Preview Newsletter
PM ACC Clips Report - April 1, 2019
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A New Resource: Safer Paint Strippers For Consumers And Workers
Apr 1, 2019 | Safer Chemicals Healthy Families
By Jen Dickman
There is a growing movement away from paint strippers that contain methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) because of serious health risks including developmental toxicity and even death. Safer Chemicals, Healthy... -
Michigan Should Set Precedent-Setting PFAS Water Standards
Apr 1, 2019 | Natural Resource Defense Council
By Anna Reade & Erik D. Olson
Today the Natural Resources Defense Council filed an extensive scientific reportmaking a detailed case for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to establish strict drinking water standards for five chemicals... -
Study Suggests That Sea Spray Plays An Important Role In Spreading Perfluoroalkyl Acid Pollutants Into The Air
Mar 30, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Tien Nguyen
Oceans have long been considered the final resting place of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), toxic and persistent pollutants that have been widely used for decades in firefighting foams and other products. New research suggests these... -
High Manganese Levels Prompt No-Drink Order for S.D. Capital
Apr 1, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Christopher Brown
State environmental officials in South Dakota are advising the 14,000 residents of the capital city of Pierre not to drink tap water as a result of high levels of manganese in the city’s water supply. Recent testing of the city’s water has... -
Trump Reissues Permit for Keystone XL Pipeline
Apr 1, 2019 | Inside EPA
President Donald Trump has issued a new presidential permit authorizing TransCanada to build its controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, in an apparent bid to circumvent an adverse federal court ruling that blocked construction... -
Judge Declares Trump's Order To Open Arctic And Atlantic Waters To Drilling Was Unlawful
Mar 30, 2019 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Aris Folley
A federal judge on Friday ruled President Trump’s executive order seeking to revoke an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans was unlawful. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason said in a ruling that the... -
Ewire: Offshore Drilling Ruling Adds to Trump's Court Losses
Apr 1, 2019 | Inside EPA
A federal judge in Alaska has struck down President Donald Trump's directive to overturn an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling off much of the coasts of Alaska and the Atlantic, a decision that adds to the Trump administration's court... -
Colo. House OKs Bill Prioritizing Health in Drilling
Apr 1, 2019 | AP (In E&E - Greenwire)
Colorado's Democratic-controlled House approved legislation Friday that would require regulators to prioritize public safety and health in well drilling decisions affecting the state's $32 billion oil and gas industry. House Speaker KC... -
Drilling Boom In Washington County Raises Worries About Harm To Picturesque Countryside
Mar 29, 2019 | Houston Chronicle
By Molly Glentzer
Spring wildflowers in the hills northwest of Houston are painting roadsides blue, orange, yellow, pink, white and purple, a prolific display borne from heavy fall and winter rains. Travelers who spend a night or two out beyond the city limits... -
Fracking Opponents Make It Harder to Keep Warm
Apr 1, 2019 | Real Clear Energy
By Paula Bolyard
Many U.S. households are just starting to recover from record-setting cold temperatures. Several major cities -- like Denver and Chicago -- used more fuel than last winter to stay warm, according to a recent AccuWeather analysis. -
DOE Catalyzes Clean Energy Innovation in All 50 States
Apr 1, 2019 | Natural Resource Defense Council
By Madhur Boloor
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has made clean energy research and development (R&D) investments in every U.S. state over the past two years, sending more than $1.8 billion to the national laboratories and to hundreds of... -
D.C. Circuit Hears Argument Today in Lawsuit Challenging EPA Loophole for Toxic Air Pollution
Apr 1, 2019 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Tomás Carbonell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hold oral argument this morning in a case about a dangerous new loophole created by then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt that could increase Americans’ exposure to toxic air pollution. -
House GOP Bid to Force Green Deal Vote Won’t Work, Democrats Say
Apr 1, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott
Top House Democrats are confident they’ll close ranks and suffer few defections as Republicans try to force backers of the Green New Deal to defend the ambitious climate platform in an up-or-down floor vote. House Republicans are... -
Rockefeller Announces End of Major Climate Resilience Initiative
Apr 1, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Christopher Flavelle
The Rockefeller Foundation will shut down its 100 Resilient Cities program, the largest privately funded climate-adaptation initiative in the U.S., the foundation announced Monday. Rockefeller will shift some of its resilience funding...
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A New Resource: Safer Paint Strippers For Consumers And Workers
Apr 1, 2019 | Safer Chemicals Healthy Families
By Jen Dickman
There is a growing movement away from paint strippers that contain methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) because of serious health risks including developmental toxicity and even death. Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families’ Mind the Store campaign, together with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other coalition partners, have catalyzed this shift. We convinced 13 major retailers to phase out the sale of toxic paint strippers with these chemicals. On the regulatory front, EPA recently acted in a limited way to remove some methylene chloride-containing paint and coating removers from the marketplace. (Read our blog here on how EPA has left workers unprotected.)
With advocacy and regulations spurring a shift away from methylene chloride and NMP (though EPA has failed to act on NMP), consumers and contractors may be wondering what alternatives they can use. Some safer alternatives have been in use for years. Others, including products designed to be as effective as those with methylene chloride, were developed in response to the growing concern over toxic paint strippers.
To showcase the range of products available, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families staff put together a list showing examples of paint strippers and graffiti, stain, and all-purpose removers that are safer than products with methylene chloride or NMP.* The list was compiled from our own research and also draws on research provided by staff from the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI). This list can be useful for both consumers and professionals.
We were selective in creating this list in two ways:
1. We focused on providing examples of paint strippers and related products that are currently sold at retail online or will be available soon. Most of the products are sold by Walmart, Amazon, and/or The Home Depot, and some are also sold by Lowe’s. Our goal in providing these examples was to make the point that safer alternatives are readily available, rather than hypothetical.
2. To avoid falling into the trap of regrettable substitution, we intentionally excluded products that had ingredients as toxic as, or even more toxic than, methylene chloride or NMP.
-This meant disregarding products with one or more ingredients that were evaluated by Clean Production Action’s GreenScreen® Assessment and received a GreenScreen Benchmark™ score of Benchmark-1 (BM-1), defined as “Avoid – Chemical of High Concern.” Examples of BM-1 chemicals include methanol, naphthalene, toluene, and xylene. We also omitted products with one or more ingredients rated “LT-1” after being evaluated through the GreenScreen List Translator™. A score of “LT-1” means the chemical meets one or more criteria for the BM-1 score and is most likely to receive that score after a full GreenScreen assessment.
