Preview Newsletter
PM ACC Clips Report - February 8, 2018
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(ACC Mentioned) USMCA Tough Fight in Congress with Lingering Steel, Aluminum Tariffs
Feb 8, 2019 | National Hog Farmer
By P. Scott Shearer
President Trump in his State of the Union address called for unity and bipartisanship. During the speech he advocated for his trade policy saying that he would continue the pressure on China until it accepts U.S. demands to end the theft... -
EPA Publishes Extension of Review Periods for TSCA Section 5 PMNs, SNUNs, MCANs, and Exemption Notices
Feb 8, 2019 | National Law Review
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Margaret R. Graham
On February 8, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register its notice extending the review periods for all Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 5 Premanufacture Notices (PMN)... -
(ACC Mentioned) Industry: Inconsistent Chemical Naming Hinders Canada-US Regulatory Alignment
Feb 8, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
North American industry has flagged up inconsistency in chemical naming as an area that could be reformed if Canada and the US are to further align their legislation. In response to a request from the Regulatory Cooperation... -
Air Force Responds to Mich. PFAs Pollution
Feb 8, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Courtney Columbus
The Air Force will continue to work with Michigan over contaminated water near a former base in the state, according to a letter released yesterday by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). Peters last week slammed the Air Force, saying it was... -
New Mexico Officials: Holloman Air Force Water Contaminated
Feb 8, 2019 | Military.com
By Rick Nathanson
Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo was served Wednesday with a "notice of violation" from the New Mexico Environment Department after monitoring wells tested at twice the acceptable levels for suspected carcinogenic... -
Air Force Pledges to Be ‘Proactive’ on PFAs in Oscoda
Feb 8, 2019 | MLive
By Garret Ellison
The Secretary of the Air Force has told U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., that it will be “proactive” in cleaning up toxic PFAS contamination at a former base in northern Michigan where the chemicals are polluting drinking water and the... -
Gretchen Whitmer Is Smart to Keep Michigan PFAs Response Team
Feb 8, 2019 | Bridge
By John Truscot
As the Whitmer Administration begins to shape its policy goals, it’s clear that the governor and her team have set a laser focus on one of the most urgent public health issues facing our state. The danger of per- and polyfluoroalkyl... -
It’s Time to Talk About the Environment’s Role in Cancer Prevention
Feb 8, 2019 | Truthout
By Laura Vandenberg
n his 2019 State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump called for $500 million over the next 10 years to fund research on childhood cancers. Such funding is crucial to continue tackling the devastating disease. -
Echa Releases Comprehensive Brexit Chemicals Instructions
Feb 8, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Echa has published detailed instructions for all companies placing chemical substances onto EU and European Economic Area markets in the event that the UK leaves the EU on 29 March. The agency launched new webpages on 8... -
Kids Ask Court to Halt All Federal Coal, Oil, Gas Leasing and Extraction
Feb 8, 2019 | Politico Pro - Energy Whiteboard
By Alex Guillén
In a long shot bid, the group of children and young adults suing the government over climate change has asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency injunction immediately halting the leasing, exploration and extraction of coal, oil and natural gas from federal lands and waters. They also asked the court to block any new fossil fuel... -
Texas City Takes on Trading Giant in Testy Fight for Oil Exports
Feb 8, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Cunningham
Trafigura Group Ltd., the world’s third-largest independent oil trader, is fine as a customer. But the Port of Corpus Christi doesn’t want to see it as a competitor with billions of dollars at stake. Port officials are urging Trafigura to... -
Arctic Oil Goes Unmapped as U.S. Delays Seismic Testing
Feb 8, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Austin Weinstein and Jennifer A. Dlouhy
The U.S. Interior Department won’t authorize seismic mapping for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in time for the surveys this winter, potentially disrupting the Trump administration’s plans to open up the preserve to drilling for... -
US Chemical Safety Board Ordered to Require Industrial Accident Reporting
Feb 8, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Jeff Johnson
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board must develop, within one year, a long-delayed regulation that could lead to a national chemical-accident reporting system, a federal court ordered on Feb. 4. The requirement for... -
Parts of Keystone, Enbridge Line Closed After Mo. Leak
Feb 8, 2019 | AP (In E&E - Greenwire)
By Jim Salter
An oil leak near St. Louis prompted the closure of parts of two pipelines as crews work to determine the source, company officials and Missouri regulators said yesterday. The leak was discovered Wednesday near St. Charles, Mo.... -
Petroleum Terminal Expands to Allow More Oil Trains Into Portland
Feb 8, 2019 | Oregon Public Broadcasting
By Tony Schick
A Portland petroleum terminal is significantly expanding its capacity to unload rail cars, a move that sets the stage to more than double the number of oil trains along the Columbia and Willamette rivers into Oregon’s biggest city, OPB... -
Senate Energy Panel Lawmakers Embrace Centrist Climate Change Stance
Feb 8, 2019 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
Some lawmakers on the Senate energy committee are tentatively embracing calls from outside experts to adopt a centrist climate change agenda that recognizes the need for government action to reduce greenhouse gases while... -
Funds Sufficient But Staff Retention a Concern, EPA Head Says
Feb 8, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Abby Smith
The EPA has enough funding to get its job done, but it is facing challenges to hire and keep staff on board, the agency’s acting chief Andrew Wheeler said. Wheeler, who has been nominated to be the permanent Environmental... -
Agency Issues Draft Pollution Enforcement Priorities
Feb 8, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
EPA has opened a 30-day public comment period on a draft set of seven national pollution control priorities deemed worthy of special attention from fiscal 2020 through 2023. Under its latest list of "national compliance initiatives"... -
Lawmakers Launch 'Green New Deal' Plan, With Bid For Progressive Unity
Feb 8, 2019 | Inside EPA
By Doug Obey
Progressive lawmakers are formally launching a long political push to enact a “Green New Deal,” (GND) with backers of the effort projecting unity among left-leaning groups by combining an aggressive push for “zero-emissions” energy... -
Ewire: 2020 Hopefuls Embrace 'Green' Deal as GOP Goes on Attack
Feb 8, 2019 | Inside EPA
Several possible candidates in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary are embracing the just-released resolution for a “Green New Deal,” though Republicans are quickly denouncing the plan as the first step toward “socialism” in the...
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(ACC Mentioned) USMCA Tough Fight in Congress with Lingering Steel, Aluminum Tariffs
Feb 8, 2019 | National Hog Farmer
By P. Scott Shearer
President Trump in his State of the Union address called for unity and bipartisanship. During the speech he advocated for his trade policy saying that he would continue the pressure on China until it accepts U.S. demands to end the theft of intellectual property and address technology transfer issues. The United States and China have until March 1 to reach an agreement before Trump increases tariffs on Chinese goods. Another round of negotiations will be held in China next week.
Trump also asked Congress to pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. This will be a tough fight in Congress as long as the tariffs on steel and aluminum remain in place.
He also asked Congress to pass the “U.S. Reciprocal Trade Act” that would give him greater authority to use tariffs against countries. This legislation is not expected to go anywhere because of opposition and concerns by a number of business and agricultural groups regarding the current tariffs against our largest trading partners and the effects of their retaliatory tariffs.
End tariffs on Mexico and Canada
A group of business and agricultural associations are calling on the administration to lift the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico.
In a letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, the organizations say the “damage from the reciprocal trade actions in the steel dispute far outweigh any benefit that may accrue to them from the USMCA.”
A 2018 study by the Farm Foundation found that continuing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico after implementation of the USMCA would cost U.S. agriculture $1.8 billion in lost exports.
Those signing the letter include the Agricultural Retailers Association, American Chemistry Council, Grocery Manufacturers Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Pork Producers Council, National Retailers Association, North American Meat Institute, U.S. Grains Council and U.S. Meat Export Federation.
