Preview Newsletter
PM ACC Clips Report - January 25, 2019
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(ACC Mentioned) Most Commodity Resins Drop in December
Jan 25, 2019 | Plastic News
By Frank Esposito
As the last few days of 2018 faded away, prices for most North American commodity resins went in the same direction. In December, average selling prices for polypropylene fell 8 cents per pound, according to market sources... -
Trump Planning Shutdown Announcement
Jan 25, 2019 | Politico
By Jake Sherman, Andrew Restuccia, Gabby Orr and Burgess Everett
President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement about the government shutdown early Friday afternoon, according to multiple administration and Capitol Hill sources. It wasn't immediately clear what the... -
Interior Names Willens New Acting Chief of Staff
Jan 25, 2019 | Politico Pro- Energy Whiteboard
By Ben Lefebvre
Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has tapped Assistant Deputy Secretary Todd Willens to be his acting chief of staff, a department spokesperson confirmed today. Willens stepped into the role on Jan. 2, following the departure... -
'Uncharted Territory' as Shutdown Hobbles Cases
Jan 25, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The partial government shutdown may soon cripple federal courts, an unprecedented complication for scores of environmental lawsuits. Though the judiciary branch had enough funds to survive the first several weeks of the... -
Navy Denies Thousands of Claims Linked to Contaminated Water
Jan 25, 2019 | AP (In E&E - Greenwire)
By Lolita C. Baldor
The Navy is denying thousands of claims from service members and their families who were exposed to contaminated drinking water decades ago at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters... -
Stores Still Sell Toxic Paint Strippers Despite Vows to Stop
Jan 25, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
Several retailers that promised to stop selling paint removal products containing toxic chemicals by the end of 2018 have not followed through, according to environmental health advocates. Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and its... -
Environmental Groups Petition for a Strict PFAS Drinking Water Standard in Massachusetts
Jan 25, 2019 | National Law Review
By Jeanine L.G. Grachuk and Dylan J. King
MassDEP will decide on January 28 whether to establish a strict drinking water standard for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, and promulgate further regulations for the identification and remediation of PFAS in... -
Congressional Task Force Ups Ante on PFOA Pollution
Jan 25, 2019 | Rubber & Plastics News
By Steve Toloken
Congress is stepping up the pressure over water pollution around a class of chemicals used in fluoropolymer manufacturing, with the Jan. 23 formation of a bipartisan task force that aims to push for stronger action. At a news... -
Toxic Chemicals Contaminate Cape
Jan 25, 2019 | Fox News
By Georeen Tanner
Flint, Michigan is no longer the only American city synonymous with contaminated drinking water. Recent reports show there are Flints in nearly every state. The cities and contaminants change, but the unease remains. -
Trump Eyes Action to Limit States’ Powers to Block Pipelines
Jan 25, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The Trump administration is considering taking steps to limit the ability of states to block interstate gas pipelines and other energy projects, according to three people familiar with the deliberations. The effort, possibly through an... -
Growing Unconventional Production to Make U.S. Net Energy Exporter in 2020, Says EIA
Jan 25, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By David Bradley
After more than 60 years as a net energy importer, the United States is on track to become a net energy exporter next year, thanks in large part to continued growth in natural gas and petroleum exports, fueled by growing production... -
Private Equity Rushing in to End Shale Drillers’ Water Torture
Jan 25, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Austin Weinstein
Drillers in America’s most prolific shale basins have a $34 billion headache that private equity wants to provide a cure for. During the past year, private equity-backed newcomers have stormed into the nation’s oilfields in a quest to build a... -
Shutdown Stalls Cybersecurity Work on Gas Pipelines, Group Says
Jan 25, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Naureen S. Malik
The shutdown of the U.S. government has halted work by a federal agency on cybersecurity risks faced by the nation’s 2.5 million miles of natural gas pipelines, according to an industry group. The Transportation Security Administration... -
AAR: Class Is Continue to Expand PTC Operations
Jan 25, 2019 | Progressive Railroading
At 2018's end, Class Is were operating positive train control (PTC) systems across the vast majority of required route miles, according to data released yesterday by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). As of Dec. 31, 83.2... percent -
U.S. Rep. Lipinski to Chair House Rail Subcommittee
Jan 25, 2019 | Progressive Railroading
The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) announced yesterday that U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) will chair its Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials. Lipinski is the most senior member... -
Shutdown Forces Agency to Halt Work on Climate Rules
Jan 25, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Niina Heikkinen
EPA has halted work on two major climate rules during the partial federal government shutdown, according to a federal appeals court filing. The agency is not working on either its replacement for the Clean Power Plan or a... -
EPA’s Ex-Top Cop Joins Criticism of Agency’s Record on Polluters
Jan 25, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Schultz
The former head of enforcement at the EPA during the Obama years is the latest in a growing chorus of activists and academics who say the agency’s own data shows it is easing up on penalizing polluters.The findings caught the eye... -
America Needs a Green New Deal, Just Not the One Radical Environmentalists Are Proposing
Jan 25, 2019 | Houston Chronicle
By Chris Tomlinson
The United States needs a Green New Deal, but totalitarian environmentalists with little comprehension of free-market economics or energy industry realities should not dictate the terms. Liberals and conservatives, capitalists and...
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(ACC Mentioned) Most Commodity Resins Drop in December
Jan 25, 2019 | Plastic News
By Frank Esposito
As the last few days of 2018 faded away, prices for most North American commodity resins went in the same direction.
In December, average selling prices for polypropylene fell 8 cents per pound, according to market sources contacted by Plastics News. Regional prices for all grades of polyethylene slipped 3 cents per pound, while solid polystyrene prices slid 7 cents and PET bottle resin prices declined by 4 cents.
These declines mostly were tied into lower seasonal demand and higher supplies of both resins and feedstocks, sources said. Only PVC was spared a December decline, with prices remaining flat.
The PP drop follows a 10-cent tumble in November for a major two-month drop of 18 cents per pound. These slides were tied to changes in price for polymer-grade propylene feedstock. Those prices have dropped as propylene supplies have increased.
The December drop leaves North American PP prices down a net of 6 cents per pound for full-year 2018. The regional PP market in 2018 also was impacted by increased supplies of PP imported from other countries. Tight North American PP supplies and low prices for imported resin led buyers to foreign suppliers.
North American PP sales through November were down a little more than 1 percent, according to the American Chemistry Council, as a drop of 32 percent in exports sales brought down flat domestic sales. Market watchers said actual PP consumption in the region more likely was up 3-4 percent for the year because of increased amounts of imported PP.
Top growth markets for North American PP through November were film (up 4.5 percent), sheet (up more than 4 percent) and injection molded caps and closures (up almost 8 percent).
The 3-cent December drop for all grades of PE followed a similar 3-cent decline in November. The December decline, combined with earlier increases and decreases, leaves most grades of North American PE down a net of 2 cents per pound in 2018.
Market watchers cited lower oil prices and lower global demand for PE, especially from the packaging market, as reasons for the November and December drops. Oil prices affect global resin markets, even though most North American PE is based on natural gas.
U.S./Canadian high and linear low density PE sales have reported major growth through November, resulting from larger amounts of new capacity being sold into the export markets as well as domestic sales that have grown at strong rates.
HDPE sales in the region were up almost 13 percent, according to the American Chemistry Council, with domestic growth of more than 6 percent amplified by export sales growth of almost 43 percent. Domestic HDPE growth through November was led by the pipe and conduit market, where sales surged 16 percent.
In LLDPE, 11-month sales soared more than 24 percent, with domestic sales up almost 5 percent and export sales exploding almost 96 percent. Trash and can liners led domestic LLDPE growth through November, increasing 8 percent.