-It’s best to avoid paint strippers with either BM-1 or LT-1 ingredients. An illustrative list of products containing BM-1 ingredients is available here. To determine whether the ingredients in your paint stripper have received scores of BM-1 or LT-1, you can look them up by name or Chemical Abstract Service Registry Number (CASRN) in Healthy Building Network’s Chemical Hazard Data Commons or in this BizNGO report.
-For products with ingredients that received a score of LT-P1 after screening via the GreenScreen List Translator, we took a different approach. An LT-P1 designation means that after further research, the chemical might be designated BM-1, but it could also be BM-2 (Use but search for safer substitutes) or BM-3 (Use but still opportunity for improvement). We kept products with these ingredients in our list but flagged them with an asterisk for the sake of transparency.
If you strip paint as part of your job, or are planning for a weekend project, there are plenty of products to use that are safer than those with methylene chloride or NMP. Our list provides a starting point. In addition to alternative paint stripper products, non-chemical methods can also be used to remove paint, although these may carry other risks such as exposure to toxic chemicals in the paint being removed. A few of these methods are listed on our fact sheet here.
https://saferchemicals.org/2019/04/01/a-new-resource-safer-paint-strippers-for-consumers-and-workers/
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Michigan Should Set Precedent-Setting PFAS Water Standards
Apr 1, 2019 | Natural Resource Defense Council
By Anna Reade & Erik D. Olson
Today the Natural Resources Defense Council filed an extensive scientific reportmaking a detailed case for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to establish strict drinking water standards for five chemicals within the PFAS class. We also requested that MDEQ issue a “treatment technique” standard, based upon best available water treatment technology, to clean up the entire PFAS class of chemicals from contaminated tap water.
The extensive scientific analysis included a review of the toxicological and epidemiological evidence demonstrating the threats to health from PFAS, and an engineering review of the best available technologies to test for and remove PFAS from drinking water (“scientific report”).
NRDC also is asking that the Michigan legislature and Congress work with the Governor to provide funding to help water systems pay for safe water. We also urge that action be taken to ensure that polluters responsible for threatening or contaminating water supplies pay for cleanup, and that affordability programs be adopted that will help low-income people and communities pay for their drinking water.
PFAS Contaminated Public Water Supplies and Sites in Michigan
This map shows the highest total PFAS concentration that was sampled in a public water system in that county. Green dots represent PFAS contamination sites currently under investigation by MDEQ.
As discussed in the scientific report, poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals widely used in nonstick cookware, to grease-proof food packaging, and for stain and water-resistance on clothing, carpets, and furniture. They are also used in cosmetics and in “aqueous film forming foam,” which is used, for example, at airports and military facilities in training exercises and to suppress fires. There are more than 4,700 PFAS chemicals in the class that have been cleared for use. PFAS unfortunately tend to share three problematic properties:PFAS are highly persistent “forever chemicals” that don’t not break down easily and can accumulate in the bodies of people and food that we eat;PFAS are highly mobile and spread quickly in the environment and are found in our drinking water, air, food, and homes;PFAS are highly toxic and can be harmful at extremely low doses (in the low part per trillion levels).
Health Risks Posed by PFAS
As reviewed in the scientific report, PFAS have been linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, some of which can occur at very low levels of exposure. For example, a massive study of 69,000 people exposed to PFAS in their drinking water in the vicinity of a factory in West Virginia found that certain PFAS are likely linked to cancer of the kidneys and testicles, thyroid disease, pregnancy-related hypertension, high cholesterol that can lead to heart disease, and the autoimmune disease ulcerative colitis. Other studies reviewed in the scientific report have confirmed many of these findings and have shown that PFAS are also linked to lower fertility in women; harm to developing fetuses, infants and children; liver disease; and weakened immune systems.
Widening PFAS Crisis: A National Threat Hits Michigan Hard
Just two members of this class of toxic chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, are present in the tap water of at least 6 million Americans at levels in excess of EPA’s weak and unenforceable ‘health advisory” for those chemicals, according to an analysis led by Harvard researchers. This analysis, based on limited sampling required by the EPA 4 years ago, found PFAS contamination in the drinking water of 16.5 million people in 33 states. Based on the limited testing done to date, it appears likely that tens of millions of Americans are served tap water containing PFAS at levels as much as hundreds of times higher than what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and independent scientists consider acceptable.
While the PFAS problem is national, Michigan has conducted its own additional monitoring, the most comprehensive in the country, which has found widespread contamination. State testing near industrial facilities, military bases, and landfills known to have used or disposed of PFAS-containing compounds has found multiple sites with PFAS contamination, sometimes exceeding EPA’s unenforceable health advisories. However, these data likely understate the contamination problem. While MDEQ is investigating just over 40 contamination sites, the agency reportedly has suggestedthat statewide, far more sites could be contaminated with PFAS.
Widespread Contamination in Michigan’s Public Water Supplies
MDEQ commendably has tested for certain PFAS in over 1,100 Michigan public water systems, and has publicly reported the results. The Michigan testing has found PFOA, PFOS and other PFAS in more than 100 public water systems. This State testingfound PFAS in the drinking water of over 1.4 million Michiganders in 2018, across the state. As of February 26, 2019, at least 78 samples from public water systems tested positive for PFOA and PFOS, with levels as high as 1,520 ppt (compared to EPA’s 70 ppt health advisory). At least 162 samples from water systems tested positive for at least one PFAS, with concentrations up to 1,828 ppt. This additional testing was not required by EPA. Importantly, reporting limits for PFAS testing by MDEQ are substantially lower than those used under EPA’s unregulated contaminant monitoring rule that produced the data analyzed in the Harvard study noted above. This means that Michigan’s testing reports lower levels of contamination than was picked up by the older EPA data. This is important because CDC and other independent scientists have concluded that levels of many PFAS pose health risks at the low part per trillion level, sometimes well below EPA’s reporting limits.
Our Request: Health-Protective Drinking Water Standards
In order to address the extraordinary health threat posed to citizens across the state from widespread contamination of drinking water with PFAS, NRDC is requesting that MDEQ issue Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs) and enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for 5 PFAS for which there are substantial toxicological data. We further ask MDEQ to set an MCLG and a Treatment Technique for total PFAS.