USTR-USDA trade advisory committees
USTR and USDA announce they are accepting nominations for new members to serve on agricultural trade advisory committees. Members of the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee advise USDA and USTR on existing U.S. trade agreements, on negotiating new agreements and on other trade policy issues. Members of the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committees represent specific commodity sectors and provide technical advice and guidance on trade issues. The six ATACs focus on trade in Animals and Animal Products; Fruits and Vegetables; Grains, Feed, Oilseeds and Planting Seeds; Processed Foods; Sweeteners and Sweetener Products; and Tobacco, Cotton and Peanuts.
Nominations are due on March 1. For more information visit FAS.USDA.gov/ATACs.
USDA reschedules Census of Agriculture
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service announced the “2017 Census of Agriculture” will be released on April 11. The report was to have been released on Feb. 21, but had to be rescheduled because of the three-week government shutdown.
California, Massachusetts animal welfare laws stand
Recently the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would not hear a challenge to the animal welfare laws in California and Massachusetts. The laws restrict the sale of egg, pork and veal products from animals raised in confinement.
The California law took effect in 2015 and the Massachusetts law will take effect in 2022.
America’s Diverse Family Farms
USDA’s Economic Research Service recently released its annual report on the characteristics of America’s farms. The report found that in 2016, 99% of U.S. farms are family farms that account for 90% of farm production.
Highlights from “America’s Diverse Family Farms: 2018 Edition” —Small family farms (less than $350,000 gross cash farm income): 89% of farms are small and accounted for 52% of the land operated in 2017. These farms accounted for only 23% of production. Midsize family farms ($350,000-$999,999 GCFI): 6% of farms and accounted for 23% of production. Large family farms ($1million-plus GCFI): 3% of farms, but account for the largest production at 45%. Non-family farms: 1% of farms account for 9% production. Government payments: 77% of government farm payments go to 77% of the moderate, midsize and large farms that account for 80% of production. Dairy production: 67% of dairy production come from large-scale family farms. High-value crops (fruits and vegetable): over half of high-value crops come from large-scale family farms. Cash grain/soybean: 72% of cash grain/soybean production comes from midsize and large-scale family farms.
https://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/agenda/usmca-tough-fight-congress-lingering-steel-aluminum-tariffs
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Feb 8, 2019 | National Law Review
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Margaret R. Graham
On February 8, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register its notice extending the review periods for all Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 5 Premanufacture Notices (PMN), Significant New Use Notices (SNUN), Microbial Commercial Activity Notices (MCAN), and exemption notices that were submitted to the Agency under TSCA Section 5 before December 29, 2018, and for which the review period had not expired as of December 29, 2018. 84 Fed. Reg. 2851. The notice states that EPA requires an extension of the review periods to complete its risk assessments, to examine its regulatory options, and to prepare the necessary documents associated with the relevant determination under TSCA Section 5(a)(3). The duration of the extension period is a total of 33 days, but the notice states that because the extension is less than 90 days, EPA reserves the right under TSCA Section 5(c) to issue, for good cause, future additional extensions for individual cases up to a total of 90 days.
More information on why EPA has chosen to do this is in our blog item regarding the pre-publication version of this notice “EPA Extends Review Periods for TSCA Section 5 PMNs, SNUNs, MCANs and Exemption Notices Due to Lack of Authorized Funding and Shutdown.”
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/epa-publishes-extension-review-periods-tsca-section-5-pmns-snuns-mcans-and-exemption
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(ACC Mentioned) Industry: Inconsistent Chemical Naming Hinders Canada-US Regulatory Alignment
Feb 8, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
North American industry has flagged up inconsistency in chemical naming as an area that could be reformed if Canada and the US are to further align their legislation.
In response to a request from the Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), stakeholders say Canada’s Domestic Substances List (DSL) and US TSCA inventory do not always, or consistently, use the same names for chemicals.
In a 20 November joint letter to the body, which was set up to reduce "unnecessary and duplicative regulatory burdens", the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Chemical Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) point out that industry on both sides of the border prioritises maintaining "accurate chemical inventories."
"An RCC review of the nomenclature and process applied to the chemical inventories could bring consistency and a common nomenclature, which would remove barriers to trade and enable economic growth and innovation," they write in response to the October 2018 RCC request.
In the US the EPA is currently updating the TSCA inventory. This impacts Canada because the TSCA list serves as the basis of Canada’s Non-Domestic Substances List (NDSL). As such, the ACC and CIAC are eager to smooth any naming issues that may complicate the process.
The ACC-CIAC also suggested several other areas for cooperation through the RCC, including: Snurs and the NDSL; risk management; GHS implementation; chemical information reporting; and nanomaterials.
The letter also says that "in addition to bilateral cooperation, RCC activities could be used to enhance US-Canadian cooperation and collaboration internationally and inform other international programmes ..."
Other stakeholder groups also responded to the RCC request. A joint submission by Cosmetics Alliance Canada (CAC) and the US Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) says problems arise when ingredient labels need to abide by both international nomenclature rules and the individual standards of each country. They estimate that such discrepancies add around US$113m a year to the cost of US cosmetics exports to Canada.
"Although this matter is also identified for further work in the [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreements, the revised Nafta], we believe its significance warrants inclusion in the RCC discussions," they write in their 13 November comments.
US-Canada regulatory cooperation
The RCC meets regularly to pursue formal regulatory cooperation and requests comments from stakeholders on proposals.
Last September the US EPA, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Health Canada (HC) released a framework on the risk assessment of chemicals.
Ahead of the RCC’s Stakeholder Forum in December, the two governments requested comment on the Council’s progress, as well as any proposals for further alignment and regulatory collaboration. The chemicals breakout session of the forum was held on 5 December in Washington, DC Attended by regulatory officials, industry representatives and others, the meeting comprised sessions on workplace chemicals and chemicals management.
According to the Canadian Paint and Coatings Association’s newsletter, the release of the official RCC joint work plan is expected in the first half of 2019.
https://chemicalwatch.com/74077/industry-inconsistent-chemical-naming-hinders-canada-us-regulatory-alignment
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Air Force Responds to Mich. PFAs Pollution
Feb 8, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Courtney Columbus
The Air Force will continue to work with Michigan over contaminated water near a former base in the state, according to a letter released yesterday by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).
Peters last week slammed the Air Force, saying it was "not working in good faith" to address pollution near the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Mich.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have contaminated waters near the base, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (E&E News PM, Feb. 1).
PFAS are a toxic class of man-made, persistent chemicals that have been used for decades in military firefighting foam and a wide range of other products.
The Department of Defense has identified 401 current and former military sites with known or suspected releases of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which are two types of PFAS.
"I can understand your concerns given the environmental impacts around Wurtsmith Air Force Base. You have my assurance that the Air Force will continue to work with the state of Michigan throughout the dispute resolution process," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson wrote in the letter to Peters.
"The Air Force remains proactive in remediation efforts consistent with all federal laws," Wilson continued, adding that she had asked aides for more information and that Assistant Secretary of the Air Force John Henderson was in the process of planning a visit to Michigan.
Peters said, "While I'm encouraged the Secretary has assured me the Air Force will remain proactive in remediation efforts and work with the State of Michigan, I continue to believe the administration will need to be directed by Congress to set enforceable standards to guide clean up at contaminated sites."
New Mexico
Separately, the New Mexico Environment Department issued a notice of violation to the Air Force earlier this week over PFAS contamination at Holloman Air Force Base.
At five sites on the base where firefighting foam was released, the Air Force found that PFOS and PFOA concentrations in groundwater surpassed EPA's health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion for the sum of PFOS and PFOA in drinking water, according to the violation notice.
The Air Force now needs to take corrective action, the Environment Department said.