Regional sales of LDPE have grown at lower rates, up more than 5 percent through November. Flat domestic LDPE sales have been boosted by a gain of 21.5 percent in exports. Domestic LDPE growth through November was led by food packaging film, which grew more than 3 percent.
The 7-cent solid PS drop occurred after prices had been flat in November, even as prices for benzene feedstock had declined slightly. The December PS decline left regional prices down a net of 6 cents per pound for full-year 2018.
North American solid PS sales struggled in 2018, dropping almost 5 percent through November. Exports have provided a bright spot, growing more than 13 percent and reducing the impact of a 5.5 percent drop in domestic sales. Sales to domestic resellers and distributors also were up 1 percent through November.
For PET bottle resin, the 4-cent December drop followed declines of 6 cents in November and 1 cent in October. Even with these recent drops, PET bottle resin prices in the region were up a net of 4 cents per pound for the year.
Market watchers cited lower demand and improving supplies of purified terephthalic acid and other raw materials as reasons for the December decline. Demand for bottle resin declines in the fall and winter months — the result of declining sales of bottled water and carbonated soft drinks.
With flat pricing in November, regional solid PVC prices now have been unchanged for an incredible seven consecutive months. Market prices haven't moved since April, with supply and demand being closely balanced. Regional PVC prices are up a net of 3 cents for the year.
U.S./Canadian PVC sales were strong in the first 11 months of 2018, climbing 3.5 percent vs. the year-ago period.
Domestic PVC sales were flat, but the overall growth rate was bolstered by a jump of almost 12 percent in export sales. Among PVC end markets, extruded windows and doors showed strong 11-month growth of almost 26 percent. That segment accounted for almost 7 percent of all domestic PVC sales during that period.
At the macro-feedstock level, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices began December at $52.50 per barrel but had slipped to $46 by the end of the month, a dip of more than 10 percent. Regional prices for natural gas fell from $4.20 per million British thermal units to $2.95 in the same comparison, for a drop of almost 30 percent.
https://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20190125/NEWS/190129940/most-commodity-resins-drop-in-december
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Trump Planning Shutdown Announcement
Jan 25, 2019 | Politico
By Jake Sherman, Andrew Restuccia, Gabby Orr and Burgess Everett
President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement about the government shutdown early Friday afternoon, according to multiple administration and Capitol Hill sources.
It wasn't immediately clear what the president would announce, but the move comes as lawmakers of both parties are looking to the White House for guidance as they search for a way out of the 35-day partial shutdown.
The White House has been scrambling to come up with a new approach to ending the shutdown after the Senate on Thursday failed to pass Trump's proposal to reopen the government. The offer would have given temporary legal protection to some undocumented immigrants in exchange for funding for a southern border wall.
A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. White House officials cautioned that the potential announcement was tentative.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday and spoke to Trump on Thursday, said a series of airport delays that have rippled across the country are “signs of things to come” during the shutdown. He’s been urging the president to endorse the idea of reopening the government to have a three-week immigration debate.
Yet a similar proposal was killed in the Senate on Thursday under pressure from the White House to oppose it, though six GOP senators supported it. GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah argued at a Republican party lunch in favor of the proposal, according to a person familiar with the lunch, but Vice President Mike Pence stumped for the president's plan and GOP unity instead.
Still, Capitol Hill aides were hopeful the president might finally be willing to endorse a plan that reopens the government, even if for just a few days, in order to hold an immigration and border security negotiation.
The Senate opened at noon on Friday, but McConnell planned to speak later in the day after the president’s announcement.
The wave of airport delays across the East Coast were seen by some as a sign that pressure was mounting on the White House to end the shutdown.
"The President has been briefed and we are monitoring the ongoing delays at some airports. We are in regular contact with officials at the Department of Transportation and the FAA," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier Friday.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/25/trump-shutdown-announcement-1125529
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Interior Names Willens New Acting Chief of Staff
Jan 25, 2019 | Politico Pro- Energy Whiteboard
By Ben Lefebvre
Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has tapped Assistant Deputy Secretary Todd Willens to be his acting chief of staff, a department spokesperson confirmed today.
Willens stepped into the role on Jan. 2, following the departure of Ryan Zinke, Interior spokesperson Faith Vander Voort said. Interior had not previously announced Willen’s new role.
Zinke appointed Willens to his previous post in July 2017. Prior to that, Willens was chief of staff to then-Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), and worked as a lobbyist at Vitello Consulting, where he focused on energy, climate and wildlife issues before Interior and Congress, according to lobbying disclosure forms.
Scott Hommel, who had been Zinke’s chief of staff, is still employed as an adviser to Bernhardt, Vander Voort said.
WHAT'S NEXT: President Donald Trump has not said whom he will appoint as permanent Interior secretary.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard/2019/01/interior-names-willens-new-acting-chief-of-staff-2561667
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'Uncharted Territory' as Shutdown Hobbles Cases
Jan 25, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The partial government shutdown may soon cripple federal courts, an unprecedented complication for scores of environmental lawsuits.
Though the judiciary branch had enough funds to survive the first several weeks of the shutdown, it expects to go broke late next week. Courts won't shutter, but they'll have to trim services and staff.
"If the courts are starting to run out of money and they have to then prioritize, then that complicates things even further," said Beveridge & Diamond PC attorney John Cruden, former head of the Justice Department's environment division.
"We're writing on a blank slate because this hasn't happened before, and we will all be watching as the courts decide how to administer the shutdown requirements and comply with the Antideficiency Act," he added, referring to the law that governs federal spending.
High-stakes environmental lawsuits are left in the lurch.
"That's the big game changer," Earthjustice attorney Kim Smaczniak said. "If the courts are not going to be fully staffed, we're going to have to worry about what cases are moving forward in the absence of funds.
"That's going to be a serious concern for our ability to get justice for the communities we represent."
Time-sensitive issues pending in federal courts right now include efforts to reinstate restrictions on planet-warming gases, challenges to the Obama-era rule defining "waters of the United States," litigation over President Trump's shrinking of national monuments and more (Greenwire, Jan. 8).
Previous funding lapses haven't lasted long enough to force major cutbacks in federal courts, so it's unclear what level of operations they will maintain once funding dries up.
Criminal cases will move forward without interruption, but the latest status update from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which manages all federal courts, doesn't go into detail on civil litigation. It simply directs each court to "determine the staff necessary to support its mission critical work."
Litigants are watching to see how individual courts respond, and they're hopeful judges will keep cases on track as much as possible.
"But there is going to come a point where there's going to be triage," Smaczniak said, "and I honestly don't know that there is a system in place, because we haven't experienced this for deciding what comes to the top."
The Civil Justice Reform Act may offer some clues, said Schiff Hardin LLP attorney Michael Showalter. Though not designed to address government shutdowns, the statute requires courts to report certain lag times in dockets, including cases pending more than three years and motions pending more than six months.
After handling urgent requests for preliminary injunctions or restraining orders, courts might look to the reform act factors when prioritizing civil matters, he said.
Individual courts have begun to spell out their plans. The Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, for example, announced yesterday it will continue to put new lawsuits on the docket, decide motions, hear oral arguments and issue rulings.
Similarly, Chief Judge Robert Katzmann of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York issued an order Wednesday clarifying that all employees in that circuit "are hereby deemed to be essential as part of or essential support for the exercise of judicial powers."
Some other courts have kept mum or simply reposted announcements from the Administrative Office without further guidance. Among them are the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, both of which carry heavy environmental caseloads.
"It looks like the courts will continue operating, maybe a little bit of a shoestring," Sierra Club legal director Patrick Gallagher said. "It's kind of uncharted territory, and we're not really clear what's going to happen over the next few weeks."
'No way in hell we're going to give them more time'
Environmental litigation is facing significant disruptions even without the federal court system's looming funding breakdown.