MCLGs are non-enforceable thresholds set at a level at which no harmful health effects should occur, with an adequate margin of safety (i.e. completely protective of health). The report recommends that these MCLGs be set at zero. This recommendation is based upon health risks, including cancer and other effects observed in scientific studies, where there is no clear “safe” threshold of exposure, and where these contaminants cause effects at vanishingly low-levels. The report further suggests that MDEQ issue MCLs for five PFAS that are as close to the MCLGs of zeros as “feasible” based upon the best available treatment and detection technologies (4 of the 5 PFAS can be measured reliably down to 2 ppt, and GenX down to 5 ppt, all can be treated to below detection levels). Further, the report suggests that MDEQ establish a “treatment technique” for the sum of all PFAS, based upon reverse osmosis treatment, or a treatment that is equally as effective. This treatment technique is needed because there are thousands of PFAS cleared for use and evidence is mounting that the class collectively poses a threat to human health and the environment. If only a handful of PFAS are regulated, there will be swift regrettable substitution with other, similarly toxic PFAS - creating an ongoing problem where addressing one chemical at a time incentivizes the use of other toxic chemicals and we fail to establish effective safeguards to limit this growing class of dangerous chemicals.
Treatment Technique: Reverse Osmosis or EquivalentEnsuring Funding for Cleanup, that Polluters Pay, and that Water is Affordable
Finally, we are calling upon the Michigan legislature to work closely with Governor Whitmer to ensure that funds are available to clean up the pollution and that low-income consumers can afford their water bills. The legislature should work with the Governor to enact legislation that will assist communities in paying to address their drinking water problems—from PFAS pollution, lead contamination, or other issues. The state also should ask Congress to enact such infrastructure legislation, but we cannot wait for Congressional action to move forward. Michiganders need safe water now, not years from now. Furthermore, those responsible for the PFAS or other pollution should be required to pay to clean up our water. The Attorney General has some authority to bring polluters to account for their PFAS pollution, and certain legal doctrines can be applied to hold polluters accountable to clean up, but it would be best if PFAS were included in the list of “hazardous substances” that are explicitly authorized to be addressed under Superfund. Moreover, the state legislature could enact legislation explicitly requiring polluters to pay for clean up and to remedy the harms they have caused. These actions should help make water more affordable, but ultimately water systems, localities and state authorities should adopt strong water affordability programs that ensure that low-income consumers can afford to pay their water bills.
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anna-reade/michigan-should-set-precedent-setting-pfas-water-standards
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Mar 30, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Tien Nguyen
Oceans have long been considered the final resting place of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), toxic and persistent pollutants that have been widely used for decades in firefighting foams and other products. New research suggests these chemicals may be less settled in seawater than previously thought. Scientists have investigated the transport of PFAAs from the sea to the atmosphere via sea-spray aerosols formed from breaking waves, but these laboratory studies have struggled to realistically replicate sea spray. Now, using artificial seawater and a plunging water jet to create bubbles, researchers at Stockholm University found that PFAAs are enriched in sea-spray aerosol by up to a factor of 62,000 relative to bulk artificial seawater (Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts 2019, DOI: 10.1039/c8em00525g). They estimate, in modeling studies, that more than 100 metric tons of each of two prominent pollutants, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), may be emitted annually into the atmosphere by sea spray. For comparison, industrial sources in China emit about 1–1.4 t of PFOS into the air annually, according to current estimates. The team plans to improve its estimates of PFAAs in sea spray by studying natural seawater on a research cruise later this year.
https://cen.acs.org/environment/atmospheric-chemistry/Study-suggests-sea-spray-plays/97/i13
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High Manganese Levels Prompt No-Drink Order for S.D. Capital
Apr 1, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Christopher Brown
State environmental officials in South Dakota are advising the 14,000 residents of the capital city of Pierre not to drink tap water as a result of high levels of manganese in the city’s water supply.
Recent testing of the city’s water has shown that naturally occurring manganese concentrations are eight times what the Environmental Protection Agency deems safe for infants up to six months old, and 2.5 times the safe level for adults and older children.
Manganese is an essential nutrient, but excessive exposure can affect the nervous system in people of all ages, leading to learning and behavioral problems for infants and children, and behavioral changes and problems with motor control in adults, according to the city’s advisory.
EPA hasn’t established a national drinking water standard for manganese, but is in the process of collecting data to help it decide whether to do so, Lisa McClain-Vanderpool, an EPA spokeswoman, told Bloomberg Environment March 29.
Unregulated Contaminants
EPA’s Fourth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule requires cities to sample for a list of 15 contaminants that are currently unregulated by the agency but which are candidates for formal regulation. Cities will also be required to make sampling data for the contaminants available to the public, and consider further action when concentrations exceed health-advisory levels.
The sampling period for the unregulated contaminant rule is 2018-2020. Early data suggests that under two percent of drinking water systems in the nation have excessive levels of manganese, McClain-Vanderpool said.
EPA’s short-term health advisory levels are 1 milligram per liter for adults and children, and 0.3 milligrams per liter for infants up to 6 months of age. Recent testing has shown Pierre’s level to be 2.5 milligrams per liter.
Switching Up
Residents of Pierre should drink water from the city’s supply only after it has been further treated by an in-home water softener or reverse osmosis system, according to the March 27 drinking-water advisory from city officials. Untreated tap water is safe for outside use only, it said.
The statement also advised against boiling untreated tap water, a common way to render contaminated water safe for drinking but which doesn’t reduce manganese levels.
The city’s advisory applies only to residents whose water comes from the city’s system, which pulls water from a shallow aquifer running along the Missouri River.
The advisory doesn’t apply to those served by nearby systems, which draw water directly from the Missouri River, a statement from city officials said.
A city system that will rely entirely on water from the Missouri River is scheduled to come online in 2021.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/high-manganese-levels-prompt-no-drink-order-for-s-d-capital
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Trump Reissues Permit for Keystone XL Pipeline
Apr 1, 2019 | Inside EPA
President Donald Trump has issued a new presidential permit authorizing TransCanada to build its controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, in an apparent bid to circumvent an adverse federal court ruling that blocked construction due to an inadequate review of the climate effects of the project.
The March 29 presidential permit grants permission to TransCanada “to construct, connect, operate and maintain pipeline facilities at the international border of the United States and Canada at Phillips County, Montana.”
It adds that the new permit “supersedes” and revokes the earlier permit, which was issued in 2017 and reversed a decision by the Obama administration to reject the project, which would bring greenhouse gas-intensive tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, for refining on the Gulf Coast.