"We are dismayed by the Air Force's lack of prompt response to the contamination found at Holloman and will use all avenues available to us to hold the military accountable and make affected New Mexicans whole again," New Mexico Environment Department Cabinet Secretary-designate Jim Kenney said in a statement. "This Notice of Violation is a step toward ensuring that happens."
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said she demands an "action-oriented, productive environment where these long-standing issues are being substantively addressed by the Air Force."
Holloman Air Force Base did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The New Mexico Environment Department also issued a notice of violation to Cannon Air Force Base in December over PFAS-contaminated groundwater.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/02/08/stories/1060120065
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New Mexico Officials: Holloman Air Force Water Contaminated
Feb 8, 2019 | Military.com
By Rick Nathanson
Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo was served Wednesday with a "notice of violation" from the New Mexico Environment Department after monitoring wells tested at twice the acceptable levels for suspected carcinogenic contaminants.
The Air Force reported groundwater concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at 137 parts per trillion at monitoring wells. The federal Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water health advisory for PFAS is 70 parts per trillion.
Sampling at other locations not covered by the base's groundwater discharge permit exceeded 1.2 million parts per trillion -- more than 18,000 times the EPA's drinking water health advisory, according to New Mexico Environment Department spokeswoman Maddy Hayden.
In a joint statement, New Mexico's governor and congressional delegation accused the Air Force of failing to demonstrate urgency in responding to the contamination, and made clear it will "pursue all available avenues" to achieve compliance.
Jim Kenney, secretary-designate of the New Mexico Environment Department, said in a statement that the state is seeking to remedy the situation with "cooperative action" from the Air Force, but was "dismayed by the Air Force's lack of prompt response to the contamination."
PFAS are a group of suspected carcinogenic chemicals that were present in fire-suppressant foam previously used by the Air Force. Hayden said the chemicals are known to be environmentally persistent, mobile in groundwater, and bioaccumulate in the food web -- the interlocking and interdependent system of food chains.
Information on the EPA's website indicates that exposure to PFAS substances can lead to cancer, thyroid disorders, and low infant birth weights. In animal studies, PFAS were a factor in problems related to reproduction and development, as well as the functioning of the liver, kidney and immunological system.
In response to Wednesday's "notice of violation", Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and New Mexico's congressional delegation held a conference call with U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson to voice their concerns. Following that call, the governor and members of the delegation issued a joint statement:
"We firmly expect the Air Force to show much more urgency in responding to the contamination around Holloman and Cannon Air Force Bases than they have to date. Their activities have caused contamination in groundwater surrounding these bases, and it must be fixed immediately. We will continue to work with Secretary Wilson to ensure the Air Force moves quickly to determine the full extent of PFAS contamination and take substantive action to protect the health of impacted communities and our service members."
The statement went on to say that New Mexico is "entitled to accountability" and that the state will "pursue all available avenues" to protect water supplies and ensure that "affected New Mexicans are made whole."
The current groundwater issue at Holloman is the third time in recent years the Air Force has been asked to deal with contamination problems at a New Mexico base.
In November, the New Mexico Environment Department issued a "notice of violation" to Cannon Air Force Base. Dozens of private wells tested around the base, located just outside Clovis, had PFAS levels three times higher than the EPA's health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion.
Two of those wells supply area dairies.
In Albuquerque, Kirtland Air Force Base has been trying to remediate a massive amount of groundwater contaminated by jet fuel leakage from underground pipes at a Kirtland loading facility built in the 1950s.
The Air Force first suspected there was a problem in 1999 and believed that it may have been leaking for decades. It wasn't until 2007 that investigations conducted by the Air Force revealed the fuel had reached the water table and was spreading beyond the base beneath the neighborhoods of southeast Albuquerque, toward the city's water wells.
Four extraction wells have since been drilled. Thus far more than 370 million gallons of contaminated water has been removed, treated and pumped back into the aquifer.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/02/08/new-mexico-officials-holloman-air-force-water-contaminated.html
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Air Force Pledges to Be ‘Proactive’ on PFAs in Oscoda
Feb 8, 2019 | MLive
By Garret Ellison
The Secretary of the Air Force has told U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., that it will be “proactive” in cleaning up toxic PFAS contamination at a former base in northern Michigan where the chemicals are polluting drinking water and the environment.
This week’s letter was in reply to Peters, who rebuked the Air Force last week for taking an “aggressive and defensive posture” with the state of Michigan related to its compliance with state laws limiting the amount of PFAS entering surface water bodies.
The state and Air Force are in the midst of a dispute over the adequacy and speed of cleanup efforts around the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda.
“You have my assurance that the Air Force will continue to with the state of Michigan throughout the dispute resolution process,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson wrote. “The Air Force remains proactive in remediation efforts consistent with federal law.”
Wilson wrote that Assistant Air Force Secretary John Henderson was “working to schedule” a visit to Oscoda, in response to an invite by Peters.
Wilson also wrote that she was seeking more information from staff, for a “more substantive reply” than the short Feb. 7 letter.
In a statement, Peters called the letter encouraging but reiterated his position that the situation exemplifies the need for enforceable national standards on PFAS contamination.
“While I’m encouraged the Secretary has assured me the Air Force will remain proactive in remediation efforts and work with the State of Michigan, I continue to believe the Administration will need to be directed by Congress to set enforceable standards to guide clean up at contaminated sites,” Peters said. “I’m working on drafting that legislation and look forward to introducing it soon with Senate colleagues.”
There’s been growing bipartisan pressure from Congress on the Environmental Protection Agency to establish national drinking water standards for PFAS compounds and designate the chemicals as “hazardous” under federal Superfund law.
Peters’ letter was sent following an MLive report that the Air Force was refusing to comply with a 12 parts-per-trillion limit on the individual compound PFOS in state surface water.
The Air Force has claimed federal sovereign immunity allows it to disregard the state law, and that the state can’t take enforcement actions during dispute resolution.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality wants the Air Force to significantly increase the amount of groundwater being treated for PFAS in Oscoda. It has issued two pollution violation notices to the Air Force in the last two years.
Wurtsmith is one of about 400 active of closed U.S. military bases where there’s been a suspected or confirmed released of PFAS chemicals. The contamination is from AFFF firefighting foam used for years to train with and respond to emergencies.
The chemical properties that make PFAS valuable in the marketplace also make them persistent and bioaccumulative in the environment. Exposure to them are linked to chronic health conditions like cancer and developmental delays in children.
https://trofire.com/2019/02/08/epa-continues-to-refuse-limiting-teflon-toxins-in-drinking-water/
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Gretchen Whitmer Is Smart to Keep Michigan PFAs Response Team
Feb 8, 2019 | Bridge
By John Truscot
As the Whitmer Administration begins to shape its policy goals, it’s clear that the governor and her team have set a laser focus on one of the most urgent public health issues facing our state. The danger of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their related compounds is in the early stages of being understood. Michigan, however, has been at the forefront of this development and the rest of the country is watching.
Most people know the products that PFAS chemicals were used to make better: Teflon cookware, waterproofing for everything from clothing to carpet, even firefighting foam. At one time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency even recommended that the metal plating industry use PFAS to protect workers from breathing harmful fumes in the manufacturing process. It’s both ironic and tragic that the very chemicals meant to increase safety and make life more convenient have been determined to be harmful at certain levels.
While I believe this is one of America’s next great environmental and health challenges, I know that Michigan state government is well equipped to take on this task. Gov. Rick Snyder created MPART (Michigan PFAS Action Response Team) to ensure all state departments work together to research and address issues related to PFAS. MPART broke down the typical silos in government and promoted a cooperative and communicative approach to identifying and solving issues. It has been an example of state government at its best and is seen as a model for government collaboration.
From developing proactive preventative measures to taking swift legal action against polluters to quickly providing public information, the dedicated professionals at MPART worked closely together to make Michigan a national leader regarding PFAS issues.
