Preview Newsletter
PM ACC Clips Report - February 11, 2018
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2-For-1 Order Lawsuit 'Afloat' but Faces More Hurdles
Feb 11, 2019 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Litigation over the Trump administration's "two-for-one" executive order is still inching forward after a federal court last week refused to dismiss a legal challenge to the policy. -
Ewire: Shutdown Fears Grow Amid Stalled Budget Talks
Feb 11, 2019 | Inside EPA
Fears over yet another partial government shutdown are growing in recent days, amid “stalled” bipartisan negotiations in Congress over President Donald Trump's demand for a border wall and other border security measures that caused the earlier month-long spending lapse for EPA and several other agencies. -
(ACC Mentioned) Industry: Inconsistent Chemical Naming Hinders Canada-US Regulatory Alignment
Feb 11, 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. -
More Bad Phthalate News: Early Life Exposure Linked to Decreased Motor Skills
Feb 11, 2019 | Environmental Health News
By Brian Bienkowski
Kids exposed to phthalates prenatally and as 3-year-olds have decreased motor skills later in their childhood, according to a new study. -
Leaders Debate Ethane Cracker Pros and Cons
Feb 11, 2019 | Wheeling Intelligencer
By Harry Funk
The 42-mile drive from Washington to Potter Township represents the proverbial scenic route as it winds through rural and wooded areas north into Beaver County. -
MPLX Developing Permian 'Super System,' Gulf Coast Export Projects
Feb 11, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
MPLX LP plans to expand its operations in the Southwest to match growing activity in the Permian Basin and along the Gulf Coast as 2019 gets into high gear. -
FRA Issues CRISI Grants for 18 Rail Projects
Feb 11, 2019 | Progressive Rail Roading
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) last week announced the award of $56 million in grant funding for 18 rail projects in 16 states. -
Ocasio-Cortez retracts erroneous information about ‘Green New Deal’ backed by 2020 Democratic candidates
Feb 11, 2019 | Washington Post
By Jeff Stein and David Weigel
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is pushing for a debate on the substance of her “Green New Deal” resolution after her staff distributed an erroneous fact sheet regarding the proposal, leading to confusion over a plan supported by many of the Democratic Party’s leading candidates for president. -
Agency Set to Publish Greenhouse Gas Estimates
Feb 11, 2019 | E&E Greenwire
By Niina Heikkinen
EPA will publish draft estimates of nationwide greenhouse gas emissions tomorrow.
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2-For-1 Order Lawsuit 'Afloat' but Faces More Hurdles
Feb 11, 2019 | E&E Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
Litigation over the Trump administration's "two-for-one" executive order is still inching forward after a federal court last week refused to dismiss a legal challenge to the policy.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday rejected the government's efforts to dismiss a lawsuit targeting the policy, which requires agencies to eliminate two rules for every new one crafted.
Enacted immediately after President Trump took office in 2017, the order has been under attack by critics who consider it an arbitrary and unlawful constraint on agency actions aimed at carrying out requirements passed by Congress.
But government lawyers argued Public Citizen, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other challengers lacked standing to sue. They asked the district court to dismiss the case.
Judge Randolph Moss refused, finding the groups established a "plausible claim" to standing.
It's a small victory for the two-for-one challengers, but they still face significant hurdles in the case, as Moss stopped short of concluding they actually had legal standing. He said they had not yet shown that the executive order itself blocked any specific regulation that would affect them.
"This leaves the case in an unfortunate state of incertitude: Plaintiffs have done enough to stay afloat but not enough to move forward," the Obama appointee wrote.
Public Citizen said the litigants will have to engage in more document requests, depositions and other fact-finding to detail why various regulations were delayed or withdrawn.
The district court dismissed an earlier version of the groups' lawsuit in 2018 but allowed them to file an amended complaint to flesh out its legal standing arguments (Greenwire, Feb. 26, 2018).
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/02/11/stories/1060120229
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Ewire: Shutdown Fears Grow Amid Stalled Budget Talks
Feb 11, 2019 | Inside EPA
Fears over yet another partial government shutdown are growing in recent days, amid “stalled” bipartisan negotiations in Congress over President Donald Trump's demand for a border wall and other border security measures that caused the earlier month-long spending lapse for EPA and several other agencies.
To resolve the prior shutdown, Congress approved stopgap spending legislation funding the agencies through Feb. 15, in order to give lawmakers time to hash out a border security deal.
