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AM ACC Clips Report - April 12, 2019

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) Former Giuliani Aides Still Working For Qatar
Apr 12, 2019 | Politico
By Theodoric Meyer

.... — Russ Kelley has left the Hill to join the American Chemistry Council as a director of federal affairs. He plans to register as a lobbyist. He was previously a senior adviser to Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) in her role as vice chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus.
(ACC Mentioned) New York City to Eliminate Most Single-Use Plastic Food Ware (1)
Apr 11, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Keshia Clukey

New York City will reduce its purchases of single-use plastic straws, cutlery, plates, and cups by 95 percent, according to an executive order signed April 11 by Mayor Bill de Blasio (D).
(ACC Mentioned) Iowa, Tennessee Pass Bills Supporting Advanced Plastics Recycling
Apr 11, 2019 | Waste 360

The bills in both states promote advanced recycling facilities that convert plastic scrap into raw material via chemical recycling.
Oregon Senate Passes Bill Limiting Plastic Straws
Apr 12, 2019 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Chris Mills Rodrigo

Oregon's Senate passed a law Thursday to limit the use of plastic straws.

TSCA News - There are no clips to report at this time.

Chemical Management News

Governments Pursue Chemical Recycling
Apr 12, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Alex Tullo

Local officials are beginning to opt for the chemical conversion of plastics into fuels as a means of processing difficult plastic waste. The City of Phoenix is working with Salt Lake City–based start-up Renewlogy to build a conversion plant. And the British firm Plastic Energy has a deal to build plants using its technology in West Java, Indonesia.
Judge Cancels San Francisco Roundup Trial Scheduled for May 20
Apr 11, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Joel Rosenblatt

The federal judge in San Francisco handling more than 11,000 lawsuits over claims Bayer AG’s Roundup herbicide caused people’s cancer canceled a trial scheduled for May 20 and ordered the parties to participate in confidential mediation.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Blasts Vietnam Over Glyphosate Ban (1)
Apr 11, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto and Adam Allington

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Vietnam’s decision to ban glyphosate-based weedkillers will harm agriculture globally.
US FDA Finalizes Hand Sanitizer Rule
Apr 11, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Britt Erickson

Manufacturers can no longer use 28 active ingredients, including triclosan and benzethonium chloride, in over-the-counter hand sanitizers sold in the US, under a rule finalized by the US Food and Drug Administration on April 11. Millions of consumers rely on hand sanitizers to reduce bacteria on their hands when soap and water are not available.
EPA Gives GE Nod on Hudson River Cleanup—For Now (1)
Apr 12, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By John Herzfeld

General Electric Co. got a long-awaited decision from the EPA that the company has finished its cleanup of chemical contamination of the Hudson River—for now.
New York Plans To Sue EPA Over Certifying Upper Hudson Cleanup Complete
Apr 11, 2019 | Inside EPA
By Suzanne Yohannan

New York is planning to sue EPA over its decision to certify the upper portion of the Hudson River cleanup as complete even though the agency left the door open to additional future cleanup requirements by issuing a separate review that defers until a future date whether the cleanup is “protective.”

Energy News

(ACC Mentioend) West Virginia’s Industrial Rejuvenation Is Right Under Our Feet
Apr 12, 2019 | West Virginia MetroNews

Improved drilling technology and increased demand have contributed to a dramatic resurgence of the natural gas industry in our region.
Senate Talks ‘Energy Innovation’ as Green New Deal Counterweight
Apr 12, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Chuck McCutcheon

The Senate energy panel’s hearing today on climate change—its second this Congress—focuses on “energy innovation,” which has emerged as what the GOP sees as a pragmatic counterpoint to the Green New Deal.
Lawmakers Warming To Green Power Mandates
Apr 12, 2019 | E&E Daily
By Geof Koss

Democrats on both sides of the Capitol are preparing a series of bills that would require utilities to generate a growing percentage of electricity from renewable or low-carbon sources.
U.S. LNG Shipments On Track For Slowest Month Since October
Apr 12, 2019 | Reuters
By Scott DiSavino

U.S. shipments of liquefied natural gas are expected to fall to their lowest level in six months in April, after a leading U.S. supplier shut units for maintenance at a time when a glut of supply has driven some worldwide prices to near three-year lows.
Like It Or Not, Natural Gas Is Our Best Energy Option
Apr 12, 2019 | The Hill
By Ellen R. Wald

To ease the backlog of natural gas in the United States, the White House is clearing the path for the construction of more pipelines and the export of natural gas. These moves are necessary to promote the health of our environment, cost-effective electricity generation and a foreign policy that combats Russian influence among our geopolitical partners.

Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.

Transportation and Infrastructure News

Oregon's Oil Train Rules Bring Up The Rear
Apr 11, 2019 | Mail Tribune
By Editorial Board

Oregon’s wide-open embrace of corporate campaign contributions has repercussions across a number of industries, and results in more lenient environmental laws than in neighboring West Coast states.

Environment News

Exxon to Face Investor Votes on Climate, Gulf Coast Chemicals
Apr 12, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Kevin Crowley

Exxon Mobil Corp. shareholders will vote in May on proposals to form a board committee on climate change and disclose the risks posed by rising sea levels to its Gulf Coast petrochemical investments.
EPA Advisory Board Softens Criticism of PM Research Summary
Apr 12, 2019 | E&E News PM
By Sean Reilly

In a freshly revised report, an EPA advisory committee toned down its criticism of a preliminary agency roundup of research on particulate matter's health effects.
EPA Expands Air Data Waivers For ‘Exceptional’ Events, Sparking Criticism
Apr 11, 2019 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker

EPA has expanded the scope of possible situations where states and industry can exclude air monitoring data showing violations of federal air quality standards from regulatory determinations on Clean Air Act compliance, prompting warnings from one environmentalist that the action is unlawful, though states are welcoming the new policy.
EPA's Final GHG Inventory Confirms Slight Emissions Cut
Apr 11, 2019 | Inside EPA

EPA's final annual greenhouse gas inventory that includes data through 2017 is confirming a relatively small GHG emissions cut from the prior year, highlighting a slowdown in reductions during the early part of the Trump presidency.
Senators Discuss Pricing Carbon — Sort Of
Apr 12, 2019 | E&E Climatewire
By Nick Sobczyk

Four out of five witnesses at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing yesterday recommended a price on carbon to reduce emissions, but that doesn't mean lawmakers are likely to take their suggestions.