One of the main reasons for MPART’s success was that it has been implemented similar to an emergency operations center. Anyone who has watched the news from a hurricane or flood has seen an emergency operation in action. All of the relevant agencies are working closely together in the same room and information is provided to the public in a transparent manner as quickly as possible. Professionals staffing an emergency center learn to operate with an urgency not often seen in government.
The best example of MPART working as an emergency operations center is the Michigan city of Parchment. The state had been in the process of testing all public water systems for PFAS. When it found high levels of contamination in Parchment’s water supply, MPART immediately informed residents, shut off the contaminated water and switched residents to alternative water until remediation actions could be completed. All of this happened in a matter of hours.
This week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made the wise decision to keep MPART in place and make it a permanent part of her administration. This is critical because it’s too easy for state departments to silo themselves and stick to what they know and do things as they’ve always been done. Forcing cross-department communication on a critical issue like PFAS ensures that information flows in real time and decisions are made using the most up-to-date information.
Whitmer has already faced a potential public health crisis in the recent natural gas shortage, and passed with flying colors. She will undoubtedly be challenged again as more PFAS contamination is discovered around Michigan.
She will be well served by the dedicated people in place throughout state government who have already faced some of the toughest public health issues Michigan has ever seen and are quickly becoming experts in PFAS contamination. By continuing to leverage MPART as a fast acting, science-based operation that collaborates across multiple agencies, the governor will continue Michigan’s leadership role in understanding and dealing with the threat of PFAS.
https://www.bridgemi.com/guest-commentary/opinion-gretchen-whitmer-smart-keep-michigan-pfas-response-team
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It’s Time to Talk About the Environment’s Role in Cancer Prevention
Feb 8, 2019 | Truthout
By Laura Vandenberg
n his 2019 State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump called for $500 million over the next 10 years to fund research on childhood cancers.
Such funding is crucial to continue tackling the devastating disease. However, missing from the State of the Union — and most other conversations about tackling cancer — is a focus on prevention, specifically the need to research, understand and communicate the role environmental exposures play in cancer risk.
The numbers on cancer incidence and deaths are complex. Although childhood cancer mortality rates have dropped considerably from the 1960s, data from the American Cancer Society shows that incidence rates have increased 0.6 percent per year since 1975.
In this way, childhood cancers are like several others. Between 2005 and 2014, yearly cancer incidence rates rose for several types: thyroid cancer by 4 percent; invasive breast cancer by 0.3 percent in black women; leukemia by 1.6 percent; liver cancer by 3 percent; oral and pharynx cancers by 1 percent in Caucasians; pancreatic cancer by 1 percent in Caucasians; colon cancer by 1.4 percent in individuals younger than 55 years of age; rectal cancer by 2.4 percent in individuals younger than 55; and melanoma by 3 percent in individuals aged 50 and older.
While these cancer rates have increased, overall rates of cancer deaths have started to fall. In fact, since the 1990s, improved detection and treatment, as well as decreased smoking rates, have contributed to significant reductions in cancer mortality.
Reduced deaths from cancer are a great public health victory. These statistics prove that public health interventions like educationalprograms designed to curb smoking can have dramatic effects.
They also suggest that investments in improved detection and diagnosisare money well spent. A focus on treatments has also improved quality of life for cancer patients and their likelihood of remission.
But where is the call for better cancer prevention? As rates of numerous cancers continue to rise, the failure to identify the causes of cancerremains a disappointment for public health officials and researchers alike.
We know that environmental factors can contribute to cancer risk. Some, like smoking, are avoidable. Others are lifestyle factors that people can change like drinking less alcohol, decreasing consumption of processed meats, using protection from the sun, and increasing exercise.
Yet, other environmental factors like exposures to chemicals in the environment, including endocrine disruptors, have received little attention. While some NIH-funded programs like the Breast Cancer and Environment Research Program have worked to identify chemicals in the environment that promote cancer, funding for cancer prevention initiatives has stagnated.
Despite the limited resources invested in studies of environmental risk factors for cancer, we know enough to take action on some chemicals of concern.
For example, communities contaminated with perfluorinated chemicals, several of which are known to cause cancer, have demanded attention from government officials in addition to asking for more research.
Individuals living in these communities have the right to know how they are being exposed, and what their risks might be – for cancer and other diseases.
It is great that cancer research was raised in the President’s State of the Union speech, and that the difficulties associated with caring for a family member with cancer was mentioned in Stacey Abrams’ rebuttal.
But a failure to focus on prevention, a failure to acknowledge the role of the environment in causing cancer, and a failure to allocate funds to prevention research, are all failures for public health.
https://truthout.org/articles/its-time-to-talk-about-the-environments-role-in-cancer-prevention/
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Echa Releases Comprehensive Brexit Chemicals Instructions
Feb 8, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Luke Buxton
Echa has published detailed instructions for all companies placing chemical substances onto EU and European Economic Area markets in the event that the UK leaves the EU on 29 March.
The agency launched new webpages on 8 February with the recommendation that companies prepare for a no-deal scenario.
British prime minister Theresa May sat down with European Council president Donald Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on 7 February in an attempt to seek changes to the withdrawal deal that UK MPs rejected in January. Ms May is scheduled to hold another meeting with Mr Juncker before the end of February.
In a statement Echa said: "With continued political uncertainty regarding the withdrawal agreement, the agency urges companies to act now to continue complying with their obligations" under REACH, classification, labelling and packaging (CLP), prior informed consent (Pic) and biocidal products (BPR) Regulations.
To keep REACH registered substances legally on the EU27/EEA market, UK-based manufacturers and formulators can either transfer their business to one of the EU27/EEA countries or appoint an only representative (OR) there.
Brexit ‘window’
Echa will open a ‘Brexit window’ in the REACH-IT system from 12 to 29 March to enable UK-based companies to make these changes and transfer their REACH registrations. If an OR is not appointed, the EU27/EEA importers will have to submit their own registrations, it said.
"Step-by-step instructions" for using the window are now available on Echa’s webpages for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The pages also include a link to Cefic’s recommended standard wording for the suspensive condition clause to be used in contractual arrangements when appointing ORs.
If a downstream user in one of the EU27/EEA countries relies on REACH authorisations granted to a UK-based company, they need to make sure that there is another EU27/EEA supplier with a valid authorisation for their use, the agency added.
EU27 companies will also need to notify their exports of hazardous substances regulated under Pic when exporting to the UK. This will be done using the ePIC tool. The export notification in ePIC needs to be submitted 35 days before export – a deadline that has raised concerns from various bodies including Echa and Cefic.
Echa said it will "soon clarify" how to deal with exports to the UK during the period immediately after the its departure from the EU.
Companies based in the EU27/EEA will also need to prepare for placing substances on the UK market after 29 March, which will be governed by British law. It will be administered by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which has published guidance on regulations including REACH, and CLP and Pic.
Echa regularly updates its Brexit Q&A webpage with advice for industry.
https://chemicalwatch.com/74190/echa-releases-comprehensive-brexit-chemicals-instructions
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Kids Ask Court to Halt All Federal Coal, Oil, Gas Leasing and Extraction
Feb 8, 2019 | Politico Pro - Energy Whiteboard
By Alex Guillén
In a long shot bid, the group of children and young adults suing the government over climate change has asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency injunction immediately halting the leasing, exploration and extraction of coal, oil and natural gas from federal lands and waters.
They also asked the court to block any new fossil fuel infrastructure, including new pipelines, power plants, refineries and terminals, that requires federal approval.
The federal government has "deliberately chosen to prioritize use of fossil fuels in our national energy system, disregarding decades of knowledge that this path would destroy our Nation and the lives of children and future generations," the young people’s lawyers wrote in a filing.
They ask for court action by March 19, the day before the Interior Department will hold another lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico.