With many Justice Department lawyers furloughed since the Dec. 22 lapse in appropriations, cases involving government agencies have largely stalled.
Most DOJ lawyers are authorized to work only when necessary to meet court orders, and they've requested extensions or litigation freezes in scores of cases. Judges have generally required oral arguments that are already on the calendar to move forward, and they've delayed deadlines for briefs and other filings on a case-by-case basis.
Environmental lawyers opposing the federal government in many of those cases have opposed some delays and gone along with others.
"We've been accommodating the federal government when they ask for a few weeks here and there to get a brief filed," Gallagher said. "But if they ask for indefinite times or if they ask to stay the case, we have not been accommodating because that's just sort of asking for the moon, and we're not interested in doing that."
Many judges aren't interested in indefinite delays either. A California district court judge rejected the federal government's bid to delay deadlines in a case involving greenhouse gas emissions from landfills.
The D.C. Circuit likewise denied EPA's request to freeze a challenge to the agency's refusal to require stricter ozone standards for certain coal-fired power plants in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Court delays are especially problematic for environmental lawyers in cases involving government programs that are continuing during the shutdown.
"In any case where they're continuing to do administrative work, whether that's rulemaking work or permit work, if we're aware that they're doing that work, there's no way in hell we're going to give them more time," Gallagher said.
Courts have stepped in in some cases. In South Carolina, for example, a judge barred the Interior Department from taking any final action on pending applications for seismic testing to assess oil and gas reserves beneath the Atlantic Ocean (Greenwire, Jan. 18).
The Sierra Club and others are monitoring other executive branch work and might sue over how some agencies are using their limited funds. The group is looking into several activities it considers suspect: EPA acting chief Andrew Wheeler's recent confirmation hearing and ongoing permitting for oil and gas development, to name a few.
A lawsuit would likely be filed under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Antideficiency Act, which generally limits shutdown spending to activities necessary to protect life and property.
"The Antideficiency Act is a pretty straightforward statute," Gallagher said. "The question is, who can enforce it? And there you get into some tricky issues of standing that we are still sorting through."'
Avalanche of responsibilities'
The Justice Department's latest shutdown contingency plan says about 45 percent of the Environment and Natural Resources Division staff is excepted from furlough — mainly top officials and anyone needed to handle pending court deadlines.
The precise number is constantly in flux, with section leaders deciding on a rolling basis who needs to show up to file extension requests in litigation or handle cases that haven't been put on ice.
"Basically then, if you didn't get the extension, you were sort of the one person left in the office, or the handful of people left in the office who had to work," said Smaczniak, who worked at DOJ during previous shutdowns. "You got a lot of work done — pretty much plow through the thing you were required to do — you could work on that, but only that single matter."
Some of those matters are complicated by furloughs at EPA, the Interior Department and other agencies, making it difficult for DOJ to coordinate witnesses for trial or consult with other officials on court filings.
Empty desks and unattended email accounts at DOJ are also causing headaches that could snowball into more serious problems for litigants, depending on how long the shutdown continues.
Industry and environmental lawyers with settlements pending in cases they've won have been unable to negotiate terms under the Equal Access to Justice Act with their government counterparts. That's a problem for groups like Earthjustice, the Western Environmental Law Center and others that represent clients for free.
"Together, we provide a fundamental check on federal management and decisionmaking of our public lands and resources, and without the timely ability to recover the fees and costs we have invested in these cases, our ability to continue this work on behalf of the public and ensure federal law is upheld is threatened," WELC attorney Kyle Tisdel said.
The law center is waiting to settle legal fees from its victory in a challenge to Interior's climate analysis for oil and gas leasing in New Mexico. Negotiations have also stalled in a case WELC partially won last year involving leasing in Colorado.
"Our opposing parties are just MIA," Gallagher said. "There's no EPA officials, there's no DOI officials, we can't get in touch with the U.S. attorneys. It's a total drag."
Showalter said the litigation delays are inconvenient to industry, too — even in cases where they'd rather not see environmentalists' arguments advance.
"Businesses need to plan and do things, and holding things in abeyance forever, it's not like there's Blackbeard the pirate trying to hoard a chest of money," he said. "It's people inside of business or inside of a group who are just trying to do their jobs. They need to know whether to make a left turn or a right turn."
When the shutdown ends, government lawyers will have to catch up on mountains of work.
"It's not like a light switch: The lights were off, then you turn them back on, and everything goes back to normal," said Cruden, the former DOJ official.
Instead, they'll have to slowly address the routine issues unattended during the shutdown — filing new cases, reviewing agency questions, tracking litigation that might affect the federal government. Plus, they'll have to meet all the new deadlines in delayed cases.
"All shutdowns create backlog," Cruden said. "When the government opens back up, and all employees return to work, they are then facing an avalanche of responsibilities, dealing with delayed work over the shutdown period and the new work just coming in. It's extremely disruptive."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/01/25/stories/1060118627
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Navy Denies Thousands of Claims Linked to Contaminated Water
Jan 25, 2019 | AP (In E&E - Greenwire)
By Lolita C. Baldor
The Navy is denying thousands of claims from service members and their families who were exposed to contaminated drinking water decades ago at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters yesterday that at least 4,400 claims totaling $963 billion are being denied because there is no legal basis for paying them. He said it was a difficult decision but suggested that claimants could go to Capitol Hill to seek legislation providing restitution.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has estimated that as many as 900,000 service members were potentially exposed to tainted water at the Marine base between 1953 and 1987.
Spencer said the first civil claims came in around December 1999 and new claims are submitted "virtually every week." He said the legal reasons the Navy cannot pay out the claims are rooted in three separate laws. He said there is a North Carolina law that puts a 10-year statute of limitations on such cases, a federal law that limits government liability unless actual negligence is found, and a Supreme Court decision that said the U.S. is not liable for injuries to military members injured while on duty.
"There's no legal basis nor ability for the Department of Navy to pay these claims," said Spencer. "I am perfectly cognizant of the fact this will be disappointing to the claimants."
The VA decided in 2017 that eligible veterans stationed at the Marine base for at least 30 cumulative days between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987, could get government disability benefits. The agency estimated it would cost about $2.2 billion over five years.
The Veterans Affairs secretary at the time, Bob McDonald, determined there was "sufficient scientific and medical evidence" to establish a connection between exposure to the contaminated water and eight medical conditions for purposes of awarding disability compensation.
The decision covered active duty, Reserve and National Guard members who developed one of eight diseases: adult leukemia, aplastic anemia, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Parkinson's disease.
Documents uncovered by veterans groups over the years suggest Marine leaders were slow to respond when tests first found evidence of contaminated groundwater at Camp Lejeune in the early 1980s. Some drinking water wells were closed in 1984 and 1985, after further testing confirmed contamination from leaking fuel tanks and an off-base dry cleaner.
The Marine Corps has said the contamination was unintentional, occurring when federal law didn't limit toxins in drinking water.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/01/25/stories/1060118621
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Stores Still Sell Toxic Paint Strippers Despite Vows to Stop
Jan 25, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
Several retailers that promised to stop selling paint removal products containing toxic chemicals by the end of 2018 have not followed through, according to environmental health advocates.
Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and its partners visited 42 branches of five retailers that had vowed to stop selling the products by the end of last year. The group found that 62 percent of the surveyed stores in 12 states and Washington, D.C., were still selling paint-stripping products that contained both or either methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP).
The products were found in all or most of the Home Depot and AutoZone stores visited.
The companies told Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families they have stopped ordering the paint strippers but are continuing to sell their remaining stock.
Lowe's, which was the first major retailer to pledge to stop selling the paint strippers, did not have any methylene chloride-based paint strippers in the 12 stores examined, according to the advocacy group. Four stores carried a NMP-based paint stripper, which a company representative later said would be removed.