Industry and Association News

(ACC Mentioned) Former Giuliani Aides Still Working For Qatar

Apr 12, 2019 | Politico

By Theodoric Meyer

FORMER GIULIANI AIDES WILL KEEP WORKING FOR QATAR: Two former aides to Rudy Giuliani, Chris Henick and Tony Carbonetti, have extended their lucrative contract to lobby for the Qatari government, according to a Justice Department filing. Henick and Carbonetti first registered last year to help Qatar resolve its standoff with Saudi Arabia and its allies through their firm, Blueprint Advisors. They met with Tim Lenderking, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for Arabian Gulf affairs, in June and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in October, according to a disclosure filing. Carbonetti also met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.).
— The contract with Qatar is worth $100,000 a month — but in a disclosure filing submitted in January, Henick and Carbonetti acknowledged they hadn’t been paid yet. “Payments have not yet been received, but Registrant expects to receive full payment for services provided during the reporting period in the coming months,” the duo reported. In an interview on Wednesday, Carbonetti told PI they still hadn’t gotten any money but expected to be paid in full. “It’s all accounting on their end,” he said.
— In the meantime, they’ve covered their expenses — including nearly $1,100 in hotel and dining charges at the Four Seasons in Doha, Qatar, last year; nearly $7,300 in flights and Amtrak trips; and a $141.54 bill at the Monocle on Capitol Hill on the same day they met with Graham — themselves. (Qatar did shell out for a flight to the country last year, according to a disclosure filing.)
— Asked how he’d managed to secure meetings with Pompeo and other top officials, Carbonetti said he had been helped by “old acquaintances.” Giuliani was not among them, he said. But he acknowledged that his years working alongside Giuliani had helped him make the connections on which he’s relying. “Being his chief of staff introduced me to a ton of people over the years,” he said.
** A message from U.S. Travel Association and the travel industry: Travel is trade. Travel is commerce. Travel is jobs. It’s an essential industry that generates $2.5 trillion in economic output, supports 15.7 million American workers and helps reduce our overall trade deficit. Travel matters to America—it should matter to you. Learn more about this industry and its outsized impact on the U.S. economy. **
Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. Tips: tmeyer@politico.com. You can also follow me on Twitter: @theodoricmeyer.
UBS HIRES HENSARLING: The Swiss financial services giant UBS has hired former Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) as executive vice president of the Americas region. Hensarling, a former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, didn’t run for reelection last year. He’ll be based in Dallas.
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY FIGHTS GAS TAX HIKE: Americans for Prosperity, one of the nonprofits backed by Charles and David Koch’s network, is making a new push to convince Congress not to raise the gas tax, putting it in conflict with the trade groups advocating to raise the tax as a way to pay for infrastructure spending. The group is spending six figures on a campaign that will include digital ads in 20 states and 30 congressional districts. “You already pay enough in taxes,” one of the ads reads. “Tell your lawmakers to oppose any gas tax hike.”
— The campaign pushes back against trade associations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Trucking Associations, which support raising the gas tax. “You can’t even maintain current spending without additional revenue,” Neil Bradley, the Chamber’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, said in an interview on Thursday morning, citing the Highway Trust Fund’s projected shortfall of more than $150 billion by 2029. “There’s nothing conservative about borrowing from China to fill our potholes and pave our roads,” Sue Hensley, the American Trucking Associations’ executive vice president of communications and public affairs, wrote in an email to PI. “In thewise words of President Reagan — who twice oversaw raises in the fuel user fee — ‘the bridges and highways we fail to repair today will have to be rebuilt tomorrow at many times the cost.'”
SPACEX HIRES FORBES TATE: SpaceX, Elon Musk’s spaceflight company, has added Forbes Tate Partners to its roster of Washington lobbying firms. SpaceX, which launched its Falcon Heavy rocket into space in February, spent $2.2 million on Washington lobbying last year, according to disclosure filings, and also retains American Defense International, Bedrock Strategies, Crossroads Strategies, Harbinger Strategies, Invariant, J.A. Green & Company, PoliSpace and Squire Patton Boggs.
— Virpax Pharmaceuticals also hired Forbes Tate to lobby on “non-opioid pain management.”
HOUSE DEMOCRATS WILL INVESTIGATE EPA OFFICIALS: “The House Energy and Commerce Committee is launching an investigation into whether top [Environmental Protection Agency] officials violated ethics rules by launching a rollback of air pollution regulations that benefited their former lobbying clients in the electric utility sector,” POLITICO’s Zack Colman reports. “The committee's Democrats are seeking to probe communications between the utilities and an industry group that was run from the offices of the lobbying firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, which had employed Bill Wehrum, EPA's air chief, and David Harlow, the EPA air office's senior counsel. That industry organization, the Utility Air Regulatory Group, generated $8.2 million in 2017 alone for the lobbying firm and raised questions about whether Wehrum's involvement with it followed ethics guidelines, as first reported by POLITICO.” Full story.
SALT CRACKDOWN SPURS LAST-MINUTE LOBBYING: From POLITICO’s Helena Bottemiller Evich: “The Trump administration is preparing to lock in one of former President Barack Obama’s signature nutrition priorities — a policy that pressures the food industry to cut back on salt in all manner of processed foods. … But some segments of the food industry are now mounting a late-in-the-game attempt to get the administration to pump the brakes — a stealth lobbying effort that’s laid bare a rift in the industry.”
— Several trade associations are now trying to meet with Office of Management and Budget “officials to present a new study showing that meeting [the Food and Drug Administration]’s sodium targets would be an expensive undertaking for companies across the industry. The effort to engage OMB is being waged by theAmerican Bakers Association, American Frozen Food Institute, International Dairy Foods Association, North American Meat Institute, National Restaurant Association and SNAC International, a trade association that represents more than 400 snack manufacturers, including PepsiCo.” Full story.
FLYING IN: The National Community Pharmacists Association is on the Hill today for the second day of a two-day fly-in. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar addressed the group this morning before they hit the Hill, where they have met or will meet with Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Reps. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), among others.
IF YOU MISSED IT LAST NIGHT: “Lawyers for Gregory B. Craig, a White House counsel in the Obama administration, expect him to be indicted in the coming days on charges related to his work for the Russia-aligned government of Ukraine,” The New York Times’ Ken Vogel reports. While the case against Craig is related to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, “Mr. Craig’s lawyers do not necessarily expect him to be charged with violating the act. Rather, they expect him to be charged with making false statements to the Justice Department officials examining whether he was required to register under the law for work he did in 2012 [on behalf of the Ukrainian government], while he was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.” Full story.JOBS REPORT
— Russ Kelley has left the Hill to join the American Chemistry Council as a director of federal affairs. He plans to register as a lobbyist. He was previously a senior adviser to Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) in her role as vice chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus.
— Waxman Strategies has hired Maggie Jo Buchanan as a senior director and Kashif Syed as a director. Buchanan was previously a consultant and is also a former aide to Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas). Syed previously worked on Planned Parenthood’s policy team.NEW JOINT FUNDRAISERS
Latta Victory Fund (Rep. Bob Latta, Ohio Republican Party State Central & Executive Committee, NRCC)NEW PACS
For the People (Super PAC)NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS
Alignment Government Strategies: International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions
Blank Rome Government Relations: Carnival Corporation
Bridge Public Affairs, LLC: Ivanti
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Camgian Microsystems Corporation
Strategic Health Care: Legacy HealthNEW LOBBYING TERMINATIONS
American Coalition for Filipino Veterans, Inc.: American Coalition For Filipino Veterans Inc
Aronnax Public Strategies LLC: Alexander Company
Aronnax Public Strategies LLC: City of Peoria, AZ
Aronnax Public Strategies LLC: Cytimmune
Aronnax Public Strategies LLC: Legacy Redevelopment Corp
Aronnax Public Strategies LLC: Urban Development Associates
Balch & Bingham, LLP: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
Broydrick & Associates: Egan-Jones Rating Company
Broydrick & Associates: Live Oak Bank
Broydrick & Associates: Original Wisconsin Ducks
Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Decision Sciences
David Turch & Assoc.: Riverside County, California
KRL International LLC: Missy Holden
Mercury Public Affairs, LLC: Cemex
Mercury Public Affairs, LLC: Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina
Mercury Public Affairs, LLC: Wyatt Adams
Rubicon Advisors, LLC: Lannett Company, Inc
Strategic Marketing Innovations: Teledyne Controls LLC
The Hoffman Group: International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators
Watson Green LLC (formerly Watson/Mulhern, LLC): Nestle USA
** A message from U.S. Travel Association and the travel industry: Travel is a powerful engine for a roaring economy. Travel is a driving force in reducing the trade deficit. Travel is millions of good jobs in every corner of America. In 2018, traveler spending generated $2.5 trillion in economic output, supported 15.7 million American jobs, and helped reduce our overall trade deficit, with $256 billion in U.S. travel exports creating a $69 billion travel trade surplus.
The U.S. Travel Association unites the industry around its mission of growing travel to and within the U.S. to further boost the economy, add more jobs and lower the trade deficit. From supporting policies that ensure travel to the U.S. is as secure and expedient as possible to modernizing America’s travel infrastructure to be the world’s greatest—we are dedicated to the growth of this industry and its continued success. Travel matters to America—learn more about this industry’s impact and why travel should matter to you. **

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2019/04/11/former-giuliani-aides-still-working-for-qatar-423697

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(ACC Mentioned) New York City to Eliminate Most Single-Use Plastic Food Ware (1)

Apr 11, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Keshia Clukey

Mayor de Blasio executive order directs agency reductions in single-use plastics
City lawmakers now turn to limit single-use plastics in private establishments
New York City will reduce its purchases of single-use plastic straws, cutlery, plates, and cups by 95 percent, according to an executive order signed April 11 by Mayor Bill de Blasio (D).
Effective immediately, all city agencies are directed to reduce single-use plastic food ware items, and have 120 days to create a reduction plan, according to the mayor’s office.
The plans are expected to be fully implemented by year’s end, and city agencies will instead purchase compostable or recyclable alternatives. No new contracts will be signed for single-use plastic food ware as a result of the order.
The city spends approximately $1 million on single-use plastic food ware each year, buying at least 1.1 million pounds of plastic forks and such, officials said. The order will reduce the city’s carbon emissions by approximately 500 tons per year, the city estimates.
“Today we say ‘no’ to plastics, we say ’no’ to fossil fuels, we say ‘yes’ to a better and fairer future,” de Blasio said at a news conference in Brooklyn.
The cost of compostable or recyclable items might be higher, but “where there is some greater cost, it’s a cost worth paying,” de Blasio said.
Medical Uses Exempt
The city still will purchase certain single-use plastic items for medical uses, for emergency uses and for those who need them, such as those with disabilities or allergies who cannot use alternatives, he said.
De Blasio April 11 also announced his support for pending City Council legislationintroduced in February that would ban single-use plastic items, such as food ware in private establishments where reasonable alternatives are available. He said he expects the law to pass by the end of the year.
De Blasio also is pushing to ban plastic straws.
The city in January implemented a ban on single-use foam products, including cups, plates, trays, and the polystyrene loose-fill packaging material known as “packing peanuts.”
“We want to get these options out there more fully,” de Blasio said of environmentally friendly alternatives. “If you leave the status quo in place it endangers the Earth. You have to make change.”
Industry Concerns
The executive order was criticized by the American Chemistry Council, which represents plastic manufacturers.
“This is clearly the wrong approach,” Keith Christman, the council’s managing director of plastic markets, said in an interview. “It’s going to have unintended consequences. It’s going to increase impact on the environment. It’s going to increase greenhouse gases.”
He also said it will cost the city’s schools, hospitals, jails and other agencies more money, and increase the cost of living in the city.
Christman cited an April 2018 report on plastic substitutes prepared for the council by a research group.
Eateries Question Supplies
The New York State Restaurant Association, although open to using alternatives, also was concerned about the cost, particularly if plastic straws are banned.
“The marketplace hasn’t really caught up to it yet. The supply is not there,” Kevin Dugan, New York State Restaurant Association director of government affairs, said in an April 11 interview.
“If New York City all of the sudden decides to ban plastic straws, the demand for straws made of other types of material is going to go through the roof and that infrastructure isn’t there yet,” Dugan said.
There needs to be time for the industry to come up with cost-effective alternatives, he said, otherwise the cost will likely be passed on to the consumer.
“Even small changes to anything that affects your bottom line are going to have to be offset in some way to make sure you’re staying in business,” Dugan said.
Move Follows Bag Ban
But Riverkeeper, an environmental advocacy group, applauded the governor’s move.
“This is an important step for both educating the public and reducing the plastic footprint of New York City’s government,” Jeremy Cherson, Riverkeeper legislative advocacy manager, said in an interview.
The executive order comes after the March 31 passage of the state’s $175.5 billion budget for fiscal 2020, which included legislation banning single-use plastic bags.
New York is the second state after California to pass such a ban. It includes bags provided at the checkout of grocery stores, bodegas, retailers, and superstores such as Walmart.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/new-york-city-to-eliminate-most-single-use-plastic-food-ware-1