The case is before the 9th Circuit on appeal as the Trump administration seeks to end the case before it goes to trial. The court this week said it will hold a hearing on the appeal in early June.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Trump administration likely will oppose the childrens' request. It is unclear how long the court will take to decide.
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard/2019/02/kids-ask-court-to-halt-all-federal-coal-oil-gas-leasing-and-extraction-2660764
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Texas City Takes on Trading Giant in Testy Fight for Oil Exports
Feb 8, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Stephen Cunningham
Trafigura Group Ltd., the world’s third-largest independent oil trader, is fine as a customer. But the Port of Corpus Christi doesn’t want to see it as a competitor with billions of dollars at stake.
Port officials are urging Trafigura to scrap a proposed export terminal located 13 miles off the coast that would compete with an onshore expansion by the port. The proposals come at a time when analysts see U.S. crude exports exceeding 8 million barrels a day after 2021, supported by a growing system of new pipelines now being built to serve the Permian Basin.
It’s a fight that’s becoming increasingly fierce. In its push to waylay the Trafigura plan, port officials have asked regulators to deny the application, spotlighted past criminal allegations against the Swiss-based trader, raised environmental concerns and accused the subsidiary leading the project of exploiting a loophole to rush through its application.
“Those are all factually correct statements,” said Sean Strawbridge, the port’s chief executive officer, in an interview in Washington where he met the Texas congressional delegation, among others, to drum up support for his project. “None of them are conjecture, speculation, misinformation or fake news.”
The port has teamed up with the Carlyle Group to build an onshore export terminal that can load the biggest supertankers at Harbor Island in Corpus Christi Bay. Trafigura’s facility will be located in deep water off the coast of North Padre Island, and fed by subsea pipelines.
10 Percent PlanThe system planned by Trafigura is expected to handle about 10 percent of the expected growth in U.S. oil production, according to an emailed statement by Texas Gulf Terminals, the Trafigura subsidiary behind the project. The trader has rejected environmental concerns raised on the project, and dismissed the suggestion that it opted for an offshore proposal to circumvent state and local regulations. The unit declined further comment.
While the subsidiary behind the project said in its statement that its terminal will complement “additional infrastructure investments in the area,” Strawbridge said Trafigura’s plan to load a half-million barrels a day would force the port to trim their own proposal.
“If we took a hair cut on that, we certainly think there would be a market for our project as well,” he said. “But perhaps instead of three docks, we could go with two.“
Trafigura InvestmentsTrafigura has been at the port for a decade. As one of Corpus Christi’s biggest customers, the trading house has invested in a marine export terminal there and two condensate splitters, according to its website. At one point, the two sides discussed a joint effort to develop an onshore deepwater facility to handle tankers, Strawbridge said.
Then Trafigura announced its rival proposal. “At that point, we had to tell Trafigura: Look, we can’t be going down two parallel paths here,” Strawbridge said.
Since then, Corpus Christi has been on a wartime footing. Strawbridge, for instance, said Texas Gulf Terminals is attempting to get early approval for its project by exploiting “an arcane federal statute that was enacted in 1974 in another time for another purpose.”
In another instance, a lawyer for the port wrote a letter to regulators complaining the trader’s application was incomplete, that it was unclear who would hold eventual ownership of the terminal and spotlighting a guilty plea in a Texas courtroom in 2006 over the Iraq Oil-for-Food Program.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/texas-city-takes-on-trading-giant-in-testy-fight-for-oil-exports
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Arctic Oil Goes Unmapped as U.S. Delays Seismic Testing
Feb 8, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Austin Weinstein and Jennifer A. Dlouhy
The U.S. Interior Department won’t authorize seismic mapping for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in time for the surveys this winter, potentially disrupting the Trump administration’s plans to open up the preserve to drilling for the first time in a generation.
Interior Department scientists have for months been weighing whether risks to polar bears could be fully mitigated.
A 35-day-long government shutdown halted work on the assessment. Permits should be coming out soon, but the actual seismic surveys won’t take place until December, department spokesman Alex Hinson said Feb. 7.
The delay could complicate a planned government auction of drilling leases later this year. That’s because oil exploration companies peruse advanced geophysical data from seismic surveys to determine which locations are most promising and how much they should bid.
SAExploration Holdings Inc. has applied to survey the refuge, but the Interior Department’s decision means it won’t collect geophysical data on oil reserves in the area to energy companies until next winter.
The company is partnering with two Alaska Native corporations and had anticipated building temporary airstrips on tundra and lakes. Winter ice roads in the region usually form in January and last for a matter of months.
“The applicant has asked us to amend both permits to reflect a December 2019 start date,” Hinson said. SAExploration representatives didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The survey work “would result in negligible impacts to denning polar bears,” said Interior Department spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort. That paves the way for a final approval.
One environmental group welcomed the delay.
“This is good news for denning polar bears and those who believe the Arctic Refuge coastal plain deserves to be protected from oil exploration and development,” The Wilderness Society’s Arctic Program Director Lois Epstein said in an email.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/arctic-oil-goes-unmapped-as-u-s-delays-seismic-testing
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US Chemical Safety Board Ordered to Require Industrial Accident Reporting
Feb 8, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Jeff Johnson
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board must develop, within one year, a long-delayed regulation that could lead to a national chemical-accident reporting system, a federal court ordered on Feb. 4. The requirement for public reporting of industrial accidents was part of the law that created the CSB in 1990. The CSB proposed a draft regulation several years ago but failed to finalize it. Several Texas-based nonprofit groups and the national Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sued the CSB over the regulation in 2017, shortly after firefighters and community members were injured by fires and explosions related to flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey at an Arkema plant in Houston. According to the opinion by US District Judge Amit P. Mehta, the CSB had initially asserted that the Texas community groups lacked standing to sue the agency and “half-heartedly” maintained that its 30-year delay in issuing the regulation was reasonable. Mehta disagreed and gave the CSB one year to finalize the rule. In a statement, the CSB says it is reviewing the opinion and “will endeavor to create a reporting rule that fulfills our mission to drive chemical safety change.”
https://cen.acs.org/safety/industrial-safety/US-Chemical-Safety-Board-ordered/97/i6
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Parts of Keystone, Enbridge Line Closed After Mo. Leak
Feb 8, 2019 | AP (In E&E - Greenwire)
By Jim Salter
An oil leak near St. Louis prompted the closure of parts of two pipelines as crews work to determine the source, company officials and Missouri regulators said yesterday.
The leak was discovered Wednesday near St. Charles, Mo., about 30 miles northwest of St. Louis. TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone pipeline and Enbridge Inc.'s Platte pipeline are among several that run through the area. Crews yesterday were preparing excavation work to figure out where the leak originated.
"The source of the release has not been fully determined, but it is apparent that it originated at either the TransCanada Keystone pipeline or the Enbridge pipeline; there is no visible release near the other pipelines," Missouri Department of Natural Resources spokesman Brian Quinn said in an email.
TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said in a statement that the Keystone pipeline was closed from Steele City, Neb., to Patoka, Ill. Enbridge's Platte pipeline was initially closed from Casper, Wyo., to Wood River, Ill. By yesterday, only the section from Salisbury, Mo., to Wood River remained closed, a company spokesman said in an email. Both companies are based in Canada and have cleanup crews at the site.
Officials don't yet know how much oil leaked, but the DNR's preliminary estimate is 43 barrels, or 1,800 gallons. Quinn said the spill was contained to an area of about 4,000 square feet and did not reach any waterways, including the Mississippi River, which is about 2,000 feet away.
A St. Charles County spokeswoman said there did not appear to be any evacuations since the area near the leak is not heavily populated.
The 30-inch-diameter Keystone line and the 20-inch-diameter Enbridge line are both buried about 8 feet below the surface, Quinn said.