The findings show that federal oversight of the chemicals is needed, the group said.
Environmental advocates and the mothers of two men who died while using paint removal products that contained methylene chloride this month sued EPA over its failure to finalize a ban on the use of the chemical in the products (E&E News PM, Jan. 14).
One of the mothers, Lauren Atkins, participated in the store surveys. She said she found the product that killed her son, Joshua, still being sold at a steeply discounted price in the AutoZone where he purchased it.
"For the sake of all of your customers you said you valued, and your future customers, please follow through with your commitment to remove the deadly products that contain methylene chloride and NMP from your shelves," Atkins said in a statement. "The lives of your customers and their loved ones are depending on your commitment."
Short-term exposure to methylene chloride can cause damage to the central nervous system or neurotoxicity, and long-term exposure can cause liver and lung cancer. NMP has been linked to development problems and miscarriages.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/01/25/stories/1060118629
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Environmental Groups Petition for a Strict PFAS Drinking Water Standard in Massachusetts
Jan 25, 2019 | National Law Review
By Jeanine L.G. Grachuk and Dylan J. King
MassDEP will decide on January 28 whether to establish a strict drinking water standard for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, and promulgate further regulations for the identification and remediation of PFAS in drinking water in response to a petition from Conservation Law Foundation and Toxics Action Center. The October 25, 2018, Massachusetts petition was concurrent with similar petitions to the other New England states. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services recently rejected the petition, and the remaining states have not issued a determination.
In response to the petition, MassDEP opened a public comment period and held a public meeting on January 16, 2019. MassDEP has a deadline of January 28, 2019, to decide whether the petition and related public comments adequately present a need for new regulations. If MassDEP decides to draft new regulations, written comments will be solicited and the agency must provide the public a notice of any public hearing on the proposed rulemaking at least 21 days in advance.
What does the Petition Seek?
The petition urges MassDEP to adopt, as an immediate but interim measure, “a drinking water standard that protects the residents of Massachusetts from exposure to all PFAS compounds”; specifically, Vermont’s 20 parts per trillion (ppt) standard for the sum of five of the PFAS compounds (commonly referred to as PFOA, PFOS, PFHpA, PFNA, and PFHxS). As a long-term measure, the petition urges MassDEP to adopt either (a) a performance-based standard that requires a specific type of treatment that would, in the petitioners’ view, protect the public from unsafe levels of the PFAS class in general; or (b) a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFAS as a class or for each individual PFAS chemical. In the public meeting, Conservation Law Foundation stated that it believes that the maximum contaminant level should be 1 ppt for the PFAS class. The petitioners are also asking MassDEP to begin sampling public water supplies across the state.
Comments from the Public
Comments at the public meeting were mixed. Several elected officials and residents of towns like Westfield and Hyannis spoke in favor of the petition, noting the toxicity of PFAS and its effect on their communities. However, several public works representatives cautioned MassDEP against prescribing standard treatment methods or setting an MCL before further investigation of PFAS sources and levels, and some residents raised concerns about the potential cost of such treatment. Public comments appeared to be split as to whether MassDEP should treat PFAS as a class or regulate each compound individually. There did not appear to be a clear consensus regarding any of the petition’s recommendations.
Insight from MassDEP
MassDEP’s presentation was conducted by Mark Smith (Director, Office of Research and Standards), Douglas Fine (Assistant Commissioner for Water Resources), and Paul Locke (Assistant Commissioner for Waste Site Cleanup). The presentation reminded the public that the Office of Research and Standards published a guideline of 70 ppt for the sum of PFOA, PFOS, PFHpA, PFNA, and PFHxS in drinking water. MassDEP discussed its efforts relating to identified contamination of public drinking water systems in Hyannis, Mashpee, Westfield, Ayer, and Devens. MassDEP told attendees that aqueous film forming foam, referred to as AFFF, “appears to the primary source” of PFAS contamination in the state.
MassDEP also highlighted a few ongoing efforts, including requiring PFAS testing of all proposed new public water sources and requesting voluntary analysis of bottled water from all companies supplying bottled water to the state. In addition, MassDEP stated that wastewater residuals to be land-applied in Massachusetts will require analysis for PFAS contamination.
MassDEP’s presentation included mention of a proposal for Massachusetts Contingency Plan cleanup standards for PFAS in soil and groundwater. The MassDEP representative stated that draft regulations will arrive in spring 2019. The regulatory proposal will solicit comments on all aspects of PFAS including which specific compounds should be regulated, toxicity values, and exposure assumptions. MassDEP noted that comments on the groundwater standard will inform subsequent drinking water regulations.
What the future holds is unclear, except it will include more regulation of PFAS in drinking water and at contaminated sites. MassDEP’s attention to the PFAS issue is indicative of what is happening at the federal level. In 2016, U.S. EPA announced a voluntary health advisory level for PFAS of 70 ppt. More recently, the Ohio Environmental Council petitioned EPA in 2018 to promulgate PFAS regulations under the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Currently, the EPA is developing a PFAS Management Plan to address the PFAS class. While the plan is likely delayed because of the government shutdown, rumors suggest it will arrive soon.
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/environmental-groups-petition-strict-pfas-drinking-water-standard-massachusetts
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Congressional Task Force Ups Ante on PFOA Pollution
Jan 25, 2019 | Rubber & Plastics News
By Steve Toloken
Congress is stepping up the pressure over water pollution around a class of chemicals used in fluoropolymer manufacturing, with the Jan. 23 formation of a bipartisan task force that aims to push for stronger action.
At a news conference to launch the Congressional PFAS Task Force, many of the members of Congress who joined said they wanted to press the Environmental Protection Agency to set enforceable standards around per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
"We speak with one voice on legislation, on funding, on best practices and on holding the administration accountable, mainly the EPA," said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), one of two co-chairs.
He noted that EPA currently has an advisory level of 70 parts per trillion in drinking water for some PFAS chemicals but other government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control, have recommended a level less than 20 ppt.
Some states are looking at setting their own legally enforceable mandatory standards for PFAS chemicals in drinking water at significantly lower levels than EPA's advisory standard.
"If it goes from advisory to mandatory, that's where liability kicks in, both civil liability and criminal liability, which is important for enforcement and holding people's feet to the fire," Fitzpatrick said.
One of the PFAS chemicals the task force will look at is perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, which in the past had been a manufacturing aide in fluoropolymer production and today is at the center of water pollution concerns around some plastics factories. PFAS chemicals have been used in many applications, including firefighting foams and coatings for paper packaging.
The other co-chair of the group, Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), said the 20-member task force is bipartisan, reflecting that concern cuts across party lines. He said some in Congress believe EPA has not moved fast enough after having a PFAS summit in May.
"We believe that the EPA should be moving forward for an enforceable standard for PFAS. We're not waiting. We'll have our own legislation," Kildee said. "Speaking for myself, we would prefer the EPA be much more aggressive in tackling this issue."
Task force members said the House expects to have PFAS hearings soon.
https://www.rubbernews.com/article/20190125/NEWS/190129962/congressional-task-force-ups-ante-on-pfoa-pollution
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Toxic Chemicals Contaminate Cape
Jan 25, 2019 | Fox News
By Georeen Tanner
Flint, Michigan is no longer the only American city synonymous with contaminated drinking water. Recent reports show there are Flints in nearly every state. The cities and contaminants change, but the unease remains.
Cape Cod, with its quaint hamlets and salty breezes, is more closely associated with Camelot than contaminants. But the seaside escape has been gripped for decades by instances of seemingly unexplainable illnesses.
Within a span of three months, the U.S. government released two reports that called into question the safety of America’s drinking water.