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(ACC Mentioned) Iowa, Tennessee Pass Bills Supporting Advanced Plastics Recycling

Apr 11, 2019 | Waste 360

The bills in both states promote advanced recycling facilities that convert plastic scrap into raw material via chemical recycling.
Iowa and Tennessee have just passed bills supporting advanced recycling facilities that convert plastic waste into raw material via chemical recycling, which includes pyrolysis and depolymerization.
Recycling Today reports that in Iowa, converting 25 percent of the state's post-consumer plastics into feedstocks and transportation fuels could support five advanced recycling and recovery facilities and generate $309 million in economic output annually. And in Tennessee, converting 25 percent of the state’s post-consumer plastics into manufacturing feedstock and transportation fuels could support eight advanced recycling and recovery facilities and generate $264 million in economic output per year.
A report released by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) in March revealed the potential economic impact of expanding advanced plastic recycling and recovery technologies in the United States to be nearly $10 billion. ACC examined a burgeoning class of technologies that convert used plastics into a range of products and raw materials such as chemicals and chemical feedstocks for new plastics, lower carbon transportation fuels and other petroleum-based commodities.
Recycling Today has more details:
The Iowa House and Senate passed Senate File 534 and the Tennessee House and Senate passed Senate Bill 0923 in support of advanced recycling facilities that convert plastic scrap into raw material using pyrolysis or chemical recycling.
“In passing SF 534 and SB 0923, Iowa and Tennessee become the most recent states to create a welcoming environment for businesses to convert more post-consumer plastics into valuable raw materials, keeping more of our plastic resources out of landfills,” states Craig Cookson, senior director of recycling and recovery, The American Chemistry Council’s Plastics Division. “Iowa and Tennessee join Florida, Wisconsin and Georgia in passing such legislation, reinforcing states’ growing recognition of the economic and environmental benefits of reusing our plastic resources.”
The legislation defines pyrolysis—a process that converts post-consumer polymers into fuels, chemical feedstock, waxes or resin pellets—and pyrolysis facilities as being separate from solid waste disposal facilities.
https://www.waste360.com/legislation-regulation/iowa-tennessee-pass-bills-supporting-advanced-plastics-recycling

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Oregon Senate Passes Bill Limiting Plastic Straws

Apr 12, 2019 | The Hill - E2 Wire

By Chris Mills Rodrigo

Oregon's Senate passed a law Thursday to limit the use of plastic straws.
SB 90, approved by a 23-6 vote, would prohibit single-use plastic straws at restaurants unless a customer asks for one. Drive-thrus would still be able to hand out plastic straws.
In a press release, Oregon Democrats highlighted the environmental risks of plastic straws.
“We use a straw for less than an hour, but it continues to exist in nature for longer than our lifetime,” said state Sen. Michael Dembrow (D), who introduced the bill on the Senate floor.
“We can use a straw, throw it away and forget about it as an inconsequential part of our lives. But that straw can easily end up in the ocean or somewhere else in nature. There, a single straw can have significant and sometimes deadly impacts on animals. The viral video of a turtle having a straw painfully removed from its nostril provides clear evidence that our seemingly inconsequential acts have significant consequences for other creatures.”
Oregon's House will now have to approve the legislation.
The state would become the second after California to enact measures limiting single-use plastic straws statewide.
Several individual cities, like Seattle, New York City and Portland, have also implemented their own policies to curb plastic straw usage.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/438549-oregon-senate-passes-bill-limiting-plastic-straws

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TSCA News - There are no clips to report at this time.

Chemical Management News

Governments Pursue Chemical Recycling

Apr 12, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News

By Alex Tullo

Projects in the US and Indonesia opt to turn hard-to-process materials into fuels
Local officials are beginning to opt for the chemical conversion of plastics into fuels as a means of processing difficult plastic waste. The City of Phoenix is working with Salt Lake City–based start-up Renewlogy to build a conversion plant. And the British firm Plastic Energy has a deal to build plants using its technology in West Java, Indonesia.
Renewlogy, which has pyrolysis technology for converting waste plastics into fuels, will form a joint venture with a local waste management firm to build its plant. The plant will process plastics coded 3 through 7—materials such as polystyrene and polypropylene that aren’t mechanically recycled as widely as polyethylene terephthalate and high-density polyethylene, which are coded 1 and 2, respectively. The plant will have the capacity to process about 10 metric tons per day of the material into 60 barrels of liquid fuel.
Phoenix officials say their plan is a reaction to National Sword, a Chinese government policy that stopped the import of US plastics for sorting and disposal. “During a time when cities are giving up on recycling, Phoenix is again leading the way,” says Mayor Kate Gallego.
Separately, the government of West Java has signed an agreement under which Plastic Energy will build five facilities that transform plastic into fuel in a process the firm calls thermal anaerobic conversion. Indonesia is one of the world’s leading sources of plastic waste because of its lack of waste management infrastructure.
Plastic Energy already operates two plants in Spain. In December, it signed an agreement with Sabic to build a plant in the Netherlands that will provide feedstock for Sabic’s chemical plants.
Jan Dell, a chemical engineer whose organization, the Last Beach Cleanup, works with investors and environmental groups on projects to reduce plastic pollution, has her doubts about chemical recycling. “The economic realities of cheap new plastic production and low-cost oil and gas production make chemical recycling processes economically uncompetitive and impractical at commercial scale,” she says. “Labor, transport, and processing costs for collecting, sorting, and recycling plastic make it more costly than new plastic or new oil.”
Such initiatives distract from the need to reduce consumption of single-use plastics, Dell adds.
https://cen.acs.org/environment/sustainability/Governments-pursue-chemical-recycling/97/i15

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Judge Cancels San Francisco Roundup Trial Scheduled for May 20

Apr 11, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Joel Rosenblatt

The federal judge in San Francisco handling more than 11,000 lawsuits over claims Bayer AG’s Roundup herbicide caused people’s cancer canceled a trial scheduled for May 20 and ordered the parties to participate in confidential mediation.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria April 11 canceled the proceedings set to begin next month, which would’ve been the next in his court following an $80 million verdict against Bayer last month.
In his ruling, Chhabria said resources are better spent organizing the thousands of cases collected in the multi-district litigation, meaning determining which of those lawsuits should be dismissed, which should be sent to state courts, and sending other cases back to where they were originally filed for trials in federal court.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/judge-cancels-san-francisco-roundup-trial-scheduled-for-may-20

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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Blasts Vietnam Over Glyphosate Ban (1)

Apr 11, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Pat Rizzuto and Adam Allington

Vietnamese glyphosate ban takes effect 60 days from April 10
Will have ‘devastating impacts’ on agriculture, U.S. agriculture secretary says
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Vietnam’s decision to ban glyphosate-based weedkillers will harm agriculture globally.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced a decision to ban glyphosate April 10, effective in 60 days.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto Co.’s Roundup herbicide (now owned by Bayer AG) and many other herbicides. It is considered the most popular herbicide worldwide.
“We are disappointed in Vietnam’s decision to ban glyphosate, a move that will have devastating impacts on global agricultural production,” Perdue said in an April 11 statement.
Monsanto argued that an overwhelming number of regulatory agencies around the world have determined that it is not harmful at concentrations allowed under pesticide labels.
Over the years, the USDA has shared numerous scientific studies with Vietnam’s ministry of agriculture, all showing glyphosate to be safe, Perdue said.
“In addition to the immediate effect of slowing the development of Vietnamese agricultural production, there’s the very real risk that Vietnam’s farmers will turn to unregulated, illegal chemical products in place of glyphosate,” Perdue said.
But glyphosate has been the subject of numerous lawsuits claiming it causes cancer.
The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015 labeled it a probable carcinogen. But other studies show it safe when used as directed. Nearly all of the world’s regulators, including the EPA, Health Canada and the European Chemicals Agency, have registered it for use.
Industry Pushback
Industry groups warned of potentially dire consequences if glyphosate is pulled from the market in Vietnam.
“The decision to take a safe and effective herbicide like glyphosate out of the hands of farmers signals a detour from the great progress and advancements made by Vietnam agriculture in this young century,” according to a statement from CropLife Asia, the regional trade body representing the plant sciences industry.
“Most discouraging in today’s decision is the process that yielded it. There were no consultations with the nation’s farmers and larger agricultural sector; no discussions with national or global experts; and no new scientific data to support taking this detour,” CropLife said.
Bayer spokesperson Christi Dixon said that while the company “respects and shares in the government of Vietnam’s interest to protect farmers and consumers alike,” its decision “will not help to improve food security, safety or sustainability in the country.”
More importantly, she said, Bayer is not aware of any new scientific assessment undertaken by the government of Vietnam on which the decision was based.
“Reportedly, it was driven by developments in litigation taking place in the United States,” Dixon said, referring to trials over claims that glyphosate causes cancer.
“This litigation does not change the overwhelming weight of over four decades of extensive science and the conclusions of regulators worldwide that support the safety of glyphosate-based herbicide products,” Dixon said.
Potential Impacts in U.S.?
Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must review pesticide registration at least once every 15 years. And the EPA is scheduled to publish an interim review at the end of this year on whether the agency will reauthorize glyphosate.
Vietnam’s decision could make that harder, Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, EPA’s assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, told a panel of research advisers at an April 11 meeting of the Board of Scientific Counselors.
“The headlines won’t focus on the science that would support such a decision, but would say something like, ‘EPA greenlights chemistry just banned by Vietnam. EPA greenlights chemistry that two courts in California have said causes non-Hodgkins lymphomas,’” Dunn said.
Last month, a federal jury in San Francisco ruled that Roundup was a “substantial factor” in non-Hodgkins lymphoma developed by a Sonoma County man. Last year, a different jury reached a similar conclusion in the case of a Northern California groundskeeper who had worked extensively with spraying Roundup.
WTO Violation?
Perdue also said Vietnam may be in violation of World Trade Organization obligations to provide notice of regulatory changes.
WTO member states aren’t prevented from adopting or enforcing measures to protect human, animal, or plant health. However, the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement (SPS Agreement) requires that the measures are “not applied in a manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between members where the same conditions prevail or a disguised restriction on international trade.”
“So does Vietnam have the right to do this? Not really,” said Daniella Taveau, a former trade negotiator for EPA and principal at Bold Text Strategies.
Taveau told Bloomberg Environment that Vietnam has an obligation to abide by the scientific standards of the SPS agreement, which found glyphosate to be safe, or come up with a reason for why it is deviating.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/u-s-agriculture-secretary-blasts-vietnam-over-glyphosate-ban