Shares of TransCanada and Enbridge both dropped about 1 percent.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/02/08/stories/1060120041
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Petroleum Terminal Expands to Allow More Oil Trains Into Portland
Feb 8, 2019 | Oregon Public Broadcasting
By Tony Schick
A Portland petroleum terminal is significantly expanding its capacity to unload rail cars, a move that sets the stage to more than double the number of oil trains along the Columbia and Willamette rivers into Oregon’s biggest city, OPB has learned.
Zenith Energy, sandwiched between the river and Forest Park in the city’s northwest industrial district, began receiving train shipments of crude from Canada’s oil sands last year, records show, which it stored in tanks and later pumped onto ocean-going vessels.
Zenith’s outpost in Portland now has visible construction under way on a project to build three new rail platforms that will nearly quadruple the site’s previous capacity for offloading oil from tank cars, according to building plans filed with the City of Portland in 2014, which the city’s Bureau of Development Services confirmed Wednesday.
When operational, a terminal with such a capacity could handle multiple oil trains per week — a sizeable increase over Zenith’s 2018 operations. According to Oregon Department of Environmental Quality estimates, the site handled fewer than 30 full oil trains throughout last year.
Public Resistance To Oil Projects
The site’s expansion of crude-by-rail infrastructure comes despite much public resistance in the Northwest for new oil projects. That includes a vote by Portland’s City Council in 2016 to oppose any new fossil fuel infrastructure. That same year the Northwest experienced firsthand one of the oil-train mishaps that have occurred across North America as more and more oil has been moved by what critics have dubbed “rolling pipelines” and “bombs trains.”
Public records and interviews with state officials indicate those trains would carry a kind of heavy oil that presents a new risk for Northwest communities and rivers, and one the state’s emergency spill responders say they are ill-equipped to contain if it spills.
“It greatly complicates the spill. It’s going to take a lot more money and time and cause a lot more harm to the environment probably,” said Scott Smith, who regulates the Zenith terminal’s oil spill preparedness as part of the Oregon DEQ emergency response program.
He said the increased oil-by-rail traffic creates a risk in Portland of an environmental disaster like the one in Michigan in 2010, when heavy Canadian oil spilled from a pipeline into the Kalamazoo River. It took more than five years and $1 billion to clean up.
“It’s really among the most challenging spills we have out there, and if it was a large spill, it would cause quite a bit of damage,” Smith said.
Zenith declined to comment on how the project would affect its ability to unload more crude oil, saying only that the project would allow it to fit additional railcars on site and minimize the need to shuffle cars around.
“The multi-million-dollar project will provide an even safer and more efficient operation,” Megan Mastal, a public-relations representative for Zenith Energy, said in an emailed statement.
The company also declined to say what products it would handle. Mastal disputed that Zenith would be handling what’s known as bitumen, which is a type of petroleum extracted from Canada’s oil sands. It is thick like peanut butter and often diluted with other petroleum products before it is transported.
“We are not handling bitumen crude through our terminal,” Mastal said.
Records show the facility did handle diluted bitumen in 2018, and Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality said it anticipates the facility will be handling heavy crude from Canada’s oil sands.
Recent site inspections from Oregon’s Department of Transportation found railcars with the placard UN 1267 (Petroleum Crude Oil) on the tracks outside the Zenith facility, and that the cars were from Canada. Photographs of cars at the terminal from earlier this month also show cars with the 1267 placard, along with a placard warning of toxic inhalation.
From Asphalt To Canadian Crude
Five years ago, the site was an asphalt plant in limited operation when a company called Arc Logistics Partners LP, later acquired by Zenith Energy, purchased it and shifted operations to crude. That transition coincided with the North American oil boom and subsequent spike in oil moving by rail. While those shipments have declined since their peak nationally, data from the Energy Information Administration show oil by rail has reached its highest level in three years, driven largely by Canadian oil.
The Zenith site spans 39 acres with a storage capacity of nearly 1.5 million barrels and access to a nearby dock. Trains can reach it crossing the Willamette over the BNSF Railway bridge south of St. Johns or on Union Pacific tracks across the Steel Bridge.
Its main constraint has been rail capacity. When construction began, the terminal had space to unload 12 cars at a time, records show.
Plans for the facility upgrade of Arc Terminals filed in 2014 with the City of Portland depict a system capable of unloading 44 cars.
The company’s storage tanks are not getting any larger, but unloading more train cars simultaneously can expedite the process of transferring oil to ships, bound for export or other domestic markets.
Mastal said the work includes new emissions-control technology, which is required by regulations, as well as a state-of-the-art fire suppression system and barrier along the street. The Portland Bureau of Development Services confirmed the work includes numerous safety upgrades, many of which are now required by code.
Mastal said the terminal employs 18 people full time, all of whom are “trained and certified to maintain the highest environmental and operational standards.”
“Since Zenith purchased the terminal, we have added full-time staff positions. These jobs pay a family wage with benefits,” Mastal said. “In addition, the multi-million-dollar construction project uses local vendors and suppliers – currently averaging 125 individuals on site per day – providing significant economic stimulus for the area.”
The city issued permits for the work in 2014, two years before its leaders voted to oppose new fossil fuel infrastructure.
‘These Trains Present A Significant Risk’
Eileen Park, spokeswoman for Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, said the mayor “supports further action to prohibit the construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure like the site in question.”
“These trains present a significant risk to Portlanders, most especially those residents close to railroads and routes through the city,” Park said. “On a larger scale, the threat of climate change depends on the bold and decisive actions of governments and leaders. The Mayor’s administration will not be supportive of any action that threatens the health and well-being of our city’s residents or our natural resources and environment.”
Mastal said Zenith’s Portland terminal meets all local, state and federal standards, including Portland’s 2016 ordinance.
“We are committed to delivering safe, reliable, efficient and flexible service to our customers while maintaining the highest environmental and operational safety standards,” she said.
Environmentalists say they fear a “rolling pipeline” of trains through Portland.
“To us, it seems like it’s another quiet effort to increase the capacity of that terminal to handle tar sands crude,” said Travis Williams of the Willamette Riverkeeper. “The vast majority of people in the City of Portland don’t want the risk — they don’t want the potential safety risk, the risk to the Willamette River, the risk to air quality in that area.”
Williams said he fears a repeat of the 2016 oil train derailment in Mosier, Oregon, only with a type of oil that is more difficult to contain and in an area like the Willamette, with a dense population and already a problem with existing pollution.
https://www.opb.org/news/article/more-oil-trains-willamette-columbia-portland/
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Senate Energy Panel Lawmakers Embrace Centrist Climate Change Stance
Feb 8, 2019 | Inside EPA
By Lee Logan
Some lawmakers on the Senate energy committee are tentatively embracing calls from outside experts to adopt a centrist climate change agenda that recognizes the need for government action to reduce greenhouse gases while incorporating a wide range of low-carbon technologies, including some that progressive groups find objectionable.
The dynamic surfaced at a Feb. 7 committee hearing on “energy innovation” that included significant discussion of climate change and the need to reduce carbon emissions. However, it is far from certain whether the talk will translate into a firm consensus in Congress on the need to tackle planet-warming emissions.
Citing the bipartisan agreement in the 1960s to mobilize space exploration efforts, Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) President Jason Grumet testified that it is “an understatement to say we do not have a similar consensus in this Congress on energy and climate policy.” BPC is a think tank that promotes “politically viable policy solutions” in several areas, including energy.
Yet Grumet argued that Congress must agree on a “national purpose” to “encourage all forms of no-carbon energy.” As such, he implored lawmakers to reject the Trump administration's policy of dismissing climate change as a threat, while also spurning calls from some progressive environmental groups for what he considers unrealistic goals such as a 100 percent renewable energy system by 2030.