The prior Trump permit prompted a new environmental review that is the subject of the litigation.
The new permit notes that TransCanda “is responsible for acquiring any right-of-way grants or easements, permits and other authorizations as may become necessary or appropriate.”
Trump signed the order amid reports that he will also sign “as soon as next week” an executive order to speed approvals of oil and natural gas pipelines that could seek to undercut states’ authority to assess the water quality effects of those projects under section 401 of the Clean Water Act.
In response to the new permit, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement that it is “pleased to see action that will help clear the way for development of the Keystone XL pipeline,” which it calls “one of the most studied pieces of infrastructure in American history.” The chamber notes it has gone through five environmental reviews over the past decade assessing its main route, as well as two more on an alternative route.
The American Petroleum Institute also praised Trump “for taking a no-nonsense approach to permitting this essential critical infrastructure project.” It adds the pipeline has passed every environmental review, all of which concluded it can be built with no significant impact to the environment.
Environmental groups had applauded the latest chapter in the Keystone saga when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit earlier this month upheld a Nov. 8 decision by a federal district court in Montana rejecting the State Department’s environmental review of the pipeline and blocking further construction until the department redoes the environmental impact statement to account for climate change and other impacts.
TransCanada asked the appeals court to allow construction to resume, but the court upheld the Montana injunction March 15. The court will continue to consider the merits of the appeal, which was brought by the State Department and TransCanada.
“It’s been over a decade since this dirty tar sands pipeline was proposed, and TransCanada just keeps doing the same thing and hoping for a different result,” the Sierra Club said in a statement on the decision.
While the order is expected to moot the litigation, it is unclear whether Keystone will be able to begin construction in August as it has previously sought, ClearView Energy Partners, a consulting firm, said in a note to clients. “It is not yet clear, however, whether today’s action changes TransCanada’s projection of a one-year delay for the KXL in-service date if the pre-construction injunction remained in force beyond March 15,” the firm said.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/trump-reissues-permit-keystone-xl-pipeline
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Judge Declares Trump's Order To Open Arctic And Atlantic Waters To Drilling Was Unlawful
Mar 30, 2019 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Aris Folley
A federal judge on Friday ruled President Trump’s executive order seeking to revoke an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans was unlawful.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason said in a ruling that the Obama administration’s leasing withdrawals of about 120 million acres of the waters "will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress."
Gleason wrote that Trump’s 2017 order revoking the drilling ban "is unlawful, as it exceeded the president’s authority."
Former President Obama issued the drilling ban in his second term by way of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which allows presidents to instate leasing withdrawals but does not allow presidents to revoke such withdrawals without approval from Congress, according to The Washington Post.
Erik Grafe, the lead attorney from Earthjustice, which argued for the previous administration’s leasing withdrawals to be reinstated in the case, said the ruling shows that "President Trump’s lawlessness is catching up with him."
"The judge’s ruling today re-affirms that we are a nation of laws and shows that the president cannot just trample on the constitution at the expense of our oceans, wildlife, and climate," he added in a statement.
According to the Post, Friday’s ruling marks the third legal blow against the Trump administration’s energy policies this week.
Earlier on Friday, Gleason also blocked a land swap arranged by the Interior Department that aimed to have a road constructed through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock also ruled earlier this week that two gas drilling plans in Colorado that were approved by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service were also illegal, according to the newspaper.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/436590-judge-declares-trumps-order-to-open-arctic-and-atlantic-waters-to
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Ewire: Offshore Drilling Ruling Adds to Trump's Court Losses
Apr 1, 2019 | Inside EPA
A federal judge in Alaska has struck down President Donald Trump's directive to overturn an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling off much of the coasts of Alaska and the Atlantic, a decision that adds to the Trump administration's court losses in energy and environment policy and could set a precedent in similar pending challenges.
In a ruling issued late March 29, Judge Sharon Gleason of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska concluded that President Barack Obama's 2015 and 2016 withdrawal of 120 million acres of the Arctic Ocean and 3.8 million acres in the Atlantic was intended to remain indefinitely, and “will remain in full force and effect unless and until revoked by Congress.”
The New York Times reports that the ruling could also create a hurdle for Trump's separate effort to significantly scale back the size of two national monuments in Utah.
In both the 1953 offshore drilling law and the 1906 Antiquities Act, “Congress gave the president the right to occasionally designate public lands and waters for protection. However, each of the laws is silent on whether a successor can reduce or revoke those protections.”
The ruling means that Trump Interior Department officials must remove these areas from their pending five-year offshore drilling plan, though it is possible that the ruling could be appealed.
It adds to the Trump administration's legal woes in defending a range of environmental and other policies, with the administration amassing a “virtually unprecedented” low success rate in challenges brought under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
A recent report from the Institute for Policy Integrity finds that while the government prevails in APA challenges about 70 percent of the time, Trump's win rate is a mere 6 percent.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-offshore-drilling-ruling-adds-trumps-court-losses
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Colo. House OKs Bill Prioritizing Health in Drilling
Apr 1, 2019 | AP (In E&E - Greenwire)
Colorado's Democratic-controlled House approved legislation Friday that would require regulators to prioritize public safety and health in well drilling decisions affecting the state's $32 billion oil and gas industry.
House Speaker KC Becker's bill — driven by increased drilling near schools and homes — passed on a 36-28 party-line vote after hours of debate.
It now goes to the Senate, where majority Democrats are expected to approve amendments and forward it to Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, a supporter of the bill.
"Today, we are listening to our communities and refusing to ignore the growing health and environmental impacts of oil and gas drilling near homes and schools," Becker, an environmental attorney from Boulder County, said after the vote.
Colorado is the nation's No. 5 crude oil producer and No. 6 for natural gas.
Policymakers have struggled to balance its energy industry with the health and safety of residents in fast-growing communities that have expanded into the rich Wattenberg oil and gas field north of Denver.
In November, voters rejected a ballot measure that would have severely restricted the location of new drilling. But the voters also gave Democrats control of the Legislature and the governorship.
The bill also gives municipalities a say in where drilling can occur.
Republicans and industry groups argue the overhaul will harm oil and gas production and the tax revenue it generates.
Energy groups such as the Colorado Petroleum Council and the Colorado Oil and Gas Association accused Democrats of rushing the legislation, which was introduced March 1.
Industry groups also aired television ads urging citizens to tell their representatives to oppose the legislation.