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US FDA Finalizes Hand Sanitizer Rule

Apr 11, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News

By Britt Erickson

Agency seeks additional data on 3 active ingredients, bans 28 others
Manufacturers can no longer use 28 active ingredients, including triclosan and benzethonium chloride, in over-the-counter hand sanitizers sold in the US, under a rule finalized by the US Food and Drug Administration on April 11. Millions of consumers rely on hand sanitizers to reduce bacteria on their hands when soap and water are not available.
The FDA stopped short, however, of banning the use of three active ingredients—benzalkonium chloride, ethyl alcohol, and isopropyl alcohol—in hand-sanitizer products. Instead, the agency will continue to seek additional safety and effectiveness data for those three chemicals to determine whether they are generally recognized as safe and effective for use in consumer hand sanitizers.
“We believe industry has made good progress toward providing data and we will continue to provide updates to the public about the progress of collecting this data,” Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, says in a FDA issues final rule on safety and effectiveness of consumer hand sanitizers statement, referring to the three chemicals that the FDA deferred from further regulation.
The FDA proposed the rule in 2016 and requested data on the three ingredients at that time. Manufacturers are welcoming the additional time to generate the data.
“Consumers can continue to use hand sanitizer products with confidence as this regulatory process moves forward. We will work to ensure that these products remain available,” Richard Sedlak, executive vice president of technical and international affairs at the American Cleaning Institute, which represents the US cleaning products industry, says in a statement.
The FDA predicts that banning the 28 chemicals will affect less than 3% of the US hand-sanitizer market. Most consumer hand sanitizers sold in the US contain ethyl alcohol, according to the FDA. Retailers have stopped selling hand sanitizers that contain triclosan, but a small number of products still contain benzethonium chloride, the agency says. Manufacturers who wish to continue making hand sanitizers that contain any of the 28 chemicals will need to have their products approved as new drugs by the FDA before they can be legally sold in the US.
https://cen.acs.org/safety/consumer-safety/US-FDA-finalizes-hand-sanitizer/97/web/2019/04

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EPA Gives GE Nod on Hudson River Cleanup—For Now (1)

Apr 12, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By John Herzfeld

EPA says GE doesn’t have to do any more dredging of chemicals from the Hudson
New York sues over certificate of completion
General Electric Co. got a long-awaited decision from the EPA that the company has finished its cleanup of chemical contamination of the Hudson River—for now.
Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Peter Lopez announced April 11 that the agency has granted the company a certificate of completion, confirming it “did what it’s required to do” under the second phase of a 2006 legal agreement to clean up polychlorinated biphenyls from the upper Hudson.
New York officials immediately said they are planning to sue the EPA over the Hudson River action, which was one of the nation’s largest environmental dredging projects.
Lopez brushed off the idea it was letting GE off the hook.
The agency can still reopen the agreement to require more cleanup if new data shows that’s needed. And a final certificate of completion, under the agreement’s third phase, isn’t expected for more than 50 years, the agency said.
The EPA also said it still hasn’t concluded whether the cleanup remedy has been sufficiently protective. It said it will await more years of data on PCBs in fish tissue before making that call, which could prompt further dredging.
Post-dredging fish, water, and sediment data results are still inconclusive to show the remedy’s “protectiveness,” the EPA said, adding: “More time and monitoring is needed.”
GE Already Spent $1.7 Billion
With the EPA announcement, GE avoided immediate liability for potentially millions of dollars more in cleanup costs, after having already spent $1.7 billion on the dredging project.
The company is responsible under the federal Superfund law for cleaning up the river after discharging PCBs from 1947 to 1977 from two electric capacitor plants located in Hudson Falls, N.Y., and Fort Edward, N.Y.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) announced in a press release that the state intends to sue the EPA for issuing the certificate of completion.
EPA’s issuance of the completion certificate now “could make it much harder for EPA to require GE to implement more dredging or other remedial measures in the upper Hudson River, as needed to protect public health and the environment,” the release said.
The river cleanup is incomplete and the state’s lawsuit is aimed at ensuring complete remediation, James and Cuomo said in the release.
Company Welcomes Action
GE, in a statement, said that the agency had found that “the dredging project was effective in reducing PCB levels and said these declines are expected to continue.” The agency found that GE “has met all of its commitments,” the company said.
The company said that it will continue to collect environmental data to assess future improvements in river conditions and work closely with the EPA, New York regulators, and local communities on other Hudson environmental projects.
More than 99 percent of sediment samples taken by the state Department of Environmental Conservation in the upper Hudson met the standard EPA set for the project, the company said.
The cleanup is one of the largest environmental dredging projects in the U.S., the agency said in a fact sheet. GE dredged 2.75 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment from a 40-mile stretch of the upper Hudson, removing more than 310,000 pounds of PCBs, or twice the amount originally anticipated.
No One Will Be ‘Let Off the Hook’
“This work is critically important not only for today, but for future generations,” Lopez said in a statement. “We take this effort seriously. No person or organization will be let off the hook for the contamination of this historic and valuable waterway.”
Deputy Regional Administrator Walter Mugdan, a career official who has headed the region’s Superfund work, called the river’s restoration “a centerpiece of my entire 40-year career at EPA.”
He vouched in a statement for the scientific and legal soundness of the two actions, adding: “Far from declaring the job done, we will continue to move forward with the important work to continue to address PCBs in the Hudson River.”
The comments were aimed at deflecting criticism that the agency isn’t doing enough to hold GE responsible.
“EPA’s actions today will, if unchallenged, perpetuate the compromised condition of the river for at least another half-century,” Ned Sullivan, president of the environmental group Scenic Hudson, said in a statement. “While EPA has acknowledged that the cleanup has failed to meet the very goals it set, its issuance of a Certificate of Completion flies in the face of science, the law and its pledge to find a consensus position with New York State and stakeholders.”
The certification was due in January 2018, with anticipation growing as reports of the agency’s conclusions leaked out in December.
The agency said it had delayed its response until it had completed a collaborative assessment of sediment and fish data with the state and finalized its report on the second of two five-year reviews.

https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/epa-gives-ge-nod-that-hudson-river-cleanup-is-done-for-now

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New York Plans To Sue EPA Over Certifying Upper Hudson Cleanup Complete