In March 2018, the Department of Defense (DoD) provided a full list of military installations that have water near or around them that contain harmful levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS.
Dubbed “forever chemicals,” these man-made substances like plastic do not break down. They accumulate over time in the environment and some can linger in the human body for years.
PFAS can be found in the most mundane household products from nonstick cookware to microwave popcorn bags to dental floss. The chemicals are also one of the main ingredients in firefighting foam which explains their high presence on military bases.
The PFAS chemicals seep into soil and groundwater, contaminating them. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sanctioned study found PFAS in 98 percent of the American population.
In June 2018, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released a report the White House deemed a “public relations nightmare.” That report linked PFAS to various cancers, thyroid defects and pregnancy complications at levels lower than the EPA’s drinking water health advisory.
An internal White House email is quoted as saying, “The public, media, and Congressional reaction to these numbers is going to be huge. The impact to EPA and [the Defense Department] is going to be extremely painful. We (DoD and EPA) cannot seem to get ATSDR to realize the potential public relations nightmare this is going to be.”
However, long before Washington’s so-called “nightmare,” the specter of bad water brewed doubt in a popular coastal retreat.
“Higher Rates of Disease Trouble West Cape Cod” is a blazing headline from a 1986 edition of the New York Times. According to the article, a Massachusetts Department of Public Health study revealed that from 1979 to 1983, residents living in towns surrounding Otis Air National Guard Base and Camp Edwards Military Reservation—both considered parts of the current Joint Base Cape Cod—died of cancer at higher rates than other parts of the Cape or Massachusetts.
Families in two of those towns, Falmouth and Mashpee, were advised not to drink water from private wells as government evidence proved those wells contained carcinogenic contaminants believed to come from the military installations.
The state’s then Center for Health Promotion and Environmental Disease Prevention reported women were particularly at risk. It found that from 1979 to 1981, women living in the western part of the Cape contracted liver, bladder and kidney cancer more often than women elsewhere on the Cape.
THE CAPE’S PFAS PROBLEM
Today, Cape Cod is still dealing with drinking water contamination. High levels of PFAS in the Hyannis water system prompted officials to publish temporary public health advisories twice since 2015. Under the advisory, pregnant and/or nursing women and infants were advised not to drink or cook with Hyannis water.
“It’s like living in a science fiction nightmare,” said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “In my own home I haven’t been able to drink the water for a couple of years. I have to tell my kids not to drink the tap water—they’re being raised on bottled water.”
Longtime Cape resident and president of the environmental organization Waterkeeper Alliance, Kennedy says people on the Cape are frightened.
“I don’t want people in my home drinking flame retardant that we know is carcinogenic,” Kennedy said.
PFAS chemicals were found in groundwater and soil on and near Joint Base Cape Cod, Barnstable Municipal Airport and Barnstable County Fire and Rescue Training Academy in Hyannis. Firefighting exercises are done at all three.
“People need to speak out. They need to complain to their elected officials and their regulatory agencies,” said Kennedy.
On January 16, 2019, Massachusetts residents, including town leaders from the Cape, turned out in droves to the public PFAS Petition meeting held at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (MassDEP) Boston office.
The petition posed by the Conservative Law Foundation (CLF) and the Toxics Action Center (TAC) sought to establish a drinking water standard for PFAS chemicals.
“To truly ensure public health, PFASs should be regulated as a class,” said Sue Phelan, director of GreenCape, an environmental advocacy group based in West Barnstable on the Cape.
The EPA estimates the PFAS class to be made up of 5,000 chemicals. Phelan believes regulating each chemical individually will only prolong exposure.
“A heavy burden falls on communities like Hyannis that have already been exposed to PFAS for decades already,” said Phelan.
“AFFF [firefighting] foams contain possibly up to 40 different PFASs and that is the source of contamination in my community,” said Phelan.
In the absence of federal regulation for PFAS, states have established their own rules. In September 2018, New Jersey became the first state to adopt enforceable standards for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) a chemical in the PFAS class. A Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 13 parts per trillion (ppt) was set for New Jersey drinking water.
NO FEDERAL OVERSIGHT
In May 2016, the EPA set a health advisory of 70 ppt for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water. That advisory was much lower than the provisional combined level of 600 ppt. But EPA health advisories are not enforceable. However, water supplies like Hyannis fell out of compliance under this new recommendation. In June 2018, MassDEP issued a similar public health guideline of 70 ppt for 5 of the roughly 5000 PFAS chemicals.
Many attendees of the meeting expressed hope that MassDEP will establish a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 1 part per trillion (ppt) for the entire PFAS class of chemicals.
Kristen Mello, a resident of Westfield, Massachusetts, an area with wells contaminated from Barnes Air National Guard Base firefighting foam, has met with MassDEP officials several times concerning regulating PFAS as a single class of chemicals.
“We are sick. We need help,” said Mello who, along with her neighbors, has experienced negative health effects she attributes to PFAS contamination.
“When they turned the wells off in 2016 what was coming out of my tap was more than 500 parts per trillion PFOS. I’m constantly battling pneumonias. I have masses in my abdomen that keep me from being able to eat. We need a big state response.”
Westfield is one of five Massachusetts towns, along with Cape locations Hyannis and Lakeside Estates in Mashpee, that MassDEP lists as having a public water supply contaminated by PFAS with AFFF (firefighting foam) appearing to be the primary source.
Dan Santos is director of public works for the town of Barnstable. Hyannis is a village within Barnstable and as such, Santos is responsible for its water supply. He agrees that a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) should be instituted for PFAS when suitable. However, he sees a problem with regulators suddenly lowering the admissible standard.
“With the level so low and with the ubiquitous nature of PFASs in our environment I’m not sure there’s any water supply that’s not going to have PFAS in it,” said Santos.
The widespread use of these chemicals in the United States since the 1940s has led to their discovery in more than 98 percent of Americans, according to the EPA and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
Santos is concerned that a dramatic reduction in what is considered acceptable could force him to shut off the water—again.
In 2016, Santos had to make a quick decision. When the EPA issued its dramatically lower PFAS health advisory, the Hyannis water system was out of compliance for the advisable limit of PFAS chemicals in its drinking water. Santos had to decide whether to keep the water running. Since the EPA’s health advisory is not enforceable, Barnstable would have been within its rights to maintain water use. As a precaution, Santos chose to shut off wells. This is a situation he would like to avoid.
SOLE SOURCE AQUIFER
Cape Cod is a designated sole source aquifer. This makes contamination of any kind especially hazardous to public health. The water Cape Cod residents drink is quite literally beneath their feet. Cape Cod has no alternative drinking water source.
Santos points to a main source of contamination on the Cape—a firefighter training area. He believes the state needs to end training and clean up the site.
“That site continues to contaminate the public water supply every single day from rainwater and from the water they apply to train,” said Santos.
When it comes to Massachusetts as a whole, residents are waiting to see if state officials will decide to regulate PFAS as one class of chemicals.
MassDEP expects to respond to petitioners by January 28, 2019.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/toxic-chemicals-contaminate-cape
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Trump Eyes Action to Limit States’ Powers to Block Pipelines
Jan 25, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The Trump administration is considering taking steps to limit the ability of states to block interstate gas pipelines and other energy projects, according to three people familiar with the deliberations.
The effort, possibly through an executive order, is aimed chiefly at states in the Northeast U.S., where opposition to pipeline projects has helped prevent abundant shale gas in Pennsylvania and Ohio from reaching consumers in New York and other cities.
New York used a Clean Water Act provision to effectively block the construction of a natural gas pipeline being developed by Williams Partners LP to carry Marcellus shale gas 124 miles to New England. The project got the green light from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission but then ran into obstacles in New York, where regulators denied a water quality permit.