During debate late Thursday, House Republicans tried and failed to add a clause to the bill that would have allowed petitions for a referendum seeking to overturn the initiative if it became law.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/04/01/stories/1060138591
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Drilling Boom In Washington County Raises Worries About Harm To Picturesque Countryside
Mar 29, 2019 | Houston Chronicle
By Molly Glentzer
Spring wildflowers in the hills northwest of Houston are painting roadsides blue, orange, yellow, pink, white and purple, a prolific display borne from heavy fall and winter rains.
Travelers who spend a night or two out beyond the city limits normally see another show after sundown, as abundant stars cross overhead. But things have not been normal lately.
The night sky is lit up like a sports arena by flares and the glare of massive drilling rigs. The occasional yipping of coyotes down in the draws has been muffled by a house-rattling racket that some compare to the noise of jet engines, audible a mile away. And all night and day, convoys of semis barrel down the narrow county roads hauling pipe, water, sand, tanks and turbines.
An oil and gas boom arrived last year. Washington County has the good fortune, or ill fortune, depending on one’s outlook, of lying on the Giddings Field of the Austin Chalk, a layer of naturally fractured limestone above the prolific Eagle Ford Shale that boomerangs along the Gulf Coast, into Louisiana.
Wildcatters have poked around this part of the chalk since the 1920s with mixed success. Now, high-intensity, horizontal drilling technology has put a seven-county swath of Central Texas into intense play. Major patches of once-bucolic pastureland where wildflowers grew turn overnight into industrial-scale fire ant beds.
Once a rig is in place, the fracking typically lasts three or four days, as crews try to force oil and gas out of the ground with small explosions and a high-pressured slurry of sand and water. With multiple wells on a 6-acre pad and the frequent flaring of unwanted gas, work can rumble on, 24/7, for several months — an eternity to people nearby enduring sleepless nights.
“They’ve just come up all of a sudden, in the last year,” said Joanne Doherty. The ongoing, daily noise from a pad to their west is “triple the decibels of the air conditioner,” said her husband, Larry Doherty. “When it quits, the silence is deafening.”
Drilling permits in Washington County have mushroomed from three in 2016 to 22 in 2017 and 67 last year, according to texas-drilling.com. As of October, 18 oil and gas producers were operating here, and there were 285 active wells. To transport new natural gas liquids, more than 140 miles of pipelines also are under construction or planned, expanding a system that will jag cross private property all the way to Katy.
State laws give transmission companies the right of eminent domain, so everyone is at the mercy of pipelines. The drilling action, however, is pitting neighbors against neighbors, exposing not just oil and gas reserves but a culture clash that may have been inevitable, as agrarian ways have yielded to more genteel land practices.
Local officials expect Washington County — where tourism is key to the economy — to have 100,000 people within 10 or 15 years, nearly triple the current population. Urban retirees have been migrating here for decades, in search of quietude and views. Younger families are yearning for country life, too — although this country life is nowhere near as remote as it was even 50 years ago.
“Old Three Hundred” colonists who arrived with Stephen F. Austin in 1830 could receive more than 4,400 acres if they promised to become ranchers. But as generations of heirs have divided and sold old spreads, many people can see their neighbors’ houses. Today, 200 acres is a big place, and many desirable properties are built on less than 30 acres. Welcome to the Hamptons of Houston.
The Dohertys built 18 years ago atop a hill in the middle of 275 secluded acres. They knew the previous owner of the property had allowed drilling there in the 1980s, but the well had come up dry, “so we never thought it would be an issue,” Joanne said. “The value of this land has been its beauty, and that is what they’re tearing up.”
Since the previous owners’ heirs kept the mineral rights, the Dohertys don’t know if one of the area’s new lateral wells snakes under their home. But when a landman came “nosing around” last year, hoping to lease surface rights, Larry said, “I told him over my dead body or a mandate from the Texas Supreme Court ordering me to let you come through the front gate.”
To Bill Neinast, a well-known, 89-year-old character who lives about a mile east of the Dohertys, that sounds like newcomer talk.
A native of Somerville, Neinast and his wife Jeannine came home in 1979 after his final tour of duty with the U.S. Army as a litigator at the Pentagon. The land called him back, he said, and he appreciates bluebonnets and history as much as anyone. He even leaves a pasture unfenced so visitors can take pictures there.
Still, he happily signed a lease last year with WildHorse Resources Development that would allow a pad within 1,000 feet of his home on FM 390 West. “That’s why we own land,” he said. WildHorse was acquired by Chesapeake Energy, a bigger company based in Oklahoma City, in January, so Neinast doesn’t know if the project near him will proceed. A Chesapeake representative said the company was not ready to announce its plans.
Neinast said having an oil rig on his property would be progress. His 175 acres have been in his family since 1856, and they have always evolved. His ancestors plowed everything up to grow cotton and corn. After World War II, the family flirted with dairy farming, decided it was too time-consuming, and switched to a more lucrative cattle operation.
Neinast believes the inconveniences would be temporary. He’s experienced drilling before, on additional acreage he owns a few miles due north of his home, closer to Lake Somerville. One well there has paid him royalties for 15 years. He won’t say how much WildHorse paid him as a signing bonus, “but if they hit a lot of oil and gas, it’ll be a lot of money,” he added. Even without a well on his land, he and his heirs would belong to a 600- or 700-acre royalty pool.
Others who are benefiting from the boom aren’t so positive.
To the south, across State Highway 290, Sara and Nelson Byman have been getting monthly checks from production at a new well on a neighbor’s ranch that goes somewhere under their 155 acres. The Bymans also leased out 30 acres they were cultivating as food for wildlife to GeoSouthern Energy. Ironically, they had acquired that plot after building their house, as a buffer.
Now their porch overlooks a gas-gathering facility with multi-story towers. They hope most of it will be gone by October, as they’ve been told. Sara said the heavy construction phase brought a pure hell of noise and lights, plus a scary tank fire that erupted late one night. The pad is closer to the house than she thought it would be. Also bigger, taller and louder, with a continuous hum.
It’s hard to tell on paper what you’re negotiating, she said. “We didn’t know we could say no. I just almost wish we could give the money back.”