Apr 11, 2019 | Inside EPA

By Suzanne Yohannan

New York is planning to sue EPA over its decision to certify the upper portion of the Hudson River cleanup as complete even though the agency left the door open to additional future cleanup requirements by issuing a separate review that defers until a future date whether the cleanup is “protective.”
But a Superfund legal expert suggests the state's litigation could face complex procedural hurdles as lawyers debate whether the state can overcome the law's bar on pre-enforcement judicial review.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Attorney General Letitia James (D) April 11 announced they intend to sue EPA after the regulatory agency granted General Electric (GE) a certificate of completion (COC) for the upper portion of the Hudson River Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Superfund site.
“Since EPA has failed to hold GE accountable for fulfilling its obligation to restore the river, New York State will take any action necessary to protect our waterways and that includes suing the EPA to demand a full and complete remediation,” Cuomo said in an April 11 press release. “Anything less is unacceptable.”
GE is the sole potentially responsible party (PRP) at the site and completed a six-year, $1.7 billion sediment cleanup, including dredging, at the site in 2015.
While the agency issued the COC, it also said as a part of a parallel five-year review of the cleanup that it is deferring a determination on whether the remedy is in fact protective.
The two decisions end a months-long deliberation after the agency in 2017 issued a draft five-year review -- which is used to determine if a cleanup remedy remains protective of the environment and human health. In the draft, EPA found that the cleanup was working as intended, although “not yet protective."
In the final decision, the agency decided to defer a determination on the remedy's protectiveness in the Upper Hudson until it can evaluate additional years of fish tissue data, according to an April 11 press release issued by EPA.
Separately, the agency also issued a COC of the remedial action for its Upper Hudson cleanup actions, entitling GE to a covenant not-to-sue. But the agency stressed this is not the certification of completion of the work -- a determination that would likely not be available to GE for over five decades, it says.
The COC for remedial action is a measure under the 2006 consent decree between EPA and GE, showing the company properly performed dredging and related work per the consent decree between 2009 and 2016.
“We take this effort seriously,” EPA Region 2 Administrator Peter Lopez says in the agency's press release. “No person or organization will be let off the hook for the contamination of this historic and valuable waterway."
EPA is emphasizing that it can still trigger a reopener clause under the consent decree to compel additional response actions, including dredging, if it finds, based on sampling, that the remedial action is not protective of public health or the environment.
Acknowledging community members' concern over the COC and covenant not-to-sue, EPA stressed the limits of the covenant, saying it relates to the cleanup of the PCB sediment contamination in the Upper Hudson, but that “does notmean that GE is relieved of all further responsibilities in the Upper Hudson River, or elsewhere in the Hudson, under the Superfund law or the Consent Decree.” The covenant does not include the floodplain or Lower Hudson, it says.
Further, it says, EPA can still require additional work in the Upper Hudson, including dredging, if it finds based on new information that, along with other relevant information including prior sampling work, the remedy is not protective and therefore the consent decree's reopener provisions are triggered.
Procedural Hurdles
A Superfund legal expert believes the state will likely sue under the citizen suit provision of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA) -- having to overcome some procedural hurdles first.
One hurdle is to show that the law's bar on pre-enforcement review of cleanup remedies does not apply because the remedy is complete, the legal expert, Larry Schnapf, says.
“Normally, it is difficult” to overcome that requirement, he says, but he expresses doubt that would be the case here given EPA issued a five-year review -- which arguably comes after the remedy has been completed -- and given EPA is saying it will be 50 years before it signs off on a completion of work. In essence, EPA would be saying that “citizens and the state never have an opportunity to review until 50 years later,” he says.
A second hurdle is for the state to show that EPA has not “diligently prosecut[ed]” under CERCLA or other federal waste law to require compliance with standards or regulations under these laws, according to Schnapf, referencing a section of CERCLA. That issue will probably get into Chevron deference -- something the Supreme Court is currently weighing in another case, he says. If the deference doctrine is removed by the high court, then a court may second-guess EPA.
He says EPA will likely argue that the court should defer to the agency, while the state argues EPA is failing to comply with cleanup regulations, and will have to face the “high hurdle” of arguing that the COC is “arbitrary and capricious,” he notes.
A spokesman for Cuomo's office did not respond to questions about the underlying claims the state plans to assert when it sues EPA over the COC, although the state in the press release notes that both its environment department and attorney general's office many times asked EPA to fully assess the nature and extent of contamination post-dredging, which is required of EPA for it to meet the goals of the record of decision (ROD).
The release also says the attorney general in March of last year wrote to EPA “specifying an appropriate legal alternative to issuing a Certificate of Completion,” and last October both the environment department and attorney general's office jointly asked EPA to withhold the COC until it could determine based on data that the remedy is complete and protective.
State officials have previously threatened to sue over the issue. The state's own analysis of hundreds of new sediment samples showed elevated levels of PCBs in surface sediment in the Hudson, and found certain hot spots of PCBs, the state's release says. It also collected and examined hundreds of fish samples and evaluated other fish data, finding that fish are not recovering at the rate EPA expected, it says.
'Confounding And Inconsistent'
Hayley Carlock, an environmentalist with the local group Scenic Hudson, says EPA's decision on the COC “is confounding and inconsistent.” She notes that the COC triggers a covenant not-to-sue, and such a covenant has to be consistent with CERCLA, which requires that the remedy be protective. But EPA has not found the remedy to be protective. Further, the COC “ties EPA's hands behind its back,” she says, arguing it is a high hurdle for EPA to trigger a reopener.
But an environmental consultant who often represents citizens around Superfund sites says the agency has left itself open for some additional action through the reopener clause, and says that those are easier to trigger than having to modify the ROD later. This source believes that EPA likely felt compelled politically and legally to issue the COC.
Regarding the decision to defer a determination on protectiveness, EPA says in a fact sheet that lowering PCB concentrations in fish tissue over a drawn-out period of decades is one of the key objectives of the remedy. But the agency points out that it has only a limited amount of post-dredging data for review, and that data is showing PCBs are continuing to decline in water and sediment. It notes that most experts say it can take as many as eight years or more of post-dredging fish data to determine a pattern of PCB levels in fish, adding that the next five-year review will have at least six years of sediment data. EPA will continue to collect and examine all types of data to track the river's recovery, it says.
The first goal under the ROD for the Upper Hudson calls for PCB concentrations in fish tissue to be lowered by 2020 to a certain point -- a level that Carlock says at this point cannot possibly be reached.
The environmental consultant says, however, that scientific models have found that a slow decline, rather than a rapid reduction, of contaminants in fish tissue is more common post-dredging.
Carlock concedes that EPA took a step in the right direction when it acknowledged that what it has now in data is not showing that the remedy is protective. But, she says her group believes there is enough evidence now to show the remedy is not protective, and had EPA found that, the agency would have had to go on to identify additional steps GE would need to take to make it protective, she says.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/new-york-plans-sue-epa-over-certifying-upper-hudson-cleanup-complete

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Energy News

(ACC Mentioend) West Virginia’s Industrial Rejuvenation Is Right Under Our Feet

Apr 12, 2019 | West Virginia MetroNews

Improved drilling technology and increased demand have contributed to a dramatic resurgence of the natural gas industry in our region. According to IHS Markit, the gas basins of the “Shale Crescent” (West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania), account for 32 percent of gas production in this country, and it’s estimated that by 2040 nearly half (45 percent) of all gas produced domestically will come from these Marcellus and Utica reserves.
West Virginia is already benefiting significantly from increased production. West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) Gas Facts 2019 cites state figures showing the industry employed nearly 18,000 workers in 2017 and paid $1.5 billion in wages. The industry accounted for $89 million in property taxes and $139 million in severance taxes. In addition, rights holders are collecting millions in royalties.
However, West Virginia and the rest of the region are not capitalizing on the full benefit of this plentiful and valuable resource.
Earlier this week, Steve Winberg, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy in the Trump administration, spoke at the Marcellus and Manufacturing Development Conference in Morgantown. His predictions for the future were tantalizing.
He pointed out that much of the Appalachian gas is “wet,” meaning it contains natural gas liquids, including ethane, which is a feed stock for ethylene that is used in the production of plastics.
Currently, over 95 percent of the country’s ethylene production is at facilities along the Gulf Coast, an area susceptible to severe weather. For example, in 2017 Hurricane Harvey knocked out 60 percent of ethylene production for weeks.
Winberg said it makes economic sense to have some “geographic diversity” in the petrochemical industry by expanding capacity in this area. Currently, a “cracker,” which converts ethane into ethylene, is under construction in southwestern Pennsylvania and another, planned for eastern Ohio, is clearing regulatory hurdles. Winburg believes the region could support as many as five crackers. (West Virginia officials announced a planned cracker near Parkersburg in 2014, but the project has stalled.)
Winberg said if Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia can take full advantage of the resource, the economic benefits will be dramatic. “According to a recent American Chemical Council report, more than $35 billion in capital investment could flow into Appalachia; 100,000 jobs could be created and supported; nearly $30 billion in additional annual revenue could be generated; and over $1billion per year in state and local tax revenue.”
The Trump administration is all in on the possibility. Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin are both working with Energy Secretary Rick Perry on a proposal for a giant underground storage facility necessary to guarantee the steady supply of natural gas needed for petrochemical production.
It’s best not to count these chickens before they hatch but, clearly, the opportunity for an industrial rejuvenation is right under our feet.
http://wvmetronews.com/2019/04/12/west-virginias-industrial-rejuvenation-is-right-under-our-feet/

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Senate Talks ‘Energy Innovation’ as Green New Deal Counterweight

Apr 12, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Chuck McCutcheon

The Senate energy panel’s hearing today on climate change—its second this Congress—focuses on “energy innovation,” which has emerged as what the GOP sees as a pragmatic counterpoint to the Green New Deal.Republicans such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the committee’s chairman, are seeking solutions they can stand behind as climate policy discussions heat up. Early signs point to those solutions centering on boosting low-carbon technologies like advanced nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage.Witnesses include Stanford’s Arun Majumdar, who has advocated for investments in efficient energy storage. Another witness, Manhattan Institute senior fellow Robert Bryce, wrote in January that the Green New Deal “is not green” because it would require gigantic deployments of wind turbines and other renewable infrastructure.Bernhardt to Be Easily Confirmed
The Senate is expected to easily confirm Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt today as the agency’s permanent chief, despite continued concerns among Democrats and environmentalists that the onetime lobbyist harbors ethics liabilities.The Senate voted 56-41 in an initial procedural vote on Bernhardt, with Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joining Independent Angus King of Maine joining Republicans in advancing the nomination.Two Democratic committee ranking members—Delaware’s Tom Carper of Environment and Public Works, and Michigan’s Gary Peters of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs—criticized Interior’s ethics program and its oversight of political appointees’ adherence to ethical guidelines in a letter to Bernhardt. A recent Governmental Accountability Office report, several inspector’s general’s findings, and outside watchdog groups’ concerns “lead us to question the leadership commitment to ethics within the department,” the senators wrote.House Natural Resources Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), who chairs the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, sent Bernhardt a separate letter calling for Interior’s “immediate cooperation” on financial transactions among the Bureau of Reclamation, a California water district that was a former lobbying client of Bernhardt’s, and several other water districts in that state.‘Bomb Train’ Concerns
President Trump’s new executive order on expanding natural gas has stoked fearsabout potential “bomb trains” passing through cities.The order calls for the Transportation Department to write a new rule permitting liquefied natural gas to be shipped in approved tank cars, putting LNG on the same legal footing as crude oil and other gases widely transported by rail.Fred Millar, an independent rail consultant working with citizen groups opposed to moving LNG by trains, says Trump’s policy change would pose “an unprecedented new level of risk for American cities” because of LNG’s ability to easily warm to a vigorous boil, forming a flammable gas cloud that can erupt into flames. But supporters say LNG has a narrow ignition window and generally evaporates if spilled.What Else We’re WatchingThe National Coal Council kicks off its spring meeting in Washington, D.C., that continues Friday. Speakers include Steven Winberg, the Energy Department’s assistant secretary for fossil energy, Energy Under Secretary Mark Menezes, and Mary Neumayr, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who heads the Appropriations subcommittee funding the Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and Energy Department, said he hopes to have a funding bill on the Senate floor before this fiscal year ends at the end of September. This timing would be unusual but not unprecedented: Funding for those agencies typically clear Congress much earlier than for others such as the EPA.The D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments from an environmental nonprofit and a group of landowners who are suing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for not fully considering the downstream greenhouse gas emissions of a 200-mile pipeline in New York from Dominion. They are asking the court to remand the case to FERC for a further environmental review.Insights
Carbon Markets Beyond 2020: Achieving Breakthrough on Paris Agreement
Markets can be part of the climate-change solution if they are well-designed, writes Daniel Rossetto, chief executive officer of Climate Mundial, a climate finance and sustainable development firm in London. The Paris Climate Agreement includes provisions for markets through the so-called Article 6 mechanism.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/senate-talks-energy-innovation-as-green-new-deal-counterweight-51