But the Washington Post reports that top appropriators of both parties in the House and Senate are planning to meet Feb. 11 to revive talks that “stalled” over the weekend, which lead to “acrimonious finger-pointing and angry outbursts from” Trump.
Time is getting tight because of House rules normally require legislation to be publicly available for three days before a vote, though it is possible that lawmakers could waive these rules in order to pass a deal by Friday's deadline.
The 35-day shutdown that ended Jan. 25 had wide-ranging effects across the country, including forcing 800,000 federal workers to miss two paychecks before receiving back pay and various low-wage contractors to miss pay entirely. It was the longest funding lapse in federal history.
The Trump EPA's deregulatory agenda was also affected, with the shutdown delaying various public hearings and the rollout of measures related to toxics, utility air emissions and ethanol. In addition, staff were unable to review voluminous public comments the agency has received on its signature proposals to ease climate rules for vehicles and power plants.
The shutdown also delayed routine work such as permit approvals and also led federal courts to pause several suits over EPA policies.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-shutdown-fears-grow-amid-stalled-budget-talks
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(ACC Mentioned) Industry: Inconsistent Chemical Naming Hinders Canada-US Regulatory Alignment
Feb 11, 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 a response to the Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), stakeholders say Canada’s Domestic Substances List (DSL) and the US TSCA inventory do not always, or consistently, use the same names for chemicals.
In an 18 January joint letter to the body 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 agree that any RCC action "to harmonise chemical inventory nomenclature" would be productive.
"We suggest that both jurisdictions would benefit from developing a framework that establishes principles for identifying ‘equivalent substances’ so that scarce government and industry resources are not unnecessarily expended in consultation, notification and inventory listing of duplicative substances," they write in their second response to an October 2018 RCC request for input.
The US EPA is currently updating the TSCA inventory. This impacts Canada because the American list serves as the basis for Canada’s Non-Domestic Substances List (NDSL). The ACC and CIAC are therefore eager to smooth any naming issues that may complicate the process.
An initial letter – sent in November 2018 – outlined these concerns in broad strokes; this update elaborates on them.
For instance, Class 2 substances (unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products, and biological materials, or UVCBs) are of particular concern because the complexity of their chemistries often results in multiple names for essentially the same substances. This is "due to differences in the original submissions and inventories listings, which may or may not be listed on both inventories."
The November letter from ACC-CIAC also suggested several other areas for cooperation through the RCC, including:significant new use rules (Snurs) and the NDSL;risk management;GHS implementation;chemical information reporting; andnanomaterials.
Other stakeholder groups also responded to the RCC request. A November 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 USMCA [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, 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.
As part of its workplan on chemicals management, 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 a recent Canadian Paint and Coatings Association (CPCA) newsletter, the release of the next RCC joint workplan is expected in the first half of the year.
https://chemicalwatch.com/74077/industry-inconsistent-chemical-naming-hinders-canada-us-regulatory-alignment
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More Bad Phthalate News: Early Life Exposure Linked to Decreased Motor Skills
Feb 11, 2019 | Environmental Health News
By Brian Bienkowski
Kids exposed to phthalates prenatally and as 3-year-olds have decreased motor skills later in their childhood, according to a new study.
The study is concerning because phthalates are so widely used. Previous research found that phthalate exposure is linked to decreased motor skills for infants and toddlers but this is the first study to suggest these problems may persist as the children age.
"As lower scores on measures of motor development have been associated with more problems in cognitive, socioemotional functioning and behavior, the findings of this study have implications related to overall child development," the researchers wrote in the study published online in Environmental Research.
"This is a crucial public health challenge given the globally ubiquitous nature of phthalates," they added.
Phthalates—used widely in vinyl flooring, cosmetics, detergents, lubricants and food packages—are endocrine disrupting chemicals, meaning they alter the proper functioning of people's hormones. They've also recently been found in diapers and women's sanitary pads.
The chemicals have been linked to multiple health problems, including birth and reproduction problems, diseases, impaired brain development, diabetes and cancer. Just last week researcher linked phthalates to reduced lung function as well.
Researchers looked at the prenatal phthalate exposure of 209 children, as well as exposure when they were 3 years old. They found girls that were exposed to higher levels of phthalates while in the womb had decreased motor skills at age 11; and boys exposed to higher levels of phthalates at age 3 had decreased motor skills at age 11.
The women and children are from an ongoing study cohort in New York City; the mothers are all either Black or Dominican.