Similarly, former Obama Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told the committee “there is no single low-carbon, one-size-fits-all solution. . . . We need to have the full quiver of arrows.”
The advocacy received a warm reception from the top two lawmakers on the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee -- Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and ranking member Joe Manchin (D-WV) -- both of whom acknowledge global warming as a problem but have sought to chart a centrist course on policy responses that is more amendable to continued use of fossil fuels and less focused on prescriptive regulation.
The fact that Murkowski scheduled the Feb. 7 de facto climate proceeding is notable because it contrasts with the persistent opposition to climate policy from some GOP lawmakers in recent years and from President Donald Trump.
Underscoring that she accepts mainstream scientific warnings about climate change, Murkowski says she recently adopted a phrase that a military leader told her: “I'm not a scientist, but I am a master of the obvious.”
Similarly, Manchin said that clean energy innovation “will help reduce carbon emissions and address climate challenges,” adding that he is “committed to solving the climate crisis.”
Moniz, citing a new report his group Energy Futures Initiative released on energy innovation, urged Congress to accelerate efforts to develop and commercialize new low-carbon technologies, including natural gas plants paired with carbon capture and storage (CCS), “large-scale carbon management” and work in “hard to decarbonize sectors” such as industry and agriculture.
Energy Futures Initiative is a clean energy think tank Moniz founded after stepping down as Energy secretary.
BPC's Grumet also cited CCS, advanced nuclear power, energy storage, low-carbon transportation fuels and direct air capture. He said lawmakers should embrace the “all of the above” rhetoric that has long dominated energy policy while simultaneously recognizing the urgent need to reduce GHGs.
“We cannot pick technologies, but we also aren't agnostic,” he said. Lawmakers should embrace “all of the above toward a particular outcome. I believe low-carbon needs to be an outcome.”
Green New Deal
Some at the hearing also sought to contrast their stance with the “Green New Deal” being developed by progressive lawmakers such as Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Manchin, for instance, said the effort faces major questions, such as whether it can be enacted in the “real pragmatic world we are living in right now,” its cost, timeframe and whether the “rest of the world [is] going to come along with us.”
Grumet also argued that most Republican lawmakers accept climate change as a problem but “divert their eyes” when challenged on why the party is not doing more on the issue. At the same time, he said, most Democrats would agree that a renewables-only approach is unrealistic but shy away from saying so “because that's where the energy in the party is.”
While a previous outline Ocasio-Cortez floated on the Green New Deal called for an all-renewable energy system within 10 years, a just-released resolution she introduced with Markey signals an attempt to accommodate more diverse views, calling for “clean,” “renewable” and “zero-emission” energy sources.
Other lawmakers at the hearing also sought to project a newfound bipartisan agreement on climate. “I couldn't agree with you more about a national goal” to reduce carbon emissions, said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). “I hope we can do that, and I think this committee can come together to do that.”
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), who is chairman of the Senate environment panel, also cited his longstanding support of CCS and nuclear as ways to reduce carbon emissions, while also supporting “traditional fuel sources in the short term.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/senate-energy-panel-lawmakers-embrace-centrist-climate-change-stance
Yet Barrasso is not shying away from rejecting the “Green New Deal,” charging in a separate press release that the plan is a “socialist manifesto” that includes “heavy-handed federal mandates that represent a “Washington takeover of our nation's energy system.”
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Funds Sufficient But Staff Retention a Concern, EPA Head Says
Feb 8, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Abby Smith
The EPA has enough funding to get its job done, but it is facing challenges to hire and keep staff on board, the agency’s acting chief Andrew Wheeler said.
Wheeler, who has been nominated to be the permanent Environmental Protection Agency administrator, dismissed the notion the EPA lacks funding.
He also said he is working to resolve concerns about the agency’s ability to attract and retain career staff, including hiring a new human resources director, who begins work in March.
“We have to figure out a way of attracting the best talent and keeping the best talent. That’s my bigger concern right now” rather than funding, Wheeler said Feb. 8 at the Environmental Law 2019 conference held by American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education. “We have to figure out creative ways of retaining the workforce.”
Wheeler’s comments stand in stark contrast to sentiments expressed by his predecessor, Scott Pruitt, who frequently said the EPA under his tenure was at its lowest staffing levels since the Reagan era.
Wheeler took the helm of the EPA in July 2018 after the scandal-plagued Pruitt resigned. His nomination to be EPA administrator cleared the Senate environment committee Feb. 5.
‘Huge Hit’ to EPAThe EPA has just under 14,000 employees, according to agency documents.
Of those, 40 percent are eligible to retire in the next five years, according to Wheeler. “It would be a huge hit to the agency” if all of those eligible retired, he said.
He also noted concerns with retaining younger staff. The EPA has a long history of staffers working at the agency for 30 or 40 years, but millennial workers—people born after 1980—don’t stay in the same job for that long, he added.
Nonetheless, Wheeler didn’t say the EPA would look to increase its number of staff.
Critics of the Trump administration have slammed the EPA’s political leaders for low staffing levels and the White House’s shots at the agency’s budget.
In its prior two annual budget requests to Congress, the administration has proposed sharp cuts to the EPA’s budget—though lawmakers from both parties have refused to grant that request, keeping the agency’s budget around $8 billion.
Wheeler, however, said the EPA has the funding it needs to do its work.
“I think we have to learn to work with tighter budgets across the entire federal government,” he said. “We have to be smarter with the resources we have.”
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/funds-sufficient-but-staff-retention-a-concern-epa-head-says
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Agency Issues Draft Pollution Enforcement Priorities
Feb 8, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
EPA has opened a 30-day public comment period on a draft set of seven national pollution control priorities deemed worthy of special attention from fiscal 2020 through 2023.
Under its latest list of "national compliance initiatives" published in today's Federal Register, the agency is proposing to extend three from the current 2017-2019 cycle aimed at cutting hazardous air pollutants, reducing emissions of air toxics from hazardous waste facilities, and reducing the risk of accidental releases from industrial and chemical plants.
Two others that focused on meeting New Source Review air pollution permitting requirements and keeping raw sewage out of lakes and rivers would be shunted back to the standard enforcement program on the grounds that their objectives have largely been met. Two would be added: the first intended to increase compliance with drinking water standards, the other to reduce children's exposure to lead.
Finally, EPA is proposing to rework two other existing initiatives. One sought to ensure that "energy extraction" activities comply with environmental laws, and the other focused on reduction of industrial discharges into the nation's waters.
Previously known as "national enforcement initiatives," the program aims to focus EPA resources "on the most serious environmental violations," according to the notice from Susan Bodine, head of the agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (E&E News PM, Feb. 6).
The program's rebranding as "national compliance initiatives" is seen as evidence of the Trump administration's preference for a less punitive approach to meeting environmental requirements.
"It's more than just word changes," John Cruden, former head of the Justice Department's environment division, said at a conference yesterday. "Clearly, this whole push toward compliance and more state-centric will ultimately have an impact."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/02/08/stories/1060120083
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Lawmakers Launch 'Green New Deal' Plan, With Bid For Progressive Unity
Feb 8, 2019 | Inside EPA
By Doug Obey
Progressive lawmakers are formally launching a long political push to enact a “Green New Deal,” (GND) with backers of the effort projecting unity among left-leaning groups by combining an aggressive push for “zero-emissions” energy with calls to reverse a slide in the fortunes of blue-collar workers.
A Feb. 7 resolution outlining broad principles for the effort includes ambitious goals for cleaning up energy production and infrastructure, with careful wording that allows flexibility for defining which energy resources deserve federal support, calling for a transition over roughly the next 10 years to “clean” and “zero-emissions” energy.
The plan also provides a fresh rallying cry for opposing Trump administration climate policy rollbacks, calling for the federal government to account for the complete environmental and social costs of emissions through existing laws and new programs.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) at a Feb. 7 press conference projected a sense of momentum on climate mitigation policy, arguing that mounting public concerns and renewed activism focused on both climate change and inequality can succeed where prior efforts have failed.