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Lawmakers Warming To Green Power Mandates

Apr 12, 2019 | E&E Daily

By Geof Koss

Democrats on both sides of the Capitol are preparing a series of bills that would require utilities to generate a growing percentage of electricity from renewable or low-carbon sources.
In the coming weeks, Democrats are planning to introduce competing legislation to set mandatory national energy goals by specific deadlines, reviving what was once a top party policy objective throughout the presidency of George W. Bush and the early years of President Obama's first term.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is drafting legislation mandating a national clean energy standard (CES), a spokeswoman told E&E News this week. "It's in progress," she said in an email, declining to offer more details.
But a summary of the bill circulating on Capitol Hill says it would result in more than 75% lower emissions from the power sector by 2032, with 2005 levels set as the baseline.
"Targets are utility specific, but this bill puts every utility on a path to 100% clean electricity," according to the summary, which says the bill is supported by the United Steelworkers and the Utility Workers Union of America.
Smith's standard is slightly less than the 80% proposed by Obama in his 2011 State of the Union address but would be achieved three years earlier.
Like Obama's CES proposal, Smith's bill would allow nuclear power, qualified natural gas and electricity generated by clean coal to count toward meeting targets, although fossil-fueled power may qualify for less than full credit (E&E News PM, March 20).
Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) will introduce a House version of the bill, according to an email from Smith's office seeking co-sponsors.
In an interview with E&E News at the House Democratic retreat in Leesburg, Va., Luján declined to offer a timeline for the proposal, which is one of several clean energy measures he plans.
"We're still working through how aggressive we can be and thoughtful and try to garner as much bipartisan support as we can," he said.Clean or renewable
Smith's plan comes as Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) is working to finalize an updated version of legislation he previously authored that would require utilities to meet specific generation targets from renewables (E&E Daily, April 2).
Udall, who successfully pushed a renewable electricity standard (RES) through the House before becoming a senator, pointed to states such as his own, which last month hiked its renewable power requirements (Greenwire, March 25).
"It's clearly part of what needs to happen on a national basis," he told E&E News last week, noting that more than half of states have similar renewable mandates.
"They're pushing the envelope on them," Udall said. "If we had a national standard, we'd be making a big difference in terms of the power sector."
Udall signaled that he, too, is wrestling with which power sources should qualify. "That's one of the debates," he said.
A Udall spokesman described the bill yesterday as RES “building on the successes of recent state bills in New Mexico and California."
Fellow New Mexican Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, who said this week he's in discussions with both Udall and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) about RES legislation, said he was agnostic about qualifying power sources.
"I think it should be based on carbon intensity and avoid all the parochial battles over one form or another," he said in an interview this week.
Heinrich said any national standard should dovetail with states' existing requirements.
"I think we need to start applying what's working in places like New Mexico and look at that model more broadly because just frankly of all the policy choices, this is something that's already proven its worth," he said.
Illinois' ongoing efforts to aid struggling nuclear plants while also boosting renewables in the state are also motivating Sen. Tammy Duckworth to write her own CES, which will be part of a broader climate bill the Illinois Democrat is assembling, an aide said yesterday.
The senator is "looking to capitalize on the momentum that our state has taken on climate change and renewable energy," said the aide, noting Illinois provides an example of how to build a successful coalition on climate.
"The senator believes strongly that the Midwest and a state like Illinois needs to be part of the discussion — it shouldn't only be people from the coasts."GOP 'torn between a lot of lovers'
Key Republican lawmakers this week said they were unfamiliar with Democrats' rekindled legislative interest in national power standards, including Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), the ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change.
He noted the ongoing debate in his own state on expanding clean energy goals but said Republicans "would have a hard time accepting a federal mandate" on renewables.
Nonetheless, he suggested that Democrats could draw enough support from certain quarters of the GOP caucus to get a CES bill through the House.
"Could you get something off the floor?" he said in an interview this week. "You probably could. I think you'd have to be careful how big you make it."
Support for carbon-free nuclear power could be the "sweet spot," he said. "That could be a pathway," he added.
However, it may pose a personal dilemma for Shimkus, an ardent nuclear backer who also has coal mines, coal plants and petroleum refineries in his district.
"I'd be torn between a lot of lovers," he cracked.
The inclusion of nuclear power is one option that deserves additional consideration, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said last week.
"If it doesn't exclude hydro and it doesn't exclude nuclear, then it's something we can look at," she told E&E News, adding that she has not spoken with any Democrats about electricity standard bills.
Her Democratic counterpart on the committee, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, hasn't spoken to his colleagues about the issue either, he told E&E News as he got into an elevator this week.'Standards are good'
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he was skeptical of renewable mandates, which he said his state would struggle to meet.
"Louisiana does not really have, beyond distributed energy, the utility level of renewable energy availability," he said.
Cassidy questioned whether an RES would cause its own unintended environmental consequences by requiring the clearing of forests for wind or solar farms to produce enough power "that actually makes a difference."
While she prefers a carbon tax, a CES would also be an effective mechanism to reduce carbon emissions, Sarah Ladislaw, director of the energy and national security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, testified yesterday before the ENR panel.
"You could probably do most of the work that you need in the electric power sector in terms of decarbonizing through a policy like a clean energy standard," she said during a climate change hearing.
One key House Democrat said this week he was unaware of his Senate colleagues' interest in low-carbon power mandates but signaled he'd like to learn more.
"We'll look at what they're doing and if we can join them in the effort or modify it, whatever," said Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Chairman Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.). "But standards are good."
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2019/04/12/stories/1060154669

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U.S. LNG Shipments On Track For Slowest Month Since October

Apr 12, 2019 | Reuters

By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. shipments of liquefied natural gas are expected to fall to their lowest level in six months in April, after a leading U.S. supplier shut units for maintenance at a time when a glut of supply has driven some worldwide prices to near three-year lows.
Based on exports through April 10, the United States is on track to sell roughly 91.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas as LNG, which would be the lowest since October. That compares with an estimated record 139.8 bcfd shipped in March, according to data provider Refinitiv.
One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.
GRAPHIC: U.S. LNG exports expected to decline in April, see tmsnrt.rs/2Icuiht
The dropoff is largely due to a decision by Cheniere Energy Inc, the leading U.S. supplier of LNG, to shut three of the five liquefaction trains, as LNG units are called, at Sabine Pass in Louisiana for planned maintenance over the past three weeks.
Demand for LNG has surged worldwide, rising by 9.8 percent in the most recent year, according to the International Gas Union (IGU).
European and Asian gas prices almost always trade at a vast premium over U.S. gas.
But that changed of late, as gas prices in several European and Asian LNG-AS markets fell by more than half this winter, cutting their premium over the U.S. fuel due to record LNG supply and a warm winter that left stockpiles much higher than usual at this time of year.
That caused some Asian buyers to shun U.S. cargoes and redirect them to Europe where shipping costs are lower. It takes about three to four weeks for a tanker to travel from the United States to Asia but only one to two weeks to get to Europe.
As Asian, European and U.S. gas prices converged, some energy traders speculated it might not make economic sense for U.S. exporters to keep sending LNG cargoes to Europe if the arbitrage or price difference between the United States and Europe closes.
Analysts at consultancy Energy Aspects, however, said it does not expect that arb to close until prices in northwestern Europe fall below US$4.15 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).
Gas at the Title Transfer Facility or TTF hub in the Netherlands fell to $4.42/mmBtu last week, its lowest since September 2016. That compared with $2.64 at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana.
While Cheniere did not cite low global prices for shutting trains for maintenance, analysts said the timing made sense.
“Producers will certainly tailor their annual maintenance to reflect market realities. We believe we are already seeing this at Sabine Pass,” said Ira Joseph, global head of gas and power analytics at S&P Global Platts in New York.
Cheniere owns two of the nation’s three operating LNG export terminals - Corpus Christi in Texas and Sabine Pass.
https://www.reuters.com/article/natgas-lng-usa/us-lng-shipments-on-track-for-slowest-month-since-october-idUSL1N21Q0Q7

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Like It Or Not, Natural Gas Is Our Best Energy Option