Senior author of the paper Pam Factor-Litvak, a professor and epidemiologist at the Columbia University Medical Center, told EHN the motor skills tests included "fine motor skill" tests such as whether or not kids can put a peg in a peg board or coordinating with their upper limbs, and a focus on larger muscle groups, with tests such as walking on a balance beam or running.
She said the importance of motor skills is often overlooked in research. "Motor function is so important and it has a lot to do with cognitive and social development as well," she said.
The researchers didn't look at how the phthalates might be impacting motor skills; however, previous studies have shown the chemicals to alter proper function of the thyroid, which is crucial to proper motor skills and brain development. The chemicals could also disrupt vital neuron activity in the kids' brains, which are involved in motor skills' development.
Factor-Litvak said it's not entirely understood why they saw different impacts on boys and girls but that phthalates are known to disrupt sex steroid hormones such as estradiol and androgens, which could impact boys' and girls' brains in different ways.
The study alone doesn't prove the compounds are causing these impacts, however, it adds to mounting evidence. Multiple previous studies have found a link between phthalate exposure and decreased motor skills.
Those studies focused on newborns to children around preschool age. This study suggests that these prenatal and early life exposures may continue to impact children well into their childhood years—and maybe beyond, Factor-Litvak said.
"That's what we worry about – the downstream impacts after childhood. [Those impacts] haven't been studied," she said.
https://www.ehn.org/phthalates-children-motor-skills-2628411444.html
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Leaders Debate Ethane Cracker Pros and Cons
Feb 11, 2019 | Wheeling Intelligencer
By Harry Funk
The 42-mile drive from Washington to Potter Township represents the proverbial scenic route as it winds through rural and wooded areas north into Beaver County.
Eventually, the relative tranquility gives way to the panorama of a massive construction project: the Shell Chemical Appalachia Petrochemical Complex, taking shape on a 340-tract along the Ohio River and representing a $6 billion investment by one of the giants of the oil and gas industry, Royal Dutch Shell.
The purpose of the plant is to break up molecules of ethane — a byproduct of the tri-state region’s natural gas stream being tapped by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — into smaller molecules as a step in the creation of plastics. By industry parlance, the process involves molecules being “cracked,” hence the common reference to cracker plants.
As is the case with any endeavor of such a major scope, the Shell project has its supporters and detractors.
PROS
Those in favor cite job creation as a major plus: some 6,000 workers are needed during construction and 600 full-time employees when the plant goes into operation in the early 2020s.
Further employment opportunities could arise with the development of a regional pipeline system connecting natural gas suppliers with the Shell complex and other similar plants, if built.
In December, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced approval of permit applications for a pipeline extending from the MarkWest processing plant in Chartiers Township north to Potter Township. And Asian companies PTT Global Chemical and Daelim Industrial Co. have been exploring the possibility of building a cracker plant in Belmont County south of Shadyside.
The ethylene produced by such facilities is used for plastics production and for creating petrochemicals such as plastics, synthetic rubber, solvents, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, additives, explosives and adhesives. These products are used in vehicles, packaging, household goods, medical equipment, paints, clothing, building materials and other applications.
The petrochemicals industry has evolved out of oil and gas processing by adding value to low-value byproducts, which have limited use in the fuels industry. And all of it stems from the effort to find and extract natural gas.
“Natural gas is the biggest game changer, and everybody in the tri-state (area) should collaborate on this,” Robbie Matesic, executive director of the Greene County Department of Economic Development, said regarding local economic forecasts for 2019. “We need to be as responsive as we can, as collaborative as we can, as fast as we can and as fearless as we can. This is a global market we’re in now.”
Also regarding possible financial impact, a study conducted by Rob and Leslie Dunn, both Washington & Jefferson College economics professors, found that counties where cracker facilities are located have higher levels of employment and higher levels of earnings. The Dunns also concluded that counties bordering a cracker facility have lower levels of employment than counties with the plants, but faster rates of employment growth and higher earnings levels.
Then there’s the flipside.
CONS
“The Petrochemical Invasion of Western PA: Its Environmental Consequences and What Can Be Done About It” served as the theme for a recent forum at Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, with a variety of panelists expressing reasons to oppose the prevalence of fossil fuel-related industries in the region.
As executive director of the Breathe Project, a clearinghouse for information on air quality in southwestern Pennsylvania, Matt Mehalik brought the perspective of impact to the atmosphere.