Most of the companies, especially publicly held ones, refer complainers to websites with assurances that they care about communities. GeoSouthern Energy, which built the pad on the Bymans’ land, fenced the site with a green screen at the couples’ request, because horses graze right next to it. The company also offered to plant an oak tree as a shield. “But I can’t have a tree down there,” Sara said. “There’s no way to water it.”RelatedMOLLY GLENTZERSome Texans react to oil-gas boom, changing communities
Aspen Midstream, the site’s operator now, is also behind the major pipeline expansion and a permanent and controversial 177-acre plant on Old Mill Creek Road. Its cryogenic processing train will handle 200 million cubic square feet of gas a day. The plant became front page news in the Brenham Banner-Press in late February, after Deborah Supernaw, who had signed a lease, appealed to elected officials on Facebook.
Describing herself as a single mother of three who spent nine years improving her 20-acre property, Supernaw wrote, “The noise level… is becoming intolerable, the smell is already offensive, and the traffic on our once paved and quiet country road is now a continuous stream of big rigs, heavy equipment and numerous workforce and personal vehicles. I realize that some of you are likely thrilled with the revenue an operation like this will eventually bring to the county, but you should also be concerned with the toll it is taking... There is no question that our quality of life and property values have been negatively impacted.”
Supernaw did not respond to a call from the Chronicle.
George Dillingham, a Washington County Realtor who specializes in farm and ranch properties, believes property values will dip near production sites. “Some of those multi-stage well sites on 390 look like industrial complexes,” he said. “It’s really ugly… and much more destructive to property value than the old drilling situations, which are still not good.”
When mineral rights are split between dozens of people, Dillingham added, royalty fees may not be enough to offset the difference. Folks with small acreage and no mineral rights are totally out of luck, because there’s nothing to stop producers from putting pads right along their property lines.
“It’s a perfect storm for aggravation, from a constituent’s perspective,” said Washington County commissioner Kirk Hanath. He has fielded a lot of calls from people distressed by the pads, but local officials don’t have regulatory power over drilling. The county’s biggest pain is destruction on roads that weren’t designed for oversize loads; so it is monitoring the damage with drones before, during and after construction, hoping to recoup funds from the state to rebuild when the boom cycle ends.
Steve Ralya, who lives near Neinast, won’t answer calls from a landman who has been after him for months. “He doesn’t understand that this is a unique area,” Ralya said. “It’s not that I don’t need the money, but I’m not happy with the way they’ve wrecked the land. This is a scenic, historic area, and they’ve gone too far.”
Ralya manages Suzanne Longley Farms, a 25-acre nursery just north of 390 that specializes in native and drought-tolerant trees. Longley has turned much of her acreage into a park-like, living laboratory, and she laments that a gorgeous annual display of native blue bells on FM 390 West was paved this winter, almost underneath the area’s shared groundwater well and cylindrical water towers.
She doesn’t care that the state will require any driller there to cement casings as far down as the water source, which is about 700 feet deep; or that the target chalk lies far deeper, at about 14,000 feet. “I’m testing my water every day, and they will hear from me if anything unusual shows up,” she said.
Neinast still doesn’t understand the fuss. “The water towers look just like oil tanks, only taller,” he said, “and no one complained when those went in.”
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Drilling-boom-in-Washington-County-raises-worries-13726927.php?cmpid=ffcp
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Fracking Opponents Make It Harder to Keep Warm
Apr 1, 2019 | Real Clear Energy
By Paula Bolyard
Many U.S. households are just starting to recover from record-setting cold temperatures. Several major cities -- like Denver and Chicago -- used more fuel than last winter to stay warm, according to a recent AccuWeather analysis.
But many low-income Americans, who already struggle to pay their heating bills, couldn't afford to pay for more fuel. For the nation's poorest families, energy costs eat up more than a fifth of after-tax income.
Leaders in Washington and around the country could help lower those heating bills by encouraging the development of domestic natural gas -- a clean, affordable heating fuel that America happens to possess in abundance. Yet several lawmakers are doing their best to suppress natural gas production.
As long as these politicians persist in their campaign against natural gas development, staying warm during a long winter will remain an unaffordable luxury for America's least advantaged citizens.
Heating costs are already unmanageably high for many households around the country. For instance, the average price of heating one's home with propane is a whopping $1,676. Those burning heating oil spent $1,506, on average, while electric heat cost the average household over $965.
But not all families faced such hefty heating bills, thankfully. In fact, the nearly half of American households using natural gas to stay warm spent a mere $634. That's a substantial price difference for anyone. But for a household living at the poverty level -- which is currently $21,330 for a family of three -- the financial savings that come from natural gas can be life-changing.
The surge in domestic natural gas production in recent years has already reduced the cost of living in the United States dramatically. Thanks to advances in the energy exploration technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," household spending on natural gas dropped by more than a quarter between 2008 and 2014. In 2015 alone, natural gas helped deliver $1,337 in additional disposal income to the average U.S. family.
And by making it cheaper to do everything from ship goods to power factories and, yes, heat one's home, the natural gas boom will likely contribute an additional $533 billion to the nation's economy by 2025.
So it's discouraging that so many lawmakers known for championing the economically disadvantaged stand opposed to domestic energy development.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), for instance, wants to ban fracking across the country, just as lawmakers have already done in his home state of Vermont. New York implemented a fracking ban back in 2015, as did Maryland in 2017.
Opponents of fracking insist that the practice poses real threats to the environment. But virtually every concern has been debunked. And anyone truly concerned with the future of our planet should welcome a growing supply of low-cost natural gas -- a fuel that emits roughly half as much CO2 as coal, and considerably less than propane, gasoline, or diesel.
America's broadscale transition away from less clean energy sources like coal and toward natural gas is a main reason why national CO2 emissions have hit their lowest levels in nearly two decades.
Of course, the vast majority of Americans are well aware of the benefits of natural gas. According to one recent poll, 77 percent of voters want more domestic oil and gas production, not less.
It's no surprise why. Policies that restrict the production of natural gas -- and keep energy prices needlessly high -- make little sense in any season. But when Americans face record-setting cold weather, those reforms are downright inhumane.
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2019/04/01/fracking_opponents_make_it_harder_to_keep_warm_110416.html
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DOE Catalyzes Clean Energy Innovation in All 50 States
Apr 1, 2019 | Natural Resource Defense Council
By Madhur Boloor
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has made clean energy research and development (R&D) investments in every U.S. state over the past two years, sending more than $1.8 billion to the national laboratories and to hundreds of private-sector and academic researchers last year alone. Unfortunately, the Trump administration recently unveiled a proposal to slash the Energy Department’s budget next year. If enacted, this would have devastating impacts on American innovation.