Apr 12, 2019 | The Hill

By Ellen R. Wald

To ease the backlog of natural gas in the United States, the White House is clearing the path for the construction of more pipelines and the export of natural gas. These moves are necessary to promote the health of our environment, cost-effective electricity generation and a foreign policy that combats Russian influence among our geopolitical partners.
As we debate the future of energy in the United States, natural gas has become the fastest growing component of our power producing mix. In 2016, it overtook coal as the most common source of electricity produced in the country. Natural gas is abundant in the U.S., and it is the best domestic source for new power production. It is so plentiful and cheap to produce that it can also be exported in liquid form, which is an economic advantage and also promotes American interests abroad.
At this point, natural gas is the only good option to power more of our electricity baseload and minimize the effects on the environment. Electricity from gas has grown tremendously in the last three decades — increasing 66 percent in the 1990s, 60 percent in the first decade of this century, and 35 percent between 2010 and 2015. The U.S. is now conserving more energy than in years past — in fact, Americans used less total electricity in 2015 than they did in 2010 — but natural gas consumption is rising and displacing coal.
Yet, natural gas has been constrained as a domestic source of power by the pipeline system. New pipelines must be built to transport the gas from the wellhead to power plants. Some communities have fought and legislated against pipelines based on misguided beliefs about natural gas. Areas poorly served by pipelines see skyrocketing electricity prices during seasons of extreme temperature fluctuation, because the pipeline networks simply cannot transport enough natural gas to satisfy demand. Nuclear and hydro plants are limited in their ability to respond to higher demand. As a result, utility prices rise and less desirable fuels, like coal, are used. Reducing the barriers to the natural gas pipeline network will help reduce the cost and the environmental impact of electricity generation in the U.S.
Furthermore, U.S. natural gas production is robust enough that we can and should export more to other countries after a liquefaction process. We are awash in natural gas, but Europe and China are lacking. China is the largest consumer of coal in the world, so natural gas exports from the United States could help reduce China decrease carbon emissions.
Europe has cut its coal consumption considerably, but in exchange has become reliant on Russia as a source of natural gas. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been known to use the control over natural gassupplies to achieve regional influence. It is in America’s interest to counter Russia’s economic and political sway over Europe by helping European countries diversify their supplies with American natural gas. The Trump administration’s plans to increase the export of liquified natural gas would be a powerful geopolitical tool as well as an economic benefit to our gas and shipping industries.
Natural gas may not be the answer that Green New Deal supporters like, but it’s what we have now. And it is an improvement for consumers, the environment and America’s global interests.
Ellen R. Wald, Ph.D., is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center as well as the president of Transversal Consulting, a global energy and geopolitics consultancy. She is the author of the newly released book, “Saudi, Inc.,” a history of Aramco and how the Saudi royal family controls this multi-trillion dollar enterprise. Follow Wald on Twitter at @EnergzdEconomy ‏.
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/438444-like-it-or-not-natural-gas-is-our-best-energy-option

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Transportation and Infrastructure News

Oregon's Oil Train Rules Bring Up The Rear

Apr 11, 2019 | Mail Tribune

By Editorial Board

Oregon’s wide-open embrace of corporate campaign contributions has repercussions across a number of industries, and results in more lenient environmental laws than in neighboring West Coast states. That disparity is especially pronounced in the railroad industry, specifically regarding tank car shipments of hazardous crude oil to export facilities in and near Portland.
It’s an established fact that corporate interests gave more money per capita to winning Oregon legislative candidates than in any other state. The scope of the industry largess was detailed in a series of stories in The Oregonian last month.
Now, in reports from Oregon Public Broadcasting and The Oregonian, we learn that one company is ramping up shipments of heavy crude from Canadian tar sands to a terminal in Portland, but without notifying state environmental officials or emergency responders, who would be responsible for dealing with a spill or a fire. There is nothing illegal about this because Oregon law does not require such notification. In Washington, meanwhile, rail companies must provide 24-hour notice of oil shipments.
The company, Zenith Energy, greatly has increased its activity, from one marine shipment in 2017 to 10 in 2018. This year, it has filled five ships in the first three months.
Oregon has the weakest rules governing oil train shipments on the West Coast. Even after a Union Pacific oil train derailed and exploded near Mosier in the Columbia Gorge in 2016, Oregon lawmakers were unable to enact stronger safety rules.
Legislators managed to pass a ban on offshore drilling and fracking — neither of which is likely to happen here — but two bills that would have matched oil train rules already on the books in Washington died without a hearing this session — the fourth session in a row that considered new regulations but failed to enact any.
One bill that is still alive, House Bill 2209, would require railroads operating hazardous train routes to have oil spill contingency plans that are approved by the state Department of Environmental Quality. OPB reports the measure was written in collaboration with Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and other rail companies. This might have something to do with the fact that railroad campaign contributions average $3,542 per Oregon legislator, the sixth highest amount of any state in the country.
HB 2209 passed the House Committee On Veterans and Emergency Preparedness on Tuesday, and was referred to the Ways and Means Committee. It should not be allowed to die there, but it shouldn’t be the last word on oil trains, either.
Even if the bill becomes law, regulators in Oregon still won’t know in advance when oil trains are arriving or how much oil they carry. Lawmakers should summon the intestinal fortitude to get tough on oil shipments before the next accident, not after.
https://mailtribune.com/opinion/editorials/oregons-oil-train-rules-lag-behind

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Environment News

Exxon to Face Investor Votes on Climate, Gulf Coast Chemicals

Apr 12, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report

By Kevin Crowley

Texas oil giant recommends shareholders reject proposals
Exxon appealed to SEC to omit climate vote but was denied
Exxon Mobil Corp. shareholders will vote in May on proposals to form a board committee on climate change and disclose the risks posed by rising sea levels to its Gulf Coast petrochemical investments.
Exxon advised investors to reject both proposals, saying its board already adequately manages risks in both instances, the U.S. oil major said in its proxy filing April 11. The company’s appeal to the Securities and Exchange Commission to omit the committee proposal from the ballot was rejected earlier this month.
A popular target for environmentalists, Exxon often faces shareholder proposals related to climate change. Last year was the first time in at least a decade one didn’t make it onto the ballot.
The investor proposals to be voted on at the annual general meeting in Dallas are as follows:
Creating an independent chairman positionAmending rules around calling special shareholder meetingsReporting directors’ gender and ethnicityCreating a climate change board committeeReporting on the risks of Gulf Coast petrochemical investmentsReport on political donationsFull disclosure on lobbying
Exxon advises shareholders to vote against all seven proposals at the meeting, which will take place May 29 in Dallas.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/exxon-to-face-investor-votes-on-climate-gulf-coast-chemicals

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EPA Advisory Board Softens Criticism of PM Research Summary

Apr 12, 2019 | E&E News PM

By Sean Reilly

In a freshly revised report, an EPA advisory committee toned down its criticism of a preliminary agency roundup of research on particulate matter's health effects.
But the report still faulted the research for flaws that it says should be remedied in a second draft.
The report by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee also urges EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to reappoint an auxiliary panel that he abruptly disbanded last fall or else name new members with similar expertise.
Overall, CASAC found that the preliminary roundup "does not provide a sufficiently comprehensive, systematic assessment of the available science relevant to understanding the health impacts of exposure to particulate matter," says the revised report, which was posted online today and is addressed to Wheeler. It includes an introductory summary signed by the committee's chairman, Tony Cox.
Among the "fundamental limitations" that should be addressed, Cox wrote, are a "lack of comprehensive, systematic review" and the need for a "clearer discussion of causality and causal biological mechanisms and pathways."
The summary released today offers a milder version of the original critique that attacked the EPA roundup — formally known as an integrated science assessment — in notably biting language (Greenwire, March 8). At a public teleconference last month, Cox said he "made a bad mistake by holding out this ideal of what science should be and then criticizing the ISA for not adhering to that ideal" (Greenwire, March 29).
The seven-member committee is charged with aiding EPA in periodic reviews of the standards for particulate matter and five other air pollutants. Under a tradition that dates back decades, the committee has also relied on auxiliary panels to provide added expertise in determining whether the existing standards adequately protect public health or else need to be tightened.
https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2019/04/11/stories/1060154553

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EPA Expands Air Data Waivers For ‘Exceptional’ Events, Sparking Criticism