“We still have a serious air-quality problem in southwestern Pennsylvania, and adding to our airshed burden will only make things worse,” he told the forum’s audience. “We consistently get failing grades from the American Lung Association: three F’s several years in a row, the only place outside of California with that distinction.”
His reference was to the association’s State of the Air report, issued in April and citing Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and its dismal performance in three measures of air pollution: days with elevated ozone, and daily and annual values for fine-particle pollution.
Ozone is generated by the reaction of volatile organic compounds – released by the burning of materials such as gasoline, wood, coal or natural gas – with nitrogen oxides. Such conditions make breathing difficult, especially for children, older adults and people with asthma, according to the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, which has a regional office in Pittsburgh.
Mehalik also spoke about the market, or lack thereof, for what cracker plants produce.
“All this is to make plastic. The world doesn’t need it for ginned-up demand in Asia, because that’s the only scenario where the industry might generate a profit,” he contended. “It’s all projected to be sold in China. There’s no projected demand growth in most of North America.”
Panelist Patricia DeMarco delved further into the subject:
“All of the plastic that has ever been made, about 8.3 billion tons, is pretty much still with us. There is about 2.5 billion tons that is virgin plastic still in use, that is being put into products that are either still with us or have been recaptured.”
That leaves 5.8 billion tons of plastic as waste, and “4.6 billion tons is discarded into landfill or other places,” she said. “So more than half of what has been created as plastic from the beginning is not only still with us, it is in a discard mode and not serving any useful function.”
A Forest Hills resident who has a doctorate in biology, DeMarco is the author of “Pathways to Our Sustainable Future: A Global Perspective from Pittsburgh,” published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. She asserted the need for audience members to “make a demand for responsibility from the industry and also from the government, at the local, state and federal level.”
“It is a moral imperative. This is not a technology problem. We use plastic, a material designed to last forever, for products that are designed to be lasting for minutes,” she said. “Just because we can do these things doesn’t mean that we should.”
DeMarco also is a founding member of the recently established Allegheny County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, an environmental organization started in 1922 to promote natural resource protection and outdoor recreation. Greene County’s Harry Enstrom Chapter joined the Allegheny County chapter in sponsoring the petrochemical forum.
“No. 1 for our chapter is protect our water and air, and clean it up. No. 2 is to promote a future that is green and that’s sustainable,” Mike Stout, the Castle Shannon resident who serves as the latter’s president, announced at the forum’s start.
“Our chapter is going to go out, over the next year, to the 75 to 100 environmental organizations that exist in Allegheny County,” he said, “and we’re going to try to rally all of those people, all of those organizations and all of those individuals into one fist, under one platform, with one voice and one movement that begins to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and the people who are destroying our planet.”
http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2019/02/leaders-debate-ethane-cracker-pros-and-cons/
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MPLX Developing Permian 'Super System,' Gulf Coast Export Projects
Feb 11, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
MPLX LP plans to expand its operations in the Southwest to match growing activity in the Permian Basin and along the Gulf Coast as 2019 gets into high gear.
Access to full text unavailable – subscription required.
Story can be found here: https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/117363-mplx-developing-permian-super-system-gulf-coast-export-projects
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FRA Issues CRISI Grants for 18 Rail Projects
Feb 11, 2019 | Progressive Rail Roading
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) last week announced the award of $56 million in grant funding for 18 rail projects in 16 states.
Issued under the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program, the funding will help to improve the safety, efficiency and reliability of passenger- and freight-rail systems, according to an FRA press release.
The notice of funding opportunity reserved at least 25 percent of the awards for rural projects. The
2017 Appropriations Act required $10 million for projects that contribute to the restoration or initiation of intercity
passenger rail service, FRA officials said.
"We're extremely pleased that the CRISI grant program directs much-needed critical investment to rural America," said FRA Administrator Ronald Batory.
When selecting the projects, the FRA considered such objectives as: supporting economic vitality; leveraging federal funds to attract other sources of funding; preparing for project life-cycle costs; using innovative approaches to improve safety and expedite project delivery; and holding recipients accountable for achieving specific, measurable outcomes.