“The difference between 2010 and today is the movement that has now been built,” said Markey, coauthor of the prior cap-and-trade bill that passed the House in 2009 but died in the Senate the following year.
Markey framed the new GND resolution as the start of a great debate on more granular policy specifics, but also a path to mobilize broader support for action prior to locking in details.
“The resolution deals with principles,” he said. “You are seeing the beginning of the education and activation phase and ultimately we are going to have the legislative implementation phase of the program.”
He added that climate change is “going to enter the 2020 election cycle as one of the top two or three issues for every candidate on both sides to have to answer.”
Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman lawmaker who has quickly becoming a progressive rising star, joined Markey in framing the event as the start of a major legislative push that still allows for more short-term incremental wins. She also pushed back against a narrative that the GND threatens to split Democrats and be an electoral anchor.
“We are here to say that small incremental policy solutions are not enough,” Cortez said. “They can be part of the solution, but they are not the solution unto itself."
She touted an economic message tied to, but broader than, climate issues. “There is no fixing our economy without addressing the racial wealth gap. We are not going to transition to renewable energy without also transitioning front-line communities and coal communities into economic opportunity as well.”
The resolution specifically says a Green New Deal should include achievement of “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions through a “fair and just transition” for communities and workers; millions of good, high-wage jobs; and investment in infrastructure and industry to “sustainability meet 21st century challenges.”
It seeks “clean air and water, climate and community resiliency, healthy food, access to nature, a sustainable environment,” and to “promote justice and equity” for an array of “front-line and vulnerable communities.”
And it calls for doing so through a 10-year “national mobilization effort” in over a dozen areas, including transitioning to clean power, upgrading infrastructure, building resilience through “community-defined” projects and strategies, upgrading “all existing buildings,” and spurring “massive growth” in clean manufacturing.
Among the goals are high-quality union jobs that pay prevailing wages, and guarantees of wage and benefit parity for workers affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy.
'In This Together'
The resolution's introduction coincides with a blitz of climate change hearings by House Democrats. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) praised the enthusiasm behind the effort and announced the Democratic members of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis -- though the list omits Ocasio-Cortez.
But the freshman lawmaker during the press conference dismissed the idea that this was a snub, saying she had been offered a slot on the panel but has her hands full with multiple other committee assignments, including the oversight committee's environment panel.
“Nancy Pelosi is a leader on climate and has always been a leader on climate, and I will not allow our caucus to be divided. We are 100 percent in this together,” she said.
Other lawmakers joining the event were Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-MA). Wyden telegraphed interest in rolling back tax breaks for “dirty” energy sources and putting clean energy “front and center.”
But Republicans are already road-testing attacks on the GND as “radical” measures that would be costly and lead to wealth transfers, even as some GOP lawmakers seek out a more modest position on climate that acknowledges global warming risks but embraces a wide range of low-carbon technologies without endorsing GHG regulation.
“The Green New Deal is a raw deal for the American taxpayer,” said Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) in a Feb. 7 statement. “It's a socialist manifesto that lays out a laundry list of government giveaways; including guaranteed food, housing, college, and economic security even for those who refuse to work.”
That line of attack parallels similar arguments at a Feb. 6 House Energy and Commerce environment subcommittee hearing on the need to act to address climate change.
The resolution sidesteps, at least for now, whether Democratic constituencies will unify -- or fracture -- when translating bold climate goals into specific policies, including those related to fossil fuels.
The resolution's clean power language, calling for 100 percent of power to come from “clean, renewable, and zero-emissions energy sources,” is consistent with calls from many in both parties to define clean energy as much broader than renewable power, including nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
In line with that flexibility, Markey during the press conference noted that the resolution is silent on specific technology prescriptions and could allow for CCS.
“We are open to whatever works,” Markey said, saying such questions are up to committees in Congress drafting specific legislation.
He also urged observers to focus not on whether all Democrats support the measure but whether any Republicans embrace it.
Ocasio-Cortez likewise characterized the resolution as just a starting point for legislative negotiations.
“The solution is going to come . . . from all our representatives as a country, saying this is what Iowa needs, this is what Virginia needs, this is what Michigan needs, this is what Illinois needs, and this is what New York needs,” she said.
'Environmental and Social Costs'
While the resolution is focused on legislation, it also could aid more immediate fights over Trump administration regulatory rollbacks, calling for the federal government to take “into account the complete environmental and social costs and impacts of emissions through existing laws; new policies and programs; and ensuring that front-line and vulnerable communities shall not be adversely affected.”
That language stands in stark contrast to White House efforts to scale back the “social cost of carbon” climate damages tool to a fraction of what the Obama administration estimated, including through discounting future damages at a high rate and focusing only on domestic rather than global costs.
The resolution's focus on existing laws could be a useful grassroots rallying cry against a variety of climate rollbacks, including the administration's plan to freeze fuel economy standards, replace the Clean Power Plan with a weaker alternative, and undertake steps that could preclude methane controls on existing oil and gas facilities.
The resolution also provides a road map to advocacy by House Democrats to pursue early wins on modest climate policies as part of infrastructure legislation. For example, it calls for “any infrastructure bill considered by Congress [to address] climate change.”
Numerous, major environmental groups are embracing the GND resolution. For instance, the Sierra Club pledged to mobilize its more than 3.5 million members and supporters to encourage broad congressional backing.
The plan “would create millions of high-paying jobs, counteract systemic injustices, ensure access to clean air and water, and support community-led efforts to prevent climate disasters,” the group says. It also notes that “building a more inclusive economy requires an inclusive process. We look forward to continuing to work with a broad array of partners, members of Congress, and front-line communities to forge shared Green New Deal proposals and fuel the growing momentum for this transformative vision.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/lawmakers-launch-green-new-deal-plan-bid-progressive-unity
Praise on the left was not universal, however, with Food and Water Watch criticizing the lack of any language “that would stop the expansion of fracking, drilling, pipelines, and other fossil fuel projects and infrastructure.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/lawmakers-launch-green-new-deal-plan-bid-progressive-unity
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Ewire: 2020 Hopefuls Embrace 'Green' Deal as GOP Goes on Attack
Feb 8, 2019 | Inside EPA
Several possible candidates in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary are embracing the just-released resolution for a “Green New Deal,” though Republicans are quickly denouncing the plan as the first step toward “socialism” in the hopes of making it a political millstone for those vying to take on President Donald Trump.
No fewer than six Democratic senators running for president or considering a campaign -- Sens. Kamala Harris (CA), Cory Booker (NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Amy Klobuchar (MN) and Bernie Sanders (VT) -- have already co-sponsored the non-binding resolution, notes Axios.
As Inside EPA's Doug Obey reported, the document outlines broad principles and ambitious goals for cleaning up energy production and infrastructure, with careful wording that allows flexibility for defining which energy resources deserve federal support, calling for a transition over roughly the next 10 years toward “clean” and “zero-emissions” energy.
The principal sponsors -- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) -- at a Feb. 7 press conference projected a sense of momentum on climate mitigation policy, arguing that mounting public concerns and renewed activism focused on both climate change and inequality can succeed where prior efforts have failed.
But Axios also reports that the White House is “thrilled” that so many 2020 hopefuls are embracing the Green New Deal.
“Every Republican in the country should get on their hands and knees and thank Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” one former White House official told the outlet.
While Ocasio-Cortez and Markey sought to achieve unity on the left, even some backers of the effort, like Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) acknowledge there is not “unanimity” among Democrats. Among those who have not embraced the plan are powerful lawmakers such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Energy & Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), who told the Washington Post it “will be part of our discussion” on climate change.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-2020-hopefuls-embrace-green-deal-gop-goes-attack
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