Apr 11, 2019 | Inside EPA

By Stuart Parker

EPA has expanded the scope of possible situations where states and industry can exclude air monitoring data showing violations of federal air quality standards from regulatory determinations on Clean Air Act compliance, prompting warnings from one environmentalist that the action is unlawful, though states are welcoming the new policy.
In an April 4 memo to EPA’s regional air division directors, senior EPA career staffers Richard Wayland, director of the Air Quality Assessment Division, and Anna Marie Wood, director of the Air Quality Policy Division, provide guidance to states on "Additional Methods, Determinations, and Analyses to Modify Air Quality Data Beyond Exceptional Events."
The guidance is generally intended to clarify when states can “modify” data, by excluding high air pollution readings, to meet various air law requirements.
Excluding high pollution readings can allow states to attain national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), avoiding a “nonattainment” designation that would require tougher emissions controls for industry. It can also allow industry project developers to win air permits more easily, again avoiding tougher air pollution requirements.
Hence EPA’s effort to provide states with flexibility to exclude data is welcomed by many Western states, where extreme weather events, such as wind storms and wildfires are more frequent than elsewhere, and levels of “background” air pollution are also higher due to combination of elevation, topography and even trans-national pollution.
But John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) warns the guidance lacks any basis in the air law and will increase pollution, suggesting groups may challenge the measure in appellate court by a June 4 deadline.
EPA “just makes things up,” Walke says. “This is just the latest in a long line of EPA Office of Air & Radiation ‘guidance’ under Bill Wehrum that is designed to speed immediate rollbacks and deregulation for industry, at the expense of air quality and public health, without the bother of lengthy notice and comment rulemaking involving the public.” Wehrum is head of EPA’s air office.
One Western air regulator, however, says that EPA’s memo is welcome, and could help states in the region comply with air law mandates. “They are just guidance and not policy, but since exceptional events demonstrations are much more prevalent in the west, these kinds of guidance can be very helpful for the states. Since the guidance just came out, we haven't had any states submit using these, but I'm sure in a year, the states will have a better idea how helpful (or what was missed) when these guidances were finalized.”
EPA’s “exceptional events” rule allows states to exclude data gathered during high air pollution events beyond their control, such as wildfires. The guidance, however, goes beyond events that fall within the rule’s definition of “exceptional” occurrences, to include other situations where states can exclude data.
The memo “identifies other determinations, actions, and analyses that are not covered by the scope of the Exceptional Events Rule, but for which the exclusion, selection, or adjustment of monitoring data may be appropriate and allowable under other sections of the Clean Air Act . . . and EPA rules or guidance,” the memo says.
The agency “recognizes there are determinations and analyses not covered by the Exceptional Events Rule . . . that also rely on ambient air quality monitoring data that may have been influenced by atypical, extreme, or unrepresentative events."
‘Absence’ Of Authority
But NRDC’s Walke says the guidance exceeds EPA’s legal authority and could lead to substantial increases in air pollution when implemented by states and EPA regions.
The “guidance is designed to allow exceedances of monitored health standards to filter throughout the Clean Air Act landscape and be exploited and relied upon to allow EPA, states and [local air regulators], and industry to ignore unsafe air and air quality violations,” the attorney says.
“This will result in not just more air pollution, but more air pollution at unsafe levels that violate health standards. Thus, there can be no argument of ‘no harm, no foul.’”
“EPA is authorizing this exploitation notwithstanding an absence of any legislative or regulatory authority, and it’s revealing the so-called guidance does not even speak to this question or pretend to find any legal authority through strained interpretations,” he adds.
The Trump EPA has made sweeping changes in how the agency and states implement the air law, easing a slew of compliance obligations for states and industry. Much of this has been achieved through guidance memos, which are in theory not legally binding and hence not subject to judicial review.
But environmentalists have in some instances sued anyway, claiming that the guidances amount to “final agency action” that can be challenged in court. For example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard April 1 oral arguments in a suit challenging a January 2018 memo by Wehrum allowing major industrial sources of air toxics to reclassify as “area” sources subject to weaker emissions control requirements -- if the sources reduce their “potential to emit” hazardous air pollutants.
In the latest case, the new memo lists a series of regulatory determinations that could be subject to the new data waivers. Examples of such determinations include air modeling requirements for permit applications under the prevention of significant deterioration program; estimating base and future year pollution levels for state plans demonstrating attainment of ozone and fine particulate (PM2.5) NAAQS; state plans demonstrating compliance with air law interstate emissions mandates; pollution “hot spot” analysis of transportation projects such as highway expansions; and selecting data to show compliance with EPA’s rule limiting regional haze.
EPA in the guidance says that exclusions claimed in these situations can sometimes also be claimed under the exceptional events rule. The agency in addition recently released a technical memo advising states on how to follow a “tiered approach” to demonstrating that high wind events qualify for exemptions as “exceptional."
The Western States Air Resources Council (WESTAR), a body of regional air regulators from 15 states, commentedon the guidances when they were in draft form. On the data modification memo, the group said, “We appreciate that EPA has provided for an alternative to the Exceptional Events Rule, with the understanding that this alternative will address exceptional events that do not fall into the list of five regulatory determinations . . . identified in the Rule, allowing for other methods of data exclusion on a case-by-case basis."
Further, “WESTAR encourages EPA to consider regulatory significance beyond the NAAQS levels to events close to the exceedance threshold. When accounting for future [economic] growth, events near the NAAQS threshold, events near the NAAQS threshold can impact regulatory decisions.”
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-expands-air-data-waivers-%E2%80%98exceptional%E2%80%99-events-sparking-criticism

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EPA's Final GHG Inventory Confirms Slight Emissions Cut

Apr 11, 2019 | Inside EPA

EPA's final annual greenhouse gas inventory that includes data through 2017 is confirming a relatively small GHG emissions cut from the prior year, highlighting a slowdown in reductions during the early part of the Trump presidency.
The final inventory, released April 11, says that national GHG emissions were 6,457 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is a 35 MMT reduction from 2016, or 0.5 percent lower.
The rate of decline, however, is slowing relative to 2015 and 2015, when total emissions dropped 2 percent each year.
When EPA released its final inventory covering 2016 emissions, then-Administrator Scott Pruitt said the decline shows that the country can reduce emissions using technological innovation.
Despite the slowed GHG improvement, current EPA chief Andrew Wheeler has a similar message. “Through industry innovation, we've seen substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the last decade,” he said in an April 11 press statement. “This is proof that American ingenuity can support continued emissions reductions in the years ahead without the need for regulatory overreach.”
Many observers credit the GHG cuts in the last decade to a mix of factors, including the natural gas shale boom, federal tax policy that encouraged deployment of renewable power, and state low-carbon electricity mandates.
Democratic lawmakers, however, have been increasingly critical of Republicans' reliance only on innovation to reduce GHGs, arguing that more affirmative policy is needed to reduce a sufficient amount of emissions to stave off the worst impacts of climate change.
EPA's final inventory shows a marginal improvement from the draft version, which found a 0.3 percent emissions decline in 2017, or 21.1 MMT.
According to the final figures, transportation-related emissions increased from 1,779 MMT in 2016 to 1,800.6 in 2017, a 21.6 MMT boost. This partially offset continued GHG declines in the power sector, which went from 1,808.9 MMT in 2016 to 1,732 MMT the following year, a 76.9 MMT cut.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/epas-final-ghg-inventory-confirms-slight-emissions-cut

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Senators Discuss Pricing Carbon — Sort Of

Apr 12, 2019 | E&E Climatewire

By Nick Sobczyk

Four out of five witnesses at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing yesterday recommended a price on carbon to reduce emissions, but that doesn't mean lawmakers are likely to take their suggestions.
Rather, some members laid down lines on how far they're willing to go to address climate change and underscored the energy innovation agenda that moderate Republicans, such as Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have offered as a middle-of-the-road path.
As was evident at the panel's last hearing about climate change in March, boosted funding for research and infrastructure and incentives for carbon capture and clean energy technology appear to have a viable path forward, while more aggressive steps will have to remain on the back burner for now.
"Clearly, there is agreement that technology is how we address these issues of increased emissions," said Murkowski, who later added that she is "all in" on Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander's proposal to double Department of Energy research funding as part of his proposed "New Manhattan Project" for clean energy (E&E Daily, March 26).
Murkowski did not rule out some sort of carbon pricing system as a steppingstone from clean energy technological development to deployment.
"That's what this committee is doing, is trying to prompt this discussion so that there is a thorough vetting of what folks are talking about out there. ... And the issue of how carbon is priced or valued, either directly or indirectly, I think is something that this committee is engaged in," Murkowski told reporters after the hearing.
"You have to have more than the technology; you have to figure out how you deploy it," she added.
Her committee's ranking member was also interested in, if not openly supportive of, the idea of pricing carbon. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who once shot a hole through the 2009 cap-and-trade bill in a campaign ad, said that while dividend approaches are popular, it makes more sense to use the revenues to further reduce emissions.
"Carbon pricing to find a solution to emissions is one thing. Carbon pricing to basically restructure or redistribute the wealth doesn't make any sense to me at all," he said. "It just doesn't really make sense to me that you're saying, 'We're going to put a carbon price on, but we're not going to use it to find a solution.'"
Manchin's focus, however, is on finding a way to keep using fossil fuels as the United States decarbonizes. He floated a bill yesterday with Murkowski to increase authorization levels for a slew of DOE carbon capture and fossil research programs.
"We're talking within a 10-year span, and the only way we're going to do it is decarbonizing the use of fossil fuels through technology and more nuclear," Manchin said.
That perspective was shared yesterday by Republicans at the hearing, who homed in on natural gas and nuclear. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said that while China continues to build coal plants, a carbon tax would only complicate trade relationships with other countries, since it would likely require some sort of border adjustment.
Cassidy has sought to make a place for himself in the climate debate as a supporter of natural gas, and at the hearing he suggested a focus on that would be more effective than scaling up solar or wind.
Still, several of the panelists brought in to testify warned the federal government against picking winners in its decarbonization strategy.
And four said they would favor a carbon price, either direct or indirect, including Abe Silverman, vice president and deputy general counsel for NRG Energy Inc.
In written testimony for the committee, Arun Majumdar, co-director of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University and the founding director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, said his preferred option would be a $40- to $50-per-ton fee on carbon, with dividends returned to households.
Some sort of carbon tax would be the best way to signal the market to adopt emerging clean energy technologies, but a federal clean energy standard could also help speed that transition, said Sarah Ladislaw, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Energy and National Security Program.
"A carbon tax is probably the most efficient way of trying to send that signal to market, and I would say most of the people that I talked to in the energy field somewhat agree," she said.
David Sandalow, inaugural fellow at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, even suggested axing fossil fuel subsidies, but the Senate isn't likely to bite on that either.
Manchin perhaps best summed up the attitude of moderate and conservative senators who have talked about acting on climate.
"I believe in innovation, not elimination," he said.
https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2019/04/12/stories/1060154575

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