The effort dovetails with expectations that President Donald Trump would use his State of the Union address to tout efforts to accelerate permitting and construction of oil and gas pipelines, though he has postponed the speech and the exact timing of any announcement remains unclear.
The potential White House action was earlier reported by Politico.
Pipeline advocates who say states are abusing their authority under the Clean Water Act have advanced ideas for reining it in. But it’s not clear how much— if at all—an executive order could curtail states’ special powers under the statute.
Industry officials said real change may require legislation to alter the statute itself, such as a bill advanced by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) last year.
A previous attempt to use executive power to help TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access Pipeline didn’t jump-start their construction.
The issue, pipeline advocates say, is especially pronounced in the Northeast, where there isn’t enough capacity to send gas to New York City and other metropolitan areas in times of heavy demand. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has invoked the idea of using national security grounds to justify action on the issue.
“If a polar vortex comes into the Northeast part of the country, or a cyberattack, and people literally have to start making decisions on how to keep their family warm or keep the lights on, at that time, the leadership of that state will have a real reckoning. I wouldn’t want to be the governor of that state facing that situation,” Perry said last summer at the World Gas Conference in Washington. “We have to have a conversation as a country, is that a national security issue that outweighs the political concerns in Albany, N.Y.?”
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/trump-eyes-action-to-limit-states-powers-to-block-pipelines
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Growing Unconventional Production to Make U.S. Net Energy Exporter in 2020, Says EIA
Jan 25, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By David Bradley
After more than 60 years as a net energy importer, the United States is on track to become a net energy exporter next year, thanks in large part to continued growth in natural gas and petroleum exports, fueled by growing production from unconventional plays, according to a series of long-term projections released Thursday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
According to both the reference case and all alternative cases in EIA's Annual Energy Outlook 2019 (AEO2019), the United States becomes a net energy exporter by 2020 and remains so through at least 2050, the end of the projection period. In last year's AEO, EIA had projected the United States would achieve that goal by 2022.
Large increases in natural gas, natural gas plant liquids (NGPL) and crude oil production, coupled with slow growth in domestic energy consumption, will tip the scales to net exports for the first time since 1953. Natural gas and NGPLs will have the highest production growth, with NGPLs accounting for almost one-third of cumulative U.S. liquids production during the project period, EIA said.
"The United States has become the largest producer of crude oil in the world, and growth in domestic oil, natural gas and renewable energy production is quickly establishing the United States as a strong global energy producer for the foreseeable future," said EIA Administrator Linda Capuano. "For example, the United States produced almost 11 million b/d of crude oil in 2018, exceeding our previous 1970 record of 9.6 million bbl."
The United States became a net exporter of natural gas in 2017 for the first time since 1958, as increasing shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to world markets and pipeline deliveries to Mexico exceeded imports, and continued to export more gas than it imported last year. In EIA's reference case, U.S. natural gas trade, including shipments by pipeline from and to Canada and to Mexico as well as exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), will be increasingly dominated by LNG exports to more distant destinations, EIA said.
Natural gas experiences the largest production increase of any domestic fossil fuel over the course of the projection period in all cases, driven by shale gas and tight oil resources. In the reference case, gas production increases 7% per year through 2020 and then slows to less than 1% per year as growth in domestic consumption and demand for exports slows. Still, post-2020 production grows at a higher rate than consumption in most cases.
Natural gas prices remain comparatively low during the project period, EIA said, leading to increased consumption across end-user sectors and increased LNG exports. In the reference case, growing demand leads to increasing Henry Hub spot prices, though still lower than $4.00/MMBtu through 2035 and lower than $5.00 through 2050.
Production from shale gas and tight oil plays continues to increase as a share of total U.S. gas production, growing to nearly 90% of dry natural gas production in 2050. Total natural gas production across most cases is driven by continued development of the Marcellus and Utica shales, as well as the Eagle Ford and Haynesville plays, EIA said. Associated gas production from tight oil production in the Permian Basin also grows strongly in through 2030, after which it remains relatively flat.
"Technological advancements and improvements in industry practices lower production costs in the reference case and increase the volume of oil and natural gas recovery per well," EIA said. "These advancements have a significant cumulative effect in plays that extend over wide areas and that have large undeveloped resources (Marcellus, Utica, and Haynesville)."
In a Drilling Productivity Report released Tuesday, EIA said month-to-month increases in natural gas and oil production from the seven most prolific U.S. onshore unconventional plays will continue in February, pushing that upward trend into a third year. EIA began reporting consecutive month-to-month increases out of the plays beginning in January 2017.
In all AEO2019 cases, onshore production of natural gas from sources other than tight oil and shale gas declines through 2050 due to unfavorable economics, and offshore gas production remains nearly flat.
EIA's annual AEO reports do not include predictions of what will happen, but rather modeled projections of what may happen given certain assumptions and methodologies. AEO2019 includes a reference case representing EIA's best assessment of how U.S. and world energy markets will operated through 2050, and six side cases that show the effect that changing important model assumptions have on the projections.
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/117189-growing-unconventional-production-to-make-us-net-energy-exporter-in-2020-says-eia??v=preview
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Private Equity Rushing in to End Shale Drillers’ Water Torture
Jan 25, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Austin Weinstein
Drillers in America’s most prolific shale basins have a $34 billion headache that private equity wants to provide a cure for.
During the past year, private equity-backed newcomers have stormed into the nation’s oilfields in a quest to build a vast new network of pipelines to help drillers handle the more than 16 million barrels of water a day produced by fracking in the Permian Basin alone.
In just the last six months, WaterBridge Resources LLC, backed by the private equity firm Five Point Energy LLC, has taken over water pipelines and disposal wells in the Permian from Concho Resources Inc., Halcon Resources Corp., and NGL Energy Partners LP. In North Dakota, meanwhile, Hess Corp. teamed with private equity giant Global Infrastructure Partners to spin off its water unit into a separate entity.
“In the Permian alone, there’s a market for half-a-dozen new billion-dollar companies in the midstream water space,” Steve Coffee, president of the Produced Water Society, said by telephone. “There’s tons of these billion-dollar deals to be made.”
When a driller fracks a well in the Permian, it can produce 5 gallons of water for every gallon of oil extracted from shale rock. After the fracking is completed, that water has to go somewhere. The next step: moving it to a disposal well to be pumped back into the Earth. That is where the new pipelines come in.
About 20 percent of wastewater produced by the top 10 explorers in the Permian is outsourced to companies like WaterBridge and Tailwater Capital-backed Goodnight Midstream LLC, while the rest is handled by the drillers themselves. But that could grow to about 50 percent as early as next year, according to Chris Hapchuk, an analyst at East Daley Capital Advisors.
The idea is to grow the wastewater transport business into an intricate web that resembles today’s oil and gas pipeline network, said David Capobianco, chief executive officer of Five Point Energy. More than half of WaterBridge’s growth involves physically building the infrastructure behind that system, while the rest comes from buying up operator-owned pipes and disposal wells, he said.
The U.S. oil and gas industry spent $34 billion on water management in 2018, with $12 billion of that spent in the Permian, according to industry consultant IHS Markit. The West Texas and New Mexico shale play is growing so fast that water management spending there is forecast to grow to $19 billion in 2023.
As producers outsource their water handling in an effort to appease investors wary of superfluous spending, the deals will keep on coming, said Patrick Walker, CEO of Goodnight Midstream.
‘A Good Place’
“We’ve got three times the volume and 1/10th the number of competitors,” compared with private equity teams going after oil and gas gathering pipelines, Walker said. “It’s a good place to be.”
