions in new technology, efficiency improvements and cleaner fuels, adding, "We will evaluate any proposal that comes out of this effort with an eye to balancing environmental progress with keeping consumer energy costs low in the region."
The proposal also faces potential opposition in climate circles. Massachusetts state Sen. Michael Barrett (D) said states could maximize emissions reductions and minimize economic costs by imposing an economywide fee on carbon emissions. Cap and trade is more difficult to administer and has a questionable history of cutting carbon, he said, pointing to the prices of RGGI carbon allowances, which are mired in the low single digits.
But most concerning is the potential lack of accountability for ensuring states fulfill their promises, Barrett said. The Massachusetts lawmaker said legislatures should hold hearings and demand that regular milestones be met.
"The reports on climate change are increasingly alarming. We're now being invited to step back as a group of chief executives meet behind closed doors," he said in an interview. "There are a lot of questions here. We are looking at the skeleton of a proposal that seeks to defer action on the part of everyone else."
It is unclear how states would formally join TCI once a year has passed. Vicki Arroyo, director of the Georgetown Climate Center, said in an email that those details still have to be worked out.
But Carol Lee Rawn, senior director of transportation with Ceres, said she thinks most states could join through administrative actions from their governor's offices, rather than through bills in state legislatures.
"I think in most cases, it can be done administratively," Rawn said. "And in some cases, it would have to be done legislatively."
RGGI was born in a series of conversations between state environmental officials. It ultimately took six years between the time RGGI was announced in 2003 and its launch in 2009.
But there is little reason to think a transportation program would take that long to establish, said Union of Concerned Scientists President Ken Kimmell. RGGI was a groundbreaking program at the time. Now, it offers a model for states to follow.
At the same time, California and Quebec have moved forward with a cap-and-trade program that includes transportation, offering further evidence for how to proceed.
"Getting these nine states plus D.C. to make significant cuts to emissions in transportation sector will be huge and transformative," Kimmell said.A 'bridge' to more action
Still, questions remain. Setting a cap on carbon emissions that ensures states achieve deep reductions is likely to be the most pressing challenge facing the TCI coalition, analysts said.
Also to be determined: what industry is regulated under the system. Many observers said the cap would most likely fall on fuel suppliers, which are already regulated and required to keep information on their sales.
Noah Kaufman, a researcher at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, said the move represents an important step in state climate policy. Even so, its overall climate impact will likely be limited.
Transportation emissions from TCI states accounted for roughly 5 percent of America's total energy-related emissions in 2015, according to EIA data.
The real value, Kaufman said, is in the broader lessons TCI provides for how to cut transportation emissions.
"The transportation sector is so interlinked throughout the country. It's hard to imagine any region going too far ahead of the rest of the country," he said. "It is a step forward, but it's got to be a bridge to broader, stronger action at the federal level to be successful in the end."
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/12/19/stories/1060110085
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