NRDC’s new issue brief published today, The Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Investments Are Catalyzing Innovation Nationwide, highlights some of the clean energy investments made in 2018 by two critical DOE offices—the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E). These investments have supported a wide portfolio of technologies ranging from electric vehicles and advanced lighting to offshore wind turbines.
As our new issue brief shows, Congress needs to again ignore the Trump administration’s proposed energy R&D budget cuts and instead strengthen DOE’s clean energy budget, which will allow innovators to develop new and improved technologies to help reduce the worst impacts of climate change.
All of America Stands to Benefit
In 2018, Congress appropriated nearly $2.7 billion to EERE and ARPA-E to support research on topics including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean transportation. NRDC’s review shows the DOE invested more than $1 billion directly to the national laboratories and over $860 million to support private-sector and academic researchers. This funding was awarded to 600-plus small businesses, industrial partners, and academic institutions across almost every state.
Highlighted innovation includes funding to develop long-duration energy storage technologies, cobalt-free batteries for electric vehicles, off-shore wind turbines, and many more technologies and initiatives. These nine projects are profiled in greater detail.
For a full list of the DOE awards, see NRDC’s dataset.
DOE Funding Must Reach U.S. Innovators
While DOE funded hundreds of impressive projects in 2018, it missed an opportunity to provide even greater support to U.S. innovators. In December 2018, NRDC discovered unusual, problematic delays in deploying congressionally appropriated funding. NRDC’s analysis found hundreds of millions of unspent EERE and ARPA-E research dollars. In response to these concerns, newly confirmed EERE Assistant Secretary Daniel Simmons recently stated that getting funds into the hands of researchers was “top on his list” of priorities. Given the large, unspent balances for funds appropriated in Fiscal Years (FY) 2018 and 2019, we urge Congress to continue monitoring DOE spending to ensure this crucial money reaches U.S. innovators in a timely manner. Fortunately, despite these delays, DOE still managed to support hundreds of exciting and important clean energy research projects in 2018.
DOE Investments Have Led to Cheaper, Cleaner Energy
As part of the review, NRDC also updated cost and deployment data in its Revolution Now data series. It shows that the decline in costs and increase in deployment for four DOE-supported clean energy technologies continued during 2017 and 2018. DOE funding has helped drive down the costs of clean energy innovation, from solar and wind power to electric vehicles, making these technologies more affordable while accelerating market adoption.
Clean Energy Funding Yields Returns
From various studies, we know that every dollar invested into DOE clean energy research will return more than $33 in benefits to American taxpayers. While we can’t know which specific investments will pay off the most, we do know that funding a broad portfolio of clean energy research overall is a guaranteed win.Clean Energy Funding Has Broad Support
Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s FY2020 DOE R&D budget proposal slashes EERE’s funding by $2 billion, or 86 percent, and would entirely eliminate ARPA-E. Congress should reject these devastating cuts, as it did in 2017 and 2018, while increasing funding for EERE and ARPA-E to record levels.
During an April 2018 hearing, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, made the rationale for increases clear by stating that DOE’s “research programs have made the United States a world leader in science and technology, and these programs will help the United States maintain its brainpower advantage to remain competitive at a time when other countries are investing heavily in research.” In a March 2019 hearing, Senator Alexander reiterated his support by proposing a doubling in clean energy research funding over the next five years. Energy innovation and R&D funding is essential in bringing down the costs of a transition to clean energy, and in an effective climate action agenda, must be paired with robust efficiency and emissions standards and clean energy incentives. This comprehensive portfolio of policy tools will be necessary to successfully combat climate change.
Congress is not alone in recognizing the huge economic benefits of clean energy innovation for our prosperity, security, and environment. For example, the American Energy Innovation Council, a group of CEOs of some of the nation’s largest corporations, has recommended that Congress increase clean energy R&D funding to $16 billion annually, or nearly triple current levels. Co-director of Stanford’s Precourt Institute and founding ARPA-E director Arun Majumdar recently testified before Congress that ARPA-E’s annual budget should be increased to $1 billion.
We hope this issue brief and accompanying dataset will help policy makers identify the groundbreaking federally sponsored clean energy R&D being done in their communities and emphasize the importance of a strong clean energy R&D budget. We encourage them to visit these innovators, learn more about their work, and ask what more can be done to maintain U.S. clean energy leadership.
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/madhur-boloor/doe-catalyzes-clean-energy-innovation-all-50-states
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D.C. Circuit Hears Argument Today in Lawsuit Challenging EPA Loophole for Toxic Air Pollution
Apr 1, 2019 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Tomás Carbonell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hold oral argument this morning in a case about a dangerous new loophole created by then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt that could increase Americans’ exposure to toxic air pollution.
“This loophole puts communities across our country at risk of increased exposure to benzene and other dangerous or cancer-causing pollutants,” said Tomás Carbonell, lead attorney for Environmental Defense Fund, which is a party to the case. “The loophole was created unlawfully and violates the Clean Air Act. It should be closed immediately.”
The case centers around “maximum achievable control technology” (MACT) standards for hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. These standards generally apply to large industrial facilities like refineries and chemical plants that emit high amounts of 187 dangerous or cancer-causing pollutants.
Under a long-standing policy adopted in 1995, these “major source” facilities had to comply with the MACT standards for as long as they operated. Then, in January of 2018, Pruitt suddenly and unlawfully withdrew the policy in a four-page memo issued without notice or public comment and without considering the damage to Americans’ health and the environment.
Under Pruitt’s loophole, thousands of industrial facilities across the country could be eligible to operate with weaker air pollution controls – or even with no air pollution controls at all. An EDF report found at least 18 major facilities in the Houston area alone that are eligible to use the loophole, potentially resulting in hundreds of thousands of pounds of additional health-harming pollution.
Environmental Defense Fund joined 10 other environmental, environmental justice, and public health organizations – Earthjustice, California Communities Against Toxics, Downwinders at Risk, Environmental Integrity Project, Hoosiers Environmental Council, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Natural Resources Defense Council, Ohio Citizen Action, Sierra Club, and Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Series – to file a lawsuit. The state of California is also challenging the loophole.
The case will be argued before a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit this morning, shortly after 9:30 a.m. Judges Rogers, Wilkins and Silberman will hear the case in courtroom 31.
https://www.edf.org/media/dc-circuit-hears-argument-today-lawsuit-challenging-epa-loophole-toxic-air-pollution
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House GOP Bid to Force Green Deal Vote Won’t Work, Democrats Say
Apr 1, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott
Top House Democrats are confident they’ll close ranks and suffer few defections as Republicans try to force backers of the Green New Deal to defend the ambitious climate platform in an up-or-down floor vote.