Grant awards exceeding $2 million and their related projects include:
• up to $10 million for the Millbrook Road grade separation sealed corridor project on a CSX line in North Carolina;
• up to $7,170,346 to replace the Broadway Truss component of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis' MacArthur Bridge in Missouri;
• up to $6,363,000 for the New York State Department of Transportation's plan to replace timber bridge decks with ballast decks on three bridges on the Hudson Line in New York;
• up to $5,083,719 to reconfigure the Lenox interlocking in Mitchell, Illinois, to increase the speed and operational flexibility for passenger and freight services;
• up to $5,050,000 to construct a second platform serving Amtrak riders at the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport;
• up to $3,470,500 for the Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd.'s Booneville Bridge project in Iowa;
• up to $3 million for the Quonset freight-rail enhancements and expansion for Mill Creek Railyard in Rhode Island;
• up to $2,585,080 for the Missouri Department of Transportation's rail corridor consolidation and grade crossing safety plan;
• up to $2,373,441 to install safety features at 48 crossings along the South Florida East Coast Rail Corridor;
• up to $2,164,255 for a proposal to install new ballast and ties on the Panhandle Northern Railroad line, which connects to a BNSF Railway Co. mainline, to improve safety and security of transporting carloads of hazardous materials;
• up to $2,082,519 to the Vermont Agency of Transportation to construct slope stabilization measures along 80 miles of the New England Central Railroad line;
• up to $2,035,000 to construction landslide mitigation measures at two locations along the Pacific Northwest Rail Corridor in Mukilteo, Washington; and
• up to $2,027,192 for the Heart of Georgia Railroad upgrade project.https://www.progressiverailroading.com/mow/news/FRA-issues-CRISI-grants-for-18-rail-projects--56733
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Feb 11, 2019 | Washington Post
By Jeff Stein and David Weigel
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is pushing for a debate on the substance of her “Green New Deal” resolution after her staff distributed an erroneous fact sheet regarding the proposal, leading to confusion over a plan supported by many of the Democratic Party’s leading candidates for president.
Ocasio-Cortez’s staff posted online and sent to reporters a list of “frequently asked questions” about the Green New Deal. Those pages included language and policies not included in the resolution itself such as providing economics security to those “unwilling to work” and ruling out nuclear power as part of the solution to the climate crisis.
More than 70 House Democrats and nine Senate Democrats have backed Ocasio-Cortez in unveiling the Green New Deal resolution calling for a massive jobs program to stave off climate change, aiming for an enormous investment in “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources” over the next 10 years.
Declared presidential candidates Sens. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have pledged their support for the resolution text of the Green New Deal, as has expected candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). None of the lawmakers or candidates signed off on the FAQ, which was prepared by Ocasio-Cortez’s staff to explain the separate Green New Deal resolution but was accidentally released prematurely with unfinished language.
“An early draft of a FAQ that was clearly unfinished and that doesn’t represent the GND resolution got published to the website by mistake,” Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, wrote on Twitter on Saturday, two days after the document’s release. “Mistakes happen when doing time launches like this coordinating multiple groups and collaborators.”
The confusion over the document complicated the rollout of the Green New Deal plan, as more than a dozen media outlets, particularly in the conservative media, reported on policies in the FAQ page that the co-signers of the resolution have not agreed to support. One House Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak about internal discussions, said he and other liberal members have privately vented frustration over the publication of the FAQ page.
CNBC reported that the Green New Deal would offer “economic security” for those “unwilling to work” in its headline, while columnists at Bloomberg and The Washington Post have criticized the plan based on policies outlined in the FAQ sheet.
Climate activists have tried rallying Democrats to the concept of a Green New Deal to decarbonize the U.S. economy while also broadly expanding the government’s role in improving the economy and bolstering the social safety net. The plan calls for a 10-year “national mobilization” requiring new electrical and power grids, retrofitting “all existing buildings” in the United States and high-speed rail and public transit.
The Green New Deal resolution calls for the federal government to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions with a “fair and just transition” for all communities and workers, including by creating millions of high-wage jobs, health care and housing for all, a sustainable environment, and enormous infrastructure investments.
The FAQ sheet went further than the resolution in some places, making choices that the resolution avoids. The FAQ sheet, for instance, says that the Green New Deal would “not include creating new nuclear plants,” while the resolution does not address that question.
At a news conference unveiling the plan, Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the resolution’s Senate co-sponsors, told E&E News: “The resolution is silent on any individual technology which can move us toward a solution of this problem . . . that is not part of the resolution.”
The FAQ page also stated that the United States should guarantee “economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work.” The official resolution calls on economic security for all Americans.