Despite a recent plunge in oil prices, production in the Permian is still expected to grow. And as long as oil (and therefore water) output is ramping up, explorers will be looking for ways to offload the handling of their wastewater, said Lytch Gutmann, a partner at Houston law firm Bracewell LLP who advised Halcon and Concho on their deals with WaterBridge.
“Producers have historically dealt with that themselves kind of out of sheer necessity and bought or acquired pipelines, disposal wells,” she said. “But those aren’t their core assets. They’re really to support the producers’ oil and gas assets.”
Enter water midstream companies, buying up an explorer’s water business, usually for a price in the low- to mid-hundred million dollars. Then, for a fee, they will get rid of their wastewater—laden with salt and chemicals from the fracking process—or, less commonly, they’ll treat the water and send it back to the driller to be reused.
Growing Push
As Wall Street pressures producers to spend less, “there’s a growing push to see some of those deals happen where water infrastructure moves into the hands of water infrastructure players,” said Bill Zartler, CEO of Solaris Water Midstream LLC, which has funding from Trilantic Capital. His company does business with 15 to 20 producers, most of which are considered “big players,” he said.
Private equity found a home in this niche industry at a time when public investors are shunning oil and gas companies—both the producers responsible for extracting the product and the pipeline companies tasked with shuttling supply to customers. NGL Energy Partners is the only public midstream company to have a sizable water footprint, and it’s been selling off some of its assets to private equity-backed players.
No Creativity Awards
“We’re not in a time in the public market space where companies are rewarded for creativity,” Five Point’s Capobianco said.
While therehas been a rush of investment in the water space, it is really just the beginning, said James Lee, an executive managing director at Riveron Consulting LLC who advises private equity firms interested in wastewater handling.
“The sheer volume of water boggles the mind,” he said. “We’ll be talking about this issue for several years.”
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/private-equity-rushing-in-to-end-shale-drillers-water-torture
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Shutdown Stalls Cybersecurity Work on Gas Pipelines, Group Says
Jan 25, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Naureen S. Malik
The shutdown of the U.S. government has halted work by a federal agency on cybersecurity risks faced by the nation’s 2.5 million miles of natural gas pipelines, according to an industry group.
The Transportation Security Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has no ongoing corporate security reviews since the shutdown, said Dave McCurdy, chief executive officer of the American Gas Association, citing a conversation with the TSA. An agency spokeswoman deferred comments to Homeland Security, which didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Homeland Security warned last year about the rising number of cyberattacks on America’s energy infrastructure. Russian government hackers compromised dozens of U.S energy companies in 2017, while other attacks came from Iran and China, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence said in a July report. The AGA is tracking ongoing safety efforts on behalf of its gas utility members, such as the development of standards in the wake of the deadly explosions in Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts last year.
“Fortunately we’ve not had to call on PHMSA or NTSB or others from a federal government standpoint,” McCurdy said in a Jan. 23 interview in New York. Both agencies have canceled meetings, he said.
PHMSA is the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, while the NTSB is the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates pipeline accidents such as the Massachusetts blasts. The NTSB didn’t respond to requests seeking comment because its media staff is furloughed due to the lapse in appropriations, according to automated email messages.
“I am very concerned that the federal shutdown is making it harder for pipeline safety inspectors to conduct critical reviews, and that the NTSB is being prevented from completing its investigation into the Merrimack Valley gas explosions,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said in an emailed statement.
PHMSA is the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. PHMSA said in a statement its field inspectors and investigations are continuing to work despite the shutdown and it’s still monitoring the needs of state pipeline agencies.
However, PHMSA has suspended a range of other activities including emergency response planning and hazardous materials standards and rule-making, according to its revised budget released earlier this month. Gas utilities are trying to anticipate new rules by making changes to boost safety, but certainty helps, Lori Traweek, the AGA’s chief operating officer, said in the interview.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/shutdown-stalls-cybersecurity-work-on-gas-pipelines-group-says
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AAR: Class Is Continue to Expand PTC Operations
Jan 25, 2019 | Progressive Railroading
At 2018's end, Class Is were operating positive train control (PTC) systems across the vast majority of required route miles, according to data released yesterday by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
As of Dec. 31, 83.2 percent of required route miles were PTC-operational, AAR officials said in a press release. The Class Is also had equipped all locomotives, installed all wayside units and radio towers, trained all affected employees and acquired all radio spectrum by that date, AAR data shows.
"With this progress, the Class Is met the 2018 statutory requirements and are well on their way to meeting the final deadline for full implementation and validation — Dec. 31, 2020," AAR officials said. "Over the next two years, the Class Is will focus on testing to ensure that PTC systems are fully interoperable and work seamlessly across operations as railroads regularly run across each other's tracks."
Class Is that met the 2018 deadline stipulations could obtain an additional 24 months from the Federal Railroad Administration to test their systems and ensure interoperability. By Dec. 31, 2018, all Class needed to complete testing and have PTC systems fully implemented across their networks.
Also as of 2018's end, the large roads had invested $10.5 billion in the development, installation and implementation of PTC, and had systems in operation across 44,695 miles of their required 53,732 miles of track, AAR data shows.
"Each day, the freight railroads expand PTC operations, further reducing the risk of accidents on the nation's rail network," said AAR President and Chief Executive Officer Ian Jefferies. "The railroads' commitment to safety is unwavering, and this industry is proud of its accomplishments in this immense undertaking."
To learn more about Class Is' PTC implementation efforts, read this article from Progressive Railroading's October 2018 issue.
https://www.progressiverailroading.com/ptc/news/AAR-Class-Is-continue-to-expand-PTC-operations--56594
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U.S. Rep. Lipinski to Chair House Rail Subcommittee
Jan 25, 2019 | Progressive Railroading
The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) announced yesterday that U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) will chair its Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.
Lipinski is the most senior member from Illinois on the T&I Committee; his district includes Chicago-area suburbs as well as parts of the city of Chicago, considered the center of the nation's rail network.
He was chosen to lead the subcommittee based on his experience in and knowledge of rail, pipeline and hazmat safety; freight-, commuter- and passenger-rail issues and regulation; and the impact rail and pipelines have on local communities, according to a press release issued by the congressman's office.
"I grew up 100 yards from the railroad tracks, so I learned first-hand early in life about the issues we all face living with so many rail lines running through our neighborhoods, including blocked crossings, noise and pollution," he said. "I also understand the benefits railroads bring such as good jobs and more environmentally friendly movement of freight."
His congressional district also has a large number of underground pipelines, he added.
"As chair, I will continue the work I have done to advance policies that prioritize rail and pipeline safety, a better environment, more jobs and better public transit," Lipinski said.
In addition, he will continue to seek transportation funding opportunities that benefit the public, such as the initial $100 million in federal seed funding and subsequent hundreds of millions he helped secure to initiate the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program. CREATE is a public-private partnership aimed at easing one of the most congested points in the U.S. rail network.
"With my leadership and experience in rail and pipeline matters, I am ready to get to work as chairman," Lipinski said.
https://www.progressiverailroading.com/people/news/US-Rep-Lipinski-to-chair-House-rail-subcommittee--56593
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Shutdown Forces Agency to Halt Work on Climate Rules
Jan 25, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Niina Heikkinen
EPA has halted work on two major climate rules during the partial federal government shutdown, according to a federal appeals court filing.
The agency is not working on either its replacement for the Clean Power Plan or a proposed replacement for the Obama-era rule controlling methane emissions from solid waste municipal landfills.
EPA in the filing stated that finalization of the rules would be delayed "at least until" funding to the agency is restored.
EPA had initially planned to finish the Affordable Clean Energy rule in March and the proposed changes to the landfill rule in April. Administration attorneys had sought to stay litigation on the landfill issue until April 30, when both actions would be complete.