House Republicans are trying to deploy one of the few tools the minority party has to bring measures directly to the floor: a discharge petition requiring 218 signatures to have legislation or—as in this case—a resolution bypass the committee process.
But Democrats say the GOP petition is a cynical exercise, given how few Republicans have signed onto any significant action to address climate action. Those Democrats say the Green New Deal is an overarching statement of principles, and that an issue as serious as climate change deserves more legislative deliberation.
“No one is going to fall for their political gamesmanship,” House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), one of 92 House Democrats backing the green deal, said of the Republican strategy.
A spokesman for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the Green New Deal’s leading voice in the House, echoed McGovern.
“We’re not going to be baited by this tomfoolery,” spokesman Corbin Trent said.
Ocasio-Cortez has touted the Green New Deal—a climate platform that also includes a call for dramatic expansion of green jobs as well as other progressive priorities on healthcare, college education, and social justice—as a dry run for sweeping legislation that could move if Democrats win the White House and the Senate in 2020.
The House Republicans’ effort came after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) forced Senate Democrats to take a similar floor vote March 26. But given their minority status, Republicans in the House can’t determine the floor agenda the way McConnell can.
More Than 20 Democrats Needed
Democrats introduced their 14-page resolution (H.Res 109) in February calling for a Green New Deal to move the U.S. to carbon neutrality and to pursue other lofty goals, including creating millions of high-wage jobs with economic security and prosperity “for all people of the United States.”
Georgia Republican Jody Hice, backed by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), hopes to cobble together the required 218 signatures by the time Congress returns from a late April recess. Democrats control the House 235-197, with three vacancies, so Republicans need more than 20 Democratic defections if all Republicans sign on.
“There are 92 Democrats who have cosponsored the Green New Deal and they believe that is what America wants,” Hice said. “But even Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi does not want to have a vote on the floor because she herself recognizes this is too radical for her to even bring to the floor.”
Ocasio-Cortez and the more progressive wing of the Democratic party have had their differences with Pelosi, the California Democrat, over how far and how fast to move climate and other issues. But they said they agree the Republican minority shouldn’t decide what measures come to the floor and when.
Suspicious of Hice
Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a senior Democrat on Energy and Commerce who backs the Green New Deal, said Hice “is no friend of combating climate change, So we’re not seeing him as a big ally.”
Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment and climate change panel, said Hice’s effort “looked just like a publicity stunt.”
“We shouldn’t play games with this issue, it’s too serious. It’s too urgent,” said Tonko, who is developing his own climate-related legislation that is far more specific than the Green New Deal.
Senate Republicans say those are just excuses for Democrats who flocked to the Green New Deal to assuage climate advocate groups in the wake of the Democratic House takeover in the 2018 midterms.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) noted that all six senators running to be the Democratic Party’s 2020 nominee to challenge President Donald Trump co-sponsored the Green New Deal resolution introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). Forced by McConnell to vote, 43 Democrats voted “present"—including all six of those Senate Democratic presidential hopefuls, Barrasso noted.
Holding the vote showed Democrats lack the courage of their convictions on the climate issue, Barrasso said.
“Here we had the Democrats running for president, all having taken positions which they are going to continue to sell to the public” as backers of climate action, Barrasso said. “And they weren’t willing to stand up and even vote for it on the floor of the United States Senate.”
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/house-gop-bid-to-force-green-deal-vote-wont-work-democrats-say
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Rockefeller Announces End of Major Climate Resilience Initiative
Apr 1, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Christopher Flavelle
The Rockefeller Foundation will shut down its 100 Resilient Cities program, the largest privately funded climate-adaptation initiative in the U.S., the foundation announced Monday.
Rockefeller will shift some of its resilience funding to the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, with a $30 million grant to the council’s Adrienne Arsht Center for Resilience, the foundation said in a news release. Rockefeller also announced a $12 million grant “to allow continued support and transition time to the 100 Resilient Cities network through much of 2019.”
The 100 Resilient Cities program was started by Rockefeller in 2013 to help U.S. cities -- including Boston, Miami, New York and Los Angeles -- as well as cities overseas prepare for threats related to climate change. Bloomberg News reported last week that the foundation was planning to disband the program.
The closing of the 100 Resilient Cities program comes as U.S. cities face increasing pressure from climate change, especially following a string of major natural disasters over the past two years. And it coincides with a pullback in climate adaptation work by the Trump administration, which has reversed policies designed to prepare communities for global warming.
The program, to which Rockefeller provided $164 million in grant money, pays for cities to hire “chief resilience officers’’ who develop and then implement strategies for coping with climate change. The initiative also gives cities access to the organization’s staff and external consultants, as well as to a global network of cities trying to grapple with similar problems.
For participating cities whose chief resilience officers have not yet completed their initial two-year contracts, the foundation will continue to pay those officers’ salaries for the remainder of their two-year commitments, according to Matt Herrick, a Rockefeller spokesman.
The foundation described its decision as “a new phase” of its leadership on climate and resilience, and said the grant to the Atlantic Council “establishes a new platform for this important work to evolve and continue.”
Asked why the foundation was closing the program, Herrick said that 100 Resilient Cities had mostly achieved its objectives.
“The history of the foundation, when it begins programs or initiatives, is that those do not carry forward in perpetuity,” Herrick said in a phone interview Monday. “We anticipate a successful conclusion to the goals set by 100 Resilient Cities.”
Network Established
As for the network that the program was intended to create, so that cities could help each other deal with climate change, that network “will continue in some capacity or another,” Herrick said.
The program has a staff of 86.
“Jobs within 100RC will end on July 31,” Herrick said. “We will do everything we can to help 100RC staff as they explore new opportunities. They are amazing colleagues and their work has been so important.”
The 100 Resilient Cities initiative was created by Judith Rodin, who was president of Rockefeller from 2005 to 2017. The foundation chose Raj Shah, who had run the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Obama administration, to succeed her.
“I am immensely proud of the work achieved by 100 Resilient Cities to integrate resilience in cities and communities around the world,” Shah said in Monday’s press release. “The Foundation is committed to working with cities and CROs to ensure this work is institutionalized.”
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/rockefeller-announces-end-of-major-climate-resilience-initiative
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