In the fall, the top scientific body studying climate change found the world had to take “unprecedented” steps to reduce carbon levels, with the globe on pace to warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial levels. Scientists called the report a “deafening, piercing smoke alarm going off in the kitchen.”
Stronger natural disasters, including wildfires, have devastated western U.S. communities, while hurricanes have leveled Atlantic Coast cities and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Internationally, the melting of Himalayan glaciers due to climate changes threatens hundreds of millions of people in Asia, as coral reefs that support some of the most productive U.S. fisheries are at risk of being destroyed.
The Trump administration has not proposed a comprehensive agenda for addressing climate change. It has dismantled some initiatives supported by the past administration to check the growth of greenhouse gases, and President Trump has repeatedly questioned the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring, driven by human activity and poses a threat to human health and well-being.
Trump tweeted criticism of the Green New Deal over the weekend, while also erroneously suggesting snow in February in Minnesota during the presidential candidacy announcement of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) diminished the case for combating climate change.
On Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez said that people should stop paying attention to the FAQ document, which was later taken down from the congresswoman’s website. “Point is, the real one is our submitted resolution,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, with a link to the resolution itself. She added: “When I talk about the GND, this is what I’m referring to — nothing else.”
All but one Democratic senator running for president endorsed the Green New Deal resolution, though none had seen the FAQ that circulated on launch day. A few were asked about the FAQ this weekend.
After one stop in Iowa, asked what he might say to a farmer who was seeing reports that the resolution would stop him from raising cows or using gasoline, Booker said that the “narrative” was not something he’d get tangled up in.
"I’ve endorsed the framework and the resolution, but I don’t endorse doing things that are going to hurt the independent family farmer,” Booker said. “If anything, I want to let people know that we can have a green future that no way is contrary to a strong economy, but actually creates a stronger economy.”
The confusion was compounded by Robert Hockett, a Cornell professor who acted as an outside adviser to Ocasio-Cortez on the Green New Deal. Hockett told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson that the document calling for help to those unwilling to work had been “doctored” and produced by someone other than Ocasio-Cortez.
That was not true, as Hockett thought Carlson was referring to a parody of the Green New Deal circulated by right-wing activists on Twitter.
Republicans have begun to conflate support for the Green New Deal — either the resolution, or the concept — as support for the most extreme elements on the FAQ. In a news blast attacking Klobuchar, who has not endorsed the resolution, the RNC said that “Midwest dairy farmers won’t love the ‘war on cows’ in the Green New Deal, a plan she endorsed.”
Chakrabarti, the congresswoman’s chief of staff, wrote on Twitter about the “unwilling to work” provision in the FAQ: “We were essentially thinking about pensions and retirement security. E.g. economic security for a coal miner who has given 40 years of their life to building the energy infra of this country, but who may be not be willing to switch this late in his career.”
In an interview, Chakrabarti also stressed that the key was to focus on the larger plan to prevent climate change that poses an existential threat to millions of people around the world.
“The major thing here is we have now over 70 House Democrats and every major presidential candidate now on board calling for a gigantic transformation of our economy,” Chakrabarti said in an interview. “People are trying to take the focus away from the big picture to these little typos.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/11/ocasio-cortez-retracts-erroneous-information-about-green-new-deal-backed-by-democratic-candidates/?utm_term=.654e49b83526
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Agency Set to Publish Greenhouse Gas Estimates
Feb 11, 2019 | E&E Greenwire
By Niina Heikkinen
EPA will publish draft estimates of nationwide greenhouse gas emissions tomorrow.
The agency is set to release its "Draft Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks" in the Federal Register, and it will be open for public comment, according to a pre-publication notice.
This is the first inventory that will cover greenhouse gas emissions released during the Trump administration, covering releases from 1990 to 2017.
Last year's report, which is mandated by international treaty, found U.S. emissions had increased 2.4 percent from 1990 to 2016.
But emissions in 2016 dropped 1.9 percent below 2015 levels. The agency attributed the dip to increased use of natural gas over coal, and a warmer-than-average winter in 2016, which decreased the use of heating fuel.
The latest national figures from EPA will be made public as House Democrats prepare for a second week of hearings on climate change, including on the science of warming and its impacts on public lands and indigenous populations.
The announcement also follows the closely watched release of the draft "Green New Deal," an ambitious but nonbinding proposal by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to address climate change through sweeping social justice and green infrastructure reforms.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/02/11/stories/1060120237
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