"Counsel informs the Court that EPA has advised counsel that as a result of the lapse in appropriations, that EPA's work on both the Landfills Proposal and the predicate rulemaking, the ACE Rule, has ceased," the filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit says.
Notification of the stalled rulemaking came as EPA sought to push back the D.C. Circuit briefing schedule on the landfill case.
Judge Haywood Gilliam rejected the agency's first request last week, citing the "pending rulemaking." EPA lawyers last night sought clarification on Gilliam's order and asked whether continued briefing was necessary in light of the halted work on both rules.
While the two actions address greenhouse gas emissions from separate sources, EPA is linking their progress because they would together amend standards related to deadlines under the Clean Air Act.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/01/25/stories/1060118635
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EPA’s Ex-Top Cop Joins Criticism of Agency’s Record on Polluters
Jan 25, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Schultz
The former head of enforcement at the EPA during the Obama years is the latest in a growing chorus of activists and academics who say the agency’s own data shows it is easing up on penalizing polluters.
The findings caught the eye of least one House Democrat as that chamber promises more oversight of the Trump administration, which is disputing Cynthia Giles’ analysis.
The Environmental Protection Agency collected $72 million in civil fines during the 2018 fiscal year from companies and individuals charged with violating environmental laws, the lowest amount in at least 25 years, according to Giles’ analysis of publicly available EPA data. Giles led the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance throughout the Obama administration and is now a fellow at Harvard Law School.
Additionally, the data indicate those hit with violations paid out less than $5.6 billion to resolve their cases during the last fiscal year, the lowest number since 2003. Giles’ findings were first reported by The Washington Post.
The figures likely mean that acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler will face more questions from Congress about enforcement. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has scheduled a Feb. 5 confirmation vote on Wheeler to succeed Scott Pruitt as permanent administrator.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chairman of the House committee with oversight authority over the EPA, described the numbers Giles highlighted as “abysmal” and said they were evidence of the Trump administration “bending over backwards to help industry” in a Jan. 24 tweet.
Big Settlements Skew Numbers
Giles’ implication that enforcement numbers are down is “not statistically valid,” Susan Bodine, current head of the EPA’s enforcement office, said in an email to Bloomberg Environment.
Giles’ data were skewed because they include several large outlier cases from prior administrations, such as the $5.7 billion civil penalty against BP for its Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Bodine said.
“EPA enforcement will continue to correct non-compliance,” Bodine said. “To suggest otherwise undermines our enforcement efforts and fails to acknowledge the good work performed by EPA enforcement staff every year.”
Although Giles provided Bloomberg Environment with her data analysis, she declined to comment further.
Enforcement Numbers Get Scrutiny
Giles is the latest of several outside voices using data to argue that the Trump administration isn’t aggressive enough at environmental enforcement.
Two other nonprofit groups, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, also issued their own reports based off of EPA enforcement data in recent months and they came to similar conclusions.
During his Jan. 16 Senate confirmation hearing, Wheeler sought to rebut the two groups’ findings.
He told the Senate panel that they made some “some simple mathematical errors” and that he places a greater priority on helping companies avoid violations than on punishing them after the fact.
Noisy Data?
But while the EPA says the statistics show it is tough on enforcement and its critics say they show the opposite, the truth may be that enforcement data ultimately show nothing, according to Ron Tenpas, an attorney at the firm Vinson & Elkins LLP.
“Civil and criminal penalty data on an annual basis is incredibly sensitive to particular big cases in the mix,” Tenpas, who was the top environmental official at the Justice Department during the George W. Bush administration, said. “The stats people would say the data is noisy.”
To complicate matters even further, the EPA’s annual year-end report on statistics from Bodine’s division now appears to be yet another casualty of the government shutdown.
This report typically comes out in November or December and is seen as the definitive word on the agency’s enforcement activities each year.
The report for the 2018 fiscal year won’t come until the government reopens, EPA spokesman John Konkus told Bloomberg Environment.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/epas-ex-top-cop-joins-criticism-of-agencys-record-on-polluters
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America Needs a Green New Deal, Just Not the One Radical Environmentalists Are Proposing
Jan 25, 2019 | Houston Chronicle
By Chris Tomlinson
The United States needs a Green New Deal, but totalitarian environmentalists with little comprehension of free-market economics or energy industry realities should not dictate the terms.
Liberals and conservatives, capitalists and communists, the rich and the poor all need to join the debate to define what a Green New Deal should include. Failing to engage now in devising a strategy to mitigate climate change, while also addressing income inequality, will cede too much territory to radicals on all sides.
Conservatives are already vilifying the moniker, and radical environmentalists are setting goal posts. But the Green New Deal dates back to columns written by the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman in 2007 when prominent advocate U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was a senior in high school.
The following year, a Green New Deal Group published a concrete proposal, and the U.N. Environment Program backed the recommendations to boost the world economy, promote more equitable development and fight climate change.
The original was firmly rooted in the modern, capitalist system and sought to address market inefficiencies. For example, since companies that emit greenhouse gases do not pay the full cost of their damage to the planet, governments were encouraged to grant tax credits for emission-less energy.
Other proposals included energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture, improved urban planning and better climate-risk management through financial markets.
Today, environmental fundamentalists want to co-opt the Green New Deal into a regulatory bludgeon that forces Americans to forsake vast swathes of the economy and pay billions more for electricity. Their logic is that climate change is an extreme problem that requires extreme solutions.
In a letter to Congress, 600 environmental groups said they expect lawmakers to “vigorously oppose” any “market-based mechanisms and technology options” to reduce greenhouse emissions. Nuclear energy, carbon capture systems and waste-to-energy solutions are expressly forbidden.
Never mind that nuclear power provides more than half of the nation’s carbon-free electricity. Never mind that market-based tax credits moved wind and solar energy from experimental to mainstream. Never mind that cheap natural gas from hydraulic fracturing made coal-fired plants uneconomical.
These groups also want a Green New Deal that keeps fossil fuels in the ground, bans the export of fossil fuels and pursues "a managed decline of fossil fuel production.” Apparently, the hundreds of thousands of families that depend on the $715 billion spent annually on oil and natural gas do not matter.
Most disturbingly, these groups oppose a carbon tax, the most economically-efficient tool to encourage consumers to adopt cleaner technologies and to spur the private sector to develop new technology. And it won’t take the global economy out at the knees.
A carbon tax makes so much sense that oil companies support it, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill in Congress to establish one last week.
The version of the Green New Deal promoted by the Sunrise Movement, a new leftist and youthful environmental lobby, is old-school, Stalinist-style central planning, where the government dictates not only emissions goals but how to achieve them.
Congress will never pass any package of laws that remotely resembles this proposal. The nation’s six largest environmental groups apparently agree, because they did not sign the letter.
Some activists will argue that the signatories are helping frame the argument by staking out extreme positions. However, such unrealistic proposals only alienate people who could otherwise join the fight, including the 67 percent of Americans who support a carbon tax to counter the effects of climate change, according to a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Young people do not realize how much better the world is today since the collapse of global communism and the advent of globalization. Market-based approaches have improved air and water quality in most nations while lifting more than a billion people out of poverty. We may face a global climate crisis, but we have a successful template for addressing it.
The world does need to tax greenhouse gas emissions at a rate that reflects the damage they are doing to the planet. This trillion-dollar tax, even if returned to taxpayers as a dividend, would encourage people to burn less fossil fuel, rely more on low-emission fuels and spur technologies that capture carbon.
The sooner we impose the tax, the sooner the U.S. develops the technologies that the rest of the world will need. There is nothing wrong with a system where people get rich making the world a better place.
Any Green New Deal must encourage the enormous intellectual capacity of the private sector to find solutions, not get in the way.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/tomlinson/article/America-needs-a-Green-New-Deal-just-not-the-one-13559739.php
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